Heroes

[JasraLantill]

“So, Mil, how’s your part of the project going?” Sean, one of Milly’s classmates from her Biology class, asked her as they walked to class together.

 

“Pretty good.” Milly smiled. Sean was also the ‘cute’ boy that her brother had deduced was in her study group. “I’ve still got to go and get the water samples though.” She looked askance at Sean. “I was thinking I could do that this afternoon, you know, after our group meeting? Care to come along?” Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes…. Milly chanted in her head as Sean took a moment to consider.

 

“Yeah, I think I can swing that,” he said finally.

 

Milly grinned. “Great! My brother’s picking me up at two, so I’ll get him to just drop us off at the….”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a sec!” Sean held up his hands. “Your brother? Your brother, the cop, right?”

 

“Yeah.” Milly frowned. “Is that a problem?”

 

Sean shifted uncomfortably. “N-o,” he said slowly. “It’s just that… well….” He stopped looked directly at Milly. “It’s just not cool to be seen with a cop, Mil.”

 

“He’s not picking me up in a patrol car,” Milly said, rolling her eyes slightly.

 

Sean pointed blatantly at his T-shirt. It had several circular coffee-colored stains on it with the words ‘My other shirt is clean’ superimposed in heavy black lettering. “Grunge and cops… they just don’t mix, Milly.”

 

Milly agreed that Sean did purposefully aim for the non-conformist ‘grunge’ look most of the time. She looked down at her own clothing. Stripy cardigan, faded jeans, and Doc Martens—still typical college student wear, but far from being ‘grunge’. “Oh. Well, then maybe we can do something else.” An idea suddenly came to her. “Erm… you going to that genetics seminar tomorrow?”

 

“The extra credit one about freakish human mutations?”

 

“Yeah, that one.”

 

Sean shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I could really do with the extra credit in biology, but….” He shivered. “Sounds kinda creepy to me. I mean, mutant humans? That stuff sounds great in a sci-fi movie, but not in the real world. In the real world, they’d be freaks for a circus or those State Fair side shows. Or on Jerry Springer.”

 

Milly pressed her lips together. Suddenly, Sean wasn’t looking all that ‘cute’ anymore. “Dr. Hawk calls them ‘specials,’ not mutants.”

 

“Special mutant freaks,” Sean said, sounding more venomous all the time. “No, I don’t think I want to go. Extra credit or not.”

 

They walked along in silence for a moment, but just before they reached their classroom, Sean spoke. “We could go to that new café that opened last week,” he offered. “You know, just for a coffee or something after the group stuff. What do you say?”

 

Milly shrugged. “I really should get those water samples today. Maybe we can do something next week.”

 

Sean sat in front of Milly in the classroom and as she stared at the back of his head, the only thing she could think about was Sean’s attitude toward ‘special’ people. The things he had said, and the way he said them, upset her. A lot.

 

Her eyes narrowed slightly. As she focused her eyes closer and closer, she wondered if it would upset him just as much to know that she could see the tiny microscopic ‘bugs’ crawling along the hair shafts of his ‘pseudo-grungy’ head.

[starmark2k]

“Sorry if it’s a little warm in here…”Jason apologised as him and Kevin walked into the small apartment. “…but my AC broke and I don’t really feel the heat.” As they walked into the main living/lab room they both saw SJ and Byron Jones sitting watching the small television.

 

“These are the Jones’.” Jason explained. “She’s one of us.”

[Writer]

"Don't feel the heat, huh?" Kevin wondered thoughtfully. He closed his eyes for a moment and the AC kicked on. He grinned at SJ. "Kevin Waters, controller of machines, master of information signals."

[Rogue Nine]

"Doesn't look like the old coot put up much of a fight."

 

Cass looked up from the papers he was studying to glance over at his partner. Detective Esmé Almássy was crouched next to the body of the recently deceased millionaire Peter Jay, her gloved hands carefully lifting one of the dead man's hands. "What makes you say that?'

 

Esmé wrinkled her nose as she replaced Jay's hand back to the ground. "No blood under the fingernails, no bruising to the fingers," she responded as she stood. "If he struggled, it wasn't for very long before he went into cardiac arrest."

 

"That doesn't surprise me," Cass said, turning his gaze back to the paper. "Poor guy was pretty old."

 

"Old yes, but he was anything but poor, Cass," Esmé corrected as she came up alongside him.

 

"You know what I mean," Cass retorted. He leafed through another few pages, then frowned. "Funny how someone comes here and kills him, but leaves all his financial information behind."

 

Esmé shrugged. "Whoever did this wasn't after money?"

 

"Yeah, but even so. With a guy this rich, you're bound to try and take something, right?" He pointed to something on the piece of paper he held. "Peter Jay was one of the most brilliant financial minds on the planet. Look at these figures. They're not fudged." Cass shook his head. "If I had half this guy's money acumen, I'd be a millionaire."

 

The female detective snorted. "Or you could just rifle through the back seat of your car and find hundred dollar bills at will," she chided him, referring to quite a few times Cass had found large bills of money in his car.

 

Cass chuckled. "A few Benjamins here and there is one thing. To be able to make a killing like he did is another."

 

"Too bad he was on the receiving end of the last 'killing'," Esmé said, casting another look at Peter Jay's dead body as a technician came over and covered it with a shroud.

 

"Indeed," Cass agreed. Just then, his cell phone vibrated. Retrieving it from his pocket, he looked at the display, then frowned. "Shoot, I need to pick up Milly in ten minutes."

 

Esmé checked her watch. "It's only two. CSU's gotta finish going through the crime scene anyway. We can go pick her up, then by the time we get back, the examiner should have something for us."

 

"Yeah, let's do that," Cass agreed, flipping over one last sheet. He was about to hand it to a technician for evidence bagging when he read something that made him stop short. At the top of the page was the name 'Jason Hawk'. He arched an eyebrow, trying to remember where he'd heard or seen that name before. His cell phone vibrated at him again and he gave the paper to the technician. "Save that for me, will ya?"

 

The technician nodded. "You got it, Detective."

 

"Thanks." Turning to Esmé, he started towards the door. "Let's go."

[JasraLantill]

“Yeah, see ya later,” Milly called out as she exited Starbuck’s. She gave a quick wave to her friends through the coffee shop’s window before heading out towards the corner. She checked her watch, then frowned a bit. It was ten minutes after two.

 

“He’s late?” she wondered out loud. “He’s never late. I’m the one who’s always late.”

 

As she waited she thought about Sean, the boy in her study group. He had been rather quiet during their study group meeting, though Milly wasn’t sure if it was because of their conversation earlier in the day, or because Sean didn’t have much of a clue about what to do with microbes in their project. Milly thought the project was easy--find a common substance that nearly everyone has been exposed to at one time or another and see what types of bacterium and microbes it has in it.

