The Next Puzzle Piece...

[Radar]

(Matthews Johnson walks into the motel and rings the bell. The clerk behind the counter glances up to see a tall black-suited man enter.)

Clerk: Can I help you?

(Radar smiles and flashes a fake badge. He walks over to the counter and shows the man a picture of Christina Collins.)

Radar: Yes, you can. My name is Agent Cam Pulinski. I'm looking for this young lady who's involved in one of our cases. I was wondering if you could show me what room she's in.

Clerk: Uh... yeah. I know her. Room 316. Want me to see if she's up there now?

Radar: No, that's fine. Thank you by the way.

(Radar makes his way towards the stairs and stops halfway.)

Radar: If she isn't there and she comes, don't let on to anything ok?

Clerk: Uh... ok. Sure sir.

(Matthews ascends the stairs and finds Room 316 with ease. As he steps to the door, he draws his dart gun. Radar knocks on the blue door and waits. He knocks again and waits. There is no answer. Radar focuses on the door handle and the safebolt. A moment later they click simultaneously. Radar pushes the door open, with his gun level. As he steps inside, he sends out energy waves to locate anybody else in the apartment. The waves he receives indicate that the apartment is empty. Matthews cracks his neck and finds a lounge chair in the corner. He sits down and pulls out a flask of whiskey. As he waits for Christina to come home, his thoughts venture back to the mutants in Pennsylvania and Smith's scruples.)

[Oracle]

(After a long day at work, Christina comes back to the motel late at night. As she walks inside she sees the clerk behind the counter.)

Christina: Hey Charlie.

(Hearing his name, the clerk looks up and sees Christina. He stops everything he's doing and stares cautiously at her. Remembering the agent's request he decides to answer her so she wouldn't be suspicious.)

Charlie: H-hey... Sabrina.

Christina: You okay?

Charlie: Yeah, yeah. Just locking up for the night.

Christina: Okay. Night.

Charlie: Good night.

(Christina begins to climb the stairs, but stops and looks back at the counter. Charlie seems to have quicken his pace and wants to get out of the office as soon as possible. Strange. But seemed really strange was the way he looked at Christina. Christina had seen that look before. It was the look everyone had given her back home in Cleveland when they found out she was a mutant. It was a look of fear and resentment.)

(Christina continues to climb the stairs and looks at one of her hands. She curls in her fingers and then flexs them out again. Her powers haven't returned, not that she knew of. No one knew who she really was. What could have cause Charlie to react that way?)

(Christina gets to the door of her room and goes to use her key when she finds the door is already open. Christina becomes paranoid, but decides to let it go. It was probably Charlie snooping around her room trying to find out whatever it was he thought of her. She would have to talk to him in the morning. She quickly enters her room and closes the door. She lockes her door and uses the chain as an extra security, but she still doesn't feel safe. She tosses her keys on the table and walks away from the door, oblivious of the man sitting in the chair in the corner.)

[Radar]

(Matthews levels his gun at Christina, but something about her, something subtle, stops him from shooting her. Instead, he merely holsters his gun and folds his arms as she walks into another room oblivious of his presence. A minute later she walks back out into the living room and stops. He knows she sees him because his acute hearing has picked up her quickened heartbeat. Matthews lets a smile form on his lips as he raises his head to her.)

Radar: Hello Ms. Sabrina Collins. Oh wait, didn't Sabrina Collins die years ago. Oh, well forgive me. You must be Christina Collins. But why oh why would Christina Collins ever have to use her mother's name. Gee...maybe she's running from the big bad mutants. Or maybe it's the curse of her mutation she's trying to avoid. Or perhaps yet, it could even be that she's just a genuinly good person and she wants to protect her home and her friends. I think that last one might be it.

(Radar takes a sip from his flask and grimaces at the burning sensation of Whiskey running down his throat. He sticks out his hand to offer her some, but she doesn't make any kind of movement. Radar's smile fades quickly and he stuffs the flask into his jacket pocket. The monitor on his belt allows him to see her flawless face and he's awe-struck for a brief second.)

Radar: Ok, enough with the pleasantries. My name is Matthews and that's all that I have to vindicate. You are Christina Collins, and you're wanted by Project 5932 Delta. Otherwise known as Weapon X. I'm here to take you in. Now....

(Radar stands up and cracks his neck fiercly. He pushes the jacket back to reveal his gun.)

Radar: ...we can do things the easy way or the really easy way. C'mon, I'm blind. Help me out here. Don't make me hurt you.

[Oracle]

(Christina stands in with a mixture of fear, shock, and anger. How did he find her and how did he seem to know so much about her? She remembers Charlie's reaction when she showed up. He must have let this Matthews into her room, waiting for her. She had been betrayed and revealed for who she really was. First in New York, now here too. She had thought about playing that she didn't know what he was talking about, but she could tell he wouldn't be fooled. He knew that he had found who he was looking for.)

(Christina is trapped. He is blocking her only exit and there is no way to call for help. She had to get away and find a way to contact Chris and the others. Hearing he was blind gave Christina a little boost in her confidence. She would have an advantage. Then again, he was armed and she wasn't. She looks around herself to find something she could use. As quietly as she could, she picks up a glass on the table.)

