The Center: Taking Wing
Chapter 1

Jack was just an ordinary high school student, trying to get by the bullies and through his classes. But, all of that is about to change as a result of something that happened a long time ago.

Original Characters and Universe belong to Lilith Langtree.

Taking Wing
Chapter 1

It was another sunny day in a small rural town of California. The golden grasses and tall oaks trees that painted the Mother Lode landscape were blowing slightly in the warm northerly breeze. As Jack Thomas walked home from school that day, he could feel the heat from the September sun overhead, making it feel like a summer day from July instead. However, despite the beautiful day, Jack was not in the best of moods.

The slow and monotonous pace that he had set seemed to echo the depressed mood that he was in. As he walked home from getting off of the bus from school that day, he seemed to be running on automatic. He hardly noticed anything but where he was going as he thought about his day at school, and his recurring bully problem. Try as he might to avoid them, the school’s bullies managed to find him again at lunch, and used him as their personal punching bag.

Luckily, he managed to come out of the day’s fight without too many of the normal bumps and bruises that he would normally get from the bullies. Instead, he was just sporting a bloody nose. The bullies seemed to enjoy picking on him, as it seemed to be a sport for them. No matter what he tried to do to stop them, they just kept on doing it. He tried talking, going to the teachers for help, even standing up to the bullies, but they always kept coming back.

Jack had never been really big for his age. He stood only 5’ 5” and was not very masculine in his appearance. He wore glasses to aid his dull brown eyes; he was nearsighted so he had to wear the glasses everyday. He also seemed to be a bit of a late bloomer, and those bullies never let him live that down for it. All in all, Jack looked much like the stereotypical nerd, except that he had better tastes in clothes.

As a result of being constantly downtrodden and not very popular at school, Jack pretty much kept to himself a lot. This gave him a lot of time to keep up with his studies, but, sadly, he had never once had a girlfriend in his life. It wasn’t like he didn’t like girls; on the contrary, he often had some strange dreams involving them. Jack just didn’t have the courage to go up to a girl and ask them out.

His thoughts were lost in the events of that day as he walked along the gravel driveway to his home. The forest that made up the backyard was ominous as ever in the distance. His father, Charles, would often take him on a few excursions into the forest when Jack was a boy. Lately, Charles had been working more and later ever since his promotion. His father was the supervisor for the town’s major business, a chocolate factory that was a subsidiary of a major candy maker. The job was now taking up a majority of his time, so Jack was left to his own devices for most of the day. Jack’s mother had died about an hour after he was born, due to some kind of medical complication. His father didn’t like to talk about it very much.

Jack walked into his house a few minutes later, and threw his backpack on to the living room couch. He went into the bathroom, and dampened a washcloth with warm water to soothe the bruises that he had sustained from the day’s beatings. With each wipe of the warm water over his skin, the pain seemed to subside. He could feel the pain from the injuries start to fade away, as the warm, relaxing water seemed to alleviate it. Soon, Jack was ready to get to his homework, something that he enjoyed as it took his mind off of other things, as scary as that may seem.

Jack really enjoyed his biology classes, as it was his favorite subject at school. He was currently studying molecular biology and genetics. The topics of bacterial transformation and manipulation held some kind of fascination with him, as though the thought of using a bacterial organism to replicate and manufacture a gene of the scientist’s choosing was fascinating. He was hoping that one day he could become a scientist in the field of biology.

A few minutes later, Jack heard a loud knock on the front door to the house. He stopped getting the things out of his backpack that he would need to do his homework, and walked over to the door to see who it was and answer it.

Jack sighed and grumbled as he saw who it was at the door, ‘It seems that I’m not going to be behind this latest thrashing just yet.’

At the front door was Jack’s best and only friend, Jessica. Jessica had been his next door neighbor and best friend, since they were in kindergarten. Although, Jack had some feelings for her, he never acted upon those feelings. He didn’t want to lose the friendship that they had developed over those years.

“Hey, Jack,” she said, “You got a minute?”

“Yeah, come in.”

The two of them sat down on the couch, and she said, “I heard what happened today between you and Harold.”

“What else is there to tell?” Jack retorted. “He and his thugs cornered me at lunch, beat the crap out of me, destroyed my lunch, and took what money I had left. I was lucky to get away with the minor injuries that I had sustained.”

“You know there’s got to be some way to tell him and his buddies to back off.”

“If there is, I haven’t found it in the six years that he’s done this to me.”

“You would think someone that can ace high school classes could figure out how to get a bunch of thugs off of his back,” she joked.

“Yeah, whatever,” he replied, as he sank deeper into the chair. The topic of Harold and his gang of thugs was always depressing to talk and even think about.

Jessica saw the look on his face, and tried to think of an idea to try to cheer him up. After about a minute, she tried to see if he had anything on his mind.

“Hey, do you want to do something to take your mind off of it, before you plow into your homework?”

“No, not really. I just want to get my homework done, so I can eat and try to relax.”

“Do you really want to do that?” she replied, looking sad, with a bit of a pouty look on her face. She also had some feelings for Jack, but she also didn’t act upon them. She was willing for the advancement of their relationship, but she wasn’t sure about Jack.
Jack sighed deeply, before nodding. He was in no mood for this at the moment. All he seemed to want to do at the moment was just put this day behind him as quickly as he could.

“All right,” she said. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” she said, heading for the door. Before she opened it she snapped her fingers and said, “Oh! I almost forgot.”

She dug around in her jean pockets and pulled out a small silver necklace. “This is for you.”

Jack looked surprised as Jessica had a gift for him. As far as he knew, it was nowhere near his birthday.

“A necklace?” he said, as he saw what she dangled in her hands.

“Hey, I thought you would like what’s on the necklace. Take a look,” she said, showing him.

Jack examined the necklace, and he saw a depiction of a bird on the coin-like thing dangling from it.

“A raven,” Jessica said, “I thought it would be good luck for you, for the next time that you get in a bind with Harold.”

“Thanks for the thought,” Jack said, with a sarcastic look on his face. He thought that if those creeps had caught him wearing something like that, they would just take the opportunity and give him some more injuries.

“Don’t mention it; I’ll let you get to your work now,” she said somberly, as she left the house. She paused for a moment at the door, hoping that Jack would snap from his reverie, but he was being one track-minded again.

---

An hour later, Jack was looking through my biology textbook, just casually reading it, since he had finished with his homework a couple of hours ago. As he began to read about the subject of gene transfer in bacteria, he heard another knock on the front door.

Groaning, since he didn’t really want to get up at the moment, he walked over to the door to see who it was. Jack wasn’t expecting anyone, since his father wouldn’t be home until late that night. He briefly thought that it was Jessica again, going to try again to cheer him up.

However, when he opened the door he saw two people there that he did not recognize. They were both dressed like people his own age, but there seemed to be a sense of business and urgency with them. The first girl had brown hair, which she wore long. The hair seemed to compliment the hazel eyes she had. She wore a simple outfit that fit the contours of her body really well.

The other girl had a no-nonsense kind of attitude surrounding her. Her dark brown locks also cascaded down from her head to about the small of her back, like the first girl. She was dressed in a black tank top and dark blue jeans, and she had a very nice figure. But, Jack got the feeling that she could kick my butt as easily as those bullies at school.

“Jack Thomas?” the attitude girl said.

“Yes?” he replied, with a curious look on his face.

“May we come in? We have a few things that we would like to talk to you about.”

Jack panicked for a second, as he thought of what he had done to warrant such a humiliation, or if he had done something wrong. The attitude that the dark-haired girl was permeating was definitely getting under his skin.

Jack meekly nodded, and showed them in. He offered them a seat on the couch and something to drink, as he headed into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. The light brown-haired girl asked for water, while the other one politely refused. After grabbing the drinks, Jack gave the girl her water before he sat down on one of the armchairs in the living room.

The no-nonsense girl began by saying, “Thank you for letting us see you, Jack. My name is Kristyn and this is Lili. We’re here because we have a few things we want to discuss with you.”

“Okay, like what?” Jack replied, with a note of curiosity in his voice. If this was a prank or he was in trouble, he definitely wanted to know sooner rather than later.

“First, have you noticed that you’re a little different than the rest of the guys around here?” the one named Lili asked.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked suspiciously.

“We mean, haven’t you noticed that you were somehow different than the rest of the guys your age in town?” Kristyn reiterated.

“Have you been spying on me?” Jack replied, looking shocked.

Kristyn sighed, and replied, “We have, but only for your best interests.”

“How is spying on me in my best interests?” he replied, getting a little defensive.

“Because, whether you believe us or not now, you will become a danger to yourself and
those around you within the next twenty-four hours.”

Jack laughed at that, thinking that he was the victim of one of the practical jokes that other people at his high school would often play on him. He sighed, and then said,
“That’s crazy! If this is some sort of a joke, then I’m not buying it.”

Lili glanced over at Kristyn, giving her a look that seemed to suggest something. Kristyn nodded, as she understood.

“Before you make any judgments about that, please hear us out,” Lili calmly stated.

Jack relaxed in his chair a little bit, and replied, “Alright, I’ll hear you out. But, I still reserve the right to ask you to leave, if what you say doesn’t make any sense.”

“Fair enough.”

“Sixteen years ago there was an incident at a genetics lab. This incident resulted in a bottled water company's water source to be contaminated, and they didn't notice this for a while. All of our mothers drank this contaminated water that they thought was completely safe, during their pregnancy.

“From our files, it appears that your mother drank from this water throughout most of her pregnancy. This resulted in you being born intersexed.”

“What?” Jack asked, as the idea of drinking bottled water during pregnancy could have any effect on the baby was crazy.

“Intersexed, in your case, means that in addition to your male reproductive organs, that you also have a pair of ovaries inside of you. But, that isn’t all of it.”

Jack looked at these two girls, and was wondering how long they thought up this story, and if Tony and his group of cohorts had put them up to this. But, there was another nagging thought in the back of his mind that was thinking that all of this somehow made sense.

“The second part of this explanation is that Lili and I were both males, just like you.”

Jack spat his water out, as he was taking a drink when Kristyn had said that. Luckily, he had turned his head when that was said. He didn’t feel right about spraying all over a couple of pretty girls.

“It’s true,” she continued, “I’ve been a girl now for about six weeks or so,”

“Surgeon does nice work,” Jack commented, still trying to catch his breath, coughing on the water every so often.

“Surgery may be good, but it’s not this good. Also, we all have special powers; Lili here is a telepath, while I am an Electrokinetic.”

“Yeah, and I can move objects with my mind,” Jack retorted. “Prove it, if you can.”

Kristyn just shrugged and placed her fingertips against one another. She pulled her hands back and Jack saw mini-lightning bolts arcing between her fingers. Needless to say, but he was shocked by what he saw. His rational and scientific mind began to race as he tried to figure out a reasonable explanation as to how she was doing that.

“Believe us now?” Kristyn commented.

“Umm…yeah…,” he replied, still sounding skeptic.

“Good, because we have determined that you are a Chlorokinetic. You can manipulate plants with your mind, similarly to the way I can manipulate electricity.”

“Okay, if I can do this, then why haven’t I?”

“Because, your power only manifests itself about six to eight hours before your change.”

“Change?”

“Your change into the opposite sex, of course.”

Jack quickly thought, ‘On one hand, I get to have cool powers. On the other hand, I get my gender flipped on me. But, that’s only if anything that they are saying has any truth to it.’

“What do you want?” he cautiously asked. He tried to hide his contemplation by trying to present a good poker face.

“We want you to come with us, so you can undergo your change in a safe environment. We don’t want you hurting yourself or others. Also, it will give you a safe environment to learn and control your power,” Lili said. “There are other similar people there, and we are all pretty much friends with each other.”

This was a lot to take in at once. Jack felt fear began to grip him, as the idea of others with similar abilities in one place doing who knows what was becoming terrifying. He still didn’t quite believe them, and he thought that they were a couple of pranksters.
“Can I have some time to think it over?”

“Yes, but don’t think to quickly. We need to get back soon,” Kristyn said, as he got up out of the chair and went into his bedroom.

Jack closed and locked the door and thought to himself, ‘These people are crazy. I can’t explain how the Kristyn was able to do that neat magic trick, but I need to get away from here. I don’t like the idea of being taken away, even if these people are trying to play some kind of joke on me.’

He quickly stuffed a couple of his books, and his private notebook back into his backpack, and opened the bedroom window. After grabbing his hiking boots, he jumped out the window, and snuck off into the forest. Hopefully, I would be able to run and hide from them for a while, long enough for my dad to get back from work, so we could get away from these crazy people, or get them away from us.

---

“He’s taking an awfully long time, isn’t he?” Kristyn said.

“Yeah,” Lili replied.

The two of them went down the hallway to the locked door. Using a makeshift emergency key, they opened the door to the bedroom. They looked around for a bit, before their gaze fell upon the open window, with the curtains fluttering in the breeze.

“Damn!” Kristyn exclaimed. “He ran!”

Lili nodded, while Kristyn reached for her walkie-talkie, and said into it, “Lara, time for you to be a bloodhound.”

“On my way,” Lara replied over the walkie-talkie.

---

Jack ran through the foliage, deeper into the forest. The various oak and pine trees were spread pretty evenly through the landscape, and he could hear the birds and other animals a little more active than normal. It wasn’t often that someone was running through the area, so they were a little on edge.

Jack, however, was past that edge. Those two crazy people in my house were trying to take me to a bunch of other crazy people for who knows what reason. If it was part of some sick joke by Anthony, then he didn’t want to stick around.

‘Besides,’ he thought, ‘that whole story about strange genetics doesn’t seem plausible.’
He also didn’t believe that light show that Kristyn was anything more that a few electrodes creating those sparks. It was the only logical conclusion that came to his mind at the moment.

He moved quickly through the foliage, intent on heading to a couple of the hiding places that he would sometimes travel to when things got a little rough at home. Jack was just hoping that no one else knew about them. He was also being extremely careful not to leave any kind of tracks behind that could be easily followed.

As he looked back the way he came, it appeared that he was successful in not leaving an easily discernable trail. The foliage had the appearance of not being disturbed at all, although some of it looked greener than when Jack had first went through it. The plants also seemed to be reaching for the sun a little more, and growing over the path. He chalked what he was seeing up to all the adrenaline pumping through him, and that he wasn’t seeing things properly.

As he jumped over a fallen tree, he thought I heard the sound of dogs in the distance. This was unusual, since there were no dogs near his home.

“Damn, I didn’t know they would have dogs,” he said to himself. “Anthony and his gang must’ve pulled all the stops out for this one.”

Jack continued at the pace he had already set, and continued to head for the river. He was hoping that he could lose them there, once he crossed it to the other side.

---

Lara, Lili, and Kristyn were on the hunt for Jack. They knew of his abilities, and thought that would make things more difficult for Lara. But, no, her pathfinding abilities were accurate, down to the last pressed down leaf. Lara was wearing a dark green tank top with beige cargo pants and hiking boots. These definitely contrasted to her red hair, which was as red as a fire engine.

“It’s too bad Dani didn’t tell me of this one,” Kristyn said, “but, at least she did have that valuable intel on Fred. I didn’t want to have to fight him.”

Lara and Lili both tried to suppress a giggle with that one.

“What?”

“Well, that and he didn’t freak like Jack did,” Lili said.

“And the fact that Tony’s clairvoyance isn’t completely accurate,” Lara added. “But, you have to admit, this is a lot more fun.”

“Chasing a chlorokinetic through a forest, fun? I’m just surprised that you haven’t gotten lost, yet.”

“Luckily, he’s on foot, otherwise it would take a while.”

“Well, let’s hurry, then,” Kristyn said. “There are three of us, and only one of him.”
At the moment, they heard a bunch of dogs barking in the distance, which seemed to be coming from deeper in the forest than where they were.

“Okay, let’s really move it then,” Kristyn added.

---

Jack had finished wading through the river, and once again set out at a strong pace. He looked cautiously behind him. Although he couldn’t see anyone trailing him, he was still very nervous about the entire situation he now found himself in. He could hear the dogs barking, this time much more loudly, and he could only assume that they were getting closer.

‘Hopefully, they would lose my scent in the river,’ he thought to himself, as he turned back toward the direction of one of his hiding places.

The path became a bit rockier, as the outcroppings of granite soon appeared. They would make the perfect place to hide. The outcroppings provided an excellent vantage point from where he could watch the river, to see if they would still pursue him across the river.
He climbed up onto one of the granite slabs, and laid down on his stomach. He began to watch the river, from his viewpoint, looking through the pair of binoculars that he had grabbed from the top of his desk. Nothing happened for a while, although he could still hear the barking of the dogs.

Time passed slowly, as he waited. The sky began to darken, as the onset of night grew closer. He kept his silent vigil, as he was beginning to grow tired from the forest run. A few minutes later, a group of men in camouflage gear, with a bunch of dogs leading them, emerged from the foliage.

The dogs sniffed around the shore, but they couldn’t seem to figure out where Jack had
gone, since he had splashed a great deal of water on to the shore to help throw them off of his scent. Jack was more nervous about the men, though. They were carrying some pretty interesting guns, MP5s and tranquilizer pistols.

They stayed along the far side of the river for a short time, using their own binoculars to try to look onto my side of the forest, but they couldn’t see Jack, as he was hiding behind a few of the rocks and trees. They kept up their search for what seemed an eternity, before they split into two groups, heading along the river in both directions.
After they were gone for a few minutes, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He rolled onto his back, and sighed. 'Good thing they didn’t want to cross the river there.'

Jack knew that it would take them at least twenty minutes in either direction before they could find another place to cross the river, so he had a good hour or so to rest. He slid down the side of the rock, into a bush of ivy, thankfully not poison ivy. As he was trying to think of the other places in the forest he could go to hide from those pursuing him, he ended up passing out from the sheer exhaustion of running through the forest to this hideaway.

---

The three girls approached the river bank, and Kristyn looked a little crestfallen when she saw the various footprints of the men that were there, as well as their canine compatriots.

“Now what?” Kristyn said, as though things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“He went across the river,” Lara asserted, with dead certainly.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said, reiterating the seriousness of her tone.

Kristyn looked up and down the river, hoping to find someplace where they could cross more easily, but she couldn’t see one. “I don’t see how,” she said.

“He crossed right here,” Lara said, following Jack’s trail with precision.

Kristyn shrugged, hoping that she knew what she was doing. She and Lili followed behind Lara as she led the way. When Kristyn looked up and down the river again, she saw the armed men and their furry friends coming back up the stream, now that they had crossed it.
“Looks like we’ve got company, and we’re going to have to find him now, in order to beat them,” Kristyn said, as the three girls began to make their way into the forest on the other side of the river.

---

Jack woke up from his nap, about an hour later; he noticed that the ivy around him seemed to be a bit larger and greener than he had remembered. The ivy also seemed to be partially covering him across his limbs. But, he again quickly passed that observation off as him being hyped up on adrenaline and not thinking too clearly at the time. He also thought that his clothes had caught onto the ivy, allowing it to partially cover him while he was unconscious.

He decided that he needed to move deeper into the forest, for he knew that he had unintentionally lingered in that place too long. The sun was lower and closer to the horizon, and the sky was beginning to darken. As he stretched to loosen the muscles that were resting against the rock, he heard the growl of a dog nearby.

Jack sprang to his feet when he heard that, and saw that his pursuers were nearly right on top of him. A quick glance of the surrounding area, and he soon realized that he had no place to run. Jack wanted to crawl into some hole and hide from them. He didn’t know what the strange men with guns and dogs wanted him for, and at the moment he didn’t want to know.

Jack fingered the necklace that Jessica had given to him earlier. He thought of her for a bit, and hoped that she was alright, and not involved in this in anyway. Jack was startled when he heard a resounding caw nearby.

Jack looked up, and saw a raven, perched in the tree above him. It just sat there on the branch for a moment, as he stared at it. The raven then turned its head towards Jack, and started to stare at him. Jack was worried, for a moment, that it would give away his position to the strange men. But, it just sat there, quietly watching me, as if it was guarding me for some reason.

A little bit later, it flew away, and Jack was saddened to see it leave. It was like he had an ally in this hunt. Jack was brought out of his thoughts in a hurry, when he heard the growl of the dogs and the loading of a gun close by.

“Hold it right there,” said a man with a deep voice.

His heart just seemed to sink into his stomach, right then and there. Jack gulped, and then stuck his hands in the air. The men instructed him to get up slowly, and put his hands behind his head. There were four men dressed in battle camouflage. They looked like they were a part of the military, either currently or in the past. Three were holding pistols, while the fourth was holding onto the dogs.

“Let’s go, head back towards your house, or we’ll sedate you right here and now,” the leader said.

Jack meekly nodded, and led the way back towards his house. He did his best not to make any sudden moves, and just went along with them. He was inwardly hoping that they wouldn’t hurt or kill him. Eventually, the group reached the river, and Jack led them through it, at the same area that he waded through the river when he running from them. As soon as Jack crossed the river, with the rest of them a little bit behind him, but still in the river, he heard that raven caw out loudly. He looked behind him, from the direction of the caw and saw the three girls standing there.

“What the?” Jack commented, looking confused.

“Get down!” Kristyn shouted.

Jack quickly obliged, and saw her zap the river behind him with some sort of blue arcing lightning bolts coming from her hands. The lightning struck the water and electrocuted everyone in the river; all the men and dogs that were had been pursuing Jack. I was dumbstruck when I saw her kill them like that. The stench of ozone and death was in the air, as Jack continued to stare.

“Need a hand in getting up?” the third girl, whom Jack did not know, said, holding her hand out to me. “The name’s Lara, by the way.”

“What just happened?” Jack asked, still confused, and in a state of shock.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. But, these people had the intention of capturing you, and doing who knows what kinds of crazy experiments on you, due to your unique genetic background,” Kristyn explained.

“Now, you know why we wanted you to come with us,” Lili said, “to give you a place of sanctuary from the likes of them; as well as to provide a safe place for you, when you undergo your change so that you don’t hurt others.”

“But, who were those people?” Jack replied, still looking like he had seen something out of the works of fiction.

“We don’t know, but we have encountered them on a number of times when we were trying to pick others up, over the last three weeks. This is the first time they’ve organized this large of a hunting force though,” Kristyn said. “It would be best for us to get back.”

She turned to me and with a look of compassion, quite the contrast from the look of cold fury that she gave those who threatened me, “So, Jack, are you coming with us? Or do you want to wait for them to come around again?”

Looking back in the river at the smoldering corpses of burnt flesh and fur, Jack looked up at the girls and said, mostly out of fear of what Kristyn could do, “Yeah, I guess so.”

---

Jack could hear a raven cawing in the distance, as the four of them made their way back through the forest, towards Jack’s house. The four of them didn’t say anything much to each other, as the girls let Jack digest the information some more. They were hoping that Jack wouldn’t turn and bolt again.

When they got back to his house, a black SUV pulled up into the driveway. “What kept you, Ray?” Kristyn asked the driver.

“I was keeping an eye on the other vehicles down the road. They left in a hurry about a few minutes ago. I take it that was your doing?”

“Probably,” she replied, in business mode, “I had to fry a group of people who were hunting down Jack. They left me with little choice. Did you get anymore information than we already have about this group?”

“No,” he replied, and then added, “Do you have any idea of who these guys were, Kris? Are they the same people who tried to have their say in our affairs six weeks ago?”

Kristyn thought for a moment, and then glanced over at Jack. She collected herself and then said, “We’ll talk about that later, Ray. For now, I’d like you to meet Jack Thomas. Jack, this is Ray Lomax.”

Ray nodded at Jack, and then turned to talk to Kristyn.

“The plane’s being fueled at the airport, and should be ready to go by the time we get there. We have just enough time to get these two settled in at home, if we leave immediately. We can send someone to collect any personal belongings that Jack may want after we take off, other than what he has in the backpack.”

Kristyn nodded, and motioned for Jack to climb into the vehicle. He climbed in nervously; for him, his life had just been turned upside down. A few moments later, they were on the road and heading to the airport. Jack gazed out the window at the moving landscape, and watched a bird in the distance flying along side the vehicle.

---

After the drive to the airport, and boarding a private jet, Jack was introduced to the other person that they had picked up before him. Lili introduced this person as Brian; he was like Jack and the others there, but the two of them didn’t know anything about the other. Jack politely introduced himself, and then sat down in his seat. The plane took off from the airport about half an hour later for parts unknown to Jack and Brian.

They encouraged Brian and Jack to take a nap, to make the flight go faster. Jack certainly did need one, after that chase through the woods by both sides of this mysterious conflict. The assailants, who seem to be opposed to this group of people, seemed to preoccupy a part of their minds. Jack’s thoughts began to wander as he passed into unconsciousness, hoping that he wouldn’t run into anymore of their kind.

---

A few hours later, Jack awoke to find himself in a hospital room of some kind. Another girl, one that appeared to be Native American in descent, was clutching his hand.

“Oh, you’re awake,” she said, when Jack jerked his hand back.

“Who are you?” I asked, sounding groggy.

“I’m Liz, Kris’s daughter. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thanks, name’s Jack. Forgive me if I don’t get up,” Jack tried to joke.

“Well, it is nice to see this you, before the change.”

“Huh?”

Liz explained, in her best Kristyn impression, “With your abilities becoming active, it won’t be long before you change.”

“I seem to recall something about that along those lines,” Jack replied, as the realization returned to him.

“Yes, as a result of our condition, you will change from a boy into a girl.”

“You’re kidding, right?” he joked, trying to put a happy face on, while the thought of the change he was about to go through was scaring him to death.

“No. I was once in the body of a boy, but now I’m in the body that I seem to have always been meant for.”

“And the same is going to happen to me?”

“Yes. My mom asked me to look after you, while she’s at a meeting. She wants to make sure that all the new recruits adjust easily to their new surroundings and conditions.”

“Okay…,” Jack replied, as he started to drift off again.

