DNA Catastrophe ch 7
sorry it's been a while. Life is crazy to say the least.
Chapter 7: training
Sunday morning came too quickly for Alice. She was awoken by Tiger at least an hour before sunrise.
"I'm so glad you weren't one of the guys." Alice said as she pulled her wild bed head out of her face.
"Come on, it's time to get training." Tiger said, throwing Alice her uniform. Alice quickly changed in the bathroom and met Tiger in the training room.
"What do we do first?" Alice asked.
"Take off your inhibitor." Tiger said.
"I don't think that's a good idea. You remember last night, and all the other times before. I think it's best I learn to fight without my powers." Alice said, looking at the metal band around her wrist. Ever since last night, Alice had had nightmares that she would wake up to one of her friends dead at her claws.
"Fury asked me to help you learn to control your instinct, the best way to do that is for you to use your powers. Come on, you know you can do it." Tiger said. Alice took a breath and took off the inhibitor. Instantly, the whisper of animal instinct turned to a roar that filled her mind.
"How do you feel?" Tiger asked.
"Hungry, angry, and… wild." Alice said, claws beginning to grow from her fingernails.
"Focus on your thoughts, not the animals'." Tiger instructed. Alice closed her eyes and focused on her thoughts. The kids from the orphanage came to her mind, then the new friends she had made at school, and the team. Her claws returned to nails and the voices quieted a little.
"It's working." Alice opened her eyes in time to see Tiger lunge at her. Alice instantly shifted into a wolf and leaped to the side.
"Focus Alice, that was instinct not you that made you transform." Tiger said as Alice growled at her. Alice stopped growling and huffed a sigh of irritation.
"Relax and focus." Alice thought to herself. She shifted back to her human form, her eyes still closed, when she opened them, Tiger was gone. Alice had enough time to gasp before she was given a roundhouse kick to her side. Alice recovered and swung a punch which was blocked by Tiger's forearm.
"Good," Tiger said. They repeated this practice of Alice focusing on keeping the animals locked up while Tiger kept hitting her with sneak attacks.
"Now the next step is choosing one animal at a time to help you. Remember, you still have to keep them under your control." Tiger said, "let's start small, how about a bobcat."
Alice easily shifted into a bobcat. The beast's instinct was telling her to hunt, but Alice was focusing on her own thoughts. When Tiger attacked and the bobcat wanted to claw her, Alice forced it to keep its claws in and simply dodge Tiger's attack, them swipe at her legs with sheathed claws.
"Good…" Tiger was saying when a loud clang came from somewhere above. Alice lost control and instinct took over, causing her to run into a corner while looking for a place to hide. She barely stopped herself from biting Tiger when she walked over to where Alice had fled.
"Alice, it's alright. It was just Spider-man thumping Nova's helmet." Tiger coaxed her out. Alice transformed back to human and was amazed that she wasn't craving mouse right now, just a bowl of cereal.
"I guess that's enough for today." Tiger said as the boys came in.
"Sorry if we interrupted something." Power man said.
"Nope, just learning some new tricks." Alice said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well let's see them." Nova said, flying over and taking a fighting stance.
"Ok, but no flying." Alice said as she fell into the fighting pose Coulson had taught her. Feet firm, hands loose but ready. Nova leaped at her, aiming to grab her arm to flip her over his shoulder, but Alice nimbly leapt aside and swept her leg under his feet, knocking him over. The others cheered on their friends as Nova caught himself before falling completely and back flipped onto the wall and launched himself at Alice. She ducked, using a round-off back-handspring to keep out of his way. Nova went for another punch but was blocked by Alice's hand grabbing his. She swung him around then flipped him over her shoulder, and slammed him to the floor. She was about to pin him down with her foot when Nova did a floor sweep and knocked her to the ground. Nova stood up and pinned her with a foot on her stomach.
"I win." Nova laughed and offered Alice a hand up.
"Not bad, you almost got me there." Nova laughed. Alice smiled and allowed Nova to help her up.
"Interesting fighting style, I think I've seen it somewhere before." Spidey said, looking like he was in deep thought. Alice shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant way.
"I use to take self-defense classes, and I've learned a lot since I started training here. But you and the others have been here longer than I have, so it's not really surprising that you beat me." She said, taking the loss easily. The others joined in with mock sparing sessions and, before anyone knew it, it was nearly six in the afternoon.
"Well I think we've done enough training for today, let's head to my place and get something to eat." Spider-man said, hanging from a web on the ceiling.
"Depends, who's cooking what?" Power man asked.
"Aunt May said she's making fried chicken and fresh biscuits." Spidey replied, swinging down next to his friends. After noticing the look on Iron Fist's face he quickly mentioned, "and her mandarin orange salad." Iron Fist seemed pas sufficed with this and nodded his consent.
"Let's go then." Power man exclaimed and headed out the door.
It took a few minutes but they were soon all at Peter's home. Alice liked it instantly. It was warm and welcoming, as was Peter's Aunt May.
"Hello kids! Who's your friend?" She asked, a warm smile lighting up her face.
"This is Alice, she's a new girl from school." Peter introduced.
"It's nice to meet you." Alice said offering her hand.
