Chapter 10 - Teen Angst and Beer - Kegger part 2 of 2
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Outside Mojave, AZ
"I got it sir, ok I know. Look, they replied and said that they just aren't interested in sending their kid here for examination." The broad man in a lab coat continued to talk on the phone. "I know you wanted her here, but they said no." He nodded then said, "OK, Dr. Tudia, you're the boss."
From the other side of the table the other man sat polishing a large gun. "What did he say?"
"He says we have to go pick her up by any means necessary. Says she's a danger to folks around her by her very presence." The broad man replied, hanging up the phone.
The shorter man put down his gun and leaned over the table. "From what I understand, that's pretty much true. Ain't it?"
"I guess so, but I still don't like it." The man in a lab coat walked over to a chrome and black human looking robot and sighed. "Come on, we've got 'ta get Lucy packed up. We're bound for Springfield in the morning."
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The six teenagers and their reluctant chaperone moved slowly up the gravel path leading to the Woods Hole campground. It had been a bit of a walk so the party was already in full swing by the time they got there. Ed turned to the group. "Ok, you all go and have fun, but don't go crazy or anything. If there is any real problem, don't try to take it on alone and DON'T reveal yourselves as mutants. Just call. If you can't talk, just dial me up and I'll figure it out. From what I understand, the Armstrong girl is a good kid, but she's kind of rebellious. Let's hope that doesn't mean she will break her promise not to use her powers in front of her friends." He took off his dark sun glasses, making Sofia gasp. For the first time the kids got a good look at his eyes. They looked like two jet-black baseballs jutting out front and around the sides of his head. David had always suspected from the strange skills he picked up, that Ed might be able to see behind him. Now he knew. "Oh yea, I'll be watching everything," he smiled knowingly, "but don't let that stop you from having a good time. I'm not a Narc, I'm here to watch your backs. So have fun." He walked off noiselessly into the dark woods with an unreal ease. Graceless and unsteady, he made his way by knowing precisely where to step.
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Fiddling with her can of Red Bull, May surveyed the crowd milling around the firepit. It was the usual crowd, the jocks, the partiers, the art types, and some of the junior college kids trying to rob the cradle. 'Ok, I know that it's the college kids that bring the beer, but really! What a bunch of losers. Check out the guy with the mullet!'
As she continued to observe the gathering, she occasionally flicked her power on. It was just enough to look at the masses and densities of stuff. When she used her power that way time seemed to slow but as she practiced interpreting her new senses it was getting less and less pronounced.
To expand her knowledge of her newfound senses, she looked at a keg as someone moved it. She could sense the sloshing and the motion of the center of gravity around the keg, but she could not actually see the surface of the liquid. 'I could probably stare at it and see the beer inside, but that would be pushing it. People might notice. I know I'm not supposed to use my powers in public, but it's not like I'm really even doing anything. It's a good thing I thought to wear this baseball hat because the dumb power makes my eyes go totally white. Anyone sees that and they might really freak out!'
"Hey space cadet!" Jannie called out to her, snapping her concentration. Her life long friend waved her over to a perch near a fire burning in the campgrounds fire pit.
Tall, thick and almost black haired, May's friend Jannie was almost a total opposite of the tiny blonde. She struggled up to May pulling the tall burley Ben Kolonowski. "Hey there shorty!" Jannie slured out. She had obviously been to the kegs a few times. "Let me introduce you to my guy. Ben, this is May, maker of mayhem and my best friend."
"Hi Ben, I think we've met before, right?" she said putting out her tiny hand.
Ben was so burley that his teammates on the football team had taken to calling him 'Kodiak.' When he gave her a handshake the difference in their sizes was remarkable. "Yea, once or twice," the incredibly large boy said kindly and softly. "I hear you... you were out for a bit with an injury. How are you holding up?"
Jannie blurted out "She's good! She's not injured though. She's a..." The drunken girl was cut short by the daggers coming from May's eyes. Remembering their earlier conversation, Jannie recovered. "She's a big faker. Just wanted to miss the first history test is all."
Ben grimaced. "Don't remind me. I flunked that one. The new kid blew the curve for everyone."
"So you gave him the beat down didn't you sweetie." Jannie cuddled up to Ben's big arm.
The big football player was uncomfortable and said defensively, "I just wanted to scare the guy. Sure, I was pissed. I pushed him a little, but Brian and Doug were the ones who really beat him up. I don't want any trouble. I got some scouts looking at me for next years college season and don't want to mess it up with fights or failed grades."
Jannie patted his arm. "Ben's going out for tight end for the Buckeyes and maybe even Notre Dame!"
The tiny girl dropped her eyes. She joylessly said, "Oh, yea good luck with that."
Jannie looked into her beer cup and broke the awkward lull. "Well, I'm out!" She chirped, hoping that Ben would take the hint and offer to fill her cup.
He ignored her and turned to May. "Aren't you supposed to be looking around for schools too? With your skills, surely you can get a scholarship."
May looked at him then at Jannie. She saw the reflection of the fire in her friends brown eyes. "I guess I'll have to go get a refill myself!" Jannie turned around and stomped off.
May watched her go and said, "I was, but I'll have to assess my injury. I might have ... lost a couple of things that were important to me when I got ... hurt."
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Laurie squinched up her face and up ended the red and white beer cup for the second time. One beer had erased any thought of Ed or their mission from her mind, now the second had washed away her normal shyness.
Sitting next to her near the fire, Sofia was still drinking her first cup. Looking sideways, the brunette venezualian girl could see the unmistakable signs of drunkenness. "You know, I have been drinking beer since my cousins first started taking me to football... sorry... soccer games and I do not understand what the big deal is. You mean this party is all about drinking from the keg? Where is the dancing?"
Laurie stared absent-mindedly at josh who was talking to a girl he met at the exchange club meeting. "Oh my god, Sofia, Josh is hot!"
Sofia swiveled her head around. "You need to slow down. How many was that, two? You need to know your limits, me friend."
The blonde girl continued "I mean really hot. Sofia, why doesn't he talk to me?" Her voice cracked into a sloppy whine.
"He talks to you lots. I have seen you two talk." The brunette took another sip of her beer.
"Yea but 'please pass the jam' and 'don't 'cha think System of a Down rocks' isn't exactly meaningful conversation. And I think he's been avoiding me since, since, since the night I helped him heal himself. It's almost like he's afraid of me."
"He is afraid of himself, more like. Boys are like that." Sofia shrugged.
"Oh my God!" The blonde girl put her hands to her face. "You don't think he thinks I've been using my power on him do you?" She stopped for a second, making sure that last sentence got out right, then continued talking into Sofia's ear while leaning on her for support. "Do you think he's avoiding me because he thinks my pheromones are affecting his emotions?"
"What? No. I am sure not. I think he is just liking his return to normal school. I would have to say, now that I am here with good friends like you two, I am enjoying normal school much better than the one my father sent me." Sofia stopped on words more than normal as the alcohol started to affect her speech.
