Tales of the First

“I think that the killers must have some unusual resources,” Sienna said. “Whoever is behind the gas certainly does… and I don’t think they are the same people.”

“No,” Sienna’s father agreed. “I think they are working against each other, but I think both groups are bad people.”

“Can we talk about something else,” Sienna’s mother said. “We can’t do anything about this and it scares me.”

“Of course,” Sienna’s father said. “Though I think it’s natural to speculate in such a strange situation.” He turned the television off again and looked over at Lucy. “So what time is your mother coming to pick you up, Lucy?”

Lucy checked her watch. “About ten I think. I’ll call her and ask if you want.”

“Please do,” he said.

Lucy pulled out her phone and spoke with her mother briefly.

“Yes, ten o’clock,” she said.

“Ooh, we’ve got time to watch a movie after dinner then,” Sienna said. “That will take our mind off things.”

“That’s a good idea,” Sienna’s father said. “You’re all naturally tense.”

“Yes,” Sienna said and turned her attention back to her meatballs and spaghetti.




After dinner the three girls did return to Sienna’s room and put on a movie but only half watched it because Lucy immediately picked up her sketch again began refining it.

“I need to decide what fabric to use for the costume.”

“Not spandex,” Sienna said quickly. That provoked another attempt to laugh that became a coughing fit from Lucy, which made Sienna feel like jerk. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to happen.”

“Is there any more news from that town in California?” Sienna asked as they ate dinner. “Because it’s not a coincidence is it?”

“I don’t think it can be,” Sienna’s father said. “For one thing there’s video on the internet that shows the fog bubbling up from cracks in the ground and drains but there’s a pattern to it that looks artificial.”

“But how would someone know an earthquake was going to happen there or that meteorite was going explode here?”

“I don’t know,” Sienna’s father said. He curled and uncurled the spaghetti on his fork without eating it. “I wish I did.” He shook his head. “Not that it’s any of our problem. I’m sure the authorities will sort it out.”

“Excuse me, but what town are we talking about?” Lucy asked.

“Oh! You probably haven’t heard because you were in hospital until a couple of hours ago,” Sienna’s father said. “There’s another magenta fog incident. This time in America.” He twisted around in his seat to grab the remote control from the sideboard and flicked on the TV turning to the BBC news channel where news of the earthquake and fog was the top story.

Lucy frowned at the television as she watched the story unfolding. “Yes,” she said. “That’s certainly not a coincidence. Is anyone looking for similar incidents that might have flown under the radar?”

“I would imagine so,” Sienna’s father said. “But as I said, let’s leave it to the authorities. There’s not much we can do–” He paused as the news turned to the shootings in Castletham. “More? What the hell are the police doing? People shouldn’t be able to walk around in broad daylight killing people.” He shook his head angrily. “Is this incompetence what I pay for with my taxes?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Wendy said. “Though Sienna’s figure is reasonably average.”

“Hey!” Sienna said.

“I didn’t mean that badly,” Wendy said. “I just mean it’s not distinctive enough to identify you from. Subtle changes should actually throw people.”

“Just don’t make me wear a fat suit,” Sienna said.

“No fat suits,” Lucy said. “Far too hot to run in. No high heels either.” She hummed to herself. “You need to think of a name.”

“I thought you thought this was a bad idea,” Sienna said.

“I do,” Lucy said. “But it’s also so much fun I can’t help getting into it. Now name.”

Sienna put her hand over her eyes and shook her head. “I’m surrounded by crazy people,” she muttered. “I really don’t know.”

“What about Push,” Wendy said.

“Boring,” Lucy said. “I think something like Psychic Avenger would be cool.”

“Ugh, no,” Sienna said. “That’s tacky.” She stared at the picture. “What about Sapphire?”

“It’s the wrong shade of blue,” Lucy said. “At least to what I imagine – I just used the closest pencil. I’m thinking more of an indigo colour.”

“Ooh! It's indigo and black!” Wendy said. “Indigo Shadow would be a good name.”

Sienna considered this and then nodded. “I like that. Descriptive of the costume and not tacky.”

“Indigo Shadow it is then,” Wendy said.

“And what are we going to call you?” Lucy asked. “Scrap knight? Junkyard girl?”

“I haven't decided on a name yet, but neither of those,” Wendy said.

