Dawn of the Asylum, Issue #6 – Leech

Seventeen Years Ago, Unknown Laboratory.

Sabrina “Rina” Dawson, age eleven.

Nightmare on display.

“Here’s our most promising subject,” came the voice behind the mirror.  “Number nine, Sabrina Dawson. Our researchers call this one ‘the Nightmare Child’.”

Rina sat in the Pain Chair, waiting.  Every time they strapped her into the chair, they would try to bring out her powers any way they could – which usually meant pain.

Rina was used to pain.

“Why is that?” came a second voice.  The lead researcher was showing her off, then.  That usually meant they would start with the shocks.  Either that, or they’d cut off her arm to show that it would grow back in just a couple of days.  Today’s pain entirely depended on who he was showing off for, and Rina couldn’t see either of them behind the mirror.

The lead researcher was answering the question.  “Number nine has the ability to cause panic in those around her,” he said.  “Her mental abilities cause heart palpitations and a spike in adrenaline levels, usually manifesting in a fight-or-flight response.  In layman’s terms, she creates fear.”

It was going to be the shocks today, then.  The shocks always came first when they wanted her to show off the fear response.  Rina braced herself; the waiting was always the worst part.

Two nurses were in the room with her today.  She didn’t know how many people were on the other side of the mirror, but she knew her power would reach to them, too.  Ryan had told her that he’d managed to shock the lead researcher, so she knew it was possible.

Maybe I can hurt them, too, she thought, reaching for her powers.  She could feel the waves of fear radiating from her to the nurses.  One backed up a few paces, while the other started to shake.

“You see, she can use her power at will,” the lead researcher said.  They didn’t know his name, just that he was in charge of the experiments.  “But she has some trouble controlling it. This is the most basic reaction from our staff.”

Rina heard him, and redoubled her efforts.  She knew she had to show off soon, or the shocks would come.  She reached for her own fear and panic at the thought of the pain, and tried to throw it out past the mirror.

It didn’t work.  The second person was now saying, “She doesn’t seem powerful enough for our purposes.  Maybe the next one.”

“Hold on,” the lead researcher said in his oily voice.  Rina hated that voice, just as much as she hated what always came next.  “We have found that number nine responds better when stimulated. Observe.”

The shocks ran through her body without warning.  Every nerve was exploding with pain – Rina tried to scream but she couldn’t control herself.  She was thrashing against the Pain Chair, almost vibrating with the shocks running through her.  Just as she felt she couldn’t take any more, the shocks stopped.

One of the nurses was clawing at the door, and the other was curled up in a fetal position on the floor from Rina’s power.  The lead researcher was speaking again. “We’ve had number nine since birth, and gave her a new type of formula using both the Third Gen and Satyr formulas as a base.”  He sounded shaken. Good; that meant her power did hit him, even if only a little bit. “She has an incredible Third Gen ability, as demonstrated, but she also has satyr abilities.”

“Intriguing,” the second voice said.  He didn’t sound shaken at all. “Such as?”

“She has an axolotl’s ability for self-replication,” the lead researcher explained.  “She heals from any injury faster than a normal human, even going so far as to regrow limbs.”

They were going to cut off her arm again, too.  Great.

“She can regrow an arm or a leg?” the second voice asked in disbelief.

“It takes a couple of days to regrow, but she does.  Would you like a demonstration?” The lead researcher was hoping to get money from the second voice.  That was the only reason he would show off both of Rina’s powers so easily.

The second voice was willing to give it to him, too.  “Show me. Cut off her left leg, and I’ll come back in three days to see if it grows back.  If you’re right,” he added, “this could revolutionize the military.”

The left leg; that was new.  The nurses had composed themselves while the voices were talking, and now they came over to the chair.  The one that had been in the fetal position was now holding an electric bone saw, and Rina knew that today’s pain had only just started.

As the saw turned on, she couldn’t hear the voices any more.  As they began cutting through her leg, the coppery taste of blood filled Rina’s mouth as she bit her tongue.  Her eyes rolled back into her head as she lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she was in her room.  It was a tiny space, including four whitewashed walls and a small bed that she was quickly outgrowing.  Her right foot dangled off the bottom of the bed. She was wearing new clothes; someone had cleaned and changed her after the Pain Chair.  The lights were dim, to keep her skin from burning. Rina had read books about the sun, and Ryan had told her that it felt nice to sit in it – but she wasn’t sure she believed in that fairy tale.

