Jan's tale 5 - Aftermath of a missed Assembly

Jan’s Tale 5

Aftermath of a missed Assembly

Jan is not a happy camper. As if his life didn't suck enough already, turning into a mutant was everything but an improvement. Jan didn't get real superpowers, Jan got to be girly. To make it worse his parents decided in their unimaginable wisdom that exile to America was the solution for his problems. He is not so sure though.

I’d like to thank Sleethr, Landing and D.A.W for beta reading this chapter. I’d also like to thank Djkauf for editing.

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out www.crystalhall.org

“Sorry Jan,” The nurse shook her head. “But, we can’t let you out yet. You still have a date with the doctors.”

Great… No, not really. I’d hoped to meet my friends at the general assembly, but apparently it wasn’t to be. They still hadn’t released Lisa or declared her guilty and I wanted to know what was going on. She was my roomi and even though I’d only known her for two days, she’d already become a friend. Did she just fake all that or had someone framed her? I certainly didn’t see a motive. While I’d kind of been an ass on our first day, she hadn’t really been better either. It certainly wasn’t enough to try to murder me.

Not knowing was driving me up the wall, but I couldn’t find out about it from my bed. Nobody was telling me anything! And despite my admiration for the geeks and computer nerds, I wasn’t one of those hacking talents. Just because I was decent at playing video games and using MS-Word didn’t mean I knew how computers really worked.

“I’m so sick of it. Yet another missed introduction event.” And, that annoyed me more than I expected. I sighed with frustration. “Great, I’m going to be the outsider again and don’t have an idea what’s going on at this school on top of it.”

Jill, the nurse, unsympathetically rolled her eyes at me. "Relax. You haven’t missed anything substantial and your cottage mates came to visit you thrice. I’d hardly call you an outsider.” She shook her head. “Seriously, most students would be grateful if they could beg out of the introduction speech.”

She was probably right, it didn’t change the fact this situation sucked. “Why couldn’t they just tell me what’s going on right after the scans?” I complained, pouting at the nurse. It wasn’t really her fault, but I didn’t care right now.

“Because they needed to work through the data,” the nurse said. “Jan, stop pouting, I can’t do anything about it.”

I wasn’t pouting, was I? That was a girl thing to do.

The nurse laughed at me. “Gosh, now you’re pouting even more.”

Gosh? Who said that? If there was a God it wouldn’t strike her with lightning for invoking its name. It certainly hadn’t struck me and I didn’t even believe in it.

I wanted to protest her insinuations. It wasn’t a pout, I’d made an unhappy face. In the end I didn’t, because I figured she’d only laugh more at me. Bloody nurse. Trying to regain my dignity I glared at her.

“So what now?” I grumbled. Bantering with Jill was fun enough, but I really wanted to go.

“I suggest you wait for the doctors and watch the Assembly on your room TV,” she said, pointing at the TV in the right corner. “If you really want to suffer through Mrs. Carson’s speech.”

The TV, yeah… I’d never used it so far, GEO was better than passively staring at a TV screen. Playing yourself was simply more fun than simply watching something other people had produced. Not that there really was stuff that would have interested me. I couldn’t allow myself to be caught watching kiddy cartoons - that would be way too embarrassing. There was also the fact that most life action stuff simply didn’t interest me. All that soap or sitcom crap and there was never enough science fiction. Seriously, how could people get addicted to watch actors sitting at a table harping at each other?

No, GEO was simply more fun. I hadn’t even checked what kind of channels they had here on the TV. Maybe they had something like a shooting channel? “How to teach your kid to kill other people without them accidentally or intentionally murdering their siblings with the pistol you keep hidden under your pillow.” Hah, that would be a hoot, but it probably was just my prejudices speaking again.

Meanwhile the nurse was oblivious of my thoughts about the TV in general and American channels in specific. She was doing something with the remote - it looked rather arcane to me - switching through some kind of input channels until she’d found the right one. The screen flashed for a moment. The next I had a bird’s eye view on a large assembly hall that slowly filled with students.

The perspective changed to a camera behind the podium, allowing me to recognize some of my cottage mates in one of the front blocks. I was soon distracted though. In the block right next to them were the really mutated mutants. I couldn’t help myself but to stare at them. GSD cases were kind of amazing in their own shocking way. I’d thought Leonard was kind of freaky, but some of these people here managed to surpass even him in strangeness.

Suddenly the camera perspective changed again, focusing on the speaker’s desk. An important looking woman had stepped on the podium, while I’d been distracted. The headmistress was here, so it might finally begin. She had long blonde hair that carefully framed her face. Her clothing looked pretty normal, if a bit expensive, but otherwise she looked like every other woman in her late thirties.

It surprised me actually. She seemed to look too normal for a head of a superhero academy. I’d honestly expected someone more eccentric. A dumbledoresque person of sorts. But she wasn’t. The only strange thing was her age, really. My old headmaster was over sixty… and she looked like she’d just finished her studies five to ten years ago. Wasn’t there some kind of rule that headmasters had to be aged and wizened?

“Good morning, students! I am Mrs. Carson, the headmistress here,” the headmistress began, stating the obvious. “Welcome to Whateley Academy. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you the ‘one big happy family’ speech, or the ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ speech, or the ‘learning can be an adventure’ speech.”

I sure hoped not because I'd heard them all from my previous headmaster. Well, a mixture between the happy family and adventure speech. Students of some half-assed Gymnasium^{^[1]} in Bremen usually don’t have power issues. Not that we really were a happy family, considering that bullying may have been some kind of initiation ritual.

“Instead,” Mrs. Carson continued, “I’m going to give you the ‘it’s all up to you’ speech. You probably haven’t heard it before.”

Actually I did. It was one of the favourites of my former headmaster. He actually combined the three of them in one half hour long monologue. Maybe it was good that I actually manifested, or I’d probably been forced to sit through another one of these. The man really loved to hear himself talk.

“Most schools in North America and Europe tend to run on the ‘assembly line’ principle, where students are moved along a very slow conveyor belt from one class to another, where the teachers regurgitate facts all over them, in the presumption that at least some of the facts will fall into open ears.”

Right... and the others run on the principle that if you bore children long enough they might go and learn something on their own. The very idea of school was mass production of education. How else would it work?

“The majority of students here, and a good number of the faculty and staff are mutants. Along with the usual classes in the Arts and Sciences, you will receive training in controlling your individual abilities, physical training, and even some combat training.”

And also surviving assassination attempts? I snorted, when I realized people actually looked shocked. Did they miss their introduction tours over the campus or something? Even I had gathered that students here were supposed to get some sort of militia education on top of a top of the mark conventional education. It was apparently necessary or a mutant wouldn’t live past the first week on “the outside” or something. Americans were insane.

“Here at Whateley, we won’t try to make you learn, mostly because we know that it’s a waste of time and effort, no matter how well intentioned. We can’t control what you’ll become during your stay here- only YOU can decide that.”

So the very same as with normal schools. Or did they do away with the tests? I severely doubted it. Could I just skip classes without consequences? Like hell. She was probably just talking.

“But there is one very important thing that we WILL demand from you: that you be responsible for your actions.”

One is always responsible for one’s actions. Except when one is drugged or mind controlled or something. Could she please get to the point?

“In order to keep operating without having legions of militant mutant-haters storming our gates, we have to keep as low a profile here as possible.”

And there it was again: The evil outside world - Don’t make trouble or H1 is going to eat you. Maybe that was her way to make us learn… Scaring us into submission?!

“In order to learn, you and the other students have to feel safe, so you can’t go around threatening everyone with your power, just because they tick you off.”

She’d probably also told that to the assholes on Monday. It was doubtful that they’d learned anything from it. Bullies would be bullies. With or without super powers.

“And, while we know that accidents happen, and sometimes your powers can run away from you. Nonetheless you have to understand that repairing the damage from using your powers is very expensive. We simply can’t afford to keep rebuilding the cottages every time that someone loses their temper.”

Right... laser eyes + wall wasn’t a good combination. But that was kinda beside the point. Who cared for the fucking buildings? What about people who just happened to be not immune against the others’ powers? I certainly didn’t want to stand in Lisa’s way if she decided something deserved to burn. Who cared for the building if I was burned to ashes? Not that this was likely...

“It is dangerous for you and all of us around you if you won’t control the powers and abilities that have been entrusted to you by fate. Please believe me when I say that the damage to our properties is insignificant to the loss we experience when one of you is injured or killed.”

Probably less loss than I would. She certainly couldn’t care about every student. The dent into their reputation was most likely the bigger problem. Although, maybe not. Considering how many people seemed to die on campus it might not make a difference.

“As some of you have already found out, there are many enemies, both groups and individuals, who desire, and hope, and work to make your time here and in the future, unpleasant, short, or both. Some do it because they fear you, some because they DON’T fear you. There are those who want you to sacrifice yourselves for their purposes and those who fear that you will block them and the desires that they seek.”

Well, apparently I’d already experienced that. The burnout poison... And now she told me that was only to be expected in a super-whatever school?! Maybe I should go home if there’d already been a first murder attempt on my second day in the school.

“Many of you will be at risk all your lives. Those that are your friends will also be at risk. Simply because they will be a part of what you will be attempting to accomplish in this life. Whether that will be good or bad is not for us to decide. We are here to help you develop the skills that will make it possible for you to make your way in this difficult world. And hopefully, survive to see what you are attempting accomplished.”

Oh great, so even if they’d try to murder me at Whateley, I wouldn’t be safe elsewhere? Survival should be my goal to aim for?! I didn’t want to fight every day of my life. Nobody could without becoming a psycho. What a depressing speech.

“But maybe you think this doesn’t apply to you. You won’t be running any clever plots or fighting for a cause you believe in. Instead, after graduation, you plan to just head out somewhere and mind your own business. You’ll never be bothered by suspicious neighbors, or religious extremists, or simply the common rabble that might see you as a deadly threat to everything they hold dear.”

