Most of the Mutant Underground didn't have alarm clocks. Very few had cell phones, mostly just Marcos and the other permanent leadership. Those were burner phones with the barest functions of sending out and getting calls. The refugees were either families who had left everything behind and tossed their phones so they wouldn't be traced, or they were mutants that had been living on the streets for a while and couldn't afford one.
Others didn't bother with alarms as they would take up electricity and many were too paranoid to make too much noise less they accidently get someone's attention from the road. There were no official jobs that needed a specific time to get up, so most of the leadership let people set their own schedules and do their chores when they got to them.
Andy normally woke up when his parents or Lauren would nudge him. That morning, he had gotten up on his own, eager to start the day and meet with Gemma. They all had gotten used to sleeping in the clothes they planned on wearing the next day. They never knew if the compound would be compromised, and they'd need to make a quick escape.
All of his clothes were things the Underground had gathered over the years from donations to supplies picked up as they knew most that passed through their doors had to leave with nothing but what they had on them at the time.
He knew he should be glad that at$$ least he had something that fit and was clean, but with the arrival of Gemma he kind of wished he had something more stylish.
There wasn't much he could do about his clothes, so he tried to do something with his hair. It was starting to get a little shaggy, and he wondered if someone at the compound knew how to cut hair.
He was discovering there wasn't much to do about his hair either as he had no products and Lauren was pretty territorial of the one brush she was able to snag.
"Aww, trying to look pretty for Gemma?" Lauren teased her brother as he struggled to comb his tresses with his fingers.
"Shut up," he gruffed to his sister as he experimented with parts and which way his fringe should go in the mirror in the communal bathrooms, he looked around to make sure Gemma wasn't around to hear Lauren tease him. He ended up shaking out his hair to where it naturally lay as nothing he seemed to do made any kind of difference and he felt like everything looked awful.
"Well, fair warning, Romeo, mom isn't too hot on Gemma and her using her powers all willy nilly."
"It's none of her business," he groaned and rolled his eyes. "It's not like she's using them carelessly. She fed everyone and fixed up a shitty office that no one was using. What is there to be mad about?" he really didn't understand his mother sometimes.
"I think she thinks Gemma will be a bad influence on you, make you think you can use your own powers whenever you want," Lauren shrugged. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just trying to warn you," she defended herself when he gave her a poisonous look.
"They're my powers, I should be able to use them whenever I want…at least to master them."
It was an old argument he wasn't going to get into with his sister.
Lauren just shrugged again. She didn't disagree with Andy, but he was the youngest in the family and their mom's miracle baby. Caitlin's always been really protective of her little brother.
"Whatever," he huffed, rolling his eyes, and left to find Gemma.
Before he got to the office, Marcos was already there, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at with the vines and flowers that Gemma had created in order to give herself some privacy.
"What the hell is this?" he muttered mostly to himself and motioned towards the growth.
"Gemma fixed the hole in the floor and claimed the space," Andy provided, hoping to make it sound like a good thing.
He did notice that the door was more than the hanging vines that were there when he left the night before. It was now solid and woven vines, like what she had done to the floor. Perhaps for more security and privacy, she made it so no one could simply walk in.
Marcos tested the strength and solidity, and found that it didn't budge and basically she was totally encapsulated in. Which for a teleporter was the perfect solution to get privacy.
"Gemma," he called as he knocked on the vine door. There was no answer, and both wondered where she could be or if she didn't hear them.
He was about to knock again, but Polaris had called to them,
"She's in the kitchen, she grew us some tomatoes. Come eat."
Both mutants made their way to the kitchen area, and as promised there were woven baskets filled with tomatoes.
The tomatoes were the size of softballs and perfectly vine ripened red. Everyone had at least one and were eating them as if they were apples. They all passed along a saltshaker and everyone seemed to be happy to eat something other than another MRE.
Gemma was wearing what she had worn the day before, which was understandable as they hadn't gone through their stash of clothes to see what could fit her. The only difference was that she had her hair up in two mini buns that were tied with the vines she could grow, and a few of the wisteria blossoms tucked in.
Andy thought she looked like a fairy, and he was glad that people seemed to understand that he wanted to sit with her. There was an open seat next to her, and he gladly took it.
She handed him a tomato and the salt. He had never just eaten a tomato by itself before, but he had mimicked what others were doing.
He was surprised to feel the tomato was cold, but the chill with the salt had enhanced the flavor. The flesh was firm and had a bit of a snap when he bit into it. Everyone still had an MRE to supplement their breakfast, but the addition of fresh food made a world of difference.
Gemma took bites of the MRE between bites of the tomato, it helped to wash out the awful taste of the packaged meal.
"So, what do you guys do on a normal day?" Gemma asked as they enjoyed her bounty.
Marcos had plans to gripe about her not only commandeering an entire office when they were almost brimming with refugees, but decided not to when his pregnant girlfriend was obviously enjoying the food and he thought it'd be better to stay on Gemma's good side, so she continued to grow for them.
He rationalized that technically she was a de facto permanent member currently, so that meant that her quarters should technically be better. The others were just moving through, so they didn't need as much or as nice of a space if they were only going to be there for a week or so.
He also rationalized that she did fix the office they weren't using, so they technically weren't out of that space.
It also helped that the food she provided simply put him in a better mood. He wondered if half his irritation stemmed from not eating properly. They all had been surviving off of MRE's, whatever packaged food they could scrounge up, and the occasional fast food place they'd hit up if they were on overnight missions away from the compound. They were all probably vitamin and mineral deficient.
