Nova's POV

I wasn't sure what I had expected, but it wasn't the man before me. The man was beautifully, dangerously crafted, like a weapon built to destroy. His gaze was unnerving, the way he watched me like I was a prize or no... more like a god.

I half expected him to bow to me. And as flattering as that should have been I was worried by this notion.

The restraints keeping me in place could not yet keep me from shivering nervously. Despite how tough I may have seemed, this man surprisingly intimidated me.

I could still kick his ass, but I was a tad shaken...

He had eyes that could capture your attention no matter what expression may have been across his dark features. They were big hazelnut-brown narrowed saucers, intense and I was unable to pull my own eyes away. The man's hair was short, sort of like a military cut, and based on the way he was built, I could assume he was high ranking. He didn't however have a uniform, but instead a charcoal black suit. His whole aura was refined and said one big word; wealthy.

The stranger stepped forward and brushed away a stray thread of hair that had fallen into my eyes. Automatically I flinched, not used to that type of touch; the kind, gentle kind. Perplexed, and disgusted, the man registered my actions quickly. His stare deepened as he looked into my eyes further.

"They don't understand you, but I do." His first words to me, this stranger's first words were almost enough to make tears fall from my eyes.

I blinked several times, unwilling to let those emotions spill out of me. This man could not see my weaknesses... how did I know that he wouldn't use them against me?

Unable to speak due to the muzzle over my mouth, I looked away. My entire body tensed. I was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"And when I uncage you, you will be able to annihilate those who doubted you, hurt you, or would hurt you." He spoke to me with force, his words deadly, and violent.

They were the words of someone who would sooner see the world destroyed than in the wrong hands. He sought to make me a villain, someone who would rather see the world burn. It rattled me to my core. On one hand, I was thrilled, and on another, I was horrified. I had hoped to believe people were better than the few I had come to know in this shithole of a lab.

"I'm getting you out of here," his eyes locking with mine once more.

I swallowed, feeling the overwhelming joy trying to bubble its way out of me. A single tear managed to trail down my cheek and the metal muzzle. Despite that he was likely a complete psychopath, I felt seen for once. For once in my life, I felt worth saving.

I wished desperately I could thank him, even though I would probably never trust him, I was still grateful to this stranger.

Anywhere that wasn't here, had to be better.

The mysterious man turned and exited the room without another word. Left with my thoughts, I wondered who this man was to have enough power to be allowed access to take me from here. Besides other military presence, I had never seen anyone within these walls. Neither had I been allowed outside the walls of the facility.

All of a sudden. the door opened once more and in came scientists, as well as the strange man whom I still did not know the name of.

Weary-eyed, the scientists began removing my restraints piece by piece. The man was confident enough to have them peel away the things keeping me from destroying him. Just what did he have up his sleeve?

When the muzzle was finally off I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, fresh air. My energy surged through my veins, the magnetic field in the restraints and plates disconnecting from my powers. With my eyes flashing green, I looked at the man who had freed me.

"Who are you?" I asked lightly, gauging what his next response would be.

Across his lips came a wild grin. "I am Kane Undergrove."

The name was a real name and a familiar name. I was almost positive I had heard the name countless times by the scientists here. But there was something else too. Something that connected us, but I just couldn't remember.

"Do you have a name love?" He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as the scientists left the room..

I bit my lip, my cheeks burning. Here I went by two names, Diabla, and Nova. But Nova was the name Blaze had given me, solely by him. Everyone else knew me as Diabla. The name said everything you needed to know about me.

Ashamedly, I .answered him, "My name is Diabla."

He cocked his head at me in surprise. "You're named after the devil?"

I glared at him, embarrassed. "I do believe that's what it means. One doesn't just get that reputation without cause."

He walked closer to me, causing me to grow rigid. Every time he came near me I felt something deeply in my core, sort of like I was intimidated by him... but it was more than that. Like I could feel the very essence of his soul and all it offered me was dark malice and the unmistakable trace of passion...

"Laura. That's your birth name." He baited me, this one sentence an evil, irresistible trap.

"What are you talking about?" I could feel my fists clenching as I whispered this aloud without a second thought.

Kane clicked his tongue, and gave me a conflicted grimace. "Your mother loved that name. Of course it didn't matter because she never got to raise you since you were taken at birth."

Shocked, hurt and raw tears built in my eyes, begging to come out. But I knew, I knew that's exactly what he wanted. And I couldn't give in.

So he kept going.

"I'll never forget the look of pure abandonment as you were stripped her from her. She screamed and screamed for you as they held her down." He continued, my stomach growing sicker and sicker.

Free tears rolled down my cheeks now, my pain evident while I glowered at his perfect unscarred face...

"'Laura, please don't take. her, Laura.' She wouldn't stop crying, it was heartbreaking, truly. My point, Diabla is that I know there is much more to you than that sadistic, mocking title you were given." Kane spoke softly, like his words were meant to be kind.

