Above is a picture of Vexen I drew, hope you enjoy this chapter!
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Vexen watched as Adam crumpled to the ground, his eyes glowing a bright purple. Due to force of habit he pulled his hood further over his eyes. He rushed over to the control panel, shutting down Archwind's capsule. Her head was always completely masked, her hair completely under white fabric. A black domino mask was over her head covering. He'd never seen Archwind's face, and she'd never been able to tell him. The blue light faded, Archwind dropped to the metal bottom of the compartment, her pitch black cape fluttering around her ankles. He tried to open the glass capsule door, but the security system blocked him out. Vexen drew his long sword that was usually slung across his back. He sliced the lock on the door, the door swooping open. Archwind looked up, her hidden white eyes dazed. She held up a black glove to his face when he offered to help her up.
"You okay, Arch?" Vexen asked the girl when she stood up.
He was only met with a a nod, Archwind couldn't talk. She never told him why she couldn't speak, but it wasn't like she could explain it verbally. The only thing she ever motioned to when he asked was her throat. Vexen figured that her vocal chords were damaged or removed, maybe on purpose, maybe on accident. They had plotted to escape for years. Through all the brainwashing and mind wipes, they kept each other sane. Archwind with her calm, collectiveness, and Vexen with his apparent kindness.
Vexen ran over to Adam's unconscious body and grabbed the scientist's security ID. Archwind went over to one of the shelves and grabbed two katanas. The girl wore her cape majestically, her black cloak stopping above her ankles. She spun the swords a few times, then sheathed them on either side of her belt.
"Listen up," Vexen said, "Adam was supposed to kill me and get you battle ready, so I say we use that to our advantage...you following?"
Archwind nodded, ice growing beneath her feet, small amounts of snow falling off her cape.
"Alright," he continued, glancing at the ice spreading on the ground, "I crawl through the air ducts, while you do your 'powerful flight of justice' thingy. When they send you out, I run through the door. Sound like a plan?"
The girl half nodded, then walked over to the control panel. She pressed a button, and a holographic projection of the compound showed up. He raised an eyebrow. What does that have to do with anything?
Archwind let out a sigh, which he didn't even know she could do. She pointed a katana at a section of the building. It was the way out, and there weren't any air ducts in there. There was Archwind correcting him...as usual. He pulled down his hood and watched Archwind jump in shock. Vexen had a weird combination of features, but the anything is weird with purple eyes. He had strawberry blonde hair and a thin scar going over his right eye. She reached out and pulled off his mask. It covered the bottom half of his face, from the bridge of his nose to chin. Vexen gently smiled, then pulled out a gun, shooting a camera placed in the corner of the room. He didn't say he only used a sword, guns can come in handy, plus Vexen had perfect aim so might as well use it. After half a minute he pulled his hood back up, Archwind handed him his mask back.
"Well aren't we gonna see what you look like?" Vexen gave Archwind a lopsided grin as he put his mask back on, "y'know, at least your hair color."
Archwind looked as if she would just fly out of the room, but then she reached up to her neck. She grabbed the fold that held her mask over her head, gently sliding the fabric off her head. Pure white shoulder length hair fell onto her cape, her hair color suiting the ice bender. He felt rude staring at the beautiful teen, who looked 17 or 18 years old. Her eyes were a piercing blue-gray, like a cloudy sky. He hasn't seen such a shade in a long time, since he was put into experimentation. Archwind was very pale, it made sense, her face never saw the light of day.
"Woah," Vexen managed to cough out, blushing under his mask.
Archwind blushed as well, then swiftly put her full mask back on. Her face was hidden once again, and it was time to get something done.
"Since there's no air duct in the exiting bay, we'll have to fight our way in there," Vexen said, kneeling down and trying to pull an air duct entrance off the wall.
He noticed Archwind wave her hand and the screws froze. He pulled the grate off its hinges, the sheet metal clattering to the ground. Before he could crawl into the small tunnel he felt a hand grab his arm. Vexen looked up to see Archwind looking down at him. She pulled him up into a tight embrace, his hood pressed against her mask. He wrapped his arms around her back, the teen was easily as tall as him. Vexen sighed, pulling back, looking at his only friend.
"See you on the outside, Arch."
The mute girl gave a nod, then floated over to the door. It would look weird for someone to fly without a cape, for him anyways. Vexen had always been a little jealous of the girl's ability to fly, but he knew how much experimentation she went through to gain the skill. Each day Archwind came back, usually unconscious, and often heavily bleeding. It made him furious, but for most of the time he was stuck in stasis.
Vexen crawled into the tunnel, the cool metal pressing against his costume's armor. He noticed the metal reflected his glowing purple eyes, adding a tiny to the darkness. Every couple feet was a grate, and he could hear shoes clicking against the compound floor. Vexen had to remember to turn right when the duct branched off, struggling to squeeze through the claustrophobic tunnels. He stopped at the end of the low tunnel, pushing against the last grate. Vexen pressed a hand up against the metal, purple glowing runes forming on the surface. With a flash the metal dissipated, going where, he didn't know. He never knew where things went that he destroyed, they just left with no trace. When a person walked right in front of the tunnel exit he slid back into the darkness. Once there weren't any sounds in the hallway he jumped out of the air duct. He knew where the exit was, there was a huge red EXIT sign hanging above the door. Vexen glanced down the right hall, and didn't spot anyone. Suddenly a hand clamped over his mask, preventing him from looking at who was holding him. His attacker spun him around, and he sighed with relief when Archwind faced him.
"You scared the crap out me!" Vexen hissed, opening up the exit door.
Right when he pushed open the door, the hallway lit up red, lights flashing. A siren echoed through the compound, obviously the alarm. Archwind face palmed, drawing her dual katanas. He shrugged, unsheathing his long sword. When they ran out the exit, finally into the outside world, a spotlight stopped them in their tracks.
