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Author's Note: Here's chapter 3 of Syryn's Song. Thank you as always to all my readers for the comments, kudos, and thinking that my work is worth reading. Also thanks to the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a wonderfully supportive venue to read and post TG fiction ~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 3: RevolveR

Including Ogre and Scanner there were eight of them in total. Ogre was pointing me out to a tall blond guy dressed all in black with a sword while the others seemed to be watching us and waiting. Aside from those three there was a short guy, barely five feet, with red skin and bat-like wings, a girl in a black bodysuit and hooded cloak, another girl with red hair in a red and gold flame inspired costume, and a guy and a girl who looked similar enough to be twins in matching red and black costumes. “Looks like we have company,” I muttered. “I wonder what it is they want.”

“Probably nothing good,” Riff answered me. “Those jerks are no better than a street gang with super powers. They call themselves H8 and they think they’re better than humans, and most other mutants, and that they should just be able to take whatever they want.”

“That explains Ogre’s attitude on the dance floor,” I agreed. “You guys seem familiar with them; do you think they’re looking for a fight?”

“It’s pretty likely, they would love to brag about taking down two Cat fives, though with them pointing you out to Ronin it’s possible they want to see if you’ll join them. They pulled that with me once they figured out I was Category five,” Starbright put in.

“I guess we better be ready to fight back then. What can you tell us about them?” I asked the Japanese light wielder.

“Ronin has Cat three speed and agility and likes to think of himself as some sort of samurai, frankly that’s insulting to my people,” she grumbled before moving on to tell me about the others. Ogre is big dumb and strong and his skin can deflect small arms fire, from what I’ve heard. Scanner is useless and not much of a threat. The red one is Imp, all he really does is fly and annoy people. The twins are called Micro and Macro she can shrink and give the mass she loses to her brother causing him to get bigger and stronger. I know from experience that they both need to be awake for their powers to work though so if we knock one or both of them out they aren’t a big problem.”

I nodded as I started trying to come up with a plan in case things got ugly. “What about the last two girls?” I asked.

“The one in black is called Tendril and she has some sort of black energy tentacles. The other is Pyra and she’s probably the biggest threat aside from Ogre and Ronin. She can fly and I heard Scanner say once that she’s a Category four pyromorph and pyrokinetic.”

“Eight against six, I don’t know if I like those odds, since you and I are the only ones with much in the way of offensive abilities,” Twilight said with a frown.

“Actually it’s eight against five,” I replied. “Blake, if a fight starts go find some cover while we deal with it. Twilight I want you to take down Ogre first, hit and run tactics, keep him off balance. Riff, if you can get your forcefield to work, keep Ronin occupied while I keep Pyra entertained. Star and Decibel, when I give the signal I want you to open up with a sonic shout and a flash bang; so everyone else be ready to close your eyes, cover your ears, and hit them hard and fast. Everything else we’ll have to play by ear.”

Starbright nodded. “Sounds like a plan, what’s the signal though?”

“You’ll all know it when you see it,“ I replied as I noticed the group walking toward us. Either they were tired of waiting for us or they wanted to make an offer like Starbright thought. Since they weren’t attacking outright I was going to assume that it was the latter.

Ronin walked right up to me while his cronies followed a few steps behind. “Ogre tells me you refused his invitation to dance, which was pretty rude of you.”

“It wasn’t exactly an invitation,” I retorted, “And he’s not really my type. I don’t go for the whole Neanderthal thing; we’re more evolved than that.”

“Yes we are, aren’t we,” he responded with a grin. “Much more evolved than normal humans. They’re a dead end, it’s survival of the fittest and we are so much more fit than they are. Why should we allow ourselves to be treated as second class citizens when we’re the ones who should rule them? You know they’ll never accept you looking like you do, so join us and you can take whatever you want.”

“I don’t take what I want, I earn it. If you think we’re better than regular humans, maybe you should prove it by acting better. Just taking what you want without earning it makes you a common criminal.”

“We have earned it, simply by being what we are,” he said with a frown. Apparently something I said had cracked his composure a bit. “You could be powerful with untold riches and whatever else you want.”

“I’m already powerful, that’s exactly why you want me,” I stated. “You wanted Star for the same reason. Not everyone is like you though. We don’t want riches, we don’t want power and you can’t buy or steal what we want most.“

I could see shock and anger warring for dominance over his face. “I’m giving you one last chance you blue bitch, if you’re not one of us, then you’re our enemy.” The others of the group started moving menacingly forward,

I frowned at that, and I gave him a real good look at my middle finger as I said, “Bite me.” Then I shielded my ears telekinetically, closed my eyes tight and mentally prepared myself for a fight. I could see the flash even with my eyes closed and my ears were ringing even though they were shielded. Once the flash was over I opened my eyes to see Twilight disappear into the shadows behind us and reappear from Ogre’s shadow to deliver a punch that staggered the large mutant and made a sound like a thunderclap.