“I’ll let you rest,” Liz said, in a compassionate tone and a concerned look on her face. She reassured Jack, “Don’t worry, it will all be fine.”

---

Jack didn’t know what happened next, he could only assume that had passed out again from some kind of sedative that they gave him through his IV. His transformation took place close to midnight.

When Jack had awakened, he took a quick glance at his new surroundings. The room was dark, and he could see the stars through the window. Jack was in a bed, just resting there, as though he had just woken up from a nice restful sleep. The mattress was also comfortable, more so than any hospital mattress.

Jack was shocked when he attempted to sit up in the bed. He felt a weight on his head and chest that he was completely unfamiliar with. He gasped in shock and surprise when he looked down at his chest, as he saw a couple of well developed breasts there, where none had been before. Jack gently poked them to confirm that they were his, and sure enough he did feel the sensation of poking himself. However, that it was definitely different than when he had did to his previous body. Another quick check with his hands revealed that he no longer had any male equipment down between his legs.

Jack suddenly decided that she wanted to see what she looked like now. She tried to get out of the bed that she was now in. She was surprised when several long strands of black hair fell in front of his face, as she sat up; her hair had been short and blond before the change. As she tried to stand, she had to quickly reach for the bed to steady her balance, to prevent herself from falling flat on her face.

The first step was definitely different than one she remembered. It seemed that her center of gravity was vastly different than it had originally been. Seeing as she now sported a pair of breasts and a nice butt, she could definitely see why and how that could be.

She glanced over by the door and made her way over there to turn on the light switch. A quick glance at her hand told him that it was not the hand that she remembered having. The fingers and nails were definitely longer, and it also seemed to be more delicate than the original. Jack, not wanting to waste more time in knowing what she now looked like, made her way over to a mirror on the outside door of the closet.

She gasped again when she saw his new reflection in the mirror for the first time. The girl standing in front of him, with no other way to describe it, was damn beautiful. It looked very different from what her male self used to look like. One thing that she did notice, which completely astonished her, was that she had no need for wearing glasses. Her reflection was crystal clear in her eyes, and this brought a smile to her face.
Dressed in what appeared to be a simple baggy t-shirt that she had been given to use as a nightgown, the loose clothes Jack was wearing did nothing to hide the fact that this body was stunning. It had curvy proportions, but looked underfed. The breasts were pretty big, but she didn’t know what size they were, since she never had the nerve to ask a girl out, let alone what breast cup sizes were.

However, the face was something else. Jack had ended up with long, black hair that flowed down to just past his shoulders, maybe a little longer. The face was elegant; not a blemish on it at all, but the most striking feature of this new face was the eyes. They looked like they had taken their color and shine from emeralds. They seemed to also be intoxicatingly seductive, one could get lost in just looking at them.

A knock on the door broke Jack’s reverie of staring at her new reflection. She jumped a little at the knock, since she had assumed that no one would be up at this late hour. She ended up landing on her new round butt. It hurt a little bit, but then again, she now had the look that she had seen food in a long time.

“Uh…come in?” Jack nervously said, and looked shocked and taken aback at the high, if somewhat sultry voice that came out of his mouth.

In walked another girl whom she had not had the chance to meet. This new girl first looked at the bed, and then at the floor where Jack was sitting, leaning on her new arms.
“Did you have a nice trip?” she asked.

Jack laughed at the joke, but it was more like a giggle. The giggle took Jack by surprise, as she wondered, ‘Since when did I giggle?’

“I’m Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani,” she said, offering a hand to help Jack back to her feet.

“Jack, or I was a Jack,” she replied.

“Yeah, that name no longer fits you. But, we can worry about a new name in a little bit. First, I want to say welcome to the Center. It’s a school for us to attend, so we can finish our required education, and it also provides a safe place for us to learn our new abilities, and to get used to our new bodies.”

She paused for a moment, and asked inquisitively, “Do you know what your abilities are?”
“Sort of,” Jack replied. “All I remember is something about kinetic.”

“Well, from what I’ve been told, you are a chlorokinetic, similar to the other psychokinetics here. But, unlike controlling what some would refer to as the basic elements, you seem to control plants,” Dani explained. “Your power levels are also
comparable to some of the other more powerful people here.”

“Yeah, powerful with plants. I’ll be really scary, won’t I?” Jack replied, sarcastically.

Dani laughed at that joke. “Don’t worry about that. You will meet with a power trainer to help you figure out what you can do. Who knows, you may surprise yourself.”

“Oh, that’s good. I don’t want to accidentally make a plant put a stranglehold on someone. But, who knows what I’ll be able to do.”

Jack looked like she was starting to adapt to her new situation. She had a calm look on her face now, as she seemed to be starting to adjust to her new body.

“No, that would be a bad thing,” Dani replied with a giggle.

At that moment, Jack’s stomach growled loudly. She just realized she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch. Jack pressed her hand against her now flat tummy, looked up and said, “Do you have anything to eat?”

“We have food in the cafeteria. How hungry are you?”

“Very, I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch at school. But, I think I’m going to need something to wear. I don’t exactly want to other people to see me wearing only a large, baggy shirt,” Jack replied, gesturing to her baggy tee.

“Don’t worry about that. There are some decent clothes in the dresser. I won’t look if that’s what you’re worried about. Keep in mind, though, you don’t have anything that I haven’t seen before.”

Jack smirked, and then walked over to the dresser. Inside, she saw a sports bra, a pair of panties, and a pair of sweats. At first, she hesitated; this was somewhat unfamiliar territory. She had never tried on women’s clothing before, but she did know what it looked like from when she had to go clothes shopping. The panties were simple enough, but when it came to the sports bra, Jack had a little trouble with it.

“Uhm…,” Jack said.

“The bra?” Dani asked.

“Yeah…,” she replied.

“Take your time. It’s not that bad or hard to figure out.”

She sighed, and tried to figure it out. After a couple of minutes Jack had managed to get it on, and feeling comfortable on her new chest. The sweats were much simpler by comparison.

“I guess I’m presentable now,” I said.

Dani turned around, and replied as she took an inquisitive stare at Jack’s better dressed appearance, “Yes, although tomorrow, Heather is going to take you to wardrobe so that you can get some more clothes, as well as your school uniform.”

“Okay…,” I commented, “luckily, tomorrow is Saturday.”

“Well, today is Saturday, considering it is about two in the morning.”

“Really?”

She nodded, and led the way to the cafeteria. They arrived there a few minutes later, and judging from the looks of it, it reminded Jack of a college campus dining hall, from the few campus tours that she had been on in high school. Jack was touring college campuses at a younger age than most, since she was almost finished with high school. She had always been smart, but sometimes she wasn’t very street smart, as her father would often point out.

When they got there, Dani explained how the meals worked, and pointed Jack towards some of the premade sandwiches that were available every night. Jack went over and grabbed one of her favorites, a pastrami sandwich and along with a glass of root beer.

After grabbing food and drink, Jack headed to the table that Dani was sitting at and allowed Jack to eat. Dani started talking about what was going to happen: the general schedule for new people, physicals, testing, and beginning to learn what about Jack’s new abilities.

“So, do you have a name for yourself now?” she asked.

Jack nearly choked on my root beer. “Do I need one now?”

“Well, the sooner, the better. Essentially, you’ve been given a new life and a clean slate. Don’t worry; we’re not going to force you into being a girly-girl. We’re just going to nudge you in the direction of how to present yourself as a young woman, but we won’t force the issue. All the girls here were guys, and vice versa, with the exception of most of the staff.”

Jack nodded, as she digested that new piece of information. A few strands of her hair flew down in front of her face. She glanced at how black it was, and it was really black. It reminded her of the raven that had hung out with her in the forest, and how it had stuck around for a while after.

“Raven,” I said.

“Come again?”

“My name is Raven.”

----

Photo Credit: Flora Maria
Original Characters and Universe belong to Lilith Langtree.

The Center: Taking Wing
Chapter 2

Jack was just an ordinary high school student, trying to get by the bullies and through his classes. But, all of that is about to change as a result of something that happened a long time ago.

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.

Chapter 2

Raven awoke later that morning after getting some sleep after her nighttime stroll with Dani. Raven had wanted to stretch her legs a little bit, and so the two of them walked through the dormitories for a short time, before getting some sleep. It was a little bit before eight in the morning on that Saturday, and she didn’t know what to do with herself now. Dani had told her that she and another girl named Heather would be along today to help her pick out some decent clothes for her to wear, considering that all she had to wear was a pair of sweats and a baggy tee shirt.

She just laid there in bed, after she had woken up. She didn’t get to sleep until about three in the morning. Although she had only had five hours of sleep, she did feel rested. Her thoughts were in a whirl after the events of the past twenty-four hours. This time yesterday, she was a guy and attending high school back in her home town. Now, she was a girl, had abilities that she didn’t know how to use or control, and on a strange campus with others that were similar to her. She thought to herself, as she continued to
stare at the ceiling, ‘Life is definitely full of strange surprises.’

She was still lying on her bed in the sweats that she was wearing earlier, when there was a knock at her door.

“Come in,” Raven said, she rolled over on to her side to see who it was.

The door opened, and she saw Dani poke her head in. “Hey there, Miss Sleepyhead. Can we come in?”

“Sure,” Raven replied, as she sat up on the bed.

Dani and another girl walked into the room. This girl looked like the other girls that Raven had seen around her school, but her hair was white as a sheet.

“Raven, I’d like for you to meet Heather,” Dani introduced us.

Heather moved to shake Raven’s hand, and said, “Welcome to the party, fellow PK.”

“Uhh…thanks,” she replied. “What is a PK?”

“Psychokinetics,” Heather said, as though she thought I knew that already. “I’m a
photokinetic, which means that I can manipulate light.”

Raven suddenly had the realization that she did have an inkling of what Heather was talking about, “You mean like how I can manipulate plants?”

“Sort of, it’s different from person to person. The power trainer should help you figure that part of yourself out,” Dani explained.

Raven nodded in understanding. She thought, ‘Makes sense since everyone is uniquely different already.’

“Well, Raven,” Dani said, interrupting Raven’s thoughts. “Would you like to get some new clothes?”

“Yeah, I could definitely use some now,” Raven acknowledged.

“Then, let’s get going,” Heather said, helping Raven to her feet.

Heather was very eager to help this new girl pick out clothes. However, she pulled Raven up to quickly and she bonked her head against the upper bunk of the beds.

“Ouch!” Raven said. “I guess I gotta remember that I’m a little taller than I used to be.”

“How tall were you and now?” Heather asked as she began to lead Raven down the hall towards the wardrobe section of the facility.

“I was about five foot, five, but I think I picked a few more inches up, maybe around five foot eight, or five foot, nine, I think,” she replied.

“I guess that explains why you’re so scrawny,” Dani interjected. “Your change must have used up a lot of your body fat to grow and mold itself into your new form.”

“Probably also explains why I’m starting to feel very hungry again,” Raven commented. She was so hungry that she could eat at least three plates full at a dinner buffet and go back for thirds.

“First, we will get you some new clothes, then we’ll go see about sating your ravenous appetite,” Heather said.

The three of them continued down the hallway for a bit, before they entered a room that was massive. There were rows upon rows of different clothing all of which were various sizes, types, colors, and styles. There were also shelves of different kinds of shoes, as well as stacks of packaged undergarments.

“Whoa,” Raven said. Even when Raven had visited clothing department stores, she had never seen so many clothes in one place.

“Yeah, we have a lot of stuff, don’t we?” Heather joked.

“That’s definitely an understatement.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Heather said, as she dragged Raven towards the clothes. “We need to get you a set of undergarments, a couple of uniforms, exercise outfits, and some street clothes.”

Raven felt that her head was starting to spin around like crazy, as she was being swept around by the whirlwind that was Heather. Dani just smiled as she just stood back and watched, so that she wouldn’t interfere with them and let Heather work her fashion magic. Heather took her through every aisle and rack that she could get her hands on or see for that matter. She first took Raven and measured her arms and legs, and then her chest. Raven seemed to be okay with all the measurements she was taking, and wasn’t too disturbed when Heather measured her chest, which she realized how much went into measuring just that. She had Raven try on various clothes all in what seemed random sizes to her, until Raven seemed to get a better idea on the tightness which fit her mostly comfortably.

After what seemed like hours to Raven, she now had clothing for everything that she would possibly do and need at the Center for the immediate future, such as going to class and exercising both her abilities and mind. She didn’t mind some of the new clothing items that Heather had given her, such as the blouses and panties, which in fact felt very comfortable to wear. However, Raven still didn’t feel too good about the heels and bras, as she realized and was told that those would definitely take some getting used to, and maybe some pain from wearing the heels. She did like the sneakers that Heather suggested, as they were a lot more comfortable than the heels she would have to endure on days when she would have class.

Heather and Dani both insisted that Raven wear the uniform today, including the heels, so that she could get used to new clothes that she would be wearing most of the time, along with the new body. Raven felt completely out of her element while wearing this odd outfit, but knew that it looked good from what Heather and Dani told her.

She thought to herself, ‘The skirt and these heels are certainly different than what I’m used to. Trying not to kill myself in these is going to be a challenge.’

A few moments later, Raven had managed to put all the new clothes on that she was told to wear on and came out to show Dani and Heather what she looked like in them. Heather had her walk around in them, and do a turn around like a fashion model. She observed Raven and asked Raven if the clothes fit and were comfortable.

“You look cute in that outfit,” Dani said, applauding after Raven finished with the impromptu fashion show.

“Cute?” Raven said, skeptically.

“Oh yeah, people are going to have a hard time keeping their eyes off of you,” Heather complimented her.

“Oh boy,” Raven replied, rolling her eyes.

Raven felt her stomach growl loudly, and both of the other girls giggled when they also heard it.

“Come on,” Dani said, managing to stifle her giggles. “Let’s go get some breakfast like we promised.”

-----

After the three of them left the Wardrobe, Heather and Dani both led her to the cafeteria so they could get some breakfast. The three of them entered the line for food, and Raven saw a variety of things to choose from, all of which were making her mouth water from the hunger. Even with all this food, for now, she decided on a stack of pancakes with maple syrup, several sausage links, and some hash browns. To drink, she decided on a very tall glass of orange juice.

They all sat down at a nearby table and began to dig into their meal. A short time later, other people began entering the cafeteria for some breakfast on that sunny Saturday. Dani and Heather waved to a group of people to come over and join the three of them, as they ate their good food.

Raven watched as the group of girls came over and joined them, one of which had her nose buried deeply in a worn leather and blood-stained book. They all sat down at the table with Raven, and began to chat with Dani and Heather, seeming to not care much about Raven at the moment, before Heather started to introduce them, and what all of their powers were.

The first was Heather’s roommate, Debbie, which was the girl that had her nose deeply buried in the old book. Debbie was an Omni-Linguist, which meant that she was able to read virtually anything, in any language. Next in line was Sheri, the Token-Reader, who possessed a head full of rich purple-colored hair. A Token-Reader could sense imprints that emotions and memories left on objects or people. Raven recognized Lili and Lara from when they had picked her up. Heather explained that Lili was a telepath, while Lara was a Pathfinder, someone who was even better than a bloodhound. Rita, the Eraser, was the next to be introduced. She was good at erasing any memories from people that she wanted. The last three girls of the group then took their seats at the table. The first of this bunch was Samantha; she had arrived at the Center about three weeks ago, and she was a Memory Psion, a person able to attack a person’s mind by trapping them within their own memories. Alistaria was the next person to have a seat and be introduced; she very closely resembled a Valkyrie from Norse mythology. She also was a Psychokinetic, but more specifically an Aerokinetic, the ability to manipulate air. Finally, there was Luna, whom had arrived with Raven at the Center and had formally gone by Brian. Luna has silvery hair, much like the full moon on a clear starry night; it even shined brightly when the light caught it. From what they knew about her so far, she was also a Psychokinetic. Heather had the ability to manipulate light, while she had the ability to manipulate shadows. They thought up the name Umbrakinetic for her, for the shadows.

Raven noticed that all of the girls, except for Dani, were wearing some sort of tight, black gym clothing, as well as a pair of tennis shoes, instead of heels. These all had the effect of outlining their bodies more than normal, and if Raven were still Jack right now, he would be shifting in his seat to hide his embarrassment of being around so many beautiful women dressed in ways that exemplified their natural beauty. While a part of Raven was still turned on at the sight of seeing a bunch of beautiful women around, it wasn’t as much as it would have been before.

Raven felt nervous about being around so many people at the same time. As Jack, he had kept to himself a lot at school, even in small groups, and when he was not getting beat up by Harold and his gang of bullies. She concentrated on her food at the moment, since she didn’t feel like jumping into the conversation right away. She also had no idea of what to say, since she had never been a part of a group this big.

She was snapped out of her reverie when the girl sitting next to her said, “Could you please pass the pepper?”

Raven snapped her head up and said, “Oh, the pepper? Yeah, sure.”

She looked around at the table, found it, and handed to the girl who requested it. She then saw that it was the silver-haired girl, Luna.

“Here you go,” Raven said.

“Thanks. So, how are you adjusting to the new body?” she replied.

“Okay, for the most part. I’m not a huge fan of the heels though.”

“Tell me about it. Between them and the bra, I’m not sure which is harder to get used to. I saw you on the plane last night; by the way, I was Brian.”

“Well, you’re certainly definitely much different now than how you looked before,” Raven retorted.

“Yeah, I lost about four inches in height, and I’m much more petite and delicate, and I can do crazy things with shadows, or so they tell me that I can.”

“For me, I seemed to have gained four inches, and have the body of a model now. If I was still a guy, I’d be scared to even talk to someone like me.”

Luna giggled at that. “You’re still on the scrawny side. Probably when you put some more meat on those bones, then you’ll have the body of a real model.”

Raven laughed, and then thought to herself, ‘Great, just what I need. To have all sorts of guys ogling over me.’

“So, what’s your specialty?” Luna asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“I’m a Chlorokinetic, or so they have told tell me,”

“Plants?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You’d be surprised what you unintentionally did yesterday,” Lara interjected into their
conversation.

“Huh?”

“Your abilities tried to conceal you by making the plants grow to cover your tracks, and
even to partly hide your location. I’m a Pathfinder, which means that I can track someone, no matter what they do or where they go. I also know enough about tracking that nothing can move easily through dense foliage, and not leave a visible sign of it being disturbed I anyway, but you did a little bit.”

“Wow, I just thought that I was hyped up on adrenaline when I saw all that,” Raven replied, taking a drink of her orange juice.

“Also,” Dani added, “when you changed, all the plants in the immediate vicinity of the bunker grew like crazy; they must’ve all grown by at least a good four to six inches. The groundskeepers have been complaining since they saw how tall the grass had become, considering that they had just mowed the lawn the day before.”

Luna and Lara both giggled at this, while Raven looked embarrassed by what she didn’t mean to do the people and the plants.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Dani said, sympathetically. “At least you didn’t blow the power grid like someone had done.”

Raven laughed at that. “Who could do that?”

“Kristyn did,” Dani replied, “a few times actually, when she was just beginning to learn her powers.”

Raven looked shocked when Dani told her that. She saw how powerful Kristyn was when she stopped those guys at the river yesterday, but she didn’t realize that Kristyn was even that powerful.

“Well, you’d better hurry up and eat. You have your physical right after breakfast.”

“Physical?” Raven said.

“Yeah, we have to make sure that you are in good health and that everything in your new
body is working.”

Luna gave a consoling look, and placed her hand on Raven’s shoulder before saying, “Don’t worry to much. But, it’s not the most pleasant of experiences to go through.”

Raven now looked a bit worried about what the doctors were going to do to her. But, she didn’t dwell too much on it, because she figured that it might be a bit too much to think about. She was broken from those thoughts when Kristyn and Liz joined the table.

Kristyn looked the part of a professional business type woman, with what appeared to be a United States military identification on her outfit, from what Raven could see of it. She could also barely make out the words, US Army and Warrant Officer on the identification tag. Liz, who seemed to be looking very happy and dressed similarly to the other ladies at the table, sat down next to her mother and immediately started to engage Raven in a conversation.

“So, how are you feeling today, Raven?” she asked buoyantly.

“Fine, thanks,” she replied. “It’s Liz, right?”

“Yep, I see you remembered.”

“Well, how could I forget? You have an excellent bedside manner.”

“Thank you. I must say, you look very pretty. I’m guessing Heather helped you with your
clothes, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Good. She has a good eye for clothes and other things like that.”

Kristyn had just finished up a quick conversation with Dani when she turned her attention to Raven to talk about a few business matters.

“So, Raven, are you adjusting well to your new life?”

“I guess so,” she meekly replied.

“Don’t worry. It’s not so bad,” she reassured. “After your physical, I would like for you to come to my office, so we can just chat for a bit. I’ve been in your shoes before, and I want to make sure that I can make sure that you can adjust and enjoy yourself here.”

Raven felt a little better after Kristyn had said that. It made her feel like she could make this place into a new home for herself there and may be happy. However, she did miss Jessica and her father very much.

-----

Liz was chosen to escort Raven to the infirmary, where Raven would have her physical exam. Just to make sure everything was in working order after she had undergone her change. Along the way, Liz did her best to keep Raven’s spirits up and to not let her worry about it too much; however, it wasn’t working very well. Raven’s mind was wondering what was going to happen during this doctor visit, and how different was it from the one she had when she was a male.

After a few minutes of walking through the drab military-style corridors, they arrived at the Center’s infirmary. They both walked in, and Raven found that it looked very much like a doctor’s office; it even had the smell of one. Liz quickly introduced Raven to Dr. Litchburg, when they entered. The doctor shook her hand, and handed her a pink hospital gown, and told her to go with Liz to change. Liz took her to where she could get changed, which was a small annex just off to the examination room.

The exam, for the most part, was like the checkups that Raven had experienced as Jack, with one notable exception. Liz led Raven to the room where all the gynecological exams were held. Raven took a loud gulp, as Liz helped her adjust the stirrups for her height. Most girls would have just lain down and the nurse would have the stirrups come up to them. However, Raven was taller than the average girl, and Liz had to instruct on her where to best position her body for the doctor.

“Don’t worry. This is all a part of being a girl now. For me, it wasn’t as bad as I was told it was. But, then again, I always wanted to be a girl.”

After Raven was situated and the nurse had sterilized the instruments that the doctor was going to need to perform the exam, the nurse went out to call him in to perform the exam. The doctor locked the door after entering, out of concern for privacy. He had a look on his face that said that he never enjoyed this part.

Liz held Raven hand’s the whole way through the process as she felt things that she had never wanted to feel at all. The nurse and doctor explained how this exam was vital for her health, but Raven just tried to ignore everything she was feeling so that she could get through it as quickly as possible. The doctor did his best to reassure Raven that everything would be okay and for her to relax.

After what seemed like an eternity to Raven, the doctor pronounced that he was finished, and quietly left the room. The doctor looked apologetic for what he had to do, in the interests of Raven’s health. While Raven looked like she never wanted anything like that to happen again.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Liz asked.

Raven nodded. “That did not feel good at all!”

Raven began to cry feeling like she had been violated in some way, and Liz did her best to try to comfort her, bringing Raven her clothes so she could get out of there. After Raven was dressed again, Liz walked over to her and gave her a hug to try to make her feel better from that.

-----

After a few minutes, Liz took Raven to the doctor’s personal office, and did her best to make Raven feel better after that exam. The doctor motioned for the two of them to take a seat in the comfy armchairs across from his desk. The doctor looked like he was staring intently on Raven’s file, with his elbows were on the desk with his hands together with his forehead leaning on his hands.

“First, Raven, I apologize for the nature of the women’s physical examination. I know it can be disconcerting and more embarrassing to what you were used to as a man. However, it is necessary to make sure you are in good health and nothing is wrong. It’s a good method to find things that other tests may miss, and it happens again with your yearly physical.
Raven nodded solemnly, as she tried to understand everything.

“On a lighter note, you are in perfect health. Comparing your file from your previous body, it seems that your change ate up most of your body fat since you actually grew a few inches to become a full five foot, nine. Your weight is at one hundred and thirty pounds, I would like for you to bring that up by at least fifteen or twenty pounds, due to the nature of your physical change.

“To help build your body mass back up to around average levels, I strongly suggest that you eat some complex carbohydrates, white meat and some fruits. Go sparingly on sweets and junk food for awhile, since those are just empty calories and they won’t help you very much at the moment, and they can cause more harm than good at the moment. Any questions?”
Raven shook her head, and said, “No. Thank you, doctor.”

The doctor nodded, and closed up the file. As Liz and Raven were exiting the room, the doctor said, “If you have any other questions regarding any aspect of your health, my door is always open.”

In the hallway, Liz turned to Raven and said, “Look at it this way, the worst part of your day is over with now.”

Raven smiled weakly, and replied softly, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Hey,” Liz continued in an upbeat tone, “at least there’s nothing wrong with you.”

Raven laughed briefly, “You’re right about that.”

“Okay, then. Stop being so down. If you feel like you need a rest, I’ll escort you back to your room, for a short nap. Then, we can get you to my mom’s office.”

Raven agreed with taking a little rest at the moment. That was an experience that she needed to put behind her, if she wanted a level head.

She then asked, “Liz, why do you keep calling Kristyn your mom? She looks as old as you are.”

“Well, that’s because she’s both.”

“Huh?”

“Kris was there with me the whole time that I underwent my change. She cared for me like a mother would. During the change, we developed some sort of emotional imprint on each other that bonded us in a mother-daughter kind of role. We both enjoy the role, and Kris enjoys being a mother to the rest of us here, not just me.”

Raven sighed and thought, ‘Is that why she’s acting so nice to everyone, not just because she’s friends with them?’

Raven then brought up another question that was on her mind since breakfast. “Liz, how come most of the girls were wearing tight fitting uniforms, instead of the school uniform that I’m wearing?”

“That’s simple. Friday afternoons and Saturdays are for special training of our individual powers. The school uniform is too cumbersome for those kinds of exercises, so
we wear these. They are much more practical as well.”

