Happy April Fools Day! I'm going to post 2 chapters today! Yay!

Chapter 6! Enjoy, and R&R!

Chapter Six - Oh, Joy

For the second time in a row, I woke up with a pounding head. But this time, it was not the consequence of too many drinks. I groaned as I remembered the cosmic storm and the crazy dream after it. The dream felt real and reality felt like a dream. I rubbed my face and sat up.

I was in a room that looked like a cross between a fancy vacation cabin and a hospital. The room was bare other than the bed, a side table, which had a lamp and a call button, it looked like, and the computers. There was all sorts of equipment monitoring things like my heart rate and body temperature. I looked down at myself and found that I was wearing a white t-shirt and some gray sweatpants, sensors attached to my skin.

The door opened, and in stepped a man wearing a lab coat. Wonderful. "You're awake. Great!"

"Where am I?"

"Von Doom Industries' Medical Facility in Switzerland. You are in quarantine for the time being, but tomorrow everyone should be cleared."

I slid out of the bed and stretched my sore muscles. I felt thinner, and extremely hungry. "How long was I out?"

"Three days, technically. Yesterday you woke up incoherent, and we had to sedate you. You're the third to wake – Mr. Grimm and Ms. Storm are still asleep."

I felt weird, like I was floating. "Where can I get some food?"

"There is a buffet down the hall to the right. Just get whatever you want, but return the plates, glasses, and utensils when you are done." He smiled at me as he professionally pulled off the sensors, then stepped aside and allowed me to and run past him, nearly crashing into Johnny.

"Hey, you're awake! Is Ben?"

"No," I said, shoving past him. I heard him cackle evilly as I stepped into the buffet. Outside, I could see what looked like a garden with a patio, and the Alps rising above it, filling the horizon. I snatched a plate and filled it with starchy things such as potatoes and bread. That was what I was craving – starch. It was weird, and I could see some of the staff looking at me funny.

I was about to go outside when I noticed the TV in the corner. "Hey, can you turn that on?" I said to a young staff member. She vanished behind a counter and came back with the remote. She handed it to me, and I thanked her and flipped on the television. It was on the news, and to my surprise, Victor was on the screen, walking to the door of what I assumed was the Medical Facility. Reporters were chasing him, and Leonard was trying to wave the bulk of them off in the corner of the screen. Security was pushing them back, but Victor was still answering questions.

"You've been charged with moving science a little too fast."

"By whom, my competitors?" Victor was still smooth, even after a knock to the head, according to the staples next to his eye. "Danger has always been a part of this."

"What about your sudden stock drop?"

"No comment." For the first time, my boss was running from the press. I really needed my laptop.

I watched as Victor vanished into the building and the news change to the weather, which was in the language of Swiss German, and of no help to me. I turned off the television, inhaled the rest of my food, returned the plate and fork, and headed off through the halls. Eventually, I heard the familiar voice of Leonard through a door, and knocked.

"Enter," said Victor. I went through the door and saw Victor smoothing out his hair. "Evonna, you're awake. Great. I'm about to visit the bank, and I need you to watch Reed and Ben until you all are cleared from quarantine. Leonard has your laptop, cellphone, and change of clothes. I'm counting on you." I was taken aback. That was the first time I ever heard Victor admit he needed me. For real, at least. Something changed him a bit on that trip.

"Okay..?" I said, accepting my things from Leonard. I was about to walk out the door when I turned and smiled genuinely, for the first time to Victor, and said, "Good luck."

In the garden, I found Sue sitting in one of the modern, white chairs, reading a newspaper. The headline - "Von Doom Disaster Causes Stock Collapse". Yes, it was in English. It was the New York Times. "Hey, there you are. How are you?"

"Fine," I said, sitting down and opening up my laptop. Through the glass doors, I could see someone in a red sweater and carrying a snowboard snatch something from the buffet before leaving. It was Johnny. Of course. I looked over at Sue, who was peeking over her newspaper up at the balcony. Up there stood Reed and Ben, deep in conversation.