"Well, we," Marcos took it upon himself to answer her and motioned towards John, Dreamer, Sage, Clarice, and Shatter, "the leadership normally works with Sage and Shatter to investigate leads on mutants that may need our help. We work with other safehouses to coordinate moving mutants across the border to start new lives. When not doing that, we are constantly taking inventory of supplies and trying to keep those to acceptable levels…growing our own food could help alleviate that greatly," he tried to hint.
"Gem," John offered, and Gemma was a little surprised he would give her a nickname, she found she rather liked it from the handsome older mutant, "actually made us a list of things she thinks would grow best on the compound," and he produced a list.
Marcos took it and was glad to see so many things listed.
"Avocados? Really?" He knew how long they normally took to bear fruit.
"Yeah, I can basically make anything grow as long as it's not from Monsanto, purposefully bred to be sterile, or cloned. I wouldn't waste money on most chain grocery stores. You might have to pay a little extra for organic, but it's still a gamble since there's no real regulation on what is 'organic' you still might get some sketchy seeds. The best bet would be to find an actual nursery to get commercial seeds meant to be grown."
"Some of the food is cloned?" Andy was surprised, but in general this was the first time he even thought about how or where his food was grown.
"Yeah, I had to learn that the hard way. Some fruit, like the cavendish banana which is more or less all is offered in the US in most chain grocery stores, is cloned. The seeds aren't viable. I spent a week trying to make them grow, I had to look up why."
That was a little disappointing, bananas were his favorite.
"Most avocado varieties are viable, but because they take like ten years to bear fruit most don't bother trying to grow them. I can speed up the process. Besides variety for nutrients and fat, we need the different crops to rotate because my powers don't account for soil nutrient depletion. To keep a good crop, we need to rotate and add back to the soil. I would also suggest keeping a compost for any food waste. Has anyone tried hunting around here?"
The leadership all shook their head negatively, mostly because none of them were hunters and the other was that they never really had time.
"Well, I got pretty good with ice knives…"
"Ice knives?" Blink couldn't help but wonder out loud.
Gemma demonstrated by creating a blade of ice and then with a flick of her hand, she threw it against the wall and had it embedded into a beam.
"Whoa," Andy was impressed.
"Hey! What have we said about the integrity of the building?" Marcos did not need more holes in the walls.
Gemma flicked her hand, the ice melted and there was a growth of vine that patched the very small hole she created.
"All better."
Polaris was liking the girl more and more. Finally, someone who was practical and honestly, useful, for the Underground. It also helped that she wasn't afraid of Marcos and was rather cheeky, she tried not to laugh at her boyfriend's irritation, but it was rather cute.
"Not that we're super concerned with the law right now, but if someone could look up what the wild game is and what is open for hunting right now, then I could hunt for some meat…unless we're cool with hitting up a big box store and liberating supplies…" she kind of hesitated in suggesting stealing, not knowing what the consensus was. She was kind of hoping they'd be ok with her stealing because hunting took hours and was boring.
"No, we're not stealing anything," Caitlin spoke for the group, not noticing the annoyed look Polaris sent her way.
"I know Georgia has a feral hog problem," Sage offered and sensed a potential fight. She wasn't opposed to stealing in general, because Gemma was correct, they weren't concerned with the law for the most part. Still, it was better to lay low and not go off compound if they didn't have to. "I don't know for sure, and I will look it up, but most invasive species or those seen as threats to the ecosystem are open season all year round and unlimited."
"I like pork," Gemma nodded, choosing to ignore the weird undertone from Andy's mom. "I don't suppose anyone has an 'animal attraction' power?" she tried to lighten the mood.
Most gave a polite chortle, but unfortunately no one had such a power.
"There are feral hogs in Georgia?" Andy was learning something new a minute. Sage nodded, and he had to follow up, "Where did they come from?"
"Most escape from pig farms, it only takes like a month for a domesticated pig to become feral."
This was news also to the rest of the Struckers, who were tried and true Suburbanites.
Marcos went on with other things they did at the compound. There were a lot of mundane chores such as sweeping and attempting to maintain the building as best as they could, an unending cycle of fighting against nature and wear and tear.
"My vines can at least fortify some of the weak spots and patch up some holes. If someone can get me a few clipping or just starter growth of any kind of climbing roses, those can be used as barriers. They're naturally thornier than most varieties and you can find them in any nursery or Home Depot. If you want to pretend you know what you're talking about, ask for 'fruity petals.'"
John, who had been taking mental notes, frowned and looked at Gemma as if he didn't trust her information.
"Fruity petals, really?"
"It's a real variety and they're actually really pretty," Gemma insisted, they were her favorite colour roses. "If you want to look basic, just ask for Lady in Red or Cecils… just make sure they're climbing roses."
John couldn't care less about roses, so he nodded his head and added it to the list of things to get when they went on a supply run. He was pretty excited about this new addition. Fresh food was always appreciated, and she was thinking of ways to protect the compound. Most mutants were too scared out of their minds to be of much use to them for the first couple of days or even weeks.
Caitlin took advantage of the lull in conversation,
"We also have a school set up, we have a few sophomore level text books and…"
"That's ok," Gemma interrupted her before Caitlin got too far ahead of herself. "I actually got my GED before I was kicked out the house, I'm not really one for school. I prefer to just get hands on experience and all of that," Gemma kind of muttered her way through the explanation. "Thank you, though."
Caitlin kind of wilted, any hope that maybe she could use Gemma as an incentive for Andy to also attend her lessons was gone before it was even a real idea.
