Synergy Part 9 free porn video

Synergy (A MORFS Universe Story) Part 9 I woke up with a headache feeling dirty, grimy and a bit queasy. There was a lot of dust in the air, and I was lying amid lots of rubble on bare bedrock. I coughed violently from all the dust in the air, but that only made it worse. I was still naked, but my eyes were free now. Cautiously I looked around me. I don't know what time it was, but it was quite dark. So it was probably the middle of the night. I still could see rather well with my cat eyes and the light from the stars and the moon. However the light was obscured by all the dust. As I took in my surroundings, I was frightened by all the devastation around me. 'I caused all this destruction?' I became very afraid now. What happened to all the people and animals in this neighborhood? As I saw more of the surroundings, I saw even more destruction. I must have been inside a mountain or something. There was a lot of rock, stone slabs and rubble all around me. I slowly realized I was standing in the middle of a big crater dug into the mountainous terrain. 'I am this powerful? Maybe I should be restrained with this kind of power available?' I became even more scared of what I could do. I was capable of destroying a lot of things if I wanted to. There was no one around here, and it was all so quiet. No birds or other animals were making any noise. It was eerily quiet, with only the sound of a light breeze and the sound of my voice to let me know I wasn't deaf. Then I got another thought. 'What if I didn't get them all? What if more of those bad people come here and find me?' As I scrambled out of the crater I saw more destruction. All around the blast site the trees were either blown down or had been hit by rocks. It took me at least 10 minutes to get to a still standing tree line. And I was still naked. I guess it was still spring, because the temperature wasn't that high and there was lots of snow covered with dust around. I drew in some gravitational energy to warm myself up. I didn't need to produce any light, as my cat eyes let me see enough to make my way. I made my way through the trees carefully, but with haste. I didn't want to be caught here by more accomplices of that awful woman. I didn't even know if she had been caught in the blast. I really hoped that she had. Well I wasn't going to wait and see. I walked for several hours, making my way towards the south. At least I hoped it was to the south. Well, any direction away from the mountain was good. I guessed by the kind of trees, the snow and the temperature, that I was somewhere up north in the US. But in what State, or even if I was still in the US, I didn't know for sure. Thank God for my power. I could warm myself up so I wouldn't feel cold. But now I was getting hungry and tired. I didn't get food anymore from the feeding tube and I had been walking for a long time. My muscles weren't used to it, as well. I had been lying there for God knows how long. I needed a rest. From a small stream I drank a little cold water and nearby I found a soft spot of leaves, free of snow, were I could rest a little. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Two agents from the ASA were doing a routine check up in the city of Boise Idaho, when they got a call from their superior. Of course they had seen and felt the large explosion a little further upstate. Now they got the order to investigate officially. They immediately rented a helicopter for the trip Justas they continued getting the latest data from the head office. One agent went by the nick name Hound Trace. Not because he was a hybrid dog or something, but because he was so relentless in tracking people. The other agent was called Slick Smooth by his colleagues, because he could talk money out of Ebenezer Scrooge. Agent Hound Trace had a brother inside the service and he had heard from his brother about the fighting and kidnap of a high school girl in Alabama. The story was that she was a powerful converter who had been attacked by unknowns before. Hound's brother had been one of the agents that ended the gathering in that park and debriefed the girl's sister. All agents had been asked to look out for the missing girl, who could be anywhere in the world now. Soon the agents were ready to go out to the blast site, but air traffic had been suspended for at least 24 hours. The authorities wanted to make sure that there was no radiation from the explosion and let the dust settle. Hound & Slick were given a special clearance to take off within the 24 hours, but they had to set down at Lemhi field in Salmon Idaho to refuel and wait out the rest of the suspension period. In the meantime some military planes were send in to do a high altitude flyover and take pictures. The pictures didn't show much detail on the ground though, due to the high concentration of dust particles in the air. The pictures that were taken, were distributed among the agencies involved and Hound & Slick studied them as well as soon as they received them from their head office. ************************* Synergy I woke up startled. 'What was that? Darn, I fell asleep.' I listened intensely to the sounds around me. The birds were singing again and some other animals were bustling through the forest as well. I couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it was nothing. Then I saw a rabbit hopping just a few feet away from me. Normally I would just watch such a nice animal and smile. But now I was so very hungry. 'Sorry bunny, but I need you to survive.' With tears forming in my eyes I aimed my right hand and shot a maser, closely followed by the taser like lightning at the bunny. It fell down immediately twitching for a few seconds. Now I had some food. 'But I can't eat it like that.' I needed something to cut the skin away. I remembered another lesson from our history teacher this time. He explained to us how ancient people first made rudimentary tools from stone. I looked around and found some hard rocks lying on the ground. I picked up one that already had a bit of a knife shape. The teacher said that in the past they hit one stone with another to make a sharp edge. 'Well I can do better.' I powered up again and shot an infrared energetic laser beam through the stone. Soon I had my edge on the stone right where I wanted it. I was about to start skinning the rabbit, when I heard something again. This time I knew that it wasn't imagination. This wasn't a normal outdoor sound, it was mechanical. There it was again. I grabbed my stone knife and the rabbit and started to walk again. I just arrived at a clearing and wanted to cross when I stopped dead in my tracks as the sound became much clearer. It was a helicopter. Becoming scared again, I thought, 'There they are again! Why can't they just leave me alone and let me go back to my family?' The helicopter flew over the clearing without anyone seeing me, I hoped. I was still hidden quite well between the trees. I waited for a few minutes, just in case they would circle back. But the sound got weaker and then disappeared. I crossed the clearing, keeping to the tree line as much as I possibly could. I walked on again for several hours till I found my first sign of civilization in the late afternoon. It was a campsite. It was already starting to get dark. It was a bit disappointing that there was nobody there, but also a bit comforting. I would be quite a sight running around naked in the woods. 