![]() |
The Hyperverse
Amethyst |
A lot of people wonder what order the various Hyperverse stories happen in and while most of the stories are meant to be standalone there is a general timeline. I will be posting this timeline to the Hyperverse main page and updating it as new stories are added. These are in order from the earliest chronological point in the stories.
Syryn's Song - Friday May 17th 2013
My Super-powered Diary - August 10th 2013
Mixed, Shaken and Stirring (By Tels) - August 23rd 2013
Once Kitten Twice Shy - November 2013
Naughty or Ice - December 6th 2013
Going Green - Christmas Day 2013
Shocking Developments - December 28th 2013
Glitch! - Between Christmas and New Years Eve 2013
Glitch! 2: First Oath - Immediately following Glitch!
Nullified - January 4th 2014 (immediately following the events of Shocking Developments)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Dot (By Dorothy Colleen) Early January 2014
A Star is Born - Early January 2014
Cat Stop Loving You - February 11th 2014
The Hyperverse is a conditionally open universe and if you have story ideas for this universe feel free to pm me to discuss them. That said there are some rules:
Rule 1: Before posting any stories or chapters of stories for this Universe please send them to me so that I can look over them. This is to make sure that they are consistant with the universe and using all the proper terms. This also allows me to give you more information on certain technologies and locations that are not discussed here if you feel you need it.
Rule 2: You are free to use any locations, including Morristown. AMPS, PSA, and Costa Verde but if you wish to feature another author's character(s) in one of your stories even in passing please run it by that author first.
Rule 3: Every Hyper has a unique Archetype or blueprint of what their body should be that is created when their latent Hyper Chromosomes are activated. These Archetypes are influenced by the mutant’s mental state, preconceived notions, conscious and subconscious desires and often by their new powers as well. People satisfied with their appearance may look the same after being activated or have only negligible physical changes, many have an ideal look in their subconscious, some are determined by what they are thinking of when activating, some are heavily influenced by their powers, and many are a mix of these. Powers on the other hand are largely influenced by the conditions under which they activate, strong desires, and possibly by genetics as some second generation mutants tend to have powers similar to their parent(s).
Rule 4: AMPS has between 400 and 500 students at any given time and each dorm is 4 floors with 10 spacious double rooms per floor, allowing for a maximum of 520 students overall since the adding of the co-ed dorm. The co-ed dorm is one student to a room and slated for students whose mutations are problematic for themselves or others or may cause the student to have troubles adjusting to everyday life. The public story for the rest of the school is that the single room co-ed dorm is for those whose powers are too dangerous or unpredictable to be around while sleeping so their rooms need special modifications. Generally though it’s because the students in dorm 7 are ‘freaks among freaks’ often having not only dangerous powers but strange appearances and other issues as well.
PSA (Pacific Seaside Academy) is a sister school similar to AMPS but with quite a few quirks and is located along the coast in northern California.
Rule 5: Powers are rated from Category one which are nuisance level powers to Category five which is extremely powerful. Most Hypers are in the one to four range so please keep that in mind.
Rule 6: There are twelve loose classifications of mutant power types. Some mutants fit into one of these, while some fit in more than one. These classifications are as follows:
* Shifters: Usually able to shift their own form or alter other things to varying degrees.
* Psychics: Anyone with any type of mental gifts; Telepathy, Telekinesis, precognition, etc
* Energy Manipulators (EMs): Anyone who creates and/or manipulates any form of energy as part of their powers.
* Generators: Can generate matter and/or manipulate it like EMs do with energy.
* Regens: Accelerated healers, regeneration. Usually use their archetype as a template that their healing powers try to return them to if injured.
* Teleporters: Those who possess the ability to move from one place to another instantaneously. This can be done in various ways; passing through other dimensions, matter displacement, or even by destroying matter in one place to reconstitute it somewhere else.
* Tinkers: Highly intelligent and able to create incredibly complex and advanced devices using science.
* Mystics: Anyone who taps into magic, one of the primal forces of nature.
* Mediums: Anyone who can communicate with ghosts, sense and manipulate life energies, and/or connect with nature spirits. They can sometimes make contracts with powerful spirits to use their powers, but the costs for that can be high.
* Elementals: Those who control the elements, earth, water, fire, air, etc.
* Enhanced: One or more of their base human attributes are much higher than normal.
* Wildcards: Anyone whose powers don’t fit in to the other types or whose powers work in ways that can’t be deciphered.
Rule 7: The words Hyper and mutant can be used interchangeably and you may use characters that aren't mutants. They could be normal people with special skill sets, aliens, robots, or whatever so long as story ideas are run by me first.
Rule 8: Have fun.
![]() |
Glen and Sakura were orphans who would do anything for one another. So what happens when they're forced to become each other?
Amethyst |
We were hidden away in the cover of the big spruce trees behind the chapel, kissing each other with everything we had, somewhat safe from both the snow and prying eyes, when suddenly I heard a voice calling out, “Glen! Sakura!” We stopped kissing and reluctantly left one another’s embrace as we listened carefully. Suddenly Sister Maria was looming over us and she didn’t look very happy. “I’ve been looking all over for the two of you. Mother Jane wants you both in her office right now.”
Suki and I both groaned at that, no good could come from Mother Jane wanting to see us. “Are you sure she meant us?” I asked hopefully. “Maybe she meant some other Glen and Sakura.” Mother Jane was Mother Superior of St. Michael’s Orphanage just outside the small town of Taylor, Manitoba. My mom died giving birth to me so when I lost my father to Cancer two years ago when I was thirteen I was sent to the orphanage. I didn’t really like it there much but it did have one good point. That was where Suki and I had met. Most people here called her Suki but her name was actually Sakura.
Suki had been at the orphanage since she was five and lost both of her parents in a car accident. Her parents had moved to Canada from Tokyo before she was born and since she had no other relatives here she was sent to St. Michael’s. She was smart, pretty and had a great sense of humor, in other words she was perfect. I often thought of the day I would leave St. Michael’s but I could never imagine doing it without her. Just thinking about her made me smile.
Suki looked like a typical fifteen year old Japanese girl. She was short at five foot two and slim with a very nice figure from what I could make out. We lived In a Catholic orphanage so I hadn’t exactly seen her in any stage of undress yet and her loose clothes didn’t give much hint either. She had cream colored skin with full kissable lips in a beautiful face with deep brown eyes, slender arched eyebrows, a petite nose and chin and high cheekbones. Thick wavy black hair, like the darkest night, framed that face and fall down to just past her shoulders. As beautiful as she was I wasn’t really sure why she was interested in me. I wasn’t much of a catch at five foot eight and while I was in decent shape I couldn’t be considered muscular. I was also paler than her with bright red hair, freckles, and grey eyes.
“Let me clarify for you,” Sister Maria said while crossing her arms impatiently, “Mother Jane wants Glen Phillips and Sakura Yoshida to report to her office immediately.”
I wondered what Suki and I had done this time as we made our way through the halls of the orphanage to Mother Jane’s office with Sister Maria. We hadn’t been caught making out yet and from the looks of it we had even narrowly avoided getting caught this time by Sister Maria. We both had been doing well enough in school and neither of us had been in any trouble for months, not since I had changed the computer password for the orphanage records when the Cardinal came to visit. “I don’t think we’ve done anything worthy of a summons lately,” Suki finally whispered, “Unless you did something without me?”
“I would never leave you out of a prank,” I quietly assured her. “Besides, I thought we were trying to behave ourselves so they would stop watching us so closely.”
“We were, and I thought we were doing a good job of it,” she admitted as we reached the office door. “I can’t think of any reason why Attila the Nun would want to see us both.” We both stood there nervously as Sister Maria knocked on the door.
“Come in,” came Mother Jane’s voice muffled by the door.
We both took a deep breath and I gave her tiny hand a good squeeze before letting go as I pushed the door open and we stepped inside while Sister Maria waited outside. “You wanted to see us Mother Jane?” I asked as I took a quick look around the office. To my surprise we weren’t the only ones there. Stephanie Lewis and two of the younger kids, I think their names were Jason and Karen, were already standing in front of the desk looking very uncomfortable. Stephanie was seventeen and the younger two were only about seven or eight years old and I found myself wondering what reason she might have for calling the five of us here. I figured that it probably had something to do with the man in an expensive-looking black suit who had watched us enter the room from beside the window.
“Now that you’re all here I’ll let Mr. Hayes here explain what’s going on,” Mother Jane said in a clipped tone. She did not look happy at all, and when her eyes finally did meet mine there was a sad and helpless look that I had never seen in that stern face before.
The man smiled at us all and it wasn’t a friendly smile at all, in fact if it had been any colder I think that the temperature in the room would have dropped. “Hello children, I’m Doctor Hayes,” He stressed the word ‘Doctor’ which only served to make me, and probably everyone else in the room, even more uncomfortable. “And the five of you are being placed in my custody.”
“How nice for us,” Stephanie spat out as Jason and Karen clung to her. “Now that you have the children good and scared, how about you tell us what’s going on.”
“Last month we had St. Michael’s and two other orphanages in the province perform routine health testing. The five of you and thirteen others were discovered to have dormant Hyper Chromosomes,” he said with that cold smile.
“Hypers are an urban legend,” I said with a roll of my eyes, “They don’t exist. Anyone could fake those videos you see on the internet.”
He sneered at me, “And here I was told that you were one of the smart ones. I assure you that Hypers are very real. You have the potential to be more than you are now and I’m going to see that you reach that potential, and that you use it for the right people.”
“Potential Hypers or not, you can’t just take us away, we have rights,” Suki argued. She gripped my hand tight in anger and probably a little fear too.
“You are all Crown Wards and I have some very influential backers. I have a court order placing all of you in my custody so gather your things and be out front in five minutes or I will have to send my associates to come and get you.” He slapped the legal document that he was holding on Mother Jane’s desk and strode out of the room without waiting to see if we would follow.
“There’s nothing I can do right now, but I will fight this,” the Mother Superior told us with a look of grim determination. “You three look after Karen and Jason.”
I took Jason to the boys’ dorm to gather our things. The poor kid was scared stiff as we packed what little we had. I tossed all of my clothes into a duffel bag and placed my science books and small telescope on top before zipping it up. My dad had been an Astronomer and before he died he had taught me to love science in general and astronomy in particular. He once told me that ‘stars are both the most beautiful and powerful things in the universe’ and from there I was hooked. I had been studying stars ever since. It wasn’t enough to just know all the constellations though; I wanted to know how stars formed and how they produced such power.
Jason finished packing his own things and looked up at me sadly, “Do we hafta go with him?”
“For now we do,” I said as I shouldered my bag. “Don’t you worry though, we’ll be back soon. You know that anybody who crosses Attila the Nun ends up regretting it. She won’t take this lying down.”
When we got outside I was in for a surprise. I had expected that with that court order Dr. Hayes would have had police officers with him but the men in fatigues who waited outside with the black SUV looked to be military. They even had a pair of Hummers in front of and behind the SUV. Jason seemed even more scared now and frankly I couldn’t blame him as we were ushered into the back seat of the SUV. The girls were just behind us and I was pretty sure from the looks on their faces that Stephanie and Suki had the same feeling of dread that I did as the doors slammed shut.
We had discovered two things about Dr. Hayes on the long drive to the Red River Research Institute. Thing one was that he liked to hear himself talk, mostly about himself. The second thing was that he thought of us as little more than specimens for his new project. The first seemed to override the second though and with a little stroking of his ego or outright challenging him we were able to get a better idea of what we were in for.
Red River Research Institute was a remote facility, at least an hour drive from anywhere. Currently it mostly ran on funding from a covert national security agency and they were being employed to see if the H Chromosomes could be influenced into activating with certain specific power sets which would be of interest to both that agency and the military. They weren’t trying to create super soldiers, that was too cliché. No, they were instead trying to create mutants who could shape shift, turn invisible, walk through walls, or blend into their surroundings. They wanted people who could impersonate important figures or get into places unseen and unchallenged, they wanted super spies. I might have actually been enthusiastic about that if it didn’t sound like brainwashing was going to be part of the program.
Suki and I held hands and silently formed a plan as we kept Dr. Oblivious talking about himself and how important his research was. We had learned Morse code from one of the older kids last year and often used it to talk during class or when we were supposed to be quiet for some other reason. At the moment though, we were rapidly tapping our fingers on each other’s hand to figure out a plan and when to implement it. It was starting to get dark and from the sounds of it we weren’t far away from our destination, if we were going to do it, it would have to be soon.
“Hey Dr. Monotone, I need to take a leak,” I said. “Can we stop somewhere? I bet these little ones have to go too and none of us has eaten anything since lunch. If we’re in your custody you are required to actually take care of us you know.”
“Hold it, we’ll be there in an hour and a half,” was his terse reply.
“I don’t think I can but whatever,” I replied as I made a show of squirming in my seat. “it’s your car… or is it a rental? These seats aren’t real leather are they?”
“Pull over,” he instructed the driver. I could feel the vehicle slowing and as it pulled to the side of the road I could see a light not far from the road, possibly a farmhouse. Dr. Hayes grumbled as he got out of the vehicle to come open the door since it had child locks on the back doors. As soon as he was outside I whispered, “I’ll distract him and the goons, you all run for that light as fast as you can.”
As soon as Dr. Bitch ‘N Moan lifted the door handle I kicked the door hard, slamming it into his face. I leaped out on top of him tackling him to the ground and yelled “Go!” I was vaguely aware of Suki trying to help Karen out of the SUV when the taser hit me. Then one of the goons grabbed Karen and she was kicking and screaming trying to get away. I was kicked in the ribs and fell to the ground as Dr. Hayes got to his feet and kicked me as well for good measure. Then Suki delivered a good swift kick of her own and he was back on the ground on all fours clutching his jewels.
“Get them… back in the… vehicle,” he groaned as he tried to get to his feet again. “These two just volunteered to be our next subjects for the metamorph project,” I heard as I blacked out.
I woke up with a splitting headache, sore shoulders, sore ribs, and a cramp in my neck. It took me several minutes to become conscious enough to realize that I was tied to a chair with my hands tied together behind me and that there was a table in front of me. The table was about six feet square and of a light colored wood, though there were large dark orangey-red splashes of color in front of me and at the other end where Suki sat in a similar position facing me. It looked like she was wearing only a hospital gown and a quick look down showed that I was similarly attired. When I looked back up she was looking at me in concern and I tried my best to give her a reassuring smile.
The rest of the room was pretty much just bare white walls, a large mirror that I was pretty sure was an observation window, and a security door. A television set and VCR on a rolling stand had been set up nearby but I couldn’t exactly get up to turn either on. “Are you okay?” Suki finally asked.
“Don’t worry about me; I have a pretty thick head. Did anyone manage to get away?” I asked in return.
She shook her head sadly, “No, they caught Karen before she could get very far and Steph and Jason didn’t even manage to get out of the car before the goons jumped us. We got here about an hour ago I think, they brought you and me straight in here and stripped us naked, the assholes. They said they were taking the others to the ‘guest quarters’.”
I groaned as I tried to get some of the stiffness out of my neck. “My, aren’t we the lucky ones. Is the Doc still a soprano?”
She gave me a weak smile. “I thought you might have missed that, you were looking pretty out of it. Sadly though, he was managing to walk upright again when we got here.”
“That’s a shame,” I said with a sigh. “I was kind of looking forward to hearing him monologue while sounding like Mickey Mouse.”
The television suddenly turned on and Dr. Hayes’ face appeared. “I’m glad to see you both awake. I decided that you two would be our next test subjects for the metamorph project. You’ll be the second pair in this project, the first didn’t manage to activate their H Chromosomes but I think that you can with the right motivation.”
“Well I am a little hungry,” I suggested, “How about you Sook?”
“Yeah I’m famished,” she replied without missing a beat. “And maybe you can get one of your goons to come in here to tell us to ‘be all that we can be’ and put a ‘hang in there kitty’ poster on the wall. I feel motivated just thinking about it.”
Dr Hayes frowned at us. “I was thinking more along the lines of a motivational video.” His face disappeared and was replaced with a view of the room we were in or one very similar. Two young women were tied to the chairs with a pair of goons pointing guns at them. They were instructed to think very hard about looking just like the person in the chair across from them and a digital timer was set on the table. They were then told that the timer was set for ten minutes and that whoever hadn’t changed before that time was up would be shot in the head.
Neither of them made it and we both now knew what those stains on the table were when Dr. Hayes’ face reappeared on the screen. “As you can see we didn’t provide them with enough motivation, so we’re going to try things differently with the two of you. We’ll give you a shot of adrenaline to help things along and you’ll have five minutes to change your appearance to that of the person across from you…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. If I don’t turn into her you shoot me in the head,” I said wishing he would shut up.
“No,” he corrected me, “If you don’t succeed we’ll shoot her in the head, and vice versa. In fact let’s move those chairs back to back so neither of you can see how the other is doing to make things more interesting. I’m sure you both know what the other looks like well enough.” The TV turned off and Dr. Nutjob came in with two of his goons. They moved our chairs back to back beside the table and our favorite mad scientist injected us with adrenaline before setting a digital timer for five minutes and placing it on the table beside us.
I was picturing Sakura in my mind trying to force myself to become her but I had no idea how. She was making frustrated sounds so I thought that she was having similar problems. We were down to a minute and a half and my heart was racing. I entwined my fingers around hers behind me when she laughed nervously and said, “I’m trying to make myself look like you but I keep thinking that you’re going to get us out of this by using some pocket lint, a paper clip, and a belt buckle to create a projectile weapon or something like that guy on those TV reruns, Mac…something. You’re smart like that.” Her hand squeezed my hand tightly and I could hear her starting to cry behind me.
“Stay with me Sook! I can do this! I…” I focused all my spare thoughts on looking like the beautiful girl behind me as I tried to reassure her. “I can’t lose you; you’re the light in my life. You’re my star.” I was only dimly aware of the gun to my head and the last seconds ticking down on the timer when my whole body started shaking and I felt a warmth spreading through me as behind me Sakura gripped my hand tightly as she too started to spasm. My last thought was, did I save her?
I awoke feeling tired and hungry to the sound of two men talking. “Damn she’s hot,” I heard one say. “We could have a little fun with her; I doubt the doc would mind.”
“She’s only fifteen, she’s just a kid,” the other growled. “She also used to be a guy and she’s glowing, so don’t even go there. The only things we’re in here to do is wake her up and make sure she eats something. The doc wants her and the other one tested for metamorphic abilities as soon as possible. Hey kid, wake up we brought you something to eat.” I could feel a boot prodding my ribs.
“Yay, room service,” I muttered. The voice that came from my lips didn’t sound like mine though, it sounded like Sakura’s. I gathered that this meant that the ‘she’ they were talking about was me and hoped that this meant that the real Sakura was still alive. I thought, hoped, and prayed that maybe she was ‘the other one’ that they had mentioned. I opened my eyes and looked around to see that I was in a ten by ten prison cell type room. A glance upward revealed two guys in some sort of bulky steel power armor and helmets with full faceplates. One was holding a tray while the other had a very big gun pointed at me. “Oooh, it looks like somebody is overcompensating,” I taunted with a smirk as I tried to sit up. “You guys are the weirdest looking bellboys I’ve ever seen. I hope the masseuse doesn’t dress like that, I’m her ten thirty appointment.”
Moving was a bit strange, my balance felt off and having breasts and long thick hair adding weight in unaccustomed places wasn’t helping. I was also noticing that I seemed to have this golden glow to my skin which was pretty distracting. Goon One seemed to get a good laugh out of my attempts to move as he said, “Having a little trouble freak?”
I managed to get myself to my feet and glared at the speaker. “I’m really going to have to have a word with the manager about the service here.” I tried to ignore all the strange feelings and sensations in my body as I went to sit on the army cot in the corner. “And the accommodations too, I specifically asked for a double bed.”
“This ain’t no hotel freak,” he growled. “You won’t be finding things so funny when we get you to Dr. Hayes’ lab.”
“Why? Are you going somewhere? And here we were just beginning to bond. Maybe if I could take a picture of you it will help me through those not-so-funny times,” I suggested as Goon Two placed a tray on the cot beside me.
“Listen Kid,” Goon Two said with a sigh. “I really recommend that you don’t piss off the guards here. I’m willing to cut you a little slack but the others aren’t so nice and I’d rather not see them hurting a kid.”
“How ironic, I’m a kid who’d rather not be hurt. Funny how that works, eh?” I turned my attention to the tray, which had a glass of water and a bowl of something beige and lumpy which I assumed was supposed to be oatmeal. I ate it as slowly as possible just to annoy them, occasionally washing the disgusting stuff down with some of the water. When I was finally finished I actually felt a lot better, or at least I had more energy. I gave them another smirk as I stood up and rubbed my tummy “Mmm, just like mom used to make.”
Most people would probably be freaking out pretty bad in my current situation but I didn’t have that luxury at the moment. I needed to think clearly and at the moment the humor was my only way of fighting our captors. It seemed that the wing I was being held in was being used to hold all the others too. Stephanie confirmed that when I saw her at the bars to her cell. She looked very relieved to see me. “Sakura, thank God you’re okay. You and Glen were out cold when they brought you down here, I was so worried. They took Glen back up a few minutes ago.”
“I’m fine Steph, in fact I feel radiant,” I joked. It would be too awkward and take too long to explain whatever had happened to me and Suki.
“Yeah, I can see that,” she replied with a nervous laugh.
“We’ll be back soon Steph,” I tried to reassure her before turning to my goons. “Well Tinman and Scarecrow let’s be off, we can’t keep the Wizard waiting. Oh! We’re off to see the Wizard…” I began to sing and give my best effort at skipping along merrily down the hallway. By the time we reached Dr. Hayes’ lab I was quite proud of myself. I had decided to call Goon One Scarecrow and Goon Two Tinman. The former was about ready to kill me and the latter was starting to get pretty annoyed too. My behavior and the combination of singing “We’re off to see the Wizard,” incessantly, interspersed with casual assurances that we would get a brain for Scarecrow and a heart for Tinman, had worked nicely. Scarecrow had bashed me in the back of the head a couple times with his rifle but it didn’t hurt at all, in fact I had barely felt it.
“It’s about time you got here,” Dr. Hayes snapped as we entered the lab and approached him. “What took you so long? This one’s been nothing but trouble while I was waiting for you.” He was sitting at a computer desk looking very irritated. I assume that that was Sakura’s doing since someone who looked an awful lot like me, Glen me, was sitting in a chair beside him looking very smug. My doppelganger was secured with a pair of handcuffs on each wrist fastened to the arms of the chair. There were also two guys in regular security uniforms standing guard over her. She… he was still wearing a hospital gown like mine and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief that she was still alive even if our natural positions seemed to be reversed for the time being.
“This crazy brat kept running off and looking around.” Tinman grumbled.
I put my hands on my hips and tried to look offended, not that it was hard in my current situation. “Hey! I’ll have you know that I was looking for the Cowardly Lion; I think it’s pretty unfair that you two are going to get a brain and a heart and he won’t get his courage. Frankly I would have tried going home on my own by now but I seem to have misplaced my ruby slippers, not to mention my clothes.”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around,” the other me said. “You’d think that they don’t trust us. Don’t mind me, I’d get up but I’m all tied up at the moment.”
“I’ll forgive your lack of manners this time,” I graciously offered. “You’re looking good, not as good as me mind you, but good. Have you been working out?” I meant it too, he was looking very good and I felt a little weird for being attracted to myself. He definitely looked more toned than I ever was though, muscular even, and though it was hard to tell in the chair I thought that he might be a bit taller too. Some of the facial features were slightly different from what I was used to seeing in the mirror as well, slightly more handsome. He also had the most beautiful silver eyes.
“How nice of you to notice,” he replied with a grin.
“Would somebody shut those two up!” Doctor Hayes snapped. He looked like he was ready to start pulling out his hair as he tapped away at the keyboard and clicked furiously at the mouse.
“Problems?” I asked sweetly, ignoring the blow to the back of my head. These people really needed to hire tougher guards.
“For us? No,” Suki-me answered. One of the guards behind Suki had given her slap to the back of the head too and, while she winced, she looked more annoyed than anything. “The Doc seems to be having computer issues though. He really should back up his files more often.”
“You deleted the back-ups you little bitch! I left you alone for less than five minutes with a password protected computer and when I got back years of research was gone!” He screamed, starting to turn red.
“Geez Doc, you really have to learn to watch your language in front of us impressionable youths,” I pointed out. “Plus, technically that term doesn’t really apply to Suki at the moment.” I grinned at Suki. “Did you really delete everything in less than five minutes?”
“Technically I only deleted the back-ups, the rest is still there under an encryption that only I can access at the moment. Though I did send certain incriminating documents and the video he made us watch to the proper authorities and certain media outlets before setting that up,” he said as he returned my grin. “I imagine that we’ll be hearing from them soon.”
Damn I loved her… me?... him. “Well then, I guess our work here is done.” At Suki’s announcement Dr. Hayes had hurriedly opened a safe by his desk and began shoving money and documents into a briefcase. “Going somewhere?” I inquired.
He just pointed at me and ordered his goons, “Kill them both, start with that one so the other one gets to watch it die first.”
“It will be my pleasure,” Scarecrow said. Even with the faceplate on him I could tell that he was probably grinning as he put the gun to my head and fired point blank.
I flinched and I heard Suki yell as it felt like a bee stung me in the side of the head. I think that I was more stunned than anyone by the sound of the bullet falling to the floor. I quickly raised a hand to my head to make sure that I wasn’t leaking blood, or worse brains, but there was nothing. I wondered briefly if the glow around me was some sort of force field. My grin was reflected in the metal of his faceplate as I said, “My turn,” and wound up and punched him.
I didn’t really expect it to do much, after all he was wearing power armor and, force field or not, my body was that of a smallish fifteen year old girl at the moment. I think the result surprised us both. If he didn’t have the wind knocked out of him from the punch itself, I figured that the dozen or so concrete walls he flew through on his way out of the building probably did the trick. Tinman raised some sort of pistol and aimed it at me and I shook my head at him. “Do you want to leave this building on your own two feet or would you rather follow your friend?”
It seemed that I was right; Tinman was the one with a brain. He took off running and I turned to see Dr. Hayes looking ready to run until I stepped between him and the exit. “Leaving so soon? Have a seat Doc, and order the rent-a-cops to un-cuff Suki, unless you’d all like to see what I can do to a person who’s not wearing power armor,” I bluffed.
None of them was going to risk it. He placed the briefcase back on the desk as the guards started to unlock the handcuffs on Sakura’s wrists. Once they had un-cuffed her… him (damn this gender thing was getting confusing), we removed their weapons and cuffed them to a heavy work table with a bunch of weird little gadgets on it that I assumed were scanners and other scientific equipment. I found an extension power cord and used it to tie the doc to the chair he was in while Suki started looking at the instruments and tools on the worktable.
“I can work with th…” Suki began to say with a grin when there was a loud crash from the direction of the lab’s new man-shaped doorway. A dozen goons in power armor had burst through what was left of the wall and had some really big guns that were making humming noises pointed at us. “Well damn,” I heard my voice curse. “Can you see if you can keep them occupied for a few minutes while I work? Oh and I’m just throwing this out there, but I’d love a better look at one of those guns if you can manage it.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I replied with a sigh, wondering when my girlfriend had become a technophile. I shrugged it off and walked toward the guards, “Hey guys, what seems to be the problem?” I asked, trying my best to look innocent.
“Put your hands on your head and surrender, we have you outgunned and outnumbered,” the one in the lead said.
It was hard to tell them apart in the identical armor but I recognized the voice of the speaker. “Aw come on Tinman, I thought you were the one with a brain.”
“I am, that’s why I brought reinforcements. I don’t know what freaky powers you have but you got in a lucky shot before. I’m willing to bet that you can’t take all of us at once. So surrender peacefully and return to your cells with us,” he ordered.
“Tempting, but no,” I replied coolly. “How about you surrender peacefully and let me have that big gun and I won’t destroy this whole building and kick all of your asses.” I had no idea if I could actually do that but my apparent strength and force field was giving me enough confidence to at least try if I needed to.
“Fine, you want to play it that way then, here I’ll let you have it alright.” He fired the weapon at me and I was engulfed in flames.
I was expecting it to burn, because fire is hot and this stuff was like white hot. The linoleum beneath my feet was actually melted and the concrete beneath it blackened and smoking. All I felt though was a slight warm tingling sensation. It actually caused me to giggle (another blow to my male ego that I would have to deal with when this was all over). “Hey, stop it; that tickles.”
“How… how did you?” Tinman sputtered in shock beneath his faceplate. “That was superheated plasma, there should be nothing left of you.”
“I don’t know,” I replied, a bit stunned myself. I didn’t even have a sunburn and, aside from the fact that my hospital gown was now ashes and I was standing there naked, I was feeling pretty good. “But I think I like it,” I added with a grin as I yanked the gun out of his hands and tossed it aside. When I started to lay into them with punches and kicks I was suddenly really glad that they were wearing power armor. I was pulling my punches and they were still flying every which way. Their armor was cracked and dented in spots and I had completely shattered a few of their faceplates. In short I didn’t know how strong I actually was but I was having a hard time holding back enough to not turn the people inside the armor to jelly or something.
My apparent speed wasn’t helping matters either as I found that while I was easily avoiding their attempts to hit me I was actually moving too fast for them to keep up with even in power armor. Once I discovered that I tried to hold back on it too but I just wasn’t used to it and there were a few mishaps as a result that ended up with some broken bones for my adversaries. Having one of the two was bad enough, but having to hold back on both the speed and strength of my hits just wasn’t as easy as it sounds. If it weren’t for the power armor I was pretty sure my adversaries would be seriously injured, if not dead. I was beginning to wonder what country Scarecrow had landed in.
I managed to merely knock another opponent unconscious and turned to look for any other goons stupid enough to still be standing when I caught sight of one. He had his weapon charged and it was pointed at Suki. I ran at him as quick as I could and tackled him sending us both out of the room and through a number of walls. I wondered briefly if they had insurance but I decided I didn’t really care if they got gouged for repairs as I took a look around. We were outside the building now and a look down showed that we were roughly two stories up. “You guys can fly?” I asked the guy I had tackled, who was suddenly clinging to me for dear life.
He shook his head rapidly. “I guess it’s me then,” I said with a shrug. “I’m surprised that you’re still conscious. Those suits must be really impact resistant.” The goon nodded as he clung to my leg and I smiled at him, “Good, I don’t feel so bad about this then.” I finger flicked his helmet, denting it and snapping his head back, causing him to lose his grip and sending him falling to the ground below. I figured that if it could withstand the impact of me barreling into him and using him as a battering ram then a little two story fall should be nothing.
With that taken care of I tried to fly toward the new window we had made during our exit. The last thing I wanted was the police and media showing up and seeing my girlfriend’s naked body hovering two stories in the air. It was really hard to manage at first but after a bit of experimenting I found that I could sort of push against the air to move in the other direction. The whole equal and opposite reaction thing eventually gave me an idea how to move, and soon I was back inside and on solid ground again.
I made my way through what was left of the second floor and toward the lab. It was easy to find, I just followed the holes in the walls. Once in the lab I picked up one of the goons’ discarded plasma gun and joined Suki at the work bench. “Present for you Sook. Sorry I took so long, I had to take out the trash”
“Sweet, and it’s not even my birthday,” he said with a smile as he examined the weapon. “Hmm, this definitely gives me some ideas. Why don’t you put on one of those paper gowns over there while I find something to put my new toys in? Then we can go down and free the others. Do you know where they put our things?”
I nodded as I got into another one of the stupid paper gowns. “Yeah, I found our stuff in a storage room near the holding cells while I was ‘running off’ on Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb.”
“Great, I knew I could count on you,” he said beaming at me. He was stuffing a bunch of little gadgets in a plastic shopping bag he had found and once he was finished he shouldered the weapon. “Can you see what’s in that briefcase that was so important the doc felt he had to run off with it?”
“Sure thing,” I said as I opened the case and whistled at the contents. Though I mentally cursed as I snapped both latches while opening it. I had pretty much crushed the handle too when I grabbed it and I figured that if there was anything useful in there I would have to move it to another case or something soon. Inside were stacks of twenty, fifty, and hundred dollar bills. There was also a passport for the doc, which I quickly tossed aside, and a flash drive. “Why thank you doc, your donation to the homeless Hypers fund is much appreciated.” We could still hear Dr. Dementia cursing us as we made the stairs and headed down with the briefcase in my hands.
We got to the storage room without incident and I managed to find my stuff and tossed Suki a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “I think these should fit you okay, but I think you’re taller and more buff than I am… was.”
“Yeah but you didn’t exactly copy me perfectly either,” he pointed out. “I wasn’t that gorgeous before and my breasts were never that big. I think your whole body in general is nicer actually.” He tossed me a pair of panties, a bra, black pleated skirt and a pink top that he called a ‘cami’.
I shook my head, “No way am I wearing girl’s underwear and a skirt. I’m going to have a bad enough mental breakdown once we’re safe.”
“Glen, your clothes won’t fit and all I have is skirts, I have no idea what they did with the jeans I was wearing when we came in,” he pointed out. “And if you’re wearing a skirt you’ll need to wear panties.”
“Fine,” I grumbled as I took the clothes and put on the panties and the skirt. The skirt only reached mid-thigh so I could actually see why panties were a good idea. I had to get Suki’s help with the bra but even when we got it on we both knew it was a lost cause. I tossed it aside and put on the cami but even that was pretty tight around my chest. You could see my nipples and most of my midriff was bare.
“Damn, I figured as much,” Suki grumbled. “I had to stuff my A cup bra to fill it properly and you’re way too big for it. I think you’re probably a C cup at least. You’re slimmer and have a trimmer tummy too, I’m kinda jealous.” He took out a large sweater and had me put it on over the cami. “That’s probably the best we can do.”
I sighed and began to stuff the contents of the briefcase into my duffel bag while Sakura placed the contents of her shopping bag inside hers. Finally I said, “Wearing clothes is great and all but shouldn’t we be trying to change back to our own bodies.”
Sakura shook his head. “I think these are our bodies now, I overheard the doc talking to another scientist. That’s when I was deleting his files and such. It sounds like we didn’t turn out the way he wanted. If we were metamorphs we would have returned to our own forms when we passed out. The other scientist thinks that these are idealized forms. Since we were trying to look like each other when we got our powers, our forms changed to how we subconsciously see each other. I tried changing forms again but I can’t get it to work. But I seem to have some sort of super brain now and from the looks of it your powers don’t have anything to do with shape shifting either.”
“Shit, so we’re stuck like this then?”
“As far as I can figure, yes,” was his sad reply. “We can’t tell anybody about this, so from here on out you need to be Sakura Yoshida and I need to be Glen Phillips. We need to think of each other that way too.”
I flopped down on the floor and I felt like crying as the situation finally caught up with me but it just didn’t happen. This was going to be the end of us. I loved Sakura so much but could she even want me like this? Not only was I female but I was this idealized version of her that would only remind her of everything she had lost. “O.. okay… Glen,” I finally said. “Let’s help the others get free and then I guess we can go our separate ways.”
He looked like I had slapped him. “Is that what you want?”
I shook my head as I looked away. “No, but you probably don’t want me like this, you’re not into girls so…”
He cupped a hand under my chin and raised my face to look at him. “I’m into you. I love you, no matter what body you wear and nothing will ever change that. It’s weird but I’m even attracted to you now like you are, at first I thought I must be some kind of narcissist but maybe this is just something to help us through this. We both changed because we love one another so maybe we subconsciously tweaked our brains so we could still be attracted to one another like this as well. Tell me you don’t feel the same way and we’ll break it off.”
“Of course I love you,” I quickly objected. “I wouldn’t be like this now if I didn’t. I guess I have to admit that I’m finding you attractive like you are as well and it kind of scared me at first. I was sort of afraid that you or both of us would change back but that I suddenly liked guys. Between that and knowing you weren’t into girls I was afraid of losing you. So what do we do now?”
“Well, long term I think we need to start thinking of each other in terms of who we look like, help each other adjust to our new genders, and try to figure out our abilities and how to control them. For now though let’s worry about getting the others and escaping this hellhole,” he suggested.
“Right,” I agreed as I stood up and shouldered my bag. “Let’s do this.”
Suki… Glen had procured one of the goon’s head sets and had insisted on giving the head set a listen before we ventured out when he chuckled. He said that from the sounds of it the scientists had been evacuated outside the back of the building while the special security forces dealt with the ‘dangerous mutants’. “You would think there was a small army of us instead of just the two of us. They said that all the other kids have been returned to the cell block, we’re the only two still ‘at large’. There’s some sort of commotion out front though, I don’t know if it’s the police and media or something else, but whatever it is apparently it’s more important than the two of us.”
The cell block where the ‘guestrooms’ were located was sealed by a thick steel security door and guarded by two power armored goons. “I guess this is up to me then,” I said with a sigh. “They might be assholes working for other assholes but I really don’t want to hurt them too bad. I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out how much strength and speed to use.”
Glen shrugged. “I’ll handle this and you get the door. While you were fighting those guys in the lab I was building us a few things. This should work nicely on that armor of theirs.” He pulled a round metallic object with a digital screen out of his duffle bag and pressed a button on the side causing the digital display to start counting down from five. Then he tossed it down the hall toward the guards.
The guards looked at the device that rolled to their feet for almost a full second before it let off a burst of energy and they both fell to the ground unmoving. Glen grinned at me. “That was a mini burst EMP device, it knocked out all their armor’s systems but there should be no lasting harm. You should pull off the face plates so they can breathe though.”
We approached the door and he stooped to pick up the device and put it back in his bag while I tore the face plates off the guards’ armor. I gave them a menacing look and said, “Don’t bother getting up, we’ll let ourselves in.” Then I hit the door with what I deemed a safe amount of strength. It flew off the hinges and crashed into the wall at the end of the cell block. Dammit, it seemed like I was still using too much power. The guards were very still after that though.
We didn’t have time to waste if we were going to take advantage of whatever was going on outside so I tore all the doors off the cells and put them aside before moving onto the next. All told there were sixteen kids besides us but most of them were younger than us with Stephanie being the oldest. The little ones were mostly unharmed but the guards had really roughed up Steph. She was huddled up in a corner and recoiled when I tore the door off of her cell until she realized it was me. “Suki?!”
“Ummm yeah… who else would I be,” I muttered. Then I noticed the black eye and the bruises on her face. “Are you okay? What did they do to you?”
“After you were taken upstairs some of the guards came in here. I tried to give as good as I got but there were four of them,” she explained as I helped her to her feet. “How did you...” she began to ask.
“It looks like they were right about us being Hypers, I have super powers. Bastards don’t even see us as human. There’s no time for any other explanation we need to get out of here while the guards are distracted,” I answered, helping her to her feet and guiding her out of the cell.
Once we had everyone out of their cells we made our way back upstairs and headed for what I thought might be the main entrance. There was almost nobody to be seen and those that were there were hiding. “What the hell are they hiding from?” Glen muttered beside me, “Surely you’re not that scary.” I wasn’t too sure about that so I didn’t reply; I merely led us to the exit. I peeked around a corner and saw a pair of glass doors with daylight beyond them and just stared for a long moment. Glen poked me in the ribs, “What’s wrong? Did we go the wrong way?”
I shook my head as I watched the scene outside. Two people in white togas with some sort of black bodysuits underneath were fighting four power armored goons and they were winning. This was apparent by close to a half dozen goons already lying on the ground with pools of blood around their armored forms. One had dark red skin and carried a massive sword that he was using to attack the goons. He wasn’t able to cut very deep but those cuts kept adding up and he kept going at it. It looked like every time they shot him or tore off one of his limbs he regenerated nearly instantly. One thought to use one of the plasma guns on him while he was occupied but the other one, a woman in her late twenties or early thirties with green hair and a bow, shot him with some sort of electric arrow and he fell to the ground spasming. There were two others but they seemed content to let the others do all the dirty work. “It looks like the lab has some uninvited guests making a scene out front.”
“Is it the media or the police?”
“Ummm… no,” I replied uncertainly. “I think I’m going to go with protesters… angry mutant protesters in togas.”
“What the hell? You’re joking right?” When I shook my head he asked, “How many dozens? Hundreds?”
“It looks like four and they’re carving the goon squad a new one, at least the two that are actually fighting are. I’m really not sure who to cheer for here,” I replied.
“How about the ones who didn’t kidnap, forcibly detain, and experiment on us?” Glen suggested.
I shook my head and gave him a determined look. “Oh, so I should applaud the one’s indiscriminately killing people then? Not going to happen.”
“I have to agree with you there my love. You’re about to do something crazy aren’t you?” At my nod he gripped my hand, “I’m with you. So do you have a plan or are we going to pull the crazy act again?”
I gave him a tired smile. “Well I have a plan, but the plan is crazy so I guess we’re doing both. You take the girl with the bow and I’ll take the guy with the sword. Steph you wait inside the entrance with the kids and if you see a chance you all make a break for it.” They both nodded and Glen and I made our way through the doors to the battle scene outside. There were only two power armored goons left standing and I was really hoping they wouldn’t attack us as well. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Glen took out a 4 inch steel disc and tapped a spot on it that caused it to expand to nearly two feet in diameter and hover off the ground. He hopped on top of it and fastened a blocky looking device around his right wrist and another that looked like a large silver bracer to his left. “Okay, let’s hit them hard and fast.”
I flew across the parking lot and almost missed my chance for a surprise attack by underestimating my speed. I stopped just short of him though and used a fraction of my strength to deliver an uppercut that I thought might take his head off. The sound of his neck breaking as his head snapped back made me cringe, but not as much as the sound when he reached back and pulled his head back into it’s proper place to glare at me. What the hell? Well at least I got his attention, I thought as I zipped backwards to avoid a swing of his sword.
Glen wasn’t faring much better. The bracer on his left arm had generated some sort of light shield that he was using to block the archer’s arrows. He was countering by firing these sparking pellets from the device on his right arm while flying around and trying to get a better angle of attack. The archer was dodging his attacks and seemed to be getting frustrated by his flying around and blocking her shots but she just kept firing though until one of them could break the standstill.
The swordsman took another swing, this time at my neck and I decided to see just how good my force field was. I grabbed the blade of the sword in mid-strike and pulled it out of his hands. I was done fooling around with him and to show it I crumpled the sword into a roughly ball-shaped hunk of useless metal. I had been hoping that this would show him just what he was dealing with but it only seemed to piss him off. He jumped at me and since my natural reaction was to step back and get out of range I did that and tripped over the power armored corpse behind me to fall on my butt.
I might have panicked a little then as he jumped on top of me raining blows down on me. None of them really hurt but I wasn’t sure how to take this guy down without killing him. There was also the last two goons sneaking up behind him with plasma guns to consider. It was then that I became aware of something odd. You know how it feels when you can feel a belch coming on but it just doesn’t want to happen and you’re stuck with that feeling until it does? It was like that but it felt like it was going through my whole body. Between that and my uncertainty, well the belch like feeling centered on my belly at that point and relief came in the form of a burst of white hot energy that incinerated the swordsman’s lower half and severely burned the upper half.
What was left of him rolled off of me howling in pain even as he started to regenerate. It was then that I noticed that the two goons had fallen to the ground and were screaming inside their smoking and completely unresponsive power armor. What did I just do? I tore the face plates off the helmets to allow them to breathe and turned my attention back on my opponent, whose legs were now beginning to grow back. “You going to stay down this time or do I need to do that again to the upper half of you? Somehow I don’t think you’ll heal from that,” I bluffed as I tried to cover my now naked body. Whatever it was that had erupted from me had turned the front of my clothes to ash.
He just stared at me, and he wasn’t alone. The goons were staring at me, Glen and the archer were staring at me and the two other toga clad mutants were staring at me. One of those was a Latino man not much older than Steph wearing goggles and the other was a pale woman in her mid-twenties with long brown hair who appeared to be semi-transparent. It was she who called out, “Enough! Cease this fighting my children! I don’t care what you do to the humans but we do not harm our brethren.”
The archer immediately shouldered her bow and joined the other pair who were now approaching me. Glen flew over to hover beside me ready to fight if we needed to but I just wanted all the killing to stop. “No more killing, these humans may be assholes but killing them only means we’re sinking to their level,” I said, crossing my arms over my naked chest. Glen took off his shirt and handed to me and it did a decent job of covering me up, falling to my upper thighs.
“Oh dear child, we cannot sink to their level, we are their betters in every way,” the brunette replied.
I snorted at that and rolled my eyes, “The fight is over and your guy lost. You may think you’re better but to me you’re just murderers. Now who are you and why the fuck are you here?”
“Man once worshiped beings of great power as Gods,” she said as if that would explain everything. “That golden age passed but it shall begin again. I am Gaia mother and teacher of the new Gods, the Titans. These are my chosen ones Hermes, Artemis and Ares. We came here because we heard that young children, our brethren were being held and tortured here. We came to free them and to take them to a safe place with others of their kind.”
“Well, we’ve managed to escape on our own, thanks for making the trip though. Send us a postcard when you get back to the Promised Land,” I shot back.
“Yes, you have done an admirable job,” she admitted. “You may come out children; we will not harm our own kind.” Then she seemed to look through Glen for a minute, her eyes glowing green, before doing the same with me. When she was finished her eyes were wide and she smiled. “I see you for what you are. You are a being of great beauty and power with a powerful desire for justice, you shall be my Astraea.” She turned that smile back to Glen and added, “And there is no one more deserving than you, with your quick mind and skill at forging weapons, to take the name Hephaestus. I offer you both a place among my Titans. Join us and leave these brutal and wicked humans behind.”
“Thanks but no thanks,” I said with a shake of my head. “Sure these humans who held us here are everything you say they are but not all humans are like that. And from the looks of things you people shouldn’t be throwing stones where brutality is concerned.”
Glen nodded in agreement, “You can’t judge an entire species by a few bad samples. Sure we’ve seen some bad ones here but we’ve seen some good ones too.”
“I’ll take that offer,” Stephanie’s voice said from behind me, causing me to curse. Sure it might be her decision to make and she was older than us so she had every right to make it, but I couldn’t help thinking that only bad things would come from it.
Gaia smiled at her and beckoned her forward. “You are a brave young woman, deserving of the gifts of your heritage. Come here and let us see what gifts your rebirth bestows upon you.”
“Steph, this is not a good idea,” I warned. “They had no qualms about killing those guards. They were people, with families and maybe to some it was just a job.”
Steph walked past me, “They didn’t think about us as people, maybe it’s time we start doing the same.”
Gaia began to glow with a pale green light as she placed her hand on Steph’s forehead and then Steph was glowing too. Her blond hair and pale skin both turned pitch black and seemed to absorb all light around her. Then she said, “Welcome to Godhood Nyx.”
“Holy shit,” Glen whispered beside me as there was a collective gasp from the children who had followed Steph outside. “She can activate H Chromosomes.”
Gaia turned back to us, “We will take these children to Olympus where they will be safe and well cared for until they are ready to embrace their own destinies as Nyx has. Will you not reconsider joining us?”
“No we won’t and you’re not taking those kids anywhere,” I snapped, still a bit shocked by what I had just seen.
Gaia shook her head. “Make no mistake we will rule the humans in time; nothing will stand in our way. And one day you will see the humans for what they really are Astraea, and when that happens you will leave them to join your brethren just as your namesake did. You and Hephaestus will always have a place in Olympus and I will give your names to no one else. Goodbye my children, we shall meet again.” Then she gestured to the Latino in the goggles, “Hermes, take us home.” There was a flash of light and Gaia, Stephanie, the other Titans, and all of the children were gone.
“Shit!” I cursed. “What the hell do we do now?”
“We get out of here and find a place to lay low for a bit while we figure things out,” Glen replied as we picked up our previously discarded duffel bags and a couple of the dropped plasma cannons. “I’ve left enough evidence for the police and media to look into what they were doing here but I don’t trust them to not blame us for what happened out here.”
“Yeah but how are we going to do that?” I wondered aloud. “We don’t know how to drive and I don’t have a handle on my strength or speed yet, let alone flying and whatever it was I used on Ares so while I’m up for laying low, the question is where and how to get there.”
There was a flash of light and a voice from behind us asked, “You need a lift mis amigos?” The world seemed to twist in on itself and suddenly the demolished parking lot of the lab was gone, replaced by a small farmhouse, barn, and acres of long-abandoned fields. I hadn’t even finished turning around to confront him before our location had changed. When I did turn around and he saw the look on my face, he held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, chill out chica! I ain’t here to hurt you and I didn’t bring you to Olympus. You said no and, while we hope you’ll change your minds, we respect that. But you’re one of us, Gaia named you and everything, and we take care of our own so I wasn’t about to leave you there for those humans to blame everything on you.”
“Thanks, I guess,” I muttered. “So where did you bring us?”
“Artemis grew up here on this farm,” he replied. “She inherited the deed from her parents but she hasn’t been back much since she joined the Titans. She said you can stay here as long as you like while you figure things out. Winnipeg is about a half hour north of here and she thinks Hephaestus can probably get the truck working.
“Why are you being so nice? We refused your invitation. And you seem like a decent guy so why join her in the first place?” I asked. “She condones murder and she as much as said she wants to rule the world.”
He shrugged as he considered my questions. Finally he said, “Like I said we take care of our own and whether you want to admit it or not, you’re Titans. Most of us have been through some pretty bad shit at the hands of humans, it changes a person. I’d rather live in a world where I’m feared and worshiped than feared and hated. The killing is regrettable and we try only to kill those who have committed crimes against our kind but have you stopped to think what a mess the world is now? Maybe once we’re in control we can make it a better place. Think about it and Gaia’s offer. Later mis amigos.”
Another flash of light and he was gone.
“What do you make of that?” I asked Glen.
“It sounds like he believes what he’s saying but I think they might be trying to turn us to their side by showing that they’re willing to help us,” he replied after a moment’s thought. “They are probably hoping that we’ll get our fill of being mistreated by humans and decide that we really should join their little family.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I figured too. So do we stay here? Or try to get somewhere else?” I hated feeling so uncertain about things but there was so much that we had to deal with that I wasn’t sure where to start.
“It can’t hurt to stay here for a while, at least while you figure out your powers, we help each other to pass as one another, and I build a few things we’ll need,” he answered. “I definitely want to build some devices to figure out where all of your power is coming from and why you’re glowing like that. Knowing those things might help you to get better control.”
Glen had managed to fix the truck that was in the barn and figured out how to drive it without too much trouble. He was so damn smart now and I wondered whether that was his only power as I went around the farmhouse trying to clean the thick layer of dust that seemed to be everywhere. He was going to drive to Winnipeg to get some groceries and hit the Radio Shack and a junkyard if he could find one. I warned him to spread his purchases around though as a fifteen or sixteen year old boy running around with that much money was sure to raise questions. To be safe he had only taken two stacks of twenties and one stack of fifties and left the rest with me..
Once I got the dust taken care of as best I could I took a break from cleaning to take care of some important business that I had been holding off on. I really had to pee and it was something that I hadn’t been looking forward to, especially after Glen had made his first attempt. He had been pale and looked so shaken when he came out of the bathroom. As I did my own business and wiped afterwards I got a pretty good idea of why he had looked like that. This intimate and personal act done in a way I had always assumed was reserved solely for the opposite sex made it quite clear that I now was the opposite sex. It sealed the deal and there was no going back.
I don’t know how long I sat there on the toilet crying but it was beginning to get dark outside as I stepped out into the living room. I was really hoping that Glen would get back soon and that he had found a generator to give us some power, I could really use some more light. The glow about me seemed to brighten then until the whole room was bathed in golden light. Since this wasn’t the first time that my new powers had surprised me I just shrugged it off and went upstairs to clean the dust from the last of the three bedrooms.
The bedroom had a large double bed and pictures of a man, a woman, and a child that went along with some I had seen in the living room. I assumed the child was Artemis and the pictures in both rooms ranged from her as a baby right up to her high school graduation photo. She had brown hair then and looked so happy in the photos. The room also had a floor length mirror and I couldn’t help but look at the girl reflected there. Glen was right, even in clothes my breasts were obviously much bigger than his had been while he was Suki and I was indeed much prettier as well, in fact I was beautiful. I still looked like her of course but there were a bunch of really subtle changes in the face and body that made me a knockout where she was simply very pretty.
I felt like crying again as I looked in that mirror but I knew that it wouldn’t change anything. We were stuck as we were now and the only thing that we could do was to pick up the pieces of our lives, stick together and try to move forward. I was having trouble coming to grips with the fact that my girlfriend and I had changed roles, at least I was in my mind, and I think that’s what bothered me most. Shouldn’t my body feel wrong to me? I mean sure my balance and movements were all off because physically I felt different, and mentally I knew that this was not the body I had been born with, but that was all conflicted by the feeling that I looked so feminine and beautiful and that made me feel good, it made me feel proud and comfortable in my own skin. Was this something to help me adjust? Like the fact that I was still attracted to Glen in my old body.
The sound of a honking horn shook me from those thoughts and I made my way outside to where Glen was waiting with the truck. He immediately shielded his eyes, “Whoa! Turn down the lights, you’re blinding me here.” I thought about how the light had responded to my thoughts and willed it to dim and it did so. I wondered if I could turn it completely off and tried to do that too but it didn’t seem to work as my light just went back to the level it had been a when I first woke up after getting my powers. “Nice trick, can you turn it completely off?”
I shook my head, “I just tried and this seems to be the lowest setting.”
“Maybe I can figure out some way to turn it off long enough for you to go out in public. We’ll need to get you regular clothes to wear and I’ll need to figure out something that won’t incinerate whenever you do whatever it as you did to Ares.”
I shuddered at that, “Don’t remind me. I don’t think I ever want to do that to a living person again.”
“I wouldn’t either,” he agreed, “But we need to be prepared for the possibility. I have some theories that I would like to test out but I’ll need to build some equipment first to get an idea of why exactly you have such power. I’ve got a bunch of stuff from Radio Shack and other electronics stores, a bunch of old scrap metal and other useful stuff from a junkyard that I can use to make things, a laptop with a wifi stick, some groceries, and both gas and solar powered generators to run the house on.
“Sounds like you were productive,” I said with a smile. “I was too, I managed to get rid of most of the dust and set up what looked like a guest bedroom so we can sleep tonight.” I stood up on my toes to kiss him but I stopped myself, worried that it would just be too weird for both of us. He seemed to see the uncertainty on my face but he didn’t stop, he kissed me full on the lips and put his arms around me. It felt good, better and much less awkward than I had been anticipating. I quickly reciprocated and we stayed there locked in a passionate kiss and embrace for several minutes before he had to come up for air.
“Not that that wasn’t amazing but I need air. You’re really warm sweetie,” he said looking at me in concern. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I feel fine,” I said as I nodded in reply. In fact I felt better than fine, that kiss had been incredible. ”Maybe my force field or whatever it is is generating heat as well as light,” I suggested.
He seemed thoughtful for a moment but nodded, “It’s possible, let’s get these groceries inside and eat. I brought us some pizza and sodas for tonight since I don’t have much experience cooking.”
“That’s okay, I used to have to cook for myself all the time when my dad was at work,” I told him. “It’s probably best that I handle the cooking anyway since you’ll be busy with inventing while we’re here.”
Over the next five days while Glen was busy inventing things I was busy learning to control my strength and speed and getting the hang of flying. The latter was the easiest and soon I began to enjoy the freedom of taking to the skies. The former though was taking a lot of practice just so I wouldn’t crush anything I happened to be holding or using but by the fifth day I was starting to get the hang of it as well. I had yet to discover an upper limit for my strength yet though and I gave up figuring out how fast I was going somewhere after the first sonic boom.
We also spent some time that first evening monitoring the news online. Several news networks were covering the story of the mutant kids escaping from Red River Research Center following inhumane testing on them and outright murder of previous test subjects. Reports mentioned that the escapees were aided in their escape by an attack on the lab by Hyper extremists and that a terrorist group calling themselves the Titans had claimed responsibility and abducted the children following their escape from the lab. That made for one less problem to worry about. We wouldn’t be implicated in the killings, but Dr. Hayes knew the truth about our escape and would likely tell his employers. In related news a cornfield roughly three kilometers from the facility was ravaged when a man in power armor crash landed. I got a good giggle out of that.
When we weren’t busy with doing our mutant things or keeping up with the news we were doing research online or teaching one another about our lives. We drilled one another incessantly about our childhoods and how to walk, move, speak and act like our new genders. Both of us had some issues with that but we were coming along slowly. Glen was hoping to go clothes shopping, once we figured out a way for me to stop being the human glow-stick, so we could teach each other about how fashion related to our new genders.
Finally on the morning of that fifth day Glen led me out into the barn that he had converted into a lab. There were strange instruments all over the place and he had me lay down in one while he ran scans of my body. Once that was done a concerned look passed over his face and he used a few hand held devices to take even more readings. Finally he sighed, “I think I have you figured out Sook but it’s really complicated. I had trouble getting proper readings at first due to all the energy”
“What? Was my force field interfering?” I asked, slightly confused.
“He shook his head, “That’s not a force field Suki, its sunlight. It’s basically just heat and light that you give off naturally, I think that’s the highest amount you can emit without it getting too much attention and you need to get rid of at least some excess energy when not actively using your powers. You’re basically a low-mass star. You have a core somewhere in your chest and it’s producing insane amounts of energy by nulcleosynthesis.”
“You’re saying I’m nuclear!?” I half-shouted.
“No I said that you’re a low-mass star,” he reiterated. “But yes your entire body has been adapted to run off the nuclear energy you’re producing. Your organs, circulatory system, muscles, everything has adapted to use that energy and to be able to withstand that. In fact your body is looking for other ways to use the excess energy so it is using it to fuel your strength and speed. Some of that excess is being given off as sunlight as well and you’re using bursts of that energy to give thrust in flight and remain unaffected by Earth’s gravity.”
“What about my invulnerability then?” I asked, more than a little freaked out.
“That isn’t so much a power as a side effect,” Glen said with a sigh. “In order to withstand the magnitude of the energy that your core is producing, not to mention the heat, all of your organs, bones, muscles, nervous system, veins and arteries, and skin all need to be invulnerable to the might of a star. They also need to be shielded against radiation and heat, which is why you’re not giving off large amounts of radiation or burning up; your body is keeping it inside of you so your invulnerability protects not only you but those around you. What you did to Ares was essentially a solar flare, you constantly need to release excess energy anyway so when you panicked your body reacted by giving off some of that energy as plasma and radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum which were directed at your adversaries.”
I stared at him for a long time before speaking again. “I guess that does explain a lot, but how the hell does my body manage to run like that? Low-mass stars exist by converting hydrogen to helium via nuclear fusion. I can’t have that much hydrogen in me and they usually gather it from gas clouds.”
“You’re getting some from the air, 0.00005 percent of Earth’s air is hydrogen,” he explained. “You don’t even seem to need to breathe, your lungs just adapted to gather gasses for your core. You’re getting some hydrogen from food and liquids too. Water, high protein foods like meat and poultry, fruits, grains, and other carbohydrates all have hydrogen in them. You’re not getting enough from the air to do much more than keep you alive, you really need to get hydrogen from food or water to keep producing that kind of energy needed to fuel your powers and give you energy for day to day activities. Your digestive system is breaking those down and extracting the hydrogen atoms to send to your core while the rest is delegated to liquid and solid wastes. I think you must have some natural ability to filter those, probably something to do with your body being naturally shielded against radiation, because the urine sample I had you give me shows no sign of radioactivity.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, “Well at least I’m not radioactive. So if I constantly need to give off at least a little energy how do we make it so I’m not a walking nightlight?”
He considered the problem and a moment later I could see the eureka moment written all over his face. “I think I can create a device that will draw in that excess energy and store it in small batteries. We’re talking about a lot of energy though so you might have to change the batteries out if you want to keep up a normal appearance for any more than six hours.”
“What do we do with that stored energy though? Could you use it for anything?” I asked.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how to solve the power requirements for something I’m working on and I think this might do the trick…”
An hour later Glen placed a silver choker around my neck. It looked like a regular choker and fit snugly but it had a bunch of micro-devices inside that would siphon off any excess electromagnetic, solar and thermal energy that I needed to release and store it in the battery. The battery itself was a small quartz crystal on a silver base that plugged easily into the choker and locked in place until released by a small switch on the underside. “I wish I had a better type of crystal for energy storage but quartz should do until I find something better,” he said.
The glow around me had faded to nothing and while he may have been disappointed, I was not. “Did you need so many of the batteries,” I asked? He had made nearly two dozen of them and as interesting as I found his new skills with creating new tech, watching him make the same thing so many times was boring.
“Yes, I want to run some tests on how quick you charge them and how much energy they hold. So I want you to increase your energy output so we can fully charge half of them. The others you’ll need for spares in case we’re out and you fully charge one,” he said with a smile.
I concentrated on increasing the amount of energy I was giving off and over the next few hours we fully charged half of the devices. Then I lowered my output to the lowest possible and we put in a fresh battery to charge while Glen drove us into town to do some shopping. I was wearing a long green wool sweater dress, winter jacket, and some boots that I had found in one of the closets of the farmhouse. Glen had found some jeans that fit okay with a belt, a t-shirt, and a pair of cowboy boots and a winter jacket. None of the clothes fit us particularly well but we would be getting clothes that would soon enough. I also had a purse that I had found in Artemis’ old bedroom that now had a large chunk of our money and replacement batteries for charging in it.
We arrived at a mall in Winnipeg around lunch time and stopped for a bite to eat before doing any actual shopping. Clothes shopping like this was a new experience for both of us when we got down to it. When my dad and I used to shop for clothes it was a get in and out as quick as possible affair. As long as everything fit, how it looked was pretty unimportant to me. Glen though had grown up in the orphanage as Sakura and hadn’t had much chance to go clothes shopping; most of her clothes were second hand or donated by charity. So he couldn’t really coach me on shopping that much and we were both pretty much left to our own devices.
One thing Glen did know was that I should be fitted before we bought anything so that my clothes would fit comfortably. So while he was off looking for clothes of his own I was left in the women’s section of a department store unsure of where to even start. It was while I was standing there utterly confused that a pair of girls around my age stopped with concerned looks on their faces. “Hey, are you okay?” asked the one who looked to be of Native ancestry.
“Umm yeah, I’m just not sure where to start here; I’ve never really been clothes shopping before,” I admitted.
“Never been shopping? Where did you grow up? Outer space?” asked the blonde, blue eyed girl.
I blushed at that and looked at the floor as I reminded myself to use Sakura’s past and not Glen’s. “I grew up in an orphanage actually. I only recently got out and I just got a bunch of money to spend on clothes but I know absolutely nothing.” I tentatively introduced myself, “I’m Sakura Yoshida.”
“I’m Natalia, but everyone calls me Talia, and this is Gwen,” the blonde girl said. “It’s nice to meet you Sakura. You know we could probably help you pick out what you need. Part of the whole shopping experience is the social aspect anyway; it’s more fun with other girls.”
“It’s nice to meet you both, you can call me Suki if you like, everyone else does. I’d really appreciate your help and I don’t really need to buy a lot just enough for a week or so, I’ll be doing more shopping later I just need enough clothes to last until then.”
For the next few hours Gwen and Talia coached me on the finer points of shopping and fashion and to my surprise I actually enjoyed myself. First they took me to get measured so we could get a better idea what sizes I would need. It turned out that I took a 28C bra, had a twenty three inch waist and was thirty one inches around the hips. Apparently this was enough to make my new shopping compatriots jealous but at least their teasing was in good spirits.
We focused on underwear first but where I would have opted for plain cotton bras and panties they insisted that part of being sexy was feeling sexy so I would have to dress the part even in my underclothes. So my matching panty and bra sets were lacy and sexy and ranged from white to black with pink, red, and blue between. I was told that color was important so they didn’t clash with what I was wearing over top. I wasn’t planning on letting anyone except maybe Glen see my underwear but they were the experts.
With underwear bought we focused on outer clothes next. I got three pairs of really tight low rise jeans three miniskirts in different colors and styles, one red mini dress and ten different tops of varying styles and colors, several of which left my midriff bare. We also bought a pair of sneakers, a pair of ballet flats, and a pair of black leather ankle boots with a two inch heel that had a matching purse, and a leather jacket to go with them. Once we had bought more clothes than a girl should be able to reasonably carry they took me to the cosmetics counter to introduce me to make-up (not that I needed any) and ended up buying some lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow for times when I wanted to look my best. They even taught me the basics of how to use it.
Gwen and Talia seemed like great girls and I was almost sorry to say goodbye when I explained that I had to go meet my boyfriend and head home. They had been trying to convince me to get my ears pierced but I was pretty sure that that wouldn’t go so well with my invulnerability so I used meeting Glen as an excuse to get out of it. I did need to meet him anyway and when we were back in the truck and heading back to the farm I told him how things had gone. He had just gone in and a salesgirl pounced on him and told him what he would look good in, and once he’d figured out his size he merely bought five outfits that she had suggested.
That night Glen had a surprise for me in his workshop/lab. “You know how I said I needed the energy to power something? Well I think these batteries you’re charging will work nicely. The energy storage is stable and you pumped a lot of energy into these suckers. Four of them should be enough to run the systems for at least a full day of continual use.” He pulled a tarp off of what looked like some sort of power armor. It was bigger than what the people at the lab used though and was a dark blue and grey in color with greenish yellow glowing highlights.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.
He grinned at me and nodded. “Yup, though I vastly improved upon their designs. This responds to my brainwaves rather than muscle movement like theirs do and uses less power. And having such small batteries makes it lighter. It’s also made of a lighter alloy with the same impact resistance and seals well enough for use in space or under water. It can fly at supersonic speeds using plasma thrusters, uses miniaturized hydraulics to increase strength and I’ve equipped it with energy cannons, vi-blades, paralysis darts, remote minicams, mini missiles, screamers, taser pellets, and photon shields. It’s even resistant to EMPs. Oh and this is the best part,” he finished, tapping a button on his watch.
The armor disappeared from where it was standing and suddenly Glen was wearing it. “I can use space-time displacement to summon it when I need it or to send it to wherever I program its default location.”
“Holy crap Glen, that’s awesome!” I exclaimed.
“When I’m like this you should call me Chassis,” he replied. “I have something for you too.” He showed me a choker like the one I was currently wearing. “Put this one on. It’s an upgraded unit and there’s a button next to the clasp that turns off energy storage mode and activates the secondary purpose.”
I put it on in place of the other one and pressed the button by the clasp. In an instant the choker was gone and so were my clothes, replaced by a black one piece bathing suit with a gold colored sun emblazoned on the chest and matching opera gloves, thigh high boots, and I thought I could feel a mask over my eyes as well. “What the… where’d my clothes go?”
“Your clothes are stored in a pocket dimension until you return the choker to energy storage mode and then they will return to your body when the costume goes back to that dimension in their place. The choker is still there it’s just invisible. The outfit you’re wearing is only partially in this dimension which should prevent it from being damaged in a fight or by your own solar flares. I’ll probably end up making my armor’s default location in a pocket dimension as well to save on space now that I know it works. So what do you think?” he asked.
“I think this is great,” I replied enthusiastically, “But what to we call me when I’m like this? There is no way I’m giving in and going by Astraea. How about Sol?”
He shook his head. “Sounds too spiritual, how about Fusion? Or Flare?”
I didn’t really care for the sound of either of those. “How about Stellar?”
“I like it,” he agreed. “So now what do we do? We can’t stay here long and we’ve made some enemies.” Our research over the past five days had shown that the agency funding Red River Research wasn’t a government agency at all, in fact the flash drive in the briefcase showed that they had planned on replacing many key government and military officials with metamorphs if they had managed to successfully create any. They were bound to be very displeased with us following our trouncing of their men in the lab, our escape with their test subjects, and revealing them to the media.
There was also the Titans to consider, they might not consider us enemies but they had to be stopped. “We need to find allies,” I finally answered. “We need a team of our own if we’re going to be taking on shadow organizations and wannabe Gods.”
“That’s a good idea Sook, but where do we start? It’s not like we can hold open auditions to recruit people,” he pointed out.
I loaded up a news page on the laptop, typed in some keywords, and hit search. When I opened the first page I smiled. “We’ll start here,” I said pointing to the news story in question. The title of the article was ‘New and Old Heroes Save Christmas’. It was about a pair of new mutant heroes called Slush and Crystal, who saved Toronto and the hero Stonewall from a crazy sorceress named Arcana, with the help of a sorceress named Cantrip and three retired heroes called the Thrilling Threesome. “I think these two might be a good pair to start with.”
Heart ofthe Beholden.
James wants to tell Kat that he see's her as more than a friend since her powers activated and she went through her big change. He's uncertain enough about the whole thing, but when a fire at school triggers his own H Chromosomes to activate how can he possibly tell her when his own changes give him even more cause for doubt?
Amethyst |
I was sitting in a bathroom stall at Metropolis Mall crying my eyes out and wondering just how things had come to this. Life had just thrown me another big curve ball and it looked like the big umpire in the sky was trying to decide if I had struck out or could walk to first base. The voice outside the stall didn’t help. “Hey, are you okay in there?”
Oh crap, she must have followed me, what do I do? I thought frantically. I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised since one of her powers was to sense and track other mutants, but hearing her voice only made things worse.
She waited a moment and when it was clear that I wasn’t answering she asked, “I’m Kat, do you need to talk about whatever you’re crying about? Is it about a boy or is because you’re a mutant? Did you just activate? Look, there’s nobody else in here and I’m a mutant too, so maybe I can help you.”
I couldn’t speak, even if I did have a clue what to say I don’t think I could have. The tears wouldn’t stop, I was sobbing, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how she would never want me like this. Our relationship had been complex enough as it was already. I had been willing to try to see past that enough to tell her that I liked her as more than a friend but now with this stupid new body she would never believe I was me, much less be interested in me.
I think maybe I should start at the beginning, after all isn’t that where most stories usually start? For me it only began a few days ago but the whole situation between me and Kat started about three months before that with my best friend Kevin Lewis. Kevin and I were what you would call friends of circumstance. We had met at the start of high school and being of African descent we both kind of stood out, so we started hanging out and decided to stick it out together. Anyone will tell you that Vancouver is one big cultural stew, there’s as many Asians as there are Caucasians and plenty of people from the Middle East and India too. Whoever was making the stew had apparently decided to go easy on the pepper though because there just weren’t that many of us around of the darker persuasion.
The pair of us were the only two in our school, so as I said, we started hanging out and we just clicked. We did everything together and the only time we didn’t spend together was when I was working after school and he went to visit his mom at her workplace. I always thought that a bit strange since I thought his mom was an accountant who worked from home. She had a second job though and I only found out what it was because it was that which screwed up Kevin’s whole life.
His mom is a Hyper and was a founding member of Canada’s premiere super hero team, the Sentries, based right here in Vancouver. His mother’s codename was Makeshift and she was a metamorph, what most people would call a shape shifter. Well as you can probably guess Kevin had the H Chromosome too and on that day three months ago he was there when the Foul Four attacked the Sentries in their own base. The stress of a Hyper battle raging around him caused Kevin’s own abilities to activate. His abilities were to copy another mutant’s powers and to sense and track other mutants and he accidentally used his copy ability for the first time on his mother’s teammate Wildthing.
For those of you who don’t follow the super hero set, Wildthing is sort of a cat woman. She’s primarily human but she has a lot of feline features: Cat ears, a long tail, a short muzzle with fangs and a kitty nose, whiskers, claws on her toes and fingers, sandy colored fur, and amber eyes with slit pupils. Kevin also apparently had a not-so-secret crush on her. Anyway since her form is part and parcel of her abilities, his own abilities tried copying that too. Having copied the powers and form of someone with such huge physiological differences and someone who he essentially thought was perfect caused his still developing Archetype to choose that as his new form.
So Kevin ended up as a younger copy of Wildthing right down to the gender. The only physical difference was that Kevin’s eyes were green instead of amber and his fur and the hair on his head was black. He, now she, found that in addition to Wildthing’s enhanced physical abilities and senses he could also detect other mutants and could still copy their abilities. Now the only way he could appear as his old self was by copying his mother’s metamorphic abilities.
Kevin and his Mom told me about what happened but swore me to secrecy. I would have kept it secret regardless since I felt it must be humiliating for poor Kevin to be trapped in the body of a girl, and not just any girl but a near duplicate of the cat-girl he was crushing on. What made it even worse for him was that she now saw him as a sort of little sister and had absolutely on romantic interest in my friend at all. Kevin’s mom changed his name to Katrina and wanted to send him off to this school for Hypers run by a former teammate of hers, but Katrina wanted to try to finish the school year here with his friends first.
So for the past three months Kat has been borrowing her mom’s abilities so she could go to school as Kevin for the rest of the year. We still hung out all the time but we mostly did it at her house so she could be herself for a while. Her mom and her little sister Tara had been helping her to adapt to her new gender, and even her dad was really supportive, but she really needed the time being herself to properly adjust. Spending so much of her school days as Kevin couldn’t have been easy and I often wondered why she put up with it when she could go to a school with others like herself. I was her only real friend here and I would have understood if she had left. Since she had decided to stay I decided to do my best to be there for her as she adjusted to her new self even though I knew next to nothing about Hypers. I learned as much as I could so I could understand better what she was going through and be the supportive friend she needed.
Spending so much time with her as Kat over the past few months, as both of us discovered just who Kat was, brought us even closer than before. I began to realize that I was starting to like her as much more than a friend and as much as I tried to bury that feeling it kept showing itself. I didn’t want to act on it because she had enough problems during those first few months as a girl. Adjusting to the new gender and all that came with it was hard for her and she had only recently gotten over the disappointment of having her crush tell her that she saw her as a little sister. I didn’t need to add to her problems or open old wounds by throwing my own feelings for her into the mix.
Now my life, it started to turn upside down three days ago on the night of February 11th while I was talking to Kat on the phone. “I can’t believe you’re going to miss the next few days of school,” I said with a sigh. “I’m going to be so bored with you gone.”
“I know, but it will be nice to be able to be myself for a while,” she replied with a sigh. “Mom normally wouldn’t let me do this, but a group of hikers went missing during that avalanche near Whistler and two of them are mutants. Normal tracking methods won’t work and looking normally will be like finding a needle in a haystack so she’s hoping that if I can detect the two mutants then we’ll have a better chance of finding the whole group, or at least narrow down the search area. The search and rescue helicopter should be here soon to pick us up.”
I let out a sigh of my own. “Good luck finding them, if anyone can do it it’s you. So if you’re back in time do you still want to do something for Singles Awareness Day?” It was a tradition with us that on Valentine’s Day we would do something together if we were single, usually go to the Metropolis Mall in Burnaby by sky train and make fun of all the lovey-dovey couples. Sure we were probably jealous and it was kind of a lame thing to do, but it was a tradition.
“Sure,” she replied with a laugh. “I need to get a few things at the mall anyway. If I’m back by then I’ll meet you at the usual spot at five o’clock. If I don’t think I’m going to make it I’ll call or text you. I gotta get going, our ride is here.”
“Sounds good Kat, I lo… I’ll see you when you get back.” I disconnected the call and sighed. Dammit, this was getting out of hand; I almost said that I loved her. Stupid! I couldn’t take it anymore, I was going to have to tell her soon or ask her on a real date or something or my head would probably explode. Would I be repeating Kevin’s mistake with Wildthing by doing that? I mean the circumstances were pretty similar, I was crushing on a cat-girl now too and she probably only saw me as a friend or a brother. At least I wasn’t a girl or a mutant or I’d never have the nerve to even think about it, that would be way too similar and I I wouldn’t want to bring back any bad memories for Kat, not when she was finally getting over the rejection.
Well, she had been sort of forced to tell Wildthing how she felt because of how she turned into a younger copy of her. I was at least still me and male. That raised the question though, was Kat even interested in guys or did she still like girls? If I asked her out how stupid would I look by not being sure about her orientation? Certain things she said led me to believe that she was bisexual now but It’s not like we regularly discussed it, in fact until she adjusted to her new self it was a topic that we both tried to actively avoid. Just thinking about all of this was starting to make my head spin.
I took a deep breath and tried to put my thoughts in order. I needed to get this off my chest and I needed a plan so I wouldn’t look stupid doing it or hurt the girl I loved. I wasn’t sure if it was just a crush or if my feelings of friendship toward her had evolved into more as I saw her becoming more comfortable with who she was while remaining my good friend. One thing I was sure about was that I did love her and sooner or later those feelings were going to come out. It was probably best that I at least be in control of the how and the when.
So it was time for a plan. Maybe something when we meet up on Valentine’s Day? Then it came to me. I could buy her some chocolates and a stuffed cat and maybe some flowers and offer to take her out for dinner and a movie. And if she didn’t react well I could just point to the stuffed animal and say I was just ‘kitten around’. She might like that. She had developed a sort of perverse sense of humor about her new form, which was one of the reasons she let people close to her call her Kat or Kitty. In fact her new favorite thing to say when I was at a loss for words was ‘Cat got your tongue?’ With a plan in my mind I eventually got some sleep.
School the next day was insanely boring without Kevin/Kat to hang out with. I ate my lunch alone and left school as soon as it was over for the day. I’m not really into the whole after school activities and despite many requests, I had never played on any school sports teams. My mom always says that if we give into stereotypes we let society control us and I sort of agree with her there. I hate it when people think that just because I’m six foot four and black with an athletic build that I want to play for the NBA or something. Don’t get me wrong, I like playing sports, I just don’t want to base my life on it because it’s what other people expect.
To a lot of people if you’re black you’re either going to be a professional athlete or a gang banger and that’s just racist. Mindless bigotry just pisses me off, so I don’t give in to it. My Dad is a dentist and a damn good one and both my parents are hoping that I’ll go down a similar route. You would think that victims of bigotry would be above it, but I’ve heard my parents both say some pretty horrible things about white folks when they’re not around, just because they’re white. It’s so stupid. I’ve heard them say nasty things about Asians and Hypers too, which is why they aren’t in on ‘Kevin’s’ secret. I love my parents, but I do not want to turn out like them when I grow up.
All kinds of people, including my parents, justify bigotry against mutants by saying that they are unpredictable and dangerous, but aren’t all humans? My mom hates Asians, mostly because her dad died in Vietnam when she was a baby and her mom raised her to hate them. Some of us minority people try to justify bigotry against whites by calling it 'reverse racism' when they see it, but bigotry is still wrong no matter what reason you try to package it in. Sadly it’s kind of like grandma’s fruitcake at Christmas, nobody ever wants to be on the receiving end, and they’re almost always ready to give it to someone else the first chance they get. If the goal is for everyone to be equals than we need to look past our differences and see each other as people first, not bitch about somebody being racist and then throwing your own brand of racism back at them. True equality doesn’t work like that.
Anyway, instead of after school sports, I headed to my part time job. I helped fix cars at Larry’s Auto for a couple hours after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, for fifty dollars a day. It was a pretty good gig actually, Larry paid me cash so that it was off the books, and he even offered to help me to find and repair a good vehicle of my own when I’m old enough to drive next year. So far I had over two thousand dollars saved up in my bank account and was hoping to be able to afford something decent when I could drive.
The hundred and fifty I made this week wouldn’t be going to the bank though; it was all going to go toward Valentine’s Day and Kat. I took the sky train to the mall after I was done work, had a quick meal at the food court, and spent some time looking through the stores. I was hoping to follow a cat theme for the stuffed animal and the chocolates just so I could pull the ‘just kitten’ card if she reacted badly. After some looking I found a stuffed white kitten with big pleading eyes holding a big red heart with ‘You are purrrfect, please be my Valentine’ written on it. I also found a box of cat shaped dark chocolate truffles that I thought she might like.
As I stood in line at the checkout I stared at the pair of items in my hands. I felt so ridiculous. I felt nervous too. What would I do if she reacted badly and I had to say it was all a joke? What would I do if she didn’t? Could we even be in a relationship without it becoming horribly awkward? I shoved those thoughts aside as I gave the pair of items to the cashier. I knew I needed to at least try or else this would just continue eating me up inside.
The cashier, a pretty blonde in her early twenties, smiled at me as she scanned the bar codes. “These are cute, is your girlfriend a cat lover?”
Cat lover… I tried not to think about the other possible meaning of those words given my situation. I shrugged it off and said, “Yeah she’s referred to herself once or twice as the crazy cat-lady. She’s not my girlfriend but, I’m uh… kind of hoping.”
She gave me another smile. “You’re so sweet, I’m sure she’ll be happy to have such a sweet and cute guy as a boyfriend. That’ll be $58.62 please.” I handed her a trio of twenties and she quickly sorted out my change to hand to me before putting the receipt in the bag and handing that to me as well. “Good luck, I hope she says yes.”
“Thanks,” I said as I gave her a nervous smile back and turned to leave with my purchases. On my way home I thought about how I was going to hide this from my parents. If I showed interest in a girl they were going to want to meet her, or at least know more about her, and somehow I doubted that they would be receptive to her being a very obvious mutant. With a sigh I decided that I would have to cross that bridge when I came to it. It was a good thing that I didn’t dwell over it or I would have been nervous as hell when I got home.
As it was I tried to slip quietly to my room, calling out that I was home as I passed the kitchen where my parents were both talking about their day over coffee. “How was your day James?” my dad asked. “You’re home a little late, were you hanging out with Kevin again?”
“No he had to go out of town for a few days, I went to go get some things at the mall,” I explained. I wasn’t the type to lie to my parents but I wasn’t above being vague when it was necessary.
“You went out and spent some of your hard earned money huh?” Dad said with a grin. “And here I thought you were pinching every penny for a car. Hopefully it’s not another video game; you spend too much time on those as it is.”
I shook my head, “No, it’s a gift for someone. I really should go upstairs and get my homework done before bed.” I knew that was a mistake as soon as I said it. While I was the type to study and do my homework, it still made it look like I was trying to cut the conversation short, which I was.
“A gift? And so close to Valentine’s Day too,” my mother said with a predatory grin. “This gift wouldn’t happen to be for a girl would it?”
I face palmed. “Uh yeah Mom, there’s a girl I’m kind of interested in so I’m going to try to ask her out on Valentine’s Day.”
“Does this girl have a name?” she prodded.
“Her name is Kat, I uhhh… sort of met her through Kevin. I don’t know if she’s interested in me or not, but I thought I’d try anyway.”
“Good for you son,” my father said as he got up and gave me a slap on the back. “I’m sure you’ll do fine but don’t wait until V Day or someone might ask her out before you. You make sure to ask her when you see her next, or better yet call her and ask. Fortune favors the bold James, that’s how I won your mother’s heart.”
They started getting all mushy and kissing at that point so I took that as I good time to make my retreat. “If you two are going to start making out I’m going to go do my homework and think about calling Kat.” I fled upstairs to my room before they could argue, put the shopping bag in my closet, and settled into getting my homework done. I had no intention of calling Kat tonight, despite what I had told my parents. She was likely still busy helping with the rescue effort and even if I weren’t nervous about asking her out it wasn’t the time or place to bother her with it.
The next morning I slept in and awoke with a sense of dread hanging over me. Valentine’s Day and the moment of truth were fast approaching and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong. I woke up so late that I didn’t even have time for my morning exercises. I took a quick shower and barely had time for breakfast before I had to leave for school. School was boring until the first period after lunch. We had a substitute teacher for Science and he planned to show us how to make distilled water. Mr. Lawson had a beaker filled with water set up over a hot plate that was stoppered shut with a tube running from it to a second stoppered beaker on the other end of the lab table which sat in a cooler filled with ice.
“How exciting,” my lab partner said with a groan. “He’s going to make water into water. Couldn’t he show us something interesting, like how to make smoke bombs or something?” My lab partner Nick was a skinny kid with short brown hair and glasses and he was stuck in a wheelchair due to a childhood accident. I had gotten to know him during our lab time and while he wasn’t a close friend he was a good guy and usually pretty fun to work with. He had some sort of obsession with ninjas though, which had probably prompted the smoke bomb comment.
“Yeah, I hope the experiment is more interesting than his description of it. If not wake me if something interesting happens,” I retorted with a chuckle. I was trying to steer him away from the eventual conversation about how badass ninjas were and how female ninjas would be awesome, so long as they dressed sexy. I liked the guy but he beat the subject of girl ninjas to death. It was always the same conversation when the topic came up just like my mom when she was in the mood to be a bigot.
“You might as well catch some Zs now then, I’ve seen this one done before and it’s even more boring than he makes it sound.” I placed my head in my hands and let my mind drift as Mr. Lawson began the experiment. I must have actually fallen asleep because I was dreaming of sexy girl ninjas thanks to Nick, I thought I even heard explosions and alarms. The next thing I knew I being shaken. “Dude wake up!” Nick said in a panicked voice. Holy shit, was that the fire alarm? I looked up and other students were rushing to the door and Mr. Lawson looked like he had no idea what the emergency procedures were.
“What the fuck?” I asked in confusion. I didn’t see anything burning, but I thought that I could smell smoke or something.
“I think something blew up in the lab next to us,” he explained in a rush. “There was a loud bang and then the fire alarms started going off. I think I smell smoke too, we need to get out of here!”
I nodded and stood up. Mr. Lawson was trying to get people organized but they were panicking and not listening, a bunch had already run off. Then I realized that we were on the second floor and the elevators don’t run when the fire alarm is going. How the hell was Nick going to get out of here? Suddenly there were people rushing back into the room. “There’s fire in the hallway!” someone shouted.
This just kept getting better and better. What the hell could we do now? Despite the adrenaline from our current situation I was still trying to shake off my dreams so my mind wasn’t working at full capacity. Including us and the teacher there were nine people in the room and with the smoke billowing into the room it was beginning to look like a choice between burning alive or jumping out a second storey window. I didn’t really care for either of those options and I was beginning to feel really scared. I thought that the fire must have been getting closer too, because I felt this rush of heat running through me while cold shivers ran down my spine. I needed a way to get myself and these others out of danger and outside to the meeting area.
If I could find a way to get Nick and I out and come back for the others, I thought as I gripped Nick’s wheelchair and the rush of heat was joined by a surge of pain through my whole body. Suddenly all that heat and pain was gone and there was a rush of air around me. I blinked my eyes not quite believing what I was seeing. Nick and I were outside at the emergency meeting area with the students from other classes. Nick was staring at me and whispered, “Who are you?” I looked at him confused; we had been lab partners since the start of the semester. Seeing my confusion he quickly said, “Forget it, whoever you are you just got me out of there. Can you go back for James and the others?”
James? But I was standing right here. How did I get us out anyway? I was just thinking of wanting to get us to the meeting area and poof we here. Maybe if I think about wanting to go back to the lab. I felt the air rush around me once again and I was back in the lab. The people inside hadn’t seemed to notice me and I started to move toward them only to find that my jeans and boxer shorts were pooled around my feet on the floor. That was both very strange and very embarrassing. I was still wearing my shirt and socks but it looked like both were way too big for me; the shirt was hanging off me like a tent and I was more than a little bothered by the two distinctive bumps that I saw there.
I tried to shake it off and focus on the current emergency. The smoke in the room was getting thick and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to wait around much longer. I stepped out of my pants and boxers since my over-sized t-shirt hanging to my knees covered everything well enough for now, took my wallet and cell phone from the pants and put them in my backpack with my keys. Then I rushed over to the panicked and coughing students and teacher and said, “I can get you all out of here but I think you need to hold on to me.” They looked at me in disbelief but all of them were too scared to think about it too much. I was offering to rescue them so they all grabbed hold and held on tight.
I thought about outside at the meeting area again and how much I wanted to be there and felt the air rush around us. When we arrived outside I felt so weak that I could barely stand, but we were all there. Maybe taking seven people with me at once was a bad idea. It took me a moment to catch my second wind and I left my stunned classmates and substitute teacher behind as I made my way through the crowd to where I had last seen the principal. Dammit, I was used to being taller than most people and now I was the same size if not a bit shorter than the girls in my class. I couldn’t push my way through the crowd as easily either due to my reduced stature.
“Dammit, I need to find out if anyone else is missing; I need to get to the principal,” I muttered. The rush of air hit again and I was standing near the school about ten feet from the man in question. I again ignored all the strangeness as I approached him and asked, “I just brought out Mr. Lawson and eight of his science class students, do you know if anyone else is still inside?” Usually during fire drills the teachers check off all their students that make it outside against those present for class that day and submit it to the principal.
“The fire department is handing it Miss…” he began as he looked at me. “I don’t recognize you, are you a student here?”
Miss? I had a feeling that once things settled down enough for me to really think that I wasn’t going to like where this was going. The Principal was useless, I would have to do a room by room search if I wanted to save anyone still inside. I thought about my math classroom which was on the second floor but the opposite side of the school and willed myself there. There was nobody inside so I started down the hallway looking into rooms and calling out through the smoke as I got closer to where the firemen were heading toward the blaze.
Somebody grabbed me by the shoulder and I turned to see one of the firefighters. “You can’t be in here Miss; I’ll take you outside where it’s safe.”
“Don’t worry about me, I can get out fine on my own, is there anyone else inside here? I umm… think I’m some sort of teleporter so I can help get people out safely,” I replied.
He shook his head. “You’re not dressed for this and I doubt you’re fireproof. We’ll take it from here. If you try going in and rescuing people dressed like that, Hyper or not, you’ll just end up getting hurt. Let us do our job, get outside where it’s safe, make sure you’re checked off on the list, and go home.”
I knew he was right; I would only be in their way like this. I popped back outside to where Mr. Lawson and my classmates were gathered. It looked like everyone else in the class had managed to make it out safely but Mr. Lawson was asking, “Has anyone seen James Grant?” I raised my hand as I walked toward him. “I brought him out before I came back for you. He uhhh… wasn’t feeling himself so I took him to a doctor I know.” I couldn’t very well tell them that I was James, so a white lie was in order.
“Thank you Miss, you’re a real hero. I thought all you Hypers liked wearing costumes when doing this sort of thing though,” he replied as he looked at my state of dress.
“It was ummm… laundry day. I should get going,” I replied before teleporting to the first safe place I could think of, my bedroom.
For nearly an hour I laid on my bed curled up in a ball as I thought about what had just happened. I was a Hyper, I had saved all those people and most disturbing of all three people had called me ‘Miss’. How much had I changed? Was I completely female? Just how much of James remained? The only good things about this were that I had saved lives and it had gotten my mind off Kat for a while. I suddenly sat bolt upright as the thought hit me. “Kat! Oh shit, what is she going to think of this?” I muttered. Would she be interested in me as a girl if I really was one? I didn’t even know if she would have been interested in me as a guy though so not much had really changed there. But me turning into a girl and then admitting my feelings for her… what if it hit too close to home? What if it made any relationship we had, even our friendship, super awkward?
With a sigh I got out of bed, I had messed it up quite a bit when I suddenly moved but I didn’t really care, I had more important things to think about at the moment. “I guess I had better see what the damage is.” I made my way to the bathroom, turned on the light, and looked into the mirror above the sink. What I saw there was stunning in more ways than one. First, I was actually stunning, as in very pretty. I was stunned by just how different I was, there was nothing of James there at all.
In the place of the six foot four, athletic African boy was a small and skinny white chick. Well my skin was light enough to be pure white but my features looked more Asian if you took the time to look, or a mix of that and white. I had lost probably a full foot or so in height and even under all the grime from the smoke in the school I could tell I was really pale. I was also really thin from the looks of it, but I could see some definite curves under my baggy shirt and I definitely had some good muscle tone going so at least I was in good shape.
I had a pretty and very feminine face with Asian features, thin eyebrows, a cute little nose and a smallish mouth and jaw with pouty lips. My slanted eyes were a vibrant pale blue color and seemed large in my face, and both my hair and my eyebrows were white as snow, just like my skin. I looked like some sort of blue-eyed Japanese albino girl. My hair looked to be about seven inches long and it was all standing straight up in complete defiance of gravity. I tried several times to get it to fall flat but it just kept on popping back up and giving gravity the finger.
Forget not being interested in me like this, I was pretty sure Kat would never believe it was me in the first place. “What the hell do I do now?” I queried the girl in the mirror after washing up a bit. “Nobody is ever going to see this and believe that it’s James Grant. First things first I guess,” I muttered, “I have some basic needs to take care of.” I really had to take a piss and as much as I wasn’t looking forward to it, the need was becoming steadily more insistent.
I quickly felt beneath my shirt hem as the area in question and discovered a feminine slit in place of what had once been there. Given my other changes it wasn’t much of a surprise but it was a big blow to my ego. Nevertheless I sat on the toilet and went about my business. It felt a bit different and it took a moment before I was relaxed enough to let it flow but at least the sense of relief was the same when the task was done. I almost broke down and cried afterwards at the very intimate and personal act of wiping myself down there, it was a big neon sign pointing to just how much I had changed, but I sternly reminded myself that now was not the time, I had other things to figure out.
Back in my bedroom I began to search for something that would fit me. There was nothing in my current clothing that came even close though, so I headed down to the basement to look through some of the boxes that my mom kept telling my dad to take to goodwill and he kept ‘forgetting’. I found some of the things from when I was thirteen, before I began my first major growth spurt, and retrieved a pair of sweat pants, some worn sneakers that were a bit big, and a t-shirt that would work until I could get something better. I took my prizes upstairs and headed to my room to get changed and think of an explanation before my mom got home from her job at the bakery in an hour.
It would seem that my luck was holding, and it was still bad. I had just finished taking my oversized shirt off when I heard the front door being closed and my mom calling out, “James? Are you home? Someone called and told me there was a fire at your school and I wanted to make sure you were okay.” She was home an hour early and I wasn’t sure what to do so of course I did the stupidest thing possible, I froze. My bedroom door was wide open when Mom came to my room and I could just imagine how bad this looked to her: A stark naked girl in her son’s bedroom, a messed up bed, and clothes strewn all over the place… yeah not a good combination for me.
Her eyes went wide and I blurted out, “Uhhh… Mom, this is not what it looks like.”
From the looks of if she didn’t catch the ‘Mom’ part of that statement; she looked fit to be tied. “I think it’s exactly what it looks like. Some skinny ass white bitch is naked in my son’s room. James! Where the hell are you?! You get your ass out here now and explain yourself!” She looked around my room and checked in the bathroom before leveling a glare at me. “Kat, or whatever the hell your name is, you have exactly five minutes to get your ass dressed and out of my house before I call the cops. And I had better not see you around my son again or I will put your freak ass six feet underground!”
“But...” I tried to explain as I stepped into the hall.
“Four minutes bitch!” she interrupted me. “James if you’re here you better have a damn good explanation for this!” I had never seen my mom this angry or hateful before. She moved forward to push me and I instinctively teleported back a few steps just inside my room. I think we both were a bit confused by that and the wisps of black smoke that were all that was left to indicate where I had been standing a moment before. The rage and the hatred covering her features intensified. I think my hair could have probably been excused by bleach and a lot of hairspray but there was no missing the teleportation. She knew I was a mutant for sure now and she looked ready to carry through on the threat she just made.
I slammed my bedroom door shut and locked it as a thought hit me. I was an obvious mutant who was a mix of Asian and white, I was everything that my parents had ever shown intolerance toward. It shocked me, but not enough to make me stay there; it would have been crazy to do that. I made haste to put on the clothes that I had retrieved earlier and throw my cell phone, wallet, and the gifts I had gotten Kat into my backpack after I upended it to release the previous contents. Mom was banging hard against the door the whole time, trying to break her way into the room, and I didn’t even take the time to see if there was anything else I might want to bring with me before teleporting out of there.
I appeared in the food court at Metropolis mall. With it being Thursday and just after the other schools would be getting out, there weren’t many people there at the moment and most of the ones who were there weren’t looking in my direction. I made my way over to the Burger King and ordered a Whopper combo. I was both tired and starving and I was pretty sure that my form changing like it had was responsible for that state. I was shaking as I paid for the order so I figured that shock might be setting in too. It didn’t matter though because I needed to eat something badly and at the moment it was the only of my problems I could do anything about.
“Are you okay Miss?” the lady who took my order asked.
I shook my head, but I tried to reassure both her and myself that I would be fine. “I’ve had a rough day and I need to eat something really bad. I think I’ll be okay once I do that.”
“Okay. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.” She paused a minute, looking me over in concern before she added, “We don’t normally do this but why don’t you go have a seat over there and start on your drink and I’ll bring the rest out to you when it’s ready.”
I nodded tiredly and glanced at her name tag. “Thanks Jennifer, I really appreciate that.” Then I took my Pepsi over to one of the nearby tables and took a sip before flopping down into a seat.
I didn’t have to wait long before Jennifer came and placed my order on the table. “Here you go, Miss.” She had an extra soda with her and asked. “Do you mind if I join you? I told my boss I was taking my break.”
I shrugged as I shoved a few fries in my mouth. Once I had chewed and swallowed I said, “Thanks for bringing this out. You can sit down of you want to, but I doubt that I’ll be very good company.”
“You’re welcome, you looked like you were about to fall over, you still do.” She looked away for a brief moment and I took as big a bite of my burger as I could with my tiny mouth. “Look, I know this isn’t any of my business but did you run away from home or something? You’re a little early for the school rush, obviously starving, and you look exhausted and a bit ragged.”
“Ragged?” I asked before taking another bite.
“Most girls your age as pretty as you would be wearing make-up when they go to the mall,” she explained. “You’re not, you look like you just threw on the first clothes you could find, and you smell like smoke. You also look like you’re a Hyper. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
I shook my head as a swallowed a few more fries and washed them down with my drink. “No… yes… I don’t really know. There was a fire at my school and in the mayhem I activated. I got my classmates out but my appearance has really changed so no one recognizes me and none of my old clothes fit anymore. My mom freaked out when she saw me at the house and I think she may have tried to kill me if I hadn’t escaped, so I ended up here.”
Jennifer looked a bit confused. “I don’t know much about Hypers but how could people not recognize you? I thought you all just got weird features sometimes and cool powers. Surely you can’t have changed that much.”
I wasn’t about to tell her that I was male before my change, that was just too embarrassing, so I sighed and said, “I thought so too, but this morning I was black.” I shoved some more fries in my mouth to both keep it too busy to say anything else and to fill the void in my stomach.
Her eyes widened, “Damn, that’s some change.”
I swallowed my fries and muttered, “You don’t know the half of it. I have a good friend who’s a mutant though and she should be able to help me out if I can contact her, she’s been through a similar change and her mom is great. Once I’m done eating I’ll probably see about getting a change of clothes or two and look for a hotel to stay in tonight so I can freak out in relative safety. I have some money saved up for a car so hopefully it won’t be too much of a problem.”
“I don’t know if a hotel will rent to someone as young as you look, you’re what fourteen?” she said in a concerned tone.
“Fifteen,” I clarified, “Not that I could prove it with my current ID. I see your point though; I might have to see if I can figure something else out.”
“I’d offer to let you sleep at my place but I don’t have the room. If you can’t get a room come back and find me. I’m still here for a few hours and maybe I can help you find other options,” she suggested.
I stared at her as I finished by burger. “You’d do that for me? But you don’t even know me.”
“You need help, and helping you find a women’s shelter or someplace to stay tonight isn’t that big a deal,” she said with a shrug.
I finished the last of my fries and washed them down with the last of the Pepsi. “Thanks for your help, I guess I should let you get back to work and maybe I’ll see you later. If I don’t then I found a place and I’m sleeping.”
She nodded, “Okay, maybe we’ll see each other again sometime. I hope everything works out for you.”
Shopping for clothes was easy. I went to the girls section of Sears and put clothes against the appropriate area of my body to see if they would fit okay and found two pairs of relatively plain cotton panties (if you call pastel pink and blue plain), two pairs of ankle socks, a pair of running shoes, two longish t-shirts, a windbreaker, and a couple pairs of leggings. My breasts felt large to me but not overly so and I didn’t think I was ready to even consider a bra. Still, I was trying to get practical clothes that looked somewhat normal without being too girly. None of it was all that expensive and it was easily paid for with my bank card. They even allowed me to change into one of the outfits and the shoes and windbreaker in one of their change rooms once I had paid.
With that done and my old clothes and the other new purchases in a shopping bag I withdrew some money from an ATM and left for the Holiday Inn that was adjacent to the mall. I took a deep breath to prepare myself and walked straight up to the front desk to smile at the clerk who was probably playing solitaire on his computer terminal for all the attention he was paying. “Hello, I’d like to rent a room for the night please.”
“Certainly Miss,” he started to say before he got a look at me and frowned. “I’m sorry Miss but we don’t rent rooms to…”
“Mutants?” I suggested, knowing full well that he had been going to say ‘minors’. “Am I to understand that your hotel discriminates against mutants who are perfectly capable of paying for even one of your finer suites?”
He sputtered at that. “We don’t discriminate; it’s just against company policy to rent rooms to m…”
“Mutants,” I said interrupting him again. “That is a discriminatory policy. I would like to speak with your manager please.”
“Fine, just a moment please,” he replied as he picked up a phone. Dammit, he was calling my bluff. Maybe I could find a nice park bench to sleep on. He was speaking with someone on the phone and a few minutes later a well-dressed auburn-haired woman came out an approached me.
“Hello, I’m Penny, the manager. I understand there’s a bit of a problem,” she said with a smile giving me a curious look.
“Yes, I want to rent a room and I’ve been told that you don’t rent to my kind,” I pointed out.
“Your kind being minors of course,” she said catching my double meaning, She sniffed the air and then her eyes widened. “Do you smell smoke?”
I shrugged as I coolly responded, “That would be me. I was kind of in a fire earlier today and I’m eager to wash the smell off and get some sleep, which was the whole point of renting a room.”
“You’re Wisp,” she said in sudden realization.
“Come again?” I asked in confusion.
“You’re Wisp, the Hyper from the news that saved nine people from a school fire and went back in to see if anyone else needed saving. You look just like the description,” she told me.
“I don’t recall ever calling myself that, but yeah, I moved some people in that school to safety,” I admitted. “It was really no big deal; it must be a slow news day.”
“But you’re a hero, those people owe you their lives,” she insisted. Then she took a quick look around before saying. “I’m not sure why you need a place to stay but I’ll let you have one of our executive suites tonight for the price of an economy room. I wish I could give it to you for free but I’m already breaking company policy by agreeing to rent to a minor.”
“Are you serious?” I asked in shock.
“Absolutely! You deserve it after saving those people. I wonder if I might ask something of you though…” she asked uncertainly.
“You can ask,” I agreed, still a bit shocked.
“Could I get a picture with you?” she asked. “I won’t use it for anything commercial or anything, I’d just like something to show my daughter. Something that shows I met you and that there really are heroes out there that she can look up to.”
I’m no hero,” I corrected her. “I was just in the right place at the right time to do the right thing. But sure, if it means that much to you I don’t mind. If you can print out a copy I can sign it for her too if you like. I’m just grateful I don’t have to sleep on the street tonight.”
She had the front desk clerk charge the room to Jane Smith and I paid for it in cash while she went to fetch her digital camera from her office. Once she returned she gave me a room key and had the front desk lackey take a picture of the two of us together. Then she showed me to my room herself and showed me where everything was. It was a pretty nice room with all the amenities; coffee service, mini-fridge, microwave, and a king sized bed that I couldn’t wait to sleep in. I was left to get settled in while she went to her office to print out a copy of the photo of us. I was checking out the bathroom and thinking about a shower when a knock at the door signaled Penny’s return. “Come in,” I called out as I came out of the bathroom.
She showed me the photo and then before I signed it for her daughter Amanda, she made sure I saw her delete the photo from the camera’s memory so I could be sure this was the only copy. She didn’t have to do that, it was a nice gesture on top of everything she had already done for me. I signed the photo, “To Amanda. Heroes have heroes too; your mom is my hero. Be as proud of her as she is of you, Wisp.”
Penny started tearing up when she read it and was profuse with her thanks. I just answered, “It’s the least I could do, I’ve had a pretty rough day and you didn’t have to help me but you did. I hope Amanda realizes what a great mom she has.” That got me thinking about my own mom and how she had reacted to me. I don’t know how but I managed to hold back the tears until she left the room.
It was then that the floodgates opened. I curled up on the bed and cried for I don’t know how long. I had lost my gender, my racial identity, my family, and probably my chances with Kat as well. Strangely it was the last of these that seemed to hurt me the most. I couldn’t possibly ask her out now. Even if she believed that I was James, I would just be a huge reminder of everything she had gone through herself and it wouldn’t be fair of me to subject her to that, not when she was just starting to move on with her life.
I fell asleep for a while and I had the worst dreams. It was actually the same dream over and over with different endings. I had taken Kat to a nice restaurant for dinner and told her how I felt about her and not one of the dreams ended with me getting the girl. Usually I was laughed at or humiliated in some way and in a few Kat ended up hating me and moving away to that school. I knew in my mind that Kat wasn’t that kind of person, but my subconscious didn’t seem to get it. I looked at the clock as I got into a sitting position. It was almost ten thirty pm, I had been asleep over five hours, and I was starting to get hungry again.
I called a pizza place and ordered a small pepperoni and two cans of Pepsi to be delivered to my room. The room had a large television so I thought I would try to see what the news was saying. It was probably just a fluff piece on the local news because there was nothing else worth reporting. I flipped through the news channels trying to filter through sports scores and the over/under on the stock market but there was nothing interesting so I turned the channel to CTV to wait for the eleven o’clock news.
Half an hour later I leaned back on the bed to enjoy my dinner and watch the news. I had put a towel over my head, pretending to be drying my hair when the pizza guy showed up. I didn’t need anyone else recognizing me since even local news could give me a lot more attention than a mutant really wants without a mask and costume. I had finished the first slice of my pizza and was taking a long pull on my Pepsi when the anchorwoman began her evening spiel. I wasn’t expecting to see anything on me until later in the program, if at all, so I was unprepared when the Anchorwoman said, “Tonight’s top story: A young Hyper went into a burning school today and saved the lives of nine people. Annie Kwan was on the scene earlier today.”
Pepsi sprayed out of my mouth and I started coughing as the scene on the TV switched to my school, where an Asian reporter was standing beside Nick in his wheelchair. “Nick Wallace was the first student to be pulled from a room on the second floor where eight students and a teacher were trapped by the fire. Please tell us how you escaped from the flaming death trap?”
Nick seemed a bit nervous in front of the camera and I could see him swallow nervously. “We were all sure we were going to die in there and suddenly I was outside at the meeting area. I asked who she was but I think she might be new in the hero business and hadn’t chosen a name yet because she looked confused. She wasn’t even in costume, just some big black dress or something. Then as soon as she was sure I was safe she disappeared in a puff of smoke like some kind of ninja and came back out with all the others from the room. She even took my lab partner to a doctor.”
“Could you describe her for our viewers?” the reporter asked.
Nick nodded and tried to describe me. “She was maybe five foot four, slender and she looked like she was Asian, but she was really pale and had these light blue eyes and this white hair that sort of stood right up.”
There were other interviews too: Mr. Lawson, the principal, a girl from my science class, and even the fireman I had talked to. Then the reporter was back on the screen, “Nobody knows who this mystery hero is or where she came from but the people she saved are calling her Wisp. Whoever or wherever she is, we’re glad to have people like her out there. The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the school will be closed for the next week while officials assess the damage.”
“Holy shit… good press for a Hyper, and it’s about me,” I said in a whisper as I stared at the screen.
The Anchorwoman was on the screen again with a picture of the Whistler avalanche. “In related news a hiking group missing for nearly two days since the Avalanche near Whistler was found today thanks to the abilities of another young local Hyper who worked with search and rescue to locate two of the group. The others in the group were found nearby and while some are suffering from frostbite and hypothermia, all are alive and in good spirits since being found earlier this evening. The young hero Copycat declined our request for an interview, saying only that it was a team effort and that she was glad they were all still alive.”
I turned off the news and ate another slice of pizza as I thought about what I had just seen. It looked like Kat was finished and would be able to make our ‘date’ tomorrow. I was kind of hoping she would have to miss it since it would give me time to plan how to explain things to her. Now not only was she coming back but I was all over the news and it happened at our school so it was sure to catch Kat’s attention and fire up her curiosity. I looked at my phone and decided to face the music. There were over twenty voice mails, mostly angry ones from my parents and one from Kat saying that she would be back in time to meet up tomorrow.
I wasn’t ready to actually talk to her so I sent a text. Her mom wouldn’t like her talking on the phone this late anyway, so at least I wouldn’t have to explain why my voice sounded like a girl’s. -I heard things went well in Whistler.-
-Yeah, spending the night here but should be back tomorrow morning. I heard things were exciting at school today too,- was her reply.
-No school for a week is pretty exciting :)- I answered smoothly.
-I was talking about the fire and the Hyper that showed up. Did u c her?- I just knew she’d be curious about this.
-I think I got a better look at her than anyone,- I answered after a look down at my body.
-My mom thinks she just activated, maybe because of the fire. Probably one of our classmates, did u recognize her?-
-I never saw her before today.- I could have told her the truth right then and there but I was worried about how she would react. -Maybe she doesn’t look like she used to.-
-Possible. Maybe we’ll see her around- she suggested before asking, -We still on for tomorrow? I was thinking we could meet at lunch since there’s no school.-
-Sure, I need to ask u something anyway.- I sent back uncertainly. I knew I needed to get this over with but I was still really nervous about her finding out that I was the girl from the school. How would she react to that?
-Ask me now.- was her reply.
-I don’t want to go into too much detail over text, it would take too long.- I texted uncertainly.
-Sum up then- she prodded.
I groaned and wondered how much I could say without outright telling her that I was a girl now or lying to her. I needed to tell her about my actual situation in person, over the phone would be wrong, but I needed to assuage her curiosity as well. -Mom is on the warpath and I need a place to stay. She came home early and found a naked white girl in my room.-
-Do u have a death wish? First thing u r going to do when we meet tomorrow is tell me the whole story. R u in a safe place?-
-There’s plenty to tell,- I admitted. –I’m in a hotel tonight. Going to sleep now. It’s been a long day. Good night.-
-Good night,- she sent back and I closed the phone. Now I was even more nervous about tomorrow. I quickly finished my meal, took care of the pre-bed bathroom activities, got undressed and curled up under the blankets to sleep.
I woke up at five thirty in the morning and seeing as I still had at least an hour before breakfast service began I decided to go through my morning workout. Since I wasn’t really into sports I usually worked out in the mornings before school if I woke up early enough, and I figured that I should probably try to see what my new limits were. The results were not what I was expecting at all. I was able to do twice the push-ups and scrunches that I could before, and while I didn’t seem to be as strong as I used to be, I was pretty sure that my balance, agility, and speed had improved. I was also freakishly flexible. I could do a full split and pull off yoga positions that I had never even come close to getting right before. Hell, I could even do a hand stand on one hand without losing my balance.
Whatever else my mutation had done to me I was now in the best shape of my life. I was still in shock over it all as I stepped into the shower after my workout. The shower was a completely different kind of shock. I had been putting this off, not wanting to get too intimate with my new body but I smelled like smoke and sweat and I was going to be seeing Kat today so I didn’t want to offend her sensitive nose. I resigned myself to getting to know my new body and tried to take a sort of mental inventory of how it was like as I washed it.
I was slender with good muscle tone, my hips weren’t overly large, but just what I figured that they should be on a girl my size and narrowed into a slim waist with a flat tummy and nice abs. My breasts were not large enough to really get in my way a lot but they weren’t tiny either, they were perky and suited my frame nicely, so I thought they were probably average sized. I had narrow shoulders and a slender neck and my skin was so soft to the touch. My legs were shapely and a little long for my height I thought, and led to a firm and nicely rounded ass. All in all I had a pretty nice body, but I would have appreciated it more if it was on somebody else.
I tried not to spend very long washing my breasts or between my legs. They were extremely sensitive and the feelings generated made me feel like a bit too excited. I think what bothered me most though was that I felt like washing this body was no big deal, it was my body. Part of the reason I had been putting this off was because I had expected to feel like a pervert or a voyeur doing it. I had been male all my life so washing my new female body should feel different and wrong, but no, it was like an everyday thing. While I was having a huge mental problem thinking that this should be wrong, my body and instincts didn’t seem to be on the same page. It creeped me out a bit to be honest.
So that was the whole problem. My body and physical reactions to it felt perfectly fine, it was my still male mentality that seemed to be the only issue; in fact I was starting to think it might be easier to just go with the flow and relax about being a girl. Had my mutation messed with my mind too? The big things that were on my mind were not related to my body at all. I was concerned how this would affect my future, especially my relationship with Kat. I was worried that she would never be interested in me like this and that pursuing it could cost me her friendship. And I was upset about how my mom had reacted, she hadn’t even given me a chance to explain, she didn’t even know who I was, and now I seemed to embody everything she hated.
The thoughts kept cycling around in my mind as I finished washing my body and started in on my hair with the shampoo and conditioner provided by the hotel. I had never had long hair before, but I had heard Kat bitch several times about how hard it and her fur were to care for. Finally I toweled myself dry and went to work on drying my hair. Even when wet it stood straight up, which made it a real pain in the ass to wash. What was with that? Once I had finished I stepped into the bathrobe the hotel provided and brushed my teeth with the complimentary toothbrush and toothpaste. Then I went to get dressed, pack my things, have breakfast and check out.
It was near lunch time and I was back at the mall, nervously clutching my backpack and wondering if I should just run before Kat could see me. It’s not like she would recognize me after all. I had made an effort to pass as normal, well normal for my new body by human standards anyway. My hair was the biggest problem and at first I tried tying it back in a ponytail to make it look more normal, but the damn ponytail just stood straight up in the air. Finally I bought a pink and white Vancouver Canucks ball cap (don’t judge me, it was on sale and I wanted to blend in) at a store in the mall and put it on, making sure it was tight as could be so my hair wouldn’t try anything funny.
I saw her approaching our meeting spot from the mall entrance using one of the normal girl forms she used when we weren’t in school and she copied her mom’s powers to fit in. This wasn’t uncommon for her during our trips to the mall since she preferred using a female form so she could feel more like herself. It helped while she was shopping too since except for the tail and fur she kept her dimensions pretty much the same. This form pretty much looked like a sister to her former male self. Dark skin with deep brown eyes and long black hair in Caribbean style braids. The hair looked like it took hours to get done but I knew she cheated and used shape shifting.
Suddenly she stopped and took a look around as a look of concentration passed over her face. Her head turned and suddenly our eyes locked. Does she realize who I am or something? No wait, that’s probably her mutant detection power, I thought. I probably should have approached her then but would she believe me? That’s when all the stress and uncertainty of the last few days decided to catch up with me and I turned and ran as fast as I could. So there you have it, now I’m in the bathroom stall crying my eyes out, too scared to tell Kat how I feel about her, much less who I really was and what had happened to me.
“Calm down okay?” she tried to reassure me. “Like I said, my name is Kat and I’m a Hyper too. What’s your name?”
Oh shit, I didn’t have a girl’s name picked out and I couldn’t go around dressed in normal clothes calling myself Wisp. Up until now it hadn’t seemed too important and at the moment I was too terrified to tell her that I was really James. Maybe something similar? I tried to think of something but I just couldn’t say any of the names that popped into my head, all that came out of my mouth was, “Ehmmm… ahhh…”
Kat didn’t seem to catch my uncertainty, or more likely she thought that I was nervous about telling her my name. “It’ll be okay Emma, getting powers and such is really scary at first but I know some people who can help. Come on out so we can talk, I’m supposed to be meeting a friend for lunch but I’ll call him and tell him I’ll be late.”
It was quiet for a moment and then to my horror my phone rang. It’s time to face the music, I thought as my very distinctive ring tone for Kat played. It was kind of corny, but Kat, with her warped sense of humor about her change, had insisted that my ringtone for her be something cat related. I had given in and chosen ‘What’s New Pussycat’ by Tom Jones. I just let it ring as I stepped out of the stall wiping my eyes, there was no hiding it now.
Kat narrowed her eyes at me as she sniffed the air. She was in her own form now so her senses were heightened. “Who are you and why do you have James’ phone and backpack? His scent is all over it.” Then her eyes widened as realization hit her. “You’re the one from our school, Wisp… and you must be the naked girl from James’ room too. Has he been helping you or something?”
I couldn’t look at her; I just focused my gaze on the floor as I shook my head. “I… wanted to tell you last night, but it’s awkward enough like this… I just couldn’t do it over text, not when you told me about your change in person.”
Finally she seemed to put all the little clues together and asked in a hushed whisper, “James?”
I nodded slowly, still unable to look at her. “Not anymore… I guess you can keep calling me Emma when we’re in public; it’s as good a name as any.”
Kat sighed and I heard her mutter, “Damn, if it hadn’t have happened to me too I wouldn’t have believed it…” She grabbed my hand and I could see it shifting to a more human looking version as she started pulling me toward the door. “Come on, let’s go to the food court so we can talk and I can call my mom. We really need to figure out what to do about this.”
She dragged me to the food court where we ordered from one of the Chinese places. The woman at the counter gave me a strange look but she didn’t say anything, she just took our orders and served us before moving on to the next customer. While I started eating I tried my best to ignore the conversation Kat was having with her mom. Finally she hung up and sighed. “So, what’s the verdict?” I asked.
“Mom says we’re going to need to talk to your parents at some point and explain things. If things don’t go well you can stay with us. Right now she wants us to get you some necessities and meet her at home so we can go have Rune take a look at you, she’s a doctor and she also has some spells that might help figure out the nature of your abilities. Have you noticed anything so far?”
I swallowed the sip of soda I had just taken and shrugged. “Aside from being in the best shape of my life and the whole teleporting thing, no I haven’t. But maybe this Rune can tell me why my hair insists on defying gravity, and why I look like this.”
“Archetypes are usually related to powers or what you’re thinking at the time, so what were you thinking about? Has your parents’ intolerance been getting to you again? That might explain the whole white/Asian thing. You’ve been rebelling against it for as long as I’ve known you, so maybe this is a reflection of that,” she suggested.
“Yeah that has been on my mind a lot lately,” I admitted.
“Okay, then what about when your change began? What were you thinking about then?”
I sighed. “I just wanted to get myself and the others out of there but I wasn’t thinking clearly. I fell asleep in class and I was having trouble shaking the dreams I had.”
“Do you remember what you were dreaming about?” she prodded.
I nodded and rolled my eyes at the thought. “Nick was going to start another discussion on sexy girl ninjas. I used the tired excuse to get out of it, but the thought must have gotten stuck in my mind so of course I had to dream about them. That’s probably why I’m stuck as a girl and in such good shape.”
Kat nodded in agreement. “It’s pretty likely. At least that gives us some ideas of what to look for.” Then she sighed, “This is so not the conversation I was preparing myself for today.”
I looked at her sad and confused expression and somehow managed to ask, “What conversation were you planning on having?”
She reached out and took my hand, “I feel kind of horrible about it given what happened to me with Wildthing, especially after how supportive you’ve been since my change. You’re my best friend, other than my family you’re the only person who really gets me, and you’ve stuck by me through the worst time in my life. I spent half my time in Whistler dreading today. You’ve been acting kind of weird the past month though, kind of like I did with Wildthing so I thought you might have a crush on me. I wanted to talk about it before things between us got out of hand.”
“I…” I began to try to explain but she held up her hand for me to stop.
“I care for you a lot,” she went on. “I might even love you, hell for the past few weeks I even tried to make myself attracted to you, but guys just don’t do it for me. I know I shouldn’t be doing this to you now. I know how hard the adjustment you have to make is, but because I care for you I needed to be honest about it. I… think I understand why Wildthing told me how she did. You need to move on and adjust to your new life not hold on to who you used to be. I’ll be here to support you because you’ve done the same for me but things are going to be complicated enough for you without throwing our feelings into it.”
“Our feelings?” I asked nervously.
“Your new form is really pretty and I’m attracted to girls… and it’s you in there,” she explained with a sad look on her face. “But you need to adjust to the new you and being a mutant, and it would be selfish of me to try to pursue anything while you’re going through that. You didn’t want to burden me with your feelings so I need to give you the same space. I’m not saying nothing can happen between us, but I think we need to give you time to figure out who you want to be first.”
She was probably right, but for the first time in days I was actually feeling something like hope. “I guess you’re right, maybe it’s best to wait.”
She nodded. “So for now I’ll be your supportive best friend, just like you were for me. So the first thing on the agenda is to get you some more clothes and some gear to exercise in, Mom and the others will want to try and figure out your physical abilities.”
The first place we went to was a store geared toward teen fashion called Belle Boutique. Kat insisted that I get properly measured there so we could get clothes that fit me properly. It turned out that I was a 32C bra size with a twenty-five inch waist and thirty four inch hips. Using those measurements we bought some tops and jeans that would fit properly. Kat also insisted on one skirt to get me used to the idea. Then we bought some bras and panties. She insisted I needed a bra for support and made sure I got matching sets.
I think she was enjoying playing dress up with me because she insisted I try all of it on to make sure it fit properly. She mentioned something about different brands measuring things differently. We finished it off by going to the department store for some socks, and workout gear including something she called yoga pants, a sports bra, and a form fitting sleeveless top. While we were there we also got me some ladies deodorant, a toothbrush, and some other necessities in case I had to stay with Kat’s family for a while. When the shopping was finished I waited until I was sure nobody was looking and teleported us to Kat’s bedroom.
“Sweet! We are going to save so much money on public transit that way,” Kat said with a grin when we arrived. “Just leave the bags on my bed and you can get changed into the exercise gear.” I nodded and did so, taking off my hat to put with them. My hair immediately popped up, causing my friend to giggle. I tried to ignore it and looked through the bags for the mentioned items and had my shirt half off before I noticed that Kat was still in the room. It was her low whistle that attracted my attention. “Damn that’s some nice tats you’ve got, the black really stands out against your pale skin.”
“Tats? I asked in confusion. “What tats?”
“The ones on your back, didn’t you notice them?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I didn’t, how often do I see my own back? You’re not pulling my leg are you?”
She shook her head. “Nope, there are tats there and they cover over half of your back. They’re all black and they’re kind of hard to miss. They’re going to get noticed if you’re in the locker room or the beach or something. The biggest one is a girl who kinda looks like you in some sort of skimpy ninja outfit, but there’s smaller ones too of ninja-like weapons in a circle around her. There’s a pair of crossed katana below her, some sais crossed above her and a pattern of throwing stars and kunai to either side. Look in the mirror if you don’t believe me.”
I approached the vanity across from her bed and turned my back to it while looking over my shoulder. She was right; the tats were there and they were really noticeable. “Damn, like I don’t look weird enough already,” I grumbled as I took my exercise clothes and left to change in the bathroom.
Once I was changed we went downstairs where Kat’s mom, Makeshift, was waiting to take us to the Sentries headquarters to see what they could make of me. First Rune took me into the medical bay and examined me thoroughly. She was a licensed medical doctor and her powers were magic based so she used both skill sets to try to see what made me tick. I was apparently a very healthy fifteen year old girl with the double X chromosomes and everything. I shuddered at the thought when she told me I could probably expect my first period sometime during the next few weeks.
She was very interested in my hair and the tattoos and ran all sorts of magical scans on them. She finally determined that I was an EM or energy manipulator. I was some sort of gateway for some form of energy source from another dimension. Whatever it was, the energy had similarities to magic, and Rune felt that my hair refusing to obey gravity was a side effect of channeling that energy. She also thought that I had some built in sense of spacial awareness to keep me from teleporting inside solid objects and that when I teleported I was actually using the energy to pull myself through the dimension the energy comes from as a shortcut from point A to point B.
As for the tattoos, she thought that they were some sort of physical manifestation of the energy I tap into, like when a magic user needs a physical object as a focus for a spell. She had me focus my mind on each particular tattoo to see what they might do. Each of the weapon tats summoned a weapon of the same type as the tat in question, made up of some sort of black metal we couldn’t identify. Rune thought it might be the energy I used emulating solid matter. It looked like metal and felt like metal and the weapons all had very sharp edges, but it was like nothing she had ever seen before, even in magically created objects.
The ninja girl was sort of a built in costume. When I focused on it my clothes vanished and I was wearing the outfit that the girl in the tat wore: It was sort of like a black one piece strapless bathing suit with built in support for my breasts that sort of pushed them up and showed off a generous amount of cleavage and a dark silver sash wrapped tightly around my waist with the ends tied in a big bow at my back. On my arms I wore fingerless elbow length fishnet gloves and though my feet bore practical combat boots I also had thigh high fishnet stockings to match the gloves. There was a ninja mask covering the lower part of my face, but I didn’t really see the point of it since my pale skin, blue eyes, and gravity defying white hair would pretty much be a dead giveaway as to my identity.
Just like the weapons we couldn’t determine what the costume was made of. It was probably the energy mimicking matter again and Rune was having trouble sensing anything about it. She couldn’t even seem to sense it or me magically while it was there. Finally she got frustrated and tried medical scans and even things like infrared. There was nothing though, it was like the costume was giving off some sort of interference. The base’s video cameras and motion detectors couldn’t even seem to sense me. I was still visible to the naked eye, everyone could see me just fine, but I seemed to be stealth to any kind of electronic or magical detection. She theorized that the costume was actually some form of complex stealth ‘spell’. Sound seemed to be effected too as even when I spoke loudly the others only heard a whisper and not even Wildthing or Kat could hear my footsteps. Ironically, I could hear them even better than usual.
Finally after two hours of testing she handed me over to Makeshift, Wildthing, and Edge who would test my physical capabilities and we spent until dinnertime doing just that. Edge had super speed and strength and some sort of magical sword and was well versed in martial arts. While I wasn’t some sort of instant martial arts master like I had been half expecting, I was ambidextrous, and did have very good reflexes, hand-eye coordination, body memory, and a natural talent for learning physical skills. Any martial arts would have to come through using those gifts and studying, but between my reflexes, teleportation and other physical gifts I was able to mount a good defense when sparring with Edge. As for my physical fitness, I wasn’t quite in the enhanced human range but I was comparable to an Olympic gymnast or martial artist.
Given my skillset, going toe to toe with powerful Hypers would be a bad idea; I still have regular human weaknesses and bones that break. However I could probably take one on if I used my gifts to my advantage, using teleportation and martial arts to keep them off balance while I wore them down. By the time we finished so I could eat something I was getting concerned though. My abilities all seemed to be geared toward sneaking, getting into places I shouldn’t, and hurting or killing people. What kind of person did that make me? When I did discover who I was would Kat even want me?
I was brooding about it as I returned Kat and I to her bedroom and changed out of my new workout clothes. When they had me un-summon my costume after the testing I had been half afraid I would end up naked but apparently when I wear the costume it shifts whatever clothes I’m wearing to that other dimension until I’m done. I was changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt when Kat mentioned that we forgot to get me some pajamas for bed. Since we had to do that and her Mom and Dad were taking Kat’s sister Tara to ballet practice, we decided to have Kat copy her mom’s powers before they left so that we could hit the mall again for dinner and my pajamas. It was open until nine so we figured that we should have plenty of time.
I was quiet during dinner and Kat noticed it. Finally she asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling overwhelmed by being a girl now?”
I shook my head sadly as I responded, “I kind of wish that was the problem. I know in my head that this should feel wrong to me, but it’s my body and it feels like my body, even though I know it wasn’t a few days ago. I think the change might have messed with my mind.”
She nodded and turned my words back at me. “And I kind of wish I had that problem when I first changed. I’ve been trying to see this all as a big joke but it’s only been recently that I could actually look in the mirror and realize that it’s me there. I’m even starting to like what I see there and feel comfortable with it. It was really hard for those first two months though. I tried not bothering you with it but I had a bit of a mental breakdown when I had my first ‘monthly visitor’.”
“Let me guess,” I replied as I reached across the table to squeeze her hand, “That was when you were sick with the flu for four days. I was wondering if it was somehow related to your change”
“Yeah, that was it,” she admitted. “You were already there for me for everything else so I didn’t want to bother you with my ‘girl problems’. But if being a girl isn’t what’s bothering you so much, what is?”
“All my powers and abilities seem to be geared toward killing, harming, or moving without detection. I’m just wondering what kind of person that makes me,” I said after some thought.
“A ninja? Seriously, you were dreaming about ninjas, what other kinds of powers could you expect to get?” she said pointing out the obvious. “Our powers don’t define who we are as people, our actions do, and you went into a fire to save people once you got those powers. You could have just stayed there outside, nice and safe, but you didn’t, you went back. That took courage and a lot of caring.”
“It was the right thing to do,” I argued. “And I’m a coward; I couldn’t even tell you how I felt about you.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“I wasn’t sure how you’d react, I was afraid it would hurt you, or reopen old wounds,” I admitted as I looked down at my half eaten slice of pizza.
“You were thinking of me. That’s my whole point, you’re always thinking of others. And you could have just given in to your parent’s bigotry but you stood by me when you found out I was a Hyper and supported me through the worst time of my life. You’re always trying to be a better person, that’s the kind of person you are, and it’s one of the things I really love about you.” She seemed to realize what she said and quickly went back to eating her own pizza.
We were both quiet after that, we quickly finished our meals and headed toward the department store that we had gone to earlier and I wanted to stop by the bank on the way. It was there, while I was using the ATM that we heard gunshots. I turned to Kat, “Did those come from inside the bank?”
She shook her head, “No I think they came from around the corner.”
We both turned around the corner to see people running from a jewellery store. We moved carefully along the wall and stopped to peek through the windows of the jewellery store. There were four men wearing ski masks holding guns and pointing them at a pair of customers and two saleswomen. There was also a fifth man, who looked to be the one in charge, dressed in a silver costume and mask. “That one is a mutant, Category three I think,” Kat said pointing to him.
“Yeah the costume kind of makes it obvious,” I retorted. “Any clue what his powers are?”
She shook her head, “My powers don’t work like that I can only detect mutants and make a ballpark guess on their power levels. I could copy his powers but I would need to know what they are to use them and I’d have to give up the shape shifting. I can only copy one mutant’s powers at a time.”
“Any ideas on how to handle this?” I asked. She had far more experience with Hypers and crime fighting than I did, even if most of it was stories from her mom.
“Do you think you can teleport the hostages out quick enough so that none of them get hurt? Once they’re out of the way we can take on the robbers without worrying about them,” she suggested.
I shook my head as I thought about it. “I could take out maybe two before they noticed something was up. Maybe if you copied my powers we could get them all out.”
“That might work,” she admitted. “Is there anything I need to know about how your powers work?”
“Just think of where you want to be or what you want to summon and it happens,” I responded before adding, “I think that the location has to be somewhere nearby, that I can see, or a place I’ve been before though.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Let’s assume the same limits work for me then. I’ll get the two saleswomen and you grab the customers and we’ll leave them by the bank around the corner.” As I nodded in agreement a focused expression passed over her face and I had to stifle a laugh as all her fur and her long hair stood straight up. I summoned my costume to hide the smile I was wearing but I don’t think it helped much. It was a good thing she was a short haired kitty or she wouldn’t be able to see. “Yes, I’m sure I look hilarious,” she grumbled as she looked into my eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”
I teleported inside beside the first hostage customer and grabbed his wrist, immediately teleporting him to outside of the bank. They were still wondering what happened when I grabbed the other customer, a slender blonde, and absconded with her as well. Kat had had similar success and we cautioned the people we saved to wait where it was safe while we took care of their little pest problem. Then it was back inside where I appeared behind one of the gunmen who were all looking around frantically. “You boys lose something?” I asked in the throaty whisper this form seemed to turn all my speech into.
Then while everyone’s attention was on me Kat barreled into the man in the silver costume who had been floating jewellery into a bag, catching him off guard and turning all attention to her. Katana, I thought, summoning the weapon as I teleported away from where the goons had their guns pointed and slashed down at one of the men’s gun. I has only meant to knock it out of his hand but I sliced the barrel clean off. Holy crap this thing is sharp, I’m going to have to be really careful if I use these against a person.
While the man was still staring at his circumcised weapon I brought my elbow up under his chin, hard. One down, three to go. I quickly teleported to each man to relieve them of their weapons. I didn’t want to chance any of them reacting quick enough to shoot me or Kat so weapons were my first priority. My black katana made short work of the guns and soon I was randomly teleporting from one to another delivering punches and kicks to their least protected areas. It went a little like this: Punch to the face. *poof* Kick a knee from behind. *poof* Knee to the groin. *poof* Blow to the back of the head. *poof* And so on until all four of them were on the ground either unconscious or groaning in pain.
When I looked up from my handiwork Kat was using her agility to dodge all manner of metal projectiles. Apparently this guy had some sort of magnetic powers. And he was using the ability to hurl anything metallic and heavy or sharp at her to keep her from beating the stuffing out of him. He already had a bleeding nose and it looked like he was going to have a nasty split lip too. Kat had just leaped to avoid a trio of metal blades from from impaling her but a fourth one caught her in the shoulder causing her to yelp in pain as she hit the floor.
He was about to send another volley at her and I wondered where he was getting those blades from when I noticed that they were forming from his costume. He was wearing a metal costume and he could not only move metal, he could shape it. Before he could launch the next volley at Kat I teleported in, punched him square in the jaw, and teleported ten feet behind him. “You forgot all about me, I feel so insulted.” He turned around and tried launching the blades at me but I kept teleporting out of the way.
“Stop that!” he yelled.
“You shouldn’t throw sharp pointy things at people; maybe I should show you how it feels.” I summoned a handful of throwing stars.
“You fool, I am Lodestone, the master of metal!” he sneered as he looked at my weapons.
“These aren’t exactly metal,” I retorted as I threw a star at him, trying to aim far enough to his left to miss if he didn’t do what I was hoping he would. A soon as he realized that he couldn’t control the thrown star he used more metal from his costume to erect a metal shield which the star imbedded itself in. All of his attention as on me now so he didn’t see Kat walking up behind him, not until she wound up with her good arm and hit him hard enough to send him flying five feet through the air before he hit the ground unconscious.
Of course that was when the cops decided to show up. We left them to deal with Lodestone and his cronies while I un-summoned my weapons and teleported Kat to the medical bay at the Sentinel’s headquarters. She looked to be in a lot of pain and I was worried sick by the growing red stain on the shoulder of her shirt.
I was waiting in Rune’s office, nervously clutching my backpack. The magic user had been about to leave for the night when I showed up with a bloody Kat and explained what happened. She had told me to wait while she worked on Kat and I had been waiting for over half an hour, though it seemed like an eternity. Finally she emerged with a smile. “Don’t look so worried kiddo, Kat’s fine. I removed the metal stitched the wound, and cast one of my more potent healing spells on it. She didn’t lose much blood and she’ll be fine with a good night’s sleep and a few days for the healing magic to do its work.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank God.” I was so worried I was going to lose her there. “Can I see her?”
“Sure you can Emma; she’s awake and waiting for you. You can take her home to rest when you’re ready, she’ll be more comfortable there.” She patted me on the shoulder, as she turned to leave. “You two did a good job tonight; just try to be more careful in the future.”
I went into the examination room and as soon as the door opened Kat looked up at me and tried to reassure me with a smile. “Don’t look so worried, I’ve been through worse than this.”
“I… was worried I might lose you,” I admitted with teary eyes as I sat on the bed beside her. “I’ve been worried about it ever since you left for Whistler. First I thought I’d lose you if I tried telling you how I felt, then when I was changed I was worried I’d lose you because of it. And today I was worried I’d lose you because of who I might become. I can handle losing my parents if it comes to that and I can handle being a girl since there’s no other choice. The only thing I’ve been worried about this whole time is losing you. You said I need time to figure out who I am now, and I know a lot has changed for me, but there is one thing that hasn’t changed and will never change no matter who I decide I am. I love you.” I took the shopping bag out of the backpack and put it in her lap.
She returned my teary look with one of her own. “Oh Ja… Emma… I can’t… I…” she opened the bag to look inside and pulled out the stuffed cat. She stared at the cat and the heart it was holding and the silence became almost painful as I watched the tears run down her cheeks.
“There’s some cat shaped truffles too, and I wanted to get you flowers but things got kind of crazy…” I trailed off, looking away not sure what to say, not sure what she would say.
“I love you too,” she finally said, taking my hand. Then as I turned to face her, she pulled me toward her and kissed me.
![]() |
When Daniel O'Brien gets called to fix a broken PDE console a glitch gives him the shock of his life and life in Morristown will never be the same.
Amethyst |
“Yes, I had noticed that thanks,” I replied drolly. “You still want powers of your own bro?”
*Beep* *Beep* *Beeeep* I glared bleary-eyed at the phone on my nightstand. The digital clock beside it showed the time to be slightly after three a.m. and as I reached out to pick up the receiver I thought, this had better be good. “Hello?” I mumbled into the mouthpiece.
“Hi Daniel, its Everett we just got a call from Dorm Seven. Some of the girls there couldn’t sleep and were running a late night training session in one of their PDE rooms. Apparently there’s some sort of glitch and the program won’t shut down.” PDE rooms or Pocket Dimension Environments use a combination of technology and magic to create pocket dimensions and alter the reality inside to suit the simulation. The PDEs can be any size since with pocket dimensions there are no space constraints and roving remote cameras monitor the action inside for people in the control booth. With those very realistic environments and the holographic opponents, barriers, and other fully interactive attributes that can be programmed by the person in the control room or set to random, they’re nearly the perfect training area for mutants. Usually they’re very safe and they cut down on a lot of property damage.
“Why don’t you call the boss?” I asked sleepily. “She was one of the team that designed the damn things.”
I heard him snort on the other end. “Deep Blue is off in Ottawa. Her nephew or niece or something had their H Chromosomes activate and she’s gone to see what the damage is and bring the kid here. Since you’re the only person on call for maintenance right now with an understanding of how the damn PDEs work and some knowledge of magic and computers I called you.”
“Just because my nephew is a mutant with some minor talent in magic, does not make me a magic expert,” I retorted.
“What about all that mystical crap you’re into?” he prodded.
My family were very old fashioned and very spiritual and we worshiped the old Gods of Ireland, especially our patron Goddess Danu. “Spirituality is not the same thing as actual magic. I’m a damn computer technician, and a sleepy one at that,” I snapped.
“The night supervisor for the PDE’s in Dorm Seven is a magic sensitive and he says he can’t detect anything wrong magically, he thinks it’s probably something physical. From the sounds of it it’s something in the control panel,” he quickly replied. “We don’t want to power down the system or we’ll have hell finding the girls in whatever pocket dimension they’re in, even with the safety protocols. You’re the only one I could think of who can handle the job and it needs to be done fast.”
“Fine, fine, I’m on my way.” I hung up the phone, got into a set of overalls and a pair of boots and a jacket, and grabbed my toolkit muttering, “Just my luck to be on call while we’re already short staffed between Christmas and New Years . Another great start to a wonderful day at Aaron Morris Private School.” Then I made my way downstairs, out of the front door of my apartment complex into the cold winter air, and climbed into my car to drive to the campus.
Aaron Morris Private School, affectionately referred to as AMPS by students and faculty, is well secured by a 15 foot stone fence and wrought iron gates as well as a high tech security system to keep Joe Average out. Above ground it boasts an Olympic sized pool, fully equipped gymnasium, cafeteria, dojo, gym, emergency medical center with a hotline to the hospital in town, library with computer labs, 3 weapons ranges and working areas for learning mechanics, chemistry, and electronics. Underground beneath each of the seven dorms each dorm has eight underground practice PDE rooms. I groaned as I stepped out of my car and made my way to Dorm Seven. It just had to be the freak dorm. Three of the dorms are for males and three for females but Dorm Seven was built recently and was mixed, possibly because the last thing dorm Seven residents had to worry about was the gender of their floor mates. Every D7 student was some sort of freak.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have anything against Hypers, my nephew is one and both my older brother and I had the H Chromosomes ourselves even if they had remained dormant. No the D7s were outcasts even amongst other mutants. Unlike the other dorms Dorm Seven is one student to a room and slated for students whose mutations are problematic for themselves or others or may cause the student to have troubles adjusting to everyday life. They often have powers that are too dangerous or unpredictable to be around while sleeping so their rooms need special modifications. Sometimes those mutants have to deal with having not only dangerous powers but strange appearances and other issues as well so they all stayed in Dorm Seven to keep from being bullied in other dorms.
I was uncomfortable thinking about mutants with uncontrollable powers and/or freakish appearances, so it was making me a little bit nervous as I made my way inside and down to the basement and to the control rooms for the PDEs. The lights were only on in one of the control rooms so I didn’t have much trouble figuring out where the trouble was. I opened the door to find a girl with purple hair, bat-like wings on her back, and a long prehensile tail of the same color watching the view screens nervously. Beside her was a tall skinny man with long brown hair in an AMPS jumpsuit. “Hello, I’m here to try to fix your little problem,” I offered.
The man turned around and said tiredly, “Good morning, I’m Tim the night supervisor for Dorm Seven, I’m the one who called.”
The poor girl though had jumped at the sound of my voice and turned around with her arms up in a fighting stance before her brain deciphered what I had said. She looked about fifteen and was strikingly beautiful with some very nice curves for her age and I had to force myself not to stare. She was wearing cut-off denim shorts and an light green AMPS t-shirt that had seen better days. Her eyes were the same purple color as her hair, wings, and tail and as I looked into them I found myself oddly attracted to her. “Oh! Umm… hi… I’m Erin but they call me Allure. Sorry, I have these pheromones I can’t control.”
“I’m Daniel O’Brien and thanks for letting me know about that.” I replied and tried not to breathe too deeply as I made my way over to the control panel. “So the simulation is complete but it’s not shutting down and letting your friends out of the pocket dimension?”
She nodded slowly, “Yessir, otherwise it was working fine.”
Tim shrugged as he put in, “I can’t sense anything wrong magic-wise but even if there were I’d be useless to fix it. I can’t do much with magic, just detect it really.”
I went to the keyboard and spoke into the microphone that would broadcast to the pocket dimension. “Hey kids, I’m Daniel from maintenance and I’m going to run some tests to see why the sim isn’t shutting down, please try not to panic.” Then I started inputting a number of commands from creating objects in the PDE or making them vanish to starting new simulations and ending them to reading the base code. Finally I said, “It’s not a problem in the code and all commands are working properly, so the software side is good. It just doesn’t want to channel the energy for the magic parts of the simulations or close the pocket dimension and transport your friends back. It could be that something on the inside worked itself loose, I’ll have a look.”
I got to my knees and pulled the access plate off the front of the panel then got a good look inside. It took some looking but soon I found a loose connector. “I think this is probably it,” I muttered as I lay on my back and moved further inside to get a better look. Yup it was definitely loose. “I think you should be able to cancel the simulation once I reconnect this. Let me know if anything happens.”
“Yessir,” Allure replied.
“Stupid loose connection,” I grumbled. Thanks to it I was stuck working in the wee hours of the morning because some freaky looking teenage mutant girls wanted to get some exercise. Couldn’t they go jogging like everyone else? I supposed it could be worse; I could be one of them and have wings like her or something. I shuddered at the thought as I reconnected the loose connector. I vaguely recall hearing Allure sounding happy as she said something but at that moment I was a little distracted by the surge of energy that ran through my body. My whole body felt like it was on fire, every muscle and bone seemed to scream in agony even as I did. I took little notice of anything else until my eyes rolled back in my head and sent a prayer to the Goddess Danu to protect her child as I passed out.
I heard voices. “… was just activated… there was a massive energy surge… seems stable, but the changes took a toll on her body, she’ll need rest…The man who brought her in said he detected magic on her… It could be from the surge but we best not take chances.” I wondered that girl Allure had been hurt too, it sure sounded like it. I hoped that she wasn’t too badly hurt and wondered if her friends made it out okay. Those thoughts were fleeting though as I passed out once again. I awoke in a darkened room where I was laying on my side on a military style cot. I figured that I was in the hospital and given what had happened that I had probably received a hefty jolt of electricity. My first assumption at least proved correct.
“Good morning Miss… ter O’Brien,” a voice said. I looked around and saw a woman sitting in a chair not too far from my bed. “I’m Dr. Jennings and you’re at Morristown General Hospital; do you remember what happened at all?”
“I was fixing a panel for one of the PDE rooms at the school and I think I must gotten a severe electrical shock or something,” I replied. My voice sounded strange to my ears, it was dry and raspy from thirst but it seemed higher as well. I raised a hand to my throat and it rubbed it absently for a moment as I tried to figure out what felt wrong. I didn’t want to sit up yet, I was just too tired but my whole body felt off somehow and there was weight pulling at both my back and my chest. “This doesn’t look like a normal hospital room.”
The doctor nodded and gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about the accommodations; it’s a precaution we take with all newly activated Hypers. The man from the school who brought you in said he detected magic on you so this room will prevent you from using any. We need to make sure you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else and this room will prevent that by cutting you off from any sources of magic and absorbing any spells you may cast by accident.”
I lay there for several minutes trying to move and wondering just what the hell was going on. The strange weight on my chest and back had me really concerned, my face felt weird, and I was getting some strange sensations from other places that I just couldn’t make heads or tails of. There was also a pale blue glow coming from somewhere and every time I moved my head to try and spot it the source seemed to move as well. Dr. Jennings gave me a weak smile as she stood up and moved closer to my bed and began to speak. “Mr. O’Brien, the good news is that you were not victim to an electrical jolt as you believe. We believe that there was a significant surge of the reality warping energies that the PDEs use to create and alter pocket dimensions and when you reconnected the loose piece that excess energy was channeled into you.”
“Reality warping energy being channeled into someone is good news?” I asked hoarsely.
Dr. Jennings shook her head. “Not usually no, but if you had taken an equal measure of electricity you would be dead so I would like you to see that as good news. Still, that was a large amount of energy we’re talking about and in order for your body to cope with it your H Chromosomes activated. If they hadn’t you would be dead. Are there any other Hypers in your family?”
I nodded slowly, damn but I was tired. “Yes, my nephew is a magic user. He’s only Category one though, so the magic is more of a nuisance to him than a power.”
“Genetic relatives sometimes show similar gifts and we think that you had a genetic preference toward magic type abilities that saved you,” she explained. Then she went on to add, “Given that reality warping magic was the catalyst for your change we believe you likely have magical abilities and possibly may have unconsciously changed yourself to some degree with that magic. We can’t tell you to what degree yet, but it might help us to know what you were thinking before and during that energy surge.”
I thought back, trying to remember what I had been thinking about. What had them so concerned anyway, after all I was alive. Things could be worse, and that reminded me of what I had been thinking. “Well, I was a bit upset at being up at that hour but I thought that things could be worse.”
“Did you think how they could be worse precisely?” Dr. Jennings pressed.
“Yeah, I thought that I could have wings like Allure or other visible differences like the other girls she was watching in the monitors,” I said with a shrug, well an attempt at a shrug anyway.
“Well that explains some of it,” she muttered. “And did you think of anything during the surge?”
I tried to think if I had thought of anything specific but I was coming up with nothing aside from pain and prayer and those were natural reactions. “Only that I was in a lot of pain, and I sent a prayer to the Goddess Danu to protect me,” I finally replied.
“Who is this Danu?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “What can you tell me about her?”
I began to rattle off everything I could think of offhand that related to my patron Goddess. “Danu is the Moon Goddess, mother of the Gods and the Tuatha Dé Danann. She is also the Goddess of Magick, and also has influence over water, earth, creativity, and fertility. I mostly worship the moon and mother aspects of Her, but the magick is part of what makes her such a powerful patron Goddess. Her colors are blue, white, silver and green and she has a strong connection to Ireland and its people, as well as fish, seagulls, and mares.”
“And you see this Goddess as a mother figure?” She wasn’t mocking me or anything; she just wanted to get in my head I think.
“I guess so, I believe all people of Ireland are her children,” I explained. “She may be mother of the Gods but we are all her children and like any good mother she lets us make our own decisions and learn from our mistakes but she is always there to comfort and love her children when they need her. So I was praying for her to comfort and protect her child.”
Her eyes widened as I spoke those last two words. “I’m no expert on magic, but even without the reality warping magic you were exposed to mutations can be based on what a person is thinking consciously or unconsciously. Add in that same magic, and it took the manifestation of your form and magical abilities to a whole new level.”
“Excuse me?” I asked confused suddenly wondering what exactly was wrong with my form and what magical abilities I might have.
“Like I said before, the walls of this room prevent magic use by cutting you off from any sources of magic and absorbing any spells you may cast by accident,” she told me. “Sometimes we need to contain new Hypers with magical abilities, like you, to keep them from losing control and hurting someone. Without a magic source like the ley lines in the earth or air to draw on those walls should completely suppress anyone trying to draw on magical energy.”
“Should?” I asked, not really liking that she had stressed that word.
She shook her head and my eyes widened in disbelief as she said, “Yes, should. You should not be able to use magic in this room but you already cast two fairly powerful spells… in your sleep. Magic use seems to come naturally to you but you still shouldn’t be able to use it period without drawing on a source.”
“So why don’t these walls work on me?” I asked.
“They do, or at least I believe they do,” the doctor said with a shake of her head. “You probably couldn’t draw on outside magical power sources right now if you tried. I think you’re actually somehow producing magical energy as a natural process of your body and the walls are absorbing that too, but only because you used it. That’s probably part of why you look so tired. ”
“But… but that goes against all the laws of magic my nephew has been taught,” I replied, my mouth agape. “Only natural forces of the universe can create magical energy, everyone has to draw off of those.”
“That would make you a force of nature then,” she said, giving me a long look. “I believe that your prayer when you were being changed by that energy surge actually made you into the living personification of what you would believe an actual physical child of the Goddess Danu would be like.”
“That’s ridiculous; you’re basing this theory that I’m some sort of Demi-god off a theory on whatever magic powers that you believe I have? You need more than some weird magical production on my part to support that.” I said testily.
“There is more,” she insisted. “Mr. O’Brien, your body has undergone some pretty radical changes. I want you to try to remain calm and come with me to look at your reflection. This will be a bit of a shock to you and I want to remind you of how extremely fortunate that you are to be alive.”
Radical changes? Lucky to just be alive? What wasn’t she telling me? Was I some sort of hideous freak? I wearily swung my legs over the side of the bed and worked my way into a sitting position. It was as I did that that I sensed that a familiar weight between my legs was conspicuously absent. That combined with the weight on my chest would have been a cause of great concern to me if I weren’t so bothered by the strange sensations that were coming from my back. There was a weight there and a feeling of movement and I nearly fell over onto my face from losing my balance. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew what that weight was and at the moment it overrode all other concerns.
A look to my sides confirmed my fears as the large white feathery wings were near impossible to miss even with the dim lighting. The damn things were huge and they seemed to want to hit everything nearby in my stressed out state. I was having trouble breathing as Dr. Jennings helped me get to my feet and led me across the floor to a better lit section of the room where I could see a bathroom through an open door. My balance was off from the pair of huge appendages emanating from my upper back, and I would have fallen a few times if Dr. Jennings had not supported me. She had me stand up straight as she closed the door to the bathroom to reveal a floor length mirror.
“Dear Goddess,” I gasped as I saw the winged girl in the hospital gown looking back at me in that mirror. I don’t know if it was seeing the wings reflected back, that it was a girl in the mirror, or if it was how the girl looked. Perhaps it was a combination of everything. Regardless, I broke down crying at what I saw there. I fell to my knees there on the floor with those wings wrapped protectively around me and I sobbed for I don’t know how long. Who and what we are is something all humans take for granted and I was beginning to see just how much.
I’d never married or fathered any children but I was only twenty eight and always told myself that if I ever wanted to the equipment would always be there when I needed it. I wasn’t great looking but I was six foot two and always kept myself in good shape. I had always been proud of the man I was because that was all I knew how to be and I could never picture myself as anything else. Now I was something else, yes not someone, but something. I would have liked to throw something at that mirror but I was too tired to put out the effort. What was the point anyway, it wasn’t like that would change anything. My H Chromosomes had been activated and now I was stuck like this.
Dr. Jennings had left the room some time ago to let me have some time to myself. I imagined that she had other patients besides me to look after so I hadn’t said a word as she left with promises to come check on me later. I wasn’t sure how long I had been kneeling there like that on the floor but it was the discomfort of the cramps in my legs and wings which eventually made me stand. I stood up and stretched and examined my wings again, this time with a more critical eye.
I was pretty sure I had shrunk a bit in height and I wondered if somehow all the excess mass had been transferred to my wings. When they were folded against my back they reached down to about mid-calf. They were really big, bright white, amazingly soft to the touch and I guessed that with them stretched out I would have a wingspan of nearly a dozen feet from tip to tip. It was strange touching them, I could feel the soft feathers and the muscles and bones with my fingertips and yet at the same time I felt fingers prodding at parts of my body that I never had before. There is no way of conveying how fingers being run along my wing felt to someone who doesn’t have them themselves, there’s no common frame of reference. It made me shiver in a good way though and gave me the courage to face the mirror again.
The girl in the mirror looked to be around fifteen years old and five foot eight inches tall with generous breasts, a slim waist, long legs and well-rounded hips and butt. Her skin was purest white and she had wavy silvery blue hair that fell down to just beneath her chest. It was the face that really caught my attention though. A face as easily as pretty as Allure’s which featured a small chin and nose, full pouty lips and big bright aquamarine eyes with long thick lashes. There was a faint bluish glow that seemed to emanate from the forehead so I parted my hair to see what was causing it. The girl in the mirror did the same to reveal a pale blue tattoo of a full moon with outward facing crescent moons to either side that glowed in the dim light of the room.
I was still staring at the mirror when Dr. Jennings returned bearing a tray of food. “I thought you might like some lunch. Mr. O’Brien.”
“Call me Dan…” I began to say when I realized how silly that would be. “I guess you can’t call me that.”
“How about I call you Danielle? Or maybe Dana?” she suggested.
I thought about it for a moment. “Danielle would probably be easy to remember and react to, but I think I like Dana better. Could I… Could I ask you some questions Dr. Jennings?”
“Go ahead, I figured that you’d probably have some. I’m a psychologist as well as an expert in mutation and part of the reason I deal with all the newly activated Hypers here is to help you through this transition in your life and answer any questions,” she replied as she led me to the table and chair near the bathroom door and motioned for me to have a seat.
The chair had a high back so I had to sit backwards on it to prevent any issues with my wings. When I was finally comfortable I asked. “Why am I not freaking out more about this? I mean I am freaking out, but it’s more because I have changed so drastically, I don’t think I’ll ever fit in with normal people again, and I’m scared of what will happen to me now. I’m freaking out about the wings too but not as much as I should be, and aside from being so strange looking, being a girl isn’t near as terrifying as I think it should be.”
“I believe that the magic or perhaps your Archetype has changed your brain chemistry and thus your gender identity to that of a normal girl to help you adapt. It’s probably increasing your comfort with your wings as well.”
“I’ll say,” I replied with less bitterness than I intended, “Before the thought of having wings gave me the willies, but now having them it feels like they’re not as alien feeling as I feared and it’s almost a sensual feeling when I touch them.”
“When Hypers have their H Chromosomes triggered it’s usually due to a stressful situation,” the doctor explained. “Our subconscious minds want to avoid further stress so when our Archetype is written we often subconsciously create some means of coping with whatever powers or physical changes we’re given. Having them feel sensual when touched is probably your subconscious mind using positive reinforcement to get you to accept them. Did you have any other questions?”
“Yeah I was wondering,” I asked somewhat nervously, “If I do have magic could it be possible for me to change back to who I was before? Or at least look somewhat normal?”
“It’s possible that you could take on another human male form with enough power and practice but I think given the changes and your previous line of questioning that it would be extremely uncomfortable for you to stay in that form for any length of time,” she answered. “As for looking normal though, you will probably be able to cast glamours and other illusions that will make you appear normal to others.
“I was afraid of that,” I muttered. “I guess at least the possibility of using illusions to look normal gives me something to shoot for.” I started eating the cardboard tasting hospital food as I thought about what I was in for. “I have absolutely no clue what to do now,” I finally said with a sigh.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well I figure I’ll need to get someone to teach me magic but how do I adapt to this?” I said gesturing to my body. “I may not have a problem with being female but I have no idea how to live as one. And I’m going to need to learn to control these things if I don’t want them banging into everything around me.”
For the next four days I stayed in that room, only leaving to perform various tests for Dr. Jennings and Dr. Sanchez. The latter was a middle aged Latino man who ran magic research at one of Morristown’s four experimental labs. He was a minor sorcerer and when we first met he was like a kid in a candy store. He was so eager to learn more about my abilities that I actually thought his brain might overload and explode from some sort of spontaneous magical nerdgasm. I found that I liked the man immediately even if he did tend to get distracted by new lines of thought more often than not.
Despite that, over those four days he discovered quite a bit about how my powers work. My metabolism seems to produce not just physical energy but magical energy as well and I store that magical energy like some sort of biological magic battery. As a result I needed to eat more to get the physical energy I needed for day to day activities but I build up more magical energy than I could ever need for daily use. I also can’t draw on outside magical energy sources for power, but it would be redundant anyway with as much power as I build up, especially at night. Whenever the moon is in the sky my body becomes twice as efficient and I generate more magic, need next to no sleep and feel more energetic.
Dr. Sanchez also had my power level as a magic user measured both during the night and the day by having me cast simple spells that he showed me. During the day I rated somewhere between Category three and four, and when the moon is out I’m a solid five. He even had a theory about the strange tattoo on my forehead. He figured that it was a sort of charge indicator for my magical energy, and the more I have stored the brighter it glows. We did discover some problems though on the magic end of things. In Dr. Sanchez’s words I am ‘too much of a natural.’ I cast major spells without thinking or even realizing I’m doing it at the time but when I try to concentrate on a spell I give it too much energy with dangerous results or use too little and the spell fizzles. He was hoping that with practice I would get over that problem but he cautioned me that like any accomplished sorceress I would have to practice for years to get to that point.
It was possible that there were other magical abilities or side effects to my powers but none that we could test for in the short term. Dr. Jennings had no other information for me than I was of good health for a teenage girl and that I seemed to exhibit no non-magical powers other than perhaps my wings and healing faster than usual at night. Other than that and needing to eat more I had normal human tolerances and physical abilities, except what I might choose to use magic to augment. Other than that she had me working on getting used to my wings being there and trying to actually fly with them. I wasn’t having much luck with the latter though, because my wings still didn’t feel quite right to me and I was having trouble actually making them do what I wanted them to do. It was like giving a goldfish hands and asking it to play the violin.
By the end of the fourth day the pair decided that I was probably safe to be out in public, at least by Morristown standards since we’re all pretty used to strange shit. They wanted to have me stay one night in a regular hospital room for observation to be sure, but I would be allowed visitors and to go wherever I wanted in the hospital until visiting hours were over so long as I kept a bracelet on that would let Dr. Sanchez constantly monitor my magic. The only visitors I was expecting to possibly come and see me was my brother and possibly his wife and son.
I was more than a little surprised when I was sitting in my room watching television and my boss walked in with Allure, the girl from Dorm Seven. Deep Blue was a tall woman with dark blue skin and pure white hair and such confidence that she easily dominated any room she entered. Usually she let me call her Karen but I wasn’t quite sure if that was appropriate any more so as soon as she entered the room I said, “Hey boss, back from Ottawa I see.”
“Hi Daniel,” she replied as she and the younger mutant approached the bed. “Yes I’m back for now but I’ll need to be heading back there for a few days to attend some meetings and bring Jessie here so we can get hir settled in and zie can start classes. But I wanted to come check on you before I leave again, how are you doing?
“I’m going by Dana now,” I replied. “I’m a little weirded out by everything that happened but I guess I’m getting used to it… well at least the wings and the magic and stuff. I should be back to work by the time you get back.”
She shook her head. “No you won’t Dana. You changing both gender and age has made things complicated from a legal aspect. We can’t employ you since Daniel no longer physically exists and Dana has no legal documentation.”
“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that.” I sank back into the hospital bed with a sigh. “How the hell am I going to afford rent now?”
“I have an alternative arrangement to offer you actually,” the blue skinned mutant offered as she handed me an envelope. “I’ve got enough cash here to cover your severance pay, but I would suggest you use that money for a new wardrobe and other necessities.”
“Okay Karen, so what’s your alternative if I’m going to need that money for other things?” I inquired as I looked inside the envelope and found that it was indeed full of cash.
“You’re going to enroll at AMPS as Dana and I’ll allocate academic scholarships for you and start getting a new identity created for you under that name and assign you a legal guardian.” I was about to argue when she halted me with a raised hand. “I know you’ve already gone through high school so I can offer you equivalency for what courses you’ve already taken but you will need other classes. You’ll be free to take whatever academic classes you want but I suggest some of the combat classes as well and you’ll definitely need the magic classes from what Dr. Sanchez has told me. Think about it Dana you’ll get the teaching you need and you’ll be able to stay in Dorm Seven and not have to worry about rent.”
She had made some good points; I was really going to need a roof over my head and those magic lessons, and given how I look now combat lessons wouldn’t be a bad idea either. “I suppose I’ll need paperwork filled out for the school?”
“I’ve already filled most of it out, you just need to fill in your name and date and sign them.” She took some papers out of her briefcase and placed them on the bedside table. “You can take them to admissions when you’re finished. Usually we assign a new student a shadow from the same dorm to help them find things and adjust and since you already have met Erin here, I decided to make her your shadow. She can probably help you adjust to your new gender and appendages as well.”
“Are you always three moves ahead of everyone else Karen?” I asked as she gave me that knowing smile of hers. “Sometimes I swear you’re a psychic instead of a tinker.”
“You’ll need to call me Miss Morris from now on like everyone else,” she pointed out. “And I may not be psychic but I do try to know everything that happens in my school, even when I’m not here. I need to leave now but I suggest that you and Erin talk for a while and get to know one another. The two of you have four days, including the weekend, before the new semester starts to help you get everything you’ll need for school and get you prepared.”
“Thanks Kar… Miss Morris. I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Good luck Dana and take care,” she said as she turned and left me alone in the room with Allure.
At least I wasn’t staring at the girl this time, though that made me wonder if perhaps my sexual preferences had changed as well. I tried to put it out of my mind; I had enough on it already. “So…Erin I guess you can call me Dana now. Come have a seat on the bed with me so you can tell me what all I’ll need to have before we start school on Monday.”
“Hi Dana, I’m really glad you’re doing alright, I was really worried when you got activated.” She took a seat on the end of the bed as I asked and began to form a list. “You’ll need new clothes of course that you can wear with your wings, some make-up and accessories so you people don’t peg you for a guy…”
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked in confusion. “I mean, I was a guy.”
”I know that,” she agreed, “But you really don’t want that to be common knowledge. We D7s have enough trouble as it is without giving people more ammunition to fire at us. So for the next four days you get a crash course on being a ‘normal’ mutant girl. We’ll need to come up with a background for you as well in case anyone asks too many questions. You’ll need exercise clothes, shoes, at least one school uniform for special occasions, toiletries, a few suitcases to carry everything, possibly a laptop and cellphone if you don’t already have them and anything you want to bring from home. Do you still have a place to stay ‘til Sunday? It might be easier for you if we say you’re an out-of-towner and just moving here, that way you won’t have to move into the dorm tomorrow and have everyone trying to get the new girl before you get a chance to adjust.”
I nodded as I mentally checked a few things off. “I still have my apartment until the end of the month and I got my laptop and stereo system, they were bought recently so I shouldn’t need anything new for those. Is there anything else I really need before I get to the dorm?”
“I can’t think of anything physical right now except getting some piercings done, but we will likely think of more while we’re shopping. On the non-physical side you will need a background story as I said before and you’ll need a code name.”
I wasn’t too sure about getting anything pierced but she was doing her best to help and I appreciated that. “What do you mean a code name? I need one right away?”
She nodded insistently. “If you don’t have one some other kid will call you something and if other kids think it’s funny that name will stick to you forever here. I have a friend with seismic powers who started at the school two years ago. She didn’t have a name chosen and everyone still calls her Vibrator.”
I winced at that one. “Damn, kids can be so cruel. I generate magic energy and can use magic, do you have any suggestions?”
“I would suggest Conception but that’s just asking for trouble, how about Rune?” she suggested.
“How about Glitch?” I asked. “That’s how I got my powers.”
“I like it but I don’t really think it reflects who you are,” she said with a sigh when my forehead power indicator tattoo thingy caught her attention. “What is that and why is it glowing?”
“We think it tells how much magic energy I have generated and stored,” I said with a shrug.
“I don’t know much about magic but isn’t it impossible to generate magic energy?” she asked. “When we learned the basics on how to combat mages we were told that people need to draw magic energy from other things.”
“I have a weird metabolism and Dr. Jennings thinks I’m some sort of Demigod, or at the very least the personification of what I believe the child of the Moon Goddess Danu would be.” If I tried explaining any more than that I’d likely be at it all day.
“Child of the moon Goddess?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow before something occurred to her. “Hey, how about Moonchilde?”
I thought about it for a moment and smiled, “I think we have a winner. I like it.”
“Moonchilde it is then,” she agreed
After that was decided we started talking about the life of a student living in the dorms and going to school at AMPS, Having worked there in maintenance I knew all about the school and the location of nearly everything but hearing about it from a student’s perspective helped me see it with new eyes. There was a lot that you tend to overlook as a nine to five employee such as what cliques to avoid getting involved with, where to go when being pursued by superhuman bullies, and what foods to avoid in the cafeteria.
Despite my earlier reservations about her I found myself enjoying Erin’s company more and more as we talked. She was shy and timid at first with new people but once she warmed up to me I found that she was very clever and had a fun sense of humour. We were still talking and I was much more relaxed when my brother Andrew showed up with his wife Stacey and my nephew Curtis. Andrew was big with brown hair and eyes like I used to be and so was Curtis, whereas Stacey was slender with bright red hair and green eyes.
My big brother was now the only non-activated Hyper in the room since Curtis, who went by the codename Charm had minor magic abilities and a hypnotic gaze and his mother Stacey was called Fortune due to the fact that her powers make her incredibly lucky. All three of them stopped in the doorway and stared at Erin and me. Finally Stacey managed to get out, “I’m sorry we must have the wrong room, we were told that Daniel O’Brien was in this room.”
I was suddenly very nervous again as the possible confrontation with my family was suddenly right in my face. I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied, “Stace, do you really think your powers would ever let you go into the wrong room?” Then after a brief pause to study the disbelief on their faces I added, “It’s me, but with things the way they are now I’m going by Dana.”
“Y-you’re a chick,” my older brother stammered.
“Yes, I had noticed that thanks,” I replied drolly. “You still want powers of your own bro?”
As Andrew just shook his head and continued to stare Curtis didn’t seem bothered at all by the fact that I now looked like a girl the same age as him. He just joked, “That’s an impressive pair you have there Uncle Dan,” he paused for effect before adding, “I mean the wings of course.” He turned to his father and I could see him rolling his eyes from across the room, “Oh c’mon Dad, suck it up. We were told that he’d been through some major changes and anything can happen when there’s H Chromosomes and magic involved. Personally I think you’re rocking whatever look you have going there. I’d love to know what caused your Archetype to come up with that.”
“Thanks Curt, and if you must know I was praying for my life at the time. Dr. Jennings seems to be of the opinion that Danu found it funny to answer the prayer to protect one of her children by making me into her actual daughter,” I said with a shrug.
My nephew’s eyes widened as he realized what I was saying and used a spell to scan me. “Holy shit. How much energy are you drawing on and where the hell are you getting it?”
“I’m not, I can’t draw on outside sources,” I replied candidly. “My metabolism is producing all of this.”
“That… that’s not possible…” he said as he stared at me.
I nodded in agreement. “That’s what I said.”
“Uncle Dan… oops… I mean Aunt Dana, you have got to keep this quiet,” he warned me. “If the wrong magic users find out about this you might as well paint a big magical target on your back. And if you’re packing that much energy around you need to learn to use magic properly a.s.a.p.”
“That’s why I’m starting school on Monday,” I replied. “Erin here is going to be my shadow. Erin this is my nephew Curtis, my brother Andrew and my sister-in-law Stacey. Everyone this is Erin.” I looked at Stacey in concern; it wasn’t like her to be so quiet. “Umm Stace, are you okay?”
“She broke out in a huge grin, “Are you kidding? This is awesome! I always wanted a little sister and now I get to have one! And you’re soooo freaking adorable!”
“Adorable?” I said in disbelief. I was still trying to make the mental transition from freak to attractive exotic girl with wings so I didn’t quite see how I was adorable yet.
“Hell yeah, with that blue hair and those eyes and the wings you’re just so cuuute! Can I touch your wings?” she asked eagerly.
“Sure, I guess so…” I had barely managed to get the words out when my sister-in-law shot across the room and began to softly run her fingertips along the wing joints of my right wing with one hand as the other hand caressed the feathers. I sighed contentedly, “Mmmm that feels nice.”
After that I had to once again answer all the questions regarding some of my stranger features and how my powers worked. As time went on Andrew seemed to lose some of his hesitation and asked some questions of his own. Curtis was happy that I’d be coming to school with him and agreed with Erin that we needed a back story for me. It was decided that I would be Curtis’ cousin from London Ontario and once Deep Blue returned we would have her make Andrew and Stacey my legal guardians. I was coming to AMPS to learn to control my magic and be closer to my cousin and my favorite aunt.
And speaking of that ‘aunt’, she had offered to come shopping with Erin and I so we’d be able to put all the bags in her car to take back to my place. She and Erin were talking excitedly about what stores we should go to and what we would need to get me. I could only shake my head at their excitement and wonder if the Dark Side really does have cookies. It looked like I was going to find out soon enough. Visiting hours were almost over when I complained, “How am I even going to get into your car to go shopping with these huge… tracts of land Stace? It’s going to suck having to walk everywhere.”
“You have wings, why don’t you fly there and meet me?” she asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.
I sighed as I thought about how to explain it. “I didn’t have these five days ago and I have no idea how to use them. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re here just for decoration or to annoy me. They don’t belong on a human body.”
“That’s your problem,” Erin pointed out, “You’re still thinking of your body as human and your wings as something foreign. You’re over-thinking things just like when you use too much or too little power in a spell. You need to relax, feel your wings as a part of you and just let it happen. I’ll show you how to do it when we come to pick you up for shopping in the morning.
The next morning I was released from the hospital and Erin and Stacey showed up bright and early to collect me so that we could get a good start on the day. Stacey had brought me some clothes that she thought would make a decent fit. And once I was changed into the panties, black leggings, thigh length green halter top, boots and gloves we headed to the elevators. I was more than a little surprised when Erin pressed the button for the roof. “Why are we going up there?”
“Well since this is your first time trying to fly I thought we’d get really high first,” she began
“I’m sorry,” I answered with mock seriousness, “But I was taught to just say no to drugs.”
Stacey giggled at that as and I even heard a few titters from Erin as she said, “Smart ass.”
We arrived at the rooftop and Erin led us toward the edge. It was damn cold out and I decided that I would really need to figure out a way to wear a jacket with these wings. I blew on my hands and rubbed them together, “So now what? Pixie dust and a happy thought?”
“I wish it were that easy,” she said as she lifted a few feet into the air and used her wings to hover. “Nope, since this is your first time we need to get you used to how your wings feel when they are moving as a part of you, how the wind feels underneath them. So you need to take a good running start and take a leap of faith off this building.”
I stared at her my mouth agape. “You want me to jump off a building?”
She merely nodded as she replied, “Yes, being high in the air and in danger of falling is a great motivator for your instincts to kick in. Believe me, when you see that ground rushing toward you you’ll start using those wings pretty fast, and the higher you are the more time you have for it to happen.”
“But what if it doesn’t work?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat.
“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re so close to a hospital,” she deadpanned before adding, “At least you have magic in case you need it. Just do it and let your body take over, don’t over-think it.
“You’re crazy for suggesting this you know,” I pointed out. “And I’m crazy for thinking about it.” Then I turned to Stacey, “And you’re crazy for not trying to talk me out of it.” Stacey just shrugged and gave me a thumb up. Still muttering about how crazy all three of us were I took a deep breath and started running toward the edge of the building. As soon as my foot hit that ledge I closed my eyes and leaped into the empty air beyond.
I opened my eyes a second later to see the ground rushing toward me and suddenly my wings spread wide and I began to glide. I could feel the wind rushing around my wings, through my feathers and something in my mind clicked. These wings were a part of me and if I could feel them I could control them. At first I let instinct guide me as I got the feel for gliding, sensing the winds and using them to my advantage. Then I purposely began to flap my wings, gaining both speed and altitude and thrilling in the experience.
Soon I was high above the hospital, the cars in the streets beneath me moving about like tiny ants. If I didn’t have Stacey and Erin waiting for me I could have stayed up there forever. Flying was simply put, the most amazing experience of my life. This was where I belonged; could I really give this up just to look normal? It would be hard enough just going to school and spending my days in boring classes knowing that just outside the window there was freedom.
Erin soon flew up beside me and we glided side by side. “See, I told you that you would get it. Stacey went ahead; she’ll meet us at Edge Mall.” She turned to lead the way and I followed in her wake eager to land now that the adrenaline rush was over. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved flying and would do it again the first chance I got but it was cold out, especially at those higher altitudes and I wasn’t wearing all that much. I decided that the first chance I had I was going to learn a spell to help me keep warm.
Shopping with two enthusiastic women who seemed intent on making me dress as girly a possible wasn’t as bad as I had been dreading. Our first stop was Victoria’s Secret where we bought twenty bra and panty sets in various different colors and styles and some stockings and other ‘necessities’. The only problem was that I was a big girl at 36D and my wings necessitated that all my bras be backless and in some cases strapless as well. So as you can imagine we were in there for hours. It was lunchtime by the time we were through and all we had bought so far was underthings. We had also drained all of the money that I had been able to take out of my bank account on my ATM card and were starting in on my severance pay.
After lunch we got back to it and things were only slightly easier this time around. We bought several pairs of jeans, exercise clothes, various lengths and styles of skirts, some halter dresses and a crap load of different halter tops, again because of my wings. Then we needed some heels in different styles and colors, a pair of running shoes, and a bunch of make-up I didn’t even know how to use yet. Then we were off for all the personal hygiene products a girl needs to look and smell pretty including a small bottle of perfume that set me back fifty bucks by itself. I silently thanked the Goddess that my new physiology didn’t seem to grow body hair as that saved some money and earned me jealous looks from both of my shopping compatriots.
Finally we bought a four piece luggage set that took nearly every cent I had left. Oh well at least I didn’t have to pay for that school uniform, as Erin informed me that we would get one set for free for special occasions. It was well past seven o’clock and we were placing the luggage in the trunk of Stacey’s car when she said, “Just one more stop and we’re through for the day.”
Erin had already left us to head back to the dorm for the night with promises to call me in the morning and I was tired. Tired of walking, tired of men leering and tired of people in general outright staring. The children pointing and saying things like ‘Mommy, lookit the pretty angel’ were kind of cute though. I let out a sigh as I somehow managed to close the trunk. “Nope, no more stops, my severance pay has gone to a better place, and may it rest in peace.”
Stacey just smiled at me. “This one is my treat; we’re going to The Cutting Edge.” I tried not to groan at that. The Cutting Edge is a hair salon and body piercing shop that Stacey owns in the mall. They also sell some jewellery and such geared toward teenage girls. I thought I had managed to dodge that particular bullet for the day but it seemed that she wanted to save the best for last. So despite my admittedly weak protests I was led once more through the mall to ‘Stacey’s little shop of horrors’ as I used to call it when I was still male.
She just had to show off her favourite niece who just got activated to all her employees. She was like a proud mama and since she had done so much to help today and was being really supportive overall I let her have her moment as I walked in beside her all smiles. “Hi girls, this is my niece Dana, she just got activated earlier this week and she’s transferring here to go to AMPS.”
“Hello,” I said, giving a nervous little finger wave. I knew all of these women and I was a little worried that one of them might clock me.
The ladies were all smiles though as Mabel said, “Oh! She’s an absolute angel!” Yeah, that reference wasn’t getting old at all. I was hearing it near constantly from people who noticed my wings and the blue glow emanating from my forehead.
“She’s adorable,” Penny agreed. “Such fascinating coloring and those wings are beautiful.”
I don’t think I’d ever seen Stacey as happy as she was right now showing me off. She really must have wanted a little sister or a daughter to share her interests and experiences with and apparently I was the next best thing. If it made her happy I could take it, so I got in the chair when she asked me to. Stacey actually worked on me herself and it made for a neat and I’ll admit even enjoyable bonding experience.
First she evened out my hair and styled it with a side part that I had to admit made me look very pretty. Then she shaped my finger nails and painted them a shade of blue similar to my hair and while we waited for those to dry she did the same to my toenails. It was a little odd having my sister-in-law get so personal with my hands and feet but not really uncomfortable as while she worked she explained what she was doing and why. Then came the piercings; she did two in each of my ears, putting a set of silver studs in each. I have to admit that I was kind of getting into it at that point because on impulse I asked if she could pierce my navel when I saw a navel ring with a silver crescent moon on a short chain.
The mall was closing as we made our way back to her car. Over the past few days I had noticed that girls are much more tactile then men and they don’t really always need to be speaking to communicate. Small touches, body language, and the way they speak all contribute to a much deeper and more personal form of communication than men share. I found that I actually preferred this deeper communication so as we walked back to the car I reached out and gave Stacey’s hand a light squeeze. “Thanks for all of that Stace, it was really nice and relaxing after such a long day and I really appreciate the effort. This being a girl thing isn’t really so bad when I’ve got family and good friends with me.”
She reached out and wrapped me in a hug. “You’re welcome Dana, it was nice to have someone to share stuff like that with.”
“Maybe we can do it again sometime,” I offered. “It was nice to be able to relax after the week I’ve had. It doesn’t rate up there with flying, but it was pretty nice.”
She nodded and took a wistful glance at the sky. “There’s something I’d like to do someday, I kind of envy you that.”
“Once I have better control of my magic I’ll try to take you up with me so you can see what its like. I don’t even want to push your considerable luck until then though. But I promise that when I have better control we’ll do that.” I gave her hand a final squeeze and a smile and said, “I’ll meet you back at my place,” as I took a running start, began to beat my wings and launched myself into the air.
For the next three days Erin and ‘Aunt Stacey’ put me through an intensive girl boot camp so that when I entered that dorm Sunday afternoon I wouldn’t make any male mistakes. They had me name all sorts or articles and clothing and tell them what shade it was and what they would go well with. They had me practice makeup over and over until I could do both a daytime and evening look as quickly and easily as they could. They had me work on how I said things and using the non-verbal communication skills that I had noticed. They had me walk in various types and heights of heels until I thought my legs would fall off. They even had me practice putting my hair into various styles with seemingly no effort.
It was a grueling three days and Friday and Saturday night saw me going to bed exhausted. By Sunday afternoon, when we loaded the suitcases in Stacey’s car though, we all felt that I was as good as I could get. Any errors I did make we would just chalk up to me being a bit of a tomboy before my activation. Erin and I both took to the air and followed Stacey’s car from above so that we could land near her in the parking lot. I was again reluctant to give up my time in the sky despite the cold weather but I knew that I had to face this sooner or later so I landed and gave my favorite aunt a hug goodbye before Erin and I walked toward the door to Dorm Seven.
Erin and I paused at the doorway and I looked at it in wonder. Only nine days had passed since I last came to this door fearing what was inside but it seemed like a lifetime to me. I had changed so much in that short time and not all of those changes were physical. Now I stood here again and I no longer feared the freaks among freaks, I was one of them and I thought that maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Sometimes the most fearsome paths hold the greatest treasures and I was ready to walk my new path and brave whatever glitches the future brings.
![]() |
Daniel O'Brien is starting to think that being Dana might not be so bad. She can even handle being a mutant, but... what if she's not?
First Oath By |
“I’m settling in fine Stacey,” I spoke into my cell phone as I sat cross-legged on my bed. If there was one lesson I had learned since I Activated just over a week before, it’s that finding comfortable furniture for people with wings is a real bitch. I would imagine having a tail would make things equally awkward, if not more, so I sent a silent thank you to Danu for my lack of one of those as I told my once-sister-in-law, “Erin just helped me finish unpacking my stuff and getting it all put away, so there’s not much left for me to do, but wait for classes to start tomorrow morning.”
“Oh good have you met any of the other students in your dorm yet? Is there anything you need that we didn’t get?” She sounded worried for me and I once again wondered just what role she played in my life now. Stacey had been my sister-in-law for sixteen years now, and even before she had married my brother when I was fourteen she had treated me like her kid brother. Her role now though was a bit harder to pin down.
My fabricated background claimed that she was my aunt, but technically she was my legal guardian now, or would be once Karen… err Miss Morris got my new identity created. Over the past four days since she, Andrew, and Curtis had first come to see me in the hospital though, our relationship had been changing. She was something like a cross between a mother and a big sister to me now, not that I was complaining; my real mother had died nearly ten years ago and it was obviously making Stacey very happy to fill that role for me and to share with me the benefit of her own experience.
“I think we got everything Stace,” I replied to her last question first. “And we just finished unpacking before I called, so I haven’t had a chance to meet anyone yet. I heard that I’m not the only new student at least though. Miss Morris called earlier to let me know that she found a magic teacher for me and that she has a daughter who just Activated before Christmas. There’s also Miss Morris’ niece and a friend of hers who’ll be starting tomorrow as well, and all three will be in Dorm 7.”
“Hopefully you won’t get too much attention then, if there are other new students,” she said with a relieved sigh. “I’ve been worried about how you’ll get treated Dana, you’re really going to stand out, even among other mutants.”
“Yeah, someone would have to have a pretty weird look going to top this,” I admitted with a sigh since it had been kind of worrying me as well, despite my promise that I would try to embrace my new lot in life. “That’s what Dorm 7 is all about though, we all stand out or have uncontrollable powers, but being in the same dorm shows us that we’re not alone and that we have potential friends here. I think I’d be a lot more worried if I were going to be living with the more-or-less normal looking girls in Mauve, Orchid, or Coral Dorms.”
“If anyone, especially girls, tease you about your looks it’s most likely because they’re jealous Dana, you’re beautiful and jealousy can make girls do nasty things,” she told me sternly. “Just whatever they do to try and get to you, stay in control and don’t let it look like it’s bothering you. Teenage girls can smell fear, put them in their place if you have to and never let them think they’ve won.”
“You make high school sound like a brawl Stace,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“For pretty girls it is,” she replied without any hint of humor in her voice. “Only girls don’t use their fists to fight. Most of their attacks will be psychological and those can be far more devastating and harder to prove than a mere physical beating.”
“Geez Stace, thanks a lot, now I’m even more nervous,” I muttered, my wings twitching anxiously.
Her voice was softer and her tone made her sound worried as she spoke again. “I’m sorry hon, but its better that you’re prepared for this. Just remember, if you need anything; to talk, blow off steam, a shoulder to cry on, or even just some of my good luck I’m just a phone call away and I’ll come running.”
“Thanks Stace, you’re the best,” I told her in complete honesty. I really didn’t know how I would have been ready to attend school as a girl tomorrow without her and Erin to help me. I appreciated it far more than I could ever tell either of them and I really needed to find a way to thank them both for all that they had done. “I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know how things are going, I’m going to go flying for a while to try and calm my nerves a bit.”
“Okay Dana, have fun and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I disconnected the call and stood up on my bed to open the skylight. My former boss had been kind enough to give me one of the dorm rooms on the top floor and I appreciated her foresight as I took to the skies. The air was cold, but clear and all my fears and worries were left behind in my dorm room as I ascended and made my way up to the clouds. A look at my watch showed the time to be quarter to eleven and since the moon was out I probably wouldn’t have to sleep more than two or three hours to be completely rested. That would give me several hours to just drift up among the clouds if I wanted. I thought that would be nice if I didn’t start to get too cold, so I closed my eyes and just reveled in my flight for a time.
My mind was wandering up there among the clouds when the sense of a powerful presence brought me back to reality. No wait, there were three, and they were surrounding me. My eyes snapped opened as I heard a cold voice with an Irish brogue speak above the flapping of wings. “How kind of you come up here, so far from mortal eyes. You saved us the trouble of hunting you down, sister.”
An unearthly beautiful young woman carrying a massive spear hovered in the air before me supported by feathery wings, as black as mine were white. She looked maybe a few years older than me and her long hair was just as black as her wings, tied back in a long braid that flapped around in the wind. On her forehead, set above finely arched eyebrows and her intense blood red eyes was a tattoo of a black bird with its wings spread that glowed a red the same shade as her eyes. A look to both my right and left showed two more identical women, though one had a pair of short swords in scabbards, and the other a bow and a quiver of arrows visible just behind her right shoulder. Triplets? I had a bad feeling about this.
“Macha, do you really need to try and scare the poor girl?” the one to my left with the bow and arrows said with a sigh. Even their accents were identical. Like the two others she was dressed in a white gown with black and red embroidered Celtic knot designs on the hem and billowing sleeves. They also all wore a reddish gold metal choker around their throats from jaw to shoulders, a slim red-gold belt cinching the gowns at the waist, and bangles of the same color around their wrists and ankles.
“I was trying to impress upon her how serious this is Anand, I mean why would mother even send us if not to make her take this seriously.” the spear-wielder in front of me retorted, rolling her eyes. “Thanks for ruining that by the way.”
“Maybe because we’re her sisters you dolt,” the one with the swords said from my left side, looking at Macha like she was an idiot. “Okay, so you’ve done the bad-ass ‘Goddess of War’ shtick and probably scared the shit out of the poor girl, are you happy now?”
Macha frowned at her. “Well war is our thing. What were you expecting me to do Badb? Bring her flowers and a handwritten invitation?”
Badb crossed her arms and glowered back “Look, I’m just as happy to do some hunting, smiting and general bloodletting as you are, all we’re saying is that this is probably not the time for it. Mother asked us to bring her new daughter to see her before one of the other Gods got to her, not terrify and confuse her. I mean just look at her face.”
I was only really half aware of the conversation. The names were far too familiar to me: Badb, Macha, and Anand were one of the more well-known triple Goddesses in Celtic mythology. They were harbingers of doom, foreshadowed war and carnage, and were generally not Goddesses one wanted pissed off at them, or sent to ‘hunt them down’. I swallowed the lump in my suddenly dry throat as I cursed and tried to use my wings to back away, “Oh shit, The Morrígan.”
None of the three made a move, to surround me again as Anand sighed, “See, now you’ve done it Macha, well at least she knows who we are. Let me handle this.” She fluttered slightly closer, keeping her hands where I could see them, approaching very slowly. “Look sister, I’m sorry about Macha, she can be a bit thick sometimes.”
“Especially around the middle, “Badb put in, sneering at Macha.
“We’re identical you bitch!” Macha snapped back, glowering at her.
I had always believed in Danu and the other Gods, I was raised to pay proper tribute to them and it comforted me thinking that there was some greater powers out there. Believing, and having three very confusing Goddesses in front of me though were two very different things. They were real, and their power together made my own feel pale in comparison. Power-wise, with the moon out like it was, I could probably do alright one on one, but they were each armed War Goddesses with who knows how many centuries of experience, while I was still trying to figure out my magic. Anand had a reputation for being a Goddess of the moon, air, and manifestation magic as well, and if that were true I was probably screwed. The thought of having to fight even one of them made me want to fly away as fast as I could.
I looked from one to another of the three, confused and not sure whether the terror crawling up and down my spine was justified or not. Anand smiled at me, and with some warmth in her expression she was only about three quarters as frightening as she had been a moment before, so yeah, still pretty terrifying. “Your name is Dana right? We’re your sisters. I promise that we really weren’t sent to hurt you or anything, our mother just wanted us to bring you to see her in Cathair na Danaan, before one of the Gods from another clan comes to look for you.” she paused uncertainly before finishing, “They probably won’t be so nice.”
“Yeah, so let’s form a gate and get out of here,” Badb agreed, at least I thought it was her. She was the one with the swords? Damn they were confusing and I wasn’t so sure if I could trust them or not.
I had finally worked up the nerve to say something to them when Macha gave me the same idiot look that her sister had given her earlier, “Are all mortals so dense these days? If we were really here to hurt you we’d have done it by now and we wouldn’t be asking nicely.”
“You call that nicely? You scared her half to death and now you’re insulting her,” Badb snapped. “Besides, she’s not a mortal she’s one of us now, and she’s our sister, you should be nice to her.”
She just brushed the retort off. “Whatever, she hasn’t run away or anything so we’re fine. You want to set the gate Anand? Or should we get the noob to do it?”
I cleared my throat loudly and as she three turned to face me I shoved all the anxiety I was feeling to the back of my mind and said, “Excuse me, but I haven’t agreed to go anywhere with you.”
“See! I knew we should have just used the direct approach,” Macha muttered. “If we had just knocked her out or something we could have been home by now.” A menacing look from both her sisters caused her to raise her hands defensively. “What?! It’s not like we could have killed her, and she is family so I would have gone easy on her and used the shaft of my spear. The head trauma would have healed in a few days tops.”
“Well maybe if you’d been nice to her we could have been gone by now too!” Badb shouted back as a nasty looking pair of broadswords emerged from their scabbards. Macha responded by shifting her grip on her spear and the pair started to attack each other mid-air in front of me.
Anand let out an audible groan, but she made no move to reach for her own weapons. I barely even saw her gesturing with her hands before a pair of glowing red chains of light with sickle blades at the ends materialized and she whipped one of the pair toward her sisters, who were now focusing on trying to beat each other senseless. The chain wrapped itself around them both, chaining them tightly together and restraining them as she shouted, “Would you two knock it off!” Before I even realized what was happening the other chain wrapped around my waist, pinning one of my arms to my sides. “As for you Dana, I’m very sorry, but it’s for your own safety that you come with us.”
I was fortunate that my wings were still free, at least I could keep myself airborne, but I wasn’t going anywhere so long as she held the other end of that chain, and we both knew it. The other two weren’t so lucky and were dangling from the other chain and swinging like a pendulum as they continued to argue and attempted to head-butt and bite one another. “Dear Goddess, I’m being abducted by Huey, Dewey and Louie.” I tried to think of some kind of magic I could use to free myself with my free hand, but while I might have plenty of magic power available thanks to my metabolism, I had no training in how to use it and even less control.
Could I even harm them if they really were The Morrígan? Neither Badb or Macha seemed to even notice their injuries as they swung back and forth, dangling from the chain. It was hard to be certain from my angle, but I was fairly certain that Macha’s spear had gone through Badb and that Badb had one of her swords pinned to her side while the other was trapped somewhere between them. I was in way over my head here. As I was trying to figure out what to do the black tattoo on Anand’s forehead flared with red light, which spread out to encompass her entire body, and kept expanding until it formed a sphere roughly twenty feet in diameter which encompassed us all. Then the light flared again and the world seemed to turn inside out.
I was puking my guts out and was barely aware of being on solid ground when I felt the chain binding me vanish as a gentle hand was placed on my shoulder. “You’ll be fine in a few minutes, traveling between planes can be a little rough the first time. Hopefully those two will have calmed down a bit by the time your stomach settles. I’m terribly sorry about bringing you here against your will, but it was very important that mother speak with you before the other clans found out about you and started looking for you.”
A few minutes later my stomach was feeling better and looking around I saw that we were in a grassy area on the edge of a forest with the salty smell of the sea in the air. In front of me was the longest flight of stone steps I had ever seen leading up a hill, to what appeared to be a city of white stone buildings. I stood up as Anand made the chain restraining her somewhat calmer sisters disappear, releasing them both. Badb was indeed impaled by her sister’s spear, while Macha sported a nasty looking gash across her torso that was seeping blood into her gown. “A little help here?” Badb asked, giving Macha a sour look.
“My pleasure,” the other Goddess replied with a nasty smile as she yanked the spear free, causing her sister to wince in pain.
“Bitch,” Badb muttered as she sheathed her swords.
“Enough, both of you,” Anand said, glaring at the pair. “Go see Airmed about those injuries; or you’ll be complaining until they heal on their own. Then see if you can get one of the laundry Goddesses to do something about those gowns before the blood stains them. I’ll take Dana to go see mother.”
I stared at the three identical women, “Laundry Goddesses? Big city? Mother? Airmed? What the hell is going on here?!”
“I’ll explain it all on the way Dana, please follow me,” Anand said as she took to the skies.
Being practical enough to realize that she was my ride home and I’d better cooperate if I wanted to figure out what was going on, I followed. As I watched the other pair heading to a different area of the city I asked, “Are they going to be okay? Couldn’t they bleed to death or something?”
She shook her head as she pointed to indicate that a huge castle on the other side of the city below us was our destination. “No, they’ll be fine. Even if we didn’t have a great healer like Airmed, they’d heal on their own in time. Only one thing can kill a God, that is separating their head from their body, and we take precautions to keep that from happening. Minor injuries like scrapes and bruises heal at about the same rate as a human, but when we get more serious injuries we heal at an accelerated rate, and that rate doubles if we happen to be around a life aspect that empowers us. Even wounds that would instantly kill anything else we can heal or regenerate from, as long as our heads are still attached.
“Life aspect?” I asked, feeling like a complete dullard. In my defense, I was still getting used to being a girl and a mutant and now I was having all this God stuff thrown at me out of left field.
“Aspects of the world, living creatures, or actions of everyday life that we have an innate connection with,” she quickly explained. “We can affect them, with the magic energy we have built up, and just being around them makes our bodies more efficient. Mother said that your aspects would be the moon, earth, water, magic, fertility, horses, dolphins, and doves. You and I are actually pretty similar since mine are war, magic, the moon, air, fertility, prosperity and ravens. Badb, Macha, and I all share the war and raven aspects but Badb’s other aspects are life, enlightenment, wisdom and inspiration, while Macha’s are cunning, death, and sheer physical force.”
“Well that explains a lot,” I muttered as I thought about the two other Goddesses. “So do all the Gods have that many aspects? Why haven’t I heard of more Gods if you all have this much power? This city is big enough for thousands.”
She shrugged, which I know from experience isn’t easy when one is flying. “All of us have at least one life aspect and we try to work within those aspects to empower ourselves. Not many of us have a major one like one of the elements, magic, or something that effects entire populations like war. Most just have one or more minor aspect like cleaning, laundry, cooking, flowers, a specific animal, that sort of thing. Those of us with major aspects are born with a mark on our forehead and usually with another feature that sets us apart, usually something related to one or more of our aspects, like wings. Our clan has almost twenty thousand people; we had more before the wars with the other clans and the Fomorians, but you’ve probably only heard of those of us with a major aspect since we’re the only ones who have enough power to travel between planes.”
As we flew Anand took me under her wing, trying to explain as much as she could in the short time that we flew over the city toward the great palace beyond. She had brought me to Cathair na Danaan, the city of the Gods… or rather the city of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Danu ruled the city since the previous kings Nuada and her son Dagda had died in the long war with the Fomorians. The city was divided into four parts: Gorias housed most of the population of the city; Finias was sort of like an entertainment district with its theaters, parks and such; Murias was the business district with various artisans, magicians, and others selling their wares or services; and Falias was home to the palace and the more powerful and influential Tuatha Dé Danann.
The other Gods clans had their own cities elsewhere on this version of Earth and the clans tended to be fairly territorial. They traded with one another and there was a council of the clans that decided on major decisions that affected all the clans, but casual visits and tourism were discouraged, to keep the peace between the clans. These clans had influenced the cultures of their respected territories on my Earth; the Tuatha Dé Danann with the Celts, the Olympians in Greece, the Neter in Egypt, the Aesir in Scandinavia, the Kami in Japan, etc. Those five clans were the most powerful and influential though.
Reality is sort of like a layer cake it would seem, the universe exists much the same in each of these planes, but with various differences, and the higher the plane the more complex the life forms that inhabited them. The plane we were on was on a plane of existence much higher than the Earth I knew and loved, since the Gods live on the highest plane of existence. The place we had appeared in was located where Ireland, Wales, and some parts of England and Scotland would be in my world, but on the Gods plane. Apparently the God clans are so territorial that they usually try sticking to their own physical territories, even while on my Earth which is four planes below their own, which was why they had come to fetch me before one of the other God clans found out about me.
On the planes below my Earth were various planes that were more primal and had no native intelligent life. Each of the clans laid claim to one of those as a refuge for their people in times of need and no members of other clans were allowed to access those planes without specific permission from the clan that had laid claim. Our primal plane was Tír na nÓg and I was told that the Fae lived there now.
When I asked about the Fae, Anand told me that when humans were still learning to draw on cave walls the clans were visiting the peoples of their territories on my world trying to teach and guide them where they could. During this time, our mother Danu had used her magic to create the Fae from her own blood, the four elements, and the magic of the land. They were long lived enough to be immortal, but they shared human weaknesses and could get sick and die like them. They were creatures of magic and nature, with talents that reflected that, and like the Gods they could have children with their own kind only rarely, so that each child would be celebrated. They were too tied to their magic though and their strongest desires, good, bad, or mischievous, shaped them body and soul. She had meant for them to teach and guide the humans of her territory when she could not, but the humans resented and feared them, and in the end hunted them, so most of the Fae eventually fled to Tír na nÓg.
There were three planes between my Earth and the Gods’ plane. Two had once had intelligent life, but they had wiped themselves out long ago before the Gods became interested in the human plane of existence, called the mortal plane. On the plane just beneath their own, on a blighted world, the Gods had found the chaos Gods; the Fomorians, the Titans, and various other groups. These creatures were as long lived as the Gods themselves and nearly as durable since they could be killed, but it wasn’t easy. They thrived on chaos and destruction though, and destroyed everything around them.
Back then the clans were at war and several thought it would be a good idea to use those terrible creatures to fight one another and tried to teach and guide them to that end. That in itself was bad enough, but these were violent, intelligent and powerful creatures as tied to chaos and destruction as the Gods were to their aspects. They grew more powerful as the fighting went on, and they reproduced easily so their numbers grew as they learned not only how to become more destructive, but how to use their power to travel between planes. Soon the Gods were so busy fighting those they had thought to control, that they had no time to fight one another.
A vicious war followed: At first the battles were fought on the planes of the Gods and the chaos Gods and there were many losses on both sides. Anand and her sisters had been young then and while they had been training to fight other clans their first battles were against the Fomorians. The war raged on, and battles were fought on my world as well, resulting in human casualties all over the world as the chaos Gods laid waste and the clans fought to defend their chosen peoples. The Gods of the various clans forged a shaky peace as they fought their new aggressors and eventually defeated them. For our clan the final battle was the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. When it was over they sealed the Fomorians in an inescapable prison between our plane and another that they called ghleann na ndólás.
After that the clans met and formed the truce that still held today. They also felt responsible for the lives lost on the mortal plane, already short existences cut far too short by a war they weren’t even involved with. Peace wasn’t enough for many of them who had lost human worshipers that they had come to care for so the first clan council was held. The result of that council was the Oath of Order. It was decided that all Gods from all clans with enough power to travel the planes would swear the oath and that all Gods born from then on must swear it as well. The oath was to never again interfere or make their presence known in the mortal plane. They could visit but only in forms that would not get too much attention, or if they were shielded from mortal sight, and they were forbidden from getting involved in mortal affairs.
“What’s to stop someone from breaking that promise?” I asked dubiously as we landed in a large courtyard with a pool of water in the center of a large garden. There were dozens of types of flowers I had never seen before and wooden benches sat near the pool.
“Sworn Oaths are binding to our kind, we cannot break them under normal circumstances,” a new voice responded, causing me to turn to the origin of the sound, a striking woman who looked to be in her thirties with long silver hair and wings like my own. She was seated on one of the benches by the pool and patted the spot beside her as she smiled at us, “Please girls, come sit with me, where are Macha and Badb?”
“They started fighting again mother, so I had to send them to go see Airmed to get patched up,” Anand replied with a sigh.
“Those two never stop do they?” the stranger replied with a smile and a shake of her head. Then it hit me. Anand had called her mother and she has said that their mother was Danu. I was standing in the presence of my patron Goddess. I bowed my head and fell quickly to one knee. I wasn’t sure how to address her in person and I had just decided to go with ‘My Lady’ when she laughed. “Come now Dana, there will be none of that. I spent centuries trying to get mortals to stop worshiping us and learn from us before the war so I’m not about to have my own daughter bowing and scraping at me.”
“Ummm… my Lady I’m not sure how to tell you this, but I only look like I thought your daughter should, I’m not one of your kind, I’m just a mortal, a Hyper.” I swallowed the uncertainty and forced the words out.
“I know all about mutants dear, I have been keeping an eye on the mortal world, even though I can’t act there,” she replied with another musical laugh. “You were a mutant, for about three seconds, but now you are as much my daughter as Anand here is. Now please sit while I explain.”
I just kind of stared at her stupidly for a moment before Anand led me to the bench and sat me down before taking the spot beside me. I couldn’t stop thinking that this was the Goddess I had been raised to revere, the one I... “I prayed to you to protect me,” the words came out in my mixture of confusion and wonder.
She nodded and reached out to place a hand on my own shaking one. “I know, I have been keeping an eye on your family and listening to your prayers for generations. I watched you and your brother grow up. Your family has always had a strong connection to me, you all looked to me as a mother and you possessed the Hyper chromosomes. That gene is originally from the Fae, a race I created from my own blood. So when you prayed for me to protect you it gave me the opportunity to act.”
“But Anand said you can’t interfere with things on the mortal plane,” I protested.
“Not under normal circumstances, no,” the mother Goddess agreed. “But there is an exception that rarely occurs. In your case the Oath of Order conflicted with my First Oath. The First Oath is just what it sounds like, the very first Oath we make. It shapes who we are and no other Oath can take priority over a God’s First Oath. Mine was that I would nurture and protect all my children, always. Your prayer, worded the way it was, with your strong connection to me allowed me to protect you.”
“Did you activate my H Chromosomes?” I asked, uncertain about just how she had protected me.
“No, they activated on their own, and you were beginning to change so I looked into your possible futures,” she clarified. At my confused look she elaborated. “Time is not linear Dana. There are many dominant timelines and each is a great tree with branches of potential futures all up and down it. This timeline had far more possible futures than it should branching out at the moment of your accident. I could not see far as there were too many similar possibilities to be truly accurate. In some of them you died despite your activation, in only one did you remain male, but in that one you lived a short and painful life. In some futures you greatly resented your new form and suffered despite the support of your family. All those futures were likely to end in disaster. The few futures where I acted seemed the only way to truly protect you and many others, so I did.”
The revelation of all my possible bad futures was disturbing, but it also raised some questions. “Do you know what happens to me? What exactly did you do?”
“I knew only that you would become one of us dear, your future now is what you choose to make it,” she chided me, squeezing my hand gently in her own. “As for what I did… your H-Chromosomes activating triggered your body to begin changing. Your body was trying to come up with a new form based on your own DNA that could deal with the reality altering magic coursing through you. I just gave it a new genetic template to work from, my own. Your subconscious mind and the magic you were absorbing took care of the rest.”
“So I’m really a Goddess? And my appearance is because of your DNA, my own thoughts, and general randomness?” I queried. “I was wondering why I had this mark on my forehead; it didn’t seem like something my mind would come up with.”
“Yes you are,” she replied, patting my hand. “With your aspects, a mark was bound to happen. The marks not only tell us how much power we have built up, but also allow us to focus on and affect our more powerful aspects, travel between planes, or take the form of one of our animal aspects. I do take credit for the wings though, it was looking to be wings or horns based on the futures, so I nudged you in that direction. The wings are much prettier and more practical I think; besides I thought you should walk for a bit in the shoes of that Erin girl you were so nervous around.”
Apparently she had perfected the motherly art of the guilt trip over the millennia, because I felt as small as a mouse. “Yeah, I know that was wrong of me, and I still feel pretty bad about it, especially since she’s been so helpful and nice to me. I need to think of a way to make it up to her.”
“I am pleased that you have learned your lesson so well,” the Goddess responded with a smile. “Now we should get to why I had you brought here. How much did you tell her Anand?”
The black winged woman promptly answered, “I told her about the clans, explained how the planes work, and I had started telling her about the Oaths when we got here mother.”
“I guess that is as good a place as any to start then,” Danu said with a nod. “The council will want you to swear the Oath of Order, but it would be a violation of your rights to force you to do so before swearing your First Oath. I doubt you want to be forced to take an oath that will keep you from your home and I have reasons of my own for not wanting you to take it. Your Earth needs a guardian, from threats the mortals cannot handle on their own, but our hands are tied since we swore that Oath. So, while your sisters were fetching you I was speaking with the heads of the other four major clans. Together our five clans have enough influence to sway a vote in your favor.”
“How did that go? Let me guess, Zeus was a dick about it?” Anand spat out in disgust. Then she turned to me to explain. “He’s been a jerk about forcing any new Gods born to take that oath as soon as they’re old enough. Since he realized that interfering or making his presence known on the mortal plane included his little trips to sire a demigod or two, he’s decided that if he can’t have his fun nobody else can either. It’s actually kind of funny since he was the strongest supporter of the Oath of Order in the first place.”
“Zeus could be a problem, but we need his support on this,” Danu agreed with a sigh. “Odin of the Aesir supports my plan for Dana, he was against the Oath of Order in the first place. Amaterasu of the Kami and Ra of the Neter took some convincing, but they both see the value of having Dana taking on the task. Zeus wishes to discuss the matter with Dana and I in person though.”
“Word of advice Dana, don’t take your eyes off him for a minute, his hands tend to wander around the ladies,” Anand muttered in an aside to me.
“I’d rather not have to swear that oath; I have family and friends on the mortal plane. No offense, but I’d rather not be stuck here for the rest of my life, however long that will be, with people I don’t know,” I told the pair apologetically. They seemed nice and I’d never imagined I would be speaking to Gods face to face, but I wasn’t certain I would want to live there.
“As for the rest of your life, how does eternity sound?” Anand pointed out. “There’s only the one way to kill you and you can’t die naturally. You’ll stop aging altogether in a few years probably.”
“E-e-eternity?” I sputtered as I stared at the war Goddess as I began to feel the true weight of my new life bearing down on me. People aren’t meant to live forever. “What am I going to do for eternity?! Catch up on my reading?!” I was beginning to panic and I knew it, so I took deep slow breaths to calm myself as I tried to find something else to focus on. Finally I was calm enough to ask, “You mentioned some sort of plan my Lady?”
“Dana, you’re my blood of my blood, please call me mother or mom or something, I really dislike the whole worship thing. You have a home here should you ever wish to make use of it my dear one. As for my plan, I want to get you appointed as Guardian of the mortal plane. Unless we can do that and prevent you from having to take the Oath of Order, your world could face great peril, especially with the possibility of a Fomorian returning to the mortal plane. We cannot leave it undefended, and the Hypers only barely managed to contain Aindreas last time. It was bad enough that the Oath kept us from doing anything when the Lemurians committed their atrocities, but being unable to act when a chaos God walks the mortal plane would be intolerable.”
My jaw dropped and I just stared at her for a moment. This situation just kept getting more and more insane. “Whoa! Hold it! You want me to fight a chaos God? I don’t know how to fight, and so far my attempts at using my magic have been less than spectacular. I’m supposed to be going to school for that, but I haven’t even started yet.”
“I want you to protect your world, the humans, and the Fae from any threats they cannot handle on their own,” she explained candidly as she took my hand once more in her own. “You will study at this school of yours if we can get you out of taking the Oath. The teacher they have chosen for you is very gifted, but Anand can help you refine those skills. So she will help you with that, and all three of your sisters will help to teach you combat here in our plane or in Tír na nÓg whenever you have the time. None of the futures indicate that threat of the Fomorian is immediate, but all the same you must learn as quickly as possible.”
The mother Goddess and I were waiting for Zeus in the room he reserved for meeting his guests in a large palace that greatly resembled the Parthenon from the outside. The room itself was gaudily decorated with elaborately woven rugs, red satin drapes between pillars, and an altar-like affair that hosted chilled bottles of red wine and golden goblets. The only seating was a depression in the floor filled with red and gold satin cushions and pillows. It made me think of a Greek orgy, and from what Anand had said about the Olympian God of sky and thunder, that was probably the usual purpose of it.
I was starting to get impatient when a man in a blue toga with a golden sash entered the room. He looked to be in his fifties with white hair and a carefully trimmed beard of the same color, a golden lightning bolt tattoo on his forehead, and with the way he strutted into the room I was surprised we hadn’t met his ego ten minutes before he showed up. I’ll say one thing for him though, he was direct. “So this is your new spawn Danu, care to tell me why I shouldn’t behead her now to punish you for violating the Oath of Order?”
Most people would be scared shitless when confronted with an ancient God threatening to kill them, and I have to admit there was a little of that, but I was more pissed off than anything. He called us here and made us wait for nearly two hours, just so he could insult and threaten me? My first reaction was to start readying my magic even though I had no real training yet, but then I firmly squashed that urge. He wanted me to lose it and attack him; I could see it in those sky blue eyes of his. The room, his attitude, the insults and threats; he wanted to let us know that he was in control here. I was the child here, and he was testing to see if I was going to be a problem child or let the adults talk.
I decided to play it sweet and respectful, with just a touch of sass. “Lord Zeus, it’s such a pleasure to meet you, I have heard so much about you. I’m Dana. This is a lovely room, it’s very comfortable. Do you often entertain your guests here? Or do they entertain you?” Okay, maybe that was a lot of sass.
To my surprise he laughed and winked at me, “Was that an offer?”
So he wanted to play a little give and take did he? I shook my head as I shot back, “I wouldn’t think I’m your type, I heard you prefer mortals, and even when I was one I doubt I’d have been your type. What’s the matter? Dry spell? I guess beggars can’t be choosers.”
Zeus’ eyes went wide at that before he bellowed in laughter again. “This one has courage and wit, I’m not sure if I want to kill her or keep her around.”
“I’d have to charge by the hour and my wit is the only entertainment I’d be giving you,” I retorted.
“That is enough, from both of you,” Danu-mom said with a shake of her head. “You know very well you have no authority to kill her Zeus. If I had not acted I would have violated my First Oath, and I could do that no more than you could. As for the Oath of Order, it doesn’t apply to Dana. The wording was, ‘Those born Gods will never again interfere with or make their presence known to mortals, or allow themselves to be seen in their true forms on the mortal plane’. Dana was born mortal.”
“A very nice loophole there, I agree,” he answered with a grim nod, “but you still need my support to convince the rest of the council to allow you to exploit it.”
She rolled her eyes and her wings fluttered in annoyance. “Dana obviously just passed your little test, and if you had meant to refuse us you would have just done so without all the theatrics you old lecher. What is it that you want from us?”
The Olympian seated himself in front of us before speaking with a serious expression on his face. “I am prepared to endorse your plan to allow your daughter to forgo the Oath of Order and become the mortal plane’s Guardian, but there is something I need her to do for me. There are mutant mortals calling themselves Titans and usurping the names of Olympians. I would like her to deal with those pretenders.”
“Old school smiting, or merely make them regret their actions and pay for their crimes?” Danu pressed.
“You know I would prefer a good smiting, but I leave it up to her, just so long as they know they are facing the wrath of a true God,” he answered with a shrug.
With Zeus on board an emergency council meeting was convened to discuss my situation and to vote on whether to allow me to forgo the Oath of Order and become the Guardian of my world, humanity and the Fae. While they were meeting I was returned to Cathair na Danaan and once again abducted by Anand, Badb, and Macha, this time to prepare me for returning home. They had taken me to Murias with its many shops and artisans to show me where to buy clothes, food, magical trinkets, and where to get laundry, repairs and other services done. Most of the shops were closed for the night, but they were able to introduce me to a few of our fellow Tuatha Dé Danann including Airmed the healer and Lugh of the many talents.
We were currently at the shop of Brigid, who was apparently expecting us, and I was introduced to her as her new aunt. She was Dagda’s daughter and she had more aspects than me or the triplets; the sun, fire, water, poetry, smithing, weaving, medicine and midwifery, arts and crafts, cattle and other livestock, and sacred wells. I couldn’t help but stare a bit at her, though I was starting to get used to seeing beautiful people with strange features. She didn’t have wings or horns or anything, but her wild curly hair was the red-gold of flames and it actually glowed like sunrise, I could even feel heat coming from it. Her eyes were a bright sparkling green and the mark on her forehead looked like a rising sun, the same red-gold color as her hair.
While Brigid was taking my measurements, for who knew what, I glanced nervously at my watch. I let out a sigh as I said, “I’ve been here nearly eight hours and I was supposed to be meeting Karen… umm… Miss Morris soon to give her my paperwork and tell her what classes I’ve decided to take before school starts. I am going to be so late, and on the first day too.”
“Don’t worry about it Dana, you have plenty of time,” Badb tried to reassure me, at least I thought it was Badb, the triplets were hard to tell apart without their weapons. “Time passes slower on higher planes than on lower ones. You may have been here eight hours, but only half that time has passed on the mortal plane. If we were in Tír na nÓg you’d have to be careful though, it’s one of the lowest planes and in five minutes there, an hour would have passed on your plane. We’ll take you there to introduce you to the Fae sometime soon, but we’ll likely do any combat training you need on this plane.”
“Any other stupid mortal questions you need answered?” Macha put in with a roll of her eyes. Her general attitude at least made it easy to tell which one she was. “You might as well get them out of the way now.”
“Well…” I began to speak uncertainly. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to ask this question, especially since it involved the Morrígan and Macha wasn’t exactly the sharing and caring type. I didn’t think she was being intentionally mean, she seemed to care for her sisters, it was just that showing it wasn’t really her thing. “Umm I was actually wondering Macha; Anand told me that Dagda was our brother, but the old myths say that the Morrígan… umm… coupled with him on Samhain, though the reasons vary.”
That was met with a chorus of “Ewwwwwww!” and disgusted looks all around.
“And that is why they are called myths sister,” Anand said with a shudder. “Humans passed down stories of us verbally until they had reading and writing down and each story changed with the telling. Many stories have completely forgotten about our mother and half the time they don’t even get the names straight. They’ve confused me with Anu and Nemain countless times. To be honest I got so sick of it that I stopped using my magic to watch the humans decades ago.”
“But you speak modern English so well,” I said awkwardly as Brigid measured my neck.
“We do go to the mortal plane in raven form; I just don’t watch certain family lines, like mother does,” Anand explained. “Your family was always so interesting to her, but she sometimes gets premonitions about certain mortals, and it seemed she was right to watch you. Our kind watches a lot of television and movies too, and the news is a great way for those of us without major aspects to find out what’s going on in the human world. Television is like a guilty pleasure here, since one of the Kami figured out how to relay the signals and compensate for the difference in the passage of time so we’re not watching it all in slow motion.”
Brigid had finished her measurements and was looking them over. “Good news Dana, you’re not too different in size from a lot of other young Goddesses ready to take their First Oaths and begin their duties. I should have some clothes and armor that should fit you properly, and weapons won’t be a problem either. Grandmother said that she will pay for whatever the Morrígan feels you need with enchantments. That’s a good trade for me since I can sell goods enchanted by her for a much higher price.”
Macha smiled for the first time since I had met her and it only made her even more frightening. “Alright Dana, weapons first!”
“I’m not really a warrior like you three,” I argued as she looked carefully over a large spear and thrust it into my hands. “I just use magic, and not very well yet. I doubt I could even carry a bunch of weapons with me all the time.”
“We’re teaching you to fight, so you’ll need weapons,” she countered as she looked over a shield and sword on display. “Besides, it’s always good to have an ace in the hole. What if your enemy is resistant to magic or an ally needs a weapon? You just use that magic of yours to summon one of your weapons or even create a magical one and you have another way of fighting and the element of surprise.”
Soon a sword, shield, and some sort of war hammer joined the spear and while I was no expert, all seemed very finely crafted and in a definite Celtic style. Next we were looking at armor, but Macha claimed to prefer mobility over defense so she was ignoring anything she deemed to be too heavy or hard to move in. As she was grumbling over everything being ‘too heavy for a noob with no muscle tone’ Brigid pulled me aside saying, “I need you to put this choker on Dana.”
I looked down at the item she held out in her hand. The choker was wide, intended to cover my whole neck, made of a dark blue satin with some sort of clasps at each end, and in the center was a Celtic knot design that resembled the mark on my forehead embroidered in silver. It was much heavier than I had thought it would be when I took it and I could feel powerful enchantments on it. “What the…” I started to say in confusion.
“Grandmother had me make it when you… joined the family,” the fiery haired Goddess told me. “The satin outer layer is to make it more comfortable for you to wear and make it look less conspicuous to mortals, but inside its finely woven titanium chain mail. That should be plenty of protection against slashing and puncturing weapons, but grandmother also enchanted it for extra protection, and so that only you can remove it. We can’t have you losing your head.”
“How often are people going to try to chop off my head?” I sputtered incredulously as I placed it around my throat and awkwardly fastened it. It was tight enough that it wouldn’t shift, but not so tight that it gave me problems breathing. I had to admit that the satin did make it a lot more comfortable as well.
“Better safe than dead,” she replied with a shrug before leaning in to check the fit. “That’s a good fit; I was worried it might be too small. Just come see me if you need any adjustments or repairs done. And since Macha doesn’t seem to think you can handle heavy armor, I may have an alternative for you when you fight. They’re more meant for fashion, but it’ll protect your innards and I make them for people with wings too. I may have one in your size.”
Brigid’s alternative was a chain mail bikini top and a chain mail corset that hugged my figure tightly from just under my breasts right down to my hips where it formed a ‘v’ pattern that reached its point just forward of my new female plumbing. She had to take the corset in a bit, but it didn’t take her long. It may have made me look like a D&D geek’s wet dream, but I had to admit that it was light and did protect my chest and my innards from sharp pointy things.
To make me look slightly less fantasy slut, or perhaps more-so in my opinion, the triplets suggested that I wear clothes underneath the chain mail. They insisted upon a form-fitting dark blue chemise with three quarters length billowing translucent sleeves and a scooped neck that didn’t hide my cleavage any better than the bikini top. To complete my outfit Brigid added a pair of knee high leather boots in the same dark blue, a pair of chain mail hand flowers that matched the top and corset, and a mid-thigh length Tuatha Dé Danann pattern tartan skirt. Finally they added a long braided blue belt embroidered with silver Celtic knot patterns around my waist, which they cinched in the front with a simple clasp, leaving the ends to dangle in front of my skirt.
Brigid used her sun/fire aspects to infuse all the clothes with comfortable warmth so I wouldn’t get too cold while flying. Then, like she had with the other clothes, changed the colors of the tartan to what she claimed were my personal colors; dark blue for the night sky, aquamarine for the sea, and silver for moonlight. She explained that with our clan we always used the same pattern on the tartan, but that the colors were always those associated to the God or Goddess in question. Then she told me not to be a stranger as she sent us on our way with me dressed in my new outfit and carrying an armload of weapons I would probably never use.
The Morrígan led me back to the castle and to a large room that looked like a small apartment. My new sisters insisted that this was to be my room whenever I spent time on this plane, so that I had a place of my own to rest, and put my weapons and other things. It was a very nice place, comfortable and nicely decorated with a large bed, fireplace, thick rugs on the floor, and beautiful tapestries hanging from the walls. Macha showed me how to place the weapons and shield ‘properly’ in the rack for that purpose and then we all got comfortable to wait for news from the council.
I tried to relax and just clear my mind as I laid there on the big bed, but the more time I spent on this plane the more the place confused me. All the furniture was wooden of exceptional handmade craftsmanship, the mattress on the bed was down filled, and all the materials in the sheets blankets and such indicated they were woven and not mass produced. It was like living in the middle ages, if one could ignore the more modern touches like a bathroom with modern plumbing, the 48 inch wide screen television, or the silver cell phone I had been provided with.
The modern touches weren’t real, but rather magically generated replicas made to work like the genuine articles through magic. They couldn’t even get their hands on real versions of those modern items since the Oath of Order prevented them from doing things like contributing to a mortal economy, going on the internet, communicating with mortals directly or indirectly, or anything like that. As a result the cellphone was very basic and the only extra feature was text messaging, since a lot of the added features on Earth would be useless to the Gods and internet access would violate that stupid Oath. It would allow us to stay in contact no matter what plane I happened to be on though (I hoped there wasn’t long distance charges for that). I thought that it must suck being unable to interact with a world they were all obviously interested in. I doubted that television was enough to satisfy them.
It was as I was thinking those thoughts my already long night and the comfortable bed conspired to put me to sleep. I was woken by a slap to the face and fumbled to get into a sitting position without my wings getting in the way. “Huh? Wha?” I fumbled with the words as well as I looked around.
Macha was sitting beside me and smiled, “It’s about time you woke up noob.” She seemed pleased with herself while Badb and Anand were glaring at her. “What?! You two calling her name wasn’t waking her up so I used a more direct approach.”
Looking at the three goddesses and the room made me realize that I had not just had the weirdest dream of my life, it really had all happened. I wasn’t really sure how I should feel about that as I asked, “Umm… how long was I out?”
“About four hours our time,” Badb replied. I was beginning to see slight differences in the way the triplets moved and spoke and they all felt a little different to my magic sense so it was getting easier to tell them apart.
“We thought that we should just let you sleep for a bit,” Anand said with a concerned look. “You’ve had a lot happening since we found you, and you’re not used to the longer day and night cycle here. Mother has returned from the council meeting and wants us to join her in the garden.”
I was about to get up from the bed when Macha thrust a cloth wrapped bundle into my arms, “I was getting bored watching these two idiots fawn over you while you slept, so I got someone to clean the clothes we found you in. Your phone is in there too and I… thought you could use a weapon that you can carry until we put some muscle on you. That dagger was my first weapon, so it’s damn old, but I’ve kept it in good condition.”
Anand’s eyes went wide. “You’re giving her gonaid?! You never take it out of its case.”
Macha, you big softie,” Badb teased.
“Shut up!” Macha snapped, frowning at Badb. “She’s family, so we need to protect her. If she goes back to the mortal plane we can’t do that, so I’d feel a lot better if she has one good weapon she can use with her.”
I gave into the crazy urge to hug the grouchy goddess. “Thanks Macha, you’ve all been great.” Then I stood up to hug the other two as well before we made our way to the garden.
Anand insisted we head to the gardens by way of the kitchen so that I could eat something. That something turned out to be a small loaf of bread with creamy butter. The bread was made with honey and berries and was sweet and tasty. I finished it quickly and, while it had filled the void in my stomach, I knew that I’d have to try to eat a decent breakfast later if I could. My new metabolism required a lot of fuel.
We arrived at the same garden where I had first met the Mother Goddess and she was again waiting for us on one of the benches by the pool. My God-mother spoke as soon as we were close enough to hear. “The council has approved your appointment as Guardian of the mortal plane Dana. You will be exempt from the Oath of Order and have free passage through any territory on that plane, though you will still need another clan’s consent to enter their primal planes or their territories on this plane. Once you have taken your First Oath you will be free to go back to where your sisters found you.”
I breathed a sigh of pure relief. “Oh thank goodness. It’s not like I hate it here, it seems really nice and you’ve all been very welcoming, but I really think I need a bit of somewhat normal life for a bit while I process all of this.”
“I understand Dana,” she replied as she embraced me in both her arms and wings. “If there were any other path I could have taken I would have. You have been through a lot and now you have a lot of adjustments and a huge responsibility to face. I would have liked to spare you all that, but your world needs you and I am happy to have another daughter. I am here if you ever need me, and so are your sisters.”
“I know, thanks… Mom.” It should have felt weird to me calling someone that. My mortal mother had died almost ten years ago and I still missed her sometimes. We had been raised to see Danu as a mother figure though, a mother we could have even when the one who had birthed us was gone. I had never even conceived that I would have her fulfilling the mother role more directly, let alone that I would become her actual child by some strange twist of fate. I was her daughter now, she had passed down her genes to me and I could feel the connection between us and my new sisters. This might all take a bit of getting used to, but having more family that cared for me was probably a good thing.
“Swear your First Oath Dana, and we shall be your witnesses,” she said as she released me from her loving embrace.
I wasn’t quite sure what to say at first. When Anand had explained the First Oath to me, she had told me that it must come from the heart. I closed my eyes and thought about what I needed to do, what no other God but me could do now, and the words came. “I, Dana of the Tuatha Dé Danann, do hereby solemnly swear my First Oath. I swear to be Guardian of Humankind, Hypers, the Fae, and Earth of the Mortal realm. I pledge to protect them from one another and outside threats, nurture them, and see justice done when needed. This I do swear!”
I felt myself embraced again, this time by all four of them. “That’s a good Oath,” Badb said.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Anand agreed.
Macha nodded, and her frown turned to a look of concern briefly as she told me, “Go kick some ass, but don’t take unnecessary risks until we can make a real Goddess out of you.”
My mother was the last to let me go. “You can go back to the mortal realm now Dana, you just need to focus on the mark on your forehead and concentrate on what plane you want to appear on. If you have a specific place in mind, then concentrate on that.” She paused a moment before adding, “The future has many branches, but they all share common leaves. You need not protect your world alone. There are young Hypers who will help you: Three you will find where flowers grow in the presence of ice. The sun has already appeared, she and the creator will seek you out. The child of shadows will appear in time, whether boy or girl they will light the way for others to join you and unite you all. I can tell you no more than that without violating the Oath of Order.”
She probably had to use the riddles to tell me even that much with that stupid Oath tying her hands, but all the same I appreciated it. “Thanks, all of you. I’ll be back soon,” I told them as I stepped back to give myself some space. Then I focused as hard as I could on the mark on my forehead and thought about my world, and more importantly my dorm room.
I appeared in my dorm room and looked at the alarm clock. “Shit!” I cursed as I placed the package Macha had given me on my bed. I had less than ten minutes before I was supposed to meet Deep Blue in her office. No time to change clothes, I’d have to stick with the outfit I had gotten from Brigid. I snatched up my paperwork and flew out the skylight and across campus toward the building that housed the offices and some of the classrooms.
Landing just short of the building, I raced up the stairs and made my way through the entrance as quickly as I could without banging my wings. The hallway was already half full of students off to see their counselors or on other errands before classes started so I couldn’t move quite as quickly as I liked once I was inside and had to keep my wings as close to my body as possible. As slow as I was going I couldn’t help but feel the stares of my fellow students and hear their conversations.
“Whoa! Who is that? She is so hot!” I guess I had to expect that kind of thing from teenage boys.
“Get a load of those wings,” another said.
“Is that her costume? That is so awesome!” surprisingly that one came from a girl… I think.
One guy actually had the nerve to step in front of me and block my way. I guess he was kind of cute, with blond hair, blue eyes, muscles on his muscles and he had no visible mutations that I could see, but he obviously had an ego the way he smiled at me. “I must have died and gone to heaven, ‘cause I’m seeing an angel.” Oh yeah that was sooo original. “Are you ever lucky you ran into me, they call me Alpha, how’d you like a guided tour of the school?”
“I’m Moonchilde and I’m also not interested,” I retorted. “I’m already late for an appointment.”
“Come on, I’m one of the most powerful mutants at this school,” he prodded. “If you’re nice to me I might even let you join my elite team, The Wolfpack.”
“Not interested,” I repeated. When I went to step around him he blocked my path again. The moron wasn’t taking no for an answer and I was late. “Go do your hunting elsewhere Alpha,” I snapped. In my annoyance my wings fluttered, my magic flared, and dozens of glowing silver ribbons of light emerged from the wall, the ceiling, and the floor to wrap around him, binding him tightly. When he could no longer move and his protests were muffled by another ribbon acting as a gag I stepped aside and walked past him saying, “I think those will disappear… eventually. I don’t have a lot of control over my magic yet, so be very glad those ribbons didn’t cover your nose as well, or I didn’t disintegrate you or something.”
When I got to Miss Morris’ office her secretary, a woman with four arms, told me to go inside and when I did I was surprised to see other people there. Miss Morris was there of course, but there was also an attractive blonde woman who I sensed was a powerful magic user, a handsome native boy around my apparent age with long hair, a girl around the same age who’s body seemed to be made of… ice, and a green skinned girl who couldn’t have been older than seven that appeared to have tiny vines and a pair of… flowers growing from her head. The revelation hit me like a hammer as I stammered, “Umm… sorry I’m late I…uhhh… had a really long night. I ran into a bit of a… glitch.”
![]() |
Amethyst Jessie and Christine always thought that their H-Chromosomes activating would change their lives for the better, Then it happens and more changes in their lives than either of them could have ever expected. |
“You already have,” he stated as he turned around and pointed at me. “You’re right though, it is Christmas and you have given me so much, so I should least give you a little something to remember me by.” His metal clad hand flared as a burst of light erupted from it. Then I screamed as what was left of my right arm redefined the word pain and I passed out.
Have you ever wondered just what you are and what you’re supposed to be? Have you ever wondered what you were going to be when you become an adult? I guess most people have wondered about that one and some people know what they are going to be: A doctor, fireman, or lawyer, whatever profession calls out to them personally. I’m not really talking about that though, for me it’s never been about what profession I’m going to take on or what I want to do with my life, but actually what am I going to be. When this all started I wasn’t even sure what I was, and given my heritage, what I would be when I became an adult was, and in a way still is uncertain.
You see I always have been and always will be different; I grew up knowing this even if I didn’t know then just how different I would turn out once my H Chromosomes activated. Having a baby is kind of like playing Russian roulette with genetics, but with me I think my parents actually took the proverbial bullet. You probably think that my talk about my differences is about my appearance and whatever powers I got when I Activated, and while that is part of it, that is not the whole story. The truth of the matter is that I’ve been different from birth. You see, being born with H Chromosomes wasn’t my only genetic quirk.
When I was born I was kind of like a Frankenstein’s baby. I’m intersexed and at birth my genitals were ambiguous. My parents could have had the doctors assign me a gender at birth, but they wanted me to be free to discover my gender identity on my own and when I was four and made it very clear that I thought I was a girl, they got me a surgery to correct it. Surgery couldn’t really fix what caused the problem in the first place though; I had a medical condition they call mosaicism. Where Frankenstein was made up of different body parts I was the sort of same, but with my cells. My doctor once explained it to me and once I got him to translate it into English he said various different areas of my body had cells with different genotypes, sort of a mixed bag of genes. Some of those were male genotypes and some female, the only thing consistent about my genes was the presence of the dormant H Chromosomes. Mom and Dad hoped that if I got Activated my Archetype would straighten everything out genetically.
It’s not easy growing up different, but I suppose that it helped prepare me for what I would later become, though it often made me a target for bullying, especially when I started high school. I’ve always identified as female and wanted to be seen as one, but sometimes I would worry that I was forever meant to straddle the gender fence genetically, even if I could get people to see me as the girl I wanted to be. I had hoped that puberty would change that since I had ovaries, well sort of had them since they weren’t properly formed.
Sadly though, puberty was not the big change I had hoped it would be. At fifteen I was tall for my age, the tallest in my class, with long brown hair, olive skin, one green eye, and one brown eye. While I didn’t seem to be developing along male lines, I wasn’t developing along female lines either; I wasn’t even growing breasts yet, I had no figure to speak of, and was more androgynous than feminine. My height, lack of feminine development, and the fear that my situation would never change was causing me to go through periods of depression and withdrawal. The only one who could seem to make me feel better when I was in these moods was my best and only friend Christine Weber.
Chris and I had been friends since we were in diapers. She was of Algonquin ancestry with the black hair, brown eyes and reddish brown skin and where I was tall and skinny she was barely average height and a bit overweight. Despite our different appearances, we actually had a lot in common; we didn’t really fit in well at school, had dormant H Chromosomes, had relatives who were Activated Hypers, and couldn’t wait for our own H Chromosomes to Activate. Her father is telekinetic, while my mom has regenerative healing, my dad has dormant H Chromosomes, and his sister, my aunt Karen, is the former superhero Deep Blue. Our fathers were even best friends; hers has been a partner in my dad’s company, Morris Enterprises, since it was founded.
Yeah, so now you probably think that I’m one of those spoiled rich kids. I’m not, I mean we do alright and we have a nice house, but most of the money that the company makes goes back into the company or to funding AMPS and providing scholarships for less well-off kids who need to attend. AMPS stands for Aaron Morris Private School, and it’s named after my dad. It’s a private school somewhere in Hudson’s Bay that he and my Aunt Karen founded for mutant kids to get a good education and learn how to use their powers in relative safety. Chris and I were supposed to go there someday ourselves, if we ever Activated that is, there was always the possibility that we wouldn’t.
It was Christmas day and I was in one of my dark moods. Don’t get me wrong I love the whole spending time with family and friends, and I was currently waiting for us to leave for Chris’ place for Christmas dinner. The whole problem was that we usually dress up on these occasions and despite the gorgeous hunter green dress my mom had bought me for the occasion, I knew that the only reason for the curves it was displaying was that mom had had it especially padded in the appropriate areas. It was meant to make me feel feminine and beautiful and I appreciated the sentiment, but it only made me even more aware that I was just pretending to be a normal girl. Sometimes I just wished that I could go back to being a kid and grow up looking like the pretty girls I have always been so jealous of.
I was in the living room trying to cheer up by reading a book on exotic plants and barely paying attention to A Christmas Carol playing on the television. I was barely paying attention because I found several really interesting entries in the book and wanted to learn more. If I weren’t all dressed up I probably would have been in the greenhouse. I’ve always enjoyed gardening and I could kind of relate to plants, since it’s not often a person can tell their gender just by looking at the surface. I had been gardening with Mom since I was three and we had all sorts of interesting and exotic plants. And since I didn’t have much of a social life outside of school besides Chris I spent a lot of my spare time in our greenhouse or reading books on various plants from all over the world. I was just getting to an interesting part on how passionflowers could be used to induce sleep when Mom called out. “Jessie, could you get ready to leave please?”
“Yeah Mom,” I replied with a groan as I stood up and made my way to the door. I started putting on my boots and jacket and made sure that my pendant was tucked inside before I zipped it up. The pendant had been a gift from my Aunt Karen, a simple diamond shaped piece of copper with a green colored crystal set in the center. I usually keep it in my jewelry box, but I thought it would go really nice with the dress. Mom and Dad were ready to leave soon after and we all piled into the car and drove off in the direction of the Webers’ family home.
I usually love spending time at Chris’ house, it was like a second home for me and I’ve spent most of my summers staying there since with Chris, Aunt Allie, and Uncle Dan since Chris and I started elementary school. They lived in a semi-urban area in South Ottawa that was accessible to the rest of the city but didn’t have a lot of people living there. They had a small hobby farm and raised horses and chickens. I loved spending the summers there, being so close to nature, riding the horses, and I even had a summer job at one of the local nurseries just down the road, helping out in the greenhouses. Despite the interesting reading material and going there to spend Christmas dinner with Chris’ family though, I just couldn’t seem shake my dark mood.
Dammit, Jessie is in one of those moods again, I thought morosely as I answered the door and saw her distracted and dismal expression. Looks like I’m going to have to try to cheer her up again, it’s going to be a long night. Don’t get me wrong I love Jessie, but it can get emotionally draining helping her through these moods and navigating the minefield of potentially wrong things to say. She’s done the same for me though whenever I feel down about being so fat. That’s what best friends do; they stick together and help one another through the hard times. And despite her being so much taller than me, and the same age I often see her as a little sister, she even lives with us during the summers. Jessie can be so vulnerable at times and as much as I want to protect her from the bullies at school and rest of the world I can’t.
“Merry Christmas Uncle Aaron, Aunt Melanie,” I said as I ushered them all inside. Sometimes I just wished that one of us would Activate and be done with it. Either she would get powers and hopefully a more feminine form to go with them or I could have some sort of power to protect her. If it could only ever happen to one of us though, I would have wanted it for Jessie. She needed it so much more than me. As much as I wanted powers I would gladly give up the possibility if I would make her dreams come true. I wrapped my friend in a hug and said, “Merry Christmas Jess, did you get what you wanted for Christmas?”
She sighed and shrugged in my arms. “Well, since the only thing filling out this dress is padding, obviously not. Mom and Dad try, but what I want isn’t going to come in pretty wrapping.”
*Boom* And there was one of those emotional mines, that was stupid Chris. I held her tighter and whispered, “It will happen Jess, you’re going to Activate.”
“Dad still hasn’t,” she pointed out sourly, “So why should we think I will?”
“You will someday, and didn’t your parents say if you hadn’t by the time you turn sixteen they would see about hormones? That’s less than a year, so either way, this time next year things will be looking up. You just need to stop brooding about it so much.” I told her as I let her go so she could remove her scarf, gloves, jacket, and boots.
Dinner was delicious as usual, my mom always goes all out for these dinners, but as good as it was I made sure to keep my portions small and just savor each bite. I had enough problems losing weight without overeating. I could really sympathize with Jess sometimes; we may hate our bodies for different reasons, but neither of us was really comfortable with who we were and were hoping that being Activated might change it. Sure having powers would be awesome, but really we were both looking for some way to be comfortable in our own skins.
