One by one, the conversations stopped as Breanna stepped off the bottom stair, moving toward the large round table near the centre of the room. Everyone turned toward her. Breanna's abilities ran free, gathering information as she looked over the group. Emotions ran very high with a mix of intrigue, worry, determination and fear. Breanna frowned a little that someone would be afraid surprised her. It didn't fit.

It wasn't just any kind of fear. It was a bone-deep, throat tightening fear. The type of emotion you taste on your tongue and wish you had never done whatever got you into the situation. The question was, who held that emotion? Instinct told her it was Darcia's mole. But who?

"Valencia," she spoke softly, earning a worried glance from her friend, "lock us down. I don't want any interruptions."

"Bre," Valencia whispered, "don't do anything you'll regret."

"Do as I ask," Breanna turned her head slowly, meeting Valencia's worried gaze.

A hard swallow and a short nod from Valencia as she went into action to do as asked. David stood in his usual space leaning on the dormitory doorway. Meeting his attentive gaze and raised eyebrows as though he knew something. Breanna knew there was no space for doubt. For the first time in her life, she chose to use her unleashed abilities for what she knew was right — the protection of those exploited, abused and unjustly used. Valencia nodded, moving toward the bank of technology. Her usual carefree expression strained and worried.

"The tunnel is locked down," she whispered, "as is the secondary and tertiary entrance and exit routes. No one leaves, and no one enters from now on."

"Thank you," Breanna acknowledged turning to the waiting group.

She allowed herself to look across the group feeling their restlessness and tension. Just then, an unfamiliar face came into view, a young man with light brown hair, darting eyes and panicked breathing. Breanna could feel he was trying to hide. The more she watched him, the more uncomfortable he became.

"Valencia put the auto scanner on and the frequency jammer to the full. I don't want anything received or transmitted," Breanna said, looking at the uncomfortable young man.

Valencia silently did as requested, only nodding when the task was completed.

"Bre," Clio walked forward, "what are you doing?"

"Don't move too far away," Breanna cleared her throat, gaining attention and leaving Clio's question unanswered. "Most of you know that over the last three years, we have worked toward establishing contact with those wishing to get away from Darcia and The Madhouse. We have supplied a fresh start in life" Breanna met David's steady gaze, "each of you has had an opportunity to choose your path, heal, move forward, and enjoy a "normal" life."

Murmurs of agreement rumbled before drifting to silence.

"I will not pretend to misunderstand the implications of the past forty-eight hours," she glanced around the room as her abilities suddenly flared. "We have choices and decisions before us. Tonight I needed to retrieve information and was met with two welcoming parties," a rumble of concern rippled through the group. "Fortunately, the information was retrieved but moving to the safe house is longer be an option. I received word that it was demolished this evening in an unexplained explosion. We know who is behind the act. What we need to know is a little more concerning. Who sold us out and why? Once that is resolved, we need to decide on how we are moving forward."

The noise level rose, allowing Breanna a moment to taste anger, outrage, determination and the same bone-chilling fear. Clio silently held up her hand. Slowly silence fell.

"That is a huge accusation to make," she said quietly, "most of us have been with you for years."

"Yes," Breanna's voice fell to a whisper.

Valencia rose, slowly moving away, her eyes darting over the group.

"There is someone who has only been with us for a few hours," Breanna said.

"Not possible. Darcia's henchmen have murdered our newcomers," Clio shook her head in confusion, "how can someone have joined in the last few hours?"

"Simple from where I'm standing," Breanna motioned for Clio to join her, "you know this group. Lookout and tell me I'm wrong."

Clio stopped next to Breanna, sighing as she turned toward them, "I know everyone …" she hesitated, frowning before pointing to a young man edging toward the stairs, "... except him."

Breanna tracked his progress, finally able to lock her gaze with his as he turned to look over his shoulder. Her ability held him in place.

"Valencia?" Breanna spoke quietly, "read him, please. Am I right?"

Valencia cleared her throat, avoiding startled looks and slowly breathed. Looking at the motionless young man with darting eyes and strange grunting sounds which were the only indication of his peculiar situation.

"Oh," Valencia gasped, "my … heavens," blinking quickly, and her breathing increasing. "He was assigned to find us communicate information to Darcia; he was sent to sell us out. He is doing it for no other reason than to please Darcia."

"Is he part of this group?" Breanna asked quietly.

"Um..." Valencia glanced nervously around at the stunned expressions staring at her. Breanna had been correct. No one knew about her abilities; clearing her throat and focusing, she continued, "No, he never has been or wishes to be."

Breanna could sense the confusion, concern and a strange wonder on the air. It was time everyone understood who Valencia was, trusted her for who she was and did not take Breanna's word for it.

"Was he part of any of the groups that threatened you during the evacuation Clio?" Breanna asked.

Clio watched the young man twitching frantically against a stranglehold on his limbs.

Frowning, Clio glanced back at Breanna, "What is wrong with him?"

"He cannot move," Breanna spoke quietly, "answer my questions."

Clio moved toward him, walking through the parting group studying him. She stopped in front of him cocking her head to the left — his panting audible in the silence.

