At the entrance to the holodeck there was a long line of mutants waiting to enter. There where couches sitting all along the walls and techno music could be heard inside.
"Woah!" a
twin exclaimed.
"Wait...we don't really have to
wait, do we?"
"This is a very popular level." The tech said "Sometimes booths open up."
"Well we're not waiting that long." a
twin said, looking up and down at the building. The other joined in with the search. They were looking for an opening....a window perhaps?
"I knew we wouldn't be able to get in." The tech said in his snippy tone from earlier. Meanwhile behind him he didn't notice a maintenance man leaving threw a door with a sign marked "Employees Only".
The twins were much more observant. "Bingo!" they exclaimed, "It's a cliche, but it's there for a reason. Come on-" The two yanked him back around the building. When no one was looking, they slipped through. "Easy enough."
There was an especially tight corridor beyond the maintenance door. The walls on ether side blinked with a multitude of flashing lights, almost as if they where sandwiched between giant circuit boards. There had to be more doors around here somewhere.
"I honestly don't think we're supposed to be in here." The tech said, a few drops of sweat trickling down his brow.
"Ah whatev- our friends are all doing boring stuff."
Jayden said as they headed towards the booming music.
"They won't even notice we are gone."
Jaden added, not particularly liking that detail.
"You brought more like you with you?" the tech asked, concerned for the asteroid if there where more people like them on the station.
"Yea- the whole xmen gang. At least what's left of it." a
twin explained before they ran into a security guard. "Woah-"
"Hey! How'd you get in here?!" he asked in a deep voice.
Jayden stepped forward and started at him in the eyes. "We just took the short cut."
The security guard's eyes opened wide, "Oh....I see, carry on." he stepped aside.
The tech gave the guard as wide a birth as he could in the narrow corridor as he asked "You guys are X-Men? Like real X-Men?"
"Yyyyesss..." a
twin answered, unsure why it was a big deal.
"Are you a fan-boy?" asked the other as they headed into the dance floor.
"Not really but I'd have had to have lived under a rock all my life to have never heard of the X-Men." The tech said
"You've probably heard of our parents more then anything."
Jaden said.
"They did so much cool stuff." said the other.
"My Dad's a mutant, he always kept up on the latest X-Men news." The tech said "I heard about what happened. Is that why you two where in the labs, are you guys working on a plan to find them?"
"Well... they've been gone for so long now. Months...witho
ut a word. It's a little naive to think they are alive somewhere." a twin explained.
"But we don't bring it up. The others try...but who knows if anything will come of it."
"I see, your not keepong your fingers crossed then?" the tech asked, it sounded sort of sad hearing how little hope the twins had of finding their parents.
"Can we stop talking about this?" they both said, stepping out of the back halls, into the dance floor. The booming music thumped against their chests as it hit them.
What lay in front of them was a sort of pit, with a sea of people dancing, swaying and moving to the music. Bars where set at ether end and there was a constant flow of traffic coming from them. Along the outer walls there where smaller cube-like rooms, some still had their curtains open. The walls depicted different locations, from salty, sandy beaches to a schooner splashing in the ocean. Once thing was certain, the place was packed and it was incredibly loud.
The tech was stunned but after a few moments of gawking he managed to shout, "Guys I don't think we should be here!" But in the awesome mangle of music and noise his words where lost and he just looked like he was flapping his jaws.
"Why not? This place looks awesome!" a twin said.
"Yea..haven't been to one of these in ages!" They wrapped an arm under the helpless tech's arm and pulled him towards the pit to dance.
The tech's shoes squeaked on the floor as he tried to resist being pulled toward the dance pit. "But I'll have to be re-sterilized!"
"We can take a bath later!" the twins shouted, jumping down into the pit. Using their gravitational control, they landed gently but they soon got smashed in the crowd. Lifting their arms up, they jumped along, "Whoo!"
The tech's glasses where gone in an instant, he found them again when he felt his foot crush them. "Not cool guys!" He shouted and fished for his spare pare.
"Hey! This is awesome!" one said as he was pressed up against the tech's shoulder.
The other twin got a little separated from the two but they were so packed in that he managed to ask, "By the way, what's your name, man?"
