Chapter 4: Learning curve and a helping hand

"Trance!" Seeing her friend come out of his office, Sanura called out loudly to get his attention.

He turned around to her. "Hi Nura, what's up?

Sanura walked up to him holding a tablet in her hands. "I've found something that may be related to that guy, Mindcontrol."

"Really? What have you found?" asked a curious Trance.

She started, "An out of the way private mental hospital for experimental treatments in Nevada had a serious incident. Delivery people found all the patients gone. One orderly was dead, another had been reduced to a drooling vegetable. A regular part-time visiting doctor was found ripe to be admitted as a patient himself."

Trance interrupted with a whistle. "How was the orderly killed?"

Sanura checked her tablet, "Apparently he was torn apart limb by limb."

"Ouch," Trance reacted with a grimace.

"Indeed," Sanura said. "Several experimental machines and drugs were found, most of them illegal. The most interesting machine they found was a very powerful PSI inhibitor."

Trance showed interest, "Possibly for our wayward telepath?"

"I believe so," responded Sanura.

"Do you have a name for this person?" asked Trance.

Sanura sighed with a mysterious smile, "All records were destroyed. However a partial patient list was found in a backup file."

Trance almost exploded from anticipation, "and?"

Sanura smiled, "Take it easy, Trance. I said a partial list. Authorities managed to track down about a quarter of the missing patients in the mental ward of Grover C Dils Medical Center in Caliente, Nevada. They were unresponsive, probably in the same state as they were in earlier in the private hospital. A few other patients were found doing menial jobs and living a new life and being quite happy. Some others had picked up their normal life again, apparently completely cured of their mental ailment."

Trance whistled again, "You think Mindcontrol cured them?"

Sanura looked at him, "You tell me, you're the expert. Do you think a telepath and telekinetic can cure mental patients? Without any medical training or experience in that field?"

Trance thought hard before answering, "It's not impossible, though highly unlikely. None the less, stranger things have happened, and we've seen our share of that already."

Sanura affirmed, "Yes we have. Now let me continue. All of those former patients said that a nice young man with white hair cured them, more or less. They didn't know his name though. A few patients couldn't be found and of course we don't know how many patients are really missing from the hospital."

Trance interrupted dejected, "So, we still don't have an ID on Mindcontrol, if this really is him we are talking about."

Sanura smiled mysteriously, "Yes and no. True, we don't know if this is the work of Mindcontrol. Though the way you sensed his paranoia, it would fit. The inhibitor, that was found at the facility also supports the assumption."

Trance nodded in agreement, while Sanura continued, "One patient was not found initially, but he popped up in a casino in Las Vegas. He got noticed because he won big in the casino."

Trance asked, "How big?"

"About 200 million, though only a small part of the money came directly from the casino. He won a lot of money in poker games."

Trance whistled again, "Are you suspecting he used his powers? All casino's have inhibitors and employ telepaths to check if their guests are using powers."

Sanura nodded, "True, but the inhibitor at the hospital was a lot stronger, I guess he got used to resisting that much dampening and was still able to use his powers inside the casino. But again you're the expert, you tell me: Is that possible?"

Trance thought for a moment, "It may be possible. It would explain the short bursts of psionic power that I sensed earlier. So, we do have a name and a location on him?"

Sanura nodded, "His name is Daniel Montro, a young man originally from Russell, Kansas. The details of his incarceration into the hospital are sketchy at best. What I can gather is that his father had him committed to the mental ward in Nevada after he went through MORFS and was diagnosed as being almost a vegetable, unable to speak or take care of himself. Later it was found that he exhibited telekinetic powers and they ordered the Inhibitor to be used on him."

"So, where is he now?" Trance asked impatiently.

Sanura gave him a wry smile, "Unfortunately, we don't have a current location on him. After the last win he bought himself a car and went out on the road. He may be travelling towards Kansas, but that's just speculation."

"I'm sure that you have the roads to Kansas monitored just in case," Trance stated.