'Wait what was that there?' I saw something flapping in the slight breeze through the trees. I came closer and saw that it was a blanket of some kind. Some camper must have left it here or forgot to take it after drying it. 'Good, I can use that.' After a few tries I managed to free it from the tree, wrapping it around my body, where I held it tight around my body with my tail. Thank God I still had my tail. I shuddered, thinking that that evil woman wanted to cut it off. Now only if I could find some shoes. My feet were hurting from walking barefoot on the rough terrain, though the snow made the surface softer. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Hound & Slick were on their way to the blast site, while it was still light out. They reached the mountain, or rather, former mountain, late in the afternoon. They landed their helicopter and saw massive destruction. The whole mountain top had disappeared. They inspected the remainder of the bedrock, and discovered what appeared to be the remains of corridors and rooms. Apparently the Mountain had housed a base of some kind. There wasn't any radiation to detect, but the destruction was awfully similar to a nuclear explosion. They were quite baffled by what could have happened there. They took plenty of still pictures and holofilmed the entire scene before fanning out into the surroundings. It was there that Hound found some foot tracks of bare feet. It wasn't much, but he could determine that it was probably a young female going in a southerly direction. Calling in their preliminary report, they asked for a forensics team to get to the site. They wanted to follow another lead in the meantime. Before long, Hound & Slick got permission to leave the site and follow their lead. ************************* Synergy At the campsite there was a place to start a fire, so I gathered some wood for a campfire. Soon I decided I had enough to more than last the night. I used my knife to create a makeshift spear to hold the rabbit above it. Skinning my rabbit, I stuck the meat on the stick. I piled some of the wood in a classic way to start a fire. 'Yes I did watch some movies on how to do that.' Heating a piece of wood, I gave it a spark of lightning to ignite it. Soon I had a nice fire going and the meat began to heat up. Then I had another thought, 'I'm so stupid! I can heat the meat up much faster using my own power.' So I drew in some energy and emitted heat and microwaves at the meat. It didn't take long to be cooked well enough. With the stone knife I cut off some pieces of the meat. It was hot, but I could handle it by absorbing the heat and shedding it as light. Soon I was happily munching on the meat and leaning back against a rock. Finally I had the time to relax a little. Sure, I still wasn't out of the woods yet, figuratively and literally speaking. But I wasn't so hungry anymore, and there was a little stream to drink from and even a small pond to bathe in, though the water would be very cold, even freezing. That didn't matter though, I could heat myself up quite well enough. So I could be clean and fed. Now I only had to find a place to get some help and get back to my family and friends. After my meal, I took a bath in the pond and dried myself by emitting some heat. Then I lay down for some well deserved rest and sleep by the fire. It was still dark when I awakened with a shock from my sleep. I thought I heard something. There it was again, that helicopter. I couldn't see it yet, but I heard it coming. In these quiet woods even the low noise helicopters like this one can be heard quite well. Moments later I could see them, the helicopter was flying without any running lights in a kind of circular pattern. It was just like they were looking for something or someone. I was certain that they were looking for me! They were probably using Infrared detection to locate me. I can't escape that, I can draw in all the heat, but that would light me up even more. And I couldn't shed my energy either. I was already so cold in the cold night. There was only one solution left for me. I needed to take them out. I needed a lot of power, more than I could draw normally. It was cold, dark and quiet around. So I couldn't draw in heat, light or sound. Only gravity and molecular energy were at my disposal. I didn't like using the molecular energy again. I was so afraid that I would want that kind of power inside me again, and too much this time. But I didn't have a choice. The gravitational energy just doesn't have enough power to let me give a powerful enough EMP blast. I destroyed some molecules around me, being careful not to free too much energy. Within moments I had enough power inside me and after careful aiming, released a very strong EMP burst towards the helicopter. The effect was immediate. The helicopter fell from the sky in a most rapid decent and soon disappeared from my view. I thought I heard a muffled thud, but I couldn't be sure, it might just have been my imagination. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Slick was flying the helicopter in a circular search pattern, while Hound was on the lookout with the electronic Infrared cameras they'd brought with them. They still hadn't found a trace of the mysterious barefoot girl that had walked away from that massive destruction. Maybe she was a Native American who just happened to pass through, but why would she be barefoot? So they wanted to make sure and try to find whoever it was. Hound had called on Slick to slow down a few times so he could zoom in, but every time it was a false alarm. It turned out to be a big animal like a wolf, puma or one time they went in closer to see a large infra-red signature, and it turned out to be a bear. Just as Hound was about to call out to Slick to make his turn towards the new search grid, several sparks flew across the electronics and then everything went dead. No screaming alarms, no warnings, just black dead screens and lights. Slick yelled, "Hold on to something, we're going down fast and hard." Wrestling with the heavy stick and collective, Slick tried his best to make an emergency landing using autorotation. He did manage to keep the crash light enough for both him and Hound to survive, but the helicopter was a total loss. Hound crawled out of the wreckage, "Not one of your smoothest landings, Mate. Ever considered changing your name?" Slick crawled out of the twisted frame as well, "Well I'd like to see you do better. What the hell happened to us? Do you have any idea?" Hound tried to