Okay, this is a brief recap for you guys who have just joined us, or have forgotten everything so far.

There was a storm that granted people caught in powers (or killed them) and this got people wanted by the government – equals big trouble. This included L (aka The Mentalist, a mind-reader), B (aka Stratagem, an über-fast learner of others' powers), Near (aka Soothsayer, a psychic), Mello (aka Slaughter, with super-strength), Matt (aka Redd, an immortal), Light (aka The Conman, very persuasive), Misa (aka Ember, fire-controller), Matsuda (aka Guineamorph, a guinea-pig shapeshifter).

Others included a pathology student called Elisabeth (Volta, a technopath), her teenage brother Ben (Motion, a telekinetic), his best friend Lara (Artemis, a communicator of animals), Tessa (Aeon, a time-traveler), Rose (Spektre, a ghost-seer) and Emilia (Swift, a girl with super-speed). They formed the Zapped.

Kiyomi Takada (Stormeye, a hydrokinetic), angry at being isolated by other humans, set out to kill all those without powers, but the others stopped her, at a cost. Elisabeth died, and L committed suicide in her footsteps. They were brought back when Tessa changed the past, but all of them ended up in jail say for Matt, who got taken to the morgue. Emilia's mother, Clarissa, a government operative, put them there. Light erased his father Soichiro's memory of his power.

A girl secretly stood up to Takada, known only as Claire. It is believed by L and Elisabeth she too has powers, but she was attacked by Takada and ended up in a coma. Her friend, M. Rockwell, a taxi driver from London, was present when she woke up again.

Then Matt broke the Zapped out of prison.

I think that's everything put briefly. Enjoy.

The prison breakout of one of the world's most infamous groups was all over the news, even one month on. This was one time that L was extremely pleased for television and overall media coverage. The press and internet forums were so goddamn nosy that rumors of their location were difficult to discern from lies and the truth. Meanwhile, there were thirteen of them all hiding in one house, with one common goal: bust those with powers out to the public.

Emilia, petite and silvery-blonde, had been working like a little Trojan, driven by the anger at her mother, Agent Clarissa Deaver. With the help of B and Rose, she was busy mounting a campaign that would hit the government right where it hurt – their image. Nobody would even imagine that such notorious criminals were using sophisticated technology in a pleasant little house not far from where they had been apprehended.

Elisabeth was developing a series of disguises whilst keeping an eye on everyone's health. Her previous occupation having been a unique kind of school nurse at Wammy's House, she was desperate to sate her desire to aid those who required medical assistance. Her most recent patient had been Near when he'd walked into a door whilst having a vision.

Matsuda had been using a friendly contact at Interpol to establish the international political reaction their breakout. According to a man named Ide, things were heating up the longer that the Zapped went undiscovered. There were worries of terrorism and an attempted uprising. Matsuda had convinced Ide that their only aim was to get the rest of those with powers together so that they could prevent another Stormeye-like incident.

Ben and Lara had been the safest choice to put out into public, retrieving things like food supplies and newspapers. They had been perceived by their neighbors (much to Mello's rancor) as a young American student couple who had moved in together. They were the eyes of the Zapped. In a community that appeared very close-knit, they had had to remain low-profile and keep their story simple lest their lies catch up with them.

Mello had been busy shifting furniture around just so that he had something to do. That, and researching curious events with the others looking for symptoms of people with powers. Only the day before they had found a five-year-old girl who was being praised for saving another's life because she just happened to be able to beat up a mugger. When they had attempted further research other than that in the paper, the girl was said to not have existed. Lara had almost cried at that. She had only been five years old.

Another possibility of finding a child of the storm had been a man who had supposedly run through a wall, just appearing the other side of a shop wall unscathed, with no damage to the wall itself. The man had been found in an alleyway bleeding to death. According to the woman who found him (that Ben had spoken to posing as a journalist) his last words had been, 'but the children will save me'.

Everything felt so wrong, hiding in the shadows and just searching futilely. There was nothing anyone could do without exposing themselves and truly endangering the rest. They had Near looking into the future for anything he could, keeping Tessa out of his way in case she screwed with his visions. They couldn't run forever, and they knew it. Had they any chance of doing so, they still would not have done. They would hide, and then strike. People out there needed to know about others with powers, and learn to accept them.

Watari and Roger were looking after Wammy's kids with as much commitment as humanly possible. Those that offered problems, such as Iago, Raphael, Trey and Wolsey, were warned of their being sent to an ordinary orphanage should they become an issue. There were some things that they could not avoid, like if they tried to sneak out, but as for telephone and internet communication, that was no problem.

It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what felt different about that day over a month after they had broken out of prison and evaded government forces. What could be said? All any of them would dare to think was that the atmosphere differed from the usual lethargy.

It was approximately four o'clock in the afternoon when Matt came rushing in with his laptop, placing it carefully down on the desk in the middle of the room and speaking up louder than the combined sounds of buzzing, humming and low chatting.

"Guys," he piped up. "You really have got to see this live online stream."