Sanura just nodded, while Trance said thoughtfully, "I can try to locate him by teleview or even telepathically. Though I am a bit apprehensive about doing that. He's very good at hiding from my TP scans, and if I do manage to locate him, I may be in for another battle."

Sanura sighed, she would have to rely on old fashioned detective work. She too worried about the upcoming encounter with Mindcontrol. If he was powerful enough to hide from Trance and even beat him at his own special field, she might need all the members of her elemental team to subdue him, if that was even possible. She shook those thoughts from her mind though. Her team where the finest elementals, and even with half the members their power was big enough to combat any villain. She vowed to be there anyhow, since she was one of the most powerful elementals. Then her thoughts went back to the upcoming encounter, a battle with her team against such a powerful foe could mean a lot of collateral damage. She didn't look forward to that. She wished she could just sit down with the young man and have a quiet talk with him. But the paranoia he's exhibited toward Trance made that seem unlikely...

Taking my time, I drove at a leisurely pace through the countryside. Every time I took a break, I practiced my powers. For instance, I had learned that I could teleport to nearly any place I wanted to go. I could sort of see a preview of the place to teleport to. The downside was that the teleportation took a lot out of me. This also limited my teleport range to two hundred meters at best. If I was already fatigued, the range went down fast and I would be exhausted.

Several times at gas stations and diners, I played with people's perception. I would make them think they saw what they wanted and or expected to see. Not only was this intended to hide in plain sight, it was also fun to see how people reacted to the person I appeared to be. 'Should I be playing with people's minds like this? It is practical and the experience may prove to be useful later. Then again, it's not ethical. Ever since I killed Herb, I have been plagued by my conscience. I don't like where this is going. I may end up questioning myself every time I get attacked. That might prove to be fatal.'

It provided me with valuable experience in how to make people perceive what I wanted them to. Of course I couldn't influence recording devices, but I could and did turn cameras off or make them look in a different direction.

I was enjoying a good meal in a diner on the edge of a small town when I heard a commotion. 'Is this about me? Did someone see me or recognize me? I thought I hid myself well enough.' Subtly I scanned the minds of the people around and quickly ascertained the situation. One boy, a big fan of Star Wars, was being harassed about it by four boys his age. The complicating factor was the fact that those four boys were all MORFS survivors. One was a cat hybrid with claws and a lot of agility named Fariz. The second boy, a bit older with the name Edgar, was a Fire elemental. A third boy, called Lambert or Lam, had enhanced strength that he used as he pleased and the last boy, Yves, was resilient, due to his enhanced skin and healing factor.

I could relate a little to the Star Wars fan, a few years ago the movie industry had made a remake of the movies and started a new series. Now, with the MORFS hybrids, they could mimic some of the species that looked more like animals a lot better. Of course everything being shot in 3D and Holographic images gave a new impulse to the whole Star Wars Universe as well. The merchandising had jumped in with renewed vigor, they even had some realistic holographic light sabers on the market, complete with the sounds.

As I listened in to the conversation, I also read the mind of the boy being attacked. His name was Benjamin and he was a bit out of this world, living mostly in the fantasy world of Star Wars. But he meant well and was determined to be a hero of some kind. He stood up to the four boys as they had been making trouble and had thrown garbage all around on the street.

The cat hybrid sneered, "Hey, Benji? Why don't you use the Force on us?, You're supposed to be a Jedi, right?"

Ben had enough reality sense that he didn't reply. He just retreated into the back of the diner. The boys didn't let him go though. Edgar, the fire elemental said, "Yeah, show us what you can do. I reckon you're nothing but a yellow blowhard."

I easily read the minds from the boys bothering the kid. They were gearing up to inflict some serious damage. They felt strong in their group and wanted to have some fun at the boy's expense. I smiled, I wouldn't mind having some fun myself and give the boy some help at the same time.

I connected telepathically to Ben, Hello Ben, Don't be alarmed, I'm going to help you show these assholes not to mess with you.

Ben made a weird move with his head hearing my telepathic voice in his head. "Uh, what do you mean?" He said.

