1: Unidentified Flying Woman

Sirens darted past her, their engines roaring loudly as they circled the building like frenzied sharks. Elizabeta dove behind the nearby dumpsters to evade them. Crouching down, she made her way through the alley and crept out into the dead of night. They were homing in on her; that rat bastard 'friend' of hers must've sold her out! After everything they've been through together, their friendship wasn't worth the price on her head to him? Guess there really was no honour among thieves.

Back onto the street, none of the few scattered people seemed to pay her notice, don't dawdle, plan it out. They'd been tipped off that she was here but everything was compromised now! None of her hideouts would work, so get up high or get down low, long enough for them to just pass over. After what happened to her, getting up high was never too difficult and getting low wasn't appealing. Crawling around the sewers? Not likely, no matter what the news said, she wasn't some animal. It was no secret that people feared the Inflicted. It could be anybody you know and their Affliction could be anything. Turn you to ash, change you into an animal, nobody knew the limits. That was the terrifying part and agencies were determined to give even the slightest tip-off a maximum threat. Like the Salem Witch Trials reboot for the 21st Century. Elizabeta could only pray she wasn't enough of a concern for them to send him. Foresight's golden boy. The famous Inflicted hunter.

Putting the thought out of her mind, she ducked out of cover and started power-walking suspiciously towards an open tunnel. Elizabeta dodged cars and made it through but a police cruiser's siren stopped her in her tracks. It came screeching from the turn and barrelled down, traffic drifting apart. Running back the way she came only lead to another car. Uniformed officers revealed themselves, guns raised and ordering her to stay where she was. The previous car blocked her other route out, its officers quickly taking action. As they closed in, Elizabeta noticed another escape. Up.

"C'mon Liz. One little hop. S'all you need. One hop." She motivated herself

"Hands behind your head and on your knees. Alert Mr Blaise that we have an Inflicted in custody." The officer radioed in

"It's not that far Liz. Just reach out and grab it. You've done it before." She continued

"Hands behind your head! On your knees! You will not be asked again!" The officer warned

"Grab it Liz. Grab it." She repeated

Slowly, her feet raised up to tip-toes. After that she wasn't touching the floor at all. Elizabeta shut her eyes hard, shaking as she slowly levitated millimetres from the ground, then inches, the sand around her shook as she breathed out slow. "Grab it!" She stated. The sand flung into the cops as Elizabeta rocketed through the air.

The cops struggled to regain their senses. They called out to each other, rubbing the dirt from their eyes and looking around frantically. "Where'd she go!" One yelled

"You got eyes?" Another questioned

"What's the Affliction! Is she invisible or something?" The third rose his gun frantically.

The fourth was the most composed and noticed sand rain down from above. Looking up he saw the suspect struggle to get her footing on an unexpected fence. "Target is above! I repeat target is on the overpass!" The fourth alerted

Elizabeta flung herself over and started running, a single bullet whipping past from below. She had them scared, was that a good thing? Of course not, scared means phoning for back-up and the only back-up you had to fight an Inflicted was SWAT, or the National Guard or Mr Blaise.

More squad cars advanced up the road and she got to running. As she did, she found herself hovering up into the air, making an easy target. Levelling herself out, she kicked up off the ground for leverage and shot forward. Elizabeta knew she'd have to get higher, she was already paying too close attention on not crashing into the cars packed together in this traffic jam. Processing everything at once was overwhelming to her, but she was too scared to slow down. Evading worse and worse, she rose even further up and saw the cars become ants beneath her.

Elizabeta was finally able to slow her panicked short breaths and take a moment to regain her thoughts. She was flying! Her feet dangled beneath her uselessly as she saw Los Angeles' skyscrapers in a totally different light. Cautiously moving forward, it was like the Earth itself was changing under her. Elizabeta touched the glass of the building, pressed her hands right up against it and felt the dust on her fingers. A man in a suit was talking frantically on the phone and barely paid her a glance. When he turned his head, he processed and catapulted against the walls, exploding the papers from his suitcase as they floated harmlessly to the ground. The commotion caught the others' attention, who gasped and joined the man in his confusion. When a security guard approached the glass, she knew to turn around. A powerful bullet cracked the glass and narrowly missed the workers. A sniper! They'd sent a sniper!

She started to fly away again, bouncing off the cracking glass and descended above street level, but heard the squeals of a dozen sirens and began moving up once again. For flying in the sky, there were surprisingly a lot of limits; she was still new at this even after all this time.

A window washer with headphones attached was working attentively at his job, running the soapy liquid down with his squidgy. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind on his back rush past, knocking him off-balance, sending his hat and headphones plummeting to the roads beneath. Seeing the figure come back, he recoiled onto the platform. Elizabeta flew up to meet the man's gaze and handed him his belongings. "Sorry." She apologised, the man cautiously approaching only to snatch them and retreat back in fear. He watched her continue the chase down the road and shakily put his headphones back on, darting back the way she came in case of any more.

