Yo! I know it's been a while since I've updated this story but I think I've got an ok schedule for writing now so I will be hopefully be updating everything at a consistent pace from here on out. Also, all of the Glows (on Michael's side anyway) will be getting a power boost eventually. Th reason will be explained later but I do like how I want to do it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'll talk more at the bottom, seeya!
P.S.- I am sorry if the beginning seems kind of half-assed, I wrote that part a while ago and was having trouble focusing but I can't really find a way to work in the reveal of another of Michael's abilities so I will leave it in, but I will make sure the rest of the chapter is above standard to make up for it.
Chapter 4: Shit Gets Real
"Well, Mr. Vey, it seems as though you have been accepted into a prestigious institution renowned for its very impressive output of professional scholars. By the end of their stay there, it's said that they could just pick a college and they'd be accepted instantly." Mr. Dallstrom said with unconcealed giddiness.
"And what is this school called?" Michael asked, already knowing the answer.
"Elgen Academy of Pasadena, California. They only accept roughly 17 people per year, so you should be immensely proud of your accomplishments." The man replied as he held the brochure of the academy, the same one in his back pocket, for Michael to take.
"Yeah…" Michael trailed off as his heartbeat rose until it was deafening.
"Maybe they could just be looking for an answer. They don't have to be evil or just want to dissect us. They could be normal scientists who made a mistake and just want to fix it." Michael thought, though, for some reason, he couldn't believe those thoughts.
"Well, how about you think about it and report back to me by Wednesday. Also, not to influence your decision or anything, but the academy is offering the school a good bit of money if you go as compensation for us losing someone of your academic standing, though that's only if you go." Dallstrom finished a raised eyebrow at the boy.
"I understand." With that, the teenager left the office with two brochures, each for the same thing, and that unsettled him greatly.
On his way wandering the halls, Michael ran into Ostin who was waiting for him by his locker. "Yo, so what did he want?"
The only response he got was Michael holding out the new brochure he had received.
"Damn, I hate it when I'm right…"
Time Skip
Michael and Ostin met up with Taylor outside of their next class, where Michael showed her his brochure for Elgen Academy. As soon as she laid her eyes on it, it only made her feel worse, thinking that she is the cause for the Elgen finding them as she searched for them from her house.
After reassuring her that they would figure out what to do and they'd all be ok, they all took their seats to get ready for class, all the while Michael got strange looks from everyone when he continued to flip his coin.
When half of the class period was left, Michael caught his coin from its latest trip through the air and was about to flip it again when he was called on by the teacher, startling him into dropping the quarter and causing it to roll under his chair.
After answering the rather simple question, Michael looked down and was surprised at what he saw. Just looking down at his desk, Michael could see a small, electric-blue circle. When he tried to touch it, though, all he could feel was the wood of the desk.
Moving his head, Michael saw that the circle wasn't fixed on the desk, causing him to come to an unusual revelation.
That wasn't just a circle, it was his coin! He quickly looked under his desk and there it was, with the circle outlining it perfectly.
Picking it up and flipping it once more, Michael noticed that the faint circle disappeared, causing him to come to the conclusion that anything he charged his electricity into, he could somewhat track, with more electricity making it easier to track and vice versa.
"Hmm, why is this only showing up just now? Am I becoming more electric? If so, why?" Michael thought to himself as he made sure to pay attention to what the teacher was lecturing on about.
Though, this was cause for investigation. It seemed as though he acquired more and more abilities as he became more electric, and if that was true, then he had to find out why he was becoming more electric.
He would need to discuss this more with Ostin when they got a chance. Most likely after school when they all went to his birthday party. He would also need to tell his mom about all that had happened soon, if these people looking for them were serious.
After Class
"Ok, so we'll come pick you up around 5 after your cheerleading practice is over. After that, we'll discuss more about this Elgen business after the party when we're away from my mom." Michael said as he caught up to Ostin and Taylor who were waiting for him outside of the class.
"Right, I'll see you guys then." Taylor replied as she and Ostin began to walk away in opposite directions.
Before Michael followed his best friend, a sudden idea popped into his head. A rather ingenious plan, not to toot his own horn or anything.
"Hey, Taylor!" he called out, getting her to stop and turn to him. "Here, for luck."