And maybe they were in .some sick twisted way. I thought perhaps his intent was to make me realize I was human, that my name was suggestive of otherwise. But it was true, the name was correct. At least I believed it was most days.

Gritting my teeth, I held. back the rest of the tears in my eyes. "You are a fool if you think there is anything left of me that's good."

The villainous man leered and leaned forward. "Darling, you have no idea what evil is. You do bad things to survive, I do bad things because I like it."

Chills ran down my spine at his response. I believed him when he said that, he was being completely genuine. If he was trying to scare me it was working. My new concern was that he wanted to change me, harshen my heart.

"Now, I can't imagine you'd like to waste another second of being stuck here, so love, will you come with me?" Kane interrupted my thoughts.

He bowed slightly and moved back, creating a walkway beside him. Kane beckoned me forward, his invitation to leave like hand for help that had never been leant to me. But something in me turned, like gears in a factory.

Should I go with him?

Yes, he was offering a way out, an escape to my years of pain, suffering and tears. Still, it seemed too good to be true. A trap set for me, like a hunter leaving meat to a starved killer lion. Secondly, I was not about to be manipulated by someone with charm. The man had the face of an angel and the heart of a demon.

I noticed that Kane had begun staring at me, his eyes only curious, not suspicious. To that I can only thank him for his obliviousness.

Smirking slightly since I had finally regained my confidence, I took a few steps closer to him. He locked eye contact with me, stood his ground and crossed his arms over his chest.

Cocky basterd.

"Listen to me, I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm gonna guess someone very important..." I started, feeling both the rage and power surging through my bones. "And you know what I think?"

Kane only grinned, his eyes dropping from my lips and back up to my eyes. "What do you think?"

My fists were glowing. "I think you'd make a very useful hostage so that these morons release my friends and I on my own account."

He chuckled. "I'd like to see you try and make me a hostage."

Did this man have no idea the most dangerous human being was standing in front of him?

Without a second thought, I raised my palm and placed it on his chest. I waited for the overwhelming sense of power to flow through me but unexpectedly, nothing occurred. My whole body was glowing, and my hand was touching Kane, but nothing was happening.

What was odder was the fact that I could feel nothing being absorbed from Kane. Usually when make a connection with someone, I can automatically feel their life force intertwine with my own, and I'm able to take theirs, little by little until the person no longer exists and they're just barely a body of flesh.

But when I touched Kane, I couldn't feel his life force. I felt something else, stronger. Before I could even figure out what it was, the connection was severed. Kane took my hand off of him and with the force of three men put together, pinned my against the wall next to us face first.

I let out a grunt of discomfort as he bent my arm back behind me and pressed his upper half against me to keep me there. The wind had been knocked from my lungs with his forceful shove, causing me to let out a heavy breath.

A new kind of fear fell over me.

He was immune to my power...

I felt his chest shake slightly while he laughed mercilessly. "I have a few secret gifts of my own, Diabla."

Taking a shuddering deep breath, I tried my hardest to get out of his grip, but it only made him pull my arm back further. Crying out, I immediately rethought struggling in his hold.

He leaned his lips by my ear, making the very skin on my neck grow goosebumps. "Darling, we can do this the hard way, or the preferred, peaceful way, but no matter what option you choose, you're coming with me."

Defeated, I relaxed my tensed body, my green glow dimming. There was no use fighting him right now. I believed his promise to make me come unwillingly and something told me that was going to be a hell of a lot more painful.

Damn it.

"Fine, I'll go, under one condition." I told him.

I knew I was in no position to negotiate, but I had to do everything in my power to help my family. They were my lifeline, and I promised them that they'd all be okay.

Chuckling once more, Kane leaned forward, and pulled my arm a tad harder. I shut my eyes and bit my lip but it didn't stop the pained squeal that left me. "And what condition is that?" He asked me.

I could feel the muscles in my arm burning in pain, wanting the release on his hold to stop, and I had to resist the urge to beg him to let go. But I refused to let him win.

"If I go- if we go, my friends will come to no harm. Do what you want with me, but leave my friends out of it." I finally replied, not planning to back down from this fight.

Suddenly he let go of my arm and turned me around. My relief was short lived as his intimidating stare captured my eyes once more. His expression had suddenly grown incredibly serious. He eyed my lips, then went back to looking through to my soul.

I swallowed as Kane lifted his hand to slowly caress the side of my face. "I promise that I will never hurt you, love."

My whole body broke out in shivers, and everything felt... safe. For just a moment I let my guard down, trusted him.

Just a moment...

Pushing his hand away abruptly and with more force than I had intended, I frowned at him intensely. "My concern is not with me, but my friends. Give me your word you won't hurt them."

