Skye Emery: Bluebird #3: “Missing Persons Case”

Issue #3

“Missing Persons Case”

Written & Created by Marc Quill

Prologue – A Lost Cause

Kensington Market — January 22nd, 2020

Most late nights in Kensington Market tend to be relatively quiet without much going on. A lot of the small market stores were closed for the evening, while other art hubs continued to do business even into early midnight.

For some denizens, unfortunately, this relative quietness wasn’t a luxury to enjoy freely, but not out of their own choice.

14-year-old Ava Avila never saw herself as someone who needed to be pitied, despite her plight living on the streets for nearly her whole life. She was a survivor, having not only endured parents who spent more time squabbling with one another than raising her, as well as an ill-advised brush with bulimia a couple of years ago that coincided with her self-esteem hitting rock bottom a couple of years ago.

While those events would be enough to make any person simply just give up on life, they seemed to give Ava a new perspective and a brazen determination to never let herself feel weak ever again.

“Thanks for the soup, Mr. Perreault,” Ava said to the owner of Johnny Sam’s Cafe, a popular restaurant on Kensington Market. While Ava didn’t have anywhere to live, she considered Johnny Sam’s her “home” and Mr. Perreault someone to look up to as a father.

“Anytime,” Mr. Perreault responded. “You’re family here. And I always take care of family. G’night, Ava.”

“‘Night, Mr. Perreault,” Ava waved goodbye and huddled herself into a corner she had lined with stacks of wooden crates and cardboard, with a used mattress serving as her bed. It wasn’t exactly the world’s greatest place to live in, but it served Ava well.

Before Ava could make herself comfy in her makeshift bed, a weird noise had her attention. That noise was soon followed by a scream that sounded like it came from the other corner just behind Kinza Falafel. Ava made her way to that area, only to find pieces of scrap paper lying all around the alley. Whoever it was that was screaming had mysteriously disappeared. Ava knew that she might’ve been next, so she started to focus some sort of pink/blue light around her left hand.

Ava had no idea how and when she got this ability, much less on how to properly use it. That’s because she was too focused on ensuring that she got to live another day out on the streets, as that was more important to her than mastering some unknown superpower she had no knowledge of.

“Hello?” Ava looked around the alley to see if there was anyone else. “Are you alright, mist–”

Unexpectedly, Ava was knocked down by a blow from the back end of an assault rifle. She looked up to see a group of heavily-armored soldiers preparing to load a homeless person dressed in worn-out winter gear onto some sort of cargo box.

“NO!” Ava screamed out as she tried to fight back, managing to surprise one of the soldiers with an elbow to the face. Her attempt to strike against these soldiers ended ungraciously when she felt an unnatural force knocking her unconscious.

The last thing Ava Avila would see before blacking out was a man in black with a peculiar symbol on his jacket. The man in black’s final words rang in her head for an indefinite time: “Welcome to the Hivemind.”

—

Previously…

Skye Emery, a young woman with fractured memories of her past and superhuman abilities, finds herself on the streets of Toronto one January evening. For an unknown reason, Skye is being trailed by Samuel Brandt, an ex-JTF-2 operative working under the employ of a man only known as “The Director”, who wishes to have Skye brought to him – dead or alive. Compounding matters is Skye’s apparent past as ‘The Bluebird’, a costumed superhero.

She subsequently runs into Finch “Finn” Finwick, who enthusiastically wants to assist Skye in her search for the truth. Now, the two must uncover an expansive conspiracy that has Skye in its crosshairs.

Their investigation took a turn for the bizarre when a suspected murder at SafeHaven Homeless Shelter led to Psi MediLabs, where they would encounter Isaac Ellerton, a man empowered by a serum given to him by a doctor in the business of “curing” diseases through genetic alteration. Skye is able to get Isaac to trust him, which would cause Ellerton to risk his own life to save Skye from Brandt’s forces. Luckily, he barely survived his encounter. This latest incident emboldened Skye with a new resolve to put a stop to the conspiracy that Brandt was connected to once and for all.

—

Chapter I – Just A Little Faith

Ryerson University RAC Fitness Centre — January 23rd, 2020

The first month of the new year is typically a popular time for people to try and achieve their resolutions of becoming healthy and being the best of themselves. That was certainly the case for the many students working out at Ryerson University’s RAC Fitness Centre, some of whom found time during the day to keep fit in between classes.

For both Skye and Finn, this wasn’t exactly the case for the reason that they were spending time at the RAC. It was on Skye’s insistence that Finn got himself some proper combat training if he was going to continue to help her with the investigation behind the mysteries that haunted her endlessly. She didn’t want Finn to be completely defenseless in a situation where he’d need to defend himself.

That certainly didn’t stop Finn from fantasizing being the sidekick to a superhero. Just hearing Skye call herself ‘the Bluebird’ once and seeing her stylized blue jacket helped the young man put two and two together — even if it wasn’t really crystal clear to Skye yet.

Skye looked on as Finn was working the heavy bag with a series of punches that didn’t look exactly like any sort of punches she’d be throwing herself. After just a few body blows to the bag, Finn already looked exhausted, sweat forming around his forehead and dripping down to his blue workout shirt. His hands already felt like they were sore, even though he had boxing gloves on during his punching. He collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.

“Don’t lie, Skye. I know you’re enjoying this, I can see it on your face,” Finn raised his head towards his trainer standing above him with a sly smirk on her face.

“Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m kind of enjoying seeing you flail your arms around like an dumbass,” Skye chuckled to herself, “But, that’s not why we’re here. I’m simply trying to help you defend yourself against whatever or whoever comes after us.”

“I mean, I can’t be there all the time to bail your ass out, so it’s high time you learned self-defense from the best.”

“I hate to break it to you, Skye,” Finn retorted. “But I kinda already know how to fight. My boyfriend Stephen taught me a trick he learned from fighting people in hockey.”

A smile formed on Skye’s face as she listened to Finn ramble on and on about his apparent fighting know-how. “Alright, show me.”

Finn approached Skye and tried to pull her light green shirt above her head in a manner similar to a hockey player, but to no avail. Skye reversed Finn’s attempted “jersey pull” into a judo toss, sending him crashing down to the padded mat.

Skye raised one hand near her face and blew into it in a sort-of playful taunting motion. “You really need to work on that maneuver your boyfriend taught you. Seriously.” She eventually turned away from Finn before looking at the heavy bag that he was punching earlier. She began to punch away at the bag.

“Yep. Eventually.”  Finn wheezed out in approval as he laid flat on the mat. “Maybe you can teach me how to do all those crazy moves you do to people, Sk–erm…. Skye?”

Finn picked himself up and saw that Skye had stopped paying attention to him and was having a workout of her own with the heavy bag. He was suitably impressed at Skye not even needing boxing gloves to punch the bag. Now that she had at least some idea of something known to her as “Singularity” and its damaging reach, Skye was more determined than ever to expose the conspiracy that had followed her into Toronto like some psychotic parasite that refused to leave her alone. Finn simply looked on and smiled at his friend’s frenetic punching. He couldn’t help but think Skye was imagining that she was fighting Brandt, the R.T.F. commander and apparent “face” of the conspiracy that had made things hell for the two in recent days.

“I’ve never seen anyone so focused on giving an inanimate object a beating like you,” Finn nodded to himself while still keeping a close eye on Skye’s self-training.

However, it appeared that Skye still wasn’t even listening to what Finn was saying, continuing her cathartic workout. Her punches on the bag increased in both speed and strength, almost as if some hidden rage she had been bottling up was about to be unleashed. This resulted in Skye striking the bag hard enough to obliterate it with one strong blow.

The bag broke from the chains above holding it, then crashing to the gym floor as sand spilled from the bag like blood pouring out of an open wound. Other students working out at the gym were startled by the sight of Skye destroying the punching bag with relative ease, everybody gasping in shock as it happened.

Skye said nothing, simply just looking at her own hands in low-key awe of her strength. She knew that she had post-human strength, but there were times that she unknowingly showed off said strength without even knowing it. In combat situations, Skye had clear command over her unique abilities, but in a more “informal” setting like a simple training exercise, that was certainly not the case.

—

Moments After Being Kicked Out Of The RAC…

“The first time I ever get thrown out of a building,” Finn exclaimed, hysterically throwing his hands up in mild frustration, “And I didn’t even do anything to deserve it!”

“Don’t get too worked up about it,” Skye teased mildly, “After all, at least you can control how hard you hit things…”

“Anyway…” Finn stammered. “Whatever happened to ‘stopping whatever the hell Singularity is for good’ or something? Anything new on that front?”

“Funny you should ask: your friend Isaac’s story keeps playing over and over in my head these past few days,” Skye pondered about the events she and Finn had experienced at Psi MediLabs this past Monday when they encountered someone afflicted with a mysterious serum that gave the person similar superhuman abilities to her own powers, “Particularly that doctor he met. I can’t shake the thought that the doctor from his story has a few skeletons in the closet himself.”

