Raina dressed and finally left the bathroom, heading for the living room. Entering the room, she saw Mae and Erica sitting on a couch across from the Drakes. Finally calm, Raina took a good look at the Dawson's, noting that the two looked nothing alike. Mae had the looks of an Asian supermodel, while her daughter was one of the few powerful psionist's who had average Caucasian looks at best. Jim mentioned that he and Leila were adopted, maybe Erica was as well? Come to think of it, why doesn't Jim live with the Dawson's? Tabling those questions for later – assuming that she didn't leave this apartment with her recent memories erased – Raina took a seat between Mae and Erica, giving the two Drake's – and Jim in particular – a level stare.

First, take as much control of the conversation as possible. "Explanation," Raina demanded calmly, her voice hiding any signs of her internal nervousness.

Jim met her eyes, “I'm sorry, I was trying to calm you down, and I lost control of my abilities.”

Raina glared at the teen, “So you only wanted to control my mind a little bit?” She asked incredulously, “That isn't exactly a good apology.”

“It wasn't supposed to be mind control!” Jim protested, “I was trying to use projective empathy, it's not the same thing!”

Erica was glaring at Jim now, "You know Jim when most people say they did something by accident, they actually mean that they didn't mean for whatever happened to happen. Not that they meant for it to happen another way."

Jim returned her glare full force, "So projecting emotions is a crime now? I can feel every d*mn emotion that anyone has within a thousand feet of me, and I'm the bad guy for trying to make someone who's having a panic attack calm down? Are you kidding me?" He turned his glare on Leila, "You know what? I don't have to deal with this. You want to have your secrets, fine. You want to play some game that you're not going to tell anyone else about, fine. Just don't drag me into all of this bull." He stood up turning. "I'm just going to go back to school, spend my time in my cabin, and not deal with any of this. Your problem, not mine. I'm done with this sort of cr*p." Jim looked at Raina, "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry you got dragged into this mess."

“Not my problem.” everyone looked at Leila.

“What?” Jim asked incredulously, “you drag me into the city, make me agree to train someone who shouldn't even be a part of the op to start with, and then you tell me it has nothing to do with you?”

"Because it doesn't," Leila responded, somehow the only calm person in the room other than Mae, who still hadn't said anything. Raina had been shocked when Jim said he was an empath, but what was Leila saying? She had her own agenda when she agreed to the op, anyone with half a brain could see that, but she had agreed in the end, so why would she say that it had nothing to do with her?

“I could walk away,” Leila continued, “I could walk away, and never involve myself in anything again. I'd be fine if I would take that path, nothing would harm me,” she turned, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room in turn, “I would be fine,” she repeated, “But the rest of you would die.”

“What are you...” Jim's voice trailed off, the fury on his face slowly being replaced by horror. “You looked didn't you?”

An adult Jim stood in front of an army, facing a single woman with eyes as red as her hair. Without a sound, Jim's army attacked, flinging bolts of power. Fire and lightning roared towards the woman, who simply raised her hand, sending a wave of molten lava at the assault, tearing through it easily. Jim took a step forward, black armor materializing on him as he punched, sending a blast of energy to destroy the incoming lava. His body shifted, growing, skin turning red, spiraling horns rising at an angle from his temples as he charged. Still no sound. Raina watched as the woman met Jim's army on equal grounds. A slashing hand cut a man in half even as another wave of lava erupted behind her, covering a woman who had tried to take advantage of the distraction. Still no sound. Jim's mouth opened in an unheard roar as he materialized a sword in a slash that was blocked by the woman's bare arm. The world turned white. Raina felt herself get pulled up into the sky, where she looked down to see a mushroom cloud rising above where the battle had been. A man appeared in front of her, standing in the air as if it was solid ground and smiled. With a wave of his hand, the cloud was blown away, the man dropping towards the former battlefield. Raina followed him, only to see the man standing alone with nothing but desolation around him, not a trace to be found of the men and woman she knew where there just minutes ago. Suddenly, particles of light began rising, coalescing into the woman who Jim had been fighting. The man said something that Raina couldn't hear, to the woman who didn't answer before walking away.

Raina gasped as the vision ended. The shocked expressions on Jim and Erica's faces showed that she hadn't been the only one who Leila had shown that vision too. Her eyes flickered to Mae, who seemed to be as calm as anyone Raina had ever seen. "And what," Mae said calmly, "are you going to be doing while your brother goes to his death."

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Leila met the woman's gaze without flinching. “Getting ready to end it.”

“End what?” Raina blurted out without thinking.

