A New Kind of ordinary

Chapter 3

[This is Hanna and Im taking over now while Nathan is jumping to conclusions. Ok where were we. Oh ya. Me and Mystic were kissing and oh what a kiss. I was so drawn into it but I regained control and pushed away.]
Hanna; No. This isn’t right. I love you, I love you dearly, but not like that. You are the most wonderful man and the greatest friend I have, but Im not in love with you.
[Oh the poor guy seemed heart broken. I felt so bad, I wish I could have just gone with him but I couldn’t. I didn’t love him. I couldn’t help it either. I cried silently. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. He picked up my head and dried my tears.]
Mystic; I understand.
[He was smiling but there was hurt in his eyes. I couldn’t make the tears stop. He held me close and I cried into his shoulder. We parted after a little while. He pulled out his flute. It was just like mine.]
Hanna; Only you could know how to cheer me up. And you’re the only one who could know mine smashed in our last mission.
[He smiled and played a tune.]
Mystic; Sing.
[I did. I sang with all my heart along with his flute. He could always read my heart when I sang. Just as I could read so many others by looking in their eyes. After we were done I asked him.]
Hanna; What did you see?

Mystic; You are in love with some one else. You are in love with that boy who was watching us.
Hanna; He was watching me again? I don’t know wether he’s a spy or a dog.
[Mystic laughed.]
Mystic; What do you like about this boy?
Hanna; He doesn’t know about me. And when he finds out he doesn’t care. When I met him for the first time he didn’t care that I was different. In fact one of the first things he said to me was that Im beautiful.
Mystic; Well you better go find him before he does some thing rash.
[It just clicked in my head. This kid could really do some thing extreme. I gave Mystic a swift kiss on the cheek and ran after him. I ran for a while and then stopped. I shook the tree and Nathan fell out quite cat like.]
Nathan; What are you doing here?
[He was mad. I could tell.]
Hanna; Looking for you. I know you were there but I think you left a bit early.
[He looked at me. He was very calm.]
Hanna; I told Mystic I wasn’t in love with him.
Nathan; You did? Why?
Hanna; Cause Im in love with some one else.
Nathan; Who?
Hanna; I’ll give you one guess.
[I pushed him against the tree and gave him a hard, long, passionate kiss, I backed from him, His eyes were wide and he seemed to be in shock. He looked sort of like a cat the way he was backed against the tree just staring with his half open mouth and wide eyes. I waved my hand in front of his face.]
Hanna; I think I broke him. Maybe I can fix him.
[I kissed him again and his body went limp again. I put my hands on his chest and he put his on my waist and we just kissed. I was just glad he wasn’t a short seventeen year old cause that would be awkward. We parted after a while. He was very happy. ]
Hanna; Now you’re a man. Come on. I think I found a good code name for you. Spy.
Nathan; I like it. Its much better than Nate-dog.
Hanna; You’ll still be my dog.
Nathan; What about Mystic?
Hanna; He’s my best friend and no matter how things may seem to you he is just that. I also think you just made a new enemy.

[We began to walk back. When we got inside Mystic was sitting at a table. He was doing just what I would have done if I got dumped. He was drinking. Like a fish I might ad. He had no shot glasses, just a bottle of straight liquor. He took a hit every now and then. I would have to stay in a room with him tonight. He wasn’t a very manageable drunk. Maria and the others came off the dance floor.]
Maria; Uh oh. He’s drinking.
Kenya; All I know is Im not dealing with him.
Nina; Not a chance.
Hanna; Don’t worry I’ll handle it,
Kenya; Yeah you’re the only one who can.
Nathan; What’s up?
Hanna; He’s kind of a mean drunk. Like you think Im bad. Well he’s worse.
[I remember the last time he was drunk. He swung at me a few times and in the morning I was in the bathroom with him trying to get him over his nausea. I never got mad at him I guess because he never did to me. When I got drunk the others would just lock me up, but Mystic would come and take care of me like I was sick. Cause alcoholism is a disease and I had it bad. Mystic would get drunk every now and then, but I seemed to go back to the bottle at least once a month. I tried so many times to quit, but just couldn’t. So we all left at eleven. I didn’t know where he was staying so I got us a room. Ok here’s how it went. I had to drag him out of the club, hail a taxi, cause the others didn’t want him to be around them, checked into a second room and supported him on my shoulder the entire time. I deposited him into the bed and locked the doors. When I turned around he was standing over me with fire in his eyes.]
Mystic; What are you doing?
Hanna; Im locking the door. So no one can get in or out.
[More preferably out.]
Mystic; I don’t want to stay here. Move.
[I stayed in place and he tried to move me. He was weaving drunkenly.]
Mystic; I said move!
Hanna; Your not going any where.
Mystic; Get out of my way!
[He tried to force me more, but I stayed resolutely in my spot.]
Hanna; No. You are staying here!
Mystic; I said move bitch!

[He swung at my head, but I ducked and his hand hit the door very hard. It made a nice dent. I was so glad that wasn’t my head. He was swearing and holding his hand. It was bleeding. I tried to take care of it but he back handed me in the face so hard it sent me reeling into the wall. I could feel blood trickling down into my eyes. I wiped it away as he just stood there in horror at what he did. I took the chance. I lead him to a chair and sat him down as he was mumbling over sorry’s and drunken sobs. I got a wet towel and fixed up his hand. He passed out after a few minutes in the chair. I got my bag and took out some sutures and sewed him up. Then I bandaged his hand. I went to the bath room and took care of the cut over my eye. It was bleeding freely. So I stuck a towel on it till it stopped. I stitched it with difficulty. There was a nice bruise forming on my eye and the side of my face. That kid had a good arm. After I fixed my self up I cleaned up the room. I went over to him and put him in bed. I would probably have to pay for the door if worst came to worst. I sat in the chair and just watched him for a while. This was Ryosei all around rouge, drunk and dark soul man, but with a good heart. But, it was so much better now that he was unconscious. I grabbed a blanket from the closet and covered my self with it, head and all and fell asleep. I woke at about seven to Mystic in the bath room. He was sick obviously. I got up and grabbed a towel. I went in there and wet it and put it on the back of his neck. He came back up gulping down some air.]
Mystic; Thanks.
[He leaned back with his eyes closed?]
Mystic; What did I punch?
Hanna; The door the first time.
[He sat up and opened his eyes while I was busy getting another towel.]
Mystic; First time?
[I turned to him and he saw my bruises and the stitches over my eye and threw up again. I would have laughed had this not have been so serious. He came back up gulping down more air. He wiped his mouth.]
Mystic; I am so sorry. I didn’t....
[He just couldn’t find the words. Like he couldn’t express how sorry he was.]
Hanna; Well you should be! [I saw him wince as my voice penetrated his pounding head. That was enough for me.] Its ok. Well its not, but Im not gonna hold it against you.
[I could always bring a smile to his face even now. Then he retched forward and I rubbed his back. I went to the mini bar and mixed up some thing for after he finished puking. I helped him back to the bed and gave him the drink. These were quite disgusting, but worked like a charm. He held his nose and drank it in one gulp. ]

Mystic; Boy that’s disgusting.
[He took another look at me right at my eye and looked down again.]
Hanna; Really. Don’t worry about it. We all do things we regret when we’re drunk. Remember when I broke your nose that New Years.
Mystic; How could I forget? You how ever weren’t violent. You tripped and fell into me and sent me head first into the banister to the hotel. God my hand.
[It was bleeding through the bandage.]
Hanna; Well just look at the door.
[He did and.]
Mystic; Wow.
Hanna; Yeah you got quite an arm.
[There was so much guilt on his face. I took his hand a re-bandaged it. ]
Mystic; I really appreciate you taking care of me like this.
Hanna; Im just that kind of girl.
[He laughed.]
Hanna; Any way you’ve done the same for me so many times.
[He looked at my eye again.]
Mystic; You think Nathan will try and take a swing at me.
Hanna; I have no clue. Even if he does he’s not going to succeed.
[I went down the hall and got some ice for both of us. My head was pounding just as bad as his. We waited until the others came and got us. We both thought this was funny cause we both knew they were afraid of him. So when they came Mystic answered the door. It was Kenya they had gotten.]
Mystic; What?
[He said it all rough and stuff it was so funny. Kenya was obviously afraid.]
Kenya; We’re ready to go when you guys are.
Mystic; Alright. And hey don’t look so nervous.
Kenya; What happened to your hand man?
Mystic; Oh. I punched the door.
[he showed him the dent and he gulped. I grabbed my bag and met him out side trying to be very inconspicuous. Didn’t work though. Its hard to hide a shiner like this.]
Kenya; You sure you punched the door?
{He didn’t look remotely scared any more. In fact he looked disgusted. I sighed.]
Hanna; You know you can expect worse from the others. Bobby might swing and the others will just hate you for a while.

Mystic; They should right now. Guys who hit girls are considered the scum of the earth.
Hanna; Well. I’ll never think that.
[He smiled at me and we walked on down to face the music. We met the guys and one look at me told the entire story. Let me tell you I was right about every thing. The others just completely turned on him. And Bobby walked up to him and pushed him.]
Bobby; What the hells your problem? Huh?
[Mystic didn’t say any thing or react at all. Bobby swung at his face and I caught his punch.]
Hanna; Calm down. I took care of it, you don’t have to.
[He backed down and went meet the others in the car. I was driving again and Nathan was at my side. He kept shooting glances at me. He was about to say some thing.]
Hanna; Don’t say it.
[He closed his mouth. We were on our way to the base. Mystic was giving directions. We ditched the vans a few blocks away and walked to a back ally. Mystic went up to a brick wall and pushed in a loose brick. The wall off to the side opened enough to allow one person in at a time. It lead to some stairs way under ground. The base was very far down under ground. Soon we reached the elevator and took it down. We finally reached the top floor of the base. The doors opened. It looked like some thing from a futuristic movie. Me and Mystic knew this place like the backs of our hands. We went to the main control room. The leaders of this organization. Dr . T and Ms. Flex were there. They were sitting and talking.]
Dr . T; Ah. You have arrived.
Hanna; Hey Dr .T.
Ms. Flex; Come in and have a seat.
[They were a little more like care givers than captains but they had form when needed. She pressed a button and a table and chairs rose up from the floor. Every one had a seat.]
Dr .T; Its good to see you all again and it looks like we have some new ones. For those welcome to the U.W.P.A. That’s the United World Protection Agency. We have those people who have gotten in touch with their powers and use them to protect people. Im Dr .Turner, my code name is Stone, but every one just calls me Doctor T or just Doc.
Ms. Flex; Im miss Flex. Both my code and real name. Mental would you..
Hanna; Sure.

[I stood up to introduce the others.]
Hanna; This is Rose. Code name Flora. Her power is to control plants and flowers. This is Raven. Code name Zephyr. He can control wind. This is Nathan. Code name Spy. He has great accuracy and stealth abilities. This is Bobby. Code name Voodoo. He is of corse the master of Voodoo. And this is Derek. Code name at the moment Dull Blade. His powers are healing and others not currently known.
[Derek looked a bit uncomfortable. His powers had not yet shown much.]
Dr .T; Welcome all of you. Our appointed leader will show you to your quarters and give you further instructions.
Raven; Whose the leader?
Hanna; I am. Come on guys. Follow me.
[I led them out of the room and showed them each to theirs. After they got situated I gave them there gear. A simple training uniform and professional one. Nothing all that fancy. The rooms had a bunk and a bathroom. The training uniform was a pair of pants and a t-shirt and the professional one was a silver suit with a blue lining. It wasn’t like the army or any thing. In fact after they got situated I brought them all to the rec-room to give them the rules. The rec-room was nice. Let me tell you the doc and Ms. Flex new most of us were teens and new what we liked. There was a big screen, magazines, books, snack bar, stereo, a few couches and chairs and a lay out map of the entire base on the wall. I had made use of this before, until I memorized it. They all had a seat the old ones tuning me out while the new ones listened up.]

Hanna; Ok here are the rules. Rule number one, The most important. No out siders. You are not to tell any one the location or the existence of our base. To do so would put us in extreme danger. Rule two. Limit the use of your powers inside the base when not in the training room. Rule three. The use of any weapons when not in the training room is strictly forbidden or on a mission. Rule four. You are allowed to visit each others rooms but no sleep overs. Rule five. Fighting will get you suspended from the program and may be followed by punishment depending on damage and intentions. Rule six. You will show up to training on time in uniform or suffer the consequences that come with it. Rule seven. No drugs, drinking or smoking while on the base. Rule eight. No messing with equipment unless told to or have supervision from a higher authority. Rule nine. Respect all higher authority and follow orders first time given. And rule ten. Work to the best of your ability during any task and remember you had the choice of being here. If you wish to leave us your memory will be erased and you will be sent back. Any questions.
[I love that stunned silence after you tell them you’ll erase their minds if they quit. I went over to the map and they followed with their eyes.]
Hanna; Ok these area’s are strictly forbidden. They are shown in red and if you still can’t figure it out then maybe you should go back to school. The only way to get into these is with a card key. Now I’d like you all to meet your chief in charge of your training. Mystic.
[He walked up front and they all looked afraid. Hell having Mystic train you for the first time would be kind of freaky cause this guy was brutal. He would make you think of the army. He had an evil grin on his face that didn’t exactly help the situation.]
Mystic; In about an hour we will go down to the training room and give you all the test. Old recruits lets hope the newbs are up to scratch.
[Like a drill Sargent he goes by insult. Instead of calling them maggots or some thing he calls them newbs. Me and Mystic went go sit down while they talked it over. It was great to be back in my element.]
Mystic; That was fun.
Hanna; Yeah now we got some new fish to fry. They looked kind of nervous.
Mystic; Good. How you gonna explain that to the doc?
[He was of corse talking about my face.]
Hanna; The truth.
[He just stared at me.]
Hanna; I’ll say some drunken idiot decked me in the face.
[He just shook his head. I knew it made him feel better that I wouldn’t go by name. We hung around for an hour and then told the other to go suit up in their training garb and meet us at the end of the hall. When they all met us we lead them to the training room. The Doc and Flex were up in the viewers box.]
Hanna; Ok you will each be let in one at a time.
Mystic; You will have five minutes and unlimited fire power to defeat the drones in that time.
Hanna; The people who succeed will move on to regular training.
Mystic; Those who nearly succeed will move on to a harder training.
Hanna; And those who hardly succeed will be put on probation and major training.
Mystic; Ok. First up is Agent Flora.
[The door slid open and she entered. We watched from the window.]

Dr .T; Ok agent Flora you have five minutes to complete the course. You may use any thing from the weapon rack and/or your powers. You will begin at the buzzer.
[Five seconds the buzzer rang. The drones popped up and began shooting at her. She dodged them and pulled the flower from her hair. While dodging she duplicated them. She fit each into her fingers and threw them like shuriben throwing stars. They sliced right through four of the drones and as they returned four more. She caught them and ran off to the side as more came. She separated the petals from the flowers and threw them in the air. They landed on the ground and as the drones came to her she jumped up and grabbed one of the bars and did a very nice summer sault over them. She was now on the other side while the drones were standing on the petals. She made and upward slashing motion with her hand and they all flew from the ground and cut the drones to bits. She called the petals forward and made them fly at the other drones. Some of the drones began to come from the ceiling and shoot at her and some from under ground. She took the stem of her flower and it grew into a thorny staff. She struck at the one on the ground like she had a sword. She looked up at the clock. She had a minute and twenty seconds left. She struck and all the ground ones. Her petals at her every command destroying the above ground drones. After she finished off the under ground ones she made her stem turn into a naginata. It looked just like a giant scythe that they had once used to cut wheat. Except this one was connected to a vine. She threw it at the drones above and demolished them. She tugged on the vine and it came back to her hand. She had thirty seconds left. She made her flower back to what it once was. Dr .T stopped the timer. They both stood and clapped as Rose was panting for breath. We all clapped and cheered. It was very good for her first time. She came back out and Raven gave her five.]
Mystic; Agent Voodoo. Your up next.
[Bobby looked kind of nervous. I wondered how Voodoo would help him out here. After the buzzer rang he grabbed some fire power off the rack. He was shooting at the drones. They started to come from under ground. He jumped and yelled.]
Bobby; Levitatious!
[ The drones that were above ground were lifted a few inches . Then.]
Bobby; Detonatus!
[They all exploded. He shot at the ones over head and ran and rolled to avoid their shots. They were dropping like flies. Now all he had to do was take care of the under ground ones.]
Bobby; Leviathan!

