☼ รץภςє๔ ☾

He wasn't sure if he had even been in the room for 15 minutes before he started hearing commotion. He took his time since it just seemed to me consisting of yelling, but he started to hear something else that made him get up out of his chair and head for the door.

When he left the room and went to turn the corner, all he heard was, "I am not afraid to kill you like I did mom. I have had enough."

Joshua made it around the corner just in time to see Jason pinning Cynthia down and punching her until Cynthia was still. He heard him mumble an apology before standing up, Joshua let out a sigh and began to approach the situation, letting out in a monotonous voice, "Do I even want to know why I just witnessed the second in command pummel his daughter to the ground?"

He fixed his hair and continued, "Inside incidents... not fun. Do I need to get Benjamin, or would you care to explain? Unless of course Benjamin heard that too, it wasn't exactly quiet."​

 

Spoiler: Drama Dream/Flashback

Mai stood there on the porch, dumbfounded as she looked at her dear friend for nine years.“Lief… Why?” The world was suddenly crashing down on her and she couldn’t control it anymore. She clenched her fist and winced, trying to fight the tears that were coming on. “You can’t leave!” she blurted out, her voice louder than she anticipated. “You just… can’t.” She sniffed, rubbing the tears with the heel of her palm. “What did I do?” she asked, her voice quiet as she hugged herself, turning her head to look the other way. “You can tell me anything, you know that.” Her lip quivered as she forced herself to look at Lief with her chestnut eyes, trying to force herself to be brave and reasonable. “You’re the only friend I have… I don’t know what I would do without you…” Thunder rumbled in the distance and the smell of rain was thick in the air. Mai didn’t care though. Lief’s words had stung her to the very core of her heart. They had known each other since they were kids, and now he was telling her he didn’t want to bother her with his troubles. She wiped more tears away with her fingers, sniffing as she fought down the frustration building up inside of her. “Stay here with us,” she said softly. “We can have troubles together…”

Sitting next tot he distraught Mai very the very friend that she didn't want to leave her. Despite his words, Leif's face had an odd combinations of expressions pasted on it. Regret and certainty, those were what could be easily seen from his face. "I can't." The words finally left his throat. "If I do your liable to get caught up in this mess centered around me and I couldn't do that to you, not after how long we've been friends." His reason may have been noble, but it was precisely because that they'd been friends for so long that was making this much more difficult. One half of him truly didn't want to abandon her while the other half knew that he had to for her sake. It was an internal conflict that Lief had been mulling over for some time now and today was the day that he told Mai his decision. "Nothing you did was wrong, I'm the one at fault here." While he hesitated at first, Leif slowly moved his arm over Mai's shoulders to comfort her quivering body.

As soon as Lief wrapped an arm around her, Mai turned in his arm an embraced him. This was the friend she made daisy chains for, where she pretended they were both heroes of some kind saving the world, the friend that played hide-and-seek and tag for hours on end, exploring the yard and the neighborhood around them, getting a Slurpee ice drink down at the gas station and seeing who could get the worst brain freeze, the one who she would stay up late with and talk about just anything... And now he was leaving her for problems she didn't know. Lief kept them all to himself all this time. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she hugged her best friend, not wanting to let him go. She couldn't force him to stay as much as she wanted to, and she couldn't certainly get him to talk about what was on his mind. She had secrets herself, deep down inside.

"Don't stay away too long," her voice cracked, full of emotion. "Okay? When you come back... I have something to tell you too." Now wasn't the time to share it though, or at least that's what she thought.

Mai pulled away gradually, smiling at Lief through tears. The image suddenly flashed, and Mai had longer hair, tired dead eyes, thinning facial features, a black metallic like choker thing around her neck, and paleness like a ghost. The image shuddered back to a younger Mai, full of life, but full of sadness because of that last day with her best friend.

"Don't forget about me, got it?" Mai's countenance kept shifting from one image to another as if there was some kind of glitch happening within the memory. "I have something to tell you too when things are okay again..."

Soon Mai was no longer sitting by Lief as if she wasn't ever there to begin with. The gray neighborhood gradually faded away into some sort of darken hallway with a clear prison cell at the very end. The memory glitched, lagging between the image of a girl in a hospital bed to the beginning of the creepy hallway. Finally the vision focused on the girl, showing Lief who it was.

The sickly Mai that has shown herself to Leif earlier was laying there in the hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines and wires. An oxygen mask was fit securely around her mouth and nose as she was taking in one labored breath at a time, bandages wrapped around her arms and one over one eye was visible, but did not cover all the cuts and bruises left on her fair skin.

"I have something to tell you too when things are okay again," the words were repeated once more, but the unconscious Mai did not speak. Mental pictures flashed without warning, showing Lief a brief slide show of being betrayed by her parents, to being put through various experiments, to faces of people unknown and machines with red eyes, to being sick, broken, battered, bruise, all alone and crying in agony, to just sitting there staring at nothing, cheeks smudged with dirt and grime. The slide show ceased all together, sending the one watching into darkness.

A small voice echoed through the vision, sounding so helpless and desperate. "Lief... Where are you...? Please... Someone... Find me..."

The hug from Mai was unexpected, but welcomed nonetheless. This would likely be the last time that they would be able to talk like this for quite some time. In fact, he wasn't even certain that they would ever be able to talk like this again. It truly was a moment to be cherished while they had the time. "I'll see what I can do."

When Mai's features suddenly changed from her usual self to a more pale version of her, Leif's eyes widen with shock. Before he could even ask what was wrong he image changed once more, back to the Mai he was speaking with earlier. Leif was at a loss for words at what was taking place before him. Mai's appearance kept shifting back and forth until finally she wasn't even sitting next to him anymore.

