"Dr Madden? The subjects are becoming restless and uncooperative," a black-clad officer spoke from the doorway.

"Perhaps we should start to extract the surplus energy from the restless," Dr Madden said absently. "Seeing the outcome of their defiance will make them fall in line."

"Sir, the extraction unit is still being put together," the officer said, looking uncomfortable, "we can only start the process in an hour."

"Then tell the technicians they need to hurry up unless they want to experience the extraction machine themselves," Madden snarled.

The officer blanched before leaving the room as memories of working under Darcia's depraved insanity came to mind. Although many of the men had enjoyed their work, he had never been one of them. Living in a world of victims and killers was all they knew but this. This level of cold-blooded torture of innocents didn't sit well with many of them or their somewhat bent code of honour. The extraction machine would only be ready tomorrow if the plan had worked. The technicians would be long gone, and it might look like it all just happened. Madden was a new level of crazy insanity with no moral compass or ethics. Darcia had been atrocious, but Madden was at least a hundred times worse.

"He is expecting the extraction process to start in an hour," the officer said to another. "Do you think anyone has picked up the excessively high energy reading yet?"

"Someone has," the other officer said, "we picked up many hits looking for high energy sources or readings. We can only hope they hurry up and get here."

"We will be expected to show some sort of resistance against whoever arrives," the one officer murmured. "We can ensure it isn't enough to stop them or injure their forces too much ... if at all."

"If we allow ourselves to get injured, it may help to put Madden off the scent," the two nodded in agreement.

"I'm all for all's fair in love and war, but this is not what I signed on for," a third officer said as he walked by, "Albert and Channing have already left. We're down to seven of us."

"Great," one of the black-clad officers muttered, "it will be easier to pull off now. I must tell the technicians they need to pull a miracle or an illusion in an hour."

Fiona sat up in the middle of her sweat-soaked bed. Her panicked gaze darted around her darkroom. The only sound she heard was her own panting as remnants of her dream faded into reality.

"Damn," she gasped between tortured breaths, "that hasn't happened for a while."

Slowly swinging her legs over the edge, she reached for a glass of water and drained it before refilling and drinking some more. Carefully she placed the glass on the vintage table next to the bed. Her hand shook slightly. Pushing her feet into the soft shoes supplied to walk around the house. Slowly. Painfully. She stood.

"Why is it starting again?" rubbing her hands over her face, she sighed, "it's been years, but I come here, and I have old issues coming back and my abilities..." she shook her head "... all over the place. Something isn't right."

Opening her door into the passageway, she took in the semi-darkness. Dim lighting filled the hall. Enough to see where you were walking but not bright enough to blind. Padding toward the stairs, Fiona took in the vibrant colours of deep red and gold on the walls and on the plush carpet. The antique tables and chests of drawers holding the lamps reminded her of pictures she had seen of Victorian mansions. Clearly, Breanna's father had an excellent taste or was it her mother who found these ancient works of art. Fiona found herself contemplating the thought briefly while looking for a place where the mixed cacophony of frequencies filtered into her hearing. Wondering through the hallways, she came to the stairs going to the cave. Everything seemed quieter here. Perhaps she would find some peace in the basement. Opening the door, she stepped through, closed the door and waited. The silence was blissfully deafening. She could think here. Hear herself and perhaps actually get some rest. Descending the stairs, Fiona stopped on the last one.

Breanna stared at the surface of the table she bent over.

"Hey Bre, trying to find answers to the origin of life?" Fiona called, walking across the sand, "what's going on?"

Breanna looked up, "Hey," her gaze dropped to the tabletop again, "I'm trying to be creative with five people."

"For what?" Fiona frowned.

"The extraction," Breanna sighed as she straightened, arching her back and twisting from side to side. "Only five people don't have emotional triggers and a lot of ground to cover."

"Wow," Fiona nodded, "that is a brain teaser."

"Why are you up?" Breanna asked quietly, her gaze seeming to penetrate Fiona's mind.

"Bad dream," she said, "then when I thought I would go for a walk through the house, I seemed to hear every frequency known to man. I came down here, hoping to find a little mental peace."

"Another bad dream," Breanna frowned, "how are your abilities at the moment?"

"All over the place," Fiona sighed, "I can't seem to focus on one frequency. It's as if I am hearing everything at the same time. Something like an orchestra warming up."

"Yet, you cannot hear anything down here," Breanna looked around, "interesting."

"It's blissful," Fiona grinned, "at the moment."

"I found an air mattress on the ledge over there," Breanna pointed in the general direction of the computer banks, "feel free to have a frequency-free sleep."

"Thanks," Fiona grinned, "but I think I'm going to get some hot chocolate."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Enjoy," Breanna called, looking back at the table.

Leaving the basement, Fiona stepped back into the cacophony of noise. Breathing deeply, she made her way to the kitchen and the stash of hot chocolate she had found. Halfway to the kitchen, she clapped her hands over her ears. Her head was beginning to hurt with all the different noise levels. A memory from a conversation she had with Phoenix came to mind. Breathing in deeply, she closed out the more hurtful frequencies and focussed on those that didn't cause too much pain. Slowly but surely, she could bring her abilities under control and only hear a few more common frequencies while keeping the rest out.

Snapping her eyes open, she looked up. What was that? It wasn't a standard frequency. It wasn't something she had heard before. Had she? Her senses focused on the strange sound that seemed to call to her. Blindly she followed it. Winding through the mansion halls, she found the hidden doorway in an uninhabited part of the house.

