HEROES Chapter 8

Morgan froze, not moving physically, but her mind was rolling, trying to figure out what in the hell she was going to do. When the two enforcers moved away, she wanted to breathe a sigh of relief but knew that it would be short-lived as they would probably return. What was she going to do? She had nowhere to go and she knew she couldn't take out two of them before they notified the others.

They checked out the door and found nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that it opened. They chalked it up to the door not being shut tightly enough, as sometimes happened, turning around and headed back to Morgan.

Morgan had plastered herself up against the wall, practically holding her breath, when she saw the moths. Her eyes darkened and she called to them to concentrate on the small light each had on his helmet. Not all of the moths, just enough to be annoying. Give her time to figure out what to do. She remembered what Wraith had said just minutes earlier and knew that to call of them would raise suspicion but a few probably wouldn't. She hoped.

Unfortunately for Morgan the moth's would offer little distraction to the Enforcers. The hallway, while not as brightly lit during class time was still illuminated by more than enough light for a person to see by even without the high tech visors the two RAID officers sported. She was as good as spotted when they began turn, but the door opened once again drawing their attention. They both pointed their guns into the dark room, both positive that something unnatural was going on and one of them entered checking his blind spots while the other provided support.

"All clear." Announced the first Enforcer to enter as he scanned the class room with his visor's light sensitive setting.

The other man then entered behind his partner, "Switching to thermal." he told the other, so that both did not use the same mode, allowing them to see in two ranges at the same time. As he carefully looked over the room, both of them were for the time being unaware of what was happening out in the hallway giving Morgan the chance she needed.

"I got something." Reported the Enforcer that was in thermal mode, as he tracked a slow moving mass of what appeared to cold air, but it was conspicuously about the size and shape of a large man. "Go thermal."

The two Enforcers closed in on the entity, their plasma weapons at the ready, weapons that Wraith was very vulnerable to in his wind form. The thing had moved into the corner in the room and seemed to change shape, it now undulated differently and remained stationary. The closed in and right when they were on top of it, they both realized that they had just trapped an a mass of cold air radiating from a duct. If they actually had tracked something, 'other worldly' it was long gone, but the two Enforcers were convinced that something physical had opened the door and decided to report the incident. There were many different kinds of Meta's out there and the RAID Enforcers were trained never to discount anything.

Morgan's head was rolling with thoughts of what she was going to do. She knew that more than likely, Wraith was the one making the commotion with the door she heard and was worried that if she didn't distract the enforcers, they would locate him and shoot him. Not enough bugs, no animals that she knew of.......wait. This was a laboratory, wasn't it? Then she remembered it was a 'Plant' building. No help there.

So, Morgan did what Morgan did best, especially when a friend was in trouble. She turned the trouble onto herself. She moved, hoping that Wraith would be more concerned with finding the information he needed instead of her. He could always get her out of whatever she got herself into. She hoped.

Moving silently, she inched her way along the wall, away from the enforcers, giving herself a lead. Then she slapped the wall with her hand, drawing the attention of the enforcers and ran. God, she hoped this worked and Wraith didn't want to strangle her for it, but she didn't know what else to do, except draw them away from where she was sure he was at.



"What was that?"
"I'll check it out."
"There!!! We got a runner.!!"

Morgan ran down the hallway, heading back the way they came, the enforcers following. She moved faster than they did and a small smile broke her lips for a split second, before disappearing as she headed for the tunnel. She heard a blast and felt something skim past her. The plasma guns!! She had no idea what damage they could do and decided that she really didn't want to find out. She wasn't as smart or wise as Wraith so she didn't really know what damage they could do to a meta. She picked up speed, hearing one of them yell, "TAKE HER DOWN!!!" She heard one of them reporting back to someone about them chasing a small woman with long dark hair.

She scanned the campus, finding the animal lab and focused on any animal she could, stirring them up.....having them go crazy inside of their cages. The janitor on duty in that building couldn't believe what he was seeing and called it in. The sound was almost deafening inside the building from the crazed animals and the janitor was terrified.

Through the veil of his elemental realm, Wraith watched as Morgan lead the Enforcers away from the classroom. Unfortunately, he was already well away, but naturally the girl did not know that, it would take some time before she would be able to anticipate his maneuvers, that is, if she lived that long. Thankfully, the Enforcers had not gotten a good look at her face as she streaked away with impressive speed — Meta-human speed — enabling her stay ahead and pull away from the encumbered soldiers... but for how long? Eventually, they would corner her, it was only a matter of time; the building was locked inside and out, and Wraith had the key card so her only options were to fight or break out which might become necessary.

One of the Enforcers took a shot at the runner while in pursuit, but moving as such a fast pace it was difficult to get a lock and fired wildly. The electrical bolt flashed through the hall at light speed dispersing where it struck the wall before, Morgan, a weak burst, only designed to stun as the Meta's actions did not warrant any amount of greater damage... yet.

As Morgan rounded the corner with the two men trailing behind, only one continued the pursuit. As the lagging Enforcer bolted after his partner something big suddenly hit him, sending him for a loop, the force of the blow knocking his helmut clean off, which was Wraith's intention all along. Now, he didn't have to worry about winding up on camera and could engage the man one on one. As the Enforcer rose, shaking his head, he looked up at the blonde haird man that him and saw that he was wearing a mask which appeared to be fashioned from the sleeves he had torn off his white t-shirt. His bare arms were massive, and the Enforcer would have bet dollars to donuts the guy was a Meta and he quickly reached for his plasma rifle, but it had been thrown from him and had slid down the hall. Glancing back at the gun then toward his opponent, the Enforcer knew that his only chance of taking him down relied on it, but there was no way he could reach the rifle before the Meta was on him. He had to try though and scrambled to his feet, sprinting for the gun, he almost reached it too, until he was hit by a powerful gust of wind that knocked back towards the Meta-human who drove his brawny shoulder full force into his abdomen. Tunnel vision set in as the Enforcer slumped to the floor. He tried to get up but even as he did a heavy, hard fist struck him on the jaw and all went black. Divide and conquer was the name of the game. Wraith was confident against a single, RAID Enforcer, especially when surprise was on his side. His strength far exceeded Human limitations so as long as he got in the first hit, he could easily handle a single Enforcer in hand-to-hand combat.

