Valencia/Birgit stood near Jesse, watching everyone assemble. Where all of this was heading? Could there be an answer to what they had been through and why everything had happened to them?
Finally, silence fell, leaving a waiting Breanna to address the group.
"Each of you has a slip of paper," she flapped a piece in the air, "if you don't get one," she waited while a few picked up paper and pens, "I want you to write down all your triggers."
"Triggers?" Jeff frowned, "if this about before..."
"No," Breanna shook her head, interrupting him, "but it did help us realise that something strange is going on. Write down everything that makes you lose control of any of your abilities. We would like everyone to put their names on the paper."
A low rumble ran through the group. Valencia felt the alarm and sudden tension rippling out toward her.
"This is not a witch hunt," Valencia said, stepping away from the computer bank and instantly having the attention of everyone in the room. "This is to understand why we react as we do to certain expressions, events or interactions with others in the group."
"So this is a witch hunt," Jeff muttered.
"No," Valencia shook her head, "you are not the only one who had a reaction that needed intervention. There have been a few of you. Some of you are so tightly wound that anything will make you snap."
"Why do you think that is?" Trevet murmured.
"Control," Jesse met the man's startled gaze, "not wanting to lose control if what happened to Rose, Valencia, or Jeff happens to you. That is not a healthy way for us to live."
"Living like that means that you can erupt," Breanna said quietly. "It means that your worst fears become a reality, and everything you don't want happening ... well, it happens."
"Sounds like you've experienced that already," Simon stated, staring at Breanna.
"I did," Valencia said, "it's not something I would want anyone else to experience. Please, write down the triggers with your names and let us all know. We have trusted each other with our lives..." Valencia said quietly, "what is one more thing to share with family."
A ripple of acceptance filled the air before each person began to write. Rose held an oversized hat for everyone to drop their paper into. It reminded Valencia of being at school, standing in the lunch line or shaking hands with an opposing team.
"Now what?" Frank asked quietly, his voice a rumbling, memorising whisper, "do we stay? Do we go?"
"There is more to this meeting than simply that," Jesse spoke, watching as some in the group shook their heads, trying to dispel the sound influence from another world. "We have discovered a list of possible trigger combinations. That is why we asked each of you to write them down. We have also found the location of a group of missing people who were previously experimental subjects under Darcia and Madden."
"Let's go and get them," Scott said, sounding confused about why they were still standing in the cave, "we can wing it like we have many times."
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Breanna pointed out, "Madden has them for a reason. When we discover what that reason is, we will have a good idea of what we are against. But our time is short, as usual."
"We may have that answer, Breanna," Tina stood, pulling a piece of paper from the printer, "those parts for the energy harnessing equipment. The ones that were shipped to an unknown address," Tina looked up, glancing around the group, "a small frigate was chartered to take them to an island last week."
"Are you certain," Craig asked, striding from his place on the side of the group toward her. Silently Tina handed him the paper, giving a shrug and her worried expression. He looked down intently.
"The information is solid," Craig nodded, "what energy is Madden harnessing? Is it the same as Jasmine's contact advised?"
"Look at the large screen," Calla called to the room, "I found something on the blueprint which Jasmine says shouldn't be there."
"How does Jasmine know?" Simon asked his raised eyebrows and tilt of his head, indicating he didn't believe what Jasmine had to say.
"That house on that island used to be my home," Jasmine snarled, "anything else, Simon?"
Raising his hands, Simon shook his head, but he maintained his expression of disbelief.
"What is that?" David muttered, "a containment unit?"
"No," Hana said, moving through the group toward where Calla sat. "I saw that kind of design many times in the Madhouse," reaching over Calla's shoulder, she touched the screen, "oh ..." she gasped, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
"Is she okay?" Jeff asked, "what is she doing?"
"Getting information we cannot obtain," Tina spoke quietly as she watched Hana's closed eyes flutter. "She will be able to tell us what it is and what it's being used for. Usually."
Hana dropped her hand from the screen, "Madden is using it to harness the energy from the subject's enhanced energy signatures."
"Harnessing," Trevet frowned, "like pulling it from them?"
"No," Hana shook her head, "every time their emotional state is triggered, they have an abnormal spike in their energy signature. That is what he is harnessing."
"That cannot be good," Daisy said quietly, "what is he doing with that energy?"
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"What does any mad scientist do?" Reilly asked, "sell it to the highest bidder."
"If the bid is high enough, perhaps he will even sell the commodity," Craig said, "none of this is good, not good, not at all."
"I'm no strategist," Birgit spoke, her husky voice filling the silence, "what is stopping him from harness energy spikes from humanity?"
"We are humanity," Scott shook his head.
"Not just us," Birgit said, "I'm talking about everyone else."
"She has a point," Iris said, "what is stopping him from putting his harnessing technology in every home and selling the by-product to anyone who can afford it."
"What you are talking about is insane," Tula said quietly, "it's the mad scientist's version of solving the energy crisis."
"Tula," Fiona grinned, "you are talking about that category of people."
Fiona's words brought a chuckle from the group.