Edgar thought Ben was talking to him, "See, he is stupid as well as a coward, " he said to his friends. Then he said to Ben, "Here, try to block this." With that Edgar prepared to throw some fire towards Ben.

I told Ben, Lift up your arm like a Jedi blocking something.

Ben didn't ask any questions and raised his arm as if he was going to block the fire with his bare hand. I sensed the fire bolt coming and telekinetically deflected it upwards, where it dispersed without doing any harm.

Everyone was surprised at the unexpected way the fire bolt behaved. Even Ben hadn't expected that. But he quickly recovered, "I didn't want to use the force, but now you made me do it."

Fariz the cat hybrid growled, and with a speed I hadn't even expected launched himself towards Ben, who instinctively put up his arm. I caught Fariz in the air about a meter away from Ben. Halting him suspended in the air, I spun him around for a moment before throwing him across the room and through the window out into the street. There he was out for the count for a few minutes, while Lam watched the whole event take place.

Then he shook his head and decided to use his strength to show that boy what he thought of it. He picked up a table, about to throw it to Ben.

I ripped the table apart into its component parts and pummeled Lam with the parts he wasn't holding. They gashed his head and gave him several bruises. He became so distraught he didn't even try to make another move against Ben.

Edgar, who had just been watching since seeing his first fire bolt deflected, raged, "What the hell?" He was about to shoot a fountain of fire at Ben, when Ben got into the swing of things. His thoughts were clear to me on what he wanted to do and while he waved his arm, I threw Edgar into Yves with my TK power. The fire bolt he was already throwing hit Yves instead of his intended target. Yves yelped in surprise and pain, though his tough skin kept the damage to a minimum.

Lam started to get back to his senses, while Edgar was getting ready to get up without even looking at his injured friend. I said mentally to Ben, Make a movement with your hands like lifting something and then wave them into a circle for a while. Then move like you're throwing something.

Ben got my meaning and as he moved his hands, I lifted the three boys into the air and started to spin them around. Ever faster they spun round and round, till Ben made his next move. I pushed the boys out of the building through the already broken window. They landed in a disorganized heap on the fourth boy, Fariz, who was just coming around from his earlier crash into the pavement. It knocked him out again.

The boys outside were flabbergasted for a moment till Ben stepped up to the broken window, "Now, I said I don't like using my power. But for you I made an exception. Want to come back here for some more ass whooping?"

The boys looked at Ben in astonishment, and scrambled up to get away in a hurry. They were in such a hurry that the cat hybrid was left behind, as he was unconscious again. He woke up a moment later, saw his friends running away and decided to join them.

Ben yelled after them, "Guess you had enough, now stay out of my way." Then he turned around and with a gloating smile on his face said, "Yes! Finally I'm a Jedi."

I deposited several hundred dollar notes on my table, I didn't want the owner of the diner to be left with the costs of the damage. Then I mentally said, Don't get cocky, kid. If I hadn't done everything, you'd be lying in the gutter feeling pain and humiliation.

Ben said, "Who are you? Show yourself to me."

I stood up and walked towards him, Here I am, now quit living in the imaginary world and work on making something of your life.

With barely contained anger, Ben said, "No, I am a Jedi and I will not falter."

I sighed, this boy was incorrigible. Then reading his mind, I got an idea. I let him think that my image changed to someone with a hooded cloak, holding a handle that proved to be a red lightsaber. Fine, little Jedi wannabe. You'd do well to remember that this planet is ruled by the Sith. Now get out of my way. With that I shoved him telekinetically to the side and walked out towards my car. I made it look to Ben like it was a real spaceship and drove off, leaving a perplexed young boy behind.

Driving along happily on a deserted road, I let my guard down a little. I felt relaxed, but kept my mental shield up high. I was blocking out everything and everyone, since I wasn't expecting anyone near me for miles. I should have been more cautious though.

