-----

Author's Note: Here's Ch. 8, things are starting to get very interesting for our hero/heroine. Kudos to anyone who can tell me who the guy is that appears at the end of this chapter. I'd like to thank djkauf for the devilish good editing and DC Comics for their characters.

-----

Chapter Eight:

I waited until I was freed from my handcuffs to react. After all, I needed my hands free.

I slapped her in the face; the sound was like a firecracker in the quiet of the van. She looked like I’d just punched her. There was a moment when the two of us just stared at each other. I wanted to punch her actually, but I thought that might be too harsh. I think slapping her had the effect I wanted to get across quite nicely. I suppose doing it twice might have worked better but beggars can’t be choosers.

After the initial shock was over---and rubbing her cheek---Rose smiled. ‘I suppose I deserved that.”

“You think,” I said angrily.

“I’m sorry,” she said, still rubbing the red welt my hand left. “I saw what was going to happen and I knew the only way to help you was to leave.”

I was pissed, almost on the verge of spitting fire---which would not have been a good thing for her or the two unconscious guards. “You’re the reason I went there in the first place. If you’d have stayed I wouldn’t have done something so stupid.”

Rose frowned. “I’ll make it up to you I promise.”

“We don’t have time for this,” said the axe wielder.

By the way, my bad. It turns out the big burly guy from the middle of the road---the one I thought was a linebacker---was actually a girl. All her bulk it seemed came from the fact that she was actually wearing football padding. Hey, it’s hard to tell what you’re seeing from a tiny slit in the back of a moving vehicle. But in my defense, she was very mannish looking. She had a square jaw and rough features. There wasn’t a single thing feminine about her, especially the giant glowing axe she was holding. It was resting on her shoulder as she leaned into the back of the van, glaring at the two of us. I think our little squabble was trying her patience.

“Shove it Elise,” said Rose as she walked further into the van, nudging one of the guards with her foot. “Help me take care of them.”

The axe girl bit her lip. “It’s only a matter of time before more come. We should go.”

Rose snapped around. She looked like she was about to yell but stopped. She closed her only visible eye and let out a sigh a few seconds later. When she opened it again, she nodded. “You’re right for once. These guys should be out for a while. Let’s get the hell out of here before the cavalry arrives.”

Rose walked over and grabbed my wrist, dragging me out of the van. I didn’t put up much of a fight. As soon as I got out of it, I saw the carnage. Ok, so there was no blood or anything like that. Nothing that serious but it was pretty bad. The police car that went flying by the truck was lying several feet down the road, smashed up pretty bad. The other one was wrapped around a telephone pole, a huge gash across the top of it, the siren sliced in two. The two motorcycles were lying abandoned nearby, trashed as well. All the occupants of said vehicles were lying in a heap together---unharmed---but unconscious. After hearing all the gunfire before I was certain there was going to be a bloodbath out here.

“C’mon” said Rose, dragging me away.

She led me down the road a way; the girl with the axe---Elise---followed. We didn’t go very far. There was a black SUV waiting. At first, I thought it was one that they brought until I recognized the government plates. It was the one that was tailing our little convoy, the one that Fite and Maad were supposed to be driving in. I saw the driver laying in the street, alive but out cold. I looked into the back, half expecting to see my two former handlers but they were gone. I looked at Rose but she shook her head. I hope that didn’t mean they were dead.

“Terry got them out of here,” she said with a smile.

“Who’s Terry?”

As if in answer, a tall blonde haired boy materialized out of thin air right in front of me. I nearly peed my pants. “I’m Terry, sweet cakes,” he said with a big smile.

“Stop doing that” snapped Elise as she opened the driver’s side door.

“Where did you put them?” asked Rose, an edge to her voice.

He smiled. “Can’t you tell me?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” said Rose as she opened the back door for the two of us.

I climbed in, wondering what the hell I was doing. I should have stayed put, tried to cool things over with the authorities. But looking at the scene---seeing all the damage---there was no way that they’d believe I wasn’t involved. I was happy that Rose came to get me but really pissed off that she did it this way. It was reckless and stupid. I planned to tell her as soon as we got wherever it was the four of us were going.

