Certh – Thanks so much! I haven't really read the comics; don't hold it against me, so I don't know the last names or even the correct spelling. XP. If you could help me out at all then it would be greatly appreciated.
The next morning it was Monday, and time for classes. Owen had found an old CD player no one wanted, and had run (literally) into town to recover a clunky pair of headphones, huge, cushioned things that drowned out everything. Including feelings.
Ant had taken a shower during the night, the feeling of dreams and the few mutants awake was unnerving, but bearable for the duration of her short shower. Her hair had dried straight, and now that it was clean, it looked much lighter, the color a shiny blonde and brunette mix, due mostly to the amount of time the girl had spent outside. She pulled it back into a loose bun at the bottom of her neck, a few stray bangs pushed behind her ears.
She didn't have any clean clothes, or any that fit or weren't totally worn through, so Jamie lent her a pair of cutoffs some ratty flip flops and a t-shirt that had some surfing brand on the back. Ant had thanked her profusely, but Jamie shrugged it off, saying that she had plenty of clothes.
"Alright Ant." Jamie said, lightly touching the other girls shoulder. "You ready for a test drive?"
"No?"
The blue haired girl smiled, turned on the CD player and put Ant's headphones on her head. "No time like the present? Yeah. I think so too." She giggled, pushing the girl out into the hallway. Ant flinched and stumbled into the hall and with her hand on the opposite wall recovered her balance. "Oops, I guess I don't know my own strength." Jamie said, walking out behind Ant, shutting the door behind her. The younger girl couldn't hear Jamie anyway and just laughed along as Jamie giggled.
Jamie beckoned to Ant and she followed her, passing harmlessly through the light crowd that filtered through the hallways. Downstairs, Jamie held up a hand and Ant waited. A few minutes later and Jamie came loping gracefully back (Today she was wearing a pair of loose boys cut plaid shorts, which made everything only that much easier to do,) carrying two bagels absolutely slathered in cream cheese.
"Here. We'll go hang on the terrace." Jamie said, grabbing Ant's hand, stuffing the food into the other and pulling down the girls earphones. "Owen'll find us if he looks, unfortunately. But, gods willing, he'll be so caught up with Yvonne that he won't bother."
"Who's Yvonne?"
"His newest project." Jamie shrugged. "She's too nice for him. I say he needs to go into town, get a really bad girl and find out just what a wuss he really is." She sighed as she pushed open a glass door leading out onto a balcony. "It seems that the two things that boy can't find are a steady girlfriend and his own flaws."
Ant laughed and stepped through the door, then paused. Out on the balcony were the strangest looking bunch of kids she had ever seen. There were about five or six of them, and only two looked like they might fit into normal society.
"Jamie," A man stood up in back, the only adult present, "Good of you to join us. Who is your friend?"
"Hey Mr. Warren." Jamie said, smiling slightly. "This is Ant. She's new." Ant shuffled her feet, looking down at the ground. Ant wondered why Jamie was being so quiet; she normally would go on with her introduction for a good five minutes.
"Well then." The man stepped forward, holding out his hand. "It's good to meet you Ant." The girl looked up and noticed, for the first time, the wings sprouting out of the mans shoulder blades. Her eyes widened in awe, but she didn't say anything, just shook his hand silently. As Ant and Warren made contact all three of their throats clenched as if they were just about to gasp and their noses suddenly picked up the scent of mint.
"Oh!" Ant squeaked, embarrassed by her obvious wonderment "Sorry!" She blushed.
Warren laughed a little and resumed his seat. "Not a problem Ant." Warren said, smiling slightly, a few of the other kids who had fallen silent breaking off into separate conversations. "Does your ability to project your emotions also give you the power to receive them?" He asked.
Ant nodded.
"Good." Warren said, and Ant looked at him, frowning. "The ability of empathy is something the entire world could use." The winged man smiled and then turned to one of the more normal looking kids, apparently picking up where he had left off.
"C'mon." Jamie said, pulling Ant over towards a boy and another girl. "I'll introduce you to some of my friends."
The boys name was Argus. He didn't know his real name – his father had abandoned him once his mutation became apparent at age three. He had really short, light blonde hair and bright green eyes – all over his body.
"Sorry if I. . . disturb you." He said, turning his head towards Ant. He was wearing dark sunglasses, to hide, according to a whispering Jamie, his skin-covered eye sockets. "I'm not looking. . .at your boobs. . . I swear." Argus said, smiling.
Ant laughed out loud, and the smell of pineapple overcame Jamie's nostrils.
"We have a thing here for mythology." Jamie said, looking over Argus. "There's you and Mercury she's met so far. Anyone else she should know about?"
"Warn her about Venus." The girl said, looking up from a notebook.
"Totally." Argus said, nodding at the girl – green skinned, bald, and wearing a t shirt from the musical 'Wicked'. "She's not one. . .you'd want. . .to cross."
