My Super-powered Diary Chapter 31 Brooke By Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero?

We used the costume maker in Mom’s lab to get measurements for both Hana and Brooke and to produce a set of underclothes and a fairly basic sundress and sandals for each of them from basic materials. Since all the members of 4-Ward were there and the machine had finished the new costumes for them we were able to give them those. We would need to make another one for Hiro/Hana’s Firefly Identity though since she couldn’t really go around calling herself Megaman looking like that.

It took some convincing, but we got them both to agree to let Tasha design costumes for them as well. Brooke had never really considered doing the costumed crime fighting thing while living on the streets, since survival was more important to her, and she hated the costume that she had been forced to wear as a member of Code Pink. Hana, on the other hand, had never really thought to have an official costume for Firefly since she didn’t get to spend much time in that form, but Tasha had some good ideas. Both of their costumes would take several hours to produce, since they would be made from Mithrilex and not basic materials, once they had chosen one they liked.

Hana ended up choosing a basic black bodysuit, gloves, boots, and mask with single thin gold lines circling her arms and legs at an outward angle just below her knees and elbows and a gold firefly symbol on the chest. Tasha was hoping that Mom had a way to make the gold parts glow like Hana’s hair and eyes so she was going to hold off on producing it for now. As for Brooke, her Safeguard costume would be a silver colored bodysuit, gloves, and boots with a hunter green mask and mid thigh length sleeveless tunic worn overtop the bodysuit. The tunic also had silver embroidery along the neckline and hem and a silver knight’s helm displayed on the chest.

While they were going over making clothes and designing costumes I grabbed my cellphone and made a phone call to Dr. Edwards, in her capacity as the school headmistress. Once her secretary had put me through I could hear a slight groan as Dr. Edwards said, “I saw the news. Tell me exactly what happened at Greenhill Mall, was it your doing Merida?”

I gave a nervous laugh as I tried to decide whether we were really at fault or not. “We… ahh… shouldnae really lay blame, bu’ some crazy girls callin’ themselves Code Pink, came tae town lookin’ fer me an’ ma sisters. They were tryin’ tae recruit us fer some organization called the Shadow Syndicate. The leader blew part o’ the roof off o’ the mall an’ Hiro helped tae distract ‘em so people could escape an’ we could ge’ in costume. I wanted tae jus’ hit ‘em ‘ard an’ fast, bu’ Tasha figured out tha’ two o’ them were Cat fives.”

Dr. Edwards let out a long sigh. “Okay, I can see why you decided that you needed the extra protection of the costumes. I assume that you’re not calling me to tell me they got away, I got that from your interview on the news. Since you mentioned Firefly, I assume that one was a high level EM and Hiro took an attack. Who is this Safeguard you mentioned though, I don’t see any record of that codename among the students.”

“Aye, the leader was a Cat five EM, she was generatin’ these pink an’ purple flames tha’ were nearly as ‘ot as when I go plasma. She tried tae kill Hiro bu’ he absorbed the energy an’ changed, though his ID bracelet was destroyed. Safeguard is… well… she was one o’ them, no’ really one o’ them, bu’ she was ‘omeless an’ ‘ad nowhere else tae go. It was ‘er first mission wi’ them ‘an she didnae wan’ anyone ‘urt. She ‘elped us tae stop ‘em, bu’ one o’ them was a teleporter an’ they go’ away leavin’ her ‘ere wi’ us. She’s no’ a bad person, I couldnae le’ the police take ‘er in when she did the right thing, no’ tha’ she didnae try tae convince me. Brooke needs ‘elp no’ tae be thrown in some mutant prison.” I blurted it all out, uncertain of how she was going to react.

“Relax Merida, I probably would have done the same in your place,” the headmistress reassured me. “I’ll want a telepath to check her story and to get as much information as she has on this Shadow Syndicate. I’ll also want powers testing done for her. Bring her to the school and I’ll have someone waiting with a new ID bracelet for Hana and a visitor’s bracelet for this Brooke.”