"Fine, you have a point," Tula returned her grin, "but then who has he lined up to buy this commodity."
"We're waiting for a list of possibilities to present itself," Tina said, "we have been running a rather broad search."
"Does anyone know why a frequency jammer is running in this place?" Fiona asked suddenly, "and another frequency of sorts..." she frowned, "I've never heard it before."
"I'll ask Harvey," Breanna said quietly.
"While you're asking, find out why there are a few banks of servers and state of the art equipment in a basement cave that can rival a military set-up," Fiona said.
"What are you talking about?" Craig asked, looking at Breanna, who shrugged, "we don't know anything about that? Do we?"
Breanna turned to look at Michael, "Michael?"
"Don't look at me," Michael shook his head, "I wasn't the one who inherited Dad's journals."
"Who did?" David asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Silence filled the rooms as the sibling looked between themselves.
"I guess I'll need a list of questions for Harvey," Breanna sighed, "anything else?"
"You talked of triggers," Phoenix said quietly, "usually, I feel triggered about everything. I haven't felt the need to control any of my abilities."
"When was the last time you felt like that?" Hana asked.
"Never," Phoenix said, frowning, "I do believe there is some sort of equipment that may be assisting us in finding a point of stabilisation."
"Bre," Birgit cocked her head, the frown on her face one of deep thought, "What did your parents do?"
"Our mother seemed to always be at home or giving a lecture," Breanna said, "our father ..." she frowned, "I'm not too certain... he never seemed to be around much at times, and then he would be around a lot."
"Do you think he was leading a double life?" Reilly asked.
"All of this down here," Jonathan said, looking around, "the train, keypads on doors, the fact that there is a signal jammer on this place. Everything here screams double life."
"I don't think your mom knew anything about his life," Cara said quietly with a distant look, "there is more to all of this than we know."
"What do you mean?" Breanna asked, "what don't we know?"
Cara smiled slightly, "Everything will be revealed ... in time."
Craig frowned as he watched the slight smile carve the otherwise expressionless face of their teammate.
"Cara, what have you heard?" Valencia asked, narrowing her gaze.
"Breanna needs to ask the questions for all of us to get the answers," Cara said mysteriously, "at this point, we need to work on more than what we suspect."
Valencia held Cara's gaze, "She is correct," Valencia sighed. "We need to work on what we know and find out all we can on the heat signatures. Why does Madden want to use human beings, specifically those who have been enhanced, as the source of energy."
A murmur rose across the group as they turned their attention to the facts they held in hand.
The pair of eyes watched as the group below in the cave looked over the information and discussed various scenarios. Harvey had been correct. All intelligent in their own right. If they continued asking questions as they were, there would be no need for any staff, which may happen sooner than everyone thought.
"What do they know?" Harvey's English accent spoke from the doorway.
Closing the viewing slide quietly, Betty turned, meeting his gaze, "All questions and conjecture at the moment."
"Have they discovered what the Admiral actually did for a living?" Harvey moved further into the small stone room.
"No," Betty said, "but the journals were mentioned. Michael knew about them, but no one knows who inherited them."
"The Admiral told Michael about the journals," Harvey pursed his lips in thought, "our presence may soon be redundant."
"Perhaps," Betty said, "who is Madden?"
Harvey frowned, "I don't think I've heard of someone called Madden."
"Here you both are," Jenkins said as he entered the room, "Madden, did you say?"
"Yes," Betty said, "they need to find someone called Madden."
"Wasn't that the name of the scientist Darcia had as a boyfriend when she studied?" Jenkins asked pensively.
"You mean that Mexican kid who enjoyed the misguided pursuits Darcia did?" Harvey frowned, "didn't he get a doctorate as well."
"He did," a voice said from a doorway on the right of the room, "in genetic engineering," a stocky man in a black shirt and pants held a folder in his hands. "The Admiral had a file about him and the things he enjoyed."
"You look identical to Trevet," Betty shook her head, "does he know you still live?"
"No," the stocky man said, "as far as he knows, I died at birth."
"It's surreal," Betty shook her head.
"What about Madden?" Harvey interrupted.
"He became Darcia's partner," the stocky man said, "he continued working with Darcia even when the funding was cut off."
"He sounds as insane as she was," Jenkins shook his head, "he doesn't seem to know that Darcia is dead."
"No," Harvey said quietly, "I wonder what he will do if he does know?"
"Has the informant made contact? What is happening on the island?" the stocky man looked up from the file.
"No, no contact from the island," Jenkins frowned, "I wonder if he has been discovered."
"That could have happened, but we would have received the code," the stocky man said.
"What if he couldn't give the code?" Betty asked quietly.
"Then we're flying blind," the stocky man said.
"We maybe, but I bet they won't be," Jenkins said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"That is a thought," Harvey smiled, "perhaps it's time to arm them, point them in the right direction and let them do what they do best."
"What is that?" the Trevet look-alike asked.
"Find and make right," Harvey said.
"Protect with honour," Jenkins said.
"After all, they are the Enhanced Protection Agency," Betty nodded, "who better to do the job than the people who are trained and designed to do it."