(OOC:No action here for me yet, just need to start the internal power struggle.)

"GARRETT!"

"Maya...?" He heard her cry out and tried to move, but couldn't. Light was returning to his eyes, slowly. He could see the floor, but it was tile, not carpet. His feet were securely fastened to something. As his vision panned up his body, he noticed his arms were also fastened down. Some kind of leather straps, the kind they used in a hospital. He was in some sort of restraining chair. It seemed familiar to him for some reason. He could hear screaming, but it seemed distant, as if it were coming from another room. He raised his head, his neck protesting with a sharp pain. The light was coming from a large projector screen.

On the screen, Maya and everyone else in the hall was writhing and twisting in pain. Maya seemed the least affected, remaining incorporeal. Nika, the cat girl he had met in the living room, seemed to be in pain but she was reacting to it differently. The others, even the man in black, seemed to be taking it badly. He struggled against his restraints, wanting to be free so he could help them.

" Oh, good. You're finally coming around.[/i]"

The voice was coming from the corner. His attention focused there, a shape moving in the darkness. The voice seemed eerily familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it. "I do hope you enjoy the show.[/i]" A shape started to form from the darkness. Humanoid, wearing a long coat of some sort. The face was blurred for some reason.

"What's going on?Who the hell are you?!" Who was this ..man? He looked down and still saw the spot on his shirt where the dart had hit him. Was he transported to some secret facility? A snap went off in his head. Recognition. This was indeed a secret facility, but it no longer existed. This was one of the interrogation rooms in Medical. A chuckle came from the sinister figure. "You are very quick indeed. It's too bad we lost you to the mutants.In response to your questions, you are killing your friends. And as for my identity, I think you know, don't you?[/i]"

The blurred head began to come in focus as it came from the shadows. The blurring effect was caused by the black hood being worn over the man's head. Garrett started to cringe, knowing exactly who it was." That's right, 02387. I am you.[/i]"

Ethan floated in place after hitting the man in the cloak, he had been holding a gun and fired it at a student and it shot straight through her and into a bald man standing beside her. The guy looked at the needle for a second and then suddenly looked to be in emense pain. Ethan floated forward a to see if he was ok, "Dude, are you o...." A sharp pain shot up Ethans spine and directly into his head. Ethans hands shot up and grabbed at his temples. The pain then branched out from the base of his skull into every part of his body. It felt like he was getting acupunture only with a hammer and nails.

His body started to get warm, it felt like someone had put him in the center of a furnace room in a winter coat and cranked up the heat. Ethans body got hotter and hotter and he got in more and more pain and he lost control. His body rose into the air and his arms shot down and his skin began to glow brighter and brighter and he began to radiate heat, he was like a mini sun. The wall paper on the walls began to bubble from the entence heat and burn marks were forming on the ceiling above him.

'Things That Go Thump in the Night' gradually escalated to 'People That Shout at Each Other in the Night'. With it, Neena's grimace lengthened into a full-fledged frown. Something about those shouts didn't sound like an over-enthusiastic game of Night Tag.

She'd just made it to the second floor when the screaming began. Her pace hurried, though remained measured enough to protect her ankle from further damage. The first floor was fast approaching when the painwave hit her. Her grip instinctively tightened on the window sill she currently hung onto, and she felt her teeth grind together. Her vision immediately began scrambling.

For a brief moment she had a flashback from the Registration Camps, when use of her mutation resulted in a pain loop. As her 'sights' cycled through randomly, that same bright light flashed into existance again. With a pained, "Gah!!" she let go of her perch and fell the final fifteen feet or so to the ground.

She blacked out on impact, but only for a moment. The sensation of heat, radiating from within, soon brought her around again. A long list of Swahili expletives left her lips in rapid succession, momentarily drowning out the screams coming from inside. She rolled to her stomach, and pushed to her her feet. Fortunately she hadn't landed on her ankle again.

But why was she hurting so badly? That wave of pain hit her before she fell. But from what? She'd been feeling fine up on the roof. And those 'sunspots' had only given her a headache. Speaking of which, where had her glasses gone?

Bah! She didn't have time to worry about that now, or why her insides felt like someone had turned on a volcano. Screams first, pain later.

<"Back door. Gotta get to the back door....">

The screaming was hurting Nika's ears. She wanted them all to just SHUT UP! The pain from whatever it was causing her to feel this way wasn't helping either. Hadn't she been through enough in the camps?