stand up, but with a yelp, hunched down again. His face showed his pain for a moment, "I've seem to have twisted my ankle. How about you? Any injuries?" Slick checked himself, but as he found no injuries, he stood up looking at his partner, "I'm fine, only your ankle?" Hound nodded, he already checked himself. "It's only bruised, not broken. No running for the next few hours, but I can walk with a little help. Now for what happened, I have an idea, but want to be sure. Can you check out our equipment please? Check our radios, eComs, Tablets, night vision goggles and lamps." Slick came back very quickly, "None of them are working, and everything is totally dead. That should not be possible!" Hound laughed curtly, "Can you tell me how late it is? My watch seems to be broken." Slick looked at his digital watch, but the light didn't work. "What is going on? Even my watch, which is shock resistant, is broken." Then he pulled an old antique from his pocket. "This old watch that I got from my grandfather says it is 2.15 am. Why is this old thing still working?" Hound laughed again, "We have been hit by an EMP pulse." Slick thought and said, "But our radios are EMP shielded. So how come they don't even work?" Hound had an answer already, "My best guess is that the EMP burst was too powerful for our shielding. Now I have a suspicion of the identity of the girl we are tracking. And this crash might be our own fault." Slick looked back at Hound with disbelieve, "How do you figure that." "We were flying dark, without any running lights. So I'm guessing that our quarry got scared of us and saw us as a threat." Slick screwed his eyes, "So you know who we are chasing then." Hound nodded, "I'm pretty sure that the missing high school girl from Alabama, who is supposed to be a converter, is the one that caused or was in the explosion, and that she is the one who shot us out of the sky. I don't know for certain that it is her, and I don't even know if she can fire an EMP burst that powerful like that. But it all adds up." Slick looked incredulous at Hound, "I can't believe all that. Besides I'm just worried what the boss will say about us losing a helicopter and all the gear. We might end up getting no salary for a few years." Hound smiled, "I'm confident that you can talk our way out of this one, just like you did before. Now I can't track the girl without light, so we'll just have to wait till it gets lighter." ************************* Synergy I was quite scared that someone might live through the crash, or that someone else might show up soon. So I set off again towards the south. I proceeded carefully and tried my best not to make any tracks that might show where I was going. That was a challenge as there still was lots of snow. It made my journey longer as well. Sometimes I had to melt my way through a snow wall. I walked a long time before stopping at another small stream to rest and drink. My feet were hurting again and I was now walking on pure adrenaline and fear. A brief time later I continued walking and walked on all day, though in the afternoon it was more like staggering and stumbling. Late in the afternoon I saw a welcome sight, a cabin with lights on inside. Finally, I'd made it back to civilization. I powered up a little to get my energy up to a level that would let me fight or run if necessary. For all I knew, that evil woman lived here. I also wanted a head start if I had to stun the person inside. Then I knocked on the door. An older woman opened the door after a few minutes and she looked at me with suspicion and a question. Before she could say anything I asked, "Can you help me please? I just want to make a phone call so I can go home." She softened up a bit as she saw my pleading look and the way I was dressed. But she still was on her guard. "What happened to you child?" I stumbled inside the cabin and almost fell down. She caught me just in time. "Tell me what is going on please. Where do you come from?" My lip trembled, and I felt tears forming, but I wasn't going to cry. "I was kidnapped. I just escaped those horrible people. I just want to go home." Just saying that increased my emotions and I couldn't stop my tears from flowing anymore. I started crying like I hadn't done in months. All my anguish and sorrow just poured out with it. The woman just held me and tried to comfort me while I cried my heart out. Some time later I was calming down some. I stopped crying and looked at the woman. She looked back, "I guess you've been through a lot then. Now I'm Maggie, who are you?" Hesitantly I said, "My name is Maren." "Ok, Maren, can you tell me more about you please? What happened to you?" "I was attacked while being with my friends in Birmingham Alabama. I don't know where they took me, but I managed to get away and walked through the forest and the snow for a long time. Where am I now?" Maggie smiled, "You're in the Salmon River Mountains in Idaho. I guess the nearest village is Cobalt, and the nearest town is Salmon." I thought, 'Idaho? This is a long way from Georgia. How do I get home?' "What date is it today, I got kidnapped in January." Maggie held me at a distance, "January? Now is the 8th of March." My face fell, 'They held me there for one and a half month? Everyone must think that I'm dead.' I felt like more crying again, but Maggie stopped me. "Now don't cry anymore. You're safe now. Is this blanket the only thing you're wearing? Take it off please, while I draw you up a nice warm bath." Several minutes later I was floating inside a king-size bathtub full of warm soapy water and really could relax. Maggie left me alone there to find me some clothes to wear and I relaxed so well that I fell asleep in the tub. I thought I heard something. 'Is there someone talking?' I climbed out of the cold water in the bathtub. 'I must have slept longer than I intended.' I walked naked to the door separating the living room from the bathroom. I opened it slowly but then the door was ripped open violently. A badly scarred woman stood before me, screeching with that awful shrill voice, "You've run as far as you're gonna go, slave." Maggie stood next to her grinning evilly, and added. "Ain't this a bitch, you just can't get a break, can you?" I didn't try to defend myself or even try to run. I just screamed my lungs out. I woke up screaming in the warm water of the bathtub. Maggie came running, frightened to death by my scream. I pointed my fingers at her ready to defend myself before I came to the conclusion that she wasn't really evil. 