 

Milly’s group had decided to gather water samples in different areas of the city—from public fountains, to puddles, to estuary water. And for no particular reason, Milly had been nominated to get the samples. She was hoping that before he dropped her home, Cass could swing by the harbor so she could get a sample of some estuary water. That is if he ever showed up.

 

Milly checked her watch again. “Where the hell is he?” she said. She was getting a bit worried. Cass was never late. She squinted her eyes to see through the street traffic—literally.

 

Her line of sight went down block after block, looking through the cars, vans, and trucks with X-ray vision when necessary, to see if she could spot her brother’s car approaching.

[Rogue Nine]

"This traffic is atrocious," Esmé sighed, her voice tinged with exasperation.

 

Cass looked up from the computer display installed in the car's dashboard and over at his partner. Esmé didn't have very much patience for gridlock. He concentrated a little bit, then said, "Turn down this street."

 

Esmé turned to stare at Cass. "Are you kidding? That'll take us away from the campus."

 

He smirked at her. "Since when do you doubt me, Esmé?"

 

She stared at him for a few more moments, then sighed again and pulled off in the direction Cass had indicated. To her surprise, it was mostly clear, providing an unencumbered roadway on which to travel. "How did you know this was clear?" she asked.

 

"Call it a hunch," Cass replied, turning back to the screen.

 

*****

 

Three minutes later, Esmé pulled the dark unmarked Crown Victoria down a side street near the University of Washington campus, approaching one of the many Starbuck's locations littered throughout the city of Seattle. Cass spotted his sister standing at the curb, and even from this distance, could tell that she was zeroing in on him.

 

"I take it she doesn't like it when you're late," Esmé said.

 

Cass chuckled. "I'm never late," he replied as they pulled up alongside the sidewalk in front of the Starbuck's.

 

“You’re late,” Milly snapped, glaring at Cass as she hopped into the back seat. “What was the hold up? And where’s your car? Do you know how embarrassing it is to be picked up in one of these?” As she put on her seatbelt, she added. “Hi, Esmé.”

 

"Don't blame me," Cass responded, jerking a thumb over toward his parnter. "Blame her. It was her turn to drive today."

 

Esmé snorted. "That's the last time I offer you a ride, bucko," she said, then turned to Milly. "Hey Milly, sorry for being late, there's a big case we're working on at the moment. Where was it you needed to go?"

 

“To the harbor, or as near as you can get me to it,” Milly answered. “And I’m not blaming you, Cass. I was just…nevermind.” Milly didn’t want to tell him that she had been a bit worried about him. “You’re just never late,” she ended up saying. “Anyway, if you can just drop me off near the water, I’d appreciate it. I need a water sample for a class project. Microbes,” she added. "So what's the big case? Anything newsworthy?"

 

"Yeah, I'd say so," Cass said, remembering the throng of reporters he and Esmé had to push through, part of the reason they'd been late. "Can't really tell you more than that, though."

 

Milly grinned. “Yeah, I know. Just thought I’d ask anyway.” She reached into her backpack and pulled out a flyer which she handed to her brother. “Say, for tomorrow, can you drop me off at the new science wing instead of taking me home? If you’re not too busy on your really important newsworthy case, that is.”

 

"I think I can swing that," Cass said, taking the flyer and looking it over. It seemed fairly straighforward, but upon closer examination, a name jumped out at him again. "Jason Hawk," he intoned, trying to remember where he'd heard that name before and why he'd encountered it twice already today.

 

“Yeah, he’s that guy that wrote that paper that I saw on the net the other day,” she said, deliberately being vague. “I told you about it, remember?” She sank back in her seat. “We get extra credit in our biology class if we go listen to the talks.”

 

"Sure," Cass agreed. "Besides, you need every bit of extra credit you can get." He leaned over his shoulder and winked at his sister.

 

“Ha, ha,” Milly said, then stuck her tongue out at him. “You know, if you want to go with me, you can. It’s for students only, but you can always go as my ‘guest’. Just, don’t sit next to me. Apparently, it’s not cool to be seen with cops.” She eyed him over. “That is, unless you want to try your luck at dressing grunge. Then you’d be less noticeable.”

 

Esmé couldn't surpress a chuckle. "I think your brother would stick out like a sore thumb if he tried," she said, pulling onto the main thoroughfare.

 

"Probably," Cass said. "I'll think about it. Esmé and I still have this case to work on, but it should be interesting."

[Tommycat]

Devin looked at the letter on his wall. Some strange person had sent him a letter. This person wanted to know about any special abilities. When he got it, he thought it was some hoax. Water freezing around him in an instant. At first he thought it was cool. He could walk in rain and not get even a drop of water on him. He could take his surf board and perform tricks in the pool. He wondered if he could part water like Moses. When he tried, he nearly killed himself. It took so much concentration. The water would fight him.

 

Now he realized how lethal his abilities could be. His boss had blamed him for something someone else did. Devin tried to argue that he wasn't even scheduled to run the forklift. His boss wouldn't listen, and docked him a day's pay. He got so angry with his boss that Devin let his emotions get away from him. He froze the water in his boss's body. It killed him instantly. It was getting out of hand.

 

Devin stared at this letter. Maybe they could find a way to remove this special ability. Maybe they could help him get rid of it. Maybe the doctor knew more about how this could happen to him. How to stop him. Devin was lethal when he was too angry or too happy. Sure he could move water around, but the cost was too high.

 

He dialed the number on the letter without really thinking.

 

Rats, voicemail. Devin started to leave a message, and rather than saying anything about his abilities, he simply said, "I got your letter, I hope you can help" and left his cell phone number.

 

He called a cab and went to the beach. There he sat "playing" with the waves, waiting for a call back.

[Master_Archon]

((Time For Capture.))

 

Jaydon sat impatiently on a blue postbox near the curb outside of an antiquated candy and bakery shop. It was his sister and his' special spot where they came to meet, recollect, and gorge themselves on various sweets. The store sold anything and everything that contained suger, anything from chocolate bars and caramel candies, to whole cakes and icecream, you name it they had it, and it was all homemade and absolutely delicious.

 

Saddly it was in a portion of downtown where most people would miss passing by it, and so it wasn't as popular as it could be, or as popular as Jaydon wished it was, because, as usual, he knew the owners of the store personally, and he didn't want to see their business fail.

 

But as of the moment he was rather perturbed at the lack of one thing, his sister. It was getting very late and she still hadn't shown up, which was very unusual for her. He'd spent most of the day going from place to place picking up applications from various places, and between each visit he'd check back at this place. Now it was half past time for her to have shown up already.

 

"Might as well head home," Jaydon muttered to himself. He slid off of the postbox and walked towards the shop, pulling out Jim's cell.