“We'll work on it,” Lucy said. “Now what fabric should I u–” She broke off as they all heard someone coming up the stairs. Sure enough a moment later there was a knock on the door.

“Dinner's ready, girls,” Sienna’s mother said.

“We’ll be right down, mum,” Sienna said.

“I think so,” Sienna said. She went to the cupboard began to search through a box of her old toys from when she was a child. “Ah here they are. They’re just cheap kids ones and I haven’t used them in years.” She tossed them to Lucy.

“They’ll do,” Lucy said. She pulled out a blue one and started shading. “Wendy, if you’re really going to do this could you design some sort of visor display thing for Sienna?”

“A Heads Up Display? Of course I can. My suit already has one I designed.”

“Great! I’ll make that part of the costume then.” Lucy sketched for another few minutes before passing the pad to Sienna. “What do you think?”

Sienna stared at the sketch. It was obviously quickly done but showed a girl of about Sienna’s build wearing blue trousers and a black and blue polo neck tunic that reached to her mid-thighs and black boots and long gloves. The lower half of her face was covered by a blue cloth mask while her eyes and the upper half of her face were concealed by what looked like ski goggles. The girl in the picture also had bobbed blue hair quite unlike Sienna’s.

“I thought you weren’t going to dress me as a performance artist,” she said. “Though it does look easy to move in.”

“It will be,” Lucy said. “And yes it is dramatic, but for what you intend to do it needs to be.”

“What’s with the hair?” Wendy asked. “I thought you were going to cover it?”

“It is covered,” Lucy replied. “That’s a wig.” She frowned thoughtfully. “But so far nothing about this conceals Sienna’s build.” She chewed on her lips. “A minimiser bra and shoulder pads maybe?”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t laugh but only you could think that’s a good idea, Wendy.” She sagged backwards onto the bed. “Though suspect you’re right that Sienna will have to fight back against these gunmen at some point and she can’t do it as herself. Not safely anyway.”

“Or by herself,” Wendy said. “Will you design and make her a costume?”

“Of course I will,” Lucy said. “Who else would you ask.” She sat up again and grabbed some paper and a pencil from Sienna’s computer desk and began sketching. “Okay, one thing I am not going to do is make you dress like an acrobat. That’s the big problem with female superheroes in comics. They’re dressed like acrobats. So are the dudes for that matter but that’s not quite as bad – except who fights crime in costumes designed for performance artists?”

“I thought the trouble with female superhero costumes was that they sexed them up,” Sienna said.

“Yes, but that’s because they’re dressed like acrobats as much as anything,” Lucy said. “And having said that it does need to be distinctive and practical move in. A pretty problem” She hummed to herself. “And we don’t want to expose any skin or hair at all.”

“Why not?” Wendy said.

“Forensics,” Lucy said simply.

“Of course!” Wendy hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Damn! I should have thought of that. I’m going to have to make some modifications to my armor as well.”

“Sienna do you have some coloured pencils?” Lucy asked. “I need to show the colours I have in mind.”

“I know,” her mother said. “But worrying will only make it worse. See you later.” She patted her daughter’s arm again and headed out the door. Lucy watched her go then looked back at Sienna and Wendy. “So how are you? I heard you two saw one of the shootings yesterday. That’s got to be worse than this.”

“We did,” Sienna said. “And I don’t know about Wendy but I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s go upstairs until dinner is ready.”

“Yeah, I don’t imagine you would.” Lucy said. “And sure, upstairs sounds good.”

Watching her usually fit friend climbing the stairs slowly and having to pause at the top to catch her breath really brought home to Sienna how sick Lucy still was. When they got into Sienna’s room Lucy immediately collapsed on to the bed.

“That was so hard,” she said after a pause. At least she was able to speak but she was still breathing heavily. “I hate this.”

“I can imagine.” Wendy said as she shut the door. “But we need to talk to you.”

“Oh?” Lucy said. “You mean about Sienna? I saw the videos people took of what happened yesterday.” She shuddered briefly. “No wonder you don’t want to talk about it, but it definitely makes me believe you about Sienna.”

“Good, because it’ll make this easier.”

“That’s right,” Wendy said. “Can you watch the door, Sienna?”

“Oh, very cloak and dagger,” Lucy said. “What’s so secret?”