Morgan, was coming to the end of long hallway with the Enforcer on her heels and as fate would have it she ended up running into a dead end. She was trapped, and the Enforcer took immediate aim and fired, but the bolt of plasma-electricty hit nothing as the weapon was lifted out of the man's hands. Futilely the RAID officer, struggled to retain his weapon, but the man who took it was too strong. It was like fighting against a machine, and as he clung to the gun, the powerful Meta continued to hold the Enforcer up with one arm while he bashed his helmut off too with a stiff upper cut. The Enforcer, expertly rolled away and sprang to his feet in a fighting stance, facing off against the two Meta-humans, then reaching down to his leg he drew a baton that flashed with electricity.

"Registration." The Enforcer demanded.

All RAID officers had the right to request a Meta-human's registration and denial to produce it gave them the right to use any amount force necessary to carry out justice. Naturally, neither Wraith or Morgan were registered and at that the Enforcer told them both to hit the ground and put their hands behind their backs... it was worth a shot, but the Enforcer wasn't surprised when they didn't comply. He then readied himself for combat, and went for the smaller of the two, figuring he might be able to use her to bend the other to his will. The Enforcer, swung his baton at Morgan's head and followed through with a stiff kick toward her mid-section; both attacks were expertly executed and Morgan would have to react with inhuman speed to dodge them, fortunately she was inhuman.

Morgan was definately learning.....one of the best ways possible. Through experience. She now knew that she could run faster than any human, jump down from heights that would break a normal human's bones, and now she was going to learn how to dodge. But, she wasn't a seasoned fighter and even though her Aunt Jackie had taught her all she knew expert combat was not one of them. Oh, she taught Morgan how to defend herself, but even Jackie was no expert in combat.

Morgan ducked the baton coming to her head but felt the strong kick to her midsection, the wind being knocked of her in a 'whoosh'. She stumbled back and the enforcer advanced. Standing up, Morgan's eyes began to turn a dark purple, the color slowly overtaking the whites of her eyes. It wasn't black, but close to it.

"Shit!!", was all the enforcer said as he raised his baton again only to be hit with a hard right cross and then kicked himself in the midsection. His armor kept the kick from breaking any ribs, but there would be bruising. He still had his electrical baton and stood at the ready as Morgan now advanced on him. She didn't say a word as her eyes became hard and darker. She didn't even look at Wraith as she focused in on the enforcer.

He swung the baton again.....she ducked and kept back him up past Wraith. When they were about five yards past him, she struck again, rocking his head back with a powerful punch and swiping his feet out from under him. She waited until he got up......she was toying with him, the way Sasha would've. Her smile was chilling to see as she lashed out again and again, each time the enforcer went down, she would wait until he got back up, now a unsteadily. He raised the baton again but didn't have a chance to bring it down as Morgan gave him a high kick to the side of his face, bone crunching beneath her booted foot as he fell to the floor, unconscious.

She stood there looking at the fallen enforcer and when Wraith spoke, she jumped, spun around ready to do battle again, her eyes still dark. It took her a few seconds to recognize him as her eyes bled back to their normal color.

Wraith had simply stood by, curious to see how the girl would handle herself and since there was no where else for the Enforcer to go the situation seemed as good a test as any. The veteran hero learned a lot from watching her movements and saw that she fought with a confidence that betrayed any ignorance of the abilities that might have been latent and he could sense within her a darkness. It was this underlying trait that Wraith felt was the root of her new found strengths, which a part of him found disconcerting, but the present moment was neither the time nor the place to discuss such matters.

Pulling the make-shift mask off, Wraith cast his eyes toward Morgan the down to the unconscious man. "We should leave." he mentioned, "You can bet that more will be coming and they'll be more heavily armed and prepared to deal with Meta's." His eyes met Morgan's, "We won't stand a chance."

Wraith then traced his way back, then paused at the junction where they first encountered the RAID agents. He appeared to be thinking, as he glanced back down the hallway then toward the direction that the Enforcers had originally come. 'Where were they going?', he wondered, 'To see Jacobson?'. Wraith figured that was the reason, but where exactly was the doctor? Turning right, Wraith followed his instincts, searching the hall doors for a source of light radiating out from beneath them, but there was nothing of the kind. He followed another hallway and saw an old elevator that didn't look like it was being used anymore, yet the button keys were clean, but pressing them did nothing. Could, Jacobson be down where ever the elevator went? There was only one way to find out and that was to see it for himself, unfortunately the doors were sealed tight, but even so, the powerful man dug his hands into the narrow divide and was able to pry the doors apart. What Wraith saw, or rather didn't see, only made him more suspicious and that was the fact that the elevator car was gone, sitting in the basement some where. Pondering whether it was wise to continue exploring while more RAID troopers could very well be on their way, Wraith stood over the shaft, staring down into the blackness.

Wraith looked over his shoulder. "Shall we?" he said to Morgan, "We came here to learn about the serum and so far we don't know jack." He then gestured with shake of his head for the girl to crawl in under his arm and climb onto the edge of the floor within the elevator shaft. Once she was secure he floated into the middle of the shaft and allowed the door to close, enshrouding them in blackness, but Wraith was able to see fine and Morgan could see the soft blue glow of his eyes as they approached her. She then felt his arms grasp her once again in the same fashion as when he carried her to the roof.

"Trust me." Said Wraith and then they were descending down until they landed lightly on top of the elevator car. He released her then and pulled up the handle on the emergency escape hatch, it opened with a loud creak, and inside the car was dimly lit, but provided more than enough light to see by.

"After you." Said Wraith as he held open the cover to the hatch.

Agent Mitchell rubbed his eyes as he entered his hotel room — his home away from home. He moved tentatively toward his computer and figured that this time he was going to pull the plug and tell Henkel that this investigation was going no where and it was high time that he headed back to San Antonio. Flopping down his his chair he woke up the computer and noticed the blinking icon in his tool bar which signified that he had recorded video message waiting for him from... speak of the devil... Henkel.

