-8-

The two girls were chatting in Eleven's room, entertaining themselves with their powers as they talked. Eleven gasped and smiled as Kali conjured up the illusion of a beautiful, but delicate flower that glowed softly in her hands.

"Now this is beautiful," Eleven smiled.

"I know," Kali smiled back. But it was dimmed slightly; there was a nasty and very vivid bruise on Eleven's cheek, and she was hardly in the best condition, either. A few days ago, Brenner had sent some of his thugs into her room, and they'd been carrying a cattle prod, and she was electrocuted in the gut. She should have been used to the pain by now, but it was agony. "You're the only person I've shown that to, you know. Brenner and the others keep trying to make me conjure up illusions when they tell me, but I only play games with them to mess them around."

Eleven rolled her eyes, unsurprised by Kali's acts of defiance by conjuring up cruder illusions for their handlers to grow frustrated and pissed off over but she was touched her sister had saved the best for her. "You're gonna get into trouble one of these days, Kali," she warned in a whisper; they both knew Brenner and the others watched them all the time. In fact, it would not even surprise them in the least if the doctors and nurses knew what they were doing.

Kali shrugged and waved her hand. "I don't care," she said. She lowered her voice and leaned forward, gently taking Eleven's head into her hands, and speaking into her ear. "Eleven, I'm thinking of leaving soon," she whispered as low as she could.

Eleven's eyes shot wide open, mindful of the prying eyes and ears. "When?" She asked simply.

It was a dream for them all to escape from the confines of the lab, and go out into the world and try to rebuild their lives. Nobody had managed it, but there were rumours some had escaped. The Lab's doctors and nurses never spoke about it, or the results. But the rumours did persist, and it only made everyone want to escape.

"Not long from now, maybe a few days. I just need to keep watching the Lab," Kali replied.

"It's a bit risky to tell me about your plans when we could be overheard," Eleven pointed out.

"I know, but we're watched all the time. And besides, I wanted to tell you when we weren't being kept apart. Ever since Brenner saw us in the Rainbow Room together, they've been trying to keep us apart, this is one of the few times we've been able to see each other."

Eleven sighed, knowing she was right. "Okay, when are we going?"

Kali's smile was so close to Eleven's face that she could only see it at the top of the corner of her eye. "You're coming with me? That's superb!"

"Of course," Eleven said, insulted. "We've talked about escaping the Lab for years. I'm tired of being slapped around."

Kali pulled back and gently caressed Eleven's cheek, her eyes gleaming with sorrow as she examined the bruise. "I'm sorry," she said.

Eleven smiled back, and she gently took her sister's hand. "Don't blame yourself, Kali," she said softly. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was," Kali argued.

"No, it wasn't," Eleven's smile widened into a full-on grin. She loved it whenever they had mini arguments.

Kali huffed and she rolled her eyes but she smiled back at her sister. "I love it when you're cheerful, sister," she said.

Eleven chuckled and she hugged Kali back. When she was close, she whispered, "Why don't we leave tonight?"

Kali pulled back, so stunned and shocked by what Eleven had just suggested that she had to truly fight hard to maintain her composure. "Wh-what?" She stuttered. She wondered if her younger sister was serious, but one look at the younger girl's face showed the resolve there.

Eleven nodded, "Why not?"

Suddenly it was as if the light bulb in her head lit up. "Okay," Kali leaned forward, gushing, "we'll do it later."

Kali and Eleven were just about to speak, continue making up different plans, when the door suddenly burst open and framed in the doorway was Brenner. Before either of the girls could speak, two of the orderlies raced into the room behind their leader, grabbing Kali and hauling the young girl out of the room before another three barrelled. The moment she registered the clubs and shock batons in their hands was too late, and Kali screamed along with Eleven when they began beating her.

"NOOOO!" Kali shrieked as she struggled to break free, not even thinking about using her powers to try to escape from the guards. "NOOO, STOP, PLEASE!"

"Get her out of here," Brenner barked. "Get her to her room!"

Kali kept screaming with Eleven; her last sight of her sister, although she didn't know it at the time, it would be the last time they ever laid eyes on one another for years, being surrounded by the goons, and they jabbed her gut with the prods. Her screams echoed through the corridor. Kali struggled to escape, but the orderly's grip on her was too tight, so much so it felt as if her arms would break. That didn't stop her from fighting them, though, and they had to resort to dragging her to her room.

"This is taking forever!" One snapped.

"I've had enough of this!" Kali screamed in sudden pain and rage as one of the prods was shoved into her gut, and once more she doubled up as her entire body exploded with agony. But the pain weakened her so much that she was picked up and thrown over the shoulder of one of the orderlies. By the time she was returned to her prison cell, the guard had dumped her on the bed. Kali was just recovering from that dose of pain before the prod was jabbed into her gut once more….

It took her a moment to realise that she could hear her own screams, the screams of her sister.

-8-

Kali groaned as she struggled to get up, but she groaned in pain as every part of her ached as she tried to move. Every part of her body ached from the beating she had gotten. The guards had clubbed her and they had used their hands, fists, and feet to beat her up. And then there were the electric shocks with the prods jammed into her gut, and to other parts of her body.

Slowly, Kali was able to move past the pain and she was able to move. Kali was just getting into her stride when the door banged open, and Brenner stood there. The moment she saw his expression, Kali knew this was not going to be pleasant; she had been on the wrong side of the bastard more than once. Usually, she would show off an indifferent and aggressively defiant manner, but right now Kali was in too much pain to actually pull it off.

It took Kali a moment to see he was carrying something, it was one of the gowns. With a cold look in his eyes, Brenner waited until she had noticed it, which wasn't hard since he was moving it up and down. When he was satisfied she was looking at it curiously, Brenner dumped it down next to her.

"Look at it, Eight," he commanded.

Kali bit her tongue, fury burning within her at the way he had tried, once more, to tear her identity away from her. But she ignored it this time as she studied the gown. She saw there was something truly wrong with it. It was covered with stains of blood. Kali gently reached out, worried for a moment Brenner would resume the beating if she touched it, but he did nothing. He just loomed over her, glaring down at her.

Suddenly she gasped when she saw the label. All of the hospital gowns were identified by their owner's number to help the laundry crew sort through them. She knew who this belonged to.

0-11.

Kali stared up at Brenner, uncomprehendingly about what was happening. "What?"

Brenner slapped her, hard. "Eleven is dead. She died from the beating. The most telepathic telekinetic we have, dead, because of you."

"No," Kali's eyes filled with tears, refusing to believe this. "This…this is one of your sick games…."

"If anyone's sick, Eight, it's you. Did you really think your plans to escape wouldn't be found out?" Disgust entered Brenner's voice. "You can never escape here. You belong here."

But Kali didn't listen to him, as she stared at the gown.