Narrator-

Meanwhile, at the command center, scientists were scurrying all over the place, looking over every single detail that led up to the final serums malfunctioning. Mathematicians and doctors were working head-to-head, scouting, and searching the world's population, looking for the next batch of Test Subjects.

"We have looked at every single detail in the experiment and yet, there are no red flags or indicators to conclude what could've possibly happened." Stated Vivian as she rushed to keep up with Archer's long strides.

"How many times have they gone over the details?" questioned Archer as he made his way to his office.

His arms were clasped behind his back in a serene manner, his signature scowl resting onto his facial features, his eyes fixed forward, and his stance tall and intimidating, as his towering figure waltzed smoothly down the long white hallway, with his perky yet reliable assistant in tow. He was silently prepping himself to face the Warlord, and explain how once again, his experiment has failed.

"Three times already sir. They can't find anything out of the ordinary." Confirmed Vivian, as she flipped through the contents on her clipboard once more.

"Ah yes, except for the fact that we have four unexplained creatures in quadrant Dina! Have them review the details AGAIN!" ordered Archer, before he walked into his office, slamming the door shut behind him.

Vivian blinked at the closed door, then sighed as she slumped her shoulders for a second. She took a soft breath, shook her head, then she pulled her shoulders back, erecting her spine, pulled on her stern face, and headed back to the command center.

Once Archer was sure Vivian was gone, he held off on calling the Warlord, and instead decided to call one of the staff members who seem more than eager to help him ease his stress.

When Vivian arrived at the command, she found everyone huddled around the lab's main television.

"What is the meaning of this?" she boomed, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow, and placing a hand on her hip, as she waited for an explanation.

"Ms. Vivian?" spoke one of the scientists, a tall man with short black curly hair, "you have to see this." He stated, ushering Vivian to the looped videotape that played on the screen.

At first, Vivian saw nothing out of the norm, and she was ready to boss them back to work, when it happened right before her eyes. Seconds turned into minutes of captured unexplainable phenomenon on the television screen. Vivian's mouth ran dry, her eyes widening. She watched the video a second and third time, making sure she wasn't imagining what she saw. When she was sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she bolted in quick yet somehow controlled steps back to Archer's office.

Vivian's heels clacked on the shiny white ceramic floor, sending a rhythmic but eerie echo to bounce off the white walls of the cold, wide and empty hallway illuminated by white fluorescent lights.

When she finally arrived at his door, she took a second to control her breathing, then she said a silent prayer before she knocked on the door.

When she didn't receive a reply, she knocked again, and yet, she received nothing. So, with a sigh, and another silent prayer, she opened the door.

"Dr. Archer-" said Vivian pausing on instant, as she took notice of the picture in front of her.

Melissa, one of the pharmacists, was scurrying to button her blouse. Her hair was disheveled, her lipstick faded and smeared, and an embarrassed tinge of rouge sat on her cheeks.

Vivian simply blinked at the scene, but otherwise showed no emotion.

"What?" urged the Head Scientist in a sharp tone. Slightly irritated at the uninvited interruption from his pesky assistant. He didn't even bother to fix his messy clothes, at least not until Vivian spoke her next words.

"You need to come with me, there's something you have to see. Now." Explained Vivian in a tone laced with subtle excitement.

Archer rose a curious eyebrow. He doesn't think he's ever seen this much excitement from Vivian, which made him more encouraged to follow her.

The Head Scientist leaned over the screen, his eyes observing the video of the Test Subjects in quadrant Exa, as their powers manifested, until the cameras were shut off.

Everyone stood still around the silent doctor. The bodies occupying the central room eagerly holding their breaths. Even Vivian was apprehensive of his reaction. It was the quiet before the storm. Archer was a ticking time bomb, and when he exploded, boy was there a major mess to clean up.

"Mmh-hmm" hummed Archer as he straightened his back, and everyone froze.

The domineering doctor turned and faced the pale-faced crowd awaiting his wrath. For a while he was silent. His face held a pensive notion, but no one dared to make a sound.

After a moment of silence, Archer chuckled, and everyone trembled in their shoes. He was angry. And they knew it.

"Who were the four scientists in charge of creating the serums for our four quadrants?" asked Archer quizzically. He already knew who they were, and he could see the life draining from their faces, but he was going to make them walk the plank. He wasn't going to be the one to throw them overboard.

