Chapter Two

Alan's Bedroom

Tracy Island

Alan jumped slightly when he heard a gentle knock on the door and he paused his game just as the door opened and Gordon poked his head around.

"Hey can we talk," Gordon asked.

"Sure come in," Alan replied. "Let me just save this."

Gordon came in and closed the door behind him while Alan entered a few commands saving the game he'd been playing and telling the computer to shut down.

"I don't have to be a genius to know what's on your mind," Alan said swivelling his chair so he could look straight at the brother he was closest to. "Your scared."

"Yes," Gordon admitted from where he sat on the end of Alan's bed. "Actually scared is to tame a word. To tell you the truth I'm terrified. What's going to happen to me?"

"I can understand that," Alan replied getting up and moving over to Gordon before sitting beside him. "I was scared when it happened to me. In away you're a bit better off than I was Gordon because you'll know what's happening when the pain comes. When it happened to me I didn't know what was happening. All I knew was pain," he couldn't help but shiver as he remembered the pain, "and that for a few moments I couldn't breath."

"It's still frightening."

"I know. But when you start using your powers you find it's not so bad." Alan smiled slightly. "Remember how terrified of my powers I was when they first appeared. How I didn't want to be a metahuman. But then after a little while you come to accept it and realise that it isn't so bad. Then it becomes second nature and you use your powers all the time. Just look at me. If you spoke to Static or Gear they would tell you the same thing. Why don't you speak to them? They could probably put your mind at ease better than me."

"You're family they're not," Gordon replied. "Somehow you telling me that it will be alright in the end has more affect than it would if they just told me."

"It's the truth though," Alan replied putting a comforting hand on Gordon's shoulder. "It'll be alright whatever powers you end up with. Metahuman powers are neither inherently good or bad it's down to how you choose to use them."

"Thanks Alan."

"Anytime."

Gordon looked over at his little brother and smiled. Alan smiled back. Gordon was about to say something more when a strange dizziness rippled through his head and he suddenly began to feel very strange. He groaned softly and cradled his head in his hands. Alan looked at him in concern and realised immediately that Gordon probably starting to change.

"Gordon. It's starting isn't it," he asked.

"I think so," Gordon said as he started sweating and shivering as through afflicted with an instant fever. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Groaning and wobbling dizzy he got back to his feet and headed out the room. Alan followed worriedly looking at his brother knowing that what Gordon was going through was most likely going to get worse before it got better.

For Gordon walking out into the hallway all though it was only a short distance felt like running a marathon. They were almost to his bedroom door when sudden blinding pain erupted from somewhere deep inside him spreading instantly until it felt like his whole body was on fire, as though every cell was screaming in sudden agony. Gordon stumbled forward then collapsed to his knees clutching at his sides and screaming in pain.

Hearing his brother scream in agony Alan winced sympathetically. He knew the pain that Gordon was experiencing. He remembered it all to well. A terrible burning pain that went on and on seemingly forever. It wasn't something he would be willing to wish on his own worst enemy, no one not even the Hood deserved to feel that kind of pain.

Two bedroom doors opened and Alan looked up just as dad came out of his bedroom, as did John. John paused when he saw what was going on. Seeing Gordon almost completely collapsed on the floor and seeing and hearing him scream and writhe in pain did nothing to allay his own fears about what was going to happen to him.

"Gordon," Jeff asked in concern as he approached and then the realisation dawned on him as well what was going on. "It's happening isn't it?"

The sound of running feet abruptly caught Jeff, John and Alan's attention but not Gordon's. All Gordon was aware of was the pain.

Gear came running down the corridor having been awoken by the noise. Though he was largely dressed for sleep he was wearing his helmet and had backpack with him having guessed what was going on. Quickly he had backpack scan Gordon.

"Your powers are definitely activating." He said. "But other than that I can't tell you anything."

The pain Gordon felt began to fade until it subsided to a background ache. Awkwardly he got back to his feet and even in the dim evening lighting of the hall it was possible to see the streaks of tears running down Gordon's cheeks from the pain. Gordon leaned back against the wall shaking and taking deep ragged breaths. He was aware that something was happening inside him now more than ever. It was a strange sensation that seemed to affect every single cell in him and he didn't like it one bit.

