The
twins burst into the kitchen and immediately go to the stove and open an oven. "This is ok." one of them turned off the heat.
The other ran to a stove top. The soup was boiling over but the twin quickly lowered the heat. "Phew, this looks fine too." Something struck him, "THE ROLLS!"
The opposing twin jumped and opened another oven. He grabbed a hand towel and immediately took out the tray.
Crube followed them in taking in the delectible scent of earth food. "Just so you boys know, I'm alergic to mulduke berries."
Junior entered and hopped onto a stool, sitting on his haunches.
Waya came in, took a look at what the twins where fixing and set the island with bowls, glasses and a dish for the rolls.
"Jeez- we
were going to serve you guys."
Jayden rolled his eyes as he brought out a stack of plates. He wanted to make a good impression on his uncle.
"I would much rather you see the final masterpiece than the stages it took to get there."
Jaden agreed.
"Well, we're kind of hungry now."
Rhydian told them as he walked in, taking a seat beside Junior. "No sense in waiting for you guys to bring it up."
The idea of the princes serving on her was an interesting one that almost made
Eliza smile, but she decided hunger won over all and settled herself in her usual seat opposite Junior and Rhydian... There would still be two empty seats at the table. Her gaze flicked to Crube, no this it it would be only one.
The
twins didn't serve anyone just yet though everything was ready. Using their powers together, salt and pepper floated onto the table everyone was sitting. Following it was glasses, a jug of juice and a jug of milk.
"Pardon me for helping."
Waya said and left the island partialy set so one of the twins could finish.
"This looks good boys." Crube said sounding not at all sure as he held up his bowl and sniffed it. "Some sort of dehydrated food cube I take it?" Before anyone could answer he took a generous bute out of the bowl which broke into several large pieces as he bit down. "Needs salt." He said chewing the mouthfull of glass.
The
twins stared blankly. All the food was back on the counter and no one was even served yet. "Uncle?" they spoke in unison, "That isn't to be ingested." They both were still shocked he just did that.
Rhydian stared blankly as the 'uncle' of the twins devoured one of the bowls. He'd never actually seen someone eat glass before. It was really quite a show
"Oh..." Crube said with a mouth full of shattered bowl. "Dis mut be a ortion ontainer?" He swallowed with some considerable effort.
"We call them bowls."
Junior said picking up the pieces of broken bowl.
Waya pulled over the trash can so Junior could brush the debre into the bin. "If you like the dishes then the food will blow your mind." It wasn't often she gave the twins compliments but when it was concerning their cooking she usualy couldn't come up with a backable insult. She grabbed another bowl from the cubboard for Crube.
"Where is our lovely blossom?"
Jaden looked to the door out of the kitchen. The only reason they hadn't served anyone yet was because she wasn't here.
"She was outside but "popped" somewhere, didn't say where she was going."
Junior offered "There will be leftovers right?" He was famished and for lack of one particular four eyes x-teen he was eager to get on with lunch.
"Let's just eat already..."
Rhydian said quietly, but knowing full well that they could all hear him
Eliza stared at Crube as he took a massive bite out of the bowl, shivering slightly as she listened to the grinding of porcelain on teeth "U-uhhhh... do you need some help? Have you hurt yourself?"
"It's quite good actually." Crube told Liz. Since he'd already destroyed the bowl he figured he should clean up his mess "Taste kind of like Quizenberries.
"
Sometime later, after dinner.
"That was great boys!" Crube exclaimed, he pushed back his bowl offered an "Excuse me" and was forced to unlatch the first notch of his belt. "I've not had a meal that good since the ordeal on Hodown 13." He pulled something out of a pocket that looked like a long silver tube, opening it he pulled out what looked like a cigar only it was forest green in color and when lit issued off small violet plumes of smoke. "Nothing like a nice fat one after a meal"
"This is a school you know..." Jayden reminded
"Sorry, but there isn't smoking in here." his twin added.
Crube's pleasant smile turned upside down as the twins told him he couldn't smoke. "I suppose the entire planet's like that?" He asked
"No," Waya said and pointed to the patio doors that led outside where the patio stretched out into a popular dining area for teachers and students. Commissary doors led out this direction as well. If there where any students. "You can smoke out there. It's what we call The Human Decency Act. A few decades ago some political nut jobs decided they where going to ban smoking. People became very irate, to the point of organizing in more rural areas and to prevent a tobacco civil wat the government called it quits. Now people can smoke in designated smoking areas all over the country. That's one of them." She pointed at the door again.
Junior blinked. "Your chip just micro downloaded didn't it?" He asked pertaining to the neural chip they all shared which downloaded information into their brains while they slept. They had a habit of micro downloading every so often.
"I think so." Waya said and took a bite of stew.
"We think ours is broken." the twins said. "that or we don't need it because we are geniuses. Right?" they wrapped arms around Waya from both sides of her.
"Your has never worked." Waya said taking another bite of stew. All of a sudden thousands of shadow spiders erupted from Waya's shadow and began crawling up the boy's legs.
Rhydian chuckled as he watched the twins get attacked by Waya's spiders. He always was up for seeing them get their just desserts.
"Hey!" Jaden shouted, forcing them down with his gravitational pull.
"Come on... we were playing nice!" Jayden said.
"Mine fell out..." Eliza said, picking up a spider as it scuttled past and examining it on her palm "Because of how much I can grow or shrink..."
The spiders gradually vanished, save for the one Eliza was playing with. Waya put a little thought in it and caused it to tap dance across her hand.
Crube took notice of all the spiders and asked "So can all of you do things like that? I heard about a genetic offshoot of normal humans called... mutates. Are you all Mutates?"
"No we're mutants." Junior offered opening the patio doors so the smoke could escape. "We were born the way we are. Mutates have earned their abilities through other means like magic or scientific experiments. We'd be happy to show you, outside."
"Well, I don't have to go outside to show off my powers." Rhydian said quietly. "Mine's not really all that big of a deal."
"Your powers are very impressive" Eliza reassured him "You just don't see it. At least they're not as boring as mine are..."
"Why don't you have the flat ware do the dishes again?" Waya asked Rhydian "That was pretty cool."
"I guess..." Rhydian said, getting to his feet. He held his hands out, "Come on fellas, prestadigiturniump." He smirked as the little pieces of silverware popped up as if on invisible legs and moved together to form little creatures. A knife for a body, a fork for each hand and the legs were formed with a spoon each. They quickly made work of the soiled dishes, picking them up and moving them to the sink.
The twins got up their seat, "Thank you." they said together.
"I'll be a festertoad on a varblernook." Crube said as the little flatware men merrily worked to clean up the dishes. "Can all of you do such things? I know the boys should have a little gifting from their mother but all of you are so gifted?"
"Yeah, but we don't like to call the twins gifted." Junior said "It adds to their self-esteem."
"Hey!" Jayden and Jaden both punched Junior's arm. "At least we can spell!"
Rhydian looked at the twins and rolled his eyes. "You guys just want to break the fourth wall. It's your goal in life."
"Yes, we can all do different things" Eliza explained over the bickering "Mutants are a new species on Earth, though we've been around a little while we still aren't fully accepted... or in control." She sighed and rubbed her long bluish locks from her face "Don't mind them..."
"Come, let's go outdoors and you all can show me how talented you are!" Crube said with a broad smile and headed out the doors onto the patio.
Junior Shrugged and paddeled after Crube "Come on, we never get to show off any more." He told the others.
Somewhat reluctantly, because she'd already used her powers for the shadow spiders Waya Slid out of her seat and followed Junior.
The twins moved on both sides of Rhydian and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Never a dull moment, love." they said together.
Rhydian shook his head, "Never thought you guys were queer, but whatever."
Their grip tightened on his shoulders, offended by such a remark. Jaden and Jayden released him and walked together towards the door. Recently abandoned by their princess combined with the increase in ridicule was starting to get to them both. Not to mention that they always cook and never hear a word of thanks from it. To talk in private, they headed out into the rec room
Crube called out after the boys "Hey, so was your mother's husband but he wasn't that bad of a guy!"
"Anyway...." Eliza said, trying to think of something to say; one thing sprinted to the front of her mind and hammered on her teeth "You.... don't happen to know of a way to travel through dimensions do you?"
Outside on the patio, with everyone seated at one of the tabels Crube answered Eliza's question
"Inter dimentional travel..." Crube said thinking "Only what I've seen from daytime telivision. A few fancy," he made "quotes fingers" and continued "Contained space cities claim to have that sort of technoligy but us regular folk think it's mostly banthawash... Say, you haven't shown off any fancy powers yet. Why not give us a show?"
"Ah... well..." Eliza said, trying to think of something to say "I guess... I could arm wrestle you or something..." She smiled nervously and turned to face him over the table.
Crube exhailed a long puff of purple smoke "Arm wrestle?" He asked with a wry smile "Will you teach me this?"
"Well... you just go like this" Eliza said, resting her elbow on the table and holding her arm up in the traditional arm wrestling competition stance "And hold each other's hands, then try and push the hands to the table."
Crube took his cigar between his teeth and did as Eliza instructed "And I just push you hand to the table?" He asked "When do we begin?"
"On three, start trying to push my hand backwards to the table" Eliza said, taking his hand and holding it tight; as she did her arm began to grow slowly, increasing in size as it held Crube's hand. "one... two... three!"
With alien speed and strength it didn't take much for Crube to slam Eliza's hand down on the table. Then again he did go at the v ery moment her mouth began the word "three" He smiled "Did I do it right?"