[A wave of Voodoo magic swept the floor destroying all the drones under ground. He finished with twenty seconds to spare. The Doc and Flex clapped as did we. Even Mystic applauded politely.]
Mystic; Agent Zephyr.
[Raven went in. His was the shortest time yet. Once the buzzer sounded he conjured up a small tornado completely demolishing the above ground drones in one foul swoop. He did how ever have a problem with the under ground drones. He grabbed some guns on the rack and brought down all the over head ones. Then he dodged from the under ground. He got down on his stomach and took them out when they came up to shoot him. He had forty seconds left. We all applauded yet again.]
Mystic; Agent Spy.
[Nathan look nervous, but confident. He went in and the buzzer went off. He grabbed some guns. He nailed each one with a bullet each. They shot at him and he dodged. He climbed up the walls with his bare hands and shot at the over head ones. He was nearly getting shot so many times, but he was jumping around like spider man from wall to wall. He finished off the above ground drones and the under ground ones. He got another gun and got rid of the others. He had fifteen seconds to go. This was great, but then I realized. Derek was up next. He had no powers to aid him and boy did he know it. He was very nervous and he was looking ot me for help.]
Mystic; Agent Dull Blade. Good luck.
[All he had was what I had taught him and I doubt that was enough. The buzzer rang and he grabbed guns. He really wasn’t a bad shot ,but he was just a normal guy with a gun. He was nearly shot several times. He finished with the above ground drones and went for the under ground ones. He left his guard down and was shot by one of the over head drones. The shots didn’t kill, but boy did they hurt. He didn’t scream or even show a sign of pain he just shot the drone that hit him. The buzzer rang and he still had five more drones to go. He left the room with his head hung. That’s also when I knew I was in trouble.]
Dr .T; Agent Mental! Report to my office!. You too Agent Mystic,
[I sighed and made my way up to his office with Mystic.]
Mystic; Sucks to be you.
Hanna; Thanks that’s very comforting.
[We both went in his office.]
Dr .T; Mystic sit.
[He sat and I felt alone now. He turned to me.]
Dr .T; Agent Mental. What were you thinking when you brought me this boy?

He has show no sign of a power yet! You may as well have pulled some guy off the streets and given him a gun!
[He banged his fist on the table. I was just staring into his fire driven eyes.]
Dr .T; Please give me some reason as to why you brought this boy here.
Hanna; He does have power. I’ve seen it.
Dr .T; I see, one of your visions. Well, we will work with him, but if he doesn’t show a power soon it will be on your head. Do you understand me?
Hanna; Yes sir.
Dr .T; Mystic. This boy will be on probation and on mastery training. Do what ever you can to get him to show power, understand?
Mystic; Yes sir.
Dr .T; Good. You are both dismissed.
[We left the room and I groaned and leaned against the wall. Banging my head against my arm.]
Mystic; Don’t worry. I’ll get the runt to show some power.
Hanna; That’s just it. He won’t find his power with you. He will master his healing, but he won’t discover his other until he is put on a mission.
Mystic; Oh come on. You really think the doc will put him on a mission when he has no skill.
Hanna; That’s where you come in.
[I looked at him and he read my mind with distaste.]
Mystic; No way. I can’t do that.
Hanna; Yes you can. I know you can.
Mystic; You cant expect me to make that kid beat the training corse with out a power.
Hanna; Come on. I know he can and I know you can. Please.
[I gave him my sad cute eyes.]
Mystic; Oh not the eyes.
Hanna; Pretty please.
Mystic; No, no.....Ok fine. I’ll try, but I doubt its going to work.
Hanna; Thank you.
[I gave him a hug. We walked back to the rec-room.]
Mystic; You do realize how much is riding on him. If he fails you’ll probably be demoted an assistant plus he’ll probably put you in the pin.
Hanna; Uh. Don’t remind me.
[We went and lounged in the rec-room. Every one was in a chair or some thing except Derek. He wasn’t there.]
Hanna; Where’s Derek?

Nathan; His room.
Maria; So how bad did you get it?
Hanna; Lets just say if Derek doesn’t show sign of powers soon. I’ll be getting you coffee.
Kenya; That bad huh? Im sure he’ll get his power soon.
Nina; And if he doesn’t you’ll be doomed to misery until you work your self back up again.
Hanna; Gee Ms. Sunshine. That makes me feel a lot better. Well I better go talk to Derek.
[I got up and went over to his room. I knocked.]
Hanna; Derek. You in there?
Derek; Go away.
Hanna; No I will not go away. Open the door.
[He didn’t answer. The good thing of being a captain is the card key.]
Hanna; Fine Im coming in any way.
[I slid the card key in the slot and went in. He was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.]
Derek; What?
Hanna; Look I know your disappointed , but...
Derek; Disappointed? Try humiliated. [he sat up and looked at me.]
I have no power that is of use to me. And you just stuck me in there.
Hanna; You do have power and you will find it.
Derek; How do you know?
Hanna; I do know. I’ve seen it. You have a great power, but you need to work hard to find it. Mystic is going to train you to beat the corse with out power. You have to work your hardest to beat it. If you can then that’s when we can find your power.
Derek; By putting me on a mission. A life threatening situation.
[My god how did he know.]
Derek; That’s how you obtain power right. Through suffering and pain. That’s how every one else got their powers. When they were about to be killed. Tell me how did you get your powers?
[This kid was pissing me off. I closed the door and we were casted into darkness.]

Hanna; I got my powers in a lab. Right after Mystic. What ever they did to him it nearly killed him and I was the in there to make sure he didn’t die. Then they dragged me kicking and screaming into that lab. That’s when Mystic broke us all out. Im not gonna tell you more. I was only five when I got my powers. When you get yours. Your life won’t be in danger. Mine will. Now you either work hard and try. Or you can give up and we can just go erase your memory now. You can go back to your mother. Your brother and sister. And your father. Self pity is for the weak.
[I left his room. I went back to the rec-room. I was in a bad mood. I didn’t give a damn about my rank. But I was as sure as hell gonna raise Derek’s. Even if I was put on level five probation. No one asked how it went and for that I was thankful. I went to the book shelf and got a good book. I loved to read. It always calmed me down. We had a break and then we went back to the training arena. The doc wanted to retest the old recruits. This would just give us a good chance to show off. ]
Dr .T; Ok first up is Agent Sink.
[Kenya went in the room. He was ready. The bell rang and he grabbed some guns. He was phasing through just about every thing. He kicked all those drones asses in two minutes flat. There was a lot of applause.]
Dr .T; Next Agent Belie.
[Nina went in. After the bell rang you couldn’t tell where she was. Only by the gun shots could you tell what area she was in. She got them all in two minutes twenty seconds.]
Dr .T; Agent Jolt.
[Maria went in the training room. Dr .T shook his head as she went in. She always made her training out fit as skimpy as possible. The buzzer rang and it was on. The drones attacked.]
Maria; Rah proe en vortex!
[Lightning shot from her hand making a chain through each drone. The lights flickered as she worked. The above ground drones were no more.]
Maria; Backlash whip!
[A whip of pure electricity formed in her hand. She short circuited all of the drones over head and blew ground with a single touch. Then she made it disappear. Her time a minute and forty seconds. Much applause.]
Dr .T; Agent Mystic.
[Now this one would be great. Mystic was the record holder for the training corse. He went inside and the buzzer rang. He was using waves of pure magic to take down at least seven at a time. His words were nothing but spells. He finished the corse in a minute ten seconds. This was a new record. We always made this a bit competitive.]
Mystic; Beat that Mental.

Hanna; All right then.
Dr .T; Agent Mental.
[ I went in. I felt in my element. The buzzer rang and I worked fast. I levitated the drones and made the smash into each other with great swooping motions of my hand. I had been working as hard as I could to control my mind powers. I destroyed the over head and below ground drones with out even looking at them. The timer stopped and the doc and Flex stood up in shock. I looked at the clock and even I was in shock. Twenty five seconds. There was no applause just stunned silence. ]
Dr .T; That was amazing Agent Mental. Well done.
[I went back out side. I was greeted with some of the loudest cheers. Mystic just stood in awe. He was once the most powerful, now he was no longer. It wasn’t his fault. And I never planned for it to happen. Pain and suffering did indeed boost your powers and I had suffered more than they others would ever know. We all went to the mess hall for dinner. We took turns cooking and dishes you know. We pretty much worked for our selves. It wasn’t like a cafeteria. We had two small dinner tables and silverware. After dinner we could either crash in the rec-room or go to our rooms. I went to my room. There was a knock on the door.]
Hanna; Enter.
[Mystic came in. He seemed troubled by some thing.]
Hanna; What’s up?
[I sat up and he sat next to me.]
Mystic; How did you get so powerful?
[This was more of a question of concern.]
Hanna; Before you busted me out of asylum.
Mystic; Are you ready to tell me yet?
Hanna; Lets go some where else.
Mystic; Where?
Hanna; Some where above ground. Lets go back to Ersatz Heights.
[So we did. We left the base after informing the doc. We went back to the place where he showed me the city of stars. It was still beautiful.]
Hanna; Its so beautiful.
Mystic; Why did you want to come here?
Hanna; So the spy couldn’t follow us.
[There was silence as I searched for the words.]
Hanna; You remember when you went through the change. Your powers disappeared for a while. And when they came back you were stronger.

Mystic; Yeah.
Hanna; Well. Two months before you got me out of that place my change started. I lost all my powers. I did my best to lay low, but it was no good. About two weeks later I was kidnaped by one of the Bio-tech agents. He asked his boss what to do with me. I was too dangerous to have around so he said do what ever you want with her and then kill her. He kept me in a basement for a month and a half doing some of the most obscene and painful things to me. This guy was a psycho. He starved me every now and then for ten days at a time. I had to beg for food when he gave it to me. He’d beat me constantly with a whip and some sort sharp metal stick. When he got drunk it got worse. He would rape me and tortured me with just about every trick there was. The last day I stayed with him he wouldn’t stop no matter how much I begged he just kept going. That’s when my powers broke loose. I killed that man and loved every second of it. I was tortured into madness. It took twenty police men to subdue me. They got me treated and stuck me in the institution. They drugged me for the first few weeks, cause they thought I was unstable. Only after they stopped with the drugs did my head clear. They allowed me one phone call and I called you.
[There were tears coming silently down my cheeks. I could remember it so vividly and it made me sick to my stomach. I don’t know why I told Mystic, but I had to tell some one and I thought he was the only one who could take it. After all we went through the same thing in that lab.]
Mystic; Oh my god. And I thought the lab was bad.
Hanna; I have to tell you some thing else. The madness I experienced some how got mixed in with my powers. Some times I find my self unable to control what I do when Im dream casting. The last time ....I...I hurt some one. And I know it might happen again.

[I felt so lost. I could receive no help from any one right now. I couldn’t look to any one. I had never had fear before, but now I was afraid. I was very afraid. Why was I filled with such and irrational emotion? Mystic could sense it. Sensing strong emotions came with his powers. He held me close and buried my head in his chest. He was so comforting and familiar. Why couldn’t I love him? It would make things so much easier. I guess love wasn’t meant to be easy just like life. I let loose and cried we both sunk to the ground and he still held me close. Chills ran through my body and he was so warm. I didn’t want to let go. But I had to regain control. I composed my self and we parted and went back to the base. I went to my room and lay I bed. It was the first time I had told some one and it was nice to get it off my chest. I just hope it didn’t do any thing to Mystic. He went to the lab and I wasn’t sure how to compare the two. I remember the lab just as vividly. We were all kept in one room. It was like a steel cage. I was four, and Mystic was six. The others were two and three and Nina was one. We had all been marked with a bar code on our arms to help them keep track of us. One day the renderer came in. They called them selves that. {go to flash back}
Renderer; Lets see which one? How about this little brat?
[He grabbed Mystic by the hair and dragged him out. He closed the door and locked it. Mystic was struggling.]
Renderer; This will teach you to bite people you little whelp.
[The lab wasn’t far from the cell. They put us very close to scare us. You could hear every noise from that room. Including Mystic’s screams. It was horrible. All I could hear was an electric buzzing, his screams and I could see his contorted shadow on the wall. Me and Mystic were still very young, but wise beyond our years. We were already coming up with a plan to escape. Two days later they threw Mystic back in with us. He was unconscious and covered with burns and wounds. His cloths ragged. We had a bathroom and two big beds in the room. I carried him to the bed with a little difficulty. Tore my sleeve from my shirt and wet it. I new little about medicine but enough to keep him alive. I stopped the bleeding and tide them off with several pieces of cloth from a torn up pillow case. The little ones helped me by getting water and more cloth. He woke a day later.]
Mystic; Hanna. Is that you.
Hanna; Its ok. The bad men are gone. Your safe.
Mystic; No! Your next we have to escape!

[He was speaking urgently and he had grabbed the front of my shirt. The renderer came back. He grabbed my arm and was dragging me out. I was kicking and screaming. Fighting tooth and nail to get free. Mystic jumped on him and tried to break his grip. The renderer threw him to the ground and brought me out. Mystic ran for the door, but it slammed in his face. He jumped up on the bars screaming my name. The renderer brought me to the lab and strapped me to a table. I stopped screaming. If it was one thing they loved to play it was mind games. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of hearing me scream. I thought they were going to do more tests. It was more like torture. They were very crude about it as well. They hooked my up to a car battery and ran electricity through my body. Every nerve in my body was screaming like the ones emitting from my mouth. They stuck we with long needles with poison. Challenging my body with each debilitating dose. I was so sick and in so much pain. They threw me back in the cell after the poison. I threw up blood for two days. Mystic was still recovering, but helping me feel better as much as he could. After he was better. He tested his new powers. He had obtained them from the vigorous stress they had put on his body. I tried mine too. Then we made our plan. One night. We used our powers to bust open the door. We ran for it . They pursued us, but they weren’t ready for our power. We killed every person who tried to catch us. We made it to the exit. It was a long way down. So that’s when I made use of mine. I levitated us down to the ground and we ran. We wouldn’t have survived on those streets had not been for Dr .T and Ms. Flex. They brought us in took care of me and Mystics wounds and gave us a home. A year later we helped the others develop their powers. We put them in fake life or death situations to get them to push their powers to the surface and it worked. We live at the base for a few more years. They gave me and Mystic missions when I was eight and he was ten. We were very advanced for our age and always had that sweet kid thing going for us. You could trick plenty of people with that. After the others received training we began to go on missions together. When I turned eleven we all got separate missions and went on our ways, Then three years later we reunited for a year and then went our separate ways again. When I was seventeen I was caught and put in that guys basement. When they put me in the institution all I wanted was to be with Mystic again. Even when we went our separate ways we had a way of meeting up again. I needed him so I used my phone call to get help. He busted me out in the middle of the night. I was traumatized for a while and the doc kept me under observation until I composed my self and decided to live my life instead of sitting in the dark. We discovered that Bio-tech was up to some thing again. So the first thing we did was go out and search for recruits. They followed us trying to capture and eliminate us, That’s when I got my name on the most wanted list. I killed over a thousand Bio-tech agents. The law knew nothing of Bio-tech so they put me on the top as a mass murderer. That’s when Bio-tech decided I was too dangerous to have around and they seek to kill me. They nearly succeeded until Nathan found me. And that pretty much my story. My life would make a good horror flick. I was tired so I rolled over and went to sleep.]

[I was in the basement of that mans house. No longer tide up. I limped up the stairs. The pain in my body dulled from exhaustion. I was in his hall way and I heard him coming. I had to find some thing. I opened a hall drawer. Yes there was a gun. I pulled back the hammer and. I woke up. I was in the training room and I was holding a gun in my hand. I was very confused. I put the gun back and walked back to my room. I must have been dream casting again. If I didn’t control this I could really do some damage. I went to my bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. I was no longer tired. So I went to the rec-room and got some coffee from the machine. I looked at my watch. It was four thirty in the morning. This was gonna be a long day. I turned on a lamp and read a book until six. I went to the desk and put on the morning alarm. Then over the intercom I said.]
Hanna; Agents meet in the Training Room in ten minute in training attire.
[I went to the training room to wait for them. Mystic was the first there.]
Mystic; Rough night?
Hanna; Don’t even get me started.
[The others all came in. They were all talking and Mystic was about to do my favorite of all things.]
Mystic; Shut up!
[They all jumped and kept quiet.]
Mystic; Today is your first day of training. I hope you got a good night sleep cause it will be the last one you have.
[He was pacing playing up the drum of the moment. He could be as goofy as he wanted around me, but other wise he was sort of a quiet dark guy. He turned.]
Mystic; You will never forget my face. Cause after today it will haunt your dreams for a really long time.
Kenya; Try nightmares.
[Every one snickered. Oh it was coming. Mystic stood in front of Kenya an evil grin on his face that wiped the one right of Kenya’s mouth.]
Mystic; Some thing funny. Agent Sink?
Kenya; Uh?
Mystic; Come on. I want an answer.
Kenya; No.
Mystic; No?
Kenya; Well. I mean.
Mystic; What do you mean? Yes? No?
Kenya; Y..no.
Mystic; Is it yes or no.
Kenya; No.
Mystic; Your sure?
Kenya; Yes.
Mystic; Ok. Well then we have no use for some one with such a lack of a sense of humor. Now do we? I want six laps around the training room. Now lets go!