Taylor looked down at her hand as she wondered why Michael would give him his quarter that he has been flipping all day, but when she looked up to question him about it, he was already gone.
Not seeing the importance of it, decided to just put it in her pocket and ask him about it later.
Having done what he needed to do, Michael caught up to Ostin and walked home to wait for his mom.
"What was that about?" Ostin asked when Michael caught up to him.
"I'll tell you later." He replied with a grin on his face.
A couple of hours later (Michael's POV)
"So, you guys excited for the aquarium?" My mom asked as we drove to the school to pick up Taylor.
"Yeah, it's going to be awesome. I hope they have a decent electric eel exhibit." I replied, earning a chuckle from both mom and Ostin, though mom wasn't sure why Ostin would find that funny, unless of course he knew. But she had faith in Michael's ability to keep a secret.
"I'm sure it will be fine. Ok, we're here. Where are we supposed to meet her?" the woman asked as she surveyed the emptiness of the school's parking lot.
"She said she would meet us in front of the school." Ostin answered as he also noticed that she wasn't there.
"Why don't you guys go in and tell her we're here. She probably got held up or something." Sharon suggested as me and Ostin got out of the car.
"Ok, we'll be back." I agreed as we walked towards the doors.
After a couple of minutes of walking, we had finally arrived at the Gymnasium to see that the cheerleaders were working on some stunt formations as their instructor, Mrs. Shaw, was studying her clipboard.
Surveying my surroundings, I took notice that Taylor was nowhere to be seen.
"She's not here." I said, confusing Ostin for a moment.
"Maybe she's just in the bathroom or something." Ostin replied, trying to come up with any reason that she wasn't here.
"Nope, she's not anywhere in the building." Ostin shot me a questioning look when I shot down his suggestion so quickly. "Oh, right. During classes today, I found out that I can sort of see anything I put my electricity into, like the quarter, and track it, even through solid objects."
Ostin's eyebrows shot up in surprise at my new ability before he adopted an understanding expression. "So that's what you were doing before we left school. You gave her your quarter so that you could see where she is if she's somewhat near you."
"Exactly. Anyway, let's ask around to see if anyone knows where she went." I concluded, already starting my walk to Mrs. Shaw.
Once we reached the adult, I put on a small smile to hopefully get a positive response for seemingly disturbing their practice. "Hey, Mrs. Shaw."
Looking up from her clipboard, the woman smiled at seeing some of her best students approaching her, seeing as how she also taught P.E. as well as cheerleading. "Hello Michael, Ostin. What can I do for you two?"
"Well, we were wondering where Taylor Ridley was. She said that we were to pick her up after practice was over." Ostin replied with a smile. At first, he didn't like Mrs. Shaw or P.E. in general because he couldn't do what the other students could do, but after he started working out properly, he started to enjoy the class more and more.
"Oh, Taylor went home early, said she had a bad headache." The woman recalled.
"Oh, ok, well thank you. I'll see you in class tomorrow." I commented as we started to leave, though I caught Taylor's friend Maddie walking with her phone in her hands.
"Hey, Maddie!" I called out before running up to her.
"Oh, hey Michael, Ostin. What's up?" She replied, shocking them that she would acknowledge the latter of the two. Well, I guess when you beef up and start performing well in gym, the popular kids take notice.
"We were wondering if you could call Taylor for us. I know she went home due to a headache, but I just want to make sure she's alright." I asked, hoping that his request wasn't too much to ask for.
"Oh, she never answers her phone. I'll text her though." She agreed with a smile as her fingers sped across her phone's keyboard.
After almost a minute her phone went off. "She said that she's sorry she didn't call, must have forgot. She said she's alright but she's sorry she's gonna miss your birthday party. I didn't know it was your birthday, Happy Birthday!" she read off before congratulating the taller of the two.
"Thank you, see you later." I replied as a sigh of relief escaped my lips. That is, before something caught my eye.
"What is it?" Ostin asked when he noticed me trying to focus on something.
"Come with me." was all I said as I started heading to the doors that led outside into the secondary parking lot, used mainly by busses and trucks meant to transport students and band equipment respectfully.
As we got outside, I kept walking to where the glow was emanating from, Ostin keeping quiet the whole way, not wanting to disturb his friend's trance.
After finally reaching the glow, I confirmed my suspicion by picking up the quarter that I lent to Taylor.
