The ride back to the way station was silent, Blink was lost in the memories and regret. She traced the Greenberg's smiling faces and was heartbroken that she had never kept in touch and hoped that they didn't know she had been jailed. They had only ever wanted the best for her, and she couldn't help but think they would have been gravely disappointed in how her life turned out.
When they got to the compound, Blink broke out of her disquiet when she saw the hedge.
"Holy crap…that wasn't there when I left," she muttered under her breath.
"Yeah," John smiled, glad to see that Blink had perked up at least a little. "Gem made it yesterday."
"It took a lot out of her, passed out in front of everyone," Dreamer didn't mean to make Blink feel bad, but it did.
"I'm gone for a week and you're working the new girl to exhaustion?"
"No," John defended them, "She just got too enthusiastic, we didn't realize that she hadn't gotten any sleep since coming back from the mission," they weren't babysitters and weren't used to teens.
"What was this mission that you had to ask two 15-year-olds?" she didn't know what they could have needed that they were so desperate to recruit children.
John explained about the courthouse memory Dreamer had pulled from Agent Turner, the Judge that Reed had known that prosecuted mutants under a "special law" when he recognized the courthouse, and that they needed to get his files to hopefully figure out what they had done to Pulse.
Blink could admit that she was impressed by the two teens. Gem's ability to jump across states and Andy could break through solid concrete walls was perfect for such a job. She wasn't sure if she could have done it better. Her portals were good for an escape, but not so much for breaking in if she had never been there before. She might have been able to spare Gem, but probably not Andy.
Still, neither should be asked to go on missions. The fight should not be done by kids. She felt a rage bubble up inside her as they parked, thinking that Sentinel Services clearly had no issue dragging children into their war against mutants, and that perhaps Gem and Andy would have no choice.
One of the first things, besides the hedge, that Blink noticed was how much fresher the air smelled at the compound. When she had first arrived, it was a musty old bank with rotting floors. The addition of the rose hedge, the garden, and many vines of ivy and more roses along the building acting as support to the crumbling structure, everything smelled green and floral.
The greenery also attracted pollinators like honeybees and butterflies. The compound certainly wasn't as drab as before, and it was amazing what could be done in a few days by a powerful mutant.
Despite passing out the day before, Gem didn't look worse for wear when Blink had come to check out the progress on the garden.
"Hey!" the girl left Andy who was helping her pick some vegetables for dinner, and jogged over to the older mutant. "You're back," she observed happily.
Gem had no reason to welcome Blink back other than she was genuinely happy to see her, it was a nice feeling. Particularly since she still felt the others only wanted her for her powers.
"Yep, I'm back," Blink tried to be playful about it, but it was hard to be when she was still grieving her foster parents.
"Why'd you leave?" Gem pressed, still suspicious as to why she left in the first place.
"Was it because of fuck boys?" Gem then whispered and leaned in closer to Clarice, quickly eying John and Dreamer who were off to the side doing something with other refugees.
Blink snorted, glad for the simple explanations of teenagers.
"Something like that…I needed to make sure this was where I belonged…and now I know it is."
Gem wasn't sure what to make of that but was glad to have her back.
"Gem, Andy!" Polaris called out to them, waving them to come into the outbuilding. "Training!"
"We're going to do some power training, want to watch?"
If she had been asked last week, Blink would have said no. She was embarrassed to admit that at her age she had such a poor handle on her powers, that she would never want to show them to others, much less try to use them on demand.
But her memories brought the smell of rotting blood and sunlight through bullet holes.
"Yeah…I'll come to training."
"Nice," Gem smiled widely and headed towards the outbuilding, on her way she grabbed Andy's hand and Blink raised an eyebrow behind them as she followed.
Man, so much happens in a week.
Although they were nestled well into the woods, there was always the chance that humans could pass through and see them. Gem had done her best to fortify the outbuilding with her vines and even grew some trees to keep the building upright. The outbuilding was probably some sort of storage facility in the past, as it was one floor several stories high and mostly hollow.
The building was about as long as two basketball courts, and the mutants were congregated to one end. Gemma had set up pillars with watermelons the size of Zingo, John's Australian Shepard, in equal intervals of five feet until it met the wall about 200ft away.
Besides those pillars were more pillars with earthen pails made by Gemma filled with water, again equal distance apart until it met the back wall.
Then there was a third row of pillars with earthen bowling pins.
"Hey, everyone," Gem started the training session. "I'm Gemma and I'll be heading your training today. The first exercise will be to gauge your range. How far can you execute your power. Each target is ten feet in front of you and then five feet intervals going back to approximately two hundred feet. If you can exceed that range, then awesome. We can try to figure out a longer target. If not, then hopefully we can extend your range with practice. If you have a hard limit, then it is what it is and it's useful to know. This is a baseline exercise, there is no failing, so don't worry about all that."
Marcos, Polaris, Blink, and John were supervising, and in general were curious, and were impressed with Gem's leadership skills. She seemed to be a natural and confident.
"You will not power up unless you see this ball of fire," she snapped her fingers and above them was a small ball of fire. "That means the lanes are hot and dangerous. If you wander onto a hot lane and hurt yourself or get yourself killed…well that's Darwinism and some people are just more useful as fertilizer for the hedge than they are compatible with life."
"Damn," Blink said under her breath, trying not to laugh at Gemma's dark humour.
Skyler and Naya looked nervous, and Gemma just winked at Andy.
"If I shout stop or if the fireball extinguishes, you are to power down immediately. If you screw around or can't follow directions…well then I'll just steal your powers as you obviously can't handle them."
She looked directly at Skyler and Naya who looked rather horrified at the notion.
"Just kidding," Gem smiled and laugh, but then immediately dropped the smile and looked severe, "Or am I?"
Skyler and Naya looked a little embarrassed because it was obvious the rumours of Gemma stealing powers had gotten back to her and she was teasing them, at least they hoped.
"Alright, Sky, you're up."
The teen looked a little nervous as he wasn't used to so many spectators to his powers, and he knew his weren't as impressive as the others', especially Andy. It helped that the others gave him encouraging smiles and he remembered that it was just to get his baseline. No one was expecting him to be as powerful as the others or even that good with them. The whole point of training was to get better.
The ball was lit, and Gemma had yelled "hot lane," and that was his cue to start.
Blue light started to emit from his hands, and he felt the power build up from inside of him and he let it go. He sighed in relief that at least the first pin was knocked over and even broke apart a bit. He then did the same for the next several until he got to a point that no matter how hard he tried to build up his power, he just couldn't get the pin at the thirty-foot line to even wobble and he was having trouble even calling his power to light up at all.
