August 2nd, 2002

2:06 pm

     "Everyone ready?" Newt asked as he intertwined his fingers with his Kis and Minho's hands.

     A slight nod came from both of them.

     "Let's do it," Newt said as he squeezed their hands.

     The three went invisible, the only thing detectable to the eye were the footprints they left in the grass.

     WICKED's homebase looked a little like a maze. From the outside you could tell it was a huge complex, the walls were dark grey stone with huge sliding doors. There were guards littered everywhere, guns in their hands and black masks over their faces. They weren't regular guns, they were the guns from the invasions, the ones that electrocuted and destabilized power. For mutants, one of those were ten times more deadly than a bullet. If one of those hit you, it was enough to surge your body into overdrive and for mutants like Thomas, that was catastrophic.

     "How are we getting in?" Minho whispered as they started moving toward the base.

     "We have to go in the front, but I say we jump the guards and get their uniforms...you know just in case," Kis suggested as they hooked left, going toward the back of the complex. "We'd have masks so no one would know it was us."

     "That's smart actually," Newt said as he started scanning for guards in smaller packs. It looked like they were patrolling the outside, almost as if they were looking for something.

     "I can take them," Minho said as he looked one of the guards up and down. "Just get me close enough."

     "I'll be over there." Kis pointed to a hidden spot behind the brush. "Come there when you're back, we'll regroup and move out."

     "Good that." Newt nodded and Minho fake saluted the blonde girl who scoffed and let go of Newt's hand.

     The boys watched her slip behind the brush and drop out of sight.

     "You sure?" Newt whispered softly as they started approaching a group of four guards.

     "Of course I'm sure, they got our friends."

     Newt nodded and walked slowly until the two were right behind them. Newt knew that they couldn't see him, but his heart was still racing. Minho's breath was coming out in soft little puffs, Newt could tell her was nervous.
Minho took in a deep breath and his entire body hardened, turning to some type of metal. He gave Newt a crooked smile and dropped his hand, immediately springing into action.

     He grabbed the first guy's head, snapping his head to the side and ignoring the sickening crunch his bones made as he fell to the ground. The three instantly spun around, readying their guns.

     Minho cracked his knuckles before lunging at the guy in the middle. He hit the ground and was still. Many people didn't survive two hundred pounds of stone falling onto them.

     Minho grabbed the leg of the guy on the right and pulled it out, he yelped and fell to the ground.

     The guy on the left quickly got over Minho and held the gun over him.

     "Don't move," he said as his finger hovered over the trigger.

     Minho rolled his eyes. "Shoot me pussy, you won't."

     The guy hesitated for a split second, his finger slightly shaking as he put it on the trigger.

     "Dumb fuck," Minho scoffed as he brought his knee up and smashed it between the man's legs.

     The man fell to the side, grunting as he curled in on himself on the ground. Minho picked up the gun and pointed it at him.

     "See, I'm not a little bitch," Minho said as he pulled the trigger, watching the electric take over the man's body. "I don't hesitate."

     Newt appeared next to Minho. "Okay come on, let's get three of these off them."

     Minho helped Newt drag three of the bodies to the brush where Kis was, meaning Minho did most of the pulling while Newt complained and kept them out of sight.

     Stripping the uniforms off was hard and then putting them on was kinda gross. They were too tight on Minho, too big on Newt but somehow just right for Kis.

     "You know, if WICKED didn't slaughter our friends, I'd keep this uniform." The blonde girl said as she spun around slightly and grinned at the tough black fabric covering her body. She had a gun strapped to her back, matching the boys. They figured they'd come in handy at some point.

     "I look stupid," Minho groaned as he stretched and winced as the uniform restricted him.

     "Same." Newt frowned as he tried yet again to pull the belt tighter around his small waist.

     Kis rolled her eyes. "Stop being such cry babies, we have shit to do."

     "Sometimes, you are just so fucking unpleasant," Minho grumbled as he took Newt's hand.

     Kis smiled at him while holding her middle finger in front of her face.

     "Focus!" Newt snapped as he took the blonde girl's hand. "We need to get Tommy and El okay? Then you two can cut each other's throats."

     Kis rolled her eyes but squeezed Newt's hand. "Okay, let's go kick some WICKED ass."

3:17pm

     "What did you do to him?!" El screamed as the WICKED guard took her out of the metal cuffs. She kicked and thrashed as she was dragged to the other side of the room and thrown into a chair.

     "Why doesn't he remember Newt?!" El yelled as she struggled against the man holding her down.

     "Would you shut up!" The man hissed as he whipped his back hand across her face. The girl froze for a second before spitting blood at him.

     "You're sick!" She spat. "Absolutely sick!"

     The guard strapped her arms into the chair, letting out a breath of relief as the straps lit up and the web of tubes started crawling up the girl's arms.

