The director sits at her desk, looking over memo and files. She sighs to herself as she thinks. So many new psychic popping up at once. There were at least four cases requiring her immediate attention. One was rumors of a thief that worked near museums, one a technopath who had started garnering attention due to her actions, another a recluse, and another one with rumored animal powers.

How to handle this? Obviously, with some recruiting and outreach, but who was well suited for each mission?

She turned to her laptop and started going through the personal files. Well for a thief, who better to send than two people that were familiar with how criminals work? Also possibly someone who could trace her well... For the animal powers… maybe the one with the crows? For the technopath, Neil would work. It wasn’t his usual gig, but helping with recruiting a fellow technopath? He could do it. Maybe not alone… maybe someone who could locate people very well. For the recluse, Cassie was good at sussing out people. Also, Cassie knows when to call in for backup and who to call.

The director hit a button and the intercom for the whole building buzzed to life. “Would Miss Autumn Page, Miss Cassie Anderson, Miss Niah Bautista, Mr. Neil Maxwell, Mr. Brandon Hearne, Mr. Andor Lund, and Mr. Alex Mercede please come to the director’s office? I have missions for all of you.” The director clicked her finger off the microphone and leaned back in her chair. It was going to be a busy couple of days for these seven.

---

Autumn had arrived early to work, having needed to file away some paperwork from her last recruitment mission. Her long hair was tied up in it’s trademark messy bun, and she was wearing a simple red v-neck and capris. She tucked a pen behind her ear as she typed away on her work issued laptop. Her last mission had been interesting, recruiting some new folks with other diplomatic related powers. Autumn was never comfortable with her position outside Sector X, since she was also liaison with some of the most powerful people in the country. She was always looking for other psychics to join in with keeping diplomatic relations between psychics and non-psychics golden.

However, being a part time diplomat beat being in jail, which was where her father was. He had finally called after almost ten years, and immediately demanded bail money. Of course Autumn had no idea how he found her, and was planning on changing her number, again. She was flattered in a way that her father was trying to keep in touch with her, but until he cleaned up and changed his ways, there was no way she was getting back in contact with him.

“Would Miss Autumn Page…” Her head snapped up as she listened. After the announcement finished she sighed. Another mission it would seem, and so soon after the last one. She pulled out a calendar and looked through it. She did have more open time, so another mission would be welcomed. She put her calendar back in her desk, and closed the laptop lid with a click. She got up and stretched for a moment and then headed towards the stairs. It seemed silly to her to take the elevator down the one floor it would take to get to the director’s office.

Once she was down the stairs, she wound the familiar path to the director’s office and knocked on the door frame.

“Come in and have a seat.” The director didn’t look up from her computer as she said this. Autumn walked in and sat down. “We will wait for the others before I give you your assignment Miss Page.”

“Of course Director.” Autumn relaxed in the chair and waited for the others to show up. Her left hand went up to touch her ear, reassuring her that her dampener was still on. Last thing she wanted was messing up the mission briefing by having something happen.

---

Cassie sipped her coffee and smiled. Two cream, no sugar, just how she liked it. The move in with Kyle had gone well, and she was happy to be back at work after spending the weekend settling into the new apartment. However, she knew that the moment's reprieve would soon be over. There was always something to do at Sector X, especially for someone with her talents.

“Would Miss Autumn Page, Miss Cassie Anderson...” Right on cue. It was time to really get to work. She picked up her trusty Smith and Wesson and tucked it into it’s holster and headed to the elevator. She pressed the down button and waited. Once the elevator dinged and opened its doors with its usual groan, she stepped inside and pressed the button for the first floor.

Cassie took another swig of her coffee and looked around the elevator and shrugged. Empty. Just how she liked it. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened with the groan, and Cassie stepped out. She caught a glimpse of Autumn’s trademark fiery red-hair going around the corner as she got out of the elevator and sighed. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Autumn, she thought that the younger woman was a sweet kid, but Autumn used her dampener like a crutch. She never really bothered to train with her power and that bothered Cass. They each had a gift for a reason, and for someone to never bother to learn to use it? What was the point. However, Cass knew better than to say this aloud to anyone.

She simply entered the director’s office and sat down in one of the chairs and gave a salute to the director. “Good to see you Miss Anderson. We will wait for the others before beginning,” the Director said.

“Of course Ma'am. I believe I saw a few of the others behind me.” Cass took another swig of her coffee and frowned. The empty mug stared back at her, and she set it down on the director’s desk. “Shouldn’t be too long.”

“Good.”

"And you've got your cell?"

"Yes Nat."

"And my number programmed in?"

"Yes Nat."

"And the money I gave you for lunch?"

"Yes Nat."

"I won't be too terribly long, and I'll call you when I'm done."

Natasha stepped forward and hugged her little brother, whispering her love in his ear. Benjamin hated what she did, saying that she should use her powers for good, like the heroes from his comics. But they needed to eat, needed a place to sleep, and she wanted to make him as comfortable as she could. It wasn't easy living on the run, especially for him. He was young when they'd left their parents, didn't understand why they had to go, why they couldn't get help from the authorities. He was slowly coming to terms with their life now though, but she could see the underlying sadness in his eyes. Especially with their dad's birthday coming up. They called from a burner phone each year on their parents' birthdays. And each year, it ended in tears, begging them to come home, and shouts of anger and frustration. And each year, Ben's heart broke a little more.

Nat looked on as he entered the Arlington Museum of Art, paying for his ticket. At least he had his hobbies to keep him busy, leaving all of the worrying to her. She checked her watch. It was about fifteen minutes until the auditor arrived at the First National Bank of Arlington. It had been rather simple to snoop into the less secure offices of the bank and see the schedule. A single man with complete and unimpeded access to the vault. Nat's plan was a bit riskier than normal, but would pay out better. Enough that her and Ben could settle down somewhere, finally have a home. A place to call their own, that would always be safe from the men that had chased them out.

Nat quickly made her way to the parking structure of the bank, an underground lot, already making herself invisible to others. She wore her hair in a tight bun, had a pair of cosmetic glasses, and a tight fitting skirt suit, accompanied with a pair of flats, and carrying a bound portfolio, empty of course. One would normally expect heels, but by wearing flats, Nat needn't focus on muffling the sounds she made. A Mercedes pulled into the lot as Nat watched from her place by the secure employee elevator. A well groomed man stepped out, briefcase in hand, looking very much the part of an accountant. This must be him.

He made his way toward her, using his ID card to unlock the elevator, and Nat slipped in quietly behind him. She stood behind him, back straight, face grim, still maintaining her unseen nature. Her disguise was simply for the cameras, the security team. They would simply see an auditor and his assistant on the screen, while all others would see the auditor alone. She followed him through the security protocols, through his meanderings to his temporary office, his need to get coffee, and finally, after a couple hours, to the vault.

The vault door was left open, so that the auditor could go back and forth as needed. This was Nat's time to complete her theft. She waited until the auditor's back was turned, and she grabbed a wrapped block of hundred dollar bills from the back of a shelf. The moment she picked it up, it would be as invisible as she. She then made the show of moving in front of the auditor, nodding, as if he were talking to her. Nat then turned toward the door, ready to make her rather easy escape. Then the lighter vault gate slammed shut, though the heavy door remained open.

The auditor looked up, "Oh, not again. Why do the guards always pick me to prank like that?" Sighing, the auditor continued with his paperwork, when a man and woman appeared at the gate. They both stared through glasses at where Nat stood, "Oh, but this isn't the prank. The prank is in your "assistant" there." The woman's voice had been cold and taunting, "Assistant? I don't have an assistant? What are you talking about? Who are you people, you don't work here."

"Then someone should tell her that."

With that, the man raised a hand, and a brilliant flash of light shot forth, blinding both auditor and Natasha. She cried out, dropping to a knee, her invisibility instantly fading. The man cast the woman a look, "I know, I know, two minutes left," then looking at Nat, "Come with us, or stay here and be captured as a fraud.

Nat's eyes still hurt, and she had a splitting migraine. "Who are you?"

This time the man spoke. "Those who will either help you or destroy you. We must go, now."

They didn't mention anything about Ben, so she hoped that they knew nothing of them. She was certain she could escape later if needed. Nat nodded at the locked gate. The woman rolled her eyes as the gate waivered away, as if it evaporated, revealing that it had never been closed at all. It was an illusion. Nat picked up her money and stepped through with her captors. As they made their way through the bank, she saw the horror they'd wrought on the way in. Every single person had burn holes where their eyes had been, pained faces as they lie there, dead. The woman's illusions must be the only reason the authorities were not yet there. A dozen people dead, just so they could capture her.

It had finally happened. The people that had sought after Ben had found her. She walked behind her captors, and now muffled her sound, listening to them, "So glad that these Google Glasses were actually useful. Made her completely visible, just as the Quartermaster said." In her silence, Nat quickly texted Ben's phone with a single word. Run. The dread in her grew as they left the bank, and toward a van, that beeped as the woman unlocked it. Nat stopped, and her captors immediately turned, under the assumption she was going to flee or refuse. She wanted to flee, to fight, to get to Ben. But her powers were useless before these two. What could she do?

Meanwhile, Ben was listening to an audio tour on Victorian Era art, munching happily on caramelized peanuts, paying no notice to the vibration of his phone.

Niah wasn't listening when the announcement was made. She was too busy looking, which meant it was up to one of her co-workers to get her attention. Since she wasn't listening that meant they'd have to touch her. The co-worker who decided they were brave enough to disturb the skittish Niah came as close to Niah as they dared, just arms reach, then reached out and gently touched Niah's elbow. Niah almost dropped the item she was looking at, but she blinked dropping her hyper focus.

"The Director called you to her office." Niah nodded, her hands were shaking, her lips pursed, and her dark skin looked pale. "Sorry." Niah nodded, as if that was enough to absolve the other scientist of touching her. Niah left the lab without removing her lab coat and joined the others in the Director's office.

"Director." Niah bowed slightly at the waist.



Neil cracked his knuckles and continued to type. The current code he was working on was almost finished. "...Mr. Neil Maxwell..."

Damn. He turned on a security protocol, one that would make it nigh impossible to use his computer in his absence. He let the compiling continue and took the next elevator down to the Director's office.