"Guy Collier." The tech shouted "Most just call me Tech." He put his spare glasses on only long enough for them to be flung ff and crushed again. He wasn;t getting another pair out just yet. "I'm blind, don;t leave me!" he begged whichever twin was pressed up against him.
"Don't worry, mate- I couldn't move if I tried!" the twin said.
The other tried to weave through the people but it was becoming difficult. "Move it!" he shouted to some random people, skimming by them to get to his brother.
The people in the horde didn't care much about the direction Jaden wanted to go but someone in the pack grabbed his but and tossed him into the air, well higher than a normal human could so.
"WOAH!" he shouted as he was tossed into the air suddenly.
As if something sparked inside of him, Jayden looked up to see his brother nearly ten feet in the air, flying like a ragdoll. "Jaden!" Using his ability, he lifted gravity on his brother so he wouldn't fall
Stuck in the air now, Jaden used his own ability to lower himself.
"Come on, let's teach that guy a lesson!" Jayden said to the tech.
"Woah woah no no, please." Tech begged "Let's just go, do the sensible thing. Trust me you don't want to deal with security."
"THEY are the ones who should deal with security!" Jaydan shouted, pissed off that someone would do that to his brother, "Hey fatass!" he shouted at the suspected man. It would be a bit odd, seeing the same guy youjust tossed over your shoulder.
"Hey cutie mutie." A very large man replied seeing Jayden "I remember that tush any where."
Jayden gave him a disgusted look. "You'd better back off, mate!" he threatened.
"What did I do?" The large man asked, looking up at his superior height it was easier to tell that people where getting tossed around in a general fashion.
Jaden managed to make it threw and over to the four of them. "What's the big idea, jackass?!" he shouted.
"Wow... double the pleasure double the fun eh?" The large man asked the two of them. "Are you boys hear to stay or are you just visiting?"
The two didn't know what to think. "Uhh....visiting." one shouted over the music.
A twin looked at the tech as if he had an answer to this odd situation. For once the twins felt a bit....awkward.
"Thanks for not smashing us!" Tech shouted and snatched both of their arms to disappear in the sea of people.
"What the hell was that about? He was the guy who threw you, right?"
"Definately!" the twins went back and forth as the tech dragged them along. "People are weird here..." he muttered. At least that guy was.
"Let's find a cube?" Tech suggested sense it was apparent that they weren't going to leave immediately "Are you guys twenty one?"
The twins looked at one another before smiling, "Of course." They weren't lying however...they were 30 in Aztrentian years.
"Then we can have a cube." Tech told them "But how are we supposed to get out of here?" He indicated the massive pit they where standing in.
Before the tech could really finish his sentance, the twins lightened the pull on gravity on the three of them. They floated up and landed out of the pit quickly. "Ah so- which one?" they looked around.
"Hey, that one is open yet." a twin pointed.
"OH MY GOD WHAT"S HAPPENING?" Tech yelled, completely freaking out.
"Dude relax." the twins gestured to themselves, "X-men, remember? I thought this place was full of mutants?" they asked, heading into a booth. "We hypnotize and have control over gravity." they explained together. "Notice how that one security gaurd let us by?" they smirked.
"Sorry but it's not every day I get levitated over a sea of people." Tech said "I much prefer teleportation, despite the smell."
"Ahh..." the twins lifted their brows, sitting down now, "Wait...smell?" They didn't have much time with Father Wagner so they had no idea of the brimtone-like puff it left when he teleported.
"OH! There are people leaving that cube over there." Tech pointed it out, there was a line of people exiting a small room and the holographic walls had just turned white "And there's a group making their way to it already!"
Jaden lifted a hand, increasing gravity on the group. It was as if their feet were glued to the spot. "Come on, let's hurry." The twins gave one another a high-five. They hadn't used their powers this much in a long time.
"We call that cube!" Tech shouted as they got closer and the other group where heading for their cube. "DIBS!" he noticed that one of the people had spotted them and where now ushering their group to the cube quicker "We're gonna loose it!" He told the twins.
"No we're not!" the twins shouted, excited by the tech's persistence. They grabbed him and ran in that direction but the others were already seated. "Hey babes." A twin leaned in onto the table and glanced into their eyes. "This is my friend's first time in a club. Let us take this booth." he said, hypnotizing them to nod and agree. "There is a shiny red hydrant outside, how about you guys go and stare at it for two hours?"
