1

Axel Todd

I go toe-to-toe with an all powerful alien.

There she was the ultimate prey. Quiet and unsuspecting, she had her back turned to the balcony I frequented, making her perfect for a sneak attack. My crush on her had nothing to do with the matter. I jumped down from the balcony, effortlessly landing in a light crouch, silently. Stalking towards her, I sucked in a mouthful of air, preparing to shout as loud as I could.

"Don't even think about it, Axel," She warned not moving from her lotus position, not even opening her eyes.

"What are you talking about, Arianne? I wasn't doing anything," I defended as I choked on the air. Damn empath! Why must she know everything?

"Sure you weren't,"

Throwing up my usual wall of emotions, a mixture of anger, grief, and impatience, all to hide my true feelings from her, I slowly walked in front of her. A long silence followed before she spoke again, "You always seem like you have a lot on your mind. Meditation can help you with that. I sense a lot of stress; I can teach you to release it."

"No, it's fine." I replied politely. I needed her to sense only stress. I wasn't going to let my guard slip for one moment. I didn't think it fair to turn down her help without an explanation so I said, "It's mostly my mom that I'm thinking about. I miss her, but I'm afraid that if I don't stress about her, I'll forget her. It's better this way. Thanks, though."

She shrugged and went back to her meditation. That was close. It wasn't actually a lie, at least not completely. It is my mom that I think about when I'm defending my thoughts from her power. After the incident ten years ago, we discovered that the enemy had taken her, Kori, and Jinx away, alive and … well, not exactly well. Rachel and Gar returned as quickly as they could after getting the distress call. Their mission had not been successful, but at least they were alive. We've been hiding since that day. The world is in turmoil, and dad, Rae, and Gar won't do anything about it. It makes me so frustrated knowing that my, Evy, and Tyr's moms are still alive, but held captive, and that the rest of the world are slaves, but here we sit, cooped up in our safe underground lair.. Corey and Tyrand'r try to say that the adults are coming up with plans, but they're losing precious time. I feel so restless.

These are the feelings I generally throw up around Ari.

I walked into the kitchen. Tyrand'r was there, as well as the Couple. Tyr was making something Tamaranian that he'd probably make us all eat later. I don't know what's wrong with those aliens… although, Corey doesn't seem to like Tyr's cooking either, at least, not Tyr's mother's recipes. Tyr is actually a pretty good cook, when he's making human food anyway. He's so obnoxious, and I don't just say that because he likes Arianne as much as I do. He's so naïve and idealistic, but then turns around and becomes moody and brooding. His mood changes from moment to moment. She'd never be with him; he's not her type. She needs a man with a stable personality. I'm surprised that Ari is still so oblivious to his crush. She has no idea. To her, they're just best friends.

Then there's the Couple. Corey and Evy. It's so annoying watching them. They're all over each other, all the time. They're like the older brother and sister none of us ever had, or wanted. Actually, that's not fair. Evy's alright...when she's not attached to Corey. She's mostly Ari's friend, but she hangs out with the rest of us from time to time. It's so calming to be with her sometimes. She just makes you feel so comfortable. Until Perfect Boy comes along.

Where Evy's laid back nature makes her warm and motherly, Corey just comes off as a condescending snob. The kid is too perfect. I didn't know the original Superman at all, and I barely knew Conner, but dad says that Corey is just like them. I don't know, maybe his powers give him the feeling of invincibility or something. He is too much of goody-goody. It's not even that, though. Tyrand'r has most of the same moral values, but I like him better. Tyr doesn't criticize as much though. Corey never thinks anyone does anything right and that he's the only one who can do anything. Rae says that he's just trying to live up to the example set by his Super lineage. I say that it's no excuse.

Evy pulled herself from Corey's face and said, "She saw through your attack again, X? You know, the mind trick won't always work, you know. She will find out." Evy always uses our hero names. Well, not Corey's. It's nice. It's like she's recognizing our abilities. Gotta love Hex.

"How did you know, Evy?" I asked.

"I Saw, of course. I've also Seen that she will find out. Blackbird's no fool, X." was her reply. Damn. If there's one power that's more annoying than Ari's empathy, it's Evy's prescience. Sorcery wasn't enough, was it? She just had to be able to See the future. There was nothing I could hide from her. I wouldn't mind so much if her knowing didn't mean that Corey would know. And, of course, Corey knowing meant that everyone knew. At least he kept quiet around Ari and the adults.

"I know that."

"Can we not discuss Arianne, please?" Tyrand'r requested. I looked up at him and saw that he was red in the face. Perfect.

"Why, Tyr? Aren't you in love with her or something?" I asked, playing dumb. The reddish hue in his face deepened.

"I'm not in love with her," he replied.

"Wait…that's right, she doesn't know," I continued.

"I'm not in love with her," he insisted.

"What? Are you afraid she'll turn you down?"

"I'm not in love with her."

"Why don't you just ask her out?" I knew this was a safe bluff because he would never do it.

"I'm not in love with her!" he defended.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" by now, he was so red; you wouldn't be able to tell him from a lobster.

"Then you won't mind if I let Ari know that she has no chance of being with you."

"You'll tell Arianne no such thing!"

"Well, it's the truth, isn't it? And if you don't want her, I can have her right?"

"No!"

"Awfully defensive for one who has no interest in Ari."

"Fine, maybe I do like her if it'll keep you from talking to Arianne." he conceded.

"Tyr likes Ari," I taunted. I just couldn't help myself. He fell right into it. Then it came; I knew it would without Eve's prescience. I'd been goading a really strong, sensitive guy into admitting that he likes a certain girl and then taunted him about it. I deserved the resulting black eye I received.

"Oh no, what are you doing this time, Axel?" said a girl from the doorway. It was my sister. She'd seen the punch Tyr had thrown. Leave it to my twin to walk in as I get decked.

"Red X was taunting Flashfire, Speedy. He deserved what he got," Eve said.

"He usually does. Tyr, just ignore Axel. He has this annoying tendency to start things for the fun of it," Melani said to him. Oh, please! If she'd been here, she would have joined in. Teasing Tyr is one of her favorite pastimes. She just feels like making me look the bad twin.

Melly is usually pretty cool. We have our arguments, but we end up on good terms again within the hour. We get into all sorts of mischief together. Until recently, she's teased Tyrand'r as mercilessly as I have, but now she's afraid that he doesn't like her because she's a bitch to him. She's insanely jealous of Ari right now because Ari has Tyr's attention, so she's trying to act like Ari around him. It's annoying really. She'll never get his attention by being a second Ari. The only Ari that there can be is Ari. For Melly, it's just not natural. Melly is supposed to be vulgar and mischievous, not quiet and classy. Tyr would like her better if she were honest with herself.

Ari followed Melly into the room.. I felt my heart leap at the scent of her lavender and mint perfume. The light caught a lock of her hair and I was thrown into an imagined scene with her under the bright glorious sun, the sun that we never see anymore. Oh, how I'd love just to stroke that beautiful hair in the sunlight, or even the moonlight. Oh, shit. I wasn't supposed to think about that when she's here. So I threw up my emotional barrier quickly. She didn't seem to notice.

"My mom says that we need to see Jason in the mission room. They need to talk to us about something," She said, the words flowing like silk, "And Axel?"

"Yeah?" I asked, a somewhat hopeful tone to my voice, despite all my practice.

"What happened to your eye?"