Helena made sure to scan every footstep before placing it. Her toes were starting to feel the chill, but the full body thermal suit helped a bit with her feet and noise. She didn’t need a loose rock grinding against the floor to give her away. After walking through two rooms, she picked up her pace. I can draw the twins in by using my ability. Just like before, the man will send them in to test for traps. If they’re looking for traps, I might as well give them one.

Eight minutes later, she smirked as she found a suitable spot for her trap. The moon had eased its way around the clouds and had risen to its peak, shining enough light to illuminate a large demolished snow covered underground. The room had three stories, which had all collapsed into a large mass of rocks below.

Taking the metal wire out of her bag and slipping the boots over her chilled feet, she began to set up her trap. She looped the wires into a noose and hid it in the snow on the bottom floor, in the center of food, which was partially eaten. Looping the wire around a broken pillar above the trap, she threw the end onto the second floor; it took her two attempts to get it to stay. Taking off her snow-covered boots, she scurried along the walls, backtracking to the first and second-floor staircase. Dropping a torn rapper piece on the floor and hiding her empty container at the foot of the stairs.

Reaching her tossed wiring on the second floor, she threw it onto the third level, which took six attempts. Walking back to the staircase, she carefully took the stairs to the third level, which was half broken. She looped the wire around a pillar on the third level and lowered the rest of the wiring back down to the second floor; she took the path back to the second floor, behind a small bolder. It’ll look like I hurriedly tried to hide my presence and make my way to the first floor.

To place the finishing touches on her movements, she displaced several places in the dirt and added snow tracks. It’s quick work, but all I need to do is magnetically charge the wire to the bolder on the second level and wait for the twins. I’ll have to use a lot of Focus to apply the force, but that’s a part of the trap. I’ve never applied this much magnetic force to an object … we’ll have to see if it can support the weight. There’s also the possibility Mike isn’t strong enough for this to work … but I’m short on options.

Pressing the wire against the stone, Helena concentrated on charging the polarity of the rock and wire to attract each other. Finished with the combination, she examined her work by pulling on the wire as hard as she could. The wire didn’t budge, but that didn’t mean it would hold. I just have to hope.

She waited several minutes before seeing the twins light. “Are you sure you sensed her ability being used here, Ireen?” Asked Hew. “We did see hurried work at covering her tracks, but I don’t think she’s that stupid.”

“It means she’s panicking!” Mike replied with glee.

Hew sighed doubtfully. “I’m not so sure. I think she’s smarter than that.”

“You’re always worrying,” Mike cut off as he found her half-eaten food, “Hey, Hew!” Mike clearly sounded excited. “Check this out. She must have used this spot to catch her breath, you can see her food and that one’s partially eaten. She’s got to be close!”

“Don’t get too close, Mike. I don’t like how obvious it is and these footsteps are too plain. This is way too obvious for her.” I didn’t expect Hew to be this cautious. Did Ventre order him to take it slow and be thorough? I’d be prudent to be cautious since they can track me anywhere.

“You’re always so cautious … she might have left another clue! We’re so close, I know she’s nearby.” Mike’s tone was annoyed. “We tried it your way, now let’s do it mine.”

Hew breathed heavily. “If you want to take the reins on this one, that’s fine, but try to think through this.”

The sounds of crunched footsteps echoed around the area as they both approached her trap. Mike snorted. “You always think that I don’t contemplate my actions before I do something, but she must be fairly exhausted from all the exercise. She only has the body and mind of an eight-year-old, even if she is an esper, so are we and we’re older. She’s probably leading us away or was in the process of setting some kind...”

Helena scraped her boots against the rock and slid a few pebbles to the edge as they stepped over the trap. They audibly clattered to the floor below. “Up there!” Mike shouted as he turned. Helena quickly scooted back as a loud crack hit her floor. Just as I expected, Mike’s too reckless and preemptively telekinetically blasted the floor in hopes of scaring me out or breaking the floor to reveal my hiding place.

“Mike, calm—run!” Hew bellowed. The stone floor began to crumble and the bolder crashed downward. The wire dropped with the bolder, causing her trap to spring right under their feet.