“In that case, how do you intend to get any dirt on him?” Finn asked again. “Isaac barely told us anything about this doctor guy.”

“Clinical trials!” Skye unexpectedly blurted out, as if a lightbulb had just gone off in her head. “Your friend must’ve been referred to a doctor who was giving out the serum that changed him. He did say that the doctor he met was talking about curing him, right?”

“Isaac definitely did mention something about a cure,” Finn recounted, “But, what the hell do clinical trials have to do with that?”

“If there’s a doctor out there issuing the same ‘cure’ that your friend was administered,” Skye began to explain her reasoning, “That must mean he wasn’t the only one that got this cure that gave him his powers. We’re gonna need to talk to Isaac again to see what’s what.”

—

Toronto General Health Centre – An Hour Later…

Visiting hours for patients had started about two hours ago, meaning that Skye & Finn were just in time to pay the bedridden Isaac a visit without having to do any sneaking around just to get to his third floor hospital room. The two had long since changed from their workout clothes into something more suitable – Finn wearing his usual blue-hued sweatshirt/jeans ensemble and Skye herself dressed in the brown jacket and pale blue jeans she had always worn — aside from her “Bluebird” jacket.

Upon entering Isaac’s hospital room, they were met with the sight of the man himself in an unexpected good mood than when they last met him a few days ago. He was having a bowl of soup and watching sports highlights on the TV in the room. Skye couldn’t help but smile at Isaac’s fortunes somehow changing almost instantaneously from when she last left him.

“Sorry to interrupt your lunch,” Skye looked at Isaac, “But there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“If it’s something that’ll drag me back into that mess that nearly killed me,” Isaac answered immediately. “Please, just count me out. I don’t want anything to do with your crazy mysteries.”

“It’s just that… ugh.” Skye froze up where she stood, her eyes beginning to take on a far-away glassy stare. She blinked rapidly and clutched her forehead with one hand for a brief moment, appearing to enter some sort of a catatonic state. Once she came to, Skye was confused, as if she were hit with a sudden bout of amnesia.

“Wait, who the hell are you again? Do I know any of you?”

Skye slowly backed away from the room, a hint of fear clouding her mind. She suddenly had no idea who the two people in the hospital room were and she didn’t feel like trusting them with her life.

Finn looked towards Skye with an incredulous stare, unsure of what to do. He knew that there were a lot of mysteries surrounding Skye — even if he did come to appreciate her company in just a short time — but inexplicable memory loss and a sense of fear taking over Skye’s thoughts was something he’d never experienced firsthand.

For Skye, however, this was nothing new. She spent most of her young life grappling not only with a past she barely knew, but a faulty memory that seemed to wipe her mind clean at the most inopportune of times. She might have been imbued with extraordinary superpowers that made her stronger, faster and tougher than everyone else, but Skye always felt weak inside whenever she suffered these memory attacks. It made her feel like a failure on the inside.

“Skye, it’s me, it’s Finn. Remember? You saved my ass a few days ago from some thugs?” Finn turned his attention to Skye, who still had the glazed-over look in her eyes. “Then we decided to solve some crazy conspiracy that’s followed you or something?”

Skye shook her head again, seemingly responding to Finn’s reminder.

“Yeah… I think I know who you are… Stephen, right?” Skye smiled awkwardly as Finn sighed in relief (yes, he was happy despite Skye getting his name wrong). “But that guy in bed… who is he supposed to be?”

“Okay, the guy enjoying his sports highlights there is Isaac. You ran into him a few days ago, we kinda saved him at Psi MediLabs, then he saved you by fighting that army dude Brandt.”

“Sorry… not ringing any bells.” Skye answered forlornly as her head continued to ache both physically and mentally.

“Oh, er… Finch, are you and your friend here for something?” Isaac spoke up to get Finn and Skye’s attention. “I mean, you just don’t come into my hospital room if it isn’t anything important, right?”

“Please, do excuse Skye zoning out there, Isaac,” Finn pointed out. “She’s just got some weird memory issues that even I can’t wrap my head around. But, anyways, we came to ask you about that doctor who gave you your cure and if he was running any sort of clinical trials.”

“That man…” Isaac began to speak. “He never did mention who he worked for, but I remember meeting him at this research facility. You remember I told you that I had tuberculosis from before, right?”

“Yes.” Finn reaffirmed. “What about it?”

“He was looking for people with the exact same condition as me. They were supposedly trying to create some sort of a supercure for it, with the hopes of making it an all-purpose vaccine for ‘every disease known to man’.”

“That sounds… kind of ridiculous, if you ask me,” Finn answered. “Then again, the things I’ve experienced these past few days do kind of eclipse your deal in terms of ‘ridiculousness’.” He looked towards Skye and gave a knowing look.

Skye ignored Finn’s stare and tried her best to pay attention to Isaac’s story, still feeling out of focus.

“I’m not too sure if Health Canada even sanctioned these experiments, but I was really desperate to get myself cured for Kim’s sake, but you know all about that already.”

After that sentence spoken, Isaac coughed up a bit, still feeling the after-effects of two days ago at Psi MediLabs.

“Did that man ever mention who he was?” Skye asked in a more reserved tone, her mind still not all there at the moment.

“Now that I think about it, the doctor never mentioned his name,” Isaac recanted, “but he seemed very fond of some other doctor, some guy named ‘Dover’…”

“You know where we can find this ‘Dr. Dover’, Isaac?” Skye spoke up a bit louder this time.

“I really don’t know, Skye,” Isaac, clearly running out of patience and just wanting to get some rest, answered, “Now, can you and Finch just leave me so I can rest up?”

Skye had a bit of an irritated look on her face in response to Isaac’s sudden flippant attitude, but Finn quickly acted to calm everyone down, standing in-between both Skye and the bedridden Isaac and motioning for the two to stop.

“We’re sorry, Isaac, for all of this,” Finn said quietly, “I’ll be sure to find some way to make up for all we’re asking you after all this is over with.”

—

SafeHaven Homeless Shelter – Late Afternoon

“What happened back there, Skye?” Finn asked as he was searching up Dr. Dover on his laptop. “It’s just… I’ve never seen you look so out of it like you were back at the hospital.”

“Ugh…I dunno.” Skye murmured, words barely escaping her lips. “My mind just gets really messed up when I least expect it and I just end up forgetting about everything. I just can’t put my finger on why it happens, exactly.”

“I guess this is why you didn’t want me coming along before, huh?” Finn now began to partially understand why Skye was initially hesitant to his kindness. “Some weird shit about forgetting things and places at random?”

“It’s…. a lot more complicated than that,” Skye quietly confessed what was going on with her mind. “But that’s the basic gist of it, from what little I do know about all of this.”

“Are you at least feeling somewhat better?” Finn shot a look of concern towards Skye. He was used to seeing Skye as some invincible badass who seemed indestructible, so seeing her shaken up badly was kind of jarring, to say the least.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Skye smirked mildly. “It ain’t the first time something like this has happened to me. I just get used to it. You should, too.”

“You sure?” Finn prodded yet again. He was definitely concerned that Skye wasn’t feeling as alright as she claimed to be.

“Ugh. I said I’m fine, Finn. Please stop asking.” Skye, desperately wanting to talk about anything other than her messed-up mind, implored impatiently. “What about that Dover guy Isaac mentioned? Anything on him?”

“Well, it’s sort of hard to get anything substantial on a doctor, when all you’ve got is a last name to go by,” Finn lamented as he continued his search on his laptop. Meanwhile, the television was locked on City-One News, which was reporting on a string of homeless persons disappearing without any explanation.

Skye’s eyes briefly glanced away from Finn’s laptop and onto the television, as the news report on the missing homeless people continued on. Something had her seemingly undivided attention.

“….there are reports from Toronto Police that a rash of disappearances may have some form of connection between another,” the City-One News anchor said, “City-One News has received these images from various eyewitnesses at these disappearances all around the city….”

From there, the news report showed several pictures of the purported crime scenes, one of which was a back alley near Kensington Market that had a very familiar emblem scrawled on the pavement. Skye didn’t even need to look closely at the image shown on TV, because she knew exactly what it was. Yet again, it was the mysterious sigil that never seemed to leave her mind no matter how hard she tried. Brandt and the R.T.F. agents had it on their uniforms when they chased after Skye during her unexpected arrival in Toronto, while Isaac apparently had etched the symbol in blood in Kimmy’s apartment a few days ago. And now, it was at this crime scene that Skye had no prior knowledge of.

“Goddamnit,” Skye muttered. “That stupid symbol keeps hanging over my head. It’s like some nasty itch that won’t go away.”

“At least we’ve got somewhat of a lead…” Finn conceded. “It might even get us closer to this Dr. Dover person.”