He felt his heart beating in his chest, and he was breathing hard, it felt like he had run a mile.
Gem snapped and the fireball extinguished, he dropped his hands to indicate that he was powered down.
"Alright, good job," she told him and handed him a chilled bottle of water. "Thirty feet is the mark to beat. Are you done for the day, or do you just need a few?"
She wasn't about to push anyone as mutant powers were varied and some were even dangerous to the body if overused.
"I just need to rest," he didn't want to seem to be the weak link or that just one exercise would take him out. He greedily drank the water for his stressed body.
Gem nodded, taking his word for it but would keep an eye on him. He went to go sit on the sideline with the adults, who all tried to give him an encouraging nod.
"OK, Naya, your turn."
Much like Skyler, Naya took a stance and waited for Gem's signal. Once she saw the flame, she raised the water in the closest bowl and lifted it up into as close to a sphere as she could. She then gently let it down and then worked on the next one.
Also like with Skyler, she had trouble as soon as she got beyond twenty feet. Unlike Skyler, her powers didn't tire her out so much as she just couldn't get them to work at that distance.
Gem turned off the flame and Naya stood straight. All the adults were glad that each teen was taking things seriously, and Polaris tried not to grimace at all the times she just winged everything and started chucking objects at them, all the while they were at close range to each other.
While she thought there was a place for her type of training, and certainly Sentinel Services would be using something deadlier than bricks or hammers, an assessment of their abilities was also useful.
The final row were huge watermelons, emerald green with black stripes. They were perfectly ripe by Gem's powers, and they gave the arena a sweet, green smell of summer.
The adults eyed each other when Gem took her time looking Andy up and down and gave a rather appreciative smirk. Andy was not shy about his own looks to his girlfriend. It was an opportunity for him to show off and he was one of the most powerful mutants to come across their door.
The three senior leaders all had the same thought, since Clarice had come back, perhaps she ought to be the one to speak with Gem.
Blink wondered why Polaris, Marcos, and John were eyeing her like she was supposed to sacrifice herself for something. She had the distinct feeling she had missed something important while she was away.
"Alright, Andy, you're up," Gem said with a bit of a flourish of her hand as she bade him step up. "Now, remember," she did a little cough, "We're testing your limits…so give it all you got. Full power."
She pressed her lips together and did a few more coughs, no one seemed to think it odd and she was grateful for that.
Andy stood up straight, nodded, and raised his hands. Gem slowly walked backwards behind him until she was out of his eyeline. All he saw was the gigantic fruit, and he knew they'd be easy targets. It was the first time, however, so many of the Underground leadership were in attendance to watch them, and not just Polaris. Like the others, he took the safety warnings seriously and waited until Gem snapped her fingers and a ball of fire appeared.
Unbeknownst to Andy, Gem kept slowly backing away from him. She caught the eye of Blink who had no idea why the teen had such a devilish smirk on her face.
She was further confused when Gem disappeared.
Before she could voice her confusion, Andy had utterly obliterated the watermelon closest to him.
Which proceeded to splatter in all directions and a tsunami of watermelon flesh and juice covered the group within a second.
Andy blinked a few times, his hands still raised, confused as to what just happened.
He was the one closest to the targets and was soaked through with watermelon juice, pieces of the fruit flesh stuck in his hair.
Everyone was quiet as they were in varying states of mess. The only thing they could hear was the sound of laughter coming from the rafters. They all looked up and there Gem was, safe from the splatter zone, tears in her eyes as she had a hard time breathing through her mirth.
Gem jumped from the safety of the ceiling and right to Andy who still couldn't process what happened. Cheeky as ever, she plucked a piece of watermelon chunk from his shoulder and popped it into her mouth.
"Mmmm, it's good watermelon," she said as she ate.
Andy just stared hard at her, contemplating his revenge. He found that while he was a mess, it was a good prank, and he just couldn't find it in himself to be angry with her.
Especially when she looked so cute when she was being a mischievous little gremlin.
He continued to look hard into her eyes and his tongue snaked out from the side of his mouth and he got a taste of the sweet juice that was dripping down his head.
Several thoughts went through both teens' minds, mostly not appropriate for younger audiences and the adults and other teens were still struck speechless.
Andy figured turnabout was fair play, and it seemed the Gemma didn't notice that the fireball was still lit.
He grabbed her in a bear hug and made sure to try to get as much of his watermelon soaked body touching hers. He nuzzled his head to hers, rubbing the sticky juice on any surface of her he could reach.
She yelped in surprise, but continued to laugh when it was clear he wasn't mad. She could have simply jumped from his arms using her powers, but she rather liked this playful side of him.
He didn't even flinch when she did a decidedly unsexy lick of his chin of the juice. In her attempt to gross him out, she didn't notice that the fireball was still lit and that he had raised a hand behind her back and exploded another watermelon.
The entire team was again drenched, but at least Gemma was as well.
She gasped, slightly offended he would do such a thing. There was juice and fruit flesh in every nook and cranny.
He simply pointed at the fireball and cheeked,
"Darwinism, right?"
She did a little frown, not liking her words being thrown back at her and he could only laugh when she looked like an unhappy kitten.
She found she could not stay mad at him, and she wasn't in actuality, and couldn't resist a quick peck on the lips.
"Hey, hey, hey, none of that," Marcos groused, clearly unhappy that he was a mess and would need a shower.
He especially found it galling that Polaris, John, and Blink were not only unbothered, but had helped themselves to the pieces of watermelon that had flung on their persons.
"What?" John asked, defensively when his teammate gave him a dirty look. "It is good watermelon."
Gem snapped her finger, and the fireball went out. She untangled herself from Andy, but he still kept a hand on her hip and stood intimately close to her. He was happy when she didn't try to shrug him off and had leaned a little into his body.
"So, what did we just learn?" while it had been a funny joke, there was a reason for her prank.
"You're a mischievous little imp?" Marcos volunteered the answer when the teens and other adults remained silent.
Gem could only smile and didn't deny that, she winked at him to let him know that she was not afraid of his gruff exterior, and clicked her teeth and gave a finger gun for good measure.
Marcos found himself laughing in the end, they all did look rather ridiculous.
"I think there is probably some unconscious lesson on never underestimating anyone and being prepared for things to go wrong, but that's not what I was hoping to impart…anyone else?"
"Know how your powers could work in unexpected ways?" Polaris really thought upon what Gem was trying to tell her earlier. She cringed at the thought of how she rushed into their training, Andy could have easily exploded a brick just the same and hurt someone with the shrapnel, or didn't know his own strength and could have exploded someone's head in addition to the brick.
