~Dedicated to The_Blank_Wall because it's her birthday today! Happy Birthday! :)~

"So what do you want to know first?" He smiled good-naturedly, as if we weren't currently stuck in some jail cell at who knows where. But whatever. If he could help me get out of this place and find my friends, then fine.

"Where we are." I replied, leaning my back against the grimy wall of the cell, my shoulders protesting about the position my arms were currently in. "Also, how do I get out of this thing?"

I was honestly surprised that I wasn't in more panic about being captured and put in a straitjacket. Maybe I had just gotten used to weird people popping up these days. I sighed. Would I ever find my father? At the rate this was going...

"Aw, why the long face?"

I looked up to see Caleb raising his eyebrows at me, smirking teasingly.

"Besides," he continued. "You never did tell me your name."

Come to think of it, I hadn't.

"Levi," I replied shortly. There was no way I was letting a complete stranger know my embarrassment of a name.

"Levi." He repeated, as if trying the name out. He looked as if he wanted to say more but I trained him with my glare and he simply smirked.

"Enough about my name, tell me what I want to know."

He raised his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I heard you the first time. But don't forget our deal."

I glared. Was this guy going to help me or not? Then again, for him to be thrown in this dodgy cell as well must say something.

"Talk, or I will." I was beginning to regret asking him for help. But with the stupid straitjacket stopping me from using my arms, I was literally a sitting duck.

He eyed my straitjacket, as if he had read my mind.

"I'll talk, but first, why were you put in this cell?" A look crossed his face that I couldn't decipher but I shook it off. Not as if it were any of my business.

"That's what I would like to know..." I retorted, trailing off. "Although, it could have something to do with my breaking into STARKON..."

His eyes widened. "You broke into STARKON?!"

I shrugged, noncommittally. "I have my reasons."

Caleb shook his head as if not quite believing what he was hearing, and then slowly returned his eyes to mine. Now that I had a better look at them, I could see that they were a yellowish-green.

He beckoned me towards the bars that separated our cells and warily, I shuffled closer. Holding up a piece of sharp glass, he slowly wore through the binds of the straitjacket. Finally, after countless minutes of silent sawing, I felt the fabric around my arms become loose and I wriggled out of its hold.

Turning around to face the bars, I held my own hand out, intending to bend them open with my will.

Nothing happened. Was I just tired or something?

I focused harder, and this time I noticed a silver band around my wrist that hadn't been there before. Dropping my hand, I turned to glare at Caleb, who was currently chuckling to himself.

"What are you not telling me?" I demanded.

He laughed. "Why do you think I haven't already broken out if it was that easy?"

I stared at him blankly, waiting for him to continue.

"The bars are protected by a forcefield," he sighed, lifting up his own wrist. "And apparently that silver band is to suppress whatever powers we have. If we're going to escape, then we gotta find some way to take that off first."

I frowned. This escape would be harder than I thought.

"Does the forcefield ever drop at all?"

"Once. When they give us our rations."

"Then can't we escape then?"

Caleb sighed. "I've tried, but I have no way to take off the band without ripping through my wrist. I wasn't always in this cell you know?"

His eyes looked tired, resigned and my heart went out to him. Even though we looked around the same age, it seemed like he had been through things that he shouldn't have had to experience.

I smiled, although it didn't quite reach my eyes. "We'll get out of here, don't worry."

Reaching into the sole of my boot I pulled out my pocket knife, the sharp blade glinting in the flickering light. I lifted my wrist up to examine it more closer. From the shape of the imprints in the band, I would be able to slice through the circuitry or whatever it ran on in one clean cut..

Working quickly, I ran the knife along the edge, careful to not cut my wrist in the process. I stopped when there was about a millimetre of the band still intact. The stiff plastic would hold it in the position to make it seem as if I hadn't just sliced through it, and I would be able to rip it off when the time came.

I tested my powers, grinning to myself when a leaf in the corner of the cell levitated slightly before floating back down to the ground.

Passing the knife to Caleb, I showed him what I had done.

He tilted his head to the side, mouthing, why didn't you cut all the way through?

So they won't know that we have a weapon, I mouthed back, taking the knife back from him.

He frowned as if he didn't quite understand but he didn't protest. "The guard who brings our meal usually takes down the forcefield for a split second... so you can use your telekinesis to take the controller for him and I can knock him out."

I nodded, before freezing. "Wait... how did you know I have telekinesis?"

He smiled as if he knew something I didn't. "I heard the guards talking about it when they put you in the cell."

"Okay..." I didn't have time to say anything else because I could hear the clomps of footsteps echoing down the corridor, signalling the guard was arriving with our dinner.

Well. No time for pep talks then.

The footsteps slowly drew closer and I held my breath in anticipation. Then, a jangle of keys, and a soft beep. The door swung open and a tray of food slid inside. In a blink of an eye, the door was sliding shut again.

Now or never, Levi.

I shot out a hand, making the door slam against the wall with a loud clang. My eyes focused on the small controller in his hand, and I send a strand of my focus towards it and pulled it towards me. It fell into my grasp, my fingers curling around the smooth, rectangular object before the guard had time to blink.

"W-wha-"

He opened his mouth as if to say something but then he was sent flying backwards, his back meeting with the cement wall with a dull thud. I blinked, because that hadn't been me. There was a crack and his head lolled back and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Blood pooled down from behind his head, causing me to turn around and stare at Caleb.

