Disclaimer:
~The Center universe and any original characters from it that appear here belong to Lilith Langtree.
~Characters or lines taken or paraphrased from published works are their creators’ property.
~Any characters I create for The Center universe are open for use by anyone else, just ask first.

Author's Note: Big thanks to Lilith and Nikki/Padfoot for helping me with ideas and getting past my writer's block. Also, thanks to Nikki/Padfoot for helping with the edits.
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Chapter 6

Colonel Harris shifted his position, as Kristyn and Raven had their eyes on him at the moment. The mere mentioning of him offering someone something was definitely news. Kristyn experienced this situation before, but now that she was on the sidelines, it was definitely different. Raven, on the other hand, was as nervous as someone could possibly get in their lifetime. She didn’t have a clue what the colonel was planning, although he did manage to pique her interest.

“Miss Hawkins,” he said, “before I get too involved with this offer of ours, I have a couple of questions for you.”

“Okay,” Raven gulped, still feeling worried and a bit on edge.

“My first question is what were you planning to do after high school, before you emerged?” he asked.

Raven thought for a moment as his question seemed to be out of place, in this particular setting. “Well, I wanted to go to college and study more in the subjects that I love.”

“I take it that would be biology and other similar sciences.”

“Yes, that would be correct, sir. I would’ve focused on molecular biology, since I really enjoyed solving those kinds of puzzles.”

Harris nodded, and Kristyn had a blank look on her face. Kristyn had no idea where the colonel was going with this, so she tried to sit back and enjoy the show. She figured that he wanted to sum Raven up, and see how she would respond to direct questions.
“After earning your bachelor’s degree in biology, then what would you have done next?” Harris continued, keeping to this line of questioning.

“I probably would’ve continued on down the road to a master’s or a doctorate in the subject, if I continued to enjoy it that is; things change I know, but I’m hoping that this wouldn’t. Following that, I would look for a job at a biotech company or maybe run my own lab.”

Harris nodded again, his facial expression changing slightly, just enough to give away that was the answer that he wanted Raven to give him. Raven’s nervousness just ramped up again, even more, and she got the feeling that she might not like what was coming next.

After a few moments of silence, and some chin stroking by Harris as he gave the impression that he was thinking of something important, he then said, “I believe we can give you a very helpful role to play here, Miss Hawkins. That is, if you are up to the challenge.”

“What do you mean?” Raven replied, wondering what use she could be here at the Center and what he had planned for her. She could tell that he was goading her into wanting to more, when he dropped the challenge line. This only fueled her excitement, which was nearing a breaking point as she wondered how much longer she would have to wait to hear the plan.

“There is one more thing that I would like for you to do, Miss Hawkins, that is before I fully disclose what I have in mind. Still interested, Miss Hawkins?”

Raven thought for a bit, and tried to look like she was taking her time with it. She thought to herself, ‘I’d wish he’d cut the suspense out already and just tell me what is going on and what he has planned for me.’

“Yes, I’m still interested. As long as it is only one more thing and not two more ‘one more things,’” she said with a note of finality in her voice.

Harris chuckled to himself and then said, “Good.”

Harris explained to Raven, “Before you can start your new role here, Raven, I would like for you to go to the testing center again. There is someone there that will help gauge your current ability in the subject matter.”

Raven nodded, and said, “Is there anything else?”

“Not at the moment,” he coolly replied, as he made it clear that this was the one last thing he needed her to do.

Raven left the office a short time later, and as she left, she could just barely make out the beginnings of a conversation between Kristyn and the colonel. Raven wondered if Kristyn knew everything that the colonel was thinking, concerning her.

--------

Raven walked into the testing room a few minutes later, having not been here since she first arrived. As she entered the room, she saw someone that she didn’t recognize, who was currently in a conversation with Dr. Tipps. This person was wearing a business style suit, complete with tie, but the suit didn’t seem to fit the person’s style for some reason. Raven seemed to pick up that impression as he talked with Dr. Tipps.

“Ah, Raven,” Dr. Tipps said, “so glad that you can make it. Are you ready for another round of testing?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied, with the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Raven was still wondering why she needed further testing, since no one had been put
through this kind of extensive testing before, from what she was told from the other people here. Noticing the newcomer, she asked, “Who is this, Doctor?”

