ULTIMATE REDJAY
An OC Ultimate Marvel story by Nikoli Clarke
[Author's Note (AN): Anyone who isn't an OC created by me is owned by Marvel Comics. Also, I will give the story an M rating just to be safe.]
Chapter 1: Coming To Canada
Finally, I'm getting to live out my dreams of living in my Mother's homeland, Canada! Okay, no, it's not anywhere glamorous like New York or LA, where supercriminals and supervillains attack all the time. But part of that is why my Mom and I feel that it's so safe. And at least the one thing Canada is known very well for is being the home of Wolverine and the villainous Wendigo, who is always going after The Hulk for some reason...
I should probably introduce myself. I am Chloe Sakamoto, a thirteen-year-old girl from Osaka, Japan who is going to the Seventh Grade in Vancouver, BC after I get off this damn ferry! I'm very excited about it, as you can undoubtedly tell. My Mom, who is standing next to me, is Shelby. Shelby is a scientist who used to work a dead-end job at some restaurant in the town where she grew up called "Hay River". To hear her tell it, it was a small, quaint little town in Northern Canada. I've always told her that I wanted to go there with her sometime but she always says no for the same three reasons: one, it's unbearably cold because of the town's northern location and two, Northern Canada, whether it be Nunavut, the Northwest Territories (the exact territory where Hay River is located) or Yukon Territory, is a favorite haunt of The Wendigo whenever he isn't in prison after having been defeated by The Hulk and finally, three, my Mom has had some bad experiences back there, memories that she doesn't want to relive by going back. Oddly enough, the least traumatic of which was when The Wendigo attacked Hay River for no particular reason back in 1999. Mom says that she was sixteen back then.
I heard that Mom is considered to be pretty attractive by most of the men she works with. Anyway, you'll never guess who she works for...spoiler alert! She works for SHIELD! Just kidding! She worked for the Science Council of Japan before she recently quit her job there only to apply for a job as some sort of science engineer (who knew that science needs engineers?) at some boring lab in Vancouver funded by the Canadian Government. That's why we're going to Vancouver. Obviously, I know too little about what she does or what kinda scientist she is and some otaku friend of mine back in Osaka blamed that on the fact that I'm a moe airhead and, according to him, that means that I'm a clueless, cute, and klutzy dumbass. And, well...I guess I've always had that effect on people (specifically, the boys in my school), but ever since the start of the last school year, I've become more and more concerned that they think that because of my medium-sized chest...and it's only grown bigger since...
The other reason we're headed to Canada is...far more depressing. When my Mom turned eighteen, she met my Father, a Japanese man named Minoru Sakamoto over a game she'd been playing at the time (my parents were both otakus, too). After a bit of time of getting to know each other, they began a long-distance relationship. And then, after she finished college in a Canadian city called "Edmonton" at the age of twenty-four, she moved to Tokyo because she'd had enough of this relationship being a long-distance thing, and then...something magical happened...
On May 14th, 2009, I was born a cute white Asian! I explain "white Asian" as my skin looking caucasian, 'cause it is, and my face looking Asian because it does look Asian when you look at it in the mirror. In fact, my straight and long hair, which is always worn down, is black like a typical Asian's, and my eyes are brown like a typical Asian's. I couldn't be more white and Asian at the same time! It freaks a few people out because of that, though. And some of my Japanese relatives give me weird glares all the time while harshly telling my Mom that she "ruined" my Father with her "foreigner" DNA or something like that. The same DNA that birthed me. My weird half-and-half existence is both a blessing and a curse.
Anyway, back to the story of my Father. My parents and I lived in Tokyo for the first three years of my life (as she told me) before we moved to Kyoto, where I started Kindergarten at the age of five. We finally moved to Osaka after I finished Grade Three. We were living just fine in Osaka until, one very sad day at his job (my Dad was the Vice President of this shipping company and his workplace was at the docks), my Dad died because of some foreign pirates who were robbing his company. The police tried to stop them, but they got away before they could get there. It's been half a year since that attack. At first, my Mom didn't want to move out because she had friends and family in Japan.
But then, just four months after my Dad died, my Mom's government-funded lab in Osaka was ransacked by AIM and their Scientist Supreme because of some big project I didn't fully understand. It's been two months since that attack and my Mom barely survived. She then knew that Japan wasn't safe from being attacked by supervillains. My Mom tried to warn her friends and family about it, but most of them didn't want to leave saying, "Oh, that can't possibly happen to me."
The only friend my Mom managed to convince was a woman named Sakura Shiraishi, who is coincidentally the Mom of my childhood friend, a girl who's the same age as me named Haruhi. Haruhi's little Brother (a sweet little boy named Kaito) died in a supervillain attack, too, and so did Mrs. Shiraishi's Husband (a man named Noburo) a month or so later, so Sakura totally understands where my Mom's coming from.
Both Mrs. Shiraishi and my Mom agreed to and had pre-arranged accommodations that allowed for them to be roommates since, even though my Mom is a scientist and my Dad was a pretty-well-off executive of a company, the cost of living in Japan still required a two-income household for families who make anywhere under six hundred thousand Yen. And even though she's a scientist, my Mom was only paid a thousand Yen because of her age and the fact that she was still a newbie fresh out of university when she moved to Japan. My Dad made similar amounts of money because his company was small and he was only the Vice President of the company, not the President of the company who also happened to be the founding CEO. Mrs. Shiraishi has a job as an office worker which, on average, according to the internet, pays six hundred Yen. Mr. Shiraishi was a teacher and, also according to the Internet, the average teacher in Japan makes two hundred thousand Yen.
To add to that, it seems that economic policies and how much my Mom and Mrs. Shiraishi will be paid similar amounts of money in Canada. Currently, no one who is making anywhere under a hundred thousand (Canadian) Dollars will ever be able to afford a single-income household. And I overheard my Mom saying that her new job will be paying ten thousand (Canadian) Dollars. And Shiraishi will be a fast food worker at McDonald's, which, according to the internet, pays (on average) fourteen (Canadian) Dollars. My Mom says it's ridiculous, which I don't entirely disagree with but, hey, that's life. What can you do? Well, at least we'll be safe from the craziest supervillains and supercriminals who might never attack the city because it's in Canada.
Most of those kureiji foreigners will be in places like New York and Las Vegas and Los Angeles, anyway.
Speaking of, another hard, yet necessary, part of living in Canada will be the language barrier. My Mom and I are bilingual and speak both English and Japanese fluently. Although, Japanese was the first language I was taught so Japanese is my first language. I've since also been learning English until I had practically mastered it back in the Fourth Grade. The hardest part of it though was the learning part because, like you might expect, learning English is as difficult for a Japanese speaker as it is for an English speaker to learn Japanese. Haruhi has also been learning so that she could communicate better with me and so far, she's been quite adept at it, but not masterful at it like my Mom and I are. And, because we're both moving to Canada, Mrs. Shiraishi has just started learning English, but, as awkward as this sounds, she's only at the beginner level, unlike Mom, Haruhi and I. Like I said, learning English is hard.
But, like I said, I couldn't ask for better circumstances. Another thing both Haruhi and I like about moving to Canada is that, unlike in Japan's schools, Canada's schools don't require you to wear uniforms (unless Haruhi and I attend private schools but, luckily for us, both my Mom and Mrs. Shiraishi are too poor for that). Ever since the Fifth Grade, we've been tired of wearing the same schoolgirl uniform for the entire year every time we've had to attend class. Especially when
-ever it's cold or hot outside.
We also don't have to use Japanese honorifics in Canada. Both Mrs. Shiraishi and Haruhi are a bit iffy about that, but my Mom and I are tired of it and have been tired of it ever since I turned ten years old. Things are going to be different. Both Haruhi and I could tell. We're unsure if our Moms can tell, though.
The ferry docked in the Vancouver Port, and the four of us got in the car (which was this nice and sleek black Hyundai that looks like it's from the future when someone looks at it from the outside), and we started driving after paying the ferryman with what little Yen we had left. Of course, we have more, but it's not as much as we had before we paid. But I knew that it was necessary if we wanted to enter Vancouver. We were also stopped by the Canadian Border Patrol for a bit. Needless to say, they let us go. After driving for a little while, we ended up driving to our home...which was in some apartment in a clearly bad part of town coincidentally called "Japantown". When the four of us got out of the car after my Mom parked it, I saw two people playing a little game of tug-o'-war with a purse that either one of them clearly stole to my right.
"Mom, are you sure that this is the right place for us?" I asked. "Trust me, sweetie, if we could afford to make another choice, we would." My Mom answered before locking the car. We walked to the Landlord's office (the Landlord is an African-Canadian man named James Barkley), and my Mom paid the rent for our first month in (Canadian) Dollars. "You know, you didn't have to come to me to pay me in person." James said. "Oh no, this is just for my first time. I'll pay online next time." My Mom replied. Has Mom ever heard of tact?
After that, we walked to our apartment unit (which has four bedrooms and two washrooms, plus one washroom in the bedroom that's going to be my Mom's room) on the third floor of the second apartment building in the apartment complex (a unit that's labelled "320") and saw what we're going to be living in.
Not gonna lie, it looks like a shithole.
It looks like a toilet.
It looks like the inside of a fatass manchild's hairy ass.
"I didn't think it would look this bad." Haruhi commented in Japanese.
"Tell me about it." I said. "What is that awful smell?" Mrs. Shiraishi asked in Japanese. "It's called the poor house smell. Get used to it, Sakura-San." Mom told her in Japanese. 'Yeah! That's right!' I thought. After examining our new house, we got to unpacking all our stuff. I put all my stuff into my new room (which was sorta bigger than the one I had in Osaka). And, when all of our stuff started coming in via U-Haul trucks, we had to rearrange a lot of our stuff until we finally had all of our stuff in all of its places by the twentieth day.
Meanwhile, my Mom managed to get her job and so did Mrs. Shiraishi and my Mom got Haruhi and I enrolled into a public school called Cage Junior High School (named after Luke Cage because he defeated Juggernaut when Juggernaut attacked the city back in 1997...for some reason. Luke was also in Vancouver for a reason I don't yet know about). I was excited-ish about going there because even though I was tired of wearing uniforms all the time, I wondered about what other things I'd be sacrificing when I got there if my home and neighborhood are this bad. Haruhi feels the same way as I do about it all. But that doesn't matter right now because school is tomorrow, not today. All that matters is that my place is just a little bit better than the cesspit it used to be after we put all our stuff in its new proper places. The kitchen is to the right of the front door, in front of the kitchen is the living room (and in the top-left corner of the living room is the first washroom) and to the left of the front door is the hallway with the second washroom at the far-left end of it. I got the third bedroom, my Mom got the first, Mrs. Shiraishi got the fourth and Haruhi got the third. Mom and Haruhi's room is across the hall from mine and Mrs. Shiraishi's room. And if you turn left after walking out of either my room or Mrs. Shiraishi's room, you'd find the second washroom I mentioned before.
