Katie was nervous about meeting the kids. She heard that only seven of them made it out. She could never understand how much in despair the three that had to be left behind were in. As soon as Katie did what she had to with the kids, she wanted to help them rescue the other three. And if Katie wasn't allowed to, she would sneak them out. Katie was not going to let those kids abandon their three friends.
"Miss Kimmet, whenever you're ready," an FBI agent said as he poked his head through the door.
"Alrighty. Thanks for knocking," Katie said with a fake smile. The agent stared with his mouth open for a few seconds, then quickly left. Katie got up and made her way to the room the seven Anomaly Kids were being held.
She knocked on the door.
"Come in," a girl said from inside.
"Hi, I'm Katie Kimmet. You can call me Katie," Katie said with the friendliest smile she could manage as she walked in. The seven kids looked her over suspiciously.
"Hello," a boy said uneasily. He had kind eyes and dark skin. "I'm Edilio. The kid sitting next to me is Quinn," he said while pointing to a very tan boy about the same age who smiled. "and on the other side is Computer Jack, or Jack," Edilio pointed to a kid about 13 holding another girl who appeared to be asleep. Jack smiled then awkwardly cleared his throat. "And on Jack's right is Astrid, Diana, and Lana. And Brianna is, erm, sleeping right now," Edilio finished. The ones named Diana and Lana nodded at Katie, and Astrid stood up.
"Are you from the real CIA?" Astrid asked. Katie was taken aback by her suddeness. She didn't expect them to be this alert after narrowly escaping from death. They must be used to it.
"Uh, yeah. I'm guessing you guys met the General and Dr. Weigman?" Katie asked and got a nod in return. "Er, we're suspecting they're creating an army or something along those lines." Katie noticed the kids sharing nervous glances. They knew information about an army. Katie decided not to ask them just yet.
"Are we going to save Sam, Caine, and Dekka?" Diana blurted out. Katie looked at all of the kids. She could see it in their eyes all they wanted to do was a rescue mission.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to leave you guys until we get your three other friends. And if the CIA doesn't allow it, well, I'm sure you seven are fine with breaking the rules, right?" Katie said with a crooked smile. She could tell she had almost earned their trust. Astrid started walking around the room, inspecting the walls and corners.
"There aren't any one-sided glass walls or security cameras, if that's what you're looking for," Katie said. Astrid stopped looking a studied Katie's face. Katie cleared her throat uneasily.
"So, is Brianna okay? Do you want to lay her down in a chair?" Katie asked Jack. Jack opened his mouth to start to talk, but the girl named Lana interrupted him.
"She got shot in the stomach, but since I have the power to heal, she's fine. The bullet had poison on it, and I cured that, but it has a side effect and she'll be out of action for a while. Since she has the power of super speed, that kind of sucks for us. It means our four best fighters are out, no offence Jack and Edilio," Lana said. Her tone was friendly, but Katie felt like Lana's eyes were staring straight into her soul, daring her to freak out about the fact Lana casually brought up the fact that the kids had powers. Katie resisted the urge to whimper.
"So, do you understand that we probably won't manage a rescue mission if the FBI doesn't help us?" Astrid said while staring daggers at Katie.
"Geez, calm down guys. I'm on your side, no need to try and scare me away. Not the best of days, huh?" Katie said with an uneasy smile. The Anomaly Kids stared in confusion and shock at Katie, now.
"Uh, did I say something wrong?" Katie asked. She glanced nervously at them.
"It's just, you act like Brianna," Jack said with a sad look at the girl laying in his lap. All the others fell silently and looked sadly at their hands or Brianna. Katie felt uncomfortable.
"Um, so, what powers do you seven have, if any?" Katie said, trying to end the uncomfortable silence.
"Well, as I said I can heal almost anything," Lana said. Katie nodded, making a mental note of that.
"I can detect the strength of other people's powers, so basically nothing important," Diana said. She put a hand on her stomach and flinched, fear and shock written on her face. Katie decided to bring that up, later.
"And I'm really good with computers," Jack said. Astrid sighed.
"And?" she asked exasperatedly.
"And I have super strength," he mumbled. Katie almost snorted. She knew one of the kids had super strength, but she would have guessed Edilio or Quinn.
"And Brianna has super speed, and the rest of us are normals," Quinn finished. Katie's face fell. That meant the telekinetic kid, the one who could cancel gravity, and the one who could shoot doom-bringing lasers from his hands where the three left behind. The Anomaly Kids had a point, they would not do well in a rescue mission.
"Where did the other survivors end up? The other ones with powers?" Astrid asked Katie. Katie shrugged. Jack's eyes got big.
"We could easily rescue them if we found Taylor or Bug!" Jack exclaimed. "Taylor can teleport to anywhere she has been, and Bug can turn invisible, like a chameleon."
"Huh. Well, you guys are probably used to all this superpowers stuff, but I still have to wrap my head around this stuff," Katie said as she shook her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the kids exchange smiles. She finally had their trust. Now she would ask them about the army…
Katie was interrupted by Brianna grunting and opening her eyes.
"Brianna!" Jack gasped. Everyone in the room gathered around her.
"How are you feeling?" Edilio asked calmly.
"Better than ever. I'm ready to give that General a royal butt-kicking," Brianna said in a weak voice with a smile. She looked around and her eyes found Katie. "Woah, who's the new girl?"
"This is Katie, she works for the real CIA," Astrid said and explained everything they talked about. Brianna started grumbling when Astrid said she wouldn't be able to fight for a long time.
"I'm just fine," she said and started to get up until she winced and fell back down. "Tomorrow I'll be just fine."
Brianna realized for the first time she was laying on Jack's lap. "Um, hey… Jack? Can you set me in my own seat?" she asked awkwardly. Jack blushed and carried her to a padded couch and laid her down.
"Erm, anyways," Katie said. "I noticed you guys exchanging glances when I mentioned an army. If you trust me enough, can you tell me what you know? I don't want you to think it's against your will…" Katie trailed off and bit her lip. The seven kids looked at each other. Katie saw Jack nod at Astrid. Astrid took a deep breath.
"They want to steal our powers and inject them into multiple people, creating an army," she said slowly, watching Katie's reaction to each word. This was worse than she expected…