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Ed watched the scene from his vantage point deep in the woods and felt like a pervert. 'I can see it now, star mutant lawyer molested in jail for being a Peeping Tom. Of course, someone would actually have to catch me, and that is not going to happen.' To his enhanced vision, the dark woods were as light as the brightest day. He could see Laurie drowning that painful awkwardness of hers, and Sofia being a good friend, wading in after her. 'I might have to share my winning hangover recipe with blondie tomorrow.' He smiled and remembered that age, recalling some good times, being bad with his buddies.
Once again he moved around. He examined what his eyes recorded using his photographic memory. While this was his only mutant trick, he did it astonishingly well. It was so effective that he plainly saw what no one else would have detected; a man 20 feet up in a tree sitting in a hidden hunting blind. Once the man showed up on infrared, Ed closely examined his perch and picked him out from his camouflage.
Rocking slowly back and forth to get a complete picture of the scene through the trees, he made sure to stay out of the line of sight of the man. His only one good look at him told him where the man's eyes were inside his costume. There were no weapons on the perch but the presence of this guy bothered him. He was confident that as long as he could keep an eye on this guy, nothing would happen to the kids. His kids, he kept reminding himself.
Turning part of his attention to the party he saw one of his favorite students jumping into action.
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Victor walked around the fire, his hands occupied with two full beer cups. He walked past Laurie and Sofia, propping each other up on a log bench. Looking around at the party he thought, 'this is what I expected high school to be like. I used to watch the other kids go out to parties like this and I wondered what it would be like. It all seemed so fun and active. Then I grew plates, spikes and a long, sticky prehensile tongue. I often wondered what life would be like if I had never become a mutant, never set foot in or even heard of Xavier's. I never wanted to be special, I just wanted to have fun and this is amazing! Natilie is very cool and her friends are nice. I'm just afraid she'll try to kiss me or something. I may look normal, but inside, I'm still different.' He stopped walking right before going into the group of friends. "Tomorrow," He mumbled to himself. "I'll tell her tomorrow."
Walking up to the group, he handed the beer to Natilie. She smiled warmly and his heart turned to putty. One of her friends was finishing up a joke and they all laughed. As he looked at his date having a good time in the soft light of the fires glow he thought, 'This is what life is supposed to be like. Nat just likes me for me. No one here is special or discriminated against. It's just life. I don't know. I might be happier staying here than going back to Xavier's once this is all over.'
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As May talked to Ben she would lower her eyes every once in a while. She would slow down the scene by looking at it as masses and gravitational forces using her new power. This was the first real time she could look at people aside from herself using the power. It didn't work with her parents for some reason and she found it extremely amusing. There was a small bit of X-ray vision involved but it mostly showed her what people had in their pockets. She could also see people's insides, which was more than a little gross.
Jannie looked a little pissed when she got back with a full cup for herself. "Well that took forever! I swear! Some people don't know how to pump or something! So what are we talking about?"
"Ben was pointing out some of the exchange students to me. It's a little funny. I know I'm a little out of the loop but you'd think that they would announce that kind of thing in homeroom before the kids showed up!"
Jannie snorted. "Yea, that Blonde girl spends all her free time in the library with the red head girl. For exchange students, you'd think that they would be a bit more outgoing. Social, er. I hear that they have made friends with your buddy Olive and that girl Terri, from the basketball team."
On a whim, May decided to get a closer look at the students Ben had pointed out. She pretended to tie her shoe and while crouched over, she focused her senses and took a good hard look at the gravitational signatures of the new students. The blonde haired boy had a cell phone in his pocket. The black guy had both a cell phone and a note pad. Just when she was thinking that this was lame, she looked at the pull exerted by the red haired stranger at the opposite edge of the party. She was talking to Terri. May knew Terri but had a falling out when she came out as a lesbian. A basketball player, she easily spotted by her six foot two frame.
When she isolated the red haired girl, she found her completely uniform in density. Among all the other students this made her look really spooky and weird. 'This must be a robot or something,' she thought. 'I heard about those sentinel robots they send after mutants, maybe that's one of them! Dad said Ms. Moonstar warned of people wanting to manipulate her and her powers. Maybe she's here to do me some harm. Well I'll show her, it, whatever. I may be new to this, but I'll see how it would like being sent into orbit - around the moon!'
May pulled her shoelaces and stood back up. When Bens friends Brian and Doug joined their conversation, she excused herself and made as straight a line as she could, through the crowd, straight up to Terri and Cessily. "Hi Terri, who is your friend?"
Terri was at a loss, ever since she came out of the closet last year, May had avoided her, though they had been close in elementary school. It was odd to hear from her now. "Uh, Hi May, this is one of the exchange students. We met at the library after school. May, this is..."
"Cessily Kincaid," She stepped forward to shake the tiny girls hand. May looked down at the gloved hand suspiciously and shook it lightly. "Nice to meet you."
May grinned sideways "So where are you exchanged from?" She wanted to finish that with "Mars?" but held her tongue. This being could be dangerous.
"I'm from Boston," the red head replied. Cessily was glad that the image inducer was keeping her concealed because having May be this close and this aggressive was freaking her out.
May peaked into Cessily's cup and said, "Well, you appear to be out. Want to get another?"
Terri, flustered to the point of being birdlike said, "I'm out to. I'll go get it. You want one May?"
"No, sticking with Red Bull, but thanks." She said. 'Yea, thanks for giving us some space here.' Once Terri was gone May quietly cut to the chase. "So what the hell are you? Are you following me?"
Cessily was both relieved and put off by the honesty. "Nice to meet you too. You want to make yourself any more of a target?" She grinned, feigning polite conversation in case anyone was looking. "So, how'd you figure it out?"
"You look like a moving statue to me. No bones, no organs, center of gravity is way too low and variable. That other kid over there has something going on in his throat and his skin is freaky so I know about him too. Who are you people?" She looked around again using her powers and her eyes went white in front of the red heads face.
"We people are trying to keep you from outing yourself like that. And blowing our cover isn't going to help you out one bit. We're Xi'an and Dani's kids. I understand you made quite an impression on them."
This was unexpected. Ms. Moonstar didn't say that she had other students with her. Thinking back on their initial meeting, at some of the unintentionally racist and stupid things she said, May kicked at the snow. "Not one of my better moments. I hope they don't think I'm some sort of hick from the hayseeds."
Cessily was indignant. "Xi'an is my mentor and my friend. She was very hurt by the blatant, ridiculousness of your comment. I don't think you understand the long road you have ahead of you. Such prejudices are not going to be helpful. That 'freak' over there had guts enough to go toe to toe with black ice in Cleveland."
May brightened up. "Really? I heard about that! So are you Push or Soma?"
Cessily laughed in spite of herself as Terri approached with the beer. "Nether, but we can chat later." She looked over and saw Victor and Natalie having some sort of tiff. Natalie put her hand up to touch Victor's head, which gave her a fright. As calmly as she could manage she said, "I think my home-freak needs some assistance. Can you excuse me?" She took the beer and bowed out of the conversation, leaving Terri and May at an uncomfortable silence.
"So how are you doing May? I heard you got hurt and had to stay home last week," Terri ventured.
