IPAD: The Institute for Powers and Advanced Development (the remake ^^~)

As the lights to the room cut out, Talin flattened himself against the wall that he had been standing against. People, especially those in large groups, tended to be prone to panic and rash decisions. He was not about to let himself be trampled if the student body took this frightening opportunity to bolt due to being spooked. Once he was certain that he would be out of the way of the mob, he tinkered quckly with his watch in hopes that it would glow faintly at least. Opening the first thing that he could think of, he activated one of his course manuals. In a faintly glowing holographic image, the text for some course he was going to be required to take shown like a beacon of hope in the pitch black of the early morning gathering.


Putting his fingers to his lips and ignoring the fact that the temperature around him was already beginning to plummet, the boy whistled long and loud as he thrust his wrist into the air and spilled his scalding tea all over himself. He was terrified, the fact that he had lost control of his ability already was testament to that fact. However, he’d be damned if he didn’t let the others know that they had a light source.


Having accomplished that, he looked around the room and attempted to make himself focus. Not for a second had he trusted this place, and he was not about to let his guard falter now. As more students activated their devices, he needed to be watching for any abnormalities in the gathered crowd. Something wasn’t right here; with all of the technology and power contained in this institution they would not have allowed a simple power outage to cripple their system. Talin waited for some nightmarish thing to leap at them from the shadows as he held his now empty cup high in the air with his watch.
 
She stood in the far back almost leaning against the wall. She heard something clicked then as everyone moved the vibrations were louder. Everyone seemed to be moving around a lot. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground as she listend. "...a power outtage." It didn't bother her much since she couldn't see. She backed up a little to refram from getting hit if one chose to run. She let out a sigh and turned her head toward another area.
 
Cross listened at the man that spoke,Darian Cross? The rules Cross was fine with that,though the fact that this guy wanted time with each student made him feel un-eased again. And the lights going out just made it worse,Cross stayed where he was waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. When he was able to see well enough he started moving and feeling for the wall behind him,after finding the wall he stayed there as he lifted his sleeve up so he could see the watch."This is great,didn't see that coming..."He tried to see if the watch had a light or anything,"wonder what's up...think it's a student?"He asked and tried to stay calm."Yes!"The watch said back,though Cross figured it just said that because it was the only word it knew right now.
 
When Sage arrived at the large forayer, she stood between Luke and Effy. She chose to stand in the middle of the room, or as close to ‘middle’ as she could get, liking the feel of others around her. Sage watched Effy a bit while people continued to gather around the room. She was not sure if she had imagined it, but Effy seemed to have flipped a switch from intensely shy to rather confident in the span of her going to her room and then returning. It striked Sage as a bit strange, knowing that usually it take a bit of time to change emotions or warm up to someone. Sage thought about asking in the most casual way she could, but was beat to the punch when Doctor Hall had spoke up to quite the room and revert the student’s attention. It was time for the Headmaster to speak.


Headmaster Darian wasted no time after his introduction to begin his unplanned speech. Like everyone in the room, Sage started to analyze Darian by every word and motion he made. He seemed like a rather honest person, though a bit too far for Sage to pick up any kind of feelings from, he also seemed to be rather proud as well. Soon his voiced turned firm as he started to lay down rules to, Sage assumed, assure the student’s safety, and maybe in a few cases, man kinds.


When he was finished, she waited for him to dismiss the masses, but got a different response then intended: Within seconds then entire school went pitch black.


Fear and wariness immediately swamped over Sage and she felt like she was going to throw up for a moment. Taking a few deep breaths, Sage fixed her composer and ran one of her hands through her hair, “Now is not the time to panic.” She hissed. A few more moments past and she noticed a few of the smarter students started to turn on their devices to get light, many others quickly following suit. Although the panic ebbed to a slow pulse, threatening to break out at any moment, the fear still clung to the air like static electricity. “You two stay calm please. You will be doing me a huge favor by doing so.” Sage said quietly to Luke and Effy.


“Everyone calm down some.” Sage said a bit louder to the people around her, “We don’t know what is happening, but that is no reason to panic. Making rash decisions will only likely bring bad consequences.” Sage announced, trying to calm the people around her. She was not even sure if it was working or not because of how thick with emotions the air felt around her. Clicking her own watch around her belt loop, Sage watched it respond by lighting up and illuminating the floor and her shinny dress shoes.
 
Valeria had listened to the speech. Everything that the rad master had said was true. She was just like everyone else. If only Mother had understood...She sighed and ignored any feelings of nostalgia that threatened to come up and continued to listen. Her brows furrowed slightly at the rules. Never solo? What could possibly happen? She gave up on posture by crossing her legs as she thought about who she could get to accompany her of the need arose. She couldn't always ask a teacher, but she didn't want a random person. So she would have to make some friends...


All thoughts she was having came to an abrupt stop when the lights went out. She gasped and clutched her device instinctively as her right hand flew to grab the person who was sitting next to her. She closed her eyes and whispered reassuring words to herself, faintly aware that she was probably really scaring whoever she was grabbing, but too scared to let go. Ever since her cat had turned up dead after a blackout when Valery was five, she had been horribly afraid of the dark, and now this was happening. Please let it stop...


Her prayers were apparently answered as her device chimed. She opened her eyes slowly and saw that several of the students' devices were glowing faintly, so she looked down at hers. Surely enough, there was light coming from it. She navigated around for a bit and found that it could be used as a flashlight. Handy. She quickly switched it to the flashlight function before realizing that she was still holding on to a stranger. She turned and smiled apologetically. "I'm so sorry about that. I hope I didn't freak you out any more than you were already."
 
