Erin knew she couldn't run forever. Sure, her powers could fend off an assailant or two, but it was no match for the strong arm of the government's Top Priority Intelligence and Defense (TPID) faction that was now closing in on her.
It was only a matter of time before they caught wind of the peculiar things Erin could do. She knew she would never hurt innocent people with her abilities, but on paper, she was a threat to the American people that must be stopped. Or worse, she was a weapon that could be harnessed for the military's political gain.
And now, time had officially run out.
Erin scrambled through the woods, hardly able to see in the dense night. Leaves and limbs scratched at her face as she pushed toward what had to be better than what waited behind her.
Soldiers' footsteps echoed in the not-so-far distance. They whistled and howled, keeping each other updated on what they did or didn't find. And although they hadn't found what they were looking for yet, the soldiers were on Erin's trail like dogs locked onto a scent — hunting her.
Being captured was not an option Erin wanted to entertain at the moment; nor was fighting. So the only alternative was to run. She had to run for safety.
The gifted girl continued to push through the woods with nothing but the silver moon above to light her way.
Just a little further. Just a little further.
And then she could see it: an opening up ahead. Would this be her ticket out?
Erin pushed through the opening, and her heart fell just a bit. It wasn't really an opening at all; it was just a circular clearing that was surrounded by even more woods.
And then Erin's heart sank to the bottom of her feet as a bright artificial light from the opposite end of the clearing beamed on, bathing the entire space in light.
Standing just underneath the ignited lamp were dozens of armed TPID soldiers, lined shoulder to shoulder and staring directly at her.
It all made sense now. This had all just been an elaborate trap. These soldiers had been waiting here the whole time while the soldier behind Erin pushed her toward the clearing.
She should've known she wouldn't get away so easy. Now she had no other choice but to fight.
Erin raised her right hand toward the soldiers threateningly. On cue, they all raised their guns and pointed them at the girl.
"Ah, ah," a soldier in the middle said. "I wouldn't do that." This soldier was dressed just a little different than the others. Instead of camouflage, he had on a decorated suit that resembled something a Marine might wear. He had a similar hat on, as well. Obviously, he was the general.
"You wouldn't shoot," Erin called their bluff. "You need me alive."
The general ignored her statement, "You don't have to make this difficult on yourself, Siren." She'd read that name before in her files; it was their code name for her. "You're already surrounded."
Erin heard the footsteps of the soldiers that had been behind her arrive. The General was right; there was no easy way out.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," Erin warned. "Just let me go."
"We can't do that," the General replied. "You see, the government doesn't like to not have control of the world's most powerful weapons."
"But I'm not a weapon. I'm a person."
"You're a liability. But you don't have to be. Just come with us, and you will be safe. Protected."
"You want to study me," Erin replied through gritted teeth. "You want to *use* me. I am not a pawn in the government's stake for control. I am not a weapon."
"Then prove it," the General provoked. "Surrender."
Inevitably, Erin did the opposite. With a scream of pure rage, a powerful burst of purple energy erupted out of the girl's hand and crashed into the soldiers standing before her. Several of them toppled to the ground; one even flew back into a tree, but most of the soldiers remained standing.
"Is that it? Is that really all you have?" the General smirked.
"I don't want to hurt anybody," Erin repeated.
"Don't worry, Siren. You won't," the General nodded at his troops.
With that, the armed soldiers unleashed their artillery on the gifted girl, and to her surprise, they weren't packing bullets at all.
The sound of the first gun rang throughout the clearing, and a thin metal band whizzed through the air and locked itself around Erin's neck. She could still breathe just fine, but the cold metal was tight on her skin.
As she reached up to try to pry the metal band from her throat, there were four more gun shots, followed by four black corded ropes that came whirling at Erin from all sides. Before she could stop them, each rope clamped onto her wrists and ankles.
The opposite end of the ropes were still attached to the soldiers' rifles, and with one quick tug from them, Erin's four limbs were spread in a way that made it impossible to move.
