Quinn stood from his chair at lightning speed. "You know where he is?"
"I might," corrected Mikaela. She pushed herself from the bed, beginning to pace the length of the room. "That place, those people... they do experiments on kids."
Experiments. The word was a sinking weight in Charles's stomach. The image of Michael strapped to a chair with tubes sticking to him, men in lab coats rushing in and out taking blood, ran through his mind. From the expression Quinn wore, he had the same thought.
"What kind of experiments?" he asked warily, fearing the answer.
"I was a normal kid before that place took me. They experiment to give us these incredible powers." She let out a short breath before continuing. "I know I'm extraordinary, but my abilities make me feel less than human. The day they made me invincible was the last day I felt like myself." Shaking her head, she looked back to the boys. "Even though I was invincible, they didn't spare me of the pain. Any gunshot, knife wound, explosion... I survived it all. The evidence is littered all over my body."
"That's horrible," Charles said, voice breaking. Quinn frowned deeply but didn't add anything to the conversation.
Quinn's phone buzzed on the bed, breaking the silence in the room. As Quinn read the notification, a grim expression overtook his face.
"Three more missing."
Breath catching in his throat, Charles looked back to Quinn. "Who? When?"
"It's a girl from our calculus class and her two younger brothers. They went to the store last night and never came back."
The count had gone from seven to ten in just a day. How many more would go missing before they were found?
"Fresh meat," Mikaela whispered. Seeing the boys' shocked expressions, she added, "They've never collected so many kids all at once. And before a months ago, I hadn't seen a new face in almost two years."
"They're making an army of heroes," Quinn said. "Why?"
"I don't know." Mikaela sighed. "Years and years ago was the first successful experiment. The leader gave a woman powers, but she went rogue. Tried to take down the place before she died. They want complacency. It's why they give the powers to kids and teens. Younger, more impressionable minds."
"How did you get away?"
She closed her eyes, remaining silent for a long while before she grimly shook her head. "That's enough about me."
Charles nodded. He wanted to hear more but knew pushing her too far wouldn't be a good idea. "What do they call themselves?" he asked, figuring the question wouldn't harm Mikaela too much. He needed a name for the place anyway.
"Order of the New Age. Abbreviated to ONA."
New Age. How widescale was this change they wanted to deliver, and what did they even want to do? Mikaela likely wouldn't know much beyond what she'd already shared. Kidnappers don't tell the kids they stole what their grand scheme was.
"How do we take them down?" Quinn cracked his knuckles.
"Well, with Charles. He can slip in undetected and help the kids escape."
Quinn looked alarmed. "Alone?"
"I can't exactly take you with me," Charles said.
"He wouldn't stand a chance in there even if you could," Mikaela said. "He's just a regular person."
"Hey!"
"It's true." She shrugged. "And unless you want those people running experiments on you and injecting some chemicals into your body, you're going to stay that way."
Charles didn't listen as the two started a friendly back and forth. He stared at the ground, rubbing his hands together. Earlier he'd volunteered his help without a second thought. But now, knowing what that place had done, knowing that place had stolen at least ten kids, his false sense of security was shattered. He had a long way to go if he wanted to help those kids.
"Is the building over that bridge?" Charles asked, interrupting Quinn and Mikaela.
"Yeah. Over the bridge and down the hill."
"How do you get in?"
"It isn't hard." She crossed the room, stopping at Quinn's desk. She retrieved a pencil and a piece of paper, beginning to move the pencil across the page. Charles and Quinn exchanged a glance before walking over to her, peering at the piece of paper. She was drawing what looked to be a rough map of the land and a building.
When she finished, she circled the right-wing of the building.
"If you follow the road across the bridge and down the hill, eventually you reach a big set of double doors." She pointed to the front of the building. "A small footpath to the right leads to a side entrance. It's always unlocked, and you can't really miss the door once you're on the right track. It's blue and looks like the door to a walk-in safe."
"It's that easy?" Charles crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Mikaela out of the corner of his eyes. "What about guards?"
"You'll be invisible, so it won't matter. You can slip in when someone opens the door."
He frowned slightly at her unwillingness to answer the question straight. Couldn't she just tell him so he could mentally prepare himself, even if he wouldn't come in contact with them? She looked away from him, focusing her attention back on the rough map she'd drawn.
Quinn tapped the center of the paper, drawing their attention to him. "How big is that place? Will he get lost?"
"I'm not sure exactly how big it is," she admitted. "I only know that the blue door led directly to the room I was kept in, but I'm not positive the others were in the same hallway as I was. I'd assume so, in which case you'd follow the hallway all the way to the end."
"He shouldn't be going on an assumption," mumbled Quinn.
"I don't want to go anymore than you want me to," Charles said, "but I have to. It's my chance to get Michael back and save all the other kids from that terrible place. Some physical training and nailing my abilities will help a lot."
"You seem to have your invisibility under control," Mikaela said. "There's not much more to that than disappearing and reappearing."
Quinn nodded in agreement, at which point Charles's face split into a grin.
"You think that's the only thing I can do?"
They both turned to him. "You never gave me a reason to think it wasn't," Quinn said. "What else can you do?"
Charles shut his eyes, mouth still pulled into a smile. He furrowed his brow, feeling for the components of air in the room. When his grasp tightened, he yanked, whipping the air in the room around them in a small whirlwind. He waited a few moments for the current to die down before opening his eyes. Papers, originally on Quinn's desk, had blown to opposite ends of the room. Quinn raked a hand through his hair, swept to the side by Charles's demonstration.
"Holy shit," he mumbled.
"And that's just the beginning," Charles said. "I've barely scraped the surface, and I can already do that. Not bad for day one, huh?"
"Not bad for day one," Mikaela agreed, "but not anywhere near good enough for all the days to follow. We'll need to help you train."
Quinn nodded. "Yes. You need to be prepared for anything."
"Ranging from blocking a simple punch to saving someone else's life."
Charles laughed slightly. "No pressure or anything."
Ignoring him, Mikaela continued to talk. "What do you think you can do with those abilities?"
"Like I said, it's just the beginning. I have no idea what my potential is."
A smile spread across Quinn's face. He drummed the surface of the desk with his fingers. "Well," he began, looking between Mikaela and Charles, "let's learn your potential."
Hey, happy Friday everyone! Yes, it's actually Friday and I remembered to post! Let's all give me a round of applause, and you can let me know what your thoughts of this chapter were while you're clapping!
QotD: what does your favorite outfit typically look like? Mine favorite outfit is generally a pair of jeans and a sweater (in autumn of course). That's all for me today, don't forget to leave a vote if you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next week! -Katelynn
8/6/21
chapter: 1,311 — total: 16,316