“So, when do I start learning about my powers?”

“Soon, I would guess, from what I’ve been told from everyone else here. Since, everyone has unique abilities, they each do something different. Since I’m a healer, I don’t need as much training as some people, with the exception of learning anatomy and other medical information since I want to help out in the infirmary here. The doctor finally relented, and is helping me learn what I need to know.”

Raven look changed to one of deep thought, but Liz headed her off quickly by saying, “I’m sure that you’ll enjoy learning about your powers. I know that everyone has fun with learning those.”

-----

An hour later, after Raven had a quick nap, the two of them arrived at Kristyn’s office, in the administration area of the facility a few minutes later. The secretary ushered them into the office, after checking with Kristyn to make sure that she was ready for them.
Kristyn’s office looked and felt like a government office. Inside the office, there were a couple of filing cabinets behind the desk that Kristyn sat at, while there were two chairs in front of the desk for guests. Kristyn was sitting behind a wooden desk, with various office supplies scattered upon it, as well as a computer. The desk also had some flowers in a potted plant sitting upon it, which contained a few sunflowers that were beginning to bud. Her attention focused on the monitor at the moment.

“Do you need for me to do anything else, Mom?”

“No, thank you for helping her, Liz. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Liz left the office, and headed for where she was supposed to be, after being Raven’s guide.

“Please, have a seat, Raven,” Kristyn said.

Raven took one of the chairs that were across from Kristyn, and her eyes passed by the sunflowers sitting on the desktop. For some reason to her, Raven felt like the flowers were feeling a little neglected by Kristyn. If there was some way that Raven could make them feel better, she would do it.

‘They would look better if they were in bloom,’ Raven thought.

“So, Raven, how are you? Did the physical go well?” Kristyn asked.
Raven shifted in her seat when that topic came up. She didn’t enjoy the physical, but did understand that it was necessary.

“As far I know, Kristyn, I’m in perfect health. Just need to pick up some weight to rebuild what my body used during the physical change.”

Kristyn nodded, and then said, “I still remember my first physical with this body, and I do understand what you felt, both physically and emotionally. Also, you can call me Kris, if you’d like, if that would make things easier.”

Kristyn leaned back in her chair and sighed. She continued, “Anyway, let’s move on to nicer topics.”

She sat back up in the chair, and placed her hands and arms on the desk before saying,
“First, do you have any questions that you want answered from what you have seen so far?”
Raven thought for a moment before she said, “Well, I was wondering; when will I get to start learning about my powers?”

Kristyn explained, “Well, you will start learning about your powers after we take care of a few more things to get you completely settled in and ready for school. Since, we still want you to get a good education.”

She went on, “First, you are going to take some standardized tests, so we know where your strengths are academically, and in some other areas. Also, you are going to take a psychological evaluation to make sure that you are adjusting well to the new you. There are also going to be some fitness tests to see what your new body can do, and you’ll need to meet with our new counselor so that they can also help you adjust to the new you. After all that, you’ll meet with the power trainers and start figuring out your powers, as well as pick anything else up that you will want to do, such as learning one of the martial arts.”

Raven nodded in understanding as she began to digest all the information that Kristyn had given her. She thought, ‘Damn, I was hoping I could start learning about my powers sooner than that.’

“Also, to help you get around the facility, and keep everything organized, here’s your new phone.”

Kristyn pulled out what looked like an iPhone out of her desk drawer and handed it to Raven. Raven looked at it, she never had an iPhone, or any cell phone before, so she was a little in the dark about how to use it.

Kristyn laughed a little when she saw Raven’s difficulty, “Never used one of those before?”

“Umm…no. I have never had a cell phone.”

Kristyn looked a little wide-eyed. “Never? Really?”

“Nope. There was no need for one, since there was barely any signal strength in the foothills, from what Jessica has told me.”

“Jessica?”

“She was my best friend, when I was Jack. She also gave me this.”

When Raven went to grab the necklace that she remembered as Jack having around her neck,
she realized that it wasn’t there anymore.

“Where is it?” she said frantically.

“Where’s what?” Kristyn asked.

“The necklace! The silver necklace that she gave me!”

“Were you wearing it when we picked you up?”

“Yes! I’m pretty sure that I was.”

“Hold on a second,” Kristyn grabbed the phone, and began hit one of the speed dial buttons on the phone.

As Kristyn began talking into the phone, inquiring about the necklace that Jack had come in with, Raven was thinking that she now had nothing to link her to her past life.

She thought, ‘On the one hand, I now have a clean break from my old life. But, on the other hand, I miss Jessica and my dad. They were the only people that I could ever talk to.’

Raven was on the verge of tears when she heard the phone click. She looked up at Kristyn with puppy dog eyes, hoping.

“The doctors say they have found your necklace. It was removed from your body before the change so that it wouldn’t get in the way. It is currently on its way back to your room.”
Raven breathed a sigh of relief. Of her past life, she did care a lot for Jessica, and that necklace served as a reminder of a good friendship.

“Thank you,” Raven said, before a series of questions popped into her mind. “What about my dad? How is he? Isn’t he wondering where I am?”

“Your father has been told that the CDC had to rush in to collect and quarantine you from a new disease.”

Kristyn sighed and the look on her face said that she didn’t like having to tell people this part.

“He was told that you weren’t expected to survive. Currently, you are a new person. He probably wouldn’t believe you if you told him.”

“So,” Raven said, as tears were starting to well up into her eyes again, “he thinks I’m dead.”

Kristyn nodded. Raven started crying after that confirmation.

Raven got along well with her father. The two of them would go on trips together, play catch in the yard, and enjoyed each other’s company. Also, her dad was very helpful in allowing her to say everything that was on her mind, especially when it came to the beatings that she would get at school.

Kristyn got up from her desk, and went over to comfort Raven. She hugged her, and whispered into her ear, “We all had to go through that. I miss my dad, too.”

Kristyn looked into her eyes, and then said, “Don’t worry. You will get to see him again. We can arrange for that in the future.”

“You mean that?” Raven said, through the sobs.

“Yes, I mean that. You will get to see him again.”

This time it was Raven that gave her a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

It felt like Raven’s happiness at one day seeing her father and best friend was permeating the room. After a while, Kristyn managed to break free of Raven’s grasp, and regained control of the conversation.

“We will let you know when you will be able to see them again. It may not be soon, but it will happen.” Kristyn rubbed her hand against Raven’s shoulder as she said that to her.
Raven nodded, and then said, “So, what happens to me now?”

Kristyn glanced at her watch, and saw that it was approaching dinner time. Most of the day had gone by, and she had accomplished her task of helping Raven settle in to her new home.

“Now, we go get some dinner.”

“Yeah, I am kind of hungry.”

As the two of them left Kristyn’s office, Kristyn noticed the sunflowers she has on her desk. She remembered that they were just beginning to bud as Raven walked in. However, as they were leaving, they were a good six inches taller and were in full bloom. She paused for a second, and looked more closely at the flowers, amazed at how quickly they had grown, and how beautiful they now looked. She surmised that Raven must have influenced their growth somehow through her powers, and she began to wonder at what else Raven could possibly do.

-----

Raven was enjoying the steak, mashed potatoes, and Caesar Salad that she had picked up to eat. She was sitting near Kristyn, Liz, Dani, Alistaria, and Luna at one of the tables enjoying her meal. She hadn’t had a good steak in weeks, and was really enjoying this at the moment.

As she sat and ate her meal, she watched and listened to the conversation that the others were engaged in. Raven still wasn’t ready to jump into the conversation just yet, but she did answer questions that were posed to her by the group.

Raven was still content to keep to herself for the time being. She still had no interest to open up to anyone. She was content to keep to her old habits for now.

Kristyn also wasn’t talking much, but she was watching Raven closely. From the reports she had on her, from her time as Jack, she knew that she kept to herself a lot and didn’t socialize often. Also, she knew that she had originally had only one friend in this world. She surmised that even though Raven could eventually see that friend again someday, Raven was still going to be partially cut off from her, due to the nature and secrecy of their kind, which was imposed by the government. Kristyn thought that she could help Raven meet some new friends, and what better time to crack that shell that she had built up for so many years than do so right now.

“So, Raven,” Kristyn began, after setting down a roll. “What are some of your interests?”
Raven swallowed what she was eating before replying, “Reading, writing some of my own stories, and playing a few online games.” She trailed off after saying this, as it was a little embarrassing to her.

Alistaria set down her fork near her dinner of pepperoni pizza, lasagna, mashed potatoes, and a dinner salad loaded with vegetables, croutons, bacon, and cheese, topped off with ranch salad dressing. She was drinking an iced tea to wash it all down. Alistaria thought that Raven might be an interesting person to get to know.

“You're a writer? That’s awesome, I've always wanted to write a book but I just don’t have the knack for it. Also, what kind of games do you play?” Alistaria said with an interest, all the while trying to engage Raven further, so she could try to get to know her.

Raven hesitated before answering Alistaria, “I write mostly science fiction or fantasy type stories, and play those kinds of games. You’re Alistaria, right?”

She nodded and said, “But you can call me Ali, everyone close to me does.”

She had some more of her lasagna and added, “Did you ever try World of Warcraft?”
Raven nodded. “I played a blood elf paladin, named Drakiara. I had a lot of fun playing
as her.”

Raven recalled the times that she played online with Jessica, who would often play as a tauren druid. They were a good combination in the two versus two arenas.

Ali continued, “Horde, eh? I played Alliance as a night elf death knight named Alistaria. They were a fun class to play as.”

“Isn’t that your name though?” Raven asked, with a puzzled look .

“Yep, I kept the name for myself after I became a girl.”

“Why did you take the name?”

“I used that name for my female persona in role-playing; it was always comfortable for me. It just felt right,” Ali said, through the pizza she was eating.

“It must have made things a little easier, to adapt to the situation.”

“That it did what about you? How did you come up with the name Raven? Were you a fan of the Teen Titans or something?”

“I chose the name in honor of two friends of mine,” Raven said, with a note of fondness in her voice.

She picked up her utensils, and cut a piece of the steak to munch on. Raven was amazed at all the food that Ali was putting away.

‘Ali has a nice figure,’ Raven thought to herself, ‘why is she eating so much?’

“Awesome, I’d like to hear more about them,” Alistaria said, after taking a sip of her iced tea.

“What would you like to hear?” Raven nervously replied.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning? I don’t have anywhere else to go,” she added with a smile.

Ali twirled her fingers creating a small swirl of air to spin the spoon she had in the cup, to stir in some of the sugar she added to the drink.

“Shortly before I was on my way here, and before I met Kris and the others, my best friend Jessica came over to my house. We talked about what happened at school that day, and before she left she gave a silver necklace with a raven on it.”

Alistaria nodded to show that she was still listening, not wanting to interrupt Raven telling her story.

“Then, during the chase with these strange men, after I had ran scared into the forest behind my house and hearing what was going to happen from Kris and Lili, there was this raven that seemed to be looking after me. It seemed that it was like a kind of animal guide.”

“I have one of those, he’s a dragon,” Ali replied.

Raven choked on her food after hearing that.

She cleared her throat and then replied, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Yeah, but you thought I was serious for a second there,” she replied with a chuckle.

“Well, I sometimes listened to the native Miwoks in the area, when they would hold one of their powwows on the school campus. So, I know a little about animal spirit guides.”

“I studied my Cherokee heritage a lot myself, so I know a fair bit as well.”

“The Miwoks offered to help me on a spirit quest to find mine, but I declined their offer. And, you’re part Cherokee? How? You look like you’re from Scandinavia.”
Ali nodded, and then replied, “The whole transformation thing changes a lot.”

“Yeah, I know. I used to be shorter and looked like I was from there. Now, I look like I’m from somewhere in the Mediterranean.”

“Exactly my point, though to be honest I was an overweight hairy nerd, and I looked like I was German. I much prefer the way I am now,” she said with a smile.

“But, doesn’t it feel weird to be a girl now?” Raven asked with some curiosity.

“It felt weird to be a guy before; it just feels right to me now. If that can make any sense to you.”

“If it makes sense to you, then I’m fine with that,” Raven said, as she took another bite
of her juicy steak.

“Whatever works,” she said, as she stirred her drink with another burst of air.

Alistaria took another sip of her tea after she swirled it, before she began eating some of her salad.

“I’m not sure if I can get used to it though. Although, I was never really much of a guy to begin with,” Raven admitted.

“I’m sure you will in time, from what I’ve been told almost everyone has trouble at first.”

“I guess. But, I don’t know what to do at times with this body. And, these heels aren’t helping too much.”

“I wear sneakers,” she replied.

“How is that possible? I thought heels were a part of the uniform.”

“They are. But, my arches make them more difficult to wear, and I’m six feet tall, so heels are a little superfluous to be adding any more height. Besides, I have men’s size nine feet. It’s difficult to find heels my size anyway.”

Kristyn interjected and said, “They’re not so bad once you get used to them though.”

“I guess,” Raven said sullenly, “but, they’re going to make things difficult for the next few days.”

“So, what are your abilities?” Ali asked.

“I’ve been told I’m a Chlorokinetic, plant manipulation.”

“Interesting, I’m an Aerokinetic, as you can probably tell from the way I’m stirring my tea.”

“I had noticed a little breeze every once and a while,” Raven replied. “I only I wish I knew how to do something like that, I have no clue how to use my powers yet.”

“Oh, I’m sure that you’ll enjoy your abilities, once you begin to learn them.”

“I hope so,” Raven said hopefully.

Raven was looking forward to learning about her abilities, but she didn’t know what they would be capable of, since it wasn’t as cool as manipulating electricity or air.

Raven and Ali continued to talk for a while. After about another half an hour of talking about various things they headed back to their rooms for the night.

Kristyn thought to herself, after she saw their conversation, ‘Looks like the start of a beautiful friendship.’

-----

The next day, Raven woke up in her new bed, oddly feeling well rested and happy. She was wearing the necklace that Jessica had given her the other day, after it had been finally returned to her. It was currently the only link to her past life, and she treasured it deeply and knew she would be lost without it.

Raven turned over, and in doing so, still held the necklace in her hands. She knew that this day would certainly be an interesting one. From what she was told last night, she would be taking a tour of the Center and had an appointment at the salon. But, she wouldn’t be spending much time there, since she also had a counseling session with Dr. Tipps today. So, between all these things, it was going to be a busy day for her.

Raven hoped that she would meet her prior acquaintances from yesterday, but knew for sure that she would be seeing at least one of them. She couldn’t remember their name at the moment, but was told that the girl would find her. They would have a quick breakfast and be on their tour from there. They were going to end their tour with Raven’s salon appointment, and after that she would have her counseling session, her final appointment for the day.

Raven climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to go take a quick shower before meeting with the others a short time later. Raven hadn’t had a shower in a couple of days. She knew that she had to get cleaned up, since she definitely felt like needed a good scrub.
She found the washcloth, soap, shampoo, and conditioner that she had been given easily enough. She slipped out of the dark blue nightie that she had picked out with Heather and Dani yesterday, grabbed the toiletries and two towels, and turned on the warm water.

As soon as the water hit her skin, she had a kneejerk reaction to it. She remembered that the water had never aggravated her like needles driving into her skin or be stimulating in the erotic sense. Eventually, she managed to ease into the water and get used to it. Although, when she started to scrub herself down, her body reacted to what she was doing. She began to realize that her skin was a lot more sensitive than it used to be as a man. She gently washed her skin, and then started to apply the shampoo to her hair.

It took a lot longer to lather up her long black locks of hair, but she managed to get it all worked in. She worked it through as best she could, and then she applied the conditioner in a similar manner. She figured that she would need both, since both bottles were there for her. After finishing with the conditioner, she let the warm water caress her body for a bit, as it was now feeling good on her skin.

After she got out of the shower, she tried drying herself off with a fluffy purple towel the same way she had always done before. But, her hair was still soaking wet. She tried wringing it out, and managed to do so, but only after several minutes of applying a death grip on her thick hair. She wrapped the towels around her hair and her body, and went back into her room so that she could put some clothes on.

She was told that Sundays were free days, so she picked out a red blouse and some blue jeans to go with the socks and white sneakers. It was a simple outfit, and something that she would have worn in the male equivalents in her former life was oddly comfortable and relaxing, which is what she felt like she needed at a time like this. She wasn’t quite ready to be more girly just yet, but she was ready to go at least some of the way.

Her hair was still damp, but not dripping, as she entered the cafeteria. She went over and grabbed a stack of pancakes, toast, bacon, and sausage, as well as a tall glass of orange juice. She sat down near some of the other girls she had met yesterday, and had seen them already sitting there, except for one girl that she did not recognize. She was talking adamantly with Dani.

Raven didn’t catch much of the conversation between the two, since it wasn’t her business and she didn’t want to seem like she was eavesdropping on them. They seemed to be enjoying each other’s company, from what Raven could see anyways. If they were involved, Raven couldn’t tell, since she had never been close to anyone except for Jessica, and she didn’t like to spy on other people or gossip about them when she was at her old high school.

She was just starting to dig into her meal, when suddenly Dani said, “Hey Raven, did you have a good evening?”

Raven was taken a little by surprise, but she didn’t jump or lose her breakfast. She replied, “It was okay.”

“Oh! This is Tina,” Dani said, introducing her companion.

Tina said, “Hello, Raven, how are you adjusting?”

“Nice to meet you, Tina, and I’m adjusting well enough, I think.”

“It can be a challenge to adjust to the new body, although some of us prefer to hang on to various parts of our old lives,” Tina replied.

Raven looked down at the necklace she was wearing, and thought of Jessica briefly, before Tina continued.

“Would it shock you to know that my name is actually Christopher?” Tina said.

That statement Tina just said had given Raven a look of shock on her face, as she dropped her fork on to her plate.

“What?” Raven said.

“I was a girl before the change, and now I’m a guy. But, I still prefer to be a girl,” Tina explained.

“And, she’s a lot cuter when she acts the part, too,” Dani added.

“Whatever works, I guess,” Raven said.

Tina quickly changed the subject, “Well, when you’re done with your meal, Dani and I will take you on a tour of the Center and to the salon.”

Raven nodded, and went back to eating her breakfast, not knowing that it would be two people giving the tour, but she didn’t care much about that trivial fact. She respected Tina’s decision to remain true to herself, and was glad to know from Tina’s example, that she didn’t have to act anyway she didn’t want to.

-----

After the three of them had finished their breakfasts, Raven was led on a tour of the Center. She was already familiar with Wardrobe, the cafeteria, and the dormitories. So, they started with the administration offices.

They explained that the entire operation was run by an Army colonel by the name of Harris. He had been around since the beginning of the program. The other offices were Kristyn’s, which Raven had already been to, the admissions office, and the security office. The offices were pretty simple and ran efficiently from what Dani told Raven.

From there, they walked by the armory and the mission briefing room. They explained that this is where the people would stop there before going on retrieval missions to find other people like them, and take them to the Center.

They continued on and they eventually reached the research laboratories. These were rarely used since the Center didn’t have the necessary resources to keep a staff of scientists on hand all the time. They had the basic research facilities for chemical and biological research. This piqued Raven’s interest a bit, since she always into biology was now into molecular biology from what she had been reading recently. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time to spend there, due to the salon appointment.

They walked by the classrooms next, where Raven would be joining them for classes in the coming days, after she had finished with her testing to determine her abilities.
The three of them continued on, showing Raven the gymnasium next. For the most part, it was a normal gym that one could find anywhere, but this gym also had private training facilities for some of the more powerful kinetics and a power training room for general usage.

Raven said very little as the Tina and Dani explained everything to her as they walked around the Center. It was an impressive facility, but Raven felt like she was being a little overwhelmed with everything that she was seeing and hearing. Eventually, they made their way to the salon for Raven’s appointment. The two ladies, Sandra and Minnie, had just finished setting up shop when the three of them arrived.

“Sandra, Minnie,” Dani began. “This is Raven.”

“Well, isn’t she a beauty,” Minnie said.

“You got that right,” Sandra added, with some giddiness. “I’m going to have some fun with her.”

Raven gulped when she said that. She had never been to a salon before, but assumed it was like a barber shop for women to go and get their hair done.

“What are you going to do?” Raven asked meekly.

“Nothing too much,” Sandra said. “We’ll just do your hair and nails today and makeup if you want to go for that.”

Raven didn’t want to go very girly, so she said, “I think no makeup for me today.”

“Very well,” Sandra said, “If you would just have a seat here, we can get started.”

Raven walked over to the seat Sandra indicated, and tried to relax. It was difficult for her, since this was all new to her.

“Uhh…,” Raven said, as Sandra attached the smock to her, “what exactly are you going to do my hair?”

“Well, besides give it your hair a little trim, I’m going to wash it and style it a bit, so that way you can look like the princess that you have hiding underneath your simple appearance. You’re also getting a manicure and a pedicure.”

‘Princess?’ Raven thought.

She then soaked Raven’s hair, and began lathering it up with a fruity scented shampoo. However, Raven had felt nothing like this as Sandra began to work her magic. Even though Raven had washed her hair this morning, it hadn’t felt anything like what they she was doing. The feelings that Raven were feeling were incredible, as they were shooting through her body. Raven just felt so much more relaxed as Sandra continued on.

After a while, Sandra began working on Raven’s nails. Like most of the other new girls, she had her nails extended by just an inch. It was definitely a new experience for Raven, since she had been a nail biter before, but now she didn’t want to anymore, since they looked so good. She also had her nails painted red to match her blouse.

When she saw herself in the mirror, after Sandra had finished with her, she couldn’t believe her eyes. It looked like there was a beautiful, young woman looking back at her, even without any makeup to amplify the features of her face.

“Wow,” Raven said.

“See, I told you that you were going to look like a princess,” Sandra said, as she put her hands on Raven’s shoulders and smiled in the mirror at her.

When she showed Tina and Dani, who had decided to wait outside to see what she was going to look like, they were blown away. Tina immediately suggested that they do her makeup now, but Raven still didn’t want to. Tina looked a little disappointed, but understood.

-----

After Dani and Tina had left to go meet with Kristyn, Raven made her way to Dr. Tipps’ office for her counseling session with him. Raven suddenly had a large group of butterflies fluttering around her stomach. This was the one thing that she had not been looking forward to today.

The secretary showed her in to the office, and said that the doctor would be back soon, after a meeting with Colonel Harris. Raven took a seat across from the psychologist’s desk, as she patiently waited for the doctor to arrive.

She wondered what he would do to her, hoping that he wouldn’t hypnotize her into some kind of walking automaton to do his bidding, or some of the other things that she had read about. She didn’t know for certain what a psychologist did, but she did know that it had something to do with the mind.

The door opened a few minutes later, and in walked a middle-aged woman wearing a professional looking blouse and skirt. She had brown shoulder length hair.

“Ah, Miss Raven,” she said with a bit of a gravelly voice.

She extended a hand out to her to shake it, and continued, “I am Doctor Tipps, the Center’s psychologist. I’m sorry that I’m a little late, as I was meeting with the Center’s CO. However, it is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Thanks, it’s nice to meet you, too. What’s a CO?” Raven replied.

The doctor took her seat behind her desk and then said, “A CO is the acronym for commanding officer. I’m former US Army, so I tend to throw the acronyms around. In any case, I’m here to help you make the transition from male to female psychologically. It must be somewhat difficult to get used to the fact that your gender has been switched and your identity started anew.”

“Yeah, it has been difficult,” Raven said.

“How so?” Tipps asked.

“Well, I have to change most of my old habits now. A five minute shower no longer does the job anymore. Also, there are a lot of different sensations that I seem to be processing, now that my body is wired differently.”

“Such as?”

“Umm…,” she said, “when I was at the salon earlier today. When Sandra was washing my hair, it seemed more pleasurable than when I washed my hair as a guy.”

“Okay. Also, you need to keep in mind about refraining to use ‘um’s.’ Women generally don’t use such terminology. They think about what they are going to say, and then say it.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“What else is difficult about the change?”

“The clothes, getting ready for things. Everything seems to take much longer than it used to,” Raven went on.

“That’s because of the culture we live in,” Tipps explained. “Women, in modern Western culture, are generally supposed to look nice, wherever they go. Of course, the more important the occasion, the nicer they are supposed to look.”

“Sexism?” she asked.

“A bit of it. But, women have made it into their own style. They are also able to use it to their advantage at times as well.”

“Wow,” Raven said, as she was beginning to realize that being a girl may not be so bad.

“It is important to immerse yourself into your new gender. Otherwise, things could get a little messy.”

Raven thought for a second, ‘Yeah, it wouldn’t go over well acting like a guy in a girl’s body. Although, I did know of a few tomboys back at my old school.’

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. A lot of people here made the adjustment very well.”

She changed the subject to something that Raven didn’t expect. “So, do you have the rest of your name figured out?”

“Rest of my name?”

“Yes, you are going to need a new last name, middle is optional, to finish your paperwork.”
Raven thought about for a while, and then said, “Raven Melissa Hawkins.”

Dr. Tipps nodded, and then reached into her desk for the rest of Raven’s paperwork for her to sign. The name change, new birth certificates, social security number, and the whole nine yards.

“Congratulations, Miss Hawkins, you fully exist in the eyes of the bureaucrats again,” Tipps said, with a poor taste in humor.

“Like they’re really even that important,” Raven said sarcastically, “But, paperwork does make the world go around.”

“All too often.”

Dr. Tipps filed the paperwork into Raven’s file and then said, “I’ll get these over to Colonel Harris, so he can get your identifications and everything else made up in a short while.”

“Thank you.”

“If there is nothing else on your mind, you can return to your room, or walk around if you wish. Also, my door is always open if you just would like to talk.”

Raven nodded politely at the doctor, and left the office, as she headed back to her room.

 
 
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.