May nodded "Actually it was two weeks ago. I'm doing ok." She paused "Stir crazy and sore, but I've got a new... trainer to help me over it."
Terri nodded "Good, good. You know, I.." May cut her off
"How's Suzi?" She said sharply, referring to Terri's girlfriend.
Blushing, the tall blonde nodded. "She's good, I think. She... You know, she started at Columbia in the fall."
"Oh. Yea. Um, I forgot about that." No one liked to talk about the situation in New York and now May had clumsily stumbled into it. Remembering Cessily's words she tried to be reassuring. "I'm sure she's ok, you know?"
Walking away from May in barely disguised contempt, Terri mumbled, "Yea, I hear mutants tend to stay away from lesbians."
Feeling strangely ashamed she thought 'Ok, how did I start to suck all of a sudden? I thought being a mutant would be fun.'
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'Ok, this is officially not fun. I'm NOT having a good time. I'm cold! I know this is necessary and frankly my overly cautious friend over there is giving me the creeps, but damn, I'm still cold.' Ed stuffed his hands into his pockets and picked at the liner of his overcoat.
He examined the last couple of banks of images from his over active eyes and saw the conversation between Cessily and May. 'Well first contact has been made. It looks like the little girl can see through Cessily's disguise. Forge will be so bummed.' He couldn't help but lift a smile as he thought about the guy who installed all that equipment at X-Corp Cleveland. He was a nice guy, but a bit stiff. And he was very sure of his contraptions.
He looked a little further and saw what drew Cessily away from May. 'Saw that coming. Nattilie tried to touch Vic's head. Must have been a little too close for comfort. Poor kid. Poor girl too. She must think she was coming on too strong or something and got turned down. Man, that age is awkward enough without being obviously mutated. At least I was an adult when I had to start hiding my ... gifts.'
Ed dug into his memory and pulled out a few images of this time. He smiled as he viewed his friends and family doing everyday things. Then he picked out a picture that he viewed often. Clare. He remembered the first time he saw his ex wife as perfectly as he remembered everything else he's ever seen since the age of 13. As he often did he looked at it in all the wavelengths he had available at that time. The flush in her cheeks, the quickening of her heartbeat, all betrayed by subtle signs. Looking at this scene always led to the examination of another scene and this time was no exception. The scene was his in the driveway of his now more empty Cleveland home. He looked at Clare's beautiful but sad face through the window as she got in her car and drove away. 'How old would the children be if we had started having babies right away instead of waiting for a time that never came? 11? 13? Almost this age. I talk to David and Laurie like adults, but they are just babies. And more and more, they are my babies.' He flashed a picture of Xi'an into his head. 'This is messed up. The only reason I came along on this trip was to try to spend time with Xi'an, because I thought she was digging me. And now I find myself adopting 7 teenagers.' He smirked at how life can bite you. 'Well, I guess I better call the mom.'
Ed fished in his pocket for the cell phone. He put the ear piece in and dialed Dani with the phone in his pocket. She picked up on the first ring. "Hey, got to keep it short so just listen. Things are going as well as you'd expect. May noticed Cessily right away and they've been talking. Yea, I know. Murphy's law says that she would encounter the bitter and sarcastic kid first. Vic may have given himself away to his girlfriend. Yes, I said girlfriend. Hopefully that won't be as horrible as it could be. David and Josh are talking to other kids and ... well ... it's a keg party and Laurie and Sofia have volunteered to be victims, it seems." The phone yelled in his ear and he grimaced. "I think Sofia will be ok but Laurie is on her way to a painful lesson on how not to drink. They will be fine; you can bitch me out later."
He turned much more serious. "You see, I've got some bad news. There is another person watching this scene from camo 154 feet from me 21 feet up in a tree. This is a perfect sniper angle, but I can't see any weapons. I keep checking him but I'm sure he doesn't know I'm here." The phone squawked back at him excitedly and he cut it off with a whisper. "Well what do you expect me to do? I have him under surveillance and since he obviously did NOT want to be found, just spotting him is one of the worst things I can do to him. I think he's doing exactly what I'm doing, watching the scene and gathering information. Dani, I think I've spotted our monster and there's not a damn thing we can do about it without giving up our ace - without letting him know we're on to him." The phone sighed and fell silent.
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The two roommates, one blonde, one brunette, both looked at Josh obliviously talking to the short dark haired girl in a purple parka. He talked with his hands, gesturing wildly between sips of beer as the amused girl talked back.
"What a slut" Laurie said taking another long drag off her once again newly refilled beer.
Sofia looked shocked. "No, Misty is very nice. She,... Collects money for the club. Um, Treasurer! Yes. Very nice. We had conversation with Josh after the club broke up about her desire to maybe visit my hometown of Caracas some day. Her Spanish is, a little bad, but understandable."
"I wasn't talking about her," she said through a drunken stupor. "Look at him flaunting himself. 'Look at me, I'm pretty and cool!'" She mimicked some of his more pronounced hand gestures making Sofia snort.
"Ok, I cut you off." Sofia smiled and grabbed for her beer.
Laurie moved her cup away from Sofia and said in her best interpretation of a southern drawl, "you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!" They looked at each other questioningly then laughed.
"I think I could take you, but it's not worth my effort."
"I wonder if I'm worth the effort for Josh. Maybe that's why he's stopped talking to me."
"And maybe, he does not know how to feel about you. Have you ever asked him... told him how YOU feel?" Sofia poked her in the shoulder making the blonde girl sway slightly.
"Once, when he was in his coma"
"Well that is just great. I am sure he was really receptive." Sofia slured out sarcasim.
"I stayed up all night watching him! He could have said thank you!"
"Yes, he should have. You were a good friend"
Laurie's face became red and filled with conflicting emotions. "I'm going to go kick his ass!"
"Wwww Wait! Laurie!"
As Laurie made an angry, drunkenly swerving line from her perch on the bench to her indented target, Ed gave a short chuckle in the woods. 'Damn, that went south in a hurry. I hope she doesn't hurt him.'
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Brian Young, Ben Kolinowski, and Doug Furgison came through the crowd around the firepit and approached David. They didn't quite notice that they crossed paths with an angry young blonde emitting angry pheromones. The effect heightened their aggressive attitudes to a hatefull rage.
Shelly, the vice president of the exchange club, was unaware of the impending conflict and continued to talk to David. "So you see, we've been working with Cook County to try to get an exchange group from one of their schools, just for a few weeks, but they said that they only do international students and only if they exchange for a year. I mean, how lame is that?"
Doug cranked in, "About as lame as this goober your talking to Shel." He spit tobacco onto the ground beside him, almost hitting another student.
"Well if it isn't the three stooges," the girl said sassily. "And in uniform no less!"
Brian went right up to the tall black teen, nose-to-nose, and spat out "Yea, whatever. We got some unfinished business here." He grabbed David by the jacket and threw him into a crowd. "Someone is still standing here like he belongs."
