[Plot] The Center for Research of the Uniquely Abled

[Narrator]

Located in Epsom and Ewell, The Center took just over an hour to drive to from Maldon.

Diego and Chase's research lead them to discover that in another life, the Center was the previous site of five different mental asylums referred to as 'The Epsom Cluster'. Designed upon 1,000 acres of land in what was previously known as Epsom, the five facilities that comprised the Epsom Cluster were considered the pride of the London County Council, and a blight upon Epsom by the locals. In it's heyday, the Epsom Cluster had a higher population than the city of Epsom itself, but like all asylums, as the understanding of the human condition improved, so did the number of patients in asylum.

While CRUA maintained a healthy amount of the land that the Epsom Cluster was built on, the other hospitals were sold off by the government to other investors and repurposed for other uses, as the borough of Epsom and Ewell sprung up around the land over the progression of years.

The place they arrived was downright stately in terms of land space, and was rivaling the University in terms of size. but the way in which patients seemed to mill about the grounds at their own leisure suggested that the days of pinning people up in cells and straight jackets had abandoned this place some time ago. Not unlike the students of Xavier's, the patients of CRUA were gated in, though one would get the impression leaving of their own accord wasn't as easy for them as it was for the students.

Still, The Center seemed to operate as if they had little to hide at all. Visitor parking was just outside the gatehouse for entry, and the man with the clipboard there was more than happy to let them in once he could verify they were supposed to be there.

[Diego Zapata]

"Getting real Hotel California vibes from this place," Diego commented. He had tied his hair back and put on some fake glasses to disguise himself just a little.

Chase, with black hair and some makeup to cover up his facial scar, gave him a curious look.

"You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette, to disguise herself, had opted to go as herself - or rather, that other form she'd happened upon after the gene-suppression gas episode. The pitch-black shiny visage with only minimal human features looked nothing like her regular pink self, so to her it seemed a better disguise than eating a ton of food colouring. On the plus side, she also allowed them an in and a cover story - she obviously needed help controlling her abilities and to get back some sense of normalcy in her life.

"I have seen many films that have taken place in locations such as this. I cannot recall any of them having happy endings."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

Chisaki was in her usual disguise, which meant no disguise at all. Just a pair of boring blue jeans, a solid coloured t-shirt, and a pair of non-descript sneakers, as well as a pair of aviator sunglasses. Au-natural in her other adornments, she didn't particularly stand out here. Even her non-british ethnicity wouldn't ping the radar when she was surrounded by mutants.

"To be fair, movies about people getting better do not make for very appealing stories. 'I was sick, but then I was not anymore' is a boring narrative.' " Chisaki definitely hadn't seen these movies.

[Diego Zapata]

"Note to self, turn this into a screenplay," quipped Diego, or rather 'Alex' as the appointment was made for, as he parked Basil's swanky automobile.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Remember to keep our story simple. We're here as moral support for a friend having trouble with her powers," 'Dave' said.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette nodded her head. "Right. Moral support." It was... odd. Colette was a very emotional person, too much perhaps. But when she was like this her voice was almost robotic in it's lack of empathy.

[Chisaki Watanabe]

Chisaki ( who was going by the pseudonym 'Anna' today) nodded and lead the way forward. She was casual and polite with the man in the gatehouse, collecting a series of fake visitor badges which actually had their false names printed on them, though just the first names.

Colette had been re-dressed as Charlotte. Partially because she thought it'd help with Colette recognizing her fake name, and partially because it was one of the most popular names in the UK, so she was more likely to blend in that way.

"Someone is going to come out and meet us shortly." 'Anna' explained, subtly telling everyone it was 'go time'.

[Diego Zapata]

'Alex' straightened his posture and nodded. He had promised to keep his goofiness to a minimum, lest they draw too much attention. It was also important for him to keep his senses peeled for anything unusuaL. That included his astral sight if he got the chance.

[Narrator]

After a few minutes, a tall, attractive redhead in a black power suit with pinned up hair and a clipboard greeted the group. On her lapel, she wore a rhinestone brooch of a crown.

