V

Slowly he began to peep into her thoughts. He didn't have to worry whether her thoughts were true or not. Minders somehow knew which were true and which were not.

However, he was going to wish he did not know the truth. It only took about half a minute to access what Dolores knew and how serious her situation was. The images flashed into his mind just as if they were his own experiences.

He saw strange-looking places filled with test tubes, and tanks filled with grotesque one-eyed creatures which seemed so familiar. They were neither fully organic nor metallic. Other memories also emerged. Vicious experiments, screams of terror, strange-looking symbols, and then a brief flash of weird-looking people came to mind. Some were in masks, some were not. There was a girl with a pale complexion and piercing dark blue aquamarine eyes. Her hair was white but there was a blue silverfish hue to it. Then, one image lingered the longest. A figure was sitting on some kind of mechanical device, making it look like a giant disfigured flea. Curiously, he tried to peer deeper to make out its face, when all of a sudden, the figure peered back at him with terrifying glowing eyes. One of its eyes was smaller than the other.

Dr Arbunkle gasped. He muffled a scream as he stepped back. He stood horrified at this new revelation. He stared at Dolores who was looking gravely at him.

"You take the girl and leave now," Arbuckle pointed an accusing finger at Dolores.

He looked like a cornered animal desperately defending its burrow from uninvited intruders.

Wrinkles was on the edge now.

"What are you talking about now?"

"Stay out of this for all our sakes Alexander!," Dr. Arbunckle never called Wrinkles by his first name unless it was something very serious.

Suddenly, Wrinkles froze. In the backyard, Mrs Arbunckle, Danny and Scrubs who were in the midst of gorging down another huge cake, stood motionless.

"Forget everything," Dr Arbunckle waved his hand at Wrinkles

Those outsides seemed to be already under the same effect.

"A mind wipe!," came an accusing shout.

The doctor jump! He was startled to see that Dolores was unaffected. The doctor looked confused but decided to concentrate harder on the woman. Nothing happened. A horrible realization came upon him.

"It can't be! You are immune to my mental energy?"

Dolores did not reply. She looked at Wrinkles who had a blank stare. The events of the memory were wiped clean from his mind just like an eraser on a white sheet of paper.

"Unbelievable! You did this to your own family? Your kind disgusts me," Dolores said.

"I do what I must to protect my family," he stepped back aghast. He suddenly recalled where he had seen such an ability.

"Glataour Aettkvisl! (The Lost Ones). You have their ability!"

He got no reply.

Dolores suddenly grabbed a dagger-shaped letter opener from the table.

"I would do the world a favor by getting rid of minders like you,"

She threw the blade with all her might at Dr Arbunckle.

It missed the shocked doctor by a few inches, sticking to the wall.

"Unfortunately, I still need your help," she said.

The doctor noticed Dolores showed signs of extreme lethargy.

"Your new powers aren't natural to your body, aren't they? It's medically altered. Her "gift" is too powerful for you?"

Dolores looked at Arbuckle tiredly. She was beginning to pant heavily and her back was hunched a little.

"I knew the risk when she warned me. But I needed to be stronger to protect the girl," Dolores looked at the baby.

"It might kill you,"

"I am willing to take the risk,"

The doctor relaxed. "What do you want exactly?"

"You're a certified doctor. I need a fake birth certificate for the baby. For that of a boy,"

The doctor, stunned at the request, still nodded his head in agreement.

"Promise me you will leave immediately after our business is done,"

"You have my word. I want nothing to do with Minders like you. Also, I need some clothes,"

Arbuckle opened his mouth to protest but shut it again. It would not be proper to chase a crazy lady who was only dressed in drapes out of his house.

He sighed.

"Alright! I'll comply with your strange request. Anything else?" the doctor said reluctantly.

"Yes. Her name," Dolores replied. She held the baby up. The doctor noticed there was a thin golden necklace around the girl's neck. Attached to the necklace at the end was a very unusual pendant. It looked like the roman numerical for five. Then again it also looked like the letter v.

Dolores looked at the golden numerical carefully.

Her second request turned out to be more bizarre than the first.

"Her name is V,"

The doctor looked at her, puzzled. "What? Just V?".

"Yes just V," she answered.

"You serious? Do you know how stupid that sounds? You can't just give that kid a name like that! Is it even legal?"

"Where we are going everything is....legal". There was a certain determination in Dolores voice.

Arbunckle shook his head in objection but still, he complied.

That was his policy.

No questions. The customer is always right.

He slowly jotted down the details.

"Alright done. It'll take a while but with this new high-tech computer registration system I can access the office mainframe and it will be done in a few minutes,"

By the time the clock struck ten times, Arbunckle had already printed out the documents and handed it to Dolores.

"Shouldn't you do something about the others," Dolores pointed at Wrinkles.

"Yes, I will once you leave,"

"Fine with me. I don't want Alexander to remember meeting me. He will live a better life without knowing,"

"Well, good luck I guess," the doctor tried to think of something to say as he led his strange guest out the door.

Dolores just nodded briskly.

As he watched the strange woman disappear into the night with the infant, Dr Arbunckle wondered to himself if it was all merely a dream. He also wondered about the child who had just been named V. What kind of future would the infant's face?

She had been given such a strange name. As if the suffering he has had to face with a name like Arbunckle Doolan Dinkleberg Artichoke during his schooldays wasn't enough. More alarming was that Dolores had their ability.

"No need to panic," he told himself.

"I am sure the World's Government would be able to handle such a threat if there was ever one,"

After pondering for a while on what course of action he would take, he decided to forget about the whole incident as though it never happened. Pretending to be ignorant. That was a skill he was very good at.