Morganna by Joy
Warning a couple of slightly off colour words. *See end for disclaimers etc.
* * *
Morganna drifted.
Literally.
Floating mid way between the floor and the ceiling of her bedroom, the dark haired teenager absently paged through a copy of StarHawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing'. Sighing a bit, she shifted position and continued reading. If she'd bothered to look at her alarm clock she would have seen it was several hours past midnight. The block of flats was relatively quiet and the still night was uncomfortably humid.
Morganna was engrossed in her book, nearing the end so her attention was entirely on it and the slight mental effort it took to negate the gravity about her and her reading lamp. The standing fan she left on the floor, tilted in her direction. For once her paper strewn desk was safe from the artificial breeze - though how long _that_ would last was any one's guess.
The floating girl was so oblivious to her surroundings that the first hint she got that she was no longer alone was the low growl and glowing red eyes at her balcony doors.
Letting out a yelp of surprise the young mutant lost her grip on her powers and fell to the floor with a muffled crash. The lamp followed her and after a more serious' breaking sound accompanied by the tinkling of broken glass the small room was plunged into darkness.
"Oh f-" Morganna moaned as she painfully checked herself for serious injury. Dragging herself to her feet she started swearing in muttered earnest. "Shit Lil," she said softly but fiercely as she unlocked the glass door and security screen. "Did you _have_ to do that?"
Her taller red haired friend peered past her with eyes that still glowed an eerie red and shot her a disparaging look. "Yes. Nothing else was getting your attention." She declared.
"I lost my book - _and_ my place - thanks to you. And what about my lamp?" Morganna demanded. "It's not like I can afford a new one!"
"The bulb probably just broke - buy another," was the slightly callous reply.
The mutant scowled. "_If_ I'm lucky," she ranted. "And even then I'll have to go looking for one of those weirdo light bulbs. I've already spent all my money on christmas stuff. They probably cost a heap, I'll have to go with out new books for weeks so I can buy it (which will be a waste because I won't be able to put it in correctly), I'll get behind with Uni. Due to the stress of having nothing to read, and while you stand here distracting me my room with its live broken lamp will catch fire and by morning the entire block will be ash!"
Lil blinked her red eyes as though wondering ~All this from a broken bulb?~
"Ah. The joy's of University life," She said out loud.
Morganna snorted with the sort of cynical attitude found in most teenagers close to their twenties. Nonetheless, she smiled a bit sheepishly moments later and shrugged. "I was nearly finished," she said as though that was all the explanation necessary for her tirade.
Lil shook her head in resignation. "And that lamp probably _is_ pretty unsafe," The darker haired girl said before her friend could say any thing.
Lil took one look at the innocent expression on her face and growled, "Fine. I'll unplug it."
Morganna hid a grin and moved away from the door to let the taller girl through. From the balcony, watching the slender figure pad over to the appliance which shot off the odd spark was rather spooky: Her red glowing eyes were all she could see apart from a vague shadow.
"What were you doing any way, floating around like that?" Lil asked as she crouched to pick up the broken remains.
"It's hot."
Morganna managed to translate the look Lil shot her with glowing eyes that appeared to float.
Disbelief.
"Don't give me that look," she reproved. "It's already hot and sticky. The fan sort of makes up for the lack of breeze but lying on that thing," she referred to the ill made bed clothed in shadows and dim light from without. "I'd melt into a puddle and never be seen again." she finished with her usual verve.
"So you floated," it wasn't quite a question. More of an accusation.
"It was cooler," Morganna shrugged.
"And what if someone had _seen_?" Lil's voice was forcibly calm as she ignored the lamp in her hands.
"Any one not asleep is drunk upstairs," she sniffed. "And what would _you_ know about body heat? You hardly even sweat anymore."
"You've seen Hunters," The disbelief was back in Lil's eyes, along with some annoyance. She ignored the dig about body temperature. "Don't you _ever_ worry about the F.o.H.?"
"No." The teenager replied shortly, leaning against the door. "They're an American group and I severely doubt that they're as powerful as they're made out to be. The Klu Klux Klan never conquered any countries, and though the Nazi's tried they didn't get very far in the end. There are no super hero groups in Australia - let alone Mutant groups. The X-men are all over in the states. There's no reason for them to come here." She ended dismissively.