What followed what the entire environment around them changing to a prison cell with a girl resting on a hospital bed. At first Leif had no clue why he was being shown this and was much more concerned about what happened to Mai. The image of the girl moved into focus and Leif got his answer in quite possibly the worst way possible.

Having no idea what could've happened to cause this Leif could only stare out in horror as Mai's voice range out in his head and images of everything that she's been through. Seeing the images cause him to further regret his decision to leave her. Had he known about all this, known that this would've happened to her then he never would've left or at least offer her to come along with him. His fist tighten the more he thought about it as her voice sounded in his head once more, this time sounding pleading and helpless.

"Lief... Where are you...? Please... Someone... Find me..."​

​

Leif's eyes sprung open as his dream/flashback ended. His heavy breathing gradually slowed down as he came back to his senses. He hadn't thought about that day for quite some time, so why did he suddenly recall it now? Heh, who was he kidding, he knew exactly why. He saw Mai's face on the on the missing people section on the board and if that last part of his dream was anything to go off of, which it likely was, she wasn't doing all to well.

To think that this could've been avoided if he hadn't left Mai in the first place. He thought that his actions would help keep her safe, but clearly he was wrong about that. In fact the frustration that he was feeling prompted him to one more punch the wall in his room. This time he actually left a small dent due to his Psionic Strength.

Still despite all this it was pretty clear what he had to do next, and so he got up, got dressed and left his room.

 

​

Danni watched silently as Brendan left the room, only half-listening to Christie by now. She wrapped the blanket he had retrieved for her around her shoulders, letting it give her warmth. Hospitals were always so cold. “I know we’re going to get them back,” Danni said with a small smile. She then cleared her throat, walking from the window to Jex’s bedside once more. “Who wants to take first watch… Where’s that one girl?” The ginger realized that the crazy, pink-haired girl wasn’t among them anymore. Danni moved quickly to the hallway door and poked her head out, seeing that no one was there. She was gone. “Dammit,” the telekinetic muttered. “Ryan, your new friend took off… Any idea where she could be?” She didn’t get to speak much to the girl, but she heard how the strange girl saved Ryan, and may have saved Jex from certain death. That, and that she could have been one of them.

​

Good, he sent back to his pupil. We’ll need all the help we can get… See you here soon.

“Understandable,” Errol said, keeping his eyes on the screen as he began to print of the various profiles of each scientists. Whatever plan they were going to come up with, each and every one of them were going to have flaws. The headmaster wanted to make this as easy as possible with few causalities if he could help it. He had a feeling if they were going to go infiltrate to retrieve one or two, four or five students would probably be loss in their place-

No, that wasn’t going to happen. Not on Errol’s watch. He rubbed at his stubble on his chin, clicking the list of the subjects still alive and began to print them off as well. “In any case, I need you both to have a clear head. Do what you can, but be easy on yourselves.” He shot Jean a look, knowing that the man pushed himself beyond his limits. And who was Errol to say he couldn’t? The elder man did the same thing from time to time, including now.

Nicole let go of Jean, rubbing his shoulder with her hand before stepping to his side. She wiped away her tears and smiled up at him. “Chin up,” she said with a gentle lightness in her voice as shining bright emerald eyes watched him. “We’ll get them out. I know we will.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a clean tissue, offering it to her dear friend.

“Brendan is on his way from the hospital… Once we get the plans of the Ariel Labs, we will try to find their weak points. For now,” Errol snatched the scientists profile sheets and laid them out on a clean table to his left, spreading them out. “We need to figure out what we're up against from these profiles.”

The man felt a slight throb from his abdomen and grunted, rubbing at his gut before he forced himself to pay attention to the task at hand. “Damn…” There was work to be done. He couldn’t let some stomach bug get in the way now. “We already have a problem. One of the scientists is a telepathist, and from her profile, a very high leveled one. Jex’s level.” The man began to scribble notes, not focusing on how horrid it was to have someone with powers like them using them in such torturous ways on others. Hand was away from his abdominal now as he began to look at the other mug shots on the table.

​

Benjamin did not have time to reply to his dear friend Walter, for he was interrupted by a fanatical baboon. The old man gave Walter a brief look that seemed to have read This-Is-What-I-Have-To-Deal-With-Why-Am-I-Baby-Sitting-Can-I-Just-Kill-Someone-Already before sternly staring at Tobias. “I want you to see what a failure you have been the last few weeks,” Benjamin stated brusquely. “Your mission for the Silent Killer has been terminated due to your irresponsible and juvenile behavior you have displayed recently. Really Tobias, I expected better from you.” His eyes were cold, showing no emotions as he watched the young boy before him. “Cynthia Drew is no longer your partner as of now. You are banned from working together. If I or someone else from Raven Sun see you with her, you will be punished severely.” Benjamin then heard noises outside the off and tightened in his jaw. Good, Cynthia was being dealt with for him. “If she has your head if you break this command, we will do nothing to punish her.”

​

“You can use it to protect people,” Carter indicated softly. “Like me.” He was going to talk about his mom and his little sister, but then the crazy lady came and took Shane away. He was left alone again, wondering what today’s tortures would bring. This quiet time was going to leave him time to think about how his mother and sister were doing back at home. He quietly poked at the new bruise on his arm, the place where they took his blood for some odd reason. It was to save someone, he remembered now. He wondered who he had to save in this place… It seemed like everyone died here.