Slumping down before the monitor and leaning sleepily on his hand he played the message and was surprised to see Henkel's partner, Jameson sitting beside him. The Agent in charge told a sobering story and by the end of it, Mitchell was alert and his back was straight as an arrow. He just stared, dumfounded, at the picture of the man he knew as Steven Moore and studied the aliases below it that read, Doctor Paul Carson and Devon Gale, the angrily he banged his fist against the desk. How in the hell could he be so stupid?

Agent Mitchell wasted little time getting down to the hotel lobby and approached the front desk holding out his badge. "I need to see a manifest for Mr. Steven Moore, right now, please."

"Oh, Mr. Moore, just checked out." Said the clerk, "I was just closing his file, I'll print it out fer ya right now."

"Thank you." Said Mitchell, gritting his teeth. He had just missed them. "Did they happen to mention anything before they left? Anything at all?"

The clerk shook her head as she handed the print out to the agent. Turning, he looked over the information and immediately planned to trace all transactions on the platinum card under the name Steven Moore, maybe he'd get lucky but he doubted it.

_____________________________________________________________________

MEANWHILE IN CHICAGO...

Slate, lit up a smoke and continued to tune his guitar while he awaited his system to breech the security of Doctor Jacobson's computer. He played a little tune and hummed a few bars of a song he started working on a while back, but only seemed to work on it when he was in the middle of inventing something or hacking into a network. In a few more minutes his spider-bot virus was in place and the data began to stream, but it didn't take that long, which wasn't a good sign. It either meant that, there were a few back door alarms to bypass or there simply wasn't that much information and as he slid over to his computer, the smoke of his cigarette trailing behind him, he saw that it was the latter. Apparently, this guy didn't keep a lot on his own personal network account or even on his own hard drive and what he did have wasn't yielding an significant hits on his special search engine programs, but after another half of an hour he found something.

_____________________________________________________________________

Standing on top of the elevator car, Wraith's phone began to vibrate and taking it out of his pocket saw that it was Sigma.

"Hey." He answered, "What ya got?

"Squat," Answered Sigma, "but I did find something in a trashed encrypted message that I was able to decode. It's request for some type of opiate from a place called the Eden Foundation, know anything about that?"

"Not ringing any bells." Answered Wraith, "Got an address?"

"Yeah, I looked it up. Seems it's some sort of new age hippy save the world kinda deal located out in the sticks, just outside of Lake Placid, New York."

"Interesting." Said Wraith.

"Road trip?" Inquired Sigma, perking up.

"Looks that way. Do some more research, I'll be in touch."

Wraith ended the call and tucked the phone away.

As Wraith waited for Morgan to descend into the elevator, he heard a noise above them, echoing down the elevator shaft, followed by the sound of grinding gears. The car then began to shudder, and both Wraith and Morgan realized then that it would soon began to ascend, but due to it's age and disrepair was taking longer to engage.

He didn't know how to direct, Morgan at his point, so Wraith left the decision up to her. She could descend into the car and attempt to open the doors and enter the subterranean level or stay on top, close up the hatch and keep quiet while the unknown passenger or passengers rode it down. As for him, he faded into the air without a word.


Slate leaned back in his chair and rolled his neck around, cracking out a few knots. He had been searching for information on the Eden Foundation for a few hours, at first finding nothing much of interest, until he resorted to using his alias, Agent Carter Wilkes. Logging into the R.A.I.D. network, Sigma learned that the Eastern Detention Centre was actually hidden beneath the building but the Eden Foundation was much more than a front. They were a fully operational facility, developing anything from designer drugs to performing genetic studies and he could sure as shit bet who the test subjects were.

Picking up the grease stained receiver of his old style cordless phone, Sigma gave the Resistance a call, feeling that he and Wraith would need some back up on this one. As the phone rang, he couldn't be sure who would answer, most times it was Seizure at least he hoped it would be, anyone but Kekoa, he never knew what the hell to say to that guy, and how he loved bugging his favorite psychic. She couldn't just tool around his head like she could with other people, he was pure radio silence to her and he found her reactions towards him entertaining to say the least. Hopefully, she'd be able to help, otherwise it would just be he and the big guy, and the newbie, whom he was looking about as much forward to working with as getting a root canal.

Morgan watched Wraith disappear again and blew out an exasperated breath. She was really getting irritated with the big man.

She crouched down on top of the elevator car closing the hatch, riding it down and keeping quiet so as not to alert whomever got into the car of her presence. She silently fumed at Wraith for leaving her again even though a part of her understood. There really wasn't anything he could do right at that point and she knew he was trying to help her learn, but damn the disappearing thing was grating on her nerves.

As the car finally came to a stop, she listened for the telltale sound of whomever it was inside the car leaving. She opened the hatch and quietly landed inside the car, quickly putting herself flush with the inside wall. She darted her head forward just as the doors began to close, making sure the area was clear before sliding out between the closing doors and darting into the shadows, pushing herself up against a wall. She had no clue as where she was supposed to go and again silently cursed Devon, whispering under her breath at him, unsure if he was close enough to here her. "If I were bigger, I would kick your ass, Devon!", she hissed out. "If you're around, what do you want me to do."

In the time that the elevator had ascended to pick up its passenger and descended once more, Wraith had already begun his search of the secret basement. When the doors to the elevator creaked open and the man inside emerged, Devon drifted down to the end of long corridor where it intersected another hallway and also ended a door, under which was radiating a blue glow. As the black suited figure approached, Wraith slowly hovered a ways down the other corridor, pausing to observe the newcomer whom he could see was a RAID officer in his dress uniform. He walked with haste, his eyes darting nervously about while his hand rested on his undrawn sidearm. When he neared the door, the officer stopped checking his left and right, then glancing behind him into the shadowy corridor from where he had come and noticing nothing he proceeded into the room that Jacobson and entered earlier. Opening the door, the man was bathed in violet light and an exchange of words could be heard.