"I cannot find his features in my mental catalogue," she raised her right hand, placing the palm on his forehead, her fingers pushing into his hair. Staring into the green gaze, she murmured, "He is not one of ours but followed us through the tunnels. In all the confusion and hurry, no one noticed him. He has not been staying here. He was told to return and find out all he could about us and report back."

Fiona stood moving toward Clio.

"Can you hear that?" Fiona asked.

Breanna listened, shaking her head as Clio moved aside, allowing Fiona access to the sweating man.

"I hear a high pitched noise, a zinging, like a frequency," fascination filtering through Fiona's voice, her unfocused gaze following an invisible path. "He is hearing a voice commanding a report."

"Find the device," Breanna snarled, "and destroy whatever it is."

Clio looked from the redhead to Breanna, "If it has a frequency, Fiona will find it."

"She'd better hurry. Breanna has to hold him tighter every time he struggles. She may contain him too strongly," Valencia spoke into the hush, "her abilities are unmatched."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Clio met Valencia's worried expression before quickly taking command, "Bring a chair. Tie him to it."

Breanna tightened her grip on the fighting man. She didn't want to hurt him, but his strength and fear gave her no choice. A potent combination making it difficult and dangerous.

"David can you help," Clio called, "you are more acquainted with Darcia's current devises."

Breanna fought to control her ability, to stop herself from moving into the area where she could morph into an uncontrollable monster she had worked so hard to contain. Reilly and Kyle tied the intruder securely to a chair while David, Clio and Fiona worked quickly to find the source of the voices and frequency. Fiona was pointing to an area, and David searching for anything that may be a devise.

"Breanna, you can let him go," Valencia said quietly, "he's not going anywhere now."

Breanna thankfully blinked and released him. Now the wait for the mental backlash that usually followed within minutes. If it went as it routinely did, she would be dealing with a load of pain. Turning from the scene, she waited.

A small cheer went up when they found a state of the art button size transmitter and receiver along with a collar camera. A heavy boot took care of them.

Breanna breathed in deeply closed her eyes before breathing out. She used this technique to help fight the ability in the wake of the first. Cutely calling it the backhand, but it could be deadly to the person receiving it. She waited. Everything still felt and stayed the same. The follow-up ability simply waiting to be released.

"Are you all right?" Valencia asked, "nothing happened? I was getting ready to tell everyone to hit the ground."

"I should be a raving monster by now," Breanna whispered, "but there is nothing."

"Perhaps controlling the backlash prevented fall out," Valencia said, "perhaps it's becoming permanent and more stable."

"Maybe you're right," Breanna said, "if that is the case, what did she do to make this ability permanent?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. By the look of it," Valencia crossed her arms, "choosing to control it has made it permanent. Bre, you scared me today; I've never seen you so angry."

"I'm still angry," Breanna whispered, "at least I know it wasn't one of ours?"

"I wasn't talking about that," Valencia gritted out.

"Not now," Breanna growled, "later."

Valencia sighed, stepping aside for Jesse, who held the destroyed communication devices.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"We send him back to where he came from," Breanna muttered. Rolling her head and neck trying to relieve the mounting tension of an ability that demanded use, "but first he needs a mind scrub and then a knock-out."

"Neither of those can be chemical," Clio said from next to the restrained, subdued man, "Darcia will be able to reverse it."

"The mind scrub will be as physical as we can get," Breanna pointed at a lanky, muscled man, "Scott, you're up. We need everything he knows. Once completed, erase the memories from his mind. Except for his name. His real name."

Scott smiled, nodded and moved toward the man.

"Um... Bre," Clio cleared her throat nervously, "what is the knock-out?"

"You may want to clear the area when Scott has finished," Breanna met Clio's concerned gaze, "you've seen a lot of what I can do. You know why no one knows what my abilities are."

"Are you going to kill him?" Clio frowned, "I thought you said you had control."

"Do you want a knock-out as well? Tend to a hangover type headache when you come around? When it comes to my ability to control the area it hits," Breanna sighed. "We'll find out if I have control or not. Let's move everyone out of the way."

Clio nodded, moving to clear the surrounding area quickly. Scott removed his hands from the side of the man's sagging head. Turning and moving away, he gave a single nod.

"He's all yours, Bre," he murmured as the two passed in the middle of the room.

Staring into the dazed expression in the brown eyes, Breanna braced her feet closed her eyes, allowing her building ability to climb higher. Carefully gauging the level and strength of her rising "punch," Breanna concentrated. The idea was to render him unconscious, not kill him. Suddenly she snapped her eyes open. The man flinched and sagged as his eyes closed.

"Valencia, open the tertiary exit," Breanna said, breathing through the growing ache in the base of her neck and across her shoulders.

"Clio, assign a group to take him out. Leave the package where humans can retrieve him easily," Breanna said, heading toward the stairs.

She needed painkillers immediately. She may question the permanency of her ability, it didn't mean the crunching and debilitating headache was allowed to gain momentum.

Reilly, Oran and Cara finally disappeared around the corner of the tunnel. Reilly and Oran carried the body while Cara scouted ahead or watched their back as they moved forward.

