gemini book one of two // phandom big bang 2016

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Author: @skyboidjh​

Beta: @icomparemyselftoyou​

Artist: @nataliadeluckah​

Rating: PG-13

Summary:

They really didn’t ask for this.
colors whirling, thoughts flashing-
It all happened so suddenly, and then their lives were so different.
it felt as if the butterflies in his stomach had lit themselves on fire.
Then, of course, they’d been taken, and met the others-
you weren’t supposed to find out…
The rest is history.

or, the one where Dan and Phil end up with superpowers after a freak accident, including the ability to feel each other’s emotions, are declared threats by the government, and Phil has a secret.

Warnings: nondescriptive violence, acephobia, mild ableism

Word Count: 4382 for this chapter! (So Many in total)

  Twenty-four.

  The tiny number seemed a bit underwhelming, compared to the long string of digits one might imagine when hearing ‘identification number’, but Dan supposed that with so few people being assigned them in the building, it made sense.

  The living assignments given to them were diminutive, the room being mostly taken up by four uncomfortable-looking cots and a small dresser, holding what appeared to be four sets of basic baggy clothes- denim pants, grey cotton shirts. Dan and Phil had been lucky enough to be housed together with Alan and Janice, so at least they had already met the people who they were staying with once, rather than being housed with complete strangers.

  Official schedules were going to be handed out later, in their place they had been given a time to show up at something called ‘individual assessment” at varying times throughout the day. Phil’s slot was at 12:30 PM, and Dan’s was at 3PM. They were told to stay in their rooms until they were given further instructions via intercom or until the time for their assessment came.

  The clock above their door read only 10:30 AM, but it felt like it had been years since they had left the hotel that morning. A guard had come and gone with breakfast trays, which lay abandoned and empty next to the door.

  Dan and Phil were stretched out across the crappy cots, watching the time and letting their minds wander (there was basically nothing entertaining to do in the tiny room, much to their dismay). At about this time, in two days, they’d be expected at Summer in the City, just starting to get glimpses of the forming line of excited fans, all on their toes in anticipation of two people that wouldn’t be there. Surely they might realize something was wrong soon, Phil reasoned with himself. Both Dan and himself usually tweeted at least once a day, and while missing one day could be seen as normal, two days, especially before a big event like this, would definitely be out of character. He desperately wished that someone might have noticed their absence already, but knew that there was no way. They didn’t have any plans for the next two days leading up to SITC, the soonest they’d be definitely noted as missing would be when their friends saw that they weren’t at the party on the first day of the event.

  Their contemplative silence was interrupted by shouting coming from somewhere down the corridor that housed all the dorms. Phil recognized Janice’s voice ringing loud and clear, apparently shouting at a guard as she was led back to the dorm.

  “I just want to know about my kids! Please, they were in the hotel room with me this morning, I have to know where they are and that they’re safe!” Her voice grew closer, and Dan pulled on the doorknob only to find it locked. Alan had joined them by the door, exchanging worried glances with the other two.

  The door finally burst open, revealing Janice, led in struggling and shouting by two massive guards.

  “I just want to know about my kids!” She screamed, voice breaking on a sob, thrashing around in their tight grips on her arms. “I just want to know if they’re okay!”

  The guards led her over to the cot nearest the door- which happened to be her own- and gently (as gently as two massively muscular and intimidating guards could manage) sat her down. They attempted to placate her screaming and crying to no avail, whispered attempts at consolation and tentative pats on the shoulder doing nothing to change the fact that they had no idea where her children were. Eventually the two had no other choice but to leave, making promises that rung empty in their eyes about ‘checking the records’ and ‘keeping an eye out’ for the two boys Janice had described to them as they were called elsewhere by walkie-talkies hung on their belts. Dan eyed their compassionate glances at Janice as they left with caution, realizing that these guards may not be the horrible people they seemed to be, yet still suspicious of their motivations.

  As soon as the guards were out of the door, Dan, Phil, and Alan gathered around Janice, offering what little comfort they could to the bawling woman.

  “How did you get out?” Dan asked a few minutes later, when her sobs had slowed to mere sniffles, “The door was locked when we tried it at first.”

  “Picked it with a hairpin,” Janice muttered with a watery smile, “Learned how when I was a teenager, sneaking out to parties and the like. Never thought I’d have to use it again, especially not like this…”

  “Come on, let’s look around,” Alan supplied as a distraction. “There must be something mildly interesting to do in here…”

  -=II=-

  Their lunch trays arrived promptly at noon, containing cold sandwiches and some sort of lukewarm grey soup in a styrofoam cup that none of them fully trusted enough to eat.

  “So, these assessments- what d’you guys think they’re all about?” Alan asked in between bites of his sandwich.

  “Well, I think it’s pretty safe to assume they’re going to figure out what our abilities are,” Janice replied. “But how?”

