Samuel shifted on one foot to the other, casting quick, curious glances at the girl. She was staring at him with wide, mixed eyes, hardly blinking. He bit his tongue. After everything he did, all the dirty work for Daniels, there was nothing more unsettling about this child's gaze. He glanced down once more, then looked back up at his reflection in the polished golden metal.

Reina, after a while of Samuel not acknowledging her, stared at her shoes, hands clasped behind back as they slowly rode down the elevator. She huffed, lifting up a foot and examining the bottom of it. Samuel glanced down with an amused expression as she hopped around, trying to keep her balance while looking at her shoe. After a few seconds, she placed her foot down and crossed her arms.

"What's wrong?" Samuel asked after a moment of her glaring furiously at the carpeted floor.

"My shoe." Reina lifted her foot up, pointing at it. "It's untied. And I have tape stuck to it." Indeed, the small shoelace was undone, the white string dangling from the pink and blue sneaker, and a piece of clear, white was slightly sticking out. "And I don't know how to tie shoes. Mom-" The small girl paused, biting her lip. "Mom usually did it."

The large African man smiled sadly. After a moment's hesitation, he knelt down and swiftly tied the shoelace in a large, floppy bow. "There we go. How's that?"

Reina grinned. "Yes. Thank you! Tape too?"

The tape was taken off.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Silence.

"You're big. And tall. Did you always eat your broccoli, because mom says in order to get big you have to eat it all? I don't believe that. I always give it to our cat, but even he doesn't like it." Her eyes expressed her disgust. "And cats are smart, so you know if there's something wrong with it or not. His name is Mr. Diplomacy."

Samuel raised an eyebrow.

"He's loyal and sweet, but also very dumb. His head got stuck in the washing machine because there was a toy rubber duck in there and he was curious. I also covered him with glue and glitter, and mom put a bow on him, and he looked like a princess."

Samuel smiled, nodding and looking back up. A few more moments of silence passed when he felt a small hand slide into his. Something twisted in his chest as he squeezed her palm.

"I'm scared," He heard a small whisper catch in her throat.

He nodded, patting her head with his free hand. "It'll be okay," He assured her, staring ahead. "I'll make sure of it."

The room was large and filled with metal machines. Sparks snapped from the ceiling, and wires spread across the walls. Men in white coats paced behind a glass protection screen and in a separate room, studying and taking notes of a massive lump of wires, metal, and electricity.

Reina rested in the leather chair, staring up at the broad expansion of metalwork. The machine was a box-like structure, dotted with buttons, keyboards, and screens. Two metal claws came down, resting on each side of the chair. Sparks snapped from it, sending loud firecracker pops echoing through the room.

A bald man nodded to a woman at the control center, taking notes. The woman tapped a few buttons, then slowly pushed lever up. The machine box started spinning around; as it gained speed it traveled down the claws and rested above the small child, whirling around and snapping with electricity. After a few minutes, a short buzz began to come from it, growing louder and louder.

"Is that normal?" The woman asked, shooting the first man a concerned look.

He bent his head over the paper, ignoring her question. "Take it up to level two," he ordered, making a quick mark in the paper. The woman hesitated but complied.

Reina winced. A sharp stab grew in her skull, spreading across her head until it was pounding in her mind. Something wanted to be released. She cried out, a bright green explosion flashing in her eyes.

"Level three."

The lever slid up a notch.

Reina flinched, coughing. She pressed her arms down, forcing herself to be still but with no avail. Her small body started convulsing, growing more and more violent as the machine buzzed and spat electricity. The pain in her skull pressed on. Reina cried out once, a sharp crack shooting across her skull.

In the safety room, behind the glass windows, the man turned away suddenly, feeling something explode in his head. He cried out, collapsing to his knees and pressing his hands against his forehead. "Make it stop!" He screamed. "Make it stop!"

The first scientist ignored him, gesturing for a guard to take the wailing man away. "Bring it up to four. We are almost there."