"...Our futures must truly be bright." Effy stood there with a smile before the lights went out and a deep darkness surrounded her. Listening to Sage slightly and hearing all the panic the students seemed to have were starting to make her panic herself. Unable to see anything she did the first thing she learned when she read the `When darkness surrounds`book that was about terrorism against schools or anything alike. That was until a dim light came from her TCI but she immediately tried to ask for it to stop. Light was never good in this kind of situation she thought. Slowly the dimmed light disappeared as suddenly as it came; almost as if it could read minds. Thinking slowly about it she walked slightly to the left; hearing a student rush by her, panicked like everyone else before starting to mutter in Spanish. "I´m scared...Mom!" Eliana heard a small voice almost scream. Holding her laptop tight she decided to walk against that voice. That voice needed to be silent since it´s easier to predict a targets destination with the sound of their voice. "Guys..I´ll check that out. Maybe he or she doesn´t know how to switch the light on or something.." Effy said rushed before swiftly avoiding another student who decided that running around screaming would help so much better. She knew it was exaggerating to say that this may be a terrorist attack or anything alike but rather safe then sorry was her fathers motto and Eliana planned to follow it for once.


After walking slowly to her destination; following the voice of a child she know knew was a small little boy with blue eyes and platinum blonde hair she smiled softly. "I know you are scared but we have to be quiet ok?" She whispered to the boy before sitting slowly down next to him. The boy was at the outskirts of the foyer, making her a bit more safe. Feeling guilty she left Sage and Luke but was sure they would be fine she started to hug the boy. The small child couldn´t be more than 8 years old. "The lights will soon come on and everything will be fine...Think about chocolate and cookies which will be waiting for you afterwards so please just stay quiet."


"O-ok..you promise to stay with me till then?"


"I promise.."


Eliana whispered with a soft smile. She held onto the boy as he held onto her and sat there; waiting for the light and what it will show. Probably something not so sweet as cookies and hot chocolate but rather horrible and frightening; after all even she knew that this place had better technology then a highly secured prison had.
 
Luke listened as Darian finished his rather long speech about how they couldn't leave this place and that each watch was designed individually for each of them. Then suddenly the lights went out, Luke only managed to hold back the terror climbing up his throat, He grabbed on to Sage hugging her, he was getting really scared. He managed a small "Whats happening?" Before Sage told him not to panic, her voice slightly coming him down but he still held on tight. He could hear some people screaming and yelling, lots of footsteps of people running around in pure panic, some were turning on their watches for a dim amount of light and he watched as Effy walked off, he was going to call for her to come back until he saw her comforting a smaller boy who was crying. He gave over a smile at the two but he doubted they saw in the dim lighted room. The rooms panic was still there but more and more people were starting to calm down, He looked up at Sage to see if she was okay herself.
 
Ruth couldn’t help giggle some when Peter stated what she thought, being called back so soon was unreasonable. Never the less, she was all into the speech before, nodding her head, getting all excited until his last closing statements. Her smile fading more and more at them . . . they were to keep the devices with them at all times? They had a special connection to each of them? Ruth glanced to hers before struggling to get it off her arm quickly as if worried it wouldn’t come off, only to pocket it again in a huff. This was already starting to sound like a bad sci-fi horror in ways. Her eyes glanced around wondering how the other students were taken his words, wondering if she was the only one starting to worry. Maybe she was getting carried away after all she did tend to do that . . . then of course . . . the lights would go out.


Ruth’s eyes narrowed as she felt now was if any the time to get serious. Her eyes going about the room for a light source, jumping back some as she heard a whistle. Catching a faint glow from what had to be a watch. Wincing when she saw other’s mimicking this act. “No! Wait!” She tried to cry, heading towards the one who started it. “What are you doing?” She tried to whisper to him although for some reason it was freezing by him. First a lava guy and then some ice one? Well the school was interesting that was for sure. She had to shake her head to get her thoughts back focus on the matter at hand.


“You would think a big place like this would have a backup generator kicking on right? Well it’s not. Turn it off.” She ushered him not being able to get a good look at his face or she easily could have realized it was the same one she thought was the lava kid. “If we’re in danger . . . if there is trouble . . . those lights is like telling whoever is out to get us, here we are.” At that she was trying to find away to get to a door or a place of safety, perhaps hid or at least get a sneak approach on anyone with a sneak approach. Okay . . . so maybe her imagination went too far, maybe she got into comics, animes, cartoons and who knows what too much, but at least some of it had to be useful right?
 
Talin glanced around the room, trying desperately to locate something out of the ordinary. Someone was telling him to kill the light because he was drawing to much attention to the students. "Don't you realize that if the power cut out while we were all gathered like this they will already have known where we are? The timing was to perfect . . . and if the bastards have something planned I for one am not gunna sit around and wait to be picked off in the blackness . . ." he snapped, a bit more sharply than he had intended. He would estimate that he saw nearly a thousand students in this room before the lights snapped off, possibly more. The fact that the lights were killed just as the speech had ended meant that they were probably already being watched if it was an enemy as the girl's voice had implied. All in all, if this enemy wanted to attack, it would be far more detrimental to far many more students if it was allowed to wraith about in the dark and do whatever it was that it pleased.


Walking forward, he grabbed the wrist of the girl whom had spoken to him and smiled sweetly. He had always been quite good at hiding the fact that he was secretly a coward until his malfunctioning ability had started projecting his emotional states. That said, his hand was probably uncomfortably cold on a rather unnatural level by now. "If something is here for us, it already knows that we are in here because it waited until just as he finished speaking to kill the lights. If we locate it, there is a chance we can subdue it before it gets to the majority of the student body," he explained, his voice in a hiss so as to not frighten the others. "Come on, help me find the thing that's out of place?" As he finished he gave her wrist a light tug before letting go, silently pleading with her to follow him to higher ground so he could get a better look around.


This one seemed calm, perhaps a bit misguided in her attempts to hide until the buggyman got her, but calm nonetheless. Calm was good right now; calm would allow for objective reasoning. It would allow a well thought through plan of action. Starting off regardless of whether she came or not, he made his way towards where the stairs that the teachers were on should have been.
 
“Yes but the lights tell them exactly where each of us are in the dark room.” Ruth sighed in defeat; after all it was a bit too late now. Sides it hurt that he thought she planned to just sit around and play stupid. A jump as he suddenly grabbed her, she expected him to go off on his own now, the chill a willing wakeup call. At least it was a much better feeling that the ones that ran up her spins. “You’re cold inside and out.” She muttered in protest but followed him never the less, trying to figure out cool names for this one. Snowman, or Jack Frost, sure they were used but if he had power of the cold or ice it would still fit.