Brian half shoved half tossed David into the feet of a crowd of onlookers, making him skid to a stop in the snow on his side and outstretched right hand. As he began to right himself he kneeled away from the attacking boy. 'Wooo!' he thought to himself. 'That had some force behind it. I'm ready this time though. No huge crowd, No ambush. I can turn these guys fighting skills against them.' He relaxed and let his power flow only to realize, 'Oh no, these guys don't have ANY skills. They are just strong and mean.' He looked over his shoulder at the three boys. Backlit by the fire, their advancing silouettes resembled burning nightmares.
He quickly lunged forward trying to run away but the head boy pushed his ass down with the bottom of his boot, sending him sprawling. "Awww now don't tell me you're leaving the party already. I got a present for you BLACK BOY!" He tried to stomp down on David's back but he rolled away.
The hurtfull words snapped David out of his momentary panic. "You are kidding right? You don't like me because I'm black!?" He scooted away as Brian was regaining his footing. "Please tell me you're kidding."
"I don't kid while kicking ass boy. I told you not to come back." The angry boy kept coming at David but then Brian realized that his friends had stopped following. "Come on boys. Let's teach this guy a lesson. He can't just come into our town and show us up like that."
Ben looked at the small but quick Doug, who motioned to the bigger boy to join the fray along with him. The big burley boy fought the aggressive emotions brought on by Laurie's pheromone cloud and said, "Hey, I didn't think this was some kind of race thing. I'm sitting this one out."
"Whatever.", Brian said dismissivly. "Doug?" Doug looked at Ben, shook his head disapprovingly and ran to help the leader boy beat up David.
David was again kneeling as people gathered around the three combatants. He thought fast. 'Hold on, I have fighting skills. Now what do I do with two attackers?' He stood up and faced the two boys with a renewed confidence. They came at him with Brian, the more vicious one who started it all, in the lead by two paces.
The bigoted boy in the lead swung out with a running roundhouse. David dodged the wild blow that left the boy off balance and over extended. The young black mutant pushed himself up on the boy's exposed back and kicked out against the trailing boy. The maneuver pushed Brian to the ground and caught his accomplice, Doug, in the chest with a flat kick. Brian landed on the ground with David on top of him, pushing him into the snow and knocking the wind out of him. The second boy also fell into the snow with David's foot near his face. David had his two hands on Brian but he had one foot on the ground as soon as he landed and immediately pushed himself to a standing position. This pushed his other boot more squarely into Doug's chest. When he noticed Brian was starting to get up, David simply stood on the boys lower back with his free foot. In one swift move, the fight was over.
From the ground Brian looked back at Ben and said "BEN! Get his black ass!"
At the edge of the crowd Ben looked at the situation, looked at David calmly watching him, and declined. "Why don't you use your 'white power' against him, there, David Duke." He turned his back slowly on the fight and mumbled, "Loser."
David Allyne stood triumphant on his attackers. He had used his own skill and intelligence to beat them and he felt pretty good, but he didn't let it go to his head. "I'm going to get off you all. The fights over, understand?"
"I'm going to kick your ass!" Brian shouted from the ground, making many onlookers giggle.
David pleaded with him from above. "Come on man! We're done here. You lost." Laurie's unintentional dose of pherimones was wearing off the boys and their natural emotions started to reassert themselves.
Doug looked at him and nodded. "Ok, get off me." David got off of the two boys and held out a hand to help Doug off the ground. As Doug took David's hand and began to pull himself up, Brian sprung to his feet and raised his fists up. Before he could slam his fists down on David's back, the black mutant bent further over, using Doug as a counter weight and laid out a kick to Brian's exposed stomach.
Once again David began to pull Doug off of the ground while behind him Brian was heaving and retching. David could hear the sound of Brian throwing up accompanied by astonished giggles from the gathered audience. 'I'll smile about that later, but right now I've got to get out of the spotlight.' Doug was breathing heavy as David turned to him with hands up. "We cool? You ok? I'm out, ok? We're done."
Doug nodded. "We're done."
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Almost as soon as the fight was over, Ed saw what was clearly going to be the end of the party. The Police had been patient enough and they now started up the gravel drive. He noticed that it was ten minutes to two. 'These boys want to close down this party before the end of their shift. I better call Sofia and try to direct traffic. Though these guys are showing restraint, they will hold some kids and they better not be our kids.' He had a momentary flash of Laurie in a holding cell with people freaking out all around her. Then he had the truly disastrous image of Cessily or Victor having their image inducer watches taken away at booking.
Out of the side of his eye, he saw his mystery man slowly lower his blind while still camouflaged. 'That guy is good. If he's our monster, we will not see him coming when he makes his move. I'm all for vigilance but against that? It's pointless. We need intel so we can predict what his first move will be. I can't do anything about it right now, so back to my little fugitives.'
Ed quietly guided Sofia, with Laurie in tow, over to Cessily and Victor. May had been walking once again toward Cessily when the cops first arrived and once she saw them slinking away, she decided to follow them. Josh had gone over to give David a check up after his fight and now the two boys were making their way out of the woods guided by David's acquired familiarity with the terrain.
Once the girls and Victor were out of harms way, he concentrated on Mr. Monster. He'd gotten completely out of the tree and was now moving noiselessly through the forest. To anyone but Ed, he'd blend seamlessly from tree trunk to bush to tree trunk without ever being noticed. Eventually his view was totally blocked by the trees and he looked around.
The cops had rounded up those they really wanted, mostly the college kids and the severely drunk, and were packing up the place to get ready for the next time. As a cold bucket of water was poured over the fire to put it out, Ed thought, 'Ah the cycle of rebellion and angst continues. A few more moments and I'll be alone in the woods to make my humble escape.' He stood for a moment more witnessing the return of the forest creatures to the once noisy location of the party. He was alone with his thoughts. 'Those kids. They are a riot. The differences are plain and they grow and change with each new experience. Fascinating! But they won't get a chance to grow if they have to go up against that guy. Good as they are, they wouldn't stand a chance. I bet if it was what he really wanted to do, I'd have six, No Seven! Seven dead kids here. These young combatants will need some help.' As he started to clumsily but quietly walk out of his post in the forest he mumbled, "It's a good thing they have their lawyer with them and on retainer."
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Out of the darkness of an abandoned New York warehouse came the deadliest of sounds. Snikt! Snikt!
Semi automatic pistols received their clips with a Klack! Klack!
tic tic tic the remote trigger for a ruby quartz visor gets tested In the corner and the man doing the testing looked up at their inspiration. "We ready to go?"
Pat Pat Pat In the front of the room a titanium bat solidly patted the palm of a heavily bandaged, claw-like hand. Turning around the resolute but heavily beaten face of Barnell Bohusk (AKA Beak) sneered. He looked at Wolverine, FantomeX and Cyclops awaiting his word. It gave the kid in him a thrill but he knew now was the time to become a Man - an X-Man. "Let's do this."
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O Coming up in the next issues of Gravity Well:
Our final tie in with Grant Morrison's "Planet X" storyline, featuring a most unusual guest appearance. Stay tuned as innocence is lost, tempers flare, and the players start to make their moves in "Gravity Well : So, these three guys walk into a bar..."