"Good day, I'm Gemma. Which one of you is Charlotte?" She asked, smiling cordially.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Charlotte" looked at the others beside her, and then back at Gemma. Or rather, the vague facial features on what constituted her head moved in their general direction, circling her entire head before coming back to rest upon the redhead.

"... that is a joke, right?" The emotionless response gave no more indication of snark or offense than it did of genuine curiosity. Coupled with the minimal body language and features, it made the girl very hard to... read.

[Narrator]

"Uhm, no." Gemma replied, looking slightly amused, not offended. "We don't make assumptions around here... though I did presume you were wearing the correct badge."

[Diego Zapata]

Diego had just enough guile in him to not make it blatantly obvious he was studying the woman's brooch. It said a lot about what the woman thought about herself.

Surely the queen bee of this place doesn't do tours.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette looked down at the lanyard around her neck, the featureless woman towering over her companions.

"Yes, of course. Thank you for making time to show me your... clinic." She moved forward without making any steps, gliding along the ground as though on unseen wheels, her body remaining relatively motionless otherwise.

[Narrator]

Gemma followed along.

"Of course. Our doors here are open to any and all who need assistance, though I should specify The Center only caters to adult mutants currently. I trust that's not an issue?"

[Diego Zapata]

"It shouldn't be," Diego said.

Chase smirked, saying with a British accent, "Unless you mean on the inside, in which case you'd be out of luck."

Diego frowned for a second. He was the joker, darn it! "Hey! True, but... hey!"

[Narrator]

Gemma laughed politely at 'Dave's' joke.

"The physical maturity is really the only important element. As you may know puberty is a tumultuous time for X-Gene carriers, and unfortunately we don't currently have the sort of facilities that can properly assist those who are still... 'influx'. We're much better equipped to help those who's abilities have settled into maturity find stability.

Besides that, maintaining our own stability is crucial to our patients finding theirs, and teenagers just... bring so much baggage of their own with them, even when they are human.

The entirely adult population at The Center serves another purpose as well. Here at The Center, 86% of check ins are voluntary, and stable patients are allowed to check out whenever they see fit. We couldn't assure that if we had to constantly check in with a minor's guardians to see how they want their health handled.

Most patients leave within six months to a year, though we try not to force them. We do therefore have some patients that have been here for several years now."

[Chase Delacroix]

"And the other 14 percent? How do they come to be here?" Chase asked.

[Narrator]

"A variety of ways." Gemma sighed. "In some cases, the patients in question have been checked in by their legal guardians, due to them being incapable of handling it themselves. Many of these patients find that it's physically impossible for them to leave. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to survive without our care.

Another portion of that 14% are here by court order. They could leave, but it would be a legal violation for them to do so and the moment they checked out, we would be required by law to inform authorities."

[Diego Zapata]

While the others talked, Diego focused on his senses while trying not to look like he was casing the place. And he waited for when he could use his astral vision without anyone seeing his eyes light up.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Good, I was worried there might be a detention wing like Muir has."

[Narrator]

"We do have temporary detention here, for if a patient gets out of line. It serves to act as holding until authorities can come and pick them up." Gemma hesitated for a moment.

"It... is possible that they take them to Muir later, but once they're no longer under our care, we're not authorized to know what happens after that." Gemma stepped ahead of the group to lead them in a direction, choosing to take them inside the primary facility, giving Diego an opportunity to be at the back of the group without her really noticing.

Gemma began to explain the layout to the group as she walked through the entry hall. "in the east wing and west wing we have patient rooms. Patients have their own rooms so they can have some level of privacy. Deeper down the entry hall we have the infirmary on the right, canteen on the left, and therapy staff offices. We try to separate psychiatrists and the physicians.

The hall acts as our sort of makeshift common area. It's good for the patients to interact with one another."