“You didn’t answer my question,” said Rose as she got in next to me.

Terry got into the front with Elise. “I don’t answer to you newbie.”

Then he turned to Elise. “Why did we bring the new girl anyway?”

Elise shrugged. “Fugate said bring her so I brought her. This girl of hers is supposed to be something else; the boss wants to offer her a new life.”

“Big mess for one lonely chick” said Terry as Elise started the engine and turned the vehicle, heading in the opposite direction.

I turned to Rose, frowning. “What the hell is going on here?”

She smiled, pulling the stupid eye patch from her face. She ran her fingers through her hair. I was going to miss the blonde, the white made her look frightful. I wonder why she did it. I made a mental note to ask about it later. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I think she was waiting until we got a little further down the road before she started talking. About ten minutes into the journey, she started with the explanation.

“Like I said before, I left because I had a vision. I knew what you were going to do and I couldn’t get involved with that. Your government spooks could easily be connected to my father. So I ran and I’m not proud of it. I hitchhiked the rest of the way into the city, going to the address on the flyer. When I got there Elise tried to take my head off, thought I was some kind of narc. Fugate and Terry had to practically pull the two of us apart.”

Elise snorted from the front seat. “I had you.”

“In your dreams” said Rose. Elise grumbled and swore. Rose continued. “I spent the first day or so convincing these miscreants I was legit. When they finally started to believe me, we saw you on the news. I realized then I made a horrible mistake and pleaded with Fugate to let me rescue you. He was a little reluctant at first until I told him of your potential. I’m sorry I betrayed your trust like that but it worked. It took a few days but we got our shit together. I talked Elise and Terry into helping…” Another snort from our driver. “And you know the rest.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, just under my new assets. Boy was I never going to get used to that. “Just like that” I said angrily. “I’m supposed to forgive you because you played Knight in shining armor?”

Rose sighed, lowering her head. “Look it’s not easy for me to get close like that.” She raised her head and her eyes were glistening with tears. “I got a little scared. I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

I leaned forward, putting my forehead gently against her’s. It felt right. I reached up and placed both of my hands alongside her face. “Listen to me” I said softly. “You don’t have to protect me I’m more than capable of protecting myself.”

Terry ruined the moment. “Says the girl in the orange prison jumpsuit.”

My anger flared. I let go of Rose quickly, allowing my hand to transform. With one finger, I gently touched the back of his neck. I gave him the equivalent of being burned by a car lighter. He yelped in pain, the hairs on the back of his neck singed. He snapped around, a small knife appearing out of his sleeve. He was ready for a fight and I was ready to give him one. But as soon as he saw me, ---red hand, glowing yellow eyes---, he backed off. The color drained from his face and he slid the knife back where it came.

“We’re cool” he said softly, his voice barely above a squeak.

Elise roared with laughter. “Her we can keep.”

I smiled then joined Rose and Elise in the laughing at Terry’s expense.

____________________________

I’m not sure how long we were driving, I didn’t really pay attention. The rest of the ride Rose tried to talk to me but I didn’t really want to hear it. Yes, I sorta forgave her but I was still pretty pissed. She could have gone about doing things a little differently, hell she could have told me what she saw. Instead, she decided to run away. In the end, what does that say about a person? I think she knew I was still kinda steamed too. I understood her need to protect me but she had to understand the need to honest with people, no matter the consequence. What I think the two of us needed more than anything was some true alone time to talk about our feelings. Yeah, yeah, I sound like a chick now, laugh all you want. Big Bad Eddie Bloomberg groaning about his feelings. I think Connor and the other guys would be having a laugh riot if they could see me now.

The SUV finally stopped. I’m not sure where we were but everything around us looked sorta rundown. I didn’t even know a place like this existed in California but I suppose there were places like this all over the place. There were a lot in Chicago. The building we stopped at was huge; it looked sorta like a factory but one that someone had abandoned a long time ago. The windows were all boarded up and it looked like was about to fall down. One time it might have been painted red and white but most of that was long since faded. The biggest feature on it was the large wooden sign above the double doors; it was a giant clock with a faded name.

