Chapter Text
“They’re certainly active ones, aren’t they?”
“Heh… It hasn’t taken them long to realise what’s going on.” A sigh broke the momentary silence between the man and the woman as they stood before a wall covered in television screens, each displaying the surveillance within each holding room. “They’re all so young… why do they have to be so young?”
“Hm… I’ll show you through them, you will need to learn them off by heart.”
“I suppose. I am going to be watching them.”
“In room one are two brothers from Berlin, Germany. The eldest, Gilbert Beilschmidt turned twenty one in the past few months. He exhibits the ability to temporarily evaporate his entire body into a black steam, before reappearing somewhere within a two metre radius. He’s a teleporter. And there has been an instance where he has taken someone with him on one of his ‘trips’ so there could be more to his abilities that we haven’t seen yet.”
“Amazing. But how can we be sure that he won’t escape?”
“Oh… we have made special arrangements for his case… Nevertheless, the blonde is eighteen year old Ludwig Beilschmidt. They are an odd pair, never before have we seen siblings who didn’t share abilities. Ludwig possesses superhuman strength; he is able to stop a train with his body alone. That boy is near indestructible.”
“I take it that he is an escape risk as well? I am assuming that special arrangements have been made for him as well.”
“You are right in assuming that. Arrangements have been made for everyone.”
“What’s going on in room two?”
“This is where these freaks get interesting. In room two are our second set of siblings. Unlike the Beilschmidt, the Vargas’ share an ability. We tracked them down in Naples, Italy. They have recorded cases of extreme hyperactivity; endless energy which is accompanied by superhuman agility and speed.”
“What’s their top speed?”
“We hope to find out. We do know that they can outrun cars without trouble.”
“Amazing.”
“Now, in room three we have nineteen year old Alfred F. Jones from Cypress, United States. He possesses some form of telekinesis: object will move around him, whether he wants them to or not. This has led us to believe that his powers are emotionally charged, or he simply has no impulse control.”
“How much can he control.”
“He’s lifted a car, that’s how we found him.”
“Oh my god. But hang on, why is he alone? I thought we placed them into holding cells in pairs.”
“Oh, Alfred isn’t the only one in there. You just can’t see him. In there somewhere is nineteen year old Matthew Williams from Toronto, Canada. He can turn invisible, and it appears that he’s using it right now.”
“How can I see him?”
“We use infrared whenever he does this, watch.”
With a click of a button, the screen displaying room three turned into a display of bold primary colours. The whole room was a bold yellow and green, whereas two red figures stood in the room. “There he is.”
“Ahh… Would Alfred know that he’s there?”
“I doubt he’s even registered that there are even two beds in the room. Now, in room four we have Francis Bonnefoy from Paris, France. He is different from the others because his powers are not physical, but mental. He’s a mind reader and has even been documented to search through the memories of others. However, he seems to have a problem controlling himself…”
“Who’s the arsonist?”
“That would be Arthur Kirkland, a twenty one year old delinquent from Liverpool, United Kingdom. As you can see, he has the ability to generate and manipulate fire.”
“It looks like he’s going to burn the door down!”
“Oh, I’d love to see him try, you see: his fire doesn’t burn as hot as his temper. Soon he’s going to run out of flames to throw, if he keeps going he’ll knock himself out.”
“So, judging by Francis’ history… he’s reading the Brits mind right now.”
“Most definitely.”
“Moving on, in room five we have twenty year old Kiku Honda from Kyoto, Japan. We believe him to be a decedent of a long line of Japanese heroes, as he has completely developed sword-like blades under the skin of his forearms. We believe that this trait is genetic, and has been passed down through many generations of his family. At his own will he can release and sheath these blades without causing any harm to himself.”
“Interesting, so does he have any other family that has this ability?”
“His mother is the only other one. So statistically, he should be the last of his kind…”
“Oh…”
“Now, we have Yao Wang from Nanjing, China and he is the oldest of the group at twenty-three, he can generate and manipulate an electrical charge and release it as surges of electricity and is capable of creating his own lightning shocks.”
“Amazing…”
“Now lastly in room six, we have nineteen year old Ivan Braginski from Yakutsk, Russia. He has displayed no signs of warmth within his system. He can only generate cold from his body and can spread frost to anything he touches with his bare hands. It is believed that he can manipulate ice to his will, but we question the legitimacy behind these claims.”
“So, he has no body heat?”
“None whatsoever. If you look closely, you can even see his breath, he’s cooling the atmosphere of the room.”
“Do we have another invisible one in there?”
“No, we chose to leave him alone. I don’t want any of the others catching a cold because of him.”
“Which should I watch out of the most?”
“All of them. They are all dangerous and unpredictable in their own rights. They all pose as risks to each other, us and themselves. This is only temporary accommodation for them before everyone else is ready. It shouldn’t last long. They should have everything they need in there with them.”
“Ok…”
“Now… let’s release the freaks from their cells. And let the experiment begin.”