While that sounded like a good plan it was obvious Mrs. Carson didn’t think so for some reason. She was probably right though... The very meekest cannot be at peace if his ill neighbour will not let him rest.

“If that’s the case… FINE. We’ll wish you luck. We honestly want every mutant to lead a successful and fulfilling life.”

Somehow that felt personal. Did something happen to her children? Did she have children?

“But you might want to know that of those that try this approach, over half fail. Their cover is blown, or the unexpected happens, or any of a dozen other things. And then, you may be suddenly wishing that you’d paid a bit more attention in class. If we can take any lesson from the tragic case of Shep Packard, I’d like to think that might be one of them. Shep tried to live the quiet, inoffensive lifestyle. Perhaps… maybe if we’d just tried a little harder, he wouldn’t have been burned at the stake, there in the back hills of Kentucky. A victim of a senseless witch hunt.”

Americans are crazy! A witch-hunt? In America? In the twentieth century? Why hadn’t I ever heard anything about it? Or did they just call it another anti-mutant hate crime and simply ignored it? Mutants were politically incorrect victims after all. People with superpowers couldn’t be victimized, every child knew that. She had a good point though. I didn’t intend to live in America, but then the German people had already once proven what we were willing to do when serious about a moral panic.

The headmistress looked pissed. Moments later I saw why. The camera showed some kids snickering on the banks in the back. Seriously, that wasn’t funny. They’d burned a poor guy at the stake and all they thought about was how funny it was. They wouldn’t laugh when the fire was licking at their feet.

“I know even now,” Mrs. Carson continued, staring at the funny-crew, “many of you are not taking this seriously, some of you will think ‘I won’t live somewhere in the backwoods, some last place of civilization deep in Kansas. It can’t happen to me in say... Sacramento California’. Wrong. You can easily get maneuvered into a situation where it is less trouble for the authorities to kill you than admitting they made a mistake.”

Crap, what was she talking about? I’d never cared much about Super-whatevers, but the way she was looking into the crowd it seemed it was something that affected the pupils personally. Did something happen to some fellow students of ours? What happened in Sacramento? I’d have to google it later.

“Mutants are monsters after all,” she added with a stony face. “Take these lessons serious, otherwise you can call yourselves lucky if a bullet through your head is the worst thing that happens to you.”

So we were in the worse fate than death territory already? She seemed serious. It sounded like an idle threat... but with the stories before... God damnit, why did I need to mutate? I didn’t want all this crap! … I just wanted to go home to mommy, but I wouldn’t ever say that.

“We can only hope that learning just how seriously we mean this will not be too severe a lesson for yourselves and your friends. Remember, only YOU can make the decision to learn and accept what we, through long hard experience, have come to place before you.”

That wasn’t exactly a way to encourage students to put much worth on their traditional education. But at least it made me feel better about the fact I’d chosen martial arts. I guess I could have also taken the survival training course, but offense was always the best defense in my opinion. I’d learned that the hard way in my Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne games with one of the few “mates” I had at school. Knowing how to fight back was superior to just knowing how to run away. Running away was probably easier though.

“Now we need to speak about the general rules on campus. There are times when you’re allowed to use your superpowers and others when...

*knock**knock**knock* Someone was knocking at the door, distracting me from the events on screen.

“Come in please,” I said, muting the TV.

Maybe I should have listened to the rules, but seriously that was the boring part of the speech. If I really needed those, I’d just have to read them in the school book or something. It wasn’t like I intended to skirt around them anyway. Well, not to the point that knowing the rules would actually help.

A balding middle aged guy in a lab coat stepped through the door. “Good morning Miss Edler,” he introduced himself. “My name’s Doctor Sanchez and I’m here to give you a final checkup.” He put his medicine case on the table. “You should be okay, but we’d rather make sure.”

He didn’t look like a Sanchez, more like a Müller or maybe a Smith. Did he just change his name - I’d heard that was possible in America… someone apparently called himself Jesus Christ - or was he a mutant and got a racial change when he manifested?

Meanwhile the Doctor shut the TV down. “No need to be distracted by the boob tube,” he shrugged, “You’re not missing anything. Carson’s telling the same crap every year anyway.”

That was good to know, but that didn’t explain why he was here. “Hi... um where’s Dr. Trappatori?”

“Michelle’s got an emergency to deal with,” the doctor shrugged. “I fear you’ll have to do with me.”

“Sorry, I was just curious.”

“No problem,” Dr. Sanchez shrugged again. “Anyway, let’s begin with the tests. I figure you want to get done with this. Please take off your top.”

Great, another bunch of tests. At least this gave me an excuse to get rid of the stupid hospital pajama. It itched when it moved over my nipples.

After I’d pulled it off the doctor began with a battery of tests. He measured blood pressure, checked something in my mouth hole and listened to my breath. He even took another blood test. Made me wonder if they needed to feed vampires or something. Next thing was checking my pulse, but then it got really awkward. Or so I thought in the beginning.

“Miss. Edler, would you please undress fully, mandatory tests require that we check the effect of burnout on your sexual function.”

“Ähm...”

“Just show me your testicles please,” the doctor said calmly.

“You know?”

“Yes,” he grinned at me, “the men in white know everything. Seriously, we need to know about our patients particularities.”

That would make sense. Especially with mutants that didn’t exactly have baseline human physiologies. My transgender status would probably be in my patient’s record.

“Anyway that’s besides the point,” Dr. Sanchez said with a wave, “You’re hardly the first transgendered patient here at Doyle’s.”

“Ähm... okay.” I said. “I don’t like to be a Miss though.” I felt he needed to know that.

“Oh... sorry, I guess that sucks for you,” he shrugged again, obviously not too bothered by my problem. “There was a female name on the form. Anyway, could you undress please.”

It didn’t seem like he cared too much, which kind of pissed me off. I considered saying something, but then he was a doctor and they’d probably go nuts if they cared too much about their patients. Still, he didn’t need to be an ass. Throwing a glare at the man, I got up from my bed and pulled off my pajama trousers. It was good I hadn’t gotten myself dressed yet. Wearing panties would have been really awkward to explain after my previous comment.

Nonetheless I was rather glad it was him and not Dr. Trappatori who tested my balls. This coughing test was awkward enough when a man did it. With Dr. Trappatori - I still didn’t get why a grown woman like her preferred to be called by her first name Michelle - it would have been even worse. Especially since she had sort of a Milf thing going... Her fondling my balls... That would have been awkward as hell.

Dr. Sanchez was using some weird hand device to scan me. It looked like it had escaped from a sci-fi series, but apparently it worked and didn’t find anything dangerous. Something I was rather glad about. I really wanted to get out of here. Playing GEO undistracted was neat, but it really wasn’t the same as being with my friends. While I’d never been a very social person before, I was had been very happy that the changeling group had come to visit me. It was nice to have friends. Hospitals though... This was my first long stay at a hospital and hopefully my last one.

“Can I go now?” I asked when the doctor seemed to have finished his scan.

“Yes, we’re done,” the doctor shrugged yet again, making me wonder if it was some kind of weird tic of his. “As far as I can tell there are no further symptoms of burnout. You should be alright.”

“Okay, thank you,” I said, shaking his hand.

“No need, Miss. Edler,” Dr. Sanchez said his goodbye. “Just doing my job.”

Miss... Why? I’d told him I wasn’t a Miss! Sure, with every transformation I looked more like a girl, but he knew! Asshole. Did he have to insist on parading my new, unwanted status in front of me? It wasn’t like I could really ignore it anymore either. My once slightly stubby boy fingers had turned into slender girl fingers with neatly rounded, elongated girly nails! My once broadening shoulders and bulging upper arms had been reduced to a weak, small girl size. My hips and ass had blown to up like a balloon. Even my innards were changing. Maybe I was lucky and the burnout had slowed it. Probably not. My stupid shell wasn’t the trigger for the drug after all.

Sadly sighing to myself, I watched the doctor closing the door behind himself. Good thing that he was done. Now I could finally get ready and leave this blasted hospital behind. Once again I pulled off my pajama trousers and grabbed a pair of panties out of the dresser. Their girlish pink flower design just fit the irony of the situation. I hated that I turned into a girl, was angry at the doctor for treating me like a girl, but here I was voluntarily dressing like one just to fit in better.

At least the panties should fit. Zoe had really done me the favor when she’d gotten me enough underwear for a week. But seriously she hadn’t cared to get gender neutral ones. Or maybe weren’t any of those. Not that I knew, I’d never shopped for female underwear before. I sighed. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, it was nice of her to shop for me and it wasn’t like anyone would get to see under my trousers anyway. I also needed practice tugging.

Laying down on my back on the bed I quickly managed to maneuver my testicles into my body cavity and pressed down my dick against my body. Then I pulled up the panty girdle as far as I could. Next I dressed my thankfully not girly socks and took an old undershirt before I grabbed my school uniform.

After packing my laptop and the rest of my clothing, I was finally ready to go. Taking the first step into freedom I ran into a nurse. I’d been so glad to be out of my room/prison that I didn’t look where I was going. The fact that the nurse wanted to come in didn’t exactly help either.

“Oh... Jan,” Jill said, holding me, “sorry, I didn’t expect you to come out right now.”

I shrugged as I straightened myself. “The doctor was done with me. Did you want something?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I kinda forgot it last time, but Campus Security called. They want to interview you as soon as you can.”

Right now? Classes supposedly started directly after the assembly. Couldn’t they talk to me later? I didn’t want to arrive late on my first BMA lesson. Something like that always left a bad impression.

“Do I have to?” I asked reluctantly, I really didn’t need another confrontation with the chief. “I’d rather go to my classes.”

She laughed. “You’d really rather go to your classes? Well, anyway, I don’t think you need to get there that badly, but you should probably go over during lunch-break.”

At least it wasn’t now. I still needed to return to my room and grab the school stuff. Crap, I still needed to pack it. “Okay, I’ll try to remember it. I need to run though.”

***

“Are you sure she’ll come through here?” I heard a familiar female voice ask, just before I opened the door to the tunnel that led to the building of my next class..

