Mike Lane

Creative Writing 2

11/18/13

The Power Within

Part 2

Oliver Benton & Lex Keaton

Daly City, CA

5:34 P.M

After a few hours of traveling aimlessly through California, or so it seemed to him, Oliver and Lex had finally made it out of the subway and back up above ground. They found themselves in Daly City and were fast on the move again. Oliver really didn't understand where they were going. Why here in the city? But half of him was afraid to ask because Lord only knows if he was going to like the answer. But now that they were in the city and moving fast again, he couldn't help it. "So, are you going to tell me where we're actually going?" Oliver asked, looking over to Lex who was leading them somewhere. But where?

Lex smirked, looking over at the blonde and finally opened his mouth "We're going to meet up with the others, of course." He finally turned a corner and they started walking down the street.

Oliver shook his head 'Wow, wait, others!?" He questioned immediately.

Lex simply chuckled at his surprised response and nodded. "Yeah, of course. You didn't think we were the only few, did you? There's probably hundreds- thousands of our kind not only hiding in this country, but all over the world." He explained, looking over to them. "Like I said before, Ollie, you're far from alone."

Oliver couldn't believe it at first, how many there really was. But on the other hand, it did make perfect sense. It was just like in X-Men, one of his favorite comics that he read when he was younger. People with powers were all over and under the radar. They could be passing by one right now and not even know it. But still, they knew about him. How was that? "Wow… I can't believe there's so much more." He said, pausing for a moment. "How many are… wherever we're going?" He looked over at him curiously again.

Lex just smirked and looked over to him, "Why spoil the surprise?"

Hayley Porter

Sacramento, CA

5:41 P.M

Rushing across the street and to the diner, Hayley was nearly almost late for work again today. She rushed into the diner, putting her brunette hair up into a very messy bun as the manager came out and leaned over the counter. "Oh, there you are Hayley-"

She raised a free finger up at him "Don't even start Adam, I'm not even late, I'm on the dot on time today, so you can just…" She wanted to continue with that she would really like to say about him, but he was giving her that 'Keep going I dare you' Look and she cracked a grin "You can just go give yourself a big break and bonus for being such a wonderful manager." She spoke with such a perk tone as she made her way into the back. "God I hate that guy." Hayley muttered, rolling her piercing hazel eyes.

One of the other waitresses chuckled and looked over to her "Honey, don't we all?" The two just laughed and Hayley got her waitress apron strapped on, took out her order sheet, stole a pen from behind her manager, and she was good to go for the evening shift. She walked out to see her first table, and she got her pen out at the ready. "Hey there, can I get either of you something to drink?" She asked, smiling up at them.

The menus dropped to reveal the faces of Ashley and Max. Ashley looked over at her and smirked. "I'll start off with some water." She said, looking over to Max.

"Ginger Ale, please." He said, smirking at her.

Hayley nodded. "One water and Ginger Ale, coming right up, do you guys need a minute to order?" She asked, pointing the tip of her pen over at them.

They both just nodded their heads. "Alright, I'll be back with your drinks soon." She nodded and walked away, into the back.

Max sighed and rolled his eyes over to his blonde co-worker. "Can we just go sneak in and just bag and tag this girl?" He asked with a rather annoyed tone.

She shook her head "Not if you want to do this right. We might end up waiting for her to get off her shift," She paused, looking over to him. "And maybe we could have caught her before coming in here if somebody didn't insist on taking the longest possible route to get here." She said, looking back down at her menu.

He rolled his eyes again at her and looked down.

"And stop rolling you're damn eyes at me, you know I'm right." She stated, never even looking up at him. She didn't need any extra powers to know Max's reactions by now.

Hayley filled the two drinks and was about to take them out when the cook yelled over from the kitchen "Hey hayles! You're wanted in the office."

She rolled her eyes and looked at the first watress she could find. "Hey, Rebecca? Can you please take these to table three for me? I'll be right back, I hope. The boss calls." She said sarcastically as she walked into the back and right for the office, making sure to take a deep, calming breath before she entered. She gave the door a knock and peeked her head through the door. "How can I help you, Doug?" She asked, narrowing her eyes when she got no response. "Hey, Doug?" She called out to him. His chaitr was turned and she could see his arm sticking out. She slowly made her way into the office, walking around the table and twisted the chair around and saw the manage, froze in place like a statute. She gasped out suddenly, bumping right into the wall behind her.