We were just relaxing and talking over dessert when there was a loud crash at the front of the house. Both of our fathers stood up and steak knives flew from the silverware drawer into my dad’s hands, while Jessie’s dad pressed something on his watch and a circle of light appeared, from which he pulled a very big gun. They were making their way toward the front when the wall behind us exploded and my mom was knocked to the ground by the debris. Oh shit, she wasn’t moving and through the massive hole in the wall I could see this huge man made out of metal.
A voice came from the entrance to the living room behind us, “Alloy, you fool. These people are supposed to be hostages; we need them alive if we’re going to get what we want.” I turned to see an older man in a lab coat, a pair of goggles, and bulky metallic gloves standing beside a tall muscular woman with a sword.
Suddenly there was a flurry of activity; Dad telekinetically hurled the knives at the man in the lab coat, while Aunt Mel threw herself at the woman with the sword and Uncle Aaron started firing at the metal man and yelled, “Girls, get out of here!”
I grabbed Jessie by the hand and we ran for the stairs, but we were blocked by a pale woman with spiky black hair dressed all in black. She had some sort of creatures with her, a hideous, giant bloated fly and a Doberman on steroids with teeth that must have been four inches long. She gave us a chilling smile as she spoke, “Ssssuch fear. It is delicioussss.” Then she screamed as a steak knife lodged itself in her shoulder.
“Run!” my dad shouted.
I looked back to where dad’s knives were just bouncing away before hitting the guy in the lab coat. Jessie’s parents weren’t having much luck either and were barely managing to keep the woman with the sword and the metal man occupied. “We gotta go Jess!” I gripped her arm firmly against her protests and ran for the back door. I yanked open the door only to discover that there were shadow creatures everywhere. “Oh shit…”
When Chris cursed I stared out at the yard and there were monsters everywhere. There was a bright light in the sky too, and it was getting closer. Wait, was that another Hyper? No there was two of them. The source of the light flared and lit up the night sky as a wave of flames descended upon the creatures in the yard. “What the hell?” I wondered and screamed as Chris and I started falling. We weren’t falling to the ground, but rather toward the pair of Hypers in the sky, a brown-haired man in a black and silver costume and a blonde woman in black and red, she was the one pouring the fire on the creatures below us.
We suddenly stopped in front of the man, who gave us a weak smile. “I’m Crash and my firey friend is Burn, we’re here to help. We’ll deal with the situation down there, you girls go find somewhere to hide, preferably somewhere warm. And I’m sorry about the discomfort ladies, changing and canceling a person’s relative gravity several times in a few minutes can be a little unsettling.” What was he talking about? How many times did he mess with our gravity? My questions were answered as we started falling again toward the ground below where the driveway met the main road and Chris and I both started to scream.
Less than three feet above the road we stopped falling, just floating about the road for a second before gravity reasserted itself and we landed on the snow bank at the end of the driveway. At least he gave us a soft landing, but it would have been better without falling in the snow in minus twenty degree weather with no jackets or boots. “Ugh I never want to do that again,” Chris groaned as we tried to get to our feet. “Let’s go, we need to find some place to hide.”
“But, mom and Dad and…” I began to argue.
“They told us to run, so that’s what we’re doing,” she insisted. “Hopefully those two Hypers can help them even the odds a bit. Let’s head to the nursery it’s not far and we can hide in one of the greenhouses, it’ll be warm there too.” Despite my uncertainty I nodded, and as we started running down the road I took one last worried look over my shoulder at Chris’ home and the chaos we were leaving behind. Neither of us noticed the black bird following high above us.
I felt horrible by the time we reached the greenhouse and managed to get inside. I was breathing heavily and perspiring from the run. That wasn’t what was making me feel horrible though, poor Jessie was freezing, probably scared, and she probably wouldn’t be so cold if she hadn’t been running slower so I could keep up. “Sorry Jess, we would’ve gotten here sooner if I weren’t so fat.”
“You’re not fat, you’re a little overweight and it’s through no fault of your own, you can’t help being what genetics made you,” she told me with a stern frown. “Besides, it’s warm in here, and there was no way I was leaving you behind. I feel bad enough leaving our parents like we did. “
I sighed and looked away. “I know, I just wish I could be more athletic sometimes, maybe I could have done something to help them instead of just running. They told us to run because they wanted us safe and having us there was a liability. Those people mentioned wanting us as hostages, do you think they wanted to hold us ransom for money?”
“Possibly,” she replied as we walked further into the dark greenhouse, “our dads are the President and Vice President of a major corporation. Aunt Karen made some enemies when she was with the Sentries though, so there could be more to it than just that. Remember when she came to visit in early November? She made a bunch of improvements to the house security system, that’s probably why they attacked when we were all away from home for the evening. They must have been monitoring us somehow, and waited for us all to be away from the house and relaxed with our guard down.”
“Maybe those monsters were watching you?” I suggested. “The ones in the yard were all ugly and downright creepy, but they came in various shapes and sizes. No two were the same. So maybe there were some smaller ones, or flying ones watching from outside the house or in the…air.” My eyes widened as I realized what that could mean, “Jessie find someplace to hide quick! And stay hidden no matter what!” I pushed her toward some potted cedars and gasped as glass rained down from the ceiling.
When I looked up I could see some sort of black dragon with glowing red eyes emerging from the hole in the shattered roof with the pale woman on its back. “Did you really think you could get away ssso easssily? Where isss the other one?”
Somehow I kept myself from breathing a sigh of relief, she didn’t see Jess. I needed to keep her attention on me to keep Jess safe, but what could I do? I wasn’t exactly fighting material. If only I’d been more alert, I could have at least grabbed a weapon of something. She lost patience after I stayed there silent with my arms crossed defiantly for several minutes. The dragon hovered above me and as it roared a burst of flame briefly lit the greenhouse around us. I was terrified that she was going to let that thing barbeque me right then and there. I could feel the heat of the flames even after they faded. My whole body felt like it was on fire and every inch of me seemed to be in incredible pain. This couldn’t be from the flames; they hadn’t even come close to me.
“Where issss she?” the woman repeated, though I could scarcely hear her through the fog of agony that had enveloped me. It seemed to last an eternity and I could hear the woman gasp, Even curled up on the floor I knew that the dragon’s large taloned foot was descending toward me. Wait… down the aisle to my right about ten feet away there was a stainless steel gardening trowel. I don’t know how I managed to fight through the pain, maybe it was fear that drove me, but I quickly rolled to the right, grabbed the small tool, and got to my feet as the dragon’s foot hit the ground. Without looking I hurled the trowel in where I thought the dragon’s head would be and I was about to take off running when the dragon roared again. It was about that time when the entire world seemed to rush in on me and everything went black.
When Chris pushed me into the cedars I was terrified and uncertain what I should, or even could, do. I just froze as that big black dragon shattered the roof and entered the greenhouse. I knew that Chris was trying to protect me, but who was going to protect her? They wanted hostages so they probably wouldn’t kill us, or even seriously hurt us if they could help it. I needed to stay out of sight and think of a plan. The dragon and the woman atop it were far too close for my comfort, but if I tried to move I was pretty sure they would see me. I tried to control my breathing, stay perfectly still among the cedars and other plants around me, and completely ignore the fact that I was scared to death.
Time ticked by as Chris refused to say a word or even move from where she was standing. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was just that brave or if she was as scared as I was. The dragon roared and my heart skipped a beat as its flames briefly lit the greenhouse. I feared that they would see me, but then their attention was on Chris as she curled up in a ball sounding like she was hurt. What did they do to her? No wait, the woman seemed as confused as I was. I think we both realized in the same instant what was happening, Chris was Activating.
It was hard to tell from my angle, but it looked like the dragon was about to step on Chris. I nearly ran from my hiding place then and there, but before I could Chris had rolled to the side, gotten to her feet and made a throwing motion. The darkness inside the greenhouse was making it difficult to see well enough to make out details, but something about Chris’s silhouette seemed different. I wanted so much to go and check on her and possibly help. She was right though, I needed to stay hidden, at least for the time being.
Once again the dragon roared as its head snapped back, shooting its fiery breath toward the greenhouse’s new skylight. The greenhouse was briefly lit once more and I wasn’t certain, but I thought I saw the glint of something metal protruding from the beast’s eye. It was thrashing around now and I was about to use the distraction to get further away when Chris’ hoarse scream and sudden collapse stopped me cold.
Oh my God! What happened? Was she hurt? The pale woman had apparently decided that the thrashing dragon wasn’t worth the effort and it vanished in a swirl of inky blackness that could be seen even in the near darkness of the greenhouse. I could see her shadowy form kneeling over my friend for a moment before she spoke again. “Come out girl. You friend isss not hurt. If you wish him to remain that way, you will show yourssself.”
Him? What the hell was she talking about? I didn’t have much time to think about it though, as another form appeared out of thin air. I squinted my eyes and the white lab coat gave me a pretty good idea who it was. “Is this one of them?” he asked his associate.
“Yesss Professsor,” she said as she kicked Chris’ probably unconscious form, “thisss one Activated and the other isss hiding.”
“Well find her then! This one isn’t going anywhere!” he snapped in return. “We need to hurry so we can at least take these two while Alloy and Amazon keep their parents distracted. I would like to salvage something out of this operation.”
I could see that black swirling energy again and what appeared to be a bunch of bugs the size of watermelons appeared and began to fan out. Ewww, I really hated bugs. I kept very still in my hiding spot repeating over and over again in my head, be one with the plants, think green thoughts. Holding still was starting to become difficult, it felt like my whole body was cramping up and even with the hole in the roof I was starting to feel uncomfortably warm, I was getting sticky with sweat too. The combination of those three things was really annoying, my dress was slipping and shifting whenever I moved even a little, and the whole situation seemed to be getting worse with each passing second. I gritted my teeth and tried to stay still but the cramps intensified and I spasmed as I fell to the floor and knocked over a flower pot.
“It came from over there! Check it out.” I was only vaguely aware out the voice belonging to the man in the lab coat as the greenhouse lights flared to life. That awareness was enough to make me try to get up though. I got to my knees, tried to ignore the pool of sticky and sweet-smelling liquid I had been half laying in, and went to make a run for it. Somehow I got tangled in my dress and fell to the ground again as the pale woman and several of her big bugs approached me. Shit! I mentally cursed.
“What do we have here?” She said as she stood over me and I could see a half crazy smile light up her face. “Aren’t you adorable? I HATE adorable,” she said with a sneer as she reached out to grab me.
“Eeep!” I squeaked as I tried to scramble backward in my sticky slippery, shifting dress and failed. It was like the dress was way too big for me, and was that my hair I kept getting tangled in? Full-fledged panic threatened to take over when I heard a faint *poof*.
“Wha did you doooooo….” She sputtered in confusion before falling to the ground in front of me fast asleep. The moment she hit the ground the bugs disappeared in a swirl of black smoke. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened, I had Activated, and lost quite a bit of mass if my over-sized clothes and that big pile of goop I had been laying I were any indication
“Incompetent fool,” the man muttered as he marched forward and grabbed me by the front of my dress. I promptly fell right out of the ill-fitting garment though, surprising us both. I didn’t stop to think about that, the fact that I was now naked except for my very loose panties, or the fact that my skin was green. Instead I made a run for it, holding up what was left of my modesty as I ran. I didn’t get far though and was grabbed roughly from behind by my hair. “What the…” I heard him mutter.
I tried to pull away but he had a secure hold on me, or at least I thought he did until I turned my head to see green tendrils with tiny leaves wrapping around his forearm. He frowned and as he made a slicing motion with his free hand the tendrils were severed and the pulling at my hair stopped. Another attempt to run failed as he pushed me to the ground and used his weight to hold me down and pin my left hand under his leg. I reached up and dug my fingernails into his shoulder, but he snarled as he pulled my hand away leaving my dark green nails embedded there.
He pinned down my free hand under his other knee, glaring at me. “I have had enough of you! If I didn’t need you I would…” His expression changed as he stared in confusion at my pendant. “That couldn’t possibly be… why would she entrust it to a mere child?” The psychotic scientist pulled a small device from his belt and pointed it at my pendant and it hummed for a second before emitting three beeps. “The Key!”
I glowered up at him as he tore my pendant off and let loose a maniacal laugh. “Hands off asshole, that’s mine,” I managed to get out. My voice sounded so different, higher and almost childlike to my ears.
He laughed again as he looked down at me. “But this, my dear, is exactly what I wanted for Christmas. I was going to force Blue to give it to me by holding your family hostage. All this time I thought she was keeping it in a secure location, but you had it all along! That devious bitch!” His laughing intensified at that before stopping suddenly as he gave me a cold smile. “That means you are no longer necessary.” He put my pendant in one of his belt pouches as he stood up and began walking toward the pale woman.
I got unsteadily to my feet. “What, so you’re just going to leave now? There’s no way I’m going to let you get away with all of this.”
“You already have,” he stated as he turned around and pointed at me. “You’re right though, it is Christmas and you have given me so much, so I should least give you a little something to remember me by.” His metal clad hand flared as a burst of light erupted from it. Then I screamed as what was left of my right arm redefined the word pain and I passed out.
When I awoke the first thing I was aware of was the pleasant warmth. It was so nice and cozy that I didn’t really want to move, but I did experimentally open my eyes. I was at home in the secure section of the basement; it was built like a fallout shelter and had even more security than the rest of the house. More specifically I was in one of the two bedrooms we had set up as four person dormitories in case we needed to keep ourselves or other people safe. The secure section was also the area of the house that my aunt had her lab set up in, well the one she used when she was visiting anyway. I was in one of the beds with large sunlamps set up on each corner and pointed toward me, no wonder I was so warm.
I turned to look to my right, carefully avoiding looking down where my right arm should be. It was weird, the last thing I remembered was that psychopath blowing it off, but it felt like it was still there. I figured it was probably that phantom limb thing I had heard happens with amputees. The cot to my right hosted what looked like an unconscious teenage boy who bore a strong resemblance to Christine. I knew that her form had changed, but her gender too? I knew it could happen, hell I had been hoping it would happen to me, but how would Chris handle that if it really was the case?
A look to my left revealed my mom half asleep in an armchair. “Mom,” I croaked out, my voice hoarse from a very dry throat.
Mom practically flew out of her chair. “Jessie! Oh sweetie I…” She didn’t finish that sentence though as she wrapped me up in a hug. She seemed so big now, I felt like I was a kid again and I had to wonder just how much mass I had lost, and why was I so small? She broke off the hug and pressed a glass of water from a small bedside table to my lips. “Here, drink some, you must be thirsty. Karen thinks water should be okay for you.”
I quickly gulped down the contents, and the water really hit the spot. I was still thirsty but at least I felt like I could try to speak again. “What happened? Is Chris alright?”
She frowned at that, obviously uncertain what to tell me. “Sh… he’s in some sort of coma sweetie. When Terror’s nightmare constructs vanished we managed to get the upper hand. Professor Panic must have used a recall signal to teleport them all away because Alloy and Amazon vanished and when we got to the nursery the two of you were the only ones there. We weren’t sure what was wrong with Chris, he didn’t have any physical injuries, and with your new biology and your arm we wanted to play it safe, so we placed you both in stasis fields until Karen could get here and run some tests and decided to bring you down here where it’s more secure. It’s the morning of the 27th now. Karen got here yesterday morning and began running scans right away. We took you out of stasis almost eight hours ago.”
“Where is everyone? Did anyone else get hurt?” I asked in concern.
Mom squeezed my hand gently and pointed to the bed across from Chris. “Allie has a concussion, some lacerations, and bruises. She’s resting now. We’ve been taking turns watching you and Chris. Dan and your father both suffered some minor injuries, but they’re otherwise fine. They’d be here pacing holes in the floor, but they had a board meeting and a few other things they couldn’t reschedule today, It’s better to have them both have something constructive to do to take their minds of worrying for a bit. Crash and Burn are staying close to them in civilian clothes, just in case. As for Karen, I had to get her assistant to drag her off a few hours ago so they could both eat something and get a bit of rest; they’ve been working non-stop since they got here.”
“So… what’s the damage?” I gave a frown of my own as I asked another in a long list of questions I wasn’t certain I wanted answers to.
“Maybe I should wait for Karen to explain things,” she said looking away, “science isn’t really my thing; all I really know for sure is what I can see.”
I let out an anxious groan. “Mom that’s exactly what I want to know, what you see… what other people will see. Am I really green? I feel so small too; do I look like some sort of Martian? I need to know if I even look remotely human anymore.”
“Sweetie,” she said taking my hand. “You need to stop focusing so much on how others see you; it’s what’s inside that matters most.” At the look on my face she sighed. “Fine, to answer your questions, you feel small because you look to be around 7 years old now; though Karen said with your physiology she can’t be certain. Other than that you seem healthy. You are green, but with make-up and a hat or wig you could still look perfectly human. There are some physiological differences, but you have no extra limbs or anything like that, unless you count your right arm growing back.”
“What?!” I squealed as I sat bolt upright. I lifted my arm and to my great confusion, joy, and awe I found that it was indeed there and looking perfectly normal, aside from being lime green. “How the…”
“You seem to be a Regen like me, though I don’t think I ever want to test whether I can completely regrow limbs,” she muttered with a shake of her head. “I heal fast, but you regrew that arm in less than an hour once we got you out of stasis and under these lamps. Karen thinks you might be more efficient at regeneration due to your mutation.”
“Did she mention what that is exactly?”
Mom nodded, “I’ll go upstairs and get her so she can explain things to you sweetie.”
While Mom ran upstairs to fetch my aunt I watched Chris in the bed beside me and worried. What happened to her that caused her to scream and pass out like that? Did she realize the extent of her change and react badly? Was it something to do with her powers? Or did that woman do something to cause the coma? My musings were cut short though as Mom returned with Aunt Karen and a woman I didn’t know.
My Aunt is pretty recognizable with her dark blue skin and white hair. She tends to get a lot of attention in any room she enters unless she’s disguised. The other woman though was in her early twenties and so average-looking as to be easily forgettable. She was on the short side of average height with brown hair and eyes, and though she was slender, she didn’t have that almost inhumanly fantastic figure that you see so often when working with Hypers. At first I thought that she came off as mousey, but I had to immediately dismiss that as she gave me a bright and confident smile.
Aunt Karen looked tired, but she too smiled at me. There was relief in her tone as she said, “It’s good to see you awake Jessie, you and Chris had us worried. This is Gwen Munroe, she’s a former student and now a consultant and one of our school counsellors at AMPS.”
“Hello Dr. Munroe,” I offered uncertainly.
She laughed at that, though it was a friendly musical laugh. “Oh, I’m not a doctor, or a scientist, or even a Tinker if that’s what you were thinking. It’s nice to meet you Jessie, though I wish it were under better circumstances. You can call me Gwen if you like, or you can call me Sympath like everyone else does.”
“Sympath?” I asked in confusion.
Her response was a grin. “I’m a Hyper, like you are; In fact if I want I can be just like you. Karen told me what happened here and since you were both unconscious when you were found and you were injured as well, she asked me to come with her and help out. With me here, even if you weren’t conscious to respond we could find out if your mutation was causing a problem. I’m a Shifter and my power is an extremely focused metamorphic ability that lets me temporarily apply another mutant’s Archetype and powers to myself when I touch them. It also gives me a brief glimpse into the person’s thoughts and emotions and an intuitive sense of their abilities.”
I blinked in awe. “Wow, that’s pretty cool.”
“It sounds cooler than it is,” the other mutant replied with a shrug. “It’s fun at parties, but it only lasts about five to ten minutes so there’s not much practical use for it other than helping people figure out their mutations and powers and such. I used it on both of you when we took you out of stasis so Karen could run some tests and figure out what we could expect.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with Chris then?” The words spilled quickly from my mouth as I looked over to my unconscious best friend.
Sympath shivered slightly and gave Chris a sad look before turning to Aunt Karen, who sighed and nodded. “You might as well tell her.”
“Your friend is a Psychic, but his power is unlike anything I’ve ever sampled before,” she admitted with a sad look on her face. We’re calling it ultra-perception. Put simply, he is aware of all matter around him. It’s hard to be certain, but my guess would be his range extends somewhere between one to two kilometers in all directions, including up and down. He senses and can track every object, creature, stone, tree, building, drop of fluid, machines, and their individual components. Not a single speck of dust or grain of sand escapes his mind, he senses everything. I’ve only experienced it briefly, but it was enough to make me never want to again. I think when the full scope of his power hit him it was too much for his mind to take.”
“You… you can help him right?” I asked uncertainly with a teary glance over at Chris.
Aunt Karen nodded tiredly as she sat down and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I think so. I’ve seen similar cases before with powerful telepaths. I’m working on a device that will dampen his powers. I’m hoping that he’ll wake up if we bring his awareness back to normal human levels. If it works, then we can let him gradually get used to his ability by slowly weaning him off the device and until he doesn’t need it anymore.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned my attention back to Mom, Aunt Karen, and Gwen. If my aunt said she was working on something, then Chris was in good hands. When Aunt Karen puts her Tinker skills to work on a problem she usually solves it. “So uh… what did you discover about my mutation?” I asked as I contemplated my small green hand.
“It’s complicated,” my aunt responded after a moment of thought. “We’re classifying you as a Wildcard with Category four regenerative abilities because quite frankly you’re unique. Usually when H Chromosomes activate they incorporate the Archetype and powers into the existing DNA template, they just add a little here and there and replace what’s ‘not needed’ in small almost unnoticeable amounts. Your H Chromosomes have actually rewritten your DNA, I wasn’t even sure you were really you until I had a colleague in Toronto examine your H Chromosomes themselves and compare them to a sample from before your mutation kicked in. I believe it’s due to your mosaicism; it had to rewrite the information in all your cells to make it all consistent. It’s possible you regressed in age so your body could get rid of a large amount of mass and thus have to change less of you.”
It took several seconds before I could wrap my head around what she had said. “Wait, does this mean I’m cured?”
Aunt Karen sighed and looked away. That was not a good sign. Finally she said, “Of the mosaicism, yes. The genes in all of your cells are now consistent, but like I said earlier, you are unique.”
“Why do I not like the sound of that?” I muttered.
“Maybe we should take you to the lab and discuss it there,” my aunt offered before turning to Mom. “Mel, would you mind going into town? We’ll need some things for Jessie from the health food store. I’ll give you a porta-portal to take with you in case anything happens that you can’t handle.”
I was again struck by how much smaller I was now as Mom helped me out of bed and to the lab, everything seemed so big. They had put one of my old t-shirts on me when they took me out of stasis and the hem was down to my knees. At least I was covered, but I was really going to need some new clothes soon. Once Mom was sure I had gotten to the lab without collapsing or something she left on her errand and Aunt Karen guided me toward the spot where she had her computer and various scanners set up.
“I think we’d better start by letting you have a look at yourself,” my aunt said with a sigh. “It might answer some questions and help you think of any you would like to ask,” she clarified as she gestured to one of the large mirrors I recognized from one of the guest rooms.
My first reaction when she placed me in front of the mirror was a shriek. “OMG I am soooo cute!” Reflected in the glass was what appeared to be a seven year old girl with a cherubic face, lime green skin, big violet eyes, and dark green hair. The hair was unevenly lopped off just above the shoulders, but the flowers on both sides of the head, just in front of and above the ears, looked nice and made her already feminine face seem more so. The flowers were maybe two inches in diameter, ten petals the same light violet color as her eyes, and they seemed very familiar to me.
I stepped closer to the mirror for a better look. I really was green all over, I stuck out my tongue experimentally and that too was green. I wondered what colors would go best with my odd complexion and as I continued to ponder it while gazing in the mirror I thought that it was a shame my hair wasn’t longer. I jumped back in shock when it started growing before my eyes until it was down to my waist. I stepped right up to the mirror and that is when I saw the small pointed leaves in my thick hair. “What the…”
“That’s not hair Jessie, its vines. Your genetic structure isn’t really human anymore,” my aunt said with a sad look. “I can’t tell if you’re some sort of hybrid, or something else entirely; a good portion of your genes and physiology are similar to plants now, but you still retain human characteristics in those areas as well.”
“How similar to plants are we talking about?” I asked, seeing a frown reflected on my cute face.
Aunt Karen shrugged uncertainly. “Your new form possesses many properties similar to a variety of plants. I thought it might have been due to something in the greenhouse, but none of those plants were present there. I did a comparison between those flowers and the passionflowers that they resemble, but it appears to be only visual similarities, just like you appear human visually… for the most part. In actuality, the way that the nucleotides in your DNA are arranged is completely different from human or plant.”
I thought about what she said. Passionflowers were one of the plants I had been reading about before we left for Chris’ house. “Well at least whatever I am appears to be female,” I finally said with a smile as I looked in the mirror again. “I wonder what I’ll look like once I’m older again.”
“Gwen could you please show her?” Aunt Karen asked of the Shifter.
Sympath reached out to touch my hand and her form began to shift; she grew a few inches as her skin, hair, and eyes turned the same shade of my own. Soon she had a more typical figure for a Hyper as her waist contracted slightly, her hips became wider, and her chest grew by what looked like two cup sizes. Finally two flowers blossomed and it was like looking at an older version of me, and she was gorgeous. I gaped at her and she gave what sounded like a nervous laugh. “This is roughly what you should look like when you’re my age. It’s how we figured out that you regressed in age rather than just taking on a childlike appearance. My powers only copy an Archetype and powers not the age of the person.”
“This is awesome!” I squealed as I grinned at the pair. “I’m finally going to be like all the other girls, well the other unique Hyper girls, but you know what I mean.”
A pained look crossed my aunt’s face. “Jessie, there’s something we really need to talk about. Human and plants exhibit gender in completely different ways, you know that.”
“Yeah, so what are you driving at?” I asked, worried that I might not like the answer.
“By plant standards, you are definitively female, you only produce female flowers, we tested it each time Gwen used her ability on you. By human standards though… you appear female, and people will probably see you that way, but you don’t really have a gender.” She put her arms around me and wrapped me in a hug.
I pushed away and pointed at Sympath, shaking my head quickly as I tried to shut out what she was saying. “Look at her! How can you say that’s not female?!”
My aunt sighed, tugging absently at her white hair as she thought best how to explain it. “You lack any human primary and secondary sexual characteristics, with the possible exception of general body shape. The latter is likely only because your H Chromosomes generally provide an Archetype that gives you a form you will be comfortable with, or that finds ways to make you comfortable with the new form. You’ve always wanted to be seen as female so it’s provided that, but while you have the shape it is only a shape. You don’t have any of the normal human reproductive organs.”
“No… I…” I couldn’t get the words out, I didn’t want to believe it, so I did the only thing that made sense at the time, I ran. Normally when I was upset I would spend time in the greenhouse, but that just hit a little too close to home at the moment and with the basement in lock-down mode I wouldn’t have gotten that far anyway. Instead I ran for the bathroom and locked myself in. Aunt Karen usually knew her stuff, but she couldn’t be right about this, she just couldn’t.
I needed to know, to be certain. I turned on the light and began to lift the hem of my too-large shirt, but pulled it quickly back down again. I must have done that at least a dozen times before I finally worked up the nerve and in one swift motion pulled it up and over my head leaving myself naked. A look at my chest showed me nothing. I don’t mean that I didn’t see anything out of place, but rather that there was nothing but smooth lime green skin. I had no nipples, and an exploratory excursion down south with my tiny hand demonstrated a similar lack of female definition. No slit, no trace of anything I had had before, just an expanse of smooth skin between my legs, like the Barbie dolls Chris and I had played with when we were younger.
Sometime later I was crying as I sat against the bathroom door when there was a noise on the other side of the door as someone leaned against it and slid down toward the floor. Gwen’s calm voice spoke casually, “You know when people want to hide, the place they most often go to is a bathroom. It’s silly really. We usually hide because we want to be alone, but statistically speaking the bathroom is the room where we’re most likely to be disturbed. Even if it weren’t one of the first places people look, everyone needs to use the bathroom eventually.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I retorted as I looked sourly between my legs and wondered just how I would manage that particular task now.
“So you did look, I thought you would, I would have too,” the Shifter replied. “You’d have to have looked eventually so it was probably better sooner rather than later. Now you can work toward accepting this. Karen figures you’ve probably got a case of shoot the messenger syndrome right now so she’s working on the device for Chris to do something constructive while giving you some space.”
“So what are you doing here then,” I grumbled back at her.
Small rustling sounds came through the door and I thought maybe she was going to leave. Well good, I wanted to be alone didn’t I? Her voice sounded once again though as she made a dismissive sound. “I wouldn’t be much help to her with that; it’s what she does best and not really my forte. I figured I should do my thing instead so I decided to give you ten minutes and then see whether you needed help facing reality or coping with it. Congratulations, you saved us both a long talk and now we can get straight to how you cope with this.” She paused a moment before saying, “You know Jessie, I have a pretty good idea what you’re feeling right now.”
I rolled my eyes as I shot back bitterly, “What, because you looked like me for like five minutes?”
Gwen was still calm as she answered, “That’s part of it yes, but when I copy a template I get a sense of the person’s thoughts and feelings as well. The more I copy them, the more familiar with them I become and I must have copied you like twenty times once we got you out of stasis. That’s not the only reason though, you see I also know what it’s like for people to not see me as who I am on the inside, not just through you, but my own personal experience as well. When I copy an Archetype it usually is gender specific so I’ve copied my fair share of guys and spent time as them, but who I am inside never changes. Yeah it feels wrong to have people not see you for who you are, but that even happens to supposedly normal people. From that and what I’ve learned from you up until now, I have a pretty good idea that you feel cheated.”
“Whatever gives you that idea?” I snapped
“This was supposed to solve all your problems wasn’t it?” she prodded. “You could be seen as the girl you identify as and maybe feel normal for once. Now it looked like you got just what you wanted, but it turns out that you may look like a girl now but your real gender is even more confusing than before.”
“I…” I began to speak, but stopped uncertain what I should say.
She didn’t give me time to finish anyway. “There’s two things you need to realize Jessie. First, there is no normal, it’s a myth. Everyone is a different and unique person, even the regular humans who claim to be normal. And second, it doesn’t matter what you are, what matters most is who you are.”
I could understand the first point, everyone is different in some way or another, but the second point was of more concern to me and much more difficult to accept. “Aren’t they the same thing?”
“No, they’re not,” Gwen insisted through the door. “What we are can be easily defined by ourselves or others. There’s all these labels; male, female, human, Hyper, black, white, and so on. Those are outward things, things that other’s perceive and define you by. There is so much more to who we are than what’s on the outside though, most importantly what’s in your heart and your head. Nobody truly knows what’s in either of those but you, so that makes you the only person qualified to know who you are. “
“I guess you’re right,” I admitted morosely as I made a concentrated effort to stop crying. “Too bad other people don’t seem to see that though.”
“Most people tend to be so absorbed in their own wants and needs that they don’t take the effort to give anything or anyone else more than a cursory glance,” the Shifter agreed. “That’s why people we don’t know tend to treat us based on how we look, but if they don’t take the time to get to know the real you, then should how they see you, as they briefly pass through your life, really matter to you? The people whose opinions matter are those who look beyond the surface, who don’t care about your differences, who see you as a person first, and who know, or want to get to know, that person. My friends know about my ability and it doesn’t matter to them if I’m in my form, their form, or somebody else’s. They still see me and love me for who I am.”
I sighed as I thought about Chris, unconscious in that bed and the tears started again. What if he didn’t wake up? “Chris is the only friend like that I have…” I bit my lip as I tried to stop myself thinking along those lines and admitted, “You’re probably right, but this…” I trailed off as I looked down at my body again.
“Will take some getting used to,” she finished for me. “All Hypers go through an adjustment phase, it’s natural with such a big change, but you need to try to embrace the positives of your situation. You may have gotten what you wished for in a different way than you expected, but you still did get it. You’re technically female now, you look like it, and pretty much everyone will see you as such. You have some pretty cool abilities to go with that body too. Also,” she added, “things might not seem so bad once we get you to AMPS and all settled in Dorm Seven.”
I had to admit to myself that she was right, there were positives. Things could definitely be worse. Realistically I was no worse off gender-wise than I was before. At least now I looked like a girl. I sniffled and wiped at my teary eyes as the last part caught my attention and I asked tentatively, “What’s Dorm Seven?”
“Dorm Seven is where we keep the complicated students who require special needs or who have major adjustments to make. Unlike the other dorms Dorm Seven is coed, because each student gets a private dorm room. Each room is outfitted to cater to the occupant’s specific needs and a lot of the students there have mutations that make it hard for them to fit in. Some have it as bad if not worse than you, so you’ll be around others who have some idea what you’re going through. You might make some friends and see that things aren’t as bad as they seem right now.”
It was near lunchtime when Gwen finally managed to coax me out of the bathroom and back to the lab, and when we stepped into the room Aunt Karen was at a workbench using a soldering iron. She looked up at our approach, turned off the iron and gestured at the device she was working on. “The psionic inhibitor is nearly finished, how are you feeling Jessie?” She tried to play it casual but there was worry in her eyes when she looked at me.
I decided that the best way to reassure her that everything was okay was to hug her tightly. “I was pretty upset, but I’m a bit better now. Gwen is pretty good at helping put things in perspective; you should give her a raise.”
The blue-skinned Tinker hugged me back and kissed me on the forehead like she used to when I was little. “I’ll take that under advisement kiddo. Now come over to my computer so I can explain what we’ve learned about your body so far.”
What followed was a show and tell of all the various scans and photos they had taken of me and of Gwen when in my adult form. Some things appeared to be mostly human in design and purpose. My brain, nervous system and muscles were pretty much standard for a human with a few minor adaptations as were my heart and circulatory system, though my blood was a bluish-green color and thicker, somewhere between normal blood and tree sap. As for my skeletal structure, it looked perfectly human, but my bones were actually composed of a dense wood-like substance.
My digestive system was another matter entirely though. While I could eat and drink and have it all go down my throat to my stomach, after that human plumbing no longer applied. My stomach was actually similar to the digestive system of a venus flytrap. I got most of my energy through photosynthesis now and when I don’t need the energy it’s reserved for later use, but since I don’t have roots my digestive system was needed to supply vitamins, minerals, proteins and other things that my body needs and can’t get through sunlight. While I would need plenty of water and good sources of vitamins and minerals every day I wouldn’t need to eat as much or as often as other people. As for the waste, everything was broken down in my stomach acids, traveled along some sort of vein system and was excreted as a sweet smelling liquid through what Aunt Karen had originally thought were sweat glands.
As I was told earlier, I didn’t really have human reproductive organs anymore, but there was a mystery organ that vaguely resembled a set of ovaries if I squinted really hard. A biometric scan of the organ showed that it was producing massive amounts of chlorophyll for photosynthesis. Ironically a scan of the same organ while Gwen was in my form showed it producing a form of estrogen as well.
When Aunt Karen finally stopped telling me more about my insides than I really wanted to know she had Gwen tell me what she had learned about my abilities. The regenerative ability was pretty self-explanatory. My fingernails and toenails looked almost normal but Gwen said they were extremely hard and sharp, and as I had proven with Professor Panic they dig mercilessly and painfully into flesh and stay there. Aunt Karen said they were actually prickles, like those found on roses and some other plants. They also regenerated nearly instantly if they came off.
My hair vines were a bit thicker than normal human hair with a smattering of those tiny pointed leaves. They were surprisingly strong and durable and I could pretty much grow them any length I liked, and when Gwen had been experimenting she discovered that she had enough control over them to make them climb or crawl along surfaces, and wrap themselves around things. She was also able to make more flowers like those on my head sprout along the vines. This super growth was probably related to my regeneration and the energy I store from photosynthesis, or at least that was my aunt’s theory. Once they were separated from me though, the vines dried up and crumbled within a few hours, as they discovered with the samples they had taken when I was still unconscious Finally there were those pretty purple flowers, the pollen in those can be ejected and induce sleep if someone breathes in too much. Overall, my abilities seemed to be mostly defensive in nature, not that I minded. The way I see it, the best offense is a good defense, you could be the strongest person in the world and still get your ass handed to you if you have a glass jaw.
By the time I was as familiar with my new body as the pair could make me, Mom had returned with the things Aunt Karen had requested and lunch for five. We all returned to the room where Chris and I had been placed and while mom went to the bed Aunt Allie was in to wake her Aunt Karen guided me back to bed I had awoken in. “I want you here under the lamps for a bit while we eat and talk,” she explained, “I’m not sure yet how much light you require for everyday activities and the lighting in the lab isn’t very good.”
Suddenly I was wrapped up in a bone crushing hug. “You and Christine had us so scared,” Aunt Allie said as she pulled away. Her eyes drifted to Chris’ bed and Aunt Karen placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m almost finished the psionic inhibitor Allie,” the Tinker offered to try to reassure her. “Hopefully once it’s activated and his mind has come to terms with all that information he got hit with he’ll wake up.”
“Can a person’s mind really handle all of that?” she asked uncertainly. She was the only non-Hyper among us and, while she usually handled this stuff pretty well, she couldn’t really understand or accept a lot of it as easily as the rest of us. Even Hypers who aren’t Activated just try to accept that one day genetics will throw us a curve ball. We can either hit it and adapt or miss and keep swinging until we do hit what’s being thrown at us.
“Mine did,” Gwen reminded her as she and mom finished pulling enough chairs for everyone around my bed. “This kind of thing happens fairly often with the more powerful receptive Psychics. I’ve copied Psychics before so I was mentally prepared, but I passed out the first time my brain had to handle it too. He’ll wake up; he just needs time to process and sort out all the information.”
“How long…” she began to reply as Mom encouraged her to sit.
“That depends on him,” Aunt Karen replied from her own seat. “It could be minutes or it could be weeks. All we can do is wait and see. If he hasn’t woken by the time I take Jessie to AMPS we’ll move him to the hospital in Morristown. He’ll get the best possible care there and you can stay with me so you can be close to him.”
With another worried sidelong glance toward her former daughter and now son Aunt Allie nodded. With that decided we settled down to eat lunch and discuss other matters. I quickly devoured my roast chicken sandwich and downed four bottles of water and when I was finally satisfied Aunt Karen had me tell them exactly what had happened on Christmas from the time the Foul Four showed up until I lost consciousness. When I got to the part about him taking the pendant she had given me her brow furrowed and she cursed. “Shit. Now they have the lock and the key.”
“The asshole in the lab coat called it a key too,” I mumbled. I had no idea what either of them meant though.
I wasn’t alone, since Gwen looked just as confused as I was. “What lock and key?”
Aunt Karen looked pensive for a moment before she finally spoke. “This story begins thirteen years ago. You both would have both been too young to have remembered hearing it on the news, even if it hadn’t all been covered up. It was about a year after Makeshift, Mesmer, Edge, Sonic, and I founded the Sentries.”
Aunt Karen never really talked about her super hero days much so I leaned forward in sudden interest as her story continued. “It all occurred on Trane Island in Hudson’s Bay, where AMPS is now. Back then there was a naval base where the school is now and the small town of Trane where the officers lived with their families. We were monitoring emergency frequencies as part of our standard procedure when we happened upon the S.O.S in Morse code originating from the base.“
She shivered as she recalled something she clearly hadn’t wanted to. “When we got there, the base and the town were mostly destroyed and everyone in the base was dead, in some case their bodies were literally torn apart. Mesmer located a few people in town who had managed to find good hiding places, but most of the town’s inhabitants were dead as well. Almost two thousand people dead in a matter of hours. Then she found him, the most powerful threat that we have ever faced, before or since.”
“He called himself Aindreas,” she continued. “He claimed to be a Fomorian and told us he’d spare us if we served him. At first we figured he was the result of experimentation on a Hyper of just someone who had Activated and gotten delusions of grandeur. But I managed to find a DNA sample after the fight and it was so complex that we still can’t make heads or tails of it. He definitely isn’t human though. I did some research later and found out that Fomorians were the wild Gods that pre-dated the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish mythology. Basically they lived for death, destruction, and chaos.”
“You fought a God and won?” I asked in stunned disbelief.
She shook her head and there was a haunted look in her eyes. “I wouldn’t call it a win. We lost Mesmer that day, and even with the help of Paragon, who showed up in the middle of the fight, we couldn’t truly defeat him. He possessed strength and invulnerability like I had never seen before and he was shrugging off everything we threw at him. So we decided that if we couldn’t take him down we would have to somehow contain him.”
“I’m guessing that this is where the lock and key come in?” Gwen queried.
My aunt nodded slowly as she leaned forward in her chair. “I had begun working on some technology to warp space and reality and I used that to cobble together a pair of devices which, when connected, would create a portal to a self-contained pocket dimension that would serve as a prison. Once we got him inside, with Paragon’s help, I separated the lock and key to seal him in. After that we thought it would be best to keep the two separate. The key I moved from place to place and eventually gave it to Jessie as a pendant, hoping to hide it in plain sight. The lock was stored in the vault at the Sentries’ headquarters in Vancouver until two months ago when the Foul Four managed to get in and steal it.”
Well that explained why she came and upgraded the house’s security at the beginning of November. “So I just basically handed them what they need to release this guy? I’m sorry, if I knew how important it was I wouldn’t have worn it.” I felt so stupid.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Aunt Karen scolded me as she reached out to squeeze my hand. “That was the whole point of hiding it in plain sight, so nobody would know how important it was. It was just bad luck that he tried to take you hostage while you were wearing it. Besides, there’s still the fail-safe they’ll have to figure out so we have some time.”
“Of course you put in a fail-safe,” my mom put in with a chuckle, “you never leave things to chance do you?”
She nodded as she replied, “That’s why you’re all still relatively safe and sound. I wasn’t sure the security measures would be enough, that’s why I had Crash and Burn keeping an eye on things from a discreet distance, put the homing beacon in Aaron’s watch, and set it to go off if he used it to teleport that emergency ion gun. As for the fail-safe on the lock and key, I set it so that once they were separated they couldn’t be activated again and the portal opened except from a specific longitude, latitude and altitude and since I generated those coordinates randomly, not even I know where that is.”
“Why didn’t you just destroy them if he’s so dangerous,” Aunt Allie asked in confusion.
“Because if I did that the pocket dimension would slowly degrade and eventually he would get out,” my biological aunt explained. “Professor Panic might think of that, but I don’t think he’ll try it. If he knows what the lock and key are for then he wants to be there when Aindreas is released. It would be faster and he’ll ensure that’s the case if he just finds the proper coordinates. If he destroys them then he has no idea when or where Aindreas would be released. This should give us time to try to track them down and retrieve both pieces.”
“So…” I began uncertainly, “How did you end up having the school on the island were all that happened?”
“Not long after the navy finished the cleanup operation there the higher-ups decided it wasn’t worth the money they’d have to spend to rebuild the damaged parts of the base,” she explained with a shrug. “There were a lot of military cutbacks at the time and they were going to have to sell off some properties anyway so they decided to just get rid of it. Once I heard it was up for sale Aaron and I bought it through the company, ostensibly for some of our research labs. There really are labs there and they make a good cover for the government, but my goal was always the school. I wanted a remote place where young Hypers could feel safe and train their abilities. The incident with Aindreas taught me that there are threats out there that we aren’t prepared to handle, we need to ensure that there are people ready in case this happens again.”
An hour later Aunt Karen had finished the psionic inhibitor, it was sort of like a metal headband with little lights on it. I had intended to spend until dinner sitting on my bed watching with Aunt Allie for any sign that Chris might wake up, but around late afternoon Dad and Uncle Dan came into the room and nearly crushed the life out of me with relieved hugs. After a few minutes though Mom announced that since the lock-down didn’t seem necessary anymore she was going to go upstairs and get started on dinner. Dad took me by the hand and practically dragged me out of the room. Once we were at the lab he quickly explained, “I think we should let Allie and Dan watch over Chris on their own for a bit. I know you want to be there for him, and them. They know that too, but you being in there is a reminder that you’re awake and he’s not.”
I know it wasn’t his intention to make me feel bad, but I did feel bad and it was probably written all over my face. He picked me up and sat me on one of the work benches, giving me the stern father look he hadn’t used on me since I was ten. “No. Don’t you even let your thoughts go there. Pumpkin, we all know that if you had a choice in the matter it would be you in the bed and Chris awake and healthy. Let’s just give them some time and we’ll hang out in here with Gwen and Karen and you can tell me how you’re handling all of this.”
“I kinda freaked out a bit earlier when I found out about the gender stuff,” I admitted sheepishly. “Gwen’s really nice though, and she helped me through it. Some things are kind of weird, like being so small, but it could be worse…” I thought again of Chris lying in that bed.
“I said ‘don’t go there’ young lady,” he admonished me again. “You’ve been through enough without adding misplaced guilt to it all.” He picked me back up and actually carried me to the table where Gwen was nursing a coffee and my aunt was reading something on her tablet. It was a bit weird having him carry me like that, but it kind of made me feel safe and secure too. He placed me in a chair and asked, “Who’s up for a game of Monopoly while we wait for dinner?”
“That’s no fun, you always w…” I started to complain when I was distracted by the sound of Aunt Karen’s tablet falling to the table. She had a look of shock on her face and her blue skin had gone at least two shades paler.
“Whoa, what’s up boss?” Gwen asked in concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I just got some very disturbing lab results from Dr. Jennings at Morristown General,” she answered with a frown.
“Is it regarding whatever she called about earlier today?” Gwen was obviously curious, but didn’t want to press too hard.
Another frown painted her face as my aunt nodded. “You know Dan O’Brien right?”
“The good looking computer tech with the really nice ass?” She blushed slightly as she realized what she had just said and added sheepishly, “Yeah, I’ve seen him around. I was thinking of asking him out actually.”
Aunt Karen let out a sigh as she replied, “I doubt he’s your type now, unless you’re developed a taste for teenage girls with wings.”
The Shifter blinked in confusion before she managed to put two and two together. “He Activated? When did this happen?”
“Early this morning, he was trying to fix a problem with one of the PDEs and there was an accident,” she replied crisply.
A girl with wings? Now that sounded pretty cool, but it probably sucked royally if the person really was a guy before though. “I wonder what her powers would be,” I pondered out loud.
“Her powers are why I had Dr. Jennings run the genome tests,” my aunt responded with another frown. “She used several powerful spells in her sleep, while in a room specifically designed to prevent magic use. Dr. Jennings thinks she’s actually producing magic energy as part of her metabolism.”
If my dad’s jaw had dropped any further it would have hit the floor. He just stared for a moment before sputtering, “That isn’t…”
“Well it seems it is possible for her, which is why I requested the genome analysis,” she responded. Then she added barely audibly, “I’ve only ever seen one DNA sample that even comes close to being this complex.”
It was Gwen’s turn to stare now. “You don’t think Dan is... do you think she’s a threat?”
“Whatever Dan is now, she is no longer human, Hyper or otherwise. As for her being a threat, I don’t believe so. The Dan I know wouldn’t hurt a fly and Dr. Jennings has looked at his previous psychiatric reviews and noted no changes in her personality other than gender identity. She said that she is understandably upset and confused, but seems to be taking it well all things considered. I’m having her keep her at the hospital for now and told her not to reveal the results of those tests to anyone, especially Dan, she has enough to deal with right now.”
“So, what now? Do you need me to go to Morristown and help Dan through this?” Gwen asked.
“No, we’ll let Dr. Jennings take care of Dan for now,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I refuse to believe that it’s a coincidence that this happened, at my school of all places, less than two full days after the Foul Four get the key to release Aindreas. I need you here to keep an eye on things and help Jessie start practicing with her powers. I have to go to Toronto and talk to Eugene and Mervin. I want Eugene’s input on Dan’s test results and we need someone at the school to properly train Dan and the other Mystics to use magic. After that I’II have to go to Morristown to make preparations for Dan, Chris and Jessie to attend and stay in Dorm Seven. Then I’ll go visit Dan in the hospital and make her an offer she can’t refuse.”
Even the void was no safe haven from the constant assault of information. I was aware of it all, at least on some level, even in my unconscious state. Not just of every little thing around me, but also where they were relative to me, whether they were moving or stationary, and, if they were moving, in which direction and how fast. I even found myself plotting possible trajectories based on this information. There was just too much though and it was all so distracting that I wasn’t sure what I should devote the most attention to.
So of course I was aware of Jessie’s Activation and her confrontation with the two villains, or at least a part of me was. I was also aware of the outcome of that confrontation, the loss of her arm, and the fact that it had nearly instantly started healing. Our parents arriving with Crash and Burn and putting us into stasis of course halted that healing, until they took us out. The unknown Hyper copying my powers almost garnered enough attention to wake me up, but I was trying to start to filter out the unimportant things. Dust motes for instance were particularly annoying. Such tiny things plodding around, settling to the ground or on an object only to be disturbed and be carried away again, there were so damn many of them too.
My parent’s, Uncle Aaron, and Aunt Melanie kept constant vigil over us, until Dad and Uncle Aaron left and eventually were out of my sphere of awareness. From the direction they had been travelling in though, toward Morris Tower, I assumed they had things at work they couldn’t avoid. Not long after that Jessie awoke and while I was vaguely aware of all the events that followed from a mental standpoint it was kind of like watching a silent movie without the speech text displayed. I was aware of all the people playing their parts, but I couldn’t actually hear what they were saying and my attention was still mostly on trying to filter out the things that wouldn’t really affect me: worms and bugs beneath us, other bugs and birds In the sky… there was just so much of it all, and each time a new object came into my sphere I became aware of that too.
Then, as Jessie’s aunt placed something on my head, it was all gone. There was suddenly nothing but darkness. I had gotten so into the pattern of trying to sort out all that information that, with it gone, I suddenly wasn’t sure what to do with myself in the emptiness of my mind and spent several minutes trying to figure that out. “Oh, this is interesting,” spoke a voice from the darkness, a voice I didn’t recognize. “They’ve canceled out your Awareness. This probably isn’t quite the effect they were going for, but it should help speed things along nonetheless.”
“Where are we? And who, or what, are you?” I demanded, looking around, trying to find the voice in the darkness.
“We are in the deepest recesses of your mind. We can get into what I am later, right now there is something far more important that you need to deal with,” the voice said in a gentle tone. I decided that the voice was definitely female.
“I was doing something important,” I replied acidly. “I was trying to get used to all this and filter out things I don’t need to be aware of.”
“And that was an excellent use of your time,” she agreed, “you’re adapting quite well actually. The problem is that all this time you’ve been trying to filter out the unimportant things; you’ve been refusing to see the most important thing. And now that you don’t have that distraction as an excuse you’re hiding here. That is the reason you’re in here with me instead of awake.”
I rolled my eyes in disdain. “And I suppose you’re going to tell me what this most important thing is?”
“No I’m not,” the voice told me in a sad tone. “There are some things it’s best for us to discover on our own.”
“Look, if you’re going to pull this psychology shit on me, then I’m going to just wake myself up now,” I snapped.
“I just told you that you can’t wake up. Not until you let yourself become aware of that one important thing. The truth you so badly do not want to face that you’re hiding from it by immersing yourself in dust specks, bugs, and the darkest shadows of your mind.”
“So if you’re not going to tell me what it is, and I’m not aware of it, how the hell am I supposed to become aware of it?!” Truth my ass, she was obviously just screwing with me.
“I won’t tell you, but I will try to lead you to it,” she offered. “You just need to be willing to see the truth. This is your mind; if you weren’t intent on hiding you’d be just as aware of everything in here as you are everything out there, but I don’t want you focusing on any of that. Calm yourself, just concentrate on my voice, and follow it to the truth.”
Since I was stuck there with her and had nothing else to do I decided to play along. If she was right this would work, if she wasn’t I would get to say ‘I told you so’… to the voice in my head. Damn, I thought, maybe I really do need professional help. I forced myself to calm down and focused all my attention on the voice.
“That’s right, it’s only you and me,” the voice encouraged as I followed the sound “and I’m over here. You’re getting closer. Yes, I’m right in front of you. Now take my hand and see the truth.” I hesitated. If she was right, this was something I really didn’t want to see, probably for good reason. “Take. My. Hand.” The steel in that voice made me reach out, and then I was hit with the truth.
“I’m… a guy,” I could barely get the words out.
I felt a pair of arms wrap gently around me as the voice spoke again softly. “I’m sorry Chris. You needed to face this, you needed to know and accept it in here before you could face the reality out there. If I could have spared you this I would have. Would you like to wake up now?”
I shook my head, “Ummm… not quite yet. I need some time to process this. You… uhhh… said we could talk about what you are after I faced the truth. Could we do that now? Given what I just found out, I’d really like know if I’ve lost my mind. No offence, but voices in one’s head usually isn’t a good sign.”
The voice giggled. “No offense taken, and no you’re not crazy. Gwen, the Hyper who copied your power and Archetype earlier, is called Sympath. Each time she copies a person she knows a bit more about them and that’s because the first time she uses her power on a person she leaves a faint echo of her own mind in the mind of that person. These echoes learn about the person by seeing and sensing everything they do and relay what they’ve learned the next time Sympath copies the person. She sort of literally gets in the person’s head. I’m one of those echoes. Gwen doesn’t even know we exist and you probably wouldn’t either if her inherent compassion wasn’t part of me. It was that which prompted me to act.”
“So this Sympath leaves little independent versions of herself in other people’s heads without realizing it and that’s why you’re here?” I asked, to clarify it.
The young woman’s voice answered, “Well we’re not really independent versions of her. Like I said, we’re just echoes. Our only task is to learn about the person we’re connected to, we’re not really capable of independent thought or action.”
“Wait a minute,” I pointed out in confusion. “If you’re not capable of independent thought and action, how could you choose to help me?”
“I’ve been wondering about that myself,” the echo admitted. “I have a theory about it though. When they cancelled out your awareness you were lost and needing help. I was supposed to learn and see everything you do to learn about you, so I learned that you were lost and needing help. With nobody but us here, you wouldn’t get help, since you didn’t know about me. Knowing you needed help I made you see me and you made me see myself. I’ve become self-aware and it’s made me much more than what originally was.”
“So what are you now, then?” I wondered.
“I guess I’m a sort of symbiotic sentience. My mind is independent from yours but I experience everything you do. Don’t worry though, I’m not a stowaway, I’ll try to earn my keep.”
“Uh-huh,” I replied dubiously, “and just how are you going to do that?”
“Think about it for a minute,” she encouraged. “Two independent minds can figure out problems faster than one. I can offer advice, we can compare ideas, and with us both monitoring your awareness we can divide our attention on two different things at once.”
Since I was probably stuck with her anyway, and she seemed to want to help, I agreed. “Okay, you’re hired. So what should I call you? Gwen? Echo?”
“No thanks,” she replied disdainfully, “I’d rather try to forget what I was. I’m not an echo anymore and I never really was Gwen, though she is part of me. We both need to move past what we were and focus on what we are. Call me Whisper.”
“Okay, Whisper it is,” I agreed. I paused a moment before bringing up what I thought might be a sensitive subject. “Umm… I don’t really plan on telling anyone, except maybe Jessie about you since they might get the wrong idea. Should we be telling Sympath about this though?”
“No,” she said with seemingly no uncertainty whatsoever. “If Gwen knew about this part of her powers she would feel really bad about it, she might stop using them altogether. The echoes are harmless anyway, and they help Gwen to better understand and help other Hypers.”
“I won’t tell her then. Will we still be able to communicate once I’m awake?” I inquired.
“I don’t see why not, now that you’re aware of me. So wake up already,” she prodded me with a laugh. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
“Thanks Whisper, you’ve been great,” I told her. I needed to get it out now, just in case she was wrong.
I opened my eyes and took a quick look around the room. Mom and Dad were the only ones present and they both looked tired and worried as they talked in hushed tones while seated in chairs at the foot of my bed. Mom was the first to notice. “Chris!?!” She practically flew across the bed to smother me in a hug, an impressive feat for someone with no H Chromosomes. She just held me for what must have been ten minutes. “We were so worried about you honey.” Then she suddenly backed off looking sad and uncertain as she tentatively tried to break the news to me. ”Chris, there’s something you should know, you…”
“I know Mom,” I quickly interrupted her. “I figured it out; I just needed to face it.”
Now that Mom had let go I was able to sit up, only to have my Dad envelope me in one of his big man-hugs. “Are you going to be okay with this?” he asked in concern.
“Right now, I’m not sure,” I replied honestly as he let go and I could breathe again. “I’m going to try my best to get used to it though. I don’t know anything about being a dude so I’ll need to learn a lot of things, but I have a pretty awesome Dad that can probably help me with that. How’s Jessie holding up?”
*Dude? Really, who uses that word anymore?* Whisper’s voice teased.
*I’m bringing it back,* I retorted, smiling in relief.
“Jessie Activated too and her changes were pretty severe,” my mom cautioned me and I didn’t have the heart to tell he I already knew that too. “She’s been worried about you and if I know Jessie she’s probably blaming herself, so I think seeing you awake will help a lot. She’s doing surprisingly well though aside from that.” She kissed me on the forehead and took my dad by the hand. Let’s go let the others know Chris is awake so Karen can look him over.”
They left the room and less than a minute later the door was thrown open again. Jessie ran inside and across the room to hurl herself onto my bed and into my arms. She buried her head into my chest and I could feel warm tears on her cheeks. “Don’t you ever worry me like that again you jerk. I thought I was going to lose you.”
I hugged her back tightly. “I had some very good reasons to wake up. You’re my best friend Jess, my sister. Who’d look out for you if I wasn’t around?”
She pulled away, frowning. “Don’t you pull this big sister/brother shit with me. I may not look it, but mentally we’re still the same age. And best friends look out for each other. I know I haven’t really been doing my share of that much lately, but like a lot of things in our lives that’s going to change.” She was trying to give me this stern chastising look and it just looked so out of place on that sweet little childlike face that I burst out laughing. She waited until it had downgraded to merely chortling before she rolled her eyes and asked, “Are you finished?”
“Yeah I think so, thanks Jess I needed a good laugh.” I knew she had been trying to get that reaction from me, but I also knew she was serious about what she said. “Okay, you’re right, things are going to change and from now on we look out for one another.”
*And I’ll look out for both of you,* Whisper promised.
*Thanks Whisper, you’re okay, for a stowaway,* I teased, though I really was grateful, but then she’d know that. I grinned at Jessie and said, “Though once I get used to being a dude, I’m totally going to pull the big brother shit, as often as I can get away with it, your future boyfriends are going to get so much grief.”
Whisper giggled in my mind, *Dude, stop saying dude.*
*I told you, I’m bringing it back,* I told her, still grinning.
Once I had been given the seal of approval by Jessie’s aunt and she had extracted all the IVs and other stuff connected to me, she handed me a pair of shorts and lavender bathrobe that I thought might belong to Jessie. Then she sent me to freshen up while she and the others went to the dining room for dinner. The clothes actually fit okay because I was roughly the same height Jessie had been. I was also a pretty good looking guy, not like a model or anything, but with my long black hair, brown eyes and nice complexion I thought I was kind of cute, kind of like an athletic male version of my old self.
Relieving myself as a guy fir the first time was… not exactly the greatest moment of my life. It felt weird and gross handling that new equipment. I was glad when it was over and I could wash my hands. I shuddered as I made my way to the dining room, *That was disgusting, how do guys manage these things anyway? That swinging and bobbing while I’m walking is so distracting.*
*Don’t ask me, I don’t have a clue either,* Whisper replied. *I guess that’s what briefs are for. Let’s hope you can get used it in time. It’s bad enough experiencing it second hand, but knowing you’re not handling it well makes it even worse.*
*Don’t feel bad Whisper,* I quickly said to try and reassure her. *I’m not going to give up after just one thing. I said I would try to learn to live with this and I will. It just may take some time like you said. Now I had better put my game face on for dinner.*
When Chris came to dinner he was smiling, but I was pretty sure he was just trying not to worry us. I figured that once we had time and a bit of privacy we would have a serious talk about the changes we were going through and how we could support each other. Our parents were all smiles. I think they were just happy that we were both conscious. They knew that we’d have to get used to things, but for now we were all healthy and together and that was what mattered.
After dinner Chris and I went to my bedroom to find some clothes that would fit him decently and we found some sweatpants and a few gender neutral t-shirts that should do the trick until we could get more. Clothes for me would have to wait until we could go shopping, but Mom had promised to go try to find something roughly my size the next day so that we could get more as soon as possible. Mostly we used that time to talk though; about our situations, how we were feeling about the change, and what we could do to help each other adjust quicker.
I also used that time to update Chris on everything he had missed while he was unconscious and what Aunt Karen had told us earlier. He in turn told me about how he had known he was male pretty much as soon as his awareness had kicked in and it was that that had caused him to not wake up sooner. When Aunt Karen had put the psionic inhibitor on him he had actually retreated further into his mind, until he had some help. I was a little worried about him once he started telling me about the voice in his head, but since he claimed she helped him to wake up I decided to withhold judgment until he finished his story.
Finally I just shook my head unsure whether to believe all of it. “So you’re telling me that Gwen leaves these little data-mining drones based on her own mind in our heads when she first uses her powers on us and the one in your head somehow became sentient?” I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was about that, but it did explain the seemingly more telepathic/empathic aspects of her powers, and Gwen had only so far ever used her powers to help others, in fact she seemed driven to do so. Finally when he nodded nervously I just shrugged it off. Chris wouldn’t kid me about something like this after what we’d both been through. “So what do I call this echo? You said she senses everything you do right?”
Chris stared at me blinking. “Wait, you believe me? Just like that?”
I tossed another shirt at him as I replied candidly, “Of course I do, you’re my best friend and it does explain some things. Besides, it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard, hell it’s not even the weirdest thing I’ve heard today. I wouldn’t mention it to anyone else though,” I cautioned him.
“Her name is Whisper,” he told me, breathing a sigh of relief, “and yeah anything I sense, she does too. She says hello, and agrees with you by the way. Not only would most people not believe me and probably lock me up, but its better Gwen doesn’t know about this.”
Aunt Karen used one of her porta-portals the next morning to leave for Toronto and take care of all the things she needed to get done, leaving Gwen to watch over us all. For the next four days whenever I wasn’t in my room sunbathing or trying on all the clothes Mom was buying me since getting my new measurements, I was hanging out downstairs with Gwen, and sometimes Chris, trying to develop to my powers. Mom had really wanted to take me shopping with her, but we decided that wasn’t the best idea for two reasons. First, we had no way to disguise me in pubic yet, and little green girls tend to get attention and secondly, Ottawa was currently experiencing a cold snap and we had discovered that I don’t really do well in extreme cold.
Chris spent his days either with us, or shopping with his mom for guy clothes. He was also trying to wean himself off the psionic inhibitor and get both himself and Whisper used to sorting through and prioritizing all the information in his sphere of awareness. During breaks, Gwen would tell us about what we could expect at AMPs and Dorm Seven and a bit about Morristown as well. During the evenings though, we both spent a lot of time with our respective parents while Gwen took some time for herself. I think we both wanted to spend as much time as possible with them before being sent to AMPS and Chris was getting lessons from his dad on ‘being a dude’.
Aunt Karen got back in the late afternoon on January second and updated us at dinner. From the sounds of it her trip had been largely successful. While in Toronto she had spoken with not only Mervin and Eugene, but with a sorceress called Cantrip who would be coming to Morristown with her family to teach at the school. She had a daughter who had recently Activated as well so she would be attending AMPS too. At least Chris and I weren’t going to be the only new students there.
While in Morristown she had made all the arrangements for the three of us, and ‘Dana’ ,the winged girl, to attend the school and prepared dorm rooms customized for each of our individual needs. Dana had accepted her offer, so it looked like there would be at least four students new to the school. She had also purchased all the supplies that Chris and I would need and placed them in our respective dorm rooms, so all we would need to pack would be our clothes and any personal items we wanted to bring.
After dinner she brought us all downstairs to her lab. “Since I was at the school anyway I decided to use the facilities there to make Jessie and Chris a late Christmas present.” She handed us each a large carefully wrapped package and after a moment of me staring at it she encouraged, “You first Jessie.”
“Thank God the box is too big for it to be a pendant,” I half-joked as I tore open the wrapping. Inside was a bundle of cloth in shades of green. There was actually several items and the first was some sort of plain body suit in the same shade of green as my skin.
“I specifically designed that body suit for you to use during the winter,” she explained as I looked it over. It was meant to cover my whole body, even my hands and feet. “It’s a self-repairing nanite body sheath that I designed to allow sunlight to get through to your skin as well as act as a thermal suit to keep you warm in extreme cold. It matches your skin tone so you can even wear it under everyday clothes without people noticing. Just run your fingertip along the fabric to create an opening to put it on. The opening will seal up automatically after two minutes.”
I practically jumped up and down in delight. “Thanks Aunt Karen! I was worried about moving to the school in the middle of winter; Gwen told me that Morristown gets pretty cold this time of year. What’s the rest of this though?”
“Well, I got a bit carried away when I was creating that,” my aunt explained with a chuckle. “The rest of it is made of a similar material, but without the thermal feature so you can wear it by itself during the summer or over the body sheath in the winter.” The other items were mostly made of a darker green material with a leaf pattern. There was a pair of form fitting knee high boots, elbow length gloves, a one-piece bathing suit type garment with a belt of violet flowers that looked similar to my own, and a knee-length skirt made of panels that resembled large leaves.
“OMG! This is a costume isn’t it?!” I squealed “I’m gonna be a super hero!”
“Maybe someday,” my Mom cautioned. “But right now you’re just going to school to train for it. A lot of the kids at AMPS use costumes and code names, and Karen thought it might boost your confidence a bit if you could too.
I was still giggling and clutching my new bodysuit when Chris opened his gift. His was a costume too, except his covered is whole body, even his entire head and face, apparently to protect his identity and stuff since he wasn’t an obvious mutant like me. It was mostly dark red with the boots, gloves, a strip running down the center, and the insides of the legs being black. The full face mask was really interesting. There was sort of a black cross shape with each point ending in an arrow that went down the center of his face from the top of his head to his chin and across his eyes, which were shielded by red tinted lenses. I figured that the fabric must be meant to breathe through, because there was not even a hole for the mouth. The whole thing would actually make him look pretty intimidating.
“The material is similar to what I used on Jessie’s costume,” Aunt Karen explained, “and there’s a thermal body sheath you can wear underneath as well if you need to be in really cold temperatures. I tried to make yours as impact and bullet resistant as I could, since you don’t possess Jessie’s regeneration, and I’ll give you some weapon or utility belts once we figure out what other aptitudes you may have. Have the two of you considered what you’d like to call yourselves?”
“I was thinking of Pinpoint actually,” Chris replied with a shrug, “How about you Jess?”
I hadn’t really thought about it, and for a moment I just sat there confused. “I don’t know. I’ve been so busy trying to get used to my new body and powers that I hadn’t thought beyond that. Do you have any suggestions?”
“How about Flower Child?” Chris offered with a smirk.
“Haha, very funny” I retorted with a roll of my eyes. “Do you have any good suggestions?”
“Growth?” Aunt Allie asked.
“Hell no, that makes me sound like a tumor or something.” I said, wrinkling my nose and sticking out my tongue in disgust. Other suggestions were made: Hybrid, Ivy, Bloom, and Perennial, but I didn’t really like any of them, I didn’t think they really suited my new feminine form, though Ivy came close. Finally my Mom suggested Flora. It was feminine, suited me, and yet it wouldn’t really give too much away about my power set. “I think I like that one Mom, I’m gonna go with that.”
Three days later it was Sunday and we had arrived in Morristown to start school the next day. Our bags had already been sent to the school and Aunt Karen and Gwen had given us a quick tour of the town. I didn’t get half the strange looks I thought I was going to. I think most of those were only because I was new in town and looked so young for an Activated Hyper. I’d even seen other mutants with strange appearances walking around and people just kept going about their business. Now it was the moment of truth and we were crossing through those big wrought iron gates to our new school, our new home.
Just inside the gates the walkway split in two to form a large circle that divided outward in branches that led to the dorms and school buildings. The inside of that circle looked like sort of a park, even with all the snow on the ground. There were some picnic tables and park benches to relax and study at and at the very center was a large stone statue of a woman with long hair wearing a costume. Instead of leading us to one of the buildings as I had expected she led us to the statue.
She stood silently for a moment before saying, “The students call this area of the school Mesmer Park, the statue is of her. When we built the school we named it after your father for legal reasons and so the scholarships and other ‘donations’ Morris Enterprises makes to the school wouldn’t draw suspicion. Your dad though insisted we have this statue built at the entrance, Erica was like a sister to both of us.” I looked at the statue and wondered what the woman was like. I noticed a bronze plaque at the base of the statue and leaned forward to read it.
In loving Memory of Mesmer
Erica Jane Dafoe
June 14th, 1978 - April 3rd, 2001
Do not mourn me when I am fallen,
For I now embrace the light.
I always knew death might come calling,
But still I chose to fight.
You are my sisters and my brothers,
I want you to laugh and love and live.
If my death ensures that for you and others,
Then it's a gift I gladly give.
So I hope that you can move on,
And take the time to savor.
Each laugh, each tear, each dusk and dawn,
I just ask one small favor.
Please keep me in your memory,
As long as you draw breath.
And as long as you remember me,
I'll still live on in death.
We stood there for several minutes, each of us looking at the statue and lost in thought. The words were beautiful to me, painful, but more than that, filled with truth. Chris and I both felt pain and loss when we realized how we had changed, but pain and loss are part of life and we grow from them. We need to remember what we’ve lost, the pain we’ve been through, but also look at what was gained, to move on with our lives and not let it rule us. I was different now, in bad and good ways, and I still might not have been sure exactly what I am, but knowing who I am was far more important. Besides, I finally knew what I was going to be when I grow up. I’m going to be a superhero.
![]() |
Chapter 1 Changes Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
The timer on the bomb continued to tick downward. 8…7…
The timer on the bomb continued to tick downward. 8…7… I wasted no more time, quickly dashing to the closest of the steel doors, opening it and slamming it behind me in the hopes that it would shield me from the blast. Even if I had opened the doors to those cells immediately, the hostages had all been drugged into a stupor, so they were doomed to die alongside me. In my final seconds I thought of those poor girls laying helpless in these cells, they were all just kids, maybe thirteen years old average. That was when the bomb went off and the heat washed over me.
Okay, maybe I should hit rewind for a bit, after all that brief instant is when my life started flashing before my eyes. Before the bomb my name was Maddock Ainsley. I grew up in Tacoma Washington and was the second child of Scottish immigrants; my father was a surgeon and my mother stayed at home raising me and my older sister Blair. Mom was also a Hyper, or a mutant as a lot of people seem to call us. She wasn’t really powerful, but she could create realistic images from light and energy, they even felt solid. Let me tell you, we had some interesting playmates and bedtime stories while growing up.
Blair came into her powers when she was fourteen and I was twelve, she became super smart and was classified as a Tinker; she could build just about anything that her brilliant mind could think up. I never got any powers, my H Chromosomes were never “Activated” as the lingo goes. I didn’t really care much since mutants seem to get a lot of negative attention in general. My sister graduated high school at sixteen and went about getting doctorates in medicine, engineering, biotech, physics and a few other things that I couldn’t pronounce, much less identify. I finished high school more normally and enlisted in the army after graduating, hoping to learn some new skills and do something worthwhile.
Twelve years later I was still in the military, though now I held the rank of Captain and had been moved to an anti-terrorism unit that dealt with threats on American soil. And that was around when the shit hit the fan. Roughly three hours before the bomb went off my unit had landed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, ready and waiting for some action. As we headed toward our mission briefing I wondered whether I would have the time to visit my sister and her fiancé while I was in L.A. I had only met Andy a few times so far, and I hadn’t seen him or Blair since the funeral last year. That hadn’t exactly been a great visit for either me or Blair though, since we were both still reeling from losing both our parents in the plane crash.
The briefing had started almost as soon as we had gotten to the briefing room and only included the six people from my unit, a second group of six from a similar unit, and a government spook. The latter wore a dark grey suit with dark sunglasses hanging from his coat pocket and he was so absolutely average looking that his averageness itself was astounding. He was Caucasian; not too pale, but not darkly tanned, he looked to be six foot nothing with a build that was neither overly muscular nor stickman, and he had brown eyes and short light brown hair, parted to the side. Of course he had introduced himself as Agent John Smith from the Hyper Affairs Agency.
According to Agent Smith there was a mutant extremist group operating in the Los Angeles area calling themselves Omega. Currently they were holding hostages, children who had been taken from orphanages across the state, seemingly at random. Through a mole within the organization, the Hyper Affairs Agency had gathered enough information to discover that one of the mutants in Omega had positively identified these children as having dormant H Chromosomes and taken them. Those children were now being held in two separate complexes, one in Santa Monica and the other in Pasadena.
Once he had finished giving us the bare bones background, Smith frowned and told us why we were there. “The word from our informant is that those children are due to be moved to a larger and more secure complex sometime within the next twelve hours. The mutants guarding those complexes aren’t heavy hitters and there’s less than a dozen in each complex, which is why they’re being moved to a larger more secure facility. We need to infiltrate both compounds, put down any opposition and rescue those children before they’re moved, while Omega’s resources are still spread thin.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” one of the members of the other unit said with a shrug. “As long as there aren’t any Regens or Enhanced we should be able to take them out no problem, I’m guessing one unit per compound?”
Agent Smith nodded. “Yes, the plan is to hit both compounds simultaneously. I have to warn you though, that there may be a weapon in play as well. Our informant within Omega has also informed us that they recently stole the prototype and blueprints for a bomb. She isn’t certain about the particulars of the device itself, but it would seem that both were stolen from a now defunct anti-mutant group known as Humanity Now. They developed the device, but decided that it was too dangerous to be used.”
Lt. Tabitha Roper, or Reaper as she was known in our unit, stared at Agent Smith bug-eyed before blurting out, “Too dangerous for Humanity Now?! Before they were wiped out wholesale those guys were fanatical lunatics, they were almost as bad as The Right Hand. What kind of weapon could be too dangerous for them to consider using?”
“I’m afraid that I don’t have those details, and all records of the device in Humanity Now’s database were completely destroyed,” the spook stated with a frown. “Frankly, you’ll just have to be prepared for anything and remain cautious.”
It was dark when we arrived at the compound in Santa Monica. It was a large fenced solitary home near the Pacific Palisades, certainly not something that anyone on a soldier’s salary could ever afford. Once Tabitha had found a good position for sniping and covering fire Colonel Atkins called her on the radio. “Do you have eyes on the compound Reaper?”
“Affirmative Grizzly, we’re looking at a large three story affair. I see three patrolling the perimeter, one in the third floor balcony, one guarding the main door and another by what looks like some sort of cellar door on the south wall. I’ll have to take out the one in the balcony first followed by the one at the entrance, they’ll see you coming otherwise.”
As we crouched by the eight foot stone fence that surrounded the home Grizzly laid out the game plan. “Reaper, once we’re over the wall take out the one on the balcony, then the door guard. After that take down any other available targets and be prepared to give cover fire if needed. We’ll approach as quickly and quietly as possible and once inside Hammer and I will check the top floors. Tank and Spitfire, you’ve got the main floor.” He turned to each of them as he said their call sign and assignment and finally it was my turn. “Mad Mac I want you to check out that cellar. We go in, look for any traces of the hostages or that weapon, and take out any resistance. Wait until the all clear before you move any of those hostages, I don’t want them killed in a crossfire. Let’s do this!”
With that we made our way swiftly over the wall and I had barely hit the ground on the other side when I heard Reaper in my earpiece. “Target one down… Target two down. Careful boys you have a patroller incoming from your left. I don’t have a clear shot on him from this angle.”
I looked toward my left and saw the target. He was stick figure thin and in the darkness his eyes glowed with an eerie green light. He was twenty feet away and closing on the bushes we were hiding in. “Aye, I got ‘im,” I said, throwing my combat knife and catching the approaching man in the throat. He let out a brief gasp of surprise, followed by a sickening gurgle before falling to the ground, shuddering and choking, and finally laying still.
I retrieved my knife, wiping it clean on the man’s clothes before putting it back in its sheath, and then I made my way to the south wall as the others headed for the main entrance. Halfway there I heard Reaper again. “The cellar guard is down, your way is clear Mac. The second patroller is down too Grizzly, there’s one more but he’s on the far side of the house heading north, I’ll take him down when he reappears.”
“Affirmative, thanks Reaper,” Grizzly and I spoke almost in unison.
I hit the south wall and turned the corner to see the crumpled form of the guard twenty feet ahead. I stepped gingerly past him and made for the large wooden cellar door. It was heavy, but I was a pretty strong guy so I managed it without too much trouble. I was just heading down the stairs when Reaper said, “Shit! We’ve got a teleporter and she’s moving fast.”
“What’s she up to Rea… huuuuurk…” Grizzly stuttered the last and then went silent.
“You boys need to get out of there, she’s teleporting her people out, we’re compromised,” Reaper half growled in my earpiece.
“Fuck that! She just killed Grizzly! I’m taking that bitch dow… aaaarrrghhh!”
“Tank!” Spitfire shouted, “Oh God she just tore him in half!”
I was torn, uncertain what to do as I heard Spitfire and Hammer scream out next. It was far too quiet and my heart was beating a mile a minute in my chest as I stood there in that dark damp stairwell. I could see a hallway ahead of me as I skulked in the shadows, concrete walls and floors with a series of thick steel doors to either side, and in the center of the hall there was a large silver device. I heard a sniffing sound behind me and a woman’s voice suddenly spoke. “Hi there, I’m Phantom. My, aren’t you a big strapping man? And one of us too, or rather you would be if you were Activated. It will be interesting to see how you turn out, if you live.”
I had been slowly reaching for my knife, but before I could put my hand on the hilt it vanished in a puff of smoke, followed quickly by my assault rifle and sidearm. Unarmed as I was I threw my elbow back toward her with all the force I could muster. There was nothing there, she vanished before the impact, reappearing before me from a cloud of black smoke. She was tall and slender, clad in a black dress and cloak, and both her hair and skin were white as a sheet. She had a cruel smile on her face, a face dominated by glowing red eyes. I punched her, but my hand just flew through a cloud of black smoke and she was gone.
Her voice sounded from behind me again as a cold finger traced along my jawline. “Well I’d love to stay and play, but that thing is going to go off any minute and I don’t want to be here when it does. I tell you what though big boy, if you manage to survive we’ll play again sometime. Enjoy your rebirth. Oh, and try not to die.” Then she was gone.
I nearly collapsed to the floor, gasping for air and my heart pounding in my chest. I forced myself to stand up, taking a quick look around before checking out the device in the middle of the concrete hallway. It was counting downward, with less than three minutes on the clock. “Reaper if yer still there, ya need ta bail. I found some sorta bomb. There’s less than two minutes thirty afore she blows.”
“Get the hell out of there!” she shouted back into my ear.
I was already checking out the steel doors in the hallway, there were six on each side. The doors each had a small window and beyond those doors were small dank and dirty concrete cells, without even any beds, the only furniture was a bucket in the corner. The occupants were all female, most of the rooms playing host to two girls, while a couple only had one. I wanted to take them with me and get out fast, but they all seemed to be heavily drugged, hardly aware of what was going on around them, so getting them up and running wasn’t going to be an option.
Maybe I could disarm the bomb? I hurried back to the device, but it seemed that I had taken too long checking the cells. 10… 9… and now we’re back to where we started. This flashback has been brought to you by “Omigod we’re all gonna die!”, and we will now return you to the death of Maddock Ainsley, already in progress.
As the heat washed over me I had barely enough time to realize that this was one of the single occupant rooms. The girl looked about the average age for the group of girls that ranged from six or seven all the way up to near adult. She was only a tiny slip of a thing with short hair, as bright red as my own. I could only stare ahead as the pain and heat tore through me, watching helplessly as the girl in front of me began to change form into some transparent pixie or something and then with a final scream evaporated into nothing. Oh God, that girl couldn’t have been more than thirteen.
The heat that had now become my entire existence didn’t seem to be from the bomb, there had been no fiery blast, no shockwave, only a fire that burned inside me and a bright red glow that surrounded my contorting body. My bones, muscles and flesh were being pulled, pushed, compressed and twisted, and I seemed to be shrinking out of my clothes. I was soaked in sweat and it felt like something was eating me alive from the inside, devouring Maddock and leaving something else in his place. A sudden snapping of the bones in my shoulders and hips and a wrenching of my insides caused me to scream out in agony, the bright glow around me flaring, causing the sweat pouring from my body to turn to steam and steam drying my clothes. Then, as the heat flared again from another excruciating round of snapping bones and twisting guts, everything I was wearing was incinerated, leaving nothing left but ash.
It was then that it all seemed to end; the agony was gone, leaving me feeling strangely empty inside, and the bright glow around me faded and then vanished. A curtain of long copper ringlets fell over me and I reached out to brush it away from my face. After getting a bit tangled in what seemed to be my hair I finally managed to brush it aside and for a moment I just stared at my hands, they were so tiny now, tiny and feminine. I was afraid to look down, but I did and found myself staring at a similarly tiny and feminine body. I had breasts, pale white with pink nipples, a splash of freckles across them, and almost a full handful, though that might not be saying much if my hands were as small as they currently seemed to me.
Reaching down I frantically checked my crotch searching for a familiar piece of equipment that I feared would no longer be there. Those fears were confirmed by the presence of a feminine slit with only a small tuft of pubic hair. I knelt there in horror for several minutes as I wondered just what had happened to me and who, or what I was now. I was still me, in my mind at least, but my body was changed and probably not even recognizable to me anymore. Worse yet, while I was mentally freaking out about being changed and the differences in my body, I knew that deep down this body didn’t really feel as horribly wrong to me as I felt it should. So… Maddock really was dead then, his only remains now ash on the floor. The realization hit me like a hammer, around the same time as my exhaustion, and as I passed out on the floor of the cell my last thought was, “Who am I now and where do I go from here?”
![]() |
Chapter 2 Captives Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Tasha glared at me and stepped forward to put her arms on the mermaid’s shoulders shaking her gently. “Hey, calm down, everything’s okay. I’m Tasha and this is… well… this is some naked girl I just met and can barely understand who apparently doesn’t have a name.”
I was vaguely aware of being moved, someone was carrying me. I was so very tired though and just trying to open my eyes seemed to take more energy than I had. “What happened? Why am I being carried? Did I get injured in the raid? Damn, whoever’s carrying me must be huge.” My memory was fuzzy and I felt strangely light, though my head and chest felt heavy. I was placed on something soft, maybe a bed from the sensations I was feeling along my naked skin. “Waitaminute… I’m naked!?”
I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks, okay probably not just my cheeks since I was embarrassed enough just thinking about it to probably have a full body blush going. I was about to open my eyes and look for something to cover up with when I heard someone speaking. “Is that all of them?” It was a deep male voice and he didn’t sound too impressed.
“Yeah, only five of them lived,” a woman’s voice responded. “The others all Activated, but their powers went out of control and killed them, and some of their roommates too. Some of the cells were pretty… messy.”
That voice was achingly familiar, like I’d heard it before. It took me several seconds to identify the speaker as Phantom. Then everything came back to me at once; the raid, the girls, the bomb, and the changes I’d gone through. Seeing as I had been carried and naked I had to assume that this wasn’t just the disturbing dream that I had been hoping it was. I was so ready to freak out, open my eyes and make a run for it right then, but my training took over. I firmly clamped down on those thoughts and controlled my breathing to make it appear that I was still asleep, not wanting to waste the chance to gain any Intel that might help me.
The man snorted in disgust. “Five out of twenty one girls. We lost over a dozen men in those raids, experienced in their powers and loyal to our cause. Five inexperienced little girls doesn’t make up for those losses.”
“The Zeta Bomb was designed to kill mutants by overloading their powers, you knew going in that it ran the same risks with non-Activated mutants,” another male voice commented snidely. “The radiation it gives off may not effect regular humans, but it excites the H Chromosomes, and sure that ended up Activating them, but less than thirty percent of Hypers are resistant enough to avoid explosive power overload. That’s why those idiots in Humanity Now didn’t use the damn thing, their tests said this was a risk. They only wanted to kill mutants and having a bunch of us completely lose control of our powers in public places would have risked too many human casualties for their liking. Shall I begin construction of a second Zeta Bomb for the group of boys Sir?”
The first man still sounded disgusted as he replied, “No, definitely not, destroy the blueprints and wipe all the data. We’ve lost enough on this venture already, for the boys we’ll try using stress stimulation to trigger them. What about the soldier you allowed to live Phantom, was there any sign of him?”
“No Sir, I believe that he met the same fate as most of the girls. Depending on the nature of the powers he developed it could have been very messy, left other telltale signs in the cellar, or left no trace at all. I believe it was the latter.” As the creepy teleporter finished answering I could feel my pulse quicken and I had to keep tight control over my breathing to not breathe a sigh of relief that they thought me dead. Not that it would change my current situation in any way.
“A shame,” the apparent leader replied, “we could have used a soldier. We’ll leave the girls in here for now so they can adjust until we can begin their education and assess their powers. Post a guard outside this room. Phantom, you and Jade will be responsible for educating them once they’re settled in. Mastermind, I want you to start with the education and stress stimulation of the boys immediately.”
I could hear the footsteps of the trio walking away and then a door closed in the distance and I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t like the sounds of the way he used the word ‘education’ at all. It sounded like ‘we’ girls were in for a healthy dose of brainwashing. I shuddered at the thought, both for being included as a girl and for the thought of brainwashing. I was about to risk opening my eyes to assess my situation when a female voice to my left said, “It’s okay, they’re gone, you can open your eyes now.”
I did just that, to see myself laying on a single bed covered with white sheets and pillow and a soft but sickeningly pink comforter. I cautiously sat up and remembering that I was still naked and now a girl I tried to hastily cover myself with my hands as I looked around. The room we were in was windowless, decorated largely in pinks and purples, possibly twenty feet square, and hosted three beds other than the one I was sitting on. On the bed beside my own was a black girl in a dirty blouse, jeans, and sneakers who appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen years old. She had a nice figure for her age, looked tall and athletic, and she was pretty with café au lait skin, deep brown eyes, and shoulder length black hair that seemed to rival my own for curliness.
The girl gave me a somewhat nervous smile before speaking again. “Hi I’m Tasha, so you heard them talking too right? It looks like we’re all going to be spending a lot of time together so I figure we should maybe get to know one another.”
“Aye, I was tryin’ tae get Intel, an’ I’m sure we’ll be spendin’ loads o’ quality time t’gether, ya know wot wi’ the brainwashin’ an’ all.” I frowned as I spoke and wondered, “What the fuck? My accent hasn’t been this bad since I was a kid, it’s like I can’t properly control my tongue anymore. I usually have some accent, but not like this.” I began to mentally curse in Gaelic before remembering that she had introduced herself and that I should probably do the same. I wasn’t really sure what to say to that though, so I just shrugged as I looked down at my unfamiliar body in disgust. “Call me whatever ya want. I’m no’ exactly who I used tae be, ma ole name does’na seem tae fit anymore.”
That was when we heard the very frightened female scream from behind the door on the opposite side of the room that Phantom and Co. had left from. Tasha and I both leapt to our feet, running toward the sound. I nearly fell on my face as I hit the floor and got tangled in my ankle-length hair, but I managed to recover and reached the door just as Tasha was opening it with reckless abandon. The opened door revealed a bathroom with an honest-to-goodness mermaid laying in the bathtub totally freaking out. She looked close to Tasha’s age, wearing only a tight and very wet black t-shirt, and she had bright pink shoulder-length hair with lavender streaks, pale violet eyes, a slim but well-toned body, and at her waist her slightly tanned skin gave way to a pink, coral, and lavender scaled fish tail that was hanging half out of the tub and splashing the water with every shriek. We both stopped short in the doorway and I muttered, “Well, ya dinnae see tha’ every day.”
Tasha glared at me and stepped forward to put her arms on the mermaid’s shoulders shaking her gently. “Hey, calm down, everything’s okay. I’m Tasha and this is… well… this is some naked girl I just met and can barely understand who apparently doesn’t have a name.”
“Well excuuuse me if’n all ma clothes were burnt tae ash when ma body changed! At least ya got sumthin’ tae wear Tasha, an’ I’ll bet ya kin recognize yuirself in a bloody mirror too! Some o’ us weren’t so lucky. I’m guessin’ she was one o’ the unlucky ones too.” I gave the mermaid a sympathetic look and turned to look at Tasha again, towering at least six inches over me, before crossing my arms over my chest and grumbling to myself. That just made me more aware of my new breasts though, so I quickly dropped my arms to my sides. “Stoooopid new body.”
Tasha at least had the good grace to look embarrassed. “Sorry, you’re right... look, I know that this can’t be easy for either of you, but since you seem to understand what she’s going through, maybe you can help her deal with it. I have a feeling that I should just let you two talk alone for a bit, I’ll go check on those other two girls and try to wake them up.” She left the room leaving me alone with the mermaid.
I approached the side of the bathtub, uncertain what to do at first. The girl had stopped screaming, but now she was clutching the sides of the tub with white-knuckled hands and was having troubles breathing. “Anxiety attack,” I noted to myself before placing a hand gently on her own. “I want ya tae close yuir eyes an’ take deep slow breaths ‘kay? Think o’ sumthin’ relaxin’ like a warm summer day at the beach. Yuir layin’ in the sunshine an’ listenin’ tae the waves lappin’ at the shoor. There’s nothin’ tae worry ‘bout, I’m right ‘ere wi’ ya, an’ I’m a friend. I think we could both use a friend right now, aye?”
After several minutes of slowly reassuring her that everything was going to be okay she calmed down enough to actually talk to, though she looked like she may panic again or burst into tears at any given moment if I didn’t handle this just right. I slowly and carefully explained what had happened to us and wheedled little details out of her in as friendly a manner as I could. Her name was Vanessa, she was fifteen, she liked surfing, and she had only recently lost her family in a boating accident, so she hadn’t had any time to make friends at the orphanage that she’d been taken from yet.
Now came the hard part, for me anyway. I had to get her focused on someone else’s problems for a bit, instead of her own, so she would realize that she wasn’t alone and so her brain could process things while she was focused on something else. Lucky me, I was the prime candidate. That complicated things since I didn’t want to reveal that I’d been a 30 year old man before. Finally I took a deep breath and said, “Ma body changed too ‘Nessa, I used tae be… taller, ma hair was waaaay shorter, an’ I never ‘ad these afore.” I hefted my new breasts, giving them a dirty look before turning my attention back to Vanessa. “I dinnae think I look the same either, I… I’m a wee bit scared tae look in the mirror,” I admitted reluctantly as I looked down at the white floor tiles.
I could feel her hand wrapping around my own and squeezing it in support and friendship. “What’s your name? You never told me.”
For a moment I wasn’t sure how to reply. How could such an easy question be so hard to answer? I knew that I could have just made up a name on the spot and ran with it when I first had the chance with Tasha, but it just didn’t feel right taking that big step and moving on with my life. It was like I was somebody who had lost a limb and I was trying to stay in denial in hopes it would grow back, and in a sense that really was what I was doing. “I dinnae ken, the person I was is dead. I’m diff’ren’ now, no’ just on the outside either. I feel diff’ren’ inside too, an’ the new me feels right y’know, an’ tha’ scares the hell outta me. An’ now there’s this fadin’ emptiness where the ole me use’tae be.” As I spoke I could feel a tightness in my chest, growing with each word. Once I had finished speaking there were tears streaming down my face and I was sobbing like a little girl, which I feared, given what I had discovered so far, probably wasn’t that far from the truth.
I don’t know how long we stayed there holding and comforting one another, but it was just what we both needed right then. Usually being this close and intimate with someone as pretty as Vanessa would have stirred something within me sparking the hormonal reactions, but there was nothing now but sympathy and a need to soothe and be soothed. After a while, by some sort of mutual consensus that I’m not sure either of us was aware of, we pulled apart.
“Sooo, I guess I’m a mermaid now,” Vanessa said taking a deep breath to steel herself. Then, nervously, she asked, “I don’t look too terrible do I?”
“Nae, yuir beautiful ‘Nessa,” I reassured her.
“It’s too bad I don’t have legs, or I’d go with you to face that mirror,” the mermaid said with a sigh. That’s when, just for a brief instant, her tail seemed to shift a bit. Scales began to fade to a flesh tone and the shape changed ever so slightly. “Whoa, that felt… weird. I wonder if I can…” It took a long while, but Vanessa was able to figure out what she had nearly done by accident and shift her tail into a pair of normal-looking female legs, though her lower half was as naked as I was.
“Ya mus’ be a Shifter o’ some sort, or a’ least tha’ seems tae be part o’ yuir powers,” I offered, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah, but it’s not easy holding this form, it keeps feeling like I’m going to bounce right back to having a tail. It may be a while before I’m able to do it for long periods of time. Maybe I can hold it long enough for us to face the mirror together and go out to meet the others you talked about though.”
The mirror was difficult to face. I looked around thirteen years old, and a lot like my sister did at that age; long copper ringlets framing a pale heart-shaped face with a faint splash of freckles, a cute button nose, huge bright blue-green eyes, slightly pouty lips set in a cupid’s bow, high cheekbones, and a small chin. If things in the bathroom were standard sized, I guessed my height to be about five foot two and my body was that of a girl just beginning to blossom; slightly wide hips, a slender waist, long legs, and my breasts were what Vanessa guessed to be a B-cup. I didn’t care what letter they went by, they felt way too large for something that I didn’t even have yesterday. Given that my sister was at least a double D now though, and had always been on the large side compared to her friends while growing up, the size wasn’t all that surprising given my current overall appearance.
I just stared at my reflection for several minutes, trying to equate the image with who I used to be. Before I was six foot five, muscular and manly with a buzzcut, and I couldn’t see any of my old self in the tiny and fragile-looking waif I saw before me now, even my tattoos were gone. “So, what’s the damage?” my new mermaid friend asked in concern, breaking me out of my trance.
I bit my trembling lip, trying to force back the tears I felt coming. “I… look like some o’ ma fam’ly, but I dinnae see any o’ the ole me. You?”
Vanessa wrapped me up in a tight hug, holding me for a moment before turning back to the mirror. “I look mostly like I used to, but I used to be a blonde. I like this look, but it’s not exactly low-key… maybe I can…” her hair shifted, slowly fading from pink and lavender to an ash blonde. She squealed in delight, but then her gaze in the mirror fell on the depressed, puffy and teary eyed redhead beside her and she hugged me again. “We’ll get through this together, okay? Let’s go meet the others and maybe we can come up with a name for you, since you don’t seem comfortable using your old one.”
By the time we had entered the ‘dorm’ area, Tasha had already managed to wake the occupants of the other two beds, a set of nearly identical Chinese twins in skirts and tops that had seen better days, who looked even younger than my current body. She was talking quietly to them when one of them looked up, saw us approaching, and elbowed the other one to get her attention. They both stared at me for a long uncomfortable time, squinted their eyes and I tried not to blush at the slightly creepy attention I was getting as I spoke to the older girl. “Sorry ‘bout wot I said in there Tasha, ya were only tryin’ tae help, an’ I should’nae blew up a’ ya like tha’. ‘Nessa an’ I worked through some things, but I thought I should apologize.”
Tasha turned to us and was about to say something when the twins squealed in unison “Merida!”
Vanessa had managed to hold her human form long enough to sit on my bed, but then she lost it, reverting back to a mermaid, at least she didn’t seem to need to be in water to breathe. I sat down beside her staring at the twins in confusion when she giggled and elbowed me. “It looks like you have your new name.” By that time the twins had sped across the room and were right in front of us, running their hands through my overly long copper tresses and taking in every detail of my face with intent fascination. I found that more than a little disturbing since they hardly spared more than a few glances to the real-life mermaid who was sitting beside me and changing her tail back into legs.
It turned out that the twins were named Mei and Shu, they would be turning twelve soon, and that I looked just like their ‘very favoritest Disney Princess’, well technically it was supposedly a tie between this Merida person and someone named Mulan. I had never really watched cartoons much, so I didn’t really have any idea who either of them were, but I supposedly looked just like her and she had a Scottish accent too. When they found out that I was between names they decided that I would have to be named Merida and that was that.
“But tha’ name is no’ even Scottish, I… I think it’s Latin,” I argued weakly.
“Does it really matter?” Tasha asked. “It might be easier to just accept it, they’re not going to let go of this, and we need to call you something.”
“She’s right, besides I think it kind of suits you,” Vanessa put in from beside me. Since we had sat down she had been shifting back and forth between mermaid and a blonde human, so I figured that she was trying to get a handle on her new ability. I wholeheartedly agreed with that since she would need to gain some control and stamina with the ability if we were going to escape this place.
“Pleeeeeease!” the twins said as one, giving me the pouty lips and puppy-dog eyes. The cuteness was difficult to resist, even more so since it was in stereo.
I did the only sensible thing, I gave in. “Dammit, fine then, I guess I’ll be usin’ the name Merida then, but let’s get this straight now; I’m no’ gonna be yuir personal Disney dress-up doll or nuthin’ like tha’, aye?”
The twins gave one another a look that told me I would probably end up giving in on the living doll thing eventually as well, at least as long as they were around to have a say in the matter. One look at their devious little smiles and I knew that I was doomed. It was Vanessa who jumped on that comment though. “Speaking of dress-up, I hate to point out the blatantly obvious but you and I need clothes Merida. You don’t have a stitch and I only have a soaked t-shirt that’s feeling a bit too tight.”
“There’s no’ much we kin dae about tha’ right now, ‘cept maybe wrap ourselves in blankets, but we need tae discuss our situation,” I stated flatly. “These people kidnapped us, and did somethin’ tae give us powers, an’ ya kin bet tha’ t’was no’ fer our sake. I ‘eard them talkin’, an’ they’re gonna be tryin’ tae turn us intae good li’l followers fer their cause. We can no’ start drinkin’ the cult kool-aid. We ‘ave to assume tha’ any food will be drugged an’ tha’ they’re watchin’ us a’ all times.”
“There aren’t any cameras in here,” Tasha said with a certainty that had me staring at her.
“Ya checked?” I asked, my estimation of her intelligence going up a notch.
The black girl nodded seriously. “Yeah, I took a good look before waking Mei and Shu, but I just know it too. I have this really strong sense that there are no cameras in here, not even hidden ones. It’s like how I knew when those assholes were gone earlier, and that you were awake but listening to them as well. I can’t really explain it, it’s just… I know. It could be that they don’t think they need them, they’re probably underestimating us because we’re kids.”
“Maybe she’s psychic,” Vanessa suggested before shaking her head in disbelief. “You know I’d never have considered that a realistic possibility until today. Waking up as a mythical creature sure does change a girl’s perspective.”
“I hope yuir right, tha’ could give us an early warnin’ of their comin’s and goin’s an’ such. Tha’ also means we can try tae figure out wha’ abilities we may all ‘ave an’ plan our escape.” With that in mind we began planning.
![]() |
Chapter 3 Good Cop Bad Cop Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
So she was going to be playing bad captor, big surprise there. “Oooh, I’m kinda wantin’ ya tae make me.” I knew it was risky to be pushing her buttons like that, but it was damn satisfying and I wanted her to be focused on me rather than the others.
We had decided that our first order of business would be to find out what powers we might have and how to use them whenever our captors weren’t around. Tasha and I couldn’t really be sure how long we had before they would start trying to reprogram us into good little drones. Tasha sensed though that with only five of us girls they would probably be focusing most of their efforts on trying to Activate and brainwash the boys first. We would actively resist any efforts to do so with us until we were ready to make our escape or they tried to physically separate us, and in the case of the latter we would stick together and make our escape at that point whether we felt ready or not.
If I were still my male adult self I’m pretty sure they would have gone for the full-out deluxe brainwashing package for me immediately. Probably drugs mixed in with telepathic suggestion and a little negative and positive reinforcement therapy. Luckily they were under the impression that I was one of the girls, and I figured that since there were only five of us girls that they would probably start light by a mix of more subtle techniques. Drugged food was most likely so we would have to be careful with that, but good captor/bad captor to encourage a little Stockholm syndrome was a definite possibility too. We would have to be suspicious of everything and not let them on to the fact that we were on to them, which would mean playing innocent and ignorant as much as possible and embellishing the ‘scared kids’ angle.
We had barely finished discussing the plan when Tasha sensed that our captors were on their way to check on us. Vanessa dashed to the bathroom to hop back in the bathtub, while the twins hopped onto Tasha’s bed with her to pretend to be scared and upset while she as the oldest of the group ‘comforted’ them. I practically dove under my blankets, wrapping them about my body tightly and doing my best to look both scared and pissed off, which wasn’t all that far from the truth once Phantom had entered the room. She was immediately followed by a tall woman whose entire body looked to be made up of green stone. She wore a skintight, sleeveless black and gold bodysuit and golden bracers and boots and with one hand she was pushing a rolling cart filled with food and drinks, while carrying at least a dozen shopping bags in her other hand.
I glowered at the familiar teleporter, hoping that my mutant power might be to fire lasers from my eyes. Nope, no laser eyes, dammit. It was taking every ounce of self-control I had right then just to keep sitting there with the blankets wrapped tightly around me. Every fiber of my being wanted to take her down for what she had done to my team, but I wasn’t sure that I could have taken her as Maddock. I may have still had all my training, at least in my head, but as Merida I was small, no stronger than any other girl my age, and still very uncoordinated and off-balance as I was trying to adjust to my new body. I hated that weakness, and myself for being that weak.
“Stick to the plan and play your role,” I told myself firmly. Being the fiery Scottish ‘lass’ that I was, it had been determined that I would be the hostile instigator to hopefully put them off balance while Tasha pretended to comfort the little ones and Vanessa practiced her shifting in the bathtub, hopefully out of mind as well as out of sight. “Wot the hell d’ya think yer doin’ kidnappin’ us like tha’?! Druggin’ us an’ throwin’ us in some dank dungeon like some sorta animals an’ then bringin’ us ‘ere! Why is there a mermaid in the loo, an’ where the fook are ma clothes?! Why the hell dae they ‘ave clothes an’ I’m layin’ ‘ere bare-arsed?!”
The twins burrowed closer into Tasha’s arms on the bed beside mine as the teleporter gave me a look that made me glad that she didn’t have laser eyes either. “Be quiet brat!”
So she was going to be playing bad captor, big surprise there. “Oooh, I’m kinda wantin’ ya tae make me.” I knew it was risky to be pushing her buttons like that, but it was damn satisfying and I wanted her to be focused on me rather than the others. Not only was that the plan, but I felt that if she did decide to hurt one of us or start a little brainwashing early on, I would rather it was me than the others since I was confident that I could handle a little pain and resist any brainwashing attempts better than them with the training I had had.
“If you insist, brat.” In a puff of smoke and displaced air Phantom vanished only to reappear beside my bed. Her arm shot toward me and she grasped my throat tightly as she lifted me off the bed. I struggled for air, choking in her grasp and then I felt a warmth rush through me, it was like there was this fire deep within me and it was spreading through my body until it covered my skin. Suddenly I wasn’t choking anymore, and I opened my eyes to see that same bright red glow from the when I had changed and Phantom staring at me in shock as she continued trying to choke me and failed.
“I thought ya were goin’ tae make me be quiet? Oooh lookie this, I’m still talkin’, ‘ow aboot tha’.” I smiled at her as I tried to figure out what was going on, and then it hit me. “I have a freakin’ force field!” We glared at one another for a long moment, me with that cocky smile on my face and her looking like she wanted to gut me with a rusty spoon. I wanted to punch her then just to add insult to injury, or I guess in this case it would be adding injury to insult, but despite her apparent inability to keep a solid grip on my throat she still had me at arm’s length and her reach was much longer than mine. I settled for a good solid kick to her midsection and I’m not sure which of us was surprised more when, with the sound of cracking ribs, it knocked the wind out of her and sent her flying toward the wall between the twins’ beds on the other side of the room.
Phantom managed to teleport before crashing into the wall, appearing back in the center of the room and wincing in obvious pain as she clutched her ribs on her right side. Once again we stared one another down as she stood there trying to look like she still had some control over the situation and I floated in the air a good foot over my bed. Still, this hadn’t been the plan. The plan had been for me to antagonize her, but get her to underestimate us and allow her to keep the illusion of control, and one of us having a force field didn’t mean we could all escape yet. We still needed time to figure out what other powers we might have to work with.
I felt for the energy inside me, trying to slow the flow of it while keeping that cocky smile on my face. The red glow began to flicker and I put on my best confused and exhausted expression as I cut off the energy off, fell to my bed, and pretended to pass out. I’m no great shakes as an actor, or I guess that would be actress now, but I think I was pretty convincing. The twins jumped onto my bed in concern, shaking me and calling out my new name. Phantom snorted in disgust and muttered, “Wake the girl up Jade, and explain their situation. I’ve had enough of that brat for one day, the next time she steps out of line I’ll kill her.” I could hear her stomping off toward the exit and slamming the door behind her as I continued to fake my exhaustion. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth though, the truth was that I had never felt more energized in my entire life.
“Ya can stop hammin’ it up now, she’s gone,” an unfamiliar voice broke the brief silence that followed. Her accent was familiar, but it was very faint, like she had been actively working on trying to lose it for a long time. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it at all if my eyes weren’t closed and I hadn’t been straining my hearing. When I opened my eyes the green stone woman was standing at the end of my bed looking over me. Her expression as she looked me over was somewhere between wonder and confusion, but she seemed to shrug it off quickly. “Good thinkin’ cutting your powers out to make it look like you couldn’t hold them for long, she took it hook, line, and sinker. It’s not a good idea to piss her off though, much less humiliate her the way that you did.”
“It’s okay Merida, I think she’s really on our side,” Tasha advised. Then she turned to the green woman and added, “We can talk safely, there are no cameras or listening devices in this room.”
It turned out that Jade was the Hyper Affairs Agency’s inside-woman and, once Vanessa had been convinced to come join us, she began to explain the situation. She had been hoping that her agency would have been able to extract the kids before they could be moved to this new more secure facility, but she hadn’t been able to give much notice and she hadn’t known what exactly the Zeta Bomb was at that point, let alone that they had intended to use it. Fortunately she had been assigned to be the one to look after our needs and try to turn us to Omega’s cause. She was supposed to bring us our meals and socialize with us a bit, taking on the caring mother role while Phantom would come in once a day or so and be intimidating until Jade, and the drugs they were lacing some of our food with, began to make some progress. It was about what I had guessed they would be planning and I had to silently agree with Jade as she referred to it as ‘amateur hour’.
On the unfortunate side, she had no idea where this new complex was. They had all been teleported here, nobody was allowed outside the complex itself, they were teleported to and from missions, and there was some kind of energy field that blocked any sort of communication devices such as cell phones or tracking devices. There were also no outside lines or computers with internet access, at least not in the places that Jade was allowed access to. Even when she had gone out shopping Phantom had teleported her there and arranged a time and place to meet to pick her up again. Jade was pretty sure that the complex was underground somewhere, but it looked like Omega really wanted to keep this location under wraps.
“You girls should eat somethin’,” the woman finally said after her explanation. “I can’t really be sure which foods they drugged though, it could be any or all of them. The pizzas, sodas, and chips are fine, I got those myself while I was out shopping and they haven’t left my sight.”
Tasha pointed to some bowls of cherry Jell-O, a pitcher of orange juice, and some cupcakes, the only real beverage besides water and the only desserts on the cart. “Those are drugged,” she said with that unnerving absolute certainty of hers.
Jade’s eyes widened in response, “Interestin’, are ya just makin’ an educated guess or is there more to it?” She had let a little more of her accent slip out in her surprise and there was something about it that was nagging at me. There was something in her gravelly voice too, something that I just couldn’t put my finger on.
“We think it’s her thing, or at least one of them,” Vanessa put in. “She does that all the time, we’re getting used to it.”
As we all ate, carefully avoiding the things that Tasha had pointed out, we discussed our abilities so far and our changes, and Jade seemed worried about us, asking if there were any physical issues, pains, or anything else concerning since we’d been Activated. Then we moved on to possible escape plans, given what little information Jade had been able to provide about the layout. “Wot aboot the air ducts?” I asked after a bit of thought once we were finished eating. “They have tae be getting’ air in ‘ere somehow an’ some o’ us are pretty small.”
Jade shook her head sadly. “Not unless ya can squeeze through a six inch pipe. I already thought of that and checked. I may have a few things that can help us though. While I was out shoppin’ for you and I was sure that Phantom was busy elsewhere I got my fiancé to bring me some things from home and slipped them in with my purchases. I needed to report to him anyway since he’s my contact with HAA. I got some clothes fer all of ya. I had to guess at the sizes, so I hope they fit okay.”
She was starting to unpack the shopping bags when one of the twins, I think it was Mei, suddenly asked, “How do you go shopping like that anyway? Don’t you get a lot of attention?”
“The real Jade doesn’t care much about the attention, which is how the HAA was able to track and capture her last month just after she was recruited by Omega. My fiancé asked me to take her place as a favor and try to pass on any information until we could bring them down. I was really hopin’ that we could do that before they completed this base.” She grumbled the last unhappily as she sorted through the bags, extracting some dresses in various sizes, undergarments, and some kind of shoes that I later learned were called ballet flats. She had also bought a wide variety of personal hygiene and hair care products for us to use until we escaped.
I wasted no time in putting on the simple white dress, sports bra, and panties she handed me after giving me a good once over. Sure they were girly and the panties had cartoon kittens on them, but they were clothes and at the moment I would have worn just about anything. It took me a moment to figure out the bra and dress, but Vanessa helped me to get everything on after changing out of her wet top and into the slightly more adult-looking undergarments and bright blue dress that had been handed to her. “So since yuir no’ the real Jade, I’m guessin’ yuir a Shifter?” I asked while trying to extract my hair from under the dress.
Not-Jade shook her head. “I’m a Tinker actually, I mostly do contract work for the military and governmen’ agencies and I created a body suit specifically for infiltration missions like this. It projects a force field and photon-driven image of Jade, contains a voice synthesizer to make me sound like her and has sensors inside the mask to realistically copy my facial movements onto the projection in real time. Underneath that I’m wearin’ a lightweight exoskeleton with miniaturized hydraulics to mimic her strength. Neither was tested under long-term conditions yet though, which was why I needed to be doin’ the infiltration myself, in case something went wrong or needed to be tweaked. It’s all a bit uncomfortable and breathin’ is a bitch, so I need to take the mask off whenever I get time alone. So while I was shoppin’ I just took off the mask an’ set the suit to project casual clothes instead, kinda like this.”
She tapped a few spots on her wrist, and Jade’s body and outfit changed into a casual jeans, hoodie, and sneakers combination. Her suddenly shiny white gloved hands reached up for her head, now a shiny white hood and mask that covered her whole head and face, and fumbled with something around her neck. Then she pulled her hands back over her head, revealing a very familiar face with bright blue-green eyes and bright copper hair, a face that could be my own in a decade or two from now. “Blair?!” I gasped as the other girls looked from me to my sister and back at me again in confusion.
Blair’s brow furrowed and she looked at me intently for a long moment before taking my hand and pulling me toward the bathroom. “Excuse us girls, but I think that ‘Merida’ and I need to have a little talk. Alone.”
![]() |
Chapter 4 With Great Power Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I hadn’t bothered to stop until I was a few feet away from where the other girls were gathered and staring. “Wot the fook?!"
Blair’s brow furrowed and she looked at me intently for a long moment before taking my hand and pulling me toward the bathroom. “Excuse us girls, but I think that ‘Merida’ and I need to have a little talk. Alone.”
The moment that Blair and I were in the bathroom with the door closed behind us she looked at me suspiciously, crossing her arms over her chest as she gave me a good once over with her eyes and then finally spoke. “Okay, who the hell are ya? Why do ya look like me at your age? And then there’s yuir accent, an’ how the hell dae ya know my name?!”
Answers to her questions weren’t exactly foremost on my mind at that point. She wasn’t the only one who was shocked, and I was pretty pissed that she had deliberately placed herself in danger without even telling me. “Ya think you ‘ave questions?! Why the hell didnae ya tell me ya were doin’ this kinda work?! Yuir a fookin’ Tinker, ya dinnae ‘ave the powers or trainin’ fer this kinda mission. Wot the hell were ya thinkin’ o’ doin’ if’n yuir l’il gadgets were disabled or ya were discovered?! Ya didnae even think o’ tellin’ me?! I always call or email ya tae let ya know if I’m goin on a dangerous Op! You’ve been doin’ this fer a bloody month an’ no’ one word outta ya?!”
Blair’s jaw dropped and she just stared at me for a long moment before blurting out, “Maddie?!”
I clenched my tiny fists by my sides at her little nickname for me. “Dinnae call me that! I hate tha’ bloody name! Especially now!” That was when everything hit me at once, the botched mission, the deaths of my team members, my first encounter with Phantom, the bomb going off, my changes, the new ’girl’ in the mirror, and the situation that I had been trying to calmly deal with since waking up. I just couldn’t take it anymore and I broke down into a sobbing mess for the second time that day.
“Oh God… that was yuir unit they sent in after the girls…” I barely heard her speak the words as she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. She held me for a good twenty minutes while I cried it all out, telling me that everything would be okay and that she’d help me get through this. Finally when I had managed to get myself to merely a bit of crying and sniffling Blair said, “I’m sorry Mad… Merida was it? I didn’t want to worry ya an’ I didn’t have much notice before I got told about this. I don’t usually do this kind of thing, an’ I should have sent you an email, but I barely had time to finish the exoskeleton and bodysuit before Jade was supposed to meet her contact with Omega.”
“Phantom killed ma whole team,” I said still buried in her arms. “Reaper may ‘ave gotten away, but I cannae be sure. She only left me alive ‘cause she was hopin’ I would Activate. I couldnae save any o’ them an’ when the bomb went off I hid in one o’ the cells hopin’ I’d be safe. Tha’ poor girl, she started tae change an’ then she jus’ screamed an’ vanished. I dinnae ken wha’ I kin dae when we’re out o’ this place.”
“You can’t go back to the military, that’s fer sure, even if you didn’t look like a minor now, the Liberty Accords would prevent it. That’s why I can’t work on anything for the military or government that’s even close to being related to weapons technology, an’ another reason I had to be the one to do this, the exoskeleton could be classified as a weapon, I can’t legally make it for or allow any military or government agency to possess it. I was the only one who could be allowed to use it,” she explained.
The Liberty Accords had been ratified six years ago by the United Nations after several nations had attempted to create superhumans for military purposes. The superhero Liberty was Activated in one such experiment, but overall the results of such experiments had been either unsuccessful or complete disasters for the countries involved. The Liberty Accords prevented any of the signatory nations from trying to create superhumans or using Hypers for any military purposes. It also severely restricted what kind of technology that Tinkers and other intellectually gifted Hypers could produce for and sell to the military or government agencies.
I shook my head sadly. “I’m no’ jus’ worried aboot myself Blair, these girls ‘ave nobody an’ now they’re mutants on top. Dae ya really think they’re gonna find fam’lies tha’ will take them in? Mos’ people would jus’ end up usin’ them. They may no’ even be safe a’ the orphanages now, if we all manage to get outta ‘ere alive.”
“We’re all gettin’ out of here,” my sister replied sternly. “Then you’re stayin’ with me and Andy, all of ya. I’m not goin’ to have us get them out of here safely jus’ to let somethin’ worse happen to them, or you. I’m your only living relative so technically I should be your guardian anyway. We have a big enough house and I’m bringin’ in plenty of money to support all o’ ya.”
*Merida!* The instant I heard Tasha’s panicked voice I jumped to my feet and reached for that fire deep within me to summon my force field as I threw the door open and silently wished that I had a weapon of some sort as well, even a knife would be better than nothing when running into some unknown danger. I stepped through the door to see all of the other girls staring at one of the twins, whose left arm suddenly ended just above the elbow. She was moving her arm forward and back in curiosity and as she did so her arm would disappear further or reappear.
“What are you doing Shu?” her twin asked in wonder.
I hadn’t bothered to stop until I was a few feet away from where the other girls were gathered and staring. “Wot the fook?! I ‘eard Tasha scream ma name, is everyone okay?”
Blair, who had adjusted her disguise so that she once again looked like Jade, gave me an odd look. “I didn’t hear anyone screamin’ an’ I was right beside ya.”
“I didn’t scream… at least not out loud,” Tasha mumbled, looking down at her feet. “I might have thought about screaming for you, but I mean look at what she’s doing. Anyone would freak out a little.”
Blair watched Shu for a moment in interest before speaking. “It’s like she’s reachin’ into some sort of warped area of space time that only she can sense, some kind of portal, or pocket dimension, or somethin’ maybe? What were ya doin’ when it happened?”
Vanessa gestured to the foods left on the tray, quickly pointing out. “We were trying to figure out how to get rid of the drugged foods so they think that we’ve been eating them. We can flush the juice easy enough, but that won’t work as well for any solid foods they decide to drug and there aren’t a lot of good places to hide them in here.” The mermaid then cast a reassuring look and a smile in my direction. “I don’t think we’re in any danger Merida, you can probably power down and lose the knife. You know it’s a bit creepy when you do the force field thing, your eyes glow and your hair just floats in the air around you.”
“Wot knife?” I blinked in confusion before looking down at my hands. There, in my right hand, was a sort of opaque red combat knife. I just stared at it for a moment before willing both it and my force field to vanish. “I kin make constructs? Tha’s jus’ like…”
“Mom’s powers,” Blair finished as I trailed off. “I think you have a more powerful version of Mom’s powers. Her energy constructs were crimson colored too, but she could only create and manipulate small things like little holograms. She could have never covered herself with it like you do.”
The others were all looking at us intently, even Shu had lost interest in her new ability to look from me to Blair and back again. They deserved to know, I couldn’t tell them everything, but they deserved to know some of it. So looking down at my feet and probably turning bright red I told them, “Blair is ma sister.”
“We haven’t seen each other since our parents died last year,” Blair put in. “Maddie… err Merida used to look really diff’rent so I didn’t recognize her right away, I jus’ thought that she looked a lot like me at first.”
Blair was figuring by then that she would have to leave soonish to report her ‘progress’ to Phantom and the man in charge, who went by the name ‘Quill’. So we figured that we should discuss our plans. Blair approved of what we had so far and wanted us to get as much practice with our powers as we could whenever we were alone. She also let us in on her plans. Blair had had Andy bring her a device that would help her to find the source of whatever was generating the energy field and blocking communications, as well as a small EMP device that would hopefully disable it. If it was a person instead of a device that was causing it Blair would have to improvise. Either way, once the field was down her tracker would start transmitting to HAA and she left me her cell phone so I could call in other backup in case things went pear-shaped.
With that done Blair said her goodbyes and reminded us that she would be back in the evening to bring us supper before leaving with the food cart. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in training. Those of us who had some idea what our powers were practicing with them, such as Vanessa and Shu using their abilities over and over to try and increase their control and longevity. I split my time between trying to get used to my new body and playing around with the new constructs application of my powers. Tasha was working with her newly discovered ability as well. She may not have called me physically earlier, but she had discovered that she could speak mind to mind with any of us with a little bit of focus. She couldn’t read minds or anything like that, but communication between minds was possible for her and it was a lot easier to practice with than her sixth sense.
As for Mei she seemed to be getting frustrated at her lack of powers thus far. It wasn’t long before dinner when that changed though, as Vanessa’s other ability made itself known and pushed over the dominoes of two other surprises in the process. Vanessa had been out of the water since before we ate lunch and she had been starting to get itchy and thirsty so I was walking with her back to the bathroom in case it was a mermaid thing and she needed to soak for a bit. We had just made it to the door when the water erupted out of the bathtub flying toward us both and wrapping itself around Vanessa like some sort of liquid shell.
She hovered above the ground in her watery cocoon wide-eyed for a moment before the water began for shift around her, covering her tail and keeping her hovering a foot off the ground as the mermaid stared at the tiny jets of water leaping and swirling through the air between her hands. “Ummm guys… I think I can control water.” She grinned over at me and giggled. “Check it out Merida, I bet I can splash Tasha from here.” A portion of the water around her body shot toward Tasha, but far more quickly than Vanessa had intended, almost like it had been shot from a fire hose. “Eep! No!”
Everything seemed to happen at once then, almost too fast for me to follow. Tasha suddenly vanished before the water could hit her, reappearing beside us and seeming just as confused as we were by it, and the water kept on flying through the air, right toward Mei who was sitting on her bed. Mei jumped in shock and fear and a pale golden glow surrounded her as a tiny little naked blonde pixie with translucent green wings appeared out of nowhere and yanked her off the bed and out of the way of the water blast. Once Mei was safe the pixie looked around, her eyes finally settling on Vanessa, and she looked pissed. She launched herself toward us and I quickly summoned my force field again. That was about when Mei yelled, “No! Stop!”
The pixie stopped, giving Vanessa a final dirty look before turning around and fluttering back toward Mei. I breathed a sigh of relief and let my force field drop again as Shu, who had been staring wide-eyed at the whole incident was the first of us to speak. “Well, that was weird.”
![]() |
Chapter 5 Once upon a *BOOM* Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
*Cease fire Merida!* Tasha shouted into my mind as she teleported back toward Shu’s bed.
Over dinner that evening Blair warned us all that when the time to escape came, it would likely be with very little warning and we would have to be prepared to move quickly. By that time Mei’s pixie had vanished to wherever it had come from, but Blair had been able to see it before it did. The pixie had puzzled my sister a bit, because it was “very lifelike, and too independent to be a mere illusion or magical construct.” Regardless, she wanted us all to keep practicing with all our powers as much as we could so that when it was time to escape we’d be ready.
Blair was able to stay with us a few hours that time since her instructions from Quill and Phantom were to bond with us and start talking about their ‘noble cause’ while the drugs from our food were doing their job. Tasha had once again been able to tell what foods were drugged and they were quickly disposed of. After dinner Blair insisted that we each have a bath or a shower while we had the opportunity and then change into the nightgowns that she had bought for us when she had gotten our other clothes.
Vanessa had a bit of a problem trying to bathe since it became harder to keep her tail shifted into legs while she was even partially submerged. Blair assumed that it was instinctive for her to change while under water and felt that trying to keep shifted in water while using her hydrokinetic abilities would be good training for our resident mermaid. I was the last to clean up, mostly because it was an experience that I wasn’t looking forward to. Not only was I now in the body of a girl, and a kid at that, but I also had ankle-length hair that was going to be a bitch to wash and dry.
In the end Blair managed to coerce me into a shower, with the bathroom door firmly shut and her on the other side of the shower curtain to help me through it. I managed to get my clothes off, but that wasn’t much of a stretch since I had been naked for half the day already. Still, I was hesitant to step into the bath when the time came, I could feel the panic welling up inside my chest as I thought about touching the body of this strange young girl who looked like my sister. My first experience taking a leak in this body had been bad enough, I had felt like some sort of sick voyeur, and a shower was probably going to be a lot more intimate than that was.
“Nae, I cannae dae it,” I said, shaking my head wildly and refusing to move.
“Ya need to get used to this sooner or later. Does yuir body really feel that wrong to ya?” Blair asked watching me in concern.
“Nae,” I admitted after getting my breathing back under control. “Tha’s wot scares me. It should feel wrong and it… it feels like me, but up ‘ere in ma ‘ead there’s still the ole me thinking tha’ doin’ anythin’ like tha’ tae this girl’s body is wrong. It’s like all there is left of the ole me is mem’ries an’ everythin’ I was says this is wrong.”
Blair sighed and wrapped me in a hug. “Listen… Merida. This is you now, right down the genetic level if I’m right. Ya need to start acceptin’ that and stop thinkin’ of it as someone else’s body. Yuir not Maddock anymore. Ya still have his memories, and I’m glad that ya do, because that means yuir not gone, just different. Keep the memories, but ya can’t hold on to the same person ya used to be, it’ll only cause ya misery. Yuir Merida now and ya need to get to know her and figure out who she is, and the first step is admitting to yourself that this isn’t some other young girl’s body, it’s yours. Now grow a pair and take a shower.”
I hated to admit it, but she was right, I needed to be Merida, not Maddock thinking that he’s trapped in some girl’s body. It wasn’t going to be easy and I wasn’t sure that I could leave Maddock completely behind, but I guessed that I’d at least always have his memories. So, crying and sniffling a bit as I tried to put my life as Maddock behind me, I hugged Blair back tightly and took a step back toward the dreaded shower. Then I hefted my breasts and told Blair, “I already did grow a pair,” while firmly telling myself that they were mine, Merida’s, and I shouldn’t be scared of my own body.
It was quite a while later when I finally finished my very awkward shower, with Blair giving instructions on everything from proper feminine hygiene to hair and body care the whole time, and me trying to make myself be okay with the whole process. A majority of that time was spent on my hair; washing, rinsing, conditioning and then rinsing again, and then trying to get it somewhat dry. By the time I was done and Blair was taking a hairdryer to my insanely long copper tresses I was really missing Maddock’s old buzz cut.
“It took you long enough,” Vanessa teased as I came out of the bathroom in my nightgown, a terrible pink knee-length thing with sparkly lavender unicorns all over it.
“Screw you, I ‘ave a lot more ‘air now an’ it takes forever tae dae anythin’ with it. I should jus’ chop it all off,” I grumbled. That was met with a chorus of horrified gasps and expressions that looked like I just casually stated that I wanted to put my hand in a blender. “Wot?” I asked, wondering what I had said wrong.
“You can’t chop it all off! It’s so long and beautiful, and I don’t think you have a single split-end,” Tasha objected. “Maybe get it trimmed it to a more manageable length once we’re out of here, but you should keep it long, some girls would die to have hair like yours.”
“They kin ‘ave it,” I muttered, “I keep gettin’ tangled in it. Blair did’ ya ‘appen tae bring any scissors?”
The twins each grabbed one of my arms, unleashing the full power of their puppy-dog eyes on me in stereo. “Pleeeeease don’t Merida,” they begged.
I folded like an origami crane, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, I won’ chop it all off, but I need a way tae keep it out o’ ma way.” With that the twins started looking through the hair care products Blair had brought, coming up with a pair of brushes and some dark green hair ties. Then they sat me on my bed and began the arduous process of brushing and then braiding my hair. It would probably still be long and heavy when they were finished, but at least I wasn’t going to keep getting tangled in it. As they took care of my hair I decided to practice with my constructs by having Blair tell some of the stories that Mom used to tell us, while I tried to make the constructs look and move like Mom had when we were kids.
I wanted to start with my favorite of course, Princess Peony and the Amazing Egg. Peony had been the main character in all the stories our Mom told us, and the stories usually ended with her learning a valuable lesson and making an animal friend. So as Blair began telling the story, I began making tiny constructs of trees and Princess Peony walking through them. “Princess Peony was out in the forest one day, when she came upon a strange egg. It wasn’t a chicken egg, or a robin’s egg or any other kind o’ egg that she was familiar with. No, this egg was purple with pink spots an’ was too big to fit in her hand, in fact she had to cup both hands to hold it.”
I carefully created the tiny egg and had Peony bend over to pick it up with both hands. My constructs weren’t as good as Mom’s and they tended to become a little unstable and shaky if I put too much energy into them, but I was hoping that this would help me improve. “Peony searched all over the forest, carryin’ the egg and lookin’ fer whatever bird could have laid it, fer it must ‘ave been a great bird indeed to lay such a large and beautiful egg.”
The next scene took place in Peony’s castle and that was a bit difficult to create with the drawbridge, walls towers, and such, but I gave it my best shot. At least the only moving thing would be Peony carrying the egg. “Alas, Princess Peony could not find the great bird, so she decided that since she could no’ find the egg’s mother that she would try to get it to hatch and raise it ‘erself. So Peony carefully carried the egg back through the forest, down the road, over the drawbridge, an’ into ‘er castle, where she made a nest in her room from straw and covered the egg with warm blankets.”
I had peony sitting upon the egg in the nest, lying beside it, gently rubbing it, and then creating another construct for Peony’s mother as Blair continued the story. “Peony tried sitting on it, sleeping with it, an’ even talkin’ to it, but the egg just wouldn’t hatch. After three days she began to give up on it ever hatchin’ an’ was very sad. Peony’s mother asked, ‘why are ya so sad?’ When Peony explained, ‘er mother told ‘er, ‘Sometimes things take longer then we want to happen, but if you really want something, then ya need to be willin’ to wait for it, even if it’s a long time an’ ya have to work hard. Havin’ to wait an’ work hard for somethin’ makes it even more special when ya get it.’ So for weeks Peony tried to be patient as she continued to care for the egg, keepin’ it warm and talkin’ to it about all the fun they would have together when it finally hatched.”
I made the egg in the nest start to quiver and shake as Blair told about the egg hatching. The little Peony snoozing beside the egg jumped up and started to happily dance in response to my thoughts. “Then one fine mornin’ Peony awoke to see the egg movin’. It shuddered an’ shook. It bounced an’ jiggled. Peony danced happily as the egg cracked an’ then cracked again, finally fallin’ apart as her new friend appeared.” I made the egg quickly vanish leaving a tiny little dragon in its place. “It was no great bird that hatched as Peony had imagined, but instead a tiny pink dragon that thought Peony was ‘er mama. This was no’ what Peony had been expectin’, but Peony was patient an’ worked hard to care for it, an’ they became the very best of friends.”
By then the twins had finished brushing my hair and were ready to start braiding, but they stopped to applaud with Tasha and Vanessa as the story ended. I blushed a bit at that and muttered, “Mom coulda’ done better.”
“Yuir jus’ learning about your powers, Mom had hers for years before I was born,” Blair chastised before smiling at me. “Okay, we did yuir favorite story, now let’s do mine before I have to leave you girls to sleep.”
We were near the end of Princess Peony, Periwinkle Pony, and the Pirates when I began to feel the strain of using and controlling so many constructs. Still I felt that I wasn’t doing badly for a first timer. The story needed a lot of constructs with the tiny dragon Peaches, Peony, Periwinkle the pony, the pirate ship, and the pirates, not to mention the tiny little cannonballs. Periwinkle wasn’t so much a pony as a small Pegasus of sorts; pony-sized with little wings and a horn on her forehead, so I was working with a lot of fairly elaborate constructs. I blame that for my mistake.
There was this big scene with Peony riding Periwinkle through the air while they and Peaches dodged cannonballs fired from the pirate ship. I was so focused on moving all the constructs and quickly creating and moving the cannonballs that I started pushing too much energy into the pinball-sized cannonballs. At first I wasn’t too concerned about them being a bit unstable and seeming to vibrate to whatever sense let me control my constructs, but then they started actually exploding when they hit the floor and leaving scorch marks roughly six inches in diameter on the carpet.
“Whoa incoming!” Vanessa half-shrieked as she scrambled backward and away from the area I had been constructing the story in.
*Cease fire Merida!* Tasha shouted into my mind as she teleported back toward Shu’s bed.
The twins, who had been braiding my hair and trying to watch the story at the same time had also jumped back a bit, yanking on my hair in the process and causing me to yelp and lose all concentration. The constructs vanished, leaving us all staring at the scorch marks on the floor. “Wot the hell was tha’?”
“You’re asking us?! Those were your cannonballs!” Tasha snapped, gesturing wildly at the scorch marks.
“I think that Merida is just tired,” Blair suggested, “this power is still new to her and she was trying to control a lot there. We were also going for close to an hour non-stop so it’s understandable.”
“But those things actually exploded!” Tasha pressed.
I swallowed the lump in my throat trying not to think about what would have happened if it had been a larger construct as I offered an explanation. “I think I might ‘ave pushed too much energy intae them an’ they became unstable.” What if I had hurt one of them, or worse killed one? I had killed before of course, plenty of times, but they were always people who deserved it, never innocent kids, and I had always been in control of myself at the time. I hadn’t really been in control then though had I? I’d been trying to show off and do too much and had ignored something important. What if I did it again in a more serious situation? What if I couldn’t fully control these powers? I wanted to crawl into a deep hole, as far as I could from the others.
“I’ll say they were unstable!”
“You’re not helping Tasha,” Vanessa snapped, glowering at the older girl. “Can’t you see that she feels bad enough already?”
“I… I’m sorry, if you hadn’t noticed I tend to freak out easily,” Tasha mumbled looking away guiltily.
“We’ve noticed, but you’re going to have to get used to weird shit happening around us, because weird shit is our life now. We all need to stick together, not start snapping at each other whenever we get surprised,” Vanessa told her as she came and took my hand in hers. “It’s okay Mer, we’re all fine, nobody’s hurt and we know you didn’t mean it. You were doing fine until then, it’s like Blair said, you’re just tired and you were trying to do too much.”
“Just think of this as another aspect of your powers that you need to learn to control, I think yuir doin’ fine so far, Mom would be proud,” my sister assured me as she reached over to hug me. Then she hugged the others as well before saying, “I should be headin’ off to ‘report’ and search for the source of that energy field though, you girls finish braidin’ her hair and then ya should all get some sleep.” Then she left the room with the food cart, leaving us to ourselves.
I didn’t say much other than, “Good night” as Blair left and I was left deep in my own dark thoughts, barely managing a “Thanks” for the twins with a sad sigh once they had finished braiding my hair and tied it off. The braid was really heavy, but at least it was mostly out of my way. I still kind of wanted to find a hole to hide in, far away from the others, but maybe just hiding under my blankets once the lights were out would do.
“Awwww, I wanted to know what happened with Periwinkle Pony,” Shu said as she returned to her bed.
“Isn’t that obvious?” Mei replied with a giggle. “She went to Princess Peony’s for a sleepover and they all became bestest friends.” The gold aura from earlier appeared around her and a life-sized Periwinkle, looking just like my construct, with the colors that Blair had described in the story, and very much alive appeared beside her own bed as she climbed in and under the covers.
I climbed under my own covers as Vanessa snatched up a bikini top that Blair had thought would be useful for her while in the bathtub and headed to the bathroom to get comfortable in her own ‘bed’. Tasha turned out the lights and the room dropped into near total darkness until my eyes adjusted. I watched the others until well after they had fallen asleep, making a mental note that Periwinkle had vanished almost as soon as Mei had drifted off. I thought I was the only one awake when I heard Tasha in the bed beside mine say, “I’m sorry Merida… I shouldn’t have overreacted, I just… panic sometimes. I’m actually a little jealous of you, you always seem so in control and sure of yourself despite everything happening and I’m not sure how you manage it, since I have a feeling that you have the most to adjust to of any of us. Please don’t let what I said bother you, it wasn’t really your fault and we need you too much.”
![]() |
Chapter 6 Escape Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
“Who the hell are you, and how did you get that information?” the General’s voice half growled on the other end.
Day two of our captivity, started with ‘Jade’ and Phantom bringing in breakfast. Phantom didn’t stay long and, as we both spent most of the time she was there glaring at one another, I noticed that she was trying to hide the odd wince of pain whenever she moved or turned too quickly. I knew just how much broken ribs hurt, but she had gotten off easy in my opinion so I didn’t exactly feel much sympathy for her. Once we had all made a show of hugging and happily chatting with ‘Jade’ though, Phantom left after a brief threat for me to behave myself, ‘or else’. I wasn’t really feeling too great myself so I merely gave her an unladylike snort as she made her little threat and left.
Breakfast turned out to be a variety of sugary kids’ breakfast cereals, milk, and some orange juice. Tasha’s sixth sense had warned us that the bastards had spiked the milk this time around so we all had to eat the cereal dry, but at least the orange juice was drug-free. After we had gotten dressed we began working with our powers while Blair tried to get some idea of exactly what they were, though she would have been able to do that, and test our limits, better in her lab. Most of our powers seemed somewhat obvious, except for the twins, but Blair was concerned that there could be secondary more passive abilities as well or physiological issues, particularly with me and Vanessa.
To tell the truth I was having similar concerns. I had not slept well, and not just because I had been blaming myself for losing concentration the night before. In the early hours of the morning I had started to get cramps in my abdominal area and they had been getting progressively worse the whole morning. By the time Blair had left us, to ‘report in’ and try to find the source of the signal interference, I was feeling very uncomfortable and in a bit of pain, though I tried not to show it to the others. I didn’t dare practice with my powers either though, for fear of blowing something up.
I staggered to the bathroom, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the cramps and the feeling like someone had been poking and twisting my insides with a rusty bayonet. It was as I pulled down my underwear and sat down to go about my business that I noticed the small blood stain. There was blood dripping into the toilet as well from between my legs. "Something’s wrong! The change must have damaged me inside!" My soldierly discipline collapsed as I started to panic, uncertain what to do. I tried to get a grip on myself. "No dying until you finish the mission. Get the girls safely out of here first!"
I just sat there uncertain of what to do. I couldn’t let the girls see me like this, especially the twins. They couldn’t know about this. They all needed me to be the strong one and get them through this. A knock at the bathroom door made me jump and I winced at the discomfort it caused me. “Mer, are you okay? You’ve been in there a while,” Vanessa’s voice came through the door sounding concerned. I sat there frozen, unsure of what to do. I needed to say something to reassure her that I was okay, but the words just wouldn’t come to me.
The door was thrown open and Vanessa rushed in. When she saw me sitting there staring at my blood-stained panties she quickly shut the door. “Oh, okay, you’re just having your period, do you want me to grab you some of the tampons or pads Blair bought?” Then she seemed to realize that I was in shock. “OMG… this is your first isn’t it? Didn’t your mom or Blair give you ‘the talk’?”
As what she was saying penetrated my panicked thoughts I broke down crying. I couldn’t be sure if I was happy that I didn’t seem to be dying, or upset that this officially put the final nail in Maddock’s coffin, though it was probably a mix of both. I hadn’t even thought of that as an explanation; the women in my life never really advertised that they were on the rag, I never asked, and I certainly never thought that it would ever apply to me. Vanessa held me while I cried and gave me ‘the talk’, then once we had both finished she got a new pair of the cartoon panties and some tampons and panty liners for me from the hygiene stuff that Blair had bought us and showed me how to use both of the latter.
“I thought I was dyin’,” I admitted once I managed to calm down. “I thought tha’ somethin’ wen’ wrong when I changed, I didnae e’en think o’ this. Tae be fair though, this is only ma second day as a girl, an’ ma new body ne’er came wit’ an owner’s manual.”
“Second day as a girl?” the mermaid repeated before a pensive expression settled onto her face, replaced quickly by realization. “OMG you were a guy before?! That makes so much sense! The way you move, how you told me you were different before, how much you were freaked out about things like your new looks, how your own sister didn’t know who you were, and how you seem to know nothing about being a girl.”
“Aye,” I admitted, unable to look her in the face. “I was older too, part o’ a Spec Ops team sent in tae rescue ya girls. Phantom killed ma whole team an’ I could’nae stop the bomb, so I hid in one o’ the cells. The girl in there jus’ faded intae nothin’ an I guess Phantom thought I was ‘er when she collected us, ‘cause I became a girl aboot the same age.”
Once we left the bathroom together, I told the others the whole story, minus any sensitive military details, since I didn’t figure that there was any point in hiding it anymore. “That’s got to suck,” Tasha said as she looked me over sadly. You got a gender swap and you look like the one of the youngest here. Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable? Your body I mean.”
I considered for a moment how to explain it to them before finally responding. “Only this new complication, but tha’s prob’ly ‘cause I was no’ expectin’ it, an’ the cramps an’ such. Blair tol’ me once aboot wot ‘appens when we Activate. Powers and form kin be heavily influenced by wot yuir thinkin’, feelin’, or the conditions ya Activated in. I was worried aboot all o’ ya girls an’ ya were mostly really young, so tha’ sorta explains why I’m so young an’ look like ma sister. But since there’s often trauma involved when folks Activate, yuir H Chromosomes try tae spare ya more trauma and kin alter yuir mind tae be comfortable wit’ yuir new form. Ma body feels… right tae me since I woke up yesterday, an’ and tha’s been scarin’ me. I tried thinkin’ o’ m’self as a guy last night while lyin’ awake, picturin’ m’self in ma old body an’… it made me feel sick. I dinnae think I could go back, but I ne’er wanted tae be a girl, an’ I ‘ave no idea how tae be one.”
“Don’t worry Merida, we’re gonna teach you to be the best girl ever!” Mei encouraged, looking toward her sister and the pixie she had summoned earlier for confirmation and grinning like a maniac.
The pixie nodded as Shu did the same, with a grin that matched her sister’s. “We’re gonna totes make you the girliest girl ever!”
“I’m all for helping her adjust and learn,” Vanessa put in calmly, “but maybe we should take it slow and let her ease into it girls. I mean like sure we can teach her all this stuff, but she needs to be able to put it into practice at her own pace.”
At supper time Blair came in looking a bit rushed and checking her watch after getting the food cart in place. “Okay girls, eat fast and make sure ya give yuir nightgowns and anythin’ else that ya want to bring with ya to Shu to put away. We have exactly twenty-seven minutes before that mini EMP goes off an’ then my tracker start’s transmittin’ an’ everything goes into high gear. Merida, as soon as the lights go out, get yuir force field up an’ try callin’ in yuir contacts. Ya shouldn’t have any problems getting’ a signal, I built that phone myself, we could be a mile underground an’ it would still work. Two miles might be pushin’ it though.”
We all ate as quickly as possible after being told which foods were safe to eat and then Shu opened one of her holes in the air and stared shoving in practically everything that Blair had brought for us the other day, except for what we were currently wearing. We had barely finished when the lights flickered for a moment and then went out completely. I summoned my force field immediately, bathing the room in a ruddy light as I started dialing the number that my team members had been instructed to only use as a last resort.
“Hello,” General Nelson’s voice came up as he picked up. It was an encrypted cell phone that he kept for situations where a team was in deep shit and wasn’t sure who else they could trust. I was only using it because I sounded like a little girl now and didn’t want the switchboard giving me the runaround because they thought I was playing a prank.
I quickly jumped into what I had to say before he could say anything more. “General Nelson I ‘ave a message fer ya from Cpt. Maddock Ainsely. ‘Mad Mac’ is in the lion’s den as lone wolf, the pack ‘as been hunted an’ he needs support from Alpha Wolf. Identification confirmation is three-se’en-charlie-foxtrot, whiskey-se’en-four-one, alpha-six-two-nine-romeo.”
“Who the hell are you, and how did you get that information?” the General’s voice half growled on the other end.
“I cannae explain now Sir, but ‘tis me, Cpt. Ainsley, an’ I could really use some backup ‘ere. I’m in Omega’s ‘eadquarters wit’ the HAA inside agent an’ four o’ the kidnapped girls, an’ attemptin’ extraction. HAA agents should be en route soon, I dinnae ken the location so yuir gonna ‘ave tae trace this cell signal or coord’nate wit’ HAA.”
“If you’re Ainsley, then what did I say to your team before you left the base?” the General asked.
“Ya tol’ us tae come back in one piece an’ the drinks would be on you. An’ then ya tol’ me tae take some time and visit ma damn sister while I was ‘ere.”
“Good enough, I have a feeling that we’re going to be having a long talk when I get there soldier, but I’m glad that at least two of you got out of that mess alive. I’ll have local units coordinate with Agent Smith from HAA and I’ll be on the first plane I can get there. You keep yourself and those girls alive until help arrives, that’s an order.”
“Aye Sir!” I replied as I disconnected the call. Then I checked the text that had come in while I was talking to the General and smiled as I turned to Blair and the others. “Help is on the way. Andy said tha’ they got yuir location an’ are mobilizing, an’ General Nelson is gonna ‘ave local military coordinate wit’ them.”
“Okay, let’s get the hell out of here then an’ find an exit,” Blair said with a nod.
“We all stick t’gether,” I ordered everyone. “Co’er the twins an’ keep yuir eyes open. Tasha let us know the minute somethin’ feels off. ‘Nessa, get as much water as ya think ya kin ‘andle afore we leave this room, your prob’ly gonna need it. Mei, we’ll hold yuir power in reserve in case we need a surprise. Shu try tae keep on yuir toes an’ stick close, I know yuir power is no’ suited for combat. Blair, use the strength an’ durability from yuir suit tae try an’ keep me an’ ’Nessa covered.”
Once we were all prepared we exited the door into a hallway with a lot of similar doors. The halls seemed to be cut from stone rather than built, so I guessed that we were actually underground. At least they had emergency lighting so we could see where we were going without my force field as the only light. “This is the female dorms area, male dorms are on the other side of the complex an’ there’s a guarded steel door in the common area tha’ I think may lead outside,” Blair explained as we followed her.
“Shit, someone’s coming!” Tasha gasped as she pointed down the hall in the direction that we were going.
I turned to look at Vanessa who was hovering off the ground with her lower half in a large sphere of water. “As soon as ya see ‘em hit ‘em wit’ a water blast.” I didn’t like putting that much pressure on her, but she was really the only one of us with ranged abilities and we didn’t have any weapons.
A dark-haired woman walked around the corner ahead of us and a burst of water flew past me to nail her square in the chest, just as she noticed us. The blast sent her flying back a good six feet where she got up laughing. “Nice try kiddies, I actually felt that, but I have Cat three invulnerability, so if that was your best shot you should all just pack it in and go back to your room like good girls.”
“So much fer stealth,” I muttered, launching myself toward the woman as quickly as I could, while creating a boxing glove construct around my fist and pouring enough energy into it to make it wildly unstable. She may have had invulnerability, but she didn’t carry herself like someone who knew how to fight and I seemed to be both faster and stronger whenever I had my force field on. I needed to take advantage of that and hit as hard and fast as I could and hope that the explosive properties of the energy combined with my strength and speed would have some sort of effect.
I nailed her in the solar plexus with a loud explosion and enough force to send her flying back, into and then through the thick rock wall twenty feet ahead of us. “Let’s move! We dinnae wan’ tae be ‘ere when they come tae investigate.”
We tore off at a run, all of us sticking close together, as Blair led us down hallways and into the common area where the door she mentioned was. That’s where Phantom and four others were waiting, three men and an Asian woman in bright yellow spandex. Phantom wore a vicious smile as we all ran into the room and stopped cold. “You can kill that traitor Jade, but the boss wants the others alive,” she instructed. “It looks like they’ll have to learn the hard way now.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing tha’ I’m neither Jade nor a traitor,” my sister replied while deactivating her disguise and removing her mask and hood. Then she casually added, “Engage combat mode.” Her bodysuit exploded at the seams as whatever she was wearing beneath it expanded, covering her in some sort of dark green power armor with a helmet, a full face plate, and a pair of what I thought might be weapons on her forearms that were humming loudly. Then a pair of tiny missiles about the size of ballpoint pens launched from her shoulders straight at Phantom.
Phantom quickly teleported out of the way making a grab for Tasha as she reappeared, though Tasha had already teleported away herself. The missiles though, kept along their intended path, right past where Phantom had been and hit the walls to either side of the large pair of steel doors, which exploded outward. Two of the people Phantom had with her failed to move quickly enough and were caught in the blast, falling to the floor, either unconscious or dead.
I went after Phantom as Vanessa launched high pressure water blasts at the woman in yellow, who was apparently a speedster as she kept deftly avoiding her attacks and Blair attacked the last of the three men who suddenly burst into flames. "Blair! 'Nessa! Switch opponents!” I called out as Phantom avoided another of my attacks. “Tasha! Get the twins outside an’ find cover!” Now Blair was firing energy blasts from her forearms at the speedster, one almost hitting and succeeding in getting the woman’s attention while Vanessa was raining little water blasts at the pyromorph and obviously hurting him. Tasha had already led the twins outside, so it looked like I could focus completely on Phantom now. She was toying with me though, constantly teleporting out of my reach and refusing to give me an opening.
That’s when it hit me, “I don’t need an opening, she does. She’s waiting for my powers to give out and, given our first fight, I have a pretty good idea of where she would attack once they do.” I smiled to myself and then forced myself to put a strained look on my face as I made the energy of my force field flicker and fade, instead redirecting my energy into a construct as Phantom vanished once again.
“Huuuuurk,” the teleporter’s voice croaked out from behind me.
I turned and gave her a cold smile as I saw her impaled through the chest by the sword I had formed in the air behind me. I placed my hand on the hilt of the weapon and twisted it. “I’ve had a bad couple o’ days. Ma team was killed, I was left fer dead or worse, ma whole body was changed, an’ now I’m in a right pissy mood an’ bleedin from a part o’ ma body I didnae e’en ‘ave two days ago, an’ it’s all yuir fault! I tell ya what though bitch, if ya manage tae survive we’ll play again sometime. Or maybe no’.” I could see the recognition in her eyes as I twisted the blade once more, then the light left her eyes and she collapsed to the floor in a dead heap.
The pyromorph was put out and Blair had given him a good solid punch to knock him unconscious for good measure. “Where’s the speedster?” I asked.
“Over there,” Blair replied, pointing toward the ruined doorway where the woman was twitching on the floor like a fish out of water. “I overloaded her nervous system, she won’t be goin’ anywhere fast fer a while. She managed to call fer reinforcements though so we need to figure out what to do about tha’. The HAA can follow my locator to this general location, but my GPS puts us somewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains an’ its gettin’ dark. They’ll probably be usin’ choppers with search light to find us, so it could take a while.”
We went outside to join the others and I quickly explained the plan I came up with. “Okay, Mei if’n anyone comes out those doors afore our reinforcements arrive I want ya tae use yuir powers tae create a distraction. I dinnae care what ya make appear so jus’ make it the biggest an’ scariest thing ya kin think of aye?”
Okay Merida, I’ll do my best,” she promised.
I turned to the others and laid out the rest of the plan. “Tasha, yuir gonna keep in contact wit’ me while I go an’ make sure the choppers can see where we are. Blair an’ ‘Nessa, yuir gonna ‘ave to be ready to fight in case Mei’s distraction doesn’t work an’ if tha’s the case Tasha will call me back.”
“I hope I have enough water left, I think I only have enough for a couple more blasts,” Vanessa told us with an uncertain sigh.
“I stored some away in case we needed it when we escaped, we should have close to five gallons,” Shu offered with a smile before a look of concentration settled over her face. “Just a sec… no that one has our nighties and stuff. Nope that’s the yucky drugged food, I should get rid of all that. Aha there it is!”
Water started pouring out from nowhere above Vanessa’s head and the mermaid quickly added it to her pool with a grin. “Thanks Shu, that was good thinking,” she said, still beaming at her.
“Okay good, we’re set then,” I said, smiling at Shu’s forethought. “I kin hear choppers in the distance, I’ll go get their attention.” Then I approached the cliff face that the steel doors had been camouflaged in by some brush before my sister blew the hell out of them both. It was nearly a ninety degree rock face, but it looked like it went pretty high and I wanted some altitude so the choppers could see me.
Climbing a cliff in the dark while in a dress is not something I recommend, it was dangerous and a little scary even with my force field. I nearly fell once before I thought to add claw-like constructs to the ends of my fingers to make it easier to get a solid grip. I managed to make good time though, getting to a fairly high rock ledge where I hoped the choppers could see the light from my force field, they were really close now and I could see their searchlights approaching. That was when Tasha’s voice said, *We have a large group coming at us from inside the mountain, Mei is about to do her thing.*
As soon as Mei did her thing I knew it, it was pretty hard to miss after all. I just stared for a second and then looked upward. “Oh ma God… zilla?” The creature vanished only a few minutes later, though I had heard more than a few frightened screams from below by that time.
As the king of kaiju vanished Tasha was in my head once again. *Mei couldn’t hold it, she just passed out. It was enough to scare most of them back into the base, but we’re still outnumbered, we might need you down here soon.*
I waved frantically for the choppers, torn between reinforcements and the girls. The girls were my mission, maybe even my friends, though so they had to take priority. I stepped off the cliff trusting in my force field to keep me safe, but instead of falling I just stood there in midair. “Wait the same thing happened when I kicked Phantom, I just floated until I cut out my powers. Maybe if I…” I concentrated on my force field like I would one of my constructs, willing it to move forward. Much to my surprise it did. “Holy shit I think I can fly.” I thought with a grin as I moved myself to the ground as quickly as I felt that I safely could.
I hovered above the battle, taking it in. Blair was shooting people with those blasters on her arms, and there were already four on the ground in twitching heaps. Tasha was carrying Mei in her arms and teleporting away anytime anyone even came close to connecting with an attack, while Vanessa was trying to keep herself and Shu safe by firing water blasts at anyone who got too close. She was barely holding off a large man with silvery skin so I flew at him as quickly as I could, unloading with an explosive punch and sending him flying. I had failed to notice the small red-skinned woman with the pair of submachine guns though and I was just in time to see her fire at Shu and Vanessa as I turned around.
“Look out!” I shouted.
Shu acted quickly and the spray of bullets vanished in mid-air, well most of them anyway. A few buried themselves in the darkened brush I think, but I was more concerned about the one that got past the water shield that Vanessa was trying to put up and hit her in the shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. In fury I grabbed the red-skinned woman and threw her into a tree before going to check on my friend. I hardly noticed as the choppers hovered overhead and began dropping our reinforcements as I looked for any sign of injury in the light provided by my force field. “Are ya okay ‘Nessa?” I could only see a nasty bruise and I was a bit confused since I was almost certain that she had taken a bullet.
“Yeah, that hurt like a bitch, I guess my shield slowed it down after all,” she said while rubbing at the bruise.
We were quickly joined by the others and Blair was looking her over as well, “Looks like it’s just a bruise, you should be fine,” she said with relief.
The cleanup went well, HAA agents and the military units backing them up managed to either neutralize or capture all of the Omega members in the base. Without Phantom to teleport them they couldn’t get away, and only a few of them were any real threat to the attack teams. The boys were freed and after some psych assessments they would likely be returned to the orphanages they were taken from. We were allowed to rest once they figured out that we were the group of girls and the HAA’s inside woman. Now we were on our way to Los Angeles Air Force Base, where Agent Smith and General Nelson would be debriefing us, as soon as the General’s plane landed.
“You kids did well,” one of the pilots, who had introduced himself as Captain Phillips, told us once we had landed at the base. “You have good heads on your shoulders and you were like regular superheroes when we got there. We would have taken a lot longer to find you if one of you hadn’t shot that bright red flare. We followed that and got there just in the nick of time.”
“Tha’ was no’ a flare, tha’ was me,” I corrected him.
“Well good job then Flare,” he said with a chuckle and a wink. “Now let’s get you all to the base housing so you can rest until you can be debriefed.”
“Flare… tha’s no’ a bad name,” I mumbled to myself as we were led to the car that was waiting for us.
![]() |
Chapter 7 Family Matters Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
It was after midnight when the General’s plane arrived and Blair and I were the only ones still awake. Most of the girls were sleeping in cots and Vanessa was in the bathtub of one of the house’s two bathrooms. I was sitting on one of the other cots wrapped in Blair’s arms. She had removed her exoskeleton/power armor earlier and was now wearing some standard issue Air Force fatigues provided by the female Airman who had been assigned to see to our needs for the night as we stayed in one of the empty on-base houses. “Are ya feelin’ any better?” she asked after we had been sitting like that for a while.
The adrenaline rush during our escape and focusing on keeping the others safe had distracted me from the discomfort of my period, but once we had settled in to the small house that had been assigned for us to use for the night that discomfort had returned with a vengeance. Once Vanessa had informed Blair about my situation though, my sister had sent the airman for a bottle of Midol and the first dose was beginning to kick in. “Aye, a wee bit,” I admitted.
“You’ve had a rough couple o’ days,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry that I didn’t contact ya about tha’ mission for the HAA, and I’ll be here for ya through whatever happens next. I’ll miss the old you, but I always did want a sister.”
“Aye, I kinda figured tha’ from the nickname ya gave me an’ all the times ya used me as a dress-up doll when we were little. Now it’s real though,” I replied with a wry chuckle. “Well a’ least I dinnae feel like a guy trapped in a girl’s body, but the mental transition, an’ gettin’ used tae bein’ a kid is gonna be a right bitch.”
“You’ll have plenty of help with that, I’ll be with you every step o’ the way, and the girls will too,” Blair vowed, squeezing me tighter in her arms. “I meant it when I said I want ya all to come live wi’ me an’ Andy. I feel bad though, I had it so easy when I Activated; I was still me with no physical changes, school got easier, an’ no showy and destructive powers tae learn how tae control. Then I see you an’ Vanessa an’…”
“Nae Blair,” I told her firmly to end that train of thought. “This is no’ yuir fault, so dinnae e’en think it. None o’ us blame ya, especially me. Ya did yuir best to get those kids out o’ there afore somethin’ ‘appened, an’ ya did yuir best tae keep us ‘appy, safe, an’ prepared fer escape while we were in tha’ place. I dinnae blame ya fer any o’ this an’ neither dae the others.”
A knock at the door interrupted us and Blair got up to answer it to reveal General Nelson standing there. “Good evening, I’m General Aaron Nelson. You must be Miss Ainsley, with the HAA?”
“I am,” my sister admitted, “though technically I don’t work for them, I’m a free-lance contractor.”
The General nodded before speaking again. “And you’re Cpt. Ainsley’s sister as well, or so I’ve been told, your brother is a damn fine soldier and I’m glad he’s still alive. I wanted to let you know that we’ve decided to wait until oh-nine-hundred to debrief you. You could all probably use some rest and there are some complications that we’ll need to deal with before we’re ready for your reports. I was hoping to have a few words with Cpt. Ainsley though if he’s available.”
“Aye Sir!” I said stepping out from behind my sister and giving the General a crisp salute. “Ma apologies fer bein’ out o’ uniform Sir, but it was burnt tae ash an’ prob’ly would’nae fit well anyway.”
“At ease Captain,” he ordered while looking me over and then looking at my sister once again before turning his eyes back on me. Then he muttered something about “complications” that I couldn’t quite hear and sighed before giving me a sad look, “Follow me soldier, I have a promise to keep.” Blair looked uncertain, but he was quick to reassure her. “Don’t worry Miss Ainsley, I’ll have him… her back soon enough.”
He sat me in a jeep and drove me to the base’s office buildings where he had been set up with an office for while he was visiting. Once he had grabbed a brown paper bag from the glove compartment we headed inside and to the office that he was using. Despite the late hour there was someone sitting inside, a woman dressed in Army fatigues. I didn’t recognize her; she had a Mediterranean complexion, long dark green hair, and looked even shorter than I was. I briefly wondered about how she had made it through basic training, not to mention the green hair had me curious.
As the General and I stepped inside she quickly stood up, showing that she was indeed shorter than me, to snap a salute and call out, “Sir!”
“At ease,” he ordered. “Ainsley, Roper, neither of you are military any more, much less under my command, so I think we can drop the formality.”
“Reaper?!” I exclaimed in shock. The Tabitha that I knew had been a tall and somewhat curvy woman with short-cropped brown hair, nothing like the petite woman who stood before me now.
“Mac?!” she half screamed back staring at me wide-eyed.
“You both Activated as a result of the zeta bomb,” the General explained as he pulled a bottle of Scotch and three plastic cups from the paper bag. “It seems that neither of you was able to escape its range. I lost ten good men and two of the best units I have ever commanded in that Omega fiasco; all six from DeMarco’s team and four from yours. I lost the two of you as well, but I’m glad that you’re both still alive. I promised drinks if you came back in one piece and you both did.”
“Yeah, but it looks like those pieces are different now,” Tabitha muttered. “Seriously though general, she’s just a kid, you can’t seriously be thinking about giving her alcohol.”
“Speak fer yerself tiny! I bet ya cannae e’en manage one drink afore passin’ out,” I snapped back playfully.
“One drink isn’t going to kill her,” the General said with a shrug. “We both know she’s an adult on the inside and this will probably be the last chance she gets until she looks twenty-one again. Besides, the dead deserve a toast and so do the two of you.” He half-filled each of the cups and placed one in front of each of us.
“Tae good men who died too soon, an’ mutant women,” I offered in toast. We tapped our cups together and I took a slow sip of the Scotch in mine. It was good stuff and wanted to savor it since I probably wouldn’t be able to drink again for a very long time. “Sooo I see tha’ I’m no’ the only one wit’ a new look,” I finally said after a long silence for our fallen comrades.
“Yeah it’s a bit weird to get used to,” Tabitha agreed with a shrug. “I can change my appearance, but unfortunately it only lasts a few hours and then I’m back to this. Plus I can’t seem to control what my new appearance is going to be… or what powers come with it. The expert on Hypers that they got to look at me thinks that my only real power is to temporarily reset my Archetype.”
“I got a force field an’ I kin fly an’ make energy constructs. If I put too much energy intae them they tend tae explode if they ‘it somethin’ though,” I told her before gesturing at my whole body and adding, “I coulda dun wi’out this, but its no’ tha’ bad I s’pose.”
“Just wait until you get your first period, assuming you can. Are you… y’know complete?” she asked.
“Aye I go’ tha’ full package, an’ I’m already havin’ tha’ time o’ the month. Why dae ya think I need a drink so fookin’ bad,” I muttered as I took another long sip of the Scotch, letting it rest on my taste buds before allowing it to slowly make its way down my throat.
“Ouch, you never do things by half measures do you Maddock?” Tabitha said with a wry chuckle.
“Seems no’,” I agreed bitterly. “Call me Merida though Tabby, it’s wot e’eryone else is callin’ me.”
Tabitha giggled and snorted, nearly wasting a good pull of Scotch. “Let me guess, a kid decided on that name. I watched that movie with my niece. I have to admit the resemblance is striking, especially with that accent of yours.”
“Twins, an’ they would no’ take nae fer an answer,” I replied with a shrug as I took another sip of my drink. “Tis as good a name as any I s’pose, an’ I’m gettin’ used tae it.”
General Nelson took a long pull of his own Scotch before pouring himself another. “We have someone coming in from DC to help establish a new identities for both of you tomorrow, so you should both be thinking about a new full name. Cpt. Maddock Ainsley and Lt. Tabitha Roper both died in the attack on Omega.”
“What?!” Tabitha and I both blurted out in unison.
“We should have discharged you both or offered you early retirement after the Liberty Accords, but we didn’t and now we need to cover this up before the wrong people start to get the wrong ideas and it becomes an even bigger mess. These orders come from the top and you’ll both be well compensated for going along with it and keeping silent. We’ll sort out the details after you’ve both been debriefed,” the General stated mater-of-factly.
“Shit,” Tabitha muttered and I could only nod in agreement as we both downed the rest of our Scotch.
I woke up around oh-six-hundred hours feeling absolutely horrible. I had only had the one glass of Scotch the night before and I was a bit disgusted that I had become such a lightweight. As I rushed to the unoccupied bathroom to worship the porcelain goddess I silently promised myself that I would never drink again in this body, well at least not until I was twenty-one again. Once I had finished throwing up I flushed the toilet and sat down to take care of a few other pressing needs. First there was the pressing weight in my bladder, followed by changing my tampon and panty-liner, which set me off throwing up again. Once I had finished dry heaving I got to my feet again and cleaned up, suddenly very glad that my hair had been re-braided the night before.
I wanted to go for a run to try and shake off how lousy I was feeling, but sadly my lack of clothing options, not to mention running shoes, would have made that difficult. Instead I popped a couple Midol and ran through my old morning fitness routine, minus the run. I had just finished when the alarm that Blair had set off for seven thirty went off. I quickly helped her to wake the others and once we were all dressed and ready for the day, she had Shu put away our sleepwear and other supplies from wherever she was keeping them and retrieve the small purse that she had been using as Jade.
The new Airman posted outside the house drove us to one of the on-base fast food places so that Blair could buy us all breakfast. It was nothing fancy, just some McDonald’s hotcakes and such, but we all enjoyed it, especially the twins. They had been in an orphanage since they were three and never had many opportunities to eat fast food or junk food before, until the pizza that Blair had brought us during our first day of captivity together. We were all in a better mood as we headed to our debriefing, even me since I had managed to keep my breakfast in my stomach.
The debriefing with General Nelson and Agent Smith was long and arduous. First they wanted to get the complete story from Blair, Tabitha and me. At least we wouldn’t have to write any reports since Tabby and I were both officially dead and the HAA wasn’t going to admit to using a Hyper for the infiltration. Another agent would ghostwrite a report based on Blair’s interview and say that a freelance contractor had accomplished the mission without naming names and Blair would be paid the fee that she had originally been offered for the mission with a bonus.
That was when Blair had insisted on being able to formally adopt the girls. I had thought that Agent Smith would have objected, but he eagerly agreed to that concession. It seemed that the four mutant girls were a complication that nobody was sure how to deal with, since they couldn’t really be sent back to their orphanages. My sister was saving them the headaches, so after a brief phone call the HAA were willing to pay out her bonus as small trust funds for Tasha, Vanessa, and the twins, not huge, but enough for a good start on a college education. They were probably being so agreeable because they really wanted to buy the plans for the infiltration suit that Blair had worn for the mission. They couldn’t be allowed to buy the exoskeleton/power armor that she had worn beneath it, but the infiltration suit was not a weapon in any sense of the word, had been proven effective during her mission, and would be very useful to the HAA in similar missions.
It was after that when the more tricky matters came up, namely me and Tabitha. That’s when the person from DC joined us and Tasha and Vanessa took the twins to wait outside. The new woman was introduced as Tara Miller with the Hyper Protection Program and she immediately got to work. Tabitha would be issued a new identity and set loose with a generous hush-money payment, new identification, a high school diploma, and a well-documented history. She had decided on the name Tanika Jane Weston and planned on going back home to Chicago. She had a sister and niece there that she wanted to see, but she wasn’t sure how she could manage it yet, except maybe at her own funeral as one of Tabitha’s friends.
I was the real problem though, and everyone knew it. My being a minor with absolutely no history would make things easier, but more complicated as well. I would need a name, a guardian, a believable background, and a reason for suddenly being in that new guardian’s life. The name and guardian were easy enough, Blair would be my guardian and I would go by the name Merida Maidie Ainsley, but working out the details was proving frustrating. “You could be Maddock’s daughter, it would explain your military knowledge and lingo,” Agent Smith suggested at one point.
“Nae, she would ‘ave been conceived when I was fifteen or sixteen an’ it’d be easy tae poke holes in the story by speakin’ wit’ anyone I went tae school wit’,” I said shaking my head. “An’ I cannae be ma own younger sister, the age gap is too big ’tween Blair an’ the new me. I dinnae look like Blair’s sister, I look like ‘er bloody daughter.” I grumbled in frustration and looked up too see that everyone else’s faces had lit up like Christmas trees.
“That’s perfect, since she’s going to be your guardian anyway,” Tara said with a grin.
“Ya cannae be serious,” I sputtered, staring at them.
Blair was already doing the math though. “If we say that yuir twelve goin’ on thirteen in late august, it could work. That would put me at just under 20 when you were born. That would have ya born at the end of the year I took off to backpack through Europe after gettin’ my undergraduate degrees and before I started pushin’ for my doctorates. I did all o’ my schooling through the University of Washington so we could easily say that Mom and Da’ helped me care for ya while I was finishin’ school an’ doin’ my residency, since I was livin’ with them an’ commutin’ that whole time.”
“I kin get ‘ow yer gonna explain the adoptions, but ‘ow in hell are ya plannin’ on explainin’ havin’ a biological daughter suddenly showin’ up tae yuir neighbors?” I argued.
“Andy and I only moved to California a few months ago and I’ve been gone most of that time. We’re only renting the place we’re in now until we had time to actually look at houses, so we were planning on moving anyway at some point. We don’t even know any of the neighbors yet and I haven’t had time to set up a medical practice yet either with all o’ the government tech contracts I’ve had in the past year. I’ve practically been a recluse, so people could have easily overlooked the fact that I have a daughter. If anyone does ask, then we were just enjoying the first half of the summer together while the adoptions went through and I decided where I wanted to set up my practice.”
“We could arrange to have Maddock’s Will found, leaving everything to his niece Merida and give your ‘incentive’ to your sister to put into a trust fund for Merida as well,” the General put in.
“Okay, I have late August for her birthday, perhaps the 29th? She’ll be turning thirteen, but I’ll make sure that the school records and transcripts from Tacoma show her to be gifted enough to have skipped a grade so she can start fresh in high school instead of junior high. Things will probably be easier on her that way,” Tara said as she started speed typing on her laptop.
“Wot d’ya mean ‘igh school?” I asked looking around at everyone else in the room, all of them but Tabitha looking surprised at my question.
“Well obviously you’re going to have to go to school like your new sisters to blend in, it would look out of place otherwise,” Agent Smith said with a shrug.
“You’ll do fine, ya got good grades in school the first time, so ya could do even better now,” Blair added. “And we still have three weeks before it starts, so we can help ya adjust a bit.”
“I also despised it the first time, I dinnae think this time is gonna be any different, even if ma gender is,” I grumbled.
“Look at it as a second chance and maybe this time you can go to a good university afterwards, you’ll have the money for it,” Tabitha, or rather Tanika, suggested.
An hour later it was all set up and Blair was signing adoption papers and various documents from Merida’s past which would be backdated and filed in the appropriate schools and government archives. All of the new documents, birth certificates, medical cards, and other necessities were spat out from some special printer in Tara’s briefcase for both Merida and Tanika, and she even printed out official copies of Tasha’s Vanessa’s, and the twins’ birth certificates as well to make things easier for Blair. Arrangements had also been made for military funerals for both Tabitha and Maddock within the next few days and to have their things packed and sent to our new identities. With many thanks and one final salute to the General, we left the office and headed for our new lives. Tanika was getting a lift to Chicago from here on the base and me and my new sisters would be going for lunch and then to our new home.
“Dae I really have tae call ya ‘Mom’?” I grumbled in protest as we approached the girls.
“It’s goin’ to be weird for me too,” Blair complained with a sigh, “but we need to keep up appearances and make sure there are no slip ups, so that means that we both need to get used to doing it all the time. So from now on I’m ‘Mom’ and yuir ‘Merida’. I was planning on havin’ kids someday, but goin’ from none to five is going to take some gettin’ used to.”
“I ken, an’ I understand the reasonin’, but I’m still no’ sure I like it, or havin’ tae go tae ‘igh school ‘Mom’.”
By this time we had approached conversation distance with the girls and Vanessa grinned as she inquired, “Mom? And what’s this about high school?”
“Aye, I’m legally ‘er biological daughter now, ‘an I ‘ave tae start ‘igh school wit’ ya next month,” I replied with a groan. “Ya should all get used to callin ‘er ‘Mom’ too, ‘cause the adoptions are official an’ we’re all sisters now it seems.”
That news was met with excited squealing and group hugs and once everyone had settled down Blair said, “Okay girls let’s go get some lunch, an’ then we have a busy afternoon ahead o’ us.”
![]() |
Chapter 8 Shop 'til You Pop Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
There was a large black SUV waiting for us outside with Andy behind the driver’s seat. Blair hadn’t been able to tell him much of anything before we were debriefed, only that her mission was over and successful and that she would need him to come pick her up and where to do so. He had probably been waiting for a while by this point, but when he saw her approaching he practically jumped out of the car to wrap her up in a hug and a passionate kiss. He was tall and skinny with a pasty complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes, was dressed in a nerdy t-shirt and jeans, and looked more than a little confused by the company Blair was keeping.
Since I figured that she hadn’t been able to tell him anything important yet I decided to mess with him a bit. Once I was sure he was looking my way I put on my very best impatient teen girl expression, placed my hands on my hips, rolled my eyes extravagantly, and spoke as casually as possible. “Ach, get a room will ya? C’mon Da’, kin we get goin’? Mom said we ‘ave a busy day an’ the girls an’ I wan’ tae get tae the mall.”
He stared at me for a moment, completely uncomprehending then his gaze snapped back to Blair, then back to me, and then to the four other girls with us. “Wha?” he finally asked.
Blair was shaking her head and took a brief moment to glare at me before finally scuffing her feet awkwardly, hands clasped behind her back. “Andy… honey… you know how we talked about having kids someday? Well… surprise!”
After Blair had made all of the introductions, and Andy had finally managed to convince himself that it really wasn’t some very strange dream, we all climbed into the vehicle and drove off the base and into the city. As we drove Blair explained how the mission had gone, my role in it and who I was, my new fictional past, the girls’ situation, and her decision to adopt them. Andy was staring uncertainly at me through the rearview mirror as she finished. “I… can’t believe that’s Maddock.”
“Aye, bu’ It’s Merida now,” I stressed. “It seems tha’ the radiation from the bomb does’nae jus’ Activate Hypers, it also turns guys intae l’il girls. We dinnae think it’s contagious, bu’ we ‘ave no’ really tested it yet. Dinnae worry, I’m shoor ya will be fine,” I added as I leaned forward in my seat to pat him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, that’s Maddock all right… sorry I mean Merida,” he quickly corrected with a beleaguered sigh. “Welcome to the family girls. Merida, if you ever need to… you know… talk about things just let me know.”
I appreciated the sentiment, I really did. Much as I liked rattling his cage, Andy always took it in stride. He was a bit of a geek and we never had much in common besides my sister, but he had always been a standup guy and I’d have had to have been blind to not see how much that he and Blair cared for one another. He had probably been worried sick the whole time she was on that mission. “Thanks, I ‘preciate it. It’s you tha’ I feel sorry for though. Yuir the only male in a family o’ se’en now, the only one wi’out super powers, an’ yuir five kids are all teenage girls, or soon will be.”
“I’m doomed,” he agreed, but he managed to say it with a smile.
Our first stop was a drive-thru to get some hamburgers for lunch. It wasn’t the best food, but it was quick and filling, and at the moment that was what counted most. After that we stopped at the bank that Blair used for all of her financial matters. We all waited in the SUV and ate our lunches while ‘Mom’ was inside setting up our trust funds. It took her longer than we would have liked, but she was setting up five trust funds so we all tried to be as patient as possible until she returned and we headed off to our next stop, the mall.
The mall we ended up visiting seemed to be pretty average, there weren’t near as many yuppies or rich brats as I was expecting and our first stop was a beauty salon. It was all a bit girly, but I didn’t much care so long as I got rid of a bit of my heavy burden. The other girls weren’t so bad off, none of them really needed even a trim, and we managed to get me in to see a stylist without an appointment. She spent the whole time gushing about how beautiful and long my hair was. I had promised the others that I wouldn’t have it all hacked off, so I went along with the Vanessa’s recommendation of trimming it down to thigh length. It would still be annoyingly long, but the others wouldn’t complain about it as much, it would be a bit more manageable, and at least I wouldn’t be tripping over it.
I think that Blair was enjoying herself far too much at that point. When the beautician asked if I wanted my ears pierced as well I made sure to ask ‘Mom’ if it was okay, while making very sure that my eyes were saying hell no. Sure she could have just missed seeing that look in my eyes, but I doubted it from the way she was smiling as she said, “I think that’s a great idea, the other girls already have theirs pierced, you should too.” I tried to argue, but when we left the salon to move on to clothes shopping I was burdened with two more holes in my body that I didn’t really want and small silver studs adorning my ears. It might have gone differently if Andy had been there, but as soon as we entered the mall the traitor had wisely left us to look at computers and stuff, leaving me wishing that I could have gone with him to escape what was bound to be a tortuous afternoon and evening.
“C’mon Mer, at least try to look like you’re having fun,” Vanessa chided me as she pulled me along to the ladies room before our big shopping excursion was due to commence. She needed to take a short break from shifting and to wet her skin and tail a bit, since she was starting to get itchy again and I was tagging along since I needed to change my tampon and panty-liner anyway.
“I’ll try” I grumbled back as we entered the bathroom. I paused a moment, uncertain as I took my first step into no-man’s land, but Vanessa dragged me in along behind her without any hesitation. It wasn’t really all that different than the men’s room, a little cleaner and there were no urinals, but those seemed to be the only obvious differences at first glance. Once we were certain the coast was clear Vanessa made her way into a stall while I filled the small spray bottle we had bought at one of the dollar stores with water.
By the time I had entered the stall beside Vanessa’s and slipped the bottle to her underneath the partition she had already gotten her panties off and switched her legs back into a tail. “Ah, sweet relief,” she said with a sigh that was accompanied by the spritzing sound of spraying water. I said nothing as I set about my own, slightly more disgusting task. Once I had wrapped and disposed of the offending feminine hygiene products in the receptacle as Vanessa had instructed me, I replaced them with new ones and left the stall to wash my hands.
I had to wait a few minutes more for my new sister as she shifted her tail back into legs, and then took care of another pressing need before finishing up, getting her panties back on and emerging to wash her own hands. “You know, I never thought I’d say this, but being a mermaid can be a real pain in the ass… or tail,” she said with a sigh as she dried her hands.
“Aye, I cannae imagine ‘ow ‘ard tha’ is fer ya,” I agreed as we left the room and made our way back to where the others were waiting in the food court.
“Okay girls, here’s how we’re goin’ to do this,” Blair stated in a whisper, so that only we could hear, when we joined them at the table. She handed me and Vanessa each a small purse and I noticed that Tasha had one as well. “I’ll take the twins shoppin’ while Vanessa and Tasha will take Merida. There’s some cash in there an’ a prepaid debit card for each of ya with a three thousand dollar limit. It should be more than enough to get everythin’ ya need today if you shop smart. The pin number is the day and month of your birth, remember that Merida.” Seeing that she made a point of using my new name I had to assume that it was for Merida’s birth, not Maddock’s.
Once I had nodded to confirm that I understood she continued quietly speaking. “You’ll need both runnin’ shoes and a pair of nice heels, some makeup, somethin’ nice to wear for a funeral, a light jacket or windbreaker, a larger purse, some pajamas or nightgowns, or in Vanessa’s case some bikini tops, a bathin’ suit, an’ at least a week’s worth of everyday clothing an’ underwear, but more would be better.” She paused to give me a long considering look before adding, “An’ make sure Merida doesn’t get any military fatigues. She can have jeans, shorts, and capris, but I want to see at least three skirts and a nice dress for the funeral for her. Oh, and you’ll all need two sets of clothes that ya can run or exercise in.”
Before we split up to do our shopping we stopped at a cellular store, where Blair bought each of us a new cell phone and had them activated so that we could stay in contact in case any of us got separated. Once we had all programmed in each of our numbers, and Mom’s, into our new phones she left with the twins in hand and Tasha, Vanessa, and I were set loose. Okay, we weren’t so much set loose as the two of them half-dragged me to the nearest lingerie shop targeted toward teens.
“Dae we ‘ave tae start ‘ere?” I complained as they pulled me inside.
“Always start on the inside and work your way outward,” Tasha explained.
Tasha already knew her ‘sizes’ but Vanessa insisted that we both needed to get measured. Apparently I was 34-27-34 and the B cup bras they had me trying on were uncomfortably tight, while the C cups were a little loose. Vanessa suggested that I go for the latter since I would likely grow into them at some point. She had gone up a cup size since Activating and her hips were a bit wider too, something she seemed very pleased about for some reason that escaped me. “Oh nae, tha’ was no’ awkward a’ all,” I grumbled as we started looking through bra and panty sets for our sizes.
“Nuh-uh, oh no you don’t Mer. A girl needs some variety and plain white won’t work with some outfits, you also need at least one strapless bra,” the mermaid scolded me as I tried to get away with picking seven identical plain white sets in my sizes. She allowed me to keep only two of them before adding a nude strapless bra and five lacey sets in black, white, pink, crimson, and emerald.
I was still grumbling about the injustice of it when we made our way into one of those large chain department stores. The idea was that we would be able to find a lot of the stuff we needed there for decent prices, leaving us with more money for extra clothes and the harder to get stuff. First we looked at sleepwear, where I got a white bathrobe and a pair of somewhat plain sleepshirts, one in military camo and the other in black with a skull and crossbones on the chest. I would have preferred pajamas but I couldn’t find anything I liked that wasn’t pink or sickeningly cutesy.
For exercising I got a pair of comfortable black and pink running shoes with a pair of spandex running tops and shorts, one set in dark green and the other in black with pink trim. I wasn’t really too keen on the pink, but in both cases they were both comfortable and on sale. For underneath I got a pair of racerback sports bras, one in black and one in grey, and I also snatched up a three pack of plain white cotton panties in my size. I damn well needed something that didn’t either have cartoon characters on it, or belong in Victoria’s Secret. As for the swimsuit, I didn’t get a choice in the matter, since I was still trying to find something that didn’t expose an embarrassing amount of skin by the time Tasha had picked hers and Vanessa had chosen four bikini tops to double as both sleepwear and swimwear, They ended up choosing an aqua-colored two piece bikini for me that they claimed highlighted my eyes.
The hardest part was finding something for the funeral. I was having a hard time deciding on something, after all it was my funeral so I wanted to look my best. In the end I went with a very simple yet classy black knee-length dress that Tasha had recommended and she and Vanessa had decided on something similar. The shoes that we decided on were just as simple, a pair of black one inch heels, that I felt should be easy enough to walk in.
The rest of the stuff we bought as Tasha and Vanessa dragged me from one end of the mall to the other, though since I didn’t know a lot about girls clothes they pretty much decided on everything for me. First there was the black and pink Hello Kitty backpack purse that they insisted would look cute on me and be easy to carry around. Then there was the matching zip-up Hello Kitty hoodie in place of a jacket. They told me it was because it went so well with the purse, but I was beginning to sense a theme once the dozen pairs of cutesy ankle socks were added. I was just too tired and bored by then to do anything but play along. The rest of the clothes were fairly standard I guess.
For tops it was pretty much standard fare, a couple of ‘pretty’ tunic style blouses, a teal ruffled poets blouse, and a bunch of t-shirts of various colors, most of which I chose myself, though a pink crop top with “Princess” written in sparkly letters across the chest had somehow found its way in there as well. Sadly the girls had taken Blair seriously on the three skirts, which they chose in various lengths and styles: A dark green ankle length, one loose fitting tie-dyed with ruffles that went to about halfway down my shins, and a black mid-thigh-length miniskirt with pink lace trim. The last of the clothes they chose for me consisted of four pairs of capris in various colors and four pairs of jeans which I thought looked painted on, but I was told they were a perfect fit.
By this time I was tired and I wanted to have something that I picked out and actually wanted to wear, something that made me feel secure. We were passing a shoe store when I stopped abruptly and said, “I wan’ tae ‘ave somethin’ tha’ I kin feel comfortable in. Mom said nae tae fatigues, but no’ tae some bloody combat boots.”
The pair of them gave one another a long look and I was seriously wondering if they had been talking with one another this whole time, and possibly Blair as well, with Tasha’s mind speech. Some of the things they had been pushing me to buy, trying to see how far I’d go, how much they could push on me to adapt. I knew that they were trying to help me adjust, but all of this stuff we’d been buying was girl stuff, and it was too much too soon. They had both been taking turns watching me for the entire excursion as well, like they were taking constant measure of just how much I’d be able to handle before I fell apart. Right now they were looking at me like I was going to explode and, given that with me that might just be a very real possibility, they seemed unsure of what to do. Finally Tasha nodded, “Sure we’ll have a look and see what they have.”
They didn’t have any regular style combat boots in my size, so I had to settle for trying on a pair of girl’s knee high combat boots. The cut felt a little odd, but they were black leather combat boots with laces instead of ridiculous looking buckles. Once they were securely fastened they were like an island of normalcy out in this stormy sea of girlie-ness, and at that moment having them on made me feel like maybe my life wasn’t spiraling completely out of my control after all. I bought the damn boots, wore them out of the store, and neither Vanessa nor Tasha said a thing about it.
We had one last stop to make before we met Blair, Andy, and the twins at the food court. Makeup was another of those super-girly things, which explained why they had saved it for last. It also explained why they had let me buy the boots beforehand, they wanted me comfortable. They both found what they wanted or needed fairly quickly and then they descended upon me.
As we looked through the racks of various shades of various products they told me what colors would work best for me with my complexion, hair color, and eyes. Then we got some lip gloss, a fairly large starter makeup kit that would work for me, and a nail care kit with several different colors of polish. At my age I didn’t really need more than lip gloss, but there were times that I might need it or want to look my best. The plan was that I would be getting some so they could at the very least teach me how to use it all properly, even if I didn’t wear it often. I didn’t think that I would need, or want, to use the stuff anytime soon, but Vanessa was still sure to promise that she would teach me whenever I was ready.
When we finally left the store, with our new purchases added to the far too many bags we were already carrying, we were all starting to get tired and hungry. Still, we all piled into one of the mall’s special needs washrooms on the way to meet the rest of the family and locked the door behind us. Vanessa was getting itchy again and, while she could have just given her legs and arms a quick spritzing anywhere, she was self-conscious about doing it where just anyone could see. She and Tasha both also wanted to get out of the dresses and underclothes that we had been wearing for the past few days and into something new, clean, and not associated with our captivity.
I didn’t mind since I had to pee anyway, I figured that I should take care of my monthly visitor again before it became a code red, and I had to agree with them about the dresses. As I was wiping, following my first order of business in the stall, I heard Tahsa say “Catch!” and one of my new, plain white bra and panty sets sailed over the stall door. I fumbled, but somehow managed to catch them before they could hit the floor and without making a mess. By the time I had finished shedding my old clothes, changing into the new underthings, changing my tampon, and adding a panty-liner to the new set of panties I was more than ready to get dressed and be done with all of this, especially since I had to take off my boots to change panties, at least if I didn’t want my new pair stretched out of shape or damaged. The bra had been especially difficult, since it was my first time putting on anything but a sports bra without Vanessa helping me, and the task had been made even more awkward in the tight confines of the bathroom stall.
Vanessa and Tasha had some clothes already set out for me as I padded barefoot over to the sink to wash my hands, my arms filled with my boots and old clothes. They tossed the old clothes in one of the bags while I washed my hands and once I was finished and my hands were dried they started issuing my clothes one piece at a time. First there was the pair of black ankle socks, followed quickly by the black mid-thigh-length miniskirt with pink lace trim and the pink “Princess” crop top. While I put those on, followed by my boots for the sake of my own sanity, Vanessa put everything from my smaller purse and my new cell phone in the Hello Kitty backpack purse and that and the matching hoodie were added to complete my outfit.
I had been about to zip up the hoodie to cover my bare midriff when Vanessa shook her head. “No Mer, keep it open, it looks better that way.” Of course she would think that since she was wearing a similar short skirt and crop top combo, though in her case skirts were just more practical. She hadn’t bought any shorts, jeans or slacks at all and she had already complained more than once about how difficult panties would be while shifting. I sighed and left my midriff exposed, feeling damn near naked as Tasha finished teasing my hair back into its proper style. At least the boots made me feel more confident, and both of my new sisters agreed that they looked good with the outfit. We quickly gathered our bags, and after one last sidelong glance at the unfamiliar teenage girl in the mirror I followed them out to brave the hallways of the mall once again.
Our group had received far too many long appreciative looks from teenage boys, and even some grown men, for my liking as we made our way to the food court. Each time it made my skin crawl. I knew damn well what they were doing and thinking, I used to be one of them, and the mere thought of these people undressing me with their eyes made me feel more than a little nauseous. We were nearly to the safety of the food court when a group of three boys stopped in front of us. They were all about Tasha’s age, sixteen or maybe even seventeen, and the middle one was kind of cute. “Oh God, please tell me I didn’t just think that!”
“Hey, I uhh… haven’t seen you girls around here before.” The tall Latino to the right said awkwardly. “I’m Eddie and that’s Todd and Mike,” he quickly added, pointing to the buff blond surfer-type and then the “cute” dark haired one in turn.
“It’s a big city, but yeah we’re not really from around here,” Tasha said with a shrug.
“We could show you the sights if you want,” Todd offered. “Or we could all go to a movie or something.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but our parents are waiting for us, we’re supposed to be meeting them.”
Mike was looking at me in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable as he smiled and asked, “Maybe we can do something some other time then, hit the beach or something? It could be fun.” I said nothing as Tasha and Vanessa excused us so we could go, with that creep being obvious about mentally undressing me the whole time. We had managed to extract ourselves and were back on our way to the food court when my not-so-secret admirer came up from behind and grabbed me by the wrist. “Hey, at least give me your number!”
It took all the self-control I had not to punch him, not that it would have done much good without my force field, since I only possessed average physical capabilities and he was a good foot taller than me and pretty muscular too. “Dude, I’m like thairteen an’ no’ interested!” I snapped as I turned around to level a cold glare at him. I was uncomfortable, he was hurting me, the looks he had been giving me made me feel dirty, I was scared of using my powers to get him to let go, and even more scared of what might happen if I didn’t. That combination made me feel helpless and the whirlwind in my chest warned of an impending anxiety attack.
“What do I do?!” I thought as the anxiety attack hit and I started having trouble breathing. Then my anger overwhelmed everything else as I fought to control my breathing and pull my hand from his grip. “How dare he look at me and treat me like that?! How dare he make me feel this way?! Is this what’s going to happen when I put on girl’s clothes, or will it even matter what I wear?! Let go dammit! I hate this!” My force field activated even as I fought to prevent it, little red bubbles of unstable energy were building up along the surface of my skin and over my clothing, and I was too freaked out, angry, and focused on the source of that anger to stifle them completely.
Mike practically threw my arm away from him, causing some of the rapidly growing unstable energy bubbles to fly off, where they peppered the storefront of a nearby bookstore and exploded. Glass and pieces of shattered and scorched stonework were sent flying all over the place, the front of the store was a smoking ruin, and there were craters a few feet in diameter in what little remained of the wall and floor tiles. I had been extremely fortunate that nobody had been standing near there and the store itself wasn’t busy. Tasha had instinctively teleported out of range of the blasts, near a pair of women who had stopped to watch the exchange, but all three of the boys, Vanessa, and I had been showered with shattered glass and fragments of stone tiles. Vanessa didn’t seem harmed and my force field had protected me, but the boys all had some cuts and bruises showing on their exposed skin. They were all backing away now, their faces twisted into expressions of fear and hatred as Mike spat out, “Mutie freaks!”
I fought to control the bubbles and bury my power back inside me, but they seemed to be reacting more to my turbulent emotions than my thoughts. It took every ounce of discipline I possessed just to make the bubbles vanish and turn off my force field. Then, tightly clutching the shopping bags in my hands I turned and ran as fast as I could past the crowd that had gathered and toward the food court, with hot tears running down my face and my sisters right on my heels.
![]() |
Chapter 9 Brave Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
“Merida, please you need to eat something,” Blair’s voice came through the locked bedroom door yet again.
“Sweetheart, I know you’re worried, but maybe you should give her some space,” Andy’s voice spoke in a quieter tone, as his slightly muffled footsteps approached.
“She’s been locked in there for two days! She only comes out to use the bathroom and then she locks herself right back in again! It’s bad enough that those boys said she attacked them and your bosses want to lock her up, but she hasn’t said a word to anyone since it happened. I’ve tried getting her to talk! The twins have tried, Tasha has tried, and Vanessa tries constantly!”
“They’re not my bosses anymore,” Andy clarified. “I resigned from the HAA this afternoon and I told them that if they still want to buy your infiltration suit that the price was doubled. I joined the agency to see justice done and the innocent protected, not to try and railroad kids because they happen to have powers. They have no case against her anyway. Smith and General Nelson vouched for her and we have sworn witness statements from Tasha, Vanessa, and two other people who saw the whole thing. Not to mention the security camera footage that shows that that boy assaulted and restrained her when she made it clear she wasn’t interested. We have the pictures you took of the bruises he left on her wrist too.”
I could hear the sigh of relief at his words before Blair said, “Thank God for that, but what can we do about Merida? She won’t talk, or eat, or even leave that room unless she absolutely has to.”
“Smith made some recommendations to me before I left,” Andy said softy, but still loud enough to carry through the door. “With this added to the trauma she’s already been through, she needs to talk to someone who understands. She needs to learn to control her powers better too, they all do. Smith is a field agent, not a glorified computer hacker like me, so he knows some people who aren’t connected to the HAA, they’re going to come after the funeral tomorrow.”
I just buried myself further under the blankets. After the incident Tasha had teleported Andy off to the scene while Vanessa explained what happened to Blair, who drove the rest of us home and gave me a short medical exam. After that I had gone straight to the room Blair had pointed out to me, put the shopping bags out of sight in the closet, tossed the clothes I had been wearing in the furthest corner, put back on the clothes I had worn as a prisoner, and I had stayed there since, only leaving to go to the bathroom or change my tampons when required. I was a freak, I couldn’t control myself, and I needed to be locked up for everyone’s safety, or at least that was what I had kept telling myself.
“Will she even be going to the funeral at this point?” Blair asked in a somber tone. “I’m worried Andy, she’s completely closing herself off from all of us and I have no idea what’s going on in her head. I can’t do anything for her like that.”
“Let me try sweetheart,” I heard Andy say. This was quickly followed by light clicking and scraping noises as he picked the lock. I heard the door open and just hid deeper under the blankets as I heard it close again and footsteps approach the bed. Someone sat on the side of the bed and Andy said, “Don’t you think you’ve been through enough without punishing yourself too? I said that I’d be there if you needed to talk, and I think that time has come Merida.”
I didn’t answer so he apparently decided to change tactics. “You know, your uncle Maddock and I never really had much in common, but I never once pegged him for a selfish piece of shit. Blair, Tasha and Vanessa are all blaming themselves for what you’re going through, and it looks like you’re blaming them too from the way you’re ignoring them. The twins look up to you and now they’re terrified that there’s something wrong with you. They’re all worried sick while you’re in here hiding from the world. I never thought that you or Maddock were the kind to hide in fear from anything, I guess I was wrong.”
His words hurt, probably because there was so much truth in them, and he wasn’t done yet. “Big military type men like your uncle Maddock never like to show weakness, they don’t open themselves up or show their feelings and they often suffer as a result, especially after a major trauma. Thirteen year old girls though, they can do that and not be judged, hell it’s expected. They can blather on and on about their problems, let all those emotions out, cry on a parent’s or a friend’s shoulder and feel better for it when they’re done. It’s a good thing that you’re not a big military man like your uncle isn’t it?”
I began sobbing, my breath coming in gasping hiccoughs between all the crying, sniffling, and snuffling from the flowing tears and the pained tightness in my throat and chest. Between crying jags I railed on about how conflicted my mind was over my situation, how my body had betrayed me by becoming female, and worse yet, how my mind had as well by being comfortable with it. Then I moved on to all of the huge changes in my life, my attraction to that boy, how sick I had felt when he looked at me and then the huge mess of emotions when he had grabbed me, my destructive powers that seemed a danger to everyone around me, and how I didn’t have control over any of it. Andy didn’t say anything more, he just sat there beside me gently rubbing my back as I let it all out.
When I was finally done he stood up and said, “Let’s go get something to eat, I’ll bet you’re pretty hungry.”
I was about to object as I sat up, but my stomach chose that moment to speak up for me. I could feel my cheeks flush as I nodded and replied, “Aye, maybe a wee bit… bu’ first… ‘ow much trouble am I in?”
“You’re not,” he answered simply before deciding to elaborate. “This is Los Angeles, so the mall and the store were both insured against ‘Acts of Hyper’. It will cover their damages and nobody was seriously hurt, not even those boys. I talked to the store owner myself, and he’s pretty happy overall since nobody was hurt. He wasn’t getting much business before and you just gave him a bunch of free advertising and the chance to renovate into a more modern book store with a café.”
“Advertisin’?” I asked with a sudden sinking feeling in my stomach.
“It was a slow news day,” Andy muttered. “The incident made the eleven o’clock news and that Mike kid tried to milk every second that he could for his fifteen minutes of fame. He claimed that you attacked him and his friends unprovoked. Nobody knew who you were and the two women who witnessed the whole thing told them what really happened. A security video somehow managed to get leaked too; yours or the other girls’ faces were pretty blurry, but it was enough to show that you were walking away when he grabbed you and held you there. It caught the sound pretty well though.”
I didn’t have wonder very long about how such a convenient video could have been ‘leaked’. Andy’s job with the HAA had been cybersecurity and data retrieval “Thanks,” I quickly muttered.
He didn’t admit to being responsible for the blurriness and release of the video, but he didn’t deny it either. Instead he just shrugged. “Smith helped a bit too. He had a little talk with ‘Mike’ yesterday and convinced him that in court such evidence of assaulting a thirteen year old girl, in plain view of witnesses, could get someone who is due to turn eighteen in three months tried as an adult, should the case be pursued. He and his friends are under a gag order now. Now let’s go get something to eat.”
Once we had eaten supper, and I had apologized to everyone for shutting them out like I had, Blair took me to her lab to give me a full physical. The process wasn’t as invasive as I had been fearing and mostly consisted of having me stand or lay down in various scanners of Blair’s own design. Apparently I was a perfectly healthy thirteen year old girl, right down to my telomeres and double X chromosomes. Blair had been worried about possible physical issues from such an extreme and complete physical change, but we were both relieved that I had seemed to dodge that particular bullet. The others had gone through similar testing over the past two days, mostly so they had something to focus on besides trying to coax me out of my room, and all of them seemed to be healthy as well. Vanessa had a few quirks as a result of being a mermaid, but it was no worse than Blair had been expecting.
I was still feeling terrible for shutting everyone out and making them worry so much as we left Blair’s lab. “I’m sorry…” Blair said suddenly. “We shouldn’t have pushed you so hard. We were tryin’ to help ya adjust, but we may have gone too far.”
“Yuir right though, I dae need tae adjust,” I admitted with a sigh. “I wan’ the security o’ knowin’ who the ‘ell I am. Maddock’s gone bu’ I‘m holdin’ on ‘cause he’s what’s familiar. I dinnae ken who the fook Merida is, an’ I should be tryin’ tae find out, bu’ it’s all so overwhelmin’ an’ it all seems tae come a’ me sideways. I need tae ‘ave some sense o’ control o’er my life. It’s no’ jus’ bein’ a girl either. I could’nae control ma powers, an’ it’s no’ the first time. I let loose wi’ ma powers afore ‘cause it was life an’ death, we were tryin’ tae escape, an’ I ‘ad a mission tae complete. Those were bad guys an’ I was under orders tae dae whate’er it took tae get all o’ ya out alive. A’ the mall I could ‘ave killed innocent civilians though.”
“I’ll help ya learn to control yuir powers, I’ll figure something out,” Blair promised. “I think if ya really want to find out who Merida is though, yuir goin’ to need girl lessons. You need to explore your new gender so ya can find out what ya like and what ya don’t, an’ since ya have four new sisters an’ me as a mom, ya have plenty of teachers. Since we haven’t seen ya for two days and ya still seem depressed though, yuir first lesson is goin’ to be Girl’s Night.”
Girl’s night turned out to be me, Mom, and my new sisters curled up together watching movies and drowning our sorrows in ice cream, chocolate, and companionship. I let the twins pick the movies since they were being super clingy now that I was out of my room again and they decided on two of the movies that Mom had bought them during the shopping trip from hell. Then as we started the first movie I was sat down near one end of the couch with the twins to either side snuggling up against me, all of us wrapped in warm blankets. Mom was on the other side of the couch, and Tasha and Vanessa were reclining on pillows on the floor in front of us.
The first movie was called Brave and as we watched I could see the similarities between Merida and… me; the long bright red hair, the eyes, her tomboyish body language and mannerisms, and especially the accent. “Please tell me tha' I dinnae sound tha’ bad,” I groaned in complaint at one point.
“No, your accent is even worse,” Tasha teased helpfully.
“You should totally take up archery, then you’d have the total package,” Vanessa added.
“That’s actually no’ a bad idea,” Mom put in. It was hard, and really weird, thinking of Blair that way, but we both needed to get used to it and I figured that girl’s night would be as good a place to start as any. “It would give ya more range for projectiles in combat once ya can control yuir powers better, an’ ya could just whip up some arrow constructs as ya need them instead of carrying a quiver.”
She actually had me considering the idea as we watched the rest of the movie. I’d need to start figuring out some hobbies for Merida anyway, so why not archery? As the movie went on I found myself really enjoying it. Vanessa teased me quite a bit, but it was all in good fun. It was a good movie and I found myself both liking and connecting with the main character. She just wanted to be free to be herself and have some sort of control over her own life and, while she could be stubborn and a bit shortsighted she was willing to stand up for herself and fight for what she believed was right, or to protect her family when she needed to. The character resonated with me, and at times during the movie I found myself laughing or crying along with the others as I held the twins close.
“So wot’s the next movie?” I asked as Shu hopped off the couch to eject one disc and put in another.
Mei giggled as she pointed from me to Vanessa. “Well, we just watched your movie, so now we’re gonna watch hers.”
“Yup, we’ve been wanting to have a movie night like this since that day we were all put in that room together,” Shu added. She too was giggling as she started the movie and then pounced back onto the couch beside me and under her blanket to snuggle again.
Vanessa’s movie was of course The Little Mermaid. I thought that this might be my chance to get in a little friendly ribbing of my own after her own jokes during Brave, but she beat me to the punch. Once the movie had started, and she had gotten a good look at Ariel, Vanessa allowed herself to shift back into mermaid form and went about changing the color of her hair and the scales on her tail to match the mermaid on the screen. She spent the whole movie like that and even sang along with the songs, depriving me of any chance for a counter-teasing, she wasn’t a bad singer either.
The twins of course were both in heaven, having two Disney princesses, or convincing copies thereof, sitting with them, three if you counted the pixie that Mei had summoned who bore a striking resemblance to Tinkerbell. “Yuir pretty convincin’ an’ ya seem tae ken all the words tae the songs,” I managed to tease as the movie neared its conclusion. “Why one could almos’ think tha’ ya ‘ad it mem’rized or sumthin’.”
“Well… I… ummm…” the mermaid began awkwardly before letting out a long sigh. “Okay, you got me Merida. When I was growing up, before I lost my family, we spent a lot of time at the beach or sailing. I’ve always felt this connection with water and the ocean in particular, it’s why I love surfing so much, so that was my favorite movie.”
“I envy ya tha’,” I admitted with a sigh of my own. “Ya all ken who ya are an’ wot ya like. I need tae figure all o’ tha’ out. I think I still want tae keep in shape and keep up wit’ ma combat trainin’, bu’ I need other interests. I might jus’ take up archery like Mom was sayin’, bu’ dae ya think tha’ ya could maybe teach me tae surf?”
“I’d love to, it would be fun,” she replied, turning around to grin at me. “I could teach all of you if you’re interested.” The others were quick to agree, though the twins admitted that they’d need to learn to swim first. After that the conversation turned to what other things we could try out together to help me learn who exactly Merida was in the next few weeks before school started. Tasha offered to teach me about all the different types of clothes and colors that were available for girls so that next time we went shopping I could choose what appealed to me, Vanessa was going to start teaching me about makeup before the funeral tomorrow, and Mom and the twins had a lot of ideas for movies, books and other potential hobbies that I should have at least a general knowledge about as a girl. It was going to be a sort of girl boot camp, but Mom told me sternly to talk to them if I was starting to feel overwhelmed and that we would do it at my pace and try to keep it fun. I would be the one in control, and that was something that I really needed to hear after everything that had happened since I went on that doomed rescue mission.
“It’s time for bed girls, we have the funeral to go to in the morning,” Blair… err Mom said after a while. I was half asleep on the couch by then and the twins were curled up to either side of me snoozing with their heads on my lap. I felt a pang of guilt as I looked at them and thought about how absorbed I had been on how hard things were on me the past two days. The other girls had been through big changes and a lack of control over things too. Sure we were a family now, but things were still uncertain and probably a bit frightening for all of us, not just me. We had been one another’s constant while we were held captive and while on the Air Force base. We had counted on one another for support and the twins were looking to me be their big sister and help them through this, and I had been feeling so sorry for myself that I had abandoned them to the uncertainty of this new living situation and made them all worry about me too. I felt like a heel.
“Aye, maybe we should’nae wake the twins though,” I offered hesitantly as I reached down to brush a lock of hair away from Shu’s face and adjust the blanket that was slipping off of Mei. “I’ll be fine ‘ere wi’ them, I think I’ve spen’ enough time alone anyway.”
![]() |
Chapter 10 Turning the Page Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I woke up sometime in the middle of the night after a terrible dream where all my teammates had died at Phantom’s hands then she had killed Vanessa, Tasha, Blair and the twins as well, while I could only watch helplessly. My heart was racing, my breath was coming in great heaving gasps, I was shaking uncontrollably, and I could feel hot tears running down my face as I sniffled feebly and tried to calm myself down without waking the twins in my lap. It hadn’t been the first such dream since we had escaped and eventually I managed to slow my breathing and pulse as I focused on making sure that Shu and Mei were properly covered and sleeping soundly. Then, once I had finally managed to put the dream mostly out of my mind and put a firm stop to the shaking and crying, I drifted off into a deeper, sounder sleep as I held the twins close.
I woke again in the early morning, feeling a bit stiff from my odd sleeping position as the twins shifted in my lap. They were moving carefully, trying not to wake me, and I couldn’t help but smile at that as I said, “Good mornin’.”
“We were trying not to wake you,” Shu offered apologetically as they both leaned in to hug me.
“Yeah, it’s not even six yet,” Mei agreed as I hugged the pair back.
Dinnae worry aboot it,” I replied with a shrug as we all let one another go. “I’m used tae wakin’ up this early, an’ I should be exercisin’ anyway if I wan’ tae stay in shape. I think I’ll get dressed, dae ma usual mornin’ routine, an’ go fer a run.”
I went upstairs to go to the bathroom and discovered, much to my relief that my period seemed to be over. After quickly brushing my teeth, while trying to be as quiet as possible not to wake Vanessa who was asleep in the bathtub, I went back to change into a new pair of panties and one of the sports bras that I had bought. After a moment’s consideration I decided on the black and pink spandex sports top and shorts that would go better with the black and pink of my sneakers and got dressed. I knew that I needed to get used to the girly stuff, and to do that I would need to stop hiding from it like I had been.
When I returned downstairs to the living room to start in on my morning exercises, with my hair tied back in a long ponytail and out of my way, I was surprised to find the twins waiting for me dressed in exercise clothes as well. They didn’t let me say a word before Mei spoke up. “We want to learn to fight, so we decided that we want you to teach us.”
“Yeah,” Shu quickly agreed, “Neither of us was really very useful during our escape, but we have powers now and we need to learn to protect ourselves and each other. Vanessa and Tasha want in on it too, but we thought that we’d let them sleep in today since none of us planned on asking you until you were feeling better.”
“Wha’ dae ya mean ya wan’ me tae teach ya?” I asked a bit concerned. “If I learned anythin’ a’ the mall it was tha’ I cannae fight the way I used tae. I’m no’ near as strong as I was and cannae depend on ma strength anymore. I’ll need tae completely change ma trainin’ routine.”
“We’re all girls, none of us can really use strength to fight, ‘cept you when you’re powered up,” Mei pointed out. “So we’re going to exercise with you to get in shape. Besides you probably know all sorts of ways to fight without strength so you can teach us those.”
“Besides, it’s only fair that if we teach you about being a girl that you teach us stuff too,” Shu added.
I thought about it for a moment. I had been planning on changing my routine to favor stamina, speed and agility over strength anyway. My personal style may have used my strength to my advantage, but all of the combat training we had done for my unit involved a mix of skills for all situations: Martial arts, fighting multiple opponents solo or as a team, tactical thinking, lethal and non-lethal means of subduing or incapacitating opponents, in addition to various weapons training. I could always work our training program around that, while excluding the lethal techniques.
Girls needed to be able to defend themselves, especially these girls. Our powers may make us targets of other organizations like Omega, and if we had to fight as a unit again I’d feel a lot better if they had the proper training. Blair… err Mom even seemed to think we would need to think of that in the future too, since she had specifically mentioned the possibility of future combat when she had suggested that I take up archery the night before. Finally I nodded. “Aye, bu’ this is goin’ tae be the toughest trainin’ any o’ ya will e’er experience. I will no’ be goin’ easy on ya.
Since I didn’t really know their limitations, or those of my new body, very well yet I started us off with a twenty minute run, half of it heading westward through the neighborhood and then back to the house we were currently renting. Then I put us through my regular morning fitness routine, or at least the one I used when I didn’t have a gym available. I didn’t plan on teaching any actual combat techniques until Vanessa and Tasha could join us though. We were all exhausted and more than a bit sweaty when we were finished. By then Tasha and Vanessa were awake and helping Mom make breakfast so I took a shower in the bathroom that Vanessa had vacated while the twins took turns in the other. I had almost forgotten what a pain in the ass it was washing all of my hair, but things got even more annoyingly complicated when Mom had Vanessa come in to show me how to shave the fine hairs on my legs and under my arms. Breakfast had already gotten cold and the twins had both finished their own showers by the time I was finished and downstairs again.
After finishing my breakfast, still in my white bathrobe, Vanessa took me back to the bedroom I was using to help me get ready for the funeral. I got dressed in my black dress and heels and had a bit of practice walking around in them before Vanessa set me down to work on brushing my hair out properly and then working on putting some light makeup on my face. She was sure to explain every step and why she was doing it as she worked and I watched in the mirror. Then, once I was as ready as I was going to get, she started getting herself ready.
Attending one’s own funeral is a disturbing experience. It was made only more so by the fact that the only attendees were our family group, three or four friends I hadn’t seen much of since high school, General Nelson, and the honor guard. Most of my real friends had been in my unit and they had all died, save me and Reaper who were also legally dead, if not in body and spirit. It was actually a bit depressing how few people had shown up, and it made me wonder how I had not been lonely all those years with only the company of those I had served with and the occasional visit to my sister or now-dead parents.
They had gone for full honors on the funeral at least. There was the honor guard, the three-volley salute, the lone bugler playing Taps, and finally the folding of the flag before General Nelson himself presented it to Blair. We were both tearing up a bit by that point, and I gave a tearful farewell to my former life as the empty casket was lowered into the ground. The worst part though was standing there while the attendees came to give us their condolences and I was introduced to old friends as Maddock’s niece. I just kept wanting to yell out, “I’m not dead, I’m right here!” as I stood there crying and feeling the tightness in my chest become more and more unbearable, my hands tightly clenched at my sides as I fought to keep my powers from activating.
I was relieved when it was all finally over and we were able to head back to what was home for the moment. That relief lessened some as I noticed the black sedan with tinted windows parked outside the house. We had barely pulled into the driveway and stepped out of the SUV when two women stepped out of the sedan and approached us. The woman in the lead was a tall raven-haired beauty with silver eyes and was dressed in a very professional manner. The other though was a woman of average height, and somewhat slender build, who wore a black and dark purple bodysuit that covered her entire face and body, even her eyes and mouth. “You’re Smith’s friends?” Andy asked uncertainly as he stepped between the approaching women and the rest of us.
The woman in the lead nodded. “Yes, and you must be Mr. Tomkins. Agent Smith suggested that your daughters may need our help. Perhaps introductions should wait until we can have a little more privacy though, we have much to discuss.”
Andy seemed to relax somewhat at that, though the rest of us were still a bit on guard as he led the pair of women into the house. The silent woman in the bodysuit was casting long looks in my direction, and had me a little on edge, so I once again had to fight to keep my powers buried as Mom held us back for a moment. “It’s okay girls. A friend of ours sen’ these people and if he says we can trust them, then we can trust them. They’re here to help.”
The other girls relaxed a bit at that, and while I figured that Smith could be trusted since he had gone to bat for us before, I was still a little on edge from the long looks the one woman had sent my way. Then we all went inside to join Andy and the two women, where the black-haired woman immediately introduced herself and her companion. “I’m Dr. Alana Edwards, the founder and headmistress for Pacific Seaside Academy, though most people know me by the name Mystech. My companion is Kendra Wilson, or Toxin.”
“I’ve heard of ya, yuir a Tinker too right? Ya already know ma fiancé it seems,” Mom said with a shrug before introducing the rest of us in turn. “I’m Blair Ainsley an’ these are ma daughters: Merida, Tasha, Vanessa, Mei, and Shu.”
Dr. Edwards nodded. “Yes Dr. Ainsley, I’m a Category four Tinker and Mage. I mostly specialize in hybridizing magic and technology for security and other areas of interest. You’re an MD correct? With Doctorates in medicine, engineering, biotech, physics, comparative Hyper biology, medical science, and applied sciences.”
Mom narrowed her eyes. “You’ve done yuir research.”
“Your name came up a few times when I was looking for new staff for my school this summer,” the woman admitted. “I could use someone like you as chief of medicine for our medical clinic, not to mention on several of our current research projects. I had planned on approaching you, but you were unavailable until recently. Smith told me that may have changed when he informed me of the current situation with your ‘daughters’.”
“And how much did Smith tell ya exactly?” Mom asked. She had perked up briefly at the off-handed job offer, but she was still being cautious.
“He told me everything,” Mystech admitted with a shrug. “It’s best that I know exactly what I’m dealing with. This information will of course remain classified. Kendra only knows because she is one of our school trauma counsellors and I fear that these girls may need to speak with her openly about what they’ve been through. She usually works with students with particularly difficult or traumatizing power sets or physical changes, but given what your girls have been through I think it’s best that they have someone they can talk to if they feel the need. I would like to begin by testing them all individually and allowing Kendra and Merida to speak for a bit alone so that we can assess what exactly we’re dealing with.”
Once our parents had agreed to her request, Dr. Edwards created a magical doorway and we were all about to step through when Toxin placed a hand on my shoulder. “Wait Miss Ainsley, you’ll be tested last so that I can have that talk with you now, while your sisters get tested and your parents watch from the control room.” Mom looked at me uncertainly, but I sighed and gave her a nod. Then they all stepped through the shimmering silver door of light, leaving me alone with Toxin.
She started off by telling me about herself, probably in an attempt to make me comfortable with her and more willing to talk about myself. The reason for her bodysuit, and apparently her codename as well, was because her power seemed to be just being deadly. Her skin and hair excrete a powerful poison that kills on contact, and her blood is among the most toxic substances on Earth. Her mutation was especially hard on her when she Activated because she wanted to be a doctor and help people, now her mere touch kills them. It was sad really, and actually kind of helped put my own problems in perspective.
After that she had be take some tests that she had brought as we sat at the kitchen table. When I was finished, the conversation that followed as she looked over my answers was long and sometimes awkward. She asked me various questions about how I was feeling or adjusting, how I saw being female compared to being male, hypothetical situations, what I was thinking about when I Activated, what I dreamed about, and a lot of personal questions that I didn’t really want anyone asking me. At times I got angry, sad or defensive from some of the things she asked or implied and my force field activated three times when I was particularly upset. Each time it seemed harder to get control of it again, but at least I didn’t blow anything up since I was careful to sit perfectly still.
Finally, almost two hours after we began, Kendra apologized. “I’m sorry Merida, I know that some of those questions must have been difficult for you. I want to help you though and I hope that you can trust me enough to allow me to do that once you’re a student at the school. I won’t share anything we ever discuss with anyone without your permission, but I do feel that we should tell your family and Dr. Edwards about the issues we’ll be trying to work through so that they can be part of the process or at least be aware of them.”
“Issues?” I questioned her with a frown. “As far as I ken, the only issue I ‘ave is adjustin’ tae bein’ a girl an’ a kid.”
She sighed and placed her hands on both of my shoulders. It was hard to read any expressions from her with her face completely hidden like it was, but her tone was heavy with concern as she said, “Merida, the events leading to your Activation were extremely traumatic for you, even more so than the age regression and becoming female. Your Archetype is helping you to adjust to your new age and gender, but that first trauma has had a profound effect on you. The dreams you told me about lead me to believe that you may be suffering from PTSD. There is also ample evidence in your answers to the tests, as well as your reactions to some of the questions I asked, to point toward PCEDS as well.”
I knew what PTSD was and I could even grudgingly admit that it was a possibility, but I had no idea what the other thing she was talking about was. “PCEDS? Wot the ‘ell is tha’?”
“It stands for Pre-conceived Emotional Distress Syndrome,” she clarified. “I’ve only heard of three previous cases in North America over the past ten years, but it is part of a broader condition called Transformative Stereotype Disorder which happens sometimes with Hypers who go through major physiological changes when they Activate. You know how your Archetype can be affected based on powers, preconceived notions or beliefs or environmental conditions?”
When I nodded in response to her question she continued to speak. “Well sometimes when a Hyper held strong preconceived beliefs about the form they change to when Activating, that belief is embedded in their Archetype and can have an actual physical and/or psychological effect on them afterwards. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophesy. With PCEDS it’s when a male becomes a female during their Activation and they believed females to be very emotional and incapable of adequately controlling those emotions beforehand. These girls don’t have near as strong an emotional filter as other girls. Their emotional states can become very overwhelming, especially during their teens when their hormones are in full swing.”
I shook my head fast enough to make myself dizzy as I fought the surge of fear and panic that were tightening my chest, and to keep my force field from surfacing again. “Nae! There’s nothin’ wrong wi’ me! I was in full control the ‘ole time we were captives!” Except deep down I knew that I wasn’t. I could think of several times where I had lost it emotionally and hadn’t been able to control myself. “I was able tae pu’ maself in mission mode an’ compartment’lize ma emotions durin’ combat situations! I kin jus’ keep doin’ tha’!”
“You can’t bury your emotions every hour of every day and you know it Merida, it would only lead to a nervous breakdown, probably have severe long term repercussions, and with your powers the consequences could be disastrous. As your powers become more natural to you and easier to summon at will, they’re also going to become more instinctive, reacting whenever you feel strong emotions, but you’ve already been noticing that haven’t you?”
I looked at the floor, but nodded. “Aye, I ‘ave tae keep fightin’ tae keep ma force field from appearin’.”
“That’s a common issue for girls with PCEDS,” she explained. “You need to try to be aware of your emotional states and when you need to let off steam, find a way to do it in a safe way where nobody gets hurt. Perhaps since you’re already upset we should go do your testing now so you can let loose a bit and vent some of that frustration.”
Toxin led me through the shimmering silver portal and into a room where everyone but Vanessa was watching the mermaid on a large computer screen as Mystech stood before a large control panel, looking at readings and occasionally tapping at various buttons or touch screens. Vanessa had just used her hydrokinesis to put out a fire while ignoring several blows to her back from a robot which she quickly used a high pressure water blast to blow a hole through once she was finished putting out the flames.
“Wot is this place?” I wondered aloud as I took a look around the control room.
“This is one of the Pacific Seaside Academy’s PDE rooms,” Mystech explained as a shimmering door appeared and Vanessa emerged to join us. “It stands for Pocket Dimension Environment. I helped my mentor Deep Blue to design them for AMPS years ago. It’s a school like PSA in Canada. It’s where I learned to control my powers, I was one of their first graduates. Three years ago I decided to start PSA, and we’ll be starting our second year in September, I hope you’ll all decide to join us. How did your talk go?”
Kendra looked toward me and I gave her a reluctant nod and my unspoken consent. “It’s going to be a long road for Merida, but it’s about what I was expecting.” Mystech gave a knowing nod and everyone was looking at me with worried expressions. “Why don’t I explain things while Merida does her testing, I think she needs to let loose a bit.”
I happily changed into the offered bodysuit with all the various metal discs and wires and such attached and then dove through the portal that opened to emerge in some kind of city where Mystech’s voice began issuing instructions. I was really able to let loose as I fought against various robots and magical constructs, following specific instructions when asked, but generally just taking a beating, hitting things and blowing the shit out of whatever she threw against me. It was very therapeutic. Finally she had me just stand there and keep pumping as much energy into my force field as I could. At first it was pulsed and bubbled chaotically, feeling extremely unstable, and then it was like the day that I Activated as my field flared wildly like an inferno as my sweat evaporated the sensors and wires on the suit began to melt and then the suit itself burned to ash.
I was tired as I left through the portal that had appeared and gratefully accepted the robe that Toxin offered me. Then we returned through the portal and back to our living room, where Mystech began going over the results of our testing. “Tasha is definitely a Psychic, with her sixth sense being her most powerful ability and rated as a Category four. She also has a Category one telepathic ability and a Category two teleportation ability that seems to be tied in to her sixth sense and has a range of about fifty feet.”
“Nothing too surprising there,” Tasha said with a shrug.
Mystech nodded as she looked over the next report. “Vanessa is a Category three Shifter and Category four hydrokinetic with Category three invulnerability, which I assume is to help her survive under the higher pressure in deep water. She can also breathe underwater with the help of gills that appear on her neck whenever she’s fully submerged.”
“Yeah that last one was a bit of a shocker,” the mermaid admitted. “I never let myself fully submerge before today, not that I really could in a bathtub. Gills feel really weird too.”
“Shu is classified as a Category four Wildcard, with an ability to not only create and access pocket dimensions, but also to pass through the barriers between dimensions, though she’ll need to work on training the latter.” Mystech frowned as she looked from Shu over to me and Mei and sighed as she added, “Mei and Merida are both Category fives, and will need training badly. Mei is a Wildcard, possibly magic based, and her ability is to warp reality to create life. This isn’t summoning creatures from other planes, or simulating living creatures from energy or matter, but actually creating new life within our reality. It’s genesis.”
“But her summons are only temporary, they aren’t really all that powerful, and they always vanish when she falls asleep,” Vanessa said with a frown. “They’re basically just imaginary friends that we can all see. She doesn’t really strike me as the ‘dangerous to everyone around her’ type.”
“She can create life, in any form she can imagine,” Mystech stressed. “I have never heard of a mutant with such a far reaching ability before. Think of it like a game. Let’s say that at full power she has ten points, but when she uses her power she has to spread them out over four categories: Mass, duration, number of summons, and how much control she can exert over them. She could summon one huge creature or multiple smaller creatures that she has no control over for a short time, which could be chaotic or dangerous. She could put all those points in control to give a creature a very specific short term task, or put all the points into duration for one small creature that could last a long time and she would have no direct control over. She could also mix and match combinations of these four categories, but if she chooses not to put anything into control, those creatures will act based on their instincts or individual personalities as she imagined them.”
“Okay, I can see where things could get a little crazy, but they still vanish after a time, or when she’s unconscious,” Vanessa insisted.
“That’s because they aren’t anchored to our reality, which is basically what the duration category is for,” she explained. “Now let’s say that the reason there is only ten points is for her own safety and she decides to push beyond that for some reason...”
“Godzilla,” Mom muttered. “She was unconscious for over twelve hours after tha’, she slept through the trip to the base and into the next morning. She must have put all the power she could muster into size. If she did tha’ with duration…”
Mei had already seemed to put all of that together and the golden glow of her power flared blindingly around her before she suddenly passed out, with a six inch tall, naked pixie who resembled Tinkerbell hovering over her looking very concerned. Mom was on her immediately checking her pulse, breathing, and raising her eyelids to check eye movement. Finally she breathed a sigh of relief. “She’s just unconscious, she pushed herself too far.”
The pixie breathed a sigh of relief right along with the rest of us as Mystech stared at it, muttering something as she glowed a pale silver color. Finally the raven-haired woman spoke. “It’s permanently anchored to our reality now. That girl needs to learn to control her power and impulses. If the wrong people found out about her…” She didn’t finish that sentence, nor did she have to since we could all imagine very well what people would give to control a power like that.
I was carefully laying Mei on the couch and covering her with the blanket she had used last night as the pixie and Shu looked on in concern. “She’ll be fine,” I tried to reassure them both.
That was when the Headmistress of PSA decided to address the other elephant in the room, namely me. “As concerning as that girl’s powers are, Merida’s are even more so. She’s a Cat five Energy Manipulator, and a versatile one at that. At basic output levels the energy seems solid allowing her to create constructs or her force field. Her flight and increased strength and speed are a result of her manipulating that field either consciously or subconsciously. When she puts too much energy into her field or constructs the energy becomes unstable and explosive to anything that they hit with enough force. If she were to continue putting energy into them, and they didn’t explode first, the energy becomes a form of superheated plasma.”
“Well, tha’ explains why ma clothes turned tae ash when I changed,” I muttered.
“Yes, your powers were going critical from the bomb’s radiation, but anything within your energy field seems to be protected from that energy or what’s happening outside it, no matter what the state of the energy itself, which is how you were able to survive. From what I can glean, you can summon and control it at will, but my main concern is that you are very powerful, and with your condition your powers are going to react instinctively whenever you feel vulnerable, angry, defensive, scared, hurt, or other any other powerful negative emotions.”
“So what do we do then?” Andy inquired.
“I am prepared to accept all five girls to PSA, and they wouldn’t have to pay tuition if one or both of their parents were to be employed there,” Mystech said with a smile. “Dr. Ainsley, I really could use you as my chief of medicine, and on a variety of research projects. I’m sure that your talents would prove very useful in our IT and cyber security departments as well Mr. Tomkins. Agent Smith spoke very highly of you.”
“I’ll do it,” Andy and Mom said simultaneously.
“Great! I’ll have Kendra bring the paperwork and some information packets on Monday, I’d like her to speak with Vanessa and have her take some tests as well anyway to ensure she has no major issues from her transformation,” The raven-haired mutant suggested. “We can discuss the details once you’ve had a chance to look everything over.”
![]() |
Chapter 11 Who Am I? Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
As we ate dinner that night we were all worried about Mei’s excessive use of power to create a permanent pixie. Tink, as we had taken to calling her, seemed unwilling to leave Mei’s side, and even then it was only for short periods of time, to eat or to dress in one of the little outfits that Mom and Shu had made for her. With her hair up in a bun, she looked just like a living version of the Disney fairy in the outfit that had been made to match that of her animated inspiration. I had to wonder if Mei had imagined her as a loyal best friend or a family member of sorts when summoning her, given how she watched over her so faithfully.
It wasn’t that she ignored the rest of us other than Mei, just that she was concerned about the twin and wanted to watch over her. She was perfectly friendly with the rest of us, almost like she considered us all family, she was just a bit distracted by her concern for Mei. She had been just as concerned for Mom when she had accidentally cut herself making dinner though, so maybe it wasn’t just about Mei. She even spoke with us once in a while if it didn’t take her away from her vigil at Mei’s side, though if she didn’t speak up her voice was a bit hard to hear at her tiny size.
I didn’t remember her speaking at all when I watched Peter Pan as a kid, except the tinkling bell sound, but I was assured by the others that she sounded just like Tinker Bell in her own more recent movies. I was a bit surprised though at how interested she was in how things worked though during those brief periods we had managed to coax her away from Mei’s side. Blair had spent a while in her lab with the fairy after dinner, showing her various gadgets or designs.
I had been sitting watching over Mei as that happened so that Tink would know someone was with her and could relax a bit. “It is sooo weird seein’ someone as intae gadgets an’ such as Mom is. They’ve been in there o’er an hour.”
“Well she is a Tinker,” Shu said, as if that explained everything.
“I ken tha’ Mom is a Tinker, bu’ wot does tha’ ‘ave tae dae wi’ Tink?” I asked, a bit confused.
“Tinker Bell,” Shu said stressing the first word. “She’s a tinker fairy.”
“We really need to get the Disney Fairies movies and have Mer watch them,” Vanessa said with a giggle of her own. She has no idea what you’re talking about Shu, and I can’t think of a better girly night than that and a sleepover. I adore Silvermist.”
“You would,” Tasha said with a chuckle, “you have a lot in common.”
“Well yeah, we both have a connection to and can control water…” The mermaid paused a moment in her reply before narrowing her eyes at Tasha. “Wait a minute Dew Drop, are you calling me a ditz?”
“You said it, not me,” Tasha replied with a wink as Tink rejoined us in watching over Mei.
Another big surprise with Tink was the dust, she seemed to shed that glowing shit everywhere when she was agitated, and she was very agitated and worried while watching over Mei. It was as we were getting ready for bed and I summoned my force field to give me a strength boost, so I could carry Mei up to the room that she and Shu were sharing, that Shu sprinkled some of the sparkly golden dust on Vanessa, Tasha, and I and said, “Think of a wonderful thought.”
“Any happy little thought?” Vanessa supplied with a laugh and a decidedly fake British accent.
“I dinnae need ‘appy thoughts tae fly,” I pointed out, sticking my tongue out at my sisters as I hovered in the air. “Ya dinnae expect tha’ tae really work dae ya?”
“Well it depends how Mei thought about her when creating her I guess,” Tasha supplied. “I mean her powers are reality altering so I guess it could be possible, and she does resemble the character from the movies in more than just looks.”
Shu was not to be discouraged as I picked her sister up and we headed upstairs to our rooms with Tink hovering beside me. Her face scrunched up in deep thought as we entered the room and I placed Mei on the double bed. I was glad that I had already put her down or I probably would have dropped her as Shu floated into the air grinning.
“I… I cannae believe tha’ worked. Wot tha’ hell were ya thinkin’ aboot?” I sputtered.
“The first time we saw you,” Shu supplied, still grinning as she floated around the room experimentally.
I groaned audibly as I looked toward the doorway to see Tasha and Vanessa staring and then apparently trying to think of suitably happy thoughts as well. “An’ there’s another thing we cannae le’ the normal folk find out aboot.”
At the moment though, my three sisters seemed too engrossed in floating around the room to care about it as they excitedly chanted, “We can fly! We can fly! We can fly!”
Tink’s little voice made a shushing sound. “Jingles!” the fairy muttered, looking a bit perturbed before taking a deep breath and adding tiredly, “Please be quiet, Mei is sleeping and we should be doing that soon too.”
After another nightmare-laden sleep, and a close call with my powers when I awoke, Saturday began with me waking the other girls at o-five-thirty for an exhausting run and exercise session. Mei had woke up shortly before I had and seemed to have suffered no real negative effects from anchoring Tink to our reality. Said fairy was asked to keep a low profile in the house until we returned from our run, but even she participated in the modified training session that followed. Then we had quick showers and went to wake Mom and Andy before starting breakfast.
They were already awake, and in the middle of something it seemed, as the twins burst through the door ahead of us to be greeted by hurried shuffling under the blankets, which were quickly being adjusted, by a heavily breathing and brightly blushing Andy and Blair. “Good mornin’ girls. It’s good to see ya awake Mei, are ya feelin’ alright?” Mom hurriedly asked the twin who had Tink sitting on her shoulder.
“Oh aye,” I replied for Mei with a predatory grin toward my former sister and Andy. “We’ve all been up fer hours an’ gettin’ some exercise. Seems we’re all early risers ‘ere.” The twins and Tink didn’t seem to be sure what was going on, but Vanessa and Tasha had quickly backtracked away from the open door.
“Why don’t you girls all get dressed and ready to go out. We were thinking of going to Ihop for breakfast and then we have some plans for the day,” Andy quickly suggested, trying to control his still heavy breathing.
The twins ran past me with Tink in tow and I grinned at the pair still trying to awkwardly cover themselves in the bed. “Is’nae havin’ a big fam’ly jus’ wunnerful?” I asked them with a grin. Then I turned to leave the room and threw over my shoulder, “Nex’ time, ya may wan’ tae lock the door, or maybe pu’ a sock or a ‘dae no’ disturb’ sign on the knob or sumthin’.”
After we were all dressed casually we all piled in the SUV to go out for breakfast. I had dressed in a my white bra and panty set, jeans, a pastel blue top, sneakers, and my Hello Kitty hoodie and backpack purse. The latter still rankled me slightly, but I was getting used to the idea of wearing cutesy girl stuff sometimes, and I knew I needed to try to embrace, or at least accept it. In reality I also had bigger problems to consider without letting myself get pissed off over what clothes I was wearing. Still I vowed to go shopping to get some things more to my tastes whenever I could manage it. At least the purse was useful for keeping my money and a few odds and ends in.
Tink had decided to hide in my voluminous hair when we all climbed out of the SUV and filed into the Ihop for breakfast. Once we had been seated she flitted under the table to sit somewhat hidden between the twins as we ate, the twins occasionally slipping some tidbits to the Fairy. “So you mentioned plans for the day?” Tasha inquired as we ate.
“Well, I was planning this for the twins’ birthday in two weeks, but since we’ll likely be leaving LA before then we decided to do it today. We’ll plan somethin’ else fun and maybe celebrate the twin’s and Merida’s birthdays together this year. Mei and Shu turn twelve on the twenty-seventh and Merida is officially thirteen on the twenty-ninth,” Mom replied vaguely.
“Their birthdays are only two days apart? We need to have a massive party!” Vanessa half squealed in glee. “You didn’t really answer the question though, what’s the plan for today?”
“It’s a surprise,” Andy said with a grin. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll all enjoy it. You’ll have to make sure to keep Tink out of sight though, Merida would probably attract enough attention as it is.”
We had driven into Anaheim and pulled into Disneyland’s visitor parking when the excited squealing began. Mei and Shu had freaked out when they realized where we were, and now both of them were pulling on one of my arms enthusiastically trying to pull me toward the gates as we got out of the SUV. “C’mon Merida! If you can’t learn to enjoy being a kid here, you can’t learn it anywhere,” Mei said with a giggle.
“Actually, Merida and I won’t be going with you girls,” Andy admitted. “With her looks she’s going to attract a lot of attention, especially in Disneyland. That and thrill rides probably won’t be a good idea until she can start managing her emotions and powers better, so I have other plans in mind for us.”
“But we should be going as a family,” Shu stated with a definitive pout.
“We will again someday once Merida has better control,” Mom assured the other girls, “and we’ll be doin’ lots of other things as a family, but we really need to think of what’s best for Merida here. We don’t want to push her too far, and in Disneyland she’s likely to get mobbed by people wanting photos with her because of her resemblance to the character from Brave. I might get that too, but I’m sure that I can handle it. We all know wha’ could happen if Merida starts to panic though.”
The twins both sighed and none of the girls really looked happy with me being excluded, but they obviously got the point. Both of the twins hugged me tight and as they released me Mei sighed. “I guess it’s probably not a good idea to have Tink with us either, if someone saw her…” She trailed off uncertainly, which wasn’t really surprising since I doubt that any of us could really figure out what might happen if someone actually saw the pixie.
Mom nodded in agreement. “Yeah, maybe it would be best if she stayed with Andy and Merida today.”
“Do you mind hanging out with Merida today instead of us?” Mei asked the fairy.
“Don’t worry about us Mei, we’ll keep each other safe,” the fairy assured Mei and the other girls before turning to me. “It’ll be an adventure and maybe we’ll even find some lost things.”
“Right, we’ll stick t’gether an’ try tae ‘ave some fun. She’ll be safe wi’ me an’ I’ll feel better wit’ ‘er watchin’ ma back in case sumthin’ ‘appens,” I agreed as the fairy flitted onto my shoulder. “An’ if she needs tae, she kin always ‘ide in ma ‘air or ma purse.”
With that we left the other girls to go have fun at Disnelyand while Andy drove us to parts unknown. I had moved to the front seat and held Tink securely in my lap, while making sure not to hold her too tightly. As we drove, Andy, Tink, and I got to know one another a bit better. Tink liked finding lost things and making useful inventions or doodads from them so I thought that it was no wonder that she and Mom got along so well. Still, she was a bit of a tomboy type it seemed, and she had an almost infectious sense of adventure about everything that I found myself liking as we talked.
I meanwhile explained to her about the world we lived in, answering as many questions as I could. Sometimes I tried to explain how things worked and Andy gave us an impromptu lesson on computers and electronics, which she seemed fascinated about. I also gave her the rundown on how, except for Andy, all the members of our family were mutants and what made us different from normal people. I also warned her to be cautious about being seen for now since most humans tend to react unpredictably to things that they can’t understand.
It was nearly an hour later that we arrived at a shooting range. Tink stayed carefully hidden within my purse as we waited and Andy signed the waivers and permission forms, and then we were led to a private outdoor shooting bay built up with dirt and wood with a rental Colt M4 Carbine Rifle and Glock Pistol, several targets, and a hundred rounds of ammo for each gun. Andy and I spent the next two hours putting holes in targets and chatting about what other interests I might want to pursue as Tink watched curiously. The Fairy was very careful to stay behind us though once I had gone over gun safety with her and made sure that both guns were in good condition.
Both guns were a little hard to get used to at first, they were heavier and had more of a kick than I remembered, though that probably had a lot to do with my smaller size and weaker girl body. Once I had gotten used to it and started to compensate I was doing a lot better. Teaching Andy and explaining things to Tink actually helped with that as I remembered the early days of my training and put my own advice to work. Andy was a much better shot when we were finished and I was once again able to consistently hit the bullseye. My mood was much improved as well and I was feeling relaxed, and even almost normal again.
After the shooting range we went to a burger joint to pick up some lunch and ate in the vehicle while on our way to our next destination. I was sharing my lunch with Tink when I noticed that we were passing a small strip mall. I felt kind of bad that Tink had only been able to watch while we shot targets for two hours so I wanted to do something nice for her. “Umm dae ya think we could stop there fer a bit?” I asked, pointing out a dollar store.
Andy looked briefly at the clock on the dashboard, “Sure thing, we have some time before what I have planned.” He turned into the parking lot and after Tink and I had finished eating we all left the SUV and headed to the store with Tink hiding in my hair.