Lucy listened in silence as Wendy told her what she wanted to do while Sienna listened for anyone coming up the stairs. When Wendy has finished Lucy started chuckling but it soon segued into a fit of racking coughs and they had to recover her breath before she could speak.

“Ah! Of course,” Sienna’s mother said. “Another time.” She looked back at Sienna and Wendy. “Good news, Lucy is out of hospital and her mother has brought her over.”

“Lucy!” Sienna raced past her mother into the sitting room where Lucy sat along with her own mother. “How are you? Are you better.”

“They wouldn’t have let her out if she weren’t.” Wendy followed Sienna in more sedately.

“I’m… well I’m not fine but I’m much better,” Lucy said. “I don’t need Oxygen any more and the tests look okay so they let me out but my chest still feels really tight and even walking short distances makes me out of breath which is why mum brought me over.” Her face tightened. “I have an inhaler now as well. I hope the damage isn’t permanent.”

Lucy’s mother Irene laid a reassuring hand on Lucy’s arm. “You know what the doctor’s said, dear. Whatever caused that reaction doesn’t appear to have done any damage but your lungs have been sensitized and need time to calm down. You have an appointment with the specialist to work on your rehabilitation.”

“But my training…” Lucy trailed off unhappily.

“Will have to pause just like if you injured your leg,” her mother said reasonably. “Call your coach in the morning, I’m sure he’ll have some good ideas for rehabilitation.” She stood up. “Anyway I’ll leave you to catch up with Sienna and Wendy and pick you up about nine.”

Lucy stared at her mother for a moment and then nodded. “Thanks, mum. It’s just scary not being able to walk to car without gasping for breath. I’m worried it might never improve to allow me to run again.”

“I think I’ll give mum a call later,” Wendy added. “I want to be sure she’s not just shunting me out of the way so she can reconcile with Keith.”

“Not much chance of that,” he said. “Your gran's staying over.”

“Good,” she said. “But I’m still going to call her.”

“Oh, yeah, call her,” he agreed. “Just don’t worry so much. I think she’s finally seen through him.”

“I really hope so,” Wendy said. “I’m fed up of seeing mum all folded in on herself like that. Not to mention having to lie about who I am to please him.”

“No argument here,” he said. “I think Helen will be pleased to hear you’re going to become an engineer not a nurse.”

“I hope so,” Wendy said. “Not that she gets a say either. I just really want to get back to normal – well as normal as we can with half the town a disaster area and people with guns running around.”

“Not to mention superpowers,” he said. “Or wannabe superheroes.”

Wendy just smiled at that.


“We’re going to need some sort of scrambler so we can communicate without being monitored,” Martin said as he walked with Sienna and Wendy as they returned to Sienna’s home. “At least if you're serious.”

“I know,” Wendy said. “I have a couple of ideas for the system but you’ll need to do the coding.” She frowned thoughtfully. “And Sienna will need a costume, as well. Lucy already knows what happened so I think we’ll bring her on board for that.”

“A strange miasma hanging over an unimportant town during a disaster that has hit much larger ones?” Martin said. “It might be, if not ignored, glossed over as unimportant. Especially since it says here that the place has a chemical works. Without what happened here they’d probably have assumed it came from there.”

“Ah, now that I can see.” Sienna narrowed her eyes. “I wonder…Martin, can you see if you can dig out any other cases of magenta fog that might have flown under the radar?”

“Already on it,” he said. “You think here wasn’t the first place it happened too?”

“Now I've seen this, I do,” she said.

“I thought so even before this,” he said. “I think it’s important.”

“Yes,” she said. “I want to see if we can find other places and if there’s any sort of pattern. If nothing else it might give us a clue as to how those men are finding their targets.”

“Good idea.” He turned back to his keyboard. “Though I doubt they are the ones responsible.”

“Be careful not to leave a search trail,” Wendy said. Martin gave her a wry grin.

“I know,” he said. “I’m already being cautious.”

“Good,” Wendy said. “So am I coming home tonight?”

Martin shook his head. “Probably best not to. for now. I think Helen said she was going to drop a bag over at Sienna’s place.”

“That’s nice,” Wendy said. “Hopefully we can have a more normal evening without murders or disasters. God knows we need it.”

“I certainly hope so,” Martin said.

“There’s been an earthquake in California,” her father said. “Which is not unexpected given that it’s California, but… well you’ll see when you check it.”