Maybe I shouldn’t have taken the way through the tunnel system. It seemed like every other time I was in here I ran into some scene of sorts. On the positive side it would be hard to snipe me here. No, I wasn’t really that paranoid yet, just cynical. The reason I was down here was pure laziness. Mrs. Horton had run into me when I grabbed my school rucksack and talked to me on her way down into the basement. She’d wanted to know if I was alright and what really happened.

She’d also offered her help. I wasn’t sure what I would need it for though. When I was already in the basement my laziness prevailed. Simply taking the tunnels seemed the obvious choice. It was the shortest way to Laird Hall either way. It didn’t seem so smart now.

“Yes she should,” a male voice explained. “It’s the shortest way.”

And this was definitely the next scene. I didn’t know who these people were waiting for, but considering my luck during the last days it was probably me. God, why couldn’t I simply go to class without something insane happening? I slowly stepped back from the door and turned around. Whatever these people wanted, I didn’t want to take my chances. Someone here definitely wanted me dead and I didn’t intend to help them by taking stupid risks. Why the hell didn’t I get bodyguards or something?

“I feel someone behind the door,” another male voice said. “It’s moving away... Get her!”

Fuck! I stopped sneaking away and broke into a run. Throwing a glance back over my shoulder I saw the bully crew from Monday storming through the tunnel door. I’d feared they’d try to get back at me, but something like this? What the hell was wrong with them? As if the ambush wasn’t bad enough each of them - cutie-bitch, Mafioso-guy and Hitler-boy - were carrying strange guns. Holy crap, what was wrong with this school?

“Take the bitch down,” the bitch cried, raising her own weapon.

Crap this wasn’t good. These tunnels were like a shooting range. I needed to get away here, out of sight! I got the bad feeling these weren’t just fancy stun weapons - not that I wanted to be at their mercy anyway. Fuck, I was so screwed and I really didn’t have the time to stare and listen to them until I ran into a wall. Quickly turning away to face forward, I felt long hair tickle down over my shoulder and an uncomfortably common bouncing feeling appeared on my chest.

My mind was on something else entirely though. The intersection right in front of me. If I went to the right, I’d get back to Poe. It seemed like a good idea since I was on the right side of the tunnel anyway. I was almost there when some inner instinct made me throw myself to the left, against the wall. From the corner of my eye I watched yellow bolts of light searing through the space I’d occupied only moments ago.

My knees were scratched and bleeding, but I didn’t feel the pain. My focus was on the wall before me, where concrete had simply dissolved into nothingness. Scheisse, they really wanted to kill me, disintegrate what remained of me and then deny everything to get away with it. I gulped heavily.

Dear god in heaven! What had I done to deserve this? What? I didn’t want to die! Adrenaline whipped through my body as I scrambled to get back on my feet. I had to get away here.

“Fuck we missed,” Mafioso-guy cussed, while I threw myself behind the wall of the tunnel to Crystal Hall.

A wave of green goo spilled through the space to my right. I stumbled again and saw the edge of the tunnel dissolve behind me. God, I so needed to get away here! I’d be dead if one of those bolts hit me.

“Fuck, I missed,” bitch cussed. “I almost had the bitch.”

“These crappy things shoot too slowly,” Hitler-boy complained. “Why couldn’t she give us normal guns?”

I ran down the tunnel as fast as I could. Quickly taking one step in front of another, even if my knees were dragging. I needed to get away here. The stairs up into Shuster Hall was only a few meters away.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And kill the bitch!” Bitch girl wheezed, just as another yellow bolt hit the wall right next to my head. “Come on; don’t let the whore get away.”

If I wasn’t running for my life, I’d probably given her the finger. But I knew I had only seconds until the next barrage would be coming.

“Eat glue, bitch!” the bitch yelled and I heard a strange sound. A moment later another wave of green goo surged against the stairs. Stairs I’d thankfully just managed to mount.

Now storming upwards, I took three stairs at once with each step. I needed to get away. Get out of sight. It probably still wasn’t enough. I knew they were angrily awaiting for their guns to recharge. And then.. they pressed the trigger. I just knew they’d aimed at my back. I wasn’t out of sight yet. It was a split second decision. I instinctively knew I couldn’t get up the stairs fast enough to escape the yellow bolts of death. There was only option to get out of certain doom. Scraping my arms, elbows and knees I hugged the wall.

Next moment I heard bolts whooshing past my head and moments later something was cluttering down the stairs. At that moment I couldn’t have cared less, even though I realized they’d just destroyed my loyal backpack of six years. Surviving was far more important.

“You suck so much, Leonard,” bitch-girl exclaimed. “You bastards missed again.”

Thanks goodness. I thought I was toast. Or air. Scheiss Vaporizers.

“It’s Leonardo, dumbass,” mafia boy corrected. Not that I cared.

I took the last few chairs, slammed the door and was out into the central corridor. It was empty, the students were in their classes. Nobody was around. Scheisse. No crowd to hide in. Running onwards, I looked around. I had to get out of my followers line of sight. Otherwise I was as good as dead. I’d gotten lucky so far. I couldn’t rely on it. I needed to disappear.

There, on the left, was the entrance into Crystal Hall. I didn’t really think. Instinct told me it was a way to flee. And I reacted. Changing my direction I dashed through the large entrance.

And found myself in front of the cleaning crew. And also in clear view of everyone coming from behind. The eating tables certainly didn’t make a very good cover. Not against disintegration rays. This was not good. I continued to run, but a look over my shoulder only ascertained my fears. The bully trio was wheezing around the corner, raising their guns at the sight of me. I’d dawdled too much.

I threw myself behind a table. Pain surged through my already battered extremities, but at least the next wave of disintegrator rays missed, sailing above me. Cursing the throbbing of my knees, I saw a possible avenue of escape. It wasn’t even far away. Right in front of me, ten meters away were the food counter and the kitchens.

Scrambling onto my feet again, heard the cleaner screaming out in terror and outrage. I hoped nobody had been hit, but I had bigger problems. I needed to get away. A moment I considered yelling for help, but I didn’t want to waste a breath. They didn’t look like they could help me. Right now I simply needed to get away. Arriving at the food counter in full run, I took a jump. My ankle twisted and instead of sailing above the counter I began to spin.

“Do you suck dick as bad as you shoot, Rose?” I heard Hitler-boy sneer. “Can’t even hit a slut like that.”

Seriously slut? Didn’t they have better insults? Was all I thought before I found myself face first in a waste bin. Grimy plastic rubbed my cheeks, smearing something disgusting, which was hopefully nothing more than ketchup, all over my face. I didn’t have time to worry though. I heard shouting behind and I knew this had only delayed the inevitable if I didn’t get some cover between myself and the bully-crew quickly. God damnit, why were they still trying to kill me? Did they really believe they could get away with it? Or were they just that nuts?

“Where did she go?” Mafia boy asked.

“Behind the counter!” the Rose-bitch replied. “You’re as blind as a mole, are you?”

“No, I’m invisible you ass,” came the annoyed reply, warning me of the powers of one of my assailants.

Fuck, of course they’d seen where I’d gone. No big surprise considering my painful accident with the counter, but still disappointing. Forcing myself to ignore yet another bout of pain I jumped up and ran through the door into the kitchens. A glance over my shoulder and I saw the bin disintegrate behind me. Lord in Heaven, it was good they couldn’t aim for crap or I’d been free atoms by now. Nonetheless, even idiots like them could get lucky. And considering my luck lately... I just knew they were aiming at me again. I didn’t think much, just reacted and ducked behind a stove.

Not a second too late. A frying pan disintegrated at the wall in front of me. If I’d stayed where I’d been that would have been my head. God, why couldn’t someone stop these fuckers? This school was supposed to be a safe place, not Jan assassination central. Did they have something against Germans or was it just me?

“Why. Don’t. They. Shoot. Faster?!” the bitch shouted. “I almost had the whore!” A surge of green goo followed through the door, spilling over the stove and onto my jacket. Trying to get up I realized I was stuck. The goo glued me to the stove. I panicked for a moment, before I managed to pull myself out of my jacket.

“I told you so,” Hitler boy sneered somewhere behind me. “Bitch should have given us normal weapons.”

Whatever the reason, I was grateful that whoever that mysterious ‘bitch’ was thought I was bullet proof or something. The disintegration bolts were slow and the guns didn’t shoot very often. I still needed to get away though. Yet I didn’t know the way out. A window would be enough, but this room didn’t have one.

“Fuck, you take the gun, I just blast glue at the whore,” I heard the bitch girl say. She wasn’t even that loud, fuck they were too close. I’d dawdled too much.

“Help! Please somebody help me!” I yelled, as I ran towards the left door. Maybe someone here could do anything against the assholes. Scheisse, I could only hope there was an exit here. I’d be fucked if I got out in a broom closet or something.

Seeing a wave of green goo from the corner of my eye, I quickly ducked behind another cooker. Thankfully the glue harmlessly splashed against the wall this time. The next moment I got up again, dashing for the door.

Just before I got there a blonde girl stepped out of it. “What are you yelling for?”

“Disintegration gun!” I panted as I stumbled past her. “They want to kill me!”

This was one of the moments where I was actually thankful for my mutant powers – and my fucked up body. Now at least I was rid of my chronic asthma. Before… I wouldn’t have had the air to speak… and they’d probably already caught me anyway.

“What?” the blonde said confusedly. “You shouldn’t be here!”

Like I cared. I had bigger problems. Like the yellow bolt of certain death that suddenly appeared from behind the freezer.

“Deckung!”^{^[2]} I shouted as I grabbed her to pull her past the door.

What I saw there didn’t exactly make me happy. Instead of the exit I’d hoped for, I found myself in the kitchen’s storage area. Cans were in one corner, while the main part were several freezers as well as some closed cupboards. Thankfully it wasn’t a blind alley. There was a door to another room.

“Come with me,” I ordered, before letting the girl go and making a run for the next door. If she wanted to stay it was her problem.

