GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

VI

Lena has no one in this City. More accurately speaking, she is without her memories, so even if she does have connections, she wouldn't be able to recall them. In fact, she's as good a stranger to herself.

Hence she isn't foolish enough to fight her way out when Arius called her arrest, however startling that is. She doesn't so much as argue. After being suspended on the broken Aerotrain for so long, all Lena wants is to go back down to the ground as soon as possible. Surely this is all a misunderstanding—she's just an innocent bystander caught in a demon attack—and everything will be smoothed out eventually.

What she doesn't expect however, is that she's literally being arrested—as in, her safety comes only after her hands are cuffed with a pair of metal bands. They look harmless, each being on her wrist like nothing more than a dull decorative metal bangle, but the moment they snap close around her hands, Lena feels something drain out from inside of her. A dread settles in place of it as she realizes what these are for—to take out her abilities.

Despite herself, she instinctively snaps her arms away from the professional Catalysts. Unable to control her panic, she demands, "What did you do to me?"

Illeanna seems to struggle for an answer, her face betraying her true emotions, but Arius cuts in, "Please refrain from struggling. Otherwise, I may have to take it as an act of opposing our orders and will have no choice but to detain you for real."

It takes all of Lena's control to stop herself from fighting out of their grips—and whatever this is that is making her captive despite being physically free. She takes Arius' words into consideration, mulling over them as rationally as she can in her empty state as she stands on the floating cloud that is surprisingly sturdy. They aren't arresting her, not really. But if she does do something stupid like fight them, then it'll be over for her. Right now, she just needs to comply.

Perhaps this is a normal procedure, Lena thinks as the cloud shifts over to the other end of the broken train, reaching Neesha and Roen. The two students come out to the open gap when Arius similarly announces for them as if he already knows they are the only ones remaining—the only ones who were left behind, not rescued by the hovercrafts. Their rescue comes instead in a form of arrest.

Sure enough, two more pairs of the eerie technology that suppresses their abilities are clamped over Neesha's and Roen's wrists. They pale, exchanging a glance with one another, obviously affected by this like Lena is. Lena feels somewhat grateful for their presence—and for them to be in a similar predicament such as hers so she isn't alone in this—but even she wouldn't wish this strange device on her worst enemy. A device that can take away one's abilities in a city defined by superpowers? It's almost as if the ones in charge of these are trying to tell everyone that they are in control. That no matter how strong your abilities are, a single arrest will render you utterly powerless.

Lena's frantic thoughts and very negative opinions about this invention are interrupted as Arius demands, "Quickly, now. We'll have to question Caelus, too."

"We're not going anywhere," Roen says defiantly, as if on behalf of Caelus. His blond hair is disheveled from all that has occurred, but his green eyes glint with a different sort of fire entirely. "He's right there—"

Neesha elbows him. "You're only going to make things worse," she hastily whispers—Lena overhearing because of the proximity—before forcing a smile at the Catalysts. "What he means is that we will be compliant, of course."

But Arius is hardly paying attention, reporting in on his receiver whilst pulling out a small rectangular device. It extends into a blue screen, where Lena can see some charts in reverse through the bottom of the see through pane. The professional Catalyst eyes her in warning when she tilts her head too obviously, but doesn't say a word.