[Kenya jumped to it. Mystic was in his element and let me tell you it was hilarious.]
Mystic; Now unfortunately. You newbs don’t get me today. I have to train the maggot who couldn’t finish the corse yesterday.
[They all looked relived except for Derek.]
Mystic; No you get some one a lot more strenuous. You get Agent Mental.
[This was even better. The faces of the old recruits fell. I was indeed much worse than Mystic. Now you see Mystic was strict I was down right hard. ]
Mystic; I’ll see you guys later. Come on D.B. Its time to visit the seventh circle of hell.
[Derek followed him out of the training room.]
Hanna; Well. Your in my house now. We will begin with some warm up drills. First I want. Fifty jumping jacks. Then fifty push ups. Fifty sit ups. And ten laps around the track.
[Kenya came back after running.]
Hanna; Welcome back. Now. You will do these in a perfect synchronized motion or you will start all over again. Do I make my self clear?
[There was a soft murmur.]
Hanna; I said do I make my self clear!?
All; Yes mam!
Hanna; Now get started.
[I watched them. It was kind of pathetic. I decided to give them some slack the first day. I over looked a few mistakes, but when they got bad that’s when I got pissed off. ]
Hanna; Stop! Start the push ups over again. You need to move as one.
[They started again it was much smoother. After they finished the warm up drill some of them were gasping for breath. It was so pathetic. I gave them five before they hit the track. Now they were gasping for breath and clutching there sides, trying to get rid of the stitches there. I looked around and saw Nathan looked perplexed at them. He was fine. Not out of breath. He looked hot, but that’s about it. This was beginning to play together. I gave them another five and a water break. Then had them line up at the obstacle corse.]
Hanna; Ok. You will do the obstacle corse five times before lunch. We got a new one now so I’ll give one demo.

[I jumped up on the plat form. I grabbed the handle bars and climbs across. I swung to a high bar and jumped on to the ground. I ran through the rope net and climbed very quickly and stealthily through the bar jungle. I got out and crawled under the wires, went through the tunnel and swung from a rope over a thirty foot pool of water. I landed and started climbing up the wall jumped over and dodged the swinging bags as I ran. I jumped over twenty hurdles and slid through the sand under a low bar. I ran back to the finish. They all just looked astonished. They just stared with their mouths a gap.]
Hanna; Ok five times before you get to eat. Lets move!
[And so they went. Nina fell off the rope and into the water. Maria fell on the ground when she lost her grip on the wall. Kenya tripped when he did the rope net. Rose hit the dirt when she jumped from the handle bars. Raven was good until he tried to go under the low bar. He hit his head. And Nathan got knocked over by the swinging bags. When they finished they all lined up battered and gasping for air bent over and tired.]
Hanna; Ok. I can see your tired. I must say that was really pathetic people. No that was worse than pathetic that was horrible. After lunch we will do this over until you get it perfect! Now get out of here!
[They all went to the mess hall. I went to wait for Mystic and Derek. When they came Derek was limping towards us.]
Hanna; You didn’t hurt him did you?
Mystic; He’ll be fine.
[I saw Derek mouth help me behind his back. Me and Mystic sat alone cause I knew no one liked us very much right now. The Doc called us over the intercom. He sounded mad. We went and met him into his office.]
Dr .T; Sit. [We did.] I have just been informed of some few facts. Hanako.
[Oh he used my real name. This wasn’t good.]
Dr .T; I have been informed that you are at the top...
[He brought up a picture of my mug shot on the screen behind him.]
Of the most wanted list.
[Mystic looked at me in horror.]
Hanna; Those men were Bio-tech agents and....
Dr .T; I have bugs allover the place Hanna. I don’t know if you recall this, but these weren’t bio-tech agents!
[He brought up some footage. It was me killing several men, woman and children. I don’t ever remember doing this stuff. I get up and walk slowly to the screen.]
Hanna; I didn’t.....I never.....I don’t remember this. There has to be some sort of mistake. When was this taken?
Dr .T; It was taken summer of 2002.
[The time I went crazy. Did I do this? The doctor didn’t know about the institution.]

Dr .T; I was also informed that you were broken out of a mental institution after this.
[Now he did. This was bad.]
Dr .T; Would you please tell me why you were put there?
Hanna; I went mad.
[He just looked at me and shook his head.]
Dr .T; Im afraid I will have to put you under observation.
Hanna; For what?
[He brought up a surveillance footage of me walking around at night when I grabbed the gun off the rack.]
Dr .T; I know none of this is your fault, but I must do some tests to see if you are mentally stable. Your powers may have some thing to do with this.
[he looked more concerned now. He sighed.]
Dr .T; I must ask you to turn over your card key, weapons and badge.
Hanna; Why?
Dr .T; Until we can determine if or what is wrong with you. You are no longer captain and have no more authority over the recruits.
[This was unbelievable. I had been stripped of every thing in a mere minute. I stood up and took out my card key, my badge and put my gun and knife on the table. I stood there looking at him defiantly.]
Dr .T; Agent Mystic. Until Agent Mental is out of the infirmary you will put Derek in the normal training program and take over for her.
Mystic; Yes sir.
Dr .T; Agent Mental report to the infirmary for observation.
[I walked out of the office with Mystic. He was about to touch me, but I pulled away.]
Hanna; You better watch out. I might be crazy, I could hurt some one.
Mystic; Come on Hanna.
[But he stopped and I walked to the infirmary alone. When I got there Ms. Flex was in charge. She would first make me strip down so she could check my physical being. She went around observing my body. I heard her gasp when she looked at my back.]
Ms. Flex; Where on earth did you get these scars?
Hanna; From wounds.

[She gave me a look. She noted all my scars and check my temperature, my throat, eyes, heart and lungs. I got dressed in a gown. I laid down on a metal bed and I was put into a machine to get a cat scan. I watched her as she looked at pictures of my brain. It was strange. There was a small empty space in my frontal lobe.]
Ms. Flex; That’s peculiar. There should be brain tissue here, but its just an empty space. What do you suppose it is?
Hanna; That’s were I store my extra thoughts.
Ms. Flex; Extra thoughts?
Hanna; I get images put into my head by premonitions and other such things. They build up right there until I tell them to some one else. And until then they just build up and if I don’t release them my brain does a melt down.
[That was it. That must have been why I couldn’t remember the killings. My brain must have shut down while my body took over.]
Ms; Flex; That could explain why you couldn’t remember. Any way. Just to make sure I want to put you in the thinking cap.
[The thinking cap. It was the nick name for the Super Sonic Brain Wave Image Inducer . It would catch brain waves and transform them into visual images on a screen. I never wanted to be put in this thing. I would never let any one see my memories.]
Hanna; No really I think that was the problem. I’ll just......
[I made a break for the door. But she caught me with a huge stretch of her arm. That’s why they call her miss Flex.]
Ms. Flex; Is there some thing you don’t want me to see?
Hanna; Duh! How would you like it If I could just go into your mind and examine it at my leisure.
Ms. Flex; Fine then I’ll just.
[I felt a prick in my arm. She injected me with a narcotic.]
Hanna; You bitch. I’ll....
[She never heard what I was gonna do because I fell unconscious. It was all in my head now. I felt my self being put in the cap. I could see every thing with my mind. She turned on the monitor and I could see her. I was all that was on that monitor.]
Ms. Flex; Oh come now Hanna! Don’t you think your being a bit childish?
Hanna; No, I don’t. If I let you into my memories you might go mad your self.
Ms. Flex; What do you mean?
Hanna; Some thing bad happened to me and Im not about to show it to you. Im telling you, Im fine. Come on.
[I was getting desperate here.]

Ms. Flex; Fine. I believe you. I will mark you as mentally stable, but not all that healthy.
[She unhooked me and got my body to wake. I was extremely groggy. She told me to go to my room and get some rest until it wore off. I slowly made my way to my room. I didn’t know if I would make it that far. I leaned against the wall and checked my watch. They would be getting out of the mess hall. I wasn’t hungry in fact I was nauseous. I kept on going. I saw Nathan appear at the end of the hall. He walked up to me.]
Nathan; Hey. I heard ,are you alright.
Hanna; Im....Im ok.
[But then my legs gave way to my weight. He grabbed my arm.]
Nathan; I got you. I got you.
[He helped me to my room and in my bed.]
Hanna; Thanks.
Nathan; No problem.
[I closed my eyes and he left. I closed my eyes, but stayed awake. There was a knock on my door.]
Hanna; Enter.
[Maria came in.]
Maria; Hey girl. You alright? I found out a while ago.
Hanna; Great now the whole crew will know.
Maria; If you need any thing suga just holler.
[She left. My head was pounding just like the next knock on my door.]
Hanna; Enter.
[This time it was Nina. She pretty much told me the same. Thing. Every one came by once finally at the last knock. The medicine was wearing off.]
Hanna; Enter at your own risk!
[Final some one I wanted to see. It was Mystic.]
Hanna; Thank god. Some one with an IQ.
Mystic; How’d it go?
Hanna; She marked me mentally stable, but a bit unhealthy.
Mystic; Not bad.
Hanna; Hold on.
[ I opened the door from my bed. A crowd of people fell into my room. They had been listening at the door.]
Maria; Heh, heh. Hey....how’s it go in?
Hanna; Get out... before....I loose it.
[I was talking in a would be calm voice and they all ran for it. I closed my door.]

Hanna; Im not safe from rats any more. My reputation is ruined... no I don’t have a reputation any more.
Mystic; Well now you have a new weapon. Now their all afraid you’ll go mental on them. Pun not intended.
Hanna; Yeah well. That all depends on whether or not he gives me back my badge.
Mystic; Im sure he will. Now you get some rest.
[He left. I sighed and lay back. I locked my door and went to sleep. I was walking in his basement again, but this time I couldn’t get the door open. I was about to kick it down when I woke and lost balance. I fell on the floor. It was good thing that I locked my room. I didn’t make it past the door this time. I looked at my watch. Hell no. It was two in the morning. I was going back to bed. I lay back in bed. Damn it. All I did was toss and turn for an hour. It was three in the morning when I decided it was feudal. I went to the rec-room. I picked up my book and sat down in my favorite chair. After reading for a while I drifted off. I woke to my watch alarm. It was six already. Oh crap! I got up and rang the morning bell. I made the same announcement and went to meet them in the training room when I remembered I had no authority. I went to go see the doc. He was waiting for me.]
Dr .T; Sit.
[I sat down.]
Dr .T; Well. It seems you are mentally stable. It is all a question of your powers. I will give you back your position, but I have some thing new for you. You will be training Derek instead of Mystic. I want to see some progress in him. Go meet Mystic in the training room and get the details.
[He slid my things across the table and I put them in the right places and left. I met Mystic back in the room.]
Mystic; Welcome back. Derek is waiting in the other training room. I was basically just pushing him around.
Hanna; Same here. I’ll see you at lunch.
{I went to go meet Derek. I felt sorry for the kid, but he didn’t need pity.]
Hanna; So. What did you and Mystic do yesterday?
Derek; Push ups, sit up, running, lifting weights and hand to hand.
Hanna; Combat? You mean you fought Mystic?
Derek; Yeah.
Hanna; Man, he must have went easy on you. Ok. I want a hundred push ups. Right now.

[He sighed and got down with one hand.]
Hanna; You do one handed push ups?
Derek; Yeah. My other arm is weaker than my right.
[I could see why. He had quite a scar on his arm. And so he started. It took him twenty minutes and he was dripping with sweat, but he finished them. I was there coaching him on. He was mad at me. I talked to him while he worked.]
Hanna; Why are you mad at me?
Derek; Im not.
Hanna; That’s not true. I know you are. Why?
Derek; You just threw me to the wolves out here.
Hanna; I see. Do you know why I brought you here?
Derek; No.
Hanna; I brought you here cause you would have a better life. But life isn’t easy.
Derek; No shit.
Hanna; You want some thing you have to work for it. You do have that power.
Derek; I don’t have any thing.
Hanna; Yes you do. I’ve seen it.
Derek; I don’t care if you’ve seen it. Now will you shut up while I finish these?
Hanna; You are finished.
[He stopped and looked at me.]
Derek ; I did a hundred?
Hanna; Yep. Next thing is sit ups.
[I held his ankles as he did these. Still talking to him. This time he asked questions.]
Derek ;What did you mean when you said it would be your life on the line not mine?
Hanna; Can’t tell you that.
Derek; Ok. Why are you helping me? I’ve never gotten help from any one before.
Hanna; Your my friend. I’d do any thing for my friends. Save them, help them, take a bullet....
[He was remembering at the church.]
Derek; Aren’t there just days when you want to quit and just stop living?
Hanna; Of corse.
Derek ;Then why are you still here?
Hanna; Because I don’t take the easy way out. Its very easy to stop living. It takes courage and strength to go on. Plus there are too many people who need me.
[We both got up and did laps. I ran with him. I was in very good shape.]

Derek; Every one says I can do this. How do they know? Im not even sure if I can.
Hanna; We believe in you. We will scream and yell and call you names during training, but we want you to succeed. You need to believe in your self.
Derek; That’s really dramatic chief.
Hanna; Yeah well.
Derek; So what is the point of this training?
Hanna; There are two points of this training. Doing this it will work your body and your power will emerge. You just need that one push like every one else to break it loose. The second is every one of you is about to go through the change.
Derek; Change?
Hanna; Your powers will disappear for a period of time and when they resurface they will be stronger. Mystic and I went through it. Now its you guys turn.
Derek ;What if that’s it?
Hanna; You’ve shown no power yet. Its not changing yet.
[We finished and I gave him a water break. After that he did some pull ups. Then lunch. He was walking and limping again. Im pretty sure I was much harder on him, but it took him til now to realize it. His body was just getting there. He ate lunch fast and then he sat down and buried his head in his arms.]
Mystic; Gees. I thought I was hard on the kid.
[We were sitting with the others this time. Now that they knew not to take it personally.]
Maria; What did you do to him?
Hanna; I haven’t even gotten started. He did a hundred push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and twenty laps.
Nina; Don’t you think that a bit much?
Hanna; He didn’t even know when he finished. He did them with the greatest of ease, but his bodies just catching up. You don’t have to worry about him. I won’t make him do any thing he can’t handle.
[After lunch he did every thing over again. We went slower this time with a lack of energy. I gave him a ten minute break.]
Hanna; How ya doin?
Derek; I really don’t know. I’ll tell you when I get the blood back to my head.
[After his break I had him fight me.]
Derek; Ok. What are my chances of winning?
Hanna; Slim to a negative number.
Derek; Well here it goes.
[He swung and I ducked. He swung again.]

Hanna; You’ll get no where with those swings you have to jab. Its quicker and leaves you with more room and energy.
[He tried that. He jabbed with both his fists. He was quicker, but I was still dodging like it was nothing. It was his turn to dodge now. Jabbed and jabbed. He was able do dodge them until he slipped up and almost fell. My fist collided with his bad arm. He was brought to his knees.]
Hanna; Here give me your arm.
[I inspected his arm. He winced every time I moved it. He had an old injury that hadn’t healed well. I knew a perfect remedy. I felt around on his arm and found the right nerve. I pinched it and he screamed, but then relaxed.]
Derek ;How did you do that?
Hanna; I have experience with old wounds. This one was from a chipping hammer?
Derek ; Good guess.
Hanna; Not a guess.
[ I showed him a nice scar on my leg. Some guy tried to kill me with a chipping hammer. I kept his arm and rotated it and then let it go.]
Hanna; How’s that?
Derek ; Better.
Hanna; Ok. On your feet. No why did you slip?
[He looked down. He friggen shoe was untied. He bent down and tied it. He got back up. We resumed fighting he dodged much better this time. The bell rang.]
Hanna; You did good. Now go get some chow. [He left and I shortly joined them. I asked Mystic why he was limping.]
Mystic; He said it was an old wound.
Hanna; Poor kid. He’s just full of problems.
Mystic; He comes from a broken home?
Hanna; I get the feeling you can some times read minds.
Mystic; I get the same from you.
[After dinner I went to my room. I must be like the psychiatrist and the doctor cause people are coming to me with their problems. Some times they are trivial and insignificant but I decided to give this one my full attention. There was a knock on my door.]
Hanna; Enter.
[Derek came in.]
Hanna; Hey. What’s up?
Derek; I got this problem, but I don’t want to go to the infirmary.

