Disclaimer:
"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but it's fan fiction so I hope it's forgivable.

Vancouver, BC
Early Morning, November 25th, 2007

When I woke up in a hospital bed, I realized that the nightmare hadn't just been in my head. Groan, I really wanted that nightmare to be a some Bit induced dream or something.

My skin felt raw and itchy, like I had a whole body sunburn. Moving my arm I knew there was an IV in me. Lifting the light blanket and my gown, revealed a series of suction cups covering my upper body. They weren't connected to anything but from the little lights on top of them they were probably sending the information to some computers close by. Mom was sleeping in a chair beside the bed.

“Mom,” I rasped.

She woke up instantly, clutching my hand through the blanket. “Thank God! I was so worried. I'm sorry I brought you there. I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner!” she cried.

I let her talk for a few minutes, as she kissed my hand through the blanket. When she got excited or upset it took a while for her to stop talking and listen to others. Finally she was calm enough to listen. “Water.”

She poured me the fastest cup of water in history, holding the straw to my mouth. The luke warm liquid was sweeter, cooler and greater than any drink I'd ever had. The second one was almost as good. Feeling like I could talk without ripping open my throat I asked the most important question I could think of. “What happened?”

“The people who attacked are, were, a cult. They wanted to summon their god to earth, not just temporally and spiritually, but physically and in a way that would keep it from being banished again. That's why they needed all those kids, they planned for it perfectly, even finding a way to use the mayors soul, as the ruler of the city, to set up a nearly unbreakable magical shield.” She beamed at me. “But they weren't counting on you.”

Closing my eyes, half remembered pain along with visions of blood, tears, runes written in red and ugly writhing energy came to me. “What did I do?”

“The video cameras that survived, Herb, and some of the students you helped save, were able to confirm what happened. You absorbed the energy from not only the electrical weapons they used, but the magical ward that should have kept you inside the circle. When it built up too much, your body released it, shattering the shield that was blocking us.” She hugged me tightly. “If you hadn't done that, at least the first fifty students would have died, probably two or three hundred before we would have gotten through.”

“And my burnout?”

The smile turned to a look of relief. “If you had one it was extremely minor. Dr. Sharpe believes your body became overcharged, and you didn't know how to release it. You'll have to practice to learn to control it, because once you activated the wards defenses it nearly killed you. But we know what your power is, so we can give you the training you need.”

I thought about it for a few minutes, taking another drink of water as well. “So, I have to be shot with energy to use my power?”

Mom nodded, looking quite proud of my power.

I thought about it some more, not liking where my thoughts were going. “I know what my codename is going to be.”

“What?”

“Target. I have to get shot to do any good,” I said with disgust.

Mom started laughing thinking that I had made a joke. I guess I had, but it didn't feel like one. I didn't want to be a hero, but what possible good could my power do for getting a job in the future? For helping me with school? For being of ANY goddamn use in my daily life?

I was turning into a boy and the only consolation prize I was getting, was only good for the very last thing I wanted to do. If I'd had any moisture left in my body I would have started crying. I settled for saying I needed to go back to sleep and pulling the blanket over my head.

**

It was well after lunch when we started testing my power. I still felt like an overcooked lobster, and my bright red skin was sticky with ointments to help the healing process, but Dr. Sharpe said everything would be fine as long as I didn't push myself too hard.

Uncle Herb sat beside the control panel in the VHC powers range. He looked like he'd gotten sprayed with gas and lit on fire, even his usually speedy healing couldn't handle all the electrical burns and magic damage he'd suffered. I wasn't sure if I should hug him or not, he settled that by hobbling over and giving me a gentle hug, kissing my cheek at the same time. “You did good, Kitten.”

“Thanks. You did good to, if there hadn't been so many of them you'd have kicked their butts.”

He scowled, which was actually pretty scary with his large teeth that I'd so recently seen in action. “Next time I go to an assembly, I'm bringing my missile launcher.”

Mom came over, wearing her more comfortable leisure costume, which was an over sized domino mask, and a fedora to hide her face, with a light cotton body suit. She still had her crowbar strapped to her waist, but this one had a noticeable bend in the middle. “Come on, Target, time to start testing your powers,” she said.

