• The Problem
    Tory


    Jamie turned back towards the force field just as he ran into it. His body jolted a few times then he was thrown over some bushes. There wasn’t any movement after that.
    “JAMIE!” I yelled, taking a few steps in his direction.
    “Well, we can tell that you guys are juniors,” a man said from behind me.
    I spun towards it. NightDust. I didn’t care about who it was. All I cared about was my friend. These bastards were going to pay.
    “You!” I said sharply, advancing on him.
    He was tall, had a muscular build with light coloured hair, it was either light brown or some kind of blonde. But I could see his blood red eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. His eyes widened; his irises were completely red. He hadn’t expected me to attack him. He was wrong.
    “I wouldn’t do that, girly,” he warned me but I didn’t listen.
    Out the corner of my eye I saw movement; the other NightDust agents were closing in on us.
    “Ganging up on a girl, huh?” I said mockingly, slowing my pace. “That’s a bit cowardly.”
    His eyes flared and he flashed his teeth. “Cowardly? I’m no coward, b***h.”
    I laughed evilly. “Sure you’re not, whatever helps you sleep at night, a*****e.”
    I hadn’t stopped advancing and my talking to him was distracting. I was very close to him now but he still hadn’t notice. He made a quick glance towards his colleague but that was all I needed. I leaped at him, his head snapped back as I hit him with my body weight. He yelped as we tumbled to the ground. We both grappled with each other, I was desperately trying to leave a mark on him. There was a scurrying sound of feet moving on the ground, his friends were to help him out.
    “NO! Stay there!” The guy yelled while trying to hold my hands still.
    The moving stopped. “But Max, you–”
    “I said stay there!” Max yelled as he got my hands in a death grip.
    They started to move away. Max and I were still fighting on the ground; we were both fighting for control of the situation. I was able to get one of my hands free by elbowing him in the chest. I closed my hand into a fist and swung it at his face. The hit made his head snap to the side and his grip loosened on me. I pushed up off him but as I went to the side something grabbed my leg, causing me to fall face first onto the ground.
    The grip on my leg tightened and started to pull me backwards. I looked over my shoulder. Max was up again and he was holding on to my leg with, to my joy, a big red fist mark on his right cheek.
    I blinked. No way! As if he could be up again, my punch should have knocked him out, I thought. I kicked out with my free leg, I didn’t care about what I kicked, and I just cared about getting away. I knew attacking him was a stupid idea but I couldn’t control myself. Before I thought it was because they hurt Jamie but now I knew it was to vent my anger from Noah.
    I really should have tried to take care of Jamie and taken him to a Drake building, I could have made it. I should have let the agents handle it. When they found out about this, they’d kill me if Dust didn’t. I could imagine what they would say, ‘Why would you take them on when you have no weapon and no power? You are no help to us.’ They’d be right; I was no help to anyone.
    Max didn’t let go of my leg even though my foot had hit something that made him grunt. It had only made his grip tighten. I thought he was playing with me because I wasn’t strong enough to hurt him. And he was a Dust agent, he’d be jacked up on enhancing drugs and would be twice as strong as me.
    He yanked on my leg, making me slide right up to his body. He rolled us so that he was sitting on top of me and I could feel everything. I went to hit him but he caught my hand and pinned it to the ground next to my head. A grin crossed his face. I was right; he was a lot stronger than me.
    “Got you. You can’t get away now, girly,” he said with a smirk.
    “Get off me!” I screamed at him but it was cut short by his hand covering my mouth.
    “Don’t yell!” he hissed, his eyes flashing like fire.
    “I’ll yell all I like!” I mumbled under his hand.
    “Shut up!” he hissed again. “Don’t cause any trouble for yourself because you’re coming –”
    A gun went off once then again, two heavy thuds followed shortly after. Max looked up to see what happened and his grip loosened on my mouth. I tilted my head back to see the scene. I saw two Dust agents on the ground and Jamie standing where he had been thrown, holding his gun. It was then I realised he hadn’t bothered to remind me that he had one too.
    “You had your gun all this time and you didn’t tell me!” I yelled at him. Max flinched at how loud my voice was.
    “Shut up, Tory, and get your a** over here!” he yelled. I was taken back, Jame never yelled at anyone, let alone me.
