(Author's note: I'm now using these arrow things for when they use telepathy, because for some reason brace brackets and the arrow things that point the other way don't work. So now stuff will look like: >>blah, blah, blah>>. Just thought I'd mention that.)
>>Sick,>> Uriko muttered to herself, then, >>Signal?>>
>>Your new pet is a nuisance. It won't sit still. And hurry up. I'm allergic to dogs.>>
>>That's not what she wanted to talk about,>> put in Whirl.
>>And you're only allergic if you eat its fur,>> added Uriko.
Gordon noticed that the girls were very quiet for an unusual amount of time.
"Are you two talking to Signal?" asked Spiderman.
>>Yeah,>> answered Whirl, picking up something she'd left on the stairs.
"Tell him to get Genie so I can leave first?"
>>Nice try, but we're all leaving at once,>> said Uriko, >>Phil's taking Adam to John G. first, then he'll bring in Melissa to teleport the rest of us.>>
"Doesn't Genie need Mozart to take Signal?"
>>No. The whole hug thing works, but only for one person at a time,>> explained Whirl.
(meanwhile, at John G...)
Melissa tore up the bit of bark she held into small strips. One, two, three. . .twenty-nine, oops, no more. She reached for another piece of bark and started the whole process again.
"Why did they leave me here with these to incompetents?" Melissa thought, with added teen angst, "Michelle, Holly, you're both traitors. Leaving me here with two bone- headed. . .boys!" the lone girl of the back-up group looked at her two assistants, then thought "Well, it's Geordie and Mike. Holly likes Geordie and Michelle likes Mike, so maybe they think that they're the greatest people in the world." Melissa tried getting up, but then flopped down again, "How does Michelle do this? She morphs from the wind to human like it's the easiest thing to do."
"Someone looks unhappy," Mike commented, sitting down beside Melissa, "What's wrong?"
"Traitors. Deserters. Cowards the both of them," Melissa grumbled.
Mike blinked, then asked, "Who?"
Melissa flicked a bit of bark at his face, saying "Michelle and Holly. Who else?"
Mike raised his eyebrows.
"Is there still some hate between the two of you from grade seven?"
Melissa paused shredding wood, then continued.
"How much do you two discuss?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Am I the only one bored here, or what?"
Geordie walked up, showing off his skill by practising juggling two balls, one of fire, and one of hollow ice, in order to make it lighter.
"Up-start," Melissa muttered, turning back to her bark.
"Nah. We're all bored. Why did you give the others the interesting job, and not us?" Mike asked.
"I didn't think it'd be this boring. Besides, they're just scouting out the terrain and such. When we get the action job, we'll get to do some real action. Like burning people. Hey Mozart! Pay attention!"
Geordie threw a tendril of flame at the dry bark in Melissa's hands. The fire immediately consumed it.
"Aagh!"
Melissa flung the kindling at Geordie.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!"
"Relax," Geordie said nonchalantly, putting out the small fire before it spread, "I'd make sure the fire didn't burn you."
Melissa looked at her hands. She grudgingly admitted to herself that she was not harmed in any way, but would not let Geordie see.
"That's kind of dangerous though," Mike pointed out, "How do you know you'd be able to control the fire that well?"
"Holly helped me practice with the fire completely covering her hands. She says she can't even feel the heat from the fire," Geordie said proudly.
"That's Holly," Melissa said, "She'd say anything to please you now."
"Maybe not everything," said Mike, "Even she wouldn't say he's the hottest guy there is.'
Melissa nodded thoughtfully, "True. She, Michelle and I all agree that that's Matt."
Mike and Geordie stiffened while Melissa laughed.
"Hey, watch what you say," Geordie warned, "Next time I throw fire at you, I may not-"
"Shut up!" Mike hissed suddenly, and gestured towards the school. One of the school's janitors was outside, picking up garbage on the school's colis. "You know, when humans hear mutants like you talk like that, that gives them all the more reason to want to lock us up."
"You sound like we're aliens or something," Melissa commented.
"To some people, we are," Mike retorted.
"You know, Ugandan mutants should be the ones locked up," Geordie thought out loud, "After all, they're more paranoid than the Canadian ones."
