"Out of the question," Regan said, putting on a bulletproof vest.

"But the situation changed!" Aleks protested. "We don't even have a full assault squad; you can use any gifted you have."

Regan fastened the vest and turned to Aleks with a frown. "What we are going to walk into is the deviants' lair. You saw how many were lurking there with your own eyes."

"We can't know for sure. Some of those auras were kidnapped gifted and─"

Regan put a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Aleks. Just stop. I don't have time for it right now. You are going to help Yuliya with coordinating assault teams through the radio. And that is final." He squeezed her arm and moved to the door.

Aleks stood there, unable to move, fighting the hot, angry tears pushing their way out of her eyes. It wasn't fair. None of it was. She had the same right to fight for what she believed in as her brother and all other gifted with flashy and spectacular powers. If only they had given her a chance to prove herself... Her breathing became heavy and fast as her mind turned into a dark spiral of despair when strong arms closed around her.

She was engulfed in a familiar scent, the mint from the gum he constantly chewed when he was stressed, with a barely tangible smell of smoke that never seemed to leave him, even when he wore freshly washed clothes. Toni didn't say anything, just held her, letting her anxiety slowly withdraw. They always believed that being together in challenging moments made them less intimidating. The same pain shared by two people was easier to bear.

"I've got you," he said, patting her head as he did when they were children. "Leave it for now. Once we're done with the deviants, we will work on making a place for you the way that won't make you feel left behind."

"Be careful out there."

"I will. Plus, with you watching over me, nothing can go wrong."

Aleks smiled weakly. "I'd better join Yuliya then."

"Yeah. Don't let her stream Netflix while she watches over us."

She snorted. "You know she doesn't do that."

"Do I? She can somehow watch through thousand CCTV cameras to find what she wants in seconds. You think watching TV in the background is a stretch?"

The door to the prep room opened, and Pola peeked in. "We must go, Toni. It's time."

He nodded and left after giving Aleks one last reassuring squeeze.

She sighed, took a moment to collect herself, and headed to the main OPS room. The place was huge. A prominent circular table covered by maps and warehouse plans stood in the middle of the room. Mrs Callaghan, Zeleke and a few other agents leaned over the desktop, still discussing which entry points would be the most effective for the assault. Aleks didn't join them. Instead, she went straight to the adjacent, smaller room.

That was Yuliya's kingdom.

Every free space was filled with computers and big, bulky-looking servers with little blue, red and yellow lights. Yuliya sat at the broad desk in front of a wall of screens, most showing CCTV from around the deviant's warehouse. She was a petite young woman but looked particularly small in front of all those humming machines. The only thing on the desk was a huge bowl full of chocolates and other sweets. Not taking her eyes off the monitor in front of her, Yuliya grabbed a fudge and popped it into her mouth.

"How are you staying so skinny while devouring mountains of sweets?" Aleks asked, not even trying to hide her jealousy.

Yuliya turned back to her and smiled. "No idea. I suspect that it's the true nature of my gift."

"Lucky girl."

"But in all seriousness. Whenever I connect to the networks, my brain goes overdrive, and my body starts to burn calories like crazy. At least, that's what Zeleke and her team told me. So far, the best solution we found is stuffing me with high-calorie food." She grinned. "I'm not going to complain about that." She grabbed a headset from the desk drawer and tossed it at Aleks. "Put that on if you want to stay in the loop."

Aleks put it on, grabbed a spare chair, and sat beside her friend. "What's the situation?"

"All assault teams are en route." Yuliya waved her hand, and one of the screens flicked to stream from CCTV over the part of London Orbital Motorway, showing three black vans. The picture kept flickering and changing as the cars passed from one camera to another.

"What's the situation at the warehouse?"

"It's all quiet now. There haven't been any movements in or out for the past few hours." Yuliya bit her lips and flicked through different cameras showing the building from different angles. "I don't like it. Can't help but feel they want us to come."

Aleks' insides clenched painfully. "I know the feeling. Can't you look inside the building? Or do they not have any cameras there?"

Yuliya slowly shook her head. "I don't think that's the case. They must have their own surveillance system with all the kidnapped people, but I can't access it. They must have private servers not connected to any public clouds."

Aleks always thought her friend's gift was the most beneficial for GSO. Yuliya could tap into any surveillance system, be it cameras, CCTV, or recording devices, if they were connected to servers or clouds that she had access to. And to do that, she only needed to be near the devices with access to those. That's why her working room was littered with all sorts of computers with access to different networks, possibly providing her with the most extensive matrix to work with. That included the private police network that gathered all the data from public CCTV systems. The whole agency learnt to depend heavily on her gift, and even though she joined GSO at the same time as Aleks and Toni, she was working with most of the active teams already. So, when Yuliya couldn't see something, it felt very wrong.

"So... they are walking in blind."

"I'm afraid so. The good thing is, we still have radio connection with the teams, plus"─Yuliya waved her hand and one screen changed, showing inside of the car with part of the windshield─"every agent has a camera on them, so once they are inside, we'll see what they see."

"That's handy. Let's hope it works." Aleks shuffled in her seat. She hated this situation so much. Toni was walking into something that most probably was a trap, and she was stranded here, forced to watch as the crisis unfolded and do nothing.

"Hey." Yuliya reached out and squeezed her hand. "It will be alright. All our best agents are there."

Aleks sighed and nodded. "I know."

Waiting was the most horrible thing. While the assault teams were still en route, Aleks' mind tortured her with all the worst possible outcomes that may come to pass. Not knowing was worst than the harshest truth. Yuliya must have sensed her anxiety because she was trying to chat her up about small and inconsequential things, but Aleks could barely pay attention.