"Yes, gold star Polaris. You get to choose what fruit you want grown for dessert tonight," she figured it would encourage the others to actually answer when she asked a question.
Polaris couldn't help but smile, her teachers growing up were always such hard asses who never told her she did a good job.
"Yes, a hard lesson I learned in the woods. Our powers may defy certain laws of physics, but they may still follow others. Why can I manipulate elements to make things grow, move them faster to create fire, or encourage them to work in faster ways than they naturally would, but I can't say rearrange them? I can't rearrange carbon in coal to a crystalline form to make a diamond. Why do I still need to feed nutrients into the soil in order to grow nutrient dense food? Why do I still need material to combust and oxygen to feed the fire I create? Andy demonstrated that when he combusts objects, it is omnidirectional. He's not using some kind of directional, outward force like Skyler does. So, when his target explodes, it's good to know that there may be debris coming right at his face," she did a few little taps at his chin, and he agreed it was something good to know. "We also learn that perhaps using our full powers is not the right call to make. Don't use dynamite when a push would do, density matters. Super ripe and overhydrated watermelons aren't concrete, and they naturally can be explosive on their own."
"I feel like this is something you could have just told Andy," Blink pointed out.
"I could have, but it's not nearly as entertaining or memorable."
She really was an imp, but Andy thought it was cute.
"Could I at least get a shower to clean watermelon guts out of my hair?"
"Well, there's still several targets left, and Andy really should test how far his reach is…" she let her point hang, they may get messy again so might as well wait until they were done.
"Fine," Blink agreed, she popped a stray chunk of fruit from her hair and snacked.
Now that they were all expecting it, the rest of the demonstration was rather entertaining as they tried to catch or avoid the exploding fruit.
Marcos and John made a game of using their own powers to fight away the big chunks that came their way.
With John's strength, he made an even bigger mess. While Marcos singed the fruit and the smell of burnt sugar started to permeate the air.
Andy had still impressed them all when he could clear the targets all the way back to the wall. Gem snuffed the fireball to formally end the exercise.
"Hey Naya," Gem had an idea to test the girl's abilities some more since Andy had finished the exercise rather quickly. "Try lifting the watermelon pieces."
The hydrokinetic simply looked at her questioningly, wondering why she thought she had the ability.
"Watermelons are 90 something percent water. I'm just curious if you can manipulate objects that are mostly water."
Naya was surprised at such out of the box thinking but was hopeful that perhaps it could work and expand her abilities. Everyone else backed up to give her room and Gem snapped her fingers to ignite the fireball.
As before, Naya concentrated and lifted her hands, she willed the water within the fruit to move. She pictured it as clearly as she could in her head, to lift the closest and largest piece of watermelon; to lift as if it were a puddle of water.
After a few moments of nothing happening, her face fell as she felt like she had failed and disappointed everyone. She dropped her hands and shrugged at Gem.
"It's fine," Gem tried to reassure Naya. "It's still good to know, I do want to try one more thing," and Gem willed one of the earthen bowls from Naya's course to her. They were surprised that she had telekinesis, but realized she was utilizing her power over air to float the bowl to her when they felt a light breeze. Gemma then grabbed the biggest pieces of watermelon nearest to her. She squeezed the juice out until it filled the bowl and brought it close to Naya.
"Lets see if it's easier if it's squeezed out."
Naya stood in front of Gem as she held the bowl and was careful with her powers so that she didn't accidentally hurt the other girl. People gathered closer to get a good look at what she was doing, and she tried her best to tune them out and concentrate on manipulating the juice.
She had a million-dollar smile when she was able to lift the juice, and curiously looked at it as the water was clear instead of pink. She looked down in the bowl and saw what was left over was a powdery white substance.
Gem stuck her finger in it and brought it to her mouth. Naya was a bit surprised Gem would do such a thing, as she wasn't sure what it could be.
"Interesting," Gemma said as she was deep in thought. "You're able to lift the water and separate out the other contents. I'd say this is sugar and vitamin C from the taste of it," she had no way of knowing otherwise unless they had a lab of some sort. "So, as of now you seem to be limited to liquid and unobstructed water manipulation. I think you'd definitely be helpful with filling the tanks, help with filtering out the debris and non-water molecules."
With Gem's assuring smile, Naya felt less like a failure and was glad that she could be helpful in more, unexpected ways.
Meanwhile,
Reed was with Sage and Shatter going over the hard drives and the physical files they took from Judge Kresge. They were able to sit comfortably for hours thanks to the lumbar support and overall comfortable chairs. Reed's chair at his former office wasn't as nice as the one Gem stole. He was of the opinion that it was reckless, but the chairs were already there, so he didn't think there was a point of standing on morals and refusing stolen office items.
Caitlin also didn't like how fast and loose Gem was with her powers, but that didn't stop her from helping herself to notebooks and pens for her budding school.
Despite saving time with the password book Gem found, the hard drives were a bit of a mess. Whatever the Judge's organizational process was, it was known only to him because even Sage was having a hard time making heads or tails of it. The paralegal's hard drives were a bit more sensible, as everything was organized by date and then alphabetically.
"There's a partition in the judge's hard drive," Sage noticed, her eyes moving quickly with her powers to speed through the files.
"What does that mean?" Reed was obviously not at tech savvy as Sage, but he knew enough to not constantly bother his own paralegal or legal assistants the way some other older attorneys did in his old office.
"It means that there is a portion of the hard drive that is separated from the rest of the computer, likely a completely different operating system that wouldn't be connected to the internet or to the government's system…many use it to avoid detection for unsavory activities. There's also more encryption, a much deeper encryption than the normal portion of the computer. It's also not listed in the password book."
Reed nodded, understanding enough. He felt like it meant something that the Judge was so paranoid or secretive about this partition that he didn't even trust his password to the password book.
"I'm starting to suspect the chaotic structuring system of the files is by design."
"I wouldn't be surprised either. The paralegal's hard drives are all cases and mutants that he had tried. They're police records of the mutants. The judge has extra mutants that haven't ever been arrested."
"I'm also seeing a pattern to the files," as he reviewed the files they did have access to. "I can't help but notice it reads like a shopping list. Whatever program Sentinel Services is working with, they seem to be cherry picking mutants based on powers they want."
Sage and Shatter nodded, it was becoming clear that the judge was given a wish list. It was a whole set up for Sentinel Services to get their hands on specific mutants with specific powers.
"They're not even pretending this is legal," he scoffed, which made his insides twist that he was very much a part of the whole corrupt system.
Sage focused on getting into the partition, he had a sinking feeling they would find something even worse. Shatter and Reed printed out all of the files with the paper and printer Gem had stolen so that they could show the others their findings.
