Chapter 14: Home Alone


Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Yawning, I shifted over in my bed and slammed a fist on the snooze button on my alarm clock. Stupid alarm clocks! Their purpose was to make my life horrible by waking me up to early. I looked at the clock and let out an involuntary gasp as it read: 5:00. I then sighed remembering this was indeed the time I had set it to. Today Max and I would be visiting the aunt from hell. I don't usually use the word 'hell', but in this case 'hell' was exceptional. While my parents went to Switzerland to celebrate their anniversary, Max and I'd be spending Spring Vacation with Aunt Margot in Florida.

She was a tall, skinny lady related to my dad because unfortunately they shared the same set of parents. Aunt Margot served tofu since she was vegetarian and had exactly four husbands in her lifetime. She was currently single and out of all the people to send Max and me to, it just had to be Aunt Margot. Dad of course thought well about his only sister but Mom wasn't much of a fan. I couldn't blame her. Aunt Margot would always talk about how Dad could've done better than our mom. Max and I didn't appreciate that very much either.

Max and I got into the van where a bunch of suitcases were loaded. Spike, our Labrador retriever, was sitting in the last seat while Max and I were in front of him. In front of us was the driver's seat where my dad sat and next to him was mom. It was nice to see how committed mom and dad were to each other that they would plan a vacation to Switzerland, not to mention that Dad had come up with this when Mom had put him on the spot about their anniversary (he totally forgot and he almost didn't get the plane tickets to Switzerland but he managed to 'pull some strings'). Why send us to Aunt Margot? She was like a vulture. Ugh! (Dad said she was lonely. I'd be lonely too if I just had four husbands!)

Max and I waved at our parents from the terminal

"Take care of your brother, dear," Mom said sweetly. "You'll have a blast with Aunt Margot."

She hugged me and suddenly I felt her slip something into my pocket. She whispered, "Here's the phone number of the hotel we're staying at and the extension number. Call us in case that vulture – I mean Aunt Margot does anything to upset you guys. Ok?"

I nodded awkwardly.

Once my mom released me from our hug she went back to her sweet smile. She spoke, "You two have fun."

As Mom and Dad walked off Max and I waved goodbye to them. I looked over at Max who cocked his head. Obviously he had seen that display with Mom. He asked, "What was that all about?"

"Our mom's weird," I said, shaking my head.

"Tell me something I don't know," Max said and walked off.

On the plane Max and I were seated together but also with a stranger. Max had the seat next to the window and I was stuck in the middle next to the stranger. He was potbellied fellow who looked like an obvious tourist. He wore a sunhat, Hawaiian shirt, and everything. His family was in the row behind us. His head constantly slipped from the headrest on his side to my shoulder. His breath was really bad too.

I sighed thankfully and was very relieved once we arrived at the Orlando, Florida airport. The potbellied fellow left with his family and Max and I were free to leave the plane. We arrived at baggage claim and took all our belongings as well as Spike. He was very relieved to see us and constantly licked our cheeks. Something told me he hadn't had a very comforting experience during his flight either.

A scream suddenly made my stomach lurch.

"Aah! My favorite nephew and niece! Come here! Give your Aunt Margot a kiss," she screamed, running toward us.

I looked at Max and he nervously smiled. The vulture – er – Aunt Margot ruffled Max's hair and kissed his cheek, making a large imprint of red lipstick on his check.

"Yuck," he mumbled and attempted to rub it off with his hand.

"Haley! You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. What are you 12 now?" she asked.

"15," I corrected.

"How the years have flown by," she chuckled. "So, you got a boyfriend?"

"No," I stammered.

"Are you telling me a vixen like yourself couldn't snag a few hunks back in Bayville? I bet their just shy," Aunt Margot laughed, "Trust me, the boys here are a lot more friendly than the ones back in Bayville."

She winked at me causing me to shudder at the thought. Max shuddered as well and stuck his tongue out in disgust. Max and I grabbed our suitcases with absolutely no help from Aunt Margot. Even Spike managed to carry a bag despite the dog slobber.

"So Max. A playboy like yourself must've broken some heart," Aunt Margot stated.

"Not yet," Max mumbled, tiring out from the weight of the suitcases.

"What? I would've expected more from you. Remember that Angelica from your birthday party? She was all over you," Aunt Margot said.

"First of all, I was five, and second of all, Angelica was deranged. She tried kissing me all the time. That's one reason why I'm glad she moved to Africa," Max said, shaking his head. He dragged a suitcase on the floor next to me.

"Kissing you is the deranged part," I laughed.

Max glared at me but Aunt Margot found it funny.

"Be nice to your brother Haley. I grew up with four including your dad. If your nice to them now, then they won't hate you forever," Aunt Margot explained.