  “There isn’t much point in worrying about it, it’s not like we can change whatever’s going to happen,” Dan muttered.

  “Easy for you to say, you’re going last,” Phil said from his position lying on his cot, tray lying untouched on the floor next to him.

  “Sorry, I guess you’re right.”

  “Phil, eat something. You’ll feel better if you do,” Janice reprimanded.

  “Feel sick,” he complained.

  “You should still eat. I know you’re nervous about going first, but I’m sure it’ll be fine! You’re just letting your imagination get the best of you.”

  Phil peered over the edge of his cot at them, who had formed a loose circle on the linoleum floor with their trays. He sighed, sat up, and took a bite of his sandwich. “I just hate that I’m not in control of it, I don’t even have a vague idea of what to expect.”

  Dan knew this, of course. Phil was the one to panic if they were a few steps behind his schedule for getting to an airport on time, the one to push Dan out of procrastinating the important things because it put him on edge. Phil liked control and order, while Dan would just put off worrying about things, because what’s the point in being worried about missing the bus if it’s already gone and you can’t do anything about it?

  Nobody had a particularly good response for Phil, as they didn’t know what to expect either. Phil couldn’t stop thinking, imagining every awful scenario and its outcome- feeling an emotion from someone he wasn’t supposed to, the powers suddenly disappearing and him being thrown out with no way to contact Dan, testing methods that might hurt-

  It’s not like they can do anything too horrible, he reasoned. But then again, you are a criminal in their eyes, for some reason.

  Phil could feel Dan’s eyes on him.

  “Stop worrying, I can feel it from here and you’re practically shaking the room.”

  “Easier said than done. I wonder how long the assessment will last?”

  “Judging from the time slots they gave us, probably no longer than a half hour to forty-five minutes, if not shorter than that. You’ll be fine, Phil.”

  Something about the way Dan said it was enough to calm his nerves  for a little while, but it was barely a minute later that he was worrying all over again.

  Dan was back to staring daggers at Phil, about to say something else to try to calm him down when Alan stood up abruptly.

  “Y’know what, Janice? I say we should check out the… bathroom. Yeah, the bathroom, we’ve gotta make sure that’s got everything we need, so we can ask for more if we need it. Yeah.”

  It was a less than graceful exit, but one that Dan and Phil appreciated nonetheless. Dan turned to Phil as soon as they left, holding his arms out for a hug.

  On camera, Dan wasn’t the most tactile of people, the result of his fear of people taking his closeness to Phil in a completely different way than he intended. However, when the camera was off, hugs and cuddles were among the best ways he knew to offer comfort when he felt words couldn’t bring across his meaning well enough.

  Phil scooted closer and leaned into Dan’s outstretched arms, feeling immediately the worry Dan had described to him- they were both shaking, in fear, in anxiety, in worry for each other- so hard that it did seem to shake the room. They were an earthquake. Dan could feel it too, stronger now, and despite the fog of uncertainty hanging in the air, there was a tug of something new, something floating and giddy and somehow, despite it all, elated.

-=II=-

  When it came time to leave, after giving Dan a short, final hug, Phil discovered that the assessment rooms weren’t all that far from their dorm at all, shown on a map in the hallway just outside as three small, greyed out squares in a long line of other small greyed out squares all marked as classrooms. Why would classrooms be needed in a place like this? Phil wondered, Then again, they did say they would train us on how to use our powers. But how would they know how the powers work any better than we do?

  His thoughts were interrupted by him turning a corner and finding himself at his destination, a wide hallway bordered by numbered doors all around. He wiped his sweating palms on his pants, looking around for some hint as to which of the rooms he was supposed to go to.

  That hint came in the form of a hassled-looking man coming out of the farthest door, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting, “Twenty one! I need number twenty one in here! If you do not report for assessment you will lose bunkmate privileges and afternoon meals!”

  At that, Phil rushed over. Could they seriously take meals away for something as tiny as being a few minutes late? He wouldn’t doubt it, actually. “Sorry if I’m a little late…” He trailed off, not having an excuse for his tardiness.

  “Whatever, just hurry up and go, thirty minutes is crunch time as it is. Come on, inside you go,” the man said impatiently.

  Phil did as he was told, slipping inside the heavy grey door and looking around. Nothing about it really struck him as extraordinary, with a desk and chair facing to one side and another solitary chair in the middle of the room, facing the desk. The room itself had grey concrete floors and soft off-white walls, lit by some basic hanging lights.

  “Take a seat, please,” The man gestured to the chair in the middle of the room, continuing as if reading off of a script. “This is the Center for Civilian Threat’s capability evaluation, as authorized on 7th August, 2014 by…”

  He continued to drone on, listing a few laws and legal details that Phil couldn’t make much sense of.

  “My name is Cleveland Peckham, and I will be administering this assessment. The evaluation consists of a three minute briefing as required by law, a seven minute interview, followed by twenty minutes of ability tests. If you have any questions, ask them now.”