    “Well, you know. I can’t,” I answered as I looked at Max.
    “Yeah, I suggest that he gets off you or he’ll get a bullet to his forehead,” Jamie said, more hostile than I’ve ever heard him be before. It made me want to stay with the bad guy.
    Max’s grip loosened slightly before he completely let go; he rolled to his knees and faced Jamie with his hands up. I scrambled to my feet and ran over to Jamie. I glared at him but he didn’t take his eyes of Max.
    “I’d put the gun down now, kid,” Max said.
    “And I’d listen to you, why?” Jamie bit back. I turned to look at Max, tyring to figure out what he was up to.
    There was one Dust agent left out of… three? I frowned but wasn’t there five of them before? Oh, s**t! Oh my God, it was a trap. My heart rate picked up.
    “Jamie… Jamie! We have to go, we have to go now,” I said, pulling on his arm.
    “Stop it, Tory! You’ll throw my aim off,” he replied.
    Max smiled slowly then the gun was taken from Jamie’s hands, we both watched as it was sent flying into the bushes behind us.. With wide eyes, I turned back to Max as he was standing up, one of them is a telekinetic, I thought instantly. Oh, ********, we were in trouble now.
    “Now what smartass!” I hissed at Jamie. “I tried to tell–”
    “Shut up, Tor!” he hissed back, I could hear the worry in his voice. He was trying to protect me and he couldn’t do it, he had his weapon taken away from him which meant he was defenceless. Max took a step forward and stretched his arms above his head, a tingle ran up my spine. It felt like someone was watching us.
    “Smart boy, aren’t you?” Max said with a smug smile.
    Jamie just stood calm; he didn’t react to Max’s taunting. Unlike me.
    “Shut up! You don’t know him, you can’t judge him!” I yelled at Max. I took a step forward but Jamie put his arm out to stop me. I looked at him with my mouth open but I stopped. His expression was hard and focused; it made me think twice about saying something. My mouth snapped shut and I glared at Max.
    He laughed. “Letting someone control you, girly? I never thought you’d let someone do that,” Max taunted. I grinded my teeth together.
    It wasn’t like me to let someone taunt me; if Jamie wasn’t here I would have been trying to kick the guys a**. Only Jamie and Seth, my father figure, could get me to stop.
    “What do we do now, Jamie?” I asked as I kept my eyes on the Dust agents as they started to surround us.
    “I don’t know,” he mumbled. He kept his eyes on Max but I could see that he was also keeping an eye on the other man approaching from his right. They were trying to box us up against the tree; I decide the play the damsel in distress.
    “What do you want with us?” I said, stuttering a bit.
    “I don’t want both of you, I only want you,” Max said as he pointed at me.
    I tried not to look surprised; they wanted me? Why? I was confused and my head was trying to find a reason. I didn’t notice the Dust agent lunge at me until the last second. I used our body weight to turn us as we made tumbled to the ground, we rolled a couple of times before stopping
    “Tor!” Jamie yelled. I gave him a brief glance as he took a step toward us but Max and the other guy attacked him before he could get to me. My concentration went back to my foe but in the back of my mind, I could still hear their fight starting.
    The guy that was under me growled and flashed his teeth, it didn’t seem like there was anything human left in him. His eyes were red with a tiny black pupil, his black hair was almost to his shoulders and it was wild.. It was like fighting against a rabid dog. There was no hope of coming out of this without getting hurt.
    I grabbed his hands and tried to push them down before he could hurt me. When that seemed to fail, I decided to take hold of one of his hands. The other flashed in the corner of my eye and before I saw it coming, it struck my face. I felt the side of my face explode in pain and my lip split, I let go of his arm to check my own face and my hand came away coated in red liquid. I didn’t let him see how much it hurt, but it hurt so much that tears gathered in my eyes.
    “Going soft, girl?” The guy growled, his voice sounding almost inhuman.
    I tilted my face back towards him, even though I was hurt and crying, I knew I showed no fear. “Not in this lifetime,” I growled back.