That was fine, though. Erin would just have to free herself. She closed her eyes and focused her powers on the bonds. She imagined the ropes turning into ashes and drifting harmlessly away in the breeze. When she opened her eyes, however, the ropes were still there. She was still bound, and her powers were nowhere to be seen.
"What?" Erin asked herself alarmingly.
"Wondering where your power went?" the General asked as he brashly began to approach Erin at the center of the clearing.
Erin's heart began to beat wildly in her chest. She'd never not had her powers before. How could she protect herself without them? How could she get away?
"Don't worry, this isn't permanent," the General stopped only inches away from the girl.
She could feel his warm breath on the side of her face. Erin tried to struggle away from him, but the bonds that the soldiers had attached to her were held tight.
"The government craves power; it needs it. So when something is born that reaches beyond the government's power, our leaders find ways to diffuse it — at least until they can contain that power for themselves," the General reached up and gently caressed the metal band around Erin's throat. She shuddered as his finger brushed against her skin for just a moment. "This is a power-nullifier. It reads your DNA in real-time and produces an enzyme that counteracts the effects of your power. It's a yin to your yang, if you will — working in tandem to maintain harmony. As long as you're wearing this band, you are virtually human again."
"I never stopped being human," Erin replied through gritted teeth. Several small tears of anger streamed down her cheek. She couldn't believe they would have the gall to do this to her — to steal her power from her — to treat her like a soulless object.
"Don't worry, Siren. You are safe. No one wants to hurt you." As the General spoke, two soldiers broke away from the edge of the clearing and made their way toward the center. They were both carrying items along with them: the solider with the name tag "D. Rhodes" was holding a small duffel bag while the soldier named "R. Craig" had an exceptionally large brown canvas sack hanging onto his shoulder by an adjustable strap; judging by the way the bag hung, it had something light waded up at the bottom of it.
The soldiers stopped just a foot shy of Erin, and they sat down their gear. Rhodes unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out two pairs of freshly sharpened scissors.
Craig unzipped his canvas sack and pulled out a mound of bundled up cloth. He shook the cloth out, and laid it face-up on the ground so that Erin could get a good peak at it. Sitting next to the canvas sack, this second empty bag was about six feet tall and three feet wide — similar dimensions to the canvas sack it had come out of. It was wrapped in a military camouflage pattern that matched the soldiers' uniforms. The fabric appeared to be a thin cotton that had been sewn into a waffle pattern, similar to what one would find on a thermal shirt or maybe long underwear. Finally, completing the second bag was a row of twelve green buttons that started at the top and ended at the middle of the sack. Seven of the buttons had already been unfastened, allowing the mouth of the bag to lay wide open.
"My name's not Siren," Erin replied to the General as she tried to ignore Rhodes and Craig. "My name is Erin."
But she could only pretend they weren't there until the two soldiers each took a pair of scissors and started to cut a straight line down the front of Erin's clothes.
"Hey! Hey! What's this all about?" Erin burst out. She pulled to free herself from the ropes that bound her, but she was still tied fast.
"It's merely formality," the General replied. "Now that you are a ward of the government, you will be excorticated, arrested and placed in quarantine until further evaluation.
"Excorticated?" Erin asked as Craig finished cutting her pants off of her body.
"Stripped," the General replied.
Rhodes ripped the remnants of Erin's shirt away, leaving her standing in nothing but her black bra and matching underwear.
"Stripped!?" Erin exclaimed. "Why!?"
"It's standard procedure in this situation to remove all personal affects from a ward of the government before you are taken into custody."
With a few more short snips, Rhodes had removed Erin's undergarments from her body, as well. He nonchalantly stuffed the pairs of scissors and her shredded clothing into his small duffel bag while the naked girl blushed in the chilly spring air.
Erin wanted nothing more than to hide — to cover herself up so that these terrible men couldn't see the most vulnerable parts of her. But the ropes around her wrists and ankles were still pulled taught, which meant her shaved crotch and her pink, perky nipples were on display for everyone to see.
