[Evolution] Resistance Mission I - Oklahoma Rescue

[revo]

Dallas, Texas, one of the last states still holding out against the surmounting pressure by the United States government to "deal with the spec problem" through state funded and enforced "quarantine camps." The media surrounding the implementation of these camps has sung praises of how these facilities will :afford the E-gens the best medical care" and help them "manage the genetic effects" they are experiencing. The politicians utilized their best speech writers to spin the rhetoric in a way that would make these compounds sound glamorous and attractive. They claim it's the best option to "ensure everyone's safety" in these dark times when food was low and tensions were high... But the Resistance knows better. It's lies. All lies. Each and every fucking word.


Once you sign on to go to one of these camps Marshall Law reigns supreme and you can kiss your blessed freedom goodbye. Everything the government does is for the good of the human race, and no one in power really gives a damn about the freaks that have sprouted up among them. They are panicked. This is a situation where they need to demonstrate how they have everything "under control." But that's the thing about the human race, specs and norms alike. They aren't big fans of being controlled.


The Resistance had been quiet lately, running surveillance and gathering intel for the upcoming mission which had taken months to plan. One of the key members of the Resistance ranks was a human hacker working for the government that had managed to hide in plain site. No one knew he was a "sympathizer" and his place, wedged deep within their organization gave the Resistance key intel that ensured their survival. It was through him that they had discovered a new camp in Oklahoma had just opened up and was expecting their first shipment of spec "refugees." The Oklahoma facility, being just a state over was plainly a sign of the beginning of the end. Any day the order would come down from the state legislature and they'd be ordered out of their homes, tested, and thrown behind four walls for the rest of their sorry lives. The authorities weren't striking home yet, but it was close enough, and the Resistance was taking it personally.


Today was the day when their intensive planning would all come together. Many of the E-Gens in their group had their own specific set of skills and abilities that had proven useful over the years but their group operated on the principle that "it's not enough." They'd been blessed by evolution, but if they weren't smarter, more prepared, and better trained than their enemy they would never see their children grow up in a world without constant hate and fear. Their children would frankly never exist, their parents wiped out before they'd truly lived.


They gathered in the warehouse, on the outskirts of the city of Dallas. A long time Red Cross board member and philanthropist, Charles Orthwright had purchased the property back in 1980 and leased it to the Red Cross for use as a staging area to mobilize relief supplies. They produced and distributed blankets, tarps, cooking items, hygiene supplies, mosquito nets, and other various items to aid national disaster relief efforts. For years they operated to help people affected by disasters like floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes. During Hurricane Katrina they were flying supplies out on a daily basis from the nearby local airport. Unfortunately after 2010 the place was shut down and abandoned, sitting to rust for lack of funding.


Charles is now an old man, but he petitioned the government to be allowed to re-open the warehouse for disaster relief. He's a bit of a crazy eccentric, but he is the heart that fuels the softer sides of the Resistance. Many of the Resistance members work in the warehouse assembling packages that get shipped out to centers for the displaced. To keep up pretenses they send mostly to human only centers, but in reality a good portion of their supplies are snuck out of state to areas where the specs are suffering most.


All of the employees at the warehouse are "given blood tests" by the government but in reality the agents that came to visit just had a very special E-Gen convince them they had properly observed the testing process and that all was right with the world. In reality none of the blood the government has on file for them is real. It's all donated by human sympathizers or stolen from the local hospital trauma center which always has a plethora of donors.


The warehouse is a cover. The feel good, charitable work is what goes on during the day to the eyes of the outside world. It's meetings like this that show the Resistance for who they really are: soldiers. Today they have all assembled for tonight's mission in the lower levels of the facility. It's mostly storage: row upon row of boxes of supplies. But as you travel back the air changes. It no longer smells like old blankets and pre-packaged food. The faint smell of gun oil, leather, and gasoline can just barely be detected. When they first arrived they constructed a false wall and through a palm sensor and steel doors is "where the magic happens."


The room looks just like the exterior storage with high shelving units holding boxes and trunks and a ceiling that extends two stories up. But within each compartment you find grenades, medical kits, repelling rope, weapons of every shape and size. At the far end of of the large room is what they all fondly call the "war zone." A big, heavy table acts as the centerpiece and a variety of projectors and computer screens adorn the wall closest to it, which is blank except for a over-sized white board. A large map is currently projected on the white board, showing southern Oklahoma in black and white. A filing cabinet stands opened and well used. One of the folders has been removed and sketches and ideas are strewn at various angles across the table. A resistance member sits at the computer, typing away, corresponding with what is likely an ally reporting in.


Slowly people begin to trickle in, anxiously awaiting someone to take the floor and start barking orders. It has been a long time since they've attempted a rescue mission this daring and the tension is almost palpable.

 

[Effervescent]

Ina

​

It had been a while since Ina Ewald outside of her large home in the outskirts of Dallas. But the big meeting to assemble the troops for the rescue mission was about to start. The good doctor stepped through the massive doors of the warehouse and walked across the floor, her blind eyes glancing through her sunglasses towards the crowds hogging up the floor to keep up with the 'disaster relief' gag. She could see the swarms of colors of the people rushing back and forth to pack up boxes and prepare shipments, some rushing up from the storage floor to grab canned food, blankets, basic medical supplies, and ushering them to the conveyer belts. "Here we go..." she purred to herself, her cane tapping against the concrete floor before her free hand drew up her long smoking pipe and took in a long drag of smoke, the silver transparent ribbon curling from her nose like a bull.


Ina made her own way down the stairs to the storage level, slowly circling down before her heels made contact with the concrete floor, carrying her body towards the heavy metal doors. Raising her hand to the scanner before hearing the click, the doctor walked through the doors with the others trickling in from behind her, standing right beside the wall, looking out to the center table, pipe in hand. Everyone's souls looked so...pale. The colors dimmed from fear and tension, a hint of anger seemed to show here and there that faded their specific colors. It always made Ina made to see people's energy die down from plaguing fear. She drew another long smoke from her pipe and sighed deeply, the smoke trailing from her nose. Curious to who else was going to arrive for the meeting, the Doctor kept quiet and remained in the shadows beside the wall.

Darren

​

The sound of hundreds of voices slowly woke Darren from his sleep. Heavy lids fluttered as he sat upright with a reluctant groan. Sitting atop his bedside table was a twin bell alarm clock. The familiar tick of each second was noticeably absent, as were the bells that typically woke him. He grabbed for the clock, clasping it lightly in his wide hands as he studied the now quiet object. It had died earlier that morning, its glow-in-the-dark hands pointedly fixed at 5:12 and 34 seconds.


A harsh sigh escaped his lips. "Naj," Darren called out as he rose from his bed. "Naj, are you awake?"


The flat he shared was not impressive in the least. It was retrofitted from what was once a paper mill and looked as though it carried the dust and dirt of its entire existence and never let it go. The kitchen and dining area was placed rather closely to the tattered blue couch that served as the living room. In front of the couch was an iron furnace accompanied by a pile of cut wood neatly stacked at its feet. Behind the kitchen table was a large, half-domed window spanning the table's length and crossed with widely spaced iron. There were two rooms off to the side of the living room that shared a modest bath, though plumbing wasn't always the best.


Despite the possibility of being late to the Resistance meeting, Darren shuffled his feet along the hardwood floors lazily. He had never been a morning person, especially when prone to staying up most of the night. One of his favorite nightly activities was hour long sessions on his acoustic guitar, though his neighbors often did not share his passion if it became too loud.


His shower only held heat for the first minute and then ran cold. It was typical and annoying to deal with, but it woke him with a rush. It was just the jolt he needed to continue with his day functioning as normal as possible. All he needed was a quick cup of coffee and he'd be ready to go.


"Nadia," Darren called out again calmly. He slowly sipped his bitter coffee and felt as though he were completely revived. He finished it off, savoring the last bit, and placed the empty mug in the sink before calling out again. "Time to go."


He ran his fingers through his long hair, ruffling it slightly to help it dry. Appearances were never really his main concern, especially when wearing a well-worn wardrobe. His only real liking to his looks was his hair, always preferring it at shoulder length.


Adorning his black leather jacket, he was finally ready to leave. All that was left was his roommate, Nadia, to which he would never leave without.

Rachel

​

"I need more people to get these boxes packed up and ready to go out to help these poor people. They need our help and we are to busy sitting on our butts, pick up the pace." Rachael is under a lot of stress to complete this mission so no more spec's get hurt. She had been planning this for months and had taken many risks and resources to find out about this. She started the resistance years ago to help these people find a new life and stop the persecution of them.


Rachael walked towards the planning room. She always hated the room because of the smell but it was the only safe place she can think of right now. The other men weren't fond of her leading the resistance and would sometimes try to take over but she would always stop them and then hold public executions to show the rest of them what not to do. She stepped near the giant metal door and placed her hand on the scanner and walked right in. The guards standing saluted as she walked by and she headed for the front of the table. She saw the doctor standing with her cane and smoking a cigarette. Rachael was still impressed by Ina and her skill since she was blind ans she could still do things better than most healthy people.


She stood in front of the people that were waiting for someone to give orders. "Sorry that I'm late guys, I had to show some authority in the warehouse. That is the 5th traitor we have had in our ranks this month. Thank god we were able to find them before they could report back to he government and spill our plan. she pulled out all the information for the plan that was about to start. Alright everybody, we know what we have to do. We are going to be hitting the convoy when it pulls up the gate of the camp and grab the hostages within the trucks. Take precautions when shooting the guards. Some specs may escape from the truck and make a break for it and we want to avoid collateral casualties. There is much more secondary things we have to go over but before we do that , any questions?"





Rachael was nervous about this because many people were looking up to her and they wanted her to succeed and keep the good luck on their side. She need this to succeed for them to have a chance to win this war.

Aya

​

I need to figure away out of here. Really don't want to find out what happens to my kind when we are caught. I'm scared. No Aya... If you start to feel anything this whole vehicle will blow, I can't kill all of the specs.


Looking at my chains made me irritated. There was nothing I could do to save myself let alone the rest of them. This is bad, really bad. All of us are cuffed at our wrist and ankles and the chains are hooked to the floor. Everyone else seems to be passed out. I wonder why. The vehicle came to a stop and suddenly voices could be heard. "Someone save us, please."


My breathing noticeably picked up. Even though the voices were close by I had no clue what they were saying. The door opens wide and one of the guards look in. He looks at me with such disgust. Sudden rage started to build and I had the urge to rip out his throat. Suddenly a flame went up in the air between us. Quickly the guard climbs in and punches me in the face twice before I blackout.

Benjamin

​

Whe-where am I? was the first thought that came into Benjamin's mind as he woke up. He looked around, examining his surroundings with quick glances. Bench seats? People? His thoughts were temporarily halted by a jolt as the vehicle hit a pothole. Transport, Ben concluded and his face became slightly glum from the realization. The teen struggled to remember what had occurred only a few hours before. He had previously been in a "Quarantined" zone, but in truth it was more of a ghetto. They must have decided to move me, he guessed as he took another look throughout the back o the transport.


What do I have left? He wondered as he felt for his valuables on his person. His watch was still on, although it had obviously been removed as it was replaced on the wrong hand. "Bastards." he muttered and swapped the timepiece back on it's correct wrist and reached into his back pocked for his wallet. "Empty." he spat, throwing a crinkled wrapper on the ground. Nothing else. Just clothes for now, Benjamin concluded.


"Where are we heading?" he asked aloud, hoping for an answer. "Anybody on this damned transport know?" He figured no one would know for sure. He hadn't heard much on where specs were being relocated to, but he figured it wouldn't be a five-star resort. "Course not." he stated as he slumped back down in his seat, making his torn jeans ride up a little but he didn't care. There seemed to be a draft by where he was sitting, but the body heat of the other people provided enough heat to compensate for his ripped shirt. I probably look like a schizophrenic hobo, Ben thought with a smirk in an attempt to make his situation a little less heavy.

Kimmy

​

Kim woke up to a world of pain and the sweet scent of lavender. She tried to brush the hair out of her eyes but was stopped as the chain reached it's limits.


Handcuffs hmm? “Guess I made an impression” she mumbled. Instead she ran her fingers along her ribs and she winced. They were not broken, that would have felt worse than this, still hurt though. Her jaw was sore too she realized, come to think of it her entire face was sore. The faint taste of copper still lingering in her mouth.


She could hear she was in a vehicle of some kind and looking around it wasn't difficult to guess where she were. Men and women lined up on benches along the wall handcuffs connected by chains to the floor. I wonder where we're going...


There it was again, that lavender smell getting her attention once more. She glanced over at the woman on her right. She was dressed all proper like. “You smell nice” Kim announced and leaned over flashing a sharp-toothed smile. The woman jerk away “Don't touch me!”.


The woman smelled over lavender and fear now. Like she was any better Kim thought. If she was in her she was a spec too. “Way to be a b**** lady” she muttered and turned to her left. “D'ya hear that?” she asked the scruffy looking man sitting slumped there but he was not yet conscious.


“This is going to be a long car ride” she sighed.

Nadia

​

“Naj.” She heard Darren call her name through her partially cracked bedroom door. It was far off and mumbled in his half-sleep but she was a light sleeper. She rolled over in bed and groaned. She’d never been a morning person. She’d showered last night after getting in late and immediately fell into bed, passing out before she’d even hit the pillow. Now her hair was paying for it because it had dried overnight in odd angles and now stuck out from her head in all directions. She looked like a scarecrow, her blonde hair bleached into a near-white shade from too many hours in the sun moving boxes from the warehouse to the shipping yard and onto the trucks. Her freckles were also out in full bloom.