“Yes, I do,” Sienna said. Martin had turned the laptop so she and Wendy could see the video he'd found. It was being streamed from a helicopter flying over a town which was engulfed in the same magenta fog they had seen only two days earlier. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know,” her father said. “But the fact it’s sprung up after another disaster, even if it is a different one, suggests some sort of pattern. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t either,” she said. “What is going on?”


Her father didn't answer that. “Are you coming home soon, sweetpea?”

“Not just yet,” she said. “But soon. Tell mum I’m okay.”

“I will,” he said. “But don’t be too long. We're both fretting.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said before ending the call and looking at Martin and Wendy. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know,” Martin said. “But two very different disasters in different parts of the world closely followed by the same mysterious phenomenon? That's not a coincidence. I already thought that this fog wasn't natural but now I'm sure. How are they predicting the disasters?” He frowned at the text on the page. “And apparently only one of the towns hit by the earthquake is effected. This journalist thinks the place is small and unimportant enough that it might have gone unnoticed except for what happened here.”

Sienna frowned at the screen as well. “Really? It seems unlikely that people could miss something like that.”

“Your mother committed suicide didn’t she?” Sienna asked.

He nodded, tears appearing in his eyes. “But it wasn’t because of her ability if that’s worrying you. It was his fault. That’s why I tried to warn Wendy’s mum away, but she just thought I was jealous.” He punched the table. “Jealous? I hate his guts if I could cut his half of my DNA out of my cells I would.” He shook his head. “But that’s why I’m taking this calmly, you’re stronger than any psychic I’ve ever heard of but I knew real psychics existed. But I think you’re something different. I have an inkling that the fog has something to do with it.”

“I do to.” Sienna checked the time and sighed. “I need to call mum and dad again. They did say every hour.” She looked at her phone and blinked in surprise. “And I have signal down here.”

“One of mine and Martin’s toys,” Wendy said. “It let’s us get signal just about anywhere.”

“Useful.” Sienna dialled her parents. She only intended to have a brief conversation to reassure them she was okay, but before she could speak her father interrupted her.

“Sweetpea, you should check the news if you can,” he said.

“What's wrong now, Dad?” Sienna's stomach twisted alarmingly at his stressed tone. She stared at Martin willing him to check the news, though she did try and make it a suggestion rather than an order. Martin gave her a curious look and grabbed his laptop.

“Well, no. We're trying to turn you into a superhero not a supervillian.” Martin laughed. “You'll need a volunteer, like me. Try and make me do something.”

“Okay,” Sienna said hesitantly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” he said. “Try to make me do something without speaking first. That way we’ll know it’s not just suggestion making me do it.”

“I wonder if that will work,” Sienna said. “I spoke when I made Charlotte get moving.”

“That just makes it a better experiment,” he said. “Come on then, make me do something.”

Sienna stared at him and willed him to pick up the glass of water next to him and empty the contents on the floor. After a moment she felt the click in her head again and he did just that. He stared at the puddle on the floor and then at her.

“Quite impressive, but I said not to say it aloud,” he said.

“I didn’t,” Sienna said.

“Really?” he said. “But I heard it quite distinctly.”

“She didn’t say a word, Martin,” Wendy said.

“Interesting,” he said. “We’ll want to test that some more but it seems like your mental control is some kind of broadcasting telepathy. I wonder if you can receive as well?”

Sienna had no idea about that, but she did know something that was bothering her. “How are you taking this so calmly? Shouldn't you be freaking out.”

He looked to one side. “Mum was sort of psychic,” he said finally. “Not like this, of course. Her ability wasn't strong enough or reliable enough to do anything with but she had occasional premonitions and she could sense other people's emotional state sometimes. Keith never believed it, but she could.”
He never called Keith father, he never had as long as Sienna had known him.

“That’s my job,” Martin said. “I think she’s mad too but I’m not letting her get arrested. I’ll monitor police activity while she’s out and help her avoid the cameras.”

“I see.” Sienna shook her head. “I really don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you’ll help,” Wendy said.

Sienna chewed on her lip unhappily. She wanted to say no. This was a really bad idea. If it weren’t for what had happened yesterday she would have said no, but those men were not going to leave her in peace, were they? Wendy was right someone had to do something about them..

“Maybe,” she said finally. “The police are either involved in this or ill-equipped to deal with it, but I’m not sure psychokinesis or a suit of junkyard armour constitute being equipped either.”

