A/N Hi people I'm back with the second chapter! I beg you, please review I need your feedback, be it good or bad at least write me something. As always I don't own Sky High and certainly not Warren (fortunately for him, unfortunately for me) so don't even bother to sue me.
2. Show me your power
An hour slowly passed and Jess was already feeling at home with the bunch of teens.
´A weird group no doubt, but hell like the X-men are normal or don't have any issues.´
"Oh I've got an idea. Why don't we go to the Paper Lantern tomorrow?"
The invitation was well intentioned by Layla but it was met with a grunt of disapproval from Will (he still didn't like Chinese food all that much) and a curious look from Jess.
"And what exactly is it?"
"Whoops, sorry I forgot you didn't know. It's our favourite restaurant and place to meet plus Warren works there. I hope you like Chinese food though."
"Yeah, sure. I'd love to go. But Will what's wrong? You didn't sound so thrilled about it."
"It's just that I still don't know what's so great about the food."
After this Jess started laughing. "Apparently you never ever had to cook for yourself huh? Or eaten anything made by some members of the X-men either right? Trust me after TRYING to eat a dish made by Kitty you would kill to go there or end up with food poisoning."
Saying this with an incredibly disgusted face made everyone absolutely positive about the trueness of her statement. Some of them even made a mental note never to eat anything prepared by Kitty who ever she was.
"Must be joy to have her on cooking duty."
"You have no idea Maj. Almost as much as when it's Cajuns turn. To say the food is spicy would be a great understatement. I'm getting thirsty only thinking of it."
"So Paper Lantern it is then."
"Hold on a sec, you said Warren works there?"
"Yeah I do." He didn't like the evil glint in her eye one bit.
"And will you be working tomorrow?"
"Why do I dread answering? But yes, unfortunately I will."
´Oh, this is even better than I anticipated.´ "Great! I think I just found a way to work on your patience War."
"Come again, I don't think I understood you the first time."
"You know I could be the very impatient always complaining never happy or contented customer."
Maj was the first to notice she didn't really mean it and decided to play along.
"Maybe we should join as well for it to have some effect. What do you think Ethan?"
"Anything for the sake of training, anything to help a friend."
"Exactly. You know Wren we're best friends for a reason."
"Yeah, like who else would be willing to do this for you but us bro?"
"I know, I can complain that I ordered something vegetarian and you brought me meat!"
"Yeah and I can say your overall cooking isn't so great!"
"And don't forget the poor nutrition!"
"And the waiters are always so slow!"
By now the whole group was participating and Warren started fuming, literarily, ready to burst into flames. Jess couldn't hold it anymore it was so damn hilarious.
"O.K. people I think we had had enough fun. We better stop."
"What? This was a joke?"
"But of course it was just a joke. I would never do that I have some manners you know. But look at yourself you almost lost control because of such a stupid thing. We really need to work on it. You can't just power up every time someone is teasing you."
He had no idea what to say to that. She was right. He really had some problems controlling his temper. He shouldn't lose control like this and especially not with his friends. They would never do any of that but then again he could never be sure. His friends could be a bit unpredictable sometimes.
"There's one thing I would like to know though. You have such a short temper or is it more to protect yourself? A habit born out of years of bad experience maybe?"
He remained silent but the look in his eyes, she knew she guessed right.
"How did you know?"
"Experience. Both with myself and others. I had to put up with more obstacles in my life than I care to count. I know the emotions you have very well. Uneasiness, insecurity, fear and ultimately hate. Hating them for what they did to you. And hating the rest in advance just to make sure they won't be able to hurt you as well. Protecting yourself, hiding behind harsh words and a cold menacing exterior. Yes, I know this better than most."
"But you're nothing like that. You're friendly and easygoing."
"And what makes you think I've always been like this? Yes I've never been that hostile but I had to face some issues."
"I wish I had the power of will to do that."