Seven people stood in a circle on top of a mountain facing each other with their eyes closed. Three women and four men. Other than Leila, the rest of them had faces that were shrouded in mist. A group of psionists hundreds strong flew at them. Raina recognized the man and woman from the previous vision, charging alongside hundreds of beings like themselves at the circle. The circle didn't move even as the horde surrounded them. The army attacked, and one of the men spoke a word. Even in the vision, Raina felt something pass through her as everything went blank. As suddenly as the vision went blank, Raina felt something change and a universe unfolded. She saw Leila, somehow standing on nothing, eyes closed, as primal light and darkness chased each other around her. Suddenly Leila opened her eyes and flung her hands out to her sides, sending the primal powers surrounding her into the universe. Raina felt her mind tremble as she watched suns and planets coalescing, absorbing the light even as the darkness began to erode the very fabric of all existence.

Raina fought down a scream as she emerged from the second vision, seeing Leila sitting in front of her, she tried to reconcile the woman who sat across from her, with the goddess who had created a universe. That can't be real. She knew that thought for a lie as soon as she had it. What was I thinking? She had been about to negotiate with a woman who would kill the universe.

“How long?” Mae interrupted her thoughts, calm as she had been the entire conversation.

"Any time from ten years to fifty," Leila admitted, "My future sight isn't very good at determining time."

Mae nodded, Erica gaped at her mother, "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Because she already had some idea of what's coming." Leila answered, " Why do you think your mother founded an organization designed to find independent psionists with good combat potential, and give them training and experience while running one of the leading psionic R and D companies? She's known about the dangers for a long time." Erica opened her mouth, " Before you ask, no she couldn't tell anyone about it. I'm pretty sure she still can't answer any questions that you have, even if you already know the answers."

Mae nodded, “I hope you don't put too much information out, not everyone who's silent is... the one on the receiving end.” She winced as she said that. Raina wondered what sort of power it would take to place a mental compulsion so powerful that any reference to it caused pain to a Class 5 psion. Is it too late to back out now? She wondered, probably.

Jim collapsed onto the couch next to his sister, all signs of his previous fury drained by Leila's revelations. “Can we win without... that?” Raina was gratified to know that she wasn't the only person who was having trouble with the memory of the universe's end and rebirth. Leila sighed, “ I don't know for sure. It's gotten better from the last time I looked for that battle.”

“How much better?” Erica asked, “Jim was about to get slaughtered before someone nuked everything?”

Leila hung her head, “The first time I saw that battle, Jim was fighting alone, and nobody detonated the nuke.”

Some form of realization flashed in Jim's eyes. "We will talk later about exactly when you had that first vision." Leila inclined her head formally, "For now, how about telling us what your real goal is, and we'll figure out what each of us needs to do for it to happen."

Leila took a deep breath, “I want to complete a sting op against an underground slave fighting ring. I have a couple of primary goals that I want to accomplish: First I planted a suggestion that I believe will get sent up the chain that the military will take the former battle slaves and use them for their own purposes. This should simultaneously give humanity a better chance at fighting the Enemy armies and lower government corruption somewhat. Second, Jim, you were probably planning to get your own copy of any data that would be found on while the actual raid is underway, right?” Jim flushed, “That should be useful to you when you need to bring the underground under control, just make sure not to jeopardize the actual op.”

“What I need, is from Erica and Mae, complete new identities for myself and Raina, and a general information background on fight clubs. Jim, I need you to get Raina up to specs within three weeks, I'll cover for you with school until then. Additionally, you probably know some people who would be able to infiltrate the clubs easier than Mae's hunters, right?” Jim thought for a moment before nodding, “See if you can get them to be Raina's contacts while they keep tabs on me.”

Leila looked around, “Any questions?”

Raina spoke up, “I thought you said earlier that Purdue's original intention was to conscript the slaves into the military?”

Jim snorted, “If that was the case, he wouldn't have sent a rookie and a BPI Patrol Officer. He probably didn't give your full details to whoever is controlling him, but he shouldn't need to. Send a couple armatures into this sort of thing and they will mess up somewhere. Leila probably just gave him a suggestion that he'll give to the military for protection once you two succeed and his patrons decide that he's no longer reliable.”

Raina thought that over. While she didn't like the picture that script painted of SAIC Purdue, given what she had seen in the past ten minutes, there really wasn't much that could shock her. She looked at Leila, meeting those blue eyes that had watched the beginning of a universe, searching for the woman who had given that universe, both life, and death. "One more thing. No more lies, no more half-truths. If you can't tell me something, say so and I'll drop the topic. Just tell the full truth."

Leila met Raina's gaze without flinching, “I can't guarantee that. If I think I need to lie to you, I will. I'll try to keep it to a minimum, and only lie if absolutely necessary, not as a matter of convenience. Deal?” she asked, extending her hand.

Raina considered the offer, best you're going to get from her. She took the offered hand, “Deal.”