“Aye Dr. Edwards, we’ll be there soon. I wan’ tae be in on ‘er power testin’ though. I promised ‘er a fight, no holdin’ back, unless she asks me tae,” I insisted.

“Merida, you’re one of the most powerful energy manipulators I’ve ever heard of, you could end up killing her, to survive a full-out fight with you she’d have to have at least…”

“Cat five invulnerability,” I said finishing her sentence for her. “I gave ‘er a full explosive power punch… twice, an’ she doesnae e’en ‘ave a bruise. It’s causin’ her a lot o’ problems actually, she cannae feel anythin’. I think Mom needs tae take a look a’ her.”

I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end before Dr. Edwards’ response. “Once you get here take her to the medical center first. Hana will probably want to see your mother too, so you might as well bring her too. We’ll worry about the interview and powers testing once Blair has looked her over.”

“Aye, we’ll be there as quick as we kin,” I replied. Then I disconnected the call, put my phone back in my purse, and turned to the others. “Okay e’eryone, I’m s’posed tae take Brooke an’ Hana tae the school fer medical tests, an’ then Brooke will prob’ly ’ave powers testin’ an’ an interview too. Ya dinnae all ‘ave tae come if’n ya dinnae wan’ tae.”

“Nope we’re coming Mer,” Vanessa said as Tasha and the twins nodded their agreement. “We’ll be there to support Brooke and Hana.”

“You better believe we will,” Garret agreed for the members of 4-Ward.

“We’re coming too!” Tink put in. “Hana is a good friend and I think Brooke is going to be one too. We fairies stick by our friends, right girls?”

Fawn nodded her agreement, holding out her hand. “Faith…”

“Trust,” Silvermist added as she placed a hand atop Fawn’s.

Then all five Fairies had their hands joined together as they called out, “And pixie dust!”

Lindsey squeed in excitement. “They did the thing!”

Mei seemed to be sizing up Brooke and was whispering to Shu, just barely loud enough for me to hear. “I’m thinking Vidia for her. Do you think we can get Mom to take in Brooke too? I mean there’s already five of us.”

“I dunno,” Shu whispered back with a bit of a pout. “We might have to use the cute factor, but she needs us. She doesn’t have anybody, just like it used to be for all of us. She warned us about Emerald’s acid touch, if she didn’t…”

“Enough girls,” I told them. “We’ll ask Mom aboot it, an’ ‘opefully she’ll agree. Shu, dae ya think tha’ ya kin get us all tae the school entrance?”

“You got it Merida!” Shu replied as the air in the doorway out of the lab began to shimmer. “Okay everyone, the portal is open, just step on through the doorframe and into my dimension.” Soon we had all stepped inside into a vast empty space, where Shu then closed the portal and opened a new one, through which we could see the gates of Pacific Seaside Academy.

I was glad that I had decided to get Shu to create a shortcut for us, despite the fact that we had to wait for almost ten minutes for Garret’s dad to bring the ID bracelets for Hana and Brooke. We probably would have made an odd sight even in Costa Verde with one teenage male werewolf walking down the street with nine girls ranging from twelve to sixteen, five Fairies, and me carrying a tiny pink dragon in my arms. Hana seemed to feel better traveling that way too since it meant that she didn’t have to keep concentrating on lowering her energy output enough that her hair and eyes weren’t glowing.

Once Hana was wearing her new school ID bracelet and Brooke had her guest ID bracelet on, we all headed inside and toward the medical center. I walked straight up to the receptionist’s desk to talk to Cathy, who I had met when Mom had brought me and Vanessa in for examinations the morning that we moved into our new house. “Cathy, is ma Mom busy? I ‘ave a couple o’ possible patients ‘ere fer her a’ Dr. Edwards’ request.”

Cathy looked up from some paperwork to smile at me, her eyebrows rising a bit at the size of our group. “She’s just finishing with a patient Merida, you can take the patients into the med lab to wait for her. I presume that Miss Forrester is one of those patients? You and Fawn may join them for now if they’re okay with that, but I’ll have to ask the others to wait outside for now so it doesn’t get too crowded in there.”

“Aye, thanks Cathy,” I replied with a smile before turning to Brooke and Hana.