    My fist met his face; though I think it hurt my hand more than it hurt his face. It only made him angrier and he was able to get both hands free. They instantly wrapped around my neck before I could react. His hands were huge as they engulfed my neck and tightened slowly. I gasped, trying to draw air into my lungs but couldn’t. He was slowly blocking my airway and I tried to claw his hands away. I only hoped that Jamie got away without getting hurt. Black spots started to show in front of my eyes and my hearing was fading as from me but slowly they got weaker.
    Something flashed in my peripheral vision and hit the guy in the ribs. The guy let out a gasp of pain and his hands loosened from my neck. I knew that I’d have bruises in the shape of hand prints there in the morning. I felt Jamie’s hand wrap around my bicep; he pulled me free of the Dust agent. He hugged me to his side and I took comfort in it, clutching to him like he was my last breath. I looked around to check the damage, Max had a black eye while he stood up with a wobble and the other Dust agent was getting off the ground. I looked up at Jamie in awe and wrinkled my nose.
    There was sweat covering his face, his hair and the collar of his shirt was damp. “Stay close to me, Tor,” he said, twirling us in circles as Dust started circling again.
    My eyes widened in horror, there wasn’t an ounce of hope in his voice. I nodded, looking away from him as a tear ran down my face. I quickly wiped it off with my shoulder. I was so scared that my body was acting on its own. When Jamie moved, I moved with him.
    “Aw, isn’t this nice, protecting your girlfriend. How touching,” Max sneered.
    Neither of us said anything, didn’t correct the mistake but Jamie’s arm tightened around me.
    “It isn’t going to help. She’s coming with us,” he said, giving Jamie a look. “Even if you stand in our way.”
    Why did they want me? I stared at Max, I would never join their side. Nothing could make me want to join them. My eyes narrowed, he was an idiot if he thought that! Out the corner of my eye, I couldn’t see the force field anymore. I had to check twice before I realised what it meant. Hope filled me, this meant that the fielder was dead which brought down the shield.
    Jamie, I thought, I’d have to get Jamie clear of this. But how? It clicked, me as a diversion. It was a plan, the more I thought about it the more I realised I probably wouldn’t come back. It didn’t matter, I had already made my decision.. I turned my face up to Jamie, sadness engulfed me but I had to do it. I stood up on my tippy-toes, making it look like I was trying to get comfort from a love, and put my lips to his ear. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it.
    “Jamie, when I say run, run,” I said, putting my arms around his neck.
    “What?” he mumbled to me.
    “When I say run, run. Please… Just do this for me,” I pleaded with him. There was a moment of silence and hesitation, I added, “trust me.”
    He sighed. “Okay. For you, Tory.”
    I could feel tears start to form in my eyes, I blinked them away before he could see. “Oh and Jamie, whatever happens just run, don’t stop. Just go to the Drake building,” I said as I kissed his cheek in sisterly affection.
    He went to say something but I pushed away from him suddenly, this surprised him. He went to reach for me again but I side stepped him. Max and the others snickered at Jamie as if they were in on the joke.
    “Tor…” he warned.
    I looked at him with a sombre face, backing away. Something caught my arm, I took a quick glance but knew that it’d be Max. I looked back to Jamie; he looked like he was on the verge of combustion.
    “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my perfect acting face on.
    “Tor... Don’t… Don’t do this,” he said, taking a step forward.
    “Don’t try it, Kid,” Max said as his hand tightened on my arm. I showed mild discomfort but Jamie stopped. His face twisted into an emotion I couldn’t make out.
    “Good boy. Now, stay,” Max said, treating him like a dog. He started to walk backwards, dragging me with him.
    “Wait!” I yelled at him, he looked at me in a silent ‘What?’ “I want to say goodbye at least”
    He stared at me for a few seconds then cupped my face in his palm, I stiffened but not enough for him to notice my discomfort. Noah’s rejection came flooding back in an angry wave and I didn’t want any man touching me.
    “Oh, Sweetheart, you’re with us now,” he said, the desire in his eyes was obvious and it disgusted me.
    I paused for a second, thinking of what I should say. “You’re right, I’m with you now,” a sultry tone slipping into my voice. I turned my face up slightly.
    He lowered his head. I shifted on my feet, making it look as if I was moving closer. Just as he reached my lips, I lifted my knee. It collided with his groin; he groaned and doubled over in pain. He took his hands off me and cupped himself. This was my chance.