Twilight wasn’t the only one who leaped right into action. There was a green glow around Riff that seemed to flicker for a moment before it became steady and he tackled Ronin. Starbright and Decibel both headed right for the twins and I could have sworn Star was smiling in satisfaction when she decked Micro. I quickly turned on my anti-gravity belt and started gathering small stones off the ground with my telekinesis to pelt Pyra with. She turned to glare at me as she rubbed a spot on her forehead that I had hit, so I assumed that her vision was clearing as she screamed, “You bitch! I’m going to burn you to a crisp!” Her whole body erupted into flames.

“You’ll have to catch me first,’ I said with a reckless grin as I flew off. Antagonizing a human flamethrower probably wasn’t the best idea of my life, but I needed to keep her from hurting the others. I could use a telekinetic shield to keep the flames off me, but even Twilight with her burn resistant skin and healing might have a problem if Pyra decided to unload on her. She took the bait and flew right after me.

I wove through the air, narrowly avoiding her attacks and keeping up a shield to defend myself against what I couldn’t avoid. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this up though, it was taking a lot of concentration to fly at a decent speed, maneuver, and keep up the shield. She was also fast, and while the shield was keeping the flames that she was hurling from touching me, I was starting to get pretty hot and that could be a distraction. My biggest advantage was that in the air she was all speed. She couldn’t seem to turn worth a damn at those speeds, and her focus was on me alone. I needed to use my surroundings to my advantage, but how? We were up in the air between the harbor and where the main fight was happening. The others had their hands full, though Twilight seemed to be more than holding her own against ogre.

Then I grinned as an idea struck me, I just hoped my best friend would catch on quick enough to make it work. I moved down to ground level and made straight for the pair with Pyra hot on my heels, putting everything I could spare into my flight as I shouted, “Twilight! Batter up!” She turned to look at me approaching and then she seemed to catch my meaning as she caught a punch by Ogre and used his momentum to pull him off his feet and swing him around. I quickly focused on going straight up before I reached them, but Pyra, who didn’t have my maneuverability, couldn’t turn and flew right into the trap as Twilight used Ogre to knock her deep into center field.

I could smell burnt skin and Ogre was screaming, but I didn’t have time to wait around as I tore after Pyra. She was just where I was hoping she would be, above water, and while she was still trying to catch her bearings I delivered a telekinetic blow that knocked her straight down into the drink. If my theory was right, she superheated the air around her to fly and if she was in the water she wouldn’t be able to generate the flames to do that. I dove in and smiled at her, “Nothing like a nice cold drink when you’re feeling hot is there?”

“You fucking bitch! If I can’t burn you I’ll fucking drown you!” she screamed grabbing me by the shoulders.

“You’re welcome to try, but you’ll be at it a while,” I replied coolly. “I can hold my breath a long time.” I didn’t say anything else as I hit her with a telekinetic blow hard enough to knock her out and flew us both back toward the battle, where I unceremoniously dumped her on the ground on the shore as I assessed the situation from a distance. It would seem that my idea had worked for both of us since Twilight had left an unconscious Ogre behind to see who needed help. Neither Ronin nor his sword could seem to harm Riff but he also was too fast and agile for Riff to do much more than keep taking blows. She was about to go assist him when suddenly Guardian appeared out of thin air and with a single touch Ronin fell to the ground unmoving.

The twins were down and Decibel was all over Scanner. I could hear the blows from where I was but I figured that that was due to Decibel increasing the volume of the impacts rather than any great strength, Imp was trying to attack Starbright but he seemed to be fighting six of her and wasn’t sure which one was the real one. Again Guardian appeared; taking both Imp and Scanner out of the fight as well and I quickly looked around wondering where the other one went. Did she run off? I got my answer when I felt cold tendrils start to wrap around my legs, arms, and throat. “Let’s see you fly your way out of this,” a voice from behind me spoke.

I couldn’t see her to attack her and the tentacles seemed to be holding me in place and keeping me out of striking distance. I couldn’t seem to affect the tentacles with my telekinesis either and we were too far away from the others for my liking. I barely had time to take a breath and I was worried that it wasn’t going to matter much if she managed to crush the air out of my throat as my vision started to get blurry. I began to panic. Crush… my throat… No! I would not lose everything a second time. I lashed out with my powers, a concussive wave of telekinetic energy that sent everything not bolted down within thirty feet of me flying, including Pyra and my new assailant. I heard a shriek as the tentacles vanished and once the dust settled I turned around to face Tendril.

She had been launched a good forty feet away and was getting unsteadily to her feet as I floated toward her. My attention was so focused on Tendril that wasn’t even consciously aware of the cyclone of sand, large stones, broken glass, litter, and various other junk forming and growing around me. Nearby lamp posts began to shudder as the telekinetic storm intensified and I glared at her. She looked terrified and I could see that there were some massive bruises already beginning to form on her face as I got closer. “No… please… don’t kill me.” she tried to back away from me and tripped over her own feet.

