Chapter 6

~o~O~o~

The pickup came none too soon for both Gunny Bardue and Harry. Not just because of the constant bombardment of questions about Davey from Jericho, but also the fear Harry had of Davey waking up in a strange place with no one he knew. While Harry may have not known the kid but for a handful of weeks he had bonded heavily with him during that time and thought of the boy like the son he never had.

Walking straight to the desk inside the Doyle Medical Center with Gunny close behind, Harry put both hands on the counter as he leaned over at the girl manning the desk, “I’m looking for David Wiley.”

“Are you a relative?” The nurse asked.

“No I’m uh—” Harry stammered.

“It’s ok,” Gunny spoke from behind Harry, he’s with me and we need to check on the boy.

“Ok let me call Doctor Tenant” picking up the desk phone. “Doctor Tenant will be right up.” She said putting the phone back on the cradle.
“Great,” Gunny spoke, “She can meet us in David’s room, My friend here is anxious to make sure the boy is ok.”

“Uh, he is um fine,” The nurse seemed to be covering up something which made Harry that much more apprehensive, “The doctor needs to speak to you before going in to see the child.”

“Look lady!” Harry leaned over the counter, “I have gone through hell to get that boy here. WHAT ROOM IS HE IN?”

“Uh sir the child is in room 7.” The nurse said, picking up the phone again.

“You do realize security will beat the doctor to the room now?” Gunny stated as they both jogged down the short hall to room seven.

“Let ‘em come, Gonna take more than a few rent a cops to drag me away from his bed!”

“First,” Gunny explained, “Our security is top notch here, some then you served with.”

Opening the door Harry saw a dark haired young girl lying on the only hospital bed in the room. Looking back at the number on the wall beside the door Harry saw it read “7”, this was the room the nurse said, but Davey was not here. Gunny saw the grimace in Harry’s face as he looked back toward him.

“I’m doctor Ophelia Tenant can I help you?” A very nice looking woman with loose long hair, wearing a doctor’s lab coat walked quickly in their direction.

“Yes,” Harry rubbing the back of his neck, “I’m looking for David Wiley’s room.”

“We need to talk,” the doctor stated.

“Hey first,” Gunny interrupted, “remember how I told you with exemplars they are sometimes hard to recognize after their change?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Doc, is that David?” Gunny thumbed toward the room.

“Yes,” The doctor answered.

“That’s Davey?” Harry looked back into the room in total disbelief.

“Yes,” the doctor answered. “And when she wakes she may have an even harder time accepting what has happened to her as you are having, so you need to get over it and be there to support her or I’ll have you thrown off this campus!”

“I need to call her parents!” Harry said pulling his cell from his pocket.

“You’re not her father?” Dr. Tenant gave Harry an incredulous look.

“No,” Harry looked almost annoyed at the question, “I have been keeping her, uh, out of reach of some parties that may not wish the best for her and her family.”

Dr. Tenant’s eyebrow raised, “Oh?”

“Guess its ok to let you folks know,” Harry began, “Her family was attacked several weeks ago. We believe humanity first may have been responsible.”

“How would Humanity First know the girl was a mutant before she manifested?”

“That I do not know ma’am, I had to take the err girl and run before we could interrogate any of the prisoners. I assume it would have something to do with her knack in building stuff.”

“She’s a devisor or gadgeteer?” Dr. Tenant looked at both Harry and Gunny.

“Could be gadgeteer?” Gunny shrugged.

“And she had this ability before she manifested?”

“She can definitely build some pretty interesting stuff Doc. For instance, the robot that saved her family and a crap load of our officers that night.”

“Your speaking of that robot that was on the news?” Dr. Tenant asked.

“If you’re talking about the one that landed in the middle of a police shootout, took out their armored car and forced the armed suspects to surrender,” Harry grinned, “Then yes, that's the one.”

“So why hide the girl after you already had her in police custody?” Dr. Tenant’s face twisted as she tried to comprehend the convoluted story she was hearing.