Suddenly an animal I thought was a coyote, ran across the road ahead of me, coming from some bushes. I couldn't have seen it earlier as some rocky outcroppings hid its path from view. As I got near the bushes, someone on some sort of hoverbike shot from the bushes, right in front of my car. Instinctively I yanked the steering wheel to avoid hitting the hoverbike. My right tire hit something and I found myself flying inside the car that was doing a good impression of a gymnast.

For a moment I thought, 'This is it, I'm going to die here.' Then my self-preservation instinct kicked in and I frantically looked for a way to avoid damage to myself. I could have smacked myself in the head, so to speak, as I already found the solution. I created a telekinetic bubble around myself, absorbing almost any intrusion into it, while cushioning the rapid deceleration for my body.

With a sickening crunch my car came to a complete stop against a big boulder. Still safely cocooned inside my bubble, I found myself trapped in the wreckage. It took quite some force to wrench open the door, but eventually I got out and looked at the remains of what was once a fine car. I felt quite upset about the cause of the accident and expanded my telepathic field to see if I could pick up the person responsible.

To my surprise he was quite near. Apparently he had caught the animal he was chasing. That's when I got another shock, it wasn't an animal he had been chasing on his hoverbike. It was a human coyote hybrid. 'Why does he chase hybrids like that? Is that hybrid a bad person? Or is he a purist?' My temper rose and I walked out towards them. I tried to read the mind of the man doing the chasing, but somehow he was shielded against telepathic probes. I could still affect some of the brain functions like vision, but I couldn't read his mind. Well, maybe with enough force I could break through, but that could easily fry his mind, reducing him to a complete vegetable, like I had done to Steve.

As I walked up to the man, who was binding the captured hybrid in a sort of electrified net, I let him see me as a helpless young woman. He noticed my approach and looked up, his gaze was lustful for a moment till a scowl crept over his face. "What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, but you caused my car to crash. Can I have your insurance details please?" I said sounding innocently.

Gruffly he replied, "Sorry honey, but I don't have the time. You just have to fend for yourself."

I was enraged, with force I ripped the image from his head that he was most fearful off and made it look like I looked like that person. "Then you'll make the time. I want an apology at the very least and compensation is in order."

He fell back on his butt and gasped, "Madam M? How can you be here? I caught it just like you wanted."

Then he thought for a moment, "You're not Madam M. You're a MORFS. I'll get you for that." He quickly pulled out a wicked looking gun and shot something at me.

I had no problem holding the object in place before me and it seemed to be a dart of some kind. "Interesting, so you shoot people, just because they went through MORFS?" I now appeared to him as my normal self and turned the dart around. Slowly I let it glide through the air towards the man and he tried to crawl backwards as fast as he could.

"What is in this dart that it frightens you so much?"

He didn't answer so I tried to read it from his mind. Again I was blocked, but now I found the source of the block. His helmet had a sort of build in telepathic protection barrier. Telekinetically I ripped the helmet from his head and after that had no problem reading his mind.

Enraged I growled at him, "You shoot MORFS with poisonous darts? What kind of sick organization is SHAME?" He just gave me hateful look. I spat at him, "Yes, I know you want to kill me. Sorry, but I don't intend to cooperate with that."

He opened his mouth to shout something insulting at me, but I lifted him in the air and threw him all the way to the highway where he made hard landing on the asphalt

I turned my attention to the coyote hybrid. Mentally I said, Please hold still while I get you out of the net.

With a awful accent he said, "Wrank you, miswrer."

Quickly I was able to get the net of him, "So, tell me. Why is SHAME hunting you down? What did you do?"

"I gowr MORFS," said the hybrid.

Doubting my own hearing I asked, "You only got MORFS? They persecuted you only for that?"

"Yes, not only me wrhough. WRhey have cells full of owrher hybriwrs. WRhey wron'wr consiwrer hybriwrs human, buwr juswr animals."

A cold rage swelled up inside me. The SHAME facility appeared just as the asylum that I had been imprisoned in. I quickly accessed the mind of the hybrid, I learned his name was Marvin and I got the location of the facility he had been held captive. "Thanks, want to come with me and see how I will punish those SHAME assholes?"

