River listened to the screams that came through the walls. They were male. Which meant that Brennan was being inducted. She was six when she was inducted; she remembered everything. The pain, the crying, the humiliation. River thought that life was strange. The minute she actually made friends with someone, she was right back where she started. Brennan's screaming stopped. Hopefully they were done. That way he could rest.

River sat on the cold, concrete floor; the room was filled with a moisture, because the cold kept her somewhat sedative. She looked around the room. There was no furniture, no toilet; nothing. Just four walls with a door in one of them, and a camera in every corner. He would know that she was awake; that she was aware. Already, while she was asleep, he had his men change her clothes. She wore white pants, long-sleeve shirt, and gloves. He knew; knew that she would use her powers on his men. She wore the IH collar. The collar would inhibit her powers until it was turned off or taken off. Works just like a sub-dermal governor.

She heard footsteps. He was coming. He always came. The door opened and five armed guards rushed in and surrounded her. Then he came in with Michael following.

River looked straight into Michael's eyes, "Brennan?"

Michael's eyes shot to him then back at River, "He was inducted, but he's fine now."

He still stared at River; watching her silently. He took a controller, to the collar, out of his pocket and waited. River knew that he expected her to acknowledge him in any way. She wouldn't, couldn't. He pushed the button.

River screamed in agony as an electrical charge was delivered to her body. One of the guards aimed his weapon at Michael, so he wouldn't go to River.

Finally, the pain stopped and Michael was allowed to go to River. She was lying on her side in a fetal position. Michael kneeled next to her, and pulled her into his arms.

River looked at him, "Hi, Michael."

"Enough!" Gates yelled. She hated it when he spoke. "River, it is a pleasure to have you with us again. And to bring us Mr. Mulwray was very kind of you. He is quite a specimen. We will have to test you again, of course. I wish to see what being out in the world had done to your system. I wish to know everything."

River started laughing, "You know what I learned being out there, in the world?"

Gates eyes sparkled, "What?"

"I learned this," River replied and launched her foot into Gate's groin. He howled out in pain. "You bastard!"

She launched to her feet while everyone else stepped back, not believing what they were seeing, "Do you have any idea what it was like to not be in a cage all the time? I don't belong here and you know it. I just want my freedom."

By now, Gates was sitting up looking at River. He subtley pushed the controller and watched as River received electrical shocks, but she was absorbing them. Gates watched, fascinated by the continous blows she was absorbing. Finally, being too tired, the last blow took her and she collapsed screaming.

"Amazing," Gates said. "She's developing her secondary powers. Absolutely amazing."

River was on her hands and knees, her head bowed; trying to control her breathing. Michael stood over her, amazed. He had never seen River do anything like that. He would have to talk with Mr. Mulwray and find out just what he and his friends did to her.

"Take her to the lab," Gates said and watched as two guards dragged her to the lab. This entire wing was known as Section-13. S-13 consisted of a recreation room, where River received exercise; a lab, her bedroom and bathroom, a punishment room, a project room, where River did all her work; an isolation room, a surveillance room, and several seeing rooms. But there was one room at the end of the hall, across from River's room, that was unknown to everyone. Only Gates went in there. No one else had access. It surprised Michael.

Michael walked behind Gates as they went into the lab, just as River was being strapped down to the table. She was still weak from the cold and the IH collar. She barely moved.

"Gates," Michael said. "I don't think that this would be a good time to do this. She needs to rest. The only reason that we even captured them in the first place was because she was too exhausted and hurt to fight back. Heal her first, then to do your expiraments."

Gates simply looked at Michael, "No." Then he looked at the other doctors who were standing by, "Begin."

River screamed as she saw the men moving towards her.

Brennan listened to the screams that came through the vent. That had to be River. Gates was probably doing to her what they had done to him. Oh God! she didn't deserve it. Enough had happened to her.

The locks on the door clicked and Brennan knew that someone was coming into the room. Michael, a man he didn't know, and five guards came into the room and surrounded him.

Michael spoke, "Brennan, it's good to see you well after being inducted."

Brennan ignored the other men, "Why aren't you helping River? I know that was her screaming."

