Terry awoke to pitch darkness. She can feel her breath being reflected back at her, as well as a mask fitted over face. She was getting oxygen, so she wasn't dead. Of course she wasn't dead, because she was breathing. She tried to flex a muscle, but her body felt stiff. And she felt restraints on her hands & legs. Cold metallic restraints no less.

She tried to turn her head to get a better look at her surroundings, but the stiffness in her neck wouldn't allow it. How long had she been out? She closed her eyes again & listened. She could hear muffled voices nearby. Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to meditate, like she had always heard people sometimes do to calm & focus their mind. A good practice to learn, realizing that her newfound abilities probably rely on a focused & sharp mind. Mental note: Do some research on meditation techniques.

She took a deep breath in & then slowly exhaled it. Breathe in…breathe out. Breathe in…breathe out. Good, she was starting to feel a little more relaxed. She started tapping into the strength of her mind & reached out. She started to search, looking for another mind. Looking…looking…what's that? Her pulse started to race as she made contact with one of the minds, a Kim Takeshi. Funny name for a man. Oh, she realized it would be Takeshi Kim to her. His mind automatically thought of his name the way his culture would look at it.

Slowly, she tried to pick up what he was thinking, but she could only understand the visual images he was processing. His mind worked in a different language, so she couldn't pick up exactly what he was thinking. But she could pick up the visualization of the room he was in. Maybe that would shed some light on where she was.

Takeshi was looking at two tubes lying on the ground next to a truck. Two tubes? What way was she positioned? She was lying horizontally, like she would if she was lying in bed. So, one of those tubes probably contains her. Perhaps Sherry was in the other. Terry focused on the tubes, trying to memorize what they looked like.

The tubes looked identical, with a metallic sheen to them. On each side, there was what looked to be a tank, probably the tanks that were providing her oxygen to breathe. There seemed to be some sort of electronic panel on top of the tubes. She could see a young Asian man, with four fingers on one hand & a tattoo of a dragon snaking down his arm, cracking open one of the panels. He's probably trying to bypass the mechanism & attempting to open it. So, these guys don't know what they had. That could probably work to her advantage.

Then an idea hit her. She tried to reach out to the young Asian man she saw working on the tube. Slowly & gently &…bingo! And he thought in English too. Terry breathed a sigh of relief. She was feeling more at ease in this mind. The other mind felt dark & uncomfortable. She was glad to be out of it. She focused her energies into seeing through this man's eyes…Evan's eyes. She could sense Evan knew a thing or two about Electronics, but was feeling baffled by this device. Looking at it through his eyes, she could see why. There was a very advanced Security System built into the lock. She had to admire the craftsmanship, as where the wires went & what they did were well camouflaged.

Evan had decided on two wires to cut & was preparing to cut them. She studied those wires & realized while one was correct, the other was a decoy.

"Cut the red instead", she projected at Evan.

Evan turned his head towards a red wire & she realized he saw it too. He cut the red wire & pressed it against the green wire he had already cut. There was a hiss, & Terry heard it in stereo, through Evan's ears & her own. She pulled out of Evan's head & focused herself back in her own head. Terry forced her eyes open to see bright light, that dimmed down to a normal level to reveal Evan's face staring down at her, his hands reaching in & removing the facemask.

"There is a girl in here!" Evan spoke.

Terry heard footsteps & immediately felt the coldness of Takeshi's mind approaching. His face appeared over her tube. From her angle, he looked very tall, with well-groomed dark hair & wore an expensive looking suit. Sherry would probably be able to identify it, but she wasn't there to do so.

"It is a girl"; Takeshi spoke calmly, though she felt surprise coming from his mind. He wasn't expecting a girl in the tube, though she couldn't read what he was thinking. Maybe she should put language lessons on her list of things to do. Provided of course, there is a later.

"Who are you girl?"

Terry snapped out of her mental wanderings & focused again on the present.

"Terry"

"Terry what?" he asked, venom lacing the question as he asked it.

"Terry Stonewall"

"What are you doing in this container?"

"I honestly don't know, sir". Good, give him some respect & he might soften up. And though she wasn't sure exactly why she was in this container, she had a good idea it was because of her abilities. Obviously, someone had found out about Sherry's abilities, & wanted to control them for themselves. Terry was probably just an added surprise bonus.

"Open the other container", Takeshi spoke calmly.

Evan turned & exited Terry's field of vision, though she felt his mind only a few feet away. He was repeating the opening procedure on the other tube. If that was Sherry in the other tube, she knows that Sherry will not be in a good mood finding herself in such a condition.

Takeshi had left her field of vision as well, & had gone to speak with another man nearby. She tried to listen to their conversation, but it was in a language that she couldn't understand. She thought she heard the word "consortium" in there, but she really couldn't make out more than that.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING IN THIS THING!"