And then he stiffened and screamed again as another wave of pain tore through his body. But this time there was something else. It was like a wave of power surging forth from somewhere deep inside him. He couldn't stop it. He felt it surge down his arms and his hands begin tingling.

Watching but unable to do anything Alan, Jeff, John and Gear were surprised when Gordon's eyes began glowing blue and a pale blue nimbus appeared around Gordon's hands. Gear looked at Gordon with a hint of scientific curiosity while Jeff and John stared in surprise. They'd seen the blue glow in the eyes and around the hands before whenever Alan used his water abilities. Alan looked curiously and sympathetically at his brother. He knew how much he was hurting and how helpless Gordon would be feeling right now at being unable to stop the power surging through him. He was curious though if the blue glow in Gordon signified that Gordon had the same water powers as he did or if it was a completely different power that just happened to look like his water power did.

They all watched as the blue light around Gordon's hands grew brighter and shot forward as beams of energy which shot towards the wall before turning into powerful jets of water that slammed into the wall and started to strip away the paint. They all watched as the blue glow faded away abruptly and Gordon's eyes rolled back in his head and he started to crumple unconscious to the ground. Jeff and John caught him before he hit the ground.

"In here," Alan made a motion indicating his room. They carried him in and laid him gently on Alan's bed.

"Well that was odd," Jeff said. "It was like he had the same powers as you Alan."

"Yeah or one of them anyway," Alan answered looking thoughtful. "I wonder if he has the others." Be really interesting if Gordon's got the same powers as me, he thought.

"I can check for you," Gear said. "I can run an in depth scan and since he's unconscious he shouldn't feel a thing."

"Go ahead," Jeff whispered softly deeply worried about his sons. Why did this have to happen this way? Why did the transformation from normal human to metahuman have to be so painful? Why did it have to happen to the boys at all? The fact that it was happening to his other four sons now was more disturbing than it had been when it happened to Alan. Perhaps because with Alan he'd subconsciously known for a decade that Alan either was or likely to become a metahuman.

He watched in silence as backpacks blue laser fan-like scanning beam swept Gordon from head to toe. As soon as the beam cut off Gear closed his eyes and began analysing the scan results.

"I'm reading three distinct abilities," Gear said at last. "One is the ability to create and manipulate water like Alan. Although it's not as advanced. Probably all he can do is what we've just seen. Then he appears to have a power signature almost identical to Alan's phase ability but I can't be certain. And the third power I can't identify I've never seen anything like its power signature before. We'll just have to wait till it manifests itself."

"We should let him sleep," Jeff said.

"I think that would be a good idea," Gear replied.

"I'm going to stay with him," Alan said.

"Alright," Jeff nodded. He knew how close Alan and Gordon were, they were more than just brothers, they were best friends, partners in crime and always seemed to know what the other was thinking. They were almost twins albeit twins born four years apart. When one of them was injured or ill the other wouldn't leave his side for very long.

Quietly Jeff left the room followed by John and Gear. Alan closed the door after them before going over to the bed and climbing up beside Gordon.

"It's alright Gordon," he said softly to his sleeping brother. "The worst part is over now."

John Tracy quietly left his father and Gear as soon as they left Alan's room and went back into his own bedroom. Seeing what had just happened with Gordon hearing him scream in pain like that hadn't helped ease his nerves or his fear. If the transformation was that painful then how would he cope with it? Gordon had a higher tolerance to pain than him and still he'd screamed repeatedly and loudly. He'd been told that Alan had also screamed when he'd changed. Something that as far as John knew was almost unheard of given Alan's almost superhuman tolerance for physical discomfort. Oh Alan had cried as a little boy when someone stuck a needle in him or he skinned his knees but after about the age of six it had become rare to hear Alan cry in pain.

Walking right through his bedroom to the balcony he leaned on the rail and looked out on the ocean that rippled softly in the reflected light of the full moon shining down on Tracy Island.

