Juniper Powell's Story

Juniper's current host looked up at her, resulting in the blind young woman in seeing her own face, the female hugging her looking with awe as she sat herself up. Resisting the urge to pry deeper to see why her companion seemed fascinated by her, Juniper left the girl's mind alone, scanning for another set of 'eyes' among the group. She once more settled on the well-presented male with glasses. As they sat, the feminine male spoke in what sounded like verse, his words cryptic. Juniper noticed with surprise that he turned his attention to her face musing about her as well. Despite using Hector as her 'eyes', she otherwise acted with her own body, tilting her head in confusion before she spoke softly. 'You speak in riddles...."

As the door opened once more, Juniper looked on with her host to see who else would appear, only to feel apprehension bubble inside her gut. A scientist with guards, and they were wearing protection from her. Weapons were aimed at her and the other mutants, making her go slightly stiffer. The look in the scientists eyes unnerved her, his demeanor sending chills down her spine. Without meaning to, she shrunk back into her hosts mind enough to see the current thoughts more clearly, silently agreeing with his assesment that the scientist was a monster in human skin.

She listened with growing unease as the voice from the scientist announced himself. Professor Killigira summoned forward two from their group, his words making Juniper's face go pale. They were going to make 'Wraith' kill one of them? As her host looked over at the brightly colored Issac, she shook her head slowly, wishing it wasn't so. The boy was walking towards his own execution, with his twin watching no less! How sadistic and cruel could these people even be?

'Kitten's' voice called out, the scientist and 'Wraith' stopped in their tracks. Her host warned 'Kitten' of her potential demise, confirming that the sweet -faced girl was stopping the two. As much as Juniper hated it, she couldn't think of any suggestion to make the scientist permanently stop. Controlling a person could only go on so long...right? In the back of her mind, she wondered if she was obsolete as well, if someone besides her could stop a person.

As Kitten and another mutant fought, Juniper felt her gut knot up in a sickening dread. This wasn't going to end well, and she could think of no way to stop it. The argument ended as quickly as it started, the harsh words accusing the young blonde male of being responsible for Issac dying. IT seemed unfair to say such a thing, especially since she doubted he had any ill will towards the mutant.

AS her host looked up, Juniper bit her lip as she watched the 'Wraith' stand before the brightly colored male, silently killing him. She had never actually seen a death before, and it made a cold chill go down her spine, feeling like her own stomach dropped upon hearing the thud of his body hitting the ground. It was a sickeningly final sound, and Juniper let blackness take her vision, deciding it unkind to keep looking and lingering in the others. She wondered if it bothered 'Wraith' at all to be made to do this. IT was hard to tell, the woman giving no indication, and Juniper chose not to look. The sound of crying met her ears, the woman turning a gentle, sorrowful look towards the sound. The poor young man, having to see his twin killed like that. She would have spoken secretly in his mind, but she thought it would be insensitive for now.

Soon, the sound of new footsteps reached her ears, guns being raised, new instructions. As she scanned the newest arrival, she was surprised to find that while she could 'see', the thoughts and vision faded in and out, the foremost thoughts in the mind coming to her in fragments. Were they wearing a defective lead helmet? Utilizing Hector as her eyes once more, she looked at the newest mutant, surprised to find he looked as normal as any of them. How come she couldn't see clearly with him?

Her thoughts were interrupted upon hearing her name, the woman surprised they bothered to know it at all. She flinched at the cold metal band snapped around her wrist, looking up blankly as she was instructed along with the others to 'find' her room. A gun pushed into her back, nudging her impatiently and startling her enough to break her connection to her current 'eyes'. A scream could be heard from ahead, and it was her only clue in the darkness of where to put her feet.

Find the room? She searched the minds as she stood, walking forward and nearly bumping into a table in the next room. One was still hard to read, but she tried to gain clues from each mind as to who were 'Druggie' and "Iziah', thus, learning who to follow and whose mind to look at for now.