“Ok, Sun,” I replied. We were being recorded for our own personal records, so it was code names only, and I was wearing a face mask with my hair in a ponytail sticking out a hole in the back. It was tight and itchy, how Mom and Dad put up with it everyday I had no idea.

Mom attached a thick metal cord to a high voltage outlet. “Beginning test, on newly manifested mutant, codenamed... Target. Energizer with apparent energy absorption and expulsion powers. First test, energy absorption using lowest electrical setting.”

I walked over to the machine that Mom had just plugged in, she was standing well back on a rubber mat. As I'd been instructed earlier, I touched it with both hands, nothing happened. “Is this thing on?” I asked.

Uncle Herb looked up from his computer. “Everything is functioning normally, subject is absorbing one hundred percent of the power.”

“Increasing setting to level 5,” Mom said.

Now I felt something. It was a tingling along my arms, it actually felt kind of nice, like how a good shampoo or moisturizer tingles on the skin. I felt stronger, more alive. “This feels great.”

“Increasing to level 10.”

My whole body was tingling, I found I was bouncing on my toes wanting to move, to dance, to do something. I didn't know what was happening to me but it felt great. “Can you give me more?”

“Increasing to level 15.”

I started to get hot, not uncomfortably hot, but definitely a hot day at the beach feeling. My feet started tapping, my skin was feeling too tight again. As I practically jumped in place, I heard crackling sounds around me. “This is getting a bit hot, I can handle more though. Hit me!”

“Subject is complaining of feeling hot. Sparks are appearing from her joints, hands, mouth and eyes. Showing signs of hyper activity, and giddiness. Stopping energy absorption tests.”

“Aw come on! This feels nice, I think I could outrun you Sun,” I whined, flexing my legs to see sparks shooting out through my clothes.

Mom looked over to Uncle Herb, a smile came to her lips. “Let's find out. Target, lets go to the treadmill.”

Practically jumping on the thing I started running, sparks flew all around me like a little fireworks display. The treadmill sped up slowly and steadily. I didn't have any trouble running for about five minutes, then it was going just a bit too fast for me, and I started to stumble. It cut off before I fell, but it was a a close call. Hopping off, barely breathing hard, I walked over to where they were looking at the computer. “So how fast was I going?”

“You topped out at 50km/h, that's 6km faster then then the world record speed for sprinting. How do you feel?” Herb asked.

“Pretty good, I could do that for at least another five or ten minutes.”

Mom looked me over, “You're not bouncing or sparking anymore. Let's do some more running.”

Back on the treadmill I was able to run for another twenty minutes. But after the first three minutes, they had to start slowing it down, until I was running at my regular much slower speed. I still wasn't having any real trouble breathing, but it was becoming a challenge. Calling a stop, Mom looked over the results with Uncle Herb.

“Target, is capable of storing energy and using it to enhance her speed and endurance for a limited period of time. We will recharge her to the previous level, and proceed to weight lifting,” Mom said, she sounded impressed.

With a charged battery, I could bench press almost three hundred kilograms. I could also jump five meters with a short run, and three meters straight up. Strangely, I could also hold my breath for ten minutes.

Mom let me take a short break and then I was recharged. “Next test energy expulsion. In the field, Target channeled an unknown amount of energy into a blast that destroyed several walls of cement and wood, including a magical force field of unknown strength, reaching a range of 500 meters, a full report will be added later after analyzing the damaged structures. This left her dangerously dehydrated and unconscious for almost twenty-four hours, as well as suffering very mild burns, similar to a first degree sunburn, over one hundred percent of her skin, and possibly suffering a minor burnout. We will not test her at that estimated level.”

I had to admit I was enjoying the testing. The electricity wasn't fantastic, but the feeling was nice, almost like guilt free chocolate. When I was recharged, I skipped to the firing range, faced the metal target that was 50 meters away, and stopped.

I had no idea how to release the energy.

“Um, how do I shoot? I just screamed yesterday and it came out of me, kind of like throwing up.”

“You can feel the energy inside of you right?” Mom asked. I nodded. “Alright try to concentrate it in one spot. Since it came from your mouth the first time, it might be easier to move it there.”