“Oh!” Dr. Tipps replied, snapping her fingers. “I almost forgot. This is Doctor Joseph Gibbs. He and Colonel Harris have talked about you a great deal, and nothing but good things from what I am told, as it is not easy to gain the respect of the colonel.”

“What things?” Raven asked, wondering what she meant considering that she did not have complete control of her powers.

“About your skill in the field of biology,” he said, extending his hand in greeting and sensing that she no idea as to why she was speaking with him.

The two of them shook hands, and then Dr. Gibbs said, “I’ve been told that you have amazed your teacher here when you answered a few questions in class.”

Raven giggled embarrassingly. She wasn’t the kind of person to brag about her accomplishments, but she really did enjoy seeing the look that she got on her teacher’s face when the teacher realized that Raven knew more about the subject than she did.

“Well now, time to get down to business,” Gibbs continued. “I’m here to further test your knowledge in the area of biology. I put together a test for you, and am curious how well you would do on it.”

“Umm…okay,” Raven replied, thinking that this guy felt like a teacher. ‘However,’ she thought, ‘he seems to be different than a high school teacher.’

“Also, how much experience in the laboratory do you have?” Dr. Gibbs, asked looking very serious about her background in part of the subject.

Raven racked her memory and eventually said, “Do the simple labs of high school biology count?”

Dr. Gibbs rolled his eyes, and then said, under his breath, “This is definitely going to be an interesting challenge.”

Dr. Tipps interjected, “Why don’t we get started? I’m sure the two of you will be talking with each other a lot more later on.”

Raven looked a little confused at that comment, since she was still in the dark about what was going on around her. Raven thought that Dr. Tipps seemed to know a little bit of what was going on, but she didn’t seem so sure of that either.

Raven sat down at the table, and saw that she had a few pencils and a scantron form that was mostly already filled out for her. ‘Scantrons,’ Raven thought to herself, ‘they can be so evil sometimes.’

“You will have three hours to complete this exam,” Dr. Gibbs explained. “It consists of multiple choice, free response, and experimental design. Good luck.”

Raven took her first glance at the exam that she had been give, and began to dive right into it. During the three hour exam, she found this test to be definitely more challenging than the exams that she had been given when she first arrived. The scary thing about this wasn’t that is was hard, but that she was actually enjoying the challenge this exam was giving her. She thought that the science classes at the Center were just as boring as her former high school ones, and this was giving her the chance to show just how much she knew.

She especially enjoyed the experimental design questions, as they seemed to be able to give her the freedom to be creative that she needed in a scientific setting. She quickly thought about why this Dr. Gibbs was asking her about her lab skills, as she was going through those questions, and wondered if they were in any way connected.

A couple hours later, after Raven had finished the exam and looking over her answers, she summoned Dr. Tipps and told her that she was done. Raven was fairly confident that she did well on the exam, but there were a few things in there that she knew she had some trouble on, most notably with some of the ecology parts. She hoped that she did well enough to pass this exam and wondered why Harris needed her to take it.

“Finished already?” Dr. Tipps asked. “You still have another half an hour to finish things up.”

“I know, but I’m at the point where if I keep trying to figure something out, I’ll probably just mess it up even worse than I already have it,” Raven answered, knowing that she was right and it would do more harm than good to go back and try to fix an answer that she was uncertain about.

“Okay, Colonel Harris would like you to meet him at the laboratory when you were finished,” Dr. Tipps told her, so she knew where to go.

Raven nodded, and stood up to leave.

-------

The door to the laboratory was open and unlocked for Raven when she arrived. She went inside the lab to meet with Colonel Harris, as she was instructed to do. However, no one was inside when she entered. She told herself that she was just early, since she had finished that test early and that no one expected her to be here this quickly.

From what Dani had told her about the lab was that no one seemed to go in there, or at least have been seen entering there, so everyone assumed that no one would ever go into this area. For the students, the lab was a room of mystery, due to its inactivity. They had all assumed that this would be the lab that they would use for their science classes, but that was never the case since the classroom they used was equipped for high school laboratory sessions, and was in the same room that they had their lectures.

Raven decided instead of just sitting around and waiting for the colonel to arrive, that she would explore the lab while she could and see what the mystery surrounding this amazing place was all about. She could see various powdered chemicals sitting on one shelf, while there were some liquid chemicals on another; she didn’t know a lot about chemistry, but figured that there was a reason why the chemicals were laid out this way.
There were cupboards full of various types of glassware: beakers, flasks, bottles, and graduated cylinders. There were a number of machines on the benches, as well as things sitting on stands that could be turned around.

