The basement was not her design. As she glared up at the harsh overhead lighting, Lori criticized what was left of the old building and the old power structure. It didn't matter now. Here she was prisoner in her own basement. She'd officially hit rock bottom.

She picked herself up off the ground one piece at a time like it hurt. Touched her lip and came away with a daub of blood and sparks.

Did they get it wrong? No one seemed to be in this cell. Discerning eyes swept the area, but... no. He was there. In a heap and a real mess, but he was there. The duplicitous blonde rubbed her hand on her jeans and knelt by the Mansion's head of security.

Carefully she reached out and touched his shoulder. Her movements were careful as if he might bite. The head trauma they'd given him was a real bonus. Her tiny fingers navigated around it when she touched his face and head to smooth back his hair.

"Hey. Can you hear me?" For now, they were both stuck in here. The difference was, only one of them was a prisoner.

Cold. Darkness. Dampness. Fingers? They weren't his own being woven through his hair and moving the hair, some parts in clumps with dried blood and others parts just plain dirty.

Streak stirred. Just a little because any major movement of his head caused him immense pain. Like having a migraine that was set off just by being alive. Someone's voice echoed through the dark prison. The woman's voice reverberated in his head, like a hammer hitting an anvil. Streak carefully opened his eyes and saw the walls of the prison he was being held in for the first time.

Immediately Streak slowly reached up and checked his arms for a bracelet, just in case he was back in the camps or dreaming about the camps. Luckily there was no bracelet or arm band; however, he very achingly rolled over and looked at the woman that had spoken.

"Hey. Can you hear me?"

"Huh? Ya I can hear you. Oh my head." Streak answered her. The young man tried, unsuccessfully, to sit up."Where are we?"

His head hurt? No really. She had no clue from the gunky, bloody build up. "I'll see what I can do about getting you some aspirin." That was sarcasm by the way, but that didn't stop her from getting up and banging on the glass with her fists.

"Hey! Love the new digs and all, but can we get a little aspirin in here? Least you could do! Hello? Hellooooooo?" Of course there was no answer. She had sent them all at least two levels above their heads and since it was after dinner, she could stay here all night. A sweet little captive making friends and influencing people.

>"Where are we?"

The blonde sighed and after on last convincing slam of her fist against the glass, she turned to see the Mansion's security specialist trying to sit up. It didn't look pretty so she pushed herself away from the glass and landed on her knees so that she would slide toward the guy. "Hey. Relax. I'm not sure we're going anywhere any time soon." Lori pulled him back down and even graciously scooted his head into her lap. Usually she required a guy to buy her dinner first...

"What's your name? I've seen you around, but..." They never had been introduced. Lori had seen Shawn at least once... twice, now that she was thinking about it. Both times she had been in battle. In a battle and on the good guy's side. That was exactly why this gig would work. Because some small part of her still wanted access to the Mansion. For... options with her future...?

Hey! She could turn good someday. Maybe.

"Thanks." Streak said. The fact that she was using sarcasm seemed to be lost on him at the moment. Maybe it was just his headache and possible concussion but he still didn't realize that she was not serious.

All her pounding and shouting at the door didn't sit well with Streak. He was having a hard enough time staying awake and keeping his head from exploding; so needless to say her banging on the glass didn't go over too well with him.

The young man looked at his room mate and vaguely remembered her. Although he couldn't tell if she was someone he'd met at the mansion or someone he'd met in a fight. And if they'd met in a fight he didn't remember if they were fighting together or against each other.

Streak was pulled back down to the ground and his head rested in the womans lap. It would have been weird if Jewel was anywhere around or saw this but at the moment his head hurt too much for him to care. "I'm Shawn. Have we met?" Well he could remember his name so it wasn't amnesia, but that didn't mean his head didn't hurt a lot.

Wow. He really was out of it. She'd been hoping for a little more coherency... but if this was what she had to work with, this is what she had to work with. The look of heartache in her eyes was quite sincere. She hadn't meant for him to get roughed up this bad. Lori smoothed his hair back. The strands pulled from his forehead and looked quite more lively once they were freed from their matting.

Had they met? Yeah. But had they met for real, face to face with names and shaking of hands and all of that? No. So she got to play oblivious until she could lead him to connect the right dots in the right places. "I dunno. I met a lot of mutants in Romania. You haven't been out of the country recently have you?" That would do nicely for now.

The blond continued to brush her fingers through his hair until the locks were smooth, excluding the bloody parts. "I'm Lori."

She closed her eyes and fiddled with the idea of trying to slip into his mind. It was rude. No question about that. The problem was that he was addled. She wasn't sure if she would get much out of a damaged brain... though it probably wouldn't hurt to try.