By our twenty-first day here, Haruhi started watching anime in her room and I started playing around on my Nintendo DS. When we got all our stuff in order, my Mom gave us a couple of house rules. The most important of which being to conserve the amount of electricity we use because we don't have a lot of (Canadian) Dollars yet and to lock the door behind us every time we leave because this is a bad neighborhood with a high crime rate. We didn't know what "conserve" means, so we just used up power (not all of it) like we regularly did back in Japan. And even when my Mom told us what she meant after she saw that we clearly weren't following that rule, we still kinda used it but, hey, I left all of my other gaming systems and my TV unplugged so I know that that has to count for somethin'. I'm not so sure about Haruhi, though...
Oh, and if you didn't know, Haruhi and I have very different hobbies. See, I'm a gamer and an avid watcher of cartoon, live action movie and live action TV show adaptations of superhero stories from DC Comics. I never got the name "DC Comics", though, because I learned just last year that the "DC" in "DC Comics" stands for "Detective Comics" so they're just calling their company "Detective Comics Comics" which is dumb. My Mom and everyone else I know thinks it's dumb that I'm even watching these shows and movies because there are superheroes like Iron Man and Thor and vigilantes like Moon Knight and The Punisher in real life. I remember Mom hiding newspapers detailing The Punisher's early exploits from me back when I was like, five years old. Considering what he does to make himself feel vindicated, I'm not surprised.
In fact, that is why I like DC because I just know that some heroes in real life have killed people. Like Hawkeye and Black Widow. Meanwhile, a majority of the heroes in DC like Batman, Superman and The Flash don't kill (unless the thing their up against is aliens which...yeah, I don't support that, either but the heroes in real life kill aliens, too so it's...it's whatever) and because of that, these cartoons and TV shows are the things I genuinely use as a form of escapism.
I'm also a gamer, as I mentioned before. I have a Nintendo DS, a Nintendo 3DS, a PS4, a PS2, I wanna get a PS5, and I also have an Xbox 360, an Xbox One, a Nintendo Switch and a Wii U. And both Mrs. Shiraishi and my Mom managed to get both Haruhi and I an iPhone X before we left Japan.
Haruhi, speaking of, is an anime fan. She watches Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden (she apparently hates its sequel series, which is called "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations), Death Note, My Hero Academia, Code Geass and a classic called Neon Genesis Evangelion. After learning about World War II in school and the near-genocide of planet Earth's Mutant population (that has been built back up to it's old numbers by now), I've decided to stay away from anime because way too many of them have child murders and genocides. Or, as far as I know. The only anime I can stand watching is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya which is a slice-of-life (meaning a wholesome series with little to no danger) sci-fi comedy about an annoying girl named Haruhi Suzumiya who has dedicated her life to finding supernatural stuff. As if the Brothers on Supernatural haven't told us that supernatural stuff is often a big no-no.
Haruhi and I like watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya because the main character is also named Haruhi (although, my Haruhi is far less annoying...unless you somehow manage to get her to nerd out about whatever science-y thing is on her mind at the time) and it can get surprisingly deep at times.
Anyway, that's basically what we do when we have some time to ourselves in the house. She watches anime (and maybe uses her Macbook to research some science-y thing I don't understand, especially the new tech Stark Industries manages to spit out every now and again) and I just...play video games, watch superhero stuff on my good ol' TV and even watch the Pokemon anime (another anime I have no problem with even though it would be quite dangerous for ten-year-olds to go hunting for wild animals in real life) basically because I play the games and Pokemon battles look so much more fun in the anime than they do in the games and much more fun than if you do battle using the Pokemon trading cards. I also like many of the Pokemon's character designs in the anime. And that's because a few of them look like some of the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts. It's like the character designers who were working on Kingdom Hearts were struggling to come up with some new designs for the Heartless in the later parts of the game, and then started randomly watching Pokemon for some reason and then they went, "Ooooh! Let's use that!" And that's how we got the ant-like Heartless from Destiny Islands in Kingdom Hearts! Or...so I imagine.
So that's what we're doing right now, twenty-one days after we've moved to Vancouver: Haruhi is watching some anime or something (I don't know) and I'm playing Final Fantasy IV on the Nintendo DS while laying down on my bed.
Now, it's finally time for school. We somehow managed to walk our way to school after getting off of a bus at a bus stop put there by Translink, Vancouver's city transportation system. Like with every transit system, you can get from one end of the city to another either by train or by bus. The only thing that sucks about it is you can't use that same bus or train to get to another town or city (I mean, you can but you'd have to use Canada's federal transit system for that and Translink is only a municipal, meaning city-level, transit system) because Canada is a Hell of a lot bigger than Japan. Anyway, because we knew we wouldn't have to wear a fucking uniform every time we attend school, we decided to go with something simple. Just casual outfits that would make us look like "sluts" to the small and weak-minded. Haruhi wore a black t-shirt and a gray hoodie and a blue pair of jeans and gray running shoes while I wore a black tank top, red shorts and a white cap. We both had our backpacks on. Mine had a bunch of Batman stuff on it (because Batman is my favorite superhero) while Haruhi's backpack had a bunch of anime stuff on it. "Hey, remember when we used to use English as a secret language to say things that probably shouldn't be said in public?" Haruhi asked me in Japanese. "Uh...yeah." I answered in Japanese. "What if we use Japanese in the same way since we're in an English-speaking country we damn well know that there are going to be a lot of things we do not like about this place?" Haruhi then asked in Japanese. I thought about it for a while. My Mom always used to tell me that if there are mean things I want to say, then I should keep them to myself. Yet we have always used English to say those mean things anyway. "We could, but..." I was cut off by someone yelling, "Hey! You're in Canada! Speak English!" "Back off, will you!?" I yelled back (sometimes, I can be assertive).
"There might be people like that around here." I told Haruhi in Japanese. "I see..." Haruhi replies in Japanese.
"Still, we shouldn't cater to those kinds of people." Haruhi told me in Japanese. "I know." I replied in Japanese.
We walked until we got to Cage Junior High or, as the locals call it, CJH. And, as we expected, the school didn't look all that cool. It looked like it had one floor and the building itself was dark brown and a shade of beige which sort of became yellow when the light of the Sun shines down upon it. It just looks like any ordinary school. I put my cap in my backpack because I know that North American schools don't allow hats and hoods on while inside the building because that's a method students can use to commit crimes on school grounds. We even saw cracked windows, windows that looked like it had it's cracks taped over as if tape could fix a problem like that and windows that were boarded up because that window had been completely broken. They may try to prevent crime on campus, but it looks like they aren't doing a very good job of it.
We crossed the street, and walked into the school via the main entrance, which was on the school's south side and it was right in front of the school bus lane so that students could get off the school bus, and walk straight into the school from a short distance. Parents seem to use this lane as well to pick up and drop off their kids and the school doesn't seem to mind it much but maybe sometimes (or maybe all the time, I don't know), it made the school bus drivers furious.
After we walked into the building, we were met by the school's security guard who stopped us so that he could check us for weapons using his metal detectors. We did have metal things on us but it was harmless things like our phones, the little accessories on our backpacks, and the zippers on our clothes. He cleared us to leave, and we went to the office to get to our homeroom. Luckily, we ended up in the same class. But that's the only fortunate thing about going to this school because clearly, all of their budget went to the security systems...and nothing else. There was dirt everywhere, broken pipes and things clearly used by drug addicts and even some tiny breaks in the walls of the school which were probably due to fights. There were also some ripped posters on the walls. This was nothing like Suzumiya Elementary, the school we went to in Osaka. And when we finally got to class, it already became a shitshow.
The entire class was acting rowdy, there were a few or more students loudly talking, three other students were play fighting and a student was playing loud rap music on his boombox like it's still the 1980s or 1990s. The kid with the boombox looked like a rap music otaku but maybe that's the Japanese person in me talking. "It's so loud!" Haruhi shouted in Japanese. "I don't know how anything can get done here!" Haruhi then said in Japanese. "Maybe we should go talk to the teacher!" I shouted back in Japanese. "What teacher!?" Haruhi loudly asked in Japanese. "Huh?" I ask. I looked over at the teacher's desk at the top-right corner of the room, and saw nobody there. "What the Hell, man!?" I shouted.
I sighed.
"Let's just take a seat and try to ignore everyone and everything else until the teacher gets here." I said in Japanese. "Good idea." Haruhi agreed in Japanese. I went and took a seat at a desk somewhere in the middle of class, and Haruhi sat right next to me.
"Ayo! The Teach is comin'!" A student shouted. The music and all the other loud noises had stopped just as we heard stomping coming from outside the room. And the closer it got, the more we heard a woman's voice repeatedly and rapidly saying, "I'm not late! I'm not late! I'm not late!"
And then, a tall dark-skinned woman who looks to be around the same age as my Mom was when I was born and has black hair and dark brown eyes bursts into the room wearing a gray women's business suit as though we're in an office and not a classroom. The students all started paying close attention to this woman. The woman then walked up to the front of the class, and said, "Hello, class and welcome to the first day of school. I am Ms. Kennedy." "Naw, man, your name is The Teach!" Shouted one student. The students started laughing. "Also known as 'Ms. Big-Tits'." Another student said. The class laughed even harder. It's true, yes, Ms. Kennedy does have a big chest, but that's not what I would've paid attention to if Haruhi and I were the only students here.
Because I didn't like the language being used, I instinctively said, "Hey! Have some more respect for your Sensei!" "Oh, that reminds me. We have a few new students who came all the way from Japan and are now living here. Why don't you introduce yourselves one at a time." Ms. Kennedy said. "I'll go first!" Haruhi shouted. Haruhi stood up, and walked up to the front of the class. "My name is Haruhi Shiraishi. I'm from Osaka, but my Mom and I came here after it was clear that Japan is unsafe." Haruhi said. The students laughed in her face saying that this place isn't any safer than anywhere else. I understand what they're saying, but at least their parents didn't have to dodge laser fire from the Scientist Supreme of AIM and at least their siblings didn't die at the hands of The Silver Samurai like Kaito did. Their laughter made Haruhi look ashamed and embarrassed. After that, she went back to sit at her desk.
Now, it's my turn.
Oh boy.
I stood up, and walked up to the front of the class.
"H-Hi." I said nervously. Normally, I'm not so anxious but now, I'm realizing that I have eyes on me. "I-I'm Chloe Sakamoto. I'm...also from Japan-" "Nah, you can't be. You look white as bread." A student said, interrupting me. "White as bread? What do you mean?" Another student asked. "Her skin. It's white like bread, don't ya see?" A third student explained as though that's supposed to clear up everything. "She looks Asian enough..." A fourth student says. "Which penthouse are you from? Or are you just from the suburbs?" The first student asked. "Shut up!" Haruhi shouted. "Why?" The first student asked. "Because I grew up with her!" Haruhi shouted. "N-No, Haruhi. You don't have to do that." I said quietly. "You lyin', bitch. If she's from Japan, then I'm King Mufasa from the Lion King." The first student said. "Be quiet, all of you! Chloe was going to say something!" Ms. Kennedy shouted. "Th-Thank you, Ms. Kennedy." I said. "No problem. Go get 'em, tiger!" Ms. Kennedy told me.