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In a place like this, mystery was an element that was present everywhere. The scientists were elusive and hid their secretes well. The guards weren't the talkative type unless it was provocative or calling a name. And apparently, there was more to this building than Matthaus new about. So he thought it was fair if he spoke in riddles and rhymes. If he didn't have any freedom, it was verbal freedom.

But this part of the facility... It had to be new. Last time he walked around, it wasn't there before. He could have swore.

Most mutants chose not to respond to his self description of each of the mutants, whether it was a simply greeting or if it was a small poem. But one did respond, which resulted in Mathaus turning around, with his arms crossed to look at them. It was one of the girls he recited for. The soft spoken blind one. 'You speak in riddles...."

He watcher her for a few moments with s smirk, observing the dome of her head swirl in dark orange and even specks of red. Very active brain, no? Matthaus slowly turned back around, his not soft blue gaze looking at each of the mutants once again. Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow...

Orange.

His eyes stopped once he got to Hector. He watched for another moment, peering at his glasses and suit, still wondering why such attire in this setting would be preferred. But, eventually, he smiled softly, tilting his head slightly. It wasn't like he previous smiles, where his chin was tipped town, creating elusive shadows across his face. It was just a plain, simple smile. "How kind of you to notice." He spoke with said smile.

But then the situation with Isaac went ahead.

It wasn't apparent that Wraith ever gave any care into her actions. At first she simply walked away from the corpse that she just dismissed from life. But his mumbled words were enough for her to hear, and she responded. "Isn't it just fascinating." Her voice was full of anger which was made obvious. But that didn't dismiss the sickness of it. It was hoarse and harsh. She wasn't sick. The scientists wouldn't let someone be sick...

Matthaus turned his eyes away from his hands which fidgeted with his own, thin fingers. His eyes squinted at the yellow and orange blob before him. But he smirked once more,"Yes. How fascinating. "

This group was obviously here for a reason. They all were either too broken to protest or too traumatized not too. The man could almost feel the despair radiating off the group, which brought more questions up into Matthaus' head.

What exactly is this special training... and why were these mutants chosen?

Though, with the scientists still here, there wasn't much time to contemplate the answer. A metal band was placed on his boney wrist, cooling the yellow around it to a soft green. Everyone got one apparently and it was explained to them they would be grouped together in dormitories. Dorm roommates. Another interesting question. His group was Hector, Ivan, and himself. It was apparent to Matthaus why Ivan was in his room. Matthaus was flexible. Ivan could produce copies of himself. But it wasn't until several seconds later did Matthaus realize why Hector was in their group.

Electrocution. Don't tamper with the equipment. It was obvious now. Matthaus didn't realize it, but he found himself grinning over at the man with this realization.

They all had bodily abilities.

The entire group was pushed into the room next door. The door closed behind them and there were tables aligned in rows. "Is this some sort of lunch room?" The man questioned to the air, not expecting any sort of answer. It reminded him of a lunch room. But there wasn't any time to waste. The faster he found his group's room, the less people would get hurt.

Briskly walking over to the first room, to his left, Matthaus peered in. Ordinary cell. Three beds. He peered in to the next one, the door directly in front of the way they entered. Ordinary cell. Three beds. Then the last one, to the right. Ordinary cell.Three beds.

Waling towards the first room, crossing his arms, he starred at the plain, boring room. Everything was plain, but relatively clean, The reflection of the light from the 'lunch room' shining softly on the floor. He starred some more.

He moved on.

He came to the second one and stopped in front of it. It obviously wasn't Wraith's room. She tested it. He starred at the floor. The light peered in, shining dully onto the floor. He starred for a few more moments. "Hey guys I've found ours!" Matthaus glanced over. The young girl had found hers. Wraith's group. That leave's out that room. The man looked back at the floor within the room.

The light shined dully on the floor.

"Hector. Ivan." Matthaus called before he turned around. "Found ours." To prove it, he took a few steps back to enter the room.