"Doctor Jacobson, I am Officer Weston. It's seems we have a breach." Informed the RAID Enforcer.

"A breach?"

"Yes, three of our men have been taken down. I am here to ensure your safety until reinforcements arrive."

Jacobson, stared at the enforcer incredulously. "Taken down? Taken down, by whom?"

"We are not yet aware, sir."

Jacobson walked over to one of the tables that supported the strange looking mushrooms, shaking his head. "How am I supposed to work when I am surrounded by incompetence. Do you have my shipment?"

"Sorry, sir. It was intercepted earlier today." Apologized the officer.

The Doctor spun around, surprised at the news. "Intercepted? Why didn't anyone notify me?"

"Apparently, they did attempt to reach you today. Three of our men were sent here to check on you and let you know what happened when they were attacked."

The door finally slid closed, sealing off the conversation from prying ears, but Wraith was already inside. He slowly hovered over the odd looking mushrooms and realized then that the mutant fungi were no doubt a major ingredient in the serum... 'He needed a sample!'... but to do so he would have to materialize and risk being detected by the RAID officer. Fortunately, the room was large and there were several rows of tables behind which he could hide and the violet light would only add to his subterfuge. Picking the row furthest away from the two men, Wraith appeared, crouched down on the floor, then quickly reached up and snatched one of the mushrooms before either could take notice. Mission accomplished; well, partly, Devon still wasn't sure if the fungus would bring him any closer to deciphering the serum. Perhaps this Eden Foundation that Sigma had mentioned had the answers, Devon wasn't sure, but what he did know now was that Jacobson was only cultivating one of the ingredients while it was probably being manufactured somewhere else.

Outside of the room at the other end of the corridor, the elevator light blinked and when the doors opened, three fully armed, RAID enforcers glided out. They set their visors to light sensitive mode and moved forward in single file while the laser sights of their plasma rifles traced along the floor and walls.

Morgan had nowhere to go when she saw the RAID enforcers stepped out of the elevator. She was in the shadows, but she saw them activate their visors and knew that she'd be seen, it was just a matter of seconds. Seconds she didn't have, as the call went out to Officer Weston by one of the three enforcers while the other two locked onto Morgan. "Intruder has been spotted. Keep Doctor Jacobson confined in his lab."

Not waiting for him to finish his call, Morgan rushed the two enforcers, hoping her new found speed and strength would help her again, but she'd not gone up multiple enforcers before and while her charge with her small body caught the one closest to her off guard, it did nothing to the other as he fired the plasma rifle. The blast flung her back up against the wall, the pain incredible as she felt it rip through her body her head smacking back against the wall. The plasma rifle had been set to a light stun and as she shook it off, which was not easy, she glared at the men, her lavender eyes turning dark. Just as she started to move again, planning on weaving in and out of the blasts, she was hit again, this time the setting stronger, leaving a black burn mark in her left side. She yelled, hoping that Devon heard her and could get to safety. Her whole body hurt as the waves of pain washed through her and she collapsed.

"Roger that." Replied the officer as he pulled his sidearm, he then turned to Jacobson, "There's one just outside the door, please move to the back of the room, doctor."

The RAID officer moved to the doorway and opened it a crack to see what was happening. Through the narrow opening, he could see the team of enforcers closing in on what appeared to be a small, dark haired woman.'A meta! She had to be', he figured as he closed and bolted the door.

"Fear not, doctor." The officer shouted, "My men have the situation under control, and it appears that you may have found yourself a test subject for that new experiment you made mention of a few days ago."

"A Meta? Really?" Excitedly replied the doctor.

Wraith had to help Morgan but even in his unseen wind form sneaking past the alert officer would be difficult, especially when the air in the room was stale and calm. Chances are he would take note of a strange breeze blowing past him and the less, RAID agents he had to deal with the better. There had to be another way out! Then he spotted the vent at the top of the wall near by the doorway and he slowly drifted toward it, careful not to move too quickly else he produce a glow that would give him away, unfortunately seconds counted and while he took his time the RAID enforcers were preparing to blast Morgan again and make sure she was down. They rose their weapons, aimed and...

A powerful gust of wind ripped down the corridor; strong enough to cause Morgan to slide along the floor. The RAID enforcers were caught off guard, and tumbled down the hall from the force of the blast, unfortunately, they wouldn't be down for long. Wraith had just enough time to grab, Morgan and bolt back down the corridor, toward the doorway to the ultraviolet lit lab.

"Com'on, Morgan." Wraith shouted as he dragged her along, "Com'on, you gotta wake up."

He turned right at the lab, and followed the intersecting hallway into the unknown with the enforcers already in pursuit. Devon had no idea where they were going, but up ahead of them he could see a closed door.

Morgan came to on a wave of pain and groaned. She heard Devon speaking to her but his voice sounded as if it were coming from far away instead of right next to her. The urgency she heard though, had her forcing herself to be alert as she got her feet beneath her. "Okay....okay.....I'm up."

She kept her vision focused on him and her thoughts on making sure she kept moving. Her body was still painful and the burn in her side throbbed horribly. She'd never been hit with a plasma rifle before and she'd decided it was an experience she didn't want to repeat any time soon. She could hear the enforcers pursuing them when she too saw the door. She knew that he could turn to wind and just slide beneath the small space between the bottom of the door and the floor, but she couldn't. She also knew just how important it was for him to get out and find what would work on the 'antidote' that was almost just as dangerous as the affliction. She didn't know if he'd listen to her or not, but she decided to try. "Go Devon......get out of here. Do what you have to do and find the answer to this so called antidote. Just come back for me."

She had no idea if he would leave her or not and a part of her hoped he wouldn't while another part knew that it was for the best.......for now.

"Go, Devon... get out of here..."

Wraith propped the girl up against a wall and cast her a sardonic stare, then put his beefy shoulder against the door in front of them, busting it open. Behind them, the pursuing enforcers raised their weapons and fired, but they were both safely behind the door by then and running to their left.