"Dad!" Reina screamed, tears streaking down her face. "Where's mom? I want my mom!" She screamed her mother's name over and over again, straining against the binds. "Dad, help! Make it stop, please! Make it stop!" 

The first scientist shook his head. "We can't test with her thrashing around like that. Someone's going to have to drug her." He friend in a startled disgust as a woman collapsed, just like the man and screaming the same thing.

Samuel clenched his teeth as he watched the girl struggle and listened to the scientist's talk and wail. She was strong, he could see that. He hoped she was enough for this. Daniels was a slimy bastard for making a child go through this machine. Above, it whirred and buzzed, snapping with blue-white electricity, singing a song to the victim underneath.

"You."

Samuel cursed inwardly.

The scientist pointed at him. "Get out there and make that thing stop it's flailing. Micha, give him a vial!"

A woman with short, black hair streaked with blue picked up a syringe from a cart, stepping over and handing it to him. "Inject this into her left upper body, into a vein. You've done this before, do not mess it up." She frowned, glaring at the man.

Samuel held back what he wanted to say, taking the needle from her and heading towards the door. "Aren't you going to stop the machine?" He questioned, one hand on the knob.

The scientist raised a brow. "Put it to level eight, and keep it there until this man gets back." He ordered.

Samuel opened his mouth in protest, but shut it and turned away instead. The lever slowly traveled up to the destination, pausing at each level with a sharp click before moving on.

A large burst of electricity ran down the claws, spreading across the whole chair and blinding the room into a white-blue. Reina opened her mismatched eyes, pupils shrinking, then almost exploding in a violent clash of colors. She opened her mouth to scream, light pouring out in short bursts.

Oblivious to it all, Samuel opened the door.

Something inside Reina's mind cracked, and the world erupted in a whirl of neon colors.

The dead purple petals of the flower trailer out from her fingers, leaving behind splashes of purple mixed with the blood. Reina stood in a cloud of pastel yellow, red and black, all swirling and mixing around, swelling and thrashing around inside each other. In her hands was the dead flower that her father gave her. Blood drained from each petal, the color fading and shriveling up before falling, the red drop forming at the ovary and slowly rolling down the petal, then forming in a teardrop shape and gently sliding off, speeding to the ground and exploding in a shower of red when it hit the pastel, cloud-like substance in a whirl of color.

As the red, sticky liquid swelled up, it began to run down the stem and across Reinas' hand. She dropped the flower, the fog surrounding instantly exploding in a whirl of color, and tried to shake it off. The blood still stuck, and she only succeeded in causing it to travel farther down her arm. 

Reina looked around, beginning to wade through the thick cloud-like substance. Slowly, it morphed into animals and other creatures as she pushed it away. Deer and frogs leaped away, with butterflies fluttering around a field of the bloodied flowers. Stones and a flowing purple river appeared underfoot. Reina laughed, splashing in the water as she hopped across the rocks. Bending down, she ran the water over her blood-stained fingers, but it was still glued to her fingers. Lifting her hand, she watched as each water droplet rolled away, her fingers still dripping with the flowers vital fluid. 

Something rustled behind her. Turning, she cocked her head with curiosity as a small black cloud grew larger and larger as it neared, eating away at the colorful fog. It spread quickly, devouring the animals and insects. Reina stared as it came up to her feet and stopped, waiting for her to move. Slowly, a face morphed from the clouds, sweet and pretty. Golden eyes glowed from the eye sockets, and a pearly white smile spread across the face. A slim hand extended in greeting. Reina stared at her, then at the slender palm and slowly raised hers, gently brushing her fingers along the cloud.

Instantly, everything snapped to place. A loud, shattering scream echoed in her head, banging and thrashing around. It grew louder and louder as each moment passed, shrieking with one high-pitched note. A sharp pain exploded from her chest, running pinpricks down her arms and legs. Reina cried out, sharp tears stabbing her eyes.