On the plus side her adrenaline had kicked in almost instantaneously when the extreme pain started. Her super charged fluids were actually starting to block out some of the pain. It was enough so that Nika could still look around and kind of tell who was where. She did manage to hear someone shout a name rather than scream like everyone else in the buidling. The name was Garrett. Nika knew that name and through further concentrated focus she could see Garrett further down the hall.

Still struggling against the agony that pulsed through her body the cat girl used the closest wall to help keep her steady and move her closer to Garrett. While making her way slowly down the hall Nika noticed a ghostly figure right next to the man she was trying to reach. Who was this now? Was she walking into the land of the dead? a quick feel of the wall and a glance around revealed she was still in the mansion hallway.

The man looked like he was having great difficulties with something. He was in pain as well but the look on his face didn't seem normal. Maybe he was possesed! This had to stop for everyone's sake. If he was the cause of it all then she had to get him away from everyone else. To make matters worse the blindingly bright guy was starting to burn up part of the hall. Ohh, we just fixed this place she thought to herself.

It was time to act. No one else appeared to have the ability to stop Garrett. Nika was the only one able to move with the exception of the apparition and it wasn't doing much. This was going to be risky but here goes.

Pausing for a moment Nika concentrated extremely hard and another surge of adrenaline rushed through her. Again it helped to block out alot fo the pain but that was only part of the reason she needed it. Crouching down so she coudl get a full extension of her legs the cat girl burst foward. Like a bolt of white lightning she darted straight for Garrett. Keeping full stride she practically tackled his midsection but held him in her arms as her increased power carried them down the hall and towards Neena's office.

This is gonna hurt was the last thing she thought as she sprinted for and crashed through the office window. She tried to turn herself so he would land on her and not get hurt hitting the ground as they plummetted down.

Ashes, ashes, they all fell down. Except for three in particular. The spirit. The one that Garrett cared for so dearly. The demon looked upon her, calling his name. " No one in here by that name, dear.[/i]" His glance swiveled to the glowing boy. He was doing much more than that now. The heat was raising blisters on Garrett's body like the wallpaper boiled. The demon looked and smiled watching the carpet singe beneath the boy. There was one more. The cat girl. She not only seemed to resist, but looked as if she wanted to do something about it. He looked at her and nodded.

She crouched, as any cat would do, and came at him at full speed. He took the brunt, his legs coming from under him. He watched the scene of the hallway shrink away as the darkness of the office came and went as rapidly. Glass broke and wood splintered behind him as the two went out the window. They dropped a few feet and the catgirl rolled so that he landed on her. How thoughtful of her. They laid there for a moment. The demon then rose, shaking the glass off.

" Bad, bad kitty.[/i]"

He looked down at the girl, still reeling from the attack and then up at the mansion. He pulled all of his energy back inside himself, giving those inside some temporary relief. Then he looked back down at the catgirl. " Bad kitties have to be punished to ensure they never do things like this again.[/i]" A red glow seemed to emanate from him slightly, the milky white flashing red for a moment and then a bright nimbus of red light glowed around his head.

His finger pointed down at Nika."This is going to hurt you more than it will hurt me[/i]"

Shade's body was in a stat of shock. Besides the constant pain of tiny pin pricks throughout his body, a scorching heat was rising in the halls. It felt like Shade was drowning in a magma pool. The only problem was he should have been dead a long time ago. Suddenly, the pain stopped. It left his body numb and every muscle in his body was incredibly sore.

However, the intense light and heat remained. Shade has lucky he had his cloak on or his skin would have been blacken by sun-burn. He had to escape this heat. Slowly using every ounce of strngth he possessed, the shadow mutant crawled his way towards the doorway of a classroom. His body began to disappear as the light could not pierce the wall, yet. Finally, making it all the way into the shadow, Shade collasped from exhaustion as smoke rose off of his superheated body.

OOC: Glare is not at the mansion, as he has an apartment in the city where he lives and sleeps. BUT, via a small device that Zeke implanted during the Haywire plot, Zeke basically has a remote security scanner attached to his compter. He'll know about the intrusion, although he's too far away to get to the school in time to do anything.

Neena just made it to the back door when a crash and shattering glass sounded nearby. Instinctively she ducked and curled into a ball.

Nothing happened. Not to her anyway.

Wait, scratch that. Something did happen. As suddenly as it had begun, the wave of pain left her body, leaving her entire being numb.

Why did that sensation feel familiar?

"Bad, bad kitty."

Neena uncurled and rolled to her feet, looking around for that familiar voice.

"This is going to hurt you more than it will hurt me."

Nika. Garrett. A pile of glass and debris scattered around them. Pain wave come and gone. Garrett pointing at Nika. Not good.