'It was just a nightmare. I was dreaming. It's all in my head.' Maggie held me, "What is wrong Maren? Why did you scream out?" I felt like crying again, but held the tears back this time. "I'm sorry, Maggie. I was dreaming and had a nightmare. It was just so awful." Maggie understood, she just held me a little longer and calmed me down just holding me close. Then she got up and picked up a jar. "Give me your feet, Maren, I noticed that you've been walking barefoot for a long time. Your feet are going hurt tremendously if you don't put this on." She held open the jar and the smell was horrible. "I know it doesn't smell nice, but it does wonders for your skin." She rubbed my soles with the stuff from the jar and it felt great. I let myself slip back into the water with only my feet on the rim. "Now Maren, don't stay in the water too long. Get up in half an hour, please. You can wash off the stuff on your feet then as well. Now I don't have much in the sense of clothing for you. I do have some sweatpants that don't fit me, and you're welcome to try them. Here are some slippers for you to wear. As for your top, my bra's won't fit you I'm afraid, so you'll just have to wear this T-shirt without any underwear." I mumbled softly, "Thank you for everything, Maggie, I hope I don't cause you too much trouble." Maggie waved it away. "It is the least someone can do for another person in need. Now just relax and wash yourself. Especially shampoo that dirty hair of yours, and that nice tail." I jumped up a little, 'She saw my tail and thought it was nice? How could she miss the tail, it is rather prominent.' Now I saw my hair in a mirror. It looked awful. Dirty with lots of tangles and it was a bit shorter. I guessed the explosion must have sheared some of it off. I used a lot of shampoo to get my hair in some decent state, and did the same for my tail. 'Lea will have a scare, seeing my hair like this.' ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Hound & Slick made good time picking up the trail early in the morning. Hound was still limping from the injury, but he could take the pain. He'd done it lots of times already in the military. By noon he found the camping site from where Maren had shot down the helicopter. Slick looked around, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary except that some sloppy campers had been there. Hound inspected the fireplace and the bones that had been left on the ground. There were also lots of footprints left in the snow. "Our girl made camp here. She took a bath, ate a rabbit and slept here." Slick came closer, "How can you tell? Those bones could have been here for months already." Hound just smiled, "Nope, the fire is recent, as recent as 12 hours. It died out because the wood was gone, not because someone put it out. And the bones still have some grease on them. It's fresh, so the girl was here alright." "Well, great and mighty hunter, were did she go then?" Hound looked around, "She got smart and covered her tracks very well." For the next hour he made a sweep for the most probable routes and called Slick over, "She's good, but not good enough. See this branch? She broke it while walking here. She went this way." He looked at a paper map and said to Slick, "Aren't you glad that I took an old map with me? Those electronic maps are great and all, but a little EMP, and they're useless." Slick grunted. He never could work with an old paper map. He liked the electronic GPS incorporated maps much better. Hound led them further on Maren's trail. ************************* Synergy I dressed in the sweat pants, that were way too big for me, but they had a cord so I could tie it around me. Only my tail got bunched up in it. The T-shirt was even bigger, and it looked more like a short dress on me. I walked out into the living room of the cabin and found Maggie sitting there. "Well you look better already. How are you feeling?" "Fine, but still tired. I have a problem with the pants Maggie, My tail is caught inside." Maggie got up, "Oh I forgot about that. Here, let me make a hole in them for you." As I took off the pants and gave them to Maggie to fix, I saw the phone and asked, "Can I use your phone please? I want to call my Mom." Maggie waved while getting her sewing kit out. "Go ahead, child." I punched in our number, but a computer voice said, "I'm sorry but this number has been disconnected." Now I got scared again. 'Did those people attack and kidnap Mom as well? Were they inside the mountain that I blew up? Oh My God! Could I have killed my entire family?' For a moment I got lost in that horrible scenario. Then my thoughts ran rampant again, 'Or maybe they really think I'm dead and they moved out. I don't exist for them any longer!' I was so lost in thoughts that I didn't even hear Maggie come up behind me. I was startled as she put her hand on my shoulder. "Here you are child, a nice hole for your pretty tail. Hey, what's wrong now?" she asked as I jumped at her touch. "Oh nothing, the number is disconnected, and I was just wandering why, and what could have happened." Maggie tried to cheer me up, "I'm sure that there is a perfectly good explanation for it. Now, how about some dinner, are you hungry?" As soon as she said it, it seemed that my stomach must have heard her, as it growled loudly. "No need to answer me child, I can hear it loudly already." She went into the kitchen and asked me to skin some carrots and potatoes. I told her honestly that I suck at cooking and she said, "That's alright, I can cook well enough." ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Hound let them to a lonely cabin. "She's probably in there Slick." Slick looked at his partner, "Now how can you know that?" "Well that is where I would go, if I was barefoot walking in snow, lonely and tired. Besides, I just found her stone knife here on the ground." He showed Slick the knife-like stone that Maren had dropped when she had seen the house. Both men checked their remaining gear. Their automatic weapons were useless now. They relied on handgrip sensors to identify the owner's print before they could fire. The EMP had fried those circuits and they couldn't be used till they got them repaired. Slick still had an old backup weapon, a Smith & Wesson .38, while Hound relied on his hunting knife. He was a pretty good knife fighter, and even better knife thrower. Together they walked quickly but cautiously towards the door. Slick was the better negotiator, and would do the talking. ************************* Synergy We were just putting the food on the table when there was a knock on the door. Frightened, I looked at the door. 