It's finally done! It took forever, but I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out and I hope you all will be too!
Mary Jane Watson-Parker – Thanks so much and I'm really glad you like it! I hope this chapter lives up to its predecessors!
Racetrack's Goil – Personalities are so important to the story! I'm also trying to give the kids powers that kind of hinge on their personalities. I think you'll see that in later chapters as they are introduced better to the reader.
Jjonaljameson – Hi to you too! I see what you mean now about his eyes. I think I actually went back and changed it on my copy, (I have a continuously changing version that I write in, but don't usually update changes to the web unless it's something really major).
Angie King – Hey new reviewer! Glad you liked it! And don't worry; I plan to finish this story to the very end!
And now, our feature presentation!
A voice was calling to her. It was soft, far away. She didn't want it to disturb her sleep. "Leave me alone," she mumbled, rolling over.
Her cheek brushed against a cold stone floor instead of the cozy sheets she had been laying on a moment before. Opening her eyes in surprise, the girl slowly sat up and stared about.
She was sitting in the middle of a dank, dark hallway. Scattered torches cast off an oily glow, giving the stone maze just enough light by which to see her gray surroundings. There was a steady drip, drip, drip of water off in some corridor to her right and she could have sworn she heard a rat scurrying around.
The girl got to her feet and began wandering warily about in the endless labyrinth of passageways. Then she heard it again. "Leave me alone!" she called out into the darkness, dismayed by the shrill echoing of her tone.
But it persisted, faint and almost inaudible. "Allie! Allie!"
The girl recognized the voice and felt a swell of fear rise inside her chest. Why were they still looking for her? It had been almost seven months now. When would those crazy freaks give up?
She knew that at least they still hadn't discovered her whereabouts yet. Her feet began carrying her. Run. That was all she could think to do. Some way, somehow, she had to stay at least one step ahead of her pursuers. That was how she had escaped them for so long.
The voice grew louder. They were gaining on her. "Allie! Allie!" Soon they would find her. They were almost on top of her now!
Nikki was awakened by a noise in the room next to hers. She scrambled out of her bed and tiptoed across the floor. Putting her ear against the wall, she realized that the racket was coming from Allie's room. Puzzled, Nikki took a deep breath and plunged through.
Allie was thrashing about wildly on her bed, moaning, her face etched with sheer terror. Nikki crept forward fearfully, hissing, "Allie! Allie, wake up!"
She reached the bed and attempted to wake the frenzied girl.
"What is that?" Jake mumbled sleepily. He rolled over; right off the bed, crashed loudly onto the floor, and was instantly wide awake. Jumping quickly to his feet, he remained still for a moment, in order to make out where the sounds were coming from.
Then he slipped out through his door silently and into the hallway.
Her bare feet slapped against the damp floor, legs pushing to their max. Suddenly she tripped and fell, sliding a good few feet. They wouldn't get her without a fight. The girl rolled over and grabbed tightly onto the arms of the person behind her.
Looking into her face was like trying to see your reflection in a pool of murky water. Screaming, she threw her backwards with violent force.
"GO AWAY!"
Nikki saw the wall coming at her from behind with that weird sense as though she had eyes in the back of her head. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt herself ghost through it - then through something else she hadn't expected. Startled, Nikki stopped ghosting and hit the floor, rolling gracefully back into a sitting position.
Jake was standing in front of her, looking stunned. His back was to her, but she could tell he was examining his blue arms. Nikki felt sick. She'd ghosted through him, not exactly the way to impress some one. Why, oh, why was he not turning around to look at her? Was he angry? Why on earth did she even care so much in the first place?
At last, Jake faced her, and he didn't seem any worse for the wear. "Are you okay? What happened?" he asked with concern.
Nikki didn't respond. He was standing in front of her, still glowing a brilliant blue, and now he was asking what happened. "I—I ghosted through you!" she finally burst out.
"Oh, so that's what you call it," Jake said vaguely, glancing at his arm again. He reached forward, grasped her hand firmly and hauled her to her feet.
Nikki tottered slightly. "I don't really know what happened," she said breathlessly, holding her head with the other hand.
They both turned to see Allie emerge from the room, her face white and looking extremely spooked. Odrade staggered sleepily from his own bedroom and even Thorn irritably poked her head out from her door. C-Cat materialized nearby, but nobody really seemed to notice. They were too busy trying to figure out Jake's illuminated body.
"What was that all about?" Thorn demanded eventually, tearing her gaze away from Jake and turning it accusingly toward Allie.
Everyone stared at Allie silently, awaiting an explanation. She looked around at all their faces, freezing when she came to Nikki and Jake. Nikki suddenly became aware that Jake was still holding her hand.
