1_JADA

Five Years Later

A Flat in Arizona

Ashely was seconds away from getting her neck snapped. I watched her as she set another innocent man up for heartbreak.

Her strawberry blonde hair was packed in a messy bun behind her head, and she had my phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, as her hands tried to prevent me from snatching my phone back.

"...are you free Friday night?" She purred

I rolled my eyes and walked away away from her to seat on the kitchen stool.

I waited.

"Oh that's great. It's a date then. See you Friday"

She ended the call and handed my phone over to me.

"You're lucky I don't have laser eyes" I snatched my phone from her hands.

She made a goofy face at me and opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water.

"Ash, please stop hooking up with guys at my workplace. It's always hard for me when you break up with them"

"But guys at your work are so fiiineee" She sighed deeply looking like she just got out of Dreamland.

I rolled my eyes, this girl is really going to give me a headache.

"But why Luke? Luke is my friend and that means he is off limit"

She looked at me like I had gone mad

"Since when?"

"See, Luke is the only person I tolerate in that whole building. I don't want you messing that up for me when you eventually breakup with him"

"What if I actually like him"

"Do you?"

She gave me a look that screamed "hell no, I just want to sleep with him"

"I could like him, who knows"

"Luke might look tough, but he is actually fragile. Just don't hurt him"

I sighed giving up on this conversation that was heading nowhere.

"I'm going back to bed, I have the nightshift today"

I yawned walking into my bedroom and locking the door.

I worked at a Bodyguard agency, Sentinel Protection Services, SPS for short. We basically provide close protection and security services to high-profile individuals, families, or organizations.

Five years ago, when I discovered that I had powers, due to the contact of the chemicals with my skin, which got absorbed quickly, altering my DNA, I knew the only way to put these powers to good use was to help other people.

I had super strength, I could literally break and bend anything, and I also had super speed, which is the coolest of both powers.

I don't know what my parents were involved in, I just knew that someone killed them for it and whoever that person is might still be out there. I just need to be as careful as possible.

No one needed to know that I was a super freak.

Ashely, Luke and Donovan are the only three people who knew about it and I planned to keep it that way.

******

As her head hit her pillow, the dreams came flooding back again.

Her frantic escape through the woods ended in disaster. As she ran, her foot caught on a hidden root, sending her tumbling to the ground. The vial her mother had entrusted to her shattered, releasing the mysterious gas.

"No!" She cried, desperately scrambling to her feet.

But it was too late. The gas had already come in contact with her skin.

At first, there was a searing pain, like her cells were being rewritten. Her vision blurred, her body trembling uncontrollably.

As the minutes passed, the agony subsided, replaced by an extraordinary sensation – her body was changing.

Her senses heightened, her strength and agility multiplying. She could feel her DNA altering, granting her incredible powers.

With her newfound abilities, she fled the woods, driven by her mother's final words: "Call this number"

She felt her pocket for the paper. She judiciously followed the haphazard map her mother had drawn in a hurry, soon she found herself out of the woods and into a road.

She walked for as few hours when she saw a car coming, she flagged the car down asking for a lift. The old man gladly agreed to help her.

She took his phone and dialed the number. A man answered on the third ring. She told him who she was and he told her exactly where to meet him.

She arrived at the designated meeting point, a nondescript diner on the outskirts of town. She spotted a man with piercing blue eyes and rugged features – Donovan.

"Jada? You have grown so much. I almost didn't recognize you" he said, rising from his booth.

She nodded, still grappling with her transformation.

Donovan's gaze narrowed. "What happened to you? You're... different."

Jada hesitated before recounting her ordeal: the laboratory, her parents' murder, the gas and her escape.

Donovan listened intently, his expression darkening.

"The gas was a top-secret serum," he explained. "Your parents developed it to enhance human capabilities. But some very bad people are after it"

Jada's anger flared. "Who did this?"

Donovan's eyes locked onto hers. "An organization known only as 'The Syndicate.' They'll stop at nothing to exploit your powers, if they find out you have them"

Jada's determination solidified. "I won't let them."

Donovan smiled grimly. "I'll help you master your powers and take down The Syndicate. But first, we need to get you safe."

As they exited the diner, she felt an unshakeable bond forming with Donovan.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Donovan's expression turned resolute. "Somewhere they will never find you."

Together, they vanished into the night, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

I woke up to a loud banging on the door, from the shadows casted around the room, it should be nearing dusk.

I heard the banging again followed by an angry scream of my name

"Jada open this door right now. I just want to know if you're still alive. You've been sleeping for more than ten hours now" Ash yelled.

I groaned

"I'm still alive" I managed to yell out.

"I want to get ready for work now. Can I have a moment of peace?"

The banging stopped and I heard her receding footsteps.

I slowly got out of bed, stretched and hurried to the bathroom.

Some lives needed saving.