In the background, the shower started to run. Knowing Darren was indisposed, she didn’t bother to close the door despite the exposure to the oversized t-shirt and panty combo she always wore to bed. His habits were relatively predictable. She knew exactly how many minutes she had until he’d be emerging in a billow of steam.


She stumbled from bed and tried to brush her hair into compliance as she looked in the giant, antique mirror over her dresser. She’d picked the furniture up from an abandoned house that had once belonged to an old human woman who had since skipped town. After a few minutes she realized brushing was an exercise in futility however and she quickly abandoned the practice. Instead she gathered the strands atop her head and wrapped them in a messy bun. They were going to a Resistance meeting, not a Ms. America pageant. She shrugged at herself, resigned.


She switched out her panties for a clean pair, ditched the over-sized t-shirt, snapped on a bra that hung from a bed-post, shimmied into a semi-clean pair of faded blue jeans she’d picked up off the floor, and slithered her way into a new olive-green tank top. She tried to guess at the temperature outside today but it wasn’t much of a chore. It was always balls hot in Dallas. She wished she didn’t have to put on her light jacket but without it she’d have nothing to shield her sidearm. She always wore it in an in-the-waistband holster, but the bulge could still be seen on her small frame. She checked the chamber for the .45 round in the chamber, attached two extra magazines to her belt, and slid the metallic handgun into place on her black, faded leather belt.


After that she gathered supplies for the mission. She was a bit paranoid and always brought burlap backpack with the essentials: a jacket, toiletries, a knife, compass, first aid kit, Cliff bars, three extra magazines, etc. for if shit hit the fan. It took quite a few minutes and before she knew it Darren was calling for her again. This time he used "Nadia" instead of Naj. Uh-oh. Things were getting more serious, meaning they were on the verge of being late.


”Coming!” She called as she grabbed her boots from their spot by her door and went out into the hallway, half hopping as she tried to put them on her feet and walk at the same time. She noticed Darren had made coffee. She could smell the aroma as soon as she made it to the living room.


Mmm… no way can I leave without my daily dose of caffeine in a cup, she thought to herself. She held up on finger, urging him to wait a minute more while she grabbed a to-go mug and splashed the tar-like liquid into the container. When she was done she looked up, gave him a knowing look, and took a swig. She paused, cringed, and swallowed.


”Still make the best cup of coffee in Dallas, Dare-Bear.” She teased sarcastically as she stepped towards him and the front door of their apartment. ”Let’s do this.”


(OCC: Looks like Darren and Nadia will be a bit behind. @effervescent feel free to get them to the warehouse if you wish (god mod a bit if needed), or we can play this out and just have them show up midway through all disruptive like. )

Darren

​

Darren had always been notorious for being late. He took advantage of the fact that he knew he was a complete asset to the Resistance and it gave him confidence he would never have to concern himself with losing what little he had left. It could be said that he had become somewhat of a bad influence to Nadia in this regard, but whether that speculation was true or not would not dismiss that the fault would still fall on anyone but the two. Originally, they were forced into becoming roommates by those within the Resistance.


Luckily for Nadia and Darren, their housing was not placed too far away from the warehouse. The humid morning air began to penetrate Darren's leather jacket as they walked the five block distance, and he debated on its removal. Instead, his arm outstretched to rustle the mess of a bun atop Nadia's head to garner her attention.


"Ever heard of a sociopath?" Darren asked playfully. "It's mentally impossible for them to feel emotion. That's got to be your perfect person, right?"


A small chuckle escaped his lips as his hands retreated back into the pockets of his jacket. Dare-Bear was not the manliest of nicknames, and his little joke would serve as his comeback. Being so close in vicinity to the blonde made it difficult for him not to hear her thoughts above others, and he often wondered just how difficult it was for her to do the same with his emotions. At this point in time, his emotions were in check as he felt calm and content which was cause for no concern in Darren's mind. Out of respect for his friend, he changed his attention from thought to thought of anyone he could hear other than Nadia.


"Shit, we're definitely late," he stated calmly, a slight hint of amusement evident on the smirk of his lips. He did not quicken his pace through the warehouse front, however. A yawn escaped his lips in the elevator ride down to the lower levels, and he gave Nadia a sidelong glance. "Ten bucks says they'll ignore us and continue on with the briefing."


With that, the elevator doors opened, and the two crept into the briefing area as Rachael was speaking. Darren quietly and slowly took a seat in the back, ushering Nadia to follow suit. The sneaking was quite pointless, but he enjoyed the act none the less.

Rachel

​

Rachael was still speaking but she david and Nadia coming in late. She always hated when David came in late almost every time. She couldn't fight him because he was one of the best assets she has to help take with this mission. She continued to talk about the main parts of the mission. "That's all the important things, on a second note, It was nice of you to come David and Nadia. We were just talking about the plan that is going to require! you two. I'm not going over this again so you better pay attention for the rest of the meeting.


Alright everybody here is the rest of the plan. We know there will be at least two trucks full of specs and 3 guard trucks protecting them. We also have to deal with the guards at the camp. We will be fire missiles at the lead and back car of the convoy to block the drivers from trying to escape. After that we will take care of any of the survivors and help rescue the specs. We will need David and Nadia to go down there and help so the captives don't think we are trying to kill them. Rachael looks ver to Nadia and David. You two are the important part of this mission, try not to die when we do it. You will a squad of 5 men to help you, but the guys We are facing are experienced and will more than likely kill half of us or more but we have to stop them. Any questions to the plan?


Still settled in her dark corner of the room, Ina briefly glanced her eyes in the direction of the double doors sliding open to show Darren and Nadia showing up to the information meeting. A faint smile curled on Ina's lips to the two of them attempting to sneak in unnoticed, a purr of a giggle rolling from her lips before taking another puff of her pipe. Leaning against the wall while Rachael revealed the whole plan to the rest of the people, Ina cleared her throat a little at the end to show she had a couple of questions.


"Rachael...do we really need to kill the human government officials to try and save the specs who have been taken and are bring brought to the facility? Extinguishing the lives of the soldiers that are both trying to guard the trucks as well as to usher the specs inside would be complete chaos...I highly doubt even half of them will be alive by the time we are through with putting bullets into the bodies of the humans. We might anger them enough they will pull out all the stops to try and destroy all of us. Not to mention, they would be willing to kill off their captives since they can always grab more," hinted Ina seriously before slowly stepping out of the shadows, her scarred blind eyes in full view of everyone, a cloud of smoke caressing her face in greeting from emerging from the darkness.


"I have an alternative method to how we can at least distract the guards long enough to keep those at the gate from sounding off the alarm. We would want to take them out quietly. No guns. No alarms. Nothing...and I can provide that for you. Let me go with you and the ground team to take out the guards at the gates and keep the other soldiers off your back while you remove all of the specs," offered Ina.

Darren

​

Darren looked over at Nadia with wide eyes of amusement as Rachael called him 'David.' As much as he may be an asset to the Resistance, their commander had always neglected to remember his name. He never got the impression it was completely intentional, especially since the woman held a lot of responsibility and had what he considered too many important things to worry about.


As Rachael continued with the rest of the plan Darren searched for any thoughts specifically pertaining to the first half of the briefing, eventually becoming distracted by his own thoughts. A smirk curled the end of his lips as he leaned over to Nadia. "She never remembers my name, I swear," he whispered to her.


Scratching the stubble shading his jawline, Darren straightened back up to listen to the rest of the briefing. The plan sounded massive, and the thought of losing half or more of those participating took away his playful air completely. What they were about to embark on was incredibly serious, and he began to focus on his coming tasks.


Don't die. Squad of five. Skilled opponents.


He kept his focus as the good doctor posed her opposition to the attack plan. Darren was sold to the idea as soon as Ina suggested no firearms. His dark eyes glanced over to Nadia to see how she was taking to the plans offered and studied her only for a moment before looking forward once again. He knew if he were to linger on his thoughts his emotions would bubble to the surface and she'd know. Now wasn't the time to cause distraction for his friend.

Rachel

​

I like that plan Ina. We will use that instead. We need to go in quiet and make sure not to alert anyone or they might kill the specs before we can get to them. We will set up a few squads and separate them into different jobs and tasks. Ina, Darren, and Nadia and I will go to take care of the front gate and then we will help rescue the specs. The rest of the groups will provide backup and help rescue the specs when we have cleared the area. We will have to be quiet though when we get the hostages or the entire camp will wake up and we will fail. There will be no weapons though. If you bring a gun it HAS to be silenced so we don't alert anyone else. We will be heading out tonight and be ready to hit the camp tomorrow night.


If there is any questions, now is the best time to ask, plus If the plan changes in any way, I'll give control over to the squad leader and I'll give them the choices to proceed as they want. We need to rescue all the hostages, if we don't they will continue to test them and lock them up for the of their lives. Now are there any questions.

Aya

​

My head, why does it feel like it's splitting. It feels like a damn horse is stomping on me. Reaching for my head I hear chains rattle. Glancing I've to my right arm I see chains restraining me. Why did they have to dangle me here like I'm in a movie. The chains are connected to the ceiling and the floor. I do not appreciate being chained mid air. I am going to kill them all! They will all die.





Aya dangled there for hours testing her abilities and trying to figure out how to use them without emotions triggering them. She was always a quick learner so she was figuring out a few things about her fire. Aya's fire can also be blue and it seemed to be much hotter when it was.


Ooh! What if I could melt these chains? If I could just concentrate enough it shouldn't be to hard right? Aya focused on her hands, fire wrapped around her wrist and slowly turned blue. The chains were turning bright red and the metal started to drip. Suddenly she was falling and hit the ground. "Ow!!! Ow ow ow! I deserve to slapped for that, that was stupid." Why didn't I do my feet first? Honestly Aya what is wrong with you. I think I am just going to lay here for a bit.


Thirty minutes later Aya worked on getting her feet free, which didn't take as long as the first time. She was surprised no one came in by now to check on her. Finally being free Aya walked around the room. There was no way out except for the door.


Aya giggled to her self. " I wonder if there is someone outside the door?" The iron door made a sound as if a latch was being opened. "You had to open your mouth didn't you?" She pressed herself up against the wall as the door slowly opened. Remembering her brass knuckles she took them out from under her shirt and put them on her hands. A very unlucky guard walked in. I am going to enjoy this. Aya walked behind the guard and tapped on his shoulder. He whipped around and in the process of this Aya punched him in the stomach. As he bent over in pain she grabbed his head and brought it to her knees. He fell to the floor. He is out cold, how pathetic. Aya searched his body for weapons. She found a hand gun, and a very large knife. These are definitely going to be useful. She went to the door and made it look like it was shut and dragged the guard to the chains and sat him against the wall and waited for him to wake up. She had a few questions before she left.

Thomas

​

Waking up was easy for Thomas; his body was always ready to go not long after the sun would be up. As usual, he dressed up quickly, ate an apple and went for his morning run. He loved the feel of the morning sun on him, the small breeze cooling the air a little. There was still dew on the lawn and flowers he saw passing in front of people’s house. Sometimes he would close his eyes and just breathe the fresh air of the morning, the best according to him since cars and other things he wouldn’t remember the name would pollute during the day.


He tried to think of a new place where he didn’t run yet in his neighborhood but couldn’t think of anything. He was getting somewhat bored of running in the same places over and over. Sure, the view was nice, but he felt the need of change. He thought about it for about ten minutes while running and remembered a place where there was a breach in the fence separating his surroundings from the rest of the other cities. He didn’t want to go from the highway since there would be guards asking why he wanted to go out and they would probably tell his parents. Thomas didn’t want anybody to know, they wouldn’t understand his need to explore more than his city.


It was decided, tonight, after school, he would go out and run to the nearest city, it couldn’t be that far, right? Well, he would figure it out tonight. But he would need an excuse to be out longer than usual tonight. He’d just say he went playing soccer with his friends, that always works. He looked at his watch and realized he was already running for forty minutes and he still had to get to his house before going to school. Well, he would just take a shorter shower, eat faster and pick some money from the pot so he could eat at school. He started running faster than usual to gat to his house in time. Well, that’s gonna be an interesting evening, he thought.

Nadia

​

Nadia smiled as they entered the meeting and took their seats in the back. Rachel called them out and she couldn't help but smirk like a satisfied kitty with a canary. She was so making Darren pay her that $10 bet and she thought as much, loudly and obnoxiously. "Take that! 10 bucks for me 'David'!" She thought in his direction. She didn't know what it was like to hear someone's thoughts but from what Darren had told her, her sarcastic tone wouldn't be lost in translation.


She never gets my name right, I swear. She just rolled her eyes in response and thought, "I think she does it on purpose." And just like that their moods shifted as they tuned in to the conversation.


Two transport trucks. 3 guard vehicles. Guards at the camp. They'd get five men on their team. She ticked through all the possibilities in her mind. I was smart sending her and Darren in for the captives. With their powers combined they would be able to calm them and let them know what was going on, get them on board so no one got hurt.


Ina's light voice rang out from the corner. She was such an ethereal person, wise beyond her years, like she lived a lifetime each day. She'd always respected Ina so she listened closely.,, Honestly, she had mixed feelings about the plan. She understood wanting to spare lives... but if she had to make the choice between a human and a member of their group... they were going to lose. She shifted in her seat as the cold metal of her sidearm brushed against her midriff, reminding her of it's presence.