She quickly pulled it away and began pretending to finger-comb her hair. Jake realized what had happened and shot Nikki a nervous look. Nikki saw rage momentarily sear across Allie's face, but her countenance instantly resumed an unreadable state.
"I had a bad dream," Allie said simply. Then she spun on her heel, stomped back into her bedroom, and slammed the door behind her.
Nobody spoke for a minute. Finally, Jake walked over to the wall to inspect the bright blue glow Nikki had left in her wake. "This is pretty cool," he murmured softly, poking it, appearing rather clueless of what was obviously going through his girlfriend's head.
He let out a cry of surprise when his finger went through wall and jerked it back out again. "What the - !"
"I guess I forgot to tell you guys about that," Nikki said nervously, stepping forward. "My powers kind of involve me glowing blue and – "
"I knew you could 'ghost' through stuff, but I never thought anybody else could go through the glow too!" Jake interrupted excitedly.
Nikki scuffed her foot in the carpet, embarrassed at all the eyes on her. "Yeah, well, I didn't actually know until just now either."
Jake and C-Cat laughed; the younger boy's high-pitched giggle grated slightly on Nikki's nerves. Thorn rolled her eyes and closed her door, and Odrade threw Allie's room one last concerned glance before heading back to his own bed.
C-Cat chortled again. He seemed very happy to have a legitimate excuse for being awake at four in the morning, though with that creepy smile, he always seemed happy.
"So tell us what happened," Jake said, leaning back against the wall and crossing his pale blue arms over his chest. Nikki noticed he was keeping a safe distance from the fading silhouette.
She grimaced slightly. "I tried to wake her up because I thought she was having a nightmare or something. But I guess she caught me off guard because I was still half asleep."
She saw Jake's eyes flicker toward the now fainter blue glow. "Then Allie started hollering and threw me into the wall," she finished lamely.
"You mean through the wall," corrected Jake. He was regarding her very seriously. "That's some freaky power you've got there, Nikki."
Remembering her other hidden talents, Nikki nodded and smiled. You have no idea.
The next morning Allie was in a better mood. Apparently, Jake had made a wise move and taken her down to the café to get a coffee with him. She returned looking much happier.
"So how did you get your powers anyway, Nikki?" Jake asked as he and Allie rejoined the group sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Allie was still giving Nikki a bit of the cold shoulder.
"Well…" Nikki hesitated for a moment, but decided she had nothing to lose by telling them. "I was fooling around in the chemistry room and got some blue goop in a cut. Then, all of a sudden, I fall through the floor! And my life hasn't been the same since," she said, grinning broadly.
Odrade laughed. "I'll bet your chemistry teacher had something to say about that."
"Nah, I don't think Dr. Camdon has any idea it was me," Nikki said, shaking her head.
She was interrupted by Allie choking on her cereal. Jake patted her on the back as she coughed. "You okay, Allie?"
Thorn didn't pay the girl any attention. Instead, her gaze was focused steadily on Nikki. "Andrew Camdon, huh?" she said in a pathetic attempt at being casual.
Nikki nodded, but felt her face wrinkling itself up into a slight frown. "Yeah, that's him. Why?"
"Nothing." Thorn got up abruptly. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, Nikki, but I must be going. See you all later," she called, tossing the last of her toast in the trash as she strode swiftly out of the kitchen. A few seconds later, they heard the upstairsdoor close.
"What was that all about?" said Nikki, staring about in confusion.
Jake shrugged.
Suddenly, but almost predictably, C-Cat burst into a fit of hysterical giggles. Nikki rolled her eyes and resumed picking the seeds out of her bagel, but Allie shot him a death glare.
With a swift motion that the guffawing boy didn't catch, she shot out her hand, briefly touching the very edge of his cereal bowl.
A moment later, C-Cat let out an angry yelp as he tried to wrench his spoon out of the crystallized milk.
"Do you like this one?" Allie asked, holding up a tiny crystal doll that looked identical to Nikki, except for the fact that it was only about seven or eight inches tall. It had grown out of the palm of Allie's hand and begun revolving slowly so as to model different Fantasma costumes.
Nikki wrinkled her forehead skeptically. "I don't know…What color is the top?" Allie's crystals always had a slight pink tint to them; you could never tell what color she was planning.
"Black, of course, "Allie said, rolling her eyes.
"Nah, black's not really my color. Let's look at something else."
Allie sighed and the model's clothes melted into a completely different outfit. "Fine."
They were both sitting in the living room, trying to enjoy a rather dreary Saturday. Ignoring Nikki's protests that she couldn't accept anything from them, Odrade had insisted that Allie help her design a costume. Allie had condescendingly agreed.