"It's nice to meet you too, dear." May said, accepting the handshake, then asked, "are you any good with desserts?"
"I know a few, why do you ask?" Alice asked as Aunt May swept her into the kitchen.
"I was going to bake a cake but something went wacky with the oven and now I need a hand figuring something else out." May explained, moving a basket of biscuits to the table. "I would normally ask Sam for help but he looks worn out at the moment."
"Ok, let me think." Alice said, "does your stovetop still work?"
"Yes." May answered. Alice went through Aunt May's fridge and spice cabinet before pulling out limeade, sugar, and agar-agar powder.
"One of my cooking class friends gave me this." Aunt May said, picking up the agar-agar powder's container, "I never really knew what it was, do you?" Aunt May asked as she watched Alice measure out ingredients.
"Agar-agar powder, it's made from a certain seaweed." Alice said as she filled a pot with water and then added the limeade, sugar, agar-agar powder into the pot and mixed it on a medium-high heat until it boiled, then let it boil for about a minute.
"Could you hand me a pan or something?" Alice asked May, who was watching in fascination.
"Sure thing." May handed Alice a glass pan and Alice poured the green mixture into it. She then put it into the refrigerator and dusted off her hands.
"Ok, that should be done in about an hour or two, possibly three." Alice said.
"What was that?" May asked.
"Jello." Alice answered simply and headed out to the front room to join the group's game.
They were playing twenty questions and right now it was Danny's turn.
"Vegetable?" Peter asked.
"No."
"Animal?" Ava asked.
"No."
"Person?" Luke guessed.
"No."
"Mineral." Sam said.
"Yes."
"Does it come in different colors?" Alice asked.
"Yes."
"Is it common?" Asked Peter
"Sometimes."
"Can you find it in New York?" Aunt May asked.
"Sometimes."
"Is it valuable?" Luke asked.
"Sometimes."
"Is it normally black?" Alice asked.
"Yes."
"Can you find it at the museum?" Ava asked.
"Yes."
"Is it obsidian?" Peter guessed.
"Yes."
"Wahoo! I win!" Peter cheered.
"Whatever, just take your turn." Sam huffed.
"Actually the food's ready." Aunt May smiled happily, "let's go dig in!"
Alice laughed as the boys all but jumped on the food. Even the normally calm Danny was piling his plate with Aunt May's mandarin orange salad. Alice and Ava managed to snag some food and everyone soon settled into a pleasant harmony of clinking silverware and small talk. Alice was quietly looking down at her plate, poking a bit of spinach with her fork.
"Hey Alice…" Sam was saying but stopped, he then asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Alice said, smiling and taking a bite of her salad, "this is fantastic, Mrs. Parker!" She said, changing the subject.
"Please, call me May." Aunt May said. Alice nodded her head and continued eating. There was so much food, it took an hour before anyone admitted to being full.
"I'll be right back." Aunt May said, standing up and entering the kitchen. She was back out in moments with Alice's jello. May proceeded to dish everyone a good sized slice of the jiggly dessert.
"I believe you have forgotten that I am a vegetarian." Danny said as he stared at the green square on his plate.
"Oh, that's right. Oh dear, sorry Danny." Said May, moving to take Danny's plate.
"Actually it's vegan jello. There's no gelatin or animal product anywhere in it." Alice said, scooping up a bit of jello and eating it.
"Then how is it still jello-y." Sam said, suddenly wary.
"I used agar-agar powder, it's produced from seaweed. It works as a gelling agent, I use to make this all the time for Billy." Alice explained.
"Who's Billy? Is he your boyfriend?" May teased.
"No, Billy is a little boy from the orphanage I grew up at." Alice said.
"I had no idea you were an orphan." May said surprised.
"Most people wouldn't. It's ok, I'm used to it." Alice said, then she used her spoon to flicked a piece of jello across the table into Sam's barely opening mouth as he tried to say something. He gulped it down in surprise and everyone began laughing and joking once more. Once dessert was over everyone said good bye to May and Peter and headed back home.
"So Alice, why were you so quiet during dinner?" Luke asked.
"I was just thinking of the kids in the orphanage." Alice admitted.
"Exactly how long have you been in that orphanage?" Asked Sam.
"Since I was eight." Alice said, looking up at the sky for a moment before saying briskly, "look, I'd rather not talk about my past. Let's just get back to the tricarrier."
They left Alice alone after that, only asking her a few questions about homework and such. Alice appreciated them respecting her privacy, but she knew that the past had ways of coming back to haunt you. And sooner or later it would come back to bite.
Ok, so I really did find a vegan jello recipe for those of you who want to try it. I want to try it but first I need to find a store that sells agar-agar. :)
ps not sure how it would taste with limeade but hey, experimenting is always fun. :)
Vegan jello
Ingredients
1 cup grape juice (or what ever juice flavor you want)
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon agar-agar powder (available in Indian and Asian stores or online)
Makes 4 servings
Takes 3 hours
Mix water and agar-agar powder together. Pour juice, water and agar-agar mixture, and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat, then allow to boil for about a minute, before pouring the mixture into serving bowls. Place in fridge and allow it to set for 3 hours.
(Note when making orange flavored use fresh squeezed orange juice)
