Ventre grunted as he snapped awake; heart racing, breathing rapidly, and muscles on fire. Slight tremors run down his body at irregular spurts as he struggled to figure out what was happening to him. What … girl … Helena. I turned ... a second and... Ventre cursed mind clearing. Only a split second and she took full advantage of it. I didn’t think she’d be so bold, she’s only a child!

Jerking his arms he felt a sharp spur of pain in his ankles and wrists. His eyes bulged as realization struck and thirst ebbed its way into his throbbing throat. Reflexively he tried coughing, but couldn’t get anything out of his mouth. She tied me up … hogtied me! The little brat actually hogtied … what’s in my throat?! Moving around his tongue, he found some kind of fabric stuck under it and at the roof of his mouth. No saliva entered his orifice and he tasted blood, but the liquid only burned. What did she put in my mouth?

Struggling a few minutes in a panic, he glanced up at the digital clock. It was blinking off and on at twelve forty-seven. I don’t know when her ability messed with the clocks, but she’s knocked me out for at least thirty minutes. She might already be out of the base by now!

He cursed again. She’s already surpassed the record of every test subject in the past two years. The President won’t overlook this, he’ll be ecstatic about her progress and punish me! He really wants to see how far she can get with the same ability as Kara. His odd fascination with Electro Masters put me in this predicate … Helena’s dangerous. At her age, if she can calculate this much what will she be like once done with SOP training? Worse, SSOP training if Kara instructed her…

A stitch in his side broke his concentration as he struggled, trying to ease the pain in his as blood continued to swirl around his mouth, he continued to curse. The pain was growing, but he couldn’t stop wriggling. His attempts at shouting were useless, his mouth completely sealed off. Who is this girl? The nurse should have come back by now, where is she!

Ventre had to wait three more minutes before the door’s lock clicked and someone entered. However, it wasn’t the person he’d been expecting. A brown haired man entered, he couldn’t guess his age. Once seeing Ventre hogtied on the floor, he lifted an eyebrow. Ventre hadn’t seen this man around the base.

“Interesting fetish you have there.” The man said cautiously, but a small tilt lifted at the corner of his mouth.

Ventre struggled on the ground, his eyes bulging with fury and pain.

A light chuckle left the man’s lips. “Okay, give me a second.” Finding a razor in the top corner of the medical cabinet, the man quickly cut Ventre loose.

Rushing over to the sink, Ventre spat out the fabric in his mouth and guzzled down water. He sputtered, blood expelling into the sink, pain erupting from sores in his mouth. His gums and throat ached and stung, but he forced himself to expel the substance. He couldn’t get the cotton feeling out of his throat. Working it around for a minute, he coughed a few times before finally stared at the man. “Who are you?” Ventre rasped.

“Me?” The man asked with a thoughtful expression. “I’m Jake. I came to see the President. I got wind that he’d be in this facility for a short time and … got lost. This is a gigantic facility you have here.”

“Whatever,” Ventre said with a chafed voice while massaging his throat, “give me your HCID, quickly.” Jake frowned but complied. Unclasping the device from his wrist and handing it to Ventre. He logged out of Jake’s account but realized that this man had maximum level clearance. He’s even higher than me and I’m an Operations Manager in this district.

Logging into his own account, he sent a base-wide emergency message, Target Lost. Shoving the device back into Jake’s hands, Ventre sniffed, experiencing how dry his nose was. He exited the room at a quick pace. As he entered the main hallway, he found a gorgeous woman with a nurse’s coat on. She was talking to a man that he knew didn’t have a hand, but now was examining a perfectly shaped hand in astonishment. A Biokinetic?

Moving to the woman, Ventre demanded. “Fix my throat.” Only half of his words were recognizable.

She furrowed her brow and placed her hand against his neck. Frowning, she asked. “Did you suck on cotton?” This incompetent woman!

Ventre gurgled a response, but she cut him off. “Okay, give me a second.”

He felt the pain in his throat and mouth ease, but his limbs still ached. A lump shot up his gullet and he spat out blood across the woman’s front. Her hand shot back and she looked down with an appalled expression as a repulsed tone escaped her smooth rounded lips.

