Whateley: “Survival”

[A Whately Universe FanFic]

By Zapper

Synopsis: Kate is the only child of mutant parents. Carl Henderson works for a mysterious security corporation and this finally catches up to his family when Kate is kidnapped. Kate dealing with the sudden onset of her mutation and kidnappers is soon running for her life. This is a Fanfic story set in the Whateley Universe.

Note: The violence in this story is a little graphic. If it were a movie it would be rated R.

***

Chapter One

***

Kate couldn’t help laughing at the end of the set. “Oh, God, we suck!”

“Hey, it’s not like I can control it, my voice just does that!” Peter said, looking over at the tall thin brunette.

Reggie, the drummer, broke in, “Chill, bro. It happens.” Kate turned away to hid her smile. Reggie was black and thought he needed to talk more ‘street,’ even though both of his parents were doctors. Then not wanting to hurt Pet’s feelings any further Kate pretended to untangle a cord running from her guitar to the amp.

“If you think singing’s so easy you try it.” Peter challenged, going from hurt puppy to full blown attack dog in a second. ‘God, I thought girls were hormonal,’ Kate thought, before turning back to face Pet.

“You know I don’t sing.”

“Yeah, but why?” Doug, the base player, piped in. “I mean, you play better than the rest of us, but you never sing.”

Kate just shrugged her black leather clad shoulders. “It’s not like we’re opening for Maroon 5, I mean all we ever do is play in your parents’ garage.” she said, looking at Reggie. At that comment Peter dropped the mic he’d been holding and raced past Kate and out the back door of the garage to the pool behind the house.

“Now look what you’ve done.” Reggie said, glaring at Kate. “You know how sensitive he is.” With that Reggie stood up. At six feet he was four inches taller than Kate and even though he hadn’t grown into his frame, he was a little intimidating. “I’d better go talk to him.”

At this Kate felt bad, she hadn’t meant to hurt Peter’s feelings. “No, you guys stay here. I’ll go talk to him.” she said, with a sigh. She carefully placed her guitar on its’ stand and then followed Peter. The warm summer air felt hotter now that she was directly in the sun and Kate winced. With her pale skin she was no fan of UV rays. Then she spotted Pet over by the slide at the deep end of the pool.

He was sitting on the concrete deck in the shade cast by a tree next to the pool. His knees were drawn up to his chest and he’d wrapped his arms around his legs. Pet’s long blonde hair would have hidden his face if he hadn’t already buried it into his thighs. From this angle Kate could have sworn that she was looking at a preteen girl silently rocking herself and crying.

Kate made her way slowly toward Pet and then knelt down beside him. For a moment she wasn’t sure what to do and then instinct kicked in, and she put her arms around him giving him an awkward hug. At first Peter stiffened, but after a second he leaned into Kate.

“What’s bothering you, Hon? It can’t be what I said, you know I was joking, plus, I don’t sing.”

After a second Peter looked up at Kate and wiped the tears back, smearing his dark mascara in the process. “I know, Cat, it’s not what you said, it’s what it means.” Peter replied, using her nickname, which Kate took as a go0od sign.

“What, what means?” Kate asked softly while rubbing Peter’s back.

“You know, my voice . . . changing.”

Suddenly it clicked for Kate and she pulled Peter into a hug. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“I . . . i . it’s okay.” Peter said, returning the hug.

“Look, have you talked to your parents?”

“My mom, but you know my dad. He’s already upset that I’m too girly. How do I tell him?”

“Well, what did your mom say?”

“After she got over her shock?” Pet asked, with a slight twinkle in his eyes. Kate let out a sigh. Peter’s returning sense of humor meant he was done crying. “She said, that she was going to set me up with some counseling or something.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Peter nodded.

“Come on we should go back in before the guys start to wonder what we’re doing out here.” Then putting her words to action, Kate stood up and offered Pet a hand. He took it and she noticed that he only came up to her chin. They turned and headed back to the garage when Pet spoke up. “So have you talked to your parents?”

“About what”

“You know . . .”

Abruptly Kate was worried. ‘Does he know, will we have to move, again!’ Kate glanced down at Peter and when she did he made an hour-glass motion with his two hands and then looked at her. All at once Kate’s face felt hot and she knew she was blushing with embarrassment. Blind to Kate’s reaction, Peter stumbled on, “You know you’re sixteen and. . .”

“Peter Simonson, if you finish that sentence I swear I’ll quit the band and never talk to you again.”

Suddenly looking worried Peter grabbed Kate’s hand. “I’m sorry, Cat, I’m just worried about you.” he said, realizing that he’d really hurt Kate’s feelings and pulled her into a hug. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

Kate felt her embarrassment and the anger drain away. ‘He doesn’t know.’ she thought. At first she’d been concerned that Pet had figured out her family’s secret and hadn’t been ready for his real question.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I got my period almost a year ago.”