"But you did. Once this crazy bunch gave you a nudge in the right direction. Don't think me any better than you. I just had the benefit of friends, really persistent friends, from early on. You, at least I guess, didn't."
"But you do now Warren." Layla gave him an encouraging smile.
"Of course you do Wren. We're here whenever you need us."
"Coz that's what friends are for."
Now he was really speechless. He was touched. No one ever cared for him this much except his mother. But these people gave him courage. Courage to become a better person, courage to overcome his past, courage to open up once more.
"Warren you don't have to say what happened. I'm no where near being enough of a friend to hear that out. Not yet. But if you want to do something about it you'll have to open up one day. I can't help you if I don't know what with."
"I… thank you."
"What for? I haven't done anything yet."
"Oh you have. Probably the most important thing of all. You gave me hope."
"It was the least I could give you right now. As I said before I know exactly how deep the abyss can be and just how hard it is to get out of there. But enough of this deep thinking. Why not use the time and start with the most boring part of training?"
It took them all a few seconds to recover. One moment she was all psychological and understanding and the next she wanted to start the training. But then again it was probably for the best to change the atmosphere, it started to be too serious.
"You're unbelievable you know that?"
"People tend to say that about me. So ready?"
"I think so but just what are we going to do?"
"Well, first I have to find out to what extends do you control your power."
"He powers up and throws fire. That's about it." After this comment Maj had to hit Zach aver his head. Jess just smiled at him.
"Trust me it's much more complicated then that. Will would you be so nice and get me some paper and a pen so I can write down some notes?"
"Sure, no problem. But I still don't get it why you need to write it down. I mean there can't be so much to it."
"You'd be surprised. Get me the paper and we can start so you can see why I need it."
A few moments later she was sitting in the sofa opposite Warren with the paper in her lap. The rest was sitting all over the living-room restless with anticipation. Ethan probably more so coz this will be very interesting indeed. Warren had an expression somewhere between unsure and determined.
"O.K. so could you power up for me?"
He did as she asked.
"Hmm, interesting. I almost feel jealous (she can't create fire remember?). Can you form the fire into something else than just a ball?"
"I'm afraid that no."
"So if you form a ball, do you feel the fire?"
"Yes I think I do though I never paid it attention before."
"Good. Now if you throw the fire can you still feel it?"
"Never tried before."
"So do it to be sure."
"But it would destroy…"
"Ah, don't worry about that. I'll catch it so to speak. I certainly wouldn't want to destroy the Stronghold mansion on my first day here."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
"Fine." This said he threw the ball in the direction of a wall mindful not to hit anyone just in case.
"Wow, the fire stopped."
"Of course it did Zach, I told you so. Um people before I open my eyes just so you know they are connected with my powers. You can see in them which element I'm controlling. No need to freak."
"What do you mean?" Ethan barely asked before she opened them.
"Oh my god, her eyes are on fire!"
She smirked. "As I said they are connected with my powers. If I control fire it looks like they are burning. If I control water you can almost see waves in them. If I control earth they're solid, usually brown, with no white left. With air it is a little more complicated. They are light blue and it appears like something is moving inside, like I don't know, imagine a flag that is being moved by wind."
"Wow that is so fascinating."
"Thank you Ethan. But I believe we wanted to do something else than speak about my eyes. So Warren can you feel the fire?"
"I'm not sure."
"Try to close your eyes and concentrate."
"I… I feel nothing."
"Don't be sad. We'll work on it. So apparently you can feel the fire only while it's in your hand or at least very near. Hmm, and can you feel a fire not coming from you if it is in your hand?"
While she asked this she scribed down some notes.
"Never tried that either."
"Why I am not surprised? So we will try it now. Anyone here who has a lighter?"
"Sure you can use mine."
"Thanks."
"Maj how come you even have one?" It was a bit of a surprise to Layla.
"Ah, you know, my father seems to think it might be of use one day and makes all of my family members pack one wherever we go. And don't ask my why. I have absolutely no idea."
"Oh, O.K. I won't ask."
