Experiment Sixteen Pt. 02

As stated in my bio, these stories are meant to help me improve my writing, as well as just something I do for fun and when I have time. Feel free to comment suggestions, corrections, and constructive criticism, the pacing of the story may seem fast, but there is more to come I assure you.

*****

Once everyone had recovered from the rat incident, Two had us all gather around Sixteen's bed, since he wasn't going anywhere soon "So, the situation that just happened isn't what I called everyone here to discuss, it wasn't appropriate, but that's not the point. The reason is what it brought to my attention, we're too volatile to just hole up in some hotel room, we need a more stable environment to practice and generally live our day to day lives from. Any ideas or objections?"

Fourteen was the fastest of us all to respond "My Uncle owned a bunker on a mountain in Death Valley, would that work? We can just teleport somewhere for water and everything if there isn't any nearby right?" We all looked at him, some of us were thinking the same thing so I said it.

"So, lemme clarify this, you had a crazy uncle who owned a bunker in possibly the hottest place in the world?"

"Yes Five, I'm that guy. Got a problem?"

"No, actually, I would have never guessed it, you seem so normal. Anyone else have a better idea?" I looked at everyone after asking this and nobody seemed to have anything so I asked him "So, where is this doomsday bunker?"

"It's near the Amargosa Mountain range, nearest town I know of is Riverside, California, and that's still quite a ways away, there's one closer called Shoshone but I don't know if I can get us there without putting us into a mountain or wall. We can just make small jumps once we're in Riverside though, about 10 miles each? only take us a few minutes to get to Shoshone that way." Fifteen told us all to shut up for a minute at this point, and when the woman with extreme senses tells you to listen, you do.

"'Breaching in 30 seconds, they're all in the ruins on the second floor, 25 seconds to go, when we go in neutralize as many as possible with the stun darts, then cuff the rest and get them to medical for sedation.'" She relayed for us from whoever she could hear.

"SHIT, they're coming in, get ready for a fight, Fourteen, Fifteen, cover Sixteen rest of you, knock them out if possible, otherwise kill them quickly. Fifteen, give us a countdown." Two immediately switched into our overwatch, issuing commands and quickly addressing the problem.

"'Seven'"

"'Six'"

"'Five'"

"'Four'"

"'Three'"

"'Two'"

"NOW!" she screamed as we heard the glass break and the flashbang hit the floor rolling. Fourteen and Fifteen quickly moved to positions near Sixteen, with Two standing nearby, one came through what was left of the front door, with another quickly on his heels, both wearing standard peacekeeper tactical gear. When one of them aimed their rifle at Six he took a shot to the back of his head from his partner, who then tasered himself. The three who came in on the first floor were aiming up and One dropped down with full skin density, causing the bullets to bounce off of him, as he landed on the first enemy I dropped the second and Nine blasted the third, four unconscious one dead, the windows shattered as the rest of their team arrived, the second floor was met with a wall of freezing cold air, causing instant frostbite in their fingers and making them drop their weapons. The first floor was met with blistering heat, peeling the paint off the walls and melting the plastic on their helmets, effectively blinding them. Those 5 surrendered willingly.

"Well, I guess we're going to that bunker after all Fourteen, Five, can you wake up Sixteen? none of us know how to group teleport yet, and while we could probably figure it out in a couple hours I don't think we have that long. Four and Twelve, can you see to getting their injured patched up a bit and sealing off the entrances? We won't need doors once he wakes up." While that was taken care of Six worked with Two to wake up and interrogate the one she knocked out.

When the man woke up he was shell shocked, and freaking out at what he did to his partner, which was completely understandable. I had to say something to him, his freaking out wasn't helping me work "Sir, if you want us to wipe your memory of what happened here today, and what the little one made you do, I suggest you answer all of the questions this young man is about to ask you OK? We won't hurt you anymore unless we have to, a high body count makes us more visible to the world and that's the last thing we want alright?" he just nodded. "Good, Two, I suggest starting with yes or no questions to start with, so he doesn't need to speak, unless you're gonna calm him down yourself. Six, while he asks questions could you go wake up the three gentlemen downstairs? I'm sure One could use some help with the cleanup." She beamed at the chance to work with One again, they weren't allowed to spend much time together at the facility due to both of them being highly aggressive fighters.

"Right, first question's first, are we kill on sight?" The man shook his head no.

"Are we armed and dangerous?" A nod.

"Are you actually with PKT?" Another nod, so he was with Peacekeeper Tactical, the new name for what used to be S.W.A.T..

"Is this still a local matter last you knew?" Another nod.