One particular file caught his eye. Not all of the files had pictures accompanying the details of mutants. Some were rough sketches and others had placeholders of a generic outline of a person. He couldn't help but notice that the details listed, the sketch, in addition the possible crimes, were a lot like Wes. The sketch he could be convinced was someone else as it wasn't very good. But the personal details such as his age range, possible ethnicity, and height all matched Wes. Again, he could be convinced that perhaps it was someone else who just happened to look like Wes, they weren't exactly unique details of a person, just very general description.
What he couldn't ignore was that the detail of the mutant's powers was "image manipulation." Wes called it illusions, but it was the same thing in his estimation. All of those facts together all pointed to the boy who spent a lot of time with his daughter.
He made a printout of all the related files and went to look for his wife. He trusted that she would know what to do and tell him if he was being crazy.
He found her in one of the backrooms that she had claimed as a teaching space for the younger mutants. He heard the tail end of a lecture about genetics, using the pea plants they were growing to describe the work of Mendal.
Caitlin saw her husband and after being married for almost twenty years, she knew when he was agitated and needed to speak with her. She smiled at the two children that were sitting for her school and told them to explore the plants and that she would be right back.
"We have a situation," he started off, which was not good in her mind.
"You know Wes? The boy Lauren has been hanging out a lot with?"
"I know about Wes and the other one, Skyler," she was aware of her daughter's budding clique in the Underground. "I'm not a fan of a clique forming, but Lauren seems to like them, and she's always been a bit of a queen bee."
She loved her daughter, she really did, but she was aware of her catty reputation from their old life.
"I've been going through the mutant criminal files," he made a mental note to look for the others as well. Perhaps they were all bad elements. "and I think Wes is in them. Sounds like he's been conning people, robbing stores in Cartersville."
"OK…that doesn't sound good, but we can't overreact," she could already sense that Reed was in full shovel talk mode. "Lauren's been through a lot lately," they all have, but she felt that her daughter was having the roughest time of it. Lauren actually left a good life behind, they all had, while Andy had been struggling and was relieved to not be in school anymore. "We just need to take this slow."
Caitlin didn't want to be the one to tell Lauren that perhaps one of the only friends she's made was a criminal.
"We're not talking about parking tickets," he snapped at his wife, wishing her reaction was matching his. "I need to talk to him," he thought perhaps the direct approach would be the best one.
"You need to talk to her," Caitlin wanted to get control of the situation before Reed embarrassed their daughter. "She's not gonna be happy about this."
Reed rolled his eyes, thinking he didn't need to fly it by his daughter to do what was best for her.
"The worst thing you could do would be to go on the attack."
"Oh, come on…" Caitlin's hypocrisy had gone too far for his taste.
"What?" she wasn't sure what he was talking about.
"You might not be overtly attacking Gem, but it's clear to everyone you're not exactly happy with her and how much time our son is spending with her," he pointed out.
"That's different," she defended herself. "It is," she insisted when Reed made a face that clearly indicated he didn't believe that for one second. "We can see the…influence," she put it as tactfully as she could, "on him. She's so careless with how she uses her powers, in and out of the bank. The last thing we need is for Andy to think he can just wave his hands and use them whenever he feels like."
"So, she takes a few short cuts. It's like using a broom or mop to her," he defended the girl, and now it was Caitlin's turn to roll her eyes.
"You, just don't like that a boy likes your little princess," she accused him of what his real problem with Wes was.
"I think there's a whole saying to describe this…oh right, hey pot? It's kettle, and you're black," he snarked at her.
They both looked at each other in disbelief and for a moment, both too stubborn to give ground. Eventually, they sighed and acknowledge that perhaps they were being unreasonable.
"Maybe," Caitlin started, "we both need to work on accepting that despite the really shitty situation we find ourselves in…time marches on and our kids are growing up."
"Yeah," he gave a deep sigh, wishing both of them would just remain kids forever. "I'll talk with her," at the very least he thought he should get a sense of just where she was in terms of her feelings for Wes. "If I find anything else on Gem," besides the original dossier for her arrest, they hadn't come across anything from the judge just yet, "then you can have this conversation with Andy."
Caitlin rolled her eyes and pulled her cheeky husband in for a kiss. They were a team and in this together, so she pushed him to go speak with their daughter.
He didn't say so out loud, but he thought it was a bit odd that they had not come across anything more regarding Gem, as Sentinel Services definitely had her on their radar, that's how the Underground found her in the first place.
He was also a bit concerned he hadn't seen anything on Lauren and Andy as well, as both had incredible powers and were publicly caught using them already. If Andy and Lauren weren't his children, he would have been able to prosecute both of them in his sleep with how harsh the laws were against mutants.
Given all their powers separately and his children's together when they help free him from Sentinel Service custody, he would have thought all three would have been at the top of any wish list.
He walked through all three floors of the bank and could not find Lauren. He tried to remember what her daily routine was but was frustrated when he couldn't think of it. He knew she tried to help out as much as she could, and her chores were in flux depending on what the needs of the compound were. He was proud of her for being diligent and hardworking but found himself wishing he had better tabs on both of his children. He could admit he had gotten a little lax about it because they were both usually helpful, and there was only so many places they could be because the bank was only so big.
It then occurred to him that Andy and Lauren had mentioned that they would be in training with Polaris for the afternoon. He immediately made his way to the large outbuilding at the back of the bank.
When he came to the large open area, he was surprised to see all of them were a mess of pink flesh and the strong smell of watermelon hit him like a wall.
"What? Why…" Reed looked around, confused as he walked towards his son. Andy was as messy as the rest of them, but no one seemed bothered by their state. Some were enjoying pieces of watermelon that they happened to find upon their person. "Nevermind," he decided he didn't care and presumed it had something to do with training as he got to Andy.
He noted that Gem was speaking with Polaris and Marcos within earshot of them.
"Where's your sister?" Reed asked his son as he did a quick perusal of who was in attendance, Lauren clearly not amongst them.
"Oh, ummm…" Andy stalled for time as he messed with his hair to get watermelon gunk out and tried to think of anything other than "she ditched training to hang out with Wes."
Thankfully, Gem was behind Reed and heard what he asked, she was also aware that Lauren had ditched training to have some alone time with Wes. It was extra lucky that Marcos and Polaris were done congratulating her on a good first session and hoping there would be more in the future. Gem negotiated not having to do dishes in exchange for overseeing power lessons. All of the adults left to shower before Reed got a chance to speak with them.
Behind Reed and above his head, she used her powers to create words of flame that Andy unfortunately reacted shocked to, that said "laundry."