Polaris and Blink kind of eyed each other, not quite believing Gemma as both of them had grown up in the American school system and they too were not really fond of the institution. Both had experience with trying their best to get out and not totally waste their future. They were aware that most if not all states required students to be at least sixteen before attempting to get a GED.
Neither of them were going to confront her about it, however, as it wasn't really their place or business to try to force her to attend Caitlin's lessons.
Polaris thought it was a waste of time as it wasn't like most of the mutants there were going to be there long enough to get anything productive out of it. It wasn't like any of the teenage mutants could take the GED as most were there because they were fugitives. Still, she allowed Caitlin to teach lessons as it gave something for the younger ones to do, and it kept Caitlin out of their hair. She had found herself annoyed more than once with the human they allowed to stay with them.
Honestly, she didn't blame Gemma for wanting to avoid Andy's mother.
"I have laundry duty today," Andy offered and hoped she would spend some time with him. "We have a bunch of boxes of clothes that most newcomers can pick from. You def want to wash them before you wear anything," he warned.
"Sounds good," she smiled at him, definitely would prefer hanging with him than any of the other chores.
"I'll help you out today," Reed also volunteered to Andy who did not appreciate the offer.
"Why? You hate doing laundry," he was suspicious of his father's generosity.
He hesitated for a bit too long, unsure of how to frame it without offending Gemma or making it seem like he needed to speak with his son. It was also a bit awkward to do in front of everyone else.
"Besides, Gem," Andy wasn't about to let John have a pet name for her, "needs clothes."
Which Reed did not have an argument against.
"Where do you wash clothes? I assume there's no washer and dryer here," Gemma pressed the conversation along. She couldn't help but notice that Reed and Caitlin exchanged a look while Lauren rolled her eyes at their antics.
"Long Island Creek is less than a mile from here, it feeds into the Chattahoochee," Andy explained. "It's where we get all of our fresh water for washing."
"And sometimes for drinking if funds get tight and we run out of bottled water," John included. "We make water runs weekly to the creek, we have a couple of 2,500 gallon tanks we carry to and from. It can be a pain," he hoped he was being subtle about it. Although the weight was nothing for him, it was just an irritating chore he hoped he didn't have to deal with.
"It's why we take the clothes to the creek rather than use up the water here," Andy explained why they made the trek.
"How empty are the tanks now?" a few ideas coming to Gem.
"We just filled them a couple days ago," John answered.
"I can't fill the whole tank without making the area feel like a desert, but I could probably top it off daily, probably the early morning when it's dewy. That should at least extend the life of the water." It really depended on how many people were using it, so she couldn't make a good estimate as people were constantly coming and going.
John already loved having Gem around.
"Besides the creek, are there anymore landmarks or trails?"
"There used to be trails, but since 7/14, basically every federal and state budget has gone to funding Sentinel Services, all the public parks have basically shut down. People aren't hiking anymore, so all the paved trails have eroded or succumbed to overgrowth," Marcos told her.
Gemma nodded because it was the same as where she was from.
All the anti-mutant technology and endless agents had to be paid for from somewhere.
"Then at some point I should really go hiking along the area."
"That's a really good idea," and others started to percolate in Marcos' head.
Most weren't sure what they were speaking about, but others hoped maybe they could also go on these hikes. Being cooped up in the bank would drive anyone mad after a while.
"I think a hike in the woods would be good," Clarice agreed as her powers worked in a similar way.
"And I can forage for other edible plants, I don't suppose anyone has a favorite you want me to look out for?"
Most of them shook their head, but John was not only an expert tracker, he was also known to forage from time to time,
"Well, if you find any mustard garlic or chanterelles…" John was half joking, but actually wouldn't mind as both were edible, found in Georgia, and were rather tasty. He was surprised when Gem nodded, as she knew both of them by sight. "Are you familiar with mushroom foraging? It can be dangerous."
"Yeah, plus my powers can…sense I guess, poisons in plants and fungus. Had to learn that the hard way."
That made most of the adults frown as she had said it so casually, and John knew that mushroom foraging could be fatal if they didn't know what to look for. He recalled that Marcos had told him that Gem had been on her own for a while, he wondered if that included getting desperate enough to try to eat whatever she happened upon in the woods.
Andy was a growing teenage boy and had all but inhaled his food and was done rather quickly. Gemma saw and had quickly finished her own meal so that they could get started on their chores. Washing clothes without the convenience of modern appliances sounded like it would take forever and be almost backbreaking, so they probably didn't want to wait much longer, otherwise the midday sun would roast them.
The teens said their goodbyes and told them their intentions, no one stopped them as they left.
Everyone could see how eager the two were to spend time together. Half of them thought it was cute, the other half could only see potential problems.
Lauren also didn't want to deal with her parents' opinion on her little brother's budding romance, so she sought out Wes to see if he wanted to help organize one of the storage rooms on a higher floor.
Andy showed Gemma where they kept the spare clothes, and thankfully it was organized by tops, bottoms, and then sorted further by sizes. It wasn't exactly Target or any department store, so Gemma had few options.
She was rather petite, so most of the clothes where too big, but she wasn't one to complain.
"Sage and Dreamer make Target runs for underwear and stuff," he kind of stumbled over mentioning such personal items but carried on, "Just tell them your size. Most people wash their own, so we won't have to deal with that with the loads we take to the creek. They can also get you a better toothbrush and other stuff if the budget allows for it."
"Where does their money come from?" she was mostly just curious, especially if they didn't steal.