 

"Hey, sis, it's me again, I called to tell you that it's late, so I'm going home, might as well not come now. Maybe another time," He said into the phone as his sister's voicemail picked up. He walked into the shop with a lazy look on his face, seeing as Jaydon wasn't used to staying up this late.

 

"Hey, Jaydon, oh, sorry, 'Jaz'. It's closing time, gonna have ta' get goin'," said and extremely wrinckled old man, his features giving him the appearance of a Shar-Pei.

 

"I know, I'm just getting something to go," Jaydon responded.

 

"Oh, well, okay. So what will ya have?" The old man asked.

 

"A half pound of the candy mix special," Jaydon said, his mind off elsewhere, and his eyes half closed.

 

"Alright, coming up," the man said, getting a brown bag and scooping up candy from a bin. "You seem awful tired. You're a teenager and you still can't keep your eyes open this late?"

 

"No, I'm just really lazy, not used to late nights. I sleep early, wake up late, and take naps throughout the day. So of course I'd be tired at this time in the evening," Jaydon explained.

 

"Is that so. Well, here you are, that'll be three-fifty, add a discount and it'll be two seventy-five," the old man said, Jaydon pulling out a five dollar bill and handing it to the man. "Here's your change. See ya later Jaz," the old man said with a wrinkly smile.

 

"Thanks," he responded, heading for the door.

 

"Jaz," the old fellow called out to him, Jaydon looked around at him. "Don't let it get ya down," he said with another smile, then with a wave of his had he shooed Jaydon out of the store.

 

Jaydon had a confused and quizical look as he walked down the sidewalk, but found himself grinning to himself. 'Old folks can be so wise and insightful. Guess that's why I like them so much. And the fact that when ever I'm in a bad mood the old guy always gives me extra candy,' he thought to himself, his grin growing wider as he patted the bag that was an extra quarter of a pound.

 

Jaydon opened the bag and began eating the varietised morsels of sugar.

 

Jaydon wasn't paying attention, and found himself slamming straight into someone.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jaydon said, looking at the person he bumped ((BTW: I changed Jaydon's heighth to 6'3"; 6'7" seemed too tall.)). He found himself looking at a rather rough and scruffy looking biker, and ontop of that he seemed in a bad mood.

 

"You know how long it's taken me to find you kid?" The man said with a scowl.

 

"Uh? I dunno?" Jaydon thought to himself for a moment. "Is that you sis? Wow! You've changed...alot! You sure are ugly now," Jaydon said, his comment sounding almost serious.

 

"Shut it kid, you're coming with me!" The man growled, reach out towards his forehead.

 

Jaydon shot his hand out with the same reaction-time he had shown while catching Jim's cellphone from falling.

 

The man wretched his hand away, and with a smirk he backed up a bit. "Fine kid, we'll do it your way," the man said.

 

Suddenly Jaydon found himself somewhere else, seeing things that he only saw in his wildest dreams, and darkest nightmares. And he found himself screaming as he pulled out of this nightmarish hallucination.

 

He stood wide eyed and clutching the bag of candy, he was cold sweating profusely. He narrowed his eyes at the man before him, who was reaching for him again. Jaydon moved to stop his hand, but he was too late, he found himself slumping to the ground as an unimaginable desire to sleep washed over him.

 

"Seems you broke out of my power rather quickly. But not quick enough," the man said with a cruel laugh as he reached down towards him.

 

"...Oh well...." Jaydon mumbled as his eyes began to close, and a smile spread across his face. 'At least, I get to sleep...' Jaydon finished in thought, as with his last bit of conciousness he felt the rough hands of the man haul him up and fling him on what he could only guess was a motorcycle.

 

((I hope I got the baddy and his powers right, I got kinda confused with this one.))

[Quist]

Malin checked her reflection one last time in the stainless steel doors of the elevator. Normally, she'd take the stairs, but since she happened to be wearing heels, she didn't feel like risking a broken neck. Normally she wouldn't be wearing heels either, but since she happened to be going to a semi-formal art exhibition, she figured a bit of dressing up was in order. She wore her one 'dressy' outfit: a spaghetti-strap black dress with matching pumps, with her hair done up in a twist. Being a firefighter, she felt more comfortable in jeans and t-shirts in her off-time, but she couldn't exactly wear that attire to an exhibition.

 

The elevator chimed and the doors slid open, admitting her into the small but cozy lobby of her apartment building. She waved at the watchman, then pushed open the front door and stepped into the chilly Seattle afternoon. The art gallery was a number of blocks away in the northwestern part of the city, but Malin figured she could walk there. She'd just have to reinforce the soles of her feet and the backs of her heels to accomodate for the uncomfortable feeling that was sure to accompany extended heel-walking. Closing her eyes, she concentrated a little bit, directing her abilities as they changed parts of her physiology. She opened her eyes and crouched down, pulling small bits of flesh off the back of her heel, revealing a malleable, translucent material behind it. Straightening up, she took a few tentative steps forward then, satisfied with the cushioning, started striding purposefully in the direction of the art gallery.

 

She decided to cut through a small park she usually passed through on her morning runs, figuring it would make her trip shorter. As she stepped onto the dimly lit pathway, she heard a muffled cry of distress. Malin stopped short, listening intently the sound. She heard it again, this time clearer, emanating from a shady copse off to the left side of the path. She moved quickly in the direction of the noise, pushing through the brush and low-hanging branches to come upon a young woman dressed in running gear lying on the ground and clutching at her ankle. "Hey, are you all right?" Malin called out as she approached.

 

The woman turned to look at Malin. "Hi, and no I'm not," she responded, her voice strained. "I think I've broken my ankle."

 

Malin tossed her bag on the grass and knelt in front of the injured woman. "My name is Malin and I'm a firefighter. What's your name?"

 

"Kate," the woman responded. "Do you think you could help me up?" she asked, holding her arm out.

 

"I don't think it's a good idea to put weight on your ankle right now, Kate," Malin said, taking the woman's hand. "Let me go find something to splint that for you." She gave Kate's hand a squeeze, then disappeared into the trees. A few minutes later, she returned, clutching two thick sticks in her hands. "Now Kate," she said, kneeling at the woman's feet again, "Stay still while I splint your ankle."

 

"Okay," Kate said, her voice still trembling in pain.

 

Malin pulled a roll of athletic adhesive tape out of her bag and quickly set to work wrapping Kate's injured foot. "There we go," she pronounced, ripping off the last stray bit of tape. "That should keep it steady until we get you to a hospital."

 

"Thank you," Kate said gratefully, then looked up at Malin. "Will you take me there?"

 

Malin paused, glancing at her wristwatch. She was already late for the opening of the exhibition. She let out a small sigh. "Yes, I will," she told Kate, slinging her bag up onto her shoulder, then crouching to Kate's side. "Wrap your arms around my neck and I'll pick you up."

 

Kate's eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure?"

 

"Yeah, I do this all the time," Malin replied truthfully. "Comes with the job."

