On the run

She shook her head, the food was sufficient and she was very grateful.

"Hmm, my parents? No, not really. I was abandoned at the orphanage when I was really little, they say it happens all the time. They probably couldn't afford to keep me or something." It wasn't too hard to believe from the neighborhood she was from. Maybe her parents even thought she'd have a better life if her food and shelter were already paid for.

"So what do you do? You got a nice place, food, a butler. Sounds expensive." Maybe she was just making small talk, maybe she was genuinely interested. They still didn't discuss how either of them became known as murderers.

Nightkill felt a brief flash of anger, though he was somewhat sure it didn't show on his face. Parents shouldn't abandon their kids like that.

But that's what you did to your son, right?

Shut up.

He chuckled. "I own a software company. I also own several businesses actually, so I made lots of money when I first came here." Here was such a relative term. It could mean USA, it could mean New York.

It could mean Earth.

He looked toward her. "So, what are your powers?" he asked. "Would you like to know mine first?"

"Sure, you go first. Sounds like fun." She set the empty plate down on the surgical table beside her, lifted up her knees to her chest, and watched intently.

Nightkill smiled. "The first thing you should understand is that I'm part robot. A cyborg, you may say." he said. He held up his hand, and wires began shooting out of it. He zipped said wires back in. "These wires allow me to tie people up, and hack into computers, among other things." he said.

"I also have a wireless Internet reciver in my brain. This means I can go on the Internet without using a phone or computer."

"And my energy blasts." he said, firing a brief energy blast from his finger, and making a small dent in the wall. "That can be fixed." he said. "My energy blasts work around the same way, as, well, have you seen DragonBall Z? Kinda like that. Any questions?"

Of course, he hadn't mentioned his most powerful power- the ability to drain other people's life force and use it to heal himself. He didn't believe he should tell Amy that, it might scare her.

Her eyes enlarged at his display of his cybernetic functions. Something she didn't particularly notice at first. They seemed a bit scary at first, why would someone want that? Or maybe he didn't have a choice. Maybe he got hurt badly and needed it to survive. There weren't computers at her orphanage, so she wasn't really 'computer savvy' about a lot of things, like hacking. That would go for Dragonball or cable television as well. The energy blasts she found impressive and powerful.

"Nope, no questions. Seems like some handy stuff to have around, especially with your business in computers. Guess that makes it my turn..." Mist closed her eyes and tilted her head up, concentrating on her ability. Suddenly her skin sparkled and her body transformed into millions of beads of water, a mist-like cloud. She ran her hand through the edge of the table, and the molecules moved around it, so it seemed like it went through her.

"Things go through or around me like this. Handcuffs, rope... bullets. And if I'm holding onto something, like this plate, or the clothes I wear, they transform with me. But I can't do people or animals. Just things." She shrugged her shoulders and changed back into her normal self, forming hair and skin.

Nightkill's eyes were impressed. "That's a very useful skill. Your powers will most likely grow with age." he said.

"Did you get them naturally? Or was there an incident?" he asked.

She scratched her head and chuckled nervously. "Well, sort of both. Whenever I'm in trouble I can activate it pretty instantly. I guess its just when I'm really afraid it comes naturally. But when I want to use it, like when I showed you, it takes a bit of concentration. There was an incident with it though, that's why the police want to catch me.

She scrunched her lips and looked at the ceiling, trying to recall the incident over again in her mind. "It was after the orphanage burned down. I didn't know where to go so I just walked around the City trying to find a new home. These guys started to follow me, chase me even. Eventually I got cornered, and they wanted money, one had a gun. I didn't have any, though.

The guy with the gun looked like he was on the edge, really desperate. When he shot the gun, I screamed and changed before the bullet hit me. It was a bit different when the other guy shot me in the leg, I didn't know he had a gun, I was just running from him.

Anyway, I ran towards that guy with the gun, who kept trying to shoot me. He was afraid of me or something. I changed back to normal, grabbed his gun, and changed the gun and myself back to water. Once that happened, the water slipped through his fingers. The gun wasn't in his control, it was mine. I changed back to normal, then I shot him in the foot. But the second guy punched me.. It hurt pretty bad." She rubbed her right cheek with her knuckles as if she just got punched.

I thought he was gonna kill me, so I shot him too. But apparently that guy died... So here I am."

Nightkill felt sad for this child. He may be a monster, but he was a monster who believed children shouldn't suffer. This child had been through things that no child should experience. They were much too young and impressionable.

