Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown (4 page)

As
they were pushed into their new room, Dylan looked round the small, grey space
with disdain. There were two sets of bunk beds with rusty, metal frames and
dull, green bed sheets, while a small lamp by one of the beds provided the only
light. He looked at Sophia, Scarlett and Dan with an unimpressed face before
the door was locked behind them.

“We’ll
be waking you at 7am,” one of the guards shouted. “And don’t forget I’ll be out
here keeping an eye on you all night long.”

“7am,”
Scarlett said with disgust. “Doesn’t he know we’re kids?”

Dylan
looked at his watch. It was past 10pm now. “Sophia, you’d better go to bed,” he
said. “You’ve had a long day and you need your sleep.”

Sophia
sighed. Dylan bent down to be the nine year old’s height. “Please, sweetie. I
need to take care of you while we’re away from mum and dad. It’s not like
there’s even any TV to watch.”

“I
guess so,” she said. “Can I take a bottom bunk? I’m scared of the high ones.”

“Of
course.”

“Dan
can take the top one,” Scarlett said. “He’s only 11, it’s time he got some
shut-eye too.”

“Scarlett!”

“Do
as you’re told.”

As
the two younger children got ready for bed, Dylan turned to Scarlett. “So how
old are you?” he asked.

“Fifteen.
You?”

“Sixteen.
It was my birthday last month.”

“That
makes you year 11 then. The one above me.”

Dylan
nodded.

“Urgh,
I’m not looking forward to all that preparing for exams.”

“It’s
not so bad.”

Sophia
and Dan had both climbed under the sheets now, so Scarlett and Dylan sat down
on the lower bunk at the other side of the room and lowered their voices.

“Mind
you, I guess even exams would be better than this,” Scarlett said with a wry
laugh. “Unless it was science. I hate science – especially physics.”

“Me
too. So you’re telekinetic?” he said, changing the subject for no reason at all
other than the fact he wasn’t sure what to say to such a pretty girl.

She
nodded.

“When
did you find out?”

“About
three months ago. My parents have been rowing for the last year and they very
nearly broke up. My dad wanted to move back to Manchester, but my mum loves it
in Dulwich, so they talked about going their separate ways. The plan was that I
stayed down here and Dan went with my dad. I hated the idea and I didn’t take
it well at all. I was sitting in my room full of teenage rage one day when I
suddenly started throwing things around.” She giggled. “I guess that sounds
like normal teenage behaviour, only I was using my mind instead of my hands.”

Dylan
laughed. “I’m sorry about your parents.”

“They’re
getting on again now. My dad got a new job in the city and suddenly decided he
loved London again. Grown-ups are weird.” She rolled her eyes.

Dylan
stared at her in fascination as he nodded. Even when she was scowling and
making sarcastic comments, her face had a way of lighting up the room. He felt
confident and nervous at the same time when he was around her – like he’d
suddenly discovered he could achieve anything and yet he didn’t even know what
to say to impress her.

“Are
you OK?” she asked.

“Oh
yeah, just tired. Sorry.”

“I
guess we should sleep too,” she said.  “Not that I think I’ll be able to.”

“We
should try. Do you want the top bunk or bottom?”

“I’ll
take the top if that’s OK, so I can keep an eye on Dan.”

“Sure.”
Dylan turned towards the lamp, while Scarlett leapt up the ladders to the
higher bunk.

“Night,”
he said.

“Night,”
she called back.

He
switched off the light and descended the room into darkness.

The
next morning, Dylan awoke to the sound of banging on the door.

“Morning!”
a voice yelled. “Time to get up, rise and shine.”

“Shut
up,” Dan muttered from the other side of the room. “It’s the middle of the
night.”

Dylan
fished his watch from the floor and checked the time. It was 6.45am.

The
man who had rudely awoken them popped his head around the door. “The boss wants
to see you all upstairs in 15 minutes and he hates lateness. Get yourselves
ready and I’ll be back in 10 to take you up there.”

“Can’t
wait,” Scarlett said as he walked away and started banging on the next door
along in the corridor.

Dylan
leapt out of bed and looked around the room. “Well it’s not like we can shower
or get changed,” he joked. “So this should be quick.”

Dan
groaned. “Do we have to do this? I’m so tired.”

“Me
too,” Sophia said glumly. “We only usually get up this early when we’re going
to the airport and that’s a lot more exciting.”

“Come
on,” Scarlett insisted as she jumped down from her bunk. “There’s no point
moaning about it. Let’s adopt a positive attitude and try our best to handle
what today throws at us. The more alert we are, the better placed we are to
fight this guy and hopefully get out of here.”

