Now if I ever said that Dakota was a normal place I lied. A few years back there had been this huge gang fight at a chemical storage yard where a lot of people got exposed to a toxic gas, it created mutates or Metahuman as some called them. Among the more urban the incident in the chemical yard had had come to call the big gang, thusly earning the Metahuman the nickname Bang-Babies. At first if seemed like the Bang-Babies were nothing but trouble then along came Static Shock. He was a real hero and fought every villain and crook that came along and believe you me there were a lot. After a year Static was joined by a partner who called himself Gear. Everyone loved them and I had to say I was quite taken with them myself.
"Ivan did you see this." Said daisy walking up to me during lunch with a paper in her hand. She handed it to me and I read it out loud
"Annual science far, cash prize of 5, 0000 $ and a chance of an internship at Alva industries. All participants must register by March 23rd with complete essay about project." I read then looked up at daisy.
"I have to enter." I said happily. "An internship at Alva industries. I would die for even a shot of something like that."
I heard Virgil give a loud snort of disgust. I turned to see him and rich giving the piece of paper the most heated look, I was surprised the thing hadn't burst into flames.
"Alva's a crook and an ass. I would die just to see him from behind bars." Said Richie. He took the paper and read over it again then pointed something out to Virgil.
"The bastard's even sponsoring the thing."
"That can't be good."
They continued to murmur to each other as daisy snatched back the paper and handed it to me.
"I don't care what they say. I'm going to enter."
And enter I did. I wrote my thesis on my project which I stated in on paper would revolutionize decretive gardenining. For the next month or so I was hardly ever out of my greenhouse and when I was at school I spent all my free time pouring over books.
I set far too involved in my book to listen to Virgil's constant badmouthing of Edward Alva and his company.
"I mean come on man you have money like crazy why would you need to win this thing."
I finally closed my book and eyed with agitation which with my features just made me look a little constipated.
"My father used to work for Edward Alva when he was young, before he moved back to Gothom to work for Wyne industries." I said looking him in the eyes. I implored him to understand.
"All I'm saying it that Alva has issues and he's not the best person to trust." Said Virgil patting my shoulder before leaving.
I shook my head and tried to control the butterflies he had just given me and went back to my book. Suddenly my book was snatched from my hand and my face was slammed into the table top. I cursed as I heard someone behind me snickering. I turned around to see Rex Raptor and Doug Jones. I didn't know anything at football but I knew that rex was a quarterback and Doug was a linebacker and they were both world class douche bags.
"Whatcha reading freak." Said rex grabbing my book flipping through it before reading the cover.
"Exotic flowers of the world." He read then began to laugh.
"You're not only a freak but a faggot as well." He said throwing my book down.
"Thinking of putting some pwetty flowers in your hair before you go off to dance with the other fairies." Chided Doug. I closed my book and grabbed my bag to go but they weren't going to give up that easily.
"Hey wait fag, we read what you said in Frieda article in the school paper." Said rex. It took me a moment to get what he was talking about. Frieda had done an article on steroids in the football team and had asked me as I had the highest grades in chemistry and biology to give her some input. I told her all the typical signs to look for as well as a few that only I knew of. I also told her that they way most athlete particularly high school athletes get away with it was to lace whatever they were taking with belladonna or wolfs banes. They made it almost impossible to find any trace of the steroids in the system because they over powered them.
"I had to piss in a cup because of you, you fucking nerd" said rex as he and Doug fallowed me into class as the bell rang. I tried not to look too intimidated but I'm sure I simply looked like Bambi before the gun went off rex pushed me into the class and whispered something in my ears along the lines of "your dead." I stood there for a few moments just like a deer in head lights then took my seat. Virgil and Richie asked me what was up and if I was ok but I just slid down in my seat. I could feel rex and Doug glaring dagger as at me from across the room. My mouth had most likely just earned me an early grave. Why oh why did I have to be so fuck smart.
Class began and homework was handed in. the lesson went on as usual as the teacher began to grade our papers. Halfway through class there was a ring on the class phone.
