Upon walking into the structure, Zeta noticed how white the interior of the building was. The hueless walls and floors were difficult to look at first, but her eyes quickly adjusted. It reminded her of the small prison cell she awoke in the first day at the facility, only bigger and minus the imprisonment. It might as well have been one though. She was still caged.

Towards the left were a set of stairs that led to the second floor and underneath the steps, positioned against the walls, were elevators. The elevators were free to use, but Roren made his way up the staircase. Zeta dreaded walking up the flight of stairs, but she followed. The way they led up was rather inefficient, the incline was unnatural and her feet were unfamiliar with the spacing of the steps. One step for each foot was her preference, but they were wider than what she was used to, so she strode along skipping every other step.

They took a left which led into a similarly white hall. The hall was unnatural, at least compared to the open area when they first entered. It was narrow enough to hold two flows of traffic, but it could easily become cramped if there were many people. Fortunately, there were hardly any around.

The tile flooring clacked softly as she walked. It was not that noticeable, but compared to Roren, she was making a considerable amount of noise. Her steps echoed in the otherwise silent hallway.

Zeta found it odd; she never stomped when she walked. She knew this too since her parents were the type to be heavy-footed, which caused her to become courteous with her steps. She tried to move silently, but the effort made her feet tired. She watched Roren’s stride, and her ears searched for any sound from him. Even though he was walking at a faster pace, he was practically silent. She assumed it was her shoes.

The hall continued for a while until they reached a large room with a clear glass wall that allowed them to see in.

Zeta was ready to enter until Roren stopped her.

“Wait here for a moment,” Roren said. He turned and entered a restroom. The door slowly closed behind him.

Even though she should have been past any thought of escape, she immediately took note of her surroundings. She stood next to the door to hear Roren, to see what he was up to in the restroom. There were no frantic sounds of preparing a toilet, so he was probably taking a piss. Or maybe he was the type of person that sat on public toilets bare. She shuddered at the thought.

She sized up the hallway realizing how truly long it was. If she were to escape down the hall, she would have to do so quietly otherwise Roren could easily paralyze her legs and literally stop her in her tracks. She also had to account for the time traversing back through the hall and which route to take. If she did decide to escape, she would prefer to take a different route to get outside the building. Unfortunately, she was unfamiliar with its layout.

She began to walk, careful with her steps to prevent noise, but as she progressed, her feet somehow stomped louder. She paused in her tracks and stared at her shoes in disbelief. No way would the stomping originate from her. She slowed down this time, but each step she took was just as excruciatingly audible. As she made her way back towards the restroom, she noticed her steps slightly decreasing in volume.

She leaned into a drinking fountain positioned next to the restrooms. The sensor noticed her presence and water sprang from the spout. She drank slowly for a few seconds before pulling away from the fountain. The sensor no longer acknowledged her presence and the spout stopped spraying water.

Roren walked out of the restroom and approached the water fountain doing the same.

As he drank, Zeta pushed against the glass double door and propped it open slightly. A mechanism prevented it from closing, so she let go of the door and took a step in. She did a twirl to view the open room, then realized Roren continued down the hall.

“This way,” Roren said. His voice was muffled.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Zeta realized her mistake and upon leaving the room, she tried to pull the door back in. It remained open, and she wanted to leave it alone, but thoughts of a stray fire that could have been prevented with a closed-door crept into her mind. She gave up, deciding a fire was not likely and noticed Roren had reached the end of the hall. The way his body warped indicated a corner, and she was not sure if the long hallways would continue, so she broke into a slight jog to catch up to him. The stomping was all the more apparent now that she was putting more emphasis on her movement, and she sighed when she realized the cause of her heavy-footed gait.

When she reached the end of the hall, Roren disappeared into another corner. She transitioned from a slight jog to a more moderate one. If she had to run, she would question the man’s walking speed. The corridor segmented into smaller halls, which would have caused some concern, but her footsteps were a good indication of where he went. She used the sounds of her steps to backtrack until she found Roren.

She wanted to tell somebody about her discovery about the steps, but the only person around she could tell was the person who caused it.

“Why are you using your ability on me?” Zeta asked.

“To see if you would notice,” Roren said. He chuckled lightly. “Did you realize only now?”

“Yes,” she said. “How long have you been doing that?”

“Since the moment I met you. You can learn a lot about a person by the way they move. Someone’s character, their intentions, and the actions they want to do can all be inferred by watching them walk. It’s why gait cameras are so popular nowadays.

“But, there’s another reason I used my ability on you. Can you take a guess? And, no, it’s not to keep an eye on you.”

She thought for a moment but came up with nothing. “Not sure.”

“Zeta, do you know what the word synergy is?”

“Isn’t that when you work better together as opposed to being alone?”

“Exactly,” he said. “But, how exactly does one form synergy?”

“Not sure,” she said again.

“Okay, let me ask you a different question. Have you ever played a team-focused sport?”

The question primed thoughts into her head. “I played basketball when I was younger. I suppose my team functioned best when we communicated but overtime we simply developed trust.”

“Do you feel that communication and trust with me?”

“Nope,” she said bluntly.

“Understandable.” Roren chuckled again, but livelier this time. “I chose to leave you in the dark for this mission. I think it’s easier that way, but it prevents communication between me and you. And, it’s difficult to build trust in a short time, so I decided not to force it.

“But, there are different ways to build synergy. Many circumstances allow this. One way to build synergy is to become familiar with someone’s abilities and understand them better. That’s why I had everyone share what they were capable of. Can you still feel the presence of my powers?”

Zeta focused and tried to feel any significant change. It was faint, but she noticed a pressure leave her legs. She shook her head.

“How about now?”

Zeta immediately felt a force and although it was surreptitiously applied, she noticed the difference.

“I can feel it.”

“Good,” he said. He pulled away his power. “We’re nearing our destination, so I want you to raise your hand every time you feel the presence of my powers, then lower your hand when you notice it go away. I want you to keep count too.”

“Okay,” she said.

A pressure appeared on her legs, and she immediately raised her hand. At one moment the pressure was there, then it was gone. She put her hand back down.

Two. Gone. Three. Gone. Four. Gone. Five.

They entered an elevator. She continued to keep her hand up.

Zeta said, “If you don’t mind me asking, which part of the plan are we doing? After you came back with the info from your friends, you didn’t go into specifics of what we were doing, but Chloe and Jonas seemed like they knew.”

A succession of pressure pulses appeared and disappeared repeatedly within Zeta’s legs. The pressure paused from time to time, but they continued steadily. She struggled to keep up, but she managed to raise and lower her hand accordingly.

“Impressive. You didn’t skip a beat,” he said. “If you know morse code then you know where they are, but I doubt you know it.”

“You would be correct.”

She stood there impressed until the elevator dinged softly, then she passed through.

He said, “We’re here to take out the reconnaissance first. The TV show has been running for some time now. I hope you’re ready. Our show is about to start.”

Zeta perked up instantly. Adrenaline surged within her upon hearing the words.

“How many times did you feel my power’s presence?”

“Twenty-seven,” she said.

“Good.”

They turned the hallway and approached the first available door.

Roren took a look at the plaque, then raised his leg. His foot slowly tapped the knob, but it crunched and broke upon contact. He carefully grabbed the opening he made and pushed open the door just enough so he and Zeta could enter.

Upon entering the room, a TV blared at full volume. If anyone was close to it, they would have been immune to the breaking of the doorknob. From the sound alone, she knew the show Cops and Robbers was running; the announcers were currently speaking.

A man sitting on a stool just outside the door jumped onto his feet.

“Who the fuck are you?”