Hanna; What is it?
Derek; Its this damned leg of mine.
Hanna; Come over here.
[I took his leg and asked him where it hurt. It was right under another beautiful scar.]
Hanna; These all souvenirs from your father?
[He didn’t say any thing.]
Hanna; You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I just thought I’d ask.
Derek; You won’t tell any one?
Hanna; You have my word. My word is as good as a blood oath.
Derek; Yeah. I was doing chores and I dropped a bucket of water. It spilled on his shoes. Pick ax. Right to the leg.
Hanna; Oo. Pick axes hurt. Here.
[I grabbed a spot in his leg and he winced and bit back a scream and then relaxed.]
Hanna; That chipping hammer too?
Derek ;Yeah.
Hanna; What did he say you did?
Derek; I was very clumsy when I was a kid. I dropped a hammer on his foot.
Hanna; Bastard.
[ Grabbed my bag. My old wounds act up too. I gave him a spongy leg brace.]
Derek ;You know a lot about this. How?
Hanna; What do you mean? Wounds or the other thing?
Derek ;The other thing.
Hanna; Well. I’ve been a victim of abuse. The person tries to make up an excuse for why they did it and brain wash you into thinking you were wrong and they were right. Nothing justifies doing this to some one you love except for self defense and even then it doesn’t make it ok. You understand that right?
[He didn’t answer.]
Hanna; Do you think any of the stuff you did was your fault?
Derek; I don’t know.
Hanna; Accidents happen. Things like you did. Normal parents they say its ok just don’t let it happen again or some thing like learn from your mistake. They don’t hit or injure their child. Its never right to do that.
Derek; I know but maybe if I hadn’t screw up in the beginning.

Hanna; What you did was nothing. You didn’t do any thing to provoke an attack. If I hit you for every stupid thing you did you wouldn’t be with us today. Im not trying to make you feel bad cause none of this was your fault. Look at my face. I will always have this scar. Did I hit you?
Derek; No.
Hanna; Did I hurt you?
Derek ; No.
Hanna; Did I even yell?
Derek; No.
[He wouldn’t make eye contact with me. Im made him.]
Hanna; Don’t you see. Even a complete stranger showed you more mercy. I’ve met your father. He was holding a torch and was ready to throw that pitch fork he had at me. Do you know why?
Derek ; No.
Hanna; He knew I was making you stronger. I was making you wiser and braver. If I made you those things, what would he be afraid of?
Derek; He was afraid of me. He was afraid I’d fight back.
Hanna; I knew you wouldn’t though. That’s why I took you with me. If you would have stayed he would have killed you. You didn’t do any thing to deserve that. Neither did your mother, sister or brother. Its not your fault.
[He was crying now. He was trying not to. He was sort of a macho guy, but no one said grown men don’t cry and there was no exception of seventeen year old guys. I did like I did last time. I held him close and he just let loose. He was crying into my shoulder.]
Hanna; You are part of another family now. This is your home away from home. I love you like family and you will always be safe here. If you ever need some who will listen or even just sit there and say nothing. Im your girl. And no one will ever know.
[He let go of me and sniffed. I got up and came back with a wet towel. He wiped his face. ]
Derek; Thanks. For every thing. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend.
Hanna; Any time. Now get some sleep. I know your exhausted.
[He left and I sat back. I was glad I had helped and I would continue to help him. I actually slept all the way through this time. I went to the second training room at six and waited for him. He did every thing to the best of his ability. I trained him for three weeks every week I kicked it up. The third week we had target practice. I got him to shoot faster and more accurate. He would pass the corse so help me god. I went to the training arena. The doc and Ms. Flex were in the box. Mystic was at my side.]

Mystic; You think he will do it?
Hanna; If he doesn’t I will turn in my badge before he can ask for it.
[The buzzer went off and he went for the gun rack. He was taking them down left and right. Dodging their shots like a pro. He finished off the above ground drones and then went for the over head. He dodged both over and under ground while taking down th ones from the ceiling. He got down on his stomach and destroyed the ones under ground. He missed an above ground drone and it was coming from behind. He didn’t move his body he just pointed behind his back and hit it. It fell. We looked at the timer and he made it with twenty seconds to spare.]
Hanna; Yes! Way to go Derek!
[The doc and Ms. Flex met us out side the arena.]
Dr .T; Well done to both of you. That was fantastic. I must say I had my doubts but you proved me wrong. Congratulations.
[We went for the rec-room.]
Mystic; That was pretty sweet dude. Never has a norm. beaten the course like the rest of us.
Hanna; Yeah. I told you, you could do it.
[The others were waiting to hear the results.]
Hanna; He beat the course with twenty to spare.
[They all cheer. It was basically a party. Derek was very happy. I finally got a chance to talk to my man.]
Nathan; I got to hand it to you. I didn’t think he would make it.
Hanna; Never doubt Mental. Now all I have to do is persuade the doc to get him on a mission.
Nathan; Good luck with that.
Hanna; Thanks I’ll need it. I think Im gonna go out to night. You wanna come?
Nathan; Sure.
[I brought Nathan to a more him sort of club. These places were, As surprised as I was, still popular with younger people. I brought him to a Blues and Jazz joint. I loved the blues, I hope he did. The dancing was less sex like.]
Hanna; What do you think?
Nathan; I like it better than that other club.
Hanna; I knew you would.
Nathan; Care to dance?
Hanna; Sure.

[He dances really well. I had a great time. He sat down and I told him I’d be right back. I went up on stage with my harmonica. I got the guy’s to play along with me. It was great. I loved to play and I did a nice solo. After the song there was a lot of applause I stepped off of the stage into Nathan’s arms. The band started up again and we danced the night away. I thought I would wake up any minute until I realized it wasn’t a dream. It was so wonderful. We glided along the dance floor as if our feet weren’t touching tile. I looked down and in the excitement mine weren’t any more. I lowered my self down. Nathan smiled and laughed a bit. We left around eleven.]
Hanna; That was great.
Nathan; I had a really good time.
[He lead me back to Ersatz Heights. It was called that because the only stars you can see were fake ones below you. But they were still almost as beautiful. It made me sad for some reason.]
Hanna; I miss the real stars.
Nathan; You can see them all the time at Nappanee.
Hanna; You miss your home?
Nathan; Yeah.
Hanna; Well you’ll get to go back soon. We get vacation time for Thanksgiving soon. Every one goes back to see their family.
Nathan; What do you do?
Hanna; Me and Mystic get sloshed and pass out in the rec-room.
[He laughed.]
Hanna; No. I just wander around looking for a good time. I usually spend my vacations with Mystic.
Nathan; You could come to my house for Thanksgiving.
Hanna; That’s sweet, but I don’t think I’ll ever be welcome again. You think Derek will go back?
Nathan; To see his mom and maybe to kick his dads ass.
Hanna; You send any letters to your family?
Nathan; Yep.
Hanna; Mail should be coming tomorrow you might get a reply.
Nathan; I hope so. What was with the whole observation thing?
[I told him the story. He was appalled but tried no to show it to much. I knew what else he wanted to hear. He wanted me to tell him about Mental. I satisfied his curiosity. I told him the whole thing. I switched his curiosity to a rather sick feeling in about five minutes. I was looking at him and it looked like he was ready to puke and I didn’t blame him. The thought still made me queasy.]
Hanna; You ok?

Nathan; That was horrible. Who could be so evil? I didn’t know such evil did exist.
Hanna; Believe it. That’s what the renderer’s do in Bio-tech.
Nathan; Renderer?
Hanna; They are basically the soldiers and hit men for Bio-tech. They do all the dirty work.
Nathan; Why are they called renderer’s?
Hanna; They say its because, its their job to render your life from your body. They are some of the stupidest beings on this planet I swear.
[I tried to get a few drinks at the club, but Nathan wouldn’t let me. Its kind of hard shut your mind down to memories when your sober. I put my head on the rail.]
Hanna; I need a drink.
Nathan; No go.
Hanna; What are you my AA therapist?
Nathan; Think of me as that strong force separating you from your habit.
Hanna; My man the brick wall.

[I laughed and gave him a kiss. He was the most modest relationship I have ever had. I won’t lie, I mean Im not a virgin, but Nathan makes me feel more complete than any other guy ever did. Its like he’s that part missing side of me and when we are together we are one. We went back to the base and we went to bed. Tomorrow is the beginning of October. The start of fall. It was the weekend and we get those off from training, but most of us have nothing better to do so we train at a very leisurely pace. That is until Kenya and Nina saved up and bought a Play Station 2. Then it was four people at a time in front of the TV. Others waiting for a turn. It was so pathetic. I went to the training room. Mystic was the only other one there. He was lifting weights in a sleeveless shirt, oh god help me. I did few stretches and hit the track. I loved to run. I love the wind I my hair, only the sound of my heart and my shoes on the ground, I even loved the sweet pain in my calves that developed after a few laps. I ran about thirty laps. I stopped and got some water and a towel. Mystic stopped and got a towel. He looked so hot, both ways. Which just made him twice as sexy. Damn it I shouldn’t be checking him out. Just focus on training. I went and did the course a few times. It was fun for me, but the others hatted it. My guess is because it was hard for them I even did a somersault on the bars. Mystic clapped and I bowed. I hit the weights. I was just as strong as him and lifted just as much weight. We some times had a silent contest. He picked up a bit more weight. I picked up more than him. And it went on and on. Pretty soon I was picking up 275. Then it was getting hard. He went 280, I went 290. He went 300. I went 310. Then he couldn’t lift any more. I went to 320. And he conceded defeat. I put down the weight. We went to the rec-room. They were still playing that mindless game. Except for Nathan and Derek, They were sitting and talking. At least they weren’t rotting their brains like the others. Ms. Flex came in and she had a stack of letters.]
Ms. Flex; Mail call!
[She gave Nathan and Derek a stack of letters. She gave Kenya two. Nina one from every kid at her house the same went for Rose and Raven. Maria got five from her cousins and Bobby got one from his brother. I was very surprised. She came up and gave both me and Mystic a letter. We looked at each other. I opened mine. It was from Charity, Nathan’s sister. She asked how I was doing. She was fine. She found one of my guns in the woods and her father buried it. Her little brother said his first words and every thing like that. I actually got a letter. I was so happy. I’ve never gotten a letter before that wasn’t from the government and wasn’t a bill. I closed the letter and looked at Nathan. He winked.]
Mystic; Whose is yours from?
Hanna; Nathan’s sister. She’s a sweet kid. Your’s?
Mystic; Im not sure. She says her name is Maeko. She says she knows me, but I don’t know how.
Hanna; Maeko? Hey! That’s the girl from our old village in Japan. The one who escaped.
Mystic; I remember now. Wonder why she sent me a letter?
[I shrugged. He closed the letter and put it back in the envelope deep in thought. The day went by in a blur of boring time. The next morning I woke up at four trying to unlock the door again. This has got to stop. I got up dressed and went out into the hall. The lights were blinking. I knew what that meant. I went to Mystic’s room. He was floating half an inch off the bed staring up at the ceiling. He was in a trance. He shifted into this every few months. It happens when he’s asleep. His powers take over his body and refocus. I closed his door and went to the rec-room. Coffee was the only thing keeping me going. At six I rang the bell. I stopped announcing cause they should know by now. I went to the training room.]
Hanna; Morning. Mystic is indisposed right now so I will be taking over for him.
[There were moans all around.]
Hanna; Im glad you guys are happy. Ok seventy pushups, sit ups and jumping jacks. Come on.
Maria; I’d like to see you do all this stuff.

Hanna; I do all this stuff.
Nina; Prove it.
Hanna; Fine. I’ll do all your exercises with you today.
[I kept my word. I did my push ups ten times faster with one hand. Derek was with us today and he did them just as fast. In fact I finished well before any of them as did Derek. We were waiting for them after we had finished our laps. I didn’t even break a sweat. Then it was time for the obstacle corse.]
Maria; I don’t believe this. What the hell are you made of?
Hanna; I have an idea. Lets sweeten the pot shall we?
Maria; Yeah. If you can do the course in under ten minutes five times we won’t complain any more.
Hanna; That would be nice, but how about you don’t complain and you don’t speak for a week unless spoken to.
Maria; Your on.
[We shook on it. Maria timed. I started and I breezed through that course with the greatest of ease five times over.]
Hanna; What’s my time? You may speak.
Maria; Six minutes and thirty five seconds.
Hanna; Thank you. Next time Im putting money on it. Ok get to work!
[They all went and did the course five times then it was time for lunch. I went to go check on Mystic. He hadn’t budged an inch. He was still staring up with a blank look on his face. Nathan came in.]
Nathan; What’s with him?
Hanna; He’s in a trance. Happens every few months. Its like his powers are recharging.
[He waved his hand over his face.]
Hanna; I wouldn’t!
[Bam! Too late. He was hurdled across the room by magic. He hit the wall and slid down to the ground on his head.]
Nathan; Ow.
[I helped him up.]
Hanna; You ok?
Nathan; Yeah. What the hell was that?
Hanna; When he goes into a trance his body is venerable so his powers put up a defense mechanism around his body.
Nathan; Now you tell me.

[We went back to the mess hall and ate lunch. We would be doing some thing different now. We went to the training room.]
Hanna; Your gonna love this part. We are going to spar. No powers, and you might want to put on the head gear. I don’t want any trips to the infirmary.
[They all put on boxing helmets. ]
Nina; What is the point of this kind of training?
Hanna; Its getting you ready for the change. Your bodies are about to change and your powers will leave you for a period of time. You have to be able to defend your self with out your powers should they fail you. Find your self a partner and choose a ring.
[They matched up. Bobby and Derek. Nathan and Raven. Kenya and Maria and Rose and Nina. I watched. Derek was protecting his venerable spots well. Bobby and Derek were well matched except for the fact that Derek was stronger. Derek had him down after ten minutes. Bobby was groaning. I told him to take five and I stepped in the ring.]
Hanna; Ready yet Derek?
Derek; Lets find out.
[He had definitely gotten better since I trained him. He almost hit me twice. Every one stopped to watch. I got him down after twenty minutes.]
Hanna; Well Derek you almost put up a challenge for me. Get back to work !
[They all resumed fighting. Bobby came back and took my place. I went around making corrections and comments.]
Hanna; Nina your left side is unguarded. Raven watch your legs. Kenya good form. Rose left. No that’s your right.
[I gave them an hour and then called them off. Bobby and Derek were getting ready to jump each other. The bell rang for mess hall. I went to check on Mystic again. Still out cold. I went and had dinner. I went to the kitchen and made a sandwich and got a soda from the machine. I went back to Mystic’s room and put them on his bed side table. I left and went to my room. I was tired. I fell asleep almost instantly. I was in the hall way of the mans house. I saw him coming. I had no weapon and he was rushing me. I backed away and he tried to grab me. I punched him in the face and ran for it. He grabbed my ankle and restrained my body. He dragged me back to the basement and pushed me on a bed. I woke up. Mystic was standing over me and I was pinned to the bed. His nose was bleeding. Oh man.]
Hanna; What just happened?
[He sighed in relief and got off of me.]
Hanna; Oh no tell me I didn’t.