Nightkill had personally done worse, but this was different, coming from the mouth of a kid.

"I'm sorry." he said. It wasn't enough, it wouldn't ever be enough, and they both knew that. A thousand "I'm sorry's wouldn't bring that dead man back, and wouldn't reverse time.

He gave her a comforting hug. "You're safe now." he told her.

The hug was comforting. It'd been a few days since she felt this safe. In the gates of her orphanage, no evil could come in. But out there in the City, it seems monsters were all around. There were those who seemed to be nice, like Oni who made her soup. But it was only stalling her until the police got there, he was really betraying her. Nightkill saved her from the Bounty Hunter, from her wound, brought her to a secure home. She owed him.

It did occur to her that in a way, she was somewhat adopted. Nightkill offered to teach her, keep her safe, let her use his house. It had been something she was waiting for all those years in the orphanage. Granted, the orphanage probably wouldn't let him adopt, considering he's a "murderer". But this just seemed right.

(Fast forward a few days.)

Nightkill had more or less adopted Mist. He didn't tell her about his... less than saintly activities, but he did teach her things like math, world history, languages, and astronomy. Right now, he was teaching her algebra. "So," he said, covering up the textbook. "Can you tell me the Pythagorean Therom now?" he asked.

He was very impressed with how fast she was developing. She was very bright, just needed some guidance. Also, they were doing some superpower stuff too. That class came after this one, where Nightkill would help her control her powers. They could restart that as soon as she answered this question.

He was also, almost against his will, growing fond of Amy. Nonsense. he scoffed to himself after these thoughts. I'm just raising her to be a formidable ally. But he felt that wasn't true.

Mist blinked rapidly when he covered up the textbook, with a pop quiz question. She thought a moment before replying. "Sure, its a theorem which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of those of the two other sides. The Pythagorean equation is A squared plus B squared equals C squared."

She had been learning quite a lot under the training of Nightkill, it was easier to learn from someone she enjoyed sharing company with. Over the past few days, she had been spending a lot of time with him.

Nightkil grinned proudly. "Good work." he said, giving her a high-five.

"Now, let's see a bit more on your powers." he said. "John?" he called, and his butler came in. (Picture a guy looking like Alfred.). John left a cage on the table, and walked off.

Nightkill took the rabbit inside the cage out. It was wearing a small bracelet on one paw. "You see," he was saying, "We know you can't turn organic stuff into mist. But let's try and see if you can turn non-organic material on that person into mist." he said.

"Simple as cake, as long as its in my reach." Mist reached her hand out and wrapped her fingers around the rabbit's paw, which the bracelet was attached to. Closing her eyes and concentrating, her skin transformed into water vapor, changing the bracelet as well with her.

She took two steps back, and shifted back to flesh and bone. She held the rabbit's bracelet outstretched in the palm of her hand and chuckled softly. "I've done it a few times before, but I guess you haven't actually been able to see me do it yet."

Nightkill nodded. "That's good. It means you can take someone's weapons if they try to attack you." he said. "You're really doing fantastic."

"Classes are over for today, you can relax now, do what you want. I'll send the rabbit to a zoo, unless you want to keep him."

"Uh-huh" She had actually been required to take an enemies weapon twice already. Once she took an attackers gun away, and the second time she took an electric stun stick from a police officer. The rabbit really had piqued her interest. It was constantly wrinkling its nose and breathing rapidly. It let Nightkill hold him and not struggle at all. It was just docile and gentle. She really wanted to hold it.

"The zoo would just be another chore for John... This guy could use a good home." She said with a glow in her eyes.

Nightkill chuckled, and gave Mist the rabbit. He sat down. "Alright, you can play with him and name him, or do what you want, I have to work now." he said, standing up and walking into the basement.

Truth be told, his current work didn't have anything to do with the several companies he owned. He was currently investigating two things.

1. The possibility of taking over some countries, increase his power for when he finally took over the world.
2. Mist's parents.

He was looking for the second right now. He needed to talk with them. The talk included possibly punching them in the face. He also needed to know if Mist's powers were genetic, and what they might become or surpass.

The punch in the face was also very important.

He had some of Mist's DNA from healing her leg, and he also looked for people born around the same time that Mist was dropped at the orphanage. He sat in his chair, and surfed the Net in his head.

(You can decide where they are.)