"A-Anyway, I came here for the same reasons Haruhi did. I like playing video games and watching TV or a couple of movies when I'm bored with my games." I told everyone. And, like with Haruhi, everyone in the class laughed at me. I'm not sure if it was because I was anxious or it was because of the same reasons they were laughing at Haruhi. I genuinely didn't know. "That was...very well-done, Chloe. You may go back to your desk, now." Ms. Kennedy told me. I went back to my desk, and sat down, defeated and depressed. After that, everyone except Haruhi and I got back to talking. We were too down in the dumps to talk to each other.
After homeroom, we were introduced to our lockers (things that Haruhi and I have never had before). They were kinda small and blocky and stacked on top of each other like bookshelves. They were also on each side of the hallways so if you're walking down the school's halls, there's a chance that you won't miss yours. My locker is close to the homeroom and on the right side of the homeroom's door and it's door was labelled: 360. I find that funny because I have a Xbox 360. Haruhi's is across the hall from mine and it's door is labelled: 730. I find that funny because 7:30 AM is always when she gets up when my Mom specifically told us to wake up an hour earlier because of the time it takes to get from home to school and then back again. And when I told her about what I thought of her locker number, she gave me a stern look, and said, "What was that?"
We just laughed it off.
The only thing that sucks about these lockers is that they're made of metal and rusty and other kinds of dirty and because of that, I can tell that they're not very well maintained. Again, they put more money into their security than into other things this school desperately needs. Like a good janitor and a repairman, for one. Then again, I'm not sure what kind of janitor could ever take this rust off. Ah, well, I guess we've gotta take the rough with the smooth.
After we put all of our school stuff and outdoors-y stuff (like my white cap) in our lockers (because that's what they're for), I saw that first student who was in homeroom with us talking to two of the other students who were in homeroom with us. They were whispering things I couldn't hear because they were too far away. I didn't mind it much. Besides, they were all dark-skinned basketball jocks. They were probably talking about their strategy for their next game or an NBA player like Michael Jordan. Who cares? It's not my business.
I walked back into Ms. Kennedy's classroom because I had her class (Social Studies) first and Haruhi went another way because her class was Math Class.
Social Studies was...fine. We talked a lot about old and dead politicians who used to be Prime Ministers of Canada or Premiers of British Columbia or Mayors of Vancouver. If it weren't for the fact that, right down south of the border, every
-thing's a political shitstorm, I wouldn't have the patience for these boring lessons. Even worse...? Ms. Kennedy said we might talk about Kings of England and Emperors of Japan somewhere down the line. Then again, Canada wouldn't be here without the United Kingdom. But why Japan? I've been there long enough to know more than any of you fools about the history of the Land of the Rising Sun. I'd rather hear about French kings since they make a bit more goddamn sense when talking about history because of the existence of Quebec.
I hate my life.
And then, for the rest of class, we just watched a movie on this big TV that was rolled into the room like it's still the early 2000s. Just another boring time-waster. 'I'd rather get displaced in time by Kang the Conqueror.' I thought. After the bell rang, I walked out of that room remembering nothing about the movie Ms. Kennedy made us watch. I sighed. After looking at a map of the school on a random school wall (that was a little hard to read because it hasn't aged very well), I found my way to my next class: Science. 'Oh great.' I sarcastically thought.
After walking all the way over to my Science Classroom on the west side of the school (Ms. Kennedy's classroom and my locker and Haruhi's locker are all the way down on the south side), I walked inside, and was met by the weirdest teacher I've ever met. The last time I met a teacher this...psycho, I guess (there's really no other way to explain it) was my Fifth-Grade Math Teacher, Mr. Homura (maybe he's the reason I hate math right now). He was weird to me because the first thing he did was walk right up to me, and yell in my face.
"Good morning!" The middle-aged man with balding brown hair and green eyes which were behind a pair of glasses yelled. "H-Hi." I nervously said. "Why are you so nervous? Are you sick? Perhaps there is a black hole where your-" I cut him off, and shouted, "Don't look there, you pervert!" Because I knew what he was going to say next. "Sorry. I'll keep it all school-appropriate-although, that is sadly not how I usually operate but I will try since it is your first day here. By the way, what's your name? I'm afraid I didn't get it." "I'm Chloe Sakamoto. Pleased to meet you, Mr...?" I ask. "Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Roger Jenkins. Hello to you too Ms. Sakamoto. Wait, you're the student who just moved to Canada from Japan, aren't you?" The teacher answered as he shook my hand. "Uh...yeah." I answered in reply. "Well, then, hello and welcome to our country." Mr. Jenkins said, using the Japanese words for "hello" and "welcome to our country". "Your Japanese is good." I commented with a smile. "Oh, I'm not that good. I only learned a crash course three days ago and the rest of the Japanese I know is only from watching anime with subtitles." Mr. Jenkins said, using the Japanese word for "good".
"So...you're an otaku?" I asked.
He laughed, and said, "Nowhere close to their level. And nor do I ever aspire to be anything like them." "Good." I said in Japanese. "So, can I...uh...go sit down?"
"Oh, please, go right ahead." Mr. Jenkins told me. "I've got an interesting lesson planned for ya." Oh boy. I can tell that when he says "interesting" he may really mean "dangerous". I remember near the last day of Fifth Grade, Mr. Homura tried showing off for us by trying to mix chemicals in the Chemistry Lab. Except...the guy "forgot" to get permission to use the lab...and the chemicals were dangerously explosive (although, I doubt he knew that) so when he mixed them...BOOM! I laugh that off nowadays because it's better than thinking about how horrifying and traumatizing that was. He got fired and arrested the next day. Over the summer break, I heard he was sentenced to ten or something years in prison. That is a lot of Grade Six Graduations he won't ever be able to attend.
My Mom said that if I ever get a teacher like Mr. Homura again, I should tell her...and possibly pray for Mephisto to kill her and take her to Hell (she said that last one as a joke).
I went and took my seat at a desk and the front of the class.
I was kind of afraid because God knows what that man could have planned. He may be Mephisto incarnate, for all I know.
To put it lightly, I was right. The man was crazier than anyone I've ever met. I walked out of that class deciding that when I get home, I'm gonna tell my Mom about him. Why? All he did was talk but what he was talking about was definitely dangerous if it was put into the wrong hands or if it was operated by someone who is as clumsy as I am. That much I understood. Especially because my Mom stressed that shit to me so much even though I was never interested in science.
Anyway, it started as harmless talk about Pym Particles, the substance that Mr. Jenkins explained as the juice that gives Ant-Man the ability to change his size. Gee, even I knew that doc! What did he take us for, idiots!? Everyone who's just about anyone knows that stuff and stuff about every other real-life superhero and has known ever since they've been able to read.
Then, he veered into talk about bringing a small hadron collider (since that was all the school could afford, basically) to the school's gym tomorrow to see what would happen if you bash a Pym Particle together with some other atom I can't remember the name of. First of all, I don't think that is even how that works and secondly, there might be a chance that that shit could blow up the school or something. Mr. Jenkins is a walking bomb threat! Fuck whatever Mr. Homura did, this is way worse! Fuck getting home, I'm going to call Mom about it as soon as lunchtime rolls around!
But that turned out to not be the worst thing that happened today. Because after walking out of Mr. Jenkins' classroom, I was walking to my next class when three students ambushed me, pushed me down to the ground, and started beating me up. "Ow! Let go! Stop it!" I shouted. But they kept punching and kicking me and stomping on my face.
Eventually, I tried calling out for help, but the second of the three held my mouth, and said, "Don't you think for a second about callin' for help. I paid off all the security guards and the cameras are all down. Ain't nobody seein' shit around here. And if you tell your Mom about this, we'll come for y'all again."
This is the first time I've feared for my life. All I was thinking throughout the ordeal was, 'fuck safe' and cursing my Mom for ever stupidly thinking this place would be any better for Japan when it comes to violent crime. Then again, these kids are just...well, kids. They're easy enough to deal with. Especially since my Mom knows a thing or two about fighting because she studied karate with my Dad.
After a little while, they stopped, and left me alone with my thoughts. Why did they jump me like that? And how did I nor my Mom ever think to send me to a place like this without at least teaching me how to fight? I am lucky that neither of them had stolen my backpack or my iPhone but that was honestly because I had the foresight to leave 'em in my locker. Oh shit! I left my phone in my locker! Well, at least I'll have time to pick it up right when lunch starts. Just then, a security guard walks up to me just as I've finally worked up the courage to stand up while still bloodied, broken and scarred. Something told me that this won't end well.
"What happened to you?" The guard asked.
"Some guys jumped me, and kicked the shit out of me." I answered.
"So they put you through the ringer, huh?" The guard asked.
"You don't say?" I sarcastically asked in Japanese.
"Huh? Are ya speakin' properly, kiddo?" The guard asked.
"Yeah. I just spoke Japanese." I admitted without thinking about it.
"So you're Asian? You don't look Asian." The guard commented.
"I just moved here from Japan." I told him.
"Sure you did." The guard sarcastically said.
"Look, I am hurting all over and I need to call my Mom so can you just please take me to the Nurse's Office?" I asked. I probably shouldn't have been so passive-aggressive about it, looking back on it.
"Nurse's Office? I think you need to go to the Principal's Office. You just got in a fight." The guard said while scoffing. "What? Well, it's not like I was hitting back!" I shouted. "Doesn't matter. There's a no-tolerance rule for a reason. I'm writing you up! Come with me, little miss!" The guard ordered. And so, I followed the guard to the office. If they're trying to tell us how the peasants felt under the harsh rule of the English kings, they're doing a good-ass job of it.
After a long wait in the Administration Office, I was only let out for lunch period, missing my last two classes of the morning. I went to my locker, and also found Haruhi there. Oddly enough, those same students ambushed her and caught her off-guard while she was walking to class, too. Luckily for her, though, some other girl came in, and fought all those boys off.
She's a dark-skinned girl with black hair and red eyes. Red eyes that initially scared Haruhi because they reminded her of something called a "Sharingan" from that Naruto anime that she watches. Haruhi's new friend is named Lucie Sheckler. She's not related to Ryan Sheckler, although she aspires to be a professional skateboarder, even though she spends half her time watching anime like Haruhi does. Lucie is, as it turns out, half Black and half Asian. It's a racial category the Americans like to call "Blasian" because the word describes it so well and it rolls off the tongue very easily. I know because Lucie, herself, told me that her Mom is from Japan and taught her karate from a young age. That was how she beat those boys. The only reason she's called "Lucie" instead of some "Blasian name" or a straight-up Asian-sounding name is because of her Dad, who works at a white-owned corporation called "Oscorp" as one of their chairmen. To hear her tell it, Lucie's Dad was peer pressured into it by his co-workers. Her Mom agreed, surprisingly enough, and that was that.
"Why does your name sound so...American?" Lucie asked. "My Dad was forced to name me this way by the Japanese side of my family simply because they hated the fact that my Mom's 'foreign blood' tainted his bloodline." I answered. "Man...they really are harsh towards foreigners, aren't they?" Lucie rhetorically asked. "It makes me glad I was born here."
"Exactly. It could be worse, after all." I agreed.