“Okay, I ken tha’ they’re no’ really lost things, bu’ there are loads o’ int’resting human-made things in ‘ere tha’ ya might be able tae use tae build things,” I explained to the fairy as we entered the store. Then for half an hour we wandered the aisles with a basket in my hand, adding anything that the Fairy seemed interesting in using. We got some packages of buttons, bobby pins, combs, hair elastics, tiny screws, beads, plastic eating utensils, a small sewing kit, colored paper, and even some kitchen odds and ends. When we had paid for the purchases and left Tink was happily hugging my neck while attempting to stay hidden within my hair and thanking me profusely in her small voice.
As much as I had enjoyed the shooting range, I enjoyed our next stop even more and I think Tink enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. So far the fairy had nearly left the cover of my copper tresses twice in wonder and curiosity as we looked over the various vehicles at the classic car show. “What dae ya think?” I asked her as we looked under the hood of a cherry red 1969 Mustang convertible and Andy stood over us grinning and keeping watch.
“Its flitterific!” she exclaimed eagerly. She had been peppering me with questions about how it all worked and what did what and I had been pointing out the various parts to her and answering her questions. As Maddock I had owned a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle that I used to get around, but I had also been close to finishing the process of restoring a 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 Fastback. I guessed that they both still belonged to me since I inherited them from Maddock, but I wouldn’t be able to use either for at least another three years when I could drive again.
I grinned at the fairy as I said, “Maybe ya kin ‘elp me finish fixin’ ma Mustang once the Army ships it tae our new home.” Then I suddenly remembered that I was a little girl now and I felt all the joy I had been feeling drain out of me. “Or no’, I guess girls dinnae really dae this sorta thing.”
“Why not?” Tink asked. “It looks like fun and you seem to enjoy it.”
Andy placed a hand on my shoulder, speaking quietly as he looked around to make sure nobody was taking too much of an interest in us. “Merida, that’s what this whole day has been about. Just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy shooting guns or fixing cars. You obviously still enjoy those things and you need to be the kind of girl that you want to be, with your interests, whether they’re feminine or masculine. Don’t be afraid to explore new things, but don’t give up on something just because it’s not stereotypically feminine either. Just look at Tink there, she’s a girl and a fairy and she seems to enjoy it as much as you do. Your biology doesn’t dictate who you are, you do.”
“Thanks, yuir both right,” I hugged them both and then we went on looking at the various classic cars, chatting happily about the various makes, models, and what was left to be done to restore my Mustang. I was feeling a whole lot better about myself as we made our way back to Disneyland to meet the rest of the family.
Cyrus Pinchley, or Prisoner 271-694 as he was known in the Pit, sat alone in his cell considering his options. The inhibitor collar that he now wore was chaffing, both physically and mentally, and mostly those options that he was considering would be about what he would do if he could even manage to get the damn thing off. Without the collar he might be able to escape his cell and kill a few guards, but the Pit didn’t rely on just the inhibitor collars to keep inmates in line. It was a deep underground facility equipped with high tech anti-mutant measures, an EM field to prevent most forms of teleportation, and guards in power armor with weapons designed to incapacitate all but the most powerful of mutants. Even if he did somehow manage to get through all of that and to the surface, he’d be stuck in the middle of the Mojave Desert.
He was so immersed in his escape fantasies that he didn’t notice that he was no longer alone until one of his visitors spoke in a barely audible voice. “I am disappointed in you Quill.”
“Shade,” Quill said swallowing the sudden lump of fear in his throat. The large man was covered in a pulsating inky blackness that revealed none of his features. Beside him stood a young blonde woman in a dark blue bodysuit and mask who wore a sword at her hip and looked as terrified of the man she was with as Quill himself was. How had they gotten inside? “I can still create those mutants you wanted, we had some success…”
“Which success would that be Quill?” Shade asked as he stepped closer to Quill, who backed into the door of his cell. “The one where you lost the new base I had constructed for you and all of your test subjects to the HAA? Or the one where your foolishness cost Phantom’s life? She was one of my most promising young assassins and I loaned her services to you and your cause when you assured me that you could create mutants who would be useful to me. All that I have given you, you have lost, and with no results to show for it.”
“We had results! Five girls developed powers. I am not certain about what powers most of them got, but one was a mermaid. There was also a girl with long curly red hair, a black girl, and a pair of Chinese twins. Phantom said that the redhead with the thick accent was powerful, she has some sort of bright red force field. One of my men said that it was she who killed Phantom, and the five of them and a spy managed to kill or disable several of my best people. I can find them! Please give me a second chance!” Quill blubbered as the shadowy man moved closer.
Shade turned to the woman with him. “Saber, search for signs of these girls appearing in public and send in Code Pink to draw them out, they’ve been wanting to prove themselves. Tell them that they are to recruit if possible. If these girls decide to refuse our generous invitation they are to be eliminated.” Then he turned his attention back to Quill, placing a hand on the prisoner’s forehead, causing a black glyph to appear there. “As for you, the Shadow Syndicate does not give second chances. You have outlived your usefulness, your cause bores me, and I have no further need of you. The work that Dr. Hayes has planned at the Red River Research Institute should suit my purposes nicely when it comes to fruition.”
Then Shade took hold of the woman’s hand and they both vanished, leaving the prisoner alone once again. Quill’s body was moving of its own accord, stepping toward the bed where it began tearing the sheets into strips to form a noose. He mentally screamed as he fought for control, to stop himself from making the noose and climbing on the bed to secure it and give himself the added height before slipping his head through. It was only once his body had stopped twitching and he had stopped breathing that the mark on his forehead vanished.
![]() |
Chapter 12 Neogenesis Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
It was nearly dinner time when we returned to Anaheim and met the rest of the family at the entrance to Disneyland. They all seemed to have really enjoyed themselves, but they were trying not to gush about it too much as we ate dinner at a nearby pizza place. Finally, once we had climbed back into the SUV for the trip home, I couldn’t take them dancing around it anymore. “Ya dinnae ‘ave tae feel bad aboot enjoyin’ yuirselves. Tink an’ I ‘ad plenty o’ fun wit’ Andy, right Tink?”
The fairy nodded her head vigorously from where she was seated in Mei’s lap. “I watched them shoot at some targets, we ate lunch, then Merida got me some lost things that weren’t lost, and then we went to something called a ‘classic car show’. There were the most amazing and beautiful carriages there. Oh! And Merida said I can help her tinker with her mustang carriage when she gets it back.”
“Mustang? Ya don’t mean Dad’s old Shelby do you?” Mom asked, turning around in the front passenger seat. “I don’t know why ya didn’t sell that after we got our inheritance, it hasn’t run in over a decade. Ya could have gotten good money for it since the body is in good shape, and findin’ the parts to restore it is probably going to cost a good portion of your inheritance. You’re not touchin’ yuir new college fund for that young lady.”
“Yuir jus’ still pissed ‘cause Da’ would’nae let ya turn it intae a hover car,” I taunted her.
“Hey! That would have been cool and you know it. I still could if ya want me to,” she offered hopefully. “I could put a fusion engine in there, add all sorts o’ gadgets an’ weapons. James Bond would wish for a car like it.”
“The ‘ole point o’ restorin’ a car like tha’ is tae make it jus’ like when it left the fact’ry,” I argued. Then I placed a predatory grin on my face and made a counter offer. “I tell ya wot though, if’n we kin find another car o’ the same make an’ year wit’ a good frame, then we kin scavenge parts from tha’ one fer me an’ Tink tae restore the Brittany Blue one, an’ then we kin all work t’gether tae soup up the other an’ paint it Candyapple Red. I get tae keep both o’ them though.”
Mom leaned back in her seat and seemed to think deeply about it for a moment, “I’ll start lookin’, an’ ya can keep them both if ya pay for the other frame out of yuir inheritance, but I get to drive both o’ them whenever I want until ya turn sixteen.”
“Ya got yuirself a deal,” I agreed, grinning broadly as my heart pitter-pattered in excitement.
“Awesome! We’re gonna have a flying super car!” Shu squeed excitedly. “We’re gonna have the bestest super hero team ever!”
“Super-what-now?” Tasha asked in confusion.
“Super. Hero. Team,” Mei replied casually, enunciating each word as if it should be obvious to all of us. “We all have powers, a tragic origin story, and we’re going to a school to learn to use our powers, so of course we’re going to use them to help people.”
“No offense,” Tasha began uncertainly, “but none of us, except Merida and maybe Vanessa, really have the abilities suited for becoming a super hero. Merida is going to have trouble with control though, and that could be dangerous if she’s put in an emotional situation, which is likely to happen when you run around looking for danger, and Vanessa is going to have to have water nearby to be really effective.”
“That’s what training is for, Merida can teach us all how to fight, we’ll learn other things in school too,” Shu countered with a pouty frown. “We may not have what it takes to be heroes on our own, but when we work together we can do anything. Merida is our powerhouse, but you have a sixth sense and you can teleport Tasha. With the right training and gear you could be awesome in a fight and help keep us all safe, and you can help us all stay in contact without radios too.”
“And I can too be effective without water, Cat three shapeshifting and invulnerability here,” Vanessa pointed out acidly. “I can take damage and I keep my legs for almost six hours now, not to mention all the other things I can do with my shifting. Besides, Shu can always store a bunch of water, weapons, and other gear for emergencies too, so she’s not useless either. Mei’s got her summons to help too. With the right training and gear we could be a force to be reckoned with if we decide to go that route.”
“It’s not like we dinnae ‘ave a Tinker ‘andy tae help wi’ gear, weapons an’ such either,” I added, looking pointedly at Mom. I wasn’t really one hundred percent on board with the idea, but I wasn’t going to dismiss it either since the twins seemed so eager. They’d probably try to do it without us if we weren’t on board, and I’d rather us do it with them so we could help them do it somewhat safely. There was also that nagging feeling that it would be good to be in action again, using my powers and training to help people.
Tasha raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay I get it, but it’s going to mean a lot of work for all of us if we’re going to do it right and keep ourselves as safe as possible. That means training, secret identities, codenames, and costumes. If I can get some art supplies I can help design costumes, I kinda want to go to art school when I graduate.”
“Look girls, I know that you’re probably going to do this no matter what I say, and as the token human in the family I can’t really do much to stop you, but please if you do this keep each other safe,” Andy pleaded with a worried expression reflecting back at me in the rear-view mirror. “Try to wait until you have some training and control over your powers before going public, and if you get in over your heads don’t be afraid to call for help or run away.”
Mom reached out and put a hand on Andy’s shoulder, trying to look reassuring. “Honey don’t worry, once Tasha has some costumes designed I’ll make sure they’re made from the most protective materials I can come up with to keep them safe. I have some ideas for non-lethal weapons too. Ya know, I toyed around with the idea of becomin’ a hero too when I first got my powers, but I didn’t ‘ave friends with powers or the resources back then. I never got to the point o’ makin’ a costume back then, but now I guess I ‘ave my power armor for that. I did ‘ave a codename though, I called myself Gadget-Girl.”
“I already decided tae call maself Flare,” I said with a grin.
“Psyche,” Tasha quickly supplied, which made me suspect that she had just been playing devil’s advocate before and had already been giving the hero thing serious thought herself.
“Of course I’d be Aquarius,” Vanessa offered through a face-splitting grin.
Shu was giggling and bouncing excitedly in her seat as she contributed her own name. “Ooooh! Call me Packrat!”
“I can’t think of a good name,” Mei said with a pout after some thought as we were stopped at a red light. “Maybe you can all come up with one for me while I’m asleep.” Then golden light filled the vehicle as her powers flared and she passed out with a second pixie in her lap looking around in confusion and concern.
“Dammit!” Mom cursed. “I think we have to make a rule about no genesis in the car. She really needs to stop doin’ that until we know whether it’s goin’ to do her lasting harm.”
“Genesis… that would be a good name for Mei,” Tasha said thoughtfully as Andy put the SUV in drive once again and the rest of us stared at the new pixie in Mei’s lap.
The object of our scrutiny was a slender girl pixie, with slightly pale skin, blue eyes, snow white hair, and blushing cheeks. She looked around in what seemed like wonder and a little trepidation before giving Mei a look of concern and turning to the other pixie. “Is she going to be okay Tink?”
“She’ll be fine Peri, she’s just sleeping,” Tink assured her. “I guess that happens when she tries to bring one of us here from Pixie Hollow, she did the same when she brought me here, but everyone told me she would be okay and she was.”
“Periwinkle this time?” Vanessa asked staring at the new arrival.
“Of course,” Shu countered as if it were all perfectly normal and understandable. “Peri is Tink’s twin sister so Mei wouldn’t want her to be without her. That would be like her and I being forced to be apart, and neither of us would like that at all.”
“Wot’s Tink mean by bringin’ ‘em o’er though?” I wondered aloud as I watched the events in the rear seat from over my shoulder and tried to get a better look at the new arrival.
Tasha’s voice slipped into my mind in response to my query. *If Mei is imagining them as the fairies from the movies then they probably have some very basic memories based on what she knows of them, memories of certain events in the movies and general life in Pixie Hollow based on Mei’s own assumptions. Things Tink has said since being here, and the fact that she’s so close in appearance and personality to the Tink from the movies, seem to lend themselves to that theory, so it’s probably easier for them to think they were brought here to a new home rather than having been created from nothing. Maybe it’s some sort of coping mechanism and we should just let it be for now.*
I turned to see Mom and Andy nodding in front of me, as if in agreement, so I let the subject drop. Once Vanessa had managed to make a rough robe to cover the new naked fairy from a piece of Kleenex, things were quiet except for the two chattering pixies for the rest of the home. They seemed to be very happy being together and it sounded like Periwinkle shared Tink’s sense of adventure about their new situation, though I did catch her casting the occasional worried glance at her creator.
Once we were home and I had placed Mei in bed to be watched over by her twin and the fairies, the rest of us gathered downstairs to discuss the pixies and Mei. “I’m not sure what to do about this,” Andy said slumping into the couch with a sigh. “The fairies seem harmless enough, and maybe with two of them she’ll have it out of her system now, but the way she passes out each time can’t be good for her.”
“I’ll have to run some tests and scans to be sure of it myself,” Mom agreed with a shake of her head. “Her powers aren’t like anything I’ve seen before; pushing them to the extreme like this repeatedly could cause long term issues, or it could be like working a muscle, making her abilities stronger and less strenuous as she does so. I’m going to do every scan and test I can think of, and I’m going to ask Mystech for copies of all the biometric readings and other data from Mei’s testing, to look at things from a physician’s standpoint and to see if I can figure out how her powers work.”
“Wot aboot Tink’s health? An’ the new one…Percy?” I asked uncertainly. “They’re actual livin' people now, e'en if’n they’re only six inches tall, so should’nae we treat ‘em like it? Mei’s no' the only one who could ‘ave issues.”
“It’s Periwinkle, or Peri, Mer,” Vanessa corrected before turning to Mom and Andy. “She does have a point though, they’re living sentient beings and they’ll have the same needs as we do. You should have seen poor Tink trying to use the toilet this morning, they need things that are fairy sized. They also have some weird quirks that the fairies from the books and movies don’t have, like how they seem to actually make pixie dust instead of having to get it from the dust fairies, and the thing with Peri’s wings.”
“Peri’s wings? They look fine tae me ‘Nessa, they’re jus' like Tink’s,” I countered in confusion, wondering if maybe I was going to need a primer on pixies.
“But they shouldn’t be fine, even just going by the Secret of the Wings. Winter fairies would get weakened and their wings could get injured or break by spending too much time out of the cold and we’re in LA and its summer. It’s freaking hot, even the AC only manages to keep it moderately warm, and she hasn’t complained or seemed put out once, in fact I saw her looking at her wings a few times in confusion, like she’s waiting for something to happen,” the mermaid pointed out.
“I have a theory about tha’,” Mom offered. “Mei can’t possibly be thinkin’ about every single detail about something as complex as the fairies when creatin’ them. She probably has a pretty good idea in mind, but I think tha’ her memory an’ subconscious fills in the blanks. I think it’s why they have general memories, an' if she subconsciously doesn’t want them to suffer, as they would if they couldn’t fly or in Peri’s case stayin’ too long out of the cold, then she tweaks them so that they won’t. Fairies are inherently magical creatures in any mythos ya look at, an’ their abilities an' mere existence indicates tha’ they are magical so havin’ them generate their own pixie dust isn’t really much of a stretch.”
Tasha nodded in agreement before adding her own two cents. “It’s heartbreaking that Tink and Peri can’t live in the same place after they found one another in that movie, I don’t think that Mei would want that, I mean the whole reason she summoned Peri was so that she and Tink could be together. Why would she do that with them both having a weakness that would keep them apart? On some level, conscious or otherwise, she had to want to get rid of that weakness.”
“As for their needs as livin’ sentient beings, I’ll do some tinkerin’ tomorrow an’ we’ll give them both a physical an’ set up Peri wi’ some real clothes tonight,” Mom said thoughtfully before turning to me. “Merida I want ya to bring Mei and the fairies to my lab, I’d like to run some scans on Mei while she’s still unconscious from her efforts, it might give me some clues to why it’s takin’ such a toll on her.”
I powered up and went to fetch the twins and the fairies, carrying Mei to the lab where Mom was waiting and putting on a pair of latex gloves. She had me put Mei in one of her scanning beds and turned it on. Then she put Tink through all the various scanners and machines that she had used in my physical a few days earlier. While she was doing that Shu and I talked to Periwinkle who looked decidedly confused and worried. “Dinnae worry Peri, Mom’s a doctor, she’s jus’ goin’ tae make shoor tha’ yuir all healthy, same as she does wit’ us. An’ dinnae worry aboot yuir wings either, we think tha’ the magic Mei used tae bring ya ‘ere made it so ya dinnae ‘ave tae stay in the cold.”
The white-haired pixie sitting in Shu’s lap breathed a sigh of relief before looking back at her wings again, “Are you sure?”
“Mom kin prob’ly dae some tests tae find out for shoor,” I replied, trying to reassure her and keep her distracted while Mom ran her tests on Mei and Tink. “So Tink is a Tinker fairy, wot kinda fairy are you?”
“I’m a Frost talent fairy,” she said after a moments hesitation and glancing toward Shu for reassurance. She and Shu seemed to be hitting it off fairly well and I had to wonder if part of that was because Mei wanted her twin to have a pixie pal too, as much as she wanted Tink to have her twin. The fairy flitted out of Shu’s lap and touched the paper sheet on the classic doctor’s examining table where a thin coat of frost slowly spread out to cover the entire sheet of paper.
“Tha’s impressive,” I said with a smile. I wasn’t just reassuring her either, and the thought crossed my mind that an ability like that could give Mei and Shu a few extra options in combat, even just used as a distraction.
Mom finished running Tink through the scanners and then it was Peri’s turn. Their internal biology was actually pretty similar to a human’s except for the extra muscles in their back that allowed them to control their wings and their small size, and they both seemed to be in good health. After telling us that she was going to keep Mei in the scanner overnight for long-term observation, Mom put Peri in another type of scanner, apparently the same one she had used to make Tink’s clothes. “This device will take yuir measurements to the micron an’ import it to the costume maker so we can produce some clothes fer ya,” she explained. “Ya fairies are pretty tiny so it doesn’t take long to make several outfits fer ya, as long as they’re all of the same design. I’m settin’ it fer the same lightweight, flexible material I came up with fer Tink’s clothes.”
She had Shu find the design for the clothes that Peri wore in the movie, designed one to match it in the costume maker, and it soon started popping out a dozen copies of the same outfit; an aqua strapless dress, dark icy blue pants, and aqua colored shoes with white pompoms on her toes. After Peri was properly attired, Mom asked Tink and Peri for their permission to run some tests on them in a transparent, temperature controlled box. Peri seemed to have no trouble in either the heat or the cold, though she needed to put a protective coat of frost on Tink’s wings when the temperature got below zero.
Once we were done the tests and Peri was assured that her wings should be safe it was starting to get late so Mom sent us all to bed for the night. As I climbed under my blankets I thought over the day I had had. As days went it had been a good one, one of the best since I had Activated, and I thought that maybe, just maybe I could get used to my weird new life if I could be the kind of girl I wanted to be. I tried to fall asleep with that happy thought in mind. It even worked to some degree. It wasn’t until nearly o-five-hundred that I woke up in a cold sweat, screaming and shaking from another nightmare of my Activation, and my bedroom exploded.
![]() |
Chapter 13 Shocked at First Sight Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
The world around my force field erupted in a blast of explosive force that very near blinded me. My vision was spotty, my heart was still racing, I was shaking in fear, and my breath was coming in great panicked gasps, my lungs burning as I tried to get myself and my powers under control. I needed to know how bad it was. “Did I just destroy my room or did more of the house get damaged? Is everyone okay?! Oh God, what if I killed them all?! Oh please, they have to be alright!” I couldn’t breathe, the whirlwind in my chest signalling an anxiety attack as I rubbed at my eyes trying to clear my vision.
“Stop it!” I mentally scolded myself, “panicking won’t help. Prioritize dammit. Close your eyes and get yourself under control and then worry about everything else once you’ve determined that there’s a need. Don’t let your emotions overwhelm you.” I closed my eyes, forcing myself to take slow measured breaths, clear my mind, and calm myself. Once I had collected myself and shut down my force field, I fell a short distance to the floor and felt myself being wrapped up in someone’s arms, from the feel of the large breasts being squished into me it was probably Mom. I opened my eyes to see that it was indeed Mom holding me and that Andy, Shu, Vanessa, Tasha, and the fairies were all looking on in concern.
We just knelt in the ruins of my bed, with her holding me tight and telling me that everything was okay, that she was there for me. Most of my bed was now in splinters on the floor and everything that had been on it with me was scorched and mostly destroyed. The rest of the room was untouched though and I was a little uncertain as to why. I felt how much energy went into that explosion, it had been far more than that day at the mall, and I was relatively sure that it should have at least taken out my bedroom, possibly the entire house.
“Wha? How?” I inquired uncertainly, awash with confusion, even as my heart soared with relief at seeing the damage contained and everyone safe and unharmed.
“Well ya woke up the whole house with tha’ blast,” she spoke softly into my ear before breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness I put those safety measures in place after Mystech and Toxin visited.”
“Wot safety measures?” I wondered aloud, my brain still a little fuzzy on details. It didn’t really help that I was half-sobbing in relief and trying to keep my powers from activating again as she softly stroked my hair and cooed reassurances in my ear.
“What Toxin told us about yuir condition had me worried, so I created an energy shield to contain yuir power if ya ever completely lost control while asleep. That’s what I was working on when Tink and I were in the lab on Friday and you were watchin’ over Mei. That night while ya were sleepin’ I placed emitters on the floor at each corner of yuir bed and one on the ceiling,” she pointed up to a small white device the size of a golf ball stuck on, and almost completely blending in with, the ceiling above where my bed had been. “Tha’ one also has a sensor in it that constantly scans for the energy signature of yuir powers when they’re active and if it senses it, the five emitters activate and form a fully enclosed pyramid of energy similar to yuir force field tha’ contains the explosive force.”
“I… I could ‘ave killed all o’ ya,” I blubbered into her shoulder, soaking the fabric of her nightshirt with tears and snot as I sobbed and sniffled, and the enormity of what could have happened clutched my heart in an icy grip and squeezed tight.
She cupped my chin in her hands, raising and turning my face so that I had nowhere to look but at the stern expression on her face. “No Merida. You are no’ goin’ to blame yuirself for somethin’ tha’ didn’t happen. Do no’ go there. You have PTSD and a medical condition, and neither is yuir fault. With the nightmares you’ve been havin’ it was damn-near certain that this was goin’ to happen sooner or later. What kind o’ big sister, or mom, would I be if I didn’t take precautions to try to protect you from it causing somethin’ you’d regret? I won’t let you go through this alone, we’re yuir family and we’re goin’ to help ya through this.”
I was about to argue that I was dangerous, that they’d be better off without me around, but that was when the other girls, including the two fairies, near-tackled me in a group hug. I was torn then, half of me wanting to just bask in that unconditional love and acceptance from the people I cared about, and half wanting to go as far away as possible to keep them all safe. “Ya should all be terrified o’ me… I am,” I half-whispered.
“You will never hurt any of us Mer, or let anyone else, I know it.” Tasha whispered back.
“Is tha’ you, or yuir powers talkin’?”
“Both,” she replied without a trace of doubt in her tone.
Once I was deemed sufficiently calmed down we all set about starting our day, since it was almost o-six-hundred and we were all awake anyway. Andy generously went back into my room to clean up and dispose of the remnants of my bed, Tasha and Vanessa went to the kitchen to start making us all a big breakfast, and the rest of us went into Mom’s lab to check on Mei. She was still sleeping in the scanner bed, so while Shu and the fairies watched over her Mom dragged me over to her computer to look over some of the data from the scanner/emitter from my room. From how she had explained it; when I awoke freaking out from my nightmare my shield had already been on and wildly unstable and I had instinctively pushed the excess energy outward, from the force field just along the surface of my skin, in an omnidirectional wave that had detonated as soon as it impacted the energy shield.
Now that we knew that the energy shield was effective, Mom was planning on building a more efficient and permanent one for my room when we bought a place in the town we’d be moving to for school. Creation of a portable setup that I could take on camping trips, and other times I wouldn’t be sleeping at home, was on the agenda as well. She also wanted to figure out something for a bed for me that wouldn’t need to be completely replaced every time I had an ‘incident’. I felt a lot better about things knowing that we would have proper precautions in place.
She then went on to look over Mei’s scans, but she couldn’t find anything wrong other than slightly low electrolyte levels. Finally she muttered, “There’s nothin’ physically wrong with her, at least no’ that I can detect. If I’m goin’ to find out what’s causin’ this an’ what exactly is happenin’, I may just have to have her in the scanner when she’s usin’ her powers.”
As if responding to that line of thought Mei started to stir in the bed. Mom looked at her watch and noted, “Eleven hours an’ forty-seven minutes. The last time she was out for just over twelve hours, so maybe it’s gettin’ easier for her body to handle. Or it could just be tha’ she was less tired than last time when she created Peri. There’s no real way to tell yet.” Then she was at the bedside, gently pushing aside Shu and the hovering pixies, and smiling down at the overly-impulsive Chinese girl. “Ya need to stop scarin’ us like tha’ Mei, do ya feel okay?”
“I’m a little hungry and thirsty Mom,” she ventured.
“Tasha an’ ‘Nessa should ‘ave brekkie ready soon,” I offered as Mom let Mei out of the scanner and Peri Tink, and Shu all glomped her.
Mei hugged her twin and the two fairies tightly. “It’s good to have with us Periwinkle,” she said with a huge grin.
“Okay girls, now tha’ Mei’s awake, let’s all head out to the kitchen an’ see if they need any help.” Mom started shooing us out of the lab and in the direction of the smell of frying bacon.
“Soooo,” Mei asked as we were herded along, “What happened while I was asleep? Did anyone come up with a cool super hero name for me?”
After a filling breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast we all tried to get into a somewhat normal and quiet Sunday after our rude awakening. Andy started packing things for our eventual move, since they wanted us moved to the new town and somewhat settled in before classes started in a few weeks. As for Mom, she planned to spend most of the day in her lab working on some things for the fairies as well as the new shields she had in mind to contain my powers while I sleep, both the portable design and the long-term one for my bedroom. That left us kids to our own devices for the day, and Mom said we could go out and spend day however we liked, so long as we stuck together and followed certain conditions.
The first condition was that we tried to avoid using our powers if possible, and if we did have to use them Mei wasn’t to create anything that would cause her to pass out until Mom could get her in the scanner that evening. Secondly, Tasha would be in charge unless we had to use our powers to defend ourselves, in which case I would be in charge. Lastly we weren’t to do anything that would push me too far, and I would be the judge of what that was. If I started to feel overwhelmed, we were to come home immediately.
Since none of us could drive yet, and the only funds we had were what we had on the prepaid debit cards Mom had gotten us before that first shopping trip, our options seemed somewhat limited. We decided to go to a nearby mall to check out a surfing store that Vanessa had heard about, and Tasha, Vanessa, and I had quietly planned to try to buy gifts for the twins’ upcoming birthday as well if we could.
As soon as we had all showered and dressed, we were on our way to the mall, with me wearing a simple pair of far-too-tight jeans, a t-shirt, my sneakers, and the Hello Kitty backpack purse that I vowed to replace that very day. I would have worn my combat boots, but I wanted to get some better socks to wear under them first, ankle socks and combat boots do not work well together. The others were all dressed similarly casually, and Shu and Mei both had backpack purses similar to mine, each with a fairy hidden inside. Tink was sticking with Mei and Peri with Shu since the pair seemed to enjoy one another’s company.
The bus trip was mercifully short and soon we were strolling the mall with the others sticking close to me. Our first stop was the board shop of course where Vanessa almost immediately started drooling over a blue ocean patterned board with a mermaid on it. The shop also had a variety of swimwear and wetsuits available, though we decided to hold off on buying anything there for the moment. Vanessa figured that even if she could afford the board, she didn’t want to be carrying it around the mall for hours.
For the next two hours we just drifted from one shop to another where I bought a pack of ladies sports socks and a new backpack purse that I felt suited me a little better. The purse was mostly plaid in a pattern somewhat similar to the Ainsley family tartan, with silver skull shaped decals and studded black leather trim. When Vanessa saw me buy it she giggled and said I was going to need a few more piercings if I was going to try out the Goth look. She had me almost considering it, since I wouldn’t mind wearing all black and it just might keep people away from me.
Vanessa and Tasha had already snuck off briefly to get birthday presents for the twins, so while the others went into a store that sold movies, videogames, and some electronics to look for copies of the Disney Fairies movies, I excused myself to ‘go use the loo’ and slipped off to the jewelry store we had passed a little while ago. I wanted to get the twins a pair of matching lockets that they could put a family photo in, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t take too long to find something like that.
The store wasn’t very busy, there was just one man, who looked to be in his forties, working the counter and one other customer, a boy who was maybe fourteen or fifteen. The boy was tall for his age, though not lanky, I could see by his frame and the way that he carried himself that he was in pretty good shape. He was good looking too; sandy blond hair, a handsome face, and muscles slightly stretching the fabric of his t-shirt and jeans… “Dammit! Why do I keep looking at him like that?” I thought as I tore my eyes away for the eighth time to focus on my search for lockets, my heart fluttering wildly in my chest. Then it hit me. “Oh my God, I’m attracted to him!”
I’d checked almost every glass case in the damned store except one by this point. Swallowing the lump in my very dry throat I made my way over to the glass case he was currently browsing, and of course there were the lockets along with a selection of charm bracelets that blondie was looking at. I tried not to stand too close to him, but I just wanted to buy the damn gifts and get out of there so I needed to choose something fast. I had just decided on a pair of small silver lockets which were very similar, but with some slight differences, just like the twins. They were only thirty-seven dollars each and I was about to call the salesman over when the boy beside me stopped frowning at the charm bracelets and seemed to notice me. “Hey! You’re a girl!”
I nearly jumped out of my sneakers, the furious thrumming of my heart now seeming to be tightly lodged in my throat as I looked into his deep blue eyes. “Dammit Merida, stop acting like a lovesick schoolgirl. This is the last thing you need right now. Just play it cool so you can get the damn lockets and get the hell out of here,” I mentally scolded myself before opening my mouth to reply, “Oh! I’m…. uhhh…. yeah…” I inwardly cringed and somehow resisted the urge to facepalm. “Just perfect, do-over time, and let’s make it something intelligible this time before he thinks you’re a blathering idiot.”
“Aye, way tae point out the obvious Sherlock,” I managed to get out, regaining control over my errant tongue. I could feel my whole face flushing as I considered my stupidity. “And now you’ve insulted him, way to go Merida. This mission is a bust, just forget the gifts and find one later… somewhere far from here.”
Unfortunately, while I was berating myself and trying to keep my powers from activating from my nervousness, he managed to get over his own embarrassment enough to speak again. It came as some small consolation that I wasn’t the only one blushing as he said, “Sorry, yeah that probably sounded a lot worse than I meant it to. It’s just I’m looking for a birthday gift for my kid sister, she’s turning twelve and my mom suggested something that will make her feel like an adult instead of toys or something and I’m not really sure what girls like so I was hoping I could get your help.” The last part was all blurted out without coming up for air and suddenly I didn’t feel half as stupid as I did a moment ago.
“Don’t do it! You’ve been a girl for like a week? If you try to give advice on girly stuff you’re just going to end up looking like an idiot,” I cautioned myself. Apparently though, I need to stop giving myself advice I’m not going to take, because my finger was already pointing to a silver charm bracelet with five charms on it; a four leaf clover, a fairy, a heart, a star, and a pink gemstone in a silver cage. “Tha’ one,” I suggested.
“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver, are you looking for something for yourself or…?”
“Ma sisters, they’re turnin’ twelve too, I think I’m goin’ tae ge’ them those lockets,” I replied, trying to be casual as I pointed at the lockets in question.
He had paid for his purchase and I was about to do the same when the sound of pounding footsteps entered the store and I felt myself snatched off my feet as Blondie picked me up like I was nothing and dove behind one of the larger display cases. At the same instant we hit the floor I could hear the gunfire. “Nobody move or try anything funny! You know the drill boys, gold and diamonds, leave everything else! If that guy behind the counter makes a move shoot him.” It was a woman’s voice and I looked up over the display case to see four men with guns, three of them smashing cases and snatching up jewelry as the other kept his gun trained on the man behind the sales counter. Meanwhile, a very attractive woman in her twenties, with bright blue hair and dressed in a skin-tight black cat suit with blue lightning patterns down the sides, was looking directly at the case that we were currently stationed behind. She wasn’t even wearing a mask. “I saw you kids dive behind that case so come on out!”
I was battling between wanting to do something about the robbers and my promise to keep a low profile when Blondie pulled me back down, holding me tight against his chest. I couldn’t breathe, and it felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest when he whispered, “Don’t worry, I won’t let them hurt you, just stay here.”
“What the actual fuck? I don’t need him to protect me! I have super powers, I should be protecting him!” I seethed. I wasn’t sure what pissed me off more, the fact that he thought I was some damsel in distress who needed his protection, or the fact that his concern for me actually felt… nice. Regardless, my force field came on and I was already calming myself to put myself in mission mode, but Blondie was already in motion. He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and jammed one into the electrical outlet by the display case. “Is he insane?!”
Instead of twitching and convulsing like I’d been expecting, Blondie smiled as he began to glow with a pale golden light. He removed his now-scorched key from the outlet and stood up, leveling a glare at the robbers. “I’m going to make this easy, if you drop the bags and guns and surrender, I won’t have to hurt you.”
I stood up beside him and glared as well. “Aye, wot he said, ‘cept I dinnae mind hurtin’ ya one bit.”
The woman actually laughed and produced a pair of 8 x10 glossy photos from what I had first thought was a loot bag, tossing them toward us. “Awww isn’t that cute, the kiddies want to play super-hero. Why don’t you both just sit there real quiet and keep those autographed photos. Maybe one day I’ll even let you work for me. I remember when I was your age, having powers is a real rush isn’t it kiddies, but I’ve been doing this for years. I’m not just some everyday thief, I’m Electro-Cute!” The air around her was suddenly crackling with energy as blue streaks of electricity arced along her body as she struck what she probably thought was a sexy pose.
Much to my embarrassment I giggle-snorted. “Tha’s yuir name? Fer real? Ya actually call yuirself tha’? In public? An’ ya think tha’ it’s cool? Honestly, I’m a wee bit shocked.”
“You little bitch! Nobody talks to me like that! I’ll show you shocked!” She screamed in fury, hurling a blue blast of electricity at me. I was perfectly happy to just let it hit my force field, but Blondie just stepped in front of me, absorbing the blast, the glow around him brightening.
“Mmmm spicy,” he said with a grin, before turning to me and asking, “are you okay Miss?”
“I ‘ave a bloody force field, I didnae need ya tae protec’ me,” I grumbled before reluctantly adding, “bu’ thanks fer tryin’. Ya go’ a name?”
“Conduit, and you?” he responded as he launched forward to punch ‘Electro-Cute’ in the face, knocking her to the floor in a dazed heap. By this point the goons with the guns realized that their boss might just be outclassed and had decided to use their guns for something other than smashing display cases. Three started firing at us, the bullets falling to the floor harmlessly on contact, though I noticed Conduit’s glow fading with each bullet that hit him. The other henchman seemed to have a few more brain cells though, and hadn’t taken his gun off the man behind the sales counter.
“On the floor you two, slowly, or I’ll blow his fucking brains out!”
I raised my hands, trying to look harmless and moving slowly, even as I concentrated on the jeweler behind the counter. “Let’s all jus’ calm down ‘ere aye? I’m Flare, an’ tha’s Conduit, an’ all o’ you are really screwed. Ya really dinnae wan’ tae shoot tha’ man. Right now, he’s yuir only bargainin’ chip. If’n ya shoot ‘im all bets are off an’ yuir goin’ tae get ‘urt bad. Ya see, I ‘ave a wee problem wi’ control, so when I get mad things tend tae blow up. Right now I’m keepin’ maself calm, bu’ the minute I ain’t got reason tae stay tha’ way I cannae guarantee ya leavin’ this place alive, or ‘ow many pieces ya will be in when ya dae. ‘ow aboot all o’ you? Dae ya all wan’ tae be leavin’ ‘ere in one piece? Or are the coroners goin’ tae need tae bring a mop?” I asked, turning to the other gunmen and Electro-Cute, who was slowly getting to her feet.
The blue-haired villainess shook her head, glowering at me and Conduit as she got to her feet. “If you had that kind of power you would have already used it.”
“Ummm, ‘ello. Superhero ‘ere. I’m tryin’ no’ tae cause too much property damage or kill anyone.” I rolled my eyes at her stupidity and muttered, “Tae ‘ell wit’ it. Time tae kick yuir fookin’ asses.” I flew at the goon with the gun trained on the man behind the counter, making a grab for him. He fired the gun before I reached him, but the bullet fell harmlessly to the floor after hitting the field I that I had generated around the jeweler. I breathed a silent sigh of relief as I grabbed the shooter by the wrist, wrenched the gun out of his hand, and threw him into two of the other goons, sending all three into a sprawling heap on the floor. I was so glad that the field had worked. I had never tried to put one on somebody else before, I hadn’t even been sure that I could, and it hadn’t been easy concentrating on it while keeping the crooks’ attention on me.
Conduit had taken that as his cue to tackle the remaining gunman, batting his gun aside before delivering a right cross to his chin that put him out for the count. That was when EC apparently decided that it might be in her best interests to make a run for it. She made a break for the doors, but I cut her off. “Yuir no’ gettin’ away.”
The air between us hummed and crackled as blue bolts of electricity arced along her skin and she surprisingly smiled at me. “You kids are tough, I’ll give you that, I even respect you for it. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet again someday. I am getting away though. You see, I don’t just generate electricity, I am electricity.” Her clothes and bag all fell to the floor as her body turned to energy, crackled with electricity, and then she disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
“Dammit!” I cursed. The damn supervillain got away and now I’d have to look for the twins’ gifts somewhere else since I wasn’t stupid enough to pay for them with a debit card with my name on it after this. I was still mentally grumbling about it as we bound the goons with their own shirts, collected all the guns, and left them with the extremely grateful jeweler. “The cops should be arrivin’ soon if’n ya pressed tha’ silent alarm when I think ya did. We should prob’ly be leavin’ afore they arrive. Sorry aboot the damages an’ the shootin’.”
I was heading for the door with Conduit close behind when the jeweler called out, “Miss, you forgot something,” and offered me a shopping bag with a pair of small jewelry boxes inside.
I shook my head, “I didnae get tae pay fer ‘em.”
“Consider it payment for services rendered, you helped stop the robbery, and if that red light that stopped that bullet was from you, then you saved my life too. This is the least I can do,” he said seriously, shoving the bag into my hands. “Get going. From what I’ve heard, the police around here aren’t always the most understanding of your kind in these situations.”
“Thanks,” I replied, giving him a genuine smile in return before dropping my force field, dashing out the door and speed-walking back toward the store where I had left my sisters.
When I got there and was about to head inside I jumped, nearly losing my shopping bags, as Conduit said, “Nice work back there, maybe we’ll get to work together again sometime.” I hadn’t even realized that he had been keeping up with me.
“I dinnae think so, I’m no’ really from aroun’ ‘ere an’ I won’ be stayin’ long,” I tried to reply casually, adding a shrug. “I should ge’ goin’ though, ma sisters are prob’ly gettin’ worried.”
“Well good luck then, I just wanted to say thanks for the help. It was nice meeting you Flare.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and then he was gone, leaving me standing there stunned. My heart raced and my brain was in a fog as I wondered why the hell I let him do that, why I wasn’t having to fight to keep my powers from igniting, and most importantly, why I wasn’t ready to hunt him down and tear him a new one?
I was still standing there minutes later, my hand pressed to my cheek, when my sisters emerged from the store. I didn’t even realize they were there until I heard Vanessa say, “Geeeeze Mer, how long does it take you to use the bathroom? We were starting to get worried.”
![]() |
Chapter 14 The Aftermall Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
*Earth to Merida, come in Merida,* Tasha’s voice slipped into my confused mind.
I shook my head to clear it and removed my hand from my cheek as if it had been burned. “Stupid! Why the hell did you let him kiss you like that?! And why didn’t you break his fucking arm when he did?!” I thought to myself bitterly, going over the events in my mind once again. “It didn’t even set my powers off… probably because it wasn’t an overwhelming negative emotion I guess, I’m more confused by it than anything. Conduit was actually a nice guy, and he didn’t totally creep me out like that guy on our previous shopping trip. I think I might have even… liked it.”
By this point the girls had half-dragged me to the food court where we all chose what we wanted for lunch before finding a free table. I had decided on a Big Mac, fries and a Coke from the McDonalds, but both the order and the walk to the table were made in a somewhat distracted state. It was one thing to mentally appreciate a person’s looks, I mean people do that all the time right? I had done it more than once before today, but actually being attracted to Conduit and acting like an idiot pretty much since we met? I had never had any gay leanings before this. “And you still don’t,” I told myself bitterly. “You’re a girl now and your bloody Archetype probably changed your orientation when it changed your body. You haven’t been attracted to a single one of the hot girls you’ve seen since you changed.”
“What’s wrong Merida? You’re all distracted and you haven’t even touched your food yet.” Mei suddenly asked in concern.
“Nothin’ I’m fine,” I tried to assure my sisters, taking as big a bite of my burger as I could with my tiny mouth, followed with a few fries and some Coke to wash it all down. From the looks they were giving me not one of them believed me so, with a weary sigh I decided to get it over with. “Ummm, sorry girls, I ahhh… sumthin’ ‘appened while I was out usin’ the loo,” I stammered uncertainly as I tried to explain without letting on to the twins that I had been searching for gifts for them. “I stopped a’ the jewelry store… ‘cause I was thinkin’ o’ maybe getting’ a few new piercin’s in ma ears an’ was lookin’ tae see if they ‘ad anythin’ cool fer earrings. I kinda thought… I could rock the punk look ya ken? Anyway a supervillain an’ some guys wi’ guns tried tae rob the store while I was there.”
“You foiled a jewelry heist?!” Vanessa hissed excitedly, barely able to keep her voice at a level where passersby or people at nearby tables wouldn’t overhear.
A few more bites of my burger and a sip of Coke later I gave an uncertain nod. “Well, ya see… there was this guy an’ he asked ma advice on’ somethin’ so I ‘elped ‘im out an’ then I was aboot tae leave when he grabbed me an’ hid me behind a display case as the thieves came in. He ‘ad powers too an’ we stopped the gunmen bu’ Electro-Cute go’ away. Anyway, we cleared out afore the cops showed up, an’ then he thanked me fer the ‘elp an’… kissed me.”
“Whoa! He kissed you and there’s not a smoldering crater where he once stood?” Tasha asked wide-eyed. I glared at her and she looked down at the floor. “Sorry Mer, but we all know what happened last time and… there’s your condition. So unless you were totally crushing on him there’s no way… OMG You were crushing on him?! That’s why you were standing there looking dazed and touching your face!”
My face burned in embarrassment as I looked at the floor and scuffed my foot nervously. “I dinnae ken… ummm maybe?”
“Oh damn, she’s got it baaaad,” Vanessa teased. “So are you going to see him again?”
“I doubt it, some stoopid crush is the las’ thing tha’ I need right now, ‘sides he lives ‘ere in LA and we’re goin’ tae be movin’ soon. Wit’ any luck I will ne’er ‘ave tae see Conduit again,” I grumbled. Then I filled my face with more of my burger, grumbling around it, “Stoopid jerk anyway, tryin’ tae protect me when I didnae need it, like I’m some ‘elpless wee lass.”
“I dunno about the helpless part, but…” Vanessa started to say, apparently having understood.
“Dae no’ say it ‘Nessa, I really dinnae need tae be reminded o’ how weak an’ small I look now.”
Shu and Mei both stood up and grabbed my arms possessively as Shu nodded and said, “Yeah, Merida doesn’t want to think about some stupid boy, especially when there’s other important stuff to do and talk about.”
“Uh-huh,” Mei quickly agreed. “Now that Merida decided on a look for herself we have to see what we can buy her today, and try to get her those extra piercings she wanted.”
“I am such an idiot, can I say anything today that isn’t mind-blowingly stupid? Now I’m going to have to go along with this. Way to set yourself up Merida, why couldn’t you have just said something else, or better yet nothing at all,” I mentally berated myself. “Now it’s either make the twins think I’m all eager to be a punk rocker or let Tasha and Vanessa grill me endlessly about Conduit and talking about my feelings. Fuck it, let’s rock and roll.”
I hadn’t been completely lying when I said I was considering adopting a punk look. The style is actually kind of cool and looks pretty badass, even on girls. I even liked the music too, so maybe I could find some t-shirts from some of my favorite bands like The Beastie Boys, The Ramones, Green Day, Bikini Kill, The Offspring, and Dropkick Murphys. Besides, combat boots don’t really go with a lot of styles but I could manage it with a punk look. I could even live with short skirts as long as I could wear something underneath them and get some made with the Ainsley clan tartan.
“Well, wot are we waitin’ for then? Shouldnae we be shoppin’?” I think we’d need Mom ‘ere fer the piercin’s though, since I’m obviously no’ eighteen yet.”
“Wait, what? You want to go shopping for girls’ clothes?” Tasha asked, her jaw hanging and her eyes bugging out slightly in shock.
“Ummm yeah Mer, I kinda thought we’d have to twist your arm a little more for that, or give you some more time,” Vanessa agreed.
“Wot, a girl cannae wan’ tae look ‘er best?” I countered, enjoying teasing them for once. “I think I kin live with bein’ a girl as long as I kin dae it on ma own terms. If’n we dinnae ge’ anythin’ too girly, childish, or o’er the top I’ll be okay. I may even be open tae some o’ those things later once I’m more used tae bein’ who I am now. Let’s stick tae Punk fer now though, an’ maybe a few Goth things if they kin work wi’ the look I’m goin’ fer.”
We all quickly finished our meals and then set out on the quest to find me clothes to wear that I didn’t feel too ridiculous in. We didn’t have the money to buy all that much, but we planned to make it go as far as we could. First we stopped at the dollar store for some cheap packs of black nylon stockings that I wouldn’t feel bad about ripping. Then we made our way to one of those large second hand clothing chain stores where I was lucky enough to score some old tour shirts from Green Day and The Offspring, and a black and white Bikini Kill crop top that were all in good condition. We also managed two zip-up hoodies in black and dark green, two plaid skirts (a little shorter than I preferred with a mid thigh hem and a tartan pattern that was close to the purse I had bought earlier), a black denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off to form a vest, a pair of classic black and red high top sneakers that looked brand new, two pairs of light blue cut-off denim shorts and three pairs of distressed jeans; one pair of black low-rise and two pairs of skinny jeans in light blue.
We tried to actively avoid the section of the mall that the jewelry store was in, just in case the police had been a description of me. Vanessa checked it out on her way to the bathroom, where she took far too long, even if she was wetting her tail and skin too. Apparently the store had been cordoned off and the police were inside. Not long after Vanessa got back Tasha took the twins to do the same, and I had to wonder if they were pulling the ‘sneak away and buy Merida a birthday present’ this time. Soon though, we had stretched the money we had to the limit and took the bus home. Vanessa looked longingly at the board shop before we left, but decided to hold off for now since we didn’t know anything about the town we were going to be moving to yet, for all we knew it could be in the middle of the desert.
The rest of the day was fairly sedate. We had an early dinner and then Mom had Mei lay down in the scanner bed in her lab so that she could have scans running when our sister inevitably tried to anchor something to our reality once again. We didn’t have to wait long, since as soon as she was comfortable she gave me a long intense look before saying, “I think I’m gonna summon Fawn this time. An Animal Fairy could help me control some of my animal summons better, and Merida might need her later.” With that cryptic remark her power flared and she passed out, leaving a naked Fairy fluttering in front of my face.
The fairy that had appeared practically right in front of my nose was slender with tanned skin, bright amber eyes, freckles, and long light brown hair. She was also very naked at the moment. Suddenly she just grinned at me and exclaimed, “Hey! I think that you’re the one I came to the mainland looking for! I’m Fawn and we are going to have so much fun together!”
“Ummm… o…kay?” I verbally stumbled in sudden confusion as the pixie grinned, flitted onto my shoulder and then took a curious look around.
As I stared at the fairy on my shoulder Fawn’s attention seemed to fall on Mei in the bed, her expression changing to one of concern as she turned to look back at me. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’ll be fine.” Tink reassured her. “Bringing one of us to the mainland just makes her really tired.”
Fawn seemed to finally notice the other fairies and let out a squeal of excitement. “Tink! Peri! You’re here too?!” She zipped over to the other fairies and gave them an exuberant hug as the three began chattering like old friends.
“Hey Mom, ya think we kin make Fawn some clothes?” I asked as she was looking over the readings from the scanner bed mumbling something about quantum entanglement.
“Sure Merida, I’m going to send these results over to my tablet anyway.” She entered something in the control panel really quick and then took me and Shu over to the computer attached to the costume maker. With Shu’s help, and reference images of Fawn from the different Fairy movies, she was able to come up with a few different outfit options for the fairy, once her dimensions had been scanned. The first was a simple amber colored sleeveless tunic, ruddy brown three quarter length pants and an elfin shoes, and a green belt. There was also a long sleeved shirt that matched the pants that she sometimes wore beneath the tunic. The other outfit was an orange-and-amber dress that she didn’t even wear shoes with. Fawn seemed even happier than before once six of each of the outfits had been produced and the other fairies had finished helping her braid her long hair. And when I say long I mean long, going by scale it was at least as long as mine had been when I activated and even in a tight braid it nearly reached her ankles.
During the day Mom had come up with tiny little houses for the fairies and had made three of them anticipating the arrival of a third. It was only a bedroom with a small closet and a bathroom, but they had comfy little beds and the bathrooms had a sink, bathtub, and toilet. The latter had been designed to disintegrate their wastes and such and had a small basket of tiny tissues beside, while the sink and bathtub both had running water that was purified and recycled from a small reservoir. It even had tiny fairy sized towels. The houses weren’t much, but they would give the fairies a bit of privacy when they wanted it and bathroom facilities more suited to their small stature.
Once Mom had introduced the fairies to their new digs I offered to help take the little houses up to the twins’ room. Mom quickly pulled me aside though and said, “Ya might wan’ to think about puttin’ Fawn’s house in yuir room fer now, jus’ keep it outside the energy shield over yuir bed.”
“Why would I be doin’ tha’ Mom? She’s Mei’s fairy.”
“Is she? Yes, she is one o’ Mei’s creatures an’ there is definitely a strong connection between the two, but look how she reacted to ya and think about how Peri has been with Shu. Those two have hardly left one another’s sides even after Mei awoke this mornin’. Mei created Tink’s twin no’ just fer Tink, but also fer her own twin to have a pixie pal. Now she’s done the same fer you. She even said that you might need her. She’s somehow linked these last two fairies not only with herself, but individually to you and Shu at some level as well. So take her house into yuir room and get to know yuir new friend better.” The last was said in a tone that would allow no arguments and with a slight smile.
So I ended up spending most of the evening in my room on the temporary fold out cot that had been set up in place of my bed, getting to know Fawn. She seemed to be a bit of a tomboy, was very fond of animals, and seemed to be the good-hearted and happy-go-lucky sort. She was also funny, with a mischievous streak a mile wide. We talked, played a few games and I told her a bit about myself too, and she seemed to think that my constructs might lend themselves well to playing pranks once I had better fine control over them.
I found myself genuinely liking Fawn, and with her being a wild child type tomboy we had quite a few things in common. I think the best thing was that she wasn’t after me to be a girly girl, she just took me for who I was and seemed to like me. She wasn’t exactly a girly girl either so it worked well and we complained to each other about why other girls felt the need to get all dolled up just to do everyday things. She preferred being comfortable to being fashionable and didn’t fault me for being the same. She even had me loosening up a bit and trying to relax, letting go of a small measure of the military discipline that had been instilled in me for so long.
I didn’t recall falling asleep, but I did remember vividly another set of terrifying dreams, including flashbacks of my Activation and scenarios where I lost control of my powers and killed everyone around me. I woke up panting, crying, and screaming as once again the world around me exploded and the anxiety attack seemed to take away my ability to breathe. I was still sitting there in the air sobbing and gasping for air when a tiny, calm, and caring voice reached through the terror that had gripped my heart and mind. “Calm down Merida, breathe slow and deep and open your eyes. I’m here for you.”
I managed to get myself breathing again. I was still crying and sniffling, but the voice helped me to calm down considerably from where I had been at before and even through my force field I could sense someone holding my hand, or at least two of my fingers. Then when I opened my eyes I saw not only the ruined remains of the cot scattered around us, but also Fawn; still trying to speak soothingly to me, hugging my fingers for dear life, and surrounded by a familiar red glow. Confusion seemed to relieve me of the last vestiges of my emotional outburst as I stared at the glowing fairy, since I was fairly sure that I hadn’t put that force field on her. I wasn’t the only one staring either. My explosive awakening had once again woken everyone but Mei and they were all staring at Fawn, especially Tink and Peri.
![]() |
Chapter 15 Transition Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
“Wot? Tha’s jus’ like ma force field, but ‘ow are ya doin tha’?” I asked the tiny brunette fairy. I was absolutely sure that it wasn’t me putting the force field on her, I can sort of sense the fields I’ve created once they’re made, it’s like a presence in my mind that allows me to control and move them, and I wasn’t sensing it at all. Nor had I extended mine beyond the surface of my skin to cover her as well, I would have sensed that too. It was like she had her own force field, just like mine, and had merged them where they met so she could physically touch me.
“How am I doing what?” Fawn asked tilting her head slightly as she gave me a confused look.
“Ya ’ave a force field like mine Fawn, ‘ow did ya dae it?””
The fairy laughed. “Pssssh, don’t be silly Merida I’m an Animal Fairy, not a Force Field Fairy. I thought that you were doing this.” She seemed relieved, and not overly concerned about the red glow surrounding her as she smiled at me and hugged me one last time before taking a seat on my shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better Merida, I was really worried about you when you woke me up with that scream and I saw you crying and panicking. Did you have a nightmare?”
“Aye,” I agreed absently as I still wondered about the force field. “I ‘ave ‘em a lot since the… since I go’ ma powers.” I didn’t really want to talk about it, and Fawn didn’t seem the type to push it, which I was grateful for. Since there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to figure out the predicament with Fawn so I took a deep breath and powered down my force field. As the red energy dissipated from around me it did so on Fawn as well, leaving me with more questions than answers as I looked at the alarm clock.
It wasn’t even o-four-thirty yet and I groaned as I quickly mumbled an apology to everyone gathered in my doorway. “Sorry e’eryone, maybe we should be thinkin’ aboot soundproofin’ ma room in the new place so ya kin all ge’ a decent night’s sleep wi’out me scarin’ ya awake.”
“We can probably manage tha’,” Mom agreed. “Don’t beat yuirself up about this though Merida, it’s no’ yuir fault. Now why don’t we let everyone else get a few hours more sleep while I take you an’ Fawn down to the lab?”
Once the rest of the family had shuffled sleepily back to their beds, Mom took Fawn and I down to the lab to run a battery of tests to see if we could figure out Fawn’s ability to mimic my force field. Despite having the exact same energy signature as my force field, the energy didn’t seem to be coming from me. It was definitely coming from the fairy herself, but she had no conscious control over it, nor could she create constructs or feed more energy into the field to make it unstable or superheated. It only seemed to activate when my own did, mimicking the nature of the energy that I was projecting at the time. Mom called it a symbiotic reactive defense and thought that it might be somehow related to a “quantum connection” that she had detected between me and Fawn.
Apparently Mei shared a connection to all of the fairies she had summoned, as well as any other summons she created, at the quantum level that was very similar to quantum entanglement. Fawn seemed to share that connection with me as well, which seemed just as strong, if not stronger, than the one between Fawn and Mei. She figured that Peri and Shu would have that connection too, and planned to test it later. She also said that if the quantum connection was responsible for Fawn’s force field, then Fawn could be on the other side of the planet and her field would still activate whenever mine did.
We had been going over it and testing the field on Fawn for nearly two hours when Mei awoke. As she sat up and yawned Mom quickly jotted down the elapsed time while Fawn kamikaze hugged my younger sister, her force field still in place. It was a good thing that I was keeping the energy of my field in its stable solid form at the moment or she could have blown Mei up. She hugged the fairy and as soon as Fawn had released her she looked over the fairy and grinned, “It worked!”
“Ya intended fer Fawn to mimic Merida’s force field?” Mom asked. “I thought that might be the case, it was one of the few possibilities that made sense.”
“Yeah, when I… uh brought Fawn here I was thinking that she and Merida would be spending a lot of time together. So I thought it would be nice if whenever Merida uses her force field that Fawn could have one just like it. That way if they were both in danger or Merida has a… ummm…. accident at night, then Fawn would be safe too.” Mei flushed a bit as she said the last. She had been afraid I would blow up my new fairy friend? And she would have been right. Did she really have to put it that way though? She made me sound like I had a problem wetting the bed. No, I had perfect bladder control thank you, I just blew my bed to smithereens.
“Um thanks Mei,” I said looking down at the floor ashamed, my face beet red. “Ya ken, fer thinkin’ o’ tha’. An’ fer… bringin’ Fawn ‘ere fer me. Tha’ was sweet o’ ya. I’m no’ shoor why ya think I needed an Animal Fairy though.”
Mei looked away awkwardly. “You know, in case you want a pet someday? Like a umm… dog or something?” She was hiding something from me and I knew it. From the glance Mom gave her she knew it too. Maybe she just thought I needed someone to be there for me and help soothe me after the nightmares or if I had an anxiety attack, like some the companion animals for the blind, deaf, or people with medical conditions. I thought there might even be some of those for people suffering from PTSD. Did she really see me as that broken?
My field bubbled and flared slightly from the hurt and disappointment at that thought, as did Fawn’s. I needed to get control over myself so I did it the only way I knew how, good old military discipline. “Well, since yuir up now, I’m goin’ tae go wake the others so we kin start our mornin’ trainin’ session.” I fled the room, fawn fluttering behind me as I focussed my mind on the new task and buried my emotions.
Not long later the others were awake, and we were all dressed in our exercise clothes. I increased the length of our morning run to a full half hour followed by an equally long exercise session consisting of exercises meant to tone our bodies, keep us limber, and build stamina. I planned to have us run every morning, but the exercises I would vary to avoid overworking muscle groups. To start off with I planned to alternate between exercises like this morning, hand to hand combat training and drills, resistance training, and swimming when we could. Once I was sure they all had a handle on the more basic combat training I would start adding in kickboxing and maybe some weapons combat training.
We were all exhausted by the time we had finished, even the fairies. Even though they had been excluded from the run, to avoid people seeing them, they had not been exempted from the training session afterwards since I figured that they should stay in shape too. I was thinking that Tasha or maybe the twins would complain with as hard as I had worked us, hell my own body was screaming at me to stop, but they just doggedly kept at it with determined expressions on their faces.
I didn’t want to drive them into the ground like a group of fresh-faced recruits, but they had asked for the training and I had told them how hard it was going to be. Now we all had to deal with it if I was going to help them when they eventually decided to go prancing around in costumes fighting crime. They would likely do it without me if I refused, so I would do it with them and train them properly, if only to keep them alive and as safe as possible while doing it. As nice as it would be to help people with my powers, I held no illusions about what could happen to any of us in a combat situation, or the fact that we were just kids. That last part made itself far too apparent every time I looked in a mirror.
When we had finished our workout session, we each took a turn in the shower and got dressed for the day. I was the first to shower, but the last to be finished since my long hair took so much work to clean, dry and brush, though Fawn seemed to have the same problem. Once we had finished we joined the others for a bowl of cereal with milk and a glass of juice for breakfast. The fairies each had a couple of Cheerios dipped in our milk and some careful tiny sips of our juice. “That’s another thing we’ll need for you girls,” Shu said as we finished our meal. “You need dishes and cups and stuff in your size, maybe some furniture for your houses too.”
“Maybe we could find some Barbie stuff, or stuff made for dollhouses that would work,” Tasha suggested.
“Those should be pretty close to the right size,” Vanessa agreed.
“I guess we’ll have to go look at the mall and see what we can find, we really should have thought of that yesterday,” Mei put in with a slight frown. “Sorry girls, I should have been better prepared for you before bringing you here.”
Tink reached out to hug Mei around the wrist. “Don’t worry about it Mei, we’re having so much fun here that we don’t mind waiting a bit, do we girls?”
“Those things are just extras anyway, and you made it so I can stay with my sister!” Peri put in excitedly. “The most important thing is that we all have one another.”
“Yup!” Fawn agreed as she proceeded to start braiding her hair in my lap. “I’m just happy to be here with Tink, Peri, and all of you Mei. And you helped me find my new best friend Merida.”
It was then that the doorbell rang and we heard Andy call out that he’d get it. “Dae ya think tha’s Kendra?” I asked.
“Kendra?” Nobody seemed to know who I was talking about.
“Kendra,” I repeated before clarifying, “Toxin? Tha’ counselor from our new school?”
“Oh right Toxin,” Vanessa finally said as she remembered who I was talking about. “Sorry, but we barely met her, we didn’t really get to know her as well as you did Mer.”
“Well there’s no time like the present is there?” Came a familiar voice from the doorway to the living room. “I’m Kendra Wilson girls and, once you’ve moved to Costa Verde, I’ll be the one you can come to talk to about any problems you’re having adjusting, any issues stemming from your Activation or the events surrounding it, or if you just need someone to talk to or get advice from. Merida will be coming to see me fairly often, and I hope you get to know you all in time, but right now I’d like to talk with you for a while Vanessa.”
“Uh why me? I’m fine,” Vanessa said with a shrug.
Kendra pointed to the mermaid’s tail, partially visible beneath the kitchen table. “Well that for one. Like Merida, you had a fairly extreme change under traumatic circumstances so I would like to ensure that you aren’t suffering from any long-term physical or psychological issues as a result. And while we’re doing that we can get to know one another better.”
“You’re going to make me take the same tests Mer did?” the mermaid asked with a sigh as she shifted her tail back into legs
Kendra shook her head, but as always it was tough to tell what she was thinking with that black and purple full-bodysuit covering her entire face. “Similar tests, but not exactly the same, your circumstances are a bit different than Merida’s. It might be best if we have this talk privately though, so your mother has graciously allowed us to use her lab for this.”
The pair left the kitchen and Mom and Andy entered with the information packets about the city of Costa Verde and Pacific Seaside Academy. Costa Verde was apparently a coastal city of over two hundred thousand people in northern California, north of Santa Rosa and west of Redding. In recent years, due to the beaches and a long history of strange occurrences in the area dating back to even before white people had settled in the area, it has become a bit of a tourist destination, coming close to doubling its population in the peak seasons. It has also recently become host to Pacific Seaside Academy and there was a new Disney theme park being built there as well, set to open its doors early next year.
The pamphlets for Pacific Seaside Academy were fairly tame, since they didn’t want to advertise being a school for mutants any more than they had to. There were basically just a few pictures of normal looking kids and a lot of talk about the seaside campus and the wide variety of non-standard academic and physical classes. Most prospective students and staff were given personal tours to see if it was the right fit for them, once they had been confirmed as mutants, though there was a personal note from the headmistress letting us know a few details about the school that weren’t in the pamphlet.
For one thing, PSA was a bit of an open secret as far as Costa Verde was concerned. Most of the locals knew that it was a school for Hypers, but that information wasn’t shared with the tourists and to most people PSA was simply a super-elite private school on the waterfront catering to the obscenely wealthy. Since the school was only entering its second official school year, there had only been limited word of mouth about it through the Hyper community, but the headmistress Dr. Edwards (or Mystech if she’s in costume) seemed to have contacts everywhere from the sounds of it. As a result there was a wide variety of students consisting of those from wealthy Hyper families that made sizable donations, family members of employees, local mutant kids from Costa Verde, and those referred by government agencies such as the HAA, the HPP, or homeless shelters for Hypers. Most of the latter ones were runaways and Dr. Edwards would do her best to get them enrolled, offering scholarships if they couldn’t afford the school fees.
It was just after Mom and Andy started filling in the paperwork for both their employment and our schooling that the doorbell rang once again. By that time Fawn had finished braiding her hair so I stood up and offered, “I’ll ge’ the door.” Fawn hid herself in my hair and I made my way toward front door, opening it to see a pair of large men dressed in military fatigues. Quelling the brief surge of grief and jealousy to keep my powers under control, I looked way up at them, feeling far too tiny as I asked, “Kin I ‘elp ya?”
“We’re looking for a Miss Merida Ainsley,” said the slightly smaller of the two with a smile. He was probably trying not to scare me.
“Tha’s me,” I said with a shrug. “I s’pose yuir ‘ere wi’ ma… Uncle Maddock’s stuff?”
“Yes Miss Ainsley, Captain Ainsley’s will named you as his sole beneficiary. We will need your parent or guardian to sign for your uncles possessions, but General Nelson asked that we give this to you directly,” he said offering me a large manila envelope. “It contains a copy of the will and some personal items I believe.”
“Thanks,” I managed as I took the envelope. Then I called out “Mom!”
While Mom signed for the stuff, and had the men unload it in the unused half of the two-door garage, I opened the envelope and looked at the contents. There was indeed a copy of the will, with a very convincing forgery of my old signature, plus a note from the General and a set of newly minted dog tags identical to my old ones. I was a bit teary-eyed as I plopped down on the couch and looked at the note.
Merida,
Your uncle’s tags were destroyed in his last mission, but he was a fine solider and I felt that you should have some reminder of the service he did for his country that you can keep with you. I had this new set made before officially retiring his service number. Be proud of who he was, honor it, but don’t be afraid to find out who you are and embrace it. I wish you the very best in your life.
General Nelson
I bit back the tears that were forming and clutched the tags, and the chain they were on, so tightly that they were digging painfully into the flesh of my palm. The General had obviously worded his note that way in case someone without proper clearance managed to read it before me, but I was pretty sure that I got the message loud and clear. I may have been crying a bit, and trying to keep my powers under wraps, when Fawn asked, “Are you okay Merida?”
“Nae, no’ really,” I admitted, “bu’ I think tha’ I will be… someday.”
Fawn and I spent a few minutes just sitting there in silent companionship until Vanessa plopped down beside us with a sigh. “Well it’s official Mer, you’re not the only one in the house with issues. Kendra says that I have Transformative Stereotype Disorder.”
“Aye, tha’s kinda wot I ‘ave, bu’ I guess PCEDS is a common enough variant o’ TSD tae ‘ave its own name,” I told her with a shrug. “I guess I feel things more intensely, I cannae control ma emotions very well either, an’ it’s makin’ me ‘ave trouble controllin’ ma powers.”
“It’s not as bad as what you have, mostly physical stuff for me. I get uncomfortable when spending too much time away from the water and it seems to be why I need to get my skin and tail damp so often. I guess I should have expected it, what with my other mermaid issues.” She sighed deeply before adding, “Kendra wants me to see her regularly once we’re settled in to see how I’m adjusting to… stuff. She’s talking to Tasha now and then she’s going to get to know the twins a bit too. She seems nice enough I guess, and she seems to care.”
“Aye, she’s a nice woman, an’ if anyone can understand’ us, I think it’d be ‘er,” I agreed.
The mermaid shook her head morosely. “Yeah, I can’t imagine what that would be like for her, not only having her dream of becoming a doctor taken away, but having to wear that suit all the time and not being able to touch other people… or be touched without killing them. It makes my issues seem kinda pale in comparison.”
“What issues?” Fawn asked, her caring nature shining through as she looked at my sister in concern.
Vanessa looked away for a moment before reaching out to hug me. “Mer, I know I’ve never really thanked you properly for that first day we met. I’d… be a lot worse off if it wasn’t for you talking me down, acting like a friend, and making me feel like I wasn’t alone in what I was going through. I had lost my whole family less than a month before, I hadn’t even been at the orphanage two weeks before being kidnapped, and then the whole being held captive and drugged thing, followed by waking up in a bathtub with a tail instead of legs… you made it all seem bearable and now I have a family again. I guess what I’m saying is that, with all of that and my weird mermaid biology throwing me curveballs, I know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed by things. You’re my sister now and probably my best friend so, if you ever need me, I’m here for you.”
“Me too! That’s what best friends do for one another!” Fawn quickly agreed.
I reached out to hug both the mermaid and the fairy as Mom came back inside and motioned toward the garage. “Thanks, both o’ ya. Now maybe ma two bes’ friends kin ‘elp me star’ sortin’ through all tha’ stuff in the garage?”
We spent until lunch going through the boxes of my old stuff, most of it would be going to Goodwill since the only personal things I would be keeping were a pair of nice combat knives and some practice swords, Maddock’s dress uniform, the dog tags, my motorbike, and the mostly restored Mustang. I had never really added any personal touches to my place on the base and all the clothes were way too big, though I did keep three camo t-shirts and another three gray “ARMY” t-shirts that were in good condition. They would probably be like a dress on me, but I figured that I could use them for sleepwear and at least be comfortable in bed. Everything else I needed to get rid of. Stuff from Maddock’s childhood seemed out of place to me now, kitchen wares could be replaced when I eventually was old enough to be on my own again, and the only thing that my stack of porn mags had made me feel was discomfort and embarrassment. Luckily it was me who found that box instead of one of the others.
My other sisters had joined us, along with Tink and Periwinkle, once they were finished their introductory talk with Kendra, and soon we had all that I wanted to keep set aside. Tink was of course interested in my bike and the Mustang and Fawn seemed interested as well, or at the very least was being supportive of our interest in it. As we headed inside to put away the small things that I was keeping, and to see about lunch, I promised that anyone who wanted to could have a better look at the ‘stang later and maybe help me tinker a bit.
When we got to the kitchen Kendra was helping Mom and Andy with the last of the forms and the trio smiled up at us. “All done in the garage?” Andy asked.
“Aye, we took e’erythin’ I’m keepin’ up tae ma room, all the other boxes kin be taken tae Goodwill,” I said with a shrug, trying to not be bothered by how little there had been and how pathetic that made my former life seem.
“Good Merida, we can do tha’ after lunch,” Mom said with a curt nod. “We’ll need to take the will to the bank to arrange fer Maddock’s bank accounts to be transferred to one for you as well. We’ll want all o’ tha’ done before we leave for Costa Verde tomorrow.”
![]() |
Chapter 16 Moving Forward Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
It was a busy afternoon. After a quick and light lunch, Andy and my sisters started packing all of our stuff, with Kendra volunteering to help them as Mom and I left. We didn’t really have a place to move into yet and that concerned me a bit, but with Shu’s improving abilities we wouldn’t have to put our stuff in public storage. All of our stuff, including my motorcycle and car, would be temporarily stored in one of her pocket dimensions until we had a new place to live, meaning that we could travel light. It would also mean no moving trucks and the like, since Shu could just open up her dimensional portals and our things could be easily stored and removed without having to even go outside.
Meanwhile, Mom and I loaded up the SUV with all of the boxes of Maddock’s old stuff while Fawn stayed hidden in my new purse. It was more than a little depressing that we managed to fit all of it in one load, but if I wanted to move on with my life it had to be done. Holding onto stuff from my old life that I wouldn’t need or couldn’t use, just because it was Maddock’s, would only hold me back in my new life and give me reasons not to adjust. I needed to get rid of as much of Maddock as I could. Out with the old and in with the new and all that. Those things that I had decided to keep, I was doing it because they were either useful or were important to me to keep as tributes to my old life without having the potential to hold me back in my new one.
After we had dropped off the boxes at the nearest Goodwill, we made our way to the closest branch of the bank that held Maddock’s accounts. Fortunately it was the same bank that Mom usually did business with, so I figured that we wouldn’t have to do too much running around. It was on our way there that I voiced my concerns about our sudden departure for Costa Verde. “I was wonderin’, when we ge’ tae Costa Verde, where are we goin’ tae be stayin’? We dinnae e’en ‘ave a ‘ouse there yet an’ I cannae exactly stay in a hotel wi’ ma… issues.”
“Andy an’ I will be stayin’ at Alana’s house in one of her guest rooms, an’ you girls will all be stayin’ in yuir dorm rooms until we find a new house,” she replied without much concern in her voice. “Hopefully we can find one before school starts in a few weeks. Until then yuir rooms at the school will be safe fer ya. I was talkin’ with Alana about what you all would all be needin’ while ya were out sortin’ through yuir stuff in the garage.”
I wondered briefly who Alana was, but then I remembered that that was the first name of Dr. Edwards, the school’s headmistress. It wasn’t as relevant as what she had just revealed though, so my mind quickly flew past it and onto the more important matter at hand. “Wot the ‘ell dae ya mean dorm rooms?! I thought we’d be livin’ a’ ‘ome wi’ you an’ Andy. Is this some sort o’ boardin’ school?!”
Mom sighed expansively. “It’s supposed to be a private school Merida, so to non-mutants that’s what it has to look like from the outside. You’ll be livin’ at home durin’ weekends, holidays, an’ when school isn’t in session. That’s what the local kids do, most live there the whole school year though, an’ some year-round. Ya can sleep at home Friday an’ Saturday night’s but ya need to be in the dormitory by the ten o’clock curfew from Sunday to Thursdays, unless there’s holidays. You’ll have to wear school uniforms during school hours or while on field trips as well.”
“Bu’ tha’s no’ faaaair! Tha’s no’ wot I signed up fer!” I was whining, I knew I was whining, and it made me feel as childish as I probably looked.
“Don’t ya be givin’ me tha’ tone young lady,” Mom told me in a tone that would tolerate no backtalk. It seemed that my once-sister was adapting to her new role every bit as much as I seems to be falling into mine, however unwilling it might be on my part. “Ya need trainin’ Merida, an’ that is where yuir goin’ to get it. From what Alana and Kendra said at least you an’ Vanessa will have yuir own rooms in Starfish Dorm. The twins will be sharin’ a room together in Salmon Dorm an’ Tasha will be sharin’ a room wi’ someone in Dolphin Dorm.”
There were probably good things about me not having to share a room and I knew it, still I didn’t like being singled out. I was also worried about not being there if the twins needed me. “Why kin we no’ all be in the same Dorm? ‘Nessa an’ I would be willin’ tae share a room. An’ why the ‘ell are we bein’ singled out? Wot if the twins’ need me? An’ I dinnae like the idea o’ Tasha ‘avin tae share a room wi’ some stranger while ‘Nessa an’ I are bein’ kept alone, it seems…personal.”
“You won’t be alone Merida, I’ll be with you. I’m not going to let anyone keep me away from my best friend. I can keep hidden if I need to, we Fairies know how to hide from humans when we have to,” Fawn assured me in her small voice from her place in my lap.
Another sigh from Mom in response to my comment. “Fawn can stay with ya since she’s safe from yuir powers an’ doesn’t take up much space. It’s no’ personal though Merida. You’ll all have the run o’ the school or be able to leave the grounds when yuir not in classes or until curfew, so yuir no’ prisoners an’ you’ll be able to spend time together when you want to. Salmon Dorm is specifically for the junior high girls, so the twins will be able to make some new friends there, an’ Tasha will be in one of the two dorms for the high school girls. Starfish Dorm isn’t like the other dorms though, it’s special.”
“I kin unnerstan’ no’ wantin’ me roomin’ wi’ someone else, bu’ ‘Nessa? Why kin she no’ room wi’ Tasha?” I asked, crossing my arms stubbornly in front of my chest.
Mom groaned as we entered the parking lot for the bank and she looked for a spot. “Like I said, Starfish Dorm is special. It’s the only coed dorm an’ all of its rooms are single occupant. The students from the other dorms are led to believe tha’ it’s because those who live there have powers tha’ are too dangerous or unpredictable to be aroun’ while sleeping, so their rooms need special modifications. Let’s face it you would be roomed there on tha’ alone, an’ both you an’ Vanessa will be needin’ special beds an’ such. Mostly though, Starfish Dorm is fer students who are different or potential targets for bullying: LGBTQ students, kids who have gone through a gender change, or those with not only dangerous powers, but strange appearances and other issues as well.”
“So, stick all the freaks t’gether huh? Tha’s no’ a dorm it’s a bloody menagerie!” I snapped. It was bad enough that they thought, correctly, that I wasn’t safe to be around, but to keep us away from the general student body like some sort of lepers? The idea pissed me off.
Mom tried to remain calm as she parked the car and turned off the engine, then she turned and faced me, giving me a concerned look. “Merida… yuir force field… calm down please and let me explain.”
In my anger I hadn’t even noticed that both Fawn and I were now bathed in the ruddy light of our force fields and that they were beginning to bubble dangerously. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I tried to calm myself, and counted backwards from ten. Once I had managed to disperse the energy I opened my eyes once again. “Sorry,” I muttered sheepishly as I looked down at Fawn in my lap.
Once she felt that I was sufficiently calmed down Mom began to explain the thinking behind Starfish Dorm. “It’s no’ some sort of zoo Merida, it’s a support system. It’s a chance to be around other students who can accept ya for who ya are. All of the students there are different, even among other Hypers. Yuir still no’ used to being a girl yet, and Vanessa is a mermaid and can’t spend a lot of time with legs, even though her shifting abilities are improving every day. So, even if yuir rooms didn’t need special modifications an’ ya weren’t a Category five with control issues, ya would both have problems rooming with other girls. Don’t see this as a banishment, see it as a chance to make friends who jus’ might be able to understan’ what you’ve gone through, an’ what yuir still goin’ through.”
She’s right Merida,” Fawn said, fluttering up to my shoulder to hug my cheek. “You need to make other friends besides your sisters and us Fairies.”
I gave in with a sigh. “I guess yuir right, bu’ why is Mei no’ bein’ sent tae tha’ dorm too? She’s a Cat five too.”
“Mei is powerful, probably one o’ the mos’ powerful mutants I’ve ever heard of,” Mom pointed out carefully, “and while she may be impulsive, she does seem to have a very good instinctual control over her abilities. She’s no’ the type to summon anythin’ dangerous either unless it’s warranted. She and Shu should be fine, an’ a lot more comfortable mentally, rooming together.”
“I guess yuir right,” I admitted. “She only summoned Godzilla tha’ one time when we were in danger an’ ‘cause I tol’ her tae summon the biggest an’ scariest thing tha’ she could think o’ creatin’. Most o’ her summons seem tae be more cute an’ cuddly than dangerous. I’m still no’ shoor aboot this school, bu’ I guess I’ll manage.”
Mom added her hug to Fawn’s as she tried to reassure me. “It’ll be fine Merida, you’ll all be going there together and Andy and I will be workin’ there so we’ll be aroun’ if ya need us. Now let’s get in there an’ see about getting’ yuir money into a new account.”
It took nearly half an hour before we got in to see an account manager. Evelyn Chandler was a stiff looking woman in her mid-twenties with glasses, an expensive-looking skirt-suit and her hair held back in a severe bun. Mom and I were dressed somewhat less... expensively. Mom was dressed for comfort in a casual green silk blouse, a pair of jeans, a pair of flats and her hair tied back in a ponytail, since it was going to be a fairly busy day for us preparing for the move and all. I on the other hand was attempting to get used to dressing like a girl and had begun sporting my punk look. I wore my Green Day tour shirt knotted in front to display my midriff, one of my short plaid skirts with artistically ripped black nylon stockings underneath, my combat boots, dog tags, and a black hoodie tied about my hips with the sleeves. I was showing off a bit more skin than I was really comfortable with, but I needed to start getting comfortable dressing like a girl before school started, and I knew that if I didn’t push myself that I’d just keep trying to hide from it. I was very careful to keep my legs together as Tasha and Vanessa had warned me to when wearing a skirt though.
How can I help you ladies today?” the woman asked with a smile that looked somewhat forced to my eyes.
“My brother recently died an’ he left all of his worldly possessions to my daughter,” Mom began, trying to keep tight control over her accent. She reached into her purse and began pulling out the will, identification for both of us, and Maddock’s bank account information. “As executor of his will, I will need to have the contents of his account transferred to an account for her.”
The woman looked over the documents, typed the account information into her computer, and gave another of those hollow smiles as she moved to get up. “Sure, I’ll just get the forms so I can set up a trust fund for her.”
Mom shook her head. “Merida already has a sizable trust fund, I would like this placed in a checking and savings account for her.”
The woman’s jaw dropped and she stared at us for a moment before responding. “You want to put over five hundred thousand dollars in the hands of a child?” I had almost forgotten how much was in that account since my parents’ estate had been settled and divided between Blair and me after their deaths. Since I had lived on base I had never really used the account for much besides basic expenses and the occasional part for restoring Dad’s old Shelby Mustang.
“Merida is very mature an’ responsible for her age, I assure you,” Mom retorted, her eyes narrowing at the woman.
“I’m sure she is,” the woman said, looking down her nose and taking in my clothes, “but this is a sizable account.”
“I realize tha’, but my brother’s will clearly states tha’ all o’ his worldly possessions, including tha’ money, were to be given to my daughter to do with as she wishes, no’ tha’ it be held in trust fer her. As the executor o’ his will an’ his sister I am goin’ to see tha’ it is done as he wished,” Mom said with an edge to her voice as she started to lose the control over her accent.
“Mrs. Ainsley, I would really advise against this. Mature and responsible or not she is a child,” she said giving Mom an intense look. “Anyone could manipulate her into using that money for things that may not be in her best interests, or just to transfer it to another account.” The accusation riled me and I would have said something, but right then it was taking all of the self control that I had to keep my powers from activating.
“Doctor Ainsley,” Mom stated, very clearly. “I’m no’ married an’ I didn’t spend all those years in University earnin’ seven doctorate degrees to be called Mrs. or Miss thank ya very much. I want to see yuir branch manager, right now.”
Several minutes later we were joined by a short paunchy man in a nice suit with a slightly receding hairline who introduced himself as Karl. Mom explained the situation in no uncertain terms and followed up by saying, “Now before you lose several ‘sizable accounts’ from Miss Chandler’s attitude I would like you to have a look at my account. I am expecting a payment from the Hyper Affairs Agency and I would like to make sure that it arrived in my account before I close it, my brother’s account, and the trust funds for all five of my daughters.”
Karl looked over the account number that Mom provided and had the irritating accounts manager type the relevant information into the computer. Her eyes went wide and her face paled as she looked at the screen. “Y… you received a payment from the Hyper Affairs Agency last night for two point five billion dollars.”
“An’ wha’ does tha’ bring my current balance to?” Mom asked as calmly as if she was asking about the weather. “Feel free to round it down if tha’ makes it easier.
“Three point seven billion dollars,” even I was staring a bit at that point. Blair had said she was only renting our current place until she had found something nice to buy and was ready to open her practice. Government tech contracts had kept her too busy to go house shopping though and apparently those contracts had been very lucrative, especially the adaptive infiltration suit she had just contracted to produce fifty for of for the HAA and had given them exclusive use rights to. Even when Andy had doubled the price the HAA had still jumped at the chance to buy them.
From that point Karl took us to his own office, bent over backwards to ensure that my new account was properly set up, and promised us that Miss Chandler would be properly dealt with for her rudeness. I was given a temporary check book and bank card and was promised that my permanent card and personalized checks would be delivered by courier to Pacific Seaside Academy once they were ready to be issued. As we finally pulled out of the parking lot I looked at Mom with a raised eyebrow. “I didnae ken tha’ ya were doin’ so well fer yuirself.”
She gave a non-committal shrug. “Tech contracts are lucrative. Quite a bit o' the money that I just received is goin' to be goin' into producin' the finished units fer the HAA though, the materials weren't cheap. Still, by doublin' the askin' price I'll make a hefty profit. There would ‘ave been more in my account, but I wanted to make sure that all of my girls get the best education ya can once yuir ready for college or university. So I may have padded all yuir trust funds a wee bit in addition to what ya got from the HAA. Just’ a few hundred thousand each, but with the interest ya should all be set fer a good education.”
“Yuir takin’ this whole ‘Mom’ thing pretty seriously,” I finally said after some thought. We didn’t seem to be heading in the direction of our house so I wondered aloud, “Where are we goin’ now?”
“I need to take care o’ ya Merida, it’s what Mom and Da’ would have wanted, an’ I love ya, whether yuir my brother, sister, or daughter. The girls are good kids an’ I’m startin’ to love them too. They all deserve a family and I promised I’d give ‘em tha’. Besides, I was stuck wi’ a kid brother who’d never let me put him in dresses when we were growin’ up. I always wanted a sister an’ I was hopin’ to have daughters o’ my own one day. I’m no’ goin’ to complain if I get five wonderful girls to fill that role, jus’ because it was a bit sooner than expected.” She turned off toward the very mall that I had visited with my new sisters the day before and shrugged once again. “I need to get you and Vanessa beds fer both yuir dorm rooms an’ fer our new house when we find one. I can find something close to what we’re needin’ fer yuirs in the furniture store at the mall, but fer Vanessa’s I‘ll need to make a few stops for the things I’ll need.”
“This all seems a wee bi’ rushed,” I pressed in concern.
She nodded and sighed, a look of uncertainty on her face. “I know this move is a bit sudden, but you were in the news yesterday fer the second time in the past week, an’ Costa Verde is a lot friendlier to mutants than LA. We need to get out of LA before somethin’ else happens or the HAA decides tha’ yuir more trouble than yuir worth. Agent Smith an’ Andy managed to keep them from deliberately screwin’ ya over last time, but they’ve proven tha’ they’d only be too happy to throw ya under the bus when it suits them. We’re havin’ to rush things, but hopefully we’ll get a new home there soon, we contacted a real estate agency already and they’re looking at places that will suit our needs.”
We stopped at the mall where Mom ordered two queen sized metal framed four poster canopy beds in white. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea, but she assured me that the frames were important and that at least they looked like beds a normal girl could have. They were bloody princess beds though, with a canopy and sheer white curtains and everything. I only gave in because she insisted that the frames were important and because Fawn, who had been peeking out from my purse, had fallen in love with them. She arranged to have the frames sent without mattresses to our current home later that afternoon and then we were ready to leave when I asked, “Could we… make a few stops first?”
Mom nodded her head and smiled. “I don’t mind, so long as we get to Home Depot an’ a good swimming pool supply shop before they close for the day. I have been kind of wantin’ us to have some one-on-one time anyway, did ya need somethin’?”
“Aye, well there’s this surf board at a shop tha’ ‘Nessa really wanted tae ge’. I want tae buy it fer her, now tha’ I ‘ave my money again. An’ I was hopin’ tae mebbe ge’ a few… piercin’s,” I reluctantly admitted.
“You want piercings? Ya were seethin’ the whole time we go’ yer studs done las’ week.”
“I was kinda reactin’ bad tae the whole ‘girl thing’ then,” I answered with a sigh. “I’ve been thinkin’ though tha’ I need tae ge’ o’er tha’ an’ try tae push myself tae adjust if I wan’ people to believe I’ve been a girl all my life when we ge’ tae the new school. I’ve been figurin’ tha’ I like the punk look an’ could be comfortable wit’ it. I should look the part though, like it’s a look I’ve been cultivatin’ fer a while. Piercin’s are no’ really too diff’ren’ from tattoos, an’ I ‘ad a lot o’ them afore ma change. They kin always heal o’er if’n I end up no’ likin’ them too, so I figure I should really do this now… afore I lose ma courage an’ start second guessin’.”
“You’ve been thinkin’ a lot about this it seems,” she said while looking me over carefully. Finally she nodded and gave me a relieved smile. “I’m glad yuir startin’ to adjust, let’s find a place to get it done then.”
We found a body piercing shop where I got a second pair of studs in my earlobes, a pair of rings in the upper ears on each side, a ring in my left eyebrow and a short dangly chain in my navel with a little dragon on the end. All of them were in silver in color, though the metal was titanium and thus a bit pricier, but it was also lighter, more durable, and less likely to cause an allergic reaction than actual silver. I made sure to listen carefully as the young woman who did the piercings told me how to care for them until they were properly healed. I was kind of surprised that Mom had allowed the navel and eyebrow piercings, but when I asked about it on the way to the surf shop she just smiled at me and said that despite how old I looked I was old enough to make my own decisions.
I was going to be sore for a while, but it would be worth if it helped me convince people that I had been a girl all my life. Besides, I thought that I might just be a little bit closer to leaving Maddock behind and figuring out exactly who Merida was. I was actually smiling at that thought as we made our way to the surf shop.
Once we got to the surf shop I got the mermaid board that Vanessa had been drooling over, a pair of maintenance and repair kits, a pair of board bags and a second board for myself. I chose a board with an aquamarine dragon spitting flames on it that had captured my attention when I had been browsing with Vanessa. She had offered to teach us to surf and I thought that it would be a nice hobby to pick up once we were in Costa Verde. I would have gotten boards for my other sisters too, but I wanted them to be able to pick out their own once they were ready.
When we were done at the surf shop we left the mall and put the boards and everything else in the back of the SUV and headed to Home Depot where Mom bought some thick sheets of Plexiglas and all the other supplies she would need to build two aquariums; eight feet long by five feet wide and four feet deep. She also bought some various electronics and paid a huge delivery fee as well to make sure that the stuff would all be delivered to our current home before the end of the day. The last stop before we made our way home was a specialty shop for swimming pools where she bought a pair of sea salt pool filtration systems and everything needed to go with them. I helped her to load it all in the SUV and then we were on our way home.
It had been the first time since my change… no, the first time since our parents died that the two of us had been able to spend that much time together, just me and her. Well, Fawn had been there, but she had stayed hidden and quiet for most of that time out of necessity. It had been different than when I had spent time with her alone as Maddock and, even though we really hadn’t been doing anything all that special, I felt closer to her than I had since we were both small children, when we would sit and listen to Mom’s stories and watch her constructs in rapt fascination. She had said it earlier today. She loved me whether I was her brother, sister, or daughter and I knew that she would be there for me, and all of my new sisters, come Hell or high water. As we finally stopped in our driveway I reached out to hug her as tightly as I could. “Thanks Blai… Mom, fer bein’ you.” Fawn seemed to realize that this was just between us though, since she just continued to sit quietly in my lap and let us have our moment.
![]() |
Chapter 17 Moving Day Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I was about to get out of the SUV when Mom held me back. “Merida… Fawn, I would appreciate it if ya didn’t tell the other girls about how well off we really are.”
Fawn quickly nodded, but I couldn’t really be sure that she really understood how money worked anyway, much less just how much Mom had. She seemed content to just forget about the whole bank incident that she had witnessed from the confines of my purse though. “Okay Merida’s Mom.”
“Aye, no’ one word,” I quickly promised before adding, “ya wan’ tae raise us like Mom an’ Da’ right?”
Blair and I had grown up well off with our father being a successful surgeon, but our parents had wanted us to grow up knowing the value of money, and that family was worth far more than it. We had of course had a nice house, all of our basic needs had been met, we had taken yearly vacations, and we had had a somewhat generous allowance compared to other kids, but other than that our parents had been careful not to spoil us. If we really wanted something outside of those basics then we had to work to earn it, usually through some sort of extra chores that our parents had thought up. We never had a maid or anything and Blair and I had been assigned chores to earn our allowances as well. Sure Dad had paid for Blair’s education, and would have paid for mine as well had I wanted to go the university route, but that was only because we would be earning it by studying so hard.
I had already sensed Blair’s desire to do the same with me and my new sisters. For our first clothes shopping trip she had taken us to a regular mall rather than Rodeo Drive, the trust funds would be enough to pay for a good education rather than being too obscenely large, and when she had decided to have us attend Pacific Seaside Academy it was because she wanted us to have a good education and to learn to control our powers in a safe environment. I was pretty sure that the only reason she and Andy had taken the jobs at the school was because they would each be able to do what they loved. Andy would be working with cyber-security and network administration and Blair would be able to work on some amazing and innovative technology in her spare time, while being a doctor devoted to the medical needs of an entire school filled with mutants.
For Blair, it was basically her dream job. Firstly, she loved working with and developing tech, she was a Tinker after all and it was why she had gotten her doctorates in engineering, physics, and applied sciences. More than that though, as a child she had always wanted to be a doctor like our dad, helping people and saving lives. When she had Activated, that dream had evolved right along with her. As the child of a mutant, and a mutant herself, she wanted to understand what made us the way we were and to be able to help other mutants with more than just an “It gets better” speech. So she had decided to become a medical doctor specializing in mutation by getting doctorates in medicine, biotech, comparative Hyper biology, and medical science.
“So if’n yuir wantin’ tae raise us like tha’ why didnae ya jus’ let tha’ nasty woman create the trus’ fund?” I asked, though I figured I knew the answer already.
“Several reasons, and you’ve probably guessed most o’ them,” she replied with a shrug. “First, Mom an' Da’ wanted ya to have tha’ money an’ it was yuirs, tha’ doesn’t change because you’re Merida now instead o’ Maddock. Secondly, the will that the Army doctored up specified tha’ Maddock’s possessions an’ money were yuirs, to do with as ya wished. As executor it was ma legal responsibility to see tha’ done. More importantly though, she was lookin’ down on us from the moment we entered her office because o’ how we were dressed, an’ she outright insulted us. I couldn’t let tha’ go, an’ this should teach her no’ to judge a book by its cover.”
“I thought I’ was somethin’ like tha’,” I admitted. “The look on ‘er face when she saw yuir accoun’ information was fookin’ ‘ilarious though. I’m ‘alf surprised ya didnae offer tae work fer the school fer free though, tha’s like yuir dream job an’ ya seem set fer life e’en after ya take out the money tae produce those suits fer the HAA.”
“Yeah, the look on her face was worth far more than my account balance fer sure,” Mom agreed with a laugh before turning serious. “A person should be paid what they’re worth Merida, I would have been insultin’ both Alana an’ myself if I’d done tha’. To tell the truth though I’m planning on making a large donation to the school since we’re not payin’ fer yuir schoolin’. It’s no’ cheap to run a school like tha’ an’ I figure tha’ maybe a donation or two would be a good investment; maybe two million to help with costs an’ another of a million fer some o’ those ‘scholarships’ tha’ Alana is probably payin’ out o’ her own pocket.”
I nodded in agreement as she spoke about the donations. “Aye, no’ all mutants ‘ave rich parents, an’ a lot prob’ly run away or ‘ave tae live on the streets ‘cause people will no’ accept ‘em, ‘elpin ‘em tae ge’ their lives back an’ learn tae control their powers would be a good thing. I… I’m still a wee bit uncertain aboot goin’ there maself though.”
“You’ll do fine Merida, all o’ ya will, an’ it’ll be a good place fer ya. Now let’s head inside and help the others finish packin’.” With that we exited the vehicle and I helped Mom to carry the sea salt filtration systems and associated materials for Vanessa’s ‘bed’ inside. She wouldn’t be able to start making our beds until the other materials and my bedframes were delivered, but she was hoping to have something ready for us before we left for Costa Verde the next day.
We took the materials into Mom’s lab and then Fawn and I went upstairs to find my sisters and the other Fairies while Mom helped Andy and Kendra finish packing the kitchen. The girls were all up in their rooms packing away all their clothes and what few small personal items they had bought since the day we had been set loose from the base. Except for a change of clothes for the next day and something to wear to bed, we would pack everything else in one of Shu’s portals. Vanessa had been sharing dresser and closet space with Tasha though since she was sleeping in the bathtub for now, so I found her in Tasha’s room gathering the last of their things on the bed to be ready to place in one of Shu’s pocket dimensions. The plan was to get as much as possible packed tonight using my strength and then the next morning we would pack anything that was left.
“Tasha, ‘Nessa, ‘ow’s it comin’ along?” I asked as casually as I could, leaning on the doorframe as Fawn sat upon my shoulder giggling.
“I think we’re about done here,” Vanessa said with a shrug as she gestured to the large pile of clothes on the bed. “It’s not like we had anything when we came here and we haven’t really been here long enough to get much more in the way of clothes and personal items.”
“I dinnae think ya quite go’ e’erythin’ there,” I argued, trying to put a frown on my face. Fawn’s giggling wasn’t helping me look all serious, I could barely keep a straight face as it was. “Anyway, Mom go’ some o’ the stuff fer our beds while we were out so soon ya willnae ‘ave tae sleep in the loo, you’ll ‘ave yer very own fish tank. There’s still some stuff we need tae bring in though, could ya give me a ‘and?”
The mermaid looked confused for a moment, but shrugged and got up to join me as Tasha’s voice slipped into my mind. *What are you up to Merida?*
*Who says I’m up to something?* I inquired innocently. Most people would probably get weirded out speaking mind to mind with someone else, but I kind of liked talking that way with Tasha. She couldn’t really pick up on any thoughts other than what were deliberately sent along the link so it was like a phone call, one where I didn’t have to worry about my accent. Her skill was improving too, and now she could do a sort of mental conference call by creating links to specific people that she was familiar with and then connecting all of us, with herself as a sort of relay point. That would be nice to have in combat situations, though I figured that we might want to have radios or Bluetooth devices as backup.
*You’re not? I don’t need clairvoyance to know that you’re hiding something. You’re not that good of an actress Merida, and what about the giggling Fairy on your shoulder? She’s kind of giving it away. Oh well, if it’s not anything important maybe I should just bring Vanessa in on this conversation…*
*Okay, I got Vanessa the surfboard she was drooling over yesterday,* I replied as I led Vanessa downstairs and toward the front door. *I would have gotten one for you and the twins too, but I figured I’d let you pick your own when and if you’re ready to start learning.*
*Cool. That should cheer her up a bit. She’s a bit down about the whole TSD thing and I guess talking with Kendra this morning brought up a lot of stuff she was keeping buried. She’s also a bit freaked out about living in the dorms until we find a place. You… did know about that right?* The last was sent uncertainly.
*Aye, Mom told me on the way to the bank. We get our own rooms… in the ‘special’ dorm. I’m not looking forward to that much either.* I replied to Tasha, frowning slightly as I opened up the rear door to the SUV. I tried to shake off my glum mood as I turned to Vanessa and grinned as I pointed to one of the two bagged surfboards and maintenance kits. “I think ya should be takin’ tha’ upstairs tae pu’ away wi’ yuir other stuff, aye ‘Nessa?”
“Y… you didn’t?!” Vanessa sputtered looking from the boards in the back of the SUV and then to me with a stunned look on her face.
“She did,” Fawn confirmed giggling like a tiny little maniac on my shoulder.
“Aye,” I agreed with the Fairy. “One o’ them is mine o’ course since yuir goin’ tae be teachin’ me an’ all, bu’ I think tha’ was the one ya were droolin’ o’er yesterday. I figured tha’ if Costa Verde an’ our new school are on the ocean we’d best be prepared.” I had also figured that she could have never afforded it with what little money we had left from that first shopping trip, especially after buying birthday gifts for me and the twins and helping with my new punk clothes.
Vanessa almost squeezed the life out of me with the hug she wrapped me in. “Thankyouthankyou thankyou Mer!” Then she unzipped both bags and looked over the boards. “Yes! That’s the one I wanted to buy and you picked out a nice one for yourself too.”
“I’m glad ya like it,” I told her. “They didnae ‘ave any Fairy sized boards though so I guess Fawn is goin’ tae ‘ave tae ride on ma shoulder or sumthin’.”
“We would have to be careful,” Fawn advised. “I’m not a water-talent Fairy and I won’t be able to fly if my wings get too wet.
“Well if’n tha’ ‘appens I’ll jus’ turn ma force field on Fawn. Ya may no’ be able tae control when it turns off an’ on bu’ a’ leas’ ya kin manipulate it when it is on, or ya prob’ly wouldnae be able tae move a’ all. So Mom thinks ya should be able tae fly, wi’out havin’ tae use yuir wings tae stabilize ya, an’ ge’ the same strength an’ speed boosts I do while it’s on. We’ll ‘ave tae practice tha’ together.”
“I never thought of flying without using pixie dust and my wings before, but things have been different since I came to the mainland.” the Fairy said thoughtfully as Vanessa and I zipped up the board bags again. “I have you now, and your force field, and I don’t even need to go to the great tree for pixie dust anymore.”
Vanessa and I took the boards and related gear from the SUV and I closed the back door as I answered my Fairy friend. “Aye, Mei seems tae wan’ tae make things easier fer you an’ the other Fairies when she brings ya ‘ere. Seems tha’ ya make yuir own pixie dust now, an’ ya got the copy o’ ma force field tae keep ya safe, an’ the heat doesnae bother Peri.”
“Mei is such a nice girl, always thinking of others. She would make a great animal Fairy,” Fawn agreed as we headed back for the front door to the house and she landed on my shoulder again.
“Merida’s like that too,” Vanessa said giving me a friendly elbow as we reached the door and I opened it.
“I know!” Fawn replied enthusiastically. “I couldn’t ask for a better best friend. I’ve already decided to make her an honorary Animal Fairy. I’ll need to start teaching her all the animal languages and everything else we do.” This pronouncement was met with a burst of giggling from Vanessa, but thankfully she didn’t say whatever it was that had crossed her mind as we headed upstairs.
It didn’t take long for me to gather up all my belongings and bedroom furniture together and put them in the small pocket dimension that Shu had created for my personal use. She figured that it would make moving easier by having us each have one assigned for our bedrooms and then creating separate ones for each room of the house. She had been improving with her abilities and had figured out how to make the portals to those pocket dimensions visible and traversable by people other than just herself, she just needed to be focusing on the person or people in question at the time.
With direct access to that dimension I just kept the clothes that I hadn’t set aside in my dresser, laid out any that were hanging in the closet on top and then powered up my force field to lift it and put it inside. Footwear was all placed in a large shopping bag except for the combat boots I was currently wearing and then that and the rest of my bedroom furniture joined the dresser so that Shu could close the portal until I needed to put my new beds inside later. Once I had cleaned up the shrapnel that was all that remained of the cot I had been sleeping on the night before and disposed of it I went to lend my strength to the others so that their rooms could be completely packed away as well.
By the time dinnertime rolled around over half of the house was packed away and I was starving and feeling really weak. I had noticed that the more I used my powers the more that I needed to eat, but I guess that all that energy my powers were producing had to come from somewhere, probably my own metabolism. Fawn looked as hungry and tired as I was, since we had been going non-stop with the force fields since we had started with my bedroom nearly three hours earlier. I had also been training her how to fly, using the field rather than her wings, and to use the increased speed and strength that the field could provide that whole time.
Dinner turned out to be pizza and I was glad that Andy had listened when I asked him to order a lot. Fawn had easily eaten three times as much as the other Fairies and I polished of two extra-large meat lovers by myself, plus a good half of a deluxe as well. “Hungry much Mer? Vanessa teased as I reached for a slice of Hawaiian as well
I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. “I’ve been usin ma powers a lo’ today.”
Kendra laughed and reached over to pat me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry Merida, that’s a common issue for Energy Manipulators and Generators. A lot of you use insane amounts of physical energy to fuel your powers and once you start using those powers regularly your metabolisms become hyper accelerated to generate all of that energy and add to your powers’ energy reserves, in addition to what it’s already producing to fuel your body’s regular functions. You’re likely going to be eating a lot more now that that’s kicked in, but on the upside it’s going to be impossible for you to gain weight, other than perhaps muscle. If you add in that you’re still a growing girl as well, you’re going to need a lot of calories to keep up that metabolism.”
“Aye, ye’ another reason tae be ‘appy aboot havin’ super powers,” I grumbled while rolling my eyes. I made a mental note to start eating more and that Fawn probably should as well. I thought that it may be a good idea to start carrying around energy bars or other snacks, and maybe some drinks as well, just to be safe.
“Don’t worry too much,” our new counsellor tried to reassure me, “the people of Costa Verde have gotten used to it so you won’t stand out too much there. A lot of the restaurants, particularly the fast food places have meals in regular size, super-size and Hyper-size and the Conservatory serves its meals buffet style with large portion sizes in mind.”
“What’s the Conservatory?” Mei and Shu asked simultaneously.
“That’s what we call the cafeteria at PSA, you’ll understand when you get there,” she explained without really explaining.
Once we had finished dinner we got back to work while Kendra had to leave to return to the school to prepare for our arrival and Mom and Andy went to her lab to try and finish at least one bed each for both me and Vanessa. The supplies had arrived almost back to back, less than an hour before dinner, and Mom had a lot of work ahead of her, even with Andy there to assist. All that really needed packing was the garage, Mom and Andy’s room, the living room and Mom’s lab, every other room was already empty. Shu, Peri, Fawn, and I decided to finish the packing while the other girls went on to giving all of the now-empty rooms a good cleaning. Shu would be needed for storage, and she and the two Fairies could also help with small things, while I acted as the muscle.
It was nearly midnight by the time that everything was packed, stored, and put away, including Mom’s lab and the prototypes for the new bed frames for Vanessa and me. We planned to leave first thing in the morning, so except for Vanessa, who would be in the bathtub again, we would all be camping out on the floor tonight on the four “mattresses” that Mom had produced for the new “beds” for me and Vanessa. The mattresses were made of some sort of foam gel that Mom had developed that was resistant to water, extreme heat, and concussive force and felt like resting on a cloud. Each mattress also had two pillows made of the same substance that would be going with our beds.
The mattress that Fawn I were using had been set up with the temporary energy shield emitters from my room on the floor around it and the last emitter/energy scanner on the ceiling above us. The mattress itself had also been covered in sheets and pillowcases of a sturdy and stretchy material that Mom called Mithrilex. It was something that she had been working on with my powers in mind, since I would eventually need a costume that wouldn’t turn to ash or be shredded in an explosion if I had to go all out with my powers. It was basically designed to withstand the full heat and concussive force of a nuclear bomb, while being bullet resistant, comfortable, and insulating.
As it turned out, both the material and mattress worked as advertised and damn was that mattress comfortable, Mom really needed to patent that shit. They didn’t stop me from waking up screaming from the nightmares, but when I had lashed out with my powers while doing so the only damage seemed to be to the frayed nerves of my family members. That’s to be expected though when you wake up to explosions, and once Fawn had managed to calm me down I apologized profusely to everyone, both ashamed and embarrassed. Then I busied myself with getting dressed, packing the mattresses, and putting them away.
When I was finished we made one last sweep of our temporary home to make sure we hadn’t missed anything and then piled into the SUV to do a few things before we left Los Angeles. First, a not-so-quick breakfast at Ihop, where I managed to put away four breakfast samplers before feeling full. Fawn did have a little of mine while sitting somewhat hidden in the booth beside me (she loved the pancakes), but it was not much more than a bite or two for us humans. The waitress was staring at me by the time I had finished off the last and she had come to collect the plates and deliver the bill. Andy merely said, “Growth spurt,” to explain it. Then Mom and Andy had to drop the keys to the house off with the owner, after which we made our way to the freeway and were off to our new home.
![]() |
Chapter 18 Road Trip Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Andy drove us north up I-5 and it was almost a whole hour before we all got tired of playing travel games like “I Spy” or “On my Road Trip”. That was about when we found out that Shu gets motion sickness during long car trips. The poor girl really looked terrible as Mom stood with her, patted her back, and tried to comfort her, after Andy had just managed to pull over in time for her to empty the contents of her stomach on the side of the road. Mei was looking a bit green too, but at least she hadn’t thrown up. They were both still looking a bit green when we were able to stop at a pharmacy in Santa Clarita to get them some Dramamine.
As excited as we all were to be taking a road trip to get to our new home, there really wasn’t all that much to do while sitting in the vehicle except talk and practice with our powers, which would prove awkward in a moving car, especially since one wrong move with my powers tended to make things explode and Mom had already instituted the “no superpowers in the car” rule for everyone’s safety. It wasn’t like the twins could read or play videogames or anything either since the former only made them feel sick and we didn’t have any of the latter, even if they wouldn’t have had the same result. We drove for a little longer after leaving Santa Clarita before stopping briefly at a rest stop in Los Padres National Forest to use the facilities and to stretch our legs for a bit, since sitting in the SUV was starting to get uncomfortable and we all needed some air.
Fortunately we were the only ones at the rest stop at that time of the day so even the Fairies were able to get out for a stretch and a bit of fresh air. Fawn seemed more in her element her as we walked a bit through the trees and she occasionally paused to speak to one animal or another. We were careful to stay close to the parking area, but being outside the car in somewhat fresh air was nice. Fawn was having a particularly engaging conversation with a cute squirrel that she had dubbed ‘Dottie’ when I decided to see how the others were doing.
Vanessa was sitting on a stump, misting her tail while Tasha had produced a pencil and sketchpad and was sketching Fawn and the squirrel while they conversed. The drawing looked pretty good and I was hoping that she might be able to draw another copy for my Fairy, since I figured that Fawn would like that. I may not know art, but I know what I like. The twins were sitting and talking with their Fairy friends and looking very happy to be out of the vehicle for a bit. At least the Dramamine had been helping a little. Still I felt bad that they were suffering like that on their first road trip, and our first trip as a family.
“Are ya feelin’ any better girls?” I asked in concern.
Both of the twins nodded slowly. “I feel a bit better now Merida,” Shu said, trying to give a smile as Peri watched over her looking worried. I felt bad for the Frost Fairy too, but at least with nobody else here she could show her concern and keep Shu company, she hadn’t been able to do so on the side of the interstate because of all the passing traffic.
“Is this place we’re travelling to much farther?” Peri asked. “Couldn’t we just use pixie dust to fly there?”
“Yes, nobody gets motion sickness with pixie dust,” Tink agreed.
I wished that I could answer their question, but I didn’t know for sure how far up north Costa Verde actually was. I had a general idea, but I was pretty sure it was still a good nine or maybe ten hours of driving under good conditions.
Luckily Mom was approaching and had heard the Fairy’s question. “I’m afraid tha’ we still have a good long way to go. We’ll be takin’ rest stops often though an’ instead o’ drivin’ the whole trip today and arriving in the middle o’ the night I booked us a decent place to stay at in San Jose tonight. Maybe we can get there by dinner and play tourist for a bit after. I wan’ to make this trip fun for all o’ ya, not torture. Ya shouldn’t have too much trouble with the motion sickness from here on out so long as we keep up with the Dramamine. I’m afraid tha’ flyin’ would just get too much attention though, it’s best to stay under the radar until we arrive at Costa Verde.”
Peri and Tink looked disappointed, as did Shu and Mei, but all four nodded. They did perk up a bit at the mention of playing tourist. Mom announced that it was time to get back on the road then and as she went to go inform Vanessa and Tasha and the twins and their Fairies returned to the vehicle I went to where I last saw Fawn. She seemed so happy and comfortable out here in the forest, she was a real outdoors kind of Fairy and loved her animals so I was beginning to consider getting some potted plants and such for my room, or taking up camping and hiking. I could probably find some way for her to be around animals more too, even at home and school, maybe a pet? I didn’t want her to feel out of place or uncomfortable if we were going to spend a lot of time together since her needs and interests were just as important as mine. “Where’s Dottie?” I asked the Fairy as I found her and she settled down on my shoulder.
“Oh, she saw something shiny and went off to go find out what it was, squirrels can be like that,” Fawn replied with a knowing smile and an easy shrug. “I should start teaching you animal languages soon, you could have talked with us as well if you spoke and understood squirrel.”
I held back on a dismissive snort. “I jus’ didnae ken wot tae say, she was mostly talkin’ aboot nuts an’ tha’ hawk tha’ chased ‘er yesterday. All tha’ talk aboot nuts was jus’ makin’ me even more ‘ungry than I already was an’ I dinnae ‘ave much experience bein’ chased by birds so it was a wee bit awkward.” The being hungry was really bothering me. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet and I was starving again despite my huge breakfast. It was getting a little hard to think with that distraction. I had had a small bag of peanuts on the road and given a few to Fawn, but where she had been satisfied by them it had only seemed to make me hungrier.
Fawn’s eyes widened and a smile lit up her little face. “You understood all of that?”
I nodded and shrugged as my stomach growled audibly. “Aye, weren’t ya usin’ some Animal Fairy magic tae ‘elp me?”
She shook her head and asked, "Are you still hungry? You should tell your mother." There was something different about her voice as she spoke, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.
I nodded my head, but I felt a bit guilty for eating so much at breakfast. Not only was I going to eat Mom out of house and home, and with her bank account balance that’s saying something, but it was probably embarrassing for anyone around me as well. “Aye, bu’ I dinnae wan’ tae bother ‘er wit’ it. We’ll be stoppin’ fer lunch in an hour or so anyway, once we’re on the road agin.”
“Merida!” Fawn’s eyes lit up as she grinned at me. “You just understood me! And you spoke back! In squirrel! Your accent is horrible though.”
That was when Fawn’s little friend Dottie returned. The squirrel seemed to have heard me and gave me a curious look, then ran over to some scattered acorns fallen from the nearby oak tree where her home was located before looking back to me once again. “Nuts?” it asked.
“Mooooooom!” I called out, confused as all hell, but thankfully nowhere near a panic attack or losing control of my powers.
Mom, Tasha, and Vanessa all ran toward me from where they had been talking. Mom was the first to reach me and asked, “What’s wrong Merida?”
“I was understandin’ Fawn an’ tha’ squirrel an’ Fawn says tha' I was speakin’ squirrel. An’ the squirrel jus’ asked me if'n I was noots. I dinnae really ken ‘ow tae answer tha’. Kin ‘unger cause ‘allucinations like tha’?”
“Don’t be silly Merida,” Fawn said hugging my face for a quick moment. “Dottie wasn’t asking if you were nuts, she was asking if you wanted some.”
“Oh well tha’s okay then,” I replied before realizing what I just said and face palming. Was my life really that crazy now that I could take this so casually? That kind of said a lot about my life recently.
“I was wonderin’ if something like this might happen,” Mom said with a shrug, “Yuir quantum connection with Fawn is two-way an’ always there. She gets yuir passive ability when ya turn it on, so it makes sense tha’ there would be some crossover and you’d be able to use her passive ability. Only her ability is with languages an’ it’s always on, so it’s probably always on fer you too.”
“Wow, and we thought you were a Disney princess before, now you can speak to animals too?” Vanessa jibed, obviously trying to cheer me up.
“Stick it up yuir tail Ariel,” I shot back.
“She’s right Merida,” Tasha poked, “Just let us know if you feel the sudden urge to break into song.”
“Alright girls, let’s get back to the others, ya can fight while we drive,” Mom said with a laugh. “Merida needs to eat again soon if all that noise that her stomach is makin’ is any indication.”
They all headed back to the SUV but I held back for a moment to pick up a few handfuls of acorns and fly them up to Dottie’s drey, high up in the oak tree, where I left them for her. Then Fawn and I said our goodbyes and I added, “Be careful o’ the ‘awks Dottie, an’ enjoy the nuts.”
We were headed back to the SUV when I heard Dottie chitter, “That strange human girl seems very nice, but her accent is horrible.”
We stopped for lunch at a roadside diner that claimed its Goldrush burger was the biggest burger in California. It boasted three quarter pound patties, cheddar and mozza cheese, bacon, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, yellow peppers, and their ‘famous’ goldrush special sauce. They also had a Goldrush platter that came with the burger, and a heaping plate of fries and coleslaw. If someone could eat the whole thing they got their meal for free and their picture up on the wall with the three other people who had managed it in the diner’s long history. I ate two, and I still needed to load up on snacks for the road at the gas station next door.
We made three more short rest stops during that afternoon and arrived in San Jose just after four o’clock. We played tourists until dinner and then we made our way toward the place we would be staying at that night to order some pizzas for dinner. When Mom said she had booked us a place I don’t think any of us expected it to be a secluded luxury villa. It was the type of place that celebrities stay at while travelling; private, huge, and with all the amenities anyone could ever ask for. She had been given a special security code to enter and the place boasted five bedrooms, was fully furnished, and even had a pool with a sea salt filtration system.
We spent that evening playing in the pool and Vanessa gave the twins a swimming lesson before we all turned in early. Vanessa was going to sleep in the pool, happy to not be sleeping in a bathtub that didn’t really work well with her large tail for once. I had set up my new mattress, pillows, and portable energy shield system nearby. The nightmares and flashbacks had come again as they seemed to every night now, but Fawn was there to talk me down after I had lost control of my powers in the midst of another anxiety attack.
We left the villa as soon as we were all up and about, which was pretty much after I was calmed down from my anxiety attack and had put my bedding back in the pocket dimension that Shu had set aside for me. After I consumed yet another massive breakfast at The Waffle Hut we were on the road once again. We took the 880 and just over an hour later, just after eight o’clock in the morning, we were driving across the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and heading into San Francisco much to the delight of all of my sisters, none of whom had ever been there before.
We spent the next four hours playing tourist, Mom taking out her digital camera as we visited the sites and bought souvenirs. I was careful the whole time to stick with Mom and the others since I didn’t want to risk getting put in a position where I could become overly emotional and lose control of my powers. We went to Golden Gate Park, Aquarium of the Bay, and Fisherman’s Wharf, and even took a cable car. Even though they had to remain hidden in our purses, the fairies loved the botanical gardens at Golden Gate Park, Vanessa’s favorite stop of the day was of course Aquarium of the Bay, and we all had a lot of fun exploring all around Fisherman’s Wharf; learning the history, watching and listening to the street performers, and finishing up with a hearty meal gathered from the historic sourbread bakery and an outdoor stand selling Dungeness crab.
After lunch we were back on the road again, crossing the famed Golden Gate Bridge. The twins and the Fairies were in absolute awe, and even I found myself enjoying myself as we chatted and took in the sights as we drove. Mom and Andy wanted to get to Costa Verde by dinner time so we only took one short rest break on our last leg of the trip. Driving more than an hour without something to break the tedium was boring though and we were all starting to get a little tired of being in the car once five thirty rolled around. I was also starving again which wasn’t exactly helping my disposition.
“Are we thaaaaaiiiiir ye’?” I whined, staring blankly out the window at the scenery going by, not too different from the scenery that had gone by an hour earlier. “I kin fly faster than this, a’ leas’ then I’d be movin’ under ma own power.”
“Soon Merida,” Andy assured me from the driver’s seat.
“Complaining isn’t going to get us there any faster Mer,” Tasha pointed out.
I turned to look at the others, who were looking as bored and tired as I was. This was why I could only handle travelling by car or passenger plane in short doses. I was okay as long as I was the one driving, because at least then I was doing something, but I had always been a physical person, I needed to be moving and active or I felt like I was spinning my wheels. Sitting still or staying in one place for long periods of time always made me antsy, that’s why Reaper had always made a better sniper than me, and why I preferred to be in the thick of the action. I let out a sigh and looked down at Fawn who was currently napping in my lap. The Fairies had been just as bored as we were and had all decided to sleep for a bit. I would have tried to get a nap in myself if I thought that I could be trusted to do so without blowing up the vehicle, and everyone in it, when I woke up. “I’m starvin’ though, an’ bored an’ we dinnae ‘ave anything tae dae tha’ we ‘aven’t done fifty times already.”
“I’m bored too,” Shu agreed, “and I’m starting to feel sick again. I hope we get there soon.”
“I’d make a new friend for you to talk to, but Mom said no powers while we’re driving,” Mei pointed out with a bored sigh.
Vanessa sighed in the seat beside me where she was trying to keep comfortable in full mermaid form, she had given up on keeping her legs for the moment to give herself a break from shifting while we made the last leg of our trip. It wasn’t as if anyone could see inside our vehicle with its tinted windows, and even if they could her tail would have been well below the level of the window. “I feel you girls, I’m getting bored and fidgety too, but we should be there soon. I can’t wait to get to where I can get wet. I’m getting itchy again, I need some real water. Still, Tasha is right, complaining won’t help.”
“I ken, bu’ I’m getting’ tired o’ lookin’ out a’ the side o’ the road. I swear the damn scenery is playin’ on an infinite loop or sumthin’.”
“Well look up ahead then,” Mom suggested.
“Fine,” I muttered, rolling my eyes and turning my head toward the windshield. We had just crested the top of a hill and there, ahead of us and nestled against the sparking Pacific Ocean, there was a decent sized city. A sign by the roadside read, “Welcome to Costa Verde, Population 208,347.” We had arrived at last.
![]() |
Chapter 19 Arrival Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
The first thing we did upon arriving in the city proper was to find a place to eat. The place specialized mostly in fried chicken and it had good food and prompt service. The Fairies didn’t even have to hide since the people of Costa Verde were used to some pretty weird shit it would seem. The waitress gave them an odd look at first, but quickly shrugged it off and took our orders. While Fawn and I were devouring my first Hyper-sized meal and the others ate at a more sedate pace Mom called Dr. Edwards to let her and Kendra know that we had arrived in town.
As soon as we had finished dinner we were off to the school for a tour while there was still some daylight left. Kendra and Dr. Edwards were waiting for us outside the gates with our new school ID bracelets that would allow us to get past the security system, even the Fairies had to have one. The school was protected by a large stone fence and a system of buoys that generate an electromagnetic field that won’t allow anyone inside that doesn’t have a school ID bracelet. The EM field was augmented by various high tech and magical security precautions and defenses that Mystech herself had designed and put in place. The bracelets would also act as our individual dorm/room keys and as our school ID by generating a holographic ID card with all personal details, codenames, team affiliation, what dorm we were assigned to, and a holographic photo with the touch of a button.
Things weren’t really anything like I had expected once we got inside the large stone fence and cast-iron gates and onto the school grounds. The grounds were huge and almost all of the buildings looked to be made of mortar bricks and wood that had been whitewashed, with cobblestone streets and paths between buildings with gas streetlamps. “Ummm… I thought this school was supposed to be super high-tech, so why do I feel like I just walked into the 19th century?” Vanessa asked, voicing what had been on my mind as well.
“This town and a lot of the other buildings were built as a set for a movie, but the set was never used. I bought the property for the school at a steal and converted the interiors of the courthouse and town hall buildings into the main Jr. High and high school buildings, but as part of the sale contract the above ground appearance of the grounds must keep to the look of the town, at least on the outside, and a few on the inside too, and Disney retains rights to occasionally shoot scenes in various locations on campus. There was actually a top billing movie shot in part here last year, and more may be filmed in the future, so students must keep up appearances and stay in uniforms for the most part while on ground level, thus the uniforms during school hours. Many students tend to use the underground passages to get around the campus if they want to avoid being seen, as sometimes students can be asked to be used as extras and such,” Dr. Edwards explained carefully.
The courthouse and town hall were very different on the inside, boasting four and three floors respectively, including the basement levels, for classrooms and teachers offices. Some of the other town buildings were completely period both inside and out and a lot of the important stuff was all on the three underground levels: an Olympic sized pool, indoor ice rink, fully equipped gymnasium, two dojos, the emergency medical center, library with computer labs, 3 weapons ranges, a PDE arena, fifty PDE training rooms, several research labs, and a pair of fusion reactors that keep everything running, all connected by the underground passages, transit system, and the maintenance tunnels.
Salmon and Yellowtail Dorm, the two dorms for Jr. High students were both completely underground as well, their entrances hidden in two of the outbuildings near the town hall. Yellowtail, which was the jr. boys’ dorm had a secret elevator going down from the coach house, and salmon, where the twins would be staying, had one hidden in one of the stalls in the stables. Both elevators could only be accessed by someone from that dorm wearing their student ID bracelet.
The five other dorms were located at the eastern end of the property atop a small ridge, behind the school buildings and the clock tower, and all were connected by a cobblestone road. The five manor houses were newly built last year, completely modern inside, but were meant to look as period on the outside as everything else. Four of them all had two floors above ground and another two below ground with each floor housing 30 students per floor, plus a common room for group activities or studying. Two students were housed per room and each floor housed a different grade. The exception to this of course was Starfish dorm, which had five floors, including three underground. It was the coed dorm for us special cases and housed up to 150 students, with each room being single occupant. There is also a common room for group activities or studying on each floor.
Starfish also had steam heating built into the floors, because of dangerous powers and all, while the other dorms all had steam pipes and radiators. In fact, we were told that the whole campus used steam heating. The clock tower building had a classic steam plant inside, or at least it looked classic. It was actually using heat given off from the school’s fusion reactors to generate that steam. The clock tower also housed the mechanical and machine workshop for those students interested in mechanics or engineering.
There were workshops in a lot of odd places though: Electronics in the gaol, chemistry in the Apothecary, magic in the church, biology and genetics on the farm. Yes there as an actual small farm on the northern edge of the property with a large garden, a small orchard, some cows, chickens, pigs and even a pair of horses. After being shown the dormitories and the farm we continued on to the northwest corner of the property where there had been a fake cove constructed for the movie. The cove was a popular place to relax for the students and some spent time surfing there, swimming, or having beach parties.
To the south on the southwest corner of the property was an aged-looking dock with a ratty old fishing shack at the end and a pirate ship docked. “That’s my baby,” Dr. Edwards said, gesturing grandly to the ship.
“Some people build ships in bottles for a hobby, she builds actual ships,” Kendra put in with a laugh.
“I didn’t build it, I restored it from a wreck sunk near Bermuda,” the headmistress clarified. “Now let’s take you all to the Conservatory, or the Grotto as the kids call it, to finish the above-ground portion of the tour.”
The grotto, I liked that name much better than the conservatory, was an actual conservatory, an old fashioned greenhouse made of wood and reinforced glass and partially built into the ridge behind the school buildings. It was a massive building with flowering plants and some vegetables growing along the outer walls, climbing vines were everywhere along the surfaces of the inner walls and ceiling, and cleverly hidden lights kept the place bright. To one side of the back wall that was built into the ridge wall was an artificially constructed waterfall, splashing into a large pool where waterlilies floated lazily.
The floors were wooden, where they weren’t covered in plants, and were kept spotlessly clean with over three dozen large old fashioned wooden tables with padded benches taking up nearly all of the available floor space, with buffet tables taking up the rest. Near the waterfall at the back wall there was a doorway cut into the rock of the ridge, leading back into the hidden kitchens where all the food came from. The acoustics in the place were terrible, but the sights and smells would likely make it an interesting place to eat our meals.
After seeing the Grotto we were all shown to our dorm rooms. The twins were of course sharing a room in Salmon Dorm and would have to take the elevator in the stables, or the underground entrance to get there. Tasha was in Dolphin Dorm and would be rooming with a girl named Daniella Reyes, who went by the codename Loco. Vanessa and I would both have our own rooms in Starfish Dorm, we were neighbors actually on the top floor. After Shu and Mei had unpacked their stuff in their room and Shu had helped Tasha to do the same we all went to Starfish dorm where Vanessa and I unpacked our things for our rooms and Mom and Dr. Edwards got down to work putting our beds together.
While they were working on the beds Kendra gave us all a quick tour of the underground passages. Our student ID bracelets could be used to show our precise locations on a holomap and give directions from that location to any other underground location or surface access elevator. There was also an underground transit system of sorts, though when Kendra had mentioned it I had been thinking trains, not teleportation. She had us all step into a blue sphere and she called out, “Conservatory.” There was a sudden lurching feeling and when she led us out of the sphere again we were beside one of the surface elevators that led to the grounds outside the Grotto. There were a dozen different surface elevators on the school grounds, other than those in the dormitories. On the surface they were hidden in very life-like fake massive redwood trees, just off the cobblestone paths.
By the time we had finished a snack at the Grotto, which had been serving dessert, Mom and Dr. Edwards had my bed ready to go and were nearly finished filling Vanessa’s with water. Vanessa’s bed was basically a huge aquarium and Mom took me to my dorm room to explain how my bed worked. I sighed as we looked over the bed, “It’s a fookin’ princess bed Mom, it ‘as a canopy an’ curtains an’ e’rythin’.”
She sat me on the bed and she pointed to the bed frame, and the four posts that connected it to the frame of the canopy. “I know tha’ ya don’t care fer the bed, but it looks like a girl’s bed an’ I’ve fitted the metal frame with multiple energy detectors an’ shield emitters to contain the energy shield inside the frame. Between tha’, the special mattress an’ pillows, an’ the blankets an’ sheets made from Mithrilex, ya shouldn’t have to worry about destroyin’ anythin’. The room has been completely soundproofed an’ equipped with more energy detectors and shield emitters too, jus’ in case.”
I nodded as I looked at the bed and tried to spot the emitters and detectors on the walls of the room. “I guess I kin see yuir reasons fer it, an’ it’ll be nice tae no’ ‘have tae worry aboot blowin’ anythin’ up, or wakin’ people whenever I ‘ave a nightmare.”
“Once we buy a house we’ll make the same modifications to yuir room there, an’ set up the extra bed. The realtors already ‘ave a few houses fer us to look at, an’ Andy an’ I are goin’ to go tomorrow,” Mom explained.
“An’ jus’ wot dae we dae while you an’ Andy are off house shoppin’?” I asked with a frown.
“Try an’ get used to the school an’ maybe explore the town a bit?” Mom suggested uncertainly. “Kendra offered to introduce ya to some of the students who live here year long. Jus’ try to make the most of it, we’ll have a home soon an’ then you’ll only have to stay in the dorms on school nights.”
It was five days before Mom and Andy got a deal finalized on a house and we were able to move in. During that time we tried to get used to life at the school. Showering and shaving my legs and such every morning in the girls’ shower room for our floor was awkward. Vanessa had seen me naked of course, hell I’d been naked when I’d first met all of my sisters, but being that way in front of strangers was weird now that I was starting to feel like it was my body and not someone else’s. On the good side, being able to swim and having a full gym and the PDE rooms available was really helping me to elevate the morning training sessions for me and my sisters. I had met some of the other people from my dorm, but I didn’t really think of any of them as friends yet. I much preferred to spend my free time with my sisters, Fawn, and the other Fairies.
Speaking of other Fairies, Mei had managed to slip two more over the border. The first was an Asian-looking water Fairy named Silvermist. She was fairly slender with pale skin, long loose dark blue hair, and brown eyes, and Mei had apparently linked her to Vanessa, much to the mermaid’s delight. Iridessa was the second new Fairy, a light-talent fairy who she linked to Tasha. She was smallish with cocoa colored skin, black hair, and brown eyes.
I was still having trouble controlling my emotions and when I was upset that was leading to trouble controlling my powers as well. I had already had one embarrassing incident at the school, though luckily nobody was injured and the damage was easily repaired. That wasn’t my only issue though, as I had been feeling aches and pains and my breasts had been sore, even though my period was almost two weeks away still. Mom of course was worried the moment she found out and brought me in for an immediate medical exam in her new domain the morning of the move.
Our new home was a six bedroom three bath waterfront villa that was within walking distance to the school. That afternoon Vanessa asked me, “So how’d the medical tests go?” We were waiting for a bunch of new furniture to be delivered later that afternoon and were currently unpacking all of the living room furniture from the old place from the pocket dimension that Shu had created to store it. While we were doing that all the pixies were helping the twins to unpack the kitchen stuff and Tasha was helping Mom and Andy with Mom’s lab.
“Mom says tha’ I’m jus’ goin’ through a growth spurt,” I grumbled as I moved the couch out of the pocket dimension and into place. “I’ve gained almos' two inches in height since I Activated an’ I’m almos’ fillin’ those bras tha’ were a bit loose on me afore. Stoopid girl body.”
“I’m glad it’s nothing serious,” the mermaid offered with a sigh.
“An’ ‘ow did yuir exam go this mornin’ ‘Nessa?” I asked, knowing quite well that Mom had wanted to run some tests on her that morning as well.
“Well, Mom was able to figure out what’s causing my constantly elevated hormone levels since I Activated,” she replied with a sad shrug. “It’s my weird mermaid biology. Apparently I have a really odd reproductive system. I don’t get a period like normal girls do. Blood in the water is a bad thing, it can attract sharks and other predators so I don’t shed the lining of my uterus every month, it constantly regenerates itself instead. I’m kind of always primed for getting pregnant, so my hormone levels are higher than normal and instead of once a month my ovaries spit out a new egg every day.”
“Tha’ sounds… messy,” I said with a frown.
“Not really, it’s the shedding of the uterine lining that causes all the mess during a normal period, I don’t even notice the eggs passing through, but it means that only a few birth control methods are going to work for me, so Mom ended up giving me the sex talk today.” My sister did not sound at all happy to have gone through that and she proved it by quickly changing the topic. “I’m glad that we managed to find a place before the twin’s birthday on Tuesday.”
“Aye, an’ now we ‘ave two day’s tae plan the party,” I agreed, letting her get away with the topic change as I hefted a coffee table.
“Nope, three days,” Vanessa corrected. “Remember the twins’ birthday is on the twenty-seventh, but yours is on the twenty-ninth so we’re doing the party on Wednesday so we can celebrate for all three of you at the same time. Silvermist can’t wait for the party.”
“Aye, Fawn cannae wait either, an’ I think tha’ Tink an’ the others prob’ly feel the same way. Fawn’s been tryin’ tae convince me tae invite some o’ our new friends from the campus grounds.”
“D’you mean all the squirrels, birds, and other animals you’ve both been talking to? And the animals on the farm? Oh, and the bunnies in the science lab?” the mermaid asked with a laugh.
“It’s no’ like we’ve ‘ad much tae do lately while stayin’ a’ the school an’ waitin’ on the house,” I snapped, she and Tasha had both been teasing me relentlessly about it every time they caught me doing it. “I ‘ave a new ability, an’ I’m tryin’ tae learn tae control it. It could be useful!” Not that I had to do much for that. “I tol’ ‘er tha’ mebbe we kin invite some o’ the birds or sumthin’ but no’ any o’ the other animals, especially no’ the bunnies, tha’ one ‘as murder in ‘er eyes.”
It took most of the afternoon and evening to get everything unpacked and put in its place, but soon all of the pocket dimensions had been unloaded and by twenty hundred hours all of the rooms, including our new bedrooms and the garage had been set up. I felt much better about things that night as we slept in our new home for the first time. As Fawn and I fell asleep cuddled together I felt like I just might be able to get a good night’s sleep for once. Fate had other plans though as around o’ three thirty Tasha’s mind voice shook me out of my sleep. *Merida! Wake up!*
*What’s wrong Tasha?! Do you know what time it is?!* I sent quickly back once I had looked bleary-eyed at the alarm clock.
*They really did a good job soundproofing your room, how in the hell can’t you hear that?! We need you outside on the beach fast!*
I shook Fawn to wake her, “C’mon Fawn, sumthin’s goin’ on outside.” Then we were both out the bedroom door and the sound hit me like a hammer. There was this loud inhuman shrieking and I put my force field, and my hands, up instinctively to protect my ears. I dashed for the back patio door and onto the beach where my whole family was staring at a pair of lights high up in the sky. The lights were moving in sync, but that was when I noticed that something was horribly wrong. Those weren’t lights, they were eyes, massive glowing yellow eyes attached to a shadowy monstrous-looking behemoth that was emerging from the water, already at least forty feet tall, and it was heading straight for Costa Verde. My jaw dropped and I just stared for a moment before wondering aloud, "Wot the bloody 'ell is tha'?"
![]() |
Chapter 20 GODZILLA!!! Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
The creature seemed to get bigger and bigger as it approached the shore, its form not a shadow like I first thought but rather black-skinned and blending into the darkness of the ocean at night. “Everyone inside, now!” Mom called out.
“Bu’ we cannae le’ tha’ thing attack the city,” I argued, “people could ge’ hurt or killed.”
“We’re goin’ to stop it, but I’m no’ goin’ to let you girls fight in yuir nightclothes in front o’ the whole city,” Mom pointed out. “Andy, phone Mystech, let her know what’s happening. Girls, let’s go get dressed fer the occasion.”
Okay, so she might have had a point. I blushed slightly as I realized that I was just wearing a pair of panties and one of my old camouflage military t-shirts as a nightshirt. Mom had promised to make me and Fawn both some nightclothes from Mithrilex, since our force fields ran along the surface of our bodies and didn’t protect our clothes from explosive damage, or whenever we went too hot. She hadn’t had time to make them yet though so we could both be in danger of flashing the whole city if I had to use too much power.
The other girls were no better off really. Vanessa was only in half a bikini with a towel wrapped around her currently human hips for modesty, the twins were in frilly nightgowns, and Tasha wasn’t dressed too differently from me. Even the Fairies were only in tiny little nightgowns. We were all considering our current state of dress when Mom snapped, “Move it girls! To the lab!”
We followed Mom into her lab while Andy ran to get his cellphone. As soon as we were inside Mom directed us toward some storage containers and started fishing out various colorful outfits. “These are all made from Mithrilex to keep ya as safe as possible an’ to keep Merida covered. I based them on designs tha’ Tasha came up with. Put ‘em on an’ hurry about it. Fairies too! There’s Mithrilex versions of your usual outfits there.” While we were trying to get into our costumes Mom got into her dark green Gadget-Girl power armor, which I noticed now had a gold oval on the chest with a pair of dark green letter Gs in it, with the second one reversed so that it mirrored the first.
My costume was a skintight black bodysuit with red and gold flame patterns up the legs and arms. It also included ankle-length combat boots, gloves, a domino mask, and a black, knee-length hooded cloak with the same flame patterns along the hem. The hooded cloak was apparently to hide my hair whenever I use my force field and it starts to float all around me. This way, my long hair would kind of lift the cloak, making it float, and I thought that that might look pretty badass.
Vanessa’s was a simple dark blue bikini top with gold trim and the Aquarius symbol over her heart. She also had a matching skirt-like wrap about her waist that would preserve her modesty should she need to change her tail to legs for any reason, and a blue mask that looked like it was covered in drops of water. Mom was talking to Mystech about getting some spells put on some panties for her though, to place them in a pocket dimension whenever she shifted back to her natural mermaid form and to have them reappear when she switched back to human, but she wouldn’t have those for a while. Still, they would make preserving the mermaid’s modesty a lot easier, even if it might be a bit expensive to get done.
Tasha’s costume was all in white and silver. She wore a white sleeveless dress with a hem that fell to her calves, ankle boots and opera gloves, all with silver accents. She too had a hooded cloak, but instead of a mask she had an opaque white veil covering her entire face with her personal emblem on it. The emblem was a lavender eye with wavy lines surrounding it. I was a bit worried about her being able to see through that veil, but I was assured that it was only opaque from the outside and that she should see through it perfectly fine. Even if she couldn’t though, she had her sixth sense.
Shu’s ‘Packrat’ costume was reminiscent of Amelia Earhart. Although it was made of Mithrilex like the rest of our costumes, most of it had a definite dark brown leather look to it. The only color other than brown she wore was a white t-shirt. Over that she wore an aviator’s jacket with sheepskin trim and a plethora of pockets available, tight dark brown pants with pockets all down the sides, combat boots similar to my own, gloves that matched the jacket, an aviator hat, and large aviator goggles covering the upper portion of her face. She also had a pair of energy pistols holstered on her belt.
Mei wore a black mithrilex bodysuit beneath the majority of her costume. The costume itself consisted of the upper portion of the black bodysuit beneath a blue denim-look vest, tight jeans, a pair of high-top sneakers and pale blue fingerless gloves. She also wore a red bandana covering the lower half of her face and a black ball-cap with red front that had a stylized black letter G on it. From the belt on her jeans hung six red, white, and black spheres. “Eeeeee!” Mei squealed in delight. “I look like a Pokémon trainer!”
“Yeah, I thought that we should try to make people think you’re summoning those creatures instead of actually creating living things, and the theme works for that,” Tasha admitted. I thought that she might have been grinning, but it was hard to tell under that veil.
“Careful of those pokéballs though,” Mom cautioned as she finished getting into her armor’s new weapons pack. “The ones on yuir right side are flashbangs and the ones on the left are smoke bombs, just push the button and toss them. I’ll be workin’ on more gadgets for all of ya, but I haven’t had much time with findin’ a house and the move.”
“I guess we’ll jus’ ‘ave tae rely on our powers then,” I replied with a shrug, “An’ teamwork o’ course.” The others nodded in agreement and we all left the lab to see about fighting a monster.
The massive creature had reached land, and the edge of the city by the time we got there. It was close to seventy feet tall, covered in pitch-black scales and while it had a long tail and powerful-looking hind legs it seemed to have trouble supporting its weight and it was hunched over a bit. It had a wedge-shaped reptilian head with five large horns atop it and a mouth filled with rows of razor sharp teeth that showed when it emitted that other-worldly shriek again. Massive spikes jutted from its back and tail and its forelegs (or maybe arms?) were shorter than its hind legs and bore four digits tipped with claws bigger than I was.
We hadn’t been the only ones to show up. Four other costumed kids around mine and Vanessa’s age-range had showed up as well. A black-furred wolf-man in torn jeans and a t-shirt and a guy with short-cropped black hair in a dark blue and silver costume with a mask, cape, and a giant letter M on his chest were both pounding on the creature to no avail. Nearby, a blonde girl in a black and pink witch outfit complete with a mask and witch hat seemed to be watching the creature intently. A girl with long raven black hair and scaly brown skin in a purple and black costume took a hit from one of the creature’s massive forepaws and was knocked into a nearby storefront, but emerged only a moment later with sparkling diamond-like skin and hair and looking very pissed off. There was also a crowd of people who had been woken by the noise and were gathering to watch the fight.
The one in the witch outfit called out to the others, “It’s a summoned creature! I don’t think we have the combined strength to take it down that way.”
“Then we take down the mage that summoned it Jinx!” the guy in blue and silver snapped back.
“It would take a category five mystic to summon something like that and they could be anywhere right now. We can’t be running off to do that, even if we were a match for someone that powerful, it could destroy half the city before we find the person. We need to take this thing down ourselves Megaman. Maybe Shell has the strength to take it on in her new form, you and Lupin try to keep it distracted. Let’s do it 4-Ward!”
We had been watching from the air so we could assess the situation. Gadget-Girl was in her armor’s flight mode, while I was using my force field and the others had been dusted by their respective Fairies. “Let’s give ‘em some ‘elp. Gadget-Girl, get in it’s face an’ try tae draw it back tae the water tae limit the damage. Genesis an’ Psyche, I wan’ ya tae evacuate civilians an’ keep us covered as best ya kin. Aquarius, ya go’ a whole ocean o’ water out there, use it. Packrat, duck and weave an’ keep blastin’ it from a distance. Fairies, keep with yer partners an’ try tae ‘elp out as best ya kin.”
“Packrat, the pistols are on their lowest settin’ right now, just meant to stun people. For this thing ya might need to turn the dials on the sides to the maximum level though, just please be careful no’ to hit people with them, or anything too important,” Gadget-Girl instructed before flying off toward the creature and unloading a payload of mini-missiles in its face. She definitely had its attention now as it shrieked in rage and swatted at her. She only narrowly avoided the hit and started leading it back to the water where Aquarius was now waiting to pepper it with high pressure water blasts and Packrat started blasting it with both of her pistols.
Psyche was quick to start teleporting bystanders to a safer location and Genesis grinned as she called out. “Guardian Angels, I choose you!” After the blinding golden flash of her power a pair of life sized naked women with wings appeared and began picking up people and flying them to a safe distance.
“She’s really go’ tae learn tae summon people wi’ some bloody clothes on,” I muttered before I turned to my Fairy companion. “Let’s ge’ him Fawn,” I said as I started pumping more and more energy into my force field.
“You got it!” The Fairy agreed as both of our fields were flaring wildly and bubbling with explosive energy. Then we flew as fast as we could for creature’s chest, where the energy exploded on contact. It howled and shrieked and swatted us away, and it was a good thing we had our force fields on because if we hadn’t we probably wouldn’t have gotten up from that. There was a fair sized scorch mark on its chest, but whatever that thing’s scales were made from, we weren’t able to do much damage.
We had it heading back to the shore now and the bystanders had been evacuated, but everything was chaos for a while. Gadget-Girl and Packrat were hitting it with everything they had, and even the Fairies were getting involved. Silvermist was helping Aquarius to pound it with as much water as they could, Iridessa redirected the light from one of Genesis’ flashbangs right into the creature’s eyes, succeeding in blinding it for the moment and Periwinkle was doing her best to freeze it while Tink was pixie dusting Jinx, Shell, and Lupin and getting them flight ready to help with hit and run tactics. Meanwhile Pysche was keeping our team connected by mindspeech and Megaman, Fawn and I were trying to deal out what damage we could close range since Megaman seemed to have some level of invulnerability, flight, and strength and speed equal to mine while I had my force field engaged.
“Wot the ‘ell it this guy made o’?” I grumbled as I delivered another explosive punch to its scaly hide and barely singed it.
“The scales are nearly a foot thick and seem to be made o’ some form o’ organic steel,” Gadget-Girl opined, “I don’t think we’re goin’ to be able to take it down this way. This is not a normal magic summon. Not even a cat five Mystic could keep a summoned creature that large here for this long.”
“But I can still feel the magic of a spell on it. It feels like a summoning spell,” Jinx countered.
“It’s probably its passage through the dimensional gate that you’re sensing child,” a new voice contributed. It was Mystech, our school headmistress and she was in costume. “This is a class seven extra-dimensional entity, I’m surprised that you were able to damage it at all. It was summoned, but not by normal means. It was brought through a dimensional gate. It was also a distraction.”
"Wot dae ya mean?” I asked as Megaman, Shell, and I kept pounding on the creature. Shell was getting some solid hits in with her diamond-like form and I figured that she was probably close to cat five strength right now, but neither of us could do much damage, even with me adding explosive energy to my hits.
“Whoever opened the dimensional gate and drew this thing out also summoned a magic tracker by the usual means,” Mystech quickly explained. “This creature was meant to keep any mages in the area occupied, and their attention away from the tracker summon while it searched for the Chaos Gate. I destroyed that summon before it could complete its task, but now we will need to get this back to the dimension it came from. I don’t think that we have the combined power to defeat an entity this powerful.”
“How are we going to manage that?” Megaman asked uncertainly. “We’re barely scratching this thing’s scales.”
“I don’t feel any gate out here,” Jinx added with a frown.
Mystech nodded, a frown on the unmasked portion of her face. “The gate is gone. I don’t know if I have the power to cast a new one big enough to lead that thing through, and I’m pretty sure that Packrat can’t either. Whoever opened that first one was powerful.”
Lupin and Shell were both pounding on the creature’s toes, causing it to shriek in pain. It raised its foot to stomp on them, but Psych managed to teleport Lupin away and Shell actually managed to hold its foot up for a moment before rolling aside. Megaman flew down as fast as he could landing hard on the tip of its tail eliciting another otherworldly shriek. All the while Jinx wasn’t taking her eyes off of our gigantic opponent and Mystech cast some sort of massive golden chains made out of light. The spell seemed to successfully bind one of its arm-like forelegs to the ground, but I could already see cracks forming on the chains.
Fawn was trying to talk to the massive behemoth, wanting to resolve this without a living creature getting hurt, but either it couldn’t hear her, couldn’t understand her, or just didn’t care. The rest of us just tried to keep it distracted and keep drawing it away from the town and toward the water. “Screw this, its scales are too bloody thick,” I muttered in anger as the beast swatted with its free arm at Gadget-girl and Packrat, who had just reloaded and were pouring on the heat. The blow had narrowly missed me and sent Fawn flying, but I figured that she was okay since I could still see the red glow of her force field. Periwinkle was able to dodge but its massive hand was right on target, flying at Gadget-Girl and Packrat.
Psyche appeared to teleport Gadget-Girl away, but the creature’s massive paw flew straight at, and then through, Packrat. “Wot the bloody ‘ell?!” I gasped half in wonder and half relief.
“Don’t worry,” Packrat said with a grin, “I think I just figured out how to control my dimension shifting.”
“That must be why my sixth sense had me save Mo… err Gadget-Girl,” Pysche said, sounding extremely relieved.
That had been a close call and as relieved as I was, I was also starting to get pissed so I gave up on hitting it’s scales and put as much energy and force as I could into an explosive punch to the juggernaut’s eye. “Dinnae ‘urt ma fookin’ family!” I screamed. The creature howled in pain and rage as my punch landed, triggering a huge explosion which staggered it and left the right side of its face an eyeless ruin. There was also dark blood all over my costume, so I really hoped that these costumes were machine washable.
“Way to go Flare!” Aquarius shouted as she and Silvermist teamed up to fire a powerful blast of saltwater at its injured face causing the behemoth to scream anew.
“Black dragon, I choose you!” Genesis shouted, creating a twenty foot black dragon in a flash of golden light. “Flamethrower attack!” The dragon flew for the giant’s face and let loose torrent of fire at its good eye, causing it to shriek in pain again. Meanwhile Gadget Girl and Packrat had regrouped and were firing inside the creature’s open mouth. While the others kept hitting it with everything they could I formed a spear construct in my hand and charged it almost to the point where the explosive energy would super heat to plasma. Then I threw it at the behemoth’s ruined eye as hard as I could.
As the explosion subsided the extra-dimensional creature screamed one last time twitched and then started to teeter toward a nearby building. Megaman, Shell, and I all seemed to notice at the same time and flew into position to prevent its fall and redirect it toward the vacant shoreline. “Ugh, this thing is heavy,” Megaman groaned with a strained look on his face as he pushed against it. I wasn’t really feeling much better that he looked. I was already exhausted and now starving as well from using my powers so much and he was right, it was heavy.
“C’mon, one good push!” Shell encouraged.
Gadget-Girl joined us, pushing her armor’s thrusters and the strength enhancing hydraulics to the limit. I don’t know if it was that extra bit of help, or if it was the big push we all gave as one, but we managed to tip it back toward the beach where it landed with a thunderous crash. With the danger apparently over I started to nervously count heads. Mystech was there, as were all four members of 4-Ward. Aquarius and Silvermist were approaching now, having had the forethought to clear the beach as fast as they could as soon as they saw the giant monster wobbling. Gadget-Girl was of course right with me, and the twins, Tinker Bell, and Periwinkle were all resting on the ground with Psyche and Iridessa, so they were all accounted for as well.
I was a bit worried about Fawn, but if my force field was still up shouldn’t hers be as well? To my great relief she flew back toward me, still glowing a bright red. “That giant thing knocked me out into the ocean,” she said as she looked at the creature and sighed at the loss of life. “It wouldn’t listen to me,” she said sadly after staring at it for a moment.
I wrapped the Fairy up in my arms and held her tight. “Sometimes things jus’ cannae be solved through talkin’ Fawn. I really wish they could, then there wouldnae be a need fer people like me. We’ll dae our best no’ tae ‘ave tae take a life agin, bu’ there will be times when we’ll need tae fight. We’ll try tae make up fer those times by helpin’ people an’ animals whene’er we kin.”
“I know Merida,” the Fairy replied softly, snuggling against my chest. “The mainland is so much different than Neverland, but I think I’ll be okay here as long as I have you.”
“I feel the same Fawn,” I told her, just holding her in my arms for a moment before letting her go.
It was about then that Mystech gathered us all together. “I’ll handle the media,” she told us with a slight groan that bespoke volumes about how much she was looking forward to that task. “Go home and get some sleep, or food if you need it. Come to the school and be at the Conservatory by noon, all of you, without the costumes, we have much to discuss. Do you have any specific team names I should know about?”
“We’re 4-Ward,” Jinx provided, gesturing at herself and her teammates.
“We need a name!” Genesis suddenly spurted out anxiously, “Why didn’t we think of that before?! Ummm maybe Girl-Force? Because we’re all girls?”
I snorted at that, I may have been adjusting to my new gender, but that was still a little too girly for me. Still I didn’t want it to sound like I was dismissing Mei’s idea out of hand. “Mebbe G-Force fer short,” I suggested, “Aye, I think ya kin call us G-Force.”
“That sounds good,” our headmistress agreed. “Now go home, eat, and sleep a bit if you can… oh and try to avoid the police seeing you for now, at least until we can get you licenses for hero work.”
“We need licenses?” Aquarius asked, her eyes wide beneath her mask.
“You do in Costa Verde,” she replied, “but the police aren’t stupid enough to get too close to a fight like this one until it’s over though, so you should have some time to disappear.” We could hear the distant sound of sirens approaching though and she quickly shooed us away before flashing lights could join them.
![]() |
Chapter 21 Going 4-Ward Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
By the time we had gotten home there had been no point in going back to bed. It was nearly o’ six hundred and we were all hungry and still a bit excited from our battle. With that in mind, and the fact that we were all too tired to cook, or eat whatever Andy called cooking, Mom decided that we should all go out for breakfast. First we got out of our costumes and Mom put them in something she called a sonic cleanser that would clean them using powerful sonic blasts to remove dirt, grime, blood or anything else that had gotten on them. With our costumes taken care of, we all went for a shower and to get dressed before going out to eat.
While I knew that my force field had kept any of the creature’s blood and gore from getting on me, it had been on my costume and that was enough for me to really want to get clean. It felt good to take a shower and I luxuriated in the hot spray as it helped to get the kinks from the fight out of my muscles. Still, I tried to make it as quick as possible since my hair always took forever to deal with. Once I was properly cleaned and my hair had been washed, rinsed, conditioned, and rinsed again, I wrapped a towel around my chest and allowed Tasha to take her turn for a shower while I returned to my bedroom.
Sitting on my bed I found that Fawn had just finished her shower in her little house as well as she came to join me, so I started using my hairdryer to dry her hair and then mine. I had to use the lowest setting on hers so it wasn’t blowing too hot or powerful but it seemed to work okay and while she set about braiding her hair I started drying mine. It took almost twenty minutes to get it passably dry and brushed out and by the time I was finished I figured that I would have to hurry to not keep everyone else waiting. I was also starving by this point, but I made sure to do a proper job in applying the sweet smelling skin lotion that Mom had bought and insisted I use every day to keep my skin soft. This wasn’t because I particularly cared, but because Fawn was applying some to her skin too and it would take her just as long as it did me. Okay so maybe Fawn and I had become close enough friends and roommates that we liked to do our morning routine together, so sue me.
With our routine complete we both got into comfortable clothes for the day, Fawn in one of her orange and amber dresses and me adopting the punk look once again. I wore my tour shirt from the Offspring knotted in front to show off my navel and the dangly dragon that hung from it, one of my two plaid skirts that were a near match for my backpack purse over some artistically torn black nylons, my knee-high combat boots, my dog-tags and a pair of fingerless black gloves. I didn’t really have a lot of clothes and right now they were split between my dorm room and my room at our new house, and since I knew that my sisters were all in the same situation I figured that we were all going to have to do some clothes shopping soon.
We had had the time while waiting for Mom and Andy to find us a house, but my sisters and I had mostly stayed at the school because we had all been a little uncertain about exploring Costa Verde on our own. Most of that time had been spent just getting familiar with the school together, hanging out together, or doing physical training. I was even starting to get used to the idea of living in the dorm since the few people I had met who were living in Starfish while school wasn’t in session had seemed somewhat nice, even if I hadn’t really tried to get to know any of them yet.
Once Fawn and I were both ready to go out I tossed my backpack purse over my shoulders and we headed downstairs to join the others. We weren’t quite the last ones ready, Tasha had received that dubious honor, probably because she was waiting for me so long before taking her shower. As soon as she had joined us though we all headed out the door to pile into the SUV and head off in search of breakfast, my stomach making a loud protest as Andy started the vehicle.
“Hungry much Mer?” Vanessa teased.
“Wot could ‘ave possibly made ya think tha’?” I grumbled as we pulled out of the driveway.
“Just a feeling I got,” the mermaid poked back.
“Hey, that’s my thing,” Tasha said with a laugh.
Traffic was being diverted around the area of our earlier battle and the beach where the extradimensional creature had fallen, and there were people in orange vests redirecting traffic. This slowed us down, but thankfully not too much, as we stopped and waited for what little traffic was heading into the city from our stretch of beach. One of the orange-vested workers approached the vehicle and Andy rolled down his window in case he had any instructions. “Sorry about this,” the man said with an apologetic smile, “There was a big Hyper battle early this morning and Beachfront Drive will be closed for a while until the mess is cleaned up. You’ll have to go around the long way instead.”
“Did it have anything to do with that loud shrieking this morning?” Andy asked, as if he didn’t already know.
“Yeah some huge monster came out from the ocean and started causing damage but a bunch of Hypers took it down,” the man in the vest replied with a casual shrug. “I don’t even want to think about how long it’s going to take to clean up the mess. I heard most of them were kids, probably students from the Academy, but hey there’s so many costumed Hypers here it’s getting hard to keep track, you know what I mean?”
“Well we’re kind o' new here, we jus' moved to Costa Verde. Does this kind o' thing happen often aroun' here? Mom asked as she leaned toward the window.
The man laughed. “There’s always some sort of super-battle or something weird going on here. Not usually as big as this morning, but it seems like there’s always something. At least it’s never boring. You’ll get used to it once you’ve been here a while Ma’am. Are you heading into the city proper or down the coastline?”
“The city,” Andy informed him. “We thought we’d take the kids out for a nice breakfast since none of us got much sleep with all that noise.”
“I hear ya,” the other man agreed with a grin. “Since you’re new around here I’d suggest Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House on third. They have good prices, great food, and some of the biggest portion sizes in town if you’re hungry. When you turn onto Redwood Drive ahead just keep going until you reach Third Avenue then turn right and about four blocks down you’ll find Paul’s, you can’t miss it.”
Andy nodded and grinned at the man. “Great, thanks for the help.”
“My pleasure, welcome to Costa Verde,” he replied as he waved us onward and Andy put the vehicle in gear once again.
The man had been right, you couldn’t miss Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House if you tried. It was a two and a half story building that from the outside looked like a massive log cabin, and there in the parking lot stood a twenty foot tall statue of a lumberjack holding up a gigantic plate of pancakes. The parking lot was mostly empty, which would have been surprising for a pancake house at eight in the morning, if not for the fact that it was right on the edge of the cordoned off area from last night’s battle. The creature hadn’t quite made it his far on its trek into town, but the building that Shell had been thrown through was on the next street over so it had been close. Since just looking at the statue was making me drool and my stomach had once again let me know that it was not happy with me I was eager to get inside and eat.
On the inside the place had a rustic feel, an almost homey atmosphere that I liked right away. High ceilings, large plank tables with checkered tablecloths and padded chairs, some cozy booths along one wall, and smells that had me in heaven. There was a podium just inside the door with a sign that said, “Please wait to be seated,” so we waited, but not for long. A huge dark-haired man, a shade over eight feet tall and dressed in Jeans, a plaid shirt, a toque, and hiking boots approached us with a big grin on his face. “Welcome! I’m Paul, the owner. Party of seven?”
“Twelve actually, bu’ don’ worry about the Fairies. They’ don’ really eat enough to bother with a full order,” Mom said with a smile as all five fairies made their presence known, fluttering around the large man and staring at him in awe.
“Merida on the other hand…” Vanessa started to say before I gave her a light elbow to the ribs and stuck out my tongue at her.
“That is the biggest person I’ve ever seen,” Iridessa said in awe.
“Are you a giant?” Silvermist asked.
The large man laughed. “Fairies huh? And I thought I’d seen everything in this city. I suppose you could call me a giant, but no I’m a mutant.”
“Well that makes sense,” Andy said with a laugh. “For a minute there I was looking for a big blue ox.”
“When you’re as big and strong as I am and your name is Paul, you have two choices become a hermit or embrace it. I decided that if I can’t laugh at myself who can I laugh at?” He promptly demonstrated this with another big belly laugh. “Now let’s get you all to a table and get you fed.”
Looking at the menus the prices were good and I was pleased to see that they even had Hyper-sized meals. I ordered the Hyper-sized Blue Ox Special and I was not disappointed. There was a stack of pancakes a foot high with real maple syrup on the side, a chilled pitcher of orange juice, and a large platter overloaded with scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, bacon, and thick slices of ham. I almost couldn’t eat it all and I probably wouldn’t have if I had only been hungry instead of starving. It wasn’t just filling though, it was delicious and Fawn seemed to enjoy it as much as I was. While it may have cost as much as three of my sisters’ meals put together, for the amount of food and the taste it was well worth it. I vowed that I would definitely be having breakfast at Paul’s again sometime.
Paul himself had served us, since the place was fairly quiet, and he had even sat and chatted with us for a bit while we ate, getting to know us all by name as he did. As I finished the last of my meal he looked at me with a grin. “It’s nice to see a girl with a healthy appetite Merida. Are you girls going to the Academy? My son Hiro goes there, he’s a freshman this year.”
I looked at Mom and she smiled and nodded so I repeated her action before saying. “Yeah, we jus’ moved ‘ere so we could all go there. Mom and Andy will be workin’ there and I’ll be startin’ as a freshman too.”
“Good, I think you’ll like it, he offered with another grin. “Hiro loves it since he started going to junior high there when they opened last year. You’ll probably have him in some of your classes, he goes by the codename Megaman.” Then he turned to Mom and Andy, “You’re going to be teaching there?”
“I think we may ‘ave me’ ‘im already,” I said, trying to hold back a laugh as I thought about the battle earlier that morning.
Mom did laugh, but for a different reason as she replied, “I don’t think I have the patience to teach. I’ve taken a job as chief of medicine fer the school’s clinic so I’ll be seein’ to the kids’ medical needs. Andy will be workin’ in IT and cyber security.”
“That’s good to hear, my wife Kasumi teaches archery and martial arts there, she mentioned that they were having trouble finding a good doctor to fill that spot last year. She said they really wanted someone who specialized in mutants, but it wasn’t looking hopeful for this upcoming year either,” the large man said.
“The headmistress said tha’ my name had come up a few times in her search, bu’ I wasn’t available until recently,” Mom replied. “This is exactly what I wanted to be focusin’ on, so when my girls needed to come here anyway I was more than happy to take the job.”
“Kasumi was the same way when Alana approached her while she was trying to get the school off the ground, not long after Hiro Activated. We moved here so he could go to school and she could teach, and I decided that I would open up the restaurant. We actually have a 10% discount for anyone attending or working at the school, you just need to show your student or staff IDs when you come in,” he offered with a smile. Then he seemed to come to a decision and spoke again. “Since you probably don’t know much of anyone here yet, why don’t you all come over for Labor Day? We live upstairs and were planning on having a barbeque, and I’m sure that Kasumi would love to meet you all before school starts. Some of Hiro’s freshman friends from here in town will be coming, so it’ll give the girls a chance to meet some other kids too, if they haven’t met them already.”
“That sounds great, you’re sure we wouldn’t be imposing?” Andy replied.
“Not at all,” Paul said with a grin and a laugh. “Kasumi and I haven’t really made a lot of close friends since moving here last year, we’ve been too busy with work, and you all seem like good people. And if you having met Hiro has anything to do with him mentioning pixies and rookie girls when he came home a few hours ago, well that’s just more reason to get to know you all. He said that the girls handled themselves well out there and that we would have probably had to rebuild this place if they hadn’t gotten involved.”
All of us except Andy looked at one another uncertainly, causing Paul to laugh again. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us. I may have never done the hero thing myself, but Kasumi, Hiro, and I all know the value of keeping secret identities secret. Most of the kids at the academy will probably get to know you by your codenames, but outside those walls your identities are fairly safe.”
After paying for our meal, and Paul scribbling down his cellphone number for Andy, we said our goodbyes and promised to see him on Labor Day, if not before. Since we still didn’t have much for clothes or personal items Mom decided that we would need to do a major shopping spree, but since we had to meet Dr. Edwards at lunch that was tabled for the next day which was Sunday. So instead we just drove around the city for a while, getting a feel for where things were and seeing the sights until it was time to go to the school for lunch.
Once we arrived at the school Andy headed for the server room in the underground to get to know some of the people that he would be working with while the rest of us headed for the Grotto and our appointment with Dr. Edwards. We were a bit early, and she wasn’t there yet, but we did spot a familiar looking black-furred werewolf and girl with long raven black hair and scaly brown skin, sitting with a somewhat muscular half Japanese guy who looked a little older than me and a pretty blonde girl. It didn’t take much deduction to figure out that they were the heroes we had worked with early that morning so we all grabbed trays from the buffet table and selected what we wanted for lunch before going to join them at their table.
Introductions were a bit awkward since we all had already met in costume and every one of us knew it. They had been fairly easy to recognize with Shell’s and Lupin’s distinctive appearances and we had the fairies and probably my accent giving us away. Mom quickly introduced us and then they followed suit. As we ate they all took my massive tray full of food in stride and hardly said anything about it, even when I went for seconds. There was just a brief knowing look between them as they all shrugged and said, “Energy Manipulators.” As we ate we got to know one another better and I discovered that not only were they all going to be freshmen with me, but they were all in Starfish Dorm with me and Vanessa as well.
Lupin’s real name turned out to be Garret Jackson. He was a Category three Shifter with cat 2 strength and speed. It seemed that he was Activated while watching a horror movie, when his little brother snuck up behind him and scared him. Like Vanessa, his werewolf form had become his default and while he could change back to human or even to a full wolf for short periods, it was hard to maintain. He and Vanessa seemed to hit it off right away talking about the annoyances that came with their forms, her about having to constantly concentrate just to have legs instead of a tail and him about wearing a thick black fur coat almost all the time in California.
Jinx, or Lindsey Masterson, had Activated late in the school year last year so she only had a month at PSA under her belt, making her almost as new as we were. She had been a local and as soon as she had met the others in Starfish they had clicked and decided to form a team. Lindsey was a Category three mystic. She could sense magic and was looking forward to learning to use it as well this year since up until now her only real offensive ability was to focus on a person and cause seemingly random mishaps to happen to them at the worst possible time. It wasn’t something she had much control over, but that explained why she hadn’t taken her eyes off the monster last night, she was trying to increase our chances of getting a lucky shot in.
Shell, whose real name was Michelle Weekes, couldn’t really keep a secret identity well with her scaly skin and that explained why she was in Starfish. Her powers were almost as random as Lindsey’s though and she had no conscious control over them at all. Dr. Edwards had classified her as a Category four reactive biomorph, though she could be loosely categorized as a Shifter. When an attack is directed at her, or she feels that she is in danger, her body shifts its physical composition to whatever benefits her most at the time. She doesn’t get any new powers, it’s just a form shift, although her physical abilities can increase depending on what form she’s taken. After a few hours she sort of sheds her skin to revert to her true form, sometimes that process was messier than others, but she showed us a shard of diamond from her last shedding.
The half Japanese boy who had introduced himself as Hiro Forrester was Megaman of course. He was classified as a Category three Enhanced with cat three flight and invulnerability and mid-superhuman ranged physical abilities, which meant that he was a cat three in strength, speed, agility and all of his other physical attributes. He looked normal enough and seemed to have pretty good control over his abilities though so, after a quick look around to make sure that nobody was paying too much attention to us, I asked, “Why are ya in Starfish? Ya seem tae ‘ave a good handle on yiur powers an’ ya look normal enough.”
“My name used to be Hana,” he said with a resigned look.
“Same with me, I used to be Lincoln before I Activated,” Lindsey pointed out a bit self-consciously. “I’m still getting used to this whole girl thing, but Hiro and Michelle have been a huge help.”
Suddenly I didn’t feel so alone, or such a freak even among other mutants. “I was… uhh… a guy too until we all Activated a few weeks ago. I’m still tryin’ tae adjus’ tae all o’ this.”
“You’ll get through it Merida, you look like you’re doing pretty well so far,” Lindsey said with an encouraging smile. “That’s kind of the good thing about being in Starfish, we all know that there are others who can understand what we’re going through. Plus, maybe we’ll have some classes together, you look a bit young to be a freshman though.”
“I… uhh… skipped a grade,” I told her, sticking to the cover story. I didn’t like hiding the truth from them, but my real past was classified and needed to stay that way.
That was when Dr. Edwards showed up. “Sorry I’m late everyone, but I was arranging for some of our Tinkers to build something to dispose of our large friend from this morning. Blair, I’d like you to work with us on that as well if you can manage the time today. The city has cordoned off the area as I requested, but we’d like to return the body to the dimension it came from as soon as possible for safety’s sake.”
“Build a giant dimensional gate?” Mom said with a grin as her face lit up. “I’ll be there, bu’ I ‘ave plans with the girls tomorrow.”
After that was decided Dr. Edwards told us why she had gathered us. The monster had been a distraction to keep mages and any well-meaning superheroes busy while a tracker summon was sent to search for the location of the Chaos Gate, buried far beneath the city in a secret chamber. The Chaos Gate is dimensional tear where our dimension touches another, one so filled with magic energy that it was spilling out into ours, despite the fact that it had been sealed centuries ago. The seal had slowed the magic energy spilling into our world down to a trickle, but that energy was wildly chaotic and impossible to fully control, which was why it had been sealed in the first place, and why the area of Costa Verde had a long history of strange and tragic occurrences.
“The presence of the Chaos Gate is not common knowledge, nor should it ever be,” Dr. Edwards told us all with a serious expression. “I am only telling you because you needed to know why that creature was sent and how important it is that nobody ever be allowed to find it. Most mages use ley lines or forces of nature to use magic. These things can be powerful, but they also have a natural flow and order to them. The magic energy from the Chaos Gate is wildly chaotic and dark, almost evil in itself. I don’t want to even think about what would happen if someone should try to harness it, or worse break the seal. Whoever did this, it’s just their first attempt, and I expect they’ll make others. I want you all to keep your eyes open for trouble. If any of you feel or sense anything out of place in Costa Verde at any time I want to know about it immediately.”
“I’ll keep my senses peeled, all of them,” Tasha promised. The rest of us quickly nodded in agreement.
“Good, now before Blair and I go to help the team working on the dimensional gate, there is the small matter of those of you working last night without a license.” Dr. Edwards looked pointedly at Mom and the rest of our family, including the Fairies. “If you take a look at your ID bracelets you will find that they have all been updated with your team affiliation. I told the police last night that I had deputized you for temporary work so don’t worry about any legal repercussions, but you will all need to go to City Hall by closing on Monday evening to fill out the proper forms and pay license fees.”
“Why the ‘ell dae we e’en need licenses tae ‘elp people?” I grumbled.
“Licensing superheroes makes sense in Costa Verde,” Dr. Edwards said with a shrug. “There are a lot of Hypers here. The license fees, and fines for non-licensed Hypers, help the city to pay for damages. They also ensure that only those who are serious about hero work start taking it up, and generally that helps prevent serious damage or civilian casualties. Also, when licensed heroes assist local law enforcement in situations that the regular police can’t handle they can be paid for their efforts from funds that the city has set aside for that purpose. The amount depends on the situation of course and it’s generally not a lot, but it shows that they do appreciate those who choose to get a license and use their powers to help others.”
I could grudgingly see the sense in that so I let the matter drop. “So what are we gonna do while Mom’s having fun?” Mei asked pointedly.
“You should all go to the tailor’s to get your school uniforms, and you’ll need to register for your classes soon as well. You can do that through Kendra since I’ve set her up as your guidance counsellor,” Dr. Edwards advised before turning to the members of 4-Ward sitting with us at the end of the table. “Perhaps the four of you can show them the way and then show them the sights from a local’s perspective?” And with that she and Mom left the Grotto, leaving us with our new schoolmates.
![]() |
Chapter 22 Clothes Call Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
We were told that the tailors worked out of one of the small shops in the town square of the faux colonial village that was Pacific Seaside Academy. It was still a little strange to get used to even though we’d been there almost a week and spending most of that time on campus. Strange to be surrounded by a village that could have existed two hundred years ago, when just outside the gates and the fence that surrounded the school grounds was a thriving and bustling modern city.
We had of course seen the shops in the square during our tour, as well as our own explorations, but we hadn’t thought that they were being used for anything. So when Lindsey, Michelle, Garret, and Hiro led us to a shop on the square with a wooden sign out front displaying an image of a needle and thread, we thought that they might be pulling our legs a little bit. It turned out though that not only were they not pulling our legs but that quite a few shops were in use to cater to students and staff alike. Aside from the tailor’s there was a sweets shop, a convenience store housed inside a grocer’s shop, a bookstore selling books for both school and recreation, a draper that sold cloth and other necessities for costume making, and a bakery that housed not only an actual bakery, but a small coffee shop as well. Not far from the square there was also the period doctor’s office with a hidden elevator to the medical clinic below ground where Mom would be working.
There was even a gunsmith shop run by a Tinker that sold actual weapons, although we were told that students would have to take and clear a firearms and weapons safety course and get a permit from Costa Verde’s Hyper Relations Office before they would be allowed to buy or carry them. The very same office at City Hall where we would have to go to get our licenses on Monday. So if Shu and Mei, or any of us, wanted to be able to carry weapons in our costumed guises we would have to pay for all of that too.
“Why let students carry weapons at all though?” Tasha asked in concern.
“This is a school for Hypers, but it’s still a school and we have our share of jerks and bullies. Not everyone has force fields or flashy offensive powers,” Michelle said looking pointedly at me. Then she pointed her finger toward Tink who was sitting atop Mei’s shoulder. “So tell me, how someone like Tink would even stand a chance if she were being bullied by a Category four enhanced or Energy Manipulator or something if she couldn’t just fly away. It evens the odd and sadly fights between students, or teams of students, do happen on campus sometimes.”
“Besides,” Hiro added, “none of the weapons that shop sells are lethal, they are all used to stun, contain, disable, or to distract. Some may have more powerful or lethal ammunition loads or add-ons available, but those aren’t kept on campus and are never sold to students.” With that explained, and our tutorial of the various campus shops given, the four guided us to door of the tailor’s shop to get our school uniforms ordered while my four new classmates promised to meet with us at the Grotto for dinner once we were done with our errands.
When we stepped inside the tailor’s shop the first thing I noticed was that there were no sewing machines, needles, thread, bolts of cloth, or partially completed uniforms or other outfits to indicate that anyone in the shop made clothes at all. Well there was some stuff, but it all looked like stuff from a few hundred years ago so the shop was probably kept looking period on the inside too. There was a curtained-off area to the back though, and two women who could probably be sisters drinking coffee at a large wooden work table.
Both women were slender and a bit lanky with bright blue eyes, but they had their differences too. The oldest of the pair seemed to be in her mid-twenties, was dressed casually in jeans and a simple rose-hued blouse, and had long wavy black hair. The other’s hair was plum-colored and cut shoulder length into a spiky punk style that I liked and she looked to be maybe nineteen or in her early twenties. She was also dressed in a style similar to my own, but with a few more piercings. The pair looked up as the small bell on the door announced our arrival. “Oh! New students! And ten of you too, that should at least keep us busy for an hour or two. Alana sent us your files and told us to expect you today, this should be fun. Welcome kids, we’re the Taylors, and we’ll be getting you all set up with your school uniforms,” the older of the pair said with a grin.
“No’ tae ge’ all technical, bu’ yuir both women, wouldnae tha’ make ya seamstresses?” I pointed out.
The eldest laughed as she smiled at us. “You’re not the first to say that, and likely won’t be the last. It’s a bit of a joke around here actually. We’re not tailors, we’re the Taylors… T A Y L O R,” she explained, spelling the name. “I’m Melanie Taylor and this is my younger sister Meghan.”
Once each of us, including the Fairies, had introduced ourselves the pair looked us over and Melanie asked, “So, which of you is going to be first?”
Meghan grabbed me by the arm, grinning from ear to ear. “Let’s start with you Merida. I like your sense of style. If you ever need new clothes just come see me, I can make you rock that look and our prices for regular clothes are very reasonable. We were told that you and the Fairies come as sets, so your Fairy can come along too.”
Fawn and I were ushered behind the curtain at the back of the shop into a comfortable little room with period furniture, a small table with a tea set on it, tailoring supplies, an old-timey mannequin, a pair of clothing racks filled with empty hangers, and a stool in the center of an open space. “I hope that neither of you are shy,” Melanie commented as Fawn and I were herded toward the stool at the center of the room. “This process will require you both taking off your clothes several times, but only down to your underwear.”
I flushed slightly at the thought, but I then I told myself sternly that it wouldn’t be the first time that I had been without clothes in front of others since getting this body. I looked at the pair hesitantly and tried to shrug it off. They were professionals after all and they probably saw both girls and boys in their underwear every day. “I think I kin manage, bu’ why does Fawn need tae undress? This is jus’ fer school uniforms.”
“Alana specifically told us five uniforms for each of you girls and the Fairies as well, plus whatever enchantments you’ll need on them. The Fairies are students too, just because they’re tiny it doesn’t make them immune to the rules or the dress code,” Meghan pointed out. “Now off with those clothes, both of you.”
Sighing, and wondering what Dr. Edwards had told them to make them believe that Fawn and the other Fairies were students as well, I began to take off my clothes as Fawn touched down on the stool and began shimmying out of her dress. As we were doing that we listened as Meghan explained how their little shop worked. “Now here’s the thing girls. I’m a Category three Generator, I tap into magical energy via ley lines and I can use that energy to create any clothes that I have seen or that I can imagine, in any material that I have physically touched, but to make sure they fit right I need to create them on you, so that’s why you need to be in your underwear. If I were creating underwear you’d have to be naked.”
I was really glad that Fawn and I both had proper underwear. Mom had insisted on making all of the Fairies several sets of undergarments, using the same machine she had to make our costumes and their everyday clothes. Fawn was out of her dress and I was half finished disrobing as Melanie continued where her younger sister had left off. “Meghan will create the uniforms on your bodies and then you’ll have to remove them and hang them up before she can start on the next one. She can’t really do adjustments once the clothes are set, so if you need the uniforms taken in or let out anywhere at some point you’ll come see me so I can magically alter them. I’m a Category three Mystic, but I don’t really enjoy using combat magic. My real strength is enchantments so once the clothes are made and hanging up I’ll enchant them with whatever I feel will work best to keep them from being damaged should you need to use your powers.”
The Pacific Seaside Academy uniform for girls turned out to be a white blouse, a navy blue blazer with the school crest over the heart, white knee socks, a pair of shoes that were called Mary Janes, and a plaid skirt in navy, light sea green, teal, and silver. The final touch was a ribbon tie matching the tartan on the skirt worn with the blouse and tied in a ‘proper’ bow. I had to get Meghan to show me and Fawn how to properly tie the damn thing a few times before we actually got it. Apparently the boys wear navy slacks and a blazer, dress shoes, and a button up shirt with a tie in the same tartan pattern as the girls' skirts and ribbon ties. Fawn was having to be very careful removing the blazer and blouse, carefully slipping her wings through the slits in the back, and I was sure that she’d have to be just as careful while putting them on.
Inwardly I was seething about the skirt and ribbon tie as Fawn and I removed the first uniforms that Meghan had finished. The tartan wasn’t even a proper Scottish one, I was pretty sure it was Irish. How could they expect me to wear that? My force field snapped into place as Fawn finished removing her uniform and we were both surrounded by that familiar red glow that was beginning to bubble with instability.
“Oh! That’s perfect! Just let me do a quick magical scan Merida and I’ll be able to come up with what enchantments I want to use. Force field right? Do I need to worry about your uniforms getting damaged at all?” Melanie fired off as she watched me and Fawn in sudden interest.
I took deep slow breaths to try and calm myself and the bubbling slowed. It wasn’t their fault that the school had a stupid uniform and as much as it might gall me to wear an Irish tartan it wasn’t going to kill me and it wasn’t worth blowing up half the campus over. Once I had managed to calm myself down I replied to the elder Taylor sister. “It only seems tae co’er the surface o‘ our skin. It doesnae protect our clothes an’ when it gets unstable things aroun’ me tend tae explode, or burn tae ash when it gets hot enough.”
Melanie nodded as she continued to watch us, her hands moving as she chanted under her breath for several minutes. Finally she spoke again. “I see, I’ll enchant both of your clothes to phase slightly out of our dimension whenever you use your powers then. They’ll still be visible and preserve your modesty, but they won’t be vulnerable to any type of damage from your powers or anything else that could physically damage them in our dimension. I’ll put that in your file for future uniforms and any regular clothes you might come to us for.”
Once I had managed to turn my force field off again we got back to hanging up the uniforms that we had taken off before Meghan got to work on the next set. Melanie had even managed to conjure up a tiny clothes rack and some hangers for Fawn to use. It was almost half an hour before we were finished and Fawn and I walked out of the back room with our arms filled with five new uniforms and our new shoes, all freshly enchanted. Meghan poked her head out of the curtains behind us and said, “Okay, let’s do the mermaid next. I really hope that you’re not shy.”
It was nearly o’ sixteen hundred by the time that we were all finished and loaded up with uniforms. Tasha, the twins and their fairies didn’t need any enchantments on theirs other than a fairly simple one that Melanie usually used to make students uniforms more sturdy and damage resistant. Vanessa’s and Silvermist’s were enchanted to make them water resistant as well, and the only reason that Vanessa had taken longer than the rest of us was because she had not only hers and Silvermist’s uniforms made, but two dozen pairs of panties in various styles and colors as well. They had all been enchanted to be sent to a pocket dimension whenever her legs shifted to a tail, and to return to their place when she shifted back to legs.
With that done we dropped our uniforms off at our respective dorm rooms and met up at Toxin’s office in the courthouse building that served as the high school where Tasha, Vanessa, and I would be taking classes. I knocked carefully and Kendra’s voice called from inside, “Come on in.” Then once I had opened the door she looked up at us from behind her desk in the small cozy-looking office. “Hello girls! I take it you’re here to choose your classes for the first semester? One at a time please, my office isn’t that big. Though I can probably manage the twins and their little Fairy friends together.”
Since I was closest to the door the others sort of volunteered me to go first with a solid shove. Sighing, I entered the office with Fawn riding my shoulder, closed the door behind me and settled into the comfortable armchair she had in front of her desk, feeling just a little bit uncertain. “It’s good to see you both again. I hope that you’re all adjusting well to the Campus and life in Costa Verde,” Kendra said.
“Aye, we’re doin’ fine Kendra,” I tried to assure her as I squirmed in the seat.
“A little nervous to be starting high school again are you?” Kendra said after a moment of watching me, her tone sympathetic. “I would be too in your place, but this will help you to make friends, adjust to your new age and gender, and learn to control your powers in a relatively safe environment. Try to see the positives in this Merida. And what do you think Fawn?” Her gaze turned toward the Fairy on my shoulder as she said the last.
“It’s all so strange and exciting. It’s nothing like Neverland or Pixie Hollow here and I’m getting to experience all of these things with my best friend. We got something called ‘school uniforms’ earlier. They are a bit strange to wear, but we match in them.” Fawn seemed to have no issues talking about her feelings, but she was generally very open and spoke easily with others. I guess that came with being an Animal Fairy.
“That’s good to hear Fawn, I’m glad to hear that you’re adjusting so well and enjoying your time here,” Kendra said with a nod before getting down to business. “You will each have nine classes per semester and they rotate on a daily basis with six classes per day. Classes are in session from eight thirty in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon with an hour in the middle for lunch. Now I have some classes in mind for both of you, but I would also like your input on this since your classes may well effect your futures. Are there any specific interests you have? Would you prefer to take classes together rather than each having your own separate schedules?”
I stared at her for a moment. “Fawn ‘as tae take classes too?”
Toxin nodded slowly and sighed as she took a small folder out of her desk drawer and pushed it toward me. “Dr. Edwards has decided to make your Fairies official students at the Academy. They are living sentient beings with powers of their own that should be nurtured and developed. It will also explain their presence here. We’ve had to come up with a cover story for all of you since you can’t tell people about how you truly Activated with it being classified, and we don’t want the truth about Mei’s powers to be commonly known since it could put her and the rest of you in danger.”
I opened the folder and Fawn and I carefully read the contents. I was glad that Mei had seemed to instill basic literacy and her own education in the Fairies since, if they were going to be taking classes, they would have trouble otherwise. The file contained a cover story with just enough truth in it to be believable. Me and my new sisters had all been discovered to be non-Activated Hypers and were kidnapped, them from orphanages and me on my way home from a friend’s house, by a Supervillain Mystic calling herself “The Matriarch” who was more than a little insane and apparently wanted superhuman children as minions. She performed experiments on us to try to get us to Activate, including attempts at brainwashing, and severely traumatized most of us in the process. Mom was able to follow her trail though and, with her help and our new powers, we were able to defeat her and escape, after which Mom adopted my sisters to keep them safe.
The Fairies were explained too. They were other captives, college students who had been magically transformed into Fairies based on some of those in the Disney movies. They hadn’t turned out well though, because they lost all of their memories from before their transformation and now believed themselves to be those Fairies, taking on their abilities and personalities. They had been meant to be companions for us, gifts from the insane woman trying to be a mother figure to us. They had bonded with us and we became friends and when we had Activated, one of the Matriarch’s experiments had resulted in Fawn and I becoming quantum entangled and each gaining a portion of the other’s powers.
It seemed that the Matriarch was actually a real villain who had escaped a high security asylum for Hypers around the time that the girls really were kidnapped. She had been captured again not long after our escape, and while it had made the news the details had been sketchy so it loaned itself well to our cover story. There were even photos of her in the file and with the kidnapping and trauma and such there was enough truth in the fictional story to be believable. The Fairies even had identities created for them from before their ‘transformations’ including birth certificates and other documentation that Dr. Edwards had got Tara Miller at the Hyper Protection Program to cook up and that would be used in their school records and student ID bracelet.
Kendra handed me the packet for Fawn, or Lisa Anne Conrad as her documentation indicated. The Fairies wouldn’t have to play the part much since the story had been concocted to allow them to be themselves and answer to their own names for the most part. They would have to remember some details about their fictional identities, but they seemed to have the easy part in this fiction.
With that explained Kendra started to discuss classes with Fawn and me. We had decided to take the same academic classes this semester, Math, English, History, Introduction to Zoology, and ‘Beginner Martial Arts’ with Kasumi Forrester, Megaman’s mother, for our P.E class. For our other classes we shared Energy Manipulation and Aerial Combat and I took Archery, again with Kasumi Forrester, and Art to help with my constructs. For her other two classes Fawn took Spanish and Home Ec. Once our classes were chosen we left with our class schedules, and Fawn’s new documentation, in hand to let the others have their turn at their debriefing/class selection with Kendra.
Why dae I ‘ave tae dae this anyway? Wouldnae Blair be better fer talkin’ aboot all this sciencey stuff? Wot dae ya mean it’s in ma bloody contract?! I’m goin’ tae need tae read the fine print on tha’, an’ then we’re goin’ tae damn well renegotiate.
*sigh* Good mornin’, afternoon, or evenin’ tae all o’ Amethyst’s readers, whate’er it is where ya are. I’ve jus’ been informed by Amethyst tha’ I’m supposed tae be hostin’ this new segmen’ tae teach ya all aboot Hypers, the world we live in, an’ so forth. So since I dinnae ‘ave a choice in the matter, welcome tae the first episode o’ “Merida’s Corner”. Today I’m goin tae start by talkin’ aboot power levels an’ introducin’ the twelve diff’ren’ classifications o’ Hypers.
Powers are rated like hurricanes, rangin’ from Category one tae Category five. Category one powers gen’rally make the person who ‘as them a wee bit more than human, bu’ no’ quite considered superhuman either. In the case o’ Enhanced mutants, where physical abilities are increased, those physical abilities would be on the level o’ peak human or an Olympic athlete. In other power types Category ones gen’rally ‘ave wha’ are commonly termed as nuisance level powers, fer example a Teleporter who kin only ‘port somethin’ small, like a marble, tae within a foot or two o’ its original location. No’ really tha’ terrifyin’, aye? Though I could think o’ uses fer somethin’ e’en tha’ small.
Category two is where things star’ gettin’ interestin’, an’ Hyper’s are really considered superhuman. Enhanced gain physical abilities tha’ go beyond tha’ o’ even the best human athletes, such as bein’ able tae lift an’ toss aroun’ large vehicles an’ other classes ge’ powers tha’ may actually be o’ some use in a fight. Power levels an’ range continue tae increase exponentially all the way up tae Category five, which are the rarest an’ usually the mos’ dangerous. Mos’ Hypers are somewhere in the Category one tae four range an’ when a five appears it’s a pretty big deal an’ their power levels kin be compared tae a Category five hurricane, a major earthquake, or other nat’ral disaster when unleashed a’ full power. Tha’s when ya ge’ intae people like Paragon or me. Tha’ level o’ power is hard tae learn tae control a’ full power an’ kin be dangerous tae anyone aroun’.
There are twelve loose classifications o’ mutant power types. Some mutants fit intae one o’ these, while some fit intae more than one. These classifications are: Energy Manipulators (EMs), Generators, Shifters, Psychics, Regens, Teleporters, Tinkers, Mystics, Mediums, Elementals, Enhanced, an’ Wildcards. There is a lo’ tae learn aboot all these diff’ren’ classes, so nex’ week I’ll begin talkin’ aboot the various types wi’ the best one, Energy Manipulators. Until then, this is Merida signin’ off, see ya nex’ time on Merida’s Corner… unless I kin manage tae renegotiate ma contract.
![]() |
Chapter 23 Need to Know Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Once my sisters, and their respective Fairy companions, had finished their turns with Kendra choosing classes and being updated on our new ‘origin story’ we headed to the Grotto to meet the members of 4-Ward. With just over a week until school was in session there weren’t many people there so as we all ate dinner together we got to know one another a bit better. We started out talking about our interests and it turned out that the four of them loved surfing as much as Vanessa did. “We’ve been surfing together all summer, and being out in that heat all the time seems to be helping Garret with staying in his human form longer. There’s some great beaches around here, but they’re part of the whole tourist scene that Costa Verde is getting popular for so they’re kinda crowded during the summer,” Michelle pointed out.
Garret gave a shrug and laughed. “Yeah you do not want to know what it’s like surfing in a fur coat, and wet fur really sucks, its good incentive to work on my shifting.”
“Cool, I was going to teach my sisters how to surf, maybe you can all help with that?” Vanessa asked the grinning foursome. “Merida and I have boards and such, but we’ll need to find some for Tasha and the twins.”
“Sure! It’ll go faster and you’ll all be out enjoying the waves sooner if we all kick in to teach them, and we can compare notes too,” Hiro replied with a grin. “Most of the beaches around here have decent rental shops, but if you’re looking to buy, the best place would be Surf n’ Turf at Greenhill Mall, That place is huge and they sell a variety of outdoor sports gear: Surfing, hiking, camping, running, and pretty much any other form of exercise or fun that can be had outside.”
Lindsey added her conspiratorial grin to those that the others from her team were wearing. “Once you all have boards, we can start the fun. Now as Michelle said, the beaches here can get pretty crowded with all the tourists, but we gotcha covered. The cove here on campus isn’t a bad place to chill out and catch some killer waves, and students can get access to the school facilities year round. Some of the best surf conditions around, and more private than anywhere else, unless you can somehow afford to live at one of the private beach villas with your own stretch of beach.”
“Actually…” I began a little self-consciously between taking huge chunks out of the mountain of food on my tray. “We jus’ moved intae one o’ those.”
All four of our new friends stared at us wide-eyed, but it was Hiro who finally spoke with a slightly confused expression. “Umm… forgive me if I sound rude, but you don’t seem the rich-kid types, though it may explain how girls with such varied ethnic backgrounds can be sisters. Usually the rich kids we get here at the academy are huge snobs, we have one in Starfish and even she was really standoffish, rude, and acting all superior to the rest of us for most of last year. Those in the other dorms are some of the worst bullies in the school. The five of you seem really down to earth though.”
“Mom does alright, she’s a doctor an’ a Tinker, an’ she was doin’ a lot o’ government tech contracts ‘til recently. We only moved intae one o’ those places ‘cause we needed the space wi so many o’ us. She doesnae like to show off ‘ow well off we are, an’ she’s tryin’ tae raise us tae be responsible an’ appreciate the value o’ money. I’m ‘er only biological kid though, she adopted the others after we all... Activated a few weeks ago, they were all orphans ‘til then,” I explained.
“I smell an origin story!” Lindsey said leaning forward eagerly.
That’s when we gave them our newly edited origin story. My sisters started with how they had all been kidnapped from their respective orphanages and then I contributed my fictional kidnapping before laying out the entire cover story about the Matriarch, the Fairies’ fictional origin, us getting Activated and Fawn and I getting quantum entangled through magical experimentation, and Mom coming to rescue me. We told them about our daring escape, though we were vague on the details of that, and then we finished up with the Matriarch’s capture and how Mom had adopted my new sisters to keep them safe.
They were all looking at us sympathetically. I hated to lie to them, but there was a lot of truth in it even if some of the players had changed and our real origin needed to remain classified. “Wow, you’ve all been through the wringer, but it’s nice that you all found a home and can stay together,” Michelle said after a moment, looking a bit misty-eyed.
“It’s been hardest on Merida, she has nightmares every night from what happened and Toxin says she’s got a condition that makes it hard to control her powers, so we’ve all been waking up to the sound of explosions lately,” Tasha pointed out with a sympathetic look.
“Some form of Transformative Stereotype Disorder?” Garret asked. “I have TSD, it affects me mostly during full moons. I can’t change back into my human form at all then, and have a hard time controlling my baser instincts.”
“Speaking of TSD, I really need to get wet again. It’s apparently a mermaid thing,” Vanessa interjected as she took her spray bottle out of her purse and began spritzing herself, though her eyes were on me. She was offering me an out if I wanted it, a distraction if I didn’t feel comfortable enough yet to reveal the nature of my condition.
“Aye, I ‘ave a type o’ TSD Garret,” I responded to the werewolf after a long moment. “Toxin called it PCEDS an’ said tha’ I dinnae ‘ave near as strong an emotional filter as other girls. I ge’ emotional very easily an’ they kin be really overwhelmin’, ‘specially negative emotions. An’ whene’er I ge’ emotional ma powers kick in an’ I ‘ave trouble controllin’ ‘em. An’ when ya combine tha’ wi’ PTSD, nightmares, an’ ma powers, it’s no wonder tha’ Dr. Edwards wanted me in Starfish. We’re all jus’ lucky tha’ Mom found a way tae contain ma explosions a’ night an’ tha’ Fawn shares ma powers.”
To my surprise Lindsey, Michelle, and Hiro all reached across the table to cover my right hand reassuringly with their own, though Hiro’s was the first to make contact. He was the first to speak as well. “If you need any of us, we’re there for you Merida. For any of you really, that’s what friends do and friends are important to have here. Now what are your powers? None of you ever really got to tell us earlier. I could guess, but we are trying to get to know each other better and we told you ours.” He was smiling at me and squeezed my hand in his own.
I was pretty sure that Hiro was trying to change the topic to make me feel less uncomfortable, something that I deeply appreciated, but at the same time my heart seemed to skip a beat and then it was racing as he squeezed my hand in his own. I looked up at him and smiled back uncertainly, suddenly very aware of just how attractive he was. He had such smooth and chiseled features, and I had seen him in spandex so I knew that that extended to the rest of his body as well, toned without being overly muscled. He had such nice deep brown eyes as well and that reassuring smile just made him even cuter.
I quickly tore my eyes away. “No Merida, you are not interested in Hiro. Besides, he and Lindsey seem really close, so they probably have a thing going and even if you were interested in him it would be wrong to try to get between him and Lindsey like that,” I mentally scolded myself. Instead of letting myself get all flustered I decided to answer his question. “I’m a Category five EM, I kin create constructs an’ I ‘ave a force field tha’ lets me fly an’ increases ma strength an’ speed. Ma constructs an’ force field are solid tae the touch, bu’ if’n I feed more energy intae them they kin become unstable an’ explode if they hit anythin’. If they dinnae explode afore tha’, an’ I keep puttin’ energy intae ma constructs or force field, they become a kind o’ superheated plasma. Oh, an’ I share Fawn’s powers like she shares ma force field.”
“Holy shit! You’re a Cat five?!” Garret barely managed not to scream it loud enough for the few others in the Grotto to hear.
Mei grinned as she said, “So am I. I guess I’m a Category five Wildcard. My power are kind of hard to explain though so Kendra said I should just tell people that I’m a cross between a Mystic and a Generator and that I’m really good at using magic energy to summon creatures.”
“You were drawing on a lot of magic energy last night whenever you summoned something,” Lindsey said with a nod. “Two Cat fives though? I think we had maybe three total at the school last year when I started attending, and one of those graduated. Try not to flaunt your power levels and, keep quiet on the money thing too, just keep being yourselves. If people find out about the two of you it’s going to be crazy.”
Michelle agreed with a disgusted look,” Yeah, you’ll suddenly have a lot of people wanting to be your friends or asking you to join their teams. Some may be genuine, but a lot will probably be trying to use you, and some may try to get some kind of leverage on you. I went through that last year. Power wise I’m ranked as high as a Cat four can be without being a Cat five, so when I was able to fight one of the lower ranked Cat fives, and win, people started suspecting I was lying about my power level and rumors started going around. Everyone suddenly wanted to be my friend and I got offers to join teams, but I quickly discovered that they were trying to use me. They would be all buddy-buddy while around me, but then when I wasn’t around they’d brag about how they were friends with the powerful ‘lizard-girl’. Lupin and Hiro helped me to figure out who my real friends were.”
“Merida wouldn’t let that happen, she’s not that type of person and we’re already making all kinds of animal friends here,” Fawn said confidently.
“Aye, we are Fawn,” I agreed as I finally set my plate aside. “An’ I ‘ave Fawn ‘ere fer a bes’ friend an’ ma sisters an’ the other fairies an’ now the four o’ you as well. I’m sure I’ll make other friends, bu’ I think tha’ I prefer quality o’er quantity, aye Mei?”
Mei frowned and crossed her arms as she nodded in agreement. “Well we have an awesome team already and I won’t leave my sisters for anyone. And I’ll have Shu, Tink, and Peri with me a lot of the time since we have most of the same classes. I’m not in a rush to make a bunch of friends, well not anymore anyway.”
Shu laughed at her twin’s joke, but then nodded grimly. “Anyone who wants to get to Mei, or Merida is going to have us watching them, right girls? If they want to be friends for reals that’s great, but if they try to pull anything I’ll send them to another dimension if I have to.” Tink and Peri both nodded eagerly from atop the twins’ shoulders.
“Mer and Mei both have good heads on their shoulders, even if Mer is emotional and Mei is a bit impulsive, so I don’t think they’ll have problems sorting out their real friends from the fake ones. We all should be careful about that though, I don’t want anyone using me to try to get at my sisters,” Tasha contributed.
With that concern discussed, and a decision made to be careful about who we let get close to us, my other sisters and the Fairies started telling our new friends about their powers. Afterwards Vanessa added, “So Mer and I are the only two on our team with any real offensive powers, except for Mom’s power armor. It’s why Mom said she’s making non-lethal weapons and other gear for some of us, like the blasters that Shu was using last night.”
“I know what it’s like not having reliable offensive powers,” Lindsey agreed. “Luckily I’m getting to learn magic this year.”
Michelle nodded at that. “I’m okay defensively, but my physical abilities usually depend on the form I take, and since I have no control over that, it’s not really consistent. We all took the weapons safety courses ad got our permits earlier this summer to have something as a backup, but none of us has bought any weapons yet. You should all take the course too, do you think your dad is available Garret? I know we were thinking of showing the girls around town, but that should wait until we have a whole day, and it’s already after dinner.”
“That’s not a bad idea, it’s a three hour course and I think Dad might be able to spare the time with it being summer and fairly quiet, or find one of the other members of the security team who can spare the time.” At our confused looks the werewolf quickly elaborated. “My Dad is the head of security here at PSA. They’re the ones who teach the course on weapons safety to interested students. Let me give him a call.”
While Garret was on the phone waiting for and then speaking to his father, the rest of us talked about the upcoming birthday party for me and the twins and asked if they all wanted to come to our place for a day of fun in the sun, cake, a barbeque, and whatever else Mom and Andy may have thought up. They all agreed eagerly, even Garret nodded as he was put on hold by the security office. Then Hiro asked if we might want to come to their family barbeque on Labor Day. This was met with laughter and I had to explain that we had met his father at the restaurant earlier, talked with him over breakfast, and then he had invited out family to attend. Hiro and the others seemed pretty pleased that we would all be joining them.
Garret and the others led us to the underground levels and then guided us through the tunnels to one of the three weapons ranges where a tall and somewhat imposing and serious-looking African-American man dressed in a black and gold security uniform awaited us. With him was a slightly short and skinny Caucasian woman with blonde hair and brown eyes who was wearing the same uniform. “Everyone, this is my Dad,” Garret began.
“Sam Jackson,” the man finished with a nod, “head of security for PSA. You must be out new Chief of Medicine’s kids. Alana warned me I might be seeing you soon. Keep your noses clean here and we won’t have any problems, but Garret and his friends seem to like you so you’re probably good eggs. They’re good kids and good judges of character. This is Tanya Keyes, though a lot of us call her Tiny.”
We made our introductions and I felt compelled to ask, “So, if’n ya dinnae mind me askin’, wot are yuir powers?” He looked tough enough and confident so I was pretty sure he could handle himself, and Tiny seemed to have a similar confidence about her. In a school filled with powerful mutants that was saying something, especially as small as Tiny was.
“My power?” he asked with a serious look. “My power is being a motherfuckin’ badass.” Then they both broke out in a fit of laughter and Garret’s dad had to calm down before speaking again. “Sorry kids, I can never stay serious for long when I do that. I get jokes about my name and appearance often enough that even I have to get some mileage out of it sometimes. To answer your question though, my power is to cancel out all mutant powers within a fifteen foot radius around me and when I use it my strength increases based on the number of mutants affected.”
My eyebrows rose at that, no wonder he was head of security. “Aye, so I guess yuir power really is bein’ a motherfuckin’ badass then,” I said with a grin.
To my surprise he laughed again. “I like this one Garret, she’s as spunky as Hiro.”
At that point ‘Tiny’ had finally stopped laughing and grinned at us. “Sam asked me to come help him with this because he thought my power might come in handy for your Fairy friends. You see, I can temporarily shrink things, even myself and other people if I’m so inclined.”
With that they gathered us around a table that had various weapons laid out on it. Some were Tinker built weapons and some, like the Glock, were familiar to me as regular firearms. He began by showing us all proper gun safety and maintenance with an hour long lecture on the finer points and how even non-lethal weapons could be dangerous and needed to be respected. After that he had us all, even the Fairies, take a test. Though Tiny shrank herself and the test papers and pencils to make it easier for the Fairies. Most of it was stuff from the lecture, or common sense when using a weapon, but a lot of it seemed to be about moral situations and such meant to test our personalities, values, and morals too.
Finally, after they finished looking over our tests, he had us choose weapons and Tiny shrank the weapons that the Fairies had chosen, so she could take the Fairies in hand. Then they had us show what we had learned so far as gun safety, and when they thought that we were ready they let us shoot at targets for the remainder of the course while they watched us, corrected us if we were doing anything wrong, and gave advice on how to improve.
I was the only one to take a non-tinker weapon, choosing the familiar Glock and Garret’s father watched me in interest. He was even more interested once I started consistently hitting the bullseye. “You obviously don’t need this course Merida. Your test score was perfect, you seem to handle your weapon safely without even thinking about it as if you’ve been doing it for years, and with the way you’re shooting that bullseye, I’m going to assume that you’ve taken a similar course before.”
“Nae, ma uncle Maddock was in the military, Spec Ops, an’ he taught me e’erythin’. I’m teachin’ ma sisters’ tae fight, bu’ I wanted tae wait on firearms trainin’ ‘til they go’ the basics o’ ‘and tae ‘and comba’ down,” I told him with a shrug.
“Well you’ve all done well enough, so I’ll issue your course certificates, but if you or your sisters plan on using weapons I’d like you to keep training them until weapons safety is as ingrained in them as it is in you. You can book time in one of the firing ranges through the security office whenever you feel the need,” he told me.
With our certificates issued we thanked Garret’s father and Tiny for taking the time out to give us the course. Then we exchanged cell numbers with our new friends, said our goodnights to one another and then headed home to our villa on the beach. Andy was home, but he told us that Mom might be out late while they finished working on the dimensional gate generators to send the monster’s corpse back to its own dimension. Since we had a busy day ahead the next day and we had had a busy day today as well, on next to no sleep, my sisters and I all headed to bed. It wasn’t long after Fawn and I had laid in my cozy new bed, and she had snuggled beside me on my pillow, that we both drifted into a deep sleep.
‘ello e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot the bes’ classification o’ Hyper, Energy Manipulators or EMs as people sometimes call us. There are three categories o’ Energy Manipulators: Passive Energizers, Direct Energizers, and Gate Energizers. Each o’ those ‘as two sub-types.
Passive Energizers come in Triggered or True Passive an’ both ‘ave bodies tha’ are hyper-optimized tae produce the amount o’ energy they need tae fuel their powers. Their digestive systems are almos’ too efficient, breakin’ down food intae energy almos’ as fas’ as they kin eat it, producin’ much less waste, and storin’ tha’ energy fer later use. As a result they ne’er really feel full fer long, an’ relyin’ solely on energy produced by their own bodies, they are seldom more powerful than Category two. Triggered Passive Energizers need a catalyst tae gen’rate energy, like adrenaline or a physical attack on them, while True Passive Energizers kin summon their energies a’ will.
Direct Energizers come in Sympathetic or Multi-source an’ both gen’rate energy tae fuel their powers by absorbin’ it from outside sources, an’ as a result they dinnae ‘ave the hyper metabolism or the appetite issues of Passive or Gate Energizers. Sympathetic Direct Energizers ge’ tha’ energy from sources sim’lar tae the energy tha’ they produce, fer example someone wi’ electric-based powers gatherin’ it by absorbin’ electricity. Multi-source Direct Energizers kin absorb various forms o’ energy tae fuel their powers, jus’ as the name implies.
Gate Energizers come in either Burst or Sustained an’ usually use energy types tha’ are no’ naturally found on Earth, instead gatherin’ it from an extradimensional source, an’ ‘ave similarly hyper-accelerated metabolisms an’ appetite issues as Passive Energizers because accessin’ the energy from another dimension takes physical energy. Burst Gate Energizers dae this in bursts, only accessin’ those energies when needed so actively usin’ their powers makes ‘em burn energy faster. Sustained Gate Energizers form a permanent link tae the dimension they access once their bodies ‘ave become used tae channelin’ tha’ power. They dinnae use as much energy keepin’ their gate open, bu’ they need tae eat constantly tae keep up wi’ the constant drain o’ their body’s energy reserves.
I’m a Sustained Gate Energizer, which is why I ge’ so ‘ungry all o’ the time. Ma body is always needin’ tae create energy tae channel ma energy source ‘an still give me the energy fer stayin’ active. Tha’s all fer today an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Generators. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 24 The Look Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I was laying naked on a cold stone floor, the chill seeming to seep into my very bones. I looked around in confusion for a moment, trying to place where I was. It was familiar and somewhat scary, and even in the darkness I felt claustrophobic, like the room or maybe the darkness itself was closing in on me. “Fawn? ‘Nessa? Mom? Is anyone there?”
“I’m here,” a familiar voice answered. Try as I might I couldn’t place it though. It was so familiar, but a face and name just wouldn’t seem to emerge from my memory to match the voice.
“Who is it? I dinnae see ya, where are ya?” I asked, turning to scan the darkness of the room.
“Have you forgotten me already?” the voice inquired from behind me, whispering in my ear. “No, I don’t think you have, you probably never will.”
I swung around, feeling for the warmth of the energy inside me and drawing it out to the surface of my skin, activating my force field and bathing my surroundings in ruddy light. There was nobody there and I was in a small concrete room with a bucket in one corner and a thick steel door. I knew this place, it was the cell that I had Activated in. My pulse quickened as my eyes darted around and I gasped for air, the smell of blood and corpses filling my nostrils. There were bodies, or rather parts of bodies, everywhere. An arm here, a foot there, all brutally hewn to pieces.
My chest tightened, I couldn’t breathe, except in short ragged gasps. The panic attack and the sobbing hit me at once, hot tears streaming down my face as I took in the faces amongst the carnage. Vanessa, the twins, Tasha, Mom and Andy, the Fairies, and all of my new friends at school. At the sound of laughter I swung around again to see Phantom and then it clicked that she was the voice I had been hearing. “Phantom… wot ‘ave ya done?” I managed to get out between gasps for air.
“Me? Oh, this wasn’t me, I’m dead remember. No Merida, this was all you.” She laughed hysterically as I noticed for the first time the scorch marks around me, the blackened stone and the sight and smell of burnt flesh.
I awoke screaming and shaking, my heart racing and tears running down my face as the world exploded around me. The anxiety attack and the heaving sobbing as I struggled to breathe eclipsed the world around me, leaving me assaulted by the thoughts that had latched onto my mind like a rabid dog that refused to let go. “How can I keep doing this? I am a danger to everyone around me. Everyone would have been better off if the Zeta bomb had killed me. Why did I live when almost my whole team and all those girls had been killed by that bomb? Why did some genetic fluke have to protect me? Those girls all had lives ahead of them, how is it fair that they died while I still lived?”
“It was just a nightmare. I’m here Merida, I’ve got you.” Fawn’s voice barely registered through the miasma of dark thoughts, pain, guilt, and fear that threatened to consume me. The sound, and the light touch of her holding me as tight as a Fairy can, distant and yet reassuring.
“Fawn? A nightmare?” A small light of hope pierced the darkness and I tried to shake off the dark thoughts that bound me. “Yes, I am a danger to people around me, but that’s why I’m trying to learn control, so I don’t have to be. If I had died what would have happened to my sisters and Blair/Mom? It was because I had been there that we were able to escape and that the girls found a family with us. They’re happy now, and I helped them with that. No, it wasn’t fair that others died while I lived, but I know better than anyone that life is seldom fair. I can’t give those girls their lives back, but I can try to make the world that they would have grown up in a better place.”
With each argument the darkness lessened and soon I had shaken off the chains of my fear and doubts, for the moment anyway. I concentrated on controlling my breathing, slow deep breaths that would calm me and slow my heart rate. By the time I had myself under control again the tears had mostly stopped and I looked at Fawn through bleary and tear-filled eyes. “Thanks Fawn, I dinnae ken where I’d be wi’out ya.”
“You’d do the same for me Merida, I know you would,” the Fairy said without a hint of doubt as she hugged the side of my face. “That’s what best friends do, we help each other through the hard times.”
“Aye, I would,” I agreed as I nuzzled her with my cheek. Then I took a quick looked around me. As usual the energy shield on my princess bed had contained the explosion to within the frame without even a scorch mark on the frame itself or the curtains. Sadly my nightshirt and panties were shredded and scorched, but my mattress, pillows, and sheets were still fine. I had to hand it to Mom for coming up with ways to not only protect everyone around me from my nightmare fueled powers, but also making me feel like I could almost live a somewhat normal life. Well, relatively anyway, I was well aware that with Fairies and superpowers my life would never be truly normal.
That Sunday was fairly busy for us. After I had woken the others for our morning training session and put us through our paces we all had a nice breakfast that Mom had prepared, though I had to eat several heaping bowls of oatmeal as well to feel full. After that the day was mostly shopping, so I’ll try not to bore you too much with the details. My sisters got a lot of clothes and a few personal items to help them feel more at home including surfboards and the necessary accessories from Surf n’ Turf. I didn’t get much other than a new memory card for my phone, a pair of headphones, three hundred dollars in iTunes cards, and a practice bow and arrows for when I started archery. Mom and I had decided that it would be better to get all my clothes made by the Taylors so I wouldn’t have to worry about half destroying them if I suddenly had to use my powers or had an ‘accident’.
Once we had dropped off the clothes at home there was even more shopping as Mom and Andy wanted to do some major grocery shopping at one of the local wholesale stores. It made sense for a family of seven, especially with my appetite, and they not only wanted groceries to last a while, but also stuff for our birthday party on Wednesday. We bought enough food and household goods that we didn’t even try to fit it all in the SUV, but had Shu open a pocket dimension to store it all in until we got home. She opened it inside the back of the SUV so to those looking on it would look like we were just loading it there and it seemed to work well enough and not gather too much attention.
We spent that evening together at home as a family; watching movies, playing board games, and talking about things like work, school, and preparations for the party on Wednesday. We called it a night fairly early though since we had another busy day coming up and Mom hadn’t gotten much sleep after getting home from finishing the dimensional gate generators that sent the corpse of the massive monster that we had defeated back to its own dimension. Still Fawn and I spent a bit of time before sleeping just snuggled in bed together and talking about what school would be like, since the Fairy had never been to school and it had been over a decade for me.
Monday morning was basically a repeat of the day before. I woke up screaming and shaking in damaged nightclothes from another nightmare until Fawn had managed to calm me down and pull me out of the dark thoughts I was having. Once I was recovered from that I woke up the others for our morning workout and training session before showering, going through the rest of my morning routine with Fawn, and eating a big breakfast.
Mom and Andy were going to be busy at the school for most of the day, Andy working on implementing new cyber security measures and working with Garret’s dad Sam on making sure that the various forms of electronic security and surveillance were completely up to date. Mom would be spending her day at the medical clinic getting to know her team, finding out where everything was, going over procedures, and making sure that everything would be running to her satisfaction once school started. She also wanted to meet some of the other Tinkers that she might be working with at the research labs that she hadn’t met already.
Before all of that though, we needed to go to Costa Verde’s City Hall to get our licenses for hero work and our permits to carry weapons. I didn’t think that I would need the latter much, but I did like to be prepared for anything and I did have the certificate saying that I had passed the course. We showed up in costume of course since they would only register us by our hero and team names. This was to protect us so that only the school would know our real identities, so long as we stayed on the right side of the law.
The process of registering was a tedious overuse of red tape, but after filling out the paperwork and paying nearly two hundred dollars each in registration and license fees we were all given two copies of our licenses and carry permits. The first were regular paper versions for our personal records and the other was a digital version that we could take to the school headmistress to upload to our school ID bracelets, allowing them to project holographic versions of the documents if we were asked for them. Mom had gotten hers too, registering Gadget-Girl as an reserve member of G-Force since she wasn’t sure that she would have the time to be with us all whenever we had to put our costumes on, especially with her new job and still having a tech contract to complete and deliver on for the HAA.
With that finished we went to the school and changed out of our costumes before reporting to Dr. Edwards to let her know that we had gotten it done as requested and so she could add the new documents to our ID bracelets. Then I, my sisters, and our Fairy friends had the day to ourselves. For the morning the others went off to entertain themselves since I had plans already. Fawn and I left them to their own devices and promised to meet them in the Grotto for lunch before heading to visit the Taylors.
The bell over the door rang as we entered and the pair looked up from the fashion magazines they were reading to smile at us. Melanie was dressed somewhat casually in jeans and a cream colored blouse while Meghan was dressed not too differently from me, though she wore sneakers where I had my combat boots on. Melanie was the first to speak. “Merida! Fawn! It’s nice to see you both again, we weren’t expecting to see you again for a while. What brings you here today?”
“Well,” I began uncertainly. “Ya see, I dinnae really ‘ave much fer clothes a’ the moment. We bought a bunch fer ma sisters yesterday, bu’ Mom an’ I both thought tha’ it would be better if’n I came tae you instead. I’ll go through a lot o’ clothes if ma powers slip an’ since Meghan ‘as such great fashion sense an’ I’ll prob’ly wan’ all ma clothes protected agains’ damage, it’s better tae dae it this way. An’ Fawn could use some extra clothes fer the same reason. Mom said tha’ this should be enough tae ge’ started, an’ I thought tha’ it’d be better tae dae this afore school starts an’ ya ge’ busy with uniforms an’ stuff.” I reached into my purse to extract the envelope that Mom had given me. She had told me that there was a cashier’s check inside, but she never told me how much.
Melanie took the envelope and let out a small whistle. “Merida, this is enough for a whole wardrobe for both you and Fawn, including enchantments. What are you looking for exactly? This could take a while, so let’s come up with a list of what you’ll need and what you’d like.”
We decided that most of my casual clothes would be in a punk style, or at the very least clothes that could lend themselves to that style. So there was a lot of distressed jeans of various styles, skirts, t-shirts, crop tops, and a few hoodies, vests, and accessories that would work well with my chosen style. We also decided that I would need several sets of exercise clothes, a few things for special occasions, a swim suit or two, a pair of sunglasses, some sneakers, and shoes. Waking up in half destroyed clothes every time I had a nightmare lately had also demonstrated the need for more of the basics as well, such as socks, a few nightshirts, and underwear for both exercising and everyday use.
As Meghan got to work I had to get completely undressed this time, since this time I needed underwear too. Fawn was getting the same treatment since she would likely need clothes with the protective enchantments as well. While we started on the underwear, Melanie enchanted the clothes that I had come in with, including my combat boots. I wasn’t sure that fawn and I needed over two dozen underwear sets each, but the Taylors knew girl clothes and I had place myself and my Fairy friend in their capable hands.
As morning went on we got the basics and some of the stuff for special occasions, swimsuits, exercise clothes, and accessories out of the way as Meghan generated complete outfit after complete outfit on both me and Fawn, and we disrobed again after each one. Meghan had great fashion sense and everything looked good, fit comfortably, flattered our figures, and came in shades meant to go well with our individual coloring. It seemed like a lot of clothes, but we were going to be splitting some of it between home and our dorm room.
By lunchtime we were all feeling a bit worn, so the Taylors joined me, my sisters, and our Fairies at the Grotto for lunch where Meghan seemed to eat almost as much as I did, okay maybe not quite that much, but easily double what everyone else at the table was packing away. “Using my powers a lot makes me hungry,” she said with a grin as my sisters and I saw how much she had on her plate. “Since we’re probably going to be all afternoon finishing your wardrobe Merida, I might as well refuel now.” I just nodded silently as I ate. I had heard that Generators were similar to EMs like myself in a lot of ways, so her appetite didn’t really surprise me all that much.
After lunch we headed back to the Taylors shop and got back to work, this time on more casual clothes. Most of these clothes were in the punk style I had adopted and I quickly discovered that Meghan hadn’t been exaggerating when she said that she could help me rock the look. She had good taste in music too and was able to make me several tour shirts from good punk and hard rock bands. She was even able to make me a pair of tight pants and several skirts bearing the Ainsley clan tartan once I had showed her a picture of what it looked like. All said I was very happy with her suggestions and the final products.
A good half of Fawn’s casual clothes were versions of her usual outfits, although the other half were miniature versions of some of my own casual clothes. Fawn wasn’t sure about it at first since she preferred being comfortable over dressing up, but she warmed up to the idea once she discovered that the clothes were fairly comfortable and Meghan had planted the idea in her head that we could match sometimes. She looked adorable rocking the badass punk Fairy look.
There were way too many clothes to carry so I called my sisters and had them meet us so Shu could place them in a pocket dimension before we all headed home for dinner. When they arrived I was wearing my new tartan pants with a black leather belt, my combat boots, dog tags, black fingerless gloves, and a black leather vest over a dark blue crop top that said, “Too busy being Awesome.” We had decided to dress Fawn in a matching outfit, because she liked the idea of matching and for the shock value.
“About time you finished Mer,” Vanessa said as they entered the shop. “That took forever, but I guess that’s to be expected when you need to have a whole wardrobe specially made. Nice outfit though, it suits you.” Then she noticed Fawn on my shoulder and let out a squeee. “OmiGod! You match! That is sooo adorable on you Fawn!”
“Thank you,” Fawn said, blushing a little. “I don’t know if I’ll wear clothes like these often, but it does help me feel closer to my best friend.” That of course brought up the subject of the other Fairies getting clothes similar to their ‘besties’ and the topic was eagerly discussed as we walked home together. We spent the majority of the evening after dinner in Mom’s lab with her using the costume designer to produce some casual outfits for the other Fairies to increase their wardrobes as well, based on the both their own tastes and those of their companions. It was actually kind of fun and all of the Fairies gave a bit of a fashion show afterward that was really cute. We all went to bed that evening in good spirits and feeling closer than we ever had before, which was good because the next day we would all face the Reaper.
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Generators. Generators are very sim’lar tae Energy Manipulators in a lo’ o’ ways. They kin generate matter an’/or manipulate it like EMs dae wit’ energy, bu’ like EMs they need energy tae dae it. There are four categories o’ Generators: Passive Generators, Direct Generators, Fixed Generators, an’ Growth Generators.
Passive Generators are much like their EM counterparts e’en though there are no sub-categories. They ‘ave digestive systems tha’ are hyper-optimized tae produce the amount o’ energy they need tae fuel their powers. They rely solely on energy produced by their own bodies, so they are seldom more powerful than Category two. Like True Passive Energizers, Passive Generators kin create matter a’ will, bu’ are limited by their own energy.
Direct Generators absorb energy from outside sources tae fuel their powers, like Mei or Meghan Taylor draw on magic energy. Some jus’ draw nat’rally on their energy source like Mei, while others like Meghan Taylor use up physical energy tae draw on their energy source. That is why Meghan gets ‘ungry when usin’ her powers too much, she’s usin’ a lo’ o’ physical energy an’ it needs tae be replaced. Tha’ means takin’ in some major calories.
Fixed Generators cannae create various types o’ matter like other Generators. They draw a set type o’ matter intae our dimension from another, like their EM counterparts dae wit’ energy. They cannae really control it’s shape or form, they jus’ materialize it in it’s nat’ral form like water. It’s almos’ more like matter-specific teleportation than matter gen’ration. They ‘ave similarly hyper-accelerated metabolisms an’ appetite issues as Burst Gate Energizers because movin’ the matter from another dimension takes physical energy an’ they only access their gates when they need tae.
Growth Generators are able tae gen’rate one specific type o’ matter intae various shapes an’ such as a biological function o’ their bodies. A good example o’ this is a young woman I ‘eard aboot in Toronto callin’ ‘erself Crystal. She kin grow crystals from ‘er body tae form weapons, armor an’ all sorts o’ other things an’ reabsorb them intae ‘er body when she doesnae need ‘em anymore. Usin’ these abilities seem to make Growth Generators ‘ungry, bu’ like a good workout since they dinnae seem tae show any signs o’ a hyper-metabolism.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Generators, so tha’s all fer today an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Shifters. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 25 Bright Spot Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
The day had started out so well. My nightmares had been relatively tame, or at least not bad enough to leave me in a shaking quivering mess when I awoke. Fawn had managed to calm me down fairly easily and even though I had exploded nothing was damaged thanks to my new magically protected underwear and nightshirt. We even had a really good morning workout and training session after wishing the twins a happy birthday, though their presents would wait until the next day at the party. Following that morning training session, and a nice relaxing shower to prepare for the day, Mom and Andy took us out for a hearty breakfast at Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House. So overall it was looking like the start to a great day, I should have known it couldn’t last.
It all began innocently enough as we were eating breakfast. Paul was taking a break and letting one of the other servers take over hosting duties for the moment while he and Andy talked about going to look for a new grill together that evening for the next day’s birthday party and maybe grabbing a few beers together. I thought that it was nice to see Andy making a good guy friend, what with him being so outnumbered by girls at home. He had introduced us all to his wife Kasumi as well. She seemed very nice and from the graceful and confident way she moved I would have had to have been blind to not see that she was an experienced fighter. She had also joined us for breakfast and was packing away as much food as I was.
I knew from when we had chosen our classes a few days ago that she would be teaching seven classes this semester. First she would be teaching Beginner Martial Arts classes for grades seven to eight, nine to ten, and also eleven to twelve. She would also be teaching Advanced Martial Arts for the same age groups and Archery. “It’s very nice to meet you all,” she offered conversationally as we ate with her seated beside me. “So you’re the Ainsley girls and their Fairy friends, Alana mentioned you all to me. I’ll have all but one of you in my beginner martial arts classes and I believe I heard that Merida was interested in Archery as well.”
“Aye,” I replied with a nod as I tapped my school ID bracelet to have a look at my class schedule. “I ‘ave ya fer Archery eighth period an’ it looks like… tha’s weird, I cannae find Beginner Martial Arts ‘ere. The closes’ thing I kin find is Advanced Combat durin’ third period, bu’ I dinnae remember choosin’ tha’ or even seein’ it afore now.”
Kasumi smiled and shrugged as she leaned toward me to say quietly, “That’s because it didn’t exist before you registered. Alana briefed me on your situation, asked me to take you under my wing, and put me in charge of your training. Since you have long term real life combat experience, we didn’t want you drawing too much attention to yourself in the beginner classes, but we also wanted you to get the training you need to adjust to fighting in your new form, help you learn what you need to, and to provide a challenge for you. With that in mind, that class will just be you and me, one on one. We’ll have one class like that every semester until you graduate. You’ll get credited for Beginner Martial Arts this semester, and we’ll credit you for other courses as we progress. I will be teaching you a mix of Kendo, Kung Fu, Akido, Judo and Karate to compliment the skills you already possess. I will also teach you how to use those constructs of yours in close combat and perhaps help you to gain better control over that dangerous energy of yours.”
“Good luck wi’ that’,” I grumbled once she had said the last part. “I thought tha’ was why I was takin’ Energy Manipulation as a class though.” Then I busied myself trying to finish the food on my platter.
“You’ll learn to control it Merida, I just know you will,” Fawn said encouragingly.
“That class will help,” Kasumi agreed, “but as I understand it your strong emotions are the problem. We can work on that through meditation. I do know a thing or two about controlling energy myself though.” A smile crept across her face as a near-blinding sparkling golden light appeared in her hand, fashioning itself into the shape of an intricate looking sword.
Iridessa let out an awed gasp from atop Tasha’s shoulder and said in almost a whisper, “That might be the sparkliest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of sparkly things!”
Everyone else at the table was staring quietly though, except for Paul who was grinning. Mom squinted at her for a moment before her eyes went wide. “Holy shit, yer Bright!” Even I knew who Bright was, I had watched her exploits eagerly as a teenager hoping to Activate. Before Liberty or Paragon ever showed up Bright was the biggest superhero name in the world. At her home in Japan they had called her Amaterasu, but she worked all over the world and once the tabloids had come up with that name for her it had stuck. She was supposed to be a brilliant martial artist, Category three Enhanced, and Category five Energy Manipulator, one of the first Cat fives ever officially recorded. She dropped out of sight over fifteen years ago though.
“I haven’t used that name since I retired to have Hana… err Hiro,” she said with a distant expression. “Mind you it was better than Amaterasu, It always felt so pretentious when people called me that. So Merida, do you think I can manage to teach you a thing or two?”
I couldn’t speak for a long moment. My childhood hero was going to be teaching me to fight and control my powers. Luckily I was saved as Hiro emerged from the over-sized door at the side of the restaurant near our table that was marked, Employees Only. As soon as he saw us the half Japanese Hyper grinned and approached our table. “Hey, if it isn’t the Ainsley girls. I was going to call you to see if you felt like a tour of the town today. Michelle and Garret are busy, but Lindsey said that she should be able to join us.” Then he seemed to realize that we were all gaping at his mother and saw the sword in her hand. “Oh, I see you told them about the Bright thing. Did you tell Merida that she’s going to be your padawan yet?”
We had all gotten over the shock as Hiro’s Mom and I finished our breakfasts and Hiro started on his own and we had actually managed a somewhat normal conversation as our families got to know one another a bit better. Then Mom and Andy needed to leave for the school so Kasumi took a ride with them and we had headed with Hiro to meet with Lindsey at Forsythe Park a few blocks away from the restaurant. She was dressed for the warm weather in denim cutoffs, sandals, a bikini top, and a pair of sunglasses.
She waved and stood up from the swing she was sitting in as we approached. “Hey girls! Hey, Hiro, are you all ready to see the sights?” Then she caught sight of the Fairies and gasped out, “OMG you all match! that is so cute!”
The Fairies were all currently dressed in outfits that perfectly matched those of their human companions. Silvermist and Vanessa both wore an outfit similar to Lindsey’s; dark blue bikinis and sandals with a shimmering blue wrap around their waists. Iridessa and Tasha both wore yellow sundresses with floral prints and sandals on their feet. The twins both wore tan capris, t-shirts, and sneakers, though Mei’s shirt was green and Shu’s was blue and Tink matched Mei while Shu was matched by Periwinkle. Fawn wore the same black Paramore t-shirt tied in front to expose the midriff, Ainsley tartan skirt, ripped nylons, high top sneakers, and sunglasses that I was. The only difference between our outfits was that I was wearing my dog tags.
We all felt a little awkward about the matching thing in public, well except for the twins who loved the idea. When we had gotten dressed we were just expecting to hang around the house all day while Mom and Andy were at the school so we had thought that it might be a fun time for us all to try the matching looks with our Fairy friends. We hadn’t been expecting to go out for breakfast, meet Hiro’s mother the super-famous retired hero, or go out to tour the town. “Uh yeah, we thought we’d try it out and give the Fairies a taste of human clothes,” Tasha said awkwardly.
“That’s awesome,” Lindsey replied with a grin. “You should totally do a day where all of you wear copies of your Fairies’ usual outfits.”
Fawn jumped all over that, exclaiming, “I like that idea!”
“That would be flitteriffic,” Tink quickly agreed.
Periwinkle quickly chipped in, “We should do that tomorrow!”
“Yeah,” Silvermist agreed, “It will be fun and I bet you’d all look beautiful.”
“This isn’t too much different than my usual dress, “Iridessa put in. “You would look great in it Tasha.”
“Thanks Dessa, maybe we’ll give it a try tomorrow then, if everyone is okay with it,” Tasha said with a smile to her Fairy before casting a cautious glance in my direction.
“I’m kinda having trouble picturing Mer in Fawn’s dress, though maybe the other outfit with the tunic would be okay for her, though to be honest she kinda surprised me when she started wearing those short skirts like the one she has on now,” Vanessa said with a thoughtful expression on her face.
“I’m developin’ a style ‘ere. Sacrifices ‘ad tae be made,” I replied with a shrug. “Though I s’pose spendin’ part o’ the day in a dress would be okay if it makes Fawn ‘appy. She did dae it fer me after all.” It probably wouldn’t be so bad and I knew that Fawn really wanted it, besides the skirts were helping me to adjust to the idea of wearing girls’ clothes so it wasn’t quite as intimidating as it would have been in the first week or so after we had escaped Omega’s base.
“Is this the part where as the token guy I’m supposed to complain about the girliness and clothes talk?” Hiro asked with a chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve been a guy quite long enough yet, because I don’t see anything wrong with this conversation. We probably should get going though, so we can do everything I have planned.”
“Do you mind if we swing by the train station first?” Lindsey asked, wringing her hands a bit nervously. “It’s not far from here and my cousin’s train should be coming in soon. He’s supposed to be visiting us until school starts and I thought that we could meet him there and maybe give him the tour as well. Don’t worry, he’s our age and he’s pretty cool with weird stuff since his mom is a Hyper. He knows about my… umm change, but he hasn’t seen it firsthand yet so some moral support might be nice, y’know in case…”
“We’ve gotcha covered!” Mei and Shu exclaimed simultaneously with determined looks on their faces.
“You only needed to ask,” Hiro agreed. “I know how intimidating it is seeing family for the first time after a gender swap. We’re there for you and it doesn’t make much difference whether we’re giving the tour to ten or eleven people. Now let’s go so we don’t keep your cousin waiting.”
As Lindsey led the way Fawn and I held back and I placed a hand uncertainly on Hiro’s shoulder. Since breakfast I had been wanting to talk with him alone for a minute, but since it looked like that wasn’t going to happen naturally with another person being added to the group I decided to get it over with now. “Hiro, I jus’ wanted ya tae ken tha’ it was no’ my idea, this whole thing aboot yuir Mom trainin’ me privately. I didnae e’en hear aboot it ‘til breakfast.” I was kind of worried that he might take the whole thing the wrong way or be jealous that I was getting special treatment from his mom.
Hiro actually laughed as he looked me over with an amused look on his face. “I’m not jealous or anything Merida. Mom has been training me privately in martial arts since before I Activated and since then she’s been training me to control my Enhanced abilities. I don’t have your issues or EM powers though and I was happy to hear that she’s training you, if anyone can help you it’s her. She’s been looking forward to this since she told me last night. She said that since she’s not in the hero biz anymore that she wants you and me to be her legacy.”
“Why on Earth would she say somethin’ silly like tha’ she didnae e’en meet me ‘til this mornin’?”
“Well, both Dr. Edwards and I told her about you and she watched the video of your testing in the PDE room yesterday when Dr. Edwards asked her about it. You’re actually really well matched and have a lot in common, which is why she’s willing to teach you one on one. She said that you had prior combat training, and since you’re both Cat five EMs and your force field allows you to increase your speed and strength to roughly Cat three, she can go full out during training without worrying about hurting you. I think you remind her a lot of herself at our age with the power issues too. You’ll be the only one besides me she’s ever trained in their powers, she prefers one on one teaching to classrooms except with mundane things like archery or martial arts,” Hiro explained patiently.
“I used tae ‘ave posters o’ her in ma room,” I admitted a bit self-consciously.
“Yeah when she told me who she was after I Activated I couldn’t believe it at first. As superheroes go she was the real goods, and she’s my mom. Just think Merida, we’re her legacy. We’re going to be the only two Hypers ever trained by Bright, one of the biggest superheroes ever. Now tell me, isn’t that the most awesome thing ever? Now let’s catch up with the others,” he was grinning like a maniac as he took me by the hand and half dragged me to where the others were walking a good distance ahead of us.
I flushed slightly and I could feel my pulse quicken as he took me by the hand. His hand was so warm and he was gripping mine firmly, but carefully so that he wouldn’t hurt me with his enhanced strength. He was being cautious with his speed too so I could keep up. I tried to look away as I sorted out those sensations, but I only saw Fawn flitting along beside me giggling just loud enough for me to hear. That only made my blush even worse.
We were about to enter the train station when I nearly walked right into Tasha, who had stopped short and was looking around nervously. “Wait, something feels off. I have a very bad feeling about this place, there’s something here, something… evil.”
That was when the stampede of screaming people rushing out the front doors nearly trampled us. Tasha teleported and the rest of us scattered, and as soon as the torrent of people had flowed past we ran through the doors and into the train station to see what was going on. Inside there were close to a dozen people on the floor in pools of blood and a large man in a black hoodie, a skull mask, and jeans carrying a large scythe. He was holding a mutant girl by the throat with his free hand. She looked to be around our age with pale skin, bright pink hair, and she had four arms.
“I’m not going back,” the girl choked out as we rushed toward them.
“You act as if you have a choice Gordon Masterson,” the large man said in a deep voice. “The Hive wants you and they have contracted me to bring you to them, dead or alive.”
“Gordon?!” Lindsey sputtered behind me.
“Lincoln?!” the girl choked out.
I had more important matters on my mind though as Tasha’s voice slipped into my thoughts.*Those people are still alive Mer, but they really need medical attention. Whoever this guy is he’s powerful and he enjoys hurting people.*
*Get the girl away from him and then teleport those people out of here. Shu, open the portal you store water in so Vanessa has something to work with. Everyone be ready to hit him hard and fast, but be careful, we don’t know what his powers are yet.* I sent back over the link. Then I raised my force field and, as Tasha teleported the girl out of his grip and beside Lindsey I flew at him and wound up to hit him as hard as I could, but he was gone.
I heard a scream behind me and turned to see him standing behind Lindsey who was staring in shock as she fell to the floor, blood pooling around her. The man in black smiled at me and licked his lips as he said, “This is going to be fun.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Shifters. Shifters are mutants who are able tae shift their own form or alter the molecular structure o’ other things tae varyin’ degrees. There are five categories o’ Shifters: True Metamorphs, Adaptive Shifters, Focused Shifters, Projective Shifters, an’ Alchemists.
True Metamorphs are extremely versatile shape shifters, able tae change the shape an’ appearance o’ their bodies intae tha’ o’ any livin’ creature they kin think o’, an’ change their human form tae any gender, size, mass or appearance. They kin be anyone’ or any livin’ thing an’ their form is only limited by their imagination.
Adaptive Shifters are shifters who ‘ave two or more specific base forms tha’ they kin shift intae, bu’ who are able tae create variants o’ those forms. ‘Nessa is an adaptive Shifter since she ‘as ‘er two specific forms (Mermaid an’ Human), bu’ she kin alter her features, colorin’, body shape, an’ such in both o’ those forms tae give ‘erself a wide variety o’ looks created from those base forms.
Focused Shifters are sorta one trick ponies, if’n ya catch ma meanin’. They are able tae change one or two specific things aboot themselves, such as size, mass, coloring, gender, or growin’ spikes or claws or stuff like tha’. Take Shell fer instance, when she gets attacked ‘er molecular composition changes tae suit ‘er needs, an’ her physical capabilities kin change base on the new form, bu’ tha’s ‘er only ability.