She just stared at me and was drenched in the green glue goo a moment later. Fuck. I hope the nutsos didn’t kill her. But then they only seemed to be after me and I couldn’t allow her to drag me down. If I stopped I was dead.

Something between a sigh and an exhausted wheeze escaped me. God, what wouldn’t I give for a gun to end them? Maybe an AK47 like in Counterstrike? Was it always like this on this blasted continent of doom? No wonder all Americans were gun nuts!

Right now though I had bigger problems than wishful thinking for a method of death dispersal. Namely the footsteps of my pursuers in the next room. I broke into another desperate sprint. God, I needed to get away. I needed to get out of here! Slamming the door behind me, I ran into the next room. And almost broke down in relief.

Windows. A door to the outside. Heavily panting, my vision blurred as I focussed on the door. Strange shapes were moving at the edge of my vision, but I didn’t care. I needed to get out. Mobilising my reserves, I dashed over to the door and ripped at it. Thankfully it wasn’t locked and I managed to stumble outside, making sure to also slam the door behind me. Every hurdle counted. Buying me valuable seconds. Seconds I would need to get out o sight, seconds I would need to cut around the corner of the building. Time I would need to get away alive.

I began to stumble to said corner, trying to break into a run again. That was when it happened. I have to admit I simply screamed when a hand grabbed me.

***

“And then Officer McGraw stopped you?” the campus security interrogator asked to clarify the situation.

“Yes, weren’t you there?” Why did he need me to retell it? Didn’t they have camera records or something?

The man raised his eyebrows. “Actually I wasn’t. Wasn’t my shift.”

Well, I guess I could tell him then. “Ähm… Okay, as I told you I ran for my life, shut the door behind me and was ready to run for a better cover. Well and then she grabbed me. And then it was pretty much over. Your colleagues stormed through the windows and took out my attackers with some sort of tranq gun.”

“Gizmatic Unconsciousness Inducer,” Lieutenant Reynolds corrected, absently shrugging.

“Yeah, whatever.” I didn’t get the man. Moments ago he was asking me about stuff and now the brown haired man was twitching on his chair as if it was him who just wanted to get out of here instead of me. “Well, your colleagues shot them and then they escorted me here.” And since then annoying Campus Security guys were debriefing me or maybe interrogating me.

“Okay, I guess I know everything then,” Reynolds decided, after making a few quick scribbles on his paper.

I doubted he knew everything, but I didn’t want to encourage him to ask more questions. My stomach was growling and I simply wanted to get out of here. God, what was wrong with this school? Bullies, interrogations, stays at a hospital and murder attempts. What were my parents thinking?!

*Growl*

It was my stomach again. “Can I go please? Or can you at least get me something to eat?”

“Sure, I think so.”

Thanks God.

Scratching the back of his head Reynolds added: “The chief wanted to talk to you by the way.”

Great… Thanking God was obviously pointless for atheists like me. Some might call this attitude stupid with all the evidence of superpowers around, but for me it was only more proof that there was no real God, or if there was it wasn‘t an entity I’d ever revere. What kind of creature would give a minority of humans inheritable superpowers? Which kind of deity would allow supervillains summon demons without repercussions, hell at all?

“Okay... I guess,” I said. I’d rather go and get something to eat, but seriously, what else was I supposed to say?

Maybe that I didn’t want to see the chief because it would be awkward after my rant at our last meeting? Not that I regretted it. ‘You should have called Campus Security.’ Haha, very funny. I’d had neither phone nor their number. I hoped it wouldn’t be something like that again. Maybe I should have teleported myself to Campus Security or allow them to disintegrate me because that would have been less messy?! Okay, maybe it was unfair, but sheesh after his reminder last time… I was a freshman and not a Whateley senior.

It was then that Lieutnant Reynolds left, silently clicking the door. I wondered if they’d let me wait again, but I didn’t take long for Chief Delarose to appear.

“Ähm… hi,” I said as he took place behind the desk.

The man raised his eyebrows. “A good afternoon to you too.” He sighed and shook his head, “when I told Dr. Trappatori that I wanted to see you it wasn’t like this.”

Yes, I could imagine. I didn’t want to meet him like this either. “Ähm, yeah… I guess you wanted to speak about Lisa.”

“That was the plan… originally,” Delarose nodded. “I’d intended to clear the situation, but now we need to talk about what… happened to you.”

“Happened to me?” I echoed. “You mean the assassination attempts.”

“Well, let’s begin with your roommate,” he said focusing his gaze on me. “She definitely didn’t have anything to do with any attempted murders on your person.”

I let a breath go that I didn’t know I was holding. If someone so totally nice like Lisa was a fake, how was I supposed to trust anyone? Thanks god she wasn’t.

“While it’s definitely her form on video it’s easy to tell that the real her wasn’t even in the room when the poisoning happened. We’ve determined it really was someone else with shape shifter powers.”

A shape shifter had tried to kill me? That meant I could trust nobody until they were caught. Literally everybody could try to shove a knife under my ribs.

“Did you get him… or her?” I really really hoped so.

“Her,” Delarose stated. “We found her next to the… comatose body of the most likely organizer of the assassination attempts.”

I somehow got the feeling this wasn’t everything. “And? What happened to her? What did she do? What did you do to her?”

“Nothing much. Someone wiped the memories of the last three years of her life. She thinks she’s fourteen and doesn’t understand how she got here.” Delarose said. He looked angry as hell, so I decided not to interrupt. “We’ve found evidence of massive prolonged psychic tampering with both of them.”

“Someone tried to get rid of evidence?” I asked. It was some time since I last read the famous five or the three investigators, but I still knew the basics of a crime/detective novel.

“I’m not sure.” The security chief grimaced. “We did find evidence. More than enough actually. But what we’ve gleaned from the evidence so far, the comatose woman is responsible for the attempted murders. But they did have an ally. But… well, we don’t have a clue who that person is.”

“So Lisa is innocent. The assassins are caught or at least neutralized and whoever pulled the strings managed to hide.” I shivered. “Can I go home please? I don’t want to die!” Stupid tears began to well from my eyes. I’d suppressed them before, but now I simply couldn’t stop it.

Mom and dad had said this was supposed to be safe. A safe space for mutants. I sniffed. It seemed everything but. I found myself at the center of an arcane plot to kill me.

“It’ll be okay,” Delarose said, standing up as I was sniffing into my sleeve. “We will get them.”

“Right…” like I would believe that. “Isn’t this school supposed to be the safest place in America?” I sniffed again. “What have I ever done?”

He took my hand. “It’s your power. As far as we can tell they were members of some... conspiracy and got wind of a prophecy that marked you as the chosen one to end them.”

“You’re joking right? Please tell me you’re joking.” It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t. Prophecies only happened in stories and usually only when the author didn’t find a better way to make his story happen.

Delarose sighed. “It’s a bit more complicated. Apparently you’re supposed to have a power that can either end them or bring them to rule the world.”

The grimace on his face told me he liked that idea about as much as I. “The power he knows not?” A small cynical giggle escaped me. It really wasn’t that funny. “How do you know this anyway?”

“More like a power to rule them all, one power to find them, one power to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

“Lord of the rings, right?” I asked not sure about it. He nodded and I continued. “The German version is better. It actually rhymes.” That was kind of beside the point though. “Ähm... you’re not serious, are you?”

“I’ll be frank,” Delarose said, straightening himself. “While we don’t have the prophecy, what we could glean from their communications really looked that bad.”

Super... awesome, not. So fate had chosen me as her bitch. My transformation should have clued me in, but then I wasn’t the only one who ever got girled. Scheisse, I actually started to use the Poe slang. I’d probably think of myself as a changeling soon.

Anyway, I needed information. “What did those assholes want? What was their conspiracy?”

“Female world domination apparently,” the chief said, rolling his eyes. “Reducing men to 10% of the population, enslaving those 10% to do the heavy lifting, creating a matriarchy, living happily ever after when the evil men are gone. The usual bigoted crap.”

“The usual?” I echoed. “You have more of those?”

“Well, this particular brand of crazy is a first one here, but they’re not the first chauvinistic group on Campus.”

What kind of chauvinists would a mutant school have anyway? Probably some local evolution rocks! Fanatics, some gay-haters (I severely doubted there was a school without them) and some classical racists. And apparently the Femi-Nazis...

“Ähm... why would they come after me?” I was joining the pink side after all.

He shrugged. “We don’t really know yet. I can only tell you conjecture.”

“Ähm okay...” I wasn’t sure if half-baked assumption would really help me. On the other hand he seemed professional and I really wanted to know what was going on. “So?”

“It seemed like they planned to recruit you but then suddenly decided it was impossible and wanted to eliminate you,” Delarose explained. “The best explanation we have so far is that they don’t have a real prophecy but a precog who saw rather diverse futures. You probably made some decisions that made their world domination future impossible.”

“Heaven, I’ve really gone and went into a superhero comic?” I groaned. What the hell was wrong with this school? “Is there some way to prevent these precogs from seeing me? If this continues I will be dead!” I felt tears welling from my eyes again. I didn’t want to die.

“You mean like the precogs in the Dune novels, where you’d simply have to be around another precog to be safe?” the security chief asked, raising his eyebrows. “I fear it doesn’t work this way.”

While I didn’t know Dune, apart from some scenes from the Movie, I’d heard about the thing he was talking about. The reasons for why it wasn’t supposed to be possible was weird though.

I shuddered, “so I just have to survive one assassination attempt after another?” I continued crying. Scheiss girl hormones. It didn’t help at all. “I can’t be alone for ten minutes without someone trying to kill me. And worse, they’ll even know when I’m alone thanks to this insane precog scheiss. Why are they even allowed to stay alive?”

“Because killing people for their powers would only lead to a lot of civil strife. There is also the fact that those precogs who can make long term predictions usually can’t make them very precise – you are alive after all.” He shook his head. “And most precogs want to stay alive the same as you do.”

Great. Really great. “I hate prophecies.” It’s bad enough in novels, but apparently it’s was the same way in reality. As soon as there was a prophecy, everything would be about the prophecy.

