#ohicemanbobby

She knew the instant she woke that her powers were gone. Where there had been the sensation of the ground and the walls around her, there was nothing. Only emptiness. Just like before the experiments. The gun was out from under her pillow a second later, and she threw the blankets from her bed.

Knife. Small pistol. Flash bombs. Bottle of chloroform. Cloth. These quickly went into her utility belt and she strapped it on over her clothes, since she always slept dressed. She paused, breathing in and assessing the state of her health. She felt fine, physically. Just very empty and disoriented. She put on her boots and then she was ready.

Who would she go to? She pulled out her phone and texted Genis of course, and then hesitated. Should she call Sam? Then she thought of the person who usually occupied all of Sam's thoughts: Bobby. He was at the school. What if this had affected all the mutants?

Kate sat silently in her seat on the Quinjet, flicking through the files on the tablet sitting on her lap, brow furrowed in false concentration. The silence set her on edge, and she was far more nervous than she should be for a mission like this. It was simple, really, the only people standing in their way were a couple of truck driver's at the most, but still, her heart threatened to burst from her chest with it's hummingbird beats. Was she ready for a mission after being away for so long? Was she ready for a mission like this?

She could still feel the fingers on her thighs, prodding and claiming flesh that wasn't theirs to take, hear the taunting whispers in her ear, each memory bringing a fresh wave of rage inside her chest. While she'd never been as stoic and stormy as what seemed to be every other person working for S.H.I.E.L.D., she knew better than to mix sentiment with missions, and even she could see the millions of ways this whole thing could blow up in her face.

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind in an attempt to focus on the matter at hand, scanning each file as they flicked across the screen. The information they'd been provided with was dodgy at best, only the bare bones of the matter presented to them. This mission was different to what she knew, and planning and deliberating and contemplating was most certainly not part of her expertise. "You'd think S.H.I.E.L.D. would be able to put together better reports," she mumbled to herself.

She cleared her throat, perhaps a little more dramatically than the situation called for, if only to fill the deafening silence. "So." She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Good going, Kate. She took a breath, sitting up a little straighter in an attempt broadcast the confidence she knew she didn't posses. "First thing's first. We need to figure out which road they're taking, because, obviously, these files aren't worth squat." She was surprised at the authority in her voice, pleasantly or otherwise. "There are a few roads going from up North into Angeles city, but my best guess is that they're taking the La Union Expressway. It's new, but it's as bad as roads go, so they've got their empty, abandoned stretch right there."