Mike threw a handful of mulch from the ground at Geordie.
"Well, Georgie, at least we aren't ugly."
Geordie hurled himself at Mike.
"Ok, nobody calls me 'Georgie'!"
Both teens fought hard, both with fists, curses, and insults. Mike had the advantage of experience from gang fights, as well as height, age, and weight, but he had to admit that Geordie was smarter at thinking up biting insults and dodging his blows. Melissa merely sat by and watched, neither encouraging nor stopping the fight.
"Maybe sticking with these losers isn't so bad," she thought to herself, "If Holly were here, she would probably jump in to help, and Michelle tells me that Mike wouldn't hit a girl, so Holly and Geordie would make short work out of him. And Michelle would probably break up the fight pretty quick. Her brother and his cousins occasionally fight with one another during family meetings."
After about ten minutes, Melissa couldn't help but yell, "Ok, guys? That position looks kind of wrong. Especially since you're both boys. Or are you, Geordie?"
Both teens immediately pulled apart. Mike felt something dripping down his face and realized he had a bloody nose. (Author's Note: And I don't mean 'bloody' as in "Ugh, you call that lump a nose?" I mean as in the red stuff.) With some satisfaction, he noted that Geordie had his fighting signature: two black eyes.
"You wouldn't have any tissues on you, would you?" Mike asked Melissa.
"Or an ice pack?" added Geordie.
Melissa looked towards the school. The janitor either hadn't seen, or didn't care.
"Nope. I didn't think I'd need to baby-sit you two. After all, you're both adolescents that are supposed to be responsible considering you're mutants. But I guess you're not that responsible."
Geordie's ears perked up.
"Oh yeah. We're mutants," he said, pointedly.
Geordie looked at Mike. Mike looked at Geordie. Both felt their small wounds. Then they both looked at Melissa.
"No! I am not healing-"
Melissa protested a moment too late. In a trice, Mike and Geordie tackled her and used her mutation to heal themselves. The only female of this division of the group suddenly thought of something.
"You know, this must look extremely wrong," she said, "If you know what I mean. . ."
"Eew!"
Both boys immediately scrambled away so that there was sufficient distance between each of them. Mike's nose had stopped bleeding, but Geordie's black eyes hadn't had enough time to fade entirely. Mike rubbed his face into his shirt to wipe away the blood, and was glad it was an old, black shirt that he didn't like much anyway. Geordie smirked.
"Pretty-boy," he taunted, "Can't take a little blood on your face?"
Melissa laughed inside, "Yeah, it's not macho," she thought to herself.
"At least I don't look like a racoon," Mike pointed out.
"D(bleep). They aren't gone?" Geordie touched the bruises, then looked at Melissa again.
"Don't get within six feet of me," Melissa glared, then started laughing, "You really do look like a racoon. I wonder what Holly will say."
"She may think it's cute," Geordie said, hopefully.
"She won't. A racoon attacked one of her dogs, so now she has a permanent prejudice against them," informed Mike.
Geordie looked so down, Mike couldn't help but mutter, "Sucker," under his breath, with a smirk. But Geordie heard.
"You know what I say to that?"
Geordie threw an ice storm at Mike.
"That's what I say!"
"S(bleep)! Geordie!"
Mike tried dodging the storm, but Geordie wasn't trying to freeze him all at once. The ice started freezing at Mike's fingertips, which slowly spread to his fingers, to his palm, and around his wrist. Then they all heard a whoosh to their right, by the Playscape.
"Oh f(bleep)! What the hell are you doing, Geordie!" Adam yelled.
Geordie stopped his work and got rid of the ice storm as Adam put a bundle on the ground and ran over.
"I was kidding, man! What's your problem?" Mike and Geordie glared at each other.
"What hap...you know what? I don't want to know," Adam shook his head.
"Hey, Melissa? We're supposed to get the others," said Phil.
"Finally! Something interesting to do."
Melissa and Phil teleported, leaving the three boys to sort out what happened.
(and then the setting changes, yet again...)
A column of smoke appeared at Holly, Michelle, and Gordon's left; Phil and Melissa stepped out of it.