XXX

The physiotherapist known as Dr. Kelsey attempted to support her patient. It had been one month since the young woman's unexpected and puzzling consciousness after being in a coma that should have made her a vegetable. Technically, she could have been. She could not speak, could only move only a little and never looked like she understood what was going on, despite her friend's disagreement.

"She understands you!" M. Rockwell had protested vehemently. "Look, her eyes moved! She knows exactly what's going on, she's not stupid!"

"I know it's difficult to process, that she may never recover fully," Kelsey sighed, "but we have to accept that her life will never be the same."

"Her mouth moves," M said through gritted teeth. "She can talk!"

"She makes incoherent noises," Kelsey snapped. "I know others who have entered a similar state to Claire, and they are the only sounds she ever makes. She does not talk." She glanced at the patient resting on her. "Look at her, Miss Rockwell. She can't even stand by herself. She has made progress, but not enough to even use a wheelchair unaided."

"This is the first time she's properly walked," M said. "You've got to give her a chance. I read about this – when people wake up from comas, they get all these painful bedsores and their muscles are really weak. If you're not giving her any chance, she's screwed, isn't she?"

"You see, I've even got to support her head sometimes," Kelsey muttered. "She's tired. Standing up supported has been way too much for her. I'm putting her back to bed."

"Don't!" M shouted suddenly.

"Why on earth not?" She paused.

"Sit her down on the bed, sitting upright, and then I'll spend some time with her," M told the physiotherapist. It was a moment before Dr. Kelsey acquiesced, and then she left them alone. M smiled at her friend. "Come on, C. Come on, I know you're in there. You know precisely what I'm saying, don't you?"

She reached for a pencil on the table next to the bed and threw it at Claire's head.

"Come on. Pick it up. Pick it up, or I'm going to have to throw it at you again," she warned.

Claire's eyes were full of irritation, frustration and despair. She so desperately wanted to be able to move, to retrieve the pencil from where it lay by her knees, but she couldn't. Dr. Kelsey was right; standing for the first time in over a month had been extremely tiring. M picked up the pencil and, following her word, threw it at her head again. She could feel words forming on her tongue, that almost-growl that she emitted when she wanted to express herself angrily.

She knew the words she wanted to say, unpleasant as they were.

"It's going to happen again," M threatened. She did it again and again.

"F-f-" Claire tried.

"That's it," M grinned. "Go on, say it. You can."

"F-f-"

It was that pencil hitting her squarely in the forehead that finally did it.

"F-fuck off!" she spat. She stared at her friend, partially hardly believing she'd been able to do it, partly surprised those had been her first words since beginning to learn to speak again.

M's mobile went off. Being an internet-linked phone, it apparently alerted her to whenever something interesting was happening online. She checked her phone and her eyes widened.

"Oh. That's… weird," she remarked uncertainly.

"H-h-here," Claire blurted out. "H-here."

"Look, it's an online stream from the Prime Minister-"

XXX

"No warning, nothing," Matt explained. "Just suddenly, ding! A live streamed video online of a speech by the British Prime Minister. There hadn't even been any buildup, no rumors, no political speculation, and now we've got this stringy bloke acting all… well, pretty much near contrite."

"Listen…" Elisabeth murmured.

What was said next by the man onscreen made them all freeze.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Mello gasped.

"Rewind, rewind," Emilia coaxed Matt. He did so.

"No longer shall any member of this government, or any other as part of the United Nations, oppose those named the 'children of the storm', one group famously known for their resistance and jailed. They have now officially been cleared of any charges put against them and have been granted a clean slate in this new society of the power-bearing and ordinary. It has also been decided that we shall encourage countries against this to reconsider," the Prime Minister declared. "Welcome to this brave new world, Children, and live your lives as well as you can!"

Jaws hung open for a long time, when nobody said anything. Then Near spoke.

"All United Nations countries accepting Children," he murmured. "How many nations is that?"

"One hundred and ninety-three," Rose whispered. When she received bemused looks from the others, she shrugged. "Pub quiz trivia."

"Cleared of all charges!" Matsuda exulted. "I can't believe it!"

"Neither can I," B muttered. He was shaking his head. "There's something really, truly wrong with this."

"Where is this coming from?" L asked quietly. They jumped at the sound of his voice, having practically forgotten he was there. "Why would a government of all the potential institutions suddenly admit that their enemy was right all along?"

"But… but we can leave," Misa pointed out. "This can't be a bad thing."

"I can't wait to breathe fresh air again," mumbled Tessa. "We're free."

"Fine," B sighed. "We can go, but… but I'm telling you, there's something up with this. You mark my words, the moment we think we're safe, trouble will stalk us again."

Regardless of B's warning, all thirteen of them packed up their equipment and half an hour later, with suitcases and computer bags in hand, pushed their front door open and walked out into the bright new sunlight, into a street where people could gaze as openly as they wanted.

After much coercion, I've decided to put up the first chapter of "Red Alert", "Zapped"'s sequel, earlier than anticipated. Hoping that you're all looking forward to this new story, and you've decided to keep on reading the sequel.

Please review to let me know how you think the start went!

C.