Archer was calm, too calm. In fact, he was so calm, that just as he expected, no one dared to move, some even avoided blinking.

He smiled a dashing grin, and opened his arms in an inviting manner, "come on, there's no need to be shy. Step forward, take responsibility for your actions. I won't bite." He encouraged, as his four victims began to ease themselves forward.

Melissa, Arthur, Mark, and Erika found themselves standing in a line in front of the Head Scientist. Their heads were down, as though they were children about to be seriously scolded. Their palms became sweaty at the silent anticipation, their hearts raced and thumped in their chest, awaiting his verdict.

The Head Scientist gazed over the four trembling humans who didn't dare to look him in the eye.

Melissa chanced a look at him, but he could see the fear drowning her.

He beckoned one of the armed guards over and took hold of his handgun. The Head Scientist held the gun comfortably in his hand, as he leaned back against the desk behind him.

Arthur, an older gentleman, who already saw how quick the situation was going south, gasped, his mouth parting, as his lower lip began to tremble, and he stuttered out nervous pants.

Archer looked over at him and smiled, as he cocked the gun.

"Is there something you would like to say?" teased Archer, knowing that his eyes alone made the man fear him.

Arthur acknowledging the glance shook his head frantically "no. NO!" he screamed as he turned and ran towards the nearest exit.

The other staff members that had surrounded the spectacle, parted like the red sea, as the older gentleman attempted to flee, but seconds later, his body plummeted to the floor, a pool of bright red blood staining the clean, cold white tiles beneath his head.

Melissa tried to keep herself from flinching as the ringing of the bullet resonated in her ears.

Archer sighed almost contentedly, handing the gun back to one of his personal robots, then he faced the remaining scientists that were still unsure of whether they were going to live to see the next second.

"Now, I have kept my patience with all of you from the first experiment where everyone instantly died, till now, where we have four unexplained creatures in Dina, and mutant humans in Exa. You see I am as nice as they come, but I have a very short fuse, so I don't care how you do it, you all have better found a reason why this has gone wrong, and God help you if you don't have a solution for this dilemma within the next 24 hours." Stated Archer, his playful demeanor gone and replaced by a dark eyed man, who was ready to wipe out every last person that stood before him.

With that announcement, Archer walked straight for the exit, his minions paving the way, none of them daring to look any higher than his shoelaces.

A few hours later, back in quadrant Exa, after all the Test Subjects had calmed down, and no one else experienced any bizarre symptoms, their bodies shut down, causing everyone to slip into a deep sleep.

Adina found herself in a very comfortable and sweet slumber. She could not remember when the last time was that she slept so well.

The hard metal chair slipped from beneath her body, while her mind drifted into the unconscious. Adina felt at peace, as light as feather, almost as though she was floating, sleeping on air.

"Should we wake her up?" She heard what resembled Matthew's voice echo through her ears.

"Isn't there something against waking people in that state?" She heard one of the twins question.

"She's not sleepwalking you idiot, she's floating." Sneered Lauren, she was sure of it.

This wasn't part of a dream, thought Adina, the voices sounded all too real.

"Well we can't leave her up there." Stated Matthew.

"He's right. I'll spot her, you guys wake her up, and if she begins to fall, I'll catch her." She heard Jackson say.

Now Adina was really freaking out. She wanted to wake up.

She wanted to open her eyes, except she couldn't.

She tried to, but her eyelids wouldn't budge. She was blinded and there was nothing she could do about it.

The cold metal chair was literally non-existent beneath her, and her limbs felt weightless and worthless. She began to panic as she struggled to breathe. Her chest felt heavy, constricted, her throat dry, her airway clogged, her nose congested.

"Guys she's shaking! Why is she shaking?" She registered Matthew's uneasy expression.

"Oh shit! Guys wake her up!" She then heard Jackson's voice a few feet away.

"How?" Asked Khiran.

"I don't know, hit her with an ice ball or something." Suggested Jackson.

"What?! Are you crazy? I'm not going to do that in order to entertain whatever freak show your boss is running here!" Argued Khiran.

"You seriously want to jump start this argument right now? Specifically, the moment she's floating that high off the ground?" Jackson retorted.

"Damn right I do!" Was how Khiran responded.

"Well that's a tad bit inconsiderate don't you think?" Stated Jackson in a mock sarcasm pitch.

"Well I could care less about that. I don't give a shi..."