“I suppose,” Skye said, now seemingly back to her usual demeanor. “So, what are we standing around here for? Let’s get to that crime scene.”

—

Elsewhere…

Brandt, dressed in his olive green military suit, sat in a darkened room watching a dozen screens on the wall. Some of the screens were playing various news reports, while others had images of Skye in action on them — and not just from her recent exploits in Toronto. One screen had a video clip of Skye jumping into a burning building somewhere, emerging with two kids on her arms a few seconds later. Another screen was showing some sort of a calamity involving a truck about to fall off a bridge that turned into a miracle when Skye managed to save the truck’s driver before his vehicle fell into the waters below.

His men had run into Skye recently after her arrival in Toronto – tasked by their mysterious benefactor, a man only known as “The Director” to hunt her down – failing at their opportunity to eliminate her. It was the closest Brandt’s strike team had gotten to Skye, however, as they had tried for months to chase her all across Ontario, not even getting so much as a whiff of her every time they thought they came close to taking Skye down.

Brandt’s moment of quiet contemplation on his failures to capture Skye had been interrupted by the image of a man mostly obscured by shadows appearing on the main screen of the massive wall of screens.

“Agent Brandt… your continued inability to lock down the threat that the Subject represents is discouraging,” the tempered voice of the mysterious Director, Brandt’s boss, boomed throughout the mostly-empty room. “However, I am quite impressed with the progress made on Project Hivemind. How are Keisler’s new subjects doing?”

“I’d say they’re enjoying their new accommodations,” Brandt remarked. “I do wonder what this has to do with finally bringing in ‘the Subject’ for good, sir.”

“I trust that Keisler will come through and you’ll see how this will help all further our plans for the Subject firsthand,” The Director responded, “Especially once you see his newest ‘weapon’ in action.”

Brandt only nodded in response. He’d believe The Director’s claims about Keisler’s secret project once he got a chance to see it.

—

Chapter II – Missing in Action

The Alleyway Behind Kinza Falafel, Kensington Market — Midday Afternoon

Toronto Police had the surrounding alleyway area taped off, with officers standing on guard to prevent anyone from entering. So it meant that once again, Skye and Finn would have to skirt around the law in order to get anything substantial done as it related to their investigation.

“Y’know, as much as I like helping you with this conspiracy stuff,” Finn admitted, as he and Skye looked on at the crime scene from afar, “I’m not too hot on having to constantly break the law just to do these things.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Finn?” Skye answered back while chewing gum, her mood seemingly now back to normal compared to earlier at the hospital. “‘Besides, we’re certainly not gonna get anywhere if we don’t bend a few rules.”

“Well, in that case, how do you suppose we get past them?” Finn looked towards the two cops that were standing in front of the police tape blocking the crime scene.

“I could beat ’em up easily without anyone noticing…” Skye suggested, clearly wanting to get a bit “hands-on”.

“Or…. I have a better idea that doesn’t involve beating up cops…” Finn replied. “Just give me ten minutes, a wig, and a lanyard.”

—

Moments Later….

Skye felt weird in how she was dressed up for the moment. Rather than her typical brown jacket and blue jeans look, she was clad in a grey business suit with a white undershirt. A brown wig covering up her black/pink pixie cut and glasses completed her disguise. This whole thing was Finn’s idea, and while Skye didn’t exactly feel right about his plan, she admitted that it was probably the only way to get close to the crime scene without creating unneeded suspicion.

“Good afternoon, officers,” Skye said in a slightly-affected tone vastly different from her regular speaking voice, “I’m Ramona Stevens and I represent Health Canada.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Stevens. This is a police investigation, you’re not supposed to be here,” the tall officer pointed out. “Even if you’re with Health Canada.”

“I’ll have you know that I’ve got the authority from the Prime Minister of Canada himself to investigate this place,” Skye — or rather, Ramona Stevens — declared. “So, you boys might want to step out of the way or you’ll be left explaining why you disobeyed a directive straight from the P.M.”

“Ms. Stevens, I do have to wonder what Health Canada wants with this crime scene that has nothing to do with them last time I checked,” the other police officer – a younger Asian gentleman – questioned Skye’s motives.

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear, boys,” Skye pointed out her apparent motivations for visiting this alleyway, “The crime scene isn’t why I’m here. It’s the restaurant that’s directly adjacent to this place. We got reports that the food at the Kinza Falafel restaurant has caused multiple instances of food poisoning. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to check it out myself.”

At that point, Finn peeked his head behind, crawling into the crime scene on Skye’s subtle signaling. He quickly took one of the papers bearing the cryptic scrawling, putting it into his pocket. Finn also made sure to take a quick photo the scene with his phone — making sure to turn off flash and all sound to not arouse any attention. He quickly left, which was the signal for Skye to wrap it up.

“In any case, I wish you a good day and I do apologize for the earlier hostilities,” Skye said to the two officers as she adjusted her glasses before abruptly leaving the area. The officers were left befuddled at how quickly “Ramona Stevens” vacated the area.

—

Johnny Sam’s Cafe — A Few Minutes Later….

“Health Canada?” Finn burst into laughter at Skye’s disguise and choice of cover identity. “An inspector from Health Canada working under the authority of Prime Minister Veilleux? That’s what you chose to disguise yourself as, Skye? Oh man…”

In Skye’s defense, she didn’t know that Health Canada itself didn’t carry out inspections of restaurants (that fell under the responsibility on municipalities and provincial health agencies), and certainly not under the direct orders of the Prime Minister of Canada, so she was just basically winging it back at the crime scene.

“If you’re done having fun at my expense,” Skye, remaining as serious as ever, interrupted Finn’s joviality, “Let’s see what you managed to scrounge from the crime scene.”

Finn pulled out the crumpled-up piece of paper containing the cryptic arrowhead sigil scrawled on it, putting it on the table for Skye to see.

“Wait, what’s that on the paper?” Skye took a closer look on the paper and saw something else written on it. The paper was a notepad, and it had a very familiar name right at the very top of it:

Dr. Douglas Dover

Medical Research

400 King Street West

Toronto, Ontario

“Dr. Douglas Dover? Do you think this guy’s the one your friend Isaac was talking about earlier?” Skye confided with Finn, who was taking a sip of coffee as he looked at the evidence he took from the alleyway.

“He has to be,” Finn deduced. “I mean, he seems to be roped into all this arrowhead craziness, ri–”

“We have no definite proof that he’s even connected to this whole Singularity mess,” Skye said. “But, when has that stopped us from peeking into things even further in the past?”

“So, you’re saying that we should…” Finn began to articulate.

“…That we should pay the good Dr. Dover a visit.” Skye finished Finn’s sentence for him, deciding what was the appropriate course of action. “Why that’s another good idea… you’re on quite the roll, Finwick.”

“I-I’m just doing what I can to help…” Finn blushed at Skye’s praising of his efforts. He was still getting quite used to his new friend being complimentary towards him.

—

King Street Medical Building — Early Evening

The many practices that made up the King Street Medical Building near the corner of King West and Blue Jays Way were varied, but all had the intent of helping their patients feel better or maintain their good health.

Dr. Douglas Dover appeared to be a trusted medical practitioner, one of the best at his job and someone who had a great rapport with his patients. So naturally, it did feel kind of weird for Skye and Finn to be visiting Dr. Dover’s office to potentially ask him about his suspected involvement with the Singularity conspiracy.  However, they trusted Isaac’s word that Dr. Dover wasn’t all that he seemed, which is what led them to this investigation.

Skye (still dressed up as Ramona Stevens) entered the building first, while Finn stayed right behind her. Rather than take the elevator, they headed to the stairwell to get to Dr. Dover’s fourth-floor office.

“Alright, what’s the play here?” Finn asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head in curiosity.

“You stay behind the stairwell while I enter Dr. Dover’s office and do the whole ‘pretend I work for Health Canada’ thing,” Skye walked up the stairs confidently, putting her brown wig back on.

“What happens if things get dicey?” Finn asked in a slight panic as he slowly tried to follow Skye upstairs.

“He’s a mild-mannered doctor,” Skye smirked. “It’s not like he’s gonna shoot me or something…”

“Given what Isaac said of him and your memory troubles earlier,” Finn’s concerns cropped up again. “You might wanna tread carefully here, Skye.”

“Relax, Finn,” Skye put her hand on her young ally’s shoulder, “I’ve got superpowers that can help if things get outta hand. And you can be of help with the whole bad memory thing if it happens.”

With that, Skye entered the door to the fourth floor, ready to take part in her mission to find Dr. Dover. She was met with a long, wide hallway with doors to other doctors specializing in fields such as dentistry, pediatrics, and x-ray imaging. Dr. Dover’s room was at the very end of the hallway.

Skye straightened her shirt and adjusted her glasses slightly before walking down the hallway to reach Dr. Dover’s office. Upon arriving at the front door, she noticed that the door was locked shut, even though the sign on said door stated that the office was open at the moment.