"WOAH!" Eliza yelled, gritting her teeth as she felt the pressure suddenly put onto her hand; she grinned up at Crube though, though tight grit teeth as she gazed down at her hand "We're... not... done... yet..." Her hand was only an inch from the table, shaking as it fought against Crube's super human strength; the slamming sound from earlier had been the table as it suddenly jerked to the side from the force put on it, Eliza wasn't down yet.
Crube wasn't putting much effort into this small battle of wills but his hand was slowly inching toward the other side of the table. "You are a strong one aren't you." He said with a smile.
The twins brought Jr into the kitchen and released him to move onto the fridge and stove. "So did we miss anything cool?" one asked.
"We just thwarted a Skrull invasion." Junior told them. "And last week Tarin, Thor's daughter, she stopped by. Dudes is she hot." he found the jar of cookies with his tail and snatched one for himself "Oh and the week before that nick Fury stopped by to try and put the fear of God in us so we'd join up with their happy group. I think that's all but we've not heard from Moe since you guys left."
The twins stopped what they were doing for two seconds when Moe was mentioned. "Can we never bring her up again?" they said, blank.
As if snapping out of a curse, they went on getting out materials. "Grandpa and Grandma found us suitors." Jaden brought up, changing the subject.
"Two little Aztrentian cuties. Twins of course- the best kind."
"Waya's been kinda pissed since she left but then again she's always pissed." Junior said "I guess unless you want to be covered in shadow bat crap you might want to keep the Moe talk to a minimum." He finished his cookie and got another "Do you have an image file of the twins?" He asked eager to see what they might be settled with."
Jayden left the pot of boiling water and took out a small square of silver. He clicked a button and a hologram popped up that showed two naked Aztrnetian girls with lavender skin, large busts and dark, wavy blue hair. They were pressing their bare chests together and touching one another below the belt. "Meet Risteet and Rastaat." he smirked.
Jaden rolled his eyes and smirked, placing stiff noodles in the pot.
"Woah..." Junior said taking the holocube from Jayden "Dude, so they have a sister... or a brother for that matter." He chucked at his own joke.
"Don't know- don't care." Jaden said, stirring the cooking noodles. He began to work on the sauce.
"You can have 'em both man. We don't want them." Jayden explained, "We can put in a good word for ya though."
"Really?" Junior asked "Did you guys loose your dicks when you mutated? Cause that dosen;t sound like the Royal Twins I know."
"They aren't fun really." the twins said.
"They agree to everything we say, no matter how ridiculous." Jaden explained.
"Not to mention that they don't laugh at our jokes or get mad when we go to far." Jayden added, frowning a little. "It just didn't feel right, ya know?"
"I see what you mean." Junior said setting down the holocube. "Would they mind if you picked Earth girls?"
"Of course!" Jayden shouted, lifting his arms in frustration.
"We are too far away from the gene pool as it is. To them at least" Jaden explained.
"What about regular Aztrentian girls?" Junior asked "I'm sure not all of them have been brainwashed into being sex slaves."
"The twins weren't sex slaves... just too... I don't know, alien?" Jaden chuckled as his own comment.
Jayden began to help again, baking some bread.
Junior caught himself staring at the hologram again. "Still." He said with a sigh.
"Destined to be swingers, I guess?" Jaden sighed.
"What about you man?" they asked.
"You still crushing Waya or did ya make a move yet?" Jayden chuckled.
Junior shifted uncomfortably on his stool "Keep your voice down alright, she's got heightened senses remember."
Jayden smiled and leaned back, taking in a lot of air as if about to shout something, "JUNIOR LOV-" he started.
NO!" Jynior shouted and pounced, wrapping his tail like a suction cup around Jayden's face and tackling him to the floor "Don't you dare!"
Jaden chuckled and leaned on the fridge. He took a deep breath too, about to shout the rest.
"NO!" Junior shouted keeping his tail fastened around Jayden's face while he reached for Jaden with his hands "I'll kill you!"
Phinagin walked into the kitchen, not actually having seen the inside of one. The cooks and chefs did all that and brought him his food. The thing that gave him pause, however, was Junior ontop of one of the twins and reaching for the other one. "If this is how food is prepared then I'm glad I never ventured into a kitchen." He said honestly.
Junior froze, then clamored to free himself of the two tangled twins. "Just a little sibling rivalry." he looked at the two of them sternly, with intent to cherry bomb their toilets if they told.
Eliza followed Phinagin in, looked at Junior strangling the twins, shrugged slightly as if not caring "So I heard something about girlfriends for you guys? Why'd you even bother coming home? Why'd YOU even bother getting out of bed?"
The pot started boiling over onto the stove. Jaden gasped and ran to stir it up. "Liz! I'm shocked at you!" He tossed in some spices and started heating up the sauce he the twins had prepared. "We can't just vanish without a trace." he told her. In truth, they were kicked out by their grandparents and told to learn some manners but the twins refused to let the others know this. "Honestly, we missed you guys and the trouble we always got in. Being a prince is a little boring." he smiled, adjusting the heat on the stove.
Jayden started licking at Jr's tail, wanting it off his mouth.
"BLECH!" Junior recoiled his tail when he felt Jayden licking it. "That's just wrong."
Waya came in behind LIz and noticed a flickering something on the floor. She retrieved the holo-cube and took notice of the two alien girls and what they where doing "Jeeze guys, bring back much alien porn with you?"
Jayden got up and shook his head, "Two suitors our grandparents picked out. They are kind of.... plain though."
Phinagin shook his head and sighed. Finding a nice spot to sit, he dusted it off before sitting. "And this is a school?" He thought to himself."
"No" Eliza sighed, feeling the urge to grab the holo cube and break it "This is not a school. This WAS a school, it is now a hiding place; I can't teach you much." Eliza sighed and sat down in a seat watching the two "Taking after your mother then? Rather a human girl who'd happily slap your face off if you treat her wrong?"
They each nodded, "Are you offering?" the twins both asked together, looking over at her.
"Sure" Eliza said, grinning happily as her arm grew twice in length and as thick as a tree trunk. She raised it as she prepared to take out both faces in one blow...
The twins were calm but their smiles faded. Jaden looked away and went on stirring the pot of boiling noodles. "Really? Is that nessesary?"
"We didn't even do anything to offend you. So why the treatment for it?" Jayden asked, turning away as well to attend to some spices in the sauce. It was stuff like this that made them leave in the first place.
"It's a joke you idiots" Eliza sighed, poking Jaden in the side so she didn't wind up tossing him into the food "I was never going to hit you."
"That's what you always say." Rhydian said as he walked in and saw Eliza with a monstrously flexed arm. He winked at her and found himself a seat.
Waya tossed the cube back to Jayden "Here." She said hoping to get the thing out of sight out of mind. She grabbed a seat on one of the island stools.
"Hey- Jr is the one who owns it now. He practically begged me to show him the nudies, didn't ya stud?" Jayden said, tossing it to Junior.
"I didn't know they'd be nude." Junior said in his defence.
The two just laughed and turned off the oven. Using their abilities in sync- plates, utensils and glasses of milk floated over to the table and were set in place. Jayden took out a steamy batch of garlic bread from the oven and set it on a cutting board on the table. Jaden strained the noodles and dumped them into a serving bowl with a scoop. With oven mits on, Jaydne brought over the sauce and spread parmesan cheese all over it. Everything was spread out before them, ready to be dished out. The twins stood on the other end of the table with their hands together in front of them. They awaited their friend's reaction. It had been a looong year of not being able to cook for other people. They were always served to on their home planet.
Phinagin looked at the food set before him. It smelled like heaven, but he was still hesitant. Usually he wouldn't eat anything not prepared by a many years schooled master chef, but he figured that if he was going to be staying here he was going to have to get used to the food. Building up the courage, he dug in.
"This has been the longest two months of my life." Waya said helping herself once everything was properly lain out.
Junior used his tail to offer up the garlic bread plate to everyone around the table. Meanwhile he quickly got his noodles and sauce once Waya had fini
The twins went up behind the new guys chair and poked their heads in next to his. "So... how is it?" They knew everyone else loved their cooking but this was the ultimate test to see if the twins would like Phinagin.
Phinagin held up a finger as he finished chewing his mouthful. "Well...its not Crape Suzet, but its delicious."
The twins smiled their usual bright smile, showing their little fangs. Leaning in, they each planted a kiss on his cheek. "Wonderful!" they said together, walking around to the other side of the table.
Phinagin recoiled and brought his arms and hands up in a futile effort to fend them off. Wiping the remnants of the twins kisses off his cheek, he thought aloud, "That is why I never go to France."
Waya, laughed, which sounded sort of strange since she often didn;t laugh.
Jaden and Jayden shot Waya a look, then a glare at Phinagin who had gotten the punch line. They were losing their touch! Getting a seat themselves, they sat quietly.
Under his breath, having seated a few moments ago, Jeremy let out a little "ohhhhhh...." noise as if watching a good drama going on. Which it was truthfully...
Eliza blinked and looked at Waya, just as surprised as the twins were... well that's something you don't hear every day.
Rhydian took a seat and dug into the food as if he hadn't eaten in months. In truth, none of them have really eaten since the Twins left. Truthfully, they had eaten plenty of ramen noodles and spaghettios but nothing beat a home cooked meal like these two could concoct. "This is great guys...so glad you're back." He told them with a smile. And he wasn't being sarcastic at all.