I looked back down at my laptop and pulled up the internet. Immediately, I was bombarded with alerts for the stock, the news, scheduled events, and new e-mails. Soon, I was wading through spam and news updates. When I finally sorted out the important stuff, I looked up to find Ben standing over me.

"Hey, Sue, you want to come have a few drinks with me?" he asked, ignoring me completely. I realized that the sun was much lower than I thought it was. It had taken longer than I expected to catch up on three days' worth of information.

"Sure, Ben. Oh," she said, looking over at me, "can Eve come?"

Both Ben and I opened our mouths to protest, but shut them quickly. Sue was looking at Ben accusingly, but I had noticed Reed entering the buffet. I glanced over at Ben, and raised an eyebrow in question. He subtly nodded to Sue, and I understood. He was trying to get them back together. I was supposed to make sure Reed thought he had no chance, but based on the way he'd been acting around Sue before, he already thought that. Still, I wanted no part of it. I didn't particularly like Ben.

"No, that's okay. I've gotta call my friend anyway – she's probably worried sick." I picked up my phone and found I had over thirty messages. I showed it to her as further evidence.

"Oh, that's too bad," said, Ben, helping Sue to her feet.

"See you later, Eve!" called Susan as she followed Ben inside. I rolled my eyes and dialed Tessa's number. On the first ring, she picked up.

"WHAT THE HELL!" screamed Tess through the phone, making me jump and pull it away from my ear. I waited three seconds, then put it back to my ear. "- and Daddy thinks I should get therapy and that's no good! You know how therapist is spelled? T-H-E-R-A-P-I-S-T! You know what else that spells? The rapist! And all of this is because you died on that stupid mission and now Doom and Sensei are covering it up with some dumb story that you're in quarantine!" She paused, panting. Then: "So, how's Hell? Or am I wrong, and you went to Heaven? Are there any hot guys?"

"Tess! I'm fine. I'm alive! Victor wasn't covering anything up. He was telling the truth. I'm in Switzerland at his Medical Facility."

"Oh." I heard the muffled sounds of yelling, then, "That last question still stands, though."

"What did you say about therapy? Why does your Dad want you to go to therapy?"

"I, uh, might have allegedly set Barbie's car on fire. While she was inside."

"Tess-"

"She survived! She didn't even get burned! Her hair was singed, that's all, I swear!"

"Tess! Look, I'm coming back tomorrow. If she sues, call Von Doom Industries and ask for Jessica Lowell – she knows a great lawyer named..," I paused, thinking hard. "Gerald something. Gerald... O'Donnell. Tell her you're Eve's friend."

"Thanks, Evie. You're super awesome."

"Yes I am."

It was dusk when I walked into the buffet and found Reed and Sue staring at each other in shock. I opened my mouth to say something, but, of course, the door flew open, and Johnny, wearing nothing but a pink parka wrapped around his waist, covering areas that should not be exposed in public, ran in.

"Hey! You guys – Hey. You are never gonna believe what just happened to me." We all looked at him like he was crazy. "What?" He looked down at himself, then back up at us. "Oh. Well, I can explain this," he said, holding up his hand to keep us from jumping to conclusions. It was too late for that, of course. He took a few deep breaths and began his story, waving his hands around as he did so. "So this hot nurse and I were going down the mountain, right? And I started going really fast, when I suddenly was on fire! Like, flames were coming out of my coat, and I was trying to put them out when I fell down the drop, you know, over the glacier? And suddenly, I was on fire, like, completely, and I landed in the snow, and it became kinda a hot tub. It was awesome!"

We all stared at him for a second, then Reed jumped up and hurried past Johnny, who looked so excited I was worried for his health. Sue ran after him, with Johnny following, snapping his fingers with a look of concentration. I trailed after them. This could get interesting. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" asked Johnny.

"Reed just caught a wine bottle that was a few feet away from his arm – his arm stretched to catch it, and I was invisible." Sue shook her head and went through a set of double doors leading to the rooms. "It has to be the cloud. It's fundamentally altered our D.N.A." She looked over at Reed.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," he said. Johnny stopped walking, and I nearly walked right into him. "We need a massive amount of evidence before making that leap." Johnny snapped his fingers, and a tongue of flame erupted from his thumb. A staff member stared at him as she exited the hall.