Elizabeta thought she got far enough. Maybe if she got to the hills, she could- no, there was nowhere to go, and no-one to turn to. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud whirring noise. She looked around hastily but didn't take advantage of her newly-acquired Z-axis. Realising this, a police chopper came into view from below and she clutched her ears in pain. A sniper from the side aimed his rifle to her chest and narrowly avoided hitting her. She noticed in time and flew around before the pilot could adjust. Elizabeta took the rifle from his hand and smashed him in the chest with it, sending him into a coughing fit. A pair of hands clutched onto the weapon and got her attention. "Elizabeta Rivera. I understand this is scary for you but I'm trying to help you. My name is Nathaniel Blaise, I'm a friend-" Nathan tried

"No! Get away from me!" Elizabeta rejected, attempting to take the gun back.

"I only want to help Elizabeta. I can't do that if you don't let me." Nathan went on

"I said get off!" Elizabeta yanked the gun, firing. The bullet ripped through the seat and the pilot flopping against the controls. "Oh god..." She pulled back, dropping the gun. The helicopter was sent spiralling and Elizabeta grabbed onto Nathan instinctively. He hung on tight as the chopper continued without them, and the two watched as it crumbled against the pavement, engulfed in fire. The panic could be heard from up here. She grabbed Nathan by the collar and screamed, "Look what you made me do! Give me one good reason not to drop you!"

"I understand that was an accident, but you're smart enough to know that's not how they're going to paint it. People are scared of you Elizabeta, and a story like this is not going to help anybody, just cause more confusion. That might change, be avoided entirely, if you turn yourself in. Once that's done, I can protect you." Nathan bargained

"I don't need your protection!" Elizabeta shrieked

"No, but they need protection from you. You don't deserve any of this, I know, but just because you're a victim doesn't mean you aren't dangerous." Nathan explained

"What will happen to me if I go with you?" Elizabeta asked, her eyes didn't meet Nathan's, she focused on the burning wreck, squinting for anything she could see that hurt somebody."

"Nothing. It's a small building, with necessary defences. You'd stay there with other Inflicted. Good facilities, a few check-ups nothing more. Once all the Inflicted are catalogued, you'd be released and monitored." Nathan explained

"And I have your word that nobody will experiment or dissect me? None of that?" Elizabeta questioned threateningly

"My word. Nothing is wrong with you, it's not your fault." Nathan calmed

Elizabeta submitted and the two descended back to the ground. The officers surrounded them but Nathan ordered them not to fire as she was taken in the back of an armoured truck. Nathan nodded to her moments before the doors slammed shut and were sealed. "Excellent work, Mr Blaise. She'll be catalogued along with the others. We've heard rumours of another operating around the coastal area, new files will be sent to you in the morning. In the meantime, your prisoner is becoming unruly. One of my guards is in critical condition." Overseer scalded

"I told them not to approach the cage. He doesn't go for me, they never listen." Nathan barely noticed, "Any trouble with the other Inflicted?"

"They just talk to each other, we fear they might be planning something. I'll look into it." Overseer stated

"Dealing with the Inflicted is my job, remember? You stay out of it." Nathan talked back

"Mr Blaise, for all we know there could be hundreds of these Inflicted, all our test results are inconclusive. You will not be allowed to manage that amount of people alone. My units keep them in line." Overseer made clear

"Your units! What do you think happens when they see- oh never mind." Nathan groaned feebly. He sighed knowing there was no talking to her. She was right about one thing, there were bound to be more. Always more dangerous or at least more unpredictable, it would help to know just how big a job he'd been assigned. That uncertainty. It made Nathan's job that much harder; as long as they kept their end of the bargain, he'd learn to live with it.

Elizabeta squinted as the light poured into the back, she was pulled to her feet and began walking inside. It was hard to make out what she was seeing, the surroundings looked damp and she could smell the ocean. Coupled with the birds flying overhead, she was clearly at a shipyard. Whether it was on a boat or in one of the warehouses she wasn't sure; Elizabeta was blinded when they moved forward. She felt herself moving downwards and walked down a hallway. Now she could see but she heard the murmurs of guards as she was abandoned in this dingy cell. Behind her she made out a few voices.

She turned to look at them and saw three men on either sides of the room. On the left was a dark-haired white man with a blindfold covering his eyes, he relaxed in a lied-down position with his hands behind his head and feet kicked up. An older black man with a thick grey beard, wrinkled but muscular, looked at her with disinterest and kept in his slumped over stance against the wall. The last was also black but tucked his knees into his chest and stuck to the opposite corner, had bright blue eyes and the same shocked look on his face as her. The blindfolded man turned his head and spoke to her in a heavy Irish accent.

"Door only opens when another comes in, so what they get you for?" Patrick asked happily