Mystic; You did.
Hanna; Oh god. Im so sorry.
[ I went to the bath room and got a wet towel. He got cleaned up.]
Hanna; Im really sorry about this.
Mystic; It’s a good thing I caught you. If it would have been one of the others or the doc.
Hanna; Thank you. This is all confusing. This shouldn’t be happening. I don’t know what’s wrong.
Mystic; Maybe your powers are morphing again.
Hanna; I have to figure out what’s wrong or some ones gonna get hurt....worse.
[Me and Mystic snuck down to the infirmary. I shut down surveillance and we went in. He took another cat scan of me. I took a look at the pictures. The empty space was full. It shouldn’t have filled up that fast.]
Hanna; This right here. This is where I store my extra thoughts. This shouldn’t be full. I haven’t had any visions in a while. And it was empty the last time.
Mystic; Then what could be in there?
Hanna; I don’t know.
Mystic; What about the thinking cap?
Hanna; Lets see.
[ Walked over to it. I put it on and Mystic turned it on. He went to that specific part of my brain. I watched the screen. It was Derek talking to me in my room.]
Hanna; Go to the next one.
[It was Nathan at the club.]
Hanna; Next.
[It was at Ersatz Heights.]
Hanna; Next.
[It was Derek acing the course.]
Hanna; Any thing else?
Mystic; Nope.
Hanna; These are normal thoughts. If normal thoughts are in the void then. Oh crap.
Mystic; What?
Hanna; This is gonna sound stupid, but there’s a leak in my brain. It’s filling the void with normal thoughts so the new ones can’t get in. They are backing up and causing me to dream cast.
Mystic; Well how do you fix this?
Hanna; Im gonna have to go away for a while.

Mystic; Why?
Hanna; There’s only one person who can fix this.
Mystic; Oh no. You aren’t.
Hanna; I have to. As much as I don’t want to and I really don’t want to.
Mystic; How are you gonna get the doc to let you out?
Hanna; I don’t know, but I will find a way.
[I had to go see Dr . Central. This doc could operate on people with out cutting them open. It was sort of like Kenya’s powers, but this doctor could only go through people. It was kind of gross. We went to the medical lab and I fixed his nose and we went back to bed. The next day we both ran the training. They really did hate us. When it came to sparing me and Mystic didn’t want to skip out on the fun so we fought each other. It took me half an hour and three bruises, but I brought him down. After training I went to see the doctor.]
Hanna; Doc?
Dr .T; Come in Hanna.
Hanna; Doc, I have to take a leave of absence.
Dr .T; What for?
Hanna; Its for my health. I found a problem and I have to go see Dr .Central.
Dr .T; Oh boy. Lets see. I will grant you your leave of absence on one condition.
Hanna; Yes sir.
Dr .T; Bio-tech is planning on shipping illegal chemical substances to their base. I want you to stop it from reaching its destination. I will allow you to bring one recruit.
[This was my chance.]
Hanna; Yes sir. I would like to bring Derek with me.
Dr .T; Are you off your nut? I will not allow you to bring him. He has shown no sign of power as of yet.
Hanna: I know. And this is his opportunity. I saw him getting his powers on a mission. Please sir this could be his only chance.
Dr .T; *Sigh!* Fine, but should any thing go wrong it will be on your head. Take your communicator and keep me updated. You may leave tomorrow.
Hanna; Thank you sir.
[I was about to leave.]
Dr .T; And Agent Mental. Don’t disappoint me.
Hanna; I won’t.
[I left rather light hearted. I went to the rec-room.]
Hanna; Derek!

[He came over.]
Hanna; Your coming with me on a mission. We leave tomorrow.
[he just stared at me in awe as I walked past him and sat down.]
Nathan; I can’t believe you pulled it off.
Mystic; Me either. Lets hope your right about this one.
Hanna; Yeah lets hope.
[I stopped by Derek’s room for a while.]
Derek; Come in.
Hanna; Hey.
Derek; Hey. How long are we going to be gone and what are we doing?
Hanna; About two weeks. We are going to intercept a chemical trade with Bio-tech.
Derek; Sound real exciting.
[he was sarcastic.]
Hanna; It should be. We have to shoot down their trucks and kill their leaders.
[he seemed more upbeat now.]
Derek; And just how am I going to survive this?
Hanna; Well, I’ll be there and you will have all the guns you need. After we finish with that I have to stop some place on the way back. So pack light.
Derek; Why did you choose me? Of all people why the guy with no powers?
Hanna; Cuz you’re my favorite norm. I love to pick on people like you.
[He gave me this that’s not funny look.]
Hanna; This is your chance to prove your self. And you will.
Derek; And what if I don’t?
Hanna; Then I’ll hurt you.
[That one made him at least crack a smile,]
Hanna; See you in the morning.
[I went to me room and got out my bag. I opened my closet. I had more guns in her than in the artillery storage. I loaded two of every thing. Two Uzi’s, two snipers, two revolvers, two pistols, two Colt’s, two Glock’s, plenty of ammunition, some grenades, smoke bombs, signals, and my set of knives. I was able to fit a canteen, soap and my cloths in there too. I zipped it up. I just realized Nathan was standing in my door way.]
Nathan; Planning a war?
Hanna; You haven’t seen a war. This is more like a hostile take over.
Nathan; Well after seeing Derek in action I’d say he’s the most capable one to go with you.

Hanna; Its more than that. This is his chance. If he misses this he might not get his powers.
Nathan; Then good luck captain. Maybe when he comes back he’ll have a better code name.
Hanna; Maybe.
[The next morning I woke up at five and went to the rec-room. Guess who was there. Go on guess. Well it was Mystic. ]
Mystic; Hey babe.
Hanna; And what are you doing here so early?
Mystic; Waiting for you. Duh. Came to wish you good luck and god speed with Dull Blade.
Hanna; Thanks, but I won’t need it.
Mystic; Keep it with you just in case.
Hanna; Alright. I guess I could always use a bit of good luck.
[Derek showed up. We both grabbed some thing to go.]
Mystic; See you guys later.
Derek; Later.
[We left. It took a while to get above ground again. ]
Derek; Are we taking the old van?
Hanna; No. The doc let me barrow the company car.
[We walked up to a black convertible.]
Derek; Sweet!
[We both jumped in with out opening the doors. I revved up the car and we were off. It was much better to drive in style. I got several honks from guys and Derek got many waves from girls.]
Derek; I like this car.
Hanna; I knew you would.
[It did how ever get boring after the first few days of driving. We reached our destination after four days. We got a room and went to the ron de vous point and waited. It was near an old ware house. I saw the truck role on by. It was disguised as a gas truck. I just hoped it was a fake. Things like that do happen. The car was parked behind the building. We were waiting guns in hand. Two guy in black stepped out of the truck they flashed a Bio-tech badge. That was our cue. We jumped out with our guns drawn.]
Hanna; Every one freeze! Oh crap!

[One of them had an Uzi. They opened fire and the guys got back in the car. We jumped back in ours and raced after it. It was a speed chase. Derek was shooting at the tires he finally hit one and they swerved off the road into a ditch. We got out of the car. Derek got on the side facing the road and I got on the side
facing the grass. I pointed the gun at the door.]
Hanna; Get out slowly with your hands where I can see them!
[He started to get out. The truck was unbalanced. He ran for it and the truck fell right on me.]
Derek; No!
[I was trapped. I was only able to hold it about an inch from my body. I heard gun shots. Derek came back around. He looked like such and idiot. He tried to pull the truck off of me. And it worked. He actually lifted that truck and pushed it back. This was my vision.]
Hanna; You did it! That’s your power! Strength!
[He was looking at me he was so happy. But he was shot in the leg. I went on the other side. The guys were dead.]
Derek; What do we do with the chemicals?
Hanna; I make a call and the disposal unit will come and get it.
[I called and they would be there after a while. I hid the bodies in the trunk. We got back into the car. Derek’s leg was gushing. I stopped us at the hotel. Helped him inside. I had to cut off the sleeve of his pants to fix his leg. I got the first aid kit. I gave him a leather strap that I kept in there.]
Derek; What’s this?
Hanna; To bite on.
[I took out a pair of forceps and his eyes widened. I stuck them in the wound and he let out a yell of pain as I was trying to find the bullet. ]
Hanna; Shut up! You want the feds to find us.
[He kept quiet, but he was gripping his fists so tight I thought his hands would bleed. I got the bullet out and I took out a bottle of antiseptic.]
Hanna; Brace your self.
[I poured it on the wound and he whimpered.]
Derek; Oh god that hurts.
[I wrapped it up tight in a bandage.]
Hanna; Well now you can get a new nick name.
Derek; I’ll stick with dull blade. Im still strong and not very sharp.
[I laughed.]
Derek; So where do we have to go after this?
Hanna; I have to go see a doctor.
Derek; Why?

Hanna; My brain sprung a leak.
Derek; Huh?
[I explained it to him.]
Derek; Damn. That kind of sucks.
Hanna; Yeah it does. So I have to get it fixed before some thing really bad happens. You got to watch your self when you go to sleep. I might do some thing.
Derek; Like what?
Hanna; I broke Mystic’s nose. I grabbed a gun. If I had gone any further then people might be dead.
Derek; Ok. Creepy.
[We went to sleep around midnight. I fell asleep. I was in his living room this time. He was lying on his couch. I think he was asleep. I tried to get past him with out waking him. I opened the door and he woke up. I made a run for it but he went after me. He drew a gun on me. I dodged all his shots. He was gaining on me. He leapt on me and grabbed my wrists. I was thrashing around. I kicked him in the leg an he released me. I scrambled up and tripped. He pinned me against a tree,]
Derek; Wake up!
[I woke up. I looked around. I was pined against a tree, but Derek was pinning me.]
Hanna; Oh god. Are you ok?
Derek; Finally. Yeah Im fine.
[He let me go. ]
Hanna; Im really sorry.
Derek; Its ok. Lets just go back.
[He was limping and trailing blood. His leg gave way. I grabbed his arm and helped him back to the room. I really did a number on his leg. The wound had ripped a bigger hole. I took up my needle and thread once more. I had to sew his wound closed. I felt so terrible.]
Hanna; Maybe I should strap my self down when I sleep.
Derek; Yeah maybe you should.
[I pushed him a bit.]
Derek; What were you dreaming about when you left?
Hanna; Remember when I told you I had been the victim of abuse before?
Derek; Yeah.
Hanna; I was running from him. In dream casting I mistake things in the real world for others in my dream. I thought you were him so I struggled.
Derek; I’ll keep that in mind.

[He winced.]
Hanna; I just hope this doesn’t get infected. The last thing we need is you getting sick.
Derek; Where are we any way? What state?
Hanna; I thought you would have recognized it. We are in Indiana. Twenty miles from Nappanee. You want to swing by? See your mom your siblings.
[I could tell he really wanted to.]
Derek; You don’t mind?
Hanna; No.
Derek; Where’s my father?
Hanna; Indiana state prison Im pretty sure. He’s getting time for attempted murder, battery and assault and domestic violence.
Derek; I should have been there when.....
Hanna; If you had been there your mother would have died as would your brother and sister. Not to mention you would be in a wheel chair.
Derek; Is that supposed to make me feel better?
Hanna; The point is there was and is nothing you can do about it.
Derek; You just don’t understand.
Hanna; Yeah my parents were just killed off while they were trying to capture me.
Derek; You were only four. What could you have done?
Hanna; You were only in a different state what could you have done?
Derek; I....you.....just cause....god your annoying.
Hanna; Yes people have made that abundantly clear. You know why they all think Im annoying? Because Im right. Im not annoying when Im wrong. Im just stupid.
Derek; Your right. And that still makes you annoying What are you a psychic? Can you read minds?
Hanna; Yes and no.
Derek; Huh?
Hanna: I am a psychic, but I can’t read minds.
Derek; Then how can you be a psychic?
Hanna; The mind is not a book that can be opened at will and examined at leisure. It is a very complex thing. I don’t read your mind I read you eyes. Your eyes are a an open portal into your heart and soul. And with them you can shut me out or let me in.
Derek; Ok then. Read my soul or what ever. Go ahead.
Hanna; Alright.

[I look deep in his eyes and they tell me his story. And I can’t believe it.]
Hanna; You have been hurt countless times. So has your mother and your siblings, but you still want to forgive your father.
Derek; You don’t understand! The guy who beat on you was just an agent! The guy in the basement was nothing to you!
Hanna; How did you know about the basement?
Derek; D....don’t change the subject.
Hanna; Who told you?
[He wouldn’t answer. I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up to my face.]
Hanna; Who told you!?
Derek; Nathan.
[I let him go. ]
Hanna; I never told any one the whole story. You’ll be the first to hear. What you don’t seem to understand is how much I do understand. Doesn’t it seem strange that he was able to so easily capture me. I may be a woman, but Im a lot stronger than most men. The reason why I went insane, is not because of the pain I suffered on the outside, but the fire of anger and deception that was torturing my soul with every word he spat at me! I dated that man for two years before he captured me. He told me he loved me and I loved him with all my heart. The scum back even asked me to marry him one day. He took me to his house one night. He slipped me some thing and I woke up in his basement. You think I don’t know? I know what its like to ask for mercy from a loved one and never ever get it. And watch them get pleasure from doing it. And if this ever reaches ears of another human being. It better come from my mouth or yours will be stapled shut. Got it?
[He nodded. I tide his suture and bandaged his leg.]
Derek; Im sorry.
[The poor kid was about to cry again.]
Hanna; Its ok. You don’t need to forgive him. You need closure. You need to get even. Wether that is telling him off, beating him up, yelling at him, or knowing that he may not get out of prison. You got to do some thing or it will eat you up from the inside out.
Derek; What did you do?
Hanna; You can’t do what I did. I killed him.
[It failed to lighten his spirits. He wiped away his tears. He was angry with him self.]
Derek; Damn it.

Hanna; Im the only one here.
[He read my words. He was still to virile to cry. It worked like a charm. One touch from me and he cried. I touched his arm and pulled him into a hug.]
Derek; You are killing me here!
Hanna; If you won’t express your emotions I will find a way to make you.
[He finally let his defenses down. Thought he tried to hold them in, I forced them out. I let him go and he wiped his face on his sleeve.]
Derek; I swear you could make Mike Tyson cry if given the chance.
[I laughed.]
Derek; Thanks any way.
Hanna; What for?
Derek; You have helped me in so many ways. You pushed me do so many things. With out you’d I’d be dead, still living with my mother, or wandering the streets after they kicked me out of the base. But thanks to you. I alive. Im happy and I get to stay. Im not the different guy any more. And for that I am grateful.
Hanna; Its my pleasure.
[We got a few more hours of sleep and we drove to Nappanee. I parked at the nearest gas station and we hoofed it the rest of the way.]
Hanna; Think your mother will be shocked to see you with spiky hair?
Derek; Maybe. I think she would just be shock period to see me.
[When we walked into the village people stared at us, but when they realized Derek was among us some ran to great and others waved. We went to his house and knocked. His sister answered.]
Mary; Derek!
[He picked her up and hugged her.]
Derek; Its great to see you Mary.
[His mother came to the door. She had several scars on her face, but she nearly cried when she saw her boy. She gave him a hug and a kiss. Derek’s brother was about twelve. He just shook his hand.]
Derek; You remember Hanna.
Mrs. Jay; Its good to see you again Hanna. Is Nathan with you?
Hanna; No he stayed behind.
Mrs. Jay; I think you should go see his parents honey. There’s some thing you should see.
[I was sort of concerned. I went to the Johnson’s. I knocked and Charity answered.]
Charity; Oh Hanna. It is good to see you.

Hanna; You too.
Charity; Is Nathan with you?
Hanna; No. I came with Derek. His mother said I should talk to your parents.
[Her face was sad. She let me in and led me to her parents room. Her mother was in bed and her father holding her hand.]
Mrs. J; Oh hello Hanna. Is Nathan with you?
Hanna; No. he stayed behind. Are you alright?
Mrs. J; Im fine Im just having a wee spell dear.
John; May I speak to you?
[Me and him went into the other room while Charity stayed with her mother. She was so pail it was very severe I could see.]
John; Josephine is very sick,
Hanna; Is she dying?
John; Yes. The doctors say she only has a month. The only thing she wants is to see Nathan. I need you to bring him back.
Hanna; What is wrong with her?
John; She has brain cancer. Please. I want you to bring my boy back. She wants to see him one last time.
Hanna; Yes sir.
[My head was down. This was so sad. I was crying, I didn’t know why. I guess it was because she had taken care of me when I needed it. Then it came to me. Bobby! He said he could cure things from colds to cancer. But how long would it take.]
Hanna; Rec-roomson. I don’t want to give you false hope, but I have a friend he may be able to cure your wife.
John; We already told the doctors no chemotherapy.
Hanna; This isn’t like that. This is different. This is a cure.
[he looked almost hopeful.]
John; How long will it take?
Hanna; I will ask him. Don’t tell her yet. It might take more time than she has.
John; Very well.
[I took my communicator to the back of the house and called the base.]
Dr .T; Yes agent Mental. Have you succeeded?
Hanna; Yes, but I can’t give you the details. I need to talk to Bobby. It is urgent.
[I waited and Bobby came on.]
Bobby; Yes?
Hanna; Bobby. How long would it take you to make a cure for brain cancer?