"I don't really know, obviously it's not a lot for the number of mutants they pass through. I think it might be donations from church groups and others who want to help. I know a lot of the safehouses are churches," he recalled overhearing the leadership speaking of taking in refugees from churches.
The clothes left a lot to be desired in terms of fashion, but it was better than trying to wear one set of clothes all the time. She lucked out that there were some canvas pants that would fit her with some hemming, and a lot of graphic t-shirts.
"What is Invader Zim?" she looked at a black faded t-shirt with a drawing of a weird little green alien.
"It's this weird vintage cartoon from the 90's I think," Andy answered. "My uncle mentioned it once, and neither Lauren or me knew what he was talking about and then he went on some millennial rant about 'our generation.'"
Gemma laughed as that sounded about right. She tried to not be too greedy with the clothes and only took three shirts and two more pants. She hoped there was a sewing kit somewhere on the compound so she could hem and add pockets.
With her new clothes, she added it to the baskets awaiting the wash which mostly consisted of tops, pants, and linens. With a jug of laundry detergent, they made their way to the creek.
It was a nice walk, the canopy of old trees sheltering them from the sun that was rising higher and higher. She kept an eye on all the growth and what could potentially be useful. She tried to focus on seeing as far as her eyes would allow, in all directions. She never knew when one spot could be a landing spot to get away from Sentinel Services.
She breathed in deep the fresh air, a little sad that such natural beauty wasn't as appreciated in a time of mutant persecution. So much money went into hunting them down, that so many public services such as the parks and public libraries were suffering.
It was only a twenty-minute walk, and Andy probably liked to have the time to himself, but if she had her way then the walk in the future would only be a mere breath to and from the compound.
They got to a calm part of the creek, and Andy had unearthed a hidden plastic tub from under branches and vines for them to dump the clothes in for washing.
"How long does this normally take you?" she asked before he started to take a smaller bucket to fill the tub from the creek.
"A couple of hours. It's mostly getting the water to the tub, then agitating it to clean the clothes, dumping the water, then filling it again, agitating to rise, then dumping the water, and trying to wring out as much water as I can before the walk back. Most people hate doing it because it's one of the more labor-intensive chores. I don't mind it because I get to just chill for a bit while some of it soaks or just getting away from the bank."
He really didn't mind the work, and Gemma was the only one so far he was glad to have with him.
"Cool, stand back," she warned, and she did her normal pose with her hands to indicate she was about to use her powers.
She expertly moved water from the creek to the tub, the water arching and filling the tub in under a minute. She then twirled her right hand, the clothes moving in a cyclone. She motioned with her other hand for him to add the detergent and he obeyed. There were some suds as she agitated the water. With a flick of her hand, the water was emptied, and she placed new water in the same way. Again, she swirled the clothes about, being as efficient as any modern appliance.
She emptied the tub again, and with another wave of her hand, all the water was removed from the clothes.
What normally took him hours, Gemma was able to do in ten minutes.
Andy reached into the tub to the pile of clothes. He felt that they were dry, he took a shirt to his nose, and they had smelled clean. He looked them over and saw no stains. Although his time alone with Gemma was cut short, it was amazing to see how useful her powers were. He started to put the clothes back into the baskets they brought with them, when he picked one up,
"What are you doing?" Gemma asked.
"Taking the clothes back?"
"No, now we enjoy the couple hours it would have taken us."
He was pleasantly surprised, and he put down the basket.
Gemma grew a bush of Mountain Ash over the baskets to hide the clothes. The last thing she wanted was to lose them and then have to explain it. She started to walk away, and he figured the clothes should be ok where they were. He would more than enjoy taking a nice walk with her.
"Andy, take it from me," she decided to impart some wisdom as they walked along the creek's edge. "Hard work is only rewarded with more hard work. I had to 'intern'" she rolled her eyes and snorted at the term, "in my father's office every summer since I turned 12. Doing things faster or more efficiently doesn't do anything when the work is never ending."
That was the exact opposite of what his parents tried to instill in him, but he could see her point. He knew that if he came back so soon, they'd just point him in the direction of doing something else. He would much rather take a little break with Gemma.
"So, not to give into stereotypes, but you're tall and a teenage boy, are you still hungry?"
He laughed, and he indeed did fit that stereotype,
"Starving, actually," he felt he could be honest with her.
She nodded, as she thought as much.
"I have a million boy cousins and they are a plague of locusts," she had a lot of experience with teenage boy appetites. She stopped walking and faced him, "If I were to come back with food that was 'liberated' from a store…you'd be cool and not tell the others, right?" she was mostly thinking of his mom who was not exactly subtle in her disdain for stealing.
"No way, of course I wouldn't tell."
"Good," and with that, she completely disappeared.
"Gemma!" he shouted, not knowing what just happened. He turned to see where she might have gone and saw nothing. His heart raced, wondering if he should forget the clothes and run back to the compound for help.
Before he could do anything, Gemma reappeared with a carton of eggs and a jug of milk in her arms.
"Gah!" he jumped back and nearly fell to the ground.
"Oh, did I forget to tell you I could teleport?" she grinned at his reaction.
"Yes! Jeez, warn me before you just literally disappear," while he was yelling at her, she could tell he wasn't really all that mad, just startled.
She couldn't help the mischievous laugh and he knew she would probably do it again and on purpose.
"Here, you need calcium, drink up," she pushed the jug to him.
"Are you sure?" he didn't know about just helping himself, especially when he knew how scarce food was and she was the one that got it.
"Yep, I can keep things cold but there's no point in trying to make it last. I can always keep getting more until we have a better food supply started at the compound."
