The present...
"Ugh...", Matthias groaned in pain as he woke up with a terrible headache. "Where the hell am I?"
"Good evening, cutie boy." A high pitched feminine voice rang into his brain, piercing his ears as he tried to focus on the sound. "Wakie wakie... I believe that's you say to the kids, right?"
Matthias only grumbled at the woman, whose voice sounded very irritating to him. It was like the sound of a pair of cheese graters being forcefully banged together as if they were sandpaper and wood. "Please shut up, your voice annoys me and makes my head hurt more than it already does. It is like a bunch of cracked cymbals!"
"Aw, darling. Brave words for someone strapped to a chair." The lights went on. It appeared that they were in a stark white room, with white lights and a seemingly flawless white background. It was a classic example of the 'bad guys use white' trope, though this could also be a case of sensory deprivation called white room torture waiting to unfold. Matthias indeed found himself strapped unto a chair, though it was not the chair that was special. Instead, it was the collar around his neck; a metallic thing with a single glowing blue light on the center. "And a power dampening collar."
"What is it that you want?", Matthias demanded, barely noticing the blood dripping from his noise. "Who are you?"
"Oh, dear, who am I is not at all relevant.", the high pitched woman replied. "Nor is it what I want. I'm just here for the cash benefits and the... very attractive pension plan. What is relevant, however..."
She circled around the strapped man, her high heels making visible clicks on the floor. "... is what my employers want."
"I'm guessing, the... what was it again, the Organization?", Matthias forcefully chuckled, "I'll tell you what, you have a boring ass name for a company."
"That name is only a cover story." The lady finally faced him; she was a lot shorter than expected, perhaps no more than 5'3", and looked really young; perhaps just 18 or 19. Her eyes were an iridescent curelean in color, and her silky blind hair was set in a long, rebonded style that would make shampoo models jealous. "I myself do not know anything about it, except for what they pay me to know."
A closer look to her face triggered a sense of familiarity in Matthias. Those cerulean eyes... he'd seen it before. But...
Case 17...
These two words popped into heads as he looked upon her face, her identity being clear as the light of day.
"Susan Walker...?", Matthias said lowly to her. Where am I going with this?, he thought. Am I trying to appeal to her humanity... and the fact that I saved her damn life?!
"I don't know that name," the woman replied as coldly as the damnest of winters. "I am Earthshaker."
"Wow, so they gave you new name and suddenly you don't remember who you were." Matthias scoffed, though deep inside, his heart hurt, as he had been in the rescue operation that saved this girl's life. It took everything he had not to break down right then and there. "You're Susan Walker, not Earthshaker or whatever name the Organization gave you. I was the one that saved you six months ago!"
"Don't try to deceive me, green fire man. You cannot persuade me from the life that I have been given!", Earthshaker stepped away from Matthias, slowly and menacingly (as much as her small stature could allow). "I am the best version of myself!"
She's gone mad...
"Alright, alright, whatever, Earthshaker." Matthias gave up in trying to turn her back to the innocent little young lady that he and Yuki saved from a kidnapping attempt. She was gone too far, brainwashed or whatever. "What do your employers want?"
"Simple. The cryokinetic, the psyker, and the dimensional manipulator. You know who that is."
Memories of him taking the kids out unto a dinner out flashed past his mind. "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists. Either surrender yourselves or just kill me. The good doctor will not give you what you want. I have sworn an oath to protect my own kind from exploitation, and I'd rather die than betray them, unlike you."
"Duuuude, you're not even American," Earthshaker chuckled rather annoyingly. "You're a Swede. Helstrom's a Swedish name, right?"
"Why-"
"Oh, so you're that kind of immigrant." Earthshaker sighed. "Well, the offer still stands. Just scream if you change your mind."
She then held up her hand... and the chair began to vibrate rapidly. "Or you can just scream in pain... depends on my mood for the day."
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"Gustav, talk to me," Lee rushed towards the young technopath, who was still yelling at the radio for a response. "What happened?"
"Stravinsky and the Powells got Yuki and Matthias, doctor." Gustav seemed to be shaking uncontrollably, and was on the verge of bursting into tears. "It... it's my fault..."
