C.I.N.A. Nevada Medical Station B

     Screams, explosions, fire erupting into the sky...

     Gabriel Monroe blinked his eyes, trying to shut out the images.

     A world gripped in war...

     Gabriel hugged himself, trying to stop himself from shaking.

     A figure stood in the distance, obscured by ash and smoke...

     Gabriel gritted his teeth as his splitting headache intensified.

     The figure's eyes glowed a deep red as it gazed into the heart of a ruined city...

     "NO!!!" Gabriel screamed while what he saw became more vivid.

     War, death, destruction, the conflict...it was coming...it was awakening...

     Gabriel shut his eyes and turned away.

     The age of revelation was upon them...

     He began to laugh and rock back and forth, like someone in an insane asylum.

     A light exploded from an orb, shooting its way up through the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse...

     The laugh increased, and it became painful because Gabriel couldn't stop.

     Gunfire blazed and he heard people screaming

     Lights exploded in the air like bombs, sending buildings swaying.

     Blades slashed through the air, whistling as they killed...

     "MAKE IT STOP!!!" Gabriel cackled, tears gushing down his face. "MAKE IT STOP!!!"

     The scientists of C.I.N.A. watched the once-brilliant astronaut break down in front of them. They did nothing to ease his condition.

     There was nothing they could do.

**

Ellie

     The outside world flew by; the hours ticked on. Trees clad in snow spread as far as the eye could see and occasional flurries cascaded the window. Ellie sat with her head propped up against the window. She couldn't sleep, and her appetite wasn't well either. All Ellie could do was think about the space station, her abilities, and what had become of Gabriel.

     The first question that came to mind was: what were her abilities? Ellie thought about the exploding lights, the way she was able to infiltrate the computer, and even back to how she was able to escape the dying space station.

     Everything had a commonality: technology.

     Ellie raised her eyes and stared at the flickering light above her seat. She concentrated on the light, telling it to turn off. Seconds passed by, and there was no response from the bulb as she simply stared at it. Then, as if on cue, the light turned off. Once Ellie relaxed her concentration, the bulb lazily blinked back on once more.

     She could control technology. The extent of her technological capabilities, however, seemed unknown. Could she download information like a computer? Was there a limit to the type of technology that she could manipulate? Dozens of questions swirled in her mind endlessly like a goldfish trapped in its bowl. As she thought about it, though, a strange feeling began to fill her: excitement.

     Ellie hadn't been able to fully reflect on the fact that she had powers. All her life she had wished that she could be something more; something greater. As she sat on the train, watching the world flash by, for the first time a feeling of utter elation filled her body. She was special, she was unique.

     She could be a hero.

     Ellie had seen dozens of science fiction movies over the years. She'd seen movies involving time travel, T.V. shows starring actors playing speedsters, and, of course, she was a fan of the multi-million-dollar cinematic superhero team up movies. Never, though, had Ellie even remotely believed that she would join their ranks. It didn't seem logically feasible, until what happened on the space station happened.

     Ellie turned her head and saw a man reading from his electronic tablet across the aisle. She focused her gaze on the glowing screen, wanting to know what was on it. Within moments, streams of information became available to her consciousness. She could see e-mails, messages, documents, and entire gigabytes of miscellaneous items laid out to her like a puzzle. Everything floated through her mind like she was some kind of a receiver for the information.

     She resisted the temptation to smile.

     Ellie withdrew her mind and thought about the accident itself. The radar had indicated a massive wave of extraterrestrial objects; possibly a meteor shower. Perhaps, and she was only speculating to herself, the meteor shower had an adverse effect on her physiology. Ellie remembered the moments before the crash, and then she saw in her mind's eye Gabriel getting sucked out into the vacuum of space. She cringed at the thought, her palms even got a little sweaty, but she continued to pry.

     Ellie also remembered slamming into the wall at high speeds. After that moment...there was nothing. She racked her brains, trying to push further into what she could recall but to no avail. Ellie had been on the station, there was the accident, and then there was nothing.

     How could there be nothing?

     Ellie Jobs had never been one to get into religious matters. She'd always concerned herself with what was on Earth, and never before had she ever even began to contemplate a concept of life after death. She'd heard stories of people seeing "white light" or being able to meet lost relatives, but Ellie couldn't remember any of that during her experience; all there had been was darkness. Her mind couldn't grapple with what she had seen during that expanse of time. Perhaps it had been an experience that transcended the physical capabilities of the mind, because how could the consciousness be aware if it were not conscious?

     Ellie shook her head, it was of no matter. Maybe there was nothing after death, or maybe there was something that she just hadn't seen. Perhaps, Ellie didn't see anything because she didn't need to see anything. It was a lingering thought that she dwelt on for a few moments before pushing on. She had no right to be the definitive answer on what was on the other side.

     What was important was what happened after. Despite her possible demise, Ellie had somehow come back. She'd somehow pulled herself from the darkness and utilized abilities that hadn't been present before. Maybe the abilities had saved her, but the question was: how? If she could manipulate technology, was there a possibility that she had manipulated the technology to save herself?