Ventre wiped the blood from his lips, wiping the liquid on her lab coat, he worked around his throat. “You’re a nurse; I don’t need your commentary! If I, an Operations Manager, needs healing, then you do it—immediately!”

The woman’s expression darkened and her hand darted out to grip his neck tightly. Ventre’s eyes bulged and he tried to force her grip off, but it was no use. He felt a strange tickle in his throat and he began to hiccup. The woman huffed haughtily, removing her grip. Choking, he asked. “What did you—do to me!”

“I irritated portions of your vagus and phrenic nerves, causing a symptom known as protracted hiccups. Good luck getting rid of it and you better not search for relief … maybe you can try to scare it out.”

“I’m an—Operations...” Ventre tried to yell.

The woman interrupted him; her lime green piercing eyes reminded him of Helena’s. “And I’m Belesis, a Purist General. I just changed shirts too...” With her statement, she turned back to the man with his new hand, a brilliant smile lighting her face. “I hope you have a wonderful day, Conner. Even if there’s a large scale blizzard on the way.”

Ventre felt his heart skip at her statement. I disrespected a General! I’m lucky to be let off so easily, but what’s she doing in my base? Last I checked, there were only three Purist Generals and none at this base or Biokinetics. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he stomped down the hall without a glance back, hiccups escaping his mouth every so often. I need to get to the observation room and figure out what’s going on with Helena.

Ventre froze as he turned a corner and heard his name called by a sweet voice that sent chills down his spine. “Ventre, what’s with all the panic? Does it have something to do with that mass transmission?”

Turning around, Ventre found Kara Corsey standing nonchalantly against the wall. Beside her was Klen, her lapdog trainee. They both had white thermal suits on; they’d just arrived at his base.

“Kara.” Ventre acknowledged slowly, but with respect. His voice came out unevenly pitched as hiccups continued to escape his throat. Why in the world is Kara here! First I meet a Purist General and now the Purist Faction Leader … a Prime and there’s the rumor that she’s an SSOP Director … the President interest in Helena and now Kara shows up … I doubt she’ll give me an explanation. “What brings you—to this remote northern base? I—imagine you’d be busy—with setting up missions and managing—your faction.”

Kara’s left eyebrow lifted at his voice. “My schedule isn’t to be discussed with people of your ranking.” A light smile touched her smooth delicate lips. “From your message, I assume you’ve lost sight of your test subject. And,” Kara’s deep brown eyes flickered to Ventre’s wrist, “it seems they’ve gotten the better of you.”

Ventre flushed and sniffed. “It’s a—minor setback; nothing to be concerned about.”

“Oh?” Kara’s skeptical expression shifted to glance down the hall. She has such an exotic look. Brown eyebrows or hair is one thing and brown eyes are extremely rare, but having all three is unheard of. Only actual Witches have that kind of look. She’s one of the most mysterious Primes and one of the youngest in history, is she really an Esper? Some rumors stated otherwise.

“Manager!” Several voices yelled. Ventre looked down the hallway to find his subordinates running his way, pale-faced. To his surprise, Jake was standing right behind him. Did he follow me out of the lab? I thought he was here to talk to the President, why tag along with me? As they approached, Ventre cleared his throat and asked. “What is—it?”

“We’ve scanned the entire building’s cameras and sent messages to most onsite staff, but we can’t find the girl.” One of the men said while panting.

Ventre gritted his teeth. Their incompetence is infuriating. I need to find a better team.

“Oh … a girl,” Kara said with a smirk as she narrowed her right eye.

Ventre didn’t dare cut her off and waited before saying. “Has there been—any unexplained accident...”

He was interrupted as Jake interjected, speaking to one of his subordinates. “Are you referring to a tiny little girl with bright clothing and golden blonde hair, around the age of seven?”

“Yes,” Ventre replied hesitantly, “did—you see her?”

Jake turned to him with a nod. “About thirty-five minutes ago. She was such a polite girl. She wanted to know where to fix her HCID, so I directed her to a Technical Station.”