Some of the machines had names on them that Raven didn’t recognize, such as transilluminator, thermal cycler, and centrifuge. She did recognize the microwaves, a mini-fridge, a glass refrigerator, and a meat freezer. She wondered why they would need a meat freezer, since the lab was hardly the place to store things to eat. She recognized the two incubators, although was puzzled why one of them had the word ‘shaker’ after it, and how this changed the way you would use from the other incubator.

Her explorations also led her to a small room that was connected to this lab; the other area had a smaller bench to work at with a microscope. Across from that bench that she just observed was another device that she had no clue as to what it was used for. It had a glass shield protecting another work area, and she could see that it had some kind of grill just behind the shield. Confused as to that area, she went back out to the main area to see if the colonel or anyone else had arrived yet.

She quickly saw that no one had arrived just yet, and she saw there was a computer set up at another bench, separated from the main working area. She had missed it before and was happy to find it now. Raven assumed this was to keep the technology away from anything that could potentially damage it.

After Raven had finished exploring the lab, without touching anything, she took a seat in one of the swivel chairs that were situated at the lab benches for people to work at. She was wondering what everything was that she didn’t know of what those things did or what they were. It looked like fun to work here, from her perspective, being on the cutting edge of research and discovering new things, and just being able to do those things would have to be amazing.

Her thoughts drifted to Jessica at the moment. She hadn’t been back to her room for quite a while, and she was hoping that she could get back in time to be there when she awoke. She hoped that Jessica was doing well and that she would see her friend soon, so that she could help her through everything going on with her and how her life was going to change. She also was wondering if Jessica was going to have to change her name now.

Raven reasoned that they probably would, considering that it would be easier for the cover story. Jessica and both of their fathers had been burnt to death in a natural gas explosion that claimed Raven’s childhood home; that would be the cover story they were going to use.

She drifted within the confines of her mind for who knows how long, when the door to the lab opened again, and in walked Dr. Gibbs, Colonel Harris, and Kristyn. Raven thought to herself, ‘Kristyn sure has her hand in a lot of things that go on around here. I wonder why she has so much power around here.’

“I hope we didn’t keep you for too long, Raven,” Colonel Harris stated, as the three of them took a seat at the lab bench where Raven was also sitting at.

“No, I was just looking at all the interesting things in here,” Raven replied.

“Good,” the colonel said.

Raven was wondering what he meant by that when Dr. Gibbs spoke up.

“Raven, I had just finished grading the exam that you had taken,” he started. “Quite frankly, I’m very impressed by your performance. Scoring an eighty five on a general
biology final examination, without taking the class is no small feat for anyone.
Especially considering that you are technically still in high school, and had never taken a college-level exam before.”

Kristyn had a look of utter surprise on her face, when she heard that, followed by a whistle that meant, “Damn.”

“Miss Hawkins,” the colonel picked up, “Do you like this laboratory that we have here? Also, it’s about time that I tell you about the offer I have for you.”

“Yes,” Raven replied. “It looks like someone could have a lot of fun in here, doing all sorts of experiments.”

“Good,” the colonel said, “because that’s exactly what I want you to do for us.”

“What?!?!” Raven said, surprised at what he was proposing.

“I look forward to working with you, Raven,” Dr. Gibbs said, before he left the room, letting the three of them talk about what was to come. Raven thought that
Raven was looking utterly confused, while the colonel watched the door, waiting for Dr. Gibbs to leave. Raven wondered why he seemed to be so untrusting at the moment, however, she figured that it had something to do with his job. Once the professor had left the room, the colonel pulled a couple of manila folders out, and put them on the desk. One was labeled, “TOP SECRET–CONFIDENTAL.” The other was labeled, “Hawkins, R. Major: Molecular Biology.”

“Okay, I am confused,” Raven said, when she saw these folders and why one of them had her name on it.

“Don’t worry,” Kristyn said. “Everything will be made clear, hopefully.”

“Then maybe I should let you explain it,” the colonel jabbed at her.

Kristyn threw him a look, and then turned to watch this play out.

“I’ve had my eye on you, Miss Hawkins, ever since you were brought in and I was debriefed on your retrieval. Your powers could be formidable, yes, but you managed to surprise me in another way,” the colonel started. “Almost everyone who has been brought here were just ordinary people with their various lives–no one stood out of the crowd except by what they could do.