“Either our good doctor’s got something to hide, or he’s in danger,” Skye thought to herself while strategizing her next tactic.

Skye decided “to hell with it” and kicked down the door, her super-strength helping her breach it easily. A group of armed soldiers — five to be exact — had taken control of the room, with the secretary being held hostage. Whatever operation they were carrying out, it was already well underway.

Four of the five soldiers immediately pointed their guns at Skye, while one of them — who appeared to be their squad leader — gave out orders.

“Take care of the girl,” the one soldier, who was the only one not wearing a tactical mask to conceal his identity, told his subordinates, “I’ll have Bravo Echo secure Dover.”

The four soldiers began to fire wildly at Skye, but she was too fast for their gunfire thanks to her superhuman reflexes.

“Four against one seems like an unfair advantage in my favor,” Skye engaged in some fight banter while effortlessly taking down a couple of the soldiers, “So, I’ll just make things quick.” She grabbed a third soldier and bashed his head against the secretary’s desk, knocking him out easily.

The last soldier grabbed the secretary and pointed his pistol at the older woman’s head.

“You try anything funny, and I’ll put a bullet in her head!” The soldier shouted, ready to pull the trigger and kill the secretary. “You hear me, I swear I’ll sh—”

Before the soldier could finish, Skye hit a flying punch to his face, knocking him down easily.

“No, you won’t.” Skye remarked over the soldier’s beaten body. Her four adversaries had been taken care of, but there was still the matter of finding Dr. Dover before the squad leader could get to him.

“W-w-who? What is all this?” The secretary asked, fear evident in her voice.

“Whoever those soldiers are,” Skye answered, “They must want a word with your boss. Any idea where he is?”

“H-he should be in his office…” the secretary said nervously.

Skye walked past the secretary’s desk and right into a room with two doors. Dr. Dover’s office was on the right.

Rather than try and find out if the door was locked, Skye just kicked the office door forcefully. As she entered the office, she was met by the squad leader extracting a grey-haired man wearing a white labcoat and loading him into a helicopter that was waiting by a hole that used to be a window. The gentleman being led into the helicopter was indeed Dr. Douglas Dover, and he was about to be taken away.

“Let ‘er have it!” the squad leader motioned to one of his friends on the helicopter, who began firing on a stationary machine gun. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the memo that Skye was impervious to bullets thanks to her level of superhuman durability.

“Oh, you are not getting away, you son of a bitch,” Skye muttered with determined intent.

The machine gun’s bullets harmlessly bounced off of Skye’s body (while ruining the business suit she was wearing, naturally). Before the helicopter could escape, she ran towards it and leapt inside.

Skye was able to take down the soldier manning the machine gun,  as well as the squad leader, but before she could get her hands on Dover, she was sent flying backwards and out of the helicopter by an unknown force. Whatever it was that pushed Skye out of the chopper was strong enough to send her right into the wall of Dr. Dover’s office. By the time Skye recovered, the helicopter with Dr. Dover in it had flown out of her reach, but not before she got a brief look at a man completely wrapped in a black-and-red body suit standing amongst the remaining soldiers.

“Dammit…” Skye grumbled as she picked herself up. She was naturally peeved that she failed to rescue Dr. Dover from whoever it was that wanted him, but she was certainly not done on that front. Skye walked back into the main office and grabbed the body of one of the soldiers, putting him on her shoulders. She turned to the secretary.

“Sorry for the mess.” Skye said dryly to the frightened secretary, who probably could’ve used a vacation given what just happened. The secretary simply fainted once Skye left the completely ransacked office.

—

Moments Later…

Skye and Finn were huddled into the stairwell room with the one soldier Skye grabbed from the office at their feet. The lone soldier appeared to wear a uniform that had no significant symbols on them anywhere, which made identifying who he worked for a rather difficult task. That, of course, didn’t deter Skye from trying to get the truth out of him. She unmasked the soldier, revealing a bald-headed man underneath. He looked like he’d seen better days… and if he didn’t give Skye the info that she needed, today would end up not being one of those better days.

“Alright, sunshine,” Skye said while cracking her knuckles. “You can either tell me who sent you here and why they wanted Dr. Dover so badly… or we could do things my way and I just beat the answer out of you.”

“Please, feel free to pick Option B.”

“Heh… you really think I’m giving you anything?” the bald-headed soldier scoffed arrogantly, “You’re not getting any answers out of me!”

The bald-headed soldier followed up by spitting right in Skye’s face. That was a big mistake.

“Fine, suit yourself.” Skye responded in kind, aggressively grabbing the soldier by the neck and lifting him above the railing — with about four storeys separating the fourth floor and the ground below. Naturally, some fear for his life started to settle in for the bald-headed soldier as he was left dangling precariously over the railings. Perhaps, spitting in the face of someone with superhuman strength wasn’t the best idea.

“I’ve got a notorious case of butterfingers, so you might want to tell me what you know about your bosses,” Skye warned in a slight joking manner as she slowly loosened her grip around the soldier’s BDUs. “Before my butterfingers start acting up again and I happen to let go of you.”

“It’s… it’s for a research study!” the bald-headed soldier screamed in a panic. “SDI Medical Research hired us to get Dover for their studies! S-some crazy doctor thinks he’s got the solution to cure all of the subjects they’ve gathered!”

“Go on…” Skye said while keeping a bit of her grip around the soldier’s uniform.

“H-he said that it’s for achieving some new level of evolution or some crazy junk like that!” The bald-headed soldier continued to spill the beans, which was music to Skye’s ears. “Now, can you let me go? I’ve already told you all I kn–”

Skye pulled the soldier over back to solid ground and pushed him into the wall behind her to silence him. Talking time was done.

“Were you really gonna drop that guy all the way to the first floor?” Finn asked while he texted Stephen O’Day about a potential date, paying a bit of attention to Skye’s interrogation of the soldier.

“Of course not,” Skye sighed. “I just felt like having some fun after the stuff I’ve been through today.”

“Fair enough,” Finn conceded. “You have strange ideas for ‘having fun’…”

“But, anyways… I think I’m starting to see some connection here with all this: I mean… the missing homeless people, that soldier you interrogated mentioning a cure for ‘all of the subjects’, the fact that he worked for something called SDI Medical Research…”

“SDI Medical Research?” Skye cut Finn off, perhaps showing some form of familiarity with that company’s name, “Weren’t you researching a company by that name the other day when we were looking for intel on Psi MediLabs?”

“I think that was SDI Medical Systems,” Finn corrected his friend, “But, this research company is most certainly connected to them.”

“I think the two sharing a common name in ‘SDI’ kinda made it obvious,” Skye blithely pointed out, “In any case, we’ve got our lead. Let’s find this SDI building and rescue Dr. Dover before they do anything to him.”

—

Toronto Police Headquarters – Chief Alexandra MacDonald’s Office

For the past few days, Chief MacDonald was an incredibly busy individual, having to deal with multiple calls about reports of an unidentified woman surviving a car crash, armed men impersonating her police officers, a multi-car accident that ended happily, and an apparent explosion near The Annex. And that was on top on all the other crimes that were plaguing the city, which stretched her precincts thin.

“Chief MacDonald, sorry to interrupt,” Staff Sergeant Derick Eddison, head of TPS’ Major Crimes Task Force, entered the Chief’s office holding a folder of papers. “I think there’s something you might want to see.”

“This better be important, Derick, because I’m already knee-deep with this whole mystery superwoman case stretching us thin.” Chief MacDonald took the folder and had a look herself at the contents.

The folder contained a few surveillance images of the Psi MediLabs facility, that managed to get a slightly blurry image of Skye and Finn standing outside the building, the bodies of the security guards beaten down all around them. While the details were hard to make out, there was certainly no doubt in at least identifying Skye from the one photo due to her distinct black/pink hair.

“That woman with the black hair has my interest, Chief,” SSgt. Eddison pointed to the surveillance image of Skye, “Call it a wild hunch, but I think she might be connected with the Psi MediLabs explosion that happened early Tuesday morning.”

“Well, we did get a call from Toronto General Health Centre about a man who apparently suffered life-threatening injuries being brought there by someone who matches our mystery woman,” Chief MacDonald noted. “Whether or not this woman was complicit in the Psi incident is anyone’s guess, but we’ll keep looking into it.”

“Thank you, Chief.” SSgt. Eddison answered.

“Is there anything else, Eddison?” Chief MacDonald asked.

Before SSgt. Eddison could answer, another officer walked into Chief MacDonald’s office, and by the looks of things, he had something important to share… at least in his own mind.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think you might want to have a look at this, Chief,” the officer said, as he took out a cellphone showing a City-One News report on a helicopter flying above King Street West, apparently part of an incident involving an attempted kidnapping at a medical building.