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Chapter 3

Raven awoke early, since she wanted to get the tests that she still had to do over and done with as soon as possible. At breakfast, the next day, Raven dug ravenously into her large meal; she hoped and had planned it so it would give her the maximum amount of brainpower. For the past few days, she had been very hungry, and yet, she was only putting on a small amount of weight in comparison. She had no idea of where all that food was going, but she didn’t feel any different, than she had acquired her new body and identity.

She thought to herself, ‘Well, I could use the energy today, due to all of those tests that I’m going to have to take.’

On Raven’s schedule today were tests, tests, and more tests. The morning started with the academic and psychological tests, with the fitness tests in the afternoon. She felt like she wanted to have them done and over with, since she also wanted to start a stable routine again, similar to what she had before.

It was a bit of a walk to the second floor and down the Center’s bland corridors, which she did the best that she could wearing the heels, that she still wasn’t used to, and school uniform that she needed to wear. She arrived at Dr. Tipps’ office once again, and tapped on the door.

“Anyone home?” Raven asked, as she entered the office.

Dr. Tipps, clad in a knee skirt and light red blouse, looked up at the young black-haired girl that had just entered her office. She glanced up at the clock and said, “You’re early.”

“Well, I just want to get them done and over with,” Raven replied. “I want to return to a life as stable as it can get around here.”

Dr. Tipps shook her head, with a small laugh, and answered, “I can understand that.”

Dr. Tipps then motioned towards the table and the booklets, and Raven quickly took her seat. “You have an hour each to complete the three tests.”

The tests were simple to understand. The first test reminded Raven of a test that she had taken back in high school. She briefly recalled that it was called the ASVAB and it was a standardized test used by the military. The second test was definitely different than the first, since it asked more abstract questions, based off of a sequence of pictures. The final test was even stranger as it asked a variety of questions that applied to everyday life, from current events to sex life.

Raven produced some strange looks on her face when she went through some of those questions, especially those that dealt with sex life. Raven glanced at Mrs. Tipps more than a few times as she proceeded through the various questions. After the three hours were up, and Raven had finished off the last question, which dealt with saving your mother or your father if both were in dire peril, Mrs. Tipps said that she could go to lunch before she needed to go the fitness testing in the gymnasium, as well as to help get her weight up to a healthy level.

“What about the psych tests?” Raven asked.

“You just took them,” Mrs. Tipps replied, with a sly look on her face.

Raven brushed it off, and headed for her room to get changed into the exercise clothing that she had picked out with Heather when she arrived at the Center. After a quick lunch of a BLT and a couple of apples, she headed to gym to meet with the fitness trainer, Lara Weise.

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The gym looked like any other gymnasium that one could find at any of the high schools in the United States. However, this gym was much better equipped than the average high school gym. There were several pieces of weight room equipment in a corner of the gym, all of which were top-of-the line, and where a few of the guys were working out. A door led outside to the quarter mile track and the recreational field for most of the outdoor sports. There was another door that led off to the swimming pool, complete with diving board, and the locker rooms. A tall rock wall ran up the tallest wall of the facility, with of few people climbing on it from what she could see.

Raven was a bit overwhelmed at seeing this training facility, considering that her old high school had only bits and pieces of what is in this place. She asked a nearby student where to find Miss Weise and was directed to the woman standing at the bottom of the rock wall, observing two of the girls that were currently climbing it.

“C’mon, Keys! Put your legs into it!” Weise shouted up at the two. “And don’t think I’m not watching you, Williams!”

Raven made her way over to the rock wall where she saw Liz and Lara climbing the wall trying their best to reach the top, while Kristyn was on belay for Liz, while Lili was doing the same for Lara.

“C’mon, Liz! You can beat Lara to the top!” Kris shouted.

“Are you going to let a healer beat a pathfinder, Lara?” Lili countered.

Lara and Liz both kicked it into gear, with what little strength they had available.

Raven watched eagerly from down below, as she walked towards them. She didn’t think she could do what they were doing, at least not for a while.

As the two girls made their way to the top of the wall, Lara seemed to be able to tap some hidden strength she had left and somehow managed to just out touch Liz.

“Damn!” Kristyn said, softly.

“I win this round, Liz,” Lara said. “But, you did very well.”

“Yeah, better luck next time, huh?” Liz said, somberly.

“I will beat you someday,” she quickly added under her breath and with determination in her voice.

The two girls repelled down from the top of the wall, and upon reaching the bottom, were helped out of their climbing harnesses. The four girls all had a good laugh about the competition. Miss Weise came over to say her bit when all four were done laughing.

“Good work, you four. Hit the locker rooms, we’re done for the day.”

The four girls headed for the locker room, and as they walked, Kristyn waved at Raven. Raven looked a little nervous for a second, and then felt something run down her spine when Weise said, “Miss Hawkins, it’s about time you showed up.”

Raven gulped, with nervousness. She hadn’t heard anything about the physical trainer at the Center. It seemed like the girls either didn’t have much to say about her, or they were letting Raven find out on her own.

“Nice to meet you,” Raven replied.

“Well, why don’t you start loosening up, and we can get started,” she said. “I need to have a quick chat with Miss Keys, and then I will come back. We can then find out just how good your new body really is.”

Raven gulped again as she watched Weise leave to go talk with Kristyn. Raven began stretching her body like she did when she was a guy, and just realized that she was a lot more flexible now and could move in some ways that has a guy she never thought possible.
After a few minutes, Miss Weise came back and said, “Alright, Hawkins, let’s see what you can do.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Raven replied.

“You don’t have to call me ma’am all the time, you can call me Miss Weise if you would prefer.”

“Yes, Miss Weise.”

“Well, let’s get this done and over with. We’ll start by testing your strength over on the weight machines.”

After the weight machines, which included the bench press, Miss Weise led Raven to the track outside of the gym, so that she could do a couple of sprints for Weise to gauge her average speed. And not soon after that, she had Raven run a mile around the track, to test her endurance levels.

A few minutes later after Raven had finished with the mile, she was drinking some Gatorade and was feeling exhausted. She never had days like this in gym before, the closest time she had ever come to this kind of workout, was when they were playing soccer. She was under the belief that they were trying to push her body to its limits and she seemed they might just be able to that with the way they were pushing her.

“So, how are you doing, Hawkins?” Miss Weise said, as she walked over to her, making notes on her clipboard as she came closer.

“Like I’ve been through hell and back,” Raven said.

“Oh, you’re not there yet,” Weise replied, with a mischievous tone in her voice. “Want to cool off?”

Raven nodded, as she drank some more Gatorade to quench her thirst.

“Good, because then you need to get your swimsuit on. You’re doing a few laps in the pool next.”

Raven groaned, and trudged her way to the locker room to get changed into her new single-piece bathing suit. Along the way, she ran into Luna, whom also was heading for the locker room to change.

“Hi, Raven,” Luna said, when they met at the door to the locker room.

“Hey,” Raven replied, who was still feeling really tired.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked, looking concerned at the state that Raven was currently in.

“Yeah,” Raven replied, as they entered, “I’m just doing the physical testing at the moment. I’ve already worked out at the weight machines and the track. Now, she wants me to do some more exercise in the pool. I think she gets kicks out of watching us squirm and come close to the verge of death.”

“Wow, I was just on my way to the pool for a swim.”

“Lucky you,” Raven said, with a touch of a bitterness.

“Well, I had my physical testing yesterday,” Luna consoled, “so, I know what you’re going through.”

“Is there a light at the end of this tunnel?”

“Yes.”

“But, you’re not going to tell me what it is, are you?”

“Nope. It’s sort of an unwritten rule.”

“A terrible one.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t make it up.”

“Well, that’s a stupid rule. It needs to go. I think that I’m going to help the next person that comes in so they don’t have to go through hell and back.”

“That’s your call.”

A few minutes later, both Luna and Raven had changed into their swimming attire. Raven wore a slim black one-piece bathing suit, while Luna chose a red bikini.
“A bikini?” Raven asked, surprised at Luna’s choice of swim attire.

“Yeah, I like it better,” Luna replied.

“Why? Wouldn’t you prefer something a little less revealing?”

“Why should I?”

“Maybe because you were a guy at one time.”

“Oh, I was never a guy,” she replied, jokingly.

“What do you mean?” Raven asked with her curiosity piquing.

“When I was a male, I always felt like I didn’t fit in,” Luna said, beginning her story.
“I always felt like I was out of place with the other guys, and that they didn’t see me as one of them at all.

“It also didn’t help much that when I was playing with my friends, I would play with Stacy and Britney, the girls who lived next door. We would play all sorts of girl games, and a few things that guys do as well. But, I felt more comfortable around them.

“So, during high school and after a bunch of soul searching, talking with friends and family, and just thinking about the possibilities, I figured out that I was actually a girl in a boy’s body. It just felt right to me.

“When Kristyn and Lili showed up, about half a day before I met you, anything else that was questionable or needed a reason fit into place. I didn’t have a problem going with them, since my home never really felt like a home anyways. I was adopted, after I was taken from my first home.

“My birth father,” Luna explained sullenly, “he wasn’t a very good guy. Through most of my early childhood, he seemed to drift. He took the death of my mother hard, since he had loved her very dearly. He never seemed to get over her death.”

“Then, how were you adopted?” Raven asked.

“To try to cope with the death of my mother, he drank a lot. In his drunken stupor, most of the time, he would often beat me for things he thought I did, or for other strange reasons. His mind was really clouded, and seemed to go for the bottle more often than not.”

Luna began to cry a bit, as she recalled a painful experience in her previous life. Her mood lifted a little, when she continued the story.

“When I was about nine years old, during one summer that I was at a friend’s birthday party, the red raw marks of my father were visible on my back. My friend’s father was a police officer and his mother was a lawyer. They pressed me for how I got those beatings, and it all came out. Eventually, a case was built against my father and I was sent to child services. I was adopted a couple of weeks after I became a ward of the state.

“My adoptive parents were cool, and they would help whenever I needed it, it just didn’t feel like a real home for some reason.”

“Wow,” Raven replied, after hearing Luna’s tale. “I never thought about things like that. I was always too wrapped up in school work and trying to learn what I could.”

“To each their own, I guess,” Luna said.

The two of them continued to chat as they made their way to the swimming pool. The pool was Olympic size, and built like many of the pools that try to disperse interference from other lanes, if there was any from any other swimmer. There were also a couple of diving boards nearby, in an added area of the pool where the water was much deeper than the line depths. For the people who just wanted to have a little fun, as well as a few goal nets set around the pool for water polo. Miss Weise was standing near one of the blocks, holding her clipboard and a stopwatch. She didn’t look too pleased at how long Raven was taking.

“It took you long enough to get ready,” Weise said, when the two of them arrived at the swimming pool.

“Sorry,” Raven said, looking nervous again, “we ran into each other and were just talking, when we ran into each other the locker room.”

“Stow the explanations, Hawkins. It’s time to see how well you can swim.”

“Yes, Miss Weise.”

“Good, now climb up onto the blocks, and we can get started. Hallowell, give us at least one lane width apart.”

Raven looked at Luna and said, “Hallowell?”

“What? I was a fan of ‘Charmed,’” she shrugged.

Luna nodded to Weise, and then took a few steps away so that she was able to stretch out to loosen her body up before the laps that she wanted to do, while Raven proceeded with the swimming part of the physical testing.

Weise timed Raven as she made several lengths of the pool swimming freestyle. A couple of lanes over, she could see Luna practicing a medley of various different swimming strokes, going from the butterfly to the backstroke to the breaststroke and back again. Raven wondered if her swimming had improved as a result of the change.

When Raven was finally told to stop at the end of her twentieth lap in the pool, she could feel that she was physically exhausted. She didn’t realize could be sweating so much after the swim.

“Alright, Hawkins,” Weise started, “you can hit the showers now. You’re finished with
this test.”

“Finally,” Raven said, under her breath as she climbed out of the pool.

“Your exercise regime will be shaped by your powers. Since, you are a chlorokinetic, and we have never seen one of those before, we’re going to have to play it by ear, all right?”
Raven nodded, as she continued to breathe heavily.

“Good,” Weise said, as she began to head for her office. “Go get cleaned up and something to eat, you just took a lot of energy out and need to refill it.”

Luna climbed out of the pool and walked over to Raven, and said, “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
Both of the girls started to laugh as they headed for the locker room to change and then get some dinner.

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After breakfast on Tuesday morning, Raven was walking to class with a few of the other girls. Ali was filling Luna in on what was being talked about in class, while Raven was just sitting back and listening.

“Miss Screws is a nice person to learn from. She has a great personality and really wants to see us learn,” Ali said. “I think she may have been a high school teacher at one point in her career.”

“Really? That would have been interesting,” Luna replied.

“Yeah, I think she likes it better here now though. Currently, she’s teaching about something called transcription and translation in biology.”

Raven’s ears perked up at the sound of that. Before being picked up by Kristyn and the others, she was reading about that for fun. It sounded like some of these classes were on par with her old school.

“What do you suppose that is all about?” Luna asked.

“Not sure, but it doesn’t sound too interesting to me.”

The three of them arrived in class in a few minutes later, and they could see Miss Joni Screws setting up something on the computer for their class. The overhead projector was fired up, and they could see her messing with the PowerPoint lecture.

“Could you two please stay right there for a bit?” Miss Screws asked Raven and Luna.
They both nodded, and stood at the front of the classroom while everyone else was taking their seats at the lab benches.

Raven took the time to look around the room, and saw that it resembled her high school science classrooms. The students sat at lab benches, with propane gas vents sticking out of the table. There were many glass cupboards around the room holding things ranging from various chemicals to general laboratory equipment.

Miss Screws called for order, and then she said, “Well, I’d like the two new students to introduce themselves, for those who haven’t already met them. Please tell us a little about yourselves.”

Luna started by saying, “Hi, I’m Luna Hallowell, and I’m originally from San Francisco, California. Umm…, I guess I’ve always felt like I was a girl and now that I am one I couldn’t be any happier.”

The class politely applauded, and then turned to Raven for her introduction.

“My name is Raven Hawkins, and yes, I’m aware of the bird references in my name. I’m originally from San Andreas, California, and I’ve been a bit of a bookworm for most of my life.”

The class again applauded, and Miss Screws said, “Well, if you two can take your seats, we can get started.”

Raven and Luna chose a couple of seats at a bench near the side of the room, which had a window looking out onto the grassy meadow.

“Well, now that the introductions are out of the way,” Miss Screws said, “it’s time to get to today’s lecture. We’ll be discussing the processes of transcription and translation, after this morning’s quiz on DNA replication.”

After taking the five-minute, five-question quiz, the class flipped their notebooks to a blank page and began taking notes, as Screws lectured. Throughout the class, the teacher would often call on people and ask them a question about the topic, and see what they thought.

“So, Miss Hawkins, tell me about RNA processing in eukaryotes,” Miss Screws asked.

“Which kind of RNA?” Raven replied.

“Messenger RNA.”

“Well, the 5’ end of the transcript is capped by a few methylguanosine residues by the enzyme guanosyl transferase. S-Adenosyl methionine is then methylated the last guanine. The cap’s purpose is to protect the 5’ end of the mature mRNA. Meanwhile, the 3’ end of the transcript undergoes polyadenylation to form a poly(A) tail, after the polyadenylation signal sequence is recognized by RNA polymerase II. The tail protects that end of the mRNA similar to the 5’ cap. RNA splicing occurs only in eukaryotic cells to remove the introns from the transcript to create the mature mRNA, and is carrying out by a protein complex called a spliceosome. Alternative splicing can result in different enzymes being encoded from the same gene.”

The class was in shock after Raven had spouted out all that information back to the teacher. They didn’t expect that from someone who was only at their age.

“Umm…,” Miss Screws said, “umm…. That’s very good, Miss Hawkins.”

The class had never seen Miss Screws rendered speechless before. She tried to regain what was left of her composure, but proceeded to drink a lot of the coffee that she had in her coffee mug. Miss Screws would often drink coffee as she lectured in the morning, but she had never downed the entire mug in one class before.

The class eventually continued, after a large caffeine infusion into Miss Screws. She seemed to avoid calling on Raven again, although that didn’t stop Raven from occasionally volunteering information during the rest of the lecture.

The class ended just before ten o’clock, but instead of heading to a different room, Raven and Luna were told that they held all the science classes in that room. As a result, they were told they could go get a drink, use the restroom, and stretch, while the teachers changed and to get ready for physics.

Luna and Raven decided to get a quick drink of some water, along the way to the drinking fountain, Luna said, “How the hell did you know so much when Miss Screws asked that question?”

“What do you mean?” Raven replied.

“I mean, how did you know so much about RNA processing?”

“Oh, that,” Raven replied, as though she got that impression a lot, “I just did. In my spare time, I would often read my science textbooks just for fun. I liked learning about them so much, that it just seemed like a good idea.”

“But, high school textbooks don’t contain that much information in them.”

“Well, I used the internet and looked up more in depth stuff about the different subjects.”
Luna took a quick drink from the water fountain, and stood back up to say, “Wow, you must’ve been quite the geek.”

“Not really,” Raven said, after she took her drink of the water. “I’ve been told that I have a knack for biology. I guess that’s true. But, I sure did feel like a nerd at times.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, there was always this bully who just wouldn’t get off my back. He kept on beating the crap out of me for money, or if I didn’t have any just because he could.”

“Ouch. Didn’t you tell the faculty of this?”

“I did, but he just kept doing it. Eventually, I tried to avoid and ignore him. It worked some of the times, but not always.”

“Wow. At least you don’t have to but up with it here.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace.”

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After the break, the physics class was next. Gordon Beanan was the teacher this time, and he looked the part of a computer nerd and a technical engineer. He set into his lecture, at breakneck speed, pausing only to answer any questions that came up. He had a real passion for the subject, as they could all tell.

Raven and Luna were rushing a bit to jot things that he touched on. But, they did manage to follow the class alright, as they were talking about electricity.

Luna and Raven headed to the cafeteria for the lunch break. Luna picked out a tuna sandwich, while Raven picked out a foot long Italian sub. Both of the girls also grabbed a bag of Doritos and a soda.

The two of them were enjoying their lunch when Debbie and Heather came over to join them.

“Wow, I have never seen Miss Screws act like that at all,” Heather said, while Debbie had her nose buried in a book.

“Not even anything close?” Raven asked.

“Nope, I don’t think that she expected another student to spout out things that she knew about, being a master’s graduate.”

“Well, I’m sorry I caused quite the uproar in class.”

“Don’t be, it was very entertaining. How do you know all that anyway?”

“I just like to learn. I pursued the internet a lot about the various subjects that we went over in my biology classes at my old high school.”

“Okay,” Heather said, as she took a bite into her roast beef sandwich.

Chemistry was the class scheduled after lunch, and Raven giggled when she saw that Miss Screws was the teacher again. She seemed to have partially recover from the episode earlier in the day, but she did give Raven a wary eye.

Class ended Monday through Thursday at three in the afternoon, so that the students could have plenty of time to do their homework, as well as hit the gym if they wanted a workout, or do anything else. They originally had the day end at two, but they discovered that they needed more time in the classroom. Luna walked Raven to her room, still in awe of what happened earlier in the day.

“You’re not going to do that again tomorrow, are you?” she asked.

“No, at least I don’t think I will,” Raven replied.

“Okay, I’m going to hold you to that,” Luna said, looking like she meant that.

Raven laughed, as she opened her door. “I’ll see you at dinner,” she said, as she went to hit the books from the day’s trio of science classes.

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Wednesday consisted of the other half of the classes that were taught at the Center. From the way the schedule was broken up, the science classes were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the other four classes were on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Those days started out with the history class in the other classroom that they used for the non-science classes. The history teacher went by the name of Clyde Finkle. He was a balding, middle-aged man who had a real passion for the past. He would try to bring out the context of what happened with vibrant stories from the times. The course itself was World and United States History rolled into one.

English started at nine thirty, right after history. The English teacher was Tabitha Baynes, who bore a striking resemblance to a librarian. She did enjoy books a lot though, and would try to make them come to life. Although Raven enjoyed a good book, she did have a hard time trying to understand and write the critical writing assignments that went along with enjoying books.

The class before lunch was government, taught by Mallory Gurner. Mallory looked like she used to work for the government in another capacity, as she had a no-nonsense attitude, and laid down the law quickly and effectively. However, the attitude contrasted with the long brown hair and young looks that she possessed.

After lunch, they were back in the classroom with the math class. Miss Gurner also taught the math class, which was pre-calculus. Not much was different, although Raven enjoyed math more than government.

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Raven felt like she was starting to adjust to her new routine of class, when she was told that she would be beginning her power training on Friday. From there, they would determine with form of physical defense that she could train in, that would best augment her powers.

Using the map application on her phone, she made her way to the power training room, near the gymnasium. She was dressed in her exercise outfit, which was essentially a pair of blue exercise tights, with purple stripes.

The power training room was a recent addition to the Center, as they have had incidents where the normal training and the power training could cause serious complications and injuries if they were in the same room with each other. The most notable incident in the old room was a bunch of equipment melting due to extreme electrical energy output. Raven laughed when she figured that it was Kristyn who was the one responsible, since she was the only Electrokinetic at the Center.

When Raven walked in the room, she could see and hear many people working on their unique talents. People were also training their defensive capabilities of their talents on another side of the room. She spotted Kristyn training with a guy that had lime green hair.

Raven walked along the aisle that divided the room in half, one side for offensive and defensive physical training, the other side for their other talents. Raven couldn’t help but look at what people were doing. She saw one person trying to control various amounts of water, while Ali was manipulating the air, and trying to move things around with it.
As Raven was watching all the cool things that were going on, she didn’t watch where she was going and then she bumped into someone.

“Ooof!” she said. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the guy said. “Soon, you will be doing things like that,
Hawkins. George Lions, power trainer here.”

Lions put his hand out, and Raven took it. After a good handshake, he said, “Follow me, I have your area all ready to go.”

Raven nodded, and replied, “Okay.”

They continued down to the end of the room, where they were a good deal separated from the other people in the room. Lions explained that when Raven was undergoing her Second Emergence, the groundskeepers were complaining about all the plant life growing like crazy. They were taking some precautionary measures, so that no one would get hurt. Raven nodded in agreement to that. She didn’t want really want to hurt anyone.

The setup that Lions had done for preparation was definitely varied. He had several tables laid out with various plant life, as well as plants in different stages in life. He had tropical plants, perennials, fruits, mosses, ferns, seeds, plants that had recently come out of the ground, plants that had been removed from the soil, and even a tree.

“Whoa,” Raven said when her eyes first saw the set up.

“Since we don’t have much of an idea of what you can do with your powers, I decided that we try a number of different things. Now, it’s up to you to figure out how to control and manipulate your abilities. I’m not going to put any blocks in that could later hinder you down the road.”

Raven nodded, starting to get a better idea of what she could probably do being a chlorokinetic.

“I have been reading your file, about the incidents during your pickup and your second emergence. During your pickup, the plants seemed to grow to protect you from the other group or anyone else that was pursuing you. And during your second emergence, the plants outside of the building, and a few inside of it, grew rapidly and out of control.”

“So, what does that mean?” Raven asked.

“It means that these events suggest, and verified by your mother’s pregnancy, that you are a level three, and a powerful one at that.”

Raven nodded recalling what happened in the forest behind her old home. “So, where do we start?” she asked.

“That depends on you.”

“What do mean?” Raven asked.

“I mean, what would you like to start trying to manipulate? Seeds, the trees, the sprouts? This session is tailored to fit your individual abilities. To further that aim, we need to figure out what you can do. So, what would you like to try first?”

Raven sighed, as this was a little confusing for her, but she was willing to learn. “How about we start with the vines of ivy?”

“All right,” Lions replied, moving the ivy to the empty table and away from the other objects.

“Now what?”

“Now, why don’t you try to make it move, or make it grow?” Lions said.

“How?”

“That is something that only you can figure out, I’m afraid. I’m just here to come up with crazy ideas that could benefit you.”

Raven rolled her eyes when she heard that, and she shifted her focus on to trying to manipulate the ivy plant in the ceramic planter on the table in front of her. There was no wind in the immediate vicinity, so if the plant moved, it was by Raven’s ability.

However, Raven had no idea what she was doing or how to use her powers, but she tried to make the plant move. She focused on making the vine of ivy that was hanging from the pot and sitting on the table, to hang from both the pot and the table. She concentrated hard, and even squeezed her eyes to try to make it move. However, nothing happened.

Raven took a deep breath and readied herself to try again. She attempted this three more
times, but the most she was able to achieve was have the vine move a little and erratically. Her frustration was evident, and Lions handed her a water bottle while he moved the plant back over to the table with the rest of the plants.

He grabbed the tree and wheeled it over on the dolly that it was sitting on in its planter.
“Maybe we should try something that has been around for a while,” Lion suggested.

“Okay,” Raven said, willing to try anything.

The tree was a willow, which had several low-hanging branches on it, sporting healthy foliage of leaves.

“How about we try to make these vines move around a bit?” Lions suggested.

Raven nodded, as she tried to make the vines move up, similar to a person raising their arm. She figured that she was trying too hard on the ivy, so she went for something a little simpler to do.

After several attempts of this, besides increase the level of frustration she was at, the only thing she managed to do was to make a few of the vines grab each other.

“Urgh!” Raven said in heightened frustration.

“What were you trying to do?” Lions asked, as he put the willow tree back.

“I tried to make it lift one vine like we lift an arm.”

“Ah. Well, you are making these plants do things, just not what you want them to do,” Lions said with some encouragement in his voice.

“Yeah,” Raven agreed.

She countered, “But, it would be better if they did what I would like them to do, then spasm.”

Lions chuckled at this. “Well, I do enjoy a challenge.”

He grabbed the seedlings in their freshly-watered pot, and placed it on the table.
“How about you try to make these grow next, eh? We already know that you made the plants outside grow during your second emergence, so let’s try to duplicate that.”

Raven sighed, and nodded again as she focused herself again.

-------

After trying various plants and different avenues of manipulation for a few hours, the only thing that Raven had managed to do successfully was work up an appetite. Lions suggest that she take a break and get some food, and to tell him what she had for lunch when she got back.