 

"O-okay," Kate said, putting her arms around Malin's neck as the firefighter hefted her in one smooth motion. "You're strong!"

 

Malin laughed lightly. "Again, it comes with the job." She started towards the path. "Let's get you to the hospital."

 

"No, that's okay," Kate said softly.

 

"Come again?" Malin asked, not sure she heard correctly. Something brushed against the back of her neck. Probably just a branch... she thought.

 

"I said, that's okay," Kate repeated, her voice no longer sounding strained. She clutched her arms tighter around Malin.

 

Malin slowed, feeling very strange all of a sudden. "It's okay," she echoed slowly.

 

"Let's go that way," Kate said, pointing away from the path towards a small stone bridge. As she did so, a car's headlights flared up, shining bright light towards the two women.

 

"Let's," Malin agreed, walking towards the car. Her mind felt very fuzzy for some reason and there was something she had to do for Kate...but she couldn't remember what it was.

 

Kate giggled. "You can put me down, Malin," she said, her voice taking on a sultry undertone.

 

Malin did as she was told, letting Kate slide down from her arms.

 

"Mmmm..." Kate cooed as she set her feet on the ground. Reaching down, she carefully unwrapped the splint around her ankle and tossed the sticks and tape away. Turning around, she caught Malin staring at her strangely. She cocked her head to the side. "Something the matter?"

 

Malin blinked. "You're not...hurt?" she managed, looking down at Kate's foot.

 

"No, my dear," Kate said, stepping swiftly towards the befuddled firefighter. She reached out and cupped a hand to either side of Malin's face. "But thank you for your concern," she said, then pressed her lips to Malin's.

 

Malin's eyes shot open as their lips made contact, but after a few moments, her eyelids fluttered shut as she returned the kiss.

 

It was Kate who came up for air first. "Mmm...I knew you'd be delicious," she told Malin seductively.

 

The car behind them flashed its high beams a couple of times. "Hey!" a male voice shouted from behind the headlights. "I like a free show as much as the next guy, but we have to get moving! Let's get the broad in the car and go."

 

Kate turned and stuck her tongue out at the man. "We're coming, we're coming," she shouted back dismissively, then faced Malin again. Tapping the tip of Malin's nose with one hand, her other took a hold of Malin's arm and guided her towards the car. "Let's go, kitten."

[starmark2k]

“I’m Sarah Jane, I… uh, make earthquakes.” The English girl replied blushing at the Kevin.

 

Jason held his hand in front of the AC vent feeling the cool airflow out of the machine, he smiled and looked over at Kevin.

 

“You’re very useful.” Dr Hawk stated still smiling. “So I guess you want to know what I do here in my livinbatory.”

[JasraLantill]

"This close enough, Milly?" Esme asked her as she pulled the car over to the curb. As Cass' sister had asked to be dropped off near the harbor, she had stopped the car near an entrance to a small beachside causeway.

 

"Yeah, this is fine, Ez." Milly opened the door and got out, but then stood by Esme's open window. "Thanks." She looked across Esme to her brother Cass who was sitting in the passenger seat. "I'll see you at home later."

 

"How you getting home?" he asked.

 

Milly shrugged. "Walking, I guess. It's not far."

 

"Just call me when you're finished and I'll come and pick you up."

 

Milly shook her head. "Nah, I can walk home by myself." She winked. "I'm a big girl now, you know." She looked skywards. "Besides, it's not a bad day." With a quick wave, she started towards the causeway. "See 'ya, later!" she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the small beach.

 

The beach was relatively deserted even though it was a nice day, for Seattle standards. It was a bit overcast and the wind blowing over the water made it feel a little bit on the cool side, but as Milly reached the end of the causeway, she still took off her shoes and socks and rolled up the legs of her jeans. Cool or not, she loved the feeling of the sand between her toes. Tying the laces together and stuffing her socks inside them, she shouldered her shoes and headed towards the water.

 

Near the tide mark, she set down her shoes and her backpack, then unzipped one of the pockets in the pack and removed a few of the small plastic vials she was going to use to contain her water samples. Each vial had a label with a number on it, so she could keep track of which water sample had come from where, and so she jotted down the number, the date and the time in a small notebook before grabbing up the vials in her hand.

 

At the water's edge she waded in to just below her knees and waited for the next rhythmic wave to come rolling onto the shore. After all, she needed a water sample, not silt or sand. She bent down and held the open vial in the water, with the intent on catching a sample of moving water as the wave came in. And then, she frowned.

 

Something wasn't right. Normally, waves came ashore in a fairly regular tempo, but today, they seemed... well, a bit off beat. She listened and watched a moment more. No, they weren't 'off beat.' They had a beat, a fairly strong one in fact, but it certainly didn't sound natural to her. It sounded something like... "Jane's Addiction, maybe?" she wondered out loud.

 

Then as she listened and watched a bit more, her eyes started to widen. An odd, unnatural tempo to the waves was one thing, but having a wave 'pause' for a backbeat? That was just downright weird. She quickly capped her vial and then looked around. A guy jogging along the shore with his dog. A young couple, probably still in high school, sitting on the high dry sand talking and sharing a can of soda. A dark-haired man sitting by himself holding a cell phone in his hand. Using her telescopic vision, she zeroed in on the faces of each one of them. None of them appeared like they thought anything was wrong, though the dark-haired Asian man looked like he was lost in thought.

 

Milly capped her sample vial and headed back to where she had left her shoes and her back pack. Before placing the vial in her pack, she held it up and looked closer at it. Really close. Sure enough, with her 'micro-vision' as she called it, she could see the tiny plankton, bacterium, and particulates floating in her sample. Good, she thought. It would make her biology project that much easier knowing that there were plenty of 'things' in her samples to categorize.

 

She took another water sample from a nearby rock pool, and another further on down the beach closer to a marina before heading back. The waves there sounded normal enough, but when she began to get closer to the causeway again, they started to sound artificial again and she inadvertently found herself humming a popular tune in rhythm with the waves.

 

The dark-haired Asian man was still sitting on the same spot on the beach holding his phone. Poor guy, she thought, imagining that he might be waiting for a phone call from a girl that might never come, and she flashed a sympathetic smile his way as she passed by him on her way to the causeway.

 

She recalled that Cass got the same far away look in his eyes when he was concentrating on something work-related that he couldn't tell her about, and so it was then she thought to make a point to mention the strange sounding waves to her brother when he got home. After all, Cass was a detective, this was definitely a mystery, and it would give him something other than his 'heavy' case to ponder.

 

Having reached the causeway that led back up to street level, she put her shoes and socks back on. She hadn't meant to spend as much time as she had here. It was getting dark now, and her brother Cass would probably start wondering where she was soon, but she still took a moment to watch the sunset before heading home. It looked absolutely fabulous by adding with just a hint of infrared vision.