"Venus?" Ant asked, not really wanting to know.
"She's one of the few girls Owen won't look twice at. I think there's four total." Jamie said, giggling. "She's got almost every boy wrapped around her finger, Argus included." The boy sneered and Jamie continued. "She can release endorphins in your brain and create certain chemicals throughout your body that in essence, just make you horny. Venus can also control how much she lets out and who for and stuff like that." Jamie shook her head. "Trust me, she's not one to even talk too, you don't even realize how much of a pain she can be."
Suddenly the bell rang.
"Damn it all!" The entire terrace fled, including Jamie, who clutched onto Ant's hand as she raced through the halls. "We don't know your schedule-"
"Taken care of." Owen suddenly appeared next to Ant, giving her a sheet of paper that had her classes and a map of the school. "She's in Combat with us, then I have her for Ethics and Maths, after that she's on her own for Government and then we're with her again for whatever Logan feels like teaching today."
"Combat?!" Ant squeaked. "I can hardly stand up by myself! You all are eighteen or something and you expect me to be on the same physical level as you!? I don't even think I've ever thrown a punch!"
"For one thing, I'm just sixteen," Said Jamie. "For another, you don't want to flatter Owen." She said as she turned a corner quickly, coming to a stop in front of a burnished steel door, out of place amid the wooden décor. "He's only been seventeen for a few weeks."
"Almost a month, alright?" Owen said huffily, opening the door for the two girls. They stepped into an amphitheater-like lecture hall with a giant stage in front. The three took a seat about midway up on the right side.
"So what's this class like?" Ant whispered to Jamie, who sat on her right. They had let go of each others hands and Ant had placed her leg near Owens, so that their knees and calves were just barely touching on the bench-like seats.
"Interesting." Jamie said. "Really, really interesting." She smiled, leaning over onto the desktops.
"She's just jealous 'cause this is the only class she can boast a better grade than mine."
"You get good grades?" Ant asked, a little surprised. Owen didn't seem the kind of guy to try hard at anything, much less school.
"Somehow he always manages to find the right answer." Jamie snorted. A small boy walked into the class and a few people fell silent. Ant looked up at the short boy. He had incredibly dark brown hair that was just barely able to be pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his neck, black shorts, an orange Power Rangers t-shirt and a few books tucked into a messenger bag.
"Is that the teacher?" Ant whispered, she didn't think she would be surprised if he was.
"No." Owen said, "Though he could be. Hey Shogun! Over here dude!" Owen yelled, waving the boy over.
"His name's Shogun?"
"Hero names, Ant." Owen said, smiling as the boy nodded and walked over towards where they were sitting. "Are for heroes."
"Hello Owen." The Asian boy said as he sat next to the blue eyed flirt. "How are you Jamie, Ant?"
"We're good, how 'bout you buddy?" Owen asked, not bothering to explain how Shogun knew Ant's name. Jamie supplied the answer.
"Psychic. And a damn good one too."
Before Ant had a chance to respond, the door slammed open and drew everyone's attention to the woman walking down the middle of the classroom. Ant's eyes widened, not for the last time, at the mutants appearance.
Tall, with sandy blonde hair cut raggedly at her shoulders, the woman's entire body was covered with umber colored plates. She didn't wear a shirt, her armor-like skin keeping her decent, although her curves were obvious. Her pants were an army green, with a tear in the backside through which protruded a gruesome looking tail, complete with armor, segments and stinger.
"Professor Susanna." Jamie muttered. "Her tail has enough poison in it to wipe out New York City twice over. She drains it every week and sends it off to about thirty different labs to use for experimenting on venom."
"How old is she?"
"Nineteen." Owen whispered. "The youngest in the school. She beat out Logan for this position, you know."
The teacher turned, and Ant saw that her eyes were a jet black – no white whatsoever.
"Alright kids!" Susanna barked. "Did anyone learn their lesson yesterday or do we need to go over a few things?"
Of course it would be Owen to raise his hand.
"Professor? Remind me again the proper way to impede a mental mutant." He said, smiling impishly. Ant just knew that he was up to no good what so ever.
"Owen? Remind me again the proper way to impede an angry teacher." She replied, snarling amid the small round of laughter that accompanied Owen's comment. "And since you're so eager to show me up, come down here and I'll give you a few more bruises to add to your collection."
"Any gift from you, dear Professor, is a gift I treasure." The boy said, standing. Ant quickly shifted positions and her calf touched Jamie's as Owen flitted lightly down to the raised podium.
Ant couldn't follow any of it. It was just a mass of moving muscle and legs and arms and tail. Every now and then she would catch a glimpse of Owen pausing at one end of the area and Susanna hanging off the ceiling, her serrated fingers and two footed toes attached firmly to the top of the room.