"Yes, Mr. Greer speaking. Oh that wonderful. I'll tell him right away."
Mr. Greer hung up the phone and walked over to my desk with a huge smile.
"Mr. Ivan Isley. I am pleased to be the first inform you that after reviewing you thesis you have been entered into the science fair's young mastermind category." He said and my jaw dropped as a few people cheered. Virgil hugged me and Richie ruffled my hair.
"Edwin Alva himself read over your thesis."
I couldn't believe it. I was not only in the fair but in the highest category. I was in a fog the entire day. The entire week seemed to rush past like a blur. Rex and Doug continued to torment me but after they were benched it got a lot worse and a lot more physical. I was slammed into locker door pushed down in the locker room shoved, punched and poked whenever the opportunity arise. But, nothing could take my mind off the fair.
"So just what are you going to be entering into the fair Ivan?" asked Richie as he and Virgil helped me carry the covered crates containing my new breed of flower in freeman community center where Virgil's father worked. I smiled and told him to put down his crate.
"These little puppies or should I say poppies are living thriving nightlights." I stated happily.
"Wait are you saying you grew light." Said Virgil.
"No, not really. My poppies store solar energy all day and when it's dark they glow. I simply reversed the genes of a lunar flower which only blooms under a full moon. They glow only bright enough to light up about four feet around the place they are set."
Virgil and Richie smiled in awe.
"That is so totally cool." Said Richie.
"Look out rich he might be giving you a run in the genius department." Said Virgil.
We set up my table with only one more box to go. I told them I would get it myself. I had an extra pot I needed to bring in as well. As I was pulling everything out of my jeep I was pushed down and my plants went flying. I looked up just in time to see my poppies being crushed under two pairs of heavy feet.
I set up screaming in protest as Rex and Doug stomped my creations into mulch.
"Ha-ha, look at him cry." Said Doug stepping back to show off what he had done to my flowers. I wept over them like I had lost a dear friend unable to control my emotions.
"Ivan!" called a voice I only halfway registered. I looked up to see rich, Virgil and daisy running over to me just as a fist connected with my gut. I flew and landed hard on my back.
"That's just a taste you little queer. Your fairy ass is grass." Said rex as he and Doug took off.
I wasn't even concerted that I just coughed up a puddle of blood; I couldn't stop crying about my plants.
"It's ok, Ivan." Said daisy cradling me in her arms.
Virgil and rich picked up my pot and placed it next to me. It was my dragon orchid, the size of a small tree and blooming in deep blue. It was still in tacked and just fine. I let go of daisy and kissed my plant.
The science fair was a blast I was sure but my mind was seething with anger and hatred. Rex Raptor and that bastard Douglass Jones would pay for ruin my creations.
What had my flowers ever done to them? What had I ever done to them? I would fix this and soon. It was time plants and I had a fighting chance.
"So could you demonstrate just what your poppies do?" Asked a lady in pair of horned rimmed glasses. I hardly heard what she was saying but responded quickly as I could.
"These poppies feed off virtually nothing but sunlight and have to only be water once every two months. But what makes them so extraordinary is that after storing all the solar energy and light for the day when the sun sets they glow." I said pointing to the pictures of my flowers in the dark of my room.
"Could you demonstrate please?" Asked the lady. Her comrades nodded in agreement.
I tapped Virgil on the shoulder and he ran off for the light switch. Everything when dark quicker then I thought he could've reached them considering the switch was all the way across the room.
My poppies began to glow in bright pink and yellow blossoms. The glow went further then I thought it filled the entire stadium with their early pink light.
"Just imagine if you will. No more light along the lawn path, no more nightlights in your children's rooms. Simply plant these along you walkway and they will light up the night in a beautiful array of pink and yellow. Or place them on the window seal of your little girl's bed room during the day and when the sun sets bring them in to use as e nightlight." I said.
There was applause and the judges exchanged impressed looks.
I won of course but I was still utterly surprised at my luck.
Virgil lifted me into the air and he and Richie carried me to the stage on their shoulders. I couldn't speak I just smiled like an idiot, pushing my glass up repeatedly though they hadn't moved an inch.
