Black Pearl exploded the doors off their hinges and proceeded to coldly and casually destroy the room with careful precision. Finding it empty, she turned to leave to the next room.
"What the heck is up with all the noi- WHAT DAH?!"
Kale shouted, walking in with Veronica. He saw how trashed the place was, not to mention the figure leaving. "Hey you!" he shouted, "I just cleaned this place up earlier!"
Veronica stared at the devastation that Black Pearl had just left behind. As soon as Kale yelled at the figure leaving, her eyes shot wide and she stared at him in disbelief. Why the hell would you address the thing that just trashed the room obviously so quickly??
Kale had no idea who this figure was at all or what they were capable. All he knew was this place was trashed and he would have to clean it up again.
Veronica grabbed a hold of his arm, pulling him over toward one of the walls. "Aren't we supposed to assemble in the danger room when there's an intruder, Kale?"
"Yea-"
Kale looked ahead, "But that guy seems to know that too." The figure was headed in the same direction as the danger room. "Come on babe-" He grabbed her hand and swooped her into his arms. Kale's arms were very fit and it helped that she was so light. He started to make his way across the trashed room.
Veronica smiled as he held her in his arms. Honestly she didn't see why he was carrying her anyway, but it was comforting and quiet adorable of him to do so.
Black Pearl suddenly returned and surrounded them completely, trapping them inside a bubble and scooping them up so that they were stuck on all sides by black liquid metal. There was a strange resonance in the metal that sounded like the humming of a machine mixed with the roar of an engine.
Kale punched at the walls, but to no avail. He filled her arm with the essence of his bright red forcefield and hit at it again.
The walls groaned like a huge ship cracking open. The metal that was hit squirmed, but held, reflecting the glowing red of the forcefield.
Blood mercury shot out from the walls and burrowed into Kale's muscular arms, finding his blood vessels and pushing back against his bloodflow through his vascular system. A thick rope of blood mercury lashed out and caught Veronica around the waist, pulling her into the walls.
Veronica yelped as she was wrapped around the waist by the strange liquid metal. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth as she was pulled into the wall. "Let's see how much of me you can hold..." she groaned as she split into 8.
The
blood mercury was unprepared to house nine people. It took a moment to readjust. The black metal forced itself into 8's nostrils and mouths, clogging their windpipes, and hogtied them with thin, strong wires.
Kale grunted loudly as the blood from his arms were forced out and to the trunk of his body. His arms were no longer able to be of use since their was no blood to fuel his muscles. He darted the best that he could towards his girlfriend, "V!!" he shouted. His body was running on pure adrenalin, he hadn't yet felt the force of his blood being smashed back into his heart quite yet.
The
8 gasped for breath as the blood mercury flooded down their throats. Even if they were to divide back upon themselves into a single Veronica, all of the blood mercury within them would flow into the single and she'd die instantly from the pressure. They groaned as they were hogtied and tried their best to struggle against the bindings, but to no avail.
The
blood mercury in Kale's veins tethered him to where he was, hooking into his flesh and holding him back from being of any help.
Kale fell to his knees. He was the only one who could go through his own force fields. Forming a sphere in his own body, he expanded it slowly, trying to push nothing but the mercury out. He shouted in pain as his veins were being pushed to their capacity. He would have to cut his hands to expel any of it out of his blood.
The
blood mercury found itself forced out of his veins. Deciding that if it couldn't stay inside, it would cause as much damage as it pleased. It tore his arm to ribbons.
Jeremy shot through the floor as a ghost, looking around at the damage happening. He floated towards the blood mercury strangling 8; he rushed at it to try and possess it somehow.
Kale fell flat onto the floor as his arms were ripped apart. His cry for mercy rang out through the entire school building. He really didn't have anything to use as an offensive...Ka
le was mainly just a field and a healer. Since his body was going into shock, it started to heal itself without Kale's consent. The skin on his arms weren't even visible anymore. He had nothing but muscles showing now.
The blood mercury didn't have a core to possess, and whatever was controlling it was too strong to be deterred by Jeremy. He would have to find some other way of taking control of it. The metal ripping apart Kale's arms began to eat at his bones, and found his legs as well. It pierced his muscular calves, eating away eagerly at the toned muscles.
When Kale's body would start to repair flesh, it was immediately ripped apart by the mercury. "STOP PLEASE!!" he screamed in complete agony.
The twins stepped through Antimony's portal silently. They stepped in front of Antimony with their arms ready and out a little. Their heart breast were quick and loud. They grit their teeth at Kale's cries of pain. They needed to be brave and figure a way to fix this, though they truly were terrified.
Antimony winced in sympathy for Kale's plight, and stared in horror at the huge black mass of metal that took up nearly the entire room. Somewhere inside that writhing horror was her mother, pulling the strings that made the black mercury move. "STOP IT!" She shrieked at it. "STOP HURTING HIM!"
