The Song of Eternity
Canto 7
A Normal Life
Verse 7
Adjusting to the public role,
Explaining their position to the involved parties,
Omens of things to come arrive,
Bearing tidings of darkness.
"So, you mind filling me in on this situation of yours or what?" Logan asked Vincent who had changed back into street clothes in the office. Vincent chuckled as he hung his suit on the wall.
"What situation would that be?" Vincent asked as he settled down into his seat.
"You five, what do you think you're doing?" Logan asked irritatedly. "People like us have to keep a low profile in times like these," he explained.
"People like you, you mean," Vincent corrected him. "Myself and my team understand what we are doing, whether they know it or not. Now settle down, our guests will be arriving soon," Vincent said as Damon and Elena emerged from their offices dressed normal once again. "Damon, get the shades, this meeting will not be for prying eyes," he ordered to Damon who snarled but complied.
"What is going on Vincent?" Elena asked.
"There will be a news report later today explaining everything to the rest of the world. Right now, in order to keep this city from going nuts, we are going to lay out the ground rules to all involved parties," Vincent explained. "Speak of the devil, I believe we are only waiting on one party now," he explained as he glanced at the door as two figures entered. "Lock it behind you," he ordered.
"What the hell is going on here? Your goon grabbed me off the street and dragged me in here! Who are you people?" shouted an average looking woman.
"Can it Mystique. I know its you and I bet he does too," Logan said as he sniffed the air and the angry shape shifter turned back to her blue self. "What I want to know is why you got the twins working for you," Logan said as he pointed to the figure in a blue suit removing his sunglasses and disguise.
"Because this is fun," Murphy joked as he glanced out the blinds. "Where's Cole anyway?" he asked as he noticed his absent twin.
Everyone looked up at the ceiling as they heard a thump followed by a scream of agony. "That would be him now," Vincent said as he heard a pair of footsteps coming down the back stairs. "No attacking each other, Logan, Mystique," Vincent threatened as the back door opened and Cole stumbled in followed by an irritated Magneto.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded as Logan popped out his claws to attack.
"Enough, you are here as a professional courtesy and will not harm each other. You will have noticed by now that your powers are useless," Vincent explained as he noticed Magneto, Mystique, and Logan all looking at Cole angrily. "I will make this short and simple so you can get back to whatever it is you do around here. We five have been authorized by the Avengers to try to keep a lid on the growing mutant population and inconsiderate and dangerous use of powers in this town. You have come inches away from discovery countless times before. This will stop now, one way or another. Keep a lid on the powers and control of your groups. There is a lot of anti-mutant sentiment going around after they saw us take down Galactus. If the populous learns of your existence, it is our job to make sure none of you die in the resulting hysteria. Treat us as you did before, but remember our warning," Vincent finished.
"I will not listen to the likes of you," Magneto scoffed before heading out the back exit.
"We'll see how this goes, Turks," Mystique replied coldly before changing shapes and heading out the door.
"Not the smartest way to get your point across Vincent," Logan pointed out.
"On the contrary, they fear us and will think twice before starting something, which will hopefully delay your discovery until the world is more tolerant," Vincent explained. "You two can get back to school now," he nodded at Cole and Murphy.
"Whatever you say Vince. We're taking your car," Murphy added as they slipped out the door.
"Why are you using the kids Valentine," Logan demanded once he heard the car start up.
"They are as much a part of this as you or me Logan," Vincent replied.
"Enough of this, I want answers from you two now," Elena interrupted, pointing at Damon and Vincent. "After you two got separated, you were supposed to be normal," she looked at Vincent. "But you did things that were humanly impossible in there, what is going on?"
"You handle this Valentine, I am leaving," Damon answered quickly before leaving out the back.
"Well," Elena demanded.
"I wish I knew, but for some reason I have retained all my extra abilities following our separation. I gave Richards a blood sample on my trip. He will call if he finds something out," Vincent explained. "We can still hear each other's thoughts if we try to," he added as Damon pointed it out to him.
Cole and Murphy arrived back at the school in time for their last class or the day, gym. They each had a duffel bag filled with a change of clothes and their Turk suits. They got into the locker room and changed quickly, making it out to the gym before the bell rang.
The class grew silent as their gym teacher got their attention. "Okay, get a partner everyone. Split up two pairs at a hoop, time for some basketball," he explained as he pushed a button and fours hoops swung down from the rafters. "Probably gonna need one team sitting at each hoop at a time. Each shot is worth one point, play to five, if you lose, you sit, I'll take the best teams from each hoop in a bit and have them play each other," he spat out quickly before blowing his whistle. "Get playing," he shouted as he threw a ball to each of the hoops.