Delarose just nodded. He didn’t seem to be happy either. “I can’t help you against precogs, but I can help you against bullies. I suggest you join the Underdogs, our local group of low powered students. Underdogs get some extra protection.”

“Underdogs?” I echoed. “That sounds like outcast in a superhero school.” A social position I definitely, absolutely didn’t want to have again.

“We’re not a superhero school,” Delarose reminded before he shook his head. “In your case being an Underdog probably means that you won’t be part of the socialite group, but then I doubt you would want to be part of the “Alphas” anyway.” I could hear derision in his voice as he said that.

“Ähm… what is with them?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“The administration allowed the group too much slack, which culminated in a minor catastrophe during the last Christmas break,” Delarose said, rubbing his arms.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what counted as “minor” catastrophe at a superhero school. Maybe I should ask Ayla later, the chief seemed uncomfortable about the topic.

“Ähm… Okay, I guess,” I shrugged. “Ähm… Mr. Delarose, how does this Underdog thing help me? What extra protection does it afford me?” There had to be another advantage besides being out of sight of the campus in-group.

“First thing you’ll get a tracer patch, that’ll allow us to find you everywhere on campus.” Delarose explained, leaning back in his chair.

While that seemed potentially useful I wasn’t convinced. There were drawbacks. “What keeps people from using that tracer to find me? And wouldn't they just remove it if they wanted to abduct me or something?” I grimaced. “How does it help me if someone tries to murder me again?”

The security chief grinned. “Not really, but that is what you get a caller button for. Usually we don’t give them to students, but considering the assassination attempts it is obviously necessary.” He pulled a round disk out of a drawer in the desk and handed it over to me. “Just press the button in the middle and a security team will descend on your position.” He shrugged. “The Underdog position is just so the other students know not to use their powers on you. It can get rather rowdy sometimes and someone making assumptions can end with deadly consequences.”

“Ähm… sure,” I said. I wasn’t exactly happy with getting marked as a weakling - God, it was unmanly -, but I couldn’t afford pride like that. It wasn’t like I went here to become a superhero anyway.

“Okay. Good,” Delarose decided. “I’ll register you right now and then we can get an armband for you.”

***

I was lying on a couch in the Sunroom, checking the school website as I attempted to find out what activities I could actually do in my free time. Apart from playing GEO of course. But something told me I should probably do something else to make friends in real-life. Maybe the Underdog club was a good idea. Considering that the security chief had signed me up with them anyway.

After my talk with Delarose he’d also assigned me a guard for the day. He didn’t want to risk any more ambushes. The woman was military through and through and wasn’t good for any real conversation. Or maybe she didn’t like me. Nonetheless we made a side trip to the Campus Store and I bought a replacement school rucksack and school supplies that either got damaged or confiscated as evidence.

My guard wasn’t really talkative and I didn’t really know how to start a conversation with a military woman anyway. What was I supposed to ask her anyway? How many people she had killed over the course of her career? I doubted that would go over well.

While my family weren’t exactly pacifists, we also didn’t have anything to do with the military. And truth to be told we didn’t want to. Dad had been forced into the draft and he always told me I should get out of it if I could. Understandable. Who wanted their kids signed up as cannon fodder? How anyone could actually volunteer for it under any normal circumstances was beyond my understanding. Maybe it was just the way I was raised, but volunteering as a soldier was anathema to me.

Still, I figured it would be smarter not to ask her why she was stupid enough to do it. It wasn’t a good idea to antagonize the people with guns. Especially if I depended on their protection. So we’d spent the time in silence, not talking with each other.

Now I had something else to do though. Figuring out what I was going to do in my free time. Underdogs was a given. Sports? I guess I could try, but I’d probably get my ass kicked, being basically a baseline human without any super abilities.

“Jan?” Zoe said, pulling me from my thoughts. “Are you okay?”

I slowly nodded. I was as okay as I’d probably get.

My tutor for all things girly took that as encouragement and continued: “The rumor mill said you got into a fight in the crystal hall during the afternoon lessons...”

A sigh escaped me. “I got shot at with disintegrator guns...” Did she really need to remind me? Just when I was thinking about comfy topics such as foolish fools volunteering for foolish cannon fodder service.

“That would explain the shell,” Zoe mumbled to herself, before she asked me whether I was alright.

“I’m as all right as I’m going to be...” I sighed again. “I’m practically under house arrest. I’m only allowed to go out in groups and if I need to go out otherwise I have to call security.” I balled my fists. “Some asshole actually made a prophecy about me!”

“This sucks!” Zoe stated as she sat down in an armchair next to me. “What does it say?”

“Apparently I’m supposed to be the end of a group of Feminazis or help them to world domination,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “And they seem to have decided I’m going to end them, which I may already have accidently done already - at least with their Whateley branch - but Campus Security thinks they’re probably just be a smokescreen for the real masterminds of the assassination attempts. The prophecy might not be real at all and only be a way to give me a false sense of security.” I balled my fists. “The only thing they managed is to confuse me... Scheisse! God damn, it sucks!”

Zoe looked suspiciously left and right. “Um... maybe I can help you. If you suspect someone...”

She could read thoughts, right... but... “wouldn’t that get you into major trouble?”

“Only if they catch me,” a quick grin played over her lips before she went serious again. “We’re not supposed to do that since thought reading and mental manipulation can get addictive and is morally wrong, but it’s not something easily caught.” She gave me a hard look. “I’m only offering this because of the murder attempts. You don’t want to befriend people who’re out for your blood.”

Well, I hadn’t planned to use her to spy the answers for the tests from my teachers’ minds or something - I was probably able to do that myself if Dr... Michelle was right. Considering the fact it was passive it wasn’t like they could really do anything about it. Or so I assumed. Maybe they really had some sort of psi-blocker.

“Thanks, Zoe,” I said. I really was thankful. It was good to know people cared. My eyes grew moist. Stupid girl hormones! “I was worried…”

She gave me a quick hug. “It’s okay. I’ll help you to check out possible friends, okay? Anyway, I was thinking about your problem with your shell…”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the possibility of her checking out friends. Were they really friends if I suspected them of backstabbing? This seemed really paranoid to me.

“Yes? Do you have an idea how I can deactivate it?” That would be great, maybe it would slow the changes if I could simply deactivate it. Or maybe avoid activating it at all!

“Um… not exactly, Jan,” Zoe replied. “No! Not like that…” she quickly interjected as she saw my crushed expression. “But I do have an idea.”

I just looked at her and she continued: “Okay, my idea depends on the time when your shell actually deactivates on its own. When does that happen Jan, when you fall asleep or when you wake up?”

“When I wake up, I think.” Why was it important? It wasn’t like I could make myself fall asleep and wake up at will.

“Well, so what about if I simply make you fall asleep?” She grinned at me. “I make you fall asleep and wake you up again. And voila, the shell is gone.”

I jumped up from the couch. “What? You can? …isn’t that dangerous?” I knew that falling into a coma was no good idea. If her putting me to sleep was similar it wasn’t worth it.

“Well, it’s one of the self-defense techniques psychics learn. It’s harmless as far as I know,” she shrugged. “The teacher explained we should use that one if we actually couldn’t avoid a fight. She used it on each of us as a demonstration and had us practice it, so I doubt it’s actually dangerous.”

I wasn’t totally convinced, but one time probably wouldn’t damage my brain too much. On the other hand that might be a get-out-of-Kim-Possible-shell for free card. I couldn’t refuse the possibility on the remote chance that it might be dangerous. Even better, it would allow me to get out of the stupid shell right now!

“Okay, let’s do it,” I decided. “Ähm, please…” I quickly added. I didn’t think Zoe was a stickler for form, but it couldn’t hurt to be polite if I wanted something. And I really wanted Zoe’s help to deal with my shell.

Her lips twitched. “I can understand… I wish…”

Probably that something like that would have been possible for her too. It was a bit strange though. She seemed to take girlhood pretty well. On the other hand it wasn’t like she had much a choice – well if she didn’t want to sit in a corner and mope all the day. So pretty much the same reason why I went out dressed as a girl – not that I liked it. Maybe it was the same for Zoe.

There was still something I needed to ask her: “Zoe, before you put me under… ähm… I wanted to ask you if you could ask your teacher if repeated use is safe?”

“Sure,” she nodded flopping down on an armchair. “I’d planned to do that anyway.” She raised her eyebrows. “Um… Jan, could you please sit down on the couch?”

Good idea. Putting me to sleep while I was walking tracks in the carpet would make a painful waking up. I followed Zoe’s suggestion and sat down on the couch again. “What now?”

She seemed to ignore me, focusing on something. I was looking curiously at her when my eyelids began to flutter…

***

“Jan? Jan!” something shook me and ripped me right out of Morpheus’ sweet embrace.

“What?!” I said grumpily. Why couldn’t I sleep in peace?

“I just realized a drawback of the ability…” the voice that I now recognized as Zoe sighed.

I opened my eyes and sat up. Apparently I’d slipped into a lying position during my sleeping time.

“How long did I sleep?” I asked with a yawn, worried that the drawback was that I’d be asleep for hours afterwards.

“Five minutes,” Zoe replied. “But now you’re probably tired… which means we can’t really use it during school hours.”

“I’m sure it’s not that big a problem.” I hoped. “It’s been a long day after all.” And I really wanted to get my out-of-shell-free card.

On the other hand it might be a problem if it really rendered me utterly tired. I doubted the teachers would appreciate it. And I wouldn’t either, I had to admit. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of school – it retracted from my gaming time after all – it was better to do it awake and not dead tired. Awake I could at least focus on what was going on. Tired I would just be waiting for the time to pass.

That made me think though. “Ähm… Zoe, do you think I’ve missed much today?”

“I don’t think so,” She shook her head. “It’s probably just been introductions, getting the books and finding out how much the students really know.”

That confused me. “Why would they have to do that?” I scratched the back of my head. “Didn’t we do those placement tests so they’d know what we know?”