"Director." He nodded, and then took quick stock of who was in the room. He recognized most of the faces, but he never went on missions. This had to be something else, but that was Cassie Anderson (the intimidating ex-military recruiter).

Normally, Andor had a way of missing some things while he was working in the office. Having so much sensory input at once made picking out individual sights and sounds hard at times. But at the time of the announcement, Huginn had the dubious luck of being perched right next to the speaker, and it was nearly impossible to miss his name being blasted across the raven's face.

"I don't think you can tell them to leave a message. Sounds like boss lady." The raven's voice echoed across his mind.

Andor nodded, and outstretched an arm, grasping Huginn and giving the bird a light scratching before putting him up onto his shoulder. He'd already started towards the director's office. After a minute or so, he entered the office, giving a nod to the director. "You called, director?"

"Oooh, look at all the people." Munnin spoke to Andor's mind, both of the one-eyed birds looking around at the gathered group

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The sound of someone at the door of her apartment woke Sophie up from her rest, with no small amount of disgruntlement on her part. Falling asleep after her night shift job was hard enough without someone ruining it after 3 lousy hours. Who on earth would be bothering her, anyway? She'd specifically chosen this apartment complex in this part of Boston because, supposedly, nobody ever bothered with it.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Just a minute!" she yelled as she swung herself out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants. It was a gloomy, overcast morning in the Walking City, she noted, as she made her way to the door. "This had better be good..." she muttered.

She cracked the door open and immediately wish she hadn't. Standing there were two middle aged men, all smiles and sunshine, wearing their Sunday best, and holding bibles in their hand. Great. "Hello ma'am," one of them began with that overly cheery tone that only grinded on Sophie's sleepy nerves, "We're here to-"

"Christian, Mormon, or Jo-Ho?" she asked bitterly, cutting him off.

"Umm... excuse me?"

"Christian. Latter-Day Saints. Or Jehova's Witnesses."

"Well, we're here to-"

"Just answer the question."

"Uh... Mormon. We're Mormons."

"I see. Well, let me tell you both something to take back to whatever place runs your organization around here. I'm not interested. I never will be interested. And even if I was interested, you don't want me. Good day."

"But, ma'am-"

"I. Said. Good day." she responded with some bite to her voice and a slam of the door. She leaned against the door then, trying to calm the combination between tiredness and frustration. A few minutes later, when she was sure the men had gone by, she trooped back to her bed. But, as she tried to fall asleep again time after time, the images returned. Flames searing against her mind's eye. The memory of the rubble coming down around her. But most of all, the screams... the screams of her friends, the people who understood her, echoing in her ear as they died. It was the screams that refused to let her sleep. And rather than fight it, she supposed, it was better to just get up and find something to do around the house. Maybe she'd tire herself out enough to take a peaceful nap before work, if she was lucky?

She scoffed at that notion and went to the closet to find a cleaning rag for the kitchen counter.





"Hmm. Ooookay, if he's not coming through there, he's probably turtling..." Alex murmered to himself as he sat in front of his personal computer that he brought to work for the sake of playing games when he had nothing better to do. He'd already typed up the spare reports he needed to and thus far nobody had needed any programming assistance. Which meant he was left to sit here and toy with "N00bD3str0y3r" here as his mental warm-up.

"Okay, so if I send you guys this way, and the rest of the tanks that way, he'll have to deal with a pincer and I can have some fun. Let's just do that, then..."

“Would Miss Autumn Page, Miss Cassie Anderson, Miss Niah Bautista, Mr. Neil Maxwell, Mr. Brandon Hearne, Mr. Andor Lund, and Mr. Alex Mercede please come to the director’s office? I have missions for all of you.” blared the PA system, taking him out of his focus briefly.

"Or not. Sorry mate, can't afford to make this take any longer."

And with that, Alex scrolled over, selected the large aerial attack force he had spent the whole match building while his ground troops fought to the D3str0y3r's base, and sent them flying over to end the match in one fell swoop of bombs, missiles, and gunfire. There was nothing that was going to stop him; he knew there wasn't any anti-air available based on what he'd fought on the way in, which meant he could freely hum Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" as he walked away.

A few minutes later he was bringing up the rear of the progression into the Director's office. "Director. Cassie." he said, giving a nod of recognition to his boss and one of his kindred spirits from around the office. "Well, seems we're all here. What's the scoop?"

Autumn had not been sitting down long before she heard the familiar sound of Mr. Brandon Hearne teleporting into the room. Goodie. She was well too aware of the former criminal's history, and found it rather distasteful. Of course given her history with her father, criminals were not her favorite sort of people.

Although she couldn’t really blame him, or any of the psychics that had turned to crime using their powers. For a few years it had been hard to really keep them in jail, due to the lack of power restriction. It was thanks to Autumn that they even had working dampeners. Well, partly due to Autumn. Most of the credit belonged to Mr. Rivenridge in the technology department.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Brandon addressed her. By her last name. Rather informally. “Hearne. You do know I have a first name, correct? And in response to your question, it goes alright.” She looked at him and frowned a bit. “You have sunglasses in your hair.”

Something about Mr. Hearne frustrated her, but at the same time intrigued her. However, now was not the moment. Other coworkers were arriving, one by one. The woman in the lab coat, Autumn wasn’t sure who she was. Autumn gave a small wave to Neil, having recognized him from the computer floor. She went down there from time to time to visit Christopher, a recruit that Autumn had handled personally.

Then Andor walked in. Autumn knew about him for sure. It was hard to miss the guy with the missing eye and a crow on each shoulder. A rather unfortunate side effect of his power, losing his eye, but Andor seemed to be okay with it now. Though the crows were still something worth getting use to. Especially with them each missing an eye as well. She had asked him about them when they first met, and due to this she had done some research into Norse Mythology.

When Alex Mercede walked in Cass smiled and offered a salute to him. “Alex. Pleasure to see you,” she said. Autumn vaguely knew Alex, however, he gave off this air about him. It was a little hard to approach him at times, even more so if he had his headphones on. Once he was seated the director gave a small cough, to get everyone’s attention.

“Thank you all for coming so promptly. As I mentioned before I have missions for all of you. Now, I know some of you must be thinking this will be one big group mission, well you can put those fears aside. This will be a few individual missions, some with others, some by themselves. We’ve had recent activity with four people and rumors that at least two of these people have Shadow right on their trail.” The director really knew how to get everyone's attention. Autumn looked at her and frowned. Shadow was a name no one at Sector X was fond of. It was not so bad for Autumn, but she knew for some it had been worse.

“Now before you argue with me, my mind is made up and the teams are decided. I have picked each of you due to your skills and I know you won’t let me down. First, Miss Anderson, there is a young woman in Boston that needs some attention. I trust you with this one, to fly solo. Do feel free to call in some help if needed.” Cassie nodded in response to the director.

“Next, we have a technopath who was last reported in New Mexico. However, we’ve lost track of her since then. Neil, Alex, I want you both on this mission. If either of you need help following her online trail, keep an open line with the Technopath department. I will assign someone there to be your home liaison.”

“Mr. Lund, reports of a young lady with animal related powers in South Carolina have reached my desk. I wish for you to go and talk to her. I don’t believe at the moment she is about to be victim to Shadow, but better safe than sorry.”

Autumn froze as she mentally counted. Three missions, and four people assigned on them. The girl in the lab coat, Mr. Hearne and herself were left. Maybe she was going to be playing at home communications? No likely chance of that.

“And lastly, this mission is going to be a bit more difficult. There have been a rash of crimes committed, all over the country, by a woman. With time and evidence, we have come to believe it is the same woman using her talents to pull off these crimes. We also know we are not the only ones that are looking for her. Shadow has sent operatives out after her, that we know for sure. You know they will stop at nothing to get someone with talents like hers. Apparently she can make herself ‘invisible’ in a way. I don’t know more than that for now. However, Mr. Hearne, Miss Bautista, and Miss Page, I want the three of you on this. Miss Bautista you can trace her well, and well, who better to send after a thief but two people who understand the criminal mind very well.” The director looked at Brandon and Autumn.

“Before you start arguing with me, as I said before, these groupings are final. Here are your files and details. Neil, Alex, I have already gone to the liberty of booking the first flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico for you. As for the rest, I hope you enjoy your travels. Keep receipts for the financial department. Dismissed.” The director handed Cassie, Alex, Andor and Autumn each a file before urging them all out of her office.

Autumn could feel her stomach turn a bit. Of course she’d be assigned to work with Brandon. Why not? It wasn’t like she changed her name and her life to escape criminals, right? She sighed and looked at the file in her hands and then at her two team members. “Well, let’s go somewhere and look this file over, huh?”

Neil took in the director's orders. First he was going to New Mexico, he had never been there before. Second he was doing an honest to god mission to find this technopath. At least he was going with Mercede, that guy was a legend. Technopath missions were never safe, ever. Well except his own. Sector X had found him first thank god, Neil repressed a shiver at the thought of having been found by Shadow. He knew a few in the room had crossed paths with the organization before, he hadn't though and now he might have to.

Once the Director finished giving everyone their orders Neil stepped over to Mercede. He had seen the guy around, hell he worked in one of the offices on his floor, but he had never had the nerve to talk to him. "Hey, where do you want to read that?"

---

Niah joined Autumn, noticing the dampener on her ear and her stance. Autumn seemed closed off, guarded, especially toward Hearne. Their exchange earlier indicated they knew each other, and it was clearly not an everybody gets a long type of knowing each other.

Niah glanced at Brandon Hearne, a tattooed name peaked out from his sleeve, yellowed finger tips from cigarettes though the smell of them was faint as if he didn't do it often anymore. He did not seem to carry the same anger toward Page, he seemed almost amused. Niah couldn't be reading that right.

Page asked if they wanted to take the folder somewhere to read it, Niah just nodded in response. This group was why the director had been insistent that her mind was made up, that there'd be no arguing.