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Outside Mojave, AZ
"I got it sir, ok I know. Look, they replied and said that they just aren't interested in sending their kid here for examination." The broad man in a lab coat continued to talk on the phone. "I know you wanted her here, but they said no." He nodded then said, "OK, Dr. Tudia, you're the boss."
From the other side of the table the other man sat polishing a large gun. "What did he say?"
"He says we have to go pick her up by any means necessary. Says she's a danger to folks around her by her very presence." The broad man replied, hanging up the phone.
The shorter man put down his gun and leaned over the table. "From what I understand, that's pretty much true. Ain't it?"
"I guess so, but I still don't like it." The man in a lab coat walked over to a chrome and black human looking robot and sighed. "Come on, we've got 'ta get Lucy packed up. We're bound for Springfield in the morning."
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
The six teenagers and their reluctant chaperone moved slowly up the gravel path leading to the Woods Hole campground. It had been a bit of a walk so the party was already in full swing by the time they got there. Ed turned to the group. "Ok, you all go and have fun, but don't go crazy or anything. If there is any real problem, don't try to take it on alone and DON'T reveal yourselves as mutants. Just call. If you can't talk, just dial me up and I'll figure it out. From what I understand, the Armstrong girl is a good kid, but she's kind of rebellious. Let's hope that doesn't mean she will break her promise not to use her powers in front of her friends." He took off his dark sun glasses, making Sofia gasp. For the first time the kids got a good look at his eyes. They looked like two jet-black baseballs jutting out front and around the sides of his head. David had always suspected from the strange skills he picked up, that Ed might be able to see behind him. Now he knew. "Oh yea, I'll be watching everything," he smiled knowingly, "but don't let that stop you from having a good time. I'm not a Narc, I'm here to watch your backs. So have fun." He walked off noiselessly into the dark woods with an unreal ease. Graceless and unsteady, he made his way by knowing precisely where to step.
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Fiddling with her can of Red Bull, May surveyed the crowd milling around the firepit. It was the usual crowd, the jocks, the partiers, the art types, and some of the junior college kids trying to rob the cradle. 'Ok, I know that it's the college kids that bring the beer, but really! What a bunch of losers. Check out the guy with the mullet!'
As she continued to observe the gathering, she occasionally flicked her power on. It was just enough to look at the masses and densities of stuff. When she used her power that way time seemed to slow but as she practiced interpreting her new senses it was getting less and less pronounced.
To expand her knowledge of her newfound senses, she looked at a keg as someone moved it. She could sense the sloshing and the motion of the center of gravity around the keg, but she could not actually see the surface of the liquid. 'I could probably stare at it and see the beer inside, but that would be pushing it. People might notice. I know I'm not supposed to use my powers in public, but it's not like I'm really even doing anything. It's a good thing I thought to wear this baseball hat because the dumb power makes my eyes go totally white. Anyone sees that and they might really freak out!'
"Hey space cadet!" Jannie called out to her, snapping her concentration. Her life long friend waved her over to a perch near a fire burning in the campgrounds fire pit.
Tall, thick and almost black haired, May's friend Jannie was almost a total opposite of the tiny blonde. She struggled up to May pulling the tall burley Ben Kolonowski. "Hey there shorty!" Jannie slured out. She had obviously been to the kegs a few times. "Let me introduce you to my guy. Ben, this is May, maker of mayhem and my best friend."
"Hi Ben, I think we've met before, right?" she said putting out her tiny hand.
Ben was so burley that his teammates on the football team had taken to calling him 'Kodiak.' When he gave her a handshake the difference in their sizes was remarkable. "Yea, once or twice," the incredibly large boy said kindly and softly. "I hear you... you were out for a bit with an injury. How are you holding up?"
Jannie blurted out "She's good! She's not injured though. She's a..." The drunken girl was cut short by the daggers coming from May's eyes. Remembering their earlier conversation, Jannie recovered. "She's a big faker. Just wanted to miss the first history test is all."
Ben grimaced. "Don't remind me. I flunked that one. The new kid blew the curve for everyone."
"So you gave him the beat down didn't you sweetie." Jannie cuddled up to Ben's big arm.
The big football player was uncomfortable and said defensively, "I just wanted to scare the guy. Sure, I was pissed. I pushed him a little, but Brian and Doug were the ones who really beat him up. I don't want any trouble. I got some scouts looking at me for next years college season and don't want to mess it up with fights or failed grades."
Jannie patted his arm. "Ben's going out for tight end for the Buckeyes and maybe even Notre Dame!"
The tiny girl dropped her eyes. She joylessly said, "Oh, yea good luck with that."
Jannie looked into her beer cup and broke the awkward lull. "Well, I'm out!" She chirped, hoping that Ben would take the hint and offer to fill her cup.
He ignored her and turned to May. "Aren't you supposed to be looking around for schools too? With your skills, surely you can get a scholarship."
May looked at him then at Jannie. She saw the reflection of the fire in her friends brown eyes. "I guess I'll have to go get a refill myself!" Jannie turned around and stomped off.
May watched her go and said, "I was, but I'll have to assess my injury. I might have ... lost a couple of things that were important to me when I got ... hurt."
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Laurie squinched up her face and up ended the red and white beer cup for the second time. One beer had erased any thought of Ed or their mission from her mind, now the second had washed away her normal shyness.
Sitting next to her near the fire, Sofia was still drinking her first cup. Looking sideways, the brunette venezualian girl could see the unmistakable signs of drunkenness. "You know, I have been drinking beer since my cousins first started taking me to football... sorry... soccer games and I do not understand what the big deal is. You mean this party is all about drinking from the keg? Where is the dancing?"
Laurie stared absent-mindedly at josh who was talking to a girl he met at the exchange club meeting. "Oh my god, Sofia, Josh is hot!"
Sofia swiveled her head around. "You need to slow down. How many was that, two? You need to know your limits, me friend."
The blonde girl continued "I mean really hot. Sofia, why doesn't he talk to me?" Her voice cracked into a sloppy whine.
"He talks to you lots. I have seen you two talk." The brunette took another sip of her beer.
"Yea but 'please pass the jam' and 'don't 'cha think System of a Down rocks' isn't exactly meaningful conversation. And I think he's been avoiding me since, since, since the night I helped him heal himself. It's almost like he's afraid of me."
"He is afraid of himself, more like. Boys are like that." Sofia shrugged.
"Oh my God!" The blonde girl put her hands to her face. "You don't think he thinks I've been using my power on him do you?" She stopped for a second, making sure that last sentence got out right, then continued talking into Sofia's ear while leaning on her for support. "Do you think he's avoiding me because he thinks my pheromones are affecting his emotions?"
"What? No. I am sure not. I think he is just liking his return to normal school. I would have to say, now that I am here with good friends like you two, I am enjoying normal school much better than the one my father sent me." Sofia stopped on words more than normal as the alcohol started to affect her speech.