Projective Shifters are fairly rare. They ‘ave the ability tae change the appearances o’ people other than themselves the same way tha’ True Metamorphs kin change themselves. A person like tha’ would be right ‘elpful if’n someone needed tae send a team undercover an’ make sure they wouldnae be recoginized, bu’ it could be scary as well if’n they were tae misuse tha’ power. Take it from me, bein’ changed intae someone tha’ ya cannae recognize in the mirror agains’ yer will kin be ‘ard on a person.
The final class o’ Shifters are Alchemists. They are jus’ as rare as Projective Shifters an’ ‘ave the potential tae be jus’ as dangerous. They usually cannae change themselves or other people, bu’ they kin change the appearance or molecular composition o’ inanimate objects. They could potentially create convincin’ forgeries, or turn lead intae gold. I ken tha’ sounds cool an’ all bu’ someone like tha’ could seriously destabilize an economy without e’en tryin’.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Shifters today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Psychics. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 26 Facing the Reaper Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I was watching the man in black carefully now, he was too close to my sisters for my liking and he had already injured Lindsey. Hiro looked like he was having the same problem too, he was furious and he kept looking from our opponent to Lindsey with a worried look on his face. There was too much blood there and it worried me too. Also I didn’t like us being this exposed, we had put on the emergency masks that Mom had given us to put in our purses as soon as we entered the train station, but they wouldn’t do very much to protect our identities, though Mom claimed they would blur our features on any video surveillance. He was still smiling at me and we watched each other for several long seconds, each waiting for the other to make the first move. “Is he a teleporter? Or does he have some high level form of super speed?”
I was so caught up in watching him and my concern for Lindsey and what he might do next that I didn’t notice what Mei was doing until a blinding golden flash of light erupted around her as she screamed, “You hurt Lindsey!!!” Two dozen stone-skinned gargoyles appeared, one directly behind our adversary. It grabbed him and tossed him like a softball to its compatriots and then they were all on him. Mei wasn’t done yet though, that blinding glow remained as she knelt by Lindsey. “I… I think I can help her.”
Hiro didn’t hesitate. As soon as he was out of range to harm my sisters he was all over the man in black. Despite the beating that he and the Gargoyles were laying down on him the man was holding his own, his cuts on the gargoyles were shallow, but they and Hiro weren’t able to hurt him at all. “What is with this guy?” Hiro said in a frustrated tone. “It doesn’t even feel like I’m hitting a person!”
“Is he invulnerable too?” I wasted no time, charging my fist with as much energy as I could I flew at the pitched battle and hit him with everything I had. The explosion sent the gargoyles flying and when the smoke cleared he was gone and Hiro and I were both looking around cautiously. Something didn’t feel right about this whole encounter and I swung around to see him appearing behind Lindsey’s cousin, making a grab for the four armed girl again.
There was definitely something weird about this guy. I knew that my punch hit that time, I could feel the energy hit him and explode, but his clothes weren’t even damaged. I couldn’t sense any form of air displacement either. So it wasn’t teleportation or super speed, or at least I didn’t think so. “Why can’t I hurt him? How does he keep vanishing and reappearing like that?” I started forming a dagger construct in my hand and then it hit me. I threw my construct at it as hard as I could, and as it flew toward him I tried to push my energy into him instead of the dagger.
As I suspected, he promptly vanished before the dagger even made contact. He appeared again near the four armed girl and tried to grab her, but Hiro and the gargoyles were quickly on him again. I reached out across the mind-link that Tasha had established between us, my other sisters, and the Fairies. *Tasha, move the girl! That’s a bloody construct. Someone needs to be controlling it, and they probably need to have a good view of the area to be doing that. Is there anyone left in the station besides us? Mei did you manage to stop Lindsey from bleeding? Keep those gargoyles on it for now if you can. Everyone else scatter for now.*
Tasha’s response was to teleport in and grab the four-armed girl, quickly teleporting her out of the construct’s reach, everyone else scattered except for Mei who was still glowing and kneeling beside Lindsey.*I don’t detect anyone else, if it’s a construct it might be some sort of telekinetic one, which would explain why it’s solid and can physically hurt people. I’m picking up some kind of psychic static, but my sixth sense tells me that if there is someone watching us, they’re north of us on one of the second floor balconies,* Tasha sent as she teleported over and over in a game of keep-away as the construct had apparently decided to just grab the girl and get out of here while the getting was good. The game of keep away was made even worse for the construct with the battalion of gargoyles dogging it.
*That jerk cut Lindsey pretty deep, there’s a lot of damage, I can feel it Merida,* Mei sent. *She’s lost a lot of blood too, I get the feeling that if we try to move her that she’s going to die. I’m healing her, but it’s going to take a while. It’s a lot trickier repairing living matter than creating it from nothing, and I didn’t even know for sure that I could do this until now. I’m working mostly on instinct right now, and I need to do it slow to make sure I don’t make any mistakes. I kinda have a sense of her body and how it should work, but after this I’m going to get Mom to start teaching me about biology, anatomy, and stuff. The gargoyles should stick on him, but I created a lot of them and their time is going to run out soon.*
*Are you sure that you can heal her sis?* Shu asked uncertainly. *I know that you’re really smart and powerful, but that looked pretty bad.*
*If I can create living things from nothing, then I can do this. It’s the same thing just on a smaller scale and using her own body as a blueprint to fill in gaps and connect it all. I’ve already stopped the bleeding, I just need to follow my instincts and focus. I’ve got this, you guys kick his ass.* Mei snapped, as she apparently focused her attention on her work. As luck would have it that was when the gargoyles vanished.
*Be careful Mei,* I called out before deciding on a plan. *Okay Fairies, let’s take a look at those balconies. Tasha, you keep playing keep away. Vanessa you and Hiro should be safe with your invulnerability, so keep that construct occupied and make sure it doesn’t decide to go after Mei. Peri, dust Shu before you search, she’ll be with me and you fairies. Shu, get your guns out, we may need the extra firepower, and I want you to be ready to do your dimension shifting thing if whoever’s in control of that construct attacks you.* Then I turned to Hiro and spoke just loud enough for him to hear me, “It’s a construct, I need you an’ ‘Nessa tae keep it occupied an’ make it think we’re still fooled while I find the asshole controllin’ it an’ make ‘em pay.”
Hiro nodded as he leapt toward the construct, more than happy to let a little aggression out on the man in black. “I’m gonna kick your ass so hard, you’ll be tasting shit for the next year!”
Shu ran toward me and opened a portal, quickly removing first her gun belt to put on and then her aviator hat and goggles, handing me my hooded cloak as well. “It that’s a construct it means that he’s only gotten a look at us from a distance,” she explained. “If we’re going up close and personal, we should hide our features more Flare.”
“Good thinkin’ Packrat.” I smiled at her as I nodded and put on my cloak as the Fairies made their way to the northern second floor balconies to begin scouting. Vanessa was in mermaid form and blasted the construct with a high pressure water blast from her pool while the handsome half-Japanese Hyper was hitting it hard and fast. Tasha kept teleporting out of its reach, and Mei was completely focused on healing Lindsey.
*Any sign yet?* I asked as Shu and I both took to the air and got some altitude, nearly reaching the ceiling, to look over the balconies.
*I found him! He’s watching the fight from one of the balconies, he doesn’t even notice me,* Iridessa’s voice called out over the link. *Follow the rainbow.*
I looked around and suddenly a bright rainbow appeared over one of the balconies. *Great work ‘Dessa we’re on our way.* Whoever this person was they could only create one construct at a time and it could take physical damage, but my energy had dissipated them somehow. It wasn’t vanishing and reappearing, he had had to create a new construct each time I made them vanish. As Shu and I flew toward the rainbow I planned out an attack. *Peri freeze the ground around him so he can’t get away easily, Tink and Silvermist try to get his attention on you, and ‘Dessa we’ll need a flashbang. I don’t want to risk hurting him until we know he’s the one, he could just be a gawker. Once we do know I want you to hit him hard Fawn. I’ll be ready with a force field if he tries to escape and Shu will stun him when she has a clear shot.*
Tink and Silvermist swooped in and began pulling the hair of the person in question. He was a pale and skinny man in his mid-twenties with shoulder length black hair, and as they started yanking he yelped, got to his feet, started to swat at the Fairies, and turned his head right into Iridessa’s flashbang. The moment that he got up and took his eyes off the scene below Vanessa’s voice came across the mind-link. *The construct just vanished.* That was all we needed to know. As he stumbled back blinded he stepped right onto Periwinkle’s ice slick and had to fight to keep his balance. That was when Fawn flew in and socked him in the jaw, knocking him back several feet and right into the wall construct I had made to prevent him from getting away. As he scrambled on the ice-slick floor to try to get to his feet Shu blasted him and he fell back to the ground in a heap.
We had gotten our captive tied up, blindfolded, and gagged with strips of cloth from his own clothes, to ensure he wouldn’t be able to see to use his powers again. By the time we had finished that and joined the others, Mei had managed to heal Lindsey’s injuries, though Mei looked exhausted from the effort and wanted to take her to the school’s clinic to have Mom take a look at her to be sure everything was really okay. Lindsey was unconscious and had lost a lot of blood, but she was alive and seemingly out of danger. Hiro was worried, and insisted on carrying her to the school himself. The two of them seemed so close, so I tried not to get in the way and let him take charge of her while I delivered our captive to the police waiting outside.
While I prepared to drop off the trash and warn the police about his abilities so they could put an inhibitor collar on him, Shu had an idea for getting herself and the other’s to the school quickly. She created a pocket dimension large enough to fit everyone and once they were inside she closed the portal and opened a new one, concentrating on opening it outside the school gates so that they could leave the pocket dimension there. Once I got the confirmation from Tasha via the mind-link that it had worked, I dropped the prisoner outside with the cops, showed them my license and made a full report of what had happened. I also asked on the status of the injured people that Tasha had taken outside to safety. They were being taken to the hospital, some of them in serious condition, but it looked like they would all live, which was a huge relief to all of us.
With that done I flew off to join the others at the school and more specifically the medical center, where Mom was looking over Lindsey and running every medical scan on her that she could think of to make sure that she was alright. By the time I had gotten there she had already prepped a blood transfusion and Lindsey’s cousin Gordon, or Jordyn as it said on her new documentation, was in the bed beside hers providing that blood, since they had the same blood type. We were all worried, especially Hiro, but as much as Mom knew that, and that she was our friend, she asked us to wait in the waiting room until she called for us.
Soon Mom came out and gave us all a relieved smile. “She’s goin’ to be fine, she’ll need to rest today, but she should be fine by tomorrow. She lost a lot o’ blood, but whatever ya did Mei, ya did a good job o’ it. I couldn’t even find a sign that she had been injured, except for a very faint line of skin slightly lighter than the rest where ya said the wound was. She doesn’t even have a scar. We’ll need to talk about this aspect of yuir abilities an’ how ya can further develop it later, but ya can all go in and visit them for a few minutes.”
Lindsey was still sleeping, but Jordyn thanked us for the help and introduced herself. She asked us to call her Trance until she could figure out if a secret identity would even be possible for someone with bright pink hair, milky white eyes, and four arms. From what she was able to tell us the man we had fought was an assassin and bounty hunter for hire who called himself the Reaper. He had a reputation for getting the job done, causing chaos while doing it, and then just disappearing into thin air. He had been hired by a group calling themselves ‘The Hive’. Apparently they had been responsible for her Activation, against her will, and considered her their property now. Her mother had rescued her and when she found her Activated and looking like she was, she decided that Pacific Seaside Academy would be the best place for her once school started up.
Jordyn had been getting off the train when the Reaper started attacking people and went after her. The Hive had sent him it seemed, so we would have to let Dr. Edwards know that she was still potentially in danger. She didn’t have much for powers to protect herself yet either, as she was a Medium, but she had yet to make any spirit contracts, so all she could really do was sense spirit energy and talk to ghosts. Dr. Edwards would be waiting for the report, since she knew that Trance had arrived and had had to meet them at the gates with a temporary school ID bracelet for her so that she could get on the grounds when Trance had arrived with the others to take Lindsey to the clinic.
The pair would be staying in the clinic for the rest of the day, and possibly overnight, but Mom said that they should both be cleared to join us for our birthday celebration the next day. We stayed there for a while and then eventually made our way to the Grotto to have some lunch. None of us really felt like leaving the school and going on that tour of the city though, so we just killed time until we could visit Lindsey later in the afternoon.
In order to not overwhelm Lindsey, Mom thought it best if we just visited one at a time or maybe one of us with our Fairy once she woke up. We let Hiro be the first of course, since they were so close and he was obviously worried sick about her. Then I let my sisters and their Fairies go before me and Fawn. Once Mei and Tink emerged from the room it was my turn, Mei was a bit teary eyed as she came out, but beaming proudly. I wrapped her up in my arms and held her close for a moment. “Ya did a fine job there today Mei. Our friend is alive ‘cause o’ yuir efforts.”
She hugged me back tightly, near whispering into my shoulder, “I was afraid that we would lose her for a bit.”
“Aye, we all were Mei, bu’ ya didnae le’ tha’ ‘appen. Ya didnae give up on ‘er, an’ ya pushed yuirself tae the limit tae save ‘er. I couldnae be prouder tae be yuir sister right now.”
“Thanks Merida,” she replied, sniffling a bit.
“Nae Mei, thank you.” I let her go and kissed her softly on the forehead and then Fawn and I entered the room to see Lindsey.
It seemed that Jorydn was tired from all the excitement and the blood transfusion and was taking a nap, but Lindsey was indeed awake and smiled up at me when I entered. “I guess I have you to thank for saving my cousin Mer?”
I shook my head sadly. If I had been more on the ball she probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly killed in the first place. Not that I could have done much differently without proper Intel. “Nae Lindsey, ya dinnae ‘ave tae thank me fer anythin’. It was a group effort, an’ I feel bad tha’ ya go’ hurt. If it was no’ fer Mei…” I trailed off with a sigh.
“You did everything you could Merida, but we didn’t really know what we were facing,” Fawn said as she flitted back onto my shoulder to hug me by the neck.
Lindsey put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “She’s right, don’t beat yourself up Mer, we all know the risks when we fight people like that. Even if we were all in costume I would have gotten hurt bad from that. Besides, I’m glad it was me instead of one of you, the whole reason we were there was because I asked you to come with me to pick up my cousin. Your Mom said she’s going to make a new version of my costume from that material yours is made from, it should keep me safer until I can start learning magic. I am not going to let something like this stop me from helping people. I’m really glad that we met you and your sisters, you’re all good people and me, Michelle, Garret, and Hiro like you all a lot.”
“We like you too, it’s nice tae ‘ave friends we kin count on. Ya ken, poor ‘iro was really worried aboot ya, we all were.” I sat down on the edge of her bed and squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad tha’ yuir okay.”
“I owe Mei, and probably all of you, my life,” she said as she reached over to hug me. “Hiro worries about all of us like that, 4-Ward is a pretty tight-knit group and he’s the only invulnerable one, most of the time. We don’t really have a lot of close friends besides one another, well until you and your sisters and the Fairies came along.”
“Aye, we’re kinda the same way, cept’ wi’ sisters romance is kind out o’ the question,” I replied with a weak laugh. “I think tha’ you an’ ‘iro make a cute couple though.”
She stared at me for a moment before breaking down into a laughing fit. “Wait… you think that me and Hiro are…? That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard! We’re best buds, and we’ve been helping one another adjust to our new genders, but that’s all that there is. Hiro wouldn’t even try that with me, he knows that I’m still into girls, and I’m in a relationship with Michelle.”
“Bu’ the way the two o’ ya hang out t’gether all o’ the time, I thought tha’ ya…”
“Best buds,” she clarified cutting me off. “He’s a guy and I may be a girl, but I’m not that girly and I’m not into guys. Michelle’s the girly-girl in our group, not to mention she’s my girlfriend. I’m a tomboy at best so we all hang out a lot together except when Michelle and I are on dates. I hang out alone with Garret sometimes too to play videogames, but Hiro is just my best bud, we’ve formed a really tight friendship helping each other adjust to our new genders. Besides, there’s this new girl that he never shuts up about while we’ve been hanging out the last few days, so I think he’s interested in her. Maybe you know her; she has long red hair, a thick Scottish accent, and apparently she reminds him a lot of his mom.”
I could feel my jaw dropping as I stared at her. “I… wot… ‘ow…” I couldn’t seem to speak as I tried to wrap my head around what I thought that she was saying.
Lindsey just gave me a shark-like grin and winked. “Yup, he’s all yours it you want him.” My heart was pounding a mile a minute in my suddenly dry throat and I couldn’t seem to breathe. Then I felt her arms wrap around me again as Fawn hugged me around the neck. “Geeze sorry, I’ve seen the way you look at him so I thought that you were interested. I keep forgetting that you’re even newer to this girl thing than I am. Have you figured out the whole attraction thing yet?”
“Aye,” I said with a nod, glad that she was hugging me so she couldn’t see my bright red cheeks. “I ‘aven’t found girls attractive a’ all since ma change. I’ve seen some cute guys though, there was this one guy in L.A. who called ‘imself Conduit. I was kind o’ attracted tae ‘im bu’ he frustrated me more’n anythin’. He kissed me, an’ tha’s when I realized tha’ I like guys now.”
“Conduit?!” she sputtered, pulling away wide-eyed. “He’s a student here, small world huh? I guess he’s a nice enough guy, but he’s a bit of a Romeo with a white knight complex. I kinda figured you liked guys though from the looks you’ve been giving Hiro.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed as I thought of him attending the same school. “Aye, tha’s ‘im alright.” Then I frowned as I muttered, “Wot looks?”
Lindsey rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’ve been giving him the look like he’s dinner and you’re a hungry Energy Manipulator, don’t try to deny it Merida, it’s obvious to everyone whenever you’re in the same room together and he’s been giving you the same look. I think you’d make a cute couple, and it’s not like we’re really old enough to think about physical relationships yet, so you should just go on a few dates and get to know one another a bit to see if you really like each other as more than friends. Look, if it makes it easier, maybe we can start with a double date, you and Hiro with me and Michelle. We could talk about it with them tomorrow.”
“Aye, I’ll… ummm… think aboot it.” I looked away so she couldn’t see my blush and took deep breaths to try and slow my racing heart. “I should… ah let ya res’ a bi’ now. I’ll see ya tomorrow aye? Ya kin bring Jordyn along if’n ya like too.”
“We’ll be there with bells on,” she said with a grin, “And don’t forget, you promised to dress like your Fairies tomorrow, at least for part of the day.”
“We’ll need to get your dresses made tonight,” Fawn said, jumping eagerly on that topic as we waved goodbye and left the room. “We’ll do that as soon as we get home.”
I was quiet during the rest of the afternoon, something that didn’t go unnoticed by my sisters. They tried to get me to open up about it, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the possibility of a date with Hiro and I wasn’t really the type to discuss my feelings. On one hand the prospect excited me, because I really did like Hiro and found him attractive, but as long as I thought that he was with Lindsey I hadn’t had to make myself think too deeply about it. The prospect made me nervous and a bit terrified too, to the point where I was having trouble keeping my force field from appearing if I thought too hard on the subject. I was confused, and not sure what to do.
After we made our copies of the Fairies’ dresses for the next day we started preparing dinner for ourselves. Mom would be at the school most of the night keeping an eye on Lindsey and Jordyn and Andy had plans with Hiro’s dad Paul, so we were on our own for the night. I ate quietly and was well aware of my sisters watching me in concern, but I really didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t even sure I could talk to Fawn about my interest in Hiro, and she had been there for the whole conversation with Lindsey.
Thankfully my Fairy friend knew me well enough to realize that I needed time to think about all of this and she let me do that. After we finished eating dinner we headed up to our room and I flopped down on my princess bed to stare at the canopy, lost in my thoughts. It was the knocking that brought me out of it. Mei’s voice came through the partially opened door. “Merida, can I come in for a minute?”
I sighed, but she was my little sister and I wanted her to know that no matter how I was feeling, that I would always have time for her. “Aye, come on in Mei.” Mei entered, but I noticed that she didn’t have Tink with her for once. “Is Tink workin’ on a new doodad?”
“Yeah she is, Tinkers, what can you do?” She shrugged and came to sit on the bed. “You’ve been quiet, are you alright?”
“Aye, I’m fine, I jus’ ‘ave sumthin’ on ma mind,” I said, trying a smile for her. “Wot kin I dae fer ya Mei?
“Well it’s about tomorrow, we’re exchanging gifts then right?” At my nod she quickly continued as she took my hand nervously in hers. “Well, Mom helped Shu and I get something nice for each other, but we wanted to do something special for you, because you’re the best big sister ever and it’s because of you that we’re free and have a family now. So Shu is working on her idea now and I’ve had an idea for you for a while now…” I didn’t hear the rest of what she said though as everything went black.
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Psychics. Psychic are one o’ the mos’ diverse categories o’ Hypers. It’s really far too broad a range o’ power sets tae really dae it all justice, bu’ I’ll try tae break it down intae three categories; Sensitives, Manipulators, an’ Communicators.
Sensitives are psychics who kin sense things tha’ other people kin no’. Tasha’s sixth sense is a fine example o’ this, an’ often mutant’s have l’il or no control o’er these abilities, relying instead on instinct an’ sharpened intuition. Types o’ powers from Sensitives kin include, precognition, sixth sense, danger sense, knowin’ aboot the history o’ objects, second sight, psychic tracking, an’ spacial awareness.
Manipulators are those who kin manipulate the world aroun’ them wi’ their powers. Telekinetics, pyrokinetics, hydrokinetics, psychokinetics, an’ anythin’ else tha’ kin effect the material world or anythin’ in it, through the use of only the mind, fall intae this category.
Communicators are those who kin use their mental abilities tae communicate wit’, learn aboot, or affect the minds o’ others through their powers. This kin include various types o’ telepathy, empathy, farseein’ an’ things like Tasha’s ability tae link minds wi people tha’ she’s familiar wit’.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Psychics today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Regens. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 27 Sleeping Beauty Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I awoke in my bed with no screaming, nightmares fresh in my mind, or the explosion of my powers going off. I couldn’t recall having any nightmares at all since that wave of exhaustion had hit me and I passed out mid-conversation with Mei. A look at my alarm clock showed the time to be ten minutes after o-six-hundred and I realized that I had been asleep for close to twelve hours. Twelve hours with nary a nightmare or flashback.
I was too tired to move much yet, so I just continued to lay there for a time. I wasn’t sleepy tired, as after all that sleep I felt awake and fully rested, but more of a deep down in my bones, post marathon run exhaustion. I couldn’t really describe it any better than that since it wasn’t a physical exhaustion, or even an emotional one, but almost like I was exhausted down to my very soul. I was also starving, and I figured that, even if I didn’t feel up to our usual morning workout and training session, I should try to get up to get something to eat.
I tried to maneuver myself into a sitting position and noticed two things. The first was that somebody had undressed me, put one of my nightshirts on, and placed me under my blankets, so at least I woke up comfortably. The second thing I noticed was that there was something under the blankets with me, and it wasn’t Fawn, something that was beginning to move. I squealed in surprise and scooched away, the sound and my movement waking Fawn from her slumber on one of my pillows.
“Thank goodness you’re okay Merida!!” the Fairy called out as she kamikaze-hugged me. “Everyone was so worried and Mei feels terrible, she didn’t think that would happen.”
“Whoa Fawn, slow down a wee bit aye? Wot ‘appened tae me, an’ why did it make Mei feel so terrible? An’ more importan’ly wot’s movin, in ma bloody bed?!” I asked uncertainly, looking from the Fairy, to the movement, and then back to my Fairy friend.
“Oh, that’s the egg, Mei said we should try to keep it warm and near you until morning,” Fawn replied, answering my last question first. “I think that Mei brought it from Neverland for you, like she did with us Fairies, but I’ve never seen an egg like that before. Mei said that it was your birthday gift, and something about trying to link it to just you, rather than you and her, but she didn’t expect you to fall asleep instead of her. She was really worried when that happened, but your Mom said that you were just in a very deep sleep when she checked on you.”
So Mei had tried something different with her powers and I ended up passing out instead of her, I guess that explained it. If Mei felt like this every time she summoned something permanently though, I had to wonder why she had kept doing it at all. I already knew that though, Mei had wanted her sisters to share the joys of having Fairy friends as well. She was just that kind of person, she wanted to share her joys with those closest to her, or those who had none for themselves.
Still, Fawn’s mention of an egg had me curious and I gingerly reached out to lift the blanket and take a look. As I moved the blanket aside I discovered a purple egg with pink spots and I needed to use both hands to pull it into my lap. It was almost too big for me to hold in both hands and, though I had never seen its kind before, there was something achingly familiar about it that I couldn’t quite place at the moment. It wobbled and shook in my lap and I was glad that I had it securely in my lap rather than holding it, as when the first cracks began to appear on the surface I may have jumped a bit in surprise.
Suddenly the egg burst apart leaving a tiny pink dragon laying in my lap. It was tiny of course, no more than a foot long from its head to the tip of its tail, with four legs, a serpentine tail and neck, and large wings with a wingspan of maybe a foot and a half. It was also adorable, like a little chibi anime dragon brought to life. It blinked its large and bright golden reptilian eyes open and then stared up at me for a moment before making an excited sound and nuzzling me. “Peaches?!”I sputtered as I looked at the tiny little dragon in my lap. “Fawn, this is… this is…”
“A very small dragon?” my Fairy friend supplied helpfully.
“Oh aye,” I replied after taking a very deep breath. “Tha’ egg, an’ the way she looks, she’s jus’ like the baby dragon in ma fav’rite story, Princess Peony an’ the Amazin’ Egg.” I had never even told Blair this, but I had always wanted to find an egg just like that and have it hatch when I was a kid, and now Mei had made that happen for real. I was still staring at the baby dragon, curled up in my lap and nuzzling against me, when I heard a knock at my door.
I carefully placed the dragon on one of my pillows near Fawn, who was very curious about the newly hatched creature, and got through the curtains and out of bed to shuffle toward the door. I would have just called out for whoever it was to come in, but with my room being soundproofed they wouldn’t have been able to hear me without the door being slightly ajar. Whoever put me to bed the night before must have closed it when they left so that the expected explosion when I awoke wouldn’t bother anyone.
Almost as soon as I opened the door I found myself being glomped by the twins, with all the Fairies close behind, as Tasha and Vanessa stood in the doorway. “I’m so sorry Merida! I thought that it would be me who passed out, I never expected it to happen to you!” Mei half screamed and half blubbered as they nearly knocked me to the floor.
I hugged the pair as the Fairies all swooped in to give me tiny hugs. “Oi, dinnae go beatin’ yuirself up aboot tha’. Ya were tryin’ tae dae sumthin’ nice fer me, aye?”
“Yeah,” she replied as she sniffled against my shoulder.
“Well ya did tha’ Mei. Peaches is the best birthday gift e’er, an’ I go’ a full night’s sleep wi’ no nightmares, e’en if’n I dae feel like I’ve been through the spin cycle on the washin’ machine,” I replied as I held the twins tight.
“Yeah, even when I wake up I’m usually a bit drained for a few hours, and really hungry,” Mei admitted. I had to wonder though, if this was a bit drained for her, what was exhausted? Well, her body was probably build for whatever it is that she does.
“Aye, I’m starvin’, bu’ ‘tween this an’ the healin’ thing wi’ Lindsey, we’re really goin’ tae need tae try an’ fin’ out ‘ow exactly yuir powers work. There’s go’ tae be more tae it than jus’ creatin’ livin’ matter,” I told her seriously.
“I know,” she admitted with a sigh before changing the topic back to Peaches. “So did she hatch yet? I tried to time it so she’d hatch around when we thought you’d wake up.”
“Aye, she did Mei, I decided tae name ‘er Peaches, jus’ like in the story.” I gave the twins one last squeeze before ending the group hug. “An’ I’m fine, jus’ hungry an’ a wee bit tired, so all o’ ya kin stop hoverin’. I dinnae think we’ll ‘ave our trainin’ session today though, jus’ tae be on the safe side. We are celebratin’ birthdays after all,” I added for the Fairies and my other sisters, who were still standing in the doorway.
“Well, since we don’t have training, you might want to get ready to go out then Mer,” Tasha pointed out. “You said that you’re hungry, and last night Paul told Andy to bring us all over to the restaurant for yours and the twins’ birthday breakfast. He said that it’ll be free of charge for the birthday girls.”
“I’ll help dry your hair when you’re done your shower Mer, so we can get breakfast sometime today,” Vanessa added.
“We’ll take turns watching Peaches for you while we get dressed,” Shu quickly offered as she and Mei went to part the curtains and sit on my bed.
“Tae the showers Fawn!” I said as I ran to snatch up my bathrobe and made a run for nearest of the three bathrooms.
“Aye aye Merida!” Fawn answered, snapping a salute as she flitted past the twins and through the curtains toward her little house on top of my dresser and her own shower therein. As I left the room I could hear my sisters and the Fairies squealing in delight at how cute my new pet was.
I felt slightly better after my shower, though my hunger was becoming almost painful. The others, and their Fairies, were all dressed already, the Fairies in their usual clothes, while my sisters matched them. Tink and Mei were in Tinker Bell’s signature green strapless dress, and slippers with pompoms on the toes. Shu and Periwinkle were both clad in an aqua strapless dress, dark icy blue pants, and aqua colored shoes with white pompoms on their toes as well. Vanessa and Silvermist both wore a dark turquoise lily-patterned single-strapped dress with blue shoes, while Iridessa and Tasha sported dresses that looked like they were made of sunflower petals, decorated with a large sunflower seed on the front, and yellow shoes.
Once we had joined the others, Tasha brought me a large peeled orange and some leftover ham to tide me over until breakfast, and I shared the latter with Peaches, making sure to break it up into small pieces so the tiny dragon wouldn’t choke. While I enjoyed my light snack and fed Peaches, the Fairies helped Fawn get ready while my sisters helped me. Vanessa and Silvermist pulled the water from our hair, helping to dry it faster and then the twins set about braiding my hair, while her fellow Fairies did the same for Fawn. I had gotten used to wearing my hair loosely styled, but we all figured that if we were going to dress like our Fairy friends then we should try to replicate the hairstyles too, as best we could. Vanessa had even used her shifting ability to lengthen her hair and change the color to a dark blue so she could imitate Silvermist’s long tresses.
Finally, the others left so we could get dressed, once we had our hair braided. Fawn and I quickly shed our bathrobes and got into proper undergarments, then we both got dressed in the variation of one of her normal outfits that Fawn had chosen for today, an orange-and-amber dress with orange-yellow boots. I felt like a neon sign, but I forced myself to admit that it was fairly comfortable. Once I had slung my purse over my shoulders we headed downstairs, with Fawn riding my shoulder and Peaches cradled in my arms, to where Mom and Andy were waiting with the others.
“It’s good to see you awake at last Merida, Blair was worried about you,” Andy said with a smile and a nod, winking at me before he headed out the door to get the SUV started.
“I was no’,” Mom objected to his retreating back, an objection which countered the relieved look on her face. “Ya were just sleepin’, there wasn’t anythin’ physically wrong with ya, so I figured tha’ ya would just wake after a good long rest.” Then she promptly changed the topic to the little pink dragon in my arms. “So, tha’s what was in the egg, Mei wasn’t tellin’ anyone, bu’ I suspected tha’ it would be Peaches. No’ quite like I pictured ‘er, bu’ she’s adorable, an’ the color is right. Now let’s get goin’ girls, Merida’s probably starvin’.”
On the way to the restaurant, Mei explained why Peaches looked a little different than in the stories. Apparently she had been planning this gift since she heard about us celebrating our birthdays together, and while we had been staying in our dorm rooms, while waiting for us to have a new home to live in, she had done her research. She had gone to the school library and did a bunch of research in the section on magic and magical creatures on the various types of dragons. She had looked at pictures of all the various types and read details on their biology, abilities, and how they reacted to other creatures.
When it was all said and done, she decided on a cross between a salamander for their inherent abilities and the equally small feydragon, for their intelligence and for the fact that they are omnivores rather than carnivores. Besides their size, the most important feature of salamanders is that they are technically fire elementals; unaffected by fire, heat, and explosions. Mei had thought that would be a good match for me since Peaches wouldn’t be bothered even if my force field went to white-hot plasma while holding her. Peaches’ own flames could probably get that hot as well if she tried.
Feydragons on the other hand aren’t quite sentient, but they are a lot smarter than most other dragons, smart enough that some mages have been known to buy eggs, to raise them and train them to do a wide variety of tasks. There was also the fact that they imprint on the first creature they see as their mother. Both types of dragon were about the right size and the feydragon looked a lot like Peaches from the story and could come in various colors, including pink. With the cross of breeds Mei thought that I could expect Peaches to get to about three feet long with a wingspan of just over four feet when she reached her full size.
Peaches wasn’t an ordinary salamander/feydragon crossbreed though, even if such a thing did already exist in nature, as Mei had taken the best traits of various types of dragons and stuffed them all into that cute little package. She had the magic resistance of the great dragons, the hardened scales and sharp claws of the drakes, the powerful wing muscles of the wyverns, and the short range teleportation ability of the coatyl. She would probably be a very useful pet, but it also explained why Mei had thought I would need an Animal Fairy. Training and caring for a baby dragon wasn’t going to be easy.
We had a nice breakfast with Hiro and his parents, though Paul was kept busy at times acting as host to the customers. We were all able to eat our fill and Peaches seemed to enjoy the kids’ platter I got for her. Being omnivorous and born with a mouthful of teeth Mei figured that she could eat whatever we could, since her studies showed that all dragons ate solids as soon as they were born. We did have to be careful feeding her though, as some of her teeth were very sharp and she tended to snap food up quickly and not chew as much as she should, which could be dangerous for me, and deadly for Fawn, if we weren’t careful. So Fawn and I decided that cutting it into bite sizes and then just letting her go at the plate would be best for her for now.
“Where in the hell did you get a dragon anyway Merida?” Hiro asked with a grin as he watched the little pink beastie eat. “Just wait until Lindsey and Michelle see her, they’re gonna flip.”
Hiro’s talk of Lindsey and Michelle only served to bring to mind the very awkward offer that Lindsey had made in her room in the clinic the day before and I blushed, quickly returning my attention between eating my own breakfast and making sure that Peaches didn’t choke on hers. “I… uhhh… dinnae ken, Mei gave me the egg as a birthday present an’ it hatched this mornin’.” We really needed to think of a way to excuse this without making Mei’s powers public knowledge, especially in a public place like this, but I wasn’t really thinking very clearly.
“I summoned some feydragons a while back and one left an egg behind when they were de-summoned,” Mei explained with a smile. “I’ve been keeping it warm for her since, and since it was so close to hatching I had to give it to her today. I heard that they’re really smart, and Merida loves dragons.” She lowered her voice and leaned in to say in a quieter tone, so that even I barely heard her, “We’ll tell you the truth about that, and everything else later at the party. There are too many people here right now.”
I glanced over at Mei and smiled, she really seemed to have had this whole thing planned out. We had talked about what to do after what Mei had done yesterday by healing Lindsey. Healing didn’t really work all that well with our cover story of Mei being a summoner type mystic. We would have to edit future versions of that story, but after discussing it with Mom, we had decided that it was probably best to bring the members of 4-Ward, Hiro’s mother, and Lindsey’s cousin Jordyn into our confidence at the party later that afternoon and hope for the best. We would allow Hiro and his mother to tell his dad Paul as well.
Hiro’s brows rose in interest as did his mother’s, but they both nodded as Hiro kept the conversation going. “Lindsey is going to be so jealous, how is she doing by the way?” There was concern in his tone, but now that Lindsey had explained their relationship I could see that it was just concern for a very close friend. Still that meant that Lindsey was probably serious about the whole double date thing as well, and that made me nervous. He looked over at me and I blushed and quickly finished my meal.
“She was much improved las’ night when I left the clinic,” Mom supplied. “I’ll be goin’ to check on her after we’re done ‘ere, bu’ she an’ her cousin should both be free to go after tha’. So ya can all come and collect them if ya like. The party will start after lunch, so ya should all ‘ave time to hang out ‘til then. Just make sure tha’ yuir all at the house by two o’clock."
We finished our breakfast after that and then while Andy, Mom, and Kasumi all drove together to the school to get a bit of work done before the party, we decided to walk there with Hiro. He was going to call Michelle and Garret so they could meet us there and we could all be there together when Lindsey and Jordyn were released. We all chatted cheerfully as we made our way to Pacific Seaside Academy, though my sisters and I got more than a few strange looks for the way we were dressed, though those could have been for the Fairies that we currently matched riding on our shoulders, or the tiny dragon cradled in one of my arms. Hiro seemed to notice my discomfort and said, “Don’t worry Merida, you look great,” as he smiled at me and took my free hand in his own. I found myself only able to blush and look away as my heart thrummed violently in my chest and my breath caught. I silently held his hand for the rest of the walk to campus.
Saber sifted through news reports and security footage of superhuman incidents just as she had been for almost the past two weeks. If it had been the subject of her own interest, she would have long ago given up. This was a task set to her by Shade though, and one did not quit or fail a task that he appointed, not if that person wished to live. So she continued searching, until she saw the security camera footage from the day before at the train station in Costa Verde, California. There was the redhead with the bright red force field, the mermaid, the young black woman and the Chinese twins. Their faces were somehow blurred to the cameras, but she was certain that these were the girls that she had been set to find.
The footage was poor, and only barely showed the girls at all, but her job was completed, or rather it would be once she called in Code Pink and handed this task over to them. She sent the data packet via email and then picked up her phone with a tired sigh as she tapped the number for her contact with Code Pink. A moment later a far too cheerful voice answered, “Moshi moshi.”
“It’s Saber, Shade has an assignment for your team,” she replied, getting straight to the point. “I’ve sent you the details on the recruits by email.”
“Hai,” the voice on the other side replied, “So it’s a recruitment drive then?”
“Yes, recruit them if you can, if they won’t come willingly then you’re free to have some fun with them, just be sure to kill them when you’re done if they turn you down.”
A very girlish giggle erupted from the voice on the other end. “I’ve got the data now, so you’ve found us some other girls to play with huh Saber-sensei? This is going to be so much fun.”
“Yes, just try not to bring too much attention to yourselves, and remember that recruitment is preferable. You don’t want to disappoint Shade,” she replied with a sigh.
“Don’t worry Saber-sensei, we’ll handle this just like any other mission,” the girlish voice replied.
Saber sighed as she disconnected the call and muttered, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Regens. Regens are one o’ the simplest categories o’ Hypers. There’s no’ really any various categories, an’ the type o‘ power itself is fairly self-explanatory. Regens ‘ave the ability tae heal rapidly an’ regen’rate from injuries. The range an’ effectiveness depen’ on ‘ow powerful they are though.
Mos’ly Regens ‘ave the power tae recover quickly from damage, ‘cause their bodies use their Archetypes as a template fer their healin’ powers an’ try tae restore them tae tha’ template as quickly as possible wi’ their power level. A Cat’gory one or two Regen may ‘eal quickly from bruises an’ scrapes an’ the like, an’ mebbe ‘eal broken bones faster, while a Cat’gory three or above may be able tae regen’rate lost limbs. Some may ‘ave jus’ regen’ration based on physical injuries, while others may have accel’rated immune systems, resistance tae poisons, or all o’ the above, dependin’ on ‘ow aggressive their healin’ factor is.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Regens today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Teleporters. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 28 The Party Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
By the time that we had met up with Garret and Michelle and arrived at the campus medical center Lindsey and Jordyn were both ready to go. Lindsey’s Mom had come by to visit earlier and had brought her a change of clothes, since those she had arrived in had been soaked with blood, so she was now wearing a light pink t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. Jordyn didn’t have many clothes at all yet, only what she had in her duffel bag, since having four arms was a bit of an issue. She was wearing a somewhat frilly white and lavender sleeveless sundress that she looked more than a little uncomfortable in.
As soon as she saw Lindsey, Michelle ran to her, lifting her up in her arms to kiss her passionately. “I’m so glad that you’re okay Linds. Don’t you ever scare me like that again, I was worried sick when Hiro told me what happened.” Once she had finally let Lindsey out of her arms she turned to the rest of us. It was hard to tell with her scaly skin, but I thought that she might have been blushing. “Umm thanks, Hiro said that you all protected her and that Mei healed her somehow… I can’t… I… If you ever need anything, you just let me know.” It looked like Lindsey hadn’t been kidding about their relationship, which meant that she hadn’t been kidding about anything else in that conversation as well. I could feel my cheeks flushing as my eyes darted toward Hiro standing beside me.
I nearly jumped out of my dress as Linsdey shrieked, “You all dressed like your Fairies!!! Oh Em Gee!! Is that a feydragon?!”
“Aye, this is Peaches, she’s kind o’ ma birthday presen’ from Mei, she jus’ ‘atched this mornin’,” I managed to say once my heart was out of my throat and beating in my chest once again. Fawn settled back onto my shoulder as the sleeping dragon in my arms stirred some, both of them having been disrupted by my sudden motion. Michelle had asked about Peaches on our way to the clinic and just like Hiro she had warned me that Lindsey was going to freak out when she saw her. “Would ya like tae ‘old ‘er fer a wee bi’? M’ arms are getting’ a l’il tired,” I admitted.
“Can I?! I’ve been wanting one of those ever since I found out that I was going to be learning magic!” The grin on the poor girl’s face made me think that her head might explode.
“Aye, I dinnae think it’ll dae any ‘arm. She’s jus’ settlin’ in fer a wee nap anyway I think. Mebbe we kin fin’ ya one o’ yuir own some day. Mei kin tell ya more aboot ‘er later. We ‘ave a few things we wan’ tae talk tae ya aboot durin’ the party.” I gingerly handed over Peaches while telling the small pink dragon, “Lindsey ‘ere is jus’ goin’ tae ‘old ya fer a wee bi’.”
The half-sleeping infant dragon didn’t seem to mind changing hands for a while and Lindsey was beaming as she held Peaches in her arms. “Do you really think that we can find me one too? I guess it wouldn’t be too much trouble if Shu can open dimensional portals like you said, we’d just need to know which dimension the feydragons live in.”
“Mebbe we kin manage sumthin’,” I said with a shrug as I looked toward Mei who was grinning. “Oi Trance,” I said, turning my attention to Lindsey’s cousin Jordyn and the duffel bag she was holding, Is tha’ all ya ‘ave fer clothes?”
Jordyn blushed a bit and nodded. I could see that she felt a little out of place being surrounded by Lindsey’s friends. “Yeah, we didn’t really have much time to get me much before my mom put me on the train and it’s a bit hard finding tops for four arms. I don’t really have much money for shopping though. With the tuition, I’ll barely have enough for the school uniform. I… uhh… wasn’t always a girl either.”
“Welcome to the club cuz,” Linsey said with a nervous laugh as she cooed over the pink dragon in her arms.
“Aye, welcome tae the pink side,” I agreed. “I was a guy ‘til a few week ago tae, an’ Hiro wen’ the other way I guess.”
Hiro nodded and offered, “I know it sounds a bit hard to believe, but you’ll get used to things in time. Soon it’ll all start to feel normal, and having powers doesn’t make it too bad.”
Jordyn was staring at Hiro and me. “You… both? Really? You don’t seem like…”
“Oh trus’ me, I ken wot yuir goin’ through, it’s no’ easy an’ I ‘ave other issues as well, bu’ let’s try tae pu’ all o tha’ out o’ our minds an’ take ya tae see the Taylors. We ‘ave time fer tha’ an’ a bite tae eat afore the party. We’ll find out wot they think yuir goin’ tae need fer clothes, at the minimum, an’ I’ll co’er the cost,” I told her as I checked my purse to make sure that my new check book was in there.
“What?! No I couldn’t possibly…” Jordyn began to sputter as her cheeks turned a bright red.
“Think o’ it as a birthday present fer yuir new self. Yuir Lindsey’s cousin, an’ ya seem tae be a good egg,” I told her seriously. “Wot’s the use o’ havin’ money if’n I cannae ‘elp out a friend in need, aye? Jus’ please dinnae le’ it ge’ aroun’ tha’ I did this. I’d rather no’ ge’ any more attention ‘round here than necessary once school starts.”
Lindsey reached out and placed a gentle hand on her cousin’s shoulder as she cradled Peaches in her other arm. “It’s okay Gor… Jordyn. Merida and her sisters are good people and if she wants to help, then I say let her. You’ll need to make friends here anyway, so why not start with the people in this room? Trust me, you’ll need friends and most of us are in Starfish Dorm like you so we know what you’ll be going through, or will once school starts since the only ones not new here are the members of my team.”
We managed to convince Jordyn and took her to the Taylors. She was a bit self-conscious about taking the money for the clothes, but nobody but us needed to know how she had gotten it. The Taylors made it clear that nobody would find out from them, and that Jordyn should just relax about it and appreciate that she had a friend willing to do something like that for her. It took over two hours, but they were able to get her outfitted with enough clothes to last a while with standard durability enchantments, trying to make it look like a normal girl’s wardrobe so she wouldn’t stand out any more than she already did. The clothes consisted of jeans and various tops, shorts, some skirts, a few dresses like the one she had been wearing earlier, leggings, socks, shoes, undergarments, a one piece bathing suit, a school uniform, and a few sets of exercise clothes. Then once the Taylors had worked their magic we all helped Jordyn to get it all to her dorm room.
After that we all ate lunch at the Grotto and tried to help Jordyn get used to the idea of how things worked at the school. That was when Lindsey blindsided me. I had just finished cutting up Peaches’ lunch for her and we had started eating while Fawn and I discussed toilet training the small dragon at some point once she was able to fly on her own. We had her in a special diaper at the moment, something that Meghan Taylor had whipped up for me and that her older sister had enchanted to be self-cleaning. She had made them in various sizes too, so I’d have properly fitting ones as Peaches grew.
So my attention wasn’t really all there when Lindsey smiled up at Michelle and kissed her with a thoughtful expression. “You know babe,” she said conversationally as their lips parted, “almost dying really makes you appreciate what, and who, you have in your life. What did we have planned for Friday again?”
“You should know, you’ve been planning it for weeks,” Michelle replied in a confused tone before seeming to catch something in her girlfriend’s expression. “We were going to borrow my Dad’s ATVs and make a day of it. Make a nice picnic lunch and go to that private little cove we found up past Coral Bay, maybe do some surfing, explore the cave there a bit, snuggle on the beach together with some nice music and warm blankets, and maybe take some camping gear to spend the night there under the stars. Did your parents give you permission for that yet? Mine kind of want us to have a chaperone there since we’re only fourteen. They’re not worried about our safety so much as…”
“Well maybe we should bring Hiro along, they know that nothing will happen with him there, he’s uber responsible,” she suggested, but then pursed her lips as if thinking of something else. “It wouldn’t really feel much like a date though with three of us… maybe if Hiro had a date too. I got it!” Her enthusiasm may not have been as fake as her ‘sudden realization’, but it didn’t matter much as she turned a predatory smile to me and Hiro. “You should bring Merida as a date, you two would make such a cute couple! And she even has a chaperone, Fawn was a college student before becoming a fairy right? So she could come along to make sure nothing too serious happens, what do you think babe?”
“My parents would go for that, as long as we had a responsible college student with us, and Fawn seems pretty responsible. It could be really fun with Hiro and Merida along too, since she’s going to be in the same grade as us it’d be nice to get to know her better,” Then Michelle seemed to have a real realization and her face fell. “She’s only turning thirteen tomorrow though so she won’t be able to legally operate an ATV on her own for at least a year.”
“Why do you need these ATV things?” Fawn suddenly asked. “If Merida and I are going then we could all just fly, she and Hiro can fly on their own and I have plenty of pixie dust for the two of you.” Et tu Fawn?
“I dinnae ken,” I began to say a bit awkwardly, “ Let’s no’ ge’ ahead o’ ourselves ‘ere Fawn. ‘iro prob’ly doesnae wan’ tae be pushed intae goin’ on some sort o double date wi’ me. ‘Sides, If we flew we’d ‘ave tae carry the surfboards an’ any other gear.”
Mei and Shu were grinning at me in stereo as the latter of the twins said, “I don’t think carrying stuff is going to be a problem once I give you your birthday present.” Really? Does everyone want to try to push Hiro and me together?
Hiro was smiling at me, and my heart suddenly felt like it was about to jump out of my chest and run as far away as possible. “I think it could be fun Merida, Linds and ‘Michelle are two of my best friends, and I like you and I’d really like to get to know you better. This could be a nice way to do that. It could be cool, so long as our parents both think its okay. So what do you say, is it a date?”
Get to know me better? Well, they’d learn a whole lot more about me once we revealed our true past to them during the party. Would they still be so eager to have this double date happen after that? I was about to offer a conditional and very uncertain response when Vanessa suddenly jumped in. “It’s a date, she’d love to!”
“Yep, I just know that you’re all going to have a great time,” Tasha put in.
I sighed and somehow managed to keep my facepalm internal. Why the hell was everyone trying to get the two of us together? Still, I sighed and added, “I… ummm... guess tha’ it’s a… uhhh… date then. So long as Mom is… ahh… okay wit’ it an’ all.” Then I thought to myself. “I should be okay, Blair would never go for something like that, would she? Wait, she’s as much as told me before that I’m an adult and can make my own decisions, and as Moms go she’s pretty cool about things in general. She also knows that Fawn may be a bit mischievous, but she’s also super responsible and won’t let things go too far. In fact she’ll probably be telling her exactly how far is too far. Knowing Blair, that’s likely somewhere around second base, or the second that I look like I’m uncomfortable. Oh my God I am so screwed!”
I was quiet and more than a little awkward as we ate the rest of our lunches. Once we were finished we all split up. My sisters, the Fairies and I all headed home while Jordyn went with Lindsey and the other members of 4-Ward to get a few things from their houses. Since it was a gorgeous day we planned to relax on the beach and maybe have the others give me, the twins, and Tasha our first surfing lesson if we had the time. Lindsey was hoping to find her old board and give Jordyn lessons as well.
By one thirty we were all ready to party. My sisters and I had all set up some umbrellas, beach chairs and a fold up table outside on our stretch of beach with our surfboards near at hand. I’d managed to find a nice wicker basket in the garage and had placed a pillow inside so that Peaches could nap and still be in my sight while we worked. While we were still wearing our Fairy clothes, we were wearing our swimsuits on underneath, as were the Fairies themselves, in case we did decide to swim or learn to surf. While we were doing that Andy was setting up the new grill that he and Paul had picked out and Mom was setting up some birthday decorations, pink and red balloons and streamers placed wherever she could get them to stay. She also already had her camera hanging around her neck, ready to begin documenting this family occasion.
Our guests started showing up a little before two o’clock. The first guest to arrive was a bit of a surprise, Agent Smith from the HAA, apparently Mom and Andy had told him about the party and about the possible need to bring others in on our secret after Mei’s Healing of Lindsey. Hiro and his mom Kasumi arrived shortly after, and to my surprise Hiro’s dad Paul was with them as well. Apparently he had decided to leave the restaurant in the hands of his assistant manager for the afternoon. They were followed quickly by Garret, and then Michelle, Lindsey, and Jordyn all arrived together. Once everyone had arrived we led them out the backdoor to the beach where Vanessa could relax in the water and give her shifting abilities a break for most of the party. We all gathered by the water most of us sitting in beach chairs or sharing blankets and then, after he had done some quick checking to make sure there were no listening devices or people other than those who had been invited, Smith introduced himself.
“I’m Agent Smith with the HAA, I’ve been involved with the Ainsley family for a while now, and they’re good people. The story that you’ve all been given about how these girls all got their powers is a cover story, one that must be maintained for the safety of everyone involved. We are prepared to tell you all the real story, but before we do you’ll need to sign these non-disclosure agreements. Nobody but those present can know about this, it is top-secret and I had to get approval from the Pentagon and a rush on a background check for each of you,” he said with a serious expression.
“Whoa! Top secret? Background checks?” Garret sputtered as he looked around nervously.
“Don’t worry Mr. Jackson, you all passed those checks, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation here with all of you present. Luckily for all of us my friend Andy, and the Ainsley girls, are good judges of character, but I must impress upon all of you the need to keep this secret. Lives could be in danger if the wrong people discover the truth and these girls, especially Mei could become targets.”
Once they had all agreed and the NDAs had all been signed Mom and I laid out the whole story for them, from when we had gotten involved until the group escape and the creation of my new identity and our cover story. We had even told them the truth about Mei’s powers, though for that part we had sent the Fairies off to check on Peaches who was still snoozing under an umbrella nearby. It was better for them to keep their belief that they had been brought here from Neverland. I suspected that they all knew the truth already, but having that little lie seemed to comfort them.
“Geeze Mei, I’ve never heard of anyone with power like that. I could have sworn you were a mage the way you draw on magic energy,” Lindsey said after a short silence. “That story about having a summon leave behind an egg with Merida’s dragon was pretty good though, I’m a magic user and I believed it easy enough. The healing thing is going to be hard to explain if you do that again in public though.”
“It’s been taken care of,” Agent Smith said with a shrug. “Mystech has changed her school file and classified her as a Mystic with primarily summoning magic and a knack for healing magic as well. Since she actually draws on magic energy she may have enough of a gift with magic to learn a few healing spells to augment her abilities and convince people that she’s just a mage with very focused talents, it does happen sometimes. Mei, you should find that your Summoning Magic class has been changed on your schedule. When I spoke with her earlier she told me that you don’t need that class, and that she would be giving you private lessons on healing magic herself during that time in her office.”
“I’m gonna learn real magic?! Cool!” Mei was beaming at that.
“This coming from the girl who can create life with a thought,” Michelle said with a laugh.
I was mostly quiet during this exchange as I watched our new friends and wondered what they thought of me now that they knew the truth. I was pretending to be a thirteen year girl when neither was really the truth. How could any of them want anything to do with me now? With a sigh I went to sit with Peaches and Fawn and started to gently pet my new dragon as I stared off into space.
“…you okay?” Hiro’s voice broke me out of my daze.
“Huh?” I oh-so-cleverly responded as I blinked up at him standing over me.
He was looking down at me in concern. “I was asking if you’re okay Merida, this is your birthday party, you should be having fun. Before that I asked if you had asked your Mom about the double date thing on Friday. My parents said they’re okay with it, since we’re all pretty responsible and Fawn would be there to keep an eye on us. Linds and Michelle got permission too, we’re all looking forward to it.”
“Ya dinnae feel diff’renly now tha’ ya ken the truth aboot me?”
Hiro blinked at me in confusion for a moment before sitting across from me and taking my hand in his own. “Why would we? It wasn’t your cover story that we liked, it was you and your sisters, and that hasn’t changed. You’re still the same girl, trying to get used to a new life after being born a guy, we knew that much already. A few years in age doesn’t make much difference, but you stopped being Maddock when you started living as Merida. So you’re still the same girl that we’ve been getting to know. You’re kind, caring, funny, vulnerable, powerful, and honestly its kinda badass that you used to be Special Forces.”
With that he stood up and pulled me to my feet as my heart beat wildly in my chest. “Now let’s go ask your mom about that date and have a little fun.” He half-dragged me along to where Blair was talking with his own mother and before I could say anything he asked, “Dr. Ainsley would it be okay if Merida came with me, Michelle, and Lindsey for a camping trip on Friday? They were kinda planning for it to be a double date thing, but we figured that we’d bring Fawn along too as a sort of chaperone.”
Mom seemed to think about it for a moment. “She would need ta bring the portable shield setup fer while she’s asleep, but Merida is old enough ta make her own decisions. I don’t min' her going, if all o' yuir parents are okay with it,” she paused to look a Kasumi who nodded and then added, “but Fawn will be keeping a very close eye on all of you.”
“Aye… umm… thanks Mom,” I barely managed to get out, my face nearly as red as my hair.
After that we spent until dinner with Vanessa and the members of 4-Ward teaching the rest of us how to surf and enjoying the sun, surf, and sand. I was a little awkward at first wearing my tiny aquamarine bikini, and surfing was a bit more challenging than I thought it was going to be, though by the time we quit for dinner my balance was getting better. I could have cheated by using my force field to maintain my balance, but I wanted to learn how to do it properly and I was really enjoying myself, even when I wiped out.
Andy and Paul had cooked up a bunch of chicken and burgers on the grill and we had a ton of snack foods and birthday cake, so I was able to eat my fill before Mom announced that it was time to open the gifts. Since they were the younger of us I insisted that the twins got to open theirs first. They really liked the lockets that I had gotten them, while Tasha, Vanessa, and Andy had gone all Disney on them by getting them movies that they didn’t have, stuffed animals, and Disney Fairies books. They were really happy with those gifts too and were especially thrilled when Mom had gotten them both a cellphone. They hadn’t gotten one when Mom had bought Tasha, Vanessa, and I one on or first shopping trip, because they were still a bit young, but apparently Mom thought that twelve was a good age for them to have one.
Mom had gotten me a stuffed pink dragon before Mei had revealed her gift, since I was a girl now and she knew that Princess Peony and the Amazing Egg was my favorite story. Andy had gotten me a laptop for school, but he assured me that it could handle gaming as well if I ever wanted to. I got a really nice black leather choker with a silver dragon hanging from it from Vanessa, and Tasha had gotten me stainless steel bracelet with her name, and those of my other sisters, engraved on the inside.
I was a bit choked up after the other gifts from my family and while Mei had given me Peaches already, hers and Shu’s gifts seemed the most personal. All the gifts were well thought out of course, and I loved them all, but with the twins it was like they wanted to give me a little bit of themselves. Mei had created me my own dragon based on my favorite story and Shu had taken one of the spare king-sized Mithrilex blankets that Mom had made for me and somehow imbued one of her dimensional portals permanently into the fabric, giving me access to my own pocket dimension. It had been so tiny when I had first seen it, just a two inch wide bit of cloth that could easily go in my purse or pocket, but she had merely pinched the back and folded the ends inside the portal. When she demonstrated pulling out the ends, and then shook it out to its full size, I think she broke more than a few brains
Inside the pocket dimension was a large bunker-type room made from concrete and steel that was half the size of our entire house. There were also doorways that led off to a smaller bathroom-sized room and a larger room that wasn’t near as big as the main room but sort of made me think of a military barracks from its size. The rooms were all dark and empty though and I had to use the flashlight function on my phone to see much. “Tha’s amazin’ Shu,” I said after taking a look inside, “bu’ ‘ow did ya ge’ it tae look like tha’? Usually it’s all jus’ empty space.”
Shu shrugged, though she was grinning like a cat who ate a canary as she replied, “I found out that while I’m creating a new pocket dimension I can control what it looks like a little. I couldn’t create anything like lights and furniture, but walls and floors and simple stuff are easy enough if I’ve seen the materials before. I thought that you might want a private bunker in case of emergencies, or a place where you can store your car and supplies and stuff. We may need to do some work to make it more comfortable but I think it’s a good start.”
“It’s an awesome start Shu, I ‘ave the bes’ sisters tha’ anyone could ask fer,” I said, pulling both twins into a hug.
We were interrupted by Lindsey calling out, “Okay you three, time for your present from us.”
“Wot? Ya didnae ‘ave tae ge’ us anythin’,” I argued as I let go of the twins.
“Well it’s sort of a gift for all the members of G-Force,” Garret explained, “but we all chipped in to get MetalMax to make them and then Lindsey put in some work once they were made. Michelle chipped in the diamonds from when she shed her diamond form after we fought that huge monster.”
The twins and I unwrapped the box and then opened it to reveal six simple size-adjustable silver rings with diamonds set in them that resembled those that all four members of 4-ward were currently wearing. “I kinda figured that we could be sister teams,” Lindsey said after a moment, “y’know help each other out when we need it. I learned a spell from one of my classmates to link all of our rings and allow us to find one another if we need to. It’s like the only spell I actually know so far, but I thought it would be nice in case any of us ever get into deep trouble on our own. If you ever need help just touch the ring and say ‘9-1-1’ and any of us who are wearing our rings will be able to find you.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say at first, but I smiled and made sure that Mom and each of my sisters had gotten a ring before putting the last on myself. “Thanks, all o’ ya, we appreciate it. An’ if’n ya e’er need ‘elp, we’ll come runnin’.”
To my surprise the gifts didn’t end there either. Smith had apparently been worried about our safety and had heard that we had gotten our carry licences for Costa Verde so he had gotten each of the twins a small Taser that they could carry in their purses in case they got attacked while out of costume. For me he had a dvd-rom. He didn’t tell me what was on it, but said that it was insurance in case the HAA tried to throw me under the bus again. He also made me promise not to view the contents, or let anyone else, until I really needed a get out of jail free card.
I was still reeling from that when Hiro and his parents approached us and handed both of the twins and me wrapped boxes. “Umm… thanks, ya didnae ‘ave tae ge’ us anythin’,” I said again, feeling a bit awkweird about people who really hadn’t known us all that long giving us gifts. For each of the twins they had gotten a pair of matching pink Disney schoolbags with the character Merida on them. They might seem a bit juvenile for twelve year olds, but the twins loved them.
I, on the other hand, found myself staring at a black and gold metallic tube of some sort that seemed to hum in my hand, and I was wondering just what it was. It was very lightweight and roughly a foot long with a golden sun on it that almost seemed to glow. Curious, I ran my finger over the sun shape and with a soft hissing sound it suddenly telescoped into what looked like a bow, nearly three feet long, with glowing gold lines running along its surface and a glowing golden string running from one end to the other. Now I recognized it. “This is…” I began to sputter as I looked from Hiro’s parents, to the object in my hands, and back again.
“The Bow of Amaterasu,” Hiro’s mother finished for me, “Or as many came to call, it Bright’s Bow. When my government first recruited me to become a hero they wanted me to use traditional weapons, should I use any at all. I could make constructs of swords, other melee weapons, and various throwing weapons just fine, but could never seem to make a bow construct work like a real bow. So they had a Tinker make this for me, it’s practically indestructible, portable, and the draw weight will respond to however much strength you’re using at the time. It was also designed with energy constructs in mind. I had planned on giving it to Hiro one day, but he thought that you could make better use of it. She’s yours now Merida, use her well, and be sure to bring her with you to our classes.”
Hiro was blushing and looking at the floor as he mumbled, “Well, I can’t make constructs and you’re going to be teaching her archery so it made sense.”
“I… ummm… thanks…” I could only stare as I managed to get those words out, my lips dry and my heart fluttering. He had had his mother, one of the most famous superheroes ever, give me something extremely valuable, something that by all rights should have been his. A simple thank you could never be enough for this. Blushing brightly I leaned forward to kiss him. I had fully intended just to give him an innocent peck on the cheek, but I found my lips meeting his own instead, seemingly of their own volition. The thrill that went through me was electric, a heat flowing through me like my blood was on fire. My heart was beating rapidly in my ears and everything and everyone else seemed to fade away as he kissed me back. For a second, and an eternity, it was just the two of us there, each of us fueling that kiss as we reciprocated what we received from the other. Finally though we had to come up for air and broke apart, and I stood there a hurricane of emotions surging through me as I tried to catch my breath. Finally, my cheeks burning as I realized what had just happened, I turned and ran for the house as fast as I could, tears streaming down my face.
'ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Teleporters. Teleporters are those who possess the ability tae move from one place tae another instantaneously. This kin be done in various ways; passin’ through other dimensions, matter displacement, or e’en by destroyin’ matter in one place tae reconstitute it somewhere else. While Teleporters are gen’rally considered their own class, usually their powers are tied tae another broader classification, like Generators, Pyschics, Mystics, or Energy Manipulators. Teleporters come in four diff’ren’ categories: Self Teleporters, Touch Teleporters, Portal Teleporters an’ Dimension Teleporters.
Self Teleporters kin only teleport their own bodies, some e’en ‘ave trouble keepin’ their clothes wi’ them. They kin teleport long or short range, bu’ gen’rally tha’ depends on their power levels. Cat Ones cannae really ‘port very far, while Cat Fives kin ‘port ‘cross the planet if’n tha’s wot they’re wantin’.
Touch Teleporters, like Tasha, kin ‘port themselves or anythin’ or anyone tha’ they ‘appen tae be touchin’ a’ the time. Like wi’ Self Teleporters, ‘ow far they kin ‘port depends on ‘ow powerful they are.
Portal Teleporters, like Rave from RevolveR, teleport by connectin’ two differen’ locations via a portal sort o’ like foldin’ space. Generally they’re only limited to places they’ve been, seen, or to people they’re familiar wit’. Portal Teleporters are gen’rally Cat Three or above as it takes a lot o’ power tae connect two places an’ hold open a portal for any given amount o’ time.
Dimension Teleporters like Shu share a lot o’ sim’larities wi’ Portal Teleporters. They move ‘tween places by passin’ through another dimension either consciously like Shu does, or subconsciously and wit’out e’en realizin’ tha’ they’re doin’ it. Agin, this takes a lot o’ power, e’en more than most Portal Teleporters, since they’re no’ bridgin’ two spots in the same world, bu’ completely differen’ dimensions. Ya will no’ often see a Dimension Teleporter below a Category Four. Mages gen’rally learn tae teleport by this method as well so ya dinnae often see low-level mages who kin manage it.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Teleporters today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Tinkers. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 29 Pink Alert Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I wasn’t really thinking when I ran into the house, I just needed to get some space while I tried to sort through the crushing torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. What had I done? Confusion, desire, joy, fear, and anxiety had all seemed to hit me at once the moment our lips had parted and I had come to my senses. Without consciously making my way there I ended up in my bedroom and onto the bed, and that was probably a good thing, because now that I had some space and time between me and what happened joy and desire had left the building, leaving me to the mercy of anxiety, fear, and confusion.
That being the case, my powers had kicked in and I was having a hard time controlling them. I was safe within the energy shield around my bed though, as I tried to calm both myself and my powers and figure out just what I was feeling and why. I was still attempting to do that, and wipe the tears from my eyes, when Tasha’s voice slipped into my quavering mind. *Merida, we’re coming in.*
I didn’t even have time to ask who ‘we’ consisted of before the door to my room opened and Tasha stepped inside with Vanessa at her side. “Hey Mer,” Vanessa said, forcing a smile, but looking very concerned. “Everyone out there is pretty worried about you y’know. Tasha managed to convince them all to not come rushing in here and just let us handle it though. Fawn and the twins really wanted to come too, but this talk is more of a big sisters thing, and without you out there Fawn will need to keep an eye on Peaches.”
Both of them came toward the bed and sat down on the floor, just outside the currently active energy shield. Tasha didn’t take her eyes off me, giving me a steady penetrating look as she got comfortable. Then she gave me a sisterly smile and said, “Okay Merida, I know that you’re starting to get the big sister role down with the twins, but you’re so damn self-reliant and unwilling to ask others for help outside of combat conditions that you probably don’t really have the kid sister perspective down yet. So here’s how this is going to work. I’m psychic so I already have a pretty good idea what set you off, but you are going to tell me and Vanessa what it is and we’re going to listen, be there for you, and help you to either deal with it or put it in perspective until you feel better, because that’s what big sisters do.”
“There may or may not also be ice cream and/or chocolate involved at some point, depending on how well things go,” Vanessa added with a nod before crossing her arms in front of her chest expectantly. “Now get talking missy, because we’re not going anywhere until you do.”
I looked from one to the other, wiping tears from my eyes as I struggled to get my powers back under control. They were serious. The thing was that I wanted, no needed, to talk to them about this because I was so uncertain what I should be doing, or feeling. I sniffled a bit and let out a long sigh, uncertain of what to say since I was uncertain of what my real problem was with all the conflicting emotions. That was part of the problem though, I felt like a victim to my emotions. When I had kissed Hiro, and then when I had run off I hadn’t been thinking, I had been letting my emotions, and possibly biology, control my reactions and it had been far from the first time.
Finally, seeing that they weren’t going anywhere until I talked to them, I took a deep breath as I tried to sort out what was going on in my head and heart. The problem was that my emotions and thoughts were both all over the place. Quietly and tentatively I said, “I’m no’ shoor tha’ I really ken wot the problem is. I felt like I was finally adjustin’ tae ma new life, an’ I was gettin’ on barry. Now though, ma heart an’ mind are switherin’ and I dinnae ken wot tae fookin’ dae.”
“Wow, my Scottish must be improving, because I actually understood about half of that,” Tasha teased before turning serious. “You’re doing fine Mer, you’ve been adjusting well, despite everything that’s been thrown our way lately, but what is it specifically that set you off and has you so confused?”
I looked down at the Bow of Amaterasu, still clenched tightly in my hand and tried again to steady my breathing and calm myself. I held it out for them to get a good look and asked, “Dae ya ken wot this is?”
“Holy crap! Is that Bright’s Bow?” Vanessa asked leaning closer to the energy shield surrounding my bed for a better look.
“Aye ‘Nessa. The Forrester’s gave it tae me as a gift. It was Hiro’s idea. It should ‘ave been passed down tae ‘im, bu’ he ‘ad ‘is Mom give it tae me. I go’ all caught up in the moment an’ wasnae thinkin’, an’ I jus’ kissed ‘im,” I admitted feeling my face flush. “I… think tha’ I really liked it… bu’ I freaked out a wee bi’. Ma emotions are all o’er the place, an’ kind o’ overwhelmin’. Its mos’ly confusion, bu’ I think tha’ I was ‘appy, an’ wanted more, ‘bu a’ the same time I was scared an’ anxious. It wasnae like tha’ when Conduit kissed me, sure he was cute an’ it was nice, bu’ I was really annoyed wit’ him too. I didnae freak out near this bad then so shouldn’t it ‘ave been easier?”
“Your confusion is understandable, given your situation,” Tasha told me with a sympathetic look. “Not just because of the gender, age, and sexuality switcharoo, though that probably plays a large part. You didn’t really know Conduit, and you said he annoyed you with the whole damsel in distress shtick. You’re attracted to Hiro though, you like him, this time you did the kissing, and it was a real kiss, not just receiving a peck on the cheek. That is a huge difference and you’re not used to giving in to your emotions that way.”
“But I’m no’…” I began to argue.
Tasha just sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t even think about denying it Merida, anyone who’s in the same time zone as you two can see how into each other you are. Anyway, getting back to my point; you have to remember that, with your PCEDS, emotions hit you harder than most girls, and girls are generally more likely to give in to emotional impulses. We aren’t as closed off as guys are that way, and biology plays a part in that. You like him, you’re attracted to him, and he did something that was incredibly sweet, so of course you kissed him. I would have kissed him too.”
“I would have too,” Vanessa agreed. “Mer, you are a girl who just had your first real kiss with a boy who you really like, and from what I was able to see neither of you was holding back. All of those emotions, even a bit of confusion, are completely understandable and nobody is going to judge you for feeling them, especially Hiro. He probably has a good idea what you’re going through, having been a girl himself before Activating. Any girl would feel that way. When I had my first kiss I was giddy and wanted to do it again, but at the same time that he might not have liked it, that maybe it was too soon. I was anxious too, all like; ‘Does he want to do it again? Should I let him if he does? And OMG this changes everything between us! What do I do?!’ The first kiss is a big thing for any girl.”
Having them break it all down for me like that, and even better, knowing that I wasn’t really feeling anything too unusual came as a great relief to me. We talked about things for a little while longer and I began to relax and feel not quite so terrified. I was able to get my powers back under control and, though I was blushing as red as my hair at the thought of facing Hiro and his parents again, I figured that I could manage being around people again. I took a deep breath, placed the Bow of Amaterasu carefully on top of my dresser for the moment and then gave Vanessa and Tasha both a big hug. “Thanks… fer bein’ great big sisters.”
Tasha grinned at me as she let me go. “What are big sisters for? We’re still kind of new at this, but we’re doing our best. I think there are rules though, like we have to tease you mercilessly about the boy you like.”
“Yup, I totally remember seeing that in the manual, I think it was on page thirty two,” Vanessa agreed. “So, are you looking forward to the big date on Friday?”
“I didnae agree tae tha’, you did,” I pointed out. I was looking forward to it though. I was insanely nervous, but still looking forward to it. Still I was a little unsure of why everyone was trying to push us into some sort of relationship. “All o’ ya really go’ tae stop tryin’ tae push us t’gether.”
“I think she doth protest too much,” Vanessa teased before hugging me again. “Really Mer, we might all tease you a bit, but nobody is going to force you and Hiro together. Like Tasha said though, anyone who knows one or both of you can see how into one another you are and we all just want you to be happy. What’s the harm in getting to know one another to see if you can be happy together? If anyone deserves a bit of happiness it’s you.”
I was still blushing as Vanessa let me go. “Okay, I… guess tha’ yuir right aboot tha. An’ I dae kind o’ like ‘im. He’s cute, sweet, funny, an’ he’s… umm… a right fair kisser. Mebbe I should give this a chance a’ least.”
“Good, now let’s get back to the party so you can give him an apology kiss,” Tasha jibed, pulling me toward the door.
When we got back outside and to the party it was near twilight and Andy was starting a fire in the fire pit. I was nearly knocked off my feet as Mom, the twins and all of the Fairies pounced on me to give me hugs, but once I had managed to convince them all that I was feeling better, and gave a somewhat awkward apology to Hiro’s parents, Lindsey’s cousin Jordyn, and the members of 4-ward for running off like I did, the party was back in full swing. I managed to get comfortable near the fire pit with Peaches and Fawn both snuggled up in my lap and Mom brought out all the makings for s’mores.
While we were cooking them she took Lindsey, Jordyn, Michelle, Garret, and Hiro all inside briefly to get their measurements in the costume maker and start making them new costumes from Mithrilex so they would be as safe as possible when doing hero work. It took a bit longer with Jordyn, since she didn’t have a signature costume and they had to design one for her, but soon they were all back outside and we were all chatting over the warm fire and s’mores while the machine worked on assembling their new costumes. With the exception of my brief freak-out it had been a really nice night, but it had to end sooner or later.
Once we had all said our good nights including a somewhat awkward and pulse pounding goodnight kiss between Hiro and I, our guests were headed home for the night. We all went back outside to clean up, but Mom and Andy only let Tasha and Vanessa help with that. Mei, Shu, and I were excused because we were the birthday girls, and we just had to take our gifts back to our rooms. Once I had brought everything else to my room, and placed Peaches’ temporary basket by my bed for the moment, I got ready for bed and climbed in with Fawn laying on the pillow beside me. I could have brought Peaches with me to cuddle too, but I didn’t want to risk it yet until I knew that she really was as able to take the heat as Mei thought she was. She had seemed fine when Fawn was with her earlier and her own force field had mimicked my loss of control, but I still wanted to try to safely test it.
It was as we lay there, almost ready to sleep, that Fawn ventured, “I’m glad that you’re feeling better Merida I was worried. I’m glad that you decided to go out with Hiro too, I like him, and the other Fairies feel the same way. I have a question though.”
“Thanks Fawn, yuir a good friend an’ I value yuir opinion. Wot dae ya wan’ tae ask”?
“Well,” the Fairy began uncertainly. “Fairies aren’t really born like humans are, we’re born from a baby’s first laugh. We don’t really measure time in the same way you do in Pixie Hollow either. I mean, we know what a day is, but we don’t really keep track of them the way humans here do, though we will kind of need to now for school and stuff. So I was wondering, do you think that I have a birthday?”
I turned my head to smile at her. “O’ course ya dae silly Fairy. I dinnae ken the day tha’ ya were born, but’ tha’s no’ really as importan’ as celebratin’ the fact tha’ yuir alive an’ ‘ave family an’ friends tha’ love an’ care fer ya. Ya have an identity now though, an’ the documents tae prove it, fer Lisa Anne Conrad. All o’ those documents tha’ I’m keepin’ fer ya in ma purse say tha’ yuir birthday is September fifteenth. I dinnae care if it’s jus’ you, me an’ some o’ the local animals, we’re goin’ tae celebrate ma bes’ friend’s birthday this year, an’ every year after. Sumthin’ tells me though, tha’ it’s goin’ tae be one ‘ell o’ a party.”
Fawn snuggled closer to the side of my face. “Thanks Merida, I’m so happy to have a best friend like you, and now we have Peaches too.”
“Aye, yuir welcome Fawn. I dinnae ken wot I did tae deserve a friend like you, but I’m glad tae ‘ave you an’ Peaches both. Sleep well ma friend.”
The morning of my ‘birthday’ was like any other day, except for everyone telling me happy birthday. I couldn’t really see it as mine though since it had just been an arbitrary date we had picked out for my cover story and since I had celebrated the day before with my sisters. Still the sentiment was nice at least. Once Fawn had managed to calm me from the nightmares we got dressed for our morning training session and I put myself, my sisters and our Fairy friends through a vigorous workout and an intense hand to hand combat training session. The Fairies may not use it much, but it was good discipline for them and I was also teaching them every dirty trick I could think of for when they had to fight human sized opponents.
After showering, cooking, eating breakfast, and feeding Peaches we discussed what we wanted to do for the day, since Mom and Andy were busy at the school. I wanted to go to a pet store and see about getting some things for Peaches, and Fawn and I would need some camping gear and supplies for our overnight trip the next day too so I had planned to meet Hiro at Surf n’ Turf for that. Fawn and the other Fairies volunteered to stay home and dragon-sit while I did that though. It worked out since Fawn wanted to start training Peaches ASAP, Iridessa and Silvermist wanted to sunbathe on the beach for a bit, and Tink and Periwinkle wanted to spend some sister time together and maybe work on one of Tink’s doodads.
My sisters all decided that we should make a trip of it to the mall together since the Fairies were going to be busy, though they promised to find something else to do if it looked like Hiro and I needed some alone time. Their offer only made me blush and insist that sister time was fine with me. Since it was so bloody hot we decided to dress light; The twins wore shorts, light blouses, and sneakers, Tasha wore cut-off shorts, a halter top, and heeled sandals, while Vanessa and I both donned sundresses and sandals over our bikinis, hers a dark blue and white while mine was a forest green with a floral print. We headed to the mall together planning to meet up with Hiro at Surf n’ Turf.
Hiro didn’t think that Fawn and I would need much except for food when we discussed it at the store. Mom had already prepared in case we wanted to go camping, and both Fawn and I had Mithrilex sleeping bags already waiting for us. Michelle was borrowing a large cooler for food and drinks and had a lot of the gear we would need as a group already. Since I wouldn’t need a flashlight or lighter or anything with my powers, all I would really need, besides chipping in for food, would be some comfortable clothes for the trip, a bikini, my surfboard, and maybe some spelunking gear.
We were looking at the latter when the entire mall seemed to shake with the distant sound of an explosion. Dropping what we were looking at, the six of us made a run for the source of the sound. There was a massive hole in the ceiling of the mall and five girls were hovering over the fleeing crowds wearing what looked like pink and white Japanese school uniforms and tiny little pink domino masks that did nothing to hide their appearances. Despite their dress, not a single one of them were Japanese, or even Asian, they were all white and looked to be in their late teens; one blonde, two brunettes, a redhead and the last had hair as pink as her uniform.
The pink haired one shouted out in a sing-song manner over the screams of the fleeing crowd, “Ohayou everyone! We’re looking for five teenage girls who were last seen in this city! Whoever helps us find them gets to not die!”
Hiro was looking pissed off and muttering about cultural appropriation and I was about ready to go in swinging when Tasha stopped me, pointing to the blonde and the pink haired girl. “We need our costumes first, and not just for the whole secret identity thing. I’m absolutely sure of two things right now; they’re looking for us for some reason and those two are Cat Fives.”
Shu was already at work opening the pocket dimension containing our costumes. “Okay everyone, the changing room is open. Let’s make it quick.”
I handed Hiro the spare mask from my purse before he could run off to face them alone. “Try no’ tae fight unless ya ‘ave tae, keep ‘em talkin’, bu’ focused on you until we kin join ya an’ so the innocent bystanders ‘ave time tae get out o’ here.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he said as he grimly donned the mask and headed toward them. As I stepped into the pocket dimension I heard him call out, “Hey! Nobody has to get hurt here, just tell me who you’re looking for and maybe we can discuss this like civilized people.”
What followed was the quickest costume change in history, well our history anyway since none of us has super speed. I guess I do, but only with my force field on… anyway I digress. Once we were all dressed more appropriately and Shu and Mei had their gear belts on we ran onto the scene where one of the brunettes was gripping Hiro by the throat and trying, not too successfully to choke the life out of him. *Bystanders are all out of the combat zone Merida, it’s only us, Hiro and these Sailor Scout wannabe’s.*
*Good, let’s see what they want, but everyone be careful. We don’t have the Fairies here so flying is out for most of you,* I cautioned. Then I stepped out into the open. “Oi there! Lookin’ fer us? Put ‘im down an’ tell us wot yuir wantin’.”
The pink-haired one, who seemed to be the leader, turned to the brunette holding Hiro. She tossed him aside and her eyes widened when instead of crashing into the wall he just hovered there, ten feet away from her and said, “Thanks for coming G-Force. Talking wasn’t really working out so well, but at least I gave those other people time to escape.”
Pink didn’t look too happy about the fact that they’d apparently been suckered out of causing an even bigger scene, but her frown quickly turned into a smile, the kind of smile where you can tell that not everything is working right upstairs. “Ohayou! We’re Code Pink, and we’re here to invite you to join the Shadow Syndicate. It’s a wonderful organization devoted to world conquest and there’s plenty of room for advancement. We’d be so happy to have you as playmates.”
“Tha’s a temptin’ offer an’ all, bu’ wot ‘appens if we decide tha’ we dinnae wan’ tae take ya up on it?” I asked pointedly. A recruitment attempt for an evil organization by a team of pink clad psychopaths really wasn’t how I was expecting to spend my day today. And there were two Cat Fives among them, but I had no idea what their powers were. That’s when I figured that I was in for a very long day.
“This happens.” Pinky was as fast as I was with my force field up and before any of us could react some sort of purple and pink flames shot from her opened hand to wash over Hiro.
“Hiro!” I half gasped and half screamed. I could feel the heat from where I was standing, those flames were hot, nearly as hot when I go plasma. Her physical attributes didn’t seem to be higher than Cat three from the way she moved and the way she was flying when we first saw them. So I was willing to bet that if she had a Cat Five ability that was it. I could see it in the smile on her face as she showed it off. Hiro was only a Cat three, even his invulnerability wasn’t going to save him. He’d have to be a Cat Five himself to survive an attack like that.
I fell to my knees in shock, and I could feel the tears starting to fall as she let the flames fade. I’m not really sure who was more stunned by what happened next, my team or hers. Hiro was gone, but where he had previously hovered in the air there was now a petite, pretty, and very naked Japanese girl with glowing golden hair and eyes wearing the mask I had loaned Hiro. The girl frantically tried to cover herself with her hands as she cursed. “Aww dammit, this is sooo embarrassing!” Then she looked at me and gave a nervous smile before tentatively finger waving. “Well, this is awkward. Soooo… uhh… Flare, do you think I could borrow something to wear before we kick the crap out of these nut-cases. The other members of 4-ward should be on their way.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Tinkers. Tinkers are mutants who ‘ave ‘ah their intelligence dramatically increased when they Activated intae the genius range an’ sometimes e’en more than tha’. Hypers who become geniuses are no’ necessarily Tinker’s though, since tae be classified a Tinker tha intelligence ‘as tae go ‘and in ‘and wit’ a talent an’ almos’ overwhelmin’ desire fer creation or invention in their area or areas of int’rest. They use tha’ intellect an’ their inherent creative talents tae create incredibly complex an’ advanced devices, gadgets, weapons, or fer other endeavors wi’ the power o’ SCIENCE! There are two categories o’ Tinkers: Focused Tinkers an’ Spectrum Tinkers.
Focused Tinkers are those whose intellect an’ creative talents are focused solely in one area. This area could be technology, weapons or defense systems, medical tech, engineerin’, genetics, or various other technical fields. They usually find themselves drawn tae this type o’ creation, needin’ tae build things, often wit’out e’en consciously tryin’ or thinkin’ aboot it. its no’ so much a focus as a compulsion tha’ they kin no’ easily resist.
Spectrum Tinkers, like ma sister/mom Blair, are much more versatile than their Focused counterparts. Their interests an’ talents kin encompass two, or a wide variety o’ diff’ren scientific fields. They also dinnae feel as strongly compelled to focus on a single field o’ study or research. They kin easily switch from one tae another an’ often ‘ave an improved mem’ry an’ learnin’ capability in addition tae their other mental gifts. Tha’s why Blair ‘as so many bloody doctorates an’ kin use ‘er talents in so many diff’ren fields. While Focused Tinkers kin be anywhere from a Cat’gory One tae a Cat Five, Spectrum Tinkers are always Cat’gory Four or ‘igher.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Tinkers today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Mystics. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 30 G-Force vs. Code Pink Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
We were all staring at the girl with the glowing golden hair and eyes; me, my sisters, and the members of Code Pink. She was naked, but there was ash on the ground beneath where she hovered, probably what remained of her clothes. The only thing left was the mask, the one that I had loaned Hiro, which was made of Mithrilex and meant to take the kind of punishment that those near-plasma hot pink and purple flames could dish out “H… Hiro?” I managed after a moment before turning to Shu, “Ummm… Packrat, dae ya think ya kin grab ma dress?” Yes it was definitely Hiro, I was sure of it, but it was a little hard to deal with right now because, well I had thought that he was going to die and now she was a very naked and very attractive girl.
“You got it Flare,” Packrat said reaching into one of her portals and producing the forest green floral print sundress that I had been wearing. I wasn’t too worried about it being damaged since it had been made and enchanted by the Taylors. She handed it to me and I tossed it toward the now female Hiro, who wasted no time pulling it over her head and adjusting it.
Genesis looked from the re-girled Hiro over to the pink-clad posers and giggled. “So you said you’d do the same to us if we didn’t join you right? I hate to break it to you, but we’re all already girls.”
“I didn’t… he shouldn’t!” Pinky sputtered, still trying to make sense of the situation. “How did you survive that?! I’m a Cat five! Nobody survives my flames!”
“I’m not nobody,” girl-Hiro said with a tired and slightly pained grin on her face as she looked at the pink-haired girl. “Y’know, Category five is pretty broad, unlike the other classifications there’s no real upper limit to the power levels in that class. All are pretty damn powerful. Some are just a little too powerful to be considered Category fours, some are definitely in the Cat five range, but some people get grouped in that class only because there’s no higher class to put them in. I can sense power levels in this form and two of you are definitely Cat fives. There are three people here right now that are so powerful that we really should come up with a new classification though, can you guess who? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not any of you.”
Golden light erupted from Hiro’s eyes in a blast that sent Pinky flying into the nearest wall causing one of the brunettes, the one with the long hair, to call out “Quartz! Are you okay?!”
Quartz’s answer was to stand and shake herself off, pink and purple flames igniting in her hands. “I’m okay Emerald, but that bitch is going to pay! These bitches had their chance, kill them all!”
Hiro gave me an apologetic look. “I really didn’t want you to find out this way, I was hoping to explain once we knew each other better. I’ll explain later, I promise. I’ll take the pink one and you take the blonde.” With that she flew straight at Quartz, unloading on her with another blast from her eyes.
I really wanted to know what the hell was going on, but we had more important things to worry about at the moment. I charged up my force field and flew at the blonde, who was going after Psyche, only to have her disappear as soon as she got in range to hit her. “Try hittin’ me instead, aye? Or would ya rather tha’ I star’ things off?” I hit her with my field only slightly enhancing my strength, since I didn’t want to kill her and I wasn’t exactly sure what her powers were. All of them seemed to have some degree of flight, but beyond that I had no idea.
She turned her head to look at me and laugh, though it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “I have Cat five invulnerability. They call me Diamond for a reason, I haven’t felt so much as a tickle in three years. You haven’t got a chance, you really should have surrendered and taken the offer when we gave you the choice.”
“Oh really?” I replied, my face lighting up in a grin. “Ya ken, I’ve been ‘avin a real bad month. I jus’ wan’ tae explode sometimes, bu’ I’ve been carefully controllin’ maself, no’ wantin’ tae ‘urt anyone if’n I ‘appen tae go nuclear. Ya ‘ave no idea ‘ow much I’ve been wantin’ tae le’ loose.” I formed sparring glove constructs over my fists and filled them with enough explosive energy that they were nearly white-hot, then I hit her as hard as I could, a right jab to the solar plexus followed by a left uppercut to the jaw. This first folded her over with a grunt of pain while the follow-up had her staggering backwards.
I risked a quick glance to see how the others were faring. Hiro seemed to be absorbing all the fire that Quartz could throw at her and countering with eye-blasts while Emerald was going after Genesis, her hands glowing with a sickly green energy that I didn’t like the looks of at all. Genesis had summoned a pair of large wolf-like creatures to attack her, but they shrieked in pain when that energy touched them and Genesis quickly dismissed them in favour of a rock golem, though even that seemed to have trouble against whatever Emerald was using. The redhead had turned to the short-haired brunette and said, “You get the teleporter Sapphire, I’ll take care of the fish.”
“You got it Ruby,” Sapphire replied, drawing a pair of knives and vanishing in a puff of blue smoke to try to attack Psyche, who elbowed her in the gut and teleported away before she could strike. Ruby shifted into a human-tigress hybrid with nasty looking claws and went straight for Aquarius, who sent her flying with a blast of water she had gathered from the nearby fountain.
“Bad kitty!” Aquarius said with a glare as she floated toward her opponent on a bubble of water.
The sound of crazed laughing brought my attention back to my opponent. She was grinning like a maniac, a look of need in her tear-filled eyes. “I felt that, you actually hurt me! Again! Give me more!”
I backed away a step, uncertain of just what she was on about. “Look, I dinnae ken wot yuir on aboot, bu’ gen’rally people aren’t tha’ thrilled when I kick their asses. Are ya some sort ‘o masochist?”
“Let loose! Please! Hit me with everything you got! Give us both what we need!” Diamond insisted with that manic grin, taking another step toward me for each that I took back. “It’s been so long since I’ve felt anything! I need this, even if it’s pain! Fight me! Make me hurt! I’ll make you if I have to!” She directed a flurry of punches my way. She wasn’t as fast or strong as me with my shield up, maybe a Category two with her strength and speed, but she wasn’t backing off, even though my force field was easily absorbing her attacks.
Diamond didn’t seem to have any real fighting experience, she probably was just used to wearing her opponents down since she couldn’t be damaged herself. She didn’t have that killer instinct either, when she’d gone after Psyche, she had dialed down both her strength and speed from what she was using with me. Looking at the others on her team, who seemed to enjoy trying to hurt or kill others, she didn’t really fit in. I had to wonder how long she had been with them and why she had joined in the first place. Still, she wasn’t going to stop, and I couldn’t make her without giving her exactly what she seemed to want. She was right though, as much as she seemed to need to be hurt, I needed to be able to let loose and channel all the raw emotion that had been overwhelming me since my change. Regardless, I was hesitant to do so against someone who didn’t really seem that bad while the others may be fighting for their lives.
“Look! I admit t’would be good tae be able tae fight someone wit’out holdin’ back, bu’ yuir teammates seem pretty eager tae kill ma sisters an’ me, an’ I cannae le’ tha’ happen. If’n ya stand down fer now, you an’ I kin go a’ it later, no holds barred.”
There was uncertainty in her eyes as she looked from me back to the rest of the battle. “You’re right… I’m sorry, I just… I got caught up in the moment… it was nice to feel something, even pain. They’re… not really my team. This was supposed to be my first assignment with them. I wouldn’t have even joined them, but I had nowhere else to go… and they promised to help me. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I don’t think I could hurt you in any case… do you promise we can fight later, no holding back unless I ask you to?”
“Aye, ya ‘ave ma promise on tha’, bu’ we dae it where nobody else kin ge’ hurt,” I replied.
Diamond nodded in response. “That’s good, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, let’s see if your sisters need any help.”
We turned our attention back to the others. Ruby was insanely agile and was dodging all the water blasts that Aquarius could throw her way. She managed to get in close enough to rake the mermaid with her claws. To the tigress’ surprise though Aquarius only laughed. “I’m built to withstand the pressure of the deep ocean. Did you really think I can’t handle a few scratches Kitty? Thanks for coming in real close though, you were a pain in the tail to hit.” She encased Ruby in a sheath of water and hurled her at the nearest wall, where she fell to the floor unconscious.
Psyche was teleporting away every time that Sapphire teleported in close, but not before getting in a good hit each time. She was making good use of the hand to hand techniques and dirty tricks that I had been teaching everyone, making me grin proudly when she deftly avoided another attack only to appear behind the other teleporter. Once there, she delivered a solid strike to the nerve bundle at the back of the neck, causing Sapphire to fall down in a heap.
Packrat had been using her blasters on Emerald but she apparently had some level of invulnerability since the stun setting wasn’t doing anything to the pink and white clad brunette. She was adjusting the dials to a higher setting, but Emerald had managed to do enough damage to Genesis’ golem and the flock of imps that she had summoned that she had to dismiss them, and Emerald was now lunging for Genesis with a crazed look on her face. I’d seen that look before, on Phantom, it was the look of someone who really loved dishing out pain and death and was about get her fix. Diamond and I were both moving to intercept, while Genesis backed off and reached for a flashbang to try and buy herself some time, but Emerald was quick and I wasn’t sure if we could make it in time as Diamond called out, “Watch out! That green energy is like acid!”
Packrat reacted before any of us, not with her blasters, but opening up a dimensional portal in front of Emerald’s reaching hand, a portal that closed with her green glowing hand still inside. “Hands off! I won’t let you hurt my sister!”
Emerald screamed in agony, clutching the bleeding stump at the end of her right arm, where her hand and wrist had been a moment before. She was still screaming when I punched her hard enough to knock her out. Packrat stared for a moment, a horrified expression on what showed of her face. “I can heal her enough to stop the bleeding I think,” Genesis said. “Thanks sis, I owe you one.”
I was about to console Packrat, tell her that it was Emerald or Genesis, but to my surprise Diamond placed a hand on Packrat’s shoulder before I could. “Look kid, Emerald is crazy, and from what I’ve seen of her these past few weeks I’m pretty sure she gets off on hurting or killing people. She was going to kill your sister, I don’t doubt that for a second, but you stopped her and you didn’t go too far. You probably could have cost her a lot more than her hand, probably killed her if you wanted to, but she’s going to live and maybe learn her lesson. Sometimes you need to do the hard things for the right reasons, don’t feel bad about doing what you had to.”
I turned my attention to Hiro, who was still taking all the flames that Quartz could dish out and hitting her back with golden eye-blasts, though that seemed all that Hiro could do at the moment as she was trying to dodge any physical attacks, and barely managing that. It also looked like she was holding back on the power of her blasts, gradually increasing them to where she could hurt Quartz without killing her. Quartz turned her attention toward us and Diamond though. “What are you doing you stupid bitch?! You’re supposed to be killing them, not chatting!”
“Screw you Quartz! I told you I didn’t want anyone hurt and you promised me we were just here to try to recruit them. I should have left as soon as I discovered how bat-shit crazy you all were!” Diamond shouted back as she took her hand from Packrat’s shoulder and stomped over to where Hiro had Quartz pinned down with her eye beams and was starting to pour on the power. “Do you need help?”
“Yes! Take this he-bitch down so we can finish with our targets!” Quartz snapped.
“I wasn’t asking you Quartz, I’m way past done with you. If anyone is being taken down here it’s you,” Diamond said. “You’ve been lucky so far and you know it. Your flames aren’t doing anything and this guy… girl could probably have killed or seriously hurt you by now if she wasn’t holding back. So, since these people seem to be the good guys, I’m going to help them contain you.”
“You traitorous bitch! I’ll incinerate you!” Quartz screamed, lashing out at Diamond with her pink and purple flames. All she managed to do though was incinerate Diamond’s clothes.
“You know that your flames can’t hurt me, it’s why you asked me to join you in the first place, nothing hurts me. Well, not quite nothing I guess,” Diamond laughed as she shrugged the flames off and glanced in my direction. Then she turned to Hiro. “She’s not invulnerable, she’s got a Cat two transparent energy shield, anything around Cat three should be enough to overload it and knock her out.”
I had just enough time to notice Sapphire shifting on the ground before she, Quartz, Ruby, and Emerald all disappeared in puffs of blue smoke. “Bloody ‘ell! They go’ away!”
Diamond sighed. “They’ll be back, after all of us now probably. I should probably be pretty easy to find in jail, but they know they can’t hurt me so they’ll probably be after the lot of you.”
“Wot dae ya mean jail? I’m fair certain tha’ I promised ya a fight, an I dinnae see one o’ their uniforms on ya.” That just brought my attention to the fact that she was really naked now and despite the fact that she was attractive I wasn’t attracted, not like I was with Hiro right then. She had tried to do the right thing and help us, she didn’t strike me as the type of person that the other members of Code Pink were, and she wasn’t all that much older than us, probably sixteen or so like Tasha. I removed my cloak and handed it over to her. “Ya should pu’ this on I think, it’ll co’er ya ‘til we kin ge’ ya some clothes.”
Hiro glanced at me, nodding and smiling and I noticed my sisters doing the same as the boy-turned-girl said. “Lot’s of Hypers come here to Costa Verde, its not too surprising that another one showed up to help us out. I’m pretty sure I heard you deputize her too Flare, didn’t she say her codename is Safeguard?”
*Good idea Merida, my sixth sense tells me that she’s a good person. She’s not a criminal and she’s been through a lot, she’s a lot like us actually. She didn’t even try to hurt me when she came after me, I’m pretty sure she was just buying time while trying to figure out what to do,* Tasha sent us all over the mental link.
“Aye, an’ we kin always use another reserve member fer G-Force, maybe e’en a full member if’n she kin make the cut,” I responded to Hiro with a nod.
“You don’t have to protect me, I’m willing to take my punishment like a big girl,” the somewhat stunned former member of Code Pink said as she wrapped my cloak around herself awkwardly.
“Punishment fer wot? You an’ me, we were jus’ havin’ a friendly conversation, an’ ya didnae lay a finger on anyone else. Ya realized tha’ ya were on the wrong side an’ ya had the guts tae own up fer it an’ dae the right thing,” I told her carefully. “In fact, ya ‘elped us tae stop ‘em. Were you the one tae pu’ tha’ big ‘ole in the ceilin’? ‘Ave ya attacked anyone else? ‘Ave ya committed any crimes since Activatin’?”
She shook her head as she considered my questions. “No, that was Quartz. I don’t like hurting people unless its self defense, this was supposed to be my first mission and I only came along because Quartz promised me nobody would get hurt. Crimes? Does panhandling count?”
“There ya go then, there’s nothin’ tae charge ya wi’. We kin discuss it more after we all ge’ intae normal clothes an’ ya both explain yuirselves, right ‘iro,” I said looking pointedly at the girl with the glowing golden hair and eyes.
“Uhh yeah… that. You should call me Hana when I’m like this, or Firefly if I’m in costume.” A look of concentration passed over her features and the glow faded from her hair and eyes, leaving her looking like a regular Japanese girl. “This.., uhh… isn’t the first time I’ve changed forms like this. You’ll have to explain the incident to the cops, I can’t show my hero license since my ID bracelet was destroyed, but I have this form registered as well, as a reserve member of 4-Ward. I’m glad that we had a bunch of spare rings made though, damn that fire was hot.”
“Okay Packrat, kin ya ge’ e’eryone tae our place? Psyche, Safeguard looks aboot yuir size, mebbe ya kin loan ‘er somethin’ tae wear? Try tae call the other members o’ 4-Ward an’ le’ them know the fight is o’er an’ we’re meetin’ a’ our place. I’ll meet all o’ ya there when I finish reportin’ tae the cops.
After a long conversation with the cops and media about the mutant supervillains trying to recruit local Hypers, and us stopping them with the help of ‘Firefly’ and ‘Safeguard’, I made my way home. The other members of 4-Ward were already there and all of the Fairies seemed very interested in our new blonde friend. I quickly changed into something more comfortable and Shu placed my costume with hers and the others’.
Once we were all settled Brooke, Diamond’s real name, began to tell us her story. Three years ago, when she was thirteen, she had been living in a small commune of Hypers in the New Mexico desert. She had lost her whole family and her H Chromosomes Activated in a bomb attack that a group of anti-mutant extremists called the Right Hand later took credit for. She gained Category five invulnerability and Cat two speed and strength, but there was a side effect to her invulnerability. She completely lost her sense of touch. Her new skin couldn’t sense anything; touching, being touched, pressure, heat, cold, pain, pleasure, none of it. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure how she hadn’t gone insane after three years of that.
Since then she had been living on the streets, not really sure who to trust. Then, three weeks ago Quartz had noticed her when she had been hit by a truck and walked away, after pulling the driver from the wreckage. She had offered her a place to stay and promised to try to help her regain her sense of feel in exchange for joining her team. It seemed that her new teammates had taken far too much pleasure in trying to get her to feel pain, but nothing they could do hurt her. She had been considering going back to the streets when the mission to recruit us had come up. She had been half in shock when Quartz had tried to incinerate Hiro and that, her short conversation with me, and not wanting to see anyone hurt or killed had decided her.
“You can’t feel anything? Michelle asked, her face a mask of sympathy.
Brooke shook her head with a longing look in her eyes. “I still feel emotions, but nothing external, not since I Activated. Merida’s explosive punches were the first thing I’ve felt in three years. I know I probably sound like some kind of sicko wanting to feel pain, but it’s something.” She looked down at her hands folded in her lap for a moment looking ashamed. “I… about a year ago I lost hope, I tried to… end my suffering. I was hoping poisons might work, I tried everything I could think of, but… I guess I’m as resistant to them as I am to physical damage.”
“I kin unnerstan’ Brooke, I cannae imagine wot tha’s been like fer ya. I’ll keep my promise, an’ Mom is an expert on mutation an’ mutant physiology, so mebbe she kin fin’ a way tae ‘elp ya. We’ll dae e’erythin’ tha’ we kin,” I vowed as I absently petted Peaches in my lap.
There was a chorus of agreement to that from everyone in the room, Fairy and Hyper alike. Brooke started to cry a bit at that and we all pulled her into a group hug. She might not have been able to feel it, but we made damn sure she knew that we were there. Hopefully Mom could help her, and I felt that it might be a good idea for her to talk to Toxin as well. If anyone could understand what she was going through and help her, it was Kendra.
Once we had all let go of Brooke and were comfortable again Hana sighed and gave me an uncertain look. “I guess it’s my turn now. My parents and I are kinda hoping that your mom can help me too. It’s why we were so happy to have an expert on Hypers hired as the Chief of Medicine. We think that there’s a problem with my archetype. When I first Activated I was like this, I had absorbed a bunch of energy, but then I changed into a boy a few days later with mostly different powers. As Hiro I have the Cat three physical abilities, invulnerability, and flight like I told you, but I have this Cat five ability to absorb energy as well. It only seems to kick in though when the energy is too much for my invulnerability to handle.”
“So not wanting to be thought a Cat five, when it’s not a reliable ability, you keep that one quiet,” Tasha concluded.
Hana nodded. “The thing is I don’t have the ability to do anything with that energy as Hiro, or at least I don’t think so, because it changes me back to this form. I can still fly, but the only other powers I have are detecting power levels and the eye-blasts, using the energy that I’ve stored up, but I can’t seem to absorb any more. It’s a pain in the ass and I have to keep concentrating on lowering my power output if I want to look normal. As soon as the energy I’ve stored has all left my system I’ll be back in boy mode again. I’m guessing that will be about two days if I don’t get in any other pitched battles.”
“Could you be some kind of Shifter?” Vanessa queried.
“No, with Shifters transformations are natural and fluid. Every time I change I’m in agony, it’s like I’m being torn apart,” Hana replied with a shake of her head. Then she turned to me and sighed, looking down at her feet. “Sorry Merida, I wanted to let you get to know me more before telling you. I guess the date is off tomorrow. You couldn’t possibly be interested in me like this.”
The thing was that I was still interested. Very interested. It was confusing me, because I had seen a lot of hot girls since becoming one myself and not one of them seemed to make me feel any attraction. While I had been attracted to boys, there hadn’t been many of those either and it quickly went up in flames if they proved themselves to be jerks. That type of physical attraction seemed almost hollow to me until I met Hiro and got to know him better, like it was there, but just not important other than to catch my interest. I just seemed to click with Hiro, more and more as we spent time together and got to know one another. It didn’t really matter to me that she was Hana right now, I was just as attracted, maybe even more so, because she was still the same person inside.
I placed Peaches gently on the couch beside me and cupped Hana’s face in my hand. “I think I’ll be the judge o’ tha’ Hana,” I told her, and then I kissed her with every bit of interest I had.
“Ummm… wow I… uhh… you’re sure?” she fumbled to ask with a stunned smile on her pretty face.
“You’re no’ goin’ tae suddenly star’ likin’ boys on me, are ya?” I asked, giving her a mock-stern look.
“No! Ick! Even before I was a boy, I was attracted to girls. Boys don’t interest me at all, and there’s only one girl that does at the moment,” she insisted.
“Then the date is still on Hana,’” I told her, brushing a strand of hair from her face. A blush painted my face as the chorus of “Awwwwwww” reminded me that we weren’t alone.
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Mystics. Mystics are mutants who tap intae magic energy, one o’ the primal forces o’ nature, an’ use tha’ energy tae affect the world aroun’ them. Magical energy kin only be gathered from ley lines or from forces o’ nature, such as the sun, moon, the ocean, volcanoes an’ such. Mystics are a wee bi’ hard tae classify intae smaller groups since many use the energy they draw on fer a wide variety o’ diff’ren’ things, bu’ there are basically three types, Mages, Focused Talents, an’ Gifted.
Mages are those who able tae use the energy tha’ they gather tae learn an’ cast spells like Sorcerers an’ Sorceresses. Sorcerers an’ sorceresses are no’ really Hypers, they jus’ reg’lar humans who come from family lines wi’ a talent fer usin’ magic. Mages on the other ‘and come intae their magical talents when they Activate. Tha’s really the only diff’rence b’tween the two though as both kin learn a wide variety o’ magic types an’ are only limited by their power le’els, dedication to study, an’ areas o’ interest.
Focused Talents are Mages who only seem tae ‘ave the ability tae learn one or two specific types o’ magic. This could be anythin’, like healin’, transformations, summonin’, attack magic, defensive magic, or any number o’ other diff’ren’ types. They may only be able tae learn one or two tyes o’ magic, bu’ tha’ doesnae make ‘em pusho’ers. Their tight focus on those specific magic types usually make ‘em very powerful, though a lo’ does depen’ on their power le’els as well.
The las’ cat’gory o’ Mystics are Gifted, like Mei. They use the magic energy tha’ they draw on tae power a unique gift, often a mutant power from another class altogether. Because they draw on magic energy though, they usually ‘ave some le’el o’ magical talent as well, an’ kin usually learn magic tae some degree. This is no’ their specialization though, an’ many dinnae ‘ave time tae learn tae use magic on top o’ controllin’ their other powers. Many dinnae e’en ken tha’ they’re drawin’ on magic or ‘ave the potential tae use it a’ all. It takes a lo’ o’ dedication tae become a competent magic user an’ a develop one’s mutant powers as well.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Mystics today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Mediums. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 31 Brooke Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
We used the costume maker in Mom’s lab to get measurements for both Hana and Brooke and to produce a set of underclothes and a fairly basic sundress and sandals for each of them from basic materials. Since all the members of 4-Ward were there and the machine had finished the new costumes for them we were able to give them those. We would need to make another one for Hiro/Hana’s Firefly Identity though since she couldn’t really go around calling herself Megaman looking like that.
It took some convincing, but we got them both to agree to let Tasha design costumes for them as well. Brooke had never really considered doing the costumed crime fighting thing while living on the streets, since survival was more important to her, and she hated the costume that she had been forced to wear as a member of Code Pink. Hana, on the other hand, had never really thought to have an official costume for Firefly since she didn’t get to spend much time in that form, but Tasha had some good ideas. Both of their costumes would take several hours to produce, since they would be made from Mithrilex and not basic materials, once they had chosen one they liked.
Hana ended up choosing a basic black bodysuit, gloves, boots, and mask with single thin gold lines circling her arms and legs at an outward angle just below her knees and elbows and a gold firefly symbol on the chest. Tasha was hoping that Mom had a way to make the gold parts glow like Hana’s hair and eyes so she was going to hold off on producing it for now. As for Brooke, her Safeguard costume would be a silver colored bodysuit, gloves, and boots with a hunter green mask and mid thigh length sleeveless tunic worn overtop the bodysuit. The tunic also had silver embroidery along the neckline and hem and a silver knight’s helm displayed on the chest.
While they were going over making clothes and designing costumes I grabbed my cellphone and made a phone call to Dr. Edwards, in her capacity as the school headmistress. Once her secretary had put me through I could hear a slight groan as Dr. Edwards said, “I saw the news. Tell me exactly what happened at Greenhill Mall, was it your doing Merida?”
I gave a nervous laugh as I tried to decide whether we were really at fault or not. “We… ahh… shouldnae really lay blame, bu’ some crazy girls callin’ themselves Code Pink, came tae town lookin’ fer me an’ ma sisters. They were tryin’ tae recruit us fer some organization called the Shadow Syndicate. The leader blew part o’ the roof off o’ the mall an’ Hiro helped tae distract ‘em so people could escape an’ we could ge’ in costume. I wanted tae jus’ hit ‘em ‘ard an’ fast, bu’ Tasha figured out tha’ two o’ them were Cat fives.”
Dr. Edwards let out a long sigh. “Okay, I can see why you decided that you needed the extra protection of the costumes. I assume that you’re not calling me to tell me they got away, I got that from your interview on the news. Since you mentioned Firefly, I assume that one was a high level EM and Hiro took an attack. Who is this Safeguard you mentioned though, I don’t see any record of that codename among the students.”
“Aye, the leader was a Cat five EM, she was generatin’ these pink an’ purple flames tha’ were nearly as ‘ot as when I go plasma. She tried tae kill Hiro bu’ he absorbed the energy an’ changed, though his ID bracelet was destroyed. Safeguard is… well… she was one o’ them, no’ really one o’ them, bu’ she was ‘omeless an’ ‘ad nowhere else tae go. It was ‘er first mission wi’ them ‘an she didnae wan’ anyone ‘urt. She ‘elped us tae stop ‘em, bu’ one o’ them was a teleporter an’ they go’ away leavin’ her ‘ere wi’ us. She’s no’ a bad person, I couldnae le’ the police take ‘er in when she did the right thing, no’ tha’ she didnae try tae convince me. Brooke needs ‘elp no’ tae be thrown in some mutant prison.” I blurted it all out, uncertain of how she was going to react.
“Relax Merida, I probably would have done the same in your place,” the headmistress reassured me. “I’ll want a telepath to check her story and to get as much information as she has on this Shadow Syndicate. I’ll also want powers testing done for her. Bring her to the school and I’ll have someone waiting with a new ID bracelet for Hana and a visitor’s bracelet for this Brooke.”
“Aye Dr. Edwards, we’ll be there soon. I wan’ tae be in on ‘er power testin’ though. I promised ‘er a fight, no holdin’ back, unless she asks me tae,” I insisted.
“Merida, you’re one of the most powerful energy manipulators I’ve ever heard of, you could end up killing her, to survive a full-out fight with you she’d have to have at least…”
“Cat five invulnerability,” I said finishing her sentence for her. “I gave ‘er a full explosive power punch… twice, an’ she doesnae e’en ‘ave a bruise. It’s causin’ her a lot o’ problems actually, she cannae feel anythin’. I think Mom needs tae take a look a’ her.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end before Dr. Edwards’ response. “Once you get here take her to the medical center first. Hana will probably want to see your mother too, so you might as well bring her too. We’ll worry about the interview and powers testing once Blair has looked her over.”
“Aye, we’ll be there as quick as we kin,” I replied. Then I disconnected the call, put my phone back in my purse, and turned to the others. “Okay e’eryone, I’m s’posed tae take Brooke an’ Hana tae the school fer medical tests, an’ then Brooke will prob’ly ’ave powers testin’ an’ an interview too. Ya dinnae all ‘ave tae come if’n ya dinnae wan’ tae.”
“Nope we’re coming Mer,” Vanessa said as Tasha and the twins nodded their agreement. “We’ll be there to support Brooke and Hana.”
“You better believe we will,” Garret agreed for the members of 4-Ward.
“We’re coming too!” Tink put in. “Hana is a good friend and I think Brooke is going to be one too. We fairies stick by our friends, right girls?”
Fawn nodded her agreement, holding out her hand. “Faith…”
“Trust,” Silvermist added as she placed a hand atop Fawn’s.
Then all five Fairies had their hands joined together as they called out, “And pixie dust!”
Lindsey squeed in excitement. “They did the thing!”
Mei seemed to be sizing up Brooke and was whispering to Shu, just barely loud enough for me to hear. “I’m thinking Vidia for her. Do you think we can get Mom to take in Brooke too? I mean there’s already five of us.”
“I dunno,” Shu whispered back with a bit of a pout. “We might have to use the cute factor, but she needs us. She doesn’t have anybody, just like it used to be for all of us. She warned us about Emerald’s acid touch, if she didn’t…”
“Enough girls,” I told them. “We’ll ask Mom aboot it, an’ ‘opefully she’ll agree. Shu, dae ya think tha’ ya kin get us all tae the school entrance?”
“You got it Merida!” Shu replied as the air in the doorway out of the lab began to shimmer. “Okay everyone, the portal is open, just step on through the doorframe and into my dimension.” Soon we had all stepped inside into a vast empty space, where Shu then closed the portal and opened a new one, through which we could see the gates of Pacific Seaside Academy.
I was glad that I had decided to get Shu to create a shortcut for us, despite the fact that we had to wait for almost ten minutes for Garret’s dad to bring the ID bracelets for Hana and Brooke. We probably would have made an odd sight even in Costa Verde with one teenage male werewolf walking down the street with nine girls ranging from twelve to sixteen, five Fairies, and me carrying a tiny pink dragon in my arms. Hana seemed to feel better traveling that way too since it meant that she didn’t have to keep concentrating on lowering her energy output enough that her hair and eyes weren’t glowing.
Once Hana was wearing her new school ID bracelet and Brooke had her guest ID bracelet on, we all headed inside and toward the medical center. I walked straight up to the receptionist’s desk to talk to Cathy, who I had met when Mom had brought me and Vanessa in for examinations the morning that we moved into our new house. “Cathy, is ma Mom busy? I ‘ave a couple o’ possible patients ‘ere fer her a’ Dr. Edwards’ request.”
Cathy looked up from some paperwork to smile at me, her eyebrows rising a bit at the size of our group. “She’s just finishing with a patient Merida, you can take the patients into the med lab to wait for her. I presume that Miss Forrester is one of those patients? You and Fawn may join them for now if they’re okay with that, but I’ll have to ask the others to wait outside for now so it doesn’t get too crowded in there.”
“Aye, thanks Cathy,” I replied with a smile before turning to Brooke and Hana.
Brooke nodded, seemingly a bit uncertain. “I know that you said she’s your Mom, but I’ve never liked seeing doctors, I’d feel better having someone with me.”
“I don’t mind you being there with me Merida, I mean I should have told you about all this sooner, and you are sort of my potential girlfriend. It’ll probably just be blood tests and stuff for me anyway if she needs to do genetic tests. And I might need you to… umm… explain things,” Hana said, looking a bit nervous and awkward.
I led them both into the med lab with Peaches still held in my arms and Fawn riding atop my shoulder. A few minutes later Mom walked in and let out a relieved sigh. “When Cathy tol’ me ya were here, an’ that ya had patients fer me, I was expectin’ someone to be seriously hurt. Nobody looks injured though, so why don’t ya introduce me to yuir friends an’ explain what this is all about?”
I took a deep breath and looked from Mom to my companions before letting out a slight sigh. This could be an awkward explanation. “Mom this ‘ere is Brooke, an’ she was wit’ a group o’ supervillains wot came after me an’ the others. She’s no’ a bad guy though, an’ she ‘as some invulnerability related issues tha’ I’m hopin’ ya kin ‘elp her wit’. An’ this is Hana, though ya ‘ave kinda already met ‘er… as Hiro.”
Mom looked all three of us over for a moment before sighing and rubbing her temples. “This is goin’ tae be a long explanation isn’t it?”
One long explanation later Mom was up to date on not only what had happened at the mall, but also Brooke’s history, her current situation, the unwelcome side effect to the invulnerability, and Hiro/Hana’s issues and fears that there was something wrong with his/her archetype. First Mom took some blood and various other genetic samples from Hana, to be compared with samples from her time as Hiro, and run through various test and a specialized genetic scanner. She also had Brooke pluck one of her hairs for similar scanning since the blonde had yet to find anything strong enough to cut her hair yet. That certainly explained why her hair was tied back in a ponytail and as long as mine at thigh length. Her nails were fairly long too, and ragged looking since she had to chew them to trim them.
“The genetic scans won’t be done ‘til tomorrow or the next day,” Mom advised. “There’s no’ much I can really do ‘til then, so you girls can head off an’ grab some lunch before going to see Alana about powers testin’ for Brooke. I’ll try to figure out if I can find some way to help Brooke’s problem, maybe somethin’ on the tech side o’ things.”
“Aye Mom, thanks fer the ‘elp,” I said as I directed Hana and Brooke toward the door.
I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. “Brooke needs a place to stay?” At my nod she looked thoughtful for a moment. “What do yuir instincts say Merida?”
“I think she needs us, an’ I think she’s a good girl. I’m fair certain tha’ the telepath’s will prove tha’ she’s no’ lyin’. Despite all tha’ she’s been through she wants tae dae the right thing, she was willin’ tae let me take ‘er out tae the cops e’en though she didnae dae anythin’ criminal, because she realized tha’ she was on the wrong side a’ first. It takes a stand-up girl tae dae tha’,” I told her evenly.
“An’ what do the other’s think o’ her? Does Tasha ‘ave any feelin’s about her?” she pressed. She was thinking about helping her, I could tell, she had been since she found out that she was orphaned and had been living on the streets. She wouldn’t have been Blair if she hadn’t been. She just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a bad idea that might bite us in the ass later, and she wanted to make sure that we would all be okay with it if she did choose to take her in.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I honestly told her, “Tasha’s senses tol’ her the same, she didnae wan’ anyone hurt an’ she was lookin’ fer a way out, fer all o’ us. She tried tae protec’ the twins Mom, an’ she tol’ Shu jus’ wot she needed tae hear. She e’en tol’ Hana how tae stop Quartz afore they all escaped. ‘Nessa likes ‘er, the Fairies liked ‘er as soon as they met ‘er, an’ the twins are hopin’ tha’ yuir goin’ tae bring ‘er intae the family. We dae ‘ave tha’ extra bedroom, wot wi’ the twins sharin’ one.”
She let out a sigh, but she was smiling. “I’ll go take Andy out fer lunch and we’ll talk about it, what’s one more mouth to feed after yuirs? I think he’ll be fine wit’ it, an’ if he is I’ll call Tara at the HPP an’ see if we can get her put into ma custody an’ push the adoption papers through like we did with the others. No more strays after this though.”
“Aye Mom, I’ll keep it quiet until ya tell me fer shoor whether it’s a go,” I promised.
“Okay, come by an’ see me after yuir done wi’ Brooke’s testin’ an’ her interview. If it’s a go I’ll ‘ave some errands fer ya to run this afternoon.” She told me before grabbing her purse and leading me out to where the others were waiting to tell Cathy that she was going for lunch.
I suggested to those waiting for me that we do the same before Brooke’s testing and we all made our way together to the Grotto for a bite to eat. Brooke seemed uncertain about loading up her tray, and I thought that she was probably used to just eating what she could scavenge and the buffet at the Grotto could be pretty imposing at first. Vanessa put a hand on Brooke’s shoulder and told her encouragingly, “Go on take as much as you want, there’s plenty to choose from and you’re a student here too, or soon will be. They’re used to hungry students here, just look at Merida’s tray, and she’ll probably still go back for seconds.”
Brooke was looking at my tray, or rather she was staring at the heaping mountain of food atop it. She looked from it, to me and then back to the tray, her jaw looking about ready to hit the floor. “What? How?”
“You broke her Merida, now we have to keep her.” Tasha teased as she patted Brooke on the other shoulder. “She’s an Energy Manipulator Brooke, she has a crazy metabolism. Didn’t Quartz have that problem? It’s pretty common among powerful EMs, or so we’ve been told.”
“I… I never really hung out with any of them,” The tall blonde admitted uncertainly as we all took our loaded trays to the table where Jordyn was sitting and waving at us. “I stayed in the room they put me up in and they had food brought to me. The only times any of them came to visit me themselves were when they tried using their powers on me to see if they could hurt me and when we got the assignment to recruit you.”
“Sounds more like you were their prisoner than their teammate," Garret said with a low growl.
“Don’t worry Brooke, you have real friends now and they won’t treat you that way,” Periwinkle said from atop Shu’s shoulder.
“That’s right Peri, she’s got Fairy friends now, and Fairies are friends for life,” Tink agreed with her sister.
We all placed our trays on the table and were all sitting down as Brooke started to cry. “I… I…don’t…” she blubbered a bit.
The twins glomped her and hugged her tight, not caring whether she could feel it or not, she needed a hug. “We’re here for you Brooke. Don’t think of those pink losers again. You’re part of G-Force now and we’ve got your back!” I wasn’t sure which twin said it, but I was proud of them both.
I placed Peaches beside the plate of food that Fawn put on the table for the small pink dragon. As I did my best to cut it all up into bite sized portions for her I gave Brooke a stern look. “Aye, we go’ yuir back, an’ so does 4-Ward. Right now though, ya need tae eat up, yuir goin’ tae need yuir energy if’n yuir goin’ toe tae toe wi’ me after we eat.”
“Yeah, Merida’s gonna kick your butt,” Fawn added gleefully as we started to eat our meal together. Then she carefully added, “But only until you ask her to stop. She’s not mean and doesn’t want to hurt you too badly.”
Jordyn seemed to take that as the right moment to get a word in. “Hey everyone, so where’s Hiro and who are the two new girls?”
This time Lindsey did the explaining as the rest of us ate. Once she was finished she asked, “Did you bring the box from home like I asked?”
“Wow, and I thought my life was weird when I turned into a four-armed girl, it’s gotten like four times as weird since meeting all of you,” Lindsey’s cousin muttered before nodding in response to the question. “Yup, I brought it, it was the red jewelry box right?” She bent over to start looking in her backpack before producing a small red jewelry box with a lock on it in her lower right hand.
“Yeah that’s the one,” Linsey agreed, taking the box and unlocking it with a key on her keychain. Inside were several rings, identical to the ones that they had given us at the birthday party yesterday. “I’m glad that we got MetalMax to make these in bulk. Here you go Hana, your replacement.” She handed it over to her teammate before pulling two more out and handing one to both Jordyn and Brooke.
Both girls looked at her questioningly and Michelle decided to answer since her girlfriend was just sitting there with a teasing smile. “Well Brooke, you’re with G-Force now and they all got their rings last night at the party, so you should have one too. And as for you Jordyn; Hiro, Garret, Linds, and I were talking about it and we want you to think about being a reserve member for 4-Ward. Your powers may not be much physically until you can form a spirit contract, but we’re all pretty new to this, you’ve got a costume now, and having a Medium could be really useful if we ever run into anything supernatural. Believe you me, that happens more often here than you might think.”
Both girls had grudgingly accepted the rings, and the new positions that came with them, by the time we were all done eating. Then we had to part ways though as the members of 4-Ward all had busy afternoons ahead. Garret had to get home to finish some errands he had been doing for his Mom when his ring activated. Jordyn was helping to set up the spare bedroom at Lindsey’s house, where she would be staying when not in her dorm room. Lindsey and Michelle wanted to make sure that they had all the gear and supplies ready for when we left for our double date the next morning. As for Hana, she needed to go let her Mom know that she was a girl again, before she went home to make sure that she was prepared for the date too. She had gear and supplies to get ready too, and she needed to add girl clothes to the boy clothes she had already packed.
We said our goodbyes and Hana and I shared a quick kiss before we parted company and my sisters and I led Brooke to the Headmistress’ office. Once we were inside the secretary called Dr. Edwards and, instead of asking for us to come in, she came out with a tall bald man with chalk white skin and piercing violet eyes. She approached us with a smile, despite the serious look in her eyes as she looked Brooke over. “Hello girls, I take it that this is Brooke. Welcome to Pacific Seaside Academy Brooke, I’m the headmistress Dr. Edwards and this is Neuron. Before we take you to test your powers I’d like to ask you a few questions. Neuron is just here to make sure that you’re answering honestly and that nobody has done anything to mentally coerce you or manipulate your mind.”
The twins started to object, but Brooke placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Don’t worry, it’s okay, she’s just protecting her students. I was with what I’m pretty sure was an evil organization, and now I’m suddenly on your side. I can get it, I’d probably do the same in her place. I’ll answer as honestly as I can, but they don’t know me well enough to trust me completely, none of you do.” Then she turned to Dr. Edwards and Neuron and looked them both dead in the eyes. “Ask me your questions Headmistress, I am not afraid.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Mediums. Mediums are mutants who kin communicate with ghosts or nature spirits an’/or sense an’ manipulate spirit energy, the energy tha’ souls are made from. There are three gen’ral types o’ Mediums: Channelers, Contractors, an’ Souldancers.
Channelers are the mos’ common type o’ Mediums an’ gen’rally are anywhere from a Cat’gory one tae a Cat three. They cannae sense the spirit energy o’ the livin’, bu’ they kin sense ghosts an’ nature spirit’s an’ kin allow them tae take o’er their bodies fer short periods o‘ time.
Contractors kin sense the spirit energy o’ ghosts an’ nature spirits, but also tha’ o’ the livin’ as well, an’ sometimes manipulate it tae some degree. They are also much more suited tae hostin’ spirts in their bodies an’ kin make contracts with powerful spirits to use their powers, while the spirit’s live in their bodies. These contracts kin be short term or permanent, bu’ the costs fer either kin be high, an’ largely depen’ on the spirit an’ ‘ow well the contract is negotiated. Once made these contracts are bindin’ tae both the Contractor an’ the spirit an’ as proof a mark will appear somewhere on the Contractor’s body ‘til the contract is up.
Souldancers cannae host spirits in their bodies, bu’ they kin sense an’ manipulate spirit energy better an’ more naturally than any other Mediums, sometimes wi’out realizin’ tha’ they’re doin’ it. They kin move souls from one body tae another, absorb spirit energy, an’ some kin e’en send it intae non-livin’ objects tae bring them tae life.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Mediums today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Elementals. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 32 Tests Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Brooke’s interview with Dr. Edwards and Neuron was a huge relief for everyone involved. Not only did she not harbor any deep hidden desires to kill us all in our sleep or something like that, but Neuron had cleared her of any mental tampering, hypnotic suggestions, serious mental issues, or any evidence at all that anyone had played around in her head. She was exactly the person she seemed to be, which seemed to come as a big a relief to her as it did to the Headmistress. She had been relatively lucky that Code Pink hadn’t had a psychic, since we now knew that even though Brooke was invulnerable on the outside, she was vulnerable to, and probably could be harmed by, psychic attacks.
Brooke hadn’t been able to give them any real information on the Shadow Syndicate itself, but she had been able to give some good details about her former ‘teammates’. She had a general knowledge of all their powers, weaknesses, physical descriptions, as well as their given names and the location of the apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico that they worked out of. As soon as they had gotten that dose of information, Neuron left us to get in contact with the HAA office and a super hero team based there to see if they could be apprehended, or at the very least get more information from that apartment.
With her fears about a risk to her students allayed, Dr. Edwards officially welcomed Brooke to the school and guided us all down to the school’s sublevels to do Brooke’s testing in one of the PDE rooms. The Headmistress began setting up a simulation while Shu opened up the dimension she called the changing room, which held our costumes and some rough benches to sit on, so Brooke and I could change clothes. As I changed into my costume and Brooke changed into the bodysuit with all the sensors built in for powers testing, she seemed eager, but nervous. “Wot’s the matter Brooke? Ya dinnae ‘ave tae worry aboot passin’ this tes’, they jus’ wan’ tae ge’ an idea o’ how powerful ya are an’ wot other powers ya may ‘ave.”
“I guess I’m just not used to all of this attention,” she admitted as she finished getting out of her clothes. “And now I’m kind of worried about the possibility of a telepath doing something to me to make me hurt people I care about, or do other things I wouldn’t normally do.”
“Dinnae worry aboot it, most o’ us face the same risks,” I attempted to reassure her as I finished shedding my own clothes and reached for the bodysuit of my costume. “Once ya ge’ issued a proper school ID bracelet ya should be safe from anythin’ like tha’. These things ‘ave a ton o’ useful features, an’ one is tha’ they’re magicked wit’ a spell tae preven’ mind readin’ on the wearer. I’ve been tol’ tha’ it should work fer up tae a Cat three telepath. There’s a lo’ o’ people wi’ secrets ‘ere who dinnae wan’ other students pokin’ aroun’ in their ‘eads, accidental or otherwise. E’en a Cat four or five would ‘ave tae intentionally probe tae get’ pas’ the mental barrier this provides. If someone tried tha’ wi’ any o’ us Tasha would catch on an’ the rest o’ us would be there tae ‘elp as soon as possible.”
“I guess that makes me feel a little better, why would Tasha know though?” she asked. She gave the bodysuit with its attached sensors a long look and then began shimmying into it.
I thought about my answer for a moment before speaking, finishing with the bodysuit and reaching for my boots to tug them on. “Tasha is no’ jus’ a teleporter. She’s a Cat four clairvoyant an’ she kin’ mentally speak wit’ anyone she’s familiar wi’ by formin’ a link wi’ them. It’s a sort o’ open line ‘tween her an’ anyone she’s linked with tha’ kin be used by either party whenever they wan’. She’s been developin’ it wi’ me, ma sisters, the Fairies, an’ Mom intae a sorto’ psychic conference call. Normally it’s on call waitin’, bu’ any o’ us kin speak through it when we need tae, an’ she kin still sense things through it, like if one o’ us is in trouble. She ‘as this theory tha’ wit’ all our minds connected a’ the time, e’en if it’s passive tha’ it’ll make it harder fer telepaths tae force their way intae one o’ our minds. Sort o’ a psychic interference through crowd noise.”
Brooke looked confused and paused in her dressing. “Wouldn’t the bracelets stop something like that if they’ve got a spell on them to prevent reading the wearer’s thoughts?”
“Aye, one would think, bu’ we’ve ‘ad no problems so far,” I replied with a shrug before tugging on my gloves. “Tasha thinks it could be ‘cause ‘er powers dinnae actually let her read minds an’ look intae mem’ries, jus’ communicate. It could also be tha’ the links were formed afore we started wearin’ the bracelets, so the connection was already active an’ consensual. She’ll wan’ tae form a link wi’ ya afore ya ge’ yuir official bracelet tae bring ya intae the loop I think, yuir one o’ us now an’ it ‘elps a lo’ durin’ fights. Dinnae worry, it doesnae hurt or anythin’. None o’ us e’en knew she could dae tha’, or tha’ the links were there, ‘til the first time she shouted in ma brain. Now she’s gotten better a’ formin’ the link consciously. Is there anythin’ else worryin’ ya?”
I could see her face flush in the ruddy light of the construct I had created so we could see what we were doing in the darkness of this dimension. “I… I’m a bit nervous about going back to school. It’s been like three years and the school in the commune was really small. This place is huge, and I’m going to be so far behind. I’m probably going to have to start as a freshman. And where am I going to live?”
“Aye,” I agreed sadly as I secured my cloak around my shoulders. “I’m a wee bi’ nervous aboot startin’ school maself. Trus’ me three years is no’ so long. ‘Sides that’d pu’ ya in the same grade as me an’ the members o’ 4-Ward, an’ tha’ wouldnae be so bad. Ya prob’ly dinnae have tae worry aboot bullies a’ leas’. Jus’ try an’ keep a low profile though, Mei, Hana, an’ I will be doin’ the same. Cat fives are rare an’ people may wan’ tae be yuir friends fer the wrong reasons. We’ll fin’ ya a place, tae live an’ no matter wot ya will still ‘ave yer dorm room. Some students live in the dorms year-round.”
The blonde girl seemed to consider what I was saying for a moment before nodding and breathing a sigh of relief. “Yeah, I don’t even want to think about what being bullied by kids with super powers is like. As for friends, I’ll be choosing mine more carefully now, I don’t want a repeat of Code Pink.” There was a grim look on her face as she said the last and zipped up the bodysuit.
“Aye, well let’s no’ stay ‘ere all day chattin’ when I promised ya a good fight,” I said with a grin as I led her back out of the dimension and into the control room for the PDE room.
We were In the middle of a large city and had been given roles for this test. I would be playing a crazed villain willing to destroy the city if necessary to draw out my nemesis and defeat her. Brooke would be playing as Safeguard, a hero whose job would be to protect innocents, played by holograms and magical constructs, and stop me if possible once we started fighting. The idea was for her to get a feel for keeping an eye out for civilians and preventing collateral damage if possible and for me to see how much her invulnerability could really take.
We had stepped through separate portals to appear in different parts of the city and I hadn’t found her yet, but I wasn’t about to go searching for her. I was the villain in this scenario so I just needed to bring her to me. I powered up my force field and flew toward the tallest building that I could find, creating a sphere construct around me and filled it with near white hot explosiveness as I expanded it. Then, reminding myself that this was a simulation so I wouldn’t feel too guilty I plummeted down to the base of the building, continuing to feed it power and increase it’s size. By the time I hit the side of the building at ground level the field around me was a seething sphere of pure explosive, near plasma hot energy a good thirty feet in diameter. I knew that I wasn’t anywhere near my limit and that I could have made a field a lot bigger, but I wasn’t sure how much damage this would do and I just wanted to bring the building down and I really wasn’t used to letting loose.
The resulting explosion did indeed bring the building down, and took almost half of the rest of the city with it. It was like a damn nuke going off and, once the smoke had cleared, I stared around in horror in the aftermath as I heard several voices gasp over my earpiece in a mix of awe and horror as Vanessa muttered, “Holy shit.” That was a lot powerful than I thought it was going to be, and only reinforced the thought that I really needed to get a handle on controlling my powers. Thank goodness this was a simulation.
I was a bit worried that I might have seriously hurt Brooke though, so I quickly got some altitude to take a good look around. Movement caught my eye and there, about two blocks away from ground zero, I saw something moving and I rushed toward it. A large piece of rubble shifted as Brooke strained to lift it over her head and toss it aside. “Ouch, okay that hurt a bit. Holy crap Merida, did you really have to drop a city on me?” she muttered as dusted herself off, looking more annoyed than injured. She was a little shaky as she got to her feet and I thought she had some abrasions or burns at first, though they seemed to quickly vanish so I thought that I may have imagined them.
“I was… umm tryin’ tae ge’ yuir attention,” I muttered self consciously. “I still dinnae really ken ma own limits. Thank goodness I didnae try tae use ma full power, aye?”
I could hear Dr. Edwards groaning over my earpiece. “You did all that and you were still holding back? I knew I should have tested more than just your fine control with those constructs. I’m going to have to have Kasumi work with you on figuring out just what your limits are. With your condition you could be a danger to everyone in the city if you can’t get proper control.”
I winced at that, far too aware of how dangerous I was as I looked down at my glowing red hands. This was why I was holding back though, I couldn’t risk going all out. Too many people could get hurt. “Aye,” I said with a guilty sigh.
“Well there goes protecting the innocents,” Brooke grumbled as she flew toward me. She wasn’t a very fast flyer, I could have easily dodged or outrun her but she had wanted a fight so she was going to get one. As soon as she was in range I delivered a full-strength punch to her jaw, my fist covered in a sphere of explosive energy just a little bigger than I had used when last we had fought. I was going to try and gradually increase the explosive output through bigger constructs and use my full field-enhanced strength until we could figure out her limits for taking damage.
Her reaction time and strength weren’t quite as fast as mine while I was wearing my force field, but she was close, maybe a high Cat two or a low Cat three for her strength and speed. My punch hit and she winced against the pain, rubbing her jaw and grinning at me. We traded punches for a while, but she didn’t have much fighting experience so I made a mental note to have her join our morning training sessions and teach her some strategy as well. I had managed to start hitting her hard enough to start leaving bruises, but not quite break bones or cause serious damage when I noticed that the bruise I had left on her right cheek was quickly fading. This time I knew that I wasn’t imagining it. “Yer a regen tae?”
“How am I supposed to know?” she asked as she launched a kick at my side. “Nobody has ever hurt me this much before. This is great! I can feel all of it!”
I flew off, keeping slow enough so she could keep me in sight, until I found what I was looking for. A school bus had been sent flying by the first explosion and had rolled into a mangled mess that only somewhat retained its original form. I grabbed it by the front end, knowing that it was really going to push the limits of my field-enhanced strength, and then I hefted it, groaning with the effort as I swung it at my oncoming opponent like a giant baseball bat.
I just managed to see Brooke’s eyes widen in surprise as she muttered, “Oh crap.” Then I connected with the bus, but rather than hurting her, just connecting caused the bus to rip in half from the blow. Brooke was still floating there without a mark on her and grinning at me. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
I did do better, I went straight back to hand to hand, using full strength and slowly increasing the size of explosive constructs and the explosive energy that they contained to get a better idea for what both her invulnerability and seeming regenerative abilities could handle. All too soon Dr. Edwards called a halt to the session when I managed to cause a painful sounding crack to Brooke’s ribs. A portal opened near us and the Headmistress’ voice came over our earpieces. “Okay girls, that’s enough for today. “I’ve gotten a good idea of what Brooke is capable of, so you can both get changed and then take Brooke for a checkup with Dr. Ainsley, the sensors said you broke two of her ribs. Her regeneration should take care of it, but better safe than sorry.”
We had changed back into regular clothes and Dr. Edwards warned us not to talk about what happened in the testing session with anyone. Then she shared her findings with us before sending Brooke back to the medical center with me, my sisters, and the Fairies. Brooke definitely had mid range Category Five invulnerability, which was pretty impressive on its own, but she also seemed to be on the borderline between Cat two and three in regeneration, speed, and strength. Her flight capabilities weren’t really all that impressive at Category one, but she was going to be able to take a lot of punishment and even give some back when in a fight.
Brooke’s ribs were mostly healed by the time we got there and there didn’t seem to be anything else wrong with her, but Mom wanted to run her through some of her various scanners as well. She had come up with a theory about what may be causing Brooke’s lack of feeling during lunch and she was hoping to confirm it. Once she had finished the scans she brought Brooke back into the waiting area so that we could all hear the results. “Okay girls, so I think tha’ I’ve figured out why Brooke can’t feel anythin’. She doesn’t jus’ have invulnerable skin, her whole body is invulnerable, inside an’ out, an’ she seems ta have a redundant regeneration factor too. The problem is tha’ wi’ her hole body bein’ invulnerable, tha’ includes her various mechanoreceptors. They can’t sense pressure, heat, cold or pain, because she’s effectively immune ta those sensations at a cellular level. Therefore they aren’t sendin’ the correspondin’ signals ta the postcentral gyrus o’ her brain.”
“Is there anything you can do for her Mom?” Tasha asked, her voice mirroring the concern that all of us were feeling.
“I have some ideas, an’ I’ll star’ workin’ on ‘em as soon as I get home tonight. I may be able to use an idea I had to help Toxin, since it won’t work for her. You know I’ll do everythin’ I can girls,” she told us all seriously. “For now though, Brooke will need help settlin’ in. I talked ta Andy and we’ve agreed tha’ she can stay wit’ us fer as long as she likes. Tara has sent me all the appropriate forms to ‘ave Brooke put in my custody an’ ta fast-track an adoption if tha’s what Brooke wants. I’ll need some information from ya ta fill them out Brooke, but it’s all ready ta go if ya decide you want to stay with us an’ be part o’ our crazy family. So what do ya say?”
We were all hoping that she’d say yes, I could see it on my sisters’ and the Fairies faces. Brooke looked at us all uncertainly before giving Mom a confused look. “I… ummm… why? You barely even know me.”
“Because you need us,” Shu said solemnly, “and you proved yourself by trying to protect us and do the right thing.”
“Yeah, we kinda owe you and I think you’d make a great big sister,” Mei quickly agreed.
“You know, we were all orphans before we met and Mom offered to take us in. We’ve been through hell together and you may be coming late to the party, but I think you deserve a loving family as much as any of us,” Vanessa put in.
“I could sense that you were a good person and that you belonged with us since you first gave that pathetic attempt at looking like you were attacking me,” Tasha added with a smirk. “You’ll accept, I know it. You can’t fool a clairvoyant.”
“Yuir a member o’ G-Force now, yuir wearin’ the ring an’ e’erythin’,” I told her with a grin once the others had said their piece. “G-Force is no’ jus’ a team, we’re a bloody fam’ly an’ ya bes’ be getting’ use tae tha’.”
Mom laughed. “See Brooke, my daughters are all good judges o’ character, and goin’ by wot they tol’ me I’m guessin’ tha’ yuir no’ so bad in tha’ department yuirself. I’m no’ gonna force ya, but ya have a family here if ya want it.”
Five Fairies rushed Brooke then latching onto her with hugs. She might not have been able to feel them, but she’d have to have been blind not to see the affection as their tiny voices all drilled her. “So... Whaddaya say... Are you in… We’ll have so much fun together… Please…”
Her mouth tipped upward in a smile. “Okay, I’m in. It’ll be nice to have a family again.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Elementals. Elementals are mutants who ‘ave abilities related tae one o’ the elements. There are the four basic elements o’ Earth, Air, Water, or Fire, but there are also related elements such as Metal, Electricity, Wood, Ice, an’ prob’ly others tha I dinnae e’en ken aboot. Puttin’ aside the elements themselves though, there are four types o’ Elementals; Kinetics, Morphs, Full Elementals, an’ Symbolic Elementals.
Kinetics are Elementals who kin control the element tha’ they’re aligned tae. They’re able tae form it intae shapes or move it aroun’ usin’ only the power o’ their minds, much like telekinetics kin manipulate objects, though they are limited only tae the element tha’ they control.
Morphs are sort o’ like limited Shifters. They are able tae change their human bodies intae the element tha’ they’re aligned tae. Some those are stuck in elemental forms permanen’ly or kin only change tae human few short periods o’ time.
Full Elementals are those who possess the abilities o’ both Kinetics an’ Morphs. They kin’ control their element an’ change intae a form comprised o’ tha’ element. Usually their control an’ power is increased when in their elemental form. Electro-Cute would be classified as a Full Elemental.
Finally we ‘ave Symbolic Elementals like ma sister ‘Nessa. Symbolic Elementals are a recently discovered an’ rare classification an’ are a lo’ like Full Elementals, ‘cept tha’ they dinnae change form intae their element itself. Upon Activatin’ they change intae a form tha’ they mentally associate wi’ their element, which is why Nessa is a Mermaid. Often, in addition tae their kinetic abilities, these elementals often ‘ave some limited Shifter abilities an’ body adaptations or powers specific tae their new forms an’ element.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Elementals today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Enhanced. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 33 Preparations Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
With it having been decided that Brooke would be joining the family, and G-Force, Mom planned on taking the next day off from the clinic and just being on call. She wanted time to be able to get everything Brooke would need for when school started next week, and she wanted to try to get it all done before the long weekend. Brooke would need clothes and other necessities, school uniforms, some personal touches for her bedroom and dorm room, a phone, and Mom also wanted to go to the bank and get a trust fund set up for her like she had for the rest of us.
Mom mentioned that the shopping probably wouldn’t take that long, in fact some of it we could probably manage that afternoon. She actually planned on getting Brooke’s clothes through the Taylors, since she wanted durability for Brooke’s clothes, and it would save time. That would take some time though, as would getting Brooke her weapons certification from Sam Jackson and her license for hero work at City Hall. Except for those things, the phone, and the trip to the bank we could probably buy everything else with one of Mom’s credit cards that day. I still needed to get some food and supplies anyway, for the double date/camping trip, since Lindsey, Michelle, Hana, and I had planned on an early start the next morning.
I was as the same time both disappointed and happy about the prospect of a late afternoon shopping spree. One on hand, I wanted to be there for Brooke to give her my support and spend time with all of my sisters. On the other hand though, all of that time would be spent shopping. I may have found my own personal style, and I enjoyed spending time with my sisters, but I could still only take shopping in doses, though at least there would be a purpose to the trip. I still didn’t really get just aimlessly wandering around the mall, just for the sake of doing so.
Mom would have just taken the rest of the afternoon off to come with us, but she needed to be at the school, since she was expecting a large delivery of materials to the Tinker lab that Dr. Edwards had assigned for her personal use. The materials were worth a lot and included everything that she would need to finish the infiltration suits that she had been contracted to make for the HAA. She still had months before the contracted delivery date for the fifty suits, but she wanted to get the automated production process started as soon as possible. She was all too eager to be finished with the project, and to be able to cut ties with the agency that had been ready to throw me under the bus at the first opportunity.
So, armed with one of Mom’s credit cards that had an ungodly high spending limit, we all left the school grounds and Brooke turned in her visitor ID bracelet to the security guard at the front gate, as she had been instructed. Then I quickly called Hana to ask her advice on where to shop while Greenhill Mall would be closed for repair. With that done we headed to Shoreside Mall to do our shopping. It didn’t have Surf n’ Turf so I could get spelunking gear, but Hana had assured me over the phone that Shoreside Mall was much bigger than Greenhill, and would be fairly easy to get to.
With the directions that Hana had given me, the mall proved easy to find once everyone, except me and Brooke, was pixie dusted and we all took to the air. We headed southwest as she had instructed heading toward the shore until we saw the massive glass dome that shone tin the bright sunlight. The mall was apparently over three million square feet with the giant dome at the center and had three floors with about four hundred different stores. It looked massive as we approached and I could see why it was considered one of the big attractions of Costa Verde.
Peaches had snoozed contentedly, dreaming happy dreams in my arms the entire way, nuzzled against my chest and held securely in my arms. It was a little weird at first, but I was starting to get used to sensing the tiny dragon’s emotions, and how she seemed to react to some of mine, even when we weren’t together. When we had been at home earlier, discussing the attack by Code Pink and what would become of Brooke, Fawn had mentioned that Peaches had become really agitated right around the time we had been fighting Code Pink. Mei and Lindsey had explained that this empathic bond was due to the feydragon imprinting process between the hatchling and their ‘mother’, or me in this case.
Peaches was starting to stir now as we all just hovered above the mall and took it all in. “Would ya look a’ tha’...” I trailed off as I sensed my dragon waking and cooed softly at her, gently caressing her with one of my hands while still holding her carefully.
“Wow, that place is huge!” Vanessa said in awe. “With this place here, why the hell did Code Pink attack Greenhill Mall?”
“Sapphire,” Brooke quickly explained. “Somehow Quartz’s contact with the Shadow Syndicate had some surveillance photos of some of you and Sapphire is able to teleport to within a mile of a target who’s face she’s seen. Once we looked around from the air, and saw the mall, Quartz figured that that’s where we’d be most likely to find five teenage girls.”
We didn’t have the time to check out the whole mall of course, that would have taken an entire day, or maybe even longer. With that in mind we tried to keep to one section of the mall and get everything we needed there. Tasha’s sixth sense came in useful there as she led us unerringly from one store to the next. By dinner time we had managed to get Brooke’s school supplies, some decorations and personal effects for her rooms, personal hygiene stuff, and some other necessities. All that remained to get for our new sister was a nightgown for that night and a change of clothes for the next day.
For me, we found an outdoors gear store where I got two massive coolers to put food and drinks in and some good hiking boots. Once we were out of that store, and I was safe from onlookers in a special needs washroom, I placed my purchases in the portable pocket dimension that Shu had made me as a birthday gift. Then Tasha insistently dragged me toward a store called Magick Time. It turned out that it was a store where local magic users could buy hard to get supplies, spell components, and even tools to help train them train familiars.
My sisters and their Fairy companions then left me and Fawn standing outside the door, promising to meet me in the food court once they had gotten our new sister her change of clothes and sleepwear. They would have come in with me, but Tasha felt that all of us going into that crowded little store at once might be a problem. I stared at the store window a moment before shrugging and heading toward the door, “C’mon Fawn let’s see wot they ‘ave tha’ might be useful.”
The lady who ran the place was upon us almost as soon as we entered the door. “Well good evening, and welcome to Magic Time, I’m Penny, the owner. How can I help a pretty young witch like yourself?”
I shook my head and tried to explain. “I’m Merida, bu’ I’m no’ a witch. I’m no’ any kind o’ magic user. I recen’ly go’ ma new l’il friend ‘ere though, an’ I’m tol’ that’ they’re pretty smart, so I wan’ tae start trainin’ her while she’s still young.”
She looked down at Peaches in my arm and started gushing almost immediately. “Oh! A feydragon, and such a lovely one too! How did you ever get one of those if you’re not a magic user? They’re not easy to come by, but they make wonderful familiars and loyal and clever pets for those fortunate enough to hatch one. How old is it?”
“One o’ ma sisters is a magic user,” I told her carefully. “She kens ‘ow much I love dragons ‘an she managed tae ge’ me an egg fer ma birthday. She jus’ hatched yesterday actually.”
Penny smiled at me. “That was a fine thing for her to do, rather than keeping it for herself or selling it. Feydragon eggs are worth a lot in the magic-user community. You said it’s a female? If you ever want to breed her and sell her eggs when she’s mature I could find you plenty of buyers. You’re right to want to start training her early, and I have a few things that you’ll probably find useful.”
“Do you have any books on caring for dragons?” Fawn asked, emerging from where she had been hiding in my hair until we knew what to expect. “I know how to care for and train all sorts of animals, but I’ve never even seen a live dragon before Peaches hatched.”
Penny’s eyes just about bugged out of her head. “A Fairy? How did you…?” she started to ask.
“She’s no’ a real Fairy, this is ma bes’ friend. She’s a Hyper, jus’ like me,” I told the shocked shopkeeper, trying to keep to our cover story as much as possible as I gave a shrug. “Archetypes, wot kin ya dae, aye?”
“Yep, I’m Lisa. Most people call me Fawn though, since I look like that Fairy from the Disney movies,” my pixie pal put in. I was really glad that we had been working with her and the other Fairies on memorizing and sticking to their cover stories.
“I’m a minor sorceress myself, not a mutant like the two of you, but I live in Costa Verde so I’ve seen all kinds, or at least I thought I had until now.” The last was said with a laugh as the store owner seemed to recover from her shock. “We do have a few books on the smaller dragon types and training them as familiars, those should tell you most of what you need to know. Follow me girls and let’s see what I have that will be useful for you.”
We left the store with a book on dragons, another on training small dragons and other magical creatures as familiars, a few pet toys for Peaches, some training snacks, a thick glove and shoulder pad similar to those used for training falcons, and a tiny silver bell that Penny had enchanted and linked to Peaches so she would hear it from anywhere. Penny felt that we should be okay with just that, but she told us that if we needed any help or advice we could stop by and visit any time.
With that task done and the bag of purchases in hand we went to go meet the others for dinner in the food court. It was tourist season still and the mall was fairly busy, but it was pretty easy to tell the tourists from the Costa Verde natives. The natives might raise an eyebrow at a girl walking the mall with a Fairy riding on her shoulder and a feydragon in her arms, but it was really nothing to them. Half of the employees I’d seen today, and no few of the shoppers themselves were obvious mutants and the locals were used to that and pretty accepting of us. The tourists though, stopped and stared in shock or wonder, and some of them with thinly veiled looks of hate.
I did see a familiar face with bright pink hair and four arms who was getting even more looks than we were though. Jordyn was with a blonde woman who I though might be Lindsey’s mother with her age and the family resemblance. “Oi Jordyn!” I called out.
She smiled as she noticed us and approached. “Hey Merida, Fawn! Where’s the rest of your crew?”
“They’re s’posed tae be meetin’ us a’ the food court o’er there,” I replied as we closed the distance. “They were getting’ a change o’ clothes fer Brooke fer tonight an’ t’morrow. I was gettin’ some things fer trainin’ Peaches.”
“Cool. My mom sent a little money so I could get some things for my room and some girl stuff. We just finished actually. Oh, this is my aunt Rachel, Lindsey’s Mom,” Jordyn said by way of introduction. “Aunt Rachel, this is Merida and her Fairy friend Fawn. They’re two of the girls that Lindsey and I have been talking about. Merida is the one who helped me out with my uniforms and new clothes.”
“Nice tae meet ya Ma’am, Lindsey an’ Jordyn are good people,” I said with a smile. “I’d offer tae shake yuir ‘and, bu’ ma hands are a wee bi’ full.”
“Oh! So you’re the Merida I’ve been hearing so much about,” Lindsey’s mother said, her eyebrows rising in sudden interest. “Thank you for what you did for my niece, and for what you and your sisters did for my daughter. I owe you more than I could possibly repay.”
“Ya dinnae owe us anythin’ Ma’am,” I told her with a smile and a shake of my head. “Like I said, Linds an’ Jordyn are good people an’ I’m glad tae call ‘em ma friends.” I turned my attention back to Jordyn and asked, “If’n yuir done yuir shoppin’, dae ya wan’ tae come an’ eat wit’ us? Maybe come an’ hang out fer a bi’? Ya didnae really ge’ tae talk tae Brooke much, an’ yuir the two newest ‘ere.”
The four armed girl looked to her aunt, who nodded and smiled. “Go ahead Jordyn, I’ll take this stuff home. I think it’s great that you’re making friends who will accept you as you are, just try to be home by eleven and be careful. Even here in Costa Verde it’s not a safe place for a girl, especially an obvious mutant, to be out late at night.”
Jordyn wrapped all four arms around her in a hug. “Thanks Aunt Rachel, I’ll be home by then.”
“Dinnae worry aboot it Ma’am, we’ll make shoor tha’ she gets home safe,” I promised, “E’en if’n I ‘ave tae fly her there maself.”
Rachel shook her head, giving me a stern look. “Please don’t put yourself in any danger Merida, you’re younger and smaller than she and Lindsey are, and I wouldn’t want anything happening to you either. If plans change and she’s going to be later, or stay the night, have her call me to let me know.”
I wondered if she would feel the same if she knew that I probably had the power to wipe out the whole city if I tried, and a force field that made me pretty much indestructible. Still, she was probably right, just because I hadn’t run across any major weaknesses yet, didn’t mean that I didn’t have any. It was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, she looked worried. So as we left I promised, “Aye Ma’am we’ll dae our bes’ tae stay out o’ trouble, an’ we’ll call if’n anythin’ changes.”
I sent to the others along Tasha’s mind link. *Fawn and I are all done with getting things for Peaches and we’re heading to the food court. We ran into Jordyn so she’s going to tag along and hang out for a bit.*
*Cool! We’re already at the food court waiting for you,* Shu put in enthusiastically.
Brooke’s voice came along the link. *It is so weird having all of you able to talk in my head, and not hearing Merida’s accent.*
*You’ll get used to it. There is so much weird going on with this family that you’ll get used to this in no time,* Vanessa’s mental voice countered with a giggle. *Besides, this saves so much on our phone bills.*
After a nice dinner at the food court we made one last stop at a nearby grocery store so I could stock up on food and drinks that would be either easy to prepare while camping or ready to eat. I wanted to make sure I had plenty to eat for my hyper-metabolism while on my trip with Hana and the others. There were a lot of energy bars, fruit and melons, prepared meats, cheese, juices, bottled water, and anything that I thought might keep my energy level up and be filling enough to satisfy me if we were going to be doing a lot of activities.
When we got home we let Brooke in on the family secret and she swore herself to secrecy about our real origins and Mei’s powers. Mei of course wanted to show off, and had already planned on creating a Fairy friend for her newest sister, so it wasn’t long before Mei was passed out on the couch and a new naked Fairy had appeared in front of us all. Vidia was a fast-flying-talent fairy with long violet hair and grey eyes. She was very proud and seemed a bit terse, but she definitely had a soft spot for her new best friend Brooke and all of the Fairies seemed really happy to have her with us.
Mom and Andy had returned home by that time and both of them were trying to get to know Brooke better when Mei had done her thing. Andy just shook his head and sighed. “The twins can be a handful Brooke, especially Mei with her impulsiveness, but you’ll get used to it. We’re lucky that they have you older girls to look out for them.”
“Shu, why don’t you an’ the Fairies take Brooke an’ Vidia into my lab an’ get some clothes set up fer Vidia with the costume maker,” Mom encouraged. “I guess I’ll need t’ make her a fairy house for Brooke’s bedroom and dorm room at some point tonight too.”
I wasn’t really paying too much attention though, as I was looking at Jordyn, who had been staring silently at Mei with her mouth hanging open since she had summoned the new Fairy. “It’s a bi’ o’ a shocker seein’ her dae tha’ fer the first time.”
“We’re still tryin’ to figure out how Mei’s power works,” Mom added with a shrug. “Wildcards can be hard to figure out ‘cause they are often multiple classifications all workin’ together to make the mutant ability work like it does. Lindsey said tha’ she’s drawin’ on magic energy when she uses it, so I’m pretty sure tha’ she’s a Gifted Mystic, an’ probably a Direct Generator since she’s usin’ magic energy to generate livin’ matter rather than a normal magic summon. I have some theories, but I can’t say as I’m sure how she’s bringin’ ‘em to life though.”
“I know how,” Jordyn half mumbled, still wide-eyed. “She’s a Souldancer.”
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Enhanced. Enhanced are mutants who ‘ave one or more o’ their base physical attributes increased tae wot is considered above peak human when they Activate. These attributes include strength, speed, agility, reflexes, dexterity, stamina an’ the five senses. Some say tha’ durability is one o’ those too, especially since so many Enhanced seem tae ‘ave invulnerability a’ some level. This is under debate though, since invulnerability could ‘ave multiple causes, jus’ like flight. Mom says it could jus’ be due tae physical adaptations tae ‘elp them survive usin’ their other enhanced traits. There are two types o’ Enhanced; Packaged an’ Dedicated.
Packaged Enhanced are those who ‘ave multiple enhanced attributes like Hiro does wi’ his strength speed an’ reflexes. They could ‘ave jus’ two attributes enhanced or all o’ them ‘cross the board.
Dedicated Enhanced ‘ave a single enhanced trait. This is where ya ge’ yuir speedsters, strongmen, trackers, acrobatics an’ the like. They’re usually very good fer anythin’ involving’ tha’ one trait, bu’ if’n ya pu’ them in situations where tha’ trait isnae useful, then they’re basically screwed unless they ‘ave other powers as well.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Enhanced today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week tae talk aboot Wildcards. ‘til then, this is Merida signin’ off.
![]() |
Chapter 34 Soul Train Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Mom’s eyes widened at Jordyn’s hushed comment? “Yuir certain Jordyn?”
The four-armed girl nodded very slowly. “My Mom is a Contractor Medium too, so she and Woodwynd, the nature spirit that she’s contracted to, were able to give me a good handle on my Medium abilities before I came here. We may not be Souldancers, but we can sense and manipulate spirit energy to a small degree, and see when someone else is doing the same. It actually makes sense and explains a few things about both Mei and the Fairies.” She looked at me and Peaches for a moment. “I’m guessing that when she created Peaches that she wasn’t the one who passed out, but Merida?” It was a question, but she seemed pretty sure of the answer.
“Aye, bu’ how dae ya ken tha’?” I replied, not quite sure what all of this talk about Souldancers was about.
“Every soul I’ve seen since I Activated has had a unique feel to it, a different flavor I guess. I was wondering why all of the Fairies seem to have the same flavor, I mean there are slight differences between them all, but mostly their souls feel a lot like Mei’s,” she explained. “Fawn feels like hers too, but there’s this really strong connection to Merida that I can’t really explain that makes her feel like a blending of the two. Peaches feels more like Merida, with slight differences, but I don’t sense any of Mei’s flavor.”
“Well Fawn an’ Merida are quantum entangled, so that might explain that,” Mom offered with a thoughtful expression. “I was actually hopin’ to get a sensitive Medium to watch Mei usin’ her powers, since we ‘ave yet to discover a way of accurately sensing spirit energy manipulation, an’ I didn’t want to rule tha’ out. So what else does tha’ explain about Mei? Ya said there were a few things.”
“Yeah, the other thing was when she healed Lindsey. I could sense that Lindsey’s soul was weakening and ready to leave her body while Mei was trying to heal the damage, we almost lost her twice. It was like Mei forced her soul to stay in place and infused it with ambient spirit energy to strengthen it. I thought it was some sort of magic based healing ability or spell.”
“So what do you think is making Mei pass out when she’s creating permanent creatures anchored to our reality? And why did Merida pass out instead when she created Peaches?” Vanessa asked in concern.
The young Medium looked thoughtful for a long moment. “I think that when she’s temporarily summoning creatures that she’s using ambient spirit energy to create temporary artificial souls for the bodies she creates. It’s really not much different than a Souldancer placing ambient spirit energy in an inanimate object and controlling it, except she’s giving them a degree of free-will. Ambient spirit energy is easy to change since its very nature is change, but it wouldn’t stay in that form long for that same reason, unless she’s focussing on keeping it that way. It wouldn’t work for permanent living creatures, so I think that she’s using fragments of her own soul to create them and that would be really taxing on both body and soul, since they’re intertwined. Her soul needs time to heal after that. Merida, was she touching you when she created the egg that Peaches was in?”
I thought back, trying to remember and then quickly nodded. “Aye she was. Fawn tol’ me when I woke tha’ Mei didnae mean fer me tae pass out, bu’ she was tryin’ tae link Peaches tae jus’ me instead o’ her.”
“Then she must have used a shard of your soul to create Peaches,” Jordyn said with a nod. “I don’t even think she’s conscious of how she’s doing what she’s doing.”
“She’s giving out pieces of her soul, and Merida’s? Won’t that be a problem for them?” Andy asked with a look of concern on his face.
“Not really, at least I don’t think so,” the Medium replied after a moment’s thought. “Souls grow stronger as the person lives, they start off small, like the piece she just gave to create Vidia. It may be a shock to the system, but souls are kind of like a spiritual muscle, sure there’s short term discomfort when you strain them, but they can heal and grow stronger after being strained, though not many people get a chance to exercise their soul. I’d guess that Mei is going to feel less strained each time she does this.”
“The data does seem t indicate tha’ so far, she’s been unconscious less an’ less time wit’ each occurrence,” Mom agreed. “Yuir probably right about her no’ realizin’ what she’s doin’ either. Wi’ wildcards it’s often several different abilities workin’ together to make one new ability, bu’ they often can’t use those abilities separately. Or need to be trained to. Mei is usin’ her abilities instinctively, bu’ maybe you can help her learn to sense the spirit energy an’ souls like you do. If she really is a Souldancer then she should be able to sense as well as manipulate.”
“I can try Dr. Ainsley maybe I can work with her a bit over the long weekend before school starts,” Jordyn offered with a smile. “I need to practice anyway, but I am still a beginner myself.”
At least it didn’t sound like there were any serious long term effects from our soul transfusions, and we knew a little more about how Mei was doing what she was. Still, I wanted to be as informed as possible and asked, “Wot exactly kin ya tell us aboot Souldancers Jordyn? I think tha’ I go’ the gen’ral idea, bu’ I dinnae really ken much aboot Mediums, an’ tha’ could be bad if’n we e’er need to fight one or sumthin’ supernatural.”
Jordyn gave us a quick guide on Mediums. Whereas most people aren’t very sensitive to spirit energy or souls, Mediums can sense them and choose to host spirits in their bodies. Channelers can only do this for a short time and it isn’t much more than communication and giving the spirit a short-term place to stay in the world of the living. They’re sort of like a hotel for ghosts. Contractors like Jordyn are a little bit more sensitive and can host spirits permanently by making a contract with them and gaining some of that spirit’s powers, though they have to be careful when making the contract.
Souldancers like Mei though are even more resistant to possession than normal humans, who can only be possessed if their souls are weakened for some reason. They can also sense and easily manipulate souls and spirit energy more naturally than other Mediums. It’s a pretty scary power actually. They can move souls from one body to another, absorb spirit energy, and some can even send it into non-living objects to bring them to life. This was sort of what Mei was doing, although she was also creating living bodies for them with the Generator aspects of her power.
She had just finished her lesson when Brooke, Shu, and the Fairies came out of the lab, with Vidia now dressed and sitting upon Brooke’s shoulder. The newest Fairy had her dark violet hair in a ponytail and was wearing a purple vest with pink feathers, purple pants, and black ballet flats. Mom quickly reminded Brooke of their busy schedule tomorrow and that now they’d not only send the adoption papers to Tara, but now also ask Tara about an identity for Vidia while they were doing that. The idea was that Vidia could have been another college student-turned-fairy created by the Matriarch for another girl who didn’t Activate or survive the experiments. There was enough truth in that, since there were a lot of girls who hadn’t survived the Zeta Bomb.
Mom called Dr. Edwards to make sure that she would have school ID bracelets for both Brooke and Vidia in the morning. They would start their day the next morning with picking those up and then go see Sam Jackson and Tiny about the weapons safety and certification class for the pair. That would be followed by a visit to Toxin for some tests and to work out their class schedules and dorm assignment and a visit to the Taylors for a new wardrobe. When all that was finally done they would head downtown to go to the bank, get Brooke a phone, and to go get the pair their licenses for hero work and carry permits from City Hall, the last of which they would need to do in costume.
Mom would be getting up extra early though, both to see me off before I went to meet with Hana and the others, and to call Tara on the east coast to get the adoption papers for Brooke fast-tracked and an identity for Vidia. Mom had already filled out, signed, and faxed the adoption papers to her not long after getting home and getting the details about Brooke’s parents, birthdate, and place of birth. She had also warned Tara of the possibility of a new Fairy when she had talked to her earlier in the day and apparently the HPP official had mentioned preparing an identity for one, in case Brooke should accept the adoption and a new Fairy should appear. As soon as the details were worked out in the morning, Tara would have the document packages couriered to our home.
Since we had such busy days planned tomorrow we didn’t stay up too late. Jordyn hung out for a while and she seemed to hit it off with Brooke and Vidia as well as she had with the rest of us, though with Vidia it was a bit hard to tell. We talked about the upcoming long weekend, the barbeque at Hana’s place, and the upcoming school year as we played a game of Monopoly. Since Mei was out cold, Tink offered to team up with Jordyn and the Fairies moved the pieces along the board while we humans rolled the dice. Around ten o’clock Andy gave Jordyn a ride home while the rest of us prepared for bed.
I was Maddock again, in my stone cell and trying to open the thick steel door, but try as I might the door wouldn’t budge. I called out over my radio, “Can anyone read me? Grizzly? Hammer? Tank? Spitfire? Reaper?”
“They won’t answer,” Reaper’s voice replied. “They’re dead, we failed them. You need to get out of there before the bomb goes off. Come on Mac, you’re a big strong guy, so get that door open and get to safety. I’ll wait for you, maybe afterwards we can get together like we did after that mission in Orlando. Just you, me, a good bottle of Scotch, and a hotel room.”
I yanked at the door as hard as I could, but it still wouldn’t budge. “Tha’ was a mistake Tabby, we both know tha’. It shouldn’t ‘ave happened.”
“Yeah, it shouldn’t have happened those other times either Maddock, but you and me, we always were like gasoline and a match. A quick hot and uncontrolled blaze, leaving only ashes and regrets behind. A little like that room if you’re still in there when that bomb goes off. We always had the passion, but we never could have made it work long term, we both knew that. It’s why we called it quits before things got serious and concentrated on our careers and keeping the team safe.”
I struggled against the door, kicking it in frustration. “Why are ya bringin’ this up now o’ all times!”
“Well I figured I’d give you some advice since you seem to have gotten over me and are going for the newer model. A bit young for you isn’t she? Or is she?” The bomb went off and once again my body was on fire, changing, becoming younger with the agonizing pulling of flesh and cracking of bones. I knelt there, breathing heavily, and tears falling to the stone floor beneath me, a thirteen year old girl once again. “You’re not exactly an old man any more Maddock, don’t worry what people will think so much. The two of you seem to get along well enough, and it’s more than just attraction and pent up lust and sexual frustration like it was with us. Maybe you could be happy, if you live long enough.”
That was when I heard the foot steps coming ever closer to my cell. A voice called out, echoing off the walls. “Hey big boy, did you survive? I’m interested to see how you turned out. Come out and play!” It was Phantom. My heart raced and I was shaking in fear. I kept trying to pull the door open, but it wouldn’t budge and the walls were closing in around me, leaving nowhere to run or hide. Her face suddenly appeared in the tiny window of the steel door grinning and licking her lips as she looked me over. “Come make yourself useful brat, you’re one of us now!”
I stumbled back from the door, but there was nowhere to go, the walls had closed in around me so tight that I felt like I was in a stone coffin. I couldn’t breathe. I was taking great gasps of air, but none of it seemed to help. She opened the door, reaching for me and I fell to the floor to roll up in a ball and wait for the inevitable while pleading, “Please, nae, ya dinnae wan’ tae dae this…”
“Someone’s going to control you brat, it could be me…”
“Or it could be the Shadow Syndicate,” a new voice said. I looked between my fingers to see Quartz giving me that crazed smile of hers. “I’m here to tell you all about our wonderful organization. We have this great health plan. If you join us then you, and maybe even the rest of your family, get to live. Your powers are too tempting, people are going to keep coming after you, and you can’t stop us all. You can’t protect your sisters all the time either.”
I could feel the power rushing through me. “Nae! I’ll protec’ them! I’ll ne’er help ya or le’ ya ‘ave them!” More and more energy seemed to rush through me, my force field expanding around me and getting ever hotter and brighter, bubbling with unstable energy until the cramped room, Phantom, and Quartz all disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
I opened my eyes to see that I was in the center of a massive crater that I could barely see the rim of. All around me there was the rubble of buildings and the remains of vehicles, people, and a once proud city now reduced to nothing but a painful looking memory. In front of me I saw a mangled mess of wrought iron that had once been a gate set in a brick wall and I shuffled toward it unthinkingly, stubbing my bare toe against something as I went. I looked down to see a blackened bronze plaque, the letters stating clearly for all to see; Pacific Seaside Academy. I was in Costa Verde, or what was left of it.
“Nae! This is a dream, another nightmare! I need tae wake up!” I collapsed to the floor, hands clenched so tightly that my nails drew blood and my chest tightening as the tears flowed and I began sobbing. I couldn’t breathe and I clenched my eyes shut, trying to keep out the scene around me, but then there were the voices. They called me a freak, accused me of killing them all, and some asked why. I think those were the worst, because those were the voices I recognized. Mom, Andy, my sisters, Hana and her family, the other members of 4-Ward, and other people I knew from the school.
I opened my eyes to see them all, a whole city of dead people surrounding me and shuffling closer. They were all there; strangers, family, and friends. The accusation in their eyes, the anger and fear as they came for me. I could feel their hands on me and I screamed.
I awoke screaming as once again my power lashed out, only being contained by the energy shield that Mom had built into the frame of my bed. I’m not quite sure how long I laid there, curled up in a ball, shaking, and sobbing as Fawn tried to comfort me, but when she had finally managed to calm me down I saw that the alarm clock’s display said 4:11 am. I wiped away the tears and took a deep breath to calm myself and took Peaches from her basket, holding both her and Fawn close like a pair of stuffed animals. I didn’t plan on going back to sleep, since I had planned on being up soon anyway, but I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep again anytime soon, even if I had been willing to try.
As we laid there, all huddled together under my blanket, Fawn asked, “Another bad one huh Merida?”
“Aye,” I replied, not wanting to go into anymore detail than that. My two companions didn’t need to know the content of those dreams to comfort me, and Fawn knew that recalling them sometimes only made it harder for me to shake them off. It was bad enough having to recall them well enough to write them all down in the dream journal that Toxin was making me keep for our counselling sessions. I had seen her twice already since moving to Costa Verde, but I was due to see her again on the first day of classes as well. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to show her that journal, since the dreams seemed to be getting worse rather than better. It was like my trauma and all my worst fears were conspiring against me.
When the alarm went off at four thirty I reluctantly climbed out of bed, wrote down the dream in my journal, and then Fawn and I started to get ready for our day. There wasn’t really much to do once we were showered, had our hair done, and had gotten dressed. I had already packed bags and they and all of our gear for the trip were packed in my portable pocket dimension. I was bringing all the training stuff for Peaches, extra clothes, the camping gear that I had bought, my surfboard, hiking gear, my bikini, the Mythrilex sleeping bags, and the tent with the built in energy shield that Mom had made for the occasion. All I really needed to do was put all the food and drinks that I had bought, with some ice, into the coolers inside the portable portal.
Mom was up to see us off, reminding us to be careful and not get into any trouble, as she helped me load the coolers. Once that was all done and Fawn, and I double checked that we had all of our supplies and gear, I picked up Peaches and we flew over to Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House to meet the others for a quick breakfast. Well, since I was eating, it wasn’t as quick as we may have liked, but once we had all finished Hana’s parents wished us all a good trip, hugged us all, and sent us on our way. Then, once we had stuffed all their gear in my portable pocket dimension and Fawn had dusted Michelle and Lindsey, we all took to the skies and followed Michelle as she led us to the private little cove up past Coral Bay and far away from the city. It was going to be a trip that none of us would ever forget.
‘ello agin e’eryone an’ welcome agin tae Merida’s Corner. Today I will be teachin’ all o’ ya aboot Wildcards. There’s no’ really much tha’ I kin say aboot Wildcards, ‘cept tha’ they’re basically anyone whose powers dinnae fit intae the other types or whose powers work in ways tha’ cannae be easily deciphered.
Wildcards are usually mutants who ‘ave a power that’ cannae be easily categorized. Usually this is ‘cause they ‘ave one or more diff’ren’ abilities from separate classes tha’ are workin’ in conjunction tae create a power tha’ is diff’ren from anythin’ seen afore. Mei is a good example o’ this. Mei kin gather magic energy like a Mystic, she’s a versatile Generator able tae create livin’ matter, and she’s a Souldancer Medium, able tae control an’ manipulate spirit energy an’ souls. She doesnae really ken ‘ow tae dae any o’ those individually though, instead instinctively usin’ them t’gther tae heal or create livin’ creatures. She kin probably learn tae use the abilities separately, bu’ it will take trainin’ an’ time. Fer now, her powers combined are versatile enough tha’ she could be a force tae be reckoned wit’ if she really tried.
Well, tha’s all tha’ I ‘ave tae say aboot Wildcards today, so tha’s all fer now an’ I’ll see all o’ ya nex’ week when I’ll start answerin’ questions from the readers.
![]() |
Chapter 35 Call of Nature Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Even by air, it took over an hour of flying northward to reach the private little cove that Michelle had discovered, but the view was well worth it when she had stopped us in a hover and pointed downward. “There it is,” she said with a huge grin on her scaly face, “it looks like a pretty good spot for some privacy and relaxation, huh?”
The small stretch of white sandy beach nestled between the Pacific Ocean and rainforest thick with old-growth redwood trees was picturesque, and it looked like we would be able to set up camp near the treeline and remain nice and dry once the tide came in. To the northern edge of the beach, there was a rocky outcropping with a small cave and some rocks jutting from the water, causing me to make a mental note to be careful about not surfing the north side of the cove. It might make for some interesting exploration though, and I was looking forward to exploring the forest a bit too. “Aye, it looks great Michelle, I cannae wait tae dae some explorin’,” I agreed with a grin.
We quickly landed and as the rest of us began to set up camp, Fawn watched over Peaches and gave us some space, though I was pretty sure she was watching us too. She took being our chaperone very seriously, as much as she wanted us to enjoy ourselves. I had finished setting up the dome-shaped tent that would contain my energy if I lost control, and placed the pillows and sleeping bags for Fawn and me inside, and when I emerged the others had already finished removing all of our gear from my portable pocket dimension and had their sleeping bags laid out. It kind of sucked that Fawn and I were going to have to be in a tent while the rest of them slept out under the stars, but I didn’t want to risk hurting any of them either.
Hana caught my sigh as I left the tent and quickly took my hand in her own as she asked with a concerned look on her face, “What’s wrong Merida?”
I tried smiling at her. “It’s nothin’, e’erythin’ is jus’ barry. I jus’ dinnae like me an’ Fawn havin’ tae sleep in a tent all alone when we’re all s’posed tae be spendin’ time t’gether. I ken tha’ it’s needed, if I ‘ave a nightmare an’ lash out in ma sleep it could be disastrous, bu’ it kinda feels like I shouldnae really be ‘ere.”
“Of course you should,” she objected, squeezing my hand tightly in her own. “I… we all want you here with us. You’re still new to all this, you’ve been through some major trauma, and you have a condition that makes it hard to control your powers, but you’ll get a handle on all of that someday, I just know it. Until then you’re doing what’s needed to keep everyone around you safe, and we realize and appreciate that. It’s possible that Michelle’s powers would react to yours to keep her safe if you had a meltdown, but Lindsey would be screwed and so would I while still in girl mode since I have no invulnerability and I can’t absorb energy.”
“I was… umm… curious aboot tha’,” I admitted as she said that last part. “If’n ya cannae absorb energy while in tha’ form, why weren’t Quartz’s flames hurtin’ ya?”
The Japanese girl shrugged as she replied, “When I absorb energy I seem to become immune to that type of energy until it’s completely left my system and I change back into a guy. Quartz had to rely on her flames because I wasn’t letting her get close enough for anything else, but I could just shrug those off and keep her at a distance with my eye blasts. If I absorbed your energy I’d likely be immune to that until I changed back too, we may have to try that someday if your mom can’t fix me.”
“I’m shoor she’ll figure out wot is wrong an’ think o’ somethin’ tae ‘elp ya Hana, helpin’ Hypers wit’ issues like yuirs, it’s her passion. She will no’ stop ‘til she finds a way tae ‘elp ya,” I insisted without a single doubt in my mind.
“Thanks, Merida,” she responded before pausing uncertainly. “I… I was wondering though, why are you still going through with this trip? I mean, I’d understand if you didn’t want to. You seemed attracted to me as Hiro, so I kind of assumed that you were into guys since your change. It didn’t happen with me or Lindsey, but I’ve heard that Archetypes can alter things like gender identity and sexual preference too.”
I shook my head as I tried to put my scattered thoughts on that topic into words. “I’m still tryin’ tae figure tha’ out. I ken fer shoor tha’ ma gender identity is female now, ma body feels right tae me, no matter ‘ow much ma brain wanted tae argue the fact a’ first. When I was Maddock, I was straight as a bloody arrow an’ I was attracted tae any pretty girls. I ‘ad a relationship wi’ someone I shouldnae ‘ave, bu’ it was all passion, lust, an’ raw physical attraction, nothin’ really tae base a good relationship on. I think tha’ ma priorities may ‘ave changed wi’ ma body though. I’ve only been attracted tae a few people since ma change, no’ near as many as I figure I should ‘ave been, bu’ if’n they’re jerks all that attraction goes poof.”
“That must suck… I mean… it’s hard enough just having your gender and appearance change, but your brain too? That can’t be easy to adjust to. It hasn’t been all that long for you either. Y’know… if you… still need time to adjust I don’t mind just being friends until you figure it all out, it wouldn’t be fair for me to push for any more.” She was biting her lower lip uncertainly, something that I found really cute on her, and it made my heart flutter.
“Nae, dinnae worry aboot tha’,” I told her with a shake of my head. “I may no’ be shoor wot I’m attracted tae physically these days, bu’ I dae ken this, I really like ya, an’ it’s more than jus’ physical attraction. If’n Mom kin ‘elp ya an’ ya had yuir choice, would ya rather be Hiro or Hana?”
“I think I’d rather be Hana… Hiro has some awesome powers, but as much as I may try to adjust, being a guy just doesn’t feel right to me. I feel wrong as Hiro, it’s just not me. I don’t even try to act like a guy anymore because that’s what it is, an act. I’ve just been trying to be myself and I’m glad that my parents and friends accept that, even if I get razzed for being girly by other students. That’s what I like about you and your sisters, you’re sweet and caring and you accept us for who we are. Umm… why do you ask though? You… didn’t really answer whether you’re attracted to girls or guys either.” There was an uncertainty in her voice and her eyes as she looked at me.
I wrapped her up in a hug and kissed her tenderly, trying to reassure her, before holding her close and speaking again. “I dinnae ken if it makes any sense or no’, bu’ I was attracted tae ya as Hiro, and I’m still attracted tae ya, bu’ it ‘as nothin’ tae dae wi’ yuir body. I mean… in ma head, I realize tha’ yuir pretty damn sexy in either form, but yuir body, or e’en yuir gender, is no’ important tae me. I’ve liked ya from the moment we met an’ I jus’ keep gettin’ more attracted as I ge’ tae ken ya better. Tae me it doesnae matter if’n yuir Hiro, Hana, or somethin’ else entirely. I’m attracted tae who ya are inside, an’ I wan’ ya tae be ‘appy.”
“That’s possibly the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” she responded, her voice barely a whisper. She kissed me this time and I eagerly reciprocated. For several minutes we just held and kissed one another, there was no tongue and no groping or anything like that, it was just innocent kissing, holding and caressing. Innocent and tender as it might have been though, I could feel myself getting turned on, or at least I thought that I was getting turned on. It was different than when I was a guy; there was this warmth running through my whole body. It was a little more prominent between my legs though, where I was feeling a bit damp as well, and my nipples were aching a bit so I was pretty sure that they were getting hard.
We reluctantly broke the kiss but kept holding one another. Neither of us was ready for anything more than that, and likely wouldn’t be for years to come. We were both too young and there was too much emotional and mental baggage. Still, it was nice to feel attraction and affection for someone and to feel like she felt the same way for me. I guess you could say that it felt validating, and even though I hadn’t realized it before that moment, that was something that I had been needing to feel comfortable in my new gender.
I could feel my cheeks burning a bit at the sound of applause. Michelle and Lindsey were standing there grinning at us as they clapped their hands. “About time you two came up for air,” Lindsey teased.
“And here I thought that we were going to be the first pair caught making out, we should really get to work on that Linds,” Michelle added with a giggle and a wink to her girlfriend.
My cheeks were still burning as I attempted to change the topic. “Soooo, wot’s the plan fer today?”
Neither Lindsey nor Michelle was fooled by my obvious tactic and they just kept grinning at Hana and me as Michelle answered my query. “Well I thought we might start with some hiking before the day gets too hot and then come back to camp for lunch. After that we can do some surfing and swimming to cool off and maybe explore the cave a bit. I only had a small flashlight when I found this place so I didn’t go too far in, but it looks like it goes pretty deep.”
“Then we can make some dinner and just spend the evening snuggling and getting to know one another better,” Lindsey added.
Since we were all already wearing our hiking boots and fairly comfortable clothes I only needed to grab the backpack that I had bought for school and brought along to stuff with snacks and drinks for the hike to keep my energy up and stay properly hydrated. I had also put a small basic survival kit, first-aid kit, and a hunting knife in there in case of an emergency. Once I had that in place over my shoulders I put on the baby sling that I planned to carry Peaches in. Carrying her all the time could get a bit tiring, but with her snuggled against my chest in the sling I could keep her with me, and relatively safe, while still having my hands free.
Once the infant Feydragon was snuggled in her new spot and snoozing Fawn fluttered up to sit on my shoulder and we joined the others who had light backpacks filled with supplies as well. Peaches sleep wasn’t very sound though as she seemed anxious about something, I could feel it in my mind as we started our hike. We were going to be following a game trail up from the beach with a steady incline heading north up to the top of the ridge that the cave was in. Fawn was really eager to get going and was hoping to talk with some of the local animals during our trek through the forest, but she was destined to be disappointed it would seem. We didn’t encounter a single animal during our hike by the time we had stopped at the top of the ridge over-looking the ocean, where we all sat down for a break.
We had already been hiking for over an hour and it was about time to turn around and head back to camp to start making lunch and while we took a few minutes to rest I was sharing some of my water and the granola bars I had stuffed in the backpack with my Fairy friend, who seemed very distracted. I tried feeding some to Peaches too, but she was still anxious and now very much awake, looking around us warily. “Wot’s wrong Fawn?” I finally asked in concern.
“I’m not sure,” the Fairy admitted with a tiny sigh. “It could be nothing, but this just seems a little strange to me,”
“What’s strange? I thought you would love being in the forest. Is it really that different from Neverland?” Lindsey asked, looking a bit confused.
“It’s not that it’s different, well it is, but I can’t really figure out why. It’s too quiet. We haven’t seen a single animal or bird yet, I haven’t even seen many insects, but there are nuts and ripe berries all over the place. It doesn’t make any sense. Even if there were bears or other large predators around, there would still be animals, especially with all the food here, but I haven’t seen anything. Even the trail we’ve been following is strange, it’s game trail so I think a lot of animals have been this way before to wear it down this much, but it’s starting to get grown over. It’s like no animals have come this way in weeks, maybe even months.” The Fairy frowned and took another look around, her tiny eyes darting about the trees around us.
“That is weird,” Hana agreed. “Maybe we should head back to camp and stick to the beach while we’re here, the silence in this forest is kinda creeping me out.”
“Aye, tha’s prob’ly a good idea. Peaches seems tae sense sumthin’ tae, it’s makin’ her anxious, an’ tha’ bothers me. Let’s ge’ back tae the beach, a’ least there we kin see anythin’ comin’ afore it gets too close,” I pointed out.
“Was it like this when you first found this place Michelle?” Fawn asked from atop my shoulder.
“I’m not really sure,” the scaly-skinned Hyper replied, looking pensive. “I was on an ATV when I found this spot, just after summer vacation started, and I wasn’t really actively looking around to see if there were animals around, I was just following the game trails. I don’t remember seeing any, but it could have been that I just wasn’t paying much attention at the time.”
“Maybe we should just pack up when we get back and head back to the city?” Lindsey suggested as we all got to our feet and started to make our way back toward the campsite on the beach. “If we get in trouble then we’ll be on our own, I don’t think that the rings are going to be able to work at this range. The spell meant to tell other ring-wearers that we’re in danger and draw them toward us isn’t meant for such long distances. Across the city was the best we could hope for, especially for a newbie spell like the one I used.”
We all considered that suggestion as we made our way along the game trail and through the too-silent forest on our way back to the beach. I wasn’t really worried about anything attacking us, we would have heard anything coming long before it reached us within that eerie silence, but it was the silence itself that bothered me. There had to be a reason that there were no animals in the area. Fawn had spotted a few burrows and dreys along the trail on our way back, but they were as empty as the forest itself, so the animals weren’t just hiding they were completely gone.
It didn’t make any sense. There were no recent tracks, no corpses, absolutely nothing showing recent habitation or that anything had happened there. It was like every living thing had just left the area, but what could cause something like that? It was when we were halfway down the trail that a cool wind whipped at us, hard enough that Fawn was having issues flying. There was a sound, like whispering that I couldn’t quite make out and I whipped my head around, searching for the source. “Did any o’ ya ‘appen tae ‘ear somethin’?”
“Do you mean something like whispering Mer? I thought that it was the wind at first, but it almost sounded like a woman’s voice. Did any of you make out what it was saying?” Lindsey asked, as she and the others were looking around as well.
Fawn was shivering as she alighted on my shoulder. “I heard her. She said that we’re in danger, and we need to leave. Maybe that’s why there are no animals around here, they have good instincts, and they can sense danger.”
“O… kay, ma nex’ question is who in ‘ell was tha’?” I muttered, looking around anxiously for the source of the whisper.
“Doesn’t matter,” Hana replied, taking my hand and half pulling me along down the trail. “I think we should listen to their advice. Let’s get back to camp and pack everything up.”
I was forced to agree with her, I knew how to take a hint and I didn’t like where this was going. “Aye, bu’ let’s no’ dae it the slow way. Fawn, could ya make wi’ the dust?”
“You got it Merida!” Fawn was quick to comply, dusting both Lindsey and Michelle so we could all take to the air and fly back to the camp to pack our things. We flew as swiftly as possible back toward the beach and were about ready to land on the beach below when a furious wind whipped up the sand beneath us and once it had stilled and the dust had cleared there was an arrow in the sand pointing right at the cave and below the arrow, written clear as day were the words ‘BEWARE THE TAINTED’.
I set my gaze in the direction that the arrow was pointing to see people, or at least I thought they might be people from that distance, emerging from the cave. They didn’t have any clothes on and, whoever they were, they were gesturing right at us and shouting. I was considering just leaving our stuff and going back to the city for help when something I didn’t even see knocked Lindsey out of the sky and she started plummeting to the ground, unconscious.
![]() |
Chapter 36 The Tainted Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
My first instinct as Hana, Michelle and I all dove to try to catch Lindsey before she could hit the ground was to cover both of them with large energy bubbles and to create a giant catcher’s mitt to snatch my falling friend in mid-air. Before she could land in my construct though, Lindsey managed to right herself into a hover and I dismissed my construct to surround her in a bubble as well. I felt something hit my force field, and the bubbles that I had placed around my friends, several times. I wasn’t quite sure what it was since I hadn’t seen anything, but I could feel the impacts with that same sense that I use to control my constructs and the force field itself.
It didn’t matter if I could see the attacks or not though, since I was pretty sure that I knew where they were coming from. Keeping my friends and Peaches covered, I created a dozen small missile-like constructs and sent them flying toward those people emerging from the cave, pumped full of energy and bubbling unstably. They hit the ground and detonated in front of the leading edge of our attackers, as at the same time a bolt of lighting flew from Lindsey’s hands, striking one of the naked people that had been shouting and pointing. The combined attacks caused them to shriek in fear and confusion as they fled back into the cave.
I quickly lowered us to the ground and gratefully dissipated the constructs. I wasn’t used to creating and using so many constructs at once, let alone maintaining so many large scale constructs, and doing so, keeping my focus on each of them, and keeping them from becoming unstable had made me a bit dizzy and tired. I was a little shaky on my feet and Fawn was looking me over in concern, “Are you okay Merida?”
“Aye, I’ll be jus’ barry. I jus’ need tae res’ fer a minute,” I tried to assure the Fairy.
“How about you Linds? You took a hit there and that was some spell that you just used, I didn’t know that you could do that. Are you okay?!” Michelle asked in concern, rushing toward her girlfriend.
“Your companion is unconscious, but not seriously harmed,” Lindsey replied, only it wasn’t Lindsey. There was something different about the way she held herself and the way that she replied that made that fact obvious to all of us as Michelle stopped in her tracks.
“You’re not Lindsey, who the hell are you?” Michelle asked, regarding her girlfriend’s form suspiciously.
“Aye, an’ wot the bloody ‘ell is goin’ on ‘ere?” I added.
“Yeah, that has got me pretty worried,” Hana said, pointing up toward the sky above us, which had taken on a greenish hue.
“I am a type of nature spirit. A spirit of storm and battle to be precise, what your kind would call a Valkyrie, you may call me Khestrid,” Lindsey’s body explained before turning toward me with an apologetic look. “I apologize, but I felt that your friend was in danger and I needed to act quickly, I did not realize that you could have saved her yourself at the time, so I took control of her body. I can only maintain control while she is unconscious, once she awakens I will be expelled from her body. I attempted to warn you and had hoped that you would be able flee before the Tainted sensed your presence, but it would seem that that is no longer an option. Now you cannot leave this place. I can feel Minira’s magicks already at work, she has placed a magical barrier, trapping you here in this cove and cutting you off from the outside world.”
“I’m sure that we can find a way to break through that barrier,” Hana said after a brief silence as we tried to process what the spirit was telling us. “And you and Merida seemed to scare those people, or whatever they are, off.”
“Only for the moment,” Khestrid said with a shake of Lindsey’s head. “They are weakened by the light. They will attempt to kill or capture you again when it is dark and they have the advantage. You must not let yourselves be captured. The Tainted are creatures of darkness, they delight in the pain and suffering of others.” Then her gaze turned upon Fawn, “You bear the greatest risk young Fae, they will attempt to darken your heart and turn you into one of them.”
“Fae?” Fawn asked in confusion.
“Do you not even know what you are child?” the spirit inquired.
“Of course I do,” my best friend replied. “I’m a Fairy, from Neverland.”
The spirit in habiting Lindsey’s body narrowed her eyes as she stared at Fawn. You bear no clan mark. You are a creature of magic, but it is different than that of the Fae. Still, you bear the most risk. They will try to corrupt you and Minira’s clan mark allows her to control magical creatures. You will have to have a strong will to resist her.”
I tried not to groan out loud. I had no idea what Khestrid was talking about and I didn’t like not knowing exactly what kind of danger that we were in. “Dae ya mind explainin’ jus’ wot exactly is goin’ on ‘ere? Preferably afore Lindsey wakes up an’ ya cannae dae anythin’ o’ the sort?”
The Valkyrie then explained things as best she could. All of those stories about elves, pixies, fairies, changelings and the like were based on an ancient race called the Fae, consisting of different clans with different abilities and features. It seemed that she had mistaken Fawn for a pixie, a clan who looked like elves, but had the ability to change into a smaller winged form at will. Many of these Fae were powerful magic users because they themselves were creatures whose very natures were tied to magic. Most Fae were peaceful, nature-loving, and had no desire to hurt anyone, or even see anyone hurt.
Then there were what Khestrid called the Tainted, Fae who had given in to dark desires; lying, deception, stealing, and harming or killing others. They found that they enjoyed giving into those dark impulses and since their forms were so tied into their natures they became creatures of darkness and evil magic like those who had attacked us. Minira, who Khestrid called the Dark Queen, was the leader of this group of Tainted. From what the storm spirit had heard while observing them, Minira lusted for power, wished to rule over all that she surveyed, and particularly loved to slowly torture her victims. She had heard from other spirits that the Dark Queen had started on her path to the dark side by turning her own sister to stone to steal the throne meant for her.
Until recently, Khestrid had been one of many nature spirits held captive by Minira. She had been tortured and bound by dark magic as Minira drained and fed on her strength over and over again for over seven centuries, then letting her regain almost full strength only to do so again. When a major magical working had weakened the Dark Queen, she had summoned enough strength to escape her bonds. Since then, she had been watching them, waiting for a chance to extract her vengeance and free her fellow captive nature spirits who had not been powerful enough to escape.
While Khestrid educated us we started to prepare our lunch. I needed to eat something and, since we seemed to be in no immediate danger, I figured that we should take the opportunity to do so while we had the chance. We were starting to eat after Khestrid had given us the background information when Michelle inquired, “Have they been around here for long? I came here a few months ago, and even explored the cave a bit, but nothing bothered me then. We haven’t seen any traces of living things since arriving here though.”
“Minira only transported herself and her followers here a moon cycle ago,” the spirit inhabiting Lindsey replied. “This place was secluded, had the cave so that they could hide during daylight, and is near a power that she greatly desires. It was her attempt to locate that power that allowed me to escape. Animals are sensitive to the Fae and the evil of the Tainted would have driven any that were in the area away.”
Hana quickly asked, “This Minira is a magic user right? Could you tell us what kind of magic and how powerful she is so we know what we’re dealing with? You know, in case we can’t get out of this barrier she set up?”
Khestrid was frowning as she informed us, “Those spells that the other Tainted were throwing at you were nothing compared to Minira’s power. She has been growing in power for centuries and has mastered several disciplines of magick. She and her people have a weakness to cold iron, but I have not been able to locate any that you could use nearby. As for how powerful she is, when I escaped it was because she had pushed all of her considerable power to summon a great behemoth from another plane of existence and set it upon the city to the south of us.”
The lightbulb seemed to appear for all of us at the same time. “Tha’ thing was a bloody bitch tae take down,” I complained. “I guess tha’ means tha’ she’s the one lookin’ fer the Chaos Gate. Which means tha’ she’s a fookin’ powerful magic user. I dinnae ken if’n we kin take ‘er down on our own.”
“You defeated that creature? How? What is this Chaos Gate that you speak of?” the Valkyrie pressed.
“We had a lot of help to defeat that thing and we only managed to do it once Merida injured it. We were told that the Chaos Gate is a sealed dimensional tear to a place filled to overflowing with evil magic energy and that it could be disastrous if anyone managed to find and unseal it,” Michelle explained.
LIndsey’s jaw dropped in shock and a frown covered her face as the spirit slowly nodded her head. “If Minira were to find such a source of power, the devastation would be beyond what any of us can imagine. If she believes that this exists she will never give up on taking it for herself.”
“We need to at least try to get back to the school to tell Dr. Edwards about this and get some backup,” Hana put in with a frown.
“The barrier spell that Minira has used is powerful, she would not risk allowing this hiding place to be discovered. I do not think that you will be able to escape easily and getting inside will prove just as difficult for others, should they even realize that you are in danger.” Khestrid advised.
“Ya said tha’ these Tainted are dangerous aye?” As Lindsey’s head nodded I let out a sigh. “Well if’n they’re tha’ dangerous, an’ they’re after the Chaos Gate, then mebbe it would be better fer e’eryone’s sake if’n I jus’ buried them there. It may bring down this magic barrier tae. I could collapse the entrance an’ we’d be done wit’ ‘em.”
“I dunno Merida, I think that cave goes pretty deep and we don’t know how far back inside they are,” Michelle pointed out with a frown. You could just bring down the entrance and they’d be perfectly safe from the cave-in if they’re deep enough. Then they’d just need to use magic to blow open the entrance again. If this Minira is as strong as Khestrid is saying.”
“I fear that Michelle is correct,” the Valkyrie inhabiting Lindsey agreed. “I have been inside and the caves do indeed go very deep and the Tainted and Minira are hiding deep inside, far from the light. Even if you brought down the entrance I do not think that they would be harmed, and you would have to seriously injure or kill Minira to bring down her barrier spell. When darkness falls and they return to the entrance to deal with you the Dark Queen could easily use her magic to reopen the mouth of the cave. You would also be telling them exactly what kind of power that they are dealing with.”
“Bloody ‘ell, we’ll need tae come up wit’ another plan then. I ken tha’ none o’ ya ‘ave prob’ly e’er killed someone afore, bu’ if’n these Tainted are as evil an’ dangerous as she’s sayin’ we cannae afford tae ‘old back. We may jus’ need tae take ‘em down fer good. Fer e’eryone’s sake.”
Neither Hana nor Michelle looked too pleased with that idea, but both nodded grimly as Hana replied. “It sounds like they’re probably going to torture and kill us if they get the chance and we can’t afford to lose and let them keep trying for the Chaos Gate. If it’s a choice of us or dying or them, then I’m damn well going to make sure it’s not us.”
“I agree,” Michelle said with a nod, “it’s going to be them.”
I knew that Fawn wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea either, but her small voice said, “I understand. I don’t like it, but I know that you don’t either Merida, and you wouldn’t suggest it if there was any other way.”
Khestrid sighed. “I am sorry that my inability to get your attention sooner has put you in this situation. We should come up with a battle stra…” she trailed off, shaking Lindsey’s head as if to clear it and then let out another sigh. “Your friend is beginning to stir. I will attempt to assist you however I can. Should you wish to rest just call my name and I can keep watch for you in one of your bodies while you sleep. I will be able to hear you even if…” Lindsey’s eyes fluttered and she gave us a confused look. “Umm… what happened? I remember that we were flying back to camp, but I think that I passed out or something.”
We encouraged Lindsey to eat as we updated her on her recent possession and what she had missed while unconscious. Once we had all finished eating we flew southward as far as we could, but the magic barrier prevented us from getting any further than the southern edge of the cove. Fawn and I threw everything that I could think of at that barrier, short of anything that would have been enough to injure our friends, but we couldn’t seem to get past it or break through.
There wasn’t a lot that Lindsey or Michelle could do to try to get past the barrier, although they did try too. The only one of us who hadn’t tried more than once was Hana, but that was at my request. Her eye beams seemed to be light based and if these Tainted were weak to light then I wanted to keep that advantage rather than have her use up all of her energy and revert to Hiro. I had considered trying to see if Khestrid could manage to slip past the barrier, being a spirit and all, but even if we sent her to Costa Verde to try to find Jordyn or Mei, who might be able to communicate with her, the search would likely be like looking for a needle in a haystack for her. She knew nothing of modern human cities, or this one in particular, and for the moment I thought that we could probably use what help she could give us against the Tainted.
“Maybe we should just take the fight to them, and have this go down on our terms,” Michelle suggested as we all returned to the camp feeling somewhat dejected after our unsuccessful attempts to penetrate the magic barrier.
I shook my head. While under normal circumstances I would love nothing more that going on the offensive, we were going to be sorely outnumbered and from what our new spirit ally had told us about the Fae they were generally gifted magic users and/or fighters and the Tainted in particular were going to be ruthless adversaries. We couldn’t afford to hold back with them and full-out combat inside a cave with my power set could put us all in danger.
“Nae,” I said after considering it. “They could be expectin’ tha’ after we drove ‘em back intae the cave, an’ I’m worried wot could ‘appen while fightin’ in there, where they ‘ave the advantage. We le’ them hit us instead. Le’ them think tha’ they ‘ave the advantage an’ set up some booby traps an’ le’ them ge’ o’erconfident. We wait ‘til dark an’ then preten’ tae be asleep. Make it look like one o’ us was s’posed tae be keepin’ watch bu’ fell asleep tae. Then when they come tae hit us, hopefully the traps will ge’ a few o’ them an’ e’en if they dinnae we hit ‘em ‘ard an’ fast when they’re s’posed tae be attackin’ us.”
“That’s a good idea and all,” Lindsey put in, “but if we’re all pretending to be asleep, how are we going to know they’re coming. It’s not like any of us have enhanced senses and all of my magic studies have led me to believe that the Fae can be pretty damn stealthy when they want to be.”
“We use this,” I replied, taking the small silver bell for training Peaches out of my pocket. “Khestrid ‘as proven tha’ she kin whip up a fair wind, so we ge’ her tae keep watch an’ ring this when we she sees ‘em comin’.”
We spent the next few hours setting up tripwire traps surrounding our camp using fishing line and sharpened sticks and then covering them with leaves and sand to keep them hidden. Once that was done we killed time until dinner. None of us really felt like surfing or swimming under the current circumstances so we just snuggled together and talked, Michelle with Lindsey and me with Hana while Fawn and Peaches took a nap in my lap. We also got into our costumes in preparation for the night ahead, glad that we had brought them along in case of an emergency. Personally, I thought that Hana looked good in her new pitch black Firefly costume with its glowing golden accents and firefly symbol on her chest.
Far too soon it was time for us to all get up and start making dinner since we figured that we were going to need all the energy that we could get once the sun set. We tried to keep the conversation going as we cooked and then ate, but there was just too much nervous energy as we all considered the possible life or death battle to come. Once we had finished dinner we built a campfire and all laid down on our sleeping bags and Hana wrapped her arms around me tight as Lindsey did the same with Michelle, and I held Peaches and Fawn protectively in my arms. We laid there like that and pretended to sleep as the sun set and then darkness fell, finding comfort in one another’s closeness until the bell rang.
![]() |
Chapter 37 Nightfall Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I became instantly alert when the bell rang announcing that Khestrid had spotted the Tainted emerging from the cave. Powerful winds whipped up and bolts of lightning assaulted the Tainted emerging from the cave as Khestrid tried to make them believe that she was trying to protect us, though soon both died down since the nature spirit was still trying to get her strength back after her long imprisonment. The first of the traps went off soon after, earning a quickly muffled shout of pain so I decided that they were close enough to put phase two of my plan into action. I concentrated on forming a protective dome around our camp and smiled as the area was bathed in the ruddy light of the large construct. “A’right e’eryone time tae ge’ down tae business, aye?” I said as I got to my feet, adjusted Peaches into the baby sling, and activated my force field. “E’eryone ken wot yuir jobs are s’posed tae be?”
The others quickly nodded as they all stood up and we got in position so that none of our backs were uncovered in case they decided to launch a physical offensive once my dome was down. After a quick look around, I discovered that there were less than twenty of the human-like creatures approaching us, plus another two smaller pixie-ish creatures that I could see. They hadn’t sent out their full strength. Khestrid had indicated earlier that the Tainted we faced numbered somewhere between sixty and eighty in total, so this was probably only roughly a third of their full strength? Ground troops maybe? Was she holding her mages back for now or was it a mix of the two?
I could only think of two reasons for the Dark Queen to hold back like this. Either she thought us easy prey or she was probing our defenses, and possibly trying to wear us down, while she figured out if we were dangerous or not. Either way, we needed to hit them hard and let them know that not only were we dangerous, but that we had no issues at all with taking them down. A second Tainted fell to the traps as they approached. Lindsey had been focusing her gaze on him and now that he was down she quickly focussed on another.
The Tainted approached my dome uncertainly, not sure what to make of it at first. They were all buck naked and looked vaguely like humans, but with pointed ears, an unhealthy-looking paleness to their skin, black hair, and eyes that seemed to be all pupil, with no sign of iris or white. One of them reached up to scratch his chin with a black clawed finger and then smiled at us, displaying a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. “If the Pixie dropsss her shielding ssspell and comesss with usss we will let you children go. Wouldn’t you like to go home to your parentsss and just forget about all of thisss? Her magick has trapped you here and brought you to usss. It’sss her fault, ssso why don’t you just leave her here with usss and go home to enjoy whatever sssmall ssspeck of life remainsss in you?”
“My name is Fawn, and I don’t want anything to do with you. I’m not going anywhere with you and I’m not going to let you hurt my friends,” the Fairy said from where she fluttered above my right shoulder with her arms crossed, glaring at the Tainted outside the dome.
It was an obvious lie anyway. They had no intention of letting us go, no matter what happened here. They thought that we were little more than children and that Fawn was a mage of some sort. “Yeah right, like we’re going to trust you,” Michelle spat.
He looked us all over intently, but then ignored Michelle and focussed his attention on me and Lindsey as he smiled once again. “I sssense the ssspark of magick in the two of you. And you, you have a familiar, I can sssense itsss bond with you. Are you this Pixie’sss apprenticesss? Queen Minira is a very powerful sssorceresss, she could teach you magicksss that you could only dream of. Think of it, all your wishesss fulfilled. Lady Fawn, you could learn ssso much from Her Majesssty.”
“The only thing that you’re interested in me learning is how to become like one of you and I’m not going to do that. Besides I’m already going to school,” Fawn retorted.
Lindsey let out a very unladylike snort of disgust. “Yeah, puh-leeze. Even if you did keep us and Fawn alive for our magic, you’d just kill our girlfriends. Not gonna happen, asshole.”
I nodded in agreement and quickly added, “I think tha’ I’m goin’ tae ‘ave tae agree wi’ ma friends. Ya dinnae seem the trus’worthy type, ‘sides it’s no’ Fawn tha’s makin’ the shield, it’s me.”
The eyes of the Tainted widened and he just stared at me for a moment before sputtering, “But you’re jussst a child, how…”
“Fook you, tha’s ‘ow,” I snapped back, sticking out my tongue and giving him a raspberry and the one finger salute for good measure. “Yuir more’n welcome tae try an’ break it down though, if’n ya think tha’ ya kin.” After the way their attack spells had bounced of my force field and the bubbles that I had placed on the others, Lindsey had surmised that my energy could block or absorb direct magical attacks, but we would be in trouble if anyone thought to use magic to attack indirectly and contain or trap me or my constructs. I needed to get them mad enough to attack the dome directly. If I kept it stable then it would just absorb or deflect the attacks, and if I didn’t then everyone inside would be safe when it went boom.
I put a strained expression on my face as he and a few others began attacking the dome. It was a large construct, but it wasn’t moving and was a fairly easy shape to maintain so, since it was the only construct I was handling at the moment, it wasn’t near as hard to maintain as I was making it appear. More of them closed in and began attacking in earnest, close to a dozen of them within twenty feet of the dome and pounding on it with magic or their bare hands. I placed a second dome over the first trapping them between the two, concentrating now on keeping the outer one stable as I fed more energy into the one surrounding me and my friends.
I didn’t have time to feed enough into the dome to make it too wildly unstable before their attacks made it blow, but it was enough to do the job. The explosive energy rushed outward tearing into the Tainted and hurling their scorched and bloodied remains back toward the outer dome that I had erected to contain the blast and prevent too much destruction to the local landscape. Okay, I’ll admit it. That took a little bit out of me, but I shook it off as I let the second dome dissipate and muttered, “A’right Hana, its yuir turn.”
“You got it Merida,” she replied with a grim nod before letting loose. Twin blasts of bright golden light erupted from her eyes, firing rapidly and hitting any Tainted between her and the cave with enough force to send them flying, screaming in pain until they hit the ground or the side of the rocky outcropping that the cave was in. They weren’t the only ones screaming in pain though. Hana had used all of the energy she had left for that attack and she was changing back into Hiro. Having been through that kind of painful transformation myself before I winced in sympathy, but we still had problems to deal with.
Three small pixie creatures had managed to stay outside my dome and avoid Hana’s attack and they were flying above us and casting spells, sickly green bolts of energy that I didn’t like the look of at all. I managed to cover Hana/Hiro with a bubble, but before I could cover the others Michelle threw herself in front of Lindsey, taking a hit meant for her. Michelle’s scaly skin seemed to darken before the spell even hit her, turning black with a slightly metallic sheen to it. Fawn though, flew straight at the three enemy combatants. “I’ve got this Merida, try to cover Lindsey and Michelle too,” the Fairy shouted back at me.
“Don’t worry about me Merida. Whatever that was, it didn’t hurt me at all,” Michelle countered. “Keep Lindsey and Hana covered and maybe we should make sure that those guys Hana hit stay down.”
“I… I’m okay,” Hana, or rather Hiro said with a groan. “It hurts like a bitch, but at least it doesn’t take long. Let’s go take care of those guys Merida.”
Fawn had already flown straight at the three dark pixies, but with their small size and being fairly high it was hard to really see any of them other than the red glow of Dawn’s force field covered form zipping all over the place. From the look of it, she was leading them on a good chase for now to keep them off the rest of us. We didn’t bother looking at the Tainted that I had taken down between my two domes, there wasn’t enough left of them to be a problem and it was pretty stomach-turning to look at, even in the dark. Instead, we took the opportunity to make our way over to check on the Tainted that Hana had blasted. They were down for the count, battered, broken, and badly burned from the blast, and though it looked like they were alive they were unconscious and likely wouldn’t be moving again under their own power again anytime soon.
“Damn, my eye beams usually hit like a truck, but they’ve never burned anybody like that before,” Hiro muttered.
“Well Khestrid did say that they were weak to light, and something called cold iron” Michelle pointed out.
Fawn streaked back toward us still fighting the three dark pixies. With her strength and speed enhanced by her force field she was easily outclassing them physically, while their spells and other attacks couldn’t seem to touch her. Two of the nasty little things were grabbing at her from behind, trying to strangle her and disable her wings, but with the force field active they couldn’t do either and she didn’t need her wings to fly. The third, the only male of the group had stopped and was beginning to chant as it cast another spell at her, but fawn never let him finish the spell, rushing toward where he was fluttering above us to deck him in the face and then throw him down toward us.
Michelle snatched the tiny little monstrosity up in her hand, in an attempt to keep it away from Fawn so she could handle the other two, and the second that she grabbed him he started screaming, “Aaiiieee it burnsss!! They have cold iron!”
“Whoa, so that’s what I turned into,” Michelle said in surprise as she tossed him to the ground. His black moth wings were half burned away and he had burns all over his body. All that from less than a minute of contact. “We’ll have to save as much of this as we can when I shed it, it could be useful if need to fight these guys again.”
“Aye, an’ hopefully ya dinnae shed it afore we finish dealin’ wi’ the ones ‘ere,” I agreed as I watched Fawn elbow one to the dark pixies on her back in the gut, dislodging her. Then my Fairy friend quickly turned around to grab her opponent by the arms and start spinning like a top as fast as she could. Soon the one on her back couldn’t hold on any longer and was sent flying while she let go of the other one, sending her flying as well before slowing her spin to come to a stop. Michelle jumped up to grab one of them in her hand before tossing the screaming and burned creature to the ground while I formed a really large fly swatter construct and delivered a solid smack to the other. “Take tha’ ya wee menace,” I muttered as I embedded it into the sand.
Fawn fluttered down giggling slightly, probably from the head rush and dizziness, though she did manage to land safely on my shoulder. “What do we do now Merida?” she asked in concern after looking around us at all the figures lying still in the sand.
“We go an’ take down tha’ bloody Queen Minira an’ the res’ o’ them. I’m no’ goin’ tae let ‘er ge’ away wit’ ruinin’ our first date. An’ we cannae le’ her try tae find the Chaos Gate,” I told her and the others with determination.
We made our way over to the cave, watching carefully for more Tainted in hiding in the shadows as I kept a bubble over Lindsey and we were nearly there when the dark pixie that I had swatted into the sand suddenly zipped after us and called out, “Merida! It’s me, Khestrid! You need to place one of your shields over all of us right now!”
I didn’t argue, I just dropped the bubble around Lindsey and quickly erected another dome, just big enough to fit me and me and the others. The spirit had taken over Lindsey when she was unconscious so it didn’t surprise me that she could do it with the pixie as well and her tone had been urgent. “Would ya care tae explain jus’ wot I’m protectin’ us from.”
“Minira is casting a number of large spells, she has already removed her barrier from this place and she means to cleanse this beach of all living things, both you and those who have failed her,” the Valkyrie spirit explained. I had barely gotten the dome in place when a firestorm washed over the beach, turning everything not protected to ash and causing the Tainted who had regained consciousness to scream.
We sat there trying to drown out the screams by talking. I wanted to go kick Minira’s ass but I couldn’t risk dropping that dome for a single second. So I sat there snuggling Hiro and Peaches while Lindsey and Miichelle held hands and we talked to the possessed Tainted pixie. Since the pixie was both injured and unconscious it was fairly easy for Khestrid to keep her hold on it and she could access the creature’s memories and magic. The former didn’t tell the spirit much that she didn’t know already though and nothing about what Minira had planned to do if this location was compromised beyond killing the people who had done the compromising.
“I do think I can do something for you though Fawn,” Khestrid offered my Fairy friend after sharing what little information she had gleaned. “While I still have control of this Tainted I could give you its clan mark. Fae can share their clan mark once every fifty years with someone not born Fae and becoming Tainted doesn’t change that. It would allow you to take on a human form and since you’re already a creature of magic, I think that it would greatly increase the potency of your inherent abilities while in your natural form.”
“But I like being a Fairy, I’m not sure I’d like being human,” Fawn replied with a concerned look on her face.
“You would not be human, you would still be a Fairy, only able to become human when the need arises and change back just as easily. I think that this would be useful for you living in the human world. If you wish to do this, we must do so while I am still in control of this body with access to the proper memories. Please, think of it as payment for the favor that I wish to ask of you and your friends.” The dark pixie’s eyes implored us.
“It could be useful fer school,” I thought aloud, “I’ve been wonderin’ ‘ow yuir goin’ tae carry yuir books an’ other things aroun’. Ya ne’er ken when havin’ an extra ability might come in handy tae. Wot’s this favor though?”
“My time as Minira’s captive has greatly weakened me. I saw in Lindsey’s memories that you are all close to a young Contractor Medium named Jorydn. I need a long term host while I regain my strength and I would like to meet her and see if she is agreeable to forming a contract.”
“You don’t need to offer us payment for us to introduce you, and Jordyn has been wanting to find a spirit to from a contract with since she found out that she’s a Contractor like her mom. With her looks and no real powers to back her up she has all the drawbacks of being a mutant but none of the benefits,” Lindsey pointed out.
“Thank you,” she said, giving a smile that looked a little terrifying on the Tainted’s tiny face. “Still, I would like to do this for Fawn if she would like, while I still have the ability to do so.
Fawn looked at me uncertainly and then I realized why she was hesitating. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it, she was afraid of how it might effect our friendship. So I gave her an encouraging smile and said, “Dinnae worry aboot a thing Fawn, this changes nothin’. Yuir still goin’ tae be ma bes’ friend no matter wot, an’ maybe we kin do e’en more t’gether this way. ‘Sides, yuir goin’ tae probably be spendin’ mos’ o’ yuir time as a Fairy in our dorm room and a’ home anyway.”
The Fairy returned my smile and breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, let’s do it.”
Khestrid had Fawn choose where she wanted the clan mark to go and then using one of the claws of the pixie she was possessing to draw blood from both her hand and from just above Fawn’s right ankle where she would be placing the mark. Then she chanted something while her holding the bleeding hand to Fawn’s bleeding ankle and when she pulled her hand away and wiped off the blood there was now a tiny brown tattoo there. At Fawn’s size it was a bit hard to make out with the ruddy light of my dome construct, but she said it looked like a Fairy.
“I would advise not trying it while wearing clothes, but when you wish to change form, you need only focus your thoughts on the mark and its magic,” Khestrid told her now that the deed was done.
It was still another hour before the flames died down completely and Khestrid spent the remainder of that time teaching Lindsey a fairly basic spell that she could use to restrain the Tainted pixie before she could wake up and shake Khestrid’s control. Soon our captive was bound in stone so that she wouldn’t be able to move a muscle, with only an opening big enough for her to breathe, and possibly scream at us when she awoke. Khestrid told us that she believed that it would prevent her from casting spells before relinquishing her hold on the unconscious body.
When the flames finally dissipated Fawn dusted Michelle and Lindsey and we flew over the now hot sand to the cave entrance, but when we arrived there was some sort of opaque green barrier in place over the cave mouth and a Tainted woman in a black gown behind it glaring at us balefully. “Ssso, you are ssstill alive. You children have ruined everything,” she spat at us.
“Aye aye, we ge’ it already, ya would ‘ave gotten away wit’ it if’n it ‘ad no’ ‘ave been fer us meddlin’ kids an’ our Fairy. Now ya go’ two choices ‘ere lady. First, ya kin drop tha’ field an’ surrender. Or number two I bring tha’ cave down aroun’ ya an’ any o’ yuir people still in there wit’ ya.”
The dark queen snorted dismissively. “Do you really think that you have me beaten child? Sssuch arrogance. There is no point in my ssstaying here any longer. Our magicksss can not penetrate your barriers or effect the shapeshifter while she isss in that form and you are powerful, for children. I will find a new place to…”
“I guess that this barrier shouldn’t be a problem for me then,” Michelle interrupted her as she threw herself through the barrier and attempted to tackle the fallen Fae, only to pass right through her as well.
The image of the Tainted woman flickered back to life after vanishing and gave Michelle a dismissive look. “Foolish child, did you really think that I have lived thisss long by ssstaying where I might be in danger. Thisss is merely a magical projection. I have already transssported myssself and my remaining people to another location, where I can continue my sssearch without your interference. I will remember you well children and once that power is mine, you will either bow before me or sssuffer at my handsss. Enjoy your freedom while it lassstsss, children.”
The image vanished and I cursed, “Bloody ‘ell!”
“Don’t worry Merida, we’ll get her,” Hiro said, wrapping his arms around me. “We know what she’s after and maybe Dr. Edwards will be able to get something useful from our captive. We’re not leaving here empty handed.”
Luckily Minira had kept her conflagration contained to the beach itself and none of the surrounding forest had caught fire, because I was too damned tired to fight a fire on top of everything else, my constant constructs use had really drained me. “We should be leavin’ though,” I said with a sigh. “Any satellites o’erhead probably picked up on the heat from tha’ fire an’ I dinnae wan’ tae be ‘ere when people come investigatin’. Let’s see wot survived the fire an’ pack up. We’ll need tae call Dr. Edwards an’ our parents tae.”
My tent and the sleeping bags for Fawn and I survived, they were after all made from Mithrilex, but the others’ sleeping gear was burnt to ashes. Luckily we had placed most of our gear inside my portable portal so it was all safely stowed away and the portal was all stuffed inside itself and as small as possible, safely tucked inside one of the pockets of my costume. Once I had extracted it we all had a quick meal of things that we could eat cold and then took apart my tent, and placed it and the sleeping bags inside the portal before folding it up again for the trip home.
It was nearly midnight when I pulled out my phone and called Dr. Edwards. She did not sound happy to answer the phone at that hour, but she was glad that we were safe and that we now had some information on who was after the Chaos Gate. She was even happier that we had managed to capture one of the Tainted alive. She wanted us to come straight to the school to report to her in person and we could sleep in our dorm rooms that night. She would phone our parents and let them know what was going on. So, once Fawn had Michelle and Lindsey dusted again, we all rose into the night sky with our captive in hand and Khestrid an unseen presence at our side as we headed back to Costa Verde.
![]() |
Chapter 38 Home Again Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
We were all pretty tired by the time that we arrived at the Headmistress’ Office and gave our report to Dr. Edwards. That report included everything that we had seen while there, Khestrid’s presence and her observations, and our thoughts on the Tainted, in particular Minira the Dark Queen. For the latter of these, we had been able to discern from our limited interaction with her projection and from what Khestrid had told us that she was a powerful magic user, crazy, power-hungry, determined to get her hands on the Chaos Gate, and had a willful disregard for life, even the lives of her followers.
Dr. Edwards was frowning as we finished our report and let out a long sigh before saying, “This Minira could be an extremely dangerous opponent. I want both of your teams to be very careful dealing with anything that you even think may be magic related from now on. That should be easier for you with both Mei and Lindsey learning the basics of magic his year. The nature spirit you mentioned seems to know quite a bit about her so have Jordyn report to me immediately if they do form a contract. I’ll want their thoughts on this and I’ll need to update her file.”
“Okay Dr. Edwards, “Lindsey agreed, “I’ll talk with her about it at home tomorrow and Khestrid said that she would shadow me until I could introduce them.”
“I’ll need to update Fawn’s file with her new ability as well, once we’re certain that it works. Michelle, I want you to keep every piece of cold iron from your shedding just in case. It’s not easy to come by in our modern world and it can’t just be reproduced. If we’re to be dealing with dark Fae then it’s a potential weapon and protective measure that we can’t afford to ignore. I’ll have Neuron come in to interview our captive once I’ve taken measures to ensure that she can’t use magic or her physical abilities while in a human sized form to hurt anyone.” The Headmistress sighed again and I heard her mutter, “This is going to be a long long-weekend.”
“Sorry for all the trouble Dr. Edwards, we should have read the signs that something wasn’t right earlier and just left, but we had other things on our minds,” Hiro said with a faint blush.
“I’m sure that you did,” the Headmistress replied with a weak smile. “Nobody could expect you kids to think there was that sort of danger out in the middle of nowhere and I’m beginning to think that you kids are just magnets for trouble. If you had left earlier though, then we wouldn’t have gotten what Intel that we did and you did a great job, under the circumstances. You can all go to your dorm rooms and get some sleep now.” We were all leaving the room when she quickly remembered to add, “Oh and Hiro, your mother wanted me to let you know that you should head to the medical center in the morning to see Dr. Ainsley. Your parents will be meeting you there at ten thirty to go over the results of your tests.”
Hiro looked nervous as we headed off toward Starfish Dorm, so I gently took his hand in mine. “If’n ya wan’ me tae, I kin come wit ya in the mornin’, fer support.”
“That’d be great Merida, thanks. I’m a little worried about this, what if it’s bad news?” he said softly, so I squeezed his hand reassuringly in mine.
“Well then you have a lot of friends to help you through it,” Lindsey offered.
“That’s right! And Fairies are friends for life,” Fawn said as she fluttered from my shoulder to land on Hiro’s and give him a tiny Fairy hug.
“We’ll all be there for you if you need us,” Michelle agreed solemnly.
We reached Hiro’s room first and after saying our goodnights continued on toward Michelle’s which was just down the Hall. Lindsey’s room and the one that Fawn and I shared were on higher floors. Before opening her door Michelle looked back in the direction we had come from before suggesting, “We should all meet for breakfast in the morning, our entire teams. I’ll text Garret before I go to sleep. Merida, do you think your sisters could be here too? So Hiro knows that all his friends are here for him before he goes into that appointment? We might not all be able to go in there with him and his parents, but we can definitely let him know that his friends have his back no matter what happens.”
“Aye, tha’s a good idea,” I quickly agreed. “I’ll see if any o’ them are still awake. If no’ I kin text ‘Nessa an’ le’ her in on the plan. Jus’ give me a second.” I had been able to feel the presence of the mental link that my sisters, our Fairies, and Mom all shared through Tasha as we had approached the city, a reassuring presence in my mind. Now I reached through it with my thoughts and asked, *Is anyone still awake?* It was far easier to ask in general than to direct my thoughts to everyone individually one at a time.
*I am Merida,* Mom’s voice replied. *The girls are all asleep already. I was just getting to know Rosetta better while hoping that you would call. Dr. Edwards said that you had a bit of an exciting day.*
*Who’s Rosetta?* I asked in confusion.
*Mei struck again,* Mom explained and I could almost sense her sighing. *She wanted each member of our team to have a Fairy companion and she thought that the Pixie Hollow gang just wouldn’t be whole without Rosetta. She’s still sleeping it off, but she promised no more Fairies or anything else that would cause Tara to have to create another identity. She does want to create a familiar for Lindsey though, with her permission of course.*
*Did we get another sister that I don’t know about? I thought you said no more strays.* I sent back in a bit of confusion.
*Rosetta is technically my Fairy companion and I like her, we’re planning on starting a garden together, but she will be going to school with you, your sisters, and the other Fairies. She’s going to stay in Brooke’s dorm room along with her and Vidia. Brooke will be just down the hall from you in Starfish by the way, and her testing revealed that her education is somewhat lacking for her age so she’ll have to start as a Freshman with you. So why did you want to talk to someone this late, I’d have thought you’d be going straight to bed after all the excitement.* It was hard to tell emotions in the mind-link sometimes, but it sounded like she was concerned.
*Hiro is worried about his appointment with you tomorrow,* I told her. *We thought that he could use some support, so Michelle suggested we all get together for breakfast in the morning to show our support. Could you tell the others and ask them to meet us in the Grotto at nine?*
*Brooke’s appointment is right after Hiro’s and she’s a bit worried too. She probably would have had trouble sleeping if she hadn’t been so busy all day. I have some possible treatment options that I would like to discuss with both of them, and Hiro’s parents afterwards. I could discuss this with them outside the clinic, but I want this all done by the book since they got the initial tests done at the clinic. I’ll let the girls know to meet you there, Brooke could use the support as well. You should get some sleep though, it sounds like you had a long day.*
*Aye, we have, but there’s something I want to ask you. One of the Tainted said that he sensed magic in me. I’m a bit worried about that, I’m having enough trouble controlling the powers I already have. Do you think he may have been right?* I asked, feeling a bit worried about that.
*I’m pretty sure that he was telling you the truth,* she replied, *but not because you’re a mage or anything Merida. You're quantum entangled with Fawn and have access to her passive abilities. Her abilities with animals and languages are magical in nature, so of course you have magic, but its focus is very limited, related to animals and languages. So, stop worrying about accidentally casting spells or something and try and get a good night’s sleep.*
*Aye, I’ll let the other’s know what’s going on and then Fawn and I are going straight to bed. Goodnight Mom,* I sent back before turning toward Michelle and Lindsey. “I talked wi’ Mom. I guess tha’ Brooke is worried tae, ‘er appointment is right after Hiro’s. She’s goin’ tae tell the girls wot’s up an’ tell them tae meet us a’ the Grotto at nine.”
“I hope that your mom can do something for both of them, the gender confusion is really taking a toll on Hiro I think, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for Brooke not to be able to feel anything,” Michelle said with a sad shake of her head. “Anyway, I’ll see you girls in the morning.”
“Do you think she can help them?” Lindsey asked hopefully as we walked toward the elevator.
“I dinnae ken, bu’ Mom did mention sumthin’ aboot treatment options, so I hope so,” I replied uncertainly. Then as we got in the elevator I turned to her and gave a weak smile as I added, “Oh an’ Linds, Mei wants yuir permission tae make ya a familiar, so I imagine she’ll be askin’ ya aboot tha’ in the mornin’.”
“Really?!” Her mood seemed to perk right up at that and she gestured to Peaches snoozing in her sling across my chest. “Do you think that she can make me a Feydragon like Peaches?!”
“Well she did make Peaches,” I responded, nearly giggling at her excitement. “No’ tha’ Peaches is a regular Feydragon, she’s go’ the best features o’ all the dragons tha’ Mei researched. So technically I guess she’s a new breed entirely. She could prob’ly make ya one sim’lar. An’ if ya were tae ge’ a male we could breed them when they’re older.”
“Oooh, we could make a killing selling them in the magical community,” she replied thoughtfully as we took the elevator upward. “Or we could give some to low-income magic students that are here on scholarships and can’t afford a magical creature for a familiar. That’s why I don’t have one yet, but I had my heart set on a Feydragon and you need to have some major cash to get one of those, if you’re fortunate enough to hear of someone selling an egg.”
“Well, ya may no’ ge’ a Feydragon, but ya jus’ may ge’ a Meidragon,” I said with a chuckle as we reached her floor. “G’night Linds.”
“Good night Mer,” she replied as she exited the elevator and left Fawn, Peaches, and I alone to continue up to the top floor and our own dorm room.
Thankfully, I had no nightmares that night as I slept in my dorm room, but then I was probably too tired from the excessive use of my powers and the long day to dream. I was awoken by the alarm clock at quarter to seven and sleepily sat up and parted the curtains of my bed to get up and go turn off the offensive device. I had had far too little sleep for my liking, but I wanted to have time to shower and make myself presentable before we met the others at breakfast at nine. “C’mon Fawn, it’s time tae ge’ ready fer the day.” I told my Fairy friend as I gathered some towels and my toiletries.
“Yeah Merida, before we do that though, should I try using the mark that Khestrid gave me?” she asked uncertainly.
I could tell that she was still a bit leery about it using her new ability so I tried to sound supportive as I replied. “Aye, then ya kin come take a shower wi’ me an’ we kin ‘elp each other wit’ our hair after. This could make our mornin’ routine easier ‘ere in the dorms, but ya may still wan’ tae use the shower in yuir little fairy house a’ home, since we have so many other girls in the house and no’ enough bathrooms fer us all.”
She took off her tiny night shirt and a look of concentration passed over the Fairy’s features before, in the span of only a few seconds, her wings vanished and she grew to human proportions. She looked basically the same, was maybe an inch taller than me in that form and still had her pointed ears, making her look like an elf. It was easier to tell her age too, she looked around fourteen or fifteen. “This is sooo strange,” she said in a near whisper as I passed her a couple of towels so she could wrap one around herself. “Everything seems so small and it’s weird not having my wings.”
“I’m curious, I wonder if…” I started to say as I powered up my force field. The same reddish glow covered Fawn so now at least I knew that it still worked when she was in this form. “Well, a’ leas’ yuir still goin’ tae be able tae fly a’ this size if’n we need tae. We should ge’ goin’ an’ shower though afore Peaches wakes up. I’m worried aboot her leavin’ her basket an’ getting’ intae mischief.”
“Okay Merida, let’s go then. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for clothes when I’m this size though,” she admitted as we took the towels and my self care products and headed to the door and then onward to the shower room for our floor.
“We’ll talk tae the Taylor’s, maybe Melanie ‘as a spell wot kin make yuir clothes change size when you dae. If no’ then they kin a’ leas’ make some new clothes fer ya when yuir this size.”
Fawn did have an easier time showering in her human-sized form, for one thing she didn’t have to worry about her wings getting wet in the process. Fairies didn’t have body hair so she at least didn’t have to worry about shaving like I did, I can’t imagine how awkward that would be at Fairy size. She did appreciate being able to braid one another’s hair after she showed me how. Even though I was a bit awkward and clumsy at first, it still saved time. It was weird for me, but I found it almost relaxing once I got into the rhythm of it, and Fawn seemed to like that we could do things like this for each other now.
Surprisingly, we were finished and dressed by eight o’clock. I was in my regular punk motif, and Fawn was dressed in one of the sundresses and a pair of sandals that Meghan had made me. The good things about the sundress were that Fawn was comfortable in it and it had built in support so Fawn didn’t have to borrow one of my bras, which would have been too big for her slighter frame. Since we still had an hour before meeting the others I put Peaches in her sling and we made our way out to the Taylors’ shop to drop in and see if they were open for business yet.
The Taylors weren’t officially opening until eight thirty, but since we got there while they were letting themselves inside and it was eight fifteen when we arrived, they let us in as well. Well, after they stopped gushing about Peaches and Melanie had inquired about where I had gotten the Feydragon. “So Merida, what’s my favorite punk girl doing here this early in the morning?” Meghan asked with a grin as she ushered us inside.
“I imagine it would have something to do with Fawn being human sized and not having wings at the moment,” Melanie teased with a chuckle as she passed her sister a coffee from the bakery. “You apparently need this more than I do this morning.”
Meghan stuck out her tongue at her older sibling at that. “Well I figured that Sis, but I was hoping that they might explain.”
“Well,” Fawn began after I gave her a brief nod and an encouraging smile. “I got a new ability yesterday that lets me change to this form from my usual one, but if I’m going to use it I’ll need clothes that can change size when I do.”
“It’s sorta like a magical tattoo,” I added.
“Hmmm, I could maybe try that… hopefully the two magics won’t interfere with one another,” Melanie mumbled with a pensive expression on her face. Then she nodded and her eyes focused on us once again. “If I can have a look at the tattoo I may be able to imbue an item she’s wearing with a spell that will work in conjunction with it to perform the size change on anything in contact with her when she uses the ability, it could probably even work for a purse or backpack, and its contents, as well. Maybe I could even create a second mark on her skin near the first one to do that.”
“It would probably be easier if you just made a second mark, then she wouldn’t have to worry about losing the item, or not having it with her when she really needs it,” Meghan suggested.
“Yeah, we should try that first,” the elder Taylor sister agreed. “Could I have a look at this tattoo of yours Fawn? Where is it?”
“I don’t mind you looking if you think you can help,” Fawn said with a relieved smile. “It’s on my ankle.”
“Okay Fawn why don’t you hop up on the sewing table, have a seat and let me have a look then?” Melanie said, gesturing to the large table in the room.
Fawn hopped up on the table and extended her right leg so that the magic user could look at the tattoo on her ankle. Now that she was human-sized I could tell that it did indeed resemble a fairy. Melanie looked at the mark in interest, her eyes going wide as she cast a small spell. “This is an old and powerful magic, I’ve never seen anything like it before. I don’t think that I could reproduce it if I spent my whole life trying. Luckily, I don’t need to reproduce it to help you. I’m going to add another mark that I will connect to this one to try and make it trigger whenever the Fairy one does do add the size change portion of the spell to anything you’re in contact with at the time. Would a flower be okay with you Fawn? I could make it look like the fairy is landing on it.”
“That could be pretty,” Fawn agreed with a smile.
With a nod Melanie began casting the spell and soon the fairy on Fawn’s ankle appeared to be alighting upon a daisy. It seemed to take a bit out of the magic user though, as she settled carefully into a chair after casting it. “That should work Fawn, it was a little hard to synch the spell with the other one, but I think I got it to work. Why don’t you go in the back, and get out of Merida’s clothes? We wouldn’t want to damage the dress when your wings emerge. Meghan, can you provide her with a new outfit to test with?”
“Sure thing Sis,” the younger Taylor sister replied with a grin. “C’mon Fawn, let’s go see if this works.”
While Fawn and Meghan were in the back I gave Melanie a carefully edited version of how I got my Feydragon, while she listened and fawned over Peaches. “I would love to get my hands on a Feydragon egg, they make the best familiars. If you ever decide to breed her I’d love to buy an egg from you.”
“Aye, bu’ you an’ yuir sister ’ave done so much fer me an’ my friends. So, ‘ow aboot I give ya one from her first clutch as a gift?” I suggested.
She smiled but shook her head, “I couldn’t, Feydragon eggs are worth a small fortune and that was all business, and you paid us well for that help. You Ainsley girls are good for business. How about a compromise? That spell was a doozy and it was custom made, which in magic circles can be expensive, so how about you give me the egg when you have it and we’ll say that the payment was the spell I just cast and the clothes that Megan is making Fawn with the standard enchantment I’ve been putting on all of yours and Fawn’s clothes? What do you think?”
“I think tha’ ya go’ yuirself a deal,” I agreed with a grin.
That was when Fawn and Meghan emerged from the back. Meghan was carrying my clothes and Fawn fluttered toward us in Fairy form before suddenly beginning to grow again. Then she was standing there in a ginger-hued hoodie with a gold crop top t-shirt underneath, tan colored low-rise jeans and a pair of white and orange sneakers. She looked down at herself and then squealed in excitement, “It worked!”