“Hey there,” came a soft voice from the doorway.  Ryan stood just outside her room, giving her a soft smile.  “You okay?”

“No worse than before,” Rina told him.  Her tongue had already healed, and aside from her missing leg she was fine.  She sat up in the bed, swinging her remaining leg over the side to look at him.

Ryan clicked his tongue.  “The left leg this time?” he asked.  “Ouch.” He walked over to her, helping her stand on one leg.  “Why don’t we go to the playroom? The others are waiting.”

Rina smiled at him.  The pain was mostly gone from the morning’s exhibition, except for a fire in the stump where her left leg was growing back.  She liked playing with the others in the play room; it took her mind off of the Pain Chair.

As Ryan helped her hop over to a chair in the corner of the room, the others gave her sympathetic looks.  Rina was the only one who ever lost bodily appendages in the Pain Chair – the researchers knew that the others didn’t have the same ability, so they never had to test it.  In the playroom today, along with Rina and Ryan, were the sisters Katie and Leah, as well as Michael and Finn.

Ryan was the oldest of all of them, nearly twenty years old now.  He looked after the others as he always had, having come to the lab when he was seven.  Katie was close to his age, only a couple of years younger, but had been at the lab the longest.  Her little sister Leah was only eight, the youngest of all of the Fourth Gen kids. Michael was eleven, the same age as Rina, but he had come to the lab when he was five.  Finn was thirteen, but like Rina he had been a newborn when they started experimenting on him.

“The lead researcher is trying to sell the formula,” Katie said when she saw Rina’s leg.  “This one might bite. Most times, people say no as soon as they realize the side effects.”  She pointed to her skin and her eyes; like all of the Fourth Gen kids, her veins stood out black against her pale skin and her eyes were a bright red.  “Humans don’t want to look like monsters.”

“We’re not monsters,” Ryan said, sitting on the floor next to Rina.  “We’re people just like them, and one of these days I’m gonna bust out of here and really show them what I can do.”

Katie rolled her eyes at him.  “Ever the hero,” she scoffed. “What are you going to do, shock them like they shock us?”

Electricity crackled around Ryan’s fingers.  “I can,” he said, looking Katie right in the eyes.  “Someone should give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“But you won’t,” she shot back, “for the same reason you haven’t done it yet: they know you can shock them, so they always wear rubber suits when you’re around.  It wouldn’t work.”

Ryan smirked at her.  “Oh yeah?” he said. “Well, what they don’t know is the little trick I’ve been working on.”  He turned so that his arm was hidden from the cameras and showed them: the electricity wasn’t just around his hand – it was his hand.

As the other Fourth Gens gawked at him, his hand returned to normal.  “I figured it out about a week ago,” Ryan explained. “I think we’re all more powerful than they want us to believe, so they don’t let us practice with our own powers.  But I’ve been doing it in secret, and I know how to control it now.”

“So what’ll you do when you’re out of here?” Rina asked.  She knew Ryan was as good as his word, and that he’d leave the experiment one day.  Ryan could do anything.

He shrugged in response.  “When I was little, I remember seeing heroes on TV,” he said.  “I wanted to be one of them – and I guess I still do.”

“A hero?” Rina repeated, thinking of the knights from her storybooks.  She giggled as she pictured Ryan with a sword and shield. “How dashing!”

“I’d want to be a viking,” Michael said, getting in on the game.  “Sailing the seas, going on adventures; that would be exciting!”

Quiet Finn spoke up.  “Maybe I could show people my poetry,” he shrugged.  The others knew that he scribbled on any paper he could find.  He had even written a lullaby for the younger Fourth Gens in the experiment.

“Yeah,” said Katie, “because all of that could happen, and it would be sunshine and rainbows every day.”

“Here shines the sun,” Rina began singing Finn’s lullaby, the lines she thought were relevant.  Finn joined her for the next lines:

Clouds gone away,

Rainbows are pretty amazing.

Just close your eyes;

You’ll see the sky someday…

“Right,” Katie said, her voice softening despite the huff she was in, “but you guys have never actually seen the sun, have you?  None of us have seen it in years, and we’ll probably never see it again.” Turning to Ryan, she added, “That’s why they keep this place so dark, you know.  Even if we do get back outside, we’ll just burn to a crisp as soon as we see daylight.”