Just then the door to the garage pushed open and Reggie stuck his head out. “So are we going to play some more, or are you two going to just stay back here making out?” Reggie’s wide grin was infectious, diffusing his words and causing Kate to laugh as Peter pulled her into the garage.

“Come on, Cat, let’s jam!”

***

It was almost 7 pm when Kate’s mother honked. “Hey, guys this was great, but I gotta go.” Katie grabbed her book-bag and guitar and raced out to meet her mom. As she did she saw Mrs. Adams, Reggie’s mom, was already in the driveway talking to her mom.

“Oh, it’s no worry. I mean I’d rather have them over here playing songs than out getting into trouble.”

“Hi, mom, hi, Mrs. Adams,” Kate said, rushing around the minivan.

“Well, as long as you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, they’re good kids.”

Mrs. Adams smile, like that of her son, had a way of lightening up her dark features and caused everyone around her to want to smile. After they’d pulled out of the driveway Maria looked at her daughter, “So, are you hungry?”

“Starved.”

“That’s good cause Dad’s home, and he’s been grilling.”

Kate felt her heart skip a beat, “Not fair! When did he get home? And why didn’t you call me? I would have come home sooner.”

“Slow down, girl. He got home an hour ago and he wanted to surprise you by making your favorite.”

“Ribeyes?”

“Yep, and grilled sweet corn, baked potatoes, and garlic bread.”

“Why are you driving so slowly?” Kate asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Laughing Mrs. Henderson sped up slightly, “We don’t want to go too fast and get pulled over.”

“Like that would matter.” Kate said a little sullenly and turned to look out the window.

“Kate?”

Kate glanced at her mom, “I mean the last time you got pulled over . . . the officer took one look at you and asked if you wanted to go out to dinner.”

“Kate!”

“I bet you could drive a hundred miles per hour in a twenty five zone, and if you got stopped, you could get the cop to give you his badge and side arm if you offered a kiss.”

“Kathrine Maria Henderson, you are not too old to have your mouth washed out.”

Kate folded her arms over her non-existent breasts and looked sullenly out the window.

“What’s wrong?”

Kate glanced over at her mother and tried to swallow her bitterness. The woman sitting next to her, Maria Henderson, was in her early forties but looked she was twenty five. On top of that she was stunningly beautiful. Her skin was a creamy pale that contrasted perfectly with her silky midnight hair, hair that super models would die for, and she did nothing to maintain her beauty. It was part of her mutation as a level 3 Exemplar with a Body Image Template (BIT) that made her look twenty five.

“When am I . . . you know?” Kate said using her hands to make a gesture similar to the one Pet had made earlier.

“Oh, honey, don’t rush it. You’ll get a figure before you know it.”

Kate felt tears well up, but refused to cry, “Mom, I’m sixteen and I’m as flat as a BOY!”

Maria stopped at a red light and used the opportunity to pull her daughter in for a quick hug. “Honey, these things just happen in their own time. Trust me.”

It was almost a twenty minute drive out of Austoria to their house, because Kate’s parents insisted on having a place well away from the prying eyes of neighbors. By the time they pulled into the driveway Kate was feeling better. She jumped out of the car and raced into the house.

“Hey, Daddy, we’re home!”

Kate dumped her book bag and guitar by the door and darted through the kitchen and then onto the back deck. The man who turned and swept Kate into his arms was tall, blonde, and huge. Kate felt like a little girl again for a second as her father spun her around in an enthusiastic hug. After a moment he sat Kate down grinning.

“So, princess, how’ve you been?”

Kate punched her dad on the arm in response, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming home today?”

Carl Henderson rubbed his arm in mock pain, “I didn’t know myself until yesterday. There was an incident and after that we all had to get out in a hurry.”

“Carl!” Maria said, reproachfully as she slipped an arm around his waist, “You know we don’t talk about ‘work’ at home.”

Carl grinned down at his wife slightly rueful. Looking at the two of them Kate knew that people would assume that Carl was the stronger of the two, when the reality was that her mom was much stronger. That didn’t mean that Carl was weak, far from it. Kate had once seen him shape-shift his body so that it looked like it was made of pure silver and then lift the family minivan out of a ditch they’d slid into when Carl had been giving Kate an under-age driving lesson. Because Kate had been fourteen at the time, and Maria would have killed him, Carl had bribed her to keep quiet with a trip to get ice cream. The memory made Kate grin as she realized that her dad had trouble following rules.

SSzzzz . . . Suddenly the grill flared up, “Shit!” Carl said lurching toward the sizzling steaks. He reached out with his right hand which transformed into living metal from the elbow down as he quickly flipped the steaks while moving them to a cooler part of the grill.

