When I woke up, my head and neck hurt. I didn't know where I was, but there was a bright light. It was blinding bright. I couldn't open my eyes for more than two seconds without my eyes watering.

"Oh, good. You're awake. I wouldn't want you to miss anything." Abraham said.

At the sound of his voice, I wrenched open my eyes. I was tired to a chair in the middle of a very large, white room. There were machines and dashboard kind of consoles scattered all over the room.

In the back of the room, which I was facing, were six circular tubes. They were big enough around to fit a person, plus some small amount of elbow room. They were also about nine feet tall, each attached to a machine of some kind with the symbol on it. But inside each of these containers, held one of my friends.

Warren's container was creating a little bit of a vacuum. I could tell it wasn't deathly. But Warren was definitely struggling to breath in the current.

In Will's container, his hands and feet were trapped in a kind of half stone, half steel block. Layla looked dried out, as if she was under a heat lamp. Zach, Ethan, and Magenta had no restrictions except for their feet to the floor. They were banging on the glass walls, yelling out. But I couldn't hear them at all. They must have been sound proof.

Without even thinking, my hands had untied themselves from the rope. I ran to Warren's container, crying. I banged in the glass, somehow thinking I could bust him out and save the day. "Warren!" I screamed, banging on the glass with all my might, despite the pain that wracked my body.

I knew he couldn't hear me. But his hand came up to meet the glass were my hand sat before arms wrapped around my waist. "NO!" I yelled, kicking and screaming at the man carrying me. He dropped me and I ran back to the container.

More pain and everything went black once more.

When I woke up this time, I was strapped to a hospital bed. Self-preservation mode kicked in again. Have to get out of here, wherever the hell here is. Have to get The Captain America Crew out of here safely.

Robot mode. Well… Agency mode. I had to act like I had a psychotic breakdown. Oh! Plan anyone?

Abraham came in, shaking his head disapprovingly of me. "Agent Cross, you are not very good at undercover work. I think we'll have to reassign you."

He meant kill me, but forget that. Get the plan rolling. I did my best to look confused. "Abraham. What happened? Why am I strapped to this bed?" I asked. He watched me carefully as I tried to look around. "Where are we?"

"In our top secret facility. We are testing on your friends." He told me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to keep my confused face.

His turn to look strangely. "What do you mean? What is the last thing you remember?"

I thought about it. Shit. So much had happened so fast. Think now! "I was at Will's. We were…" I paused, trying to make it look like I was trying to remember. "Having a movie night or something."

His face straightened out. He looked across the room to a man I couldn't see. "Do any of the children have telepathic or psychic abilities?"

"I'm not sure. I am only aware of the abilities you informed me of." The man called back, making Abraham turn to me.

"Do any of them have those kinds of powers? Do you remember?" He asked.

I silently prayed to any being above willing to watch my back… "I think Zach does. But I can't remember. He hugged me before I left."

This seemed to make Abraham tense up. "Double security around the blonde one. And don't look him in the eyes. We don't know how he works his power!" Abraham called as three men rushed out of the room.

"Can I get up now?" I asked him and he nodded, untying me from the bed. I flexed my fingers and stretched a little bit. "I guess I missed a lot." I said, pretending to stretch my neck as I looked around the room.

This room was smaller and darker, with a lot more equipment. I couldn't read any of the computer screens, but they were all monitoring something. I just wasn't sure what.

"Indeed. You tried to run away from us with the fire boy and the Captain America look-alike." Abraham told me.

I cocked an eyebrow for effect. "Fire boy?"

He gave me a little smile. "Yes, you informed us that Mr. Peace has the ability to control fire. It was very good reconnaissance until you tried, and failed, might I add, to break him out of his holding."

I tried to keep my eyebrow cocked. "You're kidding right?"

He gave a little smile and patted me on the back. "I had an inkling you were under some kind of control. I mean, after you begged us to put you on this assignment, I was confused as to why you would risk your life for a couple kids. You know our punishment for treason."

He was right. I had begged for the mission. But in this business, you were either undercover, or a scientist. And since I all, but flunked science, I went with the undercover.

I nodded. "I would never willingly put myself in that position. I enjoy working with The Agency. Besides, who likes living on the streets?" I said with a little smile.

