Alice's POV
"And you have a plan set into place if anything goes wrong?" Tiber asked, thoroughly questioning, the team leader, Kate West.
"Nothing will go wrong." She replied, but when seeing Tiber's stern face, "Of course. We can't leave without one."
"Well then who is providing cover?" He asked with a smirk.
"Metamorphis." She said with a moment's hesitation, but I only looked shocked. Tiber looked shocked for a second but then started laughing. Seeing Kate's straight face and the serious look in her eyes he stopped laughing and looked confused.
"You're letting that unstable Thing out of HQ?" He seemed surprised. I felt insulted.
"Alice is a person and deserves respect." Kate stated firmly.
He walked up to me and sneered, "Poor little thing," His voice was a falsetto, as if trying to soothe a puppy, "So scared. I'm surprised it hasn't shut down yet." I scoffed and opened my mouth revealing razor sharp serrated cat teeth and let out a low growl, the perfect pitch to send his bones rattling. Tiber fainted. I looked up at Kate whose whole body was shaking- from laughter.
"Well," Kate began, "at least we can go school shopping now." I morphed my mouth back to my normal human jaw with normal human teeth complete with braces.
"I am not sure I should go."
"Of course you should." I opened my mouth, about to argue, when I remembered just how pointless it was to argue with her.
"You are. Besides you have us. Now before Tiber wakes up, help me rally the troops. We are going school shopping." With that she zoomed off.
"You say shopping like it's a good thing." But I still followed, trudging to the living room where I knew everyone would be gathering soon enough, as she probably already told them all. Well, I thought to myself, that's the beauty of having super speed."
We all left with different modes of transportation so we could get here at different times. That way to our civilian friends we looked like we didn't live together, which we did.
I nudged the dirt with the toe of my boot, kicking up dust. Fidgeting with the hem of shirt, I waited for my friends to arrive. People walked past, most had excited looks on their faces as they chatted with their friends, ready for school shopping. I kept my head down, avoiding passer bys eyes. Carrie was standing next to me, but talking to her was like talking to a wall. She was a good friend of mine but, for as long as I can remember, she didn't talk about herself and avoided as much contact as possible. My thoughts were interrupted when a quickened pace hit my ears. It was quiet like someone was trying to sneak up on the two of us. Without warning, Carrie's weight shifted ever so slightly and her foot came out, tripping the person. An 'Oomph' hit my ears.
"What," a male voice moaned, "but how did you hear me?! The Nerd King is a NINJA!"
"Really," I whined, mocking him, causing Carrie to roll her eyes, "Devin you are not a ninja."
"YES I AM!" Devin replied indignantly.
Turning to face him, I watched him carefully. He had grown taller since I last saw him, he towered over me at about 6 feet 3 inches, and his blonde hair was clean cut with the little floppy gelled up. His muscles were relaxed and his blue eyes revealed laughter in their depths. His attention was focused on the lean and lanky girl next to me, something she seemed to be uncomfortable with.
"Jeez, Carrie!" he exclaimed, "I haven't seen you for almost two months and you tripped me!"
"Thought you were someone else." She mumbled. He just laughed then jabbed her in the side of her stomach, causing her to emit a small squeal. "There's the revenge." I thought to myself. Her eyes narrowed at him and his smile widened. I rolled my eyes and went back to people watching.
I heard more footsteps they were light but not quiet, so I knew that this person was not trying to be sneaky but didn't weigh much. This could only be-
"Hi Karah!" Devin said, interrupting my thoughts.
Before Karah could say anything Shayne popped up out of almost nowhere. "Boo."
"Creeper." Karah hissed at him. "I swear he materializes out of thin air sometimes."
Kate came up to my left and I turned and greeted her and Amy who came up behind her. She made a face at me and I stuck my tongue out at her. The corners of her eyes crinkled. Her familiar raspberry-colored, cordless over-ear headphones dangled around her neck, the near-invisible ridges where the buttons where caught my eye, and I shook my head. I made a face at her and then let my eyes wander travel around our growing group as I discerned familiar faces from the crowd. The team was spread across a small area of grass, close enough to take orders from Kate, but spaced out enough to not notice if we all suddenly dispersed.
More footsteps, also at a fast pace, were coming from my left. These weren't directed towards me, but to Kate, who was standing with her back to the person. I suppressed a grin and tried to draw her attention. She was relaxed but in a second she was whirling around at an inhuman speed to face her opponent, his wrist trapped on his back between his shoulder blades.