“Miss Keys here was the first person to catch my eye, as I saw that she was a natural born leader. You’ve seen that first-hand when you were needed for that dual retrieval mission.”
Raven nodded, but still didn’t say anything. She was curious as to where all of this was going and what it had to do with her.

The colonel opened the first folder, grabbed a pen, and showed her what the first page in this folder was. “This page allows me to disclose certain generalities to you. If any of it gets out, you go to prison for five years and you’ll never hold any job that requires a background check.”

He held the pen out in his hand, leaving the decision up to her. Raven gulped, but her wanting to know why she was being singled out from the rest was too overwhelming. She took the pen, and signed her name on the line.

“I’m sure you are aware of the tainted water that your mother ingested while you were nothing more than a fetus in her womb. But, let’s assume that of all the tainted water that was recalled, there was a large chunk of that still got out to the masses, thus enabling it possible for others to be infected, and giving a lot of teenagers amazing abilities and switching genders all over the country,” he said, explaining it to her while making it want her to know more.

“Now, think of what would happen if you put that kind of power into the hands of unscrupulous people who would use this to their advantage.”

Raven thought about that and realized that in that kind of situation, those people would be capable of just about anything. However, one thought was still irking her.

“What’s this have to do with me? It seems like you got Kristyn to do that job,” Raven replied, hoping to get that matter cleared up.

The colonel turned the page and showed the full non-disclosure agreement that was behind the other agreement she had just signed.

“You’ll need to sign this agreement if you want to know your part, and take the job I
would ask of you to do and the plans that I have for you. But, be warned, if you ever reveal anything that I am about to tell you under this agreement, then you would go to prison for fifty years after being convicted of treason,” he replied, showing her how serious this was and she this was no light decision she was making.

Raven gulped when he said this part of the plan. This was a lot for her to take in, but she wanted to make sure that she had a grasp on the situation before making a serious decision like this. She thought to herself, ‘If these people are trying to make a new home for the emergents and fight the people who would use us as weapons, then those horrible people need to be brought down. They’ll need to be stopped before they cause irreparable damage to everything and everyone.’

Raven looked back at the recent sad memory of her old home burning to the ground. She didn’t believe for one second that Jessica would have willingly caused that, since Jessica was one of the sweetest people she knew and she cared about the people that had just died as much as Raven did. Someone had to have been pulling the strings, by Raven’s logic. She hated the thought of someone forcing her friends to do things that didn’t want to. She figured that left with her only one option.

Raven picked up the pen, and signed the non-disclosure agreement. As the colonel took those two pages, filing them into his satchel, she sighed, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“So,” Raven said, “what is it you want me to do?”

“Since, you have talents in the science fields, which were just demonstrated by your
scores on that exam, and the prowess displayed in your classes, you are going to be heading a team of people who also specialize in the sciences as well,” he explained.

“Me?” Raven said, surprised that he had that much respect for her.

“Yes, there are indications that you would make a good leader, so here’s your chance. High school is officially over for you, you have graduated in the top quarter of your class. You are also now enrolled at a nearby university as a molecular biology major, since you have strengths in biology. For security purposes, you will do the majority of your coursework online. Dr. Gibbs will commute out here a couple of days a week and instruct you in lab techniques, since you don’t have much experience in that area, as well as to answer any questions you might have with your studies.

“During the rest of the week, when you are not working on your coursework, you will be undergoing extensive combat and command training for your team. We want you at peak efficiency in both your mind and body. You have only just begun to tap into your abilities, and you also seem to be gaining an understanding of them.”

Harris finished this part of his proposal before turning to the more Center-specific details.

“Your computer account with our system is being upgraded to staff level. Reset your password when you get back to your room with a sixteen character using alphanumeric characters,” he said.

Raven nodded, and then he added, “Hand me your cell phone.” Raven obliged, and he pulled another phone from his satchel that was similar to Kristyn’s and his own.

“The attachment on the back is a scrambler that will prevent anyone except me from using it against you. It can also be secured by typing ‘secure’ into it, typing ‘cancel’ will reset it back to normal,” explaining the basics to her.

“More of the particulars,” he continued. “Officially, you are listed as a sergeant within the U.S. Army. After you have graduated with your degree, you will have the option to pursue studies similar to the Officer Candidate School and become a commissioned officer. Also, the only time you would be in uniform is at official functions.”