Rachel was speaking now. Her, Rachel, Darren, Ina would take the front gate... Wait... this didn't make sense. Their intel said they were enroute to the facility.


"Wait a second... The transport is coming out of New Mexico right? Didn't the intel say they were picking up specs at a facility there and moving them to the new digs? So they're going to have to take the I-40 and the trip will probably take them what... 9 hours with pit-stops? That would give us plenty of time to ambush them on the road, save us the hastle of dealing with the facility at all... Less guards, less death... Win, win. Same game plan, but we set up a road block... Darren and I can keep the prisoners calm and we can surround the trucks, block them in from behind. If we can subdue the guards with nonlethal means, great. If not... well I'll be glad I have my gun. It'd be the middle of the desert where I can be as loud as I want. Plus it'd save us a hell of a lot of trouble."


Nadia spoke as she thought, never one to filter any of the numerous items that popped into her head. She could be crude at times, but never cruel. She wasn't one to lead, but she also wasn't one to mindlessly follow without speaking up and discussing every angle. If no one liked this idea fine, but it was out there now, hanging in the void.

Ina

​

"This is the thing: coming at the gate or any of the trucks in a large group will immediately send off alarms to alert the entire facility. Smaller groups, while better, should only go in after they are lead under a false sense of security..." explained Ina before hearing another man from the back ask a question. "Meaning?" he hinted before Ina's wide grin grew across her face.


"Meaning...I go first by myself to the gate," elaborated the doctor, taking another long drag of her pipe as smoke spilled through her nose and out of her lips, like she had consumed a fire, the smoke traveling up her throat like a chimney and her stomach was the fireplace.


"The squads should only come out once I secured the front gate and blinded the rest of the complex. Without anyone at the gate to actually sound the alarm, the smaller squads taking care of the cars should have no trouble with quietly taking them out and saving the spec prisoners," added Ina with a deep sigh. "Regarding how I emphasize we don't kill anyone, human or spec, it is important to not have one person on either side panic to cause a blitz of bullets and God knows what else. You can't hide your unsettlement from me, Nadia..." purred Ina as her glossy blind eyes looked right over towards Nadia's figure in the back of the room.


"With the attack on the road, it is uncertain. It could be very possible they are expecting that plan of attack. Why draw all of the attention to ourselves right at the heart of their little operation if we could take them out in the middle of nowhere? Either way, my dear...there will be a lot of unknown factors to take in...what do you think, Boss?" asked the doctor, glancing back towards Rachael to get their leader's input.

Darren

​

A smile broke his serious demeanor as he was reminded of his bet with Nadia. He was now ten bucks poorer, but the bet was all in good fun. He patted down his jacket and then his pants pockets in search for his wallet, only discovering he had not brought it with him. The debt would have to be paid upon return.


Out of all the ideas presented at the briefing, Nadia's felt the best. An ambush on the road would provide him with a less stressful atmosphere allowing Nadia to focus all her efforts elsewhere. Darren stopped carrying a firearm after a few years having never felt comfortable with its feel to begin with. He'd always felt his E-Gen ability was power enough for one man, but he still felt more control with it than a gun.


"Do we have any road spikes?" Darren asked, chiming in after Ina. "It'd be the easiest way to stop the transports. The first and last ones in the convoy are just the escorts, right? If the front loses control of their vehicle due to the road spikes, it'd stop the rest and potentially eliminate a few threats. Do we have a predicted path and intercept location? Hiding ourselves could prove difficult if it takes place in a bad spot."

Benjamin

​

Benjamin's ride in the back of the transport was uneventful. I wonder how many of us are specs, he thought as the handcuffs around his wrists rattled again. "Seems like a waste of time..." the teen muttered. They were too loose to restrict his mobility as he had already checked his back pocket. Might as well get comfy, he concluded and began to generated a bone on his inner forearm. He grew the spine until it was large and long enough to break the cuffs.


"That was easy." he said as he broke off the spike and removed the left cuff. Free hands. Not something I am entirely used to, the teen pondered and reflected. I've been through worse. This can't be too bad. Way to look on the bright side genius. I should have just hidden. I could have faked the DNA tests. Lived with my family.


The reminiscing teen began to think about all the mistakes he made and where he could be. Benjamin began to facepalm and hold his head in his hands in regret. Snap out of it. Pity isn't doing you any good. Let's work on staying alive and assessing our future situation, he thought, forcing himself to the realization. Now, where could we be going?

Thomas

​

The day was as long as usual, studying administration was mostly boring. He liked the “how to make money parts”, but he didn’t feel he would need that since his family is already rich. He was attending school just because his parents were forcing him; if it were only for him, he would only be modeling and would probably had also started a career as an actor or a signer, or both. Many models did that, how could it have been so hard? But his parents insisted about keeping him in school, as his father saw the recession coming. Well, he might not totally regret it after all. He did not realize that he was one of the few that could still attend school.


As he finished his last class, Thomas made a quick hand wave meaning goodbye to his friends and as soon as he got out of the building, he started running back home. He already felt the rush of the adventure even though he was not outside the fence yet. At home, he directly went to his room then into his walk-in and change himself into his running clothes. As he saw himself in front of his mirror, he just remembered how much he looked good. His hair might need to be redone, but it was not that much to do. He did not think for a second that he would not fit in at all outside his city. The only things he took were his wallet and his phone –he would never leave without it– which he put in his back pocket. He went down the stairs to the kitchen and saw his mother to the living room whit her “my kid was taken because he is an E-Gen” support group. He knew she would make them all hate their child. And as usual, his father was not home, he rarely was, so he wrote a note and left it on the kitchen table, where he always put them. The note was saying:


“Playing soccer with friends, won’t come home for dinner and will be out until late. If you NEED to contact me, please use text messages and don’t call me, I will be with friends.


Love, Thomas"


He could not wait to get out of his house, so he did. He ran to the place here the fence was breached, and crawled under it. His clothes picked up some dirt, but it was nothing he couldn’t scrub off. Thomas started running in the small forest, if you could call it that. The boy ran for about three minutes and as soon as he got out of the bushes, the only thing he say was a desertic show.


There was only sand for what appeared to be miles, it was discouraging. He regretted not thinking about bringing a backpack with a water bottle and some fruits and nuts in it, but he could bear with hunger and he usually did not need to drink for an hour or two whether he was running or playing sports with his friends. He just figured there would be a fountain he could drink from or a grocery store where he could buy a bottle of water or two. At least the sun wouldn’t be at his strongest at this hour of the day, even though it was still hot, but he could endure the heat pretty well. He tanned instead of getting sunburned and he rarely got heatstroke. He just hoped he would not meet any snakes or scorpions, he would hate that. Well, it was now or never, so he started running in the unknown. The thought of getting lost didn’t show up in his mind, as he thought all would end well and that he wasn’t used to be lost in his city. But one thing was sure, he would always remember this specific run.

Rachael

​

"We are going to go with the second plan. Thank you Darren for your plan, it is actually good. We will talk about you being late again, on a side note. Nadia, when you use power go easy with the volume and try not to burst the hostages eardrums, thanks. If there is no questions will we be heading out now.


Everybody get your gear on now and head to the loading bay we have to get there before the convoy reaches past the attack point. Now everybody move,move,move!". Rachael got her weapons from the table and headed towards the cargo bay waiting for the rest of her group to load up onto the trucks.

Ina

​

Then that was it. The entire group fanned out to grab their guns and start to go into the operation at full speed. Ina sighed to herself at the idea that something could possibly go wrong with the entire operation, despite how they seemed to work out a few of the trouble spots that could possibly come up. Still…it was not the real thing yet. They had absolutely no idea what kind of trouble they could get into if the plan falls apart in the middle of the field. So many of the people too were new recruits…specs who had never held a gun before or had any kind of experience in combat. They were babies…greenhorns…innocents and they were going to get hurt if something was not done to keep them safe.


Ina started to make her way towards the front of the group, eager to get to the boss herself to try to talk to her. Using her cane to tap lightly at the legs of the masses of light that were in front of her, Ina kept working her way through the crowds, winding through the masses of people to make her way through to the very front. She could see the outline of Rachael’s energy and started to rush a little towards the cargo bay.


“Hey! Hey wait there a minute boss! You don’t want to go into the mission all stressed out do you?” teased Ina a little before sighing and leaned on her cane a little, her face growing a little more serious. “Look, Rachael. I have to say that I am not comfortable with the idea of all our little children going into a knife fight with stick swords and rubber bands. I think I have a little way to keep all of the kiddies safe. I can make force fields around the smaller groups in case we come under fire…”


But with the boss not hearing a word she was saying, Ina sighed deeply before whistling for Naj, motioning with her hand for the young woman to come towards them. Once Naj finally made it over, Ina spoke. "Boss...you need to give the little button here control of the mission. She's sprouted to quite the flower," smirked Ina, hugging Nadia close with a wink of her scarred eyes before Rachael sighed and looked over to Nadia's direction. "Alright then...Nadia, you are now in charge of the mission," she said officially.

Nadia

​

Rachel gave in to her plan, acknowledging it was the smart thing to do. Her tone was sharp and crisp. A hollow sense of finality ran throughout the room as they all began to shuffle out of the meeting towards the awaiting trucks. Ina however, wasn't to be dissuaded. She ran after Rachel, muttering about kiddies and rubber bands. Nadia rolled her eyes. She wasn't a kid anymore. She'd been in this game for the last four years. She knew what she was doing.


As she drew closer too their conversation however, she heard Ina volunteer her to be officer in charge of this mission... What... the...? She didn't understand why Ina was doing it, but before she could respond Ina's arms were around her, pulling her close, encouraging her not to protest. Since when did Ina have such faith in her? Just a moment ago she was advocating against her plan...


Rachel seemed hesitant but despite a short pause relented, giving Nadia control of the mission. She suddenly lost her ability to speak and her mouth was bone dry. Her panicked mind was likely yelling out to Darren at high volumes. Oh. my. god. Me. People counting on me. They could get killed because of me. What if something goes wrong?! She thought. It was easy to make the plan when it wasn't your leadership on the line, when it wasn't you putting people in harms way. Now her plan was taking on a whole new meaning... Shit. She shrugged out of Ina's grip, her muscles tensing, a serious look taking hold of her face.


"Alright Ina, you want to help? I'm in. What's your plan? Energy shields? How many can you hold at a time and how big a diameter? Could you cover a whole truck? We have three trucks and they're going to be too far apart for you to cover all of them. We'll need to put you where we most need you. I want one truck to block the front of the convoy and one to take position at the back. The third will come up alongside and that's where we'll put the prisoners once we free them. I think it's most important you keep your shields up there, so we have a safe place to transport them to. We can send the people who have offensive abilities such as telekinesis and body shields in the front and back trucks. Darren and I will ride with you in the middle truck. You'll need us talking to the prisoners and getting them safely aboard with you. Having you with the prisoners will be important also because we don't know how bad of shape they're in... they may need medical attention. What do you think?"


She spoke quickly, in a blur as there was little time to waste. She could only hope her mind would remember this plan when the time came to implement it... She looked to Darren for his input. It was reflex now to check her logic with his own, he was so often in her head.

Darren

​

Nadia's nervous thoughts bombarded Darren's mind, and he rose from his seat to follow his friend. As she began her inquiries and thoughts to Ina, he gently placed his hand on her back in hopes of calming her. He could tell by the tone of her thoughts she could at any point filter her emotions onto the others in the room, and did his best to push the nervousness away and show her his calm assuridness. Darren wanted her to know without words he was confident in her role for this mission.


"I think the plan is sound," he stated as he lowered his hand to his side. "Who is going to be with the doctor while we are talking to the prisoners, though? I think we should at least have one more with us just to insure safety."


Darren turned his dark gaze to Ina thoughtfully. He knew his words could come across as slightly offensive in terms of the woman's capabilities on her own, but thoughts of past missions ran through his head. There was a safety and strength in numbers. He meant no offense by his suggestion of another, which is why he left it open for the doctor to debate or refuse entirely.

Thomas

​

It wasn’t long before Thomas felt the heat on his body and especially on his upper body, ringing a bell in his head: Oh no, I’m not going to get tan lines! There was a time in the late 20’s when it became a hit. You could play with the color of your skin, what could be cooler than that? He remembered trying it when he was twelve. He was THE fashionable one. Well, the popularity of “sun tattoos” didn’t last long as people rapidly grew tired of it. There might have been another reason, but he was young and didn’t look for any other explanations.


When he was fifteen, wearing asymmetrical glasses with colored lenses was super trendy and he preferred not to think about it. Asking his mother to buy him these glasses even though he had no vision deficiency only to be in the trend was the most despicable mistake he ever made. Who would wear yellow glasses with a cloud like side matched with a triangle on the other side, adding purple tainted lenses? And he kept them for two years and a half. Just thinking about it made him want to throw up. This was a good example of a big fashion mistake. It should have been banned before it came out to the public. At least it finally ended a year ago.


But the funniest one he remembers was when he was nine. The most blocks you had attached to your clothes, the cooler you were. Of course parents would attach cushioned ones so when children fell, they would not hurt themselves. He was always in competition with his brother on this one. He remembered the good times when he could play outside with his brother, play video games with his brother, watch movies with his brother, his brother… Thomas missed him so much. He stopped his running, feeling the tears coming up. But he wouldn’t let them come, he couldn’t cry for someone like his brother, for an E-Gen and he absolutely did not want to accidentally trigger his power the boy took so much caution ignoring. Thinking about his brother would only make things worse, it always did.