Kill her? What the hell? Then I realized just what was happening around me and that I must look pretty damn frightening at the moment. But I would never kill someone with my powers; at least I wouldn’t when I was in control of them. I had just lost that control though, and it took me several minutes before I was able to focus my thoughts and figure out what exactly was happening let alone get control of whatever it was I was doing. My telekinetic tantrum had been growing more powerful by the second and I knew that I was only just touching the surface. I reached out with my mind trying to still each object but there was just too much of it, I couldn’t focus on all of it.

What do I do?! I was starting to panic again and even in my current state of mind I knew that was not going to help matters. My thoughts were as wild and uncontrolled as whatever it was I was doing. I tried to shake it all off and focus on one of the techniques Tessily had taught me for meditation and mental control, carefully calming my thoughts and emotions, putting them in order, and taking deep breaths to steady myself. As I began to calm so too did the storm and before long everything that had been swirling around me dropped harmlessly to the ground. So far in my sessions with Tessily I had been holding back, uncertain of how strong I was and not wanting to hurt her, but if this was any indication of what it would be like when I lose control then I knew I needed to work twice as hard to master both my mind and my powers. Tendril was scared of me… my powers, and now so was I. I didn’t want this to ever happen again.

Tendril managed to get to her feet and ran for all she was worth. I stood there for a moment alone before Guardian’s deep voice spoke from behind me. “Do you have this under control or do I have to paralyze someone else?”

It was pretty evident that he wasn’t talking about Tendril and I managed to give him a nod. “I’m good. Thanks for your help with the others.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” he replied. “I would have helped sooner but some friends of these ones were causing trouble inside. Prodigy came and told me what was happening, but you and your friends had it mostly handled when I got out here. That was a pretty impressive display of power, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay now,” I replied as he walked with me back to the others. “I just panicked a bit and lost control. You were pretty impressive yourself. What exactly was it you did?”

“I’m a teleporter and I can temporarily paralyze people by touch, it comes in handy in this line of work,” he said.

“I would imagine it does,” I agreed as we joined the others. “Why did you believe Prodigy? We could have been the ones who started it, and it’s not like you were here to witness it.”

“It could have something to do with the fact that I’m the one who pays him,” Prodigy answered for him.

“Well I guess that does make sense… wait, what?” I replied as I turned to stare at my young inventor friend.

“Last year I was talking to some friends and we were discussing how stressful being a mutant is with all the physical changes, powers, and our lives turning upside down,” he began to explain. “Mutant youths need a way to let off some steam more than just about anyone else on the planet, but more importantly they need to be able to do it in an environment where it’s okay to be a Hyper, where we can all be ourselves and be accepted for that. So I decided to do something about it and I thought what better way to let off steam than by going to a party, one that celebrates our differences and only other mutants are invited.”

“You’re the one who started the Freak Show?” Starbright asked, staring at him.

He nodded with a big grin pasted on his face, “Who better than me? I’m the last person anyone would suspect of putting something like this together, I have tons of money to throw around, and I could invent all the gear to set up the weekly parties and make sure that only mutants could get in. I needed a public face though, to book locations, set up the equipment, and make sure the party doesn’t get out of hand. Guardian used to be my bodyguard until I moved to our current safe house, and I knew I could trust him to handle anything that needed to be done, so I hired him to do the security and the legwork that I couldn’t.”

“I’ve moved all of the trouble-makers onto the no entry list Sir,” Guardian advised. “They won’t be showing up again.”

“Thanks Guardian,” Prodigy replied before turning back to us. “Please don’t let anyone know about my connection to this. The Freak Show works better if nobody knows who’s really in charge and the local mutants need this.”

“Tell me about it,” Riff agreed. “This is the only time all week that I can be myself without worrying if my force field is suddenly going to activate in public and out me. Starting up a band with other mutants sounds like a good idea to though, I can do what I love with no pressure to try and keep my powers hidden. I hate not having any control, this probably won’t turn off until I sleep tonight,” he added, indicating the green glow around him.

I blushed a deep lavender color. “I’m… ummm… learning control, but I’m obviously not as in control of my powers as I thought, I’ll have to train harder.”

“What happened there?” Twilight asked in concern. “I’ve never seen you use so much power before.”

“Tendril was crushing my throat and it reminded me of what happened before I activated, when my voice was taken from me. I kind of lost it. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I saw how terrified she was of me,” I replied, looking down at my feet in shame.

“It’s okay, we all lose control sometimes,” Starbright said as she hugged me. “I know what it feels like to worry about losing control and hurting someone. I’ve always been afraid to explore the full scope of my power so I mostly just keep to my little light shows and party tricks. I think the important thing isn’t that you lost control, but that you realized that and stopped yourself.”

“I think Tess would be proud of you Syryn,” Prodigy put in. “And Guardian may have come in to finish things but the five of you worked pretty well together and held your own despite being outnumbered, you made a good team.”

The way that he stressed the last word I was suddenly reminded of the other reason we had come to the Freak Show. I took a deep breath as I looked over the three other mutants we were considering for our band. We had worked well together, they seemed to be good people, and they all seemed to need training as bad as Twilight and I did. Also Prodigy seemed to think they might be a good fit. Finally I said, “Speaking of teams, I have an offer to make that I think might be very good for all of you.”