  Phil stared at the man, not knowing where to begin, but before he could form his thoughts into even one coherent question, Cleveland was talking again.

  “Excellent. Now we will proceed with the interview, what is your full legal name and age?”

  “Philip Michael Lester, 27- What are ‘ability tests’, how do they work?”

  “The time for questions from you is over. Yesterday, you checked into a hospital with highly elevated levels of an unidentified gas in your blood and lungs. What is the source of this?”

  “I don’t know anything about it, just that someone gassed my apartment? We never really got a chance to find out anything more than that.” Phil couldn’t keep the slight bitterness out of his tone.

  “Do you have any ideas as to who would do that?”

  “No-”

  “If you are caught lying, you will be punished.”

  “But I really don’t know!” Phil yelped, panicking a bit.

  “This exact concentration of argon gas, mixed with a chemical that has not yet been identified, has caused widespread… anomalies in humans. We have medical reason to believe that you have such anomalies as well. What are they? Again, lying is highly punishable.”

  Phil hesitated. What if he ended up having some power he didn’t know about yet? “I can… hear my friend’s thoughts and emotions, if I’m touching him. I can only hear thoughts from him, but the emotions part I can do with other people too. I’m not sure about anything else though, I haven’t noticed anything else, I swear!”

  Cleveland scribbled something down on the notepad in front of him, staying silent for a moment. “Who is this friend? Is he here?”

  “Yes, he is, Dan Howell,” Phil said.

  Cleveland paused for a moment, pen hovering over the notepad for a second. “What is your relation to him?”

  “My flatmate, best friend.”

  He returned that comment with a surprised look before continuing with his notes. “You said your apartment was gassed, describe what happened in as much detail as possible.”

  Phil recounted how he had just been in his room, browsing social media on his laptop when he had noticed that the air felt thicker, like there was smoke coming from somewhere, though he could see none. He recalled stumbling into the hall to find Dan, hearing him call out and then a loud thump as he passed out and slumped to the ground. He had then woken Dan up, and they had managed to get to the front door where paramedics had been waiting, and had gotten help.

  “Is that.. All? Or do you need me to talk about the hospital and all that?”

  “No, no, that’s enough,” Cleveland muttered, bent over his notepad once more, scribbling furiously. He remained mute for another minute or so, before suddenly snapping the notebook shut and standing.

  Phil jumped a bit at the sudden movement.

  “Now for the ability assessment, I ask that you please cooperate and follow instructions. Failure to do so will result in loss of bunkmate privileges for two to six months. For this evaluation, you will have several wires connected by tape and a bit of glue to your head and neck, in order to monitor brain activity. I will leave the room and for a few minutes, images will be projected onto the walls of this room and your response will be monitored and measured. For the remaining time, I will return and further instructions will be given at that time. Do you understand?”

  Phil nodded, this seemed simple enough. He was slightly concerned about  what the images might contain, but if it was only for a few minutes…

  He was led to a small side room that he had noticed on the way in and allowed the wires to be put on without a fight, although they did itch quite a lot and the assistant Cleveland had let in to help him was less than gentle, tugging his hair more roughly than necessary and getting glue everywhere- he was sure that’d be a pain to get out of his hair later.

  Soon he was sent back into the main room, Cleveland and the assistant remaining in the side room where there were computers and all sorts of weird machines- Phil supposed that was where the data from the wires was collected. He stood in the middle of the room, sighing and bouncing on his toes in anticipation. They were just pictures, he told himself, not real. It couldn’t be that bad, right? He usually wasn’t too bad with horror movies, and he loved horror books- he just needed to keep reminding himself that it wasn’t real, and surely he’d be fine.

  The room suddenly grew brighter, a hatch opening in the ceiling and a projector lowered into the room until it was hanging around a few feet from the high ceiling, unlike any projector Phil had seen before. It was bigger, for one, with multiple lenses facing all sides and wires sticking out all over like a science project gone wrong.

  The projector flickered to life, and Phil had to take a deep breath at what he saw.

  A car was headed straight for him.

  It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, just stay put, Phil thought, trying to look away but finding that the multi-lensed projector was a 360° view of dark trees and underbrush, no signs of civilizations other than the badly-paved highway under his feet. The car was coming closer and closer, seeming to gain speed as it went. It was maybe only 100 meters away now. 50. 30.

  A small child, a little girl with wide brown eyes and blonde hair, stepped out into the road, looking right at Phil. Her eyes widened, almost comically, as she seemed to hear the car, realizing what was happening. But still, she faced Phil, frozen like stone.

  All thoughts, reminders that this wasn’t real flew from Phil’s mind. He reached out for the girl, trying to run towards her, but for some reason he couldn’t move.

  The realization struck him that if she didn’t move, he would have to watch her die. He screamed, begging her to move out of the way, throwing his outstretched arm to the side as if to show her where to go.