“There are reports of gunfire, allegedly coming from the helicopter that flew above King Street and near a medical building…” the City-One News reporter’s voice spoke over the footage caught on film, “A secretary working for one of the practices located at the building was actually right in the middle of things. She spoke with City-One News and had this to say…”

“Oh, this day just keeps getting better & better…” Chief MacDonald remarked as her eyes were fixated on the news report.

—

Chapter III – Small Miracles

SDI Medical Research Building – January 24th, 2020

Ava Avila sat still in the small room that she had been placed in since the start of the research trial that SDI Medical Research was running. She had no idea what the people who took her wanted out of her, and she wasn’t about to cooperate peacefully. Ava just wanted to be back in her makeshift home back at Kensington Market.

“Patient N-002, Patient N-002. Await to be escorted into the lab.” A cold, commanding voice boomed over the facility’s PA system.

The door in Ava’s cell slid open, as two men in white labcoats appeared from the other side, ready to bring her into the lab. Ava realized this was her one chance to make a break for it. Sure, finding her way back to Kensington Market was another complication altogether, but being anywhere but here was the one thing on her mind at the moment.

Ava tried to dash past the two labcoat-wearing men, doing so successfully – but not before managing to knock one of them down with an elbow to his face. Unfortunately, her attempt at an escape was cut short by a tranquilizer shot to the neck, which made Ava feel incredibly woozy and lightheaded. She fell to her knees, the effects of the tranq dart starting to take over. Before Ava could recover to the best of her abilities, however, she felt a strong force of air pushing her against the metal wall, finally knocking her down for the count.

Brandt emerged from the shadows and ordered two other heavily-armed soldiers to drag Ava’s paralyzed body to the Testing Lab so that the experimentations could begin. He was soon joined by a brown-haired man in a black labcoat, who had Dr. Dover at his side, as well as another person — this one completely covered in a black-and-red bodysuit/armor combo with a strange-looking mask on his face that a had single “eye” as its focal point.

“Excellent work, Mr. Brandt.” the man in the black labcoat praised Brandt’s sharpshooting, “Now we can proceed as planned.”

“I do what I can, Professor Keisler,” Brandt, proud of his handiwork, smugly smirked towards the older gentleman. “Your ‘weapon’ over there is an impressive little creature, too.”

“Patient XII is not a ‘weapon’, Mr.  Brandt,” Keisler clarified the intent of his most prized subject, “He is a tool meant to assist our future patients in reaching their full potential. Now, if we could please let our latest patient into the lab so she can be led into salvation.”

—

The Road to SDI Medical Research

“I hate having to play dress-up yet again,” Skye said as she started to put on the Ramona Stevens wig, wearing a new light blue business suit to replace the old one that was left tattered by gunfire yesterday, “But, it might be the only way we get anywhere near SDI Medical Research.”

“I’m just wondering why a medical research firm would hire armed soldiers to kidnap a simple medical research doctor,” Finn questioned the motives of the hired guns that Skye encountered last night. “Seems a bit excessive, don’t you think?”

“If SDI’s even connected to this whole Singularity madness, I think bringing in everything short of the actual army isn’t out of the question for them to further whatever it is they’re planning,” Skye deduced. She had already caught on to Brandt’s involvement with Psi MediLabs and Isaac’s superpowers, so linking SDI Medical Research’s hired guns kidnapping Dr. Dover to it all wasn’t too much of a stretch for her. “In any case, we should keep an eye out for anything rotten.”

“About the plan, though, what do you want me to do?” Finn looked to the disguised Skye. “You’ve got your Health Canada guise on, and I’m… well, I’m me. What am I gonna do?”

“You know what? You stick close to me,” Skye responded. “Because I’m honestly not feeling like having to bail you out again if you get yourself caught by the bad guys. So, better you stick around so I can keep an eye on you and finding Dover.”

“Okay, sure. Whatever’s fine.” Finn resigned himself, feeling a bit hurt in regards to Skye’s remarks about him.  He only wanted to try his best to help, so what Skye said about him just now certainly cut a bit deep.

Upon reaching the SDI Medical Research building’s front door, Skye and Finn were met by a single security guard who was modestly-dressed. The fact that he didn’t seem too heavily armed probably made things a bit easier as it related to figuring out a way to get in.

“Good evening, sir,” Skye started with her routine, “I represent Health Canada and I’ve been alerted to a possible violation with a drug you are currently testing at this facility by my superiors.”

“I dunno anything about what you’re talking about. I just work security here,” The rotund security guard confessed. “But, I’ll need to see your credentials, miss.”

“Right here, sir,” Skye quickly produced a stunningly-accurate Health Canada I.D. bearing the name and face of whoever “Ramona Stevens” was supposed to be (Naturally, Ramona Stevens’ portrait was just a photoshopped picture of Skye) — which Finn managed to create easily yesterday when he was cooking up the whole disguise thing. “Make it quick, because I have the Prime Minister on the other line and he’ll want results.”

“Well, who am I to argue with P.M. Veilleux?” the security guard shuffled to get Skye and Finn through the main doors, “I voted for that guy, y’know…”

“Sir, do you know where I can find the testing labs?” Skye once again asked the security guard. “I’m on a tight schedule and I really would not want to waste any more time standing here.”

“It’s just down on the basement level,” the security guard answered, “you’ll have to take the elevator, though. It’s this way.”

The security guard led Skye and Finn into a short hallway that had three elevators in it. He soon made his leave once he saw the two enter the elevator room. Finn didn’t hesitate to press the “down” button to call for an elevator. Soon enough, the elevator arrived as Skye and Finn went inside so they could reach the basement.

“You do know that it’s probably going to be a trap waiting for us, right?” Finn, now wary about SDI’s scheming. “I mean, that special forces guy Brandt might be there.”

“Oh, yeah.” Skye answered confidently. “I’ve beaten him a couple of times now since arriving here, Let’s say we go for the hat trick, huh?”

“Basement Level I, going down…” the automated voice of the elevator system intoned, indicating its arrival at the destination Skye and Finn were looking for.

—

Ava Avila opened her eyes, still feeling woozy after being felled yet again by a mysterious threat. She awakened in a room with walls lined in a honeycomb pattern, not unlike a beehive. There was an incredibly unsettling vibe that permeated from this area of the Testing Lab,  an area informally known as the “Hive Chamber” by SDI Medical Research staff.

“A-anyone… h-here?” Ava’s voice squeaked out. She tried her hardest not to break down in tears at her current predicament. She was trapped in some ominous facility where people were being tested on for something called “Project Hivemind”. Ava had no idea what the project was, other than the fact that the head of the project held it in a very high regard.

The Hive Chamber was mostly empty, with a massive tank structure as its focal point. This was where prospective Hivemind subjects were taken to undergo the process that would give them superhuman abilities… at a cost. At the moment, only Ava and a single lab tech were in the Chamber.

Ava slipped out of the bonds that tied her onto the bed she had been placed on after being felled by the so-called Patient XII moments earlier. This got the attention of the lab tech that was assigned by Keisler to keep an eye on Ava while he was keeping XII under heavy maintenance.

“Hey! You’re supposed to remain in your bed until Keisler gets back fr–” The lab tech shouted at Ava, who quickly struck him down with a knee to the groin. Ava dragged the lab tech into a steel module to hide his body, but not before stealing his key card. She used the key card to open the Hive Chamber’s doors, which caught the attention of the two soldiers standing outside. They entered inside to see what the supposed disturbance was, but they failed to spot Ava, who managed to avoid being found out.

Ava crawled out of the Chamber doors, finding a small office adjacent to the room. She quickly entered that office and hid inside of it. While the office made for a good temporary hiding spot, Ava knew that it would be only a matter of time before Keisler discovered that she had escaped. Her work in finally being free of this Project Hivemind madness was certainly far from over.

—

Basement Level I, SDI Medical Research

“Keep your eyes and ears open, you never know what we’ll find here,” Skye patted Finn on the back before heading out the elevator door first ahead of him. Basement Level I was a very industrious-looking section of the building, metal corridors and doors lining the area liberally. Finn soon followed Skye into Basement Level I with a bit more caution than usual.

A couple of people in labcoats in the area walked past Skye and Finn, with one of them suddenly stopping in her tracks upon seeing Skye dressed up the way she was. The lab worker saw Skye’s doctored Health Canada I.D. card around her neck, then nervously tapping her fellow lab worker on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Um, Philip…” the female lab worker reached out to her co-worker, “I think we have a very important guest with us right now…”

“Ma’am, I respect your humbleness regarding my presence,” Skye took note of the lab worker’s skittishness around her, “Could you please direct me to where all the testing is being done?”

The female lab worker awkwardly got her co-worker Philip to help Skye and Finn towards the direction of where the clinical tests were being apparently carried out: a room simply labeled “Testing Lab”. The door to the room slid open, prompting Skye to enter first, with Finn following suit.