​

Lyle was working on what appeared to be a headband of some sorts, tinkering away near the cell where his subject and the failed subject were locked up securely. The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven was playing softly in the background, a song he thought was fitting to this whole situation. He merely froze when Isabella spoke up in her annoying voice and swerved in his chair to face the excited scientist and the pubescent boy. He saw Shane take the coffee and let his cyborg optic rest on Isabella. “No thank you, I’m fine.” He then looked back at the cell where his subject laid, still so very weak from the previous day. Pathetic. “She has to hold up her end of the bargain,” he specified. “A trade off might be a good thing… Your subject for my subject. Just don’t do anything that’ll break her further physically.”

​

PT-03 came into the cell, right on schedule. The robot first gave Colton his shot to help his bones become stronger, and then medications and vitamins to help him with his cough and sore throat. It then went over to Mai, assessing her situation. Wordlessly, it took off the oxygen mask and disconnected the plasma bag, leaving her with just the IV and hooked up to the heart monitor. It then wandered off, taking the plasma bag and oxygen machine away.

Mai took in small breaths of air, listening to Lyle speak to Isabella. She had to hold up her end of the bargain, there would be no rest today. She clenched her bedsheets, looking at Colton. I will fight, she wordlessly mouthed with her lips to him. She could barely move or even sit up, but Lyle deemed her fit enough to be subjected under Dr. Terros experimentations today. She knew that Dr. Terros was a bit absent minded and seemed rather careless with the way she saw her treat Colton. She swallowed a knot in her throat, wishing she could have her strength right now to withstand whatever had to come her way.

​

Kytheria suddenly giggled and snorted, finding Lucas’s idea to be hilarious. “Lukey, Lukey,” she said with a smirk, knowing that new nickname annoyed him. “Think before you leap.” She tapped her top hat, showing a row of pearly whites gleaming in the dim light. “Seek, and ye will find. Think with plans, yes? Needle in hay stack, they are. Old man you will be with this stratagem that’s yours.” She smiled and then paced across the room, doing some deep thinking. “Hiding in shadows, hiding in plain sight, we know not. But certain buildings and organizations Raven Sun had caught. Information is out of sight, but we watch.”

She went over to a computer, logging in quickly and several buildings and houses popped up on a larger screen close by. She stood up, walking casually to the larger board that was before Lucas. “House on a lake, rich as can be, but no money we ever see. Perpetuity Academy, said to home those with talent. Music, art, and science is all we got. Hard to get in, hard to see. Standards are said to be top notch. Regal Academy, also home to special talents, business, music, art, dance, drama, so forth and so on. Also hard to get in and hard to see. Moore Mansion, houses orphans of various ones. Hard to get in, hard to adopt. Families seem happy with their lot.” She then pointed out a private property that was far away from the city and seemed to have various cages of all sorts housing things unknown to the public, then there was a stone mansion on the hill, belonging to a Ventom Rile where various people got in but few come out. She turned to Lucas and rocked on her heels, waiting for him to see what he would think of this information.

​

Within the shadows of the casino, a mysterious figure watched the teenage girl make her way through the large building, unaware of someone observing her. With a small smirk, the shadow trailed after the girl, waiting until they would come outside into the sunshine to strike.

​

The door to Jean’s lab opened gently as Molly slipped in. She shut the door quietly behind her, sensing that the clones were too busy right now to be disturbed. With sleepy eyes, she gave a small wave and hugged her teddy bear close to her chest, walking over to her usual spot on the couch set under the window. Yawning, she stretched her arms high above her head and then picked up the comic she left off on, plopping down to a laying position on the sofa and began to read the comic above her head. Even though she knew the real Jean wasn’t in here, she liked having the company of someone she was familiar with. She knew her mother was busy with something important, and that was okay with her. She was able to read without being disturbed.

 

Tobias couldn't believe what he was hearing. All intentions to joke around with Benjamin had simply vanished the moment he had called Tobias a failure. Irresponsible was a fair call, but everything else just pissed off Tobias. "Irresponsible? Juvenile? Call it whatever the hell you want, Benjamin, but while you see failure I see success. It worked. People lost their lives and I can see why that'd bother a do-gooder like you, but how many people has the silent killer murdered, and how many more will they kill before then? People have been trying to catch this guy for years and come up with absolutely nothing, hell nobody in Raven Sun has made any progress. Until I made that 'irresponsible and juvenile action'. I made more progress on that case in less than a week than people have in years!" Tobias shouted, moments before he felt the Raven on the end of Benjamin's cane slam hard into his face.

He remained silent for a moment; something Tobias almost never did. He liked the feeling of the pain that had been caused to his face, but he was finding it harder and harder to tolerate all the crappy rules Benjamin had set. He stood up now. "Send me whatever new mission you've got for me as a text, I'm done here" the boy said as he wandered towards the door. He came to a short halt as he reached the exit. "Just for the record, if you ever strike me again like that, then leader or not I will fight back" he said, his voice unusually grim as he spoke. He left the office and walked past the other people in Raven Sun, exiting the building and taking an immediate left. He didn't care where he was going, and quite frankly he didn't care.