“This used to be the Tockman Clock Factory,” said Rose when she noticed I was staring.

Terry added quickly. “The boss man inherited it from his father. The city’s been trying to knock it down for years but they’re tied up in red tape. So in the meantime it’s home away from home.”

I frowned. “You guys live here?”

“It’s better than a three by ten,” added Elise as she led the way.

I guess I couldn’t argue with that.

Elise didn’t lead us to the front of the building as I expected. Instead, she led us down a narrow alley between it and the building next door. It got so narrow at one point that the four of us actually had to turn sideways to squeeze through. It was a tight fit for me---with my new boobs--- so I couldn’t imagine how Terry managed. After squeezing our way through the alley, Elise led us around the back of the building. We stopped in front of a door that was clear of boards. She took a key from her pocket, unlocked the padlock and opened it. She went in first, followed by Terry and Rose. I went in last, taking a deep breath as I did so. Hey, I didn’t know what to expect.

I was a little surprised when I crossed the threshold into the place. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. For one thing, it was relatively clean and for another, the outside was very misleading. The inside wasn’t rundown at all. It wasn’t exactly anything you’d want to write home to Mom about but it was livable. There appeared to be two main rooms, separated in the center by a wall of wooden crates. On this side of the separation---the only side I could see at the moment---was a living area of sorts. There were several mismatched pieces of furniture including five or six couches and a few armchairs. There were even a few lawn chairs and a picnic table bench. In front of the furniture were several televisions, most of them out of date and it looked like only two were working all that well.

Terry waltzed into the room and jumped over the back of one of the couches, landing with a thump and a cloud of dust. Clearly, no one cleaned. He grabbed a nearby remote and clicked one of the TV’s on.

“It’s not the Ritz but it’s home,” said Rose with dissatisfied sigh.

Elise left us after that, too. She went off toward the other section of the place. Rose was left to show me around. The wooden boxes seemed to act as dividers. It was clear this room might have once been some kind of assembly line room. I could see places on the floor where machinery was once bolted. Rose gave me the quick tour. There were three more sections made by the crate walls. I was surprised when she actually showed me a kitchen and a reasonably sized sleeping area. There were no real beds of course, just mattresses. I counted four, which meant either one was for me or there was someone else I’d still have to meet. I’m thinking the latter.

She then led me to the other section of the main room. This place was some kind of meeting area in looked like. They didn’t have a real table---it was a pool table---and most the chairs around it were mismatched. The most striking part of the room was all the clocks on the wall. At first, I thought someone had a perverse habit of putting them at the wrong times until I noticed names scrawled in black marker under each one. They were marked with different cities, showing different time zones from around the world. I’m not sure why that was important, but oh well.

At the back of this section, main section there was a metal staircase. I looked up, seeing a room up there. I’m guessing it was once the manager’s office. Rose followed my gaze. She didn’t say anything; instead, she took my hand and led me up the steps. I was a little reluctant to follow, afraid that we might intrude on whoever was up there. At the top of the stairs, Rose knocked on the office door. The glass all around this was painted black so clearly whoever was in there didn’t want anyone looking in. There was a shuffle from inside and then a few seconds later the door opened. First, we were met by a blonde girl dressed in pink---crop top and hot pants. She sneered at Rose and gave me a once over.

“You missed a spot, Angie,” said Rose, indicating her makeup.

It was smudged.

The girl glared at her and then looked at me. “You must be the new freak. I’m Angelica; if you stay out of my way then we won’t have a problem.”

To demonstrate she raised one of her hands which erupted in a pink glow. It was kinda impressive. I smirked but I wouldn’t stoop to her level so I merely nodded. She smirked again and brushed past us, deliberately slamming me with her shoulder as she passed.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind her, she thinks she’s hot shit because Fugate let’s her blow him every chance he gets.”

I cringed at that. I guess that explained her smeared makeup.

“Rose” said a voice from inside. “Did you get her?”