“Dr. Gibbs is also going to be your advisor when it comes to your bachelor’s degree. He has significant experience in the field of molecular biology and will be helpful with your research project, as you will be spending a large chunk of time in the laboratory. You are going to be researching the emerged. We need to know everything about you in order to find the others that have yet to emerge, and be ready for anything that our enemies could dish out,” explaining her research aims and goals.

“As far as the chain of command is concerned, you will report directly to Kristyn, who reports directly to me. As soon as you get your research project up and running, we will, of course, schedule weekly meetings, to have you brief us on what you have found so far. I do understand that science takes time, but don’t put our patience to the limits,” he said, making it clear that they wanted her to work hard, produce results, and for the research to go somewhere.

“You also are going to have a relatively small budget for lab expenditures only; so, be careful with what you are doing. If we run into an enemy that is also doing experiments of a similar nature, then we can raid the place to augment your lab.”

Raven was trying her best to take everything in, and she seemed to be doing okay with everything at the moment. It seemed that she was going to be given an almost free rein at her job of learning as much as she could about the emerged, but within a certain amount of reason. She was excited that she was now a college freshman, but was still concerned when it came to matters of the other students at the center.

The colonel pulled out an ID card, and said, “This card will let you into most of the areas the facility, with the exception of the main offices.”

Raven nodded, in response to getting the card. She looked at the card in her hand, noting that it had her picture already on it, and it read, “Hawkins, R. Research Division.”

The colonel continued, “Also, you will be helping to tutor the other students here in the areas of math and science, if they require the help that is. The teachers can get in touch with you and set up appointments so that it doesn’t clash with your own individual studies and the other things that you will now be doing.

“Should you have any questions that relate to your job and training, you can contact me during normal business hours. It will be up to Kristyn for the times that you can talk with her. If something becomes too much for you to handle, then please come speak to us about it.”

Harris stood up and extended his hand, “Congratulations, and welcome to the team, Miss Hawkins. Feel free to dress in anything you want, as long it doesn’t cause much of a distraction. You are a college student now, after all. They know how to figure out what is appropriate to wear and when.”

Raven shook his hand back and said, “Thank you, for everything.”

He turned to Kristyn before he left the lab and said, “I’ll be in my office, should you wish to talk.”

Kristyn also extended her hand, which Raven shook. “Strange things just seem to happen around here. Hope you enjoy what just happened to you, as your life just changed.”

“Anything is possible, I guess,” Raven replied.

“True. Bet you never saw that coming did you?”

“No, definitely not,” Raven replied, as things started to sink in, noticing how odd it seemed.

“Yea, I definitely was surprised when he sprung my deal on me,” Kristyn said, relating what Raven just went through to her own experiences.

“Really?”

“Yep, I can tell you more about that later. Besides, shouldn’t you get back to your room?”

“Huh?”

“Jessica should be waking up soon! Remember?” Kristyn reminded her nicely.

Raven suddenly remembered, “Oh! How could I forget about that?”

Raven felt a bit guilty about forgetting about her best friend.

“The excitement of everything going on could have knocked it out of your mind for a while,” Kristyn told her, as she seemed to know how Raven was feeling.

“I guess, but getting her some new clothes for her new body also helps me out a bit. Since, I don’t have any other street clothes, I could use some. That was odd of him letting me wear essentially whatever I want,” Raven said happily, as she could not wait to spend some time with Jessica again.

“Yeah. I’ll need to talk to him about that one. But, get going. You’re going to need to help her from panicking and torching the place. Also, just get things right now that does not draw too much attention and make everyone else upset, until I have a chance to talk to him.”

“Good point. I’ll talk to you later!” she said as she dashed out of the lab and headed back to her room to be with Jessica. Raven hoped that she was not too late.

-------

Jessica groaned as she began to stir from the long sleep that her body had put her through. She felt rested, but she didn’t feel completely like herself anymore. Something was off, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“I was wondering if you were going to wake up,” Raven said, sitting at the chair across from the bed as she watched Jessica awaken from her slumber.

“Huh? Wha?” Jessica replied, still half-asleep.

“You’ve been out for nearly a day now. Your second emergence must have really taken its toll on you,” Raven said, trying to clear things up.

“I guess so. Am I a guy now?” Jessica asked.

