Chapter 5

Alphaville (Eating Area) Night

Various different Alphas were sitting at different tables talking as they ate. Daphne sat with Dr Rosen and Rachel, talking to Claude, the founder of the colony. Both were drinking honey water that Claude had made through his control of bees.

"This is delicious," said Daphne "Did you make this?"

"Well, the bees do all the work," said Claude "It's our nature to exploit nature's gifts in any way we can."

"It could also be viewed as two groups working together for a mutual benefit," Rosen argued.

"Have you ever had a brick thrown through your window?" asked Claude "Have you ever been persecuted for being who you are?"

"Hey, hold it there," said Daphne "We're supposed to be getting along here," –she turned to Claude-"I know that you feel that Dr Rosen is the cause of all your problems here, but you're wrong, Rosen only did what he did because he believed it was absolutely necessary, just like you do here every day, if you want to blame anyone for exposing Alphas, then blame Stanton Parish, it's him that made the situation for Dr Rosen so bad, that he had to reveal the existence of Alphas to the world, he couldn't have known what happened would have happened, the only thing you can do is help take down Stanton Parish, his terrorist actions are the ones giving Alphas a bad name, with him removed, and by Alphas at that, the people will accept you."

"How do you know so much about us?" asked Claude after a few moments "How did you know the exact words to say to convince me?"

"Its' part of my ability," said Daphne "I can hear peoples thoughts, which gives me a good idea of what it'll take to convince them to accept the better option, if your approach had been right, I would have taken your side, but your hate of Dr Rosen is unfounded."

"Perhaps you're right," said Claude "I won't say we're friends now, but we're no longer enemies."

Claude held out his hand to Dr Rosen. Dr Rosen took it and shook his hand.

"I should head back anyway," said Rosen "I've had my fill and I need to take this back to Skylar's house."

Dr Rosen got up and took the bag with the Photic Stimulator, still in his hand, and left.

"We'd better go with him," said Daphne "Claude might be convinced that Rosen is guiltless in this, but there may be other Alphas here that felt the same way."

"I agree," said Rachel "We'll get Cameron and follow."

Alphaville (Path between Eating Area and Skylar's house) Night

Daphne, Rachel and Cameron arrived just in time to see a guy, who looked like the same guy who had stopped the car earlier, push Rosen to the ground.

"Hey!" Cameron shouted, picking up a stone and throwing it at the other man.

He was knocked back. Several other Alphas arrived, including Bill who pulled his gun and kept the man covered. Rosen picked up the damaged Photic Stimulator.

Claude arrived last. "Put those away," he said "We don't settle things with violence here."

"Maybe you should tell your man that," said Rosen indicating the other man, which Daphne now remembered was named Gower.

"I didn't start this, Claude," Rosen continued.

Gower got up, still being covered by Bill and Cameron.

"The hell you didn't, you started the whole damn thing," he said "My life fell apart because of you, my wife left me, and she took my kids, all because of you and your big mouth."

"Do you have a name?" asked Rosen

"Gower," said Gower

"Mr Gower, I opened my big mouth because it was absolutely necessary, if you'll just let me explain."

"Not now, Dr Rosen," said Claude "Gower, go home."

Gower got up and left. The rest of the assembled Alphas left in turn.

"Sorry about that, Dr Rosen," said Claude "But I had to stop this causing a scene, I've received word that Parish's people are in the village, we can't advertise your presence too much."

"Thank you, Claude," said Dr Rosen "We'll head back to Skylar's house and try and mend this."

"You can spend the night here," said Claude "But I want you gone by morning, I can't risk any of my people if you get in a fight with Parish's soldiers."

"I understand, Claude," said Dr Rosen "But understand that eventually, your people will be forced to join the war Parish is planning, either on our side or on Parish's, Alphaville won't stay neutral forever, and I'd prefer if you were on my side."

"Give me time, Dr Rosen," said Claude "I'll stay neutral for as long as necessary, Alphas still need a place to go if they want to get away from the world's confusion."

"Have you ever read the X Men comics, Claude?" asked Daphne "The most famous of the X Men said something like that about the X Mansion, but he also believed that humanity needed protecting from, in the X Men's case, mutants who wanted to destroy them, I think that you are most like Xavier among the Alphas here, and I think they need an Xavier."

"Thank you, Daphne," said Claude "But I still need you to leave tomorrow, I need to protect my people."

"We'll go tomorrow," said Rosen

Alphaville (Skylar's house) Morning

"Can you fix this?" asked Rosen, as he looked at the smashed up Photic Stimulator on the table.

"We're trying," said Rachel "Gower smashed it up pretty bad."