Skye was horrified with what she saw once she entered the Testing Lab…. rows upon rows of steel beds with people lying comatose on them. These were the missing homeless people that mysteriously vanished all over the city’s streets and they were being treated like guinea pigs. It was enough to give Skye enough pause as she felt yet another painful memory attacking her.

“Ah, shit. Skye, you alright?” Finn leaned closer and held Skye in his arms. He was doing all he can to calm his friend down, but seemingly to no avail.

Tears began to form on Skye’s face as she tried her best to fight off this latest memory incident, while Finn continued his attempts to comfort her. Like with the fractured memories, seeing Skye visibly shook up like she was at the moment was a wholly foreign experience for Finn. He just did the best he could to help her snap out of it.

That seemingly tender moment was abruptly ruined when a strong force of energy pushed Finn away from where Skye was huddled over, shunting him hard into the steel wall. Skye shook off her plight long enough to see the cause of the energy push: the armored man she encountered back at the King Street West medical building. The very same man who pushed her out of the chopper, preventing her from rescuing Dr. Dover from the armed soldiers.

“So, you are the one who my creator has prepared me for,” Patient XII spoke in an almost-robotic tone that sounded like many voices speaking as one. “I have awaited your arrival.”

“Would you just shut up!?” Skye sprang back up and tried to hit a shoulder tackle on XII, who simply used some sort of energy field to block it. XII’s gauntlets began to glow as he loomed over Skye, looking like a near-unbeatable force.

Right as XII thrust one of his arms towards Skye’s neck, she smashed her elbow against the gauntlet, causing it to malfunction. Just like that, XII lost some of his power. Before Skye could do any more damage, XII pushed her back with his other gauntlet arm as the singular eye on his mask began to glow red.

XII moved backwards, while the homeless people on the beds inside the room all began to wake up, their eyes glowing in the same shade of red as XII mask. Skye went to check on Finn, whose back was hurting badly due to being thrown violently into the wall by Patient XII

“Eurgh… whadidImiss?” Finn slurred his words, he was still recovering from getting knocked unconscious.

“Nothing, except an entire army of homeless people under the control of some comic book villain reject that want me dead.” Skye replied while she assumed a fighting stance, clearly ready to take on the insurmountable odds ahead of her.

“My creator wishes to have the woman alive for his own purposes,” Patient XII intoned, “but feel free to harm her in any way you imagine, my Swarm.” XII soon disappeared out of view, leaving his “Swarm” to carry out his orders.

The mind-controlled homeless people collectively voiced their approval and began to converge on Skye and the still-injured Finn. Before Skye could act, however, a piercing shrieking noise interrupted the proceedings. The screaming sounded like a young kid who was in peril.

Skye put Finn on his shoulder and barreled her way through the crowd of brainwashed homeless people under Patient XII’s control, trying to make her way to the room where the mysterious screaming noise came from. Skye kicked down the door forcefully, which startled the young woman inside the room. This woman looked to be a teenager, her short brown hair looking disheveled due to what she had apparently been through. She was wearing the same white gown the other homeless-people-turned-test-subjects had on them.

“You there…” Skye asked the young woman huddled in fear as she placed Finn against the wall to let him recover. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. What’s it to you?” the teenage girl rudely replied. “You’re just probably working for that jerk Keisler, so why would you care if I’m okay?”

“Well, then…” Skye was slightly taken aback by the attitude coming from the young girl that she was faced with. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Ava… Ava Avila,” the teen answered as the apparent fear in her voice soon was replaced by defiance towards Skye, “And I don’t need your help, whoever you are!”

“Why were you screaming?” Finn barely managed to utter those words, clearly struggling due to his back injuries.

“It’s called a distraction, don’t you know?” Ava answered, a fiery attitude evident in her voice, “I was tryin’ to distract that soldier and his lab buddies so I could escape before Keisler got back.”

“Listen, kid,” Skye interrupted while she used a desk from inside the room to keep the door shut in order to prevent the so-called “Swarm” from entering by the droves. “I don’t have time for the attitude act, so better drop it now and explain what’s going on here.”

“How do I know you’re not with Professor Keisler and his goon squad?” Ava questioned on whether she could trust Skye or not.

In response to Ava’s question, Skye removed her wig and suit, revealing her black/pink hair and “Bluebird” jacket (yes, she was wearing her hero jacket underneath the suit).

“W-wait… you’re that mystery woman that the news has been talkin’ about endlessly, aren’t you?” Ava was shocked upon seeing the realization of where she knew Skye from. “I can’t believe it! That superhero from the news is saving my life!”

“Look, I’ve had to fight not only heavily-armed soldiers and armored goons who can manipulate energy around them, but also my own mind these past few days,” Skye’s voice took on a more sincere tone, “So you probably wouldn’t believe the kind of day I’m having right now. I do know that you can definitely trust me and my injured acquaintance over there, however.”

Ava had never encountered someone like Skye before, but even she admitted that there was a certain sincerity behind her words and actions. She understood that Skye wasn’t working for Keisler or SDI Medical Research, and that she was someone who could be trusted.

Skye simply looked Ava right in her blue eyes and gave a trusting smile to the teenager.

“I’m sorry for my attitude earlier, whoever you are,” Ava quietly confessed, “It’s just that I’ve always had to deal with so much crap in my life from my parents, from people at school, and even others around my neighbourhood. It’s why I can’t trust anyone aside from a select few who’ve been there for me ever since I ran off from home.”

“Believe me, I sorta know that feeling, Ava,” Skye admitted freely. “Oh, and the name’s Skye, by the way. Skye Emery… but most everyone just calls me by my first name.”

“That’s a very beautiful name, miss.” Ava smiled for the first time in quite some time. “I had a pet rabbit named Skye that I loved so much before I got kicked out of my house.”

“Now that’s out of the way, you mind telling me what the deal with that armored energy guy and the zombie army of homeless people?” Skye again pressed for answers. She didn’t have time for life stories.

“That armored guy is what Professor Keisler calls Patient XII,” Ava replied. “He was designed to bring the other patients under his control to achieve what he called a ‘singular focus’. Part of some weird program he calls Project Hivemind.”

“And what did this Keisler guy want with you, exactly?” Finn coughed out his question. “You don’t seem to be a part of his mindless army…”

“I have no idea,” Ava again provided an answer, “But the night those soldiers took me from my home just outside Johnny Sam’s Cafe, I never felt so scared and helpless before in my life. It was like my heart was being torn apart and shown to me right before my very eyes.”

Ava’s words resonated heavily in Skye’s mind. She barely knew who Ava was, but Skye couldn’t help but think that saw quite a bit of herself in her, just from the way that Ava chose to carry herself at that moment. Even Finn knew that Ava’s demeanor was so very much like Skye’s, it was like looking into a mirror.

“If we’re done with the expositing and life stories,” Finn hacked out once more, “We still got an army of homeless people under the control of some super-robot thing, special forces soldiers, and crazy doctors that all want us dead… or worse.”

“I’m aware,” Skye diligently pointed out in her usual manner, “So, now would probably be a good time to get a move on.”

As the three stepped out of the small room they were hiding in, they were caught off-guard by the floor below them crackling in red electricity. While Finn quickly dropped under the strain of the electric floor, both Skye and Ava managed to endure it much longer.

All the way on the entrance of the Testing Lab stood Professor Keisler and Patient XII, who had encompassed the floor of the room with his energy emanating from his twin gauntlets. Joining the two were the army of brainwashed homeless folk that were collectively known as “the Swarm” by both Keisler and XII.

Ava tried to resist succumbing to the electric shocks, but she soon fell to the floor, leaving only Skye still standing. She rushed at XII, but the armored super-soldier’s round eye module began to glow red again, which signaled the Swarm to surround Skye in order to protect their master.

Skye didn’t have it in her to hurt any one of the Swarm, because she knew that each of them were still innocent people at the core of it all — they were simply victims of a vindictive social experiment. So, when the Swarm were ordered to collectively attack Skye, she just evaded their assault, not even attempting to actively fight back against them. Her main target was Patient XII, the one who had the homeless people under his control and against their will.

Skye lunged at Patient XII and Professor Keisler, but she soon found herself dogpiled by the Swarm, who held her in place. Skye struggled to break free of the Swarm’s unified grip of her body, but it was for all for naught. XII’s gauntlet began to crackle in red energy once again, as he then struck Skye in the gut with a hard blow that sent electricity sparking all around her body.

Professor Keisler watched from afar, clearly taking delight in Skye’s agony. He had groomed Patient XII as the focal point of Project Hivemind, and he was more than satisfied that he was seemingly successful in taking down a superpowered target.

XII pressed his gauntlet harder into Skye’s gut, which intensified the electric shocks to levels that would normally kill any regular human being. Skye tried to fight the urge to falter, but the pain was just too much to endure — even for someone with superhuman endurance and durability. Skye collapsed from the continued constriction of XII’s electricity, with the armored super-soldier’s sick grin visible from the exposed mouth area of his unusual helmet.

