[OLD] The Supers Experiment (#1)

Fifteen

The sun drifted into the western sky as Claire and the others walked back through town. They'd run pretty far to get away from Scorpion, almost back to the laboratories. As they passed the street with Ivy's old house, Claire felt a pang of guilt.

Scorpion had Ivy.

They paused for a break, and Claire swore she heard footsteps even after everyone had stopped walking. It must have been her imagination.

Unless they weren't alone.

"What are we going to do?" Spencer asked, breaking the silence.

"We have to rescue Ivy," Claire said. Everyone turned to look at her.

"How?" Summer asked. "It's one thing to fight Scorpion outside their base, but taking the fight to them? They outnumber us. We wouldn't even get inside."

"It's not just Ivy we have to worry about," Spencer reminded them. "Ivy has the list of Supers with her. If Scorpion gets their hands on it..."

"We wouldn't stand a chance," Claire finished. "We need to do something."

"I wonder what they want with Ivy, anyway," Summer said. "Ash seemed pretty set on capturing her, specifically. It sounded like Claudia wanted something with her."

Claire looked over at Summer and felt a surge of emotion wash over her. Anger, sadness... loss? Was this coming from Summer? Claire was tempted to see what she was thinking, but she pushed aside the thought and turned her focus back to Spencer.

"Well, we need a plan," Spencer said. "For starters, we should probably head back to the Fortuna. Dr. Newman needs to know what happened."

Claire groaned at the thought. Going to Cladis had seemed like such a great idea when they were planning it, but now she felt stupid.

"We'll be in huge trouble," Summer said with a sigh, echoing Claire's thoughts. "But we can rest up, get our strength back, and figure out what to do next."

Spencer nodded. "We'll probably get our dessert privileges taken away, too."

Summer rolled her eyes. "With all that's happened, do you really care about a scoop of ice cream and burnt cookies?" Before Spencer could answer, Summer added, "Come on, let's get moving."

The group continued in the direction of their car. They had barely reached the edge of town when Summer let out an exasperated sigh. "What is that sound?" she asked.

Claire stopped to listen and heard it again. The footsteps. "You guys hear that too?" she asked. The others nodded.

"Claire," Spencer said quietly. "Can you hear any thoughts? Is someone nearby?"

Frowning, Claire mentally reached out, trying to sense the mind of whatever was making the sound. She could sense the others, and was barely able to fight back the jumble of thoughts that threatened to mix with hers. But besides that...

"I can't find anything but you guys," Claire said. She focused harder, trying to extend her reach. "Wait."

Then she found it, another mind. But it was too much too handle. Whoever it was, their thoughts spilled into her head. Claire gasped and tried to push them away. It took her a moment to realize the thoughts weren't words, but feelings.

"I can't tell what they're thinking, but I can feel something," Claire said, looking over at the others.

"Anger? Aggression?" Summer asked.

Claire shook her head. "It's... curiosity?" She was losing strength, and it was getting harder to keep out the group's thoughts in addition to whoever she was sensing. She relaxed and let go of the mind. "It think they're getting closer. We should probably go."