A loud, banging rattle at her bedroom door stirred Talia from slumber. She rolled over and stuck her head beneath her pillow as a desperate “Merow!” wailed from the other side of her door.
Grumbling, she lifted the edge of her pillow to look at the clock on her nightstand. With a long groan, she let the pillow fall back into place.
“Go ‘way,” Talia muttered into the mattress. “It isn’t even ten yet. You know I’m off Mondays.”
Another, impossibly louder meow penetrated through the pillow’s stuffing, followed by more rattling and banging on the door. Then, a silence that bothered her more than the noise.
As suspicion flooded through her, Talia pulled the pillow from her head, then startled at the pair of golden feline eyes staring back at her over the edge of her bed.
She lifted her upper torso, her curly hair knotted and worthy of nesting a family of nuthatches, and blinked at the charcoal Bangel cat in confusion. She twisted her head to look at the door in the wall opposite her bed, which stood slightly ajar.
“Merow!”
Talia looked back to the cat as he jumped onto her bed, strode onto her pillow, then laid down, staring up at her expectantly and purring.
“Ronaldo Jones. You’re a royal jerk. You know that?”
“Merow.” Ronaldo stood and stretched, then rubbed his head against her chin.
Talia gave an animated sigh of defeat and petted the cat before rolling onto her back with a groan. She stared at the ceiling for a moment before Ronaldo came over and touched his nose to hers with another loud meow.
“Okay, okay. Breakfast. I know.” She unwrapped herself from her blanket and got up.
After quickly getting dressed and untangling her hair, she went into the sparsely furnished living room between her and the kitchen space.
“Morning, McMuffin,” she greeted a long-haired, pied tabby, who looked up at her from where he napped on a couch.
Ronaldo waited for her by their empty food dishes. He meowed continuously and rubbed against her legs as Talia opened a can of wet food. His attention shifted only when she finally scooped the contents evenly into their bowls.
McMuffin brushed against Talia as the fat cat hobbled to the dishes, offering her a quick glance and a friendly meow in greeting before shoving his face in the second bowl.
“I have some errands to run this morning before I head to the shelter,” she told them as she stepped toward the cabinets lining the walls around the counter separating kitchen from living room.
Ronaldo looked up at her, licked his lips, then went back to eating.
After grabbing a couple cereal bars for herself and pouring milk into both a lidded cup and a saucer, she placed the saucer beside the cats’ bowls, and headed to the narrow hall beside the fridge leading to the entrance.
She shoved the cereal bars into her purse hanging on pegs protruding from the hall’s wall, and grabbed her favored fedora with its embroidery.
“I’ll be back by seven.” She placed the hat on her head, making sure the gray wolf faced forward, as she looked to the cats. “Be good, boys! Don’t party without me.”
With that, she left the apartment, locking the door behind her.

Once she left the director’s office, Cassie opened the file she had been given and gave it a quick look over. There was a psychic in Boston that was holding themselves up in an apartment, and Sector X wanted to send someone to check on them/ extend a hand of help. They were unsure of their powers, but that was most missions. You never knew what power you were going to find until you found the psychic.

Like Niah. That mission was running through Cassie’s mind currently, since Niah had also been called in to the directors office to get a mission. A bit odd, but she was Sector X’s walking CSI kit, as she called herself, and given her powers, she preferred to stay in the lab. It did make sense. Would could find a thief better than her given her powers? Aside from two other people familiar with the criminal mind. Of course, if Mr. Hearne and Miss Page could get along for the mission, that would be a miracle. It didn’t take a mind reader to get that there was something there, from the way they looked at each other. Or more specifically how Miss Page looked at Mr. Hearne. Cassie didn’t care about how they felt about each other, as long as the mission got done and their feelings didn’t get in the way.

She noticed there was a ticket to Boston tucked in her file and smiled. At least she didn’t have to make travel plans. Driving to Boston would take eight hours, and that was not a drive she wanted to make, not alone. So, flying was the best route to go.

As she reached her office, she noticed that Kyle, her boyfriend, was leaning up against the door frame. “So, what did boss lady want with you?”

“I’m going on a mission, obviously. There’s a psychic in Boston she wants me to scope out. I’m running this solo.”

“How long are you going to be gone?” He wrapped his arms around Cass and pulled her close, causing her to blush. She wasn’t one for much pda, but Kyle was, and it was something she had accepted in the last six years.

“Dunno. Could be a day, could be several. Gotta figure out if we wanna recruit her first and then go from there. You know how it goes.”

“Can’t even enjoy living together for three days before you go off on a mission. I could join you, if you wanted?”

“Nah, you have new recruits to train anyways, Kyle. You can’t get away that easily.” Cassie looked up at him and blushed. “I will miss you.”

“I know.” He kissed her forehead gently. “But we both got some vacation time coming up. Wanna go visit your grandma?”

Cassie looked up at Kyle and raised an eyebrow. “You’d wanna go to the rez?” While she didn’t really talk about it, Cassie was part Nambe, on her mother’s side.

“Yes. It’s time I met your grandma.”

“Alright. We’ll talk about it later. I got a mission to go get ready for. See you later handsome.” Cassie gave Kyle a kiss and then he walked off, giving her wave. She smiled, and turned to go into her office and pulled out her mission ready bag. She had gotten use to being called on missions suddenly, like most recruitment agents, and had a travel bag tucked away in her office.

She hefted the bag over her shoulder, and picked up her car keys and sighed. Another day, another mission. She walked over to the elevator and pressed the call button for up. The elevator dinged, and the doors groaned open. She walked in the elevator and hit the button for the parking garage. Once she reached the parking garage, she walked to her car, opened it up and tossed her bag in. She got in her car and started it up and headed to Ronald Reagan Airport. ”Let’s do this. Mission time.”

and special guest Alex Mercede

“Hey where do you want to read that?” Neil asked Mercede, with a gesture to the file they had been given by the director. He watched as Autumn left with two Neil didn’t know very well. He had heard of Bautista, she was supposed the best at field investigations of scenes. He had her being called a walking CSI kit before. Neil wasn’t sure if that was something Bautista cared about. The guy he had seen a few times but he didn’t know him. Cassie headed out too, she had a case by herself.

“Well,” Mercede replied as he grabbed the file off the desk, “It sounds like there’s a flight we have to catch, so why don’t we read over it while one of us drives there?”

“Fair enough. I get car sick so I guess you’re reading.” Neil let Mercede lead the way out of the director’s office, and past Autumn who was asking about the nearest computer or TV. “Also if we’re going to be gone any length of time I need to stop by my apartment and get a travel bag. I don’t go on missions usually so I don’t have a bag ready. Actually to be honest I’ve never been on a mission before.” Neil snapped his mouth shut. He was telling Mercede that he was a rookie. He was going to die of embarrassment right then.