  Then, suddenly, she was gone. The car faded, the forest disappeared. Phil looked around in astonishment, seeing the white walls return around him. He breathed heavily, head jerking around to watch the trees fade back into white drywall as he came back to his senses.

  A huge gash had been ripped into the wall, following the pattern that he had waved his arm in.

  Did I do that?

  From the side room, Cleveland emerged. He looked pale, shaken. He remained silent as he approached Phil, bending down to undo the straps Phil hadn’t noticed coming up and locking around his feet and up to just above his knees… which explained why he hadn’t been able to move.

  Cleveland looked at Phil, slack jawed, with sweat beading on his brow and eyes wide. He swallowed, trying to regain his composure. “We- we’ll just be moving over to the next open room while this gets fixed up,” he squeaked, not looking Phil in the eyes.

  Phil couldn’t stop looking at the huge chunks of what had been the wall scattered across the floor, paint scraped off in some places as if a wild animal had torn through instead of just… Phil. How could he have done that?

  Cleveland walked stiffly towards the door, casting anxious glances back over his shoulder at Phil as he went. “C-come on now, we’re running out of time.”

  Phil followed slowly, head still craned around to stare at the massive hole in the wall, even as a new group rushed in, apparently to fix it up somehow.

  The rest of the test passed in a blur, as Phil was poked, prodded, had blood taken, made to run on a treadmill, subjected to a variety of people projecting extreme emotions (in a way that was frankly, way too loud and hurt Phil’s head), made to stare at very small objects, and most oddly, presented with a dead plant.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Phil asked tiredly, as the plant was dumped on the table in front of him.

  “Touch it. Try to water it. Bring it back to life.”

  Phil did, and lo and behold, nothing happened. “What was that supposed to do, then?” he sighed.

 The plant was removed from the table. Cleveland and a few others that had come in to help him since the previous room’s incident furiously wrote notes.

  “What are you even writing notes on, it didn’t do anything!” Phil leaned his head back, exasperation creeping into his tone.

  “You’re free to go,” Cleveland mumbled, face buried in his clipboard.

  Phil was too relieved to question it, standing quickly and power walking straight out of the door. Glancing at the clock, he found that it had definitely been longer than 30 minutes. He found his way back to the dorm with ease, opening the door to find Dan sitting on the edge of his cot, bouncing his leg up and down.

  Dan jumped straight up when Phil walked in, standing up to greet him and reaching out without thinking twice about it. Dan felt Phil’s relief like a deep breath of fresh air, quickly overlapped by shock slamming into him like a bucket of ice had been dumped over his head, and a pinch of pain he couldn’t quite pin down the source of. Dan pulled back almost immediately, leaving one hand lingering on Phil’s arm. It occurred to him that perhaps they ought to be careful about things like this, to avoid more private emotions being overheard. He retracted the hand, starting to apologize but he was immediately interrupted by Phil.

  “Don’t worry about it, I do agree about the privacy thing, though. Maybe we should just ask first, just in case. I’m not sure I can be very articulate in explaining what just happened, so it’s probably best that you did that, so you know- Dan, it was so awful, the first part was okay, just like an interview, but then they said they needed to do ability tests and they showed me things that weren’t real and I busted open the wall, made me run a lot and they cut my arm a bit to see if I’d heal and made me touch a dead plant-”

  “Phil, slow down, you’re not making any sense,” Dan said as calmly as he could, “Come sit down and tell me everything in order and… slower.”

  Phil nodded and slumped down onto his cot. “It started off kinda alright, there was a guy in the room and he asked me a bunch of questions about what happened with the apartment and what I could do- oh God, I didn’t know I could do the wall breaking thing, he said I’d be punished for not telling them all my powers, I might get kicked out of this room-”

  “Shh, don’t worry about it now, tell me the rest,” Dan said.

  Phil continued his tale, up to him being moved into the next room.

  “Then they made me do loads of dumb things, they cut my arm-” Phil rolled up his left sleeve to show Dan the small bandaged area where the inch long cut had been made, “-and started asking me all these questions about, like, rocket science or something, I didn’t know what they were even talking about, so they gave up on that pretty soon, but then they brought out this treadmill and made me run way too fast until I fell,” Phil gestured to his reddened, rug burned, knees. “Then they brought in a whole bunch of people, made me say how each of them were feeling and this one guy was so angry, Dan…”

  Phil trailed off, quiet for a moment. “They tried to get me to say what they were thinking, too, and I couldn’t- that was scary, he was so angry and I couldn’t tell why or if he was going to hurt me or someone else because of it. It got easier from then on, they wanted me to look at some really small things so they could see my brain activity through the wire things and tell if I could see them better than normal or something. Then they brought me a dead plant and told me to touch it? I’m not sure what that was about, they just had me touch it and then said I could leave. It felt like I was in there for years, doing all their dumb tests.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dan said, unsure of what else he could say.