"Are these real dogs, or are they Uriko and Whirl in morph?" asked Mozart.
"The red-splotched Dalmatian is Michelle, and the white Shi Tzu is Holly," informed Gordon, pointing at each dog in turn.
"What's in the pit in the floor?" asked Phil, running up to look in, with Melissa following.
"Is it a finished geography paper?" joked the all-intelligent-yet-not-so- all-wise Melissa, "Is that why you all look so surprised?"
"NO!" Uriko, Spiderman, and Whirl chorused.
Too late.
"Aah!" Mozart screeched.
Before he knew what he was doing, Phil teleported instinctively to the other side of the room. Holly saw, and made a mental note to remind him to be careful.
We tried, Uriko stated.
"There are mangled, bloody dog corpses in there, and all you did was say, 'No!'" Genie glared, "You call that trying!"
Thanks a lot, Phil! Now that you mentioned it all out loud, I have to admit that it's real, Whirl groaned, I'll be outside, being sick if you need me.
The Shi Tzu walked toward the stairs, only to be stopped by Uriko.
"I'd like to be sick too, but it's almost 7:30, and Matt's going to come back soon," Melissa the occasionally-wise pointed out.
"Fine. Whirl, help me replace everything to the way we found it. Genie, once we're done, get us out of here as fast as you can. Once we're all at the old middle school, Mozart and Whirl can up-chuck to their hearts' content," ordered Gordon, he-who-very-rarely-takes-leadership.
(back to John G. Middle School...)
"What happened!" Gordon and Holly exclaimed.
Michelle took it all in at a glance. Mike's blue left hand, Adam's disgruntled look, and Geordie's racoon look.
"Mike and Geordie got in a fight, Geordie got offended and started freezing Mike, and now Adam's trying to sort things out, but it's not working since they won't all co-operate," Michelle concluded out loud after a moment.
"She's good," Phil said to Melissa.
"You have no idea," Mike thought to himself, but Adam subconsciously heard the thought and realized the innuendo. Michelle didn't understand the look he gave her.
"Yeah. That's what happened, and now we're wondering if Geordie taking the ice away will help," notified Adam.
Michelle walked up and felt Mike's hand.
"It's completely solid!" she exclaimed, concerned.
Geordie seemed self-satisfied from a job well done, but withered at the disgusted look that Holly gave him.
"Wait," Melissa jumped in, "If Mike's hand is solid ice, taking away the ice would take away his hand, wouldn't it?"
Michelle jumped between Mike and Geordie.
"Don't do it!"
"Shell. Relax," Mike said, grinning.
"Well that's no good. I should have stopped Geordie faster, eh?"
Melissa's lightness of the situation was dimmed down a bit by a joint glare from Mike, Michelle and Geordie. Michelle took Mike's hand in-between both of hers and tried slowly thawing it out herself.
"Your hand is cold," she commented, quietly.
"No. Really?"
"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Holly said, suddenly.
"It's a good thing his hand is cold?" Gordon asked.
"Um. . .no. Geordie, can't you thaw his hand a little bit faster with your fire?"
"Wouldn't he get burnt?" Phil asked.
"No," Melissa answered, "He and Holly have been practising."
Geordie tried it, wanting to be on Holly's good side, knowing she was a bit annoyed with him.
"I can't move or feel my hand," Mike informed the others.
Michelle held it to her cheek, then said, "It's not cold or frozen anymore, either."
"Couldn't you have checked his hand normally?" Melissa asked, "Or did you just have to flirt with him?"
"My hands are numb from trying to help him. Of course I had to check that way."
"Sure. Do I need to thaw you too, now?" Geordie asked.
". . .Nope."
"I think maybe some nerves were destroyed when Geordie froze your hand, Mike," Gordon said.
"Just some!" exclaimed Mike, "If that's true, and I can't feel my hand, then all or most of the nerves were badly damaged."
Michelle looked at Melissa, "You looking at his hand?"
Melissa answered, "Yeah, but I can't see nerves. And I can only heal stuff that I can see, unless I'm controlling the mutation. Then I don't heal anyone at all."
Michelle ran behind Melissa and shoved her towards Mike.