"Why would she drop it? Did you tell her what it did?" Ostin asked, trying not to think of the worst possibility.
"No, I didn't. We should swing by her house, just to make sure she's ok." I answered as I held the coin in my hand tightly, silently wondering why there wasn't a single lick of electricity still in the thing.
2 hours ago (With Taylor)
Taylor was currently walking through the back doors of the gym, wanting to get home as fast as possible so that she could lay down to try and get rid of this excruciating headache.
She was just a few minutes into practice when she had to sit down when the headache started. A few minutes later, Mrs. Shaw suggested that she go home to try and get better.
So, after trying to wait for Michael for about a minute or so, she gave up and started to head home. The only thing that made the headache go away even the slightest bit was when she held on to the quarter Michael gave her, strangely enough.
She didn't know why, but when she held the coin, she could feel the pain lessen a bit, like the coin had some magical, headache fighting properties.
Though, that didn't help when a van pulled up next to her and opened its doors. That's when the pain reached a whole new high, causing her to drop the quarter onto the asphalt.
"Hey! Are you trying to kill her?" she could barely make out a male voice call out.
"It's not my fault, something was interfering so I had to up the dosage." This time a female voice replied, though Taylor could tell that there was no remorse or regret in her words.
Not wanting to talk anymore, the mysterious people picked her up and dragged her into the van before tying her up and taking away her senses by the use of a blindfold and something they put over her mouth and nose, causing her to lose consciousness.
Back with Michael (3rd person)
Once they got back into the car, Michael immediately turned to his mother with a grim look on his face.
"She went home early due to a headache. Do you mind if we swing by her place, just to make sure she's ok?" Michael asked, hoping that she wouldn't mind.
"Yeah, it's no problem." she replied with a smile at seeing her son so worried for a girl.
And off they went, with Michael giving his mom directions. They arrived after only 3 minutes of driving to see that there was only one car in the driveway, showing that Taylor's dad wasn't home yet.
This time, Michael went up by himself, not wanting to bombard his friend's mom with many people suddenly showing up at her front door in the middle of the evening.
After knocking, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and blue eyes opened the door with a small smile. "Yes, how can I help you?"
"Hi, my name is Michael Vey, I'm a friend of Taylor's and I was wondering if she was home at the moment?" Michael asked as politely as he could.
"Oh, so you're the famous Michael I've been hearing so much about in the past couple of weeks. It's good to finally meet you, but no she's not here. She had cheerleading practice today so she's probably still at the school. You should go there, and happy birthday by the way." The woman explained with an amused smile on her face when she mentioned how Taylor talked about him.
"Oh, ok, thank you." Michael replied with a forced smile as he walked back to the car.
"So, was she there?" Ostin asked with a hopeful expression on his face.
Michael turned to him with a grim expression. Unable to form any words, he just shook his head in the negative, causing his friend to adopt an equally grim look.
"What do you mean she wasn't there? I thought she went home due to her headache." Sharon asked her son with confusion painted across her face.
"I don't know, maybe she went to a friend's house that was closer to the school." Michael thought fast, not wanting to tell his mom about everything they had been doing behind her back just yet.
Then again, if he told her about everything, about how he had found someone else with powers like his, about him training himself and all of his newfound abilities, maybe she could help them.
"Well, I hope she's alright, but let's not let this ruin your big day, okay?" His mom asked, hoping to take his mind off of worrying.
"Yeah, let's go." Michael replied. "I'll tell her tonight. She deserves today at least."
So, they spent the rest of the day exploring the many exhibits at the Aquarium and, although he had almost completely gotten over his habit, Ostin would occasionally go on a spiel about one of the animals they were looking at.
Eventually, they left the Aquarium to go to his favourite restaurant, PizzaMax. It wasn't actually called that, but when he was younger and they had just gotten to Idaho he had gotten the obscenely long name wrong but the name stuck.
As they were all winding down and getting ready to leave, Michael turned to his mom with a forlorn look on his face, instantly worrying his mom.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Mom, I have something to confess." He paused, knowing how his mom would react to the news. "Ostin knows."
He didn't catch her reaction because he put his head down, not wanting to see how upset he made her with his actions.
After a long silence, Sharon took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking again. "Since when?"