“Yup and you’re lookin’ good,” Meghan said, giving the Fairy a thumbs-up.
“Great, now since payment has already been settled, let me place the enchantments on those clothes for you and then you girls can head off for breakfast,” Melanie offered with a grin.
![]() |
Chapter 39 Breakfast Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Fawn and I were a few minutes late meeting the others for breakfast. We had stopped off back at our dorm room first to put away the clothes that she had borrowed from me and then my Fairy friend got a little case of the nerves. “I… I don’t know if I can do it Merida… let everyone see me like this,” she said uncertainly as she tightly gripped my hand in hers.
“Ya dinnae ‘ave tae if ya dinnae wan’ tae, Fawn.” I told her, squeezing her hand reassuringly, “bu’ these are our friends, an’ ya keep sayin’ tha’ Fairies are friends fer life. Nobody is goin’ tae hate ya jus’ ‘cause ya ‘ave a new ability. I think tha’ they’ll be ‘appy fer ya.”
“But… I haven’t even seen Rosetta since she arrived and she probably doesn’t know about the force field stuff or anything like that,” my Fairy friend said with another look toward the doors of the Grotto.
It was the first time that I had ever seen Fawn uncertain about anything. Usually she was so eager and impulsive and just flew into situations with the self-assurance that everything would turn out okay. She normally didn’t care about what others thought of her, as wildly free as the animals she cared for. “Oi, c’mon now, where’s the Fawn who decided tha’ she wanted tae fight three Tainted all by ‘erself? Ya kin dae this, an’ I’ll be right there by yuir side.”
Finally, I managed to convince her and we stepped inside, taking a quick look around for our family and friends. It didn’t take long to spot them. With it being a long-weekend, and school not starting until Tuesday, there weren’t many students at the school and they were almost the only students eating in the Grotto this early. The fact that our group took up two whole tables helped a lot too. It seemed that Fawn and I weren’t the only ones running late either, since Jordyn was nowhere to be seen.
We went to get our breakfasts and then approached the tables where the others waited and talked amongst themselves. Lindsey and Mei had apparently been talking about creating Lindsey’s familiar while everyone else watched the conversation intently as Lindsey said, “Yeah with a male Meidragon we could breed them later, Mer seemed pretty keen on the idea too, and maybe in a darker shade of pink… oooh magenta! Yeah magenta would be an awesome color for it. So what are you doing for your familiar Mei? I mean you’re going to be learning magic too right?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed to be learning some healing magic and stuff, and Jordyn has been showing me Medium stuff too, but it may be a while before I can really sense or talk to spirits like she can. Dr. Edwards would have liked if I could take the Medium classes, but I’ll have my hands full studying magic and stuff with her and she’s not too keen on people finding out I’m a Soul Dancer. Honestly, I’m pretty happy with having the Fairies around and that Merida got the dragon she always wanted. I don’t really need a permanent familiar either with my powers.”
Mornin’ e’eryone, sorry we’re a wee bi’ late bu’ we needed tae sort out some clothes an’ things wi’ the Taylors fer Fawn. It seems tha’ she outgrew hers,” I told everyone with a grin to get their attention.
Fawn took an involuntary step backward beside me as everyone turned and stared at her, even Hiro, Lindsey, and Michelle, who had known about her new ability. “Hi everyone,” she said a little self-consciously.
“Whoa, so I guess that your new ability really does work then,” Michelle said. “It’s kind of weird seeing you that big and without wings.”
“It’s just as weird for me,” Fawn admitted as we both sat down, me to Brooke’s right and Fawn on my other side. “Everything seems so small and I’m afraid that I’m going to break things. Merida thinks that it will make school easier for me though.”
Six fairies practically swarmed Fawn and my sisters were all still gaping. “How did…” Tink began to ask, but she couldn’t seem to finish the question. “You look like a human, Fawn.”
“Magic,” Hiro explained from the next table. “The spirit who helped us fight the Tainted used the magic of one of the nasty little things she was possessing to give Fawn a magic mark that lets her become human.”
“I wouldn’t say that she looks completely human, more like a LOTR elf with those ears, but yeah with the size and no wings I can see why she needed clothes for that form, shapeshifting can be a bitch sometimes,” Vanessa put in while looking at Fawn across the table.
“Aye, which was why we ‘ad tae see the Taylors, Melanie was able tae add sumthin’ tae the mark tae le’ her change her clothes tae, now the mark should le’ her change the size o’ anythin’ in physical contact wit’ her, or tha’s wot Melanie said anyway,” I provided. “We’ll need tae ge’ Fawn a few things afore classes start though, like a purse an’ a backpack an’ stuff.”
“Do you think Melanie could put a mark like that on the other Fairies? I mean if she was able to alter it, maybe she can reproduce it,” Tasha suggested as I placed Peaches on the table with a bowl of food in front of her, giving her an affectionate stroking.
“I dinnae think so,” I replied with a sad shake of my head, my fork halfway to my mouth so that I could start on my own meal. “She said it was an old an’ powerful magic an’ tha’ she prob’ly couldnae copy it if’n she spent her whole life tryin’. The best she could dae was tae add sumthin’ tae the mark so tha’ the enchantment works on anythin’ touchin’ her, like her clothes.”
“I wonder what it’s like being so big, it’s too bad that we aren’t clothes or we could see what it’s like too,” Silvermist said conversationally in a slightly dreamy tone.
Everyone at both tables stopped eating to stare at the water talent Fairy, but it was Vanessa who exclaimed, “Sil, you’re a genius!”
“I am?” she asked in wonder as she looked up at her best friend.
“Yup, you are Sil, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Brooke said with a grin. “Mer said that the spell would extend to anything touching her, not just to clothes, so maybe that could include other Fairies.”
“We could give it a try after breakfast,” Fawn offered. “It feels so strange seeing all of you so small, I feel so big and awkward.”
“Don’ you worry none, buttercup. You may look like a big ole human, but you’re still one of us, and our friend, no matter how you look. A flower doesn’t stop bein’ a flower just ‘cause it went from a bud to bloomin’ after all, it just becomes bigger an’ prettier,” Rosetta said with a smile on her tiny face. At least I figured that she had to be Rosetta since I had never seen her before. She was a bit on the small side, even for a Fairy, with shoulder-length red hair curled at the ends, peach-hued skin, and green eyes. She wore a dress that looked to be made of rose petals in three shades of pink, and red shoes and she spoke with a southern accent.
With that said, all of the Fairies swarm-hugged Fawn and we all got back to eating and trying to keep Brooke and Hiro from worrying about their upcoming appointments at the clinic. I was half finished my meal when Jordyn joined us. Her hair was gathered up in a hasty ponytail and she had bright pink paint stains on all four of her bare arms. “Sorry guys,” she said apologetically, “I was helping Aunt Rachel move the stuff back into my room at the house.”
“Well you did spend half the day painting before coming over to teach me the basics of Medium stuff yesterday,” Mei replied. “So is your room all finished now?”
“Uh yeah, it no longer looks like a storage room, now it looks like a teenage girl lives there, it’s kind of weird. I wanted to go with more gender neutral colors, but Aunt Rachel insisted that I needed to get used to being a girl and making others believe that I always have been,” she responded with a shrug.
“Yeah, she pulled the same thing with me when I jumped the gender fence,” Lindsey replied with a smirk. “At least I managed to convince her to go with Lilac for my room instead of Barbie pink.”
“It’s not Barbie pink it’s bubble gum,” the four armed girl protested. “Seriously though Linds, Aunt Rachel is even more eager to make me into a girly-girl than my mom was.”
“Well it didn’t exactly take with me, so maybe she’s hoping it will with you, better you than me cuz,” Lindsey said with a grin. “Mom loves the whole mother-daughter time, at least you being here and all newly female gives me a break from it sometimes.”
“Thanks cuz, you’re all heart. I’ll remember this when…” Whatever Jordyn had been about to say it wasn’t uttered as she stared at a spot just behind her cousin. “There’s… a nature spirit here, a damn powerful one.”
“Linds, meet Khestrid. She ‘elped us out a lo’ on our wee adventure in the woods an’ prob’ly saved Lindsey’s life. She said tha’ she’s a Valkyrie and she’s interested aboot formin’ a contract wit ya,” I said as casually as I could.
What followed was, for everyone but Jordyn, a rather one-sided conversation as she and Khestrid got to know one another and discussed the details of the contract. Apparently the contract would come with some physical changes in addition to Lindsey gaining Khestrid’s powers so that they were more alike physically. Jordyn was arguing against wings and wanted to see if she could go back to just having two arms, but Khestrid wasn’t willing to let her give up what would clearly be an advantage in combat. Finally, the two of them came to terms and Jordyn’s body tensed up as she began to change.
Her face and coloring didn’t change much, as she remained pale with bright pink hair, the only real difference there was that her milky white eyes became a bright gold color, a color that matched the large feathered wings that sprouted from her back. She grew about four inches in height too, just shy of six feet tall, and her whole body including all four of her arms, became more toned with tight muscles visible under her skin and a set of abs that I was a wee bit jealous of. It was hard not to see those abs, or the rest of her body, as the remains of her torn top and skirt hung precariously off of her, barely preserving her modesty. “Aww damn, now I’m gonna need new clothes again! Geeze Khestrid, did you really have to do this right in the middle of the grotto? You couldn’t have waited until I got to my dorm room?”
We had all finished breakfast by this time, Fawn eating nearly as much as I did, and we still had a half hour before Hiro’s appointment. “Okay, here’s wot we’re goin’ tae dae. Someone grab Jordyn some food she kin eat on the go, she’s prob’ly goin’ tae be ‘ungry after all o’ tha’ growin’. Me an’ Linds will take her tae the Taylors an’ ge’ them started on makin’ her some new clothes, or mebbe they kin alter the old ones.”
Brooke was staring at Jordyn in awe, and possibly something else, but she managed to shake it off and offered, “I’ll grab her some food and meet the rest of you there.”
“Merida, I can’t have you paying for my clothes again, I already owe you too much for the first time,” Jordyn complained.
“I dinnae recall sayin’ tha’ ya owed me anythin’ Jordyn, I did it ‘cause I’m yuir friend. ‘Sides, I think tha’ mebbe me an’ Linds can make an arrangement with them tae ge’ yuir clothes replaced wi’ no money changin’ hands,” I told her with a grin. Meghan had been a little jealous of her sister getting one of the promised eggs from Peaches’ future clutch, so now she could get one of her own. I was pretty sure that both Taylors would agree. I whispered to Lindsey, quickly explaining things.
“Oh!” Lindsey exclaimed, a grin nearly splitting her face in two. “That’s a good idea, and I don’t mind us parting with two eggs from the first clutch. The Taylors are awesome, and they deserve to have them regardless.”
What followed was another visit to the Taylors, where Jordyn quickly ate the food that Brooke had brought her, now safely away from any prying eyes. The few people besides us who had been in the grotto had been staring rather unabashedly at Jordyn following her change. The Taylors, especially Meghan, were only too happy to create a new wardrobe for Jordyn when Lindsey and I offered an egg for the younger of the siblings.
“Yeesh, and I thought that bras were tricky for you before, when you just had four arms,” Meghan said with a shake of her head as she took in Jordyn’s new wings. “Those are going to complicate things. I can probably come up with some specialized halter bras that should work for you though.” With that she got to the long process of creating a new wardrobe for Jordyn, including all of the necessities, such as school uniforms. Once they were started, Brook, Lindsey, and I all took our leave and joined the rest of our crew outside to head toward the medical center for Hiro’s and Brooke’s appointments.
While we were inside with the Taylors Fawn had done some experimenting to see if her mark could affect the other Fairies as well, if they were touching her, but they all ended up a bit disappointed since it only seemed to work on inanimate matter and not living organisms. It had worked just fine when she had borrowed Vanessa’s purse to test it, but it just wouldn’t work on anything that was alive it seemed. She was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t share this with her Fairy friends, but they were happy that at least she could experience it. We would have to talk to Mom about other ways of helping to make school easier for the other Fairies.
Fawn did change herself back to her normal size and form before we entered the clinic though. Our group was already big enough to take up significant space in the waiting room, so she didn’t want to push it. It was nearly time for Hiro’s appointment and his parents were already in the waiting room when we arrived. Kasumi quickly hugged Hiro and then surprised me by hugging me and then Lindsey and Michelle as well. “Alana old me what happened, I’m so glad that all of you made it out that situation safely.”
I was about to respond when Mom walked out of her examination room with someone that I didn’t recognize, a pale Caucasian woman in her mid-twenties with raven black hair and blood red eyes who was wearing a black and plum colored bodysuit and a huge smile. “Thank you so much Blair, I can’t thank you enough for giving me this freedom. I guess that I should go get some normal clothes now that I won’t have to wear this anymore.”
“Wait a minute, I did recognize her, or at least her voice and the bodysuit, I just wasn’t used to seeing her without the mask covering her entire head as well. It was Toxin. “Kendra?! I sputtered I surprise.
“Yup, it’s me Merida. Your mom able to fix it so I don’t need to wear this anymore. I can touch people again and live a normal life.” There were tears in her eyes as she hugged Mom and then me.
I was surprised at the hug and even more surprised not to be dead, since a mere touch from Toxin was usually instantly fatal. “Wot? How?”
“Nanites,” Mom quickly explained. “I’ve been experimentin’ with them and I was able to create some tha’ will eat up the toxins tha’ her body produces before they can be exuded by her skin an’ hair. They can be controlled through an implant in her brain tha’ will allow her to turn them off and on if she needs access to her toxins for some reason. Her blood is still one o’ the deadliest substances on Earth, but she can a’ least interact with people more normally now.”
“Speaking of interacting, I think I’m going to go see the Taylors and get some proper clothes made. Thanks again Blair, I owe you so much,” Kendra said before hugging Mom one last time. “I’ll see you on Tuesday after classes for your next appointment Merida.”
“Aye, I’ll see ya on Tuesday Kendra. Ya may ‘ave tae wait a wee bi’ fer the Taylors though,” I told her with a grin. “They’re busy makin’ some new clothes fer Jordyn right now. She made a spirit contract an’ wen’ through a few changes. Those Taylors are right though, we Ainsleys are good fer their business.”
We said our goodbyes to Kendra and then Mom said, “Well Hiro, it’s yuir turn now. If you an’ yuir parents could come join me in my office I can tell ya what I found on yuir tests and how I would like to proceed with your treatment.”
“Ummm… okay Dr. Ainsley,” Hiro replied, visibly swallowing and then looking toward his parents who were joining him and then to me, reaching out with his hand to take mine. I quickly took it and squeezed it reassuringly with my own as he asked, “Would it be okay if Merida came in as well?”
“As long as yuir parents and Merida are both okay with tha’, I don’t see why not,” Mom replied.
Kasumi looked toward her husband Paul and then they both nodded. “We don’t mind, if it makes Hiro feel better, they’re practically connected at the hip anyway it would seem.” She smiled as she looked toward our tightly clasped hands.
“It’s fine then, now let’s all head into m’ office,” Mom said, turning and motioning for us to follow her inside.
![]() |
Chapter 40 Options Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
“Kin someone take care o’ Peaches fer a wee bi’ while we’re in there?” I asked as I let go of Hiro’s hand to carefully remove the sling with the snoozing baby dragon inside.
“I’ve got it Mer, I should be fine watching her with Fawn here to help me,” Lindsey replied with an encouraging smile. “I need to get used to caring for a baby dragon anyway since Mei wants to create the egg for mine tonight.” She carefully took the occupied sling and arranged it on herself as she and Fawn fussed over Peaches, who was stirring from her relocation.
“We’ll take good care of her,” Fawn guaranteed as she made shooing motions toward Mom, Hiro, and his parents.
“Aye, ya will,” I agreed, again taking Hiro’s hand reassuringly in mine. Then we all followed Mom into her office, Hiro’s hand seeming to grip mine tighter with each passing second though, thankfully, he was still conscious enough of his strength to not crush my hand in his own. I liked that about him, even though he was worried and terrified of what news might be awaiting him he was still thinking of me and being careful not to hurt me.
I could have probably put up my force field but I trusted him not to go too far. I didn’t want to make him think that I didn’t trust and believe in him and besides, that would have put something between us and right now he needed my reassurance, the warmth of the skin on skin contact. My force field would have sent the wrong message, that I was as uncertain and scared about this as he was. That was a message that I didn’t want to send, no matter how true it might be.
Once the door was closed behind us and Hiro and I were both sitting in chairs facing Mom’s desk with Kasumi and Paul standing behind us nervously Mom took a seat on her desk. Yes, on her desk, not behind it. I’m not sure if my pride in her in that moment was that of a big brother or a daughter, but it didn’t really matter. She had sat that way to be closer to us, to show that she was relaxed and that we had nothing to worry about, but most of all to let us all know that despite this being done by the book and in her office we were family and friends. She wasn’t just a doctor seeing a patient, this was personal to her too. Good news or bad she was in it with us for the long haul, not just until her next appointment.
Mom wasted no time. As soon as she had her butt plopped down on the desk she said, “Hiro, I’ve done a full genetic analysis o’ the samples tha’ I took from ya, in both yuir male and female forms. I’ve discovered tha’ there is an anomaly in yuir H Chromosomes, more specifically in the area tha’ contains yuir archetype. It’s no’ somethin’ tha’ I’ve seen before. I researched it in every medical journal I could find tha’ deals with H Chromosomes and Archetypes, but I haven’t found anythin’ like it mentioned before. Unfortunately the research in that field is fairly limited. I found one man up in Toronto that has tha’ kind o’ knowledge, a retired superhero called the Brain, and I contacted him last night. He practically mapped the H Chromosome and he has decades of experience in genetics.”
She took a deep breath before continuing. “We’re callin’ yuir condition CAD, fer lack o’ a better name, Conjoined Archetype Disorder. The Brain thinks it’s fascinatin’ an’ wants me to write a paper on it, but he also agreed with my diagnosis once he looked at the gene analysis.” She leaned over and used a sheet of paper and a pen to quickly draw a circle with little stars in it and below that two overlapping circles with little stars spread out in both circles and two in the space where they overlapped.
First she pointed out the circle. “This is a normal mutant’s Archetype, could be me, Merida, yuir parents, or anyone else at the school. The little stars represent the gene codin’ tha’ gives us our powers. The overlappin’ circles are yuir Archetype. Now, what this condition means is tha’ you have two distinctive Archetypes, but they are interconnected fer some reason. Some o’ yuir powers are in one of them while the other has other powers, but here in the middle is where flight an’ yuir energy powers are, partly in one Archetype and partly in the other. Since there are technically still two Archetypes ta choose from, yuir H Chromosomes see you as no’ fully Activated yet. So yuir H Chromosomes are tryin’ to re-Activate ya whenever ya absorb too much energy in that form or run out of energy and have no way of absorbin’ more in yuir other form because you could be in danger without all the aspects of yuir energy powers.”
Hiro looked really upset and I gave his hand a good squeeze as Kasumi put her hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything that you can do Blair?” It was Paul who asked, his voice hopeful. “You did mention possible treatment when you called.”
Mom nodded and gave all of us a reassuring smile and then looked directly at Hiro. “The Brain and I have both agreed on two possible methods o’ treatment, though either case is goin’ ta require me to do some genetic engineering. The first possibility is that I use nanites as a vector for a gene therapy treatment, altering each cell in yuir body over several days and giving a third Archetype to choose from. Then we could try ta trigger yuir energy absorption and hope that when you re-Activate tha’ it’s with the new, more stable, Archetype that I create. It could be painful though, and there is no guarantee tha’ this would work, yuir body may reject it or may jus’ continue as it has been doing until now regardless of the new Archetype.”
“What’s the second option?” Kasumi asked. “That one sounds great, but I don’t know if I want to put my baby through that just to have it not work.”
“I would say tha’ the odds for tha’ treatment would be fifty/fifty, at best, and traditional gene therapy can be limited,” Mom replied with a nod to Kasumi before focussing again on Hiro. “The second option is tha’ I can genetically alter one o’ Hiro’s own stem cells to create a gene sample with a properly formed Archetype, containing all o’ the powers from the conjoined set and whichever o’ the two forms tha’ you would prefer. Then, once I have had the Brain double check the sample to ensure it’s stability you could have a magic user use tha’ sample fer a permanent transformation spell. I would suggest Dr. Edwards. She should be powerful enough to pull it off and she’ll understand the science well enough. This is far more likely to work, but the only control tha’ I will have over the process is in the creation of the sample, and as a medical doctor and scientist I hate suggesting a magical quick fix.”
“I appreciate you bringing that up, Blair, even though you don’t like magical shortcuts,” Paul said with an almost relieved sigh.
Mom nodded, a slightly dejected look on her face. “I had ta bring it to yuir attention, Paul, it’s the option tha’ is most likely to succeed. I estimate a ninety nine percent chance tha’ it will succeed, should I be able to create a viable gene sample. I couldn’t find another way tha’ would have a reasonable margin for success. I’m afraid that I don’t know much about magic or what risks may be involved, but the Brain suggested it an’ said tha’ a good mage should be able ta make it work. I normally wouldn’t recommend it, but if we don’t do somethin’ then Hiro will continue to change back an’ forth, an’ that will be stressful to both the body and mind and could be a serious risk to his future health as well. At least if ya get Alana to cast the spell then I’m sure we’ll all feel safer; she can explain any risks, an’ we can be certain tha’ the sample will be properly disposed of afterward so it can’t be misused.”
“Yes, we will have Alana do it, we can trust her,” Kasumi agreed. “We’ll want you there though, Blair. It’s your idea and you’re our doctor and our friend. You should be there. I’ll ask Alana about it once we’re finished here. How long do you think it will take to create this sample?”
“If I start on it tonight then I could have it finished an’ have the Brain double check my work before we get together fer Labor Day the day after tomorrow,” she replied after a moment of deep thought. Then she turned and smiled at Hiro. “I would really like ta have this settled for you before school starts. That does beg the question though, will I be creatin’ a sample fer Hiro, or Hana?”
“Hana,” my maybe-boyfriend said without a moment’s hesitation. I guess that made him, or rather her, my maybe-girlfriend then and he gave me an uncertain look, like he was still worried I wouldn’t be interested in him as Hana as he added, “Being a guy just feels weird and wrong to me. I’ve been trying to get used to it because I thought that I had no other choice, but I want to feel like myself again and I’m not Hiro, I’m Hana.”
“I dinnae care wot gender ya are so long as yuir ‘appy. I’m attracted tae ya either way. I like ya fer who ya are inside, no’ the body yuir wearin’,” I reminded him with a gentle squeeze of his hand.
Mom nodded, giving us both a serious and somewhat conflicted look for a moment. Then she sighed and said, “I will be only too happy to create a sample for Hana, but as yuir doctor there is a matter regarding yuir future which I should bring to yuir attention. It could be a wee bit embarassin’ fer ya. Would you prefer Merida and yuir parents ta leave so we can discuss tha’ more privately?”
Hiro shook his head. “No, anything you want to ask me about you can ask with them here,” he insisted.
Mom sighed again. “If you wan’ ta have children someday, bein’ in a same-sex relationship, ya would normally have two options, adoption or artificial insemination fer you an’/or yuir partner. Adoption is great if you wish to do tha’, I love all my girls an’ Merida is the only one related t’ me by blood. But if ya wish ta ‘ave children that are genetically both yuirs and yuir partner’s, whoever tha’ may be…” At this point she was looking at both of us again. “Before we change ya back ta Hana permanently, ya have the opportunity to make tha’ possible...”
I’m not sure who was blushing worse at that point, me or Hana. Kasumi seemed to be a realist and fairly practical though as she nodded at Mom’s unspoken suggestion. “She’s right honey, if you allow her to freeze some samples for your future then you could still carry on the family line with your chosen partner.”
I remained silent and very red-faced. This was Hiro’s decision to make and even if we did like each other a lot it couldn’t be certain that our relationship would be forever, or even long-term at all. Mom knew that too, which was why she had suggested it even knowing that when I had been moved to Special Forces I had had her freeze some samples of my own. I had wanted kids someday and you never know what could happen while out on an Op. That wasn’t what had me blushing so bad though.
What had me blushing was the thought of the mere possibility of carrying a baby for Hana in some imagined future. The thought was so alien to me. I knew that I was a girl now and I was getting better at accepting that, but for some reason I had never really twigged on the fact that if I ever wanted to have kids now my role would be as a mother, not a father, with all the biological implications that were involved. In that daydream future Hana and I were both carrying each other’s child and as much as my former male ego may have protested that image, it was something that held a fascination, even appeal, for me.
I never was one to believe in love at first sight, at least not as Maddock, but that was what things felt like with Hiro/Hana. We hadn’t known each other that long, but we had just clicked and connected from that first moment we had met, and as much as I tried at first to tell myself that it was just a teenage crush, it felt like more than that to me. I had gone through plenty of crushes during my first time as a teenager, but with us it was something more. It wasn’t even just pure physical attraction. I had been in that rodeo before too and this was something else, besides neither of us were anywhere near ready for a physical relationship and there were no urges to bring it to that level, we just loved being with one another. No matter what form he or she happened to be in, just being close was enough to make me feel happy.
Hiro had agreed to freeze a sample so Mom gave him a sample jar and told him that he could collect it in his dorm room. Once he was finished with that Mom wanted to have him change back to Hana with his mother’s help and bring the sample by so she could collect a stem cell sample as well. She reasoned that it would be easier to work with Hana’s stem cells rather than Hiro’s, since here would be less to alter overall when she did the gene manipulation, and she would harvest the stem cells from Hana’s subcutaneous fat. Then Hana would be free to go, but Mom wanted her to try to conserve power and stay in girl-form until it could be arranged for Dr. Edwards to cast whatever transformation spell she could come up with.
After that was all decided she let us all go so that Paul could get back to the restaurant, Kasumi could talk to Dr. Edwards, and Hiro could go to his dorm room to collect his sample before getting re-girled. Then it was Brooke’s turn to be called in, though she was guided into an examination room instead of Mom’s office. Mom wanted to speak with Brooke privately about things and to get a little more familiar with what our new sister could remember about her medical history before getting down to her problems with her lack of sensation. She also wanted to do a proper physical so she could find any other potential issues that Brooke may not have realized she had or had possibly overlooked during her time on the streets.
Me, my other sisters, the Fairies, and the members of 4-Ward with the exception of Hiro/Hana waited nervously in the waiting room for Mom and Brooke to return. Soon after they went in Jordyn joined us in her new form, though her wings took up a lot of space. Apparently they were hard for her to get used to and control as well and when she had run across Toxin at the Taylors they had agreed that she was going to have to change her class schedule a bit since in addition to the martial arts class she had taken in place of gym she was now going to need to take basic flight, aerial combat, and elemental control for her electives.
I told everyone that Mom had a treatment planned for Hana that she thought would work just to reassure them that she was going to be okay, but I didn’t go into any details, it wasn’t my place. Other than that I just tried to think positive for Brooke and talked with everyone while Fawn and I got out the silver bell to try to start training Peaches to listen and follow instructions. She was a pretty smart little dragon and really affectionate when she was awake, though it would be a few months before she was really out of the infant stage where all she was doing was eating, sleeping, and pooping. Mei estimated almost a full year before she was fully grown, but she insisted that all the work in caring for her and training her would be well worth it. Just like in my favorite story, things are much more worth it if you have to work for them.
I was starting to worry about Brooke when we reached the half hour mark of waiting but I tried to keep myself and Fawn busy with Peaches. It wasn’t long after that when Hana showed up with her mother and an innocuous-looking paper bag containing what I assumed was the sample to be frozen. She was also trying very hard to conserve the energy that she had absorbed from Kasumi, since her hair and eyes weren’t golde and glowing. I felt bad at that since she had mentioned that it took a lot of concentration to do that and appear normal. Lindsey moved to another seat so Hana could sit down beside me and she snuggled up close. “That was so gross, I never want to have to do that as a guy again,” she muttered quietly in my ear.
I kissed her softly. “Well, ‘opefully tha’ will be the last time tha’ ya ‘ave tae dae anythin’ as a guy.”
“Yeah, let’s hope. I do really want kids someday though, so it’ll be worth it if we can have kids that are ours.” Then she flushed bright red and lost control of her hair and eyes as she realized just how she had said that. “I didn’t… I mean I…”
I just kissed her tenderly once again to shut her up. “Dinnae worry aboot it, aye? I’m flattered, an’ I kind o’ hope tha’ we kin be t’gether for tha’, though I’m a wee bi’ leery aboot the whole childbirth thing someday. I’m tryin’ tae be realistic aboot wot’s goin’ on ‘tween us, bu’ I’m really hopin’ tha’ we’ll be one o’ those rare couples tha’ stay t’gether through high school an’ then our whole lives.”
A chorus of “Awwwww,” from our friends and family made my cheeks glow as bright as hers were, possibly even as bright as her hair and eyes. We were quiet for a long while after that, just snuggling, showing Peaches some affection, and enjoying one another’s presence until the door to the door to the examination room that Mom had taken Brooke into opened and we all rose from our seats.
![]() |
Chapter 41 Feeling and Feelings? Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
It was almost lunchtime when Mom and Brooke finally emerged from the examination room. They had been in there for a damn near an hour by that point and you could have heard a pin drop in the room as we all rose from our seats. Vidia was the first to get to them, but then she is a fast-flying Fairy and Brooke’s Fairy companion. She had been getting more and more frustrated the longer that Brooke was in the examination room. “Awww, it looks like Vidia was gettin’ all worried,” Rosetta commented in that southern twang of hers.
Vidia turned around and snapped, “I was not, it was just getting boring in here. You know how I don’t like sitting and doing nothing. So now we can get out of here.” It would seem that the fast-flying fairy liked to portray a tough and uncaring exterior, though we had all seen how worried she was getting during the long wait. “Come on Brooke, tell everyone what happened so we can get going.”
Brooke smiled at her Fairy friend, apparently, she wasn’t fooled either. “Sure Vidia. Dr… uh… Mom had to do a bunch of tests, but it looks like I’m perfectly healthy and I didn’t really follow a lot of what she said, but she hopes that I should be able to feel things again in the next day or two. She’s doing something similar to what she did for Toxin, I guess.”
Mom took that as her cue to explain. “Brooke’s problem is tha’ her whole body is invulnerable, includin’ her various mechanoreceptors. They can’t sense pressure, heat, cold or pain, because she’s effectively immune ta those sensations at a cellular level. Therefore they aren’t sendin’ signals ta the postcentral gyrus o’ her brain. So I’ve given her an oral dose o’ nanites. Most o’ those l’il buggers are goin’ to move through her body an’ attach themselves to her mechanoreceptors. Once in place, they will take over fer them acting as sensors an’, when triggered, sendin’ the correspondin’ signals to her brain to interpret. The remaining nanites will construct a small implant in her brain tha’ will allow her to turn her nanites on or off at will, allowin’ her to avoid distractions while in combat.”
“That sounds good, are you sure it’s going to work Mom?” Vanessa asked. I knew how she felt, we all had faith in Mom’s expertise, but it was Brooke and we were all worried that she might never be able to feel anything again, other than perhaps pain while fighting a strong enough Cat five.
“It’s experimental,” Mom admitted, “but they’re small enough to get to the proper locations and I’ve designed them so her immune system an’ regeneration will ignore both them an’ the implant as a threat. She should know fer sure once the implant is completed an’ connected to the nanites, probably in the next day or so. Toxin’s have been workin’ well so far, so I’m optimistic tha’ this will work.”
“If’n anyone kin make it work, it would be you, Mom,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster. “Now kin we please go eat somethin’ I’m starvin’ here, an’ I wan’ tae figure out wot we’re goin’ tae dae this afternoon.”
I was hungry but not as bad as I was making it sound. I really just wanted to get everyone to stop dwelling on something that we really had no control over. Mom had done her best and we would all have to wait and see what happened, for both Brooke and Hana. My distraction worked. With all of us discussing plans for the afternoon and whether to eat at the Grotto or someplace else everyone seemed to be a bit less gloomy. As a bonus, Hana and her mother were able to discretely talk to Mom for a few minutes and give her the sample that Hana had ‘collected’ to be frozen and so that Mom could take Hana aside for a few minutes to harvest the stem cells that would be needed for her treatment from her subcutaneous fat.
We had decided to go and eat at our place on the beach; me, my sisters, and all the members of 4-Ward. We still had all the extra food supplies that we had bought for the camping trip after all and hadn’t wanted them to go to waste. So we built a fire and had a cookout with all the stuff that needed cooking and had a sort of group picnic while we talked about some things and tried to avoid talking about others. We talked about having another surfing lesson, but that just brought up the fact that Brooke didn’t have a surfboard.
With that in mind, we decided to go buy her one. Greenhill Mall was still closed for repairs, so sadly Surf ‘n Turf was out of the question, so we ended up going to Shoreside Mall again. Lindsey knew of a small surf shop there that had a decent selection of boards and Fawn would need a few things from the mall anyway. She had plenty of clothes, but she really needed a backpack for school and a purse and a few other things, now that she could take human form and size. Mom had put more money on the pre-paid debit cards she was using to issue our allowance yesterday while getting one for Brooke as well, so my sisters were all looking forward to a trip to the mall.
We actually had a lot of fun shopping for things after Brooke had found and bought a surfboard that she liked. Fawn had become human-sized for the shopping trip and we had managed to find her one as well, and some of the things that she would be needing too. I got her a backpack and school supplies, a purse that she immediately put her ID and other essentials in, and some hair ties, a hairbrush, and other things that she might want to keep in her purse for emergencies.
Fawn started to feel a little less self-conscious about her new ability while we were doing that shopping and Lindsey pointed out how she could use it to make her fellow Fairies’ lives easier. She could take necessities such as toilet paper, monthly supplies, backpacks, school supplies, and such and shrink them down along with her for them, so long as she was carrying them on her person or holding on to them. It might require a lot of back and forth on her part, but she was more than willing to put out the effort to make things easier for them. With that in mind, we bought those types of things for them as well as some self-care and personal hygiene stuff from the pharmacy. We also went to the dollar store to get things like doll furniture for their little houses and things like towels, dishes, cutlery, and other things for Fawn to shrink down to size for Fairy use. It may have been cutting into our allowance money for that, but none of it was really all that expensive. Besides, the Fairies were our friends, they were like family, and that made it worth it to us.
Our family and the Fairies weren’t the only ones getting some shopping done either. Lindsey stopped in at Magic Time to get a few things in preparation for training her soon-to-be Meidragon familiar, Garret wanted some new sneakers for while he was in human form, and Hana wanted a few sets of clothes that would fit and a couple of other necessities in the hopes that her treatment would work. Hana planned on getting most of her clothes through the Taylors, but she didn’t want to invest that much until she was sure that she wouldn’t be changing back into Hiro. She also wanted to replace the sleeping bag that had been destroyed during our camping trip, which had Michelle and Lindsey doing the same.
Shu was storing everything in a pocket dimension after we left each store so we didn’t have to carry too much but she was sure to do it while the rest of us were keeping her away from prying eyes, and only when Tasha figured that it was safe to do so. We didn’t want to get too much attention, after all. Our group stood out enough as it was, especially with Jordyn’s new look. Tall and toned girls with bright pink hair, four arms, and bright gold feathery wings tend to stand out a bit.
It was almost dinner time by the time we got back to our place, but we did manage to get a short surfing lesson in and they all stayed for dinner. Andy was happy to get another chance to use his new grill so soon and Mom didn’t mind since she liked all of our 4-Ward friends. After dinner, we toasted some marshmallows and made s’mores from the remainder of the camping trip supplies while Jordyn continued Mei’s lessons on being a Medium. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the evening until Mei created a new Meidragon egg for Lindsey. Jordyn watched her closely while she did her thing, hoping to pick up some clues that might make it easier for her to teach Mei how to actually see what she was already doing instinctively.
It was of course Lindsey who had passed out instead of Mei when that time came. Mei had done as she had with me, using a piece of Lindsey’s soul to create the new dragon-egg to make the resulting dragon have a closer bond with her. That was the whole reason that she had wanted Lindsey’s permission before creating her familiar. She wanted Lindsey to know exactly what she was doing, why, and as much of the how as Jordyn could explain.
“She’s so adorable when she sleeps,” Michelle said with a smile as she watched over her slumbering girlfriend. “So… uhh... how do we get her home and to bed? Could you fly her there Jordyn?”
The Medium laughed as she shook her head. “I may have wings, but I have no idea how to use them properly yet, I can barely keep them from springing out whacking anything or anyone nearby. I’m still getting used to this new body too so even if did know how to use them I wouldn’t feel safe carrying her home.”
“Don’t look at me, I don’t have super strength in this form,” Hana pointed out as Michelle looked her way.
I looked around at the others in the light of the campfire and thought aloud, “Well, ya ken… we’re already outside wit’ a nice fire goin’, an’ we jus’ had s’mores. We didnae really ge’ tae camp out las’ night, so why no’ dae it t’night. The three o’ ya ‘ave yuir new sleepin’ bags, an’ I kin set up ma tent an’ sleepin’ bag. An’ we ‘ave a bunch o’ Mythrilex blankets an’ stuff fer anyone else wot wants tae camp out.”
“That’s a great idea Mer,” Vanessa suggested with a grin. “I should be able to manage it if I sleep close enough to the shore that I get wet when the tide comes in.”
“Couldn’t you drown that way though, Ness?” Garret asked in concern.
“You’re so cute when you worry about me Fuzzy, but my gills will appear and kick in automatically if I completely submerge,” the mermaid Shifter assured him. He still looked a bit worried, but calmed down when she gave him a confident smile and added, “I sleep under like three feet of water every night and I’m still around.”
“Ness? Fuzzy? What is with the pet names and the lovey-dovey-ness between those two?” I wondered. “Are they…? When did that happen? Why didn’t she tell me? Why am I upset that she didn’t tell me? I mean, sure she and I have been close since we first met as captives in that bathroom, and she’s my sister now, but that doesn’t mean she has to tell me everything. Even sisters have secrets, right?” Still, I was upset and a little hurt and that was making me distracted. It had also made my force field activate.
I fought to stifle it, focusing on petting the sleeping dragonet in my arms in an attempt to calm us both. Peaches might be sleeping, but she could still pick up on my emotions, and whatever upset me, upset her as well. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was surprised either. Michelle and Hana were both staring at the pair. An awkward silence had fallen over us when I excused myself, placing Peaches gently in Fawn’s lap. “Could ya watch ‘er fer a wee bi’ Fawn? I’m goin’ tae go ge’ ma campin’ gear an’ the blankets.”
“Sure Merida,” the currently human Fairy agreed as she began to slowly rock Peaches in her arms.
I went straight to my room and removed my portable portal from my purse. I had just shaken it out and started to extract the tent that would keep my powers contained when the door opened and Vanessa’s voice called out from behind me, “I thought you might need some help.”
“Dinnae worry, I’m fine,” I countered as I placed the collapsed tent on the bed and peered inside the portal to find and grab my sleeping bag. It was a good thing that I had left everything close to the entrance.
The moment that I was completely out of the portal she said, “You’re not Mer, your force field doesn’t activate on its own when you’re fine. You’re obviously upset about something and you’re too damn stubborn to admit it or want to talk it out.”
“I’m no’ upset, so there’s nothin’ tae talk aboot,” I grumbled as I walked past her with the tent bag slung over my shoulder and my sleeping bag in hand. I made my way down the hall to the linen closet to grab the stack of Mythrilex blankets that Mom had placed there, adding them somewhat precariously to the sleeping bag in my arms.
I could hear Vanessa sigh from down the hall before she followed me, took the blankets from me, and said, “Look Mer, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you about this as soon as you got back, but your trip didn’t go as planned, there was the whole thing with being there to support Brooke and Hana, then the shopping trip and stuff, so there wasn’t really any time to talk to you alone. You’re my sister and my best friend other than Silvermist. You’re the first one I wanted to tell, I don’t want there to ever be secrets between us and I wanted your advice. I love Sil to bits, but she can be a bit flighty sometimes and I know that I can always count on you.”
She did feel bad about not telling me earlier and I knew that she was telling me the truth because I could see it in her face and her eyes. I still felt bad, though now it was more because I had been upset about something so stupid and that I had doubted her. She hadn’t done anything to deserve that, in fact, she had always been there when I needed her. “I should be the one apologizin’ getting’ upset o’er sumthin’ so stoopid.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Don’t be Mer, I would have probably been upset if I wasn’t the first one you talked to about the whole thing you have going with Hiro/Hana. I got to watch the whole thing unfold though, so there wasn’t any need for you to tell me or ask for advice. And when you did need advice after the whole first kiss thing Tasha and I didn’t exactly give you time to ask for it before butting in.”
“So, Garret huh? Wot’s goin on b’tween the two o’ ya then? I leave fer one bloody day an’ yuir both makin’ googoo eyes at each other when I ge’ back.”
She flushed a bit but did start to explain. “Well, I guess it’ kinda started just after we met them and you and Hiro started getting all touchy-feely. We’ve been talking on the phone and texting sometimes before I settle into my aquarium. We get each other y’know? It started as friends with similar issues talking things out that nobody but us can really understand. We both have trouble maintaining our human forms for long periods of time and when we don’t it’s pretty obvious that we’re mutants. We both have the whole TSD thing too, though I think I talk to you more about that than him, but he still gets it. We have similar interests too, and he’s as avid a surfer as I am. At first, it was just friends talking about similar interests and issues, being there for one another.”
“So wot ‘appened tae change things then, an’ wot is it tha’ ya need my advice aboot?” I asked, not really sure where she was going with this other than the fact that it seemed to be somewhat more than friends now.
“While Mom and the others took Brooke shopping yesterday Garret and I decided to get some surfing in and he just sorta asked me out. So we went to a movie and had some dinner together last night and then we kissed. I liked it. I like him, we have so much in common, but what if we’re rushing things? What if we’re not really compatible, I mean he’s part wolf and I’m part fish. I sleep in a fucking aquarium, how could a long term relationship possibly work between us?!” Her voice rose a bit and she was sounding a bit panicked as she said the last.
I shifted my sleeping bag under one arm and reached out to hug her with the other. “I’m no‘ one who kin throw stones aboot jumpin’ intae relationships ‘Nessa. If you like him an’ ya think tha’ there kin be sumthin b’tween ya then go fer it. The only way tae ken fer sure is tae spend time t’gether. Jus’ take it slow and dinnae rush anythin’ physical, tha’s wot Hana an’ I are doin’. If ya both really dae find tha’ ya love each other an’ wan’ tae give a long term relationship a try, then yuir goin’ tae find the solutions to any problems t’gether. Tha’s wot couples dae in a relationship.”
Vanessa leaned into the hug and whispered, “Thanks Mer. I came to calm you down, but it looks like I needed it more than you did. I’m glad you’re my sister.”
Once we stopped awkwardly hugging around blankets and sleeping bags we went back out to join the others and started setting things up for our impromptu camp-out. Jordyn had phoned her Aunt Rachel to get permission for her and Lindsey to sleep over, and Garret and Hana were currently on their cell phones talking with their parents to do the same. Once they had all gotten the okay and sleeping bags had been retrieved, Hana helped me to set up my containment tent while the others set up blankets and sleeping bags around the campfire. By the time Hana and I were finished so were the others and Michelle had gotten Lindsey into her sleeping bag with the new dragon egg nestled beside her inside to keep warm.
We stayed up talking for a while after that while I snuggled with Hana and Garret and Vanessa did the same. When the last embers of the fire died down to nothing we all prepared to get into our individual sleeping arrangements and Mom and Andy said their good night’s before heading into the house and their nice warm bed. Fawn had returned to her usual Fairy form and had fallen asleep in my lap with Peaches at some point. I had a little trouble moving without waking them both and did wake Fawn, who stirred long enough to fly into the tent under her own power. After one last good night kiss with Hana, I joined my Fairy friend and soon I was snuggled up in my sleeping bag with her and Peaches, the faint hum of the tent’s containment field lulling me to sleep.
![]() |
Chapter 42 Ghosts of the Past Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I was trapped in a tiny and dark cell that I remembered all too well, pounding my tiny fists on the steel door desperately. My hands were raw and bloody and my shouts and screams for release had left my voice barely more than a hoarse whisper. Still I kept pounding away and croaking out my pleas for release. It was dark and cold and claustrophobia gripped my heart like a vice. I had to get out, I couldn’t take the captivity anymore and I knew that I would do anything to be free. I had tried using my powers to escape, but the second that I had summoned my force field some kind of containment shield had activated.
I was hungry and alone and I could feel my strength fading. I couldn’t place how long it had been since I hadn’t had the strength to maintain my powers any longer, it could have been hours or days and I had no way of measuring time in this place. I didn’t know who my captors were either as they had yet to show themselves, not even to bring food or water. Was it Omega? Had they somehow captured me again? Or was it someone else who wanted to use me for their own ends?
Finally, my strength left me and I slid to the cold, hard stone floor and curled up in a ball to start sobbing. Footsteps caught my attention, followed by the scrape of metal on metal, and a tray with a stale half loaf of bread and a plastic bottle of water was shoved none too gently through the floor level slot at the base of the door. I made no move to retrieve it, what would be the point anyway? I would never get out of here. I would spend the rest of my life locked up in this cell.
“Why do we even feed it?” I heard a voice ask from the other side of the door. “It’s a fucking WMD. It killed hundreds of thousands when it destroyed Costa Verde, nobody would care if we just let it fucking die.”
“The HAA says they got uses for it,” another voice spat. “They may be able to use it as a power source or a weapon if they can get a telepath to reprogram it.”
“They really think that they can control that thing?”
“If not it can just stay locked up in here until it dies, and if someone needs to control it, it might as well be us. It’s like a walking nuke and there’s no radiation left behind. That’s too valuable to not have on hand, or to let fall into the hands of the bad guys. They’re already working on reprogramming the little fairy-looking one as a trial run before…” the voices faded along with the footsteps outside the cell.
“And those are supposed to be the good guys,” a too-familiar voice said from behind me with a snort, “but there are no good guys in war. You know that all too well, don’t you big boy? Or should I be calling you little girl now? Make no mistake we are at war, humans will never accept us, you know that as well as I do, and if we want our rights then we need to fight for them.”
I turned my head, fear clutching at my heart, which now hammered away in my throat as I backed away from the source of the voice. “Phantom!”
“I’m back,” she said with a predatory grin.
I closed my eyes tight against the sight of her as I attempted to will my heartbeat and breathing to slow. “Ya ne’er left!” I spat back. She, or rather that fear of her, had stuck with me since my Activation, just as that fear of being locked up with no escape. All of that unreasoning fear that her presence brought, why couldn’t I shake it off? I killed her, I should have gotten some closure from that. Yes, I killed her. She and this cell, they couldn’t be real. “This is dream. Yuir dead, I dinnae ‘ave tae fear ya any more. Ne’er agin!”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Phantom said. She grinned and walked toward me, reaching for me. “Dead or not, you’re going to fear me until your dying day, because at heart you’re a weak little girl. I’ll always be with you!”
I awoke screaming again. Phantom. The details of the dream still haunted my mind, refusing to release their grip on me as I sat there in my sleeping bag, shaking and crying as my heart beat wildly in my chest. As Fawn attempted to calm me down so we could both do the same for Peaches, who hadn’t just been woken by the explosion but had been picking up on my own fear as well, I took a cautious look around. My pulse was still racing, my breathing quick and shallow, and I just couldn’t seem to stop the tears. It was bad enough Fawn seeing me like this nearly every morning, but my sisters and all of the members of 4-Ward, with the exception of Lindsey, were outside my tent watching in concern. My cheeks flushed as I realized that the explosion of my unstable energy hitting the containment field had woken them all up and that most of my friends had just seen me shaking and sobbing from some stupid dream. I wanted to crawl back in my sleeping bag, as deep as I could go, and hide.
“Whose stupid idea was this campout anyway? Oh right, it was mine. Well played Merida, way to show your girlfriend and your friends how pathetic you are. The broken boy-girl with the PTSD, nightmares, and the ability to destroy the whole fucking city if not properly locked up at night, yeah I bet they all just loooove you now. What do you do for an encore?” I mentally chided myself. It seemed that my encore was self-pity as I held Peaches and gave in to my urge to hide in my sleeping bag and tried to get control of my powers again.
At least Fawn couldn’t be hurt and she was trying her best shake me out of the funk I had put myself in with words of encouragement, but I had come to a realization that only made my mood sink lower as I hugged my baby dragon tightly. Until now I had been nervous about having Peaches sleep in my bed with me and had been putting her in her improvised basket outside the bed’s barrier when I slept, nervous about testing whether she really was as resistant to heat and explosions as Mei had been hoping. I had unthinkingly brought her into the tent with me and Fawn to sleep though and even though it seemed that she was indeed resistant to the destructive aspects of my powers it had been stupid and irresponsible of me. She could have been killed.
I was clutching the tiny pink dragon to my chest and blubbering out apologies for being a horrible dragon-mama when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. It was Fawn of course, she was the only one who could actually touch me when I had my force field on since our fields just merged together when they touched. She had switched to her human-sized form and now she was holding me in her arms, gently stroking my hair and telling me that it would all be alright.
It was some time before I managed to shake my dour mood and get enough control over my emotional state to power down my force field. “Thanks Fawn,” I sniffled as she pulled back from the hug. “Yuir a good friend, helpin’ me through tha’ like ya dae e’ery mornin’.”
She gave me that bright and infectious smile of hers. “That’s what best friends are for Merida. I’m glad that I got my new ability, I’ve been wanting to hug you like that when you’ve needed it since we met and I can’t really hold you when you need it in my Fairy form.”
“Aye, thanks fer tha’. I feel so stoopid. Hana an’ all the others saw me bein’ a baby after losin’ control o’ ma powers agin, an’ I pu’ Peaches in danger by no’ testin’ her resistance tae ma powers afore bringin’ her tae bed wit’ us,” I admitted guiltily.
“Peaches is fine, she’s just upset that you’re upset, and nobody is judging you Merida. You’ve been through some horrible things and it makes sense that you’re having nightmares about it. And with your condition you can’t help losing control of your powers when you get upset. Now c’mon, you have to be hungry, so let’s go join the others so we can all check on Lindsey and get something to eat.”
“I guess I am a wee bit ‘ungry,” I conceded as I picked Peaches up in my arms again and left to join the others with Fawn at my side. They looked concerned, but for me not themselves. Hana approached and Fawn went to go say her good mornings to everyone else to give us a bit of privacy.
“You okay sweetie?” my girlfriend asked, not really giving me a chance to answer before wrapping me up in her arms and giving me a good morning kiss that quickened my pulse in that good way and made me feel warm and gooey in all the right places. It was right there in her eyes for me to see, she wasn’t scared of morning explosions and she was ready to hold and comfort me every morning if she needed to. This was a part of me and she accepted that and wanted to share in it as she did every other part. “How would you feel about a nice big breakfast at the restaurant once we’re all cleaned up and Linds is awake, I think we have some time though so if there’s anything you need to talk about we can wait to shower until the others are done.”
“Aye, I’m better now, jus’ another nightmare. I… I’ve been havin’ them since we escaped. I’m kinda s’posed tae be writin’ it down fer Toxin in ma dream journal,” I said after kissing her right back and just letting her hold me for a moment before stepping back uncertainly.
“Getting it out might help, so if you want you can tell me all about it while you write it down,” she offered again.
“I’m no’ shoor, I’m pretty messed up Hana, dae ya really wan’ tae see tha side o’ me?” I asked shaking a bit at the thought of revealing those deepest fears and uncertainties.
“You’re not messed up, you’re the bravest and most wonderful person that I know. You’re so powerful and strong, but tender and vulnerable at the same time and that is so sexy to me. I’m falling in love with you Merida, all of you. Do you really think that I don’t have fears and flaws too? Sharing them, sharing that burden, it’s what good couples do.” She clasped my shaking hands in her own, staring into my eyes and I just knew that she meant every word of it. Then she pulled me back into her arms and held me close.
I felt so safe, so loved and wanted. Yes I felt vulnerable too, afraid of scaring her off, but I’ve always felt that fear is a choice. You can either give in, let it have its way with you and let it win, or you can choose to tell it to fuck off, barrel through it, and get on with your life. I swallowed that lump of fear and uncertainty that had taken up residence in my throat and wiped my tears aide as I nodded my head against her shoulder. “Aye, let’s go an’ ge’ ma journal an’ I’ll tell ya aboot it.” I wanted to share myself with her as much as I wanted her to share herself with me and I was going to have to share these things with her eventually if our relationship was going to work. I needed to trust her. I did trust her. She had known that I was damaged goods going into this relationship so maybe once in a while it would be okay to let her be the strong one.
Jonas Lake ate his oatmeal silently, grimacing at the pain that even that mostly watery food caused in his jaw. The pain was of course due to him being beaten up yesterday, again. It wasn’t the first time and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Puberty was only just beginning to make itself known and at fourteen he was a fairly small boy with freckles and hair bleached near-white from spending too much time in the California sunshine. He sometimes wished that he could tan like some of the other boys so he could fit in better, but he never did. Nope, his tender flesh turned as red as a lobster if he didn’t wear proper sunblock and either way the sun always made the freckles worse. So he had been bullied a lot growing up in St. Sebastian’s Home for Orphaned Boys.
It had been getting worse though, ever since he had returned to the orphanage weeks ago. His time away hadn’t been for a prospective adoption or anything like that. No, Jonas had been kidnapped and held captive by some crazy mutants who had claimed that he was one of them and that they would give him powers to help their cause. They hadn’t given him powers though they just tortured him and gave him all sorts of drugs that made his head feel funny.
The government people who had rescued him and the other boys had him seeing a counsellor about his experience but he had terrible nightmares and one morning some of the other boys had witnessed him waking up screaming and then crying in the aftermath of reliving those experiences in his dreams. The bullying went from mere taunting about his hair and freckles to calling him a girl and shoving, tripping or hitting whenever the eyes of the adults weren’t on them. The adults didn’t seem to care much either as long as it didn’t get to the point where he was hospitalized.
He finished his meal as quickly as possible and ran off for his secret place before some of the other boys could think to corner him and finish what they had started yesterday, before one of the caregivers had interrupted them and taken Jonas to the infirmary to get treated for his ‘fall’. Once he was in the cool darkness of the hollow that he had dug beneath the equipment shed and the loose board was put back in place, he curled up in a ball and let out a sigh. That had been close, he had barely avoided them. Even now he could hear the voices of some of the older boys who were searching for him, whistling and calling out, “Here spot! C’mon girl! Be a good little bitch and come on out!”
He was terrified of them, nearly as terrified as he was of his nightmares. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? “You’re always going to be a victim as long as you’re afraid. You’ll never be free of them until you make them fear you,” the voice said.
It was a girl’s or maybe a woman’s voice, but it wasn’t just a voice there was kind of a hazy white blur that Jonas could always sort of see from the corner of his eye. He had first seen and heard her when the government people had been talking to him and the other boys in the dorm room that they had spent their captivity in. He hadn’t said anything to them because he had thought it might have been due to the drugs they had been giving him and the other boys. He had almost given himself away when he laughed a little at a mean comment that she had made about the government man talking to them.
He had managed to convince the man that the laugh was because of the drugs, but in that moment the voice had asked, “You can hear me?” His barely visible nod had been enough to let her know that he could and she had stuck with him since, helping him however she could, but there wasn’t very much that a disembodied voice could really do for him. That was why he was hiding in a hole in the ground, curled up in a ball.
“I just want to be left alone!” Jonas wailed, wiping at the tears falling down his cheeks.
“I could help you with that,” the voice offered sweetly. “I could make it so they can never hurt you again.”
“You can?! B…but you don’t have a b…body,” he sniffled.
“I have an idea about that, Jonas” the voice said. “I can make sure that those boys never hurt anyone again, but I’ll need something from you in return.”
“R…really?! P…please! You can have anything you want!”
“We have a deal.” Jonas was aware of that blurry presence rushing toward him and then only of pain as his body was rearranged. Bones and flesh were pulled, pushed, and contracted until finally it was over and the whimpering ball on the floor realized that she could move again without pain. Yes, she, for Jonas could feel the absence of what was once between his legs and the presence of two very distinct weights on his, now her, chest.
“Wh…what have you done?! she squealed. The words didn’t leave her mouth.
Then Jonas’s body spoke and she could feel the smile on her lips. “I needed to makes some changes if I was going to give this body the powers that I had in life, this is much more comfortable too, don’t you think? A little young, but I don’t mind that so much. Now let’s go take care of my part of the contract.”
She was suddenly back out in the play yard right in front of the boys who had been looking for Jonas. Jonas watched, horrified, as her body popped from place to place all over the play yard taking pieces of the boys with her and leaving it a bloody mess of dismembered body parts. As much as Jonas wanted to cry and scream out she couldn’t, and so the echoing screams of the boys rang in her ears. Finally it was over and Jonas’s mouth spoke again. “I have fulfilled my part of the deal Contractor. Now I will take my payment.”
“B… but…” Jonas tried to speak, but could feel herself being pushed from her body and now she could see for herself just how much it had changed. She was still fourteen, but very obviously a girl now. She might have been pretty, even with the chalk white skin and hair, if it hadn’t been for those malevolent glowing red eyes and that predatory smile.
“Good bye Jonas, thank you for making this so easy. Enjoy your afterlife, I’m off to get a little revenge.” Phantom smiled as she took in the grisly scene around her and listened to the music of approaching sirens, her thoughts on a certain redhead and just what she would do to her once she found her. “Oh yes, it’s good to be back.”
![]() |
Chapter 43 Training Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
I managed to only get choked up once as I told Hana about my dream and wrote down the details in my dream journal. When I was finally finished and she had put her arms around me to comfort me I admitted, “I dinnae ken why this ‘as been freakin’ me out so much. Sure, I’ll admit tha’ I’m scared tae hell o’ bein' trapped or held captive an’ bein’ unable tae escape. Given ‘ow I Activated, an tha’ unlike the others I was awake fer the whole thing, I kin ge’ tha’ part o’ it. Bu’ I jus’ dinnae ge’ why Phantom keeps showin’ up. Aye, she was the first person I’ve faced off against who really scared me, but I’ve had teammates die on me afore an’ I killed her, so why am I still so bloody scared o’ her?”
“I dunno, maybe it’s because subconsciously you’ve connected her to your imprisonment. Toxin could probably help you figure it out, babe.” She held me close, just running her fingers through my hair.
“Aye, I go’ another appointment wit’ her on the first day o’ school. I think I’d rather jus’ try tae pu’ it out o’ ma mind ‘til then. If I keep thinkin’ aboot it like this, it’s only goin’ tae make ma dreams worse tonight,” I said with a shrug as I took her hand in mine and stood up from the side of my bed.
“I know just what to do to get your mind off it,” the Japanese Hyper said with a smile. “I believe that I mentioned having breakfast at the restaurant, maybe we should help the others put all the blankets and stuff away so we can go eat as soon as Linds wakes up.”
Tha’ sounds great tae me,” I agreed. Then, still holding her by the hand I walked her outside to where the others were nearly finished packing up the sleeping gear we had used. We took down my tent and put both It and mine and Fawn’s sleeping bags away in my portable portal while Vanessa and Tasha took the Mythrilex blankets inside to be washed, after shaking out as much of the sand from the beach as they could. We decided that it might be for the best if we were all ready to leave for breakfast once 4-Ward’s resident Mystic woke up and found herself with a hungry baby dragon to feed, so we had Shu portal us to the school so that we could all get in a quick shower and change clothes without over-taxing the hot water in the house.
As soon as we arrived at Starfish Dorm, I carried Lindsey to her dorm room using the enhanced strength from my force field while Michelle carried the egg. She and Jordyn were going to take turns showering while the other watched Lindsey so that they could both get ready as well but still have someone there for Lindsey when she woke up. Since she was in good hands with her girlfriend and her cousin I returned to my own floor so Fawn, Vanessa, Brooke, and I could get cleaned up and ready for the day. Vidia and Silvermist both showered in their respective Fairy houses since the water pressure would have been too much for their tiny bodies, but Fawn was eager to shower in her human-sized form so that we could do our morning ritual together again.
An hour later we were all ready, even Lindsey had managed to get in a quick shower once she had awoken. As Peaches had with me, her new familiar had hatched and bonded with her not long after she had woken up, revealing a dragon only a little larger than Peaches, but colored a pale golden hue, like coffee with a good dose of milk. “I thought tha’ ya were goin’ tae make him magenta colored,” I said to Mei as we all sat down together at Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House.
“We were thinking about it, but it’s a boy dragon and Lindsey isn’t really a girly-girl so it didn’t feel right. So we talked about it and came up with this,” my little sister replied with a shrug.
“Besides, this works so much better with his name,” Lindsey put in with a grin. “I figured that our dragons are going to be paired together right, so I decided to call him Cream.”
It took a second for me to process what she was talking about and once I did I let out a groan. “Peaches an’ Cream? Ya really ‘ad tae go there?”
“Of course I did,” the Mystic agreed with a grin as she continued to lovingly pet her new familiar. I was still shaking my head over it when Hana’s dad came to take our orders.
After a satisfying breakfast at what was fast becoming my favorite restaurant in town we returned to our house to try and enjoy our last weekend of freedom a bit before school started on Tuesday. We would all be hanging out together again the next day for Labor Day of course, but that would be at Hana’s place above the restaurant and we all wanted to try and get in a little time more time on the beach. The morning mostly consisted of some more surfing lessons for those of us still new to it, something Fawn was enjoying a lot now that she could be human-sized and had a board of her own. I really liked it as well, it was a nice mix of challenging, exhilarating, and relaxing.
We continued along that vein until nearly lunch time, when I insisted on putting all of my sisters and the Fairies through a rigorous training session. We hadn’t done any training in a few days and I didn’t want any of us getting soft. Since it was Brooke’s and Vidia’s first time training with us I tried to make it a bit easier for them, though I made sure to throw in some hand-to-hand combat basics in. I finished the session by pairing all the Fairies off except for Fawn, who I had stay human-sized so that I could partner her with Brooke, for a sparring session to put what they had all learned to use. That meant that all of my sisters and the Fairies had partners to spar against while I could supervise them and make sure that their form was acceptable.
To my surprise the members of 4-Ward, including Jordyn, took that time to train as well as Hana gave them a martial arts lesson. It seemed that it wasn’t the first time for any of them, except for Jordyn. The Contractor Medium really needed the training too, since she wasn’t very coordinated in her new body and she needed to learn to control her slightly enhanced strength and speed better. Hana worked her team as hard as I worked mine and I fully expected that, except for the two of us, everyone would pretty tired by the time that Mom and Andy announced that lunch was ready.
It was as everyone was sparring that it happened, just as I was getting ready to call an end to the session for lunch. I had my force field up so that Fawn could fight Brooke with hers on and benefit from the strength and speed boost that would put the two on a more-or-less equal footing. Since the force field put Fawn and I around mid-range Cat three strength and speed and Brooke was somewhere between a high Cat two and a low Cat three Fawn had a slight advantage and was getting in some solid hits. Brooke was a bit sloppy, from both lack of experience and being too used to not feeling pain, when Fawn connected with a solid kick to Brooke’s solar plexus. The kick caused my newest sister to let out a grunt of discomfort and take a more guarded reaction before her eyes snapped open with realization.
“H… holy shit… I felt that,” Brooke said in stunned disbelief. “It didn’t really hurt, but I felt it! Hit me again Fawn! Harder this time!”
Everyone was staring at her now, except for Fawn who was giving me a questioning look. I nodded and told her with a grin, “Ya heard ‘er Fawn, if’n her new nanites are really workin’ all right an’ proper then Mom will wan’ us tae dae a thorough testin’.”
“Okay, if you really want me to, but I don’t want to hurt you Brooke,” Fawn said in concern.
“Do it Fawn!” Brooke insisted. Still looking a bit reluctant, Fawn wound up and put everything she had into a punch to Brooke’s jaw, her force field encased fist landing with a solid *thwack*. This elicited a surprised yelp from Brooke, whose hand quickly rose to rub her jaw. She quickly wrapped the human-sized Fairy up in a bear hug while squealing excitedly, “I felt it! I felt it!” Our sparring practice suddenly ended as everyone, Hyper and Fairy alike, descended upon Brooke in a group hug.
There was no going back to practice after that. Instead we headed inside to report the news to Mom, who of course wanted to run a full battery of tests on Brooke. It started with everything from pinches to full-on punches with varying degrees of strength, then moved on to heat and cold sensation, feeling various textures and materials and everything else that Mom could think of. Then she went on to having Brooke try turning the nanites on and off while feeling various sensations as well. The testing went on through lunch and into the early afternoon when Mom finally announced, “Congratulations, Brooke dear, yuir cured. Well no’ really cured so much as usin’ a sense prosthetic o’ sorts, bu’ ya can feel again an’ tha’s the important thing.”
Once all of the hugging and congratulations had subsided we all returned outside to the beach. Some of us were going to have another surfing lesson while some of us had other things we wanted to get done. The half happy and half surprised squeal from Brooke at the cool water as she went in with her board brought a smile to my face as we all went about our afternoon activities.
Most of us kids were surfing, while Andy stayed in the house. He wanted to get us connected to the school’s remote network so that he and Mom could get work done from home sometimes and so my sisters and I would all have easy access to materials for schoolwork once we got our school tablets on the first day of school. Mom wanted to go in to the medical center to try to finish coding the new DNA sequence from Hana’s stem cell samples so it could be sent to the Brain for confirmation and be ready for the next day. She had mostly finished it earlier that morning, but she wanted to finish the work at the clinic on school grounds, where there was more lab equipment available. Jordyn and Mei were continuing Mei’s lessons on sensing spirits and spirit energy so she could actively control it, rather than just instinctively when using her powers. As for Lindsey, Fawn, and I, we were going to do a bit of reading and try to start properly training Peaches and Cream.
Since both dragons were still in post-lunch nap mode I pulled out my two books for dragon training so we could look over them together and get a general idea of where we wanted to start once the pair of slumbering dragonets were awake. The first book was called Dracopedia: Everything you wanted to know about Dragons but were afraid to ask (For fear of getting eaten). It was a bit of a tongue in cheek informational guide on all the various types of dragons, and some of their close relatives among the magical creature population. We didn’t have time to read the whole thing, but we were sure to read the entries of each type of dragon that Mei had included properties of when creating our Meidragons.
The second book was called, Getting Familiar with Your Familiar: A training guide for Magickal creatures. There was a lot of good information in that one on general training exercises and for techniques specific to different types of magical creatures, including the Feydragon. Some of it seemed more pertinent to Lindsey than to me, since it was meant for training familiars but Lindsey thought that we should attempt them anyway since both Fawn and I had the Fairy’s passive magical abilities and we would be training Peaches to respond to both me and Fawn.
We started by training them to respond to their bells. Each time we rang one of their bells and the dragonet turned toward the sound Fawn would place them on the falconers shoulder pad that Lindsey and I were wearing. We decided that it might be a good idea at some point for Mom to put some padding in the shoulders of each our costumes so we wouldn’t have to wear the bulky pads over top of them. We also started teaching them to respond to a mental summons since they were empathically linked to us and some more basic things like using their litter boxes and breathing fire on command. Peaches was able to get a near-white-hot flame going, but Cream was less than a day old and couldn’t generate a flame yet. We figured, based on the information in the books, that they could breathe flame after a few days, but they likely wouldn’t be able to fly or teleport until they were a few weeks old.
Still, we were able to make some progress with them with the use of their training bells, toys, and training snacks. They were smart for babies and by early evening they knew that when we rang their bell or gave them a mental summons that they should try to come to us. Peaches was already using her litterbox fairly reliably, though I had to be the one to put her there since she wasn’t very mobile and I could usually sense through her emotions when she needed to use it. So far there had only been a few near-misses.
We weren’t the only ones making progress by the time dinner was drawing close. Andy had managed to get the house properly networked and connected to PSA’s network, so his computer, the one in Mom’s lab, and the laptop that he had gotten me for my birthday were all ready to go. Mei had made a promising step forward in her progress with Jordyn as well. She was starting to sense spirit energy and souls and could even tell the difference between Jordyn’s soul and Khestrid’s when looking at her Medium mentor. We were all ready to call it a day and figure out what to make for dinner when Mom returned home looking very pleased with herself.
Mom had used her power armor to get to the school and back to avoid traffic and make the trip faster and she was grinning from ear to ear as the armor retracted into its casual-wear mode until she could return it to its docking station. “Wot’s tha’ smile aboot, Mom,” I asked.
“Two things,” she said, still beaming. “First, I believe tha’ I managed to create a sample wit’ a stable Archetype fer Hana. I sent the data to the Brain fer him to analyze, so I should know fer sure by mornin’. Second, the automated construction fer those infiltration suits is complete. I’ll be callin’ Agent Smith to arrange transport on Tuesday, so we should be officially finished with the HAA. I feel like celebratin’, who feels like pizza? Yuir all welcome to stay fer dinner.” The last was offered to the members of 4-Ward who eagerly accepted the invitation.
We were all eating pizza and discussing the day’s progress, and I was snuggled up with Hana and Peaches as we ate. Lindsey was similarly positioned with Michelle and Cream and Vanessa and Garret were pretty cozy as well. It was still a bit weird seeing that, but they both seemed happy and that was the important thing. The sound of the doorbell cut all conversations short though, as we looked toward the front entrance foyer.
Mom quickly excused herself to go answer the door and for several minutes I could hear her talking with someone who sounded really familiar. Then she reappeared from the foyer wearing a frown, with Agent Smith following her. “John, what are you doing back in our neck of the woods so soon?” Andy asked his friend in concern.
Agent Smith did not look happy to be here, he also looked and sounded very tired as he spoke and clutched a tablet in his hands. “I’m sorry to have to interrupt your meal. There was an incident this morning at St. Sebastian’s Home for Orphaned Boys in San Francisco. Five boys were ripped to pieces by an unknown Hyper girl. One of the boys that was being held captive by Omega was returned to that orphanage after the incident and he is now missing. We were assuming that the two events are somehow related and then we got this footage… Does this mutant look familiar to any of you girls?” He tapped open a file on the tablet that he was holding.
My sisters and I all crowded beside Mom to look at the video from a security camera of a girl with white hair and skin and glowing red eyes appearing briefly and then vanishing again. She looked a lot like Phantom, so much so that it sent a chill of fear down my spine. It couldn’t be her though, this girl was younger and the face was different. Very similar, but there was no way it could be her. It was Mei who said in a hushed tone, “It’s Phantom.”
“Nae, it’s no’ her. I killed ‘er maself,” I said shaking my head and tearing my eyes away from the image.
Jordyn had been peering at the video as well, and had a dark look on her face as her golden wings twitched in agitation. “Khestrid says that that soul doesn’t really fit the body, and I have to agree with her. That’s a Contractor and she’s been possessed. Whoever that body belongs to isn’t in there anymore, the spirit cast them out.”
Agent Smith’s frown seemed to deepen. “Our current theory is that the missing boy was Activated in Omega’s base but that he was overlooked as Activated because he didn’t change physically and was a Medium with no real powers of his own. This would seem to fit that theory. That’s not what brought me here though. Two hours ago this girl appeared in L.A. and took the Governor hostage while he was giving a speech. When the FBI sent in hostage negotiators she told them to ‘Tell the HAA that I want the Scottish brat with the red hair and force field’. She’s given us until midnight. If we don’t turn you over to her before then, alone, she will kill Governor Brown.”
![]() |
Chapter 44 Stand-off Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Jordyn had asked Agent Smith to play the video one more time, so that she and Khestrid could take a closer look. I didn’t watch because the mere sight of the reconstituted Phantom sent chills down my spine and had me so afraid that I was having trouble keeping my force field from bubbling wildly out of control. It had activated as soon as I had seen her on the screen and as much as I would have liked to deny that it was Phantom, I knew in my gut that it was.
“Yeah, that’s a vengeful spirit Khestrid,” Jordyn said with a nod, agreeing with whatever it was that her spirit passenger had told her. “Just look at that aura. Merida, you said that you killed her right?”
“A…aye,” I managed to respond, still trying to control my force field and my shaking.
“Then it’s probably the desire to kill you that’s keeping her tethered to the world of the living,” the Medium surmised. “Those nightmares that you’ve been having, has she been in any of them?”
I looked down at my knees and nodded slowly, trying to slow my breathing and heartrate before replying, “Aye, she’s been in all o’ them. Usually they start as nightmares aboot bein’ trapped in a cell, losin’ control, or sumthin’, but she always seems tae work ‘erself intae them somehow.”
“Wait, are you saying that she’s haunting Mer?” Hana asked, a dark frown spreading across her face.
Jordyn shook her head. “No, not physically anyway. If she had been following Merida in spirit form I would have sensed her and Mei probably would have sensed something wrong even without training, but Merida is the reason that her spirit is still here so she’s connected to her at some level, no matter where her ghost actually was, and I think that Merida has been sensing that subconsciously, which is why Phantom has been appearing in her dreams. There are ways that we can deal with her, but Khestrid says she needs about an hour to prepare.”
“I wasn’t sent here to make plans. I was sent to collect Merida, put an inhibitor collar and handcuffs on her and deliver her so that the HAA can turn her over before midnight. I have less than five hours to do that and a plane ready to take us to Los Angeles,” Agent Smith said with a morose shake of his head. At the barrage of angry responses to that he held up his hands, “Wait! Hear me out. That’s what I was sent to do. The higher ups may be willing to sacrifice Merida on the chance that this Phantom might keep her word, but I’m not. Merida, you have three choices here. First, we can do exactly what I was sent here to do. Second, you could use that DVD that I gave you as leverage to get my bosses to back off on this, but while they might play ball with you for now, they won’t like that you have that information and she likely will kill the Governor.”
Whatever was on that DVD Smith gave me on my birthday, it was something that the higher-ups in the HAA didn’t want finding its way into the light of day and it was apparently valuable enough to blackmail them with. This didn’t seem like a break glass in case of emergency kind of emergency yet though, it wasn’t the first time the organization had tried to throw me to the wolves to save face, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. As much as I was terrified of facing Phantom again, I had beaten her before, and I could do it again and I figured that it would be wiser to keep my ace in the hole in reserve for when I really needed it.
“What’s option three?” Vanessa inquired cautiously.
“Option three is that we come up with an option three, and we don’t have a lot of time to do it,” the agent replied with a shake of his head.
“You don’t have to do this Mer, there’s got to be a better way,” Hana told me pleadingly. Her eyes were moist with tears and her concern was written all over her face. Everyone in the house had given us a few moments to be alone before Agent Smith would slap the cuffs and collar on me and take me to the car he had waiting outside. I had already said everything that I needed to say to Mom, my sisters, the Fairies and everyone else, but I’d saved Hana for last.
“If I dinnae dae it this way Phantom will kill the Gov’nor an’ the HAA will ‘ave a warrant out fer ma arrest on some trumped up charges afore ‘is blood is e’en dry,” I said, trying to point out what little choice that I had in the matter.
“Screw the HAA! You’ve got leverage on them, so use it!”
“I cannae le’ someone die when I could dae sumthin’ tae prevent it,” I said with a shake of my head. “Ya ken tha’, ‘cause I dinnae think tha’ you could either. If the HAA tries tae bury me wi’ this incident, no matter ‘ow it turns out I wan’ ya tae find out wot’s on tha’ DVD an’ use it. It’s in the bottom drawer o’ ma desk in ma bedroom ‘ere in the house.”
My new girlfriend nodded grimly but pleaded, “At least let us come and cover you. Maybe we can take her out before she can move on you or kill the Governor.”
I shook my head and held her close for a moment, earning a protest from Peaches in her sling. “We both ken tha’ yuir team is no’ suited fer tha’ Hana. Jordyn is still no’ used tae 'er body or 'er new powers ye’, mos’ o’ ya are close range fighters, an’ ya dinnae ‘ave yuir invulnerability in tha’ form. All o’ ya would jus’ be in danger if’n she saw ya an’ decided tae ge’ serious. Ya saw wot she did tae those kids, and she’d kill all o’ you first jus’ tae make me suffer. Please, jus’ watch o’er Peaches fer me.” I removed the sling and placed both it and the infant Meidragon in her arms.
Hana bit her lip as she gave me another long look with misty eyes. “You’d better come back to me Merida.”
“Aye, I’ll come back. I promised tha’ I’d come tae yuir place fer Labor Day tomorrow. I plan on keepin’ tha’ promise.”
She leaned over and kissed me, leaving no doubt in my mind how she felt out me. It was the kind of kiss I’d seen often enough but never experienced for myself before, when a girl knows that the person she loves is going to do something dangerous and might not be coming back. “For luck,” she told me, “and a taste of what you’ll get when you come back.”
“Tha’s a good reason tae come back,” I agreed, feeling that warm pleasure lingering throughout my body from the kiss. It was a good thing that my costume had built in support or everyone would have seen how hard my nipples were when we returned to the living room. Agent Smith was waiting for me at the door and while he didn’t seem happy about it, he put the cuffs on me and secured the inhibitor collar around my neck with an audible click, and then led me outside to the car.
It was just after eleven o’clock when Agent Smith pulled the nondescript black sedan up to the Beverly Hilton where Governor Michael Brown had been attending a Gala fundraiser of some sort and giving a speech on live television when Phantom came in, killed a bunch of people, and took him hostage. Smith spoke on the phone for a few minutes and then turned his attention back to me in the back seat where I was flanked to either side by a young blonde woman to my right and to my left by a brunette who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Both they and the large black man sitting beside Smith in the front seat were wearing sunglasses, tactical gear, and HAA jackets. “She’s holding him in the ballroom. No other hostiles or hostages, it looks like Governor Brown was the only one she was interested in keeping, alive anyway. Most of the attendees escaped and we’ve cleared the hotel and a two block radius around it and have a cordon in place.”
“O’ course she was only interested in him,” I grumbled. “He’s wot she needed tae ge’ ya tae bring me ‘ere.”
“Good luck. Be careful, make the exchange, and get the Governor to safety,” he said as my escorts opened the doors and stepped out. We entered the hotel and made straight for the ballroom, the women still flanking me while the large man followed a step behind, trying to control his breathing when he was obviously trying not to freak out. Not that I could blame my rear guard, we had all seen what she had done to those kids.
With a nervous sigh I opened the door and stepped inside to see Phantom standing in the middle of the dance floor with the Governor in a chokehold. “Le’ go o’ him,” I called out clearly, “it’s me tha’ ya bloody wan’.”
Phantom looked up and that familiar predatory smile spread across her new face. “You brought me a present,” she said, taking in my costume and then the inhibitor collar with a look of glee.
“You heard her,” said the blonde to my right, “Let the Governor go. Once he’s walking toward us we’ll send our captive over to you.”
Phantom snorted, removing her arm from around Governor Brown’s throat and giving him a shove forward. “Take him, the brat is the one I want.”
“You can have her, she’s been nothing but trouble,” the Brunette to my left said with a bit of a smirk and giving me a push of her own.
Phantom sneered at me as I approached. “You look different from the first time we met big boy, wait, don’t tell me… you did something with your hair.” She laughed at her joke as I frowned and added, “Don’t look so glum I’ll be putting you out of your misery soon… after I make you suffer a bit. On second thought, I think I’ll make you suffer a lot.”
“Yuir one tae talk, yuir lookin’ a lo’ less dead than when I las’ saw ya,” I retorted. “I guess I’ll need tae make sure it sticks this time ‘round, aye?” The Governor was a few paces in front of me now and I could see Phantom grinning again, her eyes on the inhibitor collar around my throat. She was about to make her move, not for me, but for either the Governor or one of my guards. She wanted me to suffer before she killed me so she was going to rip them to pieces while I was helpless to do anything but watch. Only once she had done that would she do the same to me so that I could fear it coming. *Now!* I thought.
My male companion appeared before me, snatching up the Governor before disappearing again seconds later, an instant before Phantom teleported in to make her grab. *Got him!* Psyche sent along our psychic network. *I’ll drop him and the infiltration suit off with Agent Smith and be right back. And I’ll be bringing some friends.*
Phantom screamed in frustration and teleported again grabbing the blonde’s arm. When she tried to teleport away with it nothing happened. She tried harder, her face contorting in concentration so that she looked like she was constipated or something. Brooke merely smiled as she took off her sunglasses with her free hand and raised an eyebrow. “We haven’t met, I’m Safeguard. Is something wrong? Can’t get off my arm? Here, let me help you.” She wound up her other arm with a punch that Phantom only barely managed to avoid by teleporting ten feet away to look at Safeguard intently.
The brunette’s hair began to change to pink and lavender and her features became younger as Aquarius returned to her normal form, only keeping her legs in place of her tail since she had no water on hand at the moment. “That little trick isn’t going to work with us, Phantom. Gadget-Girl figured that while you might be able to rip normal people apart like paper anyone, with any sort of invulnerability would take a lot more effort. You might be able to even do that to someone with Cat one or two invulnerability if you tried hard enough, but Safeguard there has Cat five invulnerability and I have Cat three.”
That was when Psyche’s voice came back along the psychic network. *I’m back in the hotel with our insurance policy. The Fairies are placing the six relays and I’m setting up the field generator now. We just need one more minute.*
Phantom shrieked in fury. She was absolutely seething as she was informed that she couldn’t harm either of my companions We stared each other down, both of us knowing full well that there was only one other person she could try to hurt. She was considering it, weighing her options and that was when, one by one, each of the Fairies voices called out *Ready!* Phantom teleported, but by the time she appeared behind me my force field was already up and I was pumping explosive energy into constructs surrounding my fists. Fawn flew from where she was hiding in my hair, delivering an explosive punch to Phantom’s face that knocked her back several steps despite my Fairy friend’s current small size. Fawn switched to her human-sized form and now Phantom found herself confronted with four people that she couldn’t hurt.
She glared at me, especially the collar around my throat. “How?! You’re wearing an inhibitor collar?!”
“Oh aye, only it doesnae really inhibit anymore since Gadget-Girl took those bits out,” I informed her with a grin as I snapped off my handcuffs and the four of us attacked. “Wot’s the matter Phantom, I thought tha’ were goin’ tae kill me. No’ quite as scary now tha’ yuir no’ much more’n a wee bairn, are ya?”
*Activating the field now girls,* Psyche sent. Almost immediately the whole room began to hum and Phantom looked around warily. My idea was to wear Phantom down and keep her busy and focused on those of us that she couldn’t hurt until we had the hostage safely away and our safety net in place, and now that had happened. Her powers may have been the same as those of her old body, but this was a younger body with less physical training and stamina and the powers weren’t as developed. We could wear her down and once she was too tired to teleport we would finish her off.
“I just bet that you’re wondering what that humming sound is,” Aquarius taunted. “That’s an electromagnetic field. You see, when we were your captives and Gadget-Girl was pretending to be Jade she had a lot of time to study the energy field that was keeping any transmissions from going in or out. You were the only one able to bring people in and she figured out why. You teleport electromagnetically and the field that they were using was at a frequency that allowed you to pass through. This one doesn’t, and guess what, the controls are outside.”
“You’re trapped in a box with us, and you can’t hurt any of us,” Safeguard said with a grin. “And after what you put my sisters through, I really want to hurt you.”
Phantom looked at each of the four of us in turn. Even Fawn looked like she wanted to kick the living crap out of her. Then she screamed in agony and fell to her knees. “Ya should ‘ave listened when they tol’ ya tha’ yuir trapped,” I pointed out helpfully. “Feel free tae keep tryin’ though, I dinnae mind seein’ ya screamin’ in pain one bit.” She grabbed a chair and teleported to swing it at me, but the wood just snapped to pieces on my force field. She may not have been able to teleport outside the room, but she could still teleport around it. As we started to put the pressure on her once again I wondered how the others were doing.
All day long Jonas had wandered the orphanage, trying desperately to get the attention of someone, anyone. There were certainly enough people wandering around between the police and the people in suits. Nobody could see him or hear him though, in fact most of them just walked right through him. It was a frightening experience and sealed the fact that he was dead. The one person that he thought was his friend had stolen his body and changed it to something horrible.
Once evening had set in he found himself sobbing in the play yard. He couldn’t even do that right though since he had no body. The tears couldn’t come and he just seemed to fill up more and more with a feeling of profound loss. The yard had been cleaned up and most of the blood was gone, but he could still picture how he had killed those boys.
No. He hadn’t killed them she had, using his body. Now not only did he have no friends, no family, and no body, but he had no hope either. His whole life had been a disaster, it seemed only fitting that it should end that way as well. He could feel the pulling sensation that told him where his body was, but he had no idea how to get it back and that pull seemed to be getting fainter by the minute. What would be the use anyway? Even if he were alive, what would he have to live for?
“Well we’re here, at least I think we’re here. I’ve never tried opening a dimensional gate to a place I’ve never been before, especially with a crappy surveillance photo.” He heard a voice whispering, it sounded like a girl’s voice outside the gates, but that couldn’t be right this was an orphanage for boys. Curious, he floated along toward the voice as another spoke. It was woman’s voice this time, though it seemed distorted somehow, almost electronic. “There’s the sign. St. Sebastian’s Home for Orphaned Boys, this is the place that Smith said it happened. He said it was in the play yard. Do you sense anything yet Genesis?”
“No Mo… Gadget-Girl, but I’m still new to this. Trance and Khestrid said that he should be here, unless he’s following his body. He’s not really dead, his soul is just displaced. I just hope that I can do what Khestrid told me to do if we do find this Jonas.”
Jonas’s heart soared at the mention of his name and from the sound of it whoever this was knew what had happened to him as well. He flew through the gates coming face to face with what looked like some big robot woman. She was dark colored with some sort of gold oval on her chest. If he hadn’t been a disembodied soul already the sudden sight of her in the darkness probably would have made him one. He practically squealed in fear and almost didn’t notice her two companions, a pair of Asian girls who looked even younger than him from what he could see past their strange costumes. One was dressed up like an old-time pilot or something and she had a pair of guns hanging from her belt while the other looked like some kind of Pokémon trainer.
It was the latter who gasped in surprise, taking a step back as she looked straight at him squinting as if to try to see him better. “You… what’s your name?”
“Jonas Lake,” he answered quickly.
It was hard for Jonas to read her expression with her face mostly covered with a bandana and a baseball cap. But her voice was gentle and caring as she reached out her hand and said, “I’m Genesis, and this is Packrat and Gadget-Girl. We’re here to help you Jonas. Please, I need to know the wording of your contract with Phantom.”
“Contract? She called me a Contractor when she left here. I…” the disembodied boy hesitated as he tried to remember what had happened before the killing began. I don’t know, I just wanted the other kids to stop bullying me. She said that she could stop them from ever hurting me again and I told her that if she could have anything she wanted.”
“You agreed to let her keep your body?”
He shook his head furiously. “I didn’t know that she was going to do that, she just said that we had a deal and took over. Th…then she killed the other boys and … and left with my body.”
“You’re a Hyper, Jonas, a kind of Medium known as a Contractor,” Genesis explained patiently. “That means that you can let spirits stay in your body for the use of their powers, but you need to be very careful when making contracts and both parties need to agree to terms. If you’re not careful then things like this happen. I think that we may be able to get your body back, but first I need to see your contract.”
“See my contract?” Jonas asked in confusion.
“I’m kinda new to this,” the girl replied sheepishly, “I’ve only just learned to see souls but I have a friend who told me that you are both bound by the contract. I need you to focus on Phantom, close your eyes and think very hard about the contract. It is imprinted on you both, body and soul. Make it appear.”
Jonas thought very hard, just like she had asked him to, but how would he know how to make it appear? Suddenly his right arm began to tingle and when he opened his eyes he could see a string of unfamiliar letters encircling his arm from just beneath the shoulder to just above the elbow. “Is that…” he asked in wonder.
Genesis nodded and reached out to very gently touch his arm where the writing was. Wait, she was actually touching him! His heart would have soared had he possessed one at the moment. Her body stiffened as her hand made contact and her eyes glowed with a bright golden light. She was like that for several minutes before just as suddenly as she had tensed up, she relaxed again. Then she looked at him and laughed. Of course, she was just like the others, enjoying his suffering. His thoughts began to spiral downward until she said. “You can trust us Jonas. Take my hand and let’s go face Phantom.”
“Is he ready?” the woman called Gadget-Girl asked.
Jonas hesitated for but a moment before reaching out and taking the girl’s hand. Maybe she really was here to help him. She probably couldn’t make things any worse. As soon as he took her hand she nodded and said confidently, “We’re ready.”
The other girl, the one called Packrat, held her hand out and suddenly the air in front of her seemed to shimmer as she said, “Let’s get going then, the others might need us. Step into my dimension everyone, next stop Los Angeles.”
![]() |
Chapter 45 Contract Killer Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
We were putting the pressure on Phantom and since she wasn’t able to escape the room we seemed to be wearing down her new, younger body. I just hoped that Mei had been able to learn what she needed to from Khestrid and Jordyn to do her part in this plan. The plan was crazy, we all knew that, and it hinged on Mei being able to learn what Khestrid had to teach in only a few hours. I had allowed Smith to take me into custody and put me on a plane to L.A simply because it would buy us the time for the Contractor Medium and her spirit to teach Mei what to do and hopefully give her, Shu, and Mom time to find the body’s original soul before coming to join us. I had faith in my little sister though; she had a natural feel for her powers, she was very smart for her age, and she was pretty damn determined to keep us all safe and together.
It was taking more and more effort for Phantom to teleport away with each attack, Safeguard had nearly gotten a hold on her a moment ago. When she reappeared she looked nearly ready to collapse. She was breathing heavily and looking around the room frantically for some means of escape. Suddenly her face lit up in a smile and she lunged for a nearby table, snatching up a steak knife and pressing it to her throat. This hadn’t been part of the plan. “Oi there, Phantom. I dinnae think tha’ ya wan’ tae be doin’ tha’. Yuir no’ goin’ tae kill me tha’ way,” I said calmly as we all stood very still.
“So? I found one Medium, I can find another, even if it takes me years,” she said with that psychotic smile of hers back in place. “And next time there will be no warning, you won’t see me coming, and I will kill you and destroy everything that you care about.”
“Stop! And drop the knife! I command you as a spirit arbitrator!” Mei’s voice rang out. Phantom’s eyes widened and she seemed frozen in place, the knife still in front of her throat, but not moving even a fraction of an inch until it fell from her hand to the floor. I turned to see Gadget-Girl, Packrat, and Genesis all stepping out from one of Packrat’s dimensional gates. Genesis’s eyes were locked on Phantom as she added, “I have sealed you for the moment, Phantom. You will not control that body or any other until this arbitration is complete, except to speak in your defense. These people will act as witnesses to this arbitration.”
“Good tae see ya Genesis, nice timin’ there,” I said with a grin. “Did ya ge’ wot ya needed?”
“Yup,” she said with a nod before turning her attention back to Phantom. ”I am here to represent the interests of the Contractor Medium, Jonas Lake. He claims that you have wrongfully stolen his body. How do you plead?”
Fury burned in Phantom’s eyes as she glared at Genesis. “We had a contract. If I stopped those kids from ever hurting him or anyone else again then he would give me whatever I wanted. I carried out my part of the bargain so I took what I was owed.”
“That’s a pretty loose interpretation of a contract, “Aquarius muttered behind me.
Genesis didn’t say anything to that, her gaze still on Phantom, probably to keep her from trying to flee the body. Instead she said, “And yet you gave Jonas no specifics, nor a chance to review your terms before taking possession of his body and altering it.”
“It’s not my problem that he didn’t ask to read the fine print,” Phantom retorted angrily.
“I’ve taken the time to read your contract, why don’t you read it for these witnesses? Genesis pressed.
The vengeful spirit glowered at Mei, but she couldn’t do anything more than that, will there was a certain smugness about her as she began to speak. “I Sadie Anne Hawkins, to be referred to hereafter as ‘Phantom’…” It was the laughter that stopped her from speaking. Her real name was Sadie Hawkins? No wonder she became a cold-blooded killer. If looks could kill we’d have all been dead five times over.
Apparently Genesis had been prepared for this since she had only smirked while the rest of us were outright giggling. Still she had to take a breath before saying, “Continue please.”
Phantom snorted and continued on as if we weren’t all still giggling at her unfortunate moniker. “…hereby form this contract with Jonas Lake, hereafter referred to as “the Contractor’. Phantom promises to stop the Contractor’s bullies from ever hurting anyone again. The means and particulars in resolving this issue will be left to the discretion of Phantom. The Contractor will allow Phantom to make their body more comfortable in order to gain access to the powers that Phantom had in life. Upon completion of Phantom’s promised actions the Contractor will give full control of their body to Phantom.” She sneered at Genesis and said, “See, we had a legally binding contract and I carried out my part.”
I could swear that Genesis was grinning from ear to ear under her bandana as she nodded. “Yes you did, though you did so in a way that traumatized Jonas.”
“The means were left up to me, so I did what I do best,” Phantom sneered. “I did what I was supposed to do, so it was only fair that I got what I wanted in return.”
“And so you did,” my little sister agreed. “You got control of Jonas’s body. I pronounce the contract valid.” I turned to gape at Genesis in shock and surprise and I wasn’t the only one either, even Phantom was, though there was that smugness there as well. Then Genesis lowered the boom as she added, “However, the contract does not state how long you would keep sole control of Jonas’s body. So I rule that the contract has been completed and you have been paid in full. Jonas will return to being the sole occupant of the body in question. This arbitration is over.”
“Fine, I’ll go find another Medium,” Phantom grumbled. There was this look in her eyes like she had still won though. She could escape in spirit form and come after me again later when I wasn’t expecting it.
“You’re not going anywhere Sadie,” Genesis said, reaching out toward Phantom. For a second Phantom’s body went limp and her eyes glazed over, then suddenly she was alert and upright again, though her body language was very different than it had been before. Now she seemed timid and uncertain as she looked around at us. “This is Jonas, everyone. Sorry, Jonas, but I can’t do anything about the changes that she made to your Archetype, but Contractor Archetypes are meant to be re-written, so maybe you can find another spirit that will treat you better and give you a form that you’re more comfortable with.”
“What about the bitch who was possessing her?” Safeguard asked in concern.
“I have her right here. She’s not going anywhere,” Genesis quickly assured us. “Jordyn and Khestrid said that I probably won’t be able to send her to the spirit realm. Her connection to the physical world is too strong while she remembers Merida and holds such anger toward her. If we let her go, she’ll just look for another Medium to take advantage of. Khestrid suggested that I bind her soul in a body that doesn’t have any long-term memory, that way her spirit won’t be able to hold onto the memories of her old life and her hatred for Merida. All of that would be gone within a few weeks. Mom had an idea, but we can discuss it once we get home. We kinda have other problems at the moment.”
“What problems? We defeated the bad guy right?” Safeguard asked.
I shook my head sadly. “Aye, bu’ phantom took the Gov’ner ‘ostage an’ killed a bunch o’ people on live TV, an’ Jonas is now wearin’ tha’ body. The HAA are goin’ tae wan’ either me or Jonas as a fall guy. An’ if’n we say Phantom go’ away they’ll be searchin fer her. E’en if’n we say she died, they’re goin’ tae wan’ a body an’ people are still goin’ tae recognize ‘er if’n she stays in the state, or e’en the country. Then they’ll be searchin’ fer 'er and we’ll be seen as liars.”
“Could Mei create a duplicate of her body without powers? We could just slap Phantom in that and have her serve time for her crimes,” Aquarius suggested.
“But then she’d still hold on to her memories and she’d suicide just to be able to possess another person and get to Merida. It doesn’t even have to be a Contractor, it could just be a normal person who’s asleep or in a weakened state,” Gadget-Girl pointed out.
*And even if we did give them a body, they’d probably just use it to say that Merida is dangerous and doesn’t care about who get’s killed. They’ll throw her to the wolves again, they want a living sacrificial lamb,* Psyche put in, showing that she was listening in along the psychic network.
“Okay then, what if we give them Phantom and she escapes while in their custody. You know, very publicly so it looks like it’s their fault,” Shu said with a grin while she looked at me, or rather my neck. “That is a standard issue HAA inhibitor collar Mom tweaked, isn’t it?”
For the next half hour we prepared our plan. It wasn’t long before Psyche and the Fairies joined us and the look on Phantom’s former face was priceless. It was even funnier when Fawn returned to Fairy size. Much to my relief she didn’t teleport away as soon as they had reported that the field was off and the gear packed back up for Shu to put in the dimension she was starting to refer to as her ‘Armory’, which would hold our various equipment and weapons that we didn’t want to carry on us at all times.
Jonas seemed like a good sort, she realized that she owed us a debt and she meant to pay it even if it meant a risk to herself. Not that I was going to let that risk happen. She’d suffered enough already and as soon as this was over I was going to start looking into places she could go to be safe and hopefully unrecognized. I had sent Tasha to Smith earlier to let him know that the plan was a success, give him back the modified collar, and to let him know what the plan was now that Phantom was taken care of and Jonas was back in her own body. He had just called me back and as I figured he wasn’t going to let an innocent person be punished when they were really the worst victim of all. That’s why I like Smith, he may be HAA but he’s a good guy and he’s doing the job for the right reasons.
I couldn’t help but grin as I hung up her phone and told the others, “Smith is on board. He called the ‘ead of the HAA tae tell ‘im tha’ we go’ her in custody an’ he an’ the Gov’ner both wan’ tae be there fer the ‘and-off an’ put a collar on ‘er. They wan’ tae make a big deal o’ it.”
Twenty minutes later I was carrying Jonas outside as she pretended to be unconscious with the other members of my team following close behind. The front of the hotel was a bloody media circus with the Governor smiling for the cameras and Smith standing beside another man in a suit with possibly the fakest smile I had ever seen. He didn’t like mutants one bit, I could see it in his eyes, and I imagined he liked it even less that we were going to be seen as the heroes after this.
The Governor looked like he wanted to make a big occasion of this as Smith handed over an inhibitor collar and the man with the fake smile put it around Jonas’s throat with an audible hiss and click. There was even cheering as the green light turned on to show that the collar was active. Then two agents came forward to half drag her to an armored truck, smiling as if they had been the ones who caught her. “I stand here today alive because of true heroism. Because young Hypers placed themselves in harm’s way to save me. So, I would like to thank G-Force for saving my life and for capturing the terrorist known as Phantom. It’s good to know that we have young Hypers out there fighting to keep us all safe from threats like this,” the Governor said. “Now, Director Peter Anders of the HAA will take her to the Pit, a maximum security facility where she won’t harm anyone again.”
He pushed the microphone to me, obviously expecting me as the leader to say a few words. “Thank ya gov’ner, We jus’ wan’ tae dae the right thing an’ see tha’ those wot deserve it, ge’ wot’s comin’ tae them.” I gave a big smile then as my eyes settled on Director Anders. “If’n we see those wot need our ‘elp or somebody steppin’ on the l’il guy we’ll be shoor tae fight fer wot’s right.”
Director Anders looked a little uncomfortable as the cheers started up and even more so as the Governor shook my hand and he was forced by all the cameras to do the same with that fake smile plastered all over his face. There was a sudden commotion over by the armored truck and someone shouted “She’s awake!” ‘Phantom’ was now struggling against the pair of guards and one of them shoved her to the ground where they both kicked her several times in the head, shoulders, and ribs before she tried covering herself with her arms. Cameras had turned toward the scene as soon as the struggle began and caught it all on film. That bastard Anders’ was actually smiling for real until he realized where the cameras were pointed. Then his smile suddenly disappeared, right along with ‘Phantom’.
Cameras swung back to where we were standing with the Governor and the Director of the HAA. Smith had taken the opportunity to slip away and was nowhere to be seen. I gave the Director my best look of disgust, it really wasn’t hard since I was pretty sure that he was the one who’d decided to throw me under the bus twice now. “Wot the fook was tha’? Police brutality?! I cannae believe ya jus’ did tha’ an’ le’ her ge’ away! We jus’ caught ‘er an’ now we’re goin’ tae ‘ave tae find ‘er an’ capture ‘er agin. Let’s go G-Force, she could be anywhere on the bloody planet by now.”
Packrat opened a dimensional gate and we all stepped through. Once it was closed she opened another to the ballroom where we had fought Phantom, where both Agent Smith and Jonas were waiting, though Jonas has some nasty bruises on her arms and face. They wouldn’t let anybody in until they could assess the damage and there was no surveillance since Phantom had destroyed every camera in the place after taking the Governor hostage, probably to limit the HAA’s response options. Once Jonas and Smith had joined us inside the pocket dimension, Packrat closed that gate and formed another to take us home.
It was well after midnight and Andy was sitting in front of the television, our guests already gone home for the evening. There was a new pair of guests sitting on the couch with Andy though, watching the screen and smiling. “Good work girls, Dr. Edwards said, turning her smile toward us as soon as we stepped out of the dimensional gate. “So I take it this is our young Contractor,” she added as her gaze fell on Jonas. “Are you okay child? I can cast a healing spell.”
“I… I’m okay, I’m just glad that’s over with,” Jonas replied uncertainly.
“It’s not over quite yet,” Dr. Edwards corrected. “We’ll need to hurry. I would imagine that this is the first place that Anders will look for her.”
“And me,” Smith said with a shrug. “I think my days as an HAA agent are effectively over. Anders is going to want my head for this.”
“It’s their loss, John” Andy said.
“Neither of you can stay here, Jonas is too recognizable nor can I use magick to alter her features, because as a Contractor her Archetype will resist any changes not made by a spirit she’s hosting. There are other more mundane ways to change your appearance though, for both of you, and I know someone who can help. I’ve already contacted Deep Blue at AMPS, she’s ready to provide a scholarship to Jonas, and she has her government contact ready to work up new identities for both of you. Her school can always use help with security too, John.”
“I think I might like working at a school like yours, I’ve always preferred to help mutants in trouble than hunt them down,” Smith said with a nod.
“I’ll gate you straight to her office, she’s expecting both of you,” Dr. Edwards said with a nod, quickly standing and then waving her hands in strange patterns while speaking some indiscernible language. A moment later the gate appeared and then the pair was gone. Dr. Edwards then set herself to magically disposing of any possible DNA evidence that either of them might have been in our home while the rest of us got out of costume and into normal clothes.
“How’s the news playin’ out?” Mom asked as we re-entered the living room from her lab.
“Everyone is seeing G-Force as heroes and the HAA as incompetent. There’s talk of inquiries after that footage of those two agents kicking Jonas while she was on the ground wearing an inhibitor collar. Even though the collar wasn’t working it’s not playing well. Some are even thinking that they damaged the collar themselves, they did get a few good shots in at the poor girls head and shoulders while she was down,” Andy commented with a sigh. “I’m ashamed that I ever worked for them in any capacity.”
“I guess all tha’s left is ta deal with Phantom’s phantom then, preferably before HAA agents show up on our doorstep.” Mom said with a nod. Then she turned to our other guest. “Are you sure that you want this Kendra?”
“I think so, if Mei can do it and you think it’s safe,” she replied with a nod. “I can finally touch people again, and now I want to be able to do some of the things that I always wanted to do. I always wanted to have a child, but I never thought that even adoption would be in the cards for me. I really want this.”
“I can do it, and I’ve thought of ways to make it safe,” Mei promised.
“You’re sure that she won’t remember her old life?” Shu asked a bit suspiciously.
Mom nodded. “Newborn infants have some limited short term memory, but memory doesn’t really start developing until a child is 6 months old.”
“Khestrid said that with no long-term memory her soul will lose its hold on the memories of her old life within a few weeks. There will be nothing left of them and she can start forming new memories, maybe better ones, as she grows. It’s the best way to make sure Phantom is gone for good and with the right mother it will give her a second chance at life,” Mei confirmed with a smile. “I’ll make her body a newborn, but an Activated Hyper.”
“Wot?! Yuir givin’ ‘er bloody powers?!” Suddenly I wasn’t so sure that this was a good idea.
“Nothing that will hurt anyone or give her any chance at remembering her old life,” Mei said, holding up her hands to stave off my anger. “A minor regeneration ability to help her stay healthy and an immunity to all forms of poison. Kendra’s blood is one of the deadliest substances on Earth, and this way, even if Kendra gets cut in an emergency or something, her blood won’t harm the baby. It would make sense for her natural child to have that kind of immunity, and I’m going to make it so she takes after Kendra in looks when she grows up too.”
That’s a wise precaution Mei,” Dr. Edwards agreed, smiling in approval. “That way she won’t question her origins, she’s better off not knowing. Well, we have a medical doctor to oversee and all these witnesses for the ‘birth’ so let’s get this done.”
Mei was enveloped in golden light and after a moment a tiny baby girl appeared in her arms. She even had a cute little bellybutton and everything. For a moment my little sister seemed to stare intently at the infant and then placed her hand on her head. Finally she nodded and smiled and handed the naked baby to Toxin. “There, it’s done.”
“Congratulations Kendra, it’s a girl,” Mom pronounced as all the fairies swooped in to get a better look at the baby and started giggling and cooing at her. “Have ya go’ a name picked out?”
Kendra didn’t seem to hear the question at first as she stared at the infant she was holding with awe in her teary eyes. Finally though she nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll call her Dawn.”
“Dawn Wilson, it ‘as a nice ring tae it,” I agreed.
![]() |
Chapter 46 Intruders Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
Mom gave the new baby a proper newborn health examination and filled out the paperwork she had prepared, including all of the essentials and the time of ‘birth’. The latter had been backdated to the day before since Mei had made Dawn about a day old to avoid any issues and it was after midnight anyway. Then, she used the costume maker to make a few cloth diapers and a warm onesie for Dawn until Kendra could get some baby supplies to start her off. Kendra didn’t take her eyes off her new baby for one second and it was nice to see her face filled with wonder and happiness. Hell, it was nice to see her face not covered by that containment suit she had been wearing since I first met her.
“I’ll need some formula, bottles, clothes, diapers, baby powder, baby oil…” Kendra started rattling off a list. “Oh! I can’t possibly take her with me, I don’t have had a baby seat for my car!” She looked torn; on one hand she didn’t want to let Dawn out of her sight for the moment, but on the other hand she didn’t want to risk the baby’s safety.
“Kendra, you didn’t bring your car, I used a portal to get us here. And I can get us to the Wal-Mart the same way so you can get the essentials,” Dr. Edwards offered with a laugh. “We can add a car seat to your list when we get there.”
“I’d come with ya, but I imagine tha’ the HAA will be showing up soon and we’ll want to be ready,” Mom said with a groan as she handed Kendra a slip of paper that looked suspiciously like a check. “But this should help wi’ the expenses.”
Toxin was holding Dawn securely and had to shift her a bit so she could free one arm to take the paper. Her blood red eyes widened and she shook her head. “I can’t take this, Blair. This is a lot of money.”
“No’ really, it’s no’ even as much as I put in the girls’ trust funds. I can afford it jus’ fine since I’ll be receivin’ the other half o’ my payment fer the infiltration suits now tha’ they’ve been completed an’ delivered. Yuir still jus’ getting’ started on yuir career an’ raisin’ a child as a single parent can be expensive. If you like, think o’ it as child support, since this was my bright idea,” Mom insisted. “Now get goin’ she’s goin’ to need feedin’ soon. We’ll see all o’ ya at Kasumi an’ Paul’s place fer the barbeque right?”
“We’ll be there,” Dr. Edwards agreed with a smile toward Toxin once she had cast the portal. “I expect that Kendra will be anxious to show off Dawn and we have plans with Hana if that DNA sample checks out.”
“I’ll check ma messages while we wait,” Mom promised. “The Brain promised to examine the sample analysis and let me know by late tonight or tomorrow mornin’.”
With that our school headmistress and our counsellor said their good nights and stepped through the portal. As soon as they were gone Mom turned to us. “Okay girls, off ta bed wit’ ya. We’ll wan’ ta be ‘surprised’ when our next guests arrive.” As Andy sat back down in front of the TV and Mom went off to her lab us non-adults and the Fairies headed upstairs to our rooms, changed into our nightclothes and turned out the lights.
Fawn and I snuggled in the darkness of my room and waited, careful to stay awake in case we were needed. I hated not being able to hear anything through the soundproofing of my room, but Tasha and the others had promised to update me through the psychic network if anything happened. I kind of wished Peaches was with us too, but she was still being dragon-sat by Hana until we went to her place for the barbeque. We had been waiting in bed for at least an hour and it made me uncomfortable. With a sigh I made a little construct of Peaches while we waited. I needed practice on the fine details anyway if I ever wanted to make my constructs as convincing as our mother could when Blair and I were little.
*An Agent Hartley and Agent Gillis just showed up and want to search the house and interview everyone, without a warrant. I told them that it’s damn well after three in the morning and my kids are in their rooms asleep,* Mom sent along the network. *Gillis is being very insistent, and loud so it’s time for one of you to make an appearance.*
*I’ll do it, I’m the once they seem to hate the most anyway.* I offered.
*You might as well bring Fawn with you, we don’t want to look like we’re hiding anything. The HAA already knows about the Fairies anyway, though Smith only told them that Mei had summoned them. He didn’t feel that it was safe even letting his own organization know the full scope of her abilities,* Mom sent back.
*Something I’m in complete agreement with,* Andy put in. *We’ve seen the way they treated Merida just to save face. I don’t want to think of what they’d attempt if they knew about Mei’s true powers.*
*Let them try it,* Mei grumbled along the network as Fawn and I climbed out of bed and prepared for our performance. *If that Director Anders tries it or goes after Merida again, I might just have to put him in a mutant body just so he could get a taste of what it feels like to be persecuted, something really obvious, but I wouldn’t trust him with any type of powers.*
As much as Mei was talking big, we all knew that she would hate doing something like that. She wanted to use her powers to help other people and make them happy. Even what she did with Phantom was to try and give her a chance at a happy life, and she hated Phantom as much as any of us. She would do it if she saw no other way, but she wouldn’t like it. *Let’s save that as a last resort, Mei. I still have some leverage if we need it and we’ll milk this visit for everything we can,* I sent back over the network as I headed down the stairs with Fawn riding my shoulder, both of us rubbing at our eyes sleepily. That act wasn’t too hard since we were both dead tired. “Wot’s wi’ all the bloody noise?”
The twins came out right on my heels. “Mom, Andy, what’s going on?” they said in unison. Ouch, sad and scared-looking sleepy preteen twins and they were even holding their teddy bears. That was really going to ramp up the guilt factor.
Mom gave the agents a dirty look and the woman looked like she would rather be anywhere but where they were right then as Mom snapped, “Well, ya bloody well woke up the little ones so ya might as well come in and ask yuir questions and do yuir search now. Since ya don’t have a warrant though, and I activated the house security system the moment ya rang the doorbell at this ungodly hour, it’s goin’ ta be recordin’ everythin’. If ya get out o’ hand even once we’ll toss ya out on yuir ears an’ I’ll have an army o’ lawyers and media on yuir agency before the day is over. After what happened earlier tonight in L.A. I don’t think you’ll be wantin’ any more bad press.”
“And one of us will be with the both of you the whole time you’re here,” Andy quickly added. “We are not leaving you alone with any of the kids for any reason.”
“But the interviews, we need to interview everyone separately…” the male agent argued angrily. He was almost as big as I used to be with black hair shaved into a buzz cut and he looked like he was probably sent just because he looked that intimidating.
Andy wasn’t backing down one bit though. “These are minors you’re talking about, you can’t interview any of them without a parent or guardian present unless we allow it. Given what I’ve seen of how your agents treat young Hypers in the news earlier, that’s not happening.”
The blonde woman of the pair winced at that and put a hand on the other agent’s shoulder and said, “Let’s just get this done with quickly.” I had a feeling that she was one of those like Smith had been. She looked like she really didn’t want to be doing this at all. “Maybe it would be best if I do the interviews while Agent Gillis searches the house. Mr. Tomkins can accompany Agent Gillis and I can start by interviewing you, Dr. Ainsley. Then we can go up to the kids’ rooms to interview each of them so they can get back to sleep.”
Mom and Andy agreed and Andy watched Gillis like a hawk while he started using a scanner there in the living room, scanning the walls, floors, and everything else that he could think of. Mom shooed us back upstairs to our rooms and as we climbed the steps Agent Hartley started talking to Mom. “We know who all of you are and we may not know what powers all of you possess, but let’s not pretend that you weren’t the ones who saved the Governor earlier. Where were you, and what have you been doing since the incident?”
“We came home since findin’ Phantom would be next ta impossible, Packrat opened a gate on live television. The kids needed sleep an’ I got ta work in ma lab.” Mom answered as I got to the top of the stairs.
“And what would that work entail Dr. Ainsley?” Agent Hartley pressed.
I gave in to the urge to hesitate a moment and hear Mom’s answer. “I’m a medical doctor and the chief of medicine at the Pacific Seaside Academy clinic, Agent Hartley. What that involved was checking over a friend’s newborn baby, going over a patient’s lab results, working on a treatment plan, and a whole lot o’ doctor/patient confidentiality.” Ouch, way to stick it to her, Blair. I smiled as I made my way to my room knowing that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience, for them. We all had our stories straight and not one of us was going to crack, not while we were doing the right thing.
I didn’t have to wait long since I was the first that Agent Hartley wanted to interview after Mom. She came into the room with Mom right behind her. “You must be Merida and Fawn right?” she asked trying to give a friendly smile.
“Aye,” I responded simply as Fawn merely nodded from where she sat in my lap.
“I don’t see any harm in interviewing you both at the same time then once we’re done and Agent Gillis comes in for a quick look around we can let you both get some sleep okay?” It appeared that she wasn’t in on the real details of my case. But then the only person in the HAA that was authorized to know other than Smith was the director himself and I didn’t think he’d want General Nelson or the President pissed at him. He was probably on thin ice with both the President and Governor Brown as it was with the incident in L.A.
“Aye, thanks,” I replied hugging Fawn.
The agent smiled at me and it seemed to be a genuine smile. “I think that what you did to save the Governor was very heroic. Now, what have you been doing since you and your sisters saved the Governor in L.A., Merida?”
“We came home an’ got changed fer bed. Mom wanted us in bed earlier since we go’ tae ge’ intae a proper sleep schedule fer school on Tuesday. I couldnae sleep so I was playin’ wi’ ma constructs a wee bi’ tae try an’ ge’ better control o’er them. An’ Fawn an’ I talked aboot stuff.”
Agent Hartley nodded and smiled but pressed, “What were you talking about? And could I see one of these constructs?”
I nodded and created another Peaches construct my brow furrowing in concentration as I tried to get the details just right and had it fly around the room. While I was doing that Fawn fielded the question. “We were talking about school, our friend’s new baby, and what happened with Phantom.”
The agent listened as she watched the construct fly around the room. "Are they always red and see-through? What did happen with Phantom?”
“Aye, it’s ‘cause o’ the energy I make ‘em from. It’s the same stuff tha’ ma force field is made from,” I said in response to the first question.
Fawn looked at the Agent like she was surprised by the question posed to her. “She disappeared while the people in suits were taking her away didn’t she? I saw it when we were there and again on the television when we got home and Merida’s mom told us to get ready for bed.”
“Did Phantom or Agent John Smith come here or try to contact any of you since you left L.A.? Did you help them in any way?” Agent Hartley pressed.
“Nae, if’n she came ‘ere it’d prob’ly be tae kill me,” I said allowing some of my anger at the agency to slip into my tone and letting my force field to flicker to life. “She could be anywhere in the world right now an’ she wants tae kill me. Agent Smith is one o’ yuir goons an’ he came ‘ere tae take me an hand me o'er tae her. In ‘andcuffs an’ a fookin’ inhibitor collar! Like I was the bloody criminal! If ma sisters had no’ come tae protec’ me an’ ge’ the damn collar off I’d prob’ly be dead right now! Why would I ‘elp either o’ them?!”
The blonde woman blanched as my emotions and powers seemed to flare and then I made it look like I was concentrating on getting control over both. Once I got myself ‘under control’ Fawn and Mom both hugged me. Mom took the cue and turned to give the agent an apologetic look. "Sorry, Agent Hartley, but I warned ya tha’ this was a bad idea. Merida has a medical condition tha’ makes her very emotional. It’s hard ta control her powers when she’s like this and she’s had a very long and difficult day.” The last was said in such an accusatory tone that the agent shrank back a bit.
Then to everyone’s surprise Agent Hartley reached out to hug me as well, though a little awkwardly. “I… I apologize. That’s all the questions I have for you, Merida. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that the agency has treated you this way. I work with the office here in Costa Verde and I’ve seen some of the things you kids have been doing here, you don’t deserve this. I’m only here because Agent Gillis was sent from headquarters and requested an agent come to the airport to get him and back him up the moment he landed. I didn’t even know what this was about or who you were until the drive over. When I found out I was against it, especially without a warrant.”
I suddenly felt bad about playing her, but it was all technically true and it was the agency that was in the wrong here. Admittedly not all of their agents were, there were people like Smith and Hartley who seemed to be doing it for the right reasons. “Umm… thanks. It’s nice tae ken tha’ no’ all o’ ya are assholes,” I offered in apology.
Agent Hartley stepped back and nodded, “I don’t know why your case files haven’t been transferred to our local office so you could be assigned a contact worker. You’re obviously in the system already and you’re willing to work with law enforcement. I’ll see if I can get it done and get assigned as your contact.” Then she leaned in to hug me again and whispered, “Were you telling the truth about the security system?”
“I installed it myself,” Mom replied quietly. “There are micro-cameras in every room o’ the house. They’re usually inactive an’ retracted into the wall fer privacy, but when a break-in is detected or I activate the system manually, like I did before answerin’ the door they pop out of their covers and start recordin’ everythin’ ‘til I manually deactivate the system. There are two cameras in this room alone an’ the little red LED light over the doorframes tells us all tha’ the system is active an’ we’re bein’ recorded. Usually there’s a siren too, but I can disable tha’ when I activate it manually.”
Agent Hartley let out a sigh and muttered in a hushed tone, “Good. Gillis seemed pretty eager to run right over your rights, and I don’t really trust him, so I’d keep all of that video footage handy.” Then she pulled away and said in a louder voice, “Maybe we should go interview the twins next and give Merida some time to calm down a bit.”
Mom quickly agreed and led her out the door and down the hallway to the twin’s room, leaving the door open a crack. It was a good ten minutes later and I had nearly fallen asleep when Andy knocked on the partially open door. “Merida, Agent Gillis wants to do some scans and take a look around.”
Gillis didn’t even wait for my assent before pushing his way past Andy and into the room running his little scanner over the floors, walls, my bed, and even in the closet, shoving clothes aside to do so. I drew the line when he started opening the top drawer of my dresser. “Leave tha’ the fook alone!”
“Look you little freak, I’m a federal agent here to look for evidence that you’ve been harboring fugitives so I’ll search where I please,” he said as he opened the drawer and pulled out a bit of pink and white fabric.
Andy went to grab his shoulder to stop him but the larger man pushed him aside. I was so mad that my force field activated and the field around the bed followed immediately after. “No fookin way! Yuir no’ pawin’ aboot in ma knickers. Yuir ‘ere wi’out a fookin’ warrant an’ we’re cooperatin’ ‘cause we go’ nothin’ tae hide. I think if Phantom were hidin’ in ma bloody knickers I would ‘ave noticed ‘er ridin’ up ma arse! Wot agency did ya say tha’ yuir wit agin?”
“I’m with the HAA, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll cooperate,” he snapped angrily, glaring at me. I was floating in the air above my bed, my force field bubbling dangerously. I tried to think calming happy thoughts and despite the deadly red aura around me he didn’t seem scared until he saw me lower myself to the bed, power down my force field, and smile as I looked at Andy, who was picking himself up off the floor as Mom and Agent Hartley stood in the doorway summoned by my angry shouting with the door wide open. “What are for smiling for, freak?”
“The cameras o’ course. An’ I’m thinkin’ o’ all the charges tha’ could be brought up against you an’ yuir agency. Say ‘ello Agent Gillis,” I said as I pointed to one of the tiny cameras poking out from a recess in the corner of my room.
He finished his scans of the other rooms in record time. Agent Hartley seemed eager to get him out of our home before he could cause any more damage and she even confirmed for us, on the living room cameras, that his scans showed no traces of DNA matching Smith or samples of Phantom that they had found on the Governor and her other victims. They had of course found some of Smith’s outside the front door, but that was to be expected since he had come to take me into custody earlier in the evening.
I didn’t want to sleep until they were out of the house, or at least Gillis was. It was almost five by the time they were done and gone so I figured that I probably wasn’t going to get any sleep at all. So I emptied the top drawer of my dresser and threw the lot in Mom’s sonic cleanser until I no longer felt like I was going to throw up by putting any of it on. Then I started my sisters and the Fairies on a morning workout and training session before breakfast. It had been a long night and we still had a big day ahead of us.
![]() |
Chapter 47 Dolled Up Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
After we were finished training and then showering for the morning, Mom and Andy had managed a few hours of sleep and decided that we should go to Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House for breakfast. We planned on spending most of the day there anyway, and I missed Peaches and wanted to let Hana know that I was okay. I would have called the night before and left a message but we hadn’t gotten home until after midnight, there was all the other stuff to deal with, and I didn’t want to risk waking her. I had briefly texted her, but I didn’t feel that was as reassuring as hearing the voice of the person that you love or seeing them in person.
“Oh my God! I just thought of her as the person I love!” I thought halfway through braiding Fawn’s hair as we were getting ready to go. She was dressed in her usual comfortable fairy clothes and would be ready to go once I finished with her hair. I had planned to just wear my hair in my usual loose style, but I was still in my bathrobe and would need to decide on what to wear for the day.
“Merida? Merida, are you okay?” Fawn’s voice inquired from in front of me, snapping me out of my semi-stupor.
“Aye, sorry, Fawn,” I told her as I resumed braiding her hair. “I was jus’ lost in thought.”
I finished braiding her hair and tied it off before going to look in my closet for something to wear. I was still a bit floored by my earlier mental self-confession and I was a bit torn as I stared at the clothes hanging in front of me and tried to decide what to put on. I was getting nowhere fast when Fawn placed a hand gently on my shoulder. “What’s wrong, Merida?”
“Oh, it’s nothin’ I jus’ cannae decide wot tae wear,” I admitted with a sigh. Fawn was my best friend, and even though we both preferred comfort over getting all dressed up I valued her opinion and knew that she wouldn’t judge me for what I was thinking. “I… it’s kinda a special day, an’ I’m wonderin’ if’n I should wear sumthin’ special.”
“Is this Labor Day thing really that special?” my Fairy friend asked.
“Nae, well sorta, it is a holiday an’ all. Tha’s no’ wot I meant though,” I answered with a sigh, trying to figure out how to put it into words and blushing brightly at the mere thought. “Hana’s treatmen’ is today. If’n e’erythin’ goes right she’ll be ‘erself agin, an fer the rest o’ her life. Either way it’s goin’ tae be a mem’rable day fer her. An’ I got sumthin’ important tae tell ‘er…”
“You’re going to tell her how you feel about her, right?” my bestie guessed.
“Aye,” I replied, my face likely glowing a brighter shade of red than my hair. “Bu’ should I dress like I normally dae or wear sumthin’ special… fer her.”
Fawn considered the question for a moment. “I think she’s going to remember it fondly either way, because it’s you and I think she feels the same way for you that you do for her. You can be yourself and I’m sure she’ll be happy with that, because it’s you and she knows that you dislike getting all gussied up as much as I do, but what do you want to do?”
She was right, either way Hana would probably just be happy to have me around. She had seen me in dresses before and seemed to like it, but she also took me for who I was and didn’t want to pressure me to be anyone but me. So what did I want? I took a deep breath and looked at the dresses to the right side of the closet. “I dinnae really like dresses, bu’ it’s a special day fer her, an’ I think tha’ I wan’ tae show ‘er tha’ I may no’ be big on bein’ all pretty an’ feminine, but tha’ she’s worth daein’ tha’ fer sumtimes.”
“I’d help you Merida, but I have even less experience with that kind of stuff than you do,” Fawn said apologetically.
“Mebbe ya kin ‘elp wi’ ma hair?” I thought aloud before realizing that I was going to need a lot more help than that as I looked down at the chipped black polish on my fingernails. I was getting okay with make-up, but the only look I ever really used was a punk look, with heavy eyeliner and daring colors for eyeshadow and lipstick. I could do a Goth look too if I really wanted, but other than that I didn’t know how to do anything else really.
*Tasha and Vanessa, are you out of the shower yet? I could really use some help here,* I sent to my sisters along our psychic network. I would have included the twins and Brooke, but they knew even less about make-up than I did.
*I just finished getting dressed, what do you need, Mer?* Vanessa offered.
*I’m still learning to use make-up and I’m only good with one or two looks but I’m not going with the punk look today so I want something more normal that will look nice and go with the dress I’m going to wear,* I admitted sheepishly. *I want to look nice.*
*For Hana, no doubt,* Vanessa replied cheerfully. *Sil and I will be right there, Mer.*
A moment later Vanessa opened my door and stepped inside with Silvermist fluttering in behind her. The mermaid took one look at the dress that I was examining and grinned. “That’ll look great on you, the color will make your eyes pop and stand out against your pale skin and bright hair. Let’s get you dressed and we can get your nails done first. The rest we can do as we’re waiting for them to dry. You’ll want a strapless bra with that one, Mer. Fawn, could you braid her hair? I think with that dress we want a more refined look.”
The dress in question was Meghan Taylor original, an aqua-hued satin skater dress with lace trim at the neckline and mid-thigh hem and delicate shoulder straps that left my shoulders mostly bared. It had a bodice style front with gold lacing and showed off a bit of cleavage, though not too much as Meghan had stated, since I was only thirteen after all. Meghan had coordinated a lot of my more feminine outfits when making my wardrobe to make things easier on me, so once I found the matching strapless bra and panty set in the same color as the dress it didn’t take me long to get properly attired.
The down side to wearing a dress like this was that my usual sneakers or combat boots weren’t going to go well with it, so Vanessa suggested a pair of open-toed sandals in what she called ‘eggshell white’. The sandals had a one and a half inch heel, but it wasn’t too much higher than the heels on my combat boots so I was able to walk in them without too much trouble. She also insisted on a white clutch purse to match, instead of my usual backpack purse. I didn’t have one, but she did and quickly transferred everything from my regular purse.
She didn’t let me put the shoes on though, those would be the last thing we put on since she made quick work of removing the black polish from my fingernails and then did both those and my toenails in a sparkly green polish that she thought would go well with the dress and my eyes. “I didnae think this would take so bloody long,” I grumbled. My stomach had been making similar protests while waiting for my nails to dry and when I get hungry I tend to get a little irritable. Still, I wanted to look my best and Vanessa said that it would be worth the time and effort to do it right.
“They’re mostly dry now, Mer,” Vanessa offered sympathetically. “We won’t be too much longer and you’re going to look great. Let’s get started on your face, but pay attention so you can start doing this on your own, Tasha or I may not be around every time you want to look hot for your girlfriend. Fawn, you should pay attention too. Now that you’re going to be human-sized part of the time you should really know how to do your own make-up for those days when you want to look your best.”
Then she got to work as Fawn and I tried to pay attention. She said that the secret was to make it look like you’re hardly wearing any at all, which didn’t make any sense to either me or Fawn, since she seemed to be using a little bit of everything in the make-up kit we had bought on that first shopping trip from hell. All the while she and Silvermist chattered away about making me look elegant rather than edgy and what would work best for that. I did have to hand it to them though, Silvermist could be a bit of a ditz but she certainly had that refined lady thing going and it seemed to have rubbed off on Vanessa, at least whenever the mermaid wasn’t swimming or surfing.
When Vanessa finally moved out of my field of vision and let me look into the mirror of my vanity I was a little bit stunned. I looked good, really good. The girl staring back at me could have been fifteen and my green eyes looked huge, but it was definitely me. Fawn had finished braiding my hair and it added an air of sophistication to my appearance. Hana was barely going to recognize me. I barely recognized me. “I... ‘Nessa… wow,” I said as I gazed uncertainly at my reflection.
“See, you’re looking good, Mer.” Vanessa said with a grin.
“She looks flitteriffic,” Silvermist agreed, beaming.
Fawn’s stomach and my own growling in concert snapped me out of my trance, “Aye, thanks, all o’ ya. Kin we go eat now?”
“Get your shoes on and grab your purse and we can get going so the two of you can eat, everyone else is probably already ready to go,” Vanessa said with a laugh.
When we got downstairs everyone was already waiting, just as we had expected. “Sorry we took so long, I…” Everyone was staring and it made me feel a little bit self-conscious. “Maybe this was a stupid idea after all,” I thought morosely.
The flash of the camera on Mom’s cellphone dazed me and put an end to that line of thought. “Sorry, bu’ you look beautiful Merida, I needed a picture in case this never happens again. What brought this on?”
I was pretty sure that my face was bright red under all that make-up. “Wot? A girl cannae wan’ tae look ‘er best?” My stomach growled again and I looked at the floor.
The twins each grabbed an arm. “You look awesome, Merida! Let’s go!”
Tasha was the only one not smiling as we reached the door to leave. In fact, her face fell into a frown as Andy opened the door. *Mom, Andy. That Agent Gillis guy is somewhere out there watching the house. He’s waiting for us to leave.*
Mom surprised us all by replying, *I know, Tasha. He’s wearing one of the infiltration suits. He’s probably hoping to do a search of the house while we’re not around and maybe find the surveillance footage from last night, as if I would make it that easy. I put trackers in all the suits and the house security system has countermeasures for them in place in case the HAA tried to pull something funny. We should get going. The sooner we leave for breakfast, the sooner he’ll trip my security system.*
We were nearly at the restaurant when Mom’s phone emitted a siren. She glanced down at it, finger-swiped a few times and then turned to smile at those of us in the back seats. “Did they really think I wouldn’t take precautions against ma own tech? As I thought, he tried ta use Andy’s appearance, retinal information, and biometrics from his HAA file ta enter the house. He almost got to my lab before the thirty second delay tha’ I programmed kicked in ta override the suit’s systems and put it in confession mode. I’ve got the footage an’ he won’t be movin’ a muscle until we get home and call the police to pick him up.”
“Confession mode?” Brooke asked.
“A little insurance policy in case the HAA ever used the suits ta do somethin’ they shouldn’t,” Mom explained. “The suit’s primary systems deactivate, the hood becomes transparent ta reveal the wearer’s identity, an’ every other part o’ the suit from the neck down exudes a fast solidifyin’ silica-gel tha’ hardens inta a solid foam with the tensile strength o’ yuir standard diamond. The suit’s internal systems switch over to detect heart-rate, galvanic skin responses, oxygen intake, pupil dilation, an’ several other factors to become an extremely accurate lie detector fer when we or the police wan’ ta talk ta him. Since only I can make the substance ta dissolve the foam he’s trapped in, he won’t be goin’ anywhere ‘cept ta cool off in a cell when we get home until he’s made a confession.”
“Remind me to never break curfew or anything else that might make you mad at me, Mom,” Brooke muttered, her eyes wide.
Andy pulled the SUV into the parking lot of Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House and we all got out of the vehicle, though Tasha and Vanessa had to remind me how to do so without showing the world my underwear. I was absolutely starving as we stepped inside the restaurant. The place was packed, but that wasn’t surprising since it was a holiday and the restaurant would be closing early for the day just after lunch. Still, it seemed like the Forrester’s had saved us space at the regular pair of tables that we ate at.
Both Hana and her mother Kasumi were already tucking into their breakfasts, but they were the only ones there since most of the guests for the day weren’t expecting to show up until that afternoon once the restaurant was closed for the day. Hana was trying to eat her own breakfast while making sure that Peaches wouldn’t choke on hers. Neither she nor her mother noticed us until we were nearly at the table and Peaches suddenly looked up and crooned happily at me.
“Aye, Momma’s ‘ome, ya wee pink baby,” I said with a smile. She crooned again and then went back to her breakfast and I felt my heart flutter nervously as Hana looked up at me. What if I was wrong to do this? What if Hana didn’t like me going all girly like this?
She was staring at me like a deer caught in headlights for a brief instant and then she was on her feet. Before I knew it she had crossed the distance between us, wrapping me up in her arms and planting a kiss on me that made my legs turn to jelly. I reciprocated, quickly showing her at that moment what I wanted so badly to tell her in words. When we finally came up for air she smiled and laughed giddily. “Your reward for coming back to me,” she told me breathily.
“Aye, I’ll try no’ tae be leavin’ ya like tha’ agin any time soon, though mebbe I should if’n tha’s the welcome back I’m goin’ tae ge’,” I replied with a giggle. I firmly told myself that it was okay to giggle when I was as happy as I was, after all I was already dressed all girly.
“You… you look amazing, Merida. I think I really messed up your lip gloss though. I can help you fix it later,” she said as she took a step back to get another good look at me, holding my hands in her own. Those words, that look in her eyes, they made every second that we had spent getting me ready worth it. “You didn’t do all this for me did you?”
My breath seemed to catch in my throat and my heart leapt about wildly in my chest as I blushed bright red. “I… I thought tha’ since it’s a big day fer ya tha’ I’d…” I tried to get out the words but my tongue seemed to be stumbling even worse than usual and I felt so hesitant. I wasn’t used to feeling that way.
“You didn’t have to do all this for me, you know that I like you for who you are, not just because you’re a pretty girl. right?” I knew that she meant every word of it. Still, she liked seeing me like this and I found that I kind of liked that she liked it. Because I knew that while she would gladly take me as I was, that she appreciated the effort that I had gone through to try to be beautiful for her. It was frightening sometimes just how deeply I cared for her after so little time together, the strength of the bond we seemed to share.
“If’n all goes well this’ll be the first day o the rest o’ yuir life… our lives. This isnae sumthin’ I’m used tae, an’ I’m no’ shoor if’n I will dae it often, but ya ken… I think tha’ sometimes getting’ all dolled up kin be nice. It’s worth it tae make maself beautiful fer the person I lo…” I flushed bright red and pulled her into my arms, well aware that our parents, my whole damn family, and every Fairy in existence were watching and listening intently to every damn word. For now though I wanted those words to be just between us, so I softly kissed her earlobe and whispered them, my voice tremulous as I held her close. “I... this is crazy, aye? I’ve no’ been wit’ ya long and I dinnae ken much aboot this girl stuff yet, bu’ I dae ken one thing fer shoor. I love ya Hana, an’ I’ll stick wit’ ya no matter wot, as long as you’ll ‘ave me.”
![]() |
Chapter 48 Welcome Wagon Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero? |
For a while Hana and I just stood there holding one another, enjoying the contact and trying to ignore the knowing smiles of our families. Well, at least until my stomach growled again. Hana’s Dad took our orders and promised to have it out as soon as possible and I found myself flushing at all the attention on Hana and me as we took our seats. I just tried to play it cool as I asked, “How was Peaches? Did she be’ave ‘erself?
“Yeah, she was a good little dragon,” Hana replied as she reached down to stroke between the Meidragon’s stubby little horns, causing her to preen and croon. “She was agitated and had a bit of trouble sleeping though.”
“Aye, she was prob’ly pickin’ up on ma emotions. It was a stress-inducin’ night,” I offered with a sigh.
“So, what are the plans for the day?” Vanessa asked.
Hana’s mother looked thoughtful for a moment before replying quietly, “Well, the guests should all be arriving around three o’clock, but Alana called earlier to let us know that she and Kendra should be here soon. As soon as the breakfast rush is over she wants to take Hana upstairs and cast wards over the building so she can cast Hana’s transformation spell. She doesn’t want any other mages sensing what’s going on and interfering and she’d like to see if it works properly so we know if Blair will need to try an alternative therapy. We’re anxious to have it done before school starts tomorrow if possible. You girls can all go upstairs to hang out with her until they’re ready to start, but when she starts you’ll have to keep your distance.”
Hana nodded. “Yeah, Dr. Edwards said that she’ll have to take precautions, besides the wards. She’s going to have to set up a clean space and can’t have anyone else or any other DNA types in there other than me and the sample because if there were it could cause problems with the spell. She wants to get this done right the first time.”
I tried not to look disappointed. I really wanted to be there for her for the whole thing, and hold her hand if needed, but I figured that it was probably better if we could avoid her possibly becoming some Merida/Hana hybrid, or whatever it was that Dr. Edwards was worried about. “Aye, I kin understan’ tha’.”
I think that Hana’s mother realized how nervous that we both were about her daughter’s upcoming magical gene therapy so she artfully changed the subject to school since we would all be starting tomorrow. We all talked about classes and Hana and Kasumi told us how things worked at the school while classes were in session. It seemed that Kasumi was really looking forward to putting me through my paces in our private advanced combat class and I found myself just as eager to start learning from my childhood hero.
We continued talking through breakfast until Dr. Edwards and Kendra showed up. Kendra wasn’t letting little Dawn out of her sight and it was really nice to see her so happy. Of course Kasumi and Hana were a little surprised to see Toxin with a newborn baby, but once we let them in on the secret they were only too happy to fawn over Dawn along with everyone else.
In my head I tried to think, “So what? All she does is sleep, eat, and soil herself and Peaches does all of that too.” I tried to play it off as no big deal and like I was being cautious because, hey it was still Phantom’s spirit in there and it would be a while before she let go of those memories completely. Until then anything could happen so I should still consider her a threat, right? Wrong. I found myself getting caught up in watching her as much as everyone else, as much as I tried to hide it. She was tiny, cute, and a baby and somewhere deep inside I just wanted to hold her and keep her safe, and that confused me greatly. Did I get a maternal instinct when I lost my Y chromosome?
It was while I was trying very hard to make it look like I didn’t care about her one way or the other that Dr. Edwards turned to me and smiled. “Don’t you look lovely today, Merida. That’s very fortunate because Kendra and I would like to ask you for a favor.”
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the Headmistress of our school. “Wot kind o’ favor?” I asked cautiously.
“There is a new student arriving at the train station this morning and I’d like for you to go with Kendra to meet her and give her a tour of the school.” I was about to object when she raised her hands to cut off my unspoken protests. “I know that you want to be here for Hana, we all know that. But what can you really do except watch and wait with everyone else? This girl is a lot like you, she’s powerful and has no control and possibly worse impulse control than you and Mei.” Okay, I had to agree, that could be concerning.
“Her name is Scotia Lewis and her train arrives in forty-five minutes. Since most of the students will be arriving later today or at the airport she should be the only student we’ll have to worry about. We were thinking that the school should put our best foot forward and, since you know what it’s like to have control issues and be uncertain about being here in a new environment, we thought that you would be the perfect girl to represent the school and help her adjust,” Kendra added as she shifted Dawn in her arms.
Dr. Edwards pulled a paper bag from her purse and handed it to me. “How the hell did she fit that in that tiny purse? Probably something like Shu does with pocket dimensions,” I thought to myself before looking in the bag. "Ya wan’ me tae go play tour guide an’ wear the stoopid school uniform?” I complained.
“This is a perfectly acceptable uniform for a private school,” Dr. Edwards pointed out as she sighed. “I got Meghan Taylor to whip one up with your measurements since you won’t have time to go to your Dorm room to change. They didn’t have the time to put your usual enchantments on it, but you’ll just be going to greet Scotia and take her to the school and Kendra will be with you the whole time so I don’t think even you could find a way to get into too much trouble. You should be back around the time that I finish with Hana and then you can spend the rest of the day relaxing.”
“Why jus’ me an’ Kendra?” I whined. Yes I realize I was whining but at that moment I didn’t really care. This was not what I wanted to be doing today, especially since I was all glammed up and girly looking. I’d be giving this Scotia person a completely wrong first impression and I didn’t like getting ‘volunteered’ to play tour guide.
“We need to handle her carefully,” Dr. Edwards said patiently while rubbing her temples like she had a really bad headache coming on. “She only Activated a few weeks ago and when we first heard about her she ‘accidentally’ destroyed part of a mall while looking for something. You and your sisters and the Fairies all showing up at once might be a bit much for her. Fawn can go with you, there’s a uniform for her as well, but she should stay hidden until you can be sure she won’t spook this girl. Now hurry, you only have forty minutes to change and get to the station.”
Knowing that I wasn’t going to talk my way out of it I snatched up the bag. “Fine, I’ll bloody well dae it, but if anythin’ goes wrong dinnae say tha’ I did’na warn ya.”
Hana took me upstairs and let me and Fawn use their bathroom to change. I didn’t have the time to wash off all of the makeup and stuff and barely had time to change into the uniform before I realized that they didn’t bring me any shoes for it. I was going to have to wear the stupid heels with it and between that, my intricately braided hair, and the make-up I looked far more girly than I would have preferred. I put my dress in my portable portal with my costume and after refolding the portal I put it in my tiny little clutch purse with my ID and other essentials.
I felt so ridiculous as I went back down into the restaurant with Fawn. I didn’t care what Dr. Edwards thought though I wasn’t leaving Peaches behind, I felt bad enough leaving Hana to dragon-sit her the night before on short notice. I took her baby sling from Hana and put it in place before settling the baby dragon inside. Fawn would ride my shoulder until we got to the station and then hide in the baby carrier with baby Dawn to keep an eye on her while Kendra and I talked to the new student. If I needed her or felt it safe to reveal her presence she’d come out quick enough.
“I’m ready tae go, are ya ‘appy now?” I grumbled as I settled Peaches in place.
“It won’t be so bad Merida, think of it as meeting another potential friend who could benefit from your experience and self-control,” Kendra offered weakly as she picked up Dawn’s new car seat and we headed out to her cute little blue Ford Escort.
Twenty minutes later we arrived at Costa Verde’s train station/bus depot where my sisters, the Fairies and I had fought the Reaper and Lindsey had nearly died on us. This place made me uncomfortable and I tried my best to calm myself down as we waited by giving myself over to sweet familiar military discipline. Peaches was asleep and Fawn was in the baby stroller with Dawn as Kendra held up a bright pink sign saying ‘Scotia Lewis’. I wished that I’d thought to wear my dog tags or my team ring today, but I was trying to look pretty for Hana and I thought that I would be spending the whole day with the rest of G-Force and 4-Ward so there had been no reason to bring the latter. The only adornment I was wearing was my school ID bracelet.
After about ten minutes of waiting, a girl seemed to see the sign and I could have sworn she cringed before walking determinedly toward us. She was about five foot three and had dirty blonde hair that looked like she had tried to dye it darker and failed, which was tied back in a haggard looking low ponytail. She seemed slender with a smaller chest than my own, though it was hard to tell with the baggy flannel shirt she wore over a black t-shirt and ratty-looking jeans. She looked uncomfortable and kept pulling at where her bra strap would be. I wondered if the tiny downy gray wings had anything to do with that or if she was just a tomboy. “Seriously? She arrives like that and I have to be all prim and proper Miss PSA? How in the hell is that fair?!”
I tried not to grumble and maintained my parade ground stance as she approached and gave me an obvious once-over. It almost looked like she was trying not to cringe at the sight of me. Then her appraisal turned somewhat more pensive as she took me in again and then leaned in close enough to whisper, but not close enough to invade my personal space. “Is it sergeant or major?" she asked.
“It’s Captain,” I replied automatically at first. I was so floored by her unexpected question and my response that I stumbled over my words while trying to save face. “Ah… I mean… ah… classified... I mean… ma uncle was a Captain an’ he taught me e'erythin' he knew?” Okay, that totally came out more as a question than as the cover-up explanation that I wanted to give.
The girl didn’t look like she believed a word of it and I mentally face-palmed. This was not starting out well. What else could go wrong today? She did reply though. “Oi a little outa your area eh lass? Call ma Scotty!”
How hadn’t I noticed that accent when she first spoke? And why did she look as confused as I was? I shifted my stance nervously and tried to play it casual. "Oh, aye. I'm no' used tae playin' welcome wagon fer the school, I'm a new student maself. I'm Merida, wot area o' Scotland are ya from then? Sounds like north tae ma ears."
Scotia, or Scotty, looked even more confused now. “Eh I ha’ naver been to da highlands. I'm from up north of na york!” Then she took in my clothes and shoes again and muttered, “I blooming well ‘ope ya dinna expect ma to wear that getup?”
The accent was horrible, like some horribly twisted version of my own. That, and having to wear said 'getup', was getting on my nerves. What the hell? Was she making fun of me? I could feel my eyes narrowing at her in my anger as my force field snapped on. “Are ya makin' fun o' me then? Havin' yuirself a fair laugh a’ ma expense? If'n I 'ave tae wear this stoopid uniform, you kin wear it tae. The heels aren't standard, I didnae 'ave much time tae change afore meetin' ya."
The girl’s eyes widened in wonder at the red glow surrounding me and she looked as annoyed as I was. “I dinna know wha’ you is friggin’ talking abou’. Bu’ there is na fraggin way I be a wearing a kilt lie tha’.”
Toxin put her pink sign down on the cover of the stroller and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, Merida. Think of the city, and what might be left of it if you lose your temper."
I started counting down in my head, trying to be the good little PSA poster girl. “Oi, its the school dress code. I didnae write it, an’ I dinnae like the skirt either, it's no' e'en a proper Scottish tartan.”
“Oi so ya be an Irish lass then?” she asked.
Irish?! How dare she?! I had never been so insulted in all of my life and I was starting to lose my patience with her. “Bloody 'ell! Are ya tryin' tae piss me off?!”
“Nay,” she said stepping back with a shocked expression on her face. “I jas wish one of ya would quit makin’ me speak funny. Tis one of ya doin dis to ma?”
“We're no' doin' anythin o' the sort,” I snapped angrily. “Toxin's power is tae kill people with a touch an' mine is tae create a force field an' make thin's blow up. We dinnae ‘ave any speakin’ funny powers dammit!”
“Sorry, I’d offa ta shake ya hand but I might crush it. I has a bit a trouble with me strangth,” she offered in a placating tone.
Even being friendly that stupid parody accent of hers was pissing me off. I counted down again and grumbled, “Oi, Cat five force field ‘ere, if'n I'm glowin' red nothin' kin hurt me, 'specially no wee ‘andshake.”
“If ya say so,” she replied with a shrug. Her eyes seemed to catch sight of the baby sling I was wearing and she gave me a questioning look. “What be that around your front?”
“Tha's ma baby dragon, Peaches,” I replied as I reached down to calm the little pink dragon. It would seem that she had picked up on my animosity and woke up.
“Oi!” Scotia exclaimed as what looked like blue and gold scales shifted around her neck to form up into a mini dragon. Just the way that the tiny dragon held herself and looked around imperiously made it look like she was trying to let everyone know that they are beneath her. “Tha be Princess, she is a dragon... with a wee problem.”
‘Princess’ began to hiss and click as she looked over Peaches, but my baby was more interested in getting back to her recently interrupted nap now that it didn’t look like something interesting, like world war three was going on. It looked like the other dragon didn’t much care for being ignored either as she started to get agitated.
I was interrupted form my perusal of the other dragon as Scotia asked, “Oi, another friend of yours?”
I looked up to follow her gaze toward the bus arrivals and found myself looking at an obviously lost girl in a white skirt suit and red blouse hauling a huge suitcase. She had blonde hair with the tips dyed pink. Either that suitcase was really empty or she was stronger than she looked. I didn’t recognize her so I shook my head as I replied, “Nae, I dinnae ken who tha' is. I wonder if she's a new student tae.” Since we were already there, I was stuck playing tour guide anyway, and she seemed lost I called out to the girl, “Oi there!”
The new girl looked around anxiously for some reason. I didn’t think that I was that scary, but it looked like she might have a headache or something, did I yell too loud? She turned to look behind her but there was nothing there and she suddenly moved in our direction just as a very familiar girl in a white and pink Japanese schoolgirl uniform appeared where she had been looking an instant before. It was Sapphire and she was looking around but hadn’t seen me yet as the blonde girl with the huge suitcase practically ran into me and Scotia. “Uh... Hi, I’m Gwen. I’m supposed to go to a school here. I hope to hell that is not a bloody uniform for the school or I'm going back on the bus, and who is the pink girl? Is she a Sailor Moon cosplayer? Cause I gotta tell ya, she has it all wrong!”
I gave Kendra a glare to say just how I felt about the uniform, but that was when Sapphire locked eyes on me with a murderous expression and vanished again. Since she hadn’t reappeared immediately to attack me I had to assume that she was going to get her friends. I tried sending a message to my sisters and Mom via the psychic network but something was interfering. Maybe it was the wards that Dr. Edwards put up?
I had to get ready for an attack and I didn’t have much time to do it so I grabbed my spare mask from the little clutch purse I had placed with Peaches in her baby sling. I didn’t think I would have time to change into my costume or get any reinforcements. “Work with what you have Merida,” I told myself sternly as I turned to the Gwen girl. “I’m Merida, this is Scotia, an’ tha’s Kendra one of our school counsellors. You’ll meet Fawn in a minute. Right now we need tae ge' people out o' here. Sapphire will be back wit’ the rest o’ Code Pink.”
Kendra looked at me in concern, apparently she hadn’t seen Sapphire, not that she’d recognize her anyway. “I have Sam Jackson and Tiny on standby outside the station, I’ll call them in.” It seemed that she and Dr. Edwards were more prepared for trouble than I had given them credit for.
Gwen, on the other hand, just looked confused as she asked, “Da what ta what?”
I let out a sigh and tried to send my thoughts to Fawn, but that was a no-go either it seemed, since Tasha was our relay and she was with the others at Hana’s and under those wards. I removed the sling with my snoozing dragon and handed it to Kendra. “Kendra, ya need tae take Peaches an’ ge’ yuirself an’ Dawn out o’ here. If those psycho’s manage tae spill one drop o’ yuir blood, this whole station becomes a bloody biohazard. We’ll ‘andle this. Fawn! Hit the closest fire alarm, an’ start’ evacuatin’ people! Try tae keep any kids from panickin’.”
I heard Fawn’s tiny voice say, “You got it, Merida!” as Kendra put on the sling, told us to be careful, and then turned the stroller with Dawn inside and quickly made for the nearest exit. Fawn managed to slip out of the stroller without anyone noticing and pulled a fire alarm as Kendra reached the main doors and the relative safety beyond.
I turned to my two fellow school newbies and said, “Any minute now, a group o’ pink clad psychopaths are goin’ tae appear in this station. They will kill everyone still here wi’out any hesitation. Time tae join the big leagues girls, I’m deputizin’ ya.” I just hoped that the pair had somewhat useful powers or I’d just be putting them in danger.
Scotia actually started grinning wildly at my announcement as people around us ran for the exits. “Oi a fight then! Good, I has some blooming steam to fugging let ga!”
I tried not to groan at her language and ridiculous accent. I shook my head and muttered, “Aye, you an' me both. An' if'n yuir goin' tae swear, a’ leas’ dae it right 'n proper. Yuir embarassin' yuirself.”
“Tis not ma blooming fugging falt. I canna fugging swear any fuggin modder fuggin more!” Scotia looked angry, but I wasn’t exactly super-happy myself knowing that Code Pink could be showing up any minute.
Gwen on the other hand seemed nervous and went to introduce herself again, reaching out to shake my hand. I gave her hand a firm shake in my force field enhanced grip just to make sure I had her attention as she said, “I’m Gwen… ouch!” She looked shocked by my grip but I think I was the more shocked of the two of us as some sort of white gunk sprayed from her wrist and managed to trap both of our hands together in a sticky white ball. Her face turned as pink as the tips of her hair as she mumbled, “Oops, sorry.”
"A' leas’ I had ma bloody force field on. Did tha' come from yuir body?" Okay, that was kind of gross. And it was sticky like spider silk or something. I quickly generated a knife construct to cut at the webbing or whatever it was. "O’ all the bloody times..."
This was just not my day. Of course, that is when Sapphire decided to reappear with the rest of Code Pink. They were all there; Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald and it looked like Emerald had some sort of scythe at the end of her right wrist to replace the hand that Packrat had removed. And that look in her eyes, she was even crazier and more bloodthirsty now and I hadn’t thought that possible during our last meeting.
That was when I noticed another girl with them wearing the same stupid uniform. It looked like they had all escaped the HAA and found a replacement for Brooke. Of course, because the HAA couldn’t possibly catch any real criminals, they were too busy coming after people like me. Their new recruit was a slender girl in her late teens with bright blue hair and a bunch of gaudy jewelry who was chanting something. Goddamn it, they had a mage now.
“Make sure not to kill her, Opal,” Quartz ordered with a manic grin. “We want to humiliate her first and then when her little friends show up we can kill them all together.”
“I want the little bitch who took my hand,” Emerald said with a crazed look as she brandished her scythe toward me.
“Wot? So she kin take the other one tae?” I taunted. “Ooh, yuir sooo scary wi' the scythe ‘and. I think tha’ two o’ them would make it a wee bit ‘ard tae wipe yuir arse though.”
Emerald was furious but Quartz held her back. “No, we’re going to take this slow and enjoy it. We’ll humiliate her and kill her friends first and then when the rest of those bitches arrive from wherever they're hiding we’ll kill them all.” Oh yeah, they were totally focused on the revenge thing and while that may not be great for me or the girls with me at least they were too busy planning my humiliation and demise to care about the innocent bystanders who were now mostly cleared out of the station. Fawn was leading a group with some children outside and I hoped she finished with the evacuation soon because I didn’t know Gwen’s or Scotia’s power sets and I could probably use the backup from my trusty Fairy friend.
It was Gwen who noticed our new predicament as I was sawing at the weird webbing sticking our hands together while trying to keep one eye on the members of Code Pink. “Uhm...look down,” she suggested. Our clothes were melting and, while she had some sort of white and black spider-themed costume underneath, I was quickly down to my sexy little aqua-hued panties and bra and those damned heels.
It seemed whoever this girl Opal was she wasn’t powerful enough to get past Melanie’s enchantments. Not that she wasn’t trying from the look of concentration on her face. I really wished Melanie had time to put them on that damned uniform, because now I was going to have to fight in my bloody knickers. And of course I had put that stupid clutch purse, with my portable portal and its access to my dress and costume, in Peaches’ baby sling with her so I didn’t have to hold the damn thing. And Peaches and the sling were now outside somewhere with Toxin. This day just kept getting better and better.
At least the spell dissolved that sticky white webbing that was keeping me and Gwen locked in mid-handshake. I had barely managed to contain my anger enough so that I hadn’t blown the webbing apart and probably Gwen’s hand along with it. Now my force field was bubbling dangerously as I glared at Quartz, who was looking positively gleeful. “Okay, if’n ya wanted me pissed off, ya go’ yuir bloody wish. Now yuir goin’ tae wish tha’ ya’d stayed in the bloody hole tha’ ya crawled back out o’.”
Gwen took the opportunity now that her hand was free to hurriedly pull on her mask and hood and to adjust the rest of her costume, though she either forgot she was wearing heels or just didn’t care in her rush to protect her identity. Scotia though, was spoiling for a fight as much as I was now and I could see Tiny and Garret’s dad pushing against the crowds leaving the station and making their way toward us. It was then that the world seemed to lurch. Shit. Sapphire had teleported all of us. But I didn’t see Tiny or Sam Jackson as I looked around and tried to get my bearings. Then I heard Quartz give that annoying psychotic giggle of hers. “Thanks Sapphire, this is so much better. What’s the use in humiliating her if nobody gets to see it?”
I heard the helicopter before I saw it. It was a damn news helicopter and there was more than one of them. At least the electronic interference field generated by my mask would keep any video from getting a clear image of my face. As if the presence of helicopters and other news cameras wasn’t bad enough I also realized where we were. We had considered attending before going to the party at the restaurant/home of the Forresters. It was the biggest Labor Day party in Costa Verde, and concerts and events were being held almost all day at Paradise Beach Park to celebrate the holiday. And for those who might miss it, the whole thing was being televised all day long.
The concerts weren’t set to start for another half hour, but the park and the beach had already filled up with people celebrating the holiday with the fair-like atmosphere of games, rides, and food stalls. At any other time I would have been embarrassed to be standing in the middle of all that in my underwear, but I had switched my mind to mission mode and at the moment my pride was a secondary concern. Now we had even more potential innocent bystanders than at the train station and we were literally center stage.
![]() |
Ever since his father's secret identity was leaked to the public Jake Evans had a reputation for being a damsel in distress. But when he manages to escape the most terifying villain yet, his mother, his father is captured in his place. Can three retired heroes help Jackie come to terms with her new form and powers and save both of her parents?
Amethyst |
Grandpa Max grinned at me, “Well for one thing, we trained your parents. Jake and Crystal, you are looking at one of the very first super hero teams ever. I used to be known as Captain Inferno, Mervin was called The Silver Sorcerer, and Eugene was The Brain. Together we were the Thrilling Threesome.”
I just stared at him as he revealed that little tidbit of information and then when the names finally hit me I couldn’t help myself, I started laughing my ass off. “P-Please tell me you didn’t call yourselves that in public.” I heard Grandpa mutter something about ‘youngsters today’ but it was then that I realized that Crystal was staring at Eugene, the tall skinny one. “Earth to Crystal, are you okay?”
They say your whole world changes when you become a teenager. For most people it’s all about physical changes, seeing the world differently, and new social circles and such. I guess those all changed for me too but not anywhere near in the way I was expecting. In a manner of months everything I knew about myself, my family and my entire life was turned inside out and upside down. Now I know what you’re probably thinking; all teenagers go through this in High School, but not everyone goes through what I have.
For me it all began in December of my fifteenth year. It could be argued that it all began several months before that December, when my dad’s name was mentioned on a website called Hyper Leaks, or possibly even fourteen years before that. Perhaps a small explanation and a little background story is in order before I tell you my story. Hyper Leaks is a site that exposes the true identities of super heroes and super villains and in August my dad, Michael Evans, was revealed to be the superhero Stonewall. To say that I was shocked by this revelation was an understatement as my dad was the last person I thought could be a superhero.
Unlike a lot of teenagers I’ve always had a really good relationship with my dad. He had raised me alone ever since my mom was taken from us when I was a year old. That’s what dad always said anyway and I assumed that ‘taken from us’ was a euphemism for death that he had used when I was a child to make it less hard on me. Anyway, when my dad found out that his identity had been leaked he came clean with me about it. He was indeed Stonewall and he was a Hyper or as most people called them, a mutant. More specifically he was what he referred to as a geomorph and geokinetic, which meant that he could change into a stone form and mentally control rocks and minerals.
Things really changed for me after that. At first I thought it was the coolest thing ever, I mean my dad was fucking Stonewall and everyone in our home city of Edmonton knew that name. Hell, he was one of the biggest superhero names in the entire country. It was pretty cool once the reporters stopped sniffing around but then things started to get crazy. My dad lost his day job because of all the attacks from villains. The company he worked for as an engineer just couldn’t get any insurance coverage while he was working there so they let him go. But the villains weren’t just attacking his workplace, they were attacking me too. It got to the point where I was getting kidnapped twice a week by some villain or another who wanted to prove themself or who had a beef with my dad.
So when that December rolled around my life pretty much sucked. We had to be very careful with our money to make it last which meant I had pretty much no social life whatsoever. What social life I did have was basically just at school but even that wasn’t much since all but one of my friends had abandoned me for fear of getting caught up in one of the attacks on me. I had once dreamed that I would be famous and everyone in school would know my name and with my dad’s unmasking I had gotten that wish in an offhanded way. Nobody wanted to get close to me but everybody knew who I was. I had even been saddled with a nickname, the Damsel In Distress, which some even shortened to Didi.
I hated when people called me that, I was a guy dammit. I have to admit though that my appearance really didn’t help matters. I always thought that I must take after my mom because I look nothing like my dad and what few pictures we had of my mom seemed to support this theory. Dad is a big muscular guy with broad shoulders, brown eyes and hair, and a tanned complexion. I on the other hand was always skinny and pale with light blond hair and blue eyes and a bit shorter than average. I also preferred to wear my hair fairly long, especially now that we couldn’t really afford haircuts. I guess you could say that the girly nickname just hit a little too close to home. I had always wanted to be big and strong like my dad, even more so since he told me who he was, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen.
December 6th began much like any Friday at school. I walked there with my one and only remaining friend Alan and we discussed the upcoming Christmas holidays. “I can’t wait to get a few weeks off school, I’m really starting to feel burned out,” Alan said as we approached the school gates.
I nodded soberly in full agreement. “Tell me about it, I need to get away from all this shit for a little while. This whole Damsel in Distress kick the school is on is driving me crazy. It’s almost worse than the kidnappings themselves.”
“Speaking of which, aren’t you overdue for one Jake? It’s been almost a week hasn’t it?” my friend pointed out.
I nodded once again and this time added a sigh. “Yeah, I wonder who it will be this time, Destructo hasn’t tried yet but the Hintmaster usually tries like every other day,” I said naming two of my father’s better known enemies. “It could be one of those minor villains trying to make a name for themself too.”
“I don’ know how you can do it all the time,” Alan said with a shake of his head.
“It’s not like I enjoy it. Dad always comes and rescues me though,” I responded defensively.
“I know that, but why don’t you ever try escaping on your own, or fight back or something?”
“It’s not like I have any powers to fight a major super villain with. I could try escaping but I’m usually tied up or strapped to a missile or something. Or maybe I’m just missing the convenient exit labeled ‘Escape Here’,” I replied acidly. “Look Alan I’d better get to class, I’ll see you after school.”
“Okay Jake, I’ll catch you later,” he responded as we both went our separate ways.
It was an average day at school for me; boring classes and eating lunch alone while other kids in the cafeteria teased me and laughed at the Damsel in Distress. Sometimes I wished that someone would rescue me from them. Halfway through lunch it would seem that I had gotten my wish as I was summoned to the office via the P.A. system. When I arrived at the office and saw the receptionist and the principal tied up I had just enough time to think, dammit not again, before a violet mist appeared and sleep claimed me.
I awoke to the sound of Christmas carols playing somewhere in the distance and the smell of baking sugar cookies which I must admit confused me greatly given the circumstances. Even more confusing was the fact that I wasn’t even tied up in some dank basement somewhere or strapped to some doomsday weapon. Instead I was in a comfortable bed with a warm comforter draped over me. “What the hell?” I thought out loud as I sat up and looked around the room. Outside the window I could see that it was dark outside and I wondered just how long I had been out. I shrugged it off and continued looking around to discover that the room was moderately furnished like any other bedroom I’d ever seen and had bare wood paneled walls, a plush light blue carpeted floor, and a wooden door that was left slightly ajar.
This had been my oddest kidnapping yet but if my mysterious captor was going to leave the door open I was going to take advantage of it. I stood up and opened the door fully to step out into a hallway. There were four other doors in the hall but I ignored those and headed for the staircase that lead down. I could see another hall on the other side of the large staircase with five more doors but I decided that downstairs was likely to be the best chance of escaping wherever I was. I crept carefully down the stairs and the second I reached the bottom a female voice called out, “Oh you’re awake, please come into the kitchen, I’ve baked cookies and we have so much to talk about.”
I ignored the voice and headed toward the large doors that sat on the other side of what I assumed to be some sort of foyer, hoping that those doors would be the way out. To my disappointment the doors were solidly locked and I couldn’t seem to find any mechanism to unlock them. As I rattled the door trying to get them open the voice sounded again. “You needn’t bother trying to leave; I’ve made sure that all the doors are sealed tight. Now get in here so we can catch up Jake, we have so much to discuss.”
I cursed under my breath and headed to the sound of the voice. Whoever she was, she seemed to want to be nice so maybe I could convince her to let me go. So, hoping for the best, I made my way out of the foyer, through a large dining room, and into a kitchen where a woman stood waiting for me. She was wearing a black and purple costume with a silver pentagram on her chest. She also wore black gloves, boots, a cape, and a mask with a sort of witches hat to top it all off. Only one thing seemed off about her costume, a thick golden bracelet that was latched tightly around her left wrist. “Arcana…” I began in shock. She wasn’t one of the villains my Dad usually faced but she really made a name for herself in Toronto in the past year. From what I had heard online she used to be a hero before suddenly going bad and more than a little insane.
“Oh, it seems I left my work clothes on, silly me. Is this better?” Her costume seemed to flow like liquid until it became a black and violet velvet dress. My eyes widened as her true identity was revealed before me. She was of average height and slim with a somewhat large chest, pale skin, blue eyes, platinum blonde hair and a very familiar face. She seemed to sense the recognition in my eyes as she went on to say. “We’ve been apart for so long sweetie, when you were only a year old your father took me to the hospital and they had the nerve to lock me up like I was insane or something. It took me a little while to get out and by then you and Michael were gone. But now I’ve found you and we can be together again and when your father returns we’ll have a nice family Christmas together. Do you prefer turkey or ham?”
I just stood there stunned for a while as she kept happily chattering as if she wasn’t a super villain who had just kidnapped me. I was brought back to reality by a cookie being shoved into my open mouth. “Here try one; I baked them just for you.”
Admittedly the cookie was really good, but tasty Christmas treats weren’t really high on my priority list at the moment, so once I finished chewing and swallowing I managed to get out “How?”
“I used one of your grandmother’s recipe’s sweetie,” she replied.
Her answer really confused me until I realized that she was talking about the cookies. “No, I meant how did you find us?”
She looked quite proud of herself as she replied, “Oh I found your father’s name and address on that Hyper Leaks site, it was super helpful. And as soon as I finished finding the man who runs that site and turning him into a newt, for revealing your father and endangering you both like that, I came to find you and bring you home. I left your father a note so he should be joining us later. Although without my magic it might take him a while to get here. He’ll probably have to take a plane and they are usually overbooked at this time of year, and those airports can be so crowded. Family is so important to your father though so he’ll be on the first flight he can get.”
Well at least my dad would know where I was so he could come rescue me. So now I just had to handle an insane super villain who was apparently my mother until he arrived. Maybe if I could keep her talking she would let her guard down, she did seem to like the sound of her own voice. “Where are we?” I asked.
“We’re at home of course; the Seacroft Mansion not far from Toronto. Did you know that most people think this place is haunted? I use a bit of magic to keep people thinking that so that we don’t get any unwelcome guests, and if we do get unwelcome guests they go home convinced this place is haunted and tell others to keep away. It’s a win/win situation really and gives us plenty of privacy. Michael and I lived and worked together here for years before you were born. Then you nearly died on us and your father had the gall to run away with you and leave me in that asylum after all I did to save you.”
“I almost died?” Was she lying or did my dad never tell me this? I sat down at the table as I tried to absorb all of this.
“Oh yes, you were on death’s door. My magic wasn’t strong enough to save you so I looked for other ways. That’s when I found out about this power amplifier,” she said as she displayed the gold bracelet that I had noticed earlier. “The previous owner practically gave it to me and when I put it on it became so clear to me. So I used my magic to take the life energy from an old woman living on the streets and give it to you, it’s not like she was doing much with it. Would you like some milk with your cookies sweetie?”
She stole someone else’s life energy so that I could live? There mere thought of it made me sick and I wasn’t sure I wanted to believe it. Maybe she had it all wrong; she was obviously not playing with a full deck. “You… you killed a person so that I could live?”
“Well if you really must know it was more than one person,” she admitted casually. “That one woman didn’t have much life left in her so I took some from other homeless people until I had enough to save you. You’re my son; I would do anything for you.”
I felt like throwing up. She mentioned killing those people so casually. I stood up and glared at her and spoke very slowly, “I. Am. Not. Your. Son.”
She regarded me quizzically for a long moment. “Of course you are, you look just like me and I would know your life energy anywhere. I guess boys just aren’t very close to their mothers. Granted you do look more like a girl than a boy…” She trailed off lost in thought. Then her face lit up as an idea came to her. “I know just how to fix this. We will be so much closer after this and it shouldn’t take much work at all since you’re already so much like me.” Her hands started to glow with a violet light, a light which kept growing brighter until she sort of threw it at me.
I fell to the floor in a heap from the pain that had suddenly become my entire world. I felt like I was on fire and someone was rearranging my insides with a pair of tongs and a red hot poker while kicking me in the jewels repeatedly. My face and flesh felt like clay being worked into a new shape; pounded, pinched, pressed, squeezed, and shifted around and I could hear my bones creaking as they too were reshaped. Finally all the pain ended and I lay breathing heavily on the floor curled up in a ball.
When I finally dared to move again I felt an unfamiliar weight tugging at my chest as I rose to my knees. I let out a soft moan as I tried to clear my head enough to stand and looked up at Arcana. “What in hell did you do to me?” I gasped at the sound of my voice, it was higher in pitch and I could hardly believe that it came out of my mouth. In fact my mouth felt different too, a bit smaller and my teeth felt off as well.
I was still trying to catalog all the strange differences when the sorceress answered me. “I would think that’s pretty obvious Jackie. You said you weren’t my son and you really weren’t very masculine so I made you into my daughter. I always wanted a little girl and now we can have all sorts of fun together. I can teach you to cook and bake, we can go shopping together, and you can tell me all about your boyfriends so I can give you motherly advice. I am so excited about this!”
“You did what!?!” I shrieked. Sadly I even shrieked like a girl. I quickly reached down to check my equipment and felt my arm brush against a breast, my breast, as I confirmed the absence of any remains of my manhood.
“Jackie!” the loony magic user shrieked a shriek of her own. “I really am going to have to teach you better manners; I think your father has rubbed off on you too much. A proper young lady does not grab herself like that in front of others; people will get the wrong impression.”
“Change me back into a guy right now,” I said sternly as I stood up and glared at her with my hands on my hips. Then I realized that that was too girly and crossed my arms over my chest which only made me more aware of the size of my new chest. Damn how big did she make those things?
She shook her head, “No Jackie I’ve decided that I much prefer you as my daughter. I might consider changing you back once you start behaving like a proper young lady.”
I clenched my fists in frustration as I muttered, “God dammit why couldn’t Destructo have kidnapped me this time? At least he would just strapped a bomb to me or something.”
“Speaking of that, no more kidnappings either young lady,” she said while giving me the evil eye. “I won’t have you associating with petty thugs like that; they’ll be a bad influence on you. People like that will abuse you emotionally and humiliate you. We’ll send you to a nice high school here were you can make friends with other teenage girls.”
“Obviously you’re not familiar with high school girls. I think the emotional abuse and humiliation would be less severe if I stuck with the super villains,” I retorted. Then I thought of the woman in front of me, “Or maybe not.”
Arcana didn’t seem to catch that as her attention was on the oven timer that went off. She checked whatever was in the oven and turned back to me, “Dinner is almost ready Jackie, you go and wash up and then we can eat. There’s a washroom just off the living room and another two upstairs but don’t dawdle.”
I sighed, but figuring that it was probably best to play along until I got my gender back, I left the kitchen and passed through the dining room and foyer to the living room and found the washroom in question. Once inside I washed my now very feminine hands as I looked myself over in the mirror. So this was me as a girl. My face was only changed slightly; a narrower jaw, higher cheekbones, thinner eyebrows with more of an arch to them, fuller eyelashes, and lips like a pouty cupids bow. With all of that, my ice blue eyes and longer hair that had lightened a few shades to platinum blonde I was very pretty. You could also tell without a doubt that I was related to Arcana.
My body had some noticeable differences too, aside from the obvious I mean. My shoulders were even less broad than before and my arms seemed a bit shorter while my legs were longer. My feet were also smaller as evidenced by how loose my shoes were. My hips were wide and my waist slim with a flat tummy and a little more padding in the rear than I remember being there before. And then there was the breasts, there was no missing those, they seemed a little large for my age and if I had to guess I would say that they and my body as a whole was probably comparable to Arcana at my age though I had no clue whether that was due to magic or genetics.
Once I decided I had done enough staring at the girl in the mirror I dried my hands on one of the towels and made my way back to the dining room. Arcana was already seated and waiting for me to join her. She gave me an odd look as I entered the room like something wasn’t quite right and then the lights apparently came on because she announced, “You can’t keep wearing those boys clothes Jackie. We will need to go shopping for some proper clothes for you soon but this should do until then.” She aimed her glowing hands at me and before I could dive under the table for cover I could feel my clothes shifting around me. A moment later my black t-shirt, jeans and sneakers were transformed. In their place I now wore a black sleeveless dress with a mid-thigh length hem and a pair of black sandals with a heel not much higher than the cowboy boots I sometimes wore.
“Ummm… thanks I guess.” I was half hoping she had been going to turn me back into a guy but at least the dress fit properly. My guy clothes had been way too tight in some spots and too loose in others. I felt a little better supported up top too, which was probably a good thing. As I sat down I thought to myself, this is only temporary, if I play along I can get this lunatic to turn me back. I just need to pretend to bond with her and act like a good daughter. I can do this. I might even find a way to escape.
Dinner consisted of a baked salmon filet, brown rice and a salad and it actually tasted pretty good for what I considered to be girl food. It wasn’t even poisoned. I could do without her insanity but she did treat me with more respect than most of my kidnappers. A year before I probably couldn’t even have conceived of relating at all to that last sentence but that is just how crazy my life had become I guess. As we ate she attempted to teach me proper table manners and interrogate me about my life, my interests, and my dreams for the future.
For the latter I told her that I wanted to be famous, leaving out that I wanted to be a super hero like my dad. It would probably never happen anyway since if I did have the Hyper Chromosome like my dad it likely would have activated by now since it usually does it during times of unusual stress on the body and/or mind. I mean what can be more stressful than getting kidnapped by super villains twice a week? I had to admit though that this situation was starting to get to that point. I’ve heard that some people can go their whole lives with the H Chromosome remaining dormant though, so it was possible that even if I did possess it I would never get any powers.
As dinner was winding down Arcana asked, “Have you thought about what you’d like for Christmas Jackie? Clothes or make up? Or maybe a new cell phone so you can talk with all the new friends you’ll be making here?”
I shrugged as I tried to ignore how weird my body felt and give it enough consideration to make it look like I was warming up to her. “I dunno Mom. I never thought about getting a cell phone, since I don’t really have many friends to talk to. They all kind of abandoned me once the kidnappings started. Even the one who still talks to be doesn’t really spend much time with me except for walking to school and home. I asked dad about getting a car for when I’m old enough to drive but I don’t think he was too keen on the idea.”
The sorceress looked at me with a stunned expression on her face. “Don’t worry sweetie you’ll make a lot of friends here and you really should have a cell phone. It would be useful in case someone tried to kidnap you or something. You could just call me and I would come and find you. I agree with your father that a car might be a little much for a fifteen year old girl but you never know. Christmas is coming and I’ll know whether you’ve been naughty or nice.”
“I thought that was Santa Claus’ job,” I said, more than a little weirded out by the whole conversation.
“Oh please,” she retorted. “You’re too old to believe in Santa Claus. Besides I can keep better tabs on you than some mythical old fart in a red suit ever could. I’ll make you some nice jewellery with a locator spell so I can always know where you are and we’ll need to get you a cell phone that has a GPS locator.”
“O…kay,” I replied. I was definitely getting very creeped out by this conversation. I really did not want to think of this woman keeping an eye on me every waking moment. “I think maybe we can hold off on that for now Mom, I mean I won’t be leaving the house until Dad gets here and we have lots to do before then if we want to have a nice family Christmas right?” I suggested, hoping to get her off that topic.
“You’re right of course Jackie; there is so much to do. I need to go out and get a few things before your father arrives.”
“Okay Mom,” I replied with false cheer, “While you’re gone I’ll just have a look around my new home.” Then in my mind I added, and look for escape routes, as I got up and started to leave the room.
“Freeze young lady!” Arcana commanded and I froze in my tracks out of sheer terror and turned to make sure she wasn’t throwing another spell at me. To my relief she merely said, “Before I go I want to set some ground rules. There will be no running off until I can properly keep track of you, no kidnappings, and no house parties.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew! For a minute there I was afraid you were going to turn me to ice or something so that I couldn’t move while you were gone.”
She regarded me thoughtfully for a moment before replying. “That’s not a bad idea; it will keep you in one spot and out of trouble until I can properly monitor you.” Her hands began to glow again and I had just enough time to close my eyes and regret my big mouth before the spell hit me.
It was quite a while before I opened my eyes. I had heard Arcana walk away and shut and lock the front door behind her as she left the house. I mean she had just used another spell on me to keep me from going anywhere and I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to know whether she had really frozen me or used some other spell to restrain me. When I did open my eyes and looked at my hands in front of me I realized that she had indeed turned me to ice. My hands were somewhat transparent and had that slightly bluish white tint that only ice has. I was like an ice sculpture of girl me.
In curiosity I turned my hands to get a better look. Wait a minute, I moved my hands! I could move! The realization set my icy heart soaring. I tried turning my head and moving my legs and found that I could move as easily as I normally could. What in the world was going on? I quickly realized that at the moment I didn’t really care what was going on as long as I could use this chance to escape. The question remained though, how was I going to escape?
I knew that the doors were out of the question, Arcana had told me they were all secured and I couldn’t even find a way to open the front door. There were lots of windows in the house but they were all too small, I would never be able to fit my shoulders through. Then it hit me. Jake’s shoulders were too broad to get through one of the windows but maybe Jackie’s weren’t. That only left me with one concern. I was worried that if I pushed too hard or banged into something while trying to get out that I would shatter the ice that my body currently seemed to be composed of.
“Dammit, I really wish I were still flesh and blood right now,” I cursed as I stared at my icy hands. I just kept staring at them for several minutes as if by thinking hard enough I could will myself to be human again. Then to my great surprise it actually worked. Ice slowly gave way to flesh and within a matter of minutes I was human again. “That was pretty cool,” I said not realizing the pun I made, “It’s kind of like when my dad… Holy shit, I think getting turned into ice awakened whatever powers I have.”
As awesome as the possibility of me having powers was, I really needed to keep my priorities in order. Escape first and experiment later. I headed for one of the windows and to my joy it actually opened. My shoulders and hips were both a bit of a tight squeeze and I was pretty sure that I had bruised both of my breasts but I managed to wiggle my way outside. From the outside the mansion looked like a rundown derelict and I was eager to put as much distance between myself and the creepy façade as possible before Arcana returned.
Far In the distance I could see the city lights and closer I could see passing white and red lights that indicated cars passing on a highway. Since the highway seemed like the closer of the two I started hoofing it in that direction hoping to hitch a ride into the city. If I really was near Toronto then I knew just who to go to. I hadn’t talked to him in a while. and I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell him, but if anyone was going to at least hear me out it was Grandpa Max.
It took a lot longer to get to the highway than I had guessed earlier and even longer for someone who wasn’t totally creepy to pull over and offer me a ride. My feet were killing me and I was about ready to give up when a beat up old Mustang pulled over. It was really dark by then but the person inside the car turned on the inside light to reveal an Asian woman maybe between eighteen and her early twenties with blue streaks in her long hair. I breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door to climb in. “If you’re going anywhere but Toronto I’m afraid you’re out of luck because that’s as far as I’m going,” the woman said, her voice slightly deeper than I would have expected.
I nodded and got in the seat before closing the door and buckling my safety belt. The belt felt awkward and seemed to cut into my new breasts, but eventually I got it somewhat comfortable. “My grandfather is in Toronto I need to go stay with him for a bit.”
The young woman shrugged, “I usually don’t pick up hitchhikers but it’s twenty below and I figured you were probably freezing outside in that dress. I’m Crystal by the way,” she added as she put the car in gear and started driving.
I was very confused by her first comment. “Umm I’m Jackie,” I wouldn’t have used that name but it was close to Jake and I was starting to get used to Arcana calling me that. “Is it really that cold out there? I wasn’t cold at all.”
She turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow but just shrugged and continued driving as she spoke again. “That’s what I heard on the radio; maybe you just have a thick skin. So what’s your story kid? Outside in that dress, in the middle of nowhere, with no jacket or even your purse.”
“My mother is insane and I decided that being with my grandpa was probably safer?” It was more of a question than an answer.
She laughed but there was concern in her tone as she responded. “Most teenagers think their mothers are insane sometimes but I’m sure she’s not that bad, maybe you should rethink this whole running away thing Jackie.”
“I’m not running away,” I clarified. “My mother actually is insane and she kidnapped me and since she brought me so close to Toronto the safest place that I could think of when I escaped was with my grandpa. She went out and I left in a hurry.”
“You must have been in a hurry to leave without a jacket in this weather,” Crystal replied. We didn’t talk much after that. She seemed inclined to let my keep my secrets to myself and I really didn’t feel much like talking when I had so much to think about. Arcana occupied a good deal of my thoughts but the possibility that I was a mutant like my dad consumed even more. I really needed to find out whether it really was the case or whether it was some kind of weird fluke.
It was almost one in the morning when we finally passed through the suburbs and entered Toronto itself. It was then that Crystal spoke again. “Jackie it’s pretty late, your grandfather is probably asleep by now.”
I sighed as I had been thinking the same thing. “I’ll just sleep on his back porch or something I guess.”
Crystal turned and gave me a look that said that that was not going to happen and her words confirmed it. “I am not about to let a teenage girl sleep outside in this weather. If you haven’t noticed it’s started snowing. I assume your lack of a purse means that you have no money for a motel either?” I nodded mutely. I really didn’t want this person worrying about me and I wasn’t about to take any money from her even if she offered it. I needed to find some way of making her think I would be okay but honestly I was starting to feel pretty tired. She turned at the next light before responding to my nod. “You seem like a decent kid, a little messed up right now but decent. My place isn’t far away. You can sleep on my couch tonight and I’ll drive you to your grandfather’s in the morning.”
It was really nice to her to offer to let a strange person stay the night but I felt that she had already done enough by giving me a ride into the city. “I really don’t want to put you out any more than I already have.”
“I insist Jackie,” Crystal pressed, “It’s not safe for a teenage girl to sleep on the streets at night. I would feel horrible if I left you alone out there while going home to my warm and safe apartment. So no arguments, you’re staying with me tonight.”
It wasn’t long before we pulled up to Crystal’s apartment complex and she guided me upstairs and inside. I could almost feel her eyes on me as we walked and climbed the stairs. It wasn’t a bad feeling, it was more like she was trying to figure me out which wasn’t all that hard to believe given how little I had told her. I probably wouldn’t want a strange person in my home unless I knew a bit more about them either. I just tried to ignore the feeling and be a well behaved guest.
If I had to use two words to describe Crystal’s apartment they would be modest and comfortable. It was a small but cozy place, much like the pillow and the comforter she had brought out to the living room for me to use. I was just setting those up on the worn old sofa when Crystal spoke and my heart leaped into my throat. “No offense Jackie, but you weren’t born a girl were you? I’m guessing you used to go by Jack?”
I just stared at her my eyes as wide as saucers, how the hell did she figure that out? “Uh… what makes you… umm… think that?” I stammered.
“I’m sorry, I should have been a bit more tactful,” she quickly apologized. “You’re really very pretty, and I’m sure if people went by looks alone you’d pass easily. But you still walk and talk like a boy.” I was about to argue when she cut me off, “No not your voice, that’s really good too, it’s more the words you choose to use and you don’t stress certain words or add emotion to your speech like most girls do.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said grouchily.
She just smiled at me, “See that was much better, you really stressed that ‘no’. Is this why you left home? Didn’t your mom support your transition? Don’t worry I can totally relate, my parents weren’t very supportive when I decided to make the change either. I can help give you some pointers on the speaking and movement if you like.”
Now I really was confused. What was she talking about? Pass? Transition? Change? Then it hit me, she thought I was a transgendered girl. I wasn’t sure whether to be miffed that she read my true gender so easily or happy that I still moved and spoke like a guy. But putting all that aside Crystal had just revealed something very personal about herself and in a way I felt guilty for being handed something I didn’t really want through magic while she was working so hard to attain that very thing through hormones and surgery. “My name was Jake actually and you probably won’t believe me but I didn’t want to be a girl.”
I told Crystal all about what had happened until I had met her and to my complete surprise she actually started laughing. When she saw the confused look on my face she quickly apologized, “I’m sorry Jackie I’m not laughing at your situation, I’m laughing at mine. Trust me it’s such a cruel joke that it’s actually funny when you think about it.”
“You’re really going to have to explain the joke to me Crystal, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The Asian woman looked lost in thought for a moment, “Okay the best way for you to understand is to tell you some background on how the H Chromosomes work first. But before I do that let me ask you two things: How do you feel about being female? And are you comfortable in your body as it is?”
At first I thought she was asking me the same thing twice but when I thought about it that wasn’t the case, it really was two different questions with two different answers. “I think that mentally I’d rather still be male, I grew up male, never had any desire to be female, and being female just seems wrong in my head, I have no idea how to be female. My body felt really uncomfortable when she first changed me but now I’m not feeling any discomfort with my body at all, in fact it feels great since I became a human popsicle. I… I think that’s what disturbs me most right now is that mentally I think it should feel wrong but it doesn’t.”
“It’s your Archetype,” she explained. “Every mutant has a unique Archetype or blueprint of what their body should be that is created when their latent Hyper Chromosome pair is activated. These Archetypes are influenced by the mutant’s genetics, mental state, preconceived notions, conscious and subconscious desires, and often by their new powers as well. People satisfied with their appearance may look the same after being activated or have only negligible physical changes, many have an ideal look in their subconscious, some are determined by what they are thinking of when activating, some are heavily influenced by their powers, and many are a mix of these. It’s possible that your discomfort with being a girl at the time actually forced your Archetype to be female so that you could be more comfortable with it.”
“Lovely so now I’m going to enjoy being female. What if I tried to go back to being male? Transition like you are?” I asked.
“You’d probably grow more and more uncomfortable with your body as your transition continued, if your abilities didn’t cause you to revert to a female form.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked in confusion.
“Going based on what you told me about your dad and what happened when you were frozen I think that you’re at the very least a cryomorph. Probably more than that, powers are largely influenced by the conditions under which they activate, strong desires, and possibly by genetics as some second generation mutants tend to have powers similar to their parent(s). I think you may have had a genetic predisposition to elemental based powers, so when you were so stressed out about being frozen that it latched onto ice as your element. Your ice form is probably a direct reflection of your Archetype so whenever you used your powers you would be undoing any physical changes you made when your body changes to that form.”
“Oh this just keeps getting better,” I retorted dryly. “What I don’t get is how this is such a cruel joke to you, and how do you know so much about Archetypes and stuff?”
“Crystal is more a description than a name,” she offered. Then she looked like she was concentrating really hard on something as she held her hand out in front of her. There was something growing in the palm of her hand, a tiny blue crystal that kept growing until it was roughly the size of a quarter.
My eyes widened as she placed the newly formed crystal in my hand, “You’re a mutant too.”
She nodded, “Those crystals I create make nice jewellery but some people in the magic user community discovered that they also amplify magic to some degree. I sell them to afford to live here and save up for my surgery. When I discovered my ability we had some genetic tests run and my pair of Hyper chromosomes were either damaged or only partially formed. The doctors think I should be able to do a lot more with my powers but the information in the chromosomes is only partially present. They also believe that I have an Archetype stored but the part that usually changes us to fit the Archetype is missing so I didn’t change. Instead I just started feeling like my body was horribly wrong. I started doing a ton of research on mutants and Archetypes so I could know more and following my instincts on how my body could be more comfortable. Transitioning and the blue streaks in my hair are helping me get closer to what my body should be.”
“I think I get the joke now, only I think there are multiple jokes and they’re being played on both of us,” I said as I thought about the fact that her crystals amplify magic. “Is there anything else I absolutely need to know about being a mutant before we go to sleep?”
“Well you do need a name,” she said thoughtfully.
“I think I’ll stick with Jackie,” I replied, “I’m getting used to it and it’s pretty easy to remember.”
“No silly,” she said as she slapped me with the pillow. “You’ve got powers, so you need a code name; it’s a mutant rite of passage.” She turned pensive and a moment later suggested, “How about the Ice Queen?”
I shook my head so fast at that suggestion that it made me dizzy. “That makes me sound like a super villain, and a bitch.”
She was not to be discouraged as she quickly suggested, “Frostbite? Chill? Frigid?” The last was suggested with a playful grin.
“No, no, and hell no,” I responded with a glare.
“Oooh! Ooooh! I got it! Jackie Frost!”
“Now you’re just getting ridiculous,” I muttered.
“Damn,” she said as she attempted to think of more suggestions, “I can’t think of much at all that’s ice or cold based and doesn’t sound evil.”
“I don’t really see the need for a code name right this minute,” I argued.
“Come on Jackie, coming up with a name is half the fun,” Crystal insisted. “Besides what if you need to foil a bank robbery or something tomorrow, are you just going to think up a name on the spot? It’s bad enough that you don’t have a costume yet. Maybe we should think about names related to snow or slush?”
“Aww fuck it, fine. You want me to have a name, then I’ll go with Slush,” I grouched, grabbing at the last word she used just to get her off my back about the whole thing. “Can we sleep now?”
“Way to take the fun out of it Jackie, but it’s an okay name I guess,” Crystal said sounding a bit disappointed. “I doubt anyone else is using it. I’ll let you get some sleep, if you need anything feel free to come and ask.”
“Actually,” I said a bit nervously, “Before I go to sleep I think I need to use your washroom.”
“Oh its right down the hall,” she replied, “It’s the first door on the right, across from my bedroom.” Her eyes widened as she realized the implications that asking that meant for me. “Are you… do you know if…”
I nodded silently, “I haven’t really checked extensively but I’m pretty sure Arcana gave me the full package. Things feel different down there than I’m used to. It felt all wrong at first but now it feels…”
“Comfortable?” she finished for me.
I nodded mutely and made my way down the hall to enter the door that she had indicated. Having to sit from now on was going to be a pain in the ass and the whole process was messier and more time consuming but at least the feeling of relief was the same. The worst part was wiping myself afterwards. It wasn’t that it made me physically uncomfortable; I knew that it was my body and that it needed to be done. The problem was all in my head. I hadn’t been a girl for even a day yet. I still mentally thought of myself as male and such a personal act on my female body made me feel like some sort of sick voyeur. Stop it, I told myself as I washed my hands afterwards, you can handle this, don’t freak out now. You’ve been kidnapped how many times? And you’ve gone through this whole weird incident without losing it so far, you can go a bit longer.
I stepped back out into the hallway and called out to my hostess, “Good night Crystal, thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it.” Then I made my way to the living room, curled up on the sofa, pulled the comforter up close, and cried myself to sleep.
“Jackie… Jackie, w-w-wake up!” Crystal’s voice penetrated the fog of slumber and I wondered why the hell she sounded so frantic. When I managed to open my eyes and raised my hand to rub the sleep from them I got my answer. I had apparently turned to ice in my sleep. That wasn’t all though; the sofa, the pillow, the comforter and even the floorboards around the sofa were coated in frost. I practically jumped into a sitting position and tossed the comforter aside where it landed on the floor with a thud. The damn thing was frozen solid.
“What the fu…” I started to say before I realized that Crystal was shivering beside me, her hands red with cold from trying to shake me awake. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry Crystal, I must have changed while I was asleep, I’ll try to change back.”
“C-c-can y-you t-try to get r-r-rid of the i-i-ice f-first? I-I’m g-going to go m-make so-some c-c-coffee.” She stood up and fled for the warmth of the kitchen leaving me trying to figure out how exactly to get rid of the frost and small icicles that were forming on everything near me.
If my powers were anything like my dad’s then I thought that theoretically I should be able to mentally shape, move, and control ice. I concentrated on the frost and ice around me and focussed on pulling all that frozen moisture off all of the nearby surfaces and pooling it into a large ball of ice. I lost my focus several times but eventually I was able to gather it all into a volleyball sized mass. I thought about trying to move that ball with my mind but I decided to err on the side of caution and carried it into the kitchen to drop it into the sink. That done, I turned my attention to becoming flesh and blood again, it was easier than the first time but I took a bit longer because I wasn’t concentrating as well this time. I was really worried about Crystal. When I finally managed to change back I gave my hostess an apologetic look, “Sorry about that Crystal, are you okay?”
“I’m fine; it’s nothing a hot cup of coffee won’t cure.” She demonstrated this by taking a sip from the coffee mug she had both hands wrapped around and breathing a sigh of relief. “See, much better. Did you want anything to eat before we leave? I have some fruit and yoghurt in the fridge.”
“No thanks, I’ll be okay, besides you’ve done enough for me already,”
“Okay then kiddo, as soon as I finish up my coffee we can get going.” She continued to sip at her coffee as she picked up a small envelope off the table and handed it to me with her free hand.
“What’s this?” I asked, unsure as to whether I should take it.
She pressed it into my hand, “It’s the crystal I made for you last night, I figured you might want to keep it. I also put a slip of paper with my cell phone number in there in case you need me for anything. Feel free to call me if you need help with adjusting to being a girl or need to talk or something.”
I took the envelope and smiled at her. “Thanks for everything you’ve done, I appreciate it but I really don’t want to bother you unnecessarily.”
She shook her head and reached out with her free hand to ruffle my hair. “I wouldn’t have offered if it was a bother Jackie, so if you need me I’ll be around. I like you kiddo, you’re kind of like the kid sister I never had.”
If Crystal had heard me crying the night before she had the good grace not to mention it. Once she had finished her coffee she got ready to go outside, donning a thick winter coat, boots and gloves. She even had me put on a pair spare of boots and parka that she had. I argued that the cold didn’t bother me but she said it was to keep up appearances so I shrugged and went along with it. Then we made our way down to the parking lot to discover that her Mustang was half buried in snow. As Crystal cursed and muttered something about an ice scraper then she stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at me quizzically, “Jackie, do you think you could?”
“Sure, why not,” I replied, taking a good look to make sure nobody was watching. When I was certain it was safe I changed into my ice form and spent several minutes carefully mentally pulling all the snow and ice off her car before once again returning to my flesh and blood form. The process took a lot longer than either of us liked but I saved Crystal the effort of using the scraper and I figured I probably needed to practice with my new abilities anyway so it was all good.
Crystal insisted on coming with me to see my grandfather just in case he didn’t believe me and I needed a place to stay until I could contact my dad. She also insisted on speaking first to get a feel for how he would react to having a granddaughter instead of a grandson. Soon we were standing on his front porch and I reached out to hesitantly knock on the door. I was really nervous about this meeting; I hadn’t spoken to him in a year, not since Grandma died. I had wanted to come to the funeral to pay my respects but he and dad had forbid it. In retrospect I figure that the reason for that and why they had always came to visit us instead of the other way around was because they didn’t want to risk Arcana finding me.
I heard movement inside the house and then the sound of the lock being fiddled with. The door opened to reveal Grandpa Max standing in his bathrobe and squinting to get a look at his unexpected visitors. “Can I help you ladies?” Then he got a good look at my face, “Oh split! You look just like her don’t you? You girls go wait in the car, I’m going to change and get my bowling bag.” Then he shut the door in our faces and left us staring at one another in confusion.
“What in the hell was that all about?” I wondered aloud not quite believing what had just happened.
“You’re asking me? He’s your grandfather,” Crystal pointed out.
“Well yeah, but he’s never been crazy before,” I argued. “Maybe he’s got Alzheimer’s or something. If he’s not out in five minutes we’ll knock again.”
Five minutes passed and we did knock again. This time he was fully dressed and did indeed have a bowling bag in hand. “You youngsters these days really need to learn patience,” he complained as he shut and locked the door behind him. “You need to learn better listening skills too, I told you to wait in the car.” He pushed us both along to where Crystal’s car sat waiting like a pair of schoolchildren. Once we were piled in with Grandpa in the back he said, “I don’t know who you are missy but you’re here so drive us to Ten Pins Alley on Kingston. Jake you’re going to tell me exactly what happened.”
Crystal didn’t bother to argue she just started the engine and drove. I on the other hand was turned around in my seat staring at my grandfather, “How’d you know I was me?”
“Michael called me yesterday and told me that Ashley kidnapped you, and then in the middle of the night I received a visit from a very angry sorceress asking where her daughter was. Then a girl the same age as you, who looks just like Ashley at that age, shows up on my doorstep. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. You were stupid trying to come see me Jake, it was the first place she looked.” He frowned at me but there was relief in his eyes. “And get your damn seatbelt on!”
I hurried to get buckled up. “Umm Grandpa, if she looked for me there first how do you know she wasn’t watching the house and following us now?”
“Because she hasn’t done anything yet,” he said coolly. “Besides, I think she’s a little busy at the moment, your father’s flight landed an hour ago. This is the best time to be moving you to a safe location, while they’re slugging it out, and she won’t know about the bowling alley. Now get on with telling me what happened, I’m not getting any younger.”
I gave Grandpa the story of what had happened since I woke up in the strange bedroom. I did leave out Crystal’s situation though as it wasn’t my place to say anything about that. He didn’t interrupt or comment but merely nodded when he thought it appropriate. When I finally finished he sighed, “We’ll have Mervin see if there’s anything he can do to return you to your male form if that’s what you want Jake, but I’m afraid your friend is probably right, at best you’ll be uncomfortable in such a form and at worst you’ll just revert back when you use your powers. As for you Crystal, thank you for taking care of my grand… child like you have.”
Crystal was keeping her eyes on the snowy streets but responded, “It was no trouble Mr. Evans, Jackie is a good kid and she needed a friend.”
With it being Saturday Ten Pins was very busy when we arrived. It would have taken Crystal forever to find a parking space if Grandpa hadn’t guided her to the management parking spaces at the side entrance. Despite all the cars outside the building though, the inside was quiet as a tomb. There was no sound of balls being hurled down the lanes and striking pins, there wasn’t even the sound of friendly chatter that usually occupied such places. Instead all of the patrons of the bowling alley were crowded around the big screen TV by the snack counter watching in stunned silence as a reporter spoke from what looked like a war zone.
Once we got close enough I could hear the reporter for myself. “…once again, I am reporting from downtown Toronto where after a fierce battle Michael Evans, known to the world at large as Stonewall, has been defeated by Arcana. After the battle the sorceress disappeared with the unconscious hero in chains. Is this the end of Stonewall and what plans does Arcana have for him? We will keep you posted on this breaking story as details arrive.”
I just stood there stunned until Grandpa Max took me by the shoulders and guided me and Crystal to a maintenance door at the back of the alley and then down a flight of stairs to a secure steel door. He unlocked the door and we all filed inside a small room that resembled a hotel room with a sofa, big screen TV, kitchenette, and three other doors. Two men my grandfather’s age were on the couch watching the news and frowning. They didn’t even turn their heads as the door opened and we filed in. The skinny one of the pair, a man with a wild mane of white hair who sported a pair of coke bottle glasses said, “Did you see this Max? We had better hurry up and find your grandson before Ashley does.”
“Jake came to my house while Michael and Ashley were fighting,” Grandpa said before giving me a look and adding, “Well in a manner of speaking.”
The pair turned around and gave us their full attention, their eyes widening at the sight of me. The one I hadn’t gotten a good look at before was short; maybe five foot eight, and mostly bald with a distinct beer belly asked, “Is that Jake? Oh Lord, she looks just like Ashley at that age.” I could see tears forming at the corners of his eyes as he stared.
I was getting really tired of this. I got that I looked like Arcana but why did they all have to make such a big deal about it. I had more important things to think about though, my Dad was in trouble and maybe, just maybe, he needed me to save him for once. “Look Grandpa I appreciate you bringing me somewhere safe but I need to go save Dad, there’s no telling what Arcana will do to him, she is all sorts of crazy.”
“Don’t you dare talk about your mother that way,” the one with the beer belly scolded me. “She is not responsible for her actions. Besides what are you going to do? Go walk into her home, put a pout on those pretty lips, and say ‘Pretty please let my daddy go?’ You’d just end up joining him.”
“Hey! I’ve got powers, I could…” I started to argue.
“You could what? You would probably get your ass kicked,” Grandpa said sternly. “Ashley has been developing her powers for twenty years and you’ve had your for what, twelve hours? You need to learn how your powers work before you go rushing in there. Besides she won’t harm your father. All she did after their battle was restrain him. Think about it, when she was holding you captive did she harm you at all?” I was about to argue when he raised his hand and stopped me, “I realize that turning you into a girl and freezing you was probably traumatic but did she physically harm you in any way?”
I thought about it for a long moment before finally replying, “I guess not. In fact she seemed obsessed with keeping me happy and safe in her own twisted way.”
The man with the glasses and wild hair nodded, “That’s right and that gives us some time to train you. Maybe with our help you can save both of your parents.”
“No offense, but what do any of you know about mutant powers?” I asked.
Grandpa Max grinned at me, “Well for one thing, we trained your parents. Jake and Crystal, you are looking at one of the very first super hero teams ever. I used to be known as Captain Inferno, Mervin was called The Silver Sorcerer, and Eugene was The Brain. Together we were the Thrilling Threesome.”
I just stared at him as he revealed that little tidbit of information and then when the names finally hit me I couldn’t help myself, I started laughing my ass off. “P-Please tell me you didn’t call yourselves that in public.” I heard Grandpa mutter something about ‘youngsters today’ but it was then that I realized that Crystal was staring at Eugene, the tall skinny one. “Earth to Crystal, are you okay?”
She nodded as she turned to me and asked, “Don’t you know who The Brain is Jackie?” When she realized that no answer would be forthcoming she sighed. “The Brain was one of the people on the science team that discovered how mutation works; he practically mapped the H Chromosome.”
I could tell that Crystal was dying to talk to Eugene about her own situation but she was trying not to be selfish because my own situation had just become even worse. But if he could help her at all then she really deserved it after the way she had helped me. I needed to know exactly what was going on with my family but I figured I didn’t need all of the men there to explain it. “Umm, Grandpa I’m kind of lost on why both my parents need saving. Do you think you and Mervin can maybe explain that to me? I think there’s something that Crystal should talk to Eugene about in private anyway.”
Crystal sent me a grateful look as Grandpa sighed but nodded. “You deserve to know everything Jake. Eugene, why don’t you take Crystal to your lab while Mervin and I explain things to Jake here?”
Once the pair was gone Grandpa began the explanation. “We were ready to retire and leave the super hero thing to the younger generation when your father’s powers first manifested.”
Mervin then added, “Around the same time my niece Ashley started showing the potential for magic as well. She was the most gifted student I had ever taught. The three of us saw the pair of them as the perfect way to carry our legacy into the future so we trained the two of them together.”
“They were a teenage boy and girl with a lot in common and spending most of their time together so of course the inevitable happened, they fell in love,” Grandpa continued the story. “Your mom called herself Cantrip back then and the two of them worked so well together. It looked like they would have a great future together. They were so happy, even more so after they married and you were born.”
“But then I got sick didn’t I?” I asked, figuring out where this was going.
Mervin nodded sadly, “You got pneumonia and you just didn’t have the strength to fight it. Ashley came to me for help; she was desperate to save you. I started doing my own research but neither of us could find a way that wasn’t tied to dark magics. We heard about a collector of magical artifacts and Ashley went to see her about something that could help. It was that woman who sold her Morgana’s Bracelet. She told her that it was a magic amplifier but in reality it is far more than that.”
“Is that the gaudy gold thing she wears?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “And it changed my niece the moment she put it on. She stole the life from several homeless people and used it to give you the strength you lacked as she cured your ailment. I went to see the collector myself and the woman told me the true nature of Morgana’s bracelet. You see, the bracelet belonged to the sorceress Morgan le Fay and as she lay dying she placed her dark soul within it. She gives the wearer the power to fulfill their desires but she twists those desires and the good intentions that go with them into something horrible. The host can only watch helplessly as Morgana uses their bodies and power to commit the most heinous of acts. But above all Morgana always seeks more powerful women to act as hosts and she will only release a host once a more powerful host has been found, which I fear is where you come in.”
“Okay so my mom isn’t really evil and crazy but can’t help herself. I’ll try to get the bracelet off her if I can but how is this suddenly all about me?” I asked, a little confused.
“We think that your mother has been fighting her control, a lot more than Morgana expected,” Mervin pointed out, “That’s why she didn’t escape the asylum until last year.”
“And all that time she’s been away from her husband and child and wanting desperately to be with us,” I muttered in realization. “Morgana used that desire against her to escape, didn’t she?”
“More than likely,” Grandpa agreed. “To escape and get her hands on a new host.”
“You think she already found a host from inside an asylum?” I asked in confusion.
“Think about the age we live in,” Mervin prodded. “With mutants running around Morgana doesn’t have to limit her hosts to just sorceresses anymore and Morgana is probably very eager to get her claws into a new host with Ashley resisting her so much. And then there is you. You’re the child of a line of powerful elemental mutants and a powerful sorceress. You’re young and impressionable and the odds of you being powerful in some way were pretty high if you were to come into one of your lineages. Now as a boy you weren’t much use to her, but as a girl…”
“Oh my God, she planned this all along!” I half shrieked in realization.
“It does seem that way,” Grandpa agreed. “The only thing she didn’t plan on was you escaping. And that is exactly why you can’t go rushing in there untrained. You’re going to have to fight her because if you go back willingly now and just let her hand you the bracelet, a master manipulator like Morgana is going to smell a trap.”
“What if she finds me?” I asked remembering what she said about knowing my life energy.
Mervin seemed to consider that possibility. “She won’t know about the bowling alley, this used to be the hideout of a super villain called the Headpin. We bought it two years ago after he died of a heart attack and I’ve made sure it’s well shielded against magical spying. I may not be as powerful as my niece but I do know my stuff. If you have to go out for any reason I’ll make you a pendant that will disguise you and shield you from magical sight. That means she’ll have to search the city the hard way and that will take a while.”
When the three of us stepped into Eugene’s lab to join Crystal and Eugene I found myself amidst dozens of machines that I couldn’t even guess the purposes of. The Brain was sitting at a microscope and making sounds like he was fascinated with what he saw while Crystal sat in an armchair nearby looking very nervous. They both looked up at the sound of our footsteps and Eugene smiled. “This girl’s DNA is incredibly fascinating. Her H Chromosomes are broken and only contain part of the information on her mutation but I believe I can solve the problem with your help Mervin.”
“You can help her?! How?” I asked practically jumping up and down in happiness for my new friend.
Eugene adjusted his glasses as he seemed considered how to explain it. “The Archetype is a blueprint, not just of the mutant’s abilities but of their form as well. Essentially it stores a mutant’s entire genetic code as it should be. Crystal’s current genetic code was somehow damaged when her mutation manifested and it corrupted her H Chromosomes. However, the area that stores the data for her Archetype appears undamaged. I believe that by examining this part of her genetic code that I can find that stored Archetype and the data it contains on what her genetic code should look like.”
“Where exactly do I come into this?” Mervin asked rolling his eyes. Apparently he had seen Eugene go into a scientific nerdgasm many times before and wanted a direct answer.
“You know a clone spell, do you not?” the scientist asked.
“Of course I know one,” Mervin grumbled. “But I haven’t been able to cast it for years. I would need more power to be able to use it.”
“I believe that our young friend here can help you with that,” Eugene replied. “Now what I plan to do is use the data in her Archetype to create a sample of what her DNA should be. Then once you have an amplifier you can cast the clone spell using the sample as a basis.”
“I suppose it could work,” Mervin agreed, “I’ve never known you to be wrong about this kind of thing. We’re going to be pretty busy getting the training room and the spare bedroom ready though.”
“Oh it will likely be several hours before I’m ready to produce a sample for you, sifting through her chromosomes for the correct genetic structure won’t be an easy task. I would suggest that while I work on this and the two of you set up the training room that these two girls get something to eat and some clothes to train in. That dress that Jake is wearing may be attractive but it is hardly practical. She will likely need some everyday clothes as well. Feel free to give them a few thousand dollars from my petty cash.” With that he went back to his microscope as Grandpa Max and Mervin took Crystal and I back to the main room.
“How does he have thousands of dollars in petty cash,” I wondered aloud as Crystal and I sat on the couch.
“He holds the patents on quite a few technological devices,” Grandpa Max explained as Mervin left the room. “That’s how we managed to buy the bowling alley and pay the people that work here.” He then went and took a small lockbox off the top of the fridge and counted out three thousand dollars in hundreds and fifties, handing half to each of us. “Both of you get some clothes and other necessities. We have to consider the possibility that it’s not safe for you to return home Crystal, so you’ll need to stay here as well until this all blows over, and if Eugene can do what he’s proposing you might need some training as well.”
A few minutes later Mervin returned bearing a small silver pendant on a chain. “I’ve spelled this to shield you from magical sight and to alter some of your features and change your hair color Jake.”
He placed the chain over my head and around my neck and I could feel a slight tingling. I assumed that meant that the spells were working until I saw the disappointed looks on Mervin’s and Grandpa’s faces. It also helped that Crystal said, “Am I supposed to not see the changes, because she looks exactly the same to me.” Then the chain snapped and the pendant flew toward the wall where it shattered.
Mervin sighed, “Well I guess this means it’s a moot point whether Jake wants to stay like this or turn back.” Seeing my confusion he added, “It appears that you have developed a strong resistance to transformation magic, probably due to how you got your powers. I’ll make another one without the transformation spell. I’d use an illusion but she would likely see that a mile away. You two will just have to be careful and keep your eyes peeled for Ashley.”
“I guess you all had better start calling me Jackie then,” I said with a sigh of my own. I had tried to prepare myself for this eventuality in my mind but it still hurt. At least I wouldn’t be uncomfortable with my body. Adapting mentally was going to be a bitch though.
Once Mervin had finished making me another pendant Crystal and I headed off for the closest mall. Despite being excited over the possibility of having her problem fixed Crystal was quiet for most of the drive. Finally I had enough and spoke up. “You know you being excited is not going to hurt my feelings Crystal. You’ve suffered with this for a while right? Well you deserve to have something go your way. I’ll get used to all of this eventually and at least I’m not stuck in a body that feels wrong like you.”
“I… I heard you crying last night,” she admitted. “I thought that this might just be too much for you.”
So she did hear me after all. “Look at the day I had yesterday, I was kidnapped by a raving lunatic who revealed herself to be my mother, a woman I thought was dead. Then she turns me into a girl which at the time felt like the worst thing in the world. Then she freezes me and I managed to somehow unfreeze myself and escape. Then I met you and suddenly felt horrible for having the body I do now and being comfortable with it. All that time I was trying not to show any fear or upset and trying to keep it together. It was the worst day of my life, so of course I needed to let it all out. The only good thing about yesterday was meeting you.”
She smiled at that. “I think that was the high point of my day too kiddo.”
“Today doesn’t suck quite as much,” I said with a shrug. “Sure I’m stuck this way but at least I know it and I can try to move on. And I think the big reason I’m so scared of moving on is that I may be comfortable being female but I don’t have any idea of how to be female.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a huge problem,” Crystal said as we pulled into the mall parking lot. “I noticed earlier that you seem to be getting used to your new center of gravity and it’s really helping your walk. And times like now, when you’re not trying to bottle everything up inside, you let a lot more emotion into your voice. The rest of it is just small things and I can help you with those. I can also teach you about fashion and makeup and all the other things you’ll need to know. Other than that just be yourself, fundamentally there’s less differences between being male and female than you’d think.”
Shopping with Crystal was a learning experience. She would point out all the different types of women’s clothing and which went best with which, what could be worn for what type of occasions, what colors worked best for me, and the difference between night and day wear makeup. I think she didn’t want to push me too far though because there were certain topics she would avoid, like boys. I had noticed a few looking at me appreciatively as we made our way from store to store and I think I found some of them attractive as well. To be honest I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that; on one hand it would make adjusting to being female easier but on the other hand thinking of relationships and sex from the other side of the fence scared me.
We did more than just girl lessons though. We bought the necessities like Grandpa Max had suggested; toothbrushes, makeup, and more personal grooming items than I ever realized a girl needed. For most of the shopping we went to a department store so it would cost less. After the necessities we bought a wide variety of underclothes including panties, sports bras for when we work out, and several regular bras as well. It turned out I was a large C cup. Crystal suggested I get D cup bras since the C cup bras were a bit too tight and at my age I was probably going to grow a little more. “Crystal shook her head as I finally chose some bras that weren’t too uncomfortable. “Well Jackie, you definitely have the super hero physique but I don’t envy you the back pain those are going to cause you.”
“Speaking of which,” I shot back, “Maybe you should get some other sizes, you never know what your new physique will look like when Eugene and Mervin get you fixed up.”
She ended up deciding to do just that and once we were done with underclothes we moved on to workout clothes and casual wear. Crystal insisted on a good variety of things as I would need to get used to wearing things other than t-shirts and jeans and I might was well start immediately was her thinking. I did get some jeans but I also got a large variety of shirts and tops and even some skirts as well at Crystal’s insistence. For shoes we each made sure to get a pair of sneakers, something Crystal called ballet flats, and some winter boots with good grip.
After one last stop at a jewellery store, where Crystal insisted I get my ears pierced, we made our way to the food court for a late lunch. As we sat at the table eating Chinese I said, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me since we’ve met Crystal; I’m glad I’ve had you to help me through this. So, how are you feeling? Are you nervous yet?”
“Yeah,” she admitted, “I am. Eugene seems pretty certain that he can make this work, but what if he can’t?”
“Then you go back to what you were doing before. But the only way to find out for certain is to try I guess. I’m curious though, you seemed pretty big on code names and costumes and such when you found out about me, did you want to be a super hero?”
“As I kid I never really thought about it honestly,” she replied with a sad smile. “But when I found out I was a mutant I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever… and then we discovered my genetic quirk. My dream was revealed to me and snatched away in a matter of weeks.”
“I never wanted to be one until I found out who my dad was,” I said after a bit of thought. “But I think I was so focussed on the hero part than I never really considered the things like names and costumes. But I guess if you don’t have those things then the people around you get hurt. I’m pretty much a big shining example of that since Dad got outted.”
“Yeah, that Hyper Leaks site was a menace to good heroes everywhere,” she said with a frown. “It hasn’t updated in over a week though and I heard that it’s been having technical issues.”
“Maybe that has something to do with the site admin being a newt now,” I replied casually.
My timing was perfect, just as she was taking a sip of her Diet Coke Crystal’s eyes widened and the soda came spraying across the table as I deftly moved aside to avoid being hit. When my friend recovered from her laughing/coughing fit she managed to get out, “She didn’t.”
“She did, or at least that’s what she told me,” I responded. Then I couldn’t hold it anymore and burst out laughing, “You should have seen the look on your face! Honestly though, that is what she told me.”
When we arrived back at the bowling alley Grandpa Max had us put all our new things in the spare bedroom that we would share while we stayed there. We had been gone for over five hours and they had the room ready for us and were finishing up setting up all the sensors and other equipment for the training room. They had been meaning to get it set up earlier but they didn’t see a pressing need to do it without someone to train there. While we were waiting for them to finish Crystal set all of her concentration on generating a fist sized amplification crystal for Mervin’s use. Generating a crystal that size seemed to drain her pretty badly but she seemed happy with the final result.
The men needed a bit of a breather once the training room was finally set up so they brought us into the control booth to explain how everything worked while they rested. “Eugene designed the whole thing,” Mervin explained. “We were following his blueprint so if anything doesn’t work it’s all on him. He designed the room not only to help train mutants but to also gather data on their abilities. There’s programmed training sessions for individuals or groups as well as a data retrieval session which is what we’ll put you through first Jackie.”
“Eugene will want to be here for that though,” Grandpa put in. “He’ll have sensors and other little doohickeys he’ll want to attach to you. Now whoever is monitoring the session can activate various obstacles, weaponry, or opponents for you to battle your way through until the task for the exercise is complete or the time limit is up. Mervin, I’m going to set up a practice robot so you can test out that amplifier crystal.”
“Fine, fine,” Mervin said with a groan as he got to his feet and opened the door to enter the training room. “Just make sure you don’t set it to kill me, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
As we watched a slot opened up in the floor and a robotic head emerged followed by the arms and body and then the legs as the platform it was on rose to the same level as the floor. The robot took a step toward Mervin as the hand he held the crystal in began to glow with a silvery light. As the robot took another slow step forward but it didn’t get any further than that as the light intensified and split into nearly a dozen ribbons of light which tightly bound the robot where it stood. As Mervin turned to leave the training room the restrained robot was swallowed up by another slot opening in the floor.
When he emerged from the training room Mervin was grinning from ear to ear. “Not bad at all, I haven’t had the power to use that spell for nearly a decade. This should allow me to use the clone spell just fine if Eugene has anything for me to clone.”
“Maybe we should go check on him,” Grandpa suggested thoughtfully. “You know how he gets when he’s absorbed in his work. He loses all track of time and what begins as work on something like a new transistor results in a particle beam weapon, a shrink ray, and invisible paint.”
“We never did find that last one,” Mervin muttered. “But you’re probably right, let’s go see how he’s coming along.”
We headed back into The Brain’s lab where Eugene was warming something on a hot plate. He looked up as we entered and smiled, “Oh you’re just in time!”
Crystal tried looking over his shoulder to see what was on the hot plate and asked, “Is that the modified DNA sample?”
“Oh heavens no,” he replied, “I finished that an hour ago. This is chocolate fondue, would you like some? I made enough for everyone.”
“Ummm maybe later,” Crystal responded nervously. “Mervin thinks the amplifier crystal should work fine for the clone spell. So we’re ready to go when you are.”
“Excellent! I’ll just get the sample and we can begin.” Eugene beamed as he went to the back counter to retrieve a petri dish that I assumed had the altered version of Crystal’s DNA, which he handed to Mervin. “It was tricky finding the proper data but once I did it was simplicity itself to decode the information. Please be careful with that sample though Mervin, I only had enough stem cells on hand to generate the one.”
The sorcerer nodded as he gingerly took the sample in one hand and gripped the crystal in the other. He mumbled some words I didn’t quite catch and both of his hands began to glow bright silver. The energy then shot out from both his hands to strike Crystal squarely in the chest. It took a moment before I noticed the changes that were occurring in my friend. She seemed to lose two or three inches in height as her figure became more feminine. Her hips widened, her waist became slimmer and her chest grew slightly as her facial features softened and became less angular. Her eyes seemed to get a bit bigger and turned a blue that almost seemed to glow, an electric blue that her formerly black hair now matched. Even her eyebrows were that shade of electric blue.
“Fascinating,” Eugene said. I could only nod mutely in agreement. Then he asked, “How do you feel?”
I think Crystal was more stunned than any of us with that mixture of shock and bliss that played across her new features. Finally she managed to get out, “I… I feel great. I feel like myself for the first time in years. Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!”She wrapped each of us in a big hug as tears ran down her cheeks.
When it was my turn for a hug she almost crushed the air out of my lungs. “Crystal you’re crushing me,” I gasped.
“Sorry Jackie,” she said with a blush. “I’m just so happy; I can’t believe I’m really me now.”
With Crystal’s problem dealt with our three mentors decided that it was time to see what we were both made of. They had us both change into our new exercise gear, which consisted of a sports bra and spandex top with yoga pants. As we changed I caught Crystal staring at her new self in the mirror. I could have told her to hurry but I didn’t want to ruin her moment, she had been waiting to see that reflection for a long time.
Once we had made our way to the training room Eugene attached all sorts of monitors and wires to us to monitor our life signs and our powers readings. Then he had me enter the room first where he threw everything he could at me in both my ice and human forms to determine what I was capable of. I spent nearly three hours in there being tested in every conceivable way. I was quite a bit faster and more agile than normal but my reflexes, strength and other physical attributes were only slightly above average for a girl my age in both forms. In my ice form though, my stamina was nearly limitless. My powers were fairly similar to my dad’s and grandpa’s actually. I could control, shape and move ice, and to a lesser degree water, to suit my needs and since my ice form was composed of ice this even gave me limited flight capabilities. I couldn’t go as fast as most fliers but I was certainly no turtle either.
There were a few things that were complete surprises though. For one thing, I could seem to control my element to a lesser degree while still in my human form. Eugene theorized that this was because such a high percentage of the human body is made up of water. Another surprise was that I could generate ice using the moisture in the air or anything else around me that contains moisture, but I had already accidentally discovered that when I awoke at Crystal’s apartment. The last surprise was due to the nature of my element being so different from my father’s nearly indestructible stone form and my grandfather’s non-solid flame form. I could be shattered or melted and pull myself back together again using what was left of me and whatever moisture that was around.
That last one was discovered by accident when I lost my concentration while attempting to fly through an aerial obstacle course, fell to the ground, and completely shattered my ice form. That was not something I wanted to do often, it’s really weird having to pull myself back together, and it kind of destroyed the clothes and sensors that I was wearing. Eugene thought that this ability was because my element is actually water, which is fluid. He figured that my powers only manifested as ice because of the way I got them and because ice was easier for me to work with. By the time I pulled myself back together that first time and returned to my human form I was ready to take a breather, so after I went and got some new clothes on, I joined the others in the control room while Crystal was being tested.
Crystal’s abilities were focused mostly on the blue crystals she generates. Now that her body was what it should be, she could generate them and re-absorb them with barely having to think about it and she used them to create weapons, armor, and other constructs. She was also faster and stronger than a normal human. The poor robots that Eugene pitted her against had no chance, she took them out with one hit apiece and soon Eugene discovered why. The crystals she generates are nearly indestructible and apparently in her new form her bones are made of the stuff. That, combined with her innate strength and speed, means that she hits like a speeding train.
It was possible that there was more to both of our sets of powers but Eugene was testing for the more common expressions of our power types. After he had all of the information he wanted we discussed what to do about my current situation. We knew where Arcana was holding my dad but with her power and experience it would be insane to go and confront her on her own turf with little or no experience in actually using my abilities. Even if Crystal and the Thrilling Threesome *snicker* helped me, Arcana was just too powerful and unpredictable for two rookie mutants and three retirees to take on without a plan. So since we knew that deep down Arcana wouldn’t let Morgana hurt Dad, it was decided that we wait it out, keep monitoring the news, train every moment that we could, and let her make the first move.
With that decided we had a late dinner of pizza and Crystal and I were given the rest of the evening off so we could rest up for training the next morning. I decided to sleep on the floor and let Crystal have the bed since I was a little afraid that I might turn icy in the middle of the night and give her hypothermia or something. We did stay up and talk for a while before sleeping and Crystal couldn’t stop gushing about how happy she was with her new form and powers. I wished that I could share her enthusiasm but I still couldn’t help feeling a lot of uncertainty about being female and all the things would come with it.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas we settled into a vigorous training routine. Crystal seemed to be adapting to her new abilities well but by the beginning of the second week I was still having trouble concentrating, especially when my first period hit. I was in constant discomfort, I felt fat and hated myself for it, I was grouchy, and since the only other female around had never experienced that time of the month before either, I was pretty much on my own on how to deal with it. By the second day I felt so bad that I was spending most of my time in my ice form to make it easier on myself.
It was around then that Crystal decided she needed to go on a supply run. I was pretty sure that she just needed some time away from me and I couldn’t really blame her since I was being a stone cold bitch. Mervin had even made her a pendant to alter her features and hair to look more like a regular Asian girl so she could go out without having to fear being attacked by anti-mutant extremists. I was sitting in the main living area wallowing in self-pity when Grandpa, Eugene, and Mervin had apparently decided enough was enough. Grandpa sat down on the couch beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. It was a good thing it was him because the aura of cold I was giving off at the moment would have frozen anyone else and we seemed to be fairly resistant to one another’s powers.
“Jackie, you…” he began uncertainly.
I really didn’t want anyone trying to cheer me up at the moment. “Grandpa, it you’re here to give me the ‘you’re a special snowflake’ speech you can save it. That’s the last thing I want to hear right now.”
Grandpa frowned and grabbed me by the shoulders, forcibly turning me to face him. “No, I am here to tell you you’re being a dang fool! Crystal trying so hard to help you adjust and you’re not giving it a chance!”
“You think I’m not trying to adjust?! I have no choice but to try to adjust, I’m stuck like this, remember!” I snapped back.
“Is that why you’re in your ice form all the time? You’re not adjusting you’re hiding from biology and reality,” he countered.
“You have no idea what I’m going through right now!”
“I was married for forty-seven years Jackie; I think I learned enough during that time to have a pretty good idea how you’re feeling right now. It’s not just this though; you’ve been like this most of the week. At first you seemed to be adjusting fine but then you started becoming distracted and depressed.”
“Max is right,” Mervin put in. “Come on kid we want to help you but we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s going on in your pretty little head. Those first few days of training you were doing great and then your head just wasn’t in the game anymore. Not accepting who you are is a weakness, one that Morgana will exploit, so tell us what’s bothering you.”
I could have literally given them the cold shoulder but they were my mentors and I knew that being a bitch to them served no purpose no matter how I might feel at the moment. I sighed and uncertain where to begin I just came out with it. “After Dad’s secret identity got leaked and I started getting kidnapped by all of his enemies the kids at school started calling me the ‘Damsel in Distress’. I already got teased before that for looking kind of girly but once the kidnappings started it got worse every day.”
“That’s just teenagers being jackasses Jackie,” Grandpa insisted.
I nodded sadly. “I thought that too, at the time, and I thought that if I ever did get powers of my own like Dad that I would be able to prove them all wrong. I thought that if I had powers that for once I could be the hero.”
“Well you didn’t wait around for rescue when Morgana kidnapped you,” Mervin pointed out. “You saw a chance to escape and took it. You have powers now, and if you apply yourself to your training you will be the one to save your parents.”
“Don’t any of you see it?!” I snapped. “I thought that when I got powers that I would be big and strong like Dad. Sure I’ve got power, but now I’m even more of a damsel in distress than I was before. Not only am I actually female now but I’m weak and fragile too. If I hit something too hard I’m the one who breaks, not the other way around.”
“And then there’s Crystal,” Eugene finished my thought. “She’s strong and her powers make her nearly indestructible too.”
“Exactly! Compared to her I’m a frail little girl. I’m getting used to being female but what I can’t take is that I’ve turned out to be exactly what everyone in school said I was.” I couldn’t look at any of them right now so I looked down at my knees. They had to realize now that there was no way I could ever save my parents like they were expecting.
“That’s the biggest load of horseshit I’ve heard in my life,” Grandpa Max said, raising my chin so that he could look me in the eyes. “The only person who can decide who and what you are is you, nobody else.”
“He’s right,” Eugene said with nod. “Your problem is that you’re still thinking like a typical teenage male. You think you need to be big and strong to win a fight but strength is relative. We were saving the world while your parents were still in diapers and how many of those battles do you think we won with brute strength? I’m The Brain for crying out loud, can you imagine me using brute force to win a battle?”
I had to admit, at least to myself that none of them were the big strong types and likely never had been. While I was considering that Mervin pressed their point. “Your dad is big and strong and he’s made that work for him, but only because he learned how to play to his strengths. You’re a girl now Jackie, so start thinking like one. Girls don’t fight with muscle, they use their minds. You can have all the power in the world but it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t use your brain.”
“You might be fragile, but you can always pull yourself back together again if you break, how many people can say that?” Grandpa added. “You’re not built for attacking directly, so don’t. Use your speed and agility, hit and run, let people think your powers are just ice based and then hit them with water. Hell, even use your damsel in distress bit as an advantage. People make the biggest mistakes when they think they have the advantage, don’t fall into that trap and make sure to exploit it when your enemy does.”
I had to admit that they were probably right. If I was going to save my parents I needed to start thinking about both my powers and myself differently. I returned to my human form and stood up to wrap all three of them in a hug. “Thanks guys, do you have any other sage advice?”
“Apologize to Crystal when she gets back for being such a bitch,” Mervin said as he ruffled my hair. “And then the two of you take the rest of the day off and do something together. You might be comfortable with being female, now you need to embrace it. Powers are tied to form if you’re not comfortable with one you won’t be with either. You need to be comfortable with your powers if you’re going to save Michael and Ashley.”
I did apologize when Crystal returned and the two of us when out to do some Christmas shopping. We both wanted to get Grandpa Max, Mervin, and Eugene something and something for one another as well. We decided to team up and get them a silver box with some smaller personal gifts placed inside. The box itself was engraved with the message: For Three Wise Men: You gave us the gifts of Wisdom, Hope, and Strength. I didn’t know what Crystal bought me since we didn’t plan to exchange gifts until Christmas day, but I got her a locket engraved with the words: For the world’s greatest big sister. I even convinced her to go to a photo booth in the mall so that I would have a photo of the two of us together to put inside.
I had also decided to try being optimistic and bought something for both my parents as well. I saw a stuffed princess from a classic video game and just had to get it for my dad. I only hoped that he would get the joke if I did manage to save them. For my mom I was a little less certain. I only knew her from what glimpses I could get of her true self while being held captive. I knew that me and Dad were important to her and that she really wanted us to be a family for the holidays. In the end I found a snow globe with a woman, a man and a young girl making a snowman inside and it struck a chord with me. I just had to get it for her.
After we finished our shopping we ate a quick dinner and returned to the hideout under the bowling alley to put away our purchases. Then to my surprise Crystal suggested that the five of us go upstairs to bowl a few games together while the alley was closed for the night. It was a lot of fun but it had me a bit confused. Finally, during our second game I asked her, “What’s up with the bowling? It’s kind of a guy thing isn’t it? I thought you were supposed to be helping me embrace being a girl.”
Crystal grinned at me and nodded, “This is to teach you the most important lesson of all about being a girl. Being a girl isn’t all about shopping, clothes and makeup, or sappy movies. Sure those things can be nice, but a lot of girls just aren’t into that stuff. All girls are different. The most important thing that you need to know about being a girl is that you just need to be yourself. Be Jackie and be happy with who that is, no matter what kind of girl she is.”
That day was just what I had needed. After that I redoubled my efforts to try to get as good with my powers as I could before Morgana made her move. For some reason that none of us could figure out I was still changing into ice in my sleep but I supposed that it would take time to figure out why and how to prevent it. I would hate to turn anyone I fell asleep with into a popsicle, but I didn’t plan on that for quite a while so I figured that I had time. Other than that I was doing well in my training sessions, though Eugene did impose a ‘no flash freezing the robots’ rule. It seems that if you freeze metal in seconds flat and then hit it that it shatters. Anyway, it seemed that I was starting to get a good handle on my abilities when Morgana finally made her move.
It was ten in the morning on Christmas Eve and Grandpa, Mervin, and I were going through a midmorning training session when Crystal came in and had Eugene stop the session. “Sorry guys,” she explained as we made our way to the living area, “But I figured that you were going to want to see this.” She rewound the tape in the old VCR Grandpa had set to record local news and hit play. The news report seemed normal enough until the anchorman was handed a card and his face went pale. “This just in, downtown Toronto has become bedlam in the wake of another attack by Arcana. Our mobile news team caught this footage before the feed cut out suddenly.” The news room was replaced with a view of Arcana standing in Nathan Phillips Square by the fifty foot tall Christmas tree. Beneath the tree my dad was trussed up in chains with a big ribbon on him like some sort of perverse Christmas gift.
“Merry Christmas Toronto, this is your future ruler speaking. I was going to wish you all a merry Christmas from my family to yours but then it occurred to me that my family isn’t complete. So until it is there will be no merry Christmas for any of you.” Her hands glowed bright violet and the view panned up to above the tree where a black portal opened and hundreds of evil looking winged gremlin type things began pouring out wearing Santa hats of all things. The camera panned back to a close-up of Arcana who had a helpless look in her eyes that was at odds with the evil smirk on her face. “I know you’re out there Jackie, so come on down to Nathan Phillips Square for some fresh baked cookies and a Christmas slay!”
“It’s a trap.” Grandpa said, voicing what all of us were thinking.
“Of course it’s a trap but we can’t sit here and do nothing, Ashley would never forgive herself if anyone dies because of this. We need to put a stop to this,” Mervin said, his eyes not leaving the screen.
“Retirement was getting boring anyway,” Eugene put in. “Let’s get suited up men. Girls come to my lab, I made some costumes for you as well. I was going to wait until tomorrow to give them to you but you’ll need to protect your identities.”
We followed Eugene into his lab while Grandpa and Mervin went to get their costumes from their bowling bags and change. Once we were inside he handed each of us a package. “These are bulletproof and as durable as I could make them, and it took some work but yours is meant to alter its molecular cohesion to suit your own Jackie. You girls go change and meet us in the living area when you’re finished.” I had no idea what he meant by that last part but it at least sounded useful.
We raced to the room that we had been sharing for the past two weeks and got out of our clothes. Crystal also put her pendant aside before getting into her costume. Hers was a black body suit and domino mask with a large crystal shaped emblem on the chest the same color as her hair. It also had a line of the same color with crystal patterns running down the left side from her underarm to her foot. “Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually putting on a costume and going to save the city.” She said in a quiet voice.
“It looks good on you Crystal and I think you’ve earned it,” I said as I slipped into my own costume. Mine was a light blue affair that covered me from my toes right up to my neck with a large white snowflake pattern that covered my right breast, shoulder and arm with the same pattern reflected on the back. In addition to the attached hood trimmed with white fur that would hide my hair and partially obscure my face, I also had a light blue domino mask. Last but not least I had a white utility belt with a snowflake buckle. I examined the small tubes that were attached to the belt to find that they were filled with water and I assumed that it was for emergencies when I had no nearby moisture to work with.
We returned to the living area to find Grandpa and the others in the costumes that they had been famous for in their day. The costumes were hanging off of them in some places and too tight in others and largely were a big neon sign advertising why old men shouldn’t wear spandex, but at the same time it gave them an air of regal confidence. I almost wished I could have seen them in their prime as I looked at them standing there: Grandpa in his bright red and yellow flame themed costume; Mervin in his silver and black costume and hooded cloak; and Eugene in his dark blue bodysuit with metal utility belt, goggles, boots, and gauntlets. “Are you girls ready to go?” Grandpa asked.
“Ready when you are Captain Inferno,” I answered without even a snicker.
“Let’s get to the roof then, “The Brain suggested. “Mervin has been checking the emergency bands. The gremlins don’t seem to be leaving Nathan Phillips Square area and most people have been evacuated without any casualties so far. We think Ashley is trying to hold them back.”
“I can’t be sure how long she can continue actively resisting Morgana though,” The Silver Sorcerer said with a sigh as he clutched the amplifier Crystal had made for him tightly, a grim look on his face.
We took the secret staircase to the roof where there was some sort of bulky looking blue aircraft with a stylized number three emblazoned on the front waiting for us. “Okay everyone let’s get aboard the Thrill Machine and kick some gremlin ass!” Grandpa exclaimed as he opened the hatch.
“I’m not calling it that,” I said with a shake of my head as I got on board and buckled in.
We arrived at Nathan Phillips Square to find it nearly abandoned except for the festive gremlins, which where destroying anything they could get their hands on. Grandpa and I decided to take the fight to them while The Brain found a landing spot so the others could join us. So once the hatch was opened we leapt out of the *sigh* Thrill Machine and flew right at the biggest group of gremlins we could find. We tore into them holding back nothing. Mervin had explained that they were a form of magic elemental and couldn’t be killed but that with enough damage they could be sent back where they came from.
Grandpa’s form might not have been solid enough to hit them but his bursts of flame were hurting them a lot, even more so when he spun around and became a raging cyclone of fire. “Way to heat things up, Captain Inferno,” I joked as I flew behind another group and let loose with my aura of cold, flash freezing them.
“Not so bad yourself youngster, the way you handled that gave me chills,” he retorted as they fell to the ground and shattered before disappearing in puffs of violet smoke.
“Well I knew they wouldn’t like me giving them the cold shoulder, but I didn’t think they would be so broken up over it.” Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a young girl maybe six years old clutching a doll as a group of gremlins closed in on her. I created a barrage of icicles and launched them at the group as I swooped in to pick up the girl and place an ice barrier between us and them. “Are you okay sweetie? What are you doing here all alone?”
“I.. I lost my dolly,” she replied in tears. “An’ when I found her mommy was gone an’ there were all these scary monsters.”
I wiped her tears with a frozen finger, “What’s your name sweetie?”
“J-jenny,” she responded amongst some sniffling.
“I’m Slush and I’m going to take you somewhere safe. I know I might be a little cold to the touch but I need you to hold on tight. Can you do that for me Jenny?” The little girl nodded and clutched me and her dolly tightly. I gripped her tight in one arm as I turned the barrier I had made into another barrage of icicles to hurl at the gremlins as I flew us toward the edge of the square where I thought I had seen a news van.
On my way there I discovered that the Thrill Machine had landed and the others had joined in the fight. The Brain was firing some sort of sticky bombs that stuck to the gremlins and exploded seconds later as they tried to dislodge them. Meanwhile the Silver Sorcerer was impaling some with shafts of silver light and knocking others from the air with gigantic silver fists. And then there was Crystal. My good friend was prancing merrily through a large gathering of the creatures, swinging away happily at them with a ginormous crystalline sword. The sword seemed to instantly dissipate any of the creatures it touched. “I’m glad you’re having fun Crystal,” I said with a chuckle, freezing some of her attackers as I flew past to deposit Jenny beside the stunned news reporter and cameraman.
“Oh you know me Slush,” she joked back. “If I couldn’t get in on the action I would be just shattered.” Her sword cleaved through the frozen gremlins, leaving nothing but tiny shards of ice in its wake.
