Hellfire & Brimstone

Self Control

"Try again." I could hear Bucky talking but I still had my eyes closed. "You can do it, Jesse, focus!" 

We were on the roof to our building, the sun was setting and we had been at this for several hours already. Every night for the last 6 months we had been meeting up here at sunset. It was a standing date, but it was work! Bucky was doing everything he could to help me. He had told me that his last line of work might attract trouble, so he wanted me to be ready. He also didn't want me to burn the apartment down.

"I know... " I sighed as I lifted myself from the floor and stood again. There was a small, round, metal target mounted to the ledge of the roof. It was my target, but Bucky was ready with a fire extinguisher in case we needed it. He's only used it on my once, but that was when I lost my temper at him for pushing too hard. It had worked, I launched into a full body of flames and Bucky said he thought he saw wings on me. 

I pulled my arms to my front and held them like I was praying. I didn't need to, but it helped me focus on my breathing. 

"Think about your memories of the fire." His voice was near me, closer then I wanted but I knew he wasn't going to leave me. 

I made and audible sigh and I heard him step back a few paces. His boots clicked on the cement of the roof. I knew we were running out of time to get some practice in, it would be hard to explain sudden explosions of fire in the dead of night. 

I took my thoughts back to the first memory I had of heat. The heat rose from my feet up, so I focused on the rising heat. I pressed my toes into the cement of the roof top and took a deep breath.

I could see the cement wall of a cell, the window was higher then I could reach. The bars to the window were thick and barely allowed for light to come in. I turned and I saw the solid steel door and noticed how there was no opening for food or water. 

"She's this way."  I heard someone in the hallway shout as I stood in the middle of my room. 

"If she hasn't evolved then it's time to call it." I heard a woman's voice, she sounded very similar to the voice of the nurse that had held my hand as a child. 

I pulled my mind back to me for a moment, I could feel the hear rising in my feet. I forced myself back into the memory I was in. Something about it was different and I had to figure it out. 

I watched the door to the room I was in, I was waiting for someone to come in. I took steps back, until I felt the cold cement on my back and shoulders. I took a deep breath, were they coming to kill me? I watched the door open and I braced myself for what was about to happen.

The woman that stood in the doorway was, in fact, the nurse from my childhood. She approached and grabbed my chin roughly. She forced me to look in her eyes, and she scowled at me. I felt betrayed, as she squinted her eyes in my direction.

"No change. Terminate her." She said it so matter of fact, that I didn't know how to respond. 

Suddenly there were two men grabbing my arms and shoulders, they were forcing me out of the door and down the hallway. I was trying to fight, but they were stronger then I was. I kept kicking and began to scream over and over. 

"No! No! You can't do this!" I would kick my legs and try to pull my arms from their grasp, but nothing changed. 

They dragged me into the middle of a field. I was outside for the first time in over a year. I squinted as my pupils adjusted to the light of day and I held my hand over my brow to try to see better. They backed away and shut a metal door with a slam. I turned behind me and saw as a metal gun whirled to life.