Rose took me by the hand and led me into the room. The first thing I noticed was the noise. There were so many clocks in the room it was hard to tell where they ended and everything else began. It was too loud for me; I’m not sure how the person who lived here could stand it. He lived here too, besides the desk there was an actual bed in the corner. I looked around the rest of the room, noticing a filing cabinet and a flat screen. I followed the clocks around the room until I got to the desk and the man sitting behind it. He wasn’t much to look at actually. He was a normal looking guy in a tweed suit with a mop of reddish hair. There was some gray in there too. He had circular glasses and pencil thin mustache. His most distinguishing feature was his tie actually and only because he had clocks on it.

Yep a real clock nut.

“Ellie” said Rose beginning the intros. “This is Temple Fugate or as we like to call him, The Clock King.”

The thing man stood up and held out his hand, which I reluctantly shook. “Ellie it is truly a pleasure to meet you. Your friend Rose has been telling me all about the special things you can do.”

I nodded. He sounded too excited for me. “Dangerous things” I said quickly.

He nodded. “Yes indeed” He had a big toothy grin. “But you need not worry about hurting any of us here; we are more than capable of taking care of your special needs.”

“My special needs?”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Rose seemed to sense my apprehension because she reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. I didn’t look at her, instead keeping my eyes fully focused on Fugate. He was the kind of guy you didn’t want to take your eyes off for fear he might do something to you when you looked away. I think it was the mustache. Guys with mustaches like his were always the bad guys in every movie I’ve ever seen. I know I was jumping to conclusions but something about this guy just screamed bad guy.

“Rose dear” said Fugate with a smile “why don’t you take Ellie and get her a bunk.”

“She doesn’t need her own bed,” said Rose, giving my hand another squeeze.

I looked from her to him. “I can’t stay here.”

“Of course you can” said Fugate with a laugh. “Where else would you go?”

“But the police will be looking for me.”

He laughed. “Not here, they won’t. I assure you my dear; you are quite safe from them.”

I shook my head. “I need to get out of the country, flee south.”

Fugate frowned. “If that’s what you think is best then we won’t stop you. But I assure you they will have the border on high alert. You’re a very dangerous person and it doesn’t take them very long to catch dangerous people like you.”

Rose stepped in front of me. “This is a good place, Ellie. Here we can be who we want and no one can stop us. Fugate created this place for our kind, free from prosecution and the law.”

“You’re going to stay here?” I asked and she nodded.

“Just give it a chance; you might like it here, too.”

Fugate smiled. Then rolled up his sleeve, revealing four watches on his wrist. This guy was really obsessed wasn’t he? “Oh God, look at the time. You girls run along, I have a phone call I must make.”

We turned and he practically pushed us out the door. We were barely on the other side of the threshold before he slammed it behind us. Talk about rude. Rose tried not to look offended but I could tell she was. The two of us stood there for a few seconds before she took my hand and led me down the metal stairs. The others were in the main room watching TV. Elise and Angelica were sitting on one of the couches together while Terry was sitting in one of the armchairs. Clearly, the girls ruled this roost. I felt kinda bad for him---being the only guy and all.

I almost wanted to go over and sit with him just to show that I wasn’t like the others. Hell I was technically half guy right? But Rose had other plans.

“C’mon” said Rose, whispering gently in my ear. “I’ll show you where my bunk is.”

How could a girl say no to that?

_____________________________

The next few days were a blur. Things seemed to mold into one another. At first, I found it hard fitting in with this group of misfits but that didn’t last long. We made the news the first night I was there---Terry and Elise were pretty excited about that. They plastered my picture all over the Top Story for two days in a row. I eventually got pushed back with the arrival of a new superhero in San Francisco---the Blue something. She was kinda cool though so I wasn’t too upset.

Adjusting to life with my new “friends” wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. We had our differences of course---for instance, Angelica was a total bitch---but in the end, we were all the same. It turns out Rose was the only unique one in the group. She had that title for two reasons: number one she wasn’t a genetic Meta and number two she was the only one of us who didn’t change sex. I’m half-and-half so I don’t really count. Elise and Terry were boyfriend and girlfriend before the change; I find that hard to believe though. The two of them seemed to hate each other now. Though I think Angelica had something to do with that. I’m not sure what her story was other than she’s a major slut now. I’m not sure what she saw in Fugate but she sure spent a lot of time in his office.