“Oh…” Zoe said. “Those… Um… not everyone does them. I think they’re only for students from outside the US and those who want to skip a class or something.”

Okay, that explained it. Obviously they wouldn’t do something like that for everybody. It took a lot of time for me. Americans probably had state controlled curricula too, so it wouldn’t be necessary for the majority.

“Good,” a sigh escaped me. “It would have really sucked if I started with a handicap into the new school year.” Especially if they gave homework… Although I could probably expect they’d excuse my not doing them with today’s events.

Another yawn escaped me and Zoe took that as her clue. “Jan, you seem tired and I kind of need to talk to my girlfriend about our powers-project…”

“No problem,” I smiled. “Have fun with your homework.”

She rolled her eyes. “Suuure… Anyway, you’re alright?”

I nodded. “Only a bit tired, but I guess we can’t do anything about that.” I shrugged. It wasn’t like I’d planned to do anything today so it didn’t really matter. “… Ähm, thanks for helping me. I really don’t want to know how much more I would have changed if the shell had stayed online.”

“Yeah…” she seemed to look into the distance for a moment before she grinned and waved good bye. “See you tomorrow or so…”

“Yes, see ya.” I watched her leave before returning my attention to the campus map displayed on my laptop. I still needed to find the safest ways to get from A to B on campus... and maybe get another meeting with Dr. Bellows. He hadn’t tried to drug me yet and I’d probably have to be careful or I’d really grow a paranoid nutso in this school.

Writing a mail to him was no problem. Figuring out what to tell my parents was. I’d never really wanted to go here, but if my parents knew what had transpired, they’d probably try to pull me out. I’d hoped they would, but I couldn’t really let them do it now. If there really was a prophecy that somehow called for my head, I wouldn’t be safe at home... god, my whole family would be at risk if I went back.

I wrung my hair. What the hell was I supposed to do?

“Jan? You alright?” Lisa interrupted my thoughts of doom and gloom, surprising the hell out of me.

Where had she come from?

“Ähm... yes, I think... I hope,” I said, putting my laptop aside.

Meanwhile Lisa just stood close to the door, eyeing me warily.

“Ähm, is something wrong?” Something definitely didn’t seem quite normal with her behavior. She usually wasn’t so shy. That was my part! “Lisa?”

She looked to the ground as she said: “Um... I wasn’t sure that... you...” she whispered the rest and I couldn’t really understand her. I might have gotten super-fitness - although the ‘super’ part was somewhat relative at Whateley-, but I certainly didn’t get super hearing.

Still... she wasn’t sure I what? It wasn’t like she’d done anything... just campus security being stupid. But I got what she was worried about. “As if you’d poison me personally in the presence of witnesses,” I rolled my eyes. “Sheesh, you’re smarter than that.”

Lisa actually looked surprised for a moment. “Ass.” It obviously didn’t take long. “And I was actually worried...”

“Thanks,” I replied seriously as I stood up. “Look, it wasn’t like someone looking like you shoved a knife in my gut.” I shuddered at the thought. No, my guts were not for stabbing. Or disintegrating.

“Yeah,” my roommate nodded thoughtfully, “that would have been...”

“Awkward?” I asked, finishing her sentence. “Different? Horrible?”

“Obviously worse,” she rolled her eyes, before she went back into her awkward timid mode. “I’m glad you don’t hate me... I thought...”

She’d probably feared I didn’t want to be her friend anymore since someone looking like her had tried to kill me. Or maybe that I didn’t believe the official story and still thought she was responsible. Yeah, no wonder she felt bad. The girl looked like she needed a hug. But was I allowed too? Guys weren’t supposed to hug random persons. Especially random girls. But Lisa was my friend and roommate, so she should be alright. Although… Guys? Considering my looks, did I even count as a guy anymore? Scheisse, social rules were complicated.

“Jan?” Lisa said, pulling me from my thoughts as she waved her hand in front of my face. “Did you just space off?”

I nodded. “ I was just wondering... Is it okay if I hug you?”

“Yes,” Lisa sniffed and suddenly tears began to well from her eyes. A moment later and I found myself in her embrace.

“It’s okay,” I said unsure of the situation. “I’m not angry at you or something.” It was me lately who didn’t have his emotions under control. And now I was here with my crying roommate in my arms. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

“Sorry,” she said, untangling herself. “Here I am dissolving into tears and it is you who’d being targeted by nutters.”

“Yeah…” I sighed. I could understand her though, I’d probably feel the same if I’d been worried that a new friend would suddenly hate me. “Do you need a handkerchief or something?”

Lisa shook her head and pulled one out of her bag. It looked properly chaotic - like my mothers. I never quite got how she managed to put all her crap in there. I always supposed it was really a secret female transdimensional vacuum-compression method, but my mother claimed it was just skill.

It was also skill how Lisa managed to change the topic: “Um... sorry for the waterworks, did I interrupt you, Jan?”

“Not really, no,” I replied. “I was just wondering how I’d explain my parents that someone tried to murder me again without having them pull me from Whateley.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I thought you didn’t want to come here. Why would you want to stay now?”

“I’d like it even less if those nutters blew up my parents house,” I balled my hands to fists. It wasn’t like these were some xenophobes who wanted to drive me off this school. No, they wouldn’t stop until either their organisation was done for or I was pushing up the Daisies. A cynical laugh escaped me. “Here at least I have quick access to a security force and a good hospital...”

Suddenly I found myself being hugged again. It was unusual - I’d never been hugged that much before, most girls in my class would only touch me with a ten foot pole - but I realized I enjoyed it. Maybe that was a perk of girldom, or maybe Americans were just more inclined to hug.

I decided to hug Lisa back. It was a bit weird, but in a nice sort of way.

“God, this sucks so much!” Lisa took a step back and balled her fists like she was ready for a fight. “It’s just not fair.”

I completely agreed with her, but what was I supposed to do? Complain to god - whom I didn’t believe in - for doing such unfair things to me? “I guess I have to deal with it.” I had no choice.

“You’re not alone.” Lisa turned back and faced me with a determined look in her eye. “We’ll come with you. I’ll come with you. If someone tries something funny, they can try to eat lava!” From one moment to the next flames were dancing over her hands.

“Lisa! Your clothes!”

“I got a fireproof shirt, don’t worry,” she replied as she vanished her flames. “Sorry for scaring you... um...”

She apologized a bit much lately. It wasn’t like she’d hurt me or something. “Yes?”

“Eh, I actually came to ask if you wanted to come with us for dinner,” Lisa said, throwing a look towards the door. “I got a bit distracted, I guess.”

I couldn’t prevent myself from raising my eyebrows. “Distracted, huh?” It was good that she thought about me though, I’d have hated it to call security just to grab a meal. “Thanks for thinking about me. Let’s go.”

***

“So, lemme see if I got this right...” John asked, leaning on the cafeteria table as he focused on me. “You got shot at with disintegrator guns by known bullies who’ve apparently been brainwashed by some female supremacist cult who supposedly have a prophecy that says you’re the chosen one to end them?”

“Delarose said it’s probably not a prophecy, but a precog who had a few visions about me. Apparently there was another possibility where I’d help them to world domination…” I shook my head at the thought as I looked around. The cafeteria didn’t look much worse for wear. The crystal spires were in the same condition as they’d been this morning and if the dome had been affected it had either been repaired in the meantime, or it was somehow immune against disintegrators.

“The Femi-Nazis? You?” Susan looked at me as if I’d just walked through the table.

I shrugged. “Maybe they could have pulled a sisterhood of the unshaved armpits thing on me if you all hadn’t been so super nice to me.”

“You mean they could have offered you protection from the enhanced girlification process that is Poe cottage?” Alana said, theatrically shivering at the appropriate moments.

“I guess,” I said, glancing at Lisa and Susan. “Some of us are rather enthusiastic about becoming girls after all.”

I guess it could really have happened if Ayla hadn’t said anything on the first evening. Lisa and I had been on the best way to become worst enemies… And I really wasn’t any good with people. It was impossible that I would have ended up utterly isolated.

“Hey,” Lisa protested. “Just because I’m beautiful...”

I just rolled my eyes at her, before I focused on Alana: “Enhanced girlification process? Did I miss something I really wanted to miss?”

“They’ve been buggering Alana about using warpaint and nail-polish since you’ve been gone,” Hunter said from behind me. For such a big guy he was quite sneaky. He hadn’t been with us for some reason, but considering that he held a loaded tray in his hands, he was probably late.

“Uh, Jan would you mind moving over a bit?” He said, making a motion with his tablet.

“Oh sure,” he wanted to take a seat too, I realized belatedly. “Take a seat, dude.” After moving a bit to the side, I turned back to Alana, “I hope they didn’t manage to convert you.”

“No,” she laughed nervously. “I managed to avoid the mob by using the boys’ shower.”

Oh yeah, she could do that. Transforming between genders whenever she felt like it. I was sooo envious about that. All the advantages of being a girl without being stuck. If she could get her transformation under control that it didn’t randomly trigger it’d be perfect.

“We wouldn’t do that to you,” Susan quickly interjected, calming burgeoning fears of mine.

“But I’m free to be tortured with beauty products,” Alana pouted. “They’re bad for the skin, you know? Too much nail polish makes nails rot.”

“Seriously?” Ashley asked. “Mom just said I should be careful to leave some margin at the edge of my nails.”

“She’s kidding,” Lisa rolled her eyes, while John was mockingly covering his ears.

“I’m not!” Alana protested. “My chemistry teacher said so.”

“He was a guy, right?” Susan inquired.

Alana nodded and Susan just scoffed.

“Um... guys, the stuff really isn’t exactly healthy,” Hunter interjected. “Maybe he was talking about that. I know for a fact that nail-polish-remover is slightly toxic if you inhale it.”

“Could we please change the topic,” John groaned. “Nail-polish was one of those things I thought I’d finally left behind, you know?”

“Good idea,” I enthusiastically nodded. It was one of these things that I didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole. “Where’s Felicia by the way?”