The three of us then walked to the cafeteria, got our home-made lunches out, and started eating. "So, who were those guys who jumped us?" I asked. "They're basketball jocks, as you might've guessed by what they're wearing. They're led by this guy who likes to act like a hardcore gangster named Tyrone Williams. This is probably because his Dad used to be a hardcore gangster from the Thirty-Sixth Street Angelz who's name is Michael Williams. And, to be honest, they're probably right. Dude knows how to run a gang despite the fact that his Dad was never that high-ranking. In fact, I heard that when shit hit the fan, Michael got outta dodge, went straight, and lived a normal life. He had to sell his gang buddies out to get that normal life, though." Lucie explained. "But if all of that's true, then why didn't he raise his Son to be any better?" Haruhi asked. "I don't honestly know, but, if you ask me, maybe it's because the apple doesn't always fall so far from its tree, as the saying goes." Lucie guessed. "Well, that's just great! Now we have to deal with a wannabe gangster!" Haruhi shouted. I sighed, lamenting at this fact. "This place just keeps getting suckier and suckier." I said.
"Well, hey, at least you've got me, an Eighth-Grader who's happy to help you navigate your way through this shit." Lucie said. 'Thank you, God!' I thought in Japanese. "And we're happy to accept your help." Haruhi said. "Great!" Lucie shouted. Suddenly, my iPhone started ringing. "What's that?" Lucie asked. "It sounds like...Death From Above's Freeze Me?!" "How would you know that song?" Haruhi asked. "I have three friends who all play different instruments. We're a sort of cover band but we've never had any concerts." Lucie answered. "Really?" Haruhi asked in reply. "Yeah!" Lucie answered. "Freeze Me is one of my favorite songs to play! I also like a bit of hardcore rap music, though, too." "Chloe's like that, but...not as much." Haruhi said. "Why not?" Lucie asked. "It's because she has more video games to play than she does songs to listen to." Haruhi answered. I looked at my phone. It's Mom calling. "Sorry, guys, I have to take this." I said. "Ah, no worries. I've got your friend until lunch ends, right?" Lucie rhetorically asked. I chuckled before answering the call, and standing up. "Hey, Mom." I say before walking away.
I walked over to a wall which I leaned against (which was not too far away from the cafeteria). "I'm glad you called." I said. "Really? Why?" Mom asked. I looked around, and said, "This school is worse than it looks." "Oh, it can't be that bad." Mom replied. "While I was on my way to class, some boys jumped me, and beat the living shit out of me." I told her. "Oh. Well, I was going to ask why your voice sounds so...different and why your breathing is so labored." Mom said. "That's not all, after they kicked my ass, some security guard came up to me, and, after I explained my situation, he wrote me up for fighting and sent me to the office instead of the Nurse's Office. I'm still waiting to see the Principal, and...and I think I'm still bleeding." I told her. Then, suddenly, Tyrone and two other boys ambushed me again, made me drop my phone, and pinned me against the wall before they started beating me up again. "Chloe? Honey? Are you still there?" Mom asked. "You're right, she was talkin' to her Mom.'' Tyrone said to the first student. "By the way, what did I tell you about doing that?"
He repeatedly beat me while his friends tried to break my phone. "No! Don't!" I shouted. "Damn, these iPhone Xes are so hard to break!" Shouted the second student. "Whoever you are, put me back on the phone with my Daughter!" Mom shouted.
They didn't do shit. They just kept stomping on my phone while Tyrone beat me up. "Man, fuck this!" The second student shouted. He then pulls out a pistol. I would've been visibly shocked if my face wasn't so riddled with pain. "Are you kiddin' me, right now!? Someone could hear us!" The first student hissed. "You're right, but you forget that we've got the Michael Jordan Protection so who's gonna fuck with us? For real?" The second student argued. "PUT ME BACK ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW!" Mom yelled. "Shoot it. We can't afford her hearin' shit and yellin' like that." Tyrone ordered. The second student smiled at the first before...BLOW! And there my phone went, smashed into pieces by that one bullet.
And then, the second student put his pistol away, and they went over to Tyrone to join him in beating my ass. As they continued beating me, I felt myself slipping out of consciousness.
After I fell onto the floor, I saw the shapes of Lucie, Haruhi and a security guard before fainting completely.
"What have you done?!" Screamed Haruhi.
"Uh...it ain't as bad as it looks, officer." Tyrone said.
Of course, he's lying. People like him always lie.
I woke up in a hospital bed, with my wounds miraculously healed. No, I'm kidding. They all still hurt like Hell, there are bandages everywhere that I can see and even an I.V. dripping blood into my left arm. "Oh, thank God, you're awake." Mom's voice said. I looked to the left, and saw my Mom sitting there on a chair. "Hey...Mom." I say groggily. "Don't talk, dear. You're still not fully healed, so just get some rest." Mom told me. Then, a female nurse walked up to my Mom. "Ma'am, I think you'll want to come and see this." The nurse said. "Not now." Mom told her. "It's important, not something we want to talk about in front of your Daughter." The nurse insisted. I then start going to sleep. "See? She's already going to sleep. You'll see her again later." The nurse then said.
Shelby walked into another, more private room (it was a doctor's office) with the nurse, and then she told her what she thought would be bad news (to Shelby). "Ma'am, depending on your reaction, we may have some bad news for you." The nurse told her. "What, is it the fact that my Daughter's half Asian? I already know that part. I was the one who gave birth to her." Shelby said. "N-No, Miss, but it does have something to do with her DNA." The nurse nervously said. "What is it, then?" Shelby asked. "Your Daughter has the X-Gene." The nurse told her. "What? What does that mean?" Shelby then asked. "I-I took a sample of your Daughter's blood right after you brought her in j-just to see if she has anything else wrong with her. As soon as I saw the X-Gene in her DNA, I called our resident geneticist." The nurse nervously explained. "You didn't answer my question." Shelby said. "What does that mean?"
"It means, Mrs Sakamoto, that your Daughter is a Mutant." A male voice said from behind Shelby. Shelby turned around, and saw a man with a 1990s teen hairstyle. He has blue eyes and he was wearing a labcoat overtop a light blue dress shirt and a beige pair of pants. "A Mutant?!" Shelby asked. "Yes. I'm Dr. Ethan Churchill, by the way-no relation to the famous British politician. I'm that 'resident geneticist' our good nurse mentioned." The overgrown '90s kid said. "What, don't you know about Mutants?" The nurse asked. "I'm sorry to say that I know little about them. Basically that they have super powers and...yeah, not much else. I'm a physicist, not a geneticist like Dr. Churchill." Shelby replied. "Then, I think it's time we expanded your knowledge, Dr. Sakamoto." Dr. Churchill said.
Dr. Churchill went around Shelby, and walked over to the nurse's side before turning around to face her. Shelby turned around to face Dr. Churchill again. "Shall we begin?" He asked. "Educate away." Shelby told them.
"The X-Gene is a gene positioned on the twenty-third chromosome, which is a...as awkward as it may be to say...sexual chromosome." Dr. Churchill explained. "What does the gene do?" Shelby asked. "It causes the Mutant to develop super powers which manifest at puberty-well, usually." Dr. Churchill answered. "Well, that explains your first explanation." Shelby quipped. "What else can cause these powers to manifest?" "Stress, traumatic experiences and maybe aging." Dr. Churchill answered. "And that's just listing the natural causes." The nurse said. "Yes. Some Mutants' powers manifest when they are experimented on, having gotten caught in some sort of accident or having been exposed to radiation." Dr. Churchill added. "The fact that every Mutant alive today has different power sets tells me that abilities vary from Mutant-to-Mutant. Am I right?" Shelby then asked. "Yes. It's why we won't know what kind of abilities Chloe will have until after they've manifested." Dr. Churchill answered. "So...why haven't Chloe's abilities manifested?" Shelby questioned. "Has she experienced puberty yet?" Dr. Churchill asked. "No." Shelby answered. "Then your Daughter's X-Gene will remain dormant until that time." Dr. Churchill said. Shelby sighed.
"So, what should I do with this information?" Shelby asked. Both the nurse and Dr. Churchill sighed. "That's a question we hoped we'd never have to ask for quite a while, now." The nurse stated. "What do you mean?" Shelby then asked. "We know that your Daughter is half Asian. Half Japanese, specifically." Dr. Churchill answered. "However accepted Mutants are here, they're more stigmatized and oppressed than ever in Japan. And because of that, we know how most of the Japanese feel about Mutants." The nurse explained. "Most Japanese parents of Japanese Mutants perform one of three options once their child has been confirmed to be a Mutant: One, they force said child or children to seek assisted suicide, two, they put their child or children up for adoption and then disown them and three, they give their child or children to the MRD, or Mutant Response Division, a private anti-Mutant militia funded by the United States Government. And the MRD, once they get their hands on a Mutant, imprison them in brutal internment camps where they're tortured and experimented on purely for the United States Government's pleasure." Dr. Churchill added. Shelby scoffed.
"Fuck all that. She's my Daughter. I don't care whether she's a Mutant or not." Shelby said.
'Sakura-San might feel differently, though.' Shelby thought.
"Besides, the Japanese part of our family has never liked me or my Daughter." Shelby added.
"Oh, good, that's a relief." Dr. Churchill said. "But there might still be people after her. Different people, but still." "Who?" Shelby asked. "The X-Men and the Ultimates." Dr. Churchill answered. "The superhero teams? What's so bad about them? One of them is literally a super team of Mutants, for Christ's sake!" Shelby said. "In my experience, neither of them have ever been particularly trustworthy. That being said, once her powers manifest, Chloe won't know how to control them. To that end, I have a good friend named Emma Frost who has an Academy right here in Vancouver and I highly recommend it. Emma knows best how to teach young Mutants control. She can also keep the more...unsavory parties at bay for as long as possible. As a Mutant, there is no safer place for Chloe." Dr. Churchill told her. "Oh God..." Shelby says. "This is a lot to take in." "We know." The nurse replied.
"Can I tell her?" Shelby asked. "We can't tell you what to do with your Daughter in these circumstances, but we recommend waiting until her powers actually manifest themselves. It may be less stressful for her that way." Dr. Churchill answered. "Th-Thank you, doctor." Shelby said. Shelby then shook his hand.
"Eh, there's no need for thanks. It's what I do." Dr. Churchill modestly said. He then gave her his calling card.
"Call this number if you need any more information." He then told her.
Shelby took the card, and put it in her pocket. "As I said, thank you." She replied.
I woke up in the Hospital room again. My wounds having partially healed them
-selves. The doctor said that he gives it five more days until my wounds are completely healed. And so, I waited because there was nothing else I could do about that. After those long days, I was finally healed! There aren't bandages on me anymore and, more to the point, I was able to put on my old clothes as a result instead of resorting to wearing that same Hospital gown forever (or, that was what it felt like). After that, I walked out of the Hospital with my Mom, and we got in her car (which had its license plates replaced with British Columbia license plates) and then started driving home.
While on the ride there, my Mom told me that my Aunt, Aunty Stacy, heard about my situation, and filed a criminal lawsuit the next day. "What? How?" I asked. "The entire thing made it onto the news, surprisingly enough. And also, Aunty Stacy was the only closest living relative of ours. She has a law firm of her own in Victoria." Mom answered. "Wow..." I say. "That's...That's huge news." "I know." Mom replied.