"I don't know, a long time. I was sick of keeping the secret and I knew that Ostin wouldn't tell anyone, seeing as how he has been my best friend since we moved here, and I made him swear to secrecy. I even let him help me in training in return for training him a bit too." He explained, cursing himself too late for letting the information about him training slip out so early.
"You did what now?" his mom asked in a tone that told him that she wanted to yell and scream but didn't want to in front of all of these people.
She turned to Ostin, who was sitting quietly in the booth next to Michael with an equally forlorn expression. She had noticed how much fitter Ostin and Michael had become, but she just chalked it up to them wanting to impress the girls at school.
"I'm sorry, but I made sure that we were alone every single time, we did it in an area that was abandoned and hadn't seen a single person in quite some time, and we even made sure to clean up and erase any signs that we were there in the first place. We took every precaution we could think of and then some. I know that I'm not supposed to be using my abilities at all, but I could feel potential within me. I could feel the energy wanting, begging to be used, to be refined and cultivated. I know it was selfish, but I wanted to be someone, I wanted to be special and not have to hide it." Michael ranted, finally getting to reveal everything to the first person he wanted to tell for the longest time.
He looked up and saw that his mother was shocked at his explanation, clearly expecting a childish response about wanting to be a superhero or something along those lines. She was also extremely relieved that there was no-one else near them, anyone who sat down at a table near them later asked for a new table, due to how much they were laughing and how loud they were being.
Sharon sighed, she should have known that he wouldn't be able to control his powers without refinement. She also had no idea what her son was going through with that power growing inside of him.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so neglectful of your needs, especially when it came to your gift. I'm sorry I got angry, and I'm happy that you have such a great friend such as Ostin." She smiled, earning relieved looks from both of the boys. "Now, is there anything else I need to know."
The boys looked at each other once more before Michael spoke up again. "Well, for one, Taylor also knows, but that one was for a completely different reason."
"What reason?" she asked, knowing that her son was having some kind of internal debate.
"Umm, she sort of, uh, has abilities, as well." Michael muttered, trying to delay the inevitable, though everyone at the table heard it.
Sharon was shocked silent. "Another person with abilities? What are the chances? Though, this just doubles the risk of staying here."
"Umm, Mrs. Vey?" Ostin asked, snapping her out of her shock.
"Yes?" was all she could come up with at the moment.
"There's more." Michael paused, this was the big one that would likely send his mother over the top and he didn't know how to that kind of mom. "Me and Taylor both have been approached by an esteemed school in Pasadena, California. A school called the Elgen Academy of Pasadena." At this, Michael's mother's face went sheet white.
Grabbing her purse and jacket, Sharon turned to the two boys with a fearful look in her eyes. "We need to go, now."
The two boys looked at each other, confused, before hurrying to catch up to the worried mother.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Michael asked as they caught up to the woman after just exiting the restaurant.
"I can't tell you here, we'll discuss more at home." She declared as she went to unlock the car.
"Umm, could you spare a dollar?" a voice behind them spoke, startling all of them. They turned to see a rough-looking man that seemed to be homeless.
Sharon took a moment to control her breathing before replying. "Sure, one moment please." She said as she looked down at her purse.
That is when trouble struck yet again. The man took the moment of distraction to pull out a gun and point it at the trio. "Give me your wallet now! And nobody move!"
The mother looked up shocked, dropping her keys in the process, before holding out her wallet for the man to take. "Here! It's got cash and cards, please just take it."
"Quiet! Your car! I want your car as well!" the man demanded as he his hand shook.
"I dropped the keys there. I'm just going to reach down and get them and then you can leave, okay?" she replied calmly, trying not to upset the man any more.
"No! You!" he yelled, pointing his gun at me. "You pick up the keys and bring them to me!"
I took a deep breath as I reached down and picked up the car keys before slowly walking towards the man with his hands up in a placating way.
"Good. Now, no funny business or your mom gets it." The man demanded again as he pointed his still-shaking hand at his mother.
Michael wasn't sure what caused him to do it. Maybe it was the emotions of the day catching up to him. Maybe it was adrenaline and fear. He wasn't sure, but when the man grabbed the keys, Michael surged. Not as hard as he could have, knowing that much could kill the man, only about half.
The man shot back, hitting the back of his head against the parked car behind him, knocking him out cold within seconds.
