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?

Shocking Developments
Part 1 of 3
Dystopia
By
Amethyst

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.”

Author's Note: Here's part1 of a 3 part story set in the Hyperverse. I was going to do this one later, but I felt that it would be better doing it now. Thank you as always to all my readers for the comments, kudos, and thinking that my work is worth reading. Also thanks to the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a wonderfully supportive venue to read and post TG fiction ~Amethyst.

Part 1: Dystopia

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.”

}>i<{

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.”

“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.”

}>i<{

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<{

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.”

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

Shocking Developments - Part 2

Author:

Amethyst

Caution:

CAUTION: Language

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Serial Chapter

Genre:

Superheroes

Character Age:

Teenage or High School

TG Themes:

TG Elements:

Other Keywords:

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

Shocking Developments
Part 2 of 3
Strange New World
By
Amethyst

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.

Author's Note: Here's part 2 of a 3. Thank you as always to all my readers for the comments, kudos, and thinking that my work is worth reading. Also thanks to the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a wonderfully supportive venue to read and post TG fiction ~Amethyst.

Part 2: Strange New World

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.”

}>i<{

“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.”

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.”

}>i<{

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<{

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.”

}>i<{

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.”

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.”

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.”

Shocking Developments - Part 3

Author:

Amethyst

Caution:

CAUTION: Language

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Serial Chapter

Genre:

Superheroes

Character Age:

Teenage or High School

TG Themes:

Body Suits

TG Elements:

Costumes and Masks

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

Shocking Developments
Part 3 of 3
Confrontations
By
Amethyst

“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.”

Author's Note: Here's part 3 of a 3. This took a little longer than I was hoping since I needed to do a bit of research for a few things.Thank you as always to all my readers for the comments, kudos, and thinking that my work is worth reading. Also thanks to the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a wonderfully supportive venue to read and post TG fiction ~Amethyst.

Part 3: Confrontations

The noise had woken the others and they were all scrambling to get out of the beds as Bailey muttered, “What the hell?!”

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<{

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.”

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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.

}>i<{

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<{

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.

}>i<{

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.”