The door of the office suddenly came to a harsh shut and there was a raven haired woman in front of the door, one she had never seen before, it was Whitney Jordan.

Hayley moved as far away as possible, until she again hit another wall behind her. "Who the hell are you and what happened to him!?" She asked, pointing all around.

Whitney raised her hands and waved them "Wow, calm down, I'm here to help you. Just take a deep breath."

Hayley shook her head "No, answers first, breathing after!" She exclaimed, obviously scared, confused and probably freaked out, too.

"Listen to me, Hayley. It's not safe here, that couple you're about to serve are actually here to abduct you. And I'm here to make sure they don't." She started. "I have powers just like you, but I try to use them to help other specials. I had to freeze the mind of your manager to get you in here, but don't worry, he'll be fine when I want him to be." Whitney explained, looking over at her.

Hayley scanned her, not sure what she should believe. "How did you know… about my powers?" She asked curiously.

"I know because they know. I'll explain everything if you come with me now. I'll tell you on the way." Whitney explained, extending a hand.

Hayley stared at her hand and back to her face "You know with one touch I can do terrible things to you, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I know. That's how much I'm willing to prove to you I'm the good guy here." She said, looking the girl straight in the eyes.

The waitress taking the drinks over to Ashley and max set them down and then just started walking away, the two agents looked curiously at each other before Ashley finally snapped her fingers. "Hey, hello, wait! Where is our waitress?"

The waitress sighed and turned around. "Don't know, she was needed in the back. She'll be back to take your order soon." She said before going off into the back.

Max waited until she was gone, "You think that's something to worry about?" He asked, looking right back to Ashley. All she could do was look back over at him, deep in thought.

Whitney and Hayley busted from the back door of the diner and started to run. "Whatever you do, keep running!" Whitney yelled, letting Hayley get ahead of her as they attempted to charge away from the diner.

As soon as Hayley was about to make it past and onto the street, Max jumped out and grabbed her. "Ah! No!" She struggled in his arms.

Whitney gasped and froze in place. She gave Max and stern look and the look he gave back to her was an annoyed one, to say the least. He sighed and shook his head "Oh great, it's you."

Ashley came out from behind the diner and saw Whitney standing a few feet away. "Whitty." She smirked.

Whitney's face grew serious, angry even. She turned back to Hayley "You know what to do Hayley, get away from him and don't stop running!" She turned back to Ashley, cracking her neck. "I'll take care of this one. She started walking over to her.

Hayley struggled in Max's arms, he was trying his best to keep his grip on her "Oh, don't even think about it, little miss!" he groaned as he struggled to keep her in place.

"Don't call me… little." She slipped her hand free and pressed her fingers against the skin of his hand, letting her powers take effect.

Max gasped, feeling his whole body tense up and then he started to feel it. The pain, running through his entire body from head to toe. He let her go and dropped to his knees, holding himself and he started to screech in pain.

Meanwhile, Whitney ran over to Ashley, "Where's my sister, you bitch!?" She grabbed the lid of a metal trash can and whipped it at her. It hit Ashley right on, into the head, causing a nice splash of water from her face that quickly transformed back into her regular head. "Nice try." She smirked. Still making sure to keep her distance.

"Oh yeah? Come a little closer and say that, Ashley." She looked over to Max started to scream in pain. "It looks like you might be at a slight disadvantage." She ran over to her, charging like a bull.

Ashley tried to run away, but Whitney tugged her by the coat and forced her body against the wall of the diner. She grunted as her body hit it and Whitey put her hand on her head "Where is she…"

Whitney dug into Ashley's mind fast and deep. She saw flashes of her sister, locked up, sitting in the fetal position. A large glass wall looking into a hallway where people were watching her, observing her. As she dug into Ashley's memories, she knew exactly where to go in the matter of a few seconds.

