My lip curled into a wicked smile. I debated asking him where the child was at, but wouldn’t believe him anyway. I pulled myself through his mindview, summoning up my nebulous pack of golden tentacles I’d used in other people’s minds. I looked around at them for a moment. They simply formed out of a golden light around me, rather than out of my body.
His visual image was lost to the view of my horror-film visage, along with my new pets. I waved my hand and tentacles reached out to grab his mental self and lift him over to me. I smiled wickedly and said, “You’re in
my
world now, scumbag. No bullets reach me here.”
I looked around his mental center. It was a large room, the mindview floated in the air behind me, showing his visual of my horrifying visage. I said, “Nice.” I looked around at the doors in the room. Only one appeared locked down, from the strange look to it I guessed that it was his subconscious. The one to the left of that felt a slow current of fear on the air. This interested me. I felt the fear much like I would smell something upwind from me. Not that I was afraid, but it was an odd sense of it – like a smell, perhaps.
Ah, your emotional center. Let’s go visit, shall we?
Held in my tentacles, his mental view of himself looked afraid, but somewhat angry as well. He spat at me and swore to shoot me down for good next time.
I glared at him and walked to the open door, my tentacles dragging him alongside. Similar to that seen in other people whose minds I’d entered; there were pools of emotions spread around the room. I followed the scent of fear back to a large pool. I asked of him, “Would you really like to feel fear?”
“No, no!”
The desire for vengeance made even my mental voice sound venomous. My voice rose as I spoke, and then yelled at him, “Yeah, I think so. You dared to shoot me ten times. You kidnapped an innocent girl. You want to be a big criminal? Let’s give you something to remember the experience by.”
I directed the tentacles to throw him deep into the pond. The sensation of fear even near the pool was unpleasant while I stood near it. Being immersed had to be really bad. He shrieked in horror as he surfaced in the pool. I left him to swim in the stuff, and listened to him scream and shriek as I walked away.
A darker side of me felt vindicated teaching him a lesson. Part of me wondered if it was the right thing to do, being cruel even to a criminal. It wasn’t like I needed a trial to determine if he’d actually shot me, though. I was there; he did it, guilty by action.
Regardless, it was done; I would ponder that thought later. I walked to his largest door, what always seemed to be a person’s memory center. Upon entering, I found I’d chosen correctly. I wondered for a moment why the memory door was always wide open, yet the subconscious door always closed. Perhaps I could get a special Psych study made where we could study that fact.
Images, sounds and what appeared to be floating videos floated all over the room. The nearest were of the combat upstairs with me. I marveled at being able to rewind and pause the memories with a flick of my wrist. I yawned, I was definitely tired.
I suppose I should get this done quickly, it’s been a late night already.
I glanced around the nearby memories until I found one of him looking out from a van, pointing at the same girl I saw earlier in the father’s memory. I beckoned and that memory floated over to me. His screaming in the background annoyed me. Perhaps using someone’s emotional center to hold them wasn’t such a great idea, it was distracting at the least.
I watched the memory play through; two men had leapt out of the van and grabbed her. She shoved one with strength far greather than a teen ought to have – the man flew back ten feet and landed on his backside. The other sprayed her in the face with a canister. She slumped quickly, and then they threw her in the back of the van. They jumped back in the van and tied her up with ropes, stuffed a rag in her mouth and tied a rope around her head. I sped the memory ahead as the van traveled through the city.
Suddenly the entire room shook, and I felt myself yanked out of the memory room and back up through his mindview entrance. It felt like a door slammed on my face and a shockwave blast me backward. I screamed, and then passed out.
Chapter 3 – It Comes as a Shock
Stephanie’s Viewpoint
I awoke to a splitting headache. Something constantly zapped my forehead, causing me a lot of pain, and made clear thought difficult. I attempted to move my hands to my head, but they were strapped down. I thrashed in place for a minute in an attempt to stop the pain, but it didn't stop.
I saw through two mindviews, even with my eyes closed. One obviously stood in a hospital corridor. He simply stood there. The other sat in the room with me and watched me thrash on the bed. I wore a hospital gown, my hands were shackled with heavy bands to a metal bed frame, and there was a band around my head. It had wires attached to it.
He stood up and walked over to me, looking down at me. From his mindview I pulled his name, it was Agent Harrison Dimmer from the F.B.I. He enjoyed watching me squirm and twist in pain. The shocking pain grew for a moment, and then receded to the previous irritating and painful level.
I gasped a few times from the increased pain, then opened my eyes and looked at him. "Uh, why am I here, and locked up?"
He replied, "You attacked a group of police officers and F.B.I. Agents. Obviously you're a rogue super."
"What? The last thing that occurred was me interrogating the kidnapper, and then something happened."
"Yes, that's when you attacked everyone. You did some kind of telepathic scream attack that gave everyone in the area a headache, and gave a bunch of us bloody noses. Officers were fleeing the area to get away from you."