"Ow!" Chad moaned, "Calm down there track star." He rolled his shoulder trying to stretch it out.
Kate began catching up with Chad as if they didn't see each other today already. Some of the kids apart of Kate's team lived at our Home Base. No adults and a bunch of teenagers works wonderfully (not). We are somewhat responsible but, I mean, we are teenagers.
"So what did you guys do over the summer?" I asked loudly, drawing much more attention then I meant too.
"Not much." Devin answered, not thinking anything was out of the ordinary, "Except, oh yeah, I went to DISNEYLAND! Twice!"
"Ha," Ashley said, coming up beside Karah and Audrey, "I went to Hawaii with Nathan and Julia."
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Kate exclaimed, "Where was I when this happened?!"
"I'm guessing you were mooning over Chad again." She smirked.
Nobody in the team, especially the team captain, was used to getting crap from anyone outside the team, so Kate was almost immediately in Ashley's face. "Jeez, West, chill." Chad said, warning underlining his voice, "She was only messing."
Kate West still looked steamed but gave an almost unnoticeable nod, turned around and promptly walked back to him.
Turning to Ashley I said, "Done with your fun?" She nodded, her eyes wide, confused about what just happened in the course of a nano second.
"Ladies," Devin interrupted, "There is enough of me to go around."
Carrie laughed and then, turning to look at him, said very seriously, "Devin. No."
"Awwwwhhhhhh."
I rolled my eyes at the pair. Out of sheer habit, I began listening to the conversations around me. Some girl was arguing with her mom over a puppy, the team was mingling with civilians; there was a loud slam like a barricade being slid across the doors. Suddenly a gun shot hit my ears loud, clear and painful. Carrie was suddenly kneeling, bent over cupping her hands over her ears as if that would make the noise go away. Devin had turned towards the noise, a confused look on his face, his mind forming an unspoken question. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened, and he moved to push a now standing Carrie behind him.
Just as I turned around, to see what was happening behind me, a gloved hand grabbed reached from the space behind Carrie, grabbed her arm, and harshly yanked her to stand face to face with him. I saw her nose wrinkle as she tried to lean away from him. I could smell his garlic breath from over here as a demented smile spread across the mouth gap and he yanked her again to face us once more. The barrel of his gun was pressed to her temple and I realized she was in real danger and we weren't in practice. Wow, talk about bad luck, he couldn't have chosen anyone worse to be a hostage.
"Now everybody on the ground or I blow out her brains!" Her assailant called out as his fellows filed through the Mall gates. Everybody was looking and practically dropped to the ground. The team went down slower and was tense ready to come to her aid when West gave the signal. Devin looked at the gun, his eyes wide and panic stricken. Carrie had a relaxed look on her face, but her eyes were screaming in panic. She seemed to be forcing her breathing to even out. I could feel a presence pressing on my conscious and relented, letting Amy enter my mind. I could hear the conversation her and Kate were having, just nudging softly at my mind.
"I tried to get through to Carrie but I can't." Amy said mentally, "I know that she doesn't know about our abilities, or have any for that matter, and I can get through to anybody else, but every time I try to get in, there's something consciously rejecting it."
"You are having an off day man." I told the guy, then inside my head I contacted Amy, "Brainwave," I said, "Stop focusing on that and find out what they're planning."
"You say that like you would say "Pass the Salt.""
"Well, you're the only one with mental capabilities so get moving and link us up!" She seemed to be struggling to breathe due to the arm that he had around her neck. He flexed his arm, causing her to release a strangled squeak and a single tear escaped from the corner of her right eye. It slid down her face and landed on a cut on his arm. The cut closed up and the light pink mark slowly faded until it was indistinguishable from the rest of his arm.
"Why's that lady?" Carrie's captor asked.
"We were just waiting for you to say something." Kate called out, telepathically, "No time to waste. I'll lead alpha, Meta and I will take care of the Supers that are likely to be hanging around. Storm Chaser and Blizzard are team beta and are taking care of the hired guns. Brainwave you're leader of Delta team, take Inferno and Double Take, get everyone out. Oh, and Blizzard, I was thinking something along the lines of an ice rink. In that general direction." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her gesture towards the line that the goons were holding, or at least thinking they were holding, and smirked. Rilee's only reply was a mischievous smile while a wintery air pulled her hair in all directions, ruffling the snowy white locks making her blue eyes dance. The whole atmosphere around her dropped like 20 degrees (Fahrenheit, mind you). On the other side of me her brother started to get excited and the air around him started to heat up. Flames began to dance in his warm blue eyes. "I seriously can't believe that they are siblings," I said thinking it to myself.