Fugate was the only enigma in our little group. Not only did he sleep in his office, he practically lived there, too. I’m not sure what he did all day but apparently, it was more important than hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. Not that I could blame him. On the second day here, I asked Rose what we were supposed to do. She told me that she never really thought about it. This place was supposed to be a place for us to live without the outside world calling us “freaks”. But as far as doing anything went, the five of us just sat around and vegetated. It was cool the first day or so but after the third day of doing nothing it got kinda dull.

After those first few initial days, things didn’t get any better. After a week, I was practically climbing the walls. I wasn’t the only one either. Elsie and Terry had been here the longest---three months---the two of them looked ready to break through the walls. Angelica was indifferent but I could tell Rose was itching for some action.

“We have to do something,” said Rose, sitting with me on one of the couches. “Anything to get us out of here.”

The others launched into a series of suggestions. Terry always wanted to play some kind of indoor sport---bowling or something like that. Angelica wanted to go to the mall and for Elise it was always the gym. It never really got around to what either Rose or I would like to do because as soon as one of them made a suggestion, the other two argued about it. Then it was back and forth, sometimes for hours. It was like the three of them were the brattiest children imaginable.

It didn’t take long for them to start arguing now.

“C’mon” said Rose, taking my hand and pulling me up. “Let’s go find our own thing to do.”

Her idea of “our own thing” usually led to the two of us fooling around under the sheets. I’ve long since forgiven her for abandoning me; it felt like water under the bridge now. Not that it was easy, of course. I made her work for her forgiveness. I got a lot of treats and back rubs out of the deal. Now we were as good as before, even better. My advice to couples---have a big fight because making up is wonderful. It really helps to revitalize your relationship. Rose and I haven’t known each other for very long but the two of us were far from the ideal couple. I guess I considered her my girlfriend but I’m not sure what she thought of me. I was technically her girlfriend too, save for the part of me that was a guy. Not that anyone other than her knew about that part.

The Real Eddie was only known to her and her alone.

In the bedroom area, the two of us fooled around for a bit. Not that it got any further than the usual petting. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to try more; it’s just that we’re only sixteen. I’m not ready to take a relationship that far yet and she’s afraid that as soon as we do something like that, one of us might regret it. Like I could ever regret doing anything with her. Even though I’d only known her for a short while I was pretty convinced that, I was in love with her.

Yeah, I know, the big L word, but it was true. I just hoped she felt the same way. She was a fickle person when it came to her emotions, especially the love one. After all, look at her track record. Her only family member was her father and he did horrible experiments on her. That’s no way to love someone.

I sat up in bed, allowing the sheet to fall around my naked form. She was lying on her side, her naked form glistening with sweat. She looked so damn good right now. I took a deep breath and bit the bullet: “I’m in love with you”.

For a second or two she didn’t say anything. Then she frowned. “You can’t be.”

I nodded. “That maybe so but I am.”

She sat up, still frowning. “I’m not a good person to be in love with.”

“Why because of your father?” I said, a little hurt.

She turned her head away. I reached forward and grabbed her face gently, moving her head back to face me. There were tears in her eyes. “I don’t care about him,” I said, crying a bit myself. “You’re afraid that he’s going to catch up with you and do horrible things. But I’m not going to let him hurt you, I’ll kill the son of a bitch if he ever touches another hair on your head.”

She smiled weakly and nodded. Then added. “It’s not just that…it’s…damn it. You can’t love me, no one can.”

Now I was annoyed. “Why not?”

“I’m damaged goods.”

“You look all right to me” I joked, even though it wasn’t really the time.

“Son of a bitch, Ellie. I’m trying to be sincere here. You and I…what we have…its fun but…”

“But” I said angrily. “How can you say but?”

My temper flared. I could feel the fire inside. The look on Rose’s face said it all. She could see it too. I looked down and my skin was slightly glowing. With someone like me, anger was bad. When I got angry, people got hurt. I pushed myself off the mattress and found my clothes. Rose tried to stop me but I was angry with her right now I needed to walk it off. I pulled on my pants---I was already wearing panties. Then I grabbed a nearby shirt---didn’t matter whose it was---and stomped out of there. Rose didn’t follow, I was glad for that. I needed some alone time to think. I charged out of the room section and found myself heading toward the back entrance. I did a lot of my thinking in an alley two buildings over. It was a perfect place to pace and think about things.

