Atkinco, thanks for the review! I'm glad to know someone out there is reading and enjoying this story. :D

Back again! With a start to the action, cannon characters by next chapter, and poor delusional Alicia trying to survive the mess she's gotten herself into. And quite a mess it is…

"I can't stall for much longer, I'm gonna have to tell them something." I had to give Frank credit for trying, but I knew even he couldn't delay things more than he already had.

"I'll talk to them." My heart was in my throat, and I was feeling a bit unsteady. Whether it was nerves or lack of food, I couldn't tell.

"You sure about this?" He asked, disbelieving.

No, I wasn't. But I was getting light headed and starting not to feel too well, so running wasn't really an option.

I nodded despite myself, and we started down the hall.

Frank muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'It's your funeral' but I choose to ignore that.

One look at the police officers, and every instinct I had was screaming at me to run. Approaching the two men as calmly as I could, I did everything I could to look as sweet and innocent as possible. It wasn't an act. After all, I had nothing to hide. At least nothing that concerned them.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

The taller of the two snorted, and started to reach for his handcuffs. The other looked down at the file he was holding, then looked up at me with something resembling fear.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you-"

"Wait, what are you arresting me for?" A funny thing happens when I find myself in bad situations. I become almost numb, and thoughts have a way of racing out of my mouth without my consent. Anything to gain the information needed to figure out exactly what is going on.

"For the kidnapping and murder of Shawn Lopez." The taller officer, and clearly the one in charge bit out.

"On what grounds?" My tone was equally as clipped.

"Your confession." Short declarative sentences seemed to be about all he could manage.

"What confession?" If he answered that with what I thought he was going to say…

"The one you gave when you called in that anonymous tip."

Not so anonymous after all I suppose.

"That wasn't a confession, I was trying to help! What is wrong with-"

"Alicia, help yourself and shut up." Frank said, even as he had made his way back to his station and had his hand on the phone.

"Smith, take care of him." He said, motioning the other officer towards the large security guard. "You" He grabbed my arms and twisted them behind me. He slapped on the handcuffs before I so much as registered what had happened. "Are coming with me."

"Wait, no!" I started to struggle, but stopped as soon as I started, as the edges of my vision started to fade to black. Looking up, I saw Frank give me a single shake of his head to tell me 'don't struggle, don't resist'. I could hear his voice in my head, though I was certain he wasn't aware of it.

"Should I call for back up?" Smith had his hand on his gun, but he had yet to draw it from his pocket.

"That won't be necessary." The other lead officer fixed me with a glare. "Just make sure he doesn't talk."

"Right." He took a step closer to Frank.

'I am so sorry Frankie, I never meant to get you involved.' I thought to him, thinking how ironic it was that I had made the call that triggered all of this so I could absolve myself of the guilt I had from ignoring other visions.

He looked at me with wide eyes, but shook his head again. 'It's ok love. I can deal with this guy.'

It would have to be good enough.

Without another word, he had taken hold of my arm with one hand, and grabbed my bag with the other. Dragging me out the door, he took me to the cruiser sitting by the curb un front of the building, and threw my unceremoniously into the back seat.

It may have been a few years since my high school government class, but I was sure this wasn't the way things were supposed to work.

"Aren't you supposed to take me down to the station and question me before pulling out the cuffs and Miranda Rights?" I asked through the metal grating that separated the front seat from the back seat.

"You were a threat."

Ah, yes. I could see how a girl who willingly came to talk to you and would have cooperated entirely if given the chance could be seen as a threat. Naturally.

"You may not have noticed, I was trying to cooperate. Last time I checked, citizens still had the right to be treated like human beings."

"You're not human, you don't have any rights."

Great. This argument. Just my luck to be stuck with a guy who had that sort of mentality.

"You know, registration isn't law." I caught his eyes momentarily, reflected in the rear view mirror.

"It will be." He looked away quickly, as though meeting eyes with a mutant would cause him to turn to stone.

"Is that what this is about? Are you going to force me to register myself as a mutant?"

I had read the Mutant Registration proposal thoroughly, and devoured every bit of information I could possibly get on it. This was our future we were talking about here, and I knew as much about it as any regular person could.

This thing was scary.

I didn't want to give up my civil rights.

I didn't want to be legally registered as a lethal weapon.

I didn't want to officially dehumanize myself.

I just wanted to live my life, with as little complication as possible.

Too much to ask for in this day and age I suppose.

"You'll be lucky if that's all we make you do." He started the car and pulled away from the ballet. Keeping his glance straight ahead, he drove quickly and a bit recklessly. He was a man on a mission.

It was then that I came to several realizations, more or less simultaneously:

Frankie was right all along, I should never have thought I could talk my way out of something as serious as this.

There was something much bigger going on here. Although my fate may have been critically important to me, to most I was nothing but a pawn. The powers at be would not hesitate to use me as an example for… whatever it was they were doing.

Most importantly, and most frighteningly, I was in too deep to get of this out alone.