Suddenly, Rachel looked at the wires.

"Did you see that?" she asked. Skylar placed her finger on the area of wire Rachel indicated and then looked at an Ipad-like screen.

"Clever," she said "They've got stuff incorporated into the wires, that must be what was draining the power."

"Can you fix it?" asked Rosen again

"I could, but I need time," said Skylar

"We don't have time," said Rosen "Claude wanted us out of here this morning."

"Lucky you," said Skylar

"You know," said Rachel "You and Zoe could come with us."

"I came here so Zoe could be around kids like her," said Skylar "It was so much easier when I was alone."

Rachel looked around to see Zoe looking dismayed at her mother. "Hey Zoe."

Skylar looked around "Zoe," she said, but Zoe ran off.

"I'll go after her," said Daphne, leaving the house and running off after Zoe.

Alphaville (Woods)

"Zoe," shouted Daphne, as she saw Zoe running "Wait!"

Zoe looked around, and then elected to stop. She sat down on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes. Daphne sat down next to her on the forest floor.

"My mom hates me," said Zoe, sobbing as she sat there "Would it have been better if I wasn't here?"

"You know Zoe, your mom will love you no matter what, she just gets frustrated with you sometimes, as Dr Rosen will tell you, as my parents will tell you, it's not easy raising an Alpha like you or me," said Daphne "I'm sure your mom feels really bad about what she said, why don't we go and talk to her?"

Zoe nodded and they walked back through the woods. As they walked, Daphne realised they were being followed. She looked around but could see nothing. As they walked onto a bridge, they found the other end blocked by a man in a blue denim jacket with strange, mad looking eyes.

"Zoe, right?" said the guy "And Daphne?"

They both turned around, meaning to run the other way, only to find they were blocked from the other direction as well, by a black man carrying a knife. Daphne's gaze darted from one man to the other, assessing which would be easier to take out. As she looked back at the black man, he had vanished. The next thing she felt was a blow to the back of her head, and she was unconscious.

Alphaville (Unknown Location) Day

Daphne woke up. Her vision was blurry so she wasn't sure exactly where she was. She heard Zoe breathing fast nearby, which was reassuring. As her vision started to clear, she saw a woman with a gun pointed at her.

"Who are you?" she asked, wearily as she tried to sit up. That was when she realised that her hands were tied down where she was lying.

"We work for Stanton Parish," said the woman "You're Daphne, right, I read your file, you're one of the Trillsettum Alphas, aren't you?"

Daphne didn't answer, just continued to try to break out of the bonds she was locked in.

"Don't bother," said the woman "Those bonds were built to hold Agent Harken, you won't be able to break them."

Suddenly, another woman entered. Daphne's vision was too blurry to make out much features, but she recognised the voice from somewhere.

"You said the Powells weren't involved in this," said the woman "I agreed to do this so that they wouldn't be involved."

"Stay out of this, Rebecca," said the first woman "You know, I'm starting to think Stanton was wrong about taking you on."

"I'm starting to think I was wrong to sign on," said Rebecca "I think that after this, I'm going to leave."

"I won't let you," said the first woman

"You won't be able to stop me, Tricia," said Rebecca "I was always the only one able to beat you."

Then, Daphne knew this would be how she would escape. She would somehow get a message to Rebecca, telling her she had a proposition for her.

She had never done this before, but she would try to contact Rebecca mind to mind.

"Rebecca," thought Daphne "Can you hear me?"

Rebecca looked around wildly, looking for the source of the voice.

"It's me, Daphne, I can communicate with you in the mind, act natural, just think back what you want me to hear,"

There were a few seconds of silence, during which Rebecca tried to act natural.

"Daphne," came Rebecca's voice in Daphne's head "What do you want?"

"There's a group that me and my family joined recently," said Daphne in her mind "It fights against Stanton Parish's group, they're coming, if you let us go and help us to fight our way out, I'll tell them to let you join the group."

"I still want to get rid of my abilities," Rebecca thought back "Is there any way to get rid of them permanently?"

"Not that I know of," Daphne thought "But there is a way to stop the side effects from the Trillsettum withdrawal, you'll have your powers permanently without the drugs, and if you still want to get rid of your powers, I'm sure my mom can figure out how to do it."

"When do you want me to strike?" asked Rebecca

"Our team will arrive soon," thought Daphne "They should provide the distraction needed to free me and Zoe."

"This government agency," Rebecca thought back "Are they like Global Tech?"

"No," said Daphne "Global Tech wasn't government at all, it recently turned eighty four criminals into super villians with permanent powers."

"O.K," thought Rebecca "I'll help you."