“My Swarm,” Patient XII issued his new directives, “Extract the bodies of the two interlopers and bring them to Testing Lab Bravo. I will take care of this one.”

The Swarm collectively made their way to where Finn and Ava were knocked out, picking up their bodies and taking them through an unknown corridor. XII lifted the fallen Skye by the neck, taking a moment to savour his victory. He then tossed Skye’s lifeless body beneath the feet of Professor Keisler, who only looked down upon her as a sinister smile formed on his face.

“Prepare the restraints,” Keisler looked to two people in labcoats, “It is time for the true experiment to begin.”

—

Chapter IV – A Careless Whisper

Basement Level II – Testing Lab Bravo

Professor Keisler stood with a firm look of confidence in himself, and with good reason. Victory was at hand. Project Hivemind was reaching towards unquestioned success, and he would soon add new subjects to his twisted experiments if all went to plan.

He looked towards Finn, knocked out cold and about to be turned into one of his test subjects for Unity. His eyes turned their attention to Ava, who was being held captive by Patient Hivemind, his first Unity experiment. His first true success.

Then there was Dr. Dover, the man who had unlocked the key of keeping all his “subjects” cured, held at gunpoint by Brandt and another soldier on SDI’s payroll.

Keisler let out a small chuckle as he walked toward the his so-called ‘catch of the day’, Skye, who found herself restrained some sort of metal contraption that apparently was strong enough to keep someone as strong as her cinched in tight.

“Mr. Brandt and his superior both speak highly of you,” Keisler bent his head towards Skye, “And with good reason. They both tasked me with bringing you to them so that they could move forward with their plans… but I am tempted to simply just keep you to myself and turn you into one of my Patients.”

“Just imagine, the infamous ‘Bluebird’ now left as nothing more as a Patient for me to mold as I see fit…”

That last remark elicited a faint look of anger from Brandt towards Keisler. He knew that The Director would not be happy if he failed once again to bring Skye to him. 

“Why the interest in turning homeless people into your ‘Patients’ and why the hell did you kidnap Dr. Dover?” Skye asked, rage slowly building up as the restraints held her tightly.

“This experiment is an exercise in bettering their meaningless existence,” Keisler ranted, “These rats line our streets begging us for sympathy, when they could achieve so much more. They waste their time hoping people will take pity of their sad lives. They should be working to become more than what they are. Which is what Project Hivemind intends to bring to them. A singular vision of a better tomorrow for the homeless.”

“By taking away their freedom and making them your slaves?” Skye responded indignantly.

A realization dawned upon Skye as she listened to Keisler’s bombastic tirade: This was the man who had given Isaac the serum for his superhuman abilities. She understood why Dr. Dover was such an important asset for Keisler’s plans, and it just made Skye all the more angrier about what that madman scientist was planning.

“As for Dover,” Brandt chimed in, “His work in the fields of medical research and genetics is well-renowned. He was important in ensuring the success of Professor Keisler’s project.”

“Indeed, Mr. Brandt,” Keisler again continued with his monologuing, “Dr. Dover’s efforts have helped me keep our Project Hivemind patients in line after so many failed attempts in unlocking the secrets of ensuring that both their loyalty and their abilities remain in tact. Soon, your two friends will be joining us, Bluebird. And so will you.”

“You’re not gonna do anything to Finn or Ava, you sick son of a bitch!” Skye gritted her teeth in anger, trying her best to break free of the metallic bonds restraining her.

“Unfortunately for you, Bluebird,” Professor Keisler said, “That will not be happening. XII, please escort our newest subject into the Chamber.”

XII left Ava’s side and was ordered by Keisler to take Finn into the Hive Chamber to undergo the process that would turn him into a Hivemind subject. Skye could only watch helplessly as she kept trying to wriggle free of her restraints. 

The process would involve mind alteration and an infusion of a serum similar to the one that gave Isaac his superpowers. Dr. Dover’s contributions was to provide a “genetic bonder” that would help stabilize a Hivemind subject’s DNA to prevent a breakdown of both mental state and their potential superhuman abilities — at the cost of their individual free will.

“NO!” Ava began to tremble in anger, a surge of pink/blue light began engulfing her body, which got the attention of Brandt, Professor Keisler, and even some of the mind-controlled slaves of A-001 who were in the room. “YOU’RE NOT HURTING ANYONE EVER!”

“XII! Stop Patient N-001 this instant! My experimentation must not be hindered!” Keisler panicked as Ava’s righteous fury was mounting.

“LEAVEMYFRIENDSALONELEAVEMYFRIENDSALONELEAVEMYFRIENDSALONE!” Ava’s hollering increased in both speed and tone. The light that once came from Ava’s hands began to completely cover her body. Ava had never felt this much power coursing through her before, even during those instances when she managed to produce small quantities of light. This was something on a whole other level.

“My Swarm,” XII’s monotonous droning began, “Your hivemind orders you to pacify the threat at once.”

The mindless drones that were once homeless people made their way en masse to where Ava was standing… but they were all pushed aside by the energy emanating from her, their bodies sent flying all over the Testing Lab. Ava was no longer going to let herself feel helpless at the expense of herself and those she cared for. She was ready to unleash all the anger, all the emotion that she had bottled up for so long… and she was ready to bring hell to Professor Keisler’s plans.

With one primal scream, Ava let out all the energy within her, causing the Testing Lab to be completely overwhelmed in a deluge of pink light. This was enough to give Skye enough time to break free of her restraints, while Finn’s stretcher had been stopped in its tracks. Ava fainted after having expended all her energy in that impressive display of power.

Two lab techs tried to bring Finn’s stretcher to the Hive Chamber, but were cut off thanks to Skye taking them both down with ease. She unhooked Finn from the stretcher before taking him to where Ava laid unconscious.

“Waitwhathappnsk….” Finn mumbled, again having to wake himself up from being KO’d.

“Get Ava to safety, Finn,” Skye said firmly. “Tell her that I said ‘thank you’ for the save once she wakes up.”

“What about you?” Finn queried.

“I’ve got a score to settle with Keisler and his science fair project.” Skye responded, a clear conviction evident in her tone of voice. She was ready for round two with Keisler’s deranged science experiment.

With that, Finn tried his best (with a nagging back injury) to get Ava’s body out of harm’s way, while Skye was on the hunt for Professor Keisler.

—

“Keisler!” Skye’s voice rang through the hallways of Basement Level II. “You wanted me, I’m right here. So you better show your face right the hell now! Because I am itching to wipe that smug smile off of your face!”

Just like that, Professor Keisler appeared, surrounded by both Brandt and Dr. Dover, who was still being held hostage.

“You have proven yourself a powerful adversary, Bluebird,” Keisler commented, “But, it certainly won’t be enough against the power of Patient XII and Project Hivemind.”

Before Skye could provide a rebuttal, she was knocked forward by a force of energy once more. Yet again, Patient XII stood over her, now ready to perhaps to finish what he started and put an end to his enemy for good.

“If you will not yield to my creator’s demands,” XII growled, “I have no choice but to permanently end your threat.”

Skye avoided an energy blast from XII’s gauntlet, then trying to slide underneath the armored warrior’s legs. However, XII caught Skye’s legs and threw her into the wall, causing a huge dent.

XII grabbed Skye by the neck and slammed her head against the wall, pummeling her repeatedly with his steel gauntlets. Somehow, XII’s punches were enough to draw some blood from Skye’s face.

“Your odds of survival are at 0.2%,” XII described his handiwork and what he was about to do to Skye, “I now offer you absolute finality.”

“Offer… this!” Skye would have none of XII’s calculated assault, managing to reverse the chokehold by landing a headbutt on the black-and-red being. XII staggered backwards, then being sent into the opposite wall thanks to Skye landing a two-footed kick after the choke was released.

Brandt positioned his specialized gun and aimed it at Skye’s head. He was ready to take out Skye by any means necessary… even if Professor Keisler didn’t want things to end like that. Keisler put his arm in front of it in an attempt to get Brandt to stand down.

“No! I will not let you take away my one opportunity to add the crowning jewel to Project: Unity!” Keisler declared.

“Okay, Professor, I think I’ve had enough of your demands…” Brandt responded in kind, getting himself into a brief struggle with Keisler. This gave Dr. Dover the opportunity to send his body into Keisler, taking him and Brandt down for the moment.

Skye ran towards Dr. Dover’s position and made sure that he was alright. She was relieved to finally have Dr. Dover safely with her. At the same time, Patient XII lifted himself back up with a gale force of energy, as his eye began to glow red once more.

“Damn thing won’t stay down…” Skye muttered to herself. “No matter how hard I hit, the bastard just keeps on tickin’…”

“Y-you must be the ‘Bluebird’ that Mr. Brandt and Professor Keisler would not stop talking about,” Dr. Dover said in amazement at the young woman that stood before him, clearly awed by her strength.