“Come on, help me set the table.” Maria said, grabbing Kate by the elbow, “We’re obviously distracting your father.”

***

Saturday morning couldn’t have been more perfect, Kate thought, as she followed Peter. Like most Saturday mornings Kate had gotten up early and met Peter and Reggie at the Fort Stevens State Park to take advantage of the biking trails. Unfortunately, Doug had had to go visit his grandparents and hadn’t been able to make it. Maria had dropped Kate off just before 8 am waving at the other parents dropping off their children before reminding Kate that they needed to be back at the parking lot by noon.

Reggie, had taken the lead, as always. Kate usually rode right behind Reggie but today she decided to ride behind Peter. After yesterday Kate wanted to make sure she had a chance to talk to him, if he wanted too. After about twenty minutes Peter lifted his hand indicating he wanted to stop and Kate coasted to a halt next to him. This happened to be one of Kate’s favorite places on the trail. It ran along a bluff that looked down on the Columbia River.

“What’s up?”

Pointing out over the water Pet said, “What do you make of that?”

Kate glanced out and after a second saw what had grabbed Peter’s attention. There was what looked like a guy standing on the water, but even though his legs weren’t moving, he wasn’t standing still. Somehow the water not only supported him but seemed to be carrying him forward, very quickly.

“Do you think he’s a mutant?” Peter asked, a note of awe in his voice.

“Yeah, we should probably get going.”

“But this is the first time I’ve ever seen a mutant.”

‘That’s so not true,’ Kate thought, but just shook her head.

Abruptly Kate felt the ground move under her feet and before she could react, it surged up above her knees to her mid-thigh locking her in place.

“Gotcha!” A loud male voice exclaimed.

Kate tried to turn around but with her legs immobilized, while straddling her bike, it was difficult. Still by twisting her head she was able to spot a guy who was standing on a piece of ground that looked like it had risen up to form a platform under him. The guy had dark hair and a hawk like nose, and was dressed in jeans, a brown t-shirt, and a brown leather jacket and bore a strong resemblance to the guy on the water.

“I got the other one.” A new voice said, and Kate heard a shout from Peter. A quick glace in the opposite direction showed that Peter had been pulled off his bike and was floating a couple of feet off the ground while a third guy hovered a few feet away.

“Hey, let us go!” Peter tried to shout but for some reason it sounded to Kate like his voice was muffled. Then she realized that the floating guy was doing something with air to keep him quiet.

“Who are you and what do you want with us?” Kate asked trying not to sound as scared as she was feeling.

“Are you Kathrine Henderson?” The guy hovering next to Peter asked.

Thinking desperately Kate shook her head.

“She’s lying.” A new voice announced. Kate looked back at the river to see the third member of the group who was now standing on a column of water next to the cliff. Then the water sort of surged and deposited him a few feet away.

“I can feel the fear and denial in her from here. She’s the one.”

“Dirty, let me take her.”

“No way, Flurry, I got her first!”

“I can get her to the boat the fastest.” The floating guy replied.

Kate looked back and forth between the three men and realized that they must be brothers because they looked so much alike.

“He’s right.” The new arrival said.

“Fine,” the guy, who Kate assumed was Dirty, replied petulantly.

Suddenly the ground around her legs fell away. Kate wasted no time and dove off her bike into a front shoulder roll just as her mom had taught and came up at a full run. She knew it was probably futile but she had to try. Kate made it about three steps down the trail when a blast of wind caught her up and as it lifted her it hardened around her so that she couldn’t move anything from the neck down.

“Nice move girl,” Flurry said, floating over so that he was only a few feet away. “But don’t try anything like that again.” Abruptly Kate felt something hit the side of her face, shocking her more than hurting her, and then she tasted the blood from a split lip. Before she knew it she was floating next to Peter trailing Flurry as he moved out over the water.

“What are you doing?” The comment came from the third brother and held the snap of command.

Flurry turned to look at his brother. “What?” The question came out almost like a whine.

“Pray tell, brother, what are you doing with him?” The oldest looking brother, the one who’d arrived on a column of water, said pointing at Peter.

“I thought he might make a good hostage. You know, like, if it’s good to have one then it’s twice as good to have two.”

Kate could hear Dirty snort. “Idiot,” he added quietly.

“Flurry, we need her, because we need her dad. The boy means nothing. Kill him.”

Kate tried to talk but when she opened her mouth it was instantly filled with air, air that stopped her from being able to speak.

Flurry shrugged, “If you say so, Ripple.” With that he extended his hand toward Peter and made a twisting motion. Even though Peter was ten feet away Kate heard the distinct snapping sound as his neck was broken. Then Flurry just dropped him. Kate had enough control of her head to watch as his body fell into the river just below the bluff. Then everything went dark.