"Listen," Delia said, raising her voice to draw attention to herself. "We have to act fast. If the Convention has ears everywhere, we don't have time to waste. We can't afford to remain in the shadows."
"Delia's right," Edwin nodded. "If the Damien Thorn project is already underway, we need to find out where the robot's assembly plant is and attack it as soon as possible," he added.
Baylock sighed, feeling the pressure on herself.
"I can help you plan the operation, but we need time to prepare. I know the Convention's defenses can be quite severe."
"It could be risky," Carol countered, her voice shaking with worry. "We could be their next victims."
"That's why we have to act," Delia insisted, sensing that their time was running out. "If we let ourselves sit and think for too long, the Convention will take advantage of it."
Edwin stepped forward, clenching his fists.
"What if we split into teams? Some of us can work on the mission while others gather information on how to get past the security."
"Or we can go on reconnaissance right now," Delia added, pushing her hair back. "I can use my abilities to access the data we need."
Baylock considered this and nodded.
"That could work," she said. "I know where some of the weak points in the security are. If we approach carefully, we can get to the plant."
All the while, Delia felt the pressure building in her chest.
"We have no choice," she said confidently. "If we want to stop the Convention, we have to take a risk."
Finally, the team agreed. Each of them knew that this mission might be their last chance to turn the tide. They began to discuss the details, but Delia felt her heart pounding with anxiety again.
"We must be prepared for the fact that this will be dangerous," she said with determination. "But if we work together, we can succeed."
The assembled members met each other's eyes, and Delia saw fear and determination intertwined in theirs. At that moment, she turned to the team.
"Let's gather ourselves and prepare. Time is running out, and we must be ready to act," she said, her voice sounding more confident and powerful than ever before.
At this time, a tense atmosphere reigned in Makoto Shugarami's gloomy office. The faces of his close associates were clouded with anxiety. Makoto sat behind a massive desk, his gaze focused on the digital screen where reports of his enemies' movements and actions flashed. He knew that Delia and her team were preparing to act, and this filled him with apprehension.
"Show me where all our witnesses are," he said coldly, clenching the edge of the table through his teeth.
His voice sounded like a harbinger of a storm. One of his assistants, a short man, with glasses and a slight blush on his cheeks, quickly pulled up a map of Lisbon on the screen.
"We are monitoring their every move. But there is a suspicion that one of us is passing information to Delia and her team," he said, his voice trembling with fear.
Makoto looked at him with hostility.
"Then check everyone who could fail me. I will not tolerate betrayal!" his eyes flashed like sharp blades.
He was not going to leave anything to fate, and at this moment, suspicions were already starting to form in his head. He knew that some of his supporters were too unsure of their actions.
"If any of you think they can escape with information, I will do everything in my power to stop it," Makoto said, clenching his fists.
The assistant began typing in the names of those who could arouse his suspicions in a panic. Makoto was getting angrier and angrier with each passing second, and that angry tension was starting to turn into routine paranoia.
"It could be someone from our surveillance team," another assistant said, starting to list names. "I heard that some of them are communicating with some activists, which could mean information is leaking."
Makoto cut him off, his face turning stony.
"I won't leave any chance. Find them. We need to determine which of them are a threat. I want every single one of them under control, and if anyone tries to contact Delia, I'll make sure they pay for it."
As Makoto was giving his orders, one of his lieutenants, dressed in a long dark cloak, left the room. He pulled out a communicator and whispered,
"Delia, I know where to find you. I have information about what Makoto is planning."
This man might be the only one who could change the course of events, but his boldness had cost him a lot. Makoto continued to watch his lieutenants, tempting fate, while Delia, sitting in a secluded corner of the abandoned building, considered her next steps. Her psi-kinetic abilities could be not only a defense, but also a powerful weapon in this game.
"If I can create disinformation, I can distract their attention and buy our team time," she said, turning to Edwin, who was listening intently. "We need to make them think that we are going to act elsewhere."
Edwin nodded, understanding Delia's plan.
"How are you going to do that?" he asked her.
"I can use my powers to create illusions. If I make them believe we're in one place while we're actually in another, we'll have time to prepare for the next step," she explained, her voice filled with determination.
With that, Delia closed her eyes and felt the energy begin to bend to her will. Images began to form in her mind's eye—several activists hiding in different places around the city, preparing for a meeting. She had created a complex web of illusions, each one filled with detail: sounds, smells, even background music.
"It's done," she said, opening her eyes, feeling slightly tired. "Now we need to split up and implement the plan."
Edwin, still impressed by her powers, quickly gathered his team. They agreed on where they would be and what they would do. As they dispersed through the streets, Delia stood at the edge of the square, focused on her illusions. She watched as Makoto's agents began actively searching, heading for the places she had created in her visions.
Soon, several agents appeared in the central square of Lisbon, scanning the area. They exchanged whispers, taking notes on the "activists" who did not exist. Delia smiled, knowing that her plan had worked.