The other man chuckled, "Everyone knows that Michael has to be restrained from the room by armed guards. He cares too much for River. Don't you Michael?"

Michael looked down on the ground as if he was ashamed of a horrible secret, "At least she trusts me."

The other man turned back to Brennan, "You see when a handler becomes emotionally involved with their subject, that handler is terminated. But in Michael's case we can't. Michael is the only person that River will work with. She killed the two other handlers before we realized it."

"Well good for her," Brennan replied. "The devil you know is always better than the devil you don't."

Brennan looked the man up and down, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your handler, Brennan," the man smiled. "My name is Charles."

Brennan looked to Michael for comformation. When he nodded, then Brennan believed it.

"No," Brennan replied. "I won't do anything for you. I also know that you won't use River against me because I know that she is ten times more valuable to you than I am."

"I thought that you might feel that way," Charles said. "So I am going to take you to meet a friend of mine. You'll hate me tremendously."

Three of the guards picked up Brennan and dragged him out of the room. He struggled the entire way. Charles followed him, but Michael didn't.

He stopped Charles, "Don't break his mind, he can be very valuable to me intacked."

Charles frowned, "Valuable how?"

"To River."

Charles nodded and continued on his way.
Michael stepped into the control room and watched as Brennan was introduced to Joseph. Joseph was a very powerful psionic who had a strong ability to attacked people's minds. He could turn them into mush if the thought every occurred to him. The only reason that Gates could control him was the fact that Gates, himself was a psionic. A very weak one, but powerful enough to block out other psionics trying to invade his mind.

Joseph feared him.

Brennan grabbed his head and screamed. Soon he sank to the floor and then unconscious. It was typical. It was how everyone reacted the first time Joseph tried to invade. Except with River. Joseph went to invade River's mind, then stopped. For some reason, no matter how old River was, Joseph wouldn't do it. Joseph and River were best friends. He looked out for her with a fierce protectiveness. He was also the one that helped River escape the first time.

He watched as Brennan was woken up and handcuffed to a chair. Brennan looked at Joseph with new respect. Joseph started to probe into Brennan's mind. You could tell because Joseph's eyes never moved, never blinked.

Suddenly, Joseph cried out and stopped probing.

Michael jumped up from the chair and ran to Joseph's room. He barged in and saw that Joseph was up, screaming something, and trashing things in the room. Charles was trying to calm him down, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Joseph!" Michael yelled. "Enough!"

Joseph stopped was he was doing and walked over to Michael. Joseph trusted Michael, "No."

Michael looked from Joseph to Brennan and back again, "Why?"

"Friend."

"Joseph, you barely know him. You've only just met."

"River friend. Brennan friend."

"Ok," Michael turned to Charles. "Joseph won't probe or attack Brennan's mind. He considers Brennan a friend, just like River."

"But Joseph has never been in River's mind," Charles replied. "He refuses to go even close to it. But he goes into Brennan's mind, sees that River is his friend and he won't attack."

"Exactly. The same way he won't attack my mind, because River considers me a friend."

Charles looked to Joseph in disgust then at the guards, "Take Brennan to the rec room and we'll get started on the physical tests."

The guards unlocked his handcuffs and started to drag him out of the room.

Brennan looked at Joseph and said, "She's lucky to have a friend like you."

Joseph looked at Brennan, then he ran and hugged him, "Brennan friend. Protect you."

Charles sighed in annoyance. He pulled Joseph away from Brennan, "Go now."

Brennan was dragged from the room and taken to the rec room. He struggled the entire way, not wanting to know what was going to happen in this room.

Michael looked towards Joseph, "Don't worry Joseph, he can take it."

Then Michael left Joseph's room as well.
River watched as Gates moved over to her bedside, "You know, it's absolutely amazing how your powers have evolved since you left us. You've become even more powerful then I could have imagined. That little implant we put in the back of your neck all those years ago as kept track of all the powers you have borrowed. You have become quite well traveled."

"Please stop," River said weakly. She had been tortured so much that she could barely keep her eyes open. "You've done all your tests, please just let me sleep."

"No," Gates replied. "We have one more thing that I want to do."