[steven]

The sun had long disappeared beyond the horizon however William continued to work despite the clock telling him he had just entered the following day. William didn't want to go home. There was nothing to do there expect sleep and sleeping was on the bottom of the 'to do list' written in Williams mind. He had look at two cars, find out what the problem was and then fix it before heading to the scrapyard around the back to fix a problem with the Crusher. It was a busy night which suited William. The more work he had, the more on the mind he could use to help him forget about his powers, something that had been plaguing his mind since the day he discovered he was a human power generator.

 

He had been working for three solid hours when he put his spanner down and took a moment away from his working however it wasn't because he wanted to take a break. In a sense he was forced to stop, because standing in the middle of his workshop was the strange looking woman William had ever seen. The one clear thing about her was her Asian background. However everything else about this woman was a complete and utter mystery.

 

Her face had been painted in a strange and somewhat scary manor. It would appear that she had a connection or two to some Asian tribe and the face paint was some form of customary appearance. Then he clothes kind of resembled some video game or film clothing and didn't really fall into the ordinary clothing category. But despite her alien appearance, what baffled William the most was how she managed to do inside the workshop. To Williams recollection, he looked all the doors, front and back. The windows couldn't open and he didn't hear the sound of smashing glass, and there wasn't any other way in.

 

"Who are you?" Asked William after a short moment of awkward silence. She didn't reply. Instead she marched forward, as if Williams voice was some sort of trigger. William wondered why she was heading in his direction when between them was a large automobile, but he understood when she passed straight through the car. As anybody in his situation would do: he freaked. Dropping everything in his hands, he powered up an electrical charge and disbursed it from his body and towards the approaching woman, however the car absorbed the lighting and she was unaffected. He powered up another charge however she was too quick. Second before he was about to fire another electric burst, she reached him and injected his neck with a needle. The substance inside worked fast and within three heart beats, had rendered William unconscious.

[Writer]

“You’re very useful.” Dr Hawk stated still smiling. “So I guess you want to know what I do here in my livinbatory.”

 

Kevin grinned. "I do so love to be useful," he offered cheerfully, taking a look around the living space. "So yeah... what do you do here?" With a chuckle, he added, "Well... besides entertain a freak show, that is..."

[Rogue Nine]

"Captain says we need to come up with something for him to say to the wolves outside."

 

Cass looked up from his computer screen at Esmé standing next to his desk. "Don't they ever go home?" he asked, rubbing a hand to the side of his face. He and Esmé had to wade through another sea of reporters when they returned to the precinct after dropping Milly off at the beach.

 

"They need to pay the bills too," Esmé reasoned. Still she didn't look too pleased about it and Cass didn't blame her.

 

"Yeah, well," he murmured. "Captain's just gonna have to fudge something together. Use his dashing good looks to keep the snapping jaws at bay."

 

Esmé snorted. Their commanding officer, the eponymous Captain, was a rotund, balding man in his mid-50's who wasn't going to win any beauty contests by any stretch of the imagination. "I'll tell him you said that."

 

"Good luck finding a new partner then," Cass chided her, turning back to his screen and clicking through the webpage he was reading.

 

"Got a lead?" Esmé asked, coming up alongside him to look at his computer.

 

"Not really," Cass responded, moving over a bit to make room for his partner. "Found a piece of paper at the scene that had the name 'Jason Hawk' on it. He's a research doctor based right here in Seattle. Giving a speech tomorrow at the campus that Milly wants to attend."

 

"Right, that flyer she gave you in the car," Esmé recalled. "Why would Jay have something like that in his house?"

 

"Dunno," Cass said. He wasn't exactly being truthful, since he did have a hypothesis. He just didn't think Esmé, no matter how understanding she was, would accept it. At least not yet. Esmé was the only partner he'd ever had and he didn't think he could've asked for a better one. She was smart, streetwise and honest in addition to being a damn good cop. He'd actually planned on telling her about his 'gift' at some point, but had held back due to recent events. The current situation was looking like as good a time as any, but he'd have to do it the right way, and with Milly's approval, since she was somewhat involved as well. "But I'm thinking of going to his conference tomorrow with my sister to see what he's all about. I can take him in for questioning afterwards if needed."

 

"Good thinking," Esmé nodded. "Whoops...getting buzzed..." She straightened up, then pulled out her cell phone and put it to her ear. "Almássy," she said into the receiver. "Really. Okay, thanks." She looked back down at Cass. "That was the examiner, he just finished up with Jay. Said he found some interesting things."

 

Cass glanced at the clock on his desk. "I promised Milly I'd be home tonight," he sighed. "It was supposed to be my turn to cook."

 

Esmé resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Cass. "Yeah yeah, I'll go see what the medical examiner has for us. I'll give you call if it's anything you need to know urgently."

 

"Thanks, Es," Cass said, smiling at his partner as he got up and grabbed his coat.

 

"You owe me some of whatever it is you're cooking," she said, wagging a finger at him.

 

"Sure thing."

[JasraLantill]

At home now, Milly sat on the couch watching one of the news channels on TV. In front of her on the coffee table were twelve small plastic vials with water in them. She was just lining them up in order of poorest water quality when Cass came in through the door.

 

“I’m home,” he announced.

 

“You’re late,” she retorted. But, looking up at him, she grinned broadly. “So I ordered pizza. Extra cheese, extra pepperoni, and no onions.” She looked over his shoulder. “So, where’s Es? I thought she’d be with you, big important case and all.”

 

“She’s still working,” Cass said, as he sat down next to her on the couch. He winked. “You know, big important case and all.” He took a bite of pizza. "I take it I shouldn't drink out of any of those?"

 

“Not unless you want dysentery.” She held up one of the vials. “This one has a lot of ‘organic’ particulates.” She gave him a look. “Otherwise known as raw sewerage.” She set the vial down and picked up another one. “And this one has a high concentration of ‘inorganic’ particulates, otherwise known as ‘industrial waste products’.” She reached under the table and handed him a can of soda. “You can drink this though.” She handed it to him. “Don’t worry. I didn’t cross-contaminate.”

 

“Good to know,” he said, his mouth half full.

 

“Anyway, thanks for dropping me off today,” Milly continued. “I really appreciate it.”

 

“It’s never a big deal, Mil. Just as long as you keep going to school, and….” Cass suddenly gave her a bemused look. Gratitude, not upset about him being late, ordering his favourite toppings on the pizza? He was about to ask her what had brought on all the sudden gratitude and what she wanted from him when she pointed to the TV.

 

“They think it’s a big deal,” she said. The news was covering the murder case Cass was working on. “That’s your big important case, isn’t it?” The question was more of a statement. Milly knew Cass really wasn’t allowed to tell her.