"Besides," she continued unexpectedly. "You're right. I _have_ seen hunters. I've dealt with them too so the whole idea isn't new to me." Morganna looked at her shadowed friend seriously. "I just don't think mutant hysteria will ever become strong enough in Australia to cause me real problems. Pauline Hanson's mob are the worst we've got so far and they're more of an embarrassing joke."
The eyes bobbed as though nodding. "hmm. Ok, forget about the hunters - they're not actually after _you_ any way. I admit the F.o.H. would probably fail through sheer Apathy." Morganna rolled her eyes; Lil had a great belief in Apathy. "What about Super villains or a mob?" She questioned, lamp forgotten for the moment.
Morganna tilted her head and answered with barely a pause. Not long after she'd run into her first Hunter while out with Lil, she'd considered all these things at some length. "For a super villain to come after me I'd have to go around in spandex calling myself Gravity Girl or ZeeGee or-"
"ZeeGee?" Lil interrupted, her tone amused.
"For Zero Gravity," the mutant explained with toss of her hands, red/brown eyes sparkling with suppressed mirth. "I really don't understand what they see in spandex." Morganna wasn't entirely sure about the assorted mutant groups over in America (She'd heard about a group over in the Isles but they seemed to get along with the population). They were mutants, the F.o.H. hated them and what photo's she'd seen of them didn't have the same hate in their eyes that Villains did. Three reason's to like them but with the press so sensationalised (especially around S.P.B.'s) it was hard to find the facts.
"Any way," she continued. "I hate spandex and if Gravity Girl's my best code name I'd rather avoid it till my next life." She paused a moment as though thinking. "Although... Whadda ya think of FishBane?" She asked Lil, putting up an arm to defend herself when she was mock threatened with the broken lamp, barely visible in the dim light and shooting off the odd spark. "Just kidding," she said, laughter in her voice.
Lil lowered the lamp and Morganna decided to continue her little speech while she could. "I can handle a mob," she brushed that concern aside with barely a thought. "As to super heroing; if I wanted to go about catching crooks, instead of doing my physics degree I'd-"
"Join the Police," Lil said along with her. "I know the feeling," she agreed.
Morganna shrugged with an expression that said ~eh, that's life~.
"You're almost as bad as Jess," Lil told her partially disgusted. "She treats the hunter who's been after her for decades like some sort of game!"
"Aha!" Morganna exclaimed, "Now we get to the real reason you're so paranoid."
"I am not."
"I'll be fine Lil," she reassured her friend. "I don't need to run around fighting people and gaining enemies - I don't like it either. I'm sticking to science. I'm perfect for gravity research and I won't have to use my powers openly once!" The dark haired girl grinned. "I'm not completely devoid of sense you know."
Lil rolled her eyes which looked very bizarre with the way they were glowing. "Says the girl who thinks she can take a mob on single handed."
"Well I can," she replied simply. "Are you finished with that lamp yet? Or were you just admiring the pretty sparks?"
Morganna couldn't tell how she'd reacted to the sarcasm but Lil's eyes moved and after a moment of struggle she switched it off and unplugged it.
"Bugger!" She swore hissing a little and stumbling backwards. "Bloody thing bit me!" she complained. A muffled thump came from where she must have dropped said object on the bed.
"You'll get better," Morganna told her without much sympathy. "Which is why _you_ did it instead of me. If that'd happened to me-", she shuddered expressively.
"You know Morgan," Lil approached her with false friendliness, walking back onto the balcony. "I haven't _fed_ in a while and what with getting _electrocuted_ and all I was wondering if you would-"
The young Mutant shook her head with a dangerous glint in her eyes that stood up well to her friends' cheerfully voiced threat. "Uh uh. If you want a snack Lilith you'll just have to check out that party," she jerked her head upwards.
Lilith pouted a bit. "But they're drunk," she argued.
Morganna raised her eyebrows in a falsely innocent expression of ~Oh and what does _that_ have to do with any thing?~
"If _they're_ drunk - really drunk, _I'll_ get drunk too." She paused a moment as she came back out of the door. "I _Hate_ that."