She stood up, probably to go back to her room, but Leah spoke up.  “I just want a hug,” she said quietly. Katie’s eyes welled up, and she sat back down next to her sister.  Leah’s abilities kept her from touching people’s bare skin; if they did, she would leech away their powers, and their life.  She always had to be covered, and had never been hugged properly by anyone, even her mother.

Ryan crawled over to her other side.  “Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll give you a hug right now.”  He reached out his arms. After staring at him for a second, Leah jumped into them, hugging him tightly.  Ryan’s face was screwed up in pain, but he kept holding Leah until Katie shouted, “Enough!”

Leah jumped back from him, and Ryan gasped for air.  The color had drained from Katie’s face just as much as it did his.  “Are you suicidal,” she asked, “or just stupid?”

Ryan grinned weakly up at her.  “Leah just wanted a hug,” he said.  “That’s what heroes do – they make other people feel better.”

In later years, even as she blocked out most of her time in the experiment, Rina never forgot that moment.  Ryan was the first person to ever teach her what it meant to be a hero: being kind to other people, even when it could kill you.

* * * * * * * *

Eon City, Present Day (Nighttime).

Sabrina “Rina” Dawson, AKA Nightmare.

“You messed up,” Nightmare said, meeting back up with Shadow as they finished their patrol.

Shadow groaned, “I know,” as he skated along next to her motorcycle.  “I got cocky. It won’t happen again.”

“I wasn’t blaming you,” Nightmare told him, revving the engine as they kept an eye out for trouble.  “I’m just putting together what happened so we know better next time.”

“What happened was I messed up,” Shadow said.  “I wasn’t as fast as I thought I was. I shouldn’t have moved without backup.”

“You tied up the one,” Nightmare pointed out.  “You – hold up.” She skidded her cycle to a sudden stop, and Shadow had to turn around to pull up next to her.

“What is it?” he asked, glancing around.

Nightmare pointed to a jewelry store across the street.  “Looks like we got ourselves a good, old-fashioned jewelry heist,” she said, smirking.

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Shadow rolled his eyes.  “Who does that anymore?” He turned off the engine on his skates and rolled to the front door, glancing in through the glass window and immediately ducking out of sight.  “My goggles are showing three heat signatures: two by the counter in the back and one near the case in the front,” he whispered, pressing the button on his boots to retract the wheels as he replayed the image he recorded on his goggles.

“I’ll take the counter if you take the case?” Nightmare suggested.  Shadow nodded to her and disappeared into the shadows.

“Damn, that’s cool,” Nightmare breathed, sidling over to the door to pick the lock.

She opened the door slowly, hoping to slip in unnoticed.  She had just gotten it wide enough to enter when a loud buzzer went off.  Stupid, she thought.  Of course a store like this would have a door tone, to alert the salespeople to a customer walking in.

The element of surprise lost, Nightmare swung the door open and ran into the room towards the intruder by the cases.  The jewels left in the case glinted in the dim light, reflecting the streetlights outside. The shadow from the door closing crossed over them, making them glitter.

Nightmare shouted as her target tried to duck past her.  She was aware of Shadow flying out of the darkness behind her, but the Watcher kept her mind focused on her own task – the duo had already let one bad guy get away this evening, and she would be damned if it happened again.  The girl wasn’t alone; there were two others with her.

The target turned towards her, enough of their outline showing through their loose black clothing to reveal that she was female.  The thief wore a hoodie, much like Shadow’s, to conceal her face, but instead of goggles or a mask she seemed in the dark store to wear heavy black eyeshadow.

The girl tried again to duck past Shadow, but he pushed her back.  She let out a feral growl – could she be a satyr? – and moved her arms through the air.

A wave of water swept over him, knocking him off his feet.  This girl wasn’t human, of that much he was sure. He coughed up the water he had inhaled, unclipping his nightsticks from his side.  The water drenching him meant that he couldn’t turn on the Taser mode, but they would still work well enough as weapons without it.

The girl moved her arms again, but this time Shadow was ready.  He dove forward, knocking her down and tangling her legs up with one of the sticks.  “You know, my mother told me never to hit a girl,” he said, grabbing one of her arms and cuffing her wrist.  “She also told me that stealing is wrong. And she definitely told me not to drown. I think it evens out.”

He grabbed the thief’s other wrist and cuffed it to the first one.  Nightmare was putting her own cuffs on the other two. “Your mother told you, specifically, not to drown?” she asked, as Shadow hauled his target to her feet.