I was about to say I didn't do that, but he was there, and his memory showed it to be true. Then he replayed the part he hadn't mentioned, Agent Dimmer had yanked me off the kidnapper while I was in his mind. The kidnapper had been screaming in terror while my eyes had this backlit golden glow as I leaned over him. My mental scream occurred when he pulled me out of mindview range.
"Ow. Why is this thing shocking me?" My face contorted from the pain.
"It will only activate when you are using your telepathy. What are you attempting to do to me now?"
"I'm not doing anything to you. I'm not even using my telepathy."
His voice rose with his anger. "Well, lady, that's a lie or you wouldn't be getting shocked." He stabbed his finger in the air at me as he spoke.
"I'm telling you, I'm not using my telepathy."
"I don't believe you. You supers think you're so special. You think you can break laws, torture people, and turn on legitimate members of law enforcement. I don't think so. We've got you on a rap now for attacking a good number of law enforcement. It should be enough to bring you down. Well, you've delayed our case enough, and put lives in danger. I'm needed back on the kidnapping case. I'm sure I'll see you again soon for the official arrest. Enjoy your headache, bitch."
He left the room, and the pain diminished. I looked, and it appeared that there were a series of wires running up above my head to a machine. The pain was tolerable at this level, though annoying. It felt much like a headache that wouldn't go away. I didn't understand why the machine would be shocking me if it were only supposed to while I used my telepathy.
A nurse came in after an hour or so. Her mindview showed that she was there to check on all the welt wounds from the bullets. The shocking pain increased back to the levels of when Agent Dimmer was in the room. It was rather embarrassing, having her pull the hospital gown down, then up to examine me. Her mindview showed no wounds left on my body, the skin was smooth and unbroken everywhere.
She watched the display on the shock machine for a few seconds and said, "The F.B.I. said that you will only get shocked when you attempt to use your powers on someone. What are you trying to do?"
In between grimacing and twisting on the bed I replied, "I'm not using any powers; it just got worse when you came in here. I'm not injured anymore; I don't need your help, apart from letting me go."
"Yes, obviously you
are
using your powers." She stomped out of the room in a huff. The pain lessened once she left the room.
Another hour filled with pain passed slowly. I heard the mental voices of people nearby, but out of mindview range. Finally, the door opened and Agent Willman from the kidnapped child's house walked in. I couldn't help but squirm as he walked in and the pain increased again.
He walked over to the bed and said, "Hello again, Psystar. I'm Agent Willman, if you recall."
"I, uhh, would chat, but getting constantly shocked for hours on end isn't making me overly chatty, Agent Willman."
"You shouldn't be getting shocked. This only works when a telepath uses their powers."
"Duh. It's shocking me now. I'm not using any powers."
He looked at the machine behind me; it showed activity in various readouts. He stepped back, took out his cell phone and made a call. "Agent Willman here. I'm in the telepath's room in the hospital. She says she's being shocked constantly, and the machine is showing activity. Is that normal?"
His mindview allowed me to hear the other side of the conversation. "No, there's a specific brainwave activity that happens when a telepath uses their power. It won't shock if it's not being used."
"Well, she's squirming around in quite a bit of pain, and claims it has been shocking her for hours. Is there something that will show me how long it's been shocking her?"
Another agent entered the room to join Agent Willman. The shocking at my temples leaped up in intensity, and I cried out in pain. I thrashed and yanked at the bonds holding my wrists to the bars on the bed. A nurse heard my cry and came in to check on us. Upon reaching us the pain leapt to new heights and I screamed in pain.
It felt like holes were being bored into my skull. I saw the four mindviews in my vision, but couldn’t focus on any of them due to the shockwaves entering my head. I barely heard the nurse call for a doctor.
Another nurse and a doctor came running into the room. The pain hit an unbelievable level and my back arched with the pain. I let out a piercing scream, even louder and longer this time. I dimly heard the mental voices of those within perhaps forty feet of me react to the scream. Nurses began running everywhere. Many of the mindviews felt a piercing headache and reacted to wiping blood from their noses.
My back bowed from the massive pain entering my head. I barely breathed apart from sucking in enough air to scream again. Passing out again was a blessing.
I awoke yet again, still bound in the hospital bed. Thankfully no shocks struck. Three mindviews appeared. I recognized Agent Willman and the F.B.I. security that had been standing at the door. The other I didn’t, although her thoughts sounded like a nurse’s.
I cautiously opened my eyes and looked around, then sighed out of relief as no pain struck. I unclenched my hands; I hadn’t even noticed that I’d tightened them into fists in anticipation of new pain.
Nurse Katie asked, “How do you feel, honey?”
I licked my lips and looked around.
Still no new pain.
I said, “Better, the shocking is gone.”
Agent Willman thought to test me, and flicked the switch on a piece of equipment. Immediately shocks jarred into my head, and I cried out and thrashed on the bed. He flicked the switch back off.
He said, “Sorry about that.”
My face contorted with pain, hands gripped tightly into fists. I asked through clenched teeth, “Why are you torturing me?”
“We aren’t, this machine only activates when you are trying to use your telepathy on us. What were you just trying to do?”