Powers

A/N: Make sure to read chapter 14 first, The Information room.

Enjoy!

.

.

Hailie sat down on the table, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands.

Bryan took a deep breath and started talking. "Let's start with the ones you already know, the builders. Their colour is blue and Thomas is their counsellor. It's the second most common power. They build and change stuff." He pointed to each part while he was talking. "Then we have the most common power. Physical power, their colour is green. They are physically strong and as far as we know normal weapons don’t work on them. We don’t exactly know why, but we think it's something about their cell membrane or something."

Hailie nodded, now having her hands under her chin. She was amazed.

Bryan nodded. "Oh, this is fun. We have people who can talk to animals."

"But how?!" Hailie cut him off.

"They can understand the sound wave each animal releases, and produce the same wave. They mostly can talk to a certain animal, or they're better at it. Plus if I want to explain the why and the how, you're never gonna see the sunlight again."

Hailie puffed and rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway.

"Great," Bryan continued. "Then we have the white people, you already know they can cause illusion. But they can also play with someone's mind, not like you, but similar. And if you decide to stay with us, they can be great teachers for you."

Hailie smiled. The idea of being among the people like her made her feel warm.

"Then here, furthest from the door, we have the healers. Their colour is gold because they are seriously golden. They can heal people, emotionally and physically. They're usually capable of doing one, but some of them can do both. They are pretty rare, but essential. That’s why we keep them far from the door."

"Wow, that’s like a dream," Hailie said

"Yes, but it can be tricky to heal," Bryan said quietly.

Hailie figured it was a sensitive topic for him. "I still don’t understand why do you need so many knives, bullets and arrows without a gun to fire them." She said.

"Oh, that brings us here, the archers. They can shoot or throw stuff with minimum errors. They are simply pretty good at aiming. And some of them can control metal. Something about magnet or whatever." He said, sitting down on the chair near the table.

"You talk like a teacher," Hailie said. Now being taller than him due to their sitting position.

"A sexy one I hope," Bryan smirked.

Hailie rolled her eyes and hit him with her foot. "Why did I even bother?"

Bryan laughed and leaned on the back of his chair, putting his legs on the table.

"Oh please, that was exactly what you were thinking about."

"I don’t think you're sexy," Hailie answered, feeling her cheeks getting warm.

"You're cheeks say otherwise."

"Oh shut up. That’s because it's warm here."

"Sure it is."

"Have I mentioned you two fight like an old married couple?" They heard a voice.

Bryan yelled and Hailie nearly fell off the table. If Bryan wasn’t there to catch her, she probably would.

"What is wrong with you?" Hailie screamed, regaining her balance.

"I'm buying you a bell tomorrow. I swear to god you appear out of the thin air." Bryan said, letting go of Hailie and dropping his head on the table.

"Oh, I wish I could record that," Thomas said laughing.

"Yeah laugh all you want. We'll see who's gonna laugh when I made you wear the bell he bought." Hailie said crossing her arms.

"Oh, I knew you're my girlfriend for a reason!" Bryan exclaimed.

Hailie remembered they were supposed to be a couple. She forgot it was all a play for others. She actually felt close to Bryan.

"Okay you two, don’t pull power couple or whatever on me. I just wanted to check on you." Thomas said leaning toward the wall across the room from them.

"Check on us?" Bryan raised his brow.

"Yeah you know, two teenagers, in an empty room. I wanted to make sure you're explaining mission-related stuff, not human body stuff." Thomas said jokingly, but Bryan knew he was serious.

"You're disgusting!" Hailie said glaring at him.

"I was explaining the powers, thank you very much," Bryan said.

"Great, so my job's done here. Use protection." Thomas said. He winked at them and ran away before the book Bryan throw hit him.

"Sorry about him, he's a little on edge these days," Bryan said sighing.

Hailie raised his brow. "He doesn’t seem on edge."

Bryan shook his head. "That's what he looks like on edge. He is usually really calm. And won't cross boundaries like this. He is the real gentleman here."

"So why is he on edge then?" Hailie asked.

Bryan sighed. "These warning signs on the names are for those who were taken."

"Taken?"

"Yes, Hailie, taken. The government takes our people. They capture them and torture them for information and their power. That's why I don't let them know too much. It can be dangerous for them. The more they know, the more they're gonna suffer. And I wish I could do something about their powers too, but I can't. I can't protect them from the pain they feel because of their powers." He said, fisting his hand.

"That's awful! Why don't you stop fighting?" Hailie asked.

"Can't you see? I can't stop! If we stop fighting they're gonna get worse, worse than they have been before we started fighting back. They capture our loved ones! Sam, Thomas' par-" He shouted.

"Sam was put in there by his dad!" Hailie cut him off.

"You don’t get it, do you? They want our powers. To make weapons, to become more destructive. They want to ruin everything. They have my family, Thomas's family. They even have Josh's little sister." Bryan said loudly.

Hailie remained silent. Her mind was blown. This was so horrible, and at the same time, it made sense. Why Josh didn’t know anything, why he said Bryan doesn’t care.

Hailie could see that he cares. He cares way too much, but she still believed this wasn’t the way.

"But being criminals doesn’t help you fix anything!" She said.

"Oh please. No one knows us. You're like them, you believe the press." He said walking away.

"We are not the bad guys here! We only do missions to save the others and destroy our identities when they get close to figuring out who we are." He continued. He was pulling at his black hair.

Hailie jumped off of the table and walked toward him. "Look I'm sure you mean well. But this is not the way to do it. Maybe I can talk to my dad and he can help you get them back."

Bryan turned toward her too fast he almost fell. "What are you talking about?! I told you from the beginning, you can't talk to anyone about this! God, I knew I shouldn’t have-" He said pulling his hair harder. He was breathing so fast.

Hailie could feel his anger and guilt. It was killing him, she could feel he was confused at the same time. He was feeling a lot of feelings, Hailie couldn’t even imagine how, but it was hurting her too.

She walked toward him and took his hands in hers.

"Okay! Stop it! I won't talk to anyone about it. You're right. It's okay, calm down." She tried to calm him down with kind words and a calm voice.

Bryan's breathing went back to normal and he opened his eyes. They were glowing again.

"You're glowing again," Hailie whispered.

"So are you," Bryan whispered back.

Hailie took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Are we ever going to figure out why?" She whispered again. She didn’t want to ruin this calm moment.

"If we trust each other and work on it, one day maybe," Bryan answered. He was whispering too.

Hailie smiled. "I trust you okay? And I'm not gonna ruin yours. I'm just overwhelmed. You have to give me time to think."

Bryan nodded and took a deep breath.

Hailie's going to blame it on the heat of the moment, but she hugged him. Bryan smiled and put his chin on top of her head.

"See, being short has its perk," Hailie whispered in his chest.

"You're not short, you're adorable." He hummed.

Hailie smiled again. Something she was doing a lot recently. He did listen to her after all.