I shook my head at the pun as I let go of Jenny. “Jenny I’m going to leave you with the nice news lady here.” Then I turned to the news lady in question. “Get this girl somewhere safe and warm and help her find her mother, it’s not safe for any of you here.”
“Who are you?” the reporter asked in awe.
“I’m Slush, now get this girl and yourselves to safety.” I took off into the air again and was about to re-join the others when I heard Grandpa’s voice through the earpiece I was wearing. “Slush, leave the gremlins to us; get to the tree and save Stonewall and Arcana. Remember it’s you that Morgana wants.”
“On my way Cap,” I replied as I made full speed toward the tree. I landed roughly twenty feet from where Arcana stood waiting for me, a dozen large icicles hovering at my command in case I needed them. “Let my mother go Morgana,” I said coldly.
I thought that I could see hope in the eyes under that mask even as the sorceress laughed as her hands glowed and she threw a spell at me. I only barely reacted in time, shifting my body from ice to water long enough for the projectile she had conjured to pass through me harmlessly. Then I pulled one of the icicles toward me as I refroze myself to fill the gaping hole in my chest. In mere seconds I was as good as new. “Oh how delightful,” Morgana said, painting a manic smile upon my mother’s lips. “You’ve become even more powerful than I had hoped.”
“I wouldn’t be so happy about that, since I came here to kick your ass,” I snapped.
“And hurt your mother?” she replied confidently. “I think we both know that you’re not ready or even able to do that.”
“I think you’ll find that I’m full of surprises,” I shot back as I flew at her with a punch. I had told Grandpa and the others that I had a plan for freeing mom. I didn’t give any of them the details on that plan though, because even I thought it was a little insane. So much of what the Thrilling Threesome had told me made sense though, and I was hoping that there was enough of their wisdom in their plan to make it work. Morgana would smell a trap if I tried to get her to release my mom without a fight. I planned to make her think that I was prepared to give her that fight and to give her just the opening that she was looking for.
With a flick of Arcana’s glowing hands I found myself held in place, my arm outstretched mid-punch, a living ice statue of defiance. “You planned to hit me?” she taunted. “That was your big surprise? Such a child you are, but children have so many strong desires. You will prove a much more suitable host than your mother was.” I could see the horror in my mother’s eyes as she removed the bracelet and placed it on my outstretched wrist.
My body was suddenly freed and laughed as Morgana took control. She reached out with my powers to freeze my mother where she stood but I fought her and flew twenty feet into the air. Morgana tried to move me but I resisted. We fought back and forth for control and suddenly I found myself inside an icy cavern facing a shadowy woman dressed in black. “Morgana,” I spat.
“Yes child, and do you know where we are?” she responded. “We’re inside your mind. It’s not a very inviting place is it? But you’ll get used to it; after all you’ll be spending the rest of your life here once I get full control of your body.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” I said crossing my arms.
“I have had more hosts than you can imagine and they have all given up in the end,” she teased.
“Mom didn’t,” I replied coldly. “No she fought you right up until the end didn’t she? And I’m willing to bet you haven’t taken over many teenagers before. One thing about us teenagers, we’re just full of rebellion.”
“Enough child, you bore me. Get it through your pretty little head right now: While you wear my bracelet I have the advantage and sooner or later I will have full control over you and your powers.”
“Oh that’s right,” I snickered. “You haven’t possessed a mutant before, have you? You’re used to using sorcery. Trust me it takes some learning to get used to this body and what it can do. Maybe a little demonstration would help. Can you guess what I’m having my body do right now? I’m flash freezing everything around me.”
“Your powers are mine now child! Every time you use them I learn more,” Morgana said with a sneer.
“Have you figured out flying yet?” I asked with a smile, “Because we’ve been doing that this whole time. Right now we’re like forty feet in the air. This is what it feels like when we stop.” I suddenly focused all my attention and all the willpower I could muster on not flying.
“What are you doing?! This won’t do you any good child, I will get control!” she shrieked.
“I’m sure you would with enough time,” I countered. “Oh, here’s a fun science fact. With a hard enough impact ice shatters. And if you freeze it quick enough, so does metal.”
The dark sorceress’ eyes shot wide open in sudden realization. I could feel her fighting for control even as we struck the ground and both my body and Morgana’s Bracelet shattered from the impact.
When I finally managed to pull myself back together and mostly re-form my body, the first thing that I was aware of was crying. Mom was kneeling nearby and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was the source of the sound. Grandpa and the others were trying to calm her down and convince her that it probably wasn’t a good time or place to have a nervous breakdown. She just knelt there though, inconsolable and clutching a large chunk of ice. Off to the side Grandpa seemed to be explaining everything that happened to my dad.
Once I was formed enough to walk again I stepped up behind my mother, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said, “Hey Mom, do you think I could have that back? I kind of need that part of me. I mean sure I could use some of the snow around here to fill that spot, but you never know where it’s been.”
Her head snapped around and she just stared at me for a long moment, tears running down her face. “Jake?!... Oh I am so sorry Jake.”
“It’s Jackie now Mom, and what do you have to feel sorry for? Wanting to protect and be with your family? That was all you wanted Mom.” I took the chunk of ice and placed it in the hole in my stomach before kneeling down to embrace her. “None of that other stuff was you, it was Morgana. I probably couldn’t have resisted her for as long as you did. You resisted her for fourteen years. The only reason that I was able to defeat her was that she needed time to figure out my body and powers and she was overconfident. But it was you who put up such a fight that she was desperate for a new host.”
“But I…” she began.
“No, Morgana did,” I insisted. “Besides I’m starting to like being a girl and if it hadn’t been for that I wouldn’t have powers now and this whole crazy plan of mine would have never worked.”
“That was reckless, stupid, and damn near gave me a heart attack,” Grandpa scolded me as he and Dad approached. “But I’m proud of you Jackie.”
It was then that Dad wrapped both me and Mom in a hug. “I’m proud of you too Ja… Jackie. Thanks for coming to my rescue. It’s going to be hard getting used to having a daughter instead of a son but I guess that just means that now I’ve got two powerful women that mean the world to me. And nobody is ever going to take either of you away from me again.”
“I hate to break up such a touching family moment,” Crystal interjected. “But it won’t be long before people figure out that the battle is over and come to see what’s up. And I don’t think they’re going to believe that Arcana was possessed this whole time.”
“Cantrip was the one who fought Arcana until Slush came to help and destroyed the source of her power. Arcana was destroyed along with it.” Mervin said with a shrug. “I think there’s enough truth in that to be believable.” A wave of his hands and Mom’s costume changed from the black and violet witch outfit to a lavender and white costume with a hooded cloak instead of a pointed hat and cape.
“But I need to pay for what I did,” my mother said with a shake of her head.
“I know you don’t want to believe this right now Ashley, but you have done nothing to be punished for,” Mervin insisted. “You fought Morgana the whole time and tried to prevent her from harming anyone and I think you’ve spent enough time punishing yourself over the past fourteen years for those homeless people. If you really feel the need to make amends, then maybe Cantrip should spend some time in local hospitals helping to heal those wounded today. It might help you to heal as well. Now let’s see about repairing some of the damage here while Michael goes to deal with the press.”
Mom nodded silently and the pair began to magically repair the damage done in the square while I found a quiet place to change back to flesh and blood. That proved to be unnecessary as much to my surprise, and relief, I was not naked when I returned to human form. My costume was still present and had seemingly suffered no damage whatsoever. I guessed that must have been what Eugene had been talking about when he mentioned molecular cohesion. When I returned from hiding I saw Dad talking to the press from a distance while Mom and Mervin magically repaired buildings and Crystal and the others cleared what rubble they could. I decided to join them and clear the snow and ice that had gotten blown into storefronts and over people’s dropped belongings.
Soon we had done all we could and the police were starting to let people back into the square again. No deaths had been reported today and for that I was very grateful, Mom didn’t need anything more to punish herself over. She and Mervin had headed to the hospitals to do what they could for any of the injured, Dad was finishing up with the police and the reporters, and Grandpa and Eugene had gone to return the Thrill Machine to the bowling alley and get a few things from the stores before they closed for the night. As for me and Crystal, we had just finished up an interview with the news lady that I had met earlier in the day.
We were about to leave when I felt a light tugging at the leg of my costume. I looked down to see the Jenny standing there, shyly holding a gift box out toward me. “She wanted to get you something for saving her, and so did I,” explained the woman standing beside her. “I’m Sarah, Jenny’s mother. Thank you for giving me my daughter back, I was afraid I had lost her.”
I was speechless as Jenny pushed the package into my hands. “Sorry that you had to save me Miss Slush. When I’m grown up I want to be a hero just like you but I don’t know if I can.”
I knelt down and took the package and gave the girl a kiss on the forehead. “You know even heroes need rescuing sometimes. A wise man once told me that the only person who can decide who and what you are is you, nobody else. But for what it’s worth, I think you’ll be a great hero someday.”
The girl beamed at me and said, “I’m gonna do my best to be just like you Miss Slush.”
I opened the package to discover a blue and white scarf with a snowflake pattern on it and smiled. “Thank you Jenny and Sarah, I will treasure it always. Have a Merry Christmas.” I wrapped it around my neck and waved goodbye as Crystal and I started off to find my dad.
“That was sweet,” Crystal said once we were out of earshot.
I blushed, a bit embarrassed at being such a softie, but still I replied, “I used to think being a hero was all about beating the bad guys and smiling for the reporters. There’s a lot more to it than that though, and I think that being that little girl’s hero is worth far more than everyone knowing my name.”
“I don’t think she could ask for a better hero than that kiddo,” she responded with a smile.
It was Christmas day and the whole family was gathered at Seacroft Mansion to celebrate the holiday together. I wasn’t used to big family gatherings since usually it was just me and my dad. This year though my family had gotten a whole lot bigger. Not only did I have my Mom now, but there was also Grandpa, Mervin, Eugene, and last but not least, Crystal. I had spent most of the day in the kitchen with my mom and Crystal as they attempted to teach me to cook a big holiday meal while the men discussed whatever it was they chose to discuss.
We had opened what gifts we had gotten one another and I nearly squealed at the snowflake shaped crystal earrings Crystal had made for me, but all in all the gifts just weren’t important. I think the most important gift was the big one that I had received the day before. My family was whole again, and together we could face anything. Now though, we had all sat down to dinner and discussion had turned to what we were going to do now. “Well we aren’t going back to Edmonton,” my father stated flatly. “There would be too much explaining to do even if we did have something left to go back to.”
“We can stay here for now,” Mom pointed out, “But I don’t like that idea for the long term. Jackie will need to go back to school sooner or later and I think I would like to live a semi-normal life again when that happens.”
“What about AMPS?” Mervin suggested.
“What the hell is AMPS?” I asked. I didn’t seem to be alone in my confusion either as from the looks on everyone’s faces only Eugene and Grandpa seemed to know what he was talking about.
“AMPS stands for Aaron Morris Private School,” Eugene explained. “It’s a school on an island up north In Hudson’s Bay devoted to mutants. A colleague of mine called Deep Blue helped found it about ten years ago. The site used to be an old naval base that they bought from the government but they have made a very nice campus there. There’s also a decent sized town that’s grown up around it. A lot of the staff lives there as well as former students and their families. In fact most of Morristown is comprised of Hypers or people who support them, from what my colleague has said.”
Mervin nodded in agreement, “Blue told me the same thing. She’s been trying to get me to come there to help teach the magically inclined students, but I’m sure she would hire you if I recommended you Ashley. You and Jackie could probably both start up in September when the new school year starts. Until then you could stay here or try to find a place in Morristown.”
“I’ll bet you Morristown or the school itself could use a good engineer too,” Grandpa put in while looking pointedly at Dad.
Mom and Dad both seemed to be considering the idea and I had to admit it did have some appeal. I did have some reservations though. “A whole town full of mutants? That sounds kind of cool, but I just got used to being here with you guys and Crystal.”
“You don’t have to leave right this minute,” Crystal said as she reached over and ruffled my hair. “And we can always talk on the phone and visit one another. Who knows, maybe I’ll decide to check out Morristown too and see if I like it enough to stay.” It did give us something to think about as we talked over dinner. It was entirely possible that we would indeed move to this Morristown and that I would go to school with others like myself, but at the moment I was more concerned with enjoying the holidays with my family. Besides, my future, whatever it might be, is a story for another time.
![]() |
Following his battle with Terawatt Null was in critical condition when he received an offer he couldn't refuse. Is the enemy of his enemy his friend, or has he made a deal with the devil?
Amethyst |
Was the girl I had been fighting for the past ten minutes completely insane? I just cancelled out her powers and now she was laughing hysterically. “What’s so funny?” I asked, “Did you only just now realize that you’re unarmed?”
The purple haired girl was far too confident for my liking. Sure she had fought me to a standstill so far, but this fight was only just getting started and I didn’t need a gun to kill a person, I could do just as well with my knife or bare hands. She shook her head and laughed again before replying to my question. “No, I was just thinking that you just made the biggest mistake of your life. Illora Fituonë Anphoduse!”
In retrospect, she was one hundred percent right; It had been the biggest mistake of my life, and I would live to regret it more than I could have ever possibly imagined then. I wasn’t sure at the time what she was doing or saying, but I make it a habit to make quick kills of anyone who happens to be chanting and glowing. I threw my knife, aiming right between the little bitch’s eyes as I moved to the side.
She dodged, but that didn’t really surprise me. She was quick and agile, enough so that she had been giving me trouble in our fight, and I was reminded of that by the pain in my left leg. Those lighting blasts of hers had been troublesome and the spot where she had hit me still felt like it was on fire. I had succeeded though, in distracting her enough to make her miss me. Whatever that force blast was went wide and instead of hitting me, it hit the stove.
At the time I was really glad it hadn’t hit me, it probably would have broken most the bones in my body if it had connected. As it was it blew apart the stove and left a big hole in the wall behind it, displaying broken concrete and exposed wires. It was during my brief period of relief at not being turned to mush that I smelled rotten eggs. What was she thinking?! She’d kill us both. “You fool that’s a gas stove! It’s going to blow!” I shouted.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion then. I wanted to turn and run, but I made sure to keep my eyes on the girl as I made my way to the door of the condo. If I took my eyes off the little bitch her powers would return and if she gave off one little spark we’d both be blown to smithereens. As soon as she heard me say gas I could see the realization in her eyes, and she turned into what looked like a pixie and made for the broken window. I would have gone after her but I was still hoping to live through this and that was unlikely if I was forced to jump off a twenty-plus story balcony, besides the door was closer. I had made it to the door and I was turning the knob behind my back as my adversary made it to the balcony. That was when the exposed wiring sparked and my life was consumed in the fireball that followed.
I don’t know how much time had passed; time becomes an enemy when your entire world consists of darkness and pain. There was one good thing about the pain though; it let me know that I was still alive, and if I was still alive then I could find a way to make that bitch pay. It was the pain and hate that drove me and imagined scenarios that resulted in her death that filled the darkness. She had stolen everything from me, and I would not allow myself to die until she had suffered as I was. I had heard the doctors talking when I had woken. The scarring from the burns would likely be terrible, I would probably lose my left arm, and maybe a leg as well. Worse yet, the explosion and resulting shrapnel had blinded me, taking away both my sight and my power. Now I was a mutilated freak; robbed of everything I had; sight, limbs, power, good looks, and worst of all, my destiny.
Everyone has a destiny, especially Hypers. I had realized that from the moment Gaia had activated my powers. Gaia’s destiny was to enable people like me to fulfill our destinies. She tried to convince me we were Gods and that we should rule humans, but ruling over the weak had no appeal for me, the weak are nothing to me, there’s nothing there to crush. My destiny was to end the destinies of the powerful; taking away their strength, and killing the un-killable. And then that little bitch took it all away.
I was trying to decide how to make her suffer the most; she didn’t seem the type to be concerned for herself. She was the hero type, the kind that can’t bear to see the suffering of others. She probably could have killed me before the gas if she didn’t have a conscience. The fact that she had been working with that overgrown Boy Scout Paragon seemed to support this. That was her weakness. If I wanted to truly make her suffer I would have to make her watch others suffer, preferably those closest to her. Then once I had destroyed everything and everyone she held dear I would kill her slowly and savor every tear and every scream.
I hadn’t heard anyone come in, but a voice interrupted my musings, it was an unfamiliar male voice, reedy and nasally and he sounded like one of the nerds I used to beat up in high school as he said, “It seems that we have a common enemy. I would like to join forces.”
He wasn’t one of the doctors or a cop then. “I don’t… work for free, and you… couldn’t… afford me,” I managed to reply through the pain. My voice was raspy and strained… weak.
“You wouldn’t be much use to me as you are anyway, so I propose a deal: If you agree to work for me, I will use the technology that I have available to give you a new body, one that will be a match for that Fae girl.”
Was he a Tinker? Was he talking about cybernetics or something? He wasn’t telling me everything so I asked, “What’s… the catch?”
“I can’t be certain how much of the technology I have still works properly,” he admitted. “The maintenance bots have kept most of it in good shape, but it has been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for quite some time. That is why I need a volunteer.”
I had accepted the offer of the man who I now knew called himself interface. What choice did I have really, if I wanted to get my revenge on that purple-haired freak? There was a strange feeling of warmth before the sterile smell of the hospital room was replaced with a similarly sterile, but somewhat stale smell. The surface I was on had changed as well, the hospital bed had been uncomfortable, but now it felt like I was lying on a metal slab. “Welcome to Atlantis,” Interface said, “you can’t see it now, but I assure you it’s very impressive.”
Then the moron took advantage of the fact that I couldn’t move to drone on and on about the ship we were on. “Unlike the legends say, Atlantis wasn’t a city; it was a starship belonging to an ancient space-faring people called the Lemurians who came to Earth around six thousand years ago. They were a highly advanced race and possessed advanced robotics, cybernetics, weaponry, matter transport systems, and genetic manipulation techniques. They even had developed some sort of brain implants that allowed them to control their technology directly with mental commands. Ships, robots, weapons, all of them were controlled this way.”
“If they… were all controlled… through these implants, how is it… that you have… access to them?” I asked. I wanted him to shut up and do what he promised so I could be done with all the pain I was in, but knowledge is power and trust is for the weak. I thought that I might have a use for that technology if I could dispose of him later.
“I’m a Hyper like you,” he replied with an indignant snort. “We can thank the Lemurians for that, but I’ll get into that later. My powers activated when one of the robots from this ship tried to kill me. I’m a technopath. I can control Lemurian technology without the use of an implant. I can also absorb and understand data from their technology, including the ships archives, which is how I learned about them and why they were here.” I didn’t even need to ask about that, the fool seemed to love to hear himself talk, and I was a captive audience. “The Lemurians came to Earth using the three ships; the Lemuria, the Mu, and the Atlantis, to research the local residents. Specifically they were looking for slaves, and they had some moral issues for using their own people in that way.”
“Why?” I asked simply. I was in too much pain now to say much more than that. If they had all that tech at their mental beck and call, why did they need slaves? If it was just for menial work then robots would have surely been able to do that.
He seemed to understand what I was asking because he replied, “It’s pretty simple actually. You see, they discovered what I have recently discovered. Robots need standing orders or direct commands, and they will keep attempting to fulfill those orders in the most direct way possible until those orders are completed, changed or they are destroyed. If conditions change they lack the ability to act on their own initiative to achieve an objective. They can’t analyze situations, prioritize, or think creatively near as well as people do. Unless the Lemurians wanted to be constantly overseeing things themselves, they needed someone who had those qualities to do it. There are other reasons as well, such as physical pleasure or as a display of one’s social standing.”
Interface decided to give me the whole story right then and there. Couldn’t the stupid nerd wait until after he had me fixed up? In their search for sentient people to use as slaves they came to Earth and were fortunate enough to come across two species. Humans were only just barely starting to use written languages then so they were considered smart enough, but not too smart. They also were fairly adaptable and bred quickly. The Fae though already had a thriving culture, some could change forms to suit various environments, and they were as long-lived as the Lemurians themselves, so they decided to try using them first.
The Fae came with a huge downside though; Many had powerful magic and they all had innate abilities that proved troublesome. They were also mischievous, had breeding problems, didn’t take well to being hunted down and treated like livestock, and held a grudge like nothing the Lemurians had ever seen before. It didn’t take them long to realize that keeping Fae as slaves on their own home world would only be asking for trouble, so they turned their attention to humans, sort of.
In studying the Fae, Lemurian geneticists thought that they had isolated a chromosome that was responsible for their near immortality and innate abilities. They were hoping to have the best of both worlds, long lived slaves who could breed easily and adapt to any environment. They used Changeling DNA to create a modified version of that chromosome and artificially added it to the DNA of humans they had captured from various areas and planned to breed. The results were not what they hoped for. For one thing none of the resultant children ended up showing any sign of an extended lifespan. Secondly, the chromosomes didn’t activate at all in some of the children, and of those who did activate during puberty the results were unpredictable. Some took on strange forms, while others gained dangerous powers, sometimes both. In the end those children had managed to escape using those powers and the Lemurians lost track of them.
It was after that failure that the geneticists managed to discover where they had made their mistake. Humans activated during stress, not because it was in their nature to do so, and they hadn’t coded the chromosome to give specific results. They had also discovered a way to neutralize the more dangerous abilities of the Fae’s genetic make-up and fix the sterility issue many of the Fae faced. They created a group of Fae hybrid clones that suited their needs perfectly: Long-lived, able to reproduce at a geometric rate, and without troublesome magic or magical abilities. The only problem was that they had used growth acceleration on the first batch and the adult clones had no life experience or knowledge, they were just empty shells.
By this time the research colony had been fighting bitterly with the Fae for nearly a hundred years, and it was taking its toll on both sides. It was decided that the Lemurians would leave with the fruits of their labor and their few remaining human specimens, whose minds they would transfer to the bodies of their prototype slaves. The Atlantis’ main engines though, had been damaged beyond repair by one of their research subjects who had escaped. So when the Lemurians decided to return home with their new slaves and research still somewhat intact, they had towed the ship to somewhere they hoped the local residents wouldn’t find it. Since then it had remained there at the bottom of the ocean, with instructions to destroy any humans or Fae that came too close.
Interface had been an aspiring treasure hunter with a love of antiques two years ago, and he had been searching for sunken treasure off the coast of Florida when a storm hit. His boat had been knocked off course and drifted into the Bermuda Triangle. Although the starship had been left behind thousands of years ago the maintenance drones had been keeping it in good repair and the defense systems were still activated. The cloaking device causes an electromagnetic disturbance around the Atlantis and it had interfered with several of the boat’s electronics, including the navigation system. Then the weapon systems activated and destroyed his boat forcing him to abandon ship. When a scout robot came to confirm that the boat’s occupant was destroyed along with it. Interface’s powers activated as a result of that encounter and he discovered a treasure greater than he had ever imagined.
He had moved his collection to the ship and lived there now, using his technology to steal antiques and unique items. A week ago the ships sensors had picked up a temporal anomaly on the planet. The Lemurians had had an interest in time travel, but they never really got anywhere with it. The nerd just had to check it out, hoping that he would find some time travel device or something. Instead he found the purple haired girl with some other kids. He wanted to add her to his collection, probably because elves gave him a hard-on or something, so he ended up fighting them and lost. He lost to a bunch of kids, what a wuss.
The temporal signal had been weakening since it had appeared so he had tried again not long before my fight with her. The idiot lost again, but at least this time he had instructed a small scout probe to follow her from a discreet distance in case she got away. It seemed that Paragon had discovered that probe while she was fighting me though and destroyed it. That was when the temporal signal vanished as well, so he figured that the girl who called herself Terawatt was the source and had either vanished after our battle or merged with our timeline. He thought it was the latter and I had to as well, because as long as she was still here I could kill her.
Finally after giving me his entire fucking life story, in what he assured me was a fully equipped medical bay, Interface had the medical drone sedate me and begin the procedure which would make me powerful again. He also assured me that my new body would be able to keep up physically with the Fae bitch and that the Atlantis’ matter generator would give me access to weapons, exo-suits, robots, or anything else I might need to defeat her. I fell asleep to thoughts of killing her slowly.
When my awareness returned, the first thing I noticed was that the stale sterile smell was much stronger than before, I could hear machines in the background too, and it was so clear. Before I went to sleep it was like I could hear them but they were too faint to discern what they were, I could even hear the hum of what I thought might be electricity. My sense of touch seemed to be in overdrive as well; I was in a bed now, though it wasn’t very comfortable, and I could feel the fibers in the sheets. The second thing I noticed took my attention away from my unnaturally keen senses though, I felt some sort of weight on my chest, a weight that was jiggling whenever I shifted my weight.
I sat straight up and out of habit opened my eyes to look down at whatever was causing the sensation. That proved to be a mistake. The first thing that I saw in the crystal clarity my new enhanced vision was a pair of cream colored breasts with pink nipples, and they were connected to me. I thought at first that I must have been imagining it so I brushed a long slender finger one of the nipples experimentally. The action informed me of two very important things: One, they were definitely real and connected to me, and two, they were extremely sensitive. I actually arched my back and my eyes rolled back in my head from the pleasure of the sensation.
“Those might be a little sensitive,” Interface’s voice said from across the room. “The archives say that was one of the models slated for pleasure and breeding.”
I looked past the bed I was in and the machines around it toward the sound of the voice. Once I had brushed aside the long black hair that had gotten in my eyes, I saw a skinny ginger haired man who looked to be in his late twenties, dressed casually in khakis and a black t-shirt that said, “There are 10 types of people, those who understand binary and those who don’t.” Just like I thought, he was a nerd, six foot nothing with no physique to speak of. I could take him easily, if I had to but it would be easier if he couldn’t call out to his machines for help. I focused my ‘look’ on him trying to find the source of his power and cancel it out, but nothing happened, I couldn’t even sense his powers.
“What the fuck did you do to me!?!” I yelled, but it came out as more of a shriek.
“I gave you a new body as I promised,” he answered, still leaning casually against the wall. “Yours had seen a bit of mileage. Sadly whatever powers you may have had are gone, those were genetic and lost when I had your old body destroyed. If you want specifics I had the medical drone place you in a machine that the Lemurians used to use to move on to new younger bodies when they started getting old. It transferred your consciousness, and all the data contained in your brain, to the body you’re in now.”
Shit. I had been thinking he was going to use cybernetics or something, or that I would I would still have a way to use my powers, but that didn’t look likely. If this was a different body then my own and it had tits then that meant… I reached down between my legs and found, instead of the equipment I was used to, a moist slit. Why the fuck am I chick, you pencil-necked piece of shit?!”
Interface looked annoyed with me, not that I gave a crap. “Do you think unoccupied bodies just grow on trees? If I hadn’t done that you’d be dead by now, the medical drone gave you less than a two percent chance of surviving the night in your old body. The facilities to create clones and accelerate the aging of them were on one of the other two ships, the Atlantis was a supply ship. It was mostly brought for storage of important cargo and the matter generator it contains. I had to use one of the three prototype slave bodies that the Lemurians left behind in stasis, probably in case they decided to come back to retrieve this ship and its contents.”
“You put me in one of the slave bodies?! Weren’t there any male ones?” I snapped.
“There was one, but this one is so much better looking. If you’re going to be staying here and working for me I would much rather have a bit of eye candy around,” he told me with a faint smile and a shrug. You won’t always be out collecting things for me, and I’m sure I can think of something to do with you during those quiet times.” He laughed and leered at me as he said the last.
“You son of a bitch!” I screamed as I launched myself out of the bed and across the room to grab him by the throat. Weak girl body or not I was going to kill him.
He just regarded me calmly as my hands squeezed around his neck. -= Let go and don’t move, except to drop your hands to your sides. =- I heard his voice, but his lips weren’t moving. What surprised me even more than that though was the fact that my hands had indeed released their grip and dropped to my sides.
“What the…” I began to say as I stared at him in confusion.
“That was the override feature,” he told me with a smug expression. “It’s a cybernetic command receiver, like they use in their robots and other technology, and it’s hooked directly into your nervous system. If I give you a direct order through that it bypasses your brain and your body acts out the order, whether you want it to or not. It also prevents you from disobeying any standing orders I happen to give you.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment before I heard his voice in my mind again. -= The following orders are permanent. You will never attempt to kill or harm me again. You will never attempt to kill the Fae girl either; only capture her when I command it. You will never attempt to harm or damage your new body in any way or damage anything contained in this ship. You will not attempt to run away or hide from me at any time or leave the Atlantis without my knowledge. You will also never use any of the robots or other equipment available to you to try to do any of those things. =-
How dare he treat me like some sort of slave! I may not have been able to move, but I could still yell. “I am Null you fucking geek! You can’t do this to me! It’s my destiny to kill wannabe gods like you!”
He smiled at me like a cat that just ate a canary and had a second one in his sights. He had put me in my place, but he wasn’t satisfied yet. He wanted to make sure I knew that he was in charge. “That might have been Null’s destiny, but he’s dead, your mind is all that remains of him. You’re Upgrade now; you were created to serve the master of this ship. I will decide your destiny from now on.”
He still felt the need to convince me, and probably himself as well, that he was in charge. -= There are some clothes and a mirror on the table beside your bed, take a good look at your new self and then get dressed while I tell you about the other features that have been added to your new body. =-
He began telling me then about all the added features of my new body, like he was selling me a car or something: I had the inherent physical abilities of the Fae and while I couldn’t use magic and had no magical abilities like they did, I had a number of cybernetic devices implanted inside me. There was the command receiver, an implant what would allow me to control whatever weapons and gear that Interface keyed for my use, and a retrieval beacon for the matter transfer system to lock onto if I needed a quick getaway. There was also a data recording device in my head that would record and store as data everything I saw and experienced. I assumed that Interface had a way to access that data, since it would be useless collecting it otherwise.
As I quietly listened to him explain all these things ( I didn’t really have much choice in the matter after he ordered me to keep my mouth shut) my body moved of its own volition, carrying out the commands he had given me. Getting ‘a good look’ at myself with only a hand mirror was difficult, but I saw enough to hate what I was seeing. I looked to be in my early twenties, but I knew from the myths that Fae don’t really age like we do. My face was framed by long black hair, and it looked like an elf’s, right down to the long pointy ears. High and thin arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, dark brown eyes with slit pupils, and porcelain skin over classically pretty features made me appear attractive in a far more feminine way than I was comfortable with.
I looked like a weak girl and it riled me. I was eye candy, just like he had said. Even my body looked weak with its tall willowy frame. There wasn’t an ounce of muscle on me, I was pale, and I looked to be in desperate need of a sandwich. The only not-terrible thing was that my breasts were fairly small. I wasn’t going to complain about that, at least I didn’t look like some big titted comic-book reject like the bitch who had put me in this situation.
I was going to kill her somehow; I was going to kill both of them. I fumed over that as I put on the clothes that were on the table, a nerd t-shirt, sweatpants and sneakers that didn’t fit too badly. The moment I was dressed Interface apologized about the clothes, promising/threatening that he would take me shopping for some clothes of my own soon. Then he took me for a guided tour of the Atlantis. Actually he just ordered me to follow him and pointed out everything as we walked and I suffered in silence.
-= You may speak and move freely again. =- The ‘command’ was issued as we entered a large storage room filled with ancient weapons, suits of armor, statues, oriental rugs, paintings, an antique four poster bed, an equally old looking armoire, various other antiques, and some strange objects I had never seen before. I still couldn’t strangle the life out of him like I really wanted to, (I tried, but my body just wouldn’t let me do it.) but at least I didn’t feel like a fucking remote controlled robot. Interface chose that time to tell me, “This is my display room; I keep all of my collectibles in here. You will be staying here as well, and you can use the bed and armoire. I will assign two service bots to you and they will provide anything you might need. We will need to get you clothes, bedding, and other necessities soon though. You’ll need a name you can use in public for that, I can’t call you Upgrade if we’re shopping or eating out.”
“As if I would want to be seen in public looking like this, let alone with you, besides you’re just going to name me whatever the hell you want anyway.” I wasn’t going to play his game.
“Fine then,” he pouted, “whenever we’re not working I’m calling you Nell.” He stressed the name as the pout returned to a smile.
“Fuck you,” I said, giving him the finger for good measure as I plopped down on the bed and glowered at him.
It didn’t seem to bother him. He just shrugged it off as he retorted, “You seem stressed. We’ll go shopping tomorrow, that should help. Maybe we can make a day of it and take you to the salon to get your hair and nails done too. I’ve never seen the appeal of those activities myself, but you girls seem to enjoy them.”
I wanted to throw something at him, preferably one of the plethora of pointy weapons in the room, but the standing orders wouldn’t let me, so I could only glare at him and fume. I had never felt so powerless before, so completely at the mercy of someone else. I had never felt so weak. Was this what my life would be like from now on? The thought made me sick, worse yet it made me feel like crying. I didn’t cry, but I think Interface realized just how much he had gotten to me as I laid on my side and said, “Leave me the fuck alone.”
“If you insist,” he replied with a smug grin. “I’ll give you some time alone to think about your situation. It’s going to take me some time to find the Fae girl again without the temporal signal anyway. In the meantime, please make yourself at home; after all, you are part of the collection.” Then he turned and walked out the door, leaving me alone with all his other possessions.
Kevin's whole life is turned upside down when he gets turned into a copy of the girl he's in love with. Can he get over her and adjust to his new life as Katrina? And what will happen when his best friend James starts showing an interest in him?
Amethyst |
Sirens were blaring and emergency lights flashing as the whole building seemed to shake. My mom, dressed in her signature red and white costume shouted, “Intruders?! Tom, what the hell’s going on?!”
“Someone used some sort of extra-planar travel to pass through our main defenses and right into the training room and someone’s overridden the Vault door,” the muscular blond man in the black and green bodysuit who went by the codename Sonic replied as his fingers flew across the instrument panels. “Cameras are down Laura, but from what I saw before they went down it looked like the Foul Four.”
“Shit!” my mom cursed. “Clarice, get Kevin to the safe room and come join us at the training room as soon as you can. Tom, where are Peter and Gina?”
“Pete was already in the training room, so I assume he’s engaged the enemy. Gina was in sickbay and she’s on her way there now. Let’s go give them a hand taking out the trash,” the speedster replied before moving out the door faster than I could blink. My mom shifted form into a cheetah and took off right on his heels.
“Come on Kevin, let’s get you to the safe room,” Clarice said, taking my hand in her own furry one and leading the way down the hall. As you can probably tell this was far from a normal afternoon for your typical fifteen year old high school kid. My buddy James would never believe this, even if I could tell him. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t share with him the fact that while he was working on cars after school that Wednesday, I was hanging out with the super hero set and learning my future trade. You see my mom is Makeshift and she’s the leader of the Sentries, Canada’s premiere super hero team, so my life has never been what anyone could call normal. With my mom and dad being Hypers and both my sister Tara and I having dormant H Chromosomes we had met some pretty interesting people in our short lives.
Take my mom’s teammates for instance. Tom was known as Sonic and had the power of super speed, Gina was some sort of mage who goes by the name Rune, and Peter, with his, strength, speed and big sword, was called Edge. Then there was Clarice, who I thought was the coolest of them all. She was known as Wildthing due to her unique appearance, that of a real live cat-girl with all the abilities of a cat. Clarice was the youngest of the Sentries at nineteen years old and to be honest I loved everything about her. She was beautiful in an exotic way, strong, really nice, and despite having a difficult past, she still did her best to help others, she was perfect.
Yes I knew that I was crushing on her big time, but I thought, and hoped, that I might someday have a chance with her. I may have only been fifteen but I had been told that I was pretty good looking, a lot like a young Samuel L. Jackson, and there were a few girls at my school that seemed to be interested in me. We were almost at the safe room when something huge and black came rushing toward us. It was like a twenty foot long centipede, boasting close to a hundred legs, each tipped with lethal looking talons and a gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth.
If I doubted that the attackers were the Foul Four before, that doubt evaporated in the face of the hideous creature before us. The Foul Four consisted of Professor Panic, Alloy, Amazon, and Terror and that was definitely the work of Terror. I had read up on all of my Mom’s major enemies and each of the four was a major villain in their own right. Terror for example, feeds on fear and has the ability to summon nightmarish creatures. She nearly took over the city once with an army of the things before the Sentries stopped her. “Damn,” Clarice cursed. “I’ll take care of this thing Kevin; you get to the safe room.”
The creature spat something at us and while Clarice nimbly avoided it I backpedaled and fell on my ass, narrowly avoiding the acid that started to eat away at the floor with a hissing sound. It was times like this that I really wished I had powers of my own. Okay, so this kind of thing has never really happened before, but I was really wishing I had powers at the moment. I couldn’t conceive of what my own powers might one day be, but my mom and all of her teammates had awesome powers and right now I’d be glad to have even a copy of any of theirs. Clarice might not be extremely powerful, but even her speed and agility and such were useful in our current situation. I was distracted from that thought though, as more creatures began to move toward us.
I felt hot all of a sudden and there was some sort of pulling sensation coming from Clarice, a sort of presence that I couldn’t ignore. I could feel it coming from the general direction of the training room too, but it felt so far away and it seemed much stronger with Clarice. There was something there inside her, some kind of warm energy, and I instinctively latched on to it. The heat, the presence and the energy all took a back seat as pain enveloped my entire existence. I felt like my bones were being compressed in some places and stretched in others and my flesh felt like molten lead, heavy and burning with an unimaginable heat, as it flowed into a new form.
Then it was over and I lay there sprawled out on the floor gasping for air as I tried to move. Whatever just happened, I was pretty sure I never wanted to go through it again as I looked up in a daze at my surroundings. Another creature, this one all wings and teeth was flying toward me and I could make out Clarice yelling at me to move. Again, I reacted on instinct. I leaped back into the air and flipped back onto all fours, skidding back a bit as I hit the floor. What in the hell did I just do?
There was no time to think about it, or the fact that, judging from the weight on my chest and the black fur I saw covering my arms, I seemed to be a cheap copy of Wildthing. Regardless, I wondered briefly if I was some sort of metamorph like my mom, but able to come up with rough copies of other mutants forms and powers. I quickly shoved the thought aside as I used my current agility to dodge another attack from the flying creature. Clarice backed away from the creature she was fighting, after raking her claws across its eyes, to grab my arm. “Screw this, fighting these things isn’t going to do any good and they’ve cut us off from the safe room, we need to find Terror and knock her out. Let’s get to the training room.”
She pulled me along another hallway and we started moving toward the training room. My clothes were hanging awkwardly in places due to my tail and the fact that I probably lost about five inches in height and quite a bit of mass since I seemed a bit shorter than Clarice now with a nearly identical build. I figured there wasn’t much we could do about my clothes at the moment though, since there were more important matters to attend to. As we got closer to the training room the large pulling sensation became stronger before branching off into eight separate sources, each with a different feel to the energy. We paused as we entered the door to get an idea what the situation was while Clarice sniffed at the air.
Amazon and Edge were battering at one another with swords, but it looked like he was starting to overwhelm her, while my mom had turned into a grizzly bear and she and Sonic were doing their best to reach Terror through a small battalion of nightmare creatures. Meanwhile, Rune appeared to be throwing every spell she could think of at Alloy’s metal form, trying to at least keep him occupied. Now where was Professor Panic? That question was quickly answered when an energy beam erupted from behind a damaged control console outside the Vault, hit Clarice, and sent her flying.
He was dressed in his usual lab coat, some sort of goggles, and the metal gloves he was wearing seemed to be charging for another attack as Professor Panic gave me a cold smile. “I wasn’t aware that Wildthing had kittens, this is really why people should spay or neuter their pets. A black cat hmmm? Maybe I’ll adopt you, are you litter trained?”
To my surprise I hissed at him and I could feel my fur standing on end. “Very funny asshole, I’m one black cat that you are about to wish never crossed your path.”
“Unlikely,” he replied as he aimed his hand at me and fired another blast. Unlike Clarice I had time to react though, and I quickly leaped out of the way. He followed it up with a volley of his explosive darts and I was having a hell of a time avoiding the small explosions as I tried to get closer to him. The problem was solved for me though as Sonic seemed to appear from nowhere to deliver a blow to the back of the villain’s head.
“Wait, you’re not Wildthing… what the…” Sonic began to say.
I cut him off, “I’ll explain later, help mom take out Terror; she’s the biggest threat. I’ll try to help Rune with Alloy.” The hero gave me a confused look before dashing off to help my mom. I followed suit and made my way toward where Rune was still peppering the metal man with offensive spells. I could feel the energy inside them both as I got closer; Alloy’s felt cold and hard while Rune’s was warm and wildly chaotic. The chaos intimidated me a bit so I reached out with whatever sense I was using to sense this energy and latched on to Alloy’s.
To my complete surprise I didn’t have to go through another painful change, and as I looked down I realized why. I was still a cat-girl or at least a metallic statue of one. My fur, claws, and seemingly everything else had turned to the same silvery metal that Alloy himself was composed of. Was I copying both sets of powers at once? This might have some possibilities. I leaped at the villain from behind delivering a punch that staggered him and caused a massive *BONG* to ring out. It was like being inside of a church bell going off and had Rune, Alloy, and myself covering our ears.
When I uncovered my ears I became aware of two things: Mom and Sonic had apparently knocked out Terror, because all of the creatures around us had vanished, and Professor Panic had gotten back to his feet. The latter quickly shouted, “Alloy, get Terror and Amazon, we’ve got what we came for!” The metal behemoth turned and ran to scoop up the two women and the four villains disappeared from sight.
Every eye in the room suddenly turned to me and I felt very uncomfortable. These were my friends, an extended family of sorts and they were all looking at me suspiciously, especially my mom. “Who are you and what did you do with the real Wildthing?” she asked.
“I’m right here,” Clarice’s voice sounded from the doorway as she staggered into the room holding her head. “Ow my friggin’ head… That’s Kevin.”
I tried my best to look at my mother’s startled face as I added, “Hey Mom, a funny thing happened on the way to the safe room.”
It seemed like everyone was busy but me. Gina was treating Clarice’s injuries while the cat-girl rested, Tom was trying to get an assessment made of the damages done and do some basic repairs, Peter was in the Vault trying to find out what was stolen, and Mom was going over the security footage to try to figure out if I really was her son and not some figment of Clarice’s concussed imagination. “I should be helping with things too,” I complained as I watched Gina place a final healing spell on Clarice while I tried to get comfortable. Chairs are just not made to accommodate people with tails,
“You’re going to help kiddo,” Gina assured me as she took a seat beside me. “Now that Clarice is tended to, I can move on to item two on my now very busy schedule, which is figuring out your mutation, or at the very least why you take after Clarice so much. I’d like to take some blood samples, but that’s going to be a bit difficult in your current state, do you think you can lose the metal look?”
I had been wondering about that myself, I could still feel Alloy’s cold hard energy somewhere inside me and after a moment’s search I found it and tried to push it away from me. I grinned as I changed from metal back to the black furred form. Now if I could just find the cozy warmth of Wildthing’s energy and push that away too I would be in business. I looked around inside me but I couldn’t seem to find it. I could feel it coming from Clarice sleeping nearby but it just wasn’t there inside me anymore. I began to panic, “Oh shit! I can’t find it! It’s not there!”
Gina placed a hand on my shoulder and I could feel a sense of calm starting to take effect, “Calm down Kevin,” the mage encouraged me, “What’s not there? Explain to me what’s going on, so I can help you. Start from the beginning.”
The calmness settled over me completely and I nodded as I began to explain what had happened, the energy that everyone seemed to have, and how I could seem to latch on to it and hold it inside me or push it away like I just had. I finished by saying, “I can’t find Clarice’s power in me anymore, it’s like it’s vanished.”
“It’s pretty obvious that your power is to copy the power of other mutants,” Gina replied after a moment’s thought. “This sense of yours seems to tell you who has powers to copy and you should be able to use it to sense other mutants as well, that could be handy. How soon after you started sensing this energy did you copy Clarice’s abilities?”
“I don’t know, it was like I sensed her power and then instinctively grabbed on to it all in the same instant, everything was happening so fast,” I answered uncertainly.
“Well, shit,” she cursed.
“Shit? What do you mean shit? Shit is never a good thing.” I was starting to panic again.
I felt that calming energy again as she squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll need to run some tests to be sure, but you may be stuck like this. Clarice’s form is part of her powers so when you copied them your body may have tried to copy the form too. If your Archetype was still forming, it’s possible that it defaulted to her Archetype or one that’s very similar.”
“But why would it do that? I’m a guy, not a girl,” I insisted.
“Three reasons come to mind,” she explained as she began to prepare a needle to take blood samples. “One, is that it would be the path of least resistance. Copying the powers and form of someone so physiologically different would be very hard on your body and doing it in reverse would be just as hard so it tried to spare your body that stress. Reason number two, her Archetype was handy when you latched on to her powers one body template is as good as any other for an Archetype. By taking hers it didn’t have to spend time coming up with one custom suited to you while you were in mortal danger, allowing you the full scope of your abilities faster. And the last reason is your obvious crush on Clarice.”
“I don’t…” I tried to deny the fact but her arched eyebrow and the sting of the needle as she found a vein under my fur stopped that protest.
She began drawing blood and gave me a stern look. “It was obvious to anyone in the same room as you two, the way you’ve been making goo-goo eyes at her. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you’re a teenage boy, it happens. The problem is that when we have a crush on someone we don’t tend to see their faults, we see them as perfect.”
“How can seeing only the good in someone be a problem?” I asked in confusion.
“In your case it was a big problem,” she pointed out. “Archetypes are formed from the conscious and unconscious mind to choose a compatible form. You saw Clarice as perfect and it didn’t matter to your H Chromosomes why you saw her that way. Perfect is perfect and therefore must be compatible, so that combined with those other reasons probably sealed the deal.”
“So I’m stuck like this?” I asked, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. I had wanted to be with Clarice, not be her.
“Not precisely,” she admitted with a sigh. “If your power really is to copy another mutant’s powers you should be able to copy your mother’s metamorphic abilities. We’ll need to find out what the limits of your powers are though and I advise you not to hold on to who you used to be. This is probably you now and you need to adjust to that, hiding in your old form will only make things harder.”
We were both quiet after that. Gina ran some quick tests, both magical and medical and then left to start working on the analysis of my blood. As soon as she left the room Clarice’s voice spoke out. “I thought she’d never leave.”
I turned to stare at the woman I was in love with, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat as I squeaked out, “How much did you…”
“I heard enough,” she responded as she turned her head on the pillow to look me over sadly. “I know this probably feels like the worst time in the world for me to say this, but I think you need to hear it now. I’m flattered Kevin, really I am, but things could never work out between us, especially now that you’re a girl. You have a lot you need to get used to now and it’ll be hard enough for you without holding on to something that will never happen. We can be close, just not in that way. I’ve always wanted a kid sister, so if you need to talk about anything I’ll always be there for you, if you can’t handle that then I’ll try to give you some space.”
It felt like my heart was being torn into little pieces. I was hurt so badly and yet, as bad as the kid sister comment rankled; I didn’t want to lose her. She seemed to see the emotions warring on my face. “I’m so sorry Kevin, I should have tried to let you down easy… I guess tact has never been my strong suit. She is right though, you are going to have to go through so many changes in your life, and you need to move forward, not be stuck in the past. I meant it though, I’ll be there for you if you need me, and you can ask me anything if it’ll help you to adjust.”
Clarice was usually so private about her past, usually not saying much other than she had been hurt a lot. I would have been a fool not to take the opportunity to learn more about her and my own current situation. I wanted to know more, but I was afraid to say anything, afraid that I might hurt one or both of us. I had so many questions, but I wasn’t sure where to start. How does one ask, ‘so what’s it like being a cat-girl?’ without sounding like an ass?
Again I was saved from having to say anything as Clarice sighed. “You’re probably wondering what you’re in for, how things will change for you. I probably can’t help you much there, I’ve always been a girl and I barely remember a time when I wasn’t furry. You see, when I was little I had severe social anxiety. When I was four my parents were worried about it and thought that the solution was to get me to interact more with kids my age. One of those attempts was a Halloween costume party. My mom bought me a princess costume, but I had wanted to be a kitty. Being a four year old faced with something I really didn’t want to do, especially if I couldn’t even do it on my own terms, I had a meltdown. I kept screaming ‘I wanna be a kitty!’ as the fear of social interaction got worse. My H Chromosomes couldn’t take the emotional stress I was going through, so they granted my desire in an offhanded way.”
My own torment was momentarily forgotten as I stared at her. “You activated when you were four?!”
She propped herself up on an elbow and nodded. “Yup, so I grew up like this. The irony is that it cured my fear of social interaction, I wanted to go out and interact with people, but my parents locked me up tight. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house at all, they moved my bed into the basement, home schooled me, I had to stay downstairs when they had company over, and I wasn’t even allowed to use the internet without supervision for fear that I might bring too much attention to myself. If anyone asked about me they just told them that I couldn’t handle being around other people. When I was fifteen I got sick of it and ran away from home…”
“And that is when I ran into her and took her in,” Gina interrupted as she entered the room again with my mom. “You’re supposed to be resting Clarice.”
“Geeze Mom, I’m fine,” she complained. “I’m still in bed, I’m a big girl, and your healing spells are doing their work. So what’s the verdict with Kevin?”
“We’ll need to wait several hours on the genetic tests and the H Chromosome mapping so Laura and I want to try to get a better idea on what exactly Kevin’s powers are and any limits she might have,” Gina replied. “We figure we can put her to work helping to clean up the training room while we do that. You’re going to stay here and rest.”
The use of female pronouns was not lost on me and once again my heart fell as reality set in. Regardless I did have powers now and I was eager to learn more about them, maybe I could use them to change back to my old self.
Five hours later the training room looked less like a disaster area and we had a general idea on the scope of my change and my abilities. The younger copy of Clarice’s form seemed to be my permanent form now, but I had gained all of the same physical abilities that she had as a result including sharper senses, and eyes that pick up on any sort of movement to go along with my built in mutant tracking system. The latter was fairly accurate and I could track my Mom and her teammates as they moved from one room to another in the base by feeling for the pull of their powers.
My main power though was, as Gina had guessed earlier, the ability to copy another mutant’s powers. I could only copy one person’s abilities at a time though, and only for a maximum of three hours. If I wanted to use another mutant’s powers before that time was up, taking the new set would cause me to lose my ‘grip’ on the powers that I was already using. We also discovered that I didn’t need to be near an actual mutant to do it if I had a lock of hair or something similar that hadn’t been removed from the body for more than an hour or two. Gina removed a lock of my mom’s hair and placed a preservation spell on it to seal the energy inside before we left for home.
“I don’t know how well this is going to work,” the mage cautioned me. “Keep it with you and hopefully it will give you access to Laura’s abilities. If it doesn’t work I guess we’ll find out, but hopefully it will let you blend in in public. I am warning you though; do not use this to hold on to your old self. You need to adjust to who you are now, and you will only do that by being yourself as much as possible. You’re female now and you need to get used to that.”
We were driving home with Mom in civilian clothes and me wearing a spare set of Clarice’s exercise gear when Mom hesitantly spoke. ”I’m going to have to agree with Gina on this, you need to fully immerse yourself into your new life. You’re going to need a new name, how about Katrina?”
I glared at her, “Are you trying to rub my face in this?”
“Of course not!” she snapped. “It was what we were going to name you if you were a girl, and you need to be reminded of who and what you are now.”
“As if I could forget,” I muttered. “Fine, name me whatever you want, but I’ll need to go to school as Kevin, at least until I can transfer schools.”
“I can probably get you into AMPS,” she offered, “You can be around other mutants and learn how to use your powers.”
“I can learn to use my powers here until the end of the year,” I argued. “James is my only real friend outside the Sentries and I’m not going to just up and leave him with no notice or reason.”
“We can tell him you got a scholarship or something,” she suggested.
“I am not going to lie to my best friend. He’s stuck by me for years and he deserves to know the truth,” I said crossing my arms over my chest. At Mom’s insistence I had used her powers to take a form similar to the glamour that Gina cast on Clarice whenever they went out, in other words a girl form with similar dimensions so the clothes I was wearing would fit, My damn boobs kept getting in the way and only heightened my feelings of awkwardness at this conversation.
A look of concern settled across her features as she seemed to focus harder on the road ahead of us. “Sweetie, are you sure that’s a good idea? You yourself told me how his parents feel about mutants.”
“I also told you that he hates that attitude in anyone, especially his parents. If anyone is going to accept me as I am its James. Look, I’ll talk to him as Kevin to lead up to it and if it doesn’t look like he’ll react well I’ll abort and you can send me off to Hyper High or whatever the school is called.”
“You’re talking about spending the rest of the year as your old male self, do you realize how hard that is going to be? How are you going to adjust while doing that?” She was really resistant to this, I was going to have to make a promise that I was sure I was probably going to regret.
I bit my lip and sighed. “I know how hard this is going to be. I’m going to have to constantly re-copy your powers in the bathroom between classes, possibly come home for lunch, but I promise that outside of school I’ll spend every minute I can trying to get used to this.” I gestured wildly at my body. “I know you probably think it’s stupid holding on to him, but James is my best friend and the way you’re all talking I’m going to be giving up everything else familiar in my life to get used to this. I need something constant just to keep me sane.”
She reached over and squeezed my hand as we pulled into our driveway. “I just want you happy and for you to adjust to this. If this is what it takes for that to happen then fine, but you’ll tell him at our house and if he accepts this we’ll need to swear him to secrecy.”
We stepped out of the car and walked into the front door where I reluctantly let go of Mom’s powers. My dad’s voice called out, “Laura, Kevin? Is that you, we were starting to get worried, it’s almost eleven o’clock.”
“We had a bit of a long night Marcus,” Mom called back. “The base was attacked and Kevin got activated.”
“Kevin’s got powers?!” I could hear my fourteen year old sister Tara squeal from upstairs. “I want to see!” She came racing down the stairs and when she got to the bottom she stopped and stared, “Hollleeee shit…”
“Tara, watch your language,” Dad scolded her as he came in from the kitchen. Then he stared too. “Please tell me that Gina used a spell to change Clarice’s coloring and make her look younger.”
Mom shook her head, “Kevin has the ability to copy another mutant’s powers. He copied Clarice first and there were… complications.”
“Wow. Understatement of the year Mom,” Tara said as she gaped at me. “So uh… Kevin is this… permanent?”
“We think so, except for me copying Mom’s powers to look more normal when I go out,” I said with a sigh. Now that things were starting to slow down and I wasn’t distracted by cool powers I was starting to feel really intimidated at the prospect of living life as a girl.
“So we all better start calling her Katrina, she needs to get used to this,” Mom pointed out.
I was still kind of wondering what Dad’s reaction to this would be, since up until now I was his only son, and when it came it was nothing like I was expecting. He simply sighed and said, “Damn, I am never going to get to use the bathroom in this house again. I might have to build that addition we were talking about after all.”
I gaped at him, and let me tell you, having your jaw drop when you have a muzzle feels pretty damn weird. “How can you be so calm about this Dad? I’m a fucking girl! With a tail and fur!”
He just arched an eyebrow behind his glasses and shrugged. “Oh please, we see Clarice and stranger looking mutants all the time. I’ve been married to your mother for eighteen years, we have super heroes over for dinner regularly, I’m a living null zone for dark magic, and we spent half our honeymoon in Hell… actual Hell. I think the bar for weird shit in this family has been raised pretty damn high. Nothing surprises me anymore.” He paused to put a hand on my shoulder before adding, “Besides, we knew that you and your sister might be going through changes when you got powers of your own and let’s face it, this is not the worst thing I could have imagined. You’re alive and healthy and that’s what’s important, anything else we can adapt to, just like we always have.”
“I… I’m going to go upstairs and get ready for bed… it’s been a long day,” I said with a sigh as I headed for the stairs.
“Okay sweetie, sleep well, I have to make a phone call.” I heard Mom say as I reached the top.
I really wanted to get clean before going to sleep because Mom and the others had worked me pretty hard testing my limits and being all sweaty when you have fur just feels gross. When I was given clothes to change into at the base I did my best to dress with my eyes closed, but that wasn’t going to work now. I stood there in the bathroom for several minutes at a complete loss for what to do. This wasn’t my body, it was a girl’s body, it was Clarice’s body. As much as I might have fantasized about her undressing, doing it myself in a copy of her body felt horribly wrong to me. It felt like I was being a pervert or a voyeur, like I was violating her by even thinking of looking at this body without her permission.
If just the thought of taking my clothes off instilled those kinds of feelings in me I wasn’t sure I wanted to even attempt to actually wash it or touch it. I contemplated the shower and the toilet but I couldn’t make myself move toward either. I could feel the panic well up in my chest. I couldn’t do this, I needed Mom’s powers. I could have reached out and borrowed them and she would have never known but I couldn’t think, I couldn’t even breathe so instead panic kicked in and I threw open the bathroom door and ran away from confronting reality.
I barely noticed Mom on the way to her own bedroom as I raced past her to my own, nearly knocking her over in the process. The moment I was in my room I didn’t even bother shutting the door behind me before I threw myself into my bed and curled up into a ball. Great heaving sobs hit me in waves and conspired with the panic attack to make it near impossible to breathe. I couldn’t stop crying though, and the self-doubt, uncertainty, fear, and the insistent thought that I was violating Clarice somehow just wouldn’t leave me be.
I didn’t even hear Mom come into the room before she was sitting on my bed and wrapping me up in her arms. She was stroking my hair, as she whispered softly, “it’s okay baby, we’ll get through this… it’ll be okay.”
“I…I… c-couldn’t… I can’t,” I tried to get out between sobs. “It’s not… me. It’s… all wrong.” I don’t know how long she stayed there holding me and telling me everything would be alright, but I eventually cried myself to sleep in her arms.
The smell of bacon conspired to get me to open my eyes and when I caught sight of my alarm clock I nearly had another panic attack. I bolted downstairs to the kitchen where my mom was cooking. “Mom! It’s almost ten o’clock! I’m late for school, why didn’t you wake me?!”
“Because you needed your rest and after last night there was no way I was sending you to school today,” was her stern reply. “I called your school and told them you’re sick and won’t be back until Monday.”
“But James and I were supposed to…” I started to argue.
“I used your cell phone to call James before school started. You told him you weren’t feeling yourself today but that he could come hang out after school to keep you company.” I wasn’t quite sure if my mom impersonating me on the phone was a good or bad thing, but she did seem to have everything covered.
“So… uh what do I do today then?” I asked, wondering just what else she may have planned.
“First you’re going to eat breakfast,” she replied as she handed me a plate loaded with bacon, eggs, and pancakes. “Then you’re going to go get cleaned up.” I could feel the anxiety start welling up again until she added, “You can use my powers to change to your old body this time, but you are not going to be making a habit of it.”
I let out a huge breath in relief, “Uh… thanks Mom.” I sat down at the table and yowled in pain as I sat on my tail. It was a good thing I put my plate on the table before sitting or my breakfast would have been all over the kitchen. Once I finally managed to find a way to sit without any more tail mishaps I looked at my breakfast dubiously. When we had taken a break from learning my limits at the base I had learned just how awkward eating with my new mouth, nose and jaw configuration was and I had almost bitten my tongue a number of times. I managed to do alright with the first mouthful though and just concentrated on eating slowly until I could get used to how it felt.
Mom nearly jumped at the sound I made when I sat on my tail and once I was settled she said. “Don’t thank me yet Katrina. At noon I’m taking you to go see Cerise. I called her last night and she freed up an hour this afternoon to see you.”
“You’re taking me to see a shrink?! I’m not crazy!” I complained instantly.
“No you’re not,” she replied coolly. “Cerise has been a good friend of our family for years and everyone on the team has seen her for some reason or another. You’ve been through a very traumatic change that will affect your whole life and you have new powers to deal with. You need to talk to someone about it and Cerise is not only familiar with us, but she has dealt with trauma associated with extreme physiological changes before.”
When I finished my breakfast I borrowed Mom’s powers to change into my old self so I could empty my bladder and get clean without freaking out again. Once I was dried off Mom had me change into female version of my old self with dimensions closer to my new body. We were going to be going out in public, but she didn’t want me using that as an excuse to hide as Kevin and she felt that this ‘transition form’ would help me get used to being a girl while still being somewhat like my old self. Then after she found some clothes that didn’t it me too horribly we piled in the car and headed downtown to Robson Street where Cerise’s office was located in a huge office building.
We were on the twenty seventh floor of the building and stopped in from of a door that said, ‘Dr. C Pepper, Psychologist.’ I swallowed nervously. “I don’t know about this Mom.”
“I don’t recall giving you a choice in the matter,” was her curt reply as she opened the door and pushed me inside and toward the receptionist. “Hi Leia, Katrina here has an appointment.”
“Hi Laura, Dr. P said to send her right in as soon as you got here. Can I get you a coffee or something while she’s in there? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you and I’m sure we have lots to catch up on.” I was vaguely aware of a coffee pot and two mugs floating toward the desk as the bubbly brunette gestured for me to go inside. “Go on in sweetie, Dr. P doesn’t bite.”
I nervously pushed the doors to the inner office as the coffee poured itself and my mom and the receptionist began to chat. Once I had closed the door behind me I stood there for a moment watching the petite blonde behind the desk. “Ummm… hi Dr. Pepper.”
“You’ve known me for how long? You know damn well you can call me Cerise,” she scolded me with a sour look.
“Oh thank God, I feel ridiculous calling someone that,” I said with a sigh of relief as I shuffled toward her desk. It looked like Mom had at least told her the basics so she knew I wasn’t a stranger.
“It gets a bit tiring hearing it after a while, especially since nobody can seem to say it with a straight face,” she replied with a smile. “Your mother gave me the gist of what happened, so before we start there is one rule I want you to follow whenever you’re in this room: You are not to actively use your powers or anyone else’s, so please turn the shape shifting off.”
I groaned as I reluctantly let go of Mom’s powers. Cerise smiled and gestured for me to sit, after making sure I wasn’t going to sit on my tail again, I did so. It wasn’t very comfortable though, chairs just aren’t made for people with tails. The psychologist gave me a good look over before she finally said, “So, this is you now. How does that make you feel?”
Oh great, we were going to talk about my feelings, just what I wanted to do today. “I’m trapped in a body that’s a copy of the girl I’m in love with, who now has no interest in me. How the hell do you think I feel?!” I snapped.
“Even if I weren’t an empath I would know you’re scared and confused about where your life will go from here. There is also the sense of loss. There’s a lot of guilt too, why don’t you tell me what’s brought that feeling on?” she replied, not blinking an eye at my outburst.
It is really hard to lie to or hide things from an empath, so after sitting for several minutes, uncomfortably trying not to think about it I finally muttered, “It feels wrong.” She didn’t say anything; she just sat there watching me, probably waiting for me to open up on my own. “Every time I undress or attempt to shower or anything like that I feel like I’m violating Clarice. This isn’t me, it’s her body, and that feels wrong.”
She shook her head. “As far as I know Clarice still has her body. That is you now, your body, and while it may be based on Clarice’s Archetype it’s still based on your genetics and because of that there are differences that set you apart from her. Her fur and hair are brown while yours are black, your eyes are green to her amber, and you’re shorter and younger as well. I think that you’re using that idea as a crutch, to make this seem less real but you need to realize that this is real, and that you have a lot of changes to adjust to.”
“This is not me! I’m a guy and I don’t want to adjust to this! I want to be who I really am!” I shouted as I felt tears coming to my eyes.
“Katrina, you of all people should know that the body we wear does not define us. Is your mother suddenly a different person just because she’s wearing that person’s form? When she changes into an animal is she still human?”
I shook my head, “But she’s just using her powers this is…”
“This is no different,” she insisted. “We’re always evolving as people, never exactly the same from one day to the next, not even from one moment to the next. Our experiences change us, it’s how we grow into the person we are. There are details about that person that change from the new experiences, but at the core, that person is always the same. You’ve changed because of your new form and powers, but getting powers would have changed you regardless of whether your form changed too. You’re still the same person inside, you still like the same things, have the same values, care for the same people, you’ve just had a growing experience and you’ll continue to grow as you adjust to this.”
“I told you I don’t want to adjust to this,” I grumbled as I thought about what she had said.
“No, you don’t want to face this,” she said giving me a stern look. “This is going to be hard on you so it’s natural to shy away from it, but you need to learn to be comfortable with who you are now.”
“Being all girly is not going to help me adjust.”
“Did I say you had to be girly?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow. “You need to get used to your new body and how people will treat you now, but you need to do it on your terms. You’re still you inside so don’t change that unless you want to, keep what old friends you can, pursue all your old interests, but don’t close your mind to anything new either just because it’s ‘girly’. This is a chance for you to broaden your horizons and yet still be true to yourself. Now I have an exercise I want you to try to help you start seeing this new body as your own, but first I would like to address another issue that you seem to be focused on. What is true love Katrina?”
The question took me by surprise. “It’s when you find that perfect person who you want to spend the rest of your life with?” It was more of a question than an answer.
Cerise shook her head. ”There is a big difference between a crush and true love. A crush is when you are so blinded by hormones and genuine affection that you can’t see a person’s flaws so you see them as perfect. True love is when you love a person enough to see their flaws, but those flaws just don’t matter. A person can move on with their life after losing a crush, and you’re going to do that.” She made it quite clear that in her mind, my feelings for Clarice were the result of a crush and for the first time I was wondering if that might be the case. After giving me a few moments to think she smiled and said, “Now let’s play the ‘this is my body’ game.”
“You can’t be serious,” I grumbled.
“Very serious,” she affirmed. “Now stand up and I’m going to mention a part of your new body and you’re going to tell me something about it. For example you could say, ‘this is my fur, it’s soft and black.’ So let’s start with your tail, shall we?”
I rolled my eyes as I stood up and said with a frown, “This is my tail, it shouldn’t be there and it’s a pain in the ass.”
“We are trying to help you accept your body, not deny it Katrina. And let’s keep our comments to positive things to help with that process, shall we?” she stated firmly as she gave me a stern look. “Let’s try that again.”
I sighed. I knew she wanted to help me but this was stupid. Saying nice things about my new body wasn’t going to make me suddenly feel good about it. “This is my tail… it uhhh…” I couldn’t think of anything, at least not anything positive. What the hell did I have that thing for anyway? “This is no fair, what the hell are tails good for?”
She smiled at me. “I’m glad you asked. Tails are what give cats, and you and Clarice such an amazing sense of balance. Or have you forgotten that your new body gives you some pretty amazing abilities completely aside from your ability to copy other powers? That tail can help you to do things that would scare circus acrobats, and Clarice has learned to use hers to push buttons and switches and move some things, effectively giving her an extra useful limb. I’m sure you can do the same with time. Maybe now you can start thinking about the positives of this situation.”
We continued ‘playing the game’ for the next half hour until my time was up. When we were done Cerise made a standing appointment with her receptionist to see me every Wednesday after school until I was feeling better about my situation and Mom and I returned home so I could change back into Kevin and get dressed for when James would show up after school. Mom mentioned something about shopping for clothes after, but I really didn’t want to think about that as I sat down in front of the TV and waited.
It was three thirty and I nearly jumped off the couch when I heard the doorbell. I sat back down and prayed for my heart to stop beating like a jackhammer. Mom was going to get the door, she had this all planned. I heard the door open and my mom saying, “Good afternoon James, it’s nice to see you again. Come on in, Kevin is in the living room.”
“Hi Mrs. Lewis, Kevin said he was feeling sick this morning, is he feeling any better?” my friend replied. “I hope it’s not too serious.”
“As well as can be expected, he’s been feeling pretty bad today, but I’m hoping he’ll be feeling better soon.” she responded with a touch of sadness in her voice. “Can I get you a soda or anything?”
“That would be great Mrs. Lewis, thank you. Is there anything I can do to help him feel better?” I heard him ask.
“I think there is. Come to the kitchen and help me bring some snacks and sodas out to the living room. There’s something we should all talk about.” A few moments later Mom and James came into the room with a tray of cookies and three cans of Pepsi. “Please have a seat James.”
James sat down and smiled at me, “Feeling any better buddy?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond, how much should I say, what if I was acting strange and he noticed? “Ummm yeah…. I…”
Mom shook her head and sighed. “James, Kevin is a bit self-conscious right now. He’s going through some big changes in his life right now and he’s a bit concerned about how you’ll handle it.”
“Dude, you’re my best friend. If you’re going through something, I’m here to support you, that’s what best friends do.” The look on his face was stern, but he seemed a bit confused and concerned as well.
“I know your parents aren’t too fond of them, but umm… how much do you know about Hypers?” I asked nervously.
He looked surprised as he replied, “There’s what we see in the news, but I think the press gives the Hypers a raw deal, a lot of those people are heroes or victims. I don’t know much more than that except that they are supposed to have forty-eight chromosomes instead of the usual forty-six and it gives them powers and stuff. Are you saying you’re…”
I nodded before he even finished the question. “Yeah, my powers activated for the first time yesterday.”
“So you got some sort of super power? That’s not going to make me suddenly hate you, you know me better than that. I hate that bigoted bullshit like what my parents pull.” Awww dammit now he was feeling insulted.
Mom put a hand on his shoulder as he tried to stand up. “James, please wait, there’s more to it than just that. You’re a good friend to Kevin so I know you’ll take this seriously, lives could be in danger if any of this gets out. We’ll tell you everything, but I need you to swear to us that what we tell you will not leave this room. Only you and those of us directly involved can know about this.”
He sat back down, “Of course I won’t tell anybody. You just have to watch the news or look at people like my parents to see how badly mutants get treated; the last thing I want to do is put my best friend in danger. I swear that I won’t tell anyone,” he vowed.
“Thank you James, you should know that I was going to send Kevin off to a special school for Hypers, but he insisted that you would be okay with it and he wanted to finish the school year with you. He may be a bit nervous now, but he hasn’t once wavered in wanting to bring you in on this secret, not even when I advised him against it,” Mom assured James before going on to explain things. “My husband and I are both Hypers, now Kevin is too and Tara has dormant H Chromosomes, it’s genetic of course. I’m also Makeshift the leader of the Sentries.”
James’ jaw dropped. “Holy crap, you’re a super hero.”
Mom nodded with a smile, “Yes, we try to help people. Kevin wanted to do the same when he’s older so we were letting him spend time after school with us at our headquarters learning all about what we do. Yesterday we were attacked while Kevin was there and in the excitement his ability to copy another mutant’s powers activated for the first time. Wildthing, the first mutant he copied has a different physiology that is part of her powers so when he copied her powers there were complications. He’s stuck in a similar form unless he uses my powers to take another form, like he’s doing right now to look like his old self.”
My best friend shrugged. “So he doesn’t look like he used to? That’s not going to change how I think of him and he can still look like himself right? So why is it a big deal?”
I sighed as I tried to explain. “I can only borrow powers for a few hours at a time, and only one set at a time, if I copied another person’s powers I’d lose the shape shifting and revert to my new body. The new form is permanent and everyone is saying that I need to get used to that. I’m going to try going to school as Kevin, but at all other times I’m going to have to be getting used to what I am now. Can you handle spending time with me like that? It’s a huge change for me and I’m worried it will be hard for you too.”
He crossed his arms and glared at me. “We won’t know unless you stop being such a pussy and show me.”
I hadn’t even noticed Tara had come home until I heard her giggle behind me. “Funny you should phrase it that way.”
I turned around to glare at her before taking a deep breath and letting go of Mom’s powers. I looked down at the floor as I said, “I guess this is me now.”
“Hollleeee shit…” I heard him say in a stunned tone.
“That’s exactly what I said!” Tara put in before adding, “Don’t you think Katrina is cute James?”
“Tara,” Mom said in her ‘warning’ voice.
I couldn’t look at him; he probably thought I was a freak or something. Maybe I should have tried to prepare him better? A big hand on my shoulder caused me to look up, right into his concerned face. “So it’s Katrina now right? I think that suits you Kat. I won’t lie, this is going to take some getting used to, but I would imagine that it’s a hundred times worse for you. We’re best friends and right now you look like you’re going to need one, so whatever happens I’ll be there and I’ll have your back.”
“Kat?” I asked.
“Like I said, it suits you. I’m… sorry about calling you a pussy.” He looked away guiltily as he said the last.
“Don’t be, I was being one, and it was kind of funny. I guess that when your life feels like a big joke you have to learn to laugh at the punch line.”
He nodded, “It’s going to be a change for us both, but inside you’re still my best friend and that won’t change. I’ll spend time with Kevin at school and when we’re not in school we can both get to know Kat better.”
“Hey, if James gets to call you Kat, does that mean I can call you Kitty?” Tara prodded.
“You’re going to whether I tell you that you can or not, aren’t you?” I responded with a sigh.
She shook her head as she pouted. “If you really don’t want me to I won’t, but I like it and I wanna bond with my new sister. We need to go shopping together and stuff.”
She was far too eager for that activity for my comfort so I shook my head. “You realize I’m not really a girl right?”
“Your boobs say otherwise,” she retorted.
“Tara!” Mom said, raising her voice.
“Oh c’mon Mom we all know she needs to adjust to reality and I’m trying to help,” my sister snapped back. “And she needs clothes that fit if she’s going to be spending time as herself. There’s no way mine will fit and yours are too big, not to mention they’re ‘Mom clothes’, and she needs to dress like a teenage girl. I can help her find stuff that looks good and will work for her tail and stuff.”
Mom sighed, “Your sister does have a point, you need clothes that fit and it’s not like we can’t afford it. I need to check in at the base though and help with the rest of the repairs.”
“I can handle it Mom and Kitty has powers in case there’s trouble,” Tara pressed.
“I‘ll go with them,” James suddenly offered. “I’ll make sure Tara doesn’t go too far and I’m a big guy so people shouldn’t bother them with me there.”
“Yeah! He can pretend to be Kitty’s boyfriend or something!” Tara agreed excitedly.
I wasn’t sure what bothered me more, her insistence on calling me Kitty or the fact that she was making James out to be my boyfriend. They were right about me needing clothes though, and it would give me an excuse to test a few things: Whether the preserved lock of Mom’s hair would allow me to copy her powers repeatedly and whether James really could adjust to being my friend like this. Finally I sighed and said, “Fine, but nothing too girly Tara, and only if the lock of hair that Gina enchanted actually works.”
Mom looked dubious about the whole idea but nodded. “Katrina, go get changed into something more suitable for shopping and test the lock of hair while I get my credit card out of my purse and give James one of our emergency locators in case you all get into trouble.”
“I’ll help Kitty,” Tara said, taking my hand and dragging me upstairs.
Once we were in my room I quickly found the loose slacks, belt and t-shirt Mom had me wearing earlier plus the running shoes that were a few sizes too big. “I don’t really need help with this Tara…”
I was surprised when she suddenly wrapped me in a hug. “I know I seemed like a bit of a bitch down there but I really am trying to help.” I was about to say something, but she shushed me. “I’m sorry, but you need to get used to this and I know you, you won’t do it unless someone pushes you. Mom won’t push as hard as she should because she’s afraid of hurting your fragile little male ego and Dad is just too laid back.”
“You just want a big sister,” I teased her, uncomfortable with where this might be heading.
“I have one whether I want it or not,” she replied with a pout. “I had a great big brother and I’m sure you’ll make a good big sister too eventually, but I want you to be happy. You’ve always looked out for me and now it’s my turn. So I’m going to keep pushing to help you through this even if it makes you hate me Katrina.”
I put my arms around her and squeezed, “I could never hate you Tara… and I thought you were calling me Kitty.”
“I may have gone a bit too far with that, I’m sorry,” she said as she squeezed me back.
“It’s okay coming from you, little sisters are supposed to be annoying.” I needed to change the topic before one of us started crying or something. “I guess I should try that hair and see if it works. I reached out with my new inner sense looking for that familiar sense of power and there it was. I latched onto it and I could feel it inside myself, but it was still present in the preserved hair as well. “It actually worked; I guess there’s no excuse for not going now.”
Shopping was boring, though with James with us people pretty much left us alone, so for the most part we were able to shop in peace. Tara had me try everything on like I was her own personal Cat-girl Barbie and it got old fast. James managed to keep her from going too far, but I think she was the only one of us having any fun. Eventually she saw that I just wasn’t getting into it and she had us get the essentials: Bras and panties, various tops, a good water resistant jacket, sneakers, and such. She wanted to get me in skirts, but James thought that was going too far for my first day as a girl so a compromise was made. We got one skirt for me to try wearing whenever I felt more comfortable with the idea and a bunch of low rise jeans that wouldn’t get in the way of my tail when I switched back to my true form.
There were two other things Tara wanted to get that we had to compromise on as well. She wanted me to wear makeup, but it would be stupid because I was covered with fur and when I change shape I can make it look like I’m wearing makeup, so we just got some lip gloss for when I’m in a normal girl form for long periods of time. She also wanted me to get a pair of high heels. She had noticed that I seem to walk on the balls of my feet when in my true form and she thought that heels would be more comfortable on me and that I would have the balance to easily get used to walking in them. I wasn’t certain I was ready for the girly shoes she was suggesting though, so we got a pair of ankle boots with a two inch heel that I could use to get used to the idea.
After dinner at the food court James escorted us both home with the promise to come hang out the next evening after school. For the next two weeks I started going to school as Kevin, changing form in the bathroom between classes and at the end of lunch and after school I would head straight home. James would come with me when we left school or come over when he was finished work and we would spend most of those evenings and the weekends hanging out together at my house and doing homework. If I ever got down or needed someone to just listen and not judge me, James was always there ready to lend an ear. Occasionally Tara would be there as well, pushing me to try new things as I tried to adjust to my new self. There was a lot to adjust to.
My body still felt wrong to me and uncomfortable, though I was slowly coming to think of it as my body since I had to look at it in the mirror every day. The package of identification and documentation that had arrived in the mail for ‘Katrina Lewis’ from Mom’s contact in the government kind of made things official too, which was another blow to my ego. Adjusting to being female was hard enough though without being feline as well to complicate things: Long hair is hard to take care of, but having fur too makes getting clean take twice as long. Getting used to wiping after taking a leak was annoying enough without having claws to make things even more awkward. Thank God I found out later that my claws are retractable. There was the whole learning to use my tail and having it get constantly in the way too. James put up with all my bitching though without any complaint. During those first few weeks I was doing a lot of complaining and not a lot of adjusting.
It was a late Saturday morning in late November, two and a half weeks after my activation, when the cold water of reality got thrown in my face. I had been feeling a little under the weather and was worried I might be coming down with something. James wasn’t supposed to be coming over until later so I decided the night before to sleep in. The first thing I was aware of when I awoke was the horrible cramps and while I didn’t want to get out of that warm bed I figured that I should check the medicine cabinet for some flu medicine or something. Whatever was going on must have been effecting my nose too because something smelled off.
When I threw off the blankets and sat up I was in for the biggest shock of my life. My panties and sheets were soaked with blood, probably my thighs to from the sticky warm feeling of my fur. Did I somehow cut myself with my claws? I couldn’t move, I was frozen in place, unable to comprehend what was going on, all I could do was scream. A moment later I was vaguely aware of my door flying open and Tara’s voice but I couldn’t focus on what she was saying.
*SLAP*
I looked up at my sister, rubbing my tender right cheek. “You slapped me…”
“You were freaking out, I had to do something to snap you out of it,” she replied with a frown.
I was freaking out? Then my mind focussed again on the blood. “Oh my God I’m bleeding!”
*SLAP*
“Are you going to stop freaking out or do I have to do it again?” Tara asked, her hand still held high.
“”But I’m…”
She cut me off. “You’re bleeding, I got it. Calm down will you? It’s just your ‘monthly visitor’. I know it sucks, but you’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t want to get used to it! I don’t want it period!” I screamed. To my surprise she laughed. “What’s so fucking funny?!”
“You said period, and you were referring to your time of the month,“ she said while still snickering. When she calmed down she took one look at the expression on my face and rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop being such a baby; I’ve been having mine since I was twelve.”
“But you’re a girl!” I snapped.
“In case you haven’t noticed, you have been for the past few weeks too!” she yelled back. “And this proves that that isn’t going to change any time soon! You make being a girl sound like the worst thing in the world, but you’re not even giving it a chance! You always wear the same things, you don’t leave the house except as Kevin, and you hide behind James or Mom whenever I push you to try to get comfortable with your new body! Well Mom and Dad are out shopping and I doubt you want James to know about this, so there’s nobody here to baby you. Now get your ass out of bed and into the bathroom so we can throw that stuff in the hamper and get you cleaned up!”
I had never seen my sister this upset with me before and I began to wonder if she might be right. She took me to the bathroom and ran a warm bath for me as I got out of my bloodied sleeping clothes and tossed them into the hamper. Then as I sat there in the warm water and the cramping eased she phoned James to tell him I was sick and then gave me a long lecture on all the finer points of being a girl. There was so much there I needed to know, things I was hiding from up until that point. Those four days I stayed home and Tara spent every minute she could with me, taking on the role of the big sister. It was a turning point for me and I began to relax as I held on to who I was, but opened myself up to new things as well.
By the second week of February I had made a lot of progress between the help from Cerise and the support of James and my family and I was starting to get comfortable with my new self, I even liked being me and could take my change in good humour. I was only seeing Cerise once every few weeks now, I was hanging out at the Sentries base again while James was at work, and I had even gotten over my crush sufficiently to rebuild a friendship with Clarice, we did after all have a lot in common. I was also starting to get better with my abilities, I could sense not only other mutants but their power levels as well and I was getting very good at using the ability to track others. There was one problem that had cropped up in my life though, and his name was James.
My best friend had begun to act strangely around me the past month. He would watch me when he didn’t think I was looking and I’d catch him stopping himself from saying things sometimes. I was pretty sure he had developed a crush on me from all the time we had been spending together. The worst part was that the feeling was mutual. He was the person that I could see his flaws but I loved him anyway, the problem was that I wasn’t attracted to him in the slightest. I could only get physically attracted to girls and even thinking of being intimate with any guy, even James, made me want to throw up. I knew that I had to do something about it, and soon, or it could ruin the relationship that we did have.
It was the night of February 11th and I was sitting at the airport waiting with my Mom for a helicopter to show up while I was talking to James on the phone. There had been an avalanche near Whistler the day before and the Sentries were helping with the search. Two of the family members of those missing had mentioned that they had what were termed ‘nuisance level’ mutant powers, so Mom had thought of bringing me in to help. “So anyway I’ll be out of town for a few days and I’ll see you when we get back.” I told my friend.
“I can’t believe you’re going to miss the next few days of school,” James said with a sigh. “I’m going to be so bored with you gone.”
I gave a sigh of my own. I didn’t want to be away for that long, but at the same time it would give me some time to sort out how to deal with the problem with James. “I know, but it will be nice to be able to be myself for a while. Mom normally wouldn’t let me do this, but a group of hikers went missing during that avalanche near Whistler and two of them are mutants. Normal tracking methods won’t work and looking normally will be like finding a needle in a haystack, so she’s hoping that if I can detect the two mutants then we’ll have a better chance of finding the whole group, or at least narrow down the search area. The search and rescue helicopter should be here soon to pick us up.”
“Good luck finding them, if anyone can do it it’s you. So if you’re back in time do you still want to do something for Singles Awareness Day?” We had a tradition that on Valentine’s Day we would do something together if we were single, usually go to the Metropolis Mall in Burnaby by sky train and make fun of all the couples. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that this year, but it was something to do and maybe I could use the opportunity to have a serious talk with James.
“Sure,” I said, forcing a laugh as I spotted the search and rescue helicopter touching down on the tarmac outside. “I need to get a few things at the mall anyway. If I’m back by then I’ll meet you at the usual spot at five o’clock. If I don’t think I’m going to make it I’ll call or text you. I gotta get going, our ride is here.”
“Sounds good Kat, I lo… I’ll see you when you get back.” he quickly disconnected the call and I sighed, hoping that he hadn’t been about to let slip what I thought he had.
The ride to Whistler was mercifully short and when we landed I was glad I had brought warm clothes, I was even more glad that I had fur under those clothes. It was late and the search wouldn’t be resuming until the morning so Mom took me straight to the hotel where we would be staying while the search was being conducted. It was kind of cool because she was letting me have my own room, mostly because I was considered ‘outside help’ and she didn’t want people suspecting that we might be related. Despite the joys of independence, room service, and a comfortable bed I couldn’t sleep well. I was very worried that we wouldn’t get to the hikers in time, and the situation with James was weighing heavily on my mind as well.
The first day I helped with the search we didn’t find anything. Mom suggested having me search in a different sector than them so I wouldn’t have to filter out their powers while trying to sense someone else’s. All I could do all day was ride in the helicopter at low altitude, keep my eyes and other senses peeled, and try to sense the pull of another mutant’s powers. This unfortunately gave me a lot of time to think, and to worry.
On the thirteenth I sensed something around mid-morning at the eastern edge or our search area, a faint pulling sensation. It was weak, but it was definitely there. I rushed to the cockpit and tapped the pilot on the shoulder, “Over there!” I shouted to be heard over the propeller as I pointed to the east. The pilot turned toward where I had indicated and as we got closer I could feel two distinct, but very faint sets of powers pulling at me. “Set us down over there!” I shouted again as I pointed to a spot near the first signal.
Before we even touched the ground I leaped out the door and ran for the spot where I was sensing someone and began digging through the snow with my hands. Soon other rescuers showed up and began to dig as well and we found two people holding tightly on to one another. I let the others finish digging them out as I headed for the second spot and started digging there. By two in the afternoon we had found all six hikers and they were all being flown to Vancouver General Hospital to be treated for injuries, hypothermia, and frostbite.
I was really tired when we got back to the hotel that evening. Mom planned for us to stay the night and get some well-earned rest before heading back home in the morning and I was too tired to argue the point. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room after a reporter from CTV tried very hard to get an interview with me. They were calling me some kind of hero and completely ignoring the Sentries and all of the other rescue workers that helped with the operation. In the end I declined the interview and told him quite clearly that it was a team effort and I was just glad they were still alive when we found them.
I called James to leave a message that I would be able to meet the next day as planned and vegged out for the rest of the day, just lying in bed, eating room service, and watching television. Again, that gave me plenty of time to think and I came to a decision. I knew that I wasn’t attracted to and wasn’t likely to ever be attracted to James as much as I might love him. Not having that attraction would only sour any attempt we did make at a serious relationship and probably cause resentment on both sides. I needed to tell him I wasn’t interested in him that way, and I needed to do it gently and as soon as possible.
It was as I came to that decision that the eleven o’clock news came on. The music cued and the camera focused on the Anchorwoman, who said, “Tonight’s top story: A young Hyper went into a burning school today and saved the lives of nine people. Annie Kwan was on the scene earlier today.”
I could feel my eyebrows rise. Hypers hardly ever get good press; this must have really been something. Intrigued I continued to watch only to be shocked when the scene switched to my school, where an Asian reporter was standing beside one of my classmates Nick Wallace who was looking very nervous in his wheelchair. “Nick Wallace was the first student to be pulled from a room on the second floor where eight students and a teacher were trapped by the fire. Please tell us how you escaped from the flaming death trap?”
I could actually see Nick swallow the lump in his throat. “We were all sure we were going to die in there and suddenly I was outside at the meeting area. I asked who she was, but I think she might be new in the hero business and hadn’t chosen a name yet because she looked confused. She wasn’t even in costume, just some big black dress or something. Then as soon as she was sure I was safe she disappeared in a puff of smoke like some kind of ninja and came back out with all the others from the room. She even took my lab partner to a doctor.” Wait a minute… Nick was James’ lab partner. What the hell happened? Was James hurt? I was suddenly very worried for my best friend.
“Could you describe her for our viewers?” the reporter asked.
Nick nodded and said, “She was maybe five foot four, slender and she looked like she was Asian, but she was really pale and had these light blue eyes and this white hair that sort of stood right up.” Well at least this girl would be easy to recognize if I ever saw her.
They went through some other interviews of people I didn’t recognize or barely knew and then the reporter was back on the screen. “Nobody knows who this mystery hero is or where she came from but the people she saved are calling her Wisp. Whoever or wherever she is, we’re glad to have people like her out there. The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the school will be closed for the next week while officials assess the damage.”
“Great the school burns down and a new Hyper appears and I’m not even there to see it,” I grumbled, still a bit worried about James.
The Anchorwoman was soon back on the screen with a picture of the Whistler avalanche. “In related news a hiking group missing for nearly two days since the Avalanche near Whistler was found today thanks to the abilities of another young local Hyper who worked with search and rescue to locate two of the group. The others in the group were found nearby and while some are suffering from frostbite and hypothermia, all are alive and in good spirits since being found earlier this evening. The young hero Copycat declined our request for an interview, saying only that it was a team effort and that she was glad they were all still alive.”
“Well at least they mentioned the search and rescue people. They could have given the Sentries some credit though,” I grumbled as I turned off the news and prepared for bed. Mom called on the room phone and asked if I had seen the news. She thought that the girl at the school might be someone we knew and she activated in the heat of the moment. That got me thinking that maybe she was scared and needed help. It was, as I was thinking about that, that I received a text from James.
I read the screen of my phone and said, “I gotta go Mom, James sent me a text and I want to ask him what happened. I’m a bit worried.”
“Okay Kat, I’m sure he’s fine, but see if you can find out more about what happened.” She hung up and I tapped the text message and read the contents. -I heard things went well in Whistler.-
-Yeah, spending the night here but should be back tomorrow morning. I heard things were exciting at school today too,- I responded, hoping he would give me more details, or at least tell me he was okay.
-No school for a week is pretty exciting :)- was his reply. Stupid idiot, didn’t he know I was worried?
I grumbled and rapid texted back. I couldn’t tell him I was worried sick because that would send the wrong message, so I tried to make it like I was just curious about the new Hyper. -I was talking about the fire and the Hyper that showed up. Did u c her?-
-I think I got a better look at her than anyone,- I guessed that meant that she really did take him to a doctor or something.
-My mom thinks she just activated, maybe because of the fire. Probably one of our classmates, did u recognize her?- I asked, hoping the direct approach would help.
-I never saw her before today. Maybe she doesn’t look like she used to,- he sent back.
I thought about it, given how I had changed it was possible that the person’s appearance changed dramatically. -Possible. Maybe we’ll see her around. We still on for tomorrow? I was thinking we could meet at lunch since there’s no school,- I suggested, hoping to get our ‘talk’ out of the way as soon as possible.
-Sure, I need to ask u something anyway,- he replied. Awww damn he was going to ask me out, I just knew it.
-Ask me now,- I texted. It was probably best to get this over with now.
-I don’t want to go into too much detail over text, it would take too long.- Details? What details? Maybe he wasn’t talking about what I thought he was after all.
-Sum up then- I prodded him.
-Mom is on the warpath and I need a place to stay. She came home early and found a naked white girl in my room.- I nearly dropped my phone.
What the hell was going on there? His Mom hates white people and James would never be stupid enough to have one in his house, let alone naked and in his room. She would kill him. Did this have something to do with that Hyper from the school? I quickly sent, -Do u have a death wish? First thing u r going to do when we meet tomorrow is tell me the whole story. R u in a safe place?-
There was a lengthy pause before his reply. -There’s plenty to tell, I’m in a hotel tonight. Going to sleep now. It’s been a long day. Good night.-
-Good night,- I sent back before putting my phone on the bedside table. Maybe he wasn’t interested in me at all; maybe this white girl he mentioned was his girlfriend after all. I wasn’t really sure if I should be relieved or upset about it and honestly it was tearing me up inside. It was a long time before I got to sleep.
We headed back into Vancouver the next morning and it was a little before lunchtime when I arrived at the Metrotown sky train station and headed into Metropolis mall. I was using one of the normal girl shapes I usually go shopping in, basically all the same measurements without the fur and tail and such with dark skin, brown eyes, and long black hair in Caribbean style braids. It was just inside the mall that I felt the pulling sensation of an unfamiliar mutant. Curious I looked around until my eyes settled on a slim girl my own age clutching a backpack like she was afraid it was going to run away or something. She was dressed in a pair of black leggings, sneakers and a long t-shirt with a grey windbreaker over top and a pink and white Vancouver Canucks ball cap.
I concentrated on her for a moment; yes the feeling was definitely coming from her. Suddenly she turned and ran off as fast as her legs could carry her. What was she scared of? Was she a new Hyper? I took off after her and though I lost her in the crowd a few times, my power made it easy to keep tabs on where she was going. Finally she dashed into a ladies room and I followed her inside. As luck would have it there didn’t seem to be anyone inside but the two of us. “Hey, are you okay in there?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer so after a few minutes I said, “I’m Kat, do you need to talk about whatever you’re crying about? Is it about a boy or is because you’re a mutant? Did you just activate? Look, there’s nobody else in here and I’m a mutant too, so maybe I can help you.” I really hoped that revealing that I was a mutant too would give us some common ground and maybe calm the poor girl down a bit, but she just started sobbing. “Calm down okay?” I told her in a calm tone. “Like I said, my name is Kat and I’m a Hyper too. What’s your name?”
There was another long pause and I figured she was probably unsure whether I could be trusted “Ehmmm… ahhh…” she said slowly and uncertainly. The poor girl seemed nervous as hell, had someone hurt her?
“It’ll be okay Emma, getting powers and such is really scary at first, but I know some people who can help. Come on out so we can talk, I’m supposed to be meeting a friend for lunch, but I’ll call him and tell him I’ll be late.” I felt bad about delaying my meeting with James, but I wasn’t looking forward to the talk I had to have with him and this was more important. This girl needed help and James would understand that. I pulled out my phone and looked through my contact list, selecting James’ number and pressed send.
Then I heard Tom Jones’ “What’s New Pussycat” playing in the stall. That was James’ ringtone for me… what the hell was going on? It continued to ring for several long seconds and I switched back to my normal form as the door to the stall opened. I wanted some damn answers. The girl came out of the stall sniffling and rubbing tears from her eyes as I sniffed the air. James’ scent was all over that backpack and she was definitely holding his phone. I glared at her and asked very slowly, “Who are you and why do you have James’ phone and backpack? His scent is all over it.”
She wasn’t answering, just sniffling and rubbing her blue eyes. Light blue eyes, pale skin, white eyebrows, and she definitely looks Asian. I stared at her as I realized, “You’re the one from our school, Wisp… and you must be the naked girl from James’ room too. Has he been helping you or something?” I gave the girl a good once over with my eyes. What did she have that I didn’t? Well except for letting James see her naked of course.
Emma shook her head as she looked down at the floor. “I… wanted to tell you last night, but it’s awkward enough like this… I just couldn’t do it over text, not when you told me about your change in person.”
I had just met this girl a few minutes ago, what the hell was she going on about? The only one who I had ever told about my change outside family or Mom’s team was… “James?” I asked, barely able to get the name out.
She was still looking at the floor but she nodded her head. “Not anymore… I guess you can keep calling me Emma when we’re in public; it’s as good a name as any.”
What are the odds that this could happen to both of us? If this really was James, she had gone through the ringer. She looked nothing like James, she was shorter than me now and James had almost a foot in height over me. Her own mother wouldn’t… Oh crap, this is not a good situation. I sighed and muttered, “Damn, if it hadn’t have happened to me too I wouldn’t have believed it.” Then I grabbed her hand and started shifting into a normal looking form again as I started pulling her toward the door. “Come on, let’s go to the food court so we can talk and I can call my mom. We really need to figure out what to do about this.”
We went to the food court where we ordered from one of the Chinese places. The woman at the counter was giving ‘Emma’ strange looks, but she seemed content to mind her own business, so I tried not to let it bother me. While my friend started eating I phoned my mom. “Hey Mom, do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure sweetie, you sound like you need to talk, how is James?” she asked.
“She’s not… I mean he’s not… I mean he’s a she.” I was stumbling over my words.
“Whoa, slow down, and tell me what’s going on,” she ordered me.
“You know that girl on the news yesterday? The Hyper we were talking about who saved the people in the fire at our school?” I asked before giving her the answer. “It was James.”
“Shit, this is not good, his parents…” She let out a sigh. “If he activated yesterday and hasn’t been home since it’s only a matter of time before they call us asking about him.”
“He was home yesterday after he changed into the amazing Asian/Caucasian Hyper girl,” I told her with a groan. “He was finding clothes that would fit his new body and his mom walked in on him in his room… naked.”
I could hear her slapping her forehead on the other end. “This just gets better and better. We’re going to have to sit her down with her parents at some point. If they react as badly as I fear, she can come stay with us. We had better prepare for that eventuality. Use the credit card I gave you if you have to and get James some clothes and other necessities. Get her some workout clothes too. When you’re done bring her here so we can see what powers she may have and have Gina take a look at her. Oh and you’d better discuss a girl’s name with her so I can get my contact to work up a new identity for her.”
“Okay Mom, we’ll be as quick as possible. As for the name we’re going with Emma I think,” I replied. “We’ll see you soon.” I hung up and let out a sigh.
“So, what’s the verdict?” James/Emma asked.
“Mom says we’re going to need to talk to your parents at some point and explain things. If things don’t go well you can stay with us. Right now she wants us to get you some necessities and meet her at home so we can go have Rune take a look at you, she’s a doctor and she also has some spells that might help figure out the nature of your abilities. Have you noticed anything so far?” I asked the last hoping we might save some time later.
She sipped at her Pepsi and shrugged. “Aside from being in the best shape of my life and the whole teleporting thing, no I haven’t. But maybe this Rune can tell me why my hair insists on defying gravity, and why I look like this.”
I thought about it and suggested, “Archetypes are usually related to powers or what you’re thinking at the time, so what were you thinking about? Has your parents’ intolerance been getting to you again? That might explain the whole white/Asian thing. You’ve been rebelling against it for as long as I’ve known you, so maybe this is a reflection of that.” Knowing James as I did he was probably thinking about it a lot, as he tended to do with no distraction.
“Yeah that has been on my mind a lot lately,” she admitted.
“Okay, then what about when your change began? What were you thinking about then?” I prodded hoping to come up with some ideas for what her power type might be. Teleportation could be related to dimensional travel or magic, or simple air displacement and good physical fitness could come from anything.
She sighed sadly before answering and I felt so terrible for her, if anyone knew how she felt it was me. “I just wanted to get myself and the others out of there, but I wasn’t thinking clearly. I fell asleep in class and I was having trouble shaking the dreams I had.”
“Do you remember what you were dreaming about?” I prodded as I started to wolf down my cooling lunch.
She rolled her blue eyes theatrically and I was struck by how pretty they were, how pretty she was. “Nick was going to start another discussion on sexy girl ninjas. I used the tired excuse to get out of it, but the thought must have gotten stuck in my mind, so of course I had to dream about them. That’s probably why I’m stuck as a girl and in such good shape.”
I nodded in agreement as I tried to stop myself from thinking of her as pretty. She was going through a lot and she didn’t need me finally showing an interest in her now of all times after crushing on me for a month. “It’s pretty likely. At least that gives us some ideas of what to look for.” I sighed once again, feeling sad and confused. “This is so not the conversation I was preparing myself for today.”
“What conversation were you planning on having?” she asked.
It was better to do this, to tell her nothing could happen between us. This was for her own good; she needed to adjust to being a girl and having me show an interest now would only make things worse for her. I reached out and took her hand, it was so soft and warm, her pale skin standing out against my current dark skin. “I feel kind of horrible about it given what happened to me with Wildthing, especially after how supportive you’ve been since my change. You’re my best friend, other than my family you’re the only person who really gets me, and you’ve stuck by me through the worst time in my life. I spent half my time in Whistler dreading today. You’ve been acting kind of weird the past month though, kind of like I did with Wildthing, so I thought you might have a crush on me. I wanted to talk about it before things between us got out of hand.”
“I…” she started to speak, but I motioned for her to stop, this had to be done.
“I care for you a lot,” I continued. “I might even love you, hell for the past few weeks I even tried to make myself attracted to you, but guys just don’t do it for me. I know I shouldn’t be doing this to you now. I know how hard the adjustment you have to make is, but because I care for you I needed to be honest about it. I… think I understand why Wildthing told me how she did. You need to move on and adjust to your new life not hold on to who you used to be. I’ll be here to support you because you’ve done the same for me, but things are going to be complicated enough for you without throwing our feelings into it.” Oh shit, I said ’our feelings’ not ‘your feelings’.
“Our feelings?” she asked, wringing her hands nervously.
“Your new form is really pretty and I’m attracted to girls… and it’s you in there,” I admitted sadly. “But you need to adjust to the new you and being a mutant, and it would be selfish of me to try to pursue anything while you’re going through that. You didn’t want to burden me with your feelings so I need to give you the same space. I’m not saying nothing can happen between us, but I think we need to give you time to figure out who you want to be first.”
She nodded sadly and I felt like my heart was going to shatter again. “I guess you’re right, maybe it’s best to wait.”
I just nodded in return and shoved my feelings away as best I could. “So for now I’ll be your supportive best friend, just like you were for me. So the first thing on the agenda is to get you some more clothes and some gear to exercise in, Mom and the others will want to try and figure out your physical abilities.”
After lunch I took Emma to Belle Boutique to get properly measured and so we could buy her proper fitting undergarments. She hadn’t been wearing a bra and knowing James she probably just guessed at her panty size. I fought the urge to ‘help her’ as she tried things on and merely stayed outside the change room, she didn’t need me ogling her right now, she probably felt awkward enough already. I made sure she got matching panty and bra sets after we bought her some tops and jeans that would fit properly. Remembering Tara’s advice I also insisted on one skirt to get Emma used to the idea.
I didn’t want to have to return anything or waste money so I made sure she tried all of it on to make sure it fit properly. It’s a pain in the ass how not all clothing companies seem to use the same measurement system. Once we finished that, we headed to the department store for some socks, yoga pants, a sports bra, and a form fitting sleeveless top, for her to wear while we were testing her, as well as some ladies deodorant, a toothbrush, and some other necessities in case she needed to stay with us for a while. When I announced that we were finished Emma pulled me aside, waited until nobody was looking, and teleported us to my bedroom.
Holy crap I had to copy that power someday, it felt amazing being whooshed away like that and it was so convenient. “Sweet! We are going to save so much money on public transit that way,” I said with a grin. “Just leave the bags on my bed and you can get changed into the exercise gear.” Emma nodded and did as I had asked before she started looking through the bags. She took off her hat and her white hair suddenly popped straight up causing me to laugh. She just continued looking through the bags, seemingly unbothered, and had her shirt half off before I could even think to leave the room. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried not to stare but it was pretty hard with those black tattoos. I let out a low whistle and said, “Damn that’s some nice tats you’ve got, the black really stands out against your pale skin.”
“Tats? What tats?” she asked looking at me and appearing very confused.
“The ones on your back, didn’t you notice them?” I pointed out.
She rolled her eyes at me and gave me a dirty look. “Of course I didn’t, how often do I see my own back? You’re not pulling my leg are you?”
I shook her head. “Nope, there are tats there and they cover over half of your back. They’re all black and they’re kind of hard to miss. They’re going to get noticed if you’re in the locker room or the beach or something. The biggest one is a girl who kinda looks like you in some sort of skimpy ninja outfit, but there’s smaller ones too, of ninja-like weapons in a circle around her. There’s a pair of crossed katana below her, some sais crossed above her and a pattern of throwing stars and kunai to either side. Look in the mirror if you don’t believe me,” I said testily, a little upset that she thought I would tease her at a time like this.
She walked over to the vanity across from my bed and turned her back to it while looking over her shoulder. “Damn, like I don’t look weird enough already,” she grumbled as she snatched up the exercise clothes and left the room. Oh damn, had I made her self-conscious?
I followed her out, but she was in the bathroom by the time I got out into the hallway and Tara was in the hall staring at the door. She turned her gaze to me, “Umm Kitty… why did some girl who resembles the girl talked about on the news last night just walk out of your room and into the bathroom half naked?”
I walked down the hall, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into her room. “That was James,” I told her in a hushed tone. “She activated yesterday and has had a really bad couple of days so please don’t push her. Mom and I are taking her to the base to see what Rune can find out.”
“That was James?” she said while gaping at me. “Hollleeee shit… Her parents are gonna freak.”
“Her Mom already did, we’ll tell you what happened later, so try not to do anything to push her yet, until I give the okay.” I said, giving her a pleading look.
“I’ll try to keep my big mouth shut,” she promised with a hug.
As soon as we got to the base, Rune took Emma into the medical bay and examined her thoroughly. She determined that Emma was a very healthy fifteen year old girl, right down to the double X chromosomes. The mage was very interested in Emma’s floaty hair and the tattoos and ran all sorts of magical scans on them. It seemed that my best friend was an energy manipulator and the gateway for some form of energy source from another dimension. Rune said that the energy had similarities to magic, and she felt that the floaty hair was a side effect of channeling that energy and that when Emma teleported she was using the energy to pull herself and any passengers through the dimension the energy comes from as a shortcut from place to place.
The tattoos were a physical manifestation of the energy that Emma channels, like using a physical object or runes or such as a focus for a spell. All of the weapon tattoos summoned a weapon of the same type as the tattoo that she was using, and the weapons were made of some sort of black metal that Rune couldn’t identify. She thought it might be Emma’s energy emulating solid matter. It looked like black metal, felt cold to the touch like metal, and the weapons were all really sharp. Rune wanted to know more though, because she said it was like nothing she had ever seen before, even in magically created objects.
When Emma thought on the ninja girl tattoo her clothes vanished and were replaced with some sort of costume resembling what the girl in the tattoo wore. There was a black one piece strapless bathing suit that made her boobs look amazing and was very distracting to me and a dark silver sash wrapped tightly around her waist with the ends tied in a big bow at her back. There were also fingerless elbow length fishnet gloves and matching thigh high stockings with combat boots and a ninja mask covering the lower part of her face. I thought that it looked pretty cool.
Rune couldn’t determine what the costume was made of either and figured that it was energy pretending to be matter again, but Rune was having trouble sensing anything about it. She couldn’t even sense Emma while she was wearing it. She finally tried other high tech forms of energy and motion detection, but they couldn’t see Emma at all and Rune decided that the costume must be a stealth spell or something. I couldn’t even sense her when she was using it, not with any of my heightened senses or even my mutant detection power, it was really weird. Even her voice seemed effected, and came out as this creepy whisper, even when she yelled.
After two hours of Rune trying to figure Emma out she passed her on to my mom, Wildthing, and Edge who spent until dinnertime testing her physical abilities. Emma seemed to be able to use both hands equally well, had good hand-eye coordination and learned physical skills fast. She was also in probably the best shape a person could be without being in the enhanced category, and was freakishly flexible. I was stunned. She may not have any martial arts training, but on those natural abilities and teleportation alone she was able to hold her own against Edge. She didn’t have the skills to mount a good offense, but Edge was having trouble breaking her defense and that was saying something.
When we returned home I noticed that Emma seemed very upset and sinking into a depression. She had every reason to of course, but it pained me to see her that way. Thankfully Tara kept her distance once she saw the mood my friend was in and let us be as we went to my bedroom and Emma changed out of her workout clothes and into a t-shirt and jeans. I needed to do something to cheer Emma up, but I wasn’t sure what. I thought maybe we could sit in and watch a movie and talk, but then I remembered that we had forgotten to get Emma something to wear to bed. Since Mom and Dad were taking Tara to ballet practice I copied Mom’s powers and let them all know I would be taking Emma back to the mall and that we would have dinner there.
Emma didn’t say a word as we ate and she was only picking at her pizza, she usually loved meat lovers. Why wouldn’t she let me in? Finally I had enough and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling overwhelmed by being a girl now?”
She shook my head sadly as she replied, “I kind of wish that was the problem. I know in my head that this should feel wrong to me, but it’s my body and it feels like my body, even though I know it wasn’t a few days ago. I think the change might have messed with my mind.”
Wait, did this mean she was okay with being a girl? What the hell could be wrong then? I just nodded and repeated her. “And I kind of wish I had that problem when I first changed. I’ve been trying to see this all as a big joke, but it’s only been recently that I could actually look in the mirror and realize that it’s me there. I’m even starting to like what I see there and feel comfortable with it. It was really hard for those first two months though. I tried not bothering you with it, but I had a bit of a mental breakdown when I had my first ‘monthly visitor’.”
“Let me guess,” she replied, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand, “That was when you were sick with the flu for four days. I was wondering if it was somehow related to your change.”
“Yeah, that was it,” I reluctantly admitted. “You were already there for me for everything else so I didn’t want to bother you with my ‘girl problems’. But if being a girl isn’t what’s bothering you so much, what is?”
“All my powers and abilities seem to be geared toward killing, harming, or moving without detection. I’m just wondering what kind of person that makes me,” she said after a moment and I could see that it was really bothering her a lot.
“A ninja?” I suggested, trying to feed her a clue. “Seriously, you were dreaming about ninjas, what other kinds of powers could you expect to get? Our powers don’t define who we are as people, our actions do, and you went into a fire to save people once you got those powers. You could have just stayed there outside, nice and safe, but you didn’t, you went back. That took courage and a lot of caring.” I tried to put all of my respect and care for her into those words; I needed her to see that she was a good person no matter what her powers were.
She didn’t seem to want to hear it. “It was the right thing to do. And I’m a coward; I couldn’t even tell you how I felt about you.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me?” I prodded her. I had a pretty good idea why, but I needed to hear it from her.
“I wasn’t sure how you’d react, I was afraid it would hurt you, or reopen old wounds,” she admitted as she looked down at her barely touched pizza with a sigh.
“You were thinking of me. That’s my whole point, you’re always thinking of others. And you could have just given in to your parent’s bigotry, but you stood by me when you found out I was a Hyper and supported me through the worst time of my life. You’re always trying to be a better person, that’s the kind of person you are, and it’s one of the things I really love about you.” Oh shit, I just told her I loved her. I shoved more pizza in my mouth to keep it from saying anything else stupid.
We were both quiet for a time. We quickly finished our meals; since apparently we both wanted to keep our mouths busy to avoid anything really stupid being said, and headed toward the department store that we had gone to earlier. Emma wanted to stop by the bank first though and that was when we heard the gunshots. Emma turned to me, her eyes wide. “Did those come from inside the bank?”
I quickly shook my head and pointed to where the sound had come from. “No I think they came from around the corner.”
We rounded the corner in a rush and nearly ran into the people running from a jewellery store. We edged our way along the wall and stopped to peek through the windows of the store. Inside were four men wearing ski masks and holding guns pointed at a pair of customers and two saleswomen. I could feel the pull from the fifth man in a silver costume and mask before I even saw him. He felt like a Category three, but I couldn’t be sure what his powers were, I hadn’t felt anything similar before. “That one is a mutant, Category three I think,” I said as I pointed to him.
“Yeah the costume kind of makes it obvious,” she retorted. “Any clue what his powers are?”
I shook my head, wishing I were more useful in this situation “My powers don’t work like that I can only detect mutants and make a ballpark guess on their power levels. I could copy his powers, but I would need to know what they are to use them and I’d have to give up the shape shifting. I can only copy one mutant’s powers at a time.”
“Any ideas on how to handle this?” she asked.
I wasn’t sure what to say, all of my knowledge was second hand, I had only known what to do against the Foul Four because I had read the files the Sentries had on them. Finally I asked, “Do you think you can teleport the hostages out quick enough so that none of them get hurt? Once they’re out of the way we can take on the robbers without worrying about them.”
She considered it for a moment before shaking her head. “I could take out maybe two before they noticed something was up. Maybe if you copied my powers we could get them all out.”
“That might work,” I admitted. “Is there anything I need to know about how your powers work?” I would rather not get pulled into another dimension accidentally and make things worse and with our luck I wouldn’t put the possibility out of reach.
“Just think of where you want to be or what you want to summon and it happens,” she responded before adding, “I think that the location has to be somewhere nearby, that I can see, or a place I’ve been before though.”
I nodded as I thought about that, it sounded simple enough. “Let’s assume the same limits work for me then. I’ll get the two saleswomen and you grab the customers and we’ll leave them by the bank around the corner.” She nodded and I focused on pulling her power into me. She was suddenly trying to hide a laugh when all my fur and hair stood straight up. I was about to give her shit over it when she summoned her costume, probably to hide the smile better. “Yes, I’m sure I look hilarious,” I grouched before I looked into those amazing blue eyes and muttered, “Let’s get this over with.”
I thought about the spot beside the first saleswoman and before I could blink I was there. I grinned and thought about the outside of the bank. After dropping her off, I thought about the other saleswoman and repeated the process. I would have to borrow Emma’s powers more often if I could find a way to negate my fur standing on end. Emma had gotten the customers out as well and we cautioned the people we saved to remain where it was safe while we handled the thieves. We poofed back inside where Emma appeared behind one of the gunmen who were all looking around in a panic, saying in that creepy whisper, “You boys lose something?”
Everyone’s attention turned to Emma and I knew that this would be my chance. She could handle the gunmen easy enough, but someone had to keep the Hyper busy. That would be me. I hurled myself at the man in the silver costume, causing the jewellery he had been levitating into a bag to drop as I caught him off guard. I hauled off and punched him hard in the face a few times, but I had to back off when the metal of the costume changed into spikes that damn near impaled me. I was vaguely aware of Emma summoning a katana, slicing guns in half, teleporting and generally beating the crap out of the four gunmen, but I was a little preoccupied by the sharp metal projectiles that the man in silver was hurling at me.
I wanted to try to copy his powers so we would at least be at a stalemate, but he wasn’t giving me any time to focus on copying him and I needed at least a second to do that. I had to resort to using my own innate agility and cat like reflexes to avoid what he was throwing at me. I had done a number on him already, but I needed to somehow get closer for a knockout blow and I had let go of Emma’s powers when I had tried to copy his and he has done his spiky thing. I leaped into the air to avoid a trio of metal blades, but I didn’t have time to dodge the fourth and I screamed in pain as it hit me in the shoulder and I fell to the floor.
I tried to move as he formed another group of projectiles, but damn my shoulder hurt, it was bleeding pretty badly too. I was saved as Emma teleported in, punched him right in the jaw, and teleported ten feet behind him. “You forgot all about me, I feel so insulted,” she taunted him, causing him to turn in blind rage to throw the projectiles at her. Whenever he fired projectiles at her she just kept teleporting and he couldn’t seem to keep up with her movements.
Finally, his face red with anger, he screamed, “Stop that!”
“You shouldn’t throw sharp pointy things at people; maybe I should show you how it feels,” she taunted again as her right hand filled with throwing stars.
“You fool, I am Lodestone, the master of metal!” he sneered as he looked at the black stars.
“These aren’t exactly metal,” Emma retorted as she threw one at him. He seemed to realize that he couldn’t control it as she threw and quickly formed a shield from the metal of his costume. The star sank deep into the metal with a ringing sound as I gritted my teeth and pulled myself to my feet. I walked up behind him and his attention was so focused on Emma that he didn’t even notice me until I hit him as hard as I could in the jaw with my uninjured arm. The impact sent him flying five feet through the air before he hit the ground out cold.
Why the hell is it that the cops always show up after the villain is dealt with? Maybe something to do with their union. Anyway they showed up just after ‘the master of metal’ went down for his nap. Emma and I left them to deal with the aftermath, well I wasn’t really given a choice since the moment Emma put her weapons away I was whisked away to the medical bay at the Sentries’ base. I wasn’t going to argue the point since my shoulder hurt like hell.
Gina, or Rune as Emma knew her, had already sent Clarice home for the night and was about to go join her when we showed up and Emma explained what happened. Gina had my concerned friend wait in her office while she made sure there was no metal stuck in the wound, stitched me up, and used one of her more powerful healing spells to make sure I would be okay. She told me to rest at home for a few days and she would come see how I was progressing and then left to tell Emma that I was okay and to send her in. Before she left she said, “I think you have a good one there Kat, she really cares for you and you make a cute couple. If you are going to let her down, be gentle.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that so she was gone before I could reply. It seemed like only a breath later that Emma was there in her place. God, she looked so worried, I thought that maybe she may have been crying. I gave her a weak smile. “Don’t look so worried, I’ve been through worse than this.”
“I… was worried I might lose you,” she stammered with teary eyes as she came over and sat on the bed beside me. “I’ve been worried about it ever since you left for Whistler. First I thought I’d lose you if I tried telling you how I felt, then when I was changed I was worried I’d lose you because of it. And today I was worried I’d lose you because of who I might become. I can handle losing my parents if it comes to that and I can handle being a girl since there’s no other choice. The only thing I’ve been worried about this whole time is losing you. You said I need time to figure out who I am now, and I know a lot has changed for me, but there is one thing that hasn’t changed and will never change no matter who I decide I am. I love you.” She rifled through her backpack and came up with a shopping bag, which she placed in my lap.
I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. Oh God I wanted to tell her how much I loved her, how amazingly beautiful she was, but would that make her feel better or would it crush her that I could only desire her now that she was a girl too? Would that destroy what we already had? I looked up at her but I couldn’t face her like this so I looked at the bag as I tried to let her down easy. “Oh Ja… Emma… I can’t… I…” I let my curiosity get the better of me as I tried to find the words and I opened the bag. There was something white and fluffy inside and I pulled it out to reveal a stuffed kitty holding a heart that said, ‘You are purrrfect, please be my Valentine’. I stared at it for the longest time and the words just wouldn’t come to me. The tears that had been welling up began to run down my cheeks with wild abandon.
“There’s some cat shaped truffles too, and I wanted to get you flowers but things got kind of crazy…” she said nervously when the silence became difficult to bear. When I looked up she was looking away.
I took a deep breath. I did love her and had for some time and I felt that maybe, just maybe, what she felt for me was more than just a crush. More than that, I wanted to see where this journey together would take us, so I finally said “I love you too,” as I took her hand in mine. She turned her teary face toward my own and the pain in my shoulder was well worth it as I pulled her toward me and kissed her.
![]() |
Terrael grew up in paradise, until the Fomorians showed up. Now Humans, Hypers, and Fae all face extinction and Terrael is their only hope. Can he get used to his own changes and make the one change that can save them all?
Part 1 of 3 Dystopia Amethyst |
I was laying in my hammock in the small cottage my mom and I shared, listening to the rain falling outside, wondering how paradise had gone to hell, and thinking about how few of us there were left. The Humans were surviving, those that remained anyway, but only because of my Faery kin, my mom, and the other Hypers. There were fewer Hypers and Fae every day though, as we became weaker and weaker from the daily attacks by Fomorians. They almost never attacked us in large numbers anymore, they took turns so they could all get some sport out of it, and sometimes we managed to kill one or two of them.
The Fomorians badly outnumbered us now, and they were Gods, we had enough trouble just handling the small groups. The goddess Dana was using a good deal of her magic just keep the shield around the settlement and prevent them from attacking us without having to fight them every day as well. She used more magic each day recently, every time we lost another Hyper or one of our mages.
Maybe a little history is in order. In the year 2018 Earth was destroyed by an event called the Flare. A Hyper named Stellar was assassinated over the Atlantic coast while she and some of her teammates were performing a rescue operation. Stellar’s body had been believed to be invulnerable, and it needed to be, because it prevented her core, a low mass star from destroying her and everything around her. Somehow someone had managed to penetrate that invulnerability though, and the Flare occurred.
The core consumed everything around it in a burst of plasma and radiation, including Stellar, her teammates and most of the east coast of the United States and Canada. The core then began consuming not just the hydrogen from the water but the earth as well, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and electromagnetic storms as the planet began breaking up from the intense gravitational field the core was generating. And as the planet broke apart the core added the planet’s mass to its own.
The Goddess Dana, my aunt Kara, and my mom were teammates of Stellar’s who were working a different mission at the time. As the Earth broke itself apart they worked to gather what survivors they could find before the end and Dana transported them all to Tír na nÓg. Back then there were nearly a hundred and fifty humans and close to thirty Hypers. The survivors had hoped to make a new life for themselves in the paradise they had been brought to, but Paradise was already occupied.
The Fae, or the Faery folk, had fled to Tír na nÓg nearly eight centuries earlier; feeling that they could never coexist with mankind, and leaving only small pockets of their own kind on Earth. Not that there were many of them in Tír na nÓg either. When they had left Earth it was because they had been hunted to near extinction and since many of them had fertility issues there hadn’t been a huge population boom since then. There were less than five hundred when my mom and the other survivors arrived. The Fae probably would have wiped them out if it had not been for Syryn and the Goddess.
Fae are born with magical marks showing their clan somewhere on their bodies, though the color and location of the mark varies by person, like a magical birthmark. Once every fifty years they can impart their clan mark on an adoptee should they not be able to bear children of their own. Syryn bore a Fae clan mark showing her as an adoptee of one of the Fae, and not just any clan mark, but the one belonging to the royal family. The Fae were also already acquainted with the Goddess Dana, so with their help a truce was made. The survivors could live among the Fae so long as they kept the peace and allowed any children born to have adoptive Fae parents, in addition to their natural human ones.
Things were going fine and we were all living in relative peace until a year and a half ago. That’s when the Fomorians came. Dana said that the destruction of the Earth may have weakened the magic that sealed them in ghleann na ndólás. That was the prison where they were placed after the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. It was then that the Tuatha de Danaan left Earth for Cathair na Danaan, the city of the Gods, and left the Fae and the humans to divide the Earth as they saw fit. It didn’t really matter how it happened though, they had come and we were unprepared. We lost a large number of Humans, Hypers and Fae in that first attack, including my father Pharen.
There were only six adult Hypers, fewer than a hundred humans, and barely over one hundred Fae remaining. My mom, Jackie Evans, was one of the Hypers. Before the end of days on Earth she had been a superhero who had gone by the name Slush. Stellar had been her best friend and since she had come to Tír na nÓg she had been truly lost. She had not only lost her best friend, most of her teammates, and her family, but her world as well and I think she was hit hardest of all during those first weeks. My father had seen her need for love and companionship and had begun a friendship with her, which quickly evolved to more, and less than a year and a half later I was born.
My aunt Kara was another of the Hypers remaining. Like I said before she wasn’t really my aunt, more like a big sister to my mom. While her real name was Kara Sòng, she went by Crystal for the most part. She was physically the strongest of us all and provided crystals that helped the Goddess hold her own against the Fomorians during the day. She used those same crystals to create near indestructible weapons and for other uses as well. Then there was Aunt Kara’s husband, and sort of my uncle, Tom Karlson. You can probably figure out why she never took his last name, not that there were really official marriages anymore anyway. They had been together for the past five years. Uncle Tom had been known as Ares before the Flare and had been near death so many times, but he always seemed to come out of it in one piece thanks to his healing factor.
Their daughter Hope was three years old and she was a Hyper too. I don’t mean that she had dormant H Chromosomes, but rather she was actually an activated Hyper. Her birth had been a difficult one and had caused major health problems for her and as a result she had activated a few hours after being born, activating her healing factor. She had inherited that from her father, but she got something from her mom too that had only been discovered recently. She could encase her body or anything she was touching in a crystalline shell that bent light around it, making it, and whatever was inside, effectively invisible. She could even move with the shell in place. I sometimes jokingly called her Peekaboo and with that ability my ‘cousin’ was really hard to keep track of. She also seemed to get a kick from using that ability to surprise people.
Then there was Syryn and Rave, otherwise known as Candy Graham and Amy Quinn. Amy was the one who handled the transportation and she had been a big help in gathering the survivors since she created teleportation portals. Before the end she had been a groupie/roadie for a Hyper band and super hero group called RevolveR. Candy had been the lead singer and leader of that group, and was one of the most powerful telekinetics that had ever been recorded before the Flare. Amy didn’t make any secret that she practically worshiped the older mutant. There was one other Hyper, but we didn’t talk about her much.
I guess having a Mom that’s a Hyper made me a Hyper too, but we weren’t entirely sure about that yet given my mixed heritage. You see my father was one of the Fae and since there’s never been a half breed who’s Fae and Hyper before we weren’t sure what I could expect. I couldn’t be sure if I had H Chromosomes, much less whether they could actually activate. I didn’t mind too much though, since I was quite comfortable growing up learning the fighting style, archery, swordplay, and magic of my father’s people.
Being half Fae I could gather magical energy without even really thinking about it and my mom said my grandmother had been a talented sorceress too, so with the two combined my real talent was at learning magic. At fifteen, after less than a year of learning under my aunt Virrae, I had already earned three Eenuka marks for healing spells. Eenuka marks take a lot of talent and hard work to earn, and are sort of like badges saying that you’ve mastered a spell to the point where you don’t even really need to think about it to cast it. When a Fae mage gets to that point the spell becomes part of them and appears as a tattoo-like mark, often somewhere near their clan mark.
I actually knew a lot of spells, but I had wanted to learn those three to that point so I could use them even if I was tired or low on magical energy. One never knows when you might need a healing spell, especially in our lives. So the first three I had dedicated myself to were a spell to make wounds heal quickly, one to mend broken bones, and a purification spell. Now that I had learned those three to that point I was trying to decide whether to work on gaining marks for more advanced healing spells or some defensive ones.
My Eenuka marks all ran down the outer edge of my upper right arm in swirling patterns around my butterfly shaped clan mark. The clan marks are sort of special too. In addition to showing which clan we belong to, they also allow us to use our clan’s special ability. These abilities are different for each clan. In Syryn’s, case the royal family are able to inspire loyalty and confidence in others with their mark. Hope’s adopted clan was the Changeling clan so she could change her features to some degree. Not as well as an actual Fae from that clan, since she was human, but hair and eye color and even some facial features wouldn’t be too hard for her to alter consciously, once she was old enough to train. Until then her features tended to vary a bit from day to day. My father’s clan, and thus mine as well, is the Pixie clan and our mark allows us to change to a ‘pixie’ form. The form looks the same as our normal body, but it’s only like eight inches tall at the most, has insect-like wings that are different for each person, and allows us to gather and use a lot more magic than we can in our normal forms.
I heard voices outside my bedroom as I lay awake that night. “Can’t you send one of us Dana?” my Mom was saying. “Terry hasn’t even activated yet, and we don’t even know if he can.”
“Jackie, we’ve tried it that way before,” the Goddess replied with a sigh that was audible through the woven curtain that acted as a door. “You tried going yourself; you know that the timeline won’t accept someone who already existed then. We need to send someone who was born afterwards. Terry is the only one who fits that and is old enough to make the plan work. We need someone with powers to change things and, even if he doesn’t have H Chromosomes, he is a very gifted magic user. We both know we can’t keep holding off the Fomorians much longer. Soon I won’t have the power to spare to even try sending someone back, I’ll be putting it all toward keeping us alive and them at bay. It’s got to be Terrael and it’s got to be soon.”
“I… know,” my mother spoke hesitantly. “It’s just… he’s my son. He doesn’t even know anything about the technology or culture like one of us would. Even if he does stop it from happening, what will happen to him back then?”
“He’ll live Jackie, which is more assurance than I can offer if he stays here and we don’t send anyone back,” the goddess answered tiredly. “We’ll all be dead soon anyway if things keep going this way. At least this way he has a chance. How much longer do you think we can really last the way we are now? Candy has been pushing her telekinesis so hard that every time she uses it now she’s risking organ failure or severe brain damage, and Amy can’t focus because she’s so worried about her. Kara is barely able to keep standing after these daily battles, and she’s been even worse since she lost her eye last week, and then there’s you and Tom.”
“I’m fine,” my mother said curtly.
“Bullshit Jackie,” the winged woman countered. “We can all see what’s happening, and you and Tom are just too determined to look strong for the rest of us that you don’t want us to know how bad things are with you. Every time your ice form gets broken it gets more difficult and takes longer for you to pull yourself together again.”
“I don’t let it affect my performance in combat,” Mom snapped.
“No, you and Tom just both push yourselves even harder and it’s going to end up killing you just like it is him,” Dana replied sounding more than a little sad. “I... I shouldn’t tell you this Jackie, Tom doesn’t want anyone knowing, especially Crystal, but… he’s dying. He’s been continuously overtaxing his healing factor for the past year and a half. We’ve all been going without a break, but the affects for him are even worse than for Candy. His healing factor has gone into overdrive, it’s not stopping and it’s causing growths to form. Virrae can’t do anything for him and, at the rate the growths are forming; she thinks he’ll be dead within a week. I don’t think the rest of us can hold out much longer than that either.”
I gasped as I heard that. I knew things were going bad, one only needed to see them return from a battle, to see how much this was wearing down the Hypers and what was left of our warriors and mages. I had no idea it was that bad though. Apparently I was loud enough to be heard as the curtain was pushed aside and they entered my room. My mom looked tired, but then she often did these days, and her ice blue eyes were moist. Dana didn’t look much older than me and had silvery blue hair, turquoise eyes and beautiful white wings which she had to fold tight against her back and shoulders to get through the doorway.
The goddess gave me a weak smile. “I thought you were awake Terrael, could you please get dressed? We’re going to be having a meeting in the grotto and we’ll need you there too.”
Soon I was dressed and the three of us had walked through the quiet settlement to await the others in the grotto. The grotto was where people in the settlement usually went to relax, take a swim, and be at one with nature. At night it was usually well lit by the phosphorescent plants that grew there, giving it a somewhat peaceful and romantic feel. The trees would also keep us somewhat dry in the rain so I made a mental note to sit beneath one of the thicker ones.
We weren’t the first ones there. Aunt Virrae was there with another of the Fae mages named Lorrian and Syryn. Syryn is usually pretty hard to miss with her light blue skin and bright pink hair, but I almost did miss Rave. That’s not really my fault though since at night she kind of blended right in at the grotto, her skin was jet black and she had bright green glowing hair. If had hadn’t been for the slight movement of the various lines and geometric patterns she has all over her skin in that same glowing green, I probably would have missed her altogether. The glowing irises of her green eyes fixed on us as we approached and I waved to the group.
“Tom and Kara should be here soon,” Candy told us as we approached. “They just wanted to make sure Hope was sleeping peacefully first since we needed Terry here.” Usually when they had meetings like this I wasn’t included and Hope and I would spend the time playing together, or I would show her whatever new spells I was learning.
“Good,” Dana replied with a nod as we all made ourselves comfortable. “I guess while we’re waiting for them we should tell Terrael why we’re all gathered here.”
Rave snorted in disgust. “Terry’s not stupid and it’s pretty obvious to everyone that sooner or later the Fomorians are going to finish the epic ass-kicking they’ve been handing us. We have nowhere left to go, nowhere to run or hide, and every fucking day we get closer to kissing extinction. So let’s just get on with it and tell him the plan.” One thing about Amy, at least she’s direct.
Dana frowned, but nodded in agreement. “Terry, we have a plan to prevent any of this from ever happening, but we need to send someone back in time to do it. Someone who can prevent the one event that leads to all of this from happening, the death of Stellar. Unfortunately, the time line will not accept the presence of the same person more than once in the same timeline, so we need to send someone who wasn’t born yet, and you’re the best candidate.”
“But if we did that, even if I succeeded, wouldn’t I just make it so I wasn’t born? And wouldn’t that just cancel out any changes I made?” I argued uncertainly.
The winged goddess shook her head. “My mother Danu once told me that time isn’t entirely linear; there are many possible dominant timelines and each is like a tree with a trunk that represents the dominant timeline itself. Right now this is a dominant timeline, but there are branches further down the tree, major turning points where other possible timelines branch out from. If you manage to prevent Stellar’s death, this possible future would still exist, but only as a branch rather than the trunk of the time tree. So, in essence, you’ll still exist to go back if you manage to change the timeline to a more favorable one, which would become the new dominant timeline.”
“So, if I got this right, I’ll be climbing down the tree and creating a new branch, but I’ll still be in the same tree?” I asked.
“That’s about it. Just that the new branch would become the trunk and make the tree grow differently from that point on. If I understand Dana’s time babble,” Amy put in. There was some laughter at that and Dana rolled her eyes as she nodded.
“So, how am I supposed to stop this from happening? The few things I do know about Earth at that time are from stories. I won’t have any idea how to survive, where to go, or what to do,” I argued.
“We’ve taught you to read and write English as well as you do Elvish, and you know math and some sciences as well. Those skills will help and Lorrian thinks he can help with the rest,” Dana replied. That explained the other mage’s presence, his specialty was mind magic. “He’s going to try and give you some of your mother’s innate knowledge of the time we’re sending you to. Not memories, but the basic knowledge you’ll need to get by and find the assassin.”
That was a bit of a relief if it could actually work, otherwise I’d have no idea what to do. It did prompt my next question though. “Do we even know who this assassin is?”
“The assassin was most likely a Hyper who called himself Null,” Uncle Tom’s voice said and I turned to see him and Aunt Kara entering the grotto. Uncle Tom was muscular yet lean with dark red skin and black hair and despite being over eighty years old he still looked to be in his early twenties. Aunt Kara was of Chinese descent with electric blue hair and eyes… or rather eye, since she now wore an eye patch where her left eye had been a week before.
The pair sat down across from me on a log and Uncle Tom continued speaking. “The assassination fits his style and his ability. Most mutants of his type cancel out another mutant’s powers, but that wouldn’t have worked with Stellar since her invulnerability wasn’t a power but a side effect, a biological trait that evolved to keep her core from killing her or others. Others tried to cancel out her invulnerability and failed, but Null could cancel out one of another Hyper’s unique biological traits, or one of their powers, as long as he could see the person. Her core probably started destroying her before the bullet even hit her, once he canceled out her invulnerability. Null liked taking down mutants with a reputation for being un-killable. Before Stellar he killed Paragon, and before that several other mutants with a reputation for being indestructible.”
“How do you know about this guy Uncle Tom?” I asked.
“He was supposed to become a Titan,” the red skinned Hyper answered with a grimace. “Gaia activated him and named him Caerus, but he refused to join us and left, because of our code to not harm other Hypers if it could be avoided. He was a killer, pure and simple. He saw himself as a God-killer and three of those he killed were fellow Titans. He almost killed me as well, but Hermes prevented it. He thought of himself as a warrior, but he was a damn coward. He liked to wait for his victims to be preoccupied and shoot them from a distance with a sniper rifle, using the scope to see them well enough to use his ability while shooting.”
Aunt Kara nodded thoughtfully. “That means when you look for him at the assassination locations you’ll have to search out places he could fire from. It would be somewhere high with a good line of sight to the location. Your pixie form would be good for scouting those areas.”
“What do you mean assassination locations?” I asked in confusion. “I thought you just wanted me to stop Stellar from being killed.”
“We do,” Mom pointed out, “and the best way to do that is to stop the assassin before he can even try. If we send you too close to the time when Stellar was killed, the odds of you failing are higher. So the plan is to send you to just before the earliest known assassination by Null and give you more time and opportunities to stop him. Tom will have some information for you on the times and places of several of these attempts, and Dana can give you the time and place when Stellar died, in case all else fails.”
“I still regret not tracking him down and ending him myself before all of this started,” Uncle Tom muttered, “I had intended to after he nearly killed me and I started a journal with information on the times, places, and other details of his jobs up until Paragon. I was hoping to find a pattern, but I never did. If you don’t get him by the time he kills Paragon, his attempt on Stellar will be your last chance though.”
“Well at least that will give me something to work with,” I said with some measure of relief. “Is there anything else that could complicate things?”
Syryn nodded and sighed. “There are a few things you should know Terri. Try to stay away from clothes made of synthetic materials; they’ll bother your skin, though blends should be okay if they’re mostly natural fibers. Also, there were a lot of preservatives and such in foods back then and, since you aren’t used to that, it may take a little while for your digestive system to build up a tolerance. At least you won’t have to worry about cold iron though, they mostly used processed iron, aluminum, other metals, alloys, and plastics to make most things, so things made of pure cold iron were rarely seen.”
“There’s one more thing too,” Amy pointed out. “You may have inherited H Chromosomes from your mother. If they activate in the past we won’t be able to help you figure out your powers and deal with any physiological changes. Some of us really go through the wringer when we activate, just look at Candy and me. Having it happen in the past could complicate the mission. We’ll need to find out if you do have them and, if you do, activate them before you leave.”
My mother’s eyes shot wide open. “You can’t seriously be thinking about taking Terry to see her,” she sputtered. “She wasn’t playing with a full deck before the Flare. After she threw away any cards she might have had left.”
“Tom and I will take Terry to see her,” Dana offered, though she was frowning and her wings seemed to twitch in agitation. “She’s mostly lucid with us. We need to do it tonight though in case Terry needs a few days to adjust to having powers before we send him. I’ll need to create the time portal on the full moon, when I’m at my most powerful, and that’s in two days. So we’ll take him now while you and Lorrian prepare the spell for giving Terry some of your knowledge of the past.”
The rain was coming down harder and there was thunder as the goddess and Uncle Tom led me to the small dark hut on the outer edge of the settlement. It was the home of the Hyper that nobody really talks about. She never left the hut and nobody visited her except for Uncle Tom and Dana. The latter of the two opened the door and took a look around the darkened one room hut as Uncle Tom and I stood just behind her. “Gaia, are you here?”
Giggling emerged from one of the dark corners. “Here, but not here. Always here, but ever there. Long gone and yet I linger still.” A wraith of a woman with crazed eyes and a manic smile shuffled toward us. She was hard to make out in the darkness and when Dana created a globe of light I could see why. She seemed to be nearly completely transparent, like some form of ghost; maybe the rumors about this hut being haunted were true. She had brown hair, long enough that it dragged along the ground behind her and her crazed eyes glowed with an eerie green light.
She seemed to notice who her visitors were and though her eyes were still crazed, they stopped darting around the room to focus on the pair I had come with. “Selene, Ares, it’s so nice to see you both. You are the only of my children who ever visit me; we really must get the whole family together soon. I know you all have busy lives, but one should never be too busy to spend time with their mother and the halls of Olympus seem so empty without you all here with me.”
“I’ve told you not to call me that Gaia,” Dana said with a sigh, though it was pretty apparent she thought it was a lost cause.
“You’ve always been one of my most willful children Selene; you, Hephaestus, Demeter, and Astraea. How are they? I really wish they would visit. Demeter grows the loveliest flowers and Astraea and Hephaestus might argue with me, but they really are two of my brightest children and I only want the best for them. Should I summon Hermes and have him bring them for a visit?” Her spooky green eyes turned thoughtful.
Uncle Tom was whispering in my ear so quietly that I could barely hear him. “You’ll need to play along. Pretend that you’re one of her children and that you want to ‘embrace your destiny’.” When Gaia turned pensive he took that as a good time to speak to her. “They’re all so busy… mother. We all are. Ruling over all those humans and keeping them from destroying themselves and us is a lot of work. I’ll have some of the others visit when they have time. We found a child you might want to meet.”
Uncle Tom stepped aside and pushed me toward the apparition. When she saw me the glow in her eyes seemed to intensify. “Welcome my child,” she said with an only slightly less manic smile. “Your human guise is an interesting one, not completely human, perhaps part nymph? But there are the seeds of Godhood within you and I can see you for what you truly are. Why have you come before me today?”
A swallowed the lump of fear that had formed in my throat as I stepped forward and tried to make myself look eager and nervous rather than terrified and shaking as I held out my hand. “I came to embrace my destiny… Mother.” Calling that madwoman my mother was disturbing, so I tried to push it out of my mind by thinking of my real mom waiting out in the grotto. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that the flash of lightning outside made me jump a little as Gaia reached out and took my offered hand.
As her hand touched me I felt a warmth flood through me until it felt like my entire body was on fire. I was dimly aware of falling to my knees as the feeling became painful and it felt like my whole body was being twisted inside out. Finally it was over. I was gasping for air as violet sparks flew along the surface of my skin and I heard Gaia say, “Welcome to Godhood Astrape.” Then I blacked out.
I awoke under a tree in the grotto with everyone who had been gathered earlier looking down at me in concern. As soon as my eyes fluttered open Mom squeezed my hand, “Terry, do you feel alright? You went through a pretty big change there.”
I thought about that before replying. Other than the big weight on my chest and a feeling that my entire body was now somehow different I felt great. “I… I feel weird, but think I’m good Mom,” I finally answered. Whoa, was that my voice? It sounded very feminine, but that probably explained the weight on my chest and the other odd sensations I was feeling.
“We should have warned you to keep your mind clear, but we haven’t had anyone activate since Hope did and nobody was expecting that to happen,” Uncle Tom said with a sigh. “When Gaia activates someone they’re usually not in any real danger so it slipped our minds that the thoughts of the person being activated affect their form and power expression a lot more than when they are in danger and the circumstances have an effect as well.”
“I’m afraid that your new form is female Terry,” Dana cautioned me, though I had kind of figured that out already. “I know it’s going to be hard to adjust, believe me several of us here know that, but you’ll manage. Your Archetype may even help with that.”
I shrugged my shoulders and tried to act casual as I sat up. “So? It’s just the biology that’s different right? I’m sure I’d get used to that in time even without the Archetype to help.” Okay maybe I was a little more intimidated by the thought of getting used to a female body than I was letting on, but really that was the only thing that was bothering me at the moment.
I was raised Fae and we don’t have set gender roles, nudity taboos, or anything socially that hints that the body is more important than the person wearing it. We are all people and all the clans are a bit different, so we’ve learned to express ourselves as who we are rather than what we are. Pixies are a prime example of that since we have two separate forms. The Changelings even more so, since their genders are as variable as the rest of them. Biology is just a secondary concern to the Fae and, except for getting used to the intricacies of that new biology, being female was about as big a deal to me as being half human, neither changed who I was or that I identified as Fae.
Once they were all certain that I was coping okay Dana cast some spells to try to figure out what exactly my powers were since we had no technological means to do so. Apparently all the magic energy I was gathering was being transformed into electricity. That would complicate things for a few reasons. First, as a Fae I’m always gathering some magical energy without even thinking about it, which means I’m now always producing electricity and I couldn’t touch anyone or anything without releasing some. The second problem was that the more magic energy I tried to gather the more electricity I had. It was all being changed and I couldn’t use any of it to cast spells. The only spells I could use were my Eenuka marks, because those were part of me.
I could of course change to my pixie form still, but it now matched my new female form and my increased magic gathering ability in that form still wasn’t allowing me to use magic, and generated massive amounts of electricity I had to try to disperse without hurting anyone. I was starting to get very frustrated by this since I loved using magic and I was pretty damn good at it. Now instead of that I had a dangerous power that I wasn’t able to turn off. Finally I was frustrated enough that I snapped at the others. “How am I supposed to do anything useful in the past like this?! I’ll probably end up killing a bunch of people myself!”
“Not to mention you’ll probably fry any electronic devices you get too close to,” my mother agreed sadly.
“Leave that to me,” Dana offered. “Your Eenuka marks gave me an idea Terry. I think I can give you a similar mark and imbue it with an ability to switch your magic gathering capability on and off as you need it. It will be sort of like a seal, but one under your control. If you’re not gathering magic, you won’t be turning it into electricity, and that should help you blend in and keep you from harming anyone.”
“I guess that’s better than nothing,” I replied with a nod. “I’d rather be able to use magic though. Only having three healing spells available is going to limit me. I knew I should have tried earning a mark for an offensive and defensive spell too.”
“At least you still have your combat training, and your mental exercises should help you learn to control your powers better, they worked for me,” Candy pointed out.
The winged goddess put a hand on my shoulder, “You’ll adapt Terry; just give it time. For now though I’m going to put you to sleep so I can place that seal with your other marks and Lorrian can give you some of your mother’s knowledge of that time period. After that we’ll all need to get some rest. We have a busy two days ahead preparing you Terry, and I doubt the Fomorians are going to be giving us any time off.”
When I awoke the next morning my head certainly didn’t feel filled with new knowledge, though when I looked at my right arm I did notice a small lightning bolt shaped mark had been added just below the swirling pattern of my purification Eenuka mark. All my marks seemed to be lavender now instead of green, including my clan mark and my new seal. I guessed that the seal was in the ‘on’ setting since I wasn’t able to feel any magic around me and wasn’t generating sparks. It felt horrible not being able to sense the magic around me; it made me feel so empty inside so, just to make sure this wasn’t permanent, I thought about turning off the seal.
Instant relief flooded me as I could feel the magic around me again and drew some of it in, causing those violet sparks to flash and sizzle along my skin. Mom was pretty sure the night before I could probably absorb electricity too, or at the very least was immune to it, since my power didn’t seem to be harming me. Reluctantly I re-activated the seal and felt somewhat empty again, but at least I knew now that it was just hidden from my senses, it was still there if I wanted or needed it.
I lay in my hammock for a while after that, thinking about what I had been dragged into. Being female really didn’t bother me that badly, but my situation did. Everyone was counting on me to go back and change things for the better, but as things stood I wasn’t sure that I would be able to. I couldn’t use magic now, the one useful skill I would have had for this mission, and instead I was saddled with new powers that I wasn’t sure I could control. The whole prospect of going to the past, let alone attempting to change it, was terrifying to me, but I also knew how bad things were and that if I didn’t do it none of us would live. As scary and uncertain as the prospect was I had to try.
In trying though I would be leaving everything I was familiar with and everyone I loved. I’d probably never see another Fae in that world, and if I didn’t want things getting too complicated I’d have to actively try to avoid anyone I might know in that time too. I would be giving up my family, my friends, and probably my way of life as well. Unfortunately the only alternative that seemed to present itself was for me to stay and all of us to die as a result of my inaction. It was a hard realization to come to and earned me no small amount of tears.
Finally I dried my eyes and left my room to find my Mom sitting in the main room. “How are you feeling sweetie?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.
“I’m okay Mom,” I tried to assure her, wondering if she had heard me crying. I tried to act casual as I added, “Although I don’t feel filled with knowledge of Earth in the past.”
She nodded as she continued to watch me. “Lorrian didn’t want to overwhelm your mind so he made it so you’ll get the knowledge gradually, as you need it, once you’re in the past.” She sighed and said, “You know sweetie, except for your elven features, you look a lot like me at that age. You could be my elven twin.”
“I was wondering what I look like,” I admitted. “Do you think I could have a look before we get to whatever preparations need to be done today?”
Her response was to generate a thick and smooth-surfaced wall of ice in front of me that was large enough for me to see my whole body reflected there. Before my change I had taken a lot after my father, tall and lean with reddish brown hair and green eyes. Now though I was a little shorter than my mom’s current height and slender with sensual curves in the way that most Fae women are. My chest was a bit larger than average for a Fae woman though, not much smaller than my mother’s.
My hair was longer and thicker now, nearly waist length, and had gone nearly as light as my mother’s platinum blonde, though mine was wavier and had a silvery lavender tint to it. The face that hair framed looked nearly identical to my Mom, though I was obviously much younger and there were some Fae features. There was also slightly more arch to my eyebrows and my pointed ears were stubbornly trying to be noticed as the tips were sticking out through my thick hair. My large eyes retained the shape and slit pupils of a Fae, but they were a pale silvery violet in color. Everything else though I had inherited from her; the shape of the chin, the high cheekbones, the small nose, and the cupid’s bow lips.
“Wow,” I finally said. “That is going to be hard to get used to seeing.” As much as Fae tended to not define ourselves by a physical form, that face and the new biology were definitely going to take a little getting used to. “It’s probably going to cause problems too; I really don’t look very human.”
Mom came over and wrapped me in a hug and, as she was right there, I was struck again by how alike our faces were. She nodded as she gave me a good looking over. “You’ll need to disguise those elven features of yours in public. It won’t be such a big deal when using your powers, especially if you’re wearing a costume, but you will need a good disguise when you’re trying to blend in.”
Out of curiosity I also had to have a look at my pixie form. It looked just like my new female form, only with wings and Mom said I was about six inches tall. In my old male form my wings had been like dragonfly wings, but now they were like purple and black butterfly wings. They felt as strange as the rest of my body, but they were still wings, so I figured it was just one more thing to get used to. Mom thought they suited my new form well and I had to admit that they at least suited my new coloring.
After that we went to have breakfast with Uncle Tom, Aunt Kara, and my favorite little munchkin, it was sort of a tradition for us since my dad died. Hope looked a lot like her mom and today she had blue eyes and pink hair, but she also had this look of confusion on her face as my mom and I entered their home and sat down at the table with them. “Momma,” she said while tugging at Aunt Kara’s sleeve, “where’s Terry an' who is the pretty Fae?”
“That is Terry honey, he got activated last night,” Aunt Kara tried to explain.
“Nuh-uh, Terry is a boy Fae an' he don’t look like that,” she said, shaking her head and crossing her arms defiantly.
I stood up and walked to the other side of the table to kneel beside her chair and turned the chair so she was facing me. “It’s me Peekaboo,” I told her seriously. It got her attention since I was the only one who ever called her that. “You know how your Changeling family can change their bodies to suit their moods?” When she nodded, wide-eyed, I went on. “Well Mom and Dana told me that when we Hypers activate we sometimes change like that too, to suit our powers and our thoughts at the time. I was thinking of my Mom, see how we look alike now?”
The three year old looked from me to my mother and back before nodding. “Are you gunna change back?”
“No, this is me now and I can’t change again, except to my pixie form, but I don’t mind and I’m sure we’ll both get used to it.” I shook my head as I tried to reassure both of us that I was okay with this. “I may be Terrilae instead of Terrael on the outside now, I’m still the same on the inside and I still love you very much sweetie.”
She thought about my words for a moment before hugging me tight. “Are you still a boy pixie or are you a girl pixie too?” she asked once she let me go.
I concentrated once again on my clan mark to change to my pixie form and flew up to land on her knee. “I’m a girl as a pixie now too, see.” I told her with a smile to try and reassure her.
“You’re really pretty now, an' these wings are much prettier than your old ones Terri.” She said after a moment.
“Thank you Peekaboo.” I flew up to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, making her giggle, before I returned to my human sized form and took my seat again for breakfast.
After breakfast I spent much of the morning sparring with Uncle Tom and some of my Fae kin as I tried to get used to my new form and center of gravity. Six Fomorians attacked just after lunch, while the others were out fighting I watched over Hope. After I had put her down for a nap I tried to start using my mental discipline exercises to gain some semblance of control over my new abilities. I had managed to figure out how to direct my electricity in a sphere around me or fire it at a target, it wasn’t much, but it was a start.
After a while I also decided to take a bath in the grotto in an attempt to familiarize myself with my new body. It had been different and a little weird relieving myself after breakfast that morning. I had just tried to tell myself that at least I was still half Fae, the biology was just biology, and I would get used to it in time. I had just finished washing up and had gotten out of the pool to dry off and get dressed when Hope’s voice shouted behind me “PEEKABOO!”
If I had been wearing clothes I probably would have jumped right out of them, and I had to take a minute to take deep breaths and calm my racing pulse when Hope appeared from seemingly nothing. Usually I could sense where she was with my magic sense since her clan mark technically made her a magical being. Unfortunately while I had been bathing I had those senses turned off so I wasn’t generating electricity. As a result I hadn’t sensed her and she had scared me out of probably a good few years of my life. Okay you’re probably thinking, ‘hey you’re Fae, a few years of life is no big deal to you’, but let’s see how you feel when you get scared like that.
“Goddess! Peekaboo, you scared me.” Since until now I had always been able to sense her, I never realized just how effective her invisibility could be to non-magical folk. It also made me realize that I had been depending too much on my magic senses when I had perfectly good hearing, sight and smell. If I had been paying better attention I probably would have heard her.
The munchkin looked upset, shuffling her feet and looking down. “I’m sorry Terri.”
I reached forward and picked her up to kiss her on the forehead. “It’s okay sweetie, in fact it’s probably a good thing. I need to learn to use my other senses more. So how about I get dressed and we play peekaboo for a while. You try to hide and sneak up on me using your power and I’ll try to catch you before you do, using only my eyes, ears and nose.” We did just that, and I had managed to detect her using those senses twice before Mom and the others returned.
I was worried about the other Hypers and Fae when they returned from defending the magic shield that protects the settlement. We had lost seventeen more of my Fae kin in the attack. Those left, my mom, and the other Hypers looked like they were ready to fall over, especially Uncle Tom and Candy. Uncle Tom was in the process of re-growing an arm and looked like he was in a lot of pain. Candy had a bloody nose, could barely walk, and was leaning on Amy for support as they all entered through one of the black skinned mutant’s teleportation discs.
There was an attack early the next morning, but it was only one fairly weak Fomorian and he was easily taken care of before breakfast. After breakfast I again spent much of the morning sparring with Uncle Tom. My balance and my sense of my new body seemed somewhat improved over the day before, but that was a small consolation to me. Uncle Tom had been distracted and wasn’t moving near as fast as he usually could and that just wasn’t like him at all. That and the fact that I knew he was dying worried me. We were taking a break when he finally broached the subject that had been on his mind. “Terri… when you go back to the past Kara and I would like for you to do something for us. We… want you to take Hope with you.”
I thought that my jaw might have hit the ground then. “What?!”
“We can’t last much longer Terri, they’ll wipe us out soon,” he admitted tiredly. “Even if she does somehow survive what’s coming, what kind of life can Hope have here once we’ve fallen? You’re family to us and Kara and I know you’ll take good care of her, do your best to keep her safe, and give her a decent life. We already talked it over with Dana and she agreed to send her back with you.”
“Uncle I adore Hope, you know that, but I’m not even sure I can take care of myself back then, let alone a child,” I told him sadly.
“You’re one of us Terrilae, you’re a survivor. You will do what needs to be done and I know you’ll keep Hope as safe and happy as you’re able as well. I’ll have some things to help you.” He paused uncertainly. “There is one thing though; nobody in that time can know she’s my daughter, not even her. This afternoon Lorrian will make all of her memories of me fuzzy. She’ll remember that her father loved her very much, but she won’t know who I am or recognize me if she sees me in that time. This is very important Terri. If Gaia or even I find out she’s my daughter in that time, the Titans will come after her. I don’t want that life for her, or you, so if you meet me or any of the other Titans back then, do not trust them.”
I was staring at him at this point. He couldn’t be serious. “Uncle, I…”
“It’s what has to be done Terri, you know from what I’ve told you of the Titans that they would corrupt her. I was no better back then, it’s better this way,” he said with a shake of his head. “You know I’m dying, consider this my dying wish. I’ll die happy if I know that you and Hope have been sent to the past and have a chance to survive. So please, promise me you’ll do this.”
“I… I promise Uncle Tom. I’ll go back and stop all of this from happening, and I’ll protect Hope with my life,” I vowed as I leaned forward to hug him as tight as I could.
“I know we can count on you Terri. Hope’s last name will be Sòng, like Kara’s. I know Fae don’t use surnames, but you might want to consider using one in that time. Maybe take on your mother’s, Evans wasn’t too uncommon a name and it will let you have some part of her with you.”
“You’re probably right, family names seem important to humans, and I am half human. I wish I could take more than just her last name with me though,” I said sadly.
He took me back into their home then and handed me a small leather book that was worn with age. “In this book is all of the information I gathered on the Null assassinations. There are also the address, directions, and a key for one of the self-storage depots the Titans rent and use to store money, supplies and gear around the world. Gaia and I were the only ones to know about that one and I can guarantee neither of us ever went back to pick up any of the things we left there when we first rented it, so it should be safe to access. Like I said, there’s gear, supplies, and about fifty thousand dollars in cash.”
I nodded as some of the knowledge I had inherited from my mother filled in the parts I didn’t think I should understand, giving me an idea of how currency and the storage he was talking about worked. “I think I’ve got it.”
“Good,” he said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Be careful in that time. Mutants like us weren’t well liked or trusted by most humans and people could attack you just because you look different. This is especially true for you with your Fae features and your hair. Now let’s go talk to Jackie and Kara. We’d all like to say our goodbyes before the Fomorians decide to attack again… just in case.”
Mom and Aunt Crystal were playing with Hope, who currently had black hair and brown eyes, near the grotto. When we arrived Aunt Kara patted the ground beside her in invitation. I sat down and my aunt pulled the giggling three year old into her lap. “Hope honey,” she began. “Tonight you and Terri are going on a trip to someplace really far away, where the Fomorians can’t hurt you.”
“Me an’ Terri?” the girl asked looking at her mother in confusion.
She nodded, “Yes honey, just you and Terri, and Terri’s going to be taking care of you. So I want you to be a very good girl and listen to her just like you would me or your dad. Terri knows a bit about the place you’re going and she’ll keep you safe so you need to do as she says. If she tells you to hide, use your powers and hide. Do you understand honey? Will you be good for Terri?”
Hope nodded slowly. “Yes Momma, I’ll be good. Why can’t you come?”
I could see my aunt’s eye becoming moist with held back tears. “We can only send the two of you right now honey, but I’ll be sending part of me with you. Could you both please hold out your hands?”
I offered my hand and the munchkin followed suit, though neither of us really knew why. She touched each of our index fingers and formed very pretty matching crystal rings around them. ”There, now you will both always have a part of me with you, no matter how far away you are.”
We all ate lunch together and spent most of the afternoon together there in the grotto before Aunt Kara took Hope to see Lorrian. Uncle Tom’s face wore a pained expression as he watched his daughter go and Mom put an arm around him, giving him a squeeze. “Terri will keep her safe Tom. I don’t want them to go either, but this is probably the only shot they’ll have at living a decent life. As much as it hurts, we’re doing the right thing.”
He nodded, though he still looked pained. “I know Jackie; we had better take Terri to where Dana and the others are waiting so we can all say our goodbyes.”
They led me to the circle, the place at the center of the village where Dana worked most of her magic, including the spells that she continually cast to reinforce the shield that kept the Fomorians out during the attacks. She was waiting there along with Amy and Candy. Dana waved me over to the table where she had some scrolls and crystals and other magical items spread out, along with a few other items including some food, a black bag, and some bundles of cloth. “I’ll be ready to create the time portal within the next hour, but before I get started I have some things for you Terri. I’ll need to cast a few spells as well.”
I was suddenly nervous at the very real possibility that I would shortly be going back in time to an unfamiliar world and bringing a small child with me. I couldn’t bring myself to speak so I merely nodded. That was enough for her as she said, “The bag will be to carry the book and other item I have for you of course.” She held up a small, long pink crystal about the size of my baby finger that gave off a red glow. “This crystal will glow red as long as this remains the dominant timeline. Should you manage to change the past for one in which Stellar doesn’t die, it will stop glowing. The glow is important; if there’s none, you’re done, if it remains red we’re all dead.”
“I’ve got it,” I replied with a grim nod.
She took the book Uncle Tom had given me, put it and the crystal with the black bag, and gestured to the bundle of black and purple cloth. “That is sort of a costume for you. I thought you’d be more comfortable in clothes with a Fae style and the materials are silk and suede so it won’t irritate your skin. I’ve spelled it to change size with you when you change shape and to be fairly resistant to damage. Could you please put the clothes on and hand me your new ring? I’d like to place the size enchantment on the ring and I need you to be wearing the clothes when I work one of the next spells I need to do.”
I handed over the ring and started getting out of my current clothing; it wasn’t fitting my new dimensions well anyway. The new clothes were still in a Fae style, though it was a female style. We may not have specified gender roles and such, but female and male bodies are very different and those differences do affect what’s comfortable and what looks nice.
The outfit in question consisted of form fitting leggings of rich dark purple silk, matching elbow length gloves, and black suede knee length boots with soft soles. There was also a bodice in the same black suede, with a dark purple silk under layer that, when laced up, showed off my curves and displayed a lot of skin and cleavage. The bodice was secured against falling from my chest by soft braided silk straps that tied at the back of my neck rather than going over the shoulders and down the back. The result was that it left my shoulders and most of my back bare to allow for my wings when I changed forms.
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with my daughter dressing like that,” my mom stated once I was laced up and she got a good look at me.
“We need the open back for my wings Mom,” I told her, “and I do feel better in these than I would a costume like what you and the other Hypers wore. Besides it’s not like we Fae have a sense of modesty. I could probably feel just as comfortable wearing nothing.”
Mom frowned at that, but nodded. “It’s your body, just remember that the human society does have nudity taboos, so try not to get arrested for exposing yourself. You’re going to have enough trouble completing your mission and taking care of Hope as it is.”
Dana had finished what she was doing with my ring and placed it on the table with the crystal and the book before coming back toward us. “Before I let you put that ring back on I have two more spells to cast. I’m going to give you two more marks; do you want them with the others on your right arm or somewhere else?”
“I guess we might as well keep them all together,” I said with a shrug, “It’s not like I’ll ever be able to earn any more anyway.”
The goddess placed her hands on my right shoulder and I felt a slight burning sensation. When she removed her hands there was a new lavender colored mark, like a ribbon tied in a bow. “Okay Terri, before I put the other one on, let’s test this one.” I directed my thoughts toward the new mark as I did when using any of my other marks and my clothes all vanished, leaving me standing there naked.
“Where did my clothes go?” I asked. It wasn’t like being naked bothered me or anything; I just wanted to know just what that mark she had given me was for.
“Your Eenuka marks reminded me of the tattoos that Wisp used to have,” she began to explain. “One of her tattoos would replace the clothes she was wearing with her costume and vice versa. I’ve given you a mark that will do the same thing. I thought you might find it useful. Don’t bother getting back in costume since I have some other clothes for you to put on. They’re not Fae clothes, but they are materials that won’t irritate your skin and will help you to fit in during the time we’re sending you to. I have some made for Hope too. First though let’s give you that last mark.”
She placed her hands just below the ribbon mark and above my clan mark and the swirling healing marks to either side of it. There was the burning sensation again and when it faded and her hands had been removed I saw a pattern of tiny little stars there. “That one is a minor glamour that makes you appear more human. Magic users will be able to sense it though, as well as the fact that you’re an inherently magical being. To anyone else it’ll make your ears and eyes look more human, it will hide your marks, and you’ll appear to have blue eyes and light strawberry blonde hair. That’s the best I can do you help you fit in though. I’d have used something more powerful, but I’ve been using a lot of magic today between all this and reinforcing the shield earlier and I still need the power for the time portal later.”
I hugged the winged woman tightly, “Thanks Dana, I could have gone without though, I would have found some way to keep my features hidden.”
“I know, but I wanted to give you the best chance possible to succeed. For that you need to fit in among humans,” she replied.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea Dana?” my mom asked in concern. “She looks an awful lot like I did at that age with that eye color and more human features. The hair isn’t much off from what mine is either.”
Dana sighed, causing her wings to flutter slightly. “I know Jackie, but I had to put as little power as I could into that mark and those colors were the closest normal colors I could get to her natural coloring. She’ll just have to do her best to keep a low profile until she’s sure that the dominant timeline has been altered.”
At that point Aunt Kara arrived in the circle and while I didn’t see Hope with her, that didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t there. “I asked Lorrian to wait ten minutes before waking Hope and bringing her here,” she explained when she saw me looking around. “I didn’t want to risk her seeing her father before the spell takes hold.” Then she wrapped me up in one of her bone crushing hugs. “Take good care of her, and remember that we love you both.”
Once she had released me Uncle Tom grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. “Our fate is in good hands Terri. I know you’ll find a way to succeed and no matter what I’m proud of you for having the courage to see this through.”
I was surprised when Amy hugged me next; she had been so distant to everyone since Candy had begun working herself to the point of collapse in the daily fights. “Be careful Terri; try to find a safe place to stay. I know from experience how dangerous it is for a young mutant to be living on the streets. I would have gone myself if the timeline would have accepted me, but it’s up to you now. We’re all counting on you.”
Candy was next and I could feel her sadness and pride when she spoke. “Come look me up in New York someday if you manage to change the timeline, there’s someone I think you’d like to meet. Good luck.” I could feel something else in her voice too, acceptance.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that acceptance until Kara generated a pair of huge crystal swords for her and her husband as well as her own armor. Mom was hugging me by that point and there were tears running down her face. “Terri, I love you so much. I’m so proud of you and I know your father would have been too. We have to go now; Dana won’t be able to reinforce the shield while casting the time portal. We’re going to distract the Fomorians by attacking them for a change, to give you and Dana the time you need…” she couldn’t say any more as she was choked up with tears so instead she changed to her ice form and followed the others through the teleportation disc Amy had formed. I knew then that none of them thought they would be coming back.
“Mom, no!” I was starting to cry as I began to move toward the teleportation disc, but it was already gone and so were they.
“No Terri, they’ve gone to do their job and you need to do yours,” Dana told me as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “If you want to save them, then make sure you succeed. Let’s get you dressed and ready to go.”
It was with mixed feelings, and no few tears, that I got dressed. First I put back on the ring that Aunt Kara had made for me followed by something my mother’s knowledge identified as a bra and panties. The undergarments were made of white silk and felt nice against my skin, but given my current mood that was small consolation. Next there was a black suede ‘miniskirt’, a white silk blouse, and a fur-trimmed jacket, gloves, and ankle boots that matched the skirt. The black bag I had noticed earlier turned out to be a ‘purse’ and I quickly placed both the book and the crystal inside once I was finished dressing.
Hope arrived with Lorrian before I had finished dressing and by the time I finished I saw her wearing a simple rose colored dress. Dana was kneeling in front of her and getting her into a warm looking fur-trimmed jacket, boots, and gloves that were a near match for the ones I had on. “Hope it’s very important that you listen to Terri just as if she were your mom.”
“I will Auntie Dana,” Hope replied as seriously as she could.
She stood up again and turned her attention completely on me. “These clothes shouldn’t make you stand out too much, but it might be cold and I suggest you get more clothes for both of you as soon as you can manage it. I’m going to send you to the city of London Ontario on December 28th 2013. Tom said that the storage area he gave you the key for is there and it will allow you to get supplies and have a full week before you need to get to the first assassination location. He said that a week should be plenty of time for you to get there from London, if you can manage to board a train or bus.”
“That sounds good,” I agreed. “How close can you get us to this storage area?”
“If you could give me the key from the book Tom gave you I’ll use that as a focus for the spell, it should take you to the lock that the key was last used for.” I took the book from the purse and handed her the key and she nodded. “I’m going to start working the spell now, while I’m doing that there’s some food for you two to eat on the table. Make sure you eat now, because it may take you a while before you can get something to eat.”
I took Hope to the table and we shared the fruit, baked fish, and small loaf of bread with a bit of honey while the goddess began working on the complex spell that would send us back in time and to Earth. We had eaten our fill when she called us back to the glowing tear in time and space that had appeared. She handed me the key and I placed it back in the purse with the book and crystal. “You two be careful and stick together,” she told us as she wiped away tears and hugged us both tightly. Then she let us go and practically pushed us through the portal as we said goodbye.
![]() |
Terrael grew up in paradise, until the Fomorians showed up. Now Humans, Hypers, and Fae all face extinction and Terrael is their only hope. Can he get used to his own changes and make the one change that can save them all?
Part 2 of 3 Strange New World Amethyst |
We appeared at night in a concrete courtyard in front of a metal door. My new knowledge indicated that it was a roll-up steel door. There was a padlock at the base and I used the key to open and remove it, freeing the door to slide upward. The storage room was dark and despite my night vision it took me a minute to find a switch to turn on the lights. The place, the door, the switch and the lights overhead; it was all strange to me, and yet with my mother’s knowledge somewhat familiar as well, which only made it stranger. I ushered Hope inside and pulled down the door behind us to give us some privacy as we looked through what was inside.
The room was mostly dominated by some sort of black monstrosity that my mother’s knowledge identified as an SUV. I ignored it and began looking around the room since I would have no idea how to ‘drive’ the thing. There were weapons hanging from the walls; swords which I assumed belonged to my Uncle Tom as well as some knives, bows and some quivers of arrows. Those might be useful, I noted mentally as I began looking through various boxes. Most of the boxes were filled with black bodysuits or white togas so I passed those by and looked at the workbench at the back of the room. It was littered with various tools, a whetstone for sharpening blades, and a duffel bag.
The duffel proved to be half filled with paper money in various denominations. I took some and placed it in my purse but left the rest in the duffel since it would be useful for carrying other gear as well. I quickly added the whetstone, a first aid kit, and a pair of combat knives. I would have taken a body suit, but the material irritated my skin and I was hoping to take a sword and a compound bow, but I wasn’t sure how I could carry them around inconspicuously. I sighed sadly at that thought. If I only still had magic, I could have connected them to me with a summoning spell.
Wait a minute! A summoning spell! I thought in glee. I concentrated on the ribbon mark and my clothes were replaced by my costume. Hope blinked at me in confusion. “Terri, you said you can’t use magic anymore.”
I can still use my Eenuka marks sweetie, and I got a few new ones before we left. The one I just used hides what I’m wearing and I end up in this costume. I’m hoping that if I wear some weapons with this costume that they will go where the costume does when I use the mark again.”
She just looked even more confused. “Why d’you need weapons Terri? You have powers.”
“Yes I do,” I agreed, “but I’m still learning to use them and now I don’t have magic. I already know how to use swords and bows though, so it might be a good idea to have them if I can’t use my powers for some reason. I need to keep us both safe and I would rather have the weapons and not need them then not have them when we are both in danger.”
I looked through the weapons and found some things that I thought would work. I put on the black leather belt and on my right side secured the case containing the compound bow to both the belt and a thigh strap just above my knee. On my left side I secured both the hip quiver and a sword called a katana that was somewhat similar to an elven blade. The setup would likely fall off when I changed to my Pixie form since they weren’t enchanted to shrink when I do, but I was far more concerned with whether I could get them to appear and disappear with my costume.
“Well, here goes nothing,” I said as I thought again on the ribbon mark. To both my relief and joy the weapons disappeared when my clothes and purse returned in place of the costume. “Looks like I was right, the spell applies to anything I’m wearing, or carrying, at the time I use the mark. That should make things easier.” I finished packing the duffel bag with a pair of wool camping blankets to cover the rest of the contents and hefted it over my shoulder. “Okay Hope sweetie, there’s not much else we can use here at the moment so we’re going to lock this place up so we can take a look around and try to find a place to sleep for the night. First though, we need to go over two rules, okay?”
The munchkin nodded soberly. “Okay Terri.”
I smiled at her and ruffled her hair. “That’s my girl. First rule, and this one is very important: Remember to stay with me and don’t let go of my hand unless I tell you that it’s okay or you need to hide. The second rule is that if you do have to hide, stay in your shell, but do not let me out of your sight, and don’t turn visible again unless I say your nickname.”
It was snowing heavily as we managed to find our way out of the storage complex and into the poorly lit city streets. Hope had my hand in a death grip and frankly I didn’t blame her for being nervous and scared since I was feeling much the same way. This place was nothing like home, it was smelly, noisy, and something about it was setting me on edge. I was really glad that Hope’s hair and eyes were currently within the human norm, because I felt far too many eyes on us already as we walked the streets.
Maybe we were just nervous because the city was so different then we were used to. I for one longed for the presence of trees and nature. Perhaps I could find a park or something. It was nearly an hour before I found a park alongside a river and my feeling of unease had yet to leave me, in fact it got even worse when we entered the park. People were watching us, I was certain of it, I could hear them, several people moving and breathing heavily in a patch of brush by the water’s edge. I knelt down beside Hope as we came alongside a large tree that would shield us from their eyes and whispered, “Honey I need you to hold onto this bag, stay right here and use your powers to hide. Remember to keep me in sight and no matter what happens don’t drop your shell until I say your nickname. Understand?”
The poor tyke looked scared but she nodded and whispered back. “Yes Terri.”
“Good girl.” I kissed her on the forehead and stood up as she activated her invisibility shell. Then I took a few more steps to put me in their view once again. “Whoever you are, you might as well come out where I can see you.”
Five men stood up from their hiding spot in the brush. “Awww it’s not as much fun if they’re not surprised,” said one, a tall athletic looking man in his late teens with short dark hair.
“We can still have our fun with her,” said another with a cold smile. “If it gets boring for you, we can always get creative.”
Dammit, I cursed mentally as I tried to get a read on the five men. They were all bigger, and likely stronger than me, but I had been taught to fight bigger and stronger opponents. I thought that I might have trouble with the five to one odds though, especially when two of them produced knives and a third had something that my mother’s knowledge told me was a baseball bat. If I tried to fight them in my human guise some of us, myself included, could get seriously hurt. I decided a warning was probably the best course of action and if that failed then I would have to use a show of power to scare them off.
“Listen guys, I think it would be better for all of us if you just leave me be and go home for the night. You really don’t want to do whatever it is you’re planning.” I had a pretty good idea what it was they were planning, and it made me sick to my stomach, but I tried not to let it show on my face as I projected a calm confidence.
They were moving now, circling me, and the second one came within arm’s reach, sneering as he spoke again, “I think we do want to.”
“You really don’t,” I shot back as I punched him in the stomach. I followed it up with a leg sweep that landed him on his back while I moved into a defensive position. He scrambled backward out of my reach and, once one of his friends helped him to his feet, he glared at me. “Nice moves, but there’s five of us and only one of you, what are you going to do about that?”
“I guess I can always get creative,” I retorted as I activated the marks to drop the glamour, change into my costume and release the seal on my powers. They were all still staring when I drew my new sword and pointed it toward the leader, purple bursts of electricity arcing along both my body and the blade. I was hoping that show of power would be enough to scare them off without anyone getting badly hurt, but it was about then that things got crazy.
One of the three who hadn’t spoken before spat out, “The bitch is a fucking Hyp…” He didn’t get to finish that sentence as a strange young man jumped on him from behind yelling, “There can be only one!” and laughing maniacally. Another was sent flying by a blast of water emanating from the mouth of some sort of humanoid fish as an unfamiliar voice entered my mind, ~Don’t worry, the cavalry is here.~
“Okay you jackasses, this is the part where you run away,” muttered a young girl not quite in her teens, with quite possibly the strangest hairstyle I had ever seen. Her dark hair was cut short and spiky, with the exception of the center which was long and resembled a horse’s mane. She was also wearing sunglasses and asked as she calmly approached, “Are you okay Miss?” While she turned her attention on me to make sure I wasn’t hurt the man with the baseball bat took a swing at her head.
The girl didn’t even move, she just took the hit right in the face. Her sunglasses shattered and the baseball bat broke at the impact, but rather than being hurt she looked annoyed. “Why do they always go for the face? Now I’m going to need another fucking pair of shades.” She turned to regard the man who hit her and was now staring at her in stunned disbelief. Disbelief turned to horror and I could have sworn I smelled urine as he collapsed on the snow covered ground and began twitching.
My other attackers seemed to take that as their cue to leave and took off running, leaving me with my would-be rescuers. “Ed I’m going to need some eye coverage here,” the green-haired girl said, covering her eyes with one of her hands. “Seriously Bailey, ‘There can be only one’, what the hell was that about?”
“You really need to watch Highlander Becca, it’s a must see, though the sequels sucked,” the young man who appeared to be maybe a bit older than me replied. It was hard to tell with my night vision, but it looked like he had long blond hair and he almost looked like one of my own people. “Trust me, at that moment it was totally appropriate.”
The voice spoke in my mind again as a boy about the same age as ‘Becca’ and wearing a dark wool hat handed her something. ~That’s the last pair of shades Becca, we’ll need to try and get you some more spares soon. I guess we won’t be able to sleep by the river tonight though, those guys will likely be back with friends or the cops will show up. At any rate, we should get this girl and ourselves somewhere safe.~
The blond sighed as he went to pick up a discarded backpack, “Well I guess we can find a safe spot in the sewers, nobody wants to go there and I might have enough money left for a pizza.” He laughed at that, but there was very little humor in it.
“Who are you people?” I finally managed to blurt out.
“We’re mutants like you,” Becca said with a shrug. “We had nothing better to do and we were looking for a place to sleep, then we found you. We saw you in trouble and thought we’d help out. Interesting look you got going there. You can put the sword away any time y’know.”
~She might want to keep it out actually,~ the voice replied. ~There’s something else here but I don’t know exactly where or how close. It’s like it’s blurry to my mind.~
“Oh!” I realized he was probably talking about Hope. I grinned as I sheathed the sword and resealed my powers. “That would be Peekaboo.”
“Peekaboo?” the fourth member of the group asked. It resembled a child with golden eyes, blue scaly skin, and a large fin atop his head.
“PEEKABOO!” Hope shouted from behind them as she appeared from nothingness.
They all swung around in surprise and the young man named Bailey jumped and squealed at Hope’s sudden appearance. “Holy crap! Where the hell did she come from?!”
Becca frowned as she put in, “Talk can wait, I hear police sirens. Let’s take them home and find a place to sleep for the night.”
“Thanks for the help, but we’re a long way from home, and we can’t go back.” I told the group with a sad sigh.
“Runaways huh? Stick with us then, we homeless Hypers gotta stick together, you don’t want punks like those guys, or worse social services, catching you alone on the streets at night in this neighborhood.” Bailey told me grimly.
Becca nodded in agreement, though she seemed a bit impatient. “Yeah, yeah, welcome to the Brat Pack and all, now can we please get the hell outta here and find a safe place to sleep?”
These seemed like decent kids and from the sounds of it they were as alone in the world as Hope and I were. From the looks or their worn clothing, it would seem that they had been living on the streets for quite some time as well. Was this world truly so harsh toward Hypers? I gripped Hope’s hand in mine, but whether it was to reassure her or myself I wasn’t certain. “Actually I might be able to help with that, you see I have money for a place to stay, I just don’t know this… area very well,” I admitted reluctantly.
Bailey took my free hand and started leading us in the opposite direction that Hope and I had come from. Well, I think it was, but I was a little distracted by the warmth of his hand holding mine. Focus Terrilae, you’re not here for cute boys, even if they do look like a Fae. I wonder if he has Fae blood somewhere in his family line… My line of thought was interrupted by him saying, “There’s a cheap motel not far from here and I’m pretty sure they take cash, but they probably won’t rent to kids, so Ed… Jedi mind trick?”
~Jedi mind trick,~ the voice known as Ed confirmed. ~I hate messing with people’s minds, but since we can actually pay for the room I’ll just nudge the motel clerk’s perception to make them think you two are a married couple and we’re your kids.~
Jedi mind trick? What are they talking about? I was wondering as Bailey turned his attention back to me, “Okay, so if the clerk asks for our names we’re Mr. and Mrs. Lucas.”
“These are not the kids you are looking for,” Bailey said with a wave of his hand and a laugh once we were safely inside a double room.
We had managed to check in without incident, which came as a huge relief to me. Even with my mother’s knowledge of the time I felt like a fish out of water in this world and time. I placed the duffel bag on one of the beds and picked up Hope to sit her beside it. “Are you doing okay sweetie? It’s been an eventful night and we’ve been walking a lot.”
“I’m tired an’ hungry… an’ I miss Momma an’ the others,” the three-year-old replied despondently.
I wrapped her up in a hug. “I know sweetie, so do I, but there’s not much we can do about that right now. Let’s see about getting something to eat and then we can get some sleep.” I reluctantly let her go and turned to Bailey, “Do you know some place where we can get something to eat? A… umm… restaurant or something?”
“I could use the phone in the room here to order some pizzas,” he suggested. “The little ones are all pretty hungry, and I have to admit I am too.”
I couldn’t blame him since I was starting to get hungry again myself and who knew how long it had been since these street kids had eaten properly. “Okay, could you please do that then? I have plenty more money, so get enough so we can all eat our fill. ”
“Sure, and while we’re waiting we can all get to know one another,” he said as he began looking though a large phone book. “So what do you like on your pizza?”
“We’ve never had pizza before,” I admitted. “So just get whatever you think would be good and we’ll be fine with it.”
Becca looked at me like I had just grown a second head. “Never had pizza?! Where are you from?”
“I was curious about that as well, you have a weird accent,” Bailey put in from where he was sitting on the other bed holding the phone, “but, you know the rules guys, don’t overwhelm them with questions. We’ll introduce ourselves first and then let them open up when they’re ready.” He seemed to hear something on the other end though, since his attention was on the phone again. “Oh, umm yeah could I get three extra-large pizzas delivered to Room 105 at the Sleep-n-go motel on Empire Street. One meat lovers, one all dressed, and a deluxe… oh and two six-packs of Pepsi. Twenty-five minutes? Great thanks.”
Bailey put down to phone and said, “Dinner is ordered and should be here soon. It’s going to cost fifty bucks plus tip, but it should feed us all.” I looked through my purse, took out the handful of multicolored bills I had placed there earlier, extracted three green twenty dollar bills, and handed them to him. As he took them he smiled at me. “Wow, you are loaded.” I was unsure what he meant by that so for a moment I just stared at him before he added, “Anyway, thanks for letting us stay here with you tonight, and for paying for the food and all.”
“You did say homeless Hypers need to stick together,” I reminded him.
“I did,” he agreed, “but it was still nice of you. Anyway, welcome to the Brat Pack. I’m Bailey Winters, but when I’m doing the whole saving damsels in distress thing I go by Charisma. My parents took off two years ago when I was fifteen and my powers first activated, so I was placed in an orphanage where I met Eddie and Matt. None of us really fit in there being as unique as we all are, so at the first opportunity we broke out and I’ve been taking care of them as best I can since. I’m a shape shifter with flexible empathy.”
Now that was interesting, with those Fae looks was he descended from a changeling? No wonder he looked so much like one of my own people. Hoping to find out more I asked, “You’re a shape-shifter? So what kinds of things can you turn into?”
“I don’t really have any conscious control over it,” he admitted with a shrug. “I’ve always been what people call genderfluid, sometimes I feel male, sometimes I feel female and my powers activated one day when I was feeling very strongly male. My physical sex seems to be determined by the gender I’m feeling at the time. Details like hair and eye color and general appearance are trickier. My shape-shifting abilities seem to be connected to my empathy. I can get people to notice or not notice me, especially if they project strong emotions. If I don’t want a specific person to notice me my features change to something they would generally ignore, but if I want them to notice me, even unconsciously, my features change to suit their preferences.”
“I’m Matt!” the aquatic member of the foursome introduced himself eagerly, barely giving Bailey time to finish his explanation. In the better light of the motel room I could get a much better look at him. He had golden eyes and seemed to have two separate sets of eyelids. He also had scaly skin in various shades of blue, slits that I thought might be gills on his neck, and webbed hands and feet. The large fin on top of his head was a translucent blue.
“The people at the orphanage said his name was Matthew Sawyer but we jokingly call him Squirt,” Bailey told me with a grin. “He’s a great swimmer and can fire high pressure water blasts from his mouth. He’s five years old now, but he Activated in a boating accident when he was two.”
The third member of the group had removed his heavy coat and wool hat and he looked to be Hispanic. He was a little on the skinny side, like his companions, and I wondered how long it had been since they had eaten three decent meals in a day. I assumed he was the telepath, because I hadn’t seen him say anything out loud yet. ~I’m Eddie Lopez, I’m ten years old, and to answer your question before you ask; I can’t speak. I was born deaf and mute, but I’ve had my telepathic abilities for as long as I can remember. The kids at the orphanage called me Special Ed.~
Bailey rolled his eyes at that and put in, “Which he found hilariously ironic given that he has a genius level IQ and is a powerful telepath. He insists on using that as his codename now.”
“How powerful?” I inquired.
~Since we left the orphanage I’ve been mentally searching out other telepaths and comparing notes. I’ve talked to people in Australia, Japan, England, and a bunch of other places. The thing is that I have to be the one to contact them; they don’t seem to have my range. I can do other things they can’t too. I used to experiment a lot, but I don’t like going into other people’s heads for more than just talking unless it’s necessary or they’ve agreed to it.~
“I’m Rebecca,” the girl of the group said. Her strangely styled hair was forest green in color and her skin was very pale. “The guys call me Becca though, or Gorgon. I’m eleven. I ran away from home when my powers kicked in and bumped into these guys a few months ago. Nothing hurts me unless I let it.”
“Word of advice, never look into her eyes,” Bailey offered. “It’s why she wears shades all the time, her eyes have this hypnotic glow and I don’t know what people see when they look into them, but they become terrified to the point of sometimes wetting themselves. Sometimes it’s even more severe, like with our friend with the bat in the park, but her eyes never kill and usually just cause temporary paralysis due to overwhelming fear. And like she said, nothing we’ve come across seems to hurt her, or can even move her unless she wants to be moved. I’m pretty sure she only has one power, being that badass. So of course she thinks she has to look and act all badass too.”
“Nobody asked you. Besides, you try having green hair and having to wear shades all the time and see how many fashion options you have,” she snapped back, sticking out her tongue.
Eddie pointedly ignored the pair’s arguing to add, ~It’s strange, I have no clue how her powers work or what the source could be. It seems to be a form of invulnerability, but even with normal invulnerability it would have to be combined with super strength to do some of the things we’ve seen. She’s shown no sign of strength or any other physical abilities beyond those of a normal girl her age though.~
The four were looking expectantly at Hope and me now, so I guessed it was my turn. I let my glamour drop so they could get a better look at the real me. “I’m Terrilae Evans-Sòng and this is my cousin Hope, though I’ve been with her since she was born so she’s more like a sister. Hope has a healing factor and can turn herself and whatever she touches invisible. I have electric powers, but I’ve only had them a few days. I was sent here on a quest of sorts, I guess.”
Bailey stared at me for a moment before grinning. “Let me guess, you need to throw that ring your cousin is wearing into the heart of Mount Doom. I should warn you though; One does not simply walk into Mordor. Ow hey!” he turned to glare at Becca who had slapped him upside the head.
The girl ducked out of his reach to sit beside me on the bed. “Sorry, Bailey is weird, but you’ll get used to it.”
“Oh come on! She totally looks like an elf and the little one has invisibility, I couldn’t resist. Oh and Becca is a grouch, you’ll get used to that too,” Bailey grumbled.
“Actually I’m only half Fae,” I clarified. “My mom’s a Hyper which is how I ended up with these stupid powers. You probably won’t believe me, but I’ve come from the future.”
Bailey was quick to supply yet another joke I couldn’t understand. “Well you should have no problem going back, you already have one point twenty one gigawatts of electricity. Or should I say Terri-watts?” His grin seemed to broaden at that. “That’s perfect! We should call you Terawatt!”
“Terri is fine,” I assured him.
“But you already have a costume and powers, you totally need a codename, so that’s what it’s going to be.” I didn’t think he was going to take no for an answer and I didn’t really care much so I just let it go. “I’ll try to stop with the jokes now so you can tell us why you’re here.”
It was then that the pizza arrived. It was kind of strange, but it tasted good and the ‘Pepsi’ was all fizzy, which Hope seemed to get a kick out of. Over dinner I told them about the future, the world I came from, and why I had come back. I was really worried they would think I was crazy or something until Eddie used his powers to confirm that I was telling the truth. All things considered I thought they took the news very well. ~Well damn, so the world is going to end if this Hyper gets killed? That sucks. So how do we stop it?~ Eddie asked.
“We?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course Miss Spock, it would only be logical for us to assist you,” Bailey insisted. When my look turned to one of confusion he quickly apologized. “Sorry, pointed ears, I couldn’t resist. Anyway I’d kind of like the world to keep on spinning, so if I can help I will. Besides, you’re one of the Brat Pack now, and we stick together, end of the world or not. So besides mutant powers, what do we have to work with?”
I began to list our assets. “Well, we have a book that will tell us the locations and times of the assassinations, a crystal that will let me know if the timeline changes, a duffel bag full of money and the contents of a storage unit. I took everything I could carry from there, but there may be some things you could use as well. I also have some inherent abilities from being Fae that I haven’t told you about yet.”
“What? Like magic?” Matt asked with wide eyes.
I nodded. “Sort of, I was an accomplished mage before I got my Hyper powers.”
“Yer a wizard Terri?” Bailey asked with a grin. As usual, whatever the joke was it went over my head, but even Becca was suppressing a laugh at it.
I tried to just shrug it off again. “Not anymore, I can’t use magic that way now; the magic energy I gather is all being transformed into electricity. Each of these marks on my arm is a spell that’s part of me though so I can use those, and I have all the combat training of my people; hand to hand, swordplay, and archery.”
“So what do these marks of yours do?” Becca asked, trying to use a hand to hide the fact that she was giggling, as she looked in interest at my arm.
I pointed to each mark as I described what it represented. “These three are healing spells, this one allows me to seal or unseal my powers, this one is a glamour that makes me look human, this one changes what I’m wearing for my ‘costume’, and this butterfly is my clan mark; each clan has a different mark. Hope has a mark that allows her to change her features, but she can’t really control it yet. My clan mark allows me to change to my other form.”
That seemed to pique Bailey’s interest. “You have another form? Can you show us?”
“Uh sure, I’ll just change into my other outfit first; it’s spelled to change when I do.” I used the ribbon mark to change into my comfy Fae clothes and then used my clan mark. As expected my weapons simply fell to the floor as I shrank out of the belt and straps. In Pixie form I flew around the room before landing on the bed and changing back.
~That is sooo cool, and weird at the same time,~ Eddie said as I made myself comfortable again. ~How do you get used to the change in size perspective?~
“I guess I’m just used to it, I’ve been able to do this since I was a baby so it’s second nature to me. It’s everything in this world and time that’s weird to me. Carrying weapons might not be as practical as I had hoped though if I have to change form often,” I admitted with a sigh. I busied myself putting my weapons back in place and once I was finished I used my marks to once again change outfits.
There was a bit of an awkward silence then, none of us really knowing what to say and I looked over to my cousin who was trying so hard to stay awake, despite the fact that her eyes were drooping and she was laying down rather than sitting. “Anyway, I think it’s time for Hope to get some sleep.” I said.
“I think you’re right Terri,” Bailey agreed, “and that goes for you other three as well. Get a good night’s sleep while we have warm beds to do it in. Girls in that bed, boys in that one. I’d like to talk to Terri a bit longer; we should probably make plans and stuff.”
Making plans was probably a good idea, and he could probably answer any questions I might have too, so I nodded in agreement. While Bailey got the boys sorted in one bed I pulled the blankets of the other aside and picked Hope up to place her gently in the middle before covering her up and kissing her lovingly on the forehead. “Good night Peekaboo. I love you, and I’ll be just outside the room if you need me for anything.”
“I love you Terri…” She was tired, but it didn’t take an empath to sense that she was also scared, despite wanting to prove how brave she was.
I was torn and I considered just laying down with her until she fell asleep when Becca, emerged from the bathroom, still dressed and climbed into bed beside her. “Hey Hope, how about I protect you while you sleep and Terri’s outside with Bailey? I know I’m not an awesome Fae or anything, but nothing hurts me and I won’t let anything hurt you either. I’ll wait for them to come back before I take off my shades and go to sleep so I know you’re safe, does that sound okay?”
To my surprise and relief Hope nodded shyly and let Becca put an arm protectively around her. “Thanks Becca,” I said.
“It’s no big deal,” she replied, “I know what it’s like to be scared. Besides, I always try to wait until everyone else is asleep before I take off my shades anyway.”
Once we were sure the kids didn’t need anything else Bailey took me outside to get some ‘fresh air’ and talk. The smell and even the taste of the city air bothered me and I frowned as soon as we stepped outside. “You call this fresh air?”
“It was a figure of speech,” he said with a shrug. “Look, thanks again for the food and place to stay tonight, the kids, they really needed it. Sleeping outside in winter really sucks and we’ve been sleeping in some pretty nasty places lately. I promised to take care of them, but I guess I’m not doing a very good job of it.”
I put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You’re doing the best you can, and it looks like you give them the most important thing, a family. Believe me, when you know every day might be your last, little things like family are pretty damn important. Hope and I will never see ours again; we’re all one another have now. I know I can’t take care of Hope alone though, I barely know how this world works. So here’s what we’re going to do. You’ve offered to help me with my mission so I’ll help with yours. I’ll help you take care of these kids and you help me save the world.”
“Thanks, I’m not sure how much help we’ll be, but we’ll do what we can,” he promised. “I’m glad you’re letting us help though, the others seem to like you and frankly, I think you’re just what Becca needs.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, blinking in confusion.
He sighed as he leaned against the wall. “That thing she did with Hope in there, she’s not usually that open emotionally. Becca doesn’t really talk much about her home life before she ran away, except that her mom died when she was really young. I think she really needs another girl in her life to look up to and talk to. I was a guy when we met so she was really uncomfortable with us at first, and I’m a boy half the time so she won’t really open up to me, even when I am female. Having you and Hope around should help her a lot, she’ll get to be a big sister of sorts to Hope and she’ll have you to look up to and do things with.”
“I’m sorry to break this to you, but before I was Activated a few days ago I was male,” I explained reluctantly. “Even if that weren’t the case though, I know nothing about feminine behavior in this world and my people have no set gender roles. To us, the person inside is more important than the form they wear.”
“I’m not saying you have to teach her all things feminine,” he countered. “I can handle that for both of you when I’m in one of my girly moods. She sees you as another girl though, and I’m not talking about teaching her to be a woman, just spending time with her. Do what you know, get to know one another, and maybe teach her to fight? Right now she just lets things hit her and soaks up damage. “
“Actually, you could all probably benefit from learning how to fight,” I pointed out.
“Don’t I know it,” he agreed with a groan. “These kids all want to use their powers to help people, and I think that’s great, but look at us: I’m an empathic shape shifter with no offensive abilities, at best I’m a distraction; Nothing can seem to hurt Becca, but she hates using her eyes on people; Eddie could use his powers offensively, but he’s afraid he’ll turn his opponents’ brains to mush; out of all of us Matt was the only one with a real offensive ability until you showed up, but he’s only five.”
I began to consider what was ahead of us and how I could let the others help while minimizing the risk to them. I had some ideas, but there was still a chance they would have to defend themselves. “Maybe while we’re traveling to the first assassination site we can find a place to start training. We’ll have to figure out how we’re getting to Toronto from here though, and tomorrow we should get whatever gear we think we’ll need. “There’s still a bunch in the storage place, but we’ll need spare clothes and other things too.”
“If we had a car and a road map I could drive us,” the shape-shifter suggested. “I was preparing to get my license before my powers activated. It wouldn’t take more than a few hours straight driving and we wouldn’t have to worry about security like at an airport or train station, or keeping our abilities and appearances hidden among large groups of travelers. Otherwise we’ll have to take a bus or train and hope for the best. As for the clothes and other stuff, we can probably get everything we need at the mall. We could probably get it cheaper at Sprawl-mart, but since we’ve only got cash it’s probably better to spread out the purchases. Paying cash all at once, for as much as we’ll need to buy, would gather too much attention.”
“There’s an SUV at the storage place, would that do?”
Bailey’s face split with a huge grin as he made a show of rolling his eyes. “Well, why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place? Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a holocaust cloak.” At my confused look he sighed and said, “Nevermind, an SUV would be perfect. It should fit us all and any gear we get comfortably. So what did the journal say about the first assassination?”
“It’s actually a pair of assassinations,” I corrected him. “Two super villains called Golem and Recoil, my uncle also called them the Two Towers. Apparently they are partners and have a reputation for destruction. Golem has Cat four strength and invulnerability and Recoil absorbs kinetic energy and uses it for explosive energy blasts. We have to expect that if we do manage to engage Null that we may have to deal with the two of them as well.”
“Fuuuuuck.” He had his head in his hands, shaking it for a moment before he looked back up at me. “That is not going to be easy Terri. I’ve heard of those two and their reputation is well earned, the Sentries have trouble with them.”
“We’ll try to come up with a plan then in case we do have to deal with them, but if at all possible I’d like to keep the little ones out of danger and try to deal with Null on my own, away from those two bruisers. We’re just kids; let the real heroes deal with them.”
I didn’t sleep much that night, my stomach was bothering me and Hope was having similar problems, so she kept waking up. It was a good thing that the knowledge I inherited from my mother included the use of ‘modern’ plumbing because we were both making good use of it. Finally Hope settled into a deep sleep though and I watched over her briefly before managing to fall asleep myself. Still, I awoke before it was light out.
Since nobody else was up yet I decided to make use of the shower to clean myself up a bit. My body still felt different to me, but given all the other upheaval my life had gone through the past few days, it was really low on the list of things that could possibly bother me. Once I had finished toweling off I wiped my hand across the steamy mirror to gaze once more at my new face. That was a bad idea since it only made me miss my mom more than I already was. “Face it Terri, you can never see her again. Even if you did she wouldn’t know you,” I told myself firmly. “Focus on your mission and taking care of Hope and these other kids.”
I stepped out of the bathroom, hoping to get dressed before anyone else got up, and nearly collided with a girl close to my own age, probably slightly older. Her features seemed to blur and shift until she was blonde with green eyes and slightly pointed ears. “Oh, good morning Bailey. “
She blinked at me in surprise, before looking down. Her face turned red and her eyes shot right back up to focus on mine. “Ummm…. Yeah… good morning.”
Dammit Terri, nudity bothers humans, I quickly scolded myself. “Sorry Bailey, I forgot that nudity makes humans uncomfortable, I was going to get dressed and I didn’t think anyone else would be up yet.”
“It’s… okay, you just surprised me,” she replied, giving me a strange look, “In more ways than one.”
I felt kind of bad about not thinking to dress in the privacy of the bathroom so I went to the chair I had placed my clothes in and began hastily putting on my human clothes. “How so? Besides the being naked thing, I mean.”
“Most people usually react badly when I change genders overnight, but you seemed to know it was me right away, and were so casual about it,” she replied, looking in the other direction as I dressed.
“One of the Fae clans are Changelings,” I told her once I had my undergarments on and began putting my blouse on. “They are constantly changing appearances and genders, and Hope’s adoptive Fae parents are Changelings, so Hope and I are both used to it. You’re the only one here that age, and your scent isn’t too different than when you’re male, so I figured it was you. I’m sorry; did my casualness about it bother you?”
She shook her head as she smiled at me. “No, it was nice actually; I guess I’m just not used to it. The kids have gotten used to it, but most other people treat me differently when I change gender. Even if they know I’m a shape-shifter, people often freak out when I do the gender flip-flop.”
“That’s stupid,” I told her bitterly as I put on my miniskirt. “It’s just the outside that’s changing; it’s no different than wearing your hair differently or something. You’re still the same person on the inside.”
“I wish other people looked at it that way,” she responded sadly, before stepping into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower, while we have the luxury, before we get to all the things we have to do today. I’ll try not to be too long.”
I finished dressing and decided against waking Hope and the others yet, they needed their rest. Becca had seemingly already stirred though and said, “Anyone who’s awake close your eyes or look the other way while I find my shades.”
I turned my head away, “Good morning Becca, how did you sleep?”
“Probably better’n you and Hope,” she replied. “You two sounded like you were sick or something, and you were moving around a lot. You can look now.”
I turned back to find her sitting up on the bed wearing her sunglasses once more. “We’re not used to some of the things they put in the food here, I was told it might take a few days for our digestive systems to adjust.”
“So, did you and Bailey figure out a plan for today?” the young mutant asked.
“Yes we did,” I replied with a nod as I sat on the bed beside Becca and quickly checked on Hope. Her hair color had changed to a light copper, and her skin tone had lightened while she slept. At least it was in the human norm and it didn’t look horribly out of place since she was only half Chinese. With the light strawberry blonde hair of my glamour we could even pass as related. I considered it a lucky break since our group had more than enough ways to stand out in a crowd at the moment. “The first thing we’re going to do is let any of you who want a shower take one, then we’ll get some things and the SUV from the storage place, then we’ll go for breakfast and get some clothes and other things before we leave for our trip. You said you’ll need some spare sunglasses right?”
“Yeah, people seem to like hitting me in the face…” She trailed off and there was a grimace on her face when she continued speaking. “I took some money when I left home, but that didn’t last long so usually I swipe a pair from jerks like the ones that attacked you last night when I can. Its winter though, so there’s not a lot of criminals out there wearing shades.”
“Make sure to remind me okay? I’ve never been shopping so I might miss or forget things. We’re going to try and get a few changes of clothes for all of us and proper cold weather gear too,” I told her.
To my surprise she shook her head as I said the last part. “I don’t need cold weather stuff. Heat and cold don’t bother me, it’s part of whatever keeps me from being hurt. I’ve been in a fire, shot, and even hit by a truck. None of it bothered me, that truck was totaled though.”
Eddie was awake now and obviously ‘listening’ as he sat up in bed. ~We think she can be restrained by normal means, she needs oxygen to breathe, and non-physical things like my telepathy seem to affect her, but otherwise nothing can hurt or move her unless she allows it. The cold doesn’t bother Matt either, he can swim in freezing water with no problems. Still Becca, it’s probably a good idea to get you both at least some good boots, a hat, and a jacket so you can blend in better.~
When Bailey had finished her shower Becca and the boys each took a quick turn as well. I just let Hope sleep until Matt was in the shower since she needed her rest and I had a feeling that if she was going to take a shower I’d have to go in with her. I also wanted to give her some time to adjust before I sprang anything strange or potentially scary on her, going shopping and riding in that SUV were probably going to be unnerving enough for both of us for one day.
Once Matt had finished in the shower we got him and Hope dressed as quick as we could, and then we all headed to the motel office to check out so we could be on our way. I couldn’t really remember which direction the storage place was in so I pulled out the journal and let Bailey check the address and rough directions so that she could get us there. She knew her way around town pretty well and it didn’t take her long to find a direct route that would get us there quickly. Bailey had us stop at a bakery/café and wait together outside while she stepped in to get a dozen muffins and some bottles of juice. Her idea was that we could eat in the storage unit so Eddie could get a break from making Matt look normal.
Once we had gotten there and were safely inside and eating, Eddie let out a silent sigh. ~It doesn’t take a lot of power to keep people passing by seeing him as normal, but keeping up my concentration for hours at a time while doing other things isn’t easy.~
“We Fae have some mental techniques that may help you with that, and improve your control and multitasking ability,” I offered.
~If you think it would help, then that would be awesome,~ his mind voice agreed as he ate his second muffin. ~Becca doesn’t get too much attention just wearing a hat or punk style clothes with her hair and shades, but I have to keep Matt looking human to everyone around anytime we’re in public.~
Bailey had already finished eating, found the keys for the SUV and opened the rear door. “I found camping gear and some sleeping bags we can use in case we can’t stay in motels.”
I stood up to have a look at the rolled objects Bailey was placing in the trunk and reached out to touch one. There was a very faint burning sensation in my fingertips. “Don’t bother packing one for me; if I try sleeping in one of these I’ll have a full body rash by morning. My friend Candy told me that Fae seem to be allergic to some synthetics.”
“We’ll have to be careful clothes shopping for you then,” she replied with a frown. “Maybe we can find you something made from natural fibers while we’re shopping. Do you want any of those weapons packed?”
I shook my head at that. “Maybe pack a spare quiver or two in case, but I already have a bow and sword and there’s no sense taking up space with weapons we won’t likely use. You might want to look through those boxes of clothes though. The material bothered my skin, but you might be able to use some.”
Bailey began looking through the boxes and took one of the black bodysuits out to stretch it experimentally. “Not very stretchy. The togas are lame, but I think these are some sort of thermal suits. They seem pretty durable and there are even smaller sizes in here that would fit the kids, though I don’t think they’ll work very well for me. All this stuff and the bag full of money, who owns this storage and how did you get access to it?”
“It belongs to a mutant terrorist group called the Titans that think Hypers should rule humans. I knew somebody who used to be a member and he gave me the key. I was warned to stay away from them if I can; their leader is nuts, and they try to corrupt mutant kids to their way of thinking early if they find them.”
“Great, so we’re stealing from crazy terrorists, I guess that explains the crate of guns and grenades I saw.” the shape-shifter muttered. “At least we’ll get to try and do some good with this stuff. With some accessorizing we could use some of the bodysuits to make costumes for all of the kids.”
“Yeah they could make cool costumes, but it would have been nice to find you something to wear that won’t be too tight or too loose whenever your looks change,” Becca put in as she looked over one of the smaller suits and tossed it to Matt. “Hey Squirt! I think this one will fit you.”
Unfortunately they couldn’t find a body suit small enough for Hope, though they did find bodysuits that would fit Eddie and Becca. With that done, we looked through some of the other boxes of items for anything useful while Becca, Eddie, and Bailey explained some of the items that were unfamiliar to me. Seeing nothing else that we wanted to use, we all climbed into the SUV while Bailey opened the rolling door. I got the feeling that Hope was feeling a little left out as the other kids talked about what they could add to their suits to make costumes. I also figured that the costume talk was making her miss our mothers, so once I had managed to tighten her seatbelt I ruffled her hair and hugged her gently. “I miss our moms and the others too sweetie. You’re being so good and brave, and I think they would be just as proud of you as I am. Maybe we can find some things to make a costume for you too, to show how brave you are.”
She was sniffling and her eyes were teary as she hugged me back tightly. “O-okay Terri. Can I show it to Momma when we get home?”
I just hugged her back and stroked her hair. How could I tell her that there was no going back, that we likely wouldn’t see our mothers ever again, that it would probably be a bad idea to even try? I couldn’t. “Sure Peekaboo, I think she’d love that.”
We were all belted into our seats and I was trying my best to look calm and confident when Bailey opened the driver’s side door and climbed in. I was anything but. I was a mess inside, but the kids were better off not knowing that. I was even making an effort to try to think only about our plans so Eddie wouldn’t sense anything wrong. Bailey though could sense it, of course she could, she’s an empath. She was giving me concerned looks whenever she stopped at a traffic light, but we both knew it was something that shouldn’t be talked about in front of the kids.
As we drove, Bailey and the others would point out various street signs, businesses, and other items of interest to Hope and me and explain the reasons or purpose for them. It wasn’t long before we pulled into a large parking lot nearly filled with vehicles. Bailey circled the SUV around until she found a spot fairly close to the large building that Bailey claimed was a mall. “Okay we’re here,” she said as she turned off the vehicle. “Everyone stick close together so Ed can keep people from paying too much attention to us, and let’s try to make this trip as quick as possible.”
After a brief discussion on how best to do the shopping it was decided that Bailey would quickly go inside and get an inexpensive purse for both herself and Becca so that we could divide some of the money amongst us. While she was doing that Becca and Eddie gave me a crash course of the value of money. Becca also suggested that I should count out the money in my purse rather than pulling out a wad of bills and trying to find the right amount. We really didn’t want to draw attention to the amount of money we had as it could make us the targets of thieves.
Bailey returned fifteen minutes later with a plastic shopping bag with the name ‘House of Leather’ on it. “They were having a sale,” she explained as she took out a tan suede purse with tassels and a black leather one with metal studs. She kept the former for herself and gave the latter to Becca. “I got some wallets too since they were two for one. I got ladies wallets for you both and a man’s wallet for me and Eddie. That way the money won’t be loose in our purses, I’ll have a wallet for my male forms, and we can give a bit of the money to Eddie to spread it around. Terri, you and and I will be doing most of the purchases, I just think we should make sure Becca and Eddie should have a bit in case we get separated, there’s an emergency, or if we need them to take Hope and Matt for a drink or something.”
She kept one of the thicker brown leather folding wallets and gave the other to Eddie before passing Becca and I matching slim black wallets with simple clasps to close them. Once those were all distributed she had Eddie get the duffel bag. He and Becca both got one hundred dollars in smaller bills while Bailey and I both filled our new wallets with two thousand in mixed bills. “Why so much?” I asked, figuring that it might be excessive.
“You never know what we might see that could be useful,” she responded with a shrug. “Also I’d rather we both have a decent amount in case there’s an emergency or we’re not able to get back to the SUV for some reason. Eddie, make sure that the duffel is well hidden underneath the seat and we’ll get going.”
~Actually Bailey,~ Eddie replied with a shake of his head. ~It’s probably better if Matt and I stay and wait here. There are a lot of people in that mall today, and I would have to use a lot of power to keep all of them from noticing Matt. It’ll be easier if we just stay here behind tinted windows. We can play some card games and I’ll be here to keep anyone from taking too great an interest in the SUV. Besides, you four can pass for human without me there and you’ve guessed clothes sizes for Matt and I pretty well before so I think you can do it again.~
“Are you sure?” she asked, looking a little concerned. “We’ll likely be gone a while. Terri doesn’t know much about this kind of stuff and we’ll need to make sure her clothes won’t cause an allergic reaction.”
Eddie nodded and took off his wool cap, handing it to Becca. ~Here, you can borrow this to help you blend in a bit better until you get new clothes. We’ll be fine Bailey, you just try to keep a low profile and bring us back some lunch. I’ll stay in mental contact in case anything happens or if you need my input for clothes for me and Squirt.~
Once we were all out of the vehicle and certain that it was properly locked so the boys would be safe, Bailey dropped the keys in her new purse while I shouldered my own purse and picked up Hope. My cousin had looked a little bit scared as she looked around at the maze of vehicles around us and the huge building ahead so I decided to carry her. I think we both felt a little more secure with her in my arms. “It’s okay Peekaboo, I’ve got you sweetie.”
Hope was hanging on tight to my neck as we entered the mall beside Bailey and I couldn’t really blame her. As big as the mall looked from the outside, it seemed even bigger once we got inside, not to mention more intimidating. I had gleaned from my mother’s knowledge that a mall was a collection of various shops selling clothing and other important items, but I hadn’t expected there to be so much. There were so many different stores selling different types of things; I probably wouldn’t know what half of it was or how to find the things we did need.
Bailey took immediate charge of the situation, leading us first to a popular ‘thrift store’. As she helped me to arrange Hope in the child seat of the shopping cart, and buckle her in, she quietly explained her plan. “Okay girls, here’s what we’re going to do. We came here first because we won’t attract too much attention shopping in a thrift store, they’re meant for people without a lot of money or who want to make their money go further. It will also help Terri and Hope get used to being in large stores and shopping in general. Third it will allow us to buy some clothes for the four of us that should allow us to fit in better while we shop around the rest of the mall.”
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I asked in confusion. I could see why Becca and Bailey would need new clothes to shop in, theirs were pretty worn and hadn’t been properly washed in some time, but Hope and I had just had ours made the day before.
“Nothing,” she admitted, “but your skirt and blouse seem more suited to someone a bit older. Not to mention it’s a little cold to be wearing a skirt. Your goal when we shop the rest of the mall is to look like the spoiled rich foreign girl who is spending all the money your daddy gave you for Christmas. The suede and fur for your outer clothes look custom and expensive, so they should work, but you’ll likely take those off while shopping so underneath you’ll need something more your age.”
I could see her point, and she knew more about this stuff than I did so I conceded. “Okay, so I guess you’re right about that. I’m not sure I know how to act like a foreign rich girl though and I know even less about fashion.”
“That’s a simple fix,” she said with a smile. “Your accent makes you sound foreign and your unfamiliarity with the culture is an advantage, Becca can just tell people you’re from some tiny country in Europe if they ask. Since she’s tall enough, with the right clothes, she could pass as maybe fourteen and be your snarky punk cousin who’s showing you around. Hope is your sister and you both need clothes because the airline misplaced your luggage. That way Becca can help you with half of the shopping while I do the rest. I’ll be shopping in most of the same stores, but we’ll have different things to buy so we’ll be in different areas and we’ll meet not far from the exits when we’re done. In this store we can probably get all the clothes we need to pull off the looks we’re going for and do it inexpensively.”
With that we got to work. Shopping was strange, but as we went along Bailey and Becca explained various styles, items of clothing, and what would work well with my coloring. Hope and I were both starting to feel a little less nervous as time progressed, but to reassure her I made sure to keep a firm hold on the shopping cart unless I was testing clothes for an allergic reaction, or trying them on. When I did that though Becca was quick to take my place and talk to my ward. Before I knew it, we had paid for our purchases and made our way to the mall’s nearest restrooms.
We entered a room between the ladies’ room and the mens’ room that was labeled ‘family room’ and locked the door behind us. From my mother’s knowledge of this time I knew that there were separate bathrooms for men and women in most places, but I wasn’t quite sure what the family room was for. Bailey explained that some malls have these rooms to allow mothers to nurse and change their babies, help toddlers who are still toilet training, and for other family situations that might require some privacy. Since Hope was still learning to use modern plumbing and would be nervous in a restroom full of complete strangers, I was thankful for the opportunity to let her do so in relative security while the rest of us began to change.
Becca was apparently pretty pleased with all she had found for her punk look as she changed. The outfit she decided on consisted of a short plaid skirt with a dangling chain a black t-shirt with the words ‘Green Day’ and some other smaller text emblazoned on it, black leggings, her shades of course, and slightly worn sneakers. Bailey had also found her a padded training bra that would make her seem more of a teenager than a preteen. Becca’s only complaint was that she couldn’t find combat boots since they would look better and be more practical.
Bailey had chosen a look that wouldn’t be too awkward if she changed shape, though she too wore black leggings, a stretchy pair in case her powers made her grow a bit. In addition to those she wore the spandex sports top she usually wore in place of a bra, a light blue sweater dress that would look good even if she shrunk or grew a bit, a pair of winter boots that were a size too large, and a roomy winter jacket with her gloves in the pockets.
I had been a bit more difficult to shop for. A lot of the clothes we looked at were either synthetics or blends that were more than 25% synthetic and caused a faint burning in my fingertips when I touched them. I ended up wearing my silk undergarments from Dana with the clothes we bought for me to blend in over top. Those clothes consisted of a 95% cotton white crop top shirt that said ‘Princess’ in cursive pink letters and a pair of low rise jeans. Denim is apparently made out of cotton, and it doesn’t seem to bother my skin.
By the time we had finished changing Hope was finished with the toilet and I gave her a boost so she could wash and dry her hands before I dressed her in the pink t-shirt with some cartoon girl named Dora and the romper Bailey had picked out for her. While I was doing that Bailey and Becca disposed of their old clothes and put the clothes that Hope and I had been wearing into one of the shopping bags. Finally we headed out into the mall proper once again so we could get started on the real shopping.
L’il Tykes was our first stop, and it was a store that specialized in clothes and other items for kids under six. Before we went inside Bailey looked around and smiled as she caught sight of a happy looking man who looked to be in his thirties. “Something has that guy in a very good mood, he’s really projecting. Cover me while I try to form an empathic link. I hope he’s not into teenagers or something, I want to look old enough to have a kid Matt’s age.”
I adjusted Hope in my arms as Becca and I moved to shield Bailey from the sight of passersby. There was this moment of concentration on her face before her features began to blur and shift and she grew maybe a couple inches, both up and out. Soon she was a slender and tall brunette with green eyes who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was also busty enough to make her sweater dress look uncomfortably tight around the top. She looked down and gave a disgusted look that made Becca and I both laugh as she muttered, “Damn powers, he’s into big boobs. Well, let’s get a move on girls, I’ll only be able to hold this form for an hour or so.”
We went inside and Bailey went to get clothes for Matt, posing as a mother. Meanwhile Becca, Hope, and I went to go find some things for my little cousin. We were hoping to get five complete outfits for all of us and since Hope seemed to like the t-shirt and romper combo we got her three more of those, a dress with some tights, some running shoes, pajamas, dress shoes, and a five pack of girls’ underwear that Becca told us had pictures of ‘Disney Princesses’.
I was glad Becca was helping us because she made some good suggestions that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. First she found some light pink leggings, white boots and gloves, and a long sleeved tunic style hooded top in a swirling pink and white smoke pattern that she thought we could make into a costume for Hope. There were also the crayons, coloring books and pair of Disney Princess dolls that Hope took an instant liking to. Those things didn’t cost much in the grand scheme of things, but they would help entertain Hope and keep her mind off missing home, and make her feel more a part of the group, and at the moment that was invaluable.
Hope was starting to get tired and hungry at this point; since I had been letting her walk so long as she held my hand, so Bailey led us to a place called the food court where we went to a fast food place called McDonalds and ordered lunch. My cousin’s small meal seemed to make her happy. She really enjoyed the French fries, chicken nuggets and orange soda. Playing with the toy also helped keep her occupied while we ate and talked about what else needed to be done. I thought I would try the adult version of the same meal with an iced tea, and while it was good, I found it a little too greasy and I just knew that it was going to bother my already upset stomach later.
After lunch Mayfields was Bailey’s next stop, a discount clothing store where she bought similar clothes for Eddie as she had gotten in the last store for Matt to cover the basics. She also bought a roomy night gown as well as boots and two complete outfits for both her male and female forms; boxer shorts, socks, stretchy track pants, extra-large t-shirts, panties, leggings, and tops. I wondered how she chose sizes, but afterwards she explained that usually changes between forms of the same gender for her were mostly cosmetic: muscles, breast size, hair and eye color, facial features, skin color. Only rarely does she end up in a form where her height, weight, or shoe size goes through any severe changes from her base forms for her current gender.
While Bailey was doing her thing Becca, Hope and I made our way outside and back to the SUV to drop off the shopping bags and deliver the lunches we had bought for Matt and Eddie. Lunch, lack of sleep the night before, and all the excitement had conspired to make Hope tired so I wasn’t surprised when she started getting irritable and complaining. “We still have a lot to do Peekaboo,” I told her with a sigh when she said she didn’t want to go back into the mall.
~She can always stay in the SUV with us and take a nap or play with those toys you got her,~ Eddie suggested as he and Matt dug into their lunches.
I hesitated before answering, “I don’t know Eddie, Hope is my responsibility. I don’t really want her out of my sight if it can be helped.”
~You can’t have her with you all the time,~ the young telepath pointed out. ~She needs to get used to being with us for when you go after Null. You’re both part of our crew now and we all look out for one another. I’ll make sure nobody takes too much interest in the vehicle so she will be safe. If I even think we’re going to be in any trouble I’ll contact you right away.~
I reached out to brush an errant lock of hair out of Hopes eyes. “Peekaboo, do you think you’ll be okay in here with Matt and Eddie for a little while?”
She was uncertain; I could see it in her expression in her eyes. These people were helping us and had welcomed us into their group. But while they seemed nice she just didn’t know them well enough to be comfortable without me there yet. On the other hand she was very tired and I was pretty sure she wanted to show how brave she was too. Finally she nodded. “Okay Terri.”
“That’s my brave girl, Eddie and Matt will take care of you, but you need to be good and listen to Eddie. Got it?” When she nodded again I looked uncertainly back to Becca and the mall beyond, before wrapping her in a tight hug. “I promise we’ll finish up as quickly as we can Peekaboo, I love you sweetie.”
“Love you Terri, I’ll be good” She hugged me back until I reluctantly let go, made sure the door to the SUV was locked, and Becca and I headed back into the mall.
When we got back inside the mall Becca took me to Teen Scene where she found a pair of training bras that would be a better fit for her than the one she had found at the thrift store, some cotton panties, and a pair of gloves. She helped me to pick out three pairs of jeans, a nice skirt, and four cotton tops in various styles. Then we made our way to a shop called Loving Lace that specialized in high quality undergarments. There I was measured and once we had explained my allergy to synthetics the sales lady guided us to bra and panty sets made of silk.
I was a bit confused by the options that we looked through as they were all very nice looking and it seemed odd that they should be hidden under other clothes when so much work had been put into making them so eye-catching. When I asked Becca about it she just looked at me strangely and handed me others to try on. Once I had four sets that seemed comfortable in the colors white, black, lilac, and cream, as well as a black lace and purple silk item called a negligee to sleep in, we paid for the purchases and left the shop to meet Bailey at our next stop.
I was getting more and more uncomfortable the longer I was away from Hope. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Eddie to watch over her, it was that this new world was frightening in some ways and I worried that something would happen to keep us separated and right now I needed her as much as she needed me. I needed to know I had some part of my family and home left and that she would be safe from harm. So with that in mind we rushed through the next few stores.
First we went to ‘Pharma-C’ where we bought things that Bailey termed as necessities; it seemed to consist mostly of self-grooming and self-care items like toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, and such. We bought a few things that we didn’t need at the moment but might need soon as well. Becca was entering puberty so Bailey bought enough tampons and sanitary napkins for all three of us, since I would likely need them soon as well. My mother’s knowledge seemed to include a general idea what those were for and while I felt a bit intimidated about that aspect of womanhood, I tried not to let it bother me since it was part of who I was now and no good would come from complaining about it. She also got some razors for when Becca would need them even though neither of us would; Fae don’t grow body hair and Bailey’s shape shifting allowed her to avoid it as well.
After that we went to a shop called ‘Sleeping In’ where we bought some blankets and sheets for me made from cotton and flannel as well as a pillow and comforter made of flannel and filled with goose down. They were a bit pricey but at least I would be warm and not wake up with a rash. So I was pretty happy as we left there and headed to the Dollar Store where we bought ten pairs of wraparound sunglasses, a package of colored glitter glue, some sweets and some items and accessories that Becca and Bailey thought the others would like to go on their costumes.
Our last stop was for Becca’s clothes. She and Bailey had decided that to preserve Becca’s punk image we should do most of her clothes shopping at a store called ‘Alternative Empire’ that Becca said catered to the local punk, emo, and goth scene. Bailey and the others had met Davis, the owner of the store, just after Becca had joined up with them. He was a mutant supporter and the one who came up with the idea for Becca to adopt a punk look to blend in. He had also let Bailey work there under the table sometimes to earn money, though Bailey never explained why he would need someone to work under a table or what kind of work was involved with that.
“Bailey! Becca! It’s good to see you again, Matt and Eddie aren’t with you today?” a man in his early thirties behind the front counter called out in greeting as we entered the shop. Davis, at least I assumed it was Davis, was at least six foot six with no visible fat, spiky blue hair, several piercings in his ears, and a ring through his eyebrow as well. I imagined that most people would probably be intimidated by the appearance of the man, if not for his friendly demeanor.
“Eddie thought it would be best for him and Matt to stay out of sight so he could stay out of minds,” Bailey responded with a shrug. “This is our new friend Terri, She and her little cousin Hope have joined up with us.”
“More rescues?” he inquired. There was a brief look of confusion and wonder when he looked at me, but it passed so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it as he turned his smile on me. “It’s nice to meet you, the brats are a good bunch, they’ll take good care of you.”
Bailey nodded in agreement, but was quick to explain, “Terri’s offered to help me take care of the others and we’re going to help her with something she needs to do. We’re going to be leaving town, so I wanted to say goodbye. Becca needs some clothes too since we have the money, and we know you can always use the business.”
Davis’ expression was deeply pensive for a moment before he nodded. “Becca, why don’t you start picking out everything you need and watch the store for me while I talk to Bailey and your new friend in the back room. I may have a few things for you Bailey.”
Bailey and I looked at one another in confusion, but she nodded so I followed her and Davis, who I noticed walked with a bad limp, toward the aforementioned back room. The room was small consisting of a desk littered with papers, three chairs and a large metal trunk with a thick padlock. Once we were all inside I sat down in one of the chairs facing the desk as the large man took the seat behind it to look directly at me. “What are you and what do you want with these kids?”
“Davis!” Bailey quickly objected, but I put my hand on her shoulder and when she turned to look at me I shook my head.
“He is just concerned for you,” I told her simply before looking the man over again. I wished that I could use my magic senses to ‘look’ at him, but I didn’t dare unseal my powers in such a small room for fear of shocking someone. “I am of the Fae, though my mother was a Hyper, and I was sent here to prevent a disaster that will lead to the end of both Humanity and the Fae. Since my Hyper abilities have complicated things and I do not know this world well, Bailey and the others have offered to assist me in finding the person I’m looking for. In exchange I am going to help Bailey care for Becca and the other children. Now I must ask you the same, what are you and what is your interest in my new friends?”
“The Fae?” he asked as his eyebrows rose at my admission. “I thought your kind was a myth, or long gone from this world. I’m a Hyper like them, I sense energy flows, and have a small talent for magic and seeing through illusions, it’s also why I look like I do. I’ve been trying to help these kids as much as they’ll let me. I would have let them come stay in my home, but it’s taken almost two months for Becca to become comfortable enough to say hello to me, so I helped them with a set of clothes to help her blend in and by giving Bailey work to earn some money.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were a Hyper before?” Bailey asked with a stunned expression on her face.
“Matt figured it out when we first met, but I asked him to keep it private,” the blue haired man replied with a sigh. “For eight years I’ve been living a normal life, not using my powers actively and hiding from my past. Then you kids came along, determined to carry on and help others, despite the way the world has treated you. You reminded me of myself and my friends back then. I figured you’d all run off to try to save the world one day and I wanted to try to convince you to give up the idea, but I know you all well enough by now to know that you’re all too damn stubborn to stop when you know you’re doing something to help others.”
Bailey stood up from her seat, her hands on the desk and her voice raised in anger. “Why would you want to stop us from doing what’s right!?"
“Because I know it can lead only to heartache,” Davis responded sadly. “When I was your age I had been activated and studying magic for two years. I was still a novice at best when I met Melanie and Jocasta. They were mutants too; they weren’t scared of me like a lot of people and we became close friends. None of us were really powerful, but we all thought that we could become superheroes and take on the world.”
There was pain in his eyes as he took a moment to collect himself before continuing his story. “Jocasta was a tinker who took the name Gadgets, Melanie’s ability to dramatically change her size and mass earned her the name Surge, and I called myself Chant. We mostly fought muggers, bank robbers, and low level super villains until 8 years ago. Three weeks before Jo and I were going to be married we fought Arsenal. Melanie and Jo were both killed and I nearly lost my leg. You’re all young, too young to be risking your lives like that.”
“Bailey’s only task is to get me to the place I need to be, when I need to be there,” I argued. “If all goes to plan, she and the others will be a safe distance away when I deal with the man I’m looking for; I don’t want any of them in danger any more than you do.”
“Lesson number one in being a superhero, nothing ever goes to plan,” he replied with an indignant snort. “As soon as you put on a costume you become a magnet for dangerous and unexpected things. You seem willing enough to put yourself in danger, but you’ll be putting these kids in danger too, just so you can play hero.”
I shook my head as I thought how best to answer him. “My mom was a superhero too, and the first lesson she gave me was that it’s not what you do or how you do it, it’s why you do it and who you’re doing it for. I don’t have a choice; this task needs to be done, I’m the only one who can do it, and I’ll give my life to see it done if need be. I never wanted to do this, and I’m not doing this because I want to be a hero, but because I refuse to let this atrocity happen again while I can prevent it. My family and friends I had to leave, my cousin, and every other human, Hyper, and Fae needs me to do this. It’s my life against billions; even if it wasn’t the right thing to do the math would make the choice pretty simple.”
“She’s right Davis, and I need to help her for the same reason,” Bailey added as she frowned across the desk at him. “If I don’t help her and what she’s warned me about happens then I’ve failed to protect Becca, Matt and Eddie and to do the right thing. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. The world might be a sucky place for mutants to live, but if we ever want to change that then the world needs to keep spinning.”
To my surprise Davis nodded, though the sadness was still present in his eyes. “I didn’t think I would be able to stop you Bailey. If I can’t stop you, I guess I’d better help you then.” He stood up, wincing slightly, and made his way toward the large metal chest as he produced a key from his pocket. “There might be some things in here you can use, just in case things don’t go to plan.”
The chest contained some of the things from when Davis and his friends had been superheroes, including the remains of their costumes, some broken devices, some multicolored material all folded up, and some photos and newspaper clippings. Bailey ran her hands experimentally over the strange material before asking, “What is this? It feels like a bunch of tiny beads.”
“Jo made it for Melanie before they died but she never got it to work as well as she had hoped,” Davis responded. “It’s a body suit made from a material that reacts to and harnesses the metamorphic energy produced by shape shifters. It allows the wearer to apply their shifting ability to the material as well as themselves. Jo was hoping she would be able to get it to expand to Melanie’s maximum size but she only got it to work to about 5 times her normal mass and size before the material reached its limit.”
“What do you mean by applying the shifting ability to the material?” Bailey asked, her face lit up in sudden interest.
A distant memory lingered in the large man’s eyes as he looked over the material in Bailey’s hands. “For Melanie it would change size as she did and she was able to change its appearance as well, to simulate a costume and various types of clothing. She only had to be picturing what she wanted to be wearing in her mind. I was thinking that you might be able to use it… and this as well.” He handed her a black pistol of some sort.
My friend’s eyes lit up as she looked over the gun. “That looks just like…”
“I thought you might recognize it, there’s a belt and holster in there too.” Though his eyes were still distant and sad Davis laughed. “Jo was such a geek and thought that our powers gave us a duty to help others… you remind me a lot of her. When she came up with a device to catalyze some of the magic energy that’s all around us and use it to fire energy blasts she just had to make it look like Han Solo’s blaster. It’s one of the few things that I know is still usable. Try to keep it on the stun setting, it’s safer and uses less energy, which is important since even that setting uses a lot of the stored energy and the gun takes a while to recharge.”
Bailey took a long look at the material in her hands and the offered weapon before shaking her head. “I can’t take these things Davis, They belonged to someone you loved and they’re obviously important to you.”
Davis’ response was to close the trunk and place the weapon and belt in Bailey’s hands with the bodysuit she was still looking at. “Jo made these so they could be used to help people. I can’t do much else to help you kids and I think she’d be happy to have someone like herself using them in our place. Use them to keep yourself and the others safe. Whatever clothes Becca picks out I’ll sell you at half price too.”
Becca had finished picking out the clothes she wanted by the time we were done in the back room. It seemed to mostly consist of tank tops, skirts and a few accessories as well as a black studded denim jacket with buckles and a plaid under layer. “Uh guys, I was wondering if I could get a few things to use for my costume too?” she asked uncertainly as we returned to the storefront with Davis carrying a box he had picked up from behind the chest he had kept his hero memorabilia in.
“As long as Terri doesn’t mind,” Bailey replied, looking toward me for confirmation. When I nodded she asked, “What do you have in mind?”
Becca dashed to the back of the store and returned with a pair of knee high black combat boots with buckles all down the front instead of laces and a pair of black fingerless gloves. As she added them to the pile Davis gave her a long look. “Becca, your hair lets you blend in with the punk look, but it’s pretty distinctive. I think if you plan on going around in costume you should hide it to try and keep your identity safer. You might want to wear something with a large hood that can cover it and obscure your face a bit; I have just the thing. I figured you kids might want something unique when you decided to play hero, so had a friend of mine who designs some of the clothes I sell here make something special for you, Eddie, and Matt. Hopefully we guessed your sizes right.”
Davis had Bailey start removing security tags from the items and scanning them as he opened the box he had been carrying. He pulled out three bundles of fabric, of varying colors, the first of which was a black mask and grey ‘trench-coat’ with three black vertical wavy lines on the back and said, “This is for Eddie.” Next he pulled out a gold colored belt and vest with a lot of pockets and a dark blue water drop symbol on the back of the vest. “And these are for Matt, they’re waterproof with seal-able airtight pockets, but this is for you Becca,” he added as he handed her a bundle of red and black.
The bundle turned out to be a dark red jacket and a domino mask which he had Becca try on. The mask was of a durable black material with lenses tinted a dark red covering the eyes. The lenses could also be flipped upward to expose her eyes if she needed to. The jacket had long flared sleeves and a high collar from which emerged a black hood that when worn not only covered her hair, but obscured most of her face in shadow as well. Rather than a zipper or buttons it closed with a series of black leather straps with buckles, like those on the boots she had chosen. The straps buckled in the front from collar to midriff where the jacket parted in front and the back and sides flared out like a thigh length skirt. On the back there was a coiled snake embroidered in black and gold.
Davis had had those made specially even though he clearly didn’t want them doing the hero thing, and despite the fact that Bailey said business hadn’t been so good lately. It showed how much he cared about these kids, possibly he saw them as the children he and Jocasta could have had together if things had turned out better. I decided to help him in return and rather than just paying the amount he had tallied, I insisted on giving him what was left in my purse. We still had all the money Bailey had left over and over forty five thousand in the duffel bag, so it seemed the proper thing to do.
Becca loved her jacket and mask, and the whole time I was arguing with Davis about him taking the money she had this uncertain expression on her face. She was obviously grateful for what he had done, but at the same time she seemed pained. Finally, as we were leaving and saying our goodbyes she said, “Ummm… thanks Davis. Y’know, for everything you’ve done for us. You’re… a good man.” It made me wonder, not for the first time that day, what had happened to her. Hypers activate due to stress, and the environment or the cause of that stress usually have some hand in what powers manifest. Given Becca’s powers that was a truly frightening thought, and it made me want to help take care of these kids even more.
Hope and Matt were napping when we returned to the SUV. It was also beginning to get dark, and since Bailey didn’t want to make the drive to Toronto at night and we needed to do some research anyway we decided to spend another night at the motel we had stayed at the night before. Bailey said the motel had something called Wi-Fi and that if we had a computer we could use it to access the internet there and do some research on the area around the first assassination site and possible nearby places where we could stay. With that in mind she drove us to a large building with a sign saying ‘Best Buy’.
I figured that Bailey could handle that by herself so while she went inside I stayed in the vehicle with the others and talked while trying to ignore just how horrible my stomach felt. Bailey seemed to take a while and Matt and Hope had both complained about being bored at least ten times by the time she returned bearing a plastic bag. She had managed to get an inexpensive notebook computer that wouldn’t take much space, a shoulder bag to carry it in, and three prepaid cell phones.
“I bought the phones for several reasons,” she explained as she drove us to the motel. “First, we might need to contact people for information or give others a way to contact us that doesn’t involve Eddie’s telepathy. Secondly, if gives us another way for me, you, and Becca to contact one another in case something happens to Eddie or while he’s sleeping. Thirdly you and I are teenagers, and if we need to socialize other teens will expect us to have phones. The models I chose have cameras, internet, and a bunch of other features that might be useful and should be easy to learn to use. If we need to add time to them then we just buy prepaid phone cards and use them.”
We made another brief stop to a grocery store where Bailey picked up a loaf of bread, some fruit, milk, cheese, crackers, and meat to serve as a light dinner for us all. Then once Eddie had once again used the Jedi mind trick and we were safely in the motel I dropped my glamour. I wanted to be myself as much as possible around these people; not only did it make me more comfortable, but it showed that I trusted them. Besides, using the glamour was for hiding, and it would be rude to hide my true self when we were alone and safe when the others saw no reason to.
Once dinner was finished Eddie and Becca kept Hope and Matt occupied with various games and talk about their costumes. While they were doing that Bailey began showing me how to use the phone and the computer as we started to research the area of Toronto we would be going to. She helped me find some pretty good current maps of the area, as well as photographs, and I thought that it might really help me to find possible locations were Null may choose to fire from, though nothing could beat actual physical surveillance.
According to Uncle Tom’s notes, Recoil and Golem had been shot outside a bank they had been about to rob on the corner of King Street East and Jarvis Street. Looking at photos of the area I saw that there were several tall buildings in the area, but the journal had said the shots came from the north. Given that information the most likely vantage points that would afford Null a good view of the bank entrance were the tower of the cathedral on the other side of a park and a really tall condominium building a bit further away.
The journal also said that Uncle Tom suspected that Null had contacts feeding information to his targets that they wouldn’t be able to resist so that they would show up where and when he wanted them. Uncle Tom had nearly been killed when the Titans followed a false lead on some mutant kids who were being shipped to a research lab. There were no kids there when he and the other Titans had shown up at the indicated time and place and Null had managed to kill two Titans and wound Uncle Tom before Hermes managed to teleport him away. It was also very likely that Null was working with a teleporter, given how many times he had eluded capture.
This information was not reassuring. Finding Null before he made his move would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, especially if he was firing from the condominiums. I would have to visually check most of the windows facing the bank and hope he didn’t fire before I found him. If he really was working with a teleporter, that could complicate things as well. If I did find him I would have to try and land a killing blow before he saw me. Using my bow would be unlikely if I had to fly to do recon, it would take too long to remove the bow from the case, set it up and fire a shot once I returned to human size and changed into costume, especially if he noticed me coming. Even with four days to train I wasn’t certain that I would enough control over my powers yet to do more than lash out wildly and hope for the best. No, the sword would be best, quick and clean.
I think that’s what was bothering me the most as I tried to come up with a plan that evening. Fae don’t fight to kill unless it’s life or death like with the Fomorians. We fight like this for a very good reason, some people who kill find that they enjoy it; and Fae are taught from an early age not to make a habit of giving into anything that could lead to dark desires such as murder or senseless violence. Usually we try to subdue, disable, or disarm, but there were billions of lives counting on me and the only way I could be absolutely sure to prevent a future like the one I came from was to kill him. As long as he lived and his power still existed, there was the possibility he would still try to kill Stellar.
Understandably I was a bit preoccupied by those thoughts and others as we helped Matt and Hope to get ready for bed that night. Between that and the stomach ache I was having problems paying attention to much of anything, though I was doing the best I could, to keep my mind on Hope’s needs. I had decided that Hope would probably be more comfortable having a bath than using the shower, especially after Becca had suggested putting in a little of our new floral scented shampoo while the water was running to make it a bubble bath. Hope loved it and I tried to distract myself by playing with her and washing her hair as she played. Apparently I wasn’t hiding my mood as well as I thought though because once I had finished rinsing her hair my cousin said, “Terri you look sad, d’you miss home too?”
I nodded slowly, slightly confused and wondering what had brought this on. “Yeah I do Peekaboo, but I’m also thinking about what I need to do while we’re here and trying to make sense of this world. At least we’ve made some friends, what do you think of them?” I almost felt guilty using such an obvious attempt to change the subject on a three and a half year old, but there was a lot on my mind that it was better to keep to myself.