Now wasn’t the time to think about it, he was exploring. Yeah, he should think about that instead. And what was it that made him think about that in the first place? Oh, tan lines! he remembered. He took his t-shirt off, hanging it from the back of his shorts. He started feeling a little thirsty. I shouldn’t have stopped, it will only make my running worse, he thought. But he couldn’t do anything about it and didn’t want to come back now.


He started to run again, in hope of reaching the next city soon. What he saw wasn’t exactly a city, but it was almost as good: he saw a highway. There was no cars passing on it, but it was a highway, meaning there would be a city soon, at least there should be. He made a deep mark with his feet on the sand, showing the direction he came from. He was now running almost thoughtless along the highway.

Ina

​

Feeling Naj shrug out of her arms and smirking to how serious the young woman became, Ina leaned back against her cane and nodded again to show she was onboard. "Of course I wish to help, hun. It would be so dull for you all to go in by yourselves without having me to charm you along the way," smirked Ina with a playful wink. While Rachael remained silent and fixed her gun, Ina leaned against the tailgate of one of the massive trucks and sighed before answering. "Regarding the shields, it would have to depend on what happens when we execute the plan. More than likely we would have to adjust the plan as we go and no one will be with the same group the entire time. This way would allow me to shift the fields between groups when they most need it: trucks and the other little kiddies alike,” elaborated the doctor, watching the souls of the other soldiers rush into the trucks.


“We need to make sure not to divide our forces so easily as defense and offense. It will be easier for the human soldiers to pick us off one by one and that includes the specs we will be attempting to rescue. I can shift from one side of the battle to another at any point in the mission and I can cover everyone that way at least once if there were any complications,” added Ina, growing serious for a moment yet again. “And to clarify…my first priority is you and the rest of the resistance. Next, comes the patients and I will take care of them…but that does not mean I am going to not help any of you when you need it. And I appreciate the thought, Darren, but I do not need someone to be my ‘bodyguard’ and walk around with me,” she cooed softly.

Rachel

​

"Before we all go I have a very important announcement to make to all you guys, please stop what you are doing and listen. I have been thinking about this since the begining of the meeting. I will be passing the power of the mission off to Ina. She has this plan all set and ready and will be running it. I will become her second in command and all questions that you need will be goijg to her but if any you disobey an order given by her or a commanfing officer, you will be treated loke the guy outside the builidng hanging from a rope .Tht is all I have to say and lets kick some government assholes. Now get back tonwaht you were doing.

Nadia

​

(OOC: Nadia is in charge. Rachel erred in the name. Please read the previous thread to say Nadia, not Ina. This has been heavily discussed by all three of us in PM. Thanks.)


Nadia frowned. Ina was being stubborn and cocky. You couldn't keep everyone safe in this mission. That was just a fact. She'd tire herself out jumping from location to location, person to person, trying to save everyone. But they had trained for this mission. The people here knew what they were getting into.


"Look, if you're not going to commit to saving the prisoners above ourselves you might as well not go on this mission. Everyone here knows what's at stake but they're willing to take the risk of getting shot and killed because those people are suffering. Those people are worth it." She sighed heavily. She wasn't likely to get anywhere with this. Besides, she had only been a leader for about a minute... and she wasn't looking to get into a debate.


"If you think you can manage to be omnipresent for this entire mission fine! But when you get out there and bullets are flying at nine of our people at once and you have to choose who to save... Well, have fun with that. You need to face facts. We're in a war." She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Maybe Ina's time in the desert was causing her to lose touch with the gravity of their situation. She looked around the room. If she wasn't going to get cooperation out of Ina she'd get it elsewhere.


"Tank!" She called to a lurking over-sized man who was loading a rocket-propelled grenade into the back of one of the trucks. "You're with us." He nodded and continued his work. Tank had the useful ability of turning his entire body into hardened metal. He was quite literally a human shield and would be handy in getting the prisoners to safety.


She scanned the group and her eyes landed on a member of their team who could disintegrate matter on contact. There would be little time for fumbling with locks. She could get them past the metal doors of the convoy. She called out to the small, mousy girl and added her to their group.


"Ina, you do what you want. I'm not going to pull some sort of rank on you and engage in a pissing contest. Provide medical care, shield who you can, but above all do not get in my way." She was done. This was not a negotiation. The longer they stood here and argued the less chance they had of catching the convoy en-route to the camp. They needed to time this right and they were running out of it.


She turned away and headed for the truck bay where Tank was already in the drivers seat of the third vehicle. "Grab your gear and let's move out!!" She yelled, her voice echoing in the large concrete room. "You, you, you and you, truck one! You, you, you, and you, truck two! Darren, Tank, Mischa, and me, truck three!"


She went from truck to truck, giving orders to the drivers. Truck one and three would head east, catch the highway on that end ,and head west. They'd establish a barricade about 10 miles in with anything big enough to block the convoy from moving forward. One of the telekinetics would hopefully be able to move something big enough to give them trouble...


Truck three would go with them and get ready to bring in the prisoners. They'd set up the equipment and begin communicating with the prisoners as soon as they came within range of Darren's abilities.


Truck two would track the convoy through the use of one of the member's abilities. He was able to see extremely far distances and could hear the convoy through the vibrations in the ground. They'd stay a few miles behind and when the convoy got close to the road block... move up behind and block them in.


She climbed into the passenger seat beside Tank. Each member of the team had a radio that was hooked up to a private frequency, courtesy of some of their more inventive hackers. She pressed the button to talk. "Load up!"

Darren

​

Darren hopped into the back seat of the third truck diagonal to the passenger seat. He was used to Nadia sitting with him on mission rides where they would carry on lightheartedly the entire trip. It had almost become a ritual for him, for he enjoyed the natural relief from the tension these missions typically brought. His friend now sat in the front with the focus of a commander, and he felt a sense of pride in seeing her step up to the plate. She had always carried a sense of confidence in his eyes, and she never came across the type to put down a challenge, but this was a big event with a lot of lives in her hand. This was no mere assignment to a drug addict or a small mission against a drug ring. He was very proud of Nadia, almost to the point of wanting to hug her. Of course, now was not the time or the place for such a thing.


Mischa climbed into the seat across to him instead and he nodded to her in silent greeting before turning his attention to the window that looked into the cockpit. It appeared it would be a quiet ride for him, especially since Mischa is the opposite of a conversationalist. The bed of the truck held two long benches spanning its length surrounded by a bulletproof metal shell. It was great for safely transporting a large amount of people, but lacked greatly in windows. It wasn't anything new to Darren, but it meant he couldn't be lazy.


He remained calm despite knowing what he'd need to do. There was no point in worrying just yet, and he knew Nadia would be stretched too thin if she had to concern herself with calming him down. He was confident in his abilities now to where he could continue with a cool and collected head. It was just another day in the life.

Ina

​

Naj certainly was very cute when she was angry and Ina knew very well that Nadia had her mind in the right place, being very strict with the doctor before she would go off to the truck and sit right in the passenger side after she had commanded other spec soldiers to quickly climb aboard. Yes, Ina had no doubt in her mind that Naj was a perfect leader for the group. Young? Yes of course, but perfect. The doctor simply bowed towards Nadia after her firm declaration of being the one in charge, the cocky grin still on her face. “As you wish, commander,” she cooed, watching her new boss get into the truck and smiled more, straightening up. “You are awfully happy to have had Naj blow up at you a little,” said Rachael a little confused as Ina simply smiled and winked at the former commander.


“A simple test of wits, boss…and it worked like a charm,” she cooed before whistling towards another spec, a scrawny young man who went by the name of Speedy, gesturing her hand to have him come towards her. Grabbing her medical bag in the back of the car Ina arrived in, Speedy dashed right towards his boss, holding her bag up immediately as Ina smiled and took it. “Thanks, Speedy. Let’s go. I’m going to need you to be running back and forth with patients in case we need to quickly get them out of the way,” she explained to her right-hand man before both crawled into the truck beside Darren and the others.


Ina sighed to herself once she settled into the chair and looked over to the three other specs sitting on the opposite side before glancing towards Darren, smiling playfully to the telepath. “You look so happy to see me, Darren. Missed me?” she teased happily.

Nadia

​

[[ TWO HOURS LATER ]]


Nadia's legs were stiff and cramped from her crouched position beside their truck. They'd just had word from the truck that was tailing the convoy. They were less than fifteen minutes out. Eta, 15 to 20. They'd said over the radio to the other two teams who had laid the trap and now had nothing to do but wait. Darren was beside her looking at the horizon where the road met the sky. She couldn't feel the auras of the oncoming vehicles yet but maybe he could already hear their thoughts? She hadn't ever bothered to ask how far his range carried. She put her palm against the back of his jacket in the familiar, caring way she often did.


"Anything yet?" She asked, trying to sound patient and calm when she was anything but. She felt jittery, like she was wired from too much coffee when she'd only had one crummy little cup. Her heart had been racing the entire car ride and she knew from Darren's restrained emotion in the back seat he was doing his best to help. Thanks. She'd thought to him silently, feeling a strange tug in her chest and experiencing a sudden emotional longing to reach back and grab his hand.


Once they had arrived Nadia had made sure they blocked off the roadway with some gigantic boulders they'd discovered in a nearby quarry and one of the vehicles. The massive rocks were bigger than their vehicles and had needed some strong telekinetics to get them into place. Luckily they hadn't had to do much because they'd found the perfect spot. It was in the middle of a canon, so even if the convoy decided to go off-road they'd only have so much room to run before they reach the end of their noose.


Tank was perched, leaning against the truck, fingering his high-powered rifle. Mischa was smoking a cigarette and probably fantasizing about disintegrating a human into dust. In Naj's opinion, the girl had issues... but then again most of them did these days. Besides, right now... they needed her.


Suddenly an emotional spike called to her from the east and she whistled sharply into the morning heat. In Texas, it got hot fast. Everyone turned to look at her.


"Get ready." And just like that everyone was bracing themselves for impact. Nadia breathed slowly in and out, steadying her psychic focus, reaching out. She combed through the emotional auras trying to get a head count. Shit, there were more than she'd anticipated...

Aya

​

Aya left her cell, the guy she waited on never woke up. Aya had been walking for hours when, luckly, she came across a room full of vehicles. The same ones that took her here.


"I am going to get killed for this."


Was that a quard? Looking around she found where the voice was coming from. Quickly and quietly she ran over to the guard. He was in a vehicle that was already running. Knowing she found her way out of this hell Aya kicked the side of the vehicle to lure him out. It worked perfectly, while he was confused Aya jumped in the drivers seat and slammed on the gas. Quickly, the quard took out his machine gun and unload on the drivers side. A bullet got her right in her arm but she kept going and made it out.


"What is this?" There was a GPS on the dashboard already programmed to go somewhere. "Minds well as just follow it." Aya was driving over well over the speed limit and was close to hitting 100. She drove like this for hours following the GPS. Aya slowed down as she saw vehicles similar to this one. "No way, is this a transport, are there other people like me in those vehicles?" Aya continued to follow the others in complete panic. At this rate she will be discovered. "Where is this so called Resistance when you need them?"

Darren

​

The heat stifled the air dryly as Darren scanned the horizon. He was crouched next to Nadia as they waited for the convoy to approach, his long hair tied back loosely. A cigarette hung from his lips that only occasionally departed between two fingers as he exhaled a puff of smoke. In the calm before the storm he was cool and collected despite knowing what was to come. This part, in his mind, was easy and had very little need to cause concern. All he needed to do was listen for distant thoughts.


His focus was away from the Resistance group with an attempt at lowering the noise from within their minds. Darren could hear someone going over their plan repetitively along with Mischa's typical and somewhat disturbing stream of consciousness. But their thoughts were nearly muted with Darren's method causing him to nearly miss Nadia's question.


Darren shook his head in response. He still couldn't hear anything outside of their team, and perhaps it was just too early. There was a far point on the horizon that had a jutting rock just by the road that undulated within the heat mirage. He took another drag from his cigarette as he watched the mirage dance.


It was then he began to hear them. It was soft at first and barely understandable, but gradually crescendoed to where he could begin to pick up on individual thoughts. In his peripheral he noticed Nadia's stance change, and she whistled to the others to garner their attention. Darren brought a hand to his temple to hone in further on what they were up against. So far, the drivers were unsuspecting and the passengers sounded more nostalgic, though some either clung to hope or sounded as though they lost it. They were still too far away for him to communicate effectively.


With one last puff, he tossed his cigarette into the dirt and smothered it with his shoe calmly. The real work was about to begin and he felt ready for it. A soft smile crossed his lips as he looked over at Nadia, though a hint of underlining amusement curled a corner more tightly. He wanted to say something witty or comical to lighten the mood, but felt it best to remain quiet. She was so focused in her ability at the moment that he didn't want to cause any distraction. Instead, he turned back to face the oncoming storm and tuned back into their thoughts. The convoy would soon reach their road block and he needed to get a lock on all the specs before that point.

Thomas

​

Time passed fast and slow at the same time. Thomas felt good running under the hot sun, but he was eager to arrive in the next city, the thirst beginning to be felt more and more but his tongue was not dry yet, which was a good sing. But his body was sweaty, very sweaty. He did not dry himself with his shirt because he knew sweat kept his body from getting too hot. But even though he liked the sun, the runner wasn’t used to the desert sun; there were usually some shadows here and there in the city. He was glad he had dark hair at this moment. The sun rays would hit less hard on his head than if he had blonde hair.