As Delia continued to generate disinformation, her illusions began to glitch. Instead of coming true, the projections began to disintegrate, and she realized that someone was influencing her mind. Her intuition whispered that it was Makoto, using his own psionic abilities to penetrate her consciousness and disrupt her concentration.
"No! I can't give up," Delia said, gritting her teeth and trying to regain control.
But suddenly she was surrounded by Makoto's drones, which descended silently from above, their glowing sensors in front of them. Delia instantly realized that she was trapped. She tried to activate her powers to create a protective field, but the tension she felt was becoming too great.
"Edwin!" she shouted into her communicator, but only silence answered her.
She turned around and her gaze met Makoto, who appeared from the shadows. His face was cold, and his eyes sparkled with satisfaction.
"How easy it was to catch you, Delia. You trust your powers too much," he said, laughing.
"You can't stop me," Delia answered defiantly, although deep down she was beginning to doubt.
Makoto took a step forward, and Delia felt the air thicken around her, as if his will was trying to suppress her own.
"You think you're the only one who can manipulate energy?" he asked mockingly. "I know more about your abilities than you think. You're not just an actress, you're my trophy."
At that moment, the drones began to approach, and Delia, gathering all her strength, tried to create an illusion, but Makoto was faster. He activated his drones, which, designed to suppress her powers, began to surround her, creating a field that cut her off from the energy sources.
"How naive you are," Makoto said, still laughing. "You won't even be able to escape."
Delia gathered the last of her strength and tried to focus for a moment to send a signal to her team before the drones completely disabled her abilities. And when she was finally captured by Makoto, her mind continued to wander through the vast expanses of memories. The darkness around her gradually began to blur, and images appeared in it, emerging like ghosts from her past.
She saw herself as an eight-year-old girl, playing on the Moon base, surrounded by endless metal walls and bright lights. In the corner of the room stood her favorite wooden spaceship, and around it were toys that she had created herself from leftover materials. Her parents, Ivette and Mr. Yonce, often spent evenings together, telling her stories about the stars and planets. They laughed, and her mother always said:
"Delia, you can be anything, even an astronaut!"
Suddenly she saw a scene she had not noticed before: a group of people in a laboratory, discussing a project codenamed "Sun Rainbow". Secret documents and diagrams passed by her eyes, but one detail caught her attention - the silhouette of her mother, Ivette Yonce, standing among the scientists. Ivette was only thirty, and she looked as if she held the whole world in her hands. Her dark hair, braided into a ponytail, and bright eyes radiated confidence.
"What's going on?" Delia whispered, feeling her heart pounding.
She never knew her mother was involved in this project. Why had she never spoken up? The next vision took her to another reality. She saw a team of scientists testing the "Sun Rainbow". The ship was a masterpiece of technology, but something had gone wrong. Suddenly, a bright light filled the screen, and the noisy sounds of panic filled Delia's ears. Her father, Mr. Yonce, who was already fifty, was clasping his hands on the table, his face contorted with fear.
"We have to stop this!" Ivette screamed, but her words were swallowed up by the chaos.
Delia felt a piece of her heart being torn away as she watched her mother disappear into a stream of light. Now, in her confinement, she realized that her powers might be connected to what had happened aboard the "Sun Rainbow". These visions were not just memories, but something much larger that demanded her attention.
"This was not just a game," she thought as another vision crashed into her.
She saw the drones again, and the people in black suits studying her. Their faces were hidden, but she knew they were agents of the Convention. Now she understood that her powers were not only a gift, but also a burden, and their true purpose was connected to her past. She remembered how she had once loved to play imaginary games, where her telekinesis was magic. But that magic had turned out to be both good and evil.
Makoto, knowing this, was going to use her powers for his own purposes, not to give her freedom. Delia felt her determination flare up again. If her past was connected to the "Sun Rainbow", then she had to figure out how to use that knowledge to fight the Convention.
Sitting in the dark isolation cell, Delia slowly came to her senses after a series of memories washed over her like a wave. Snippets of conversations she had heard when she was little floated into her head. Her parents, Ivette and Mr. Yonce, often discussed their work. Delia remembered hiding under the table, overhearing her mother talking about a project that "could change the future of humanity." Now those words took on new meaning.
She remembered how one day, when she was only eight, her mother brought her to the lab. Delia was mesmerized by the glitter and noise, but in the middle of all this splendor stood that very ship - the "Sun Rainbow". Relatively small, but bright, it attracted her gaze like a magnet. At that moment, she felt something unusual. Her small hands reached out to the ship, and suddenly she felt the warmth emanating from its metallic surface. As if the ship itself was pulling her in.
She didn't yet understand that this was connected to her abilities, which would later be fully revealed.