Her name sliced through the noise, silencing everything. Gently, she was shifted and rose, hugged tightly to something strong and sturdy. Slowly, her eyes opened and Samuel's worried black ones peered down at her. She attempted a weak smile, eyelids fluttering. Gradually, her head cleared from the colorful fog as she forced her eyes open.

All around them was a smoking pile of twisted metal and smoke. Machines were torn apart, hanging from threads or twisted on the floor. The grey walls smeared with burns and neon smudges. Scientists fluttered around in their white coats, stomping our fires and marking on their papers.

Reina blinked, noticing that the only machine still intact was the one they had her rest in. The mind machine. Wires dangled from the box, the arms twisted and broken. The chair was torn apart, shredded into ribbons. The control circuit board was a few feet away, the red button blinking in the dark.

"Reina," Samuel whispered, ignoring a stab of agonizing pain in his skull. "Oh, sweet mo—" He cut himself off short, quickly standing and cradling the child to him. "Reina, you're...sparking."

Confused, she looked down at her hands, giving a short cry at the sight before her. The blue-pink clouds were swirling around her hands and snapping with sparks. "Samuel, what's wrong?" She asked, sobbing "Make it stop, please!" A sharp sense of panic overcame her, spreading across and into Samuel. He began to shake violently, hugging Reina and catching his breath.

"Oh, gosh," He moaned. "What is happening."

Reina looked up at him, reaching up to touch his cheek. "Sammy, don't cry," She whispered, voice breaking. As her fingers brushed along his skin, it began to tingle. A happy rush of adrenaline flowed through him, warming his chest and making him almost giddy. Around them, the scene of twisted minds and metal erased, replaced with a calming breeze. Grass began to rush out from underneath them, sprouting flowers and trees.

Samuel took a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting the wind blows across his face. It was warm and refreshing, the grass soft and cool. Dew wet his fingers and ticked his wrists as it soaked up into his coat.

"What happened here?"

Everything instantly vanished, replaced but the cold, mangled machinery and science. Samuel looked up, realizing what had just happened and cursed violently. He already had enough to deal with and didn't want this too. But, looking down and the scared, innocent child, something twisted in his chest. She reminded him so much of his little girl, Maya. Maybe at another time, or another world, they could have been friends. He sighed, knowing what she would want.

Reina's father was shouting. A scientist started explaining how the machine had malfunctioned and almost killed everyone here, but he shoved him away and headed towards Samuel and his daughter.

Samuel, taking one look at Daniels storming towards them, backed away. "I am so sorry, Miss Reina," He whispered to the girl curled up against him. "But I can't let your father know you're a super, much more an illusionist." He paused wondering if he was right in doing this, then shoved the doubt away. "Even if you aren't, I'm still taking the precautions."

She looked up at him. "Sam, Dad's a good guy," She whispered, ignoring everything as the African man placed the machine's wires against her forehead. "He's helping me."

Samuel shook his head, stroking a thumb against her cheek. "Reina, he might have been a good man once, but that time has long been gone." He tucked her up against himself, resting his chin on her head. "I am sorry, but I must do this. You'll understand when you're older."

"Samuel, do not move!" Jackson shouted, seeing what his bodyguard was doing. "No!" He sprinted forwards the last few steps but was still too far away.

Samuel lunged over, slamming the machines button down and tightly holding Reina as it started up again.

The small girl screamed; Samuel having to hold her steady as she began to violently thrash around. Something dug deep into her skull, digging a blank hole that spread and spread until there was nothing but darkness.

Reina saw the clouded woman again, arms open in a death-like embrace. She screamed, but nothing came out. The woman reached out and touched her arm, grinning like a skull as a cloud spread across her and to the small girl, erasing all color from her skin. The inky black traveled up her hands and spread across the rest of her body, then down to the earth around her. Everything instantly lost all color, turning to a dull grey and darkening until it was a midnight black color.

Then the ground opened up, and she was falling.

Then it was blank.

And there was nothing more, but a deadly silence.