“I think it makes you better equipped then most,” Martin said thoughtfully. “Though I don’t think anyone is equipped for this. I will say that while I don’t know if becoming a superhero is a good idea you do have a gift here and you should use it for good somehow.”

“Hmm…” Sienna nodded. “That much is true, I suppose. I shouldn’t ignore it just because it scares me.” She took a breath. “Did Wendy tell you about the other thing I did, because I really need to get a handle on that as well.”

“She did,” he said. “And you do.”

“But I have no idea how I’d work on it. I can't exactly go around randomly controlling people for practice.”

“It’s not fully functional yet,” Wendy said. “There’s a few things I want to tweak and I’ve been trying to work out a way to get some ballistic protection for it without leaving a trail by ordering it online.” She gave her step-brother a grin. “And you did the ridiculously complex software for it so if I have a superpower so do you.”

“Wait,” Sienna said. “You’re actually planning to go out and fight crime in that?”

“Yes,” she said. “Well more try and be a deterrent. It doesn’t have any weapons. I don’t want to break any laws.”

“You’re mad,” Sienna said.

“Maybe,” Wendy said. “But someone has to do something. The police are too reactive. Especially now. For heaven’s sake, Sienna, there are people running around shooting people in broad daylight and getting away with it.”

“Yes, but you didn’t know that when you started building it,” Martin said. “We’ve hardly got the highest crime rates in Britain here.”

“They’re bad enough,” Wendy said. “If me walking around in this will enable to scare off the rapists and muggers it’ll help.” Her expression tightened. “And if I can stop those men we saw yesterday that’s even better.”

Sienna continued staring at Wendy in disbelief. She could believe her friend might have built something like this just to see if she could, but she actually intended to use it?

“You’ll be arrested,” she said finally. “I’m pretty sure walking around in some sort of power armour is illegal.”

“Not if I don’t get caught,” Wendy said. “But I don’t think it is – no one has thought to ban it yet.”

“How do you intend to not get caught?” Sienna asked.

“Sure you do,” Wendy said cheerfully. “You’ve always said that you want to help people. Now you can.”

“Huh?” Sienna said. “What… how…” She hesitated as she realized what Wendy was thinking. “Wait you want me to become a superhero? Superheroes aren’t real, Wendy.”

“Only because superpowers aren’t real,” Wendy said. “Or they weren’t until now. Anyway someone needs to stand up to these guys and once you’ve got a handle on your powers you can.”

Sienna just stared at her open mouthed.

“Wendy has a real thing about superheroes,” Martin said. “She thinks she can be one herself.” He grinned as Sienna tilted her head at him.

“Wendy hasn’t got superpowers,” Sienna said. “Well not unless we’re counting be extremely intelligent as a superpower. Are we?”

“Not exactly.” Martin pulled aside one of the hangings to reveal an alcove that must once have been a cupboard. There was something standing in it. Something that looked like a suit of armour made from scrap.

Sienna raised an eyebrow and looked over at Wendy. “This is what you meant when you said ‘other scrapyard projects’?” she asked. “You’re building a suit like Ironman?”

“Sort of, I guess,” Wendy looked embarrassed. “Though not really. It makes me run a little faster, reduces fatigue and lets me dead-lift about two hundred pounds more than I can without it.”

“By a little faster she means she could give Usain Bolt a run for his money,” Martin said. “And run a marathon at that pace. She built it from scrap and the batteries last for hours. It shouldn’t be possible, so maybe she does have a superpower.”

“Okay.” Sienna stared at the metal again and decided to try and move a small piece – about the size of her thumb nail. She imagined putting her hand on it and dragging it towards her. It twitched and moved slightly but not much. What was she doing wrong? She frowned and tried to figure out what was missing. Could it be that when she had thrown that guy she had been stressed and afraid? She took a breathe and let all all anxiety about the current situation flow to the surface before trying again. This time the piece of metal screeched across the table towards her stopping just by the hand she had imagined moving it.

“Woah,” Martin said. “That is freaky, but it took you a while to get it moving.”

“I had to focus on how scared I am,” Sienna said.

“Stress,” he said. “I suppose that makes sense. It’s dangerous though, what if your powers activate unconsciously in a bad situation.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Wendy said. “It didn’t happen yesterday.”

