Hours after Marissa Benson spoke with her son, Freddie was granted hospital leave with a clean bill of health and driven home. Exhausted, he pulled his shirt and pants off, lazily leaving it on the floor wrinkled and unfolded before sliding into bed only in his briefs. He'd deal with it tomorrow. So grateful it's going to be a Saturday.
It was to his surprise the next morning when he woke up that the flat of his back was pressing against the ceiling. Smacking his lips and rubbing at his sleepy eyes, he took in a good moan-inducing stretch before… "Aaaauughh! " His arms instinctively grasped for a handhold against the walls. It took a minute for him to realize he didn't need one. His body was levitating and he was in no danger of falling down. "Uh… Uh… Think Freddie. Calm and collected, just like Duke Cloudrunner from Galaxy Wars." Without panic, Freddie took a deep inhale, assessing the situation.
Well.. He thought. Gravity is inverted but the pressure of it isn't heavier than normal so I should be able to stand up. Freddie planted his hands behind him for leverage and lifted his shoulders from the wall, pulling his knees up at the same time and tucking them to his chest. Holding his arms out to steady himself, he stood up, upside down and winced as he bumped his head against the top of his desk lamp, knocking it upwards to the floor above his head. "Why do these things happen to me? I'm a good person…" Freddie mournfully insisted to nobody in particular. Tilting his chin upwards, his eyes searched for his cell phone and finding the device laying on his bed, he unsuccessfully hopped up a few times before finally grabbing it on his fourth try. A quick dial and Carly and Sam were on their way.
"You know, you really should really eat more vegetables," Carly mentioned as she walked in side by side with her best friend. The two girls were still dressed in pajama pants and tank tops from their sleepover. Sam was biting into a sausage link while Carly waved around a baby carrot to illustrate her point.
"Bacon is the fat girl's vegetable," Sam retorted, before going back to chewing the piece of sausage in her mouth. With a premature gulp, she swallowed it in surprise as soon as she spotted Freddie hanging from the ceiling. "Ho chizz, what the heck are you doing up there Freduardo?" She blinked her eyes, making sure that they weren't playing tricks on her. Sam looked over at Carly to find confirmation that she wasn't alone in seeing a half-naked Freddie clinging to the ceiling. The brunette's jaw was gaped in awe, baby carrot fallen to the ground.
"Oh, well you know," Freddie shrugged his shoulders depreciatively, " I thought this corner looked a little dusty so I decided to- JUST GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" he smartly shouted.
"Okay, grab my hand Freddie, I'll pull you down!" Carly called to him. She figured it shouldn't be too hard, just like plucking away a helium balloon floating in a high corner. Two hands met and clasped in the middle of the room, one from above and one from below. A sharp tug commenced but instead of Freddie falling down, Carly flew into the air and collided with the vaulting. "Umph!" Freddie helped her to her feet.
"I did not sign up for this," Sam muttered to herself as she took another bite of her sausage. "Over to the bed Carls," she directed and Carly did as she was told. Sam reached up, jerked her down with all her might and was rewarded with a disoriented Carly tumbling into Freddie's sheets. "Take a hard long look nerd, this is the only time you'll ever see her in this position." Sam snarkily commented. Carly bounced out of his bed as Freddie walked over and Sam did the same for him. With a grunt, he toppled down, covering his face well in advance for impact.
Carly failed to conceal her giggle, "Nice nips Freddie." His eyes widened before he pulled a blanket to himself covering his bare chest. Carly playfully ribbed at him, "Nothing I haven't already seen. Besides, Sam's are bigger."
Dark eyebrows knotted. "Wha? How-"
"Gym class locker rooms," Sam explained nonchalantly pulling out a button up shirt from one of his drawers. She tossed it at him. "Now cover up them nips and come get some breakfast at Casa de Shay. Weird chizz has been happening and we got stuffs to talk about."
"Now that's the understatement of the year," Freddie griped, putting his arm through a sleeve.
"The best way to solve this predicament is to systematically analyze our options and find rational solutions by scientific method," Freddie suggested, leaning over the kitchen counter.