"Is he winning?" Ant asked what seemed to be the hundredth question that day. "I can't see a thing." Jamie stopped her cheering to answer.
"Nah, Owen never wins. Somehow or another he finds an opening every now and then, but mostly he just flits about, looking pretty and trying to impress the girls by bragging about how long he held off the professor- Look! She's got him good now!"
The scorpion had hooked one of her legs in between his, and was holding his arms behind his back with one hand. Her ductile tail was around her and the wicked looking stinger was held at his throat.
"Miss Suzy!" Owen gushed, face red. "You are too much!"
"Sit down you oaf." The professor grumbled, and Owen was next to Ant in a second, closer than he was before, if she remembered rightly.
After that a few more of the mutants went down to practice, starting with one end of the room and working its way to the right, where Ant and the other sat. It seemed that the professor tempered her abilities to match each student, and when it was Shoguns turn she smiled ruefully.
"Of course. My daily lesson in humility." She said as the boy made his way down.
Shogun bowed to Susanna and she returned the gesture.
"Do we need to go through this ordeal again professor?" The boy asked, all too formal for his age. It was slightly odd to see this eleven year old boy and the scorpion woman staring each other down. "Must I constantly prove myself to you?"
"One more time Mr. Quang-Minh. I'll let it go tomorrow."
"I have come to realize that there is never a tomorrow with you professor." Shogun muttered. He didn't have time to grumble anything else because the woman had come at him on all fours, not even fast enough for Ant to catch it, but fast enough for her to get trapped in Shogun's trap.
"A psychic bubble." Jamie muttered. "He used that last week too. It seems to be the easiest way to make her stop."
A few minutes later and Shogun was back up next to Owen, who gave the younger boy a high five. Ant looked over at the boy again, who was now digging through his bag. She laughed a little as he pulled out a handheld game console.
"Miss Rider?"
Jamie looked up.
"Coming!"
Ant sat forward, exited to see her friend in action. It was amazing! Jamie jumped around like a bungee jumper on steriods, staying one leap ahead of the professor, doing incredibly complex twists, turns and flips in the air. Jamie got in a few good kicks but was, in the middle of an overly-flamboyant flip, pile-drived to the ground by the unmerciful professor.
"Not bad Acrobat," Susanna said, standing and offering a hand to Jamie. She took it, thought about it, and then got up without trying anything else. The scorpion woman smiled.
"Good choice."
Jamie got back to her seat, rubbing her collarbone. Owen, whose thigh was touching Ant's, was suddenly filled with a rush of worry, a pungent smell attacking his nose and mouth.
"Tag." Jamie muttered, lightly hitting Ant on the shoulder. Worry was instantly replaced by fear, a horrible pain in the chest that made Owen gasp a little as it hit him. Ant looked down and saw Susanna motioning to her.
"The new one in back. Let's go girl!" Ant stumbled as she put on her headphones and turned the volume up as high as the silly machine would let her. She tripped as she walked down to the podium, only getting an odd look from an odd looking teacher as she arrived.
"All right!" Susanna yelled over the music that even over-large headphones couldn't contain. "Come at me!"
Ant's eyes widened. With what? She didn't control fire or anything, couldn't teleport, had no physical strength to speak of and was just short of being a klutz.
"Well?"
Owen began to get worried.
"Professor, she really doesn't have that kind of power-"
"Mr. Glassford, if I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it!" Susanna yelled up at the boy. "Now shut up and let the girl do what she wants to."
Ant was searching frantically. All she had at her back was a reserve of punk rock and a few seconds as Susanna shouting at Owen. She took a deep breath and ran forward. Just as the professor turned to the girl, Ant grabbed onto her arm.
'Feel!' Ant thought, scrunching her eyes up and pushing through an onset of emotions that came through her over-loud music: anger, hate, disregard, rebellion. It didn't hurt Ant too much; it felt like there was a buildup of pressure then suddenly it was easier to breath. She staggered back from the professor and opened her eyes.
Susanna was on the ground, clutching her stomach with one hand, supporting herself with the other and retching all over the floor. Ant's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry!" She cried, pulling a hand on the professor's shoulder. The scorpion woman made as if to brush the hand off then stopped as Ant tried to calm herself down, trying to just breathe in and out. The feeling of peace and tranquility returned to both their bodies and Susanna shook her head, hair falling into her face as she stood up.
You could have heard a pin drop. It took more than the average mutant to bring Susanna to her knees. Even Shogun had only managed to catch the professor in the position she had been in before he stopped her, and while a few others had managed to trick her into a few illusions, there was nothing that came even close to what was laid out before the Combat class's eyes now.
From the back of the room came a small whisper.
"Well damn."
Jamie elbowed Owen in the ribs and then stood up, clapping. The entire class rose to its feet and applauded the accidental victory.
It was all Ant could do not to catch fire, she was that embarrassed.