"How about this?"
The doll was now showing off quite a bit of her midriff and together with the skirt; it looked like whoever had made it was running out of fabric. Nikki didn't even bother asking about the color.
"Um, Allie? I'm thinking this and winter in New York are definitely not happening."
The other girl cocked her head at it as though this had never occurred to her. "Yeah, you know, you're probably right."
She changed it again, but Nikki turned it down, along with next ones for almost five minutes. "Not my style…Too weird…Blah…Nope…Yuck...Too plain…Allie, what did I tell you about skimpy costumes?"
Allie finally gave up in disgust. "Apparently none of my ideas are good enough for you," she said with a sniff, starting to get to her feet. "Maybe C-Cat will be able to come up with something better."
"No, wait!" Nikki said suddenly, staring at the doll in Allie's hand and looking positively delighted. "Make it purple and that one's perfect!"
Allie glanced down at it in surprise. "Well…I guess that one's passable. I'll tell Odrade what to get and it should be done by the end of next week."
"Here," she tossed the crystal to Nikki, "your own custom Barbie."
"Newspaper," Jake said boredly, tossing it deftly onto the couch as he walked into the living room that afternoon. Allie glanced at him before picking it up and turning it to the front page. Suddenly she let out a choked shriek and dropped the paper to the ground where it fluttered open.
Nikki leaped to her feet in surprise. Allie's face was white as chalk, her make-up standing out, giving her eye shadow an extremely overdone look. Her hands were shaking and she gaped dazedly in between them as though she thought she was still holding the paper. She kept murmuring, "No, no, no, no…"
Slowly Nikki walked over to the fallen newspaper and flipped the pages over to the front where she stared blankly at the headline.
High School Teacher Murdered!
A little concerned, like any reasonable person would be, but still unsure why this would have such a dramatic effect on Allie, she read a little further.
Dr. Andrew Camdon was found dead early this morning in his classroom by a janitor from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators have yet to name suspects. The reason as to why the teacher was in the school last night is still unknown…
Nikki stopped reading and turned to stare at Allie in horror. She hadn't thought about it a whole lot yet, but now, when the reality struck her so hard in the face, Nikki realized that her last chance for answers had died with that man.
Nikki lay sprawled on her bed and stared up at the canopy dejectedly. Everyone except Allie had left on a special "mission".
Of course, Odrade had refused to let her go along. "I want a definite answer before I start letting you go anywhere with them," he had said firmly.
So far, there hadn't been much opportunity to tell him. He had been upstairs all day and Nikki was forbidden to leave the basement. Everyone said she couldn't afford to be seen and that the police were probably searching for her right now. And maybe someone else, she thought dryly. At least she very nearly hoped so.
Something had been bothering her this whole time. Right now, as far as Nikki knew, no one else in the team had any idea about her other abilities. She was beginning to wonder if she ought to keep it that way. If anything, they could prove a valuable wild card to pull out in a tight spot.
Gradually, Nikki's thoughts returned to the newspaper article that morning. Who would want to kill a high school chemistry teacher? Unless maybe they had some idea of what he had made. But Nikki knew now that she would never get a chance to find out from him. It was a real pity, too.
Dr. Camdon had been her only way to find out exactly what had happened to her powers. She had already attributed the whole climbing on walls, weird precognition, and strength to having inherited them from her dad. They were all Spider-Man's powers, weren't they?
But that still didn't explain the blue glow or the fact that she was lacking certain web-shooting abilities.
Nikki sat up abruptly, an idea sparking in her head. She threw open the closet doors and began rummaging around through piles of cloth and half-completed garments. Her search turned up a black mask, a black shirt and pants, and a pair of boots. It was time to go on a mission of her own.
A dark clad girl perched gracefully on the edge of a very cluttered desk, hunched over a small blue book. Her costume helped her blend in almost perfectly with her black surroundings. The room was dimly lit by a single small lamp she had dared to turn on, but that was all the light she needed.
May 16,
It seems like only yesterday that Allison told me she was a mutant. As much as it killed me to send her to the institute, I knew it hurt her even more to lose all her friends at school and be miserable there. I am creating this in hope that it will weaken her powers so she can live the ordinary life that she wants so badly.
Nikki flipped forward a few pages until she again found reference to the mysterious chemical. She thought it interesting that Dr. Camdon never once mentioned a name for it.
May 19,
I have made certain that it will only affect mutants. Normal humans will have no reaction to it. The one thing that worries me is that it may have other side effects, not just the weakening of abilities. Is it possible that it could create new powers for mutants? I hope not. Allison darling, this has to work.