I told my mother everything and she couldn't have been happier. She was just sad that she wouldn't be home to see me off on my first day as an intern.
"You must be Ivan." Said a tall white haired man. He wore a gray suit over a purple dress shirt that made his sharp features almost deadly.
"I am Edwin Alva. Please allow me to lead you to your lab."
"Wait I have a lab?" I gawked and he only smiled.
"Well you didn't expect to intern as a desk job did you. My top botanist will be working with and around you but you will be free to do as you wish in you free time."
I fallowed in shocked silence.
I was put to work right away and found quite quickly that I was a natural leader.
My days seemed to fly by. At school I spent all my time under Virgil and Richie who wouldn't let me out of their sight to protect me from rex and Doug. The girls were no different and insisted on walking me to Alva labs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But all this didn't deter my tormentors. They made my life at school so horrid that I only found solace in my work at the lab or in my green house.
"Ivan read this." Said Virgil dropping a piece of paper on my lunch try for me to read. It was a newspaper article.
"Alva busted on big bang." Read the title. I scanned the article reading all the info that tied Edwin Alva to the big bang. It was more then obvious that his company was to blame but as for Alva being directly guilty.
"Ok so what is this suppose to mean." I asked Virgil sighed as he and Richie took a seat on either side of me.
"Alva is a monster man. He's responsible for the big bang and all the bang-babies." Said Richie.
I shrugged my shoulders and continued to eat.
"I love the fact that you guys are trying to look out for me and I'm grateful really I am." I said.
"But I'm not a child and I can take care myself in the matter of Alva labs."
I was about to stand up and head back when I felt Virgil take my hand.
"We're sorry." Said and Richie nodded.
"Yeah man we just… we just know someone who was close to Alva and got hurt."
I hugged them both then did something that made me stand stock still upon realizing I had done it. I kissed them both on the cheek. I stared wide eyed at them for a moment then rushed off to class.
"Ivan this came in the mail for you from Alva industries." Said my mother handing a long cylindrical shape in her hand wrapped in brown paper.
"This letter was attached to it."
I took the whole thing and read the letter.
Dear Ivan.
I hope this will hope in your research in my labs as wells as during you own endeavors. Please take it will my fullest appreciation for joining my team. I remember your father and what a gifted chemist and toxicologist and has been sourly missed. Good luck.
Sincerely
Edwin Alva
I kissed my mom then ran off to my lab. Over that fast few days I had kept my promise to myself and begun work on trying to grow plants that could fend for themselves and I mean more so then a Venus flytrap, or pitcher plant. I wanted a plant that attacked and fought with it's tormentors. The only problem was that my plants never survived the infusion of altered plant DNA. So I changed up my theory and instead of trying to strengthen the genes of carnivorous and predatory plants I thought what if I tried to merge the DNA of actual carnivores and predators with that of said plants then merge them with regular everyday plants. Here was hopping that whatever Alva had sent me would be just the thing I needed to splice the genes together.
I unwrapped the cylinder and laid it on my desk. It was clear with thick white letters that read chem. X42. Inside was a dark purple sparkling liquid that I could have sworn I had seen before and why did the name of this chemical sound so familiar? That's when I remembered the article Virgil and Richie had handed me. Chem.x42 was the official name of the Bang-Babie gas and the inky purple liquid in the canister was the liquid form of it. Alva had given me Bang-Babie gas. This was perfect. With the gas it would all to easy to alter my plants genes and add the carnivores plant/ animal genes. I began to set and started on my work right away. I worked for hours lost in my work. I was sure that my mother had come in and told me she had to leave but I didn't here or even register it.
It was late when I set up to a low hissing noise. Finally my work was complete and looking at me was the fruit of my labor. I had combined the genes of an Egyptian asp and belladonna or deadly nightshade with a tiger lily/ starburst lily hybrid. The result was breathtaking. A serpentine head sprouted from the center of pedals of a large violet and scarlet starburst lily. Each pedal ended in a small barb. The stem of the flower was grew coiling and writhing around the support I had stuck in the pot that had been. It was hard to tell which was more evident in this creature, the flower or the serpent. On one hand it strangely resembled a snake with odd leaf like protrusions along it's body and a ring of colorful plumage around it's head. On the other hand I could be seen as a flower that just happen to greatly mimic a snake.