"Shit, no!" Ashley said after Whitney grabbed her. Her whole body instantly become water as it blasted Whitney and sent her right into the ground and it started to bounced down the concrete, right over to Hayley.

"Jump, get out of the way!" Whitney yelled over to her as she tried to get up.

Hayley dodged the water with a one-handed summersault as fast as she could. The water hit Max and engulfed him and as it passed, the water took him with him and rounded the corner and down into the nearest drain.

Whitney ran over, past Hayley and looked out into the street just in time to see the rest of the water going down the drain. She sighed and looked over to her "You okay?" She asked, still soaked from being blasted with Ashley's body of water.

Hayley's gaze dropped. "Seriously?" She paused "What the fuck was all that!?"

Whitney took a deep breath and looked out into the street. "Come on, I'll explain everything on the way."

Oliver Benton & Lex Keaton

The Hideout, CA

5:55 P.M

Lex and Oliver finally made their way to what appeared to be an old, abandoned warehouse. Lex stopped and sighed, "Home sweet home." He said, looking over to Oliver, who mostly just looked confused.

"Seriously? This… is the hideout?" He looked up and over it "This place looks deserted." He said.

He simply laughed and patted Oliver's back, leaning in to whisper into his ear "That's kind of the point." He leaned away. "Follow me." He said, making his way past the gates and into the warehouse. The first place looked the same inside as it did outside, old, dirty and abandoned. He walked through the building and finally arrived at the elevator. He pushed the bottom and within seconds it opened. "After you." He said, stepping to the side and smiling.

Oliver looked back at him, a look of confusion on his face as he slowly walked inside. "Okay… because this isn't sketchy or anything." He said, taking a deep breath in.

Lex entered and waited for the doors to close before pressing a button that was hidden in plain sight, right above the second floor button. It was black and blended in until Lex pushed it and it glowed. Then the elevator started to go down. "See? It's a secret hideout for a reason."

Oliver smirked and nodded his head, "Yeah, see, you never mentioned the word secret before just now." He said.

Lex took a breath, his eyes wondered around as he thought for a moment and then finally smirked. "Good point…" He nodded.

The doors opened and what appeared in front of him really surprised him. Oliver stepped out of the elevator and saw what looked like something that really did look like it was taken out of the X-Men comics. The floors were shiny and everything was nice and neat. There were couches, rugs and all together looked like some kind of teen club with a sci-fi theme.

Lex walked next to him and put his arm around Oliver's neck "Welcome to the hideout." He smirked, letting him go and going down a few steps to where the people were.

Oliver noticed there were a few people around. Two of them were fighting literally fighting or maybe even sparring in the middle of the room and there was a girl sitting on the couch, watching and cheering them on. Everything just seemed so casual here.

He looked over to Lex and saw a girl randomly running over to him. He gestured over to Oliver to come down as he talked to the girl, who also looked up to Oliver. He bit his lip and walked down the stairs and over to them. The girl sitting over on the couch's attention turned to them, he head tilting before she stood up, no longer interested in the sparring going on as she walked over to them.

"Oliver, this is Alyssa." He introduced. And Alyssa was pretty. She had big blue eyes that screamed innocent and long, brunette hair. She smiled at him widely and stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you Oliver! It's so cool having another special here, finally." She said with a chuckle.

Oliver shook her hand and smiled back at her "Hey, nice to meet you, too." He said with a nod.

The girl from the couch finally made her way over to them, "So, this is the precog, huh? Cute." She smirked, tilting her head to the size again as she twisted her dark hair around her finger. Her skin was fairly darker and her hair was a mix between black and golden highlights here and there. "What took so long? The Company finally track down your sloppy ass, Lex?" She asked with a smirk.

"Actually, he saved me." Oliver blurted out, then after having to clear his throat. "I mean… yeah, he did. H-He got me away from those bad guys who were trying to-"

She raised her hand and waved it all around to cut him off, "Yeah, yeah kid. We know all about The Company and what they try to do and how you probably nearly got here with your lives. No reason to get all defensive and flustered about it." She explained.

Oliver's mouth opened slightly "I'm not… flustered." He started to say as the two men who were sparring finally stopped to see what was going on.