We spent a lot of time over the next few weeks getting to know Starbright, Riff, and Decibel better. Despite the fact that they had only known us a couple days, they helped me to plan a surprise party for Twilight’s birthday. Overall the three of them were all good people, with whom Twilight and I didn’t have any major personality conflicts with, and who we enjoyed spending time with. They fit so well into the band. Liberty and the other members of Aegis thought that they were good choices for our team as well. After two weeks they were all accepted into the program and moved into the apartment complex so we could all be closer for band practices, and so they’d have a nearby place to crash once Blackout was done putting them through an exhausting day of combat training.

After my loss of control outside the Freak Show, I asked Tessily to intensify my own training so we were spending even more time together for those two and a half weeks, while Blackout was seeing what the others had to work with. I was determined to never let something like that happen again and poured everything I could into mastering the mind focusing and meditation techniques in the pool. She kept adding more and heavier objects for me to manipulate at once and she wasn’t just having me hold them in place but move them in various ways; spinning some, hurling others at targets, and moving others in an orbit around me in an attempt to create a shrapnel shield, as I jokingly called it. Sometimes she had me attempting all three at once.

I was content to focus on the mental stuff, but Tessily was pushing me harder on physical combat too. I was adjusting well to the fighting style of her people with the odd form of hand to hand combat and using the terrain to my advantage. She said that with my abilities teaching me to use a bow would be redundant, but she did start training me a lot harder on the sword form her people used. Eventually at the end of those two weeks while we were going at it with practice swords I asked why. The Sidhe princess said, “There may come a time when you cannot rely on your powers or you may face someone of equal power who carries a weapon. Having a weapon of your own and being proficient in the use of it gives you an advantage you would not otherwise have.”

“I guess I can see that, but I’m not so sure that I like the idea of cutting someone in half,” I replied as I barely parried her thrust.

She smiled at me, “Sometimes it is hard to not think of you as one of my own kin. My people wish only to preserve life and we only ever take it when there is no other recourse. A true warrior fights to defend the weak and will strive to disarm and disable the enemy rather than slicing them open. I regret that there are no proper smiths in this era to forge a weapon you would be deserving of. Perhaps young Blake could help with that? I shall ask him. Let us stop for the day, I know you are eager to get cleaned up and sing with the others and I am reminded that I have other matters I must ask young Blake about.”

I was curious, but I figured that whatever it was it probably wasn’t any of my business, so I went back up to my apartment and hit the showers. Once I was clean again and had shaved the pink stubble from my legs and underarms I let Leslie have the shower, patted myself dry, and stepped into a skimpy pink satin bathrobe. The others were probably done their own training sessions by now and I wanted us to practice In the Shadows and the new song we were working on. We all played pretty well together, but we were still getting a feel for one another and the mix of music styles we wanted to devote our time to. Red Prophesy had been hard rock and going from that to gothic rock, alternative, and electric rock was a bit of a change for me. I was eager to do it, but I still had to figure out how to best use the nuances of my new voice for those styles.

I thought briefly about my new friends and band mates as I started to dry my hair. Decibel, or John Edwards, was mostly a quiet guy, possibly because he was nervous about unintentionally doing something with his powers. He was starting to relax more and more around us though and I quickly discovered that he was intelligent, loyal, and he tended to put his friends needs before his own. He was the kind of guy a person could be lucky to call a friend.

They say opposites attract and with him and Starbright it couldn’t be truer. Where John was quiet and introverted, Mai Tanaka was an extreme extrovert. She loved to party and was very social, always happily chattering with me and Twilight. She was impulsive and, like her powers, she was flashy and I was worried about that being a problem, but she was extremely professional with anything band or team related and a lot of fun in all other aspects, though she did have tendency to play practical jokes.

Then there was Riff. Ian Smith was a great guy and as I got to know him I thought that in my past life we could have been best friends. There were times that I thought he might want to get to know me as more than a friend but he would quickly pull away and it was confusing the hell out of me. It was probably just wishful thinking on my part. As much as I tried to deny it those first couple days getting to know him, I was extremely attracted to Ian. I still got tongue tied around him and he probably thought I was some kind of idiot. Why would he be interested in me anyway? As freaks go, I‘m pretty much the freakiest, my powers are downright terrifying at times, I can’t even seem to speak properly around him, and he knew I used to be a guy.

I wondered if I had made a mistake in being so open with my new friends about my past. The point was to not hide from my band mates so I wanted to be completely honest about myself with them, so I had told them everything. They all seemed to take it well and Mai took it as a personal challenge to help Leslie make me as girly as possible. That was when Riff started doing his getting close and backing off thing though, so yeah he was probably weirded out by the fact that I used to be a dude. I was getting a good self-pity trip going when I heard the intercom for the front door of the building buzz.

Anyone who buzzed the intercom wouldn’t be in on the secrets in this building so I quickly put on my second skin pendant and wrapped a towel around my hair before going to answer the intercom. “Hello?”