He thought maybe he should keep rejecting the offer, but he wasn't kidding when he said he was starving. He hadn't had real milk in a month and he didn't realize how much he missed it.
Living off just water for so long, the milk actually tasted sweet, and he had almost drank half the jug. Gemma had started to busy herself with gathering some twigs and forest debris by the side of the creek.
With a snap of her fingers, the kindling ignited and with the help of her powers, the fire burned brighter than it normally would have. She gathered some water from the stream and shaped it into a floating ball, as she had with the fire last night.
The floating water was placed over the fire and started to heat. When it started to boil, she placed the entire carton of eggs and let it simmer.
"I hope you like hard boiled eggs, it's the least messy," she wasn't about to deal with anything messy.
"I will literally take anything you're willing to give me," he said honestly, and she laughed as it was such a boy thing to say.
"So…you can teleport?" he asked as they waited for their food. She had sat on some large river rocks, and he sat with her.
"How many other awesome powers do you have?"
"I think it's really just the one power," which she was in the habit of saying lately, "I think it's just manipulating matter…the elements and all of that. "Air is just oxygen, nitrogen, etc…and able to move and manipulate that. Fire is those same elements combusting or moving very quickly. Water is oxygen and hydrogen; ice is those elements slowed down. Plants and rocks are the elements in a specific structure. When it's broken down like that, then the one power looks like several powers."
"And how does teleporting fit into that?" he was actually rather fascinated. No one ever wanted to talk about their powers, or at least not with him. Besides the fact most were scared of his abilities, he thought many of the mutants simply didn't like him because of his father.
"Ok, that is a bit outside my understanding, I'll admit. But if I had to guess, it's manipulating the space between matter, maybe somehow bending it to get from one place to another. Clarice said that I create energy rips that she can see when I jump. So, if you think of space as a flat piece of paper," she drew a square in the dirt with her finger, "Here's point A and here's point B," she put two dots on the ends of the square, "Normally to get from one end to another, you traverse the space between them," she drew a straight line. "I think with my power, I can basically curl up the 'paper,'" Andy could imagine the paper being folded so that points A and B were right next to each other, "create the rip, and then bypass that space."
Andy nodded, as he thought it made sense.
"But I could also just be pulling that from nothing as I have no experience with that kind of physics, so maybe it really is just magic," she shrugged her shoulders.
"Is that what you learned to get your GED?" he joked. "Quantum physics or magic, same difference?"
"Oh, I don't have my GED. I made that up to get your mom off my back. I am not about to do homework or assigned reading."
"Genius…" he chuckled and wished he could do that same. "I guess it doesn't really matter, if your power works, it works," Andy said thoughtfully. "Again, I'm so jealous."
"What do you do?" she asked as the eggs were done, and she cooled down the water. Andy gratefully took several and was glad to have warm food that wasn't heated by a chemical pack in an MRE or mac and cheese.
Hard boiled eggs were not his favorite food before they went on the run, but they tasted like a meal fit for a king. Again, Gemma had insisted that he help himself.
"I blow things up," which was the simplest way to describe his powers. He kind of wanted to demonstrate, but the only thing he could think of were the eggs and he wasn't about to waste food.
"That's a cool power, is it the things themselves or you send out energy blasts or something?"
His heart skipped a beat the way she was smiling at him. She was the first person to actually think his powers were something other than terrifying, in fact she actually looked excited.
"I think it's kind of like your power, manipulating matter. It feels like I'm pushing things apart."
She raised her hand and concentrated on the sphere of water she used to boil the eggs. It turned from clear to frost to solid ice. She moved it several yards away from them and looked at him expectantly.
He blinked and smiled back, he raised his hand and concentrated. He hoped he didn't look too strained as he wasn't as experienced with his powers as she was of hers. Thankfully, his powers didn't fail him and ice shattered into a million little shards.
"That's awesome," she praised and then started to look eagerly around. "What else can we blow up?"
It turns out that Gemma was a destructive little gremlin.
Nothing really in the forest was good for blowing up, at least not if they didn't want to be noticed. She created a few smaller ice balls for Andy to explode, and he gladly played along.
It was just a little wanton destruction, but it was the most fun he's had in a long time.
To make things interesting, she started to move the balls or placed them further away or higher. He didn't quite get all of them, but he got more than he thought he would.
Between them they had mostly finished the milk and eggs. She used her powers to bury the discarded shells, and she disappeared with the last of the milk then reappeared just as fast.
"If we can get away again later or tomorrow, you can finish the milk. I froze it, so it should last where it's at for a while…assuming Marcos doesn't break into my room."
"Where'd you go to get the milk and eggs?"
"A Costco in Leesburg…Virginia," she explained further when it looked like he didn't know where that was. "I jumped in before it opened this morning."
"Is that where you're from?"
They started to walk back towards the laundry as the time it normally took him was about to be up.
"A couple hours away," she kept it vague. "I used to go shopping there with my mom and cousins because that's where the Outlets are."
Andy had a vague idea of what Outlets were, at least his mother and Lauren would go, and he never had an interest in shopping if he could help it.
They gathered the laundry and Andy told her to get them a little wet because normally he'd take them back and then hang them on the clothesline to dry. She obliged and they were suitably wet for having been freshly washed.
On their way back, she asked,
"If you have this cool power, why aren't you like protecting the perimeter with the other guy?"
She'd certainly feel safer with someone who could explode Sentinel Services before they got to the bank.