Bobby; Cancer. Hm. Around three weeks.
Hanna; We still have time. Are you alone?
Bobby; Yes.
Hanna; I need you to get started on one right away. Nathan’s mother is dying and this could be the only chance I have to save her.
Bobby; Of corse. I’ll get on it.
Hanna; And Bobby.
Bobby; Yeah.
Hanna; What ever you do don’t tell Nathan or any one else. Ok?
Bobby; You have my word.
[We hung up. I went back inside.]
Hanna; There is some hope. It will take three weeks to make, I just hope she can hold on till then.
John; You’re an angel.
Hanna; Thank you. I will bring Nathan as soon as I can.
John; God bless you. I apologize for being so angry before.
Hanna; I understand.
[I left and went back to see Derek. He was talking and catching up with his mother. She was now walking with a cane. His family had missed him so much and I was so depressed at the thought of taking him away so soon. But we had to leave. We were walking back and he kept on looking back.]
Derek; Why did we have to leave so quick?
Hanna; I have some thing to tell you. Nathan’s mother has brain cancer and she’s dying. She has a month left. Bobby is working on a cure and we have to go back and get Nathan. His mother wants to see him again.
[I chose ‘again’ over ‘one last time’.]
Derek; Oh man. How are you going to tell him?
Hanna; I don’t know. But I will. I drove as fast as I could to get back.
[I made it back in four days. I hoped that wouldn’t be too long. When we got back he unpacked. But not me. I would be back on the road soon enough. We went to the rec-room.]
Hanna; Nathan. Can I talk to you?
Nathan; Sure.
[I brought him to my room.]
Hanna; You better sit down.
[His expression changed to uh oh.]
Nathan; What is it?

Hanna; I brought Derek to Nappanee on the way back. And I saw your parents.
Nathan; Are they ok? What was wrong?
[I took a deep breath.]
Hanna; Your mother is dying.
[I saw his entire world shatter around him. He fell into an endless void of sorrow and despair.]
Nathan; Wh...what’s wrong with her?
[His eye were brimming with tears.]
Hanna; She has brain cancer.
[He shook his head and buried his face in his hands. I pulled him close and he cried into my chest. I was crying. I tried to bring hope back.]
Hanna; There is hope. Bobby is making a cure if she can hold on we might be able to save her.
[It didn’t bring him much hope. He wouldn’t let go of me and I stayed there. I would always be there for him. I tried to calm him. Nothing worked. Until I hummed a gentle tune. He let go of me and sniffed. He wouldn’t look at me and I kept one arm around him. I let him keep eye contact broken.]
Hanna; She wants to see you. She only wants to see you. I will take you there, ok.
[He nodded.]
Hanna; When do you want to leave?
Nathan; As soon as we can.
Hanna; Get packed. We’ll leave today.
[I was driving back to Nappanee that night. I didn’t stop unless we needed to. I wouldn’t let Nathan drive the first two days. There is such a thing as drunk with grief. Then again there is such a thing as drunk with fatigue. I let him drive after that. We made it back to Nappanee. We didn’t stop once or even slow our pace walking to his house. He went in and went straight to his mothers room.]
Nathan; Mother.
[He bent over and gave her a hug.]
Mrs. J; Oh Nathan I missed you so much.

[Mrs. J was crying tears of joy, Nathan tears of sorrow and pain. I left them alone. I felt kind of worthless here. Like I could do some good if I was some where else. His family went into the bed room to greet him. I didn’t want to intrude on any thing so I went out side and sat by the brook. It had been a while since I had sat here. I looked in the water. My hair had grown back, I remember sitting here and cutting it after the fire. There was a house in place of the ruins now. The weather was getting chill now that fall was here. It was so beautiful. Every tree was covered with foliage of gold and orange. Sun set was near and made every thing glow with a ravishing yet exotic light. The potion would be ready in about a week and a half. Time was of the essence. It takes four days to get here from New York {legally} I would leave in about six days if not sooner. I was just so depressed, but I wouldn’t fall to pieces. I would be strong. For Nathan. He needed some one to be there for him and it was gonna be me. I got a chill and goose bumps ran down my arms. As it got darker it got colder. Some things told me to go in others just wanted me to remain outside. So I did. It was sunset and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Nathan sat down next to me. He sighed.]
Hanna; How’s she doing?
Nathan; She’s resting. I can’t believe this is happening.
Hanna; I know. I know.
[His tears were coming again, but he didn’t want comfort he wanted answers. When things like this happen people ask some very stupid and damn near impossible questions. Usually about god. But this Amish boy , would he turn on god? No he wouldn’t turn on him. He would ask him why. And all I could do was try and answer them. Some of them worked and others didn’t. It depends on the person.]
Nathan; Why do you think god is doing this?
Hanna; God has many reasons for doing things.
Nathan; I mean is it a sign, a warning......a punishment.
Hanna; Why would god punish your mother?
Nathan; Not my mother. Me. Maybe I wasn’t ever supposed to leave. Maybe that’s what he’s trying to tell me. God why is he doing this to me!
[This really pissed me off.]
Hanna; Would you listen to your self. God isn’t doing this to punish you. God doesn’t send tragedy and disaster to pay us back for our sins. You of all people should know that! And this isn’t happening to you! Its happening to your mother! He isn’t doing this to you! To your mother!
Nathan; Then how come I feel so lousy? How come I feel guilty?
Hanna; Because. It always affects the people around you. When some thing like this happens every one looks for a reason or an answer and some how find it better to have a wrong answer than be confused. You feel guilty for leaving. Beause of how much she missed you. She could have been perfectly well and you would still feel guilty, but because she’s sick it makes it feel worse. But you and I both know what you did was the right thing.
Nathan; I just don’t know what to do any more.

Hanna; Pray. Be there for her. That’s all you can do. Im leaving in six days and hopefully I’ll be back with some thing that can fix her. All you can do is pray.
Nathan; It all seems so useless now. How can words make any difference?
Hanna; Any thing is possible. You just have to believe.
Nathan; Believe. Do you believe?
Hanna; I believe any many things and prayer is one of them. Im going to the chapel. Please come with me.
[We went we kneeled down in a pew. We were the only ones there after a few minutes I got up and went over to the organ.]
Nathan; I thought you said we were praying.
Hanna; To sing is to pray twice. Its in the bible.
[He could barely smile. To much hurt. I sang Ave Maria in a fine Latin playing with the organ. My music rang through the church Nathan was keeping his head down in thought. I went to my most beautiful and soft voice. I saw him shiver as I changed my notes. I have very little else to tell you right now. Im going to switch to Nathan.]

[Hey. We’re sitting in the church. Im about as down as you can get with out touching the floor. Hanna and I knelt down to pray. I still found it hard to believe that this could really do any good. After while she stepped up to the organ.]
Nathan; I thought you said we were praying.
Hanna; To sing is to pray twice. Its in the bible.
[I knew that of corse. I had read the bible many times. She began to play and sang Ave Maria in Latin. I hadn’t heard a song like that in a long time. The song didn’t affect me as I thought it would. I just didn’t have the heart to believe in it. And Hanna could see that. She changed her voice and it sent a shiver down my spine. I wanted so much to trust in this kind of prayer. It was so beautiful and felt so much more real. I spoke to me not in lyrics, but to my heart. After Ave Maria she began to sing a song I didn’t recognize. It was so different and still prayerful. I listen with all my heart.]
Hanna; I don’t know if you can hear me.
Or if your even there,
And I don’t know if you would listen.
To a Gypsies prayer,
I know Im just an outcast.
I shouldn’t speak to you,

Yet I see your face and wonder
were you once an out cast too.
God help the outcasts,
Hungry from birth,
and give them the justice,
they won’t find on earth.
Please help my people,
The poor and down trod
God help the out casts,
If no body will.
Some ask for wealth.
Others for fame.
Some ask for glory to shine on thy name,
And some for love they can posses
and some for glory to streak past thee.
I ask for nothing
I can’t get by
for I know so many
less lucky than I,
Please help my people.
The poor and down trod.
I thought that we all were children of god.
God help the outcasts.
The children of.....God......
God help the out casts.
The children...of.....God......................
[It was so wonderful. It spoke so much truth and spoke to me. This isn’t about me. This is about my mother. I can’t let it be about me, To do so would be selfish. Maybe that’s what Hanna was trying to tell me. Well she got it pasted me. She played softly and I bowed my head and prayed. I prayed with all my heart and soul. After I was done.]
Hanna; You finally believe. I could feel the power form your prayer. Like you can from my songs. Prayer is the second most powerful tool in the world.
Nathan; What’s the first?
Hanna; Faith.
Nathan; Don’t they come hand in hand?
Hanna; That’s what makes them so powerful.

Nathan; Do you have an answer for every thing?
Hanna; Yes. But the question for others is are you ready to hear the answers?
Nathan; So you know every thing?
Hanna; No.
Nathan; But you just said...
Hanna; I said I had answers for questions. Some are right for others and some aren’t. It all depends on the person. Such complicated things some times cannot be answered with a mere yes or no. And I often tell people they must find their own answers.
Nathan; How can I find my own answers?
Hanna; Look inside your heart. It will lead you right.
[I got up and she stepped down from the organ. She must have tripped or some thing cause she was on the floor the next second. She got up rubbing her head.]
Nathan; Are you ok?
Hanna; I fine. Just tripped.
[We walked back to my house. I told Hanna she could stay in the same room as last time. I went to my room. I missed my bed, I’d been sleeping in a car for the longest time. I flopped on the bed emotionally drained. I looked up at the ceiling. The last time I was in this bed Hanna had snuck out the window and she sang into the night. I wondered if she would do it again. I soon fell asleep. I woke with a start as I heard a crash out side my window. I went to it and opened it. Hanna was wandering around. She looked like she didn’t know where she was. Was she sleep walking oh..... she was dream casting. I remember what happened last time. I had to be careful. I wasn’t called Spy for nothing. I perused her with the greatest of care as she went on. She went into the woods. I climbed up on the trees. She had her back facing me. I jumped behind her and grabbed her hands. She was struggling like her life was at stake. I cover her mouth and locked her legs with mine while keeping a good grip on her hands.]
Nathan; Hanna. Hanna! You have to wake up! Hanna!
[She just kept struggling. My hand slipped and she elbowed me in the groin. I was down on my knees and she bolted. I had barely recovered when I ran for her. I Jumped in front of her and grabbed her hands. I pulled her around to where her back was against my chest. Her nails were digging into my skin.]
Nathan; Damn it Hanna! Wake up!

[Still she struggled. She was too strong for me. She got a hand loose and swung at my face. I ducked and she grabbed my arm and twisted it around my back. I thought it was gonna snap. She pushed me against a tree. What had she told me to in some thing like this? Oh ya. I stuck my foot behind her ankle and pulled her leg out from under neath her. She fell down. I can’t believe I was about to do this, but I had to do some thing. I locked her together as best as I could and drug her to the brook. She was still struggling. She was gonna be so mad. I pushed her in the brook. She got out splashing and shivering. She was giving me a look. I thought I was dead.]
Hanna; Thank you.
[That was a shocker.]
Hanna; Are you all right?
Nathan; Well enough.
[My arm was bleeding where she had sunk her talons into my flesh. We went back into the house. She cleaned up my arm and then went go change. I hoped she wouldn’t get sick from this. That was the last thing I needed to have on my conscience. We sat in the kitchen and I made tea. She was still shivering and then she sneezed. Well it was just my luck. At least her illness wasn’t life threatening. I depressed my self again. I gave her the cup. She blew on it and took a sip.]
Hanna; Thanks. It must be getting worse. I usually wake up a lot earlier than that. Well at least I didn’t hurt you that bad. Or to where it left to many marks.
Nathan; Who are you running from in your dream?
Hanna; You already know that or you wouldn’t have told Derek.
[She spoked calm, but that was another thing on my conscience. I blabbed after giving my word.]
Hanna; Its ok for now. I won’t kill you till your mothers better ah....achoo!
Nathan; Bless you.
Hanna; What exactly were you thinking when you told him?
Nathan; I thought I’d give him a fair warning before you two slept in the same room.
Hanna; Ok. That explains why you would have told him I dream casted, but you didn’t have to tell him what it was about.
Nathan; I know. I guess I got carried away.
Hanna; Oh well. It actually did some good. Derek is a lot happier, since I could use it to my advantage.
Nathan; How?
Hanna; Im not telling you, you little dog. You ever want me to tell you some thing like that you’ll have to earn back my trust. Im probably gonna have to leave sooner.
Nathan; Why?

[I didn’t want her to leave. I didn’t want to say it or even admit it, but it was the truth. I needed her. I never needed some one before.]
Hanna; Well now that Im sick I can’t stay around your mother. Her immune system is weak and if she gets sick well, it wouldn’t be good.
[Guilt. If I could just not have it for one second, but she was right.]
Hanna; Its not your fault.
[Ms. Mind reader.]
Hanna; If you hadn’t pushed me in the brook you’d be a lot less guilty, but you’d be in a few casts also. The last time I broke Mystic’s nose and cut a rather large gash in Derek’s leg.
Nathan; That reminds me. Did he get his power?
Hanna; Yes. He has the power of strength. He lifted a truck off of me after it fell over.
Nathan; Dang. Wait. A truck fell on you.
Hanna; Yeah. It didn’t get to crushing me. I was able to hold it like an inch from my body with my powers. Ah...achoo!
Nathan; Bless you.
[I gave her my handkerchief.]
Hanna; Thanks.

[We both went to bed. I was just lying down. I heard her climb out of her window. I looked out and she levitated her self up to that branch in the tree. I opened my window and went back to bed. Her sweet melody floated through my window. She was singing a Negro spiritual I think. I really liked it. She mixed it in with the gentle hum of her harmonica. I looked ut the window. My mothers window opened and she leaned against the window sill listening to Hanna’s music. She was smiling a genuine smile. All the other times she was just putting on a front. Now she looked very happy. Hanna was the most special of girls. There was no other like her, She had a horrible past and had done so many bad things, but when you really saw her, its like how could some one so perfect have done these things? She had the heart of a saint, the mind of a philosopher, a face that looked like it was carved by angels and a soul only comparable to that of the cherubim and seraphim the highest choirs of angels. Maybe she really was an angel. To what I’ve been taught normal angels looked just like normal people. You can hardly tell they are angels when you meet one and some people never find out. Only by what they do can you really tell. If it weren’t for her past I would say she’s an angel right now. My guardian angel. I looked back to my moms window and she was looking at me and smiling. She could tell I was watching Hanna. I felt so embarrassed. I stuck my head back in, but didn’t close my window. I laid back in my bed and she was switching songs. I had never heard this one before either. I have the feeling this one was hers. And it was just what I was thinking about.]
Hanna; You can’t hear us,
You can’t see us.
But you know that we’re there.
You try to find us
Try to seek us
In your times of despair.
We’re always near you.
We always help you
When you least know or care.
We are the mortal angels
We are as fierce as the cherubim
And as holy as the seraphim
And as sweet as the sound of them
Ringing heavens bells.
We dance to the pulse of Gabriel’s horn.
We heal the sick and bless the new born
But we are that of norm and not adorn.
we are the mortal angels.
Here to guide you back home.
[Oh my god. This song. Could it be true? She’s a mortal angel. She was every thing in that song. Every thing. My angel. I drifted off to sleep. I woke up at dawn. I closed my window and looked out side. She wasn’t there. I got dressed and went to her room. Her bed was made and her bag was gone. There was a letter on her pillow and it said Nathan on the cover. I opened it and read:
Nathan.
By the time you read this I will already be on my way back to the base. I will be back with the cure for your mother. The song I sang last night I wrote for you. I am your guardian angel and will always be there for you. I am the mortal angel. And will cure the sick and bless new born. I love you with all my heart. So sit tight and pray, There is always hope and miracles can happen.
Love Hanna.
P.S. I think your mother wants to talk to you about me.
I folded the letter and pocketed it with a smile on my face. I went to my Mrs. Js room. She was awake and she was in the room alone.]

