[OLD PREVIEW] The Zodiac Operation (#4)

One

Things were the way they'd been back at the beginning of this whole mess: Ivy was alone in a building of other teenagers, unable to control her powers.

Well, unable to use them at all, now.

And this wasn't a boarding school, it was a goddamn juvenile detention center. Ivy looked up from her lunch and met the eyes of the SCI agent assigned to her. He was dressed like the detention center guards to avoid drawing attention from other kids, but Ivy recognized him. Plus, although he stayed at a distance, he followed her everywhere.

He'd been following her for a month. An entire month. She'd been arrested June 28. She'd been a prisoner the whole month of July. Now it was August 1, and she had no answers about what had happened to her friends, if they were even alive.

At least they'd given her back her belongings. She wasn't exactly sure what the necklace Dr. Newman had given her was, but it had to be important. And while most of her clothes had been given to her, seeing as how the rest were at the bottom of the ocean somewhere, Ivy still had what she'd worn the day the ship sank, including her red jacket.

Ivy set her lunch tray down at an empty table and slid onto the bench. She scooped up a bite of whatever the hell the cafeteria workers had given her and glanced up at the television screen.

"The tech company Aquarius has been working with the government agency SCI to develop methods of containing powered kids," a news reporter droned on. "Multiple options are being explored..."

Ivy narrowed her eyes. Why was Aquarius—and by extension, Zodiac—helping SCI? What did Andrew Hale have to gain from it?

Money seemed the most likely reason. With the government funding them, who knew what Zodiac would be able to accomplish?

Ivy slid her food into her mouth and immediately spat it back out. Not because it was gross, but because it was hot.

She'd burned her tongue.

Burned it. That wasn't supposed to be possible. She was immune to heat. But with her powers suppressed...

Ivy sighed. She'd considered the possibility of escaping a thousand times before, but without her abilities, she didn't stand a chance. And she knew for a fact the SCI agent monitoring her had a shock gun. Ivy didn't want to experience the pain of a shocker without her electrokinesis.

"Excuse me, you're Ivy Ackerman, right?"

Ivy looked up, surprised to see a boy about her age addressing her. The other kids at the detention center had avoided her for the most part. She supposed they were afraid of her, even though she couldn't use her powers.

Two other boys, probably friends of the first, stood behind him, snickering. Ivy narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering what I have to do to get super powers," the first boy said.

Ivy stood up, taking the boy by surprise. He hadn't seemed to realize she was a few inches taller than him. His amused expression quickly became fearful as Ivy leaned in.

"You want powers? It's easy. Just have your entire family die in an accident caused by scientists who will spend the rest of your life trying to exploit your powers."

"I—"

"Now if you'll excuse me," Ivy shot a glare at the other two boys, who were backing away. "I have to go."

She didn't bother grabbing her tray. She crossed cafeteria quickly, drawing the attention of several guards.

"Where are you going?" the nearest guard asked as she approached the door.