A/N Hi everybody! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but my other story for Shugo Chara, Safe and Sound has been keeping me awake for the past month. I write where my inspiration takes me and I'm glad it finally came back around here. Thank you so much to my reviewers! Cookies to you all! : ) enjoy this new chapter and I hope this all makes sense.

Her head hurt. Moaning, Mikan struggled to regain her senses as the world around her seemed to swoop and dive, dizzying her head and antagonizing her already painful headache. Fluttering her anxious eyes open, they widened dramatically as they sucked in her surroundings, soaking in the too white walls and the too bright lights from above. Trying to get up, she fell back with a thud as she realized her hands and feet were tied tightly with some kind of greenish cord that pulsed with an ethereal light.

Gritting her teeth, Mikan tugged and pulled at her bonds, struggling to break free and suddenly wishing she had a useful Alice that she could use in times like these. Freezing, Mikan mentally slapped herself as she remembered Natsume's Alice stone deep inside of her.

Fire.

She could burn the ropes around her. Closing her eyes tightly, Mikan scrunched her nose in concentration and called to the fire Alice deep within her. Willing a burst of flame from within, a bloodcurdling howl tore from her lips as she screamed, agony tearing into every inch of her skin, her irises rolling into the back of her head. Gasping from the aftershock, Mikan stared fearfully at the violently pulsing cords wrapped around her and whimpered tearfully.

A mechanical slide from behind her forced her to twist around on her stomach and face the tall, navy clad man with frantic eyes. Walking in calmly, the man bent down low and bowed mockingly. "Miss. Mikan, what a pleasure."

Glaring up at him, Mikan wished she wasn't lying on the floor like some defenseless creature. She felt weak. Here she was, literally a sitting duck, all tied up and whimpering. She was not going to bow down to some uppity scientist who thought the right to rule was his to own. "Why are you here?"

"I just thought you'd like to know who I was, after all, we'll be seeing a lot of each other dearie. But let's play a game, can you guess who I am?" He asked sweetly, a predatory, almost hungry smile spreading across his chiseled face.

Taking in a deep breath, Mikan focused intently on the man standing before her, determined to decipher just who this self-righteous man was. Staring, Mikan noticed his angular face which, by average definitions, wasn't very handsome, but an unforgettable face nonetheless. Long, wavy blonde hair fell to his mid back and dark, intense eyes stared back at her from thick lashes. A small pink mouth complemented his straight nose and fair complexion. As always, he was adorned in a fancy blue suit, a small pocket watch sticking out from his breast pocket.

The watch, not particularly extravagant in design seemed to echo and magnify in her mind, turning round and round, numbers growing and shrinking, the ticking of the time blowing her ears. Dark gold etchings surrounding the rim, ripping off its surface and attacking her face, scratching at it with unkown symbols, the ticking mocking her all the way. That watch…she remembered that watch. And the hand that held it.

"You're the Director." She murmured, knowing she was right, yet still lilting her voice as though it was a question.

Clapping his hands together delightedly, the Director strode towards her and bent down low. "Well done little one, well done!" his cheery smile made her boil inside and Mikan wished for nothing more than the power to wipe that sleazy grin off his face. This man did not deserve to smile like that, without a care or worry. This man, who claimed to be working for the good of all, was only a corrupt monster who had fallen into the mad obsession that all men fall under; the quest for power.

And Mikan wasn't about to let him get it.

Tipping her face up, she swept her tongue around her mouth before spitting in the Director's face, watching as he sputtered and narrowed his eyes in disgust and anger. Hands now fully away from her, he hurriedly wiped his face with an ivory handkerchief before bringing his hand up and swiping it down forcefully to her face. Flinching in fear, she froze when nothing hit her and peeked confusedly at the smirking man, his hand still an inch away. "I can't have my greatest experiment all bruised up can I?" Sighing, he stepped back to gaze wonderingly at the twitching girl, "Do you know just how amazing you are Mika-chan? You-" defiance whirled in the young girl's gaze and a hatred blazed deep within her.

"Never call me that again." She warned, wishing she could retaliate as he merely smiled condescendingly down at her.

"All pets need a pet name, and I think Mika-chan is beautiful, just like the future you will help to create." he seemed to like watching her glare and squirm knowing full well that she would never escape. But what he liked most of all, was the defiant horror in Mikan's eyes as the future he envisioned for the world and all the power he, as the head of the I.A.P would hold bloomed in his eyes.

"You'll never get what you want. There are hundreds of Alices and only one of you." She declared boldly, sticking out her chin as much as she could.

Looking down at her intently, the Director cocked his head to the side inquiringly. "Do you really think they'd have a choice?" swivelling around, he didn't wait for her reply before disappearing from her sight and leaving her with her worries and a tattered dress bound in chains.