The masked girl stopped reading abruptly and looked up, trying to think through what she had just read. It only affected mutants? But how was that possible? She hadn't been a mutant until this happened. Or had she? A few pages later, Nikki recognized the fateful date etched so solidly in her memory.
May 23,
Something has happened! I was working on it early this morning and left for only an hour. When I came back, the test tube was almost completely empty! Some one must have taken some of it. But who?
"I have a pretty good idea," Nikki murmured wryly as she started to replace the book onto the shelf. Suddenly something inside her brain screamed, MOVE!
Obediently, Nikki dropped the book as though it had burned her and jerked to one side, feeling wind on the side of her face as something whizzed past. She turned and stared in shock at the sharp transparent object that had imbedded itself in the wall behind her, still quivering.
Spinning around, she found herself face to face with none other than Krystelle. Allie was in her costume, but there was no mistaking the hatred in those eyes behind the mask. Nikki noticed more shards of crystal glittering wickedly in the girl's hands.
"You tried to kill me!" Nikki said, horrified.
Krystelle strode forward, radiating cool confidence. Nikki once again found herself admiring another one of the girl's traits that seemed to come so naturally.
"Not really," said Krystelle coldly, advancing and clinking the crystal knives in her hands. "If I'd wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be talking to me right now."
Warning bells were going off in Nikki's head. She edged backward, trying to appear unconcerned. A memory rose unbidden in her mind.
Spider-Man.
Daddy's not going to save you this time, Nikki. You're going to have to get out of this by yourself. Spider-Man was always just a big talker anyway, she thought with a slight sneer. Then a light bulb went on in her head. That's it!
Nikki folded her arms casually. "All dressed up and no place to go, huh, Kryssie?" She could see Krystelle's cold eyes narrow for a moment. Then she became calm again.
"It's not really like you would actually know, judging by your own fashion sense," she replied with a smile.
Ouch. Nikki shrugged, carefully controlling her expressions. "Well, you see, I was lacking in the designer department. Mine seems to think that the world revolves around the date for her next pity party."
That did it. Nikki suddenly found herself twisting to the left, right, up, down, and in ways she didn't think the human body was capable of. Knives continued speeding through the air from all directions.
Krystelle was yelling something, but Nikki was too busy trying to concentrate on the danger warnings in her head to care.
"YOU - TAKE - MY - PLACE!" Krystelle screamed, throwing a razor-sharp blade with each word.
Vaguely, Nikki wondered what she meant by that.
"YOU – TRY – TO - STEAL - MY - BOYFRIEND!"
Nikki didn't bother to cut in and say that that wasn't true at all. She was a little too busy avoiding the flying crystals.
"AND - THEN - YOU - COME - IN - HERE - AND - START - READING - MY - DEAD - FATHER'S - JOURNAL!"
The last dagger was thrown so fast and Nikki was so tired that she didn't have time to dodge it. But she didn't even try. Instead, she let it fly straight through her throat.
Allie stopped and stared in shock at Nikki who hadn't even flinched.
Before Allie had a chance to realize what had happened and get angry again, a loud voice on megaphone made them both jump.
"Come out of the building with your hands up! We've got the place surrounded."
The two girls gawked at each other in horror. Krystelle ran to the window and peered out at the dark street below them. She seemed to have forgotten their fight almost instantly, but Nikki hadn't. She hung back, dropping off of the desk and watching from a safe distance.
Krystelle was obviously frightened. "I've never gotten caught before," she whimpered miserably.
She whirled around and glowered at Nikki. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't come in here, I wouldn't have had to fight you and no one would have heard!"
Nikki didn't try to question her logic.
"You'll be in big trouble when they catch you too!" Krystelle continued. "You may have never stolen anything before, but even if you do get away, they'll know you're still around." She lowered her voice severely. "You're a runaway."
Something inside Nikki twisted awkwardly. She recognized it as fear. She'd felt too much of that in the past few days not to know what it was.
Still, she remained motionless until Krystelle returned to the window. Then Nikki began backing away. All she had to do was ghost through an outside wall and she was free. Finally her fingers met the cold concrete behind her. They began to let off a pale blue light…
"I hope you aren't planning on escaping and leaving me to get caught."
Nikki froze. What was this girl talking about? Slowly, she turned around.
Allie was standing beside the window and smiling confidently. "I heard what Jake said to you last night. If you escape using your powers, I will too."
She was trapped. If she stayed, the police would probably catch her, or at least report that she was still alive and her dad would be out on her trail again. And if she left, Krystelle would get away too.
Nikki's eyes strayed to the dark window nervously. The megaphone voice sounded again. She bit her lip.
Krystelle shook her head scornfully. "Stalemate."