Chapter 2:

One Year Before Safi Dies.

Caledon University is a private college nestled in the thick forests of Vermont, growing in prestige. The fall semester was still wrapping up and the campus was abuzz with the upcoming Krampus celebrations. As Sean had briefed him, the campus security was sparse this time of year. But it didn't matter for Mark either way, his disguise was impervious.

He gathered his scarf up against the biting cold and maneuvered his way through the gathering crowd. A new statue of the university's founder was being erected today- funded by an enormous donation by an anonymous benefactor, Sean.

Sean wasn't allowed on campus- per university President Yasmin Fayaad. Mark didn't know why and frankly didn't care about their elitist bullshit. He was going to do what he'd been asked, find some way to bring shame to Madam Fayaad's name and get her removed so that Sean could…take over? Bulldoze the place? He couldn't remember if those details had been shared with him. It wasn't important. What was important was his freedom. He wouldn't be able to have the life he'd once had but he'd find a way to survive.

What Mark really wanted to know though was why he was necessary to this plan. Even if Sean was barred from entering campus, his power could allow him entry. All Sean had to do was touch someone and they were added to his mental network of puppetry. What was stopping Sean from sending someone in under his control that he just bumped into on the street? Furthermore, for there to even be a feud between Fayaad and Prescott they must have met before and must have shaken hands. Why not have her take herself out? Hell, streak across campus or something?

Mark found his destination and joined the line moving like cattle into a roped off area. Why hasn't he asked me to murder her? Sean had specified that he didn't want Madam Fayaad killed. What did he gain from that? Sean could pick anyone, ANYONE he'd touched within a certain radius of him and send them here. It would be nearly untraceable.

Mark toyed with the settings on his digital camera as he thought. Maybe if Madam Fayaad was killed they could still trace it back to Sean. His reach had a distance limit so he needed to stay within the area.

Sean was currently staying in a chalet up in a mountain on the other side of the large lake just east of Caledon and would likely stay there until this whole ordeal was over. Then Sean would swoop in and do whatever-the-fuck rich assholes did with universities.

An announcer stepped up to the podium and started spouting some pomp and circumstance about Caledon, the wonderful staff, and the genius students. It reminded him a little bit of his time at Blackwell academy. The line shifted forward and he held up a lanyard around his neck indicating that he was here on press duties, which allowed him access to a VIP section with a perfect view of the stage.

A chill ran through him and he wasn't exactly sure if it was because of the frigid temperature or the fact that it had been ten years since he'd taken a photo. He zoomed in on President Fayaad.

Why not cause a freak accident? He snapped a few of her before retracting the camera's zoom.

There were a good number of people representing the university on stage. Many of them he'd already spent months studying. There was Lucas Colmonero, the son of a world renowned author that had at least one successful book of his own. Gwen Hunter, another professor with some books of her own. Mark was currently reading her recent memoir which could be valuable to his mission. President Fayaad and her daughter Safiya sat near each other, she was simply a teaching assistant.

Fayaad seemed to be prodding at her daughter with conversation that Safiya seemed to lack interest in as she instead chose to keep her head turned away from her mother, toward the far side of the small lake in front of the admin building. The briefings he'd received on the pair had mentioned a tense relationship. Fayaad's secretary, Vinh Lang, looked to be trying to buffer the cold shoulder from Safiya.

Mark grabbed close ups of each target's face, capturing them in full view. Eye contact was important so he'd turned on his flash for attention. He snapped a wide shot for good measure and began clicking through the images. All targets were accounted for and then some.

It had been awhile since he had done this so he needed to test it before he went back. He made a quick swap of the SD card, placing the one he'd used into a small container with a magnet on the outside to the nearest lamppost. Sean had him under close watch so it wasn't a surprise that someone passed it almost immediately and discreetly slipped the case into their pocket mid stride. This was the start of Sean's big plan, there could be no missteps.

He took a deep breath and focused his mind on Yasmin, seeing her features in his mind's eye. He thought of her name. "Yasmin."

His stomach began to turn and he felt unsteady but nothing happened.

That wasn't normal…maybe I'm out of practice? Sean wouldn't be playing games right now. He closed his eyes and tried again, tried to will the usual flash of light, but again nothing happened.

Frustrated, he thought. "Vinh!"

A momentary light danced across his eye lids and he opened them, looking out from the stage. He spotted his original vessel, a blonde woman in stiletto heels. And just like that disguise, no one knew he was there, not even Vinh.

So it is working…So why? He turned and eyed Yasmin, nothing about her seemed out of the ordinary.