  Phil shook his head. “It’s okay. I’m just worried about you now, is there anything else you want to know that could help?”

  Dan hesitated. “The girl and the car- was there anything else in the room to focus on? I- I know I can’t do what you did, I was trying it when we were stuck in the van. I don’t want to see-”

  “There’s a chair and a desk to one side. For some reason, I couldn’t see the projector even though it was right above me, and it was projecting all around- there are straps that hold your feet to the floor, focus on those.”

  “Sounds horrible,” Dan muttered with a nervous laugh. He leaned back against the wall, lacing his fingers together and then apart again.

  It was 2:45 now, fifteen minutes before Dan’s evaluation was set to start.

  Phil tentatively shuffled closer to Dan, their shoulders brushing together just slightly. He managed to catch Dan’s eye, silently asking whether this was okay, and receiving a small nod in return.

  Phil’s worry and shock were still swirling in patterns of fog around his head, there was an upwards tug in his ribcage, hope, and a flutter in his stomach that Dan knew but couldn’t identify.

  The whole process had gotten a lot less dizzying and shocking since the first time they had done this, now settling into a more pleasant flash of color and thoughts that floated past consciousness did so a lot less… sharply than before.

  Said thoughts were ones of fear and worry, yet there was courage there too, softening the situation, strengthening and lifting up Dan especially, as the time grew nearer for him to leave.

  The two almost lost track of time, staying like that, side by side, barely touching, and lost in each other’s thoughts.

 ‘It’ll be okay.’

[next chapter]

gemini book one of two // phandom big bang 2016

previous | masterpost | ao3 (recomended) | next

Author: @skyboidjh​

Beta: @icomparemyselftoyou​

Artist: @nataliadeluckah​ (her wonderful art!)

Rating: PG-13

Summary:

colors whirling, thoughts flashing-it felt as if the butterflies in his stomach had lit themselves on fire.

“you weren’t supposed to find out…”

or, the one where Dan and Phil end up with superpowers, including the ability to feel each other’s emotions and hear each other’s thoughts, are declared threats and taken into custody by the government, Dan’s confused, and Phil has a secret.

Warnings: nondescriptive violence, acephobia, mild ableism

Word Count: 3450 for this chapter! (So Many in total)

  Dan was getting more than a bit tired of waking up to life-altering scenarios.

  At first, everything had seemed fine and normal as he woke up, stretching and yawning before rolling back over into his pillow. His eyes had shot back open, wide, when he realized that it was not, in fact, his pillow. It all came back to him in a flash- the gas, the hospital, the hotel, his freak powers-

  Of course, just as he was beginning to process all of that being real, there was someone pounding on their door. Phil somehow stayed asleep through this, causing Dan to sigh and get up to see who it was himself. Maybe they had forgotten to put out a ‘do not disturb’ sign? He peered through the peephole.

  Two fully-uniformed policemen were outside. One raised a fist to knock again.

  They must be here to get our story of what happened, Dan thought to himself as he unlocked the door and pulled it open slightly. “Hello, can I help you?”

  He never did get his answer, as the policemen pushed the door open wider, surprising him into jumping backwards a bit. They pushed their way into the hotel room, one grabbing Dan and shoving him into the wall.

  “Hey! What the-” The rush of adrenaline was so much more intense with his new ability, Dan discovered. He struggled against the officer’s tight grip.

  “Just keep your mouth shut and come with us without a fight, and there won’t be any trouble, alright?” the man leered at Dan, his cigarette-scented breath washing over Dan’s face as he put handcuffs on him. Once that was done, he started to drag Dan out of the room.

  Dan’s head was spinning. “What did I do?” he asked, bewildered. “You can’t arrest me if you don’t tell me what I did,” he said quickly, silently thanking his past self for paying attention in at least one law lecture. He heard Phil shout as the other officer got to him, then there were more and more people coming in through the door, dressed in mostly dark colors and what seemed to be protective gear.

  The officer didn’t answer immediately, simply chuckling at Dan’s statement. “We’re not exactly arresting you, kid,” he sneered as he managed to shove Dan out of the door.

  Dan struggled as hard as he could, suddenly absolutely sure that these were not cops. How had they found the two of them? Why? He managed to bang his elbow hard against one of the walls in the hall, creating a loud noise. The man dragging him along pulled him to a stop, pressing him back into the wall again. “Do that again, and we will not hesitate to shoot both you and your friend. We know what you are, and how to deal with you, so cooperate. For your own sake.”

  An ice cold feeling spread over Dan’s heart at the man’s words, feeling, in a way, similar to Phil’s emotions that he had felt yesterday, but at the same time so much different, more… intense. Cold. Controlling. He swallowed, relaxing his arms from their previous defensive position between him and the man. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Phil being led out without much of a fight. They must’ve told him the same thing.

  “Where are you taking us?” Dan asked, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking.