But as with all things, even the wait time was eventually over.

"All assault teams in positions," Regan reported on their frequency.

"Any signs of activity inside, Yuliya?" Zeleke asked.

"Nothing yet."

"Alright. Assault teams, you are free to proceed."

"Roger that. Assault teams Alfa, Beta and Gamma. We are charging in three...."

Aleks held her breath, watching the screen streaming output from Toni's camera. He was standing behind Regan and Stephen, getting ready to take down a corroded metal door at the back of the warehouse.

"Two..."

Her hands started shaking, so she closed her fists.

"One! Go!"

The camera showed Stephen grabbing the handle and wrenching the whole door of the hinges as if they were made of paper. The group entered the dark hall, and all the screens showing the feed from gifted cameras turned into static noise.

Aleks jumped on her seat. "What happened?"

"Yuliya, we lost the visuals," Zeleke's voice confirmed.

"I can see that. Assault team Alfa, can you hear me? Assault team Alfa, do you read?"

But there was only silence.

"Assault team Beta, do you read?" Yuliya was trying again, her voice still calm and unfazed. "Assault team Gamma, can you hear me?" She turned her worried blue eyes at Aleks and shook her head. She changed the frequency and said, "We lost the visual and radio connection, Zeleke. I'll keep trying to hail them, but I think the Rioters must have jamming devices to prevent external communication."

There was a brief silence on the other side, and Zeleke replied. "Then there's nothing we can do about it now. Please stay on the line and try to hail them. The rest is in their hands now."

Aleks took off her headset and threw it at the desk. "That's bullshit! What if something happens there? What if they get trapped and need help?"

"Calm down, Aleks."

"How can you be so calm?!" Aleks jumped off her chair and glared at Yuliya.

Her friend took a candy bar from the bowl and unhurriedly unwrapped it. "Getting angry over things out of our control won't help with anything. All we can do now is stay on the agreed frequency and wait for the connection. If they get in trouble, they can send Tommy back to us. Have some faith in them, Aleks."

Aleks ran a hand through her hair. She knew Yuliya was right, but it didn't make any difference for her anxious mind and racing heart. "I can't just sit here. It will drive me mad."

"Then go and get me some coffee."

"Fine!" Aleks raised her hands in defeat and stalked out of OPS rooms.

Her hands still trembled when she entered the cafeteria and turned on a coffee machine. She wasn't sure if it was from fear or anger, but it didn't matter. She should have gone with them. She should have protested more fiercely and stood her ground. She should have...."

A loud popping sound behind her made her drop her cup, which shattered on the kitchen tiles.

"Tommy!" Aleks turned around, her eyes wide.

He was in full assault gear in a bulletproof vest and helmet on his head. "Aleks! You're here! Good, we need you." He offered her his hand. "Have you ever teleported before?"

She grabbed his gloved hand without a second thought. "No, but..."

"Hold on to my hand, and don't let go."

"What will happen if I let go?" The words slipped through her mouth before she could stop them.

"No idea. I can lose you along the way, and it might be messy. But we don't have time for that now. Ready?"

Before Aleks could nod, she felt a sharp pull, and the world around her became indescribable. She felt as if she was being pulled in all directions at once. Her sweaty hand started to lose its grip on Tommy's hand. She tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. The next moment her hand was empty.

The world around her came back to focus, but it was dark. Her body felt weightless momentarily, not touching anything, and then she plummeted to the ground. She hit the concrete floor with her back, losing all the air with a painful moan. Stars exploded in her vision, and she had to fight the darkness creeping up around her to keep herself conscious. She blinked several times to clear her vision and stared at the ceiling. She could hear muffled gunshots somewhere and people shouting, but her brain couldn't process the words. There was one nagging thought stuck in her mind, though. She tried to hold on to Tommy's hand with all her might.

But he let go.

She forced herself to roll over with another painful groan and got up on her knees to get a proper look around. She was in some small compartment surrounded by something like glass walls. Tommy wasn't around, but a woman in rugs sat huddled in the corner of the cage.

"Aleks!" When the sounds finally started getting to her brain, she turned to see more cages around them. Most of them held young, scared people who looked worse for wear. Every single aura in here was blaring with fearful orange. Her eyes stopped on the tall, dark-haired man.

"Diego!" Relief flooded her when she saw he was unharmed. "Are you alright?"

"I am for now. What are you doing here? How did you...."

Aleks shook her head, her mind slowly getting back to clarity. "Never mind that. Don't worry. I'll get us out of here." She turned to the person she shared her cage with and paused. Her aura was different. She never saw such a dark shade of purple and was uncertain what it meant. But the woman looked horrible. Her clothes were dirty and in tatters, and once blonde hair hung in filthy strands hiding her face. She was trembling.

"Hey." Aleks crept closer to her. "You don't have to fear me. I'm here to help."

"Aleks, no! Get away from her!"

She turned to Diego, surprised by his outburst. His face was pale, and his aura spiked with even more orange. "Why?"

"The deviants experimented on her. She's not herself anymore. She's... she's a monster!"

Before Aleks could respond, a low, menacing growl filled the cage. It was nothing she had ever heard coming from a human's mouth. It sounded more like some feral animal. She turned back to the woman, and her heart lost a beat.

The woman was no longer huddled in the corner. She crouched as if ready to jump at her at any second. Muscles on her thin arms and legs started bulging as she growled lauder, showing teeth turning into sharp fangs. Her green eyes morphed into the narrow slits of a predator, and her growing claws made deep gushes on the concrete floor.

Aleks slowly backed away as she realised what the shade of her aura meant.

Madness.