Oh, so that's what that is…

Margaret was sitting in the nurse's bed, a thermometer in her mouth and a handful of wires attached to her skin that led to a few machines that beeped and hummed quietly next to her. She was frowning under the thermometer and with her hair still wet and matted against her neck, she looked like a very sick, very unhappy cat.

"You look terrible." Maj chirped from her place by Margaret's side.

"Thanks." She mouthed around the thermometer.

"Is this all really necessary?" Layla asked eying the machine's warily.

"Oh yes," replied Nurse Spex as she smiled lopsidedly at the group of teens surrounding Margaret. "Just a few more tests and she should be ready to go."

Margaret moaned and pulled the beeping thermometer out of her mouth.

"This is bogus, Nurse Spex. I feel fine" Margaret whined trying to sit up, but then whimpered and held her bandaged hands out for inspection.

"Nice." Maj droned. Margaret almost smiled at her. The sarcastic little imp was starting to grow on her.

"You got hit by lightning, honey. That needs to get checked."

"No I didn't." She explained. She had been hit by lightning? What was that crazy old woman talking about?

"That's not what I heard." She answered back, swooping about and pulling one of the wires off of Margaret's arm. She winced and cried out.

"Yow… heard from who?"

A throat cleared itself and Margaret looked up to see Warren leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his thick chest. His eyebrow was quirked slightly though she couldn't exactly make out his expression.

"I did not get hit by lightning." She told him matter of factly.

"Yes you did." Ethan agreed, adjusting his glasses.

"I just blacked out." She argued, starting to get annoyed.

"Yea, after you got hit." Warren countered.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would I be alive if I got hit?"

"Good question." Maj droned.

Margaret shook her head and was about to argue some more when something suddenly occurred to her.

-She heard the crack of thunder and even though her eyes were squeezed shut she could see the white flash surround her. She felt warm for a second and then the cold of the storm enfolded her once more. She waited for the king's blow and when it didn't come she cautiously peeked up from under her arms. The king was standing before her a thoroughly bewildered look on his face.-

The warmth, the light- was that lightning?

"I got hit…?" She said quietly. That was impossible. She wasn't indestructible- or was she? Were new powers manifesting? It wasn't unheard of in the super community- a person developing multiple skills- like Stronghold. Could she control electricity and that's why it hadn't hurt her?

"What's happening to me?" She asked nurse Spex feebly. She suddenly wished her mother were there. When she was little, she'd gotten pneumonia and it landed her in the hospital. Her mother had put off a hostage situation at La Scala to sit by her little girl's bed and sing to her- the only thing that could put her to sleep in those days.

Nurse Spex quickly yanked the remaining wires off of Margaret's chest and the girl loudly growled in pain and annoyance. She saw Warren smirking at her from his spot by the door and she frowned at him.

"All of your tests are coming back normal." She said cheerily. "Nothing was damaged during the hit."

"Thank goodness." Layla sighed, relieved.

"But how did I survive?"

"Well," Nurse Spex grabbed a chair and pulled it next to the bed. "Try to remember, did anything unusual happen just before the strike? Did you do or say anything…?"

Margaret looked away slightly.

She had done nothing. She had stood there like a board even when he was inches away from her. She had gotten closer to him than any of the rest and she'd done nothing. The man had wrecked havoc on Maxville and was trying to hurt one of her friends. And thanks to her bumbling and clumsiness, he'd gotten away. Smooth move she thought bitterly. Anyone else would've fought back, or at least run and gotten help. What did she do? She sat there and begged him not to hurt her-

Her eyes grew wide.

"I said, 'Please don't hurt me' right before the lightning hit." She admitted. "Do you think that has something to do with it?"

"Well, there's one way to find out." Spex said with a slap on her thighs as she stood. She grabbed a lollipop from the jar on her desk and held it out towards Margaret.

"Alright, now I want you to remember the attack, play by play. Don't leave any details out. Go over it in your mind and when you get to the point where he attacked, I want you to say orange, alright?"

"Orange?" Was nurse Spex insane?

"Humor me." She replied dryly and gave the lollipop a pointed glare. Margaret looked to Warren who shrugged. She sighed and turned her attention to the sweet in the nurse's hand.

She remembered the smell of the rain. It was heavy and smelt of the river, thick and salty. She remembered the feel of the curb against her back, prickly and cool.

She remembered the king, his large, naked torso hovering over her. He was lit by lightning flashes and the cold light made his muscular upper body seem angular and stony. She remembered his tree-trunk arms raising over his head and she saw the sky grow green and angry. She felt her heart beat quicken in the nurse's bed and she quickly called out, "Orange!"

The lollipop in Nurse Spex's hand gave a shudder, then it started throbbing, growing and expanding into a sphere. The wrapper was replaced with a thick, rough skin and the stick became a small green leaf at the top of an-

"Orange?" Layla stammered. The group was staring at the newly formed fruit in Nurse Spex's palm with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Even Warren's eyebrows were raised in amazement.

"Oh, good. I thought so." Spex laughed as she tossed the orange to Zach who caught it with a frightened cry. Zach cautiously placed the orange on the edge of the bed and backed away, eying it distrustfully.

"Am I a witch?" Margaret asked. Spex laughed merrily.

