Two pairs of hands clamped down on Jonathon's arms, pushing him towards the doors. Flynn struggled weakly to his left, and Amethyst, on his right, had given up. He could hear a pair of feet being dragged behind him, and another pair stumbling and tripping, so close to unconsciousness she could probably taste it and all its painless freedoms.

They were dragged through hallway after hallway on moving floors that seemed to never end. But when they did, Jonathon's feet stumbled over themselves. It felt like with every step he took, the floor moved him two steps back, exhausting him to the point that he eventually gave up walking, letting his captors drag him across the linoleum to a set of giant glass doors. They dropped the five of them in chairs and left, locking the doors behind them. The minute they were out of view from behind the glass, Jonathon snapped into action, ignoring the sudden crashing wave of vertigo, kneeling in front of Dayn. He lifted her head and tapped her cheek a few times with his palm.

"Dayn, come on, you gotta stay awake."

She groaned lightly in response. Flynn kneeled next to Jonathon, putting his hands on her shoulders, shaking her lightly. They both watched helplessly as she gave in, and her eyes rolled back into her head.

"Dammit." Flynn swore under his breath.

"Try this." Said an unknown voice. The three conscious bodies all spun around to see a middle-aged man, followed by three people in white. The man tossed Flynn a vial, which he uncorked and smelled. He jerked his head away violently.

"Smelling salts." he muttered, waving the open bottle under Dayn's nose. Her eyes snapped open and she sat straight up.

"Wha…where…?" she asked groggily.

"You're in the main building of the MIC." Said the older man, sitting down in a chair behind a clear plastic desk. "And I'm-"

"Iago!" Amethyst shouted suddenly. "You're Iago, from the video we saw."

"I'm going to attribute that blatant ignorance of social etiquette to the mild trauma you just experienced," he sneered at her. "But yes, I am Iago, Supreme and Definite Authority of Laurentia and all Territories."

"You're going to punish us, right? For the fighting?" Flynn said, momentarily taking his attention away from moving his finger in front of Dayn's eyes. There was a certainness in his tone, one that set it in for the whole room. Fighting was near the very top of the list of punishable offenses. Jonathon mentally groaned. He had tried so hard to keep them all out of trouble. He glanced around the room at his dorm-mates. Flynn was focused on a half-conscious Dayn, and the three medics that came in with Iago were huddled around Kodar. Amethyst had put on a blank mask, letting no one see past the blatant, passive look in her eyes.

"Maybe. It depends on what you choose to do."

Flynn shot Jonathon a concerned look.

"The five of you have extraordinary powers, powers you have no concerns on using both in public and for self-defense."

Jonathon meant to raise his voice at this, but Iago continued,

"I have a proposition for you all. Bit like an ultimatum, I guess." He chuckled softly, letting every conscious being in the room assume that it was more of an ultimatum than anything. "You can either be punished, which I can assure you will more likely than not be quite severe and extremely painful, or you can submit to training exercises."

"What kind of training exercises?" Flynn blurted out? Iago turned a sharp glare on him, making him shrink back with an apologetic look on his face while he stared intensely at his shoes.

"Exercises to strengthen your powers while pinpointing and defeating your weaknesses." The older man turned back to the rest of the group. "And, if you do choose the latter, your release will come a year early and lead you straight into a new, mutant-centered branch of the Laurentian military."

Jonathon took a deep breath, looking around at his friends. Dayn had awoken fully now, but her eyes were still cloudy. She seemed to understand her compromised state and nodded at Jonathon, saying she and Kodar would go with whatever he choose. She trusted him with her and her friend's life. He turned to Amethyst, who shook her head, wanting no part in the decision that would inevitably change all of their lives. Flynn mouthed a word at him, one that Jonathon agreed with completely.

"I guess…I guess we'll-" He was cut off by a sharp beeping. All five heads turned to Kodar and the surrounding medics. One of them, the one who was injecting something purple-ish and bubbly into the Avalonian's arm, had something flashing on her wrist. She quickly finished the injection and pulled off her gloves with a loud snap. She tapped it a couple times, then stopped very suddenly, eyebrows raising once for a split second. She looked up at Iago with a completely blank face, saying very matter-of-factly, "The Baker girl is dead."