'They are here. I'll have to run again. I don't want to go back.' Maggie saw my frightened look and motioned me to stay out of sight. She looked through a peephole and picked up a loaded shotgun standing next to the door before opening the door slightly. "How may I help you gentlemen?" Maggie said it very controlled and seemingly polite way, but with a suspicious undertone. "Hello Madam, I'm Ben Weathers, and that is my partner, Carl Bings. We are with the FBI. We would like to speak with Maren Johns. Ever since she was kidnapped, we have been looking for her." Maggie held her poker face and said with a neutral tone, "I don't know a Maren Johns. And could you please show me some Identification?" Both Hound and Slick showed her their FBI ID's. They'd already had them in hand before Slick knocked on the door. Then Slick said, "We have indications that Maren just arrived here. By pure chance, we picked up her trail and followed her here. We only want to help her and find out who is responsible for her kidnapping." Maggie shrugged, "I still don't know who you're talking about. I'm all alone here." The situation was fretting my nerves and my tired muscles twitched, causing me to knock down a plate. It clanked to the floor, making it obvious to everyone I was there and what my position was. Hound put his hand on his knife and Slick reached for his gun. They didn't mean to, but years of conditioning made them react like that to an unexpected sound. Maggie was similarly prepared and opened the door a little further so she could swing her gun up to point at the two FBI men. Slick reacted very quickly and as he was closest, he grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked it out of Maggie's grip. She had her finger on the trigger and with a loud concussion the gun went off into nowhere. Slick threw down the gun and drew his own, pointing it at Maggie. As the door opened even more I became visible to Slick. He turned his attention and gun towards me. I saw him pointing his gun towards me and started to power up. I was now quite hysterical and yelled loudly, "No, you're not taking me back. I will never be a slave again." Slick moved inside the cabin slowly and cautiously, with Hound backing him up, though of course, I didn't even know their nicknames yet. Hound also got a good look at me. Slick didn't take his eyes off me, "Maren, I know you don't believe me now, but we aren't the ones that kidnapped you. We really have been looking for you a long time. Some don't even believe that you're still alive. Please, don't do anything rash now. We just want to talk." 'He is quite eloquent, I'll give him that. But I still don't trust him.' Still quite hysterical, I continued to gather energy, and even got ready to destroy some molecules to get even more power. "Leave me alone. I don't believe any of you anymore. You only want my powers. You don't give a damn about me. Now leave me alone or I will blow everything up... again!" Hearing me rant, Slick and Hound both understood that by my own admission I was the source of the big explosion at the mountain. They briefly looked at each other and Slick pointed his gun into the air. He raised both his hands in a surrendering motion. "Please, Maren there is no need for this. We really are from the FBI. Remember that you were saved by our colleagues at the park?" I remembered, but I also remembered that my attackers could know that. They were also there, and kidnapped me there. I still didn't believe anything that smooth talker said. I continued to draw in more power. Then Hound said softly, "Synergy, we don't mean you any harm." Slick continued, "We have seen your file at the MORFS center, talked to Gavin Benson and your friends, Martin Iverson and Lance Thorsson. Now would we know about them if we were the kidnappers?" I halted my powering up, he did have a point. Well they might know my friends, but would they know my nickname? Not knowing what to do, I just stood there, searching my feelings. 'Can they be really FBI? Am I being saved now? What should I do? Trust them? They look nice enough, but they might be faking that.' Still unsure, I released a good portion of my power as bright light, blinding everyone in the area. I had my eyes closed doing that, so I was the only one that could see anything for the next few minutes. I quickly went over to the first FBI man, the one with the gun and yanked it out of his hand. Moments, later everyone got their eyesight back and saw me holding the gun now. Maggie was stunned by what I just had done. She said, "That's quite a power you have there, Maren." Slick relaxed a bit, "Maren if you want to hold on to the gun, that's OK. But please, don't point it at us. Now will you believe that we are law officers and that we only want to help you?" I relaxed also visibly, "Okay, say that I believe you, what now?" Slick sighed, "We are going to have a talk with you first and then report in to our superiors. As soon as we can arrange for transportation, we will take you back to your family." Maggie interrupted us, "Well, I will not stand for that. The first thing we all are going to do is eat. I didn't make dinner for nothing, and it is getting cold now." We all looked at her, and laughed. It was the perfect tension breaker. I really was hungry, and wanted to eat some good food. Hound and Slick agreed as well, and we all sat down at the table. I was still holding the gun in my hand and looked at both the men. 'Either they are very good actors, or they are really speaking the truth.' I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and reached over with the gun to the first man that did most of the talking. I smiled a wry smile, "Here you are, you can have it back. I don't much care for guns." Maggie gave me a plate with food and said, "No talking now. Eat first talk later." I didn't need to be told that twice, and dug into the mash on my plate. After such a long time without any real food except my slightly overcooked rabbit, this meal looked and smelled heavenly. Slick put his gun in his holster and then both he and Hound received a plate as well and started eating. I finally shoved my plate away and leaned back. I had only felt so stuffed once before. That was when I had pizza for the first time, right after I changed into Maren. I'd vowed never to eat so much again after that. But today I made an exception. I just couldn't turn Maggie down, and her food was so good. But now I just couldn't eat another bite. Both Hound and Slick, now they said that those were their nicknames, though they had introduced themselves as Carl and Ben to us, had their share of the food and looked similarly full. Maggie stood up, "Dessert anyone?" Both Slick and I puffed, indicating that we didn't have any room left. But Hound looked up, "Yes please." Maggie came back with some pie, and gave Hound a piece and herself some also. It looked real nice and if I hadn't had so much to eat I would have liked to have some. But I really couldn't take another bite. Slick shoved his seat backwards, "Madam that was just great, can I use your phone please? I need to call my superiors." Maggie looked at him, "I'm not a Madam. I'm Maggie. Don't you federal types have radios and cell-phones?" Hound looked up from his dessert, "Yes Mad... Maggie. But they don't work at the moment." Slick continued, "That is correct, and we also could've gotten to Maren a lot sooner and be on our way to her family right now. But someone shot our helicopter out of the sky." Then both he and Hound looked at me intently. I paled a little, "Oops" They all looked at me. Maggie said, "What do you mean with 'oops,' young lady?" Slick interrupted, "She means that she thought we were her kidnappers and fired an EMP at us. All our electronics got fried. But we were to blame as well. We were flying without running