Gem quickly powered down when Reed turned, wondering what had caught Andy's eye. All he saw was Gem's back turned and walking towards the other mutant teens of the group.
"Laundry," Andy told his father to get his attention back. "Lauren is out doing laundry by the creek."
"Why isn't she here, training?" he didn't think that made sense as both of his children were interested in learning how to use their powers. Andy even did schoolwork as a compromise with his mother.
"She's…doing special defensive training later with Gemma. This session was to focus on those of us with offensive powers."
Reed had been a prosecutor for a long time, he knew when people were lying, and his son was particularly bad at it. He could also tell Andy was reading something, but when he quickly turned to where Andy's eyesight had been, the trio of teens were looking nervous except for Gemma. He knew Skyler and Naya as they had also hung around Lauren a lot, but he thought they both looked like they were purposefully trying to seem like they weren't just spying on them.
Andy just smiled nervously, and Reed contemplated putting pressure on his son to tell him the truth.
As Reed tried to get his son to confess with all his skills as a prosecutor, Gem jumped to the observation tower, which was a popular spot to get some privacy if they didn't have their own room. The third floor now housed several mutants and their families, and no longer could be used as a hang out with office junk.
Gem had good instincts because Lauren and Wes were there, with a few pillows and blankets for comfort and were in the middle of a heated make out session.
"Sorry," was the first thing she said when she appeared, and both had been shocked and gasped.
"Gem! What are you doing here?" Lauren groused, it was bad enough her annoying brother would interrupt her time alone with Wes, now his girlfriend was doing it too.
"Your dad is looking for you and Andy is very bad at lying."
"Shit," Lauren rolled her eyes, got up, and started to right her clothes that Wes had messed up with his wandering hands. "Where's my dad now?"
"I think he's trying to get Andy to confess, so hopefully you have some time to grab laundry baskets and pretend you were by the creek."
"Why would I be doing laundry?" it was late in the afternoon and generally laundry was done in the morning when it was cooler.
"It's the best I could come up with that would have you out of the bank. We can work on better covers stories for next time, but you need to get down there now."
"How? You can't jump us," Lauren looked around and the seeds of panic started to bloom in her chest. She did not want to be caught with a boy by her father, it felt worse than being chased by Sentinel Services.
"Jesus, you all really do need training. Wes," she stressed and waved her hand at his person, "Can cast illusions," Gem said slowly as if the other two were slow, "hide yourselves."
Lauren deflated and wasn't impressed but could concede that it was a fair snark.
"Think of it as training…which we have to at least pretend to have a separate session because that's what I had Andy tell your dad. You and Wes will work with me on defense because that's what I labeled your powers under duress. Here's your first assignment. Get from this tower to the woods and convince your father you have been doing laundry and the plan the entire time was to have a separate training session. Good luck."
And with that, she disappeared back to the outbuilding. It felt like she was speaking with Lauren for an hour, stress could distort time. Thankfully, it was really only a few minutes and Reed was still trying to grill Andy.
The teen was sticking to the story, thankfully, and hopefully Lauren would not get too nervous and start spouting a bunch of nonsense in order to try to appear innocent.
"Look, dad, I'm not the one who came up with the training schedule. We're trying something different this time. I'm not Lauren's babysitter. I'm tired and very sticky," Andy finally got frustrated with the interrogation and motioned to the state of mess he was in. "The session went really well, by the way," he added with some genuine heat. "I was the only one able to use my powers all the way to the back."
Reed looked down the building and did see that all the watermelons that had been set out were blown apart. The other two lanes looked mostly intact. He did feel a little bad for not thinking of his son's accomplishments or abilities. He knew the training was important to him.
"Right, sorry. No, it's great, son," Reed smiled and rallied to his son. He placed a hand on his shoulders which he immediately regretted because he was now sticky as well and it was an unpleasant feeling.
"Yeah, Andy's awesome," Gem pushed her way into the conversation and acted as if she hadn't just jumped out of the building while his back was turned. "I have a bit more of a holistic approach when it comes to training. We don't have as many hours in the day as I did when I was alone in the woods, so it won't be all experimenting on how our powers work. Polaris still wants to do some offensive combat training, so we'll probably split the week up, and have separate sessions with those with offense and defensive powers, then combined sessions where she throws things at us," Gem chattered as if she were actually excited about training. She smiled wide and strained her neck to look at Reed, she knew that sometimes it helped to exaggerate how short she was. It helped to give off the impression that she was just some helpless little thing and for some it ignited a paternal instinct. She also didn't stop to breath so that she would overwhelm Reed with information, and he was more likely to back off.
"Andy is really advanced, I'd say he was the third most powerful one here," she went on.
"Third?" he didn't quite agree with that assessment.
"Obviously I'm first," she teased and was also sincere. "Polaris is second, you're third."
"If anything, we're all a tie," he insisted that third was not accurate.
Reed couldn't help the smile that threatened to emerge, he had never seen his son so comfortable and actually flirting with a girl. The two kept bantering back and forth about their abilities, using it as an excuse to get closer to one another.
Perhaps Caitlin is right, I'm overreacting because Lauren is my daughter. I'd be trying to break up any chatter like this if it was her and Wes…
Reed would deny that they had their favourites, but there was a special bond between father and daughter and mother and son.
"Obviously I would just blow-up agents before they got to the compound," the conversation turned darker than Reed was comfortable with, and he didn't quite like how cavalier both teens were about their powers against their enemies.
"And I could set them on fire, or jump them to the sky and drop them…presuming the jump itself doesn't split them in half or something…maybe I could even jump them to the moon."
"The moon, really?" Andy didn't believe that for a second.
"Technically I can see the moon, it's within eyesight, and I have yet to come to a distance limit to my jumps…"
Now the two were coming to almost absurd theories on how their powers might work, but part of Reed was curious if such a limit would exist.
It was certainly a wonderous notion, going to the moon with just one thought.
"Gem, can you help with the showers? They're cold and I'm spoiled by warm rain clouds," Blink had interrupted them, still covered with watermelon, as did the other adults as they came back. She gave an exaggerated pout and puppy dog eyes, begging her for her cool powers.
Gem laughed, she figured that the adults had all gone to shower, only for Blink to remember that she could summon warm water and they would all prefer a more comfortable rinse.
"I guess technically it's my fault for not warning you guys it'd get messy, so sure. But don't think this is like my new chore," she teased them. They all nodded their agreement.
"I'm gonna go find Lauren," Reed didn't need a shower and therefore didn't need to stay. "I'm proud of you, Andy," he told his son lastly, before he left. He was treated to a smile from his teen, and he promised himself he'd tell both his children more often how proud of them he was. They were good kids and clearly needed reminding every so often.