When I got outside, I was greeted by a cool March night. It amazed the hell out of me that I’d been like this for almost two months now. Who would have thought that only a couple of months ago---January---that Eddie Bloomberg, football player, would be here. First, it was the Meta change into that red freak which was enough to drive a guy insane but then it was this. I’m still not sure how to handle this. I look in the mirror, I see this girl, this pretty red headed girl, and all I can think about is asking her on a date. It’s crazy but it’s hard to fathom that she and I are one in the same. I know she’s me, I know that I’m Ellie. But at the same time, I know that it’s wrong. Ok, wrong is the bad choice of words. What I mean to say is that I’m scared.

I groaned. I was terrified. Yesterday I actually complimented Elise on the top she was wearing. Yes, complimented. Like one girl does to another, telling her how much I loved it. That totally freaked me out. Two mornings ago, I found myself wondering if my butt looked good in my jeans and the day before that, I found myself asking Angelica for makeup tips---not that she gave me any. It was scaring the hell out of me. I was losing myself to Ellie. I was still me but this monster was slowly consuming the part of me that was a guy. I’m not talking about the red one I turn into either.

I cursed and stomped off toward the alley. My head was still in the clouds so I didn’t notice I wasn’t alone until I got about five feet down it. I stopped dead in my tracks, hearing voices. At first, I thought it was Terry---he sometimes liked to come out here to talk to himself. But I realized there were two voices and I was being stupid. I crouched behind the dumpster---this alley was a lot less narrow than the one between the Clock factory and the building next to it. In the darkness, I could barely see who it was but there were definitely two of them, men by the looks of them.

Then I recognized one of the voices: it was Fugate. “I told you not to come here, Prince.”

Prince? Why did that name sound familiar.

“Where else was I supposed to go?” said the second man, he had a strangely familiar voice too. “After your kid teleported me out of my cell, I was pretty much screwed.”

Teleported? Did Terry break someone out of jail?

“But here.” said Fugate “Are you out of your damn mind? What if she sees you? What if you walk into the building and she’s standing there, then this whole thing is blown. He’ll be so pissed off with us he’ll roast you alive.”

“Not my problem” said the one called Prince. “You’re the one who screwed this up, not me.”

“Who’s the one who panicked during the job?”

“The kid was a fricken demon, you’d be scared too.”

That voice. Oh God, I knew where I’d heard it from. It was that guy, the bank robber. The nut in the snake suit. What the hell was he doing here? My head started to hurt when I tried to process everything they were saying. Fugate was working with the snake guy? I tried to think it through. It didn’t make any sense. Who was the guy that was going to roast them alive? What plan did they screw up? It didn’t make any sense. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs but instead I slowly crept backwards. The first thing I had to do was get Rose. We had to get the hell out of here. Something bad was going on here, something that apparently involved me.

I turned quickly, jumping to my feet. My plan was to run back to the factory, grab Rose and our stuff and get the hell out of here. That was the plan anyway. It didn’t work out so well though. When I turned and made a run for it, I ran smack into someone. I was knocked off my feet, falling backwards onto my butt. Whoever it was, they were huge, like made of muscle and nothing more. I couldn’t see the face but they had these eyes that shone in the dark. I tried to crawl away but he was able to reach out and grab me, lifting me off the ground.

“Desmond” said Fugate as he came up behind us. “Don’t hurt her too much.”

The big man had a hold of my throat now; I was finding it hard to breath.

“She heard everything,” said the man mountain.

“Unfortunate to say the least” said Fugate with a sigh. “But it can’t be helped.” He pulled a pocket watch from his coat. “This will affect the time table a bit but I am sure things can be rescheduled. Take her and put her with the others.”

The Man Mountain called Desmond smiled. Then he slammed me gently against the wall. My vision swarmed around me and blackness took me.