Timebomb Central

Chapter 11: Revelations

Thank you to Roon and the others at TER for the support.

Alec wasn't too happy. He'd been summoned. In no uncertain terms, too. Their houseguest had not sounded in the least bit friendly when she was busy burrowing herself into his mind. At least now he had some sort of voice to go with the tiny face he'd seen. She had seemed almost serene in her unconscious state but what would she be like when she up and in action?

Trepidation was ticking away inside him as he attempted to keep calm and keep his mind clear. He didn't have a clue as to how much she could pick up on his thoughts when he was this far away. Given that he hadn't expected her to invade his mind either, he was going to err on the side of caution from now on. Nothing was wrong with that, as long as the girl didn't sense some sort of subterfuge she might still listen.

His first destination. however, was in fact away from quarantine. One thing he had definitely learnt to appreciate since he and Max had been unceremoniously thrown together back at Manticore, sometimes it was easier to have others there to help. In this case, Angel and Mia needed to know what was going on. For one, he didn't want his brain pummeled to mush and nobody being the wiser. Also he needed to have some sort of counsel as to how he should handle the girl. She was more than likely three steps ahead of him. Honesty was obviously going to need to be important, but what could he offer her to make her feel inclined to help? The files they had dug up on the girl spoke volumes. Not in what was written down, but more in what was left out of the reports. She was dangerous, that was most definitely something that wasn't in dispute. They had managed to experience that first hand. What he needed to work out was whether she was malicious and sadistic or maybe just the scared little girl that must be somewhere inside her. Their childhoods had been almost non-existent, but he still remembered moments of fear and how lashing out or doing something to make those that were watching happy was what you did to survive. They just needed to work out the puzzle that was in quarantine before she got too hard to handle.

She could feel him moving away and showed her irritation with this action in a hostile thought. The fact that her hostile thought could at close range kill a man, meant that the distance Alec was away from her was the only thing that saved him. He dropped to his knees, and she smiled, and then she felt him somehow sever the link. Puzzled and not exactly happy with that part of the plan, she did what any normal child would do when thwarted, she threw a tantrum.

The guard peered into the glass walled room with fear. The world seemed to be coming to an end if the sound was any indication. The pandemonium that had broken out startled him. Feathers from the mattress, rags and random items of furniture whirled about the room while the tiny occupant, with a chair leg in hand, was pummeling the shatterproof glass. He hit the alarm buzzer calling for help, unwilling to enter the maelstrom without some sort of back up. The sound of combat boot soles pounding down the corridor seemed to sink into the head of the little girl as he saw her lower her weapon. Then with a cold and scarily calculating smile, which seemed totally foreign on a face so very young, she fixed him with a stare that sent shivers down his spine and his blood ran cold. Her eyes felt like they were boring into his brain and the contents of his skull were beginning to seep out his ears. He felt a drip from his nose and looked down to see blood splattered on the linoleum at his feet. He raised his hands to his ears as fluid began to trickle down his cheek, his fingers came away red. With a final look of disbelief, he slumped unconscious to the ground, just as the reinforcements rounded the hall corner and caught sight of him.

She smiled to herself. Her rage was momentarily spent. She hadn't killed the man, but he'd have one hell of a headache. Just maybe, these people might just realise who she was and what they were dealing with, and then let her the hell out of here. Cages didn't always have bars, these glass walls and isolation served the job just as well. Patience had never been her strong suit and she wasn't gonna let her gratitude towards these people, for not killing her when they had the chance, change that. They'd named her like a house pet. Well she was good and ready to show them what fine claws and teeth she had. The others were wary. Well they should be. She let them retrieve the body of their downed comrade without incident. The silly fools had guns trained on her the whole time. Guns didn't frighten her, but she'd keep that bit of information to herself for now.