“Hi I have a package here for a Candy…” the male voice paused. “I’m sorry to bother you miss; this must be some sort of joke. But I have a candy-gram here and it says it’s for a Candy Graham.”

I groaned at that and resolved to get Mai back later. “That would be for me, I’m Candice Graham. Come on up.” I pressed the button to let him in and a few moments later there was a knocking at the apartment door.

I opened the door to see a cute blond guy with blue eyes and dimples holding a large box of chocolates. His eyes widened as he saw me dressed in only a skimpy bathrobe, towel turban, and my pendant and I was pretty sure he liked what he saw. “Y-you’re Candy Graham?”

“That’s what it says on my birth certificate,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “Sorry, you caught me just getting out of the shower.”

“N-no problem. Sign here please,” he said handing me a clipboard. He gave a nervous laugh, “The things some people name their kids huh?”

“I prefer to think that she was completely ignorant of the connection at the time,” I muttered as I quickly signed for the box. Once it had changed hands the delivery guy took one last look at me before walking down the hall to the elevator and getting inside. I could hear Mai giggling from the doorway of the apartment she and John shared as I looked down at the card.

My lovely Siren,

This candy could never be as sweet as you. I can’t stop thinking about you, your beauty drives me wild and your voice when you stutter makes my heart soar. Let’s make beautiful music together.

Ian

“Mai!!!” I shouted as I stormed down the hall not caring at all about my current state of dress.

The Japanese mutant’s head peeked around the corner of her door frame as she tried to look innocent. “Oh, hi Candy, you bellowed? Is it time for practice already? You really should get dressed first.”

“You know damn well what this is about!” I snapped, holding up the box.

She pretended to read the card. “Oh, a gift from Ian telling you his true feelings? Scratch getting dressed, you should go knock on his door right now and let your passions take hold. That’s totally what I would do.”

I could feel my anger start to take hold and it as taking all the mental discipline I had to not lose control with my telekinesis or empathy as I yelled, “I’m gonna… I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but you’re not going to like it one bit!”

Ian’s door opened, “Whoa, what’s all the screaming out here?”

“Why don’t you ask Mai? Or maybe you should just see for yourself.” I said, handing him the box and attached card.

He read it and his face turned pale, “Mai did you? Not cool! What were you thinking?”

Mai crossed her arms, frowning at us both. “I was thinking that two of my close friends were obviously into each other and that both of you were too scared to do anything about it. So I decided you needed a push. Come on you two, when you’re in the same room you couldn’t cut the sexual tension with a chainsaw. You need to get a room, or at least go on a date. Candy, anyone can see you’ve got the hots for Ian, you can barely even speak properly when you try to talk to him about anything that isn’t band or team related!”

“So you do this?! You try to push me into doing something when there’s no way he’s interested in me?!” I screamed back, gripping the box tightly.

Ian looked like he was about to add something to that when he suddenly turned and gave me a confused look. “Why wouldn’t I be interested in you?”

I returned his confused look with one of my own. “I… uhhh.. can think of a bunch of reasons, like… umm… the fact that I used to be a guy. You keep looking like you're… ahh… attracted to me and then you back off.”

He shook his head. “That’s what you think? I didn’t want to push you into anything you weren’t ready for, I know if I suddenly became a girl I wouldn’t want to be rushed into dating some guy I hardly know. I couldn’t even be sure if you like guys that way now. I never knew you as a guy, I’ve only ever known you like this, and you’re a girl now… a really attractive one… and you’re… umm… not wearing any clothes.” He swallowed as his eyes seemed riveted on my barely covered chest.

I could feel myself blushing as I dropped the box and turned to run back to my apartment. I didn’t stop until I was in my bedroom. I was lying on my bed when there was a light tapping at my door. I didn’t respond, but that didn’t stop Mai from coming in and sitting on the bed beside me. “I’m sorry Candy. That was really stupid of me. I just wanted you both to get over whatever was holding you back and admit that you’re into one another. I thought with the candy-gram we could all get a good laugh about it later. I just didn’t think you would be wearing that and that it would be so awkward.”

“Awkward doesn’t begin to cover it,” I muttered. “I probably shouldn’t have taken it so personally, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.”

“I know, I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” she said as she leaned over to hug me. “I’ve known Ian for a while, he really likes you and he would never push you into something you don’t want to do. I haven’t known you long, but we have so much in common and you’re one of the sweetest people I know. I think you would be good together and I wanted to see you both happy, but you were both hesitating. Being a Hyper you have to learn to snatch up whatever happiness you can find, it makes the rest of the shit we have to go through more bearable.”

“You really think he likes me?” I asked uncertainly.

“Is your skin blue?” she replied with a faint smile. “Of course he likes you, and if he wasn’t attracted to you just now in that getup there’s something wrong with him. So here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to find you a really sexy outfit to wear for practice and dammit, if he doesn’t ask you out you’re going to ask him.”

“How did you manage to talk me into this again? I’m pretty sure I’m still upset with you,” I grumbled as I looked in the mirror. I was wearing a pair of tight white denim shorts that might as well have been painted on and a white crop top that barely contained my chest, showed a large amount of cleavage, and left most of my midriff bare.