Ventre’s eyes popped. “You did—what? Did you not get the—memo?”

Jake snorted with raised eyebrows. “I don’t work here. I’m just here to meet the President and talk about some plans.”

Ventre felt his teeth grinding. He must be an acquaintance of the President, which means I can’t do anything to him. Turning to one of his subordinates, Ventre barked. “I want every—OPs unit on and off duty to—scan the base for her.” When they hesitated, he yelled. “Thirty-minutes ago!”

Kara’s tinkling laughter rang behind him. “Don’t they say the subordinate’s inadequacies are linked to their supervisor’s shortcomings?”

Ventre bit down hard to prevent a comment. Not responding, he swallowed the retort and swept past them toward the observation room. Frustration building, he found not only Jake but Kara and Klen on his tail. All three seemed highly entertained. One of his subordinates gave him a headset to direct the search parties. The clear sounds of different teams came into his ear.

“This is Alpha, no sign in sector C.”

“This is Beta, no sign in sector F.”

“This is Charlie, tech woman found unconscious in sector G. Equipment at Supply Server destroyed, possibly a power backlash, requesting medical attention.”

“This is Geothermal Command. No power surge is recorded in the geothermal transistors.”

Ventre yelled into the intercom. “I want teams—scanning the Bay areas and get—a Leaper Drone into the vents.”

A multitude of different voices responded. “Roger.”

Entering the Observation Room, he found it buzzing with activity as teams reported on their findings and speculations were being thrown around.

“Where are we?” Ventre asked his Assistant Manager, Nathan.

“Charlie’s sensory member has found evidence of the girl’s presence at the Supply Server, but other than that, nothing,” Nathan said with a frown as he watched him hiccup.

“This is Echo. Identified a vent unscrewed in section B14.”

Ventre almost swore but kept his mouth in check with a side glance at Kara, it was rumored that she didn’t tolerate foul language. The girl’s in the vents. How’s she been so successful thus far, is it all due to luck or intelligence? Most of this can be pointed directly to Jake directing her to the server room, the fool. Now she probably knows that the device I gave her is a fake.

“This is Operations—Manager, Ventre.” He spoke through the microphone. “I’ll be leading the investigation as of now. What is your sensory member—picking up?” He waited for a response with anticipation. Hopefully, it would still be fresh.

“This is Tera, Echo’s sensor type. I can’t sense anything recent on the screws or the vent, which is perplexing. I can see the release of the vent and the screws being removed. However, I don’t sense any human interaction, so I can’t tell how long since she’s been here.”

That isn’t surprising. She could have used her ability to remove it, but if this Tera was more competent in her ability, maybe she’d be able to see more. I guess that’s why she’s OP’s and not SOP. Why am I surrounded by useless subordinates! “I want Echo—to investigate further into the facility,” Ventre ordered. That Supply Bay is close to the Treader Bay. If she’s figured that out, she may have already left the compound.

“But Sir, she may still be close?” An OP’s member asked in confusion. Fool! Questioning a direct order!

“That isn’t a—guarantee and we can’t risk her getting further into the—building. I’ll send in—drones to check out the vents.” Ventre coughed. That bothersome General; in fact, she’s Kara’s General. She’s probably being stationed in this area as of now, which means I’ll see her around the base often. Why wasn’t I informed?

“Yes, Sir!” The team’s captain replied. At least someone doesn’t question my judgment.

Speaking to his observation team, he asked. “Has—there been any unexplained exits to the facility doors?”

“No Sir, only the SOP members that have recently arrived.” Ventre felt sweat gathering at his temples. No wonder Kara and Belesis are here, but why are special operation teams here and even Kara, a Faction Leader. Could it be with our base renovations, the Vice-President was cryptic about the reason.

“Why so much trouble over that little girl?” Jake asked incredulously.

Kara’s harmonic voice concurred with Jake. “I know. Nathan, what’s her ability?”

Nathan sputtered several unintelligible words. She asks my subordinate instead of me, the Operations Manager! Ventre cut Nathan off. “She’s a—Electro Master.” Kara didn’t say anything, but Ventre could see a twinkle in her brown eyes. She’s interested.