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Ed watched the scene from his vantage point deep in the woods and felt like a pervert. 'I can see it now, star mutant lawyer molested in jail for being a Peeping Tom. Of course, someone would actually have to catch me, and that is not going to happen.' To his enhanced vision, the dark woods were as light as the brightest day. He could see Laurie drowning that painful awkwardness of hers, and Sofia being a good friend, wading in after her. 'I might have to share my winning hangover recipe with blondie tomorrow.' He smiled and remembered that age, recalling some good times, being bad with his buddies.
Once again he moved around. He examined what his eyes recorded using his photographic memory. While this was his only mutant trick, he did it astonishingly well. It was so effective that he plainly saw what no one else would have detected; a man 20 feet up in a tree sitting in a hidden hunting blind. Once the man showed up on infrared, Ed closely examined his perch and picked him out from his camouflage.
Rocking slowly back and forth to get a complete picture of the scene through the trees, he made sure to stay out of the line of sight of the man. His only one good look at him told him where the man's eyes were inside his costume. There were no weapons on the perch but the presence of this guy bothered him. He was confident that as long as he could keep an eye on this guy, nothing would happen to the kids. His kids, he kept reminding himself.
Turning part of his attention to the party he saw one of his favorite students jumping into action.
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Victor walked around the fire, his hands occupied with two full beer cups. He walked past Laurie and Sofia, propping each other up on a log bench. Looking around at the party he thought, 'this is what I expected high school to be like. I used to watch the other kids go out to parties like this and I wondered what it would be like. It all seemed so fun and active. Then I grew plates, spikes and a long, sticky prehensile tongue. I often wondered what life would be like if I had never become a mutant, never set foot in or even heard of Xavier's. I never wanted to be special, I just wanted to have fun and this is amazing! Natilie is very cool and her friends are nice. I'm just afraid she'll try to kiss me or something. I may look normal, but inside, I'm still different.' He stopped walking right before going into the group of friends. "Tomorrow," He mumbled to himself. "I'll tell her tomorrow."
Walking up to the group, he handed the beer to Natilie. She smiled warmly and his heart turned to putty. One of her friends was finishing up a joke and they all laughed. As he looked at his date having a good time in the soft light of the fires glow he thought, 'This is what life is supposed to be like. Nat just likes me for me. No one here is special or discriminated against. It's just life. I don't know. I might be happier staying here than going back to Xavier's once this is all over.'
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
As May talked to Ben she would lower her eyes every once in a while. She would slow down the scene by looking at it as masses and gravitational forces using her new power. This was the first real time she could look at people aside from herself using the power. It didn't work with her parents for some reason and she found it extremely amusing. There was a small bit of X-ray vision involved but it mostly showed her what people had in their pockets. She could also see people's insides, which was more than a little gross.
Jannie looked a little pissed when she got back with a full cup for herself. "Well that took forever! I swear! Some people don't know how to pump or something! So what are we talking about?"
"Ben was pointing out some of the exchange students to me. It's a little funny. I know I'm a little out of the loop but you'd think that they would announce that kind of thing in homeroom before the kids showed up!"
Jannie snorted. "Yea, that Blonde girl spends all her free time in the library with the red head girl. For exchange students, you'd think that they would be a bit more outgoing. Social, er. I hear that they have made friends with your buddy Olive and that girl Terri, from the basketball team."
On a whim, May decided to get a closer look at the students Ben had pointed out. She pretended to tie her shoe and while crouched over, she focused her senses and took a good hard look at the gravitational signatures of the new students. The blonde haired boy had a cell phone in his pocket. The black guy had both a cell phone and a note pad. Just when she was thinking that this was lame, she looked at the pull exerted by the red haired stranger at the opposite edge of the party. She was talking to Terri. May knew Terri but had a falling out when she came out as a lesbian. A basketball player, she easily spotted by her six foot two frame.
When she isolated the red haired girl, she found her completely uniform in density. Among all the other students this made her look really spooky and weird. 'This must be a robot or something,' she thought. 'I heard about those sentinel robots they send after mutants, maybe that's one of them! Dad said Ms. Moonstar warned of people wanting to manipulate her and her powers. Maybe she's here to do me some harm. Well I'll show her, it, whatever. I may be new to this, but I'll see how it would like being sent into orbit - around the moon!'
May pulled her shoelaces and stood back up. When Bens friends Brian and Doug joined their conversation, she excused herself and made as straight a line as she could, through the crowd, straight up to Terri and Cessily. "Hi Terri, who is your friend?"
Terri was at a loss, ever since she came out of the closet last year, May had avoided her, though they had been close in elementary school. It was odd to hear from her now. "Uh, Hi May, this is one of the exchange students. We met at the library after school. May, this is..."
"Cessily Kincaid," She stepped forward to shake the tiny girls hand. May looked down at the gloved hand suspiciously and shook it lightly. "Nice to meet you."
May grinned sideways "So where are you exchanged from?" She wanted to finish that with "Mars?" but held her tongue. This being could be dangerous.
"I'm from Boston," the red head replied. Cessily was glad that the image inducer was keeping her concealed because having May be this close and this aggressive was freaking her out.
May peaked into Cessily's cup and said, "Well, you appear to be out. Want to get another?"
Terri, flustered to the point of being birdlike said, "I'm out to. I'll go get it. You want one May?"
"No, sticking with Red Bull, but thanks." She said. 'Yea, thanks for giving us some space here.' Once Terri was gone May quietly cut to the chase. "So what the hell are you? Are you following me?"
Cessily was both relieved and put off by the honesty. "Nice to meet you too. You want to make yourself any more of a target?" She grinned, feigning polite conversation in case anyone was looking. "So, how'd you figure it out?"
"You look like a moving statue to me. No bones, no organs, center of gravity is way too low and variable. That other kid over there has something going on in his throat and his skin is freaky so I know about him too. Who are you people?" She looked around again using her powers and her eyes went white in front of the red heads face.
"We people are trying to keep you from outing yourself like that. And blowing our cover isn't going to help you out one bit. We're Xi'an and Dani's kids. I understand you made quite an impression on them."
This was unexpected. Ms. Moonstar didn't say that she had other students with her. Thinking back on their initial meeting, at some of the unintentionally racist and stupid things she said, May kicked at the snow. "Not one of my better moments. I hope they don't think I'm some sort of hick from the hayseeds."
Cessily was indignant. "Xi'an is my mentor and my friend. She was very hurt by the blatant, ridiculousness of your comment. I don't think you understand the long road you have ahead of you. Such prejudices are not going to be helpful. That 'freak' over there had guts enough to go toe to toe with black ice in Cleveland."
May brightened up. "Really? I heard about that! So are you Push or Soma?"
Cessily laughed in spite of herself as Terri approached with the beer. "Nether, but we can chat later." She looked over and saw Victor and Natalie having some sort of tiff. Natalie put her hand up to touch Victor's head, which gave her a fright. As calmly as she could manage she said, "I think my home-freak needs some assistance. Can you excuse me?" She took the beer and bowed out of the conversation, leaving Terri and May at an uncomfortable silence.
"So how are you doing May? I heard you got hurt and had to stay home last week," Terri ventured.