Any further analyzations happened in time with her body uncoiling like a spring. Later Neena could only remember thinking one thing as she launched herself at Garrett:

<"This is going to hurt way more than a six.....">

Things were moving to fast, first as a bright light hit Sam it soon faded to be replaced with an intense pain in Sam’s body. Being on fire didn’t describe it, it was more like a bolt of lighting hit Sam and it just moved throughout his body for a few seconds. Then as the light came and passed so did the pain. Sam then opened his eyes and looked to the mutant that he was following to notice he was floating in the air and radiating a lot of heat and glowing.

The power of the sun in the palm of my hands seemed to reverb through Sam’s mind as he saw the human sun floating at heating up the room. He was going to burn the house down. Sam yelled at the solar mutant as loud as he could, “Stop it your going to burn the house and everyone in it.” Sam then activated his powers thinking if he could fight a miniature sun, or at least cool the solar boy down. Sam concentrated and lowered the temperature around them the drop started at 20 feet around them but it would only be a chill further away from Sam. Sam then tackled the glowing mutant feeling very warm o contact yelling at him, ”focus control your powers or I’ll to stop you.” Sam held his hands to the kid’s head and emitted his power on his forehead trying to stop the guy’s mutation.

Shaking her head Nika looked around to make sure she had succeeded in getting Garrett outside. She didn't feel the pain anymore. Had he stopped his attack or did her power overcome his? Either way she didn't hurt anymore and so she felt unresctricted.

She heard garrett's voice but it didn't sound like the normal him. He called her a bad kitty. Then there was something about more hurting.

Her senses snapped to attention as she heard another figure approaching fast. With a quick glance she registered the figure as Neena. She was moving to attack Garrett. No, she can't let Neena get hurt.

Still feeling her super charged fluids running through her veins Nika quickly rolls to her hands and feet. Leaping up in a backwards flip Nika extends out her feet to catch Garrett in the head. She hoped to kick him over before Neena could connect witht he guy. At least then she could have a chance of grabbing her teacher and making a break for safety.

Ethan's powers were completly over taking him in the blinding pain.he couldn't stand it anymore. He screamed out in pain when suddenly he was tackled. Suddenly he began to get cold, oh so cold. He felt something touch his forhead and suddenly he stopped hurting, the heat subsided and so did the heat he was emitting. His glow dimmed to that of a light bulb, his body let out a long shiver and his skin began to glow less and less, it changed from a bright yellow to a subtle golden tan. His hair changed to a dirty blonde and his eyes to a more subtle blue.

Ethan reached up and grabbed at the hand on his forhead and pushed it away. He then wrapped his arms around his human body and his singed clothes. He exhailed and a white mist came from his mouth. "S-s-s-so....c-c-cold." He muttered and things seemed to be pitch black to him. His eyesight having been so used to constant bright light.

(OOC: Permission to incapacitate and cause pain to Nika and Neena given prior.)

Meanwhile, back in the interrogation room....

Garrett watched the screen intently, staring in horror as his friends and future teammates writhed in agony. He then saw the glowing boy shine bright, like a living sun. The demon had his hands behind his back, a posture of smug approval, as if he were admiring a masterpiece in a museum. Garrett's skin started to sizzle, blisters raising on his face and neck. He groaned and swung his head side to side instinctively. He looked up again just in time to see Nika carrying him through the hallway, watching the scene move away from him. His body jerked violently as bits of wood and glass embedded themselves in his back. he groaned even more, his head hanging low.

" Are you following now, 02387? I give the pain, you receive it. It's an excellent bargain for me.[/i]"

He mumbled incoherently, the shock of the pain numbing his words. He straightened himself up again, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. He could see Nika lying on the ground before him and saw the screen turn suddenly as Neena came charging from the flank. There was a violent collision at some point, as the chair seemed to want to come loose from the floor from the impact. He felt as if he were going to pass out, but he didn't. He couldn't. He saw the demon moving his sight from Nika to Neena and then he looked off into another part of the grounds.

"See that over there? I am sure you do. I am also sure that you remember that place. The place where you and the spirit made friendly. Take a rest, 02387. I'll take care of this.[/i]"

Garrett cringed, knowing the plan in the monster's mind. His vision blurred though as a brief rest came to his mind.

-----Back to the action!----

The red glow was in his fingertip, ready to put this kitty out. It would be a mercy killing, like taking an injured animal to the veterinarian to be euthanized. It was really the only bit of compassion the demon had. When Nika executed the kick, it caught him right under the chin, his feet leaving the ground. He looked over to his left as he saw Neena barreling towards him. She sacked him hard. So hard it could have been on the blooper reel of a sports show. His body spun a full rotation before hitting the ground.