lights." Hound confirmed Slick's story while Slick went over to the old style telephone. He took the phone to another room. I was suspicious again and looked broodingly at Hound. He apparently noticed, and said, "Sorry, but some things are need to know. Just believe me that we have your best interests in mind." Slick in the meantime, told control that he was calling from an unsecured line. He explained that all their gear was destroyed or useless and that they had found the kidnapped girl from the Alabama event. He asked for a speedy pickup at the Lemhi County airport near Salmon. He brought back the phone a little later and said, "Well I hate to bother you Maggie, but is it possible to spend the night here? I arranged for a plane to pick us up tomorrow at Lemhi County airport. Also we would like to rent your car to go there?" Maggie looked at him, "I'll drive you there myself. I need some supplies anyway." Hound replied, "Thank you, Maggie. Please let us compensate you for your trouble." Maggie didn't want to hear about any payment, but Slick insisted, and as he was such a smooth talker he talked Maggie into accepting some compensation. I felt I should have a talk with Ben and Carl about what had happened. But I felt so tired, and the copious meal made me feel sleepy, so I went to the bedroom to lie down for awhile. I woke up later and went out to talk to the FBI men. They were still in the living room talking to Maggie, but as I approached them, they looked at me and started to become transparent. They just seemed to vanish into thin air. Instead, a chamber appeared and I was still strapped down to the bench. My eyes weren't taped shut anymore, and I saw a woman before me with evil written all over her face. She said to me with that shrill awful voice, "Had a nice nap girly? It's time to get back to producing power for us." I was horrified. The whole escape, Maggie and the rescue by the FBI men was it all a dream? Now I was really defeated, there was nothing left to do but become a good little drone and do whatever they wanted. But first I screamed out my anguish. That's when I woke up from my sleep. I was screaming bloody murder and realized that I was in Maggie's bedroom. The door slammed open and two men came in running, the first one with a gun drawn. I panicked and shot him with a maser-taser stun beam. He twitched a bit when he got hit and pulled the trigger, discharging his gun once before falling down unconscious. The second man looked at me with his hand on resting on a knife. He stood there motionless, but then slowly raised his hands in surrender. I looked at him and realized his name was Carl, nicknamed Hound. Then I looked at the other man, the one called Slick. I swallowed and then started to sob. Soon it progressed into fully crying. I had just shot one of the men that were here to rescue me. Hound checked out his partner first. He was still breathing, just unconscious. He carried him to the living room and explained the situation to Maggie, who woke up from the screaming and the gunshot. She agreed to look after Slick. Hound went back to me and sat down on the bed next to me. I was still crying and leaned into him. He just hugged me and let me cry out all my emotions. As my crying went down to a bit of sobbing he said, "You can talk to me Maren. Tell me what is troubling you." Muffled by talking at his shoulder I said, "I should be treated as a dangerous animal. I'm a menace to society." Then I sobbed some more. Hound pulled my face up so he could look into my eyes, "Don't say that. Sure, you shot Slick, but that was just a defensive reaction. Even we have that reaction sometimes. Don't feel bad about it." I looked at him, "But ..." "No buts. Tell me about your nightmare, because that is what started this." I looked down and started talking, "I thought all of this: the escape, you two and Maggie, were all just a dream. It was like I was still inside the mountain heading straight for life as a slave or a drone for those people. So I screamed, and that's when I woke up here." Hound held me tight, "I think you need to see a shrink, soon. You've been through a lot, and the dreams are just a means to vent your frustrations." I interrupted, "There is more. I'm a mass murderer. I managed to gather a lot more power than I have ever been able to before. Then I released it all at once. I blew that mountain up like an atom bomb. I'm afraid of that kind of power. So I should be locked up as dangerous. I'm not safe to be around." Hound interrupted my tirade, "Nonsense, Maren. The fact that you feel uncomfortable with that kind of power, and that you are even afraid of it means that you are a good person and have a strong sense of good and right. If you didn't, you would wield your power as a despot and we would be forced to kill you or die trying." I just looked at Hound. He looked back, "Really Maren, you're a good girl. You just had a very bad experience, and you are still suffering from it. It will get better, but I can't promise how soon that will be. But trust me, it will get better. I know, because I've had to kill some people in the past as well. I still feel sorrow and anguish about what I did. But I have found my peace with it. And so will you." I snuggled into his arms. "I hope you're right. I'm still so afraid of what I can do, and that I don't have the control to stop myself." Hound laughed softly, "You have the control. From what I have seen, you are one of the most in control Elemental that I've encountered." With a sleepy voice I said, "I'm not an elemental, I'm a converter." Hound grabbed my tail and started stroking it, "Sorry, my bad. But you have more control than most people I know." The stroking of my tail felt so good, that I started purring. And that made me feel even sleepier. Soon I fell into a deep restful sleep while Hound held me in his arms. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Slick came around to his senses. 'What happened?' Then his memory returned. 'I got shot by a stun gun or something. And the girl we were rescuing shot me. Where did she get the gun?' Slick tried to get up, but his muscles weren't cooperating fully yet. Maggie came up to him with some water. "Here, have something to drink." Slick accepted the water and drank thirstily. He composed himself and asked, "Where is my partner?" Maggie pointed to the bedroom, "He's talking to and consoling Maren. Please keep your voice down." Slick sighed, he had to see for himself and talk to Hound. He got up a bit clumsily. His muscles still had some problems with coordination. He opened the door to the bedroom slowly and quietly. Hound sat on the bed holding the girl in his arms, stroking her tail. 