May nodded "Actually it was two weeks ago. I'm doing ok." She paused "Stir crazy and sore, but I've got a new... trainer to help me over it."
Terri nodded "Good, good. You know, I.." May cut her off
"How's Suzi?" She said sharply, referring to Terri's girlfriend.
Blushing, the tall blonde nodded. "She's good, I think. She... You know, she started at Columbia in the fall."
"Oh. Yea. Um, I forgot about that." No one liked to talk about the situation in New York and now May had clumsily stumbled into it. Remembering Cessily's words she tried to be reassuring. "I'm sure she's ok, you know?"
Walking away from May in barely disguised contempt, Terri mumbled, "Yea, I hear mutants tend to stay away from lesbians."
Feeling strangely ashamed she thought 'Ok, how did I start to suck all of a sudden? I thought being a mutant would be fun.'
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
'Ok, this is officially not fun. I'm NOT having a good time. I'm cold! I know this is necessary and frankly my overly cautious friend over there is giving me the creeps, but damn, I'm still cold.' Ed stuffed his hands into his pockets and picked at the liner of his overcoat.
He examined the last couple of banks of images from his over active eyes and saw the conversation between Cessily and May. 'Well first contact has been made. It looks like the little girl can see through Cessily's disguise. Forge will be so bummed.' He couldn't help but lift a smile as he thought about the guy who installed all that equipment at X-Corp Cleveland. He was a nice guy, but a bit stiff. And he was very sure of his contraptions.
He looked a little further and saw what drew Cessily away from May. 'Saw that coming. Nattilie tried to touch Vic's head. Must have been a little too close for comfort. Poor kid. Poor girl too. She must think she was coming on too strong or something and got turned down. Man, that age is awkward enough without being obviously mutated. At least I was an adult when I had to start hiding my ... gifts.'
Ed dug into his memory and pulled out a few images of this time. He smiled as he viewed his friends and family doing everyday things. Then he picked out a picture that he viewed often. Clare. He remembered the first time he saw his ex wife as perfectly as he remembered everything else he's ever seen since the age of 13. As he often did he looked at it in all the wavelengths he had available at that time. The flush in her cheeks, the quickening of her heartbeat, all betrayed by subtle signs. Looking at this scene always led to the examination of another scene and this time was no exception. The scene was his in the driveway of his now more empty Cleveland home. He looked at Clare's beautiful but sad face through the window as she got in her car and drove away. 'How old would the children be if we had started having babies right away instead of waiting for a time that never came? 11? 13? Almost this age. I talk to David and Laurie like adults, but they are just babies. And more and more, they are my babies.' He flashed a picture of Xi'an into his head. 'This is messed up. The only reason I came along on this trip was to try to spend time with Xi'an, because I thought she was digging me. And now I find myself adopting 7 teenagers.' He smirked at how life can bite you. 'Well, I guess I better call the mom.'
Ed fished in his pocket for the cell phone. He put the ear piece in and dialed Dani with the phone in his pocket. She picked up on the first ring. "Hey, got to keep it short so just listen. Things are going as well as you'd expect. May noticed Cessily right away and they've been talking. Yea, I know. Murphy's law says that she would encounter the bitter and sarcastic kid first. Vic may have given himself away to his girlfriend. Yes, I said girlfriend. Hopefully that won't be as horrible as it could be. David and Josh are talking to other kids and ... well ... it's a keg party and Laurie and Sofia have volunteered to be victims, it seems." The phone yelled in his ear and he grimaced. "I think Sofia will be ok but Laurie is on her way to a painful lesson on how not to drink. They will be fine; you can bitch me out later."
He turned much more serious. "You see, I've got some bad news. There is another person watching this scene from camo 154 feet from me 21 feet up in a tree. This is a perfect sniper angle, but I can't see any weapons. I keep checking him but I'm sure he doesn't know I'm here." The phone squawked back at him excitedly and he cut it off with a whisper. "Well what do you expect me to do? I have him under surveillance and since he obviously did NOT want to be found, just spotting him is one of the worst things I can do to him. I think he's doing exactly what I'm doing, watching the scene and gathering information. Dani, I think I've spotted our monster and there's not a damn thing we can do about it without giving up our ace - without letting him know we're on to him." The phone sighed and fell silent.
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
The two roommates, one blonde, one brunette, both looked at Josh obliviously talking to the short dark haired girl in a purple parka. He talked with his hands, gesturing wildly between sips of beer as the amused girl talked back.
"What a slut" Laurie said taking another long drag off her once again newly refilled beer.
Sofia looked shocked. "No, Misty is very nice. She,... Collects money for the club. Um, Treasurer! Yes. Very nice. We had conversation with Josh after the club broke up about her desire to maybe visit my hometown of Caracas some day. Her Spanish is, a little bad, but understandable."
"I wasn't talking about her," she said through a drunken stupor. "Look at him flaunting himself. 'Look at me, I'm pretty and cool!'" She mimicked some of his more pronounced hand gestures making Sofia snort.
"Ok, I cut you off." Sofia smiled and grabbed for her beer.
Laurie moved her cup away from Sofia and said in her best interpretation of a southern drawl, "you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!" They looked at each other questioningly then laughed.
"I think I could take you, but it's not worth my effort."
"I wonder if I'm worth the effort for Josh. Maybe that's why he's stopped talking to me."
"And maybe, he does not know how to feel about you. Have you ever asked him... told him how YOU feel?" Sofia poked her in the shoulder making the blonde girl sway slightly.
"Once, when he was in his coma"
"Well that is just great. I am sure he was really receptive." Sofia slured out sarcasim.
"I stayed up all night watching him! He could have said thank you!"
"Yes, he should have. You were a good friend"
Laurie's face became red and filled with conflicting emotions. "I'm going to go kick his ass!"
"Wwww Wait! Laurie!"
As Laurie made an angry, drunkenly swerving line from her perch on the bench to her indented target, Ed gave a short chuckle in the woods. 'Damn, that went south in a hurry. I hope she doesn't hurt him.'
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Brian Young, Ben Kolinowski, and Doug Furgison came through the crowd around the firepit and approached David. They didn't quite notice that they crossed paths with an angry young blonde emitting angry pheromones. The effect heightened their aggressive attitudes to a hatefull rage.
Shelly, the vice president of the exchange club, was unaware of the impending conflict and continued to talk to David. "So you see, we've been working with Cook County to try to get an exchange group from one of their schools, just for a few weeks, but they said that they only do international students and only if they exchange for a year. I mean, how lame is that?"
Doug cranked in, "About as lame as this goober your talking to Shel." He spit tobacco onto the ground beside him, almost hitting another student.
"Well if it isn't the three stooges," the girl said sassily. "And in uniform no less!"
Brian went right up to the tall black teen, nose-to-nose, and spat out "Yea, whatever. We got some unfinished business here." He grabbed David by the jacket and threw him into a crowd. "Someone is still standing here like he belongs."