In truth she was a bit glad someone else was taken the lead . . . especially one who may have stronger powers than hers. Her hand went to fiddle inside her pocket once it was freed . . . the only thing she had was a barrel of monkeys. That was no use, she figured, sure they might be able to tell her what they saw in the dark if they did more than chatter and such. It was what she had got to practice her powers on, since they seem less dangerous than some of her villain base toys she had.


“Captain Frost, won’t going higher put us at more of a risk as well though?” She asked, figuring the safest place would be out of the room if possible and cut them off. As for the name, sure it was random but she didn’t know what else to call him. Upon making their way to the stair case, partly with her clinging slightly to the back of his shirt not to get lost her eyes looked around. She could pinpoint most students by their watches, and slowly she pulled the barrel of monkeys out glancing down at it shyly. “How can I help?” She asked her voice soft but determined . . . after all if this was going like most shows she better establish herself as a main hero quick. She slowly held up the barrel for him to see as if asking his opinion, as if he knew her power naturally, given a weak smile. “I could ask them to help . . . course . . . they never been that useful before outside of entertaining.”
 
"Ta . . . Talin," he muttered quickly under his breath as he was given some ridiculous nickname. Who in their right mind would nickname someone like him 'Captain' anything? Then, first noticing the monkeys, he gave her a rather incredulous look. Now hardly seemed like the time to be playing with toys . . .


"I could ask them to help . . . course . . . they have never been that useful before outside of entertaining," she grinned weakly, apparently trying to put on a brave face like he was.


"I don't know you well enough to know how you can help . . . but we have to do something, right? And actually, if there really are enemies and they've gone so far as to kill the lights, we would probably be safest up here anyways," he continued, some of his initial bravado faltering as he climbed a few of the steps while trying to glance over the gathered crowd. "Their objective, judging by the lights going out, would have been confusion and discretion. Attacking a solo figure in plane view near a light source would probably not be their ideal first attack." The boy exhaled slowly, trying to not let his fear show on his face as he offered her another brilliant smile. "Besides, I would think that being near to our fearless leaders would offer us some small amount of protection as well . . ."


With that said, his smile faded as he stared watchfully out over the others. He was weak . . . his abilities took minutes upon minutes to affect anything . . . but he needed to do something. Perhaps finding the thing early would be enough. In an absolutely worst case scenario, she would be right, but he had accepted that. If whatever had turned out the lights went after them, it would have exposed itself to view and put itself in close proximity to the teaching staff. Talin didn't trust the staff as far as he could throw them, ignoring the fact that he probably couldn't even lift them, but they would need to put on a good face and protect the students for now. If he was uncertain of everything else, he knew that he could count on them for that much.
 
Ruth paused as he gave her his name, what kind of hero gave out their real name? Even if it was a nice one, one she never really heard before but could see going far. “Talin . . .” She rolled her off her tongue only to smile some. “I like it . . . not quiet what you would use when saving the day . . . then again . . . it does sound close to Talon so maybe.” She paused realizing that wasn’t important right now and sighed shaken her head . . . she was easily distracted off and on. “I guess you can call me by my name as well . . . it’s Ruth . . . nothing really special like Talin though.”


Course when he gave her that mocking like look she looked a touch hurt lowering the monkeys some. Sure she had no real power like freezing stuff or lava . . . but at least she was trying to help and boldly so. “I play with toys.” She muttered almost shameful when he spoke of not knowing what her powers were . . . and in truth that was it. Her hands fiddled to open the barrel only to drawl one of the monkeys out before closing it again. Held it up for him to see . . . “They don’t always play nicely back though.” She warned softly before it started to move and cling to her fingers like a real monkey might. Sighing she looked around the room before shhing the monkey to keep it quiet. “And if it was me I would take out the ones alone and by themselves first.” She smiled at him sweetly before glancing to the small toy swinging on her fingers.


Then Ruth clicked with his comment about them being near their leaders for protection. That never settled with her before and with her free hand she adjusted her hat. “Well . . . one of them does have a bit of style . . . it would be away to test if they’re really here for us after all.” Pulling her shirt closer to her never the less the chill around this boy harsh for even her in ways. “I still say you should turn off the light. If they’re using night vision goggles your chill hides us from them more.” This of course was a guess as she slowly looked to the monkey. “If you understand me, go . . . see if you see anyone who seems wrong and come back to tell us if you find someone?” She tried setting the toy on the floor in hopes . . . course with her luck it just clung to her and acted like a regular monkey might. Sighing as she felt hopeless once more with her powers. “I guess I could always try to attack anyone who attacks us . . . course I’m not that good at fighting either, in fact never fought before.”
 
As Abigail and Benjamin tore through the hallways they dodged around many people, while others seemed to dodge around them. Abbie was currently in the lead, with Benji closing in fast, cause her to squeal slightly, trying to run faster. A yell sounded from down the hallway, but they paid no heed to the warning until something flashed by them. Shrieking, Abbie stiffened, staying prone for a moment with Benji, who had also paused.


“…W-What was that?” Benji asked, in between breaths, and she just shrugged, still looking wide-eyed after the anomaly. Forgetting their race, they seemed to walk at a slower pace than usual, unsure if something would zoom by again. Abbie reached her room first, grabbing Benji by the hand before he had the chance to check out his own room and dragging him along. “C’mon, c’mon” she ushered as they both seemed to tumble into the room.


It was lucky that the whole room seemed to be padded…or in cased in some soft material that Abbie didn’t seem to identify. “Look, Benji! I can run into my walls and not get hurt!” she exclaimed and even jokingly demonstrated. “I don’t think that’s what’s it’s for…” the older brother noted, frowning at his sister’s playfulness “Sound-proof” he realized. Abbie, who was now up from the floor and rolling over her bed seemed to sit up immediately.