“I’m very charismatic,” Mai retorted with a grin. “You’ve got to admit that outfit is perfect though.”

“How is this perfect? I look like… I’m not sure what I look like.”

Leslie had joined us to help us pick out an appropriate outfit and responded with a grin of her own. “You look like you’re wearing a relaxed look for practice but it’s carefully orchestrated to show as much skin as possible at the same time. This might not be good for practice though. I don’t know if Ian will be able to concentrate with you looking like that.”

Mai giggled, but shook her head. “Ian’s a professional, he won’t let it affect his performance, but before and after Candy will be sure to have his undivided attention.”

“I’m not sure if I can do this… ask him out I mean. You know how I get, and being nervous isn’t going to help,” I said, pulling at my top.

“This is no worse than facing down H8 or performing in front of a bunch of people, you just need to relax,” Mai encouraged me as we left my room and headed toward the one bedroom apartment that Blake was turning into a practice and recording studio for us.

The guys were already there waiting and when Ian saw me I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. He quickly stood up from the couch he was relaxing on and held out the box of candy from earlier. “Uh… Hey girls, Candy you look great. You sorta dropped this earlier and I thought you might want it back.”

I took the box uncertainly. “Umm… thanks…” Dammit I knew I was going to sound like an idiot, but I decided it was probably just best to get it over with so we could both focus on practice. “I was… uhhh… thinking. Would you like to… umm… hang out some time? You know, just… you and me… kind of like…ahhhh…”

“Like a date?” he asked. “If you… err… think you’re ready for that I’d love to. We could get some dinner and catch a movie or something on Saturday.”

He said yes?! What the hell do I do now? We didn’t cover this! I thought in a panic before managing to repeat, “Saturday? Oh yeah, Saturday is… uhhh… great.”

“Thank God that’s out of the way,” Mai said with an exaggerated sigh. “Maybe now we can get some practice in.”

I couldn’t agree with Mai more. It was such a relief to get that out of the way and not have him reject me. I put the box of chocolates on the coffee table and quickly busied myself making sure that my mic was set up properly.

“So, now that you’re going to try dating, am I still going to be hearing about how great Candy is all the time or are you going to be capable of having normal conversations again?” John teased Ian as they made sure their own instruments were ready to play.

“So we’re trying that new song today right?” Ian asked in an obvious change of the subject, causing everyone to start laughing.

Once we were all ready to go we went through In the Shadows five times to get ourselves warmed up and to work out the timing. Then Leslie and I started handing out the drafts of the other song we had been working on. Moving On was another Gothic rock song but with a slightly less haunting melody than In the Shadows.

Ian, John, and Mai all started in on a slow and steady melody, setting the pace before Leslie joined in on her organ, punctuating the rhythm as the song began to speed up and I added my voice to the mix.

I trusted you to hold me tight
To keep me safe within your arms
You disappeared into the night
Ripped out my heart, left only scars
You tried to turn it all around
By accusing me of treason
Your heresy the only sound
Your every word is poison

I carried that last word of the first verse in my voice, shouting it out with a mix of pain and sorrow. If there’s one thing we mutants know its pain, rejection, and betrayal by those we thought were closest to us. The melody slowed and the strains of the organ became softer making way for bass, guitar and the steady beat of the drums as I softened my voice, projecting sadness as we eased into the chorus with something like hesitation.

Hell is a long way down
And I’m sure you’ll find your way
Don’t let me stop you now
I should have known you’d run away
Look at me and see your lies
I am the truth you cannot face
Your craven heart I so despise
I’m moving on past your disgrace

My voice dripped with disgust as I sang those lines and held that last note. Once again the tempo increased as the organ came to the forefront and I let my voice become harder again, tinged with hurt and betrayal.

I must admit you got me good
A betrayal I could not forsee
And though I didn’t think I should
I bared my soul for you to see
You had me fooled and I believed
That you could really love me
‘Twas you who made the choice to leave
Was meant to hurt but set me free

I softened my voice, closing my eyes and letting hope slip in as I sang the last note and the music started to slow again as we slipped into the chorus.

Hell is a long way down
And I’m sure you’ll find your way
Don’t let me stop you now
I should have known you’d run away
Look at me and see your lies
I am the truth you cannot face
Your craven heart I so despise
I’m moving on past your disgrace

There was less disgust and more resignation as I finished the chorus this time. And as we entered the next verse the music and my voice became louder, harder and more insistent than any of the verses before while not straying from the original music. It was like musically saying we’re here, so deal with it.

Oh I don’t cry about it now
I’m better off without you
I think I’m ready to allow
Myself to try to love anew
I don’t need you anymore
I’ve shed enough tears for you
About time you know the score
It’s over now and we are through

I shouted out that last line and instead of carrying the note this time I ended it abruptly and letting the strains of the organ and steady strumming of the guitar rule until the music once again slowed and softened into the chorus. But, where the first time the chorus was meant to sound hesitant, now it was steady and sure.

