Ness remembers something.

It’s the first time one of us remembered anything about our past before the science experiments and dangerous powers.

I hate Dr. Fucking Marken.

He took everything from us and gave us shitty powers. Super strength is fine. But not when you can’t control how much strength you use.

“Come on, Landen. Controlled blasts, right here,” Penny instructs gently. She has old cans up on an ancient bale of hay. No one else lives near this old barn so we have the whole field to ourselves.

From Penny’s pep talk, we are training. At least enough to take on Marken. That’s all I care about. Messing him up. Potentially maiming him.

Some may think from my aggressive attitude that I would want to kill him. No. That’s too good for Marken. He deserves to pay.

Landen thrusts his hands out and a green energy blast shoots, hurdling towards the cans. Except it completely misses and burns a hole in the hay.

“You at least hit the hay,” Ness says, patting Landen on the back. “You got closer than me.”

There’s an angry scorch mark twenty feet to the left of the cans from her misfired lightning. It impressed me. Even if she missed.

Her memory about her mother and then her kidnapping was a knife in my gut. It reminded me about the empty void in my brain where my….anything should be. My name? My family? Friends? My life.

Who was I before Project Texas?

Landen is still attempting to hit the cans. He’s getting better, the gap narrowing. But not enough. It’s bad enough to get these stupid powers, but uncontrollable ones. Marken really didn’t do us any favors.

How he cared about anything is beyond me.

“Wouldn’t it work better to hit a moving target?” I find myself saying aloud before I even think about it. Everyone turns to me. I don’t cower. I’m used to the looks.

“Are you volunteering?” Penny questions. I could. My super strength is my main ability, but there is the added endurance and stamina. They just aren’t as flashy.

I don’t bruise as easily. Marken made sure of that.

“Sure,” I say with a shrug. No skin off my back. Literally.

Jogging a good distance away from Landen, I wait for the signal that he would start shooting. Penny raises her hand and drops it like in a car race. Why do I remember that but not my own mom?

“Give your best shot, Landy,” I shout, goading him on, hoping that’ll improve his aim.

We all have our weaknesses. His and Ness’s are their aim. They both have so much power behind them that it becomes hard to aim. It’s like a kickback from a shotgun. Mine is how unaware I am with my strength. I could be using it all just to open a can of soda without realizing. Penny’s is her uncontrollable fire once it lights something up. She’s like a wildfire.

Landen tries. He really does. But it isn’t working. I move, but I barely have to dodge anything.

“You’re trying the same thing over and over again. You need to do something different,” Ness points out.

“What would you suggest,” Landen asks in frustration, throwing his hands up, without anything coming out of them this time. I’m glad he isn’t looking at me because I have no idea. My powers are usually contact based so long range isn’t my forte.

“Maybe take a break. Let’s all cool off for a bit,” Penny says. With her words, we all disperse. She’s kind of our defacto leader. Or at least she is the most sane out of all of us. Maybe that’s because she spent the least amount of time with Marken. Or the three of us are just nuts.

With the free time, I can see Landen and Penny talk to one another closer to the barn. I turn around to make a comment to Ness and I don’t see her at first. It takes me a second to realize she laid down flat on the grass.

The tall grass almost hides her whole body. No one kept up with the field’s maintenance. Makes sense. It was unwanted so no one took care of it.

It looked like some weird snow angel. Grass angel, I guess.

“What was it like? Remembering?” I ask, gazing down at her. Everything since she remembered, all I’ve tried to do is recall anything from before. It just leads me to being frustrated and punching a hole in something.

My mind just blanks. I close my eyes and nothing.

It’s easier to be angry and see red than to see darkness.

“I guess it was like dreaming. Lucid dreaming. Ever heard of it?”

I shake my head. I’m more known for my brawn, not my brains. Dreams are just dreams to me.

“It’s when in your dream, you know it’s a dream. I looked at my mom and I knew it was a memory. Even though I can’t recall a single other memory, I knew she was my mom. Even without me in my memory calling her that.”

A cool breeze chills my skin. I study Ness who absently stares at the blueness of the sky. I can’t tell if that was her or not.

I lay down next to her. And try to be like her.

Maybe then I would remember.

“When we have control over our powers, we’ll force Dr. Marken to give us back everything,” she says. She said it as a threat, but I know more than anyone that it’s a promise. 

I crane my neck to the side to look at her. Through the blades of grass, I can see her head tilted upwards. She has a straight face.“What if he can’t?” I can’t help but ask. It’s my biggest fear. I don’t fear much, no reason to. Not much could cause me pain. But not getting memories back? That would hurt.

“Then that sucks for him. Because that’s what we need alive and well him for. Without that, he has nothing over us.” Her voice is soft, kind sounding. No one would ever guess the rage that we all share but particularly Ness and me. Well it’s pretty obvious in me. But Ness is unassuming. So small and nonthreatening. 

In my opinion, that makes her more dangerous. 

More than Penny with her flames. 

More than Landen with his energy blasts.

More than me with super strength. 

She can gain trust. Make you let your guard down. And then she strikes. 

Marken won’t know what hit him. Literally. 

———

(This was so challenging because I don’t write in first person for my characters. It felt really strange!)