Mrs. J; Nathan. Come in and sit down. And close the door.
[I obeyed and sat in the chair next to her.]
Mrs. J; Hanna has such a beautiful voice, don’t you think?
Nathan; The most.
Mrs. J; I think her song was true. Every thing that girl has done here has seemed to me like one miracle after another. Im not afraid to die. Even if she doesn’t find the cure.
[I looked up.]
Mrs. J; You get you eaves dropping habit from me Im afraid.
Nathan; How can you not be afraid of dying?
Mrs. J; I was. Then I heard Hanna’s song. It reminded me. Of what greater reward awaits me if I do die. Besides. The most thing I was afraid of was what would happen to you when I die.
Nathan; What do you mean?
Mrs. J; I know you feel guilty for leaving, but I have to say. It was probably the best thing she could have done. Taking you with her. You don’t have a life here. You have a life with her. I know you love her. I knew you loved her from the first time you met her and how much you wanted to be with her. I told your father to let you go.
[I couldn’t believe this. She wanted me to go. She wanted me to leave so I would be happy.]
Mrs. J; I don’t want you to feel guilty any more. I want you to be happy.
[I left her room after a few more minutes. I didn’t feel guilty any more. The knot in my stomach loosened and it eased the pain in my heart, I went to help father with the chores. The crops were almost ready for harvest. I remember standing here plowing the field when I saw Hanna over the horizon. I used to be impressed with her strength. After training so much I could do the same. I could carry two bails at once. I could do every thing faster too. My father was impressed. I could tell he was still holding some thing against me. He didn’t speak to me much and when he did his voice was sort of stiff like he was talking to a stranger instead of his son. It depressed me even further. I wished Hanna was back with us. I missed her. And I was finally realizing how god damn boring it was here. No wonder outsiders never stayed long. I decided to make some of my time here worth while. I went to the woods and trained. I leapt from tree to tree and climbed up the trunk with out using the branches. Charity had followed me.]
Charity; Wow. What on earth are they feeding you over there?
[I jumped down from the tree.]

Nathan; What are you doing here?
Charity; Watching you swing through the trees like spider man.
Nathan; You can’t tell any one.
Charity; I won’t.
Nathan; Seriously.
Charity; I promise. So that is your power?
Nathan; What do you know about powers?
Charity; Your not the only Spy in the family.
Nathan; I can see that.
Charity; How did you get your powers?
Nathan; Im not telling you.
[I grabbed onto on of the branches and swung gently.]
Charity; And why not?
Nathan; Cuz you’ll tell father or some one.
Charity; I don’t blab to other people.
Nathan; No.
Charity; Come on. Please.
Nathan; No.
[I swung over and stood on the branch. She grinned at me and jumped to the higher branch with out using her hands. Oh crap my sister had powers.]
Nathan; When did you get powers?
Charity; You tell me and I’ll tell you.
Nathan; Damn. Fine. I was cornered in a dark ally and was being shot at. Then I jumped onto a building. I ran and got shot in the shoulder.
Charity; Wow.
Nathan; You?
Charity; You first showed signs when Hanna came and started training you right?
Nathan; Yeah.
Charity; I dug up that gun father buried and shot at a target. Shootings fun. I could hit the middle of the target. Buried it when the bullets ran out.
Nathan; I don’t believe you.
Charity; Your one to talk. You’re the one who ran off to go kill people for a living.
Nathan; For your information I haven’t killed a single person.
Charity; Yet.
[I opened my mouth to argue, but she was right. I would have to kill some one eventually.]

Charity; Any way Im not as far along as you. All I can do is jump and spy. Not to well. I tried to follow Hanna around to see if she could tell I was there.
Nathan; Caught you every time?
Charity; Yeah.
Nathan; Not surprising. I only got past her once and she still figured it out.
Charity; Do you think she’s an angel? She seems like she could be one.
Nathan; Maybe.
[We went back home after a while. Charity was a better cook that when I left. I guess she got practice when mom got sick, Kind of made me feel sorry for Dad and Elizabeth though. I went to bed and prayed. It has been a while since I’ve prayed before bed. The next five days went by with no problems, but on the sixth day we couldn’t wake mom up. She had a pulse and was breathing. She had gone into a coma. I hoped Hanna would get back soon with the cure. It was like she had already died. She didn’t move or speak. My father wanted us to stay with her, but I couldn’t stand to look at her. I never felt so helpless in my life. I wanted Hanna, I wanted her to come back. I needed her. Four days later mom ran a high fever. My father stayed at her side twenty four/ seven trying to get it to go down. Her breathing was weak and death was looming close. I was going through withdrawal. I just couldn’t be sad any more and it was the worst feeling when you can’t grieve. I left her room and went out side. I sat on an upturned bucket. I looked over the horizon and saw some one coming. I stood up. It was Hanna, oh praise the lord it was her. She came to the door and I hugged her. We went inside and to my mothers room. Her chest was gently rising and falling. Hanna opened her bag and took out a cup, two bottles a big one and a small one, and a syringe. She shook the big bottle and poured the contents in the cup. She gave it to my father and he poured it down her throat. She took the syringe and filled it from the smaller bottle. She rolled up my moms sleeve and injected it into her arm.]
Hanna; Now all we can do is wait and pray.
[My father thanked her and she left. I followed. We sat at the table. Hanna looked really crappy. I wondered if she was still sick. ]
Hanna; We should be able to see the results in the morning.
Nathan; I hope it works.
Hanna; Me too.
Nathan; Are you alright? You don’t looks so well.
Hanna; Im fine. Im just a little tired.
Nathan; Why don’t you go lie down and get some rest.

[She got up and walked to her room. I heard a thump and went to see. She was on the ground again getting up.]
Nathan; Are you sure your all right?
Hanna; I think so.
[It wasn’t all that reassuring.]
Hanna; Its ok. I just need to lie down.
Nathan; Ok.
[She got into bed and I left. Had she seen the doctor yet? If she hadn’t maybe the delay is doing some thing to her. I remember her in the chapel getting up rubbing her head. I looked in on her every now and then to make sure she wouldn’t get up in her sleep. She had her hands under her back as she slept. I came one more time and she was up trying to get through the window, but she was having some trouble. Her hands were cuffed behind her back. She had to sleep with hand cuffs. I touched her on the shoulder with caution she turned and was about to scream. I covered her mouth. It was a good thing I had closed the door. I was wrestling her again. Her cuffed hands made it easier than before. But I had to sit on top of her and hold her down.
Just then the door opened and Charity looked at me almost straddling Hanna with her handcuff still on. I was about to speak, but she held up her hand and shook her head.]
Charity; I saw nothing.
[And with that she closed the door and left. I couldn’t snap her out of it. There was no water here to revive her. I did some thing else that I thought for sure she’d kill me for. I slapped her on the face. She just froze and blinked rapidly her head cocked to the side. Her head rolled back in exasperation.]
Hanna; Once. Just once could I sleep with out this happening.
[She walked over to the night stand and grabbed the keys to the cuffs and unlocked her self. They had cut into her wrists when she struggled. They were bleeding. She rubbed them.]
Hanna; I must act like a maniac. I didn’t hurt you did I?
Nathan; No. The cuffs were a big help.
Hanna; Well Im gonna have to sleep with them on until I can get my head fixed.
Nathan; You still haven’t seen the doctor?
Hanna; No. Haven’t had time.
Nathan; I think its really starting to get to you.
[She ran her fingers through her hair. Some thing was wrong. And it was bad. She always ran her fingers through her hair when some thing was wrong.]
Nathan; Some things wrong.

Hanna; What makes you say that?
[I gave her a look like Im not stupid.]
Hanna; Ok fine. My thoughts are getting backed up and my brains on the verge of another melt down. I’ll leave as soon as Im sure your mothers ok.
Nathan; The moment she wakes up we are out of here.
[She was looking at me strangely.]
Nathan; What?
Hanna; I think you just gave me an order.
[This made her happy some how. Maybe she was more sick than I thought. She just shook her head.]
Hanna; Never mind.
[Her eyes were dark and her face was pail. I sat next to her and held her hand. I grabbed it with both hands. Her hands were like ice. I let go and put my hand to her fore head. She had a fever. She was staring at some thing I couldn’t see, taking no notice of my check up.]
Nathan; Hanna?
Hanna; Huh?
Nathan; Your sick.
Hanna; What makes you say that?
[Now she was just scaring me.]
Nathan; You have a fever.
[She felt her fore head.]
Hanna; Wow. I didn’t even feel it.
Nathan; You need to get some sleep.
Hanna; What if I...?
Nathan; Don’t worry. I’ll make sure nothing happens..
[She nodded and got into bed. I went into the kitchen for a second and came back. She was asleep. I took a chair by her bed. Now I wasn’t sure who was really dying. My mother or Hanna. You know this was strange. Every time Hanna did some thing to save some one else it always ended up happening to her. Some thing like it. Could it be a coincidence? Every time she looked as if she was going to get up I touched her and soothed her and she lay still again. If I did this the whole night she just might get a full nights sleep. I did this for hour after hour. It was tedious, but I owed it to her to at least do this. Charity came in and saw me pushing her back down as she tried to sit up again.]
Charity; What’s wrong?
Nathan; Close the door.

[She did.]
Nathan; She’s sick and she keeps on trying to get up in her sleep.
Charity; She sleep walks?
Nathan; Sort of except if you get in her way she’ll hurt you.
Charity; What’s wrong with her?
Nathan; It has some thing to do with her powers. How’s mom?
Charity; She’s actually doing better. She getting the color back in her cheeks.
Nathan; Good. After she wakes up I have to take Hanna to a doctor.
Charity; Your leaving so soon.
Nathan; I have to. Hanna’s powers are linked to her mind and if I don’t get her there soon some thing really bad is going to happen.
Charity; Ok. But what do you think dad is going to say?
Nathan; I don’t know, but Im gonna have to leave either way.
Charity; She’s lucky to have you. Good night.
Nathan; Good night. And mouth shut.
[She locked it and threw away the key. Hanna remained still for a very long time. I accidently nodded off. I woke at dawn and she was still in bed asleep. I took a chance to go to moms room. She was awake and smiling. I was smiling so wide. I went over and hugged her. My father was asleep. I pushed him and he woke.]
John; Honey. Oh your alright.
[He hugged and kissed her.]
Mrs. J; I don’t know what she did, but it was indeed a miracle.
[Elizabeth and Charity came in. They were so happy. They were all crying tears of joy.]
Mrs. J; Is Hanna here? I want to thank her.
[I went to her room.]
Nathan; Hanna. Hanna.
[I nudged her. She didn’t move.]
Nathan; Hanna. Hanna!
[I was shaking her. She wouldn’t wake up. I checked and she had a pulse she wouldn’t wake. I went back to my mother room.]
John; Where is she?
Nathan; Hanna’s sick and she won’t wake up.
Mrs. J; What?
Nathan; I have to bring her to a doctor.
John; We need to take her to a hospital.

Nathan; We can’t take her to a hospital. Look Hanna’s not normal and she needs a special doctor. I need to take the buggy back into town so I can drive her there.
John; I’ll come with you.
[I kissed my mother and sisters good bye. I grabbed Hanna’s bag and my stuff and put them in the buggy. My father was hooking Charley up to the reins. I went back inside and wrapped her in the blanket and carried her out to the buggy. She was very light so it wasn’t hard. My dad helped me get her up and I sat with her laying in my lap. My dad snapped the reins and we were on our way to town. It took half an hour to get there. I was glad no one took the car. My dad helped me get her down. I put her in the front seat and reclined the back.]
John; Wow. That’s some car.
Nathan; Thanks for your help.
John; Any time son. I hope she gets better.
[I got in the drivers seat and started the car. He was kind of surprised that I knew how to drive. I waved bye and I drove off. She said it was in Springfield Illinois. It would take about a day to get there and find the joint. I drove non stop. I stopped at a gas station and looked in the yellow pages for the doctors name. It was the only Doctor Central in Springfield. It was about a mile from here. I drove there and brought her in. The line wasn’t exactly long. There were two people to see him. I went up to the receptionist.]
Receptionist; Can I help you?
Nathan; She needs to see Dr .Central right away.
Rec.; What’s her name?
Nathan; Hanako Benghal.
Rec; I don’t see her name here would it be in some thing else.
Nathan; Uh. Mental.
Rec; Oh. That’s Mental. Take her to the second room on the right and the doctor will be right in.
[I brought her there. I hated doctors offices. They made me squeamish, with all the metal instruments I placed her on the small examining bed. There were several medical charts and posters. I opened one of the drawers and closed it with hast. I opened it once more. There was half a human brain under a plate of glass in this drawer. I could feel all the color drain from my face. What kind of psycho was this guy? I closed it and dare I? I opened the next one. This one had one of the most strange and painful looking instruments I had ever seen. I closed the drawer and in came the doctor. It was a woman and her name tag said Central.]
Dr .C; Hello. Im Doctor Central. You must be Nathan. You can call me Doctor C.

Nathan; Uh. N..nice to meet you. Do mind if I ask wh..why you have a brain in that drawer?
Dr .C; Oh that. Don’t worry he was dead when I took it out of him. At least I think. Any way he was an organ donor and he donated his brain to science. Oh man. Poor Hanna.
[She examined her with a stethoscope and one of those ear tools. She brought out a small X-Ray machine and held it over her head and turned off the lights and turned on the machine. I could see Hanna’s skull and brain. This was making me queasy.]
Nathan; I think I’ll just step out side.
Dr .C; Nope. Don’t go any where. I might need your help.
Nathan; M..my help.
Dr .C; Yeah don’t worry just sit tight. Oo. She’s got a pretty big leak. Its all backed up, I’ll need to drain it. [She got that very painful looking instrument from the drawer. Oh I didn’t want to watch this, but..]
Dr .C; Come here for a second. I need you to hold her head in place.
[I was on the verge of nervous collapse, but I went over and held her head. She phased her hands through her skull with the instrument in her hand. I could see it all on the screen. She screwed it into the hole that holding her extra thoughts. It started to drain. It came out like a wisp of smoke and you could hear it. It was like listing to her memories. Once she drained it she took out the instrument. Her hands were covered in blood. My eyes started to go out of focus. ]
Dr .C; Come on boy. Don’t wimp out on me now. Im almost done.
[She stuck her hands back in and sewed up the leak. She took her hands out and took off her bloody gloves. She turned off the machine and then turned on the lights. There was blood on the floor. I had to sit down.]
Dr .C; Nauseous?
[I nodded.]
Dr .C; Put your head in between your knees and put your hands on the back of your head. And take deep breaths.
[I did and found It made me feel better. When I looked up again the blood was gone. She was righting on a chart.]

Dr .C; When she wakes up she will have the biggest head ache in the world. Keep her away from loud noises and bright lights. My receptionist will give her some medicine. She should take one pill a day until the bottle is empty. It is very important that she finish off the bottle. And when she wakes up she will have an out break of visions. She will be sick for a while and I will give her a wheel chair. Now. This is going to be kind of different, but she won’t exactly be her self for the first two days. After that if she is having any problems bring her back. Ok.
[It was kind of confusing and I think she thought so. She gave me a slip of paper, she had written every thing down. The doctor left and a nurse came in. She had a wheel chair. And she gave me a bag. It had sun glasses, earplugs and her pills. I put her in the wheel chair and rolled her back to the car. I made her comfortable and put her stuff on her. I got in the drivers seat and we were on our way. I had to stop and get gas. It took four days to get back to the base. She woke up about an hour after we left. She just stared ahead for a while. She was having a vision. She snapped out of it.]
Nathan; What did you see?
[She grabbed the wheel and swerved us to the right just as a car was about to hit us. ]
Nathan; Oh.
[She fell back with a thump.]
Nathan; Hanna?
[She giggled. She really wasn’t her self. She wasn’t acting like she was even sane. But after those two days she was back to normal. Which wasn’t the best thing either. Her head was killing her and she was running a high fever. I told her the doctors orders. When we made it back to the base she couldn’t walk so I wheeled her in. I ran into Mystic as we went in.]
Mystic; Whoa. What happened to you?
Hanna; I just had brain surgery.
[He understood what she meant. I took her to her room and helped her into bed. Me and Mystic went to the rec-room.]
Mystic; How bad was she?
Nathan; I couldn’t wake her up a few days ago. I drove there and she operated on her it was so gross.
Mystic; You watched?
Nathan; The doctor wanted me to hold her head still.
Mystic; Oh man.
[ Even he was repulsed by the idea.]
Nathan; She’s going to be sick for a while and she’s on some sort of medication. It will take her three weeks to totally recover.
Mystic; Not good. The doc isn’t going to like this, Not one bit.