"No, Gustav. It isn't.", Lee placed her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it to comfort him. "We had no way of knowing it was a trap, other than assuming it is. It's... my fault. It's my lapse in judgement that got them into trouble. How about the other two?"
"They're not responding, too, doctor Lee." Gustav replied rather shakily. "They're... in suspended animation, if these biosigns are of any indication."
"Andrea got them. Damn it!" Lee threw a pencil unto the table, causing it to splinter into two pieces with a violent crack. "I should have anticipated this! Now they're all captured by our enemy, and we know absolutely nothing about them other than their damn, uncreative stupid ass name!"
"What happened?" Ray poked his head through the open door to the computer room, a look of worry etched on his face. "I am guessing nothing good based on the shouting...?"
"It was a trap." Gustav said to him. "I don't know why, or how, but somehow, they anticipated that a technopath or a hacker would unravel their transmission. That's fifth dimensional thinking right there. I even hacked the cameras that were on the way to their destination so that no one would see it coming."
"That's... terrible..." Ray walked into the room, looking even more worried. "I'm guessing you don't know what happened after communications cut out... right?"
"Nah ah." Gustav shook his head. "I can't access the hotel's cameras... for some reason. I just can't get in. Only explanation for that is there is someone like me in there. Another technopath."
"If you're going to say that you kids are gonna help," Lee said with arms crossed, "The answer is still no."
"But..."
"They wouldn't want you to go after them just to be added to the enemy's collection, Raymundo. I'm calling the director for reinforcements. Just stay put."
"Okay..."
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"Chyort- what? We still can't help?"
Nikolai paced back and forth in the room, frustrated that their assistance was still deemed unneeded and unnecessary. "You heard what the doctor said about us, right? We become more powerful when together, so let's use that to our advantage!"
"Which is exactly why they want us, Nik.", answered Ray from beneath a double decker bunk. "Who knows what they'll do to us if we are captured. We could get brainwashed. Or worse. Get probed ana-"
"Bruh." Caitlin rolled her eyes while leaning on the doorframe. "That's alien stuff. And that's disgusting."
"Anyway, I think we should stay put. The doctor has already called to be reinforced. I know, Matthias and Yuki had been very kind to us, and those other two have been... around, but as much as I hate to admit it, she's right. They will not want us to just add to the enemy's collection-"
Nikolai looked upon with a fiery glare, as his hands began to shimmer with a purple field of energy. "To hell with that. I'm going."
"You reckless hothead..."
"And you're, what, scared?" Nikolai stepped towards Ray, the energy on his hands beginning to intensify. "You're just afraid! You've always been, and I-, we have always been the ones that have defended you. Can't even hit back at the bullies for tormenting you... and it makes me sad. Very much so."
Ray just sat there, silent for a few moments before he broke the quiet. "... alright... If there's anything worse than doing something dumb, it's doing it alone."
"That's the spirit." Caitlin got off the doorframe and walked in, clasping Ray's hands into her own. "You've finally got half a spine. Well, you got one quarter when you were fighting with everything you had back at the cafeteria, but that doesn't count."
"Rude, there were a lot of those things."
Nikolai then waved at Nathan, who was just quietly sitting in front of a wooden folding table. "Hey, you've been quiet. You coming?"
"I've been waiting for someone to ask me that." Nathan got up and joined the three in their little group.
"So, how do we do this?", Nikolai asked. I can't portal from here as the facility is secure."
"Well," Ray responded."You can first get a reading on where they are."
"I told you guys before, that's the hardest part of my powers. I can't control that one just yet."
"We certainly cannot go to the same location that they went, as there could be the same trap." Caitlin responded. "Nate? What do you think?"
"Well... there's just Gustav and Doctor Lee still in here as this place is just a luxury suite with a spatial disruption device tucked somewhere." Nathan thought hard for a moment. "I could dim the lights, melt down the locked doorknob on the ground floor. Or you can just freeze and shatter it."
Caitlin nodded, even though everything so far has been a half assed plan. "Good idea... as soon as we get out the door, we portal out. Got it?"
Ray sighed dejectedly as the discussion went on. "This is a terrible plan, isn't it."
"Well, any better ideas?", Nathan asked
Another sigh. "No."
"Let's get it on, then."