"You weren't half so sensitive back in high School," Morganna teased lightly.
"I wasn't _that_ excessive," Lilith disagreed. "Besides, that was Before."
"All right, all right," Morganna muttered irritably. "I'll take us up there but you might want to stop the glowing eyes' thing so we're not mistaken for a low flying plane."
Lilith grumbled a bit under her breath but eventually gave in. "Geez, I can hardly see anything now," she complained when her eyes stopped glowing red and returned to a normal blue/green. She paced a bit on the balcony to get used to her reduced vision. Her overly pale skin stood out from her darkly clad figure underneath the faint artificial light.
"Well I'm ready," the taller teen announced. "Hurry it up would you - I'm getting hungry."
Morganna closed her eyes briefly to concentrate then flicked her eyes wide suddenly. "Since I _know_ you're going to take your time picking something tasty, I'm taking my book," she said. "Think you could find it for me?"
"Me?"
"Yes _you_. You're the one with the glowing eyes and night vision remember?" Morganna pointed out.
Lilith looked up at the sky as though pleading for deliverance. "Why didn't you mention this _before_ I went back to normal vision?" She asked deceptively mild-voiced.
"Because I didn't think of it then," Morganna told her not fooled in the least and not backing down either. "Now are you going to help me do you a favour or are you going to let me stumble about in the dark, trip on something, break the fan and scatter everything on my desk as I fall and land on those glass shards. Unluckily cutting into an artery or two and bleeding to death messily all over my floor - just _days_ before X-mas while you watch.?"
"How much chocolate have you had tonight Mor?" Lilith asked suspiciously, examining her friend with narrowed eyes.
"I was _this_ far from finishing that book," she measured a small space between thumb and index finger. Her expression was fierce and would have easily cowed a less intimidating person. "I was up to where Maya's been hoisted onto a flag pole, Bird's been tortured and they're trying to brainwash him, Madrone- she's just returned and-"
"Enough already I'll do it," Lil growled interrupting. ~Anything to stop the ravings of an obsessive reader who's up _Waay_ past their bedtime and probably high on something chocolate~. Eyes glowing red after a moment of concentration she ducked back into the room. A few minutes later she returned with the book.
"Bleeding bloody hell!," the dark haired mutant cursed clutching at the thick novel she'd been reading. "Bright Lady - would you _look_ at this!" The book hadn't been so badly damaged as the lamp which currently lay in a broken, shattered heap upon her bed. All the pages were still whole but the cover was grotesquely bent and over half the pages were crumpled in one way or another. She hurriedly started trying to smooth the pages and cover out, muttering swear words the entire time.
"Morganna," Lilith interrupted after returning her eyes to normal. "You can do that while I snack."
Morganna scowled up at her friend ~My book, My NEW book is mutilated and all she can think of is feeding her face~ She calmed herself down with the thought of what would likely happen if her old friend _didn't_ get something soon. ~Hmm. That would be bad.~ She decided and with out warning stretched out her powers to surround them both.
Lilith yelped a bit at the sudden sensation of weightlessness but quickly got used to it. While Lil was doing that, Morganna spent the short trip trying to smooth out her book by the dim light of the odd street light and lit apartments nearby.
They came to a halt near the balcony and Morganna didn't pause in her task. From the open windows they could hear the sound of a young male singing a very _slurred_ version of "the drinking song."
Lilith winced and her friend looked up from her book long enough to say with a faint smirk, "sounds like at least _one_ of them's still standing." She turned back to her page smoothing and perched herself on a nearby ledge. "Have fun and don't get caught," she warned not looking up as she dropped Lilith on the balcony. She sensed more than saw her friend's cocky, self confident grin as she slipped inside.
Morganna settled down to wait, absently kicking her legs now and again as she went about her work. The drop of several stories was nothing to her anymore; learning she could fly was a great help in situations like that.
The man stopped singing and the place seemed ghostly quiet. Not long after the silence fell, Lilith skipped back onto the balcony. "Tasty," she said in between giggles.