He did catch the group all gather and was impressed with the raincloud that Gem summoned over all of them. From their smiles, he guessed they were luxuriating in a warm shower, something he also desperately missed from his previous life.
I bet with a few warm showers, maybe Caitlin would thaw a bit on Gem's use of her powers.
Although the teens were sneaking about from a make out session, they both took Gem's assignment seriously. They walked closely together and in step with one another, Wes concentrating on making them essentially invisible.
As she held her boyfriend, which she should really speak to him about and make sure they were on the same page, she looked nervously around and tried her best not to breathe too heavily or break Wes' concentration.
Either no one gave a crap about them, or it was working. No one even turned an eye to them as they passed.
They rushed their steps when they saw the main leadership head towards the showers and bathroom area.
"Do we have enough water for all of us plus the kids to shower?" Marcos just realized how many of them needed to shower and that they'd use up a lot of water.
"Gem has been topping it off every morning, I think Naya helps too," Polaris was not looking forward to the shower as it would probably take up much more water and twice as long to get the stuff out of her hair. She agreed with the training in concept, but in practice she would ask that they limit projectiles since they had limited water.
"No," Blink stopped abruptly and held out her arms to stop the rest of them. "Gem made this mess, she can help clean us up. She can summon rain clouds, warm rain clouds."
That was a temptation none of them could resist.
Lauren and Wes were trying to be careful to avoid them but had almost run into them when they had suddenly stopped. They dodged in tandem and braced themselves against a wall. Wes was certain his illusion had flickered, and they held their breath when John had turned directly to them, confused.
"What?" Dreamer asked her boyfriend when he stopped while the others headed back towards the outbuilding to ask Gem for her help.
"I don't know, I thought I saw something…" he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but his keen hearing was also picking up on something strange. He closed his eyes to give his other senses more focus. He heard two sets of heartbeats, elevated as if in fear. He looked around again, and still didn't see what could be causing it. With years of experience, he knew the subtle differences between rapid heartbeats. He knew when Marcos and Polaris were first dancing around each other, theirs would beat faster and he was well acquainted with the metaphorical "heart skips a beat" when in love.
If he had to guess, two people were trying to evade being caught and nearly were. He decided he didn't know and didn't want to know why two teens would be sneaking about.
"If anyone is trying to sneak around…remember that some people have really good hearing and don't want to hear certain things," he said loudly, hoping the hidden teens got a hint.
He had been sixteen once upon a time, and it was probably only natural that if they were to house people of the opposite sex that were at sexual maturity that they'd figure out ways to get some alone time. He just didn't want to hear or see anything and could ignore it as if he didn't have special powers.
He certainly didn't want Caitlin to ask him to keep an eye or ear out for horny teenagers.
Dreamer had no idea what he was talking about or why he was speaking so loudly.
He just gave a small bark of laughter and dismissed her confusion. He grabbed her by the waist and walked towards the outbuilding, and she smiled at his forwardness. She gave a small, quick, peck on his chiseled cheek and her own heartbeat soared when he didn't reject her affection.
Although the illusion was intact, Lauren and Wes could still see each other and exchanged a look. Clearly John was speaking to them, and it was good to know that the illusion did not mask sounds and probably not the other senses. For whatever reason, the adult didn't want to ask why they were sneaking about, and they would not stick around to wonder why. They both made it out of the building and to the trail to the creek.
Her father had also just come out of the bank, and although Wes was getting rather tired, he dropped the illusion that hid them and instead cast two smaller ones where they were holding baskets of clothes.
The illusionist desperately hoped that Reed didn't try to touch the baskets or look too closely and see that the clothes were from a laundry commercial he had seen years ago and not something the Mutant Underground actually owned.
Lauren stood stiffly, hoping that she looked natural while she technically was holding nothing. She gave a big smile as if she were happy to see her father and that she had never done anything wrong in her life.
Reed was relieved to see both Lauren and Wes were where Andy said they'd be and doing laundry. Since Lauren had never given them trouble before, he was more apt to believe, and fill in the blanks generously of why Andy might have been so odd when questioned.
Andy's always been a little awkward.
He loved his son, but he also knew who he was. He wouldn't be surprised if his son had some sort of anxiety disorder, and he wouldn't blame him since it's been a stressful two months. They all probably had some sort of mental issue, having to deal with literally running for their lives.
Although he felt his faith in Lauren was solid, he still wasn't sure about Wes. He promised his wife he'd speak with Lauren first, and acted as if nothing was the matter in front of the boy in question.
He made small talk about her plans for the rest of the day, and he was satisfied to hear that her plans matched what Andy had said about the training sessions.
His papa bear sense was on alert when he thought he saw Wes sweating and nervous. He tried to explain it in the most generous circumstances and said that he was Lauren's father, and he was a boy who was interested in his daughter. Perhaps Wes was expecting a shovel talk at some point.
"OK, no problem…" he nodded after her plans for training. "I just want to speak with you on something…nothing urgent…a family matter," which was true enough as they did have to speak to their children about dating and expectations at the very least.
"OK," she shrugged as if it were nothing because he was telling her it was nothing.
They both agreed it was nothing to worry about and that everything was fine.
Dad, please leave.
Lauren wished she had psychic powers to compel him to leave because Wes looked like he was about to pass out.
Whatever deity was looking over them was listening, because Reed turned and said he'd be in their room with their mother if they needed him. Once his back was turned and was out of eyesight, Wes breathed out in relief and could finally let go of his power.
"Oh, my, God, are you alright?" she asked him as he tried to catch his breath.
"Might have to tell Gem that I'll be useless for any afternoon training, my head is killing me," he groaned, but was a bit delighted by all of Lauren's concern and attention.
"Given that you held a big illusion and two small illusions for like twenty minutes, I feel like it was a training session in itself."
Once he caught his breath, they headed over to the outbuilding. They were a bit confused that all of leadership and their friends were wet and it was a bit humid.
With a wave of Gem's hand, all the extra moisture disappeared, and they were all dry and clean.
"Wow, that is handy," Marcos could admit, touching his shirt to confirm it was indeed dry and free from watermelon explosion.
Lauren could see there were exploded watermelons and the sweet smell in the air,
"Wow, it looks like we missed a fun training session," she observed.
"Well, yours can be just as fun…" Gem was about to offer use of watermelons again.
"Please don't," Polaris all but begged. "At least not unless we have more warning and can wear clothes we don't care as much about."
"Fair enough."
"How was 'laundry?'" Andy asked with a smirk that Lauren wished she could smack off his face.