“Does that mean I can sc-” “NO!” Abbie had been cut off by her brother, who warily backed up against the door, afraid she would anyway. “Fiiiiiine” she pouted flopping back on the bed ad kicking her feet idly, of course she’s upset… “Did you want to come see my room?” the boy offered, hoping to cheer his twin up again. The girl practically jumped off the bed, nodding but then darted her eyes around the room, finding something on the table. “What’s that?” he wonders, opening the door as he waits for her, “The device Ms. Lythe was talking about…I think…” she explained, strapping it to her wrist. Benji had completely forgotten Ritsa had said that…


The twins were quick to go next door, where the room was a picture of normalcy…except the wall off to the side, all reflective panels. As Benji went to his desk to grab his own device Abbie seemed more interested in exploring every inch of his room. Just as he had strapped the watch on, it chimed, the same sound coming from his sister’s. Frowning, he tried to push buttons on it, and it seemed to have worked, the message popping up. “It wants us to go to the foyer” Abbie announced, as if Benji hadn’t just read it.


The boy nods, “C’mon, C’mon” he teases ad she smiles, taking his hand as he drags her along behind him. He already knew the way from walking to their rooms once, so he simply back tracked to get to where they were. Abbie seemed to be just as excitable as the first meeting and this time the two stood near the front of the crowd. The man on the staircase was probably the headmaster, and the suspicion was confirmed as he gave an impromptu speech to the crowd.


The headmaster’s speech seemed to motivate Benji…it made him proud that he had this awesome ability and his parents were stupid-faces for thinking otherwise. Hopefully they would love him again, him and Abbie both…they had to accept this eventually didn’t they? Benji could only hope…The headmaster then went on to talk about the rules, which made him frown.


Rules…? Benji hated rules.


Most of it had to do with the watches, always wear the watch… don’t switch the watches…Benji thought these were pretty obvious. The third and final rule didn’t float his boat so well, they couldn’t leave? As much as the headmaster assured the group that he wasn’t keeping them prisoner, Benji was still weary. Abbie’s hand pulled away from his “Ow, Benji!” he realized he had clenched his fist on impulse. “Sorry” he noted just as the lights went off “Woah” he noted, looking around in the sudden darkness as the commotion started, he tried to reach for Abbie’s hand but it wasn’t there for him to grab.


“Abbie?” he calls, hearing a whistle and noticing a kid hold up his watch. Benji didn’t need the watch, as he shook his hands and suddenly illuminated them with concentration. He held one up, bright as a light bulb, and used the other to guide him. “Abbie!?” he called, still not seeing her red hair or green eyes in the crowd… worry started to set in. Finally, Benji seemed to move, looking around the slightly diminished crowd for his baby sister. Abigail wasn’t anywhere in the room though, the moment the lights had gone off, she was gone.
 
Leaning against a wall Sebastian listened to the headmaster go about a bright future and grounds rules. Darian Cross. It was his first time setting eyes on this man. He seemed an honest man, but Sebastian didn't let his guard down that easy, if he had he would likely be dead by now. The sound of all the electricity shutting down was another thing all together and when everything plummeted into darkness Sebastian stood in the dark silently, not moving. Further knowledge would be required before action was taken. Even as fellow students began using their watches to bring some light to the hall Sebastian kept from movement, action, something was up and he wasn't about to bring any attention to himself if something had gone wrong, which it most likely had, unless it was a test of sorts. Even so Sebastian remained as so, he wasn't about to risk his life for the chance that he was being tested somehow, he didn't mind failing, only dying.


Chloe liked the headmaster, he seemed passionate and earnest and she felt as if he would help them all to grow stronger and take good care of them. But when the lights went out and pitch darkness was all that remained her calm went out the window and she screamed. Hands went on her and at first this only made Chloe panic more, but the sound of Zoey's voice calmed her and she began to take deep breaths to relax her now ansie nerves. “I'm scared” Chloe managed as the girls found one another's hands. “I know” was Zoey's response. Chloe just knew if she could see Zoey that the girl would be giving her an encouraging smile. Knowing this she couldn't help but to smile herself. “What do we do?” she lowered her voice as random lights went on. The devices. Letting go of Zoey's hand Chloe began to mess with the buttons on her device until she got a faint light going herself, Zoey followed in this procedure. “Now what?” she asked, trying to look around and see what was going on.
 
“What is this…?” Peter thought to himself as the power cut out, his foreboding feeling soaring though the roof almost instantly. “Oh god…it was never Lisa, it was US!”


He swung around quickly, trying to make out Darian’s form in the darkness. The task was made all the easier when Darian activated the flashlight function of his watch, sending out a small cone of light down the direction of his arm.


“So the W.G has made it’s move already…” Darian muttered a bit under his breath to Peter as two students started to make their way through the crowds. “I thought Lisa said this facilities power source couldn’t be disconnected from the outside? It’s one of the reasons we bought it!”


“It CAN’T be disabled from the outside. They must have entered before we sealed the doors.” Peter called back, barely able to hear his own voice through the panicked chatter of the crowd.





“How on earth do they intend on getting out? This place is a practically a bomb shelter when it’s closed. This doesn’t make any sense!” Darian shouted back as he started to sway dizzily. The students were using their abilities; so many of them, and all at the same time. Darian appeared to Peter to be somewhat far removed as he furled his brow in concentration, probably trying to suppress his ability before it suppressed his consciousness. “Calm the children Peter…” he let out weakly, gesturing towards the crowds.





Peter nodded as he made his way towards the balcony, a shrill screech suddenly ringing out through the foyer. Turning on the flashlight of his own TCI device, Peter pointed in the direction the sound, seeing a girl that had gone pale with fear; looking as if she’d just seen a ghost.