With the power humming inside of me, I tried to picture it moving to my mouth. My feet and hands stopped tingling, my arms and legs became almost painfully hot. I kept picturing the energy moving through my body. When it reached my chest, my heart started to beat a mile a minute. Each beat pushed it further until it was in my head. My skull was too tight, it was going to burst like a rotten tomato. Sweat poured down my face. I opened my mouth and pushed it out.

The 40cm slab of metal shattered, fragments embedded themselves into the walls, and a few actually bounced and whizzed past us.

“Ow!” I moaned, smoke coming from my mouth. “I need a nap.”

Mom caught me as I fell.

**

I woke up to Mom yelling. “You WILL NOT see Target, until she has recovered. She was placed under extreme stress yesterday and is still resting.”

Someone said something in a gruff voice, and another person, I thought it was Mermaid, was speaking more soothingly. “She is not a suspect in the attack, and the police agreed that there is enough evidence that they do not need to question her immediately.”

Someone with a very deep voice spoke, and there was a murmured conversation. A few minutes later the door opened, Mermaid came in and saw that I was awake. “The MCO is here, and wants to question you. You aren't in any trouble and Prairie Sun is going to be in her the whole time. Can you handle it?”

I nodded. We had heard horror stories from the US, and a few places in Canada about the MCO, and some of the agents seemed to have fun making themselves into annoyances, but Mom and Dad were popular heroes and Vancouver was as mutant friendly as they came. If we were in Winnipeg or Quebec things might be different, but I didn't really worry about them.

“Put this on, and remember not to use names,” she told me, handing me the mask I'd worn earlier.

After I put it on, Mermaid stepped out. A minute later, Mom, a man in a dark suit, and the leader of the Vancouver Heroes Corp, Cloud Master, came inside. Only Cloud Master was smiling in his light blue and white costume.

“Hello Target,” Mom said. “The MCO was called in by the RCMP, Agent Glenn would like to ask you some questions. I will be listening in, so just tell the truth and don't worry about anything you are not in any trouble.”

Agent Glenn scowled at Mom. “I will write a formal protest about your interference Prairie Sun. You should have allowed the paramedics to take care of her, and you should not be in the same room while I am getting her testimony.”

“Go ahead,” Mom challenged him. “The RCMP have a written statement from her mother stating I am the girls temporary caregiver while she is in Vancouver and in any matter that pertains to the MCO. If you want to continue arguing the point, we can go downstairs and talk to the Chief Superintendent. I'm sure he'd love to deal with a dispute between the VHC and the MCO, concerning a child who all the news stations are saying saved the day yesterday.”

The scowl got worse. “Fine, stay here.” Agent Glenn came to sit beside me. “Hello, Target. I would like to ask you a few questions. First, what were you doing at the presentation yesterday?”

“I was invited by Super Bear and Hive Mind.” Using Uncle Herbs' and Eddies' codenames was second nature to me.

“Why would they invite you?”

“Because they are helping me find out about my mutant powers after I manifested last week.”

He eyed me carefully. “When you manifested was anyone hurt?”

“You don't need to answer that question, Target,” Mom said, her expression unreadable behind her mask but her tone dangerously sharp.

“Excuse me Sun, I thought we had agreed I would be conducting this interview?” Glenn said, his own voice very flat and full of menace.

“You agreed to keep it on topic. And the VHC made the deal, I'm going along with it because I'm a guest. But if you keep up this line of questioning, I will take the girl and go back home.”

Cloud Master cleared his throat. “I believe that Prairie Sun has a point, Agent Glenn. Please keep your questions to the matter at hand.”

“Fine,” the MCO agent said. “Where were you when the mayor was killed?”

I struggled to remember, even though I really didn't want to, all the blood and dead bodies. “I think I was being dragged to the circle.”

“And you didn't try to stop it?”

My eyes went wide, what was I supposed to have done? “I could barely move, I couldn't do anything.”

“But when you personally were in danger, you suddenly learned how to use your powers?” he asked, getting in my face.

“I felt like I was dying. I couldn't even walk!” Tears started to fall as the horror came back to me in full force. “I tried to throw up on the damn thing, I was so helpless.”

There was no mercy in his eyes. “You come from Edmonton?”

“Yes,” I said without thinking, just a split second before Mom said, “Don't answer that.”