Outside Waya and Phinagin where having a hard time getting in.
"I'm sorry ma'am but the holodeck is at capacity." Said a very large very green mutant. "It's for your own safety."
"Look, I can teleport." Waya told the door man "We'll be in and out in a few seconds."
"Like I said." The mutant repeated. "The holodeck is at capacity." He eyed both Waya and Phinagin, trying to decide if they might try and cause trouble.
Jeremy leant against Rhydian for a moment, saying gently in his ear "Look after my body, I'm heading in ok?" Looping one arm around Rhydian's shoulders, he tried in vain to hold himself upright as his faintly glowing spiritual form left his body.
Phinagin stepped forward, deciding to try his hand at this negotiation. "We have some friends in there that we need to grab. We dont want to stay and party or anything. It shouldnt take more then 15 min and then we are out and the only people that know you were over capacity are you and us, and we arent going to tell."
"Look pal, your not getting in." The door man said "Your friend is passed out any way. Take the girl and scoot."
Waya, being forced to support Jeremy's body, slid him over to the wall so she could keep an eye on him. She then grabbed Phinagin and pulled him away so the door man couldn't hear her, "Your the richest person in the world right? Bribe him, I'll go in, the twins won't listen to Jeremy and he doesn't have the physical mass to make them." She pointed at Jeremy's lifeless form. "I'd teleport in but I need shadows of the actual place, there's too much light inside that room for me to get in on my own."
Jeremy flashed through walls and conduits, he could easily shut down the place, turn every fire sprinkler on and make EVERYONE leave, but he decided the direct approach first. He scanned the place as he stood up, knowing the twins they'd be in some kind of conflict... Ah, they were at the edge. He drifted over to them and slowly a glittering white-ish figure drifted down between the twins, their companion and the girls who had been going for the cubical. To the twins it would be clear it was Jeremy, to everyone else... something wierd.
"I thought about doing that." Phinagin said angrily as he didnt like being yanked around like some poor animal on a leash. "But I didnt know if they took american currency or some form of Magnetopoly Money!"
"It doesn't hurt to try." Waya told him. "Cough up the cash."
"Ok, I did bring a little money with me incase we needed it." Phinagin sai as he ruffled around in his pants pocket. He came out with about $523. "There, thats what I have on me." he added, handing the money to Waya.
After the other gang left, the twins gave one another a high five before looking around for a waiter. "So when's happy hour?" they asked.
Jeremy glared at the twins, then sighed and drifted forward and entered one of the twins. Maybe they hadn't seen him, but he needed to get his point across right now. He didn't drag the twin into his own mind though, instead the twins just got the words "Waya is waiting outside for you guys, dodgey stuff is happening. Check in outside" drifting into their minds.
The twins looked at one another at the same time. "Did you? Yea." They paused, "Should we? Nah." They spoke to one another at the same time and came to the same conclusion. "So about happy hour?" they looked to the tech.
"Magneto said something about Nuclear Warheads guys, we need to talk" the voice said again, Jeremy inside their heads and resisting the urge to prod around to get them to submit.
One twin looked at the Tech while the other talked with Jeremy, So? He won't blow his own kingdom up.
"Wait? Isn't this the guy you guys all claimed were like... seven kinds of crazy? You're saying that he would not be prepared to blow this place and everyone on it to hell?" Jeremy said, his voice showing no emotion whatsoever.
No... we were the only two who are giving him a chance. Look at this place. It's a hell of a lot better then that lonely mansion. Jaden replied.
"Not for me..." echoed in their heads for a moment before Jeremy sighed mentally "We just don't want you guys to get picked off suddenly, I mean wondering off alone like that imagine what could happen?"
Fun. they mused together, You know, the act of enjoyment. No one else seems to understand what it is. Look at this guy- he is a geek beyond geeks and even HE can cut loose more then the others.
"We're not trying to drag you back, we want to know what you guys are doing and check up with you on things. Jeese, all we'd probably do is leave someone else with you as back up if something happened" Jeremy sighed slightly, considering how tainted the twins views on their team mates had become.