 

“So, thanks,” she said again. “Oh, and here’s a mystery for you. Something for you to ponder about when you’re not thinking about real stuff.” She nodded to the TV screen. “When I was at the beach the rhythm of the waves was ‘off.’ It was like they had a beat. Not a natural beat, though, more like a rock-n-roll rhythm with a backbeat. But it was only at the spot you guys dropped me off at. Further up the strand, the waves were normal as can be. So, my question to you is, detective, how can that happen?”

 

“Boat wakes?”

 

“In just one little area?” Milly shook her head. “It was weird, Cass. But I think I’m the only one who noticed. There were a couple of other people at the beach, but they didn’t seem bothered one iota. Especially that one guy.” Milly thought back to the young Asian man she had seen sitting by himself. "Wonder if he ever got his phone call," she thought outloud. She shook her head. "Anyway, it was really strange."

[starmark2k]

A New day broke over Seattle and all seemed calm, it would appear to be a normal day just like any other, but beneath the surface was a more sinister side to the city.

 

Deep underneath Globe-Net’s Triple Helix building was a secret laboratory only a few knew even existed. As well as Labs there was a moderate sized containment area with eight cells across one wall, four of these cells had one unconscious person in each. The Four had been taken the night before and put under sedation that would be wearing off soon.

 

Nicolay and Kate stood looking through the electrified glass doors that would prevent the prisoners from attempting to escape. Kate looked at the young women she had brought in with a childish pout on her face.

 

“Why did you have to cure her I’d have enjoyed this kitten.” Kate complained.

 

“We need her mind clear for the tests.” The scientist replied.

 

“But I want to have some fun.” She complained still pouting.

 

“Work now.” Nicolay stated. “There will be plenty of time for fun later.” A sinister grin quickly stretched across his face and Kate let out a childish laugh.

______________________________________________________

 

Jason looked at his watch to see the digital display change to 11:03, he had been sitting in the same place for more than two hours now while Janice Caminetti discussed the wonders of the new Science Wing. He was currently sitting in one of the large auditoriums within the donated wing where he was waiting to give a talk on the wonders of the genetic research Globe-Net was doing.

 

He was selected to do this by Globe-Net because of his age and reasonable good looks so he could relate to the students better. They could have gotten anyone to do this job as he was only reading from a script that contained the dictionary research of genetics and some of the good work that Triple Helix was doing of mankind.

 

This was the last thing Jason wanted to do despite the fact he had a genuine interest in looking at the New Science facilities, although he would be very lucky to see anything other than the auditorium he was in. He wanted to be back in his lab analysing the data he had gotten from Sarah-Jane and Kevin, after Months of getting nowhere two just seemed to have came from nowhere looking for his help.

 

Jason had spent most of the last evening talking to both the ‘Specials’ analysing what they could do through basic tests. This took most of the night and went into the early hours of the next day, this meant he was extremely tired. The evening ended with Jason agreeing to meet up with Kevin and SJ around 1 o’clock when the opening ceremony would be finished.

 

“Now please Welcome Dr Jason Hawk.” Caminetti stated beginning to clap.

 

This brought Jason out of his daze and he stood up to walk over to the podium carrying his notes. All he had to do was spend ten minuets reading the script and then wait another hour to do it again. “The study of genetics is the science of heredity, dealing with resemblances and differences of related organisms resulting from the interaction of their genes and the environment.” He Began in a robotic fashion.

_____________________________________________________

 

The large Seattle mall was full of people including SJ and Byron Jones, the professor promised to take his daughter shopping until it came to the time where they would meet up with Jason again. In reality Byron just wanted something to do to pass the time and take the young girls mind off of the strange happening in her life. After an hour going from shop to shop Byron managed to get his daughter to stand still long enough for them to get some lunch and take a break.

 

“So why was Jason so cold towards you?” SJ asked before taking a bite of her small salad.

 

“What do you mean?” Byron asked unsure what the your women was talking about.

 

“Well anyone could tell he doesn’t like you.”

 

“It’s a long story.” Byron simply replied.

 

“Well we have the time.” She stated.

 

“He was doing the research on these special abilities when he was my student, he wrote a paper on it for an important exam, and I failed him.”

[JasraLantill]

In the auditorium of the new science wing, university student Milly Cheveyo sat in the second row next to a female classmate as they listened to Dr. Jason Hawk speak about the societal benefits of Globe-Net's genetic research program. She was getting extra credit for her biology class by attending the event, but she was also waiting for him to mention something, anything, about his so-called 'specials' he had written about in his paper. But, so far, he hadn't even touched on the subject.

 

She sighed and folded her hands across her chest. "Unbelieveable," she said disappointedly under her breath.

 

Her classmate, Jane, who was sitting beside her, nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she whispered back, "isn't it amazing how much they've unravelled the mysteries of the human genome in such a short period of time?"

 

"No, not that," Milly whispered. "I mean, it's unbelievable that he hasn't mentioned word one about any 'special' human genetic mutations and he's been talking for ten minutes."

 

"Maybe he'll say that in part two?" Jane suggested. She looked down at her program. "He's on the schedule again later."

 

Milly squinted her eyes, focusing in on the notes Dr. Hawk held in his hands. The notes had been printed out, but the thing Milly noticed were that there were no handwritten notations on the paper. Normally, if a person gave a speech, they wrote something in the margins of the paper--asterisks to remember to emphasize a particular point, or underlines to get the wording exact, or even just doodles. But Dr. Hawk's paper had no notations at all. Which meant only one thing....

 

"He's just reading someone else's speech," Milly complained quietly, so as not to be heard by the people around her. "I thought he'd at least put in a plug for his own research. You read his paper on the net?"

 

"No," Jane admitted. "But I'll put it on my to do list." Jane grinned slightly. "He's kinda cute. Did his site have any pics?"

 

Milly let out a small snort. Typical Jane, she thought. Cuteness always overrided intellect every time. "Dunno," she said, being deliberately elusive.

 

Out of the corner of Milly's eye, which with her exceptional visual abilities could cover quite an extensive area, she noticed her brother, Cass, waiting near the wings of the auditorium stage. He had told her that he had been planning to go to Dr. Hawk's talk, and she had begged him not to sit next to her. After her classmate Sean's comments of how embarrassing it was to be associated with a cop, Milly decided it was best to put a bit of distance between her and her brother. Not that she was embarrassed by his profession. To the contrary, she was actually very proud of him, but she also wanted to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

 

As she listened to Dr. Hawk continue, she wondered if he would have a sort of question and answer session after his last speech. If so, she wanted to ask him if there was any recent Globe-Net research in the area of human genetic mutations. With her 'special' vision she could see that the answer to that question certainly wasn't anywhere on the paper he was holding, and she wondered if he would answer it.

[Corinthian]

Jacob felt like crap.

