Due to the workload at uni, I can't guarantee a chapter every week anymore. I will do my best to keep that deadline, but if the chapters are occasionally delayed, please have patience with me.

A/N 1: You know the drill - ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, ficlets, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net.

A/N 2: MissNovelist: *lazy grin* Actually, Revelations and Judges are biblical titles, too ^^. And that was the useless fact of the day ;)

Italics indicates thoughts/telepathy

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Six: Genesis

* * *

To anyone watching, the young, Greek woman seemed almost distracted, violet eyes absently following the walls as the mutants, followed by their human guards, walked down the wide hallway. She seemed lost in thought, absorbed in her own, little world far from the hell of sand and metal that surrounded her. A random mutant among others, tired and weary, and with no hope of escape left that so many of the new arrivals harbored.

But as so often, appearances could - and did - deceive.

Behind the absent and almost empty look in Laetitia's eyes, her mind worked at full speed to find a way out of her unpleasant situation. Constantly watching, waiting, judging her wardens, her surroundings, even her follow prisoners.

Violet eyes fell on Daryn, a hint of interest visible even through the deliberate facade of apathy as she watched the boy. While Zahra hadn't been very talkative, revealing only her name and native country - Iran - the boy was actually rather friendly, and Laetitia had learned quite a bit about him during the low conversation they'd had outside. And of all the things they had talked about, one particular revelation kept circling her mind - Daryn's mutation.

Telepathy and elemental control were common - Laetitia herself had met more than a few mutants with those particular powers, and even had two of them as her teammates. Telekinesis and shape shifting weren't unusual, either, but up until now, she'd never heard of anyone with Daryn's power.

The ability to communicate with electronics...how very useful, Laetitia almost purred in her mind, her eyes never leaving Daryn.

The boy sent her an uncomfortable look, unnerved by the attention she showed him, but Laetitia merely smiled faintly and looked away. He couldn't use his powers while he still had the collar on, but if Laetitia could get rid of those collars, there would be very little that could stop them from escaping.

The problem wouldn't be *how* to unlock the collars, though, but instead when to strike. Laetitia had seen a guard use a key on one of the collars, and knew what to look for. But with four guards watching her every move, she would have to time her attack carefully.

It would have to be quick, efficient...and soon. She needed to act before the guards became used to the sudden increase of prisoners, to act while she would still have the element of surprise on her side. Laetitia looked at Daryn and Zahra and frowned almost imperceptibly. She couldn't count on any help from those two - they were hardly fighters, and would most likely do more harm than good in a fight.

That left her to rely only on herself, but somehow she didn't mind. She'd worked alone before, and knew she could handle it. Now it was only a matter of choosing the right time to strike, and she had already decided on that.

The four guards forced Laetitia and her two cellmates away from the other group of mutants and down the hallway towards the cell. Laetitia felt her body begin to hum with restless energy as she prepared her attack, her every muscle tensing in anticipation of a fight. Down the hallway, around the corner, and the small group paused momentarily as one of the guards opened the door. Two of the humans forced Zahra and Daryn into the cell, following them to keep an eye on the two, and Laetitia found the moment of weakness she had been looking for. Acting purely on instincts developed through countless hours of training, she spun around and sent one of the humans to the ground with a hard kick in the groin, then easily snapped the neck of the other before he had the chance to use his gun on her. The two other guards were far from rookies, and reacted to this sudden threat before Laetitia had even finished her attack, but they weren't up to Laetitia's standards. Taking advantage of their momentary confusion, she attacked, knocking one of the guards out, then spun around, only to find that Zahra had already taken care of the last one. The Iranian girl rubbed her hand and looked to Laetitia as if to ask 'what now?'

"Help me drag the guards inside the cell," Laetitia ordered curtly and pointedly ignored the horrified look Daryn sent the dead human.

Zahra hesitated for only a moment, then helped Laetitia get the humans into the cell.

"You do know that thanks to you, we're going to die if they capture us, right?" she remarked, less angry than Laetitia had expected.

"Then why do you help me?" the Greek girl asked, almost indifferently. She had other and more important things on her mind than her cellmates' complains.

"What was the alternative?" Zahra asked rhetorically as she helped Laetitia drag the last guard into the cell.

Laetitia reached down and took the weapons and keys from one of the guards, then unlocked her collar and felt a faint tingling as her mutant power returned. She waited for Daryn and Zahra to open their own collars, then she motioned towards the door. "Let's go."

Daryn looked like he wanted to object, but remained silent, too smart to get into an argument during a situation as grave as this. He left the cell, following Zahra and Laetitia, and tried not to look at the dead guard by the door.

"What do we do now?" he asked, trying to distract himself momentarily from the situation.

Laetitia eyes narrowed as she scanned the hallway, looking for any possible enemies. She'd already decided on a course of action, and for once she didn't intend to sneak out of the place. With a prison facility of this size, it would be next to impossible to escape unnoticed, so she would have to arrange for some sort of distraction to make the humans focus on someone else.

And she knew just how to handle that.

"Hey...where are you going? The exit-signs point that way," Daryn said, nodded down a wide hallway.

"I'm not heading for the exits," Laetitia remarked curtly and continued down a smaller hallway, which ran in the opposite direction of the one Daryn had just motioned towards. "I'm looking for the control room."

"Are you insane?!" Zahra snapped. "We need to get out of here - now. We won't have time for a tour of the place."

"Then you're more than welcome to try to get out on your own, girl," Laetitia replied coldly. "This place is too big and too populated for three people to get out unnoticed. We'll need a distraction."

"What distraction?" Daryn asked, starting to get a bad feeling about things. It had already become clear to him that this Greek girl was fundamentally different from any other person he'd ever met. She was dangerous and cold-blooded, and unnerved Daryn more than he'd thought possible.