Morganna looked over at her chirpy friend then regretted it and looked back at her book. "Oh yuck Lil. The least you could do is wipe your face! You've dribbled all down your chin. Talk about gross."
"Whoopsie," the overly happy girl apoligised and hastily licked her lips clean and rubbed her face with the back of a hand. The hand missed the first few tries but she eventually got the job done.
"Oh Goddess," Morganna muttered to herself disgusted as she positioned herself on the opposite side of the balcony to her tipsy friend. She floated weightless, her hands gripped the railing. "You got _plastered_? What am I going to do with you?"
"Hey Morann!" she slurred. Her eyes danced from the mutant's far left to her right, making her look a bit like she was following the trail of a pendulum. Morganna was tempted to see if she could take advantage of the attempt at self-hypnosis. "Whassup?!" Her eyes stopped long enough to focus on a point midway between them then went back to their anxious flickering as though she was trying to keep track of three people instead of one.
"Huh?" Was Morganna's not quite intelligent reply.
"You look _reaally_ pissed at someone," Lil confided in a husky whisper. Her blue/green eyes were glazed but still earnest.
"Hell yeah," the sober mutant agreed grinning slightly despite the cynical edge to the words. ~This is just _too_ ridiculous.~
"Whoah!" Lilith leaned closer completely enthralled. Morganna did her best to ignore the dark smudges on Lil's hand and chin. "Hey cool you're Fly-ing!" She finally noticed Morganna's slightly unusual position and with out warning jumped over the safety rail with surprising agility. "Can I try?" She asked, letting go and dropping like a stone.
"oh F-" Morganna didn't bother to finish the expletive. Taken by surprise she had to work fast against her panicking mind to reach out to Lil's falling body and negate some of the gravity. The now sweating mutant met her friend on the ground. The red head was still tipsy and was now looking rather bored.
"That ride wasn't very fun," she pouted.
Morganna glared at her usually focused, intimidating friend as she burped impolitely, looked faintly like ~oh my was that _me_?~ then started humming old nursery rhymes.
"I'm taking you back to Jess," the shorter girl declared, referring to Lilith's guardian of two years.
"Don' wanna," Lil sulked.
Morganna ignored the childish protests and lifted them both high into the air. ~I don't need this,~ she thought, preying they wouldn't get caught. Normally she would have gotten them there via public transport but it was after three am and they were in a hurry. ~ All I wanted was to finish The fifth Sacred Thing' But if Lil's current behaviour gets around ~ she didn't want to finish the thought so moved onto something else. ~I hope I get there by Dawn, Jess said she's usually around the studios they shoot her show at. She'll know what to do to get Lil sober - I never thought I'd see her drunk again after what happened at the end of senior year. But then again,~ she considered as buildings whipped past far below them.
For the first part of the flight Lilith had reduced herself to chucking a tantrum. Since her companion's mind was firmly else where (and remember this is a reader we're talking about - she could ignore an alien invasion or the charms of Faery land if they tried to get between her and a good book.) and while floating on air there was nothing to hit, she gave up on it and slipped into a sullen sulk.
* * *
Jess from the nationally popular and successful tv show Cooking with Jess', almost had a fit from laughing as she listened to the young mutant's tale. "She really jumped from that balcony?"
"Yeah."
"And complained the trip down was Dull?!"
"That too."
Jess was once more reduced to helpless chuckles and it was several minutes before she could speak.
"l can't believe she got drunk," the older woman said, shaking her head and sending her brown shoulder length hair swaying. "She _hates_ it."
Morganna ducked her head nervously, biting back a yawn. "Yeah, she mentioned that but what with the lamp," the girl shrugged and Jess bit her lip to stop from laughing at the mention of the notorious lamp. "Well I wasn't about to feed her personally and the party was closest."
Jess's brown eyes sparkled with mirth. With great effort she focused her mind on the matter at hand. Namely what to do with the red haired teenager who was comatose on the floor. "Hmm. What to do? What to do?" She mused out loud.
The trio were situated in Jess' dressing room which also served as her bedroom most of the time. Her show was filmed at night so she slept for most of the day and very rarely caught her show on tv; it was on at midday. As nocturnal as her protégé Lilith she was still very awake as apposed to the weary young mutant.