“Okay, that’s fine,” his newly ordered partner said in a surprisingly unperturbed tone, “Everybody has their first. Just follow my lead for the live-action and remember the book is mostly guidelines and you’ll be fine. Oh, one second.” Mercede ducked into his own office as they passed by and re-emerged with a black duffel bag slung over his shoulder a minute later. “Okay, to your place then?”

~~~several hours and hundreds of miles later~~~

The two landed in Albuquerque, it was hot. It was late in the day, but it was hot. Neil had forgotten how oppressive the heat could get in the west. It was a dry heat though, he rolled his eyes at the idea. They barely knew anything about this person Pixie. Chris, one of the technopaths back at HQ had tracked Pixie a bit closer, but at the moment they didn’t have much to go by.

“Hm, I think I’ll play,” Neil flicked open the file to glance at the list of games Pixie was known to play, he looked at the top one. “Hero League.” He pulled his laptop out of his bag and set it up on the desk in the hotel room. It was a nice hotel, not five star, but there wasn’t signs of a body under the bed. Neil had at least played Hero League before. A few times, but he wasn’t a total n00b at the game, and that could be enough to get him in a game with Pixie.

“That’s…” Alex began to say before his face gained an incredulous look to it, “That’s actually a good idea. Could you trace him if you got into the game? Using your ability, I mean?” he asked as he looked up from the pile of papers and the state map in front of him on the table.

“I can’t, but Chris might be able to. I’ve already got him linked up to my laptop. I’m only good if you need something in code, or something that is in code not in code. Well that’s not to say I’m not good with other aspects of computers, but my power is for code. Honestly I didn’t even notice that much of a difference after the change.” Neil shrugged. Okay that wasn’t entirely true. He had gotten scores better of understanding codes after the change, but he had been one of the top already. He felt a little cheated on his power sometimes. “Anyway, Chris will be watching and if Pixie pops up he’ll follow them.”

Neil paused and glanced up at Mercede, “Well there is something my power would be good for. If Pixie is good enough he’d be able to pick up a message from me if I sent him through the game. I might be able to get him to trust us without even ever having to find him.” Neil blanched a bit. “But only maybe, there’s no telling if he could decode something I sent to him, and if he got it it’s possible Shadow is watching him close enough that they get it and if they have someone with my power on their team...” He trailed off.

Mercede seemed to ponder that for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of the idea. “Judging from how much trouble our techs have finding him, I think it’s safe to say he’s got good defenses. If you can get that message to inside of those defenses, it should be okay. Either way, I’ll leave it to your discretion. My part of the game comes a little later.”

Not budging from her spot on the sidewalk, "I'm not going anywhere with you, I don't care if you can see me or not." The girl laughed, and went to talk, her body language suggesting a taunt of some sort, but was interrupted by the man. "You don't have a choice in this. You come with us, or we leave you to be captured by Sector X, and trust me, they aren't as nice as us." She hung her head, not sure whether to believe them or not, but was leaning toward the latter. What sort of stupid name was Sector X? "If you're so much better than this other group, why'd you kill all of those people?"

The blonde girl laughed, "They were just unconscious. You don't see your eyes burned out do you?" Then she moved a hand across her face, and her eyes had changed to the burned out sockets Nat had seen in the bank. A blink and they were changed back, "That's just to give the cops a reason to stick around a bit longer. Sector X is always right behind us, they probably found you the same way we did. Be thankful we were first. We aren't always. Can we go now, please?"

The sirens were close now, and Nat honestly believed the lies that spewed from their mouths. She needed to bide her time, to find an opening to get away from these people. It didn't matter what group they were with, they were keeping her from Ben. She nodded and walked with them toward the van, already going silent. They didn't seem to notice, so she figured they only knew about her ability to go unseen. By the time they'd reached the van, she was already sprinting down the street, leaving them swearing.

Nat ran down a nearby alley and up the street a block over, pulling out her phone, and calling Ben. "Pick up, please pick up." When it kicked to voicemail, she swore and began running toward the museum, slipping in silent and unseen. She kept trying to call him, panicking thinking that he'd either been caught by this "Sector X" or had already disappeared. She pushed past people, knocking them over, not bothering to go unfelt, frantically searching for her little brother, her breathing erratic. Where was he? The museum wasn't that large, surely she'd have found him by now.

The cops were swarmed all around the bank, finding the only survivors in the security man that saw nothing from his swath of monitors and the auditor in the vault. The auditor could only remember that the man was tall, dark, with a military crew cut, and the girl looked like a blond pop star. And that there was someone else in the vault that he didn't notice, but could hear after he was blinded by some flash. The police were now getting reports of an invisible person assaulting people in the museum nearby.

Autumn tucked her dampener safely into it’s little pocket in her bag, and she brushed a stray lock of her hair away. The air around her was fully charged with her calming pheromones. Now, all she had to do was act like she owned the place. That was the challenge in this mission. She knew enough about police to find that a girl like her wouldn’t command their respect normally. However, with a badge of her own…

She walked through the door, and the effect was immediate. The crime scene investigators slowed down their approach to the scene, the officers seemed less intense, and even the witness seemed to calm down. Eyes turned to her, and she walked over to one of the officers. ”Who is in charge here?”

“Lieutenant Harrington… but um… “ Autumn walked off towards the man the officer had pointed out.

”Lieutenant Harrington. I’m Autumn Page, part of Sector X. This investigation is relevant to our interests. May I ask that you preserve the scene for our investigation?” Autumn held up her badge for the Lieutenant to look at.

“Ms. Page… this is a homicide and larceny investigation. Why would this fall under… what is Sector X?” The Lieutenant, while calm, was also obviously confused.

”That is classified information Lieutenant Harrington. However, we have reason to believe that there is a the thief in question is someone of interest in one of our ongoing cases.” Autumn was too accustomed to lying. It came from being her father’s daughter.

“Well…”

”Please, Officer. We have our own experts, and they will find out more about the crime than those crime scene investigators... “ Autumn was turning it fully on. However, Niah had asked for the scene to be preserved to the best it could be, and Autumn saw that almost no one had touched it yet. She felt so wrong, using her powers like this. ”You really are his daughter… no shut up and focus Autumn!”

“Alright Ms. Page, however we expect to still have our hands in this.” The Lieutenant was smiling a bit, and looked Autumn over. “And maybe…”

”Thank you Lieutenant Harrington. I will let you know when your investigators can come on the scene. We appreciate your cooperation and help.” She turned away and inwardly groaned.

“ALL OFFICERS! We have reports of an invisible force assaulting patrons of the Arlington Museum of Art! We request a small squad to investigate!” Autumn paused as she heard the announcement come over all the officers communication devices. “We repeat…”

Autumn whipped out her phone to text both Niah and Brandon. ”Our target might be in the Arlington Museum of Art. There are reports of an invisible person assaulting museum patrons. B, can you check it out maybe? I’ll head that way as well. N, the scene is all yours. Tell them you’re with Ms. Page.”

”If you’ll excuse me officers. My associate is on her way, her name is Niah Bautista. However, I need to step outside for a moment.” Autumn headed out of the bank, swearing to herself. This mission was getting more and more complex as it continued. She punched in Arlington Museum of Art in her phone, and started following the directions to it. ”I hope Brandon is checking his texts, or else this will suck.”

Niah was left alone with a horrific sound and an even worse smell. It dissipated quickly and most people probably couldn’t even smell it. Yeah, that solidified it she would never travel that way, definitely not. She shook her head and headed up, swinging by her desk for a bag with her travel supplies, and a field CSI kit. She was good, but her memory wasn’t perfect. Niah could find fingerprints but she couldn’t add them into IAFIS.

“Our target might be in the Arlington Museum of Art. There are reports of an invisible person assaulting museum patrons. B, can you check it out maybe? I’ll head that way as well. N, the scene is all yours. Tell them you’re with Ms. Page.”

Oh goodie that meant she’d be there alone, she’d have to be careful when looking.

Niah took her own car to the bank, it didn’t take long, though not as short a drive as just ‘popping’ over there. She shivered at the idea. Niah was parking when her phone beeped and buzzed. The combination was necessary because she wouldn’t hear anything if she was focused on sight.

Niah entered the bank, crossing under the police line with a flash of her badge, a brief thought that she was thankful she had forgotten to take off her lab coat. People always respected people in uniforms, even ones as simple as the lab coat.

“Ma’am?” One of the police officers started to intercept her.

“Hello, I’m Niah Bautista I am here to investigate the scene I belive this has already been cleared through Ms. Page.” The police office blinked for a moment and then another man walked over.

“I am Lieutenant Harrington.” The man said holding out his hand. Niah bowed slightly over it instead of taking it. If the man had been bothered by that he didn’t show it on his features when Naih stood back up.

“I’m here to check the scene for anything that may help in our investigation. Once I’m done you’re team can have it back. I won’t be long, and I won’t mess anything up I promise.”

“Right. Follow me. You’ll have to forgive me, but I’ll watch to make sure there is no contamination.”

“Fair enough.” Niah nodded and entered the bank, as she pulled on a set of latex gloves. For a moment she was taken aback by the smell. Those people. She shook her head to dispel the queasiness that rose. Niah glanced at Harrington; he was watching her, as if trying to catch her in a lie.

She ignored him and let herself focus on looking. Her vision sharpened, which was saying something, but now she could focus down to a micro level. The downside of course was she couldn’t hear. If Harrington spoke to her she’d have no idea.

Niah followed subtle signs. A hand on top of a leg, that person fell first, a quarter turn, someone had tried to run. She made her way into the vault. The auditor’s paperwork still laid out on the table, but no body in there. That meant he was still alive, which meant there was a witness. Niah glanced up, video cameras, they’d have to get a copy of the day’s recordings.

A hair. Long and blonde. She knelt beside it, pulled out a pair of tweezers. Everything focused deeply on that hair, for a moment nothing else existed. Niah couldn’t see DNA or anything that small, but she could see that the hair had to be human due to the texture. There was a bend part way up it, probably from repeated use of hair ties.

Pulling herself from her focus she looked up at Harrington as he spoke, “-you are.” He looked irritated, and Niah suspected he’d be even more pissed off if there wasn’t still some of Autumn’s pheromones around him.

“I’d like a copy of the security footage from the whole building for the day.” The man paled a bit.

“Did you not hear a thing I just said?”

“Actually no I didn’t. I tuned you out. Was it more important than finding murderers and kidnappers?” Niah said a whole lot braver than she felt. Maybe it was some of Autumn’s pheromones making her feel braver than usual.

“I’ll get you a copy of it if you explain who you are.” He crossed his arms, blocking her way out of the vault.