"A system shutdown," Laetitia replied, this time with a faint smirk on her lips. "If the locks and security systems suddenly stop working, the humans will be too busy to keep the rest of the prisoners under control to make sure that everyone is present."

"You're crazy - it'll never work," Daryn said, shaking his head. "How will you even pull something like that off?"

"*I* won't," Laetitia replied, checking that the area was clear before she continued down a new hallway. "You will."

"Me?!" Daryn repeated disbelieving. "But-"

"You can talk to electronic equipment, can't you?" Laetitia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but-"

"No buts," Laetitia interrupted, her voice leaving no room for an argument. "If you don't do this, none of us will be able to make it out of here alive. It's that simple."

Daryn looked uncertainly at Zahra, seeking support with her, but found her nodding in agreement with Laetitia.

"She's right. This isn't the time to talk about morality," she said. "We need to get out of here, and you can help us do that."

Daryn bit his lower lip anxiously, then sighed. "All right. I'll help you."

Laetitia didn't reply, but quickly readied her stolen guns as they turned around another corner and found themselves in the hallway that led to the control room. The two guards at the end of the hallway reacted instantly, aiming their weapons, but before they could fire, they had already fallen victim to Laetitia's two guns.

Daryn looked away for a moment, but didn't react otherwise, and Laetitia smiled faintly. Maybe there was hope for the boy after all.

The trio stopped by the door, ignoring the surveillance cameras that were aimed at them. It had been a deliberate choice from Laetitia's side - if they should stop and convince every camera not to 'see' them, they would have taken too long to reach the control room, and they would undoubtedly have been caught. No, this had been more efficient - hurry past the cameras and hope they would only be noticed when they were right outside the room.

Daryn walked up to the door, caressing the solid metal as he silently began to speak to the consciousness that rested within the very building itself. Carefully and with infinite respect he spoke to the system, each passing second making both Laetitia and Zahra more and more edgy.

"Hurry up," Zahra said impatiently, while Laetitia continuously scanning the hallway. It was only a matter of time before more guards showed up, they all knew that.

"I'm trying," Daryn replied, eyes closed in concentration. "But this isn't easy - it doesn't trust us," he continued, referring to the system. "I need to convince it that we won't hurt it."

Another moment of tense silence, then the door finally opened, letting the three mutants into the room.

Even though the humans inside had seen Laetitia and her two companions arrive, and had seen the guards outside be killed, they were still taken aback by how fast the mutants had gained access to the room. It was just what Laetitia needed - armed, and feeling more powerful that she had in a long time, it didn't take her long to dispatch the humans in the room. She took a step closer to one of the control panels, smiling coldly as she felt part of her anger turn into satisfaction at the sight of the dead humans.

They had thought they would be able to keep her, of all people, under control. They had thought they could control her...in Laetitia's eyes, that was all the reason needed to kill them. She would not be controlled by anyone but herself, least of all a bunch of pathetic, powerless humans like these.

Out of the corner of her eye Laetitia saw Zahra pale slightly, and Daryn take a step back, both shocked by the ruthless killings they had just witnessed.

"Daryn," Laetitia snapped. "Find the main control system. Convince it to open all the cells, and set the security systems out of business." Daryn hesitated, and Laetitia's eyes narrowed. "Now!"

Daryn paled and did as he was told, terrified of what this woman would do to him if he refused. Judging from the past few minutes, she was obviously not mentally stable, and she was not a person Daryn wanted to piss off.

Laetitia waited a few seconds to make sure that Daryn really was following orders, then headed for a computer herself.

"What are you doing?" Zahra asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

"Checking something," Laetitia replied, letting a hint of annoyance shine through her words. "Now stop bothering me, little girl, and go watch the hallway."

She could see Zahra's dark eyes narrow slightly at the arrogant words, but the girl wisely remained silent and walked back to the door instead, her every move reveling the anger she felt. Laetitia watched the girl for a moment, then returned to the computer. She knew that there was more diplomatic ways she could have handled the girl, but she didn't have the time to argue with any obnoxious teenagers. They were pressed for time as it was, and getting into a discussion would only make them lose valuable minutes.

File after file showed up on the screen as Laetitia started her search, then stopped abruptly as she found what she had been looking for - the list of inmates at the facility. Zahra had mentioned that this was the low security wing, indicating that there was a high security wing, too, somewhere. And since Laetitia had been with Blade and Jordane when they had been captured...

The systems responded immediately to Laetitia's inquiry, bringing up the information she wanted.

"High security wing, cell 16-C," she mumbled, quickly scanning the files. "Cellmates...are Sanderson and Twilight?" Laetitia looked at the computer screen with surprise. "So the Guardians got captured, too. Interesting..."

"I got it!" Daryn yelled, interrupting Laetitia's train of thought. "The security systems are down, and the cells in this cellblock are all opened."

"Good," Laetitia replied. "Now do the same thing to the high security section."

Daryn looked up worried. "I don't think that's a good idea - those people are alpha-levels or dangerous criminals. Letting them out is-"

"-Going to give us the distraction we need," Laetitia finished curtly. "Do it."

Again Daryn looked like he wanted to object, and again he decided that Laetitia was a worse threat than the prisoners in the high security wing. He returned to the computer and spoke silently to the entity in the machine again. This time it went a lot faster as the system recognized him, and it was only a matter of seconds before Daryn looked up again.

"It's done," he said with a small sigh. "What do we do now?"

Laetitia smirked, then reached down and tossed away her old guns, instead taking a couple of new ones from one of the dead guards. She quickly replaced the half-empty cartridges, too, then walked confidently towards the door where Zahra was, motioning for Daryn to follow her.

"Now, we leave."

* * *