He had been running next to the highway for quite a while and he hadn’t seen any cars on the high way yet. How could it be, there were so many cars in the city and he saw many leave to the highway. Unless this one was another, but it would be linked to another city, so there should be cars anyways. There couldn’t be that much difference between the cities around his. It was like he didn’t want to even consider that the world was that bad as what he heard on the news -well from the small amount he listened to, Thomas thought news were boring- before he got bored and listened to hit music instead.


It wasn’t long, a matter of second, after he finished his thought that he saw a bunch of blinded trucks passing by in the same directon he went, finally! He thought he saw four or something like that, it wasn’t as if it was important. Shoot, I should’ve asked them for water, or if the next city was near and now they’re too far away for them to see me even if I make big sings with my arms, he thought. Well, if I saw trucks, at least I think it was trucks, it must mean there are other cars that will pass by, just not often. Hey! I could check on my phone! I forgot I brought it!


He took his phone from his phone pocket, unlocked it and went on the gps system. It didn’t connect. I must have deactivated it sometime.So he went to the parameters, but it did not work anyway. He even checked the plane mode was on. It wasn’t. He thought of trying he wi fi, but it didn’t work either. Even the usual network had no bars. Well, I’m in no luck. He started to stress out because there wasn’t any way to speak or text to anybody! Maybe he could get lost even with the mark he left on the ground. No he wouldn’t, he had to chase this thought out of his mind and he did. He stopped, again, and thought about the best way to continue. Should he turn back or continue this way? If he got back home and later found out he was close to the next city, Thomas would regret it so much!

Ina

​

Standing beside the truck that would be used to hold the specs once they had captured the detainment trucks and brought them into the medical truck to be attended to, Ina glanced around the corner to try and get a better look at the souls drawing ever closer to them. Sweat moved into her eyes as she dabbed at her forehead to get rid of the evidence, her mind so focused on shielding the trucks with her powers to keep everyone hidden in little pockets of energy shields. Ina hoped it would be enough just in case the soldiers holding the specs were carrying equipment that could sensor specs from either physical appearances or through physical changes in the body when their powers activate.


Hearing Naj calling out to warn everyone that the Calvary was coming, Ina glanced around the side of the truck for the specs and frowned a little to herself. “There are more than I was thinking that would show up,” she confessed to herself honestly. “No matter…” she smirked before she started to sneak her way around the truck to get into position, in plain view of the entire band of specs and humans ready to attack the convoy but could not be seen by the soldiers. She watched the army vans slowly draw closer to the road block before a few soldiers from the first truck started to run up to see what was going on. Ina remained quiet while she quickly moved towards the truck with the specs, peering past the metal walls to see the people on the inside. Good, they seemed to be fine for the most part but one or two of them looked like they needed a few cuts covered and some other injuries examined. Looking back towards Naj, Ina gave a thumbs up to show they were good.

Nadia

​

The opening of the canyon where they are parked and waiting.


Within the canyon their roadblock is set.


The last truck will pull up at the opening and block the convoy in.


It will back length wise across the roadway.

The convoy. The trucks with the prisoners are slightly larger and longer.


All have very high, small, barred windows.

------------------------------------------------​

It was about fifteen minutes between the time Nadia gave the alert and when the rest of the group could physically see the coming vehicles. For those few minutes in time the only ones with enemy contact were her and Darren. Their mission was to get as much intel as possible before they were at war. She started analyzing what data she could gather by feeling the emotions within the vehicles.


There were five military trucks all together with four auras in the first truck, nine in the second, eleven in the third, five in the fourth, and one in the last. They probably had the prisoners in the second and third trucks if the numbers and general emotional states were any indication.


She couldn't yet feel their truck of Resistance members who tailed the soldiers' convoy... which was good. It meant they were staying at a safe distance where they wouldn't be spotted. The trucks with the prisoners were nervous and fearful with the exception of two or three steady, alert auras. Those had to be the guards. The singular aura in the last truck seemed panicked and afraid as if she had gone through an extreme adrenaline dump. Nadia was immediately suspicious and curious about that. She looked over to Darren with a questioning look.


Last truck? She asked softly with her mind for only him to hear, coming to stand at his side. He'd probably know what she meant if he'd tuned into their thoughts. He was so focused she had to tug on the bottom of his sleeve, the skin of her finger tips grazing his palm. Contact intensified her abilities so his emotions flooded through her like an electric shock. She could feel the total concentration he was giving this project. He was proud, determined. Her heart swelled in size. She was struck for a moment at just how far he'd come from the rebellious boy she'd once known.


It was at times like these she was amazed by Darren's abilities. She was much more limited. In this she would have to take his lead. She conferred with Darren within the quiet space of their minds for a moment and then keyed up her mic.


"Team three, confirmed targets. First truck and second to last truck, no innocents. If engaged shoot to kill. Stand by for Darren's confirmation." She waited for Darren to key his mic. and confirm her analysis and add to her instructions. It was his turn to give orders. He would know better the intentions of each person in the vehicles. She looked at him, catching his gaze in hers, finding trust and friendship staring back at her. They would make it through this. They had to.


Five dots appeared on the horizon, slowly gaining in size. Ina had activated her energy shields when she gave the alert, cloaking the group from being spotted, yet they all held their breath as one after another, the vehicles drove past them into the canyon. They slowed as they spotted the road block ahead. The trucks had barred windows, but you could hear voices from within, shouting orders in the confusion. Their brakes squealed to a halt. Doors opened and closed with a slam. Combat boots hit the hot sand covered road.


She cloaked the prisoner vehicles with her abilities, spreading a calm, hazey aura shield around the vehicles. She forced people who'd just seconds ago felt terrified and afraid to feel calm and trusting so that Darren could convince them they needed to work with them.Tell the prisoners to get ready. That we have the situation under control... but when we get the doors open they're going to have to stay as low as they can and move as fast as they can. She thought at Darren.


"Move into position." She whispered into the radio, ordering the driver of the Resistance vehicle. In the distance it began to pick up speed, gaining on the parked convoy.


Then, all of a sudden, out of the corner of her eye she saw Ina move forward to one of the prisoner transport vehicles. She was using her energy vision to see past the metal and into the trucks to look for the prisoners, but if she lost concentration, if she dropped her shield even for a second she was right in the middle of a kill zone. Why for the love of god couldn't she trust the plan?! Ina gave her a thumbs up and all Nadia could think was how absolutely stupid she was being. Mother f*****, she cussed under her breath and motioned for Ina to get the hell back over to their trucks and the cover and safety they provided.


Their truck came within earshot and the soldiers on the ground quickly turned away from the roadblock, to the threat at their backs. They started shouting orders. The emotions in the canyon were suddenly almost more than she could bare, wave after wave assaulting her senses. The soldiers, recognizing the trap they were caught in, didn't even bother to investigate the new vehicle. They just opened fire. Their automatic rifles lit up the canyon in hell fire.


"Get down!" Nadia yelled to Ina, drawing her weapon. Her voice was lost in the sounds of gunfire. Resistance members jumped into the fray, laying down cover fire and in that instant the air became full of bullets and gunpowder.


Their truck skidded sideways to a stop, blocking the majority of the road lengthwise. The sound of tires screeching echoed through the canyon, but only added to the rush of noise. The Resistance forces bailed out the side facing away from the soldiers, using the truck as cover. One of the members had an RPG on his shoulder Tank would envy. He fired and buried a rocket into the side of the second to last enemy truck. The explosion rocked the vehicles and soldiers standing nearest to its epicenter. The blast was unimaginably loud. All around her chaos erupted. Mouths moved but she could hear nothing but loud, piercing ringing in her ears.

Aya

​

All the trucks came to a stop due to a roadblock. " No way.... is that who I think it is?" You could hear everyone yelling in confusion and barking out orders. All the tension is causing Aya to want to panic. The silence was broken by the sounds of gunfire. Aya's state of panic was growing worse. "No.....no, no, no!" Flames started to flicker around her body. Where she got shot was still causing major pain. "I can't get shot again; am I bleeding out? I can't tell anymore." It hurts! Blue flames started to wrap around Aya's body, slowly growing. Suddenly all the flames burst outwards from Aya causing the convoy truck she stole to explode. This threw her from the car, this didn't do a thing to her but the landing on the other hand did. She hit the ground hard which knocked the breath out of her and rolled a few more feet. My vision....it's blurry. There is blood gushing from the bullet hole now. Why is my fire still active? It feels cold....





Aya's fire in actuality is gone, but ice is moving out from her body at a rapid rate.

Kimmy

​

Something was terribly wrong. Kim could feel it in the very air.


The vehicle had stopped and she looked around, everyone seemed worried but it was a different more general worry.What Kim felt was that empties right before a thunderstorm or earthquake, the feeling of someone walking on your grave, a warning just in the corner of her eye. A crawling shiver travelled her body,raising every hair on it's end. Panic was setting in, something was going to happen.She pulled on her restraints until she thought her hands would break. She looked down trying to figure out a way to get free, she had to get out, right now. Or did she?


Suddenly came this realization that maybe, just maybe everything would turn out allright. All her senses told her that everything was going to hell and beyond. There was even this feeling that there was something, or someone, there. Something foreign, just at the fringes of her conscience. Yet none of that seemed to matter right now. None of it bothered her and she wasn't quiet sure why. Looking around once more everyone else had seemed to calm down as well. Surely everything would work out fine.


That's when she heard the explosion.


A thunderclap of air and the screaming of sheared metal, louder than anything she'd


ever heard before. This is how she'd die she realised as she covered her ears in pain.


Trapped in a metal box next to some stuck-up b****.


Or maybe not? It didn't seem to matter so much.

 

[Effervescent]

The breeze lightly whipped the stray strands of dark hair that were too short to gather into Darren's ponytail. His eyes remained focused on the horizon despite any physical evidence that the convoy was on its way toward them. As time progressed the thoughts became more clear and resounded in his mind almost as if their owners were right there with him. He had initially dismissed Nadia's directed thought within the noise from the rest of the Resistance he had pushed away, but the light brush of her finger snapped him back.


Nadia was never one for physical contact. She had told him once how it affected her, how it magnified the emotions from another or focused it more purely. Even though he had resigned to the notion of never being able to embrace her fully or hold her hand, as of late he would find himself occasionally hoping it could one day be a possibility. The contact of her skin against his was brief and fleeting, sending an inexplicable feeling that rose to his throat and caused him to look at his friend. She appeared to be well despite the unintentional touch, and he offered her a small smile before looking back out at the horizon.


His focus went back to the last truck, his brow furrowing. Nadia had picked up something of note, and he tried his best to hone in on whatever it was she had found. The individual's thoughts were of pain and panic. There was no one else in the truck with her. Darren found it odd, especially since the drivers of the other trucks were rather collected.


That driver is not a hostile, he thought to Nadia. He kept his attention on the last driver to study her more clearly. She is injured. I don't know where. Do you feel her anxiety? Her thoughts are not clear to me because of her panic. I don't think she intended to end up where she is. I can't be sure.


Just before the convoy cleared the horizon, Nadia called out her commands. He was never keen on the concept of shoot-to-kill, but in this era it was typical and almost necessary. Almost, he thought to himself. He had killed several people in his past throughout his time with the Resistance, and they were all means of survival. He loathed the blood on his hands. Counting through the thoughts in each truck, the command to kill if engaged made his stomach churn. Normal people, especially militant men, always engaged specs as if they were hostile.


"Confirmed," Darren responded quietly as he opened his mic. "Innocents are located in the second, third, and last trucks."


He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly to bring his nerves back to a calm. One by one, five dots appeared on the horizon, their silhouettes dancing in the heat mirage. Once again, he focused back on the thoughts within the convoy as they slowed to a halt at the well placed road block. He needed to carry on his task and inform the prisoners of their intentions, but the guardsmen caused him to pause.


Great, this is just what I needed.


Fucking hell.


What the hell is going on? Why are we stopping now?


Here we go again. Johnson barking orders again like we don't know how to deal with this shit.


And here I was thinking the damned Resistance would give us a break. Geez.


Oh, god, we're gonna die.


FUCK THIS SHIT. FUCKING PUNK ASS SPECS.


Darren looked over at Nadia, unable to mask his concern. These guardsmen were clearly upset, but also almost expecting the Resistance to have made a move at some point on their trip. It meant they would be prepared with more than just a standard sidearm to deal with any unruly prisoners.


The bursting pops and cracks of gunfire caused Darren to crouch down. He had nearly forgotten what Nadia had asked him to do. Placing his fingers to his temples, he shut his eyes tightly and reached out to the prisoners and only the prisoners. The whizzing of bullets and the clang or thump of their impact caused his heart to race. Soon, he was able to find his calm once again, and everything vanished but the thoughts of the other E-gens.


Don't be afraid. We are the Resistance, and we are here to rescue you. Someone is coming to-


An explosion broke through his concentration. Heat billowed from the fourth truck as metal ripped through the air. Shrapnel from the blast embedded into anything nearby, rending deep gashes or dents into the dusty ground or surrounding vehicles. The firefight gained a brief pause in the unexpected chaos when another explosion resounded from the final truck.


Darren stood in shock and opened his mic. "The last truck has an innocent!" he called out thinking Tank had launched another RPG into the wrong vehicle. The blast sent a wave of heat that pressed against his face as he searched not only for the girl's body, but her mind.


Once he heard it, he leaped into action without thought. Her thoughts were clear, but weak. Bullets whistled past him as he ran, but he used the dust and smoke from the explosions to his advantage. Their enemies now had limited sight giving the Resistance the upper hand. As he neared Aya's side, he reached out once again to the prisoners to finish what he started.