"She'll sleep it off," Jess decided.
"On the floor?" Morganna yawned disbelievingly.
"If she has to," the older woman told her. "Although _you_"
"uh uh," Morganna shook her head tiredly and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a yawn. "I don't think I can stop Yawning-" she yawned behind a hand. "See? Let alone use my powers."
Jess grinned a little. "Ok then, I'll take her arms you get the feet."
"Where are we putting her?" the girl asked, blinking.
"The couch looks good to me," Jess said. Bending over she grabbed Lilith's wrists and started to pull her up.
Morganna suppressed another yawn and took hold of her friends' ankles. Together they lifted her up and swung her onto the nearby couch. Neither of them bothered to straighten her up after she landed although Morganna did say, "If _I_ slept like that I'd either suffocate in my sleep or end up with one hell of a crick in the neck."
Jess fell back into one of her chairs. "Ah, the joys of being mortal," she smiled.
"It works for me," Morganna replied as she slipped back into her seat. Recovering her book, she gave it a mournful look and went back to straightening it out.
"That's _the book_ ?"
The mutant didn't look up but she did pause long enough in her muttered diatribe to reply. "yeah."
"Is that by StarHawk?" She asked, popping up again and trying to look at the cover.
Morganna never had a chance to answer. Just then the door was flung open and a grey haired man burst in. Armed with a cross bow and a crucifix, he was slightly stout, had the weathered look of a man in his fifties and was loudly chanting something that sounded Biblical.
"Keep back ye demons!" he shouted at them, brandishing the crucifix. He aimed the crossbow at Morganna, which didn't improve her mood in the slightest. He ignored Lilith as she was hidden on the couch which had its back to the door.
Jess flinched away from the cross and Morganna hid her head in her hands and groaned.
~Maybe Lil has an excuse for being paranoid - Jess _does_ seem to attract all the weirdos~ the girl thought disgusted.
Jess edged back abit and asked him cheerfully, "How are you doin' Todd? Been a while since I've seen you."
"Spawn of the Devil!," he yelled and aimed the crossbow at her instead. The cross he shifted to cover Morganna and she sighed softly in relief - She could handle crosses, crossbows were another matter. "This time I will send you to Hell where you belong!"
"_This_ time?" Jess muttered to herself. ~Who's he trying to fool?~
"I will send your sick spawn with you Child of Evil," Todd said. He gestured at Morganna with his right hand (which held the cross) and glared at the girl balefully.
"Hey I resent that!" She shot back, glaring at him in return. "_I_ happen to have a tan you looney!"
Todd didn't take her words very well and reached out with the hand holding the cross. With surprising swiftness he tore the book from her hands and threw it across the room. "Spawn of the Devil!," he roared at her.
His voice shook the room but Morganna didn't notice as her pained eyes watched the novel fly through the air and into a potted plant. "My book," she managed to squeeze out. Her eyes snapped back to the Hunter before her and their dark red depths flared with anger.
Jess watched Todd's little display and remembered the girl's reaction to it merely being dropped. ~Maybe I won't have to get rid of him after all~ She reflected.
"Bastard," Morganna interrupted the older man's scripture quoting. In an eyeblink she'd leapt out of her chair and hit him in the throat. Todd collapsed to the floor gasping and clawing at his throat. His finger had reflexively pulled the trigger of the crossbow but luckily for Jess, he proved very much right handed so the wooden bolt shot wide and shattered a framed picture of Jess with two other women instead.
Jess poked her head up from where she'd dived for cover. "Good hit," she commented to the girl as she stalked over to the plant and recovered her book.
"Yeah, well I used to take lessons. Years ago," Morganna replied distractedly. "And he thought a cross of all things would keep me back. Now _that's_ insulting." She shook her book out, not minding the scattering of moist dirt and started wiping away the worst of it with a sleeve. "Goddess. This is _just great_. First it's crushed, then it's thrown by a looney, lands in wet dirt and gets dirty as a five year old playing in mud. I'll never finish it now, the bits I haven't read are probably damaged beyond repair and I won't be able to buy another copy because A: I've spent all my money on x-mas pressies and B: I'll have to buy a new bulb for my broken lamp if not replace the lamp itself. The library won't get a copy till next year some time and even then I'd probably only get my hands on it once it's been defaced beyond repair!"
