CHAPTER SIX
After a nine hour rest, the Hyperbrain awoke. Sitting up stiffly, she glanced at the small clock on the bedside cabinet. Huffing at the fact that it was nine thirty already, the Hyperbrain got out of bed and quickly changed into one of the boy's dreadful shirts and tugged on a pair of jogging bottoms over a fresh set of underwear. As she slipped on a pair of socks, the Hyperbrain noticed the bottle of cologne on the edge of the bedside cabinet and decided to use it.
Once the bottle was in her hand, the Hyperbrain sniffed the contents, grimacing at the odour. Although it smelt disgusting, she had not had a shower, so she needed to mask the unwashed scent with lemons.
She shoved her feet into the boy's battered trainers, then proceeded to spray the cologne all over herself.
Immediately, her senses were infiltrated by the sharp waft of lemon. As the Hyperbrain slammed the bottle of cologne back onto the bedside cabinet, gagging heavily, she used her telekinesis to heave open the window. She darted towards the open window and stuck her head outside, inhaling a deep breath. The fresh air soothed her senses, and the Hyperbrain sighed in contentment.
Once her senses had cleared, she pulled her head back in. Closing the window, the Hyperbrain brushed herself down, then departed from the bedroom, heading downstairs and into the kitchen.
Her 'family' were already seated at the table, and the Hyperbrain forced a smile onto her face as she was greeted by Mrs Hunter, Lloyd and Dinah.
"Morning everyone."
Sitting down on one of the spare chairs, the Hyperbrain allowed the Hunter woman to make her breakfast, as she did not want to display her lack of finesse when it came to using electronic appliances, in a human body.
She sipped her orange juice and nibbled her heavily buttered toast, right leg steadily bouncing up and down on the spot.
The Hyperbrain blinked when the doorbell suddenly rung, eyes widening as Lloyd leapt to his feet and announced excitedly:
"That's them!"
Whilst Lloyd weaved his way to the front door, Mrs Hunter commented: "Goodness, they're early."
"Got a lot we want to do today, Mum." Dinah smiled apologetically.
"I understand, dear. Well, I guess I better go to the supermarket and get the food shopping over with."
The Hyperbrain stopped eating, gaze fixed firmly on the Hunter woman. She seemed so…. sad. The Hyperbrain paid no mind to the woman's hurt feelings, but as she was pretending to be her son, she had to display some of Harvey's kind and caring nature.
Rising to her feet, the Hyperbrain brushed past an oblivious Dinah and sidled up to Mrs Hunter.
"Mother… are you okay?"
"F-Fine, sweetie."
The Hyperbrain narrowed her eyes. "No, you are not. Look, I will accompany you to the supermarket."
"But your friends-"
"Can wait for me."
The Hyperbrain faked a sigh and placed her hand onto the woman's shoulder, turning Teresa round to face her.
"You are upset, I can tell. I am sorry if we offended you by planning to rush off so quickly. You know… how Lloyd can be. Do not fuss, I shall come along. We need to… bond."
Praying that her little speech had not aroused any suspicion within Mrs Hunter, the Hyperbrain quirked her lips at the woman's reply.
"Oh, Harvey! How nice of you! Because you're such a good boy, I'll even look the other way when you put something… unhealthy in the trolley. Sound good?"
"Yes. I shall go and inform Lloyd and Dinah now."
Mrs Hunter beamed and ruffled her youngest son's hair. The Hyperbrain grimaced at the hair ruffling, then marched over to the boy's siblings, who were standing by the open front door.
As the Hyperbrain entered the hall-way, she glimpsed five faces peering in from outside. Nodding stiffly at them as they greeted her, the Hyperbrain halted a few metres away from Lloyd and Dinah, and said:
"I am accompanying Mother to the supermarket." Before the pair could say anything, the Hyperbrain snapped: "I shall not be long. You can all wait for me to get back."
She blinked as a sudden voice piped up from outside. "Hey, Harvey! If you're not back here within an hour, I'll come after you!"
At this, the Hyperbrain plastered on a smile and cooed: "Sweetie, I love you too!"
Internally, she gagged. Having to flirt with a human, especially another female was sickening, but she had to maintain her façade.
Behind her, Mrs Hunter walked up, handbag and empty shopping bags to hand. "Ok, Harvey, let's go. Alright, kids, we won't be too long."
Dinah and Lloyd waved them off as the Hyperbrain and Mrs Hunter waited for the children outside to stream into their house. As she entered the hall-way, Ingrid grinned and pecked her boyfriend on the lips, saying saucily:
"See you later, sunshine."
The Hyperbrain chuckled uncomfortably and waggled the fingers on her left hand in Ingrid's face.
"Bye… bye."
Ingrid pulled a face at such a pathetic farewell, but allowed her boyfriend to march out of the house. She eyed him as he moved to the car. Something about the way he walked was bothering her….