Lucas simply stared at Kye for a moment. The way she spoke caused him to think about what she actually said a little more than most people; it was a good mental workout, trying to decipher what she was saying amongst all the gibberish. "You know, Kye, that information would have been very useful to know before I made a plan of my own. Though, it wasn't much of a plan. So, odds are the group of them are in one of those places, but there's no way to know which one we're after, or even if they all play some part of something bigger. They could all be linked, but if I went alone and they were indeed linked then we would have no way of knowing. Hmmm...this does pose a problem. Were it any regular people, we could use a decoy that looks similar to Colton and stage some sort of event that would draw them out of hiding, but with there being such a high chance of telepathists being in the group, they would know immediately it wasn't the real one, so that's out of the question. So, we need to find out more about these places before we can make any further plans. Do you have any suggestions on how we would go about that?" Lucas asked. His mind was working quickly to eliminate solutions and he had come up with several. Finding the one that would work, the best solution to use, that was the real challenge.


Christie was glad that Danni was in agreement over whether or not they'll get the others back. They had to, there was no room for failure. "I'll take first watch" was all she said as she walked past the others in the room. Taking a quick glance at Jex to make sure he was alright, or at least as alright as he could be in his condition, she stepped out of the room and found a seat just outside of it in the hall. If anyone that she didn't recognise tried to get into the room, she would question them, and if they were still suspicious then they would find themselves pinned against the wall and unable to move.​

 

Ryan's eyes suddenly flared up as Danni mentioned Kiki.
"I told her to wait outside for a little bit," he replied in an aggravated tone. As Christie said she would look after Jex, Ryan let go of Jex's hand and went up to his ear. He whispered, "I'll be right back. Be strong. Think happy thoughts. Calm waves, a walk in the forest, the time we spent at the hospital."
He kissed him on his forehead, and sped towards the door. He nodded at Christie and Danni quickly to give them a sign of respect. As he opened the door, she was indeed not there. It was just the empty hallways he kept staring at for the whole night.
"Kiki, where are you? I asked you to stay there!" he tried to message towards her. He wasn't sure if Jex's pathway worked the same as Kiki's but it was worth a try. "You're not safe. We all need to look out for each other"
He stepped forwards on the blank white tiles of the hallway. He was trying to think of different scenarios. Did she have to go back to her family? Did she return to that tea shop in the mall? Then an unpleasant thought came to his mind. Errol will be annoyed at him. One order he asked him to do was to keep an eye on Kiki, and once again, he was able to disappoint Errol. He sighed as he passed a cafe on the left. The smell of freshly made pancakes wafted the air. They smelled delicious to Ryan, but he had to continue. "Kiki! Where are you!" he exclaimed.
"We can have pancakes if you want"
His mouth began to salivate and it felt like his throat was grasping for the energy. His body felt drained, and his eyes drooped. Ryan began to feel dizzy, and he noticed once again that his chest was still aggravating him. He sat down on a nearby bench. He wasn't feeling well and felt like he was going to pass out.

 

It was quite funny really, like a twist of fate he seemed to quite enjoy. It was always a party over at the Raven Suns and for him it was quite the blast. Over the past few days he went off on a little trip, though it seemed he missed something quite interesting while he was gone. It was truly a stroke of luck that the rare time he actually got out of laboratory was the time where drama and nothing but drama came up.

And so Walter found himself sitting by his chair nonchalantly watching as Benjamin dealt with Tobias, merely watching with a smile. There was some more drama out in the hallway and though Walter was intrigued by the sudden brawl, Walter chose to watch the drama between Benjamin and Tobias.

Nonchalantly twirling a dagger between his fingers, he watched on until Tobias suddenly was smacked by the old man’s cane. His eyes widened, caught off guard by the sudden move, but it was more so like a person watching a movie where a really interesting plot twist occurred. Of course, Walter would have liked to say something, but even though he treated this display like an episode of Jerry Springer he chose not to be like the audience and remained quiet until it was over…man did he wish he had popcorn.

Once it was over Walter merely closed his eye and let out a small chuckle, still twirling the dagger between his fingers. “Always sunny here at the Raven Sun’s” Walter said casually before opening his eyes and stared over at the old leader. “I’m not going to say what you did was wrong, hell I actually encourage it…though the boy did have a bit of a point…” Walter said looking down at the knife “Control is nice and all...but results are nice as well…at the very least that boy managed to retain himself in a more dignified manner than the other squabble outside…if anything from what I heard I’d be more worried about the family disaster” Walter said before taking grip of his knife and letting out a casual sigh “though I digress…I'm just glad I chose to visit when I did” Walter said with a grin.

 

Isabella turning into something was certainly something that Shane had not anticipated. The illusion didn't affect him too much, but he did jump slightly and let out a quick cry of surprise, causing him to drop the cup onto the ground. The cup shattered and Shane went to the ground after it. He held the pieces of the cup together as though some magical force was going to join it back, but sadly that was not so. The words "you get none" echoed in his head. None....none...he got none...no coffee. He turned to look at Isabella, his mouth gaping open in horror, but she didn't acknowledge him in the slightest. Worse, she told him to push the IV and heart monitor. It may have sounded like a question, but if he didn't do it then he would never get coffee again. There wasn't an option.

The boy paid close attention to the instructions Isabella gave him. The idea of having to use not only one of his powers but all of them on a single person in a short amount of time was a worrying one. He knew he could do it; there was no doubt there, but would he? He had to. This was the only way to solve his problem. Although..what if he used them like Carter had said? To protect people? That may have been an option...but not at that time. No, he had to do what he was told, he was a prisoner. "Alright. I'll do it" he said to Isabella. He paused, then allowed himself a slight chuckle. "I'll be alone in the same place with two beautiful women. Many guys would call me a legend, and just think..all it took was going to prison" he said. He then began interacting with Mai's mind. He would cycle through each of the powers he knew, starting at the weakest and working the way up. It shouldn't be as bad for her that way.