"So is she going after Tyrone and the school?" I asked. "Yup. You know it." Mom answered. "And, get this: We won the lawsuit yesterday. The school was forced to pay out billions in fees-although, more than half of that was swallowed up by the lawyer representing Aunty Stacy's firm so we now actually have like, a hundred thousand dollars in the bank-and Tyrone has been sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting you." In reaction to that, I smiled very happily. Things seem to be alright...for now.
After that whole bunch of good news, I returned home, and we had a little celebration for our victory in the courtroom. But part of me thinks that it's because of the money we've won because up until that moment, we had only a little spare cash to our name but now, that's clearly changed.
After all of the celebrating died down, Haruhi and I walked into her room, and Haruhi went to sit on her bed while I walked over to the wall across from her, and leaned against it. "So...what's been happening with you?" I asked in Japanese. "What do you mean?" Haruhi asked in Japanese. "I've been out of it for quite a while so I just want to know how you've been." I clarified in Japanese. "Well, do you remember Lucie?" Haruhi then asked in Japanese. "Well...yeah, of course I do." I replied in Japanese. "Turns out, she's in the same class as I am. She and I have LA Class together. And do you wanna know the funniest thing? I thought that when they said 'LA', I thought they meant 'Los Angeles' but actually, it means 'Language Arts'. It's basically the Canadian version of English Class or Japanese Class." Haruhi told me in Japanese. "Oh...is that right?" I then asked in Japanese. "Yes." Haruhi answered in Japanese. "Cool." I replied in Japanese.
"So what about Mr. Jenkins?" I asked in Japanese. "Mr. Jenkins? Oh! You're talking about the school's resident mad scientist!" Haruhi shouted in Japanese. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" I replied in Japanese. "What happened to him?" I then asked in Japanese. "Well, on the second day of school, he performed that dangerous experiment in which he fucked around with Pym Particles and gamma particles." Haruhi told me in Japanese. "Gamma?! I thought it was something else. Eh, to be fair, I wasn't paying all that much attention in my first Science Class so I could be mistaken." I truthfully said in Japanese. "Well, considering what happened next, you might be grateful that you were outta school on our second day." Haruhi replied in Japanese. "What are you talking about?" I then asked in Japanese. "When he began the experiment, everything seemed fine...at first...but then, the hadron collider thingy started making this loud noise. It almost sounded like thunder, it was so loud. And then, an explosion happened. Most of the class got injured in that explosion, but no one was more injured than Mr. Jenkins, himself. They also noticed some weird biological changes in one of the male students, so some agency called SHIELD had to come and take him away when first responders arrived. As of right now, the school is in the middle of another lawsuit with the parents of the boy who was taken away by SHIELD and Mr. Jenkins is currently in the Hospital. The school had obviously fired him after all of that and, as far as they were concerned, they'd washed their hands of Mr. Jenkins." Haruhi told me in Japanese. "And the Gym...?" I ask in Japanese. "Blown to Hell, obviously. To hear Ms. Kennedy tell it, the school doesn't know how they'd rebuild the Gym even if they could afford it. There were burns everywhere and God knows what kind of dangerous scientific materials in the Gym." Haruhi answered in Japanese.
"Well, that's what he gets for messing with super science." I replied in Japanese. "Oddly enough, though, this wasn't his first time performing this experiment but it was the first time it quite literally blew up in his face. Dr. Pym, the guy who invented the Pym Particle has always stressed how dangerous it is. Yet, Mr. Jenkins always performed the experiment anyways." Haruhi explained in Japanese. "Why would he ever do that to the kids he's supposed to be responsible for, anyway?" I asked in Japanese. "No one really knows." Haruhi answered in Japanese. "Some think he wanted to show off for his Seventh
-Graders while others suppose that it's some sorta hazing ritual." Haruhi added in Japanese.
"Well, fuck him, he deserves what he got." I said, reverting back to English. "Agreed." Haruhi replied.
"Speaking of Mr. Jenkins, he reminded me of someone." I said, speaking Japanese again. "Who?" Haruhi asked me in Japanese. "You might remember him." I said in Japanese. "Mr. Homura." I then told her in Japanese. "Oh, wow, I forgot about him! I don't think he was any crazier than Jenkins, though." Haruhi replied in Japanese. "Dude, Mr. Jenkins handed out burns to mostly everyone and the Gym and made a boy severely sick with his hadron collider explosion. Homura-San made two chemicals explode and gave us all ear aches for like three days." I argued in Japanese. "The only reason Homura-San is in prison instead of a mental institution was because of how toned-down his crazy actions are. Jenkins, on the other hand, might end up at the Ravencroft Institute all the way in New York." I also said in Japanese.
"No, you can't be serious." Haruhi rebutted in Japanese. "In truth, I seriously don't know, but I doubt his ass is getting a slap on the wrist for this." I said in Japanese. "Well, at least there's that much we can agree on..." Haruhi says in Japanese. We got to talking for a little while more before we decided we were tired of that so I walked to my room, closed the door, walked over to my TV and game systems and things, and plugged 'em all in before I turned on my TV, turned on my PS2, and started playing Xenosaga while Haruhi was in her room, watching...I don't know, an anime about some guy teleporting into some fantasy world that is almost exactly the same as the one in Sword Art Online (an anime that Haruhi forced me to watch the whole way through) after he died in our world.
There are always new anime like that being pumped out every season by companies who don't give a shit if they're following a trend or not because all they care about is making money.
Although, to be fair, gaming companies are the same because so many of them want to make more hero shooters like Overwatch or more live service games like that Avengers game that's going to come out next year. They're always giving us the same shit and treating the audience like they won't care or would be too stupid to notice.
'Okay, brain, those are some deep thoughts, but I just wanna have some fun playing single-player RPGs so, I think it's time for you to shut off for now.' I thought.
For the next six weeks, things were going fine for Haruhi and I. We're still going to Cage Junior High (bummer) but at least we don't have to deal with crazy wannabe gangsters like Tyrone or mad scientists like Mr. Jenkins anymore. Or...so we thought. Ever since I came back to school, the students have been giving us glares, that they're mad at us for daring to stand up to Tyrone and actually winning. But that was all they did. So, we didn't mind it and either kept hanging out with each other or with Lucie.
Speaking of Lucie, on the third week, my Mom and Mrs. Shiraishi gave us permission to go to Lucie's house for a while and so, Lucie's Mom, Mrs. Chisato Sheckler, picked us up, and she drove us to the Sheckler Household, which was a three-story house in a suburb all the way on the south side of the city. And once we got there, we saw how cool of a place it was. After taking off our shoes at the door, Lucie met up with us, and gave us a tour of this big-ass house of hers. Apparently, she has two brothers and two twin sisters. Her oldest Brother is a fifteen-year-old named Marcus, who is in the Ninth Grade (although, he's been attending a different school than ours), the other Brother is the youngest in the family, a five-year-old named Carl and the twins are ten-year-olds named Maria and Millie. Her Dad, a man named Darius, is almost never home because of his job so Mrs. Sheckler might as well be a single Mom.
I should probably talk about the house Lucie gave us a tour of. The first floor has your basic living room and kitchen and washroom and also a backdoor to the backyard. The living room has all the video game systems which are basically only for the kid-friendly games. There's also the door to the garage that Mr. Sheckler hardly ever uses on the kitchen's right side wall. "Mom never allows either Carl or Maria and Millie inside there for a reason." Lucie told us. "What would that be?" Haruhi asked. "Well, for one thing, a place like a garage is dangerous for any little kid, if given enough time. For another, it's the place where my band and I practice and it would be best if those little crotch gremlins didn't bother us while we're playing." Lucie explained.
"That makes sense." I said.
'Maybe I shouldn't ever be allowed in there, either, given how clumsy I am.' I thought.
She then showed us the second floor, which has Maria and Millie's bedroom, Carl's bedroom and Carl's play room with all of his toys inside and there is also a second washroom up here with kiddie decorations all around it meant for Carl. "This should be called 'Carl's Floor'." I joked. "Tell me about it." Lucie agreed. And, finally, she took us up to the third floor, where Marcus' bedroom was and where Lucie's bedroom was, as well. And there was also a third washroom, Mr. And Mrs. Sheckler's bedroom, and a little room meant for Lucie to work on her music. Lucie calls it her "Studio". And she showed us her Studio. It actually looked like a music studio. There was a couch up against the wall next to Lucie's console which also has multiple sound boards and a piano-like keyboard along with a regular computer keyboard. "Ayo, look, check this out." Lucie told us. We walked into her Studio, closed the door behind us, and Haruhi and I went to sit on the couch while Lucie walked over to her console, and did a surprisingly-good rendition of Death Battle At The Big Bridge by Nobuo Eumatsu. "What is that song?" Haruhi asked me in Japanese. "It's by Nobuo Eumatsu-San who made it for a game called Final Fantasy V." I answered in Japanese. I am a Final Fantasy fan. I'm also a fan of The Elder Scrolls (when is TES6 coming out, by the way?) [AN: I would like to know, too.] and the Batman: Arkham Games (I wanna know what Rocksteady plans to do next with the game series).
"What are you two talking about?" Lucie asked us after having finished playing the song. "Haruhi's not too fluent in English just yet so we occasionally have conversations in Japanese just to make her feel comfortable-especially now that we've moved to a country where the majority of people speak English. In this instance, we were talking about the song you were playing just now. She asked me what it was, and I explained it to her." I said. I probably could've just said that last sentence and been done with it, but I can't change what was done in the past. Plus, where's the fun in that? "I see. Perhaps I should start learning Japanese if I want to join in on the conversation." Lucie said. She then checked the time.
"Well, it's time for band practice." Lucie said. She asked us if we wanted to go meet her friends in the band and watch her band practice. I initially declined, but Lucie insisted that I come. "Alright! I'll go, I'll go!" I shouted. And we left Lucie's Studio to go back downstairs, and just go to Lucie's garage before she starts setting everything up while Haruhi and I just stand there. After that, we actually met the rest of her band.
The first was a First Nations girl with black hair and brown skin and brown eyes. Her name is Kimberly Ashton. Knowing the Indigenous Canadians, she probably had a true name but that name was stolen from her ancestors by the European colonizers.
The second was just some plain old white girl who I swear looks like Samantha from Totally Spies because of her green eyes and orange hair. The only thing about her is that she dresses like she is from the country. "Wassup, mate." This white girl said. We were shocked by her Australian accent. "Oh, yeah, this is Alex Sheldon. She's from Sydney." Lucie told us. "S-Sydney?" Haruhi asked. "Yeah." Alex said as she walked up to us. "How d'you do?" Alex said. "Heard you're from the same part of the world as I am." "Eh...you could say that." I said. "She likes to talk a lot." Lucie also told us.