"I know! Thank you!" finally someone who saw that he could do more than the laundry. "Basically my mom, and the adults seem to agree that I'm too young."
"If you're old enough for Sentinel Services to hunt you down, I think you should be considered old enough to protect yourself," she scoffed. She thought it was so short sighted to bench Andy when he was clearly one of the more powerful mutants on the compound, even if he was only 15.
"Right? And mom doesn't even like me practicing," he felt a little guilty for outing his mom like that, but it felt good to vent a little. "She's trying to pressure me into doing her schoolwork with the little kids in order to train with Polaris."
"Well, I'm very pro lying to adults, if you couldn't tell with the GED and stealing food," she laughed. "If there are other chores we can get away with finishing early and fucking around…well training," she corrected herself. "It's training."
He would agree with that.
"And if we're ever caught, that's the story we stick with."
Andy put up three fingers while he balanced the basket to his hip,
"Scout's honour. I like your training better, Polaris just throws things at us."
"What?!"
"Yeah, like she throws hammers and stuff at us and hopes our powers will defend us."
"The adults here are crazy," that was not the kind of training she wanted to do. "I am not training with her."
She thought she was better off training on her own, she certainly mastered her powers without adult supervision so far.
"Yeah, but be careful saying that around Polaris. She's actually bi-polar and people are sensitive around here to not say 'crazy' and stuff," Andy warned, it was something that was well known throughout the Mutant Underground, through gossip and from Marcos outright telling people to stop being idiots. Andy knew she didn't mean anything by it, but he didn't want her to get on Polaris' bad side.
"Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'll be careful. So, with lying with adults. Tell Polaris your mom won't let you and tell your mom you won't train, so you don't have to do homework. Then we'll do 'chores' and train on our own."
He very much liked that plan.
They got back to the compound and started to put the clothes on the clothes' line. It would take a few hours for them to dry and normally he let them sit until the next day.
Lauren came sauntering out and Andy tried to telepathically tell her to not start anything, although her grin at Gemma did not look promising.
Ugh, I hate having a sister sometimes.
"Hey guuuuyysss," she stressed and had a wide smile. "How was laundry?" she didn't actually care, she just liked seeing Andy squirm with paranoia that she was about to tease and embarrass him.
Gemma was Latina and raised Catholic, so she was very well versed with siblings and a million cousins close to her age and visited so much that they were practically siblings.
"Oh, is this you teasing us because we clearly like each other?" Gemma smiled right back.
That took the wind out of Lauren's sails and Andy's jaw dropped because he was not expecting her to admit to it. He had hoped she was returning his interest, but it was almost jarring to hear her say it out loud.
"I have over thirty first cousins and a concerning amount of them are boys. I am un-teasable," she illuminated Lauren. "I also have ADHD and haven't been on meds for six months. I don't have the attention span for a slow-burn, so we can keep hanging out with the understanding that we like each other and go by vibes. I don't know how dating works while we're fugitives."
"Ummm, yeah. Definitely," Andy agreed quickly less she take it back, smiling big.
Lauren looked between them, any other time she'd be happy for her brother, but she was a little annoyed her teasing privileges were nullified.
"Lauren," Gemma felt it was ok to turn the tables, "How's Wes?"
Lauren really did not enjoy the twin grins of her brother and Gemma.
"Anyway, the compound is in a tizzy," she ignored the question and changed the subject. "Blink just left and now they don't have anyone who can help them break into some judge's office."
"She left? Why would she leave?" that concerned Gemma as Clarice was the one to save her. "She gave me this whole lecture just yesterday on how it sucks to make it on our own."
"I don't know. She's been pissed at Dreamer and John for the last couple of days. They all seem to forget the walls and floors have holes in them and everyone can see and hear them fighting," and Lauren wouldn't admit there was a bit of eavesdropping on her part as well.
"What were they fighting about?"
"I'm not sure, they were quiet enough that I couldn't make out exactly what was said. I think it's a love triangle, she kept mentioning Dreamer."
Lauren wasn't exactly proud to be gossiping but there was no tv and she genuinely thought that's what it might be about. She wasn't blind to how they all danced around one another and how unnecessarily close they all stood around each other when speaking. She could also admit that some of her curiosity stemmed from how attractive she found John. Part of her wasn't surprised that maybe two women were fighting over him.
She was 16, she was allowed to have a harmless crush on an older man.
"No, aren't they too old for that kind of thing?" Gemma didn't want to believe that, but then again she had only been there one day, if that. "And Clarice is really pretty, she doesn't need to be dealing with fuckboys if that's what John is doing."
Again, she had only been there for a day, but she wouldn't be surprised if someone as good-looking as John was arrogant about it.
Andy went about putting the wet clothes on the line as he wasn't interested in gossiping and wished Lauren would go away.
"Whatever the problem is, they're keeping it a secret. They're trying to figure out a way to break into a courthouse in Baton Rouge without her portals."
"Are they asking for volunteers?" Andy wanted to jump on a chance to do another mission.
"Marcos hasn't called for a meeting," which wasn't a "no," but it also meant that they were either trying to keep the mission to as few people as possible, or Marcos simply didn't think they needed volunteers.
Again, the leadership seemed to forget just how thin the walls were, and they were planning their mission more or less right out in the open. Anyone could just walk by and listen in, and more often than not people didn't seem to pay attention to her when she was carrying supplies.
Andy had the same idea. The laundry was hung to dry, and he told Gemma and Lauren he'd go speak to leadership. He wanted in on the mission and hopefully they'd see that he wasn't just some kid who was only regulated to random chores around the compound.