Raven thought that was a little odd, but she said, “Sure, whatever.”

She headed back for the cafeteria, and when she was there, she picked up two twelve inch pastrami sandwiches, with all the trimmings, a bowl full of green salad, with an assortment of vegetables and ranch salad dressing, and a couple bags of chips. To top it all off, she got a very tall glass of Pepsi.

Raven took her lunch to the nearest table, and began eating it ravenously, as if she had not had food or drink for a week. Luna and Heather sat down at the table a few minutes
later, and Heather said, “Been working you power outs, have you?”

“Not really. The plants haven’t been doing what I want them to,” Raven replied, in between bites.

“Seriously? You’re eating as much as a normal level three PK would, after using their power extensively in a day.”

The look on Raven’s face was one of shock. “You’ve got to be kidding. I was so frustrated that it seemed that the plants were feeling it.”

“But, you’re eating a lot of food to replace the expended energy that you used,” Heather explained.

“How could that be? All that I managed to do was cause minor growth in some seedlings, make a willow tree beat itself up, and cause some ivy vines to roll over. All of which
happened when I was trying to do something else.”

“Fascinating,” Luna commented.

“Lions and I both have no idea what it means. So, I’m willing to entertain any theories, in just a sec.”

Raven got up from the table, and went back over to the food and picked up a third serving
of a twelve inch pastrami and another Pepsi. She returned to the table where Heather and Luna were trying to think of why Raven’s powers were misbehaving.

“You say that the plants that you are trying to manipulate are doing things that you don’t want them too?” Heather asked.

Raven nodded, as she began to eat the next sandwich.

“Very interesting,” Heather commented.

“Any ideas?” Raven said, just before swallowing the food in her mouth.

“Not at the moment.”

“Hey, did you hear what the faculty are saying about you, yet?” Luna interrupted, changing the subject.

“No, what?” Raven said, looking extremely nervous.

“They say that they have never seen someone like you outperform a teacher in one of their subjects.”

Raven’s eyes went huge, and Heather said, “Meaning?”

“It means that Raven can top Miss Screws in biology around here.”

“Where did you hear that?” Raven asked.

“I overheard a few of the faculty talking about you after Screws had graded the last two quizzes.”

“Well, I hope what you heard was accurate enough.”

“Relax,” Luna said, “what’s the worse that can happen, eh?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out at the moment. I just want to be able to control my powers.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure them out soon enough.”

They talked about some other things for a few minutes longer, and then they headed back to the power training part of the gymnasium to continue.

-------

Lions was somewhat surprised when Raven told him what she had for lunch. He thought about it for a brief time, and when Raven asked him about it, he said that it was probably nothing.

As the afternoon wore on, Raven and Lions tried a variety of plants to experiment on, as well as different methods for her to try to manipulate them with her mind. However, her frustration only continued to build.

After a couple of hours of various attempts to manipulate the plants, Raven sat down in the makeshift greenhouse, and felt very tired. When she sat down under the willow tree, the other plants around her seemed to weep and shrivel their leaves, as if they were tired as well.

Lions thought for a moment again, as he was starting to figure Raven out. He was beginning to form a theory for her troubles at controlling what the plants did.

“Ugh…,” Raven said, resting her elbows on her knees, while she had her hands on her face.

“How do you feel at the moment?” Lions asked.

“Tired and frustrated,” Raven said. “It seems like no matter what I try, they won’t do what I want them to do.”

Lions replied, “Hmm….”

Raven didn’t see Lions pace for a bit, while he was contemplating the pieces of the puzzle that were floating in front of them. She was too lost in her thoughts, and how she was failing to use the abilities she now possessed.

She could think of how the plants in the forest behind her old home. She thought of how they had tried to protect her from those goons that were after her, by obscuring the trail that she had taken through the forest and hiding her when she had passed out.

‘Why is this so hard?’ she thought. ‘I can solve science problems that should be tougher than this.’

Raven continued to wallow in her self-pity and frustrations while Lions left the area to go talk to someone. He had a theory about Raven’s powers, but he knew that he couldn’t test that theory, given the state that she was currently in.

Raven didn’t know how long that she was left there to her own devices. After a while, she got up and tried again. But, she was really depressed by the current situation.

A few moments later, she was approached by Dani.

“How’s it going?” she said.

“Terrible,” Raven said sullenly. “No matter how I try to focus on making the plant do what I would like it to do, it just does something else. It seems to be getting worse, as I keep trying.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s been happening, okay?” she said soothingly.

Raven went into the tale of the day of how her powers, when she tried to use them, they seemed to have a mind of their own. She also said that she had a huge lunch, and that Heather might’ve meant something by that, but she wasn’t sure.

Dani thought that this was really tearing Raven apart. From what she could tell, Raven didn’t like not understanding anything that did not interest her.

Raven pounded her fists against the table, before she walked over to the willow tree, and leaned against its planter. She sat down, and started sulking. The plants also seemed to be depressed around her.

Dani walked over to her, and then sat down next to her as she tried to console her.

“I’m sure you’ll figure your powers out. Just give it time.”

“But, I’ve seen almost everyone else use their powers in some fashion. Ali stirring her drink with her powers, Kris zapping people in order to defend me when she came to pick me up. I just don’t like to feel like I’m being left behind.”

Raven began to cry a bit. The plants around her also appeared to be sad, as their leaves and branches also drooped low. Neither of the girls seemed to notice this, as Dani closely hugged Raven, and rubbing her shoulder, all the while trying to comfort her.

Raven never cried so easily before. It seemed that her emotions were more difficult to control as a girl. Being a girl was still new to her, and she also was neglecting that, falling back on things that were familiar to her, instead of trying new things, and ignoring some of the new sensations that were now flooding into her.

Dani did her best to comfort her, as Raven let the tears flow. Raven had been ignoring her new self for so long, having absorbed herself into the school work. She also deeply missed her father and best friend, Jessica. They had been very helpful to talk to when things got rough, and she didn’t really have anyone like that here.

“You want to talk about it?” Dani asked, softly.

“Talk about what?” Raven replied through her sobs.

“About what’s been bothering you, and why you’re all bottled up inside.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m an empath. I’m feeling your pain and sadness right now.”

“I’m sorry for doing that to you,” Raven said, sniffling.

“It’s okay. Everyone has broken down once before. You are being thrust into a whole new life, with a completely new and different identity. It takes its toll on everyone.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Raven felt a jolt run through Dani’s body, and it snapped Raven out of her funk for a bit. “Dani?”

The blank look on her face had Raven worried. She tried shaking Dani out of it, since it
looked like Dani wasn’t feeling too good at the moment. Nothing happened and for a while Dani just sat there.

Mr. Lions came back a few minutes later, and rushed over to their side.

“How long has Dani been like this?”

“For a few minutes now, why?”

“She’s having a vision. She’s also a precog.”

“Precog?”

“She has also has the ability of precognition. That power of her is off and on at random, and she usually needs to touch someone close to her, or something related to someone close to her to get any sort of vision.”

A few minutes later, Dani snapped out of her vision.

“Raven!” she screamed.

“I’m right here,” she said calmly.

“Oh! It was a terrible sight. The look on yours and Kris’ faces were painful.”

“Marks, tell me everything that you saw. Raven, go call Keys now.”
Raven nodded, and then got up to go call Kristyn on her phone. Kristyn came storming in to the room a few minutes later, and rushed over to her best friend’s side.

“Dani. Tell me everything,” Kristyn said.

Dani began to relate to Kristyn everything that she saw in her vision. After Dani had told Kris everything, Kristyn pulled out her cell, and began to marshal her team for the new mission.

She turned to Raven and said, “You’re coming. Since, you are needed for this mission.”

“ME?” Raven said, surprised.

“Yes. Your knowledge of the area will prove useful. And, apparently, you are needed to help bring an emergent into the fold.”

Raven was confused as Kristyn led the way to the briefing room. She felt like her life had just taken a very interesting twist.

 
 
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.

Chapter 4

Raven was dragged by Kristyn to the briefing room. Raven just went with the flow of things, but Kristyn looked like she was a woman on a mission. Kristyn was making several calls into her phone, and by the time that we got there, several people were already there waiting for them.

“Heather,” Kristyn said, “please get her suited up for a heavy pickup mission. She’s an asset on this particular mission, even though she has little training.”

Heather nodded, and led Raven to the locker room, where she was given a different set of clothes to wear. Heather had told her to strip out of what she was wearing, and to throw on the sports bra, black tank top, and some loose fitting pants, and combat boots. She still remembered Raven’s sizes from when they went through the wardrobe section together.

After everyone had been geared up and in the briefing room, Kristyn called the mission briefing to order. The briefing room was set up to what you would normally see on Hollywood. There was a central table in the middle of the room, with an LCD screen built into the table, that Kristyn could just use her fingers to point out different things or manipulate the display in front of them. Behind her was a glass window, with the map of the whole country on it, with a red dot over where Raven’s home town would be. There were also a few computers around the room, a door that led off to the men’s locker room, and a padlocked cabinet.

There were several people gathered around the central table. The girls Raven knew, but she had never really met any of the guys.

“We’ll save the introductions for later,” Kristyn said, bringing the briefing to order quickly.

“Dani has just had a vision. Some of the details are a little blurred, probably due to external influence of some kind.”

Kristyn shot a look in Raven’s direction, but she did realize that Raven didn’t know that she wasn’t supposed to disrupt Dani when she was having one of her visions. Raven looked away quickly, now embarrassed.

“However, we do have most of the picture of what’s going on. This mission involves another double emergence, however, we don’t know if we can pick both of them up or not.

We also know the location of both of the emergents–Raven’s home town.”
Everyone in the room turned and stared at Raven for a bit, while Raven looked surprised as
well.

“There’s going to be significant collateral damage as well, caused by both of the emergents, and not us. However, we also know that a group, possibly the same one that tried to go after Raven, will also be going for the first emergent.

“From what Dani described, the first emergent will be at Raven’s old high school, Calaveras High School in San Andreas, California.”

Kristyn manipulated the map of the area being displayed on the LCD screen with her fingers, and a detailed overhead view of Raven’s old high school was presented on the screen.

“We will drive through the back area of the school, where Raven said the school buses would come to pick up the students for their ride back home. The emergent will rampage through the school, destroying what he can just for the thrill of it, from what Dani has described.”

At those words, Raven thought she had an idea of who this emergent could possibly be. It sickened her to think that if it was whom she thought is was, that he would only become more of a bully after gaining control of his powers.

“We know little of the second emergent,” Kristyn continued. “The only thing we do know is that they will be undergoing their first emergence here.”

She manipulated the screen again, and this time it was an overhead of view of a house and a woodland area. Raven thought for a minute and then said, “My old house? How can that be?”

“We don’t know. Apparently Dani’s vision ended with her seeing your home in a blazing inferno and you crying at the destruction. We have no idea of who the second person is.”

“If her role in this mission is to weep over her burning old home,” the lime green hair guy said, “why is it so important that we bring her along? It seems like she was just there to feel the loss of her old life completely.”

Raven looked a little taken aback when he put it so bluntly like that.

“Ray,” Kristyn answered, remaining calm, “Dani also saw that she was deeply involved in attempting to contain the first emergent, in going to the school to keep him distracted for some reason. Also, she was needed to talk down the second emergent before they did anything they would regret.”

He nodded, after those details were given.

“Ray, give Raven the same armaments you gave me on my first mission,” Kristyn continued, “we head out in ten.”

Ray nodded as the rest of the team headed for the vehicle port. Ray then walked Raven over to the locked cabinet, and unlocked it.

Raven could see why it was locked. It was a miniature armory in there. It only carried several kinds of pistols, and few grenades, but it was still a bit impressive.

“Name’s Ray Lomax, by the way,” Ray said.

“Raven,” she replied.

“Okay, you’re getting a couple of smoke grenades,” he said, pulling a pair out. “They are really very simple to use. Pull the pin, count a couple seconds, and then lob it in the direction you want the smoke to go in.”

Ray stuck them onto the combat belt that went with the entire outfit that Raven was quickly given.

“Also,” he said, “here’s a knife. You should never go on a mission without a knife. It has a lot more uses than just being able to stab someone.”

He stuck the knife into the slot on the belt, trying to avoid touching her as he did this and then locked up the mini-armory, and led Raven to the vehicle port.

-------

About thirty minutes later, the group was in the air and winging their way towards Raven’s old home. Raven sat by herself on the plane. She was too lost in her own thoughts to be much of a conversationalist at this time, if even she was one at all.

Her thoughts were dwelling on the fact that she was going home, but not in any way that she would have ever liked. She was told by Kristyn that whatever Dani saw in a vision like she had, it was always going to happen, no matter what. Precognition was the ability to see the future, and since it was a secondary ability for Dani, she only saw the future at certain times.

She was really concerned for her father and Jessica. Even though that life was gone, she still had deep feelings for the both of them. Her father was her only family in the world, and that had all been snatched away when she became Raven, and Jessica was the only friend that she had ever. The two were inseparable at most times, except when one of the two of them needed some time to themselves.

Raven was regretting how short she was with Jessica the last time she had seen her. As Jack, he was in too crummy a mood to hang out with her that last day. As Raven reached underneath her black tank top, she still cared deeply about Jessica. She fingered the raven pendant that Jessica had given Jack, and it was also the symbol of her namesake.

Jessica always did think Jack was clever, especially at how Jack was able to figure some things out from class and how he managed to avoid the bullies when he was able to.

Her thoughts continued to drift as she wondered who the two emergents were going to be.
All she knew that one was emerging at her old high school and the other would cause the destruction of her childhood home. Raven hoped that no one would be hurt when her old home goes up in flames. She didn’t want to think about that happening at the moment, so she wanted to think about something else that could help everyone. Raven tried to apply her mind to figuring out who the two emergents could be.

She thought to herself, ‘Since it was Friday, and we wouldn’t be landing until about three in the afternoon at the small airport near town, it would have to be someone who stays or is forced to stay late.’

As her mind raced around the various possible candidates, she realized that she didn’t know too much about the people that she went to school with there. The only person she knew who didn’t have a mother was Jessica. That could mean anything since Jessica only mentioned that her birth mother died when she was very young.

Raven was snapped out of her thoughts by Kristyn, who gave her a little nudge.

“We’ll be landing in a few minutes. Are you ready?” she asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Raven replied.

Kristyn nodded and said, “Good.”

-------

Harold was not enjoying himself. He had landed in detention again, for the fifth straight day that week. Ever since his little punching bag and personal bank, Jack had mysteriously died in a hunting accident behind his house, he had gotten sloppy. He would pick on various other wimpy people, several people per day in fact. None of his new targets had the same resourcefulness as Jack had.

With Jack, he would at least have some sort of challenge. Jack kept the game interesting, as some days he would win, and other days Harold would win. Ever since he had disappeared though, the game wasn’t as interesting so he stepped up the beatings to try to make it more interesting. That plan backfired in his face horribly.

Six people being sent to the school’s nurse in one day, and all of them rightfully accusing him of the assaults landed him in detention for three weeks. While he was used to being in detention every so often, it bored him to tears. Some days, he would often wish that he could do something about it.

Today, as he was reading one of his smuggled in comic books, he felt something was a bit different. He shrugged it off, thinking that it was not something at all important. He was reading about those villains who could manipulate the energy around them and use it to cause physical damage. Harold enjoyed how they were able to do that, and wished that he could.

He thought, ‘If I had that kind of power, I would show this school a thing or two.’

He thought that it would be cool to thrust out his hand at the door and blow it open, and then he would go around and destroy a few things, just because he could. To put his mind at ease and to calm his imagination down, he did just that not expecting anything to happen.

The door was blasted off its hinges and into the office hallway, as if there was a small explosion going off behind it.

Harold looked surprised, as did the secretary who was supposed to keep an eye on those in detention. Harold thrust his arm again at the brick wall, and the bricks flew out and away from the building leaving a large gaping hole.

“Now, this is cool,” Harold said, standing up to leave.

“Mister Stewart, please sit back down this instance. I’m sure these events are nothing more that a small gas explosion.

“Gas explosion?” Harold scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m doing it.”

“You?” Mr. Danielson said, looking very confused.

“Yes, me!” he replied, thrusting his arms at Danielson.

Mr. Danielson was thrown back from his desk straight into the whiteboard on the wall. Several of Danielson’s several bones in his body had just been broken, along with a serious concussion. He lay there at odd angles from his injuries and was rendered unconscious. The cracks in the whiteboard from where he hit spread out all along it, as well as into the wall.

Harold ran out through the hole he had previously made, and started to run around the school, blasting things that he had always found to be a nuisance in the area. Along his destructive path, he caused doors to be blasted into their classrooms causing some collateral damage, and many windows were shattered, raining tons of glass on people who were inside working on various afterschool projects. People screamed as they tried to make a break for it, to get out of Harold’s way.

Harold, meanwhile, was quite literally having a blast. He had never had so much fun in his life–he always loved demolition and explosions. He never thought that he could be doing something like this on his own in a million years, like one of the villains from his comic books. As he turned up the hill to go rain destruction down on the library, he saw several people wearing what looked like SWAT team uniforms holding up tranquilizer guns pointed at him.

“Hold it right there,” the leader said.

“And why should I when I’m having so much fun?” Harold replied, and caused the concrete in front of them to be smashed into several pieces and sent the pieces flying at them.

The assault team tried to protect themselves as best they could, but they couldn’t avoid all of the pieces flying at them. Harold just laughed as he decided to take head for the girls’ locker room, thinking that he always wanted to go in there and see what was so sacred to them.

The assault team tried to get back to their feet, but they were having a hard time of it. Some of the concrete rocks that Harold kicked up with his force pelted their limbs, causing some injuries to the people. But, the leader managed to reach for his radio and said into it, “Code red, target is heading for locker rooms.”

-------

The black SUVs that Raven and the other were riding in pulled up to the high school a few minutes later. They were greeted by the local police, who blocked their way into the school.

“I’m sorry,” Chief Whisenton said. “But, no one is allowed in there until the SWAT team arrives.”

Kristyn pulled out her Homeland Security badge, and showed it to the police chief. “We’re with Homeland Security, Chief. We can handle this situation. If you don’t believe me, call your boss. But, we’re wasting time here, so if you can give me the current situation on the ground that would be greatly appreciated.”

Chief Whisenton was rendered speechless as someone who looked like a student here had just given him a serious dressing down. He never would have thought that a teenager could act like someone with his years of experience. He quickly realized that she was probably right, and showed her the layout of the school.

“The initial blast was here, at the main office,” he began. “But, there have been subsequent explosions along this hallway heading towards the locker rooms. There have also been reports of a group of people carrying MP5s in the school as well. They are not my people and could very well be responsible for this disaster.”

Kristyn nodded, and then talked to her team. “Ray, I need you to set up in that tree over there. It looks like it can give you a clean view of most of the campus. Max, we may need you by the pool later on. So get over there and stand by for now. Heather, you, Lili, Liz and Rita will take care of the witnesses. Raven, you’re with me, since you know the terrain you will be my guide and we will try to stun the emergent before they cause any more destruction around here.”

Raven nodded and began leading the way to the locker rooms, where the trail of destruction was leading. The asphalt driveway, that led up to the locker rooms was a clean straight shot there, devoid of anyone else for the moment. As they approached the breezeway, which divided the two locker rooms, the guy’s locker room door was blasted off of its hinges.

Kristyn and Raven took cover on the handicap ramp that led down towards the football field. The two of them peered over the edge, and they saw Harold walk out of the room looking very smug.

“Oh my god,” Raven whispered. “I never thought it would be him.”

“Who is he?” Kristyn replied.

“Harold Stewart, the bane of Jack’s existence.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s the bully that always would torment Jack whenever he could get a chance. I never would have imagined that he is one of us. It sickens my stomach to think that he is.”

“Well, I know this may sound a bit cliché,” Kristyn said, “but, did you ever ask him why he was being a bully?”

“I tried; he dodged the question by punching me in the gut.”

Kristyn winced at that. “Well, maybe his second emergence will make him turn over a new leaf.”

“Oh, I doubt that.”

Kristyn just shook her head, and said, “Let’s go. Try to distract him long enough for me to zap him.”

Raven nodded, and snuck out of the ramp, and towards the girl’s locker room, where Harold was heading.

“Oh, what secrets are in there, I wonder,” he said to himself, as he approached the door.

“Like a scumbag like you will ever find out,” Raven said, as she poised herself to jump out of the way should Harold attack.

“And just who the hell are you?” Harold said.

“Just a ghost from your past,” she cryptically replied.

“What?”

“Oh, I’m hurt,” Raven said, mockingly, “to think after all we been through those many years, and now I’m sad that you don’t remember me.”

Harold looked very confused at that response, as Kristyn had moved up the ramp to the top of the stairs that gave her a clean shot at Harold. Kristyn took that shot as soon as she got it, and Harold fell to the ground a few seconds after.

“Is he dead?” Raven said, as she approached the smoking body.

“No, I just gave him enough juice to put him under for a while.”

“And thank you for doing that for us, you little girls” a voice said, as a shadowy figure emerged from behind the building.

Kristyn and Raven looked up, and saw a bunch of women who were all wearing the same trench coat and had the same long fiery red hair fluttering in the wind, and a man who was also wearing a trenchcoat, but with short blond hair.

“Yes,” the blond haired man said, in a deep voice. “Thank you for neutralizing our newest asset. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll be taking him and leaving, little girls.”

“And what makes you think that we’re just going to sit back and let you take him?”

“This!” he shouted, raising his hands causing the earth underneath them to shake wildly,
making them lose their balance. Pillars of earth rose up, separating Kristyn and Raven
from Harold, as one of the red haired girls, reached down and grabbed Harold. She and the blond haired person then turned and walked back the way they came. The others that were just standing there faded away as if they never existed.

Kristyn pounded her fist into the pillar in front of her. “Dammit!”

“What now?” Raven asked, not looking as frustrated as Kristyn did.

“Now, we go find out what everyone else is up to,” Kristyn said, as she tried to calm herself down. “Hopefully, we were able to find something that can shed a bit of light on
these people.”

-------

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jessica and her father were at Jack’s old home talking with his father. He had taken Jack’s mysterious death pretty hard and had started to indulge in drinking much more often, and with much harder liquor. He was becoming a wreck, waiting to happen, and Jessica’s father Mark didn’t want that to happen.

Although Jessica has had it rough the past week, what with losing her best friend, however, she was holding up better than Charles. Jessica believed that this was because she had her dad to fall back on for emotional support. She did feel like someone had ripped her heart out, since she still had very deep feelings for Jack.

She always wondered why he never seemed to return any feelings she gave out to him. He had always had it rough at school, and she thought might have had some sort of impact on it. Mark was sitting on the couch, waiting for Charles to come back from wrenching up his guts after his latest binge from the bottle. Jessica was wandering around the living room, looking at photos of both Jack and Charles and of the various things that they used to do with each other. She could begin to understand why Charles was taking this so hard, the pictures said it all.

A few minutes later, Charles emerged from the bathroom, looking like hell. His hair was all over the place, his smelled strongly of alcohol, and his clothes were looking ragged on his body, from being worn so often and not being washed. He managed to make his way back to the arm chair and sit back down, reaching for the glass of ice water that was on the coffee table.

“Ugh…,” he said, after taking a swallow of the water. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t mention it,” Mark replied. “I know things have been rough, man. But, at least you still have all the fond memories of the time you two had together.”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking another drink. “But, this is getting to feel just as bad as losing his mother.”

“How did Jack lose his mother?” Jessica asked, curiously.

“I’ll never forget,” Charles stated. “About an hour after Jack was born, his mother went into some sort of seizure. One by one, her major organs had started to fail, and within a few hours, she was dead.”

Charles began to tear up, as he recalled the tragedy. He continued, “When the medical examiner performed the autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, he said that it appeared to him that all of the organs were physically drained and overworked, as if all of their functions were being put to one single use. Paula never complained of any fatigue or anything else. She seemed normal throughout the pregnancy. She followed the doctor’s instructions, and drank lots of water.

“When she first found out that she was pregnant with Jack, she rushed out and bought several cases of water from the store. She put one in the back of the car, and the rest in the closet. We used to joke that she would burst from drinking so much.”

Charles broke down crying, as the memories were starting to become too painful for him to remember. Mark stood up from the couch, and went over to comfort Charles the best he could.

He said, as he drew close, “My wife was the same way, and I also lost her after she had given birth to Jessica. I thought it had something to do with Jessica’s birth, but nothing ever came from that.”

“Really?”

Mark nodded, “Yes.”

Jessica recalled the day that her father had told her about her mother’s death. She had been only seven years old, and had brought the question up after a field trip to the Train Museum in Sacramento. Several of her classmates’ mothers had volunteers to be chaperones on that trip, and when she got home, she asked her father where her mother was.

The trip to the cemetery was very sad for her then. Her father had told her that her mother had loved her very much, as she wanted everything to be perfect for their little girl. It wasn’t easy for either of them, but they managed to get through it.

Jessica walked over to the two men, and gave them as big of a hug as she could give them. All three of them had lost someone that they cared for, and they would need each other to get through it.

-------

Kristyn was not in the most amicable of moods when she returned to the command post. Raven could tell this, as she had said nothing as the two of them walked back. Raven could tell that she was pissed by letting this emergent slip through her fingers. What was nagging in the back of Raven’s mind was who those other people that they had encountered were and why they were here. They seemed to know a great deal about the area, and waited for just the right moment to snatch Harold away from Kristyn and Raven.

Raven also just felt lucky that neither of them had been physically injured. However, she knew that Kristyn was seething with anger and frustration. When they returned to the command post, Ray and the police chief walked over to them.

“Kris,” Ray started, “the police chief is insisting that the prisoner be kept in their custody.”

The chief countered, “He was apprehended by my police force, and in our jurisdiction.”