Cole caught the ball and looked over at Murphy, then checked on their opponents. "Yo, time to show off my mad dunking skills," Todd Tolansky laughed. He looked at Cole for a second before realizing his mutant power to leap was absent. "Or not, what a drag man," he shook his head before tossing the ball back to Cole to check it. He looked at Cole who just shrugged as if to laugh and shot the ball in right over Todd. "Crap, we ain't got a chance," Todd said as he watched the ball swish through the net.
Ten minutes later, after beating Todd's team and the other team 5-0 each time, the teacher called the twins over to the main hoop and sent the remaining students to play on half the court. "Okay, we'll do this in three games, first you four play," he pointed at the twins and a pair of basketball players. "Then you four," he pointed at Lance Alvers, Fred Dukes, Scott Summers, and Evan Daniels. "Who wants the ball first?" he asked the twins and their opponents.
"Let them have it coach, they'll need all the help they can get," boasted the taller of the two.
"Yeah, what happened to your brother Murphy?" the other asked as he pointed to the back of his white gym shirt which was forming two long red marks down the length of his back.
"Uhh….," Murphy stuttered before Cole made a hand puppet of a dog. "A rabbit?" Murphy asked confused. Cole smacked himself in the head and looked straight at his brother and mouthed the word dog. "Oh, dog, not rabbit," he muttered. "Our dog scratched him this morning pretty bad, must started bleeding. Time to play ladies," he said, trying to change the subject.
He tossed the ball to the closest basketball player who caught it and bounced it back to him. "Try not to take this personally Murphy, but the two of us have been on the varsity team for three years now," he taunted as he guarded Murphy.
"Try not to take this personally then," Murphy laughed before heaving the ball at the backboard where Cole caught it off the glass and dunked it. "But we never lose at anything," he added as Cole dropped to the ground.
The rest of the game was similarly lopsided, with the Valentines stealing or blocking every shot and performing an array of Harlem Globetrotter like tricks before finishing the game 5-0. They took a seat on the bench and watch as the others played and Summers lost after Fred blocked a shot and passed it to lance who scored the final shot making it 5-4.
Lance held the ball as he looked into Cole's eyes. "This ought to be interesting, I've never really met you before, but I've heard things," he said before he shot the ball quickly and made it before Cole could react. "You ain't so tough."
"What do you think?" Murphy asked as he dribbled the ball and looked at Cole out of the corner of his vision. He watched as his twin made a gesture of two fingers pointed at the ground. "Gotcha," he nodded before passing the ball and quickly dashing around Dukes to catch the ball form his brother and score a lay up.
Lance was serious as he dribbled the ball and tried to drive past Cole who made the task nearly impossible. "Damn it let me through," he swore as he tried to use his powers to knock Cole away. Instead Cole snatched the ball when Lance's attention was focused on his powers, dribbled back and sunk a three pointer. "Guess the stories were true," he muttered as he remembered what the others had told him about Cole.
The game ended a minute later after Cole rebounded a missed shot and passed it out to Murphy, who sunk it without a problem. "That's game boys," Murphy said proudly as everyone walked back to the locker room to change and go home.
"Valentines, come here," the coach said before they could get into the locker room. "You two over thought of joining the team here? You both have some amazing skills and…" he stopped when Cole shook his head.
"Sorry teach, we just do this for fun," Murphy laughed as he turned and headed into the locker room with his brother. Back in the locker room the other students were finishing changing and most were already gone. "We need to work on a way to cut down on the bleeding with you," Murphy said seriously as he picked up Cole's bloody shirt. "Maybe pop them out every other day or so until it heals in a way there's no blood?" he suggested to Cole who just shrugged. "Not like anyone can really tell what you got back there anyway," he added as he looked over his brother's tattooed back.
"Valentine, I need to talk to you," a familiar voice shouted once the two of them left the locker room. They turned to see Lance alone, looking around nervously.
"Can you be more specific, there are two of us," Murphy pointed out.
"Your brother," Lance said, a bit uncomfortably. "I need to talk to him alone," Lance explained as he scratched the back of his head.
"We have to get going and if you haven't noticed, he's a bit of the silent type, not by choice either," Murphy replied. He stopped when Cole looked at him and waved his hand to signal it was okay. Murphy stared while Cole mouthed something to him before interpreting for Lance. "Fine, get on a computer tonight around 8. His instant messenger name is DeathAngelVoid. We to go now," he finished, ending the conversation.