“I’m Niah Bautista. I already said that. I work for Sector X, and I am investigating a person of interest. Did you need to know something else?” Niah turned around and with a small slight of hand she bagged the long blonde hair. No way in hell was she going to let the regular cops get ahold of this woman. She was in too much danger to be locked up in jail, Shadow had tendrils everywhere.

“Who are you investigating?” Turned back around to face Harrington.

“That’s classified.” That was technically correct, and the allowances Sector X had, even not being a government agency was enough that this man’s clearance wouldn’t be enough. ”If you don’t mind those tapes.” Niah could only hope that at this point Autumn and Hearne had found the woman. Lucky for her Harrington turned on his heel and left her alone in the vault, now for a closer look at those eyes.

That was where Harrington found her several minutes later. Niah didn’t know how long he had been there before she let her focus drop. His lips were pursed though, his patience was wearing thin. He held out a disk for her.

“Are you finished?” Niah nodded, and walked out of the bank heading for her car. She’d store the hair and disk in the car and then see if she could find the other two.

Nat pushed through the throngs of people, knocking them about with little regard, sprinting past a corridor of a Italian statues, when she caught a glimpse of that yellow hoodie she knew so well. Skidding to a stop on the slick floor, she turned back walking up behind her little brother, sitting on a bench before a statue, listening to the audio tape. She looked around, noticed no one looking at her for the moment, and popped back into the visual spectrum. She moved up behind him, plucking his headphones from his ears, causing him to turn around and look at her surprised. He stood up and she pulled him into a tight embrace, “Answer your phone next time twerp.” As he held her back, unsure of what exactly was going on, before she continued, “We need to go. They found us.”

His eyes widened, remembering the day after the fair, when the men had shown up, “Them?”

“Yes, they are called Sector X, and they are trying to get us. We need to go, now.”

He nodded, and the two walked together back toward the main corridor of that wing, looking around. Nat knew her ability had been draining her, so she was trying her best to conserve it, so for now, she remained fully noticeable by all senses.

Autumn walked into the museum, pumping out her pheromones at high speed. The effect was immediate, as usual. People who had been upset by the shoving were strangely calm and the guards stopped in their questioning. She looked around, hoping to get some kind of clue as to where their target had gone. Of course, it would help if she had more on the target than female.

So she started scanning the surface thoughts of those she was close to. As she walked she just picked up the small snippets of thoughts, mostly along the lines of how odd it had been to get shoved by nothing. ”This is not helping. Where would she go? What is here that is so important to her?”

She pulled out her phone and frowned. Still nothing from Brandon. Where was he? Was he even bothering with his phone?

A loud whistle sounded out from somewhere behind her. Brandon – looking slightly green and with a cup of coffee to go in his free hand – waved. His phone (was that an old Nokia?) glimmered in the overhead light in the museum corridor.

Autumn walked over and looked at him and raised an eyebrow. However, what came out of her mouth was: “What? No coffee for me?”

Brandon, whose lips had curled up infuriatingly into a smile as if in preparation for some onslaught, shrugged. “I don’t get paid enough to buy my co-workers coffee,” he said, a bare-faced lie considering how much rarer talents were worth to Sector X.

Autumn sighed, knowing it was lie, but shrugged. “Anyways, I have no idea where she went, but I’m hoping that she’ll start calming down once she gets anywhere near where I’ve been. I’ve been doing small scans, trying to see if I can pick up anything.”

Nat and Ben moved down the corridor, heading for the main entrance. She kept looking around nervously, not knowing exactly who she was looking for, excluding the blonde girl and dark man, whoever they were, whoever they represented. She just wanted out, with Ben, so they could leave this town behind. She hadn’t even cared that she’d dropped the bundle of money somewhere. That wasn’t important anymore. As she neared the doors, that were way at the end of the corridor, she found herself calming down, thinking more clearly. Her nervous glancing slowed, Ben asking, “So where are we going now?” He already knew they wouldn’t be going back to their hotel room.

“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out as we go.”

Not far away, Brandon looked over his shoulder and murmured, “We know what the person looks like?” He snuck glances at the two walking away whose own surreptitious looks around had calmed as soon as they reached a certain point in the corridor – presumably where Page had dropped her hormones, or whatever they were called.

“She’s blond… from what we’ve gotten off security cams. Probably early twenties. Beyond that, she’s made sure to not get captured on film. Getting any pings?” Autumn looked around, obviously still scanning people’s minds and then paused.

“I know a bank robber when I see one,” he said casually, nodding his head in their direction.

“Want me to take lead, or do you wanna give the pitch?”

“I hate pitches. Makes me feel dirty, like a salesman,” he said, but stalked forward, intent on taking the lead anyway. “Phone camera out, just in case. Mine doesn’t have one. “This is where we find out I’ve got the wrong person…” The latter came out as a grumble.

Autumn rolled her eyes and walked with Brandon over towards Natasha and Ben.

Nat was beginning to feel more confident as they neared the door. But then she saw two familiar faces enter the building. The blonde and the dark man, and a moment of panic set in, especially when she knew they’d seen her. Still finding herself surprisingly calm compared to what she would normally be, her paranoia increased as two people broke away from the standard throng, moving toward them with what could only be described as unknown intent. “Ben, they’re here. Get ready to run. Did you see any fire exits back that way? Just nod.” He did. Nat squeezed his arm, and the two turned and bolted back down the corridor, both from the Sector X members and the unknown others. Nat was trying to activate her power, but her emotions, a mix of calm and panic were distracting her, and coupled with having used up a lot of her power made it impossible to activate for the both of them.

“Wait!” Autumn saw their target, plus a young boy, run away. A boy? No reports of that. She then noticed two people walking in. “Brandon! I got this, can you get her?” Autumn turned to look at Brandon and fumbled with something in her bag.

The teleporter was already moving in the other direction. Brandon caught only the tail end of what Autumn said, taking off in the direction the two had with stealthy half-jumps, a saving a second or two of travelling. “Hey! Sector X, we’re good, they’re Shadow, they’re bad! Cliff’s notes! Cliff’s notes!”

The female Shadow smirked, stepping behind a crowd of people, out of sight before changing her form, blending in with everyone else. She then closed her eyes, knowing what was coming. The male smiled, knowing he didn’t have enough juice left to burn out everyone’s eyes as he’d done in the bank, but there would be distractions and migraines a plenty. He held up his hands, now glowing, and shot the blinding light out in all directions.

Autumn pulled a small orb out of her bag. “Well, Mr. Rivenridge. I hope this works…” She clicked something on the orb and a noise happened. Autumn clamped her ears and groaned. Psychic disrupter. However, it was affecting her as well at the two Shadow operatives coming after her.

Nat looked over her shoulder as her and Ben ran, seeing some man teleport menacingly toward them. He would catch up to them soon, and she found her calm quickly dissipating into pure fear. These people were incredibly determined to catch her and Ben. He was yelling something about Sector X, shadows, and something about a guy named Cliff. Clearly he was insane and trying to capture them, or worse. Unfortunately for Nat, she looked back just in time to be hit by the flash of light, sending daggers of pain through her eyes. She stumbled a bit, Ben stopping to try and help, “No! Just go!” It took her a few moments to get recovered, to stop seeing colored dots, and she found herself looking at where the teleporter had been, only to see empty space.

Brandon, sensing a chance, teleported ahead of them. He breathed in deeply through his nose, not out of breath at all. No chance of that. He hid it behind a sip of his Starbucks. “Right, thank God you stopped. Or Jesus. Or, whatever, you know what I mean.” He paused for another breath. “You know, I’m the good guy!”

Ben, taking heed of his sister’s order kept running, not caring about the man or his coffee that appeared in front of him. He saw the fire exit behind him, and clumsily tried to plow his way through. Nat realized the enemy had gotten to her brother first, and in full fledge panic, went completely dark, undetectable by any of the five major senses, already feeling the massive strain on her mind. She began rushing toward the teleporter, intent on taking him out one way or another, if even for just a moment.

“Not so fast, boy wonder, calm your tits and sit down,” he said, rushing over to the fire escape to try and hold it shut. When he looked back at where the girl was supposed to be, he would have – if he’d had a hand that wasn’t either carrying his phone or a coffee – covered his face with it. “If, you know, you and your girlfriend slash sister slash mother would just listen we’d be out of here and away from Shadow in about, hey, two seconds flat.”

Ben wasn’t listening to the perceived villain’s words, and barreled right past him. Nat on the other hand, wasn’t looking to get past him. She went straight for the coffee, unseen and unheard, smacking at it upwards, trying to at least disable the man long enough for them to get out. She heard the alarms go off as Ben finally made it through the fire exit, standing there holding it open, hoping his sister would catch up soon.

Brandon dropped the coffee, some of it spilling over his brand new white shirt and scalding his leg through his trousers. More than a few expletives were let off, more venting than pain. You’ve had worse, he told himself, scowling despite himself. When the alarms started off, and the kid stopped to hold open the door, Brandon flashed with hands outstretched – ignoring the pain of the burn and of the teleportation itself – to grab onto him from behind.

He looked in the direction he thought the crazy psycho coffee girl might be, keeping as tight a grip as possible on the kid. Brandon was even expecting a kick to the nuts and stood defensively against such a move. Then again, he wasn’t sure either of them were bright enough to consider something like that, given how they weren’t even listening, or hadn’t yet noticed his lack of a weapon, or… Whatever. “Right! God damn it, I don’t get paid enough for this. Listen up,”

Nat was getting dizzy as she rushed toward her brother, now seeing the man that had him in his grasp, looking pissed as all get out. She… she had to… save him. Her powers wavering, her form flicking in and out of sight as she neared. Just before getting to the door, she became fully visible, blood coming from her nose, before she fell to the floor unconscious. “NAT!” Ben struggled to try and break free of his captor, to get to his fallen sister.

Brandon loosed his grip, but kept a tight hold on the kid’s arm, moving closer to the sister because he wasn’t a monster. “Right, that is not good,” he said. First aid had never been his strong point, but he searched for a pulse with his free hand. He’d done that before. “Does this happen a lot, kid?”

Ben looked up at the man, fury and tears in his eyes, “This has never happened! Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?!”

“Because you’ll die if you’re left out here?” he asked, a question though more on the rhetorical side. “Or, you know, worse: be converted into one of those brainwashed Shadow c– bastards? And because Sector X doesn’t want any more psychics getting controlled by our enemies, or see kids used, or whatever? Honestly, it wouldn’t have happened if your sister had bothered to actually listen.”

Ben looked incredulously from his sister, “What are you even talking about? Are you insane? That’s comic book level bullshit. You just want to capture us I bet, thinking we’re bad people. Lock us up and throw away the key.”