It was dark, and Morgan was finding it difficult to see, but Wraith with a soft blue glow to his eyes tightly held on to her hand and lead the way, guiding her around various objects like chairs and desks which had been stored in the old hallway. The air was musty, and both of them had to clear their throats a few times from the build up of dust in the corridor which probably hadn't been used for over fifty years. They turned right, then left again as Devon searched for another way out, other than the elevator.

"There has to be a stairway." Wraith said aloud, "Something that was sealed off. Keep your eyes peeled for an exit or fire escape sign." he told Morgan, but it was so dark that she was having trouble seeing the floor, let alone spotting a sign. Then, Morgan felt something, that is if one could describe it as a 'feeling', there were really no other words that could be used to describe the sensation of a creatures consciousness touching her own. It was a cockroach and needless to say there wasn't much on its mind except it's pursuit of sustenance and at that present moment the insect was on a mission. Wraith had stopped at a cross road, wondering which direction to go and beside Morgan the bug crawled up the wall and through a fist sized hole in an area of the ceiling that was crumbling. It appeared as if there had been some water damage at one time, and the plaster ceiling was cracked and sagging. Could it be a way out? All Morgan knew was that the insect's primitive brain, which was really just impulses, seemed certain that it was nearing food which could only mean that something above was tantalizing to a cockroach. A storage room perhaps? Whatever it was, Wraith was the only one between the two of them that could follow, but he obviously wasn't about to abandon the girl otherwise he would have done so already. Unless, the water damage had also comprised the floor above as well, perhaps then they might have a chance.

Following Morgan's eyes, Wraith observed the ceiling and listened to the girl's theory with a puzzled look.

"I don't see that we have any other options." Said Wraith as he reached up and peeled away some of the ceiling, a huge slab of plaster easily giving way to the large man's powerful arms. Looking up then he was surprised to see that the floor above was indeed rotten and if the two of them could see on the other side they would know that they were standing under one of the many green house laboratories. An area beside a drain in the corner had for years been leaking and the concrete had become soft enough to bust through. Reaching up, Devon grabbed onto one of the metal ceiling supports and started to pull himself up and that's when a RAID enforcer appeared at the end of the hallway they had come from.

"Stop right there!" Ordered the enforcer, raising his weapon.

Devon lowered himself down and looked to Morgan, then back to the enforcer. He was a good fifty feet away, but the plasma rifles were deadly accurate and at that range the electrical weapon was still deadly, but they had to do something and something fast before his other two partners showed up. They had three other passages or straight up to choose from, but could they beat the enforcer's trigger finger?

Morgan looked at the enforcer then at Wraith and bad to the enforcer. She could sense the cockroach and she knew where there was one there were usually many more, but with their suits, the cockroaches would be nothing more than a mere nuisance than anything, so that idea was out. But, something had to be done and as far as she was concerned, it was more important that Wraith make it out than her. She had the utmost confidence in him as far as finding the antidote for the 'antidote'. If anyone could find one, it was him. "You have to get out of here, help all of those people before it gets worse", she whispered to him. "It's the only way", she said as she turned to engage the enforcer.

Morgan took a step towards him, smiling at him with her hands up, putting herself in between him and Wraith. "Hey, I don't want to get shot again by that thing....it hurts, big time. How about you just concentrate on me." Morgan was using another of her father's gifts without even knowing it.......mental control. Problem was, the enforcer's suit made it difficult to keep hold and she wouldn't be able to hold him for any longer than a few minutes, if that.

"DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP, META!!!" It was like the enforcer no longer saw Wraith, just Morgan as the rifle pointed solely at Morgan. Without breaking her gaze from the enforcer's face mask, she threw back over her shoulder, "Get out of here.....dammit.....you're the only one who can find the answer to the antidote. Just....please, come back for me." She took another step towards the enforcer when he fired, hitting Morgan, the rifle set at a high stun.

"Stupid!" Thought Wraith as he faded away into nothingness, two bolts of electricity sizzling past, just missing him.

There was always another option, she didn't have to give up like that, but she had made her choice and there was nothing that Wraith could do. Any form of wind attack he made against the enforcers would endanger, Morgan as well and he didn't stand a chance against their plasma rifles if he tried to take on all three. Even if he did grab one and attempt to use him as a shield, the enforcers were trained to stun blast their own partners in such a situation; he'd seen it before, and beside that they all knew how to fight, and fight well. Her sacrifice would be in vain if he let himself go down as well, so he fled, his ethereal form drifting up through the porous floor of the green house and out a vent.


Slowly drifting along with a light breeze, Wraith spotted the unmarked, black transport vehicle that would no doubt be used to contain Morgan. He knew that RAID was equipped to deal with a variety of Meta-humans and they employed all manners of restraints both physical and mental until they would be able to analyze her abilities and classify her type. Aside from that, they would drug her and keep her comatose until they arrived at a detention centre, then that would be the end.

Wraith could now see that several other RAID enforcers and agents had showed up and had begun combing the perimeter of the building; it was a frightening sight and one that proved beyond a doubt that RAID was connected to the serum. All that, however, seemed trivial at the moment as all Wraith could see playing over and over in his mind was Morgan being shot down by the enforcers in front of him. How he wanted to unleash hell on them, but that wouldn't help her now, and probably only cause her injury. No, he would escape and find a way to rescue her, that was the way it had to be.

He continued to drift to the obscure parking lot where they had left the car where he seeped into the trunk and materialized in the tight area. There was no other way to retrieve his possessions which he couldn't leave behind, especially because he also had his costume in the hotel tote bag. Holding it tight to him, he was still able to dematerialize and reappeared on a trail round the other side of small cluster of trees, where he walked down one of the trails as if he were someone out for a night stroll. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the black suited soldiers containing the Plant Sciences building in the distance and grit his teeth at the thought of Morgan being restrained and taken away. The big question of course was where? Where were they going to take her? He had known Meta's that had been taken away and he never saw them again and all the RAID detention centre were hidden like... Shit! Sigma had just told him that the Eden Foundation sat on top of the Eastern RAID detention centre. That's where she was going!