Brian half shoved half tossed David into the feet of a crowd of onlookers, making him skid to a stop in the snow on his side and outstretched right hand. As he began to right himself he kneeled away from the attacking boy. 'Wooo!' he thought to himself. 'That had some force behind it. I'm ready this time though. No huge crowd, No ambush. I can turn these guys fighting skills against them.' He relaxed and let his power flow only to realize, 'Oh no, these guys don't have ANY skills. They are just strong and mean.' He looked over his shoulder at the three boys. Backlit by the fire, their advancing silouettes resembled burning nightmares.
He quickly lunged forward trying to run away but the head boy pushed his ass down with the bottom of his boot, sending him sprawling. "Awww now don't tell me you're leaving the party already. I got a present for you BLACK BOY!" He tried to stomp down on David's back but he rolled away.
The hurtfull words snapped David out of his momentary panic. "You are kidding right? You don't like me because I'm black!?" He scooted away as Brian was regaining his footing. "Please tell me you're kidding."
"I don't kid while kicking ass boy. I told you not to come back." The angry boy kept coming at David but then Brian realized that his friends had stopped following. "Come on boys. Let's teach this guy a lesson. He can't just come into our town and show us up like that."
Ben looked at the small but quick Doug, who motioned to the bigger boy to join the fray along with him. The big burley boy fought the aggressive emotions brought on by Laurie's pheromone cloud and said, "Hey, I didn't think this was some kind of race thing. I'm sitting this one out."
"Whatever.", Brian said dismissivly. "Doug?" Doug looked at Ben, shook his head disapprovingly and ran to help the leader boy beat up David.
David was again kneeling as people gathered around the three combatants. He thought fast. 'Hold on, I have fighting skills. Now what do I do with two attackers?' He stood up and faced the two boys with a renewed confidence. They came at him with Brian, the more vicious one who started it all, in the lead by two paces.
The bigoted boy in the lead swung out with a running roundhouse. David dodged the wild blow that left the boy off balance and over extended. The young black mutant pushed himself up on the boy's exposed back and kicked out against the trailing boy. The maneuver pushed Brian to the ground and caught his accomplice, Doug, in the chest with a flat kick. Brian landed on the ground with David on top of him, pushing him into the snow and knocking the wind out of him. The second boy also fell into the snow with David's foot near his face. David had his two hands on Brian but he had one foot on the ground as soon as he landed and immediately pushed himself to a standing position. This pushed his other boot more squarely into Doug's chest. When he noticed Brian was starting to get up, David simply stood on the boys lower back with his free foot. In one swift move, the fight was over.
From the ground Brian looked back at Ben and said "BEN! Get his black ass!"
At the edge of the crowd Ben looked at the situation, looked at David calmly watching him, and declined. "Why don't you use your 'white power' against him, there, David Duke." He turned his back slowly on the fight and mumbled, "Loser."
David Allyne stood triumphant on his attackers. He had used his own skill and intelligence to beat them and he felt pretty good, but he didn't let it go to his head. "I'm going to get off you all. The fights over, understand?"
"I'm going to kick your ass!" Brian shouted from the ground, making many onlookers giggle.
David pleaded with him from above. "Come on man! We're done here. You lost." Laurie's unintentional dose of pherimones was wearing off the boys and their natural emotions started to reassert themselves.
Doug looked at him and nodded. "Ok, get off me." David got off of the two boys and held out a hand to help Doug off the ground. As Doug took David's hand and began to pull himself up, Brian sprung to his feet and raised his fists up. Before he could slam his fists down on David's back, the black mutant bent further over, using Doug as a counter weight and laid out a kick to Brian's exposed stomach.
Once again David began to pull Doug off of the ground while behind him Brian was heaving and retching. David could hear the sound of Brian throwing up accompanied by astonished giggles from the gathered audience. 'I'll smile about that later, but right now I've got to get out of the spotlight.' Doug was breathing heavy as David turned to him with hands up. "We cool? You ok? I'm out, ok? We're done."
Doug nodded. "We're done."
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O
Almost as soon as the fight was over, Ed saw what was clearly going to be the end of the party. The Police had been patient enough and they now started up the gravel drive. He noticed that it was ten minutes to two. 'These boys want to close down this party before the end of their shift. I better call Sofia and try to direct traffic. Though these guys are showing restraint, they will hold some kids and they better not be our kids.' He had a momentary flash of Laurie in a holding cell with people freaking out all around her. Then he had the truly disastrous image of Cessily or Victor having their image inducer watches taken away at booking.
Out of the side of his eye, he saw his mystery man slowly lower his blind while still camouflaged. 'That guy is good. If he's our monster, we will not see him coming when he makes his move. I'm all for vigilance but against that? It's pointless. We need intel so we can predict what his first move will be. I can't do anything about it right now, so back to my little fugitives.'
Ed quietly guided Sofia, with Laurie in tow, over to Cessily and Victor. May had been walking once again toward Cessily when the cops first arrived and once she saw them slinking away, she decided to follow them. Josh had gone over to give David a check up after his fight and now the two boys were making their way out of the woods guided by David's acquired familiarity with the terrain.
Once the girls and Victor were out of harms way, he concentrated on Mr. Monster. He'd gotten completely out of the tree and was now moving noiselessly through the forest. To anyone but Ed, he'd blend seamlessly from tree trunk to bush to tree trunk without ever being noticed. Eventually his view was totally blocked by the trees and he looked around.
The cops had rounded up those they really wanted, mostly the college kids and the severely drunk, and were packing up the place to get ready for the next time. As a cold bucket of water was poured over the fire to put it out, Ed thought, 'Ah the cycle of rebellion and angst continues. A few more moments and I'll be alone in the woods to make my humble escape.' He stood for a moment more witnessing the return of the forest creatures to the once noisy location of the party. He was alone with his thoughts. 'Those kids. They are a riot. The differences are plain and they grow and change with each new experience. Fascinating! But they won't get a chance to grow if they have to go up against that guy. Good as they are, they wouldn't stand a chance. I bet if it was what he really wanted to do, I'd have six, No Seven! Seven dead kids here. These young combatants will need some help.' As he started to clumsily but quietly walk out of his post in the forest he mumbled, "It's a good thing they have their lawyer with them and on retainer."
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Out of the darkness of an abandoned New York warehouse came the deadliest of sounds. Snikt! Snikt!
Semi automatic pistols received their clips with a Klack! Klack!
tic tic tic the remote trigger for a ruby quartz visor gets tested In the corner and the man doing the testing looked up at their inspiration. "We ready to go?"
Pat Pat Pat In the front of the room a titanium bat solidly patted the palm of a heavily bandaged, claw-like hand. Turning around the resolute but heavily beaten face of Barnell Bohusk (AKA Beak) sneered. He looked at Wolverine, FantomeX and Cyclops awaiting his word. It gave the kid in him a thrill but he knew now was the time to become a Man - an X-Man. "Let's do this."
O0o0O0o.o0O0o0O Coming up in the next issues of Gravity Well:
Our final tie in with Grant Morrison's "Planet X" storyline, featuring a most unusual guest appearance. Stay tuned as innocence is lost, tempers flare, and the players start to make their moves in "Gravity Well : So, these three guys walk into a bar..."
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