The first impression of the facility would give the group of very young people thoughts about what the old folks home must be like. Patients were milling about the place, though unlike the elderly they seemed cognizant enough to know that there wasn't really anywhere they needed to be and were mostly just trying to find something to do. Some we alleviating their boredom by chatting to one another, reading books, or watching television. There seemed to be a debate going on around the telly on what show the group interested in watching were going to binge watch. Some of the patients looked very normal, but most of these individuals had incredibly obvious physical mutations that would definitely make their lives harder in one way or another, even if it was just societal stigmatization.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette had seen some very unique students on the university campus, but this was a very different experience for her. She couldn't help but feel very sympathetic for them, knowing all too well how they must feel about their appearances.

"You have material here for leisure activities? Library, art supplies, things of that nature?"

[Narrator]

"Of course.

We provide most everything, within reason. We have to limit some things that could easily be used to harm others easily.

We don't have a library, but we do have an agreement with the local library for book pickup. Our patients go onto our account and reserve anything they'd like to read, and the library brings new books on Thursdays."

[Diego Zapata]

Diego slowed his walk and drifted back a little so he could surreptitiously give the area a once-over with his special sight. He wasn't expecting anything from it, aside from the seemingly random astral floaters that he hadn't yet been able to glean any information from. He thought of them as ghost plankton.

[Narrator]

Once they entered the facility, Diego would find something significantly larger than a 'floater'.

A bald female in a hospital gown was watching the group actively. She didn't seem to notice Diego back yet, mostly interested in the unusual looking female (Colette).

[Diego Zapata]

The bald woman would have caught a glimpse of the soft blue glow in Diego's eyes disappearing and reappearing as he scanned over her.

[Narrator]

After a moment, the bald female noticed him looking at her, and she froze in place.

another moment, and Diego would hear someone in his head.

"Can you see me?"

[Diego Zapata]

Diego nodded just enough to be seen, in case his mental "yes" wasn't heard.

[Narrator]

"I can hear you." She says, tapping her head, trying to determine why Diego was being so cagey. She figured it out after a moment.

"Don't worry, Gemma can't see or hear me. She's mundane."

[Diego Zapata]

Diego relaxed.

"Ah, perfect. Can I ask you a few questions? It'd be great to hear what this place is like from someone not trying to sell us on it."

While the question seemed innocent enough, his reluctance to be overheard suggested that he at least had suspicions about the facility he didn't want broadcast.

[Narrator]

"I suppose. What kinds of questions do you have?" The more she 'spoke' to Diego, the more Diego would start to realize her accent wasn't British.

[Diego Zapata]

"Are the patients treated as well as they say? Like, is there anything they wouldn't want the world to know they're doing? My friends and I have some concerns."

He tried to place the accent.

[Narrator]

"To borrow a euphemism from your native English tongue, no one 'wants to see how the sausages are made' in a place like this.

But I wouldn't say they're harming us or abusing us. This just... is not a happy place to be. If you are here, you have reached the end of your rope in one way or another."

[Diego Zapata]

"I'm sorry to hear that, even if I expected as much. Especially because we might have a friend here. We haven't heard from him in a while and we worry his family sent him here. We don't want it to get back to them that we came looking for him."

[Narrator]

"Who is your friend? I will go and look for them."

[Diego Zapata]

"Have you seen anyone with invisibility powers? When visible, either if he wants to be or in his reflection, he looks a bit like me. Except he's white and better groomed."

[Narrator]

"No. No one I have seen here matches that description. Not even in the Dark Dorms or in temporary holding."

[Diego Zapata]

Well, that was an ominous name.

"Dark Dorms?"

[Narrator]

"It's a place you won't see on this tour.

Most people get to leave, but some of us, like me, won't ever be able to leave. People like myself are stored there because nobody wants to see a person on full time life support in their tour. It sours the mood.

Others are there because they have special medical conditions that make it so they can only interact with others on a limited basis, if at all.

Those of us have who have to reside there call it the Dark Dorms. It's about as close to getting locked into the basement and being fed nothing but fish-heads as it gets around here."