"Vinh!" Safiya tugged his arm and whispered too loudly to grab his attention discreetly. "Let's get out of here and go have some fun!"

He pulled his arm away, ignoring her. He tried again. "Yasmin!"

But this time he felt sicker and had to swallow back some bile.

"What's going on with you?" Safiya demanded.

"I'm paying attention." He said to get her to back off but she kept at it.

"Safiya!" He thought, annoyed. He closed his eyes and saw the expected flash of light this time.

But then he couldn't open his eyes!

He felt a pressure wrap around his limbs and heard a cacophony of voices. He felt overwhelmed. He tried to sort through the names he'd memorized, only one was blaring in his mind. "LUCAS!"

Mark opened Lucas's eyes and glanced over his shoulder at Safiya. What the hell was that?

Safiya and Vinh were crouched down now, trying to slip off the back of the stage unnoticed. She must have felt Mark's glare because she threw a glare back at him over her shoulder as she tugged along a snickering Vinh.

Did she know that I just tried to become her?! The few people that had known they were under his power had described its usage on them as being put on autopilot. The most common way it was described was like someone driving to work and not remembering the drive or walking through a doorway and suddenly not remembering what you were doing. By all accounts any average person would never know he'd been there.

However, a person with special abilities could pick up on the presence of others like them if they knew how to recognize it. But it worked differently for everyone and it wasn't always obvious. You had to be in tune with your body and feel the shift. For instance, Mark knew when Sean was using his powers on him. He could hear the commands Sean sent to him like a radio signal- and they arrived in Sean's voice. His thoughts and feelings wouldn't match his actions and he could feel every cell rebel against them. To the average person under Sean's power they would simply do as they'd been called to do, all the while thinking it was their own choice, whether it was in character or not.

Sean hadn't said anything about Safiya having powers, let alone Madam Fayaad. But why would Sean make this easy? If he did know he would never share it, he enjoyed seeing Mark suffer, it was a way of paying his dues.

He took a moment to deeply breathe in the crisp winter air and bask in the sunlight that had broken through the clouds. Upon his exhale, he opened his eyes to the dark inside of a windowless truck parked in the campus lot. The two people that had been keeping their guns trained on him tensed when he began to stir.

"It's done." One of the two made a phone call and the man who had picked up his SD card arrived and started the truck. The road up to the chalet was bumpy and rattled his brain, worsening the headache he'd gotten from trying to become Safiya.

Mark's wrists were zip tied and he was guided into the extravagant dining area where Sean sat eating a bountiful lunch. The midday sun streamed through the large windows that overlooked the lake down the mountainside, the campus sat beside it always in view. It looked so small from up here.

Sean barely looked up and pointed with his dripping steak knife to where Mark should be taken to sit, at the opposite end of the table. "Ever the bond villain." Mark joked.

Sean didn't laugh, he said while chewing. "You were able to get good photographs?"

Mark didn't answer, the man that had the SD card was already queuing up a projection on a large screen beside the table. He'd been on campus with one mission today- get in and get out with photos of prominent Caledon staff, and most importantly President Fayaad and her daughter Safiya.

The screen came to life. The photos weren't half bad for candid portraits, he hadn't been able to resist framing the shots even a little. A true artist couldn't just ignore the rule of thirds, though he really should have played with the Fstop controls a little more. Some of the white light came through too harshly.

He hadn't exactly been in an artsy mood out there and he kind of regretted not sneaking in a little effort. The camera felt too foreign in his hands…

The slides continued to progress as they sat in silence. Someone was taking notes of who had made eye contact in each photo, even if they weren't his targets. Even some random nobodies had to be watched now so they'd know all the places Mark could be, all the places he could hide.

Sean continued to eat while Mark's eyes were glued to the screen, judging every shot. Suddenly the dim room shifted color with the image on screen. Most of the photos had been taken while the sky was a gray overcast but this one was set ablaze when the sun broke through. Golden hues painted their bodies and danced in the rocking water of Sean's glass.

Sean looked up at the screen now. This was one Mark could be proud of, everyone had a dynamic movement to them, a kind of "Last Supper" for Caledon. He tried to bite down his smirk. Sean noticed.

Mark moved to keep Sean on the task at hand. "You didn't tell me those two had powers."

Sean had a strong poker face but Mark noted the way his breath faltered when he stated that. Sean sat taller and adjusted his suit coat. "Well you've officially confirmed it. But I genuinely didn't know about her daughter. I've never had the pleasure of meeting her."

Madam Fayaad was lucky for that, Sean was not a safe man for young women to be around. "Neither are you." A voice in his mind punted. It wasn't Sean.