“The MCO, or at least someone claiming to be MCO, came into the station demanding the kid,” Harry continued, “We may be a small town in poduck Iowa, but we take care of our own. And Doc, we don’t take kindly to some jackass coming in all high handed and demanding we hand over a kid that just saved our bacon, to a group of nimrods that has a bad habit of making kids disappear.”

“I see,” Dr. Tenant spoke.

“I doubt it Doc, There are a lot of good men and women on our force that would not be around today if it wasn’t for that kid in there.” He thumbed at the room with his hand, “We were outgunned in a bad way. The kid could have ran, hell the kid went out of his, I mean her way, to come help.” Harry’s eyes became noticeably watery, “That kid’s a hero in our eyes Doc. Anyone even try something with her and they’ll have the Marion county sheriff's department, Pella and Knoxville police on their ass faster than stink on fresh manure.”

“So you spirited her away before you were forced to hand her over to the MCO?”

“You got that right!” He beamed, “So I remembered this little fishing shack that Gunny had taken me to years ago when we were still both in the core, headed that direction and gave Gunny a shout to tell him I was heading that way and know I needed to talk to him. I knew he worked with mutants now, didn’t know to what extent until he arrived and filled me in.”

Gunny interrupted, “First, you gave me an idea I need to talk with you and our chief of security about.” Looking to Tenant, “Doc how long till she wakes?”

“It will be several hours at the least.” Dr. Tenant answered.

“Good we have time,” Gunny waved harry to follow him, “Harry lets go visit Chief Delarose, I have something in mind that I think you’ll love.”

~o~O~o~

“Uncle Harry?” the girl spoke in a raspy voice. Harry had fallen asleep holding the girls small delicate hand sitting in the chair he has sat beside the hospital bed, “Uncle Harry?” her voice not much more than a whisper.

“Uh, what…” Harry woke from his fitful sleep, “Davey your back!”

“Yea, Uh I feel really weird,” her raspy voice continued.

“You’ve been through some weird shit kid, you’re ok now. I’m here for you and your mom and dad are on their way too.”

“Mom and dad?” her voice broke. ”Can I have a drink of water?”

“Sure kiddo, let me get it for you.”

As harry got up from his chair to fetch her water the girl raised up on her elbows to follow him with her eyes. “Holy shit!” she screamed.

“What?” Harry turned back to her.

“I, I got boobs!” she gasped.

Racing back to her bedside, “Calm down buddy, I’m right here and no one's gonna mess with you with me here.”

“But I have boobs!” she screamed again. ”The doctors said this would never happen!”

The door flew open and a nurse followed by an orderly came in, “Is there a problem here?” the nurse asked sternly.

“I have fracking boobs!” the girl continued to scream at the top of her lungs.

“Young lady of course you have breasts we all do,” the nurse seemed highly irritated, “Now stop that caterwauling this instant!”

“But I’m supposed to be a boy, I don’t want boobs!” the girls volume reduced to her indoor voice.

“Yea and I’m the pope’s mistress,” the nurse almost hissed, “now calm down or I’ll be forced to give you a sedative!”

The girl began crying, “Uncle Harry what happened to me?”

Taking her hand in both of his Harry sat down on the edge of the bed, “You want the good news or the bad news first?”

“Bad news,” She sniffed bad tears.

“You’re a girl,” He blurted out.

“That’s it?” she continued to sniff back the sobs.

“Yep pretty much.”

“I already discovered that!” her voice became shrill.

“Hey, hey slow down we don’t want Broom Hilda to come back in with a big syringe do we? Hell that nurse scares the shit out of me!” Harry shuddered while making a disgusting face.

The girl found his antics impossible to ignore and giggled. ”What, what’s the good news?” she asked.

“You get super powers,” He smiled.

“So I’m a mutant?” she began sobbing again.

“Like having x-ray vision or some cool thing like that is gonna be bad?”

“Oh yea, I get x-ray vision,” The girl said sarcastically. “Now I can look through all the girls clothing to see them naked! What good is X-ray vision when I’m a girl too!”