Christina: Sorry... but I'm stubborn at times. So I tend to make things more difficult.

(She throws the glass as hard as she could at him, but it was ineffective. Matthews just caught the glass before it even reached him.)

Christina: *to herself* Damn... this is going to be difficult.

[Radar]

(Matthews places the glass down on the stand next to him and sighs dramatically.)

Radar: I know for a fact that you have a little nickname, uh....Oracle I think. Yeah, good for you. I, on the other hand have a real codename. It's called Radar. Do you want to take a gander why?

(Matthews takes off his shades and stares hard at her with his vulture pale blue eyes. He knows he could just toy with her brain waves and make her pass out, but that would be dull. Matthews sighs again.)

Radar: Ok, go ahead, I'll let you past me. Hell, I'll even give you a thirty second head start and you can see just how far you'll get if that makes you feel any better. Just don't think too loud. It's a nuisance and quite frankly, I'd rather not hear you ridiculous plans.

(Matthews sidesteps and allows Christina enough room to get out.)

Radar: Oh god Chrissy. Ya might wanna hurry up there, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you're lettting it tick on by.

[Oracle]

(Christina looks at Radar suspiciously. It seemed too easy. But it was worth a try. Christina curls her hand into a fist when Radar used that nickname. She hated when people called her "Chrissy". It was the nickname her dad called her. She hated to hear it. Christina walks to the door and passes Radar.)

Christina: Fine... but for the record, the name's Christina.

(Christina lashes out her leg and kicks Radar on the side of his face before she quickly rans out of the door to escape.)

[Radar]

(Matthews curses as the target runs out of the room. He grabs his jaw and spits out blood. His lip is bleeding but he stops it with a quick thought.)

Radar: Damn girl. That's what happens when you do something nice for somebody.

(Radar looks at his watch, but sees nothing. It's an old instinct, but he can't shake the habit. Instead, he counts off thirty seconds and then turns the monitor on his belt to maximum. He starts off at a jog after her.)

[Oracle]

(Christina made it down the stairs and begins to run as fast as she possibly could out of the motel. She needs to get away far enough where she can find a phone to call the mansion. She tried to keep count in her head, but she knows that her thrity seconds are up by now. She runs to the street, but she's already starting to get out of breath. She need some other place to hide, but anywhere too close Radar could hear her. She needed to get to some place crowded, but she doesn't know how much longer she can keep running for.

[Radar]

(Matthews exits the hotel and looks around. He concerntrates on Christina's brain waves and sees that she's heading into a crowded place. He smiles at this knowledge.)

Radar: Well, seems that I have a smart one on my hands. Oh well...

(Radar starts after the fainting waves and follows her trail into a plaza.)

[Oracle]

(Christina makes it to the plaza. It's pretty crowded with shoppers in the stores and couples in restaurants. She keeps looking over her shoulder to see if Radar is behind her. He probably would catch up sooner or later. She finds a phonebooth that she could use to call. She walks over to it, but she looks over her should and sees Radar has just made it to the plaza. She stays low and weaves inbetween the crowd and enters a crowded store. She looks out the window to keep an eye on him, but keeps her body hidden as much as she could.)

[Radar]

(Radar hears her thoughts and knows that she's spotted him. He fakes a yawn and looks up into the San Franciscan sky as he send a message to her with his mind.)

"You know, I've gotta to say Chrissy, this is kinda fun. Cat and mouse kind of thing. Well, don't get too comfortable. I'm going to end this soon. So enjoy freedom while you can."

(Radar straightened up and looked directly at where Christina was going and where she was. He let out a smile and shook his head.)

[Oracle]

(Christina groans and rolls her eyes as she hears Radar's message. She had a feeling he used that name just to annoy her. When she saw him look in the direction of the phonebooth and then at herself, she knew she was in serious trouble.)

Christina: *to herself* How can you beat a person who can read your mind?

(She hated the situation she found herself in. "Cat and mouse," it never turned out so well for the mouse.)

[Radar]

(Radar heard her thought and smiled.)

"Oh, come now Chrissy. That's the million dollar question right there. Now, I'm starting to get bored, because there's a bottle of Scotch at a bar right now that's calling my name. Please don't make me abondon the call. Don't you know that's alcohol abuse?

(Radar concerntrated on the phonebooth and the entire booth crumbled before Christina's very eyes. People stopped and stared as the booth's glass shattered and the metal structure pulled together.)

"Please. If you have any sense, you know that as long as you're in my custody you won't be hurt. Come on. If we keep up this charade any longer, I'll make you levitate in the air. Would you like that?"

[Oracle]

(Christina's eyes grew wide in shock. Radar is using his powers freely in public. Surely he probably would levitate her. She had no where else to hide. Radar was right. He wouldn't hurt her, but when the time came, he would kill her.

"Just leave me alone. I don't have my powers anymore. You can't use me to bring Apocalypse back to life."

[Radar]

"Well if that's true, then you get to live and all we get is time and money wasted and you can be happy and all that happy $#!*. But for now you're coming with me, like it or not. Now...."

(Radar raised his arm and held his palm out to her as if he were going to shoot a laser from it at her.)

"...You have five seconds to walk to me and not do anything even remotely stupid. Or, and this is the best part, we're gonna find out just how high little girls can jump."