I could see the poison and toxins drips from my baby's fangs as it hissed at me. I smiled and stoked it's pedaled head. My little viper lily cooed and pressed it's head into the palm of my hand. The pedals laid back making it's appearance far more snake then plant.
I looked at the siring containing the same genes as the one I used to create my new born baby yet with a different serpent gene. This one contained the DNA of a python and a cobra. I had chosen serpents because out of all creatures they were the ones that seemed to have the most in command with plants at least on a visual and defensive level. I had always thought that if plants were animals they would something like a serpent. I walked over to belle's jar and lifted the heavy glass dome.
"Now its your turn beauty." I said before stabbing her thick wooden stem with the siring. I set and wait at a desistance for the change to begin.
"What up queer?" Said a voice from behind me.
I turned around to see Rex, Douglass and another of their cronies Ramiro standing in the doorway of my green house. I stood next the table clutch at the edge as my viper lily hissed in agitation.
"What are you doing here?" I said picking up my creation and the canister of Bang-Babie gas. And stepping back.
"What the fuck is that!" cried Doug pointing at my flower as it hissed.
"What ever it is fuck it up." Said rex swinging his bat and smashing half my plants on the trough.
"No I said rushing forward to grab the bat. Rex punched me and Doug threw me backwards. My back hit something but I was in too much pain to say a word. I dropped my viper lily and it bit into my leg. I screamed and was suddenly punched. Then I heard the boys stand back in shock. I looked up to see Bella with her serpentine mouth wide open. I dropped the canister just as the she bit down on my shoulder. Her roots broke out of the flower pot that contained her and the flow of dirt rushed out knocking over the table and shelf of toxic chemical and collection of animal and plant poisons. I felt the earth begin to dissolve under my feet and I and my two monstrous creations plummeted into the earth.
The three massive cavemen watched as the python/flower-thing bit into Ivan's scrawny shoulder. He dropped the can of purple stuff he was holding and sparkling purple smoke filled the air. The thing's serpentine roots broke through the huge pot and began to whip about causing a shelf filled with vials, and bottles that made the ground under Ivan's feet begin to dissolve. In seconds the entire green house was filled with the purple gas and Ivan was gone below the earth with gigantic snake flower and the tiny serpent flower. They stood outside the greenhouse. In one fluid movement they were in the back of Ramiro's truck and speeding off back to rex's house.
"We killed him yo." Said Ramiro.
"We killed him, we…we have to call someone. The police, his mom someone."
Doug just set in rex's computer chair and stared off into space rocking back in forth with his knees drawn up to his chest. Rex was sitting on his bed shaking his head.
"Are you guys listening to me? We killed someone." Said Ramiro.
"Yeah I heard you and I don't know what you talking about. The little fag tripped and that …thing killed him. I didn't even leave the house." Said Rex.
Ramiro couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Are you serous? This was all your idea. Scare him is what you said." He cried.
"He only tripped because you crushed his flowers. I punched him, dough pushed him and then you punched him again. We're all responsible here yo."
Rex stood up and shook his head yet again.
"We have to go back and make sure he's ok." Whispered Doug.
"Who, I honestly don't know what you two are talking about. We've been here all night." Said rex sitting back down on his bed and opening a playboy magazine.
Ramiro balled up his fist, grabbed Doug by his shirt and pulled him out the door. If Rex wasn't going to do anything that was all fine and dandy. He wasn't going to responsible for him. If Ivan was dead he would call the police and if he was hurt he would call the ambulance and tell the poor nerd they hadn't meant any harm they had just wanted to scare him.
The drive back to Ivan's small estate was silence save for Doug's constant whimpering and murmuring. He had said something about the plant thing that had bitten Ivan and Ramiro didn't blame him. The small one that Ivan had been holding had freaked him out but when the huge monster stirred he had pissed his pants, something he was only just noticing.