Someone is coming to get you out. When they open the doors, stay low, stay calm, and move quickly. We will get you to safety.


Darren was not at all well versed in anything medically related, but he could tell Aya was in a bad state. His hands hovered over her hesitantly as he debated if he should move her, check her pulse, or apply pressure to the bullet wound on her arm. It was then he noticed the ice beginning to cover her.


"Ina!" he called out over the mic. "I need your help!"


In a quick motion, Darren threw off his leather jacket and removed his shirt. The heat was overwhelming, and he needed to lose any chance of distraction. He applied pressure to her wound using his shirt and the heel of his hand. It was the only thing he could think of doing in the meantime, and it looked as though she had already lost enough blood.


He kept his mind open to the thoughts around him. There were soldiers aware of his actions and were already figuring out a better vantage point while the others applied covering fire. His dark eyes scanned the chaos, sometimes ducking or flinching if a bullet whizzed past him too closely. There wasn't much in the way of cover for him and the injured girl, and he hoped Ina would act quickly.

 

[Wolf0fArtemis]

Aya could feel her ice creeping outward, this was slightly confusing. I thought I could only mess with fire not ice. I can't see to control it either, it is like it has a mind of its own. Why is it spreading so far out? Why is it encasing me? It's like my own abilities are trying to protect me.





Someone is coming to get you out. When they open the doors, stay low, stay calm, and move quickly. We will get you to safety.


A gentle voice came into her mind as these thoughts were forced into her head. What a uncomfortable feeling. Aya managed a giggle. You expect me to move quickly, please tell me your joking. The pain in Aya's arm became alot worse as pressure was put on it. The ice was still spreading, as Aya's fear of dying became worse it seemed her abilities became more protective. The ice was changing, it became thicker and moved faster. A protective barrier surrounded Aya and the man next to her. At the same time huge, thick icicles were launched at the tires of the convoy trucks. "Dammit, stop." This was weakly mumbled under her breath.

 

[Antoine]

Thomas didn’t stay lost in his thought for long debating about whether or not he should continue or come back, as he heard distinct sound of what seemed to be an explosion only a few minutes after he saw the trucks pass by him. What’s going on there, did a truck, like, had a motor breakdown or something? It couldn’t have made that much sound, right? But it wasn’t the only sound that came to his ears, he could clearly hear gun shots. But these sounded different than the ones he was used to hear in movies or in video games, what he was hearing felt real, too real in his opinion.


At that moment, he knew he should have turned back, but his curiosity took over and he began to run to get there as fast as possible. He didn’t really know why he made that decision, but it felt like the right one, even though his fear grew up as he got closer to the canyon, hearing louder and more distinct sounds.


It took him no more than ten minutes to arrive to the entrance of the canyon, exhausted as he had never been before. The mixed feeling of fear and exhaustion was one of the worse he ever felt, but his curiosity grew bigger as the boy was getting closer. He could now see all the trucks, one of them burning so hot he could feel it. Or was it the sun on his bare skin? At that moment, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t what was important. What Thomas was seeing was the worse scene he could imagine. People seemingly shot at each other, like if they were at war. On one side, it seemed like the army but he did not know who were on the other. And what were they doing here, fighting?


His thinking was cut short by the whistle of a bullet that passed near him. He did not feel anything going through his body, but he needed to touch everywhere, just to be sure. It only took him seconds after that to hide behind a rock on the right of the canyon. Thomas looked up and closed his eyes, breathing heavily, regretting so much having followed his curiosity.

 

[Effervescent]

Darren felt the Oklahoma heat give way to a chill at a rapid pace as the girl's thoughts resounded in his mind. She was responsible for the ice crystallizing around them and hardening into a shield where a few bullets managed to either break through or ricochet off of the hardening surface. A shiver ran through him, but he kept the pressure on her wound.


"I'm not expecting you to move quickly," he said out loud to the pale girl with a calm voice. He flinched as a bullet lodged itself within her shield of ice. Had it not been there, the bullet would have been a definite hit for him. The cold was uncomfortable against his skin, but the protection was invaluable.


Loud pops echoed through the canyon. Aya's icicles pierced through the thick tires of the trucks, their frozen forms jutting out like glass spears where they rested within the flattened and busted rubber. Darren was used to dealing with E-gens who did not know how to control their abilities. Everyone was there at some point, but the Resistance always held a particular focus in how to handle such situations. His demeanor remained calm, and his mind still kept a focus on those within the convoy.


They needed to act more quickly. The prisoners were getting restless with all the foreboding noises outside their trucks and the guardsmen were beginning to regain their line of sight. Lifting his palm and his shirt from the girl's arm, he checked to see if the wound had stopped bleeding. Regardless, he brought his hand back over the wound and began to devise a way to calm her down.


"What's your name?" he asked her.


Definitely a clear shot.





The thought was buried among a cacophony of voices, but Darren heard the words clearly. It caused him to completely freeze as he searched for the origin. There was always an issue with sharpshooters for him, for they were difficult to predict on thought alone. Most of them tended to clear their mind of all thoughts before the shot.


He looked up from Aya, his eyes scanning the convoy for the shooter. Dark smoke billowed from the two trucks set ablaze partially obscuring his sight. The dust from the initial blow had already settled. Whoever had a clear shot was behind the smoke or perhaps another vehicle. If Darren can't hear any thoughts, the only thing he could rely on was to see the person in order to gain a mental lock. He was blind. Someone was about to get hurt and he had no way of preventing it.

 

[Wolf0fArtemis]

"The name is Aya." Aya managed to open hers eyes to see the man distracted with a concerned look on his face. She sat up and pushed the man's hand away from the bullet wound. A thought had occurred to her. Usually fire can never affect her but what if she wanted her own fire to. Aya was quickly picking up on how to use the fire. Maybe I can use the flames to burn the wound so it can stop bleeding but first... Finally gaining the courage she put her finger in the wound to dig out the bullet. The pain of that by itself made her want to pass out. She sat there and panted as the bullet fell to the ground. Concentrating on her hand a gentle blue flame wrapped around it. Carefully Aya brought the flames up to the wound and started to burn her own skin. She taste blood from her biting her lip so hard as to not scream. It seemed to do the trick for now. Aya leaned up against her own shield to cool the wound. The ice didn't feel cold to her at all. Guess it acts the same way the flames do.


"Someone is going to die here, whether I kill them or they do. I have a really bad feeling about this." Aya sat there and watched as gun shots raged on. It was hard to see due to all the smoke. It almost looks like winter. Did I really do all that? It would have been pretty if there wasn't a mini war going on here. Aya was starting to feel really sick though. She could feel something really bad was going to happen. Aya watched as her worries and fears seemed to transfer to her ice. The ice seemed to become more flexible. Ice everywhere shot up into the sky. The ice pillars looked like snakes slithering up into the sky. The ice groaned as it completely harder and became still. "Oh come on! Quit having a mind of your own!" Aya glanced at the man apologetically yet she didn't know why.

 

[revo]

Everything happened so fast.


Darren jumped into the path of oncoming bullets to reach the girl and a lump rose in Nadia's throat. She forced herself to swallow it down. She couldn't let herself get distracted. She fueled her fear and got her head in the game. As the truck had driven in she'd kept her senses on the prisoners, keeping them calm. She maintained that shield by implanting the emotions deep in their minds. It would hold for at least fifteen or twenty minutes... if she was lucky. It all depended on the mental strength of the prisoner and how much pain was overriding her mental suggestions. Something told her by the end of this battle she'd have to push her abilities to the brink.


Their men at the last truck noticed Darren and what he was doing. They tried to lay down cover fire as best they could. She took one last look and saw that the ice was going up around them as a shield. Satisfied that he wasn't about to end up with a bullet in his back she moved on with their plan. She ran to Tank's side, keeping low. Since she couldn't talk she just touched his big, muscled shoulder and nodded towards the second truck. It was one of the vehicles with prisoners and farthest away from the action at the end of the convoy line. They'd strike there first.


Mischa saw their intent and crouched down on the other side of Tank, preparing to spring into the fray, legs coiled beneath her. Nadia held up her hand and gave the signal to move: hand cutting like a knife in the direction of their target. Tank went first since he was the shield, then Nadia, then Mischa. The ping, ping sound of bullets ricocheting off Tanks body were eerily close to her as they ran towards the truck, hunched over. As they got close they were engaged by several soldiers. She hit them hard.


Suddenly, beneath their helmets, sun burnt faces crumpled into sadness. Tears streamed down their cheeks. The powerful emotional strike brought images into their heads of loved ones lost, of death and dying. It was a sorrow unlike any they had ever felt, so strong that even the toughest soldier would fall to his knees. It didn't immediately bring them to a halt, but slowly they became so consumed, so trapped in their own spiraling emotions and the thoughts that resulted that they couldn't effectively fight anymore. One of them realized what was happening and fired for her but Tank stepped in front just as he put her in his sights. The soldier could barely see, his body so effected by his mind that his body started to shake and sob, tears obscuring his vision. They moved closer, reaching him.


He'd sunk to his knees, defeated. His face was ugly from the pain. He could barely grasp his gun. Tank put him out with a swift knee to the jaw. Darkness descended and the pain in his mind stopped. They moved forward.


A few of the men who'd set to attack them were taken out by the Resistance before they even reached them. The first body they passed was a head shot. Her stomach churned and she looked past him, to the truck, trying to block it out, pretend he didn't exist. If she focused on his haunting dead eyes she would lose it. For now she didn't have that luxury. That was something saved for after the mission when it was just her and Darren, alone in their apartment. Right now she had to be strong, so she took a deep breath, and kept moving. One foot in front of the other.


Save them. That's all that matters. She told herself.


They finally reached the door. Mischa put her hands on the metal and began to work. Nadia watched; nothing happened. What the hell? The contact didn't have the usual metal-to-butter effect Mischa was used to and she frowned. The metal was strong as all hell. It must have been some new alloy the government had been working on. Slowly, it began to warp... but this wasn't going to be quick. Nadia grit her teeth in frustration. Time wasn't something they had in large supply. Their body count was already too high. Men were already beginning to come from the first truck to see what was going on. Sweat began to form on her skin.

 

[Effervescent]

POW! The sharpshooter released his bullet from his rifle, the sound resounding through the canyon. He had hit his mark, but unfortunately for him his target was none other than Tank. The bullet ricochet off of the massive man revealing him to be impervious to such an attack.


DAMNIT! You've gotta be kidding me.





Darren visibly relaxed for a brief moment before the girl skirted away from him. His hands reached out for her, but then he paused as he listened to her thoughts. Fire and ice. She was apparently responsible for her own vehicle exploding, and he knew now he owed Tank an apology.


"Whoa, stop!" Darren called out to Aya as she dug into her wound. She kept on until the bloodied slug was removed. As soon as he heard her thinking about burning her wound he rose in protest. "Don't do that. Not yet just-"


His words fell on deaf ears. The pale girl brought a blue flame to her arm and seared the skin. The pain should have been enough to cause even a man like Tank to pass out, yet this tiny girl carried on.


As she talked on about death and bad feelings, Darren heard the mental outcries of what could have only been caused by Nadia. The guardsmen left unaffected wondered about their comrades in both bewilderment and fear. He used the opportunity to lock onto the men Nadia was unable to get.


Four. It was a large number for the telepath. He had only just mastered inducing seizures on two different minds. Three or more were difficult for him to manage still, but now was the time to try.


"Get over to the Resistance, Aya," he said to the girl as her ice slithered into the air. "Stay calm.


He brought his hands to his temples and drowned out everything but the four guardsmen. He latched onto each mind, his own working it's way in and pilfering through until he found what he wanted. It was like a switch just waiting to be trifled with, and with just enough concentration all fire suddenly ceased.


An eerie calm settled over the canyon road where just moments before carried the sounds of war. It was a window Darren wouldn't be able to hold for long. The four guardsmen were on the ground in tense, jerky fits and physically incapable of fighting.


Half a minute passed in silence with only the Resistance at work. Darren was completely focused on his task and could only hope the prisoners were being taken to safety in this time. It would always be difficult to predict just how long it would take, but every moment counted.


POW!


His concentration broke as a pain pierced through him. Darren had forgotten about the sharpshooter. The guardsmen he once held in his mind were set free from their seizures, their bodies resting limply in the after state. The Resistance would have anywhere from one to three minutes before they recuperated enough to function.


Darren felt his breath catch in his lungs and blood ooze from where the bullet had run through his chest. Within seconds he fell limply to the dirt. He had thought he took everyone and everything into account, but he did not anticipate the wind changing course just enough to cause the pillars of smoke to flow just enough to the right to expose him.

 

[Antoine]

Thomas didn’t feel safe at all, even behind this big boulder. He could still hear gun shots and screams everywhere. He could not hear his heart beat, but the boy certainly felt it. The beating was so fast he thought it would explode or that he would have a heart attack. Either way, it wouldn’t end well.


Then came an almost complete silence, which felt wrong for what had been going on seconds ago. Was everybody dead? Had one side won? He wouldn’t know unless he looked. It took him several seconds to get –somewhat- a hold of himself. The first thing he saw as he dared to look was ice. Ice? ICE!? How could there be ice in the middle of the desert? It didn’t even look like it was melting. How could the laws of nature be screwed over like that?