Marvin shook his head, "Nope, gonna gewr away from here as faswr as I can." With that he took off in a fast trot.

As I watched him go, I thought on how to get to the facility. It was too far to walk, however seeing the parked hoverbike brought a smile to my face. I didn't know how to operate it yet, but I connected to the mind of the previous rider. He was still conscious, though had broken several bones. I noticed that he tried to grab a transceiver, but failed as his arm was broken in three places. He couldn't reach it with his other arm.

Telekinetically I ripped the transceiver out of its holder and crushed it before his eyes. I can't have you alerting your pals. Now, let me get what I want and I'll leave you be. With that I ripped the knowledge on how to operate the hoverbike out of his head.

He looked at me, "You can't leave me alone like this. It's not decent towards another human being."

I snarled at him, "And what you're doing is humane or decent? They didn't ask to get MORFS. They are just as human as you. Maybe even more. From my point of view, you're the animal, not them."

With a quick burst of psionic energy I left him unconscious on the side of the road just close enough to be noticed. Maybe he got lucky and drivers would see him. In which case he might get rescued.

Quickly I arrived at some buildings surrounded by a large fence. At the gate my approach was noticed but didn't arouse any suspicion maybe since I wore the helmet of the previous rider. Though my clothes didn't look anything like his, I managed to make the guard see it like I was that guy.

He nodded at me, "Had a good hunt, Achmed?"

I just nodded and went past him without talking to him. The guard didn't even blink, apparently it was assumed behavior by Achmed. I parked the bike near some others and quietly entered the building nearest the parking. As soon as I got through the door, the full force of a Dampener hit me. They were really scared about Telepaths and Telekinetics it seemed. The dampener was very powerful, though not as powerful as the one in the asylum. I could still use my powers, but the range I could use it in was limited from a few inches to a yard.

I could feel the direction of the inhibitor, so I made my way there. As I neared the room where the machine was located, I saw the door open to the outside. Quickly I kicked the door shut, hitting the person behind it, hard. Just as quickly I yanked the door open again and found a man on the floor grasping his bloody head. He was carrying a dart gun just like the one I had confiscated from Achmed.

In my rage I shot him with Achmed's gun and jumped into the room. Another man had been sitting at a console, he was trying to get up quickly, but got caught in the chair and fell down on his face. Still he was grabbing a gun of his own. I had the drop on him though and quickly shot him as well. Both men quickly died from the poison.

I didn't even take a second look at them, I didn't have the time. I wanted the pressure of the inhibitor away, so I went to the only big machine in the room. Soon I found the electric cable and yanked it out of the socket. The inhibitor however didn't die. I did diminish in strength though and an alarm started wailing. 'Damn, the thing has a backup power unit.'

In a hurry I reached inside with my telekinetic power and quickly located the main circuit board. The biggest chip should be the controller, so I yanked it out of its socket and the inhibitor died immediately. The alarm continued however. I crushed the chip and got ready for whoever would respond to the alarm.

I didn't have to wait long, a big man burst into the room with his gun drawn. Telekinetically I yanked him further into the room and slammed him into the wall. The impact left him unconscious with maybe some trauma and broken bones. The next one was more careful, he entered with caution, he wanted to sneak up on me. Too bad you can't sneak up on a telepath. I yanked him inside like the first and he ended up on top of the first one.

It was good that I had my shields up, several telepathic calls were 'talking' through each other, now that the inhibitor was down. It was getting a bother though, so when the chatter increased, I pathed, Quiet all of you. I'll get you free soon.

That quieted the noise down quickly, some asked being curious, Who are you?

I'm Mindcontrol, I hate it when people, MORFS or otherwise are imprisoned or persecuted just for being what they are. Now let me dispatch with the guards and other personnel, than I can get you all free.

A few voices told me, Thank you, please hurry. For the most part it got quiet, telepathically speaking. The alarms where still blaring away. Quickly I went through the building knocking people out against a wall or something. Once a fast shooter managed to shoot a dart at me. I stopped the dart midair and returned it to sender. He died quickly from the poison that he had meant for me.