 

Between the throbbing of his broken arm and his head, which felt like a huge tribe of tiny people was up there, dancing along his brain and having a celebration complete with drums and unified leaping, he generally felt horrible. His tongue felt dry and thick, there was a funny taste in the back of his throat, and he felt lethargic, with his muscles strangely sore despite his lack of any serious exertion the previous day.

 

He cracked his eyes open, and immediately wished he hadn't. A stark-white room with a painfully bright light over him was all he saw before he closed his eyes. Resolving to take it slower, he opened his eyes again and toughed out through the pain as his eyes adjusted. He pulled himself up, coming to sit in the middle of the cell.

 

What the hell?

 

This wasn't a military installation, there were no guards as far as he could see, nor was it run by terrorists, it was too well kept. As far as he could tell, he was alone.

 

A glass door was in front of him. Strange. Well, he could break that, he'd just need to be careful not to cut himself to ribbons. He stood, then slid back to the floor. His legs weren't even strong enough to hold him upright. Whatever that gorilla had jabbed him with wasn't wearing off fast. He leaned over to the side. He could tell there were other cells, the outside room was too large for just one, but he couldn't see into any of them. He lay against the wall, breathing slowly.

 

Maybe if the walls aren't too thick, I can talk through them, see if anyone else is in here. Or try Morse Code, but I'd rather not.

 

He started to move to do that, but his vision spun.

 

In a minute, maybe.

[Writer]

"The man sounds like a robot," Lara whispered, more to herself than to anyone around her... though the kid sitting to her left chose to respond.

 

"You don't think this is interesting?" he asked. Lara rolled her eyes.

 

"Compared to other stuff he's written, no," she replied. She took out a little notepad and scribbled the web address to Dr. Hawk's 'specials' paper on it. Then, she tore it out and handed it to the kid. "Betcha London to a brick that he says nothing about that."

 

"London to a..." the kid repeated, puzzled. Lara rolled her eyes and waited for the question she knew was coming. "Where are you from?"

 

"Forget it," she muttered, slouching further into her chair. The idiot kept trying, though. Yammering something about pretty much nothing. The only bit Lara really caught was that he asked for her number. She rolled her eyes.

 

"Not the full quid, are you?" she shot back. "Just... rack off, will you?"

 

"Uh... what?" he stammered. With another roll of her eyes, Lara got impatient and reached out to feel his mind. With a quick efficiency born of doing much the same thing many times before, she nudged his thoughts away from her. In less than a minute, he was focused wholly on Dr. Hawk's robotic speech.

[Jason Skywalker]

The sound of the clock's alarm annoyed most people, even Alex, but not today. Today, he was eager to listen to the clock's alarm. To wake up. For today...

 

For today was payday.

 

Alex got up from his bed even earlier than the clock's alarm and took a quick shower and got dressed. He took out a bowl and a spoon and dished some cereals and milk, then jumping onto the couch and turning on the TV. Just some random news about the usual. That is, until he flipped onto the live feed of the ceremony of the new Science Wing of the school, donated by Globe-Net and the infamous Dr. Jason Hawk was speaking. Not the topic Alex wished it to be though.

 

"Great, he's reading and not talking. Not even a mention about the specials," Alex sighed in slight frustration as then, somehow, the television switch turned the TV off.

 

"Uh?" He said in confusion. 'Probably just a malfunction,' He thought. Alex then proceeded to finish his breakfast and dress up and got out but was welcomed with three of his friends from work: Nichole, Rick and Vanessa.

 

"Hey guys. What's up?" Alex asked them as Nichole showed him an envelope. He then suddenly gasped in panic, "Is that my check?!"

 

"Yup!" Nichole nodded cheerfully.

 

"Please, don't make me and Rick spend all our money on your shoppings, please!" Alex told her, getting a smack on the head for it, "Ow."

 

"Don't be stupid, we're not going to make you guys use your money. You'll just accompany us to the mall!" Alex's friend Vanessa told him.

 

"Yeah, but that's even worse," Rick whispered, still getting a smack from Vanessa.

 

"Alright, let me just cash this check up and we can be on our way. Rick, we're using your car," Alex told him.

 

"What? No way? Why?"

 

"Because i don't have a car and you're not going to force ladies to drive, now are you? Now stop complaining and let's go, chop chop."

[Quist]

"Hello?"

 

Malin wrapped her arms tighter around herself as she listened to her voice echo through the empty room. It was rather large, probably at least half a gymnasium's worth in length and width and completely devoid of anything, doors included, save for an oddly shaped structure towards the far end of the room. She hadn't approached it yet, but from what she could make out, it looked like a post made of white plastic, with a metal ball sitting on top of it. The ball had a single around its circumference, making it look like a model of Jupiter.

 

Getting to her feet slowly, Malin continued to rub her arms and look around. She'd awoken in this room not a few minutes before, cold and disoriented. She didn't know how she'd gotten here and no answers were immediately forthcoming. The room was cold and sterile feeling, and it didn't help that she was still dressed in her black dress which didn't afford her very much in warmth. She vaguely remembered leaving her apartment, but she wasn't sure when that was or how long she'd been unconscious or even how long she'd been here. And this bothered her.

 

"Hello?" she repeated, taking a few tentative steps forward. "Is anyone there?" She stumbled as the heel in her left shoe gave out. Managing to steady herself, she slipped off the broken shoe, then the other one, placing her feet on the cold, metallic floor and sending an involuntary shiver up her spine. "Bloody hell," she swore, tossing her shoes to the floor. "Those were my good pair, too."

 

"I'd like to get out of here, if that's all right!" she yelled, a little bit frustrated now. When there was no response, she marched over to one of the walls and pounded at it with her fist. "Hello?! Can anybody hear me?" Again, no response. She sighed, exasperated, then moved towards the odd structure on the other side of the room. Just as she came within a few meters, the structure let out a low, buzzing sound, causing Malin to stop. Before she could react, a bolt of electricity lanced out from the metal orb and struck her square in the stomach, sending her flying backwards. She crumpled into a heap on the floor, shellshocked. Her mind swam, her thoughts hazy with the sudden shock and pain of the electric bolt. After a few moments, she was able to gather up enough cogency to tilt her head forward and stare down at her belly. The charge had hit her right in the middle of her abdomen, frying the skin on her stomach to a crisp to the point where it was charred and blackened.

 

"Wha..." Malin managed to croak out as she stared. The pain was intensifying every second and if she didn't do something, she was sure to die. Concentrating the last of her strength reserves, she closed her eyes and willed her power to change her body's composition. She opened her eyes again and put a shaky hand to her stomach. Gripping the burned flesh, she pulled, ripping the skin away. Instead of blood and sinew, a layer of shiny black material revealed itself as she tore her charred skin. She'd managed to focus enough to change her skin to Teflon, a substance highly resistant to electical charges. The change had also healed the wound in her stomach somewhat, though she still felt the throbbing pain in her abdomen; the bolt had inflicted an injury that would take a few more 'husks' to fully heal.

