You wake up groggily in a laboratory strapped to a table. You immediately try to activate your powers only to find that nothing happens. You feel a collar locked around your neck and immediately know that it is suppressing your powers.

Unable to do anything your mind falls back on your training. You can basically hear the lieutenant drilling his teachings into you. Appraise the situation. Find a weakness you can exploit. Wait for an opportunity to strike. You take a deep breath thinking things through. You’re still alive which means they want something from you. If your guess is correct, it shouldn’t take you that long to find out what they wan-

Your thoughts are interrupted as the door to the lab hisses open. You look up to see the woman you were facing off against walk inside. She’s carrying a manila folder with your name written on the corner.

She smiles evilly as she opens it and begins to read it aloud. “Jason Ryder…Codename: Shadow, Ability: Chaos Control. You basically manipulate the elements to form energy.” She smirks as she looks at you. “However, you have yet to discover the full extent of your abilities.”

You stare at her coldly. “Let me go.” You tell her gritting your teeth.

She ignores you continuing to read your background to you. “Your powers manifested at the age of 13 attracting the attention of certain segments of the government. At 15 you were recruited for Project Genesis a special division of the US military. You rose quickly through their ranks and become selected to join an elite black ops team of mutants within the organization known as the Dreamcasters. As a team your group’s missions success rate was almost perfect except for one notable exception.” She looks at you for confirmation but you don’t say anything. She continues. “Your team however was mysteriously disbanded 2 years ago and you left the military shortly after that. Since then you’ve been taking freelance mercenary positions while doing everything in your power to maintain a low profile.”

She stares at you with her piercing blue eyes. “Did I leave anything out?”

She definitely did her homework you think to yourself but you’re not about to let her know you’re impressed. “You forgot my favorite color.” You say sarcastically.

She clicks her tongue. “Black.” She says smiling before proceeding. “The Hellfire club has been looking for you for a while now Mr. Ryder.”

You pause choosing your words carefully. You heard rumors of the Hellfire club, a powerful organization that recruits mutants for their own purposes. You also recognize the woman in front of you to be the infamous White Queen; a high ranking member of their organization and a powerful psychic who is definitely not to be trifled with. You only hope that their motivation is in making you a member of their association and not something more sinister.

You decide the best thing to do is to act like you think they want you to join them and give away as little information as possible.

“I heard about them but I’m not interested in joining a new team right now.” You tell her sliding against your binds. “So if you would kindly untie me…I won’t press any kidnapping charges.”

She just smirks “Aw I hate to break it to you…but I’m not really here to recruit you Mr Ryder. While it is true you would make an excellent addition to the Hellfire club, I’m more interested in your background knowledge.” She looks at you. “Tell me about operation Emerald.”

The name hits you like a thunderclap. It was your last operation before you left the military. You had really hoped that this wasn’t the reason behind your apparent abduction “I have no idea what that is.” You tell her trying to sound convincing.

She shakes her head. “Somehow I don’t believe you.”

“Yeah well…I don’t know what to tell you ‘cause it doesn’t ring a bell to me.” You insist.

She smiles “Why don’t you allow me to refresh your memory a little…the Dreamcaster’s last operation was to retrieve some artifacts of great power known as the Emeralds of destiny. Supposedly the mission was classified as a failure but it wasn’t really a failure was it Mr. Ryder?”

You don’t say anything. You had promised to guard that secret with your life. If the Emeralds of destiny were to fall into the wrong hands the results would be catastrophic. The Hellfire club definitely wasn’t a group that looked like they would use the Emeralds for the benefit of mankind.

Emma strokes your cheek gently . “The hellfire club would like you to tell us the location of those Emeralds.”

“…” You turn your head away from her.

She sighs. “Mr Ryder…Jason. This situation really has only one outcome…you telling me what you know. I’m very good at interrogation and you already know I’m telepathic. I don’t even have to make you talk, I only have to get you to think about the location and I would win. If you cooperate, I promise that we will let you go unscathed. However, if you try to make things difficult, things could get very unpleasant.”

“I really don’t know anything about them much less where any of them are.” You tell her.
She frown before shrugging. “Fine have it your way. Truth be told I did want to play with you a bit.”

She begins to concentrate and you suddenly feel like something is stabbing into your mind.

“It doesn’t have to hurt,” Emma tells you. “You just need to give me the information I want.”

You remember the training you received for dealing with psychic probes and immediately put up a mental wall in your mind protecting yourself and stopping the pain temporarily.

Her eyes widen in surprise but she quickly goes back into a smile. “Mmm looks like someone learned how to shield his mind,” She says. "I wonder how long can you withstand my attack for.”

You feel her psychically attack you again but you concentrate hard guarding yourself and the information she is trying to get from her.

“Well you’re definitely good but I have time. I wonder how long you can withstand my attacks for. “

You brace yourself readying for the next psychic assault and it comes hard as she relentless pounds at your mental defenses with her mind. For about an hour she works you over trying to get at the information she wants but you continue to fight her preventing her from accessing what she wants.

After a long wave of psychic attacks...