“Actually, you were a guy before.”

“Huh? But, I was a girl!”

“Not according to your DNA,” Raven explained. “You had a genetic defect on your Y chromosome, which suppressed your body developing into a male. But now, you have two Xs; you’re completely a girl now,” Raven explained, hoping that Jessica would understand.

Jessica climbed out of bed and walked slowly over to the mirror to get a better look at her new self. She gasped when the Hispanic features that she had grown up with were replaced with the stereotypical California girl looks; she was shocked to see such an amazing change in herself.

“I’m so different now,” she said, unable to take her eyes off of her reflection.

Jessica kept examining her body, and she could find no trace of the person she was before, while trying to get used to the new her.

“Not as different as I felt when I woke up as a girl, I bet,” Raven replied. “But, you were expecting to become a guy. So, it may feel weird not to have changed genders
physically.”

Jessica’s stomach growled loudly, and she put her hand up to her stomach to stop it from growling again.

“Ugh,” she said. “I’m starving.”

“Do you want to get some clothes first? Or go for some food?” Raven asked, wondering
which Jessica would want first.

“Clothes,” Jessica quickly said. “I don’t want to go out in public looking like I just got back from the gym. If this is the first time people see me, then I want them to see me how I want them to.”

“All right,” Raven said. “Let’s go to the wardrobe then.”

Raven led Jessica to the wardrobe, where they both quickly picked out a set of clothes. Raven needed some new clothes for her own personal wardrobe, and happily helped pick clothes out for the both of them. Jessica also helped her find clothes as well, as Jessica had more experience than Raven.

After they were both dressed in street clothes, the two of them made a quick stop by their room before heading to the cafeteria to grab some dinner. Jessica loaded her plate up with food, while Raven only picked up a garden salad and some roast chicken.

The two of them sat down next to Ali and Luna. Raven made the introductions between everyone, and then Ali and Luna started to press Jessica for information about Raven’s past life. Raven felt a little embarrassed about a few of the things Jessica was saying, and Raven quickly decided to change the subject.

“So, Jessica, have you picked a new name for yourself?” Raven asked, after they had talked about some of her high school escapades, as she had become embarrassed by what was being said by her best friend.

“A name?” she asked Raven, a bit confused.

“Yes, you have to change your name. From what I’ve been told, ‘Jessica’ died in that fire,” she explained.

“What?!?” Jessica said. “Why?”

“That’s the cover story that we have to use. The world is not ready to know about us and our abilities just yet,” Raven replied, hoping that her friend would understand what was happening around her.

Jessica looked down at her meal and thought about what she wanted to be called now. She looked up a few moments later and said, “Sarah, Sarah Gayle.”

“Okay, nice to meet you, Sarah,” Raven said, getting up from her seat.

She walked around to Sarah and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Welcome home,” Raven said softly to her, smiling.

-------

Over the next few weeks, Raven helped Sarah adjust to her new life at the Center, while she received lessons in molecular biological techniques. Those lessons were challenging to her, but for some reason, she seemed to enjoy the lab work.

She began to explore the differences in the genetic code between normal humans and the
emerged, seeing if any of those differences gave them their abilities, or if they gave them specific abilities. Also, she was looking at the differences between pre-second emergence and post second emergence to see if she could figure out what was causing the radical gender flip. It was a lot of work, but she was glad to do it. Raven enjoyed the challenge, and those puzzles were really forcing her imagination to work at it and keep it going.

She was currently reading for her online class in genetics, to aid in her studies, when Sarah walked in to their room. Raven had technically already “challenged” the general biology course, and Dr. Gibbs had managed to talk to his superiors to have it count for a grade.

“Don’t you do anything besides study anymore?” Sarah asked rhetorically.

Raven looked up from her text and replied, “Yeah, lab work.”

Sarah just shook her head, as she began to change out of her school uniform and into her exercise fatigues. She was getting some more help with her pyrokinetic abilities today. Although Sarah had figured out how to prevent a misfire of her abilities, but she still needed better control of what she wanted them to do. Everyone knew that she could generate the flames, since this was a high power level emergent; she just had trouble controlling them.

“Shouldn’t you be in combat training soon?” Jessica asked, after she had emerged from the
bathroom.

Raven glanced at the digital clock on their desk, and groaned, “You’re right.”