He nodded in agreement. "And since you're no longer a willing traitor, I will return your gun to you." He picked the hunk of metal off a table and handed it to me.

Like the professional I was, I pulled out the clip, was slightly impressed that they were giving me a fully loaded weapon, and slid the clip back in. I put the gun in between the waist band of my jeans, knowing full well I'd need it soon.

Abraham smiled at me. "I thought you hated the thing."

This was obviously a test. And one I would pass with flying colors. "Well, I'm not fond of it. And a bullet won't kill the supers. But if they break out of their containers, I need a way to defend myself."

Abraham liked my answer about as much as I liked telling him lies. He gave me a smile. "I think dinner's ready."

I nodded, following him out of the room. We walked past the main room that had the six giant cylinders. It tore me up seeing Warren in a little tornado, struggling to breathe. Or Layla, looking like she was in the middle of a barren desert. I hated myself. How could I have got them into this?

But I caught myself looking and continued to follow Abraham. If they even suspected I was lying to them, I'd be dead before I could see the cylinder room again. I had other things in my life that I needed to worry about. I needed to get the Cap'n USA crew out. I had to get back into Los Angeles to make sure Emma was ok with my aunt.

We reached the dining hall and half the staff was eating dinner, talking to someone next to them. The chatter only lulled when we came into the room. I even saw a few of the guards reach for their guns. But as I was walking with Abraham, I think they deemed me safe and non-threatening. Good.

We went through the buffet style line and sat together. We didn't talk. Abraham was really the only one I had talked to when we were on base. None of the other scientists or undercover personnel wanted anything to do with me. No one approved of Abraham's decision to bring me aboard. But no one openly admitted it either.

I was cold and it was raining. My aunt had accepted to take in Emma, but she had no room for me. That was fine. I was used to living in the streets and homeless shelters. It was pouring rain and I was huddled behind a trashcan in an alley near a busy intersection.

I heard a man yelling. He was begging for help. I turned my head to the opposite end of the alley that met with another intersecting alley. The other man yelled at him to be quiet, explaining why he was there, threatening the man's life.

The man was crying and begging for his life. He wanted spared. As I was leaning forward, I knocked my shoulder into the trashcan. The man in the suit with the gun looked over at me. This gave the bum of a man the chance to high tail it out of there.

Growling, the man stomped up to me. He took a hold of my collar and threw me against the brick wall. "Do you even realize what you just did? I've been tracking that man for three months."

I gulped in the cold air. I began stuttering and he slammed me against the wall, silencing me. He glared at me hard. I swallowed again, and then opened my mouth. "His name is Stan. He sleeps under 3rd Street Bridge at the end that faces the park."

He looked at me long and hard. "How do you know that?"

He was slowly becoming less intimidating to me. "Because I sleep under the other end of the bridge when it's clear. You'll get wet sleeping under the bridge when it's raining, but I've seen him there, even in the rain."

He looked at me for a long moment, then set me back on my feet. I felt the urge to dust myself off, even though there was no need. He grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me away.

Down the alley and around the corner was a black SUV. He opened the passenger side door and told me to buckle up. I followed his instructions and he drove us down to 3rd Street Bridge.

"He sleeps at that end." I pointed as we sat in the parking lot for the drenched park.

"Stay here. If you get out of the car, I will shoot you." He said, with no emotion in his voice at all.

I wasn't too scared of him; until he told me this. I nodded, agreeing to stay in the vehicle, regardless of what happened. He got out of the car, the rain soaking his suit. I watched with blurry vision as he crossed the park to the bridge. It was raining so hard that it made it difficult to watch the man through the windshield.

I could make out his shape, then he was holding someone up. Most likely Stan. I felt bad. Then there was a flash of light and a loud BANG! I gasped. What had I done? I'd led Stan to his death. Or, more aptly, I'd led Stan's death to him. I watched as the man walked back across the park to climb into the vehicle.

I stared at him with big eyes. He looked over at me briefly. He gave me a look that said, 'Don't say a word.'

But I ignored his pointed gaze. "Are you going to kill me too?"

He looked at me for a long moment. "Are you going to tell anyone?" Of course, my automatic reaction was to shake my head violently. He smiled at me. "Good. Then I've got a job for you."

I was brought back to the dining hall as someone smacked the back of my head. I looked around in annoyance, ready to pop somebody in the jaw. But it was Abraham. He just shook his head at me. "You still space out." It wasn't a question, it was an observation.