Two guards suddenly burst into the common room. A brunette immediately went to pull Druggie out from under the table. To ensure her co-operation a piece of stale bread was shoved in her palms. The other young man immediately shoved the butt of his gun to the back of Juniper's neck.

"Move mutant." He hissed into her ear shoving her forward.

Both girls were shoved out of the common room. As they left, the guard behind Juniper began to relay his instructions.

"Mole- you are going to control Druggie here. You will prevent her from escaping or causing any disruptions. If at anytime we sense you will loosen control on her, you will be tortured. If that isn't enough, we'll slaughter Druggie in front of you. Despite you not being able to see, I am certain you will be able to hear her scream. Is that clear?"

He shook the girl in front of him while waiting for his response. And the four continued down the halls to one of the experimental room to start the process of destroying Druggie's freedom and awaiting her release from her hallucinations.


As soon as the two girls were removed, some guards entered the common room with a box filled with stale bread. One for each mutant. It was dumped on the table and left for rest to help themselves.

About to try and attempt to find the room she'd be staying in, Juniper's efforts were rudely interrupted by an all to familiar feel of a gun pressed against her back. The hiss in her ear earned a flinch, but nevertheless, the blind woman complied with the order, walking where directed by the guard. Again, they wore the lead headgear that protected them from her manipulation.

His words earned a shiver, the telepath biting her lip. They wanted her to control someone. Of course, she knew they'd make her do it again at some point. The usual feeling of guilt and unease settled in her stomach, her hands shaking slightly. She hated to control another human being. Being inside their minds and reading them was one thing, but to physically or mentally control someone against their will left her feeling like she had swallowed a pound of lead.

But the threats worked. To be the reason for someone's death was unfathomable to her, and she didn't want to ever learn what it felt like to have someone killed not only in front of you, but because of you. Even worse, she hated herself for being afraid of the torture, of being afraid to stand up and say she couldn't. If it meant she could save her victim and herself, Juniper would comply in spite of her reservations. And they knew it.

"Understood..." she finally murmured with a nod of her head, prompted to reply with another nudge of the gun.

The guard grinned at Juniper's nod and verbal compliance. By now the others would not be too far behind, so all that was left to do was to deliver these two to the planned experimental chamber. He certainly didn't envy this particular group. From the looks of it they'd have to tow along the intoxicated girl and they had another who would be unable to see the imminent dangers that were sure to be present. It seemed that seemingly immortal kid would be the most able-bodied out of all of them.

As they finally made the last corner, he shoved Juniper through the door and ensured his partner did the same with the high one. Before leaving, he made sure Juniper would not forget her previous compliance.

"Just a friendly reminder…" he began with an altogether unfriendly tone "If at any point we get even the slightest hint that you are not ensuring the girls full co-operation, we have no qualms in gunning the both of you down. And that's if we are feeling hospitable at the time."

With that he slammed the door shut, whistling as he continued down the hall to complete his remaining duties.

Hoping this would be the end of having to talk to her captors for now, Juniper didn't protest as she was led along with the other female, scanning for the guards' minds but coming up with nothing as they wore the lead headgear. She lingered in the edge of "Druggie's" mind, dreading the upcoming order in which she would be controlling the fellow mutant. She sent a silent apology over to the girl, inwardly deciding she'd do her best to not invade any more than necessary.

Unceremoniously shoved into a new room, Juniper let out a soft gasp at the sudden push on her back before straightening up. No sooner had she done so when the cool, unkind voice reiterated the threat from before, adding on a possible consequence for any failure to comply. Juniper nodded again, not knowing if they were looking at her or not. The slamming of the door earned a flinch, and the blind mutant clung desperately to her partner's mind in order to keep them both safe, and in hopes of being able to see and navigate her surroundings as needed. She felt uneasy, wondering what sick game or torturous experiment the scientists would subject her and her fellow mutant to.