"Go fix him, then!"
"Aw. . .they're gonna hold hands! How cute," Adam couldn't help but comment.
Melissa glared at the latter, then grabbed Mike's wrist.
"Thanks," said Mike, flexing his fingers, making sure his hand was working properly.
"Are either of you hurt further?" Michelle asked.
"Well, these black eyes-" Geordie started.
"-will heal in their own time. No," finished Melissa.
"Fine. Did my plan-um," Geordie paused catching a look from Phil, "That is, did our plan work out? What'd you see over there?"
Holly and Melissa groaned, then quickly stumbled away from the group.
"What'd I say this time?" asked Geordie.
"They were just reminded of something they saw at Matt's house. No big deal. They'll be back, after throwing up, momentarily."
"Oops," Geordie turned to the two retreating figures, "Sorry, Holly!"
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"Well? What was there?"
He probed through Phil's mind, and caught a glimpse of the hole in the floor, and it's contents. Adam took a step back.
"What!"
He checked first Gordon's mind, then Michelle's, and Melissa and Holly when they walked back. They all produced the same memory; at different points of view.
"Show Mike and Geordie," Michelle instructed, quietly.
"That's so not true. No way. You're kidding," Adam protested, "What did you really see?"
"How could we all fake the same memory?" Holly reasoned, "It's true."
Adam hesitated, then quickly showed Geordie and Mike the memory. Mike's jaw dropped, and he looked as if he, too, doubted the memory. Geordie shuddered.
"Wow. Ok, I don't know about what the rest of you think, but that's just scary," he said.
"Scary. . .scared. . .scared of basement. . ." Michelle thought, then exclaimed, "Oh bleep! What did you do with her!" she demanded at Adam, who pointed at the bundle he'd put down.
"You killed her!"
Michelle ran over with Mike following.
"Wha…no!" Adam protested.
Michelle carefully unwrapped the bundle, and gently cradled the Akita pup that was inside. It looked pitifully weak.
"That looks hungry," Mike remarked over Michelle's shoulder, then gestured at the pup's ribs, "Look. They're sticking out."
"PUPPY!" Holly was a well-known fan of dogs. After all, she owned about four.
"Let's see?" Melissa liked cats better, but the puppy looked cute. Why not?
The group started to crowd around, but Michelle pushed her way through.
"NO. You guys discuss stuff, and I'll take care of her."
Michelle turned to the group, and saw they were still staring at the dog.
"TALK!"
The others immediately stopped staring.
"How's she gonna feed it though?" Gordon asked.
Mike suddenly thought of something.
"She can morph the female form of anything. . ." he started.
Adam blinked.
"No way!" he turned to Michelle, "You're not. . ."
Michelle had already morphed into an Akita. That had already had puppies and therefore could feed them...
"She really wants that dog, doesn't she?" Phil asked.
"Well, she did want a dog for as long as I've known her," Melissa answered, "And Akita is one of her favourite breeds."
"Couldn't this be considered kind of. . .you know. . .wrong?" Gordon asked.
"Yeah," Adam answered, "But she did promise the puppy's mother."
"Don't let her hear you disapprove, though," Holly warned.
"Why not?" asked Gordon.
"She'll morph something huge and eat you. She's already devoted to that dog," Holly answered.
"Yeah, right! Like she can morph anything that powerful," Gordon said sceptically, then stopped, "Can she?"
"What's to stop her?" Melissa asked, "If she can morph the wind, then who knows what else she can do?"
Mike nodded, "She's gotten really good. She can morph her arm, to, say. . .a claw, while the rest of her stays human. She best at mythical stuff, though. Real animals are what you need to be really specific with. Every detail is key. Fake stuff is easier for her to visualise."
"That's why you need DNA, right?" Adam asked.
"I don't actually need it, to be truthful. Michelle could use it too, but she's really independent with this stuff."
"So researching an animal in detail could work?" Geordie asked.
"Yeah."
Phil laughed then said, "Imagine in science class you're researching amoeba, and then. . ."
Mike groaned while the rest laughed. He didn't find it so funny since he realized Phil could be right. Mike went to check on Michelle. The others kept joking for a little bit longer, then:
"Aw. . ." Holly smiled.
