Loyalty. Family. Friends. It all means nothing...once they realized what you were...

An image ripped through Delsin's mind-Olivia, exiled from her closest friends and family...pushed away.

All the memories, all the times you've had together? It vanishes, all at the word, "Bio-terrorist"...

This is my story.

An image swept through, gentle as a breeze, of a little Olivia, playing at the sea, not a care in the world.

As a little girl, I loved being by the sea. People always questioned how I could keep my breath underwater for so long, and could cut through rough waters like nothing, but I assumed that...I was just a good swimmer.

My Conduit gene stayed inactive for so long...until middle school. I was in the seventh grade when I got a huge crush on this boy, Caden. I had a best friend named Kiana...

Another little Olivia, laughing with a blonde girl and a smiling, black-haired boy. Olivia looked as if she were with the two best people in the world.

One day, a strange man in orange ran by our classroom window. He looked as if someone...someone were chasing him. He looked inside, at our confused, little childish faces-and he raised his arm.

My heart clenched.

Fire, pure red fire, shot from his palm. The fireball broke straight through the glass and landed on a bookshelf. The thing lit up like a Christmas tree. Again and again, he shot those bolts. I could hear my class' screams ringing through my ears. I could remember the teacher, her panicked voice high-pitched, unnatural. I remember crouching under my desk, the heat becoming unbearable, the smoke filling my lungs, until-

Woosh.

Jets of water, waves of it, came pouring out of her hands, filling the room, washing the flames away, washing the ashes out the window.

When it was all over, the fires were gone, a puddle of burnt books and stray pencils trickled outside the window...and my class was huddled in the corner, staring at me. I was no hero. In their eyes was only terror.

"Olivia...you're a-you're a Bio-terrorist too?" My teacher barely whispered. I stepped forward, but my class whimpered, and she spread out her arms. Shielding them. Protecting them from...me.

"I-I stopped the fire." I murmured weakly. My hands still glowed blue. I could smell the sea. The ash on my face was gone, washed away by my powers. My body surged with my newfound power, but I could feel my heart twisting with fear. "I saved us..."

I looked desperately, to my best friend, Kiana, and my other best friend, someone I liked more than that, Caden. I gave them a pleading look. "Please," my eyes said. "I'm no monster."

And what did they do?

They looked away.

I remember the day the D.U.P. truck came to pick me up at the school. My teacher always said how we were the future of the nation, how we must grow up strong and healthy, but she had no problem tossing a thirteen-year-old girl into prison.

Especially one that's a Conduit.

My mum and dad were there, clutching hands, standing in the school doorway. She and the D.U.P. guards talked for a while, and then they grabbed my arms and led me to the truck. I glanced back at my parents, tears dripping down my face. My mum looked down, but my father stared straight back, eyes full of disgust.

It hurt more than it should have.

In the D.U.P. prison, I was treated more kindly than most prisoners. I was only thirteen, and my "crime" was extinguishing a fire. But that didn't make it-or anything-more bearable.

In the prison, I made a friend. At first, I was wary-Caden and Kiana had forgotten all about me, after all-but she was...different. Understood what I was going through. When I asked her name, she said...Crystal. She could manipulate memories. She could easily make someone forget what they were doing, or their whole past. Or she could place false memories in-she was amazing.

When we all got out, when Delsin Rowe freed us, Crystal begged me to come with her, to travel. Of course I said yes.

So I went with her, traveling across the nation. And there...it was amazing. Me and Crystal were fine on our own, the normals accepting us as if we were one of their own.

And then the robberies began.

Crystal became tense, always looking over her shoulder, always thinking she's seen something. One day, she asked me, "Hey Olivia, you know those two thieves everyone's always talking about?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm going to find them."

A groan escaped my lips as my blurry vision cleared. I blinked my eyes open and flipped over onto my hands and knees. I found one of the dining table chairs (a cheap plastic thing) and put my hand on the seat, hauling myself up. Eugene and Fetch were keeping their distance, watching worriedly.

Near to where I was, Olivia moaned, slowly getting up. Her brown eyes, formerly bright, now were dull and tired.

"You see, Delsin? I can-help-you..." She groaned through her teeth.

"What, to rescue your friend? Did she go missing after she went after them? Why didn't you go with her?" Questions tumbled from my mouth. My mind was numb from what I've seen-I've done this four times already, but the things Conduits have had to go through still leaves me feeling lifeless afterwards.

"One, she doesn't want to be rescued, particularly. Two-"

"What do you mean she-"

"Look, lemme finish!" Olivia snapped. I backed off, raising my hands in surrender. She sighed and continued.

"Two, she did go into hiding. Three, she wouldn't let me go with her. Said it was too dangerous."

"That's retarded." Fetch snorted. "Surely you're lying-"

In a snap, water came spinning out of the kitchen faucet and sprayed Fetch in the face. She spluttered. "Damn it, it's all up my nose!" She took a tissue, snorting out the water.

"Good, now will you let me finish?!" Olivia sounded almost hysterical. Fetch opened her mouth to protest, but I gave her a warning look. She rolled her eyes and backed off, arms raised in surrender.

"Crystal didn't want me to go with her because she knew I wouldn't agree with her. She didn't want to capture them, she wanted to ally with them."

I blinked, realization dawning over me. "So what you're saying is..."

Olivia nodded glumly, head down. "Yup. Your next clue to the thieves' whereabouts-Boston, Massachusetts. "

The room went quiet. Then. I said softly, "I'm sorry, Olivia."

"Yeah, I am too." She sniffled and shook her head. "But first things first, your new powers. Can you do anything?"

"Uh..." I tried to hide my embarrassment. "Thing is, you know the glowing boxes the D.U.P.'s left behind?"

"Yeah.." Olivia tilted her head.

I exchanged a look with Eugene. He grinned and nodded. I smiled and looked back at Olivia.

"Up for some Core Relay hunting?"