In the car, the Hyperbrain watched Mrs Hunter's hands in suppressed fascination as she started up the car. She understood the mechanics of vehicles, but experiencing it first-hand took her breath away.
The drive to the supermarket was short, so short that by the time they arrived, the Hyperbrain was still blown away by the car mechanics. She shifted out of the car at Mrs Hunter's command, trailing after the woman as she collected a trolley and strolled into the supermarket.
An array of packaged food and drink to be plucked off of the shelves, astounded the Hyperbrain. Instead of having to grow the food themselves, the humans simply took some time out of their pointless lives to purchase processed food, which in turn, they stuffed themselves with.
As Mrs Hunter dropped some fruit into her trolley, she giggled at the sound of her son's stomach rumbling.
"Wow, sounds like someone's hungry. Do you want something to eat, sweetheart?"
Gritting her teeth at the term of endearment, the Hyperbrain shoved her hands into her pockets, muttering: "No, thank you, Mother. I wish to proceed."
Mrs Hunter snorted, still baffled by her youngest child's sudden change in speech. She wheeled the trolley over to the meat section, and picked up a box of mince.
"Fancy lasagne tonight? You can help me make it if you want."
The Hyperbrain grimaced internally at this, but she recalled that Harvey enjoyed cooking with his mother, so reluctantly agreed to the woman's offer.
Mrs Hunter beamed, and after placing the mince into the trolley, continued on further into the shop. The Hyperbrain sighed, and marched after her.
At the check-out, the Hyperbrain eyed her 'treats' with disgust. True to her word, the boy's mother had practically pressured her into selecting several treats, disregarding the prices for once. The Hyperbrain had not lingered in the aisle, merely grabbing the nearest treat that Harvey liked, and depositing her choice into the trolley.
Once Mrs Hunter had paid for her shopping, the two of them exited the supermarket and unloaded the contents of the trolley into the boot of the car. Pecking her son on the cheek before getting into the driver's seat, Mrs Hunter cooed:
"Thank you, Harvey. You're such a polite young man."
The Hyperbrain's simple response, was to roll her eyes.
A little over an hour later, the six SPLAT members, as well as Michael and Kate, were in the Cybercafé, crowded around two computers. Kate sat at one, Mandy the other. Lloyd and Ian stood behind them, with Michael and Dinah off to the side slightly, Michael attempting to flirt badly with an oblivious Dinah. The Hyperbrain had the misfortune of not being near enough to the computer to memorise the information, as the boy's girlfriend had dragged her off to one of the tables close to the group, but was in the middle of trying to kiss her.
Ingrid stroked one of the Hyperbrain's bangs, whispering: "Even though I hate your hair at the moment, I could never hate you…"
The Hyperbrain gagged mentally at the soppiness pouring from the girl's mouth, but responded sweetly. "I know you hate my hair, but it is something different to that dreadful bowl cut hairstyle I used to… rock. And, I love you too."
Ingrid raised an eyebrow, and withdrew from her boyfriend.
"Are you alright, babe? You sound… odd."
The Hyperbrain nodded, pleased that the human had stepped away from her. "Yes. I am simply trying to act more mature."
"Hah, mature, please." Ingrid gestured to the rest of the group. "With these lot, we're never going to be seen as mature. Especially you and that haircut."
The Hyperbrain growled, and managed to sidle away from Ingrid, leaning over Ian's shoulder in order to stare at the computers. A smile slowly spread across her face. Here was the base of the human children's operations.
SPLATweb, which the Hyperbrain knew, thanks to Harvey's mind, was a site that did not require the Internet, a fortunate stroke of luck for the children. This site was used to send messages to other human children, and the methods in which the messages were sent, fascinated her.
Carrier pigeons, flag waving and mirrors. It was genius, and the Hyperbrain stewed, understanding that these children, minus the boy she was in control of, were intelligent. Intelligent enough to bring down her plans.
Seeing the set-up first hand was intriguing, and the Hyperbrain filed away the information and image for a later date. She tilted her head as Kate suddenly shouted:
"Plum and Jelly! Hey, everyone! They've sent me a message, they want to come and meet all of us!"
The others, excluding the Hyperbrain gasped. Lloyd muscled into the front, causing the Hyperbrain to roll her eyes. The Chairman of SPLAT bent next to Kate, read the message, and then ordered:
"Arrange a meeting time. We can meet them here, preferably in the next couple of days."
Pleased at this development, as it meant that she could meet more of her foes face to face, the Hyperbrain gritted her teeth as a pair of arms wrapped around him, Ingrid hugging her tightly.
Her annoyance at her 'girlfriend' melted away, as Plum and Jelly soon came back with a date and time. Kate sent back confirmation, and the Hyperbrain allowed herself to smirk evilly.
Very soon, the mysterious pair would be revealed to them all.