Streak thought for a moment. Some of it was coming back to him, slowly. He remembered her from Romania but he didn't really remember seeing her at the King Pharmicutical battle. Maybe he just didn't see her in all the chaos. It was certainly possible, after all there was a lot going on at that time. It was definitely possible that he'd missed seeing her in al the chaos.

As he continued to think of these things, he realized that she'd began brushing his hair with her fingers. It was nice. Something Jewel would do a lot when they were together. Speaking of which, wasn't he supposed to meet with her later? Or had that date already passed? In fact she'd proabably be looking for him right now. How long had he been out? Could have been hours... Could have been days. It was hard to tell, especially as messed up as he was. Although one thing was pretty certain, he was sure glad that he'd been out when he was roughed up because that would have really hurt. Not that it didn't hurt now.

Streak's eyes were getting heavy again. He needed to keep her talking to him because it was very possible that he had a concussion and the last thing he needed was to fall back asleep. The thought occurred to him that if he continued to lay with his head in her lap then he might fall asleep. So once again he tried to sit up; alhtough this try was just as painful as the first time. "Ya I was actually in Romania also. So maybe we did see each other there." Streak said as he continued to try and sit up.

He tried to sit up. Really? He was breaking her concentration. "Hey. I don't think that's very good for you." She pulled him back into her lap. "Hold still. I won't hurt you." She tried to be gentle in tone and with her movements.

One eye lid she pulled open, then the other. The pupils were dilated to different widths, but it was a very near thing. She had to get pretty close to really see the difference. "Those jerks. I think you have a concussion." She really did feel bad about that, but it was too late to change any of it.

Maybe sitting him up wasn't such a bad idea. "What'd you do anyway? To get thrown in here?" It would be interesting to hear his theory. Maybe there was one she could expand upon.

If he tried to sit up, she would help him this time. Though how he planned to stay sitting up was beyond Lori. She could hold on to him. Maybe help scoot him next to a wall...?

Streak was pulled back down to her lap. This wasn't really turning out to well. He didn't think that she would hurt him. "Ya you and me both." Streak said to her. As far as he could tell she was in way better shape than he was and she would be more able to tell if he had a concussion or not.

What'd you do anyway? To get thrown in here?"

"I'm not sure. If I knew where here was I might have a clue. Last thing I remember I was heading to my office and the next thing I knew I was waking up here." It was a bit of a lie but she wouldn't know the difference, unless she was in on it. Which he seriously doubted seeing as how she was locked in here with him. There was really no reason for him to get thrown in here except that someone might have it out for the mansion. And with him gone they figured that it'd be easier to get in.

Friiiiick. Lori flopped backward onto the cold, hard ground. She had a meeting to attend tomorrow. She had been hoping to get some sleep. Instead, here she was keeping someone else awake to make sure he didn't slip into some kind of semi-permanent coma.

"You know you need to stay awake, right? If you actually have a concussion?" Different levels of pupillary dilation indicated a concussion. She would never get that technical in front of someone else. Not if they expected her to be a dumb blonde.

She glared up into the florescent lighting overhead. It was like staring into the sun if the sun put off a slightly blueish glow. "Do you think I could help? Sometimes... I can talk inside other people's heads. I don't know if that would help, but..." But it would be something to do. She shrugged against the floor. "Do you mind if I try? I can't ever get anything back unless you think it really hard." And that was the actual truth. Unless people were thinking "out loud" she never seemed to receive their mental transmissions.

"Or do you think you could try something with your power? I would think that would keep you awake, but I don't want you to ralph in here. You think that would make you puke?" She sat up and then promptly regretted sitting up so fast. She had to blink past the lights still swimming in her eyes.

"Ya I know that. Is there anyway you can tell if I have a concussion? I've never had one before so..." He thought he might he as well; but since he wasn't one to normally get concussions he wasn't sure if that was what he actually had.

The florescent lighting didn't help him keep his eyes open, but he managed at least a little. Streak wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, thinking something really hard? that might hurt his head a little more. However, if Lori thought that it might help then he might want to let her give it a try.

"Sure go for it. I don't think I could use my powers right now without hurting my head more." As far as Streak was concerned it certainly couldn't make things worse, or so he hoped. "I don't think you'll have to worry about me throwing up, so you should be alright with that." Lori actually had a good idea. Why no try to use his powers? Maybe that would help him heal faster.