"No, honey. You're a hero. You might even be greater than your mom. All she can do is manipulate people. Not that that's anything to sneeze," She laughed, smoothing back her tiny pigtails. "But she could never do that." She pointed at the orange.

"What exactly is… that?" Margaret asked, thoroughly confused and a bit overwhelmed.

"Vocal manipulation. The gene seems to run in your family."

"But I don't know of anyone that can make oranges." Margaret paused for a moment, thinking. "Is that all I can do? Make fruit?"

"Some power." Maj said. Margaret had to smile that time.

"It stems from the Elizabethan principle of vocal projection." Nurse Spex explained. Margaret just stared at her.

"Like in Shakespeare." Ethan added. "The Elizabethan's believed that people could cause things to happen just by saying them. Some scholar's believe that in Romeo and Juliet, the couple aren't cursed until Mercutio calls 'A plague on both your houses.' Because he swears vengeance, and does so under intense emotional stress, his words come to pass."

Margaret just stared at him.

"Whatever you say, happens." Warren explained.

"So long as you're in the right emotional state." Spex finished.

"What does that mean, right emotional state?"

"Fear is a powerful emotion, Margaret, don't underestimate it. When animals are frightened, they react in one of two ways- fight or flight. What separates heroes from sidekicks is that a hero's automatic response is fight, the sidekick's is to run. Luckily for you, your ability to fight lies in your desire to run." Nurse Spex smiled. Margaret's head was spinning.

"I still don't think I understand…"

"You have a very strong will to live, Miss Allen. That's why you're still here."

"And that's a good thing." Layla chirped. Margaret looked over and gave her a waning smile, all she could muster at that point.

"It's like in a musical," Spex started again, "People sing because the emotions are too intense for just plain ole' words. Your emotions, your desires, your fears, are so intense they have the ability to change the world around you to your particular needs. But, you have to careful. With great-"

"Power comes great responsibility?" Will ventured. Layla hit him lightly in the arm and the two grinned at each other. Maj rolled her eyes.

"No. With a power like this, you have to be extra careful what you say, especially when your very happy or sad, or scared."

"Be careful what I wish for?" Margaret asked. Nurse Spex nodded.

"With a power like this, you just might get it."

"Awesome." Zach nodded slowly as he finally understood what they'd been talking about.

Margaret didn't know what to think.

"Well, you kids had better get on home. I think Principle Powers saved one of the buses for you." Nurse Spex smiled a toothy smile as she waved her arms about. Margaret stood up slowly, her hands still throbbing from the cuts and bruises. Nurse Spex grabbed the orange from the end of the bed and started peeling it.

Margaret looked at her hands and pursed her lips in thought. There was a little bit of blood seeping through the gauze. She wasn't going to be able to write, which would put her behind in classes. Great, she thought, at this rate I'll never graduate. She thought about the rest of her year with someone always by her taking her notes, writing her papers for her- and since life seemed to have a sick sense of humor, that person would most likely be Warren.

She started at the thought and pleaded with her hands, "Please, please heal." Something warm and tingly started pricking at her palms. She could feel her hands shaking underneath the bandages.

"Go ahead and take them off."

Margaret almost jumped as Nurse Spex' s face appeared over her shoulder, sucking on an orange wedge. Slowly Margaret unwrapped the gauze, revealing two unscarred palms.

"Oh-hoo, I thought so." Spex's cooed excitedly. "It's just like Edward Scissorhands. With Johnny Depp. Oh, I just love him." She laughed and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts for a moment. "Well, you'd best run along. Don't want your folks to worry."

Margaret nodded and thanked her and went to grab her bag.

"You're quite handy." Ethan said as she dropped the bag over her head. She stared at him for a moment, then smiled and elbowed him playfully in the ribs. Ethan gave her a small smile and followed the rest of them out into the hall. Warren and Margaret were the only ones left.

"How are your knees?" She asked, her fully functioning fingers toying with her bag's strap.

"Fine."

"Don't you think Nurse Spex ought to take a look at you?"

"Hmn? Look at Warren?" Spex asked. She looked from Margaret to Warren to Margaret again and let out a small laugh. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Margaret asked, her face clouding. She was obviously missing something.

"Do you think I'd waste my time on an Indestructible?"

"A what?"

"An Indestructible." She repeated, motioning to Warren who just stood there, avoiding Margaret's eyes.

It took her a moment to remember what the old woman was talking about. It had been an essay topic in her mad science class freshmen year when they had been discussing popular forms of super powers. One of the oldest and most mysterious was the power of regeneration, the ability to heal oneself after attacks and to even stay the affects of aging. People who possessed such powers were known as Indestructible.

Margaret remembered the day Stronghold had gotten his powers. He'd knocked Warren through two walls, into the ceiling and over a set of cafeteria tables. The young man had stood up hit after hit and begged fore more.

"You think I can't take a hit?"

Her eyes grew wide. "You're an Indestructible?"

Warren nodded, his now dry hair falling in front of his face. All she could see, once more were his eyes, a sight see was getting more and more used to.

"Just like his mother." Spex waxed affectionately. "Now you two'd better get on home." She cried as she quickly pushed the two out into the hall and slammed the door shut behind them.