[I was really tired having not slept in while. I went to my room and laid down. Never had I felt such a strange feeling of relief. Well after two of the most important people in my almost died it was a bit predictable. I looked up at the ceiling for a while and soon drifted off. I woke up some time in the middle of the night. I yawned and looked at the clock. It was one thirty. I had slept through dinner so I went to the rec-room to get some thing. Hanna was there. She was just sitting there in the dark.]
Nathan; Hanna? What are you doing in here?
Hanna; I couldn’t stand my room any more.
Nathan; How are you feeling?
Hanna; My head is killing me and it feels very empty now. I heard the doctor wanted your help during the procedure.
Nathan; Uh. Don’t remind me.
Hanna; It wasn’t that bad was it?
Nathan; It was worse.
Hanna; Was there lots of blood?
Nathan; It was all over the floor.
[It was grossing me out all over again. I was starting to loose my appetite.]
Hanna; Thanks for all your help.
Nathan; Hey. I owed you big.
Hanna; Well now we’re even.
Nathan; What did you see after you were unblocked?
Hanna; Nothing too good. Some of it already happened. Who is Emily Butcher?
[Oh how did she see that?]
Nathan; Emily...Bu...Butcher. Sh..she uh. She was a friend of mine.
Hanna; Really. I saw her riding with you in your buggy.
Nathan; I was just driving her home.
[Her mouth fell open. She more wise to our ways than I thought. When you give a girl a ride in your buggy it’s a sign of great affection. You drive her through the town so every one can see. Like screaming I love you from a mountain top. Only more discreet.]
Hanna; How long ago did you break it off with her?
Nathan; I uh...uh..uh
[The truth. I never really did. We were still “going out” when I left. I completely and totally forgot about her.]
Hanna; Stop stammering.
[I closed my mouth. She found this all like not really a big deal even though she spoke the words.]
Hanna; Doesn’t matter. Just wanted to know who she was.

[She looked tired. She had on a kimono over her cloths. She pulled it closer. I suspected she was running a fever again. She grabbed her head very suddenly. Before I even asked.]
Hanna; Im fine. Im going back to bed. Night.
Nathan; Good night.
[She wheeled her self out and I sighed and went to the machine. A couple of snack cakes and a glass of milk later. I went back to my room. I stepped out in the hall and Hanna was lying on the floor. She had fallen out of her chair and was unconscious. I ran to her and lifted her head. Her eyes were half way opened. I picked her up and carried her back to her room. I felt her head. She was burning up and her face was covered in sweat. I got a wash cloth and wet it in the sink and came back and wiped her face. She was shivering. I covered her up good and put the cool cloth on her head. My mother would do this when I had a fever. I went back out in the hall and got her chair and brought it in her room. I wanted to stay with her, but that was a definite no. So I left her and went back to my room. I couldn’t sleep for a while. I was worried about her, but I soon found sleep. I woke up again at five. I went and check on her. Her fever was still present. I went and wet the cloth again. I brought it back and wiped her face. Her eyes opened a bit.]
Hanna; Nathan?
Nathan; Its ok. Just go back to sleep.
Hanna; I love you.
[She closed her eyes again. My heart ached to see her so sick. I put the cloth back on her head and fixed her blankets. The bell rang and her eyes snapped open and she screamed in pain. I quickly covered her ears till it stopped.]
Hanna; Oh my god. The doc wasn’t kidding.
[Her eyes were full of tears from the pain. I had to leave though. I got her situated and ran to the training room. I was just on time. We were doing the same things as always only we were doing more of it. We did a hundred push ups, sit ups, and jumping jacks then thirty laps. Derek was fine with this for some reason. While we were running I had to ask him.]
Nathan; What did you do when you were training with Hanna?
Derek; Just this. Every thing a hundred times and thirty laps.
Nathan; Oh man.

[After the laps we got a five. Then it was the course. We had to do it eight times before we were allowed to go. After lunch we did some sparing and then some weight training. Derek was now lifting three times his usual weight. Mystic was riding Bobby’s ass. Im pretty sure it was because he didn’t like him. When he didn’t like some one he wasn’t bent on hiding it. After we finished training we went to dinner. After that I grabbed a shower and went to see Hanna. She was still asleep. I check her temp and that god damned fever wouldn’t go away. I wet the towel and did the same thing. I woke her up and gave her, her pill and she went back to sleep. I went to my room for a while and then to the rec-room. I sat down next to Derek.]
Derek; Hey mister nurse.
[There were snickers. It amazed me how immature these people were. I gave him a look and he cut it out.]
Derek; Seriously. How’s she doing?
Nathan; Not good. I can’t get her fever to go down. And last night she passed out in the hall way.
Derek; I hope she gets better soon. I can’t take much more of Mystic.
Bobby; Here, here.
[It was a damn good thing he wasn’t around. Time passed by very sluggishly. By the time three weeks came to an end Hanna was about to go stir crazy. The doc gave her back her position and the next day she was back in her element. Bossing us around. After training she went back to the training room though. Mystic was in there with her. Spy be thy name. She was lifting weights and was having a hard time of it.]
Mystic; Gotten a little weak there haven’t we?
Hanna; You spend three weeks in bed and still be able to lift two twenty.
[She tried to do one more, but nearly half way up she admitted defeat.]
Hanna; Damn it.
Mystic; Hey don’t sweat it babe. You’ll get every thing back soon enough.
[He always called her babe and I hated it so much. He was the only one who could get away with some thing like that.]
Hanna; The docs got another mission for us. Its going to involve some spy work. So its me you, Kenya and Nathan.
Mystic; What’s the mission?
Hanna; There is a doctor who is making a new kind of weapon for Bio-tech. He’s holding a big Im the smartest guy alive party. We have to go under cover and find out what he’s making.
Mystic; Sounds simple enough.
Hanna; This guy is supposed to be a master in traps. So we will have to be very careful.

[We left for this mission two days later. It was In New Jersey. We were all in some thing fancy . Some sort of butler answered the door. We pretended to mingle with the guests. We saw the doctor. Kind of typical for evil genius. He had white hair, a cane and an eye patch. One by one we slipped out into a separate room.]
Hanna; Ok the lab is under ground. We need to spread out and try to find a way in.
[A woman was backing in as if trying to elude some one. She turned and jumped. God this woman was huge. She was pregnant, but what was she having one baby or five?]
Otsune; Im sorry. I didn’t know any one was in here. I’ll just...
[We didn’t get a chance to hear the rest as all of us were just dropped from the floor. It was a trap door. We all landed rather hard in a dark very cold room. Mystic lit the room with a handful of blue fire. We could hear the doctors voice.]
Dr; Well, well. What have we here? A few spy’s perhaps. Well no matter. Its not like you’ll escape any way. I hope you enjoy your stay.
[The room was solid metal. We all tried to break out. Magic, no good, mental blast, nope, I climbed up to the top and the door was sealed tight. Kenya couldn’t phase through the walls either.]
Dr.; I think you will find my room complete and totally freak proof. I hate to dash, but I have a party to host. Ta, ta.
[That was the last we heard of him.]
Mystic; Damn it. How are we gonna get out of here?
Hanna; I don’t know. We just need to come up with a plan.
Otsune; I knew he was up to some thing.
[The lady was with us. Oh how could it get any worse. It soon would.]
Hanna; What’s your name?
Otsune; Otsune. And you are some sort of spy’s. UWPA no doubt.
Mystic; What do you know about UWPA?
Otsune; Enough. You guys aren’t the only spy’s here. Im from the CIA.
Hanna; They put you on a case?
Otsune; Hey. Im the most competent agent they have. And apparently they don’t know the meaning of maternity leave.
Mystic; What ever. We just got to come up with some thing.
[No one got any thing. It was getting very cold. There were some crates so we broke them up and made a fire. We ran out of things to talk about after a more thorough introduction. The room was kind of spacious , but it warmed up fast. Otsune got up and paced as we were trying to think of some thing, then.]

Otsune; Uh oh.
Hanna; What?
Otsune; My water just broke,
Mystic; You have got to be kidding me.
Otsune; Do I look like Im kidding?
[This was the last thing I wanted to happen. Being trapped in a room with a woman going into labor. Hanna was the most advanced in medicine here plus the only other woman. She hung up a tarp from one side of the wall to check her out. Mystic was looking really pissed. Like he was going to kill some one. That’s when we heard a moan from the other side of the curtain. ]
Hanna; You are really coming along. How many?
Otsune; The doctor said fou.......roh my god!
Hanna; There a minute apart.
Otsune; Im gonna kill my boss. I didn’t really want to have my kids in an evil guys trap.
Hanna; Yeah well. I was pretty sure that’s against the law.
[After about fifteen minutes of screaming.]
Hanna; Ok your fully dilated. You need to get ready to push.
[There were the most disgusting sounds coming from the other side.]
Kenya; This is so nasty, man.
Nathan; Yeah and you know we just trapped in a room with it.
[She screamed and pushed for about another hour.]
Hanna; We’re getting no where. Guys. I need some help.
[We all look at each other.]
Kenya; I ain’t going.
Nathan; No way.
Mystic; Forget it.
Hanna; All of you get your asses in here!
Mystic; Not a chance.
Hanna; If you get over here I will come over there and......
[We all got up. What ever she was planning to do she would do it. This was so nasty.]
Hanna; Ok. Kenya and Nathan grab one of her legs and push it back. Mystic grab a knife and have her back.
[We did, this was so, so, so wrong, on so many different levels. But we each grabbed one of her legs and pushed it back. Mystic gave her the knife and got behind Otsune’s back. She grabbed his hand and he had her shoulders.]

Otsune; Oh god, oh god. I can’t do this any more.
[Hanna looked at Mystic as if to say do some thing.]
Mystic; Uh. Did you take Lammas?
Otsune; No.
Mystic; Ok, uh. Breath deep and hold it. Let it out.
[She did what he told her to do. What the hell did Mystic know about this stuff? He was friggen teaching the woman how to breath.]
Hanna; Get ready to push.
Mystic; Deep breath and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
[She pushed for ten seconds and then stopped with a moan. She caught her breath and then again. Hanna took up the knife and cut some thing.]
Hanna; Quick I need some thing to cover it with. Some thing soft and warm.
[There went Kenya’s shirt. There was a crying baby now lying near Hanna and three more on the way. For some reason it wasn’t that gross any more. It was actually kind of cool. Along came the second, Mystic was coaching her through this all. Then the third. She was getting tired, but Mystic taught her a new breathing technique. I was looking at him with a bemused expression.]
Mystic; Hey don’t give me that look.
[I withdrew my gaze. And then came the fourth. Otsune was exhausted. I couldn’t blame her. We had all given up a shirt for these babies, and it was a good thing Hanna was wearing an undershirt.]
Otsune; Hey Mystic. You got a real name?
Mystic; My names Ryosei.
[ Hanna cleaned her up and now she could get some rest. She was soon asleep. We each were holding a baby around the camp fire. Three boys and one girl.]
Hanna; I give you Asako Hanako Hiroyama.
Nathan; Senoskei Nathaniel Hiroyama.
Kenya; Keisuke Kenya Hiroyama.
Mystic; And Ryosei Settan Hiroyama.
Nathan; I can’t believe she gave her kids our names.
Hanna; I can’t believe she made me and Mystic the god parents.
Mystic; Hey you delivered her babies.
[I still can’t believe she gave her child his first name. We put the babies with the sleeping mother. Kenya fell asleep and I just dozed for a bit. They thought I was asleep.]
Hanna; How did you know how to do all that stuff?
Mystic; The same way you did. Its happened before.

Hanna; You got trapped some where with a pregnant woman?
Mystic; Yeah. It kind of sucked.
Hanna; What happened?
Mystic; I was doing the same thing and mother died right there in my arms.
Hanna; How horrible. What about the baby?
Mystic; It lived. The father never showed up, so he went up for adoption.
Hanna; Your right that does suck. What was his name?
Mystic; The doctor had me name him. So some where there is a little Latino boy with a Japanese name. His name is Haru Dayu Daniels.
Hanna; Better than John Doe. Any ways you did great and Im sure the mother really appreciates it.
Mystic; One more thing.
Hanna; Huh?
Mystic; Can you fix my hand?
[He held up his left hand. It had deep gouge marks in it and it looked like some of the bones were broken.]
Mystic; That woman has a grip let me tell you.
[She bandaged his hand. And they soon both fell asleep. I looked over at mother and children. I would never forget what happened and that would probably keep me from having kids. I rolled over and went to sleep. I woke up a while later. Otsune was up and she was working on some thing.]
Nathan; Hey. What ya doing?
Otsune; Getting us out of here.
[I went and sat by her.]
Nathan; What is it?
Otsune; A laser to cut a hole in the wall.
[She was really tired I could tell.]
Nathan; Must not have been your idea of a good birthing room.
Otsune; I don’t know. Being surrounded, by hot guys with out shirts during labor was pretty cool.
[I laughed. ]
Otsune; Oh well. At least its not a cab, or a bus or some thing like that. That would have been worse.
[She put the finishing touches and soon had a laser gun. I thought it was pretty sweet.]
Otsune; Ok troops. Time to wake up and get the hell out of here.
Hanna; I was waiting for some one to say that.

[They woke far easier than they would at the base. Hanna cut a good sized hole in the wall on the right side. We each grabbed a kid and we all crawled out of there. Me and Hanna handed ours over to Otsune. We were going for the weapon and plans.]
Hanna; Ok guys. You find a way out and well meet you. Later.
[We headed down an opposite hall way. I had to sneak ahead and disconnect cameras. It took us three wrong turns and a few traps to get there. It was a huge room with a giant machine in the center. And several plans, disks and other things on a computer desk.]
Hanna; Ok you grab the plans and any thing else that looks important I’ll disassemble the machine.
[I grabbed disks marked things like plan one and a really nice red one marked dooms day. I rolled up plans and put them all in the bag. Hanna was destroying the machine. Ripping out wires slashing the computer chips to bits. Bending steel and pulling out gears and belts. She took some thing very strange out of the middle it was a blue sphere with what looking like a blue ball of lightning in the middle. She put this in her pocket and proceeded to smashing the machine. I was just about done when.]
Guy; No! The Machine!
Guy 2; Get them!
[They pulled guns and started shooting. Hanna ducked behind the machine and pulled out her Glock. She jumped out and started shooting. She dropped two of the guys and more kept on coming. I pulled out my gun and took down six guys with my six bullets. I ducked behind the wall in the hall way. I reloaded and dropped six more. But man these things were like roaches. I took out one and two more took his place. Hanna pulled out grenade. She pulled the pin waited and then threw. We covered our ears and heads as the explosion took place. After the smoke cleared there was many heaps of mutilated bodies on the ground. Of corse. I shot twelve guys with out killing them and she goes and blows them up. We stood up and walked over to each other. We were kind of mad at each other.]
Hanna; If you can’t shoot to kill you will be killed.
Nathan; I don’t have to kill a guy to stop him.
[At that moment one of the guys I spared fired at me. Hanna pushed me out of the way. She gave the guy a lead bullet between the eyes.]
Hanna; Damn it I told you!

[Then came another swarm of men. We grabbed the stuff and Hanna put a bomb on the wall. We ran for our lives. We finally reached the exit. We slammed the doors and stuck a metal bar through the door handles.]
Hanna; Every ones out right?
Mystic; Yeah.
[She took the detonator out of her pocket and pushed the button. The bomb leveled the house.]
Kenya; Awesome.
[The control fell from her hand and she dropped to her knees.]
Mystic; Hanna!
[Her side was bleeding. She must have gotten shot when she pushed me out of the way. Mystic knelt beside her and looked at her wound.]
Mystic; Damn it.
[He took the first aid kit from her back. She laid back on the ground and he wrenched the bullet out with a pair of forceps. Se winced, but nothing more. Then he took a bottle of antiseptic and poured that on the wound again only a wince. Man this was a tough woman. He bandaged her up and we left. She was still losing blood. We made it back to the car. Kenya drove and Mystic was fixing up Hanna in the back seat.]
Mystic; I don’t get it. The bleeding should have stopped by now.
Hanna; Give me the forceps.
[He did and she dug in her own wound. I would never get that used to blood ever. She took out a piece of what looked like the bullet.]
Mystic; What the?
Hanna; Either those people are cheap or they are clever. They used glass bullets so when it hit me it shattered.
[That did the trick. It stopped bleeding after that. We gave Otsune a ride to the hospital. She had to get her kids checked over.]
Otsune; Thanks for every thing guys.
Mystic; No big.
[She gave him a particular smile and we drove off. Upon making it back to the base, Hanna got treated and then they all went in Dr .T’s office for a meeting. I wasn’t invited so Im switching this over to your dark man, Mystic.]

To be continued...

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RosettaMoon: *sob* if this story was tangible I'd burn it. But if you like it give me a little hope. Please review.