John took that as his cue to leave, he wanted plausible deniability if Caitlin ever asked.
The other adults had other things to do and figured more of Gem's training session would be the same. They also left with the exception of Polaris.
She was not in the joke, and Gem's quick explanation of wanting to do separate sessions made sense to her, so she didn't think to question it.
Andy didn't have anything else he wanted to do and was a bit curious as to Lauren's abilities as she had a year of knowing she had them on top of his. He sat with Polaris, Skyler, and Naya while Gem worked with the two.
Wes leaned down to speak softly to Gem, who nodded and he went to sit with Andy and Polaris.
"Today we're going to mostly focus on Lauren, I'm still kind of tinkering with how to best test Wes' abilities," which to Polaris sounded fair as illusion was a psychic ability and not as easy to measure. All the teens exchanged knowing looks.
Andy wondered how Gem got so good at lying and was hoping for a few pointers.
"Lauren, I want to do three tests, two which I think will be quick. Create a shield. I want to see what your go to, comfortable shield is. Then create a shield as wide and tall as you can. The last test is to create your first shield and see how long you can hold it with nothing distracting you. If you're not too tired, then we can try your biggest shield and see how long you can hold it, see if it's harder or the same. Sound good?"
Lauren nodded, she definitely liked this session more than getting a hammer thrown at her. Gem also quickly went over the safety protocol to only power up when the ball of fire was lit.
As soon as Gem summoned the fire, she willed a shield to appear.
She was a bit proud of herself for how easy she was able to summon a shield, she had been practicing doing small ones and testing out her abilities in secret before they were discovered. She rather liked how impressed Wes was with her abilities.
She never really thought of how big to make a shield on her own, she normally made them in terms of what she was trying to protect. She thought of just condensing the air in front of her with no shape or size in mind, and what she created was about the dimensions of a school lunch tray.
"I would say…lunch tray size?" Gem agreed and tried to get a consensus. Everyone else shrugged their shoulders, without a tape measure none of them knew offhand how big the shield was. "Alright, good enough. Now, make it as big as you can."
Lauren did as she was told and concentrated. This was a bit more of a strain, but she easily enough expanded the honeycomb shield as far as she could before it simply stopped obeying her will. She didn't feel any resistance, it simply stopped growing.
"Andy, you're the tallest, can you stand next to the shield to compare?"
He nodded and jogged to where his sister held the shield. It was just a little taller than himself, and much wider.
"I would say…an Andy and a quarter tall, and three Andys wide?" Gem did her best to estimate the shield, but again it was hard without accurate measuring devices.
Lauren giggled and agreed with the assessment. It wasn't the most scientific measurement, but it was the best they could do with what they had.
"The good news is that Polaris' burner phone does have a timer on it, so we can at least accurately measure how long you can hold it."
Lauren lasted a good twenty minutes before she started to shake and had to tap out, which was a good start in Gem's mind. She wasn't tired but found she couldn't hold the shield for longer.
"Twenty minutes is the time to beat. I think that's something you can work on, on your own time. Do you want to do a few more little tests?"
"Yeah," and Polaris was glad to see Lauren was eager and willing.
"Go to your base shield," and Lauren obeyed and had the small, rectangular shield up. "Can you move it in any direction, while keeping it intact?"
Lauren slowly moved it away and back towards her. It was like using it to push things, such as when she stole food from a vending machine when they first were on the run. She then tried up and down with success.
"What about the shield itself, can you flip it perpendicular?"
That required a bit more concentration as it was a more complex movement, and the shield did flicker for a moment as she tried to think of moving it and keeping it up at the same time.
Eventually, she was able to do it even if it wasn't with a lot of grace or as smoothly as the other movements. With a bit more experimentation, she was able to slowly spin the shield omni-directionally.
"Have you ever touched it?"
Lauren shook her head no, and Gem looked to Andy if he had, and he also shook his head negatively.
"They're pretty sturdy…they saved our lives once in a car accident."
That was news to Andy because he remembered the accident she was speaking of; they had always thought it was a miracle they had survived that crash and it was Lauren all along. He wasn't sure how to feel, as it was another example of his sister being aware she was a mutant and keeping it from him.
"Damn, that's a lot of force and stress to combat," Gem was thinking of not only the impact of the car, but shattering glass and other debris that could have cut through. "If we really want to test the durability of your shields, we're going to have to find a more open space, get some gear like eye pro. We don't want to throw things at you and then have it bounce back right into our eyes."
Oh right, safety.
Polaris started to panic that maybe she wasn't meant to be a mother, she didn't seem to have any protective maternal instincts for others.
"Do you mind if I touch it?" Gem was letting her curiosity get the better of her, she had never seen anyone solidify air in such a way. It was an interesting substance that looked like it might be springy.
"Sure, go ahead. I don't think it's dangerous to touch," at least nothing she's brushed gently against her shields never seemed to come to harm.
Gem cautiously did a quick touch with her fingertips, when nothing shocked her or did any other type of harm against the flat of the shield, she touched it again for longer. When it didn't seem like there was any charge to the shield, she grew more confident and started to press.
"Can you feel me pressing against it?"
"Not when you're gently touching, but when you press, I feel like I have to concentrate more to keep it up."
Which Gem thought was good to know, Lauren's powers were dependent upon her concentration and keeping the shield up.
"Feels kind of like Kevlar…which again is a mind fuck when it comes to physics," she couldn't help but laugh in disbelief how mutant powers could turn everything they thought they knew about the natural world.
"What do you mean?" Andy wasn't sure what she meant. He got up and came close to the shield. Part of him wanted to protect Gem, he knew how powerful he and his sister were, and Gem was right there in the face of Lauren's power, fearless.
Another part of him, one he did not understand at all, always seemed to gravitate towards his sister when they were powered up. Like when they were breaking out their father, it felt so natural to work with Lauren. It reminded him of the feeling when she had grabbed him last year to prevent him from falling off his skateboard.
"You," she turned to Lauren, "said your powers felt like you were pushing matter together? That this shield is you condensing air and everything else, and compressing it?"
"Yeah."
"There has to be more than just compression going on. Polymers like Kevlar are just elements in the periodic table in a certain order. That's basically everything and everyone. Carbon, oxygen, etc…in a unique order and form. You have the ability, innately in some form or another, to structure whatever you're compressing into a specific order, so that you can get this shield. At any given moment, there's only a limited number of elements in our atmosphere. None of them, even if compressed, would produce something this strong or solid, on their own. To keep with the Kevlar example, that's a specific set of monomers heated, made into a thread, spun, and all this other protected patented process. You're doing it with just your mind. That's literally insane if you really think about it."