"Whoa, guys, look!" he cried. Reed and Sue span around and Johnny shuffled over to them, me right behind him. They stared in shock as Johnny turned the flame on and off by snapping his fingers. "Now, picture that," said the blond, gesturing to his body, "but everywhere!" He pulled the parka up and said, "It was everywhere! What?" He seemed on the point of hysteria.

Sue looked at Reed, who sighed and said, "The cloud has fundamentally altered our D.N.A." I closed my eyes and groaned out loud.

Johnny cackled and shouted, "Cool!" Reed lead us down the hall, and I followed him and Sue. "And you know what, guys? I think I was flying." He chased after us, getting strange looks from everyone else.

"We need to find Ben," said Reed, practically running towards the dorms. Johnny kept playing with the fire, snapping it on and off.

"Cut it out, Johnny," said Sue. He ignored her. We got to the hall and Reed ran to the door and looked inside. I lingered behind Johnny, watching.

"I said cut it out, Johnny."

"Still getting the hang of it."

Reed pounded on the door. "Hey, Ben! It's Reed!"

Sue turned around to glare at Johnny. "Stop."

"All right."

"All right?"

"Yes!"

"God!"

"God!"

"What's wrong with you?"

"What?"

Reed interrupted their sibling fight. "Sue, do you know the code?" She rushed to the keypad and began punching in numbers. I could hear Ben groaning through the door, and was all for leaving him there before he emptied his stomach on all of us. I moved closer and heard the beeping of the machines get faster every second. Then I heard a snap and crash. Everyone rushed to the door, Reed and Johnny calling for Ben to open up. Sue worked more on the keypad, Reed called inside, asking if Ben's alright, and Johnny yelled down the hall, asking for keys to the door. I was about to sneak away and escape this madness when Reed knelt and placed his hand on the ground. We all stopped and watched as his hand flattened underneath the door, then came up on the other side and fumbled up for the lock. With a click, the door unlocked, and Reed pulled his hand back underneath.

We all stared at him for a second, then Johnny said, "That's gross." I nodded in agreement, but then there was a crash inside Ben's room. Reed burst inside, and we all stared at the wreckage. His bed was toast, and the wall was busted open.

"Ben?" called Reed, which was pointless.

Then Johnny pointed through the hole. "Look! Look, look, look, look!" We all moved forward and saw some sort of orange creature running through the trees. "What is that thing?"

"What's going on?" Sue, Reed, and I span around to face Victor, who was observing the damage with cold eyes. "What happened here?"

"Victor! Are you feeling all right?" asked Sue, coming closer.

"I'm fine. Just a few scrapes, that's all," he said, waving her concern off.

Reed looked freaked out. "Ben did this. He's had some kind of... reaction to exposure from the cloud."

Sue turned back to Victor. "We all have, um, different symptoms."

Victor glanced over at me. "Symptoms?"

"Victor, um, I should have-" began Sue, but Victor cut her off.

"Just find him." He walked out the door and I chased after him. He looked over at me, frowning. "Evonna, have you had-"

"No, I'm fine. Do you want me to..."

Victor glanced back at Sue and Reed, who were looking around the room awkwardly. "Do your job, and keep me posted," he instructed, walking away. I came back inside and saw Johnny leaning on the wall, looking out where Ben had vanished.

"Anybody got any ideas where the big guy's going?" he asked.

Reed looked down and spotted a picture on the ground. I came closer and saw it was of Ben and his fiancé, Debra Lucas. Reed sighed and said, "He's going home."

"Uh, I have a question." Everyone looked up at me, and really looked, not just glancing over. They seemed to realize I was there for the first time. "If Ben is really that rocky thing out there," I said, gesturing outside, "then how is he gonna get back to New York?" They all looked at each other like that question had never occurred to them.

"We need to get to New York, and fast," said Reed, the wheels in his head turning. Then I realized what that would mean. Flying in a little tin can of death over the ocean.

Oh, joy.

The longest chapter yet!

Next chapter, you find out her power!

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