“We know that Prairie Sun came to Vancouver by airplane, but there are no records of Target. If she came from Edmonton with Sun, that is a criminal activity, and the MCO needs to know about. If you continue to block this investigation I will call in my superiors,” the MCO goon said, reaching for his phone.

Mom was in his face, “How can the girl have an MID before we even know what her powers are? Dr. Sharpe, can confirm that until yesterday we had no idea what her powers could be, and the only reason we suspected anything was because a routine medical exam picked up a possible case of GSD.”

“According to the MID Act of 1994, all mutants must have an MID if they travel by airline, unless they are specifically flying to get an MID. Edmonton has a very good powers testing facility, so Target has broken the law and I may expand the investigation on my perogative. This is unarguable. The MCO being courteous to the VHC because of their work, but due to her infractions I am legally entitled to arrest Target immediately if she refuses to answer my questions.” He turned away from Mom and focused his attention on me. “Now Target, did you hurt anyone when you manifested?”

Mom got between me and the agent, her body was practically vibrating with tension. “You will stop this line of questioning or I will remove you.”

“You are interfering with an active MCO investigation, Prairie Sun. I will now contact my superiors and they can deal with you,” Agent Glenn said, almost gleefully.

Cloud Master put a hand on Moms' shoulder before she could do something drastic. Mermaid stepped inside, she was holding a phone. “Agent Glenn, your supervisor Mrs. Watson would like to talk to you.”

He took the phone as if it was radioactive, gingerly holding it to his ear. “Hello, Ma'am, this is Agent Glenn.”

We couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, but from the way he was getting whiter it wasn't going well for him. Two minutes later he was simply handed the phone back to Mermaid and walked out very stiffly without a backward glance. When he was gone, Mermaid handed the phone to me.

“Hello?” I said hesitantly.

“Hello Target. I am Mrs. Watson, I'm in charge of the Vancouver branch of the MCO,” an older sounding woman said very formally.

“Ok, did I do something wrong?”

She gave a little chuckle. “No, you haven't. I would actually like apologize for Agent Glenn, you won't be seeing him again.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said, having no idea what else to say.

“Before you leave Vancouver, I will need you to come to our office to give a statement about what happened and to get an MID. I've already discussed the details with Prairie Sun and she will come with you,” Mrs. Watson said.

“Ok.”

“Very good. I hope you feel better soon, and please stay out of trouble. Have a nice day.”

“You to,” I said, still stunned at what had happened.

The woman hung up and I handed the phone back to Mermaid. “What happened?” I asked.

Mom half sat on the bed, letting her fingers brush against my side. “Sorry about that honey. Agent Glenn has been a thorn in the side of the VHC and the older MCO agents here for the last few months. When he saw the report about you, he went on a rant about how you needed to be dragged in for questioning, and you were a dangerous mutant. He did some digging, found out you were under my protection and put two and two together, he started filing a formal charge for traveling without an MID that was caught by Mrs. Watson at the last minute.”

“So why did you let him even come here?”

Captain Cloud didn't try to hide his delight. “Mrs. Watson called and told us the situation. We explained why you didn't have an MID, and we all agreed to do a bit of a sting. Agent Glenn was told in writing what to talk about and ordered not to go on side topics like your lack of an MID. If he followed instructions, there would be no harm done to anyone. Since he went off on his own vendetta, on top of his other infractions, she has enough to suspend him with cause, when he comes back he'll be pushing papers and not coming near any mutants.”

“Oh. I'm glad I could help.” I still wasn't sure exactly what had happened. I knew the MCO wasn't evil with a capital E, but having the MCO boss in Vancouver working with mutants to punish one of her own agents seemed to be pushing things.

My confusion had to be pretty obvious, at least to Captain Cloud. “We work very closely with the MCO here, so they don't have any reason to distrust us. And we do enough public events that the public loves us, which makes it hard for certain groups to discredit us. It wasn't always this good, when I started here ten years ago we were at each others throats more often then not. It took a lot of work from the then Mayor of Vancouver, who happens to be my uncle, to force a change in the MCO leadership. When we saw that Mrs. Watson was putting in the effort to clean house, we started working more closely with her. When a bad agent is forced onto her, she passes on the warning to us, and does what she can to tone them down, get rid of them or push them so far under they don't see the light of day ever again.”