"Ok, so Phin, mind if I call you Phin?" Junior asked then plowed on threw to his question. "So that bone thing you do, does it hurt at all? Can you like make yourself look like a human porcupine or maybe like an armadillo?"
"Yes I mind." Said Phinagin coldly before continuing on, "I can make them do anything I want, I haven't done anything on a very grand scale. Human porcupine I've done, armadillo no." Then leaning in to put emphasis on the next part. "If you hard needle sharp protrusions punching through your flesh do you think it would hurt?".
The twins smiled at Rhydian. "Thank you very much! We are glad to be back. We missed you lovely people eating our food." they joked.
"Not if that was my mutation, no, I wouldn't think so." Junior said and added a "Phinagin." to the end.
Rhydian rolled his eyes. "So you guys have other pics from the trip? Been rather dull around here lately. I know I could go for a slide show of sorts."
"Well unless there is some technique that I haven't learned yet then there really isn't much I can do." Phinagin said defensively, "I'm just happy that I heal up quickly or I would never use my powers."
"Maybe the more you use them the more reseliant you become?" Junior suggested "I'm sure you don't get many opportunities to do those kinds of things in those fancy suits." He wasn't intending to sound condescending because Phinagin dressed nice, he was just being practical. If he dressed like Phinagin he wouldn't want to ruin such nice attire.
"A slideshow? Sorry to say we don't have that many pictures." Jaden shrugged, sipping some of his milk.
"Grandparents kept us training like soldiers. Wasn't the most picturesque sight." Jayden added.
"Did they seem moved... at all to help us try and rescue your parents and the others? I mean it is their queen and king, it'd be nice to have some help down in the lab once in a while" Eliza sighed, playing with her food slowly.
"Yea right... we didn't tell them anything about it." the twins said. "Can you imagine how screwed this place would be?!"
"Why? They don't hate us do they? I mean really... the Princess did come here" Eliza pointed out, wondering why the relationship together had suddenly gone down the toilet apparently.
"Oh yea, hey Grandpa! Huh? Oh, Mom and the other adults have been missing for several months. What? Oh no, we have no idea where she is or who has her. To be honest- we don't even know if they are alive or not." Jayden crossed his arms.
Jaden elbowed him in the arm hard. "Enough!"
Waya finished her plate and not wanting to add her two cents to the conversation silently got up and cleared her end of the table, washing her dishes to hide her immediate aggravation at the talk of their parents.
"Well of course not, these suits cost nearly $500 each." Phinagin said. "When I was experimenting with my powers I was usually in, what I called, my training attire."
Rhydian decided that maybe now was a good time to try a change of subject. "You know....maybe we should try to reopen this place. It's not like we really need teachers because of the implants, but it was a safe haven for mutants before. Maybe it's time we do it again."
"But aren't they breathing down our necks as it is?" Jaden raised a finger.
"Shield will never let us reopen." Waya said darkly "We are just a bunch of teenagers after all."
"And why does Shield, whoever they are, have any say in this school's business?" Phinagin asked.
"Cause technically we're allies." Junior explained "The school was willed to us so they have no say in weather or not we stay but since we're all still minors they like to pretend that they tell us what to do."
"And ever since the Mutant Protection Act they consider us under their legal jurisdiction." Waya added. She was the unlucky camper who always got to deal with Shield personally. "Every once in a while they come by to try and get their hands on technology. I'm just waiting for the day they try to send us on missions."
"Well...I'm not a minor. Couldn't I help out in some way? Get guardianship of something, head of household status or whatever that is." Phinagin asked, trying to be helpful.
"I've not really dealt with them much" Jeremy said into his plate as he ate slowly "But believe me, they wouldn't treat you any better than they do us."
"I don't know." Phinagin said, "I have learned from personal experience that if you have someone in a $500 suit and a trustfund the size of a small country talking to you, people are more likely to listen."
"Yeah, long enough to tell you to shut up." Junior said "That agent Coulson guy, the one that usually stops by, he's not so bad, kinda robotic though. But Nick Fury he's the one who doesn't want to listen. He thinks that just because Waya is related to Wolverine and she's the team leader that he can just boss us around the way he wants to."
"Exnay on the Olverinewy." Waya said now feeling extra encouraged to displace herself from the conversation to do the rest of the dishes.
"We should just sell this place and buy another someplace else." Jayden said, cleaning up the kitchen.
"Yea like that would work." Jaden rolled his eyes.
"You should just do it, regardless of what some SHIELD agent says." Phinagin said. "Seems to me that we should do all we can to help out the other mutants in the world."
"Yeah that was our argument too." Junior said "It took us forever to get the Sentinels moved off grounds after M-Day."
"I think that's what they're worried about." Waya said Deep down they know that the X-Men where involved they just can't prove it. But it's not our fault Scarlet Witch went nutso. We could talk SHIELD conspiracy theories all day but it boils down to one thing, they don't want us operating unless they are pulling the strings. I guarantee by tomorrow morning Coulson or someone is going to be knocking on the door wondering what we where doing at an alien crash sight. Forget the fact that we stopped the invasion or I almost got turned into one. Waya had no idea that what she'd said had been heard by the others. She was still washing dishes as if she'd never said anything.
"Ok, was I the only one who heard that?" Junior asked, not sure if he was alone or not.
Jeremy banged on his ear with the palm of his hand, blinking his large red eyes "Ummmm... I wasn't... in your head just then was I?"
"No I heard it too!" Eliza said, a little excitedly "About SHEILD pulling the strings and the alien crash site and Waya having to rip her way out and everything!"
Waya promptly turned around from the sink. "What?" She asked after Eliza described what she was just thinking. "Is one of you in my head?"
"Why would I want to go in there?" Junior asked "You pull creepy animals out of there."
"Are you telekinetic but forgot to tell us, darling?" Jayden rubbed his chin and circled Waya.
"It would seem that way, Jaden added.
"Telekenetic would be if I moved something with my mind." Waya said, not believing it was her who'd caused it. God I hope I'm not telepathic.
"There it was again!" Junior shouted "You hope your not telepathic!"
"Oh God no!" Waya exclaimed and promptly hit her head on the counter a few times repeating No, no, no, no, no.
"OooOOoo...." Jayden wrapped an arm around Waya's shoulder.
"Don't think any dirty thoughts... we can hear everything, you know!" Jaden added, not helping.
"That's an experience I don't wish to repeat." Phinagin said as he turned to face the group around the sink. "I'm guessing that's new."
"Guys lay off. The last thing we want is for Waya to start thinking dirty thoughts because you're putting the idea in her head." Rhydian said coming to her defense. "The point is that Shield can think they can boss us around all they want, but we're the legal guardians of the school and even though we're minors, there aren't any stewards that we have to go through legally." He was deliberately trying to turn the subject back to the original discussion to take pressure off of Waya. "Technically, if we want to re-open the school, all we'd actually have to do is hire at least one teacher for every 20 students we enroll."
"Sounds like you've been thinking this one out." Phinagin said with a smirk. "I bet you could find some ex-students to become teachers since they know what was taught. I really don't see why we shouldn't."
"Technically speaking, because of the implants we can equip our students with, we'd only need someone to pose as a teacher for the legal issues." Rhydian explained his plan a little further. "The implants upload all the information we could ever need on a variety of subjects. Trust me, Phinagin, once you figure out how to use the thing, you'll be thinking along the same lines as I am right now I believe." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I think I'm along the lines of a 3rd year Harvard Law student right now when it comes to the ethics and legal doctrines. Not to mention I could technically build a space shuttle, if given the proper equipment." He smirked at that last tidbit. During any of his freetime, Rhydian spent the majority of it uploading information from the implants, picking subjects at random and just allowing ti time to process.
"Get a hold of me when we have some free time and I may be able to help make a non working model." Phinagin said with a smile. "Give me some time and a list and we could get a working model."
"Like we'd ever have the time to actually build a space shuttle." Rhydian said with a laugh. He gave Phinagin a thumbs up though. It was a good idea in theory.
"I'm sure we HAVE the equipment, I think we might actually have a space shuttle somewhere, but unfortunatley they don't teach you EVERYTHING. If you want normal lessons then yes, they'll excell you far above most people's level. If you want... some more interesting things you have to do it the old way. I'm still half way through learning how to fix the damn dimension portal... then we won't have to worry about this at all, our parents would be back." Eliza said with a small sad glint in her eye "It's just good I was doing it already before... the accident."
Glad that most of the attention had been diverted away from Waya by the ever thoughtful Rhydian, she still had the twins to contend with. "Just back off." She told them seriously. In her haste to not think of a dirty thought the exact opposite happened and the backfire resulted in her telepathically sending an image to everyone in the room. It was quick, not quite as graphic as the twins may have hoped and instead of pale skin everyone saw red.
Junior gasped and his jaw dropped almost to the table. Nearly his entire body turned black, which is what usually happens when he blushes. It was clear that he was stunned and before he could receive any tonts or jokes he quickly phased directly threw his stool, the floor and out of sight. Later in his room he would properly freak the crap out.
"Damn!" the twins exclaimed. "Never knew you had it in you, babe! Say- does Jr really have a mole on his inner thigh like that? You must've inspected that boy hard!"
"Just shut up!" Waya shouted and shoved them both away from her as to not carry them along when she teleported into her own shadow, inadvertently going to the danger room3
"DAMMIT GUYS!" Eliza yelled at the twins "THIS IS WHY YOU GET IN TROUBLE!" She growled slightly and rubbed her head as she left to try and find either Waya or Junior. Down would be a good place to start...
jeremy just sat there, slowly blushing red as the image stayed BURNT into his mind... Now there was something he'd... well.. his green skin was turning redder by the second.