Mia and Angel ran into the hall when they heard a shout. A small crowd of trangens were gathered around a fallen figure. Angel ushered them out of the way as she ran forward to kneel at Alec's side. There was a large lump on his forehead which would produce a rather nasty bruise and he was out cold but other than that she could see nothing else wrong with him. Pulling a small vial of fluid out from her coat pocket, she removed the stopper and waved it under his nose. He jerked a little, his eyes opened groggily before he groaned and closed them again. Angel called a couple of the larger Xs forward and got them to carry him into a nearby room. After they placed him on the bed, she got Mia to clear the room. Sitting on the bed next to Alec she tried again to rouse him. His eyelids fluttered but didn't open when she waved the vial under his nose this time. Normally the stuff worked wonders, especially with enhanced sense of smell they had. Calling Mia forward to see what she could do was her next best option.

Alec could hear the people around him, but like a distant far off hum of voices. He tried to tune them out, he preferred the dark and the quiet at the minute. The pain he had blocked out could still be out there and he didn't want it to find him, so he hid. Pushing back against the door that tried to open and trying to forget the images that he had been bombarded with in that instant of agony.

Mia frowned. Something was blocking her from entering Alec brain. She tried again and was once again met with resistance. Turning to Angel she started to tell her that she couldn't make her way into his mind to see what was going on, when a blinding white light hit her between the eyes. Staggering back from the bed a few paces she shook her head to dispel the dizziness. Angel had her arm around her steadying her within seconds.

"That came from him." Mia couldn't keep the shock out of her voice.

Angel was confused. "What, was their something in his mind that hurt you?" She moved Mia towards a chair and sat her down.

Mia tried to get it clear in her mind. What had happened just didn't make sense. Alec hadn't shown any psychic ability before, maybe a little bit of empathy but nothing that would have suggested any power. Manticore was pretty thorough in their assessment of that sort of thing, she'd seen his files and there had been nothing. Yet, only moments before he had not only blocked her, but he had actively rejected her with quite considerable force.

Angel watched the emotions play across the other girl's face. Obviously whatever had happened had been not something Mia was expecting. She gave her a few minutes before she shook her slightly to get some response to her query.

Mia had forgotten all about Angel. She looked at her blankly before she realized she was waiting for an explanation.

"Some how Alec has locked his own mind. I can't get in there." Mia's uncertainty about the situation was clear in her voice.

"Are you sure? Alec isn't capable of telepathy." Angel was totally confused about what had happened.

"Yes, I think I am. It is the only thing that makes sense." Mia looked Angel directly in the eye " I wonder..." She trailed off, her head dropped as she obviously went back into working out the situation in her own head. Angel impatience with the situation was broken by a knock at the door. She moved over and opened it to find a security detail member standing weapon in hand on the other side.

His quick salute she waved off, just wanting to know why he was waving a gun around in her hospital. "Ma'am, thought you should know that the prisoner has awoken and has been causing quite a ruckus. They have her pinned down and under armed guard but she took down the sentry before we could get there." He rattled the information off rapid fire.

Angel glanced back towards the bed and put two and two together, it smelt like trouble. She dismissed the man and sent some other medical staff with him to get her a medical prognosis on the downed guard. This little girl was not going to make things easy. Could she have done something that manifested itself in Alec? She turned to Mia who seemed to have worked through her internal dialogue. A look of unease was on her face.

"I think Alec was a latent telepath." She blurted out, watching the shock on Angel face. She continued on. "He probably also triggered it in some of the others, the madness. Usually it is a trigger word. Maybe he slipped it to them mentally by accident. He even had contact with that one up in Canada didn't he? When he went insane, well..."

"Hold your horses." Angel was beginning to think Mia was off her rocker, no actually she was sure of it. "You're saying this whole damn mess started cause of him?" Angel was incredulous. It seemed such a far fetched story.

Mia shook her head. "Not exactly." She had it straight in her head, she just had to make Angel understand. "Manticore planted the words. They were good at being able to send out signals to trigger the response. Telepath of the strength of our little Hope here could transmit over miles. And there is no more Manticore these days to be coordinating that sort of attack on us. It was the one thing that had me puzzled from the start. I could never work out who had set the time bombs in their skulls ticking".

A noise behind them had both women spinning towards the bed.

Alec sat there stone faced.

"And you're saying that this was all because of me?"