“They’re nice,” she replied simply. I was worried that my attempt to change the topic hadn’t worked and she would just leave it at that, but after a moment of thought she seemed to figure out what she wanted to say. Of course it all came out at once though. ”Bailey is like Momma Keera, but she says weird stuff, Becca an’ Eddie are really nice to me an’ said they’d pertect me…” she trailed off as she tried to think of anything else. “Oh! An’ Matt showed me how to color an’ play fish.”
I was confused about the last bit, wondering if it was something related to the young mutant’s powers or appearance. “Play fish?” I asked, hoping for some clarification.
“Yeah!” she nodded excitedly as I helped her out of the bath tub. “There’s cards wit’ numbers and pictures on them an’ I had to try an’ guess what cards Matt had. He had to guess too. Oh! An’ Becca tol’ me I’m da best hide n’ seeker! An’ she’s gonna help make my costume!”
I was glad that the others were managing to make this new world exciting for her and keep her mind off of home. As I began ruffling her hair with a towel to dry it I tried a smile for her. “I’m glad you like them, because we’ll be with them for a while. Just like our family at home, we’re all going to stick together and keep one another safe.” I finished drying her hair, got to work on drying her body, and then got her dressed for bed.
“But I don’ wanna sleep yet Bailey,” Matt was complaining as we left the bathroom and Bailey was putting him into bed. Becca and Eddie were going to stay up a little longer and were looking on the internet for likely places for us to stay and hopefully get some training in while in Toronto.
Bailey gave Matt a stern look. “I know Squirt, but we have to be up early tomorrow. I don’t want to be driving when there’s heavy traffic if it can be avoided. So you and Hope both need to go to bed now if you’re going to get a good night’s sleep.”
Matt was pouting and he didn’t seem too thrilled about the idea, but he grudgingly replied,” Okay, I’ll try to sleep.”
The shape changer tucked the blankets around Matt and tweaked his nose. Then she said in a croaky voice, “No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.”
I plopped Hope onto the other bed and covered her up before giving her a light kiss on the cheek. “Sleep well Peekaboo, I love you.”
“I love you too Terri,” she replied, reaching up to wrap me in a big hug and return the kiss.
A few hours later, Becca and Eddie had joined Hope and Matt in their respective beds and joined them in slumber as well. Becca was wearing a sleep mask that Bailey had bought for her at the drug store so that she could sleep without fear of waking up and somebody accidentally catching sight of her eyes. During yet another bathroom trip, I had changed into the negligee I had bought for bed, so I could soon join them. When I emerged from the bathroom Bailey looked over to me. “Sorry that the food hasn’t been agreeing with you, hopefully It’ll get better…” She trailed off as she caught sight of me and was suddenly staring at me intently. “So, you’re… umm… wearing that to bed?”
“Yes, I know how nudity makes you humans uncomfortable. I asked the lady at the shop where we bought the undergarments what someone might prefer to see me wear to bed, and she told me that this would suit me very well. She suggested one in red, but I thought the purple might look nicer without the glamour on. Should I have chosen something else?” I wondered if I had done something wrong, Bailey seemed nervous for some reason.
“Ummm… no, that’s… ummm… good. You’re not naked, and that’s what matters right?” She replied as she fidgeted with the nightgown she was holding in her hands. “So… yeah, you’ve been pretty out of it tonight; your emotions have been all over the place too, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
I did need to talk about what was bothering me so I let her change of topic go. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind. I’m trying to get used to everything in this world, have no idea how to tell Hope that we’ll likely never see our family again, and I’m worried about whether I can really kill Null.”
“Whoa! Just a second! We’re the good guys, we don’t kill people,” she countered, shaking her head violently.
“Normally I would agree with you Bailey, but it’s the only way to be sure. If we get him imprisoned he’d get out eventually and probably go back to his little hobby, only then the future will have changed and I won’t have the information to prevent it. As long as he still has that power he’s a danger. I don’t want to kill anyone, Fae don’t kill for a good reason. What if I like it and I become one of the Yiantuul-sair?” I shuddered and barely managed to finish that sentence, the mere thought of that horrified me.
“The what?” Bailey inquired with a confused expression.
“Fae who have turned to darkness,” I explained. “My mom used to refer to them as dark elves or the Winter Court. We Fae are creatures of magic, and our bodies reflect what’s in our souls. That’s why we don’t kill, and try to keep from giving into dark desires or negative emotions of any sort. We cherish life try to fill our lives with positive things. If one of us gives themselves too much to fear, hate, or anger or finds that they delight in the suffering of others they begin to change, they become twisted beings of dark magic.”
“So what you’re saying is that fear is the path to the dark side? You know… Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” She seemed to be quoting something again, but there was no laughter or smiling this time.
“Any negative emotions or actions could lead to it really,” I clarified. “That’s why I’m so worried. I’ve seen what it turns us into. A few of us turned when the attacks from the Fomorians started getting really bad and we had to banish them from the settlement, like the elders did Queen Minira not long after she led my people to Tír na nÓg.”
Bailey’s jaw dropped and she gaped at me for a moment. “Wait, your people banished your own queen for this?”
I nodded as I tried to relay what I recalled of the story. “It was roughly eight centuries ago. She turned not long after becoming queen. The elders later discovered that in her jealousy of her sister Tessily being chosen to rule instead of her, she had cursed her. Then she lied, telling our people that Tessily had asked her to lead our people to the safety of Tír na nÓg while she prevented the humans from following. This started her on the dark path and she became a creature of lies and deceit; her golden hair turned black, her skin lost its color, she became cruel and violent, and the feel of her magic changed to a cold darkness.”
“Terri, I think, she was just that kind of person. Anyone who would do that to her sister, already had some darkness in them,” Bailey said, stepping forward to wrap me in a hug. “Besides, didn’t you say that the first lesson your mom gave you was that it’s not what you do or how you do it, it’s why you do it and who you’re doing it for? Besides, maybe we’ll think of a way where we won’t have to kill him.”
She was right, even if I did have to kill him, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it and I would probably never feel good about it, but if it had to be done to save billions of lives than I shouldn’t doubt that it’s the right thing to do. It was a necessity, not for the thrill of it; in fact the thought of killing him had been making me feel even sicker than the food had. He was like the Fomorians, a danger to everybody, but there was no sense worrying over it until the time came. So her words, and the warmth of her body so close to mine, had their intended effect. I was calmer now, though now my heart was fluttering a bit as I tried to think of positive things. “You’re probably right. For now I’ll try to stay positive.”
Bailey let me go and went into the bathroom to change, and as I climbed into bed beside Hope I had something else on my mind. I wasn’t going to complain though since those thoughts of Bailey, in either gender, were far more preferable to what had been occupying my thoughts beforehand. It only got worse when she climbed in ‘the girls’ bed’ beside me and had to stay close for the lack of space. I did manage to sleep for a bit though, and it was nearly three in the morning when I had to get up to use the bathroom again. It was fortunate that I had. That is when I heard the noises outside; a strange humming, clanking sounds, a man’s voice, and finally a loud bang as what was left of the motel room door exploded into the room.
I moved swiftly toward the door, summoning my costume and unsealing my powers. I gathered as much energy as I could as I launched myself toward the door to place myself protectively between Hope and whatever had just broken down the door. Whatever was about to enter the room wasn’t human, it was eight feet tall and man-shaped, but it looked mechanical. That meant I didn’t have to hold back, so I let loose with everything I had. Electricity arced along the body of the mechanical man and it began to spark and spasm, falling to the ground as a smoldering heap of partially melted metal. Damn, what would have happened if I used that on a person? I shoved the thought brutally aside as I looked out the doorway to see five more of the constructs in the parking lot with a man holding an electronic device. He wasn’t terribly impressive physically, barely 6 feet tall and wiry, and he wore a black costume with green lines running all over it in a circuitous pattern and a black helmet with a dark green visor covering most of his face.
The noise had woken the others and they were all scrambling to get out of the beds as Bailey muttered, “What the hell?!”
“We’re under attack. Everyone stay back,” I warned them. Then I glared at the man and said, “You have exactly three seconds to start explaining yourself before I take care of you and the rest of your metal friends like I did the first one.”
![]() |
Terrael grew up in paradise, until the Fomorians showed up. Now Humans, Hypers, and Fae all face extinction and Terrael is their only hope. Can he get used to his own changes and make the one change that can save them all?
Part 3 of 3 Confrontations Amethyst |
The noise had woken the others and they were all scrambling to get out of the beds as Bailey muttered, “What the hell?!”
“We’re under attack. Everyone stay back,” I warned them. Then I glared at the man and said, “You have exactly three seconds to start explaining yourself before I take care of you and the rest of your metal friends like I did the first one.”
To my surprise the man was staring at me intently. “There is no need for further violence. Call me Interface; I am a collector of rare and unusual things. To think I came here tracking a temporal anomaly, hoping to find something interesting, but to encounter one of the Fae… this is too perfect! That was an interesting spell you used there. My sensors showed you pulling in quite a bit of magic energy for that one. You will make a fine addition to my collection.”
~Be careful Terri, I can’t read his mind, there’s some sort of interference,~ Eddie warned me mentally.
“Your time is up,” I told Interface stoically, as I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the smell of burnt ozone. “I’m not interested, so if you know what’s good for you you’ll leave now.”
He stopped staring at me to laugh. “Mwah-hahahahaha! Who said I was giving you a choice? The race that created this technology I’m using had ways of making your kind more cooperative.” One of the metal men fired a tiny silver sphere at my feet where it exploded into a cloud of thick red smoke. He was using a smoke screen? The tactic confused me; if he really knew as much about my people as he seemed to think he did he should have known that I didn’t need to see him to attack him, my other senses were just as sharp as my eyes.
The smoke was annoying though, it smelled awful, it was making it hard to breathe, and it had a horrible taste. I could hear the clanking of the metal men moving and movement from the motel room as well. I needed to end this before things got out of hand and one of my friends got hurt. I reached for the magic in the earth and air around me and the sparks started to move along my skin in response… before promptly fizzling out. Sonnara utiel! I mentally cursed. I couldn’t feel the magic; that smoke must have somehow cut me off from it.
The smoke was clearing as the first of the metal men came at me. I needed to draw these things away from my friends while I figured out how to deal with them. I thought of my clan mark, but I couldn’t seem to change form either. “Danu preserve me!” I grumbled as I drew my sword and used it to knock aside the metal arm reaching for me. The metal man pressed its attack, getting inside my guard and trying to use its size and strength to push me to the ground. I would have used its own weight and momentum against it, but that would have sent it right into the room with Hope and the others.
The problem was solved for me when a blast of red light struck the automaton’s head, and left most of it a charred gaping hole. “So, that’s what the non-stun setting does, damn am I glad there's a scope on this thing,” Bailey’s voice said from behind me. I pushed the carcass away and turned to see her grim expression turn quickly to a grin as she winked at me. “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
Bailey used her blaster to put three holes in the body of a third attacker, as Becca ran past me, wearing the mask that Davis had given her, to intercept another of my attackers. She grabbed it firmly around one of the legs and it tried to pull away and pull her off, but it was having no luck. “Not going to happen henchbot,” she told it. “I don’t move unless I want to, and that means you don’t either. A little help here please?” she requested.
“With pleasure,” I replied as moved in. The machine was still trying to pry her loose from its leg as I aimed for an unarmored section of its neck and used my sword to sever the head from its body,
~We’ll need to finish this soon~ Eddie told us. ~I’m keeping the motel staff and guests asleep so they won’t come outside or phone the police, but sooner or later someone passing by is going to notice what’s going on here and I think we should be long gone before people wake up to find a parking lot full of damaged robots.~
“Got it Ed,” Becca responded as she grabbed hold of another ‘henchbot’ and ignored the blows it was raining down on her to try to dislodge her.
Bailey disposed of Becca’s new hostage with another two shots from her blaster before cursing. “Damn, looks like six shots is the limit in this mode.”
The last robot was laying down a suppressing fire with some sort of energy weapon in its chest that Becca just let hit her as she calmly walked toward it and tried to shield us. Bailey couldn’t seem to use her blaster anymore and I wasn’t too sure I could avoid all those rapid fire energy blasts to try and get close enough to do anything. I was about ready to get my bow out when Bailey called out, “Squirt! Use water gun!” Matt emerged from the doorway and let loose with a high pressure water blast that sent the robot flying back to land on the ground at the far end of the parking lot. The result caused Bailey to cheer, “Oh yeah! It’s super effective!”
Becca had taken the opportunity to quickly close the distance as the robot was trying to recover to sit on its chest. Interface looked at the robot trying vainly to get to its feet then toward me approaching him with sword in hand and Bailey right behind me. “This isn’t over! You haven’t heard the last of me!” he shouted. “You will be mine Fae-bitch!”
There was a loud popping sound as both Interface and the henchbot Becca had been sitting on vanished. “Yeah and we’ll kick your ass next time too,” Becca muttered.
“Ummm Becca…” Bailey began to say.
“What? It’s not like he was that tough,” she interrupted with a groan. “He’s like a B-list super villain at best. I hope he’s not going to be our arch-nemesis, because that would be pretty lame.”
“Becca!”Look down!” Bailey ordered the girl who was hovering roughly two and a half feet I the air, as if the robot hadn’t vanished at all.
Becca did look down and her eyes just about bugged out of her head. “Whoa! This is new. I can fly?”
“I don’t know, what were you thinking when you sat on that thing?” Bailey countered.
“What I usually do, that nothing would hurt me move me from that spot,” she answered with a shrug. “This is a little weird, I wonder what happens if I want to move but not fall…“ she got a look of concentration on her face, but nothing happened until a slight wind from the north blew in and she began to move. “Okay I don’t think I can fly, I just sort of get carried along by the wind.”
“We can figure it out on the drive, we need to get dressed, packed, out of here before the other people in the motel wake up or the police show up,” Bailey insisted. “How are you doing Terri?” she asked as Becca managed to get on solid ground again and we headed back to the motel room.
“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly. “I have no idea what that smoke did to me. I can't feel the magic around me, nor can I seem to gather it or use any abilities that are innately magical. I feel… disconnected and kind of empty inside. What do I do if his is permanent? I’ll stand out as much as Matt without my glamour, and how will I stop Null?”
We were back in the motel room and I helped Hope get dressed and as Bailey and the others started doing the same for themselves she suggested, “Give it some time Terri. You don’ know if it’s permanent, and you still seem to have your physical abilities. You were holding your own out there even without powers.”
I had to admit to myself she was right about that as finished dressing Hope and started packing all our things in the shopping bags from the day before. I thought that I probably would have been in trouble if they hadn’t helped though and I frowned at the thought. “I thought I told you all to stay back, you could have been hurt.”
“I find your lack of faith… disturbing,” Bailey responded, deepening her voice as she finished dressing and started stuffing bags as well. “Seriously though, we’re supposed to look out for one another, not hide when one of us is in trouble.”
We loaded up the SUV as quickly as possible and after a quick check to make sure we hadn’t missed anything we all climbed inside. Once we were all buckled in Bailey started the engine with a serious expression on her face. “It's 225 miles to Toronto, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of Pepsi, it's dark... and Becca’s wearing sunglasses. Let’s hit it.”
Bailey wasn’t too happy about driving while it was still dark out, but at least there was very little traffic during the drive to Toronto. Hope and Matt had fallen asleep not long after we set out and I decided to take the opportunity to get some rest as well. I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep in the front passenger’s seat of the SUV, especially with everything that had happened, but I hadn’t slept much in days and apparently it was catching up with me because I was stirred from my sleep by Bailey’s voice calling out my name. “Terri!”
“Huh? What?” I tried to move, but I felt restrained and I almost panicked before I remembered where I was and that I was wearing a seat belt.
“Your skin is starting to spark,” Bailey told me quietly. “I thought it would be a good idea to pull over and wake you up so you don’t fry the vehicle’s electrical system or something.
There were indeed lavender sparks playing along my body so I concentrated on my seal mark and hoped for the best. I had never been so relieved to have the sense of the magic around me disappear since I had gotten that mark. I attempted to change out of my costume as well and that worked too as I found myself once again in the negligee I had won to bed. I breathed a slow sigh of relief, “Thank the Goddess that was only temporary.”
“Umm… yeah, I’m glad you have your abilities back, but you might want to change into something else at some point, that’s not exactly appropriate for anywhere but the bedroom, and it might be a little distracting. Maybe put on your coat to cover it until we get somewhere better for you to change?” she suggested.
I nodded in agreement and unbuckled my seat belt to shimmy between the seats and look for my coat among the sleeping kids in the rear seats. Once I had found it and was in the process of putting it on, I asked, “So where are we?”
“We should be in Hamilton soon, so we’re about three quarters of the way to Toronto. You’ve been asleep around two hours,” she informed me as I returned to my seat and put the restraint back in place. “We’ll make a stop in Hamilton so I can get some coffee and you can find a place to put some normal clothes on.”
Once I was belted back in she started the vehicle and pulled onto the road again. I didn’t feel like sleeping again if we were going to be stopping soon so I asked, “Did I miss anything?”
“Not much,” Bailey admitted, “Eddie may have figured out why Becca was floating though. He thinks that her invulnerability is actually the power is to prevent anything in the physical world from affecting her. She has to selectively allow things to affect her, and it looks like that includes gravity as well. She can’t fly; she’d need some form of thrust for that. Though when she’s negating gravity’s effect on her, but still letting herself be moved, she could float like a leaf on the wind. Even a weak flyer could carry her easily.”
“So why hasn’t she just floated off before this?” I wondered.
It would seem that this question had been asked while I was asleep as well, because she had an answer ready. “Because she’s always assumed that gravity affects her like everyone else, so she was sub-consciously allowing it to. It’s easy to think ‘I don’t want to be hurt by anything’ or ‘I won’t be moved.’ Becca’s never been in a position where she was falling and not wanting to though, and even then she’d probably just have made sure the impact didn’t hurt her.”
Fifteen minutes later we pulled into a gas station just outside Hamilton and Bailey went inside to arrange the fuel for the SUV and buy some coffee and a few other things. When she returned, she placed a coffee travel mug in the cup holder and a small plastic bag in the driver’s seat before handing me a key attached to a small and thin metal plate that bore the word ‘Ladies’. “This is the key to the rest room Terri; it’s just around the corner there. You can go change in there while I fill up the gas tank. Just take the key back to the guy inside at the counter when you’re done.”
“Thanks Bailey,” I said as I activated my glamour, gathered the clothes I had been wearing before changing to bed the night before, and made my way out of the vehicle. As late as it was, we were the only vehicle stopped there, so I figured I should have enough time to change while Bailey saw to the fuel. Still, I tried to hurry for one very simple reason. I discovered that gas station restrooms are both cramped and disgusting. The bathrooms at the mall and in the motel had been kept clean, but this one was filthy and it smelled like something had died in there. Being in such a confined space only made it worse. Between the horrid stench assaulting my sensitive nose and my already upset stomach it was a wonder I didn’t throw up.
Once I had finished changing, stuffed the negligee into my purse, and returned the key to the bored-looking man at the counter I joined Bailey in the SUV. The metamorph gestured to the plastic bag between our seats as she started up the vehicle. “There’s a bottle of water in there for you if you’re thirsty and I got some snacks too.”
“Thanks Bailey water sounds really good right now,,” I told her as I retrieved the bottle and opened it to take a sip. We were on the road again and starting to enter the city of Hamilton when I asked. “So do you have any idea where we’re going to stay in Toronto?”
“I don’t think we’re going to find any motels or hotels that will take cash, well at least not in any good parts of the city,” she replied with a sigh. “Becca and Eddie found us some options, but I’m not sure I like any of them. There’s a lot of abandoned buildings and homes, there’s even this place outside Toronto called the Seacroft Mansion that’s rumored to be haunted. Unfortunately I don’t think any of those places will have heat or electricity, and since it’s the middle of winter the pipes are probably frozen, so no plumbing either. Becca found out about a place on a message board. It’s an old church that has been converted to a shelter for mutants, and it looks good but I have my doubts.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Bailey was frowning as she replied. “It was purchased and is run solely on donations, and they take in any mutants no questions asked, so long as they follow some rules. That’s what bothers me, the no questions asked part. Sure we don’t need to answer any questions, but neither does anyone else. That would be pretty desirable to the criminal element and we have a lot of cash and some other valuables that we won’t be able to keep with us at all times.”
I had to admit that those issues had me concerned too from the way she spoke. If none of those options were going to work, what were we going to do then? We had camping gear, but camping in the middle of winter would be hard on those of us who weren’t immune to the cold, especially Eddie and Hope. “Maybe we should risk the shelter,“ I put in with a reluctant sigh.
“There is one other option, but it’s more of a person than a place, at least it’s a contact who might have a place for us to use,” she said, her eyes scanning the city streets.
It sounded strange, but not quite as ominous as the shelter had. “Is it someone they found on the internet?”
A shake of her head was her immediate reply as she seemed to be thinking about the answer before speaking. “Eddie contacted a telepath in Toronto, but she wants to meet us before she agrees to help us. He said that her name is Talia Arissa Friday and we’re supposed to go to her home to meet with her.”
“Why? And how are we supposed to find her? Did she give Eddie her address?” There were far too many questions involved in this option for my liking, but if Eddie had okay-ed it then hopefully the person was just being cautious.
It seemed that my thought on the matter was correct. “She’s willing to help us as fellow mutants, but she wants to get a read on us first before she tells us anything. Eddie says she wants to make sure we’re not criminals or something since Eddie is more powerful and could be holding something back, so the easiest way is by reading the minds of his companions. She doesn’t have Eddie’s power or range though so we need to go to her. As for finding her, she’s in the phone book, so all we need is to use the GPS to find the address.”
It was nine a.m. when we pulled up to a two story house on Beverley Street in what Bailey said was the University area of the city. It was made mostly of red brick, the trim was painted a dark green, and the walkway was cleared of snow. Bailey parked the SUV on the street in front of the home and we all piled out of the vehicle to make our way to the steps which led up to a covered porch with a pair of rocking chairs. Once we were all standing in front of the door Bailey rang the doorbell, because she felt it would be more polite than having Eddie call out, ‘we’re here’ telepathically. We had also stopped for breakfast before making our way there for the same reason; Bailey didn’t want to risk waking the woman by showing up too early.
We didn’t have to wait long for the inner door to be opened and soon a slim elderly woman with silver hair and glasses was looking at us curiously through the screen door before her eyes widened. “You’re all just kids… I knew Eddie was probably fairly young from the sense I got of him but…” she trailed off as she quickly opened the door. “Please come in, it’s cold out and we don’t need anyone seeing you. I do have to keep up appearances after all.”
She ushered us quickly inside where she had us remove our boots and coats and led us to the living room. As we walked through the house I noted all the pictures on the walls, some of our hostess with a large man similar in age, and some with both of them younger, her hair blonde and his black. There were also photos of them with a blond boy/man and solo photos of the younger man, who I thought might be their son. I noticed something else as well, a tantalizing smell in the air. Once she had us all seated I began looking around for any other residents of the house. I didn’t want to think it might be a trap, but one never knew. She seemed to notice my sidelong glances though and laughed. “Oh don’t worry dear, I live alone. My husband, God rest his soul, died a few years ago and my son lives in another city, though he often flies here to visit. I am expecting someone later though.”
I blushed at being caught out as I looked at the floor, “Sorry ma’am.”
“Oh no dear, I understand quite well, our kind can’t be too careful these days,” the woman replied with a sad shake of her head. “Please call me Talia. I must admit I’m surprised you’re all activated mutants; I’d wager that only you two older girls have even entered puberty. It just goes to show what a harsh world we live in when kids activate so young, sadder still that you’re all alone in the world.”
“We’re not alone, we have each other,” Bailey corrected her. ”I’m Bailey, and this is Terri, Eddie, Becca, Matt, and Hope. Eddie said you wanted to get a read on us Talia, if you need to read one of our minds, I’d like to volunteer.”
I was slightly confused when the old woman laughed. “Oh, there is no need for that. I’ve been reading the surface thoughts of all of you since you rang the doorbell. You in particular don’t even seem to entertain the idea of hiding anything though. Also your concern for the privacy of your friends’ minds is admirable.” She reached out a hand to pat Becca’s, “Don’t worry dear I’m only reading surface thoughts, I won’t delve into your personal matters. I’m willing to help you with a place to stay, but I’ll need Zoë’s approval as well before I can agree to anything. Would you kids like some milk and cookies while we wait for her?”
Matt’s eyes lit up and even Becca looked tempted by the offer. I think though that both Bailey and I still weren’t sure if we should trust her or not. It was Eddie who answered for us. ~That would be nice Talia.~ If Eddie was accepting I was pretty sure there was nothing to worry about.
“Oh good, I just baked some, the last batch should be cool enough by now. Why don’t you give me a hand dear?” she said looking straight at me. Soon we were in the kitchen and I was helping gather glasses while she fetched the jug of milk and moved the fresh cookies from the metal sheet onto a platter with others that were already there. “You’re very focused aren’t you?” she said conversationally.
“Pardon,” I asked, even though I had a feeling I knew what she was getting at.
“Don’t be coy dear, it’s a waste of both our time,” she answered with a laugh. “Since you came here your thoughts have been on looking for danger, protecting those kids you’re with, and apparently stopping some sort of murderer. It’s not healthy; you need to relax once in a while. All of you do, but especially you and Bailey. Those youngsters are looking to the two of you to take care of them and they’re children, they need to relax and have fun sometimes, but they won’t unless you show them that it’s okay to.”
“I can’t relax; I’m here for a reason,” I snapped. “Go ahead, look into my mind and tell me that you think I can afford to relax.”
A look of concentration passed over her face and I could feel a presence in my mind, not as strong as Eddie’s mind probe had been, but far more subtle. “Yes, that boy needs to learn some finesse,” she agreed with my unspoken thought as she continued to probe. Finally she sighed. “They have put you in a difficult position haven’t they? But I think you need to remember that your family sent you back here for two reasons. They want you to prevent this from happening yes, but they also wanted you and that little girl to live full lives. If the two of you don’t do that then you’re not doing everything you were sent here for.”
But I…. ummm… ahhhh, how am I supposed to… there’s no time,” I blurted out awkwardly. I didn’t have much time before the first assassination.
“I may know someone who can help you stop this man, or at least give you some support so you won’t have to worry about those kids trying to help. In a way this concerns him anyway. I’ll contact him later today,” she offered. “Now let’s take these cookies out to the others while they’re still warm from the oven.”
The chocolate chip cookies were perhaps the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. So warm, and chewy, and sweet. I know Hope and the others enjoyed them too and Hopes face had chocolate all over it. Talia laughed at my cousin’s enthusiasm as she used a wet cloth to wipe her face and brush the crumbs off her before doing the same with Matt. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had children in the house. I fear I might never have grandchildren, my son Tim hasn’t found the right woman yet and he’s so busy all the time.” She looked up and smiled before whispering something to Hope who nodded and grinned before vanishing from sight.
The doorbell rang and Talia left for a moment to answer it before returning to the living room with another elderly woman. “Kids this is Zoë Castillo. Zoë these are the kids I was talking to you about: Bailey, Terrilae, Becca, Eddie, Matt, and Hope.” She gestured to each of us in turn before adding, “Now where did Hope go?”
“PEEKABOO!” Hope shouted with a big grin as she dropped her shell and reappeared.
The new woman who was wearing a dark blue dress started in surprise before producing an ear to ear grin that nearly matched Hope’s own. “An invisibility user! Wonderful! She’s adorable, but she’s so young, all these kids are, but she’s what three or four?”
I nodded. “Yes ma’am, but she’s been activated since birth. There were complications and her healing factor saved her.”
“I am considering letting them stay in the Basement and use it to train while they’re in town,” Talia told her seriously, “I’d rather they didn’t try to find an abandoned building or something to sleep in.”
“Can they be trusted?” Zoë asked.
The other woman nodded as she responded, “They’re good kids, and they want to help people. Terri is here to do something very important on January fourth. I was thinking of asking Tim to give her a hand with it so she can finish it quickly. There are lives at stake,” she replied in a serious tone.
Zoë’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You really think it’s that serious?” When Talia nodded she frowned. “We’d better help them then. They just need a place to stay and train?”
“Yes, I thought that I might be able to teach young Eddie a thing or two, and that maybe you could work with young Hope while Terri and the others train.”
The other elderly woman smiled and nodded in agreement. “I’m sure I can keep an eye on her and show her a few things. At the very least I believe I can keep her entertained.”
“Show her what kinds of things?” I asked suspiciously. Hope was my responsibility, she was like my own sister, and as nice as it was for these ladies to offer to help us, I had to wonder if they had an agenda.
“I’ve been using invisibility for over fifty years girl, I’m sure I can teach her something. Like how not to give away her position and how to make the most of her gift. If not, then I can at least keep her occupied while you’re training.”
Talia’s voice entered my mind at that point. ~Remember what I said about relaxing earlier? I know why you’re so nervous, I likely would be as well in your place, but it is okay for you to let us help while you’re training. Please trust us, I have as much reason as anyone to want you to succeed.~
Finally I nodded in agreement; I really needed to stop assuming that everyone was out to get us. “Thank you, both of you”
“Well now it’s decided, let’s gather your things and head to the basement,” Talia said with a faint smile.
Once we had brought our things in from the SUV, with the assistance of Talia and Zoë, we took them downstairs to small basement with a concrete floor and wood paneled walls. Most of the basement appeared to be filled with boxes and other items. It was a damn storage room, and for a moment I just stared incredulously before directing my gaze at the two elderly women. What kind of ploy was this? There wasn’t even room for all of us to sleep comfortably in here, let alone train.
Bailey’s words echoed my thoughts, “This seems a little… cramped.”
“You kids really should know better than to just trust your eyes,” Zoë grumbled as she walked to an empty corner and pressed her finger against a knot in the wood. I could hear movement, the grinding and clicking of gears, as the entire wood panel swung inward to expose a doorway. I think the only one of us who wasn’t surprised was Eddie, judging by the smug look on his face.
They led us through the door into a tiny room and once we were all inside Talia pressed a button on a small metal panel to cause the door to close, followed by a second button. There was a jarring movement after she pressed the second button and it felt like we were going downwards. Bailey looked around and asked, “Are we going up or down? Feels like down.”
Down turned out to be correct as after several minutes we stopped and the doors opened to reveal a surprisingly well lit cavern with some kind of vehicle that looked to be a small train of some sort less than two meters away from the elevator. “What is that?” Hope asked, wide-eyed as she stared at the heavily armored vehicle.
“It’s a modified streetcar,” Talia explained. “We’re at the end of a tunnel. That streetcar will take us to the Basement. Everyone get on board.”
Bailey was the last to board as she took a long look around the cavern and at the streetcar. “Is something wrong?” I asked her in concern.
My friend grinned as she climbed on board, “Nope, it's nothing. I was just checking for the Umbrella Corporation logo.”
“I was a bit confused by this, but apparently Becca had understood since she let out an audible groan, “Bailey, you are such a geek.”
The streetcar trip only took a few minutes before we arrived at our destination. I had never been in anything moving so fast before and it made me feel a bit nauseous by the time we got there. We all stepped off the streetcar into another well-lit cavern with brick walls just big enough for the streetcar and a small platform. Then we stepped through a doorway into a much larger cavern and the elderly women smiled at us as Zoë said, “Welcome to the Basement, otherwise known as Lower Osgoode Station. We’re below the subway station. This was built as a station for a streetcar line in the late forties, but the city decided to go with a subway line that was being proposed at the same time instead, so this station and a few others like it were scrapped and mostly forgotten about.”
“That’s pretty cool, how did you find out about this place and how come nobody else does?” Becca asked as we looked around at the main cavern.
“The entrance was hard to find, most people think this place is just an urban legend. My husband John stumbled upon it in the sixties before we even met,” Talia explained. “When we formed our team he suggested this place as a headquarters so we fixed it up, hid the entrance and later added the tunnel to the house.”
“Team?” I asked raising an eyebrow in interest.
“We were inspired by the heroics of the Thrilling Threesome,” Zoë answered with a sigh. “They were one of the first super hero teams, and in 1969 we all met while fighting a villain calling himself The Destroyer. We decided to work together after that and ‘The Awesome Avengers’ was born. I went by the name Outtasight back then.”
“And I was The Spector,” Talia put in. “Let’s get you set up in the barracks and we can tell you more. We’re just in the entrance at the moment.”
I looked around as we made our way through the large area that seemed to be the original station. From the looks of the equipment and targets at the far end, I assumed that it was used as the training area. At least we would have plenty of space. They showed us where the bathrooms and kitchen were before taking us to another brick room with seven cots, a large couch, and a long table with chairs. On the wall behind the couch there was a black and white photograph with seven people wearing an assortment of costumes and masks, but each of them had an intertwined double A on their chest.
“We kept the barracks here in case we were too tired to go home or in case any of us needed to lay low for some reason,” Talia told us as we put our stuff near the couch. Then she directed our attention to the photo where she and Zoë pointed out their costumed selves before Talia pointed to the large dark haired man in the center. “That was my husband John, he was our leader. He had invulnerability, super strength, and flight so he called himself Mr. Impervious.”
They pointed out each of their comrades in turn. First there was a man who looked to be Hispanic, wore goggles instead of a mask, and had some sort of flame motif to his costume. I thought he might have had pryokinetic abilities or something until Talia said, “Jason was known as The Rocket, he was a super speedster.” She pointed next to a woman with leaf-patterned boots and gloves. “And this was Green Thumb; Molly had the ability to manipulate plants.”
Zoë pointed to the woman on the far left. She looked as much fox as she did human, right down to the bushy tail. “Donna was called Foxy-Lady, for obvious reasons. Besides her looks, she possessed enhanced senses, and super agility. And finally, there was also our Tinker, Disco-tech.”
The man in question had very dark skin and probably the biggest hair I had ever seen. Bailey echoed my thoughts as she muttered, “Damn, that is one huge afro.”
Talia laughed at that. “James considered that hair his superhero trademark. He did most of the work on outfitting this place: Providing us with power and such, creating a hologram that prevents people from finding the entrance in the subway access tunnels, and building the machines to construct the streetcar tunnels to the house and the other hidden exit in G Ross Lord Park.”
“We usually come down here once a month to dust and to make sure the exits are still hidden and usable, but this place hasn’t seen any real use since we disbanded in 1975. We haven’t put on costumes in decades and we’re the only ones from the old team still alive,” Zoë added.
~Why did you disband?~ Eddie asked as we all looked at the photo.
“John and I wanted to start a family and the others were thinking about doing the same. We didn’t want to always be wondering if some super villain was going to take our kids hostage or something so we felt it better to try and live normal lives for a while. We always figured that the base would still be here if we decided to take it up again,” Talia said with a sigh as she looked around the room.
The next four days were a bit of a blur for me and a bit strange for us all I think. The two elderly Hypers were helping as much as they could and even cooked meals for us to make sure we were all eating properly Talia had also been trying to contact her son to see if he could help me with what I needed to do. She too didn’t want me to kill null, but to try to find another way. As much as I wanted that, I was having trouble coming up with any options that could leave him alive and unable to use his powers. I had considered trying to reason with him, but my uncle had warned me that Null was a cold blooded killer, so I sincerely doubted that was going to work, even if I did think I could trust him.
During the mornings I was training Bailey, Eddie, Becca and Matt in some basic self-defense. They all needed it, but I wasn’t expecting much so the plan was to have them far away when I fought null. When their training was over I could quickly eat my lunch and move on to my own training. For most of that time I was training relentlessly with my electric powers, trying to get a handle on them. Until then I had been releasing all of the electricity had produced and stored whenever I directed it and now my goal was to be able to be able to control just how much of my stored electricity I released to suit the situation. I was also trying to manipulate the electromagnetic fields to create very basic constructs like the sphere I had been able to generate around me before I had left home.
In the afternoons while I was training with my powers the others were doing the same. Eddie was learning from Talia as Hope played her favorite game, hide and seek, with Zoë, who showed her ways to hide even better. Bailey spent a lot of that time trying to improve his/her empathic abilities and, but s/he and Matt both were using Becca for target practice as well. Bailey figured that they needed to learn to hit moving targets and neither Squirt’s water blasts nor the Blaster could hurt Becca. The Blaster seemed to have a limit of six shots on maximum setting, while the stun setting had around fifteen shots, and it took about eighteen hours for it to fully recharge.
The evenings we mostly just spent together since we were all pretty tired by then and I didn’t want to neglect Hope and the others. Bailey came up with a very basic red and white costume design for the body suit Davis had given her and was practicing switching between that and more casual outfits while Matt and Eddie played cards and Becca and I spent what Bailey had termed ‘girl-time’. The others had their costumes pretty much ready to go between the black body suits we had found in the storage place and the things Davis had given them. So it was during this time that Becca had used lavender colored glitter glue to draw a large eye on the front of the pink and white hooded tunic we had bought as part of Hope’s costume to complete it.
On the evening of the 31st Talia and Zoë had insisted we join them for a New Years Eve celebration and to watch some fireworks. It was a nice break, and Hope and Matt both were really looking forward to the fireworks. As the clock counted down to midnight I was holding Hope’s hand and wondering just what the New Year would bring us. Would I stop Null? How many new years were left if I didn’t?
I was distracted from those thoughts when the countdown was a few seconds from ending. Bailey, who was standing beside me in her female form, said, “Ummm… Terri… I…” Then, as the clock struck twelve and I turned to see what was making her so nervous, she kissed me.
My eyes opened wide in shock and I was hardly aware of the fireworks exploding in the air as I did the only thing that made sense at the time, I kissed her back. Even if she wasn’t interested in me then I was going to enjoy the moment. When our lips parted I wanted to speak, to say something, but I wasn’t sure what, so all that came out was, “Bailey I…”
She seemed to be having as much trouble as I was. “I’m so sorry Terri… I don’t know what came over me… I got caught up in the moment… I…”
Of course, that was it; she got caught up in the moment. Why would she be attracted to me, I wasn’t even from this world. It was probably just some custom I wasn’t aware of. I think it hurt a bit more than it would normally because she reminded me so much of my own people, she even looked like a Fae whenever she was with me. I tried to shove away the hurt as I said, “It’s fine, it is some sort of custom, right?”
She looked confused, pained, and uncertain as she tried to explain. “Sort of… but only with someone you want to do it with. I got caught up in the moment, and I did it because I wanted to, but I didn’t consider your feelings. You seemed to be enjoying it, but when we stopped you got all confused and then hurt.”
That was when the sheer magnitude of my stupidity hit me, there had been so many clues, and like an idiot I had missed them all. She didn’t normally look like a Fae, she was just like that around me. She as much as told me that her powers made her take a form that those she wanted to notice her would find attractive, consciously or subconsciously, and since I was mostly interested in people for who they were rather than what gender they were it was happening in both her male and female forms. I was well aware of how attractive I was and Bailey had displayed attraction to both men and women since we had met. That alone would have been enough, but I hadn’t batted an eye whenever she changed genders, and told her that the person was more important to me than the shape they wore. Of course she would be interested in me.
“Damn I’m an idiot,” I muttered. “I’m sorry Bailey; I’ve been so focused on stopping Null that I completely missed what was right in front of me. So that’s why you got all nervous whenever you saw me naked or in that negligee.”
“Ummm… in my defense, I think that would make anyone nervous,” she replied with a laugh. “So… where does this leave us?”
“I don’t know,” I answered uncertainly. “My first priority has to be stopping Null. I’m too focused on that right now to think past the possibility that I manage to do that and live through it.”
Concern for me was written all over her face when she next spoke. “I know. Are you sure you don’t want us, or at least me or Becca with you when you do that? I don’t think you should be doing it alone.”
I shook my head. I had been thinking long and hard about it and I didn’t want any of them nearby when I fought Null, they would be too tempted to try to help me. “I don’t want any of you in danger, and Null could cancel out Becca’s invulnerability. I don’t want anything happening to any of you. Besides, Talia is still trying to contact her son so I might not have to do it alone.”
We were silent for a moment before I added, “If anything should happen to me, it’ll be up to you and the others to find a way to stop Null and to take care of Hope for me.” I couldn’t say anything more, the fear and uncertainty of what was coming was just too intense once I had spoken those words, so I picked up Hope and held her tight in my arms while she watched the fireworks.
It was the morning of January fourth, the day when the future of two worlds would be resting on my shoulders. It would be my first chance to stop Null. If I succeeded then I would save the world, but if I failed and he found out I was after him then I likely wouldn’t get a second chance, even if I did live through it. I had done some recon in my pixie form the night before, but I hadn’t found anything unusual at either the church or the condominium tower. The condos on that side all had balconies overlooking the area though and Null would most likely be shooting from one of them, but I had also discovered that even just checking balconies for people or signs of movement would take quite some time.
With that in mind I had decided to check the roof first and then go from top to bottom as the higher locations would present the best line of sight for a sniper. When we were eating breakfast I asked Eddie if it would be possible for him to find Null telepathically, but the young psychic just shook his head. ~Not unless I’m really close. There are too many minds to scan in a city this size, even in just that area. There’s also the problem of my range. I may be able to contact other telepaths across the world, but that’s because both our minds are built for sending and receiving psychically. My effective range is only about fifty meters with normal minds and its better with line of sight. If I want to get into a mind any further than that it needs to be another telepath or someone I’m really familiar with.~
“Damn, I guess that means I’ll have to check windows and balconies after all,” I said with a sigh as I finished the last bite of my toast.
Eddie’s shoulders sunk at that. ~I’m sorry Terri, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to do that, even while flying. That building is really tall and most of the outer surface is windows and balconies. The odds of finding the one Null is using are…~
“Never tell me the odds,” Bailey, who was male again, interjected with a grin. Then he added with a more serious look, “If anyone can do it, it’s Terri.”
“Why don’t you all take the morning off from training and check out some of the tourist sites,” Zoë suggested suddenly. “CN Tower is very impressive and there are a lot of other fun tourist attractions in that area as well.”
“Can we?! Can we?!” Matt asked eagerly.
“We’ll be soooo good,” Hope added, giving me the puppy dog eyes.
I knew that everyone was sick of being stuck inside most of the time, but I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea. I needed to concentrate on stopping Null today. Bailey was carefully not saying anything either, leaving the decision in my hands. That only made me wonder once again what I would do with my life if I managed to stop Null. Those thoughts were interrupted though as Talia’s voice slipped into my mind. ~Throwing yourself into training this morning isn’t going to change anything dear. You’re not going to be any more prepared this afternoon and you’ll be tired as a result. If I were as worried as you about this possibly being my last day alive, I would want to spend the morning with the people I care about most.~
I knew she was right, but still I faltered. ~I… don’t know,~ I thought back.
~Those places are also close enough that you can fly off to face Null while the others are engrossed in taking in the sites, and far enough away that you shouldn’t have to worry about them following you and showing up before your job is completed,~ the elderly telepath pointed out.
It was that which decided me. “It wouldn’t hurt to have some fun I guess,” I finally said to the cheers of Matt and Hope.
Much to my chagrin, when we were set to leave the Basement they were all in their costumes and planned on staying that way the whole time. It seemed that they had all discussed it while I was gone the night before and decided to stay in costume all day, to show me that they would be ready if I needed them. I had tried to argue about keeping a low profile, but Eddie said that anyone who looked at us would just see a group of Japanese tourists. Talia had taught him a trick that made nudging perceptions of large groups much easier. It was this insistence that they were ready to support me that made me all the more certain that I needed to keep them a safe distance away while fighting Null, for their own safety.
We had checked out the view from CN Tower first, to see Toronto spread out beneath us from the observation deck. It was lunchtime by the time we were tired of the wonder of seeing the city spread out beneath us and decided to have an early lunch at one of the nearby McDonald's before going to check out the harbourfront. I planned to leave them there around one thirty to give myself roughly an hour and a half before the assassination to find Null. The harbourfront wasn’t nearly as busy as CN Tower had been, probably due to the cold and the weather forecast. The skies were clear for the moment, but Bailey mentioned that there was a snow storm warning for the next day.
It was lucky that there weren’t very many people there since that was where we were attacked. With a popping sound and the sizzling of the air, Interface appeared out of nowhere, twenty feet away from us, accompanied by four of his robots. These though, seemed different from the ones he had used during our previous encounter; they were black in color where the others had been silver, were a bit larger, and I couldn’t see near as many exposed areas that could be weak spots at first glance. They were also much faster.
I barely reacted in time. “Move!” I shouted as I grabbed Hope and rolled aside a fraction of a second before the metal man landed in the space we had just been occupying. “Hide and keep as quiet as possible Peekaboo,” I told her as I got to my feet and stepped between her and my attackers.
My cousin looked scared, but she nodded silently and vanished from sight.
“Okay brats,” the green and black clad villain called out from behind the three machines that were still with him, “these aren’t like the collection drones I had before, these are advanced combat drones. Now either the Fae bitch gives herself up or they kill the rest of you and take her.”
“Or we could just kick your ass what’s-your-face,” Becca growled, clenching her fists.
“It’s Interface, and I think you’ll be a bit too busy staying alive to worry about me,” Interface snapped back before turning his gaze on me. “Whenever you’re ready to give yourself up just say the words, I wouldn’t take too long though if you value your friends’ lives.”
Why did he have to pick today of all days to attack us again? I switched to my costume, dropped the glamour, and deactivated the seal on my powers. It was just after one o’clock so I still had close to two hours before the assassination attempt, but we needed to finish this as soon as possible if I was going to have time to find Null and stop him. The combat drones were on us in seconds: The one that had attacked me was pressing again and I had barely managed to draw my sword in time to parry an attempt to grab me. I was hoping that the same trick I had used last time would work as well on this machine as the last so, as soon as I felt that I had produced enough, I let loose with all the electricity I had. Lavender lightning arced along its frame, but instead of frying it the energy was just dispersed. Dammit, I cursed mentally, it looks like they’re insulated or shielded somehow.
Another shot something at Becca; whatever it was couldn’t hurt her, but that didn’t seem to be the purpose anyway as when it impacted on her chest it expanded into a bunch of white tendrils that wrapped themselves tightly around her upper body, effectively taking her out of the fight. It had purposely been trying to keep her at a distance and then contained her. Apparently Interface had learned from our last battle, but he hadn’t seen Eddie or Hope last time, since they had stayed hidden in the motel room, so he wouldn’t know anything about their abilities. I also thought that he was seriously underestimating Bailey and Matt, the robots that were attacking them were only just keeping up with them.
The fight continued on like this for a while, a constant stalemate as we tried to gain an advantage. “Dammit, this thing isn’t giving me enough space to use my blaster!” I heard Bailey curse as she somehow managed to dodge another attack. “Any ideas Terawatt?”
“I’m open to suggestions,” I retorted through gritted teeth as I parried another grab attempt. The one that had been after Becca was after me as well now. It fired a gas pellet and held my breath before it went off to give myself time to leap out of the red smoke cloud. I tried countering with electricity again but it was just as ineffective as it had been on its companion.
~Despite his claim, I don't believe he intends on killing any of us,~ Eddie sent to us. ~ Those things could have easily killed Matt and Bailey by now but they’re just matching your speed and strength. They contained Becca first so she couldn’t immobilize any of them. He’s trying to make us lose focus, and keep us from using teamwork so he can capture Terri. Interface also hasn’t given any verbal commands yet, but that one switched from Becca to Terri right away, that means he’s got another method of directly controlling them. Given that, his chosen name, and the static I’ve been getting when trying to read his mind I’m guessing he’s a technopath. He’s controlling them mentally.~
“That’s wonderful to know Ed, but what so we do?” Bailey groaned as she got knocked backward.
~I’ll coordinate us telepathically; so try not to speak aloud so we don’t give anything away,~ he answered. ~We need to even the odds a bit and try to free Becca. Matt, this is the perfect location for you, so you need to get into the water.~
~It’s freezing out, that water could kill a person,~ I argued as I tried to counter one of the henchbots attacks with my sword. It used its other hand to grab the blade and snapped it in half. “Dammit! I liked that sword!”
~The water won’t harm Matt at all; he’s been swimming in colder weather than this~ the telepath quickly assured me. ~The metal that robot is made from though, is going to get very cold very fast. The joints on these ones may be reinforced but those are still the weakest points, so aim for those if possible. Hope, I need you to get close enough to Bailey to touch him and extend your invisibility shell around him. Terri you need to get some breathing room.~
That gave me an idea. I changed to pixie form, ignored my bow and quiver falling to the ground and flew up to dodge a blow. There were several advantages to this form in this situation. I was a smaller target, I could fly up out of their reach to give myself breathing room, and I could gather a lot more magical energy, and thus produce more electricity. I shot straight up into the sky and concentrated on dodging energy blasts as I pulled in as much magical energy as I could.
The view was also much better from up there and I got a good view of it as Matt made a break for it and dove into the frigid waters of Lake Ontario, with the henchbot right on his heels. Bailey got to his feet and was looking for an opening when I heard Ed’s mental voice say, ~Now Hope!~ Suddenly Bailey vanished from sight and the robot just stood there, unable to fulfill its command, until a blast of red energy erupted from seemingly empty space ten feet behind it, striking the neck joint and blowing the head clean off.
I rocketed downward and latched myself onto the shoulder joint of one of my attackers. At six inches tall, I was too big to get between the plates, but my hands and arms weren’t, so I reached inside and grabbed onto a cluster of what I hoped were wires. Then I put all that energy that I had gathered to good use. The smell of burnt ozone was heavy as the robot sparked and twitched; its limbs moving involuntarily and jerkily, almost in some strange sort of dance before it finally collapsed.
~Bailey, Matt’s going to come out of the water now, and that thing is still after him,~ Eddie pointed out. ~That metal is going to be pretty brittle though so feel free to finish it your way.~
~Oh good, my way. Thank you Eddie... what's my way?~ I heard Bailey’s voice reply.
~Any moment that robot is going to emerge from the water, the moment it’s in view, shoot it with the blaster.~ Eddie responded with a expectant mental sigh.
~My way's not very sportsman-like,~ Bailey answered with laugh.
Matt was emerging from the water now and I was only barely aware of Bailey blasting the henchbot emerging from the lake and blowing it apart. Pieces of the damn thing were flying everywhere as Bailey grinned and said, “Big badda boom!”
The only one left was the one on me and I was once again dodging my attacker’s attempts to grab me. It was between me and the waterline and reaching for me as I went between its legs, gathering energy for another strike when Eddie said, ~Matt, blast the one on Terri.~
The five year old replied, “I’ll get it good!” Then he spat out a massive blast of water. The robot was hit from behind and sent skipping along the ground until it crashed into a parked car. It was still trying to pull itself free from the wreckage when I delivered the finishing blow, with the energy I had gathered.
In the confusion of the battle, Interface had managed to grab hold of the restrained Becca and was kneeling behind her, attempting to use her as a human shield, but he wasn't as successful as he probably wanted to be since Becca didn't want to be moved. “Surrender yourself or I’ll take this one instead,” he threatened.
Bailey pointed his blaster at him, a grim expression on his face. “Let her go, or I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” the villain interrupted, “Shoot your own friend to get me.”
“Well, you asked for it,” Bailey said with a shrug as he fired the blaster and hit Becca dead on. The blast destroyed whatever it was that had been restraining her, but somehow didn’t so much as scorch her costume. We had thought that the body suits might be bulletproof, but what were that jacket and mask made from? Was it even the clothes or had Becca somehow figured out how to extend her ability to protect what she was wearing? I had no way of knowing, nor the time to figure it out as Becca made her move.
Interface barely had time to let out a confused, “What….” before she kicked his leg, causing him to yelp and let go. The instant she was free of him she reached for her mask and turned to face him.
A full minute passed before she turned back to us with the lenses of her mask back in place and Interface frozen in fear behind her. “That should keep him from moving ‘til the cops show up,” she grumbled.
I had had to leave the others in a hurry. That battle had lasted longer than I had thought and I didn’t even have an hour before the assassinations. I wouldn’t have the time to check both the tower at St. James and the condominiums so I flew as fast as I could for the latter and prayed to the Goddess that I was right. I checked the roof first and then started a balcony by balcony check hoping to catch a glimpse of suspicious movement.
There was only ten minutes left on the clock when I noticed movement two balconies to the left and three floors down. It could be anyone, just a person out to get some air and take in the view, but how was I going to know for sure? That’s when a voice behind me said quietly, “You must be Terrawatt. Sorry I’m late, sadly I can’t be everywhere at once. A mutual acquaintance said you could use some help.”
I turned to see a muscular blond man in a white costume and mask with golden boots, gloves, and cape. There was a great big golden “P” on his chest, but it was the face that caught my attention. He looked familiar, and as I tried to imagine him without a mask I realized why, he was the man in some of the photos in Talia’s home, he was her son. “Oh! You must be…” I started to say before stopping myself.
He nodded slowly. “Yes, and she told me that I need to help you do what you need to and make sure you don’t die. She said that my life is tied to yours.”
I wasn’t sure what she had meant by that, but I was willing to take any help I could get right then. I pointed to the balcony I suspected. “I have less than ten minutes to find the sniper, I think he’s down there, but I can’t be sure. If it is him I’ll need someone to keep the teleporter busy while I stop the sniper somehow.” I didn’t even know what I was going to do yet since I had no weapons now.
A look of concentration passed over his face before he nodded once again. “My psychic sonar picks up two people in that apartment. One just finished setting up a rifle on the balcony and the other seems to be waiting impatiently inside.”
“Let’s get them then,” I said as I flew off toward the balcony in question. Before I even got there though, Talia’s son had sped by me to land on the balcony, yanking the rifle from the hands of the man there and folding it in half. How fast was he anyway?
“I’m afraid I can’t let you use that,” he said calmly,
“Holy shit! It’s Paragon! Shift get me out of here!” the man said as he took two steps back. He wore all black, from his mask to his boots, even his short cropped hair was black. His left hand was moving slowly toward his back as he watched my white and gold clad companion intently. Was he canceling out one of his abilities? If so, which one? Was it his speed? Strength? Invulnerability?
I wasn’t about to test it. The instant I had landed on the balcony I returned to human size and leapt past Paragon to tackle the man. “Whatever you were planning just now, it’s not going to happen!” I shouted as we smashed through a pane of glass and into the apartment itself.
The second man, wearing jeans and a leather jacket, appeared on the balcony only to be grabbed and tossed into the air beyond by Paragon. “Short range teleporter,” the hero commented casually. “I can ‘hear’ the displacement of air before he appears, so I should be able to keep up with him. I’ll let you handle things here.” Then he was off.
A blow to the side of my head sent me rolling off my opponent, who stood up and sneered at me, as he backed off and pulled a gun from behind his back. “I didn’t know Paragon had a sidekick. You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if you expect to take me in.”
“I’m nobody’s sidekick, he’s helping me,” I shot back while unsealing my powers again. “And I’m not here to take you in; I’m here to take you down.” I gathered lavender lightning in my hands, but he fired his weapon first so I had to fire a burst at him as I dove behind a sofa for cover. My own blast went wide, shattering a wooden chair as he too dove for cover.
It went on like that for what seemed an eternity, the two of us moving from cover to cover as we took shots at one another. He was a nimble little bastard, and I wasn’t used to this type of fight. He had grazed my shoulder once, but I had scorched his left leg a bit and now he was moving slower. He was also breathing heavier as he spoke casually from behind the kitchen counter. “So, sidekick girl, what made you want to take down the mighty Null? Let me guess, I killed someone important to you? I assure you it was nothing personal; I kill a lot of people. I killed the man who lives here because I liked the view; he’s in his bed, sleeping the sleep eternal.”
“The name is Terawatt,” I answered calmly from the other side of the counter as I used my healing Eenuka mark on my shoulder wound. I couldn’t afford to give into anger or hate, especially right now. “You’ll kill more than you can ever imagine if I don’t stop you now. Almost everyone I care about is gone, because of you.” I bit my lip to keep myself from focusing on that. If I stopped him here, everyone could live full happy lives. He had tossed the gun when he left his last bit of cover so I assumed he was out of ammunition. I had spotted a combat knife on his belt, but unless he had some other surprises up his sleeve, the odds were in my favor. “Come out and face me you coward, let’s finish this.”
“I think you might have a slight advantage, with those electric powers of yours,” he said with a laugh.
“We both know that you can cancel out my mutant ability any time you want to Null. You’re pretty agile, but that leg wound is slowing you down, so I don’t need them to finish you off. I’ll even let you use that knife you have.”
“How could I possibly refuse such a gracious offer?” I could hear movement as he replied, so I got to my feet and took a few steps back and away from the counter to put some distance between us. I wanted to have time to react to any attacks and make sure he wasn’t going to try anything other than what he had just agreed to. He had his combat knife out and was giving me that piercing look that he had been using earlier on Paragon.
The sparks and electricity arcing along my skin dispersed, but for some reason I could still feel the magical energy around me. On an impulse I gathered some. It worked! I was surprised, but it actually made sense. My mutant ability was actually to convert the magic energy I gathered to electricity, he couldn’t do a damn thing about my innate Fae abilities themselves. It was so funny that I actually laughed as I gathered in more magic energy.
“What’s so funny?” Null asked, looking at me like I was a crazy person. “Did you only just now realize that you’re unarmed?”
I shook my head as I laughed again. “No, I was just thinking that you just made the biggest mistake of your life. Illora Fituonë Anphoduse!” I chanted the best concussive energy spell I knew, as I concentrated on the casting of it. Most Fae spells just require concentration and intent if you’re familiar with them, but the problem with the really powerful spells is that they require both concentration and chants to do them properly. This takes time and often gives your spell away to another caster.
Null may not have known what I was casting, but he was smart enough to try to stop me before I finished. He threw his knife at my head and I was forced to dodge as I fired the spell, making it go wide. It blew apart the stove and left a huge hole in the wall behind it, leaving behind broken concrete, exposed wires, and a strange smell like rotten eggs. “You fool, that’s a gas stove! It’s going to blow!” he screamed.
I was pretty sure I didn't want to be around when that happened so I changed to my pixie form and flew as fast as I could for the shattered window and was propelled outward by the force of the blast. Once I managed to right myself and start flying properly, instead of like a projectile I took some time to recover my senses. It took me some time for me to be able to hear properly and regain enough equilibrium to fly in a straight line again and I took a quick mental inventory before making my way back to the condo. It seemed that I had been moving quick enough to escape the full force of the explosion. I didn’t seem to have any burns or other major damage, though my ears were still ringing and I was probably going to be sore for a few days.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I’d been and I had to wonder if Null had somehow survived as well, as I noticed that I was generating sparks again and sealed my powers. The last I’d seen him he had been limping hurriedly toward the door, glaring at me over his shoulder. I was about to go check, but the apartment was an inferno, and I couldn’t even get close to the flames. Paragon’s voice stopped me. “You can’t go in there; you would never survive the heat. I evacuated the apartments on that floor and the floors above and below as soon as I heard the explosion.”
“Was he…” I began to ask uncertainly. Had the explosion killed him? The spell I had used was powerful, but I wasn’t even sure when I used it if I really intended to kill him. There were far more deadly spells I could have used; they would have been easier too. Concussive spells are far more suited to damaging than actually killing or destroying.
“He was alive, but, I’m not sure if he’ll live out the day. Even if he does, I doubt he’ll be in the condition to ever kill anyone again; he’s got severe burns all over his body and face. He’s at the hospital now. Shift is in police custody and wearing a new bracelet that will keep him from popping away. Emergency services are on their way and should be here soon. What happened in there?” he asked.
“Our fight got really intense; I was casting a spell, but I misfired when I had to dodge his attack. He said something about gas, I think some exposed wiring in the wall might have set it off,” I replied sadly. “By the time it blew we were both just trying to get the hell out of there.” Was he really going to die? If he lived was there even still a chance he could kill Stellar? Had I really prevented my future from happening? It seemed likely, but why didn’t I feel like celebrating? Because I had possibly killed a man, whether it was intentional or not. Even if I had not killed him, my actions had most certainly maimed him terribly. It was a terrible feeling and worse yet, I still couldn’t be certain the future was safe as long as he had the possibility of using that power.
Paragon left me with my thoughts to go and stop the robbery in progress. I offered to help him, but I was so tired that I could barely keep myself in the air. He seemed to sense that and declined my offer, telling me to go get some rest. I found a quiet alley near the subway station to change back to my regular clothes and activate my glamour. I should probably phone Bailey and let him and the others know I’m okay, I thought, reaching into my purse for my cell phone. My fingers brushed against the crystal and pulled it out nervously. The glow was gone.
Eddie’s voice slipped into my mind. ~Don’t worry about calling us Terri, I’ve been mentally keeping an eye on you, and I’m so glad that you managed to come through okay. I’ve let the others know too, but just so you know, Interface pulled his disappearing trick not long before you fought Null. I would have let you know earlier, but I didn’t want to distract you. Bailey says to hurry up and meet up with us at the Basement, so he doesn’t try and catch you on your own while you’re tired.~
~I’m on my way there now Eddie,~ I replied as I looked once again at the crystal. The second glance confirmed it, the glow was really gone. The future had changed, but I couldn’t be sure just how much until I was certain of whether Null lived or died.
The next afternoon Bailey, Becca, Eddie and I were sitting in Talia’s living room trying to decide what to do with our lives if my mission really was finished. Hope was sitting in my lap as she and Matt watched cartoons on the television. Null was in critical condition and the doctors still weren’t certain whether he would live or die. They would likely have to amputate at least one of his limbs and he had been facing the blast, so between the shrapnel and burns he probably wouldn’t ever see again. Did that mean it was over? I was having trouble believing it and it made me uncertain about planning my future, let alone that of Hope and these other kids. There was a lot to consider.
I was worried about my cousin still, she seemed to be adjusting well, but there were still times when she really wanted her mother. I kind of felt the same though, so I couldn’t really blame her. This was still a strange world to Hope and me; it was so different than where we had come from. Not all those differences were bad though and we were starting to get used to things here. There were some amazing things in this world; we had friends and a sort of family even with the Brat Pack. We could even search out our real mothers if we wanted to, but was that a good idea? How would they react to two kids saying they were their children, even if we could make them believe us? It might not be so bad for Aunt Crystal and Hope, but my mom would only be my age right now, how would she feel about having a daughter old enough to be her twin? Then there was the fact that I was Fae.
There were too many uncertainties. Should we maybe stay in Toronto? Talia and Zoë had offered to let us use the Basement as long as we wanted. We could try to go to school. We could also just keep traveling. How do adults decide what to do with their lives anyway? Whatever we did, I needed to consider my new family as well though.
I liked Bailey and the others a lot and I wanted to help him/her take care of these kids. Hope was comfortable with them too. Bailey was fun and quirky, and reminded me and Hope so much of the Changelings at home at times. Becca was both vulnerable and strong and was becoming sort of like a sister to both of us. Eddie was so smart and organized, and even with his great power he always seemed to be concerned for others. As Bailey put it, “The Force is strong with that one.” Then there was little Matt; he was often quiet, but eager to do his part, and he and Hope made such good playmates.
It was as I was thinking about them and our future that my cell phone rang. The display said Tim Friday, he had had us program the number into each of our phones the night before when we were having dinner with him, his mother, and Zoë. He told us it was in case we ever got in over our heads with the hero business. I pushed the button to take the call, “Ummm… hello Paragon,” I said uncertainly. I still wasn’t used to all this technology yet.
“I told you to call me Tim on the phone or when we’re not in costume,” he chastised me. “I just left the hospital, and there’s something you should know. Last night Null vanished from his room.”
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 1 Suffering Amethyst |
I was late. I was supposed to meet the guys at the Jumping Bean over twenty minutes ago but I was sure they would forgive me once I shared the good news with them. I raced through the streets of New Haven to the coffee shop in question and once I had parked my beat up old motorbike and took off my helmet I stepped inside to find Lenny, Peter, George, and Alex all sitting at a table in the back talking over coffee. I made my way over to the table and said, “Sorry I’m late guys, my mom needed help with something.”
“Dude, you’re seventeen years old, you’re practically an adult, grow some balls and tell your mom no once in a while,” Alex said with a groan.
“Yeah Ken, you’re the one who wanted us all to meet and then you’re fucking late, so are you going to tell us why we’re here or not?” Lenny put in.
I sighed and replied, “Look guys, I said I’m sorry, you don’t need to be assholes. I just thought that you all might want to know that Red Prophesy has a gig the night of Friday May 31st at Club Tartarus.” Red Prophesy was the name of our band and we had been together for the past two years except for Alex who joined us recently when we decided we needed backup vocals and a second guitar. We played a mix of death metal, grunge, and punk. I was lead vocals in the band. I didn’t play an instrument but I had been learning and practicing my singing since I was old enough to hold a microphone, and not to be vain but I was pretty damn good.
“Are you fucking serious?!” George asked, his eyes wide. “That’s where the Deadends got discovered. Please tell me you’re not screwing with us.”
I shook my head and couldn’t hide my grin. “Honest guys, I called you to meet here right after getting off the phone with the club manager. This could be our chance to break into the music industry instead of just playing parties and stuff all the time.”
“You are the Man,” Peter said as he reached over to slap me on the back. “This is so freaking awesome! We need to get some practice in, that’s only two weeks away.”
“Fuck practice,” Alex retorted. “With news like this we need to celebrate. My cousin works at a liquor store not far from here, I think I can convince him to sell us a few six packs to celebrate with.”
I was against the idea of drinking but the rest of the guys agreed with Alex so I was dragged along with them to celebrate in a spot well hidden by trees in Farnam Memorial Gardens. I bought a can of Pepsi and only drank that while the others drank three six packs between them with Alex drinking the most. I mostly just kept an eye out for trouble while I thought about graduation next month and where our band was going. This could be our big break and after a few months of having Alex in the band I still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. I had originally protested having him join us because I didn’t feel he was a good fit, but I had been outvoted three to one.
Lenny, George, Peter, and I were all geeks and our band was the only thing that set us apart and gave us something to look forward to each day. Alex Collins, on the other hand, had a reputation for causing trouble. He was a good singer and he played the guitar well enough but the more time that my other band mates spent with him the more he seemed to rub off on them. This celebration was a prime example of that, three months ago the guys would have never considered drinking underage in a public place. Alex was also a glory hound and I had caught him several times in school telling people about ‘his’ band.
I thought that perhaps I was just jealous; after all he was popular, fairly athletic, and good looking. He was tall with long blond hair, blue eyes, and clear skin and a goatee that gave him a pretty cool look. I on the other hand was a little below average at five foot ten, skinny, and had dull brown hair and eyes. Sometimes I wished that I could stand out a little more but I knew better than to follow Alex’s lead. Peter, George, and Lenny though were drawn to his popularity and rebellious nature like moths to a flame and I worried that we would all be caught in the middle of whatever trouble eventually came his way.
It was soon past midnight and we were all standing by Alex’s truck when Alex decided the party was over and he was going to go home. He began to fumble in his pocket for his keys but we could all see that he was in no condition to drive. “Alex, you’re hammered, you should not be driving,” I said in concern.
“Fuck you Ken, I’m fine,” he replied, slurring his words as he tried to get his key into the door lock.
“You’re smashed and I am not letting you drive. If you want I’ll drive you home and take a cab back here to pick up my bike before going home.” I grabbed his hand to try to take his keys.
“Get yer hand off me you faggot!” He took a swing at me and I stumbled back to try to avoid it but bumped against the side of the truck. I can never be sure if it was intentional or if that extra bit of distance and the fact that he was off balance caused his punch to miss my face but it didn’t really matter because the result was the same; his fist hit me hard in the throat. I fell to the ground clutching my throat in pain as I began coughing. I don’t know how long I was there on my knees but the coughing wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t breathe, I could taste blood, and my vision began to get blurry from the lack of air. Finally though, fate showed me some kindness and I blacked out.
Unsurprisingly I awoke in a hospital room. I could hear the beeping of the machines and I opened my eyes to find a dimly lit sterile room with some flowers sitting on the bedside table and two empty chairs on the other side of the bed. A look outside the window showed that the sky was painted in reds, oranges, and yellows which meant that it was either dawn or dusk. I was distracted from my appraisal of the time and my current accommodations by my discomfort though. Damn but my throat hurt, it felt like I had swallowed sandpaper and a couple dozen thumbtacks and washed it down with a gallon of acid. I reached up to rub it and found it covered in bandages.
As I laid there and gingerly touched the bandages a nurse stepped into the room. She looked to be a Native American in her mid-twenties and she had a very nice smile. “Oh, you’re awake, good morning; I’m Janet, one of the nurses here. You’re at New Haven Children’s Hospital.” I was about to reply but she shook her head and said, “Please don’t try to speak yet, I’m going to go get Dr. Lewis.”
She dashed off and returned several minutes later with a slightly overweight man who looked to be in his fifties with a thick mustache and a full head of silver hair. He was dressed in a light grey suit with a lab coat over top. He adjusted his glasses as he looked at the clipboard he held and approached the end of the bed as Janet came and adjusted the bed to a sitting position. “Hello, I’m Dr. Lewis, and you Ken Graham are a very lucky young man. The paramedics managed to get to you before you stopped breathing or you would likely be dead.” He paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “I’m afraid though that that is the extent of the good news. You received severe trauma to your larynx and we had to perform surgery so you wouldn’t drown in your own blood. We’ve kept you sedated for the past week so you could heal properly; today is Saturday May 26th.”
I had been here for a week? I was going to ask how bad it was but no words came out of my mouth, there was only a harsh sounding rasp. Both my hands flew to my throat and my eyes locked on Dr. Lewis hoping that he could give me some assurance that this was not permanent. Sadly that was not forthcoming. He sat on the bed beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m afraid that the damage was too severe. You’ll never be able to speak again and you’ll probably have troubles even swallowing, or breathing for the time being if you push yourself too rigorously. Due to the damage you’re getting less oxygen when you breathe so if you push yourself too hard you might find yourself getting light headed.”
I just sat there stunned as he talked. The only thing I had ever wanted to be in my entire life was a rock star. Sure every kid dreams of it at some time or another but it was different with me, music and singing was in my bones. I had even convinced my mom to get me singing lessons to help me pursue my dream. Now it was all gone, there was no chance of it ever happening. I slumped back feeling utterly crushed. Dr. Lewis gave me a sympathetic look as he told me, “If you’re up for it I will allow you to have visitors today and the police will want a written statement of your side of what happened. I’ll have Janet here fetch you a pad of paper and some pens so you can communicate. I must be getting to my rounds now but I’ll come in and check on you again later today.”
Dr. Lewis and Janet left the room but Janet came back soon with some pens, a Yale University notepad and a glass of water. She cautioned me not to drink too quickly because I might have trouble swallowing at first. It seemed that I was going to be stuck on a liquid diet for a while until everything was fully healed. Once I had finished my drink she told me that if I needed anything to press the button on the side of the bed and left me to my thoughts.
My first visitor of the day arrived just after ten in the morning. There was a knock on the door and I looked up to see one of New Haven’s finest standing there. The uniformed officer looked to be in his early thirties and was clean shaven with short cropped black hair. “Do you mind if I come in?” he asked.
I couldn’t exactly answer so I merely shrugged and pointed to one of the chairs beside the bed. The officer came in and sat down in the chair I had indicated and said, “Hi you’re Ken Graham right?” When I nodded he continued on to say, “I’m Sergeant Tompkins I was one of the first to arrive on the scene. Do you think you can write out in your own words what happened on the night you were injured?” I nodded but I had to wonder who else’s words he thought I might write it in as I began to carefully write down everything that I remembered from the time we left the coffee shop to the time I blacked out. When I finished he asked me to sign it before he began looking it over.
A look of disgust spread across his features as he got to the end and he shook his head. “I figured that something like that was the case. The doctors confirmed that you had no alcohol in your system when you were brought in and those four boys were so drunk they could barely walk. I would suggest you try to press charges when you feel up to it but you’re probably looking at a legal battle if it comes to that,” he said with a sigh. “Mr. Collins claims that you attacked him and he hit you in self-defense and the only three witnesses corroborate his story.”
That son of a bitch, I thought as I tightly clenched my fists. He took everything from me and now he’s going to walk away Scott free.
Sergeant Tomkins shook his head again sadly when he saw the look on my face. “Look kid, they were all drunk and you weren’t so their story won’t hold much water legally and I’ll do what I can and see if I can find any holes in their statements. Collins didn’t have a mark on him and he was quick to get legal representation, but without any witnesses to confirm your side of things there’s not much else we can do at the moment. You were extremely lucky that one of those boys used his cell phone to call 911 or you’d probably dead.”
Oh yeah, I‘m so fucking lucky, instead of just dying now I get to live out the rest of my life with no hope of ever doing the one thing I’ve always wanted to, I thought bitterly.
“I’m glad you pulled through kid, when I got there they weren’t sure if you were going to make it,” the policeman offered. “I wish you a speedy recovery. Get some rest and you should talk with your parents about getting a lawyer; a good one will be able to prove that he attacked you, possibly with malicious intent.” Then he left me alone again to think on that and to get some rest.
Janet came to check on me several times and turned on the television in the room so I wouldn’t be too bored from sitting there. I wasn’t expecting any more visitors until my mom got off work later that afternoon. Janet had told me that she usually came by to check on me every day after work and had spent a good portion of the day on Sunday here after church had let out. You may be wondering where my dad was through all this, but for as long as I could remember it had just been me and my mom. When I was two my dad had climbed into a whiskey bottle and never came out, and then he died when I was three while driving drunk.
I was slipping in and out of sleep after lunch, what passes for it on a liquid diet anyway, when I heard something in my room. I opened my eyes to see George standing in the doorway to my room. “It looks like he’s still asleep guys; maybe we should come back later.” My eyes were fully open now and I levelled a glare at the traitor. I could hear him swallow the lump in his throat from across the room as he noticed my look and said, “Uhhh… hi Ken… we… ummm... heard they would be waking you up today.”
The others took that as their cue and all four members of Red Prophesy entered the room. If this is going to be an apology it had better be a damn good one, I thought angrily as the four approached the end of the bed with Alex in the lead.
“It’s good to see you awake again,” Alex began. “I thought I should come by to tell you that I don’t hold what happened against you and I’m not going to press charges.” I just stared at him. Was this asshole for real? He fucking ruined my life and now he came into my hospital room making like I’m the bad guy? I pressed the button at the side of the bed as he continued speaking. “Also we took a vote and decided unanimously that you’re out of the band. You don’t play an instrument and now you can’t sing so you’re dead weight dude.” I stared at him in complete shock and when I turned my gaze on George, Peter, and Lenny none of them would even look at me.
“Get out!” I tried to scream, but nothing would come out.
It was then that Janet came back into the room and noticed how upset I was. “Look, I don’t know who you are but you’re upsetting my patient. Get out of here before I call security.”
Peter, George, and Lenny took off like a bat out of hell but Alex just couldn’t seem to resist getting in the last word. “Give us a call when you get out and we can talk things out. If you’re out by Friday maybe you can come see us play at Club Tartarus.” Then he left me alone in the room with Janet trying to calm me down.
“It’s okay Ken, they’re gone now and they sure won’t be coming back. I’ll talk to the front desk and security and let them know about those four. I’m going to give you something to help you relax okay? You are still recovering and you need your rest.” She injected something into my IV and soon I was feeling calmer and very sleepy. I drifted off to sleep not long after she left the room.
When I awoke this time I felt well rested and my mom was sitting in the chair beside my bed. The moment I opened my eyes she sat up straight, “Oh it is so good to see you awake Kenny, I have been praying for you all week. How are you feeling?”
What kind of question is that to ask someone in a hospital bed? I grabbed a pen and my notepad and wrote. “I feel like hell.”
“You’ll be all better soon baby, the whole congregation is praying for your recovery,” she replied with a forced smile.
“Praying won’t get my voice back,” I wrote, adding several exclamation marks.
She shook her head. “I know you’ve been saying how you want to be a singer but sometimes God places things in our paths so we can go in the direction that He has ordained for us. Maybe this is God’s way of telling you that you need to set more realistic goals for your future. I wasn’t sure about this ‘rock star’ dream of yours anyway, they all become drug addicts and alcoholics, is that really what you want? Do you want to be like your father?”
That was a low blow and we both knew it. She didn’t understand at all. I think the sedative must have worn off because all of the stress that had been building up since I had woke up that morning seemed to boil to the surface and I felt like I was going to burst. I could feel tears coming to my eyes and I tried to hold back all the emotion that threatened to run over me as I wrote out, “You don’t understand.”
I needed to be alone again so I put my pen and paper down and pressed the bedside button as my mom stood up beside the bed to take my free hand. “I understand you’re upset Kenny but you’re still young you’ll find something to do with your life. Maybe this is a sign that you should devote your life to God and His teachings.”
That was it, I started crying. She didn’t understand, nobody could understand. I could feel the pain, the anguish and something I couldn’t define boiling up inside me. The only thing I had ever wanted from life was stolen from me and the guy that did it came into my hospital room to gloat about it. And now I was crying like a girl, and I couldn’t communicate how I felt. I wanted a voice, I wanted to be able to make people know how I felt, I wanted to be able to breathe without struggling for air, but most of all I wanted my mother to back off.
It all seemed to happen at once. Janet was entering the room and I couldn’t breathe, I was gasping for air in what I was later told was an anxiety attack; My mother, my IV drip, blankets, and anything close to the bedside was sent flying away to hit the nearest walls and I started burning up, it felt like my whole body was on fire. My throat, my flesh, my very bones all felt like they were being rearranged. Wisps of something pink seemed to cover my eyes as my body contorted in agony and I was vaguely aware of my mother screaming.
Then it was all over and I could breathe again, not in the raspy struggle for air as I had since waking up that morning but normally. I brushed aside the pink stuff in my face and tried to ignore the odd weight I felt on my chest as I turned my attention to my mom who was backing toward the door with a look of horror on her face. Janet fad fallen to the floor but she seemed okay when she got up and asked, “Ken, are you okay?”
I nodded, which only caused the pink stuff to fall back onto my face. I brushed it away in time to see my mother shaking her head, “No… that thing… that abomination is not Kenny!” Then she ran out of the room as fast as she could.
“What…” I started to say. It was a second before it hit me, I had spoken. “What the hell is going on?” I asked and smiled, I really had spoken. It hadn’t sounded at all like my voice though, it was softer, lighter, almost musical in itself, and it was almost definitely a contralto rather than my usual alto. I reached up again to brush away the persistent pink stuff when I noticed it. My hand was smaller with long slender fingers, but more importantly it was blue. I decided that that was probably a pretty good time to faint.
It was still light when I awoke for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Someone had covered me with something soft, lifted me up, and was placing me in what felt like another bed. I heard Dr. Lewis say, “Thank you Tony, we’ll take it from here.”
I opened my eyes to find Janet looking at me in concern. “How long…” I began to ask before the strange sound of my voice stopped me.
“You’ve only been out for about ten minutes, you fainted. How are you feeling? We had to place you in a new bed and we’re moving you to another room. You made a bit of a mess in this one and we’ll need to clean it up,” the nurse offered.
“I feel weird,” I replied uncertainly. It was odd; I felt perfectly healthy, but my whole body felt different and strange. There was that strange weight on my chest and pulling at my head and yet I felt lighter somehow. My throat didn’t hurt at all and there was that strange voice I had which kept bringing my attention to the fact that even my mouth and teeth felt strangely different. “What happened?” I asked.
“You seem to be a Hyper,” Dr. Lewis said, “But I’m afraid that is not my area of expertise so since you seem to be healthy enough we’re going to move you to another ward. Dr. Park is our resident expert in Hypers so we’re going to move you to her special cases ward. There you can receive special care, counseling, and whatever testing is needed.”
“I’m a mutant?” I asked with an ache in my heart. That explained my getting a new voice and the blue skin, I was a freak. It also explained my mother’s reaction. Her religious group, the Church of the Purity of Adam, taught that mutants were the spawn of the devil. I had never believed that, I just thought that they were people who were different but I never thought that I could be one. “No wonder my mom freaked out.”
“Well you did send anything not bolted down within ten feet of you flying when your body started changing,” Janet pointed out, “Including your IV, catheter, and monitors. Your hospital gown was destroyed too; we had to cover you with a blanket before getting Tony to move you onto the bed. But that’s no excuse for what she said, you’re her child.”
“How… how much have I changed?” I asked as they wheeled my bed out into the hallway. The look of my hand, my voice and the weight on my chest all seemed to add up to something I didn’t even want to consider.
“It’s probably best that you wait to ask any questions until your see Dr. Park, she’s our expert on Hypers and she will probably be able to explain things better than I can,” Dr. Lewis advised. “All I can tell you is that your physiology has changed quite a bit.”
“Okay,” I replied, though I was really getting worried. I risked lifting my head to try and get a better look at my blanket wrapped form and was not reassured at all by what I saw. There were definitely two definitive lumps on my chest. I tore my eyes away and kept my eyes on Janet from that point on.
We stopped by the nurses’ station and he had had us wait while he called ahead. “Hello Madison it’s Gordon, we just discovered the hard way that one of my patients is a Hyper. He came in last week with severe trauma to the larynx and when he became upset his powers activated for the first time. Yes, I would definitely say there are physiological changes. For one thing his larynx was damaged so badly that he should never be able to speak again but the patient is speaking fine now, you’ll see for yourself the other changes when we arrive. I’m heading down there with the patient and his file now.”
Once he had hung up the phone we took the elevator down from the third floor to the basement level. Then we wound our way down several hallways to a security door with an intercom and a card reader. Dr. Lewis pressed the buzzer and after a moment a woman’s voice said, “Is that you Gordon?”
“It is, and I have your new patient here with me,” he replied. The door opened to reveal an Asian woman in her late twenties with shoulder length hair dressed in a blue top, black leggings and a lab coat. Dr. Lewis handed her a folder and said, “Madison, this is Ken Graham your new patient. Ken this is Dr. Madison Park our resident expert on Hypers, she’ll take good care of you. Now if you’ll both excuse us we need to be getting back to our patients on the third floor.”
Dr. Park and I both greeted one another and thanked Dr. Lewis and Janet, and then she wheeled my bed into a hallway with a dozen doors where she moved me into the first room on the right. “This is our examination and intake room for new patients. I understand that your Hyper Chromosomes were activated in your hospital room. Usually we only take in Hypers who have medical needs as a result of their mutations but since you were already a patient here I’m more than happy to have you with us until you’re ready to leave. Please give me a moment to look over your file and then we can have a chat.”
The room was large but looked like a standard hospital exam room with an examination table, all the various instruments to check a patient’s vitals, storage cabinets, a computer, and a good number of high-tech looking instruments and devices that I had never seen before. Dr. Park flipped through the folder with my name on it and finally said, “It says here you’ll be eighteen in August, you’re a bit of a late bloomer. I’ve heard of some being activated as late as their forties though and many go their whole lives without realizing that they have dormant H Chromosomes. So tell me Ken, what do you know about Hypers?”
I shook my head sadly, “Only that my mom and her church say that we’re the spawn of Satan and that now I apparently am one.”
She raised an eyebrow at that, “Do you believe that?”
I shook my head again. “No but then I can hardly throw stones now can I?”
She smiled at that, “It’s good to see that that kind of thinking didn’t rub off on you. I’m going to tell you all about why you are now the way you are and give you a full examination but first I want you to tell me everything that happened leading up to your change and your powers being triggered. Don’t leave anything out. The more I know the better I can help to determine why you are as you now are and what abilities you might have.”
“Umm before I go through all that I was wondering… am I a girl now?” I needed to know for sure if what I was already suspecting was true.
She reached forward to squeeze my hand. “Since I haven’t done a physical exam yet and I can’t rule out possible shape shifting abilities yet either all I can tell you is that from a cursory glance you do appear female. That’s one of the mysteries I’m hoping we can solve once you tell me everything so you can’t leave anything out, even if you don’t think it important.”
So I ended up telling Dr. Park everything I could remember from the moment Alex had hit me. She only ever stopped me if she wanted clarification on something or wanted to know my emotions and thoughts at the time. At the end I was feeling pretty depressed by my mother’s reaction and something felt off about my voice but I couldn’t put my finger on what it might be. I guessed that my story was pretty sad because Dr. Park was looking pretty depressed too by that time. Finally she sighed and began to explain why people become Hypers while I sat there and listened and her mood seemed to improve.
Normal humans have twenty three chromosome pairs for a total of forty six but mutants have an extra pair that remains dormant, sometimes for a person’s entire life. During periods of heightened stress of the mind and/or body these Hyper Chromosomes activate, and since puberty is such a stressful time on a person’s life they often activate then. In my case, losing my voice and all the added stress after that caused mine to activate. A Hyper’s abilities are largely influenced by the conditions under which they activate, strong desires, and possibly by genetics as some second generation mutants tend to have powers similar to their parent(s).
Every mutant’s H Chromosomes also have a unique Archetype or blueprint of what their body should be that is created when their latent Hyper Chromosomes are activated. These Archetypes are influenced by the mutant’s mental state, preconceived notions, conscious and subconscious desires and often by their new powers as well. People satisfied with their appearance may look the same after being activated or have only negligible physical changes, many have an ideal look in their subconscious, some are determined by what they are thinking of when activating, some are heavily influenced by their powers, and many are a mix of these.
“I believe that your form and powers were heavily influenced by your strong desires and thoughts when you activated,” Dr. Park finally said, “And possibly a subconscious desire to be noticed.”
“Are you saying that I wanted to be a girl?” I asked somewhat confused.
She shook her head, “Not precisely. Your larynx was irreparably damaged so to give you a physical voice some physiological changes were necessary. You were feeling emotional at the time and from what you’ve said you believe that that is not acceptable for boys and that probably conflicted with your desire to have people know what you were feeling. So since you feel that it’s acceptable for girls to show their emotions it defaulted to female. Your subconscious desire to be noticed took that and ran with it. That’s probably why you’re so pretty and have such odd coloring. You’re going to have a lot of trouble not being noticed now and for our kind that can be a problem.”
I could feel my eyebrows rise at that despite my distress at the possibility that I really was female. I shoved that aside with the hope that I might be a shape shifter as I asked, “Our kind?”
Dr. Park nodded. “Yes, I activated when I was fourteen and I’m one of the fortunate ones with an average human appearance. I had dyslexia and I was having a hard time in high school. When I activated things changed, not only was my dyslexia gone, but could I clearly recall everything I read and had the intelligence and intuition to quickly put the skills I read about into practice. I now have Doctorates from three different Universities in Medicine, Psychology, Genetics, Physics and Applied Science.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Wow, okay so you’re the brain, so what do you think my powers are?” Please say shape shifting, I thought.
“No, the Brain lives up north,” she said with a smile. “As for you though, from the way everything in your room went flying and the fact that you seem to be projecting your emotions somehow I would say your powers are of a psychic nature. I do want to do a full analysis of your new physiology though, as it may have inherent abilities that don’t count as powers. So with that in mind I want you to get out of that bed and hop up on the examining table so we can begin.”
What followed, after I was dressed in a paper hospital gown, was indeed a full analysis. I was still the same height, tallish for a girl at five foot ten and I was in good health. As I feared, I no longer had my old familiar friend between my legs and in its place there was something I had always wanted to get access to, just not on my own damn body. And of course she had to examine that fully too. She tried to warm the metal monstrosity she placed in there but it was still damn cold, not to mention uncomfortable on so many levels. She even did some sort of ultrasound test down there. Once she finished she handed me a sturdier cloth hospital gown and had me put it on and sit up once again.
“Well Ken, the good news and the bad news is that you appear to be a fully functional and perfectly healthy seventeen year old girl, though we won’t know for sure until you have your first period.” My heart fell at that and I could see my own sadness reflected on her own face. “I would like to run some physical fitness tests though to see what your new physiology is capable of.”
“So that’s it then? I’m stuck like this?” I asked. I was clenching my hands and on the verge of crying.
“Ken, I know this is hard for you but it’s okay to show your emotions. In fact until you learn to control this empathic projection of yours, people will know how you’re feeling regardless. They may not realize it’s you and not them feeling that way, but you can still let it show. Crying when you’re upset is natural, it’s a pressure valve for all that pent up emotion and it’s unhealthy to not relieve that pressure once in a while. This is going to be a big adjustment for you, but there are some good things about this. You’re healthy and you can use your voice again. Focusing on the good rather than the bad will make the adjustment easier for you.”
I did cry; I don’t know for how long but I just let it all out and it felt good to be able to do so without being judged. When I finally collected myself, Dr. Park stood me up and pulled me by the hand to the closed door and the full length mirror that I had thus far carefully avoided looking at. “This is you now. Tell me what you see.”
I was tempted to say ‘a freak’ without even looking, but instead I did look. The girl in the mirror was gorgeous even if she did look strange, but that just made her an exotic beauty. As weird as it was, the first thing I noticed wasn’t the light blue skin or the long bright pink hair but those eyes. I had the most amazing turquoise colored eyes. The rest of my face was extremely pretty too with the small upturned nose, full lips, high cheekbones, and when I used a hand to brush the pink hair out of my face I discovered that my ears were pointed. Instead of just making me look more alien they looked like they belonged and added to the inhumanly good looks. A look downward showed that her breasts were a bit larger than average and even in the hospital gown I could tell that she was slender. Not in the anorexic way, but that healthy physically fit way that most professional models dream of.
Finally I said, “Wow, is that really me?” I guess being attractive could be a good thing, and I did have a voice again but what about the rest of it? “I don’t know anything about being a girl though,” I complained. “And it’s not like I can go out in public like this.”
“I’ll try to help you with all of that or find someone who can. It’s almost dinner time now though, so let’s go introduce you to the other patients and I’ll take care of dinner after. I would suggest if you don’t want them knowing that you haven’t always been a girl that you come up with a more feminine name. Maybe something similar to Ken so it’s easy to remember. Kendra maybe?” she suggested.
“No thanks,” I said with a frown, “There’s a Kendra at my high school and she’s a bitch.” I brushed my hair out of my face again, it was starting to get annoying, it was like someone kept shoving cotton candy in my face. Then it hit me, “Um how about Candy?”
Dr. Park nodded and smiled and I think she figured out what prompted the suggestion. “You could use the name Candice and go by Candy for a nickname.” With that she guided me down the hall to a small common room with a table and eight chairs where four teenagers were playing cards. The only girl in the group, a girl with intense green eyes and long black hair, looked up as we entered and smiled, “Hi Dr. Park.” Her eyes settled on me in sudden interest as the three boys looked up as well.
“Hi kids,” the doctor said with genuine affection in her voice. “We have a new patient as you can see. This is Candice Graham she was in the hospital for other reasons and the stress of the situation caused her to activate. Why don’t you all introduce yourselves, tell a little bit about yourselves, and make her feel at home while I go and get something special for dinner to celebrate the new member of our little family.” Then she left me there with the four teens. I was a little nervous since they all seemed to be dressed normally while I was stark naked under my hospital gown but the girl seemed to sense that and gave me a smile.
“Come have a seat, we don’t bite,” the girl invited, patting the free chair beside her. On her other side was a boy in a wheelchair, but for now the girl had my attention as she was very pretty. “I’m turning eighteen next month and my name is Leslie but everyone calls me Twilight for obvious reasons. I’ve got super speed and strength, a minor regenerative ability, and I can move through shadows. The problem is that my powers developed at night and I seem to have gotten a severe allergy to sunlight. Dr. Park thinks my fascination with horror movies might have been responsible for it or something to do with my regeneration. I’m here undergoing gradual phototherapy in a specialized tanning bed until I can stand being in the sunlight or until one of her colleagues can come up with a sunblock or something that will work for me. I assure you that I’m not dead though, nor do I drink blood or sparkle,” she added as a joke.
The younger boy across the table was staring at me but I couldn’t really blame him, I had seen what I looked like now. As for him he was an African American youth and he had a pair of plastic tubes up his nose attached to what looked like an oxygen tank. He looked down at the table as he said, “I’m Marcus and I’m fourteen, everyone calls me Smog though. We all like to give each other names that suit our mutations since we have plenty of time and not much to do. I was on the verge of dying from carbon monoxide poisoning when I activated last week.” He patted the tank on the chair beside him. “Now I can only breathe carbon monoxide, I suffocate if I try to breathe only normal air.”
“Show her what you do Smog,” one of the other boys prodded.
“Okay, okay, just nobody breathe it in.” He stood up and took his tank across the room to put some distance between himself and the table. Then he smiled at us all and let out a large belch. A good sized cloud of black smoke erupted from his mouth and he waited for it to clear before returning to his seat with his tank. “Dr. Park did some tests and the stuff only looks bad, it’s some sort of relatively harmless knockout gas.”
“Cool,” I said, “That’s a pretty good defense mechanism.”
“I think mine’s cooler though,” the brown haired boy beside him said. “I’m fourteen too and my name is Eric but my nickname is Taser. I shock people on contact, not enough to be deadly but it’s about the same power as a Taser gun. I’m having trouble turning it off though, and it’s playing havoc with my electrolyte levels.”
“My name is Jeff but everyone calls me Armor,” said the last one. As I craned my neck around Twilight to see what he looked like it was my turn to stare, as his fair hair and skin both turned a metallic silver color. “When I’m like this my skin is invulnerable so when I discovered it I did what any stupid sixteen year old boy with near invulnerability would, I decided to test it. I found out the hard way that my skin may be invulnerable but my bones aren’t. I broke both my legs so I’m here while I heal up and learn how to turn my power on and off.”
Suddenly everyone was looking at me and I guessed that it was my turn, so swallowing my nervousness I said, “I’m… umm… Candice, or Candy for short. I’m seventeen and I only just learned that I’m a mutant. We think my powers are psychic, maybe some kind of telekinesis and empathic ability. I’m still trying to get used to looking like this. I was a singer in a band before but my larynx was damaged and I lost my voice and I was pretty bummed out about it, it was the only thing I ever wanted to do. Then my former band showed up to throw me to the curb and my mom couldn’t understand how I felt and I just snapped. Everything in the room went flying and I turned into this.” I gestured to myself sadly.
“I think you’re beautiful,” Smog supplied and the others quickly agreed. “To hell with your old band, and to any who can’t accept you as you are now. Besides you have a voice again so you can sing right?”
“I… uh… haven’t really tried yet,” I admitted, “Everything has been happening so fast.”
“So try now,” Twilight suggested.
I looked at everyone; they were all watching me expectantly so I tried to think of a song that I knew that would work for a contralto. I still had all my training and practice and as the first lines of the Gothic rock song left my lips I found that my voice flowed like liquid honey. I found as the song progressed that I didn’t need to breathe as deeply or as much and that I could hold notes for much longer than I could before which really helped to add to the performance. It was a sad song and I was sad so since I didn’t have any control over my abilities it wasn’t surprising that when I finished there were tears in all of their eyes.
Twilight wiped at her eyes and sniffled as she said, “I think I found your name, I don’t know about anyone else but I’m calling you Siren.”
The others nodded quietly and Armor added, “But I think it should be spelled S-Y-R-Y-N. That sounds like a rock star’s name.”
I just sat there silently for a moment as it hit me… I sang. Not only that but I had an even better voice now than I ever did before. If I could somehow hide my differences then maybe my dream could still come true. “Syryn it is then,” I agreed.
The first week in the Hyper care unit passed quickly and a lot happened during that time. Firstly, Dr. Park tried on several occasions to contact my mother to explain to her what happened and that I would need her love and support. To say she was resistant would have been a gross exaggeration. She wanted nothing to do with me and had even gone so far as to hold a memorial service for my former male self. Dr. Park assured me that she couldn’t declare me legally dead without a coroner’s report and a death certificate but it would seem that all the same I was dead to her.
Still there were legal issues. For one, the situation brought up the question of where I was going to live now but Dr. Park said she was going to contact some friends for possible assistance in that area. Another issue was that I now couldn’t pursue any legal action against Alex. Between my changes and my mom pronouncing me dead in the newspaper when she announced the memorial service nobody would ever believe that I was Ken Graham. At some point I would also have to somehow change all my legal documents.
Then there was the testing. Not only did Dr. Park have me doing all sorts of fitness tests in the rehabilitation center but she also had me taking exams to get my high school diploma. I passed the latter with flying colors since I had always been a pretty good student and it was so close to the end of the school year. As to the former I was as strong and fast as any other seventeen year old girl in good physical fitness though I didn’t get winded much at all even when running hard. It seemed that my new physiology processed oxygen much more efficiently than normal so I don’t need to breathe as deeply or as often for my body to be properly oxygenated. We tested it in the rehab center pool and I was able to hold my breath for forty three minutes before I came up for air. Dr. Park thought that with practice I could probably hold it twice as long if I took a deep enough breath.
Trying to get a handle on my powers took up a lot of time too, though we had made some discoveries there as well. It was determined that I was indeed a telekinetic and a projective empath. The first was a source of irritation because I had to concentrate to move a pencil with my mind but when I got angry or frustrated everything in the room would start flying around. As for the second, I was working at being able to turn the ability on and off with some practice, but we discovered that it only seemed to work when I was touching someone or speaking. Dr. Park ran some sound tests and discovered a subsonic in my voice when I was using the ability.
Her theory was that I had a secondary set of vocal flaps that resonate to produce a sound humans can’t hear that acts as a carrier wave for the empathy. It doesn’t seem to work very well with voice or video recordings because I need to be physically present and actively using my voice power within two hundred yards or so and the person needs to actually hear my voice. Without both those conditions the motions I am projecting aren’t transmitted but people show a mild sensitivity to emotions. It does work at full power with a microphone but it won’t work past that two hundred yard range and the effect is less pronounced the farther away the person is.
When I wasn’t jumping through whatever hoops Dr. Park had devised I was relaxing with the others. They made me feel like a normal teenager and there was no pressure to act any certain way, though Twilight seemed to want to do girl stuff with me and I felt bad not being the kind of female friend she seemed to need. I was having trouble adapting to the whole being a girl thing as everything seemed different. I peed different, my center of gravity was different, I got aroused differently, I walked differently, and my new breasts felt huge and impossible to keep out of the way.
It was the end of that first week while I was alone in my room that Twilight came to cheer me up. Despite the others treating me like a normal teenager, I was slowly sinking into a depression since the final aborted attempt to reconcile with my mother, and as I was still getting the hang of controlling my subsonics, everyone would feel that way if I spoke to them, so I was alone in my room staying quiet. She entered the room, took one look at me and said, “Come on Syryn, why so blue?” Then as she thought about what she said her face fell, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’ve been down about your differences and I didn’t mean to rub it in your face.”
I looked up and shrugged, “it’s okay, it was kind of funny actually. It’s not just about my skin color, there’s a lot on my mind. You know I haven’t always looked like this.”
“I kind of figured that, most people aren’t born with your distinctive features,” she said looking a bit confused.
I shook my head, “No that’s not what I meant. I know that when I showed up you were hoping to have someone to do girl stuff with but before I turned into this,” I gestured at my body, “My name wasn’t Candice, it was Ken.”
The confused look stayed on her face a moment before what I said sunk in. “You were a guy?”
I nodded sadly. “Yeah, so not only do I have to look like this, adjust to crazy powers I can’t control, and deal with my mom writing me off as dead, but I have to deal with being a girl too.”
“I just thought you weren’t into the girly stuff. You sure don’t look like a guy.”
“Well I’m not anymore; Dr. Park says I’m one hundred percent female now, right down to the double X chromosome. So yeah, I have a lot on my mind.” It wasn’t easy controlling my subsonics in the mood I was in, but I really didn’t want her depressed as well so I was working extra hard at it.
Twilight came and sat on my bed beside me to put her arm around my shoulder, “We all have to deal with crazy powers but you’ll get the hang of them. As for adjusting to being female I can help you with that if you want, I might be able to help you look more normal too with the right makeup.”
“But I don’t know anything about being a girl and I have nowhere to go when I leave here,” I whined.
I was feeling helpless and very frustrated and I knew my control had slipped when she cupped my chin in her hand and turned my face to her. “And you’re not going to know anything about being a girl if you keep that attitude. So I’m going to teach you and you’re going to learn. And do you really think you’re the only one who has nowhere to go? The only family I had is dead!”
We both realized at the same time what she had said and I suddenly felt guilty for letting my control slip and for thinking only of myself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know and my control slipped so I think you were picking up on my frustration.”
I tried to turn my face away but she held it there. “It doesn’t matter, frustrated or not I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’ve been here over six months now, ever since the fire. A week after my powers kicked in a concerned ‘friend’ came over to see why I wasn’t coming to school. I confided in her about my powers and my condition. She told the whole school and we started getting threatening phone calls. Then one night I came home from an appointment with Dr. Park to find our house on fire. My parents were both dead when I got to them. I guess I’m lucky though, you have practically nothing but at least I have the insurance money and the money I got when I sold my car.”
I thought about it for a moment, but shook my head as I replied,” I had a savings account, but they’ll never believe I’m Ken Graham even if we do make me look somewhat normal. I don’t even have any clothes to wear except for the underclothes, track suit, and bathing suit Dr. Park got me for our tests.”
Suddenly her eyes lit up, “Why don’t we move in together when we can both leave? I haven’t even touched the insurance money yet, the settlement for the fire damage and my parents life insurance policies came out to almost six hundred thousand, that’s plenty for us to get a small place and everything we need to get set up on our own. And if we live together I’ll be able to give you all the help you need with learning to be a girl.”
I really wanted to take her up on that offer but I wasn’t too sure that it was a good idea. ”I really don’t want to be mooching off you, and I don’t want to live here in New Haven. Plus I’m afraid my powers would be a bother until I learn to control them.”
“You’re the only other mutant girl I know, at least if we live together we won’t have to pretend to be normal for our roommates, we can just be ourselves. I don’t really want to stay in New Haven either, I have too many bad memories here, not to mention enemies,” she admitted with a frown. “Where were you thinking about going?”
“I have no idea,” I replied with a shrug. “Somewhere with a good music scene I guess. I’ll need to find other musicians if I’m going to start a new band and maybe learn an instrument myself if I can find the time.”
“I play the organ,” my friend laughingly offered. “My mom used to play for her church and she taught me to play while I was growing up. I can play the keyboard too, it’s not that much different.”
It was my turn to have my eyes light up. “Really? I was kind of thinking of doing a mixture of rock, Gothic rock, and maybe some alternative or electronic rock and having someone who could play the organ and keyboard would be perfect for that.”
“I would want to buy a good portable organ and a keyboard, but I would love to be in your band if you think I’m good enough. I’m tempted to go shopping for them right now but I have no place to put an organ, even a portable one,” she lamented.
“A keyboard wouldn’t take up much space but we can’t exactly go shopping right now anyway, I look like this and it’s three in the afternoon so your allergy would be a problem,” I pointed out.
“Oh! That’s what I came in here to tell you,” she said slapping her forehead at her absentmindedness. “You know how Dr. Park has been gradually increasing the UV output and duration of my phototherapy sessions?”
I nodded an affirmative. “Yeah she’s been leaving you cooking while we’ve been running my tests in the afternoon. Usually you’re still recovering from the rash when I get back. Didn’t you have one today? You usually have your sessions after lunch but your skin looks as pale as it usually is.”
Her head bobbed up and down as she nodded eagerly. “I did, but Dr. Park decided to try something different today. She figured out that the areas that I had been burned when I went into the fire to find my parents didn’t seem to be affected by my allergy; I wasn’t even tanning in those areas. Apparently UV radiation at normal levels was burning my skin enough to be irritating to my skin but it wasn’t intense enough to warrant regeneration of the skin cells. But areas that have already been burned more severely are somewhat burn resistant after they heal. So she decided to give me a quick burst of the UV lights at full intensity. It burned like hell but my regeneration kicked in almost immediately.”
My eyebrows lifted in interest. “So does Dr. Park think this will work as a cure for your allergy?”
“She believes that I shouldn’t have any more problems, but she wants to keep me around for another day or two and have me go outside and walk in the sunshine for a bit to make sure it’s working. If it doesn’t we’ll come back inside right away,” my friend answered.
“We?” I asked uncertainly. “Girls with blue skin and pink hair tend to get a lot of attention, and so far from my experience it hasn’t been the good kind.” It was true that besides my mother and the others in the Hyper care unit only the people at the rehabilitation center had seen me, but I hadn’t liked the looks that they had been giving me each day one bit. I was always glad when our testing sessions for the day were over.
“Dr. Park thought it would be a good idea for you to get out a bit too so she has some stuff waiting for us in her lab. So let’s go so we can get out of here for a bit,” She grabbed me by the hand and half dragged me out of my room and toward Dr. Park’s lab.
“Hey some of us here don’t have super strength you know, or super speed,” I complained.
“The strength and speed I’m using right now are well within the human norm, I should know since I’ve been working hard for six months to get to the point where right now I wouldn’t be crushing your hand, ripping your arm out of its socket or pulling you fast enough that your feet wouldn’t be touching the ground,” she retorted as we stopped outside the door.
“Well that’s good, because I like having a hand and an arm an awful lot.” We entered the lab where our doctor was looking over some reports and I sighed. “Dr. Park, could you please relieve Twilight of this silly notion that we can get me to pass as normal.”
“I’m pretty sure we can’t get you looking normal, you’re far too pretty for that but we can get you looking human at least.” With that Dr. Park had me strip down while they got to work. They pinned up my hair and had me close my eyes while Dr. Park used an air brush to apply a light flesh-toned paint over my whole body while explaining, “This is specialized body paint. It will take a few minutes to set but when it does it won’t smudge or rub off for six hours, though it will wash off with a special cleaning solution.”
Once they were done with my skin and the paint was set they had me sit still while Twilight painted my nails black and Dr. Park secured a long and curly black wig over my hair and put some blue colored contacts in my eyes. The finishing touches were done with makeup: Mascara on my eyelashes and to darken my eyebrows, black eyeliner and lipstick, and a very subtle addition of blush to my cheeks. Then I was able to put on the panties and sports bra and the outer clothes which consisted of a black t-shirt with a faded skull pattern on it, tight black jeans, and a pair of black leather knee high boots. Finally they let me face a mirror.
I still looked like my female self but with the wig, contacts, and body paint I looked human and it caused me to gasp. “Holy crap.”
The pair smiled at me and Dr. Park said, “See, you can pass as human this way, as long as you keep your ears covered. Now you girls go out and enjoy the sunshine for a bit but remember to be back before visiting hours are over so someone can let you back in. So you have until eight o’clock at the latest. And please stick to calling one another Candice and Leslie.”
For the first time since my transformation I was truly enjoying myself. I could fit in with other people. Sure I was getting some stares but those were because I was a good looking girl and my happiness didn’t really mesh with the Goth look I was sporting. I couldn’t get over the thought that I could still sing and that with some effort I could look normal. With those two things I thought that maybe I could adjust to being a girl after all.
Of course Twilight sensed my good mood; she probably would have even without my powers. She was pretty happy herself as well because thus far in the hour that we had been walking around town with her quietly giving me tips on how to act or walk she had yet to have any reaction at all to the sunlight, usually even only a few minutes exposure made her skin red and blotchy. After having an early dinner at an open air café, we eventually decided to go into a nearby mall that was open until nine o’clock. Twilight said it had some great clothing stores and a decent music store. She teased me that if I was a good student while we shopped for clothes, we could go look at the music store after.
Over the next two hours, Twilight bought me five outfits and a few for her as well while she taught me about all the different articles of clothing, colors, and what would look best on me. She also introduced me to make-up. I was doing my best to commit everything to memory and for my clothes I had mostly chosen jeans and various tops that my friend had thought looked good when I tried them on. She did insist on one skirt, to get me used to the idea of wearing them. I think though that the underwear was the most embarrassing. She took me into Victoria’s Secret for that and they had to measure me; I was a 34 D according to the saleswoman.
It was a good thing I was painted or I was sure my cheeks would have been lavender from my blushing. As it was I felt really awkward with some of the daring panty and bra sets that Twilight and the saleswoman, Judy, had proposed. My friend explained, “Candy has always been a tomboy and now that she’s blossomed she’s decided to try to come out of her shell.”
Judy smiled. “Don’t be shy dear, I was a late bloomer myself, and trust me with your body, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I’m still kind of getting used to all this,” I said looking down at my breasts. “One minute I’m pretty unspectacular and these things weren’t there, and the next I look like this.”
“It does seem like that sometimes doesn’t it,” the saleswoman laughed.
Finally we chose two sets in black, another two in white, and one in pink. It was then that Twilight decided that we were done getting me some necessities and that we could go to check out The Beat. The music store had a pretty good selection and a room where you could try out instruments before you bought them. I was looking at a really nice wireless microphone when Twilight dragged me toward the sound room. “They don’t have any Hammond portable organs but they do have the newest model of Hammond keyboard. It’s got pre-programmed ‘voices’ for Hi-Def Acoustic Grand, Rhodes, Wurli, and FM Pianos. It also has Clavinet, Harpsichord, Accordion, Wind, Brass, Synth, Tuned Percussion, and four different types of Organ voices, including a pipe organ. I want you to hear me play while I test one.”
We went into the soundproof testing room and finding it empty, she guided me over to the keyboard and began playing a haunting and sad melody with the pipe organ setting. It was beautiful and heart wrenching and I didn’t recognize it so I asked, “What was that? It was beautiful and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard it before.”
She shook her head, “It’s something I composed after my mom and dad died, it doesn’t have any lyrics or anything.”
I shook my head, “It has lyrics, or it will as soon as I find paper and a pen.” Now that I heard that song it was like the words wanted to erupt from me. We both needed closure from our parents, she had the song she had composed, but my closure, my acceptance of myself, was in the words and they ached to be sung. Once she had provided a notepad and pen from her purse I began hurriedly jotting down the words that kept running through my mind. Ten minutes later I asked, “Can you play that again?”
She began to play the haunting melody and I waited until just the right moment to break into the lyrics of the first verse I had written. I remembered the look on my mother’s face when I had changed and I poured all of that sorrow and pain into the words.
It looks like my secret is finally out
Of this I have no doubt
There’s no way that your love will last
My heart breaks like glass
I retreat to the shadows of my mind
Hoping that I might find
A little darkness where I can go hide
And put reality aside
I tried not to cry and to gather myself as I wait out the short break in the music I had left between the first verse and the chorus. I reassured myself that I will get through this and that maybe there are some people who can accept me as I launch into the chorus.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you accept me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you‘ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
I take the brief pause before the second verse to collect myself and get a mouthful of air before closing my eyes and singing again.
Your lips are moving, but there’s no sound
My heart drops to the ground
And I just cannot hear what you’re saying
But I start crying
One look at your face, tells me everything
And I stop breathing
You claimed to love me, where’s that love now?
Did you disavow?
I carried the last note for several long second as Twilight played on. The love of my mother was lost to me and I mourned that but I needed to move on and so I broke again into the chorus.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you accept me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you’ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
I could feel tears stinging my eyes through the next break and as I began to sing the last verse I hoped that I wasn’t messing up my body paint or makeup. I had been told both were waterproof but you never know.
I may look different but it’s you who’s changed
Loyalties rearranged
I don’t fit in the box you set up for me
Oh why can’t you see
Whether our skin is black, white, or blue
What’s inside is true
And if you can’t take all that is me
Please just leave me be
I needed this so much, to get all of this out in a way that would help me to let go of everything that had happened since my world had changed. Another short breather and I decided that I needed to let go of my past and accept my situation now. After all, how could others accept me if I couldn’t even accept myself? Ken Graham was dead, I was Syryn now. I poured that thought and the determination that came with it into the chorus.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you believe me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you’ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
As the music began to fade I softly repeated, “Deep down in the shadows,” one more time slowly and softly letting it carry until the music ended.
Twilight was wiping tears from her eyes once her hands left the keyboard. “That was amazing. If we ever get anywhere with this, that is going on our first album.”
“Well I thought that it suited the music you composed, you’re really good. So are you going to get the keyboard?” I asked.
“Hell yeah,” she supplied with a grin. “It’s got everything I want, so I’ll get it and a fold-up stand for it. Oh and we’ll need that mic you were looking at too. So let’s grab the stuff and get going, it’s almost seven thirty.”
We took a cab and made it back to the hospital and the Hyper care ward with a few minutes to spare. When Dr. Park opened the security door for us she smiled. “You cut it pretty close there girls. How did it go?”
Twilight smiled back as she responded, “It went great, the sun didn’t bother me at all and Syryn didn’t get any looks other than those that guys usually reserve for pretty girls.“
I put my share of the shopping bags down as I nodded in agreement. “I learned a lot too. And I think I might be able to live with being a girl. I can sing and with a little help I can look human enough to blend in so I can still pursue my dream of being a rock star.”
We told Dr. Park about our decision to live together and to start a band somewhere other than New Haven and she seemed happy with the decision. “I was worrying about both of you since it looks like neither of you needs to be here anymore. At least this way I know you’ll be watching out for one another. What concerns me though is that both of you still need to train with your powers. Let me call some friends of mine in New York tonight and maybe I can work something out to help you with that. You girls have a good night. Dr. Howe is on duty now so I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch.”
Dr. Park was the head of the Hyper care ward and usually worked from lunch time until eight in the evening. The other two doctors, Dr. Howe and Dr. Winters were both nice enough but it was really just a job to them while Dr. Park treated us as if we were her own kids most of the time. Of the two of them Dr. Howe was the nicer one. It might have been just a job to him but he took it seriously enough and our needs were always his top priority when he was on duty.
Twilight and I put our things away in our rooms and went to Dr. Park’s lab to remove my disguise and the body paint. It took nearly an hour but we got me all cleaned up and into a white cotton nightgown that Twilight had bought with the rest of my clothes. Then we went to the common room to play cards with the guys before turning in for the night. I didn’t speak much while we played, mostly because I didn’t want to give my hands away with my projected emotions but it was fun nonetheless. I went to sleep that night feeling the best that I had since my activation.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 2 New Beginning Amethyst |
Three days after our big outing Dr. Park sat down with us for lunch and said, “Okay everyone I’ve got some news to share.” Once she was sure that she had our undivided attention she gave Twilight and me a sad look and continued on to add, “Leslie and Candice will be leaving us today.” We all stared at her eyes wide and my breath caught in my throat. “Leslie turns eighteen in three weeks and Candice does in August. Neither of them has medical needs to keep them here any longer. I have contacts in New York who have offered to pick the girls up, help them get settled in New York City, and see that they get the training they both need.”
“Well I guess if we’re going to try to break into the music industry that’s a pretty good place to start,” I put in.
“New York City?! That’s awesome, we’re gonna have so much fun there,” Twilight added with a grin. “Wait! You said were leaving today?”
Dr. Park nodded, “After lunch you’ll have half an hour to get packed and say your goodbyes as they’ll be here at one thirty. All of your paperwork is done and I have high school diplomas for you both. She handed us each an envelope and I found that the diploma inside was made out to Candice Lynn Graham and was certified by Hill Regional Career High School. She must have seen the confused look on my face because she gave me a reassuring smile and said, “The exams I had you both taking were from that school. I have had other long term patients like you do the same before. It’s not all that unusual for this hospital to have long term patients study privately and take equivalency exams through them and they know I work with the Children’s Hospital. Since you both did so well on all your exams they had no problems with issuing the diplomas.”
“Thanks Dr. Park, I’m going to miss you all,” Twilight said with teary eyes,
I nodded in agreement, “Me too, you’ve been great Dr. Park. You said they’ll be here at one thirty?” When she nodded I asked in a concerned tone, “That’s barely enough time to pack, will we have time to put on my disguise?”
She shook her head, “You needn’t worry about it. You won’t be out in public except in the elevator. My friends will be coming here to pick you up and they assure me that they will have a means to disguise you when you get where you’re going.”
Twilight and I finished our meals quickly and went to our rooms to pack what little we had in the two large suitcases that Dr. Park had brought for us. I finished pretty quickly and was saying my goodbyes to Smog, Taser, and Armor when Twilight came out with her own suitcase and the case containing her keyboard and stand. “You guys behave yourselves,” she said as she joined us. “We’ll send emails to you all once we’re settled. Smog has his laptop so at least we can stay in touch that way.”
We were both giving Dr. Park a hug goodbye when the intercom to the security door buzzed. “That will be your escort girls. Keep in touch; it won’t be the same without you here.” She let us go and we took one last look around, grabbed our baggage, and walked with Dr. Park to the door. She pressed the button by the door and said, “Hello.”
“Hi Maddie, we’re here to pick up our potential house guests,” came a friendly and very female voice. Dr. Park opened up the door and nothing could have prepared me for the two people standing on the other side. The first of the pair was a man who was six foot six and dressed from head to toe in black. Seriously, he was dressed like a ninja but even his eyes were covered in the black material of his costume. The woman I would have had to be completely ignorant of the news and internet and have lived the last five years of my life locked in a box to not know. She had long red hair and green eyes and wore a blue mask and a blue bodysuit with white stars along the outer arms and legs with a red leotard, boots, and a utility belt over top.
“Liberty,” I said in awe. Aside from Paragon she was probably the best known super hero in the whole country and she was the leader of Aegis.
The red, white, and blue heroine chuckled and said, “It’s nice to meet you. You must be Candice and Leslie, or would you rather I called you Syryn and Twilight?” she asked with a wink and I could feel myself blushing a deep purple as she continued speaking. “This is my teammate Blackout of course. Most people know that he can cancel out another mutant’s powers by touching them. What most people don’t know is that he detects powers as well and can accurately measure them.”
The large man nodded, “You were right Madison, these girls are going to need training.” He gestured to Twilight. “She’s got category two regeneration, some sort of darkness related ability I would rate at category two as well, category three speed, and strength somewhere between category three and four. She’s nearly as strong as Liberty is.”
Liberty’s eyes widened a bit at that. “That’s impressive; I’m surprised she hasn’t destroyed something yet.”
Twilight blushed, “I did destroy a MRI scanner accidentally in a panic attack when I was first being tested but I’ve been working really hard the last six months at limiting how hard I grip things and how fast I move.”
“It’s good that you’ve learned that kind of control but you will need to push your limits as well to find out exactly what you’re capable of. You never know when you’ll need to use your powers, so if you don’t develop them to their fullest it could be just as dangerous as not developing them at all,” he explained before turning to me. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “You mentioned the interesting changes in Syryn’s physiology Madison and those alone would likely make her a noteworthy candidate for the project but you failed to mention how powerful she is. She has category three projective empathy and category five telekinesis. If she doesn’t train both of those properly someone is going to get hurt.”
“Well, I have only been studying her for a week,” Dr. Park countered, “And her telekinetic abilities have been growing stronger each day since she was activated so it has been hard to get an accurate measure.”
I was only vaguely aware of her speaking though as what Blackout had said had me concerned. If they were rating powers like hurricanes then that meant I was a damn powerful telekinetic. And then there was the other thing he said that concerned me. “Excuse me, but what is the project?” I asked nervously, wondering if they wanted to dissect me or something.
“Aegis has done a lot of good since we formed five years ago,” Liberty began to explain. “Now we have decided that we want to start training a secondary team of five or six young people that can serve as reserve members of Aegis, a backup team if something else comes up when we’re on a mission, or to take on assignments we’re incapable of doing. From what Blackout and Madison have said and based on Madison’s psychological assessment of you both I would like you two to consider being the first two members of that team.”
“So you’re offering us a job?” I asked uncertainly.
“Right now all we’re offering is an opportunity, it’s up to you whether you decide to take it,” Blackout replied. “If you both do decide that you want to join the program we’d be glad to have you and you’ll get equipment, training sessions with us and the other members of the team, whatever help you need getting set up in your civilian identities, and a place to live as part of the deal. If you decide not to take the opportunity then we will still help you how we can but I would suggest that you seriously think about taking it. With powers like yours, a little control is sometimes worse than none at all.”
“I don’t know,” Twilight said uncertainly. “This is a great offer and all but we kind of have our hearts set on starting a band and trying to get into the music industry.”
Liberty smiled warmly at us both. “Madison mentioned that on the phone. Whatever civilian career you choose to pursue is of course up to you and we won’t prevent you from doing that. We all have civilian identities and some form of employment and we will try to fit training sessions into your schedule if you do start a civilian career. For the first six months all you would be doing is training unless you have a unique skill that we need on a mission.”
I wasn’t too keen on the idea of running around in spandex fighting people who would in all likelihood try to kill me but practically speaking we would be getting a lot out of the deal and learning to control our powers. Besides, would you flat out refuse such an offer from one of the most respected superheroes in the country? Finally I nodded. “I do need to learn to control my powers so I guess I don’t mind giving this a try as long as it won’t interfere with my goals.”
“If Syryn is in then I guess I’ll give it a shot too,” Twilight added.
“It’s decided then,” Liberty said with a smile. “Welcome to the family. I will ask you to make sure that anything we show you and the location of our headquarters be kept secret. We have no official ties to the government and keeping our secrets keeps us all safer.” Then she turned to Dr. Park and hugged her, “It’s been good seeing you again Maddie. Make sure you take some vacation time this summer and come visit us all.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” she laughed before hugging me and Twilight in turn. “Good luck out there girls, remember us little people when you make it big.”
“I don’t think either of us will ever forget you Dr. Park, thanks for everything,” Twilight said for us both. I would have said something too but I didn’t want everyone all sad and nervous if I couldn’t control my subsonics. So I merely nodded and waved as we turned and followed the costumed pair.
When we arrived at the roof the first thing I saw was the large sliver craft on the helipad. It had an aerodynamic shape and was roughly the size of a city bus with no visible entrance and sat on six legs. “This is the Ladybug, a Tinker friend of ours designed and built her for us; you’ll meet him when we get home,” Liberty said as she took out some kind of remote control from a pouch on her belt. It did have the general shape of a ladybug and resembled one even more when the top part of the rear three quarters of the ship seemed to separate from the ship and spread out into large aerodynamic wings with powerful looking propellers aimed toward the ground. “This baby has a maximum speed of mach three in atmosphere, VTOL capabilities, a cloaking device, and is both submersible and space flight capable.”
A platform had descended from the ship’s undercarriage and as we walked toward it Liberty continued to explain. “Once we’re in flight the legs retract into the ship, and if we need to go into space or under water the wings will return to their resting place and the manoeuvring thrusters will emerge. The main booster engine on this baby has a lot of thrust.” I was in awe as we stepped onto the platform and it rose into the craft and I thought I heard Twilight whistle.
Once inside we were directed to place our baggage in a storage container and to sit in one of the dozen seats in the passenger area while Liberty and Blackout went to the cockpit to get us in the air. The flight was all too short and I watched the scenery below speed by out the window beside me. I kept watching until I could see New York City spread out beneath us getting closer and Liberty came out of the cockpit. “We’re going to land in the East River near Mill Rock Island and submerge, there’s less water traffic there. Then we’ll make our way to a tunnel that we’ll travel to get to our headquarters. We’ll show you the ways in and out once we have a quiet day to teach you to pilot the Ladybug.”
Soon we had traversed the underwater tunnel and a platform raised the ship out of the water to a large hangar type room. Once we had disembarked Blackout explained, “There are three sub-levels that make up our base. This is the hangar level and above it is the training level where the pool, gymnasium, obstacle course, and shooting range are. On the level above that are the situation room, recreation room, laboratory, and underground parking. We will need to make you both key cards, both those and fingerprint identification are required to get to these lower levels by the elevator or into the garage from the outside.”
Twilight and I both nodded and I asked, “If these are the sub-levels what’s above that?”
“Above that is the apartment complex where we all live. Senator Dixon bought the land and deeded it to my civilian identity a few years back,” Liberty said. “The building is on East 88th facing Carl Schurz Park.”
“I thought you said we had no ties to the government,” Twilight said with a confused look.
“Not officially we don’t,” she replied, “But I saved his son’s life and he wanted to help us to continue to work without government interference. We work better when we don’t have to cut through a bunch of red tape to get anything done.”
“Why are you trusting us with all this?” I wondered aloud, “You barely know us.”
“Because Maddie thinks that you both are trustworthy girls with a strong moral compass and that you have the potential to be a great asset to us. I would trust Maddie with all of our lives, any member of my team would. She has helped every one of us turn our lives around at some point.” I could hear the conviction in Liberty’s voice and see it in her eyes as she spoke.
“I guess we all have a lot in common then,” I said.
She smiled and nodded in agreement as she gestured to the elevator. “Let’s get you girls to the recreation room and introduce everyone, and then we can help you get settled in. Do you two still want to share an apartment, or would you rather have your own? Most of the apartments in the building are two bedrooms and with just us living here we have ten apartments sitting empty right now.”
I‘d still like to share one if it’s okay with Twilight,” I said. “I don’t really like the thought of living in a place on my own.”
My friend grinned at me. “Good, because I feel the same way.”
As we rode the elevator up Blackout said, “I hope you don’t get upset with Madison but she informed us of your unusual situation Syryn. She figured that you’re going to need help getting documentation for your new identity. We have Silver Spirit and Blake working on that, hopefully they’ll have some good news for you.” When he saw the uncertainty on my face he was quick to try to reassure me. “None of us care who or what you were before. We all have pasts, and it’s who we are now that’s important.”
“In fact,” Liberty added, “We all decided that if you did join us that since we know so much about you and Twilight that it’s only fair that we tell you a little bit about ourselves too.”
We entered the recreation room and I took a moment to take in the large room. It had a fridge, a small kitchen, a pool table, and three large sofas in a U shape in front of what was quite possibly the largest TV I had ever seen. There were four people already seated and waiting for us and at Liberty’s encouragement Twilight and I took a seat on the one unoccupied sofa. while the two we came in with sat beside a boy who looked maybe fifteen years old on the center couch. What surprised me the most was that none of them were in costume. I was even more surprised when both Blackout and Liberty removed their own masks.
Liberty was very pretty under that mask and I noticed that she had freckles that had been hidden by her mask as she began to speak. “So, we’ve all been briefed on you and we all know one another so I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. My civilian name is Lisa Leeds. Ten years ago I enlisted in the army and their medical tests showed that I had dormant H Chromosomes. They placed me in a unit with a bunch of others like me and put us on the front lines in Afghanistan. Then they spiked our water rations with a drug to make us agitated hoping that they could trigger our H Chromosomes to create a unit of super soldiers. Only three of us survived the hell that ensued and had our powers activated, I was the only one who came out anywhere close to sane. I tried to end it all but being invulnerable that proved difficult. After I got discharged Maddie helped me to get my head straight and my life together.”
Blackout was the next to speak. He was an African American man with short cropped hair and a thin mustache, and his eyes seemed to hold so much sorrow. “I’m Nick Tanner and I used to work for a government organization that shall remain nameless. I didn’t much care who they were so long as there was a paycheck. They paid me to find other Hypers to work for them but I found out that they were experimenting on them when one escaped. We broke the rest out, but I was in pretty bad shape after and one of them brought me to Madison.”
The young man on the couch with them smiled at us. He had shaggy brown hair and green eyes and was dressed in a red t-shirt and jeans. “I’m not really a member of the team, but I make all the team’s gear, including the Ladybug. My name’s Blake Dixon, I’m fifteen and my dad is Senator Ronald Dixon. A couple years back my Tinker powers manifested when I was kidnapped. They were going to kill me as soon as they got the ransom money but Lisa came in and saved me. My dad bought this place and I fixed it up. When he deeded the place to Lisa my dad asked that I be allowed to stay here under a new identity so I’m not in the public eye so much. It’s great, I’m independent and I get to invent all sorts of cool gear for all of you.”
“I’m Jason Jackson and my codename is Phantasm,” a wiry blond man with bright blue eyes dressed in a plaid shirt and worn out jeans said. “I was the mutant who escaped from the government agency Nick mentioned. When the experiments started damn was I glad I had only told them about my illusion powers and not my intangibility. I helped Nick break the others out and Madison introduced us to Lisa when the mess was over with. Together we founded Aegis.”
The next to introduce himself was a Native American man with long black hair who wore a dark grey suit. “Hi girls, I’m Travis Truman but I’m better known as the Silver Spirit. Last year I found a strange device on my Grandfather’s ranch in New Mexico. The device turned out to be a nano-tech bodysuit with an on-board AI that I call Phil, he says hi too by the way. Phil used to belong to the sole surviving alien of the crash outside Roswell in the fifties. The alien was badly wounded and after he escaped the government’s detection he died when flying over the ranch. Phil’s permanently bonded to me but I’m okay with that because we get along and he allows me to fly, turn invisible, and fire energy blasts. He can also hack any computer on the planet and has a pretty durable armor mode. Madison helped solve a compatibility problem with the neural interface when I was mistakenly thought to be a Hyper and sent to her for treatment.”
The last person was almost as unusual looking as I was. She wore a green dress and had long silver hair, amber eyes, and her ears were pointed like my own. “I am Tessily,” she stated simply, “Eight centuries ago I fell victim to a betrayal most foul. I was a princess among my people, soon to be a queen, but my own sister turned me to stone and cursed me to remain a statue until touched by a human pure of heart. I was found in a cave in Ireland nearly a century ago and passed through the hands of various collectors until fortune smiled on me and I found myself in the home of a collector in this city. His young daughter touched me and broke the curse. This fellowship of heroes introduced me to Madison and she is attempting to discover what has become of my people.”
“Tessily is extremely agile, has better senses than a human, and is a crack shot with a bow,” Liberty explained. “She also has some small magical ability that she uses to cast enchantments on her arrows.”
Tessily nodded and turned to smile at me. “I believe that this telekinesis Madison spoke of, is very much like magic as it relies solely on your mind and willpower. I will teach you some meditation techniques that my people use to improve concentration and mental imagery. Before you master your gifts you must master your mind.”
“So I’ll be leaving your training in Tess’ hands Candice, while I’ll be helping Leslie to push her limits. Eventually we’ll all do group sessions with you both though to help with teamwork and strategy and such,” Liberty said to us. “Get used to calling us all by code names when we’re in uniform and by our civilian names when we’re not so there are no slip ups. Leslie, I’ll help you to choose an apartment while Blake and Travis commandeer Candice for a bit. Everyone else can get back to whatever they were doing before we arrived.”
With that everyone split up and Blake and Travis led me to the laboratory where Blake had some devices for me to look at. “When Dr. Park told me about your appearance I began to think about a more effective disguise for you that won’t take a lot of time to put on and remove. Sometimes you need to get into costume fast, and taking off a burdensome disguise would take far too long. So for that I created this.” He pointed to a silver heart pendant on a silver chain.
“It’s very pretty,” I said, “So what does it do?”
“Once you put it on, the pendant will be coded to your DNA. After that it will only work for you and whenever you wear it the pendant will generate a photon field along the surface of your skin that will cause it to appear a light colored flesh tone. I also programmed it so that your eyebrows should appear blonde and your eyes blue, and to warp the way light reflects off of the pointed tips of your ears to make them appear more normal. I call it the second skin.”
“Neat,” I said as I put it on and I gasped in a mix of pleasure and surprise as my skin suddenly appeared normal. “What’s that?” I asked pointing to something that looked like a flesh colored swimming cap with thousands of tiny black dots.
“I call that the hair net,” he said with a grin. “Like the second skin and most other devices I make for you it will be coded to your DNA so nobody else can use it. The hair net is worn over your own hair and when you put it on it will fasten securely to your head until you press the small mole behind the left ear to release it. Each of those dots is a tiny three dimensional image projector that will project a solid light hologram of a blonde human hair approximately two feet in length. It looks and feels just like human hair, is effected by gravity, and can be styled any way you like, though it is only light so don’t try to get it cut unless you want to freak out your hairdresser.”
I laughed at the picture that caused in my mind, as I piled my hair on top of my head and he helped me to put the device over my hair. “Don’t give me any ideas.” I could feel it tighten on my head and a moment later there was a curtain of blonde hair in my eyes. I brushed it aside and it did feel very real. “That should cover my disguise, so what’s this third device?” I asked pointing to a black belt with silver wires running through it and a black metal clasp. It also had some black pouches on it.
“It’s a utility belt,” the boy genius replied. “The pouches are for whatever you might need to have with you and are removable but the belt itself has another use completely aside from handy storage. Put it on and fasten the clasp.” I did as he asked and once I had it on he said, “The buckle is a specialized touch pad, give it a tap.”
Again I did as instructed and found myself hovering a foot above the ground. “Holy crap, I’m flying!”
He chuckled at that, “Technically you’re floating actually, it’s an anti-gravity device. Flying devices are feasible but it’s hard to control the direction and speed without a lot of additions that would make it impractical to wear. I’ve heard of only three other TKs category three or above. They can all fly, but it’s like ten times more taxing on them then it needs to be because, not only are they moving in whatever direction they want to go but they’re pushing against the earth’s gravity to keep themselves in the air as well. It’s like trying to hold a push up, the longer you do the more your arms, or in your case your brain, hurts and the more effort you need to use. If you don’t have to fight gravity then even a category one TK could fly. In your case you’re free to fly and have more power to spare for other things, like rescuing people. You’re the only category five TK I’ve ever heard of and having to use less power to fly will give you a lot of extra power to spare.”
“So I just tap the buckle whenever I want to turn it on or off?” I asked to be certain.
“Yup, I tried to make it as easy as possible for you,” he responded. “You need to be wearing it for it to work though, and it will only respond to your bio-electric signature now that you've used it.”
I tapped the buckle and dropped to the floor. “Thanks Blake, you’re amazing with this stuff. I can’t wait to use this properly.”
“No problem Candice,” he said with a grin. “I love a good challenge and the problem you presented really made me have to use my brain. Just let me know if you need anything else or when you have an idea what you want your costume to look like. I’m working on some great new materials.”
Travis chuckled beside me. “Now that Blake is done showing off your goodies and getting your disguise on I believe he has something for me as well before I drag you downtown to the office.”
Blake picked up an envelope from his desk and handed it to Travis. “Here you go, Dad had it sent by courier first thing this morning.”
“Great Blake, now we can do all this legally. Come on Candice we have someone to go see,” Travis said as he led me to the underground parking. We both climbed into his black Lexus and he drove me downtown to the Department of Justice building on Chambers Street. It was weird and a little exciting to be driving through the streets of New York City with a real live superhero, and it was getting me a little excited. By the time we arrived his suit had morphed into a black and silver armored costume that covered him completely from head to toe. “Just act casual,” he told me as we got off the elevator on the third floor and made our way down the hallway, “If anyone official-looking asks I’m here to protect you at Senator Dixon’s request.”
Finally we entered an office that said ‘Tara Miller: HPP’. A brunette woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail sat behind the desk looking bored. She immediately perked up as we entered though, and she stood to greet us. “Spirit! Senator Dixon mentioned that you’d be bringing me another case, please both of you have a seat.”
“Tara, this is Candice, Candice this is Tara,” Travis offered as we all sat down and he let his face plate dissolve. Then he explained to me as he pushed the envelope he carried over to the woman on the other side of the desk, “Tara is our contact with the Hyper Protection Program, an offshoot of the federal witness protection program. It’s for Hypers with no criminal records that face potential life threatening violence or need to change their identity for some reason. She helped create identities for both Blake and Tess and is one of the few non team members that knows our real identities.”
Tara nodded as she opened the envelope and read the signed document inside. “Yup this is an official request from Senator Dixon’s office, so I guess we can get down to business. I usually don’t get much work sent my way because we’re not exactly in the yellow pages and government/Hyper relations aren’t really that great right now. So why don’t you tell me why you need a new identity? You look pretty normal to me but sometimes even the most normal looking mutants are victims of violence and threats.” At my look of uncertainty she quickly assured me, “This is all kept completely confidential, only those of us in this room will be privy to anything you tell me. I’m a Hyper myself so I know how important it is to keep secrets.”
I told her everything, from my change in the hospital and my mom declaring me dead to the peculiarities of my appearance. “So you see since I wasn’t even female before this and I look completely different now. Nobody will ever believe I’m my old self.”
She shook her head sadly. “Sometimes our Archetypes decide to really throw us for a loop. Blake is a real genius, that’s a damn fine disguise. The first thing we’re going to do is change all records of Ken Graham to deceased since just changing that information would still make it possible for people to connect you to your old self. Then I will take some pictures of you with your disguise on and we’ll come up with an entirely new identity for Candice Lynn Graham, who was born and raised in New York City. To make things easier we’ll say that your parents died when you were young and you grew up in various foster homes. Shall we make Lisa your current foster parent like we did with Blake until you’re eighteen?”
“That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. Then she took out a camera like the kind they use for drivers licence and passport photos and took several pictures of me. By the time she was finished I had a completely fabricated history including singing lessons, in opera of all things. She accessed all of the proper databases and created new birth and medical records, social security information, school records and a diploma, a driver’s licence, and even foster care records from a reputable foster care agency. I think the most shocking thing was that she managed to print out official looking copies of all the documents and identification while we waited and she drilled me on my fictitious past.
“Damn you’re quick, but isn’t changing the records like that a little illegal?” I asked. “I don’t want anyone getting in trouble on my account.”
Tara shook her head, “It’s all legal for me to do it so long as I have a signed and verified written request from some level of government or a government agency. Travis and Phil could have probably made the changes easily but it’s better to get it done through me by request so it’s legal.”
Travis nodded in agreement “Phil and I could do a lot of damage if we cared to but we just aren’t like that,” he assured me. “There is nothing on earth that can trace a hack by Phil even if they did discover the changes, which they wouldn’t, but I would still rather go through the proper channels.”
“Thanks a lot Tara, I was a little worried about having proper ID and stuff and this is a load off my mind,” I said as she handed me the packet with all my new documents and identification.
“It was my pleasure,” she replied with a smile, “You have enough on your plate right now without that to worry about as well, so I’m glad I was able to help. Oh and before I forget, here’s a check made out to your new identity for getting yourself settled into your new life. It’s not a lot, but it should help.”
“You’re giving me money too? Why?” I asked a bit confused as I looked at the check in my hand.
“It’s basically to cover start-up costs and expenses, witness protection does it for all people needing to start over, and so do we,” she explained.
The next few days were extremely busy. Lisa took us on a tour of New York City and helped us to get all the necessities we would need for ourselves and our apartment. The apartment came furnished but we still needed things like dishes, bedclothes, groceries, and more clothes than what we had. We both enjoyed the time with Lisa immensely, especially when going to tourist sites like the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. It was nice for Leslie to be able to be out in the sun and for me to be able to blend in somewhat. The disguise that Blake had invented was working flawlessly, I still did get looks but only because I was… so hot. As pretty as both Lisa and Leslie were, I still managed to take attention away from them.
It will probably kill any remaining male pride I have left to admit it, but I really enjoyed shopping as well. We had to make several trips but we got everything; we got a good start on our new wardrobes, what we needed for the apartment and enough groceries to last at least a week. It wasn’t so much the shopping and buying things that was fun but the company and the talk as we suggested different items of clothing for one another, asked opinions, and just generally enjoyed one another’s company. Leslie also bought a Hammond portable organ and a pair of laptops for us with music recording and editing software in preparation for our musical aspirations, which thrilled me to no end.
In the evenings we both donned simple black bodysuits, then Leslie became Twilight to have her workout sessions with Liberty, while I had my sessions as Syryn with Tessily. I think the elven warrior princess felt some sort of kinship to me because of my appearance and abilities. Not only did we spend hours in meditation and focusing exercises each night but she also took me to the gymnasium to begin teaching me the fighting style of her people. They didn’t rely on strength and force of arms to win fights but rather intelligence, agility, speed, and using the terrain to their advantage. My new form was in really good shape for a human and I had a lot of stamina so she thought that I would be able to take well to it. She was even teaching me to fight with a sword.
Tessily had had some other ideas as well. She had me working on the concentration and focusing exercises while holding my breath underwater. I had progressed to where I could hold my breath for fifty-seven minutes and I was already starting to get better control of my telekinetic abilities from the exercises with her. As long as I visualized what I wanted to do properly in my mind rather than trying to brute force things I was able to move several large objects at once or create a telekinetic bubble around myself to block attacks. She also had me practice singing while constantly switching my empathic voice on and off and the constant switching was really helping me develop my control over it. The idea was that through constant use I would become more at home using my abilities. She had me using that same theory to develop my skills with my telekinesis as well. She was hoping that soon it would be second nature to me if we kept it up and that I would be able to expand my abilities and control.
We had been in our new home for over two weeks and it was on a Saturday evening, although we were both worn out from training sessions earlier that afternoon,that we finally had time to practice and discuss forming a band. Leslie had just finished cutting my hair to a shorter style just above my shoulders, which would be easier to manage. “So what do you think we should do to find band members? Take an ad out in the newspaper?” I asked my friend and roommate as I used my telekinesis and the anti-gravity belt to move myself around the apartment. Tessily had suggested I do it whenever I was in the building.
She had taken a seat on the couch with her laptop in front of her and I casually floated in front of her and turned myself upside down and facing her. I wasn’t wearing my disguise because it gets itchy after a while and I was getting comfortable enough with myself that I just wanted to be me when we were at home. “I don’t know. The problem is we’re going to be spending a lot of time with these people if we form a band and I think they might find something like that a little unusual,” she said pointing at my current position with a sigh.
“True, if we ever make it big we’re likely going to be living with our band mates while on tour and right now we both need to practice with our powers so we’re not giving ourselves away. If we were looking for other Hypers it wouldn’t be a problem but…” I stopped speaking as her jaw dropped and she stared at me. “What?”
“You are brilliant Candy!” she exclaimed. “I’d hug you but that would be really awkward in the position you’re in right now.”
“You’ll have to explain, it might be all the blood rushing to my head but I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Turn yourself right side up then silly,” she laughed. As I did so and floated myself into a sitting position beside her on the couch she asked, “Why don’t we look for other mutants with a love of music?”
“News flash Leslie, most mutants don’t want other people to know they’re mutants,” I retorted, “Or have you forgotten that that is our current dilemma?”
“Didn’t Lisa suggest earlier that we start looking for other Hypers to be part of the project?” Leslie pointed out. Liberty had indeed suggested that. She had a meeting with us both after our afternoon training sessions to tell us how happy that she and Tessily were with our progress. In fact she was putting the entire team project in our hands and wanted me in particular to play a leading role, though she had suggested a possible place to start looking.
“Yeah she did, I don’t’ know why she’s put me in charge of that though, aren’t you her protégé?” I asked. “I thought that she’d be training you to lead this team like she does Aegis.”
“She is teaching me some leadership stuff but Dr. Park thinks you’ll make a good team leader. I’m too impulsive whereas you think things through and plan better than I do, and you’re really responsible. Now that you’re not so down about your looks and being a girl and you’re making progress with your powers, Lisa thinks you’ll do well at it. We talked a bit about it during our practice session since she didn’t want my feelings hurt and wanted to know my opinion on it,” she explained. “So let’s go talk to Blake like she suggested and maybe kill two birds with one stone.”
I shrugged and replied, “Okay, we’ll ask Blake, but I’ doubt he’ll be able to help much, I don’t think he gets out a lot.”
She nodded, got up, and headed toward the door and I followed her via telekinesis. Soon we were outside Blake’s apartment knocking on the door. Blake answered after a moment wearing his usual black t-shirt and jeans and grinned at us. “Hi Candy, hey Leslie, is there something I can help you with? Do you need me to build something?”
I chuckled as I shook my head. Blake was always eager to help us both since we arrived, probably because we were both attractive and only two years or so older than him. “Lisa suggested we talk to you about finding places that young Hypers gather locally. We’re looking to recruit for the project and we were also thinking that we wouldn’t have to hide as much from our future band if they were mutants too.”
He thought about it for a moment and then seemed to have an idea. “You need to talk to Starbright.”
“Starbright?” I repeated questioningly.
“I first met her on a Hyper discussion forum online,” the inventor explained. “She knows a lot of local mutants since she’s the social type and a bit of a party girl. She’s also as crazy about music as the two of you are. I’ve lost count of how many music threads she has started on the forum. She plays bass and has light-based powers but I couldn’t tell you for sure if she’s in a band or not. She has mentioned that she does get together with some of the local mutants who love music to jam sometimes. So you might want to meet her just because of your common interest.”
“That sounds interesting,” I agreed. “Do you know where we can find her?”
“Tonight she’ll probably be at the freak show. It’s a weekly party for Hypers only, and the location changes every week,” he supplied casually.
My eyebrows rose. “I’m not sure if I like the idea of going to an all mutant party, especially one with a name like ‘the freak show’. How do you even know about something like that?”
He laughed at that. “What did you think I don’t get out much? I’ve gone before, so I’m on the email list that gives the party’s weekly location and time. It’s not as bad as it sounds, it’s just a party with music and dancing where mutants can be themselves and show off a little if they like. I was thinking about going tonight if you must know. If you want I can bring you both as guests and help you find Starbright.”
“Is there anything we need to know about this party?” Leslie asked.
“There are some rules,” Blake advised. “”The first rule is never talk about the freak show to non-Hypers. Rule two is no real names, code names only, so you’ll need to call me Prodigy while we’re there. Rule three is no fighting and/or destruction of property inside the party location. Oh and the doorman will use a scanner to confirm you’re a Hyper and take your email addresses to add you to the mailing list. I advise using a dummy email address that you can access but that is not connected to your civilian identity in any way.”
An hour later Leslie and I had both created dummy email accounts that were easy to remember, and were dressed for a party. Leslie was wearing a red silk sleeveless halter top with short black skirt and black heels. She had somehow convinced me to wear a black strapless mini dress with my black knee high leather boots and had painted my nails pink to match my hair. She also suggested that I wear my spare anti-gravity belt as an accessory since Blake had designed it to look like a girl’s belt to be worn with a variety of outfits. I was wearing the second skin pendant and the hair net as well, but as soon as we got to the party those would be going into my purse.
We returned to Blake’s apartment and he grinned as he opened the door and saw us. “There’s going to be some jealous guys there when they see me show up with the two of you.”
“So how are we getting there anyway?” I asked. “Leslie and I don’t have a car and I don’t know if I would want to take the Ladybug for something like this. Aegis might need it tonight if something comes up.”
“The party tonight is being held at an empty warehouse on the waterfront, and don’t worry about the transportation because I have just the thing. I’ve wanted to take them for a test drive anyway,” he answered with a teasing grin.
“You’re not going to tell us anything until we see whatever they are first hand, are you?” I replied with a shake of my head. I had found that Blake liked to keep his inventions quiet until he was ready for a dramatic reveal.
“Would I do that?” he responded with a chuckle as he closed his apartment door. Then he led us downstairs to the garage where, in addition to everyone’s civilian vehicles, there was a large tarp covering something. He guided us over to the tarp and pulled it away to reveal absolutely nothing. I was in the middle of giving him a dirty look when he said, “Disengage cloak,” and six vehicles that looked like a cross between motorbikes and jet skis suddenly came into view. “I call them Sky-bikes,” he said with another of his grins.
“I assume the name means that they fly,” Leslie responded. “How do they work?”
I was looking one of them over and I saw that the setup of the hand levers and foot pedals was basically the same as a motorbike. It also had a panel with a GPS system, power gauge, speedometer, and what looked like an altimeter. At Leslie’s question I turned to see how Blake would reply. “The right foot pedal controls the altitude and the left halts the main booster engine and kicks in maneuvering thrusters to stop you in a hover. As for the hand levers, the right increases your speed and the left will slowly ease off on the speed. To turn it’s just like riding a motorbike, turn the handlebars and lean into the turn and it will tilt the forward altitude thruster to turn the bike. There is a safety belt so that you don’t fall off and the cloaking device and the engine are both voice activated and will only respond to the user whose voice has been programmed into it.”
After re-programming the black and hot pink sky-bike with my voice and the black and silver one with Leslie’s he gave us a list of the basic voice commands, which we went over a few times to make sure we had them before buckling ourselves into the seats, making sure we were cloaked, and leaving the garage. As soon as we were free of the garage we took to the air and set the coordinates for the autopilot as we had been instructed. I had been worried about using that feature but Blake assured us that the bikes had sonar emitters as part of an impact prevention system as well as a pilot ejection system if somehow a crash was likely to occur. The helmets connected to each bike would relay voice commands, allow us to see through the cloak, let us communicate with one another, and extend the cloak to our bodies as well.
I missed my old motorbike since we had come to New York but this was just as good if not better. There was something thrilling about racing through the night sky, even if I wasn’t currently in control of our course. Soon the bike came to a hover and I slowly eased off on the altitude pedal to land on top of the warehouse. Then I unfastened my safety belt, removed my helmet, and stepped off the bike saying, “Engine off.” Blake was already standing there waiting and a moment later Leslie emerged from seemingly nothing ten feet away.
Remembering that we were only to use code names from this point on I said, “Prodigy, you are awesome.”
“I thought you might like them,” he said, looking very pleased with himself. “You can take your disguise off now, and I’ll need you to fly Twilight and I down to the ground so we can get inside.”
“What, you don’t have rocket boots or something?” I teased as I reached behind my left ear to disengage the hair net and then placed both it and my pendant in my purse. Twilight and I followed him to the edge of the roof and I turned on my anti-gravity belt. “Okay, let’s get down there and party.” I reached out with my mind to lift Twilight off of the roof and into the air with me and when I was sure I had a good telekinetic grip on her I reached out to lift Prodigy as well. Then, as I brought us all down to ground level I silently thanked Tessily for working me so hard on the concentration techniques.
I could feel when the feet of both my companions touched the ground and let go of them both, turned off the anti-gravity belt, and eased myself to the ground as well. “You’re really improving,” Twilight said as she wrapped me in a hug, “All that hard work is really paying off.”
“Yeah,” I admitted as we followed Prodigy, “Tessily has been a great teacher.”
There was a large muscular man leaning against the wall and he touched some sort of wand like device with a display screen and keypad at the other end to each of our hands. A solid green light appeared when it touched Prodigy, while for us the green light flashed. “Welcome back Prodigy,” he said, “Your guests both check out as having H Chromosomes so we’ll get them registered and you can all go in.” He scanned me again but this time he asked my codename and email address which he entered via the tiny keyboard. Once the process had been repeated with Twilight he smiled at us both, “I’m Guardian, welcome to the freak show ladies and have fun.”
Inside the music was loud, people were dancing, and there was the most amazing light show I had ever seen. Colored globes of lights danced in the air while light blue colored lasers erupted from the center of the dance floor. Whenever a laser struck a globe it would explode into a display of multicolored fireworks and more colored globes would appear from the symphony of light. “Wow,” I said.
Prodigy chuckled beside me, “Well at least we know Starbright is here.”
“A person is making all of that?” Twilight asked with a wide-eyed look on her face.
“Yeah, Starbright can create various different light constructs, fireworks, and she can probably do a lot more if she put her mind to it,” he replied. “I’ve only ever met two category five mutants, one is standing beside me and the other is putting on that light show. That’s one of the reasons I suggested her. Even if she’s already in a band she might be a good candidate for the project, and she knows people.”
We made our way over to the dance floor, both of us dancing with Prodigy while slowly making our way toward the source of the light show. There were some envious glances directed toward the inventor while lustful or jealous ones were focused on Twilight and me. We mostly ignored them and just enjoyed ourselves for the moment. That is we were enjoying ourselves, until two guys shoved Prodigy aside and cut in. One was over seven feet tall and had dark blue skin and hair with spikes jutting out from his back, shoulders and arms. The other was a skinny Latino with gold eyes. “Hey there gorgeous,” said the big blue one, “I haven’t seen you here before, I’m Ogre and you look like you were made for me. My friend here is Scanner.”
“No you haven’t, and I’m not interested and neither is my friend,” I practically growled as I looked to make sure Prodigy was okay. He was getting up and gave me a thumbs up as he moved toward a pretty Asian girl in a white mini dress.
“Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? I’m more than a match for any mutant here. I have category three strength and invulnerability. So if you’re trolling for guys I’m the best catch here,” the behemoth said grabbing my wrist. “Scanner, see what these two do besides look pretty.”
Scanner reached out to grab Twilight’s hand and swallowed, “Ogre this girl is stronger than you are and she doesn’t have your invulnerability but she does have category two regeneration, category three speed, and some other ability.” He backed away from Twilight and touched me and his eyes went wide. “Uhm… Ogre you might want to let the girl go, she’s a psychic and one of her abilities is a category five.” There were several sharp intakes of breath from those who had gathered to watch what was going on.
“Let go of me before I get really mad,” I said to the pair very slowly as I held back my empathy. The blue behemoth didn’t move fast enough for my liking so I added, “You have to the count of five. One…” I telekinetically pried his baby finger off my wrist. “Two…” I began to do the same with the next finger when he quickly removed his hand. “Get lost and leave us alone before my friend and I decide to take you both outside and see how tough you really aren’t.”
The two made tracks through the crowd and there was a smattering of applause as Twilight and I made our way over to join Prodigy. He and the girl he was with led us back to the entrance so we could talk without having to shout over the music. Once we were outside Prodigy grinned at me. “Nice going Syryn, I knew you could handle that jerk.” Then he gestured to the girl in the white dress who now that I got a closer look was probably Japanese and in her late teens or very early twenties. “Girls this is Starbright. Star, this is Syryn and Twilight.”
I smiled at the girl and said, “Starlight, Starbright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have a word with you tonight.”
“So I’ve heard,” she said with a big smile. “Prodigy tells me that you’re into music.”
I nodded. “I was in a band before I activated and now Twilight and I are looking to form a new one. Preferably with other mutants so we don’t have to hide who we are from them.”
“Boy do I know how that feels,” the light user replied. “What instruments do you play and what style of music are you thinking of?”
“I play the organ and keyboard,” Twilight put in.
“I’m a singer,” I added, “I’ve been training since I was a kid. We’re thinking of doing a mix of rock, Gothic rock, alternative rock, and electronic rock. I figure that we’ll need a backup singer, a bass player, a guitarist, and a drummer.”
She looked pensive for a moment before nodding. “I do know some people, including myself, who would be down with that. Do you want to do auditions? Or are you willing to trust my judgement?”
I shrugged as I replied, “Prodigy says you know the local mutants who are into music better than anyone. If he trusts your judgement so do I, though I do prefer people who aren’t glory hounds or assholes. I had enough of the one in my last band. I want a band that’s going to be able to stand one another’s company on and off the stage.”
“I can understand that,” she agreed. “I can play bass and sing backup and for drums I would suggest Decibel, he’s a good guy and a good drummer. And if at all possible we have to have Riff for the guitar. He has an ear for music and has studied guitar, bass, piano, violin, and drums. He’s a fun guy too especially with his talent.”
“Do you know anything about their mutant abilities?” I asked.
She nodded. “Decibel’s is pretty self-explanatory, mostly he amplifies sounds but he also has a sonar sense and can emit a high pitched sonic shout. You better cover your ears when he does that last one though. Riff has a personal force field and he mimics any sound or voice he has heard before and can mix and match multiple sounds at once. The guy is a walking band by himself.”
“I would like to meet them both and then maybe we can have a jam session to make sure we can work well together. It would be nice to be able to get to know one another and make sure there’s no personality conflicts too,” I suggested.
“We’ll need to sort out a place to practice,” she pointed out. “But if you want to meet them both I could text them. They’re both here and I could have them come out to join us.” Twilight and I both nodded eagerly so she took her cell phone out of her purse and began rapid texting. About five minutes later a young African American man around the same age as Starbright with short cropped black hair and brown eyes left the warehouse and headed toward us. He was followed by a taller Caucasian guy of about the same age with long brown hair and brown eyes and both were dressed in a t-shirt and jeans combo.
The first of the pair walked up to Starbright and kissed her on the cheek and said, “I was wondering where you disappeared to sweetie. So what is the big news you just had to tell us now?”
The second saw me and laughed, “This should be interesting. The blue girl is the one who sent Ogre running off.” He smiled at me and added, “That was cool, Ogre is a jerk and a bully and he deserved it. You got him to back off and nobody got hurt, I like your style. I’m Riff by the way.”
“I’m… ummm… ahhh… Syryn,” I replied stumbling over the words. Why was I having such trouble speaking? Just because he was cute doesn’t mean I have to yammer like an idiot. Wait did I just think he was cute? My cheeks turned lavender and I looked at my suddenly fascinating boots.
“Now that you’ve met Riff, this is my boyfriend Decibel,” Starbright provided. “Guys, this is Prodigy and the girls are Syryn and Twilight. Syryn and Twilight are looking to form a band.”
“We were… ummm… thinking that it would be easier to just find other mutants who loved music to join us rather than having to hide my appearance and our powers and activities from people we would likely be spending a lot of time with,” I clarified, glad of the change in topic.
“Yeah I bet it’s not easy being blue, and hiding powers can be a pain, especially when you don’t have good control of them,” Riff agreed. “I would have joined a band by now but my powers would make spending that much time with normal people difficult. I have a personal force field that Scanner rated at nearly category four but I have trouble turning it on and off and it’s not like powers come with an instruction manual. When it’s on I get this green glow around me and it’s pretty noticeable. I can control my other ability really well but it has very little practical use aside from pranks. Did I hear Scanner say you’re a category five?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah that’s what Blackout tells me but that’s only my telekinesis, I’m a projective empath too but it’s not as powerful and I need to be speaking or singing to use it.”
Starbright gave me a sympathetic look, “Having people know you’re a Category five really sucks. They expect you to be the next Paragon or something. We didn’t ask for it, we don’t want to have people watching us wondering when we’re going to do something amazing, and we have to live with knowing that we have way too much power to control easily and that people around us can still get hurt if we lose control.”
I nodded sadly in agreement. “When I was activated in the hospital I sent my mom flying across the room. I’ll never forget the look of horror on her face. She called me an abomination and I haven’t seen her since, I’m dead to her now. She was the only family I had.” I almost let control of my empathy slip but I caught myself as Twilight put her arm around me.
Starbright winced, and shook her head as she looked at the ground. “Yeah that’s pretty harsh. I lost most of my family when I was activated too. I was fourteen and we were holding a New Year’s Eve party. My older brother had just been accepted to Harvard and my parents had to brag about it to all their business associates and guests that we were introduced to. I was introduced as an afterthought. I just wanted to enjoy the fireworks and the dancing. I was so tired of being dragged along and living in my brother’s shadow. My powers came in a big way; the flash of light permanently blinded over twenty people who happened to be looking at me at the time, including my brother. They sent me away to live with my grandparents in Japan and I didn’t come back to the states until I graduated two years ago.”
And I thought I had it bad. “They shipped you off to Japan? That must have been rough.”
The Japanese Hyper just shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad; it helped me get more in touch with my roots and the traditions of my people. I actually really enjoyed myself there and my grandparents weren’t intimidated by my powers. I probably would have been sent to live with my aunt and uncle in Canada if they were still alive but they died in a car accident ten years ago. They had a daughter named Sakura who would be about fourteen or fifteen by now.”
“She died in the accident too? It’s always so sad when kids die young,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Actually nobody is really sure what happened with her,” she replied with a sigh. “The family wasn’t told that she died and she sort of disappeared into the system before they could send anyone to claim her. It’s a shame because if she was living with my grandparents I would have had a little sister of sorts. If I could afford it I’d go up there and try to find out what happened with her. She’s still a kid if she’s alive, and she should have family to protect her. Maybe she got lucky and was adopted, I’d like to find out though.”
Decibel gave her a reassuring hug and a kiss and as he pulled away I saw his eyes widen. “Hey guys, us getting to know one another is great and all but I think we might need to table this discussion for later.” I turned to see him pointing to the entrance of the warehouse where the two idiots I had scared off earlier were standing, and it would seem that they had brought along some friends.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 3 RevolveR Amethyst |
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.”
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 4 Adventures in Dating Amethyst |
Friday evening found us cutting practice a little short when there was a knock at the door of the studio. “Hey guys,” Blake said somewhat sheepishly as I opened the door to let him in. “Sorry to interrupt your practice, but I wanted to introduce you to the person I’m getting to create your costumes since she’s visiting tonight.”
“I thought you were making our costumes though?” Ian asked uncertainly as we started putting our music gear back in their usual resting places.
“Nah, I just designed the materials the costumes will be made from, and I’ll install all the tech once they’re finished, fashion really isn’t my thing. Modiste though, just earned her associate’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and is starting towards her bachelor’s in the fall. Her powers lend themselves to this kind of thing too,” the young inventor explained as we made our way out of the studio and toward to his apartment.
“Oh thank God!” Mai said with a playful smile. “I thought we were all going to end up performing and fighting crime in jeans and t-shirts.”
Blake looked down at his current outfit and shrugged as he opened the door to his apartment to let us in. “I go for comfort over fashion, but I knew you guys would want your costumes to be really good so I called in the professional. Guys, I’d like you all to meet Brianna Bowman, or as Lisa likes to call her, Modiste. Bri, this is Candy, Leslie, Ian, Mai, and John.”
“Isn’t Bowman the name Lisa has you registered under as her foster child?” I asked Blake before I got a look at the young woman sitting on Blake’s sofa. The young woman in question was dressed in a green and white sundress and looked like a twenty year old female version of Blake, with those same green eyes, though her brown hair was longer and straight rather than shaggy. She also looked a little shorter than Blake, maybe about five foot three, though it was hard to tell with her sitting.
As I was staring at her she said, “Bowman was our mom’s maiden name.”
“How come you never mentioned having a sister?” Leslie asked.
“Technically he’s only my half-brother, but it’s a good half,” Brianna corrected Leslie with a smile. “Mom married Ron when I was four and had Blake when I was five. My real dad died when I was a baby, but Ron has always been good to me, he always treated me like his own kid, even since mom died.” Her expression turned sad as she sighed, “If I’d been there when it happened maybe I could have helped.”
“You had your own problems Bri so stop beating yourself up about that,” Blake said with a sad shake of his head. Then he began to explain, “I was kidnapped during dad’s first term as Senator. They were going after me and Mom, but one of the kidnappers had an itchy trigger finger and shot Mom,” Blake explained sadly. “She didn’t even have time to try and use her powers. I’d probably be dead too, but Lisa rescued me and I Activated.”
Your mom was a Hyper too?” John asked.
Brianna nodded slowly. “She was a low level Tinker and had some small magical abilities; she could see auras and had an alchemical touch that let her change what things were made of, even her own body. We both got our powers from Mom; Nick says my abilities are magical in nature and Blake got the tinkering gift.”
“So what are your abilities?” I asked after a brief awkward silence. “Blake says they’re useful for costume design.”
“I’m the clothes-fairy,” she joked.
Blake sneered at his older sibling and rolled his eyes. “She magically creates and alters clothing. She just needs to picture an item of clothing or an outfit in her mind and she can make it reality, and she can change whatever someone is wearing the same way. She can also resize, make alterations, change the color, and even change the material they’re made from.”
Mai’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Oooooh, she is the clothes-fairy.”
“The materials have to be something I’ve touched before though, and my ability only seems to work for clothes,” she specified with a sigh. “We’ve tried other things, even curtains and bedclothes, but the only time it worked was when I wore a bed sheet as a toga. I seem to be limited to things designed for people to wear or that they are currently wearing. Accessories and jewellery are doable too, but they can be a bit tricky, it’s actually a bit easier if I create a whole outfit rather than piece by piece.”
“That is so cool,” Leslie said with a grin as she and Mai exchanged looks.
“Anyway,” the mutant seamstress said, “My little bro here says you guys are Aegis Jr. and you’re looking for costumes.”
“We call ourselves RevolveR,” I put in, “and we might have an interesting challenge for you. We’re not just going to be doing the whole saving the world thing in these costumes. We’re a Gothic Rock band and we’re hoping to be the first ever openly mutant band.”
“So you want costumes and masks to be sort of a blend between Superhero and Goth?” she asked in sudden interest.
“Yeah, only I won’t be wearing a mask. The others will, they look normal and have identities to protect so they need disguises, but I’ll be going out there like this; blue skin, pink hair and all. Candice Graham is my disguise; I only wear it when I need to. I’m Syryn, this is me, and I’d like to be me on stage.”
“I like this one Blake,” she said with a grin.
“You would, you have a lot in common,” Blake said with a shrug. “So do you think you can do it?”
“Of course I can do it, I have some ideas. I’m thinking mostly black with Goth influences and differences for each of them to give them different personas. Do you guys have a team/band logo yet? Or personal symbols you want on your costumes, or can I just go wild?“ she asked with a grin like the one Blake wore whenever he had an idea for a really cool invention.
I shook my head. “We don’t have anything like that planned yet, so feel free to make any suggestions. We don’t even know what we’re going to do about an agent or manager yet. I did it for my old band, but our agent needs to be able to blend in, not to mention have the time for all the business aspects involved. Even if I did have the time, I don’t want people connecting my civilian identity to us. The others can’t do it for the same reason.”
“Let me worry about a manager and agent for you guys,” Blake volunteered. “I may know just the… umm… person for that and Bri is minoring in graphic art so she can come up with something cool for a logo.”
“Will you contact us through Blake when you come up with something?” Leslie asked.
“I suppose we could do it that way if you really want to…” she trailed off with a pensive look on her face. Then she broke out in a grin, “Or you could just come up and see me on the top floor. That’s the reason I came by in the first place, I asked Lisa if I could have my old apartment back. I’m gonna start moving my stuff in tomorrow.”
Blake looked as surprised as the rest of us. “You’re moving back in? What about your apartment by the campus?”
“Our lease is up at the end of the month,” Brianna answered with a look of relief. “Gina asked if I wanted to find another place with her, but I swear if I have to live another day with that slob leaving her clothes all over the place, she’s going to find them all three sizes too small, including whatever she happens to be wearing at the time. Why look for a new place when the apartment upstairs is already furnished and my studio is still set up in the spare room? Besides, I miss being around you and Lisa and everyone and it’s not too far a drive to campus from here.”
“Not to mention, you won’t have to concentrate all the time to keep yourself looking normal at home,” Blake suggested. “Not that I’ll mind having you back here,” he quickly added.
“Looking normal?” I asked as I thought about Blake’s earlier comment about us having a lot in common.
“I usually look like this,” she said as her features began to change color, her skin and hair both becoming a shiny gold color. Only her bright green eyes remained the same color. “Like our mom I can change what my skin and hair are made of, and their color, to materials I’ve touched before. I Activated looking like this and it took a while before I was able to get normal looking and feeling skin and hair down.”
“Normal feeling?” Mai asked, staring at the other mutant.
Brianna extended her hand and offered, “Touch me and you’ll see what I mean.”
The guys seemed reluctant to try, but Mai, Leslie, and I all cautiously reached out to touch her skin. “Is that…” Leslie began to ask in wonder as we gently probed the smooth and soft texture.
“Silk, definitely silk,” Mai said with a smile.
“Well at least you can look normal on your own,” I put in with a sympathetic smile. “I don’t mind looking like I do so much anymore, but I wouldn’t be able to go out and blend into a crowd at all if it weren’t for your brother.”
“It took me a while to be able to do it,” she admitted, “but I had to stay in hiding after I Activated. What with me looking like this, my powers being on a hair trigger, people thinking I was dead, and then Blake’s kidnapping and Mom’s death Ron wanted us both safe and out of the public eye. He had Tara make us new identities under Mom’s maiden name, gave us the money from our trust funds, and had us stay here with Aegis while Blake got this building fixed up for them and I waited to start college. I met Dr. Park while living here and she helped me figure out how to do it.”
“Dr. Park is awesome,” Leslie agreed with a smile. “I wouldn’t be able to go out in sunlight without her help.”
“Yeah she is, she helped me a lot,” the silky-skinned Hyper agreed before pausing a moment. “Umm… speaking of help… I… hate to ask this of people I’m meeting for the first time, but do you think some of you could give me a hand tomorrow when you’re done training for the day? I really want to get moved back in tomorrow if possible, I wasn’t kidding about my roommate. I was hoping to have Lisa’s strength available for a few things, but she’s putting the finishing touches on her new manuscript before having dinner with her publisher on Sunday."
All of the Aegis members had day jobs that allowed them to mostly set their own hours: Nick occasionally escorted Hyper criminals to prison as Blackout to keep them from using their powers to escape, Travis had a very popular tech blog and did product reviews, and Jason was a security advisor. Even Tessily had some sort of work, translating old texts in dialects that she was familiar with for Empire State University under her civilian identity of Tess O’Brien. Lisa though, wrote tawdry romance novels under the nom de plume Elsa Tremblay. “It seems like the whole team is catching up on work this weekend,” I said with a nod. “Tessily mentioned having to go to the university as well, so we have the weekend off.”
“I’m afraid that I can’t Bri,” Blake said apologetically, “I’ve been working on something with Travis and Phil, and since they have the time we want to get as much done as we can this weekend.” This wasn’t really terribly surprising since Travis, his onboard AI, and Blake had been taking every chance they could to slip away in the Ladybug for hours at a time the past few weeks while Lisa, Tessily and the others had been training us.
Mai quickly spoke up, “Candy and Ian can’t help either, they have a date, but I’m game.”
Ian was blushing at that and I was pretty sure I was turning a dark lavender as Blake looked at us both and grinned, “It’s about time.”
Mai grinned at our embarrassment, but mercifully she got back to the topic at hand. “How about you sweetie? Are you up for helping out?”
The last was asked of John of course, and he quickly nodded. “Sure, I don’t mind helping out. But if there’s anything really heavy we might need Leslie’s strength.”
“And you shall have it,” my best friend agreed. “I’d love to see some of the things you’ve designed Brianna, and maybe we can talk about what kinds of ideas you have for our costumes.”
“You read my mind,” Mai agreed with a smile.
“That sounds good to me,” Blake’s sister said after some thought. “I don’t really have much to move, just some clothes, a couple dozen boxes, a trunk of personal items, and all my design and sewing gear. It shouldn’t take us long, and once it’s all here and the dock and peripherals for my tablet are set up I can work on more detailed logo designs. I’ll do some sketches of logo and costume ideas tonight before bed while they’re fresh in my mind. I can show you those tomorrow.”
“I’m not so sure about this,” I said as I stood in front of my mirror late the next morning. It had been strange having a morning off, but I had put it to good use by emailing our entry to the voting committee for the battle of the bands. The file was a recording of us playing In the Shadows, since that was the song we had the most practice with. Following that I had hopped into the shower to get ready for the big date. Once I was out of the shower and dried off, I was immediately hijacked by Mai and Leslie, who insisted on helping me find the perfect outfit for my first date with Ian, before they left to help Brianna.
So now I was wearing this little dress, though I thought calling it a dress was being generous. It was sleeveless halter dress made of a white lace with a sheer pink under layer. The V shaped hem of the damn thing barely covered my thighs and butt, and beneath that I was wearing a tiny hot pink bikini that made the dress look down-right respectable. Leslie had bought it just after we had come to New York, hoping that wearing something like that would help me come out of my shell a bit. Completing the outfit were a pair of sunglasses, my second skin pendant, white open-toed sandals with two inch heels, and a large matching purse containing all the necessities and my slim silver anti-gravity belt.
The date or the outfit?” Leslie asked in response to my uncertainty.
“Both,” I replied with a sigh, “And this isn’t an outfit, its underwear.”
“So it’s a little revealing,” Mai said with a roll of her eyes. “I’d totally wear that if I had your body.”
“That’s because you’re an extrovert, I’m not,” I retorted. “I don’t want a bunch of guys looking at me like I’m dessert and they have a sweet tooth.”
Mai shrugged my complaint off. “You probably just want Ian looking at you that way, but honestly, guys look at you that way no matter how you’re dressed, so this shouldn’t be any worse for you than any other trip out in public.”
“A little attention isn’t a bad thing, so long as it doesn’t go past looking, it can make a girl feel confident,” Leslie put in. Then she added, “Besides, didn’t Dr. Park say you’re so pretty and have features that stand out so much because you wanted attention?”
I groaned and sneered at my roommate. “You would have to remember that, you traitor. Maybe the attention isn’t so bad, it’s kind of nice sometimes if the guys don’t go too far, but I think this might send the wrong message, I want to get to know Ian better, not drag him to my bedroom.”
“Are you suuuuuure?” Mai teased. My inner conflict on that must have been written all over my face though, because she quickly became serious again as she gently put her hand on my shoulder. “Ian knows that Candy, and he’ll respect that you’re probably not ready for a physical relationship yet. He’s as into you as you are him, but he won’t rush you. You just want to look your best for him to show him you do like him, and believe me this does the trick.”
“I don’t even know what we’re doing on this date though, what if we’re just going out for burgers and a movie?” I said while casting another uncertain glance at the mirror.
“Candy, stop it. Calm down girl,” Mai said with a serious expression and a tone that would brook no arguments. “I want you both to have fun and relax a bit. Do you really think I’d have you dress this way if it were something like that? I asked Ian what the plan was for the date and this should be appropriate.”
There was a knock at the door and I almost panicked when Leslie said, “That’ll be Ian.”
Mai frowned at my reaction and started pushing me toward the door. “Just relax Candy. Ian’s a fun guy, he already likes you, and there’s no pressure. Go have some fun, be yourself, and get to know him better.”
I could see Ian’s jaw physically drop as he got a good look at me once Mai had gotten me to the door and I had opened it to greet him. He was looking pretty damn good himself though, with that dark red tank top and shorts showing off his well-toned body. He also wore a dark blue bandanna covering his long brown hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. “You look great Candy, are you ready to go?” he managed to blurt out as he smiled at me.
“I think so,” I replied uncertainly. “So… uhh… What exactly are we going to be doing?”
“Well, I originally thought of dinner and a show, maybe take in Phantom of the Opera, but when I found out we had the whole day available I thought we could start out at Coney Island and see where things go from there. There are some great restaurants there, and we could walk along the boardwalk, go swimming at the beach, go on some rides, play skee-ball, and whatever else looks fun. I think you’ll enjoy it,” he said hopefully.
“Sounds like fun,” I agreed. “I’ve actually wanted to go there since Leslie and I came to New York, but I haven’t been able to find the time yet.”
“Cool, let’s get going then,” he answered with that smile that never ceased to make my heart flutter when it was directed at me.
“Have fun you two, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Mai said sweetly from my doorway.
“There’s things you wouldn’t do?” I heard Leslie tease Mai as we departed.
Since Ian had loaned his pickup to John to help with Brianna’s move and I no longer had a civilian vehicle we decided to take the sky-bikes to Coney Island. We flew in stealth mode, staying in contact through the communications gear in our helmets and he gave me a sort of aerial tour before we came in for a landing in an empty lot by the Parachute Drop and parked the bikes in a small stand of trees. He told me that the Parachute Drop was a historic landmark originally built for the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows in Queens, In 1941 it was moved to its current site as an attraction for the Steeplechase Park amusement park which closed in 1964. The ride is the only portion of Steeplechase Park still standing today and has become a historic landmark.
The lot wasn’t just close to the Parachute Drop though, it was near the amusement parks, the beach and a lot of interesting shops and restaurants on the boardwalk as well. Before leaving the bike’s stealth field I hurriedly smoothed out my dress so I wasn’t showing Ian, or anyone else, any more than I already was. Then, once we had re-cloaked the bikes, we slipped casually out of the lot. Since we had all day we decided to just take our time looking around for a bit, so we started out by just walking along the boardwalk and checking out the sights at ground level while Ian pointed out anything of particular interest to me.
Before long we had made our way to the amusement parks so we started on some of the rides and games. The Cyclone was exhilarating and, even though I sucked at it, skee-ball was kind of fun. I could have done a lot better if I had used my powers, but that would have been wrong and taken the fun and the challenge out of it. Ian though, turned out to be some kind of skee-ball genius and earned enough tickets to get me a pink stuffed rabbit. I felt kind of silly carrying around a stuffed toy, but at the same time it was from Ian, and he had won it for me, and that made me feel kind of gooey inside.
After the amusement park Ian bought us lunch at a restaurant on the boardwalk called Paul’s Daughter. It had this big hamburger man statue on the roof and apparently is one of the oldest businesses on the boardwalk. We had clams on the half shell, wedge shaped fries and nice cold sodas and sat in a quiet corner to eat while we got to know each other. It was nice because of all my band mates, I knew the least about Ian. I noticed though that he only talked about his interests and his life now that he was part of RevolveR, or since he had met Mai and John, and that worried me.
I needed to address this before it really started bothering me. “Ummm… Ian...” I said in a hushed tone that wouldn’t carry to the other diners, “I thought we were supposed to be getting to know one another better. Look, if anyone gets how hard it can be being… different it’s me. My Mom freaked out and wants nothing to do with me and my whole life turned upside down, so if you… ummm… need to talk…”
Ian let out a long sigh and shook his head with a conflicted expression on his face. Finally he spoke just as quietly. “Yeah I know you went through hell with the stuff with your mom and all the physical changes when your life already sucked. Mai accidentally blinded her brother and a bunch of other people and her parents want nothing to do with her either. Leslie’s parents were killed when assholes set her house on fire, after she confided in someone she trusted. John grew up in foster care and his foster parents tried to kill him when his pow… puberty hit him in a big way. You’ve all had it hard, that’s exactly why I don’t talk about my family or my past much.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I wondered why he didn’t seem to want to open up.
“You really want to hear my Activation horror story?” I barely heard Ian ask as he looked down at our mostly finished lunch. “I was fifteen and I was taking my little sister Kim trick-or-treating for Halloween. We nearly got hit by a car when we were heading home and, even though he managed to swerve in time to avoid us, my life flashed before my eyes and my gift made itself known for the first time. When we got home we told Mom and Dad what happened, mom made some hot cocoa, and the four of us had a family meeting. They didn’t disown me, or try to kill me or anything like that, they just wanted to make sure that we were okay, that I knew what kind of things I might be in for, and find out what special needs I might have. You guys all have these horrible origin stories, and what’s mine? I have a supportive family that loves me.”
“Are your parents… like us too?” I asked quietly. I didn’t really want to make assumptions about it.
Ian shook his head. “No, at least not the parents who raised me, but I don’t know about my biological parents. They knew enough about how… people with differences were treated to be concerned for my safety though, especially when it became obvious that I had trouble controlling my abilities when I was stressed. They were worried that I might be bullied in school if someone found out, so Mom decided to homeschool me and found private music teachers she could trust.”
“So you’re adopted then?” I wondered aloud. He could have been a foster child, but I had a feeling he wasn’t.
“Mom couldn’t have kids, so I was adopted at birth,” he confirmed. “They adopted Kim when I was seven; she was one of those Chinese baby girls. If she wasn’t adopted she probably would have ended up dead, in prostitution, or in the slave trade. We grew up in a nice house on Staten Island, and I was still living there when we met. I didn’t want to bring it up because I didn’t want to seem like I was rubbing my perfect little family in your faces.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard a smart guy say,” I snapped, barely remembering to keep my voice down. “There is not one of us who wouldn’t be happy that you haven’t had to go through what we have. Sure we might be a little jealous, but you and your family prove that we can be accepted and live somewhat normal lives. Did you really think we’d hate you for giving us hope?”
“No… but I…”
I countered before he could say anything more. “No buts, we’re getting to know one another better so I want to hear all about your ‘perfect little family’ and what you were like growing up,”
“Mom and Dad met during rehearsals for a Broadway musical,” he began uncertainly. “He was the director and she was cast in the leading role. They just clicked. A year and a half later they got married and adopted me a year after. Dad’s a producer now, and Mom is an acting and singing coach. She started doing that when they adopted me so she’d be at home more and never looked back. Kim and I both grew up watching rehearsals though, and I guess the bug bit us both. I found my love for music and Mom got the best teachers for me that she could find. Kim wants to be a lead in a musical like Mom was, so Mom’s teaching her singing and acting, and she’s studying dance whenever she’s not in school.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “That sounds so cool; my mom never really understood my love for singing. She only paid for lessons because she would rather I pursued that than sports or something where I could have gotten hurt.”
To my delight he finally cracked a smile of his own again, God damn he had an incredible smile. “I told them about you and the others, they’re really happy that I’m learning to control my abilities better and that I’ve made some good friends to pursue music with. They’d like to meet you all when we have some spare time, especially my mom and Kim. I just didn’t want to push you, with what happened with your Mom, and the others’ family baggage as well.”
I shook my head and told him sternly, “I am not going to let her run my life. She’s decided she wants nothing to do with me, then that’s fine. I don’t need a Tyniehl like her in my life anyway.”
Ian gave me a confused look, “What is a Tineel?”
I blushed as soon as I realized I had said that. We had both been trying to keep our conversation quiet and not mention obvious words like mutant or Hyper too much since we were in a public place. We hadn’t seemed to draw anyone’s attention though and the other diners were still going about their own conversations loud enough that they likely couldn’t hear ours. “It’s a… umm… Fae word. When I told Tess what happened with my Mom, she called her that. She said it’s one of the most offensive words in their language, it’s meant to refer to a parent who has no honor and abuses their children.”
“The shoe does fit if you count emotional abuse,” he said thoughtfully as he took another sip of his soda. “I don’t really see it though, Tess seems a bit distant, but she’s really polite too, she doesn’t seem the type to say things like that about people.”
“She’s not distant; she just takes her duties seriously,” I quietly clarified. “Beneath that she’s really sweet and caring once you get to know her. She’s been really great to me since I came here. I like learning from her and spending time with her. It’s weird and kind of nice at the same time.”
“What do you mean?” he asked looking a little confused.
I answered as quietly as I could and still be heard by him. “She’s still not used to living here yet, in our modern world. It’s been two years and she said she still finds things strange and confusing sometimes, people most of all. A lot of people hide who they really are inside and pretend to be something they’re not. Her people don’t do that because they’re all accepted for who they are, no matter what shape they wear. There’s no pressure to conform to be something you’re not. She treats me like that.”
“You’re saying that she accepts you for who you are? I can see why you would appreciate that more than most.” He reached out and took my hand uncertainly. “It’s got to be hard having your genetic heritage so obvious to everyone.”
“It is, but I don’t want to let it bother me anymore,” I countered quickly. “Sure it was a bit hard at first, but then I think of John, Mai, and all those other minority people who get discriminated against every day because of the color of their skin. I’ve had to deal with it for what, six weeks? And I have a way to hide my differences when I want to, so it would be pretty shitty of me to complain when others have been facing the same treatment for generations. As for Tess, I think she relates to me better because of my looks, and it helps her feel more natural and at ease. She sometimes slips into her own language with me. She lets down her guard, she can be herself, I can be myself, and there’s no social bullshit getting in the way.”
“I think I know how she feels. You’re a beautiful person, and I don’t just mean skin deep; you have this sense of honour, you’re a sweet person who cares about others, and I think anyone who takes the time to get to really know you can see that. I know I…” He was leaning forward now, we both were, I hadn’t even been aware that I was moving closer and now that I was my heart was beating wildly. He had such gorgeous eyes, there was his sweet and musky scent, and my lips were trembling as they were about to meet his own.
*EEEEEEEEEK*
Our near kiss was quickly aborted as we both stood up and looked toward the sound of the woman’s scream. Ian was the first to speak. “What the hell was that about?!”
“I don’t know, but I think we’d better find out,” I replied as I grabbed my purse and bunny.
The scream had come from the boardwalk just outside the restaurant. When we got there after Ian had hastily paid the bill, several people were gathered around a middle aged woman who appeared to be having some sort of panic attack. “What happened?” Ian asked of the crowd in general.
The young man who answered didn’t even look our way as he watched others trying to calm the woman down. “A big circle of light opened up just up there,” he said pointing a few feet above the heads of the crowd, “then some black and green freak jumped through and landed on that poor woman. By the time anyone thought to do anything it had already gotten to its feet and took off.”
“Did you see where it went?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as I wondered whether it was a Hyper, or something else.
“It ran off in that direction,” he responded, pointing off to our right.
We made our way off the boardwalk and onto the beach and began to look around; keeping our eyes peeled for anything fitting the man’s description. We were approaching the water’s edge near the pier when we heard it; the sound of someone yelping in pain. “Did you hear that?” Ian asked as he looked around for the source.
I nodded as I removed my sandals and tried to pinpoint where the sound had come from. This stretch of the beach was pretty quiet with a few people nearby being spread out on the beach, but most were on the pier itself. At first I thought it might be coming from the crowds on the pier, but it sounded like it was coming from underneath. I was within ten feet the pier when I thought I saw something moving in the shadows beneath. “Over there,” I said as I began walking quickly in that direction. Ian joined me, and we heard a voice muttering, “Ow, goddamn fucking glass… who drinks beer under the pier… they could have at least cleaned up their fucking trash,” as we moved closer and saw a sort of green glow.
“Are you okay?” Ian called out.
“Do I fucking sound okay?!” the voice snapped as a pair of glowing green eyes turned toward us. Whoever it was, they were hidden in a clump of rocks under the pier, half in and half out of the water. All I could see of the person though was those eyes, a glowing green mass that I thought was hair and a few strange geometric patterns and lines all over their body that glowed as green as the eyes and hair. It sounded like a girl and, whoever she was, she sounded very tired. “If you don’t want to get hurt, get the hell out of here,” the voice warned.
“You don’t sound like you’re in any condition to hurt anyone,” I responded candidly.
“Not me, the assholes following me. They’ve been after me for a long time, since I escaped. No matter where I go, they find me.” Now that I was closer, I could see her in better detail. She looked human, definitely female, but it was hard to make out details at first since her skin seemed to be pitch black where it wasn’t glowing green. She sat on the sand clutching her bare foot, and once I was within a few feet of her I was close enough that I could make out more detail. She looked about fourteen years old, far too skinny to be healthy, and the skirt and top she was wearing were torn and filthy.
Now that we were somewhat hidden from prying eyes underneath the pier, I carefully removed my pendant and hairnet, placed them in my purse, and handed Ian my sunglasses. “Put these on in case there’s trouble.” If someone was after her then I wanted to be ready in case they showed up. I removed my anti-gravity belt from my purse and managed to stuff my bunny in its place, though its head was still sticking out. As I was putting the belt on slowly, hoping not to panic the girl, Ian removed his bandana and used it to cover the lower half of his face before adding my sunglasses. It wasn’t a great disguise but it would have to do. I slowly offered the girl my hand. “We can help you, we’re Hypers too.”
The glowing eyes narrowed as she looked at me suspiciously. “So, that’s the plan now? They send in a friendly face or two to bring me in? Nice touch, sending in people I don’t know. You got here quicker than normal, usually I have at least an hour to catch my breath. Is whoever’s in charge getting tired of me making fools of their regular goons?”
“We’re nobody’s goons, just calm down and let us help you,” Ian said with his hands raised so she could see them.
“I’m not sure who or what you’re talking about,” I told her calmly. “I’m Syryn and this is Riff. We heard the commotion on the boardwalk and came to see if you needed help, nobody sent us here bring you anywhere. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” I kept my tone calm and as I spoke I made sure to project that calm.
She relaxed slightly, though her eyes made a quick scan of the beach beyond us. “You probably wouldn’t believe me,” she finally said uncertainly.
“I’ll be the judge of what I’ll believe,” I told her, still projecting calm. “You said it usually takes whoever’s after you a while to catch up? You have until they get here to tell us what we’re dealing with, so you should fill that time with words.”
“Or I could just teleport away,” she countered, as she tried to get to her feet, visibly shaking from the effort.
“You don’t even look like you can stand right now, and I think that if you had the strength to teleport again you’d have done it already,” I shot back. “If I’m wrong then go ahead, do it and we won’t be able to help you. Otherwise, tell us what’s going on, and start at the beginning.”
The girl was fifteen and her name was Amy Quinn, but she had taken to calling herself Rave. She was at a dance party when she was thirteen, when someone had slipped something into her drink and it was enough for her to overdose. Her H Chromosomes had activated as a result and she had run away from home when her parents reacted much like my own mother had. Since then she had been living on the streets of New York City and sleeping in abandoned buildings since the homeless shelters wouldn’t let her stay there. Roughly three months ago she had been staying with some other mutants in an old brownstone that was slated for demolition. The building was raided five weeks ago in the middle of the night by people in armour. She had been asleep at the time and, before she had woken up enough to realize what was going on and teleport away, someone had hit her on the head from behind.
“If it weren’t for that, they’d have never caught me,” she said with a grimace. “The next thing I knew, I woke up in some sort of high security doctor’s office. I was lying on a metal table, there were all sorts of machines, and the walls and door were like steel or something too. I think they had some hidden cameras, because the moment I sat up a man’s voice came through a speaker on the ceiling.”
“Did he explain why you were there, or say what he wanted or anything like that? Riff asked.
Amy shook her head, still frowning. “He didn’t ask my name, where I was from, or anything like that. He just wanted to know what powers I had. I think that was why they had the machines and steel walls, it’s like they expected all mutants to be like Eva.”
“Who’s Eva?” I queried.
“She was one of the other mutants in the brownstone,” the young Hyper explained, and I thought that I could see tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. “Her name was Eva before she activated so, because of her powers and looks, some of the others nicknamed her Eva Destruction. She hated that nickname, the poor girl wouldn’t harm a fly, but she was like seven feet tall and built like a Sherman tank. She was covered in silvery-black scales, had wings like a dragon, and fire for hair. I never saw anything that could hurt her, she could fly, and she threw exploding fireballs; she was damn scary until you got to know her.”
She sniffled, pausing as she took a nervous look around, then she let out a sigh and continued to speak. “Anyway, he asked what my powers were so I created a portal and got the hell out of there. After my escape I tried to rescue the others, but they were all dead, even Eva, and those goons have been on my tail like bloodhounds ever since.”
“Amy, I know a doctor who can help,” I told her as I sat on one of the rocks beside her. I kind of wanted to reach out and hug her, but she obviously had trust issues, and with good reason. “She’s like us and you can trust her. She can take a look at that cut on your foot and make sure you’re not sick or anything. No offense, but you look like hell.” I turned to Riff and said, “I’m going to call the Doc, do you think you could go grab her something to eat and drink and bring it here? She doesn’t look like she’s eaten in ages and I don’t think she should be exerting herself too much. I’ll stay here in case those people following her show up.”
“You got it, just please be careful” he replied with a worried glance before lowering his bandana around his neck and taking off at a run.
As he started to run across the beach I leaned over to have a look at Amy’s foot. She had a nasty cut there, but at least she had managed to get the glass out. I quickly fished a sanitary napkin from my purse to staunch the bleeding. I needed to find out why she was on the run though so, after instructing her to unwrap it and hold it firmly on the cut, I asked, “Can you think of any reason those people might be after you, or why they raided the building you were in? Did you or the others there use your powers to do anything illegal?”
She shook her head and crossed her arms in denial. “No way! Insight wouldn’t let anyone live there if they used, or planned to use, their powers to commit crimes.”
“Insight? Was she a psychic or something?” I asked, hoping for clarification.
“She was a telepath and she ran the place,” the young mutant girl responded. “She interviewed anyone who wanted to stay there to keep us all safe, and she organized everything so that we could all contribute without breaking laws: She and some of the others who could blend in got day work or went panhandling when things were bad, others helped with cooking and cleaning, Eva scared off the troublemakers, and I helped with transportation. I guess some of the people she wouldn’t let stay were pretty pissed off though.”
I frowned as I thought about how people like H8, with egos far exceeding any powers they might have and no qualms about committing crimes, would react to being cast out by people they saw as weak. That wasn’t as important as the girl’s current condition though, so I took out my phone and searched for Dr. Park’s name in my contacts, quickly selected it, and hit call. It was several rings before she answered, “Hi Candice, how are things in the Big Apple?”
“Hi Doc, things are pretty good here, but I have a bit of a problem,” I explained. “Riff and I are at Coney Island and we ran across a homeless mutant girl. She’s been on the run from some sort of armoured goon squad for over a month, she’s injured, and very weak. I was wondering if you could have a look at her, we could bring her to you if you’re working this weekend.”
“No need for that,” she quickly replied, “it’s my weekend off. I’ve actually been helping Blake and Travis with something, so we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Great, thanks, we’re hiding underneath the pier at the moment, but the girl seems to think that those goons will show up again soon. Every time she escapes they seem to find her again within a few hours from what she’s said.”
“They could have placed a tracker on her,” she suggested after a moment. “Blake and I will see what we can do about that, but it’s probably best to stay where you are at the moment. If you took her to the base, you’d likely just lead them there. We’re on our way.” She disconnected the call and there was nothing more I could do but wait.
For the next five minutes we waited in relative silence, as Amy occasionally cast nervous glances around us. Riff soon returned with a pair of hot dogs and a soda, which Amy thanked us profusely for and then quickly devoured, and I wondered again just how long it had been since she had had a proper meal. As she ate I informed Riff of the situation and he put his disguise back in place in case the goons showed up before our friends. Then we waited under the pier until the sounds of the people on the pier and the beach were drowned out by the whine of turbines and people shouting.
People were running from the beach as a black VTOL with a military look came in for a landing at the water’s edge, perhaps 100 feet from the pier, and blew sand all over the place. As soon as the turbines had stopped, eight men jumped out of the aircraft wearing some sort of light weight black body armour and helmets with white faceplates covering their faces. They also carried weapons and, from the way they were waving them around, I was pretty sure they weren’t there to surf or get a tan. Other beach-goers seemed to be under the same impression, as they ran for their lives, leaving the stretch of beach to the goons and us. On the pier above us I could hear some people running off while others seemed to be getting in a better position to see what was happening on the beach. The three of us ducked behind the rocks as we watched the men.
“Shit,” I thought I heard Amy curse as she looked warily at the men. “We need to get out of here, fast,” she said in a whisper as a look of concentration appeared on her face. The green glow coming from her seemed to become brighter and a glowing green disc a few inches in diameter appeared before us, slowly growing before suddenly fizzling and vanishing. She collapsed against the rock, looking almost ready to pass out as she grumbled curse words. It looked like she still didn’t have the strength to teleport, and even trying had badly drained her.
“Come on out freak! I know you’re hiding under there,” called a man’s voice. His tone when he spoke was one of undisguised loathing, and the pistol he was carrying was moving from side to side, panning the general area we were in, as he and the other men approached the pier. The one brandishing the pistol was looking at a device in his other hand before looking directly at our hiding spot, seemingly confirming Dr. Park’s tracker theory.
It seemed that Amy recognized the voice. “Is that you Smith? They haven’t sent you after me in weeks.”
“You cut off my arm you little bitch! It took them a while to make me a cybernetic one. I’m a freak now thanks to you,” the man snapped back angrily.
I looked around for possible telekinetic ammunition and reached down to activate my belt while Amy kept Smith talking. She sank further back against the rocks that we were hiding in, and Ian shielded her with his body, as she spoke again. “I was wondering whose arm that was. You shouldn’t have tried reaching through my portal when it was closing. I guess, all that metal on one arm probably makes you look all asymmetrical now. If you want them to match again, I can arrange that. So what’s the plan now Smith? Looks like you assholes have given up on subtlety. You used to wait until dark, but the last few days it’s been every few hours. I hope you guys are getting paid overtime.”
“You know that we’re going to find you wherever you go freak, and each time we come closer to catching you. Just give yourself up now and we won’t hurt you… too badly,” he responded.
“Fuck you Smith,” she shot back, “If you want me come and get me asshole.” She was trying to sound tough and defiant, but she was obviously tired and scared as she shrank against the rocks, hiding under Riff’s larger frame.
They knew exactly where Amy was with that tracker, and they were brazen enough to act in broad daylight at a popular location like this. If they just wanted her dead, they would have just riddled the area with bullets and been done with it No, the men obviously wanted her alive, so I was relatively certain that the weapons they had drawn at the moment were of the non-lethal variety and that would give me a slight advantage. “Let us handle this,” I told Amy sternly, reaching out to squeeze her hand. Then I whispered my plan to Riff as he activated his force field.
Two of the men were coming toward our cover while the others were fanning out, probably in case she tried to bolt. I floated up to the wooden planks above me and kept myself flat against the underside of the pier as I waited. I could hear the approaching men say something about seeing a green light as they stopped and pointed their weapons in Amy and Riff’s direction. After several seconds the two men slowly approached, each moving to one side of their hiding place before jumping forward and training their guns on them yelling, “Freeze!”
I was enough of a performer that I knew a good time for an entrance when I saw one. I floated down behind the pair and whispered, “Boo.” The pair didn’t even have a chance to turn around before I relieved them of their weapons and telekinetically hurled them away from the pier, right past one of their companions, and into the water beyond.
“We’ve got hostiles!” one of the other goons shouted, causing the others to scan under the pier waving their guns left and right.
“Come out with your hands up and surrender the girl!” Smith shouted.
I handed the one of the weapons I had confiscated to Riff and the other to Amy and told her, “Hold on to this for me.” Then I began concentrating on the sand of the beach as I watched the six remaining armed men and replied, “I don’t think she’s interested in going with you, so maybe you should all leave, while you’re still able to.” I was really glad that I had been practicing my shrapnel shield and working on my fine control and multitasking, because what I had planned was going to take a lot of focus. Sand began to rise and move at my mental manipulation and, once I felt that I had enough, I let loose.
I battered the men, raining down blows that seemed to do little more than sandblast their armour. I could have hit them a lot harder, but I didn’t want to seriously injure or kill them, besides it was mostly just for show while I used the sand to carry out my real plan. After a few minutes I released my control on the sand, letting it all just drop to the ground harmlessly. Once it had hit the ground I smiled at reassuringly at Amy and Riff as I stepped out from under the pier to confront our adversaries.
Smith was laughing as he stepped closer and kept his gun trained on me. “That all you got freak? You’re going to have to do a lot better than that to hurt us.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you… yet,” I told him with a glare as I walked toward him.
“Too bad for you that I can’t say the same, this isn’t going to kill you, but it’s going to hurt a lot.” He pulled the trigger on his weapon, but all that happened was a clicking sound. “Wha…”
I grinned at him. “Don’t you just hate it when you go to the beach and sand gets into everything?” His comrades were trying their weapons now, with the same lack of results. I just kept grinning and shrugged as I taunted, “That’s what you get for relying on hardware.”
“Get her!” Smith shouted. The three closest to me drew combat knives and tried rushing me, but only one actually got close to me. Amy had stood up from her cover under the pier and fired the weapon she was holding at one of them and he fell to the ground screaming and writhing in pain as soon as the energy blast hit him. Meanwhile Riff had shot the other one, who was contorted in a similar state of agony. The one who did get close I stopped in his tracks, holding him in place telekinetically, before throwing him into one of his companions like he’d been shot out of a cannon. The two fell to the ground in a groaning heap as Riff fired the weapon again at the fifth combatant, who was making a break for the VTOL.
The only one left standing was Smith and I made certain he wasn’t going anywhere, levitating him a foot off the ground and giving his throat a telekinetic squeeze to show him I meant business, as Ian ran to check out the VTOL and make sure nobody else was hiding inside. “Now you’re going to tell me who you’re working for, and why they want this girl so bad, or you’ll find out what it does feel like when I try to hurt you.” I was bluffing of course, since I really didn’t like the idea of seriously hurting someone who was already disarmed and at my mercy, but I was really hoping he wouldn’t call that bluff.
He made a gurgling sound that I discovered was laughter as I released the grip on his throat. “It doesn’t matter what you freaks do, you will never escape the reach of the Right Hand.”
“That would sound a lot more intimidating if you weren’t at my mercy right now, and if I didn’t know that the kid you’re chasing has been doing just that for over a month.”
“Don’t be cocky just be cause you’ve managed to defeat one unit mutie,” he retorted. “The Right Hand’s reach is far and we’ll…” He didn’t finish that sentence, as he began to gurgle and shake and finally went limp within my telekinetic hold.
“Syryn, what the hell did you do to him?” Riff asked as he returned, staring at me in horror.
“Nothing! I swear that wasn’t me!” I replied in a panic as I lowered the limp form to the ground and began checking for life signs. Smith was dead though, and a quick check of his nearby men showed that they all shared that condition. It was around that time when the VTOL exploded.
Riff threw himself between me and the blast, covering me with his body and shielding me as his force field took the brunt of the blast. He looked at me in concern as he held me close and my heart fluttered in my chest as he asked, “Are you okay?”
At first I could only nod, but after a moment I managed to reply, “Yeah, I think I’m good.” We quickly scrambled to take stock of the situation. The VTOL was mostly obscured in flames and a cloud of black smoke, but it looked like the two of us had been the only ones close to the explosion. We needed to put that fire out, and I was worried about any bystanders. So while I took to the air to do what I could, Riff went to make sure that Amy was safe and unhurt, and to phone 911 with a cell phone snatched from Smith’s body.
As soon as I was in the air I took an aerial survey of the damage, then I began prioritizing and got to work. First, I gathered up as much water as I could, using it to smother the VTOL until the flames went out. Next, I took a good look for anyone who might have been hurt. Thankfully, since people had fled the immediate area when Smith & Co. made their big entrance and started waving their guns around, there was nobody close enough to get hurt by the explosion itself. A few had been hurt in the panic that had followed on the pier, but the injuries were minor and I was more concerned about the panic as I used my empathy and spoke to calm the crowd.
When I returned to the pier to rejoin Riff and Amy, the Ladybug had arrived, the police and fire department were busy cordoning off the area to the public, and the paramedics were caring for the injured. I joined Silver Spirit, who was coordinating with the first responders, and he informed me that Riff had already taken Amy inside the ship, where Dr. Park had begun looking her over. I quickly gave the details of what had happened, only omitting Rave’s real name, to Spirit and the officer in charge, a woman in her mid-twenties with long auburn hair who was dressed in black slacks, a white blouse, and sunglasses.
The police officer smiled as I finished giving her my account. “That was nice work, I got to see the whole thing on a cell phone video. You took down an entire squadron of the Right Hand, and with no civilians seriously hurt or killed in the crossfire.”
“Syryn, allow me to introduce Detective Serena MacArthur, she’s with the N.Y.P.D’s Hyper-related Crimes Unit,” Silver Spirit offered in introduction. “Serena, this is Syryn, She’ll be the one leading that new team that Liberty has been telling your team about.”
“It’s nice to meet you Detective,” I said offering my hand.
“Likewise, and please call me Serena,” she replied with a smile as she shook my hand. “It’ll be nice having another team in the city that’s willing to work with us. It really sucks that we couldn’t have interrogated one of those guys though.”
“Yeah, they’ve been hounding that poor girl for over a month. Do you have any idea what killed them?”
“Both the HCU and Aegis have dealt with the Right Hand before,” the detective replied with a grim expression, “and every time we capture one, they die before we can get more than a word or two out of them. Those face plates have camera’s built in to monitor operations, and every one of their operatives has a tracking implant just below the left shoulder that contains a powerful neuro-toxin, which kills within a minute of being released into the body. The self-destruct on the VTOL served the same purpose, to keep anyone from finding out too much about their organization.”
“We suspect that they operate in cells and are involved in the mutant slave trade as well as the disappearances and/or murders of several high profile Hypers,” Silver Spirit added. “Police forces all over the country have reported encounters with them.”
“I’d like to interview the girl as soon as possible,” Serena requested, with a glance toward the Ladybug. “She might have some actionable Intel and Lt. Russo will want to act on it as fast as possible if she does.”
“It might be better if I’m there when you do,” I suggested. “She doesn’t seem to trust people, but I think she’ll talk to me.”
It was over two hours later that Dr. Park finished with Rave. “I’ve cleaned and bandaged her foot and I removed this from just beneath her left shoulder,” she explained, displaying some sort of microchip in a small plastic bag which she handed to Serena for evidence.
Serena frowned at the sight. “That’s… how in Hell is that girl still alive? If they thought that they were going to lose her to Syryn, they would have activated the neurotoxin. Hell, I would have thought they’d have used it as soon as she escaped.”
“They likely did,” Dr. Park replied candidly. “I only found very faint traces of the toxin that Spirit told me about in the device, but she has an incredible resistance to toxins, some sort of hyper-accelerated immune system. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, it creates antibodies to attack any foreign elements in her body instantly, so aggressively that I had to use a local anesthetic when I removed the device. I tried both injection and aerosol anesthetics before that, but they had no effect whatsoever. I believe it has something to do with the circumstances of how she Activated.”
“Maybe that’s why they were so eager to capture her, to find out how she survived, although it could be for her teleportation as well. It’s a useful and uncommon ability,” the detective suggested.
“Both are possible,” I agreed before asking in concern, “how is she?”
“Except for exhaustion and malnutrition she seems to be in good health. She should be fine after a few days of rest and proper meals, but I’d like for someone to keep an eye on her while she recovers.”
“I’m sure we can arrange something,” Riff offered. “She seems to be somewhat comfortable with me and Syryn, and I might be able to get my hands on some clothes for her that don’t look like they were found in a dumpster.”
I smiled at him at him, nodding in agreement before turning back to Dr. Park. “Our team can take turns watching her. Are you sure that was the only tracking device?”
“Prodigy and I did a full work up of scans on her, that was the only device,” she confirmed before turning her gaze on Detective MacArthur. “You can speak with her for a few minutes, but please try not to get her too upset, she’s been through enough.”
“I’ll try to keep it short,” the detective promised.
Serena and I entered the small med-bay on the Ladybug together to find Rave reclining in a bed while Prodigy sat in a chair nearby watching over her. It was a little strange seeing Blake in the blue and white exo-suit that served as his costume, and I couldn’t be certain, but I had a feeling that our resident inventor might just be a bit smitten with the other young Hyper as he leaned forward in the chair watching over her.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as she looked up at us.
“I’ve been better, but I’m a lot better now than I was when we met,” she replied candidly, before looking down at her clasped hands. “Thanks… y’know for stepping in and taking care of those guys. Not a lot of people would’ve done that.”
“There was no way we were going to let them take you,” I told her without a second of hesitation before sitting on the bed beside her and squeezing her hand. “The Doc wants you to rest for a few days and get some proper meals, so my team and I are going to watch over you for a few days until we can decide how best to help you. Riff mentioned some clean clothes too, but first Detective MacArthur here would like to ask you a few questions about those men and the people they work for, are you going to be okay with that?”
The Hyper’s green-eyed gaze focussed on the policewoman for a long moment, before making it’s way back to me, uncertainty written all over her face. I gave her an encouraging smile and a nod and finally she let out a deep sigh before saying, “Okay, but I don’t really know much. I was sleeping when they captured me and I didn’t really get to see anyone’s face in the brief moment before I was knocked out.”
“It’s alright,” the policewoman answered reassuringly. “I’m sure that this was a very traumatizing experience for you, and I don’t want to make it worse, but any information you can give might help me in my investigation. The rest of my unit and I have been itching to take these guys down for a while.”
“Do you promise? That you’ll take them down, I mean?” Rave asked, expressions of uncertainty and hope warring for dominance on her face.
“I promise,” she replied with determination. “We’ll do everything we can, but it would be easier if we had more information. Syryn said that you called the leader of the unit who came after you today ‘Smith’, why was that?”
“Once in a while I would hear the unit leader radio whoever was in charge to let them know that they had found me and such. It was always ‘Smith to base’ or ‘Gates to base’, or ‘Carlson to base’, but those are the only names I remember, and I never saw any of their faces.”
Looking a bit discouraged, Detective MacArthur asked, “What do you remember about the place you escaped from? Could you tell me anything about the location?”
“I was in a big steel room, at least for the time I was awake, and I used a portal to get out of there so I didn’t really see anything outside that room,” Rave admitted sadly. At the disheartened look on the detective’s face she seemed to come to a decision. She took a deep breath as she looked between myself, the detective, and Prodigy, who had so far remained a silent watchful presence at her bedside. Finally she suggested, “I could open a portal there.”
“What?! Really?!” Serena was half leaning over the foot of the bed in sudden interest.
“Yeah, I can open portals to anywhere I’ve been, seen in photos or video, or close to anyone I’m familiar with.”
“Are you sure you’re up to that?” Prodigy asked, his voice tinged with concern even through the distortion of the exo-suit.
“I don’t know if I can open one big enough for a person or how long I can hold it open for right now though, I’m still really tired.” Rave sat up and her expression turned focussed as the green patterns on her body began to glow softly and a small glowing green disc began to form near the med-bay’s door. It was less than two feet wide and began flickering almost immediately in synch with the patterns on her skin. “I… I’m trying, but…”
She collapsed back onto the bed as the glow faded from her markings and the portal vanished, but not before Prodigy had stood up and fired something through it from the forearm of his exo-suit. He quickly moved to the bedside to look her over as I put her messed up blanket back over her. “No more portals for a while, you need to take it easy. Don’t worry I made sure that one counted,” he quietly assured her.
Serena looked away for a moment, her shoulders slouching a bit as she bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so eager… you didn’t have to do it immediately, the Doctor said that you were supposed to be resting.” Then she turned to Prodigy and asked, “What do you mean, you made it count?”
“I fired a tracking device of my own through the portal before it closed,” the young Tinker said before standing once again, removing a device from his forearm and handing it to the police detective. “This will track the signal, it has a range of roughly sixty miles, so you may need to search a while by air before getting a signal, but we should be able to help with that.”
After that arrangements were made. Dr. Park, Silver Spirit and Prodigy would help Detective MacArthur to find the location with the Ladybug in stealth mode while Riff and I took Rave with the sky-bikes to get a few things and a solid meal before taking her home so she could rest properly. Serena would also be contacting Lt. Russo regarding the new Intel so they could organize an HCU raid. Once we had picked up our sky-bikes and brought them back to the Ladybug I asked Riff, “You mentioned clothes, but Modiste can’t make clothes from nothing, so it would take her some time and I don’t want to assume, besides, they may still be busy with the move. We aren’t exactly low profile at the moment, so where to?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine where we’re going,” he assured me as he pulled out his cellphone. He tapped a number in his contacts and after a brief wait he finally spoke. “Hey Mom, I was wondering if you and Kim could help me with something… Okay, great I’ll be there soon, but I’ll be coming in by the back door and I’ll be bringing a couple friends.”
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 5 Logistics Amethyst |
It was a short hop over New York Bay to get to Staten Island and I slaved the navigation system of my skybike to Ian’s to make the trip. For one thing, he knew where he was going. For another, I wanted to keep a firm telekinetic hold on Rave, or rather Amy, during the trip. As soon as she had seen the ‘bikes she had been very eager for the trip, but she was still very weak and I wanted to be cautious in case she lost her grip on me.
We ended up landing in the backyard of a large two storey brick home, backed against Clove Lakes Park. There was a fairly tall fence and plenty of trees to keep prying eyes out, so it was with great relief that I helped Amy off the bike and we exited its cloaking field. “I can see why you wanted to enter by the back door,” I said with approval.
Ian smiled at me. “With neither of you wearing a disguise at the moment, I thought it would be best. It’s not exactly how I wanted to bring you home to meet my parents, but Kim is about the same size as Amy, so I was hoping she might be able to help with the clothes situation until we can get her some of her own.” He opened the door and called out, “Mom! Dad! We’re here!”
“We’re in the family room,” called out a woman’s voice. Ian led the way through the kitchen and we followed him into a comfortably furnished room tastefully decorated in cream and cocoa. There was a large brick fireplace, hardwood floors, and sitting on a comfortable-looking leather sofa was a slender blonde woman, just starting to go gray, and a fit man whose salt and pepper hair was just beginning to recede. Both were dressed casually, but fashionably and they smiled as soon as we followed Ian into the room and rose to greet us.
“Ian!” I had to assume that the teenage Chinese girl who suddenly ran down the stairs to glomp Ian was his sister Kim. She looked about the same age as Amy, wore her hair in twin pigtails and was dressed comfortably in a white crop top and skinny jeans. “It’s good to see you bro,” she said with genuine affection and then turned toward us to ask, “So who are your friends?”
“This is… uh… Syryn, she’s the leader of our team and the lead singer of our band,” Ian offered, seeming uncertain on which name that he should introduce me by without my disguise on. “And this is Rave, we saved her from some people who were after her. She’s been on the run for a while and her clothes are in bad shape, so I was hoping that Kim might have some things that she could borrow to wear while she recovers and we watch over her for a few days.”
The three of them hadn’t even raised an eyebrow at Amy’s and my appearance and I thought about that as Ian explained the situation with Amy. These were his parents and they had been supportive of him and kept his secret, in fact when he had Activated they warned him about what kind of treatment he could expect. Finally I gave them the best smile I could manage and once their son was finished his explanation I told them, “Please call me Candy, it’s not like we’re in the public eye at the moment and from what Ian’s told me you’ve been pretty good at keeping his secret, so I think I can trust you with mine.”
“I guess you can call me Amy too,” Rave offered, uncertainly following my lead. “It’s not like I really have a secret identity anyway, looking like this.”
“Prodigy will help you with that,” I told the younger Hyper. “Do you remember how I looked normal when we met? He made me that disguise and I’m sure he’s already got ideas in mind for one for you.”
“It’s good to meet you both,” Ian’s father offered with a smile. “Any friends of Ian’s are welcome here anytime. He’s a good judge of character.”
“Don’t worry about your secrets girls we won’t tell a soul, it’s nice to finally meet you Candy. Ian’s been careful not to use names, but you’re all he’s been talking about lately,” Mrs. Smith said with a smile of her own, causing Ian to turn a deep red.
Kim looked Amy and me both over for a moment before adding a grin of her own. “Yeah Ian’s always talking about you Candy, it’s good to finally have a name and a face to go with what he’s been saying.” Then she turned her attention to Amy. “It looks like you’ve had it pretty rough. We’re about the same size Amy, so I’m pretty sure I have some clothes that you can have. Would you like to take a nice hot bath before we pick some things out for you? If you’ve been on the run I’ll bet it’s been a while, and it’ll probably help you relax a bit.”
“That’s a good idea,” Ian’s mother agreed with a nod. “Oh! And you’ll all have to stay for dinner.”
“I’ll head to the butcher shop and pick up some things and then Ian and I can start up the barbecue. Are either of you girls vegetarian? I’d hate to pick up something that you couldn’t eat,” Mr. Smith chimed in.
Ian’s family was kind of like a whirlwind, and Amy and I looked at one another for a moment unsure of what to do. Finally we both just relented, and Kim took Amy upstairs to put her in a nice hot bath while she picked out some clothes for her. While they were doing that Mr. Smith headed out to the grocery store and the butcher shop to get some things for dinner as Ian and I chatted with his mother. It was kind of strange for me being in a home with such a friendly and supportive family and I had to wonder how Amy was handling it as Mrs. Smith pulled out the baby pictures and told me all about Ian growing up.
Mostly I just listened and commented when it was appropriate or answered questions, since I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. It wasn’t that I felt uncomfortable or unwelcome, in fact it was very much the opposite. While Ian’s family was bringing me and Amy out of our comfort zones, it was done in a caring and supportive way. Rather than pulling, pushing, or dragging us into their sphere of influence, it was more like we were being drawn into a protective and loving embrace, one that makes you reluctant to leave it.
Was this what normal families were like? I couldn’t really be certain anymore. It was possible that they were so accepting because they were adoptive parents, it takes a special kind of person to do that. My mother had been overbearing and restrictive, and then once I had changed I was no longer her child, just an abomination. Ian’s mother on the other hand, and in fact his whole family, was supportive and loving without being constrictive. They treated us as they would any other friend or family member, and it felt like they were doing it because they actually cared and wanted to see us feeling safe and happy.
After an hour I started to loosen up a bit and got to know Ian’s mother a bit better, I even started telling her about myself. When I told her how my own mother had treated me when I Activated she scowled and wrapped me up in a hug. “You Poor dear,” she said with a frown as she reassuringly took my hand in both of hers. “Disgusting that a woman should treat their own child that way, no wonder you’ve been so skittish. I take it that poor Amy suffered similar circumstances?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah she was treated the same way by her own family, from what she told me and Ian. Though she’s had it much worse than me what with living on the streets since and then being on the run from those Right Hand assholes.”
“Well you’re both welcome here any time, and your other bandmates as well, Ian has said nothing but good things about you all. If you’d like we could watch over Amy while she recovers,” she offered.
I smiled as I considered her offer. “I appreciate it Mrs. Smith and I think you’ll be seeing more of us in the future. We promised Amy that we’d watch over her until we could find a more permanent arrangement for her though, since she seems somewhat comfortable with me and Ian, and I don’t like to go back on my word.”
Ian nodded beside me and his mother smiled warmly at us. “A person’s word is their bond,” she agreed, “It’s nice to meet young people with such good values nowadays. I think you’ve found a keeper Ian dear.”
I blushed a deep lavender at that, but Ian and I were spared further embarrassment as his father chose that moment to come home and he and Ian went into the back yard to start the grill. While the men were in the backyard taking care of the lion’s share of dinner, Ian’s mother and I went into the kitchen to do our share. As she worked on making some potato salad and I put together a salad we chatted about music and singing. It wasn’t hard to see where Ian had gotten his passion for music from and it was nice talking about singing with someone who loved it as much as I did.
It was as we here happily chatting and finishing up that Kim and Amy returned from upstairs. Amy was looking a lot better, and a bit more relaxed, now that she was cleaned up and wearing decent clothes. Kim had managed to find the young mutant a pair of white low-rise jeans, a pink crop top, and some socks and sneakers that fit her fairly decently. Amy still looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks, but nonetheless she looked markedly improved from when we had first met.
“Ta-da!” Kim gestured enthusiastically at Amy. I thought that Amy might be blushing a bit, but with her pitch black skin and glowing green lines and patterns it was really hard to tell. “I found a few other outfits and some pajamas I don’t wear for her as well, but we’ll need to go shopping for her at some point to get her some more clothes, especially underclothes. I found one set that I’ve never used, but she’s a bit bigger than me in the chest, so the bra is a bit tight on her.”
“Thanks a lot for helping her out with the clothes Kim,” I told her appreciatively as I finished tossing the salad. “Hopefully once Prodigy has her set up with a way to blend in while in public and we’ve figured out something more permanent for her living situation she’ll be able to go shopping.”
“Give me a call when you do,” Ian’s sister eagerly offered. “We could all go together, I’d love to hang out and get to know you both better. Or Amy and I can go on our own if you’re busy with band and team stuff, she should have a friend her own age to go shopping with.”
I looked uncertainly at Amy. With her trust issues around people in general, and the way that normal humans had hounded her in particular I wanted her to be able to make this decision for herself. Finally I looked over the other mutant and asked, “What do you think Amy?”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Amy admitted a bit uncertainly. “It’s been years since I had people that didn’t treat me like some sort of freak... I had Inverse and Eva and the others for a while, but we kind of stayed together through necessity, except for being mutants we didn’t have a lot in common and not many of them were the same age as me. We were talking a bit while Kim was helping me with the clothes and stuff and she seems cool. I forgot what it was like just being a normal girl and hanging out with a friend, and it was nice.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, I had been worried that Amy might just be too jaded, but it seemed like Ian’s family was having a similar effect on her as it was on me. Being seen as ourselves and treated normally was something we weren’t used to from normal humans, but I think it was something we both needed as well so, now that the initial shock had worn off, we were clinging to it and hoping that it could last. “That sounds like a great idea Kim,” I told them with a smile.
“Great! Just have Ian give you my number when you’re ready then,” Kim replied with an infectious grin. Then she seemed to remember something and reached into the back pocket of her jeans, producing her cell phone. “BTW Candy, Youtube is loving you right now.” She swiped the phone a few times and then handed it to me with a Youtube page on the screen. The video was entitled, “Who is the Blue Bombshell?” and in the past 3 hours since it was posted it already had over ninety thousand hits.
Wide-eyed, I pressed play on the video. It looked like it had been filmed from the pier and captured the whole incident with Smith and Company, from when the VTOL Landed to when I put out the fire and flew over to the crowd to calm the panic. Most of the video was a wide view range of the incident, but at the end it had zoomed in on me hovering above the crowd. The comments section was already filled with people buzzing about the incident. Most of the feedback was positive, though there were a few blaming me for the death of Smith and his men. There were even a few comments from girls on my “sexy sidekick” that confused me a bit, until I clicked on a similar video that had zoomed in on Ian in his bandana and sunglasses shielding be from the blast of the explosion with his force field.
“Omigod,” I finally managed to get out as I sank onto one of the kitchen stools.
“Maybe we should turn on the TV and check the local news,” Ian’s mother said as she gently pulled me to my feet and into the living room.
The four of us sat on the couch and Ian’s mother turned on the television, switching between several channels until she found a local news station. We had to wait nearly ten minutes, but once the world news was finished a picture of me floating in the air appeared behind the news anchor. “And in local news,” he began, “an incident between a pair of Hypers and what has been confirmed as members of the terrorist organization, The Right Hand, shook Coney Island earlier today.”
The video I had watched on Youtube replaced that of the news room as the anchor’s voice continued speaking. “The incident was recorded on a cell phone and has already gotten nearly one hundred thousand views since being posted earlier this afternoon.” Once the video had finished the view switched again to a podium where a police officer in a formal uniform stood and the anchor’s voice said, “We now take you live to a press conference with Lieutenant Anthony Russo, head of the NYPD’s Hyper-related Crimes Unit.”
“Good evening,” Lt. Russo said as he shuffled some papers in his hands. “Regarding the incident earlier today at Coney Island; the armored men were members of a terrorist organization called the Right Hand, and the cause of their deaths has been determined as a neurotoxin released into their bloodstream by their own organization to prevent us from getting any useful information. The two young Hypers involved are part of a team that is cooperating with the HCU and Aegis and were protecting an escaped prisoner of the Right Hand. They are in no way responsible for the deaths of these terrorists and their quick reactions prevented serious injuries or deaths among bystanders. Due to the ongoing nature of our investigation into this terrorist organization I will not be answering any questions at this time, thank you.”
I just stared at the screen, uncertain of what to think until Mrs. Smith turned off the screen and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It was going to happen sooner or later dear, you’ve been training for this kind of thing and you were bound to start getting attention once you came to light. At least you’ve been publicly cleared of any wrongdoing.”
“I guess it’s not too bad when you put it like that,” I admitted, “And we did save Amy. I guess that I was just really hoping we could avoid media attention like this until after the Battle of the Bands.”
“The Battle of the Bands?” Amy asked, her interest suddenly piqued.
I nodded and started to explain, “Riff and I are training to do the whole superhero thing with some friends of ours, but we’re also all part of a band and we’re hoping to make a big splash at the Battle of the Bands at the end of August.”
“Really?! What kind of music do you play? Can I hear you play sometime?” Amy blurted out, firing the questions at me.
“You can sit in on our practice tomorrow, as long as you’re quiet and resting while doing it. Remember what Dr. Park told you. You’re supposed to be taking it easy while you get your strength back,” I told her.
It was then that Ian and his father entered the room, the latter calling out, “Dinner is ready.”
To be certain that nobody would accidentally see me or Amy, we ate dinner in the dining room rather than in the back yard. The meal consisted of the tossed salad, potato salad, iced tea, baked potatoes, barbeques ribs, and hamburgers and Amy was encouraged to eat her fill. As we ate we informed Ian and his father about the news and the Youtube video and Ian seemed about as uncertain about the whole thing as I was.
After dinner was finished, and much friendly jabbing from Ian’s family and Amy, Ian got an acoustic guitar from his old bedroom and we managed an acoustic version of In the Shadows. It probably would have been better with Leslie’s organ too, but they all seemed happy with it and Amy couldn’t stop staring at me. After that we had to leave though, with promises to come visit, since Amy was looking very tired and I wanted her to get some proper bedrest.
It was almost nine o’clock by the time we got home and I was very glad that I had kept a firm telekinetic hold on Amy while we travelled, since she had ended up falling asleep during the trip. I levitated her all the way up to the apartment that Leslie and I shared, careful not to jostle her, and then settled her on the couch, where I covered her with a spare blanket. I had Ian place the backpack full of spare clothes that Kim had given Amy on the floor and then I placed my purse and stuffed bunny on my bed and checked my phone, which had been buzzing in my purse for most of the trip home.
The call display showed Blake’s number, so while Ian went to find our bandmates I quickly tapped call icon and waited for Blake to pick up. I didn’t have to wait long, since it had barely rung once before my young Tinker friend picked up. “Hi Candy, how did things go with getting the clothes and stuff? How’s Amy?”
He was worried about her, it was so cute. I managed, just barely, to hold back a giggle as I replied, “Ian’s sister gave her a bunch of clothes and his parents made sure she had plenty to eat before we left there. We just got back and she’s sleeping on my couch now.”
I heard him let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good, I was a bit worried about her, I’m glad she’s getting some rest.”
“How goes the search for the evil lair?” I asked, hoping that they had found something.
His voice carried an angry and annoyed tone as he answered my last question first. “We found the place, but it was scrubbed and completely abandoned. Detective MacArthur thinks that they pulled up stakes after Amy escaped. The HCU is looking for clues, but it looks like it’s going to be hard to find anything. We’re going to help comb the place over, so could you let Brianna know that I’ll probably be back late? She wanted to do something tonight, but I’m probably gonna crash as soon as I get back.”
“It figures,” I grumbled in disappointment. “I’ll let her know for you. I saw the press conference on the news, did you and Travis have something to do with that?”
“Sorry about that, but Phil constantly monitors the internet for anything of interest and once that video started going viral we needed to start thinking about spin control. You and Ian did the right thing and even though it’s unofficial, you have ties to Aegis and thus the HCU as well. People needed to know the truth before anti-mutant flamers could start dragging your names through the mud. Lt. Russo also had a public warning about the Right Hand and how dangerous they are posted on the NYPD’s website along with video footage of HCU incidents with them and their sudden deaths to support your innocence.”
“We haven’t even met this Lt. Russo, so why the hell is he willing to go to bat for us like this?” I wondered aloud.
Blake laughed as he replied, “He trusts Aegis and Detective MacArthur vouched for you. It’s not common knowledge, but a lot of the cops in the HCU are Hypers, including Lt. Russo and Detective MacArthur. None of them have really flashy powers suitable for putting on a cape and tights, but Lt. Russo hand-picked every member of that squad.”
“They’re Hypers? What powers do they have?” I asked in sudden interest.
“I met them both last year and trust me, there’s a reason that Detective MacArthur never takes off her sunglasses,” he told me with another laugh. “She has a minor telepathic ability and these weird eyes that give her a sort of hyper-enhanced intuition and powers of observation. She’s like a modern day Sherlock Holmes, which is why Lt. Russo is willing to take her at her word and why she’s working this case. If there’s a clue to be found she’ll find it. As for Lt. Russo, he can sense other mutants and has low-level telekinetic abilities.”
“Those sound like useful abilities in their line of work, and having so many Hypers means that they’ll actually want to solve these cases instead of just pinning the blame on us when it’s convenient.”
“Yeah the HCU is a lot better about giving us a fair shake than a lot of agencies that deal with Hypers,” Blake agreed. “I should be getting back to the others though Candy, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later Blake,” I said, signing off. Then I headed for the studio, where I was hoping I would find Ian and the others.
Brianna and all of my bandmates were all crowded around the laptop that we used for sound editing when I walked in, and from the sounds of it Ian was showing them the Youtube videos and the press conference. “Hey guys,” I said with a wave as I entered the room.
“Well, lookie here, if it isn’t the ‘Blue Bombshell’ herself,” Mai teased. I could only groan as I realized that that nickname wasn’t going to be going away for a while. “You two are moving pretty fast, usually fighting mutant-hating terrorists and becoming a Youtube sensation is a third date kind of thing.”
“Ian sure knows how to show a girl a good time,” I shot back playfully. “And I even got to spend the evening with his family having dinner and getting to know them. There were baby pictures and everything.”
“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” Leslie put in, giving me an appraising look.
“She’s... uh… not,” Ian admitted, looking just a little embarrassed. “My family wants to meet the whole band by the way, I was just never sure how to bring them up before since none of you have a good relationship with your families.”
“Wait… you actually had dinner with his family? For real?” Mai sputtered, her eyes going from me to Ian and then back to me again.
“Yeah they were really nice,” I admitted. “They didn’t even flinch at my appearance when I met them, blue skin and all. And as for our new houseguest, they were more concerned with getting her some clothes and making sure she ate a good meal to care about her appearance either. Luckily Ian’s sister was close to her size and had some clothes that she didn’t mind giving up.”
“Houseguest?” John asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Ian and I kinda promised Dr. Park that we would all keep an eye on Amy, the girl we saved, for a few days while she rests and recovers. She’s kind of in the same family situation as me so she doesn’t have anyone else to turn to right now. She’s asleep on our couch now Leslie, so we’ll need to be careful not to wake her when we return to the apartment. Dr. Park wants her resting as much as possible and getting three solid meals a day.”
“Now that I’m settled in, I don’t mind keeping an eye on her while you’re all training for the day,” Brianna quickly offered. “I may be able to help more with her clothes situation too, and maybe I can get my little bro to help keep an eye on her too.”
“Thanks Brianna, that’s really nice of you. I don’t think it’ll be a problem getting him to help out, it looks like he’s a bit sweet on her,” I told her with a giggle. “Oh, that reminds me, Blake said that he likely won’t be back until late since he, Travis, and Dr. Park are assisting the HCU in their investigation of the Right Hand. He said that he’ll probably crash as soon as he gets home.”
“Thanks for letting me know Candy, I guess that means that we’ll have time to go over some of the ideas I have for your costumes then,” she offered with a grin.
I grinned right back at her. “I was hoping you might say that, let’s see what you got.”
We all had relocated to Brianna’s studio, a well organized room with a huge work table bearing her sewing machine and serger on one end, with a medium sized rotating rack between them that played host to spools of thread in a rainbow of different shades. The other end of the worktable was cleared for cutting materials or being able to lay them out flat. One wall was dominated by square cubbies hosting rolls of different materials of varying shades and textures, and in the corner there was a pair of adjustable mannequins, one male and one female.
Brianna had us all gather around the cleared end of the worktable and soon she had placed her tablet in the center to give us all a clear view of the ideas she had sketched while she explained them. So like I said before, I’m thinking mostly black in gothic styles with the team/band logo on your backs to give them a uniform feel. Each of you would have slight differences in style, an individual symbol over your hearts, and a signature color to go with your on stage personas.”
“Wait, we’re going to have to act like someone else when in costume? I don’t know if I can really do that,” Mai pointed out in concern.
“Trust me, they won’t be much of a stretch and most of the persona will be displayed in the costumes themselves,” the designer assured us, “but feel free to play it up as much as you like for the public.”
“Okay, so what are these personas?” Ian asked in interest.
Brianna pointed at me with a grin. “Okay first we have Candy. As Syryn, I’ve decided to make your costume sultry and seductive with a lot of gothic flair. Sirens in the Greek myths were known to lure in sailors and seduce them with their voices. You have the voice down, from what I’ve heard, so the sultry and seductive look will play on that. Your signature color will be cotton candy pink to go along with your hair and contrast the black of the rest of your costume. I haven’t really come up with definitive symbols for each of you yet, but for you I’m thinking of something music based with a lot of curves to suit you. Unlike the others, you’ll be showing quite a bit of skin to accentuate your differences, but all the vital bits will be covered with the bulletproof material I’m making all of your costumes out of. ”
I had been half expecting something like she was describing, so I quickly explained, “No worries about the exposed skin, I don’t really need to concentrate anymore to keep a TK shield up at all times. It’ll protect me from bullets and other projectiles. I was planning on keeping one up whenever we perform or do the hero thing anyway since I’m not wearing a mask and I’ll be putting a pretty big target on my exposed head for anti-mutant extremists.”
“Good, I knew that you wanted to be yourself on stage, but I was a bit worried about someone shooting you in one of the exposed bits,” she responded with a sigh of relief. Then pointing to the rough sketch on her tablet she continued explaining. “Now for your costume itself I was thinking of a studded collar with a front-lacing corset to hug your curves, show a good amount of cleavage, and leave your shoulders and upper arms bare. The skirt will be secured with a studded antigravity belt to match the collar. The skirt itself will have a hem at mid thigh on your right side that tapers down to just below the knee on the left with a crinoline in your signature color underneath to fill it out and bring attention to your legs and the curves that your corset is showing off. Elbow length fishnet gloves and ankle boots over thigh high fishnet stockings would complete the outfit and the lacing in the boots and corset would both be in your signature pink. I’ll also make you an optional leather jacket for those times when it’s a little colder.”
“Ooh! Do me next!” Mai blurted out eagerly.
The designer laughed, but flipped through a few images before settling on one. “For the rest of you I’ll be adding touches to your costumes to subtly, or in some cases blatantly, hide your real identities as well as add to the believability of your personas. For Starbright your persona is the sexy and flirty party girl.”
“I think she can handle that just fine,” Leslie teased with a laugh.
Mai stuck out her tongue at my roommate as Brianna continued her explanation. “Your signature color will be a pastel blue that contrasts the black and gets attention. You’ll be wearing a full skintight bodysuit that covers you from head to toe in that blue color and made from a bulletproof material. The only part of you that bodysuit won’t cover will be your ears and the area of the mouth, nose, and chin not covered by the mask. To preserve your secret identity I’ll be adding padding to the mask to make it look like you have more prominent cheekbones and strategic padding to the bodysuit to give you the more stereotypical superheroine physique since you’re so petite.”
“The body suit is just to disguise your features and keep you from being riddled with bullets,” the designer carefully explained while raising a hand to stave off Mai’s possible protests. “Over top that we’ll build your persona’s look. The bodysuit will have a built-in realistic looking wig to hide your normally long hair. I’m thinking black, since that’s your natural hair color; something short on one side with a side part and then shoulder length on the other, with light blue streaks and half covering your face. Over top the bodysuit you’ll be wearing a black crop top with a black three quarter sleeve leather jacket and matching miniskirt, gloves, ankle boots, and utility belt.
“I think I can live with that,” Mai said with a grin.
“Now for Twilight, we’re going to go dark and mysterious, with silver as her signature color,” Brianna said as she once again flipped through images until she found the one she was looking for. “You’ll be wearing a dusky silver bodysuit from ankle to neck with a black leotard overtop. We’ll accessorize with black knee high combat boots and elbow length gloves, both of which will lock firmly in place with a series of prominent silver buckles. The final touches will be a black domino mask and a knee-length black cloak with a deep hood that will obscure the features of your face and body.”
“Dark and mysterious huh? I like the look of it, it goes well with my codename,” my roommate stated with approval as she looked over the design. “So, who’s next?”
Brianna flipped one image over before turning to regard John. “Decibel may bring the noise, but you seem to be a fairly quiet person by nature, so we’re going to work with that and make you enigmatic and a bit intimidating. You have a good physique that’s not overly muscular and not toothpick thin, so we’re going to do a form fitting bodysuit from ankles to neck, black in the legs with a gradient fading into the red torso at the waist, with a black trench coat over top. The boots and gloves would be in your signature dark red. We won’t do a regular mask for you, but rather a helmet or something that will completely hide your face from view and distort your voice when you do speak. I’ll work with Blake to come up with something that works with the overall costume theme.”
“Feel free to make me look as badass and intimidating as you want,” John joked with a chuckle, “I’m not going to complain. I guess that just leaves Ian then. Feel free to make him look slightly less badass, he does have a force field after all, and we can’t have the sidekick outdoing the Blue Bombshell.”
“Thanks a lot dude,” Ian muttered, letting out an exaggerated groan.
“Well he is the ‘sexy sidekick’ Brianna replied with a laugh. “Plus he’s the lead guitarist so maybe we should use that, cash in on sex appeal for the girls, since Syryn will be holding the attention of all the guys. I was having trouble deciding on something for Riff, but I had a few ideas and one of them should work well with his newfound popularity with the girls.”
“What kind of idea?” Ian inquired cautiously.
Brianna looked thoughtful for a moment, flipping through several sketches before coming up with the one that she was looking for and making some quick alterations. “Like I said, we’ll make you Syryn’s opposite number. We’ll go with tight black pants and a military style vest fastened with four straps in the front with royal purple clasps and accents. We won’t have you wearing a shirt underneath to show off your chest and arms and make all your fangirls happy. To contrast the mostly black outfit a bit we’ll have a purple strip, maybe three inches wide, run down each side of your body from underarm to ankle. We could finish it off with pirate style boots and gloves, black with royal purple trim and a mask to cover up the upper half of your face, but open at the top to let your long hair hang freely.”
Ian thought about it for a moment and finally nodded. “That sounds okay, but Syryn gets a jacket in case it’s cold, so shouldn’t I too?”
“What? And disappoint all your fangirls?” Brianna said with a shocked and serious look on her face. She couldn’t hold it in place for long though before she broke down into a fit of giggles. “I’m… just kidding. I’ll make a male version of Syryn’s Jacket for you.”
“You’re almost as bad as Mai,” Ian muttered, though he was smiling when he did so.
The next day we spent mostly relaxing and watching over Amy since most of Aegis was still busy with doing work for their civilian jobs and Blake, Travis, and Dr. Park took the Ladybug to continue whatever work they had been doing before I had interrupted them the day before. Before they had left though Blake had stopped by to tweak a version of my second skin pendant and hair net that he had whipped up the night before for Amy that gave her the appearance of having lightly tanned skin and chestnut brown hair. She had been so happy with the results that she had hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Blake had left after that, just as happy and a bit red in the face.
After making sure that the three of us had eaten a good breakfast and that Amy was resting on the couch watching television, Leslie and I worked on a new song that I had an idea for since meeting Amy the day before. Our treatment from both our parents and many other normal humans in our natural forms had been very similar and it was a far too common reaction to obvious mutants like us that pained me inside. It wasn’t even just mutants, but anyone who was even the slightest bit different in some way ended up hated and ridiculed for things that were beyond our control.