Chelsea's voice whispered in his ear from a foot away. "She's an empathy, don't even bother trying to tell her wrong when it comes to feelings." She said, turning and looking out at everyone. How did she just do that?

Lex turned his attention to Oliver again "Oliver, this is Jeremy and Camden." They both waved at him and he simply waved back.

"So, all of you… are special?"

Lex nodded his head, "all of us."

"Speaking of all of us, were is Whitney? Shouldn't she be back by now?" Camden asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"She'll be along, Cam, you know she can take care of herself. Just try being a little more patient." He explained.

Oliver's attention was caught when somebody came out of the door at the far end of the space. He was a taller guy. He was of Korean descent and his hair was slicked to the side as he rushed over to them. "Hey, Lex!" He shouted over to him. "I just got contact from Whitney, she's on her way with the nerve manipulator now." He explained.

Lex smirked over to Cam "See? Everything's fine." He looked over to Korean man again. "Right, Elliot?" He asked.

Elliot smirked and nodded "Right!" he paused "But, uh... could you come look at something I found really fast?" He asked, giving a worried look.

Rolling his eyes, Lex nodded his head. "Yeah, sure, of course. Could somebody show Oliver to where he'll be staying?" He asked as he started walking away.

"I'd be happy to-" Chelsea started to say before Brie cut her off, literally, standing between the two. "I'll show him to his room. I'm much more bored than you are, Chelse." She smirked "Come on, blondey, let me show you to your quarters." She said with a chuckle as she started walking ahead of him and he started to follow.

Oliver looked back at the others rather nervously. Chelsea smirked and shook her head, when suddenly, he heard her whispering in his ear again "Don't worry, she won't bite.. hard." He saw her smirk away. But how was she doing that!?

Oliver followed Brie through the door and down a long hallway, there were doors traveling down the hall. "Luckily for you, there is still plenty of empty rooms available for use. So you don't have to room with anyone or anything like that." She stopped at a door and opened it. Oliver walked inside and she leaned against the door frame and watched him as he sat down. "I'm sure Lex will fill you in on everything later, but for now, just kick back and relax." She said with a smirk.

Oliver nodded and smiled over at her "Thanks.." he took a deep breath and looked around. There wasn't anything on the walls. There was just this bed, a place to put clothes and a table nearby.

She nodded back and was about to walk away, but she caught herself and looked back at him "Oh and…" She paused, bringing his attention back at him. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your little man crush." She winked at him, pushing off from the door frame and walking away, back down the hall.

Oliver's mouth was left wide open, like he wanted to defend himself but didn't know how or get the chance for she was already gone. He just shook his head and fell back against the bed with a sigh. "What a day…" he whispered to himself as he stared at the ceiling.

Ashley Knight

The Company, CA

6:01 P.M

Taking a deep breath, Ashley entered the Director's office and took a few steps before stopping in front of the desk. "I'm sorry to report both bag and tags didn't work out like we wanted." She said, taking a breath, standing up tall and holding her ground.

The man sitting away from her in the chair, looking out the window just simply sighed. "You lost them?" He questioned her.

She nodded "Well, yes." She started, "But it was the damn Resistance again. Both times they had gotten there before us. I don't know how, but we're going to get them next time." She explained. "I'm not going to let them escape next time, either."

He rolled around in his seat. The Director was an older man, white short hair and wore very official attire. He looked back at her and gave her a look. "Whitney Jordan. She got in your head, didn't she?" He asked. There was no way to keep anything important like that from a telepath.

Ashley nodded her head. "Yeah, she did.. she got a hold of me." She took a breath "But I retaliated and got out of there as fast as I could!" She defended herself.

He rose his hand. "I expected better from you, Ashley." He said, looking right into her eyes. "You grew up in this facility to become the best agent you can be and still you let us down." He shook his head. "Maybe I just expected too much from my own daughter." He said, turning his chair around again.

She bit her lip and looked down. "I won't fail again, father. I promise you."

"You best not." He replied. And with that she nodded and left the room, trying her best to keep out any negative thought she had towards her father.