Brooke nodded, seemingly a bit uncertain. “I know that you said she’s your Mom, but I’ve never liked seeing doctors, I’d feel better having someone with me.”

“I don’t mind you being there with me Merida, I mean I should have told you about all this sooner, and you are sort of my potential girlfriend. It’ll probably just be blood tests and stuff for me anyway if she needs to do genetic tests. And I might need you to… umm… explain things,” Hana said, looking a bit nervous and awkward.

I led them both into the med lab with Peaches still held in my arms and Fawn riding atop my shoulder. A few minutes later Mom walked in and let out a relieved sigh. “When Cathy tol’ me ya were here, an’ that ya had patients fer me, I was expectin’ someone to be seriously hurt. Nobody looks injured though, so why don’t ya introduce me to yuir friends an’ explain what this is all about?”

I took a deep breath and looked from Mom to my companions before letting out a slight sigh. This could be an awkward explanation. “Mom this ‘ere is Brooke, an’ she was wit’ a group o’ supervillains wot came after me an’ the others. She’s no’ a bad guy though, an’ she ‘as some invulnerability related issues tha’ I’m hopin’ ya kin ‘elp her wit’. An’ this is Hana, though ya ‘ave kinda already met ‘er… as Hiro.”

Mom looked all three of us over for a moment before sighing and rubbing her temples. “This is goin’ tae be a long explanation isn’t it?”

One long explanation later Mom was up to date on not only what had happened at the mall, but also Brooke’s history, her current situation, the unwelcome side effect to the invulnerability, and Hiro/Hana’s issues and fears that there was something wrong with his/her archetype. First Mom took some blood and various other genetic samples from Hana, to be compared with samples from her time as Hiro, and run through various test and a specialized genetic scanner. She also had Brooke pluck one of her hairs for similar scanning since the blonde had yet to find anything strong enough to cut her hair yet. That certainly explained why her hair was tied back in a ponytail and as long as mine at thigh length. Her nails were fairly long too, and ragged looking since she had to chew them to trim them.

“The genetic scans won’t be done ‘til tomorrow or the next day,” Mom advised. “There’s no’ much I can really do ‘til then, so you girls can head off an’ grab some lunch before going to see Alana about powers testin’ for Brooke. I’ll try to figure out if I can find some way to help Brooke’s problem, maybe somethin’ on the tech side o’ things.”

“Aye Mom, thanks fer the ‘elp,” I said as I directed Hana and Brooke toward the door.

I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. “Brooke needs a place to stay?” At my nod she looked thoughtful for a moment. “What do yuir instincts say Merida?”

“I think she needs us, an’ I think she’s a good girl. I’m fair certain tha’ the telepath’s will prove tha’ she’s no’ lyin’. Despite all tha’ she’s been through she wants tae dae the right thing, she was willin’ tae let me take ‘er out tae the cops e’en though she didnae dae anythin’ criminal, because she realized tha’ she was on the wrong side a’ first. It takes a stand-up girl tae dae tha’,” I told her evenly.

“An’ what do the other’s think o’ her? Does Tasha ‘ave any feelin’s about her?” she pressed. She was thinking about helping her, I could tell, she had been since she found out that she was orphaned and had been living on the streets. She wouldn’t have been Blair if she hadn’t been. She just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a bad idea that might bite us in the ass later, and she wanted to make sure that we would all be okay with it if she did choose to take her in.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I honestly told her, “Tasha’s senses tol’ her the same, she didnae wan’ anyone hurt an’ she was lookin’ fer a way out, fer all o’ us. She tried tae protec’ the twins Mom, an’ she tol’ Shu jus’ wot she needed tae hear. She e’en tol’ Hana how tae stop Quartz afore they all escaped. ‘Nessa likes ‘er, the Fairies liked ‘er as soon as they met ‘er, an’ the twins are hopin’ tha’ yuir goin’ tae bring ‘er intae the family. We dae ‘ave tha’ extra bedroom, wot wi’ the twins sharin’ one.”