Morganna stopped and glared at the still gasping Hunter. "I could have Killed you and you should thank your lucky stars I'm not the type who'd _KICK_ you when you're down." The way she emphasised Kick made it sound like she was relishing the prospect rather than telling him she wouldn't.
"Urhg," a faint voice came from the couch. "I _hate_ getting drunk." A few seconds later Lil's head peeked over the back of the couch. "Did I miss anything?" she asked looking from Jess who was standing over a man's prone form, to Morganna who was next to a pot plant and muttering angrily as she wiped something from her book's pages.
~Wiping?~ Lil wondered coming awake more fully. ~I thought it was all just sorta crushed?~
"Just Todd," Jess told her looking back over her shoulder at her.
"He threw my book into the plant," Morganna told Lilith as her friend crept into a sitting position on the couch.
"Oh," Lilith said.
"It's got muck on it."
"Oh."
"So I hit him."
"Ah," Lilith nodded in understanding.
"What do you remember Lil?" Jess asked her, turning away from Todd.
Lil rubbed her face and blinked rapidly. "Not much past the second guy." She said weakly.
"So you don't remember jumping from the balcony?"
"Or singing nursery rhymes?" Morganna joined the fun with mock skepticism.
"What about sulking?" Jess asked with dancing eyes.
"I am never going to grab a drink from a group of drunks ever again." Lil declared with a groan, hiding her head among the cushions. "I have a reputation you know," she went on a moment later. "If any of my enemies found out about this I'd be ashes." She groaned again and hid her head under a cushion.
Jess chuckled and Morganna looked a bit cheerier when she went back to fixing her book.
"Pity about Todd," the elder woman said sadly. "He's not usually so pathetic. Why I remember a time about ten years ago now - He caught me at the set and I was forced to throw a pavlova in his face so I could get out of there before sunrise. I almost didn't make it to my Haven that time. Ah, thems were the days."
Lil extricated herself from under her hiding place and rolled her eyes at her elder's inability to take her Hunter seriously. Before she could say something she was interrupted by the low sound of chanting coming from the floor. "Wha?" she mumbled. Every thing felt sluggish and it seemed to take forever just to turn her head in the right direction.
Alien sounding words slithered about the room, wrapping themselves around the three women. Todd sat up on the floor, chanting and brandishing a twisted silver amulet.
Morganna struggled to her feet, book clutched in one hand momentarily forgotten. "One of the spells of gating," she said in surprise laboring to speak.
Todd grinned viciously but didn't stop chanting.
Jess looked shocked then determined. She too struggled with Speech. "Stop!" She commanded. Her voice echoed with her power and though he fought at first, mangling the words he gave in and silence reigned.
~Too late~ The three realised as the heaviness of the air only grew, sapping their strength. Light caught the amulet, dancing across the twisted silver and flashed outwards filling the room.
Jess fell to her knees futilely covering her eyes with her hands. Lilith toppled off the couch cursing mentally and limply grasping at the cushions to break her fall. Morganna clutched at her damaged book reflexively and stumbled into a crouch. An unheeded thump was Todd's head hitting the floor.
White light poured from the curtained window and open door, creating silence instead of noise. It vanished seconds later. Except for a single dressing room, the film studio was untouched.
Glass shards fell from a photo of three women that was speared by a wooden crossbow bolt. Dirt sprinkled an area near a potted plant and a cushion from the couch slipped from a precarious position to the floor.
There was no sign of the four occupants.
To be continued
~~~
Mutants etc are property of Marvel Comics. I'm not taking the blame ... er Credit for them, Or trying to make money out of them.
The Type of vampires I'm using are from Vampire: The Masquerade and belong to WhiteWolf. I'm just using them because they're so cool and I'm not trying to make any money with them.
Everything else belongs to the writer and is copyright Joy 1998.
If You can be bothered to read all this why don't you e-mail the author about the story? If you ask nicely she might even give you spoilers for the next three parts:)