“Ok that makes sense,” I told him, laying my head back down on the pillow. I was still pretty exhausted from blowing up the metal.

Mom shooed everyone out of the room, locked the door and took of her mask. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired.”

“Go to sleep I'll be waiting here when you wake up,” she said, stroking my cheek, with the blanket and her glove.

I didn't need to be told twice.

**

MCO Head Office for British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
November 26th, 2007

Mom and I walked into the MCO office. I felt pretty noticeable, my sunburn hadn't gone away, it had faded a little, emphasis on little. My normally pale skin was now red, a human shade at least, but I looked like I had a permanent blush. None of my clothes or make up would match my skin tone, not that it mattered much I was going to have to change my entire wardrobe soon anyways.

At least they couldn't see much of my skin. I was wearing a hastily made costume, pure white spandex, with a red bulls eye on my chest. Mom was less than happy about that, but I'd been adamant it was either that or a string bikini and a domino mask. Only the fact that I needed to get an MID had let me win that one. When we stepped out of the VHC car, we got quite a few odd looks.

One good thing to look forward to was that I knew everything I had to do, and I wouldn't need a nap afterwards. When they'd checked out the results of my shooting, I'd put out a fair bit more energy then I'd taken in. I couldn't do anything without being charged up, but I was creating my own energy which could be added to it. When I shot my mouth off, I put EVERYTHING into it, leaving nothing for minor things like staying conscious. Fortunately after some more testing last night and that morning, we found out I could fire energy from my hands, it just took some practice. Trying to control how much I shot off was a problem, but unless I went all out I never went beyond my limits.

To keep from passing out at the MCO, Mom had talked to the Mrs. Watson and they agreed to accept the tests we'd done earlier for when I shot off at my mouth. But I had to try everything else. It was going to be a long day, especially because I'd do something once normally, they'd charge me up and then I'd do it again.

Joy.

The front lobby of the MCO office was fairly spacious, but there was nothing that could be used for cover, the benches were very cheap plastic and had lots of holes in them, as well as being bolted to the floor. Looking around, I saw several tiles in the roof that looked like they were hinged, probably for weapons. And the only way past the lobby was through an oversized door that looked like a mini bank vault. Cozy.

I followed Mom to the check in, where a uniformed woman sat behind ten inch thick protective glass. There was a sealed slot for passing paper and forms through, and a microphone for talking. I knew for a fact they didn't have this much security in the Canadian Parliament, my class had visited it last year and gotten a personal tour from a politician.

“Hello, I'm Prairie Sun, I'm escorting Target for an interview and powers testing,” Mom said, not waiting for the woman to greet her. My parents work with the MCO, that doesn't mean they like them.

The woman didn't seem to care about the abruptness. “We've been expecting you. Please wait by the door, and you will be met by an escort.”

Mom tapped her foot impatiently, while I fidgeted nervously. I looked down at my body which wasn't completely on display in the costume, but showed off the curves I was actually quite proud of, a lot better than almost anything I ever wore. At least I wasn't exposing any skin. How some of the superheroines could go out and fight in a one piece swimsuit that had to be held on by two sided tape I had no idea. Of course I couldn't figure out how some girls could wear a string bikini either, so I guess I couldn't say too much.

It was a short wait before the door opened with a whine that sounded like a machine was opening it. Two MCO agents in plain black suits greeted us, and we were escorted to an interview room. They asked me about a lot of the details, where was I when the cultists attacked, what types of weapons they had used, what I had done to try to stop them. They acted a little weirded out when I told them about trying to throw up on the runes, but what were they expecting? At the time I was getting more than a little desperate.

The two agents kept everything on topic, and there were no questions about why I couldn't save someone, or why I got onto a plane without an MID. Which was probably a good thing because Mom was standing by the door and even without her crowbar, she can look REALLY intimidating just by tapping her fingers. When she really wants to freak people out she'd tap her fingers hard enough to leave her fingerprints in metal, but she didn't need to do that, thank god.