“I
think we’ll be lucky to use that positive energy to get through what Goulden
has in store for us today,” Dylan said. “Never mind managing to pluck a great
escape out of the bag.”

“Well,
aren’t you the little ray of sunshine,” Scarlett said with a laugh. “I know it
won’t be easy, but we should all be ready to seize an opportunity to get out of
here if it presents itself.
When
it presents itself.”

“Ready?”
a voice barked as a man unlocked the door. The foursome all nodded their heads.
“Then follow me.”

A
few minutes later, they stepped into a large, white, open space where they were
joined by Toshiko, Sasha, Maria, Neelam, Jay, Ethan, Andrew, Rhianna, Louise,
Lucy, Aaron and Alex.

“Good
morning,” Goulden said as he strode purposefully into the room. He was followed
by a skinny man in a long, white lab coat. “I trust you all slept well. This is
the genetics expert, Dr Mark Kitts – he’s the one who identified this anomaly
in Andrew’s DNA that he thinks gave him powers. He’s coming round to take a
blood sample from you all, so be good to him.”

“I’m
starving,” Jay complained as the doctor worked his way around the group. “How
can they expect me to give blood on an empty stomach?”

“You’re
not giving a pint of blood, just a small sample,” Neelam said. “You’re so
dramatic.”

“Yeah
well, I still don’t like it.”

“Me
neither,” Dylan agreed.” “There’s something very unnerving about all this.”

Soon,
Dr Kitts had completed his task. He placed the samples in a briefcase and carried
it out of the room, assuring Goulden that he’d get the results to him as soon
as possible before he left.

“OK,
so that’s that done. How about we try a bit of resistance training? I want to find
out if stress helps the powers emerge in those of you who are still plain old
normal. Dr Kitts believes that these abilities manifest during moments of
extreme panic and pressure, which could be a result of the adrenalin kicking in
or some kind of survival reflex, so let’s see if putting you in danger helps
you discover your talents.”

He
eyed the group up and down, pacing back and forth and scrutinising them one by
one. Dylan gulped. There was something about the way Goulden stalked the room
that made him very on edge. The Prime Minister strolled away from the group
again.

“Alex
and Toshiko. You’re first. Come over here please. The rest of you can sit over
there and watch.” He pointed to the far wall.

The
two stepped forward with some trepidation. Even the usually over-confident
Toshiko looked a little scared. They both stood in the middle of the large,
empty room, looking around expectantly.

“What
happens next?” Alex asked.

“You’ll
see,” Goulden said with a sadistic laugh. “Send them in!” he shouted to someone
outside the room.

Two
lines of uniformed guards marched into the room. Dylan observed that they were
all kitted out in riot gear and there were at least 20 of them.

“Take
them hostage,” Goulden ordered. “And you two, try your best to escape.”

“We
can’t sit here and watch this,” Scarlett said to Dylan.

“I
don’t think we have much choice.” Seven of the men had positioned themselves
between the group and the fight, forming a human wall to stop them interfering
with the action.

Four
of the attackers ran towards Toshiko and she turned to flee them. One swung at
her with a baton, but she did a perfect backflip to dodge him. And there was
more where that came from. As Goulden’s guards tried their hardest to capture her,
she deftly leapt, spun, kicked and punched her way out of trouble. She looked
like a highly skilled ninja from a martial arts movie.

“Is
she a black belt or something?” Scarlett whispered.

“I
think it’s her power,” Dylan said.

Alex,
on the other hand, wasn’t faring so well. He’d been captured by two of the men
and even though they were giving him the beating of his life, his powers still
didn’t seem to kick in. Toshiko somersaulted through the air towards him and
swiftly took the two men out with a mid-air spinning kick.

“Leave
him alone!” she yelled. She reached down to Alex, who was sitting bruised and
battered on the floor. He tried to nod bravely, but it was obvious he was badly
hurt.

“Still
think we don’t need an escape plan?” Scarlett said to Dylan. “That could be us
next.”

Dylan
didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to take in what had just happened.

The
uniformed men dispersed as Goulden walked back into the centre of the room,
clapping enthusiastically. “Very good, very good indeed. Well, Miss Kobayashi,
it looks like we have found your power. Mr Connor, sadly, you’re still a
disappointment. Don’t worry, we can try again later.” He reached down and gave
Alex a hand up off the floor. “Right, I want you all to take a rest and have
breakfast. I’ll see you here for more in half an hour or so. Jason Ryder and
Ethan White, we’ll be trying out your skills then, so be ready to fight.”