“Yeah, it’s a long story,” Shadow told her, “involving the ocean, some ankle weights, and some snorkeling gear.  Remind me to tell you some time.” He turned back to the thief that he held. “Now what gave you guys the idea that a jewelry store was a good place to rob?” he asked.

The girl answered with another feral growl, struggling to break free of his grip.  Her hood fell back from her face, and Nightmare gasped in recognition.

“Susie?” she asked quietly, kneeling next to the thrashing girl.  “Sus, it’s me.” She pulled her hood down, taking off her mask to show the struggling girl.  With a closer look at the girl, Shadow could see that she wasn’t wearing dark eyeshadow – her eyes were red, and her veins stood out black just like Nightmare’s.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.  “Nightmare, you know this girl?”

Nightmare moved over to the two she had taken down and pulled off their hoods.  One was a normal satyr, but the other one had the same black veins. “Mikey?” she asked.

The Fourth Gen thief looked calmly at her.  “Hello, Rina,” he said. “Long time no see.”

* * * * * * * *

Asylum Headquarters.

Interrogation room, behind the glass.

“Okay Rina, from the top,” Agent said, looking at the two Fourth Gens from behind the two-way mirror.  “Who are they?”

“The guy is Mikey – Michael Andrews,” Rina told him.  “The girl is Susan Dobbs. They were both in the Fourth Gen experiment with me.”  She was debriefing Agent while Shadow got checked over by Dale after their patrol.

“Any idea what they were doing robbing a jewelry store?” Agent asked, turning to look at her.

Rina shrugged.  “The last time I saw them was fifteen years ago, when we were breaking out of the lab.  After that, we scattered – I know Claw snatched up a few of us, but I thought that at least Mikey had joined government service like me.”

Agent picked up his data pad off of the counter in front of him and typed something in.  “Hmm,” he said. “Michael Andrews, Fourth Gen. Spent ten years in the military before being dishonorably discharged for striking a superior officer.  His criminal record indicates that he joined the Fauns shortly after that.”

“Of course he did,” Rina sighed.  “Mikey never liked structure, and I can’t think he’d be okay with authority figures after the lab.”  She cracked her knuckles nervously. Agent put a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched before realizing he was just telling her to calm down.  She slowed her breathing, getting her emotions – and her powers – back under control.

“What did they do to him there?” Agent asked.

Rina bit her lip.  “I’m not sure of the details,” she said.  “We never saw it happening to each other, just the after-effects.  But when we were younger Mikey always came out of it crying, saying that ‘they made him do bad things.’  They put him in solitary confinement for the last year and a half before we broke out, and I can only imagine what he went through.  I never even knew what his powers were.”

“And the girl?” Agent asked, typing something else into his data pad.  “Susan Dobbs has a criminal record a mile long; she’s labeled as a feral satyr.”

“A jellyfish,” Rina confirmed.  “They tried to make another regenerating Fourth Gen like me.  It almost worked – she heals fast, but she can’t regrow limbs.  You’ll find a scar around her right pinky where they tested that.”  Rina stepped forward, staring at her old friends in the room. “Susie was never all there; she can’t say more than a few words at a time.  But we might be able to question Mikey.”

“Are you up for that?” Agent asked her, gesturing to his suit.  “I’m obviously an authority figure; by your own description, he probably wouldn’t talk to me.  But you have a history with him; he might open up if you went in there.”

Rina took a deep breath.  “I can try,” she said, moving to the door.

She entered the interrogation room, feeling her fellow Fourth Gens’ eyes on her.  Susie was calmer, playing with a shoestring that Mikey had given her.

“So, the great Sabrina Dawson deigns to join us,” Mikey sneered.  “That ivory tower cozy enough for you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rina asked, trying to stay patient.

“Oh please,” he rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair.  “As soon as they busted us out, you left. Couldn’t get away from the rest of us fast enough.”

“That’s not true,” Rina said, sitting down across from them.  “I tried to keep everyone together. Katie was the one who split first, and the others that joined the Fauns.”  She leaned forward, catching his red eyes with her own. “You could have come with me, but you wanted to travel.  So when the government asked you to join the military, you left, too.”

Mikey was the first to look away.  “Maybe,” he admitted. “That was my bad.”  When he looked back at her, his face broke into a huge grin.  “It’s good to see you, Rina.”