And the third is a Black girl with black hair and blue eyes. Although with that black make-up and those black clothes, she looks more like an emo girl. Her name is Tanisha Kingsley. Tanisha has South African and Wakandan ancestry. Not that it matters because the bloodline has probably been so diluted over time that there is not one trace of Vibranium in her veins. Strange how I, a dumbass, understood all that. "Wassup." Tanisha said. "Nothin' much. Just hangin' out with my friends Chloe Sakamoto and Haruhi Shiraishi. Both moved here from Japan weeks ago." Lucie said as she did this little handshake with Tanisha. "Oh yeah. Heard about you guys." Tanisha said. "Well, of course you have! They were in the news!" Kimberly said. "I go to school with Lucie, remember?" Tanisha said. "Wait, you're the only one in this band who goes to Cage Junior High?" I asked. "Oh...Oh yeah! I remember you! You're that girl who made Lucie run away with you for some reason!" Haruhi shouted. I was confused.
"Don't worry, Chloe, you were still in that coma when this happened." Haruhi said as though that was supposed to change how confused I am. "Was that supposed to help with my absolute confusion?" I asked. "Your problem-not mine." Haruhi replied. "Why did that happen, by the way?"
"Eh...I don't exactly remember, but-" "Your Big Brother got in a fight with some gang member and we had to break it up before the guards got there." Lucie said, interrupting Tanisha. "Oh yeah! That." Tanisha told us. "Honestly, Tanisha. It's a wonder you remember to bother to show up to these meetings." Lucie said. "What
-ever." Tanisha said. "So, back to my earlier question: Tanisha's the only one of your band who goes to Cage Junior High?" I asked. "Yes." Lucie answered. "Technically, it's my band. Seeing as how I started it." Tanisha told us. "Really?" I then asked. "Yeah." Lucie answered, sounding distraught by that fact. "So, then, how do you know those girls?" I asked Lucie. "They were my friends before they were Lucie's friends. I met Kimberly through a 'Spirituality Club' started by the teens in our own neighborhood." Tanisha answered for Lucie.
"And I met Alex online quite a long while ago over some kiddie game. What was it called again...?" Tanisha asks. Alex sighed. "It was Webkinz!" She shouted, annoyed. "Ah. Right." Tanisha said. "Anyway, we started some long-distance friendship until a few years ago when the stars finally aligned, and she came to Canada via the airplane! And we've been cool with each other ever since then."
"I wouldn't exactly say 'cool', y'know." Alex interjected. She sighed again. "But we are friends, I guess."
"She got over here by plane? Wow..." Haruhi says. "Excuse Haruhi, here, she's never been on a plane before." I said. "And neither have I." "Really?" Lucie asked. "Then how did you get here?" Tanisha asked. I explained the circumstances of our coming to Canada as best as I could (with Haruhi's help).
"...my Mom believed that there was a higher chance of us getting caught up in a supervillain attack if we came here by the air. And if you're wondering why my Mom didn't think that there was just as much of a chance of us getting attacked by supervillains on the sea as there would be by plane, her reasoning was that even if supervillains did attack our boat, we could at least escape by jumping into the ocean because on a plane, there is no escape. Unless you plan to die to get out of harm's way in which case...maybe, you've done the criminal's job for 'em. So, that's basically-" "Okay, I think we understand a bit too much." Alex said, interrupting me. "Hey, at least we now know why her Mom's so paranoid about supervillain attacks." Tanisha said. "If I were attacked by AIM, I'd be scared, too." Lucie said.
"Speaking of being attacked, I wonder...if your Mom thinks you'll be any safer from a supervillain attack here than in Japan, then she may be more of an airhead than you are-no offense." Tanisha stated. "What'd you say?" I angrily asked. "I said 'no offense'!" Tanisha argued. "Nonetheless, Tanisha may be right about that." Kimberly said. "Uh-oh. Kimberly thinks Tanisha is right." Lucie quipped. "Is that a bad thing?" Haruhi asked. "Lucie wasn't being serious." I told her. "A few years before I was born, a small squad of Doombots attacked a First Nations reserve on Vancouver Island. My Mom was living there at the time." Kimberly said.
"What? Why would Dr. Doom's forces be there, of all places?" Lucie asked. "Well, if you looked up the attack on the internet-it was called the 'Doom of the Sto:lo', by the way-it was stated that it was because the reserve was sitting on an Adamantium mine neither the Canadian Government nor the occupants of the reserve knew about. But the Latverian Army wanted it. A superhero who I don't remember the name of prevented the Doombots from actually getting it, though, and after that, the Canadian Government issued a statement saying that if Doom tries to attack the reserve again, Canada will declare war on Latveria." Kimberly answered.
"That is one Hell of a threat." I commented. "Latveria later issued another statement on the matter, saying that if the Canadian Government shared anything that the miners got from the Adamantium Mine, then it won't have to come to that. Unfortunately for my tribe, the Canadian Army swooped in, took over the reserve, and forcibly displaced the tribesmen there. Even worse...? The army was backed up by the superhero who saved the reserve from the Doombots so the tribe, who would've otherwise rebelled against this because it is a flagrant violation of their treaty and their laws, instead relented, and just moved away from the reserve. Now, the place is called Adamantia Town and its resources are being mined, and sent to Latveria to this day." Kimberly added. "And the Sto:lo people...?" I ask. "Scattered all over BC and Canada. Fortunately for me, I guess, my Mom and Dad are from the same tribe so, I'm fully Sto:lo and I could've claimed my status as a First Nations person, if the Canadian Army didn't take over my tribe's reserve." Kimberly answered. "I don't see how that is in any way 'fortunate'." Tanisha said. "Neither do I, but it's what my parents say every time they tell this story..." Kimberly says. "Ay, look, this is gettin' hella depressing so why don't we skip right past this shit, and have some fun." Tanisha said. "She's right." Lucie said.
"Why are you here, by the way?" Tanisha asked Haruhi and I. "Can ya'll play any instruments, too?" "Oh, no, they're just here to watch us." Lucie answered for us. "A'ight. Might be good practice for when we actually do get a concert one day." Tanisha remarked. "Hm. Guess you're right." Alex replied. "C'mon, Lucie." Tanisha told her.
Lucie walked over to their makeshift stage, and got on her keyboard which also had a microphone directly in front of it, Alex got her rock guitar, and plugged it into a speaker so that it can actually sound like a rock guitar, Kimberly got on the drumset at the far back of the stage, and Tanisha got on the microphone at the forefront of the stage. "Well, girls, what should we play for Lucie's friends from the Land of the Rising Sun?" Tanisha asked. "How about Freeze Me?" Lucie asked. "Really?" Tanisha then asked. "We've done that eight times. We're practically masters at that song." Alex said. Tanisha gestured towards Alex in agreement. "Haruhi told me that it's one of Chloe's favorite songs." Lucie told them. "Is that true?" Tanisha asked us. Both Haruhi and I nod. "Well, then, Chloe, I guess this one goes out to you." Tanisha then said. I blushed and chuckled. The four girls then did a perfect rendition of Death From Above 1979's Freeze Me. Both of us danced to it. After that, they did a few adequate renditions of some other songs like Linkin Park's Burn It Down and Mother Mother's Baby Don't Dance. They even did a few rap songs, funnily enough.
By the time they were done, I went up to Lucie, and asked, "How did you play It's Goin' Down by The X-Ecutioners and Mike Shinoda without scratching any records?" "Oh, that's easy. I scratched the records in the exact right places in my Studio, and pre-recorded the scratches and then downloaded it onto that keyboard so that I could use it whenever we play that song." Lucie answered. "That doesn't sound easy." I commented. "I meant it was easy to explain, not easy to do. I had to practice for like a week to get the recording just right. It was frustrating as Hell because I had to be meticulous." Lucie clarified. "Meticulous...?" Haruhi asks. "She means 'meticulous' as in, paying great attention to detail or being very careful and precise." I clarified partially in Japanese. "Why are they speakin' Japanese?" Tanisha asked. "Why do you care?" Alex asked. "Shut up." Tanisha told her. "Haruhi is not very fluent in English but she can manage to hold a conversation in English. I found that out the hard way shortly before I met Chloe." Lucie explained. "I've been teaching her ever since we were kids. She's still nowhere near my level of fluency, though." I told Tanisha. "I'm practically a master because I have a Canadian Mom who's been teaching me both Japanese and English ever since I started talking."
"Everyone's level of fluency with a certain language depends upon how long they've been speaking said language." Kimberly said. "True. My Mom, for example, knows both Japanese and English but she's never bothered to teach me Japanese and, to be fair to her, that's just because I was never all that into Japanese culture." Lucie said. "Trust me when I say that's a wise decision." I told her. "Why?" Lucie asked. "Because the Japanese hate hybrids like you and I and they're not very tolerant of foreigners, despite the fact that they have to be so they just feign it. All the time!" I answered. "Then why's Haruhi here?" Tanisha asked. "We've been childhood friends since the First Grade. She, out of all the Japanese friends I've made in my lifetime, has been the most accepting of me-whatever flaws I have. But, among the Japanese, people like Haruhi Shiraishi are a rarity. A diamond in the rough." I answered. "Oh damn." Lucie commented.
After we said goodbye to Lucie's bandmates, Mrs. Sheckler took Haruhi and I home because it was starting to get dark outside.
The next day, Lucie, Haruhi and I started hanging out with Tanisha in school and outside of school. Again, things were going fine until...
Three weeks after Haruhi and I spent time at Lucie's House, the two of us started walking home after my Mom called me on that new phone Tyrone bought for me (because his Dad forced him to) before he went to prison just to scold me because it was getting late and Tanisha, Lucie, Haruhi and I were still at that Shell convenience store we always hang out at after school. It seemed like a normal day. We said goodbye to Tanisha and Lucie, and then started making our way home.
It was getting cloudy and dark when we got halfway there after getting off the Translink Bus at our usual stop when I started feeling cramps in my privates. 'Oh shit.' I thought. I did the right thing, and told Haruhi about it. We then started hoofing it to the house and, once we were almost there (we could see the apartment from across the street), we were stopped by a group of four thugs. They then ran up to us, and started beating us up. I did not need any more pain right now. "This is for Tyrone!" One of the thugs shouted. Is that what this is about? The fact that I brought down one of the worst school bullies I've ever faced? I couldn't ask them that question, however, because I was too busy being beaten by baseball bats and crowbars. And then, to make things worse, my new phone started ringing. They only stopped to take my phone. "Ayo, this is Tyrone's phone." The first thug said. "Who's callin'?" The second thug asked. "Does it matter?" The first thug asked in reply. "It didn't matter when she got the shit kicked outta her by Tyrone." The third thug mentioned. After a bit of thinking, the first thug answered, "It's this contact labelled 'Mom'."
I knew it! "Turn that shit off! Now!" The fourth thug ordered. The first thug pressed "decline", and pocketed my phone before they continued with their assault against Haruhi and I. Haruhi's phone started ringing, and then, they stopped again only to force Haruhi to give them her phone so that they could destroy it before getting back to beating our asses again.
Then, suddenly, we heard a woman speaking Japanese. It was Mrs. Shiraishi. "Oh...shit...it's...Mom." Haruhi stammered. "What in the Hell are you four doing to my Daughter!?" My Mom's voice shouted. "My...Mom's...here...too." I stammered. "Oh shit!" The fourth thug shouted. Two of the thugs stopped assaulting us to charge towards our Moms, and beat their asses, too. "Hey!" A man's voice shouted. "You like beating up women and girls? How about taking on somebody your own size!"
