“We’re nearly at the target location. ETA five minutes.” The driver reported over the radio.

 “Listen up people!” Sergeant Fox called, glancing around at the half dozen other figures squeezed inside the APC. “We’ve got a Code Grey here, reports of an individual displaying metahuman abilities. Caused a scene in the local market, subject reported fleeing into a nearby apartment building. Subject was described as an adolescent Caucasian female, short blonde hair, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.” He rattled off the details of the report, scanty as they were.

 “Remember that this is a Capture mission, repeat: Capture Mission!” The sarge looked down the rows of men and women in body armor running final checks on their weapons. “Lethal force is not authorized. Lab boys want their guinea pig alive and in one piece and that’s how we’re going to give her to them. Now be careful, the subject is not reported as being dangerous, but we all know how hairy these things can get.” He glanced over at the two rookies for whom this was all new. They were looking nervous. “Any questions?”

 “We get any information on this bitch’s deal?” One of the veteran squaddies, Victor, grumbled. “Or are we going in blind like usual?”

 “Witnesses reported psychokinetic abilities.” The sarge replied. “Nothing else so far, but we can’t be sure she doesn’t have any other tricks so let’s not give her a chance to use them.”

 There were no other questions, so the team finished checking their gear. With only a second’s warning from the driver, the APC suddenly lurched to a screeching halt. The hatch at the back swung open with a hiss. With shouts of “Go! Go! Go!” From the sarge, everyone piled out, boots pounding on the pavement in front of the apartment. The team rushed the doors, aware other APCs were dropping teams off to cover the ground floors while overhead a helicopter insertion was closing off the roofs. The target wasn’t getting out anyway except through them.

 “Positive ID on the subject.” A voice from head quarters cut into the squads communications. “A Miss Elizabeth Young, 19, student at the local university. She has an apartment in this building.”

 “Copy that. Got a number?” Fox asked.

 “507.”

 “Okay people! Up we go! Harris, Blake, cover those elevators in case she comes down, everyone else: the stairs!” The boots thundered up the stairs. Out in the corridors, doors to the apartments opened and people looked out in confusion, most ducking back just as quickly when they saw an armed and armored squad thundering by, weapons ready.

 On the fifth floor, they turned off the stairs and charged up the central corridor until they came to number 7. The squad stacked up on either side of the door while one set up a breaching charge. At the sarge’s signal, the door was blown in, followed by four armored figures, guns at the ready.

 The first few rooms of a typical college-student apartment were swept and found empty. It was in the bedroom they found the target. She was standing behind the bed, an open suitcase in front of her, half filled. A few minutes more and they’d have missed her.

 Having heard their crashing progress through the rest of the apartment, the metahuman was ready for them. Her normally sky blue eyes glowed with a strange light as she raised her hands. At the same time, a lamp on the nightstand and a couple of heavy pre-med textbooks shook and rose into the air, elevated by some force as yet beyond science.

 “Take her down!” Fox shouted, raising his rifle, not to aim, but in a defensive position to block the lamp which suddenly flung itself at his face. Nearby, Victor grunted as the textbook bounced off the chestplate of his body armor. More objects began hurling themselves at the squad as they struggled to get their guns pointed at the teenage girl who was back up against the wall, running back and forth with the air of a cornered animal.

 It was obvious, to the Sarge, she was new to her powers, or lacked the ruthlessness to make full use of them. Thus far, she’d not yet thrown anything heavier then textbooks at them and though annoying, the squad’s body armor was more then adequate to protect them from that. Nor did she seem to have any any ideas beyond simply picking up things and throwing them, like say: grabbing the soldier’s guns or pinching their trachea's…

 Eventually, the soldiers got their weapons in order and let off bursts of electricity. The metahuman managed to interpose a pillow in front of the first two blasts, filling the room with smoke and singed feathers, and stopped a third by suddenly wrenching the muzzle of the stun-gun up at the last second, but her bit of inspiration came too late to save her. The fourth shot connected, drawing a high-pitched shriek from the teen as an electrical current shot through her slender frame. She crashed to the ground, alongside all the other objects she’d been attempting to batter the troopers with.

 “Secure the subject.” Fox ordered. Two of the less rattled squaddies hurried forward. One of them took out a set of high-tech shackles with four sets of cuffs connected by steel cable to a central unit. Slapped onto her wrists and ankles, the teenage metahuman found herself hogtied within seconds. Meanwhile, the other squaddie took out a similarly high-tech collar. It closed around her neck with a click and beep as the automated systems activated, prepared to neutralize her powers the instant she tried to wield them.

 That wouldn’t be anytime soon though. It was obvious the blast of the stunner had taken all the fight out of her. She gave a low moan of fear and despair as the final piece of her bondage was applied in the form of a steel band circling the lower part of her head, holding the gag in place in her mouth. As the effects of the stunner started wearing off, she tugged and pulled at the hogcuffs, but the steel cables held firm. Garbled grunts, doubtless pleas, came muffled out of the gag, but the squaddies ignored her.

 Fox regarded the frightened teen for a second before reporting in: “Subject Captured. Bringing her out for extraction now.” He notted and two of  his men hefted their prisoner between them. They carried out of the apartment where a special transport was waiting to take her to the secret research facility with all the other metahumans Fox and his organization had captured...