I froze, as I caught a glint in his eye that send a shiver down my spine, but then it was gone. Had I imagined it?

"You have telekinesis too?" I whispered, staring at the corpse of the fallen guard as the metallic smell of blood drifted through the air.

He smiled, and a gust of wind blew my bangs out of my face. "Aerokinesis, gorgeous. Although it's quite cute that you'd like us to have the same power."

"Cute?! Gorgeous?!" I echoed sarcastically, raising my eyebrows.

He smirked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "Well, aren't you?"

Shaking my head, I continued down the hallway, palming the forcefield control device in my hand. Upon further inspection, I saw that it had multiple buttons and I assumed that the controller was more of a universal controller in this facility.

I stopped when a sudden thought occurred to me.

"Um... Caleb...? About my friends..." I trailed off, not looking at him in the eye.

"The ones we're looking for?" He had also stopped, and I could feel his stare, scrutinising me and trying to figure me out.

"Yeah. They don't know about my powers..."

His eyes widened in understanding. "Oh. Oh right, I see." He turned and winked. "So it's our little secret, huh, cutie?"

I wanted to tell him to stop giving me pet names, but I pretended I hadn't heard him. It was better to humor him then lose his help before he returned his side of the deal.

I breathed heavily out of my nose, glancing at the walls upon walls of empty corridors. Some part of me wondered if we'd ever get out of this place.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed my sleeve. I turned toward where Caleb was pointing and saw a small rectangular door. A laundry chute. My eyes widened as I turned to face him.

"You don't mean..."

A devilish grin ran over his face. "Oh yes I do mean."

And a few seconds later, I had a hand clapped over my mouth as we slid down the precious slope of the chute. I cursed the skies that I had agreed to this ridiculous idea; as the exit was evidently up not down but apparently there was some central control room on the lowest floor. How he knew, I had no idea but it was our only lead; so I decided to take a leap of faith and trust the guy.

Caleb had convinced me to get in first and I had instantly regretted my decision. He had blocked the opening with his body and he smirked as if daring me to climb over him. The only other way out was down and down I went, trying my best not to scream as my stomach dropped out from beneath me.

Soon, the light inside the chute grew brighter and I could start to see my outstretched legs in front of me. I realised I would soon be deposited upon a pile of dirty clothes, and took a deep breath. A mere second later, I shot out and landed unceremoniously upon the pile of laundry. Groaning, I rubbed my head and pushed my bangs out of my face in time to see Caleb's fast approaching form.

"Ca-" I tried to shout before I was winded by the impact as he landed with a tangle of limbs. Coughing slightly, I opened my eyes and my breath hitched in my throat when I saw yellow-green eyes an inch away from my dark ones.

There was a second where neither of us moved and then my lungs started protesting for air.

"Uh, Caleb... Can you mo- you're on..."

His eyes widened and he shuffled off me quickly, the corner of his lip tilting up.

"Oops... My bad," he said, although he didn't sound like he meant it at all.

I scoffed. "You don't sound sorry."

He laughed, surprising me. "You remind me of someone."

"Is that a compliment?" I turned and glanced around the room we were currently in, and finally, saw a door in the corner of the room, behind a barrow full of blue gowns.

I walked towards it, attempting to push it aside, but jeez- a pile of clothes were heavier than they looked.

"Need a hand?"

I glanced up to see Caleb smirking slightly and scowled.

"Well, if you want to get out of here alive, then yes I suggest you help me."

"Whoa there tiger. I'll help, I'll help."

And then he stepped back and waved his hands causing the trolley to jerk sharply away from me, skidding to a halt just before it crashed into the wall. I restrained myself from face palming.

Of course. Why didn't I think to use my powers?

I supposed I had gotten so used to not using them in front of my friends, but Caleb... Caleb already knew.

And he didn't hate me.

Although he might when he finds out you're a villain, my annoying inner conscious taunted again.

I gritted my teeth. Better not let that little secret slip then.

Glancing down at the controller which I - luckily - still had clasped in my hand, I saw that this was one of the doors that required a remote to open it. I pushed down the top button, jumping back slightly as the door swung inwards.

"Come on," I whispered, waving my hand without looking back.

We had only been walking for a few minutes when I heard the familiar echo of footsteps down the corridor. Except this time, they sounded frantic and hurried.

Drifts of their conversation echoed down the corridor and I felt blood drain from my face when I heard what they were saying.

"... escaped! Couldn't have gone far!"

"They disappeared though! Off the feed."

I pressed my back against the wall, heart thudding in my chest.

They had realised we'd escaped!

I grabbed Caleb's arm and pressed a button on the controller causing the door nearest to us to swing open. Pulling us both inside and shutting the door, I breathed a sigh of relief that there was no one inside. Then, I realised the magnitude of the room and my eyes widened at the sight before me.

There were countless monitors, all stacked atop each other and each of them showed a grainy live feed of what was happening in the facility. The guards that we heard were visible, running off view from one and appearing again in another. There were rows and rows of desks facing them, and the chairs pushed back haphazardly.

The good news was we had found the control room.

But the bad news was, they had been watching us the whole time.

a.n.

Omg almost at chapter 20! And also thanks so much for helping me reach 2K reads! It has made my day! Oh and media is of Addison and Aiden (in case you didn't already realise from the writing underneath, lol), and yes, I did draw that :).

You can find that (and more) in my book, Anime Doodles and Drawings. (yes, shameless advertising XD)

Anyways, all feedback welcome!

SpiderPrincess

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