  Of course, he didn’t get a response, as they continued down the hall. Dan’s mind was racing at a million miles an hour, trying desperately to think of a way to get them both out of this alive.

  Outside of the hotel, after a torturous elevator journey and terrifying walk through a mysteriously silent lobby, Dan glanced around for any CCTV cameras or alarms, anything he might be able to set off to get out of this. They were headed towards a big black van, and he felt a sort of prickle on the back of his neck, unsure if it was someone else’s fear or his own. His thoughts turned hysterical when he realized that once he got into the van, their chances of escaping would be slim to none. He was looking around more desperately now, terrified tears prickling at the corners of his eyes and blurring his vision. Ten feet away. Five. Three.

  A sharp jab to his back. A rough voice told him to get inside. He twisted around to look over his shoulder, seeing Phil right behind him looking equally desperate and scared as Dan felt. He put up one foot onto the bumper, stretching this out as long as possible. His eyes darted back and forth along the perimeter of the building, finally locking onto an old-looking camera, pointed in such a way that he just might show up in the edge of the frame. Staring directly at it, he managed to mouth out ‘help me’ before being shoved into the car fully. Phil was pushed in behind him and the doors shut, leaving them in total blackness.

-=II=-

  The first thing that alerted them to the other people in the van was a small whimper.    

  His eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness, but still Dan looked around anxiously, his absolute hatred of the dark creeping up on him. “Phil?” He called hesitantly.

  “Who’s there?” A voice that was definitely not Phil responded.

  “Dan, where are you?” Phil replied at the same time.

  “Who else is here?” Dan asked, reaching out one hand blindly, searching in the darkness. His eyes were adjusting enough to see faint shapes shifting around, but not much else.

  “There are six of us, outside of you new guys.” Another new voice responded, light and feminine. “Who’re you?”

  “Why are we here?” Dan asked, unsure if he could trust these new people.

  “We think it’s because of an… accident. Were you all in the building that got gassed as well?”

  “Was that what happened?” Dan recited the location of their apartment to the group, confirming it. “Why us? What happened?”

  “Have you all been noticing anything… strange about yourselves recently? Over the past few hours?” Another new voice made itself known. “The gas did something to us.”

  “Yeah, we have.” Phil responded. “What are your names? I’m Phil.”

  “Paige,” replied a vaguely familiar voice.

  “Alan.”

  “Ivan.”

  “I’m Aoife, Paige is my daughter and my son Alex is here as well, but he can’t speak, so he can’t answer, but he’s sitting back here with me,” she spoke in a warm Scottish accent.

  “I’m Gabriel, Aoife’s husband.”

  “And I’m Dan, Alan, I think we lived right above you? Paige and Gabriel, we rode to the hospital with you, remember?”

  A brief silence followed, then Paige laughed. “I just tried nodding, but you can’t see us. Yeah, I remember.” Her voice trembled, despite her laugh.

  “Yes, I remember meeting you all at one point,” Alan smiled in recognition.

  “E-eefe, was it? Sorry, how did you pronounce that?” Phil questioned.

  “Ee-fah,” Aoife replied with a little laugh. “Don’t worry about it, honestly. With the ridiculous way it’s spelled too, it’s just an inconvenient name to have.”

  “I’m across the hall from Alan, by the way- I don’t remember meeting you all, though,” someone said (It was hard to tell who was speaking just from their voice alone, but Dan was fairly sure it had been Ivan speaking.)

  “What did you guys mean by ‘weird things’ happening to all of us?” Dan asked.

  “Things we couldn’t do before. Weirder than usual dreams, almost like visions. Feelings that aren’t your own,” Gabriel replied.

  “Almost like superpowers,” Paige added.

  Dan’s eyes widened. “Yeah, that’s- that’s exactly it, actually. The emotions one.”

  He was able to make out one of the others nodding knowingly. “Anything other than that? It seems to be different for everyone.”

  “Can anyone else hear thoughts if you’re touching the person? We’ve both got that, as well as feeling other people’s emotions. Nothing else that I’ve noticed, though,” Phil said.

  “I might not need to be touching the person,” Dan speculated. “I thought I could tell what the people who took us were feeling, but that could’ve been something else…”

  “Hearing thoughts, that’s new,” Aoife mused. “What were they feeling, d’you think?”

  “Not anything I could put a specific name to,” Dan replied. “Something strong, and… nasty. Maybe scared of us, one mentioned that he knew ‘what we are,’ whatever that means. I don’t know.”

  “So that must be why we were taken? Because of the power things? Who even are they?”

  “Most likely, yes. Whoever these people are, they must know about the powers. Maybe they were the ones behind us getting them in the first place? Maybe they have the powers themselves? All we can really do is wait and see, at this point. We’re not sure where they’re taking us, either.”

  “Comforting.”

  Alan laughed. “It sure is, isn’t it?”