     Thomas could barely breathe, sweat was dripping down his forehead and his body felt like it had been run over by a car. The more he tried to fight the thing in his head, the more exhausted he became. It was like the fight against his mind was killing his body.

     El was still screaming, she had an endless amount of fight in her. It was almost as if him not remembering this Newt person sparked some infinite rage inside her. He still didn't know who he was, he racked his brain for hours and hours but every supposed "memory" came up blank.

     "What are you doing to me?" Thomas heard El whimper from the other side of the room. The tubes had snaked up her arms and rested on the sides of her head, like some sort of leech.

     "We need to take away anything prompting you to resist."

     Thomas could see the fear in El's face. "My memories? You're taking my memories?"

     The guard's silence was enough confirmation for Thomas and El whose body stiffened. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she let the things she held dear slip out of her mind.

     "You've been here before," the guard stated as he clicked something on his screen. "A long time ago hm?"

     El sniffled loudly, the tears falling more rapidly now, she'd never felt so helpless. "I-I don't r-remember."

     "Good." The guard smiled as he kept clicking away on his screen. Suddenly he paused, the silence drawing out and making the whole room seem eerie.

     "You have someone too?"

     "What?"

     "Someone you love?"

     "I-I..."

     "Don't worry, I'm taking care of it."

     Thomas felt sick, his friend was suffering and there was nothing he could do. He stared at the floor and thought long and hard. He remembered El, he remembered meeting her but he couldn't pinpoint where it had happened. He remembered Minho vaguely and he remembered the blonde girl, Kismet, she was kind of a bitch. Everything else seemed fuzzy, like when you wake up in a strange place and have to play the "how did I get home last night?" game.

     "You can't do this," Thomas mumbled from his spot.

     The guard scoffed. "What did you say Tommy?"

     That felt wrong, something in Thomas' stomach twisted.

     "Don't call me that."

     "I can call you whatever the fuck I want." The guard shook his head before turning back to the screen. "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. If you're good, I'll delete your bad memories too."

     El looked up at Thomas, her bottom lip slightly quivering. "Will I forget him?"

     "The boy? Not all of him."

     "What do you mean not all of him?!"

     "You'll remember his face and his name but much of your past will be erased momentarily."

     The man smiled. "There you go, all done."

     El stared blankly at the wall. She blinked slowly as she looked around the room. "How did I get here?"

     "Don't worry." The guard smiled as he looked at the lost girl. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss that later...now, it's Thomas' turn!"

4:45 pm

     The three stood in front of the door waiting for it to slide open.

     "Why aren't they going in?" Newt whispered to Minho.

     "I'm not sure."

     "Idiots," Kis scoffed. "It's because they don't have a reason to."

     "What do you mean?"

     She looked Newt once over before meeting his gaze. "How big does your image manipulation go?"

     The blonde boy shrugged. "I've been getting pretty good at it."

     Kis smiled one of those creepy smiles that either meant someone was going to die or they were going to do something big and stupid, Newt prayed for the latter.

     "Follow me boys." You could practically hear the excitement in her voice as she dragged her friends to a giant tree. They looped behind it, and dropped hands.

     "Alright Newt, have at it," Kis said as she motioned to the tree.

     "What?"

     "Make a distraction, have fun with it! Create whatever you want! Just make sure it'll catch at least someone's attention."

     Newt thought for a moment before slowly approaching the tree and placing his hands on it. Kis and Minho watched as it shook and started growing taller. Branches stemmed out of the sides and grew spikes off them. It kept growing until Kis lost the top of it in the sky.

     "What the f-"

     Then a loud wack sounded and the tree crackled as it split in two. Newt smiled at his friends as the wood moaned and then started to fall. It fell fast, erecting screams from the surrounding WICKED guards.

     The massive wood aimed for the complex, threatening to tumble right onto the roof. The massive size of it would clearly crush anyone outside who was in its path.

     "RUN!" A guard screamed as he grabbed his partner and tugged him inside.

     "That's our cue!" Minho shouted as he pointed toward the sliding doors that were slowly opening.

     Newt grabbed his friends hands, turning them invisible and breaking into a sprint. They caught up to the other guards quickly, tumbling inside and pushing their backs up to the wall. Newt's eyes went out of focus as he stared at the tree and let it disappear from sight, it went back to the way it was before, a normal tree lightly blowing in the breeze. The confusion on the guard's faces was almost hysterical.

     "What just happened out there?" one asked the other.

     "Someone should go tell boss," another one suggested.

     "Are we being attacked?"

     "Is it the mutants?!"

     "I'll go tell boss," one guard spoke as he clutched his gun tighter, "the rest of you, go back to your position and make sure whoever did this hasn't breached the door."

     They nodded and hurried to their position as the messenger guard started down the hallway. The three exchanged looks and passed a common consensus between them. They couldn't let him go to Thomas' mom, she would surely know it was them.