“True,” he said. “But I think we still need to be sure. I saw it on Youtube.” He looked a little ill at that. “They didn’t shoot that guy until the fireball. If they do find her she needs to be able to fool them that they’re mistaken.”

“Oooh! Good point.” Sienna said.

“It is,” Wendy said. “So first we’ll make sure of that then Sienna can start practising moving things without making herself anxious because that can’t be healthy.”

“I’ll be happy just to be sure it won’t happen again,” Sienna said. “I don’t know that I need to control it otherwise.”

“It is,” he agreed. “But at least it means that if these people are finding their targets via the CCTV network they won’t know about you.”

“That’s a very minor comfort when people who want to kill you are out there,” Sienna said.

“I know,” he said. “But for now it’s all I’ve got.” He pulled aside a bright blue batik wall hanging to reveal another door. “But let’s go into the main lab and see if you're really psychokinetic.”

“I really hope that I can,” Sienna followed him and Wendy. "That way I might be able to hide it."

The second room was both larger and far starker than the first. There were a few hangings but no rugs and half of the floor was taken up by a robot fighting arena where the step-siblings obviously tested their creations. Sienna barely had time to take it in before Martin dragged her to a table and pushed a chair at her.

“Sit down and try to move these pieces of metal.” He dumped some small pieces of mangled metal that looked like pieces of destroyed robots on the table.

Sienna stared at the pieces of metal. “I’ll try,” she said hesitantly. “But I’m not sure how I did it before.”

“I don’t either,” he said. “But from what Wendy said you had some sort of control over it.”

“I seemed to,” Sienna admitted. “I just imagined him flying away from us and it happened.”

“Then try imagining them moving,” he suggested.

“You’re here!” Martin stood up from the tatty computer desk and hurried over to hug his step-sister. Sienna always thought they made quite a pair – his skin was as pale as Wendy's was dark and he had tousled blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was also at least four inches shorter than Wendy though his tendency to slouch made it look more. “Great! I want to see this for myself.”

“I’m not sure I can do it on demand,” Sienna said knowing he was talking about her powers.

“From what Wendy said you should,” he said.

“Before we get to that did gran and Dave convince Mum to split up with Keith?” Wendy asked.

“I think so,” he said. “At least she slammed the door on his apology last night. I think the fact he actually hit her this time was a wake up call. He’s never got physical before.”

“Wait! He hit her?” Sienna said.

Wendy nodded solemnly. “Only a slap but it was a definite escalation, but back to business. We need to know if any cameras could have caught what happened with Sienna and that guy.”

“I can check,” Martin said. “Where were you?”

“Castle Street, near the music shop,” Wendy said.

“Hmm, maybe, maybe not," Martin said. "Can you be a bit more specific?”

“We were right by the newsagent about two shops down from the music shop,” Sienna said.

“Oh, no then. You’re lucky that’s a blind spot for the cameras. Why? Do you think that's how the shooters are finding people?”

"It's not just that." Sienna described what the police officer had said to her and he frowned.

“That does sound like he knew something, but if he did it’s not because of the cameras.”

“Somehow that’s even more worrying,” Sienna said dryly.

Sienna just nodded grimly. “You’re sure there are no cameras here?”

“None,” Wendy said. “Martin checked before we set up here.” She led Sienna through a broken door into what would have once been the shop floor of the factory. Now it was a vast empty space full only of leaves and other detritus blown in through the broken windows. There was a surprising lack of graffiti or other vandalism but some signs that the homeless used it for shelter at night. She commented on this and Wendy nodded.

“They do, but they ignore us using the place too as long as we don't disturb them. We leave them some food and stuff as well which helps. I just wish I could do more.” She pointed to a rucksack full of sandwiches and cartons of fruit juice leaning against one wall. “Which Martin has dealt with today. Come on.” She headed to an intact door at one ends of the factory which she pushed open to reveal a flight of stairs. “Down here.”

Sienna followed Wendy into the stairwell. Wendy turned and closed the door behind them, bolting it shut with two large metal bolts before heading down the stairs. They ended up in what Sienna suspected had once been a back up generator room. It was a fairly small room compared to the vast space upstairs and had no windows. It would have been dark but for the lightbulb powered by the generator in the corner and completely stark but for the brightly coloured rugs on the floor and the swathes of batik fabric hanging on the walls.