Raven got off of her bed, and went to go change into her own exercise clothes. Raven had firearms training today, so she didn’t technically need to change clothes. She just got into the habit that she was doing something related to the more militaristic part of her training that she would be in exercise clothes.

It was unusual for a psychokinetic to receive firearm training. However, since Raven was a chlorokinetic, it may the most sense to the colonel and Kristyn. By their logic, there wouldn’t be plants everywhere that Raven went when she was away from the Center, so they had her instructed in different kinds of pistols so that she could still help her team out.
When Raven emerged from the bathroom, she saw Sarah was there waiting for her. “I thought you had power training that you had to get going to?”

“I do. I just wanted to walk with you,” Sarah replied, hoping it was okay to spend time with her friend.

“Oh?” Raven replied.

“Yup,” Sarah said.

The look on Sarah’s face looked like she was up to no good. Raven thought nothing of it, thinking that it was just Sarah being Sarah and that it was not going to be too important.
The two of them walked down the corridors toward the firing range and the power training rooms. Raven was thinking of her recent lab work and experiments, most notably the polymerase chain reactions that she had set up to amplify out regions of the emergent genome, when they turned down a deserted corridor.

After walking down it a ways, Sarah suddenly grabbed Raven’s arms and pushed her into the wall.

Raven said, “Sarah, what’s going–,”

She was cut off by the kiss that Sarah laid on her. Raven was taken completely by
surprise as Sarah made the kiss as passionate as she could. When Sarah separated from Raven, Raven was in a daze about the kiss and what just happened.

“Wow…,” Raven managed to say.

Sarah giggled. “Did you like that?”

Raven managed to reply, “Yes.”

“Good,” Sarah asserted. “Then, you will most likely enjoy this.”

Sarah again kissed Raven the same way she did last time, except that this time Raven joined in. The two of them just stood there kissing for a couple minutes before their rational minds finally kicked in.

“We should get going,” Raven said. “We don’t want to be late than we already are.”

“Aww…, okay,” Sarah said disappointingly at having to be taken away from Raven.

Raven quickly replied, “Don’t worry. We can do it again tonight.”

“Oo-ooh!” Sarah replied.

The two of them continued down the corridor for a little longer, before they separated to go do their different training regimes. Raven couldn’t get the recent events out of her head. She knew that she had feelings for Sarah, but she wasn’t aware that Sarah had wanted to reciprocate those feelings, and that she cared for her too. It definitely had caught her off guard.

She walked into the firing range, and pulled her Beretta M9 off of the shelf, and loaded a clip into it, grabbing a couple of others for when she needed to reload her weapon. Raven had slightly customized her weapon; she had added a green stripe down the edge of the gun that was in contact with the palm of her hand.

She put on the headphones to protect her ears from the guns, and put up the targeting paper. She flicked the switch, and the target fell back to thirty meters away from her. A loud horn blared out, and Raven began taking her practice.

After expending her clip, she flipped the switch and brought her targeting paper back over. She looked at her practice, and saw that her performance had improved from when she had first started. However, she still needed to work on her aim a bit more, if she wanted to get anywhere with this weapon. However, she her results weren’t as bad when she had first started.

“Sarah must be distracting me somehow,” she said aloud.

“In what way?” a voice from behind her said.

Raven took off her headphones, and turned around to see Dani standing there.

“I thought you didn’t have firearms practice?” Raven asked.

“I don’t, but I could sense your distraction as I walked past. You want to talk about it?” Dani kindly asked Raven.

She sighed, and then answered, blushing, “Sarah surprised me on the way over here by pinning me to the wall and kissing me.”

Dani looked a little surprised, more so at the fact that it had taken this long for one of the two to make some kind of advance on the other. She replied, “Did it feel wrong in
anyway?”

“No. Well, not to me anyway,” Raven honestly replied, wondering if maybe if felt wrong to her friend.

“Then, it’s okay for you to think of Sarah like that. The two of you have known each other a long time, and you have dropped hints that you had feelings for her before she ever came here.”

Raven replied, “I did?”

“Yes, you did. Kristyn, Ali, and a number of others could tell that you cared about her
as more than just a good friend. People were just wondering when the two of you would actually advance your relationship,” Dani smiled at how sweet Raven was acting.

“Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t think anyone actually won the betting pool that they set up though,”
she said, with a hint of bitterness since she didn’t win.

Raven laughed.