"I am never going to get used to this in my mind stuff." Phinagin said. "Where did they go?"
The twins laughed hysterically. Jaden almost fell clean on the floor. They both loved to spice things up but this was pure golden genius. Jayden whiped the tears from his eyes. "This is the best!"
Rhydian raised a hand and made the twins' belts tighten quickly. Without saying another word, he walked out to try and find Waya
"Yurk!" Jaden grunted, grabbing his hips.
Jayden did the same but snatched up a carving knife. He slit both belts, allowing them to breath again. "Remind me again why we missed those guys?" he asked his twin.
"I don't remember... but everyone seems so much nicer when we don't see...or talk to them."
They started to gather the dishes and fill the sink. Jayden looked to the new kid, "So are you going to eat and run too?"
"The only experience I have had cleaning is yelling at the hired help when they dont do a good job." Phinagin explained. "So if you want me to do that then I can stay and help out, but otherwise I am of no use."
"Well I have the dishes covered.." Jaden said, scrubbing away.
"Here-ya go mate." Jayden said to Phinagin as he tossed a warm, wet rag on the table next to him. "Thanks for helping." he smirked before cleaning away at the stove.
Jeremy seemed to wake up as a warm, wet something slapped into his lap. He woke up with a jerk and groaned, picking up the cloth that had landed on him "Guys I think you should go appologise."
"We didn't do anything." they said together, continuing what they were doing.
Phinagin reached over and gently took the rag from Jeremy. "Thanks." he said reluctantly. Looking at it for a few seconds like it was a nine sided rubics cube, before figuring it was for the table. He then began to wipe the table clean.
"There's a joke and there's taking it too far, you really hurt Waya... Don't you feel guilty at all that you've made her feel like this?" Jeremy asked, sighing slightly as he watched Phinagin scrub at the table; the only way you could describe his motions would be jerky and unsure.
"All in good fun." Jayden scoffed, tossing his rag into the sink.
Jaden had finished the dishes and placed them on a drying rack. He emptied the sink and walked over to the new kid. Leaning on the table, he waited until it was clean before he took the rag back.
"you know if Eliza had slapped you and taken that smug grin off your face, she could have said exactly the same thing. Just because you're enjoying yourself does not mean it is 'all in good fun'. You are hurting people and soon you won't even be let back here. What happened up there on your own planet? kicked off? told you weren't allowed back until you'd grown up?" Jeremy was inspecting a set of four inch nails on his right hand as he spoke, trying to clean them with his left.
The twins froze instantly. They each turned at glared at Jeremy for a moment, "What is your problem, mate?" Jayden asked pushing Jeremy's shoulder back with a swift shove. It was a hint to back off and drop the subject.
"Might I suggest that you silence yourself before you say something false." Jaden remarked from the sink.
Jeremy seemed to shake, then fall over backwards in the chair to land with a hard thump on the floor. What was left where he had been was the faint glow of Jeremy's soul. It glared hard at the twins, then reached out slowly towards Jayden; don't mess with the guy who can get into your mind.
Jayden rolled his eyes and turned away from Jeremy, not phased by the threat. It's one thing to be kicked out of a kingdom but it's quite another to have everyone on Earth hear about it. The twins would surely kick Jeremy's ass if he spilled the word that they were rejected from not only the X-school but also from the other place they THOUGHT they could call home.
It appeared however that Jeremy had had enough of being mister invisible, quite literally, and wasn't about to put forward a threat he wouldn't follow through. The light shot forward, no way to stop it, and entered Jayden's body from behind; surely a new experience for the twin.
So he arrived, standing in what could only be called Jayden's Mind scape and drumming his fingers slowly on his own arm as he watched the mental version of jayden in front of him. Not... entirely just Jeremy though, there were shards, odd bits and pieces that seemed not to belong on the boy. A freckle. A piece of oddly coloured hair. If it had been visable the small of his back had one tiny piece of skin that was normal coloured.
"Ack! What the-" Jayden stumbled forward and stopped. "Get it out! Get it out!"
"That's what she said--" Jaden couldn't resist saying. He quickly went to Jayden for comfort. "Jeremy, you wanker!"
"relax" Jeremy sighed, talking to Jayden in his own mind "I'm just here to talk, because you don't want to face what is going on without threats and physical contact. Also this way it is private and Phinagin cannot hear us. Now will you relax? Oh, by the way, I'm not sure if jaden can hear me... I've never done it with Twins after all." The tone of his voice, hunnied and smooth, he might as well have been sitting back in an armchair holding a snifter of brandy in some country club; he was still bright green and skeletal in Jayden's head but the voice did it all. "Now, you just need to think to get in contact with me."
Isn't this a little rude? Going into someone's head without permission and demanding things. Besides- why do I have to tell you anything? Jayden asked, cringing a little, Umm...Jaden can hear us if we simultaneously allow it. Ack! NO. Get out!
"This is exactly my point. Is this any different from what you did to Waya? I mean I could just stroll through your mind any time I want and pluck out your fantisies... or your darkest secrets. How about that hmmm?" Something resembling a file floated in mid air in front of Jeremy "Crude I know but it's what most people link with the words secrets. Now I want you to realise why I'm doing this, and why you have to stop being..." Jeremy hesitated for a moment "Innsufferable..." He was still using that tone, that slick tone that said that Jayden could do this the easy way or the way that wound up with the person who killed two of their friends being defeated.
We seized an opportunity! How were we to know that she would spontaneously be a telepath?! Besides- Jr has liked Waya for AGES! We are just quickening that process. Jayden rebutted.
Phinagin stood there with his jaw nearly on the floor and his eyes wide. "WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO...AND WHAT IS HE DOING NOW?!" He yelled.
"Don't give in!" Jaden shouted. "Dammit why is HE the one that can hypnotize?!" He looked at Phinagin, "Jeremy is in Jayden's head! Probably torturing him! The bastard..."
"Please inform him I do not torture, and hypnotising would make it EASIER for me to enter. A blank mind so much easier to navigate..." Jeremy sighed as he took hold of the folder and tossed it at Jayden's feet, or at least the mental image of his feet. He was so much different in there, like a whole new person... was it the strange differences in his appearence that caused this? "In doing this so called 'heroic quickening of the process' have you noticed any problems with the results? Junior has dissapeared, as has Waya and Eliza. I only stayed cause I could get in your head. She was not ready, neither was he, to confess their affections. All you've done is made Waya feel bad, made Junoir panic and made everyone wish you were gone again. So!" Jeremy's fist slammed down on a pedastal, a pedastal grew there suddenly just to make sure he did "You've got to consider. Pride or friends. Appologise or see if they'll let you stay here after that stunt. I could poke around in here until you want to do it yourself but I'd rather leave you the choice."
So it's either apologize or not. If I don't, you're going to fuck with me until I do. Hmm...yea this sounds fair. Jayden rolled his eyes, grabbing the secret folder. He waved a dismissal to his twin.
Jaden sighed and leaned on the counter top. All they could do was wait.
"I said I would NOT do that Jayden. Maybe if you listened to people then they'd actually like you. Because right now a lot of people will hate you two, and you need somewhere to stay. I'm guessing from your reaction I got the kicked out thing right yeah? It was a total guess, but seems to have hit the mark... The way you arrived back with no escort, no warning, and apprently no pilot, sorta gave me a clue. They didn't want it to be public you left." Jeremy sighed softly and rubbed his eyes "I just want you to not get kicked out."
Jayden cussed, Dammit already! Shut up! We came back cause it sucked there. We couldn't do anything fun and everyone was breathing down our necks constantly. He was clearly not happy that Jeremy figured everything out without scanning their minds.
"But you came HERE! Why? Because you knew that we'd put up with you. But as much as we missed you that little stunt put you in the worst terms you could possibly get. Jeremy rubbed his forehead slightly, his middle nail on his right hand seemed to be a natural colour, not green "You guys should be careful ok? And realise when your 'just a bit of fun' has wrecked other people's lives. Cause right now they are not going to be feeling happy." Now came... a strange feeling from jeremy, like a leaking through of his own mind into Jayden's as a sad aura seemed to come from his as he said those words.
Why do you think we left in the first place? You guys all treated us like shit. Even when we weren't playing around. Jayden crossed his arms, speaking for both him and his brother. They hadn't told anyone the real reason that they left. Moe was the only person who talked to us not condescendingly. She also didn't get pissed from every little joke or prank we pull. This place needs to seriously lighten up.
"We have treated you badly, yes, but you have never given us a reason to treat you properly." Jeremy rubbed his head again, this time a strand of black hair flopped into view before being smothered by green "You need to take the step forward and appologise, then maybe you will not keep being tossed out. Being exiled by your own people should tell you something about yourself. You're their princes and they still outed you."
You fucking asshole...How dare you criticize who we are and how they treated us?! What the hell do you have to control? What are YOUR responsibilities?! Jayden shouted, getting pissed. You can't even imagine what what we have to go threw...what happened there!
"You're right, I have no idea. I can't say I have any control, my parents are dead and there's nothing for me to look after or forward to. There was a flash, a powerful image burnt through all three minds, Jeremy's parents being ripped to shreds by an angry mob Nothing. But if you shared, PROVED you were people for once and not this long line of bad jokes and insults, then people might take you seriously. They'll know soon anyway, Waya's bound to pick something up from your guys, but if you give over information voloutarily then perhaps you won't get treated like this. That's what you need to establish guys, trust... I know this is how you deal with all the stress you're getting but it's self destructive."