Rina smiled back at him.  “So, you want to tell me why you were robbing a jewelry store?” she asked.  “My partner said it best earlier: who does that any more?”

“Oh, we were just trying to get your attention,” Mikey shrugged.  Susie echoed, “A-tten-tion.” She never looked up from the shoestring.  Mikey continued, “Leech wanted to let you know: we found him.”

Rina’s eyes widened in alarm, and she stood up from the table so fast that her chair fell over.  “What?” she breathed, wanting him to confirm it.

“We found him,” Mikey repeated, putting his hands behind his head in a very self-satisfied move.  “Leech is gathering the Fourth Gens, and she knew this was the only way to get you on board.”

“Leah joined the Fauns,” Rina said.  “How the hell did she find him?”

Mikey smirked.  “You think the Fauns don’t have eyes and ears everywhere?” he asked.  “We know who he is, and we know where he is now. He works for King Enterprises now, about an hour and a half away from here.”

Rina felt like she was going to be sick.  “And Leah’s calling all of us in for this?” she asked.

“Well, she thought we’d all get a kick out of storming the castle together,” Mikey said, grinning.  “Your powers would really make a difference.”

Rina shook her head, dazed.  Without another word, she left the room.  Agent was outside in the hallway, a questioning look on his face, but he didn’t stop her.  He just entered the interrogation room and left her to find a place to think.

Leah found him, she thought.  She said she would.  As she ran down the hallway to the staircase, she remembered the last time she had seen any of her fellow Fourth Gens.

* * * * * * * *

A run-down motel, fifteen years ago.

Rina Dawson, age thirteen.

“Ow, careful!” Rina hissed, trying not to move while Leah stitched her up.  Even with gloves on, ten year-old Leah’s powers sometimes bled through.

“Sorry,” Leah said, biting her lip as she tied off the thread.  “I’m done.” She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, a streak of Rina’s black blood appearing.  Rina took a cloth and wiped it off. “Thanks. That was a nastly gash,” she added for the hundredth time that morning.

“If I’d been any slower, he probably would have cut me in half,” Rina agreed.

“Would you grow back?” Leah wondered aloud.  “If he had cut you in half, would your bottom half grow a new head, or would your top half grow new legs?  Or both,” she added thoughtfully.

Rina shuddered.  “Probably neither,” she said.  “I’m not immortal. It takes days for me to grow an arm or a leg, and in that time I’d probably have bled out and died.”

Leah shrugged, going to the bathroom to clean her hands.  “I’m still not sure why you said no in the first place,” she called back.  Coming back out of the bathroom as she dried her hands on her pant legs, she added, “It’s not like we have many options.  The Fauns would be a roof over our heads and food on the table.” As if to accentuate her point, her stomach growled.

Rina closed her eyes, trying not to cry again.  “It’s not what Ryan wanted for us,” she said. Leah sobered at the statement.  “He wanted us to be free to pick our own ways, not just to trade one cage for another.”

“Ryan gave everything to get us out of the experiment,” Leah said, “but we’ve gotta survive.  He knew that.”

“Katie didn’t join either,” Rina pointed out.  “She just took off.”

Leah glowered at the mention of her sister.  “Yeah. But she’s also old enough to make her own way,” she said.  “You and me, they look at us and see kids. Heck, we’ve been out for a week and we’ve still never seen the sun.”

“I can figure something out,” Rina said.  “I promise. I’ll get a job, maybe become a Watcher…”

“You have to be eighteen to be a Watcher,” Leah pointed out.  “Face it, Rina, there’s not much choice. At least Claw would feed us.”

“Claw would kill me if he ever saw me again,” Rina said.

Leah shrugged.  “Yeah, you. But not me.”

“He’s dangerous,” Rina told her.  “My powers didn’t even work on him.”

“But my powers will.”  Leah began putting her few things into one of the bags they had procured.  She had made up her mind.

Rina had to keep trying to talk her out of it, though.  “We should stick together, Leah,” she said. “Katie went off, but what about the others?”

“What about them?” Leah asked.  “The feral ones are impossible to control.  Most of them already joined the Fauns – and the others took off to who-knows-where.  And Ryan – ”

“He’s not dead,” Rina said, folding her arms.

“If you say so,” Leah shrugged.  “He exploded in a blast of electricity when he took out the power, at least.  And none of us have seen him since, so he might as well be dead.”

Rina pursed her lips, knowing that the younger girl was right.  “Leah, we really should stick together,” she tried one more time.

