NEW CHAPPIE! Oh, and BTW DaRkReBeL777, there will be another girl, just not yet. As for the rest of your questions, they will be answered in time…
Eight: The Tower
Mari stood on a small island off Jump City coast and looked at the old tower before her.
"This must be the place," she said looking at the rusted door.
"Sure is old enough," said Pete.
She pried her fingers between the two doors and pushed them open with all her might. The rusted metal gave way and heaved open. They walked into the huge lobby. There were no windows, so the open door was the only source of light.
"Now where to?" said Jessie. He and Pete were both carrying two boxes each filled with files, old articles, and photos. Jessie looked like he was about to collapse from the weight of them.
Mari lit up a starbolt and looked at the blueprint she held in her hand.
"There should be an Opps Room right above us. The elevator's over here."
They walked over to another set of steel doors.
"What makes you think it's gonna work?" said Pete.
She pushed the up button and, amazingly, the door opened. Mari was about to enter the elevator, but then, she heard something snap and it whooshed by her so fast, it made her do an impersonation of Marilyn Monroe. The trio heard it crash at the bottom.
"Well," said Jessie, "the stairs are always good, too!"
So, they walked over to the stairs and started to hike up a spiral staircase that was equivalent to ten stories. Their footsteps echoed and Mari's starbolt being the only source of light. When they finally got to the top, they found themselves in a long hallway.
"Now where?" said Pete.
Mari looked at the blueprint.
"This way," she said, pointing to her left. The three teens walked about ten feet to yet another set of steel doors and Mari opened them like she did before. Because there were windows, Mari put out her starbolt as they walked in.
The Opps Room was a big and spacious one. The large windows were like movie screens with layers of dust on them. In front of the massive windows was an obvious couch, even though a white sheet was placed over it. On the left side of the room was a mini kitchen that had rotting wood and a cupboard door was falling off. There wasn't much else.
"Put the boxes over there," she said, pointing to a general spot. The boys set the cardboard down (much to Jessie's relief).
"How come you didn't have to carry a box?" said Pete.
"Because one: I don't want to, and two: I had to carry you from San Diego to Jump City."
"Oh, yeah…"
They walked to the middle of the room.
"Kinda feel's weird, doesn't it?" said Jessie. "I mean, out parents? Superheroes?"
"Well," said Mari, "haven't you ever wondered how you got those powers?"
"Not really. I kinda always thought that there were people like me, I just never met them."
"I always thought my parents were just freaks."
"And I always thought that my dad just married an alien."
"Wait," said Pete, "you're part alien?"
She sighed. "Yes…"
"Cool!" Then he started poking her in the arm. "So, do you have, like, retractable antenna, or something?"
She smacked his hand away. "Cut it out!"
"Geez, touchy much?"
"Well, at least I don't have big, blocky, yellow hands!"
"That's right! You don't! So Boo Ya!"
"Wait… you like being a freak?"
"You bet I do!"
Mari and Jessie looked at each other.
"Why?" she said.
"'Cause I can do this!" And with that he picked up the dusty, covered couch with one hand. Then he set it down. "And this." He zapped Jessie in the butt with a small volt of electricity.
"Ow!"
Mari rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Look, now that we're here, we need to start trying to track our parents…" She walked over to the computer and pushed the "On" button. It sputtered and died, pushing out a small puff of smoke. "…on a computer that doesn't work… Oy!"
She sat down and opened up the fuse box.
"I'm sure I could fix this thing… but it could take awhile."
"So…" said Jessie, "what do we do now?"
"Our parents used to live here, right?"
"Yeah…?"
"So – pick out a room!"
The boys looked at each other, shrugged, and walked down opposite ways of the long hallway.
------
Pete walked down a corridor with windows lining the wall on his right. Then he came to the first door on his left. It read CYBORG.
It's gotta be my dad's room…
He wedged it open.
Like the Opps Room, it had white sheets covering furniture, though more things were covered in this room then in the main one. He walked in and looked around.
"Where's the bed?"
He took a sheet off of an out of date computer. He gave it a small zap of electricity. The screen became blue and it made a mechanical purring sound.
"Hello, Cyborg," it said in an electronic voice. "What do you require?"
"Uhhhh… bed?"
"Very well."
Then, on one side of the room, a metal slab came up from the floor.
"That's the bed?"
"Would you like to plug in?"
Then, a cord came out of the wall and attacked him like a snake.
"Aw, heck, no!"
He got out of that room as fast as he could, and into the one next to it: the work-out room.
He shrugged. "It's better then rampaging cords!"
------
Jessie looked the metal door in front of him. There was some dirt covering up what seemed to be the name. He wiped it off to reveal the name: RAVEN.
Mom…
He pried it open as best he could, but could only make it go just enough so he could squeeze through. When he got to the other side, he looked around.
The similar white sheets were on furniture and he could make out a large, round bed at the other end of the room. But one particularly large piece of furniture caught his eye.
It was very tall and leaned against the wall. He took the white drape and pulled. After a coughing fit and fanning away dust, he looked at what he had just un-veiled, and his jaw dropped.
"Woah…"
Standing before him was a huge bookshelf, crammed with all kinds of literature. He ran his fingers along the spines.
"Thank you, karma!" he said as he took a book and flopped down on the bed (dusty, white sheet and all)
------
Mari's eyes itched as she stubbornly fiddled with the ancient computer by starbolt. She was almost done with one section of the computer, all she had to do was connect two wires.
Ok, she thought, all I have to do is be careful. Focus… almost…
"Mari?"
She jumped, causing her to loose her grip, relinquishing the wires.
She groaned; it was back to square one.
She looked over her shoulder and saw Pete standing in the darkness.
"You still up? It's 12:30."
"Well, I would have finished earlier if someone hadn't snuck up on me!"
He frowned and walked over to her.
"Sorry. Look, you should get some sleep."
"Like you even care."
"Actually, I do."
She cocked an eyebrow.
"Listen, I know I've been a jerk lately, and, well, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me."
"I guess I was kinda hard on you, too," she confessed. "These last two days have just been so weird…"
He put a metal hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"Why don't you get some sleep? Even if you got this hunk a junk workin, it would be no use tonight."
She gave a weary smile and trudged to the first room she could find.
Ok, I'm not going to let it slip this time: if I don't get at least five reviews, I'm not going to write more. I mean it!... please?
T.