Geordie turned, then grinned, "Isn't that cute?"
"Huh?" Melissa turned, then agreed, "Aw..."
Michael had also morphed, and was sitting by Michelle, as she fed the pup, as if he were guarding them.
"I need my camera," Adam said.
>>Holly, she'll need kibble in about 2 weeks. Think you could donate some?>> Michelle asked.
"Sure. But how do you know?" Holly asked.
>>Instinct,>> Mike answered for her.
"May I pet the puppy?" Melissa asked, making a pleading gesture.
Michelle took an uncharacteristically long time to answer, while the others sat down nearby.
>>Let her finish eating first.>>
>>Why do you think Matt and Scott are...you know…>> Mike hesitated, >>Collecting dogs to->>
"It's not just dogs," Melissa interrupted.
What? Mike looked away from Michelle and the puppy to turn his gaze to Melissa.
"I saw...a few...cat..." now it was Melissa's turn to hesitate.
"Yeah. We understand," Holly nodded.
"Ok," said Adam, "Why're they collecting animals and..." he turned a little green.
"Decapitating them?" Phil saw the girls shudder, "Hey. It's true."
There was a pause.
"What's Scott's mutation, again?" Geordie asked.
>>Metal dew claws,>> Mike answered.
>>Not metal,>> Michelle disagreed.
She picked up a grey object from the ground nearby with her teeth, and awkwardly tossed it over. Adam bent down and picked it up.
"What's this?" he asked.
>>It's one of Scott's claws,>> said Michelle, turning back towards her small foundling.
Adam tested the edge with a finger, and accidentally nicked himself.
"That's sharp," Gordon nodded.
Holly took the claw from Adam and inspected it herself.
"It looks like it's made of...grey ivory. Wow," she breathed.
"Those could cost a lot. I mean, where do you find grey ivory?" asked Geordie.
"Ok, so he has ivory claws," Adam took the claw back from Holly, "They come out of his wrists?"
"Seems like it," Melissa thought a moment, then added, "Maybe they're retractable in the same way that cats' claws are, with a bit of skin covering them."
"Where'd you get that?" Phil asked.
>>When I was upstairs, in that exercise room they have, there was a huge bucket nearly full of those things. I'm guessing they break off naturally, and grow back, stronger, like deer's antlers, only faster,>> Michelle said.
The small Akita gave a small burp, having finished drinking. She sniffed the claw in Adam's hand, growled, then began amusing herself by trying to pounce on Mike's tail.
"The fact that he could become rich doesn't tell us why they're killing those animals," Geordie shook his head, "What's Matt's mutation?"
Michelle stopped watching the pup to look at Holly. Holly stopped toying with her hair to look at Melissa. Melissa stopped tearing up grass to look at Michelle. There was an awkward silence.
"All of you stalking him, and none of you know," Adam frowned, "You all sicken me. I don't even want to know what you're all thinking while you watch him."
"Well look who's doing a good job!" Gordon exclaimed sarcastically. Holly let a wind current blow some dry leaves at his head.
>>I think he's abnormally fast and strong,>> Mike offered, then added, >>And I think this puppy's abnormally annoying. One moment…>>
Mike reached down, carefully picked up the dog by the scruff of its neck with his teeth, and dropped it on Michelle. The pup yelped and scrambled so that it sat with Michelle in- between it, and Mike. Holly wasn't thinking about what Matt's mutation was, though. Holly was thinking about Matt working out. She imagined his sinewy muscles rippling, (his shirt was off, of course) beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead...Geordie wondered why she suddenly sighed so dreamily.
>>That's true,>> agreed Michelle, >>Fighting him was tough. It was hard to bite him or whatever; he was never where you expected him to be.>>
"They could be training," Melissa offered.
All teens stared at her. The puppy just yawned.
"They might be trying to get stronger," Melissa explained.
"Only, why?" Gordon asked, then blinked and queried, "Holly, what was that notebook you brought with you downstairs?"
Holly slapped her forehead and held the brown book up.
"Oops."
She still had Matt's journal with her.