The wire snapped shut around both of Mike’s boots and one of Hew’s, throwing them together as they sailed upward, upside-down. Their shocked voices were filled with panic and Mike threw out another telekinetic blast randomly striking a wall, causing it to crumble inwards.

Helena scooted down some of the broken layers to grab hold of the taut wire next to her and sent a bolt of electricity through the feed. It ran across the thread and coursed through their connected bodies. They sized up as the energy hit them and fell limp. She was too far away to passively read their bioelectric activity, so she didn’t know if the shock had killed them or not, but she doubted it with how much resistance the wire gave between them and her.

Quietly moving back up the broken flooring to the second level, she licked her dry lips. Now I need to go back and find the Hoverfly since the twins are incapacitated the man’s alone searching for me. He won’t be able to corner me if I keep an ear out for footsteps and my position. Helena’s eyes narrowed as she heard clapping below her and slowed, hiding behind a broken pillar. He’s here. The twins didn’t give him away at all.

His deep voice held an edge of admiration. “Impressive, to set this up so suddenly. I wasn’t told you had metal wire or experience in setting traps, but I’m assuming you had to use all of it to snare these two buffoons. After all, you can only carry so much with an eight-year-old body. No matter how intelligent you may be.” He isn’t wrong. I used all the tread to make this trap, but now he can’t block multiple paths and send the twins in for ambushes.

“I haven’t seen this trap used in quite some time. I believe the last I dealt with it was on the Palma Islands. There aren’t a lot of espers there, but they made up for it in guerrilla warfare. They didn’t like WITCH setting up a base on their Islands, but we’ve mostly settled that.”

Helena frowned. This man really is from some kind of WITCH high ranking division to have information like this. It sounds like he’s from a different base than the Northern, why send him? Did he come all this way just for me? What kind of ability does he have?

“Do you know what makes guerrilla warfare so efficient?” He questioned with a deep chuckle. Helena heard heavy footfall. Scooting to a shadowy area, where she couldn’t be visibly seen from below, she observed where the twins were hanging. She saw a dark-haired man step into the light, just below the two unconscious boys. He was dark-skinned and wearing a southern sleeveless black button-up shirt, black shorts, and sandals. How’s he not wearing winter gear and not freezing?

He bent down and grabbed one of her bait packets and opening it, he took a bite. After finishing the piece of food, he glanced around. “Guerrilla warfare is effective due to several key components; weaponry, knowledge of an area, information on the opposition, mobility, and being undetected.”

Helena’s brow furrowed. What’s his plan by talking so much, he was so quiet with the girl? It hit her with alarm. He’s stalling! She bolted backward and dashed down the hall, back toward the room with the hole in the floor. She left her pack behind the rocks she had hidden it, it was too heavy to run with.

A loud explosion billowed behind her, followed by a rush of hot air that licked her open skin. She glanced back to find a flash of orange burst through the hallway she’d just been in. That could have killed the twins! Is he that ruthless? Well, they are disposable to WITCH. He was stalling while determining my most plausible location, based on the wiring. His ability is still unknown as well. That could have been an explosive and it also could have been Pyrokinesis.

Helena’s eyes snapped open in horror. Her perception picked up a multitude of metal wires a meter in front of her. She only had moments to come up with a plan of action. They could be attached to some kind of device, so using magnetism against it could trigger something; I also don’t know what’s beyond. If he set up his own traps throughout the building it will hamper my movements. I can’t stumble into them blindly and I can only sense a meter in front of me without detection. I can use electro-stimulation to give myself an extra burst of energy to leap over the wiring and roll to the other side, but any action I take will reveal my location to the Tracker, I can’t stop my momentum.

This man has set up a brilliant counter trap. How did he know my visibility is limited? Does he know a bit about Kara’s abilities and can guess what kind of tactics I’ll use? Electricity flooded her muscles as she lunged over the wiring as far as possible, twisting and arching her back. She barely missed the top string. Extending her senses as she fell, she began to curl into a ball to cushion her fall and her breath caught in her throat at her electrostatic feedback. He trapped the floor beyond with wires as well! I’ll fall right on top of one and they are connected to metal devices around the room!