-=II=-

  None of them were sure exactly how long the car ride was, as they had all been taken sometime during the night or early morning, meaning all they had were pajamas, and therefore no watches or phones.

  At one point, the back doors opened briefly and a new woman, as well as a few bags of crisps were thrown inside. It had all happened so suddenly that they only had been able to jump to their feet, the doors being shut once more the moment the first of them had reached it.

  The woman tearfully introduced herself as Janice, she had been taken away from her kids and had no idea if they had been kidnapped as well, or even killed by their captors.

  She was filled in on what everyone else knew so far, and calmed down a bit. Her two sons had both been out of the apartment when the gassing had occurred, so they wouldn’t have been affected and therefore wouldn’t be a target for their captors.

  They did their best to split the tiny snack-bags of crisps between them, talking over their experiences since yesterday and explaining what powers they had noticed so far.

  “I’m not sure exactly what it is yet,” Ivan explained, “Last night I dreamed about getting kidnapped like this, and… other things as well. We’ll just have to see.”

  “I slammed a door just by thinking about it,” Paige muttered. “I can’t seem to do anything to get us out though, maybe it was triggered by adrenaline or something? A freak accident? I’ll keep trying, though.”

  Dan nodded at that. “Do what you can. For me and Phil, we’ve been able to feel people’s emotions through touch, and for me it works without touch, just not as well. Like… there was definitely something coming from the kidnapper guy, anyway. And as for you all… just a lot of nervousness and fear.” He shuddered.

  “We were also able to hear each other’s thoughts, but only when we’re touching for some reason,” Phil continued, “Haven’t been able to try it on other people, though.”

  “Here,” Janice said, extending her arm to him. “Will I be able to feel anything?”

  “Not sure,” Phil responded, placing his fingertips on her arm, nearly missing in the dark. His head was flooded with her thoughts and feelings, just the same as it had been with Dan earlier.

  “Is it working? I can’t feel anything,” Janice said.

  “Yeah, it is. You’re really worried. We’ll figure out a way to get out of here soon.”

  “Can I try?” Dan asked, reaching out as well. The worry that Phil had described slammed into him from behind like a brick wall, and a new feeling pushed at his forehead intensely. “You’re worried… and focused? A few vague thoughts, some object? Round object? But not really anything else…”

  Janice sighed, leaning back. “I was thinking really hard about basketballs to see if that made it easier, so that must’ve been the focus part.”

  “Wait, one more try? I want to see something,” Dan said, grabbing onto her hand again. The same colors and emotions flooded his senses, but he tried to reach further. Suddenly he could see something else, images flashing through his conscience, only appearing for a few split seconds. He moved away. “Do you know someone with green hair? I think it works with memory as well. That’s all I really saw, I couldn’t make out anything else.”

  “My son, Mike. That’s all he wanted for his birthday, green hair.” Janice put one hand over her mouth in shock. “That’s incredible.”

  “I couldn’t see memories, that’s weird,” Phil said, “Maybe you’ve got something different?”

  “I’m sure something else will come up, it’s been different abilities with everyone,” Alan said. “Janice, what can you do?”

  “No clue. I haven’t noticed anything odd yet, maybe I didn’t get anything?” She sounded almost hopeful.

  “Maybe it’s just taking longer. Anyways, I’ve got some of the same empathy stuff as Dan and Phil, and I think…” He broke off hesitantly. “…a plant spoke to me as I got into the van?” Alan chuckled nervously.

  “Wish I could talk to plants,” Phil laughed. “I have so many houseplants at home…” He trailed off. “Who’s going to water them?”

  A somber silence fell across the car.

  “God, everyone’s going to be so freaked out. Phil, the SITC meetup was going to be tomorrow, all those people…”

  “Oh no,” Phil said. “They all paid for the meetup and we won’t be there.”

  “SITC? Meetup?” Aoife asked.

  “Do you mean Summer in the City?” Paige asked incredulously.

  “What’s that?” Gabriel asked.

  “It’s a sort of convention thing, for people who post on YouTube. We were going to be meeting people who watch our videos there,” Phil replied.

  “Oh, that’s cool. You must be the same Dan and Phil that my friend Angie is super obsessed with, then.” Paige let out a dry chuckle. “Must’ve just not known it was you because of the dark or something…”

  “Huh. Well I-when we get back, tell Angie we said hi,” Dan said.

  “I will,” Paige said, sounding faint.

  “Are you alright?” Gabriel asked, noticing her tone.

 “Y-yeah, I’m just trying to get this door-“

  “Don’t strain yourself too much, Paige. You might need your strength later,” Aoife advised.

  “I won’t need it all if we get out before that!” she snapped.

  No one responded for a moment.

  “I’m sorry,” Paige muttered. “It’s just- what’re they going to do to us? I-I just want to go home.”