We finally arrived at Aunt Margot's house. The neighborhood was very nice and Aunt Margot had very nice lawn. Max and I carried our bags to the room we'd be sharing. It had two separate twin beds and the ceiling was painted blue with glow in the dark stars. A little too childish for me, but I had to deal with it.

"Make yourselves at home," Aunt Margot said and with that she left. I flopped down on one of the twin beds while Max did the same on the other.

"This is a nightmare!" I sighed.

"No kidding," Max mumbled.

By dinnertime Max and I came downstairs to see Aunt Margot flinching and very distraught. Her hair was a mess and the dishes all over the place. She paced up and down the floor mumbling something to herself and playing with her fingers.

"Aunt Margot's finally lost it. She's having a nervous breakdown. Think we should call 9-1-1?" Max asked me as we surveyed her from the stairs.

I gave him a look and spoke, "She is not having a nervous breakdown. She's just…"

Max gave me a look, waiting for my explanation. I shrugged and we looked back to Aunt Margot. Suddenly the sound of the phone of ringing caused her to literally jump up in surprise. She went over and grabbed the phone, playing with the cord with her fingers.

"Yes?" she answered, "this is her…yeah, no problem…I'll be there right away."

After hanging up, she ran over to the table, grabbed her purse and ran out the door. The door swung open again and she came running back inside. She grabbed her car keys and called, "Haley! Max! I'm going out! Don't wait up for me!"

With that our infamous aunt left the house, locked the door, and the sound of her car pulling out could be heard.

"What's with her?" I wondered.

Max shrugged.

The rest of the night I put some popcorn in the microwave and we ended up watching a bunch of movies the whole night eating popcorn and drinking soda. We laid there on the sofa and then Max suggested we order pizza so I grabbed the phone. After looking in the yellow pages I dialed the phone number and ordered a box of pepperoni pizza.

Max and I sat on the sofa in our pajamas when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Must be the pizza guy," I said.

I ran over to the door and started, "How long does it take to-"

Stopping mid sentence I looked up at NOT the pizza guy but a woman dressed in all black. I backed away slightly from the door and was about to say something but found no words to escape my mouth. I just stood there like a dork with my mouth hanging open.

"Hales? Is it the pizza guy?" Max called from the living room.

"Actually-" I began.

The woman looked over at the living room at where Max was sitting. My idiot brother turned around and met his eyes with the woman dressed in black. Like me, his mouth was hanging open just as wide if not wider.

Her eyes met with mine and suddenly the nails on her fingers began to grow exponentially and they looked a lot more like metal. I backed away from her as she extended these metal nails at me.

I screamed and shot my hands forward, sending a surge of light directly at her. It hit her square in the stomach and she was sent flying out the door. I ran over and shut the door, locking it, and then putting a chair by the knob. It probably wouldn't hold her out of the house considering she had metal nails that could slice the door in half.

"Who was that?" Max asked, "and what did you just do?"

"It's a long story," I breathed and grabbed his arm. I led him upstairs where hopefully the metal nails lady wouldn't look for us.

Who was she? Was she a kidnapper? My aunt didn't have too much money. Was she a burglar? Do burglars have razor sharp nails? Was she a mutant? It was highly likely. The sound of the door exploding caught Max and mine's attention and we ran toward our bedroom. Our room had a phone so we could easily dial 9-1-1.

I ran over to the phone and picked it up. The sound of a dial tone was signaled so I pressed a series of 3 digits. As the ringing presided finally a woman answered the phone, "Hello. This is the Bayside Police Station. Please state the matter of your crime. For a homicide press 1, for arson press 2, to signal an amber alert press 3, to-"

I hung up. Obviously the police weren't going to be much help.

"What do we do?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I moaned.

The sound of something clattering could be heard from downstairs. This metal nails lady was making a mess and I knew Aunt Margot would so totally not appreciate that. I sighed when suddenly the phone began to ring. There was only one line in Aunt Margot's house and the metal nails lady could obviously hear it. I ran over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" I whispered.

"Haley, I need you to do something for me," Aunt Margot's voice said.

"Uh-huh," was my only response. I had to tell her that we were being held hostage by a metal nails lady!

"There's a floppy disk located in my study, it's in my drawer in the first row, third down. It's called: Weapon X and I need you to keep it safe for me," she explained.

"What?" I breathed.

"A woman by the name of Lady Deathstrike is going to come to my house. I need you to take the floppy disk and go to the neighbors, understood?" Aunt Margot asked.

"But-" I was about to say. The line went dead.

Oh no! Ok. Ok. Breath:

Lady Deathstrike, the woman who had metal nails, had come to Aunt Margot's house looking for a disk called 'Weapon X'. If she had been listening in on the call from Aunt Margot then she knew where the disk was. I mentally screamed in my head. Go out there! Get the disk? Fight the intimidating lady with metal nails? Was I in the right mind to do something like that?