He grinned and walked away from me. I started after him, infuriated.

What the hell?!

"Your love for you family will only get you killed." He said walking steadily ahead of me.

"Spoken like a true sociopath." I commented, trying to catch up as he lead me out of the white celled room.

"You just don't want to admit that I might be right." He retorted without emotion.

Frustrated, I grabbed his arm and swung him backward to meet me. Glowering at Kane, I continued to push for his answer. "Will you promise not to hurt them or not?"

He sighed, shook his head, and nodded. "I promise no direct harm will come from my hand."

This man sure had a way of phrasing things, always creating an out or a cheat in his promises. The way he said, my hand, like if other harm befell them it wouldn't be his fault, and he couldn't be blamed.

But it was also the closest thing I was getting to a promise, so I finally dropped the matter and continued to walk by his side. I would have to look out for them, and protect them as best as I could. Not that they were defenseless, they certainly could put up a good fight, I just didn't want to see any of them hurt.

Ever.

"Will you tell me where you're taking us?" I questioned, thinking at the very least I deserved to know that.

He smirked, but remained silent. I guessed he didn't feel entitled to give any sort of information until he felt like it. The worst part was that I couldn't do anything about it right now. Kane was immune to my power which meant right now, I was no danger to him.

I couldn't help but take in all of my surroundings as we walked. Scientists, if they made eye contact, made sure to look away, most of them horrified I had been let out of my cage. Especially since they had left the power suppressors off of me. I could kill any one of these people that had tortured me since birth.

This place I was in was massive, a lot larger than I expected. But that made sense since there were very few places I'd been let or put into. It was either a lab or the cage or the small cafeteria I shared with the others. It made me feel a little hopeless.

There were many times when I contemplated escaping, running away. However, there was no way I would have been able to find my way out here, much less lead my friends and I out. It was huge, not to mention the heavy security and scientists in pretty much every direction I turned.

Eventually we got to an elevator, which took us to the roof top. When we got to the rooftop there were two helicopters waiting. My heart uncontrollably leapt at the thought of getting out of here. I was finally leaving. This hadn't been a trap, Kane was actually taking me out of this horrible place.

I was elated, seeing those helicopters made my eyes swell with hopeful tears. My rescuer of sorts turned towards me.

He saw the pure joy in my eyes, the emotion I accidently let him see. He gave me a small, sad smile. "You won't ever have to come back here."

I nodded my head. That was the only thank you I could muster.

"There are two helicopters. The one on the right has your friends, I'll be in the one on the left. They have room for one more on the helicopter with your friends, but if you want, you can ride on the helicopter with me." He explained.

It was a no brainer. I took off in the direction of the right one and didn't plan on looking back. for some annoying reason, I did though. I looked back. I was just in time to see Kane get onto his helicopter. We locked eyes for just a moment before I was ushered onto the helicopter by Kane's soldiers.

The second I saw Blaze I forgot all about Kane. Blue, Storm and Runt were also waiting for me in their seats. Immensely relieved to se my family, I hurried to them and sat down. They all hugged me, each one of them just as happy to see me as I was them.

Blue had tears in her eyes, which caused a pang in my heart. "I thought they were gonna leave without you."

I smiled, and hugged her, burying my face in her shoulder. "They'll never separate our family."

Once I could finally breathe easy, I sat down next to Blaze, feeling his heat. He smiled at me, and pulled my head closer so he could kiss it. My cheeks warmed automatically when his lips peeled away from my forehead.

"Whoa! When the hell did you guys-" I cut off Runt with a darkened glare.

Immediately he shut his mouth. Storm burst out laughing, her voice warming to my insides. It was contagious and before I knew it we were all laughing. After the laughter fizzled out, I lied back in my seat in comfort.

Seconds later, the helicopter was in the air and we were flying. We were flying far, and fast from that cursed laboratory. Never again would any of us have to be tortured or forced to use our powers in experimental procedures.

Blaze and I shared this same comforted feeling. Things might have just taken a turn for the better. I had hope for the first time in a long time.

A very, very long time.

In fact it had been so long that hope felt weird, abnormal.. almost wrong. Like I shouldn't be hopeful. But it was too late, I had hope, for what, I wasn't sure.

I took Blaze's hand, and looked to the others. "We're finally leaving that hell hole."

Something still felt off though, like there was something I was forgetting. Something important, and something incredibly bad...

Then I remembered. A strong wave of nausea hit me in that moment. Yes, were leaving, and yes we had finally escaped that awful place. But at what cost? We were were fleeing like captives that belonged to someone else. We had simply switched ownership.

And now, I was owned by a man to which I posed no threat to.

Kane Undergrove would either be my savior or my destruction.

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Author's Note

And that's the end of chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed it! Leave your opinions and criticisms in the comments! Love you guys! Thank you for reading. Have an wonderful day! ❤️