"Mutants can perform miracles," Polaris agreed with Gem, their abilities were amazing and made them special. That's what she wanted these kids to take away with their training, not that they were something to be feared and suppressed.
There was a sense of pride that swelled in all of them. It was the first time anyone had seen their powers in such a way.
Gem's sense of pride had made her careless as she continued to run her hand over the shield, trying to get as much information as possible. Her palm moved against the edge of the shield, and she that the edges were sharp.
"Shit!" she cried as the shield cut through her palm as if it were butter. She immediately pulled her hand away and made a fist, trying to stymie the blood flow but was not successful.
Gem's outburst had startled Lauren enough that she dropped the shield.
Polaris rushed to Gem to see what happened, despite all of Gem's attempts at safety, she was the first to actually be hurt during a training session.
"What happened?" she tried to take control of the situation and hopefully no one panicked.
"I'm sorry," Lauren said out of instinct, she wasn't sure what happened, but she knew it had to do with something about her shield.
"It's fine, it's no one's fault," Gem grimaced as she tried to assure the group, particularly Lauren who looked contrite and almost devastated. "We just learned that the edge of the shield is sharp…fuck," she groaned as she tried to open her hand to see the damage. She wasn't a medical professional, but it hurt and felt deep enough that she probably would need stitches.
They all realized that they didn't even have a first aid kit with them, nothing to clean the wound or to stop the bleeding.
Andy wasted no time in tearing at his own shirt and using it to wrap Gem's hand.
"We should get you to our mom," he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close as they started to walk more towards the bank.
"Yes," Polaris agreed, and thought of new rules for them to follow. While Gem had tried to be careful, they really ought to have on hand some band aids or something to treat minor injuries like cuts. They might be trying to train to fight, but that didn't mean they should keep being so careless about their own wellbeing. The money Gem took from the judge could also go to medical supplies, which they thankfully had stocked up recently. Not only because of the influx of refugees, but to re-supply from when Trader had a gunshot wound.
"Skyler, Naya, Wes," she called to the remaining teens. They gathered around her. "I think we had a really good first session with Gem. She has good ideas and I think there is a lot we can learn and later use if we have a better idea of how your individual powers work. I've spoken with her, and she's agreed to do more sessions like these, where we test the limits of your powers and experiment with them. We're also still being actively hunted, so my more combative and defensive training is still on the table. I want this to be a regular part of your stay here. I can't make you attend, and I won't waste my energy trying to convince you. But once you show you're not committed, then I don't want you bothering to show up later, understand?"
They all nodded and stood up straight.
"Alright, good. We're still working out the finer details, but the general idea is that every other day, we'll have morning and afternoon sessions. For the mornings, you'll work with Gem and experiment with your powers. In the afternoon, we'll use that knowledge for combat training."
"So, dodging more bricks and hammers?" Wes inquired, trying to bring a little levity, but as respectfully as he could because he remembered she was not so impressed with his joking around before.
"With whatever we happen to have. There is a lot of broken office furniture that we can use as target practice and projectiles. Can you three do a bit of tidying up? Perhaps practice with your water powers Naya to clean up the floor and Skyler pushing out the debris so it doesn't rot in the warehouse?" she suggested. She was glad the teens didn't complain, and even seemed eager to use their powers in such a way. They had seen how easily Gem wielded her powers for chores, they didn't see why couldn't do the same.
Wes was stuck physically moving some of the pillars and earthen ware Gem had created, while Naya and Skyler found that their combined powers helped easily wash out the watermelon pieces and other debris that was on the floor.
Meanwhile, back at the bank. Lauren, Andy, and Gem rushed towards the back of the building where Caitlin was likely to be. He shouted for his mom to help, and she quickly came with a kit she had created for such occasions.
She was immediately in "Nurse Mode" and quickly assessed the issue and agreed that Gem would need stitches. She cleaned the wound with a saline solution and gave her some lidocaine to numb the area. It wasn't a long cut, just in an awkward area, but she was an emergency room nurse and had seen plenty of injuries just like it. She could have stitched her up in her sleep.
"So, what happened?" Caitlin presumed the cut happened during training, which was something she was always worried about.
"Learned the hard way that Lauren's shields have a sharp edge to them," Gem explained, trying not to wince and look like a wimp in front of her boyfriend's mother.
Caitlin couldn't help but notice just how closely Andy was standing to Gem and was tempted to tease him that she was in safe hands. She almost smiled because she would bet money he was about to offer his blood if Gem needed it.
"Which is pretty awesome," Gem went on, glad that the pain was gone. "If I get a bomb ass scar from this, I'm gonna tell people I got into a bar fight."
Caitlin actually snorted, thinking of such a tiny girl getting into a bar fight. She would give it to Gem, she was a little spitfire and wasn't some demure, hysterical little thing that flinched at getting stitches.
Andy grinned, he thought she was so goofy sometimes. Lauren gave a nervous laugh, glad that Gem wasn't angry.
"Next training session, I think we could try to see if your shields can be weaponized. If they're sharped edged and you can move them, then you can use them as like throwing stars."
That made Caitlin freeze for a second, but her body was too used to still working even when crazy things were happening and was able to neatly finish up the stitching.
She didn't think she could ever get used to the idea of her children wielding their powers. She understood that part of it was for the safety of themselves or others, but she had grown up thinking mutants were dangerous, even if they didn't mean to be. She was taught that mutants were essentially people born with bombs or deadly weapons under their skin. Her beliefs were cemented when she worked in the ER and had so many come in with mutant-related injuries. Again on 7/15, when the hospitals were overwhelmed with the injured. Her husband told her story after story of mutants he prosecuted and how their powers had endangered the public.
She knew it wasn't feasible or even fair to expect them to never use them, but part of her felt panicked when Gem used the word "weaponize." Her children weren't weapons and they shouldn't think of their powers in such a way.
She almost made her displeasure known until,
"It's good we found out now," Gem said in her ongoing flow of thought, "What if you had gotten upset and threw up the shields and like, sliced someone in half?"
All three Struckers took a minute to imagine it and had a panic-struck look to them.
Lauren felt awful for the imaginary person she might have hurt.
Andy felt justified in practicing his powers, and wondered how many times they came close to hurting someone simply because they weren't aware of what they were capable of?
I need to stop teasing her about Wes, she might throw those sharp shields at me.
Caitlin wondered if she wasn't unreasonable to think no one should use their powers and suppress them all.
She knew that her husband suspected much of her distrust of Gem stemmed from how close the teen was to her son. Reed accused her of being a mama bear, but there was something off about Gem that she couldn't quite pinpoint.