Uprooted!

Honey

Saturday, and both my parents were home watching the news. I was in the kitchen, fiddling around with my flash drive on my mom's laptop. I have, like, a hundred different recipes saved on my flash drive, and I'm adding more from a large book of Mom's – in fact, that was what I was doing.

Oh yeah – I wasn't wearing my gloves, either. I never wear my gloves in the kitchen, because there's just too big a chance that they'll get dirty, and I use my powers one step below openly in the kitchen anyway.

And, frankly, it was probably a good thing.

Suddenly, I heard an explosion come from the living room – and it didn't sound like the TV! I disconnected my flash drive, refastened it to the cord around my neck, and went into the living room, clutching Mom's recipe book to my chest.

What a sight greeted my eyes: the front door was blown in! My parents were on the sofa, clutching each other in terror, staring at the stranger standing in the empty doorway.

He was…definitely worth staring at, with all those eye-engraved scales visible on his arms and face. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and ragged jeans, along with some large dark shades. His short brown hair seemed familiar, though…

He gestured back behind him. His fingernails were grown into claws, going with the rest of his décor. "Get them back to the base, Colossus," he commanded.

A large metal man came around him, grabbed up both my parents – who were still too terrified to even speak – and left again, leaving me alone with this familiar stranger.

He turned and looked at me. "Well, Honey," he said, slowly taking off his shades, "long time no see." Then he looked straight at me, opening large green eyes!

My jaw dropped. I almost dropped the book. "Theo?"

His eyes narrowed, and he closed the shades so hard I suspected that those things weren't normal; they should have broken. "That name died when I left this house. Now, I am Basilisk. And it seems that my powers don't work on you," he added, looking mildly curious.

"Why, what were you trying to do?" I asked, trying to be flippant and not really succeeding in sounding anything other than panicked – I was considering running, and wondering if I'd get anywhere by trying. I mean, he commanded a metal man through the door, and what blew the door in, anyway? Surely he didn't do that!

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "Actually, nothing; but you of all people know that that doesn't stop my powers."

I blinked. That's right, girl; remember to blink. He's the one naming himself after a snake, not me. …Does he even need to blink anymore? "Um…yeah. You've come back, and apparently you're going to make them pay for kicking you out elsewhere. So…if your little mission's accomplished, why are you still standing here?" Is this even a good question?

He flipped his shades back open and put them on again. "Quite simple, really." And he grinned. He had grown snake fangs! Or something… "In one minute, this house will look like the Big Bad Wolf stopped by for tea. I'd rather the house was empty of life when that happened. Wouldn't you?"

That didn't take me long to figure out. What do I pretend to be now – a moving target? …Nah. Pretend to be a scared, obedient little sheep until you get out of the house. Then, while he's watching the house fall down, I run like hellhounds are chasing me.

I shrugged, trying to look calm – I bet myself I was failing – and walked past him. He followed me.

Getting outside, I saw an even stranger sight. Colossus was still there, but now he was only hanging onto my dad. Mom was being restrained, and looking repulsed, by the fattest man in history. Sitting on top of this jeep was a green-skinned…was he a teenager, or was he my age? Come to think of it, he wasn't sitting – he was hopping up and down on top of the jeep and at the height of each jump, I caught a glimpse of webbed feet. In the driver's seat of the jeep was a man in a coat, with russet hair and creepy red eyes – though how anyone's eyes could be creepy after my brother's was beyond me.

Then I blinked, and a white-haired boy wearing a green-and-white uniform was standing right in front of me! I squeaked and jumped backwards, hitting a brick wall that was Basilisk and dropping the book.

He caught it before it ever hit the floor, grabbed one of my hands, kissed the back of it, gave the book back – all in about a second – and saluted Basilisk. "There's nothing alive in the house now, Snake-eyes."

"Thank you, Quicksilver," he sounded like his patience was being strained. Didn't like the nickname but was tired of arguing about it, perhaps?

I wasn't really listening anymore, though. I was looking at my hand. I'd felt…something…else, when his bare hand had touched mine. I felt…faster. Way faster. Could it be…

Well, this is the first time I'd ever been exposed to other mutants, so how was I supposed to know what would happen? Did I just –

Suddenly, I heard a loud crash behind me – had Basilisk just trashed the house? – and my nerves, already stretched thin, snapped. I took off down the driveway as fast as I could run…which was a lot faster than normal.

Behind me, I heard Quicksilver exclaim, "What the?" and start running as well.

Let's see…I think I'm exactly as fast as he is, which could go either way. But I have two advantages. First of all, I have a head start. It's not much of a head start, but it's a head start. And two… I glanced back at him. I could still see him – right now. Hey, you're pretty fast on a clear path, Quicksilver. But how are you cross-country? I swerved off the path.

TREE! TREE! TREETREETREETREETREE! It was insane! My lack of experience at such high speeds were more than made up for by the fact that I knew these forests like the back of my hand – the palm of my hand being a mystery. I knew every fallen log, every ditch, every stream, and my body instinctively made allowances for those things before my thoughts caught up!

About five jumps in, I heard something fall hard. It sounded like Quicksilver had stumbled in a hole that I'd stepped over. All of a sudden, I felt cocky. I called back, "You've got to watch out for those rabbit holes!"

Now I wonder, I focused on running again as he jumped back up, how far do these woods actually go?

I'd carefully glanced at my watch. It only took five minutes to cover the forest I knew, and I was in unchartered territory. By then, fortunately, I'd learned to scout ahead with my eyes and find any slow-down obstacles. About a minute later, it hit me I wasn't being followed anymore.

I stopped and thought about that. Hm…I bet Basilisk called Quicksilver back, telling him not to kill himself trying to catch me. They'll probably try to find me later. I felt a tear slide down my face. Of course, they might just leave somebody at my place to see if I'll come back there. More tears followed. I have to try to rescue my parents from whatever their fate is. But if I do, and they actually get a new house, I won't be welcome there anymore. I sat down on a nearby stump and sobbed into my hands – my cursed hands that caused all this trouble.

After about fifteen minutes of this, I was able to talk reason to myself. "Oh, come on, girl. Your hands didn't cause Theo to disappear, or Basilisk to come and total the house. Your hands simply helped you escape. And now that your parents know about it, you're homeless. That's all that your hands caused." I stood up. "And now I've got to find a decent food source, water source…and a pair of gloves." And I walked off again, carrying the book as my one link to my old family.

Because I was refusing to run, it took me about two hours to reach the edge of the forest. And I gasped in wonder. There were such beautiful mountains in this direction, and a large expanse of blue sky!

"Maybe this life won't be too bad, after all!"

And with this happy revelation, I hugged my book tight and took off running towards my destiny.

A/N: I give credit for Theo's new name and appearance, and a lot of this chapter actually, to Aelita's Wings.