There was a deafening silence that filled everyone's ears at that point. So much had happened in only a few moments that they were only now taking it all in.
That is, until the clapping of someone's hands snapped them out of their shock.
"Wow, how magnificent. You truly did well, Michael." A deep voice cut through the air, causing everyone to turn their heads to the newly arrived man.
He had dark brown hair with sideburns, and wore a nice tan suit with an orange silk tie. The odd thing being his thick-framed sunglasses that he wore, even though it was nighttime. "I'm not lying, that was impressive. More so than I expected."
Michael stared at the man with confusion showing on his face. He was about to question the man when his mother beat him to the punch. "Who are you?"
The man grinned in a sinister way. "I'm but a fan, Sharon. A fan of your son and his…gift." Michael and his mother shared a glance of surprise, as well as Ostin, who had seemingly gone unnoticed by the man. That or he didn't really care about the boy. "Oh yes, I know all about your abilities. In fact, I bet you that I know more about it than even you.
"How?" Michael asked, though he had a theory in mind.
"Michael, we need to go." His mother called, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"We've been searching for you for quite some time, Michael. You are a very special boy, you see. You and Taylor both." The man continued, halting Michael's thoughts of leaving for a moment more.
"What do you want from us?" Michael asked, getting serious at the mention of his missing friend.
"Oh, I just came here to introduce you to some people. Some people who are quite like you, actually." The man smirked arrogantly, like he had something that they needed or wanted badly, and he knew that.
Just then another person showed up out of the darkness behind them. He was a good-looking boy about Michael's age that looked like he hadn't had a shower in quite a while if his greasy hair were any indication. He wore a red, plaid vest with no undershirt, showing off his slightly muscly torso.
"This, is Zeus. Like you, he has extraordinary abilities, hence where his name came from." To showcase this, the boy named Zeus shot electricity from his fingertips like lightning, hitting Ostin in the chest and sending him into a car, much like how Michael shocked the would-be burglar.
"Hey!" Michael called out, ready to fight them should they try anything again.
"Calm yourself, Michael, he's not worth your worry." The man said, trying to placate the angry boy.
Instead, all it did was make him angrier.
"My other friend is Nichelle." He stated as another figure emerged beside him this time.
Once she was introduced, Michael started to feel slightly dizzy with a headache starting to form, though it was nothing too bad. "I don't know what you're doing, but cut it out."
This seemed to surprise the trio of newcomers. Somehow, this boy was withstanding Nichelle's rather, unique ability quite easily. This revelation caused the man to smile even wider.
"My my, Michael, so full of surprises. You see, Nichelle's power works completely opposite of yours and Zeus's. While you and Zeus exude electricity and manipulate it to your bidding, Nichelle is like an Electricity Vampire. She sucks the electricity out of someone like you until you're empty. The process can be quite painful, so I'm told, but you seem to be holding your own against her without much effort." The man explained before he turned to the newly-named Nichelle and nodded his head, causing the girl to smile a wicked smile.
That's when the pain increased tenfold for Michael, sending him to his knees as he clutched his head. "Gahh!"
"Michael!" he heard his mother scream out, though it seemed distant somehow.
"There we go, back to normal." The man said as he walked towards Michael, that is, until Sharon ran at him with murder in her eyes.
"What have you done to him!" she yelled before being blasted in the back with lightning, curtesy of Zeus. Without something to halt her forward momentum, Sharon kept flying until she finally landed at the feet of the man and his "friend."
"Well done, Zeus. Though, I'm sure she wouldn't have done much. Now, we should be taking our-"
"Help!"
Turning to see who had cut him off, the man noticed Ostin leaning against the car he crashed into, looking worse for wear, though he had his hand around his mouth to amplify his voice.
"Damn it, fine, we'll take her." The man commanded as he pointed to the single mother on the ground.
From his place on the ground, Michael could barely make out the three figures carrying his mother away. He was about to try and get up or yell or something when everything went black.
End Chapter
Hello everyone, sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless. Please review and tell me what you all thought, or if you guys want to suggest new abilities for Michael and the gang that'd be cool. If not then I'd probably just pick some from a website that suited them but I wanted to let you guys in on the fun. Also, they don't have to be big, new abilities. They could just be things that make their abilities better or more effective. Though, big, new abilities are welcome, so long as they relate to the abilities they already have. Anyway, seeya!