“Try to calm down.” Peter shouted demandingly, his voice unable to pierce the noise of the crowd. “Damn it…” he said under his breath as he quickly rounded the two students near the stairs and started down towards the general student body.





~~~


Darian watched his friend rush off down the stairs, his mind being bombarded with flash after flash as the students began to use their abilities. He could feel everything from pyrokinetic’s making their tiny torches to unusual sound users trying to steer by echolocation. Darian knew he would have to get used to this level of ability use eventually, he just didn’t realize it would have to be so soon.





He looked out into the crowed, with worry on his face. “Had I just trapped them here like fish in a barrel? How had they found out so quickly… We took every precaution. The building had been purchased under an alias…it wasn’t even classified as a school. How?!” he thought frantically as he tried to force his own ability down into submission.


Darian felt as if the world was sliding out underneath him as two brilliant ability flashes rang out in his mind. He recognized one coming from a talented young pyrokinetic…but the other was altogether new to him. “An ability I haven’t sensed before…? It feels sustained at that….” He turned towards the bottom of the stares to try and warn Peter…but he was no where to be found…





The section denoted by the number of this dice roll is what actually happens


[roll0]











“Child…LISTEN TO US!” cried the chandelier demandingly, it’s voice finally reaching the ears of one who would listen after a few minutes of effort. “The numbers, they keep decreasing boy!”


“Taken…they’re taken…” Chimed nearby marble pillars in agreement, touches of fear easily read in their voices which echoed ominously









“Wrong…something is wrong. They just don’t add up. The warmth…it keeps fading” cried the floors, their voice somewhat distant…frantic. “Run boy…RUN!”









“The sacks of flesh, they make so much noise…” cried the walls angrily, placing a whole new meaning on the saying ‘the walls have ears’.








The watch upon your hand suddenly began to vibrate firmly, as it’s display activated itself. Looking down at it, the words ‘TCI System Activating | | .2% Output’, flashed upon the flat display halogram’s face, a small circling spinning underneath it. The display quickly went blank shortly after your noticing it, but not before replacing itself with the words ‘Looks like someone took the red pill this morning :P ’.





You were barely given any time to think over these words before suddenly feeling somewhat dizzy. The world seemed to flow away like tiny specks of sand as your ability activated itself, replacing it with an altogether different view. People in brilliant white lab coats sit before large computer displays built into a metal wall. A particularly intelligent looking one stood behind the others, looking up at the screens with disinterest before speaking demandingly. “Twenty minutes left in the operation, make sure you don’t screw this up or it’s your asses not mine. How’s Dragon doing so far?”


A meek looking scientist sitting right in front of him looked up towards a display just to her side, her eye’s flitting back and forth as she read. “It all seems to be n-normal sir… No signs of anomalies”


A loud banging rang out through their tiny room, though the scientists seem to ignore it. Over and Over it pounded into the air, seemingly emitted by one of the large gunmetal colored tubes. A thick slushing sound quickly began to replace the pounding however until all that remained was silence as the world returned to it’s normal bleak darkness.
 
The panic continued, the fear swirled around the air. Sage could hardly keep a thought to herself, sickness clung to her stomach. “Luke… all this fear is making me sick… I feel like I am going to pass out.” Sage said to the boy clung next to her. Suddenly her watched flashed and it began to say thing she did not understand. The device seemed to suddenly die until it buzzed back to life and a message crossed the screen ‘Looks like someone took the red pill this morning :P ’. Sage frowned, wondering if she was the only one who got the message, but not before her device, to her, seemed to have truly died.


Her confusion was short lived when dizziness began to sweep over her, Sage felt her knees buckle. She felt like she could not stop herself from falling, her muscles shutting down. She felt herself collapse onto Luke still holding her tightly, and then the next she knew, she was in a bright room.


It took moments for Sage to realize she was having a vision. What gave it away was she was not picking up the tempers around her anymore. The other hint was things seemed blurry, like she was looking through someone else’s eyes or binoculars. I rare emotion of fear bloomed in her chest. The fact that she would be crippled by her visions in a time like this, was in itself frightening.


Looking around the room, Sage could gather that scientists were working on something. “Twenty minutes left in the operations, make sure you don’t screw this up or it’s your asses not mine.” Twenty minutes?! Sage calmed herself, knowing this could be a vision of the past as much as the future. “How’s Dragon doing so far?” Dragon? Sage thought, but before she could continue speculating, loud banging sounds caught her attention. She tried to spin around to see, but her vision was tunneled once more and she was seeing pitch black.


Sage shot up from the floor with a jolt, her eyes flinging open. She gasped for air as if she has not been breathing, taking in long gulps. Fear and panic began to hit her again, confusing everything. “Where am I? What’s happening?” She asked, not sure who is around her or how much time has passed. Were they still in the unknown? Did she just have a daydream? Where was Luke? “Luke?” Sage called gently. They may have only meet hours ago, but she needed to know the shy boy was still there. She needed to get herself back together; she was close to giving into the panic. She was always emotionally weakest right after a vision and the mass hysteria was bouncing in the air was not helping.


“Calm Sage… Stay calm.” She said, trying to couch herself back into her emotionless or happy calm.
 
Cross kneeled down to the ground on his knees he felt the floor with his hand,"The warmth?..."He looked around him trying to get what it meant by that and how was it fading? Until he finally thought he got it."The people?..."He stood up as he looked around,and then looked up. He had to get to a higher spot,if he was right then this was very bad and he had to make sure this was true before freaking everyone out. He lifted his mask back over his face and took off through the crowd heading to the balcony which seemed to be the highest area here unless he wanted to take a chance with the chandelier,which was still an option for him but not the best.
 
Talin, tensed and ready to attempt an attack, watched the figure of a man coming down the stairs. Once the figure was close enough, however, the boy recognized him as Professor Peter Hall, not that recognition made him feel much better. The man was going to go check the students or headed off to check on the lights concluded the boy quickly. Talin noted uneasily that either of these conclusions still seemed to confirm that something was not quite right here.


As the man passed, the boy’s hand shot out and grabbed on to his sleeve. “Professor,” he squeaked, voice finally breaking some in spite of his show of bravado. The older man entirely disregarded the boy, rushing off down the steps and out of sight. "Well . . . that was . . . something," muttered Talin, confused, as he started climbing to the balcony to address the remaining figure whom he could only hope was still the headmaster.


