Abnormals/Apprentices

The car came to an abrupt halt outside of a house. Vessel didn’t realize how much she missed sleeping on a bed until the prospect was in front of her again.

The red-haired woman’s eyes glowed as she stared at each of the other adults, who moved in sync.

“Follow me,” the red-haired man said, leading them into a room with a single bed and a desk.

Vessel heard the door lock behind them.

Faraday went straight for the bed as Hybrid grabbed the desk chair to look out the window. Vessel sat by the door, listening.

“This is evil!” the black-haired man said.

“This is business,” the red-haired woman said, “Why can you never get your mind around that?”

“Kidnapping isn’t business.”

“And stealing is completely legal? It’s not like we’re going to hurt them.”

“You don’t know that. Do you even know who our client is?”

The red-haired woman sighed.

“I assure you,” a new man’s voice said, “The Coven is trying to help superhumans, and these three are important to that mission.”

“They’re kids. They can’t be more than ten years old. What the hell are they supposed to do?”

“Not my department,” the red-haired woman said.

“But you have a department with the Coven? You keep taking jobs from them.”

“That’s not important.”

“I can explain why these children are so valuable,” the unknown man said, “If you’ll let me.”

Vessel listened closer, hoping the black-haired man said yes.

“Won’t change my mind, but fine.”

“The little blond boy is primarily made from Electron’s DNA.”

“How did they get their hands on that? Isn’t he in the Hudson?”

“We have our ways. The one with white hair was made from a mix of Alyssa Daybury and Berserker’s DNA.”

Berserker must be Hybrid’s father.

“Berserker I get, but why the dancer? To increase mental stability?”

The red-haired woman laughed.

“Someone who takes anti-psychotics isn’t stable.”

“Then why?”

“Not my department.” the other man said, “The little brown girl isn’t supposed to have powers. They were an unexpected incident of the DNA used. She has a different purpose. They’ll find a way to undo the damage once they have her back.”

“So according to the group that’s here to help superhumans, powers are a result of damaged goods.”

“Her powers, yes. However, she’s indisposable, so it will have to be handled.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“They probably don’t have enough Electron left to make another one,” the red-haired man said, “But the crazy one—”

“You don’t know she’s crazy,” the black-haired man corrected.

“She’s easier to replace, yes,” The unknown man admitted, “But kids become attached to each other, and they need the others compliant.”

Vessel heard footsteps and focused on them. The others were probably talking more about her and the others, but something told her whichever one was alone had an interesting reason.

She heard the click of a radio.

“Songbird,” the black-haired man said, and Vessel instinctively clung tight to whatever he was saying “Can you hear me?” he waited a beat, “This is insane. Do know the fucking—” he sighed, which was harder to grab, “I don’t know anything about the kids, but I don’t think they’ll be safe with our clients, but I’m only going to say this once: The kids are in a room on the north wall three windows from the west.”

Whoever this Songbird was, he believed she was there to rescue them, but what if she didn’t hear it?

Vessel closed her eyes, remembering her scream as she held the sounds of his words before placing them back where he was and playing them again. Hopefully Songbird would hear.

She will wait until the others are asleep, though they don’t make it easy to tell.

She will undo the power suppression, and endure the explosion of power that breaks most of the chairs.

“What are you—” Berserker will freeze, unable to move, because Circe made it so.

“They will never be able to save her,” she’ll explain, “Not without this.”

She will present the feather. By this time they’ve seen a peacock, and they know this is not what their feathers look like, yet that is the closest description.

She will climb onto the bed, and place the feather on Wildcard’s chest.

“Are you hurting her?”

“I’m saving her.”

“Will it hurt her to be saved?”

Yes, Circe knows it will, which is why she waited until Wildcard was asleep.

“It will hurt like memories, then everything will hurt less.”

The feather will dissolve into Wildcard’s chest, into her breath, into her blood, and everyone will feel the instability disappear. Only Circe will see how Wildcard tosses and turns.