Oliver Benton

The Hideout, CA

7:18 P.M

After being left alone, Oliver fell asleep in less than five minutes. So, for the past two hours, he was out like a light. Sleeping deeply, dreaming. Or at least, he thought it was a dream. He saw his sister, she looked like a ghost or something, drifting away from her in a long, white dream with one of those silly flower crowns on her head, calling out at him. "Ollie!" She yelled.

Suddenly he was being woke up by Lex's voice coming from behind him. His eyes opened and he was up, facing the wall and he was holding a piece of rock or something in his hand. He looked back at Lex. "What… happened?"

Lex looked at him and then the wall, taking a deep breath. "Looks like you painted us another future masterpiece." He said, crossing his arms.

He took a few steps back and Oliver gasped at his new creation. He used a piece of rock to carve something on the concrete wall for the past- who knows how long! When he saw it he dropped the piece of rock on the floor and just stared at it.

The whole wall was a mural devoted to chaos. It looked like it was the point of view of some kind of war. It was looking down a street of people in panic and some kind of explosion in the distance, coming towards them. Something terrible was going to happen in the future.

"Oh God." Oliver said, his breathing starting to get heavy. Lex saw the distress on the boy's face and went over to him, wrapping his arm around him to comfort him. "It's okay, Ollie… we'll stop this."

Jeremy suddenly appeared racing to the doorway "Hey Lex! Whitney's-" he saw them and the wall "Wow," he walked in "The fuck is this?" he pointed.

Lex turning to him "We don't know yet, what about Whit?"

Jeremy turned back at him, though he was constantly distracted by the whole wall mural of panic next to him "Oh, yeah, she's back with that girl, Hayley." He said, looking back at the mural again.

He nodded and looked to Oliver, "Come on, there are more of us you should meet." Lex stated as he walked out of the room, Oliver nodded and followed behind him and Jeremy after him.

Back in the big, main room everyone else was already there. Camden had his hand around Whitney's waste and they were all introducing the new girl. Oliver came out with Lex and Jeremy to join the others. "Whitney!" He chuckled "It's about time." He shook his head.

Whitney leaved Cam's side and went over to give Lex and big hug. "I'm actually surprised you made it here before me, even with the big location head-start I thought you'd be too slow to beat me back here." She chuckled, looking over at the blonde. "And you must me Oliver Benton, right?" He nodded and she smiled. "I'm Whitney." She turned her head "And that over there is Hayley. The missing piece to the puzzle."

Oliver looked over at her, the girl looked up and made eye contact with Oliver and his face dropped, he knew this girl somehow. He's seen her somewhere before.

They noticed his reaction and Lex took a step closer "Ollie? You okay?" He asked.

Oliver looked back up and over to him, smirking "Yeah, sorry…" he shook his head "It's just, I think I know her from somewhere." He said.

Whitney and Lex both looked at each other and smirked at each other. Oliver noticed ad looked between them quickly. "What's so funny?" he asked, suddenly feeling like he missed out on some joke.

"You probably recognize her because you painted her." Whitney stated.

Oliver looked curiously at her and back over to Hayley, still talking amongst everyone else. "I… painted her?" He looked over to them. "But… how do you know that?" He asked.

"Who did you think was buying your paintings, Ollie?" He asked.

Lex and Whitney led Oliver to the farthest side of their hideout. Opening the door there was a large table in the middle of the room and Oliver's paintings hanging all over the wall. He looked around and his jaw dropped. And there was the painting of Hayley, standing by a hospital bed next to a man that was unconscious. "They are all… mine." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wait, so you're the people that bought that whole collection from my mom last month?" He asked, looking back at them.

They nodded "Yeah, we've known about you for some time now, Ollie. We were trying to make sure you were living a normal life and we weren't going to change that, until…" Whitney started to explained.

"Until we got word the Company was coming after you and we were told to get you before they did." Lex explained, stepping closer "You were never meant to have this life, or be found out by the company." He explained. "But when he told us to get you, all bets were off." He sighed.

Oliver raised a brow. "When who told you to get me?"

"I did." Said a man, coming into the room after them, causing Oliver's mouth to drop. "Hello again, son." He smiled.

"Dad…" He gasped.