Now things were looking up. Wraith knew where Morgan was going, but time was of the essence as he had to rescue her before she was taken into the prison. The RAID detention centers were near impossible to escape and every Meta was kept in a cell specifically designed to contain them, once she was in, there was no chance of getting her out. Wraith needed a plan, but even more so he needed some back up. Taking out his phone, he placed a call into Sigma, hoping that the meticulous crime fighter would have an idea on how to rescue Morgan.

Pain was the first thing Morgan felt. The most frequent plasma wound hurting enough to make want to vomit, along with the pain shooting through her body from the blast. She moaned, hearing voices as she had the sensation of floating, only to have that end abruptly as the cot she was on hit a wall.

"Damn, Huff....careful."

"Why, she's just a friggin' meta. We could probably beat the snot out of her and it wouldn't even phase her."

Opening her eyes, she tried to move her arms, feeling the restraints. She began to struggle, tipping the cot precariously, causing one of the enforcers to almost drop his end.

"She's awake, men!! Stay alert....we don't know exactly what she can do yet!!"

Morgan looked up into the face of the closest man, only seeing his helmet and visor, but she still concentrated without thought, her eyes darkening as she claimed control of his mind. Still, she was only able to concentrate on one man and even then, it was only strong enough to hold him for a few minutes at best. "You should let me go. It's wrong what you're doing."

The enforcer faltered in his steps, causing the others to lose their balance and stop. "Is there a problem, Peterson?" The enforcer on the other side of her head, looked over at Peterson and then down at Morgan noticing her eyes having heard her whisper. "She's doing something!!! Her eyes have changed and Peterson isn't acting right!!"

The next thing Morgan felt was a prick in her arm and all went black. When she came to again, she was in the back of a vehicle and it was moving. She was still bound, but now she was sitting up in between two enforcers with two more sitting across from her. One of the two sitting across from her moved a little and then spoke to her.

"Welcome back, meta. I wouldn't try anything funny again. We won't take it very well. While we're on the road, why don't you tell us who the big, blonde guy was that was with you. I mean, he did leave you after all...so what do you owe him?"

She glared at the enforcer and then her eyes glowed as she scanned the surrounding area for anything that would help her, be it insect or animal when a fist connected with her face. "I SAID DON'T TRY ANYTHING FUNNY!!!" Her head snapped back and one of them snickered at her. "Now, about your so called who left you there. Who is he?"

Morgan glared at him again, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. She spit at his feet only to be hit again. She tried her bindings at her hands, finding that whatever they were made of, she couldn't break them. "Go to hell, RAID rat."

"Huff, Peterson! That's enough!" Shouted a commanding voice through a speaker.

Up front in the passenger seat the commanding officer sat restlessly. "Where in the hell are they getting these new recruits?" he posed to the driver, a veteran enforcer, "They're no better than street thugs."

"Yeah, since that new bill was passed that lifted the rights of unregistered Meta's its gotten worse." Replied the driver.

The officer shook his head. "We're still officers of the law, Bingham. I'm writing them up when we get to the station, how long anyway until we reach the base?"

"Oh, about an hour." Answered the driver.

The transport headed east to a secret destination that wasn't listed on any map; a processing station where they held Meta's and those suspected of aiding and abetting them until a judge passed their sentence. The first needed to determine if a Meta-human was registered or not, if they weren't things weren't going to get any better for them, registry could at least offer some protection, unfortunately once one broke the law they wouldn't be offered the option again until they served their time. Time, that quite often offered little chance for rehabilitation.

At the RAID processing base, Morgan's fate would be decided. She would be subjected to passive tests to determine her abilities and if she wasn't compliant more forceful and thorough tests would be conducted at whatever detention centre she was sent to. North America had four, one in Canada and three in the States which were simply named for their locations. Morgan could end up at either the Western or the Eastern Detention Centre, it was all up to the ruling by a RAID judge, a seasoned officer who not only had extensive knowledge of the law, but were also seasoned enforcers. They had served their time on the streets, physically fighting to preserve the peace and after their years of devotion to RAID were entered into the judicial program and awarded the title of a judge specifically for R.A.I.D.'s own court. Judgement was often swift, all concrete evidence being weighed and anything circumstantial being dismissed offering little power to the defense attorney presented to the Meta. Unregistered Meta's had little rights and no matter how rich they were none of them were going to pull an O.J., not in R.A.I.D.'s system.

Morgan lowered her head after the ones called Huff and Peterson got reprimanded by their superior. Now the side of her face throbbed along with the rest of her body. And to make matters worse, Huff and Peterson were making it a point to 'accidentally' jab her wherever they could with their batons. She was so looking forward to hurting these two when she got the chance.

She felt the vehicle stop and heard the two enforcers in the front exit. Then she heard the rear doors being unlocked. Huff grinned at her, "Let the games begin....for us, Meta....not you." Morgan simply stared at the man, hiding the fear that was growing in the pit of her stomach. Peterson unhooked her from the rings that her bindings were attached to on the bench while the other three pointed their rifles at her. The next she knew she was being yanked out of the back of the van, hard enough to loose her footing and land on her knees, scraping them through her jeans, tearing holes in them. Peterson looked up at Bingham and shrugged his shoulders, "What? It's not my fault she's a clutz."

Morgan got to her feet without any help from the men around her. The old Morgan would have simply taken it and not done anything to fight back......but that was before everything had happened in the past few months. As Morgan got to her feet she rushed Peterson, using her shoulder to hit him in his midsection. His armored suit hurt her more than she'd hurt him, but it was satisfying to see him fall back onto his ass.

Peterson sprang to his feet, drew his baton and reached back.

"Peterson!" Shouted the commanding officer, "Stand down!" he ordered then he nodded to two other enforcers to take hold of Morgan's arms and escort her into the holding area.

The veteran, Bingham took a few steps back, as the commander approached, Peterson, his eyes like red hot coals as he stood before the big man staring up at him, his stare burning in to the man's face. "I'm writing you up, enforcer. Your conduct has been disgraceful!" He then glared at his partner, "You as well, Huff! I am sick and tired of pieces of shit like the two of you coming up in the ranks!"