First up was his psychic communication. That one was easy; harmless, even. Hello Mai, my name is Shane Ware. I'll be using your mind as a test platform of sorts. Not my choice, I kinda have to, sorry about that. Also, hi Isabella. So you rejected me, took away my coffee, and now you're mentally stalking me? I feel flattered, couldn't have picked a better location for our first date, he sent telepathically to Mai, although he knew that Isabella could easily hear what was going on in her head; it was a good thing she couldn't hear his own thoughts.​

 

​

“Hm…” Benjamin hummed out, choosing to sit on the edge of the desk with his cane in his hand. “The youth these days don’t know how to be respectful… I guess I’m becoming a stick in the mud,” he mused to his old friend, tightening his grip on the raven’s head. “The way they conducted their research though and the way they are causing contention within the ranks is not professional. That, and he was sloppy with the way he gathered his information. Killing his informants in front of security footage, AND he gave the cameras the bird when Kytheria pointed them out to them. As for the family manner, well… If it was up to me, they wouldn’t be here. But things can’t be perfect as much as I wish it would be. Cynthia has been a poor influence on Tobias.” Benjamin let out a frustrated chuckle, shaking his head. “I’m becoming too old for this…”

He then looked at Walter, his eyes weary and it was barely the middle of the morning. “There is something you can do for me today. We have a stubborn prisoner you might say… She knows of Jex Ingrao, the telepathist on our list, and possibly Errol Ingrao… We thought the Ingrao family line had been destroyed, but they had resurfaced the past year. You know they are rumored to be the strongest family line of telepathists and telekinetics. This informant had a personal experience with Jex Ingrao and his telepathic abilities. I need her to tell us everything she knows about the living Ingraos, but she proving to be especially stalwart. Jason had already tried to convince her talk, but she hasn’t broken yet. She won’t even take the offer she could go home after this is all over… Maybe you can use your special ways to… sway her.”

​

“Mmm! These pancakes are delicioso! Want one?”

Kiki was sitting by Ryan on the bench, being casual as she chowed down on the breakfast she had acquired. She sort of heard Ryan’s desperate pleas for her to come back, but she paid no mind to them. She wasn’t going anywhere after all, she was just hungry. She took a bite, smiling as she chewed. “Mmm! Heavenly fluffiness~!” she whispered, shuddering as the flavors danced in her mouth.

​

Danni watched as Ryan ran off to find the girl named Kiki and then sighed out in relief when Christie said she’d take the first watch. “In that case, I’m going to get some shut eye… I’m exhausted. Wake me up when you see something or get tired or hungry. I’ll try not to bite your head off.” Danni gave the girl a wink before she went to the double soft chairs close by in Jex’s room, pushing them together to make a bed. She briefly wondered how her older friend Jean was holding up through this whole stressful situation. She hadn't seen him since he went on that case for Carter Justice about three weeks ago. Oh well, she supposed she could catch up with him on another day when things weren't so crazy right now. She then settled down, pulling the blanket Brendan had given her over her head and closed her eyes, listening to the heart machine beeping away and the oxygen hissing ever so often.

​

Mai cringed when Isabella put on a firework display for her, not at all amused. She was more terrified than anything else. The girl felt her heart race when the bed started to move and she looked at Colton one last time before she left. She could see that he was scared and frustrated, and for that moment she wished she could get up and give him a hug. Instead, she gave him a brave smile until they wheeled her out of sight. She then closed her eyes, preparing herself mentally for what was to come, noticing the lights that passed over her closed eyelids. She heard Isabella talk about the plans for today and gripped her bed sheets. Shane, the new guys, was going to use all his powers on her. She didn’t know Shane or what he was capable of, but she had a feeling it wasn’t good. Eyes snapped open when they had finally stopped, looking around to see they were in another lab somewhere else.

Mai watched Shane as he spoke, frowning slightly. This guy was weird. She winced when she suddenly heard his voice in her head, but held her ground. You really don’t have to, she said, keeping her chestnut eyes on him. There could have been a better way to go about this... If you knew the survival rate of subjects and how old they were, you would have probably stayed away. They take people from their families and friends, and they never see them again. Or parents sell their kids to these people... Like me. She didn’t care if Isabella was listening in or not. She had been here the longest as far as she knew and had seen many deaths, including that of a five year old. You could have found someone to help you with your powers outside of here. There are good people out there, they’re just hard to discover… She thought of her friend and felt a twinge of sadness in her heart. She was never going to see him again, she had to accept that. Mai breathed out slowly, bracing herself for what was to come. "I'm just like you, you know," Mai said softly, closing her eyes as she listened to her heart monitor beep a little quicker. She wish she could hide how nervous she was, but the machines gave it away. "You're here now so... I guess there's nothing else we can do right now but just go with it."

​

“My, my… The quiet one has spoken.” Lyle took off his work glasses and placed them in his lab pocket, sending in a robot back into Colton’s cell. “My boy, if I did what I did on my subject, you would be dead before the day was over. I have something else in mind for you instead.” Without warning, the robot fit a black collar of sorts around Shane’s neck, similar to the one on Mai’s. “If you try to anything stupid, that collar will act as a Taser… And I can adjust to any watt. So, choose your battles wisely.” The robot then left the cell and Lyle stepped to the cell door, keeping it open for Colton to step out. “I have something else in mind for you… It’s been a while since I had an older telekinetic to work with.”