"Fine!" Jayden said aloud. We'll apologize. Now can you get over it and get out of my head?!
Jaden had sat himself by the new kid. He raised his head at looked over when his brother shouted. "I don't get why we are always picked on."
"I am not picking on you... I am trying to help you guys. I don't want to see more of my friends go... First Kale and Veronica, then Moe, then you guys left..." Jeremy sighed softly, another resonation of sadness coming from his direction "Ok... I'm leaving your mind now. I want to remind you all I've done is talked, no poking, no prying, I haven't messed with your mind once." With a small sigh Jeremy left Jayden's head, floating out of his mind slowly; the green faded, a few sparkling stars remaining in mid air before they too vanished away from his mind. Jeremy slipped into his own body, which had grown several inches of hair as it had been on the floor; he stood up stiffly and let out a small stiffled groan as his joints creaked.
Jayden straightened himself up and simply said, "Don't do that...again." He went to the fridge and pulled out a soda. It wasn't like apologizing was going to make a difference. Everyone here hated them already so what was the point? They were the cooks and nothing more.
Jeremy sighed and sagged into his chair, waving a dismissive hand in Jayden's direction. "At least you guys have each other right? That's all you need right? The two of you and those girl who do everything you want them to." The lonely princes, that's what they'll call you Jeremy thought to himself, glad that the two couldn't hear him "Be a lost cause if you want, I tried to make you see a way that we can all be happy."
"Wait...what?" Jaden asked, not knowing what his brother and Jeremy had discussed.
Jayden hot around and gave his brother a look to make him shut up.
"Kind of funny how NOW of all times you decide to do something." Jaden defended, looking at Jeremy. It was true, he seemed to always be in the background for the most part.
"He grew balls I guess."
"You... saw me in there right..?" Jeremy asked Jayden slowly, tapping his own head to indicate the mental scape they'd met on "Saw the... differences? You guys haven't really been around enough to notice. Then again no one else really notices either, I'm mister invisible."
"I don't know what the hell just happened, but I didn't like it!"Phinagin said hotly, "And its obvious that they don't like it either. I don't think you should do that to them again."
Jeremy sighed softly and rubbed his own head "I possess people, my soul leaves my own body and I can go into people's minds. Or objects. It's the only way I could think of talking to them without them hitting me; I mean I'm not exactly the most resiliant person." He looked down at his own skinny green body, stick thin, boney and looking like it would crumple if anyone hit it.
"Oh please...the mental version of you looks a lot worse." Jayden scoffed, as if complimenting him. He opened his soda and took a swig, gesturing over to his brother.
Jaden saw this and headed over.
"That's because I'm developing a split personality" Jeremy said, the words 'out of the blue' not even enough to describe where that came out of. He was completely calm as he said it.
"...What?" the twins asked together, whipping their heads around and giving him an odd stare. Better talk about him then the twins, they each wanted to drop the subject earlier.
"Split. Personalities." Jeremy sighed softly, rubbing through his long green hair with one hand "But remember I'm mister invisible, I can come later. You two need sorting out first."
"So...you are trying to CREATE a split personality? Or you are unable to help that...you are developing one?" Jaden asked.
"When I entered the Black Pearl's mind... ages ago... it was in pieces, shattered like a mirror and they were flying EVERYWHERE." Jeremy sighed softly and rubbed at a blood red eye "Some kinda... got stuck, like slithers under the skin because they were sharp and dug in deep. It's changing me though, over time, I miss Moe for more than just a friendship reason and my mental representation is starting to look... off."
"So- you are going insane? Hm.." Jaden rubbed his chin. "Did you talk to holo-Hank yet?"
Phinagin was getting a headache. Reaching up and rubbing hos forehead. "Psycic this, possesion that. Too many people in too many peoples body. I'm going to my room...when I find it." With that said he left to the school entrance hall.
Jeremy seemed to wait a long time, staring at the twins in expectation before letting out a small chuckle "Really? I was expecting a joke there..." Dropping the subject about what he'd expected he sighed again "No, not insane, I'm trying to seperate the new mind from my own but it's still fragile. If I pushed it out of me now it would collapse and might take me with it. Like a baby taken out too early."
"That's...weird.." Jayden rubbed his eyes before he tossed his empty can into the trash.
"Why can't you just like...get rid of the 2nd persona?" Jaden asked.
"Right now it'd rip me to pieces. Now come on guys, this is meant to be about you, not me" Jeremy shrugged slightly at them "I can deal with this on my own, thanks, but right now the main problem is you guys and what you're going to do."
Jaden walked behind Jeremy and started to massage his shoulders. "You should really relax- we don't want you to hurt your brain in the process."
Jayden smirked and walked over, he reached up and went on massaging Jeremy's temples, "Thanks for the advice...by the way."
"I like you guys" Jeremy said, actually deciding to relax back as the twins decided to give him a massage; for princes they would be great servants... "I just want to see us all get on. I wish Moe was here, everyone was happier then."
Their grip tightened, "We would prefer it if you NOT mention her again." The twins actually had a hidden rage that Moe left without a word.
After a moment, they went on massaging, almost like lovers onto Jeremy.
Jeremy winced slightly, then tilted his head up to gaze into the twin behind him "I know you miss her, so do I... but because I have parts of Black Pearl's mind in mine it... it feels like I've lost a daughter I never had. I'm sorry guys, but not even you know how that feels."
"Shut up." Jayden said quickly, still rubbing Jeremy's temples.
Jaden's thumbs rubbed in circled on Jeremy's shoulder blades. He worked at the muscles in between, both firmly yet passionately. "Agreed."
Jeremy straightened slightly with a click of his back "Fine... but like I said you guys should talk more." The blood red eyes pierced into Jaden, who he was looking at upside down "Nothing wrong with having feelings and showing them."
Jaden looked away and slowed the movement of his fingers. It was true, the twins had secret feelings about certain, secret people. But no one knew it but the two of them. Since Moe, they had been more distant from everyone. Sure the vanishment of their parents helped in their assist personalities, but Moe's disappearance didn't help the situation at all.
"You can't hide from people who can get in your head. And it's not just me now guys... Waya can get in there as well." Jeremy's eyes were burrowing into Jaden's, at least it seemed they were; his eyes were red thru and thru after all. "We all have secrets... sometimes we need to share." MOVE OVER DOCTOR PHIL! Jeremy was doing better.
Jaden let go and stepped back "Knock it off! You're weirding us out..."
Jayden came to the rescue and stepped in. "Cut the self righteous crap, Jeremy."
"Ok, ok, cheesey line I know but sometimes it's true" Jeremy sighed, rubbing at his neck slowly as he sat up in his chair "I'm just saying... if it isn't true why is it bothering you guys so much?"
The twins were really getting annoyed, "Can you just let us be?" they asked. "We don't like this topic at all..." they stepped away from Jeremy and cleaned up the last bits of the kitchen, leaving it better then how they came into it earlier.
"No... I can't let it be guys... We need to confront this, before it gets too late." Jeremy said, watching the twins intently "If you really want to drop this... then fine. What do you want to talk about?"
"Umm..so I heard there was an 'alien' attack?" Jaden asked, saying of the first thing that came to him.
"Skrull, again, Waya almost got turned into one but Eliza popped the eggs like... well, eggs. SHEILD swept in in a second after we won and tried to take the credit." Jeremy kept that cold, long stare locked straight on Jaden. Not that he was pointing him out, but he'd tried with Jayden and he seemed to resist hard; his bright red eyes seemed locked on Jaden's as they spoke.
"Ok- I'm going to kick your shins if you don't stop staring,," Jaden finally spoke.
"Maybe he likes you?" Jayden joked. He looked at Jeremy, "You are gay, right?"
"How can I be staring? I don't have pupils any more guys, at least I think I don't." Jeremy raised one eye brow at them as the bright red eyes stayed locked on Jaden's, skipping over the "you are gay" question because he hadn't actually told anyone really and there's no way Chel should know about that. "I'm just telling you about what happened. Rhydian dealt with the weapons a lot, we ran across a cache of them on our way there. We were going to destroy them but he had a better idea. When they Skrull tried to use them they just wound up coming to life and betraying the Skrull."
"Skrull... what a stupid name. To sound badass guys, let's alter the name SKULL." Jayden rolled his eyes, getting bored of the topic already.
Jaden shrugged and avoided looking at Jeremy.
"It's a race, not a biker gang" Jeremy laughed slightly, but his eyes didn't move from Jaden's face. He didn't seem to blink as much as normal people... wether because of mutation or because he was trying not to it was unsure. "I tried to possess the commander, to get them to start fighting each other you know? Unfortunatley he detected me before I got to him, I distracted them quite a bit though. Kinda down hearting to see your commander run screaming around the place, saying somethings following him."
"Damn! We missed all the fun stuff.." Jayden said, disappointed.
Jaden was ignoring the staring for now, maybe he wasn't actually looking at him? "Oh don't be modest, we had some fun abroad,"
"What about you guys then? What did you do on your... holiday?" finally a blink, but it was so quick it was like a flash of green lightening to leave Jaden back in the red stare. Jeremy was smiling only slightly, a small grin that seemed rather expectant of the twins, as if he was waiting them out.
