8 months earlier…
Carcasses in different ages and sizes filled the basement floor of St. Helena Medical Center with a pungent odour.
Hailee Cross stood at the bottom of the stairs and took it all in.
Bodies were everywhere, some intact and most not.
A woman slumped over a lab table with her insides on the outside and a kid who couldn't have been older than twelve was face-down near a furnace with his back split like he had been unzipped.
"Jesus," one of the agents muttered.
Hailee stepped forward and her boots stuck to the concrete with every step, making a gross flypaper sound.
The movement made her hips sway naturally, her tight black pants doing absolutely nothing to hide the cargo she was carrying.
One of the younger agents spotted a glance, but quickly looked away when she glanced back.
She stopped and looked down, bending at the waist to examine a severed hand on the floor. Her vest rode up slightly, exposing a strip of pale skin at her lower back.
"Status?" she called out to one of her men
A young agent with red eyes near the far wall looked up from his tablet.
"Uh.... forty-three confirmed dead mam. No survivors yet."
"Yet," Hailee repeated, straightening up. She tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear. The movement made her chest shift under the vest. "So you're still looking."
"Yes ma'am."
She walked deeper into the basement, her braid swaying with each step.
She found destroyed lab equipment, monitors and paper scattered everywhere.
An older agent with a cut over one eye approached.
"Preliminary findings suggest high-heat exposure," he said. "Burns consistent with prolonged contact and there are some defensive wounds too."
"So they fought back."
"Tried to."
She kept walking till she reached a door in the back melted straight through the lock.
She pushed it open with her boot, leaning her shoulder against the frame. The movement pulled her vest tight across her chest.
There were three bodies inside piled on each other.
"Ma'am."
She turned, her braid whipping over her shoulder.
Another agent was pointing at something near the furnace.
Hailee walked over to find what seemed to be the corpse of a bald and naked woman that's been burned beyond recognition.
She stopped and put one hand on her hip, cocking it to the side. The position made her waist look tiny compared to everything else.
She crouched down, keeping her knees together. "Looks like someone left a turkey in the oven for six hours."
She tilted her head, examining the body.
"What's even the point of the boobs still being there at this point? They're just charred meat." She glanced up at the agent. "Tragic, really. Mine are fantastic and with our line of work I'd hate to see them end up like this one day."
The agent's face turned bright red.
Hailee stood, stretching slightly. Her back arched and her chest pushed forward.
"Just saying." She wiped her hands on her thighs even though she hadn't touched anything and the motion drew attention exactly where she probably intended. "If you're gonna die, at least die pretty."
She moved on, unbothered by the carnage or the eyes following her.
The smell was getting worse the deeper she went so she wrinkled her nose slightly, but somehow even that looked attractive.
She walked over to a secluded part of the lab, hidden behind some equipment.
And there he was....
A boy slumped against the wall with torn clothes, dark blue hair and.... a mask over his face.
There were burns on his arms and chest but definitely not as bad as the others.
Why??
Cause he was still breathing
Hailee crouched in front of him, close enough that if he opened his eyes he'd have a perfect view down her vest.
But he didn't move.
She studied his face for a moment before he finally opened his eyes.
It was just for a second but Hailee caught the colour.
It was blue with a faint glow to it.
He looked at her face, then past her. At the bodies, the blood and the carnage but his expression didn't change.
His eyes closed again and his head dropped forward.
Hailee stayed crouched there staring at him, then she leaned in slightly and brought her lips close to his ear.
"The look in your eyes tells me you're probably wondering how it is you even got here." she said quietly and paused.
"And more importantly who could have done something like this."
The glow in her green eyes intensified and her voice dropped to an octave.
"But don't worry, I've already identified the culprit..."
She stood slowly, her shadow falling over him and focused her eyes on a large magic circle that had been burned on to the surface of the wall in front of her.
It had seven different sections and seven different symbols.
"It's you"
She looked back down at him and hardened her expression.
"Or at least what will be left of you." Said Hailee as she crouched down again with her palm out to meet the face of the boy.