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The pounding in my head is receding and I slowly regain consciousness. I open my eyes and look around. I am sitting in the middle of a tent, chained to a chair. My burka has been removed.

Opposite me is a TV and video camera. Lieutenant Scudder’s face is on the screen looking at me.

“Nice to see you’re awake,” he says, “Before you try anything, I would like to point out that you are currently connected to a car battery. Any tricks and I zap you.”

I look over to my right. There is a bank of twelve car batteries hooked up to a black box. Wires are running from the box to the TV and video camera. Another set of wires are running from the box and are wrapped around my wrist. I feel a sudden jolt of electricity flow through me and I scream in pain.

“That was only a low voltage setting, it can go much higher if needed,” Scudder laughs from the TV. “I’ve been listening in. I know your effective range. We are in the middle of nowhere and I am far enough away that you can’t touch me. I also have this button,” He waves a control pad in the air, “that I can zap you with if you try anything. Now sit tight until my buyer arrives.”

The image on the TV screen disappears. I assume that the camera is still operational. I decide to err on the side of caution and not to project myself just yet. I sit staring at the camera while I check out the surrounding area with my remote vision.

First, I closely examine the chair and myself. I am tightly chained to the high-backed wooded chair. My hands are restrained in handcuffs, which are in turn chained to leg irons. The cuffs and irons are tight against my skin, and there is no chance of being able to slip out of them. There is a heavy chain looped around my waist and through holes in the chair’s frame. It’s also looped through a large metal ring attached to a stake emerging from the ground. The arrangement is held together with several sturdy-looking padlocks.

I could probably free myself if I projected with a pair of bolt cutters. However, I still have the problem of the electrics. I will need to take those out first. I could chop the wires with insulated cutters so that I can’t be shocked. There doesn’t appear to be any backup mechanisms in place.

Although my burka has been removed, I am still in disguise. The hair dye, contact lenses, and make-up are still intact. I don’t currently look like my normal self.

Next question, where am I? I look outside the tent. I am on the edge of a large rectangular clearing amongst tall trees. The ground is hard and compacted. There are windsocks fluttering in the breeze a short distance from my location. It appears that I am beside a makeshift runway. I take my vision upwards into the sky to survey the surrounding area. There is no civilisation as far as I can see. Dense woodland covers the area I can make out.

There is a track leading up to my location. I follow it and it emerges onto a road. The road appears to be a main one, however it must be getting on for a mile and a half as I can see it, but I am losing the ability to hear as well. There is a small shack where the track meets the road. A car is parked outside. Looking inside, I can see Lieutenant Scudder sat watching me on TV, while lying back on a sofa. He keeps glancing at his watch impatiently.

He said he was waiting for a buyer to turn up, so I guess I’m for sale. He has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that I’m incapacitated. There is no way I can project far enough to reach him.

I continue to explore the surrounding area, but there are no other signs of life in the vicinity. Every now and then people drive past on the road, but I am too far away to be able to make myself known to them via projection.

After about ten minutes, a large black SUV pulls up at the shack. I watch remotely with interest as a tall woman in her late forties climbs out of the driver’s seat and enters the cabin carrying a large briefcase. It is the same woman I saw at the warehouse abducting the two teenagers.

I examine the vehicle. The two hostages are inside. The boy is handcuffed on the back seat, next to the blue-haired girl. The other girl, the one who had been on fire, is wrapped in a blanket in the trunk. In the front passenger seat is one of the two goons from earlier.

I turn my attention to the inside of the cabin.

“Where is the girl?” the woman asks Lieutenant Scudder. I am using all my concentration to be able to hear at the limit of my range.

Pointing to the TV Scudder replies, “She’s tied up next to the runway. Be careful as you approach, she can project herself half a mile. She’s a ruthless bitch, wouldn’t surprise me if she suddenly tries to appear behind you and cut your throat.”

“Don’t worry, I have a countermeasure in the car, she will be rendered harmless long before we get to her,” the woman smiles as she answers.

“Where’s my money?” Scudder asks.

The woman throws the case on the floor in front of him, “Here,” she says. The lieutenant bends down and opens the case, but finds it empty. As he looks up at the woman, she shoots him between the eyes. “Sorry, change of plan,” she coldly states.

She returns to the car and starts to drive in my direction. I decide it’s time to escape. I quickly project myself into the tent and cut the wires leading to my wrists. I then chop the chains using projected bolt cutters.

Having freed myself I exit the tent and run towards the tree line, however as I do so my head begins to pound and I fall to the ground incapacitated by a migraine. I try to get up and crawl away, but the pain becomes more intense. It feels like every pain receptor in my body is firing simultaneously. I am overcome with intense feelings of terror, and I can hear an evil laugh reverberate through my head as a series of horrific images pass through my mind.

The black SUV pulls up alongside me and the woman gets out.

“Nice try, Alice, however my pet dominator won’t let you escape. If you refuse to co-operate I will be forced to make Lucy hurt you,” she states and points to the teenage girl with blue hair, who is getting out of the vehicle. I try to project myself behind the woman with a knife, as Scudder suggested earlier, however I am unable to do so.

“You can forget about your talents as well, they are being suppressed,” Lucy’s voice once again sounds in my head.

The pain gets more intense and I feel myself blacking out.

“Oh no you don’t, I’m not letting you pass out,” Lucy states. I open my eyes to find myself in a cave. A chandelier with candles is providing the illumination. Lava bubbles in pools on the floor, the space filled with intense heat and a strange red glow.