"This should be enough." Waya told Phinagin and snatched two fifties "Stay with Jeremy's body, I'll be right back." Turning her back to Phinagin she "adjusted" herself in her uniform, stuck a fifty between the girls and walked back to the door mutant. "Are you sure I can't get in? I'll only be a few minuets."
The door man took a look around the lobby, making sure none of his supervisors where lurking about. He snatched the fifty from between Waya's cleavage and stepped out of her way. "You've got five minuets, or I'm coming in after you."
Waya gave Phinagin a quick little salute before heading into the holodeck. Immediately the multitude of flashing lights and booths projecting holograms made her feel vulnerable all of a sudden. The shadows of intoxicated people refused to come to her call to allow her to teleport and the few sober shadows she sensed where too thin amidst the strob lights. She reconciled herself to wading threw the hord of people, trying to catch a glimpse of Jeremy's ethereal specter.
Well you're here now. There. That's settled, yea? a twin said to Jeremy.
"My body is outside guys, I can't leave it there, they'll think I'm dead." Jeremy sighed slightly "At least come out so we can pick up my body?"
Wha? Do you have any idea how hard it was to get in? a twin replied before the other went on, Just wait til we are wasted, that's all.
"Come on guys!" Jeremy huffed into their minds, before silence over took him "Guys... if this all turns out ok... am I going to see you around, or are you going to completely dissapear?"
What are you talking about? a twin asked in reply.
"You vanished, in like a split second the moment you were out of direct sight. I mean what if something was happening to us and you guys had gone off partying?" Jeremy sighed in their mind "I'm just asking... if his place turns out ok, and we decide to live here from now on... am I still going to see you guys every now and then, or am I going to be that strange person no one talks to again? Are you going to leave me alone?"
Course not. the twins said as one, Get in your body and get your ass in here. We'll both buy you a drink. Hurry up though...before Waya decides to round everyone together and leave.
"Can't other wise we'd all be in here. The doorman won't let us in, says there are too many, that's why I'm asking you to come out and meet us." Jeremy pointed out.
Waya was even having trouble levitating, the lights where making her shadow too thin and the sea of people hampered her search of the Twins. "They are so dead when I find them." All of a sudden she was pushed into a bar stool, nearly knocking it over. She quickly climbed onto the bar, realizing that from the new vantage point she could better see her surroundings. She ignored the fact that someone was tugging on her leg and shouting at her to get down, she was more interested in the strip of pink hair that might be the back of one of the twins heads. She began her swin threw the sea of people in that direction.
"Just take the money and run." Phinagin said with a sigh as he stuffed the rest of his money into his pockets. "That's what Dad said the girls would do." He added as he hoisted Jeremy easily onto his shoulders and plopped him down on a bench in the lobby. "Its not exactly what he meant...but close." he said to Jeremy's lifeless body.
Slowly, Jeremy's one open eye turned to stare at Phinagin. Nothing else happened, just this eye staring at him from a friend's corpse.
Can ya just wait til we at least get a drink, mate? the twins said to Jeremy as they lifted a hand to flag down a waiter.
A waiter spotted them and since he was covered in flashing lights people moved out of his way so he take the twin's order.
On her way to investigate the strip of pink hair Waya noticed that people where parting to let a waiter pass. She quickly moved in behind him and when he stopped she noticed it was indeed the twins. She pushed the waiter away "Their minors, go peddle booze over there." Waya looked at the twins rather disapprovingly, it was thrown off by the fact that her hair looked completely ridiculous from swimming threw so many people.
"I tried nicely... now you're in trouble" Jeremy said gently, seeing Waya through the twins eyes "I think you should go now before you lose all dignity and get dragged out by your hair..."
"Ahaha." Phinagin laughed uncomfortably. "Lets just fix this problem." he added as he reached over and closed Jeremy's eyelid and then turned his head so if the eye popped back open it wouldnt be looking at him.
Jeremy's eye opened again, his head starting to slowly revolve back towards Phinagin. SOMETHING was moving it, but right now it wasn't Jeremy.
The twins ignored Jeremy for the time being as Waya took their attention by actually having a physical form. They bit their lips, snickering at her hair and frazzled face. "Well now look what you did... now we have to hypnotize him."