It was Archie Forrester, our thirty-four-year-old neighbor who, despite being middle-aged, had the insights of a fifty-year-old grandpa. I was happy for a second. That second of happiness was the worst mistake of my life. And I was about to learn that the hard way. The stress from the pain I was enduring was building and building and building and building and building to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
The thing that should've been a blessing and a gift was the curse that saved me. I somehow let out a strong burst of fire, and it pushed every thug back. "What the...?" I ask. One second, I was being assaulted by these thugs, and the next, the assault stopped and my cramp immediately stopped, too. I then began looking at myself.
My hands were on fire and, strangely enough, it wasn't hurting me or burning my hands. More to the point, my nails had turned into medium-sized black claws. And I'm lucky I was wearing a black crop top with shoulder straps, though because I saw that I had medium-sized feathery red wings on my back. The wings ripped apart my gray sweater, though. "Oh no...it's begun..." Mom whispers. 'What? How did I hear that?' I thought. Mrs. Shiraishi gave Mom a confused look. "Mrs. Sakamoto, how old is Chloe?" Archie asked. "Please, understand, this doesn't make her any less good or bad than anyone else-" "HOW OLD IS SHE!?" Archie yelled. I've never seen this side of Archie. "Thirteen." Mom hesitantly answered. "So that's it...she's a Mutant!" Archie shouted.
"Mutant?" Mrs. Shiraishi asked.
"What's a Mutant?" Haruhi asked.
"It means that your friend ain't a Human no more." Archie answered with a hateful look in his eye.
"You're wrong, Archie." Mom said.
"No! You are wrong, Shelby-San." Mrs. Shiraishi said in Japanese with an equally-hateful look in her eye.
"Haruhi, get away from Chloe." Mrs. Shiraishi told her in Japanese.
"But-" "I said 'get away'!" Mrs. Shiraishi shouted in Japanese, interrupting her own Daughter.
Without a moment's notice, Haruhi backed away, and then, both Archie and Mrs. Shiraishi slowly picked up a crowbar and a baseball bat from the ground near where the thugs lay and then menacingly walked towards me. "No, no! Please! Don't!" I shouted. "Archie! Stop it!" Mom yelled. But it was of no use. Once they got close enough, they started beating me up. But then, something even stranger happened. One of my wings covered me like a shield. And I guess these feathers must've been made of steel or somethin' because none of their strikes could penetrate my wing. Still, I knew that that defense won't last forever. And I guess my Mom must've known that as well because she charged towards Mrs. Shiraishi, at least, and tried to fight her. Haruhi did the same thing to Archie, but she only got pushed aside.
It was then that my instincts told me that I have had enough. I pushed Archie back with my wing, and swiftly ran over to my Mom, picked her up while pushing Mrs. Shiraishi away with my other wing, and then, somehow, these wings made me fly. And I flew away as fast as I could. "Wha...but...but how?" Mom asked. "Honestly, I don't know, either. I think I'm just acting on instinct." I supposed. I then flew over to the roof of our apartment building, and made a clumsy landing. "Ow! Sorry." I said after we both stood back up. "No, no, it's alright. The doctor told me that you wouldn't be able to accurately control your abilities." Mom replied. "So you knew..." I say. Mom didn't respond.
"So am I a Mutant? The same as freaks like Magneto and Quicksilver?" I asked. "Yes, yes you are a Mutant. But that doesn't make you as bad as the Brother
-hood. The members of the Brotherhood of Mutants choose to use their powers to do bad things. What you choose to do with the power you have makes you a good or bad person." Mom answered. "How do you know that? How can you possibly know that?" I then asked. "Remember all those stories in the news about the X-Men? The Brotherhood's antithesis? The X-Men are good people." Mom told me. "But the news says that the X-Men are just as bad as the Brotherhood." I said. "Don't just blindly believe everything you hear, honey. Still, that doesn't mean they don't have flaws of their own..." Mom says.
"So...what happens, now?" I asked. "I'm sorry to say this, but...as long as Haruhi and Mrs. Shiraishi continues to live with me, you can't come back home ever again." Mom answered. "What!? But why?" I then asked. "Isn't it obvious? Mrs. Shiraishi might try to kill you again...and God knows what consequences she'll unleash upon Haruhi for trying to protect you. These anti-Mutant people are more often than not dangerous extremists." Mom answered. I started to cry. "S-So, what do I do?" I questioned. "The doctor I mentioned has a friend named Emma Frost. She can teach you how to control your powers." Mom answered. I cried some more.
Mom walked up to me, and held my hand even though my powers could burn her. But...surprisingly, they didn't. "I know, things may seem tough and it'll only get tougher for you from here on out. There are...people who will come after you, and try to use you for their own gain. But, I know that you're strong. And, for my sake and yours, you must grin and bear it. Now, go." Mom told me. "But...how do I find Emma?" I asked. "If she's anything like her rival, she might try to find you." Mom answered. "So...you might have to wait a while." "O-Okay." I sniffled. "Now, why don't you give your Mom a hand, and get me back down on solid ground before we say goodbye." Mom told me. "O-Oh! Yes!" I shouted. I picked her up again, and, without thinking, I flew back down to the ground, and clumsily put her down. She gave me one last goodbye hug, and I turned around, before flying away, both of us getting all teary-eyed.
Shelby watched as Chloe flew away, not knowing when she'll see her again. And then, Archie and Sakura and Haruhi ran up to them, expecting Chloe to still be there. "Where is Chloe?" Haruhi asked. They looked around, and then, when Archie looked up, he shouted, "Look!"
Both Sakura and Haruhi looked up, and saw Chloe flying away. They then looked back down at Shelby. "You let her escape, didn't you?" Archie asked. "I have nothing to say to people with hate in their hearts." Shelby told both of them. "Eh, it doesn't matter. She's gone, anyway. But if she comes back again..." Archie says. 'Why did you think I sent her away?' Shelby thought. Sakura gave Shelby a hateful glare before both Sakura and Archie turned around, and walked away.
Haruhi walked up to Shelby, and asked, "Where is Chloe going?" "I'll tell you later." Shelby answered. And then, they both started walking back into the apartment building.
The next morning, Shelby had to go to work so, after she left, Haruhi started getting ready for school, and was about to walk out the door when Sakura stopped her. "Mom, what are you doing? I have to get to school!" Haruhi shouted in Japanese. "Kitchen. Now." Sakura told her in Japanese. They then walked over to the kitchen. "What were you doing trying to attack Mr. Forrester like that!?" Sakura shouted in Japanese. "I was just trying to do the right thing! I was trying to save Chloe!" Haruhi shouted in Japanese. "You weren't saving anyone! You were saving a monster!" Sakura argued in Japanese. Haruhi scowled at her Mother.
"Don't give me that look! All Mutants are evil! And I thought I taught you better than that!" Sakura added in Japanese. Haruhi didn't respond.
"Now, I have been tolerant of your accepting nature, even when I was skeptical about her the moment you brought her into your life. But no more! You have gone too far this time." Sakura scolded in Japanese. "It's people like you who are the reason why foreigners hate the Japanese!" Haruhi shouted in Japanese. "How dare you talk back to me!" Sakura rebutted in Japanese. "It's true! I have heard Chloe's story and many other stories like hers all throughout my life. And guess what hatred like yours only breeds? It breeds more hatred! And if you won't stop that cycle, then I will have to bear that burden!" Haruhi argued back in Japanese.
After a long silence, Sakura picked up a knife, and tossed it to Haruhi. Haruhi only caught it as a self-defense mechanism. "Kill yourself." Sakura told her in Japanese. "What? Why?" Haruhi asked in Japanese. "If you won't do it, I will!" Sakura shouted in Japanese. "No, Mom, that's insane! This whole thing is insane! Why would I ever-" Haruhi says in Japanese. Haruhi was interrupted when Sakura charged towards her, and physically made her stab herself in the gut. "Mom...Why...?" Haruhi asks in Japanese before falling down, and dying. "No child of mine will ever be a Mutant Sympathizer!" Sakura shouted in Japanese. She then picked up another knife, walked over to Chloe's room, and then smashed everything in there. And then, she smashed up everything in Shelby's room, too, before going to Shelby's desk, picking up a sharpie, walking back over to the kitchen, and dipping it in Haruhi's blood before walking back to Chloe's room so that she can write a simple sentence in Kanji right on Chloe's wall. When she was finished, the Kanji sentence, when translated, said, DIE MUTANTS, DIE!. Sakura then dropped the sharpie, walked to her own room, and stabbed herself until she bled out. Sakura Shiraishi fell down, and died.
In the next room over, Archie was reading the newspaper because he had the day off. But after hearing some loud arguing from Shelby's apartment, he hatched what he thought was a "brilliant" idea. Archie pulled out his cell phone, and called 9-1-1. After they picked up, he put it to his ear. "9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The operator asked. "Yeah, uh, I heard some arguing in the apartment next to mine. Something about a Mutant and her collaborator. I think the Mutie came back, and whacked 'em or somethin'. And their collaborator just stood by, and helped the Mutant escape." Archie reported. "And what's your name and address?" The operator asked. "The name's Archie Forrester and my address is 321 Powell Street." Archie answered.
Later, at the Vancouver Police Station, two police officers heard about a murder on the police radio while sitting at their desks. "Well, some poor soul got reported for murder." The first officer said. "Any chance it could be false?" The second officer asked. "It doesn't matter. They said that a Mutant and a...well, sympathizer was involved, said that they're behind it." The first officer answered. "You know the protocol..."
The second officer sighed. "I'm callin' the nearest MRD unit in the vicinity." He said. "Now, there's a good boy." The first officer said as though his partner was a dog. The second officer picked up the phone, and made the call. After they picked up, the second officer said, "Hello? MRD? I've got somethin' you're wantin' to look into..."
After lunch, the MRD drove into Shelby's apartment building's parking lot, and then, a bunch of MRD soldiers got out of their bulletproof trucks, and stormed into the building. They then knocked on Archie's door. Archie opened the door for them. "Are you Archie Forrester?" One of the MRD soldiers asked. "Yes." Archie answered. "I'm Commander Steven Walker, Mutant Response Division. Where's the Mutant's place of residence?" The soldier asked. "The apartment next to mine. It's labelled: 320." Archie answered. "I've found it!" Another soldier called. Commander Walker and his soldiers went over to the door marked 320, and then knocked. "It's the MRD! Come out with your hands up, and surrender the Mutant!" The soldier ordered. No one answered.