“Where am I?” I ask. I am lying on my back chained to a wooden bench in the middle of the room, naked.

Lucy is standing over me with a red-hot poker in her hand. She stabs me in the thigh and I scream in pain.

“Welcome to my torture chamber. I have pulled your mind into mine. This little corner of my imagination is where I conduct my interrogations. In here, I can conjure up any nightmare of my choosing. What you see and hear may be a dream, but the pain is real,” she states as she twists the burning hot poker in my leg.

Red ants surround me and start to crawl over my body. I can feel them biting me and burrowing under my skin. I start to hyperventilate and I close my eyes as the ants reach my face.

All of a sudden the pain and heat stops. I feel a cool breeze on my cheek, and I open my eyes to find myself back in the forest. I still have a pounding headache, but it has now receded to a manageable level. Lucy is standing ten feet away grinning at me.

I hear the drone of engines and look down the landing strip as an aircraft touches down and taxis to our position.

“Excellent timing,” the woman states, before signalling the rest of the occupants of the vehicle to join us.

The captured teenage boy, bound in handcuffs, is let out of the car by Lucy. The large man in combat gear emerges from the other side and goes to the rear of the vehicle. Opening the trunk, he lifts out the unconscious scorched girl and carries her to the plane, and we all follow.

The plane is a small business model with a high wing and two turboprop engines, one on each side. The engines have been powered down and the propellers are stationary. We climb the steps and enter the aircraft on the front left side, just behind the cockpit. Inside, down the left of the plane are six seats, one behind the other. There is a gangway down the middle. On the other side is a box, slightly larger than a coffin.

Lucy heads to the back of the plane and takes the rear seat. The boy takes a seat, leaving a place between himself and Lucy. I sit directly in front of him. The man places the unconscious girl in the box and closes the lid, before taking the front seat.

“What are you doing? Won’t she suffocate in there?” I ask alarmed.

“The box is being fed oxygen, and there are chemicals to soak up the carbon dioxide. It is merely a precaution in case of second emergence,” the woman states. I look at her blankly. “Brian, be a good boy and explain the situation to our newcomer here while I go speak to the pilots.”

She turns and enters the cockpit. The engines roar into life and we start to take off.

The teenage boy behind me starts to speak as we climb away from the ground. “First emergence is the name given to when one of us firsts starts to demonstrate our talents. About a day after first emergence comes second emergence. This is when the body undergoes spontaneous sex change. During second emergence a person’s talent becomes uncontrolled and can pose a risk.”

I hear Lucy’s voice in my head, “The girl, Sarah, is a pyrokinetic, and she is due to change soon. The box is asbestos and should protect us if we don’t land in time. Don’t worry, I am keeping her suppressed for the moment.”

The boy, who I assume is Brian, groans. “Why can’t you just talk like everybody else, get out of my head you bitch.” He scrunches his face up as if he is in pain. Lucy laughs to herself at his discomfort. I guess that she’s the cause.

“Lucy here is a dominator and dampener,” Brian explains, “she can get inside your head and incapacitate you while at the same time preventing the use of your talents.”

“I gathered as much, I was watching earlier when you got captured,” I reply, “Was that you stopping the bullets? Neat trick.”

“I’m a telekinetic from the Center, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to finding and protecting emerged individuals. I was part of a team sent to retrieve Sarah and prevent her from causing a bonfire when she changes. How did you see that?”

“It’s my talent,” I say, “I have the ability to remotely view and astral project. What I don’t understand is how you, Lucy, managed to kick me out of there. I was only viewing; I didn’t have a physical presence.”

The voice returns to my head, “I could still sense the presence of your mind, even though you had no physical form. You’re quite a strong one, I will enjoy cracking you later.”

We seem to have reached cruising altitude as we have now levelled off. The woman comes back from the cockpit.

“Nicely explained, Brian, I will look forward to learning more about what our glorious government has been up to when Lucy interrogates you later. By the way, my name is Doctor Mustard, I will be looking after you during your conversion,” she states.

I hear Brian groan behind me and ask, “Is that your real name or are you another colour coded operative for the Syndicate?”

“Why yes, you are so well informed. Why don’t you explain to Alice here who we are?” Doctor Mustard encourages.

“The Syndicate is the creation of Jason Carson, the billionaire computer programmer. His son is one of us and he set up the Syndicate to find a cure, while at the same time exploiting and experimenting on all the emerged he could find, brainwashing some into perfect weapons for hire.”

There is a sudden whooshing sound and the asbestos box starts to heat up. The whooshing is joined by crackling as electricity arcs between the box and the fuselage. All the lights in the cabin flash and burn out. The plane starts to shake violently and the distinctive smell of burning electronics wafts from the cockpit.

Lightning arcs from the foot of the box across the aisle and into the mercenary sitting at the front of the plane. He screams as the electricity passes through him into the fuselage. The smell of burning flesh fills the cabin.

A ball of lightning forms at the foot of the box. The light it emits is blinding and I can feel the heat from it scorching my skin.

“Shit! She has electrokinesis as well,” the doctor shouts as she dives to the floor, out of the way of the growing ball of light and flame. The ball shoots towards the sound of her voice, but misses her and carries on forwards into the cockpit. Screams and explosions can be heard as the pilots are engulfed in flames and the lightning discharges through the electronics. I am looking at the box beside me, when out of the corner of my eye I notice smoke coming from the engine below the wing. I look forward into the cockpit. The pilots and a lot of the instrumentation are on fire. Through the smoke, I can see that we are diving straight towards the cliff face of a mountain.