Hell is a long way down
And I’m sure you’ll find your way
Don’t let me stop you now
I should have known you’d run away
Look at me and see your lies
I am the truth you cannot face
Your craven heart I so despise
I’m moving on past your disgrace

I let my voice softly fade as the music went on. The melody of the chorus repeated and faded a bit more with each repetition until the room was silent. With the song complete I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone. It had been vibrating for a few minutes and as tight as my shorts were it was very hard for that not to be distracting for me. Thank God for elven mental focus techniques.

I held up my phone, letting the others know that I had a call. It was from an unknown number but I merely shrugged and hit the button to receive the call. “Hello?”

“Hi Candy?” asked a familiar voice.

“Yes, who am I speaking with?” I replied.

“It’s Smog from the hospital. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Dr. Park for your number.”

I smiled as he identified himself, “Hi Smog, I thought I recognized your voice. I don’t mind you having this number, Leslie and I have really been missing you guys. What’s up?”

“We miss you too,” he responded with a sigh. “Taser and Armor say hi. We were listening to a webcast about the music scene here in New Haven and I think you really need to hear this. Are you near a computer?”

“Sure, the computer we’re going to use for music mixing is in the other room. Hold on a moment.” Leslie gave me a questioning look and I motioned for her and the others to come with me. “Smog says he was listening to a webcast about the New Haven music scene and there’s something I really need to hear.”

We all sat in front of the music mixing computer and I opened up a web browser window. Smog gave me the address and I typed it in and he directed me to the ink for the webcast in question before apologizing, “Sorry Syryn, but I have to go, my mom’s going to kill me when she sees the long distance charges for this call.”

“Okay Smog, it was nice hearing from you, hopefully we can talk again soon.” He disconnected the call and I put my phone back in my pocket as I clicked on the link for the audio file of the webcast.

The webcast was fairly dry talking about some of the good local bands, some of them I was even familiar with. Then I felt all the color drain from my face as the hostess said, “And now I’d like to introduce today’s special guest, he’s the front man for Red Prophesy, Alex Collins.”

“Thanks Becky, it’s good to be here,” Alex responded smoothly while Leslie quickly took my hand in hers and gave a reassuring squeeze.

“So Alex, two months ago your group was really starting to make a name for yourselves locally, but after what critics called a disappointing performance at Club Tartarus on May 31st you dropped out of sight. What was the reason for this and what’s next for Red Prophesy?” the hostess asked.

“Our performance at Club Tartarus was a disappointment to us too Becky. None of our heads were in the game that night. Our former lead singer, and my best friend, Ken Graham was in the hospital and died shortly after that and I had to suddenly try to fill his big shoes. The loss of Ken hit us all pretty hard there for a while and now we’re trying to get back to the music. We’ve already signed up for the Battle of the Bands in New York City this August, and we’re dedicating this run to Ken. He was always hoping that we’d make it big someday and we’re going to do our best to make that dream come true, for him.”

I couldn’t listen to another word I stopped the audio file, clenching Leslie’s hand tightly with my other hand. “That son of a bitch! He took everything from me, and when he thinks I’m dead he still tries to use me to get ahead.”

“That’s the asshole that did all that to you?” Mai’s voice came from somewhere behind me and it sounded very angry. “Oh, it is on! We’re entering that contest and we’re going to win it.”

I sighed and shook my head. “It’s a nice sentiment Mai, but we’ve only been playing together two and a half weeks and that contest is two months away. There’s going to be some popular bands there with a good fan base. We won’t be able to compete against that unless we play damn well and have some sort of way to stand out from all the other bands.”

“Okay so we’ve only been together a short time, but we’re all good musicians and we play well together,” she insisted. “If we practice hard over the next two months when we’re not training and you and Leslie write us some more great songs we could do this. We also have one big way to stand out from all the other bands and I’m looking at her.”

Every one of us turned to stare at her but it was Ian who responded. “You want Candy to out herself as a mutant?! Are you insane? That could get her killed and it would be dangerous for all of us too.”

“I’m not saying she should take out an ad in the Times!” she snapped before going on to explain her idea. “We can all wear costumes and use our code names, play the mutant super hero angle. The way Lisa and the others are talking we’ll be doing that someday anyway so why not be the first ever band that’s also a super hero group? We’ll make history, we can make sure nobody knows our real identities, and people don’t seem to hate superheroes as much as run of the mill mutants so if we become big we could use this to improve things between mutants and humans. Just think of the show we could put on with the abilities each of us has.”

I wasn’t too sure I liked the idea but I did have to admit that we could put on a hell of a show with Mai’s light powers alone. And if my powers, Ian’s mimicking power, and John’s sound amplification were added to the mix there were all sorts of things we could do that other bands couldn’t, at least not without a bunch of bulky equipment and people to run it. “I hate to admit it, but she doesn’t have a bad idea there,” Leslie pointed out, seeming to read my mind. “Candy has to wear a full disguise for everyday activities anyway and this way she could actually be herself on stage. We’ll certainly stand out and most people will just think it’s a gimmick or stage makeup at first anyway, so we can back out if we don’t like where it’s going.”