Suddenly the arguing voices faded from Adina's ringing ears, and instead the noise was replaced by an echo that seem to call out her name.

"Adina? Adina." She heard the soft voice in her head, "you need to wake up." Cooed the voice, with an unmistakable accent.

The accent! It was Valerie.

"Wake up!" urged Valerie, and on instant, Adina's eyes snapped open.

Adina found herself a breath away from the quadrant's ceiling, right before her stomach dropped, and her body went plummeting to the ground.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" screamed Adina, her arms and legs flailing wildly, her eye shut tight, tears forming beneath her sealed eyelids.

This was it.

She was going to die. Splattered on the lab grounds like a ripe watermelon.

"Shit!" Cursed Jackson, as his feet began to scurry towards the plunging body.

There was no way he was going to make it to her in time, but then just like that, in the blink of an eye, Jackson found himself, exactly where Adina was to fall, and not a moment too soon, because just as he appeared, Adina fell with a grunt into his open arms.

Adina breathed heavy; her eyes still shut. She was expecting a bit more pain than this. Unless... was she already dead? Did she go so quickly on impact that she didn't feel a thing?

"Hey..." she felt someone breathe softly against her chest.

Her legs were dangling off something warm, the side of her chest and body posed against something that was moving with every breath, and she could feel a heart beating softly underneath her breaths.

She now realized that her arms were around a frame, and her head was cocooned under a crook that was warm.

Wha-

"Open your eyes, you're okay." Spoke the same voice softly and silently.

What in the heavens? Thought Adina as she opened her eyes.

She was met with the shocked and bewildered expressions of everyone from the quadrant except for Jackson... where was Jackson?

"Adina?" she heard his voice above her head, and she felt his words vibrate and resonate against the wall of his chest, which she was currently pressing against.

As the situation finally clicked in her mind, Adina's eyes widened as she practically jumped out of Jackson's arms.

"YOU?!" turned Adina accusingly, as she faced Jackson.

As she turned, she couldn't control the surge of shock and anger that traveled through her, and just like that she sent Jackson flying across the quadrant.

His body crashed against the glass wall of the quadrant before falling to the ground unconscious.

"Jesus!" Exclaimed Khiran, his eyes wide, as he stared between a still Adina, and a barely breathing Jackson.

"Adina what the heck?" Stated Matthew as he sent Adina an accusing look and made his way to Jackson.

Lauren headed towards Jackson. For some reason, she felt his body calling out to her for help, before she could control herself, she kneeled before Jackson, placing a hand on his chest. She felt a surge and a tingle travel from her chest, down her extended arm, and into Jackson, and in a split second, Jackson dragged in a deep intake of air, before he coughed violently.

It took a second for Jackson to fully regain himself, and when he did, his eyes turned directly to Adina, while Matthew helped him off the ground.

Adina's hands were shaking as she approached Jackson, tears of shock and stress filling the wells of her lower eyelids. She didn't know why she reacted that way, and she sure as heck did not mean to hurt him.

Jackson took a step back in apprehension, and Adina stopped in her tracks.

"Jackson I-I-I I am soo sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I have no idea what or how it happened. I swear, I would never do anything like that unintentionally." Apologized Adina, her eyes wide with fear, and uncertainty.

"Okay, its okay. I'm fine." Said Jackson, then he turned to Lauren and he added "thank you."

"Whatever." Was how Lauren replied, as she remained preoccupied on checking out her nails.

Jackson looked back at Adina; whose cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were down, out of fear of staring back at the accusing eyes of her fellow quadrant members.

Jackson approached her, and placed a hand on her shoulder carefully, as he reassured her, "I'm fine. Really, don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault."

Adina looked up at him and wiped her tears as she sniffled and said "okay."

Then she nodded, just as Valerie came up to her and grabbed her hand. Adina squeezed it reassuringly, and everyone took a breath.

"Well then... I think it's time we had a talk about actually getting out of here, or else we might all just end up killing each other." Proposed Jackson, as he tried to clear the deadly and tense atmosphere around them.

"I think for the first time, you've actually said something I can agree with." Was Khairo's smug reply, and Jackson shook his head, as he decided against replying.

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Hello loves! 

Here is chapter 7! 

Don't forget to let me know what you think by VOTING, COMMENTING, AND SHARING! 

Lots of ❤❤❤

-Tania.