"Don't move," Agent Drake said. Claire obeyed and desperately prayed that Elle and Peter were still asleep. "Where are they?" he asked in a low serious tone.

"I really don't know," she repeated. He had her against the wall with a gun firmly pointed at her forehead. "They went out."

"Call their names," he said not believing her. She nodded.

"PETER!" she shouted. No one responded the whole yard was empty. "Elle!" she shouted. "Told you," she said angrily.

"Let's go," he said just as angry and forced her quickly out to the gate which he opened by shooting the lock and they went straight to the sidewalk in the front of the house.

"Who the hell are you?" Claire asked rather boldly but was terrified on the inside. She was being taken by someone who worked for Elle's father who ruined almost her entire life.

"Vince Drake, but you don't need to know that," he said and moved at a quick pace down the sidewalk. He pushed Claire around the corner into view of a red van. She turned to look at him with desperation when she saw Bob step out of the car.

"Please let me go," she pleaded to Vince. But his icy cold stare gave her the answer she dreaded and he shoved her forcefully into the side of the van and held her to it.

"Hello again Claire," Bob said calmly. "Make sure she doesn't have anything on her." Vince did as he was ordered and Claire couldn't believe that she was actually in the situation. "Put her in the van," he said and hopped into the driver's seat. Vince shoved her in. Claire looked at him for a second. He was good looking she had to admit and also seemingly fast and strong. But she was too terrified to focus on that right now. She just wanted to get out of the same van with Elle's father in it.

---

"What's going on?" Elle whispered as her and Peter sat against the wall below a window. "Where's Claire?" The door swung open and almost hit the two. They got to their feet quickly.

"She's not here," Noah said with clear worry spreading across his face. "They got her."

"How did they get her?" Peter asked confused and enraged.

"She told me she was going to see if you guys were ready for dinner. I heard her shouting your names and then I heard a gun shot. Now she's missing," he said with panic.

"He wants me," Elle whispered.

"What?" Noah asked.

"I told you he'd find us here Peter!" she shouted. "We have to get Claire back," she said ready to run out and start looking.

"No you guys need to get out of here," Noah said. "Hide somewhere nearby and call me from a payphone. It's dangerous, be careful to stay hidden." They nodded and he left.

"Come on," Peter said. "I know where to go."

---

"I…told…you…I…don't…know…" Claire said taking deep breaths. She spit out blood and felt another hard punch to her face.

"I know you know where they are so stop this shit," Vince warned. "We're not letting you go but it'll be a lot easier if you tell us what we want to know."

Claire spat blood out on Vince in disgust. "Asshole."

"That's it!" he shouted and banged her head into the window of the van leaving a crack there. "We'll find your friends and we'll make them pay."

"Enough Vince," Bob ordered in his calm voice that sickened Claire. "Claire you have to understand that this is for Elle's own good. She's an unstable creature and cannot live in the normal human environment."

"That's a twisted lie you've made up!" Claire shouted. "She's not a creature, she's a girl! You're the monster!" Vince had to restrain Claire from flying forward and attacking Bob.

"Do you know how many people she's killed?" Bob asked in that stupid slow voice. "Dozens of lab techs have been killed by her in a matter of seconds. Did you know she's brought me people like you so many times? I don't know what went wrong when she found you. You don't know what you're dealing with. She's even begun to act promiscuously and—" That did it. Claire snapped.

"What the hell are you talking about you asshole!" She lunged forward and grabbed his throat and the whole car began to swerve as she shook and choked him. "She probably killed people because they were attacking her! She saw me as a friend. She's never had one damn friend before thanks to you!" Vince pulled her off and whacked her in the head with his gun.

"Thank you. We're lucky there weren't any cars on the road," Bob said grimly and got the van under control while Claire was still raging.

"And don't you dare call her a whore!" she shouted while struggling from Vince's hold around her. "She's the victim if anything! I don't know how many guys there have been in her life besides Adam but I'm pretty sure they've all been assholes just like you!"

"SHUT UP!" Vince shouted and punched her right in the jaw. She yelped and held her jaw in pain. "I'll hit you again if you open your mouth one more time!" Claire was finished and lay sullenly back against her seat.

---

"She's going to be okay," Peter reassured Elle as they sat on the bed in a hotel room in Costa Verde. The hotel was pretty safe because it was just one of many down town. Elle shook her head and let another tear out.

"They're going to hurt her like they did to Adam," she mumbled and wanted to cry again. It wasn't that she felt sorry for Adam it was the fact that they were going to operate on Claire like she was some sort of experiment. The fact that Claire was going to be in the same environment Elle had grown up in made her sick. Since Claire was her first friend there was a sort of special bond and Elle couldn't stand the not being able to help her.

"She'll be okay. I know Claire and she can take care of herself. Noah says we should stay together at all times and lay low," Peter said seriously. Deep down he was terrified that something might happen to his sweet little niece but he wasn't about to start pouring his feelings out to Elle. Not right now. She needed him to be strong for both them.

"Not a problem," Elle said edging closer to him but was serious too. If they weren't careful things could get ugly.

---

"Don't try to leave," Vince sneered at Claire who was tied to the conveniently placed pole in the hotel closet. She let out a low sort of grunt through her gritted teeth.

"You'll pay," she said angrily.

"That's what all you people think," he said simply. "But the straight fact is that people like me and you are better than everyone else. We're meant to be better and we need to be trained so that we can help connect everyone with abilities. But those like you and Elle who believe it's wrong, well, we'll have to make sure you don't screw things up when we take over the world and make it a better place."

"Just shut up," Claire said. "You don't make sense. You think you're better than everyone else but you want to make the world a better place?"

"You'll understand soon," he said. "We plan to reveal to the world soon that there are many out there with abilities. We will rule the world but we'll rule it the way we want to and we can help those without powers."

"And how exactly could you help them? Huh? And it's not like you're extraordinary," Claire snapped.

"For the record, I have super speed. And to be honest, I don't know. I don't really care either for helping people. The way I see it that's juts our excuse," he said and leaned in closer to Claire. "Because one day we'll rule and it won't matter," he whispered in her ear and made her shudder as he ran his hand down her arm. She would've slapped him but her wrists were tied to the pole.

"Don't touch me," she growled. He laughed and backed off and walked out of the closet to the table and grabbed some chips. Claire hated watching him. She hated him in general. She hated being tied up. But what she hated most was knowing that Elle was out there somewhere and wasn't safe from this. What she didn't know was that things were about to get uglier than she could've imagined.