"But, sir —" Started Peterson.

"Dismissed! Get the f@#k outta my sight before throw the two of you in a holding cell for the night!" Interjected the commander.

Peterson and Huff scurried off, while Morgan was being ushered through a series of winding paths separated by chain link fences, allowing her to witness the reprimanding before she entered a heavy white coloured door that lead into the facility. Inside, she entered a white coloured room, approximately 20 feet square and there seemed to be rows and rows of recessed doors all over the walls, ceiling and even the floor.

"Escorting prisoner through kill-room." Announced one of the enforcers into his communicator and during the ten steps or so it took to cross the room, the lights went red and Morgan could hear the sound of a muffled alarm. Once they were through the door on the opposite side of the room, the lights returned to normal and the alarm stopped. She was then taken down a long corridor with many doors and this area, just like the kill-room and most other parts of the facility was protected by hidden psy-scramblers; devices that prohibited any form of telepathic abilities from working properly, rendering psychics harmless.

When they neared the middle, stopped and ushered their prisoner into a ten by ten foot cell which was completely painted baby blue. The floor was padded, like it was covered with sponge or something and the walls and ceiling were made of what appeared to be plastic. In one corner of the cell was a sink and toilet and in the other a bed with pink sheets. There was also a metal pole hanging from the ceiling, the end of it roughly nine feet above the floor and the other end was attached to a large metal ball that adhered to the ceiling as if by magnetism.

An enforcer walked into the center of the room and dragged the pole over while the others placed a harness made of some unknown material on Morgan; the pole glided easily and noiselessly. A cable was then connected to the back of the harness and to he end of the pole, so that even if a prisoner managed to escape from their wrist and ankle shackles they would still be tethered to the ceiling.

The enforcers were as silent as executioners while they made sure that Morgan's bonds were secure, then without a word they left the room and sealed the windowless door behind them, but she wasn't alone for very long. Not five minutes later, the pole that Morgan was tethered to lifted her off the ground and carried her to the far side of the room and held her there and the door opened. In walked a blonde haired woman with elegant features and large almond shaped eyes , so beautiful and youthful that it was difficult to determine her age. She was dressed in a jacket and dress skirt and carrying what looked like an iPad and some other style of memo-pad computer, which she made an entry on before acknowledging the enforcer behind her with a nod before he closed the door.

"Good afternoon." Greeted the woman who remained standing before the door well out of reach of Morgan who could not budge the tether and pole that held her in place, "I'm Miss White. I will be defending you at your trial which will occur in a few hours but between then and now you will be interrogated by a R.A.I.D. officer to determine what your abilities are. The officer will appear on a screen that will appear there." she turned her head to the side and pointed to an area above the door, "I urge you to cooperate but it is your right at this facility to refuse to answer any of their questions."

The woman looked down at her computer, tossing her hair to the side in a casual fashion. "I would like to start with your name and whether or not you are registered, then you may choose whether or not to inform me of your mutant abilities."

It was strange, that the defense attorney would enter the room, unguarded. For all they knew, Morgan could have the ability to spit acid and yet her representative stood calmly before her, awaiting an answer. She was either incredibly brave or protected in someway that Morgan could not see, or perhaps she just knew that it would offer absolutely no advantage to girl if she attacked her.

Morgan hung there, looking at Ms. White as if she were nuts. "I am hanging here and you want me to answer questions? Are you insane? How about you have me let down and then perhaps I will answer your questions?" White raised her head and simply looked up at Morgan then shook her head and looked back down at her ipad. "I can't do that, miss."

Morgan sighed, thinking about what she was going to do. Did she answer the questions? Did she tell them anything? She was hanging on to her composure by a thread when she spoke. "Morgan.....Morgan Shepherd. As for my abilities.....I don't know." White raised her head, "Miss Shepherd, it is in your best interest to tell me what meta abilities you have." But Morgan said nothing. "Fine, then." White punched a few things into her ipad and then was quiet as the screen she'd pointed to earlier came on and a RAID officer appeared. He was an older man with a stern face and hard eyes.

"Miss Shepherd, I would like for you to tell me exactly what it is you are capable of. It might help your case."

"I don't know."

The officer jotted something down on an unseen pad. "Who was the large, blonde man with you at the university?"

"I don't know."

An aggravated sigh. "Miss Shepherd, you do realize that by refusing to cooperate, things will not go well for you."

"They're not going to well for me anyway, so what's the difference. You people aren't on the up and up and I don't know anything."

The questioning went on for a few more hours and by the time he was finished, Morgan's face was pale from hanging there and the stress of the intense interrogation. He kept trying to get her to tell him who Wraith was, what her abilities were, why were they at the university. But, Morgan just kept saying 'I don't know'. Finally, Miss White left the cell. Morgan wasn't let down right away and as she hung there a tear slid down her face as she whispered, "Please be safe and find the answer to the antidote, just don't forget about me." Her whisper was directed to Wraith, even though she knew he wasn't there.

As Wraith flew through the pale blue sky his hair was tossed about as if he traveling no faster than one could run, but in reality he was traveling at a much greater speed, able to travel up to 450 mph but with the wind at his back the Meta-human could move even quicker. A long white vapor trail streamed behind as he flew just below the mesosphere where temperatures averaged -85 degrees celsius but he was protected by his own environmental sphere resulting from his ability to manipulate the air molecules around him. He was able to see and breath normally as he hitched a ride on a jet stream, allowing him to achieve a speed of close to 700 mph, far exceeding that of a jumbo jet which topped out at 550 mph. Devon figured he was already over Missouri when he felt his phone vibrate in the stream lined pack in the small of his back and assuming that it was most likely Sigma calling him back, ignored it, figuring he see him in a little over an hour anyway.