"Project A and...X," Dr. Johansen walked up to him. "I though I asked Adam to dispose of you. Project A, I expect you are trying to stop him."
"Ha!" Vexen said, holding his sword up to your throat, "you're delusional, she has free will you know."
"Is that so?" Dr. Johansen replied smoothly, not flinching at the sword at her neck, "Project A, override 24.7B."
He noticed Archwind freeze up next to him, the girl going completely still. Vexen remembered the day they implanted chips into the back of their necks.
"I will say this again," Dr. Johansen hissed threateningly, "kill Project X."
He backed up fearfully, terrified of his brainwashed friend. Vexen felt voices suddenly speak in his head. "Adam was right about this one being ready...Are we supposed to shoot that X guy or not...Skull what's over there..."
These voices aren't mine...oh god I'm psychic. Fan-freaking-tastic. Just the power I NEEDED! Thanks guys.
Archwind looked towards him, his heart pounded heavily in his head. She was shaking, he noticed, and her eyes were blinking rapidly. Then she shot a beam of ice, but not at Vexen. Archwind had pointed a sword at Dr. Johansen and completely froze the woman.
"His name is Vexen you psychopath," he heard another voice in his head, it was feminine, and seemed to come from...Archwind.
Vexen sheathed his sword and drew his twin pistols, shooting the four snipers on the roof. With a final bang he shot the spotlight, the large light shattering. Archwind flew over to him, her black cape catching the wind.
"Thanks," he said, putting his guns into their holsters.
"It wasn't easy," the voice spoke again in his head, the monotone pitch kind of soothing.
"I bet it wasn't, random voice in my head," Vexen accidentally shouted.
"Wait, what?" Archwind suddenly flinched back, the voice gaining a hint of emotion. "Vexen?"
"That's you?" He yelped, "those are your thoughts?!"
"You can hear what I'm thinking?"
"Yes," Vexen breathed, "and you have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard."
"Vexen," Archwind pulled him into another hug, her thoughts finally emotional, "I've wanted to talk to you for five years."
"If I can hear what you're thinking..." Vexen said, "this means I can hear everyone's thoughts."
"Lucky."
"Not really, it's going to get annoying after five minutes. Plus this probably looks like a one sided conversation."
"What now?" Archwind's voice went back to monotone.
"First off," Vexen looked up at the night sky, clouds hiding the stars and moon he distantly remembered, "we should get away from this place."
"Grab on."
"What do you mean- AHH!"
Archwind had grabbed him and launched into the sky, shooting upwards so fast it blew his hood off. He didn't bother to try putting it back on, the wind was so strong. This is why he called her Archwind, arch because of her mask, and wind because of...well...wind. When his breathing finally steadied, the rush of adrenaline finally cleared his vision. Flying was exhilarating, but terrifying. The only thing keeping him alive was Archwind's grip.
  Archwind landed after a minute, gently floating down into a rooftop. Vexen's stomach twisted, and he pulled his mask down just in time to puke off the side of the building. He quickly yanked his hood back up, pulling his mask back onto his face.
  "Please slow down next time," he coughed, trying not to shout.
  "Didn't know you had motion sickness."
  "You probably made me have it," Vexen said, the world finally stopped spinning.
  He heard a thud behind him, just the tiniest of noises, but he was used to the quiet. Archwind drew her swords, eyes glittering dangerously. Vexen spun around, prepared to knock unconscious anyone trying to catch them. What he sees surprises him. Two heroes, in costumed armor like them, on the rooftop.
  There was a masked raven haired boy and a black and green hooded girl. The teen boy had spiked black hair, and his armor was mostly grey. He had a black skull symbol on his chest, and a large scythe across his back. The girl had a cape, like Archwind, and he bet they couldn't engage in a serious staring contest. Why was it that the girls looked the most deadly?
  "Who are you?" The male asked, "and why are you in Eximius City?"
  "Um..." Vexen ran through ways this could end, "I'm Vexen."
  "And you?" The teen asked Archwind.
  "Yeah, she can't talk," Vexen spoke up, "they messed up her vocal chords or something."
  "What's her name?" The girl said, her tone calm but laced with ferocity.
  "We don't have official names," Vexen said, trying not to stammer, "if we did they erased them from our memories. I call her Archwind. We've been in captivity of Johansen Industries for the last...wait who are you people?"
  "Oh, right." The black haired teen replied, "I'm Black Skull, that's my associate, Night."
  "Y-You're Black Skull?" He stammered, "I heard about you, I think, when I was younger. You were just a legend."
  "Legend," Black Skull smirked cockily, "sounds cool, I like it. So that blonde chick took you, huh?"
  "Shut up," he heard that girl named Night mutter, "I remember how annoying it was to talk to people with you now."
  "Dr. Johansen?" Vexen said. "Yes, we may or may not have froze her."
  "Froze?" Black Skull raised an eyebrow.
  "We are experiments," Vexen said, his eyes lighting up purple, "sadly."
  To prove his point Archwind flicked her hand, a spike of ice shooting at Black Skull. He knew she would stop the ice before it hit the vigilante, but Black Skull still threw a knife at the ice before it hit him.
  "Do you have no powers?" Vexen thought out loud.
  "Well," Black Skull shrugged, his armor moving with him, "she is."
  "What do you mean-"
  Black Skull smirked then disappeared, it looked like he became a shadow or something crazy like that. A moment later the teen reappeared where he had been before, twirling a shuriken between his fingers.
  "I think we have stuff to discuss," Black Skull said.
  "Damn straight," Night glared at him.
  "They are so in love," Archwind finally thought.
  This has been an interesting day. See Archwind's face, escape hell, and then meet two infamous vigilantes, great!