If they were going to stay with the Mutant Underground, then he really wanted to be part of it.
He grabbed a case of water and headed towards the tables where they normally held their meetings. He was also aware they were already using it to hold information on whatever they got from Agent Turner.
By the time Andy walked by, Marcus had pointed to the building plans. He, John, Polaris, his dad, Shatter, and Dreamer were all standing around the table.
"I could try to get us into the back of the building," as obviously they couldn't get through the front door.
"That's reinforced concrete. Cutting through this is gonna take at least half an hour," John pointed out, which was obviously much too long. Even with his enhanced strength, he would have a hard time getting through something so dense and thick.
"Then I'll have to do it a lot faster," Marcos stated the obvious, his sarcasm misplaced, and John wasn't about to let his friend go on a suicide mission.
"It's not possible," John had known Marcos for years and knew his limits.
Before Marcos could argue further, Andy had volunteered.
"I can get us through."
They all turned to him, seeing that he was carrying a case of water although Reed suspected his son was eavesdropping.
"Andy," he tried to reason with him.
"What?" Andy was on the defensive, "It's a wall. I can handle a wall, no problem."
"You and I should talk about this when…" Reed again tried to reason with his son, he also did not like how the others in leadership looked ready to jump on the chance for his 15-year-old son to join them on a dangerous mission.
"Are we really gonna do this again?" Andy couldn't believe his father. "Talk about how only the adults can do anything? You said it yourself. It's a matter of survival, right?" he directed that towards Polaris and Marcos who he knew would be on his side. "Yeah, so, if Sentinel Services did track us down, the kids would be just as screwed as the adults, if not more."
Reed internally sighed, he knew his son had a point. He didn't like it, but Andy wasn't wrong.
"I can get us through that wall quicker than anybody else here. It's time you let me fight."
Leadership kept quiet as Reed contemplated his son. They were more than willing to have Andy join the mission, but they respected that it was a family decision.
"What about Gemma?" Dreamer offered as an alternative. They did have another mutant with powers that let them teleport from place to place. "She can teleport, right?" she directed the question to Marcos and John as they were the ones who had saved her.
She ignored the little voice that told her it wasn't right to approach a 15-year-old that literally had only been with them for a night. A voice that accused her of trying to make up for her mistake with Blink by showing them they didn't necessarily need her as part of the team. She refused to think she put the future of the Underground in jeopardy because she had decided to alienate one of their more useful members.
Reed looked to them questioningly as he wasn't aware that she had such a power, he had only witnessed her manipulate the elements to grow things and entertain the children. Perhaps he ought to be ashamed that he'd prefer some other teenage mutant be sent in his son's place, but he would do anything to protect his family.
Andy almost wanted to argue because he did not want to be sidelined. He would like, however, to go on a mission with Gemma if that were an option.
"Maybe…it depends on if she's been to Baton Rouge, or specifically this federal building. She told us that she can only jump to places she's been to before or can see."
Which were like Blink's powers, which had the same limitations.
"Could still be useful if she hasn't. What's her range?"
"Pretty damn far. When escaping Sentinel Services from the Claremont, Clarice said she was calling us from West Virginia."
Which was several states away, much further than they were from Baton Rouge.
Andy knew she had jumped to Virginia that morning for the food. Jumping from Baton Rouge and back to Atlanta would be nothing.
"Andy, do you know where she is now?" Marcos decided they should at least ask her.
"She was with Lauren," he refused to be sour if Gemma got the mission and he didn't, but he couldn't help the bitter disappointment that was rising within him.
But speaking of the devil, Gemma and Lauren had both appeared within their eyesight.
"Gem!" John called out to her, which only served to annoy Andy even more. He thought John was too old to be acting so familiar with Gemma to be giving her a nickname and asking her to go on missions.
As to prove her powers, she had disappeared from across the second floor and reappeared to where everyone was.
Lauren had jumped in surprise as she wasn't expecting Gemma to literally disappear in front of her eyes.
"Hey, what's up?" she asked as she looked around when she had jumped right next to Andy.
"Have you ever been to Baton Rouge?"
"No, but I've been to New Orleans."
Which was probably too much to hope for.
"Have you jumped with electronics? Like a hard drive or a cell phone?"
"No."
"Do you think it's possible that if you did, would it short it out or damage it?"
"I don't know," she was honest, she hadn't really thought of it. "Clarice said I was creating these rips of energy she could see…so maybe?"
Marcos nodded, he didn't expect anyone to know the exact physics or even limitations to their own powers; especially not teens who had just come into their abilities. He dug into his pocket and took out the cheap burner phone he's had for a while.
"Could you please jump with this and see if you do anything to it?" he felt there was no time like the present to do some experimentation.
Gemma shrugged, she didn't see why not. She took the phone and jumped as he asked. Lauren in the meantime had invited herself to the group, hoping to get more information. She didn't necessarily want to go on the mission, but she didn't want to be left out either.
Gemma handed back the phone to Marcos who made a call to John. They all heard the familiar ringtone and it proved that she could jump at least with a cell.
"Your jumping," Marcos wanted to get as clear of a picture of her powers, "You can go anywhere you've been before or where you can see, right?"
Gemma nodded, she had told him as much.
"So, if we took you to Baton Rouge and gave you hard drives and files, you'd be able to come right back to Atlanta?"
"Yeah…" she was a little unsure of where he was going with this.
"But not with people?"
"I haven't tried with people, and when I first started to jump, not everything made it with me or fully intact…I haven't tried with any kind of living thing besides plants…so if you want me to jump people…then someone needs to volunteer to be first."