“Well Blake could easily create costumes to help hide our real identities, just look at Candy’s disguise,” John put it. “And he’s been itching to come up with gadgets and costumes for us. If anyone could make one of Mai’s crazy plans actually work, it would be Blake.”

Ian looked over each of us and let out a sigh. “If you’re all sure about this, and Candy is in, then I guess I’m in too.”

They all turned to look at me. “I think you’re all insane… but let’s do it. We’re going to need to work hard until the contest. For the next two months whenever we’re not training we’ll be practicing or working with Blake on costumes and logistic stuff.”

“We should get back to practicing then,” Ian suggested.

I shook my head tiredly. “I’m too tired and pissed off at the moment, plus I have a song I need to write and Leslie is going to help me with the music.”

The next evening, after a hard day of training, saw us getting right to practice and starting with the song that Leslie and I had finished the night before. I had the band run through it with only instruments the first few times just to get a feel for it and work out any kinks before I added my voice to the mix. It was harder, faster, and grittier than any of our other songs, but I felt that was okay since we didn’t plan to concentrate solely on Gothic rock. This one was a mix of hard rock and alternative, but I liked what Leslie had done with the music and it certainly suited the lyrics. Leslie was on her keyboard rather than her organ for this one but it was really Ian’s guitar and John’s drums that would be at the forefront. Once they had rocked their way through the intro I jumped in.

We were all doing fine until you came along
They let you in, But they were wrong
I knew you’d only take us through the gates of Hell
But you put them, Under your spell
They all took your side after what you did to me
Knife in my back, They couldn’t see
And a person has no need of enemies
When they’ve been ‘blessed’
With friends like these

I practically spat out the last line as Ian launched into his first guitar solo of the song and took a deep breath to calm myself and just let myself feel the music as the melody changed to the slightly slower chorus. Both Mai and I would be singing the chorus so it might take several practices before we could get properly synched. Regardless we both gave it our best on that first go at the chorus.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hoooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

We carried the words hope and around, dragging out that line before practically screaming the last as the melody jumped right back into the harder and faster one. We were both a little off there on our timing but we would work on it. There was no time to think on it though as there was very little time between the chorus and the second verse.

I held the door for you; you slammed it in my face
Shoved me aside, To take my place
I think we both know what you wanted to achieve
To take it all, And then just leave
There's shattered pieces of the world you stole from me
Tossed them aside, So now I'm free
And now I'm super-powered from the tragedy
Invulnerable
You can't hurt me

My voice as still angry as I finished this verse but it was also filled with the confidence I had in myself and my new friends. Ian jumped into his second guitar solo and I just had to shake my head in awe. He was incredibly talented and I was really lucky to have him… in the band of course. Once the others jumped back in and things slowed again Mai and I jumped back into the chorus.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hooooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

Our timing had been a lot better that time, the first run through the chorus had given Mai a better idea how I wanted to sing it and she ran with it. I gave her a nod and smile in approval in the brief instant before my voice rang out with the last verse. Even though my life had taken an unexpected turn it was better now and I knew that Alex was using me because Red Prophesy was just another garage band without me and they were going to fall hard. The last verse reflected that certainty.

Do my old friends ever ask about my fate?
Without you all, I’m doing great
You think with me gone that you’re the one who rules
Blind leading blind, Kingdom of fools
And do you see your golden opportunity?
It’s not really yours, They wanted me
You needed me much more than I needed you
Now that I’m not there
What will you do?

As soon as that question left my lips Ian launched into his final guitar solo. I was a little jealous at just how talented he really was, but at the same time really glad he was on my side. Maybe he could teach me to play guitar? I forced myself to stop being distracted as the others started in on the chorus again and Mai and I put our voices to work.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hooooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

Let it all come crashing down!

I want to see it all come crashing down…

We let our voices slowly carry that last line, softly fading as the music came to an end. I let out a sigh at turned to grin at Mai. “A few more runs and I think we’ll have the timing on the chorus and the end nailed. Am I ever glad I met the three of you, we are going to be the best damn band that the Battle of the Bands has ever seen.”

“We wouldn’t be this good without practice together, the past few weeks of practice and getting to know each other have really helped. And you and Leslie are writing some awesome songs,” John put in.

“We really need a good name for the band though,” Ian pointed out. “Maybe something to go along with the whole super hero theme?”

“How about Hyper-active?” Mai suggested. “We are all activated Hypers.”

I shook my head, “If we had other musical influences maybe, but we’re mostly Gothic Rock and that just does not sound like it suits a Goth band.”

Leslie nodded in agreement with a pensive look on her face. “Well Aegis chose their group name because the team was meant to be a shield to protect the innocent. Couldn’t we do something similar?”

“What? Call ourselves Shield or something? No thanks,” I muttered. “A shield is a defense and doing this we’re not waiting for things to come to us, we’re going on the offensive, so maybe a weapon instead.”

“What, like a sword or something?” Ian asked.

“I was thinking something more modern with a bit more meaning for us” I replied. “I like the name RevolveR.”