Gabriel

     "YOU'RE ALL FOOLS!" Gabriel cackled, talking to his own reflection in the one-way mirror. "FOOLS!"

     For days he had been confined to the isolation cell of the Central Intelligence for National Assurance. He was done though, and freedom beckoned as Gabriel shouted at the scientists that observed him. Out of rage, he picked up the jagged piece of metal he had used for drawing and hurled it at the mirror.

     "YOU CANNOT CAGE THE PROPHET!" Gabriel hysterically laughed, tears crawling down his unshaven face. "YOU CANNOT LOCK AWAY YOUR DESTINY!!!"

     The mirror cracked a little from the impact of the throw, and immediately the door to his cell opened. Security guards, brandishing weapons, stormed in and threw their weight upon him.

     "GET OFF ME!!" Gabriel demanded, struggling with all his might against the pressing force of the soldiers.

     The soldiers handcuffed him to a metal pole in the corner, pinning both hands behind his back. Gabriel struggled even harder, throwing his entire body weight away from the pole. Visions crackled in his vision like an undying flame, and it hurt.

     It burned.

     Dr. Ferguson strolled into the room with a clipboard in his hand. He stared down at his subject with a profound interest. The man coughed to clear his throat, opening up Gabriel's file.

     "'Gabriel Monroe'," he read aloud, "'Astronaut working aboard the Above Orbital Space Station. Top of his class at MIT, a major in Aerospace Engineering, and close accomplice of Elysia Jobs.'"

     Gabriel breathed heavily, and he spat at Ferguson's feet, "Have you come here to do more tests? Or are you finally going to put me down for good?"

     Ferguson closed the file and pulled up the remains of the metal bed, "I just want to talk, Mr. Monroe. Let's just calm down and have a nice conversation, like two civil people."

     "To hell with that," cackled Gabriel, a seizure of giggles escaping him.

     Ferguson swallowed, clearly unfazed by the attack, "Let's just--"

     "Matthew Ferguson," Gabriel coughed, briefly relaxing from his struggles, "World-renowned psychiatrist, an only child, studied at Harvard, and married to Julia Hughes."

     Ferguson blinked, taken aback by the knowledge, "How did you..."

     Gabriel licked his lips, "I saw it Mr. Ferguson. I saw your past, I saw you come in here, and I know exactly what's going to happen."

    Ferguson tried to press on, "Mr. Monroe, I..."

     "You're so oblivious!" Gabriel grinned, sweat dripping down his face and mixing with his tears. "Everything is connected. Before, I was so blind but now...I've never seen anything clearer..."

     Ferguson cleared his throat, deciding that he should play on, "Can you elaborate? Are these manifestations of visions?"

     Gabriel chuckled, "It's playing out like it needs to...it's all laid out to me. Mathew, I've been given a gift."

     "What kind of gift?" asked Ferguson.

     "A gift that will change the world," breathed Gabriel, leaning forward. "I know what's going to happen, I've seen tomorrow and beyond! Everything that ever happened or ever will has been presented to me. I am...the chosen Prophet of humanity."

     Ferguson shifted, more curious than scared by Monroe, "So then, what's going to happen? Have your visions told you that I would ask that?"

     Gabriel tilted his head, "Spoilers."

     He squeezed his hands through the cuffs and lunged at Ferguson. One of the guards pulled out a gun and shot Gabriel straight through the chest. He staggered back, blood pouring from the bullet wound.

     "Argh..." Gabriel muttered.

     But the wound didn't close. It just continued to seep blood as Gabriel lunged at the guard who shot him. He fired more shots, but each just passed through his aggressor's flesh and opened more wounds. Gabriel grabbed the guard's neck and violently snapped it to the left. He breathed heavily, his opponent falling to the ground.

     "My god..." Ferguson whispered, backing away from Gabriel.

     Gabriel turned on the second guard and pushed him to the ground. He activated a taser and the barbs shot out at him, clearly electrocuting Gabriel.

     But it had no effect.