"Maybe I wasn't just a girl playing with toys. Maybe I became part of something bigger?" she thought, losing herself in her thoughts. "Maybe I'm not just an actress. Maybe I'm the key to what happened with this project," Delia concluded.
This thought gave her strength and confidence. She could no longer just sit and wait for Makoto to decide what to do with her. However, at night, when darkness enveloped the cage in which Delia was kept, she succumbed to the embrace of Morpheus and slowly fell into a dream in which she found herself in a familiar place - the kitchen of her parents' house. The walls were painted in light colors, and the air was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. Ivette was standing at the stove, leaning over the pan, while Mr. Yonce was reading the newspaper at the table. Their conversations were quiet, but Delia could hear them clearly.
"I can't let this go unnoticed. If they find out what we've done, it could turn into a catastrophe," Ivette said, her voice full of anxiety.
Delia felt her heart beat faster. She knew that they were talking about the project related to the "Sun Rainbow".
"You mustn't worry, Ivette. We're doing this for the future. For our little girl," Mr. Yonce said, putting down his newspaper.
He looked at Delia, who had suddenly appeared in the kitchen, as if they knew she was there.
"Mom! Dad!" she cried, rushing toward them, but they paid no attention to her, continuing to discuss their affairs as if she were invisible.
Delia tried to touch them, but her hands passed through their figures.
"Why can't you hear me?" she cried, and suddenly darkness surrounded her.
She found herself in another room again, filled with old objects—toys, books, and photographs. It had been her childhood room. Delia began to explore it, feeling memories awaken in her. On a shelf she saw an old box, from which the cover of a book with the title "The Secrets of the Sun Rainbow" was peeking out.
Delia picked up the book and opened it to see her own writings, childish drawings mixed in with notes her parents had left when the project was first being developed. On one page she read:
"The Power can be both a blessing and a curse. We must be careful not to lose control of it. There is too much hidden in this project to allow anyone to interfere."
With each sentence Delia realized that these were not just notes, but warnings her parents had left to protect her from dangers they themselves had barely recognized. Then the book was replaced by another image of herself playing with other children. They laughed and teased each other, but Delia felt that she had always been different. A whisper echoed in her mind:
"They know about you. You are unique."
This realization gave her a new resolve. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing a gloomy room in front of her, engulfed in darkness and the sounds of machinery. Delia began to think about her team and how they had gotten into this situation. Even though she had always trusted her comrades, doubts began to arise in the back of her mind. It was strange that there was no traitor in their group, when so much was at stake.
"Maybe someone really is playing a game?" she thought, running through the recent events in her head.
She had been especially wary of her recent encounters with one of her team members, Marion. She had always shown an uncharacteristic interest in details that Delia considered unimportant. Her questions about how Delia controlled her powers seemed too curious. And there were those moments when it seemed as if Marion was holding back information, hiding it behind a fake smile.
"You can't trust anyone," Delia thought, when the sound of an opening door caught her attention.
A guard entered the cell, bringing with him streams of light that tore through the darkness. Delia pressed herself against the wall, trying to remain unnoticed. The guard gave her a cold look, but said nothing, just stood by the door.
In that moment, she remembered how in training as a team they discussed methods of infiltration and reconnaissance. Delia tried to focus her energy. Images floated into her mind - team members, laughter, cheerful conversations. But then, like a shadow, fragments of doubts, discussions that she could not hear appeared.
"If someone is really betraying us, I have to find out who it is," she decided, feeling her heart begin to beat faster.
Taking a deep breath, Delia focused on her powers, remembering the times when she was able to use her psi-kinetic abilities to "hear" the thoughts of others. She reached her hands out to the guard, using her telekinesis to create a slight illusion.
At that moment, when the guard froze, his eyes darkened and he began to fall into a trance. Delia was able to focus on his thoughts, and suddenly information was revealed to her that she did not suspect. It turned out that Marion was indeed working for Makoto, and she was just waiting to give him information about Delia and her team's location.
"Why didn't I notice this before?" she cried out in her head as the realization hit her.
Delia suddenly saw the guard, who had come to his senses, draw his gun in rage and point it at her. Delia retreated into the shadows in panic, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her forward through the dark corridors lit by flickering lamps. She tried to remain calm, although her thoughts were raging inside. She was being taken to Makoto for interrogation, and she had to be on guard to keep her fear from showing.
"Think, Delia, think," she reminded herself. "This is just a game. I have to be smarter than Makoto."
Soon, the guard let her into a room that looked more like a prison than an interrogation room. In the center was a table with several chairs, and behind it, with a cold expression on his face, sat Makoto Shugarami. He was dressed in a formal black suit, his gaze piercing Delia, making her feel like she was under a microscope.
"Welcome, Delia," he said, his voice a whisper, full of evil mockery. "I hope you don't mind talking for a bit?"
"The sooner this is over, the better," Delia replied, trying to look confident, although her inner voice told her that she needed to be careful.