Jess lit the lighter and floated a fire ball more or less the size of Warrens one to his outstretched hand. The rest knew he was practically fireproof as much as her but some of them still cringed seeing this.
"Right now I want you to concentrate, close your eyes if it helps, and tell me if you feel anything."
But before he had time to do that something unusual happened. It appeared that his own fire kind of answered to this one and his hand spontaneously ignited as well.
"Wow, I didn't expect this! I'd say your body tried to make this fire its own, therefore you powered up without really wanting to. So I take it now you can feel it like you did your own just moments ago."
"Yeah but I can't remember this ever happening to me before." He gave his hand an intrigued look matched by the rest of the gang. Ethan even took a paper of his own and wrote some notes as well probably even more psyched than anyone else.
"I've never read about anything similar. This is just so fascinating!"
"You can say that again Ethan, you can say that again."
"Right. I think I know all I need for the moment the rest of the questions I wanted to ask won't be of much importance."
"What do you mean?"
"Curious aren't we Will? If he had more control I would ask him if he could feel several objects at once and if he could distinguish their size and shape. Or just how far could the element be for him to still feel it. If he could only feel it or move/change it as well and so on. I guess we'll save it for later, once you are that far, right Warren?"
"What ever you say. I had no idea it was this complex. No wonder I had little progress."
"Well, now you see what I was talking about earlier. I think first we should try some concentration exercises to improve your focus."
"Wow. I don't want to bother you but could you tell us about your extend of control?"
"No problem Ethan but I'm afraid I'll only be able to describe it and not demonstrate. Where do you want me to begin?"
"Let's start with the range. Just how far can the element be for you to still control it?"
"Now that depends on a few factors. Mostly on the time I'm given to concentrate. With enough time I can easily control it on a several yards radius."
"And what exactly does it mean enough time."
"Well Layla, a few seconds should do the trick."
"And like how many yards does several stand for?"
"Well that depends. If it is continual, like water in a lake, then up to 100 feet though that depends on the depth of the lake as well. If you ask how far it can be for me to still reach it with my mind it could easily be over 100 yards but I need to concentrate hard for that so in a battle that's out of question."
This left the group speechless. Of course they expected to hear some great numbers but this was far more than they ever imagined. They could see now why she is believed to be one of the strongest.
"Now if that isn't kick-ass control I don't know what is." For once Maj didn't smack Zach for his comment.
"And like how many objects can you control at once?"
"Once again that depends on a few factors Maj. For instance just how big every object is. Sometimes it is much easier to control one bigger object than dozens of small ones though put together they weight less then the big one."
"I know this is going to sound stupid but do you actually have some limits?"
She started laughing after this. "Of course I have limitations Will. Time is of much essence, my mental state as well, whether I'm in pain or not, and the motivation is probably the most important one. Given a good reason I can push myself much further that any of you can imagine. But that can be hazardous."
"And what do you mean with that?" asked Ethan scribing more and more notes down.
"She means her health."
"Warren is right. My mind doesn't have such limits as my body. It might happen that I just exhaust myself and need to sleep it of. Or I could end up in a coma for God knows how long. In the worst possible scenario I could even die."
No one, maybe except of Warren, awaited this. Sure to feel exhausted that's understandable it happened to Layla before but to die… they never pondered that.
"Oh come on, no sad faces guys the chances of that happening are slim to none."
"But they are there none the less?"
"Of course Will. And there's always the chance that I will go crazy, controlled by the elements rather than the other way around, and use my powers till I die. It happened to some. But as I said chances of that are almost non existent. I mean there's a bigger chance I'll get overrun by a car."
Layla couldn't take it any more the grim atmosphere was too much for her. So she decided to heighten up their spirits and suggested to play some games. They all agreed, even Warren though a bit reluctantly, and the living room was soon filled with shouts of joy and lots of laughter.
Meanwhile the 4 adults discussed everything of importance and several totally unimportant things as well and decided to join the teenagers.