Terry smiled as she heard Sherry's voice ring throughout the building. Looking up, Terry could see that there was a very high ceiling, with metal beams crossing overhead. Probably in some sort of warehouse, though she had no idea where she might be exactly. But, that was a problem for later.

"YOU BETTER LET ME OUT OF THIS THING!"

She saw Takeshi pass through her field of vision as he made his way over to Sherry's tube.

"This one is more spirited. And looks just the other one too."

"Terry!"

Takeshi smiled. "Yes, Terry."

"Terry, are you there?"

Takeshi slapped Sherry, saying, "Now be a good girl & be quiet for a second."

"Go to Hell!"

Takeshi slapped her again.

"Is that the best you can do!"

Takeshi slapped her again.

"My grandmother can slap better than that!"

Takeshi raised his hand again & stopped. He lowered his hand & walked away.

"Come back here you chickenshit!"

For once, Terry wasn't minding Sherry's language, though her shouting was making it hard to pick up the conversation Takeshi was having with the other man. Probably wouldn't matter, as she didn't know the language they were speaking. She really needed to learn some foreign languages. Terry saw that Evan was still standing by the tubes, looking a little annoyed with Sherry's screaming. Terry also saw that Evan was looking a little bored standing there, probably waiting for the main guys to make a decision. Terry had no idea who else was in the warehouse, so she would probably be vulnerable if she got free. But Sherry was able to shrug off a couple of those sci-fi laser blast. She wondered…

"Evan, why don't you give her what she wants & free he, "Terry pushed into Evan's head. "She's only a girl…you can control a girl."

Evan kneeled down & found a control panel inside the tube. He must've been examining it while Takeshi was talking.

"Hey Ev, what are you doing?" a gruff sounding voice spoke from by the truck.

Evan pushed a button on the panel & Terry heard a whooshing sound.

"I can't let you do that," the gruff voice said & it was followed by machine gun fire. Terry heard Evan slump to the ground. Takeshi was yelling from where he was, asking what was going one or something. The one thing Terry did hear clearly was, "Ready…& Go!"

Terry next saw a blur of motion propel out of the tube next to her, Sherry she presumed. It was followed by machine gun fire from all around. All of a sudden, Terry wished she wasn't such a sitting duck, with no protection at all. No sooner than Terry thought that, she felt something click in her head, & saw a golden shimmering over the top of the tube. Did she do that?

The machine gun firing continued, but she heard Sherry yelling things like, "Take that, you fucking kidnappers!" Terry wished she knew what was going on out there, but all she could do is sit there & hope everything worked out ok. She heard crashes, like crates being broken & she also noticed the machine gun firing was decreasing. And then, it all stopped. Terry laid there for a moment, almost holding her breath. What was going on out there? Was Sherry still alive out there?

Then Sherry's face came into view, with a cheery smile on it.

"You can breathe now."

Terry realized that she was holding her breath, & exhaled.

"So, how do I get you out of there?"

Terry thought for a second. Fortunately, she was watching what Evan was doing through his mind.

"There should be a panel at the base, near my feet, with a blue button. Press the blue button."

Sherry reached down & stuck her hand inside. There was a whoosh as the restraints retracted into the tube. Terry tried to push herself up, but her arms did not want to move.

"Here, let me help you," Sherry spoke as she reached down & pulled Terry up. Terry was wobbly when she got to her feet, & had to lean on Sherry to stay up.

"How come you aren't stiff?"

Sherry shrugged her shoulders & replied, "Dunno. I feel fine in fact."

Terry looked around the warehouse for the first time with her own eyes. She saw about five bodies lying on the ground around the warehouse, including Takeshi. They looked bruised & unconscious, but alive.

"Did you do this?"

Sherry looked around, as if noticing the carnage she had done for the first time.

"I guess I did. It came naturally, & while the bullets, when the did hit me, stung, the didn't really hurt me."

Terry looked at Sherry with a look of shock.

"Are you saying you are bulletproof?"

Sherry smiled sheepishly and replied, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Terry shook her head as they stumbled their way out of the warehouse.

Takeshi Kim slowly opened his eyes to the light of the warehouse, with a killer headache. That girl was a wildcat, & bullets didn't seem to harm her. She was indeed a valuable asset. No wonder the Consortium had her in their possession. He was hoping for some of those advanced guns they had, but this was even better than those were. Provided she could be controlled.

His vision cleared up & he saw a blond hair man in a black suit with a red tie. He had piercing blue eyes & a scowl on his face that showed great displeasure. Takeshi knew that he had made a mistake.