"Yea... remember that uncle? Turns out he is nothing but a pathetic con man. Tried to sell us as sex slaves to some far off planet." Jayden explained.
"He managed to get us into little black speedo-like underwear and red, leather collars." Jaden paused,"Don't ask us how-"
"Yea but it's ok- his thing is chopped off." Jayden leaned back, speaking about his uncle. "Such a perv-"
Explains the massage... Jeremy thought as he kept staring "Why didn't you call for help guys? We would have gotten you out of that jam. Did you free everyone else up when you left?"
"There was really no one else there... all the others were already sold off to places" Jaden said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Aside from that one chic with the blue hair and that pickle-looking fellow." Jayden added before saying, "We could handle it just fine. You really wouldn't have a way of locating us anyhow- we were a bit lost ourselves for a while."
"I think that the thing they stick in your head has a tracker in it" Jeremy said, scratching at the ear where they'd put his in him "I'm not sure though... Look if you guys get in trouble out there we can help you, or at least try. What about your own people though? Is that how you got home?"
"Well we took good 'ol uncle's ship and pretty much followed some maps that he had to Aztrentos. Unfortunately it took WAY too long to get there..." Jayden grumbled.
"Wait... it took how long now? You were gone for two months guys, how long were you actually ON your own planet?" jeremy asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at the two.
"A while." they pouted, placing their hands on their hips. "Galactic time is so strange when converted to Earth time..."
It took less time than I thought for them to get sick of these two... ouch Jeremy said, trying to hide the grin behind a skinny green hand "You guys got out alright yeah? Nothing... bad happened while they tried to sell you?"
"Uhh...what do you mean... bad?" Jaden asked for clarification. He sat his butt on the counter and leaned against his hands.
"Rape? That'd be a pretty large bad thing" Jeremy pointed out "I mean you did say you were being sold as sex slaves. Anything you'd like to tell me guys?"
"Assaulted? A bit." Jaden admitted, leaning on the bar with his elbows and chin in his palm.
"Full out anal rape-age? Nah- they didn't have the stamina." Jayden dug a finger in his ear and twisted slowly.
Jeremy gave a small nod as he watched, eyes now flicking from Jaden to Jayden occasionally; it was so hard to tell if he was watching, glaring or looking worried at them, his eyes were so deep and red. "Sorry guys... the others don't know do they? I'm the only one you told?" He sighed and rubbed at his head, sweeping back his thick green hair "This is the sort of thing I was saying you should share about."
"Well jeez...don't act like we are coming out of the closet-" Jayden scoffed. "It not a big deal."
"We set them straight." Jaden confirmed, giving away that there was more then one person.
"Well that or... very very gay." Jayden laughed at something that only his brother would get.
"Now that bit... I don't want to know" Jeremy said flatly, raising an eyebrow at the twins as he sat in his chair and watched them intently. With him sitting there and the twins in front, backed against the surface, it was almost like he was pinning them in for his own purposes "Just saying... share your emotions, past cracking bad jokes."
"Hey!" Jaden said.
"They aren't all bad." Jayden finished. In all honesty, they probably wouldn't share their emotions. But Jeremy's words echoed in Jayden's head as if he had planted a small seed...no matter how inconsiderate it was. He wondered if he should even brief his brother on the whole thing or keep it to himself.
"Ah, don't like it turned on you do you?" Jeremy chuckled softly, pointing a long nailed green finger at the twins with a sly grin "All in good fun you realise, just saying what we're all thinking. You guys got any gum? I fancy some gum..." It wasn't a very good idea for him to have some really, all that hair and sharp nails... an accident waiting to happen. He was patting down his pink pajamas as if expecting to find some gum on him as if out of no where.
"Uhh....I do." Jaden said, confused as hell at how random that was. "Hold on..." He went to the kitchen door and opened a small sack of luggage that he had. Jaden reached in and pulled out a stick of cinnamon gum.
Very careful, increadibly carefully, Jeremy reached over with his nails and plucked the stick from his fingers "Thank. you." He angled his hand up slightly and the gum ran between the nails smoothly until he caught it in his fingers and started trying to unwrap it. "Missed your cooking guys, really, Waya tried and everything wound up a bit... raw. Eliza tried after that but I think she got distracted or tried not to make it so raw and burnt it. Rhydian got it alright but kinda bland at times, Junior... well he's not really suited for cooking, being heat proof you tended to see him dip his finger in the food to check the temperature. I didn't try... for obvious reasons."
MONTHS LATER
"Well it's nice to finally cook again." they said together.
"Not to mention having people, other then ourselves, eat it."
"I was worried that we were going to be a bit rusty. Thankfully the pasta was fine."
"So they didn't let you cook on your own planet? Bet you had an army of cooks all trying to do it for you right?" Jeremy chuckled softly and finally seemed to undo the wrapped, the gum stick being held very carefully so he didn't poke himself in the eye with a nail when he put it in his mouth.
"That and honestly, we don't know much about Aztrentian foods and delicacies." Jaden explained, watching Jeremy work with the gum.
Jeremy stuck his tongue out slightly and blew out hard, a bubble starting to swell out from his mouth before he snapped it quickly and pulled it back into his mouth. His eyes still bored into the Twins as he sat, slowly the gaze seeming more urgent "So you guys are planning to stick around for a while now then?"
"If all goes according to plan? Quite possibly, yes." the twins explained, wanting to leave the kitchen.
"So... you're planning on apologising then? Cause you have to get on with people you're going to live beside" Jeremy could see their need to leave the room, was he making them nervous?
"Will you just come off it already?" a twin said loudly.
"You sound like a an old man." the other said, just as annoyed. "We are getting out of this kitchen."
"I'm not stopping you" jeremy shrugged "And I feel old... in more way than one." Jeremy leant over slightly and twisted his shoulders, his back ringing out in a hail of clicks.
The twins looked at him with disgusted faces. "Alright then-" they left to the The School Entrance Hall
"What?" Jeremy called after them loudly "It's not my fault I die when I use my powers!" Sighing softly Jeremy closed his eyes and began to blow his bubbles again.
"Here we are" Eliza said as she opened the door and walked in with Maribel, depositing her carefully in a chair in case her legs gave up "So, what do you want? I'm afraid my own skills as a cook go as far as sandwiches."
Maribel nodded and placed her fingers to her mouth. She slowly moved it towards her. It was the sign for, 'thank you' and she thought maybe Eliza would at least know that one.
"Ummm..." Eliza said, looking around slowly and smiling nervously "I'm guessing... thank you?" She scratched her head and sighed "So what do you fancy to eat?"
Maribel nodded and started looking in the cupboards. Pulling out a loaf of bread, she set it on the counter.
"CHEESE!" Eliza said victoriously, pulling out a block of cheddar and because she was french, something odd smelling and gooey from France. She turned towards Maribel and grinned "Want some?"
Maribel immediately clapped and smiled brightly at Eliza as the smell of the cheese filled the room upon opening.
"Alright" Eliza said happily, smiling slightly as she handed the cheese to Maribel; she didn't fancy throwing it to her, too runny. It felt nice to talk to someone who was mostly clueless about what had happened around here lately, someone still innocent about what monstrosities this place could force upon you. If Eliza left her lab then she'd be forced to sit with the others... others that knew what had happened to Kale and Veronica, others that knew the loss of parents... she wanted someone NORMAL for once.
"The coffee pot in here still works." Waya said holding the door open so it didn't smack Eliza in the face. "I ordered a new one but you can take this one down to the lab to replace the other." Waya set to work making a fresh pot of coffee and it wasn't too long before the rich aroma filled the kitchen. She set a cup in front of Eliza while she pulled eggs, bacon and potatoes out of the fridge. "Should I make enough for everyone or just us?"
Eliza gave her a thumbs up and began to gulp the coffee down at once, barely registering the slight burning sensation that came with drinking it too quickly. She let out a loud breath as she finished the cup, wiping her mouth on her arm and getting up "Just us for now, unless someone else appears." She put the cup in the sink a few feet to their left "I mean why waste bacon on sleeping people?"
Waya's keen ears caught the sound of footfalls coming down the stairs in the entrance hall "I might as well go ahead and fry all of it up." She said "Someone's awake... and the're playing the violin... Probably Phinagin." Waya had placed a few skillets on the stove and was laying strips of bacon in one. "Though didn't Maribel bring a case with her too?"
"M'yeah" Eliza mumbled past a stifled yawn "But that doesn't sound like hers, I've heard her do it; that's probably Phin... phin... dammit if I can't say his name in three days I'm calling him Chuck."
Rhydian walked in just in time to hear Eliza's comment. "You've got no problem saying Rhydian, yet you stumble over Phinagin?" He smirked and shook his head, looking at Waya as she was preparing breakfast. "Got any coffee made?"
A full pan of bacon was sizzling on the stove and Waya was scrambling eggs with a whisk "Yeah, comin up." She put the eggs aside to fetch Rhydian some coffee, she slid the sugar sifter to him from across the counter and returned to the stove. They'd not discussed the mental fop-ah that had happened last week with her telepathy had surfaced.
Suddenly finding herself the person to stand between the two and keep the discussion from going into... bad territory, Eliza just gave a slight giggle and grinned at Rhydian "Well I had some trouble with yours to begin with but I guess my Welsh heritage makes it easier for me to pronounce your name."