"Are you even paying attention?" The masked man asked again. When I didn't answer he let off a warning shot. Carrie gave another involuntary shout of pain and I could hear her breathing excelerating.
"Wait! We're still in civies." Amy's voice echoed in my mind.
"Hey isn't it Carrie's turn to be the diversion?" Chad asked. I mentally slapped him and he flinched at the same time Amy did.
"Hey any fighting is NOT to take place through my MIND!"
"Knock it off you two- or three. Mental fighting isn't my territory. Go ahead then, Meta." Kate said to me (it sounded more like a command).I looked back at her and she smiled. I laid my head on the ground and began to morph, but very slowly so it was almost unnoticeable. My dark blue denim Bermuda shorts and black tee shirt melted into the familiar purple and pink spandex suit that I wore to hide my identity, even my tennis shoes melded into pink combat boots, which then grafted into the leggings of my suit. When I finally stood up, the poor guy did a double take. "You chose a bad day to come here." was all I could manage before my steady voice grew into a deep growl. My green eyes flashed and morphed into an earthy amber yellow with oval shaped pupils. My suit disappeared underneath the dusty fur growing, dark splotches spreading across my body. My bones grafted gracefully from that of a human to an animal of sheer power and speed. I shrieked once more as my transformation became complete; I was a cheetah, complete with a lashing tail. I shook, letting my fur fall into place perfectly, making it thick and full, not to mention still shiny, before it was to be severely ruffled.
"Show off." I heard Chad mutter. Then a gun shot went off. Her captor had freaked out, flinging her to the ground at my paws. I moved in front of her as he was continued to try to get away from me and fired a round. I moved out of the way, but still felt the hot metal brush past my ears. The team was gone leaving their backpacks behind. I knew they would come back for them.
I flattened my ears against the back of my head and hissed. He scrambled back falling into the circle of men that surrounded me, guns raised. I roared, temporarily deafening them and ran at the weak link, a rather chubby looking one. I jumped and cleared his head with ease. At the climax of my leap, I began to shrink, my entire body collapsing into a small bird. My barred wings and spotted feathers stretched against the empty space.
As I ascended I saw him. Transport, cloaked in black and yellow spandex, was looking up at me with a smirk, his eyes narrowed. I let out a piercing shriek announcing my anger at him. I dropped about ten feet before I realized was falling and propelled myself upward with a mighty thrust of my wings. He looked amused, like I had hit a window instead of faltered in my wing beats. I was a few feet away when he vanished and the feathers on the back of my neck raised against the air current, like the hairs in the back of my neck before a lightning strike. Looking around frantically, I saw Kilowatt casually leaning on the banister of the fourth floor. She waggled her fingers at me and blue green sparks danced off of the tips. My eyes widened as she shot a perfectly measured blast of electricity at me.
My resemblance to the cactus wren faded as I fell, my suit taking place of my feathers once more, I became myself once more, the last of the desert bird's pattern fading from my shoulder length hair. My super suit spilt open, from sheer force of impact, in the shoulder as I made contact with a hard object. The sudden contact sent a jolt of pain through me and I slipped into unconsciousness.
Rilee's POV
I ran out of the bathroom and directly into Chad. The white and grey feathers of my costume padded the impact but I still stumbled backwards. He steadied me and then grabbed my hand. Taking off, we flew down a few halls and then he dropped me suddenly. I rolled and came up in a crouch. My hair whipped around me, caught in the winter storm that surrounded me.
I rose from my crouch and surveyed the scene. A bird diving was diving at a super villain called Transport and I figured that was Alice. Even as I watched, safe inside my winter aura, I felt something was off. Storm chaser landed a little ways ahead of me, rain started falling indoors and I knew he felt it too. When I saw Kilowatt leaning on a railing, her black and teal costume gleaming as she let the electricity run through her, I shifted all my weight to the balls of my feet. Pure energy arched through the air making contact with Alice and I was running before she started falling.