The blood mercury began to push eagerly for Kale's heart, beating against the force field that held it back from its prey when suddenly it heard Antimony's voice. It paused, and its whole size seemed to swing around to face her. Uncertain, it stretched out a tentacle.
Antimony's voice shook, but she stood firm. "Yeah. It's me, okay? It's Antimony, the daughter you left to foster care, remember me?" She glared at it in hatred. "Let Kale go. Let him go now."
Jaden and Jayden let Antimony go and watched her, admiring her bravery. They kept their guard up though, just in case the metal would shoot out at Antimony. They resided on each side of her with their knees bent slightly.
The 8's struggles were in vein as all the air ws pressed out of their lungs. Their vision clouded quickly and with one last gasp for air, they all fell unconscious within the bubble of blood mercury.
Jeremy felt helpless; it couldn't possess the mercury. He turned around, trying to see the woman who was controlling this. If he could possess her, then he might stop this.
Kale couldn't take this any longer. When the mercury turne to Antimony, his force field ceased and he slipped away. His arms and legs were torn almost completely to shreds. A pool of his blood resided under him as the mercury held him tight.
Eliza rushed out of the lift; the others had left without her. She gasped and stared at the carnage going on "W-why is this happening?" she whispered.
Waya remained hidden with RHydian and Junior in the shadows of the rec room door. She'd pulled them back just before everyone entered. They where waiting to see if Moe had any luck with her psychotic scociopathic mother.
(ooc: sod, if you want out of the shadow just step out. don;t want to corner you off while im not here)
The blood mercury reached out with its black cords, wrapping around Antimony's limbs swiftly and drawing her into its embrace.
Antimony gave a small yelp and opened a portal in front of her; the blood mercury pulled her into it and she grabbed the arms of the twins, pulling them through the portal to the other side of the room and closing it quickly over the blood mercury's stretching limbs.
Jayden grunted and tried to detach the mercury from Antimony's limbs, "Damn it, let go!"
Trying to set Antimony free as well, Jaden gripped the tentacles tightly and ripped them away from Antimony's lovely fur. Both of the twins used their powers to send the tentacles both upwards and down as they shifted the gravitational pull around them.
Rhydian pulled away from Waya, finding it hard to believe that she would rather hide at a time like this. He was supposed to be the coward! But two, well 9, of his friends were being murdered right before his eyes. If there was anything that he could do, he was going to try it. He reached out with his powers, grabbing onto anything and everything he could. Before anyone knew it, every scrap of rubble, every broken table and chair, every inanimate object in the entire rec room sprang to life before their eyes, sprouting arms and legs of wood, steel, and rock
Knowing that it was going to be painful, and that she'd probably end up like Kale or Veronica, Eliza began to grow her arms wide. They weren't long, they were just incredibly thick skinned and wide. This hopefully would deter the blood mercury as Eliza began to snatch at the bubble's taught skin in a hope to pull it apart.
Waya WAS NOT HIDING, just waiting for the most opportune moment. She maneuvered within the shadows, trying to find the best moment to strike. Her animals where useless against Casey but she had another trick up her sleeve. She opened shadow portals in front of Rhydian, Antimony, Jayden, Jayden and as many others as she could. She wouldn't dare force Black Pearl into the shadow realm but she could at least divert her strikes. Closing the portals quickly, causing the appendages to be lost within the darkened confines of her realm.
(ooc: if it don't work it's ok. Change it to fit, I'll understand.)
The surface of the bubble responded violently, lashing out and gripping Eliza's arms , trying to pierce her tough skin. Long strands wrapped around her arms tightly, and the ends formed mouths like leeches, and began to bore into her skin slowly.
The other appendages floundered confusedly in the shadow realm. A deep groan emanated from the center of the blood mercury, emoting a sense of loss and confusion.
"We have to get to her," Antimony shouted frantically, no longer faced with the black appendages. "She's in there--somewhere--we have to get to her and stop her!"
"I'm open to suggestions!" Rhydian yelled to Antimony. His living objects were smashing into the blood mercury and falling to pieces, only to sprout up again as smaller versions of themselves. His powers weren't very effective in this situation
Jeremy sighed and appeared as a floating white shadow in the air; he waved his possibly last time at the others before turning in the air and flying into the bubbling mass that was the blood mercury, hoping to find Antimony's mother.
Eliza screamed in pain but kept pulling at the bubble; her skin was very thick but it still hurt to have the tar like substance trying to burrow into her as she pulled at the surface.
Waya felt like a complete idiot. She had no idea what to do. If Eliza's powers where more like Reed Richards she could simply envelope the entire mass of blood mercury and constantly shift her body to prevent the mercury from puncturing or tearing her skin. Waya wasn't about to risk just opening a portal to the shadow realm. They'd loose Black Pearl and every living thing in the realm would be subject to her insanity.
Junior summoned as much energy in the room as he could and manifested silvery white strands of light between his fingers. Like a net he threw it forward, manipulating it to drift onto Black Pearl and not where Eliza was being attacked. His energy nets where usually useful but he'd never used them on anything like BP before.