"Max, stay here," I ordered.

"What? What are you going to do?" Max asked. "And who was on the phone."

Without answering is inquiries I ran out the room, slamming the door shut. I looked around the second story area, trying to remember which door led to Aunt Margot's study. I ran for the door to my right but it only led to her room. I opened the door next to it and BINGO!

I ran over to the computer desk and looked over at the series of drawers next to it. Ok, try and remember Haley. Which drawer was it? First row, I looked at the first row of drawer that went down. Third down, I looked at the last drawer in the first row and opened it.

"Damn," I hissed. It was locked. Just great! How does Aunt Margot expect me to save the world if I couldn't even open the drawer?

I looked at my hand and began rubbing them together. My powers were my only hope. I focused them on the drawer lock and focused my energy onto my hands. Suddenly the door kicked open and there stood Lady Deathstrike and incredibly long metal nails.

She did a series of twirls and scratched me right on my arm, causing some blood to soak out. OWWW!

Then, the woman dressed in black (who was also Chinese), looked over at the drawers. She slashed the bottom drawer on the first row and it split in half. A bunch of 'stuff' spilled out but the only thing of value was the floppy disk entitled 'Weapon X'. Lady Deathstrike grabbed it and sped out the door.

Oh no! She couldn't and wouldn't run away from me.

I ran after her out the door and shot my hands forward. A surge of light spilled out and hit her square in the back. It sent her flying, but she managed to land on her feet downstairs.

"Wait!" I cried. She began to run to where the door used to be when suddenly she tripped and the floppy disk released from her grip. It slid all the way to the other side of the room where a hand grabbed it. I looked on to see Max and a thin wire on the floor that stretched to one chair to another. Apparently this had tripped Lady Deathstrike. Wow.

She looked up angrily at Max and lunged at him. He ran and threw the floppy disk at me. "Catch!"

I ran over and caught the floppy disk, almost tripping myself in the process. Lady Deathstrike looked from Max to me. She glared and ran over to me. I screamed and suddenly a light shield popped up, blocking Lady Deathstrike from me. Max watched in awe as I had done this. The shield disappeared and I ran.

"Max!" I yelled and threw the floppy disk to him. He ran to the kitchen where the back door presided. Lady Deathstrike followed him. She ran to the open back door when suddenly a bucket filled with water toppled over and splashed her head to toe. Max cackled from the other side of the door and closed it in the process. Now Lady Deathstrike was outside. That didn't mean it could keep her out for good.

"Come on" I ordered Max and we ran to the front door. Once we opened the door we were looking at about half a dozen police cars, an ambulance, even a helicopter! I looked over at Max who was holding the floppy disk. Aunt Margot rushed toward us and embraced us into a hug. A man with a toothpick in his mouth and an eye patch behind her looked at Max.

Knowingly, Max handed the floppy disk entitled 'Weapon X' to him.

"Thanks to you kids this disk will be in more safer hands," the man said.

"The Chinese lady! She ran out the backdoor!" Max said, pointing back to the house where the front door had been smashed.

"Her name is Lady Deathstrike. Apparently she's been looking for this disk for a long time. When she found out I had it I got a call from Mr. Nick Fury here warning me," Aunt Margot said. "He's part of an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Max asked, interested.

"Margot has a tendency to blurt things out. She's been working for us for 20 years. She retired 3 years ago," Fury explained.

"And I never knew about this until now!" I said, shocked. A secret organization called S.H.I.E.L.D! My vulture of an aunt actually used to be an agent for a super secret CIA! Oh yeah, my life is just getting simpler.

Aunt Margot shrugged.

Max and I sat in the ambulance while the nurse bandaged my arm. Max looked at me and asked, "Haley. I need to ask, what did you do back there?"

I sighed. If I could tell anyone about me being a mutant and trust them to keep it secret, it had to be my annoying, idiot brother Max. So I started to tell him the long story. From start to finish – from when I saw Scott use his mutant power to Evan use his mutant power at the basketball game to when I learned about the X-men and Brotherhood and finally to when I, myself, became a mutant (ironically as it was).

"It all makes sense now!" Max said. He was very naïve and so I wasn't surprised how fast he had come to terms with this. I wasn't even surprised that he didn't think I was lying or anything. Yep, that was Max all right.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"How come I'm not a mutant?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I said, annoyed.

"Maybe if I think real hard I'll start reading your mind."

"I don't think so."

"What if I squeeze my eyes shut and lasers pop out?"

"That doesn't make sense."

"Ok, maybe if I think of Paraguay I'll teleport there."

"…"

"What?"

"Your crazy!"

"You're the dumb blonde."

"Hey! No trash talk about the hair!"