When he landed, he landed on his shoulder. The sound of it dislocating could be heard audibly by either of them. The demon rose, anger scowling on his face for the first time since his awakening. He put his palms out at both of them, waving his hands in a final manner. Their bodies would now be dead to them, trapped in useless shells. Not a move or a kick or even a struggle would come now. Before addressing them, he grabbed his arm and moved his shoulder, popping the joint back in place.

" That was quite impressive, Ladies. Your allegiance to your friend is endearing. You gave me pain and now I wish to return the gift. It is only fitting, isn't it?[/i]" He looked over at Neena, whose face was one of confusion and anger. He thought to himself that she might be more comfortable if she didn't have to see what was going to occur. Garrett respected her, so he could do that much. With a snap of his fingers, her optic nerves turned off, rendering her blind. He grabbed each of them by a leg and started dragging their frozen bodies across the grounds.

It took a moment as his strength had not been increased. He just couldn't feel the muscle strain, but Garrett would. When he arrived at the thick brambles and thorny vines of Garrett's happy place, he let their legs go. He picked the catgirl up first, as she was lighter. Her body landed clumsily in an awkward position, head first into a nasty clump of thorns. Next came Neena. He picked her up gently, supporting her weight. he then stepped back a few paces and gave it all he had, throwing her a bit farther in then Nika. It would be fun to watch them thrash around. Especially the blind one.

Everyone was in action and Ghost felt awkward unable to really help as a blur of a cat-person barreled Garrett through the window in the office with a loud crash. She'd been thrown off by what Garrett... no that man had said to her. "No one in here by that name, dear." But of course Garrett was in there! That was Garrett's body! Was he injected with another man's spirit? Was that kind of thing even possible?

A bubbling panic brought Ghost back to reality. She felt hot. Ghost didn't feel hot. In fact, while incorporeal she couldn't feel much and so the fact that she felt hot, of all things, meant trouble. She focused her attention on the floating man: the apparent source of heat. She could see no difference in his mass, but the heat was definitely coaxing her particles apart making her form looser and harder to hold together. When the telltale licking vacuums in her sight sprouted along the walls, Ghost was ready. Like pruning a blooming plant, she nipped each blossoming spark of fire with deadly precise pockets of unusable air. She couldn't afford to mess around with fire.

Next thing Ghost knew, Sam was tackling the guy out of the air and the heat was replaced by a blessed cool feeling. It wasn't just the lack of heat, no it seemed that she actually felt cool since she noticed ice crystals taking shape instead of pockets of fire. Well, now that the immediate danger of ignition was gone, Ghost remembered what she'd been doing. She was actually angry at herself for momentarily forgetting the plight of her friend in light of the danger to her own life.

Air rocketed down along the hallway as Ghost propelled herself at breakneck speeds out of the corridor, into the office, past the downed man, out the window, and out into the free and wild air of the night. The wind howled as Ghost swirled around seeking what was no longer there. She'd heard them outside the window. No one was there, but they couldn't be too far. She noticed that the grass was matted awkwardly and did not wave as she whipped frantically around the area. Had someone been dragged?

She followed the trail dreading every second as she approached Garrett and Maya's special place. What she saw stopped her wild winds cold. Neena and the cat girl were laying strangely against the thorns. As if they had been thrown upon them or puppeted into place. They were eerily still with no more indication of life besides their wildly searching eyes. Ghost had never seen Neena without her glasses before. She'd thought that her eyes were too sensitive to be open and searching as they were.

She touched down just behind Garrett. He seemed to be focusing on something and Ghost took to opportunity to become solid as fast as she dared. She was angry. This interloper had stolen her friends, was spitting in the face of everything dear to her. This wasn't Garrett. Garrett would never do such a thing. He was gentle and kind and... if it was an enemy she faced perhaps there was something she could do about it. She wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but she was angry. Angry enough to do something reckless. She felt her heart hammering a panicked rhythm against her chest as she slipped her body between that of her friends and the demon.

"Let them go!" Ghost punched him across the face with every ounce of strength she had in her frail body. Unfortunately, she was not properly trained and she ended up shaking her hand out in pain afterward. Tears sprung to life in her eyes. The pain was her own fault. Physically she was next to useless in a fight so she probably had ended up hurting herself more than the demon, but the pain only fueled her anger. She'd never felt so focused in all her life. The wind fluttered along picking at her clothes and hair.