In all the years he'd been under Sean's control he'd deduced that he could not read minds and the voice he'd just heard had arrived somewhere along the way. It sounded like his own but with an echo over it that sounded a lot like Sean. It was always full of self loathing. He was likely teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown and it was wild it hadn't happened already. The voice was probably just him cracking at the seams.

"It also seems like you can't enter Yasmin either?" Sean's lips pressed into a hard line. "Its like she's shielded in some way, I wonder if she even knows." He pushed his plate away. Mark was busy eyeing the photo, his favorite.

Sean continued. "I wasn't sure that powers were genetic."

There was a vast number of people under Sean that had special abilities but he was very careful about who crossed paths. He couldn't recall any names or faces of anyone else with powers but he knew they existed, and that was all by design so they couldn't rise up against Sean. It was a very powerful tactic to make his marionettes feel alone. Anyone else in this room could have powers but they would never realize it, not with Sean alive. It wasn't exactly an environment for building families.

"Well, I guess we'll never really know about Nathan." Sean mused with an emotionless face.

Nathan was a sad casualty in all of this mess. Mark had killed him to protect the Dark Room, an order of Sean's that had backfired. Back in Arcadia Bay, after the storm, Sean had maintained plausible deniability. Sure the bunker was built by him, but it was "just some doomsday prepper fun, it was his son and his disgusting teacher that had used it without his knowledge to commit such disgusting crimes." Nathan wasn't even there when David Madsen and officers busted in to find him photographing his student Victoria Chase. But he'd blamed Nathan anyway to remove himself from suspicion. They had never recovered Nathan's body after the hurricane- which was not uncommon after such a massive storm. What Sean didn't know was that Nathan was buried by Mark's hand the night before.

When Sean gave him a command it was like a computer code or transmission that would repeat and consume his mind until it was completed. He'd been commanded to "Keep the Dark Room safe" which had meant do so at any cost. It had even caused him to push his student Kate Marsh to attempt suicide. What Sean also didn't know was that Mark had brought Nathan into the workings of the Dark Room. He'd found the loophole to spite Sean and take the Prescott's down with him one way or another. What better way to keep the legacy of the Dark Room safe than with the son of its creator?

But Nathan quickly became a liability with his mental health spiraling out of control. Sean had misunderstood, or at least hoped against all evidence that Nathan was developing some type of powers of his own. Thus denying Nathan any medication or care. Mark had had to step in and pulled some of his own strings of power to get Nathan the medications he needed. Sadly, supply was inconsistent and Nathan began causing trouble. He was making mistakes, jeopardizing the Dark Room, so he had to die. "Keep the Dark Room safe."

That's also what almost caused him to kill his promising student, Maxine Caulfield. Her and her blue haired friend had flown too close to the sun. When he'd seen her on the security cam of the Dark Room his stomach had dropped. She had such a bright future ahead of her and he would have to be the one to kill it, kill her.

He had been so thankful that she didn't go to the Vortex Club party that night. Sean hadn't known that someone broke into the Dark Room, otherwise a command to capture another victim wouldn't have come through, and Sean always gave the Dark Room priority…but it would have been her.

…Max…

Did she die in the storm? A handful of people were lucky to have survived. Aside from the entourage that had sheltered in the Dark Room all night, Sean and his wife crawled from the wreckage like the cockroaches they are.

Mark would make a point to search the internet for Max the soonest chance he got.

"Mark!" Sean's voice stuck him out of his trance.

"Sorry…What did you say?" He'd completely lost track of the last few minutes and whatever Sean blabbered on about.

"What happened when you tried to overtake Safiya?" Mark didn't want to share that she might have known about his presence. He didn't want to give him access to another innocent person. But he also didn't want that to jeopardize his newfound "freedom".

"Tell me." Came a command.

He bit his tongue until he could find a loophole to the answer and kept some information to himself. "It felt different than Yasmin, where she repelled me and caused me illness. Safiya felt congested or even crowded and caused me pain."

"So they seem to have different abilities, we'll need to work on discovering them." Sean stroked his chin.

Mark found himself in awe of his photo again, the sunlight within it enshrining the cast of what would become a very dangerous game. The screen went dark and read 'Photo deleted'.

He was lifted from his chair by his elbows and was nearly dragged down the cold stairs of the chalet's cellar where he'd been staying all these months in meager accommodations.

He spent the night drifting in and out of Vinh's mind, vicariously enjoying the music and libations of the bar near the university. As sad as this state he found himself in was, this was far more freedom than he'd had in years.