​

Errol looked to his untouched cup of coffee, seeing that there was steam still coming off of it. He didn’t feel like drinking any right now and smiled a little to himself. It wouldn’t go to waste after all. He straightened, taking the untouched cup of coffee and looked to his friends. “Brendan is here, already hard at work. Follow me if you like. He will be looking for floor plans and other things that will be useful to us.” With that, Errol excused himself from the room and headed to the boy’s dormitories where Brendan’s place was, walking as quickly as he could down the hallway. Hopefully their plan of actions of saving these children would not be too late for any of them left alive. He soon approached the pupil’s dorm, rapping on it lightly to indicate he was here. “Brendan, I brought you some coffee. May I enter?”

​

Nicole watched as Errol left and then looked up at Jean. “Do you need a break?” she asked, keeping her hand on his shoulder. She never seen Jean so shaken like earlier since the night she almost died and knew it took a toll on the man. She hoped she wasn’t intruding or being too much of a bother to Jean and waited for his answer silently, hesitant of what she should do next.

 

(Thanks Maka for the banner!)​

Jean felt Nicole's arms release after a while. Whatever she had been going through seemed to have subsided. That was a good thing, and it helped the young scholar in a way as well. Mind was now thinking of something else, no longer distracted by unruly emotions. Head turned towards Errol, giving him a nod. Brendan, he was the go to guy for anything computer related like networking, setting up firewalls, and all the cyber related things; he's a highly renowned I.T guy if you will. Jean had not talked much with Brendan in a while, but he was aware of the man's existence. It was sort of impossible to NOT be aware of other staff members you work with in a facility you work/live in everyday. However, it was possible to be so caught up in your own flow of work that you barely spoke or even saw them. When Errol mentioned if they wanted to come with, of course Jean would follow. So follow he did, looking over to Nicole.

"I'm fine... I just need to gather my mind is all. Come with us. I believe we're about to come up with a game plan." he said softly, mellow about what had just occurred.

 

“Wow…what a flashy guy…” Walter could only say in response to the explanation involving Tobias. He could only smirk and chuckle slightly at all the drama however he did notice the fatigue the old man was going through. Closing his eyes he stretched his arms as he listened to Benjamin suddenly tell him of a task that the man had for him.

“Oh, is that so?” Walter said before standing up from the seat he sat upon “Ingrao…how interesting…” Walter said before placing away the dagger he held in his hand “well then, you always did give me the most fun assignments” Walter said standing up as he walked off towards the exit of the office. “Well then, I’ll get your answers…or have fun trying” Walter said to the old man in a carefree manner, almost as if there was a bounce in his step.

And so Walter walked off towards the cells where this little girl was held. In his hand was a suitcase closed and locked tightly. He always liked to deal with prisoners, especially the resilient ones. These prisoners always brought for a new perspective to view. And so the man closed his eyes and stopped in front of the cell that held the girl. “Good morning” Walter said calmly with a smile as he entered the cell and placed the suitcase down upon the floor. Opening his eyes and looking over at the girl he glanced down upon her wounds. “Oh my, Jason did quite the number upon that body of yours…how barbaric” Walter said cupping his chin as he leaned forward and observed the wounds of the girl closer. Leaning back Walter closed his eyes once more, his smile still upon his face. “ah, but where are my manners! My name is Walter. I will be in charge of you from hence forth” Walter said crouching down upon his suitcase and opening it up. “Well then, first thing is first….shall we deal with those wounds?” Walter said.

 

Ryan took a sigh of relief, and nodded at Kiki. He smiled with his tired eyes now beaming in gold.
"Thank you," he said before taking the plate and beginning to devour the pancakes as though he hadn't eaten for days. The sweet nectar of the corn syrup mixed so well with the buttery taste of the wet pancake, which was drenched with butter and syrup. It was so bad for him, but at that point in time, that was exactly Ryan needed after such a horrendous day. After his plate was cleared, Ryan sat back with a full stomach and looked over at Kiki. He was still annoyed at her, but the pancakes certainly helped his mood.
"Why did you walk away like that? Do you know how dangerous it is out there? We need to look out for each other," he told her. He felt like he was telling her off as if she was a little sister. He wasn't shouting, but there was a tone of annoyance in his voice.

The smell of fried breakfast filled the air in the mansion. Alex wasn't that great at cooking in general, but as it's been such a great day so far with the first good night's sleep in weeks, he decided he'd make something to celebrate. Looking out at the garden from the kitchen window, he hummed to himself while finishing both the sausages and eggs and laid them on fried bread.

 

​

Rose moved away from the new person, wincing as she turned to face them in the corner by the fake window. In the time she was left alone, she found a new, deep green shirt that reminded her of pea soup and some gray sweat pants. She now felt like she was in prison uniform, but that was okay. At least she had something to cover up her wounded form One eye was closed with a claw mark over it, her body shuddering in pain as she clutched her shoulder, trying to look brave. Her body throbbed all over, there was no safe place to sit, lay, or even stand. She hadn’t talked though, that’s all that mattered. So long as she didn’t tell anything about Jex, they were going to be fine. Her safety didn’t matter… They probably gave up trying to find her anyways. She didn’t blame them, they were probably dealing with more dire situations than this, and Rose had to understand that. She always came last, no matter what. She watched Walter with her green eyes, trying to stop herself from shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind so much. “You’re going to be like the rest of them,” she breathed out, clenching her teeth. “You’re going to try to break me too. Just get on with it.”