     Minho slowly raised his gun with the hand that wasn't holding Newt's and launched one of the darts into his back. He fell and the three ran over to him and removed him from sight as they dragged his body into a janitor's closet. Once he was stuffed inside, Minho softly clicked the door shut and winked at Newt.

     "Stealth."

     "Shut the bloody hell up."

     "Let's keep moving," Kis said softly as she motioned to one of the corridors.

     "Do you know where you're going?"

     "I have no idea where they're holding them, but it's a start."

     Minho nodded and started down the corridor, followed by the other two. Of course, they knew that they couldn't be seen but the entire situation was nerve wracking. Minho's hair was on end, Newt's hands were sweaty and Kis' heart was pounding. If at any moment their cover was blown, they'd be dead in seconds.

     "Guys-" Newt whispered as he let out a shaky breath.

     "What?"

     "I-It's happenin-" the blonde trailed off as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground.

     "Shit!" Kis cussed as she grabbed the boy's arm. "Minho! Door!"

     The buff boy sprung into action, grabbing the closest door and slamming it open. He let out a loud sigh of relief when it was empty. It was a small room, not much bigger than a closet. There were empty racks lining the walls and a small hanging light on the ceiling. Kis dragged Newt's unconscious body in the room and watched as Minho closed and locked the door behind them.

     "The fuck is happening to him?!" Minho whisper yelled as he dropped next to his friend who was shaking and whimpering.

     "It's Thomas," Kis said as she tried to hold Newt down. "It's something Thomas is doing to him. I'm not sure what."

     Minho looked slightly terrified. "I-Is he okay?"

     Kis was quiet for a moment as her eyes fluttered closed. "I'm not getting anything at the moment, I think he'll be fine."

     "Well we can't go anywhere with him like this!"

     "We're going to have to wait it out," Kis said as she pushed Newt's hair out of his face. "He shouldn't be out for too long."

     "What if someone comes to the door? What if-"

     "Minho!" Kis snapped. "Chill out. Freaking out isn't going to help Newt or Thomas or El okay?"

     "Are we in over our heads?" Minho asked softly as he stared at his friend who kept twitching on the floor.

     "No." Kis looked up at him. "I've been on worse missions, this is just a minor set back."

     Minho scoffed.

     "What?"

     "I hate it when you lie to me."

     Silence fell over them for a few moments. There really was no point in hiding it, they were pretty fucked in their current situation. None of their plan worked without Newt, he was the key to a majority of it. It wasn't his fault that Thomas kept tapping into his mind, but they really needed him right now, if they went out there visible, even with the stolen uniforms, it would certainly be suicide.

     Newt let out a long breath and muttered something that sounded like it was along the lines of his love's name. He was still after that, his chest rising and falling at almost a peaceful rate.

     Kis opened her mouth to say something, but cut off when a bang sounded on the door.

     "Who the fuck locked this thing?"

     The fear was evident in the Kis and Minho's eyes as they faced each other.

     "Shit."

November 27th 1996

     A few weeks. They stayed at the school for a few weeks and learned more about themselves than years in their past situations had taught them.

     "Addi, come here!" Rose laughed as she pulled the blonde girl into her room. Yes, her room, her own room. They managed to get rooms across the hall from each other, as if anyone could separate them.

    "I told you to stop touching me you fuckin parasite," Addison hissed as she pulled out of Rose's grasp and flopped down on her bed.

     "It's important though!" Rose exclaimed as she sat by her friend's legs.

     "I expect to be amazed by this said information you have to share."

     "Well it's not so much information as it is an idea."

     Addison raised her eyebrow as if to say, carry on.

     "So you know Quicksilver and Professor X and Beast right?"

     "Course I do."

     "Well they all have cool names."

     "That they do."

     "So we should have cool names!" Rose practically bounced with excitement.

     Addison smiled softly, she liked the idea. She hated the name her parents gave her, it would be cool to go by another name for a while.

     "Okay, do you have any ideas?"

     "Well...no, I didn't get that far yet."

     Addison's face twisted as she looked at her best friend and thought hard. Rose had a unique power, it was like she had control over all the elements. Addison had seen her conjure up fire, bend water at her will, channel ice and even raise the ground. Elements, elementalist...

     "El," Addison said with a small smile.

     "What?"

     "Your name, it's El. Short for elementalist because you know that's what you do, you control elements."

     The girl thought for a moment before smiling wide. "I like it. El, I really like it." She smiled harder and Addison's stomach clenched.

     "Really?"

     El nodded before her eyes lit up and she bounced in her spot. "I got it."

     "Got what?"

     "I got the perfect name for you."

     "Oh yeah?"

     "Kismet."

     "Kismet?"

     "It's a word I read in a book a while ago."

     "What's it mean?"

     "Fate."

     "I love it."