“Up there, with the beauty-Nazis,” Ashley sneered, pointing at the upper platform. “Her Divineness needs better friends than us.”

Ähm… Did I miss something? This sounded like there’d been some seriously hurt feelings.

Hunter sighed and whispered to me “They’ve been at each others throats since this morning. Felicia called her boring and unattractive...”

That really wasn’t nice. Sure, Ashley was kinda unassuming and her genital changer ability was a bit weird, but all of us were in a similar situation. On the other hand it was a fight between girls. I didn’t have that much experience being my new gender, but I did have a little sister. Getting involved in this kind of crap was a bad idea. No. It was time to play dumb.

“And now they’re bitching at each other?” I completed his sentence. “Why can’t they just solve it with their fists?”

“They’re girls?!” Hunter rolled his eyes. “Thanks God, I don’t have to deal with this kind of shit anymore.”

Wow. Someone was already beginning to identify with his newly chosen gender. Great for him, or her - I still wasn’t quite sure what Hunter’s gender really was. He probably wasn’t sure either. Didn’t change the fact that I was now officially recognized as a girl and thus far more susceptible to be involved into this kind of crap. Not that I wasn’t before - the designated school fag was open season for the rumor mongers after all.

“I think it’s not the girl-thing,” Lisa corrected from my right. Apparently she’d listened in on our conversation. “It’s more like Ashley might accidently flatten her.”

“Right,” I nodded. “Ashley is a speedster after all.”

“And she has that electro power going on,” Hunter added. “Not a good thing when you’re angry and want to slap down a squishy.”

Squishy? Seriously? I raised my eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a point after all.

“You’re talking about me?” Ashley inquired. “Obviously, I’d floor that cow.”

“If she didn’t have you crying in a corner,” John mercilessly pointed out. He was right. Projective empathy was a bitch. I’d seen flics on the net… “Anyway,” he raised his voice. “I’m sure she was an ass, but nobody here is interested in a feud.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. Considering Ashley’s very public bitching, she seemed quite willing to start one. I agreed with him though. An idiotic feud would only lead to a split in the group. I’d just made new friends, I didn’t want to lose them to a stupid argument that might require me to take sides. Oh I could see it, the Ashley side sneering at the Felicia side in the showers. Putting rotten food in their bags and stupid stuff right out of one of those disgusting high school TV dramas my sister devoured.

Hunter sighed and nodded. “Yeah, please stop it. I didn’t grow a dick to be caught up in stupid girl-drama.”

“No, that’s why you grew boobs,” Susan said, poking her tongue at my bench mate.

Hunter quickly looked left and right. “Hush.”

“Oops...” escaped Susan. “Crap. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Yes, you weren’t thinking.” Hunter rolled his eyes. “So what happened to Jan today? I heard the strangest rumors...”

Great, this again. Could we please talk about something that didn’t involve assassination attempts on me or teenage girl high school drama?

“Some assholes tried to kill her. They’ve found the masterminds behind it, but those are in no condition to tell anything,” Lisa summed it up. “The masterminds behind the masterminds managed to hide their involvement.”

“Great,” Hunter sighed, looking at me. “Ah... forget it.”

Thanks man... girl... whatever. I really didn’t want to talk about that this moment. Just thinking about it made me paranoid. Made me feel this itch to look over my shoulder, check if someone with a blade was nearing, or just focussing their laser-eyes on my unprotected back. I shuddered involuntarily and my heart clenched. Why me?

Thankfully Hunter and Alana managed to distract me from my disturbing thoughts. Figuring out what epic Quest we should do this evening was enough to check the direction my thoughts were going. Better to think about what kind of virtual monster I would chop up with my virtual penis replacement than what kind of plot would hit me next. GEO was always a good way to get away from uncomfortable topics, even if it raised eyebrows with Lisa and Susan. I snorted. Girls! We’d also get them to play, I was pretty sure. Nobody could resist the awesomeness that is GEO.

***

After dinner we’d returned to Poe Cottage. Since we didn’t really have anything to do our group was hanging out in the Sunroom. The “Boys”, that is John, Hunter, Alan and me were putting up our laptops, discussing what to do in GEO this evening. I was all for going out to discover some ancient ruins or maybe cave systems. There was always the chance evil had set up shop somewhere in remote parts of the Light Regions. Something for us to discover, fight and smite. Alan agreed, but John didn’t like it very much. He’d rather go out to a nearby battleground and directly duke it out with the forces of evil. ‘More fighting and less walking’, as he put it. While Hunter tried to mediate in our argument, I could see that he’d also prefer a straight battle to exploration.

That was when Susan interrupted us: “Guys, can you stop for a minute or so?”

“Sure,” John nodded. “What’s up?”

“Oh, well, it’s about Hunter,” she said, looking at our muscled friend. “I’ve been wondering since dinner: how do you hide your breasts?”

Good question. Hunter had had rather large boobs when we’d met on Sunday, yet when I looked at him now there was only a flat chest behind a very guyish T-shirt. While he’d looked like a big, strong woman on steroids then, now you’d think he was a long haired bodybuilder type of guy.

“Ehe,” Hunter said, looking embarrassed. “It’s like this... power testing said I got a minor magical talent...”

“Cool,” I burst out. My language talent was kind of neat, but getting a super body and some Harry-Potter power... I was a bit jealous actually.

“You already had power testing?!” Ashley interjected, her eyebrows raised in a frown. “How comes you got to do it already? I’m scheduled for December, I think.”

“My advisor had me tested early,” Hunter shrugged. “Said exemplar traits are dangerous and everything over five could easily go messily wrong. Anyway, some magic faculty teacher gave me a rechargeable charm or talisman - I’m not sure what it is really called.” He shrugged again. “I push magic into it and it hides my breasts. I also use a special bra - wouldn’t want someone accidently touch them.” He grinned at us.

Well that explained it. It didn’t explain why he used it though. “Ähm Hunter,” I began. “Say, why are you going around as a guy now? Sunday you looked like an overly muscled girl...”

“Um... why?” He looked confused for some reason. “Didn’t I talk to you already?”

What? No! Did I suffer memory losses on top of everything else?

“Um… guys,” Lisa interrupted the awkward situation. “Jan was still in hospital when we talked about it.”

“Yeah, you brought it up, when we left the hospital,” John added.

“You’re right, she wasn’t there,” Hunter nodded.

“But it was like she was with us in spirit,” Alan added, blowing me a raspberry. “It was an important decision…” he gravely nodded to himself.

“Leute!” I protested. “Ähm.. guys, I mean. What the fuck are you talking about?”

I knew they were probably just teasing me, but it was kind of mean. What had Hunter decided to do and how was that relevant now?

“I asked everyone to help me with a decision,” Hunter said. I just raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. “Well, I could have probably continued as a girl - hide my dick and just dress girly,” he rolled his eyes, “but that’s not really me. Or well not all that is me. I had a talk with Dr. Bellows and he suggested I could just try being a guy.”

“So you just decided to change your gender?” I was confused. “Were you transsexual before?”

He shook his head, “not really. But I was a tomboy.” He grinned at me: “Dr. Bellows said - and I figured he was right - that I could pretty easily and safely test out being a guy here.”

Well, maybe he had a point. I still didn’t quite get why he’d do something like that.

“You didn’t really figure that,” Ashley interjected, “you needed us to help you figure that out.”

“I needed moral support,” Hunter corrected her. “Anyway, I’m kind of between genders. Boy things… girly things… I like some of both. Not everything, but some stuff. I guess I mentioned how boys had things easier,” he shrugged, “and now I can check out the truth myself.”

“People are less willing to help you,” John said. “While it’s kind of cool that people don’t assume you need help all the time, it can also suck. I mean now they assume that I’ll be able to do everything on my own.”

So he’d already found out about the sucky parts of being a guy. I’d actually had the opposite experience at the airport. Guys were actually asking if they could help me. Weird.

“Bollocks... I don’t know,” Hunter said. “I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with the stupid girl drama anymore. No more popularity games...”

“Dude,” Alan interjected. “You don’t seriously believe that.”

“I thought pretty much the same when I could first pass as a girl,” Lisa added snickering. “Oh, how did mom correct me…” suddenly she seemed somber.

Oh yes… her parents had been killed. I’d almost forgotten about that. Fucking mutant hating assholes. However she was probably right. Both boys and girls had their own social games to play. Games where I sucked horribly.

“It’s just more straightforward for guys, I think,” Hunter defended his opinion. “Just who’s best, not who’s the biggest bitch.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but he was probably right. Guys usually showed you a measure of respect if you could kick their ass. At least they left you alone for the day. Girls would just run to the next authority figure to get you into trouble. I had experienced both before. Just have someone throw around some nasty rumors, have people point out strange clothing, good grades and a few peculiar habits and you’re the school fag. One time was enough in my opinion.

And it was supposed to be only worse for girls. They’d made verbal bullying their culture, or so I’d heard. Rumor mongering was a survival skill or something. If you wanted to be on top of the girl-hierarchy you had to be good looking, “normal” and the biggest bitch on campus. That was why I intended to keep myself out of those power plays. I had a group of friends now. I didn’t need to deal with assholes like that more than I actually had to. I had already made more friends than I ever had actually, so I definitely didn’t need to involve myself in that kind of crap.

“...sucks if you aren’t the best,” Alan coolly finished whatever he’d been saying. “I guess that’s not a problem for you… with exemplar powers and everything, but for the average, or less than average guy,” he pointed at himself saying that, “it can be a rough deal.”

I only nodded. Being a guy could also suck. Hard.

“Yeah,” Lisa agreed. “Be careful not to do anything girly.”

Meanwhile Susan shook her head and rolled her eyes at our antics. John didn’t look annoyed for some reason.

“Guys,” he groaned, pushing his face into his hand. “Don’t make the male gender sound horrible. I mean I could tell you stories about being a girl…”

He was right. “Right, sorry,” I admitted, looking down ashamed. “That’s really a bit assholelish of us. Don’t worry Hunter, you’ll do alright as a guy.” I sighed somberly. “Probably better than I ever did.”