“Yes, but he is a high-profile suspect in our ongoing investigation.”

“An investigation which I keep hearing is classified at the highest levels.”

Kristyn was looking like she was about ready to go crazy. “Enough, both of you,” she snapped. “Ray, start at the beginning.”

Ray and the police chief both sighed. They both gave each other a glance, and then Ray began.

“Kristyn, during the sweep of the campus a few minutes ago, the local authorities picked up a wounded hostile. They brought him back to the command post, where they attempted to bring him around to question him.”

“Go on,” Kristyn said, as her mood was steadily becoming better.

“Well, they succeeded, but he is refusing to talk to anyone at the moment.”

“He should be in our custody for participating in the assault upon this school,” Chief Whisenton interrupted.

“Chief Whisenton, with all do respect,” Ray said, “he is a member of an organization that is currently undergoing investigation by our branch of Homeland Security.”

“Gentlemen,” Kristyn cut in, “please, stop it. Ray, find Lili and have her join me while I try to interrogate the prisoner.”

“Right away, Kris,” Ray replied as he set off to find Lili.

“Miss Keys, I would like one to be present when you interrogate the prisoner.”

“No, Chief,” Kristyn quickly replied. Before he had a chance to respond she added, “If the questioning proves to have no relevance to our investigation, we will be more than happy to turn him over to you. That’s all I can promise you.”

The chief’s face turned a light red, and then he replied tensely, “Fine.”

He turned smartly on his heel and headed off to coordinate with his men to keep the perimeter secure from the growing mass of the media.

Kristyn and Raven both continued down the path to where the prisoner was being held. Kristyn told Raven that she would have to wait outside, since she wasn’t cleared for the interrogation.

Raven nodded, and resigned herself to that fact.

“What would you like me to do then?”

“Find Heather, and help look for other injured. Also, keep your past buried. No one can know who you were. Got it?”

Raven nodded somberly. Kristyn turned away to go into to one of the least damaged rooms of the main office, where the prisoner was currently being held.

Raven walked through the school as she tried to find the others, and anyone who may have been injured by Harold’s destructive rampage. A part of her was sad for those who have been injured by Harold, and she sympathized with them. She recalled almost every single fight that she got into as Jack with him.

When she added in the fact that Harold was apparently similar to her and the others, her stomach turned in revolt. Harold had been bad enough as a high school bully. Given that he now possessed the ability to now channel his thoughts into destructive forces, she was fearful of anyone who would stand in his way.

She laughed a bit at the thought of Harold turning into a girl. She thought, ‘That would serve him right for being the big, macho bully that he always portrayed. I wonder how he would feel about being turned into a girl, and losing all those muscles that he boasted about having.’

She eventually managed to meet up with the others. They were just heading her way when she ran into them.

“Raven, did you find the emergent?” asked Heather.

Raven sighed deeply and replied, “Yes.”

“Why so sad?”

“Because, he was abducted by some mysterious people, and we couldn’t stop them.”

The looks on their faces fell sharply at that piece of news. It was now the fourth time that they had been intercepted in retrieval operations. All four times the emergents were abducted by a group of unknown people that they had no idea of who they were.

They were demoralized by the fact that they had lost another to these mysterious assailants. Not much was known about them, and everyone at the Center realized that their struggle was just beginning.

After a few minutes walk, the girls returned to the command post. Ray had collected Max from the pool, and both were waiting outside of the office, awaiting news from Kristyn and the progress of the interrogation.

“How long has she been in there?” Heather asked.

“For about twenty minutes or so,” Ray replied.

“How long do you think he can hold out?”

“Well, considering that he seems to be some peon, I doubt we’ll be able to get anything useful out of him,” Ray said.

Heather shrugged at that. However, at the moment, Kristyn walked out. She didn’t look all too pleased.

“Well?” Ray asked.

“I’ll need to tell Harris first. But, things are definitely going to get interesting. Also, hopefully, we’ll be able to get some answers.”

“Is there anything more we can learn from him?” Ray asked.

“Probably. I’m going to have him sent to an interrogation facility, just to be sure.”

Kristyn whipped out her cell phone, and made a few important calls. Raven looked around at her former stomping grounds while she waited for the calls to be finished up. It saddened her to see her old school in such a state. It looked like a warzone, one that she hadn’t exactly fought on.

Her gaze turned towards the hills, which were in the direction of her former home. She wondered how her dad and Jessica were doing. The others weren’t paying too much attention to her at the moment, but she didn’t want to run for it. She knew that she could trust them, and that she would visit her old home, as was seen in Dani’s vision.

At that precise second, she saw a huge fireball shoot up from about where her house was. She was stunned to see that kind of destructive force in the normally quiet Mother Lode.
She yelled over to them, “Guys! Something just exploded in the direction of my previous home!”

Kristyn said into her phone, “Gotta go. Situation developing.”

They rushed over to where Raven was standing and they saw the black smoke billowing from the forest.

“Are you sure it’s coming from the direction of your old home?” Kristyn said.

Raven nodded. “We have to get over there. Now! My dad and friend could be hurt.”

Kristyn nodded. “Load up; we have to get over there.”

The team piled into the SUVs and drove off towards Raven’s home, with Raven showing them the back roads that they could take to get there as quickly as possible. As they drove, Raven hoped that no one was seriously hurt. She knew it would tear her apart if anything were to happen to her best friend and father.

------

When they arrived on the scene, the entire house was covered in flames. Tall orange flames that seemed to dance wildly over the wood and the other fuel the fire could use in that home. The forest behind the house was still untouched by the house fire, due to the wind and the protected space that the property had around it.

Raven exited the SUV and took off at a dash towards her old childhood home. When she got within a few steps of the front door, she collapsed on to the ground, and began sobbing a flood of tears from her eyes. To her, everything that she was before her emergence was gone, as it was now burnt away in that fire. The reality of her situation now firmly took hold in her mind; Jack Thomas was truly dead now.

Max, with his hydrokinetic abilities, used water from a nearby stream to help douse the fire. Although the stream didn’t have enough water in it to put the fire out completely, it would be enough to prevent the fire from spreading any further.

Liz and Kristyn walked over to Raven, and knelt down beside her. They both reached out to try to comfort her. The forest nearby also looked downtrodden, as if they were also in mourning.

Raven didn’t know that she could cry so much. She never would have thought that everything that had happened to her in the past week could’ve happened. She looked up from the small puddle of tears on the ground, and up at her burning childhood home. A few seconds later, resolution took hold, and she picked herself up off the ground and out of Liz’s and Kristyn’s grasp.

The two of them were stunned at Raven for getting back to her feet, and they were shocked when they saw her dash headlong into the blaze.

“Raven! No!” they yelled after her, but there was no stopping her, like she was on a personal mission.

Raven had to see if there was anyone left alive in there. She rushed through the blazing front door, and saw the living room engulfed in flames. She saw the furniture, the pictures, and the other objects around the room burning. However, when she looked at the floor of the room, she saw two things.

The first thing she saw, sadly, was the burning body of her father. He wasn’t moving at all, and she knew that he was dead. The second thing she saw surprised her greatly, as she knew that given this inferno it should not have been possible. Laying there on the burning couch was Jessica’s prone body. She was still breathing, as if she was only sleeping there. However, there were no burns anywhere on her body. Her clothes were smoldering pieces of ash, but her body seemed to be untouched by the flames.

Raven quickly reached down, and grabbed her from the couch. The remains of Jessica’s clothes fell away as Raven moved her. She then rushed from the home and back outside. After getting a good distance away from the building, Liz ran over to help.

“She’s alive,” Liz confirmed, by checking her pulse. “Her pulse seems normal. But, how come she’s not burnt anywhere?”

“I don’t know,” Raven replied, “I just found her on the couch in there.”

Raven breathed deep and then added, “Although, I did find my father in there, dead.”

“Oh, Raven,” Liz said, as she tended to Jessica, “I’m so sorry.”

Raven cried a little, she deeply missed her father, however, she missed Jessica even more. She knew that her father was probably racked with grief over the loss of his only son. She knew that he would be finally reunited with her mother, whom he had loved deeply and passionately from the stories he used to tell.

Liz had been using her healing abilities on Jessica, just to make sure that everything was in order. A few moments later, Jessica awoke with a start. She looked around and said,

“Dad! Mr. Thomas!”

“Who are you?” she said, noticing the three girls, sitting around her.

“Calm down,” Liz said. “It’s okay. Raven saved you from the burning building.”

“Burning building?” she said, and then glanced over at the house. “No! Dad!”

Jessica bolted upright and gazed at the fire. “No! How could I have done such a thing!”

“Wait a second,” Kristyn said, “you did that?”

Jessica nodded as the tears were streaming down her face.

“How?” Raven asked. “How did you do it?”

“I’m not sure. We were lighting a few candles in Jack’s memory, and then I felt a strange surge in me. The flames started to grow more intensely and quickly. Soon, the entire house was on fire. My dad disappeared, but soon Mr. Thomas was engulfed in the flames. The screams were horrifying, and I didn’t even feel a thing.”

Jessica began to cry even harder now as Raven did the first thing that popped into her mind. She reached over to Jessica, and hugged her tightly. A part of Raven was mad that her best friend had killed her father. She knew it was an accident, and she could forgive her for that.

“It’s okay, Jessica. I forgive you,” Raven whispered in her ear.

“Why would you forgive me?” Jessica said through her sobs. “I don’t even know you.”

“Yes you do,” Raven said. She reached under her tank top and pulled out the raven
necklace. “Do you remember this?”

Jessica looked at the necklace, and then that memory flashed back to her hard.

“Where did you get this?!?” she yelled, in anger. “I gave it to Jack the day he disappeared. How did you get it?”

Jessica climbed to her feet, and Raven swiftly followed. “I got it from you, Jessica,” she replied. “Although, I probably didn’t seem very grateful at the time.”

“No,” Jessica said, not believing a thing that Raven said. “It can’t be. You stole that
from him!”

“I assure you, that I did no such thing.”

“Then how else could you have gotten it? Huh? I’ve never seen you in my life before today.”

“Well, that’s not quite true. You did see me before today, but not like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jessica, I was Jack,” Raven said softly, but assertively.

Jessica backed up, and said, “No, that’s not possible. How could you be Jack?”

“I am Jack, or at least I was Jack. You and I were best friends since kindergarten. You came over to help me up when I was beat up by a bully that day. You have always been there for me, even though I didn’t show any feelings in return.”

Jessica still didn’t believe her. From her perspective, there was no way that this person could possibly know that information. Nothing was making much sense to her anymore, and she was scared out of her wits.

“Jessica,” Raven said, trying to calm her down, “please listen to me. You’re scared and confused. I know I was when I was undergoing my emergence. But, we can help you, if you
just let us.”

Jessica kept shaking her head and backing up until she backed into a tall tree. She gasped as the bark scratched her skin.

“Jessica, please calm down,” Raven said.

“No! Stay away from me!”

Jessica lifted her arms up and Raven saw a fire in her eyes that hadn’t seen before. She could now very well believe that she was responsible for the house on fire.

“Jessica! Don’t do it!” Raven yelled, reaching for her trying not to make her do something that she would later regret.

The tree that she was standing in front of whipped its branches out and grabbed her limbs, holding her in place. As Jessica struggled against the tree’s grip, Raven was astonished that she was able to do something like that.

She walked over to the struggling girl and said, “Jessica, please listen. I was Jack, but now I’m Raven. For the past week, I’ve been on a strange roller coaster ride. But, through it all, I could only think about you. You were like my rock, and I could just die if anything were to happen to you.”

Jessica was starting to tire from struggling against the branches. It seemed to her that the more she struggled, the more resistance she encountered.

“Jessica,” Raven said, “please. Let us help you.”

Jessica continued to struggle against the tree.

“Jessica, you can trust me. I’ve never lied to you as Jack, and I’m not lying now. Please, stop struggling and come with us.”

Jessica began to tire quickly. She began to think of everything this girl, Raven, had said to her. It made sense to her of what she was hearing, things that only Jack could have known. When she finally stopped struggling against the tree, the branches simply let go of her, dropping her to the ground.

“All right,” she said, weakly. “I’ll go with you, Jack.”

Raven reached down for her, and brought her back to her feet. She then said, “You don’t know how happy I am to have you back in my life. I missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too, Jack.”

“It’s Raven now,” she replied with a giggle.

“Sorry.”

Liz draped a blanket around Jessica’s naked body, to try to give her some warmth and protection from the elements, as they headed for the SUV. Max had managed to put enough of the fire out, so it would just burn itself out and not cause harm to anything else. Raven and Jessica both climbed into the SUV together, and they never let go of each other.
As they close the door, Jessica said, “Can we get some food, please? I’m starving.”

“Sure,” Kristyn replied. “We can get some food before we fly back.”

“Thanks,” Jessica replied.

Twenty minutes later, the plane was winging its way back to the Center. Raven and Jessica sat close to each other, neither of them saying much. Both of them were looking happy again now.

Jessica soon passed out in Raven’s arms, but Raven didn’t care. She knew that she would have to answer a lot of questions later on, but for now, she was happy to just have this person back in her life.

-------

Back at the remains of Raven’s house, a shadowy figure emerged from the forest. He looked at the smoldering ruins, and said, “Well, let’s see if she’s still there. Dr. C had told me that she would also be immune to fire.”

The figure searched the ruins until it became dark. When it did become dark enough for him to give up the search he shouted out loudly in frustration.

“Damn! How did she get away? I thought that the mild sedative that I gave her would keep her alive until I could return after the fire was out.”

The figure started off down the road, to his red pickup truck. His business partners weren’t going to be too happy with him for losing a potential asset.

‘At least I was able to make her destroy any evidence of my being there,’ he thought to himself. ‘Grief can be a powerful influence and trigger.’

After a few minutes drive down the road, his cell phone went off. After checking the caller, he answered it, “This is H. No, I wasn’t able to get subject 0302. She somehow escaped. What? Those people were here? They must’ve have taken her. I understand, sir.”

H cursed himself as he hung up the phone. He was really in trouble now. They were recalling him back to his home base. He was needed for something back there, and they didn’t say what over the phone, give the confidentiality of their work. He just hoped that with the newly acquired subject they had picked up today, they could continue with their experiments.

A loud caw rang throughout the forest after the truck had driven off. The caw was followed by a fluttering of wings, as the bird left its perch in the forest, and began to wing its way east.

 
 
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.

Chapter 5

The retrieval squad returned to the Center after a few hours of flying. Raven and Jessica were quickly separated upon their return. However, Kristyn assured the two of them that they would be reunited soon enough.

Jessica was taken to head to the infirmary for her pre-Second Emergence checkup, and then was going to be settled into the secure bunker for the next phase of her emergence. They were taking her there as an added safety measure, both for herself and the facility. They were all just too aware of how destructive her powers could be.

Meanwhile, Raven was told to unwind in her room for the time being, and to just relax and wait for things to happen. Kristyn and Colonel Harris really wanted her to relax after the strenuous mission and before being debriefed by the two of them. Raven, however, was having mixed emotions at the moment, as reality was settling in all around her.

On the one hand, her father and the only family that she had left and had been there through most of her life was now dead, burnt to death in an accidental use of Jessica’s powers. Raven understood that it had been an accident, and most of the time, a new emergent would have little to no control whatsoever of their individual abilities. She had forgiven Jessica on the plane ride back. Now, Raven was just beginning to grieve his passage into the afterlife.

On the other hand, Raven was really excited to have Jessica back in her life again. As Jack, he was never able to muster the courage to push their friendship any further than just two long-term friends. They had known each other since kindergarten, but, they were just friends. Raven had resolved herself to try to create a deeper relationship with Jessica after she had gone through her physical transformation.

After their strange reunion at the flaming remains of Raven’s childhood home, Raven had just become even more acutely aware of some feelings that she had for Jessica. She had never been completely aware of them before, but now, they had forced their way to the surface. Her thoughts were beginning to wrap themselves around Jessica like a snake getting tightening its grip on its prey.

She didn’t know how long she was lying their on her bed, but soon she heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” she said, a little startled.

Dani walked in the room, presenting a very business-like attitude with her. She saw Raven on her bed, and then said, “They’re ready for you now, and they sent me to escort you to Kristyn’s office.”

Raven looked at her attire quickly, and said, “Would you mind if I got dressed first? I became distracted after I got back.”

“Of course,” Dani replied.

Raven went around her room, and gathered the various items of school uniform’s clothing that she had found scattered around the room. Raven wasn’t one of the most tidy of people in the world, but she did have her own system of doing things and was happy with it.

After about fifteen minutes, Raven was finally presentable. She donned the school’s uniform again, since she didn’t know what would work when one is being debriefed. Dani kept reassuring her that her debriefing would be fine. Debriefings were just a way of getting the full story of a significant event from all parties involved.

-------

The two of them arrived at Kristyn’s office a short time later, and Dani stopped at the threshold. Raven looked perplexed.

“Sorry,” Dani said, “this is only between you and the two in there.”

“Two?” Raven asked.

“Yes, Kristyn and Colonel Harris.”

Raven was a little taken aback by that particular fact. It also ramped up her nervousness, as she had never met the colonel.

Dani could sense her increase in apprehension, and said, reassuringly, “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

“Thanks,” Raven said, with a touch of reservation in her voice.

Raven entered Kristyn’s office, and found Kristyn sitting at her desk, quickly looking over a file, while the colonel had his back to the door, and was gazing out the window. Raven noticed the sunflower on her desk was in bloom, and was suddenly a little happy about that.

“Please have a seat, Raven,” Kristyn said, looking up from the file.

Raven took the seat opposite of Kristyn, and remembered how to present herself. It still wasn’t automatic for her yet, but Raven figured that she would get there eventually.

“First,” Kristyn began, while the colonel continued to look out the window. “Tell us about the encounter with the first emergent.”

“Harold?” Raven replied.

Kristyn nodded. “Yes, Mister Harold Quinn.”

“After we were briefed on the situation by Chief Whisenton, you and I went through the school to try to find him before he did anymore damage. When we got to the breezeway by the old gym and both locker rooms, I was surprised when I saw that he was an emergent.”

“You weren’t too happy about that, were you?”

“No, as Jack, Harold was always a constant threat to my well being. He went out of his way to try to beat me up for my lunch money, homework, or anything that tickled his fancy that day.”

“What happened after the surprise wore off?”

“I tried to distract him while you attempted to sneak around and subdue him. I used my past as Jack to throw him off guard and it worked. About a minute later, you had stunned him and he lay crumpled on the ground.”

“Then what happened? Please be as specific as possible.”

Raven thought for a moment, and then replied, “A group of redheaded women, all wearing an ominous trench coat, and looking identical to each other stepped out from behind the building, along with a blond-haired male, also wearing a trench coat.

“They thanked us for subduing Harold, before the man raised his arms and the earth from underneath us started to move and blocked us from getting to Harold. One of the redheads grabbed Harold off the ground, and then they all left the area. Most of the girls faded away, as if they were never there in the first place.”

Harris nodded, as he continued to stare out the window. It was irking Raven that he just stood with his back to her, while she was relating the events that had transpired earlier today.

“When we arrived at your former home, finding it in flames, what was the first thing that ran through your mind?” Kristyn continued, as she went to the next major incident of their pickup mission.

“I was devastated that the home that I knew for so many years was being destroyed. I then wanted to rush inside and see if my father was inside and all right. After I did that, I found him, dead,” Raven said, choking up on those words.

It was clearly evident to Kristyn that the loss of her father was heartbreaking to Raven. Kristyn gave her a few moments to recover, and noticed that the sunflowers on her desk had started to wilt.

“When you were inside your burning home, after you found your father, you found your previous life’s best friend, Jessica Martinez. What happened then?”

“I was first puzzled why she wasn’t burnt by the fire. Then, finding out that she was still alive, I picked her up and rushed her from the burning house.”

“When she regained consciousness, and revealed the fact that she burnt down the house and killed your father, why did you try to comfort her and not be angry at her?”

“I knew that Jessica, even though she may have committed the act, she would never have had the motivation to do cause that kind of destruction on purpose. She has a good heart, and she needed her best friend to help her through it. So, I did the only thing that came to my mind, and tried to bring her back to reality.” Raven took a small break to catch her
breath before she started again.

“When she became hostile, and was enraged about thinking that I was a total stranger and possessing Jack’s necklace, I knew that I had to try to make her see the truth before she did do something that she was going to regret later in life.”

“How were you able to control your powers?” Colonel Harris interjected, turning around to address Raven.

Raven was not too surprised by the way the colonel looked. He definitely fit the role of an imposing United States Army colonel that she had heard about from everyone here.

“I’m not sure. I just felt that she needed to be restrained before she committed any act. She wasn’t a danger and if reached could be reasoned with. It was as if the tree knew what I knew and then helped me when I reached out to her.”

“Do you have any idea of why your powers then reacted the way you wanted it to, when Lions has informed us that they were not able to before that moment?” he continued.

“Maybe because I was acting with my heart, and not my head?” Raven guessed.

The colonel nodded to himself and then turned to Kristyn and whispered something in her ear. Raven couldn’t make out what they were saying, and her gaze turned to the sunflowers
on the desk.

She remembered how they looked before, and how sad there were looking at the moment. She tried to make them be happy again. She thought of how she felt when Jessica realized who she was, and the flowers started to perk up and regain their bloom. They even looked a little better than before, Raven observed.

“Miss Hawkins, we have a propos–,” Colonel Harris began, but was cut off when Kristyn’s cell phone rang.

“Keys. She’s almost ready? We’re on our way,” Kristyn said quickly into her phone before closing it.

“Jessica is about to undergo her second emergence,” she said.

“Can I watch?” Raven immediately said.

The colonel performed a small nod, and Kristyn said, “Let’s go.”

As the two of them left the office, Kristyn playfully remarked, “You like messing around with my flowers, don’t you?”

Raven could only blush at that comment. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I like what you have done with them.”

Raven giggled as the two of them began walking towards the secure bunker of the infirmary.

-------

The two of them soon arrived at the observation room in the secure bunker. Dani and Doctor Litchburg were already in the room. The good doctor was monitoring Jessica’s health, while Dani was staring at the patient through the one-way glass. However, the doctor had a strange look on his face as he examined the pre-second emergence preliminary test results.

“It took you a while to get down here,” Dani said, when the two of them arrived.

“It was a long debriefing,” Kristyn replied. “How’s she doing?”

“All right for the most part, I think it’s the nerves that are getting to her now. She can undergo the second emergence at any minute now.”

Raven walked over to the glass and stared out at Jessica. She could see that Jessica was sitting up on the hospital bed, wearing the traditional hospital gown. Jessica looked
anxious and nervous about her upcoming second emergence.

Dani explained to Kristyn, with Raven hearing, that Jessica had been told what was going to happen to her. Raven was only half-listening to what they were saying, as she was focused on her friend. Raven was really concerned for Jessica’s well-being.

As Dani and Kristyn continued to talk about Jessica, Raven turned to them and said, “I want to go talk to her.”

The two of them were taken off guard by that remark.

“Please,” Raven pleaded. “Let me go see her.”

Kristyn nodded, and Dani showed Raven into the hospital room. Dani closed the door after Raven had entered the room, leaving her alone with Jessica while Dani returned to the
observation room.

“Hey, how you doing?” Raven asked.

“Fine,” Jessica said. “I’m still wrapping my head around all of this though.”

Raven giggled, “Yeah, it took a while for me, too.”

“It feels weird knowing that I’m going to turn into a guy. But, then again, you turned into a very attractive girl.”

Raven blushed, and said sheepishly, “Don’t remind me.”

“Why not? You should definitely take advantage of that. After this, I’ll tell you all the secrets that I know, okay?”

“Okay. Do you have a name picked out for your new self?”

“No, I want to see what I look like before I rename myself.”

“All right. There’s no rule saying that you have to think of one right away.”

Raven looked away from Jessica for a moment, and sniffed a bit as a few tears started to form in her eye.

“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked.

“It’s just…,” Raven started. “I thought that I was never going to see you again, and suddenly I find out that you are like me.”

Raven started to cry some tears of joy, and Jessica climbed off of the bed and wrapped her
arm around Raven.

“I know the feeling of thinking that I was never going to see you again,” Jessica said, hugging Raven close.

Raven turned herself around and the two of them embraced the other in a large hug.

“I love you,” Jessica said.

“I love you, too,” Raven replied.

Their hug escalated into a kiss. Suddenly, Jessica jumped back from Raven, as if something had just caused her to become extremely frightened.

“What happened?” Raven asked, looking extremely concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Something…doesn’t feel…right,” Jessica said, as she began clutching herself.

In the observation room, Doctor Litchburg saw Jessica’s vitals go wild, as Jessica fell back onto the bed. Raven rushed over to her side, worried about her friend.

“Hold on, Jess,” Raven said, standing by her friend.

Raven helped Jessica into a safe position on the bed. Once she had accomplished that, she pulled her hand back quickly, as if she was just burned.

“What happened?” Jessica asked, through the pain.

“I think you might’ve accidentally burned me.”

“Raven, I’m sorry!” she said quickly.

Jessica bucked on the bed, and arched her back. She was in excruciating pain as the second emergence began in earnest. Kristyn, who was standing inside the doorway of the room, quickly rushed over to Raven and pulled her out of the room. They quickly went to the observation room, where Raven watched in fear and awe of the transformation that was taking place before her.

The transformation was a wonder to behold. Raven watched Jessica’s Hispanic features morph away, she now looked like she was Caucasian. Her hair lightened considerably until she was a platinum blonde, and her brown eyes shifted to a dazzling sapphire blue. She also grew taller.

During the transformation, Jessica issued red hot flames from her hands a few times, several feet in length. Raven knew they were unintentional, from the reports that she heard about when she underwent her second emergence. But, after Raven could get another clean look at Jessica, what happened next was definitely unexpected.