'What was that sound?' Then he recognized it. It was like a cat was purring. Very softly he asked, "Is that her doing that?" Hound nodded slowly, "She's finally asleep again. She's having nightmares about what happened and what she did." Hound slowly got up and lay Maren down on the bed. She moved a little to get more comfortable and kept on sleeping. Hound led Slick out to the living room, so they could talk more. Maggie disappeared to another bedroom so they had the room for themselves. "Maren admitted that she blew up the mountain all by herself." Slick frowned hearing that, "How did she do that, and how did she shoot me?" Hound smiled, "She's an energy converter. She shot an electric charge at you. As to how she blew up the whole mountain, I'm not certain. She'll have to be debriefed about that. I think she's a lot more powerful than we can imagine. But she isn't reveling in her power. In fact she's a bit scared of it and about using it. She still has to be counseled by a professional, but she isn't a security threat that has to be eliminated." Slick sighed. "Glad to hear that. I wouldn't like to have to eliminate such a nice girl. We need to make a report ASAP to the commander about her." Hound agreed, "I will start on it right away. But I do want to take Maren home first. She's been through a lot, and she needs a familiar and stable environment right now." ************************* ASA regional Headquarters The regional Commander of the ASA growled, "Where are the reports on that near nuclear explosion in Idaho." A young woman came up to him, "We just got reports in from the second team that was called in by the first team to do a forensic investigation on the blast site. The first team has been out of contact since. The second team reported that there apparently was a base of some kind in that mountain. They found some charred remains, unidentifiable though. They also found two people, one male and one female still alive in a remote chamber that withstood the destruction. Before they could be interrogated though, they activated an internal explosive device." The young woman shuddered thinking about that. Then she continued, "The method was similar to the unknowns involved in the kidnapping of that girl in Alabama." The commander accepted the tablet with the report. Then a man walked up to him. Calmly he said, "Commander we just heard from first team. They request a pick up from Lemhi County Airport in Salmon Idaho. The call came from an unsecured line, and they reported that all their gear was destroyed or is useless. They also reported they have found the kidnapped girl from the Alabama incident." The commander perched up hearing the secondary report. 'So the base belonged to that unknown group that kidnapped that converter girl in Alabama?' He turned his attention to the woman, "Have the forensic team search for any clues to whoever that group was. If there are still members of that group alive, we need to identify and neutralize them. Also, they need to find out what caused that massive explosion." The woman nodded, "I heard that they are speculating that an experimental generator generated too much energy and blew apart." The commander shook his head. "No speculation. We need facts. Get on it." Then he turned to the man, "Sent one of our LBSC Swifts to Lemhi and pick up the team with their kidnap victim. Our Teleporters don't want to go there yet, because of all the electromagnetic and gravimetric disturbances in that area. I'll leave it to the team leader what he thinks is best. To bring the girl in for debriefing first, or take her to her parents first. By the way, have the girls parents been notified yet?" The man shook his head, "No sir, the phone number we have is disconnected. Since it is a weekend, we cannot contact the girl's sister or mother by means of work or school. Neither can we get into contact with her friends. They are probably away with Spring Break. And the database still lists only her old number that has been disconnected. We did leave a message on the answering machine at the dance school, but there has been no reply as of yet. I guess we'll have to wait till after the weekend." The commander nodded and sent the man back to his duties. ************************* Synergy I woke up very refreshed. At first I didn't know where I was, and then it came to me, Maggie, Hound, Slick, the cabin, and the nightmares. I felt uncomfortable, I hadn't had another nightmare, but the dreams I'd had were still bad. They almost made me not want to go to sleep anymore. As I neared the door I smelled something wonderful. 'Waffles?' I almost stormed out the bedroom to the kitchen. Maggie was baking waffles, alright. She turned to me. "Easy girl, wash yourself first. Then you can have some breakfast." I hurried washing myself. I felt hungry. Soon I sat down at the table looking forward to the breakfast and I wasn't disappointed. Maggie put the plate on the table, just as Slick and Hound came into the cabin. My suspicion rose again, 'What have they been up to?' Hound smilingly greeted me, "Good morning Maren, Maggie? It's a beautiful morning after that big electrical storm that had its focal point in Montana, and it promises to stay this good today. We just looked at the car. After breakfast we're all set to go." My suspicion did subside somewhat, but still it continued to linger in the back of my head. I did trust Hound, but I also got the feeling he was hiding something from me. I dismissed the thought, because as a government agent he must have secrets that I was not privy to. Instead I dug into the waffles. They tasted even better than they smelled. I loved Maggie she was such a wonderful cook. 'I wish I could borrow some of that from her.' A copious breakfast later, I realized, 'I really need to restrain myself or I'll become a fat girl.' After cleaning up the dishes,, we all piled into the hybrid Electric-Bio diesel 4x4 that Maggie drove and set out for the Lemhi County Airport. We drove through rugged but beautiful terrain and I looked out of the window most of the time. Still, I kept glancing at the two FBI men. They were hiding something. It just kept on nagging in the back of my head. I reminded myself to be prepared for anything. I wouldn't be safe till I got home. Nothing happened during our drive, and soon we arrived at the airport. Slick showed his badge at the gate and we were allowed to drive straight to the tarmac. As we pulled up to an office, a private jet was coming in for a landing. I recognized the type, it was a Swift. The new conglomeration of Lockheed, Boeing and Scaled Composites had started producing this type only 5 years before. I didn't know the FBI had this kinds of planes available. If indeed this was the FBI plane, that is. Apparently it was. After saying goodbye to Maggie, Hound escorted me to the plane, while Slick talked to Maggie and gave her something. They were arguing a little about it, but I couldn't hear it anymore. The doors of the plane opened and two men with sunglasses got out. Immediately my suspicion spiked, 'Are they here to take me somewhere? Who are they?' Hound was surprised to see them, but said, "Maren would you go inside already? I need to talk to my colleagues here." Slick was approaching and showed a similar surprise, but Hound motioned to him and he took me into the plane. I found it suspicious and kept my guard up just in case there would be more surprises. