control • theo raeken [1]

twenty-three. amplification and lie ability

Luna

"PLEASE REMEMBER TO FOLLOW visitor procedure," the nurse says as he opens the gate and let's people pass.  "Eichen House has a wide range of patients and we cannot guarantee the safety of those who deviate from the rules."

Malia, Kira, and I glimpse at each other when we walk past him unnoticed.  I fix the Mets ball cap Stiles let me use to hide my impressionable hair.  It's tucked into the cap as I wear it backwards to keep myself unsuspected.  The nurse gets to the front of the group and leads us inside the eery building.  As the rest of the people head towards the receptions desk, the three of us hurry over to the adjacent wall to hide as the visitors get checked in.  I stand in between Kira and Malia which almost makes me laugh because Malia's taller than me but Kira's shorter.  We wait there for a short few minutes for Malia's person on the inside to come distract the nurse up front, Schrader.  We hear a door open and a few gasps.

"Not again, Nelson," Schrader says before we hear someone running.  First, a naked kid runs past us and then Schrader does a couple of seconds later.  Hurriedly, we sneak around the corner and run back into the office

"It's natural," we hear Nelson say.

The nurse replies, "So is fifty thousand volts."  What follows is electric crackling and Nelson screaming.  We walk inside the office and sure enough right behind it is the electrical room.  Kira enters the room first, followed by me, and then Malia who shuts and locks the door behind her.

Kira looks around before looking at Malia and I excitedly, "We're in.  We did it."

"Don't get too excited.  Getting out's the hard part," Malia states, pulling out her phone.  "Twelve minutes." She heads straight for the large cable box on the wall and rips the door open.  "Okay, Kira.  You can do this.  Eleven minutes."

Kira steps toward the box full of wires and studies it.  She looks over the piece of paper Stiles had given to her to find the wires she was supposed to touch.

"I think it's these," Kira points to two black wires.  "But they're covered in rubber."  Malia looks around for something to use as Kira looks inside the cable box.  Malia walks over to the desk in the corner of the room and grabs something from the pencil cup.  I only catch the glimmer of the metal scissors when she's about to cut into the rubbered wires.  Luckily, Kira's able to stop her.  "You want to electrocute yourself?"

"I'll heal," Malia shrugs.

Kira takes the scissors away, "Not if you die."

Malia scrunches her face together up in distaste as she thinks of another solution.  When she does, she flicks her claws out making Kira and I both widen our eyes.  She claws open the wires and her claws come back blackened.

She holds them up and says, "I didn't die."  Kira and I give each other incredulous looks before giving them to Malia.  Kira nods and Malia pulls out her phone.  "Four minutes."

Kira sighs and stares up at the wires.

I step up beside her, "Don't worry too much about it alright, Kira?  Just focus and it'll come to you."  She nods but I can tell she doesn't believe me.

"I can smell how nervous you are," Malia says.

"Not helping," Kira responds.  I send Malia a look.

"Okay," Malia steps into Kira's peripheral vision.  "You can do this.  It's just like we practiced."

"You mean like when I caused a major blackout?"

"Not like that, no."  Malia steps away with her phone out.

"Just focus, Kira.  I know you can do this," I encourage.