After Jessica had lost consciousness from the excruciating pain that she was enduring, Jessica’s body was changing in a different way. Instead of losing its feminine curves and other physical characteristics, the second emergence only seemed to amplify them. Her breasts and hips only grew bigger, and her body seemed to be more toned.

About a minute later, Jessica was sleeping peacefully on the bed, but now she looked like a stereotypical California girl, with the only difference from that being her hair color.
Raven was baffled. She knew that the second emergence would flip her gender to male.

‘But why is Jessica still a she?’ Raven thought to herself, as they rushed into her room.

“Doc, what happened here?” Kristyn said.

“I don’t know. This shouldn’t have happened,” Doctor Litchburg replied, as he began to look Jessica over to see if there was anything else out of the ordinary, and to check her vital signs from the equipment that she was hooked up to.

Doctor Litchburg began taking blood and other bodily fluid samples to test in the laboratory to compare to Jessica’s previous form. Raven just watched as he tried to do his best to figure out what was going on.

“Doc,” Raven, with a definite note of concern in her voice, said, “is she okay?”

The doctor looked up quickly, and said hurriedly, “As far as I can tell, yes. But, I don’t know why her second emergence did this.”

“Can you figure that out?” Kris asked. “I don’t want to give false hope to everyone else
around here, unless we’re finding something new about the emergence.”

“I’ll do what I can, but every emergence thus far has been a gender switch of some kind
with an intersexed person,” Dr. Litchburg explained. “When I first examined Jessica, she didn’t have any indications that she was intersexed. But, she did possess the abilities that are associated with an emerged.”

“Do you have any of the test results?”

“Preliminary ones should be in soon.”

“How soon?” Kristyn said, with deadly urgency.

“I’m not sure. Probably within an hour.”

“Good, and get these out for testing ASAP. I want a rush order out on those tests. Got
it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the doctor said, “Nurse!”

The nurse walked over carrying a tray full of the equipment that the doctor would need to take samples needed for the comparison tests that Kristyn had just ordered.

Kristyn walked over to Raven and then said, “Why don’t we leave and let the doctor do his job, okay?”

Raven paid little attention to Kristyn, as she was focusing only on Jessica at the moment. She was wondering everything that they were wondering, and even much more. Kristyn shook Raven to try to get her attention.

“Hey, Raven,” Kristyn said.

Raven, however, just kept staring at Jessica.

Kristyn shook her again, and said, “Earth to Raven, come in Raven.”

“What?” Raven said, after being snapped out of her daze.

“I said, perhaps we should get out of here and let the doctor do his job. C’mon, I’ll get
you something at the cafeteria.”

“Okay,” Raven said, as she let herself be led off by Kristyn.

As they left the room, Raven’s gaze never left Jessica. Kristyn rolled her eyes, and figured when Jessica was awake; the two of them would be as close as peas in a pod.

-------

Raven was led back to her room to rest, after the two of them stopped by the cafeteria to pick up a couple of sandwiches. Kristyn then told her that she would be told when Jessica’s interesting twist on the emergence could be sorted out. Raven insisted that she help in figuring it out, but Kristyn said to leave it to the professionals for the time being and just try to rest.

Raven was feeling irked about that. She knew a good deal about genetics from all the internet research that she had done in the past. She also felt like that she knew something that could contribute to this investigation.

She walked over and sat down at the computer in a huff, still very annoyed at their attitude for not allowing her to help. She let herself fume for about a minute, and then
brought up her internet browser.

She started typing in the web address for one of her favorite websites, when she changed her mind. She went over to Google and began entering various strings of text to try to figure out why Jessica remained a girl.

After twenty minutes of finding little, Raven’s eyes went wide when she saw a possible solution to the current problem. She reviewed the information a few times, and then dashed out of her room and to the infirmary.

-------

Jessica was still sleeping soundly when she arrived, with the doctor overlooking her. Raven was trying to catch her breath, when she said, “I… know… why… she’s still….”

“Calm down, Raven,” Liz said, who was assisting the doctor.

Raven took a few deep breaths, and then said, “I know why she’s still a girl.”

Doctor Litchburg humphed, and said, “That’s good of you to try to figure it out, but I think we can do it. While I applaud your desire to help your friend, you should really leave this to the people who know the subject a lot better.”

“But, I know why. It’s the only logical conclusion.”

Doctor Litchburg ignored Raven’s argument, and said to Liz, “Will you please escort her out of here?”

“Yes, Doctor,” Liz said.

Liz had a painful look on her face, as she led Raven out of the hospital room. She tried to say something to alleviate the situation, but she couldn’t think of anything at the moment. Raven was also looking extremely frustrated at the moment.

“Liz,” Raven began, “please help me out here.”

Raven continued her pleading, “I know how Jessica just changed in appearance and not in gender as well. I just want a chance to say it.”

“I know, but, look at it from his perspective. He’s basing his judgment on the experience that he has over you. So, it’s going to be hard for him to accept anything in his field from you.”

“I see that. But, it doesn’t mean that I’m wrong,” Raven countered.

“Yes, I understand that,” Liz said.

The two of them reached the corridor and Raven turned to Liz and said, “Is there some way you can get the test results of her genetic profile, from the before and after second emergence?”

“I don’t know,” Liz said, turning and looking away.

“Please,” Raven pleaded, “it may give me the evidence I need to convince him that I’m right.”

Liz continued to stare off down the corridor, and Raven quickly added, “If I’m wrong, I’ll
drop it. Please, Liz, can you give me the data.”

Liz, looking uncomfortable, finally said, “Fine. But, don’t tell anyone, okay?”

“They won’t hear it from me, unless it’s forced out.”

Liz nodded and went back down to help the doctor, and to get the data for Raven to peruse.

-------

A few hours later, as Raven was working on her homework, she heard a knock on her door.
“Come in,” she said, looking up from her work.

No one opened the door, after Raven had invited them in. She climbed up off of her bed, and went over to the door, and found a manila folder on the ground, which had been slid underneath the door.

Raven opened the folder, and inside it was the information that she wanted. She walked over to the desk, and grabbed on of the spare notebooks in the desk, pulled up the website that she had found with the information on it, and began to conduct her own analysis. She poured through the available data, looking through it for the clues that would tell her if she was correct in her assumption.

She continued to work on this problem, well into the night, without any kind of break or any kind of rest. She was determined to figure out the answer to this mystery, but eventually sleep did manage to take hold of her. Raven slowly nodded off at her desk, and fell onto her work, lost to the realm of her own dreams.

------

Raven’s dream was definitely up in the strange category. Raven walked down the corridors of the Center in her dream, as her new self. Raven laughed at that image being projected. It seemed that her subconscious mind had associated her new body as herself now. The corridors of the Center were dark, with the emergency lighting that line the bottom of the hallways on and glowing blue.

She walked down the hall, not sure where her mind wanted her to go. Eventually, she
entered the cafeteria, and saw several of the students’ bodies scattered over the tables. The bodies were mangled, bloodied, and all dead.

However, there was someone standing at the other end of the hall. She was facing the door that led to the other side of the Center. Raven carefully walked over to the figure, and said, “Hello?”

A girl who looked like a Goth, and with stunning violet eyes and shoulder-length midnight black hair, turned around and said, “Raven, where have you been? We’ve been waiting for
you.”

“Who are you?” Raven said shocked, “Do you know what happened to everyone?”

She nodded, “Beware of your counterpart. They will try to unleash a rider of the apocalypse upon us all.”

The figure faded away and the doors leading on flung themselves open, waiting for Raven to cross over their threshold. Raven was wondering who that girl was, as she had never seen her before, and what her cryptic warning was supposed to have meant.

Raven continued down the hallway that was on the other side of the cafeteria, and saw more bodies littering the hallway. There were people lying there she didn’t recognize at all. Eventually, she entered the area of the Center that led to the various offices, and she saw yet another figure that she didn’t recognize.

This person appeared to be Asian in descent, and had hair that moved about on its own accord.

Before Raven could say anything, the girl said, “Nature’s fury will need to be unleashed. Someone has been playing with her toolkit; stop them before it’s too late.”

The figure pointed down another hallway, before again fading away.

Raven went in the direction that she had indicated, and heard the cawing of a bird echoing throughout that hall. Eventually, she had reached the door to the Center’s laboratory. There was a light coming from within, and she went inside.

She saw a raven sitting on a butane gas vent, next to a calico cat. Sitting at the bench,
staring at a pile of binders was Kristyn. Kristyn turned in the chair, and what surprised Raven the most was that there seemed to be electricity sparking from her eyes.
“Kristyn! What’s going on here?” she said.

“Find the answer to the problem. You will need her help to succeed and everyone else as well. There is still time to stop them.”

Kristyn faded from view, just like the other two girls, leaving Raven alone. The raven cawed again, loudly.

Raven awoke with a start, her face wet with the cold sweat she had from the dream. She looked up and out of her window, and saw a fluttering of wings quickly fly away. Raven tried to calm down after what had been an intense dream. She tried to recall what had happened in that dream; however, her mind was drawing a blank. The dream was now nothing but a blur.

She rubbed her face, as she tried to recover from that dream’s effects on her, and looked down at the test results. She looked at the PCR results from the sex chromosome templates of Jessica’s pre- and post-second emergence results. She realized that the evidence had been there staring at her in the face.

She scooped up the results and her findings, and then rushed out of her room. She knew that the doctor would probably not listen to her, so she ran to Kristyn’s office.
Raven thought to herself, ‘Hopefully, she will listen to me.’

-------

The secretary for Kristyn’s office showed her in, after Raven had pleaded with her for a few minutes. The secretary called in, and Kristyn said that she could have a few minutes.

‘With any luck, that’s all the time I will need,’ Raven thought to herself.

She entered the office, and quickly said, “I know why Jessica didn’t change her gender physically.”

Kristyn sighed, and then said, “What have you found?”

Raven laid out the information in front of Kristyn and began to explain her findings.

“The PCR results from Jessica’s genome turned up two different sized bands in her
pre-emerged state, and only one band twice as strong in her post-emerged state.”

“Meaning what?”

“This means that while Jessica looked like a girl before her second emergence, she was actually a he. Those two bands are her former X and Y chromosomes. Since there is only one band in the post-emerged results, but twice as strong, that would be her now two X chromosomes.”

“Okay, then why did she look like a girl when we picked her up? The last time I checked a person with an X and a Y is a male, not a female.”

“There is a genetic disorder known as Swyer syndrome. It results from a mutation in the SRY gene on the male Y chromosome. This disorder prevents the development of the testes, and without them, no testosterone is produced. Without that hormone, the fetus is forced into the default state, female since there is an intact X chromosome which is used to get information off of.”

Kristyn shook her head as she tried to process what Raven was telling her. “If I understand this, you’re saying that Jessica was a boy, but the stuff that should have told her body to be a boy was broken. So, she ended up looking like a girl?”

“Yes. It was also because of this syndrome that she never developed any testes to make her intersexed, and why she was off of everyone’s radar, until her first emergence. We were just in the right place at the right time.”

“All right, should we expect more of these kinds of people out there?”

“I don’t think so. The odds of both intersexed and this genetic disorder combined is extremely rare. I think that Jessica may be the only one, if you couple those with the chance of whatever causes our condition occurring as well.”

“I’ll pass your findings along to Doctor Litchburg and Colonel Harris. We’ll let you know what our decision is as soon as we can. Good work.”

“Thanks. It was an interesting problem to solve. Since, Jessica and I are both girls, can she be my roommate?”

“I don’t think that should be any trouble. It’s a good idea for the two of to be together, so that way you can show her around, and show her the ropes.”

“Thank you, Kris,” Raven said, giving her a hug.

Kristyn returned the hug, recalling when she first arrived and how Dani had been very helpful for her then.

“All right, I’ll let you know as soon as possible about our decision. I’ll see you later.”
Raven left the room, as Kristyn was picking up her office phone to make a few calls.
Raven was feeling like a large weight was taken off of her, after she had solved that mystery. She was also very happy that her best friend would be her new roommate.

-------

Raven, Luna, and Ali were eating their dinners in the cafeteria, talking about the rest of their day. Ali was very excited that she was starting to use her powers to try to lift herself off the ground. She desperately wanted to be able to make herself fly.

Luna, however, was having some difficulty in using her powers. The most she could do was move shadows around, and have the shadows starting to come off of their surface and take on a life of their own, under her control. The power trainer thought that Luna’s emotions were also somehow tied into her powers, after he had heard about Raven’s usage of her powers in the field.

Raven was only half-listening to everything they were talking about. Her thoughts were split between Jessica, and when she would be able to leave the infirmary, and the decision that Kristyn and the others were making.

“Raven,” Ali said.

Luna nudged her when she didn’t reply.

“Huh? What?” Raven replied.

“Are you alright?” Ali asked, looking concerned. “You seemed to be miles away for a
minute there.”

“What? Oh!” Raven replied. “I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

“You want to share?” Luna asked.

“I’m just concerned about Jessica, that’s all.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine with her. I’m still finding it strange that she’s still a girl.”

“Her genetics confirm the gender flip,” Raven said. “She was genotypically male, but looked female due to mutations on the gene that encodes for the hormone responsible for making a person male.”

“Okay…,” they both said in response.

Raven just shook her head. She seemed to get that a lot, since she had so much interest in that subject, and others were just baffled by the amount of knowledge that she knew.

Ali and Luna decided to continue their conversation, as Raven just decided to stare at her steak and mashed potatoes.

“Raven,” a voice said to her a few minutes later.

Raven looked up and saw Dani there, “Yes?”

“Kris and Colonel Harris would like to see you in Kristyn’s office.”

“When?” Raven said, her mood shifting from wonder to a nervous excitement.

“Now,” Dani calmly replied, before she went to go join Tina at a nearby table.

Raven froze for only a second, before she headed off to Kristyn’s office. The secretary
quickly showed her in, when she got there. Kristyn asked Raven to take a seat, before letting the colonel do the talking.

“Miss Hawkins,” he began, “first, I would like to inform you that Doctor Litchburg has confirmed your findings about Jessica’s condition. He was surprised that he didn’t catch it earlier. But, it’s understandable since we have never encountered this type of anomaly before.”

Raven nodded, while she waited for the colonel to continue.

“Second, Jessica will be in your room tonight. She is currently being moved there now, since she is just peacefully sleeping, with her body giving her time to recover from the physical emergence.”

Raven again nodded, her nerves building up even higher now.

“Third, based on events earlier today, and your performance in the classroom, we have an
offer for you.”

“Offer? What kind of offer?” Raven asked, now wondering what they wanted.

 
 
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.
--------

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.

 
 
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 Enemyoffun and Nikki/Padfoot for helping me with ideas for this chapter. Also, a big thanks to Nikki/Padfoot for helping with the edits.
--------

Chapter 7

The facility they had come across looked like it had been standing in the middle of a war zone. Most of the windows were blasted out, the walls were all scorched, and the place looked like it was about ready to fall over at any second, or if a strong enough wind came by. Raven walked into the area with Sheri and Ray following close behind her. Max was keeping an eye on Rita and Tina while they questioned the witnesses they had found.

The four of them lifted the caution tape over their heads, so they could cross the ruined threshold and enter the ruined genetics research facility. Raven was looking over the copy of the floor plans that she had been given. The facility was about the size of the Center, with only two floors; and the upper floor was smaller than the ground floor. Also, the facility had a basement that they seemed to have been using for storage.

She thought for a second as she looked around, and then said, “I’ll start on the top floor. Sheri, you check out the ground floor and see if you can get an impression off any of the objects that are still around. Hopefully, they can tell us about who attacked this place. Ray, you start in the basement. We’ll meet up here in about one hour, also, we should make contact at random intervals.”

“Why?” Sheri asked. “Didn’t they already secure this building?”

“They did say that, but, if there are people around that can manipulate the thoughts of others, I don’t want to be caught off guard,” she told them, hoping to give them some insight into her thinking and hoping that they realized that they still had to watch out for what could still be around them.

Sheri and Ray both nodded, but looked grim at this. They remembered what had happened with James Cook, and they understood Raven’s concerns completely. The two of them split up a few seconds later, while Raven carefully made her way up the emergency stairwell that she had noticed in the plans. The elevator was a lost cause, and given the building’s current condition, she wouldn’t even think of risking it.

The second floor of the research building that she had just arrived on didn’t look that much better than the first floor. Raven carefully stepped over and around the fallen shrapnel that had come from when the building was rocked violently by the small explosions that had taken place all over the lab. There were electrical lights sparking randomly along the corridor and it reminded her of some ghost movies. The emergency lights were still working, and they were glowing an iridescent blue, barely illuminating Raven’s way. The sunlight that was filtering in through the broken windows and holes in the wall was doing a better job of illuminating the area, realizing that she had at least this, otherwise it would have been
very difficult to walk through here.

Raven pulled out a flashlight and turned it on to help her along her way. She had just finished looking through what remained of a couple of offices, and didn’t see much there. The desks were blasted into tiny bits, along with anything else of what seemed to be of value. She eventually entered one of the laboratories on this floor. The hanging sign on wall next to the door read, “Chemical Synthesis.”

Raven stepped into this lab, and saw that it looked like several small bombs have gone off inside the room. This idea she figured was probably true, considering the extensive scorching marks over most of the room. Raven could hear the crunch of glass breaking under her boots. She looked down, and saw various beakers and flasks that had been shattered, she guessed from the explosion. There also were piles of ash and burnt compounds all over the room. Raven though that the room smelt horrible; it was like burnt rubber, rotten eggs, and a skunk all rolled into one extremely enclosed area.

She put on some gloves to keep her fingerprints off of anything she might touch. Her prints may have changed with her emergence, along with her DNA, but she didn’t want to be blamed for something along these lines. She also didn’t know if it would show fingerprints of a person who should be dead. She headed over to the binders that were lying on the ground, and looked through what she could, trying to see if she could find anything of any importance.

Most of the pages were from the MSDS binders, and even those were singed pretty badly and she could not read anything from its pages. After thumbing through the scraps for a few more minutes, she went over to take a look at the computer, but she saw that the tower was a melted pile of slag. She was wondering if there was anything else, but she looked around and didn’t see anything else. She sighed and left the room to continue her search for clues on the second floor.

After ten minutes of checking out the remaining offices on the second floor, Raven made her way back down to the ground floor to check on Sheri, and see if she needed any help. Raven thought to herself, ‘Whoever is responsible for this act is sadistic and methodical. They practically destroyed anything of value or that could leave any clues to what they were after.’

As Raven walked along the first floor, she could see the level of destruction was the same, if not worse, than it was on the second floor. Various labs were torn asunder, several pieces of equipment was either destroyed or damaged, computers were turned into a pile of melted slag, and notebooks were torn up and burned. It appeared that almost nothing could be found from any of the things here.

‘It is not going to be easy to figure what they were after,’ Raven thought.

Raven made her way to a laboratory at the end of the western hallway. As she made her way down the scorched hallway, she continued to wrestle with the questions of whom, why, and how. There were so many questions running through her head at the moment, and she wondered if she could figure any of it out. Looking through the doorways that had their doors blasted off of their hinges, she could see Sheri try to get an impression off of the destroyed objects. From what Raven could see through the holes in the wall, Sheri seemed to be having the same results that Raven had on the second floor, nothing but dead ends and frustrations. She felt sorry for her and realized this was not going to be easy.

She was just about to search the nearby labs, when she heard a voice over her radio, “Raven, this is Ray, over.”

Raven reached for her radio and replied, “Go ahead, Ray.”

“I think you should come down to the basement. I found something down here that I think you should see.”

“On my way, over.”

Raven turned around and tried to quickly make her way back to the staircase that led to the basement, jumping and weaving over the debris in the hallway that was slowing her progress down.

---------

The basement didn’t look as nearly as bad as the other two floors. There was significantly less damage on the basement; most of the damage to the basement came from when the parts of the first floor had caved in. It seemed that the assailants ignored the basement, thinking that there was nothing down there of consequence. However, it was hard for Raven to see anything that wasn’t close to her, since the only light was seeping in from the holes in the first floor. Ray had met her at the bottom of the stairwell, wielding a flashlight.

“What did you find?” Raven asked, as she reached the bottom landing, pulling out and turning on her flashlight.

“Something that I’m hoping whoever ransacked this place missed,” he replied, with a note of deadly seriousness.

Ray led the way down the darkened corridor, using their flashlights to light their way. They passed the autoclaves and other biohazard waste disposal facilities when they arrived to a cardkey-coded door, with also a regualar key lock. The name by the door read, “Backup.”

“Backup? Backup what?” Raven asked.

“Not sure,” he replied. “Do you have a hairpin or a paperclip on you by any chance?”

“What?” Raven asked, wondering why he would need any of those things.

“Well, unless you have a security access card that will let us in, I need some tools to try to pick the other lock.”

“Oh,” Raven replied, mentally slapping herself for not realizing something like that. “You can pick locks?”

“It was something that I caught a glance at in a movie,” he answered, explaining in a nonchalant way.

Raven handed him a paperclip, and then said, “Will you be able to pick the lock from the scenes you saw in the movie?”

A few minutes later, Ray managed to pick the lock, and they were in.

“I guess so,” he said, seeming a bit overconfident.

He pushed the door open, and raised his pistol and flashlight in both of his hands as they entered the room. After a quick search, they discovered no one was in the room with them as they entered. However, they did just strike gold in their investigation. The room held the backup servers for the entire facility from the looks of it.

Raven whistled, “Damn, looks like we just struck gold. Good job, Ray.”

Raven and Ray began inspecting the four servers that were in the room for any signs of damage, still wearing their black leather gloves so they don’t leave any of their own fingerprints behind. Electrical shorts were possible, since the assailants did damage the power grid during their raid. Ray was more of a techno buff than Raven was, but she did know how to spot a short, or singe marks from a spark.

After a few minutes of inspecting the servers, Ray finally said, “Well, it appears that they were able to weather the attack. But, we’ll know more once we have had a chance to open them up and see if they have anything that could be of use to us.”

Raven nodded and then said, “Arrange for the servers to be taken back. We don’t have the equipment to go through them here. If the company complains about this, tell them they’re evidence for a possible security breach.”

Ray whipped out his phone and replied, “You got it.”

As he began to talk on the phone with the team outside, Raven decided to head back up to the first floor to see if Sheri had picked up on anything, hoping she may have picked up on something to get a clue as to who could have done all this.

---------

Raven wandered the hallways of the first floor, as she looked to find Sheri. She was a little concerned since she didn’t answer the radio call. In Raven’s mind, this could only mean one of two things: one, which could be that Sheri was deep in some kind of trance while she got a reading on the objects she was holding, or two, that she was captured by forces that the raiders could have left behind and had kept hidden from the military. Raven was hoping it was the former and not the latter, if not they would have even more problems.

As she looked inside the genetics lab, along the route she was taking to check each room, she found Sheri finally. She was just coming out of a trance as she put a scorched notebook back down onto the countertop.

Raven cleared her throat, and Sheri turned to the doorway and said, “Oh, Raven, I didn’t see you there.”

“I called you on the radio a couple of times,” Raven said, looking concerned.

“Sorry, whenever I use my abilities, I go into a trance-like state. It tends to block out most things at times, and that must have been one of those times.”

“Ah,” Raven said, trying to understand. “What have you found out?”

Sheri sighed as she recalled the memories of images she had obtained from her part of the investigation. “There was a struggle between some thugs and the scientists. It appears that the raiders were after the scientists for some reason. One of the scientists was holding this notebook, when they saw their colleague being dragged out of the room against their will,” she said somberly.

“The scientist was still holding it when they saw an emerged throw a fireball at the walls, and at the security guards.”

“Anything else?” Raven said, looking concerned.

Sheri continued, after letting the first part settle in, “There were glimpses of the scientists conducting their research. I don’t recall much of that though.”

Raven thought for a second, and then said, “It appears they were after the scientists then, probably for the knowledge in the field that they specialized in.”

“That would be my guess,” Sheri answered, hoping their guessing was close to the truth. It was sad knowing that these people died doing their jobs.

Raven sighed, and put her hand on her head to rub her temple as she tried to figure everything out. For the moment, things didn’t quite make sense. She thought, ‘Why go to all the trouble to trash a genetics research facility only to capture a few scientists.’

Sheri and Raven made their way back out to the command post. Raven was anxious to hear what the others had discovered in their interviews, and hoped maybe that there was more to help them figure out what had exactly happened.

---------

As Raven and the rest of her team were emerging from the ruins of the genetics lab and examining the entrance, Rita and Tina were just finishing up the interviews with the survivors; Max had gone over to the investigative command post to act as a liaison between the Center and the local authorities. Max went over to reluctantly do this after Tina had assured that she and Rita would be fine, considering that they always had an armed guard with them as they interviewed the witnesses.

Rita was looking a little tired, due to erasing some of the memories of the witnesses, while Tina was looking over her notes one more time before she told Raven what the two of them uncovered. Rita was only erasing memories that Tina didn’t get a feeling that they were trying to cover something up.

“Hmm…,” said Tina, as she continued to go through her notes.

“What?” Rita replied, sounding even more tired than she looked.

“Judging by what these people are telling me, I’m thinking something doesn’t quite add up here.”

“Did you jot down what emotions they were feeling as you questioned them?” Rita asked Tina.

“Of course,” Tina replied.

The look on her face shifted until she hit a moment of realization. She quickly flipped through the legal pad where she had kept notes on the interviews until she came across one of the other scientists. She quickly glanced through her notes, and looked at what she wrote when she observed the person’s behavior.

She grabbed Rita by the arm and said, “C’mon, we need to tell Raven this now!”

The two of them rushed over to the entrance to the ruined lab, as the other three were talking with the local authorities to transport the servers back to the Center. The investigative field agent walked off a small distance from Raven, so they can phone where to drop the evidence off just as the other two reached Raven’s position.

“Raven!” Tina said, with a raised voice to get Raven’s attention.

Raven was caught a little off guard as she was dealing with that field agent who didn’t seem to want to let this case go, even though the Department of Homeland Security was taking over the investigation. The agent was trying to appeal to his boss to try to keep his team in the loop, but he didn’t appear to be having much luck.

