FUTURITY

MIND OVER MIND

Smoke submerged the city in a grey haze, with people running, screaming, and pushing to escape. The massive blow to Jason's senses locked hi/s body in place. He gaped, unsure of what to do.

 BOOM!

The ground rocked and sent Jason to his knees. Above him, the UN building smoked. Its windows lay shattered, and some of the flagpoles that lined the front lay crumpled on the ground. Between two flags, a woman with disheveled red hair and a smudged business dress suit struggled to drag an unconscious man from under one of the poles. She strained, but the man wouldn't budge. Dirt and tears streaked her face.

"Someone help! Please!" She screamed. Then her eyes locked on Jason. "Hey! Please, before they come back!"

Jason frowned. Did she mean Ian Isaacs and his team? "What—"

"Help me!" She screamed, hysteria fringing on the edges of her voice. She swore and tried to yank the limp man's frame free.

Jason raised his hands and felt the cold, dusty surface of the flag pole. He lifted it a few inches into the air with one hand, while pulling the man from under it with the other. The pole crunched back onto the concrete. The woman fell back. She sat up and gaped at Jason.

"How did you—"

But the man moaned and struggled to sit up. "What happened?"

"We gotta go, Ryan!" The woman helped him to his feet and supported him as they limp away. Her confused eyes cut Jason as she passed. 

"Thank you," she said over their shoulders. And the duo disappeared in the mirk.

Jason forced himself to look away and begin to search for Rachel and Samuel. Where were Leon and Jude? A surge of panic rocketed down his stomach, and he glanced around him. He scanned the shadows, screaming figures, and flames.

He caught sight of a flash of golden hair in an alley. Rachel hung suspended with Ian below her. She clawed at her throat as if she couldn't breathe, kicking at the air.

"Rachel!" Jason yelled as he ran toward her. He mentally threw Ian against the back wall of the building. Rachel fell from Ian's grip.

"You okay?" Jason knelt beside Rachel.

"I'm fine," Rachel said between coughs. She got to her feet. "Thank you."

BOOM!

A mental hand gripped Jason and flung him into the air. He flew out of the alley, flipped, and landed on top of a car. The windshield gave under his weight and glass bored into his back. He gasped in pain. His world spun, and Jason struggled to stay awake. Time slowed for him.

In the distance, he finally caught sight of Leon and Jude fighting the girl and tall man Jason had seen at ANO.  Electricity leaped from the girl's hands, and the man threw balls of heat. Through the mirk, near the UN building, Jason saw Force. The German formed a green force-field, and it burst. The shockwave hit the building with such force that it shook.

Slender hands grabbed Jason by the collar and pulled him to his feet. Rachel looked into his face.

"Come on, Jason," she said. "I don't know where Ian is—" Rachel was flung into the air and slammed into a cab. 

Ian flew over, lifted Jason into the air, and pulled him toward Ian's waiting hand. Jason pushed against Ian's mental grip with all his might. He stopped suspended, caught between his mind power and Ian's. He couldn't die this way. He just couldn't.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Rachel get to her feet and throw a fireball right into Ian. An explosion shocked the air above, and Jason and Ian both fell. Jason landed on his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth and got to his feet. Ian lay a few feet away, groaning. In the distance, sirens whirred, closer with each second. Jason stumbled toward Ian and raised his hands.

Other peoples' thoughts, images, and sensations slammed into Jason's mind. Oh no. Another mental attack had begun.

Jason put a hand to his head and winced. These emotions felt different, more harsh—stark. He staggered. Fear. The thoughts were rank with terror—the terror of the New Yorkers around him. Jason couldn't stand under the burden and fell to his knees.

"Is it the voices, Jason?" Ian pulled himself up and looked down at Jason, with eyes narrowed. He smiled. "Daniels told me that according to the computer's findings, you'd probably suffer from hearing other peoples' thoughts until you learned to control it." Jason moaned, barely hearing Ian's voice through the crowd in his mind.

"It's your fault, you know," Ian said as he knelt at Jason's level.

"You betrayed your friends to ANO."

"But I—" Jason fell onto his side, his mind overrun.

"I had a vision that we were back in Colorado. I grabbed you just as your friend, Jude, teleported. We all appeared in New Mexico, and I found where you were hiding," Ian said.

Jason remembered having a dream similar to that the night everything fell apart. But he said nothing. He only had the strength to listen.

"Your mind must have accidentally connected to mine since the dream was about me. It's your fault it had to end this way," Ian said, a look of pity on his face. "I'm sorry it has to. It wasn't what I wanted."

An idea began to form in Jason's brain. He'd done it once when he'd heard Force and Ian's conversation in his mind. What if he could do it again?

He drove the roaring thoughts toward Ian. Jason locked eyes with him and pushed with all the strength he had left. Ian stiffened and put a hand to his head.

"What are you doing?" Ian gasped.

"Sharing the love," Jason said, and then raised his hand. Ian flew back, and Jason struggled to his feet. He saw Rachel still lying on her side a few yards away.

Ian jumped up and raised his hands. An invisible force shoved Jason. Jason pushed back and jammed the barrage of thoughts into Ian's head.

Ian began to scream.

Jason shouted and gave another shove.

Ian crumpled under the dual mental attack and sailed backward. He slammed into a broken building. Ian's pressure was suddenly gone and Jason fell. Jason landed on his back, and the glass shards bore farther into his flesh. He gasped; tears streamed down his face.

Jason pulled himself up and stumbled toward Ian. The man's eyes were closed, and a crimson line of blood dripped out of his mouth. 

Had he just killed someone? Bile rose in his throat, and he struggled to breathe. Overwhelmed by the mental attack and his own grief at what he'd done, Jason turned and stumbled toward Rachel.

The ground shook again, forcing Jason to lean on a destroyed taxi car. Groaning, Jason looked up, and his innards tightened into a knot. 

Force.