“I am.” Skye snapped back while she spat out blood from her mouth. “Just can’t seem to escape people calling me that, huh?”

“It seems that Patient XII was explicitly designed by Professor Keisler to eliminate you,” Dr. Dover said.

“And what does an obsession with me have to do with putting down that thing for good?” Skye pondered.

“I believe that the key to destroy him is that eye module he’s wearing,” Dover pointed towards the unnatural helmet XII was wearing, “I overheard Professor Keisler mentioning it while talking about how the module helped him control both the Swarm and his energy abilities.”

“Already way ahead of you, Doc…” Skye boasted as she charged at Patient XII to try and permanently shut him down.

—

“Dammit! Dammit!” Finn shouted in anger at his current predicament. “This is not good. This is not good!”

Thanks to the mental commands issued by Patient XII while he was fighting Skye, the army of homeless people under his control were now given their orders to eliminate Finn and Ava.

“For Unity,” the mindless drones chanted repeatedly as they made their way to where Finn and Ava were hiding.

“If y’wanna wake up and do that light show trick again, now would be a great time!” Finn looked at Ava’s unconscious form and attempted to wake her up however he could. He’d have to act fast, because the Swarm would soon be coming for them.

—

Skye continued to fight Patient XII to the best of her ability, but his energy manipulation abilities made it a very difficult struggle for her.

Every time Skye tried to punch at XII’s head, he would will an energy shield to protect himself from her offense. After the last attempt, XII was tired of playing around, soon creating an energy box that engulfed Skye’s head in an attempt to kill her by suffocation. Skye soon fell to her knees, holding on to the energy cube around her head in an attempt to remove it. 

“It is unfortunate that your struggle will end here,” XII lamented, “You could have joined me in achieving full Unity. But now, death by asphyxiation will be your final fate.”

“Farewell, Bluebird. You will no longer be a threat to me.”

Skye fought desperately for air, but the box surrounding her head was too tight for her to release. She felt her whole body gradually going numb as her final moments of life drew closer and closer. Her breaths increased in speed, determination to survive just a bit longer so she could save her friends and Dr. Dover from Keisler’s mad experiments now beginning to settle in.

While Patient XII was fully entrenched in savoring what he hoped would be Skye’s death, Dr. Dover grabbed a pistol from the still-knocked out Brandt and shot at the superpowered being in the hopes of saving the life of the young woman who risked it all to rescue him.

A few of the shots fired at XII was enough to force the super-soldier to release the energy cube that was choking Skye. XII, angered that his one chance to fulfill his primary goal was cut short, flew to Dover’s position as his hands began to glow with red energy.

Meanwhile, Skye — still feeling shaky after being free of the energy cube — crawled back up and saw her opportunity to catch XII by surprise, hoping to finally shut him down.

“Your interference in my mission will not be tolerated,” XII’s voice boomed in anger. “Therefore, I have no choice but to end your li—”

Skye caught XII off-guard, leaping on to his back and grabbing him forcefully in some sort of a sleeper hold.

“Time’s up, Lite Brite.” Skye taunted XII while doing as much damage as she could to the metal-plated armor that her superpowered foe was wearing.

“This should put a real shock to your system…”

With one powerful strike to the exact centre of the eye, XII finally crashed to the ground below, his power dissipating in more ways than one. The glowing red lights that lined his armor slowly began to flicker off as a result of the Bluebird’s efforts.

“NOoooooOoOOoo…..” XII cried out in pain. The energy that surrounded his hands soon vanished, as did the red glow that emanated from the eye on the module of his face.

Skye sat down beside Dr. Dover as she recovered slowly from being nearly strangled to death moments earlier, her body’s superhuman healing making the process just a bit easier.

“Thanks for the save, Doc,” Skye looked to Dr. Dover and offered her gratitude for his efforts in both saving her life and helping to stop Patient XII. “Never thought I’d hear myself saying that.”

Over with Finn and Ava, they bore witness to the Swarm of mind-controlled homeless people falling unconscious in unison, now that Patient XII’s control over them was severed for good. Soon enough, they woke up, all confused about where the hell they were.

“This has your fingerprints all over it, Skye.” Finn thought to himself while he held Ava close to him, relieved that the Swarm would no longer attack them. “Nice work, Bluebird.”

While Skye took Dr. Dover with her to safety, Brandt recovered and dragged both Professor Keisler and Patient XII’s lifeless bodies with him. He was not done with them.

—

Chapter V – Freedom of Choice

An Undisclosed Area…

“It is unfortunate that you have failed once again, Agent Brandt,” The Director, disappointment at yet another setback in his plans, told his top operative, “But, it is even more disheartening to see Project Hivemind crash and burn the way it did.”

“Sir, I didn’t anticipate Professor Keisler going rogue on me,” Brandt explained his case. “Once Skye and her friend entered the fray, he was so fixated on bringing her under his fold, he lost sight of the deal we had in place.”

“Save me the excuses, Brandt,” The Director interjected. “It is not all bad news for our plans, however. We now have more knowledge on the Subject than what we had earlier. We now know her strengths… and her weaknesses.”

“What do you suggest we do, sir?” Brandt speculated on what The Director wanted to do about Skye.

“I believe it is time I stepped in and did something in order to extract our shared problem.” The Director affirmed the next ‘phase’ of his mysterious plans, more than prepared to deal with Skye and her allies through his own tactics.

—

Johnny Sam’s Cafe, Kensington Market – January 27th, 2020

Today was one of those rare days of comfort for Skye, where she didn’t have to worry about mysterious assassins or soldiers coming to get her or some crazy conspiracy involving genetic enhancement hounding her. Today was simply just for relaxation… and a chance to make a new friend. Skye remembered that Johnny Sam’s Cafe was the place that Ava called her home when she and Finn first ran into her a couple of days back. So it was natural that paying that home a visit to express her gratitude was the next step.

It had been a couple of days since the homeless people were found by Toronto Police at the SDI Medical Research compound in Wychwood Park, later being brought to a housing shelter on Fort York run by the City of Toronto. They collectively had no memory of what Professor Keisler did to them, assuming their whole experience with Project: Unity to be a shared hallucination caused by starvation or somesuch.

As for Dr. Dover, he returned to his King Street Medical Building office (which was undergoing construction after being nearly torn apart by SDI’s soldiers), thankful that he survived his ordeal and simply just wanting to get back to his medical researching to help others get better.

Skye ordered a pint of beer for herself and Finn, sliding his mug towards him while taking her own mug. That was Skye’s fourth mug of beer, which didn’t cause any intoxication whatsoever. Skye was as fine as ever.

Finn speculated that thanks to Skye’s super-enhanced metabolism, it made her unable to get drunk. He then happily took the mug that Skye gave him and began drinking, but in a more restrained manner than Skye. Ava was sitting beside him with a smile on her face, happy that she was back at a place she considered her home and not in some lab being tested on by deranged scientists. Ava looked towards Mr. Perreault, who soon came over to her and gave her a big hug.

“We missed you here, Ava.” Mr. Perreault stated with sincerity, “Welcome back, kid.”

Ava couldn’t help but cry tears of joy at the fact that she had someone caring for her like Mr. Perreault.

“Y’know that crazy light thing you did back at SDI Medical Research, Ava?” Finn asked while drinking his mug of beer, “Do you know how and why you could do it?”

“Oh, that? I don’t think it’s because of what Keisler and his goons did to me,” Ava surmised, “I think it’s just that I saw you and Skye in danger from that armored guy and the brainwashed zombie army. I never had a chance to use my powers because it seemed like they were something I was cursed with. But, when I saw what was about to happen to all of us, I didn’t want to stand by helplessly and see anyone I cared for get hurt ever again.”

Meanwhile, Skye simply looked on to where Finn and Ava were sitting, a gracious smirk forming on her face. She soon sat beside Ava, offering up some words of her own.

“Ava, I just want to say how much I appreciate you after everything that happened back at the SDI facility,” Skye began to talk in that heartfelt manner she wasn’t really accustomed to, “It’s clear that all the people who said that you were nothing but a mistake or a failure were dead wrong. I see that and I definitely do believe that.”

“Actually, I should be thanking you, Skye,” Ava replied.

“Hm?” Skye was perplexed. She wasn’t used to people thanking her for anything… as far as she knew.

“For helping me realize how important it is to trust the people that care… both old and new.”

And it was at this point that Ava leaned closer and hugged Skye, who at first was confused by this show of affection, but she soon caught on with what was happening and gave Ava an embrace of her own.

The sight of a motherly figure hugging a baby briefly flashed in Skye’s mind, but she quickly returned back to reality, realizing that she had someone else to trust in now, even as the world around her got more and more complicated.

Next: “Singular Focus”

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