“I believe it would be wise to send out another message . . . like the one that gathered us here, Sir,” he managed to choke out the second he was close enough, fighting to keep himself calm in the face of these slight confirmations of his fears. “If something turned the lights off . . .” He paused for a second as he tried to make himself not sound insane after he noticed the man's furrowed brow and far off look. “Sir, if something turned the lights off and wishes us harm, the best thing to do would be to form a ring . . . every other student facing inward while the others face outward. Place a teacher in the middle and others along the perimeter but still close to the ring, and we’d be able to see anything that would pose a threat. . . This is assuming that any threat would still dare to approach.”


God, this was starting to sound like some bad horror flick, he thought. This was, sadly, the best plan he could come up with given the circumstances. Certainly it would offer an affirmation for the student’s fears, but it would also give them a course of action and take away their feeling of powerlessness. The circle itself would offer the most defensive position available to them as everyone would be watched by everyone. Nothing would be able to sneak up on them.


Anxiously, the shaken boy waited for the Head Master's response . . .
 
Ruth was starting to feel more than useless, her eyes going about the crowd. Wincing as some of them started to make noises. Only to watch as they were approached, her eyes widening at Talin’s boldness They were passed by though and Talin ran ahead . . . as she tried to follow she muttered an 'ouch as she tripped and fell. The monkey . . . it just proved how much more useless her powers were, it seemed to have tied her shoelaces together. Quickly untieing them she was luckily she managed to catch him in his speech though when she did catch up. He was . . . amazing . . . sure his ideas had their flaws and weren’t the best. Like guns, if they didn’t want them alive they could just gun down the whole circle right? Never the less she couldn’t help smile and nod as if backing his idea.


Shoot she even leaned in to whisper to him. “I think you would make a great leader for a team.” Hell if they were going to die may as well make with the niceness now and not after. Her eyes went to fedora guy, as if wondering if she could help then back to towards where the other teacher was uncertain. “Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?” Her eyes went down to her untied shoes feeling quite foolish. Certainly though . . . she still had to be able to do something.If they knew the kid’s powers, maybe they could do that hide and trap thing like in the movie home alone. Just more epic and out there, but in truth, she was starting to wonder if any of her ideas were good. The worst part was all she really had to work with was a barrel of monkeys, the watch, and maybe some anime stuff that wasn’t toyish at all just . . . fun. Too bad light sabers were too big and bulky or she may have had one of them.


A pause as she tried to think over what she had and then search her pockets to pull out a plastic toy sonic screwdriver. It was useless to her in this situation . . . all it did was light up, but to the teacher. She held it out to him hesitantly as if it was one of her biggest treasures. “It may serve as more of a light source for you? Just . . . if you can get it back to me okay?” Yeah . . . this girl had a flashlight item on her the whole time and refused to use it. Shoot she still refused to activate her watch for the light. She just sorta realized . . . if a teacher was using the light of their watch . . . maybe they would find the screwdriver a bit more useful.
 
Beccalyn Grey felt the uncomfortable pull of consciousness stealing her away from her peaceful, dreamless slumber. Unaware of her surroundings, she fought to drift back off to sleep, thinking she was curled up in her bed. She suddenly became hyper-aware of something shoved down her throat that was terribly uncomfortable. Her eyes managed to flicker open, catching the sight of something quite unfamiliar to her. She was floating in some sort of gel. Had the tube shoved down her throat allowed it, a scream would have escaped her lips. She meant to reach up and pull that tube from her throat but her limbs, feeling heavy, didn't seem to follow the instructions her brain was sending. Despite being weightless in some sort of gel-like substance, Becca had no trouble breathing and she was certain it was due to the uncomfortable tube that had most likely pulled her from sleep. Fear was quickly coursing through her veins. Where in the world was she? Looking around, not moving her head, she took in as much as she could. She seemed to be in some sort of cylinder but she couldn't see much beyond the walls of it. This was all reminiscent of some sci-fi movie.


She took a deep breath, still not accustomed to that damned tube. She needed to calm down but that wasn't really an option at this point. Her fear was making her breathing difficult. She tried to remember what she had been doing before this. The last memory she had before she was awoken came readily to the front of her mind: it was raining. Not a heavy rain, but a misty rain that, no matter how many layers you wore, seemed to permeate even your skin. The wind was the worst part of it and she had clutched her lavender umbrella to keep it from flying away in it. The wind, each time it came, pierced through the layers she was wearing and seemed to chill her very bones. She was shivering uncontrollably. Her home was only a little father, perhaps a block or two. Becca ran her shaking fingers through her long, light brown hair in an attempt to get it out of her face. The mist that hung under the umbrella made her breathing uncomfortable; she felt like she was drowning. Her dark brown eyes surveyed the deserted street. It wasn't odd for this time of day for the street to be empty. It was actually rather late, she noticed, as she looked at her watch. The hands were overlapping on the seven and she frowned, wondering why her parents hadn't sent for her. Dance lessons had gone on a bit longer than she had expected but Becca didn't want to leave until her lines were absolutely perfect. Perhaps her parents were busy at work. Something must have come up and they were working late, she decided. She gripped her umbrella tightly, a sudden gust of wind threatening to send it flying.


She walked through puddles, not really concerned about her light brown ankle-height boots getting wet. The bottoms of the jeans tucked into those boots were already soaked, causing them to feel ten times heavier than normal. She pulled her light brown bomber jacket a bit more tightly over her beige sweater as she walked. She reached up with her free hand and ran her fingers along the golden locket her grandmother had given to her. It was a simple oval locket with what looked like lace detailing along the edge and it hung on a long, thin golden chain, a bit lower than her chest. It was her prized possession. It seemed her grandmother was the only one who really nurtured her as a child. The locket itself was empty but Becca didn’t mind. It was a comfort for her to know she had it with her and whenever she got nervous, she would always be running her fingers along that locket.


On a normal day, her house would already be in sight. Today wasn't a normal day, though. A dark car pulled up next to her and she instantly recognized it as the same make, model, and color of her father's. Without a second thought, she jumped into the warm backseat, away from the unforgiving rain and into what she thought was a safe haven. She rubbed her hands together after she dropped her bag on the floor. She looked to her left, expecting to see her father. Instead, to her surprise, sat a muscular man in a sharp suit. Becca thought it was odd that he had sunglasses on his face even though it was rather dreary outside. His hair was black but greying and his face was clean-shaven, revealing a small scar that trailed from his chin along his jawline. His mouth was set in a tight line and she was certain his eyes, hidden behind those sunglasses, were just as stoic and emotionless as the rest of his face seemed to be. He certainly didn’t look familiar and his presence put her on edge for some reason. It wasn't unusual for her parents to send people she didn't know to pick her up. She heard the doors lock as they pulled away from the sidewalk, rather fast for the weather, she noted. She tilted her head at the man, meaning to ask if her father had sent him before feeling a sharp prick in her arm and falling into unconsciousness.