Rhydian took the sugar and dumped a couple of tablespoons worth into his cup of coffee. He stirred it and took a great gulp before turning his attention to Eliza. "Well you could just call him Phin. I'm sure he wouldn't mind it coming from a pretty girl. I think he would just prefer to be called Phinagin for now because he doesn't know us that well."
"Ok... Phin I might be able to manage for now" Eliza chuckled, trying to hide the blush. Pretty girl? Oh boy... better hope he hasn't suddenly decided that he should go after you now he's seen what's inside Waya's head. love triangles are hard. Squares are harder.
Waya set plates of eggs and bacon in front of Rhydian and Eliza "Toast is coming." She said just as the toaster ejected a few slices. "He might pony up a bit more if we gave him some responsibility. Maybe we can teach him to fly the blackbird. Hell with all that money his father has he's probably already got a pilots license."
Junior came in, following the delectable scent of breakfast. "I was wondering who was cooking if the twins where still asleep." He said sidling up to the counter next to Eliza.
Rhydian wasn't exactly happy when Junior walked in. Like he didn't have enough trouble just being around Waya now...He sighed and took a sip of his coffee, moving over to a corner table and taking a seat.
Eliza could almost feel the hairs raising up on the back of her neck, all three of them alone with her... This was going to end badly unless someone left. Unfortunately it couldn't be her. "Well I think between us we can cook a good meal, right Waya? Even if I have been up all night" she let out a slight giggle that crossed into the maniacal and then decided to live there for a while. Anyone else? Please? She wanted another mediator.
Waya, deciding to ignore the obvious vibes coming from Rhydian slid a plate to Junior and left the remainder of the eggs and bacon on the counter for anyone else awake and hungry. She sat down with her own plate and started eating.
"This is really good." Junior said with his mouth full, keeping his eyes averted from Rhydian.
Rhydian couldn't stand how civilized they were being. He looked over at Elixa, finding a little comfort in the fact that she wasn't involved in any of this. "What were you workin on that kept you up all night?"
"Finding our parents" Eliza sighed slightly and rubbed her eyes "The amount of revision, calculations and sheer guess work when building this machine is impossible to describe..." She rubbed her eyes slowly and tried not to whimper at the thoughts "I still need so many pieces."
"I've been trying to collect data by rebuilding the event in the danger room." Waya said between bites. "But I'm getting the run around from police department for the traffic camera footage at the Rudemont/Valencia intersection. They keep telling me that the cameras where lost in the surge but I know all that stuff is digital, the feed should be on file but they say they don't have it. What footage I do have shows a crosstown bus in the middle of the intersection during a red light so the intersection cameras would show the best angle during the final moments of the 'incident'. IF I could get the disks."
The twins walked in with Jeremy under their arms. They snickered immediately after seeing whom was in the room with one another. Rhydian, Junior and Waya....this was too perfect.
They immediatley felt it however, Jayden had a pair of Jeremy's nails proding intentionally into his side; it wasn't unusual for his nails to prod, they were unruly after all, but this felt intentional. Jaden mean while could feel the red stare burrowing into his ear, threatening without words certain violations of brain privilages if the twins didn't act civil. Hell, even appologising might be good at this point.
The two were just about to say something but they bit their tongues the moment Jeremy proded them. They wanted to be friendly with Jeremy, but he kept making it more and more difficult. "I think you need-" one began.
"-a spanking." said the other.
"Whatever" Jeremy growled lowly, trying to avoid even Waya's sensative hearing; gods he hoped she was too busy to notice "Mind and body not always attatched remember? Anyway, nice way to treat someone who's trying to save your ass. Right now this place is a powder keg."
Waya's eyes narrowed "It's not polite to whisper." She said, she'd heard their words very clearly but changed the subject "There's bacon and eggs on the stove." She made a point to sharply spear a bite of egg on her plate.
The twins slid out from Jeremy's grasp quickly as if rescued by Waya. "YOU cooked?" they looked the food over, "Wow, who knew? But does it taste good?" they teased.
"The coffee's good." Rhydian said quietly from the corner. "Any progress yet, Liz?"
"Yes. Progress, but not much. Then again an explosion that destroyed half the planet would be 'progress' over what we had before" Eliza sighed softly as she stretched out her arms and legs until they brushed various objects, her arms extending three feet before they managed to hit anything.
"Gee I think I can scramble eggs and fry a few slices of bacon without it ending in disaster." Waya said a bit offended at them second guessing her ability to cook. "I may not be able to cook a seven course meal like you two but I can make a fucking breakfast."
"Sorry love-"
"We were just kidding."
The twins went to work their magic. "I assume the two newbies will want breakfast too. Ya think rich and powerful can handle pancakes?"
Jeremy decided to take a seat himself, leaning back in it and almost closing his eyes as he watched the twins. Maybe an early morning train wreck would be fun to watch.
"Well, it's not like it wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened." Rhydian told her with a smirk.
Phinagin walked into the kitchen with Maribel in tow. "The one thing here that reminds me of home, having someone else cook my meals for me." He said with a smile.
"In the spirit of the real world I think I speak for the others when I say, you get to cook breakfast tomorrow." Waya told Phinagin as she set her plate in the sink and finished off her orange juice.
"I'll help." Junior offered "Make sure you don't burn the house down or anything." He gave Phinagin a pat on the shoulder, he didn't really think he'd burn down the house, he was just over exaggerating.
"Hope you dont mind burnt toast then." Phinagin said as he found a seat at the table.
"Speak of the devil." a twin said, finishing the eight pancakes on the griddle. Scooping them up, he tossed them up and behind his shoulder.
The other lifted two plates in the air and, of course, the pancakes landed perfectly on them. In a spin, he set them on the table for the two new students, "There you are darlings." he said.
Maribel clapped, amused at their little display. This school was so much more exciting then her family sheep farm in France.
The twins smiled at her clapping and went to her side. Taking both of her hands into theirs, they kissed the tops gently. "Sweet Dandelion, we hope you enjoy your breakfast. It would make our hearts soar to see you keep smiling."
"I havent had pancakes in years!" Phinagin said before cutting his first mouthful. "Its more delicious then I remember." he added after finishing his first bite.
Eliza rubbed her eyes slowly, blinking a few times as the caffine buzz began to wind down "Yeah... right... Thanks guys..." Moving slowly as if half dead she fumbled her way into a seat.
Jeremy removed his legs from her way as she slumped down into the chair beside him; he didn't eat much himself... He'd leave his for whomever wanted it.
Waya rolled her eyes as the Twins doted over Maribel, it was a relief for once to not be the focus of their attention but now that was all directed at a girl who could hardly tell them no.
There was a knock at the front door.
"Great, what now?" Waya groaned as she pushed off the counter to go see who was at the door.
She returned a few moments later saying "Look who stopped by." With a touch of mock excitement.
Magneto entered behind her, a gracious smile across his face "Good morning, my the ranks have grown since ..." He chose that moment to let his voice trail off, there would be plenty of talk of past things later "The coffee smells wonderful."
"The last attack? Or the last alliance? I forget what happened last time we saw each other" Eliza said, only managing a weak smirk; she was too tired to be bothered by this. She rubbed her eyes slowly and fought back a yawn "Everyone, Magneto, Magneto, everyone."
Maribel figured this guy was a teacher of some sort perhaps? At least SOMEONE who was over the age of 25. Figuring he probably didn't know sign language, she waved politely and smiled.
The brothers stared at him for a while and stood straight. He was an old bad guy, wasn't he?
"Want some pancakes?" the twins asked, going once more to the stove.
"No just coffee thank you." Magneto said and stood politely waiting to be offered a seat.
Waya grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filled it, handing it to Magneto "ok, you said you had something to say and you didn't want to repeat yourself. Out with it."
Magneto sipped his coffee, took a moment to enjoy the richness of it and lightly chuckled at how forward Waya was "Like your mother indeed."
"No offense or anything but we where kinda told not to trust you and stuff." Junior pipped up "So if you'd tell us why you stopped by?"
"Because today is annoying enough already... stupid SHIELD agents, stupid capacitor, stupid broken dilation matrix..." Eliza muttered darkly to herself, ranging her curses from Albert Einstein to who ever had take their parents.
"I understand." Magneto told them, "I was present when Agent Coulson left, I'm sure his presence is a thorn in all of your sides." He sipped his coffee and decided to press on. "With SHIELD breathing down your necks, the events of recent months and the overwhelming uncertainty of this earths feuding populations I have come to offer my services."
Being the immature pervs that they were, the twins tilted their head and opened their eyes widely. Thinking if over, they scratched their heads, "Aren't you a little old to be giving a ....'service'?..."
Phinagin knew who this man was long before he was introduced. He had read about him many many times. Almost everyone of those stories told of this man's dastardly plans to do harm to innocents. He wasnt one to let his guard down, so as he listened and watched the old man he grew a spike from his wrist about a foot and a half in length and about 3 inches in diameter. He hid it under the table so it wouldnt alert him, and readied himself incase he attacked suddenly.
Rhydian took this chance to be uncharacteristic and spoke his mind. "This wouldn't be the usual offer to bring to the X-men and Xavier every so often back in the old days is it? Oh come and join me on Genosha and then, when they brought that behemoth down around you and look how that turned out. Or is this something a little stranger than that? Have a change of heart, Magnus? Come to do what Xavier asked you to do from the very beginning of this place or what? Cuz frankly, I'm getting sick of all you old farts coming in here acting like you can have a say in what we do in the first place."
"Jeez-" Jayden rubbed his head before looking at his brother for a moment. "Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed."