Harry couldn’t hold back the laughter at the girl’s humorous remark and soon she was giggling with him.

Looking up at Harry, “Oh god! You’ve got to stop my mom from seeing me!”

“Davey I’m sure your mother will continue loving you, no matter what you look like,” Harry tried to calm the girl.

“It’s not that,” fear apparent across Davey’s face, “I, I have this medical thing. I, um, it’s why I’m so small. When I was born, my, my body couldn't decide if it was boy or girl.”

“I know you were born intersexed.” Harry continued, “It’s why I’m sure your mother will have no problem with your changes.”

“I know she’ll be okay with that.” Davey swallowed hard, “She’ll be fracking ecstatic! It’s the dresses she’ll make me wear and all the shopping she’ll want to do with me now.”

~o~O~o~

“So how’s my patient doing?” Jericho entered her hospital room.

“I remember you, but you were dressed in shiny white armor.”

“Ahh you do remember,” Jericho blushed. ”That’s my RAFE suit. Powered armor I am developing for rescue workers.”

“Rescue armor,” she perked up, “that’s a great idea!”

“Well when I graduate I plan on going into the EMS field.”

“That’s very noble, wanting to help others and all,” She smiled, “I know I’ll always remember my knight that rescued me.”

“Cool! Glad I could make such an impression on you.” Jericho leaned closer, “But don’t let anyone else know, it would ruin my bad reputation.”

“Well that may not make such a lasting impression as what you are wearing now.”

“What you do not appreciate my casual wear ensemble?”

“Not really, it's kind of an eyesore.” She giggled, “But then you’re blind.”

“You’re a girl.”

“Touché’” she giggled, “at least you don’t have to sit to pee.”

“Well people have asked me to do just that, something about being blind and my aim…” Jericho joked, then leaning over to whisper in her ear, “What they don’t realize is that I pee on their shoes on purpose.”

They both laughed hard over that.

“But if you are really blind, how do you see?”

“They are not really sure,” Jericho tried to explain, “It’s not sound or anything like Daredevil did in the comics.”

“Really?”

“Sure let me show you,” Jericho grinned, “Hold up two fingers.”

She began to raise her hand but realized quickly how he was leading her and instead gave him the one finger salute.

“Oh come on,” Jericho’s grin widened, “How am I supposed to guess right if you only hold up one finger?”

“You can see!”

“Nope, I Don’t even know if it's day or night unless I feel the heat of the sun.”

Then how?”

Turning his back to her, “Hold up some fingers now.”

Seeing if she could mess him up she held up both hands for a total of seven fingers.

“Six fingers—”

“Ha!—”

“And a thumb,” Turning back around, he stuck his tongue out at her.

“How?”

“Some kind of mutant radar,” Jericho shrugged. “I see everything around me, above, Below, behind, it doesn’t matter which direction I am facing I see it. Only downside is I can’t see color or through glass, or what’s on TV. Those are like blank walls to me.”

“Interesting.”

“Well hey, I wanted to be the first student to congratulate you on your mech.” Jericho smiled, “That news clip is all anyone talks about down in the devisor lab.”

“Devisor lab? What’s that?”

“Well here at Whateley we have two types of engineers. Devisors and Gadgeteers.” He explained, “Looks like you probably fall into the gadgeteer category, while I’m mostly a Devisor.”

“Uh, What's the difference?”

“A gadgeteer can go to the patent office,” He grew a huge grin, “A devisor can go everywhere but the patent office.”

“Huh?”

“Ok sorry, that is a running joke around here.” He sat on the edge of her bed, “You see the things a gadgeteer makes can be reproduced. You can draw up the designs and hand them to any competent engineer and they can make a copy of your gadget.”

“Ok, so what about the Devisor?”

“Well a Devise, with an S not a C, are a bit more complicated. The things a Devisor makes cannot be recreated or copied, heck most of the time they will only work for the guy who made them.”

“That doesn’t make any sense?”