Streak thought about it for a second and he felt the silver start to crawl all over his body. Once it got to his arms and about three quarter of the way down his arms to his hands it suddenly pulled back and disappeared back into his skin. What the heck?! Streak thought and looked at his arms, to see if the silver was just playing a trick on him. Unfortunately he couldn't get it to do more than make a twitch. "I can't seem to access my powers. I just tried and it didn't work. This isn't a good sign. Shawn told her. Maybe she'd be able to do something about it. After all she did say she could go into peoples heads... maybe it'll work. Maybe.

Lori watched his little silver show carefully. No. He could access his power, but there seemed to be something keeping him from continuing that access. Oh brother. She would not have one of her own be responsible for a mutant loosing what made him special.

She sat up and put her hands against Shawn's skin. Her stuff always worked better when touching or looking or moving her hands. The more powerful mutants never seemed to have to do what she did. "I want you to think a word for me. Any word. But just try to focus on it. Say it over and over again in your head if you can." She'd also never had a willing participant in her little brain experiments.

This time, she was going to try to find his verbal center just by "looking" with her power. Lori brushed her hair behind her ear and then closed her eyes, her small hands still against Shawn's skin.

Focus on a word? How's that supposed to help? Oh well, maybe she knows what she's doing. Streak thought as she explained what she needed him to do. "Ok. Shawn agreed with her. The word should be something simple. Nothing super complex that took longer to think about than it did to say it. Maybe a word like 'crap' or 'silver' would work. Nothing to complex like 'supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus'. Finally a simple word came to his mind.

Testing. That was the word he thought of. that was also the word he repeated over and over in his head. There really didn't seem to be any other word that he might use that would seemingly work as well. Streak continued to repeat the word. Testing, Testing. Even though he was still thinking of the word he couldn't help but wonder how he would know if it was actually working.

There was one part of his brain that was firing far more often than others. Lori tried to pay attention to that area and that area alone. Once she was comfortable with it she starting replicating the electrical firings in her own brain. She wasn't much for control, but just plain copying? That was pretty easy.

-xpialadoshus. One eyebrow went up as she came in on the tail end of a word. This seemed to be really hard for him. Testing. Testing. Testing. Test- well she had told him to think it over and over again.

"Testing confirmed." Her pink tongue flicked out across her lips. She kept her eyes shut and tried to think this through logically... which was kind of hard while copying his thinking over hers. Lori dropped that and went for something new.

"Okay this time... try not to think. Make your mind as empty as possible. That... heh. That might take a bit longer. After your brain is quiet then take a look around. Try to see every detail. Anything that interests you just... look at it. This... might take me a while." She didn't tell him to look at it hard. Even she didn't exactly know what that would entail.

So she could hear his thought. Cool. At least he knew it was starting to work. "Try not to think. Right. Easier said than done. It was true. He wanted to stop thinking about how much his head hurt but it was very hard to do. And now that he realized that he couldn't get his powers to work that was suddenly at the forefront of his thoughts. But he tried at least.

It was actually easier for him to stop thinking about his powers than he thought it would be. Granted he'd had hist powers taken away before but that was completely different than what was happening right now. Finally he was able to push even the thoughts of the camps out of his head and clear everything but the throbbing in his head was preventing him from going completely blank. He didn't say anything when he was trying to get his mind to go completely blank. Streak figured that if she was inside his head she would know when his mind was blank.

After about a minute or so Shawn opened his eyes and started looking around. The first thing that caught his attention was Lori her self. He didn't know that she had closed her eyes and he started at her for a little bit before moving his eyes to another part of the room. This place wasn't exactly eye popping. As far as he could tell, there wasn't much around the room to catch his attention; however, he still stopped his eyes every once in a while he'd stop his eyes on a certain spot in the walls or on their beds.

He wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for but he figured that he'd know whenever she started doing whatever it was that she was trying to do in his brain.

At first it was hard. There wasn't really any indication of what part of his brain was seeing because there was no interruption of service there. She should have told him to close his eyes every once in awhile. It did help once the audio center stopped buzzing. There just wasn't really any way to tell from here. She wasn't a brain expert. She'd done research, but even the official researchers were stumped on some things.

"Close your eyes." Her eyebrows pulled in close to each other. She was waiting for that interruption in the activity of the brain.

"Open." She wasn't quite sure he even closed them yet. "Close." Eventually she started to see a pattern. A pattern that she could break down and copy.

"Whoa." She opened her own eyes and closed them. There was absolutely no difference in what she was "seeing." She turned her head and there too was incongruity in what she was perceiving. She was in no way in control of what she was seeing. Lori saw herself. A wall. The floor. Herself.

"Stop. Stopstop." She held out her hand and she could see it coming toward herself... no, toward Shawn.

So. Weird.