​

“I don’t have pity for you, boy,” the scientist said with a cold tone, making Colton follow him through the winding passages of the laboratory. “I think with logic. Your survival rate is very low physically, yet somehow you stay alive… Like a cockroach that just won’t die. If I am given permission, you will have a sparring partner today. Hopefully he’s skilled enough to keep you from breaking any more bones or becoming critically injured, then again his age is questionable…” He rounded to Vincent’s lab and rapped on the door before entering in. “Vincent, will you be using the eight year old subject today? If not, may I borrow him to test my new prototypes? Perhaps we can see how he fairs fighting wise… He will have help. I have acquired Isabella's subject for the day, temporarily of course.”

​

Kiki swayed her legs freely as she ate the pancakes, savoring every single bite she could. "I've always been all by myself though," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I mean, it's not really fun, but sometimes it is. You get to go all sorts of places and see so many different things!" She giggled as she took in another bite, looking at Ryan. "Not to mention you can sleep anywhere you want. Besides, you don't want me around. I'm pretty annoying, yeah? All I can do is read minds and shoot bubbles and feathers at people. I'm not that important." She shrugged her shoulders with a grin, closing one of her eyes. "But that's okay! All I can do is what I can do to help others, and that's what makes me happy. And I helped you, so I figured I'm done. Time to go poof, go to the next place, you know?"

​

“Mmm, knock, knock. Who’s there?” Kye suggested, making a sign as if she was knocking on an individual door. She then made a motion like she was holding an ax and started to hack the imaginary door, and then poked her head through it, grinning as big as she could. “It’ssssss KYEEEEE~!” She then snorted at her own reference and spun in place, laughing all the while at her own joke before she turned to face her partner and placed her hands on her knees, smiling up at him from under the shadow of her top hat. “The cat has a better thinking light… Fathers don’t let sons go easily…” She pointed her finger out the door, smiling knowingly. “Liberation will come. Ah, shivers tell me so.” Kye pulled out her sword, leaning against the wall as she ran her tongue along the blade. “Then heads will roll… Slish, slash, the end.”

 

Joshua listened to Jason explain the situation with Cynthia. During the conversation Joshua pulled a first aid kid out of his desk and placed it in front of Jason so he could use it to bandage himself if need be. Sure, it wasn't going to miraculously heal anything, but it'd at least do something.

By the end of the explanation, he felt himself let out a slow breath as he folded his hands, "Jason, I know it is not a topic you necessarily want to discuss but I hope your aware that Cynthia's slip ups are starting to cause serious issues. I mean, it isn't all Cynthia's fault, but if these internal affairs keep up and Cynthia cannot work with anyone, I don't see how she'll have a future here." he was quiet for a moment before summing it up with, "But that's not my decision to make. If something happens to her you'd know about it long before me."

Joshua started doing something that was a little more rare, and was something he found himself doing more when it was Jason talking with him than anyone else, showing emotion involving stress or playfulness. He wouldn't necessarily say Jason and he were friends, they got along. But Joshua and Jason were very close in age, where while even though Jason was technically a member for longer than Joshua, he was around when both of them were teens. So there was really no point in pretending he was an emotionless Bob with Jason around... because Jason knew Joshua when he was a lively little fifteen year old.

Joshua pulled out a piece of paper and held his head as he read it, "Although hopefully this Tobias and Cynthia separation will now settle things down a bit..." he slammed the paper down on the desk and let out a laugh that was clearly an annoyed laugh, "Killing four people in front of security cameras are they absolutely kidding me..."

He held up a printed shot of Tobias giving the finger to the camera and rubbed his temple, "It's like kids these days don't take their job seriously... or with at least some grace or dignity. Oh wow this job is making me sound like an old man... but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if this kid did a mission with absolutely nothing on...and I don't want to do that paperwork...anyway." Joshua placed the paper down and cracked his back and straightened himself up, "As long as most people got out of this okay, and the situation is taken care of, we should be fine... though there is one question I have."

Joshua's break was over, and his face went straight back to it's emotionless interrogation face, "You've had skirmishes with Cynthia before, I've seen them. Usually you don't come out of it this bad. And from the way this situation sounded, you should have had more of the upper-hand with stopping her. I don't need to know anything, you can leave here and keep it to yourself, but is there something about this with Cynthia that I should know?"


Abi was starting to head out of the casino when something felt off. She couldn't explain exactly what it was, but she didn't like it. It put her off in a way that killed what little of a good mood she still had left. Abi felt like she was being followed.

Abi found herself walking faster and looking over her shoulder more often. When she got outside she unwrapped Buttercup's leash and she mumbled, "Alright Buttercup we're heading home, come on girl."

"Can we run?!"
"Absolutely."

Abi felt Buttercup begin the run first, and Abi followed obediently almost as if she was the dog and Buttercup were the owner. But after they crossed the road, Abi felt the need to run faster, and started to run at almost the same speed as Buttercup.​

 

Walter couldn’t help but let out another chuckle, something he found himself doing quite a bit lately. “my my my, how enthusiastic” Walter said rummaging through the suitcase before suddenly pulling out a bottle filled with liquid and a cloth as well. With the two in hand the man walked up to the girl and poured the liquid onto the cloth. “Now this may burn, but compared to what you went through you should definitely be able to manage…just grin and bear it...or scowl and bear it…your choice” Walter said before placing the bottle down, still holding the cloth.

Gently grabbing the girl’s arm, Walter held it up and begun using the cloth and begun cleaning the wounds upon her arm. “I admire such tenacity, especially at such a young age. Most men and women far more experienced in life surely would have squealed and begged for it to stop by now…” Walter said reaching into his pocket as he pulled out a roll of bandages which he proceeded to use to wrap up the wounds.