"Lancaster-san"

The blond hair man put up his hand, indicating he did not want to hear it. Behind him were 6 men in black uniforms with metallic shoulder pads, wielding those laser rifles that Takeshi was hoping was in the truck when he hijacked it. There were at least a half-dozen more swarming through the warehouse, collecting his men up & herding them out. Takeshi had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"You were warned not to ever interfere with our business in any way at all. You were aware there would be serious repercussions," stated the blond hair man, the one Takeshi knew as Lancaster, in a cold monotone voice.

"Yes, but…"

Lancaster threw a dirty glance at Takeshi, which immediately shut up the Asian man. Lancaster started to pace about some as he continued.

"Yet, you did interfere with our business, by hitting one of our trucks. You knew it was our truck, yet you hit it anyways. Don't you realize what we could do to you."

Takeshi summoned up what was left of his courage, & stated, "Nothing worse than what my bosses could do to me."

Lancaster smiled a wicked, twisted smile at that statement. That smile alone gave Takeshi cause to pause, as he felt some of his courage starting to seep out of him.

"And who do you think your bosses are afraid of?"

Takeshi slumped a little at that comment, for he knew his bosses feared some major mysterious player, but he didn't realize it was the Consortium. Or, perhaps he did, & that was why he wanted to get a hold of their weapons. To level the playing field, make the Yakuza the most feared game in town. But now, he realized he was over his head. There was more to the Consortium than just a mere criminal organization. They had real power & he knew it.

Lancaster let that sit in for a moment, before continuing on.

"Now, Takeshi, tell me what happened to our 'Cargo'."

Takeshi gulped, as he realized his answer would probably not satisfy him, & became fearful of his fate.

"We…opened up the containers…to see what was in them. We found girls in them…they broke free…&, um…they escaped."

Lancaster took a moment to process what Takeshi had told him. They somehow got by the security locks on the tubes, though; it looks like they never found the homing beacon in the tubes. Hence how they were able to get here so fast. Somehow, the sisters were able to get free of the restraints. How? The one sister, Sherry, had above normal strength, but those restraints were built to restrain stronger individuals than her. And the other sister had normal strength as her abilities were telepathic, which makes her of interest to the Covert Ops Division. Wait…Telepathic. Could she have developed the discipline to control others? Initial reports make her out to be more powerful than the average telepath.

Takeshi sat there in total fear, trying not to be noticed, despite that there were six armed men with guns pointed his way. Lancaster shifted his gaze to Takeshi again.

"Mr. Takeshi, we have made accommodations for you at a nearby facility of ours. I do hope you would be our guess?"

Lancaster snapped his fingers & two of the armed men dragged Takeshi away, who had a horrified expression on his face. Lancaster enjoyed they terror he had imbued into Takeshi for a moment before he turned to one of his men.

"I want to get units out searching for those two ASAP…as inconspicuous as possible. We want to keep this one extremely quiet. Call HQ, & get Silent Death Squad out there…they are trained to be inconspicuous. I want those two rogues back into Cyrotubes within the next two hours. Dismissed!"

The men exploded into a flurry of activity as Lancaster made his way outside to a waiting Limousine. He got into the car, admiring how quickly & efficiently his men were working. Sitting in the car on the other side was a tall woman, with long black hair tied back into a ponytail, wearing a blue jumpsuit. Her right arm was shrouded in black metal, while she wore only a black gauntlet on the left hand. Her left eye glowed a deep violet, while her right eye was covered in obsidian metal, with a glowing crimson eyepiece.

"To Japantown, driver. I think the address is in your computer," Lancaster spoke calmly. He then turned to eye his carmate as the Limo began to pullout.

"Marilyn, my dear, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company."

Marilyn turned to Lancaster & scowled, "What are you doing here, Scott? A retrieval mission is beyond your purview."

Scott Lancaster smiled at the venom in her voice; "You always liked everything by the book. A stickler for every regulation in the Consortium."

Marilyn stared at Scott in anger, the violet in her left eye growing brighter.

"Relax, Marilyn, I have little interest in the retrieval mission itself. What I am interested in is how they got freed in the first place. I find it hard to believe that the Yakuza could've pulled this off without some inside help, & that is my concern. Which is fully in my purview."

Marilyn's anger seeped out of her, being replaced by a calm coolness, as she turned to stare out the window on her side. Watching the sleeping city, which will soon awake. A world she could never be apart of. A normal life.

"You don't suspect my people do you?" she asked blandly.

"You know it's impossible for your people to betray us. All the paranormals are incapable of betraying the Consortium. Which leaves the normals, which is where I will focus my investigation. Your department & its dirty little secrets are safe for now."

Marilyn's head shot around as she asked, "Are you accusing my department of anything?"

Scott smiled as he leaned back into his seat.

"Now, now, Marilyn. We all have our little secrets."