“Can’t
wait,” Jay muttered as they all left the room. “It’s just what I always
wanted.”

“That
was not good,” Scarlett said as she tucked into a bagel. They had all been sent
to a small room down the corridor, where they helped themselves to bagels,
toast and orange juice from a small kitchenette in the corner.

“Tell
me about it,” Jay groaned. “And apparently I’m next in line for a battering.”

“How’s
Alex?” she asked the group in the hope one of them knew the answer.

“I
think the doctors are checking him over,” Toshiko said. “They took him away
when we came through here.”

“I
hope he’s OK,” Neelam said. “That was quite some beating he took.”

“I
know,” Scarlett agreed. “He looked an absolute mess. I’m really worried about
him.”

“We
all are,” Dylan said. “Goulden is sick and that makes him dangerous. He’s mad
enough to believe he’s right to hurt us because the ends justify the means.
Those twisted ends being that he wants to use us as his super soldiers.”

“We
need to get out of here,” Scarlett said, not for the first time.

Dylan
sighed. “If only it were that easy. His guards watch every move we make.”

“We
have super powers,” she argued.

“Scarlett,
while it sounds like you are in charge of your abilities and kicked some butt
yesterday, the rest of us don’t know what we’re doing. I can freeze water,
hardly scary is it? Neelam reads minds, Sasha flies and Lucy does a light
show.”

“Hey,”
Lucy said. “I only got my powers yesterday and I did a pretty good job of
knocking one of those guys out considering I didn’t know what I was doing. My
lightning bolt thingies could prove to be pretty lethal.”

“There
you go,” Scarlett said. “All powers can be practised and used effectively.
Neelam, have you tried using your telepathy to control someone’s mind so they
do your bidding?”

She
shook her head. “I hadn’t thought of that and wouldn’t it be wrong?”

“Not
if you’re doing it against the bad guys. It’s not like you’re hurting them.
And, Sasha, your flight skills must allow you to lift people, drop them, sneak
up on them and all kinds of things. It’s a nifty skill to have in battle.”

Sasha
seemed to agree. “Like most of you, I haven’t used my power much, but I could
do that yeah. So far, I’ve just flown places on my own when no one’s looking.”

Scarlett
turned to Dylan. “Do you need actual water to be around to use your powers?”

“Yes.”

“And
what can you do with it?”

“Heat
it, cool it, freeze it, move it and stop it flowing. That’s about it.”

“I
see. Can you manipulate it?”

“What
do you mean?”

“Like,
take the water from this cup and use it to form an ice lasso around me.” She
stood up.

“What?”

“Give
it a try.”

“You
moved water to freeze that lock yesterday, mate,” Jay said.

Dylan
stared from the cup to Scarlett and back again. He pointed at it and lifted the
water up into the air, whooshed it over to her, then wrapped it around her
before freezing it and pinning her arms against her side with a tight ice chain.

Scarlett
looked down and smiled. “I’m impressed. Now if you could do that quickly in a
fight, it can help you to defeat your opponents.”

Suddenly,
three of the men in uniform marched into the room. Dylan quickly melted the
ice.

“Argh!”
Scarlett yelled.

“What’s
wrong?” one of the men said gruffly.

“Nothing.
Just spilled my water,” she lied, realising that Dylan had acted quickly to
hide the fact they’d been practising their powers.

“Come
on, break’s over. The Prime Minister wants you all back upstairs.”

The
teenagers and their siblings quickly finished their drinks and followed their
captors back upstairs to the big, white room.

“Ah,
greetings. It’s good to have you back,” Goulden said when they arrived a few
minutes’ later. “Now let’s crack on because we have a lot to get through today.
Jason and Ethan, step forward.”

They
both obeyed his instructions, but they didn’t look happy about it.

“OK,
boys, you know the drill, fight for your life. Focus on survival and accessing
those excellent powers of yours. I’m sure you have them.”

Jay
gulped. He looked more scared than geared up for a fight and Ethan didn’t
appear to be full of confidence either.

This
time, only 10 of the uniformed guards walked in, but these men had large Alsatians
with them. Angry-looking ones with lots of teeth. Jay jumped back as one of the
dogs barked at him.

“Let
the games begin,” Goulden called with a deranged laugh.

Three
of the men blocked off the fight from the large group of teens, while four went
for Ethan and three went for Jay.

Jay
raced away from them, but the guards quickly took chase after him. He was soon
easily outrunning them, so the men let go of their dogs and allowed them to
pursue him instead.