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Hound was surprised to see his colleagues from the ASA. 'Why are they here?' Slick approached them after settling with Maggie and Hound motioned to him to take Maren into the plane. To his colleague Swift Blue he said, "What's going on? Why are you two here?" Swift smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, Hound. It has nothing to do with your case. We got send here because a local cop in Montana reported a breakout by two dangerous MORFS survivors. We are here to investigate and take appropriate actions. Since the plane was already going here, we hitched a ride and we'll rent a car here." Hound squinted his eyes. 'Why are there so many MORFS events happening here? Is it a coincidence?' "Ok Swift, I'll see you later then. I just find it a strange coincidence that all the things happen so close together." Swift nodded. "The commander said exactly the same thing. Well you'd better get going. He is waiting for your report on a secure channel." Hound nodded, "Right, well good luck with your mission." They shook hands and Hound quickly got on the plane, which took off for the flight to Georgia immediately after the door closed. ************************* Synergy Strangely, I found it reassuring seeing Hound get into the plane without the other agents. I noticed that Slick raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question to Hound. He smiled and said, "They just came here on the plane to catch a ride. Apparently there is something that needed investigating in Montana. It was merely a coincidence." He looked at Slick while saying it, but why did I get the impression that he said it to reassure me? Well it worked, I relaxed a bit more and leaned back in the quality seats in this luxuriously equipped plane. I was going home as a princess. I was hardly dressed like one though. Hound excused himself as he told me that he had to report to his superiors. I was still on my guard, but not that suspicious anymore. So I didn't worry when I saw him disappear into a closed off section and was left alone with Slick. He tried to get me to play a game with him, but my heart wasn't in it. I just thought about home and why I couldn't get them on the phone. ************************* ASA agents, Idaho Hound went into the closed off section with the secure video communication. He activated the equipment and accessed a secure channel to his superior. The commander himself appeared on the screen and asked, "Give me a general report and recommendation, please. The detailed report can wait till you get here." Hound nodded, "After following the tracks we discovered at the site, we got blown out of the sky by way of an EMP. My partner managed to make an emergency landing, from which we came out relatively unharmed, though the helicopter was a total loss. We proceeded to track the girl on foot and caught up with her. She turned out to be Maren Zo? Johns, the kidnap victim from Alabama. As you may know, she's an energy converter. She not only by her own admission was the source of the explosion inside the mountain, but she also fired the EMP pulse that killed our gear. Apparently she has a lot more potential and power available then we thought. But I recommend treating her with care. She isn't an immediate threat, she's afraid of using her power like that and only tried to defend herself. As for now I would like to take her to a familiar environment, meaning her family. I will recommend her debriefing to be done a little later by someone she knows and trusts. Also, I recommend having her treated by a psychologist. She's having violent nightmares and feels guilty about what she had to do to escape. I will give more details later in my final report." The commander squinted his eyes. "You're saying she blew up that mountain? It had the power of a nuclear explosion." Hound sighed, "Yes I know that. I've seen the destruction. I think she has a capacity that we didn't expect. I can ask her now, but my fear is that she'll clam up and see us as hostile. It is better to ask her later. Again, I emphasize that she doesn't like what she did and prefers not to use her power like that." The commander harrumphed, "Okay, I'll go by your recommendation. Thank you for your report. I'll see the details later. Take the girl home. By the way, we haven't been able to contact the family. Their number is disconnected and as it is Sunday and just after Spring Break in Savannah, we can't contact them by way of work, school or friends. Maybe the girl knows more leads to contact them. HQ out." The screen went blank and Hound switched off the equipment before going back to the main cabin to join Slick and Maren. ************************* Synergy I was looking out the window, watching the country fly by beneath us. It all looked so small but beautiful from up here. From the corner in my eyesight I saw a movement and quickly turned my head. It was Hound coming back from the closed off section. He smiled to me and went to the cockpit. Faintly I heard him say, "Our destination is Savannah Georgia." I cheered inside, I was going home. I felt a large burden slide away from my shoulders. But another anxiety presented itself. I hadn't been able to reach my Mom. 'What am I going to do?' Hound sat down next to me. "Maren, I talked to my boss and he said that the phone at your home was disconnected. Do you have any ideas?" I looked at him with anxiety showing on my face. "I don't know. Did they try the school, the dance school and such?" Hound nodded, "Yes and yes. It's Sunday, they are all closed." I was racking my brain. There was something else, but I couldn't think straight enough to get to it. I was becoming frantic now. I think it showed on my face, because Hound put his arm around me. "Don't worry too much Maren. We'll stay with you till we have found your family." I relaxed a little, but still stayed very tense and worried. We landed not too long after that and got into a cab towards home. It was eerily quiet around our apartment. I rang the bell, but there was no answer. I remembered that I had hidden a spare key in my tool shed on the roof. Franticly I ran up to the roof and opened the shed. It was bare! All my things had been taken out! 'What happened? Where are my things? Were they stolen?' I reached for the spare key in the hidden spot and it was still there. Hound had followed me up to the roof and saw the empty shed as I dashed out past him back to the apartment. With my heart beating in my throat I opened the door and saw an empty apartment. All the furniture and things were gone. Defeated, I went in and saw the door to my room standing wide open. My room was just as empty. 'Mom must have really thought I died. She moved away with Isabel.' Dejected, I leaned against the wall and sagged down while bursting into tears. End of part Nine, to be continued