Becca drifted back to the present, wondering if her parents knew what had happened to her or if they were even concerned. Of course they’re concerned, the voice in her head spoke up, chastising her. Yes, they weren’t the most loving and compassionate of parents but she was still their daughter. They would find her and get her out of this mess. Why was she here, though? Certainly this couldn’t be a simple kidnapping. What kind of kidnappers had things like this sitting in their garage? No, it had to be another reason. Becca was normal, though. The blood in her veins seemed to go cold: what it this was about her "abilities", the things her parents had convinced her were figments of her imagination brought on by her solitude? If this wasn’t a kidnapping, then it must be something infinitely more terrible. Becca was at a loss for the first time in a long time. Those powers weren't real. People couldn't do those things, she reminded herself. Panic began to rise up in her again, threatening to take over. She could feel herself about to dissolve into a panic attack, something painfully familiar to her, before she noticed shadowy figures just outside her cage. She managed to force her limbs to cooperate, awkwardly reaching out and attempting to hit the walls of her cell, effectively making a small tapping noise. Let me out! she yelled in her mind.


 
Eliana hugged the boy;who she now knew was named Jason, tighter to her chest while observing her surroundings. She faintly saw some students using their powers. Some made small lights of fire, while some had their eyes glowing. She sighed; this was not a moment to forget about her situation and admire other students powers but rather find a way to be fully secure and safe. Seeing a faint light were the Headmaster once stood Eliana smiled softly.


"Come on Jason, we´ll go to the headmaster for now."


"I..I don´t want to..What if..What if something happens!?!" Jason shrugged out of Eliana´s arms. "Everything will be fine, just follow my lead." Eliana chuckled at the boy whom just stared at her as if she was dumb. How would they survive through that gigantic mass of supernatural students whom is panicking? The boy thought.


"The headmaster and Peter will surely help us, after all I have no combat skills at all and in this situation I´d be rather useless." Eliana slowly stood up, holding her laptop tight with her left arm while starting to walk to the direction of the stairs. She took exactly five steps before she felt something or rather someone tapping her arm. Looking back she saw Jason with a small apologetic smile. "I may just come with you after all..hehe.."


Jason grabbed onto Effy´s arm and started to walk with her. They avoided all kinds of thing; screaming children, panicked teenagers, fire balls, water slashes and even lightning bolts. Finally reaching the stairs she saw the headmaster at the top of the stairs. "Sir! Um, Is it all right if we accompany you since we, well I don´t really have any fighting skills and surely this is not a part of the announcement." Eliana glanced at Jason while walking up the stairs waiting for the Headmaster´s response. She didn´t know where this serious attitude came from; neither did she know about her sudden enthusiasm from before but this wasn´t a time to get all flustered or nervous. This was a dangerous situation that none had control of and she had promised to keep Jason safe. She wouldn´t break her promise just yet.
 
Luke Had still been clinging onto Sage, when She fell to the ground. Luke started to freak and started to shake Sage,? "Hello,Wake up!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Wake up damnit!"He started shaking her until she started stirring again. "You okay?"He quizzed in a short ragged breath. He looked around again, everyone was dealing with the situation in their own way. Running away, standing completely still and waiting for things to stop or just finding the nearest person so they could feel a tiny bit more safe. He watched as she looked around and starting calling out his name, could she hear him? He shook her but lightly this time in hopes that she would start to have her senses come back to her"Are you okay now, Sage?",He asked one last time (Sorry that it was so small)
 
The room had been dark for a only a minute or two and the panic only continued to rise. Student screams and looks of terror became more and more apparent in the room now illuminated in a complex tangle of flashlight beams extending from watches. A multitude of students, after seeing a few make their way up the balcony to crowd the overwhelmed headmaster, began to rush the stairs…compacting in almost like sardines. Many of the students called to others, attempting to find them in chaos to little avail.





The headmaster looked off the edge of the balcony with a growing feeling of worry even as the bombardment of his mind slowly began to fade. “Peter is obviously getting overwhelmed. Wherever he was in this crowd, his voice was clearly getting drowned out.” He thought to himself. “This was never supposed to be his job in the first place. What kind of Headmaster would you be if you couldn’t even corral your students.”





His inward chastisement was interrupted shortly by a young boy with messy hair flowing down his face that seemed to exude an aura of cold. He looked somewhat determined, even if he was clearly scared.


“Sir, if something turned the lights off and wishes us harm, the best thing to do would be to form a ring…” He started quickly as yet another shrill screech rose above the rest of the chaos. “Every other student facing inward while the others face outward. Place a teacher in the middle and others along the perimeter but still close to the ring, and we’d be able to see anything that would pose a thread… This is assuming that any thread would still dare to approach.”


The headmaster focused his will, forcibly suppressing the last remnants of his ability to sense powers before regarding the boy. “Intelligent…but lacking experience…” He thought as he rose up proudly, remembering the boys image from his notes. "We could use a bit of that intelligence right now..."





“The rest of the students are too panicked…it’s hard to imagine the darkness could do this much. Why did they not try to breech the doors already? They’ve had more than enough time…” he thought before stating loud enough for the boy and his compatriot to hear “Come with me.”


“Sir!” Rang out to his side as another couple of students managed their way through the crowds to him “Is it all right if we accompany you since we, well I don’t really have any fighting skills and surely this is not part of the announcement”


“A godsend…” he thought to himself as the young datakinetic spoke up.


“You two come as well!” he shouted, trying to carry his voice over the crowd.


As he started off towards the back of the balcony where the doors to his office rested, he caught a glimpse of something that all but made his heart sink. A panicked girl he recognized as a recent acquisition of the school, a young electromaster, vanished into thin air as she attempted to make her way through the crowd…prompting yet another screech of terror.





Swinging his head wide, he surveyed the crowd in it’s entirety. “It’s smaller… There’s definitely less people in here than before…this kind of reduction cant just be them huddling together. We’re being attacked by another power user?”