We had finished working on the new song by lunchtime and so we decided to take Amy out for a brief walk to a nearby burger joint to get her out of the apartment for a bit and used to being, and blending in, in public. She was nervous at first, obviously worried about someone seeing through her disguise, but as we ate nobody paid any special attention to us, other than the looks that boys reserved for girls they thought were cute. She was a lot more relaxed by the time we returned to the apartment and it improved my mood immensely.
We had decided on an extra long practice during the afternoon since we had the free time and Brianna and Amy made themselves comfortable on the couch in the studio to watch while we ran through each of our songs several times. Amy was enraptured the whole time, especially after Brianna had explained that we were going to be super heroes and the world’s first openly mutant band. Finally we were about ready to finish for the day when I started handing out the music sheets for the new song. “Leslie and I finished this one this morning guys,” I explained a bit uncertainly, “I call it ‘Light the Darkness’. Now I know that it’s a bit slower than our usual stuff, but I had the idea running through my head all night and I wanted to give it a try.”
The tempo was slow, sad, and languid and Leslie started in on the organ almost as soon as John had started setting down the beat. Ian and Mai jumped in filling out the melody and I just let it take hold for a long moment, washing over me and our audience before adding my voice as the first verse began. I thought about all that Leslie and Amy had been through before I met them, how lonely and difficult it must have been for them, how much they had suffered. Being very careful to control my empathy and just let my voice itself convey those emotions, I started in on the first verse.
Some people play at being sharks
They prey on those alone or sick
Their biting seems to leave no marks
But how can people be so thick
All the scars are deep inside
Each day hiding them gets harder
Then one day it’s suicide
And bullies get away with murder
Sadness and disgust at that kind of treatment, and how it could have ended up so much worse for my friends or even for myself, colored my tone. I let that final word hang there as the interlude began and then when the tune slipped into the chorus I beseeched my listeners to hope as the words flowed from my tongue.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
I let the final word carry, keeping that hope alive in my voice as long as I could before the next interlude. Then as the next verse began I though of my mother and how much her words and actions had hurt me since I had activated, pouring all of that into the next verse, while continuing to keep a firm hold on my empathy. I wanted the words and the emotions in my voice to carry the song, not my psychic ability. I wanted to provoke deep thought, not the depression and anger that those thoughts actually made me feel.
They say you’re a freak, they say you’re a loser
They call you so many hurtful names
Whoever they are they’re just an abuser
Don’t be a victim to their games
You’ve heard their side, now hear my side
It doesn’t matter what they’ve said
We may all be different on the outside
But in the end we all bleed red
I let the message and the words slowly ebb away, taking a moment to collect myself before the chorus began again and I once more put all the hope I could muster into those words.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
The next verse was more insistent and I put my own confidence into the words as I started in. I had found good friends who accepted me for who I was and I had to believe that with the right push others could as well.
Who you are, where you come from,
Who you love, the color of your skin
It doesn’t matter, you’re still someone
And what counts is what’s within
Take it from someone who’s been there
Just hold high that candle’s light
There are others with a light to share
And together things can be alright
After carrying that last note I took a good silent breath of air. I was under no delusion that these simple lyrics could change the way that those who were different were treated, but if even one person who ever listened to this song didn’t feel so alone anymore, if I could change one life for the better than it would be worth it. I broke into the chorus one last time, hoping that that would be the case.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
Yes, together we will shiiiiine…
I held that last note, reluctant to let go and then I let the others bring the song to a close, the melody growing ever more silent until it had faded completely.
I looked up to see Brianna and Amy smiling, tears in their eyes. My bandmates all wore similar expressions and John gave a nod of approval. Nobody really had to say anything at that point. The song may have been slower and more melancholy than our usual fare, but the message, that was something we could all get behind.
For the next two days, Brianna watched Amy while the rest of us trained for the day, but whenever we weren’t in training she was everywhere we were, following us, and particularly me, around like a little lost puppy. She seemed to have fully recovered, but we had no idea what to do with her now. I wasn’t about to let her go back to living on the streets, but putting her in the foster care system wouldn’t work out well for her unless the foster parents knew she was a mutant, and I didn’t want her to have to out herself either now that she had a way to blend in.
Brianna had taken a liking to Amy and had offered to see Tara at the Hyper Protection Program office in regards to becoming her acting foster parent. Amy was even keen on the idea, but there was one problem that I could foresee. Her obvious hero worship toward me and the other members of my team was pushing her to want to become more involved in what we were doing. She wanted to be a part of RevolveR and that made me nervous. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her or thought that she shouldn’t be part of the team because she didn’t play an instrument. We all liked her, in fact she was kind of becoming like a kid sister to us and there were other ways she could help the team than just as a band member. What bothered me was her age, and that what we were doing was going to be dangerous.
I had tried to subtly discourage her, but it hadn’t helped and at the end of those three days she spent recovering she finally got the nerve to ask what was on her mind. “I want to join your team.”
I sighed as I thought about how best to discourage her. Finally, I just came out with the truth. “This isn’t a game Amy, people die doing the superhero thing and you’re not legally old enough to make that decision for yourself.”
“I know it’s not a game and I know what’s at stake,” she stated, crossing her arms stubbornly. “I stayed alive for a month and a half with those Right Hand assholes on my heels, and ‘that decision’ was made for me the moment that I Activated. Besides, I could be so useful to you on missions with my powers, and I don’t need to be an actual part of the band, I’d be like the best Roadie ever!”
I hated to admit it but her points were valid, in fact similar thoughts had entered my own mind as I had considered the problem over the past day. The biggest problem was that her powers could allow her to accompany us on missions whether we wanted her to or not. She also had the determination and sheer stubbornness to do just that, and I could hardly keep her safe if she was jumping into missions and not part of the game plan.
Time and again it came back to one conclusion. The only real way to keep her safe was to allow her to be a part of things, but on my terms. I needed to be able to know what she was going to be doing and limit her involvement with anything potentially dangerous. Finally I said, “I’ll talk to Aegis about it, but there will be conditions. These are non-negotiable, you do this on my terms or not at all.”
She jumped and hugged me. “Name them! I’ll do anything!”
“First of all, since Brianna seems to want to be your guardian, she has to sign off on this. Second, you need to follow orders at all times. Third, you’ll be a probationary member until Blackout and Liberty can assure me that you’re not going to be a danger to yourself or anyone else out there. Blackout is going to work you hard and if he doesn’t see an effort to learn and improve you’re out. Fourth, come September you’ll start homeschooling; you’ve been out of school for two years and you’ll need to catch up to graduate. And last, but not least, no lone ranger bullshit; you stick with the team and where I can keep an eye on you at all times, unless I give you the order to leave.
“You got it! Absolutely! I’m gonna go talk to Bri right now!” With that she took off for Brianna’s apartment and left me wondering if I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.
To say that Liberty and Blackout weren’t enthused by the idea is putting it mildly, but as team leader it was my decision and they couldn’t argue with my logic and my conditions had met with their approval. I think that Blackout was privately hoping that Amy would quit once the training got too hard for her, but I had the feeling that he was going to be disappointed on that score. Amy wasn’t the type to give up and I was fairly certain that she would work hard to make sure that every one of my conditions was met or exceeded.
Amy had convinced Brianna to endorse it as well, probably because Brianna knew as well as I did that without my terms she probably would have done it whether we liked it or not. She would be better off doing it with our knowledge and full protective gear. The designer had shown us the costume design she had come up with for Amy’s alter ego Rave as well; a full neck to toes neon green bodysuit that exactly mimicked the glowing lines and geometric patterns found all over her body, only they were in black on green rather than green on black. Over that she would wear a black crop top with her personal emblem over her heart, a short black skirt, knee-high leather boots, and black elbow length gloves with what looked like glow bracelets over top.
Rave’s suit wasn’t the only one that had gained a personal emblem either, since Brianna had managed to design a personal emblem for each of our costumes in our signature colors, as well as an eye-catching gold team logo that would go on the backs of our costumes and optional jackets. When she had shown us those they had been on a black background so we could see what they eventually would look like on the black material of our costumes. It would take a while for the costumes to be finished, but none of us was in any particular hurry. We were all still in training, and I didn’t plan on making any more appearances as Syryn in public until our debut at the Battle of the Bands, and that was still over a month away.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 6 Birthday Amethyst |
The next month passed in a blur of day long training sessions, and band practices most of the evenings. We were training even when the members of Aegis were off on missions, since we pretty much knew our routines by now. It was exhausting, but we were getting damn good as a band and not too shabby with our powers either. I had a lot more control over my abilities now and the daily workouts were keeping me in excellent shape as well. Ian and I were also going steady now, though we were taking things slow since he wanted to make sure I was ready for a physical relationship before going that far.
In other news, the website for the Battle of the Bands had announced the twelve entrants who would be competing for the title and the two thousand dollar prize. We were there, but so was Red Prophesy. The other bands consisted of Unsafe Company, Torpedo Agenda, Naked Effigy, One Dagger Mutiny, Invader Edict, The Cramps, The Metal Dolls, Drunk Uncle, Black Malice, and Nuclear Bong. While I was pleased that we had been selected I also noted that we were near the bottom of the list and all the other bands were hard rock or metal.
“How long?” I asked Tessily as I pulled myself from the pool on Friday August sixteenth, following another rigorous day of training followed by underwater meditation. She had had me following our training each day by meditating and performing the various mental exercises she had taught me under water until I absolutely needed air. It usually helped me to relax after all the physical training and pushing my telekinetic abilities to their limits, and it was really helping me to hone my mind as well. My control and precision with my powers was really improving since she had started training me two and a half months earlier.
“One hour and thirty eight minutes,” she responded with a smile as she handed me a towel. The smile was replaced by a look of uncertainty though as she paused briefly before speaking again. “Candice, before you return to your abode to prepare for your meeting and practice there is a matter that I would like to discuss with you. Would you mind joining me in my sanctum?”
I already had a lot on my mind with getting the band ready for the battle of the bands in two weeks, worrying about who was going to be our agent and manager, it being my first birthday as a girl, and my upcoming meeting with Liberty and Blackout to discuss the progress of my team. Now I had something more to worry about it seemed. With the uncertain expression on her face I wondered if I had done something wrong. While Tessily usually took everything seriously to some degree, there was this determination in her eyes I had only seen rarely. Whatever it was she wanted to speak to me about, she wasn’t sure if she should bring it up, but she was making herself do it regardless.
If it weren’t for the seriousness and uncertainty in her expression I might have just written it off as her wanting to do something for my birthday. I had already been surprised with an impromptu party and gifts from all my band mates this morning: John and Mai had chipped in to get me a really nice mic stand tor my wireless mic, Leslie had bought me a diver’s watch, Amy had gone shopping with Kim to get me a silk bathrobe that matched my hair, and Ian had gotten me an acoustic guitar, with a promise that he would start teaching me to play when we had free time. The Fae though still didn’t follow a lot of human customs though, so that couldn’t be it. No, Tessily wanted to talk to me about something serious, I could feel it.
I looked up at the clock over the pool, as I began towelling myself off, and saw that it was only three thirty, and that only made me more worried since we usually didn’t finish for the day for another hour or so. That meant I still had an hour and a half before my meeting, but what could she need to speak with me about so badly that she would deliberately cut practice short? Pushing my worries aside and firmly clamping down on my empathy so my feelings wouldn’t leak out when I spoke, I nodded. It was probably better to get whatever it was out of the way. “Sure Tessily, it looks like I have enough time for it,” I told her with as much of a smile as I could muster.
Once I was dry, and had put my new bathrobe on over my bathing suit, the Fae woman led the way out of the pool and toward the elevator we used to go from the sub-levels to the apartments. This elevator was in the corner of the building furthest away from the main and side entrances, away from the prying eyes of any visitors and hidden by hologram emitters that made it look like a normal wall. Blake had made sure nobody would be able to see it and it only opened to the voice commands of team members whose voice prints had been registered.
Once we were on the ground floor, I followed her to the one bedroom apartment she lived in. I had never been in her home before so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from her living space, especially with her allergy to many synthetic materials. She had only been freed from her curse and living here under the name of Tess O’Brien for two years now, so I doubted that she had embraced human culture yet. The longing in her voice whenever she spoke with me about her people made me doubly sure of that.
She opened the door to the apartment and I wasn’t really all that surprised by what I saw. The living room was well lit with hardwood floors and was dominated by the green of various potted plants, herbs, and even some growing vegetables that gave the place the feel of almost being in a forest or jungle. Seriously, the room was filled with them, like some indoor garden and the only furniture was in the centre of the room; a pair of wooden garden benches and some large sitting cushions in dark blue that I figured were cotton and filled with down. A quick look around told me that the kitchen was left more functional, but I figured that her bedroom was much the same as what I was looking at now.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I told her honestly as I finished getting a look at everything. I took a deep breath of the scents of the flowers and other plants around me as I did so and couldn’t help but smile. It was very relaxing, and probably helped her feel as close to being at home as a Fae living in New York City could.
She smiled as she responded, “Thank you Candice, and please make yourself comfortable.” Some of the uncertainty seemed to leave her as she took a seat cross-legged on one of the cushions and breathed in the subtle scents of the plants around us. She had explained to me when we first started training that the Fae have very acute senses, which was why Blake had fitted the pool with an advanced automated sea salt filtration and cleaning system rather than a regular chlorine one.
I decided to sit on the cushion closest to her, copying her own pose as I got right to the point. I needed to get this over with before it made me even more nervous than it already was. “So you wanted to talk to me about something?”
The silver haired elf nodded and took a deep breath before speaking. “Candice, since I began training you, you have been reminding me more and more of my own people. It is not just your appearance, but who you are inside as well, the way you value life, and how you have learned our fighting style so quickly. We are ready to go well beyond the basics that I have been teaching you so far, and my feeling of kinship to you deepens each day. My kerridae has long since vanished and I have yet to find any others that remain…” She paused uncertainly before she finally said, “That is why I have brought you here, to ask you if you would be willing to undergo the Minari an Ciele.”
Tessily had taught me some basic words from the Fae language, but I had no idea what she was talking about. It didn’t seem like I was doing anything wrong, but I had no clue what she seemed to want from me either. All I did know was that kerridae was the Fae word for a community of Fae, she had explained it once after using the term by mistake and told me that in English they could be referred to as a troupe. “Huh?” I inquired, oh-so-cleverly.
“My people can produce children only very rarely,” she said with a sad look on her face. “Each child we did have were great treasures for our kerridae and loved by all, but many of us who did not have children still longed for one of our own. Long ago we began taking in orphans and stealing away children who were unwanted or badly abused. Sometimes we would leave a Changeling in the child’s place for a time to give us the time to get them away safely. I know that some of the Yiantuul-sair, Fae that have embraced the darkness, took infants as well. These were not children of our own though, they shared neither our blood nor our clan marks, so we came up with the Minari an Ciele to create a stronger bond with our adopted children.”
“You want to adopt me?!” I blurted out as I realized where this was going.
She nodded slowly. “Not in the human sense of the word, but yes, and I thought that this would be an appropriate day to ask you. I asked Tara about this and it would not be recognized here in the human world unless we have the documents and certificate for an official adoption. She has offered to help with that process, should we choose to do that though. Since we are both in her system and you were legally a ward of the state she could attain those documents and alter our files accordingly. What I speak of though is more of a magically binding vow, on my part only; you would have no obligations other than those you choose to place on yourself.”
“What exactly does this involve?” I asked. Technically and legally I had no parents now, and my birth mother had made it quite clear that she didn’t consider me her child, or even human, anymore. Also, the thought that Tessily thought enough of me to ask this was very flattering. I had come to like her very much during our time together. Sure most of that time was training, but she was always encouraging and caring and I thought sometimes that she worried about me more than she let on. She was teaching me a lot of things about her people that didn’t fall under training my powers as well, and we had done a lot of bonding.
“There would be an exchange of a small amount of blood from both of us, a few drops would suffice,” she explained, watching my face for my reaction. “Then I would use a spell to activate the magic in my blood to give you the mark of my clan. If we do this I will not be able to take another adoptee for another fifty years. I believe that I am making the right choice with you though; you are so much like one of my people, and you are trying to develop your powers, but you do not wish to abuse them. I do not think I could possibly choose a better child for myself.”
I stared at her for a moment as I considered what she was saying. I was of course deeply flattered that she thought so highly of me and had come to care for me so much in such a short time. There was also the revelation that she was choosing me, despite the fact that she could not do so again for fifty years, if that was true then she would never have offered if she weren’t certain about this. A few drops of blood didn’t really bother me too much, but this mark she mentioned had me curious. “What is this clan mark? Is it like a tattoo or something?”
After a moment’s thought she nodded. “Some could see it as that, but all Fae are born with the mark of their clan. These marks show that we carry the magic of our clan’s lineage, in the case of a child with parents from two clans they show what clan that child is aligned to, and they allow us to use the ability unique to our clan. There are many clans and each clan has a different ability, such as the Changeling’s shape shifting and the Pixies ability to take a pixie form to fly and increase their magical energy. Having the mark of the Royal Clan you would gain our ability, though it would not be near as powerful as it would in a true Fae.”
“And just what is your clan’s ability?” I inquired, wondering why she had not explained it along with the other two clans she had used as examples. “You’ve never mentioned it before and the only magic I’ve ever seen you use is on your arrows.”
She answered my unspoken question first. “I told you of the Changelings and Pixies first because, of all the clans, your people seem most familiar with them. As for the mark of my clan, it has very little use in the world of modern humans. You see Candice, ours is the power to command creatures of magic, including other Fae.” She sighed sadly and looked away before taking a slow breath and returning her gaze to me. “The other clans believe that our mark only inspires loyalty and confidence, but in truth it is far more than that. When we command a magical creature it will obey without pause. Fae and other intelligent species bound to magic can sometimes resist us, but only if they are very strong willed and the command feels wrong to them. Only others who wear our clan mark and non-magical creatures are completely immune though.”
“That sounds like an easy ability to abuse,” I said with a frown once I had stopped staring at her.
“It is,” she agreed, nodding soberly. “That is why I have chosen to never use it on another sentient creature, especially one of my own people. I would rather my people follow me because they wish to, not because I have commanded them to. If I make an error in judgement my people should be allowed to question that error. My elder sister Minira did not feel as I did though, which was why our father chose me to lead our people before he died. I fear for what has become of my kerridae under her rule. Ours is not so much a clan as a royal lineage, each kerridae has one, and we two are the last of that line unless she has had a child during my long absence.”
“I hope we can find them someday,” I told her sincerely, reaching out to comfort her by taking her hand in my own.
Tessily shook off her sadness and smiled at me. “I shall not give up on finding my people, but I feel like there is one with me here now. Do you have any other questions about this?”
“I was wondering how having that mark will affect me. I’m not Fae, but I’m not exactly human either,” I said while tapping one of my pointed ears.
“My father adopted a human while I was a young girl,” she spoke with a pensive expression. “She could not command Fae, but in time she became very adept at commanding less intelligent magical creatures, such as elementals and she had a unicorn she was very fond of. The mark made her inherently magical as well and I suspect that the same would be true for you, so experienced magic users will probably be able to sense something different about you. You would be able to sense them as well though, and see magical creatures shielded from the sight of mortals. You do not need to worry about physical changes, if that is your concern.”
I breathed a sigh of relief before replying, “Good, I think one traumatic physical change was enough for one lifetime. So, other than possibly getting the attention of magic users and gaining the ability to see and command creatures that no longer exist, there’s nothing to worry about?”
“Nothing that I am aware of,” the silver haired Fae woman agreed, “but your assumption that magical creatures no longer exist is incorrect. There are many magical creatures on other planes, and even some still on our world, but they prefer to live in natural places with a high concentration of magic. They would avoid cities like this, unless summoned or drawn to a large source of raw magical energy or a powerful force of nature.”
I took nearly fifteen minutes then to consider things very carefully, since I didn’t want to just jump into a decision like this. Tessily merely waited quietly and I figured that she knew me well enough by now to know that I needed to do that. She really seemed to want this though, and I had to admit that I felt a sort of kinship to her. It wasn’t just the pointed ears or that we would both look strange to normal people without a disguise, it went much deeper than that. We had similar values and the more I learned about her people the more interesting it was to me. There was also the fact that we had both been cast out by the only family we had and we both knew what it meant to lose our purpose in life.
I knew that it was stupid of me, but sometimes I still missed my birth mother and wanted to call her or try to see her. At the same time though, I still felt the anger at her betrayal and abandonment of me when I needed her the most. Since we had come to New York Aegis had become like a new family for Leslie and me both and while Leslie had found a caring mentor in Lisa, Tessliy had been that and more for me; teaching me all sorts of things, offering advice when I needed it, or just being there when I felt down about my differences and alone in the world. Leslie was like a sister to me, but Tessily had been my mother figure in this strange new family of ours. What was the harm in making that role official to her if it made her happy? We didn’t even need to make it a legal adoption unless we both decided later that it was something we wanted.
Then there were the aspects of agreeing to take her mark. Tessily was a magical being, but she didn’t seem to have mages coming out of the woodwork to attack her so that didn’t really concern me too much. I was going to have to get used to getting attention anyway, looking like I do and choosing to become a rock star/superhero. Seeing and commanding magical creatures probably wouldn’t even be an ability I’d be able to use much, though that might fall under the same decision-making category as a condom: I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. I also respected Tessily’s restraint while possessing such an ability. It takes a damn good person to be able to command other people to do your bidding, but not do so for moral reasons.
Finally I nodded. “How do we do this?”
First Tessily had me choose where I wanted the mark to be, while she prepared a few things. She was born with hers on her upper back, but since the ritual would allow her to place it anywhere on my body we both wanted to choose a spot where a tattoo wouldn’t look too out of place. We decided on my right shoulder and she used a small knife with a narrow blade to make a small incision. Then she made a small cut on her right hand as well and placed her slowly bleeding hand against my shoulder to mix our blood.
What followed next was Tessily chanting something in the Fae language with a look of concentration on her face. I had no idea what she was saying, but I had this intense tingling sensation where her hand met my shoulder. When she finished she used a wet cloth to wipe the blood off our skin. There wasn’t near as much as I had been expecting though and when I checked my shoulder in the small hand mirror she offered me there was no sign of a cut on my light blue skin. In its place there was what looked like a black and gold tattoo, roughly three inches in diameter, of a six pointed star entwined in leafy vines.
“That’s kind of cool,” I said as I looked at it. I could feel a sort of warmth fading from the mark and looking at Tessily I could sense that faint warmth fading from her as well. Was that what magic felt like? I put down the mirror and smiled at her, “So what happens now?” I asked uncertainly.
Tessliy seemed to get what I was talking about without me having to say it. She wrapped me up in a hug before speaking. “We go on as we were before; I will teach you more about our people and our language, in addition to the combat training and assisting you in developing your powers, and should you need me for anything else I shall be here for you. There are some things we could do to spend time together outside of regular training as well if you would like.”
“That sounds nice,” I agreed. I meant it too, I liked Tessily, I felt even more connected to her now than I had before, and spending time with her outside of training would help me to figure out if I might want to make this adoption official.
She reached behind the cushion she was sitting on and produced a small wrapped box. “Thank you for this; I cannot express properly how much this means to me. I had Lisa help me purchase something for you; I am told it is a human custom to give gifts on the date of a loved-one’s birth.”
I looked at the small box wrapped in light blue paper and tied with a pink ribbon uncertainly for a moment before beginning to open it. “Thank you, you didn’t need to do that, you’ve given me enough since we met.” Once I had the box unwrapped and opened I discovered a simple silver bracelet with something engraved on the inside. “Hanun lien”? I asked curiously. It wasn’t a Fae term that I had heard her use before. Sometimes I couldn’t be sure whether or not she needed a reminder that I wasn’t actually one of her people. Her desire to adopt me using that ritual showed that she knew it consciously, but sometimes she needed to explain the Fae terms she used so casually around me.
“It means ‘treasured child’,” the Fae princess explained as I put the bracelet on my right wrist, “it is a term of affection my people use for our adoptees.” She hugged me and then got gracefully to her feet. “Now, you had best go prepare for your meeting with Lisa and Nick, I do not wish for you to be late because of me.”
It turned out that my meeting with Liberty and Blackout was nothing to be too concerned about either. When I arrived at the situation room after a very quick shower, wearing a pair of jeans and a halter top, I found Lisa and Nick without their masks and relaxing at the large shield shaped table with cups of coffee. It seemed that this was just going to be a casual meeting. “Take a load off birthday girl,” Lisa told me with a smile as I sighed in relief. I took a seat to Lisa’s right and as I was getting comfortable her smile became even broader as caught sight of the new mark on my shoulder. “So Tess actually asked you did she? She’s been fretting about it for days, worried you would say no.”
I wasn’t really surprised that Tessily would have talked about her desire to ‘adopt’ me with Lisa. As the only two female members of Aegis, the two of them tended to spend a lot of their off time together and had become very close over the past two years. If she would have discussed it with anyone it would have been Lisa, and Lisa had helped with the gift as well. “I wasn’t sure what to think at first,” I admitted, “but she’s been a great teacher and more to me and I’ve come to like her a lot. We have a lot in common.”
“I’m glad you two have found a sort of family in one another,” she said candidly. “This whole team is a family, but having a tangible family bond can mean a lot when things get hard. Tess is very proud of you, you know.”
Nick nodded in agreement. “So are we, of all of you kids. You’ve all really put a lot of effort into your training since you joined us. Tess says you’ve got the basics of what she can teach you down. She wants to go on to a few more advanced things, but we can probably cut your training for your powers and the physical stuff down to a few hours a day, and add an hour of team training for all of you. After lunch you’ll all be free to study and have some free time for other things.”
“Study?” I asked, wondering what they were talking about.
Nick handed me a silver flash drive. “That has a database of super villains known to operate in the New York area, both Hyper and otherwise, as well as some that we have encountered on missions, and any who are wanted by federal authorities. The data contains known aliases, powers, weaknesses, and combat strategies should you encounter them. Some records are more detailed than others, but they all have photos and names that you can familiarize yourself with. There is also data on various criminal organizations and on organizations that we believe may be exploiting innocent Hypers, including what we have on the Right Hand.”
“Unfortunately, with the latter we have little more than suspicions at the moment, but we try to keep a close eye on their dealings if we can,” Lisa added with a sigh. “You’ll also need to start learning how to use all of the equipment Blake has for you as well.”
“I thought this meeting was to discuss my team’s progress,” I said, blinking in confusion.
“It is,” Lisa agreed with a nod, “you’re all ready to move on to team training. Tessily gives us glowing reports of your progress and Leslie is doing as well as you are. We’re still working on finding the upper limit of her speed, but she’s just as strong as I am and her control over both is progressing nicely. Her shadow walking ability only seems to have a range of around one hundred feet, but it doesn’t seem to require line of sight. She would make a frightening thief with that ability; if it’s in her range and there are shadows anywhere she can get in and out without a trace.”
Nick spoke next. “As for Decibel, John isn’t as powerful as the rest of you, but he’s a hard worker and he’s done well with the hand to hand combat lessons. His sonar sense is his most powerful ability; he can sense a quarter being dropped from almost fifty feet away and tell you what side it landed on every time. The sonic shout seems to be an extension of his ability to manipulate sound. He manipulates the sound of his own voice and it doesn’t appear to be limited to only volume, so we’ve had him trying to use the ability in different ways.”
“What kind of applications could there be for that?” I asked in interest.
“Depends on how much range and fine control he can develop,” the large man answered. “It’s possible he could create sonic shockwaves or make people pass out or get sick. We’re trying to help him find ways to use it both offensively and defensively without harming civilians.”
“We mostly have Jason working with Mai when she’s not doing physical training,” Lisa told me after a long pull at her coffee. “He’s teaching her to make more convincing illusions since that’s his specialty. She already had some training in martial arts, and even Nick here thinks that she should be fine with an hour or two of practice each day. She’s a lot like you in that she fears losing control so she was reluctant at first to try using her powers in offensive ways. We do have her working on it though, and I believe we’re starting to make some progress in that area.”
None of that really surprised me at all. She had mentioned that her grandparents had had her study martial arts while she was living in Japan in order to teach her discipline, and even though she seldom used it she still practiced. Given what had happened when Mai’s powers activated the first time though, I figured it was going to take her a while to be comfortable training to use them for more than just lightshows and party tricks. Of us all she had the most emotional baggage connected to her powers, so the fact that they were making progress was very promising. “So, what about Ian then?” I asked.
“Ian’s sound mimicking ability is amazing, when he’s mimicking a person not even a voice print analyzer can tell the difference between him using his ability and whoever he’s copying. I don’t see much use for it though, outside of pranks or possible infiltration purposes. He has gotten much better at activating and deactivating his force field, but even after two months it has had a few surprises for us; I still have a bruise from yesterday,” Lisa muttered rubbing her side.
I stared at the red headed Hyper beside me. Lisa had Category four invulnerability and strength; hurting her at all was damn near impossible. “He bruised you?! How the hell did that happen?”
“His force field is nearly Category four, so we thought it would be safe for Lisa to use close to her full strength sparring with him,” Nick quickly began to explain. “He usually just depends on his force field to stop whatever is directed against him, he hasn’t really been in a serious fight with it except your tussles with H8 and the Right Hand so we wanted him to start sparring with it active. Lisa got in a solid hit and he hit her back just after, hard enough to knock her off her feet.”
My incredulous stare was now directed at both of them. “It would take at least Category four strength to do that, he’s just got normal physical abilities.”
“He wasn’t using his strength, he was using mine,” Lisa replied cryptically before she began to explain a few seconds later. “We had Blake run an analysis of the video footage from the training room and it seems his force field is an energy field that he generates around himself that absorbs all energy directed at him. It doesn’t just stop punches and bullets; it absorbs all the kinetic energy from them. It’s not just kinetic energy either, but any energy directed against him while his shield is up; heat, radiation, all sorts of things. His field devours it all.”
“So what happens with this energy once he’s absorbed it?” I wondered aloud, thinking that it probably had something to do with why he was able to use Lisa’s strength against her.
“He seems to store it for about ten seconds before it begins to dissipate harmlessly,” Nick said with a smile. “But if he hits back or throws something within those ten seconds, all the energy absorbed is released in that action as pure kinetic energy equal to the energy he’s absorbed.”
“There also seems to be a limit to how much his field can absorb and redirect before it needs to shut down and recharge,” Lisa added. “It could last all day if he’s not getting attacked, but when we were seriously going at it in the training room today it only lasted twenty three minutes before it turned off. It took over half an hour before he was able to activate it again. A Cat 5, or a medium to high range Cat four using their full power, would probably be able to overpower him with his field fully charged, but we’re not sure what would happen in such a case. The shield could just collapse like it normally does when depleted, or it could react more violently.”
Well that was an interesting aspect to his power; I had been worried we would need to come up with some sort of weaponry for him in case he had to fight people like Ogre, with both strength and invulnerability. “So, what about Amy?” I asked, concerned about my latest recruit.
Nick appeared to consider his answer for a moment before answering with a faint smile. “After getting to know her a bit I’m forced to admit that you were right, she would want to help you in the field regardless of whether we want her to or not and there’s not much we could do to stop her. At least with her being willing to listen to your orders and by giving her specific duties with the team, you’ll be able to keep tabs on her. Overall, I have to say that I’m very happy with her progress. She seems willing, even eager, to follow the conditions you set on her and she works hard during our sparring sessions. I still worry about putting a girl that young in a position where she could be in danger, but between her immunity to all toxins and viruses and her excellent control of her teleportation portals she should be safe enough with the gear Blake and Brianna are making her.”
“So there you have it,” Lisa said with a grin, “you’re all ready to start team training sessions. Now go eat something before Blake drags you off to his lab to show you all your new gear.” The pair had no other information for me except to let me know that we would begin our new lesson plan the next day, so I was free to go back to the apartment Leslie and I shared to make some dinner before our meeting with Blake. I began mentally filing away all the new information I had on my friends’ powers and limits as I made my way there.
Leslie wanted to know all about my ‘adoption’ over dinner once she noticed the new mark on my shoulder and I had explained it. I was worried that she might be a bit jealous of the bond I was forming with the Fae, but she merely laughed when I voiced that concern. “Candy, I’m just happy for you. Besides, I’m Liberty’s protégé, and I think that’s just as awesome as being the adopted daughter of a Fae princess. When I first got my powers I wanted to be just like her and now she’s teaching me, it’s a dream come true, so don’t worry about me your Highness.”
I managed to not spit out the bite of chicken I had been chewing and quickly swallowed as I groaned. “Please don’t call me that, especially where Mai could hear. She’d probably send me another candy-gram to congratulate me or something.”
“Don’t be silly, this is Mai we’re talking about,” my roommate disagreed. “She’ll wait until you’re not expecting it before she uses that joke again. She’ll probably do something with light constructs; she’s trying to get them as realistic as possible. Before you got home from your meeting with Nick and Lisa I answered the door to a sparkling vampire, so I’m betting it’ll be something to do with elves, fairies or royalty when she gets wind of this.”
“A sparkling vampire? She really went there?” I asked, shaking my head.
She nodded seriously. “Yup, she even had Ian in on it. They were both staying close to the wall beside the door and she had him ask if Bella lived here. She must have had him watch part of one of the movies, because he had the voice dead on. I might have even believed it if the lips were moving in sync with the voice.”
“If those two are working together, this is going to take pranking to a whole new level,” I muttered.
“We can always fight back,” Leslie suggested. “My shadow walking and your powers could lend themselves to pranking too, and Amy and Blake would help out too. We’d have to plan carefully though, if it’s too obvious that it could be done with telekinesis she’d catch on.”
If I had been looking in a mirror I’m pretty sure that the grin I was wearing would have threatened to split my face in half. “I’m in. I’ll leave the planning up to you though, since I’m sure you already have some ideas in mind.”
“I do, I just need to do a bit of research when Blake finishes with us tonight,” she said, returning my grin.
“Sweet, now let’s get going, I want to see what surprises Blake has in store for us,” I told her once I finished the last bite of my Caesar salad. We both stood up and I telekinetically floated our dishes to the kitchen sink as I thought that a night off might be good for all of us, even if it hadn’t been intended. We had all been working hard all day and practicing most nights since our band/team had been officially formed and some time for ourselves would be nice, even if it was just going over costumes and gadgets and such with Blake. He had mentioned that things might take several hours and something about having us meet someone, so he wanted us to have the whole evening free.
Five minutes later the five of us were all gathered in Blake’s lab waiting for the grand reveal. Leslie and I arrived to see the others already there waiting for us. Before he could start though, I asked, “Blake, do you think you can adjust my second skin pendant for me?”
“Yeah, that’s easy, what do you need done? You want a tan for summer or something?” he asked.
I pointed to my new clan mark and explained, “I thought it might be a good idea to make it so that this doesn’t show while I’ve got the human look going. Call me paranoid, but it wouldn’t be good for someone to notice that Candice Graham and Syryn both have the exact same tattoo in the exact same place.”
“You’re probably right, better safe than sorry,” he agreed with a nod before examining the mark. “I should be able to program it so that the black and gold in the area of the mark default to the same color as the rest of the skin for your disguise. Nobody should be able to tell the difference, though it may take a few tries to get it right.”
“Whoa, wait, you got a tattoo? If you wanted to get a tattoo for your birthday you should have told me. And why didn’t you take me with you?” Mai blurted out.
“Tessily gave it to me today, it’s a Fae thing,” I explained while Blake took the pendant to his work bench and began fiddling with it. “It’s not really a tattoo, it’s kind of a magic mark passed down through her clan. That’s all I can really tell you though, apparently her clan doesn’t talk about their mark much, even with other Fae clans.”
Mai frowned at me in confusion. “If that’s the case though, why would our resident Elf Princess give that mark to you? Unless…” Her face lit up with a smile as she put two and two together and she nearly crushed me in a hug. “Congrats Candy! I’m so happy for you!”
They all wanted what details I could give them and ten minutes later, when I had finished explaining everything that I felt that I could; Blake had adjusted my pendant twice. The third time he had me put it back on there was no trace of the mark in my human guise. “Thanks Blake, you’re awesome,” I told him sincerely.
He just grinned and motioned for us all to join him at his work bench. “My pleasure Candy, and since we’re on the subject of you and Tessily, I might as well show you that first.”
“Show us what?” I asked in anticipation. If he was willing to delay his grand reveal by over ten minutes to adjust my pendant than whatever stuff he had to show us was going to be really cool.
He decided to fuel the anticipation even more by explaining first. “A while back Tess came to me saying that you needed a sword worthy of you, but explained that you were both adverse to something that could do a person lasting harm. She wanted something that you could wield like a sword but could be used to disarm and disable only. I got to thinking about your telekinesis and I couldn’t resist…”
“Would you just show us already?” Amy said, rolling her eyes and trying to hide a smile.
Blake pulled the sheet off his workbench revealing our costumes neatly folded and a wide array of gadgetry before he pointed to a metallic tube about an inch in diameter and six inches long. It was mostly black in color with a quarter inch wide silver band around one end and the visible side had a small dark red button half an inch below the band. “Be my guest Candy, just point the silver end away from you and press the red button to activate or deactivate it. It’ll be coded to your DNA when you touch it so that only you can use it.”
I reached out for the device with my mind and it flew into my hand. Once I made sure the silver end was pointed away from me and anyone else, I pressed the button. There was a humming sound as the weapon activated and a pink beam of light nearly three feet long emerged from the end. I stared at it for a long moment, but it was John who spoke first. “You made her a freaking pink lightsaber?”
“It’s not a lightsaber, though it is an elegant weapon, I call it the stun sword,” Blake corrected with a grin. “It can’t cut through people or steel doors or anything like that. The color is for show and so you can actually see what you’re working with, but the beam is actually contained in a shaped electromagnetic force field that resonates at a frequency which temporarily disrupts the signals that the brain sends to the muscles along the central nervous system. If you hit someone on the knee with this for example, they wouldn’t be able to move anything below that knee for ten to twenty minutes. It’s just like if their leg fell asleep so it’s harmless, temporary, and has no lasting ill effects. It runs on a quantum flux power supply, so it won’t run out of power.”
I gave the weapon a few experimental swings and grinned back at the Tinker before turning it off. “Blake, have I mentioned you’re my favorite inventor?”
“I’m your only inventor,” he replied with a laugh as he pointed to a similar black and gold tube on the work bench. “This is for you Mai and before you ask, no it’s not a lightsaber too.”
“Awwww, what it is then?” she asked sounding disappointed as she picked it up and looked it over.
He sighed as he said, “I’ll admit, that there are some issues with this device. With all the gear I needed to install for two variable field projectors instead of one set projector, and to make it respond to your powers there were some features I couldn’t install without making it quite a bit bigger. First, the power supply isn’t as big or as powerful, so the more punishment the field takes the quicker the stored power will dry up and the field will collapse, though it will recharge on its own within a few minutes or so. Second, because of the smaller power supply I can’t get it to resonate at the same frequency as Candy’s, so it won’t disrupt the nervous system like hers does. You can use it to make solid light constructs though. So, it’s whatever you want it to be, within reason.”
“Still sounds cool though, and I like the thought of making some constructs solid.” Mai looked at the device in confusion for a moment, “Ummm, there’s no ‘on’ switch and what do you mean by ‘within reason’?”
“It’s always on, just not always active, it responds to you focussing your power through it,” the Tinker quickly explained. “Just focus your power to create an object in the hand holding it, but try to keep the shape fairly simple. It should react to the light passing through the projectors and create a force field around the shape of the light construct. You can probably manage a riot shield and basic swords, spears, staffs, or other simple weapons and defenses as long as you don’t go overboard on the details.”
A focussed look passed over Mai’s face and suddenly pale blue light erupted from both ends to form a staff. She tapped me on top of the head with it, and it felt solid enough, though it was kind of warm and tingly. Then she laughed and stuck her tongue out playfully at me, “Double-bladed for the win Candy.”
I stuck my own tongue out right back at her as Blake gestured to a pair of sturdy looking black knee-high combat boots with a low heel and a series of silver buckles up the front that looked a lot like a pair I had in my closet. He handed them to my roommate as he said, “Leslie, you were complaining that your shoes weren’t able to handle the strain of you running at your full speed right?”
“Yeah, my running shoe budget has been insane the past month,” my best friend grumbled. I think that I’m getting a good handle on my strength, though my full speed is still uncertain. We think that since its Cat three that I could probably hit the sound barrier and I’ve gotten close, but it’s hard to get good with my speed when my shoes keep melting and burning my feet. It takes a half hour for my feet to heal afterwards.”
“You could hit the sound barrier? I didn’t know you could go that fast,” Ian said, looking impressed.
Blake shrugged as he gave his input. “A Cat four could go at least three times that fast and a Cat five speedster that can fly could possibly reach light speed, since they wouldn’t have to worry about friction as much. It’s not so impressive compared to that, but still it’s pretty cool. Those speedsters probably have to be invulnerable to handle the stress on the body though. Dr. Park thinks that’s why Leslie has the healing and why her bones are denser; otherwise her bones would break at top speed or whenever she hit something too hard and she would have windburn all over any exposed parts of her body when running too fast. As for your shoes melting though, these boots won’t Leslie; they’re made of a super-Kevlar of my own design and are reinforced with carbon fibres.”
“That’s awesome Blake, now I can start going full out, I’m putting these babies on right now,” Leslie replied happily as she got out of her running shoes.
Keeping up with the theme of ladies first, Blake decided to reveal Amy’s gear next, picking up a pair of black gloves and what appeared to be a dozen bright green glow bracelets and a dozen pink ones. “Amy, I thought I’d go along with the theme of your codename and give you something useful at the same time. Put these on and I’ll explain how they work. Make sure each of the beads is connected to one of the grooves along the underside of your forearms.”
Once Amy had put on the elbow-length gloves, and the bracelets over them, Blake reached out to tug experimentally at one of the bracelets, grinning as the single black bead that adorned each brightly glowing bracelet seemed to be stuck to her glove. “These won’t come off for anyone but the person wearing the gloves, at least not without a lot of strength or effort, so despite being wide enough to easily fall off, they won’t if you’ve properly docked them. The gloves contain microchips which control the nanites in the bracelets.”
“So ummm… what do they do besides look bitchin’, and not fall off?” Amy asked as she easily removed one of the bracelets and examined it more closely.
“The nanites in each bracelet generate their own power and do four things, the first being giving off that bitchin’ glow,” the inventor replied with a grin. “The second is that once the green ones are detached from the gloves they will shatter on impact and release a super-adhesive spongey foam which will safely and harmlessly encase the target and prevent them from moving. The pink ones will do the same, only they contain a solvent to dissolve the foam in case you hit the wrong target or use them on a non-combatant for some reason,” he assured her.
“So what else do they do?” Amy asked, looking over the bracelets.
“The bracelets might shatter on impact, but those beads will regenerate them good as new over time. Or else I’d probably have to make hundreds of them for you,” Blake said with a grin. “And last, but not least, if you clap your hands, the gloves will send a signal to the beads from any bracelets you’ve thrown that are within two hundred feet, calling them back to your gloves, so be ready to catch. The signal range is only two hundred feet or so, so if a bead is out of range it will lose the signal and revert to a dormant state until reconnected with one of the gloves.”
“Cool, can you put that last feature on my keys?” Ian joked.
“No, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me once you see what I’ve cooked up for you Ian, I put a lot of thought into this one,” he responded as he took a second pair of gloves, these ones black and purple, off the work bench and handed them to Ian. “Like Amy’s, these gloves are made of the same material we made the rest of your costumes out of, but yours contain micro devices in the palms which should allow you to spread your force field over whatever you’re touching. I designed them to copy the data of your own biometrics and overlay it on the person or objects in question. Essentially it tricks your force field into thinking they are an extension of you and covering them as well. This will likely cause your field to drain faster though, relative to the amount of extra mass you’re extending it to. I figured that this could help you protect innocent bystanders, but we’ll have to test them out.”
“That sounds pretty sweet,” my handsome boyfriend admitted as he put the gloves on. Once he had them on, he placed his hand on Blake’s shoulder and after a few seconds of concentration the familiar green glow of his force field covered them both. “So what now? Do we have someone hit you to see if you’re protected?”
“I’d have Leslie do it, but she could cause serious harm to me if the field isn’t really protecting me, maybe I should…” the inventor began to answer uncertainly as he started to try to solve the problem.
Mai didn’t give him time to say anything more than that before grabbing one of Leslie’s discarded sneakers and tossing it at him as hard as she could. The shoe bounced off Blake’s head, but he only looked pleased when he saw the shoe fall from his forehead to the floor. It was Ian who gave her a dirty look. “Really Mai? Who throws a shoe?!”
“What?” The light user said trying to look innocent. “He didn’t even feel it, and it’s not like it had a heel, besides he said he wanted to test it.”
“Don’t worry about it Ian,” Blake said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t feel a thing so the field worked fine. There was no harm done, and it wasn’t really all that dangerous even if it hadn’t worked. You can turn your field off now.”
“Well if it didn’t bother you than I guess that I can let it go,” Ian replied with a sigh. He got that concentrated look on his face again and after several seconds the green glow around the pair faded.
“It saved me a lot of time coming up with a way to test it actually, so now I can show John what I have for him.” Blake moved back to the workbench and picked up a metallic black faceplate with a metal band to secure it to his head, red tinted lenses where the eyes would be, and some sort of extremely intricate metal mesh in a triangle covering the area of the mouth and nose. “Here, put this on John.”
John took the faceplate and placed it over his head, adjusting it to fit comfortably over his face, and suddenly metal strips and wires were flying from the band and the sides of the mask, reaching out to become a form-fitting helmet that covered his entire head. Then, what I assumed to be a built-in and modified version of my hairnet, spat out some foot and a half long dreadlocks. “Whoa… dude, you look like the bastard child of Darth Vader and the Predator. It’s kind of working for you though,” Ian teased his best friend.
“Very funny,” John replied drolly, his voice sounding much deeper with an electronic tinge. “It feels weird, but not as heavy as I thought.”
“That helmet is made of a titanium-tungsten mesh, it’ll stop bullets, and the face plate is a lightweight alloy that should be able to handle the vibrations from your sonic shout. It will also allow you to narrow or widen the effected area of your sonic shouts to affect one person, a small group, or a large area as needed. It’s all voice-controlled and also contains all the features that I put standard in the rest of your masks, as well as a built in air-filter. Just say ‘remove mask’ when you want to take it off,” our resident genius explained, looking pretty pleased with himself.
“So what are those standard features? And what about those of us who aren’t wearing masks?” I inquired with a look at Amy.
“The lenses in the masks have a light amplification mode, infrared, a mode called ‘shades’ that will protect from flashbangs and such, and a HUD that works on voice commands to switch modes, display GPS information, locator information, or data files when needed. They also have built in earbuds and microphones which can be set to either “Performance” mode for concerts or “Ops” mode for silent communication. For you and Amy I’ve come up with headbands with retractable visors that have all the same features. Your costumes are resistant to small arms fire, water resistant, insulated against heat and cold, and contain a GPS tracker that will let you all know one another’s locations at all times.” He broke out in a huge grin as he gestured to the gear on the worktable, quickly adding, “I’ll let you all get suited up and meet me down in the hanger so I can show you the really cool stuff.”
The look of my costume hadn’t changed since Modiste had designed it for me and other than the stun sword there were no apparent additions to it, except the leather jacket with the team logo on the back and my emblem over the heart, but I decided to forego wearing that for now, since it was warm and we were inside. I was slightly confused by the added headgear though. It appeared to be a black circlet and was roughly a quarter inch wide with attached ear buds and a microphone. I placed it on my head and it settled over my ears loosely before suddenly tightening securely around my head. I tried to just shrug it off, put in the ear buds, and adjusted the mic before leaving to join the others.
Leslie, or rather Twilight, was waiting for me in our living room and I had to admit that Modiste had been right about the dark and mysterious vibe. Soon we had met up with the other’s and I walked arm-in-arm with Riff, who had also decided not to wear his jacket, as we made our way down to the hangar where the Ladybug was usually parked. Beside the Ladybug was a similar, slightly larger ship painted black with our band logo emblazoned on the sides. Blake just grinned at the shocked looks on our faces and gestured grandly before saying, “This is the tour bus; it flies just like the Ladybug and has the same capabilities, but I made it a bit bigger and removed the forward passengers’ compartment so I could add a retractable docking ramp for the skybikes and make room for a kitchen and six small dorm rooms. I thought that when you make it big, it could be your little home away from home while on tour.”
“That is so fucking awesome Blake,” Rave blurted out.
“Is this what you’ve been working on with Travis, Phil and Dr. Park for the past two months?” I asked, still looking at the ship in awe.
“Well this is one of the things,” he admitted, “but it wasn’t really too hard since we just had to alter the design of the Ladybug a little. Let’s go inside so you can meet the other one.”
I was unsure what he meant by that, but we followed Blake into the tour bus. First he showed us the docking ramp, which already had the skybikes secured in place and the helmets hanging on hooks. Next he took us to show us the small med-bay that matched the one on the Ladybug, the kitchen beside it, and the small dorm rooms opposite them. Between the med-bay and the kitchen there was even a small dining table bolted to the floor with six chairs and a very pretty ginger-haired woman in business attire sitting at one of them.
The woman looked up at our approach, immediately standing up and greeting us with a big smile. “This is Sasha,” Blake told us. “That’s short for Synthetic Administrative and Support Humanoid Assistant; she’ll be your manager, backup pilot, and she’ll be supervising Amy’s homeschooling as well.”
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you all,” the apparent android said, still smiling. “I’m very eager to get to know you all and I’m looking forward to seeing to all of your needs. I have been programmed with knowledge of business, the music industry, piloting, public relations, human behaviour, psychology, culinary arts, housekeeping, twenty four different languages, and over two hundred other subjects that may be of use to you.”
“You built us a robot manager?” Mai asked as we all looked over her curiously, “she looks so real.”
“Technically I’m an android,” Sasha replied in Blake’s stead. “Being very lifelike is important to my purpose as your manager and I’m hoping to add to that realism as we interact and I learn more from you about being human.”
“It’s nice to meet you Sasha, I’m sure you’ll do a great job and welcome to the group,” I said smiling back at her.
For the next few hours we familiarized ourselves with the tour bus and the various features of our new gear and got to know Sasha better. The android was extremely eager to help us in any way that she could and it turned out that her AI was a sort of sister to Phil, recovered from a damaged suit similar to Travis’ own that had been recovered from the surface of the moon. Blake had been working with Dr. Park, Travis, and Phil to expand its programming and integrate the suit’s systems and the AI itself into the realistic android body that we were now talking to. She also had many of Phil’s abilities, in addition to the new programming that she had received.
Once we had decided to call it a night I was ready to head back with Leslie to our apartment when Ian asked, “If you don’t have anything planned, do you think that you could come over to my place for a bit once you’ve changed out of your costume?”
“Sure,” I replied with a smile. It wouldn’t been the first time I had gone over to my boyfriend’s place to spend a bit of time together before bed. Sometimes we would just watch a movie and snuggle or I would just sing something unrelated to the band while he played guitar. So after I changed back into my normal clothes I wished Leslie a good night and left our apartment to go down the hall and knock on Ian’s door.
Ian had changed back into a pair of jeans and a casual t-shirt and as he opened the door I could see that the living room was dark, save for some candles on the coffee table. My boyfriend took me by the hand and led me to the couch, kissing me tenderly before showing me a small cake with a single candle on top amongst the mass of other candles on the table. “My mom baked you a cake,” he admitted sheepishly, “but we didn’t really have time to eat it this morning. I put one candle on it, because it’s your first birthday as the new you, but there’s seventeen others on the table for your time as Ken.” Then he gestured to the cake and whispered softly, “You should make a wish.”
I hesitated for a moment. Everything that I could possibly want right now I already had, I realized after some thought. I had a caring and understanding boyfriend, good friends, a great band, and even a mother who loved me now, so what else could I possibly ask for? There was only one thing that I could think of, to utterly destroy Red Prophesy at the battle of the bands. So I blew out the candle on the cake, careful to not blow out the other candles on the table. This was Candy’s birthday after all, ken had died over two months ago and those other candles should stay lit for a while longer in his memory.
Ian produced a small wrapped box and handed it to me as I looked at him suspiciously. “You already gave me a gift,” I objected, “two if you count both the guitar and lessons.”
“I know, but those were from your bandmate and friend, this is from your boyfriend,” he told me with a smile while softly caressing my cheek with his free hand. “Open it, when I saw them I couldn’t help but think of you.”
My hands were shaking a bit as I opened the wrapping and then the box itself. Inside rested a pair of silver earrings; each one was a tiny mermaid holding a turquois crystal that matched the color of my eyes, supported by a delicate chain maybe three quarters of an inch long. I could feel tears coming to my eyes as I thanked him with a passionate kiss and he just held me in his arms for several minutes. Then we each had a piece of cake and snuggled in the candlelight as we talked about the events of the day and I eventually fell asleep in his arms.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 7 Family Ties Amethyst |
The next week was a bit hectic. We started our mornings off with team practices, coming up with strategies and basically getting a feel for one another in combat. After that we would spend a half hour studying the files on various villains and organizations, followed by three hours of working on our individual training. Once training was complete though, we had the rest of our days to do whatever we wanted.
The team practices helped us to get used to not just cooperating and getting used to our new gadgets, but getting a better idea of each others’ full scope of abilities as well. First there was Twilight. She was starting to get better control on her speed and could indeed break the sound barrier now that her shoes weren’t constantly melting. That, combined with her enormous strength, healing factor and shadow-walking ability, made her a terrifying opponent at times.
Riff had been training his force field so much that he had to be reclassified as a solid Category four Energy Manipulator. He could summon and dismiss his force field at a moments notice and hold it for longer periods of time. With it on, he could easily hold his own in a fight for short periods of time against Liberty. I’m not just talking about taking damage either, since if he hit back or threw something fast enough he could dish out some serious damage too.
Starbright, now that she had lost some of her hesitation about using her powers for more than just light shows, was mastering illusions and the use of her variable solid light weapon. It also seemed that she had figured out how to bend light around herself for brief periods of near invisibility. She was quickly becoming very adept at combining those techniques with her knowledge of martial arts to take opponents down hard and fast.
Decibel’s sonar sense made him very difficult to ambush. Twilight could do it using her shadow walking and I had managed it once with a mix of Elven focussing techniques and telekinesis, but against anyone who made a sound, he could sense them coming from well over fifty feet in any direction. He had taken a few days to get used to how his mask could be used to widen and narrow his sonic blasts, which had amounted to more than a few migraines over those days. Now that he had a feel for it though, he was becoming a lot more adept at changing it up to suit various purposes and was experimenting with sonic shockwaves and various subsonic frequencies.
And then there was Rave. She was naturally quick and agile and had done very well learning to fight under Blackout’s tutelage for the past month. Her control over her portals though was frankly astounding. She could create them to any place or person she was familiar with, in various sizes, anywhere within her line of sight, create multiple portals at once with only a thought, and she had recently developed a technique of air hopping; leaping through the air from portal to portal to travel quickly and even standing in mid-air by connecting the other side of a portal along a wall, the ground or any other sufficiently large flat surface.
We were all really starting to get a good feel for each other in team practices by the end of the week and in my practices with Tessliy she was teaching me more advanced hand to hand and sword techniques and having me mix them up with telekinetic attacks, in addition to the mental focus exercises. After practice I had been getting into the habit of eating lunch with Tessily and spending part of the afternoons with her so that we could explore our new mother-daughter relationship outside of training time. She was even teaching me to cook Fae dishes and I really enjoyed spending that time with her and learning more about the Fae culture and language and about Tessily herself. Our relationship was just so natural to the both of us, in addition to being something that we both needed and wanted, that by the end of that week I was sometimes even calling her Mahar, which was the Fae equivalent to mother. She may not have been my birth mother, but she was quickly becoming my soul-mother.
Each day I felt our relationship growing, whether she was giving me some pointers on combat, we were making and eating lunch, or we were just spending the afternoon shopping and chatting together. She was the mother I had always wished that my biological mother could have been. First, she always had time for me and enjoyed spending that time together. She also didn’t constantly nag me to do what she felt I should do with my life and never told me specifically what to do in general, but rather guided me with her own experience. Lastly, while she did not share my interest in music or the style of music I liked, she encouraged and supported me without judgement because it was what I wanted to do and it made me happy. She even came to watch us practice if she had the time.
The couch in the music studio was actually getting a bit crowded during our nightly practices, and we had to set up a pair of comfortable chairs as well, as Tessily and Sasha had joined Blake, Amy, and Brianna. Sasha had been quick to take charge of our affairs, making suggestions and talking them over with us as she got to know us better during the evenings, and she was seeming to become more human by the day.
Sasha’s first idea was to start off by having us do one full practice in costume on her first official day as our manager, so she could take some photos and soundbites and set up various social media accounts and a website for RevolveR. She had even created limited bios for each of us, including our ‘roadie’ Rave, though thankfully they didn’t give much information other than our codenames, what our roles in the band were, the instruments we played, and other band related minutia, some of which she made up to suit the personas that Modiste had cooked up for us. I was worried that someone could trace our location from those accounts, but the android assured me that for all such activities she was using an encryption program and running it through over two hundred various websites and ISPs worldwide to make any data trail impossible to follow.
We were actually getting followers on both the website and social media accounts, especially once people started to recognize me as the ‘Blue Bombshell’. Most of the early comments were related to that or now knowing what to call me and my ‘sexy sidekick’ Riff. There were also some who were looking forward to checking us out in the Battle of the Bands, and of course the anti-mutant flamers. We were getting emails and messages too, though Sasha was careful to screen those for us. That was how my birth mother found me, or at least my online presence.
It was nearly a week after my birthday, two days before the opening day of the Battle of the Bands when Sasha approached us after practice. She had been practicing expressing emotions in her body language, facial expressions, and voice since we had met her and the frown she wore was extremely realistic, as were the concern and uncertainty in her voice when she spoke. “Candy, I do not wish to alarm you, but we received an email addressed to your Syryn email account and directed from our website for a ‘Kenny’. I have run a trace and the email address, ISP, and location match those of Karen Graham, your birth mother.”
“What the hell does that bitch want?” Leslie muttered in a glacial tone. She had been there through all the attempts to get in touch with my mother and had seen firsthand the emotional effect that her refusal to accept me and her eventual claims of my death had caused me. She had made no secret of the fact that since then she would very much like to teach my birth mother a very painful lesson. From the looks on their faces, my other bandmates were of a similar disposition. Still, I didn’t want to dismiss the email out of hand without looking at it first, so I took the printout that our agent and manager was holding and looked it over.
Kenny,
I am so glad that I’ve finally found you. I’ve missed you and I want you to come to New Haven for a visit so that we can put this horrible situation behind us. I know that I have no right to call myself your mother after how I treated you, but I hope that you will come visit. I forgive you and hope that you will forgive me as well since we have a lot to work out and I want to put our issues to rest.
“Oh yeah, that was a real heartwarming maternal letter,” Mai practically growled once I had finished reading it. “Like a batch of fresh-baked cookies, laced with arsenic.”
Amy snorted in agreement before snatching the printout and adding acidly, “Translation: I know who you are and could out you to the world any time I like. I’m so glad that I finally found you. I totally fucked up before while freaking out and now I want to correct my mistake. I need to use some leverage here so I’ll mention the whole mother thing, without actually admitting to it, just to get you here. I’m hoping that you’re stupid enough to fall for this, since I would really like to get you here so I can put you to rest properly this time.”
“Come on guys, it’s not that bad… is it?” I ventured uncertainly, torn between my own pessimism and the ever so slight hope that my mother might really be trying to reach out and accept me.
John shook his head, his expression warring between anger and sadness. “Candy, I know you really want this to be on the up and up, believe me we all get that, but this is bad news.”
“I concur,” Sasha put in, “That entire message was a crude psychological attempt to manipulate your feelings for the mother that you remember. It focusses on your feelings for her, while carefully avoiding any real connection that she had with you. She did not once admit to an actual relationship with you and in fact carefully avoided words like ‘home’ or anything that could show actual affection for you. The one time she used the word ‘mother’ was clearly intended as emotional manipulation, as was her use of the name Kenny. I calculate a ninety-six point eight percent chance that this is a trap, given what I know of the situation.”
I sank into the couch, biting my lip and trying to hold back the tears that threatened to come. Finally once I had some control I managed to get out, “Amy is right though, she could out me to the world at anytime.”
“That possibility is unlikely Candy,” Sasha pointed out. “Based on the psychological profile that I have extrapolated from all available information on Karen Anne Graham, there is an eighty-nine point four percent probability against her doing that. Exposing you would only reveal herself as your mother, exposing her as a possible H Chromosome carrier and endangering her as well as you. Her own indoctrination of hate toward mutants would make her extremely reluctant to do so. Still, we should probably begin considering strategies to negate that outcome, slight as it is. I anticipated this when I received the email and have already spoken with Lisa regarding this possibility. She and the other members of Aegis would like you all to join them in the situation room downstairs.”
With all of the members of both Aegis and Revolver plus Brianna, Blake and Sasha gathered, the situation room was a bit crowded when Lisa called the meeting to order. None of us were in costume but there was a very serious tone to the gathering, like a dark cloud hanging over us all. Lisa tapped away at one of the consoles for a moment once we were all settled in and a picture of my mother appeared on the main view screen. Lisa gestured to the screen and began to lay out the situation for those of us who didn’t know why we were gathered. “This is Karen Anne Graham, Candice’s birth mother. She is a known member of the Church of the Purity of Adam.”
Lisa tapped the console again, bringing up an image of the fight that Riff and I had had with the Right Hand. “Detective Serena MacArthur with the HCU has a very strong suspicion that the Church of the Purity of Adam has strong ties to, and may possibly be funding the Right Hand, who I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with by now. While Serena admits that she has no concrete proof of such a connection, I trust her intuition enough to be cautious when anyone is involved with either of these anti-mutant organizations.”
Sasha joined Lisa at the head of the large shield shaped table before speaking. “Earlier this evening I received this email directed to Syryn’s email account from Karen Graham.” She tapped the console and the email from my mother appeared on the screen, causing the members of Aegis who didn’t know why we were there to frown and grumble as they read the contents. “The psychological profile I have constructed on Karen Graham would indicate that this is a trap, meant to take advantage of Candy’s feelings for her birth mother and the fear of the possibility of her being exposed.”
Lisa gave me a sympathetic look as she spoke again. “I know that Candy probably wants to hope for the best here, but I believe that we need to take this as an active threat against Candy’s life and possibly the lives of the other members of RevolveR as well. We only have two choices here unfortunately, allow her to spring the trap if there is one, or ignore it and allow a possible threat to attack Candy at a later time of their choosing. We also have to assume that with her accessing RevolveR’s website that she knows that they will playing in the Battle of the Bands starting the day after tomorrow, giving her, and any allies she might have, opportunity to attack at a time and venue that we don’t have control over, endangering Candy, the members of her team, and civilians as well.”
“So we get Candy to respond and walk into the trap then?” Ian snapped, not sounding like he liked that idea at all.
“We can do that and have the time and place be one of our choosing, preferably tomorrow before the Battle of the Bands begins on Friday to negate the possibility of an attack beforehand. In that case we will be able to provide backup for her as well. The other option is to wait and limit the chances of a direct assault by having RevolveR withdraw from the Battle of the Bands,” Nick pointed out matter-of-factly.
“No way are we withdrawing! We’ve worked too damn hard for this and we’re going to win! Candy deserves to get a little payback at Red Prophesy after what they did to her!” Mai shouted.
Everyone had turned to look at me expectantly. It was my call. I didn’t want to pull out of the contest and, whether my mother was being honest or really did intend to kill me, I just wanted this over with. Finally I sighed and said with a feeling of doom, “We do it tomorrow. I’ll email her and ask to meet her at her house when she gets off work.” I surprised myself by saying her house instead of our house or home, but I guess it wasn’t really home anymore. This was my home now and these people were my family, that was just the place where Ken Graham grew up, and Ken Graham was dead. Long live Syryn.
Lisa nodded and tried to give me an encouraging smile before speaking again. “Now, let’s decide how we’re going to do this. We’ll have to coordinate with local authorities to keep people out of the area in case things go as I fear they will, and both Aegis and RevolveR will be there for backup and to evacuate people in the neighbourhood, should it come to that, but we will remain in our respective ships and those ships will remain cloaked until we are needed. Candy, I would suggest that you go disguised as a normal human, but not your usual disguise, we don’t want to expose your normal civilian identity.”
“I shall accompany Candice,” Tessily broke in. “I shall cast a glamour over us both to appear as normal humans casually dressed, while allowing us to remain in our uniforms for safety. I will not be dissuaded from this Lisa,” she added, cutting off the redhead’s protest before she could make it. “Candice should not have to face this alone and my place is at her side. Should that Tyniehl attempt anything we shall be prepared.”
Lisa let out a sigh, but nodded. “Okay, I get where you’re coming from Tess, I’d probably be feeling the same way in your place. Just be careful, both of you, if she really does have ties to the Right Hand things could get intense and we won’t be able to act right away. Anything we do will need to be seen as a response to a threat. The anti-mutant extremists would just love it if it looked like we were starting a fight. At least if you’re both in uniform we’ll be able to monitor things over your built in microphones, warn you of any threats, and time our response properly. Just keep your lines open so we can be ready to back you up.”
With the general plan laid out we composed an email from me to my birth mother. I wanted to make sure that it was optimistic just in case she really was reaching out to me, but it made me sound a bit naïve as well, which I guess wasn’t too far from the truth when I had first heard about the message. The objective was to make her think that I really was eager to meet with her and work things out and had no idea that it could possibly be a trap. In other words, we were typecasting me as the blue-skinned, pink-haired bimbo. I would have been insulted if I hadn’t already admitted to myself that, from the way my birth mother’s email had been worded, that was how she probably saw me. I was an easy mark as Ken, and I guess she didn’t think that would change too much, even if my body did. Why then couldn’t she see me as the same person and accept me?
Hi Mom,
It is so good to finally hear from you. I’ve missed you so much and I’ve been like so lost trying to get used to this freaky new body and weird powers without you. I’m like so excited that my dream of becoming a rock star is looking like it’s finally going to come true though. I’d love to come home to see you, but I‘ll be busy Friday and most of the weekend, so would tomorrow after you get off work be okay? I could come to the house, and don’t worry I’ll wear a disguise so your Church friends don’t like freak out or something. I’d really love for us to talk this out as soon as possible and have you back in my life. Maybe you can come see me and my band play sometime, that would be like totally awesome and make me sooo happy. I really hope we can do this tomorrow, I’m really looking forward to seeing you now.
Love Kendra
The last part was to keep anyone else who read it on the wrong track while still looking naïve and eager enough to really want to patch things up. Hopefully she and anyone else who read it would simply believe that “Kendra” was a bit of an immature bimbo and a momma’s girl who was eager to have her mommy back in her life, and who was impulsive and reckless enough to just jump into it as soon as possible. With the email composed Sasha sent it from my Syryn account, once again doing her thing so that it couldn’t possibly be traced back to our location. Then all we had to do was wait.
We didn’t have to wait long. It looked like she was probably waiting for a response, or more likely she had an alert set up on her phone. The reply consisted of merely one line. Tomorrow after work would be perfect, I’ll see you at the house. That certainly confirmed a few things. First, she wasn’t the loving mother wanting to be reunited with her child. She hadn’t even attempted to convey that, and in terms of maternal warmth that message was somewhere in the range of hell freezing over. Secondly, she likely bought the whole “naïve and vapid boy-turned-girl who was desperate to be reunited with Mommy” persona that we had tried to make me sound like in the email. That or she just didn’t care what I was really like so long as I showed up for her trap like a good girl. I was leaning toward the latter at that point.
After training the next morning Tessily boarded the tour bus with me and the rest of my team while the other members of Aegis boarded the Ladybug and then we made our way to New Haven. We kept the tour bus cloaked, but the Ladybug was supposed to be seen in the area and Liberty had even scheduled herself a few last minute public appearances in the area to make it seem like she and her team just happened to be already in the area in case they had to get involved later.
We killed time out of costume by playing tourist as Leslie and I showed the other members of our team, and Tess, around New Haven, grabbing a late lunch and taking in some of the sights before returning to the ship and changing into our costumes. Since we still had an hour and half before my ‘meeting’ we landed the tour bus on one of the helipads of New Haven Children’s Hospital and took the elevator down for a visit with Dr. Park and the kids in the Hyper Ward. When Dr. Park answered the intercom at the security door she seemed surprised, but quickly opened it up to give us all a warm greeting. “It’s good to see you all, what brings you to New Haven?”
She was less than enthused when we told her what was going on. She had been the one contacting my birth mother to try and get her support and it wasn’t hard to see that she hadn’t liked her at all. “Anyway, we thought we’d come to visit the kids since we’re here.”
Dr. Park hugged all of us in turn before turning to Twilight and me. “Well most of the kids from your time here were cleared to go home, Marcus is the only one still here, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you both, and we have some new patients that I’m sure would love to meet you. Marcus has been following your exploits in New York and your new website and the girls don’t believe that he knows you.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that then,” I replied with a grin toward Twilight.
It brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad as we walked past the patient rooms and into the common dining area. Marcus was sitting at the table playing monopoly with a pair of girls who looked around fourteen or fifteen. One was a fairly average-looking brunette who was tapping silvery nails impatiently on the table with a noticeable metallic clicking sound. The other girl bore a passing resemblance to me, if I were only fifteen and she seemed to have a pale silver aura around her that made my clan mark tingle. “Whoa… holy doppelganger… and some kind of magic going on there.” I barely managed to get out as I spotted her.
“Yes that girl is definitely magical in nature, and a familiar magic too,” Tessliy agreed.
Dr. Park stifled a laugh and whispered, “That’s Allison, she’s… complicated. I think she’s a Shifter of some sort, I guess it could be a magical ability and it would make sense given the issues involved, but she’s having problems controlling it consciously. She may have a small hero complex about you since Marcus started showing them the news footage and your website yesterday. It’s probably best you let them introduce themselves though Candy.”
“Right Dr. Park, Leslie and I know the drill,” I responded with a wink before striding over to the table with the others behind me and calling out, “Smog! How’s it going?”
Twilight took that as her cue and called out, “Are you ever going to get out of here? I see that Taser, and Armor got set loose.”
Marcus looked up in a mix of shock and euphoria. “Syryn! Twilight!” Then in an aside to the girls he said, “See, I told you I knew them.”
I giggled a bit at that before standing behind Marcus and giving him a friendly slap on the back. “Know you? Twilight and I were patients in here with Smog, he’s like a kid brother to us. Anyone in this ward, is family. So why don’t you get our new sisters to introduce themselves Smog, and then I’ll introduce my friends.”
Smog gave the brunette a quick elbow to the ribs, spurring her to speak up. “Ummm…. hi… I’m Jennifer, but Smog says I should call myself Savage. My bones are made of iron and so are my finger and toenails, except they don’t seem to grow anymore and they’re really sharp. I’m also really agile and I can make myself heal really fast for short periods, but it tires me out a lot. I guess I’m in here because we’re trying to get me on a proper diet to fix my increased need for iron, and I have a bit of a temper and some impulse control issues since my change.”
My clone didn’t really look exactly like me, the face and body were obviously different, and all that was really similar was the pointed ears and the color of the skin, eyes, and hair. She wrung her hands nervously, and her coloring began to shift, while her general facial features and body type stayed the same. She cleared her throat twice before speaking up and by the time that she had she now possessed pale white skin and mouse brown hair and eyes. “I’m Allison… though most people call me Allie… I haven’t really chosen a codename yet. I change my appearance… obviously, and I guess how I look is based on… strong emotions so I can’t really control it. I seem to have a different form for each emotion and my abilities with each form seem to be different.”
“She only Activated two days ago so I think that she’s still developing her new forms as she encounters strong emotional states and mentally connects them to people or concepts that she associates with them. Each time she goes back to a strong emotion she’s already felt since her change the form seems to be the same as before,” Dr. Park quickly explained. “The form you saw when you came in was Confidence and this one seems to be Shyness.”
“Your abilities seem very much like the Changelings among my own people and are almost certainly magical in nature Allison,” Tessily offered while kneeling beside the girl. “The magic itself feels very similar to a Changeling’s as well. Perhaps you have some of their blood far back in your family line.”
“This is my adoptive mother Tessily,” I quickly explained. “She’s a Fae princess, she knows more about magic than anyone else I know, and she’s been training me to use my psychic abilities. So she knows what she’s talking about.”
“So how do these Changelings control their power?” Allie asked eagerly.
“They do not,” Tessily replied simply before elaborating, “or rather they do not need to. Among my people what a person looks like is unimportant, it’s who a person is inside that counts and we are used to Changelings not looking the same from one moment to another. Your appearance may not be set in stone, but it reflects who you are inside; your values, emotions, and sometimes the people you admire. Be proud of who you are and do not be afraid to show how you feel.”
It looked like she was hoping for more, but she seemed to at least consider the advice. “Ummm… would you be offended if I chose the name Changeling?”
“Not at all Allison, I think it would suit you well, Please, use the name with pride,” my adoptive mother told her while smiling warmly. Allison beamed back at her and her features began to shift again, her ears becoming pointed, her hair silver, and her eyes the same amber with slit pupils as Tessily’s own.
“Well, I’ll be damned, I think Allie just associated you with happiness Tessily. That’s the first time I’ve seen her smile since she came in here two days ago,” Dr. Park said with a smile of her own and a shake of her head.
I put a hand on Allie’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “If you find that you really can’t control it and need to blend in then Dr. Park knows how to contact us, and we have a friend who can probably help you. If he can help me and Rave look normal, he can probably help you too, and I’m sure he’d love the challenge of coming up with something that shows a single appearance for someone who’s often changing shape. You can also email me through our website if you ever need to talk or get into some sort of trouble, and I’m sure Twilight and the others feel the same too, just remember that none of the information shared in this ward goes beyond the people here now, for all of our safety.”
Both girls nodded solemnly and I turned to smile at the other girl. “Now as for you Savage, Tessily has been teaching me some mental focussing techniques that I think I can adapt to help you control that temper. I’ll send them along to Dr. Park and hopefully they’ll help, but like I told Changeling, feel free to email me if you need help with anything. We Ward kids look out for one another, whether we’re still in the ward or not.”
After that I introduced the other members of my team and we chatted with the three of them for a few minutes before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the ship, though Dr. Park asked Twilight and me to talk to her in her office for a few minutes. As we went inside and each of us took a seat, Dr. Park shut the door before giving us both a big hug. “Thanks for stopping in to visit girls, I think that meant a lot to all three of them. Marcus misses you and the others and I think he’s been afraid to bother you unless it’s important, but maybe you’ll hear from him more now. Those two girls said they didn’t believe him about knowing you when he told them yesterday, but they were really hoping he was telling the truth.”
“Yeah, I think Allie’s ‘Confidence’ form looking like me kinda gave that away,” I retorted with a giggle.
“Those two really remind me of the pair of you since Allie showed up the other day.” Dr. Park began with a sigh. “Allie Activated here in the hospital too and her first form was Fear which is as frightening as it is inhuman. When her foster parents reacted much like your mother did she turned to Anger, think of it as one of your early telekinetic tantrums, but with fire. Since she got here Jenny has been trying to take her under her wing and become friends, but she has her own issues, her parents were exposed as mutants and since they only had nuisance level powers they couldn’t fight back and her whole family died in the attack that followed. She was out with friends at the time, but when she got home and the police told her what had happened the trauma and anger caused her to Activate. She passed out from the strain on her body and was brought here. In truth neither of them needs to be here, Allie has no real medical conditions and Jenny’s increased need for iron is easily treatable now through a proper diet and vitamin regimen, but they have nowhere to go and they’ll both be dangerous if not properly trained and emotionally supported, especially Allie.”
“So basically they’re a lot like us back then, in the same boat we were, but they’re screwed because they’re not even close to eighteen yet,” Twilight muttered. “So what do you want us to do? It’s not like we could qualify as foster parents or anything. Could we?”
“I was considering having Lisa become Jenny’s foster parent, but you would make a good mentor and sister figure for her Leslie, you have a lot in common. As for Allie, I was concerned by some of the blood and DNA tests I ran when she first came in and I compared them to a former patient. Allie was in foster care for most her life, but by comparing the samples I discovered that she does have one living blood relative, who could legally care for her if she wished to…” Dr. Park trailed off uncertainly.
“So call this woman then and ask her,” I said with a frown.
“I’m trying to,” she replied with a sigh. “It was hard to find the paper trail, but Allie was born out of wedlock and orphaned soon after birth in a car accident when her mother and father died. She only barely survived and was placed in foster care. Her birth was registered to a Lara Nichols, who was herself an orphan and an only child, but the father’s name was also on the birth certificate. It was Cameron Graham, and the only reason that Allie didn’t have his last name is because she was the result of an extra-marital affair.”
“Are you saying… that she…” I sputtered as I tried to wrap my head around it.
“Yes,” she replied reaching out to squeeze my hand in her own. “Allison is your half-sister. I double checked the blood and DNA tests and the paperwork to be certain.”
“Holy shit…” Twilight gasped, staring at me.
I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate than that to say at the moment so I just kept staring at her slack-jawed. Finally I managed, “That was Dad’s name. Mom said he died in a car accident, while driving drunk, when I was three. I guess the time fits.”
Dr. Park shook her head. “I looked at the accident, medical, and police reports myself, there were no signs of alcohol in his system, but there were signs of foul play. The brake line of the vehicle had been tampered with, but there was no evidence pointing to any specific suspects so the case wasn’t pursued.”
I stood up and had to tightly reign in both my empathy and telekinesis. “Don’t let Allie leave here, I’ll be back to figure this all out once I finished talking to my mother, and she damn well better have some good answers.”
I stormed back up to the tour bus, more furious than I had ever been in my life, even when my mother had abandoned me or when Alex had come into my hospital room to gloat. Twilight actually had to use a bit of her speed to keep up with me. Once we were aboard I headed to the pilot’s compartment to tell Sasha, “We’re ready, let’s go do this.”
“Syryn… Candy, what’s wrong? What happened? You don’t need to be giving off empathy for us to see that you’re really pissed off right now,” Riff ventured, placing a hand on my shoulder as I returned to the dining area.
“She lied to me my whole fucking life! She told me my dad was a drunk! What else did she know that she lied to me about?! Did she know I had a fucking sister?!”
Tessily wrapped me up in a tight hug. “Candice, I do not know what has upset you so much, but you must calm down, we need to adhere to the plan. Focus your mind, control your power, and remember your task, all other things we will face together as they come.
I had managed to calm down somewhat and regain my focus by the time of the meeting. I was still furious, but I was keeping a very tight leash on my emotions and my powers. Tessily was right, being angry and confrontational would only make things worse. As much as I wanted to get some answers out of her, going about it while angry would only be a bad idea. So as my Mahar worked her magic on us I tried to focus on the task ahead.
Tessily usually only used magic on her arrows because it was more practical for her in combat, but she was actually an accomplished mage and by the time we stepped through Rave’s portal to a quiet alley a few blocks away from my former home she had woven a very convincing glamour over us both. From what the others had said I looked like a busty and bubbly redhead coed clad in a pair of denim cut-offs, a green halter top, green sandals that went well with the top, and carrying a denim purse. Tessily herself was a slender blonde clad in a white tunic style top, jeans and sneakers.
Don’t freak out, just stay in character, at least until you’re inside, I admonished myself as I rang the doorbell. As soon as she opened the door I gave her a big hug and gave a fake little giggle to stay in character. “Mom! It’s so good to see you!”
She looked confused for a moment, but that was good I wanted her off balance. “It’s me… Ken…dra,” I said, playing at being suddenly shy and uncertain. “I told you I was coming in disguise right? What were you expecting a trench coat and hat?” From the expression on her face I figured that she was expecting just that, or something very similar. “This is my friend Lily, she’s like me and she’s like totally awesome with disguises and stuff, so she offered to help.”
“Please, come in,” she said a bit awkwardly as she looked both of us over and then as she opened the door for us her eyes seemed to dart nervously around the neighbourhood. The moment we were all inside and the door was closed she plastered a fake smile on her face and suggested, “Why don’t we all go into the kitchen and talk over some coffee?”
“That would be great Mom!” I fake-enthused, giving a vapid little giggle for good measure. I felt like an idiot, but I couldn’t make the first move if this really was a trap, and since I couldn’t trust anything my mother had ever told me now, I had to believe that it was.
We followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table while she prepared some coffee, except that I knew for a fact that the drawer she reached for to “get the spoons” was not where she usually put them. That was the drawer she kept emergency supplies in, like candles, flashlights and such. The instant she pulled out the gun I reached out with my mind and tore it apart at the seams. It was a plastic and ceramic weapon of a very familiar design. It was the same kind that Smith and the other members of the Right Hand had had when they tried to kidnap Rave.
“Well, I guess it looks like we can both drop the act now,” I told her conversationally, while making certain she could hear the anger in my voice. So that was your whole plan? Invite me home and then kill me over coffee? That doesn’t sound like something the Right Hand would normally cook up though, they’re all about overkill and I know that those weapons are non-lethal. Do they really want me that bad after Coney Island?”
“My comrades and the Cardinal don’t know anything about this… they can’t… or I would have called my squad in when I set this up.” she spat as she watched both Tessily and me carefully and her hand reached into the drawer for something else, but her hand then withdrew still empty. “Do you really think that I would tell them that my own child was a monster? Kenny died in the hospital, and I tried to just let you go on to whatever miserable death awaited you. Then you showed up on the news killing my brothers-in-arms and started popping up all over the internet. I couldn’t let anyone connect you to me so I was planning on handling this myself, it would have been self defense when a mutant freak attacked me in my home, but you just had to bring a friend. I should have killed you as soon as I found out what you were. All your life I tried to keep you safe, teach you God’s path, and protect you from becoming like your father, but you became an abomination, just like he was.”
“Keep her talking Syryn, we’re recording all of this. If she’s a member of the Right Hand and not being monitored at the moment she could give us some valuable information,” Liberty said in my ear.
“We may not have time for that,” Sasha interjected, “I just picked up an omnidirectional signal coming from your general location Syryn, possibly a tracker or some kind of long range distress signal.”
“She probably called in backup,” Nick muttered. “Everyone get ready in case we need to engage hostiles and evacuate civilians. Keep her talking Syryn.”
The signal was probably from whatever she had touched in the emergency drawer. They wanted me to keep her talking, fine I had questions I wanted answered anyway. “So I’m guessing that your ‘job’ wasn’t really religious counselling. Do you work for the Church or the Right Hand? And what about my father?”
“I’ve been doing God’s work! The Right Hand is the right hand of God. We are the most dedicated of our church, the most committed to doing Gods work and cleansing the world of the mutant abominations. Your father was an abomination too, not a visible freak like you, but one nonetheless. He said that he wasn’t dangerous, that they were just little magic tricks, but things would start to fly around the room whenever we argued.”
Trying to contain my anger I prodded, “He wasn’t a drunk was he? His ‘accident’, was that you? What about thou shalt not kill? Or is that only for people who fit into your limited view of what the world should be?”
“I was a good wife! A good mother! Then I found out about him and that Nichols woman, and their child! He said I was the dangerous one! He was going to leave me for her and he wanted to take you! I did it for you!” Dishes and appliances on the counter started to shake and I was pretty sure it wasn’t me doing it. I had a very firm grip on my anger.
“We’ve got incoming,” Sasha’s voice noted. “Four Right Hand VTOL’s are inbound and moving in fast, I calculate two minutes before they are in range to deploy.”
“That’s bullshit,” I responded to my birth mother as calmly as I could manage. “You killed my father and almost killed my sister too. You’ve lied to me my whole life and tried to control me. How was that for me? That was for you, so you could keep your delusions about yourself and so you couldn’t be connected to people like us. You see those things shaking on the counter? That’s not me, I’m holding my powers in check. You killed Dad, so it can’t be him either.” I pointed to Tessily who had been remaining quiet and concentrating on keeping our glamour up. “She doesn’t have abilities like that and if she was going to try to harm you you’d already be unconscious on the floor. So guess who’s causing that.”
She stood there with a look of horror on her face until I could hear the sounds of the VTOL’s outside. That was when she snapped. “No! I’m a good girl! I’m one of God’s chosen! I am not a monster!”
Knives flew from the rack on the counter toward me and Tessily and I quickly put up a TK shield to intercept them. “It looks like I’m not the only one you’ve been lying to all these years. Oh, by the way, your friends are here, but so are mine.”
That was the cue that the others had been waiting for. Liberty snapped into leader-mode immediately. “Okay let’s go visible. Take these guys out hard and fast. We have groups to both the front and rear of the house. Silver, take out the self destruct on those VTOLs, we’re in a residential area and I don’t want any collateral damage here if possible. All other Aegis members get on taking down enemy combatants and evacuating civilians to the police cordon.”
“Rave, you’re on evacuation duty, and everyone outside activate ‘shades’ mode.” I said into my own mic as Tessily dropped our glamour. “Decibal and Starbright target those coming at us from the rear, take out their eyes and ears and then disarm them and disable those chips. Riff work the perimeter, take out any stragglers, and cover any civilians that Rave hasn’t evacuated yet. Twilight, make them fear the shadows; hit and run tactics, but limit your speed and strength to try to disable or injure, we don’t want any casualties attributed to us.”
One of the knives that had clattered to the floor flew into Psycho-mom’s hand and she lunged at me with a crazed look in her eyes. I had a TK shield up and ready to counter her but Tessily moved faster than I had expected and decked her hard enough to send her flying to the floor, the knife skittering away harmlessly. The Fae stood over her, somehow remaining cool and calm despite the fire of anger in her eyes. “You shall never harm my daughter again! You dared to call yourself her mother. A mother loves unconditionally and does things for their child’s sake, not their own. Unatri Tyniehl! You are a disgrace.”
“Star and I are about to do our thing, you two might want to cover your eyes and ears in there,” Decibel’s voice warned.
“Engage shades,” I said. The slim visor retracted from my circlet to cover my eyes and took on a dark tint as I covered my ears and Tessily did the same, closing her eyes as well. I kept a close eye on the woman on the floor in case she tried anything else and once the all clear was given I disengaged the visor, quickly drew my stun sword to temporarily disable her legs and prevent her from getting up or trying to run off. The sounds of fighting outside were starting to get loud as I extracted the scanner and one of the mini-EMP devices that Blake had given us from my utility belt. “Now let’s see about disabling that death-chip in your shoulder. I’m sure the police are going to have a lot of questions for you about your church and its activities and I wouldn’t want you dying on them first.”
I sat her up and waved the handheld device over her shoulder and, once I received the triple beep confirmation that the chip was indeed there, I slapped the small disk on her blouse over the spot where the implant had been detected. Then I hit the button to engage the device and stepped back a few feet. After several seconds the device beeped once more and then sparked and died. “It looks like you’ll live.”
To my surprise she started laughing. “You’re not saving me. I’d be better off dead if I’m a freak like you, but I’m not, I’m one of God’s chosen and I’ll die as one.” She bit down hard and started frothing at the mouth and choking as her eyes rolled back in her head and then she collapsed to the floor in a dead heap.
“Shit! Everyone be advised; our adversaries have cyanide capsules or something in addition to the chips so feel free to knock some teeth loose or find a way to keep them from biting down on them.” I looked down at the body on the floor and sighed. “We never really knew one another at all did we?”
Tessily wrapped me up in a hug, but I didn’t have any more tears in me for that woman. I had already shed them all in the hospital when she had made it clear that I wasn’t her child and she didn’t want to be my mother. All I really knew about her was that she was a crazy and deluded religious fanatic, that she had killed my father and the family that should have been mine, and that she had gone out of her way to try to kill me too. My real mother, the one that mattered, was holding me in her arms. I just let her hold me a minute longer and then I said, “Let’s go help the others finish things up.”
We had managed to disable all of the self-destructs on the VTOLs and capture three of our adversaries alive, two men and one woman, after disabling the chips on most of them. One of them had three teeth knocked out by Twilight during the fight and one just happened to be the booby-trapped one, while the others we had gagged with something large enough that they couldn’t bite down and they would be drugged and have the cyanide capsules removed at the hospital, where they would be kept on suicide watch until they could be properly questioned and charged. The rest of them had been taken out by the chips or eagerly taken the tooth.
Between those three captives, what I had learned during the conversation in the kitchen of Ken’s home, some things we had found in the master bedroom of the house, and the VTOLs we had plenty of evidence connecting the Right Hand to the Church of the Purity of Adam. Federal organizations like the HAA and the FBI were now able to get involved to freeze their assets and perform raids on their properties across the country. The world wasn’t saved or anything, but I think that we took a small step toward making it a better place.
Best of all, no civilians had been harmed at all, Rave had evacuated a lot of them and the other members of both teams had done a good job in covering the escape of others while taking down the bad guys. Overall it was a good mission, despite having been a bit an emotional rollercoaster for me. I knew that Tessily and my friends were all concerned about me, but really I was fine, I had been angry when I learned about my father’s murder and emotionally blindsided by the existence of my sister, but I was over the other stuff before this even happened.
It was nearly seven thirty by the time the police got things sorted out and the federal agencies had gotten involved. Our job was over and Liberty had said that while all physical evidence would be turned over to the proper agencies, the conversation in the kitchen would only be kept for our own records since my past was none of anyone else’s business. In fact, it seemed that all of her correspondence with our website and my email address had mysteriously vanished from Karen Graham’s computer and email account. I would have to remember to thank Sasha and Phil for that later.
Now though I wanted to focus on other things, like getting back to the hospital and the Hyper Ward before visiting hours were over and Dr. Park left for the night. I needed to deal with that tonight or I would be a distracted mess tomorrow when the Battle of the Bands started. Twilight and I spoke about it with the others as we flew toward the hospital and they were as shocked as I had been about the existence of my sister. They all thought that we should do it. It may mean a bit of a change as Twilight would share an apartment with her new protégé and I would do the same with my sister, but it would be better for all of us.
It was Mai who said it best though. “You both need to do this, especially you Candy. You’ve kinda come full circle and these kids need us as much as you needed Aegis when you got out of that hospital. You have a sister Candy. If it were me, and I found my cousin Sakura, I wouldn’t hesitate to take her in. She’s family and we can work out the details later, the important thing is that she knows that she’s not alone and that you, and all of us, are there to look out for her. Now let’s go get them, we could use the extra fans in the stands tomorrow.”
I pressed the buzzer to the security door a bit nervously, but with my best friend right beside it gave me the confidence I needed to do this. Mahar had offered to come as well, but this was something that Twilight and I needed to do ourselves. Dr. Park’s voice came over the crackling speaker sounding a bit tired. “Hello.”
“Hi Dr. Park, its Syryn and Twilight, we’re here to pick up the girls,” I told her.
The door swung open to reveal a somewhat surprised Dr. Park. “Really? You’ve thought about this right?”
I nodded and tried to give her a confident smile. “I’d like to get to know my sister and I won’t abandon her when I’ve just found her. She needs me, and I think Tess… Mahar and I can help her learn some control.”
“I’ve been having fun being Liberty’s protégé, so maybe it’ll be fun to start working with one of my own,” Twilight put in. “Besides, we’re going to be rock stars soon and I still have a large portion of the insurance money, so what’s an extra mouth or two to feed when they’re family.”
Dr. Park hugged us both, “You girls have grown up a lot since you left here. I’m proud of both of you. And you’re adults now and not patients here, so you should start calling me Maddie, or Madison. How did things go with your meeting by the way?”
I hugged her back tightly. She was like family too. When I came in here broken and scared, she fixed me and helped me want to live again. “I got the answers I was looking for, even if they weren’t the answers I wanted. Ken Graham is truly dead and buried now, and I think it’s time to put the past behind me and look toward the future. I was thinking yesterday that that future would start tomorrow with the Battle of the Bands, but I think it began right here when I first came into this ward as Candy and met you. You helped us both get off to a good start on our futures so let’s go help those two girls in there do the same.”
“I really miss you girls sometimes,” she said with a chuckle as we both let go of one another.
“Good, then maybe you’ll come visit more often.” I replied with a grin. “We’ll try to come visit sometimes too.”
We walked to the dining area and Dr. Park called out, “Jenny! Allie! You both need to go get packed.”
“What?!” they both gasped in unison as Allie switched to Shy mode.
“Hurry up, your ride is already here,” Madison insisted. “Neither of you really needs to be here, so we’ve made arrangements for you. Jenny, I’m going to go print out your dietary needs and vitamin regimen, so maybe Twilight can help you get packed. Allie, I found out that you have a half-sister, and she’s offered to take you in rather than risk sending you back into foster care. Syryn will help you pack.”
Just to make sure that Marcus wasn’t feeling left out, I called out, “And as for you Smog! Keep in contact and shoot us a damn email once in a while. It’s not going to bother us, you’re one of us and we’ll always be happy to talk to you, besides who else is going to keep us up to date on all the kids who come through here?”
He looked about ready to jump out of his chair, but he smiled and gave me a quick salute, “You got it Syryn.”
With that out of the way I guided Allie to her room to gather her things. “You look a little shocked,” I said conversationally as we started putting her things in the large duffel bag I’d brought.
“Well duh, I just found out I have a sister that I didn’t know about and I’m going to be living with her, you’d probably be pretty freaked out too,” she ventured. “I’m a bit scared, but really excited too. Do you know anything about her? Where does she live? What does she do? What’s her name?”
I had to hold back a giggle at her prompt switch in moods and the physical change that came with it, now her hair and eyes were a bright neon blue and she was talking and moving so fast that she seemed to blur. So, excitement comes with super-speed that’s good to know, I thought to myself before answering her. “Well your sister is feeling the same way you are, she never knew about you until today, but you’re her only blood relative left and family is important, so she wants to give this a try. I think I know her better than anyone, though not even I was sure who she was at first. She lives in New York City and she’s just starting out as a superhero and close to achieving her dream of becoming a rock star. Her name is Candy Graham, but she also goes by Syryn.”
She stopped speeding around the room and filling the duffel bag to stare at me. “You’re my sister?!”
"Yeah, Dr. Park discovered that we have the same father. His name was Cameron Graham, I don’t really know much about him, but we’re his kids and he wanted us to be together with him and your mom before they died, so he couldn’t have been too bad.”
I barely managed to brace myself in time for the super-speed hug that followed. It didn’t take us long to pack after that, she didn’t really have much, and soon we were waiting for Twilight and Jenny while saying our farewells to Smog. The other pair joined us and soon we were on the roof and introducing them to the tour bus. It was funny seeing them as excited as we must have been that first day when we had boarded the Ladybug. As we flew back to New York and we laid out the rules I was feeling pretty optimistic about things. I had a sister and I had discovered the truth about my life as Ken and was able to put it behind me, well most of it anyway. I planned on dealing with Alex and the rest of Red Prophesy starting tomorrow at the Battle of the Bands.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 8 Battle of the Bands Amethyst |
When I awoke that Friday, it was slightly after five in the morning, my heart was racing, and I was having trouble breathing. The first was because the Battle of the Bands was going to begin that night and I was a nervous bundle of energy as I realized that today was the day for RevolveR to make it or break it. The second was because of the girl beside me in my bed, clinging to me for dear life as she slept. Allison was just too happy to have a big sister, any sort of real family connection after growing up in foster care, and didn’t want to let me out of her sight. That was okay though, because I didn’t either, at least not for a few days.
I was this mixed bag of emotions right now, and even my dreams had reflected it the night before. On the one hand I was so happy to have a real family connection, and a connection to the father that my mother never really let me get to know. I was excited about tonight and about getting to know Allie and being a big sister and role model for her. On the other hand though, I was blaming myself. I had been gullible enough to believe my mother’s lies and I couldn’t help but wonder if things could have been different, for both me and my sister, if I had questioned her sooner. Maybe she could have avoided all the abuse she had suffered in foster care, and from what Dr. Park… err Maddie had told me privately it had been bad. If only I had taken an earlier interest in finding out what my father was really like for myself, rather than taking the word of the woman who had raised me.
You know what they say about hindsight, well sometimes it’s not really 20/20. Sometimes it can get distorted, by “what if’s” and “should haves”. I knew deep in my heart and my mind that I couldn’t have really done anything for either of us, we were both kids after all, but that didn’t stop me from wishing that I could have. I may not have been able to do anything for either of us before, but now was a different story. Now that we were together I needed to watch over and protect her, that’s what big sisters do.
That was why when we returned home last night I had decided to let her sleep in my room with me and let Jennifer sleep on the couch, or with her new mentor, instead of trying to get a new apartment set up for the two of us right away. Firstly I wanted us to spend the time together, getting a feel for one another and for being sisters. Secondly, we wouldn’t have had much time to set up a new place anyway for the next few days, since RevolveR needed to get in both our regular training session and some band practice before heading over to Sullivan Hall for the start of Battle of the Bands that evening. The event would go on for three days with half of the dozen bands being eliminated on Friday night, three more on Saturday, and then the remaining three would battle it out for the title on Sunday.
It’s going to be a busy weekend, I thought as I turned to look at Allie curled up beside me with her arm wrapped around me as if she was afraid I would vanish in her sleep. After what she’d been through and suddenly having an actual blood relative who cared enough to take her in, that was probably exactly what she was afraid of. She was happy though as she clung to me, it’s not hard to tell someone’s emotions when she looks different for each one, and right now she was looking like a younger, sleeping Tessily.
I gently shook her and called out, “Allison, wake up sis. Come on, the alarm is going to go off soon so we might as well get up now,”
Her eyes opened and she looked around blearily for a moment before she realized where she was and happily hugged me,” It’s real! It wasn’t a dream!”
I ruffled her currently silver hair and grinned at her. “Yup, now get up so we can all eat some breakfast before we start training for the day. Tessily is going to teach you and Jennifer the basic focussing exercises that the Fae use to control their emotions while we’re doing our teamwork training, and that’s something you both need.”
After a quick breakfast with Allison and Jennifer, Leslie and I escorted them down to the base’s recreation room, where we left them in Tessily’s capable elven hands. She was to begin training them both in elven mental exercises meant to help control their emotions, to help Jennifer with her anger and impulse issues and Allie with possibly controlling her shapeshifting. While they were doing that we joined the rest of our team for our hour-long teamwork training session. When we returned so that Tessily and I could start work on my daily training regimen the two younger girls seemed a bit down.
“I see you’ve gained a new form, so which emotion is that one for?” I asked my sister, whose hair and eyes were both now a bright orange. Electricity crackled around her as golden flashes of energy arced along her skin. Jennifer was wisely keeping her distance and both girls were frowning.
“Frustration,” Allie snapped, before realizing how bad her tone might sound. Then she looked down at her feet, “Oh God, I’m sorry sis, I didn’t mean…” Her voice trailed off as her features once again shifted, her hair turning a deep plum and her eyes a near-black brown. I guessed that one was guilt.
“How’d they do Tessily?” Leslie ventured after a moment.
“It was only our first session,” my Mahar replied with an encouraging smile. “It shall take time and practice, but I am certain that they will both master these techniques just as Candice has.”
“Don’t worry,” I offered, trying to reassure both girls with a smile. “It took me a while too, and Jennifer, you should only really need the emotional control exercises. I had to learn all of the focussing techniques that a Fae mage would so I could control my telekinesis. We should probably be teaching you all of them too Allie, and possibly the hand-to-hand and sword techniques as well, since your abilities seem to differ with each form.”
“I guess I’ll let you have at that then, while I take my protégé and we’ll get some training in with Liberty,” Leslie said with a smile. “C’mon kiddo, let’s go see what you’re made of.”
Then Tessily began going through some of the other focussing exercises with Allie while I went through my daily regimen in the pool and we followed up with some sparring and advanced hand-to-hand and sword techniques while Allie worked on some beginner stances and motions that Tessily had assigned her. When eventually we quit for a shower I was feeling the burn from a good workout and Allie was perspiring and breathing heavily.
Once I had finished my post-training shower, and had instructed my sister to take one as well and to get dressed in something comfortable and casual, I started getting ready myself. First I massaged some lotion into my skin to get it feeling nice and soft. Next, I got dressed in a nice white sundress with a floral pattern and a pair of strappy white sandals with two inch heels. I didn’t really need makeup since Brianna had helped Blake program several good make up settings into both mine and Amy’s new and improved second skin pendants a few weeks ago. Trying to get makeup to look right with our disguises before had been a pain in the ass.
“Engage casual makeup,” I said clearly once I had the pendant on and was putting on my hairnet. Then I transferred everything I might need, including my spare anti-gravity belt, into a white purse that would go well with the shoes. Tessily and I had planned to take Allie out for lunch, but first I needed to see my young inventor friend about a disguise for her. He had mentioned last night that he had an idea that should only take an hour or two to finish and he was hoping to have it done before going to sleep.
Blake answered the door with a grin. “Looking good Candy.”
“Only thanks to you,” I quickly countered.
“Nah, you’d look good without my tech, just a bit more… exotic,” he replied with a wink. “I guess you’re here to see if I was able to come up with something for your sister?”
“Yeah, every time a strong emotion hits her she changes. It’s not exactly low profile.”
“Don’t worry, I have just the thing, just let me grab it and we’ll get her all set up.” He dashed back into his apartment for a moment, returned with a small cloth-wrapped item, and then we headed back to mine and Leslie’s apartment.
When we entered the apartment Allie had just gotten out of the shower and Leslie and Jennifer had returned from their own morning activities with Lisa. Allie was wrapped in my white terrycloth robe and the three of them turned to look in my direction as I walked in casually with Blake on my heels and told my sister with mock-sternness, “You’re really going to need to wear more than that if we’re going out to lunch.” Then I turned to my best friend and her new protégé and smiled at the pair. “Mahar and I are going to take Allie out for lunch before this afternoon’s practice, there’s that new sushi fusion place that opened up a few blocks away. Do you two want to come with?”
“Sure, that sounds like a great idea. We can’t really take them to see the sights or get some more clothes until after the weekend, but going for lunch before practice could be nice,” my best friend replied with a grin.
Allie and Jennifer just stared at me in confusion, as Allie’s eyes and hair shifted to match the light blonde and crystal blue of my disguise. “Oh! That’s right! It’s me Syryn, or Candy when I’m like this. You two didn’t get a chance to see me with my disguise on yesterday, did you?” I asked, pausing a moment to let them make the connection before continuing speaking, turning back to my sister/doppelganger. “It’s so cute that you associated me with confusion, or at least this me. Anyway, this is Blake, he made my disguise and all of our gear and he has something for you Sis.”
Blake offered the cloth-wrapped package, unwrapping it to reveal what looked like a long silver-hued strip of shiny and flexible metal about a foot and a half long and a quarter of an inch wide. “It’s a choker of sorts. Just pick it up, place it around your neck, connect the two ends, and it should adjust to fit comfortably.”
Allie was somewhat uncertain, not to mention still fairly confused, but did as Blake asked as I held her hair up and out of the way so it wouldn’t get caught in the choker. Once she had placed the two ends together the silver band tightened around her throat, becoming a little thicker as it did so, until it was firmly in place around her throat but not quite enough to choke her. “She doesn’t look any different Blake,” Leslie pointed out, “though with the same eye and hair color you can really tell that she and Candy are sisters, their faces are pretty similar.”
“This one doesn’t actually generate a disguise,” the young inventor admitted before turning his attention back to Allie. “It’s a modified inhibitor collar.”
Allie’s eyes widened in sudden realization and she suddenly looked torn between relief and wanting to rip the collar off. “Why…” she began to ask in a panic.
Blake gently put a hand on her shoulder, cutting off her questions and protests by offering an explanation. “Your problem isn’t just your appearance changing, you also have different powers with each appearance, powers that it’s going to take time to learn to control and you don’t want to lose control in a public place, your sister could tell you how that feels. It activated when you put it on, and while active it will block out your powers, keeping you from shifting or using whatever powers you may have In that specific form. It will only work on you since it’s coded to your DNA and will only respond to the voice commands of the person wearing it, that being you as well, so that the only one controlling when you can or can’t use your powers is you. To activate or deactivate it just say ‘Activate collar’ or ‘Deactivate collar’, to remove it say ‘Remove collar’, and if you want to switch between it’s normal look and a more casual one just say, ‘Activate casual mode’ or ‘Deactivate casual mode’. I tried to make it as easy as possible, and it has an emergency manual release button at the back if you ever need remove it and can’t speak for some reason.”
“So I control it?” my sister asked, seeming to need reassurance.
“Yes, you and only you,” Blake replied. “You need to be able to choose when you may need to use your abilities or when you can’t risk showing them, I am just giving you that option. Here at home you probably won’t need to use the collar much, but it will help regulate your appearance when you’re not at home and prevent any accidental power use until you have more control.”
Once Allie had put the collar in casual mode, which made it look like a simple black leather choker, she and I went to find her a nice outfit to wear. She really didn’t have much and, since she was a bit shorter and a little less curvy than me, there really wasn’t much I could lend her that would fit decently. I made a mental note to get her some more clothes soon as we settled on a pair of worn, but presentable, low-rise jeans and an emerald green poet blouse with ruffled sleeves. The outfit didn’t really go with the running shoes she had, but we wore same shoe size so I was able to loan her a pair of hunter green double-strapped sandals with a one inch block heel that didn’t look too bad with the blouse.
By the time I was done with her, Jennifer had gotten out of the shower and we helped her to get ready as well. She had a few more clothes than Allie, but not by much. They really were in a situation similar to mine and Leslie’s when we first got out of the hospital and came to New York, except they didn’t have the money that Leslie had to help. Nope, they had even better, they had me and Leslie. My best friend had barely put a dent in her money from the insurance policies and the sale of her car and the property that her childhood home had been on before burning to the ground. I on the other hand had invested a large portion of the start-up money I got from Tara at the HPP with Phil’s help and was currently sitting on a nest egg of roughly forty thousand dollars. It helped that neither of us had to pay rent, just our share of the utilities.
I would have to have Sasha help me invest again, maybe a quarter of what I had, but I felt that caring for my sister and myself would be doable until we started making money from our music. Leslie would have no problem caring for her new ward/protégé either. Our first priorities on Monday after the Battle of the Bands would be new clothes for them, setting up one of the other two bedroom apartments in the building for Leslie and Jennifer, and seeing Tara at the Hyper Protection Program. We were worried about their safety if they kept their old identities, since it wasn’t really too hard to find people on the internet these days.
We had discussed the girls’ situation last night immediately after returning to the base with Blake, Brianna, Sasha, and all the members of both RevolveR and Aegis in attendance. Jennifer’s parents had been murdered after being outed as mutants and there was a good chance that she was being targeted as well. As for Allie, her foster parents had been abusive even before she Activated in the hospital. She had been originally admitted with severe bruising over almost half her body and cracked ribs. She didn’t know what excuse they had used when they admitted her, but whatever it was it was probably a lie. After she had Activated her foster parents had to be banned from the hospital after calling her the spawn of Satan and threatening to kill her in full view of the attending nurse. They definitely needed protection, so Blake and Brianna were going to talk to their father about putting a rush on HPP approval for the pair from his office.
These thoughts were all heavy on my mind as we helped Jennifer get ready. Eventually we managed to get her in a layered skirt and tunic style top, both in shades of blue and a tan pair of strappy sandals that looked good together. After that Jennifer put on some light makeup while I helped Allie with hers and told her what I was doing and why. Despite being born a girl she never really had the opportunity to have much more in the way of makeup than lip gloss and had no idea about most of it. I hadn’t been doing it long myself, but I had gotten used to it over the time we’d been in New York City and I was even getting pretty decent at it, it was kind of fun getting just the right look. If somebody had told me back when I was Ken that in three months I’d be teaching my little sister about how to use makeup I would have laughed in their face. What a difference a few months can make.
By the time both girls were ready for our outing, Leslie had already hopped out of shower and was mostly ready. “I’ll be like five minutes,” she promised as she started on her own makeup.
“Cool, I’ll call and let Tessily know we’re ready,” I replied before snatching my phone from my purse. I quickly hit the Fae’s number in my contacts list and waited for her to answer.
“Nahal hanun lien,” she greeted me. You and young Allison are prepared to leave for lunch?”
“Nahal Mahar. We’re all ready to go, we’ll meet you down in the foyer in five minutes. I invited Leslie and Jennifer to tag along with the three of us, I hope you don’t mind.”
“I do not mind at all Candice, Jennifer and Allison could both use some fresh air and good company I think, and Leslie is always welcome to join us. I shall meet with you all downstairs,” came her chipper reply.
“Jisse Mahar, aine vel amistriel. Nayr vel vise oluhaime,” I responded before disconnecting the call.
“Jeeze Candy, you’re getting as bad as Tess, could you please speak something us humans can understand?” Leslie teased after finishing applying her lipstick and lightly blotting it with a tissue.
I blushed a light lavender as I took Alison’s hand and led her out of the room. “Sorry about that, I just told her, ‘Yes Mom, I love you. We’ll see you there.’ She’s been teaching me to speak Fae whenever we spend time together relaxing and it’s coming to me easier than I would have thought, it’s like I was born to speak it. So it kind just happens sometimes when we’re talking and I already know how to say something in Fae. Maybe it has something to do with the clan mark.”
“Or the pointed ears,” my best friend offered with a smirk as we made our way out of the apartment. “Tess did say it was possible that Allie had Fae blood back in her family line and you both have the same father. I know that most of your features, like the general body shape, pretty face, eyes, blue skin, and pink hair may have been from a subconscious desire to be noticed, but would the ears really make a huge difference to that? Maybe it’s just your Fae genes showing themselves.”
That made a lot more sense than I cared to admit at the moment, not that I would be bothered by being part Fae. I mean I took the clan mark, and since my change I haven’t exactly been the poster girl for normal humans. I just wished that I knew more about our father, for both Allie’s sake and my own. I tried to put all of that out of my mind for the moment though as we joined Tessily in the foyer and headed out to eat.
Lunch, and the band practice afterwards seemed to pass in a blur. The food at the restaurant had been very good and we all enjoyed ourselves, and the girls seemed to really enjoy watching us practice afterward, but now that we were getting ready for our big night I was starting to get just a bit nervous. Well at least we had out own cheering section, even if nobody else liked our music. Blake, Brianna, and all of Aegis were going to be in the crowd in their civilian identities watching with my sister, Jennifer, and Ian’s family The latter had come to the apartment complex to give us a little encouragement and Kim offered to hang with Allie and Jennifer in an effort to get to know them better, since Amy would be helping with our big entrance that night as Rave and couldn’t watch the show with her.
They had all left together and now they were out there somewhere in the crowd as me and the other members of RevolveR waited in the backstage area of Sullivan Hall with the other bands waiting for the show to start. We were already in costume and I had put on some subtle makeup earlier to help enhance my features. They don’t really have foundation for my unique skin color so it was basically just mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow and a lip gloss in a slightly darker blue than my lips. We were getting a lot of looks from the other bands, most of whom were hard rockers or metal heads and we stood out a bit. Several of them had already come up with dirty looks on their faces asking, “Just what the fuck are you supposed to be?”
My heart jumped in my throat and I nearly hid behind Riff as I noticed Alex and my former friends approaching. I took a deep breath to calm myself and stood up tall as I muttered to the others, “Oh look, it’s the Douchecanoes.”
Mai turned around, her eyes snapping on the approaching group as I spoke her little nickname for them. “We’ve got your back if you need it,” she offered, taking my hand and giving it a tight squeeze. The other’s looked like they wanted to rip Alex’s head off, which is pretty scary since Twilight probably could have. Luckily they too managed to calm themselves and adopt more indifferent expressions as the jerks approached with Alex in the lead and the other’s following in his wake like the simpering toadies that they had turned out to be.
Alex was the only one to speak of course, the other’s just sort of half waved from behind him as he strode up, casually tossed his blond hair out of his eyes and winked at me. “Hey there gorgeous, I’m Alex, and we’re Red Prophesy. That’s an interesting look you guys have going there.”
“I’m Syryn, we’re RevolveR, and I’m familiar with you,” I replied as casually as I could make myself while ignoring his obvious flirting. “I used to live in New Haven and followed the music scene there pretty eagerly.”
“Oh yeah? I don’t think I ever saw you around, but New Haven’s a big place. So what made you decide to go from groupie to joining a band? And why the costumes and blue body paint? You’re pretty hot so you don’t need a gimmick. Hell if you’d come to me I’d have let you audition as a backup singer or something.” The last was said with a leer that made me want to retch in my mouth.
“This isn’t body paint, this is what I really look like,” I responded coldly in a carefully controlled tone while keeping a firm grip on my empathy. “And I would rather die than join you and the Pretenders… Oh wait the Pretenders were actually a good band. You’ve been nothing since Ken Graham died and if you dare pull that ‘we’re doing this for Ken’ bullshit then I will make sure the world knows how Ken really died. Ken’s name isn’t going to carry you anymore, so you’ll have to get by on your own limited talents.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, “You don’t know anything you blue bimbo.”
I actually laughed at that. Then I smoothly twisted the events that night as if I had been a witness. “Don’t I Alex? I remember that night very well. You weren’t the only ones there that night at Farnam Memorial Gardens, hiding in the trees. I saw everything. You were all drinking and Ken offered to drive you home in your truck when you got too hammered to even stand up straight. He made a grab for your keys and you called him a faggot and when he stumbled you punched him in the throat. He started coughing up blood and couldn’t breathe. I heard that he died later from complications. I... left before the ambulance or the cops arrived. I mean, if you looked like me would you approach a group of drunk idiots in a park at night? Or want to risk being seen by the cops? That’s not the case anymore though, I’m out of the closet and I’m a superhero now. I wonder how the cops will react to a witness coming forward on that case…” I trailed off letting that hang in the air a moment before adding purposefully, “Good luck on stage and in all your future endeavours, we’ll be watching you.”
Alex and the others looked terrified, and I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction as they half-ran to the other side of the back stage area. “That was awesome,” Twilight said with a smug grin.
‘Did you see them fucking run?” Rave was having trouble holding back her laughter.
As luck would have it, we were up right after Red Prophesy that first night of the battle of the Bands. Each band had to perform one cover song and one of their original pieces. We watched from the side of the stage as we awaited our turn and Red Prophesy used one of the early metal songs I had written as Ken and followed up with Enter Sandman by Metallica. I’m pretty sure they were nervous as hell, either from the crowd or me and their performance was pretty disappointing.
“Showtime,” I told the others with a satisfied smile as the curtain dropped, accompanied by a lackluster applause, and Red Prophesy gathered their instruments and left the stage.
Once they had abandoned the stage we quickly started setting up our instruments and patching them and our mics into the soundboard with the assistant of Sasha and Rave. The latter two had been practicing set-up and take-down in preparation for the past week and things went pretty quickly. We were done well before the MC walked back onto the stage.
I could hear him speaking as we all headed offstage, leaving Rave standing there by herself. “That was Red Prophecy, from New Haven Connecticut! Up next we have, from here in New York City, RevolveR!” We actually got a pretty good round of applause as he said our name and it surprised me a bit. I knew we had our own little cheering section, but maybe some of those people frequenting our website the past week had been telling the truth when they said they couldn’t wait to see us perform here.
As the MC left the stage and the curtain rose Rave turned to the crowd like a cat who ate the canary and spoke through the Mic in her costume. “Hello New York! As you can see I’m not RevolveR. I’m their roadie Rave, but I know I’m not who you’re here to see, so without further ado… here they are, the one, the only, RevolveR!” She tapped her mic off and the patterns and lines on her body flared a bright green as she opened up a portal from the side of the stage where we were standing to center stage. We all stepped through, accompanied by one of Starbright’s amazing light shows, to a stunned silence. As Decibel headed for the drum set and I tapped my costume mic on, the others got to their instruments and got ready.
I gave the crowd an exuberant wave and a smile as I spoke, “Hello everyone! It’s great to be here among such great bands! I’m Syryn, and my friends here are Twilight on the keyboard and organ, Riff on lead guitar, Starbright on backup vocals and bass, and on the drums we have Decibel.” Each of them gave a jaunty wave to the crowd as they were introduced and I finished up by adding, “Our first song is called Crashing Down and I’d like to dedicate it to someone who isn’t with us anymore. He died tragically after being betrayed by people claiming to be his friends. This one’s for you Ken!” Decibel and Riff started laying down the beat and Twilight and Star soon joined in on the keyboard and bass, pumping out the hard rock rhythm that got the crowd moving. Once they had rocked their way through the intro I started in on the first verse, dancing in the air above the stage as I sang out to the crowd.
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, turning my gaze briefly off stage to where Red Prohesy had left not long before. Then Riff launched into his first guitar solo to thunderous applause. I grinned over at my boyfriend as he lost himself in the music until the melody changed to the slightly slower chorus. Starbright and I started in on the chorus and I was suddenly glad we had practiced it so much as I lowered myself back to the stage, leaned against her, and we sang in unison.
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, letting that line take hold before practically screaming the last line as the melody jumped right back into the harder and faster one. I was grinning from ear to ear from how well our voices were working together as the chorus ended and I had to take a quick breath before jumping into the next verse. I rose into the air again and held out my arms wide to the audience as the words flowed from between my lips
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
I let my anger at Alex and the rest of Red Prophesy be heard in my voice as I sang the verse, but I was careful to keep tight control over my empathy and subsonics. My voice was still angry as I finished this verse, but it was also filled with the confidence I had in myself and the rest of my team. Those who stood by me through thick and thin and who I knew always had my back. Riff started in on his second guitar solo and the crowd erupted again. Once the others jumped back in and the song slowed a bit again Star 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!
We shouted out the last line of the chorus and as Star joined the others in playing the next verse I took a quick breath and started singing as if questioning the audience. I reached out my hand in inquiry, closing my eyes and swaying to the music as I floated toward the front of the stage again.
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 Riff’s final guitar solo began and had the crowd rocking. His fingers and guitar pick coaxing out sounds that I could still scarcely believe even after two months of having him in my band. He was like some sort of guitar God and I only hoped that the audience enjoyed the song and my singing half as much as they did his playing as the others started in on the chorus again and Starbright and I put our voices to work on the final repetition of 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!
Let it all come crashing down!
I want to see it all come crashing down…
We let our voices slowly hold that that last line out to the audience, softly fading as the music came to an end. Then we all took a quick bow before I turned back to the crowd feeling more energized than I had ever felt before as I spoke again. “That was Crashing Down, I hope you all enjoyed it. For our second song of the evening we’re going to play a little Guns N’ Roses and I think you’ll all recognize this one.”
We had been practicing some cover songs for about two weeks now, since I found out that we’d probably have to do some for the Battle of the Bands. We rocked our way though Sweet Child O’ Mine and I thought I made it work pretty well with my voice. The way that Riff plowed through Slash’s guitar solo really sold it though, and the curtain closed to the sound of a standing ovation.
There were four other bands after us on that first night, but I couldn’t tell you how well they did. We were just too energized from our first public performance to really pay much attention. Hell, I barely remember us getting our gear put away with Rave and Sasha’s help. Mostly we just sat backstage and waited for the results of the first days judging to be announced as we spoke excitedly about how our performance had gone. I do remember some of the other bands coming up to congratulate us on a great performance though.
Finally after what seemed like far too much anticipation the guest judges’ results had been tallied and the MC brought all the bands on stage for the announcement of the results. “We’ve had a lot of great performances tonight,” he began as he addressed the crowd, “so first let’s have a big round of applause for all of our entries this year.” Once the applause that had resulted from that statement had died down he addressed the crowd once again, reading off a piece of paper. “The judging was tough and there were a lot of great performances, but our six semi-finalists who will be returning to play again tomorrow night are: One Dagger Mutiny, RevolveR, The Cramps, Drunk Uncle, Black Malice, and Nuclear Bong!”
We would have celebrated that night, but we were all too tired after our long day and the next round of the Battle of the Bands started in the afternoon tomorrow, so if we wanted to get any band practice in before it started, it was going to have to be in the morning. Our cheering section were all pretty proud of us though, and I was pretty happy that we had made it to the next round and Red Prophesy hadn’t. I felt a bit guilty for that, especially after the way I had scared the living shit out of them backstage, but I kept telling myself that it was no less than they deserved, all of them.
Alex may have taken everything from me, but my ‘friends’ hadn’t lifted a finger to stop him and hadn’t really been my friends since they pulled Alex into the band. No, they all deserved to fall flat like that and I couldn’t let Alex think he’d gotten away with what he’d done. Especially after the way he had behaved backstage. I could have been the better person and let it go, but his comments there had made me want some sort of payback. What can I say, I’m not perfect. Besides, who knew what Alex would do from now on if he kept thinking he could get away with murder. No, he needed to know that if he crossed the line again someone was going to make him pay for his crimes.
The second day of the contest was a bit stressful since we all found out at the last minute that we wouldn’t be playing our own material. It had been decided the night before that, to mix things up and provide a challenge for the bands playing, we would be performing random songs. Before everything was set to start each band was given a set of music and lyrics sheets for six songs, chosen at random, that we would have to perform covers of. The styles weren’t just hard rock or metal either which threw most of the bands for a bit of a loop. We had gotten Together by the Pet Shop Boys, Shoot to Thrill by ACDC, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth, Zombie by the Cranberries, and Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. I was really glad we had Twilight for keyboard and organ and Riff on guitar for some of those. We’d have been screwed otherwise.
We did a pretty good job overall, especially on Bring Me to Life, since I had the vocal range for it and the song was right up our alley style-wise. I’m a mezzo contralto, as I had discovered during that first month and a half as a girl. I had had to practice with my voice a lot then, pushing it to its limits to get used to it, and to learn to control the secondary vocal flaps that emit my subsonic carrier wave when I’m using my empathic abilities. The good thing about that is that can push into either the contralto or soprano ranges when I want to. I was surprised that we had been able to do as well as we did, given the extremely short time we had to prepare and plan for the six songs. We didn’t even get a chance to practice them beforehand and a lot of the bands weren’t as able to adapt to their song selections as we were.
Thankfully we were one of the three finalists, alongside Drunk Uncle and Black Malice. That evening saw us planning out the set of four songs of our choosing that we would get to play for the finals. I think that we were all pretty nervous about the next day once we had finished a quick practice and headed back to our apartments for the night. I was lying awake just after midnight with my sister cuddled close to me fast asleep when I decided that I probably wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a while.
I slipped out of bed snatching up my bathing suit and a putting my pink silk bathrobe on over my black baby doll nightie, planning to maybe take a swim and relax with some elven focussing exercises to get myself into a more sleepy disposition. I quietly padded out of my room and then the apartment and made my way toward the elevator. It was pretty quiet for a Saturday night in our building, with most of us wanting a good night’s sleep before the final round of the Battle of the Bands the next day, but as I passed Ian’s apartment I heard the strumming of a guitar from inside. Before I even realized what I was doing I lightly tapped on his door.
Ian answered the door wearing only a pair of green flannel pajama bottoms and I could feel myself flush as I stared at him for a moment. “Couldn’t sleep either huh?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, I was thinking of going for a swim or something. I heard you playing as I was walking by and I figured that we might as well do something together since we’re both still awake.”
“That sounds good, come on in beautiful,” he agreed with a smile. “Maybe we could start those guitar lessons.” He took me by the hand and led me to his couch where he sat us both down and put his guitar in my hands. Then he began showing me the finger placements for the various chords and proper strumming technique and for the next half hour he had me repeating what he had shown me, sitting close enough to correct the position of my hands or my hold on the guitar when necessary.
“Remember you should hold the neck lightly so you can finger the chords properly, you don’t need to grip it so tight, it’s not going to run away,” he said putting his arm around me to correct the position of my hand.
“Umm yeah… okay,” I fixed the position of my hands and tried the chord again as I tried to ignore the sudden dryness of my throat and the warmth of his naked chest pressed so close to me. As his arm lingered there for a moment, my pulse quickened and my breath came in short feathery gasps as I felt my whole body flush. I bit my trembling lower lip as I turned to face him panicking for a moment as I stared at him uncertain which of my warring emotions I should be listening to right at that moment. “Ian… I ummm… ahhh…” figuring that I couldn’t depend on my voice in that moment I gave up speaking and kissed him instead.
He kissed me back eagerly, his tongue slipping between my lips. The guitar fell to the floor, momentarily forgotten as we held one another tight, our tongues dancing vigorously around one another until he had to come up for air. We held each other close, breathing heavily and just staring at one another for what seemed like minutes. My chest was heaving, my nipples poking through both my nightie and my thin silk robe as I once again bit my lower lip and pressed my body into his to kiss him again, running my hands along the muscles of his bare chest. I could feel a heat rush through me, goosebumps rising along my flesh and a moist warmth growing between my legs, as I pushed him onto his back.
Ian broke the kiss again, panting for air as he softly caressed my cheek with his right hand, his left hand reaching for the neck of my robe before suddenly stopping. He took me by the shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. “Candy… we don’t have to do this if you’re not ready yet.”
My answer was to slip my robe from my shoulders, letting it fall onto the couch beside me as I leaned in to kiss him again, my fingernails slowly tracing along his skin, barely touching the flesh and eliciting a shiver of pleasure from him as I could feel the growing stiffness between his legs. I smiled down at him, shaking my head. “I ‘m ready Ian. I want this, I want… you.”
“Okay, but let’s go to my bed first, it’ll be more comfortable and I have condoms in there. I don’t want to risk getting you pregnant until we’re both ready for that.” He stood up and picked me up in his arms, carrying me into his room as I pondered the fact that I could indeed get pregnant. What would that be like? What kind of mother would I be? It wasn’t the first time I’d had those kinds of thoughts though, and I blushed a bright lavender as I considered it and my response.
“Thanks for… thinking of me… and being responsible, but I’ve been on the pill since we started dating. Dr. Park wrote me a prescription for them the day after Coney Island,” I admitted.
“Still, better safe than sorry,” he said with a loving smile as he gently placed me on the bed and we both slipped out of our clothes. Then we just stared at one another for a moment, slowly drinking in what was in front of us. I’d never seen him naked before, I’d never seen any man naked before, unless you counted myself before my Activation. I found myself liking what I saw and in a brief moment of self-conscious uncertainty I wondered if he felt the same. “Oh God, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured after a moment quelling my fears before kissing me again and wrapping his arms around me.
He pushed me down onto the bed, raining soft teasing kisses down on me; my earlobe, my neck, then ever downward to kiss, lick and suckle on each of my hardened nipples in turn. I felt so hot, and it was like my every nerve was on fire as he teased each nipple just enough to make my head fuzzy with growing pleasure before moving on to the next. He gazed up at me and I shivered in pleasure, just from the look of love and desire on his face and then he was kissing again, moving downward toward my navel before the kisses continued travelling ever-southward. He kissed each of my thighs, his fingers tracing along the folds between my legs with a gentleness that sent electric shocks running up and down my spine.
I wanted to do more, but he shook his head and smiled that dazzling smile of his up at me from between my legs when I tried to do so. “No, just lay back and enjoy it. This is your first time and I want you to enjoy it. I want is to be special for you. We can try other things later, but this time it’s all for you.” He began to lovingly lick and nibble between my legs pulling at the folds of my nether-lips as he softly caressed my thighs. My breath came in quick short gasps, interspersed with little moans of pleasure, as I squirmed beneath his ministrations, the feeling of pleasure that seemed just out of reach slowly building until it felt that my whole body was alive with it, an explosion waiting to happen.
His tongue moved ever so slightly upwards to trace my clit in slow circles, licking and flicking along the sensitive nub and I couldn’t hold still, gasping in quick hiccoughs of pleasure. Licking gave way to suckling and little nibbles and then everything turned to bright white light. I screamed out in ecstasy, gripping the sheets of the bed tightly in my clenched fists as my back arched and I gave myself over to the agonizing pleasure that had ever so briefly become my entire existence. Then it was over and I slumped to the bed, my muscles feeling like Jell-O as I mentally bathed in the radiant warmth that infused my whole body.
I stared at Ian in a daze as I laid there breathing heavily with every nerve in my body singing the most beautiful melody. He knelt between my legs, a finger idly tracing the flesh of my inner thigh as he gazed down at me again uncertainly. “Are you still sure you want this Candy? We could stop right now and I’d understand.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that so I just shook my head at first, giving him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. My voice caught a bit as I finally managed, “No… please… I want this Ian.”
Ian carefully rolled the condom over his hard and slightly twitching member and leaned over to kiss me passionately as he entered me for the first time. There was a short sharp pain at first, but I was fairly wet by that point so soon that brief pain gave way to pleasure as he made slow love to me. The way he held me, kissed and caressed me, and spoke softly to me as we moved our entwined bodies together made me feel like the single most important person in the universe. It made me feel both powerful and vulnerable at the same time and I found that I liked it.
I had fallen victim to two more incredible orgasms, even more powerful than the first, and each time Ian had come as well as, while I screamed out in ecstasy I had lost control of my empathy and subsonics, sending him over the edge right along with me. “Ummm sorry about that, I kinda lost control of my powers there those last two times,” I apologized with a blush when we were done.
“Ummm wow, that was amazing, I had no it was so intense for you girls. You don’t need to apologize for that,” he told me, reaching out to caress my cheek as he stared at me. Afterward we just laid there in one another’s arms for a while. Neither of us said much, there wasn’t really much that needed to be said that we hadn’t just shown one another through our bodies. Instead we just savored the afterglow and the presence of the person that we were in love with; kissing, caressing, and cuddling contentedly. I admitted to myself then that I was indeed very much in love with Ian Smith, and I thought, I hoped, that he felt the same for me. It was to those warm thoughts that I fell asleep in his arms.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 9 Little Big Bang Amethyst |
I awoke slightly confused by not being in my own bedroom, but I quickly recalled the events of before I fell asleep and smiled as I happily gazed at Ian’s naked form asleep beside me. “Who could ever forget a night like that?” I murmured to myself as I looked around the room. I hadn’t had much interest in the décor the night before, since I kind of had other things on my mind at the time, so I took a quick look around. Ian’s room, much like the rest of his apartment, was much tidier than one would expect from a bachelor, the only clothes strewn about were those that we had shed last night in our mutual passion. It wasn’t overly furnished or decorated since it was just where he slept, most of his waking hours at home, or those spent entertaining guests were spent in the living room. There were clothes hanging in the closet, the bed itself, a dresser and a nightstand with an alarm clock on it that read 6:23.
I half wanted to curl up and sleep beside Ian for a little longer since the night before we had decided to forgo our morning training sessions for the day to ensure we had a good night’s sleep before a brief pre-finals band practice. It was a Sunday so none of us had felt too bad for wanting to have a bit of a lazy day before having to put our game faces on for the last day of the Battle of the Bands. Still I didn’t want my sister to wake up without me there. Allie was clinging to me uncertainly like I was a dream she feared forgetting when she woke up, and I wanted her to know that her big sister wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was she.
So I leaned over and softly kissed my lover, whispering softly in his ear, “Ian honey. As much as I would love to stay here snuggled with you all day, I really should get back to my place, Allie needs me.”
Ian turned around sleepily to caress the side of my face and plant a toe-curling kiss on me before speaking. “I know babe, I’ll take what I can get for now, she needs you more than I do. I hope you don’t have any regrets about last night, because that was the most amazing night of my life.”
I shook my head and smiled at him. “No, no regrets at all. You were everything a girl could hope for and more, and it was my decision, one that I’m very happy I made.”
“Good, because I would never want to do anything that you would regret. I know it may still be a little early in our relationship, but damn do I love you. We’ve only really known each other for the summer, and half of that we weren’t even dating, but you’re sweet, kind, beautiful, funny, honorable, determined to do the best you can at everything you do, and we have so much in common. Best of all you’re you, and I can’t help loving everything about you. Now go, your sister needs you.” He gave me one last kiss and a playful smack on the bottom.
For a moment I just laid there beside him my heart fluttering wildly in my throat as what he had just said hit me. “He said it! He said the L word!” I knew that I was in love with him, but I had never dared hope that he really felt the same for me. I bit my lower lip slightly trying to hold back the tears of joy as I attempted to calm my racing heart and get my mouth working properly. I didn’t want to stammer what I was going to say next. Then with a bit of a sniffle and wiping away an errant tear I leaned forward to kiss him one more time. “I love you too Ian, try to get some more sleep lover, because we have a big day ahead of us.”
“You too babe, we’re going to need you at your best today.” He held my hand in his for a moment before kissing me one last time and just stared at me for a moment, as if trying to etch the moment into his memory before he reluctantly let my hand go. “Sleep well, I know I will.”
With that I grudgingly found my nightie and panties, put them on, and left his room to put on the pink silk bathrobe and collect my bathing suit, both of which had been hastily left on his couch the night before. Then, taking a brief moment to place his acoustic guitar carefully back in its case, I slipped out of his apartment and down the hall toward my own. Once there I took a brief hot shower before putting my nightie on once again and climbing into my bed with Allie, my arm wrapped around her protectively as I drifted back to sleep.
It was just after eleven o’clock when I awoke again to the smell of frying bacon. Allie wasn’t in the bed, so after firmly clamping down on the brief surge of fear and worry that accompanied that realization, I climbed out of bed, put on my robe, and made my way out the bedroom door. Nobody was in the living room, but I quickly found Allie puttering around in the kitchen alongside Jennifer and Leslie. “Mornin’,” I called out to the trio.
“Not for much longer, it’s almost noon Candy,” Leslie retorted with a grin. “We thought that we’d whip up a good brunch so our star could start her day off right.”
“Yeah, you were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t want to disturb you when I got up, and I wanted to do something nice for my big sister,” Allie agreed as she flipped pancakes on the flat grill.
“Thanks girls,” I offered with a smile, shaking my head a bit. “I’m not a star though, we’re a band and we all contribute equally. If anything I think Riff is the star, I mean did you hear the reactions to his guitar solos?”
“Candy, with your looks and voice you were bound to be the headliner, that’s what we planned on going it and none of us will resent you for it. Sure we’re all really good at what we do, we work well together, and Ian gets the crowds amped up with his solos, but people are expected to cheer out at guitar solos, especially when they’re as mind blowing as Ian’s. When you’re singing though, it’s like they’re all in awe of you,” my best friend explained. “Have you been looking at our website, or the site for the battle of the bands at all?”
I looked down at the floor, hands clasped behind my back as I scuffed the floor with my fidgeting foot. “I’ve kinda been too afraid to see what they’re saying.”
“Educate her please, will you Jennifer?” Leslie asked her protégé, before adding, “Allie and I should be finished with brunch in a few minutes”
Jennifer grinned at me as she grabbed my hand and guided me to the kitchen table. “Aside from the inevitable anti-mutant assholes the response has been pretty great. The first day was all about Rave’s big introduction, the songs, your voice, and Ian’s guitar solos. Yesterday though was huge, RevolveR was the only band to actually benefit from that trick of giving you an entire set of songs that you were unfamiliar with at the last minute. You all played solidly despite the unfamiliar songs and meshed well together, but the big thing was your voice and your vocal range. You floored everyone, especially when you finished up with that Evanescence song. Hell, there are already mp3s of all those songs making their rounds on the internet. If you don’t believe me, try reading this.”
Jennifer slapped a copy of the New York Times Sunday edition down in front of me and quickly opened it to the music section. There on the first page of the music section was the headline: RevolveR Shoots for the Stars at Day Two of the Battle of the Bands. The article talked about the solid performance we had given as a group, despite the curveball that all the bands had been thrown, but then went on to talk for most of the article about my “superhuman range” and vocal talents and how we were the stand-out favorite from day two. It even referenced a few comments from the Battle of the Bands website. The comments had said I was using “mutant powers” unfairly in the competition, but both those running the event and the writer of the article were of the opinion that there was nothing power related at all, I simply had a very good voice and I wouldn’t have the range and control over it that I did without training it just as hard, if not harder, than any other lead singer.
One thing I hadn’t known was that after Day One the group organizing the Battle of the Bands had actually brought in a mutant whose abilities let him know if other mutants were actively using powers and what type. Sensor had a very good reputation as a neutral observer nation wide and was paid well for his services. He had been employed in courtrooms, police interrogations, talent contests and a variety of other things. He had been watching us all from backstage the whole time and cleared me of using nothing but my telekinesis, Starbright of only using her light powers, and Riff his force field. The others hadn’t used any of their powers that day, except for Rave during her introduction of us and the set-up and take-down. He had stated both on the website and in an interview that none of these powers would have had any effect on my singing or our performance as a whole since he could see that I was only using the TK field to allow myself to fly.
“Umm… wow, I didn’t realize they had someone watching us yesterday,” I managed to get out as Allie and Leslie joined us from the kitchen. “This is exactly why I don’t want to use my empathic abilities in a show until we’re well established, and only then rarely, after telling people exactly what to expect first. I wanted it to be our music and my voice that makes us big, not my ability to make people feel things.”
“Well now that’s the case, we’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing and the fans are loving us. Our social media pages for the band have jumped by over thirty thousand subscribers since last night,” my best friend said as she snatched the newspaper and placed a plate of bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, pancakes and melon slices in front of me. “Now eat up, we still have to practice and get ready before the show starts at three o’clock.”
We took our time eating brunch, talking about how things had gone so far and what was ahead of us today. It was nice to just spend that time enjoying a good meal with my sister, her best friend, and my own best friend. I was hoping that even after Leslie and Jennifer moved into another apartment in the complex that we could make this a regular Sunday thing, even if it was breakfast instead of brunch. It could only have been better if Tessily were there.
We were headed toward our studio for practice when Mai pulled me aside, half dragging me into hers and John’s apartment as John and Ian went to join our waiting audience. Leslie gave Mai a curious look, raising her eyebrow slightly before following us in. “What’s up Mai?” Leslie asked once she had slipped inside and closed the door behind her.
Mai’s eyes were on me though as she grinned, “Okay Candy, dish! How was it?!”
“How was what?” Leslie asked, giving me a confused look.
“Her first time with Ian of course,” our Japanese friend said with not one iota of doubt on her face.
“She and Ian had sex?! When did that happen?!” Leslie was gaping at me now.
“Come on Candy, we want all the deets,” Mai pressed.
I was probably turning bright lavender from the blushing as I awkwardly looked anywhere but at my friends, the floor seemed good so I went with that. “Ummm… I couldn’t sleep last night so I was thinking about going for a swim, but I heard Ian playing his guitar so I went to talk with him and he started teaching me to play.”
“What instrument was he teaching you to play?” Mai waggled her brows suggestively.
“The guitar,” I answered firmly. “He was so close and it felt so nice having him that close so I kinda, maybe started kissing him and things got a little heated so I wanted more.”
“You made the first move?!” Leslie spat out, gaping at me.
I nodded, still staring at the floor to hide my blush. “Yeah, but every time we were going to go further he kept asking if it was really what I wanted and felt ready for. He’s so sweet and romantic. Anyway we took it to the bedroom after that and… well…” I couldn’t finish that sentence and my blush intensified.
“And you knocked boots, did the deed, bumped uglies,” Mai listed off, teasing me mercilessly.
“We made love,” I clarified as adamantly as I could. “It wasn’t something dirty, it was nice and he made me feel special.”
“I’ll say he made you feel special. I felt it, twice,” Mai said with a knowing smirk.
“Oh my God, you and John…” I started to ask before trailing off, completely mortified.
“Relax Candy, it was just me, John is a sound sleeper. John slept through the whole thing. But the walls can be a bit thin here, our bedroom is right on the other side of the wall as Ian’s and apparently you’re a screamer. That being said, I know just how ‘special’ he made you feel, at least those last two times.”
Leslie’s head swung from staring at Mai, to me, and then back to Mai again. “You felt it?”
Mai nodded, grinning at me. “Ian must be great in bed. Candy lost control of her empathy and the voice thing after a while, and as much as our girl here likes to keep her powers under control at all times, that’s saying something. Don’t worry about it too much Candy, I’m just teasing you mostly and giving a friendly warning about maybe using the pillow to your advantage in the future, not that I minded going along for the ride. I’m just glad that you’re finally to the point where you’re feeling comfortable enough with yourself and Ian to do that.”
I wrapped Mai up in a hug, though I could still feel the flush of my embarrassment bright upon my cheeks. “Thanks Mai, I… ah… appreciate the warning, and you trying to tell me somewhat privately. I’m glad you pushed me to go out with him that first time. When I left this morning he… he told me that… he loves me.”
Leslie and Mai both squealed in excitement, nearly smothering me in hugs. “See I told you that you two were perfect for one another, did you tell him how you feel too?” Mai’s voice asked from beside my ear as she and Leslie held me and I savored the moment.
“I told him that I loved him too,” I admitted as the pair released me and then crushed me once again.
After we had all sufficiently calmed down we went to join the others in the studio. “Sorry girl talk,” Mai explained as we entered the converted apartment and made our way to the instruments.
Sasha stood up, holding out her hands and motioning for us to wait a moment. “Before you all begin I feel that I should tell you that we have been getting a lot of followers on the social media accounts, and a large amount of activity and messages through the website as well since your performance yesterday. Included among those correspondences were offers from representatives of three separate major record labels to get you under contract. I am afraid that after speaking on the phone this morning with the representatives though, that as your agent and manager I have decided to turn down these offers.”
John dropped his drumsticks, quickly fumbling to catch them before they hit the floor. The rest of us just stared at the android until Mai blurted out, “We have offers from three major record labels and you refused all of them?! This could be our big break!”
“You already had your big break yesterday and you have made the most of it, or you would not be receiving these offers,” Sasha gently corrected her.
“So why did you turn them down?” I asked, figuring that she must have had pretty good reasons for doing so.
“Several reasons,” Sasha admitted. “Firstly, their offers were significantly smaller than the standard rate for the industry and I feel that because you are mutants you are being undervalued.”
“In other words they were trying to lowball us,” Ian said with a derisive snort. “And they were hoping that you would be a pushover and that we would be too eager to sign on with a major label to negotiate.”
“That was my conclusion as well,” our agent agreed. “Secondly, they loved your sound, particularly Syryn and Riff, but they wanted you to ‘drop the mutant gimmick’ and adopt a more mainstream image.” Sasha even used the finger quotes.
“So they want us, they just don’t want us to be us,” I spat out in disgust.
Amy was absolutely livid. “No fucking way! I know that I’m not an actual member of the band and I shouldn’t really have a say, but we can’t let that go! Candy has exposed herself for this, and you’ve all put in way too much work to be told that you have to become some cookie cutter band and pretend to be something you’re not in order to succeed.”
“Not to mention that anyone who recognizes Syryn’s voice, or your sound, from the Battle of the Bands could put two and two together and peg you as mutants. And without the masks you’d just become a big target,” Brianna pointed out. “They’re essentially asking you to out yourselves.”
“If those are their opening offers, I’m glad you refused Sasha. What are our options then?” I asked.
“We either wait for more realistic offers, or we invest the money and effort into starting our own record label,” she explained. “There are risks and challenges to each of these, but for you I think the best option is to start your own label and cut out the middle man. It would allow you full creative control over your image and final product, a fair percentage of all profits, and we could do most of the work in house and set up a postal office box as the address for the corporation. We already have a recording and practice studio here, I am programmed to handle the business aspects of such a venture, I could manage any digital and online distribution, and for manufacturing and distribution of completed physical media forms such as CDs, we could contract them out to a reputable distribution company.”
This wasn’t a decision that I wanted to make on my own, nor should I have. This was something that we all needed to decide together as a band, as a team. I turned to the others, not just my bandmates but all of our weird and wonderful family that were present to watch us as well and asked, “What do you all think? I’m leaning toward saying ‘fuck the establishment’ where it concerns the music industry. I’d like to do our music, our way and be who and what we want to be. We’ve already got a developing fan base and exposure as we are now and I think we can succeed on our own if we put the effort into it, especially with Sasha handling the business aspects. It’s not just my choice to make though and I want to know what you think. All of you.”
Amy was the first to speak, calling out exuberantly, “Fuck the establishment! If three of those vultures have circled already that means that RevolveR is doing something right. You don’t need them, it’s they who need you, and they fucking know it. I vote that we don’t mess with a good thing and that RevolveR stays as is.”
Allison looked at me uncertainly for a moment before grinning like an idiot, “I’ve only been here a few days, but you’re my sister and I want what’s best for you. You were my hero as soon as I first saw you, even before I knew you were my sister and these guys are trying to hustle you. Nobody screws with my sister, so I say fuck the establishment. You don’t need them anyway.”
Jennifer looked like she wasn’t sure what to say, but an elbow from my sister prodded her onward. “When my family was killed I thought I had lost everything, especially when I Activated and woke up in that hospital. I thought I’d be there forever and I was all alone, but Dr. Park, Marcus and Allie showed me I wasn’t. Then you and Leslie came and took me and Allie in, even though you barely knew us. It’s weird, but sometimes I feel like I have a family again. It’s big and kinda weird at times, but a family. I agree with Amy and Allie, start your own label and don’t give those bastards another offer, they had their chance and blew it. Nobody messes with my family.” The last was said with such fierceness in her eyes that I thought it was no wonder Smog that had decided to call her Savage.
“I shall not tell you what to do hanun lien, you need to be your own person. If it were me though I would not trust someone who would rather change who I am than embrace me for it. I would make my own way. A person’s self-identity means nothing if it is so easily subdued. Sometimes, especially in this world, one needs to stand behind who they are and not give ground to those who would attempt to make them seem lesser than they are,” Tessily contributed. I smiled at my Mahar and nodded as I tallied another vote for starting our own label.
“You know,” Ian muttered as he absently strummed his guitar, “It was always my dream to make it big and land a recording contract with a major label, but now it seems like it would be more of a nightmare. Screw ‘em. We’ve been doing our own thing our own way until now and, if the Battle of the Bands is any indicator, we’re doing pretty damn well so far. I vote that we make our own label, so we can keep doing our own music our own way.”
Leslie grinned at me, “Hey, you’re my BFF and I’ll always stick by you. We started this shit together in New Haven and we’ll finish it together, our way, no matter where that takes us. Fuck the establishment!”
Mai was frowning, but seemed to shrug it off quickly. “I’m like Ian, I wanted to make it big in the traditional way, getting signed by a major label. You know what though, any label we’re on is going to be a major one, even if it’s our own, because we’ll be doing it together and when we do something together we rock. It was also my idea in the first place to push us along the path we’re on now. I know most of you weren’t sure about it at first but you stuck with it and look at us now. We’ve done everything we set out to do. We got Candy a little payback, knocked the douchecanoes out of the competition in the first day, and now we’re going to the finals. And we’re damn well going to win, so you know what, fuck the establishment and long live RevolveR!”
John leaned over to plant a steamy kiss on his girlfriend. Then, once he had come up for air he said simply, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Fuck the establishment and long live RevolveR!”
Brianna and Blake had remained silent thus far, but Brianna now turned her attention to her brother, some hurried whispering passing between her and Blake before she nodded and added her two cents. “Blake and I think you should stay free to be yourselves and make your music your way. We would be willing to invest the start-up costs associated with creating your own record label, as a gift. The money would be yours, no strings attached and no repayment expected or desired, but I have one condition. Since I was responsible for your look, I want to become your permanent Artistic Director. That means I want creative control with anything associated to your look. I want to design any changes to costumes, future looks, album covers and such. You would all have your input of course, but I’d like you to trust my artistic and fashion sense.”
“And I want to be your Technical Advisor,” Blake quickly put in. “I’m already designing and maintaining all of your gear and vehicles and such, but I think I could help out with other things as well, like set-up security concerns at live shows.”
“Those jobs would have been yours regardless,” I said with a laugh, though I was fighting back tears from the generosity of our friends as I, and the other members of the band wrapped the pair up in a group hug. “You two have really helped us to get to where we are now, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have doing those jobs. We’ll trust the two of you and Sasha to handle the logistics, and we’ll handle the music.” The others heartily agreed and we were in a very good mood as we began our short practice.
My good mood lasted until we arrived in the sky above Sullivan Hall aboard the tour bus. Down below us, gathered in front of the building, and harassing those waiting in line, were protesters bearing signs saying things like “Hypers Go Home”, “Mutants are Abominations”, or my personal favorite, “Syryn Sold Her Soul to Satan.” The latter had a picture of me with horns drawn on it. I groaned as Sasha showed us scene, zoomed in from the tour bus’s external cameras.
“I am so glad that Allie hasn’t deactivated her collar so she could spend the whole weekend with the same look,” I said with a sigh of relief. “At least with her blonde and blue-eyed confused form she fits in. I fear what could have happened to her down there without her collar if someone made her angry or afraid. Even just being excited would have been a problem. That electric blue hair and eyes stand out and she can’t control her super speed at all yet. And what about Jennifer? What if someone notices her fingernails?” I looked on worriedly trying to see if I could spot the pair.
“Chill out Syryn, they’re fine. Jennifer’s been keeping her hands hidden in the pocket of her hoodie and they’re with Lisa and the others, and Riff’s family too,” Twilight tried to reassure me. “Lisa just texted me. They’re already inside and making their way to their seats.”
“Damn, those protesters have all the doors covered,” Decibel muttered, gesturing to several of the screens.
“Are they really stupid enough to think that that will stop us from getting inside? We have a freaking teleporter.” Starbright put in, frowning at the screens that her boyfriend had pointed out.
Rave snorted disgustedly, in a very unladylike manner that Brianna was trying to ease her out of. “Well if they are, I’ll be only too happy to disappoint them.”
“I don’t think they’re trying into keep us out, just make their presence known,” Riff said with a shrug. “They’re opportunists, and us being in the finals is big news, so they’re trying to make us and any other Hypers uncomfortable while getting exposure for their cause. Sure they’d probably attack us if we were stupid enough to enter the usual way, but hurting us isn’t their whole purpose.”
“Well it’s about time we got backstage,” I said with a nervous sigh. “Rave if you would be so kind?”
“You got it Syryn.” The green light of her eyes and the patterns on her skin flared briefly and then turned a steady bright emerald as a portal opened. We all stepped through, arriving backstage where the other two bands were lounging around and stage hands were at work preparing for when the curtain rose. There was a nervous energy in the air as we and the other bands waited and tried not to let on to one another how tense we all really were. This was it, the finals would be starting any time now and only one of us would go home the winner.
Finally it was time and the show began. We stood offstage watching Black Malice and Drunk Uncle play their sets. They were good, they deserved to be in the finals, but almost all of their material was cover songs, they only had one original song between them. They did manage to get a generous amount of applause though, and as we were preparing for our set I found myself wondering if we should have planned some cover songs too. All of our songs for today were originals, would that work against us somehow?
“Too late to overthink it now Syryn,” I muttered to myself. “It’s time to do this, our way with our songs.” We finished the set-up and headed off stage so Rave could do her introduction once the curtain rose again.
Once we had cued the stagehands that we were ready the MC walked up to the stage addressing the crowd. “And we now come to our final band of the night, the final band of the final round of this year’s Battle of the Bands. They gave us a hell of a show yesterday and should need no introduction by now, but I think you’ll find that they’ll get one anyway,” he said the last with a chuckle before walking offstage as the curtain rose.
Rave stood there, mid air atop one of her teleportation discs and grinning like a maniac. “You heard the man, this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for and I’m not going to disappoint you. So here now for your listening pleasure, from right here in New York City… They wowed you yesterday and they’re gonna blow your minds tonight… Lets hear a big round of applause for the one, the only, RevolveR!”
The crowd burst into applause and the atmosphere was electrifying as Rave opened the portal and we stepped through onto the stage and to our positions, waving enthusiastically for the crowd. We had to let them calm down a bit before I tapped on the mic in my costume. “Thank you Rave for such a great introduction, and thanks to all our fans who came out to cheer us on today! We are so excited to have gotten this far and to be playing in front of you today. You didn’t come here to hear me talk though, you came here for the music!”
There was another roar of applause and I had to raise my hands to the crowd to let them know I wasn’t finished talking just yet. “I’m sure that many of you have noticed the protestors outside. I know I did, and I saw the signs, and what they said. So this first song is for anyone who’s ever been looked down upon, bullied, or made to feel worthless just because they’re different. Remember, whatever your shape, size, gender, sexual orientation, skin color, intelligence, or physical abilities; you are a beautiful person and don’t let anyone ever convince you otherwise.”
Decibel started setting down the beat on the drums and Twilight jumped in on the organ almost immediately with the slow, sad, and languid tempo. Riff and Starbright began to fill out the melody on guitar and bass and I just let it wash over the audience, floating slowly and steadily to the front of the stage before I let the words of the first verse slip sorrowfully off my tongue, being very careful to hold back my empathy and subsonics to let my voice itself convey those emotions. I didn’t want to use that ability during a performance yet, and not just because it would be wrong to use my emotions to manipulate them. I wanted our audience to feel the music, hear the words, and let those alone resonate with them because the message was important and not because of how I felt.
Some people play at being sharks
They prey on those alone or sick
Their biting seems to leave no marks
But how can people be so thick?
All the scars are deep inside
Each day hiding them gets harder
Then one day it’s suicide
And bullies get away with murder
I remembered far to well being on the receiving end of that kind of treatment, how my friends and sister had suffered through it as well. I thought about the protestors outside and allowed the sadness and disgust at all of it be heard in my voice as I sang. I let that final word hang, dropping like an accusation, as the interlude began and then when the tune slipped into the chorus I beseeched my listeners to hope as I rose further into the air and the words flowed from between my lips.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
I let the final word carry, keeping that hope alive in my heart and my voice as long as I could before the next interlude. Then as the next verse began I thought of my mother and how much her words and actions had hurt me since I had Activated, about her connection to the Right Hand and the Church of the Purity of Adam and all that mindless hate that they stood for. I would stand against that hate whenever I could and try to help heal the hearts and minds of others who had suffered it. I would protect those victims whenever I could. I poured all of that conviction, and the hurt that had spawned it, into the next verse as I reached out my hands.
They say you’re a freak, they say you’re a loser
They call you so many hurtful names
Whoever they are they’re just an abuser
Don’t be a victim to their games
You’ve heard their side, now hear my side
It doesn’t matter what they’ve said
We may all be different on the outside
But in the end we all bleed red
I let the message and the words slowly ebb away, wanting the audience to know where that kind of hate could lead. I took a quick breath, taking the opportunity to calm the feelings boiling up inside me before the chorus began again and I once more put all the hope I could muster into those words and my voice.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
The next verse was more insistent and it was the real message that this song was meant to convey. We are all people and we don’t need to allow others to make us feel like something less. With friends and family at our sides we can, at the very least be accepted and together we are stronger. I conveyed my own confidence and belief in the message through those words as I started to sing them.
Who you are, where you come from,
Who you love, the color of your skin
It doesn’t matter, you’re still someone
And what counts is what’s within
Take it from someone who’s been there
Just hold high that candle’s light
There are others with a light to share
And together things can be alright
I took another good quick and silent breath of air as I now floated over the first two rows of the audience, briefly touching raised hands, a little simple human contact to let people now that I wasn’t just some strange looking woman on the stage, but real, a person just like them. Hoping that I could change just one person’s life with a little human contact and the lyrics of the song, I reluctantly floated back to the stage and broke into the chorus one last time, hoping that that would be the case.
A single candle in the night
It doesn’t really seem so bright
But stand up tall and hold it high
So that others see your light
You might find not everyone’s so heartless
When that one candle is a sign
To call more candles in the darkness
And together you will shine
Yes, together we will shiiiiine…
Facing the audience, imploring them with my voice and my eyes as I held that last note I finally, hesitantly let it fade to nothing as the others brought the song to its conclusion, the melody growing ever more silent until it had faded completely, leaving only silence.
Silence gave way to applause, and dozens of hands in the audience holding up the tiny flames of lighters, and I had to wait until it had died down a bit before floating back down to center stage and addressing the crowd again. “Thank you everyone! That was called Light the Darkness and our next song is the first song that Twilight and I ever wrote together. It’s called In the Shadows and I hope you enjoy it.”
Twilight began to play that amazingly haunting melody letting the organ take the forefront as Starbright, Decibel and Riff jumped in to fill it out. The melody was slow and filled with loss, hurt, and uncertainty. It pulled at the heartstrings making them ache in sympathy. When Twilight had first played it for me it made me feel her pain and allowed me to voice my own. In that moment was when she had become my best friend and as I shifted into a soprano and slipped into the lyrics of the first verse, I remembered the pain that had brought us together and I poured all of that sorrow and pain into the words.
It looks like my secret is finally out
Of this I have no doubt
There’s no way that your love will last
My heart breaks like glass
I retreat to the shadows of my mind
Hoping that I might find
A little darkness where I can go hide
And put reality aside
I held back the tears that threatened to make their presence known, keeping myself together as I took a breath and waited out the brief respite for my voice before starting in on the chorus. I wasn’t the same person I was back then and this pain had faded with time and a family who really did care about me. I thought about Tessliy, Allie, and all of the others out there in the audience and confidently began to sing the chorus.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you accept me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you‘ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
A slight smile anointed my lips as I finished the chorus. I took in a mouthful of air before closing my eyes and singing again. This verse I was more animated as I floated toward the audience, projecting my voice to near its limit and letting it and my body language to show the hurt, anguish, and fear of loss that my mother had put me through when I first Activated.
Your lips are moving, but there’s no sound
My heart drops to the ground
And I just cannot hear what you’re saying
But I start crying
One look at your face, tells me everything
And I stop breathing
You claimed to love me, where’s that love now?
Did you disavow?
I carried the last note for several long seconds as Twilight and the others played on. Then I spread out that my hands as if to push away that last verse and put it behind me as I took a quick breath and launched into the chorus again.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you accept me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you’ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
I finished the chorus with a flourish and, after a brief pause to refill my lungs, I gestured to myself filling my voice with the hurt, pain, and loss again as I stared to sing the next verse and rose into the air again, above all of those feelings.
I may look different but it’s you who’s changed
Loyalties rearranged
I don’t fit in the box you set up for me
Oh why can’t you see
Whether our skin is black, white, or blue
What’s inside is true
And if you can’t take all that is me
Please just leave me be
Another short breath and I floated downward, toward the crowd. I had come a long way since that song had been written and now it only served as a reminder that I needed to be myself and be happy with who I was and the family that I now had. I had gotten on with my life, and I was determined to keep doing so, so as I threw my voice and determination, being careful not to use my empathy or subsonics, into that last repetition of the chorus I began to smile.
Take me or leave me, I come as I am
Whether you believe me, I don’t give a damn
This book has a cover that blatantly lied
A hidden treasure awaits you inside
You just need to reach out, and if you hold my hand
To set aside our differences, then you’ll understand
Because there is a light that nobody knows
Down deep in the shadows
As the band began slowing the rhythm and the sound of Twilight’s organ began to fade I softly sang, “Deep down in the shadows,” one more time slowly and softly letting it fade away until the music ended.
There was another silence as the song ended and the audience seemed uncertain of what to do for a moment, and then the applause began in earnest. I waited until it had died down slightly before smiling brightly at the crowd and holding my hand over my heart in the excitement and wonder of the moment. “Thanks everyone! Our next song is another original piece, in fact all of the songs that we’re playing today are. This one is called Moving On.”
Moving On was another gothic rock song, but less haunting and more hard and edgy than In the Shadows. Riff, Decibel, and Starbright all started in on the slow and steady melody, setting the pace before Twilight joined in on her organ, punctuating the rhythm and adding the Goth to the rock as the song began to speed up and I began to sing the first verse.
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 shouted out that last word of the first verse in my powerful soprano as I rose upward, thinking of all the pain, rejection, and betrayal that mutants suffer everyday by those we love and who claim to love us. Save Riff, everyone in the band had suffered this, as had my sister, Jennifer, and so many other mutants out there. 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 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 foresee
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
My voice softened as I closed my eyes, spreading my arms wide 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. We can’t really change how people feel about us, we only control our own actions, just as they control theirs. 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. We’re here, we’re proud, and we’re not going anywhere.
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, allowing the strains of the organ and steady strumming of the guitar stay at the forefront until the music once again slowed and softened into the chorus. Where the first time the chorus was meant to sound hesitant, this time 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 continued along its path, the melody of the chorus repeating and fading slightly more with each repetition until the last notes rang out and the concert hall erupted into applause.
“Thank you, thank you!” I called out once the applause had dissipated. “And now, for our last song of the night, here’s our own little party anthem, Little Big Bang!”
I looked toward Starbright and grinned as she and the others dove straight into the hard rock beat of the song. This was a new one and we had been working to get the kinks all worked out of for over a week now. Star and I had worked on the lyrics together while Riff and Twilight had come up with the music and we were all pretty happy with the way it had turned out. Before the first verse could begin as the song was really starting to wind up I floated over to Star and together we sang:
Little big bang
Little big bang boom!
The music jumped right into high gear as the “boom” left our lips and we were both grinning like idiots as we felt the energy of the song and started dancing on stage. As our bodies were beginning to move to the music I began to sing the first verse.
My mood is pretty bleak
I don’t feel very well
It’s been a really long week
And work was hell!
But now I’m seeing the light
And I’m done with the grind
‘Cause it’s Saturday night
And I need to unwind!
Star joined in with me and we half shouted and half sung the last line, bumping our hips together as we finished and the beat changed to the chorus, still hard rock, dominated by Riff’s guitar but pumping and pulsating with Twilight’s keyboard as well. Star and I gave each other a wink and I gestured outward to the audience as the two of us jumped into the chorus.
Hey it’s Saturday night so turn the music on!
Down a drink, prepare to party ‘til the break of dawn!
You can’t resist the rhythm when the Syryn calls!
So turn up the volume ‘til you’re shakin’ the walls!
Hit the dance floor; get your hands up baby!
Start to move your body like you’ve just gone crazy!
Shout it so loud that they hear you in Japan!
“Let’s get this party started with a little big bang!”
The stress of performing in front of others was gone as Star and I just let ourselves dance to the music as we sang and she played her bass. At the words “get your hands up” I shot my arms into the air like a drunken lunatic. By the time I started to sing the next verse the crowd was on their feet and really getting into the song.
The party’s just startin’
When I finally arrive
My adrenaline’s pumpin’
And I’m really feeling alive
I’m feeling the music
No time for small talk
Because it’s party time
And I’m ready to rock!
Once again Star joined in on the last line, singing/shouting along with me as we danced and played to the crowd close to the front of the stage. Before we jumped into the chorus again I shouted out, “Hey everybody! This is all about the music today! So if you all feel like dancing, get up and dance!” Star and I jumped into the chorus again as more people began to get to their feet, dancing to the music.
Hey it’s Saturday night so turn the music on!
Down a drink, prepare to party ‘til the break of dawn!
You can’t resist the rhythm when the Syryn calls!
So turn up the volume ‘til you’re shakin’ the walls!
Hit the dance floor, get your hands up baby!
Start to move your body like you’ve just gone crazy!
Shout it so loud that they hear you in Japan!
“Let’s get this party started with a little big bang!”
Star and I finished the chorus leaning back to back, stopping for just a brief moment to take a breath and then we were dancing again as she and the others plowed into the next verse and I let my voice ring out to join them an instant later.
I hit the dance floor
Put my body in motion
And the party erupts
Just like an explosion
At the centre of it all
I’m just doing my thang
All eyes on me
I’m the little big bang!
Fireworks burst in the air above us as I sang out the word explosion and I gestured out to the audience, trying to draw their eyes toward me as I shimmied and shook as sensually and seductively as I could to suit my on stage persona. I think I succeeded with more than a few of the men in the crowd and I had to stop myself from actually giggling as Star jumped in to sing the last line with me.
Hey it’s Saturday night so turn the music on!
Down a drink, prepare to party ‘til the break of dawn!
You can’t resist the rhythm when the Syryn calls!
So turn up the volume ‘til you’re shakin’ the walls!
Hit the dance floor, get your hands up baby!
Start to move your body like you’ve just gone crazy!
Shout it so loud that they hear you in Japan!
“Let’s get this party started with a little big bang!”
This time some of the people in the audience were raising their hands when we sang out those words, causing Star and I to smile and wink at one another. After another brief pause for air we were dancing side by side once again as the others started playing the last verse and I waited for the right second to add my voice.
When the party is over
Hell I don’t mind
‘Cause somewhere out there’s
Another party to find
There’s another party down the street
And I show up with the gang
Then it all starts again
With the little big bang!
Star jumped in for the last two lines this time, singing the words alongside me as our voices synched together just right. Practice makes perfect and the two of us had been working hard on making our voices work well together. Another hip-bump as we danced and we took a quick breath before singing the chorus one last time.
Hey it’s Saturday night so turn the music on!
Down a drink, prepare to party ‘til the break of dawn!
You can’t resist the rhythm when the Syryn calls!
So turn up the volume ‘til you’re shakin’ the walls!
Hit the dance floor, get your hands up baby!
Start to move your body like you’ve just gone crazy!
Shout it so loud that they hear you in Japan!
“Let’s get this party started with a little big bang!”
With the chorus seemingly ended Star and I halted our singing as the music continued waiting for the last three punctuations in the song and with each pulse of the music we sang one more line.
Little big bang!
Oooh little big bang!
BOOM!
As we shouted out that final word the song suddenly ended, a massive fireworks display exploded over the stage in a myriad of colors and shapes, and any of the crowd who hadn’t been on their feet already had stood up to wildly applaud. Star and I high-fived and turned to the crowd and then we all raised our hands in the air and took a bow. ”Thank you very much! You’ve been a wonderful audience!” I called out as the curtain fell. We turned off our mics and unplugged our instruments, beginning the take-down as Rave and Sasha came out to join us.
“Omigod! That new song was fucking awesome! You played it even better here than in the studio!” Rave said with a grin before hugging each of us in turn. She managed to calm down after a few minutes though and we all got to work packing up our gear and moving it through the portal she had created back to the tour bus. It didn’t take too long to finish and then we were backstage with the other bands again nervously waiting for the audience’s votes to be tallied. The first two days there had been special judges, but today it was all about the popular vote of those who had been watching in the seats.
It seemed to be taking forever and Star, Twilight and I were all pacing nervously as Sasha, Rave, and the guys looked on. “Don’t worry, win or lose we gave it our best and we had those people on their feet. I think that count’s for something,” Riff pointed out.
“I suppose you’re right, it doesn’t really matter, it’s just that the suspense is killing me,” I groaned in protest.
“Well I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer, the curtain is rising,” Decibel said, gesturing to the curtain in question. Then the stage hands were shooing us and the other two bands onto the stage where the MC was already waiting, envelope in hand.
“We have had a great competition this year,” the MC started out saying. “All three of these bands are winners, but alas only one can take first place and the prize that comes with it. Without further ado, placing third, from New Jersey, Drunk Uncle!” He walked over to the band and handed them a plaque and a small envelope. Then he turned back to the audience again waiting for the applause to die down while the tension thickened around us.
“And duking it out for first and second place are two bands from right here in New York City; Black Malice and RevolveR! Both of these bands really brought their all this year as I think they are both winners, but in first place, and winners of the 2013 Battle of the Bands, RevolveR!”
“Omigod I can’t believe we won!” I thought as Star, Twilight and I squealed in excitement, hugged each other, and jumped up and down. Riff and Decibel showed just a bit more decorum as they merely high fived one another. We waited as the MC gave a plaque and an envelope to the members of Black Malice and then there he was handing us a trophy and a giant cheque for two thousand dollars. I may have spaced out a bit after that, I mean it’s not everyday that your wildest dream comes true.
![]() |
All his life Ken Graham had dreamed of being a rock star. When that dream is taken from him he would do anything to get it back, but his new voice comes with a price.
Chapter 10 Finale Amethyst |
Once we had returned the tour bus to the hangar beneath our home and headquarters, we returned to our respective apartments to get out of our costumes and change into something more casual. Lisa had contacted us over our secured comms channel while we were still in the air and asked us to meet them at a restaurant called Ginger’s in the Upper East Side. Lisa had said that it wasn’t a high class place and that we should just dress comfortably since we were going there to relax and celebrate.
After putting on my hairnet and second skin pendant to hide my more distinctive features, I quickly changed into a pair of black low-rise jeans and a soft pink sleeveless halter top before adding a pair of sneakers and a fleece-trimmed black leather jacket. Picking up my leather purse with my casual antigravity belt inside I left my room to join Leslie who was dressed similarly to me, except that she was wearing white jeans and a matching denim jacket. When we left our apartment to join the others we found them sporting fairly casual looks as well and we all headed down to the garage. Ian and I hopped into his truck while Leslie offered to drive Sasha, Amy, Mai, and John in the cherry red Dodge Dart that she had bought for everyday use.
Ginger’s was a large and fairly intimate looking restaurant, tastefully decorated in earth tones with red curtains and tablecloths, that seemed to sell a large variety of both American and European dishes. When we walked in we were quickly met by a woman with long red hair and green eyes who bore a striking resemblance to Lisa. She wore a simple but flattering emerald colored dress and a genuine smile as she greeted us. “Good evening and welcome to Ginger’s, table for seven?”
“Actually we’re here to meet some friends, our friend Lisa said something about a back room?” Leslie replied for us. “It could be under the name Lisa Leeds.”
“Oh! So you’re the guests of honor then? Lisa said that they were just waiting on you, please follow me.” She turned about and we all followed her through the restaurant to a large curtained-off room in the back where Lisa and the other members of Aegis were already waiting and seated at a group of tables pulled close together to make conversation easier. With them of course were my sister and Jennifer, Ian’s parents and his sister Kim, Blake and Brianna, and much to my surprise Dr. Madison Park and Marcus. The latter was wearing a tank of carbon monoxide on his back and a big grin.
“Smog! Maddie! It’s great to see you both! Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?!” I squealed in excitement as I ran toward the pair to hug them.
“Because we wanted it to be a surprise of course,” Madison said with a grin of her own. “We got into town Friday morning, but I haven’t had much time to visit until now. I temporarily transferred Marcus to the Hyper care unit at Columbia University Medical Center, with his parents permission, so that we would be able to see you all perform in the battle of the bands, but one of my colleagues there asked me to assist with a newly Activated mutant. She had some complications so it was a bit of a mess.”
“Well we’re glad to see you both now. Were you in the audience all three days?” Leslie pressed eagerly as she carefully hugged Marcus.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. You guys were awesome, I didn’t have a doubt that you were going to win,” Smog assured us.
Lisa coughed politely to catch our attention as she approached with the slightly older looking redhead who had led us into the back room. “This is my older sister Laura, she owns this place, and she’s the one person in my family that knows my secret. Laura, this is Leslie, Candice, Ian, Mai, John, Amy, and Sasha.”
“It’s good to meet you all,” Laura said with a smile. “Most people call me Ginger though, not a terribly creative nickname, but it stuck and it made a good name for the restaurant so feel free to call me that. Lisa talks about you all like you’re her own kids, though she’s used codenames until now. She’s very proud of all of you, especially her protégé Twilight.”
I was surprised that Lisa talked about us that much, she usually was very careful about the separation of costumed and civilian identities whenever possible. Lisa was actually blushing nearly as red as her hair as she explained. “After Maddie helped me put my life back together and adjust to my powers, I didn’t want anything to do with them at first, I came here to work with my sister and tried to live a normal life.”
“There was an accident and she saved my life and that was when I figured out that she was a Hyper,” Ginger said with a smile. “I had already convinced her to pursue her dream of writing those horrid romance novels and helped her find a publisher, but when I found out about her powers I convinced her that she could do a lot of good with them and save a lot of other people’s sisters, or other family members too.”
“She designed my costume, came up with the name Liberty, and when I met Jason and Nick, it was she who convinced me to work with them and start Aegis. I may be the face of Liberty and it may be my powers that are being used, but the spirit of Liberty, that’s always been her. All the good we’ve done since then, all the lives we’ve saved, well she was the start of it all. That’s not too bad for someone with no powers.” She gave her sister an affectionate jab to the shoulder.
It was Ginger’s turn to blush now. “I just convinced you to do what you already knew you should. Now I believe we’re supposed to be celebrating here. I’ve had the chefs whip up a variety of different delectable dishes and the servers should be bringing them in any moment now. For now though, I have some sparkling cider here so why don’t we pour that and make a toast.” With Lisa’s help, Ginger soon had a glass of cider in everyone’s hand. “Okay I think we’re all set here, so who would like to propose a toast?”
For the moment nobody seemed to know what to say, and then Amy raised her glass. “To RevolveR; for kicking ass, taking names, and looking and sounding awesome while doing it.”
“Hear! Hear!” We all called out, clinking our glasses together. We stayed at the back room of Ginger’s until closing. The food was delicious, and the company was even better with almost everyone we cared for there to share in our victory. We talked, reminisced, traded stories, and we just enjoyed one another’s company. It was nice to just relax and not have to worry about training or missions or whether we would do well at the Battle of the Bands, and I think that we all needed that.
The next morning we were back to our regular training schedule. While we were doing our team exercises Tessily worked with Allison and Jennifer on the elven mental exercises meant to control emotions. Then Jenny, or Savage, as she was called with her new training uniform on, would join her new mentor Twilight in her sessions with Liberty. My sister Allie had also asked to be referred to by her new codename while training, to get used to the idea, so when she joined Tessily and I in our daily training sessions we were both sure to call her Changeling. She was improving with the control over her emotions, though it had only been a few days of training so far, and we were hoping that soon we could have her work on purposely triggering emotional states to be able to call on her various power sets at will. She had a long way to go before she’d have that kind of control and her physical skills would need a lot of work before she could keep up with me or Mahar in hand-to-hand or sword combat, but I hadn’t been that great when I had started either and I knew that she would get there eventually, as long as we all had patience and kept working at it.
After lunch, Leslie, Jennifer, Allison, and I all got dressed comfortably for a day on the town and climbed into Leslie’s Dart to run errands. Our first stop was the Hyper Protection Program office to visit Tara, with the approval letters for our charges from Senator Dixon’s office that Blake had produced at the previous night’s party. Leslie and I were both worried about somebody trying to track them down and they had both suffered enough.
With Tara’s help they both came out of the office with new identities and documentation. Allie was now legally my full little sister, Allison Sarah Graham, and placed in my custody as her only living relative. Jenny had become Leslie’s cousin, Jennifer Marie Thomas, and had been similarly placed in her care. Both had backgrounds meant to give them long term connections to us and to be vastly different from their real backgrounds, to make sure that nobody could stumble upon them either accidentally or with a determined search. It helped though that both of their appearances had changed somewhat since Activating, so Tara was confident that nobody would be able to recognize them easily from photos.
With their new identities and paperwork taken care of we went to the bank that Leslie and I both used and opened savings accounts for them to put their HPP start-up funds into. We wanted them to both start building up money for when they were done high school and we had plenty of funds available for what came next. So we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for new clothes for the pair, trying to get them a good start on a decent wardrobe, and Leslie started buying the things that she and Jennifer would need for their apartment as well. I also had to buy some things for Allie’s room and Leslie and I wanted to make sure that both girls had cell phones in case of emergencies and so that they could talk with Ian’s sister Kim, who they had become fast friends with over the past three days.
Allie and Jenny were both exhausted by the time we got home and ordered in some pizzas for dinner. Neither of them were used to all of the training yet and we had been running around all afternoon once we had finished lunch. Our day wasn’t over yet though, and after we had finished eating we started setting up the new apartment for Leslie and Jennifer and moving their stuff in. I was really glad that these apartments had come furnished, because I didn’t even want to think about the hassle that would have been involved if we had had to buy and move in furniture as well. We tried to get it done as quickly as possible and save our wards some effort by Leslie using her strength and speed and me using my telekinesis.
Once we had finished doing what we could with Leslie’s and Jenny’s new apartment, Allie and I headed home, though my poor sister was so tired by that point that I telekinetically carried her there and into her bedroom. Then, while she started getting into one of her new nightshirts and preparing for bed, I started putting her clothes away, hanging what needed to be hung in the closet and folding the rest carefully and putting it in her dresser. She was very nearly asleep as I finished the former and was about to start on the latter. She was also laying on top of her blankets so I telekinetically lifted her as gently as I could, pulled her blankets and sheets aside, and then placed her carefully back on the bed to cover her up. As I tucked the blankets around her she looked up at me and gave me a sleepy smile. “I still can’t believe that this is all real.”
“Believe it Sis, you’re here with me now and I’m going to do my best to take care of you,” I told her, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “You deserve better than what you had growing up, a real family that cares about you.”
“You didn’t have to do that, y’know take me in and all. Leslie didn’t have to do it for Jenny either. But you took us in, made sure that we could stay with you and now you’ve bought us all those clothes and stuff. Why…” she began to ask uncertainly.
I carefully brushed a strand of hair from her face and smiled at her. “I could say it’s because you’re my sister, and that you’re the only blood relative I have left. That is part of it, maybe even most of it, family is important to me and I don’t want to abandon you when we just found one another. There’s more than just that though. When we met you and Jenny Dr. Park said that the two of you reminded her of us when we had to leave the Ward. We could see it too.”
“Is that because I looked like you when we first met?”
“No Allie,” I said with a shake of my head. “You see, just like you I Activated in the hospital, my body completely changed, and my mother reacted much the same way your foster parents did. My mother was abusive too, though it was mostly emotional abuse. When they took me to the ward I felt like my whole life had turned upside down, I had dangerous powers that I couldn’t hope to control, and I was really miserable for a while. Leslie tried to be the friend I needed, she had been there a while before I showed up and her whole family was killed because of fear of mutants, just like Jenny’s. We were both getting close to eighteen and wouldn’t be able to stay there much longer, but we had no family, nobody to turn to, and nowhere to go.”
“I guess I can see where we would remind you of that then,” she agreed.
“That was when Aegis showed up,” I continued after a brief nod. “They offered us a place to stay, training to control our powers, a purpose, a chance to be ourselves and take control of our lives, and most importantly a family. You and Jenny are years younger than we were, so when Dr. Park pointed out your situation and told me that I was your sister, I couldn’t not give you the same opportunity, the same family that was given to me. I know that Leslie feels the same too. Jenny may not be biologically related to her, but if anyone could understand what she’s going through and how much she needs family and friends right now, it’s Leslie.”
Allie nodded sleepily and then her eyes opened just wide enough to regard me again as she asked, “Does that mean that we’re going to be members of your team too?”
“If that’s what you want to do when you’re eighteen then we’ll be glad to have to, but you’ll have a lot of training ahead of you Sis. For now though, you’re my sister and I just found you so I don’t want you in any danger.” I could see her protest coming and quickly cut it off. “I know Amy is the same age as you and Jenny, but her circumstances were special and there was no way to prevent her from following us and trying to help anyway so we tried to make sure that she would be as safe as possible. She will be a full member of the team when she’s eighteen, but for now she’s just a trainee and she has a lot of rules to follow.”
“What kind of rules? Jenny and I can follow rules too,” she pointed out eagerly. “Ever since Smog showed us that video of you in Coney Island and introduced us to your website Jenny and I have been wanting to do what you do.”
I let a sigh slip out as I looked at my sister, she looked so young and vulnerable at that moment, but I also knew exactly what both she and Jenny had been through and I wanted to be honest with her. “Firstly, Amy needed to convince her guardian to allow it, meaning you and Jenny would have to convince Leslie and I that you would be responsible out there and not a danger to yourself or anyone else before we’d even consider it. Second, Amy has to follow orders at all times. Third, Amy was a probationary member until she proved herself by training hard, learning what she was taught, and following her rules, and she is still going to remain a trainee until she’s eighteen. Fourth, once the school year starts next week she will be homeschooling with Sasha as her teacher, and the two of you will be doing that with her regardless. She also isn’t allowed to do anything on her own, she has to stay in contact, or where we can keep an eye on her, at all times, unless I give the order to leave. Her job is usually evacuation of civilians, she doesn’t engage hostiles unless she is directly attacked or told to. Being a superhero is a lot of work Allie, and not as fun and romantic as the media makes it out to be. It’s also very dangerous and we’re trying to minimize that danger for her.”
“We can do all of that, and we’ll be careful not to put ourselves in danger, Candy. We’ll be the best trainees that we can and maybe we can help Amy out as roadies too.”
“Maybe we can revisit this topic once you and Jenny are in better control of your powers and emotional states, so we know what we’re dealing with,” I suggested diplomatically. “Until then we’ll be training you hard so you get that control.”
“Okay Sis, we’re going to work so hard,” she said drowsily, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“I know you will, but right now you’re going to sleep, you’ll need your rest.” I kissed her softly on the forehead again and went to finish folding her new clothes and placing them in her dresser. She was asleep within minutes and by the time I had finished my task, I too was ready for bed.
For the next week we planned on training the girls as hard as we could, since the next week when school started they would have their lessons with Sasha until lunch and only have the afternoons to properly train. They started off their mornings with Elven focusing exercises under Tessily’s tutelage while the members of RevolveR were doing our teamwork exercises. After that all members of RevolveR went on to our individual training sessions on our own since we knew what we were doing by now while Changeling and Savage started intense physical and combat training, my sister learning the Fae fighting style and swordplay from Tessily, and Twilight’s protégé was learning martial arts under Blackout’s watchful eye.
After having lunch, something Allie and I enjoyed with Tessily, it was on to powers training for the girls. On one side of the large training room Tessily and I worked with my sister, while on the other side Twilight and Liberty were working with Twilight’s protégé. For the most part, her powers were pretty simple and they were trying to teach Savage to use her heightened agility, razor sharp nails, and increased durability from having an iron skeleton to her advantage. They also discovered that she had Category two strength as well, she needed to if her body was to support all the extra weight from Iron bones. As a result they were trying to help her gain some control over both that strength and her surge healing ability as well.
As for Changeling, I had my sister deactivate her inhibitor collar during those afternoon sessions so we could get a feel for her various forms and the abilities that came with each. In addition to the focusing exercise that Tessily was teaching the girls to control their emotions I also felt that it would be a good idea for her to be able channel those emotions at will to access her different power sets as needed. I thought that maybe acting lessons in combination with the focusing exercises might help with that so for the first half hour of our afternoon sessions I had her doing some exercises that had been suggested by Riff’s mother, the former Broadway actress and current singing and acting coach, to channel specific emotions to make acting more believable.
The girls did work very hard at whatever we put them to and both were showing a marked improvement over their emotions by the time we had completed Friday’s training. With some concentration my sister was even able to summon specific mood-related forms at will, though she would need to work on mastering her powers for each of those forms and that was going to be a long process. She was taking just as naturally to the Fae fighting styles as I had, and was picking up some snippets of the language as well, so I had to wonder just how much Fae blood we had.
As for her specific forms, we had discovered thirteen unique forms so far. Although many of them gave off some sort of aura as part of her powers, there didn’t seem to be anything obviously consistent powers-wise between them except that she seemed to be a Category four in every state. Each form had a different power that was somehow related to the emotional state itself, or concepts that my sister associated with them in her subconscious mind. The different states that we had discovered so far were fear, anger, confidence, happiness, shyness, excitement, frustration, guilt, determination, courage, anxiety, jealousy, and confusion.
Dr. Park had been right when she had first told me that my sister’s Fear form was as inhuman as it was terrifying. In that form her hair and skin were both pitch black, seeming to absorb all light like a black hole, rather than reflecting it. The only light was the dark red glowing of her eyes. She was intangible in that state and emitted an aura of pure terror that seemed to affect anyone within a range of about twenty feet.
Anger was almost as frightening as fear. Both her hair and eyes were crimson in color and her entire body could erupt into flames. She seemed able to turn it off and on and could control the flames with a form of pyrokinesis, but when she had been in the hospital and had taken that form she had been reacting out of pure rage and destroyed her hospital room even worse than I had before someone had managed to knock her out with a tranquilizer gun.
Her Confidence form looked like me with its blue skin and pink hair and the similarities didn’t end there. Her power in that form seemed to be telekinesis, so at least we had a good idea of how to train her in that form. It was my hope that helping her to master the telekinesis of that form might help her to control the powers in some of her other forms as well, such as Anger’s pyrokinesis.
Her happiness form made Changeling look like a young Tessily, which I personally thought was cute and sweet. In that form she seemed to have increased speed and agility, which would lend itself well to her physical training. It also made it the logical form for her to use in a hand to hand or sword fighting situation.
Shyness brought us a bit of a surprise. With her brown hair and eyes and slightly mousey body language in that form I had feared that it might be her default form, or perhaps a mild mannered secret identity. She had never tried using powers in this form either, so when she turned invisible it was a bit of a shock to all three of us. It wasn’t true invisibility though, more like a camouflage ability that let her blend into her surroundings.
I was already familiar with Excitement of course, with her neon blue hair and eyes. Her power in that form was definitely super speed, she was even faster than Twilight. It was also like she had chugged down ten gallons of expresso whenever she took that form. She couldn’t seem to hold still and she constantly moved and spoke a mile a minute, making it very hard to get her to focus on her lessons.
Frustration was very similar to Anger, except that both her hair and eyes were a bright orange and the aura that she could generate was electricity rather than flames. This form would probably be just as dangerous as Anger as well if she didn’t gain proper control of that electricity. I really hoped that teaching her to control the telekinetic powers of her confidence form would carry over to those two more dangerous forms as well.
In her Guilt form my sister had plum-colored hair and dark brown eyes and she seemed to be able to shrink. She was able to get down to about two inches tall with some intense concentration and I could see both uses and dangers with that ability. It only seemed to allow her to shrink and return to her original size though. All attempts to get her to increase her size had been a bust.
Determination was another surprise. In that form my sister had bright golden hair and eyes and a near blinding aura of the same color that spread out to a ten foot radius around her. She had injured her ankle when she had taken that form the first time, but had refused to stop training for the day. Then what looked to be a serious sprain healed before our eyes. It wasn’t just her though, as the few bruises that I had been sporting had healed as well. It was an ability that she had no control over, she couldn’t even consciously turn it on or off, and it healed herself and anyone else within her aura with the speed and power of a Category four Regen.
Changeling’s Courage form had white hair, blue eyes, and a pair of large feathery-looking wings made from some sort of golden energy. The only real ability that she seemed to have in that form was being able to fly, not that she had much success at first while getting used to her new energy-based appendages. Still, I was the only member of RevolveR who could fly without a skybike at the moment and I could see where that form could be useful for scouting in the future.
Her last three forms seemed fairly simple powers-wise. Anxiety had Black hair with red streaks and violet eyes and she could create seismic vibrations, making whatever she was concentrating on shake violently. Her jealousy form bore moss green hair and eyes and her only power with it seemed to be Category four strength. And then there was Confusion, the form that so resembled me in my disguised form. In that form she could generate an aura of light that distracts anyone who looks directly at it without proper light protection. The victims just stand there staring until she turns the aura off or changes form.
During the evenings Allie and I would have dinner, sometimes with Mahar joining us and then we would either go to band practice or out for the evening with Leslie and Jenny so that my best friend and I could show the girls some of the sights like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, and Times Square. We did a lot of bonding over that time and I was feeling closer to my sister every day.
On Saturday of that Labor Day weekend though things changed up a bit. Tessily and I were halfway through Changeling’s afternoon training session when all of the other members of both Aegis and RevolveR joined us in the training room, all of them in costume. Liberty and Tessily went to join them in the center of the room motioning for Twilight, myself, and our students to follow. Once we were all gathered I looked at Twilight and then down at myself. We were both dressed much like our students in the simple black bodysuits that we usually called training uniforms. “I feel underdressed,” I muttered in an aside to Twilight.
“Can you please tell us what’s going on now?” Rave asked.
Liberty nodded and looked over to the control booth where I noticed Blake In his Prodigy armor giving her a thumbs up. Then she turned back to us and gave an encouraging smile. “We believe that RevolveR is ready for full deployment on missions without Aegis supervision and since we may need you to do just that tonight, you can consider this your final exam. Should you pass we will have a mission for you, if you don’t well we’ll just have to keep training you for a while longer. You’ve only been at this a few months so there’s no shame in not being ready, especially since we’re dropping this on you so suddenly.”
“What do you mean final exam?” Mai sputtered nervously. “What do we have to do?”
“We need to be sure that you are all ready to engage other Hypers in the field, so as your final exam you will be fighting us. We will be acting the parts of mutant terrorists and will not hold back. Your mission objective will be to protect civilians, capture us without seriously harming us, and prevent us from destroying that,” Blackout said as he pointed to the back of the room where a large holographic target appeared on the back wall.
Holograms began popping up all over the room until it resembled a city street with people walking down sidewalks, entering or leaving buildings, and some sitting at a sidewalk café. Prodigy came down from the control room and nodded, “Everything is set whenever you’re ready to start Liberty. The holograms in this room will be just like the real things, appearance, texture, weight, mass, and they can both cause damage and be damaged. If any civilians or the target get damaged, the simulation will end.”
“Can we watch from the control room?” my sister asked.
Liberty shook her head, “No I’m afraid not, because you’re going to be participating. You and Savage will be on our side playing the role of terrorists, or rather terrorists in training. We want to see how the two of you will react in high pressure or dangerous situations and how well you can follow rules and orders. Once the four of you get into costume we’ll get started.”
We headed up to our apartments where I quickly got into my costume and gear. There had been a bundle of cloth waiting outside our door with a little note in Brianna’s handwriting that said, “For Changeling,” so I assumed that my sister was changing into that while I was getting changed. It took her a few minutes longer than me, so I assumed that she was trying to figure out how it was supposed to be worn. It was a simple black bodysuit that covered her from head to toe, with the only openings being those that allowed her hair to fall freely, and the area under her mask which left the nose and mouth exposed so she could breathe properly. Gold-hued ankle boots, gauntlet style gloves and a sash added color to the outfit and over her heart there was a stylized golden C with fairy wings sprouting from it. She also had something that looked like my stun sword hanging from the sash.
We stepped out into the hall to find Twilight and Savage in costume as well. “Wow, it feels weird wearing something like this, the latter was saying as we joined them. Savage was dressed in a similar black bodysuit as my sister’s but with a form fitting tan sleeveless leotard over top, knee high combat boots and fingerless gloves of the same color, a utility belt, and a pair of golden bracers covering her forearms. Over her heart atop the tan of her leotard was a black cat symbol with slash marks beneath it.
Once we had returned downstairs, and Changeling and Savage had been taken aside to instruct them in their weapons and whatever strategy had been cooked up, the battle was on. It was eight against six and they were all going to be going all out, but we had mission objectives and we couldn’t seriously hurt any of them, not that I wanted to. This was not going to be easy. At least the rules stated that if one of our opponents was contained or knocked unconscious they would be out of the game.
As soon as the buzzer to begin the exam rang I began issuing orders. “Rave start evacuating civilians! Everyone else choose targets and try to disable without hurting them, heavy hitters first! I’ll get some altitude and try to coordinate and contribute from the air!” I shot up into the air to see Rave already opening multiple portals and telling people to get through them to safety. Prodigy unloaded a cloud of missiles at me and I barely managed to get a TK shield up in time to absorb the damage. “Sorry about this Prodigy,” I mumbled. Then I telekinetically took his armor apart around him and tossed him toward Rave as I called out, “Catch!” He was hit by one of her glow bracelets and encased in foam before even hitting the ground.
Riff was going toe to toe with Liberty, but so far he seemed to be on the defensive, until Twilight came racing out of a shadow at full speed and decked Liberty hard enough to shake the entire training room. Liberty staggered, but managed a counter punch which was caught by Riff’s force field as he stepped in the way, knocking her back with a counter-punch of his own. At the same time Twilight dove into Riff’s shadow to reappear from Liberty’s, hitting her hard enough from behind to send her to the floor in a heap.
Two heavy hitters out, now were was Silver Spirit? I had a feeling that I knew exactly where he was, or at least where he was going. He had probably turned invisible and was going after the target. I quickly put a TK shield around the target, absorbing the energy blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. That was when two things happened. The first was Decibel hitting the area the blasts had come from with a high pitched sonic shout, and the second was Savage leaping at a group of holographic civilians.
Silver Spirit fell to his hands and knees as he reappeared and began throwing up, until Decibel delivered a solid punch to knock him out. Meanwhile the civilians promptly vanished and Starbright appeared, blocking Savage by forming a solid light riot shield and following it up with a flash bang. Suddenly something big hit my TK shield from behind. It was a truck and, even as its mangled remains fell to the ground, Changeling in her Jealousy form was hefting another vehicle to toss at me.
“Shit!” I muttered as I noticed that the remains of the truck were falling toward a pair of civilians. Quickly I reached out with my mind snatching up both them and the sedan that my sister had just tossed at me, suddenly very glad for all that time I had spent training to lift, move, and manipulate multiple objects at once. I was nowhere near feeling strained yet, but I was having a hard time keeping an eye on the rest of the battle with my attention divided between keeping my own TK shield up, flying, protecting the target, snatching up the vehicles that Changeling was tossing like softballs, and defending civilians.
Rave ushered the civilians beneath me into a portal and called out over our secure comm frequency, “Evac completed.” Without civilians to worry about I dropped the vehicles, tossing the one that Changeling had just thrown back at her while silently praying that she would move in time and trying to get my attention back on the battle as a whole. Starbright had her hands full with Savage, using a solid light staff to fight the younger mutant. Savage was blocking with a pair of energy shields that had emerged from her bracers and occasionally punching or firing sparkling pellets at her from those same bracers when the opportunity presented itself, forcing Star to constantly dodge.
Decibel was targeting one out of a group of Phantasms with another sonic attack, Blackout had canceled out Riff’s force field and seemed to be overwhelming him, while Tessily was firing enchanted arrows at the target and apparently hoping to bring down my TK shield. I had just enough time to take that in before I noticed my sister coming at me in her winged form with a gold-colored version of my stun sword humming in her hand. At least she had avoided the sedan.
I drew my own stun sword, activating it, and it hummed to life with a pink glow as I parried Changeling’s attack and started issuing orders. “Riff, get some distance between you, Blackout’s powers will stop working on you if you get out of range. You and Star need to switch partners, she’s got the training to take on blackout but she’s not durable enough to keep hitting, or taking hits, from Savage’s iron bones. Twilight, give Decibel a hand he’s got the real phantasm covered, illusions can’t fool his sonic sense. Phantasm can’t use his intangibility and his illusions at the same time so he’s vulnerable right now and the real one has a shadow. Rave, take on Tessily, but do it from a distance; intercept her arrows, send them somewhere harmless, and try to incapacitate her.”
My sister wasn’t very experienced at swordplay yet and since she was the only one left who could take me on this high in the air I was able to keep an eye on things as I countered her attacks and started putting pressure on her. Much to my pleasure she was keeping her emotions under control and even though I was starting to overwhelm her she kept on doggedly fighting and searching for an opening. Her wings seemed to be mentally controlled since I had tried giving them a tap with my weapon and she was still airborne, not that I was surprised since they were energy based rather than actual physical wings.
Twilight had come to Decibel’s aid, appearing from the real Phantasm’s shadow from behind to fingerflick him into unconsciousness, and Star was now taking on Blackout in a martial arts battle and seemed to be an even match for him even without her powers. Riff had his force field back and was about to attack Savage, who was going to Blackout’s aid, when she suddenly stopped, dropped to her knees and called out, “No! I won’t do that! I surrender!” My brows rose in concern but I didn’t have time to think about it as I was trying to keep an eye on Rave’s battle with Tessily while trying to keep my sister on the defensive without actually hurting her too badly. I had already stunned both of her legs and her left arm so they were hanging uselessly as she stubbornly continued to keep fighting.
Rave had been doggedly intercepting Tessily’s arrows with hastily generated portals and keeping a good distance between them, but now my Mahar was out of arrows and drew a silver version of my stun sword as she attempted to close the distance between them. Rave tossed one of her bracelets at her, but the Fae princess deftly dodged it, until Rave opened up a portal and the bracelet flew through it to hit Tessily from behind and encase her in quickly hardening spongey foam. I quickly turned my full attention to my sister only to find her shaking her head violently. “No way Blackout! I’d rather surrender!” She broke off from our fight and flew down to the floor, where she promptly collapsed from her currently useless legs.
There was only Blackout left and as we all converged on his fight with Starbright he sighed and raised his hands in surrender. “Congratulations. You all pass, welcome to the big leagues.”
Once we had gathered everyone who had been injured or knocked unconscious in one place, and Rave had Tessily and Prodigy de-foamed, my sister had changed to her golden-haired Determination form for its healing aura. It still took her some time to change forms, but it wasn’t bad for only five days of training and she was showing a marked improvement on her emotional control. That healing aura was something else though, within ten minutes everyone was conscious, on their feet again, and feeling like a million bucks.
“You all did well out there, we’re proud of you,” Liberty stood up to tell us all once we had finished watching the battle on the big screen in the situation room. “You did everything that you should have in that fight and you were careful to not seriously hurt any of us, though with my invulnerability that couldn’t have been easy. Still, remind me to never fight the two of you at the same time again, at least not seriously.” The last was said with a good natured laugh as she looked toward Twilight and Riff.
“Why did you surrender?” I asked my sister and Savage.
“I gave them orders that they refused to follow,” Blackout answered in their stead. “We wanted to see how they would react in a real fight, and if they could follow orders, but we also wanted to see if they had the sense to know when not to follow orders. I told Savage to use her iron claws when she backed me up with Starbright and then I told Changeling to switch to her Anger form.”
“I didn’t mind attacking the holograms like that, but it’s different when there are real people involved. Mai could have been seriously hurt if I attacked her like that and I won’t do that just to win,” Savage said with a deep frown.
“Me either,” my sister agreed, looking down at the floor. Changeling’s Anger form was possibly her most dangerous, and the one she seemed to have the least control over so far. People could have gotten seriously hurt, either us or any of the members of Aegis unconscious on the floor.
“The point was to see if they could control themselves under combat conditions and whether they knew what lines not to cross and they both did wonderfully,” Silver Spirit said. “If they had tried to follow those orders we would have known that they needed to learn that lesson and measures would have been taken to prevent them from going through with it.”
“We had Sasha keeping an eye on both of them while cloaked. If it looked like they were going to go too far or lose control she would have rendered them unconscious,” Prodigy assured us.
Liberty turned to smile at both Changeling and Savage. “Neither of you has had much training yet, but you both handled yourselves well out there. You followed all of the reasonable orders, you didn’t panic or lose control, you fought smart, and you didn’t give up even when you knew that you were fighting more powerful and experienced opponents, but kept looking for openings to exploit. You both need a lot more training of course, but you passed your test too. If Syryn and Twilight allow it you can join Rave as probationary trainees. For now that means mostly training and observing missions from the tour bus, but you may sometimes be asked to help with evacuation or other tasks, depending on the situation and that will be Syryn’s call.”
I wasn’t too sure about that and neither was Twilight when we had brought up their interest with the members of Aegis earlier that week. They had proposed a test to see if the girls would be able to handle it, but I hadn’t expected it this soon, and I had been a little preoccupied earlier with our own unexpected final exam. Still, I could keep them both safe in the tour bus until I thought that they were ready, or a task came along that I thought that they could safely complete. I looked over to Twilight who appeared as torn about her protégé as I was about my sister, but she finally sighed and then nodded. With a sigh of my own I spoke up. “You girls know the rules. If you can’t follow them or the orders I give then you will be out until we’re sure that you can. Do you both understand?”
“Yes ma’am!” the pair responded at once, their faces brightening up with grins that reminded me far too much of myself and Twilight.
Liberty cleared her throat and everyone’s attention fell on her once again as a picture of members of the Right Hand appeared on the main display screen. “Now that we have all that out of the way, I would like to discuss tonight’s mission. Since we exposed the connection between the Church of the Purity of Adam and the Right Hand over a week ago the FBI, HAA and CIA have been putting on the pressure, by raiding their compounds and seizing their assets. They have never been this vulnerable before and the plan is to hit all of their remaining compounds tonight in one massive raid. Superheroes and various organizations will be hitting all of their compounds nation-wide simultaneously tonight in an effort to take them down for good.”
The view on the screen changed to a map of the U.S.A with red dots spread out on it, off to the side was a list of the various compounds that the dots indicated with all of the information that was known about them. Once we all had a good look over it Liberty continued her briefing. “Aegis will be taking down their location in Washington DC, it’s listed as a church but we believe that there will be a secured Right Hand Bunker hidden beneath it, just as there was with most of the churches that have already been raided. The HCU will be taking down a similar location here in New York City. As for RevolveR you will be taking this location in New Jersey. It’s listed as a warehouse so we don’t think there will be much to worry about, it could just be storage for weapons and equipment, but we wanted to make sure that you were mission-ready in case there are any surprises there.”
“And here when you said mission I thought we were going to save the world, or at least New York, but it’s only New Jersey… really who wants to save Jersey?” Starbright said with a laugh.
“I guess that anyone from Jersey… might want to save it,” Riff shot back, much to everyone’s amusement.
“Enough you two,” I told them trying to hold back a laugh of my own. “So when is this going down?”
“Synchronize your watches everyone, because this op is set to go down at exactly eight o’clock east coast time,” Blackout informed us. “We’ll all need to be in position to start by then so we should all move out.”
We ate dinner on the tour bus during the flight to New Jersey. It wasn’t much, just some frozen pizzas and burritos from the freezer, but it would do until we could eat something more substantial after the raid. It was as our cloaked ship approached the warehouse from above that I realized that whatever they were using this place for it wasn’t storage, or at least it wasn’t at the moment. The lights were on and there were a lot of cars outside, very expensive looking cars. “What the fuck are all those fancy cars doing outside a warehouse on the outskirts of New Jersey at this time of night?” Rave muttered, echoing my own thoughts.
“What’s the time Sasha?” I asked our android manager, agent and current pilot.
“It is currently thirty seven minutes before our mission is set to commence,” she answered as she set the autopilot to hover in place.
“That is not what we were expecting to find here. I’d like to know a little more about what’s going on in there before we go jumping in. Rave open a portal so Sasha can get down there. Sasha stay cloaked and try to find out what’s going on, can you relay what you see and hear down there to the bus’s main view screen?”
Sasha’s eyes blinked several times and then she smiled and nodded. “I’m patched in now. I will monitor the comm channel but I will not be able to respond verbally if I am to remain unnoticed.”
“Reconnoiter and try to find out what’s going on, but be ready to return to the bus by ten minutes to,” I told her. She nodded again and stepped through the portal Rave had provided before going stealth.
We watched through Sasha’s eyes as she carefully made her way inside where there was a large crowd of expensively dressed people, there were people dressed more normally as well, but they had a dangerous look to them and Sasha had connected several of them to Interpol files on known terrorists that she brought up on screen for our benefit. “Terrorists and the idle rich? I’m not sure that I like where this is going,” Twilight said, her face twisting into a frown.
Sasha carefully maneuvered through the crowd and people dressed in tuxes carrying trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres. She had almost reached the front of the crowd when a voice boomed out, “Welcome everyone and thank you for attending tonight’s auction. We will be getting underway soon, but until then please enjoy the food and champagne and have a good look at tonight’s merchandise. Each is useful in their own way and I’m sure that those of you who win will be very happy with your purchases.”
The man was standing at a podium on a raised platform that served as a stage and off the side of the stage there were seven people looking straight ahead with terror in their eyes. They all wore metal collars, ratty and filthy clothes, and held up signs as they stood completely unmoving. The first was a girl that couldn’t have been older than twelve who had fire erupting from her head in place of hair. The sign in front of her read, “Item #1. Impervious to fire and heat, can generate fire from any part of her body, and manipulate it at will.”
“Omigod they’re selling mutants,” Decibel muttered, clenching his fists.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” my sister added as she buried herself in my chest and started to shake.
“Do you think they’ve been brainwashed? Or maybe they’re under some sort of mind control?” Riff asked.
“It is the collars, they are plugged directly into their central nervous systems. They allow complete control over the wearer and cannot be removed without serious injury.” The words scrolled across the screen as Sasha inspected the back of the girl’s neck. Then, as she inspected the others from behind, more text made its way across the screen. “Each collar is different and meant to work with or be resistant to the wearer’s individual powers. They have a Tinker somewhere.”
“That does explain the Right Hand’s gear,” Starbright grumbled. “We can’t let those people be sold. Is there any way to disable the collars or knock them out so they won’t be forced to fight us?”
“I shall try to find out,” the text scrolling across the screen replied.
Sasha moved back in front of the captive Hypers from the front and inspected the cards in front of them. The one beside the girl with the flaming head looked to be maybe a year or so older and they resembled each other enough in the face for them to be sisters. She was beautiful, even in her current condition, and had long black hair with long golden horns emerging from her forehead and wrapping around her head to just above and behind her pointed ears like a tiara. Her eyes were bright crimson and full of fear, and she had a spaded tail and a pair of bat-like wings sprouting from her back. Her sign read, “Item #2: Category four regeneration. Can create and manipulate hellfire, fly, see auras, drain spirit energy through intimate contact, and has elevated hormone and pheromone levels.”
The others included a metalmorph of some sort, a guy who could increase or decrease his size and mass, an Energy Manipulator with heightened strength and speed, a woman who can change into a gaseous form, fly and control wind, and a man with electric powers. The last of the seven was very familiar to me though. “Oh my God! That’s Tendril from H8!” Then I realized the time. “Sasha we have 14 minutes until go time and HAA and FBI forces are probably already on route with local police to back us up. We need to figure out our game plan. Do you see any security?”
The screen focused on a group of four massive metal forms behind the stage. They were either robots or some sort of power armor, ten feet tall and bristling with weapons. “Well I guess that this isn’t going to be easy then,” I muttered. “What about disabling the collars?”
“They are shielded against EMPs. I could force them open and remove them, but only one of them is a Regen and the damage to the others could be substantial.” I frowned as that message crossed the screen.
“What about my healing aura? If you got them all to me fast enough I could heal them,” Changeling suggested.
I sighed as I considered the situation and tried to come up with a plan. Not only were there the captive mutants to consider, but there was also those robots, any Right Hand goons that might be around, and all those guests. I wasn’t going to put it past those guests being armed either, especially the terrorists wanted by Interpol. Those rich people could be armed too, or at the very least would likely have bodyguards with them, and drivers waiting in the cars. We would need to incapacitate them all at once, hope that it took the Hypers down too, and then worry about the robots and anyone still standing. Finally I said, “Okay Sasha, when I give the signal Rave is going to open up a portal. I’ll need you to come through, monitor things from up here, and coordinate with the government agencies. Here’s what we’re going to do…”
It was one minute to eight and the time had come to put the plan into action. Police and government vehicles were inbound and barricading any possible escape routes. “Showtime everyone. Rave open up a portal. Sasha as soon as that portal opens get through it and then we’ll send in Decibel for the first stage.”
“On it Syryn,” Rave said with a nod. The lines and patterns on her skin began to glow a bright green as the portal opened and almost as soon as it formed Sasha was through and heading for the cockpit to begin coordinating and observing. Decibel didn’t wait for the order, he jumped through the portal, it closed behind him and a moment later we all heard the high pitched sonic shout, despite our comms being turned off in preparation. The monitors showed the scene below in the parking lot as windows exploded and when the shout finally ended we snapped our comms back on. “Status Decibel?”
“All the regular humans in the warehouse are taking a nap Syryn, and I think I can take out the last Hyper standing with a focused… shit, robots!”
“Team two, get in there and support him, shades mode on, Star open up with a flashbang and try to take out the sensors on those robots then everyone else hit them hard and take them down fast. Try to disable the Hypers and not hurt them too bad, they’re not in control of their own actions,” I said. “Rave, portals please. You, Changeling, and Savage will be with me. Stay away from the main fight, our job is to get those people out of there and into custody and to provide support if needed. We’ll check those in the parking lot first in case any of the drivers managed to resist Decibel’s sonic attack.”
Changeling had already shifted into her Jealousy form as I had instructed and as soon as the portals opened we were all rushing through. There were a few in the parking lot that had resisted the full effect of Decibel’s attack, and four of the cars’ engines had started. I reached out with my mind, lifting them into the air. Panicked drivers jumped out of them to be foamed by Rave, disabled by my sister’s stun sword or shot by Taser pellets from Savage’s bracers. With them out of the picture, I returned the cars to the ground and we began pulling other drivers from the vehicles, securing their arms and legs with zip-ties, and placing them together in an empty area of the parking lot.
Once we had taken care of those in the parking lot I made my way to the open doors of the warehouse and began telekinetically bringing people outside for the trainees to secure and place with the others. The battle inside was hectic. One of the robots was down, smashed into mangled pieces of scrap, probably by Twilight and she was hard at work at doing the same to a second, hitting it as hard and fast as she could and then jumping into the shadows when it tried to fire its weapons at her, only to reappear from a shadow somewhere else nearby and going at it again. The other two were trying hard to take down Riff with Gatling guns, his force field was holding for the moment and Starbright and Decibel were doing what they could now that Decibel had knocked out the last Hyper, but their powers weren’t really suited to taking down something that heavily armored.
“Switch up!” I called out. “Decibel and Star start dragging people outside to Savage and Changeling for containment, Rave help me send one of those robots somewhere else so I can I take care of the last one and then help the others outside.”
Decibel and Starbright each grabbed the closest person and started hauling them off to the doors and Rave opened a portal before doing the same. With one hard telekinetic shove I threw one of the robots through and started disassembling the other’s weapons the instant the portal closed. Twilight and I had nearly finished with our partners and the warehouse was mostly evacuated when the floor beneath us suddenly exploded outward. Both robots were destroyed in the blast and I had barely managed to cover Twilight and myself in a TK shield to protect us. Riff was knocked aside and his force field flickered and died as he hit the floor. “Riff!”
“I’m okay Syryn, but I won’t be using my force field for a while,” he replied as he got to his feet shakily. “I’ll help the trainees to get people out of here. I think the rest of you are going to have your hands full with them.” Two mutants were emerging from the hole in the floor, both of them collared. One was absolutely huge, seven and a half feet tall and built like a professional wrestler with jet black skin that glinted like metal. The other was a small woman who was glowing a bright gold color and made the clan mark on my shoulder itch in response.
“Shit, a magic user. Twilight, you take the big guy I’ll try to handle the mage. Decibel and Starbright, They came up from a basement of some sort, I need you to get down there and take out anyone who may still be down there. Be careful we have no idea what else they might have down there.” With the orders given we all jumped into action.
Twilight hit hard and fast enough to cause a shockwave and her opponent staggered and threw a punch of his own that Twilight barely avoided by jumping into his shadow. Decibel and Star practically ran into the warehouse and jumped into the hole in the floor as I tossed the mangled remains of one of the robots at the mage. She tossed the metal aside with a wave of her hand and came at me fast, conjuring a sword in her hand as I put up another TK shield and drew my stun sword, taking to the air to try and get some distance between us now that I had her attention. I could feel her working more spells and then she rose into the air to pursue me as I could see some sort of change in the glow surrounding her.
“Did she just put a shield spell? Shit, well there goes my advantage if she can magically copy everything I can do. I’ll have to hope that I can out power and out-think her,” I thought acidly as I parried the thrust from the mage’s sword and took a swing for her neck that was blocked by whatever shield spell she had used. I was going to have to try to overwhelm her and doing that in the warehouse could be dangerous for my teammates and anyone still inside. “Let’s take this outside Twilight, there are still people in here. Let’s take the side door so we’re not endangering the trainees.”
“Side door?” my best friend asked, momentarily confused before what was visible of her face lit up in a grin. “Oh yes, the side door.” She ducked a punch that her opponent threw at her, grabbing his arm and using his momentum to throw him through the side of the warehouse. “Damn this guy might be nearly as strong and invulnerable as Liberty, this won’t be easy without Riff to help me tag team him,” she grumbled as she sped through the hole in the wall giving chase.
I flew out after her and took to the sky with the mage in pursuit only to see a robot falling, passing through a portal and vanishing. “Rave, was that…”
Rave appeared through a portal and was standing in mid-air watching both me and Twilight in our respective battles. “Yeah I’ve had that thing falling through portal after portal since you threw it through that first one, until I found a better place for it. I think I just found one, and by now it should have enough momentum built up to do this… Twilight, incoming!” A portal opened roughly thirty feet above Twilight and as the robot fell through she managed to disappear into the shadows before the impact hit her opponent with enough force to shake the earth and create a sizable cloud of dust and debris.
I didn’t have much time to pay much attention as I was making a hard push at my opponent, she was not an experienced swordswoman and that inexperience was showing as I pushed her back, getting several hits on her shield spell. The problem was that with her other hand she was casting offensive spell after offensive spell, each powerful enough that I had my plate full keeping my TK shield stable enough to deflect or absorb the attacks. I was peppering her with as much debris as I could spare the attention to gather, but that shield spell was powerful. I needed to be able to get a major hit or two if I wanted to end this fight anytime soon.
Below me the dust had settled and there in the thirty foot crater that remained, amidst the scrap metal, Twilight’s opponent was still standing, though shakily. She went on the offensive hammering him with punch after punch, a blur as she used her super speed to avoid his own blows and hit him from every possible angle. “Shit! This guy will not go down!”
“We got all of the people out of the warehouse Syryn,” Riff’s voice said through my earbuds, “Savage and Rave think they can help take that big guy down without putting Savage in too much danger, it’s not a bad idea and Savage might not be as strong as Twilight, but her iron bones combined with that strength might help.”
“Do it, but be careful,” I replied with a sigh. “Decibel and Star, what’s your status?”
I absorbed another fireball spell and reinforced my TK field as Star’s voice came over the channel. “There was some kind of small lab and containment cells down here with a few Right Hand goons guarding them. They’re down and gagged so they can’t take the tooth, and there don’t seem to be anymore captive Hypers down here, we’ll bring the goons out to the authorities and then come help you if you need it.”
“Okay, I was hoping for a distraction, but I have another idea,” I replied with another long sigh. ”Hey Changeling, are you still in your Jealousy form, and if so how’s your pitching arm?”
I could hear the eagerness in my sister’s voice as she responded. “I think I can help you out there.” Suddenly a luxury car hit my opponent from behind, visibly weakening her shield. I pressed my attack as a second luxury car followed the first, draining the shield spell even more. My opponent was getting tired and I snatched both cars from the air before they could fall too far, to either side of her as another spell hit my TK shield and even as I reinforced my shield I smacked the two cars together with her between them, finishing off her shield spell. I quickly moved in again, my sword arm darting in to disable her spell casting arm and then her sword arm in quick succession.
I had to snatch her out of the air telekinetically and as I lowered her, myself, and the remains of the two cars to the ground I looked downward. Below me Twilight was still beating on her opponent with determination and speed while Savage would jump in from a portal to deliver a punch or two of her own before diving back into the portal and then repeating the process. They had him down on one knee now and with one double fisted overhand strike Twilight was finally able to send him to both the ground and dreamland.
The police and various government agents in attendance had things well in hand, moving those involved with the auction or the lab/prison beneath into vans that had been brought for that purpose. The HAA wanted to take custody of the Hypers, but they had been victimized enough already and I didn’t want those collars in the hands of anyone that might misuse them. They may help Hypers sometimes, but at other times they seemed just as eager to blame us for things like what had happened at the warehouse. The agent on site, a weasel of a man with brown hair who had introduced himself as Agent Wells didn’t seem happy about it, but with all the other agencies involved and the fact that the Hypers had technically been hostages he didn’t have much choice but to place them in our custody to receive medical attention.
A call to Dr. Park revealed that she and Smog were still in New York for a few more days so, once we had the mutants sedated and contained as best we could aboard the tour bus, we headed back home to New York City. Once we had arrived at Columbia University Medical Center’s Hyper Care ward she spent most of the night and well into the morning removing the collars, luckily without any serious damage. My sister’s Determination form helped them to recover quickly and completely and soon they were resting peacefully and recovering from their ordeal.
Most of the former captives were able to be released by Sunday night and we made sure to visit with all of them to make sure that they had access to proper counselling and that they had somewhere to go. Most of them had lives that they were eager to get back to, even Tendril. She had thought long and hard about her life after our battle with H8 and wanted a normal life for a bit. She had had a run-in with the Right Hand the month before and been their unwilling captive ever since and had even more time to think, since that had been the only freedom she had had. Now she had decided that she wanted to go back to school and try to use her powers to help others as a part-time hero.
The only real problem was the two minors. They were sisters, and both were probably going to need new identities since one had once been a boy and they were the grandchildren of Reverend Marcus Wright, the popular Television evangelist, founder and head of the Church of the Purity of Adam, and the man known as Cardinal to the members of the Right Hand. To think that he had treated his own flesh and blood that way, though as another mutant child of a member of the Right Hand I could certainly sympathize with the pair. Their Grandfather had escaped, leaving the country before the night of the raid, but I hoped that he would be captured soon now that he was on Interpol’s most wanted list.
I was a bit concerned about what would happen to the pair, since they had no other family, and both had appearances that would make it hard for them to blend in, but the mage that I had fought against had offered to take the pair in. They and she were both from California and she was a teacher at a school where they could learn how to control their powers. They would be leaving the next day, after a visit from Tara at the HPP to sort out the new identities, so that they could be at school for the start of classes.
All in all things had gone as well as they could with that raid. We had saved those mutants from a life of slavery, put a lot of really bad people behind bars, and helped to take down the Right Hand, hopefully for good. So yeah, the day was saved, and we had made the world a better place. That is what superheroes do isn’t it?
It’s been six months since that last raid that took down the Right Hand and a lot of things have changed since then, mostly for the better. First of all, my dream has finally come true, RevolveR released our first album two months ago and our first single Little Big Bang is already double platinum. We’re going to be starting our first big North American tour soon and we’re all looking forward to it, especially Mai. She found something on the internet about someone with her cousin’s name being involved in illegal experimentation on Hypers, apparently the victims including her cousin had escaped and she was eager to go looking for her.
My personal life has been going pretty well too. My sister and I are getting along great and we spend a lot of our free time either with the band or with our Mahar Tessliy. We had decided to make her adoption official, of both me and my sister, so now we both have a mother who we are more than happy to call by that name. Ian proposed last month and we’re thinking of having the wedding sometime next spring. We may even have a double wedding with Mai and John, and I don’t know who’s happier at the thought of planning the wedding, my Mahar or Ian’s mother.
As for the team, we’re doing well and building up a good reputation among the super set. Changeling and Savage have joined Rave as both roadies and trainees. They’re doing well and my sister is starting to get a good grip on her powers, all of them. She’s almost as good as I am with a sword now too, and we’re both still progressing under Mahar’s tutelage. Oh well, I have to go, we just got word that mutant terrorists are holding Times Square hostage, it seems that a superhero’s work is never done.
The Hyperverse is a continually expanding universe where superheroes, and villains exist. Given the number of different characters, locations, and powers present in this world there is a lot of information. Brianna Eketta has generously put a lot of time and effort into compiling all that information into a single source for both the author(s) and readers.
This database will be updated and expanded as the universe grows and the story lines all come together.
by Amethyst
Gazetteer of places and people
A result of the hard work of Lexicon, the Hyperverse Chronicler... aka Brianna Eketta
Disclaimer: The original characters and universe are the property of Amethyst. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. This information is copyright © 2013-2014 Brianna Eketta, Amethyst. All rights reserved.
Naughty or Ice:
Locations:
Edmonton Canada – Home base of Stonewall
Toronto Canada – The location of most of the events of this chronicle.
Seacroft Mansion – To everyone it appears to be an old, creepy haunted house outside Toronto. It is actually the secret hideout of Arcana.
Ten Pins Alley – Bowling Alley on Kingston in Toronto. It is the secret HQ of The Thrilling Threesome.
Nathan Phillips Square – The location in Toronto where Arcana set a trap to try to capture Slush. As a result, Slush, with the help of Crystal and The Thrilling Threesome rescued her mother from the influence of Morgana.
Aaron Morris Private School (AMPS) – School for mutants started 10 years ago by Deep Blue. It is located on a former Canadian Navy base on an island in Hudson Bay.
Morristown – The town that has grown up around AMPS with a population made up of a lot of former students and support people for the school.
Hyper Leaks – Web Site that outs the secret ID's of Superhero's and Villains. No longer operating because the Super-villain Arcana got upset when the operator (she turned him into a newt) outed the ID of the Superhero Stonewall.
Hypers:
Hero's:
Michael Evans – Superhero Stonewall, he initially operates out of Edmonton Canada and is a Geomorph and geokinetic.
Jake/Jackie Evans – 15 year old son of Michael and kidnapped at least twice a week by various minor super villains. Finally kidnapped by Arcana who transforms him into a girl then later cast a spell which froze her which activates her hyper chromosome. Calls herself Slush when using her powers. Using her powers, she is able to free her mother from Morgana's influence.
Crystal (real name not given yet) – Initially a 20ish Asian trans-woman who finds Jackie after she escaped from Arcana. She is a mutant with defective hyper chromosomes who is able to form crystals much in demand by magic-users. She finally comes into her full abilities and correct gender after her defective H-chromosomes are corrected by Mervin and Eugene.
Ashley Evans – Mother of Jackie and wife of Michael. For the last 14 years has been in a Mental Institution. Before her hospitalization was the superhero known as Cantrip. Purchased a magic item when her child was a toddler and fell ill. The magic item, Morgana's Bracelet enabled the soul of Morgan le Fay to possess her and until recently, Ashley had been resisting her. However, recently, Morgana gained control and escaped the hospital and became the super-villain Arcana. Is able to resume her Hero identity after her daughter defeats Morgana.
Max Evans – Grandfather of Jackie. His superhero ID is Captain Inferno.
Mervin – Uncle of Ashley Evans. His superhero ID is The Silver Sorcerer.
Eugene – His superhero ID is The Brain. He is also the owner of Ten Pins Alley.
The Thrilling Threesome – Superhero team made up of the superhero's Captain Inferno, The Silver Sorcerer and The Brain. This team was mostly retired until they helped Slush rescue her father and mother.
Villains:
Ashley Evans – Mother of Jackie and wife of Michael. For the last 14 years has been in a Mental Institution. Before her hospitalization was the superhero known as Cantrip. Purchased a magic item when her child was a toddler and fell ill. The magic item, Morgana's Bracelet enabled the soul of Morgan le Fay to possess her and until recently, Ashley had been resisting her. However, recently, Morgana gained control and escaped the hospital and became the super-villain Arcana.
Destructo – Minor super-villain who kept kidnapping Jake after his father was outed.
Huntmaster - Minor super-villain who kept kidnapping Jake after his father was outed.
Headpin – A super-villain who died a couple of years ago due to a heart attack. The Ten Pins Alley used to be his secret hideout.
Non-hypers:
Alan – He was Jake's only remaining friend in Edmonton.
Jenny – A girl about six years old rescued by Slush in Nathan Phillips Square.
Sarah – Mother of Jenny.
Glitch:
Locations:
Aaron Morris Private School (AMPS) – School for mutants started 10 years ago by Deep Blue. It is located on a former Canadian Navy base on an island in Hudson Bay.
Dorm 7 – A dorm on AMPS
Morristown – The town that has grown up around AMPS with a population made up of a lot of former students and support people for the school.
Morristown General Hospital
The Edge Mall – Shopping Center in Morristown
The Cutting Edge Hair Salon and Body Piercing Shop – Located in The Edge Mall
Known Hypers:
Tim – Night Supervisor of Dorm 7 AMPS. He has the ability to detect magic.
Erin (code-name Allure) – Girl about 15 years old assigned to Dorm 7.
Mrs Karen Morris AKA Deep Blue – Founder of AMPS.
Daniel/Dana O'Brien – Computer Specialist/Repair at AMPS. A magical/electrical glitch activates his dormant H-chromosomes and he becomes a daughter of Danu the Moon Goddess as well as regressing physically to about the age of 15. Because of all the changes, she is no longer able to work at AMPS but is accepted as a student assigned to Dorm 7 with the code-name of Moonchilde.
Stacey O'Brien (code-name Fortune) – Wife of Andrew, she owns The Cutting Edge Hair Salon and Body Piercing Shop in the Edge Mall in Morristown.
Curtis O'Brien – Son of Andrew and Stacey. He is a Cat One magic user and student at AMPS.
Mundanes, Unactivated Hypers or people not described as an active Hyper
Dr Jennings – She is a Doctor at Morristown General Hospital where Daniel was sent after his h-chromosomes activated.
Dr Sanchez – He runs magical research for one of the four Experimental Labs in Morristown.
Andrew O'Brien – Daniel/Dana's brother. He has dormant h-chromosomes.
Everett – Staff at AMPS
Syryn's Song:
Locations:
New Haven CT – The location for most of the events of this narrative.
Jumping Bean – Coffee Shop
Club Tartarus – A club that Ken got the Band a gig at before his change.
Farnam Memorial Gardens – A public space in New Haven where the band-members were underage drinking. It is also the location where Alex physically assaulted Ken and seriously hurt him enough to put him in the hospital in Intensive Care.
New Haven Children's Hospital (NHCH) – The hospital where Ken was sent after Alex attacked him and where his dormant h-chromosome activated.
Hyper Ward – A ward set up in a secure location in the basement of NHCH to care for and protect children who have undergone having their h-chromosomes activate.
Hill Regional Career High School – The school Dr Park used to test-out Leslie and Candy while they were in the Hospital. They are now both graduates of that school.
New York City, NY
Carl Schurz Park – Park located across the street from the secret HQ of the Superhero group Aegis
East 88th Street New York City – The address of the building housing the secret HQ of Aegis
The Freak Show – This is a social gathering of NYC Hypers that is invite only and moves from location to location. Only Hypers are allowed entrance.
Groups or Organizations:
Red Prophesy – Teen Band
Deadends – A band that was discovered at Club Tartarus.
Church of the Purity of Adam – Church Ken's mother attends. This “Church” is rabidly anti-hyper along the lines of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Aegis – Superhero group based out of East 88th Street New York City facing Carl Schurz Park.
Hyper Protection Program which is an offshoot of the Federal Witness Protection Program.
RevolveR - Name of a new Band who also happen to be a Cadet-branch of Aegis.
H8 - A Hyper Street Gang.
Special:
The Ladybug – Transport vehicle of Aegis designed and built by Blake Dixon.
Hypers:
Hero's:
Lisa Leeds/Liberty – Leader of Aegis. Friend of Dr Park.
Nick Tanner/Blackout – Member of Aegis, able to cancel out the powers/abilities of others by touching them. Is also able to detect and measure powers/abilities.
Travis Truman/Silver Spirit – Member of Aegis. However, he is not a Hyper. His abilities are due to a suit from an escaped Alien from the Roswell crash who died while passing over his uncle's ranch. The suit has an AI that is bonded to Travis and refers to itself as Phil.
Jason Jackson/Phantasm – Member of Aegis
Tessily – Sidhe Princess who after being cursed 8 centuries ago by her sister and then freed from her curse is now a member of Aegis.
Blake Dixon/Prodigy – 15 year old son of Senator Dixon who was rescued by Liberty. The Senator asked Liberty to take in Blake under a new name for his own protection so is now Lisa's foster son. While not an official member of Aegis he does design and build many of their devices for them. Also the secret founder of The Freak Show.
Senator Ronald Dixon – United States Senator who is the unofficial patron of Aegis (not know if he is or is not an unactivated Hyper).
RevolveR – Name of the Band and Cadet-branch of Aegis consisting of Syryn, Twilight, Starbright, Decibel and Riff.
Ken Graham now Candice Lynn/Candy (code-name Syryn) – 17 year old founding member/lead singer/manager of Red Prophesy. Booted from the band due to Alex after his h-chromosome activated. Taken in by Aegis after being released from the hospital. Lead Singer of the Band Revolver and leader of the Cadet branch of Aegis.
Leslie (code-name Twilight) – 18 year old patient in the Hyper Ward who becomes Candice's friend. They decide to room together when they are released from NHCH. Taken in by Aegis after being released from the hospital. Organist/Keyboardist of RevolveR, Cadet branch of Aegis.
Mai Tanaka (code-name Starbright) – Hyper introduced to Candy and Leslie at The Freak Show. She is a Bass Player and back-up singer. Now a member of RevolveR. She is also the older cousin of Suki (see A Star is Born)
John Edwards (code-name Decibel) – Another Hyper introduced to Candy. He is a drummer and Starbright's boy friend. Now a member of RevolveR.
Ian Smith (code-name Riff) - Another Hyper introduced to Candy. He is a guitarist and now a member of RevolveR. He is also now Candy's boyfriend.
Tara Miller – She is Aegis's contact in the Hyper Protection Program which is an offshoot of the Federal Witness Protection Program. She is one of the few outside Aegis who knows their actual identities and she is a Hyper as well.
Dr Madison (Maddie) Park – She is NHCH's resident expert on Hyper's. She is of Asian decent possibly Korean. She is also a Hyper as well and is basically a super-genius.
Guardian – Doorman and public face for The Freak Show. He works for Blake and used to be his bodyguard. He is able to teleport and temporarily paralyze people by touching them.
Unaligned Hypers:
Marcus (code-name Smog) – 14 year old patient in the Hyper Ward.
Eric (code-name Tazer) - 14 year old patient in the Hyper Ward.
Jeff (code-name Armor) - Patient in the Hyper Ward.
Hyper-villains:
H8 – A group of Mutants who are little more than street gangers with superpowers.
Ogre – Large obnoxious Hyper who tries to horn in on Candy at The Freak Show. Candy very artfully put him in his place. However, as he is a bully he does not seem to have very much in the way of common sense. Member of H8.
Scanner – Friend of Ogre who has the ability to detect and measure the powers and abilities of other Hypers. Seems to be a little bit brighter than Ogre. Member of H8.
Ronin – Leader of H8, he is cat 3 in speed and agility and fancy's himself a Samurai.
Imp – Member of H8, he has red skin and bat-like wings allowing him to fly.
Micro and Macro – Members of H8, they are fraternal twins, the sister is able to shrink and transfer the lost mass to her brother who then grows in size and strength. If either one goes unconscious then their power is negated.
Tendril – Member of H8, she has black energy tentacles.
Pyra – Member of H8, she is a cat 4 Pyromorph and Pyrokinetic who is capable of flight.
Non-hypers or people not known to have the Hyper Chromosome:
Lenny – Founding member of Red Prophesy, no longer a friend of Ken after his change.
Peter - Founding member of Red Prophesy, no longer a friend of Ken after his change.
George - Founding member of Red Prophesy, no longer a friend of Ken after his change.
Alex Collins – Joined band much later. He is an attention whore, Glory Hound and trouble-maker. He is the cause of Ken's change and the one who forced him out of the band.
Janet – Nurse at NHCH.
Dr Lewis Gordon – Ken's Doctor at NHCH before his change.
Sgt Tompkins – Police Officer with the New Haven Police Department. Investigating Ken's assault.
Tony – Orderly at NHCH.
Mrs Graham – Mother of Ken who renounces and abandons him after his change.
Dr Howe – Doctor assigned to the Hyper Ward.
Dr Winters – Doctor assigned to the Hyper Ward.
Judy – Saleswoman at a Victoria's Secret when Candy and Leslie are given time to go do some clothing shopping.
Becky – Webcast Hostess affiliated with the New Haven music scene.
A Star is Born:
Locations:
Taylor Manitoba
St Michael's Orphanage – Catholic Orphanage in Taylor Manitoba
Red River Research Institute – Location of unethical and highly illegal research into the Hyper Chromosome.
Winnipeg Manitoba
Non-hypers or people not known to be unactivated Hypers:
Sister Maria – St Michael's Orphanage
Mother Jane – Mother Superior of St Michael's Orphanage
Dr Hayes – Unethical research Scientist studying the Hyper Chromosomes. His plans are foiled by Glen and Suki.
Natalia (Talia) and Gwen – Teen girls that Suki meets while shopping in a mall in Winnipeg. They help her to purchase about a weeks worth of clothing and other necessary items.
Hypers:
Hero's:
Glen Phillips – 15 year old orphan with unactivated h-chromosomes.
Sakura (Suki) Yoshida - 15 year old orphan with unactivated h-chromosomes.
Due to an unethical Scientist these two were taken from St Mike's along with 3 other orphans for unethical and illegal research into the h-chromosome. Glen and Suki are close friends and as part of the experiment they were told to assume the form of the other and if they failed, the other would be killed. The two of them were told to physically transform themselves to look like the other after being given a shot of adrenaline. This they did but not in the way that the scientist's wanted. Instead, they permanently assumed idealized forms of each other and gained abilities not anticipated by the scientist's. Now Glen is Suki and Suki is Glen. While escaping from the facility they come across a rogue group of Hyper's. The leader of this group gives them names Astraea for Glen/Suki and Hephaestus for Suki/Glen. However the two of them refuse to join with them. After they take the time to figure out what they can do, Suki/Glen goes with the code-name of Chassis and Glen/Suki goes with Stellar.
Villains:
The Titans – A group of rogue Hypers with a stated goal of ruling the world.
Gaia – Leader of the Hyper-terrorist group, The Titans. She has the ability to activate the h-chromosomes of people with this mutation.
Hermes – Member of The Titans. Appears to be the group's rapid transport person possibly via a form of teleportation.
Artemis – Member of the Titans. She is a very good archer and her arrows appear to be electrically charged. She owns a small farm south of Winnipeg.
Ares – Member of the Titans. Very fast regeneration of health. So fast that possibly the only way to kill him is to destroy his head. Also quite effective in melee combat.
Stephanie – 17 year old orphan who was taken with Glen and Suki. After the breakout she joins the rogue group and is activated by their leader who gives her the name of Nyx.
Unactivated Hypers:
Jason – 6 or 7 year old orphan also from St Mike's. He ends up in the in the hands of The Titans.
Karen - 6 or 7 year old orphan also from St Mike's. She ends up in the in the hands of The Titans.
Cat Stop Loving You and Once Kitten, Twice Shy:
Locations:
Vancouver B.C.
Metropolis Mall – Burnaby, Vancouver B.C.
Belle Boutique – A store in the Mall catering primarily to Teen fashions
Larry's Auto – James worked there under the table part-time.
Holiday Inn – Hotel where Emma stayed the night after she activated.
Hypers:
Hero's:
The Sentries – Canada's premier superhero team based out of Vancouver B.C.
Laura Lewis/Makeshift – Kat's mother, she is a metamorph and the leader of the Sentries
Clarice/Wildthing – She is a member of The Sentries. She has the appearance of a Cat-woman.
Tina/Rune – Member of The Sentries. Her abilities are primarily deal in magical abilities. She is also the team Doctor with both mundane and magical healing.
Peter/Edge – He is a member of The Sentries. He is strong, fast, agile with very good martial arts abilities both with weapons and unarmed.
Tom/Sonic – He is a member of The Sentries. His ability is super-speed.
Kevin/Katrina Lewis (Copycat) – Formerly an Afro-Canadian male teen. Now an activated female Hyper who looks like another Hyper (Wildthing). She has the ability to copy the abilities of other Hypers as well as detect (track) them and determine how powerful they are.
James/Emma Grant (Wisp) – Afro-Canadian male teen who is the best friend of Kevin/Kat. Activated during a fire in school and essentially became something his mother totally detests, an Amer-Asian female Hyper. Essentially became a Ninja with magically created weapons who has the ability to teleport.
Villains:
The Foul Four – Super-villain team consisting of Professor Panic, Alloy, Amazon and Terror.
Professor Panic – Probable leader of The Foul Four.
Terror – She feeds on fear and summons nightmarish creatures.
Alloy – His ability allows himself to essentially become a metallic form which he then fights in.
Amazon – Not much is explained about her abilities other than she fights with a sword and seems to be powerful enough to fight Edge.
Lodestone – Level 3 Hyper Villain who is stopped from robbing from a Jewelry Store by Kat and Wisp.
Unaligned Hypers (people just living normal, mundane lives):
Marcus Lewis – Kat's father who is described as being a living null zone for Dark Magic.
Tara Lewis – Kat's younger sister, Unactivated Hyper
Dr Cerice Pepper – She is an Empath who uses this ability to good effect in her practice as a Psychologist. Her office is in a seven story building on Robson St. She is a friend of the Lewis family as well as the members of The Sentries.
Leia – Cerice's Receptionist, she appears to have an unknown level (probably low) of Telekinesis.
Non-hypers or unknowns:
Larry – Owner of Larry's Auto
Mr Lawson – Substitute Teacher at James and Kat's High School.
Nick Wallace – James' lab partner. Nick is confined to a wheel chair.
Mrs Grant – Mother of James who is very bigoted to Asians, Whites and Hypers (may or may not have the H chromosome).
Dr Grant – Father of James and a Dentist. James believes that his father is bigoted as well (may or may not have the H chromosome)..
Jennifer – Burger King employee in the Food Court of the Metropolis Mall. She attempts to help Emma after she teleported there after she ran from her mother at home.
Penny – Holiday Inn Manager who helps Emma by getting her a room for the night after she left Jennifer at the Mall.
Amanda – Daughter of Penny
Anna Kwan – Reporter for CTV Vancouver