It was like coming back up from a long, underwater dive. Slowly, as he rose up, the blackness began to fade, and his senses returned. He inhaled a deep breath and slowly breathed out. His eyes opened to the sight of a steel covered ceiling. A deep moan escaped his lips as he rolled over.

Wait….

…He sat up, as sharp pains traveled down his spine. But that was just it, he was controlling it. He held up his hands and examined them. Had he learned to subconsciously enter other people and gain control of them?

His question was answered instantaneously when he saw his reflection in the wall across from him. He stared at his familiar face, and delicately touched it with his fingers. His eyes stung, and his body ached, but nonetheless, Brian hoisted himself off the cell's table. His knees took the impact hard and he collapsed onto the shiny floor. His fall caused the tiny attached monitoring devices to fall off, causing a flashing protest from the computer. This went unnoticed by Brian though as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His mind was wandering, and he found it difficult to focus. Moving was an entire different matter. He eventually settled on just sitting still for a while, and he stared at the wall. How long had it been since he had been physically awake? Either he was still really drugged up or it had been way too long. He felt overly weak, and he was willing to be it was due to muscle deterioration. Now, he could admit that he wasn't a doctor but….

…What had he been saying? Brian blinked a few times and it was clear that he had forgotten. Frustrated, he let out a deep sigh.

Sometime later, his mind's wandering was interrupted by the low hiss of the door opening. Brian struggled to get back to his feet, but was met with little success as he tumbled once again in to a heap on the floor. As the door slowly opened, letting in a burst of hot air, it also let in a semi-familiar face.

It was the nurse who had skipped out on giving him his medications, and as he tried to recollect his memories, Brian placed her as being in Vancouver, only moments prior.

She came in and knelt down next to him. Brian looked past her shoulder and saw a skittish looking African man. He appeared to be in his late thirties, maybe even forties. He was dressed in a very typical outfit for a casual businessman of his age. He waited at the door, glancing down the hall in both directions every few seconds.

'C'mon," The woman said, half pulling him up and dragging him to the door. Once there, the African took a solid hold of the both of them and everything went dark.

___________________________________________________________________

John stood up, looking angered. "What the hell do you mean, 'We do this now'?" He demanded.

Reza looked up at him from where he still sat on the couch, phone in hand. His dark brown, nearly black eyes remained focused on John as he slowly stood. He towered over John by a good three inches.

"We have to do this now. That wasn't the only prisoner Sadira freed, I will bet you. They will awaken soon and then the guards will think something is up." Khoumani stated evenly.

John, though, was not satisfied with such a passive answer. "Then why did you have her do it? Why not wait?" He demanded, face rising closer to Reza's in what was supposed to be an intimidating manner.

"She told me to. We ran through the options and this was in the end more profitable than the other options. As how we decided to help you."

"You can create a strategy for things like that. Uncontrolled variables, idiot." John shot back.

To this childish remark, Reza only smiled. "Its too late Pyro. We're in this, me and you. I know what we're doing and you can only screw it up. So from now on, either listen to me or get the hell out of this operation."

At this, John took a step back, a look of near shock on his face. He surveyed the room. Logan sat smirking behind him with his legs crossed and arms spread cockily. On the opposite side of Logan, the pale kid, Amir sat cowering into the couch. That was it? No, they were missing someone. John took another look around the room and realized they weren't missing only one person.

Sadira. Mystique. The two bodyguards. All were gone. Something was up.

_________________________________________

Suddenly, Brian could see again. The bulky African man, who held Sadira under his opposite arm, was holding him up. Feeling threatened, Brian struggled to free himself from the man's grip. The man promptly dropped him to the cold cement floor. As he pushed himself up, he was overcome by motion sickness. He leaned over and threw up on to the floor.

At this point, Sadira was slowly standing up, with the man's assistance. She looked down at Brian on the ground and gave small smirk. She bent down and helped him up, and with the help of the older man, made him stand.

As Brian blinked, the world became clear again. The first thing out of his mouth was asking what had happened.

Sadira didn't seem to pay any attention to him, she was looking down the hall in both directions. As she did this, Brian looked around as well. They were in a dark, windowless hall. The hall was made of cement, and had many leaks and water stains to go with.

Finally, she turned around and quickly told him Jamal was a teleporter. As she said this, she made several waving gestures towards the man, Jamal, with her hands. He looked over at her, but kept his distance. They exchanged a look and then began walking.

Brian ran to catch up with them.

"So that's it? We're done?" He demanded.

Sadira snorted and kept on walking at her fast pace.

With a frustrated sigh, Brian ran up to catch her again. "Seriously. I want to go back home. How…what do I have to do to leave?" He demanded.

She sun around, eyes fierce. She grabbed tightly onto his arm, her nails digging into his skin. He teeth were clenched, and her breath was short and tight.

"They are going to die, Brian." Came hissing out at him. "Every last one of them." Followed between short gasps for air.

Brian looked as if he had been hit in the something. "What do you mean?" He managed to ask.

She stared at him long and hard with her large, dark eyes. "Brian," She began. "I know the future. Why else do you think my brother would allow me to help him? I can see what happens then I can know what to do to change it."

Brian was silent, his eyes shifting around the barren hall.

Her grip tightened, causing his focus to snap back to her. "They are all going to die." She repeated her voice hollow.

From behind them, Jamal stood, arms folded across his chest. He was waiting for something.

"Just listen to me. I. We. You. You can stop it, Brian. You can listen to me and we can save them. Or we can stay here and wait for them to come a gun us down. What do you want to do?"

Brian paused. Her grip around his upper arms remained strong, the African remained several feet away. Waiting. His heart was racing. He could hear footsteps. The sound of faraway voices, growing steadily louder, all eyes focusing on him. Thump, Thump. His heartbeat seemed to be the only sound through the silence.

He opened his mouth to give his answer.

Then gunfire broke out.