She let out a sigh, but she was smiling. “I’ll go take Andy out fer lunch and we’ll talk about it, what’s one more mouth to feed after yuirs? I think he’ll be fine wit’ it, an’ if he is I’ll call Tara at the HPP an’ see if we can get her put into ma custody an’ push the adoption papers through like we did with the others. No more strays after this though.”

“Aye Mom, I’ll keep it quiet until ya tell me fer shoor whether it’s a go,” I promised.

“Okay, come by an’ see me after yuir done wi’ Brooke’s testin’ an’ her interview. If it’s a go I’ll ‘ave some errands fer ya to run this afternoon.” She told me before grabbing her purse and leading me out to where the others were waiting to tell Cathy that she was going for lunch.

I suggested to those waiting for me that we do the same before Brooke’s testing and we all made our way together to the Grotto for a bite to eat. Brooke seemed uncertain about loading up her tray, and I thought that she was probably used to just eating what she could scavenge and the buffet at the Grotto could be pretty imposing at first. Vanessa put a hand on Brooke’s shoulder and told her encouragingly, “Go on take as much as you want, there’s plenty to choose from and you’re a student here too, or soon will be. They’re used to hungry students here, just look at Merida’s tray, and she’ll probably still go back for seconds.”

Brooke was looking at my tray, or rather she was staring at the heaping mountain of food atop it. She looked from it, to me and then back to the tray, her jaw looking about ready to hit the floor. “What? How?”

“You broke her Merida, now we have to keep her.” Tasha teased as she patted Brooke on the other shoulder. “She’s an Energy Manipulator Brooke, she has a crazy metabolism. Didn’t Quartz have that problem? It’s pretty common among powerful EMs, or so we’ve been told.”

“I… I never really hung out with any of them,” The tall blonde admitted uncertainly as we all took our loaded trays to the table where Jordyn was sitting and waving at us. “I stayed in the room they put me up in and they had food brought to me. The only times any of them came to visit me themselves were when they tried using their powers on me to see if they could hurt me and when we got the assignment to recruit you.”

“Sounds more like you were their prisoner than their teammate," Garret said with a low growl.

“Don’t worry Brooke, you have real friends now and they won’t treat you that way,” Periwinkle said from atop Shu’s shoulder.

“That’s right Peri, she’s got Fairy friends now, and Fairies are friends for life,” Tink agreed with her sister.

We all placed our trays on the table and were all sitting down as Brooke started to cry. “I… I…don’t…” she blubbered a bit.

The twins glomped her and hugged her tight, not caring whether she could feel it or not, she needed a hug. “We’re here for you Brooke. Don’t think of those pink losers again. You’re part of G-Force now and we’ve got your back!” I wasn’t sure which twin said it, but I was proud of them both.

I placed Peaches beside the plate of food that Fawn put on the table for the small pink dragon. As I did my best to cut it all up into bite sized portions for her I gave Brooke a stern look. “Aye, we go’ yuir back, an’ so does 4-Ward. Right now though, ya need tae eat up, yuir goin’ tae need yuir energy if’n yuir goin’ toe tae toe wi’ me after we eat.”

“Yeah, Merida’s gonna kick your butt,” Fawn added gleefully as we started to eat our meal together. Then she carefully added, “But only until you ask her to stop. She’s not mean and doesn’t want to hurt you too badly.”

Jordyn seemed to take that as the right moment to get a word in. “Hey everyone, so where’s Hiro and who are the two new girls?”

This time Lindsey did the explaining as the rest of us ate. Once she was finished she asked, “Did you bring the box from home like I asked?”

“Wow, and I thought my life was weird when I turned into a four-armed girl, it’s gotten like four times as weird since meeting all of you,” Lindsey’s cousin muttered before nodding in response to the question. “Yup, I brought it, it was the red jewelry box right?” She bent over to start looking in her backpack before producing a small red jewelry box with a lock on it in her lower right hand.

“Yeah that’s the one,” Linsey agreed, taking the box and unlocking it with a key on her keychain. Inside were several rings, identical to the ones that they had given us at the birthday party yesterday. “I’m glad that we got MetalMax to make these in bulk. Here you go Hana, your replacement.” She handed it over to her teammate before pulling two more out and handing one to both Jordyn and Brooke.