     Then there was the matter of Gabriel. If she had been given abilities, it was a logical possibility that he had some as well. Ellie remembered back to Gabriel surviving the vacuum of space and thought: what if it had something to do with his ability? Perhaps Gabriel could survive in harsh environments, or maybe he could avoid certain death. It would require an actual meeting with him if she was to deduce the real answer.

     Finally, there was C.I.N.A. Who were they? What were their purposes? There was no way for Ellie to know. Only time would tell. 

     The scenery outside began to thin into farms as they neared the city of Chicago. Ellie continued to stare out the window, train coming to one of its last stops. There was some bustling from the front of the compartment, and a curious man carrying a load of briefcases stumbled through the aisles.

     "Excuse me," he muttered to himself. "Pardon me."

     He came to Ellie's section and paused, shuffling the cases around.

     "Excuse me, miss? Is this seat taken?" he asked, his face obscured by the dozens of cases in front of him.

     "Uh, no," Ellie responded.

     The man pushed all of the boxes and cases onto the seat and sat next to them. He was a quirky-looking fellow with thick-glasses and a neat-looking tie. There was an awkward silence before Ellie shifted herself further towards the window. Within a few moments, another person pushed themselves through the train compartment and sat across the aisle.

     Ellie looked out of the corner of her eye at the other man. He was dressed in the same-looking suit that the C.I.N.A. agents, who had attacked Daniel Peters, had worn. She took a deep breath and dismissed the thought. Within seconds, a third man squeezed through the aisle.

     She was surrounded.

     Every muscle in her body tensed, and she tried to calm her nerves. A sense of doubt crossed her mind as the men settled into their seats around her. Even if they were agents in disguise, there was no way that she could even fight them off. She was just an astronaut.

     Or was she?

     The game had changed. She had abilities now, and there was no way the guards could fight off an enhanced human such as herself. Even if they had weapons, she could easily control them with her mind. The thought occurred to her on if she could even control an ordinary gun. 

     Doubt smothered her consciousness.

     The man sitting next to her leaned over, "Ms. Jobs, you will not make a scene and you will come with us quietly. Any resistance could result in violence. Do you understand?"

     Ellie swallowed.

     "You wouldn't want all these people on this train to get hurt, would you?" the man whispered, pulling one of the cases toward him. "There's a family of four, about three rows up. It looks like they're on a simple family vacation. You wouldn't want to cause them...any traumatic incidents."

     Ellie closed her eyes, feeling fear prickle her spine. But she remembered to herself what they had done to Peters. There was no way she could comply with their wishes. Ellie turned to the man sitting next to her, and she felt the power of being in control. She had powers, and they had nothing.

     She was the hero.

     In every movie she'd seen, every fictional story she'd read, Ellie had always watched the good guys fight the bad guys. The good guys of course, always won. To her, the agents that called themselves C.I.N.A. were as much of bad guys as they could ever be.

     "No," Ellie responded to the men. "You will not hurt anyone on this train."

     The agent put his hand into his coat pocket but Ellie was too fast. With a sudden burst of confidence, she slammed her body into her opponent and pushed him into the center aisle. Quickly, she stepped over the body and tried to make an escape to the front of the train. Within seconds, another agent grabbed her and tried to pull her down.

     "Argh!" Ellie grunted, fighting against the enormous amount of weight.

     Adrenaline shot through her system like a drug, and several of the overhead lights burst into an explosion of sparks. Blinded by the sudden blast, the agent slackened his grip and Ellie jabbed back at him with her elbow. The evil man fell to the ground and she continued upward towards the front of the train car. Curious people, families, and children, craned their necks to get a look at the sudden commotion.

     "Excuse me, sorry," muttered Ellie, pushing her way through.

     One of the agents chased Ellie from behind, and she turned just as he grabbed her. The weight was too much and she fell towards the ground. She hit the ground hard, sudden panic coursing through her body that made the surrounding train shudder.

     "Get off me!" she demanded, under the weight.

     The agent pulled out a sedative and raised it high over his head. Ellie saw the instrument gleam in the light and gasped at the sight of it. Instantly, the train shuddered once more and the lights above flickered.

     "Everyone, get down!" a man ordered.

     Ellie twisted her head and glimpsed, in utter horror, one of the agents pull out a bizarre-looking gun. It was a mess of wires and circuits that combined together to make a menacing weapon. The gun began to shudder, lights illuminating themselves along the barrel.

     "Not yet!" the agent on top of Ellie ordered.

     The agent shook his head, "She'll derail the train. We have to take her out now!"

     Ellie raised her hand and instinctively reached out to the weapon with her subconscious. She twisted through the sections of the gun and ordered it not to fire. There was a shudder, the compartment seized up, and the gizmo began to malfunction.

     "Oh God..." the agent holding the gun whispered.

     Ellie shielded herself as it exploded in a fiery blast, completely tearing through the walls of the train and derailing it from the tracks. The compartment flipped, and the dozens of people inside screamed in terror.

     "Ah!" Ellie screamed, being thrown against a wall and across a seat.

     The train, with all of its passengers, dangerously slid off the track and tumbled into oblivion.