"What are you hiding?" she whispered as her hand rested on the panel in front of her. Glancing to the side, she found a pad of numbers. Moving her hand from the door panel to the number pad and waited. She felt as though whatever was behind this doorway was speaking to her. Vibrations were felt against her hand from specific numbers. Pushing these numbers until she didn't feel anything more, Fiona waited again. Slowly the door opened. An inviting smell wafted to Fiona's senses. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply. What was that scent?

Stepping through the door, she looked around the white room. A long bench started at the door and ran the circumference of the room ending on the other side of the door. In the centre of the circular-shaped room stood a table with a strange-looking piece of machinery. It reminded Fiona of a microwave mixed with a toaster. Another remarkable thing was that no frequency could be heard in this room. Moving toward the centre of the room, Fiona looked up, noticing paintings on the ceiling. A grin spread over her lips. The pictures were of different parts of the estate. The rose garden. The herb garden. She wasn't sure what the other painting was about, but it certainly was pretty. Sitting on the bench, she lost herself in the beauty of the ceiling until she heard the door sliding closed. Moving quickly, she tried to catch the door and pull it open, but it continued to close on its own. She was trapped. Thumping on the door, Fiona called out for someone to open the door but soon realised that no one knew of this part of the house and probably no one would hear her calling.

The sound of a small motor drew her attention to the centre of the room. Turning, she watched the microwave toaster hybrid whir into life.

"Oh," Fiona sighed as dread rose in her chest, "something tells me this may be a little painful."

Memories of a similar sound rushed into the forefront of her mind. What happened next had not been a picnic. Slowly sinking to the chair, she moaned as she tried to manage the painful sensations working through her cells and into her mind. The last thing she remembered was hoping someone found her before she died.

Breanna paced the basement at a loss, having looked at every possible way to use the small team at her disposal. She had concluded they needed a miracle to succeed in the extraction. Turning and pacing toward the table again, Breanna contemplated every option and scenario. Still, the sense that she was missing something refused to be ignored.

"Bre," David called as he swung over the stairwell railing and dropped to the sand floor of the cave, "we have a problem."

"You'll have to stand in line," she said, turning to face him, "what's going on?"

"I spoke with Cara," David said urgently, "she cannot connect with Fiona."

"She was having a nightmare," Breanna said, "she should be able to now. I saw her. She was on her way to have some hot chocolate."

"No," David shook her head, "she cannot find any of her thoughts. Fiona's bedroom, general living areas and the kitchen have been checked. She is nowhere to be found."

"As in missing," Breanna frowned, "how can than be?"

"We don't know," David said, propping his hands on his hips, "Tania is putting together a search party to look in all other areas of the mansion. It could be that Fiona got into trouble."

"What about outside the mansion?" Breanna asked.

"The perimeter security for the mansions is still intact," David said.

An uncomfortable shuffling behind them drew their attention, and both turned toward Tamhas.

"Who is this?" Breanna asked quietly, "it looks like Trevet, but it isn't."

"This is the sixth staff member here," David said, "Tamhas, this is Breanna."

Tamhas paled as Breanna met his gaze, "Hi."

"Hi," she raised her hand to greet him. He flinched and stepped back twice.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, surprised by his reaction, "but I understand your reservation. Can you tell us where Fiona maybe?"

Tamhas nodded but remained silent.

"I cannot read your thoughts," Breanna sighed, "only your emotions and aura. Right now, you're about as green and yellow as it comes."

"Tamhas," David said, stepping forward and catching the man's attention, "where is Fiona?"

"She wondered into the Admirals section of the house," Tamhas spoke softly, terrified of getting punished. "The Admiral installed a blocker after Darcia tried to use one of her stollen abilities on him."

"There is a telepathic inhibitor in the mansion," Breanna frowned, "where?"

"The front section of the mansion on the third floor," Tamhas said, "but it only works in that area."

"What did my father keep in that area?" Breanna asked, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"The equaliser," Tamhas whispered.

"Do you think Fiona found it?" David asked, worried.

"If she did," Tamhas spoke quietly, "it would have activated on its own once the initial evaluation had been completed."

"How long does the initial evaluation take?" David asked.

"A few moments, but the subject needs to be awake," Tamhas said, "the doors close after that and the process of undoing the restrictions begins."

"How long does that process take?" Breanna ground out.

"Depends on the subject," Tamhas said, "the Admiral set it up to work on us whether or not we were near it, but that kind of work happens at a low level. Being inside is an extremely high-level cellular work. The subject is not usually conscious while the work is being done."

"That is good to know," Breanna sighed, "at least if she is in there, she will not feel anything."

"I didn't say that," Tamhas said, "she will just be unconscious."

David's phone rang just then. He strode away to answer it. Breanna walked toward the nervous man shuffling in the sand.

"Listen," she said quietly, "I have no idea what my sister did to you, but you're going to have to realise sooner or later that I'm not her. I'm not insane. I'm not vindictive. I'm not anything she was. Understand."

Tamhas nodded silently while remaining very still.

"You can breath around me," Breanna shook her head, turning her attention to David.

"They found Fiona and the equaliser," David said, "that was Cara. She phoned because her ability doesn't work where she is."

"Can they get her out?" Breanna asked.

"They are trying, but so far, there are two down after being electrocuted," David said.

"Let's get up there and see what we can do," Breanna muttered, "Tamhas, you're coming with us."

"Do I have ..." Tamhas stopped talking at David's quelling look, "right behind you."