"and... GIVE HIM BACK!" The chaotic winds howled to frenzied life, razor sharpened by her will. She flung her hand toward the man she'd grown to trust.. and the currents raced toward him like hungry vipers. When using her winds to cut before, the worst wounds had bled a lot since the slices were long, but had mostly been superficial. With as much power as she was recklessly fueling these razor sharp attacks, much worse was possible.

Shade slowly managed to stand as feeling began to return to his body. Every muscle ached with soreness, and he made several audible groans as he slowly pulled himself up. Now on his feet, Shade made his way to the window of the door and teleported to the grass outside. The cool wind felt great against his overheated body.

Over to his left, half-hidden by the side of the mansion, Shade saw several figures including the one who was shot with the dart. Deciding to further investigate the situation for Syn, Shade slowly made his way toward the figures, invisible but somewhat less quiet than usual curtessy of the soreness.

Neena felt her teeth rattle with the body-to-body impact, and the rapidly following ground-to-body impact. She heard something snap as she rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. The familiar stab of a bone breaking or dislocating didn't come, so she guessed it must have been on Garrett's part. She tensed, waiting for the painful, directed attack she assumed would be quick in coming in place of the bone-breaking pain.

However, it did not come. She felt nothing. Maybe he'd been knocked out? She tried to roll over, to find out.

And found she couldn't move. She could feel her body still, but her muscles refused to respond. It was as if the strings had been let her brain control her body.

<"Wow.... odd sensation....">

" That was quite impressive, Ladies."

Well, that answered whether he was out or not. Her eyes still moved, and she could see Garrett from where she lay. His eyes had turned even whiter than her own, and filmy. Something was seriously wrong. But what?

"Your allegiance to your friend is endearing. You gave me pain and now I wish to return the gift. It is only fitting, isn't it?"

She briefly saw him raise his hand toward her, before her world abruptly went dark.

Well, almost dark. Just her eyes actually; her mind still retained consciousness. Without fear to panic her mind, Neena was able to analyze everything happening and being said. She could still blink, and cycled through all of her various 'sights'. None of them worked. She was blind, in the truest sense of the word, as if someone had flipped the switch off in her brain.

Oooo..... That explained why she couldn't move, either. Neural manipulation. He really had cut the strings, figuratively speaking. But why?

His eyes. And the way he spoke in the third person. Garrett was no longer in control of himself any longer. So then, who was?

Ladies, Garrett had said. Plural. That mean Nika might be in the same position at the moment. A position that included dragging, it seemed. With her eyes useless, she couldn't tell which direction their helpless path headed. It included quite a few rocks and a tall grass, she noted painfully. She grunted as her head bounced a bit after hitting a larger stone.

Hmmm..... If she could still blink, maybe she could talk too?

They'd stopped. She could hear grunts of exertion, and felt the vibrations of movement in the earth beside her ear. A few moments later a few more sounds, then a heavy thump! accompanied by snaps and cries. Nika?

She felt her own limp body being dragged up, lifted off of the ground.

"Whr's..... Gerrit?" She managed to get the two words past her immobile lips, but received no answer before being tossed away. Instinctively she closed her eyes.

Lack of gravity when you couldn't move your muscles proved to be an interesting sensation. Was this how crash-test dummies felt? Not likely. Crash-test dummies didn't feel anything. But Neena certainly felt the thorns ripping through her clothing and flesh as she fell. She didn't have the capacity to fully scream, but pain definitely laced her cries and moans as she came to rest. Tears sprang to her darkened eyes, and she let them freely flow. Along with them came a rather fierce thought.

If she ever, ever got ahold of the person responsible for this lovely little outing..... one way or another, she was going to turn them inside out with her bare hands.

"and... GIVE HIM BACK!" An angry scream and the feeling of wind picking up broke through Neena's hazy mind. Ghost. When had she arrived? And what was she doing?

All at once sensation flooded back into Neena's body. She gasped, and gritted her teeth against the dizziness and nausea. Slowly and quietly at first, but then with increasing speed, pitch and intensity, a long stream of oaths and curses began flowing from her mouth. She got to her hands and knees, and began the onerous task of pulling herself out of the fiery briarpatch.

By the time she emerged into the open again, thorns and branches adorned her tattered hair, tears and blood stained her cheeks, her clothes were shredded, and blood seeped through the fabric. She had to stop. She collapsed in a heap on the ground. She blacked out for a few moments yet again. And yet again the fire of pain wouldn't let her stay completely asleep, especially since, this time, it also had anger to support it's fire. Fire which all but glowed from her white eyes as she pushed herself to her hands and knees again.