Helena gritted her teeth as she broke her curl to magnetically grab the attached item and pull it to herself. If I can just give myself some slack and arch my back. Her stomach dropped as she sensed the device snag. He hooked it on something further away, far enough that my perception can’t see … does he know my ability that well or is he that paranoid?

She sensed and watched the darkness as the device’s pin unclick with trepidation burrowing into her stomach as time seemed to slow. Is this it? A flash of blinding light blared against her vision and a bang that deafened her ears shattered her concentration. Her internal image blacked out as she went completely blind.

Her back sunk into the wire, the sting of the sharp metal digging into her suit’s fabric and pressed against her back as a gust of dust swept up her lungs. Coughing violently as she fumbled to get off the wire, she scrambled to her knees, gasping. She grasped at her ears as a ringing blared around her stunned mind. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes to a blurred void, body quivering. She couldn’t see anything, but the ringing in her ears slowly dulled..

She quickly brought up her hand and bit down on her index finger, tasting blood. She had to calm her mind and racing heart. She breathed deeply but continued to shake as liquid started to gather in her left nostril. Extending her perception again, she swallowed a mouth full of saliva as she awkwardly hoisted herself up. Her reception was far from sharp, but it was the best her fuddled mind could produce. The ringing in my ears is throwing my balance off...

She managed to stumble toward a hole, seeing through her mind’s eye the multitude of traps. She barely managed to stagger past the many wires that lined half the room. This man’s too intricate … did he really set all this up in under twenty minutes? If he set this many traps systematically then why is the hole clear? I can clearly sense nothing on the other side of the hole, but why? Deciding against the opening, she guided herself through the mass of traps as quickly as she could and slumped against the next room’s wall.

Reducing her field, she clasped her head between her hands and legs, trembling. Massaging her forehead, she blinked a few times and found she could start seeing the faint outline of orange from the last room. Rubbing her ears, she felt a low rumble above her, dust billowing downward.

Sensing the flow of dust, Helena quickly covered her mouth and nose with her arm. She coughed as lightly as she could manage but didn’t know how softly it was. Did he set some kind of timed mine on the ceiling above or could it have been triggered from the flash grenade sound?

Helena’s ears were starting to clear and another bang echoed from the room that the hole led to. Flames licked from the doorway to her left, expelling a current of heat and wind that scorched her skin. The thought hit Helena and she extended her senses as broadly as she could manage. This room’s booby-trapped as well! He placed the device on the ceiling! Completely retracting her field to conserve energy, she stimulated her muscles and dashed toward the next room as fast as her body would carry her.

As she made it through the doorway, she felt a blast of burning force explode from behind her, a shockwave struck her back, making her fly forward as dust expelled around her. Blistering pain spread across her back as she tumbled along the ground. Coughing and sputtering, each strike of the ground felt like a heavy blow crushing her body. Gasping in shock, she curled into the fetal position, trying to breathe.

It took her several seconds to intake air and her body quivered jerkily. I’ve stimulated my muscles too far ... any more and they’ll tear … I can’t move… It took some time before she was able to get on her hands and knees, wheezing. She was sweating profusely, nose burned, vision wavering and heart pumping a hundred kilometers an hour. I’ve reached my physical limit, but I need to get to a safe place. Maybe the next room … but I don’t have any supplies now. I have nothing to escape with and it’s taking all my energy to just sit like this … this man’s a professional. Why send such a high profile person after me?

Helena heard tongue-clicking in the next room. Her muscles shook with effort as she looked up, panting. Is it him? Light flooded the room as a blond-haired boy in his late teens walked through the entree way with a frown. He looked down at her, flashlight in hand. His speech was low and hard to make out, due to the flash grenade and shock waves that raddled her mind. “Ben, is this the girl Lord Phantasm wants brought back?”

A black haired boy stepped into the room. It isn’t the man from earlier. This is a boy in his mid-teens. They both were wearing white snowsuits. “Seems like her,” Ben said with little emotion as he appraised her. Who are these people? Are they with the other man?