    “Run, Jamie!” I yelled as I took off running in the other direction.
    “TORY!” I heard Jamie yell, but I didn’t turn back to check. I knew that he’d follow my instructions.
    “Um, boss? Who should –” One agent tried to ask but he was cut short by Max’s yelling. “Go after her!”
    I heard them chase after me, I knew I couldn’t out run them for very long. But I had another plan, Jamie was a Technopath and he constantly made little gadgets. No one was game enough to test them but right now, I was going to.
    I looked at the chunky watch on my wrist. Jamie had told me the basics, it was meant to be a teleportation device. He didn’t know if it worked and he wasn’t confident enough to test it. He said, ‘If it were to fail in the middle of the transport, the person would be forever lost in another dimension.’
    “Please don’t fail me now, Jamie,” I mumbled to myself. He’d never failed me before.
    I pressed a few buttons and focused my mind on a place, following Jamie’s instructions to the letter. I had broken into the filing department and read up on my history, my mother’s family still lived in the States.
    They were apparently a high-ranking family from Australia and they moved to the US to help out the Drake Agency. They were meant to go back because they were the Triple A’s leaders but my mother decided to start seeing an officer from the DA. She, apparently, fell in love with him and wouldn’t leave. As a result, my grandparents informally disowned her from the family. I pictured Manhattan in my head; the street address that I had looked up so many times.
    Behind me I could hear Dust getting closer but it didn’t stop me from running as I got a firm picture in my head. Tears ran down my cheeks as I thought of Jamie for a slipt second.
    “I’m so sorry, Jamie,” I whispered.
    Before I could press the transport button on the watch, I was tackled to the ground. I threw my head back so it wouldn’t collide with the ground but it only resulted in head butting the guy behind me. We both hissed in pain as we met the pavement beneath us, my hands gaining grazes from bracing myself. He fell to the side of me.
    I scrambled up, gravel crunching under my feet as I tried to run. But they had caught up. “No! Stay back or I’ll – ” I threatened as I turned to face them.
    They all laughed. “Or what? You’ve got no powers,” Max taunted, giving his agents a sneer.
    “You don’t know that,” I mumbled, knowing my threat was empty.
    He sneered at me. “We’ve got our information correct.” I took a discreet step backwards but he saw it. He tutted. “Not this time, not after that little stunt you pulled.”
    “Please… I’ll disappear; never go back to the DA. Just please let me go!” I begged.
    “That’s not our call to make, girly,” he said, looking genuinely sorry.
    “Please,” I whispered as tears started to roll down my face.
    “We won’t hurt you if you cooperate,” he said, holding out his hand. He was an arms length away.
    “No!” I screamed before throwing out my hands. A bubbling sensation came over me, rising from my toes to my hands and when it reached my fingertips, there was an explosion of heat and light. I screamed out in pain as my body felt like it was being ripped in two and burnt at the same time.
    I blacked out for a couple of seconds and came to when everything had died down, I took in the burnt area around me. I looked down at my hands in shock, what the hell was that? My head shot up when I heard a groan, I didn’t stick around to see them again.
    I pushed the glowing button and the watch started up. A warm sensation came over my body and I felt like I was floating on air as my body started to dissolve. I didn’t feel anything but warm and the electricity that was pumping through me. Within minutes, everything turned black.

    Max

    I coughed, trying to exhale the smoke from my lungs. What the ******** was that?! I sat up slowly and took in the damage. I’d put up a shield at the last minute but one of my men wasn’t so lucky. I looked at the pile of burnt skin and bones, I held my breath as I quickly looked away before I threw up.
    My last man was getting up and shaking off the soot from the explosion. I looked around in defeat, the girl was gone. I hadn’t expected her to still be here.
    “Damnit! We lost her!” I cursed into thin air.
    “Forget about her,” Dog said. I gave him a glance and rolled my eyes at him panicked look. “What is the boss going to us?!”
    “Not us, me,” I growled, I stood up to get a good look at the place and frowned. How could a non-power do this much damage?
    “Max, what are we going to so?” one of the men asked.
    I stared in the direction that she had disappeared from then answered, “Go back to headquarters.” And face the music.


    - I never thought that I would be wanted, I was nothing special. Why did this have to happen to me?