"Alright, now, do you know why you were sent here?" A shrug and a nod "I'm guessing that means you believe so, but it could be something else?" A nod.

"OK, I'm going to do something now, please don't freak out, it is to calm your nerves so you can respond completely to my questions, once I'm satisfied you've told me everything the little girl will come back up and wipe your memory of what happened during the fight OK? You will still mourn your partner, and know he died, but you won't remember the exact details." A nod. Two embraced his powers, looked at the officer and manipulated his brain chemistry to calm the man, causing an almost robotic state of mind. "There, now, tell me everything you knew before entering this room."

"We were told there would be twelve of you, and that we shouldn't judge any of you by appearances or age. Our target priority was to be you, the woman near the bed, the young man sleeping over there, then the little girl who just left, the rest were to be apprehended as possible. We were not briefed on any abilities or weapons you might be in possession of." He stopped at this point, looking like he was holding something back.

"What is it? What else were you told?" Two was getting anxious now, most people couldn't hold back information like that unless it was something big, or an implication they didn't know as fact.

"Captain said that he would retire if we caught you, so I'm guessing somebody high up wants you lot found and captured, alive if possible, dead if necessary were his exact words." After that disturbing bit of information we called Six back up to modify his short term memory.

-

A few hours later and all the frostbite was checked out, none of it was going to cause permanent injury, disabled for a few weeks maybe. The burns on the men from their face masks was another story, their vision wasn't permanently impaired, but they would all have scarring on their faces from the molten material, not to mention other places on their body such as ear pieces and gloves, hearing might be an issue from then on in one ear. The man One landed on turned out to be a woman, she would be fine, just a shattered wrist and a couple broken ribs, they would heal, the main damage was from Nine's blast, the man had broken orbital sockets and a shattered inner ear, he would most likely need multiple surgeries to regain sight, and he wouldn't be riding a bike again with that balance loss.

Sixteen started groaning and eventually came to, "Why is there a hole in the floor?"

"Long story, for now, Fourteen needs you to help teleport us all somewhere, if he targets can you drive? I'll fill you in once we get there." Two was filling him in while One and Six were sitting near the window talking and Nine was washing up in what was left of the bathroom.

"Shouldn't be too hard, you just need me to get you in the general area really, after that we're all just energy while teleporting, Fifteen could probably guide you on her own if I told her how. Main thing though, is I'm still gonna be out cold once we get there, so we need someone to carry me." Sixteen was trying to predict problems that Two already anticipated.

"Hey One, can you carry Sixteen while teleporting? Repeated short jumps." Two called down.

"Yeah, but no promises on it being a pleasant ride for the know it all, and you're gonna owe me dinner, and I mean a good one with either a great big greasy burger or steak involved. Why, we leaving soon? We still need to go get our crap from the other two rooms remember? Nine's scarf is still next door." That got Nine's attention, the scarf was the only thing she had left of her home apparently, we all had a thing or two from before we were taken, usually small like a photo or something, she was the only one allowed to keep something like a scarf, something that could be used to kill herself.

"Alright, but we gotta hurry, so go grab it really quick Nine, don't use the door, just jump over after confirming with Fifteen that nobody is in there and get back here immediately, got it?" She nodded and ran to Fifteen to go finish it.

-

"Fantastic, now that we're all here, let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep, Fifteen, I'm gonna slow it down a bit this time since I'm not on a timer like before, you should be able to identify what I'm doing and copy it for next time. Fourteen come here and grab on, contact makes this a lot less strenuous, before I could only do it because I was still riding the power high from the explosion. Everyone else, gather around and get in touch, it doesn't matter how." One got ready to catch Sixteen by placing a hand on his shoulder, Six was holding his other hand. Two and Thirteen were holding hands, being siblings it wasn't uncommon for them, Four and Twelve were doing the same while Four held onto Five's elbow, Five was locked in with Two, Fourteen was completing that connection by holding Nine's upper arm, she was clinging onto Five for dear life.

We all felt the pressure change as we shifted elevations from the middle of the Rockies to Riverside, California, we landed on the outskirts of town in a park. Fourteen must have had a tie to the place or had visited it as a kid because we were all perfectly fine, nobody missing a limb or standing in a solid object, "Alright, here we are, bunker should be a bit north east of here, towards the Nevada border." Fourteen was directing us when Sixteen passed out and One smoothly put him in a fireman's carry over his shoulder. In the end we decided to walk and hitchhike to the edge of town before we started jumping, a group of twelve people randomly disappearing and reappearing in the middle of a large city might attract unwanted attention.