Twinepathy (Part 39): Signature Purple Hair

Hullo, everyone! I hope you didn’t miss the big announcement this weekend… if you did, check it out here! And read part one if you’re new…

In the past week, I’ve learned that teleporting makes me a little disoriented – at least, the few times I’ve done it, it has. But when I catch my bearings this time, I’m still confused. We’re on top of a building, and I look down on gray-tinted streets. The clouds hang low, and I can taste the moisture in the air. I turn to Blaze. “Where are we?”

He smiles, a strained smile. “London.”

London. Wow. I’ve wanted to come here for a long time. It looks just like the pictures. Foggy, distant, hurried. British. Yup, I’m in love. After I tear my eyes away from Big Ben in the distance, I scan the crowds for Ezra, looking for her signature purple hair. I finally spot her, chatting on the phone and strolling casually down the sidewalk.

“See, she’s fine,” Blaze states.

“What’s she doing?” I ask, ignoring his statement.

Blaze sighs. “I really shouldn’t tell you, but… she’s following someone.”

I scan the crowd, trying to find the person Ezra is following. “Who?”

Blaze throws his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! I’ve told you everything I know. It’s not my mission, after all, and it’s not yours, either.”

He has a good point, but I don’t mention that. I lean forward, trying to figure out who she might be following. I don’t see anyone who looks suspicious, or that she seems to be following. If I didn’t know she was following someone, I would never guess she was. “Do you know why this person is being followed?”

Blaze shrugs, giving up on me. “No idea. I think something’s been going on here in London, a threat or something, but I haven’t heard anything definite, just rumors.”

I nod, studying the crowd. I notice a man step out of an alleyway behind Ezra. At least, I think it’s a man. The person is bundled up a ridiculous amount considering it’s only a little chilly. His hat is pulled low and his collar up, and he walks with his hands in his pockets. I roll my eyes. Weirdo.

“What kinds of things have you heard rumors of?” I ask curiously.

He shrugs again. “A couple of unexplained cases of amnesia, mysterious disappearances… nothing that has any real proof behind it that I know of.”

“Have you asked Jen about it?”

Blaze pauses. “No… I guess I could. And Data, remember.”

Right, right, code names. So hard to remember sometimes. “She’d probably know if the rumors are true.” I look down at Ezra and notice that the bundled-up person is getting closer to her. A warning flag goes up in my head. I reach towards Blaze to get his attention but freeze. The man stops behind Ezra and puts a hand over her mouth. She stiffens and her eyes grow wide, but the next instant, she goes completely limp.

Twinepathy (Part 32): A Bit Of Explanation

Hullo, everyone! Can you believe I forgot to post yesterday? Well… I did. 🙂 Here is the part that should have been posted yesterday! If you’re new, check out part one.

“About two weeks ago, I started noticing a lot more people suffering from amnesia than usual,” Keller begins. “As a telepath, that made me curious. I managed to sneak in and investigate a couple of patients – I have a couple friends at one of the hospitals. Anyway, after reading their records and getting into their heads, I was able to figure out a bit of what had happened, and some of the pattern that was occurring. I figured out that instead of their memories being erased or something else, their memories had been stolen.”

“Stolen?” Jen looks genuinely surprised. I haven’t seen her more than mildly surprised at anything. Go figure.

Keller nods. “Someone has been stealing people’s memories.”

“A serial memory stealer,” Blaze mumbles, grinning to himself.

“Do you know why?” Jen asks.

“No.” Keller looks at Maddie – or Lila, I guess. “I haven’t figured out who, either. I thought it was someone associated with IDIA, which is why I asked Lila to trail someone that I knew was a super, and was pretty sure was with IDIA.” She looks at the floor. “Obviously it didn’t turn out well. I couldn’t find her, and I couldn’t reach her mind.”

“Why would you send your little sister out into a dangerous situation like that?” I ask, maybe a little too harshly.

Keller looks at me, and I see the pain in her eyes. “If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t have made her go. But it was simple, and I knew she could handle herself, and I didn’t think that anything would happen. I couldn’t follow him myself, since I’m too conspicuous.” She points at her red hair.

That makes more sense than I wish to admit, so I don’t say anything. “What about the incident in Brooklyn’s head?” Jen asks.

Keller looks over at Jen, contemplating her. “You’re a telepath, aren’t you? But something else, too, because I can’t get in your head.”

Jen tilts her head, still looking at Keller, intrigued. I feel like there’s an invisible battle of tension going on between them. Who’s smarter, more experienced, better? “I’ve known plenty of telepaths who can shield their minds,” Jen comments.

Keller’s eyes narrow. “Not like this, without any effort.”

“No one’s ever been able to get into my head,” Jen says, lifting an eyebrow slightly. “Not even my old trainer. And if she couldn’t do it, then no one can.”

Keller thinks on that for a second. “But I gather that you are some form of a telepath,” she says slowly. “So maybe you’ll understand what I say. Everyone seems to have a special mental ‘signature’ type thing, like a fingerprint or whatever. For me, I can feel it, not see it or anything. When I was in each of the amnesia victims’ heads, I could sense a common air, the person’s mental fingerprint—”

“Mindprint,” Jen supplies.

Keller gives her a surprised look. “Sure, that sounds good. Anyway, after I was able to find the common mindprint in all of their heads, I kind of…” She pauses, searching for words. “I was able to track it back to the source, in a way. It’s shielded, but the person has to reach past their shields to get into heads to steal memories. I stayed on guard, searching for the mindprint. It gave me something to do other than worry about Lila.” Keller looks down at her hands. “Anyway, I traced the mindprint to – Brooklyn, right? – to Brooklyn’s head, and was able to keep him from stealing her memories.”

Jen nods. “Thank you for that. We definitely have some more questions to go over, though.”

Blaze clears his throat. “I have an idea for her new code name.” He motions towards Maddie.

Jen rolls her eyes. “And?”

He grins. “She can be Maddie.”