Klen’s bored expression showed his annoyance. “Kara, how much time are we going to waste here? We need to meet up with the Vice-President, Booker, and Belesis. They’ve been waiting several hours for us already.” SOP members have been in my base without my knowledge for several hours?

A spark of hope-filled Ventre’s mind. Please leave to your meeting. I don’t need your condescending presence berating every action I take.

Kara smiled as she glanced at Ventre. “Don’t worry about those details, Klen. The Vice-President has been waiting several hours already and when have I ever cared how long that impertinent Belesis waits. She and the others can wait several more minutes. Instead, try to learn something from this girl’s example. She seems to be intelligent and I’m curious, how advanced are her abilities. Is it power that’s propelled her this far or wisdom, perhaps pure adaptation?”

Ventre saw Klen’s jaw clench at her words. It seems Kara’s direct methods aren’t exaggerated, she doesn’t coddle her members.

“Ventre, we’ve lost signal with one of the Leaper Drones. The last few moments of functionality report an electrical surge destroying key circuitry.”

“How’s that—possible?” Ventre whispered. The Leaper Drones are designed to distribute electrical discharges through grounding methods. The only possible way she’d be able to destroy it is with an electrical charge while in the air. How did she know its one weakness against her ability?

Kara was smirking. “Don’t look so surprised, Ventre. Those scraps of metal are jokes and waste in funds. Any Electro Master with half a brain could destroy one.”

Ventre worked around his jaw at her comment. Not all of us are espers and of your power standards!

“Its last location was in the vents leading into sector D’s Treader Bay. However, its independent tracer seems to be moving toward the Supply Bay, Echo found the vent unscrewed.”

“Send—a team to...” Ventre was cut off by another member of his staff.

“The device stopped in section D17, a relief room. Should I direct a team that way?”

Ventre hesitated. She’s been leading me by the nose this entire time. Maybe this is a ploy for something else? “No, send a—team to the Treader Bay. She’s probably leading us—to the Supply Bay to escape and give herself a little more—time.” Kara hummed thoughtfully behind him.

“Yes, sir!” The man responded and directed Echo and Bravo to the Treader Bay.

“Sir, no sign of her,” Echo responded. “We’ll unscrew the vents.”

“Sir!” An observation team member yelled. “I’m receiving reports of multiple power disturbances throughout sections I24, U75, G13, and O8, completely power failures in sections F1 and G3.”

Ventre swore vehemently. “Send follow up teams to all those—locations.” His eyes suddenly caught Kara’s change in character. Her entertained smile had turned ugly and her deep brown eyes were livid as she glared at him. Ventre gulped. The rumor was true.

“I’ll let it pass this once, Ventre.” Animosity coating every word she spoke. “Watch your tongue around me! Next time, I’ll cut it off.”

His stomach churned at her words. That’s extreme! To cut off my tongue for a simple swear word. Ventre nodded and hoarsely replied. “My—apologies.”

Her atmosphere seemed to switch instantly back to amusement. “By the way, how long have you had those hiccups? The break in speech is somewhat annoying.”

Working around his tongue, he cleared his throat. “Thank your General—Belesis, gave them to me.”

A mirthful laugh escaped Kara’s throat as she doubled over, clutching her stomach. “My—Belesis, gave you hiccups! What did you do?”

Uncomfortably, Ventre cleared his throat again. “Spat blood over her clothing and wiped more along her coat.” He left out the portion of disrespecting her.

Kara’s tinkling tone almost disappeared as she doubled over again, clutching at her side as if in pain. “Spat—blood, all over her! I love it! I’ll have to bring it up today!” Klen’s expression hadn’t lifted in the least.

Breathing a heavy sigh, internally he cursed repeatedly. Helena has outmaneuvered me again, what is her plan?

“Sir, the doors in Section D’s Treader Bay just opened and two Treaders have left the area.”

“What!” Ventre exclaimed with realization as he stormed out of the room toward the Bay. It’s only a few hallways down … she couldn’t have left that easily … she couldn’t have been that close! Why didn’t my security team picked her up on the cameras?