Brandon managed something close to a fatherly glare of utter exasperation despite not having one himself. “Look, I’m not in the habit of telling kids they’re an idiot, but, you’re an idiot.” A pause. “Your sister has powers, and probably you too, yeah? And you’re complaining about ‘comic book level bullshit’? Also, the only people locking anyone up are Shadow. Sector X is more in the business of… freeing shady people and giving them proper jobs.”

Venom in his voice, “If you’re such a good person, why haven’t you helped my sister yet?” now screaming. Nat hadn’t moved since she fell, and Ben was fearing the worst.

“Do I look like a fucking doctor to you, kid? I’ve got possibly first degree burns and am seconds away from just knocking you out and porting you both back to base, but I’ll wait for my colleague to show up first – she’s ‘good cop’.”

Meanwhile, Autumn walked over to the two people who were covering their ears and then slapped dampener bracelets on them. “Well then, I guess we found some Shadows here. Not surprised to see either of you. The police are going to want to question you both for the bank job. Saw that, by the way. Real mess. Okay, bracelets on, so I can just…” She fumbled for a moment and turned the orb off and let out a sigh. “So much better.” She pulled out her phone and paused. She flagged over one of the museum security guards. “Can you keep an eye on these two? They are wanted in connection with the bank robbery from this morning.” The guard nodded, and Autumn dialed the director.

“Yes… I don’t know if we found her yet.. Brandon is on it… We found two Shadows… Yes the bracelets are working… Yes, I’m lucky I had them on hand… From last mission… I will submit a report… I will fully brief you later…”

The pair of Shadows were cursing, they didn’t know how, but Sector X had something that had dampened their powers, and now these cuffs. But they’d made one small mistake, leaving them with the guards. They had lost the chance to capture the woman, but they would at least be able to get free, once Eliah did his thing. The dark man smiled, knowing that unlike his partner, he didn’t fully rely on his powers. He strained his arms, his muscles bulging beneath his trim suit. An audible snap was heard as the connection between the bracelets broke. They still maintained their power, but his hands were free. And they quickly grabbed a guard, wrapping around his neck, “Back off Sector X, or I’ll leave more corpses.”

Autumn turned to look at the sound and her eyes went wide. She then narrowed her eyes and sent a rush of pheramones at the Shadow operative, but this time it wasn’t calming. She walked over and ran her hand along Eliah’s face. “Now… you don’t want to do that, do you? I mean, that would make me upset. And you’re not a bad guy. I know this. You’ve just been used. Listen to me, focus on me…” Autumn was straining a bit. She was overworking her power more than usual. It also took a lot of focus to do what she was doing.

Eliah could feel the change of mood taking over. He hated these hormone types. It reminded him of the days in interrogator training, where they’d pumped truth serums into them and forced them to lie or be tortured. A vein in his head was visibly throbbing as he focused on a single, simple thought. It was the only way to resist. He focused on the open door, his escape. His breathing was ragged, sweat poured down his face, but he was managing. One of his hands edge out toward the woman, for he knew if he could get a hold of her, he could break her, and they would be free. He just had to break her own concentration. It was a simple as cracking an egg.

“Please… just focus on me, and only on me… We can help you. We can help return you to who you use to be. Please, we’re not the bad guys here. We just want to help.” Autumn focused more, looking at the Shadow Operative. She couldn’t tell if it was working, yet, but if she could get him to drop the guard, it would be worth it.

It felt as if he were moving through quicksand, he could feel a ringing in his ears, the blood dripping from them, and his nose, but he was not giving up. “Fuck…. off…” His hand burst out, trying to get ahold of anything about the woman.

Autumn had a split second warning as his thoughts made themself clear for a moment and she ducked, but the concentration was broken. “NO!”

That moment was all he needed, as he snapped the guard’s neck, and pushed him toward the Sector X woman. He picked his partner up bodily, and bowled through the front doors. They may have failed this time, but they knew a bit more of their enemy now. Next time, they’d be ready.

Autumn dodged the body, but her powers were drained. Panic set in as the guard’s body fell to the ground, and people ran screaming from the museum. She slumped over on the floor, holding her head. “Autumn...AUTUMN!” The director was screaming over her phone. She had never hung up the call before. She picked it up.

“They… got away. I’m sorry Director.” Autumn hit the end call button, not wanting to hear the director yelling. Her head was pounding and she dragged herself off the floor. She dialed Brandon’s number and waited… hoping he’d had better luck.

He picked up. “Autumn, need your help. Woman is – er, unconscious. Nothing to do with me, of course, but that’s how it goes.”

“Brandon. They got away. And just murdered a man.” Autumn’s voice sounded hollow, empty.

“Oh.” After sounding appropriately upset for a moment, he asked, “Want to help me out now?”

There was a long pause before: “Sure. Where are you?”

“Ieuhhhh– kid, where would you say we are?”

Ben was still hovering over his sister, not sure if he had any choice but to help this man. He couldn’t carry her out and away from a teleporter, that much was obvious. “Fire exit, Renaissance Statues.”

“There we go, Fire Exit, Renaissance Statues,” Brandon parroted. He let go of the kid for a moment, untucking his own shirt with a wince and a few curses at the overheated flesh beneath.

“I’ll be there in a moment. Gotta fight the crowd of people fleeing in terror.” The phone clicked, and the dial tone buzzed. After a few minutes, a rather bedraggled Autumn appeared. “Care to… Oh my god! What the hell happened?!” She looked over the unconscious woman, and Brandon who was clearly covered in coffee.

“Her? Power overuse,” he informed her. “Me? Burn victim, hot coffee scandal, never getting Starbucks again. The Kid? Stupidity – it’s a terminal case, too.”

“Starbucks is overrated anyways. Don’t call him stupid Brandon. Hello sweetie, care to tell me your name?” Autumn said, going over to look at Nat. She checked for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief. “She’s going to be fine. Will need a good night’s sleep and some advil, but she’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Ben was still glaring daggers at the man, but then looked over at the new woman, “She’s… she’s alive? You’ve seen this before?”

“Yes sweetie. I’ve done it to myself on more than one occasion. If we overwork our powers it causes our brain to shut down for a bit. Almost just did it myself just now. So, what is your name? And what’s her name?” Autumn asked, looking at Ben. “I’m Autumn.”

Ben wasn’t really sure if Nat would want him to give their real names or not. She always erred on the side of caution. He knew that bad guys knew how to use honey and poison. “I’m Bobby, she’s Natalie.”

Autumn knew those were false names, but at the moment, that wasn’t the concern. “Well Bobby, is Natalie your sister?”

“Yes.”

“I’m guessing she’s been doing what she’s been doing to take care of you, am I right?”

Ben looked sheepishly down at the floor, knowing Nat had always been doing this because of what he’d done at the fair. He was what tore their family apart, forced them on the run. In more of a mutter now, “Yes.”

Brandon rolled his eyes, and promptly hid it by looking away, content to let Autumn handle it.

“Well, we’re not the police or even working with them. We just want to help. Now, I know you saw those people chasing us earlier right?”

Ben shook his head, “I didn’t even see them, just this asshole here,” glancing at Brandon.

Autumn had to suppress a giggle at that. “Brandon isn’t an asshole. He’s my partner. We’re part of a group called Sector X, and we help psychics like your sister.”

“Really? Sector X? Couldn’t have come up with a less lame of a name?” He then went on to mumble something about Brandon being more of a sidekick than a partner.

“I can teleport you into the sky and let you fall. Don’t think I won’t.”

“The name just stuck kid. Sadly. Brandon, don’t make threats. That’s not how we work.” Autumn glared at Brandon.

“Kids, Page. Kids. Hate ‘em with every fibre of my being.”

“Ignore Mr. Hearne. Listen Bobby, stupid name aside, we really just want to help. However, we want you to work with us, not against us. Your sister is wanted in a lot of places. Now, we can help with that. In a way. You and your sister will be able to have a place to call home, if you want. However, the choice is ultimately up to the two of you. But, since Natalie is out of it, do we have your permission to bring her back with us, and make sure she wakes up someplace safe that isn’t jail?”

Ben had read enough comic books to know that this was easily a tactic the bad guys would use. Rescue them, offer shelter, give them some easier things to do that seemed good and harmless. Then strike. But he had no other choice. He really didn’t. The mention of home brought pangs of loneliness and pain into the boy. He wanted nothing more than to go home to their parents. But Nat needed help right now. “Yes, but no cells, no handcuffs, and,” he added with extra venom in his voice, “Mister Hearne doesn’t come with us.”

“No cells. No handcuffs. I promise. However… Mister Hearne was my ‘ride’ here as it was. But how about this. He teleports us all back to Sector X and then you never have to see him again, alright?”

“Grand idea,” Brandon interrupted before Ben could agree, even though he looked sharply at Page when she called him her ‘ride’. There was a joke in there somewhere, he was sure. “This has put me off fieldwork for life. I’ll take the missions with normal psychics, thanks.”

Autumn sighed and looked at Ben. “Do we have a deal?”

Ben nodded at the woman’s offer, ignoring the teleporter. “Deal.”

Autumn straightened up and looked at Brandon. “I know this will suck. I owe you coffee, alright?” She said, and looked at Ben. “Do you have everything before we go?”

Ben saw that Nat had her bag, and he had his, and the stuff they left behind in the motel was just sundries. “Yes. Does it hurt? Teleporting?”

“Not for us, luckily. However, for Mr. Hearne…”

“In short, I’m aiming my projectile vomit at you, kid,” he said, not even bothering to use a fake name when he would only forget it in an hour or two anyway.

“...Brandon, be nice please. Can you pick up Natalie, or do you need help?” Autumn sighed. These two were never going to get along.

“I can do it, I’m a manly man. I feel no pain,” he said, leaning down to sling one of “Nat”’s arms over his shoulder and hauling her up. He took a deep breath. “Grab on, if you’re not already. Preferably not on a burn lest I drop you mid teleport.”

“I don’t doubt you for a moment. Just thought I’d offer” Autumn sighed, looking at at Brandon and then took ahold of his arm on the non-burnt side, and offered her hand to Bobby. “Just to make sure we don’t lose one another, alright sweetie?”

“This isn’t goddamn Charmed. Jesus, let’s just get going.”

Ben just rolled his eyes at the man’s pompousness, and readied himself. At the very least, this was going to be like one of his comics, and he didn’t want to miss a moment of it. He took ahold of Autumn’s hand, squeezing tight.

Brandon, skin prickling in anticipation, activated his ability. Fire prickled at every nerve ending, upended his stomach, stopped his heart (though not literally, thank God) and, when it was all over, the feeling lingered. His arms were practically dead from the strain of carrying the weight of four through whatever void he travelled through so dropping “Nat” was almost immediate.

Ben had felt the pressure, the odd embrace as they traveled. He struggled to keep his eyes open. All he saw was darkness, complete, empty darkness. Then suddenly a world appeared around them, filled with noise he hadn’t realized wasn’t there before. Ben flinched as the people began crowding around them, holding closer to Autumn.

Autumn immediately held up Brandon and gently looked at Ben. “We’re here.” A small crowd of people walked over, and took Nat from Brandon.

Brandon had the foresight to hold a hand over his mouth to hold in whatever bile threatened to rise up, and he took a few tentative steps towards his coworkers, dizzily. “Have you – seen these – urgh… War wounds?” He pointed to the coffee stain on his shirt as he addressed a pretty-ish female paper pusher.

He watched them take his sister away, looking up at Autumn, “Can we go with her? She might need me if she wakes up.”

“I insist you go with her. Wouldn’t want to split you guys up.”

Ben didn’t move, “You’re coming too right?”