After the deed is done, Circe will turn the power suppression back on and sit next to Berserker.

“What have you done?”

“I saved her.”

“Something’s wrong.”

“She was never going to be right.”

“What’s going to happen to her?”

“I don’t know,” Circe will admit, “She’s harder to see now.”

“Great!”

I jumped up, claiming one of the boards Coil used all of the time, and gripped for dear life as it carried me to the front door.

“I told the Coven to never come back,” I yelled, “Guess they thought you were a loophole.”

Something held me in place. Coil’s knowledge power revealed that Spade was at least a level 17 telekinetic a little too late.

“C’mon man,” I mumbled, “You’re supposed to be on our side.”

He finally walked into view. He was a short guy with black hair in a leather jacket.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Are you not—”

“Berserker,” Diamond, a level 17 Telepath, the same height as Spade, with red hair, said, “I’m surprised we’ve never met before.”

“I like surprises,” I said.

“Good,” her eyes turned completely red, “You’re in for a big one.”

She reached her hand out, and I saw sweat beading up on her forehead.

“Technopath,” she muttered, shaking her head, “When did he…?” She turned to the house.

A man with blond hair in light clothing came out, then lifted a hand to block me in ice.

Then they all left, including the Telekinesis keeping me still, so I fell in the middle of the ice.

I punched it with the metal arm, and all I got were painful reverberations.

I didn’t like the idea of going powerless for this long. But it was for the kids.

I let go of Tesla Coil’s power, breaking the ice around me with the explosion of energy.

“What the—”

I ran for Spade. Telekinesis would be the most useful.

I collapsed on the ground in front of him, and the ice surrounded me again, colder this time. Tesla Coil’s sensory dampening would have been useful right now.

“Why are you here?” Diamond asked, standing perfectly comfortable in the cold.

“Is this the surprise?” I asked, “A psychic attack?”

She laughed.

“Thanks for noticing.”

I fell through the ground to land trapped in a tank. I immediately started banging against the glass.

It’s not the most comfortable fit, I’ll admit, her mouth was moving on the other side of the glass, but her voice was too clear to be from anywhere but my mind, But the achievement of getting in your head is well worth it. Who made you?

I didn’t care. It wasn’t a secret.

Your employer. I survived when other faulty clones didn’t.

I kept trying to open the tank by banging on it. At some point, something had to shatter.

Is that the whole story? she asked.

No. I broke the tank, grabbing her arm, “The story’s what happened after I got out.”

I fell again, stuck in a hospital chair as Alyssa lay sedated, except this time she was an adult instead of the child she actually was at the time.

“That’s why they used her too,” she sat next to me, “She’s worse than you are.”

“She’s better than I’ll ever be.”

Diamond put a hand to her heart.

“That’s adorable. Too bad she doesn’t like you back.”

“She loves me.”

“No,” Diamond said, “She depends on you, but she doesn’t love you, not the way you love her at least.”

What a bitch.

I punched myself in the face.

“You shouldn’t think such mean things, it’ll hurt my feelings.”

“Turnabout is fair play,” I said, “I know you’re trying to wreck my feelings. Otherwise you wouldn’t try to say Alyssa doesn’t love me, because I know she does.”

“No one’s that sure.”

“Guess I’m no one then. Ask the eyes.”

I let her, for a moment, understand that you, and every other watching eye, were present.

“What?”

The illusion broke as Diamond’s mind was overwhelmed. That didn’t stop the telekinesis currently holding me in place.

“What do you think would be the reward to bring you back into the fold?” Ice Guy asked.

The weight of being powerless suddenly felt heavier than all the pressure of Tesla Coil’s powers. I wasn’t going to escape the coven again on my own.

“Arkodes Snow,” Tetra’s voice called from behind, “I should kill you where you stand.”

“I haven’t used my abilities on anyone who didn’t attack first,” he insisted.

“The kids are under the Heroes’ Guild’s protection,” Xer yelled as well.