Which obviously no one was about to risk their lives right before an important mission.
Marcos then gave her the rundown of their mission and how important it was.
"We won't make you come, obviously…but we really could use your help. This Hound program, it could be the beginning of the U.S. Government enslaving mutants and weaponizing them."
He didn't exactly mean to fear monger her or guilt her into helping, but it was the truth of the matter and her decision to help or not could have lasting consequences.
"But…you said I wouldn't be asked to go on missions," she pointed out.
"Yeah…that was before a complication. Normally we would ask Clarice to go with us, but she left."
"And why did she leave?" that was what she really wanted to know. It didn't exactly bode well for how functional the leadership of the Mutant Underground was.
Red flags and sirens went off in Gemma's mind when Marcos and John were being vague, and Dreamer had all tried to downplay why Clarice would have left.
The adults tried not to outwardly wince when it was clear that Gemma did not believe them at all.
Her paranoia of being sold into sexual slavery was flaring up, as the current plan was to have several men she just met move her across state lines.
"So, if Blink isn't coming…who all is part of this mission?" she really hoped there was at least one other woman.
"It'd be me, Reed, and Andy."
Andy was a good addition, but she had just met him the night before.
He is cute enough to lure unsuspecting girls to be trafficked.
"So…I'd be the only girl on this mission?" the implication hung in the air which when over Marcos and John's head.
"Maybe Lauren would also go?" Polaris suggested, who did pick up and understand Gemma's hesitation. They were asking a lot of someone who they had just met. "She works well with Andy's powers, and it wouldn't hurt to have some back up. It would look a little weird for two grown men and a teenage boy to be traveling with just one teenage girl who obviously isn't related to them."
Marcos and John looked a little offended at the implication, but wisely said nothing. They looked to Reed who was even unhappier that they would ask both of his children to risk their lives for these files. He knew the importance of them, but he had initially gone along with the plan specifically assuming the adults would be the ones to retrieve them.
"I'll go," Lauren agreed, she wouldn't mind getting out of the compound despite there being so much to do. Getting these files was important, she especially was worried that there were mutants being used by Sentinel Services to hunt them down. They needed better ways to defend themselves.
If they were weaponizing mutants, then the entire way they were fighting this war needed to change. If Trask Industries and Sentinel Services have turned mutants against mutants, then the war may already be over.
Gemma was glad and as much as she liked Andy, she just didn't feel comfortable going with just men.
Reed was clearly outvoted, and he did not look forward to explaining to his wife that his children were once again going to be on the front lines. It was one thing when they were helping him to freedom, it was another for the Mutant Underground as a whole.
Still, part of him was proud of his children. While he wanted them safe, they were stepping up and trying to use their powers responsibly and for good.
"Yeah, I'll go too," Gemma agreed.
"OK, you go speak with Caitlin," Marcos nodded towards Reed and understood this was not going to be welcoming news for Mrs. Strucker. Part of him felt the Struckers kind of owed the Mutant Underground for taking them in at all, and it was no less each mutant's duty to deal with these issues. Whether they wanted it or not, the Strucker children were mutants and this affected all them.
Sitting back in the illusion of safety wasn't an option.
"I'll talk with our contacts about getting a vehicle," he made a mental note that it would have to be for five people, he thought maybe a church van.
Later on that night when Andy and Gem were hanging out after dinner in her room,
"This is why I think it's ok to lie to adults, they lie to us all the time," she referred to the less than forthright explanation of why Blink left.
Andy nodded, and he agreed that something was up, as he finished off the milk. He saw that she had created the privacy doors to hide the fact that she had a stash of stolen food. It wasn't just the milk and eggs, but she had big box store sized packages of bread, crackers, and peanut butter.
She had a couple spoonful's of the peanut butter and she shoved some of the crackers to him, which she allowed him to dip into the peanut butter as long as he promised not to double dip.
"You need the calories," she insisted, and he couldn't resist having more food as he was constantly hungry. She had also grown some carrots which he also enjoyed with some peanut butter. "Several of my uncles are those apocalypse bunker people," she explained with a mouthful of peanut butter, "And they said that peanut butter was one of the best survival foods. High in calories, shelf stable for years, carbs, oil, and vitamins."
Andy nodded along, too busy eating.
"Is your sister cool? I wouldn't mind inviting her to share," she felt a little bad for hoarding food to just the two of them, when there were a lot of other kids at the compound who could also use fattening up.
She bet she could just leave out jars of peanut butter and other foods, and pretend to have just found them then explain that "someone" must have picked it up from a supply run.
How many would question too closely where food came from? She would bet money most would rationalize it and tell themselves someone must have bought it.
"No, she is decidedly not cool," Andy had no shame in excluding his sister as he wanted Gemma to himself. "She's not exactly a narc, but she'd be annoying about stealing."
He loved Lauren and they were closer when they were younger, but lately he felt like she was kind of judgmental and he didn't want to deal with it. He especially did not need her telling their mom that Gem was liberating food. He felt like big box stores wouldn't miss the inventory, and they needed it more.
"So, we're going on a mission. That's exciting, right?"
He smiled and they talked the night away of what being on the mission meant, and how he could possibly get guard duty.
"I feel like we're in our own American Girl Doll story," she confessed, feeling like they were an active part of history.
It prompted him into a story of how Lauren was obsessed with those dolls when they were younger, and actually used a few during pretend play they were X-Men.
It wasn't until his dad had knocked on Gem's vine door to tell them it was getting late that he finally went to bed.