"Yeah, sorry." I apologized as he stood up. I followed suit and threw the uneaten food on my tray away. Abraham noticed my untouched meal, but said nothing. "What now?" I asked as he led the way out of the dining hall.

"Observation. We're going to see the extent of the supers powers." He told me, leading the way into the observation room.

When we walked into the room with the cylinders, a man stopped Abraham to ask him something. I looked over at the cylinders. Warren's tornado had stopped and he looked normal. Layla's container had apparently turned off the heat as she looked a little better. Thirsty, but better.

Abraham told someone to start the test on Warren. I tried to hide my nervousness. I couldn't let anyone see. I looked at Warren and he was glaring at me. I hoped I could convey to him that I wasn't selling him out; I was trying to break him out. But I'm not sure that the look in my eyes told him that.

I just stood there as they began the test. I watched a woman lean over a microphone and push a button. "Mr. Peace, feel free to initiate your pyrokenetics at any time."

Wow. Really? Because Warren totally listening to authority.

Warren was starting to smoke as the woman hit another button. Then all the sudden I heard Warren's voice. There was a microphone in his cylinder that they turned on. "How could you do this? I trusted you!" His voice screamed to the room, making everyone turn to look at him or me.

He lit up and was blazing fire. "How strong is that container?" I asked, passively.

Abraham smiled at me. "It's been tested up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit."

I nodded, wondering how hot Warren could actually get. He threw a fireball at the fireproof glass. "I hate you!" His voice echoed through my head as he breathed heavily, the fire lulling a bit.

"You really did a number on the boy." Abraham said beside me.

"I don't remember any of it. I'm actually surprised he can flame up." I said, crossing my arms to watch Warren.

"More lies." Warren voice echoed. Great. So he could hear us too? This was literally going to get both of us killed. He watched me as I walked forward, arms still crossed over my chest. "How could you do this to me? To us?" Warren asked, gesturing to the other containers.

"The last thing I remember is sitting on the couch with you at Will's house. We watched a scary movie. The Haunting in Connecticut." I said, raising both my eyebrows at the same time for only a second. I knew I was out of view of the camera in Warren's cylinder and there was no one near me. That night, we'd watched My Bloody Valentine. I hoped he'd remember that.

"So whatever you say I'm lying about. I don't remember." I gave him a pointed look for the show of it. I could feel the whole room watching us.

I could see the change in his demeanor. "We had ice cream with Zach and Magenta. Then I sat with you on your bed until you fell asleep." He said, his hands on the glass.

Oh, Hallelujah! He caught on! As long as the other five of them kept their mouths shut, I was good. "Warren, I don't know who you had ice cream with, or cuddled with. But it wasn't me."

Almost as if on cue, he flamed up, startling me and making me stumble back away from the glass. Abraham caught me before I hit the ground. "I think this test is over." Abraham told the woman, who hit another button for the mini tornado to come back. I mouthed 'I'm sorry' before anyone could see.

He gave the smallest of head nods as the struggle to breathe overtook him. They continued testing until they got to Zach. Since I was the only one 'proven' to be under his control, I was his guinea pig. And as Zach didn't have any powers that required super human strength or anything like that, they let him out of his cylinder, with hand and ankle cuffs on a fifteen foot chain.

Abraham told me to go hug Zach and I did as I was told. I prayed to the being above that Zach would catch on. I reached around to give him a hug. "I'm going to get you out as soon as I can. Pretend you have mind control."

I pulled away from Zach and waited for him to say something. "What do you want me to make her do?" Zach asked them, not sure what he should do.

"Make her dance." Abraham said with a smile. Zach relayed the command to me and I began making a fool of myself until Abraham told Zach to make me stop. "Tell her to kiss Petty Officer Diaz." Abraham said.

Zach relayed the message. I inwardly cringed. Petty Officer Diaz was a scrawny looking Mexican boy that looked very much similar to Ethan, but somehow he looked geeky-er. I don't know how that was possible. But I walked over and gave the Petty Officer the thrill of his life. Zach called me back to my post in front of him. Abraham laughed loudly and I would have to remind myself to brush my teeth next time I got out of their grip.

"Alright, one more," Abraham said with a smile. "Tell me where your daughter is."