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exceptionally strong mind manipulator.  President McDonough believed that the children born with abilities needed to be nurtured, and taught to use their Talents.  She converted a military facility located in western Maryland, previously a presidential bunker, in to a training facility that soon became known as The McDonough School for the Talented.
    The McDonough School for the Talented doesn’t only play host to American children.  Since many other countries aren’t as forward thinking when it comes to Talents, the School welcomed all gifted kids from anywhere in the world.  I, like many of the children there, wasn’t born in the US; I was born in Capri, Italy.  Even though my parents, Francis and Katerina Lyons, traveled a lot on account of my father’s position with the government, I called Capri home until their deaths seven years ago.
    At first, President McDonough merely offered families the option to send their Talented children to the school.  Over time, however it became apparent that some parents were reluctant to have their children attend a special school; they didn’t want the stigma that many associated with having a Talented child.  Instead, these parents chose to homeschool their children if they were unable to hide the abnormalities.  If they could hide the abilities, these parents sent their kids to normal schools and pretended there was nothing “special” about them.
    This ignited a chain reaction.  Parents of “normal” children argued that it was unacceptable, because their offspring were at a disadvantage when compared to “Talented” children.  These parents claimed that the Talented kids had an unfair edge in every aspect of life, including sports and academics.  They argued that the Talented children shouldn’t be allowed to attend schools and play sports with the “normal” ones; it simply wasn’t fair to those born unaffected by the nuclear contamination.
    Parents of non-Talented children weren’t the only adults calling for segregation of the Talented.  Five years after the school’s inception, Congress passed the Mandatory Talent Testing Act.  This law required that at the age of five, every child be tested for special abilities.  Any child testing positive was brought to the School.  As the first generation of these School-trained children turned eighteen and graduated, it became clear that all of the training and Talent development was going to waste, and TOXIC was born.
    The Talented Organization of Exceptionally Interesting Citizens is an agency within the government that utilizes each child’s unique ability in the most advantageous way.  Divisions within the Toxic Agency were created around the most prevalent talents.
    The Hunters are aptly named, because their main duty is to hunt both people and information. Morphing, Light Manipulation and Telekinesis are the most common gifts among Hunters.  If another division perceives a threat, a Hunting team is dispatched to neutralize it.  When another division tumbles across valuable information, a Hunting team goes to retrieve it.  Hunters have effectively replaced, what used to be the government’s more clandestine divisions – spies.
    Toxic’s Crypto Division was created for Higher Reasoning Talents (Brains).  The Brains spend all their time in front of computer screens, sifting through streams of encrypted communications, quickly decrypting the streams, and analyzing any hidden messages in their heads.  They monitor every text, voice or holographic communication throughout the entire United States, and many abroad.  Essentially, Brains are the eyes and ears of the Agency; they are the first line of defense against all threats, both foreign and domestic.
    Toxic’s Tracking Division is staffed by Viewers – Talents able to remotely observe events taking place anywhere in the world.  The more powerful Viewers are better able to control the Talent; given a picture or a piece of clothing, they are able