Both girls looked at her questioningly and Michelle decided to answer since her girlfriend was just sitting there with a teasing smile. “Well Brooke, you’re with G-Force now and they all got their rings last night at the party, so you should have one too. And as for you Jordyn; Hiro, Garret, Linds, and I were talking about it and we want you to think about being a reserve member for 4-Ward. Your powers may not be much physically until you can form a spirit contract, but we’re all pretty new to this, you’ve got a costume now, and having a Medium could be really useful if we ever run into anything supernatural. Believe you me, that happens more often here than you might think.”

Both girls had grudgingly accepted the rings, and the new positions that came with them, by the time we were all done eating. Then we had to part ways though as the members of 4-Ward all had busy afternoons ahead. Garret had to get home to finish some errands he had been doing for his Mom when his ring activated. Jordyn was helping to set up the spare bedroom at Lindsey’s house, where she would be staying when not in her dorm room. Lindsey and Michelle wanted to make sure that they had all the gear and supplies ready for when we left for our double date the next morning. As for Hana, she needed to go let her Mom know that she was a girl again, before she went home to make sure that she was prepared for the date too. She had gear and supplies to get ready too, and she needed to add girl clothes to the boy clothes she had already packed.

We said our goodbyes and Hana and I shared a quick kiss before we parted company and my sisters and I led Brooke to the Headmistress’ office. Once we were inside the secretary called Dr. Edwards and, instead of asking for us to come in, she came out with a tall bald man with chalk white skin and piercing violet eyes. She approached us with a smile, despite the serious look in her eyes as she looked Brooke over. “Hello girls, I take it that this is Brooke. Welcome to Pacific Seaside Academy Brooke, I’m the headmistress Dr. Edwards and this is Neuron. Before we take you to test your powers I’d like to ask you a few questions. Neuron is just here to make sure that you’re answering honestly and that nobody has done anything to mentally coerce you or manipulate your mind.”

The twins started to object, but Brooke placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Don’t worry, it’s okay, she’s just protecting her students. I was with what I’m pretty sure was an evil organization, and now I’m suddenly on your side. I can get it, I’d probably do the same in her place. I’ll answer as honestly as I can, but they don’t know me well enough to trust me completely, none of you do.” Then she turned to Dr. Edwards and Neuron and looked them both dead in the eyes. “Ask me your questions Headmistress, I am not afraid.”

‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Mediums. Mediums are mutants who kin communicate with ghosts or nature spirits an’/or sense an’ manipulate spirit energy, the energy tha’ souls are made from. There are three gen’ral types o’ Mediums: Channelers, Contractors, an’ Souldancers.

Channelers are the mos’ common type o’ Mediums an’ gen’rally are anywhere from a Cat’gory one tae a Cat three. They cannae sense the spirit energy o’ the livin’, bu’ they kin sense ghosts an’ nature spirit’s an’ kin allow them tae take o’er their bodies fer short periods o‘ time.

Contractors kin sense the spirit energy o’ ghosts an’ nature spirits, but also tha’ o’ the livin’ as well, an’ sometimes manipulate it tae some degree. They are also much more suited tae hostin’ spirts in their bodies an’ kin make contracts with powerful spirits to use their powers, while the spirit’s live in their bodies. These contracts kin be short term or permanent, bu’ the costs fer either kin be high, an’ largely depen’ on the spirit an’ ‘ow well the contract is negotiated. Once made these contracts are bindin’ tae both the Contractor an’ the spirit an’ as proof a mark will appear somewhere on the Contractor’s body ‘til the contract is up.

Souldancers cannae host spirits in their bodies, bu’ they kin sense an’ manipulate spirit energy better an’ more naturally than any other Mediums, sometimes wi’out realizin’ tha’ they’re doin’ it. They kin move souls from one body tae another, absorb spirit energy, an’ some kin e’en send it intae non-livin’ objects tae bring them tae life.

Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Mediums today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Elementals. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.