“Faster,
Jay!” Dylan shouted.

Suddenly,
Jay went into turbo mode and started speeding around the room so quickly that
he was practically a blur.

“Nice
one,” Dylan whispered with a smile. “I knew he could do it.”

Meanwhile,
Ethan had been outsmarted and backed into the far corner of the room.

“Oh
man, why won’t my power kick in?” he complained.

He
threw his arms in the air. “Superheroes do that when they’re brandishing their powers,
right?” he thought. Just then, a small, round, metal dome appeared in his hand.
“What the hell is this?” It was ticking. Ethan didn’t wait a second longer – he
threw the small sphere at his assailants and it exploded, knocking them all
flying back through the air. The dogs whimpered, but Ethan was pleased to see
none of them were hurt.

“It’s
lucky that bomb wasn’t too powerful,” Dylan said. “He could have really done
some damage to those people there.”

“Hopefully,
that’s just the start of his powers,” Scarlett replied. “It’d be handy for us
if he could learn to produce huge explosives that put holes in walls.”

“Bravo!”
Goulden declared as he gave Ethan a round of applause. “I guess we can call it
game over there. Thank you guards, you can leave now.”

Six
of the men strode out and the four who had been injured by Ethan slowly found
their feet and followed them.

“So,”
he said. “All of you older children have your powers now except for Mr Connor.”
Goulden rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Looks like Dr Kitts’ hunch abut
you lot was right.”

“Where
is Alex?” Scarlett asked. “We’ve all been worried him since the horrific
beating he suffered.”

“He’s
being looked after,” Goulden said evasively. “Now, onto the younger ones.”

“You’ll
leave them alone,” Dylan said. He grabbed Sophia’s hand protectively. “They’re
just kids – they’re all under 14, so they’re not eligible for your new powers
act.”

“No
they’re not, you’re right, but I’m still intrigued to know if they have any
special talents. Stand up. Just the youngsters that is. Come over here.” He
beckoned them to him with a hand gesture.

Sophia,
Maria, Aaron, Dan, Rhianna and Louise walked cautiously over to Goulden.

“So,
you’ve seen what your brothers and sisters can do?”

They
nodded.

“Would
you like power like that?”

Dan,
Aaron and Maria signalled a yes by bobbing their heads again. The others looked
scared and unsure.

“Then,
we’ll have to see if we can coax it out of you.”

“No!”
Dylan shouted. “They’re too young. Sophia’s only nine. We all came into our
powers much later.”

“He’s
right,” said Dr Kitts, who strode into the room at that moment.

“But
I
have
to know,” Goulden said impatiently. “I need to know what they can
do.”

“There’s
no point testing them like the others,” he said. “We’ll only risk mentally
scarring them. That could even hinder their chance of accessing their powers
further down the line. I forbid it.”

“You
forbid it?” Goulden looked angry.

“Yes.”
Dr Kitts gulped.

“Then
what can we do?”

“We
will look at the blood results when we get them and see what they tell us. In
the meantime, I’ll run some experiments on the children. The same ones we’re
trying on the Connor boy.”

“What?”
Scarlett shouted. She leapt forward. “You said he was being looked after.”

“Sshhh,”
Goulden said as he shooed her away with his hand. She looked enraged.

“OK,”
he said to the doctor. “That sounds good to me. Take them away.”

“No!”
Scarlett and Dylan shouted in unison.

Goulden
sighed.

“This
is going to happen either way, so it will be a lot easier if you don’t resist.
Trust me.”

“Never,”
Lucy said. She shot one of her bolts of lightning at Goulden, but he jumped out
of the way just in time.

Goulden
laughed. “Nice moves, Miss Watts. I like it. You might want to do some target
practise though.”

“Gladly,”
she said, as she raised her hand again. Several guards entered the room.

“No,
Lucy. Not now. He’ll only hurt you,” Neelam said telepathically in her head.

Lucy
looked at Neelam, then reluctantly backed down. She knew her new friend was
right – although it creeped her out to be spoken to in her head like that.

“Men!”
Goulden shouted. “Take the younger ones to the lab and the older ones to their
rooms. Lock them in and keep a firm eye on them. Make sure you put the little
bomber boy away in a secure room on his own.”

The
guard at the front nodded, then the men grabbed a teenager each.

“No!”
Scarlett shouted. She attempted to fling them off, but a second man grabbed her
other arm.

“Watch
that one,” Goulden said before turning to head out of the room. “Oh, and Dr
Kitts, keep me updated – I’ll be very interested to hear your progress.”