[Damaged Soul]

The Burning Underneath

(Renney's POV)

I sat with the A team. I kinda had to, they wouldn't let me sit anywhere else. They were loud and always smiling, it lightened my mood but they were annoying none the less.

I finished my food and dumped the trey quickly, as I was about to leave, I notice Snake Eyes in the corner, sitting by himself near the door. Whoever came in would not notice him and whoever went out would see him and instantly run away in fear of him. No one liked Snake Eyes, because no one knew him and he seemed so closed off. I didn't really care tho, he was just another person. I left quickly after passing him a small glance with my green eyes.

"Hey, Renney! Can you deliver this to Ripcord for me? I haven't eaten all day!" Duke pleaded to me. He was part of the A team like me. I sigh and snatched it roughly from his hands, a box inside an orange envelope. He thanked me and ran off. I went to Ripcord's lab. Dropped the package hard into his lap and left, him yelling thank you after me. I leave to the training room and start practicing high kicks and punches on a punching bag. I sigh as it breaks open onto the floor. I need to control my powers. I feel the burn under my skin, it's familiar heat.

I clench my hands tightly and sit against the wall, out of sight of anyone who would pass by. I sigh as I feel sweat drop down my neck and forehead. I wipe it with the towel around my neck. I grab my water and take out my tiny match box of pills. I take one out and gulp it down with some water. I close my eyes.

My power was a curse honestly. My super strength and heightened senses. I was ahead of everyone and was accepted into the A team quickly once I got here. Just like Snake Eyes. But I've been here longer than him. I take off the white bandages around my knuckles, I put them on when I train, and look at how burned and patchy they look now.

"Feeling ok?" I look to see General Hawk. I nod and stand with a quiet grunt.

"It's getting harder to contain. I'm telling you, Hawk, I need a training room that can withstand me." I tell him and wipe my face with the white towel again. He nods and pushes up his glasses a little.

"Well... we are working on it. But I came to get you to run a few more tests." Hawk informed me. The tests were to find out what I could do. Before I had come here, I was experimented on by Cobra. I had became all powerful but kept my human form. They had tested me in Cobra and realized I was a perfect specimen of what they can do. I had escaped tho, since they weren't prepared for someone with my abilities. I left and Hawk found me.

"Alright." I tell Hawk and he leads me out and into the halls. We walk and walk until we reach the oh so familiar lab doors. I was just here tho. He opens the door for me and Ripcord has the metal table out, ready for me. I lay down and they lock me in.

"Here." Ripcord puts the metal bar in between my teeth. Usually people get belts there but I get a metal pole because I'm fucking crazy.

"Ready?" Ripcord asks and I nod, looking at him as I feel my teeth digging hard into the metal rod. He flips a few switches and types into the machine what to do. The large light with the laser attached comes closer down to me. Hawk stands in the corner, his face indifferent but his eyes are fearful. I close my eyes and feel the familiar burning sensation rise in my chest and hands. I give rough breaths against the rod.

"And... NOW." Ripcord tells me and suddenly something pierces my chest. I give a yelp around the metal in my mouth and bite down hard on it, denting it easily into a pancake.

"Almost got it..." Ripcord says over my screaming. I thrash against the metal locks holding me down. The whole table and room shakes as my power goes berserk.

"Renney! Calm down!" Hawk tells me and I see the light fixtures pop and my vision is flooded with red and I feel the blood tears fall down my face.

"FUCK!" I hear Hawk curse suddenly and I look to see that I am on top of him, claws out and ready to slash his face off. My vision clears as Ripcord inserts the needle into my neck. I suddenly feel too sleepy to sit up and I fall to the side beside Hawk. My eyes drift closed but I can hear them conversing.

"That was too close." Hawk mumbled.

"Maybe we need better reinforcements, sir. Are you..." Ripcord trailed off.

"No I'm fine, Ripcord. She didn't mean to. She is just having problems controlling herself. Add them to the list...." They all fade away as I finally fall asleep, feeling my body cooling down instantly.

{Later...}

I woke up to the ceiling of my room. I sigh as I hop out of bed. I go into my private bathroom, all rooms have one. And I look at myself in the mirror. I notice the black fading from the whites in my eyes. I notice the dried blood in my hair line from the blood tears before. I notice the severe burns on the palms of my hands. I strip and notice the burns across my chest that ripple across my skin. I narrow my eyes and notice the small cuts all over me. My powers had almost torn my physical body apart.

I turn on the hot water and start my bath. Once it's filled enough, I sit in it and stay seated there, letting the hot water burn me even more than I already am. I think about what Ripcord had reported to me after the first few tests. He had told me that I was going to die if I didn't learn to correctly use my powers and harness it. Because all this bundle of energy burns deep within me like the first layers of hell. (Heat goes up.) I'm slowly dying. I'm slowly becoming just a bundle of energy. And to help get rid of this excess energy, I go to train. And end up breaking equipment because of my excess energy. I don't get in trouble for it anymore though.

I'm slowly dying. My life is getting ebbed away with this ball of fire inside of me. It's like a mini sun but it's still just as powerful as the full scale one. And we can't get rid of it or I'd die even faster, I'd be too weak. But if we keep it in me, I'll die slower but I'll still end up dying. And if any more tests end with more cuts all over me, then I'm sure soon it won't be just me remaining. It would be shreds of flesh and splatters of blood all over the fucking walls in that lab room of both males.

I'd kill them and me, and maybe everyone else for that matter.

Three gentle knocks come to my bedroom door. I hear them. I panic, I wash the blood out, clean my cuts, bandage my burns. I get dressed, my hair already dry once it's out of water, the water in it evaporating from all the heat under my skin. I open the door to see Scarlet. I sigh at her.

"What do you want?" I ask harshly, crossing my arms. I don't feel like seeing anyone today. I don't want to talk, I don't want to be around anyone. I want to be alone.

"Are you ok?" She asks. I narrow my eyes at her and slam the door roughly, shaking the building slightly. I sigh and try to control my anger that bubbles up in my heart. I clutch it over my shirt. Why am I such a jerk? I shut out so many people because I'm dangerous and I just wish I could kill myself.

But Hawk needs me. He needs me here to win against Cobra. I'm their secret weapon. But they know Cobra has people all over the world who could pick up Cobra's work if we killed Cobra. So we have to flush them out, because something big is coming.

We just don't know what it is yet.