"Come out with your hands up!" The soldier shouted again. And again, no one answered. "Come out with your-" "That's enough, soldier. It's clear that nobody's home." Commander Walker said. Another soldier walked up to the door, and kicked it open. They all ran into the apartment, and began searching the entire place.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Oh my God!" A sixth soldier said. Commander Walker and the other soldiers went to the kitchen, and saw what that soldier said, "oh my god" about. "Damn...she's just a kid." Commander Walker stated. "Mr. Forrester did report a murder, Sir." A British soldier said. "It certainly does look like a murder." Commander Walker replied. "There's another one!" Another soldier called. They all rushed over to one of the bedrooms, and saw another dead body. "...and she must be the Mother of that poor girl." Commander Walker said. "Commander! I think you'll want to see this!" An eighth soldier shouted. They then rushed over to another room. They saw the Kanji on the wall. "I can't read any of that. Can you, Commander?" The eighth soldier asked. "No." Commander Walker answered. "Sergeant Phillips." Commander Walker said. "Yes, Commander?" A seventh soldier asked. "Get Private Tadano over here." Commander Walker ordered. Just then, Private Tadano walked into the room. "Well...that was a short search." Sergeant Phillips quipped. "Sir, Mr. Forrester said that the Mutant's name is Chloe Sakamoto and her collaborator is Shelby Sakamoto, her Mother. According to Mr. Forrester, Chloe's abilities are flight using red bird-like wings which naturally protrude from her back and she also has black claws on her fingers. Sir, I'm thinking he might mean talons if her powers have a bird motif to them." Private Tadano reported. "Good work, Private. Now, can you tell me what this means?" Commander Walker asked. "Let me have a look..." Private Tadano says.
Private Tadano read what was on the wall, and said, "Yeah, that's Kanji, alright but the translation is strange..." "What do you mean?" Commander Walker asked. "It says 'die, Mutants die' in all capital letters if we translate it to English. So the question becomes: Why would a Mutant write that after committing two murders?" Private Tadano explained. "That's why I said that the translation is strange."
"Well, maybe it has a death wish. A wish only we can carry out." Sergeant Phillips guessed. "Well, that's a question we'll ask it after it's found. I want an All-Points Bulletin on Chloe Sakamoto! If you find her Mother, shoot to kill on sight! Occupy the city, if you have to, until we find the Mutant!" Commander Walker ordered. "Yes Sir!" All the soldiers acknowledged.
At Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Charles Xavier, also known by his super
-hero identity, Professor X and known Leader of the X-Men and known as the Headmaster of this school, was in his office, doing some paperwork when he got an alert from Cerebro. Charles used his wheelchair to wheel himself around his desk, out of his office, and to the hidden elevator which leads to the X-Men's Secret HeadQuarters. He took the elevator all the way down to the X-Men's HQ, and wheeled himself to Cerebro, where he puts a funny-looking big helmet on, and uses his mind to see what the alert was all about.
He soon found another poor young Mutant...who is in Canada...and her powers have just manifested themselves. Also, the MRD is after her. 'She is in trouble!' Charles thought. He used his mind to turn off Cerebro, and then took the helmet off. He used his mind to open a communication channel to all the members of the X-Men.
'To me, my X-Men.' Charles thought.
Later, every member of the X-Men entered the X-Men's control room in their costumes. Off to the side is a big computer screen with an adequately-sized computer console. "What have you called us all here for, Charles?" Storm asked. "It's about a girl." Charles answered. He then used his mental powers to press a button on the computer console. "Don't tell me you've become a pervert, Charles." Wolverine quipped.
After that, it showed a picture of a white and Asian girl who dresses like a normal pre-teen girl. She has caucasian skin yet Asian facial features and brown eyes and black hair. "Didn't know that Asians were your type." Iceman quipped. Both Wolverine and Iceman laughed. "This is no laughing matter, you two." Charles told them. They immediately stopped. "So who is she?" Storm then asked. "Chloe Sakamoto, age thirteen. She recently moved from Osaka to Vancouver." Charles answered.
"Sounds like a Hell of a trip." Pyro commented. "Indeed. Chloe is a Mutant and, just now, her powers have manifested themselves. And that put her on Cerebro's radar." Charles briefly explained. "Heh. She doesn't look like a Mutant." Wolverine said. Charles wheeled himself up to the console, pressed another button, and pictures of the normal Chloe switched over to Chloe with red wings, clawed fingers and fiery hands. "She's cute." Iceman commented. "Couldn't agree more, Ice Cube." Pyro replied. "I stand corrected." Wolverine stated. "As with any young Mutant who's powers have just manifested, Chloe doesn't know how to control her powers and that will, more than likely, put a target on her back. But, when she does, she'll more than likely know how to activate her powers at will, just like our very own Warren Worthington III." Charles added. "And she's got fire powers, like me." Pyro also added. "Yes. You two might be able to teach her control." Charles said.
"You said that her powers have put her on Cerebro's radar. And that her powers have put a target on her back." Cyclops said. "Yes. I'm afraid that they have. Her neighbor has framed her for two homicides and now, the MRD is on the hunt for her. Their report says that her Mother helped her escape and that they've put out a kill-on-sight order for her Mother." Charles replied. "If the MRD is already there, then it's useless for us to chase after 'er. Chloe is already dead, if we're talking realistically." Wolverine stated. "It's only hopeless if we choose to do nothing, Logan. Plus, we already have ways to get to Vancouver." Charles told him. "Speaking of, Kitty, Angel and Iceman will go to Vancouver to find Chloe, get the situation under control, and bring her back here."
"Kitty will try to calm her down as she may be scared because of the presence of the MRD. Angel can also take on that role because you can relate to her, can't you?" Charles added. "Don't remind me." Angel told him. "And finally, Iceman can use his abilities to help her temporarily control her fire." Charles also added. "Hmph. Sounds easy enough." Iceman arrogantly said. "Don't be so cocky, Bobby. Like Professor X said, the MRD is already there. And we've had enough close encounters with them before." Cyclops warned. "And because she's been framed for those murders, the Ultimates will come after her, and try to arrest her." Kitty added. "Exactly." Charles agreed. "You're forgetting one other danger: Chloe's in Vancouver, and because of that, she's already in close proximity to Emma Frost, who has a rip-off of your school in that city, Professor." Wolverine said. "Funny you should mention her. I read Chloe's mind when I was still using Cerebro, and she was told by her Mother not to trust either us or the Ultimates and that she should go to Emma instead. As of right now, Chloe is biding her time until Emma can find her, and come to her." Charles said.
"I understand the Ultimates, but why would her Mother ever poison her against us, and point her to Frost, who will undoubtedly use her?" Wolverine asked. "I read her Mother's mind, too. Apparently, she's met a familiar man who's an ally of Emma's and a former friend to us. I think some of you might recognize his name. Dr. Ethan Churchill." Charles said. "Dr. Churchill was an old friend of mine back in University...such a shame that he switched sides, and went to work for Emma Frost." Beast said. "A shame, indeed, Henry." Charles said.
"So this is going to be a tough battle...who can get to Chloe Sakamoto first? Emma Frost? The MRD? The Ultimates? Or us?" Iceman said. "Precisely." Charles agreed. "I'll get Forge to prepare the Blackbird for take-off." Cyclops said. "Please do." Charles politely told him. Cyclops, Iceman, Angel and Kitty all left the room.
In the Ultimates' HQ, which is a big mansion (previously owned by Maria Stark, the Mother of Iron Man) in New York City, all members of the Ultimates were off doing their own things when they got an alert from JARVIS, Antonio "Tony" Stark's AI. All members rushed to the Assembly Hall, deep beneath the mansion.
In the center of the Assembly Hall is a big circular table which is capable of displaying holograms so the Ultimates call it a "Holotable". Iron Man turned on the Holotable to see what all the fuss was about. "It seems like we've got a murderer on the loose in Vancouver." Iron Man said. "And she is a Mutant." Thor added. "She's also kinda...kinda cute." Human Torch also added. "Down, Heatboy." Hawkeye quipped. "Her name is Chloe Sakamoto. She's a thirteen-year-old who's just moved to Vancouver from Japan." Captain America stated.
"She's thirteen...then that means her powers have just manifested themselves." Bombshell said. "True." Captain Britain replied. "We all know that this time isn't good for any Mutant." "As the old meme says, cool motive, still murder." Falcon quipped. "If these are her first two murders, then there's a chance a judge might be lenient with her at her trial." She-Hulk added. "Well, there's also the fact that Canada doesn't have the death penalty so the harshest sentence she'll receive is life imprisonment." Falcon also added. "So, what's the call, Riri?" Iron Man asked.
"Well, the MRD is already there, out on the hunt for her and she's likely going to die by their hands if she's caught. And if she really did commit those murders, then she needs to live to feel the weight of her crimes." Ironheart answered.
"Chances are, the X-Men could also be after her." Captain Britain assessed. "We'd be fools to think that Xavier hasn't already found her." "And then there's Emma Frost." Bombshell said. "Right...she could also be wanting to get her." Captain Britain added. "What with her being in Vancouver, she'll be easy to find and to get." "Emma is known for using young Mutants for her own gain. She practically has an army of 'em that have reached adulthood by now." Black Widow stated. She-Hulk slams her fist on the table. "Every time I try to sue her and get her ass to prison, she always walks because of one reason or another! It infuriates me." She-Hulk said.
"With all that said, we'll need firepower. Iron Man, Thor, Falcon, Valkyrie, Human Torch and Bombshell will engage Chloe while Captain Britain, Black Widow, She-Hulk and Hawkeye deal with the X-Men and Hulk, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and The Invisible Woman will handle the MRD." Ironheart said. "What about Emma Frost?" Bombshell asked. "Leave Emma to me." Ironheart answered. "Sounds like a dangerous plan, Ironheart." Wasp commented. "Believe me, if it were just Chloe, I would send in Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Ant-Man and you, and then call it a day because, chances are, Chloe might not know how to use her powers all that well so knocking her out, and taking her in will be easy if she doesn't just surrender at the mere sight of the seven of you out of fear. However, as it is, too many sides are at play here. So that means it's already a ground war." Ironheart told her.
"So we divide and conquer." Captain America said. "Exactly." Ironheart replied.
"Well, you heard 'er, people! Let's get ourselves to Vancouver!" Black Widow shouted. And so, the Ultimates members who can't fly all rushed to the hangar to get in the Quinjet while the members who can fly flew away in advance. This just leaves Black Panther, Wasp, Spider-Man (the Miles Morales one), The Thing and Ant-Man in charge of the Mansion and with nothing to do.
I was flying around the city, waiting for Emma when I felt machine gun fire coming towards me. I looked down, and saw three humvees lined up on the street with their turrets aimed at me. I made sure to dodge the bullets, or block them with both of my wings. 'Why is this happening to me?' I thought. 'Is my existence as a Mutant really going to be this bad? Is this what life as a Mutant is always going to be like?'
I turned around, flew away, and landed down on the ground before going to hide in an alleyway. 'Who are these people, anyway?' I thought. I hid myself behind a trash bin. A tank rolls past, presumably looking for me. As it passed by, I got a good look on the label on the side. "MRD".
'The MRD?! Does that mean...no, it can't be the Mutant Response Division! Who called 'em? Mrs. Shiraishi?' I thought. I've heard of the MRD only once before, when they were warring with the X-Men and the Brotherhood in Washington, DC like, five years ago or something like that. 'I better lay low.' I then thought.
Meanwhile, at the Academy of Tomorrow next to Vancouver's Arts School, Emma Frost was in a secluded room deep beneath the academy. This was where Selena, her version of the X-Men's Cerebro, is located. She was using it to find Chloe Sakamoto, a Mutant Dr. Churchill told her about last week. Unsurprisingly, she's very local...and hiding from the MRD. Emma turned off Selena, and thought, 'I have finally found you.'
END OF CHAPTER