“Well,” Dani continued. “Now that you have resolved that little issue, I think you will have an easier time staying on target and hitting that poor target in front of you.”
Raven glanced at her targeting paper and replaced it. Dani left the room, and Raven went back to her target practice.

-------

A couple of weeks later, Raven and Sarah were officially dating. Sarah had her powers more under control, but they were still causing her a little bit of trouble. Raven had continued her project, but still hadn’t recruited any new people onto her team. Raven had been given access to the test results, but no one had really stood out in the sciences. She was beginning to wonder if she would even have a team at this rate.

Raven was finishing up running a gel after digesting fragments of the modified chromosomes after she had cloned them out of the DNA from the emergents. She was attempting to build a cDNA library of the various modified chromosomes, so that she could analyze the various mutated genes, or even clone the genes to recombinantly express the proteins for further analysis.

She was keeping an eye on the timer, while she was studying for her genetics class, so that she could turn off the power supply and not run the DNA bands off of her gel. If she did that, she would have to reset up the restriction digest and lose, at minimum, another three hours or research time. Just as her timer went off, and she unplugged the gel electrophoresis box, Kristyn quickly walked in the room and Raven was shocked to see anyone coming in, normally she was alone.

“How are things down here?” she asked.

“Going well,” Raven sighed, as she removed the gel cassette from the box, and walked it
over to the transilluminator.

Before Raven went over to turn off the lights so that she could visualize her gel under
ultraviolet light, she asked, “So, what brings you down into my neck of the woods?”
“Not much, just to tell you your first assignment,” Kristyn told her.

“Assignment?” Raven asking, wondering what she meant.

“Yes. Just last night, a genetic research lab was attacked by unknown assailants. The witnesses said things that resembled psychokinetic abilities.”

“Was anyone hurt?” Raven said, looking worried.

“Unfortunately, several of the guards were severely injured. We aren’t too sure what they had taken, and the Department of Homeland Security has taken control of the investigation. Specifically, we’re doing the investigating,” Kristyn answered.

“Since this involves biology, I have to go,” Raven reasoned.

“Yes. Some of the retrieval team will be going with you for backup. I want you to find
out everything you can,” Kristyn said, giving her the general directions.

“You got it, when do I leave?”

“As soon as you are ready.”

“Okay, let me just wrap this gel up in some saran wrap, pop it in the fridge, and go get
changed,” Raven replied.

“Excellent. Good luck out there.”

“Thanks,” Raven said, smiling.

--------

After Raven had completed her work in the lab, she went back and changed into the combat fatigues that she had first been issued when she was needed to the double retrieval mission of Sarah and her former high school bully, except that she now had a hip holster for her Beretta.

Raven was given a dossier with the preliminary investigation conducted by the local authorities. The folder contained witness statements and pictures from the crime scene. Raven’s gut twisted when she saw the devastation of what had happened. Some of the command training she had already received had shown her worse pictures than this. However, that fact held very little comfort for her.

Raven saw that Kristyn had assigned Rita, Tina, Sheri, Ray, and Max to assist her. Rita and Tina were assigned to the witnesses, Sheri to assist with the crime scene, with Ray and Max to provide backup in case something happened. Raven didn’t think that they would have to do much, but she didn’t know if the people who raided that research facility were still in the area.

Raven met everyone at the briefing room, and found that Kristyn was there as well. She should’ve known that Kristyn would be conducting the briefing, and making sure that everyone understood that Raven was in charge of the operation this time.

As Raven watched Kristyn give the brief, she began to start feeling nervous about being put in command of this operation. She thought to herself, ‘Well, this is what I signed up for, and now I have to do my job.’

“You will be leaving immediately,” Raven heard Kristyn say, as she focused herself on the briefing again. “Max, you will be second in command of this operation.”

Max nodded at being told this, and then the team began to assemble their gear and head for the SUVs that would take them to the research facility. The facility was only a few hours away from the Center, so they wouldn’t have to use the plane. However, Kristyn told Raven to be careful as it was close to where the Center was located.

They arrived on the scene a little after noon. Before Raven went to talk with the officer in charge, she caught a glance of the genetic research facility. The building had a few gaping holes in it, most likely where the assailants had made their own entrance. It looked like a few minor explosions had been detonated along the outside walls.

Raven took a deep breath and then resumed her work. She had a feeling that it was going to be an interesting investigation. She just hoped nothing bad would happen.