"BORING," came an interjection from the couch. Sets of brown and blue eyes met antagonistically. "As far as we've seen, all the craziness we've been through over the past two days revolved around you. Methinks if Carly and I stop hanging out with you, everything irons out back to normalcy." Sam spread her fingers out in a flattening motion.
"Ummm… that's not exactly true." Carly hesitantly admitted from her barstool.
"What do you mean?" Freddie asked.
"As crazy as this sounds… I can read minds." Carly announced with a completely straight face.
"You can't read minds!" A snort accompanied by a chuckle left the disbelieving blonde.
"I can too!" Carly challenged.
"Well what am I thinking then?"
"You wish you had some turkey."
"No duh." Sam rolled her eyes.
"You wish you had some ham."
"Obvious," she scoffed.
"You wish you had some pizza!"
"Tell me something I don't know."
"You wish you had a turkey stuffed with ham that you could wrap a pizza around so you could do a ritualistic fire dance in tribal war-paint yelling, 'All hail Turhamizza!'"
"…damn, she's good." Sam finally relented. "Okay, so what is he thinking? No dirty thoughts Freddie!" Freddie's cheeks flushed as a myriad of thoughts swam through his mind. Carly bit her bottom lip and squinted her eyes as she tried to infer the musings of the young tech producer. She surveyed him quizzically.
"I'm not getting anything… all I can sense are a bunch of zeroes and ones."
Freddie's face transformed into a perfect depiction of complete pride and self-admiration. "Really? Heh, you can't tell what I'm thinking because you don't know binary code. I've trained myself to think in computer language, complete with logic gates."
Carly and Sam both stared at him with blank faces. "You know Sam," Carly supplied, "that idea about us not hanging out with him doesn't sound so bad anymore."
"No, no it doesn't," Sam agreed.
"This isn't the point, can you do this with everyone Carly?" Freddie questioned.
"I… I don't think so. With Spencer, I feel like I can hear him loud and clear all the time. But when we visited a taco stand yesterday, I didn't get a thing from the taco guy until he asked me for my order, then I heard him thinking real quietly about all the things he was going to put in the taco meat so Spencer and I left hungry and I'm telling you now, don't ever EVER buy anything from Antonio's cart on Third Boulevard," she shuddered.
Freddie nodded sagely. "So, the more you know somebody, the louder you can hear their thoughts. And if you meet somebody you don't know, the instant that they speak to you, their thoughts can be heard just barely. That makes a lot of sense. It's like satellite communications, both satellites have to be receptive to each other for waves to pass through them and because you're so used to being around Spencer, you're already attuned to his frequency."
Carly and Sam both gave each other knowing looks before simultaneously groaning. "Guess what?" Sam bragged, "I can kick Spiderman's ass." Freddie's brow rose in doubt. "It's true. If you put Spiderman and me at one end of the city in a race to the other end, I'll beat him. I can probably outbench him too and I'd steal that redhead girlfriend of his. I wouldn't even need those dorky red and blue tights to do it."
"Prove it," Freddie defied.
"Mmhm. I anticipated your lack of faith in me. Observe." Sam leaped off the couch and ran into Spencer's room. A rustling and a few clanks gave way to a giant replica of juxtaposed Newton balls hanging from ropes being wheeled into the living room. Sam followed with hedge clippers and cut the bowling balls from their ties, handing one ball to Freddie and one to Carly. She put the clippers down and lugged three of her own balls, measuring their weight with the palms of her hands. "When I tell you, throw them at me."
"Uh, Sam, I don't think that's such a good id-"
"Just do it Frederonie, don't ask questions." Sam began pitching the balls one at a time in the air before catching them with her other hand, using their momentum to toss it up once more. A few seconds passed, and she had a full-on coordinated juggle going on with the heavy globes. "Okay. Now!" She ordered and Carly heaved her ball Sam's direction. Sam easily integrated the new piece into her cycle. "Freddie, go for it!" Freddie reluctantly slung his ball towards the blonde and she claimed it with minimal trouble, accommodating the new quantity in her performance. "There you go ladies and gentlemen," Sam announced without breaking a sweat, "you are officially seeing a tenth grade girl, all of one hundred and thirty five pounds, juggling five twelve-pound bowling balls in admirable succession. I am pretty freaking amazing." One by one, she caught them in her arms and set them down in a bundle at her feet. She flexed her biceps and kissed them. "Mama's guns!"
