PROLOGUE:

ALKALI LAKE, 1:45 A.M, FEBRUARY SECOND, 2004

In the base just bellow ground level, that had once been inhabited by scientists and their inventions, life stirred. In a canister about the height and width of a young human, a creature was awakening. Frost from the cold winter air had blocked any way of seeing what was in the container, but their were slight cracks in the glass bellow.

Something was happening.

There was a crack in the glass and frost, and some snow slipped off the container. Another crack. Some more snaps. Suddenly-

A fist broke through the glass, and it all fell away. A young humanoid girl, perhaps fourteen, was lying in the container covered in a watery, yet viscous liquid. She was about Five-foot five, with slightly tanned skin, silver-blue eyes and straight, dark hair. She wore a uniform, a high-necked long-sleeved jacket, with long black pants and black boots. Black gloves she wore, covering all the skin on her hands and wrists. The only skin that was seen was on her face.

The girl pulled herself out of the container, wiping off the liquid with one hand, while pulling up with the other. Free of her former prison, the girl stared at her surroundings.

Debris. Wreckage. Frozen puddles of water were everywhere. Gigantic icicles hung from broken pieces of what once might have been a building. The girls silvery eyes swung around, back and forth, taking in every detail that existed. Noises alerted her to movement nearby. By a sudden reflex, she clenched her fists.

An excruciating pain ripped through her fists, and she heard a sickening meatal-on-metal sound and gasped. Six blood-stained claws appeared on her knuckles, three on each hand. Temporarily forgetting the noises, she examined the claws. To her surprise, the blood was disappearing! It appeared to evaporate before her eyes until they were clean and dry.

The girl experimentally tapped the claws together. It didn't hurt. The claws didn't move or wriggle out of place in any way. It was as though the claws were a biological part of her…

Her head snapped up at the noises, and she turned her head. Slowly, she walked in the direction of the noises. The girl turned at a piece of a broken wall to where she assumed the noises were coming from, and looked around. There was nothing.

But the noises continued, and they seemed louder than before. Obeying an instinct, she glanced down. There stood a little brown field mouse, making noises that sounded like it was a human. The girl raised an eyebrow, and jabbed the claws at the mouse. It squeaked, and ran for cover underneath a piece of fallen plaster.

The girls face hardened. She had weapons in her hands. Part of her didn't like it. But another part of her… was definitely liking it. Looking up, she stared off into the distance. That's when she saw them.

Lights.

She didn't know what it meant. But it meant something. She knew what it was. She knew what a lot of things were. Apart from that, nothing else. Except for herself. She knew who she was, and she whispered it right there and then, with a slight British accent:

"X-23."