 

She set to work ripping the rest of her flesh off, taking her now-destroyed black dress with it. One of the unfortunate side effects of her power was that if she did a full-body morph, she would have to remove all her clothing, lest it get torn away. The electric charge had blown a hole right through the flimsy material, effectively ruining it. Malin pulled the last bit of skin away from her leg, then stood slowly to her feet, her body now completely shiny black. "I don't know what your game is," she stated to whoever was controlling the orb, her voice wavery but determined. "But I don't like playing it. Release me now, or I'll make my own way out."

 

As if in response, the orb thrummed anew, charging up again. Malin gritted her teeth, setting her feet as a second bolt of electricity came screaming towards her. It struck her on the shoulder, splashing across her body and down to the floor, leaving the firefighter unharmed. Malin didn't wait for it to strike her a third time. Striding purposefully towards the structure, she wound back and punched the orb with all her might, causing a rather large dent in the side and knocking it off the white post. She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in, then straightened up. "Are you going to listen to me now?" she asked, balling her fists and yelling at the top of her lungs.

 

A sliding noise behind her caused her to whirl around, her arms up in a defensive posture. To her horror, panels in the floor were opening and new white posts were rising up from them. A few had the the same metallic orbs like the one she'd just punched out, but a number of them also had what looked like guns and flamethrowers. "Great," she muttered under her breath. "Just freaking great."

 

The nearest of the flamethrowers swiveled towards her and opened fire.

[Corinthian]

Jacob struggled to his feet. Over the last hour or so, he'd recovered most of his strength. Krav Maga training had conditioned him fairly well. Nothing had happened, other than his headache slowly subsiding and the throbbing of his broken arm just getting worse. Still, the Gorilla or any of his pals hadn't paid him a visit, so that was a definite plus. Time to start figuring a way out of this place, he felt like a lab rat.

 

The walls were nondescript. He hadn't figured out what the y were made of, but it was hard enough that Jacob couldn't crack it, the ceiling was beyond reach, the floor was completely blank, leaving only the obvious way out - the worst way, but in this case, the only apparent way. Back through the door.

 

He walked close. Fairly nondescript, apparently glass, with no obvious reinforcement to suggest it was bulletproof or otherwise resistant. Time to get the hell out of dodge. He started at the opposite wall, braced himself and charged it, shoulder first.

 

He impacted. The glass shuddered with the impact, but neither cracked nor shattered. As he rebounded, a massive electrical shock ran into Jacob's body, tossing him to the floor, smoking slightly.

 

"Son of a..."

 

The voltage wasn't high enough to cause serious damage, but it was more than enough to really, REALLY hurt. He lay there, stunned. Time for Plan B.

 

Actually, time to start planning plan B.

[steven]

In a cold, damp concrete cell deep inside the Globe-net building, William was pinned onto a large generator type machine which dozens of wires stripped next to his skin and inserted into the skin. From an observation room, two scientists speak about their new test subject after running a large number of tests to see the true potential that this men held. After reviewing the results, the young male scientists reported to his finding to his female supervisor. "It's still unknown however the power is produced but from what we can, the power builds up in either arm and escapes from one of his hands in the direction they point at."

 

The female scientists already knew what he spoke, and gave him a sharp look to prove that. "Every time this man uses his power, he body changes slightly, but because there is usually a long period of time between the times he uses his power, his body corrects the changes and he stays same old him. We can also replicate the effects this process has on his body by shocking him with a strong amount, the most effective voltage is that is a car battery..." The man stopped as he heard his superior gasp, causing him to look inside the cell and saw William on the floor crawling away.

 

"He was... We... He was strapped into the machine... Then he... passed right through it," She said is astonishment.

 

"Yeah, this is the main effect using his power had on his body," The man explained, "Every time he uses his power, his body changes slightly. His cells in his body begins to resemble that of energy. If he used his power to it's maximum potential like we have been doing, his body continues to change until it's partially living energy, which has the power to pass through certain materials. But don't worry, we're fairly confident that concrete isn't one of those. We're going to let his body return to normal before we began to test more."

[Writer]

After a few more seconds of Jason Hawk's 'speech reading', Lara determined it was time to give him a pleasant (or not so pleasant) surprise. Carefully, delicately she reached into his mind.

 

Don't be alarmed, Dr. Hawk. The feminine voice was barely above a whisper in the back of his mind. And don't stop reading your speech! I just want to have a word with you when this is all over...

 

And with that, she pulled back. And her cell phone buzzed.

 

'Do you have the gun?'

 

Lara rolled her eyes and sent a txt message back: 'I am not going to kill him. Besides, can you imagine what security would do if I were to pull out a gun on a college campus?'

 

A moment later, her phone buzzed again. 'Be prepared to kill him, Ms. Caldwell. We don't think he'll be suspicious of a student, but with Jason Hawk, you never know.'

 

Slumping deeper into her chair, Lara scowled. She would do everything in her power to avoid that possibility.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

At a large store such as the one Kevin Waters worked in, it was easy enough to fool the computers into thinking you were scheduled for time off. The humans weren't as easily fooled, but if you told them to check the computer, they'd apologize profusely and let you go. It was a problem with a connected society, one that Kevin used to his advantage time and time again.

 

Which was why he was browsing a shopping mall instead of selling things to people who didn't want them. He'd decided that, given the events of the night before, he would not be able to do his job efficiently. So he'd put in a time off request, one that had been filed three weeks earlier. He had the next two days off.

 

Thank you, weak firewalls, he thought to himself. With a smirk, he decided to pay his friend, Will a visit. Will was the manager of a store in this very mall. Wouldn't he be surprised to see his friend?

[Corinthian]

As he lay there, smoking slightly and groaning with pain, a trio walked up to the glass door, wearing white lab coats. The front one, a middle-aged woman, began to speak.

 

"Not as interesting as the other three. So far, no overt displays of any interesting abilities, although the signs are definitely present. The agent who brought him in indicated he may be unaware of his own abilities. Given how unlikely it is that he could have failed to trigger them, given his history, it is likely they aren't anything particularly extraordinary."

 

"So, we let him go?"

 

"No. He's got an ability of some kind, so we're going to begin a battery of tests as soon as we finish with the more interesting ones. Preliminary analysis did indicate some interesting patterns in his frontal and parietal lobes, particularly in memory-based areas. About the only interesting thing on the tests. He bullrushed the glass a minute ago, got a little fried. He'll be down for a while. Let's move on."

 

Jacob groaned as the three scientists walked away. It explained a bit. Corporate, maybe. Could be a Black Ops facility, or a Think Tank. Something about people with 'interesting abilities.' That made no sense. He had no misconceptions about himself - he was little more than an average Marine. Not exactly Delta Force material. He pulled himself up slightly, groaning. This was looking to be a bad week.