     Gabriel roughly tore the barbs out of his chest and killed the second guard.

     "How..." Ferguson breathed, scrambling for his own weapon; any weapon.

     Gabriel turned around, hit Ferguson in the head, and watched him fall to the ground unconscious.

     "You will not die today," whispered Gabriel, tightening his clothes around his bloodied wounds and calmly walked away. "You aren't supposed to die today."

     Gabriel chuckled to himself as he walked out of the cell and to his freedom. Under his breath, he muttered incomprehensible phrases about the fate of his world.

     The Prophet had been liberated.

**

Ellie

     Sarah Jobs looked up from her phone, hearing a desperate knock at her door. A moment of doubt crossed her mind before she heard the knock again. Brushing the blond hair out of her face, Sarah got up from the couch and walked across the apartment to her door. She peered out of the observation hole, and a wave of shock, despair, and disbelief washed through her being. Without hesitation, Sarah pulled the door open and embraced her thought-to-be-dead little sister in her arms.

     "Ellie!" she sobbed, into the bloodied coat that her sibling was wearing. "I-I thought you were dead! W-What happened?"

     "Sarah..." Ellie sobbed in return.

     Sarah pulled back and gasped at the sight of Ellie's flesh wound, "Ellie! Get in here and let me help you."

     Ellie stepped into her sister's apartment and her coat was torn off. She was pushed into a chair, and Sarah abruptly began to disinfect and bandage her wounded arm. Ellie was overcome with emotion at the sight of the familiar apartment. The furniture, the pictures of nature on the wall, and the sight of her beloved sister gave her a sense of security that she had almost forgotten.

     "Ellie..." Sarah sobbed, tears and emotion on her face. "What happened? I thought you were dead! Mom and dad were so worried..."

     "I'm fine..." Ellie started, choking back her own tears. "The space station...it...."

     "I saw what happened," Sarah finished, sitting across from Ellie. "It was all over the news. NASA wouldn't answer on the status of the astronauts...everyone assumed that you'd died. But what happened up there?"

     Ellie shook her head, trying to grapple with the confusing memories that circulated within her mind, "I'm still not entirely sure...I think it might've been a meteor shower or something."

     "I knew that space was nothing but trouble," Sarah mumbled to herself. "What about Gabriel Monroe? Did he survive?"

     "Yeah," Ellie answered, wiping her running nose, "but I don't know what happened. These people...these bad people...they took him away."

     "Is he in danger?" asked Sarah.

     Ellie leaned back in her chair, feeling another lump manifest itself in her throat, "I wish I knew. I hope that he's alright but....I just don't know. I knew that I had to come to you before I went after him."

     "Go after him?" Sarah scoffed, placing a hand on Ellie's shoulder. "You can't just run after him! That's a job for the police!"

     Ellie leaned forward, "No...y-you don't understand. What happened aboard the station, it changed me somehow..."

     Sarah blinked back, and an obvious look of distress came over her.

     "It gave me something," Ellie tried to explain. "It gave me...super powers."

     Sarah put a hand to her mouth, her eyes grew red, and tears dripped down her face, "Ellie..."

     "I can talk to technology," breathed Ellie. "I can tell it to do things."

     "You're in shock," Sarah muttered, more to herself than Ellie. "You aren't thinking straight."

     Ellie's eyes opened wide, "Wait, you don't believe me?"

     Sarah leaned forward and stroked Ellie's shoulders. She embraced her sister in a hug, quietly whispering to her as she shook with sobs.

     "It's going to be okay Ellie," she whispered, her voice muffled by Ellie's bandaged shoulder. "We're going to get you help, okay? You're going to be okay..."

     Ellie shook her head, pulling back from her sister's embrace. A feeling of desperation came over her as she looked down at her sister. For her entire life, Sarah had been the cautious one. She'd held Ellie back, not wanting her to get hurt.

     "Sarah, you have to believe me," Ellie insisted, taking her sister's hands in hers. "I'm not the same anymore. And I-I think it happened to Gabriel too."

