HERO

50 / Now You See Me

Teleportation is the moving of matter from one location to another instantaneously. It doesn't involve running or flying or any sort of movement. The subject disappears from one point and reappears in the other.

Science fiction books and films would have you believe you a machine, whether or pod or pad, can fizzle you out and fazzle you back in with not even a hair out of place. They're wrong. There is no machine, unless you're talking about the realm of quantum mechanics, but that subatomic world is a far cry from being 'beamed up'.

No. Teleportation is far different. A marker is needed, for one. Familiarity, another. Unless you're as adept as Mand, never Amanda. She came into her powers on the morning of her eight birthday and, until she had them under control, found it difficult remain in one place for more than a few moments. It was exhausting for both her and her parents, but she persevered and improved. Mand no longer needed a marker. She could just jump, and she could take someone along for the ride.

And this was the main reason teleportation was so different from popular stories. The ride.

While the experience was, to be fair, instantaneous, in that within the same second you were at your new location, it felt so much longer. It felt, for an eternal heartbeat, as if you were in both places at the same time. Not, however, two versions of you. Just one. Stretched through space to the point you thought your very cells splitting. It was like giving birth, in a way. It was a pain quickly forgotten. One that left no trace of the way it had burned every atom. One that erased the sensation of the universe riding you like you were the main highway into town and it was rush hour.

As such, you had no fears of being teleported. You didn't mind. You didn't know, until the journey took place, that you would be extinguished and reborn. A Phoenix without the ash or the gloriously golden plumage.

Thomas had cowered when he saw the gun being aimed at him. His arms went up to cover his head and he started to crouch. He flinched when Mand had taken his arm, thinking it was the impact of the bullet or other projectile the weapon might fire at him.

"You can put your arms down now."

Thomas straightened and looked around. He was standing with Mand and Eddie in the original meeting room. They could hear the sounds from further away, but it didn't seem to be closing in on them yet.

"Why are we here?" Thomas asked, keeping his hands slightly up, sure their ordeal wasn't over. "Couldn't you take us further away?"

"We're not there," said Mand. Her voice was strained, as if she'd overexerted herself and needed a long breath and a cold drink. "It's not so easy to take me and both of you. Shorter jumps."

"The leader of the Spotters is Alex's dad?" Thomas exclaimed. He thought he had parental issues. He wasn't the only one, he realised.

"It looks that way," said Eddie, wiping tears from his cheeks. "And the bastard kill..."

He couldn't finish the sentence. The words were too heavy for his young voice to carry. He sniffed and coughed, trying to calm himself."

They stood in silence, staring at each other's feet to avoid eye contact. Thomas had only known Alex for a short time but the chameleon had made an impact, along with Eddie. They'd accepted him even given his notoriety. He was one of them as soon as they'd met him. He wanted to do the same as Eddie. Cry. Sniff. Yell, even, but he knew he couldn't. They had to get out of there, regardless of what had just happened.

"How do you think they found us?" Thomas asked, not knowing if either of the others could answer through their grief and shock.

"Oscar, maybe?" Mand offered shakily, but she shook her head immediately after suggesting it. "No, he wouldn't do it. Not to us."

"Or to his business," Thomas said cuttingly.

"Hey, he took you in," Mand said through teeth clenched as tightly as her fists. "He took all of us in. He didn't have to do that."

"Besides," Eddie said. "The Spotters would have known about him and us anyway. Oscar couldn't have carried on for so long if they didn't. He'd have been shut down ages ago."

"Yeah," Mand agreed. "Probably easier to have us all in one go."

"If only those potions Oscar gave me worked. I could help!"

Mand shook her head.

"Better you didn't. If they had, you'd have to get used to whatever they did to you. Could have ended up making things worse."

"But maybe not. Maybe..."

"You do know where they came from, right?" Eddie asked, making it clear the obvious answer was 'yes'.

Thomas shook his head. He hadn't questioned what The Fixer was giving him, taking the man at his word. Why would he lie? Well, he could have taking the money and given poison to ensure the buyer didn't return to complain, but he couldn't have built up the business he had with that method. No, they were the genuine article, even if they hadn't worked.

"Didn't you think to ask?"

"No, why would I? Why is it a big deal?"

"Because they came from your dad!"

"My dad? What do you mean? What's he got to do with this?"

"Oscar send us out for things, right? When he was after those vials, he sent us to your dad's. Well, I guess yours' too."

"Why did my dad have them? He never spoke about them, or tried them on me."

Thomas's confusion was clear. If his father had been in possession of those potions, why had he never given them to his own son before? Why hadn't he tried them out? The abuse and fear and feelings of just not belonging could have been avoided.

As would have been The Spot, something his father had given Thomas up for willingly. Had Thomas's request for the vials, and their subsequent theft, prompted Iain to hand the boy over to the television show? Had Thomas sealed his own fate by visiting Oscar in the first place?

"Guys, this isn't the time. We need to leave."

Mand interrupted the tense discussion hesitantly, but she had no choice. She could hear movement further along the corridor. The sounds of a fight, and the related screams, had quietened, so the Spotters must be searching the rest of the lair.

With an effort, Thomas turned away from Eddie.

"Can you get us out of here?"

"Maybe," Mand nodded, "but it'd have to be one at a time."

"But what if we don't have time for that?"

"Then you should have had your conversation somewhere else. It's that or I leave you both here."

"I'm sorry," Thomas said, his shoulders slumping. "Take Eddie first."

Eddie started to protest, but Thomas shook his head.

"I should be dead by now. I would be if it wasn't for you"

"I'll take the Nomad."

Mand's lips hadn't moved. The voice hadn't been hers. The trio turned slowly, expecting David's head to be sticking out of the trapdoor. It was still shut, but against the far wall, the one that had been a door but was no longer, stood another figure.

Bren.