  Suddenly, Dan realized: How old had Paige looked when he first met her on the ambulance? Thirteen, maybe fourteen? She was barely done with being a child, and going through such a horrible experience. Dan felt an awful pang in his chest at what she had said. Why did this happen to them? What did they want?

  There was a small shuffling noise in the darkness, as someone scooted closer to the dark shape Dan perceived to be Paige. They raised both hands in a series of complicated gestures.

  Paige let out a breath. “No, Alex, I promise it’s going to be okay. We’ll be safe soon.”

  Alex let out a little sniffle, wrapping his arms around his sister. A tear of desperation sprung up in Dan’s eye at the sight- if Paige, at fourteen, was too young for this, her brother, who seemed to be around ten, needed to be as far away from this mess as possible.

-=II=-

  It felt like it had been several hours before the door opened again. They were greeted by a tall, graceful-looking woman with four of the armed men that had taken them in the first place, standing at her side like guards. Everyone in the truck jumped up to their feet as the doors opened, tensing and ready to run for it as soon as they got a chance.

  “Don’t bother running,” the woman said calmly, “It’s a waste of both of our time. We really do need you all alive.”

  “A-and what’s that for? Where are we? Who are you?” Paige stuttered.

  “Aww,” the woman cooed. “She’s a bit younger than most of the rest of you, yeah? Cute. You’ll get your questions answered in due time. Now, one by one, step out of the van and follow us. These guards will shoot if you try any of your… funny business.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Ivan spat as he stood to leave, the first one out. “What do you want with us? Why specifically us?”

  “All in due time, dear! Now hurry up, keep it moving.” Her eyes seemed to linger on Alex for a moment as he stumbled past, still clinging to Paige’s arm. For a moment, she almost looked… regretful? Sorry for them? Dan reached out tentatively, trying to figure out what she was feeling, finding only something that felt hot, burning, boiling. He did his best not to flinch, as the woman was eyeing him carefully.

  They shuffled out of the car in single file, watching the guards’ guns with wary eyes. Dan made sure to stick as close to Phil as possible, worrying that they could get separated.

  The sky above was bright blue and nearly cloudless. The yard was fenced in with barbed wire and, according to the bright red warning signs that hug every so often along the wire fence, electricity. A net loosely spanned the area above them, hung from fencepost to fencepost. A small grey concrete building lay ahead on a gravel driveway, with no visible windows and an awful, bleak feeling hanging in the dry air around them. Dan couldn’t recognize the emotion, and wasn’t sure he wanted to.

  Walking through the front door felt like walking into a prison. The inside of the building was lit up with too-bright fluorescent lights, reminding Dan of horror movie corridors and, oddly enough, classrooms without windows. He managed only a small glance over his shoulder at the sky before the door was slammed shut.

  They continued further down a hallway and down some stairs, through hall after hall in a pattern that seemed to be designed intentionally to confuse them. At second thought, Dan realized he wouldn’t be that surprised if it actually had been.

  Eventually they ended up in another badly lit room, containing a simple wooden desk with papers neatly stacked to one side, a short file cabinet, and a sleek desktop computer. The woman who had been leading them went around and sat down at the chair.

  “My name is Amelia Hartford- well, to you it is. This is the Center for Civilian Threats, or CCT for short.”

  “Threats?” Phil asked incredulously, “How are we threats? We haven’t done anything!”

  “You are all part of a group that has been shown holding certain incredibly powerful abilities. Our job here is to test those abilities, measure their possible effects on society, and begin to teach you how to harness them to aid your country.”

  “Like soldiers?” Janice asked, “I don’t want to be a soldier.”

  “Somewhat. Not all of you will reach that final point, depending on which abilities you end up possessing. I will advise you all, make no attempt to hide what you can do from us. We will find out, and the consequences will be… severe.”

  “How can you do this? We haven’t committed any crimes, you can’t hold us in custody like this! I’ll have you know, my brother’s a lawyer-“ Ivan said.

  “Your brother will most absolutely lose any case he brings against us. Suspected threats- and yes, any of you have the potential to be threats- can be held. This program is government-sanctioned, as you can read here.” She calmly passed Ivan a packet.

  Ivan scanned over the front of the packet carefully. “I’d like to keep this, to go over it further.”

  “Feel free,” Amelia said calmly. “In the meantime, you all will be assigned identification numbers, living quarters, and a schedule, as you will be staying here while we assess your abilities. You will find that there are more people like you around this building, brought in separately. The rules here are quite simple. No violence amongst yourselves, obey the commands of all guards, instructors, scientists, and myself- that is, everyone with a badge. You’ll catch on very quickly. You’ll be given your assignments in just a moment.” She turned to the filing cabinet, pulling out a stack of papers similar to the ones already stacked on one side of the desk.

  “When will we be able to leave?” Dan asked.

 “Oh, my dear, that depends on a lot of things,” Amelia smiled. “Let’s just say… you’ll stay for however long it takes.”

[next chapter]