She didn't know how long it was, an hour, two, three, before three identical looking men came in, one carrying a tray filled with delicious smelling food, the others making their way towards her. Picking her up, the two unbound her from the quivering ropes, replacing them with a tight anklet that pulsed with the same light on her ankle before leaving without a word, completely ignoring her protests and questions. Leaping up behind them, Mikan scurried to the door just as it slid shut, banging with all her strength she screamed. "Let me out! Let me out of here!" she hollered until her throat was parched and her limbs had no more strength to move. Collapsing on the floor, she glared intently at the anklet pulsing around her ankle before tiredly reaching for the heavy laden food tray and picking at it unenthusiastically. To her utter surprise, she wasn't hungry.

But then again, how could she be? She had just been kidnapped by the man who directed the one faction of the government that would rather see her dead than alive. The I.A.P weren't a sect of the government that was publically known. In fact, no one knew about the mysterious faction other than the people working in it and the President of Japan himself. The Investigative Alice Program was a section dedicated to how Alices worked. As far as people knew, Alices were some sort of mutation that happened during the growing stages in a mother's womb. No one really knew WHAT exactly it was and that was what the I.A.P was for.

Or at least, that's what it WAS for. The program started off innocently enough, but then people like Z and other international terrorists started popping up on the grid. People who wielded powerful Alices as weapons of mass destruction and threatened to harm the very foundations of society. That's when the I.A.P created their new goal; how to create and destroy Alices.

Thus, their need for her stealing Alice.

As far as anyone knew, it was impossible to destroy an Alice unless the person themselves died or it disappeared as a child. Her stealing Alice was one of a kind. It allowed her to literally take a part of somebody away in the palm of her hand. It allowed a transfer of power, and the total lack of it in another. Not to mention her nullification, the power to completely eliminate the utilisation of somebody else's power. If the I.A.P could only uncover her power's secrets, they could efficiently and cruelly control the entire Alice population. A way to control and contain an Alice could be in their hands; power of the Alices could be in their grasp.

And what was man without their thirst for power?

Gone were the times of letting Alices free to accomplish great and amazing things. With the control of Alices in the governments grasp, special elite army forces could be created. A whole new world could be opened in the amount of power Japan would wield. The best part of it was that it didn't matter if an Alice agreed or not, if they didn't want to participate, all the I.A.P had to do was take away their power and be done with them. And no one would be able to stop them.

Curling into a ball, Mikan watched as a few tears leaked from her closed eyelids and dripped onto the white carpeted floor beneath her. In this kind of situation, she was helpless. This wasn't the kind of situation where she could nullify her way out of an Alice stronghold; she was in a normal territory. Over here, people had guns instead of barriers. They had cameras instead of crystal balls. This wasn't a place where she could render everyone powerless in just a second. Here, SHE was the powerless one, and Mikan didn't know how to deal with that.

In every battle she'd ever fought in, in every situation, she could count on being useful, on having a power that no one else had. But now, that very power she had been so proud of was the one that kept her here, trapped with no way out. Trapped in a white, white room with white, white floors and white, white walls. Trapped.

Suddenly, Mikan was overcome with the overwhelming sensation of heartache and loss. Her heart clenched in her chest and her arms felt cold. Cold…

Natsume. She missed Natsume. He would know what to do; he always knew what to do in these kinds of situations. He would have taken one look around the room and already have had a plan. He'd ruffle her hair and look at her seriously and say that she'd better stop being stupid and call her Polka or some other ridiculous nickname. He'd squeeze her hand and demand for a kiss for luck.

She missed him. She missed his warmth and his harsh comfort. She wished she hadn't asked to go to that stupid dance show. Natsume was right; they shouldn't have gone. He said something would happen, he said! And what had she done? She had gotten herself into a mess she didn't know if she could fix.

Natsume was probably furious right now, not to mention Hotaru. She wondered if he would come save her, because right now, she didn't think she could save herself. She was useless. There wasn't anything she could do now.

Natsume's Alice stone burned in her chest and Mikan gasped.

No.

She wouldn't give up. She wouldn't let them tell her what to do. She didn't need to rely on somebody else to come in and be her knight in shining armor; she'd be her own hero. How many battles had she fought? How many times had she saved her friends or saved herself? She'd find a way to bust out of there; she'd find a way even if it killed her because if there was anything she knew her friends would want, it was that she'd never give up.

She was Sakura Mikan and she would never, ever give up. Not now, not ever.