~~~


Beneath the balcony, a tiny little monkey laid lazily on it’s back. All around him were amusing children running into one another, some even OVER one another; all howling at the same time. It’s little plastic smile stretched only wider as it flopped it’s way onto it’s tiny little feet and began to walk around. It looked up in annoyance as students would accidental stomp on it during it’s trek across the enormous hall, none of which lingering long enough for it to exact a tiny measure of revenge.





It had no idea how it came to be here, but felt a nearly irresistible urge to tie. Didn’t matter what, as long as it was funny. It thought momentarily to itself how amusing it was to see that girl fall over from him tying her laces together. The only thing that could have made that better was if he hadn’t been sent flying into this annoying crowd in the process.





Finally making it to the outer edge of the mob of giant flesh animals, the tiny pink monkey was surprised to still see a girl outside. She seemed to be deep in thought or concentration…with far too serious a look on her face as she started forward to join the outer edge of the crowd. “I can fix that!” it thought to itself as it grabbed onto her shoe and started to climb the way monkey’s did best. A devilish smile growing across it’s face.


~~~


Lance looked out in astonishment as several dozen W.G. trucks pulled up on the Waicom field office, dominating the streets. His freshly lit cigarette fell from his lips as the dozens of soldiers carted in their contents…equipment that he had ordered only a half an hour ago. Expensive and hard to find equipment at that.





“Sir…they must want this all pretty badly then huh?” asked his long time assistant, smiling up nervously with those brilliant eyes of hers.


“Yeah…” he said a bit absentmindedly as a single soldier made his way up towards him, holding a ledger he knew was meant for him to sign. “Must be…”


He quickly signed away the form before turning to face his assistant, trying to mask the uneasiness that had been washing over him for much of the day. “Do me a favor huh? Assemble it all for me while I go get some fresh air?”


“Sir, can do sir?” she said with the mock seriousness she knew he hated. She turned in one quick motion and made her way back into the building…marching.


Lance couldn’t help but snicker a bit as he turn back around and started away from the Waicom building, clutching at his gleaming silver pistol. “Just what the hell did I walk into?” he thought to himself as the line of W.G. vehicles only seemed to increase.


~~~


“…How’s Dragon doing so far?” demanded a young Yolav Mizrahi, chief scientist on this particular mission.





“It all seems to be n-normal sir…” responded a meek looking scientist as her eye’s darted back and forth, reading the complicated data flashing upon very large screens in front of her. “No signs of anomalies.”


“Good…” began Yolav, his voice drowned out by the annoying bangs coming from the containment tubes. He glared back at them, seeing a few frightening faces glancing back at him through tiny view ports along the front. “Idiot staffers…It doesn’t even make sense for their to be view ports. What do I care if the subjects can see or not.”





The sounds were short lived as the nutrient gel completed filling the tube, resisting the swings of their contained specimen. Glancing over at a display, he took a mental note of how many had already been captured by his masterstroke plan. “It wont be long now…” he muttered as he watched two more of the tubes light up green on the display. “Just a bit longer and we pull out…send in the soldiers to kill the rest!”
 
The world seemed so out of control, and its condition was worsening quickly as time progressed. “Come with me,” shouted the headmaster as he straightened up suddenly. His expression changed from one that was pained and distant to one that seemed almost . . . proud. Some small girl holding a laptop shouted something out to the headmaster. The sheer volume of the chaos around them drown out her words, but the man shouted at her and a smaller boy to follow as well.


For a second, cold fear froze Talin in place. What would leaving to follow the headmaster even accomplish? Wouldn’t he be abandoning the others to whatever lurked in the dark? No, he scolded himself sharply, if this institution had spent so much money on the students then they must be worth something. By that logic the headmaster would have to be doing the best he could to save them, right.....?


Shaking himself free of the paralysis of fear, he reached out and slid his hand into Ruth’s reassuringly. He was still freezing, but it was just meant to be a momentary touch. With a slight smile he took a step after the headmaster. “You still in this with me, Ruth?” he asked with a wry grin at her over his shoulder as he squeezed her hand, “or should I call you the Puppeteer?” With that thought, he let go of her hand and rushed after the man. It was a clumsy name at best, but she had been so kind as to try to name him. Naming her in return was just his way of telling her that they were in this together.
 
Cross had manage to get to the top of the balcony after falling out of the crowd now behind him,this was madness. He had never seen such a sight as this,though this was the first time begin around so many people. He crept over away from the crowd more on his hands and feet before resting forward on his knees,looked around he did notice there weren't as many people as before,so his idea that people were 'fading' was true but what was happening to them? And how could he run away if he didn't know what to run away from? The back of his neck had grown in pain since before and he knew now it wasn't going to fade away now like he hoped,but this was a bad time this to happen.He twisted around and sat down as he sighed,leaning back on his hands and resting his head back.he stare at the ceiling for a few seconds before looking forward and finally noticing the headmaster guy and about a handful of students,what were they doing?


Cross stared at them for a moment with a slight surprised look on his face,but really had no intention of going over to join the little group. Following them in secret or just watching from afar what his way of doing things,so he just hoped he wasn't spotted. And he had to make sure whatever was getting the other students wasn't going to get him,that he thought at the time was the main objective. He hopped up on his feet again,though stayed low to the ground still to keep him from being seen by people to a low minimum.
 
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