As I walked past some doors to a laboratory, the doors suddenly opened. An older woman, that looked very familiar, stepped out. "What the hell is going on, and who are you?"

Calmly I said, "I'm the one raiding this place and setting all the MORFS free, who are you?"

On a condescending tone she answered, "I'm the facility manager here. You should know that I notified the authorities of a break in and you'll be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What we're doing here is perfectly legal. We operate inside the law of Kansas."

"I don't care that this kind of behavior is legal or not. I also don't care if the police come here, they can join your guards in oblivion. Now who are you really."

She snorted, "I'm Mrs. Montro. You won't get away with this, you know."

I paled a little, and she noticed. "I got you with that didn't I?"

I focused on reading her mind and found out that my suspicion was right, she was my mom! I snarled at her, "Mother!"

Now she paled and said with a coarse voice, "Danny? But how..."

I snapped at her, "Yes, it's me, finally I can get an answer why you left me."

My mom paled even more, "I ... He ... I just couldn't take the abuse of your father anymore. Especially with my baby girl coming."

"I have a sister?" I asked incredulously, then I continued, "What is her name? No wait, you left me to take all the abuse from dad. Why didn't you take me with you?"

"I couldn't, he would have hunted me, you and Megan down. He wanted you with him. But how did you get here? Why are you not at home? Why are you attacking us? What are MORFS to you?"

I snarled, "Dad had me locked up in an asylum after I morfed. I didn't change physically that much, but I'm a telepath and telekinetic. They abused me and treated me worse than an animal. Now I fight against anyone who does the same. What gives you the right to treat these persons as animals? They are people."

Mom squinted her eyes, "They are not human, they should be kept in controlled spaces. They are filthy animals."

Telekinetically I lifted her in the air, "That is where I differ in opinion. I want them released and now."

At that moment a guard appeared behind her and aimed his gun at me. I yanked him towards me, he flew past me into the wall. With a sickening thud he hit the wall and crumpled into a heap.

Mom said incredulously, "I think you killed him."

I shrugged, "He wouldn't be the first I have killed. I don't like it, but they leave me no choice. Do you know that they all carry dart guns with a lethal poison?"

"Those are dangerous animals that we're dealing with, many of them have a faster healing power. We need to protect ourselves."

"I'll take that as a YES."

I slammed her into the wall and after she yelped from the pain of impact, she uttered. "You don't understand, we have to do something before this plague spreads too far."

"I've got news for you, Mother. It already is everywhere in the world. Now, tell me where I can find my sister Megan. I hope you haven't corrupted her with this bullshit."

Mom snorted, "Not likely, she such a do-gooder, she went with missionaries to Myanmar. She thinks she can save some poor bastards from their fate."

"I'm glad to hear that she has more common sense than you. I never want to see you again, Mother. If you value your life then you stay out of my way and get out of this wretched business." With that I flung her through the corridor and in my anger didn't even bother to watch her hit the floor.

I walked on towards the cages and disabled a few straggling guards along the way. Soon I arrived at a room with a lot of cages and was appalled at the way these MORFS hybrids were treated. As quickly as I could I released them from their cages and some dropped to the floor in front of me, thanking me profusely. I told them not to do that, but still some insisted.

One even went as far as offering herself as my slave for the rest of her life. I examined her thoughts, she was very submissive and loved nothing more than to be told what to do. Maybe it was in her dog hybrid genes. I nudged her to seek shelter with a dominant alpha male dog hybrid. I promised myself to look into her situation later, just in case she got taken advantage off. I made a connection to her brain that I could connect to from wherever and whenever I wanted.

Soon all the MORFS hybrids in this part of the building were set free and well underway to some well deserved freedom. Meanwhile I went to the second part of the building. As soon as I opened the door, I got assaulted by a wolf hybrid. Before he could do anything to me, I held him suspended in the air, gnarling and snarling, before me. Another person, this time a gila-monster hybrid, came walking awkwardly at me. He didn't say anything, but I heard his mental voice, Who are you that you can hold my furry friend in the air?