There were two people near the ice: a girl who had ice on her legs and a guy that had his hands on his temples. Thomas was so much astonished by the ice that the shirtlessness of the man under these circumstances didn’t bother him at all, as he had also forgotten his t-shirt was still hanging from the back of his shorts. He looked a little more to the right, seeing an army man down, head in his hands like he was having the biggest migraine of his life.


As he looked a little further, he saw a group of people near a truck. They weren’t dress like the army and they seemed like they wanted to rob what was inside of the truck. It was only then that he saw the doors slowly losing their shape, like they were melting or something.


Thomas’ face grew paler, as it wasn’t enough already, his fear intensified, as he just realized who they were. “Shit, they’re fucking E-Gens”, he let out in a gasp.

 

[Yziel]

Sound outside the truck was picking up and she knew someone was trying to get into the truck. She pulled against her restraints, she wasn't sure which would give first the chains or her arms but she was pretty sure the bolts going into the floor were coming loose. Grabbing the chain with her hands and pushing up with her legs to save her wrists from the strain. Maybe? Yes! She could feel it giving way and suddenly it broke and she flew backwards, hitting her head against the wall.


The room was spinning and a buzz of voices shouted at him to let them free. Kimmy waved her hand dismissively trying to quiet them. Then another sound demanding her attention, she wasn't sure what it was at first but then she realized someone was opening the doors! She gathered up the remaining length of chain, she had to decide right here and now, fight or flee? The she saw a thin stream of daylight and dashed for the door, pushing it open and running out. She ran as fast as she could, past who ever was standing outside, paying no attention to anything other than the horizon.


She probably got a hundred metres before something knocked her to the ground. Had someone caught up to her? She thought at first, she'd never found anyone who could keep up with her, let alone catch her. Her back was hurting like mad and she felt even dizzier than before. There was something wet running down her side, she dabbed her fingers and looked at it. It was blood.

 

[Wolf0fArtemis]

Aya let out a scream as the man collapsed beside her. "What the hell!" This is not good....no, he was just helping me. He is bleeding...alot, we can't sit here anymore. "I'm sorry, please forgive me." Aya apologized to him, she had to move him and knows it will put him in pain. Aya touched the back wall of the ice and it chattered. She gently dragged the man out of the ice. She remembered him yelling a name when he had gotten to her. "Ina!" She screamed that name at the top of her lungs repeatedly.


Hopefully I'm not going to lose my voice. I will keep calling that name until I do though. All these damn soldiers. This is there fault...I will kill them all. All of them deserve to die. I will cut their throats and watch them bleed out....every single one of them. Her thoughts became more and more vicious and graphic. She wanted to tortue every single one of them. Still screaming for this person she didn't even know. Who is Ina...can she help? This whole situation is driving me mad. Aya thoughts were going down hill fast. Her anger was the only emotion left. A huge wall of flames burst up into the air. It was pretty long too, she could make it to the resistance without a problem. As she walked toward them she noticed something odd. Every step she took left a trail of ice. This actually turned out to be pretty useful; it made dragging him quicker and a lot smoother. "I'm sorry if I am hurting you, but we are almost there." Finally they were behind the lines of the resistance. "Ina!" She continued to scream. "Somebody please!" Aya started to put pressure on the man's wound. I'm sorry, you shouldn't have helped me.


I will kill them all. Aya had flames dancing around her body. Her eyes were glowing red, more red than they usually are. You could see the murderous intent in her eyes mixed with sorrow. Her wall of flames dropped, but once someone came to help him she was going to burn them all, she was tired of these soldiers.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

It was complete chaos after Nadia yelled at Ina to try and get down, hearing the gunfire start immediately from both sides. Ina frowned to the site as she quickly appeared in front of one of the other guards, letting her shield go down as he stared dumbfounded at the sudden invisible woman making her presence known. Ina shoved her hand in front of her as the man was sent flying into a tree, landing against the trunk with a firm crack before groaning and slumped in a small pile at the base of the tree. Turning her attention back towards her own troops, Ina quickly started to pop up more barriers around each individual, the bullets stopping in their tracks as ripples flickered across the surface of her barriers like a stone thrown into water, ripples gliding over their bodies.


Her mind was certainly preoccupied with everyone dashing off here and there, trying to keep the innocents in the trucks out of harm's way as well with the ongoing firepower. Her energy was starting to drain from all of the redirections of her powers to the individual specs trying to help those on the trucks. It wasn't until she heard the sickening sound of a bullet running through solid flesh that her attention was finally captured, turning to see Darren falling down on the ground motionless, blood pooling under him as the one girl he was trying to save was engulfed in flames, killing off the soldiers one by one. Without even thinking, Ina's mind went blank, her eyes starting to glow as her hair rushed into the air. The trucks holding the innocents were shrouded with a brilliant light, hovering off of the ground and began to move towards the safety of the spec recall team, Ina racing towards Darren as she knelt beside him. Her hands ran over his wound in his chest as her mind's eye started to trace out every line and channel of energy in his body, etching out the outlines of the organs inside. While distracted with Darren, a large barrier started to circle around her, Darren, and the young woman, Ina's fingers pressing deeply into the skin around Darren's wound as her ability started to draw out the heavy metals and seal the tissue layer by layer.


Her pure white eyes slowly started to look up towards the distance, locking right with the sharpshooter as she remained unmoved. Raising one hand slowly, Ina moved one finger in position, right between the man's eyes as she spoke. "I can make an exception to my rule..." she spoke simply before firing a single shot towards the sharpshooter of pure energy, racing off through the air like a rocket.

 

[Wolf0fArtemis]

Aya saw a woman run over and start attending to the man's wound. Her eyes are different like mine. Is she blind....but she looks like she can see. Maybe I will get to ask her later....but for now there is something I need to do. Looking to the woman Aya says her thanks and starts to walk toward the middle of all this chaos. Completely apathetic to the world she keeps walking. Her skin quickly becomes covered with ice that was almost impossible to break. It almost looked like Aya became ice herself every step she took once again became a trail of ice. Fire violently twirled around her like a vortex. By the time all this happened she was in the center of all the madness.


The soldiers were everywhere it seemed. One was close enough that Aya only had to take two big steps to get to him. Grabbing him by the neck she picks him and throws him into the soldier that wasn't to far away. They both hit the ground and quickly try to stand. Being as dazed as they were she causally walked closer to them. Ice crawled under their bodies and and a million thin yet long icicles shot up and stabbed the two soldiers. They screamed in pain and blood started to pool underneath them. This wasn't satisfying enough though. Aya walked up to them and kneeled down. She grabbed the one soldiers leg and let the fire slowly spread across both their bodies. She left them there screaming and continued to move to some other soldiers that were close by. She ran towards this group and hit them hard. It was a small group of three. Quickly she came to the first soldier from behind and kick the back of his legs, he fell to his knees and Aya grabbed his head and quickly broke his neck. The other two soldiers started to fire at her but the ice seemed to be protecting her. A piece of ice that was flat and sharp rose up next to Aya. She grabbed it and rushed the two soldiers and as she got close she swung her ice blade to the right. The blade cut through the guy like he was butter. Quickly and gracefully she twisted and swung the blade to the left cutting the other one in half as well. She watched as they bleed out.


Aya seemed to be no longer in control of her actions. Her abilities were reacting to her murderous thoughts earlier. Watching that poor man fall to the ground pushed her over the edge. Using all these abilities at once was starting to wear on her. It didn't matter to her anymore. I will kill you all for what you did!

 

[Effervescent]

No, he was just helping--What's going on? Oh my--SHIT SHIT SHIT--think we're gonna--where's a cigarette when you nee--this is over I swear I am gonna--the hell is that?!--you shouldn't have helped m--What the--NO NO NO NO--kill them all--got this, just go out there--





There was no longer a filter placed in Darren's mind to keep all the thoughts in check. The voices collided and fought for precedence that built up anxiety and confusion he could not keep in check. The bullet had run deeply and was causing a significant amount of blood loss. Darren's head lulled back as Aya began to drag him across to the Resistance, a layer of ice forming under him.


He was in likely the most pain he had ever felt. Throughout every dangerous mission or even his time with a drug ring, he had never been shot. Darren's only other painful experience was during his recovery from his addiction to cocaine, but this was very different. He felt sick and scared and cold, his hands clammy to the touch. The world was hazy as he fluctuated in and out of awareness until another pain ripped through him.


Ina was over him, her milky eyes looking down at his wound as she coerced the bullet out from inside him. An uncomfortable feeling took over as his insides were knitting back together. He remembered he had left his jacket back where he had helped Aya, but when he tried to speak his words were lost and trailed off. There was too much going on.

 

[Wolf0fArtemis]

Something touched the back of Aya's neck. Whatever it was just barely grazed her, yet it caused her ice to completely shatter. She fell to her knees and just sat there. What just happened? A imagine of the dead men flashed into her mind. She looked over to them and cringed. My head feels like my brain has melted. Aya tried to stand up but fell again. Dragging herself to the vehicle close by she used it to lean on. I feel tired...I can't really walk...my body feels numb. Aya used the vehicle to help stand and started to walk back to where that man who helped her was. Using all the strength she had left she tried to make it there quickly. That seemed to be quite pointless to her after 10 seconds had passed. She had already fallen three times. Eventually she made it though.


Aya stood next to the man and saw he was still alive. Thank goodness... He didn't look like he was going to make it. Suddenly Aya's head began to ache like someone had just taken a sledgehammer to her head. That wasn't the only problem. It felt like her insides were on fire. The pain was so extreme that it instantly crippled Aya. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground. Her pale skin looked even more pale then usual, almost as white as snow. She was breathing heavy and started to sweat.

 

[revo]

Nadia hadn't been at a vantage point where she could see Aya and Darren and the complete chaos that erupted around them. It was a good thing she didn't have the distraction because the men from the first truck had started to fire at the three of them. Tank was doing his best to keep the two petite women behind him but she doubted how long he could keep it up. Already she could see them preparing an RPG. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.


Inside the prisoners were absolutely losing it. So much for keeping them calm... Mischa finally had developed a good sized hole and she could see them, wrapped in old chains. She forced herself to keep a level head and channeled her energy into the truck.


It's okay, everything will be alright. She said, even though they couldn't hear her over the noise and wouldn't have been listening anyways. She reached out to them with her ability and they began to settle. The hole began to widen. No one was gigantic in size. Just another foot and they'd be able to squeeze through. She looked away, into the dust and chaos.


The wind shifted and she could see the truck nearest them. A girl rushed from the other prisoner vehicle and she smiled, relieved. Thank god. They'd gotten themselves free. She didn't know how, but she wasn't going to question it. Perhaps one of the E-gens inside had gotten free and was able to pry the doors open. Her relief was short lived. Suddenly the girl went down, her body collapsing.


No! Nadia screamed into the dust. She wasn't a soldier, she hadn't emptied herself of emotions before this mission. Hell, emotions were a part of her. She could feel the girls pain ripple through her. Her hand reached out to brace against the truck. She wasn't meant for war... to be this close to death.


Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, another round of pain shattered into her like a tidal wave. Only this was pain she'd felt before. Darren's emotions were so familiar to her now she could sense them anywhere. Long ago he'd lost the ability to sneak up on her in a crowd. It was his pain she was feeling now. She fell to one knee, out of Tank's shielding range. She gasped for air, as if it was her who had been shot. She choked back the fear, scanning the dust for any sign of Darren. She couldn't see anything. Nothing but people running, firing, yelling, dying.


Two more Resistance members fell and one after another, she felt the pain. Her fists balled up at her sides. Her teeth grit together. She pulled herself to her feet again. A bullet narrowly missed her as she disappeared again behind Tank. Mischa had finished the opening. Time to move. Don't feel them, just move. One foot in front of the other.


A small blessing, someone had taken out the soldier with the RPG. She didn't know who, but she thanked them. Mischa, Tank, and Nadia raised their guns to the other oncoming soldiers. "Stay behind me!" Tank barked at the prisoners even though he couldn't possibly block all of them. It had been a long time since Nadia had to fire her weapon at a human being. The first shot she closed her eyes and fired. Then the numbness she'd so desired kicked in. She had yet to perfect shutting her own emotions down, but in this moment, with the cold metal handgun against her palm, she flipped that switch. If she was going to get these prisoners to safety she couldn't think about the casualties. She couldn't think about Darren somewhere on the ground... dying.


She fired round after round, as the prisoners stayed low behind them. One of them shouted out as a bullet grazed their side. It was as though he didn't exist, as if he existed on another plane of reality that could no longer touch her.


They reached the Resistance vehicle that was awaiting the prisoners. There were other members there laying down cover fire and a medic who worked with Ina ready to receive them. She looked around, doing a head count and reloading her firearm. The prisoners were a sorry sight, covered in dust and blood.


"We lost two." Tank reported, matter of fact. Looks like she wasn't the only one good at turning the switch. She nodded, taking in everything. There was an M-308 automatic rifle strapped to the wall of the back of the truck with other ammunition. She grabbed it. Her handgun wasn't enough. She was leading this mission. She needed to regain control.


"The other truck. I saw someone get out. We need to go back, make sure they make it out." Mischa looked at her like she was raving mad but she ignored her, rushing back into the firefight.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Ina's teeth clenched as she focused on extracting the bullet from Darren's chest, the little metal bullet slowly wiggling out before flying into the palm of her hand. Sighing to the relief that Darren was no longer bleeding, Ina had let her guard down. A cringing pain surged through her body as blood dripped down her nose, a few drops falling onto Darren's chest that made her feel her nose, frowning to the hot liquid at her fingertips. "Damn it..." she hissed to herself and breathed a little heavily. She glanced up to see Aya, her crimson colored soul starting to dull and fade to a softer hue. She knew that change in color all too well...