“I guess the best way to put it is that a Devisor bends the laws of physics to accommodate his devise.”

“So you make impossible things possible?”

“I guess that is one way to put it.”

“That is so cool!”

“So not to change the subject, but can I ask you some questions about your mech?”

“Uh, ok I guess,” She looked toward the door to see if anyone was nearby trying to listen.

“Don’t worry,” he waved toward the door, “you won’t get into trouble for making it here. Shoot we have a whole mechbay full of various mechs and power suits here. The mech jocks have even cleared a bay just for you, hoping you will eventually come to school here.”

“Really?”

“Soon as your up and out of this joint I’ll give you the grand larceny tour!”

Giggling at his pun, “So I can bring my bushwhacker here?”

“I think security may even insist on it,” He grinned, “They won’t want that to fall into the wrong hand while you’re a student here. You are going to become a student here aren’t you?”

“I, I don’t know.”

“Well believe me, it’s safer here than anywhere else.” His face took on serious lines, “Especially after the way you handed those jackass Humanity first their asses on national TV.”

“They were humanity first?” She gasped.

“Best I could tell from the description Sandra gave me of the video clip.”

“Frack!”

“Like I said don’t worry.” Jericho tried to calm the girl, “ Whateley is neutral ground, no one comes in here and touches a student. Good guys. Bad guys, organized crime, Vatican, they have an unwritten agreement that if any one person or group harms anyone here on the campus the other groups will band together and exterminate the ones that broke the neutrality agreement.”

“So can I ask some questions about your bushwhacker?”

“Can I not answer ones if I choose?”

“Of course, you can even lie if you wish, but I would prefer you just tell me that you don’t want to answer one that you are uncomfortable with.”

“Ok Deal.”

“What type of power source does it have?”

“That one I am uncomfortable with.” She blushed.

“You didn’t promise some terrorists to build them a nuclear bomb, then steal their plutonium did you?”

“I built a mech not a time traveling DeLorean,” the girl grinned.

“Quick too, I like that.” He smiled. “Ok so you know, my main reasoning behind asking about the power source you use is if it would be possible to create a smaller one to use in the RAFE suit I am working on? Of course if you were to design one for it you would get full credit and royalties for your part in it.”

“It may be possible. I think I could build one small enough with the right tools. The one in my mech is about the size of a dorm fridge.”

“What does it use for fuel?”

“Dihydrogen monoxide,” The girl grinned wickedly.

“Wow, dangerous stuff!” He chuckled, “You know that thousands of people die from inhalation of that stuff every year?”

“Oh yea!” she giggled, “And it’s a major component of acid rain too!”

“So the byproduct of your power source is helium and oxygen?”

“Yeah, it splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen, the fuses the hydrogen into helium.”

“So essentially a miniature fusion reactor?”

“Ok about that chain gun?”

“That one I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement on so I cannot give any specifics. But if I can get my mech here or even some of my toys, I can’t stop you from looking at it,” She grinned.

“Your toys?”

“Yes I have several small remote controlled mechs I built for Tommy and I to play with, then there’s all my stuffed animals.”

“So they are scaled down versions for your mech?”

“Actually my mech is a scaled up version of the toy ones. I built the toys first.”

“They have rail guns on them too?”

“Yep, but the Dire wolf and Storm crow are the only ones that still fire ball bearings, those were the only two I had not modified the weapons to fire paintballs.”

“Why paintballs?”

“Mom and Dad made me after Tommy accidentally got hit by a shot that ricocheted back at us.”

“Ouch!” He winced.

“Yea the doctor said if it would have hit him in the chest it would have killed him. Lucky for my mom and dad I had not modified the Direwolf yet.”

“Why’s that?”

“Um, I remoted into it from my mech and took out the two guys holding them hostage inside the house while the other four were trying to find me.”

“Damn girl,” Jericho whistled, “You ok with what you did?”

“Yeah,” lowering her eyes so she did not have to look at him, “I just took out the trash.”

"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out Whateley Academy at (http://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.