"Look guys, just forget what your doing and come on." Waya told them, she leaned over the table so they could hear her better. "I'm not mad, I promise, but we found some shit out and it's best the team talk. We need to know what you guys learned too."
Tech was sort of frozen on the spot, when this new, white-skinned, goth chick leaned over the table he got a good impression of how tight her uniform really was. He wanted to introduce himself or ask them her name bt his mouth couldn't formulate the popper sentences.
This time there was no nervous laughter from Phinagin as he watched Jeremy's head move back towards him. He lifted his hand and from it sprouted bone which quickly took the shape of a neck and head brace with a piece coming down from the top. He straightened Jeremy's head and faced him forward and quickly slipped it on his head. The cover thankfully blocked Phinagin's view of Jeremy's eyes. "Thats better."
A little shocked that Waya didn't bite their heads off, the twins nodded, "Fine fine...but you owe us a drink sometime." They slipped out of the booth and gestured to the tech, "You coming or stayin'?" they asked him.
Jeremy seemed to shrug in the twins minds "Ok, if you're going for her." He left quickly, waving slightly at the tech as they wooshed through the crowds easily, eventually skirting past the door man. He stopped however as he approached his body, seeing the neck brace and eye cover Phinagin had placed on him. He tapped his ghostly foot in mid air, turning to stare at Phinagin as he crossed his arms. He wanted to know just what the hell was going on.
"Coming, I'll never get out of here on my own." Tech said sliding out of the booth behind them.
"Who's this?" Waya asked, finally taking notice of Tech.
Phinagin looked over and caught sight of Jeremy's ghost looking somewhat upset. He raised an eyebrow at him before looking at Jeremy's body and then back at his astral form. "Its your fault." he said plainly.
Jeremy made the movement that could only be described as "Look at it! How is this my fault?" He then tugged at something around his etherial neck, trying to indicate to Phinagin to take it off.
"Not till you get back in your body!" Phinagin said sternly. He still believed that it was Jeremy playing a trick on him and he wasnt to happy about it.
Jeremy grimaced at him and vanished inside his body again, immediatley a pair of long nailed hands reached up and ripped the brace free. "Ah, dammit, that things tight. What the hell? Why'd you put that thing on me?"
"A new friend we stole from the labs. He teleports." they mused, as if they deserved a pat on the head.
"Since when do I teleport?" Tech whispered to the closest twin. "My dad can, not me."
"Labs... bring him, he might be useful." Waya told them
"Because you wouldnt stop looking at me!" Phinagin said angrily. "I dont know what you have been told, but I DONT appreciate practical jokes. The next time you do something like that I will personal put out your eyes so you can never do it again!"
"how could I be looking at you? I was dead!" Jeremy said, frowning at Phinagin and rubbing his neck firmly. He didn't care who just heard that he'd been dead jut then, he was annoyed; he didn't like people messing with his dead body.
Jayden flared a brow when the tech whispered into his ear. They had misheard him in the crowd of people yelling and the thumping music. well anyway...best to play it off now.
"I dont know how you did it." Phinagin said back. "But however you did it, dont do it again!" This time he got up and walked away and went back to the entrance to keep an eye out for Waya.
"You did it... didn't you?" Jeremy thought to himself, frowning and gritting his teeth. This thing was growing more powerful by the day, soon he'd have a real problem on his hands.
"Come on waya, the bouncer isnt going to wait much longer." Phinagin thought aloud. He couldnt see her or the twins in the mess of people infront of him.
"He will if I want him to" Jeremy muttered darkly, rubbing his eyes slowly and biting his lip. He wouldn't let a slab of meat get in the way of them talking right now.
The twins rolled their eyes and slid out of the booth, bringing the tech along. "We get it, Waya... not in a public place." they both winked at her seductively.
"Can you two lift us out of here?" Waya asked "No way I'm wading threw that mess again."
"Right right..." the twinsheld hands and lifted all four of them up over the crowd. They flew over to the exit and managed to slip out.
Outside the holodeck Waya, the Twins and Tech rejoined Jeremy's corpse and Phinagin.
Waya handed Phin the change from the exchange with the door man "Told you it'd work, now let's get back to the lab and rendezvous with the others."
"Great idea." Phinagin said, "This whole area is a bit much." he added gesturing at the whole holodeck.
Stumble!