Leah shouldered her bag, turning back to face her.  “Tell you what,” she said. “The lead researcher got away; I plan to track him down someday.”  She moved to the door. “When I find out who he is and where he’s hiding, I’ll track you down and we can go after him together.  Deal?”

Rina smiled despite herself.  “Deal. You better not leave me out,” she added.

Leah smiled at her and opened the door.  The sun was blotted out by storm clouds, but it allowed the Fourth Gens to step outside.  Leah still pulled up her hood before stepping out of the motel room. She wouldn’t hug Rina goodbye, but she waved a little sadly before she left.

Rina pulled up her own hood, watching her go.  She began singing their old lullaby to herself as she wondered if she would ever see the others again.

Here shines the sun,

Night’s gone away,

New days are pretty amazing.

Just close your eyes;

You’ll see the sky someday…

* * * * * * * *

Asylum Headquarters, present day.

Rina Dawson, sitting in the stairwell.

Rina was humming to herself when Agent found her.  “I was right,” he said. “He wouldn’t talk to me. Unless you count a truly impressive amount of profanity.”  He sat on the stairs next to Rina, adding, “So what was that about?”

She took her time answering, trying to get the right words.  “An old friend of mine, Leah. She found out who the lead researcher was on the Fourth Gen experiment.”

Agent whistled, impressed.  “Wow. The Agency had problems with that.”  He put a hand on Rina’s shoulder. “So what are you going to do?”

Rina looked at him.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “The plan was that we’d all go in and kill him, but…” she trailed off.

Agent finished for her.  “But you’ve come a long way since you were a teenager on the streets,” he said.  “You don’t think killing him is right, and as a Watcher you want to stop it.”

“But he deserves it!” she said, clenching her fists and remembering all the times they had to grow back.  “He caused us all so much pain. Who am I to tell the others to just let it go?”

“You’re one of them,” Agent said.  “You’re probably the only one who can.”

Rina stood up.  “I have to at least meet them,” she said.

Agent stood up too, grabbing his umbrella off of the staircase.  “I’ll go with you,” he said. “I won’t interfere, but I need to know the outcome of this.”

“You also want to see what the other Fourth Gens can do,” Rina guessed.  Agent just shrugged, and opened the door for her.

“You know that I can’t sanction this mission without some official reason,” he pointed out.  “And if you go without me sanctioning it, you could get in a lot of trouble. You might even lose your license, even if you avoid jail time.”

“Thanks,” Rina said, stepping through.  He reminded her a lot of Ryan – Agent was always willing to stick his own neck out for the team.  “You sure about this?”

“An attempted assassination and a raid on King Enterprises?” Agent said.  “Not at all. But I know what they did to you there, and I know this is something you have to decide for yourself.  I’ll bullshit the reports if I have to.”

They went back into the room with Mikey and Susie.  “You make up your mind yet?” Mikey asked her.

“Yeah,” Rina told him.  “We’re going with you.”

“You want to bring the suit along?” Mikey asked, taken aback.

Rina looked between him and Agent.  “Yeah, I do,” she said. “Where is the meeting?”

* * * * * * * *

Outside of King Laboratories.

Middle of nowhere.

“You’re here,” Leah said, looking at Rina.  Time had not been kind to her – she looked much older than her twenty-five years.  “I wasn’t really expecting you to come.”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Rina asked her.  She looked around at the group. Six of the Fourth Gens had showed up – the five who had joined the Fauns, and Rina.  Agent was the only human present; the rest of Leah’s army were satyrs.

Leah shrugged.  “Yeah, but you’re a big bad Watcher now.  With the Asylum, no less.” She glared at Agent.  “And I have no idea why he’s here.”

“I’m not letting a teammate walk into something like this without backup,” he said, shouldering his umbrella lazily.

“He’s cool,” Rina told her.  “Finn and Katie couldn’t make it, then?”

“They declined my invitation,” Leah said dismissively.  “Here’s the plan: we’re going to go in there and wreck shit.  Rina, you use your powers on anybody who gets in our way. I’m talking all out – no survivors.  Got it?”

“No,” Rina said.  “Most of the people in there are innocent.  We’re just here for the lead researcher, nobody else.”

Leah rolled her eyes.  “Rina, this place runs similar experiments to the one we broke out of,” she said.  “They’re hardly innocent civilians.”

“It’s wrong, Leah.”  Rina shook her head. “I can’t let you do this.”