“And Berserker is under ours,” Blaster finally added.

Diamond counted the people behind me as Spade let me fall back to the ground.

“Where’s the other two?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” I said, “They never told me where you kept the kids.”

I cracked my knuckles.

“Now, shall we?”

Arkodes Snow held up an arm, and all of them became encased in ice, then disappeared from within.

“We should inform Snow Siren that her cousin was involved in a kidnapping,” Tetra said as she stepped down.

“And the kids?” I asked.

I felt something small grab me from behind.

“Dad! I knew you’d come for me!”

I almost fell on top of her.

Alyssa stood in the still awkward warehouse where the Abnormals often met, watching the three children with interest. Electric Blondie was staying close to Tesla Coil, who occasionally ruffled his hair as she worked on her task. The one with white hair, which had been long in Alyssa's dream but a crew cut in reality, was clinging to an unbothered Berserker while staring at Alyssa. Finally Vessel, the girl with light brown skin, sat in the corner, occasionally staring at Nightingale, who'd just gotten some water for her.

“As I suspected,” Tesla Coil said, placing a hand on Faraday’s head, “Faraday here is primarily cloned from Electron’s DNA, slightly supplemented by my own.”

“Sorry I tried to electrocute you, mom.”

“We’ll sort it out.”

She turned to Alyssa’s kid.

“As Berserker guessed, she is a clone of Alyssa and, as she guessed, Berserker. Pretty much half and half.”

“I want a name,” the one who insisted on not going by the codename said.

“Destiny,” Alyssa decided, “How does that work?”

“Good enough.”

They turned to Vessel, who’d stayed next to Nightingale.

“Vessel didn’t show any matches in the database,” Tesla Coil admitted, “We may never know.”

“Where is she going then?” Destiny asked.

Alyssa looked away.

“Faraday,” Tesla Coil offered, “You can stay with me and my son if you’d like. We can figure out adoption—”

Faraday immediately hugged her.

“I have a brother.”

“Yeah.”

Tesla Coil turned her gaze toward Alyssa.

“There’s not a lot of room in my apartment,” she admitted to Destiny, “How’d you like to stay with the people who raised me?”

Destiny’s happy expression dropped, then turned to Berserker.

“When I have a home, it’s with her.”

Now Destiny looked panicked.

“I’m not abandoning you,” Alyssa promised, “I see them frequently, and they’d be happy—”

“I can get you better housing,” Tesla Coil said, “I have money to burn.”

“She wouldn’t be safe with—”

“The Dayburys wouldn’t be safe with her,” Coil insisted, “Even though we said they had the Guild’s protection, this probably won’t be the only attempt to get them back. We’d rather trust her to someone we know can defend themselves.”

Destiny looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“Okay,” Alyssa accepted, “I’ll do my best.”

That only left Vessel.

“Would you like to stay with me?” Nightingale asked.

“Wait,” Xer said, “You can’t mean—”

“I can teach her sign language,” she said, “I can communicate with her—”

“You’re the weakest one here,” Xer said.

“I can beat you up fine.”

“If the Coven is searching for one of these kids, do you think they’ll go for the one living in a warded house where four of us can arrive quickly, the one living with the same person as Berserker, or the one guarded by a telepath barely above level ten?”

“The levels are a bad measurement of ability,” Coil insisted, “And Nightingale lives in the same town as the Elementals should an emergency arise.”

“What?”

“How do you think I was the person they asked to contact Tetra?”

“What matters is what the kid wants,” Blaster said, gesturing to the child now clinging to Nightingale, “And besides, the rest of us are too public facing, not to mention keeping two of them in the same area is a security liability.”

Xer didn’t seem to like being wrong, but turned away to admit defeat.

“You need a different name if we don’t want to draw attention,” Nightingale suggested.

The little girl didn’t seem to respond.

“Pandora it is then.”

Alyssa didn’t like to think about her history all that much, but it was hard not to in these circumstances. Hopefully these kids would be better off than she was.