They pulled into Isley estate and parked the truck. The greenhouse was dead silent and the lights were flickering and buzzing. The stuff that had dissolved into ground must have eaten through some electrical wiring. Everything was chaos and the evidence that something had happened.
The two jocks crept further inside over to the hole that had swallowed Ivan. The fallen shelves and broken pottery from the events before covered the hole fracturing the eerie pink and green glow from below.
Ramiro moved some of the wreckage from over the glowing hole and looked into it. The glow blocked out anything that was beyond.
"Ivan!" called Ramiro. "Ivan, are you down there?"
Suddenly there was a hissing noise from among the wrecks and the serpent flower thing slithered out. It was only the small one but the two boys were still frightened.
"Kill it!" cried Doug jumping on the table, trampling all the plants as he handed his buddy a set of shears. Ramiro grabbed them and cut the little fucker in half the poor creature writhed s few times make pitiful noises then it died.
"That was close." Whimpered Doug. Hr was about to give a sigh of relief when the ground began to quake. The lights in the hole began to dancer, growing brighter and brighter as the Doug and Ramiro back themselves into the wall missing the door completely. Out of the shallow grave of Ivan isley grew a gigantic flower that neither boy could place for it resembled all of the most beautiful blooms ever seen in a florist shop window. The bulb sprouted from among crimson and emerald leaves of poison ivy and pedals of the gigantic flower covering the hole completely.
Both Boyd held their breath as the bulb in the center of the huge flower unfurled to reveal the beauty inside. Curled up the fetal position laying on his side was a boy that the two could only compare to a god. He was white as snow with skin of flawless alabaster, skin devoid of any markings what so ever. Hair fell over his shoulder and body as he stirred and the vines shooting up from the ground helped him to stand. It fell down to his knees in rippling pinkish red and garnet waves. The eyes of this white god opened and glowed and eerie neon green. The glow died and the eyes turned to a shocking absinth green. Where the hell was Ivan and who was this gorgeous creature in his place.
I stepped down from the pedals of my flower, not caring in the slightest that I stood stark naked in front of two boys from my school. It was nature's way, my way. I heard Doug whimper as he and Ramiro looked on in shock.
"Ivan is that you" said Ramiro. I looked at him in his eyes and smirked wickedly.
"What happened to you?"
"You killed me." I stated placing my hand on his huge chest and staring up into his eyes.
"But the earth gave me a second chance and now I've been reborn."
Neither boy noticed as vines placed themselves over the entrance blocking any chance of escape.
"You look great." Said Doug as I focused my attentions on him and his large arms. I pressed my bare pelvis against his and felt the instant reaction.
"The two of you came to check on me didn't you?" I asked pulling them both close to my lips. I breathed outward and their eyes fluttered. I stepped back and watched as vines wrapped around the boys necks and pulled them upward till their feet were dangling.
As the boys danced the hangman jig I turned to the mirror near where I had risen. My skin was smooth and flawless as ice, every freckle and imperfection. My once scrawny formed was filled out into a sinfully slim frame with the slightest hint of curves. My lips were red as pale rose pedals and sinfully dewy like the pedals of a flower. My hair was shade of red that I had only seen in pictures. A deep lush red that bordered ever so slightly on dark pink. My eyes glowed like absinth in a glass. The green had done this too me. As the toxins and poison dissolved the body of me and belle, her venom running through my veins the Bang-Babie gas awoke the solid around me and infused me with its power. My skin was aloe, my blood was chlorophyll and that was just the start I was sure. The voice of the green. It sung in my ears and in my veins. I could here the airy shimmering voices of my flowers and plants. Small creeping vines curled up my legs and thighs like living tattoos of ivy. Vines and ferns furled under my feet as if waiting for my command.
I turned from my gorgeous new body and looked at the two hanging jocks. The mess they had made in their pants was more then obvious and so was the spell. I waved my hand and all my flowers bloomed in unison, filling the greenhouse with the smell of intoxicating poisonous perfume.