“They torture people,” Leah hissed.  “You want to be a race traitor, fine.  But the rest of us are going to stop them.”

“No,” Rina said, glancing at Agent.  “You’re not.” Agent nodded at her, and Rina let her powers go for the first time since escaping the experiment.

It was chaos.  The satyrs felt the effects first – the feral ones began attacking the others, who started scrambling in panic.  Susie bit Mikey’s arm, dowsing him with water from her powers. Mikey shook her off, and then Rina’s powers hit him, too: he clapped his hands together, and a shock wave knocked everyone off of their feet.

“What are you doing?!”  Leah screeched, grabbing Rina’s arm and using her own powers.

Rina doubled over, but she didn’t stop the barrage on the army’s emotions.  As the feral satyrs clawed and bit at each other, the non-feral ones had to fight back in self-defense.  Adrenaline spiked through them all, and their fight-or-flight responses triggered; half of the army scampered off into the night.

Leah growled, letting Rina go as she screamed, “Cowards!  Traitors!”

Rina concentrated on her powers.  She could see Agent out of the corner of her eye, using his umbrella as a shield to fend off attackers.  He was also feeling the effects of her powers, but his Agency training allowed him to keep his head in the brawl.

Suddenly, Leah grabbed his hand with her own, and he fell to the ground.  “No!” Rina screamed, as his face started draining of color.

“Stop this,” Leah shouted at her.  “Stop it or I kill him.”

Rina closed her eyes, drawing her power back.  The satyrs became less panicked, and the fighting died down.  “Let him go,” she said.

“I can’t believe you did that, Rina,” Leah said.  “After everything they did to us. After cutting you to pieces.  After killing Ryan!”

“Ryan was a hero,” Rina said, her eyes drawn to Agent as Leah leeched away his strength.  “He wouldn’t want us to do this.”

“Oh, grow up!” Leah said.  “Ryan wanted to kill the guy himself!  All that hero crap was just him blowing hot air.”

Rina shook her head.  “That’s not true,” she said.

“Ryan put on a show for us kids,” Leah said.  “That’s all it was. They tortured us, Rina.  They have to pay!”

“They did,” Rina said.  “The nurses and scientists that took part in our experiment are locked up.  The only one that got away was the lead researcher – the rest of these people are innocent!”

“You’re soft,” Leah spat.  “Soft and weak. We need to make sure they never do this to anybody ever again!”

Agent was slumped on the ground, unconscious.  Leah still hadn’t stopped draining him; Rina needed to move fast, or she’d kill him.  “I may be soft,” Rina conceded. “But I’m still stronger than you.”

She let out an enormous wave of her power, and the remainders of Leah’s satyr army fell to the ground.  Leah and Mikey were the only two left standing, and Leah had been shocked into letting go of Agent.

“What did you do?” Mikey cried, looking at the satyrs all writhing on the ground.

Rina pulled her power back in again.  “They’re exhausted,” she said. “That’s what happens when your heart rate rises too much too fast.  I knocked them out.” She walked over and grabbed Agent by his arms, dragging him away from Leah and towards their car.

“I thought you were a hero,” Mikey said, his eyes wide as he looked at Rina.  “Heroes don’t do this.”

“They’ll live,” Rina said, getting Agent into the car and slamming the door.  “And if you ever threaten innocent lives again, it’s more than I can promise you.”  Another wave of her power shot out, just strong enough to make Leah and Mikey run the other way.

Rina shook her head, getting into the car.  Let ‘em run, she thought.  They’d think twice before trying something like that again.

She called for police and an ambulance as she drove back to Eon City.  Agent wasn’t going to like that she left the scene before the cops arrived, but she knew Dale would want to look at him as soon as possible.  Leah’s powers didn’t leave permanent damage, but Agent would feel like he’d been run over by a bus for the next week.

Once she’d finished making her calls, Rina began singing to herself.  The lullaby from her childhood sounded out-of-place; she had seen the sky, after all.  But a weight had been lifted that she never realized she carried.

Rina wasn’t a kid from the Fourth Gen experiment.  She wasn’t a victim, or a follower, and she no longer felt a need for vengeance.  After twenty-eight years, she was finally, finally free of it all.

Here shines the sun,

Night’s gone away,

New days are pretty amazing.

Just close your eyes;

You’ll see the sky someday…

* * * * * * * *

Next: Issue #7 – Polar Opposites