“Yes, Tina, what did you find out from your interviews?”

Tina flipped through her legal pad to the summary page and reported, “Most of the people there didn’t catch much of the assailants. They heard explosions going off, which could have been some of the combustible chemicals exploding. Most of the people just tried to run out of the building as fast they could, after locking down and backing up their research.”

Raven nodded, and then said, “Did anyone catch a glimpse of the attackers?”

Tina nodded and added, “A few people did. They were dressed in what was described as black combat gear by a couple of the surviving security guards.”

“Black combat gear?” Raven replied, looking a bit confused.

“Yes,” Tina continued, “from what the guard described, it is like the gear that we are usually outfitted with before a pickup, however, there’s was completely back from head to toe.”

“Any weapons on them?” Raven said, asking the next logical question.

“None. The guards only saw a headset on them, in terms of technology. However, in terms of abilities, I’d say we’re looking at a variety of different psychokinetics.”

“What kind of variety?” Raven asked, after hearing that they were dealing with a variety of psychokinetics.
“From what they saw,” Tina said, while flipping to another page, “One pyro, one hydro, and one aerokinetic.”

Raven nodded, as that would account for some of the damage in the lab.

Sheri quickly added, “Well, the pyrokinetic makes sense, given from one of the visions that I saw.”

Raven said, “Yes, that does make sense. Anything else?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” she said, flipping to another page in her pad. “One of the witnesses said they saw at least three scientists being carried off by another assailant that looked like they were nothing but muscle. There was a fifth person as well, who acted like he was better than the other four and like he had some sort of smug attitude.”

Ray chipped in, “Well, could that fifth person have been some sort of telepath.”

Raven asked, “Did they get a good look at the scientists that were carried off?”

Tina replied, “I’m afraid so. They were this facility’s top researchers in the field of gene therapy. But, I’m not sure what that is.”

“Gene therapy is a very new technique that is currently being pioneered to treat genetic disorders,” Raven said, as she sighed deeply. “It works by using a virus to deliver a gene to repair a bad gene, or even to insert genes into a person’s genome.”

“Meaning?” asked Ray, hoping she would speak in something more English than what she was speaking.

“It means that someone out there, maybe trying to artificially create their own emerged. Probably for some reason that I’m pretty sure that we are not going to like.”

Everyone groaned and looked very nervous and scared about the prospect that was just given to them just now; the idea that someone could be doing this was dangerous.

As they headed back towards the command post, Tina said, “There was also one more thing. One of the scientists, whom we interviewed, seemed off to me.”

“Off? How?” Raven asked, looking concerned about hearing this and what it could mean.

“Well, from the emotions I could feel him giving off, it seemed like he was holding information back, and his story didn’t completely jive with the other witnesses. He seemed to be off and I began to wonder what
he could be hiding.”

Raven turned to Rita and asked, “Did you erase his memories?”

Rita shook her head, and said, “No, I was feeling tired after several of the others, so I couldn’t get to him yet.”

“I want him transported back to the Center for further questioning. I want a telepath in the room, so we can get some information out of this person. We may have caught the inside man in this operation.”

“How do you figure he’s an inside man?” Ray asked.

“I’m not sure if he’s the inside man, but his story doesn’t add up and he appears to be withholding information from us. That points to him having some kind of knowledge that we could use, and I’m pretty sure we could use all the information we can get at this point.”

Ray nodded, and the five of them made their way back over to the command post to see if Max had found anything.

---------

The five of them found Max looking over a few DVDs at the command post’s electronic area. Max appeared to be engrossed in the contents of those discs. He had a headset on his head as he tried to listen for anything that could be significant on those discs.

Raven went up to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and said, “Found anything interesting?”

Max jumped when Raven touched him, and then sighed after he turned and saw who it was that had startled
him.

“Don’t do that to me again, please,” he said, breathing harder than normal, and hoping his heartbeat would go back to normal quickly.

“All right, I’ll try not to,” Raven said, putting her hands up, trying to look innocent.

Max took a deep breath and then said, “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I was going to ask you if you had found anything.”

“Oh,” Max replied, “I believe so. I’ve been reviewing the security camera footage that the security firm has. They are owned by the corporation that owns the lab and the security firm. They sent the footage
right over to us.”

“Okay, is there something of value on the tapes?” she asked nicely.

“I believe so,” Max replied, turning around and queuing up the footage that he deemed important to their investigation.

“At about nineteen hundred hours last night, two unmarked black SUVs pulled up to the gates of the facility. After the guards at the gate confronted them, the guards were quickly shot with what appears to be a pistol from here. The SUVs then continued up to the facility unhindered and seemed to be making good time.”

Max queued up the cameras that were positioned on the front of the building. He then continued, “Five people emerged from the cars after they pulled up. One guy, with a bunch of muscles burst down the front door. A young woman, who appears to be a pyrokinetic, unleashed a few fireballs at the wall, creating their own entrance, which was odd since they had just broke down the door. A fifth person, who resembled
a young woman and walked with a lot of swagger, followed the muscle guy.”

He queued through the footage again, skipping parts that they caught on was not important, all the while saying, “The psychokinetics, a pyro, a hydro, and an aerokinetic, went on a rampage through the facility attempting to trash the place and destroy anything of value.”

“However, the muscle guy and the swaggering woman went straight for the labs where the missing geneticists were working. It was as if they knew exactly where those three were, and were the objective of their raid. I have a feeling that there is something we are missing because they seem to have some knowledge of where things were.”

Raven just felt like her throat plummeted into her stomach. She thought to herself, ‘It looks like some of the pieces of this puzzle are coming together finally.’

As they were watching the footage, Raven saw something that caught her eye.

“Wait! Go back a few minutes,” she said after something caught her eye had been skipped.

Max rewound the footage of the man with muscles shouldering the three scientists. Raven then said, “Watch the woman.”

The woman they had seen before moved through the lab’s desk drawers, looking for something. Eventually, she came across three heavy binders. She pulled them out of the desk, and then carried them with her as she followed the muscle guy back out of the lab.

“Apparently whoever these five people are, they or their employer wanted the scientists as well as their research,” Tina commented.

“Yeah, which corroborates with what we already know about what happened here,” Raven added, to help catch everyone else up.

They looked through the footage at what the psychokinetics were doing during their rampage for a few more minutes before Raven sighed.

“I think we should get that witness and what evidence we can pull off the servers back to the Center for analysis as quickly as we can. We’ll bring the footage back with us, since that also gives us a timeline of the events that happened here, which will help instead of us trying to make educated guesses.”

The rest of the team nodded, and they began to prepare for their return with what they had learned at the scene of the crime.

---------

A few hours later, the team’s SUVs pulled into the Center complex. Kristyn was at the entrance of the building to greet them.

“What did you learn?” she asked, as Raven closed the door to the vehicle she was in.

“I think it would be best if I told you in private,” Raven replied.

Kristyn looked concerned; however, she merely nodded and said, “My office in thirty minutes then. Make sure you get cleaned up before you do though. Believe me, it does wonders for the nerves.”

Raven nodded, as she watched Kristyn reenter the main building. Raven continued to oversee the delivery of the evidence recovered from the site to the laboratories. She watched as a few army noncoms escorted the scientist that was under suspicion from that lab was being led from the SUV to an interrogation room for questioning later. She couldn’t help but wonder if Kristyn would be doing the interrogating or someone else that she did or didn’t know She also wondered what kinds of things he would be put through. Raven thought about all she had learned at the crime scene, and what she might learn after she had a chance to see what was on the files contained on the backup servers. However, she decided to get a quick shower and a change of clothes before she went to Kristyn’s office to deliver her report.

She slipped into her room after the evidence was secured, grabbed her towel and toiletries, and then headed to the showers with a deliberate haste, knowing that she didn’t have much time to shower. Raven thought that she needed a nice hot shower after working at the ruined genetics facility.

As the warm water caressed her body, Raven’s thoughts began to wander. She thought of the ruined genetics facility and what those raiders would want with the scientists. She didn’t know a lot about the new technique of gene therapy; however, she now had more than a passing interest in it and she knew she would study to learn as much as she could about this new technique.

As she ran her hands through her shampoo-filled hair, she thought back over the events that had put her in this situation. For the last two months, she had been adjusting to the fact that she was now a beautiful teenage girl with powers over plants and to top it all off, had suddenly become the leading researcher at a top secret government facility on people that were just like her.

She giggled to herself at the notion of someone telling her that this was where she would end up here two months ago. She would’ve thought they were crazy and directed them to the nearest mental institution, and most likely would have given them directions so that they could take care of. She thought to herself, ‘Well, I will say this about the emergence. I am definitely happier now than where I started out at.’

After enjoying the warm water for a few minutes after washing her hair with conditioner, she headed back for her room to change into more professional looking clothes. She had tossed her combat fatigues that were lying on the floor down the laundry chute, thankful that there was no fight at the scene. She didn’t mind wearing them, she just hoped that she wouldn’t have to wear them often.

She looked around in her closet for her professional clothes, and rapidly found them. She changed into them quickly, and started to brush her hair out. She smirked, as the thought of brushing her hair out amused her. With her thinking about the way things were right now, she never thought that she would have hair this long or this beautiful to brush, and she was still amazed by it. As she held her hair in her hands, she wondered if she could ever think of herself the way she was before she emerged. It seemed her old life was so long ago and in a different world.

After finishing with her hair, she slipped on a pair of three inch heels, and headed for Kristyn’s office. She sighed as her thoughts turned away from her own quick self-inspection and reflection, and to the real issues at hand.

---------

Kristyn’s secretary just motioned for Raven to enter her office when she appeared in front of her. Raven took a deep breath, smoothed out her clothes, and went inside, hoping that she looked professional enough. Kristyn was sipping some water, and motioned for Raven to take a seat.

“Well, you cleaned up quickly,” she commented, making a nice observation and hoping this would make Raven feel a little more at ease.

“I figured I needed a good scrub after trudging through that building,” Raven replied.

Kristyn laughed a little. “I don’t doubt it. Could you please tell me about the facility.”

“The first and second floors were essentially destroyed. Only a few things in the labs and the administration rooms were left intact at all. The basement, however, was largely intact. The only things of value that we were able to recover were the backup servers for the lab’s mainframe, which were found in the basement. The people who attacked the lab didn’t seem to care about what was in the basement.”

“We’re securing the servers in the computer lab as we speak, and will get some of our top techies on the job to break into them,” Kristyn commented, “Hopefully, we will see what data is on the computer that we can use and anything else that could be important. What did the interviews with the survivors reveal?”

“Most of them didn’t see too much and seemed to have problems trying to recall anything. Tina thought that they were frightened for their lives, during the attack and who could blame them. From what they remembered the psychokinetics went through the facility destroying whatever they could, while a guy with a lot of muscles and an another woman, who was described as walking with a very strong swagger, went directly for a group of scientists and their research.

“From reviewing the information on who was working on what at that research facility, we have discovered that those three scientists were working in the new field of gene therapy and doing some big research in that area.”

“Gene therapy?” Kristyn asked, looking a bit confused.

Raven sighed, as she began to explain as best she could. “Gene therapy is a technique where DNA is inserted into a cell to replace a defective gene. The DNA can be inserted through a variety of means, including via a virus. It’s an amazing thing if you know what it can do.”

“Okay…,” Kristyn said, as she was trying to follow Raven’s explanation, hoping for more.

“Based on what I have seen so far, I would have to guess that someone has sent out a team to capture those scientists for some nefarious scheme they have planned. My guess would have to be replicating the original incident that transformed all of us, but on much larger scale. I hope that I’m wrong, but that is what I have right now.”

It looked like all the color had drained from Kristyn’s face when she heard Raven’s guess. She leaned back into her chair, took a deep breath, and rubbed her hands over her face. She took a quick drink of her water, and then sighed.

“Let’s hope that is not what they have in mind, but we should begin taking measures to deal with that situation should it arise at some point, or if your theory is even at all possible.”

Raven agreed to that assessment and hoped that she was very wrong. She wondered and hoped that the evidence that they brought back with them would help to debunk her theory.

“So, why did you bring that one scientist back with you?” Kristyn said, dragging Raven from her mind for a bit.

“I believe Tina got a bad vibe when she was interviewing him. From the way she described it, it was like he was withholding information from us. I didn’t like hearing that when she implied it, so I figured it would be best to question him.”

Kristyn nodded, and then replied, “Hopefully, he knows something that could lead us to the group that kidnapped those missing scientists and what they could possibly be planning. With any luck, he gives us enough of a heads up on whatever is going on to try and stop it.”

“Indeed,” Raven added, hoping to contribute to whatever plan Kristyn was beginning to formulate.

“Well, is there anything else that you feel like I need to know about?”

“Not much. Max confirmed what some of the witnesses said about the assailants after he reviewed some of the security footage we obtained from the firm who managed their security. They quickly and happily gave it to us.”

“Then how did those five get past the security that night?”

“They apparently had some foreknowledge of the facility and knew exactly when and where to hit them. The
footage also showed them quickly dealing with the guards before one of them could raise the alarm.”

“Sounds like we’re dealing with a highly organized group of people who control their own set of emerged. Also, it seems like they were able to plan their assault extremely well, and are well connected based on what resources they were using.”

Raven nodded in agreement, and then said, “Will there be anything else?”

“Not at the moment,” Kristyn said, “go grab a bite to eat and then start analyzing the evidence you brought back. I’ll talk with Colonel Harris about setting up the interrogation of your suspect. Good work out there, you did a good job. Now, we need to figure out what to do with the situation we find ourselves in.”

Raven smiled and then left the room to go get something to eat. She was definitely craving some fried chicken and mashed potatoes right about now, and happy to finally being able to satisfy that craving..

---------

A few days later, Raven was still bashing her head against the encrypted servers. She was having little success using what security programs that the Center had given her. Although she knew a good deal about computers, she did not have the ability to crack the encryptions or do much besides some of the basics. She had stopped by the cafeteria to pick up some coffee, hoping that it will give her an energy boost, before she decided to ask Kristyn for some books on hacking, thinking she should be able to pick a few things up from one of them.

Raven believed that she could teach herself how to hack, but realized that it would take a few months at least. Kristyn was pressuring her to break into those systems as quickly as she could, due to the potential threat on the horizon if those scientists were forced to work for whoever had kidnapped them. She sighed as she knew this was important, but didn’t want to give up or do this as quickly as they wanted.

As Raven reentered her laboratory after her coffee run, she saw Kristyn and an attractive blonde girl she didn’t recognize talking with each other. Raven sipped her coffee and said, “Kristyn, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Well, I was in the neighborhood and I decided to pop down here to see how you were progressing on the servers,” she replied, with an inquisitive tone, as well as hoping that things were going better.

Raven sighed, and then reported, “I haven’t been able to make much headway I’m afraid.”

Raven walked over to the servers, and her terminal that she was working at, and brought up her attempts in the computer log.

“As you can see,” Raven said, indicating to the logs, “I haven’t had much luck.”

“That’s because you haven’t tried to find the backdoor that they installed into their firewall,” the blonde girl said. She quickly added, “Or you can try to trick the computer into thinking you’re an administrator running a simple diagnostic on the systems, if you need to make your own back door.”

Raven looked quizzical at the girl and then said, with a bit of an attitude, “And how would you know all of that?”

The girl started turning red, and then said embarrassingly, “I know my way around computers.”

Raven still looked perplexed and then Krisytn, noticing a potential problem, said, “Raven, may I introduce Chloe Snape, one of our newest arrivals. She’s what we’ve dubbed a technokinetic.”

“May I have a go at it?” Chloe asked, hoping to help her out.

Raven stood up from her chair, while Chloe sat down and began typing frantically at the keyboard. Various windows were being brought up over the screen as Chloe worked. Raven was impressed that Chloe wasn’t even glancing at her hands every now and again to make sure she wasn’t missing a single keystroke. Chloe also seemed to have rapidly developed the perfect rhythm to interface with the servers.

“Technokinetic?” Raven asked, looking confused at Kristyn.

“Yes,” Kristyn explained. “Apparently they have a connection to computers beyond many of the best experts in the field.”

“Is it similar to how you can manipulate electricity, or how I can manipulate plants?” Raven asked.

“That’s our current theory.”

“And I’m in,” Chloe said, out of the nowhere.

Kristyn and Raven both turned to Chloe, and she indicated on the monitor the available file directories that she had gained access to.

“Wow,” Raven said, sounding very surprised, “that was fast and very well done.”

“I’m already copying the files to our directory for further inspection, but that will take some time.”

“Okay, let me know when you’re done,” Kristyn and Raven said at the same time.

They looked at each other, and giggled at their antic. Kristyn then took Raven off to the side and then said to her, “So, what do you think of her?”

“Well,” Raven began, “she has a lot of skill with computers, and she seems to be somewhat comfortable with herself, even though she still has a lot of male mannerisms, so I’m guessing she is still adjusting to her
new body.”

Chloe was sitting in the chair with her legs apart, while she was wearing the skirt that the uniform had. They both could not help but wonder if they had been like that in the beginning.

“We can work on that,” Kristyn said. She then added, “But, I think she would make a wonderful addition to your team.”

“I think so, too,” Raven replied, seeing the value that Chloe could bring to the table.

“Good, then consider her the first member of your team. Do you have any other candidates lined up?”

“Not at the moment. I’ve been so focused on the job, that I’ve been neglecting reading the rest of the student dossiers,” she honestly replied, and realized that she should worry about this now.

Kristyn rolled her eyes. “Well, when you get a free moment, I strongly suggest you begin to look over them. You still have some gaps to fill on your team; however, I think you could use a chemist and an engineer.”

“Yeah, I think those would be the best additions to the team, too,” Raven agreed.

Kristyn nodded, “I want your suggestions for those positions in two days time.”

“Understood,” Raven answered.

Kristyn turned and headed out of the room, and Raven took another deep breath and went over to talk with Chloe about what she dug up.

---------

Chloe had determined that there had been hundreds of gigabytes stored on the lab’s servers, ranging from the simple business operations of the facility to the various experiments and research that was being conducted there on a daily basis. She had already extracted and downloaded all the information that was salvageable concerning the experiments and gave that data to Raven to analyze. She also extracted their email records, and gave those to Miss Fine in the hopes that something could be used to get the leverage they needed on their prisoner or anyone else.

Raven and Chloe were both in the lab, at that moment. Chloe was trying to recover and rebuild some of the corrupted data. Raven was plowing through the logs of the three missing scientists, trying to figure out what plans their kidnappers had concerning them and their talents and why only these three out of all the scientists there.

Raven was impressed with the work that they were trying to achieve. Although she only had some knowledge of gene therapy, she knew enough that it could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, or extremely beneficial if used properly. However, as she was going through the research, she could tell that some of the information was just out of her league and would definitely need some help figuring it out.

The team of scientists, whom were now identified as Dr. Alistair Tomlinson, Dr. Michelle Prema, and James Tiber, each specialized in a different field. Dr. Tomlinson was one of the leading pioneers in the field of gene therapy, after spending a majority of his career in genetic engineering. Dr. Prema’s doctorate was in the field of neurobiology, and she had done extensive work in characterizing various neurotransmitters in humans. James Tiber, a recent master’s graduate, completed his thesis in the field of endocrinology.

Raven was amazed by the group as she also began to review papers that the three of them had published throughout their scientific careers. She realized the three of them would be able to come up with some interesting breakthroughs in the emerging field of gene therapy. However, that’s what made their current situation even scarier than before.

Raven had also ordered a few textbooks on neurobiology and endocrinology, since those areas of biology were much more studied than gene therapy. She wondered if she could learn enough to help get a better idea of their research. Raven hoped that by studying the other players, and what they knew, involved in this research that she can help determine what else she could unravel about the research in general.

Time seemed to pass by as Raven just kept on reading the material, as well as making her own notes on what she had of the uncorrupted files of their research. The file corruption was leaving holes in the pattern of the research, and was making things harder for her to figure out. Raven was having a hard time following the research where there were gaps and large holes. However, she was trying her best to figure it out, and she hoped she was doing it well enough as she enjoyed learning all this new information.

Raven sighed and glanced at the clock and was surprised by what she saw. She groaned as she just realized she had been working for six hours straight, and had completely missed dinner and was very hungry. Sarah had come in earlier in the day with some lunch for Raven and told her what was going on around the school. Raven had been a bit reclusive as she worked, and Sarah thought that she would enjoy hearing about the latest gossip.

Raven looked over to the servers and saw that Chloe had left for the night, and wondered how long ago she left. She groaned and wondered how she could have let time get away from her so easily. She straightened up her notes, closed her binders, and left the lab for the night, intending to get an early start the next day.

She walked to the cafeteria for a pastrami sandwich, and then proceeded to eat it on the way back to her room. When she got there, she saw Sarah sleeping on her bunk. Raven grabbed the blanket at the foot of the bed, and reached over and covered Sarah with it. Raven smiled at seeing her peacefully sleep, as she knew that Sarah was putting in a lot of effort into her power training. Raven was wondering if that had something to do with the incident surrounding her first emergence, and had a hunch that it did. She made a mental note to talk to her about it later, and try to see if she realized that it wasn’t her fault and shouldn’t be working herself to death thinking about it.

Raven still couldn’t sleep even after the sandwich, so she had decided to pull out the dossiers of the possible candidates for the members of her team. She was hoping that if she completed that search that Kristyn would stop bugging her about it, and she also realized that she could use the help. Several of the people she looked at had strengths in some of the fields that she wanted on her team, but none of them really stood out to her. Eventually, the words of the dossiers began to run together as Raven passed out on her desk.

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Raven found herself in her laboratory with the blue glow of the emergency lights illuminating the scene. She left the room and saw that the hallway was deserted, with the lighting making the hallways seem creepier. She saw a fox standing in the hallway. When Raven approached it, it took off towards the administration area. Curiosity was getting the better of her, and she decided to follow the fox and head for the administration area to see what was going on, and what could possibly make the Center look like this. As she made her way there, she heard a loud, echoing caw throughout the facility. She recalled hearing that before, but she still couldn’t place it. She wondered where it had come from, and what had made it.

The administration area looked the same as the corridors, completely deserted and on emergency lighting, which added to the chill that ran down her spine. The fox headed into Kristyn’s office, and Raven decided to follow it in. She reasoned that if anyone knew what was going on, it would be Kristyn. When she opened the door, she gasped in surprise as she saw a large calico cat camped out on the couch in her office, but no sign of Kristyn. The cat looked as large as a tiger, and Raven thought for a moment if it was a tiger pretending to be a calico.

Raven heard that caw resonate throughout the building again when she stepped into Kristyn’s office. The cat perked up its ears when she heard the caw and then cast its gaze at Raven, as if it was a sign that Raven had arrived. The cat seemed to understand that Raven had come looking for answers.

“Uh? Nice kitty?” Raven said, nervously and keeping her focus on the cat..

The cat then said in Kristyn’s voice, “Stay on the path, and help the others.”

“Path? What path?” Raven asked, and was wondering why the cat was able to talk.

“Your journey has only just begun, and you will soon be taking flight. The Trickster will be with you soon,” the cat added, keeping the air of mystery surrounding her words.

“Trickster? Who is that?”

The cat winked at her, and then faded from view. Raven was a little surprised at the Cheshire cat routine, and didn’t think too much of it. She knew that the cat was trying to tell her something, although she had no clue as to what, and wondered if she would ever figure it out.

She turned around and headed out of office and nearly fell face first into a large pond of water. The pond had reeds and trees coming out of it, as well as all along the shoreline. The pond looked clear and pretty as it caught the sunlight. There were a few alligators nearby, snacking on some sort of animal. Raven looked around and couldn’t figure out where she was or where the pond had come from, or even if she was even in the Center anymore.

When she turned around, she was a large blast of energy hurling towards her, and within seconds of seeing the blast come at her, she awoke with a start in a cold sweat. She breathed deeply as she tried to catch her breath and realized that it was just a dream. The dream she just had was strange, and she wondered if meant anything. She decided to put it behind her and climbed into her bed to attempt to get what sleep she could before getting back to work. She figured that things would work out, however, she had other things to worry about that were more important.

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The next day, Raven was summoned to Kristyn’s office for a meeting concerning the suspect they currently had in custody from the genetics facility. After she sat down in front of Kristyn’s desk, Kristyn said, “We have finally managed to get some information out of your suspect that you brought in. His name is Doctor Henry Charlin. He’s also a researcher in the field of gene therapy. However, he is considerably less talented than Dr. Tomlinson, and felt very jealous of his abilities.”

Raven let the information sink in for a bit and then nodded. She replied, “What else did he tell us?”

“Tina’s and your assumptions that he was the inside man of the operation was completely right. He was able to give the raiders everything they needed to kidnap those three scientists, as well as the ability to get in and get out without too much trouble. However, he doesn’t have any idea of where they have taken the three of them.”

“Damn,” Raven said.

“However, he did mention to us that he was supposed to go somewhere if he wasn’t apprehended by us: The Eternal Bog of Youth at 25th North and 81st West.”

“Now that’s interesting. Any luck on trying to figure out what that could mean?” Raven asked hoping to have some idea on what it could mean.

“Not yet, but Miss Fine is looking into the possibilities at the moment,” Kristyn replied, making it clear that they were going to find something.

“What’s your plan after we have an idea of where they may have been taken and what may be done with them?”

“We’re currently working on that. We may need your team, since they will have a very good standing on
what is going on. Have you had any luck in assembling it?” Kristyn asked.

Raven looked prepared to answer that question, since she had a better idea of who she wanted on her team. She had finished looking over the dossiers before breakfast, and wrote up the short list of people she wanted.

“I believe so. Here are some names of the people that I would want added to my team, if possible,” she said, handing Kristyn a piece of paper with names on it, along with their areas of expertise.

Kristyn quickly looked through the list, and smiled after reading through it. “I’ll see what I can do.”