Forcing herself up on trembling weak legs, Ina moved towards Aya, carefully extending her hand and tried to draw Aya a little closer towards her and Darren. "Come on, hun. I got you...I got you," she wheezed, wincing before suddenly falling to the ground. Propping herself up with her back against one of the trucks, Ina wheezed and started to cough, the crimson liquid now dripping from her lips. She couldn't die like this...not yet. Reaching her hands out, one pressed to Darren's chest just over his heart, the other reaching for Aya's back to keep their bodies stable. The over exertion of her powers made her stomach turn, forcing Ina to close her eyes a moment and swallow, drawing the last of her strength as she moved all of her power to a barrier that surrounded the trio. A wall of yellow colored energy shrouding them flowed smoothly in the air, Ina's hands and body shaking as sweat glistened down her face.


"Nadia..." she said outloud to no one in particular, her 'vision' starting to fade. "Find us, Nadia...for their sakes..."

 

[Antoine]

One sound, one simple yet disturbing sound, made him jump and got him out of his gazing state. A second after the boy heard the sound of the bullet piercing through the air, he saw the man who had once his hands on his temples fall on the ground, the ice girl rushing toward him. She then grabbed his arms to drag him where the other members of their group could be. He couldn’t be quite sure, his vision blurred by the heat.


A few moments after, the once ice girl was now fire girl, flames spinning around her. Thomas watched her as she rampaged on the field, coldly killing soldiers on the way. Then, out of the blue, he saw her fall on the ground. Thomas didn’t see how that happened due to her flames blocking his view, but she was now crawling to the place she put the shirtless man.


Right after this happened, he saw prisoners, wait they are stealing prisoners? Oh gosh, these E-Gens really were bad. That just proved what his mother always said: E-Gens are the worst thing that happened to the world, they are awful creatures that don’t care about anything but themselves. They won’t hesitate one second to kill people that stand in their way. In that case, it was the army. His mother’s voice rang once more in his head: They should all be exterminated. The government should not put them in these rehabilitation camps where they are sheltered and fed. They’re only wasting our goods on these fuckers. Thomas’ mom almost never cussed, which only put emphasis to het statement. But you do you know who are the worse in this situation? Do you know? He shook his head in a no, even though he knew it was only a voice in his head. It’s the humans, real humans like you and I, that are helping these monsters. They could be good people like us, doing their things, letting the government do their job. I hope they all get imprisoned for life when it’s all over. I don’t even mind if they get the death sentence, they shouldn’t help the Devil’s creatures. Only to prove her point, he saw a girl pointing her gun towards the army men, shooting at them, hitting one that put his hand on his thigh right away. He couldn’t believe it, his mother was right, humans –she must have been a human, she used a gun instead of a power- did help them.


It was only after hearing some of the girls bullet pass by him that he saw the soldier that was on the ground minutes ago walking toward him with his gun pointed at him. He was taking him for one of them. Oh no no no no no, he wasn’t ready to die, he didn’t do anything, he was only 19, he couldn’t miss his near 20th birthday, he would never get to the age of majority, he would never meet someone to spend the rest of his life with but worse of all, he would never see his family again. Thomas tried to take a step back, but he was paralyzed with fear. Tears could now be seen on his face, as the fear got the best of him.


The soldier, still walking in his direction, started to talk: Oh, don’t cry now, you won’t have any more tears for when you are in hell. You don’t like the fact that you screwed up, don’t you. You thought escaping would be easier, did you?” The military now had a smirk on his face, happy of what he saw: a scared E-Gen who didn’t know what to do anymore now that he had been caught. “Now, tell me where you plan to take them and I just might let you leave.” It was a lie, of course. He would either kill him or take him back in one of the trucks. It would depend on how things would go from now.


Thomas wanted to tell him he was not with them, that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, that he didn’t know anything about what these specs would do. Tears poured harder, falling on the ground. He opened his mouth, but nothing could come out, it was like something had rendered his vocal cords useless. He lifted his hands as a sing he didn’t want to cause the guard any harm, but he apparently didn’t take it that way, as he shot while Tomas’ hands were still at his waist, which made the boy take a step back and lift his hands a little. It took him several seconds to realize the bullet had not touched him. His eyes widened like they never had before as he saw the soldier who was just a few feet away from him moments ago lying on the ice the girl had created.

 

[I'm A Grill]

Donovan appeared suddenly on one of the nearby hill mountains, well away from the action, but close enough to see the people on the ground. Smoke was rising from the stopped convoy, vehicles charred or on fire. Donovan could see both soldiers and Resistance members lying on the ground. Some were dead; some were just badly injured.


It looked like the Resistance was just as unorganized as he had suspected. They seemed scattered about, not unified together and working as a team as anyone with training would have. He felt almost the slightest bit of pity for the Resistance. These bunch of kids had taken out this convoy and won the battle, but they had no idea that Donovan was lurking just beyond the horizon. Soon, Sector Ten would make their presence known to the Resistance a terribly violent way. It would be a massacre, a slaughter that would make any good man sick to his stomach. Sector Ten was not full of such men. If Donovan ordered them to wipe the population of Dallas, Texas off the map, they would do so without hesitation.


Donovan continued to think about the future, absently watching the ends of the fighting when a voice spoke to him through his earpiece. It looked similar to a bluetooth earpiece, except that it worked through Government satellites instead of short-range frequencies. "Satellite is position, sir." It was a feminine voice, but there was no mistaking the power behind it. It was Kira Wemming, Donovan's lieutenant, currently at Sector Ten HQ observing the battle comfortably from the war room.


"So it is," Donovan remarked. "Tell Marcus to have his team suited and in the air in the next five minutes. I'll want him to review this combat." Marcus was their window into the past and their tracker. He had quickly proven himself highly valuable to Sector Ten during his years and was now in charge of his own unit. In particular, Donovan desired to see how they coordinated the assault, who their leader was, what kind of weaponry did they have. Any intel was good intel as far as Donovan was concerned.


"Understood, sir. Marcus's team is suiting up now." Donovan continued to watch the battle from his vantage point. He would have left the scene rather than staying in place and risk being spotted the longer he remained, but his presence served a highly valuable purpose. He had to wait to ensure that the message was delivered.

 

[RinKaihou]

ROAN DODGSON





Roan stood in the Sector Ten war room, observing the ongoings of the quickly degenerating battle, if it could even be called that. A small part of him felt a twinge of pity for the Resistance, since in his eyes, most of their combatants were inexperienced and not made for the difficulties of combat. He suppressed the short bout of emotion and continued gazing impassively at the screen.


Logically speaking, Donovan's order made sense. Marcus could gather information from the battle site that any other surveyor or spy wouldn't be able to get to. Information was a valuable commodity in their business and it made Marcus a great asset to Sector 10.


Still, there were better options.


It would be a massive blow to the resistance if they swept in with full fast-response combat forces instead of sending a survey team. An important operation such as this would be directly supervised by someone extremely high up in the Resistance's chain of command. It was the small details but Roan felt confident that the woman who just dashed away from the Resistance vehicle and back into the fray was the one calling the shots, or at the very least a rather important telepath of some some sort considering the way some Resistance members' heads turned to her at seemingly random intervals.


But better options or not, it was Donovan who called the shots and it was Roan's job to shut up and kill whoever Donovan wanted him to kill, no questions asked. Straightforward and simple. Roan preferred it that way, at times.


He rolled a slightly disfigured bullet between his thumb and his index finger as he moved his train of thought to the next step that Donovan was likely to take. The government won't take this lying down and it's only a matter of time before Sector 10 gets involved directly with the Resistance.

 

[Effervescent]

Naj.





His thought projected to everyone around, including the enemies remaining. He didn't intend to, but he couldn't find his friend in the chaos of his mind. He couldn't understand why he was still in pain. Ina's state was concerning. So many voices. So much noise.


The field medic on duty rushed to Ina's aid after insuring the prisoners were accounted for and placed within the trucks safely. Their injuries were not as severe, and so she felt it was a good move to check on the three injured close by. The last thing the Resistance needed was to lose an asset like Ina.


"Doctor!" the medic called out as she watched Ina fall to the ground. She called out for help from nearby Resistance members who either carried or aided into the back of another truck away from the line of fire. The medic closed the door behind her to shut out the outside completely as she pilfered through the medical supplies she and Ina had packed.


She noticed Aya's wounds and quickly treated her bleeding neck before giving the two injured fluids through IV. The young field medic let out a sigh before wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She removed the latex gloves slowly, folding them into each other. While Darren would likely be okay on just fluids, Aya had lost a lot of blood and would need a transfusion, to which could only be treated back at base.


"We'll wait only a couple of minutes," the medic stated, mostly to Ina, "but if they don't hurry it up I'm going to get you guys back to base with or without them."

 

[revo]

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. Robert Frost was right on both counts. Wet patches were the ice was beginning to melt marred the ground. Fires still smoldered. It was so strange, like they'd invaded an alien planet. Their team of three surged ahead. Tank stopped to grab the prisoner who'd fallen after escaping her vehicle and throw her over his shoulder. Then he pivoted and turned, high-tailing it back to the medic station. She continued on.


Reaching the second prisoner truck she peered inside through the open back door. E-Gens who had yet to undo their chains struggled there, helpless. Mischa jumped in the truck and got to work, freeing them one by one. Nadia turned around to look out. In the distance you could hear a faint, "pop, pop" as the soldiers intermittently fired off rounds in their retreat. The Resistance was pushing them back and they were on the run now. The heat of battle was drawing to a close.


She held her rifle against her side. She wanted to sigh, to relax and enjoy this momentary calm... but she didn't dare, less the moment she unclench her tense muscles, the world explode again. She stayed alert, her emotions still shoved deep down into a part of her mind she could not touch. Like a steel drum, she'd locked down her feelings tight. Her heartbeat was steady. The ringing was beginning to subside from her ears and she thought she heard the medic call out for Ina. The anxiety she should have felt didn't greet her. She was numb to the fact that Ina may be hurt and bleeding.


She watched silently as Mischa released the last prisoner. She had been holding them up at the doorway, blocking their path and motioning for them to wait. Now that they were assembled she moved them forward with the all too familiar directives of staying close.


As they neared the medical truck Darren called her name mind-to-mind. All the emotions she'd been blocking came flooding back as if he'd tugged on a rope. Her step faltered, causing her to stumble forward, but she caught herself and started running. He was hurt. Really bad. Coming Darren. Almost there. He was at the med-truck. She could feel his psyche calling to her like a beacon, leading her in.


Behind her, the prisoners tried their best to keep up. She should have been protecting them but the firefight had worn down and she was too distracted by Darren's distress. It was only a matter of seconds until she reached Darren's side, but it felt far too long. She slid onto the earth next to him like a baseman sliding home. She leaned over him, pressing her forehead to his head and finally breathing that sight of relief. She leaned back onto her heels, trying to assess the damage but all she knew nothing about bullet wounds. To her it was just a nasty open wound with far too much blood and Darren's face looked all too pale.

 

[Effervescent]

The medic looked up at their appointed leader as Nadia rushed to Darren's side. "I need to get them out of here," she stated firmly, hopefully getting her point across that she'd leave without the other trucks if she had to. "Is everyone ready to go? Are we going to have to worry about people following us?"


Blood still glistened over Darren's torso despite the wound being healed enough to stop further blood loss. He reached out for Nadia's hand, instinctively desiring comfort within human contact. His hand quickly fell away from her and fell heavily at his side. In a moment of clarity he remembered Nadia's empathic abilities were magnified with human contact, and whatever he was feeling would likely be just as intense for her.


The sunlight hit the back of her golden hair, the disarray of strands white like a halo. Her presence was enough, and he didn't want her to leave his side. He found his focus once again, though everything began to dull as the medic administered a dose of morphine for the pain. It had been a long time since he felt something so potent.


"Naj," he began, "I don't want you to go, but..." His voice trailed off as the morphine set in. He lazily brought his hands to his head and pressed them lightly against his sweaty skin as he tried to focus back on the thoughts. "But I left my jacket out there."


He paused again and looked up at his friend. She looked so beautiful to him even in her dirty state, and a faint smile spread across his lips. As much as he wanted his jacket, it wasn't the real reason why he felt Nadia should go back out there. He could tell there were people unaccounted for, and as their acting leader she needed to be out there making sure the mission succeeded to its best and not next to him. He had been selfish to call for her, but he was scared, and it was a relief to see her face, even if it was only for a moment.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Still keeping her hands pressed to Darren's chest and to Aya's back to keep their vitals going, Ina felt her body growing weak, her arms heavier and heavier with each passing second. She did not even hear her medic assistant, Daisy, calling out to her after she fell. Her breathing was still heavy, feeling herself struggle to breathe deeply as she, Aya, and Darren were taken to the medical truck. Strung up on a stretcher with a few other Resistance members beginning to patch her up as best as they could at the moment. She watched the blurred image of Nadia's soul rush to Darren's side and the two of them exchange words. But her attention quickly went back to Daisy at her mentioning they would leave.


Ina suddenly grabbed Daisy's wrist to have her stop and listen. "Daisy...we can't...leave them. We have to...look for others...don't leave them," she wheezed, blood dripping from her nose before her face grew pale, looking like she was about to be sick but kept her grip on Daisy's wrist. "Don't leave them..." she begged.