“If I may ask, what does that boy mean to you? What drives you to such lengths that you are willing to die before betraying him? Is he a lover? a friend? Or a mere stranger that you wish to protect? I am curious” Walter said as he begun to work on the other wounds on the girl’s body. Though the alcohol covered cloth he held caused a burning feeling, Walter was calm and gentle with the girl, both in the way he handled her wounds and in a way that he spoke to her.

 

Well, it'd finally happened. Kye's words actually had Lucas stumped. Either she was spouting complete crap to sound impressive, something he wouldn't put past her, or she was speaking in such a cryptic way that he just didn't understand. Of all mysteries he had solved, trying to decipher the speech patterns of Kytheria Orthienstine was by far the most difficult one. The first part was simple. The cat had a better thinking light...Kye often referred to herself as the cat, and the thinking light was a lightbulb; "I have an idea" was what that meant. Fathers not letting go of sons so easily...could she mean the group Colton was from wouldn't let go of him? It had to be, surely. Then there was liberation, followed by heads will roll.

"I have a better idea. They will come for Colton, wait for them and set out a trap from which there is no escape" was what Lucas got from it.

"If we could use Colton as bait, that would be even better. Unfortunately, to lose him would mean losing our only advantage..so that's out of the question. Perhaps Isabella has some sort of device to neutralise the effect of powers altogether in a specific area. If she does, we could use lure our pursuers into that area and then capture them in one fell swoop" Lucas explained.


Shane froze as he heard Mai's words. Such a low survival rate, and horrific conditions..and he'd walked right into them. He'd been an idiot. Not only that, but after the torture that this woman had gone through, the pain he had seen through her memories, now he was about to inflict more. I'm sorry.. he sent to Mai, before preparing to use his pushing ability. He couldn't do it. He couldn't use his powers to hurt her, not after what she'd been through. And it doesn't make things any easier with the damn smell of coffee constantly here! Shane sent to Isabella. He looked down at the handcuffs on his right hand. Normally he would have made some remark to her about her being into him, which he didn't genuinely believe, but he was starting to lose his grip. He needed to maintain calm, and he needed to do the tasks assigned no matter who he hurt. And he needed coffee. How was he to do these things with so much hesitation?

Focusing intensely, he began using his telepathy on his own mind. It was exceptionally difficult to do, and most of his powers wouldn't work on himself due to not being able to access his own thoughts, but..influencing the emotional state, now that was something he could do. He used his darkside view on himself, and immediately began feeling a lot more confident, a lot more aggressive, and he found the hesitation vanishing almost immediately. He didn't care who he hurt, he just had to do what had to be done and get out. Crack a few skulls on the way out, maybe. Straining against the handcuffs, he began pulling to the point they began cutting into his wrist, but he kept trying anyway. Eventually, the logical side won over and he resumed his practice on Mai.

"Watch this, Isabella. You want to see my powers? I'll give you such a show that you won't be able to keep your hands off of me" he said with a sly wink. He began reaching into Mai's mind, ignoring her pleas as he accessed her memories. He had to pick a good one, one that would surely cause the girl to scream as her memories were being jumbled around. The girl made it too easy, one of her most cherished memories was of her protecting Colton, of her making the deal with Lyle. Well, wasn't that...interesting. He was going to create a new memory and tamper with the old. This girl was going to go through hell, if he did this then they would have no doubt about his powers and they could really speed up things.

He got to work, changing the memory ever so slightly. It was a small change, so that Colton had simply yelled at her and called her an idiot for making the deal. Then Lyle had come over, hearing the conversation, and told Mai nine simple, easy to hear words before leaving. "You're going to die here, and so is he" was what Shane made the Lyle illusion say, before the memory resumed its natural course. That would cause some fun.

Next he created a memory, or rather a series of memories. Congratulations, you have another sibling after all that you completely forgot about. And here I was thinking I knew everything about you. You know why I couldn't find him? Because even you had forgotten him. You forgot your brother, you forgot the family member that you left for dead! Shane sent to Mai. Oh he was enjoying this too much. As he sent the words to her, he began creating a series of memories for Mai, of her older brother simply named David. Memories of the two playing together, memories of them confiding in each other with secrets of Shane's choosing, memories of them getting a family dog only for that dog to pass away two months later, hit in a car accident.

And the memory of David's death. Of her losing her temper one day and him yelling back, of David hitting her once in the face and her going for a kitchen knife. She told him to back down and apologise, and when he didn't he attacked her, trying to hit her once again. She held up the knife in front of her out of desperation, and poor, sad David was stabbed straight through the heart, bleeding to death on the ground.

And that was all the memory editing he would do for the moment. It was all that was needed. He turned and glanced at Isabella. "You see all that? I've got two more powers you haven't seen, should I show those too?" he asked. He had to be quick. Already he could feel his other half returning, his regular personality coming back. If he didn't act quick, he wouldn't be able to finish the tests.​

 

Ryan couldn't help but feel sad that Kiki wanted to go. She seemed like she could be a great friend, and she did save his life before. Kiki, despite how strange she was at times, was the most normal thing in his life since living in the mansion. He frowned as he reached out for a pen that was left on the side of the bench by someone. He began to scribble his name and number and handed it to her.
"If you ever find someone in trouble or just need a friend, give me a call, okay?" he told her. He smiled at her. "Thanks for helping me back there, and I don't find you annoying at all!"
He laughed a little. "You might be strange, but it's good to be like that. Don't lose it," he mentioned before standing up from the bench. He wanted to get back to Jex to see if he was awake yet. Most likely not. He looked back at Kiki.
"I guess this is goodbye then," he said.