Well, hello again! Welcome Chapter 10 with open arms, as we now meet a new Valkyrja and Einherer. Nice kids, so no worries about them. Worry about the corrupt government system in Europe!

CHAPTER TEN.

Aimée flitted from post to post, checking all of the computer screens. Anyone watching her would have seen a blur of grey smoke and a small flash of light as she teleported from each area to another. Ben was sitting at his own desk, papers and computers littered around him. He let out an exasperated sigh, and gripped his hair. Angry at himself, he resumed to trying to tune the scanner into the trackers of the Valkyrja on Panem.

"I suppose even extreme intelligence can't help some people," Aimée raised an eyebrow.

Ben sighed. "I can't even see them in the future. They're probably dead, for all we know."

"But their trackers would still work," Aimée frowned, teleporting to him and bending over his shoulder. "Ah! There! What was that?"

Ben twisted a small dial on the side of the tracker screen, gently and carefully, under Aimée's guidance.

"There!" she shouted, almost breaking the screen with the ferocity of her prodding the machine.

"Whoa!" Ben held it out of her reach. "Careful! If I lose them again I'll-!"

"Where are they?" Aimée asked, peering at a blurry map.

"Let me clarify it," Ben put on his glasses, and peered at the coordinates that the map was displaying.

Soon they were looking at the glowing blue silhouette of Panem. Yellow lines represented the borders between districts, and Aimée pointed at Imogen's tracker, now bleeping.

"What on earth is she doing up there? That's not even in Panem!" Aimée gave an exaggerated sigh. "Someone needs to tell the Germans they're doing it wrong… Again!"

Ben watched her disappear, and sighed with relief. He looked into the trackers' memories, and noted that Alannah and Tori were a lot farther away from the others than anyone else. They'd been dropped off in District 5, but were now in the gap between districts. What were they doing? Although they seemed to be travelling straight for District 1. Perhaps they aimed to get to the Capitol. Anyway, the others. Joe and Paulina had landed in and around District 12, and were now apparently together. Imogen, as Aimée had pointed out beautifully, was stuck in the smouldering ruins of District 13. What the girl was doing there, Ben didn't know. Where were the others? Ah, there was George, messing about in District 11. Their plan was to get to the Capitol, why weren't they doing it?

The doors opened, and Ben rose to salute the councillors that entered. Dressed in their usual stupid finery, the group of old men and women entered the nearly empty lab. Ben swallowed; these people served to undermine the young and their management of the tasks that they could carry out so easily, yet these people had to study their whole life for. The invention of the "serum" had ruined them, effectively. So the only thing they could do to make themselves feel good was to damage any sense of self-confidence the youngsters possessed.

Ben linked his hands calmly; his intelligence was more than anyone on the planet, and so if it came to a battle of wits, not a battle of power, he was the obvious winner. However, the Hábrók knew this, and if they had any sense, they'd steer clear of his mind-power. There'd only been one other Einherjer who had been on par with him, and that was only because the stupid boy had crippled his mind using telepathy. No matter, the fool was stuck in Panem now.

"Benjamin," one said, his voice cracking as it was rarely used. "How goes the mission?"

Ben bowed respectfully. "Well, my Lord."

The old man smirked. Elaborate tattoos marrd his already wrinkled and hideous face, but the Hábrók liked modifying themselves now and again. Mainly they wanted to look older. If you were older, you were wiser and had more power. Ben was wise, but his power was at minimum.

"Well? That's not brilliant, but I suppose it will do-!" the Hábrók jumped, terrified, as Aimée appeared in the room, complaining at Ben.

"Why is she in District 13? Of all the places to land, she had to- Ah…" following Ben's horrified gaze, Aimée noticed the Hábrók, red with anger from being surprised in that fashion.

However, their dark eyes now glinted happily under the knowledge that their mission wasn't going well at all. An old woman stepped forward.

"What were you saying about the mission going well, Benjamin?" she taunted.

A few cackles erupted behind her. Ben felt anger blossom in his chest, but he grit his teeth and stared at the floor. Aimée blushed guiltily, and hastily bowed to the Hábrók.

"Miss Scott-Molloy," they smirked. "You must be more careful with those emotional outbursts of yours."

Ben gripped her arm, because he could see her teleporting a kick into the old woman's face. He shook his head ever so slightly, and felt the tense muscles in her arm relax. Aimée straightened her glasses.

"I'll mind them," she said. "Sorry if I scared you."

Their expressions soured. They left hastily, and Aimée made a point of swearing at the closed door behind them.

"Dicks," she finished, glaring at the space where they'd been. "Ergh. I almost can't wait until I'm 30."

Ah, the age of adulthood. At 30, everything opened up for you. Right now, they weren't allowed to do anything. Aimée teleported to her chair, where she span around aimlessly. She sat up and looked at Ben.

"So, how do we get in touch with them?" she asked.

"We wait for them to contact us," Ben replied, examining the tracker once again.

Aimée untied her tie; she hated working in the office. Her shirt was too crisp from that machine that insisted on ironing her clothes. Even her jeans had been tainted. She let out an exasperated sigh, and grabbed a microphone.

"Imogen, Miss Robinson? Can you hear me?" Aimée shouted into the microphone.

Ben looked at her critically. "They're too far away to hear you through that."

Aimée pouted at him, and watched his fingers work away at the temperamental device that was used to pinpoint the group. Aimée hesitated, before looked from Ben back to the microphone.

"They were all given headsets, right?" Aimée wondered.

"Of course," Ben nodded. "But they won't use them. Though they're unnoticeable, the constant buzzing of an empty frequency is enough to drive anyone crazy."

Aimée paused. "But… they do have them."

Ben sighed. "Look, where is this going?"

"I say you fix up this baby to be able to reach Panem. Then we'll be able to get in touch with the others. Get it?" she grinned, because Ben got everything, and he'd certainly get this.

His expression was thoughtful for a moment, before she grinned.

"Alright, let's do it!" he took the microphone from her, and reached for a screwdriver. Aimée handed it to him, crowing in triumph.

"We are fantastic!" she laughed, teleporting onto the ceiling and all around the room. "Whoops, I knocked over your prototype rocket."

Ben ignored her.

See? Aimée's cool! NEXT CHAPTER: Watch George struggle to protect Rue's family during the uprising of District 11! Whoa~~~