Curled up in the corner snugly, Mikan's soft snores and misty expression did nothing to endear her to the large purple haired man who casually wrapped his arms around the petite girl and hauled her up to his chest. Marching out the door, he walked slowly down complicated passageways and corridors, swiping his neon green card in slots and stopping every once and a while to do an eye scan. Finally, he arrived at a glass walled door with several opaque lines running across as décor and strode in, bearing the sleeping girl like a prize. "The girl is here." He stated gruffly, not quite sure as to where to put her.

Smiling widely, the Director pointed to a thick working table. "There'll do. We only need to run a few simple tests, nothing too extravagant." Nodding bluntly, the man dropped the girl onto the table before walking out, leaving the Director alone with a young, perky looking scientist in an untarnished lab coat.

"Should I attach her to the main system sir?" she asked pleasantly, a hungry glint in her bubble-gum pink eyes.

Glancing amusedly at the younger girl, he shook his head. "No, we just need to run a few simple preliminary tests. After all, there's no point in wasting our resources if the answer we're looking for is simply in her genetic code." He dictated reasonably, already walking off to rummage around through a different variety of tubes and needles.

Three minutes later, he arrived back with an average looking needle and blew lovingly on the tip. "Ahh science, it simply makes your heart shiver doesn't it?"

Mming in agreement, the pink haired girl watched eagerly as he pressed the needle slowly into the sleeping girl's arm and watched as the steamy red liquid filled up the syringe. Licking her lips in anticipation, she watched as the Director pulled it out satisfactorily and smirked as Mikan's eyes flew open and shock blew up on her face. "What…where?" looking down at her slightly bleeding arm, she grabbed at it worriedly. "What did you do to me?" she screeched, pinning down their faces with her intense stare.

Shaking his head, the Director waved around the syringe sadistically. "Just a blood sample my dear, nothing to be afraid of."

Looking around hurriedly, Mikan noticed the lack of personnel and the glass doorway just in front of her. Gripping her arm tighter, she seized that opportunity to escape and leapt of the bed, running for all she was worth towards the door. Grasping the metal handle, she tugged with all her might but didn't even manage to move it an inch. Twisting around wildly, she watched in desperation as the rosette laughed annoyingly. "You silly girl. You didn't really think we would leave this place unprotected did you?" the name tag on her lapel read Saya and Mikan sagged her shoulders in defeat.

"Now come back over here Mika-chan, we're not done yet." The Director wiggled his fingers beckoningly and Mikan pressed her shoulders against the door in a desperate attempt to dissolve into it and never have to see his face again.

"Come now Mikan, don't be shy. If you don't want to get a nasty shock, I suggest you come back over here right now." Gone was the joyful fatherly tone, but a sharp and demanding one.

Looking down at her ankle, Mikan's brain whirred as the coincidences finally began to come together and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. She was an idiot. The anklet and the coils both reacted to the use of Alices, but could react from a control system, kind of like Hotaru's inventions. A dull understanding reached Mikan's eyes and now she understood why he had placed that stupid anklet on her.

At first, she had been confused as to why he had put a kind of Alice restraint on her considering hers were pretty much useless over here, but coupled in with the fact that he could control it, it made sense. Wondering if she should just play stubborn and let him shock her, Mikan twisted her lip at the thought of all that pain and bit her tongue savagely. She hated this. She hated being manipulated to someone else's will and letting them make her decisions. She hated her life not being in her hands and as she walked over to the smirking man, she wished for nothing more than his utter disappearance.

Mikan was generally a light-hearted, happy child, but the one thing she had so recently found a hatred for was a lack of control. She hated not having power over her own life and here this man was, forcing her to act like an obedient puppy when all she wanted was to bring down the entire facility to its knees.

Suddenly, the image of Natsume sprung in her mind and Mikan stopped, startled. Was that how it was for him? Was this what he felt every day of his life? Understanding swept through her like a wave. No wonder he was so bitter back then, nothing he did was his own action. Persona had controlled every bit of his life and forced him to do terrible things. Heart swelling, Mikan grit her teeth and continued to walk angrily over to the Director.

If Natsume could survive the humiliation and manipulation, then so could she. If this is what it took to find a way out, then she would do it. She would make the one she loved proud.

So as she lay there, letting them take X-rays and see the inner workings of her body, Mikan closed her eyes and thought. Using every brain cell she could muster up to think of a way to escape from this prison. She would find her way out, if not for her, then for every Alice who would be helpless against a tyrant who sought to rule them all.

A/N One ring to rule them all :P, I'm sorry but I was rereading the Lord of the Rings and I just really wanted to put that in somewhere. Anyway for any of those who are curious, the Director's looks are modeled after the Teo user in Black Cat, the blonde one who's friends with the fire fangirl. I hope you all liked it!

Ray