Only succeeding in moving him to the roof of the next building, Jason and Kamille carried Optic as far as they could. Tired from the journey, they set him down against the elevator shaft, and began checking each other over for wounds. Nothing too bad: a bruise here, a scratch there, nothing fatal.

   Letting loose a long sigh, Kamille slumped against the rusty, metal shaft and closed her eyes. "What was it you wanted to do?"

   Sore and exhausted from the strain on his powers, Jason adjusted Optic, whose lips were returning to their normal color; so that he was sitting upright against the metal with his hands resting on his lap. "I want to see if I can read his mind. My powers have developed a lot since the last time I've tried, and I want answers. We'll never get any otherwise." Eager to get this over with, Jason squatted down in front of Optic, hands pressing against the other's temples. "Can you take first watch?"

   Excited to finally get some information about her friend, Kamille nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Go ahead, I'll be here." Smiling but nervous, Jason turned back to Optic. Waiting a moment to loosen up, he took a deep breath, and dove into his mind.

   A long, dark tunnel stretched out before him, pitch black; with only a small light showing in the distance. This was the space between persons, otherwise known as empty air. He had to travel across it in order to read anybody's mind. It was standard procedure, to prepare your senses for the untampered weirdness of the mindscape. No, the dark tunnel did not worry him, what lay beyond it did. Everyone's dreams held some strangeness, no exceptions, and Optic's could be any measure of dangerous. Steps echoing loudly against the black floor, Jason reached the light at the end of the tunnel. As he entered, and prepared himself for the worst, he was surprised to find that Optic's dream was strangely orderly. The only time he'd ever encountered this much order in a dream before was when multiple psychics were controlling the same body, and -to be completely honest- it scared him.

   He stood in the center of a large courtyard (instead of in the eye of a hurricane, or something of the like, as he had expected), with a clean, pristine fountain in the middle as the centerpiece; surrounded by various, colored buildings. As he turned around, he spotted a blue hospital standing to his left, a red gym to his right, and an orange arcade wedged between a purple theater and a green house. Separated from the rest of them, a faded, black building -which seemed to be abandoned- cast dark shadows over the Southern part of the square. Raised voices could be heard from the seafoam house, and so Jason went to explore the rest of the park while he was still incognito.

   The first building he visited was the gym, whose giant red walls with huge windows surrounded the various visible equipment inside (all of which seemed to be frequently used). There was a pile of broken and smoking exercise machines sitting dejected in the back corner, burnt out and out of power. A climbing wall covered the side of the building, and a zipline connected it to the arcade.

   Curiosity peaked, Jason followed the line, and reached the building easily. Besides the fact that it was bright, safety orange, it did not have anything extremely odd or unusual about it. It was a normal gaming hub, with various video games and simulations inside. It seemed to be well funded though, as he could spot a Virtual Reality station in the corner, and a room filled with bullseyes, targets, and various throwing/shooting equipment behind a glass door in the back wall.

   As he peeked through the orange-tinted windows of the arcade, his eye caught on the reflection of the hospital. And so, like any normal person would, he paid it a visit. The cornflower doctor's office was incredibly strange in the sense that there was literally no one there. No staff, no patients, no doctors, and no nurses. Just a lot of empty beds and expensive equipment. Sneaking down the hall, he poked his head through one of the empty doors, and was extremely unnerved to see a hospital bed covered by blood-stained sheets; with no sign of a patient. Running out of the clinic as fast as he could (getting lost in the process), Jason caught sight of the theater, and opted to explore it; if only to rid himself of the visions of bloody scalpels that now ruled his thoughts.

   Opening the double doors to the amphitheater, he was discouraged to find that this building too, was deserted; save for the rows of chairs, stage equipment, and the many magic props. Climbing onto the stage, he had to shield his eyes from all of the spotlights, which were shining down on the formerly-vacant stage. Bored, Jason left, having nothing else to do in that room besides fail at card magic.

   Skipping the house, as that is the only place here that seemed inhabited, Jason slowly made his way over to the last building in the plaza: the blocked off, abandoned one. Scared out of his mind, but hungry for information, he loosened one of the boards on the lone, broken window and slipped inside. Tiptoeing deeper into the abandoned site, the old, moldy floorboards creaked as he put pressure on them. As he passed several doors that were ripped brutally off of their hinges, claw marks digging deep into the wood like an animal had mauled it, Jason's determination wavered; and he started to have second thoughts about being here. These thoughts only multiplied as the hallway seemed to elongate, and the bloodstains on the peeling wallpaper grew more frequent. Pausing in his descent, Jason began to consider turning back. This place was obviously shut off for a very good reason, and he probably shouldn't walk straight into the lion's den. But then again...he might keep his secrets in here to deter spies. His mind make up, he continued onward, swallowing the lump of fear in his throat. Panicking and hyperventilating as he tiptoed ahead, He was too caught up in his what-if scenarios to spot the bent, twisted water pipe that was spewing a green liquid -that definitely wasn't water- all over floor in front of him.

   Jason tripped, spectacularly and noisily. Grumbling to himself, he used the wall to pull himself back to his feet; smearing the sticky, red blood that was dripping from the cracks in the plaster onto his palms as he did so. He tried to wipe the offending fluid off of his fingers, but his eyesight blurred and he nearly cried out as he put pressure on his left ankle. Upon closer examination of the joint, he determined that it was sprained.

   Cursing his luck, he considered the odds of him get out of here alive with an injury. They weren't very high. He might as well hold a neon sign saying "FRESH MEAT" around his neck, it would've had the same affect. Fueled by the adrenaline produced by that thought, Jason stood on one foot and took in his surroundings, straining his ears to hear anything remotely unusual. Footsteps. Slow and almost silent, but footsteps nonetheless, creaking the floorboards and dragging across the torn carpet. Scratching. Like nails on a chalkboard, gradually getting closer and closer to his position. Breathing. Deep and raspy, as if someone with asthma had been smoking recently. Laughing. Childlike, maniacal chuckles echoing down the long hallway every few seconds, growing louder with every minute that passed.

   Jason's breathing quickened, heart pounding in his ears. He tried to hobble away from the many warning sounds, but they only grew louder and more defined. Risking a glance over his shoulder, he turned his head back towards the corridor. Two eyes, with acid-green, glowing whites and darker (but still green) irises, peered back at him from the end of the hallway; sparkling in childlike delight.

   Laughing at his fear, a sing-song, high-pitched, and grating voice spoke out of the darkness. "Well, well, well, lookie here! Seems like a little Jason has found his way to my special party! Come on, now that you're here, won't you stay awhile? It'd be rude to leave the celebration, since you're the guest of honor!"