He hadn't noticed that Jeff had followed him into the bedroom until his father came up beside him and assumed the same looking out to sea posture while leaning on the balcony rail as him.

"Seeing that didn't help you did it," Jeff said softly. He looked at John. John had always been the quietest and most reflective of his sons. So much so that more than once both Margaret and himself had wondered if someone had switched him at birth. Though DNA tests and their own hearts had told them that John was theirs. There was also the fact that in terms of appearance John was practically a male version of his mother. "Its okay to talk about it you know."

"I know. Just how do you cope with the knowledge that at any moment you could be suddenly be gripped by the most horrendous pain you've ever known and that that very same pain is going to transform you into something else. Possibly into something completely inhuman." John looked at his father for a moment then back out at the sea. "Dad I'm scared. What if I turn into a monster."

He's reacting the same way Alan did, Jeff thought as he put his arm across John's shoulders.

"Now you listen here John Tracy," Jeff told him feeling an eerie sense of déjà vu as he spoke. He clearly remembered having a similar conversation with Alan. "Whatever happens, whatever you turn into it won't matter to me or to your brothers. We'll still love you." He pulled John into a hug to prove his point. John read the silent message of reassurance and smiled.

"Thanks dad," he said. Jeff smiled softly and then felt John stiffen in his arms.

"John what is it," he asked as he pulled away slightly to see that John had suddenly gone pale.

"Dad I think its starting," John said his voice slurred and tired sounding. "I feel strange. Really, really tired all of a sudden."

"You should go inside and lay down."

"I don't think I can arrrgh…" John's voice trailed off into a scream as intense burning pain erupted from somewhere deep inside him. And then his eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled unconscious. He would have landed in a heap on the ground had Jeff not caught him.

With a quiet sigh Jeff heaved John into his bedroom and up onto this bed where John lay motionless aside from the gentle rise and fall of his chest. As Jeff watched John's body slowly started to give off a pale ghostly glow. Then John seemed to lift into the air like a magician's assistant being levitated his eyes still closed. Jeff watched in amazement as John lay floating above his bed fast asleep.

Cautiously Jeff reached out to touch him. But a moment before he could touch John's body his hand hit something that stopped it cold. It felt solid and rippled where his hand touched it.

"It's a force field," Jeff whispered in awe. Unlike the fields that he'd seen Static generate on the television which shimmered a constant purple/white, the field surrounding John was completely invisible until he touched it and even then only producing a soft purple shimmer and a ripple at the point of contact.

"You've got lucky John," he said quietly. "You're changing while asleep."

Getting up Jeff quietly left the room, as there was nothing else that he could do. He knew that John would probably stay asleep for a good while now. Besides he wanted to check on his other two sons. If Gordon and John had changed tonight then it was very likely that Scott and Virgil would as well.

On his way to Scott and Virgil's rooms he paused outside Alan's room and quietly opened the door to see what was happening. To see that the lights were off and that both Alan and Gordon were curled up together asleep on the bed. A smile graced his face as he closed the door. Gordon and Alan had always done that. When upset or otherwise emotionally disturbed about something you would usually find them in bed together finding comfort by being in bed together. It was a sign of just how close they were to each other.

Moving on he came to Scott's door and cautiously he opened it to see Scott fast asleep on the bed, a book open beside him and the bedside light still on. Moving quietly as so not to disturb his eldest son he entered the room and went to Scott's beside. He picked the book up and gently carried it over to the desk and put it face down on the desk besides Scott's computer. Then he returned to the bedside and turned off the light before quietly leaving the room.

Then he went to Virgil's room to see that Virgil was stretched out deeply asleep seemingly sleeping peacefully though he was still wearing his clothes. Jeff shook his head. Virgil was forever doing that. Then he closed the door and headed back to his room. Had he but waited a few more seconds he would have seen a ghostly white aura begin to shine from Virgil's body and see strange arcs of power pass across Virgil's body causing it to ripple and change. But he didn't see it so he went to bed still wondering and worrying what would happen to the two sons who didn't seem to have changed yet.