Hitting the palm-sized brown button next to the lever on the basement wall, Clio let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. There had been a lot to process in the last few hours. A sense of dread churned in her gut. She had seen what Breanna was capable of when they first met, a time of uncertainty as they found their feet after The Madhouse. Discovering who they were after Darcia. They had escaped around the same time, but there had never been anything mediocre about Breanna or her abilities. Still, the rumours regarding her capabilities whispered between everyone; even Clio didn't know if any held truth. She had only seen Breanna lose control once. It made her happier about the outcome, and no one had been hurt.

A nagging sensation that something was off. There was more to the events that had taken place, more to Breanna and Darcia. During her career, Clio had followed orders, to the letter, never wavering. Now she found herself wanting to challenge authority, no matter who they were. What was wrong with her? She had barely been able to stop herself from challenging Breanna during the meeting.

"Scott," Clio called across the room, "I'll need that information before something else surprises us."

"Let me grab a bottle of water, and I'll be with you," he called to her.

She watched him disappear into the kitchen. Moving to the bank of high tech computers, Clio turned on a few screens. She booted up what they nicknamed the Super Computer, a single piece of equipment that supplied real-time information no matter the location in the world. All thanks to Jesse's military contacts three years ago. Since then, Clio suspected everything they did and said was monitored everywhere they went. She wouldn't be surprised if everything they looked at was logged, but she was grateful for the permission to snoop, especially now.

"Shall we get started?" Scott sat next to Clio.

Clio nodded, snapping back to reality. Slowly they began working through the memories from the spy.

Looking around at the activity, David knew he was watching a well-oiled machine at work. He couldn't help noticing this group was a response unit in the making. His mind turned to Breanna, the way she had taken the stairs two at a time. There was somewhere she needed to be. Urgently. Damn. That girl not only had a beautiful body but an intelligent and alert mind as well. He chuckled … thoughts that could knock everyone out. So hot. Breathing in slowly, he exhaled low and long. While in Darcia's facility, he had heard more about Breanna's mystical escape than he did about sports. Somehow, Breanna overcame the security measures Darcia had placed to hold her and vanished. Sitting on the last step of the busy stairwell, David's mind recalled every detail he had heard. Everything he had seen.

"Everything okay, Dave?" Jesse asked, his boots stopping in front of David's view.

"Yeah," David nodded, "just thinking."

"That was some hard thinking," Jesse nodded, "about Bre?"

"Yeah," David sighed, "things just don't seem to add up."

"Heard rumours, hey," Jesse leant against the ascending railing of the stairs, "not adding up to what you see?"

"No, they aren't," David sighed, "it's more than that. I can't help wondering what else happened to Breanna that she doesn't know about."

"That is a tough one," Jesse sighed, "since we've been out of the madhouse, I cannot think of one person who hasn't found an ability that surprises them."

"Really," David leaning his elbows on his knees, "how do you deal with that?"

"What do you mean?" Jesse frowned.

"I don't see anyone spinning out of control," David motioned to the milling people.

"Why would we?" Jesse chuckled, "we work through it. Understand it. Accept it and use it."

"Just like that?" David's eyebrows rose in surprise, "no adjustment medication?"

"Oh, that," Jesse scoffed, "there is no adjusting about that medication. It's a suppressant, so you don't use your abilities on Darcia."

David absorbed the information. Darcia was scared of her creations, knowing she was hated, despised and loathed.

"If you're thinking of getting close to Bre," Jesse spoke softly, "time, honesty and loyalty. She doesn't trust easily."

"Thanks," David stood, "I'll keep that in mind."

Moving up the stairs, David pondered everything Darcia had told him versus what he had seen and heard. Darcia had painted Breanna as defiant, resistant to moving forward, and challenging. Basically, someone requiring termination. Nothing meshed with reality. Breanna was the absolute opposite. She displayed caring, kindness, love and desired to help others. Stopping on the top stair, David frowned. Could that be the crime Darcia had seen Breanna committing? In a world where emotion was non-existent, someone could not or would not feel that way. David could see Darcia wanting to take that from Breanna.

"Oh boy," he sighed heavily.

Getting one person with all Breanna was as a package, her understanding, love and compassion, that was a gift. Frowning, he moved forward. Now for the haunting question. Was he going to follow through and take Breanna in for re-training? What he had said to Clio was true. Everything noble, genuine and honest inside screamed no. His phone buzzed, receiving a new text message reminding him of his orders. What about his sister? There had to be a way to mesh all of that with being part of this. A sudden thought sparked before blossoming into an idea.

"Yes," David smiled broadly, "that could work."

What if he could get rid of Darcia, save his sister, superficially meet the orders he was under, be part of this group and still have Breanna? Now that thought appealed to him and was a challenge worth working toward. It wouldn't be easy, but it could happen.

Breanna needed to want the same thing. Well, at least most of it. Nodding as the decision solidified. A shouted invite for a pool game caught his attention. Moving with the group of men, he allowed himself to be drawn into the conversation as set up started for what looked like a spirited game.