Gates turned to the two assistants, "I want to do an egg harvesting."

River's eyes widened at the words spoken from Gates mouth. She suddenly felt very energized. She struggled harshly and screamed no over and over again. Gates looked back at her and smiled. He knew that it would work. They had already harvested River's eggs when she was 8, but they only survived for 10 minutes outside of River's body. It was so physically painful for River that it took 3 days for her to recover from it.

"Stop," Gates said and River settled down. "Alright we won't harvest the eggs today, but we will. Its doubtful that the eggs will survive anyway."

The door opened and River craned her head to try and see who hand entered the room.

By the sound of his voice, she recognized him as Charles, "Joseph has refused to do anything to Brennan, because he knows of his relationship to River."

"Good old Joseph," River said. "How is he?"

Charles came over to see River, "You know that I will eventually break Brennan don't you?"

River laughed, "Brennan is ten times stronger than I am and you couldn't break me could you?"

"Don't worry," Charles said. "I will."
Shalimar paced the floor, while Emma and Adam worked there magic on Daniel. Jesse had disappeared almost the moment that he had seen to everything. Shal knew that Jesse thought everyone blamed him for leaving River and Brennan behind. Heck, Jesse probably blamed himself as well.

The pacing finally got to Adam, "Shalimar, stop pacing. Go find Jesse and talk to him. God knows he needs it."

Shalimar didn't want to talk to Jesse. She was mad as hell at him. He deserved every ounce of guilt that he felt for leaving Brennan behind. Even River didn't deserve to be left behind.

She checked the bedrooms, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living areas, everywhere that she could think of. She even went upside to check the mountain and couldn't find him there. She checked the garage and found that the Helix was missing.

Shalimar called over the rings, "Adam, Jesse's missing. He's taken the Helix and he's gone."

Adam heard the news and called Jesse up, "Jesse can you hear me?"

"Not now Adam," Jesse replied. "I'm going after Brennan and River."

Jesse cut off the comms. God knew that if Jesse didn't do something that he would go insane with guilt. It was his fault that Brennan and River were there. He couldn't live with himself if something happened.
Brennan was tired and sore. The rigorous activity that Charles had put him through was fun but exhausting. Brennan knew exactly how much he could handle before he broke. And they had nearly pushed him that far. He knew that Charles had the same information. It made Brennan wonder why he didn't keep pushing Brennan until he did break down from exhaustion.

After the workout, Brennan was allowed to shower and changed into clean clothes, which was still just white drawstrings pants and a shirt. He thought that Trinity needed some serious redecorating .

Now he was waiting. After the shower and change, the guards dragged him into a bare room with padded walls. It was the type of room where they kept someone who went insane or was mentally unstable. Pretty much the same thing.

The door suddenly opened and someone was pushed inside. It was River.

He rushed over and helped her to get back on her feet, "You ok."

"Yea," she nodded as she looked up into his eyes. "I heard you screaming."

"I heard you screaming too," Brennan replied. "Are you ok?"

She nodded again, "Are you?"

"Yea."

"I am so tired," River said. "I just want to lie down and rest my eyes."

Brennan sat down with his back against the wall and River sat next to him with her head on his shoulder. Brennan put his arm around her shoulders and she cuddled close, like someone would with a teddy bear.

With her even breaths, Brennan realized that she was asleep. That was good, she needed it. He would keep watch over her while she slept, try to keep the wolves at bay.

He looked over her. He didn't say anything, but he noticed the bruises and cuts on her body that wasn't covered up by the clothes. Which made him wonder what injuries were hidden underneath the clothing. God knew that when he next saw Gates, he would try his damnedest to kill him. The bastard had tortured not only him, but also a little girl. This little girl had enough pain in her life so far, she didn't need anymore.

She was also wearing the IH collar that Charles had told him about. Each collar was specifically designed for a mutant, genetically.

He couldn't wait to see what happened when they tried to put one of those things on Brennan. He would do his best to try and hurt the men seriously. He knew that River wouldn't let someone willingly put an IH collar on her, so they must have put it on her when she was unconscious.

Brennan sighed as he quietly fell asleep, his last thoughts of when Adam was going to get him out of here.