Teasing him a bit was okay, but I didn’t want it become bullying. It had also started as teasing with me… No, it was fucking brave of him to try being a guy. I doubted I’d have had his balls in the situation. Not that I had a choice. I was going to be a Kim Possible look alike whether I wanted or not.

“Yeah sorry,” Lisa said, looking unhappy with herself. “You shouldn’t take me too serious. I was transsexual before that happened… I don’t have many happy memories as a guy I guess.”

“Hey no problem,” Hunter said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. “No harm done, Dr. Bellows told me these things already. I think I can deal with them.” He looked at me, and then to John next to me. “So guys, what is it going to be, discovery or battleground?”

“Well, I don’t care,” Lisa decided, standing up, “I’m going to wash my clothes.”

Clothes? Washing?

“Ähm… Lisa, what do you mean with washing?” I felt as if my heart dropped. Ms. Horton had said something like that, did she? But washing? I’d never done that before. I’d just put my used clothes in a basket and mom had just magically made used clothing into fresh clothing. That process somehow involved a washing machine and a laundry dryer, but I certainly didn’t know the particulars of this arcane ritual.

“We need to do our own washing,” Lisa mercilessly affirmed my worst suspicions. “You didn’t really think they’d do that for us, did you, Jan?“

“Well, I hoped…” I definitely wasn’t happy with that. I’d have to waste time washing my stuff when I could be playing GEO.

“Don’t pout,” Lisa laughed at me.

“I don’t pout,” I protested. That was a girly thing to do. I brooded.

“You know Jan, you might want to wash some stuff too,” she reminded me, a gigantic smirk plastered on her face.

“Yes,” Ashley added and blew me a raspberry, “you wouldn’t want to run out of underwear, Jan.”

Pha. I still had my guy stuff... but I couldn’t wear that if I didn’t want to risk outing myself. A sigh of resignation escaped me. “So how does that work? Washing was mom’s and Svenja’s job. Me and dad, we did the kitchen.”

I really didn’t want to make them think I was a spoiled brat. We simply had an efficient work distribution - and I was sticking with that.

“Come,” Lisa grabbed my hand, pulling me up from the couch. “I’ll show you how it works.” I nodded and she added: “Just don’t think I’ll do your washing in the future…”

Well that would have been too good to be true. Anyway, it was a good time to get this done. While I actually had enough underwear to last me a few days, I might run out of socks.

***

^{^[1]} Not a sports school. Germany has a three class school system. The Gymnasium is the highest “class” for the best students. The name is historical.

^{^[2]} German: Cover!

***

AN: I’m sorry that this chapter took so long, but writers block, writing my Bachelor’s thesis and starting at a new university for my Masters has taken up a lot of time and motivation. Still, I guess it’s better late than never.

The first wave of attacks is over, but Jan still has no idea why it really happened. Precognitive powers... I'm almost ashamed of myself to use this plot device. But then it makes a lot of sense in universe and isn't just an asspull. Mrs. Potter invervened with Sara and now she and others intervened with Jan.

In case that you're surprised that spelling mistakes reappeared in older chapters that is because I needed to upload/edit the texts with the finished versions from my harddrive since their formating was apparently broken in one of the server updates.

Thank you for reading my story. I'd be grateful if you could give me some feedback and tell me what you thought about this chapter.

Kudos

Comments

It was nice to see this

It was nice to see this again. Poor Jan, things are still plenty crazy. That chase was nuts but sadly par for the course. Keep up the good work.

Heather

We are the change that will save the world.

Yeah, Jan can't seem to catch

Yeah, Jan can't seem to catch a break. He's pretty much through the worst of the life threatening stuff though. But the sex change is still progressing. Albeit slower.

The chase was pretty hard to write actually. I had most of this chapter written over half a year ago, but the chase didn't work out the way I wanted it to. I spend last weekend to iron out the flaws and I hope it worked out okay.

I'm glad you liked the chapter. Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

Happy

I'm happy you got it finished! Love reading the story.

Yeah, me too. It took a bit

Yeah, me too. It took a bit long.

I'm glad you like my story. Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

I like the viewpoint

of Jan. If I remember correctly there're at lot more mutants in North American so maybe the resistance such as the Goodkinds and Humanity First is more of a presence.

Nice to more!
Grover

It's more that Germans have a

It's more that Germans have a very backassed way to discrimminate. Most people will pretend to be very politically correct, but behind closed doors you'll learn their true opinions. I could imagine that mutants would have a hard time to be employed in Germany, but would have an even harder one to prove anything.

Torches and Pitchforks are rather rare here - thanks goodness. Since Reichskristallnacht is always greeting from the shadows of history after all.

I think the Goodkinds are a major factor in North America. They're a ridiculously powerful company and they're absolutely anti-mutant. That kind of power block supporting bigots really fuels the radicals. I imagine it would be a lot better if they actually supported mutants.

I'm glad you liked this chapter. Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

nice long chapter

gave me time to reacquaint myself with the group.
great chapter, thanks

Yeah... this took a lot

Yeah... this took a lot longer than I had planned. But I guess it's better late than never.

I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

I'm of two minds about this

I'm of two minds about this story, one our main character is determined to be a cynic but on the other hand the saying comes to mind you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you. enjoying the story though definitely keeps you guessing as to what will happen next, I wonder though about the students that approached Jan about trying to stop his changes are they really trying to help or is it another elimination or alteration plot.

Yeah, Jan may be a lot more

Yeah, Jan may be a lot more cynical than justified, but then he's a teenager who had a lot of crap dumped on him.

I won't tell you what's up with the plot to change back, but I can confirm it's a major plotpoint.

I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

Jan's "Problems"

I used to live in Europe, and I may be seeing something that hasn't occurred to Jan's American friends. We make a lot of assumptions based on our heritage, culture, and upbringing, all of which are totally different for Jan than her American friends. Her reactions are going to be different due to her social upbringing. Everybody uses a set of unspoken rules to guide their behavior. There are some differences in the unspoken rules simply because the U.S. is such a large nation, but we generally understand what other Americans do and say.

But poor Jan didn't come from a different part of the U.S., she came from the other side of the world. She grew up with a different set of unspoken rules and behaviors, which shapes her "normal" behavior. Thrust into having her whole world falling apart down to the very foundations of her being, and then being thrown into completely different set of rules, its really a wonder to me that she has been able to hold herself together. Then add in that for reasons unknown people are trying to kill her, it speaks well of her character and inner resilience that she is still able to function. Personally, by this point I'd have gone catatonic.

I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.

A big Amen to everything you

A big Amen to everything you just stated.
Growing up in another country, plus being stationed in several in my own military service, I can fully concur with every word. In the late 1950s, there was the term "Ugly American" bandied around a lot of time regarding how Americans actually treated foreign nationals in their countries.
Too many Europeans for example felt and truly believed that all Americans wanted them to become Americans, rather than Americans accepting people as what they were, French, or German, or Dutch, and so forth.
Sadly in Germany (two separate tours of duty) I saw that played out way too often. I was able to sit back and observe and listen, because I could speak German, Bavarian region dialect; which is where my Father's family background was historically from. It actually served me as well when dealing with GIs, because I was an American, but I could also speak to and for both sides in disputes. Plus being in Law Enforcement kind of assisted that process along as well.
So yes, I too can believe that Jan is indeed looking at things from a European view, and most definitely from a German viewpoint; and even that can be different depending on what section of Germany a person comes from.

Great stuff.

Enjoying this.

Thanks

I'm glad you liked my

I'm glad you liked my story.

Thank you for reading,
Beyogi

Cultural differences

I also spent several years in Germany, was there when the Berlin wall came down and for the reunification. in those days, peoples attitudes towards Americans, and military personnel were vastly different by region. the closer you went towards the Inter-German border and the Czech border, the friendlier the people were. they usually had family trapped in the East, and knew what the price of getting rid of all the Americans would be, even if they were not thrilled with some of the things that came with having foreign troops on German soil. I have fond memories of interacting with the older people in the areas along the border, who vividly remembered the aftermath of the war and who did their best to rebuild Germany, as opposed to what the Soviets did with the parts of Germany they controlled.

The closer to France on went, the more open dislike of Americans became apparent. Not saying that Americans were not at fault, young soldiers in a foreign country for the first time are not the best ambassadors, and the Germans had been dealing with them for nearly 50 years at this point. You didn't travel alone in certain areas, and you better be ready to fight. I witnessed multiple incidents where young German college age men, decided they would like to teach the Americans a lesson, for any number of reasons. It didn't usually end well, when a couple drunken kids tried to harass soldiers trained to fight together responded. This wasn't a normal thing, but it did happen. In general the German people were as friendly as could be expected, and if you took the time to get to know them, they were awesome friends.

There were so many small cultural differences that if you took the time to learn, made the experience of living in Germany more enjoyable. The formality of Germans fit me better than it did a lot of Americans. the habit of Americans being every ones best friend 30 seconds after meeting them is as annoying to me as an American as it is to most Germans, I am sure. Having two forms of the word you "Sie", for strangers, casual friends and co-oworkers, and "Du" for family and very close friends is a good example.

It's been a long time since I lived in Bavaria, and I am sure a lot of things have changed with the new Germany from what I remember.

Do you mean this, Beyogi?

“They’ve been buggering Alana . . . " Really? Literally? Ouch!!!

"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Jan's tale 5 - Aftermath of a missed Assembly

Comments

It was nice to see this

Yeah, Jan can't seem to catch

Happy

Yeah, me too. It took a bit

I like the viewpoint

It's more that Germans have a

nice long chapter

Yeah... this took a lot

I'm of two minds about this

Yeah, Jan may be a lot more

Jan's "Problems"

A big Amen to everything you

Great stuff.

I'm glad you liked my

Cultural differences

Do you mean this, Beyogi?

More like this

Story Stats

The Hatbox

Resource Hotline

TransPulse

Comments

More like this

Story Stats

The Hatbox

User login

Resource Hotline

TransPulse