The interview took half an hour, and then it was off to the fun, fun, fun job of powers testing. It was long, tiring, frustrating and a little painful. The strategy game they had me play gave me a headache, the dodgeballs I had to do (TWICE!) gave me bruises, and I was only a little bit better then normal the second time when I was charged up. And playing with crystals and magical stuff had me thinking how much prettier the stones would look done up as jewelry.

After a very long day and a cheap lunch of Chinese food, I was given an MID which listed my powers as Energizer 3, Exemplar 1. I really wanted to rip up that exemplar trait. I wasn't going to be great at anything with that, just a handsome boy, it was as if some malevolent god was mocking me by giving me a stupid power that was low enough to be nearly useless, but could completely screw my life up.

It wasn't fair.

**

When we got back to the VHC headquarters to change into our civilian clothes, there was a special surprise waiting for us.

“DADDY!” I shouted, running over to him to give him a quick hug. He was wearing a thick sweater so I spent a few more seconds squeezing him extra hard.

“Hey princess,” he said, returning the embrace. “I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, there was a lot of trouble with some idiot kids who'd just manifested I had to deal with. How are you doing?”

I wasn't sure how to answer that. I was still turning into a boy, which I hated. I had a stupid power I never wanted to use. And I'd nearly been killed. But I'd saved a lot of kids and I was being declared a hero in the newspapers which was pretty cool even if I couldn't enjoy it. The bad outweighed the good by a good measure, but it wasn't one hundred percent bad, and I didn't want to start crying, again. “I think I'll be ok.”

Dad gave me a big smile. “I know you will. You're a brave girl, and I'm so proud of how you stopped those cultists. I couldn't have done it better myself.”

“Thanks.”

“Now who's up for supper? Herb is already waiting in the car for us.”

I didn't need to be asked twice.

**

The servers had stared in amazement at the amount of food we'd eaten as they cleared the dishes from our private dining room. Having two energizers and a grizzly bear eating tends to make food bills go through the roof. I was feeling pretty happy with everything, my family was with me, I was going to be back with my friends on Monday, and I had just had a great meal. Best of all I didn't have to wash the dishes. I was kind of dozing in my chair, while the others talked.

“Do they know how long before she fully changes?” Dad asked.

“She'll look androgynous by summer, and biologically male in every way by November. Dr. Sharpe was able to refine the estimates with all the time she spent in the clinic,” Mom told him. “What are we going to do?”

Uncle Herbs' chair groaned as he moved around. “Evelyn, it's not the end of the world. I'm living proof of that. Estelle is tough, she'll handle it.”

I curled up into a ball on the chair, pretending to be asleep. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear what they were saying, but I was even less sure that I wanted to miss out on it.

“I contacted Whateley and talked to Ms. Carson,” Dad started to say.

“You didn't!” Mom hissed. “What will they think when they find out?”

“Calm down. I did it to find out if she should go there. I was there when Paragon was murdered, I'm not risking Estelle if that type of thinking is still going on.”

“So what did she say?” Uncle Herb rumbled.

There was a pause, probably because Mom was glaring at Dad, and he was silently trying to calm her down. “She said that Estelle's transformation isn't that rare anymore. In fact they have a group set up to help people like her deal with the changes. She was playing coy, because she said that they like to keep this hushed up, but once we register her, we'll be given the details. She could start as early as the winter semester.”

I clutched my legs to my chest. I didn't want to go to a new school, I wanted to stay at Everest. My friends were there, I liked my teachers, I loved being able to practice riding horses at the stables, and learning how to dance instead of taking regular gym class. I didn't want to go to a school where they sent those kids I'd seen. I wanted to be normal, not like those kids with feathers and claws, or the ones who could die, melting away. Why couldn't I be normal?

“No. I told her if there was any chance, she'd at least finish the year at Everest,” Mom said. “She'll have to get a separate dorm room, and we'll need to get her things to pad her bra and hips, but she can do it.”

“Honey-”

“I promised. I will not go back on it.”

Dad rallied, “What if they find out she's a mutant?”

I heard the thick hard wood table creak, Mom was getting very angry. “Than we deal with it, like we've dealt with everything else. She finishes the year and then she can go. End of discussion.”

Thanks Mom, I thought to myself. Hoping no one would hear my sniffling, I wiped my face and tried to keep the tears from overwhelming me.