I jumped into the air and, gathering all the moisture from the air around me as I could, twirled gracefully, the snow forming spontaneously. Upon landing, I reached up, the snow obeying my command and flying upward. I clenched my fist and it solidified into a slide of sorts. Slashing my hand in a diagonal angle, I piled the powdery substance that remained into the barrel of the 'slide' so it would soften her landing. The goons were running over each other trying to get out. I raised my hand and drug it down with a flourish, then; bringing my closed hand to my mouth I blew the energy towards them. It flew, almost as if it was conscious and knew its purpose, and covered the floor around them. I placed my right foot on the ground hard and twisted it towards my left, the snow solidified, turning into ice, their progress into all but back tracking.
Amy's POV
I reached out to try and find Kilowatt, but she was gone, long gone. I pulled my cloak around me tightly, trying to block out the side effect of Rilee's little show. Inferno seemed to hate the cold even more, even though it melted in his path. His hair was flames and they danced through the air and his eyes sparked with a set determination only the toughest eight year old could muster. The people had already been trying to evacuate themselves but the chains on the doors and bulletproof glass windows stopped them from getting very far, and on top off all that, the back lash of the snow reached even here, where it had went from summer to winter in a matter of a minute. Inferno moved through the crowd with ease as they pulled away from him.
"Now listen up, we're going to get you out of here but we need total cooperation!" I said my voice rising above all else, "You are all going to be sent out behind a police barricade. You will listen to us because we are trained to do this. My name is Brainwave, this is Inferno and this," a group of identical boys walked up next to me then all faded into one person, "is Double Take. Double Take is going to evacuate you in an orderly fashion." I said calmly, and then redirected my attention to the flaming boy, "Inferno if you will please." He raised an arm and shot a highly concentrated beam of heat at each of the chains. The crowd parted and let Double Take through, his electric green eyes scanning the crowd. I guess I can't talk though, after all, my glowing, solid white eyes could be seen even under the hood on my cloak.
Tyson's POV
I moved easily through the crowd and reached the door. I turned around and faced the crowd, quickly analyzing everyone. I smiled and began duplicating myself, dividing the people into sections of roughly 30 people in each.
"Now," I said calmly, a few of my copies repeating what I said, "You will not push or shove and will all be released in an orderly fashion. No one will go through the single door because Flicka will need it to get injured people out. Please keep an eye on small children." Everyone had their eyes trained on me. "Now, section one proceed to the door." My copies blocking section one from the door dissolved into dust that I absorbed into my suit. A couple duplicates held open the doors. Inferno stood watch at the back of the group, his burning eyes doing an infrared scan of the surrounding shops and occasionally sending a couple clones into them.
Kate's POV
I came running out of the bathroom where I changed into my super suit at mach 1 and stopped in the middle of the plaza to watch Blizzard and Storm Chaser's weather spectacle, complete with a three story slide.
Lightning fast, my eyes took in everything, making me notice a bit of red staining the ground by our backpacks. I was there before I could blink and what I saw startled me.
Carrie was lying in the grass, blood seeping out from her left shoulder, which was exposed to the air. Upon further inspection, I saw bruising on her entire shoulder and old burn marks criss-crossing her arm and shoulder. The wound seemed to be caused from a bullet as it was perfectly circular. Glancing around, I spotted at an icy slide and saw Alice cautiously standing up.
Gently picking her up, I ran as quickly as possible to the paramedics that were standing behind the police line, they rested her against a light pole and they began working on her immediately. My vision turned red and I disappeared back into the mall with power inhibiting handcuffs. Transport leaned against the railing of the top level lazily, watching the hired guns stumble around as Blizzard got some target practice in. I stopped in front of him and slapped him, good and hard on his face. Then I punched him in the gut and grabbed one wrist to trap behind his back. Still faster than he could process, I grabbed the other wrist and suddenly he was trapped in the specially designed meta-human handcuffs. Amy's voice sounded off in my head.
"Hey all the people are out. Need any help cleaning up in there?" She asked.
"I'm finishing up on my end, just need to take Transport to Belle Reve now." I answered her, feeling the once-hero tense in his cuffs.
"We could use Double Take here." Chandler said, "Bliz has a few snowmen that the police would probably like to meet."
"They're my best ones yet." The six year old winter warrior, said with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Consider me there." Tyson said.
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