It was so peaceful in the upper atmosphere, a silent airscape of brilliant blue below, then darkening above him into the vacuum of space a place that Wraith had never gone, nor did he ever wish to test the extent of his powers in such an environment. He relished the bracing cool across his face and all his worries just seemed to blow away when he was able to take to the air... his element, but for moment he allowed his thoughts to dwell on Morgan, wondering how they were treating her. Once long ago he had endured capture by an agency not unlike, R.A.I.D. and had been treated rather fairly, despite all the extra precautions that had to be taken to contain him. He hoped she was being treated as well, after all, this was still America and Meta's were still entitled to be treated with decency, of course every organization, every government had its dark corners.

Screaming through the air, while descending into the stratosphere once more it occurred to Wraith that if Morgan was going to be transported out east, to Lake Placid, then she would most likely be flown most of the way. Possibly to New York, but that was just a guess on his part. as R.A.I.D. rarely followed the usual trails, and there was also a good chance they would land at an airport more off of the beaten path, like Buffalo. Rescuing her was going to be a lot harder than he had originally thought and Wraith could only hope that Sigma might have few tricks up his blue sleeve.

Meanwhile...

Back at the R.A.I.D. processing station, Morgan's strap was loosened and she was able to move freely about her cell. A small door she had not noticed before nearby the cell door opened up a few inches and a tray slid through with a very appetizing meal served on a soft plastic plate. The cup which appeared to be filled with apple juice and the cutlery were also made of a plastic which was very soft and near impossible to be used as a weapon as if crumble if pressed too hard so one had to use them gently while eating.

A half hour later, irregardless whether or not, Morgan had eaten her food an automated voice asked her to please dispose her utensils and cutlery back into the slot, but then the pleasant voice also said she could retain her food for another half hour if necessary. It was only a few moments after the time warning that the cell door opened, and Morgan could feel the tether at her back tighten, although not to the point where it lifted her off of the ground, it simply prevented her from approaching the door.

Two enforcers entered, men she had not seen before, and they approached and requested that she come with them. The tether was removed and the two enforcers ushered her down the part of the corridor that was opposite to the direction she had come from. She was lead to another room, this one grey and dim, with a table in the middle, and a two way mirror across from where the enforcers had asked her to sit and just as they left, Miss White entered via another door. She walked with purpose, striding to her chair and sat down across from Morgan, the for a while she just stared at her; studying her.

"So, Morgan, how do you think you are going to get out this one?" Miss White asked, her demeanor suddenly changing, "Do you think your friends at the Resistance are going to actually stick their necks out for you? I don't think so." She leaned back then and smiled at some personal joke, "Well maybe one, but I'm afraid, Wraith's not going to be able to save your butt this time, honey. Oh, what's he calling himself now? That's right... Devon. Devon Gale." Her eyes widened mischievously when she said the name. She then continued to smile then gestured around the room, "They can't hear us, in fact they don't even know we're in this room. They think you're in isolation right now for having one of your famous tantrums, so you can speak plainly. I hope you do."

Miss White, if in fact that was her name, bit her bottom lip while waiting for Morgan to speak then still sensing her apprehensiveness mentioned, "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Tessier; Sara-lynn Tessier." She then reached across the table offering her hand but then remembered that Morgan's wrists were bound to a chain connected to her ankle's preventing her from raising her hands. "Do you like wearing those things, Morgan? I hope you do, because where you're going they're going to be your new accessory, but there's another option, if you would hear me out. You see, I'm from Beacon and we've had our eye on you and we're prepared to get you out this in exchange for your allegiance to our cause, but to accomplish this mean we gotta get you shipped down east and that's only going to happen if you are cooperative with Miss White."

It was hard, but Morgan was able to keep her face blank when Sara-Lynn mentioned Devon, keeping quiet. She gave the woman a saucy smile when she reached out her hand, only to draw it back and state the obvious about her shackles. She listened to her offer, her face still blank. "And why should I believe anything you have to say?" She purposefully didn't mention Devon....she wasn't going to give the woman the satisfaction. "How about if you explain to me what Beacon is and what it does and then we'll talk."

Morgan was worried. How in the hell did this woman know about Devon? Who was she? And, why was she feeling little tingles along her skin? That was when she remembered something her father had been able to do and now she could, although the feeling should have been a lot stronger than just an annoying tingle. She'd heard of psy-scramblers, but had never encountered them.

"And while you're at it....how about you tell me what your ability is."

Morgan was hanging on by a thread. She was trying to stay strong, keep calm but it was becoming more and more difficult. On top of that, it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the whispers in her head.

Observing the girl's behaviour, Sara-lynn's eyes narrowed. She recognized that Morgan was internalizing her stress and though from her position the worries seemed unwarranted, this was the Meta's first time under the thumb of R.A.I.D. and that in itself could cause a few grey hairs.

"Morgan?" Prompted the under cover agent, lowering her head toward the table to look up into the girl's blank stare. She was becoming more distant by the second and there was nothing that Sara-lynn could do to bring her back. Uttering a disappointed sigh, the woman procured her ipad and stood up.

"Com'on, Morgan let's go. I'll take you to isolation. We're done here."

Sara-lynn, gestured to the other door in the room, opposite the one they had originally entered. "It will be okay." she then told her and it almost for second sounded like she actually cared, "A R.A.I.D. detention centre is nothing like a normal prison facility, you will adapt but I am afraid you will never be set free, not so long as the Riggs Act is law."

Morgan just sat there, not moving from the chair, staring at Sara-Lynn. She was processing what she'd said about the detention center and trying hard to ignore the whispers. Finally, she spoke.

"Tell me what you want from me. Tell me what I want to know and maybe.....maybe I will tell you what you want to know about me."

Her face was still blank, but her eyes....they had darkened. She was getting angry, feeling as if she were being strung along......fed just enough information to keep her wanting more and she didn't like it. She saw the woman thinking and bided her time. After all, what choice did she have, but to wait. Morgan was using anger to drown out the whispers and it was working....for now. Of course, as the voices were Frank and Sasha, it was what they wanted, Morgan to be angry.

"Well....what's the matter? You want answers from me, yet you're not willing to give answers back? Typical."