“Only if you want me to.” Autumn said, watching as one co-worked simply walked up to Brandon, healed him and then walked off. Another pair of coworkers carried Nat.

Ben nodded, following after his sister and the people that carried her off, tugging at Autumn’s hand. Autumn followed her coworkers and kept a hold of Ben’s hand.

Brandon ducked into his office, and promptly staggered into the desk chair, putting reporting to the director off until later.

Neil sighed and closed his laptop, resting his head on it for a moment before reaching for his phone. The director would need to be called, and hopefully by the time he got off the phone with her Alex would be back from getting dinner. Neil stood up and stretched while the phone rang.

“Neil, please tell me you have good news. Today has been interesting, and honestly, if you have bad news, hang up and call again tomorrow.” The director sounded tired, and very curt.

“Well I wouldn’t call it good news, but I did get into contact with Pixie, she’s alive.”

“I’m guessing that is the name of the technopath you and Alex are after? Well good, alive is good. What isn’t the good news but not bad news then?”

“She’s painfully uncooperative. I told her we wanted to help and she demanded a car, well a ‘69 Impala. Not even as a way to help, but just a in order to work with me.”

“Why do people keep asking for cars? We’re not Oprah!” There was a sigh on the other end. “A ‘69 Chevy Impala? Really?”

“I have no clue, and yeah.” Neil shrugged. “I explained we just wanted to help, not that we were trying to hire her unless she wanted it.”

“Our benefactor is not going to be happy that I’m asking for another car, but fine. If she’s going to play it this way and be an idiot and demand things for our help, alright. Just ask her what color and where she wants to meet you with it. Friggen psychics…” The director trailed off a bit at the end, grumbling a bit.

“I’m gonna guess she wants it to be black, and she’s here in Albuquerque.”

“You know. I’m not even going to ask why black. I’ll pull some strings to try to have the car to you by tomorrow afternoon. However, if we do pull this off and she takes the car and decides not to join us… let’s just say no one is going to be able to get a car. No deals like this ever again. We already made an exception once, and while he’s proven useful… I’m not sure I like the idea of just giving things as incentives. Make sure this Pixie knows that she’ll be better protected with us. Not that we just give cars away.”

“I’ll do what I can Ma’am.” Neil paced the room.

“I know. Also make sure Mercede is up to speed as well. He might be able to pull off the negotiation without a hitch. Not that I don’t have faith in you,” there was a pause, “He has been in the field longer.”

“Truer words were never spoken. He should be back soon. I have to call Chris and see if he was able get a good track on Pixie.”

“Keep me in the loop. I must go.” There was a click and then the line was dead. Neil sighed and flopped over onto a bed.

The flight into Logan Airport had been uneventful, and Cass had gotten a rather nice hotel room not too far from the airport. She pulled out her mission file and looked it over. There was a young psychic who had gone into recluse mode, and luckily, they had managed to pinpoint her. Seems she ordered a lot of take out and did a lot of online shopping.

After a quick shower and a change of wardrobe, Cass tucked her handy Smith and Wesson into it’s holder. She knew she wouldn’t really need it, but having her gun made her feel safer. She wasn’t quite sure how to explain it.

Outside of the hotel she hailed a cab and gave him the address of the apartment complex that the young woman was living in. She walked in and looked for the address of the young lady. She soon found the apartment and walked up to the door and knocked, waiting for a reply.

The door opened only marginally, a gap just large enough for the left half of a teenage girl’s face to show through it. There was a chain lock, Cass noted, draping across the gap toward its top side. “Who are you,” she said rather abrasively, “And what do you want?”

“Hello Miss Castellia. My name is Cassie Anderson and I’m here to offer you a job, possibly, but for now, some help.” Cassie looked at the teenager and blinked. She looked a bit younger than Cass had expected, but they did recruit all sorts. ”May I come in and talk to you?”

The one eye she could see locked with Cass’s, but the door didn’t budge an inch. In either direction. The response that came seemed to have been practiced quite often. “And what makes you think you can do anything to help me?”

”Well because for one, you and I aren't that different. We both have talents. You’re probably a little terrified of them, I’m guessing? Otherwise you wouldn’t keep to yourself in your apartment all day. Now, I really don’t think this is a conversation to have through doors. May I please come in?” Cass kept her eyes locked with the teen, and paused. She wanted to skim the surface of the teen’s mind, but that was just rude.

The door widened slightly, enough that Sophie’s second eye came into view before the chain became too taut. “Terrified? Terrified doesn’t even begin to cover it. I don’t know who sent you, but if you really are another psychic, you’ll stay away from me if you know what’s good for you.” And with that, she started to close the door.

Cass stuck her foot in the door and winced a bit as it was slammed on. ”We can help if you feel your powers are out of your control. We have some technology that will help until you get a grasp on how your power works and, ow what do they make these doors out of?” Sure, it wasn’t the worst pain Cass had ever felt, but she was trying to get Sophie to open the door to her. ”Sophie, please, let me in so we can talk.”

The teenager looked at Cass’s foot, then her face, and then closed her eyes for a moment while she seemed to mull something over. “Fine. You want to talk that badly, I’ll bite. Let me close the door so I can unhook the chain.” Cass took her foot away, and a short series of clicks later the door opened wide, revealing the rest of Sophie’s person. She was roughly half a head shorter than Cass herself, and was quite pale judging by what little skin went uncovered by her jeans and long-sleeve shirt. She swept a lock of her shoulder length black hair away from her face, then beckoned inward toward the dingy secondhand couch by the wall.

“Come in then,” she said, “Want anything to drink? Coffee, tea? Most of what I’ve got is crap, but work lets me bring it home for free so I don’t complain.”

”Water works for me, thank you for offering.” Cass looked around the apartment and winced a bit. Everything was secondhand, and in rather sad shape. As she sat down on the couch, she heard a creak and nearly sunk into the unsupported couch. ”On second thought, I’ll stand, if you don’t mind.” She stood up and dusted herself off and looked at Sophie.

”Mind if I ask you a question?” She didn’t bother waiting for a reply. ”Is this really how you imagined where you’d end up living looked like? I know you wanted to do more in the world. I noticed you signed up for ROTC in high school, but that didn’t go anywhere, right?” Cass looked at the young girl, seeing a bit of herself in Sophie.

“Pretty much,” the younger girl shrugged as she brought back a glass of mercifully clean water, “Didn’t pass the physical exam. Wasn’t frail or weak, but I wasn’t much built for push-ups or chin-ups. Didn’t much matter though. I still thought I could do something like charity or medicine, but well…”

She cast a look around the place she called home, making no attempt to hide her discontent. “Funny how life can just take a dump on you.” She turned her eyes back on Cass before she spoke again. “You with the government or something?”

Cass let out a chuckle. ”I was with the Government, at one point. Semper Fi. I’m ex-Marine. I understand wanting to serve your country. These days I represent someone else. We call ourselves Sector X. I know, lame name. Heard all the jokes. Unfortunately, the name stuck. We help psychics. And someone with your talents, we want to help.” Cass didn’t bring up the fact that someone of Sophie’s talents would eventually draw attention from other groups of people.

”You can still do some good in the world.”

That earned Cass nothing but a cold stare from Sophie. She didn’t say anything, nor did she move, or even twitch, but somehow Cassie knew she’d pressed a big, red button somewhere. “Tell me, Cassie…” she spoke softly, never breaking eye contact, “How much does your… Sector X know about me?”

”Oh boy… I’m not good with… this…” Cassie looked at Sophie and sighed. ”All we really know is that you have a talent, and that for some reason your talent is part of the reason you have cut yourself off to the outside world. Beyond that, we don’t know much. However, I can assure you, whatever has happened in your past, that won’t count against you when it comes down to joining us. We just want to help.” Cass was beginning to realize that Sophie had some deeper issues with her powers, and this was not her area of expertise. She did have permission to bring someone else in, if she deemed it necessary, which seemed could be the case.

Sophie just nodded in understanding. “So you have no idea, then.” She broke the stare at last as she turned and went into the small kitchen and started making a cup of tea, if it could be called that. “Ever heard of the Lincoln Park Incident, by chance? About two years ago, in Chicago?”

”I’m actually pretty familiar with the incident. I was one of the people Sector X sent to investigate the scene. Also Chicago is my hometown, so I was a little personally in… Oh. I see.” Cassie bit her lip. ”Okay, Sophie, I’m the first to admit when I’m in over my head, and well, I’m probably the wrong person for you to be talking to about this. I do have a contact that I would recommend you talk to, if you’d be open to it. She’s working on getting her PH.D. Would you talk to her if I got her to come here?” Cassie was already pulling out her phone and scrolling through her contacts. She knew Meghan would be able to wrangle some time away for an assignment like this.

“Go right ahead, not like it’ll change anything.” Sophie declared as she walked over to the couch and very gently sat down on the one spot that still had support. “I’ll say this now though, if your goal is to help psychics, I am the absolute last person you want to recruit.”

”Well then. She’ll be here in a day. She has to fly up from school. Can we make an appointment for tomorrow, same time?” Cassie worked on sending a text as she waited for a reply from Sophie. Either way, Meghan would be joining them.

“Sure, why not.” Sophie replied apathetically as she turned on the tiny TV across the room from her and started flipping past the channels.

”Then I will see you tomorrow with my colleague. Till then Miss Castellia.” With that, Cass set down the glass of water she had been handed and headed out. Her phone buzzed with affirmation that Meghan would be flying up to Boston that night. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, for all three of them.

The smell of various kinds of pet foods and animals hit Talia the moment she opened the door leading to the adoption waiting room. She smiled slightly, the smell making her feel even more at home and making familiar excitement rise in her chest.
The early afternoon sun filtered through the glass windows surrounding the matching door, creating warm and cold patches where the heat of the day waged war against the building’s air conditioning. A woman in her early twenties, her long blond hair pulled back in a braid, manned a desk with two computers at the center of the slightly scuffed wood flooring. A man stood on the opposite side of the desk in front of her, a black Labrador attached to a leash he held.
The Labrador looked to Talia, and its ears perked up, its tail wagging heavily. The man jerked to alertness when the dog tried to run to her, only to be stopped short by the leash.
“Hey, Celia,” Talia greeted the dog as she knelt in front of the Labrador and placed the plastic bag she carried on the floor. She rubbed the side of the dog’s neck, then pursed her lips together and tilted her head up as the dog licked her face.
“Hey, T.J.” The woman behind the counter leaned on the tall desk to get a better look at Talia.
“Hey, Laura,” Talia muttered, opening her mouth as little as possible. She grabbed her bag and stood, making Celia bark in complaint. The dog sat at Talia’s feet, her warm gaze watching the girl as she reached into her pocket. “Glad to see her,” she nodded to the Labrador, “getting adopted!” She smiled at the balding man, who returned the gesture.
“Not sure if I’m adopting her, or she’s adopting me yet.” The man ruffled the Labrador’s long ears.
“The animal always adopts the human.” Talia pulled a dog treat in the shape of a small bone from her pocket and held it out to Celia. “Letting the human think otherwise is just a courtesy a lot of dogs like to extend.”