     Sarah looked at the determination in her sister's eyes, and she began to have fear as she asked, "Gabriel?"

     "He was sucked out of the airlock," Ellie explained, a little too eagerly. "But he survived! I saved him from space after he knocked on the window."

     Sarah only stared back in horror.

     Ellie stood up, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

     Sarah put her hand over her mouth again and a look of pity clouded her green eyes.

     "You're looking at me like I'm a..." Ellie started, her feelings melting away. "You're looking at me like I'm insane..."

     The light in the corner of the room flickered. Feelings of pride, elation, and eagerness faded from Ellie's conscious as she watched her sister melt down in front of her. Desperation, replaced by frustration, morphed into anger as Ellie backed away.

     "My whole life you hindered me..." Ellie whispered. "And now, when I've been given an ability that can change the world, you look at me like I stepped out of a mental hospital."

     "Ellie..." Sarah whispered.

     Ellie shook her head, "I'm different now Sarah, I'm better."

     Ellie began to breathe deeply and years of frustration at her sibling built up. The lights overhead flickered and the oven in the kitchen turned on.

     "I don't even need you," Ellie growled, glaring at her sister. "I never needed you! You just held me back! I'm not crazy!"

     The lamp in the corner exploded and Sarah screamed. She scrambled away from her sister and toppled over onto the ground.

     "I'm going to be a hero!" Ellie proclaimed, stepping toward her sister. "I'm going to be more than you ever let me be!"

     Light bulbs exploded overhead, and the oven began to hiss in the kitchen. Sparks flew from the microwave, Ellie's feelings intensifying.

     "Stop looking at me like that!" Ellie screamed, her sister cowering in the corner and sheltering her face. "Stop looking at me like I'm a...like I'm a...monster!!!"

     The oven and the microwave exploded and Ellie was suddenly thrown back by the blast. Lights exploded, the T.V. burst into a wave of sparks, and even Sarah's phone began to smoke. Ellie scrambled to her feet, feelings of hatred instead replaced by fear. Sarah screamed and cried as all of the electronics in the room went berserk.

     "Sarah!" Ellie screamed, sprinting towards her sister. "Sarah, take my hand!"

     Machinery was spinning around the room and one of the mechanical parts struck Sarah in the chest. Ellie screamed, unable to control her powers, and ran forward toward her sister. She picked up the shaking body and sprinted as fast as she could toward the fire escape. Down she climbed, uneasily supporting her sister's body. When she was halfway down the building, the apartment above her exploded.

     A mess of fire, bricks, and machinery spilled out onto the city street below. Ellie protected her sister with her own body, feeling terrible for what had happened. She slid down the remaining latter and landed in a heap on the ground. Ellie rolled Sarah onto her back and stared at her.

     "Sarah!" Ellie sobbed. "I'm so sorry..."

     She'd been hit in the chest with a machinery part and blood poured from the gash.

     "Somebody call 9-1-1!" Ellie ordered as a crowd of people gathered.

     Within a few agonizing minutes, an ambulance arrived to cart away the wounded body. Ellie could only stand as her sister was hauled away. Guilt hung over her like a storm cloud, and tears clouded her vision before she fled the scene. She was sick to her stomach by what she had done, and Ellie vomited in an alley. Slowly, she slumped to the ground and tried to stifle her sobs.

     With a sense of disgust, Ellie looked at her own hands. How could her abilities be called a "gift" when she could barely control them? How could she call herself a hero when she had the capacity to hurt others? She was a coward and a menace to the people around her.

     Ellie covered her face in her hands.

     "What have I done?" she whispered to herself.

     Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie looked at the gash on her shoulder. It was small, the bullet from the bank had barely grazed her, but something stuck out. Shakily, Ellie pulled away the bandages and looked at the flesh wound. Barely visible, obscured by blood, was a wire. A mechanical wire was interlaced with her own body.

     The world grew quiet as Ellie questioned: was she still human, or was she becoming a machine?