"Just let the guy explain himself." said the other twin. Just like their mom, the twins always tried to look on the bright side of things and give people a chance...no matter what their history was.
For once Waya agreed with the twins "Yeah, you have the floor." She told Magneto "I wanna hear what he's gonna try to sell us."
((ooc: BTW, for sake of our little role playing universe the real Asteroid-M thing hasn't happened yet. Thank's Sod for giving it away, I adjusted your post a little, I left the Genosha thing.))
Magneto drained his coffee cup, took a quick moment to collect his thoughts and began "I will not dispute my past endeavors, even those that ended badly even when I meant well." Magneto replied, it was apparent in his voice there where a few hints of regret at what he'd done in the past. He knew that the bad outweighed the good, but he was hoping to change all that in his final years. "I only ever had our people's future in mind. It has become apparent that our brothers in skin have no intentions of letting us coexist peacefully. This world is on the brink of civil war and I believe it is necessary to adhere to the most drastic of measures. I'm not here to recruit you by any means, I have no rally cry to war I'm attempting to sell you. What I have created is a haven for our kind, far away, where they can live unfettered by the politics of so many uncivilized and mal-evolved creatures. We are the future of this world, but like a child with a magnifying glass they attempt to burn us out one by one. Innocent people, mutants beaten to death in the streets of even our fine capitol. What I suggest is world where we may all exist peacefully, governed by our own laws and system of government. Where mortal humans have no sway over us, a utopia of civilization and order."
"Wait a second," Waya said trying to grasp the situation. "Your telling me that you've built some super stronghold somewhere, where you think mutant kind can band together for a brighter tomorrow and you want us to help you? Help you build the City of Tomorrow."
"It's already built." Magneto said as he pored himself another cup of coffee, he did prefer tea but he managed to settle. "On an asteroid, orbiting Earth right now. Our kinds best and brightest are keeping it cloaked from detection. There are even human scientists and workers, as guests mind you. I have no issue with humans willing to aid the cause. We call it Asteroid-M."
"Astroid-M." Junior said "You've built a super station orbiting Earth and you letting any mutant or human who wants to help in on this Cause of yours?"
"This Utopia of mine." Magneto told them "I've come here to invite you to visit, to see the splendor of what our kind can create. You are a fine group of young mutants, who have proven yourselves worthy of the mantel of X-Man. I know Charles would be quite proud of you. On Asteroid-M you could help path the way for future generations in a world where no one will grow to fear and reject them. Government agencies won't bark at their doors demanding to be leashed and cornered for their own proposes. Charles' dream will be realized and you will be a part of it." He stopped himself, it was sounding as if he where trying to sell the idea and he didn't want that "All I ask is that you come and take a look, stay a day or so and if you wish to return I won't stop you, but take a look before you say no, that's all I ask."
"What's the catch?" Rhydian asked him bluntly. There was always a catch with a deal as good as this
"There is no catch." Magneto told Rhydian "Come, visit and leave when your ready. You'd be my personal guests, allowed access to the entire facility so you may make an informed decision whether any of you would like to stay. In the event any of you do stay you would be allowed transport back to Earth any time you like. As a matter of fact we're devising a teleportation system to bridge the gap between our worlds."
"But there's always a catch." Waya said "Even airports have conditions when they don't release flights. What happens when the rest of the world finds out that there is a hidden space station floating above the Earth?"
"It's true that the rest of the world might not completely agree with my measures but we have no intentions of any hostel acts upon our own home world." Magneto explained "Indeed there may be occasions where transport may be delayed, but ours is a peaceful endeavor and therefor we calculate no long term problems with any nation's government. These things are not solved over night but this is an affair which will be handled in the most diplomatic of ways."
"So your just asking us to visit for a few days?" Junior asked "Be the personal guests of the number one honcho. It sounds like your running this sort of thing like your own personal kingdom."
"In a manner of speaking." Magneto said "But I'm not some cold hearted dictator pounding my chest and demanding to be obeyed. Everyone on Asteroid-M contributes to create a brighter future for our kind. I only take the role as leader to see my dream become a reality, every citizen of Asteroid-M has a vote and a voice."
"Look... we're flattered" Eliza said slowly, running her fingers through her long blue hair, the same colour as her mother's fur, and staring blankly at the table. "But I can't go. I have to stay and work on my project, I can't afford to take time out on this thing..."
Very, very slowly Jeremy raised his long nailed hand in front of him, biting at his lip as he tried not to look at anyone "I-I... wouldn't mind going."
The twins leaned over and whispered to one another for a moment. Facing forwards with their hands behind their backs properly, "We will go check it out." they said as one.
Maribel tugged on Jaden's shoulder and signed something to him. This guy seemed trusting and no one here could help her with her mutation.
Jaden looked to Magneto and translated, "Would communication be allowed on this asteroid? Maribel here has family in France, can she talk- err...contact her father while there?"
"There are experts in nearly every field on the asteroid, any number of them would be elated to work with you." Magneto told Eliza "You could have a working prototype within days." He smiled at Jeremy and the twins, glad that they where willing to at least take a look "There are video communication terminals all over the asteroid Maribel could call home whenever she liked."
"I think I'm willing to take a look around." Junior told them "But I don't intend on staying just yet."
Waya was contemplating her answer, a look around wouldn't hurt but Magneto had a ways of manipulation and she wasn't just ready to trust him. "I'll go too, can't let you guys have all the fun." Rhydian hadn't given his answer yet but she decided to probe Liz first, the prospect of having their parents home in days rather than weeks was quite compelling "Bring the thing along, maybe his scientists can help and if things turn south we can always use you in a scrap."
"It may be interesting to see what other technology has been hidden from the world." Phinagin said as the bone spike slowly retracted and went back into the regular bone, the skin knitting itself back together.
"Yeah... I suppose..." Eliza mumbled, rubbing her forehead slowly and staring at the table "But there's some stuff there that I haven't had the time or money to patent. If these scientists suddenly have wonderful discovers that get them a ton of money I'll be suspicious."
"Well, since everyone else is going." Rhydian said coldly, keeping his eyes on the Master of Magnetism. The guy may have control over metals, but he himself had control over just about everything.
"I'll have our lawyers write something up to prevent that." Magneto told Eliza "As long as when, if ever you make the device public those who assisted you are recognized. They would consider it good publicity."
"Yeah cause you of all people are concerned about publicity." Waya said snidely.
"So how are we getting there?" Junior asked
"I can create an electromagnetic field around us that will allow us to drift past the Earth's atmosphere." Magneto told them "It's how I came down."
The twins were a bit sketchy at first when he proposed how they got there. But Magneto looked kind enough and he seemed to be telling the truth- as far as they could tell. "When are we departing?" they asked together.
Maribel was excited now. Perhaps this new place had more to offer? Not to mention- IT WAS IN SPACE!
Eliza was rubbing her head slowly again, feeling a headache starting to eat away at the edges of her brain "Shouldn't we leave some people behind at first? We don't want to be a bunch of dumb kids blundering into a trap." She grinned glassily up at Magneto "No offense. But we can't take the chance of trusting you. At least I can't."
"I'll send a communication to the Young Avengers." Waya told them "If we're not back within a week they'll know we're in trouble.I'll also drop a line to Franklin Richards, he'd be able to find us even if this super asteroid is cloaked." She turned to Magneto "No offense or anything but I'm not exactly ready to trust you."
"I understand." Magneto told her "I would be suspicious too. I've not done much to earn you trust, but perhaps this little visit might change that."
Junior rolled his eyes when Waya mentioned the Young Avengers, it wasn't that they where a bad team. In fact they where particularly good at their jobs, but his former affiliation with them had ended on rough terms.
Not getting a reply, the twins chose to wait this out and see how the others play along with Mr. Magnet over there.
"We should depart immediately." Magneto told them "I have an appointment with the defense department and I'm sure you all would like to audit the meeting?"
"Yeah actually." Waya said, she figured Magneto wouldn't create a heavenly floating fortress without a means of counter attack against any Earth bound forces. "Everyone get suited up, meet on the grounds in ten. Liz, I'll teleport your gizmo to the grounds so you don't have to lug it down stairs. Junior, send the communication to the Young Avengers so they'll know where we'll be."
"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Junior replied sounding as if he'd rather stick his testicles in a vice. He phased out of sight instead of taking any of the normal exits.
"I better get everything put together then" Eliza mumbled to herself, rubbing her hand through her hair and standing up at once. She made her way out of the door quickly, not casting a glance at anyone else as she headed down towards the lower levels.
"Road trip!" the twins exclaimed, giving one another a high five. "Man, we haven't worn those suits in ages!" Jayden exclaimed.
"Don't worry, we are still sexy." Jaden replied.
"Eh..." was Jeremy's only reply, standing up and moving off to get his suit. Wasn't like he ever actually went out into battle in it, he got into it, left it and his body behind and then came back to whatever mess it was in.
"You think we should bring anything?"
"It is just a visit." the twins went back and forth. They followed Jeremy into The Lower Level Locker Room
Since everyone was getting ready Phinagin figured he had best do the same. Standing up from the table he excused himself and left for Phinagin's room.
Maribel gasped. Everyone left her alone in the kitchen! What did 'suit up' mean?! She ran to get her things.
Though it wasn't an uncommon thing for Rhydian to be forgotten about, it still stung whenever it happened. He slowly went to the lower level locker room to change into his suit. He wasn't looking forward to this trip, but a new prospect may be a good idea
Stumble!