“Who are you?” The gruff deep voice of the man asked. Helena craned her neck to look around and found the man exiting from a side room, the same one she was going to try next. She gulped as she shook on the ground. He was waiting for me. Has this all been a game to him?

“Seems Ventre’s little group just barely missed their opportunity, but I think I’ve seen this guy somewhere?” The blond haired boy said with laughter which cut with a confused expression as he got a closer look at the man.

“Excuse me?” The man asked with dangerous eyes. “I wasn’t informed of...” He cut off as a transmission entered his earpiece. “What!” He exclaimed with disgust. “I was told that I was the only team involved with this capture. It sounded somewhat interesting with her being an Electro Master. That was the only reason I took this stupid request.”

The two boys waited in silence as the man communicated with someone on his headset. “I won’t have my prize taken away by some snot-nosed brats; I’m actually starting to enjoy myself! I don’t care if that sniveling snake of a Prime sent them, this is my show and I have no obligation toward the Purple Faction.”

Helena’s eyes widened as smoke lifted from the ground and surrounded Ben. No, it’s dust. “I won’t have you disrespecting Lord Phantasm, even if you are the leading expert in guerrilla warfare among the trainers in the Southern District and a Major in the Green Faction.” Is this Magnokinesis or Electrokinesis’ sub-ability? Is he manipulating the iron particles in the dirt? No, I can’t sense a magnetic field. This has to be Konikinesis, dust manipulation.

The man studied the two boys with level eyes before sighing. “Why wasn’t I informed that Kara’s interested in this girl? Well then … she’s not worth that kind of trouble. This is a child’s job anyways.” Crushing his earpiece, he threw it on the ground. “Take the girl. I’m returning to the Southern Base, I can’t stand this bleak weather.” He grumbled.

Helena felt the air suddenly change and fire erupted around the black-haired man. It flowed backward as if some form of pressure fed against it and a frosty mist expelled from behind the man, ice creeping up the walls. His eyes were wide with anger as he stared at the blond haired teen. His tone slow and cold “Don’t pick a fight with me boy, I’ll destroy a Captain, like you.”

“You didn’t apologize for mocking Lord Phantasm.” The blond haired boy said with venom, but Helena could tell that he was unsure of his own action.

Helena felt jitters start to well up in her stomach. She extended her perception and found the air pressure around the room was shifting unnaturally. Is the blonde haired boy a Nixukinetic or Aerokinetic?

“Talim!” Ben warned as the dust dropped to the ground without a puff. “We aren’t here to pick a fight with the Green Faction and in all honesty, we wouldn’t last five minutes against a Major and a Thermokinetic at that. Let’s leave, peacefully.”

Helena felt the pressure gradually fade and so did the fire and ice around the man. He must be a high-level Thermokinetic, his clothing isn’t even singed, but these two boys have very cohesive abilities. Pressure manipulation and dust, it could be spun a multiple of different ways. However … it looks like my escape ends here. I’ll be taken back to the base and given a debriefing on my progress or that’s what the emails predicted.

The man quickly left back through the doorway a scowl on his face. Ben and Talim began to circle her as they examined her condition. Helena took a deep breath and sat on her butt, throwing her arms behind her for support. With a light smile, she said, “I guess this is it then.”

“Oh, she’s taking it surprisingly well, better than my first attempt. I threw a fit.” Talim said with a lifted eyebrow.

“She isn’t stupid,” Ben replied with crossed arms. “After all, she managed to make it this far on her own. Over five hours without capture on her first escape is very impressive, Lord Phantasm wasn’t joking with his praise.”

“Yeah, but look at her. She’s a mess.” Talim laughed.

Helena’s arms collapsed as she sank to her back, feeling the burning pain. Being unable to do anything about the position, but wince and cry out. Her bundled up hair resting against the dust filled ground. I’m completely spent, somewhat drained in ability, but physically, I'm done, I can’t move. Her vision blurred. Laughing weakly, she waited. I seem to be developing a habit of passing out.

“What’s she laughing ab...” Her mind blanked as she closed her eyes.