Raina stood nervously against the fence at the far side of the camp. Despite being spring her breath came out in white whisps of air. She rubbed her hands together and looked around nervously. No one was taking notice of her. There was no light and she was just another mutant standing aimlesslly outside around midnight. It wasn't as odd as it sounded. Many mutant females avoided the bunks at night.

She looked up as someone passed by. No it wasn't him. She itched at her collar. She knew she was putting him at risk... but she knew she coudln't live any longer not being able to speak without going insane. There was so much she wanted to tell him... when she could.

It wasn't hard to find a legitimate excuse to walk around at night. Michael just volenteered for the grave shift. What made it a little more tricky was his partner, but when Michael offered to finish up the rounds and suggested he get an early night the guard soon left.

Thus Michael, with a tool he'd managed to find, made his way to where Raina was waiting. He had thought about disabling a few more collars and bracelets while he was at it, but things weren't that simple. The tools were kept well out of reach of him. He only managed to get a hold of the one for Raina's as it worked on a seperate system, as her's was set to respond to vibration rather than whatever everyone else's ran on that detected their powers.

Still, the opertunity to give Raina back her speech, even if the collar could still be remotely activated and it didn't help anyone else, was worth the risk. He soon spotted here and made her way over. "Hi," he said with a simle, "I've got it. Hold still a sec and I'll tweak it so it won't go off if you speak, only if you use your powers or a guard activates it." After a brief fiddle with the tool he was finished. "There, all done."

Raina nodded and stood still as Michael went to work. She was relieved to see him. Part of her really believed they wouldn't get this far in their plan. She held her breath and when he said he was finished she waited a moment before speaking. She could already feel the difference. Usually she could feel a light constant electrical currant simply from breathing. It went away instantly. "M-michael?" she stammered out quietly and when she wasn't shocked she could barey contain herself. "Michael!" she leapt forward and hugged the young man who towered over her. "Oh thank-you! I promise I'll be really careful and wont let on." she looked like the old joyful Raina for a moment when she did a playful twirl on her feet then reserved herself again and stood still. "I'd almost forgotten the sound of my own voice. The last time I used it there was a fire and I was running on adrenaline. There's so much I want to ask you! How are all the guys? How long have you been a guard? who have you seen?"

the questions poured out of Raina like a child asking "why" to everything. Her eyes were bright and happy

The change in Raina was instant, and Michael could not help but smile. He hugged her back gleefully and even laughed aloud as she twirled around. As the torrent of questions flooded out he tried his best to answer them.

"The guys are doing alright," he said, "as best they can under the circumstances. As for the new camp job, I've been a guard for around a week. Turns out lots of the guards are sick of fighting mutants, and if I can get them to back down without a fight they're happy to let me do it. A few sadistic bastards still find the 'fun' in putting mutants down themselves, but I can help stop a lot of unnecessary beatings."

Raina nodded she'd seen the way they'd attacked some of the newer mutants and if he could prevent that she was happy. "Well in answer to your other questions a few days ago I did have my collar disabled twice. Once because my mutation kicked into over drive and another time because I needed to use my powers to stop a fire." She continued telling the story of she and Neena and Sara trying to stop the fire in the city. "It was crazy." she said thoughtfully. "But great to work together. Reminded me of old times..."

"I see you've been a busy girl," said Michael with a smile as Raina finished her recount of her, Sara and Neena's adventure in the city, "What do you mean by your mutation went into overdrive? Did it expand, you know, reveal a new side to itself?"

In his mind Michael was thinking of the time a lorry crashed into him and he stopped it dead in its tracks. He wondered if Raina had meant something like that, and just what it had been like for her.

Raina nodded. "It was weird, the first time it happened it was really painful... if it wasn't for Sara I would have died." she admitted. "I didn't know what had happened until it was finished...." she trailed off throughtfully. "After that when it happened the second time I felt really in power. Almost too much. I felt animalistic. I guess I sort of was an animal..." her face looked a little grave for a moment but brightened up almost instantly. "It's not that big of a deal I guess... it's not like we don't all have crazy mutations... I guess it just sort of confirms that Rupert will never accept me."

She looked down a little embaressed- red in her cheeks. After all this there was still some sort of hope in Raina that Rupert might forgive her.

Despite the brave face she was putting on it it was clear to Michael that Raina's power development had not been good for her, not like his was. Not really knowing what to say, so instead just pulled her into a hug.

He though back to when he had seen Raina and Rupert out on a date. While it seemed like an age ago, he remebered how happy Raina had looked. Somehow he doubted that even when they got out of this he'd see the two of them together again.