Freddie stood there speechless, disturbed and a little aroused. Carly just beamed at Sam with her heart in her eyes. "Amazing," he murmured. He shook his head to clear away unrelated thoughts.
"So, something peculiar is happening to all of us, where did it come from and what do we do about it?" Carly asked.
"We must've been exposed to a substance. Something we inhaled, ingested, had skin contact with… it could've been anything. We need to make a list." Freddie recommended.
"You want me to make a list of what I've ingested in the last few days? Ingested as in eaten, right? How many rainforests do you really want me to mow down?" Sam skeptically asked him. "This would cause more environmental damage than plopping down a couple of nuclear power plants in the middle of the Amazon."
With that, two lost puzzle pieces snapped together in Freddie's brain, "Wait, what did you say?"
"I'm not making a stupid list!"
"No! Nuclear power plant. It's the cereal! We ate radioactive cereal, it must've done something to us!"
"That sounds curiously convenient but no whammy. I've eaten that cereal eight weeks in a row before and it didn't bulk me up like I was the Incredible Hulk." Sam said, poking a hole in his theory.
"But during any of those times, did you get shocked with lightning right after you've eaten it? In chem lab, we learned that electricity is a catalyst for chemical reactions, it speeds everything up tenfold. That little radiation considered usually harmless could've been exponentially multiplied!" A fist flew out at Freddie and struck him square in the chest, knocking him down. When Freddie peered up, it was Sam's face hovering over him.
"What did I tell you about using five or more syllables in a word when you're talking to us?" Sam snarled. She was dragged off of him by an aggravated Carly.
"Sam! You're abusing your strength! Freddie! Keep it monosyllab… Keep it short." Freddie stood up, glowering at Sam while brushing himself off and smoothing his hands through his hair.
"In conclusion, I think we need to find a way to reverse it. I have a feeling that these new.. abilities are going to get us in trouble."
"Get YOU in trouble nub. Carly's powers saved your life and mine got me some cold hard green so I say we kick back and enjoy the ride."
"Saved my life?"
"No… Yes… Sort of. You almost killed me so Sam almost killed you and then I put my hands on you and you were better. But I don't know if it was really came from me because..." Carly gestured to the cut on her shoulder and the bruise over her left eyebrow. "I've been trying to see if my wonky voodoo worked with my injuries, and it doesn't." She traced the stitches on her skin tenderly. "I have so many questions…"
Freddie fought his urge to pull Carly into a hug and instead grabbed a nearby napkin and fished a pen from his pocket, sliding them over the kitchen counter to Sam. "Do you remember what the logo on the cereal box looked like?" Sam grinned at him. She never forgot a good snack product's trademark. Her long fingers wrapped around his offered pen and went to work, wrist tilting back and forth, her drawing instrument making small circles and then bigger ones. She finished up by shading in the little details before flipping it back towards him.
He picked up the napkin with the anthropomorphic giraffe beaming back at him and handed it to Carly who examined it with interest. That's when Freddie made a promise to her that they wouldn't be in the dark for much longer. "This is who we have to get in contact with," he said. "Here lies our answers."
Author's Note: Oooh, this one was more wordy and less actiony but I needed to forward the plot in a way where we could pin down the motives of our trio. Thank you to Beautiful Belle, the_Stafflord, and Lanter for reviewing. I had noticed that Sharkofthemist120 had mentioned that our boy-hero has been lacking in dialogue so this chapter was kind of Freddie-centric. I think I geeked him up a lot more than in usual fanfiction. Virgeoleo23 has also given me great inspiration to include a subplot that you'll see develop in the future as well. I have decided on a love triangle (possibly parallelogram if you include Griffin) and there will be curveballs galore so keep on guessing. Btw, I need a female name, normal or strange, so include them in your review, my favorites will be included in the next chapter. ^_^