To Know

Chapter 15

"Got a surprising amount done today!" John said. He had a light blue phone in one hand and a drink in the other with a brown paper bag over his elbow. Seraphina, who walked along side him, had her own drink in hand as well as a paper bag on her elbow. "Finally, a new phone!"

"Can't believe you hadn't replaced your old one yet. Trying to contact you was such a pain."

She wore a pink tank top that was tucked into her blue jeans. A grey sweatshirt was tied around her waist.

"Okay, my bad," John replied. He wore a green sweatshirt that was cut-off just below the elbow and black trousers. "But I got it, didn't I?"

Her eyes caught on an empty area of the mall.

"Something wrong?" John asked.

"There." By a red vending machine against a bare wall was a low-lying bench with white metal and dark wood as the seat. "That's where this whole thing stared. The ability gauge... Figures, he's gone." She let out a sigh. "A bit of me hoped to find him here, so I could finally get some answers. What did they do to me? Are these effects reversible?"

"It's too bd that they got away that night," John said, "I wanted to give them a piece of my mind."

"No use dwelling on it." She turned away from their original route and headed towards the bench. "It's only gonna frustrate us more."

They sat down on the bench. "So authorities haven't gotten back to you, huh?"

"Nope, they keep telling me they're 'working on it'." She placed her hand on her forehead to hold it. "Ugh, my memory from that incident is completely jumbled! All I remember is getting jumped by a bunch of mid-tiers." She leant her head against the wall, hands falling to her lap. "Lame. Even my old empowered self was barely able to escape."

"Hey, it isn't you," John replied to her. "The invaders had nothing special about them either yet Arlo and Elaine still had trouble stopping them."

"... against two high-tiers and an elite and they still got away."

John eyed her. "You were unconscious."

"I know."

John continued on, ignoring it. "With an ability-disabler drug on top of a power-dampener, anything is possible." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Abilities became irrelevant. Anyone could take down anyone."

"I'm curious where they got this drug from. Something this ground-breaking couldn't have appeared overnight. TO be able to develop something like this, they'd need a dedicated team of specialists. Not only that, they need test subjects, times and an incredible amount of funding. A small group of mid-tiers couldn't possibly pull this off. There must be someone powerful backing them."

"Hm."

She took a sip of her drink through the straw. "To be honest, you three should've just let them kidnap me. I'd probably have the answer by now."

"Uhhh, NO, WTF?" John exclaimed. "Don't joke like that!"

"Hm. Maybe I should speak with Remi. She also have an encounter at this booth, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And she almost blew up half the mall trying to chase them down." John gave her a weary look. "It's possible she knows something we don't."

In the morning, Seraphina knocked on a door in the girl's dormitory. Remi ending the door open towards her.

"Morning," she greeted.

"Seraphina?" she said. "What brings you here? Is there something I can help you with?"

Thankfully, the bags under her eyes were mostly gone.