The man chuckled as Celia devoured the offered treat then licked Talia’s palm to make sure she got everything.
“I need your signature, sir.” Laura slid a piece of paper toward the man. She looked to Talia as the adopter turned to sign the paper. “Mind if I put you on walk duty today for section three?”
“’Course not.” Talia glanced down as Celia nudged her hand. She rubbed the dog’s head in a final farewell before heading toward the doors behind the desk that lead to the back.
“Oh, T.J.!”
Talia spun around as Laura turned from the man and hurried to her.
“We had a rescue drop-off this morning,” Laura began, her voice low. “A husky/retriever mix. Pretty sure the poor thing’s been abused, and he isn’t friendly. Won’t let anyone near him. I had him put in a kennel in your section for today. After you walk the others, see if you can’t work some of that magic of yours, would you? Don’t know how you do it, but you have a knack for taming them.”
Talia smiled knowingly. “It’d be happy to. Can I take him out of the kennel?”
Laura hesitated. “Do whatever you need to. But be careful and leave his muzzle on. I can’t keep him here long with his temperament, and if we can’t get him used to people…” She frowned and shook her head.
“Yeah.” Talia’s face tightened. She didn’t need to read Laura’s mind to know the remainder of that statement. “I know.” She turned and went through the door.
She quickly made her way to the locker room, stopping for only a couple moments to greet fellow volunteers and workers. With her purse, hat, and shopping bag in her usual locker, and dressed in the required blue shirt with the shelter’s logo on it, she headed for the kennels.
Kept well-cleaned by the various staff, the kennels took up three different large rooms, creating sections for cats, dogs, and everything else. The yaps and barks of dogs of all breeds echoed off the drywall and concrete floor, accompanied by the squeak of the large kennel doors being opened and shut.
Talia grabbed a set of leashes from hooks hanging by the door and made her way to the section three kennels. Though many of them stood empty save for food and water dishes and a large, round bed, the inhabitants of other kennels eagerly raced to the wire door and barked to get her attention, their tails wagging and tongues hanging out of their mouth.
The five kennels of her section all currently had occupants. Only one did not greet her at the door.
A dog, his thick pelt knotted in filthy clumps and riddled with burs, raised its head as she crouched in front of the kennel. The dog, his face and ears reminiscent of a husky, bared his teeth at her in a loud growl from beneath the muzzle strapped around his head. Terror and rage clouded his blue eyes. He backed himself into a corner, keeping low to the floor.
Talia’s heart ached for the creature. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she soothed.
The dog let its growl end as it stared Talia down.
The girl gave a sad sigh. “What’s happened to you, boy?” she wondered softly.
The dog’s snarl returned as two of the staff members--a man and woman--walked down the kennel aisle, their voices loud.
Talia stood as the two passed by her, the man having to pick up the brownish-white Shih Tzu with him to make it leave Talia.
“I’ll be back soon,” she told the dog in the kennel, her eyes never leaving him. “Promise.”
She slowly turned from the dog and set to attaching leashes to the collars of the other section three residents she needed to walk: a foxhound, terrier, water spaniel, and basset hound. Despite their size and verity, Talia easily managed to get them out, the four dogs happily bounding around her and following her lead as she took the route the shelter had laid out for them.
The desire to join in the walk as one of the dogs was overwhelming. She knew they looked at her as the pack leader and would follow her if she asked--except for maybe the foxhound. She still was not so sure about him--but it would be a little difficult to explain the seemingly unmanned animals if another dog walker from the shelter came across them.
Instead, she let their strength and energery become her own, running and playing alongside them until the compulsion to chase every squirrel or car she saw kicked in in full and nearly drove her to climb a tree in her and the dogs’ pursuit of one said squirrel. Even a while after she relinquished the hold on the ability, she still couldn’t help but mirror the dogs’ playful lightheartedness as their walk neared its close, the occasional squirrel making her glare at it as she just managed to stop herself from chasing it off, and the urge to run after a truck itching at her legs.
Back at the shelter, Talia found Laura and managed to talk the older woman into moving the husky/retriever into one of the rooms their on-site trainers often used while she finished taking care of the other dogs.
A few minutes later, with a trash bag and tape in hand, she went to the room with the waiting dog. She peered through the window in the training room’s door.
A small, plain room designed to eliminate any distractions for the animal being trained, the furniture consisted of a single metal dresser in one corner, a jar of various dog biscuits sitting atop it. Across from it, the leash of the husky mix was attached to a metal pole. It remained unyielding as the dog pulled against it, trying to break free.
Taking a deep breath and trying to shake off the side-effects still lingering from the walk, she opened the door and entered.
The dog’s attention snapped to her, and he lowered himself threateningly toward the floor, his growls filling the room.
Talia paused, pity flashing in her eyes and twisting her face. The dog’s growls softened as he recognized her, his head cocking to one side in suspicion. Without a word, Talia closed and locked the door. The dog growled again as she used the tape to cover the window with the trash bag, hoping no one would pass by to question the locked and blocked door.
She turned to the dog, who backed away from her, his jaws trying but failing to snap at her in the muzzle.
“Easy, boy,” she all but whispered, taking a cautious step toward the dog, careful to keep just out of his reach. She knelt down and placed her fingertips on the floor, the dog’s eyes watching her intently.
Talia took a deep breath, and a gentle tingle surged through her body. In an instant, her form shifted, taking the shape of a Siberian husky with bluish-gray and white fur. She sat on the floor, her bushy tail wagging behind her.
The husky mix’s ears perked up, and his body raised a couple inches.
“You…” the dog’s surprised growls formed words Talia now understood. The dog growled wordlessly, the sound uncertain.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Promise,” Talia barked back, pawing the floor as she readjusted herself.
The husky mix’s ears stood straight up, and he blinked. “I… understand you…” His words were muddled slightly by the muzzle.
“’Course you do!” Talia moved so her head was near the floor, and her tail rose higher in the air. “Dogs understand each other, don’t they?” Her pink tongue rolled out of the side of her mouth, her intensely green eyes sparkling in the florescent lights. “I’m Talia Jones!” Her tail wagged as the mixed breed fully straightened. “What can I call you?”
The dog eyed Talia, a silence falling between them.
Talia’s ears folded back and she laid completely on the ground. “Can I please know? Pleeeease?”
“Kalik,” the mix finally answered, Talia’s body language perking up.
“Good to meet you!” Talia’s ears fell again. “You’ve been through a lot, huh?”
Kalik snorted.
“Please. I want to help you. I give you my word that I won’t let anyone hurt you. Everyone here wants to make you feel better. To help clean you up. Get rid of all that gunk in your fur.” She crawled cautiously closer to Kalik. “But we can’t help you if you don’t let us.”
Kalik’s nose scrunched beneath the bars of the muzzle.
“I beg you,” Talia whined. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. We can find you someone kind to adopt, someone who will take care of you, and who you want to take care of. But you need to trust me. And let us help. Oh, and not bite people.”
Kalik cocked his head.
“If you promise me you’ll be good and hold to it, I can take that nasty muzzle off. I know you have no reason, but I’m asking you to trust me. Let me and the others here show you that not all humans are bad. But you have to return the kindness. Can you do that? Will you do that? For me?”
Talia held her breath and made her eyes large and pleading as Kalik looked her in the eye.
“There’s something… different about you, Talia Jones,” Kalik finally said slowly, making Talia lift her head and wag her tail. “For you…” He paused unnervingly. “I can, and I will return any kindness shown me.” The dog lowered his head respectfully.
“Awesome!” Talia jumped to her feet, the energy of a young husky flooding through her veins and begging to be used. “I gotta go human now to take the muzzle off. We can’t talk then. Not like this, anyway. And, can I give you a bath?”
Kalik’s gaze darkened.
“It’ll make you feel better! I know I always feel better after a bath.”
“If you must.” Kalik sighed.
Talia jumped around a couple times, then took another deep breath. The tingling sensation returned, stronger this time. Though nearly indiscernible to the untrained eye, it took her body a short moment longer to change back into her human form, her hands and knees on the floor.
She smiled warmly at Kalik, who cocked his head at her and gave a low bark. She slowly slid herself across the tiled floor toward Kalik, her head just rising above his. She slowly reached toward the muzzle straps, and the dog obligingly bent his head so she could get to the fastening. After pulling it from him, she gently ruffled the fur that it had pressed on.
“There. That’s better, isn’t it?” She stood and unhooked the leash from the bar beneath Kalik’s watchful gaze. “Let’s go get you that bath.”
Kalik grunted as if he understood the word even in the human tongue.
Talia went to the door, Kalik staying at her side as she pulled the trash bag from the window. She startled back, making Kalik look up at her; Laura stood a foot from the glass, her brown eyes dark and arms crossed.
Talia gave her a sheepish look, then opened the door.
“Sorry, but I couldn’t risk any dis—”
Laura’s eyes widened as she looked at Kalik. “You took his muzzle off!” she scolded, stepping away.
“He won’t hurt anyone!” Talia said quickly, her voice a little too perky as she held out a hand to reassure Laura. “Look.” She slowly moved her hand to Kalik’s snout.
Kalik moved his head away, then, as if realizing what she wanted, he sniffed her fingers and tapped her hand with his nose.
Talia looked back to Laura. “Go ahead.” She nodded to Kalik.
Laura warily stepped toward Kalik, who glanced almost panicked to Talia. The shifter gave the dog a reassuring smile as Laura mimicked the younger girl’s earlier action.
The dog repeated his response.
“See?” Incapable of keeping still as energy still begged to be burned, she bounced slightly on her toes.
Laura shook her head in disbelief. “I swear. You’re a friggen miracle worker. I’m going to start calling you Animal Whisperer.”
Talia shrugged. “You said it yourself. I’ve just always had a knack for animals. Going to go get Kalik here cleaned up!” She shifted her weight, antsy to get going. “Will you keep him at least one more night now?” she asked, her head raising slightly, hopefully.
“As long as things go okay, I should be capable of swinging it…” Her brows furrowed in concern. “Are you okay?”
“Never better!” Talia raised her brows in emphasis, her smile obnoxiously broad. As she spoke next, she thrust her finger out, pointing down the hall. “To the bathing rooms!” Her volume startled Kalik, his ears pulling back into his head as she all but pranced down the hall, leaving a befuddled Laura in her wake.
Talia spent the next couple hours washing and grooming Kalik, pulling burs and twigs from the dog’s dirt-caked fur. By the time she finished, Kalik’s thick, soft fur shone with its full golden beauty beneath the light, making him look like an entirely different dog. If Talia had not seen the transformation for herself, she would not have believed that this was the same dog she had seen a few hours earlier.
“Wow,” was all she could say as she stood back to look the mixed breed over, the husky and retriever in him equally prominent. After giving him a couple treats for enduring her grooming, she reluctantly led him back to his kennel with the promise of returning upon the morrow.
With her volunteer shift long since over, she grudgingly changed shirts, grabbed her stuff, and left the shelter, making Laura swear Kalik would still be there when she stopped by after work.
With the enthusiasm and energy of the husky finally all but faded and her hat in its rightful place, she began the walk home, her heart light.