"Where the hell is she?!" Jayden cursed
Jaden's eyes scouted the area quickly, "What if we shift everything but her?" he asked, referring to his and his brother's ability to control gravity.
"Don't ask! Just do, damnit!" Rhydian shouted, ordering the Twins as if he were in charge. Usually they listened to Waya in the DR sessions, but right now she was being strangely quiet and someone had to take charge.
Junior pulled on his net which was around the massive bubble. He hoped it would workbut his energy net should be able to pull Kale and Veronica free of the mass. However the matrial was much stronger than he anticipated. "Can I get a hand here?" Waya jumped forward. She manifested an ox from the shadows in the room and assisted Junior.
The twins stepped towards the massive ball in a lunge. Gesturing together in harmony, they tried to open the mass, using the gravity around the sphere.
The blood mercury sifted through the energy net and it fell through, finding Kale and Veronica and someone else inside. The net began to pull them out, but once the blood mercury realized what was going on it anchored thousands of hooked spikes deep into Kale and Veronica's flesh, pulling against the net to retain its prey. It bowed and squirmed against the twins, its surface rippling and shifting like water, but replenishing itself just fast enough to stay in its shape. It pushed up and away from the twins to try and escape from their gravitational force. Instead of tearing Eliza off of its surface, the black metal flooded over her skin, pushing her into its black body. Spiked of blood mercury lashed out at Junior, trying to knock the energy net from his hold.
Antimony opened a large portal in front of Junior, putting the other end of the portal against a brick wall on the other side of the school.
Eliza let out a small whimper but she took the opportunity. She knew she only had a few seconds until it flooded her lungs with the blood mercury so the moment she was pulled in she began to expand in the bubble.
Jeremy was still searching frantically for the source, heading towards where the blood mercury seemed to emanate; how could this happen? He'd just came out of the closet and the entire team's going to be killed...
Junior stepped back, surprised that he had not yet been skewered. He'd let go of the net but Waya's ox still has it tethered and pulled tight. If the mercury was trying to defend it's self against his net it must have been working. He grabbed the net again and doubled the width of it's strands. Increasing his draw on the energy in the room he focused it on the kinetic energy being released by Black Pearl's assault. He funneled it into the net, hopefully causing BP to grow increasingly weaker. Junior didn't like using his powers on actual people but he had to do something.
Waya Stood within her shadow ox, pulling with all her might, ensuring on the strength of the shadows and her own will. She was safe within the shadow but as the mass tried protecting it's self her feet/hooves began to slip on the floor. She anchored the shadow stationary and stepped out of it. The oxen's head bowed low from the strain it did not move. It took immense concentration but Waya brought shadows from every part of the mansion to manifest a giant squid around her. She grappled onto Junior's net and began plunging into the mass, trying to find Veronica and Kale. Six tentacles worked to free them while four others attempted to free Eliza delicately.
Upon seeing his friends again, Rhydian gained a boost of hope. At least they weren't dead...yet...He grit his teeth, clenching his fists together tightly and the debris monsters he had been using all gathered together, forming one monstrous structure-being.
The blood mercury was almost through Eliza's tough skin when she expanded. It only expanded with her, and worked with increased force to burrow through her skin and find her heart and terminate her, but it was losing force. It became slow and confused and sluggish, and made pathetic creaking noises. A pool of black metal began to form underneath it, like a puddle. The spikes in Kale and 8's flesh were forced to thicken or dissolve into inert liquid, seeping into and being swept away in their blood stream and muscles. More tendrils seeped back into the net frantically, trying to reach the third body.
Eliza shivered in pain as more hooks gouged into her, her eyes squeezed closed tightly as she kept swelling. She could feel it going strangely liquid around her body... well if she was going to die, she might as well try and save the others while doing it. She opened her mouth and began to try and suck the foul tasting mercury down, maybe if she could get rid of enough of the stuff it wouldn't be a problem. She knew her stomach walls would be tougher than her skin at this size, so if she could get the mercury inside her... well this was the weirdest thing she'd ever done.
Junior saw his chance and increased as much energy into the net as he could. The lights in the room flickered as with his net he became just slightly stronger as well. He yanked with all his might as the blood mercury seemed to break down upon it's self. "VERONICA! KALE!" He shouted.
Waya wasn't gaining as much ground with Eliza as she'd hoped but as the blood mercury barbs began dissolving she gave the surface area of the orb a mighty whack with her tentacle. It caused the slidgey metal to ripple just enough to release a few of the barbs from Eliza.(ooc: hopefully?)
The twins ran close to the mercury ball and used their gravity at an even close rage. If they could at least open the orb just a little bit, they could grab Antimony's mother. Jaden could hypnotize her and make her relax, even just a little bit. They grounded their feet down and grit their teeth hard as they tried to top the ball open.
Jeremy had been swimming around in inky blackness without knowing what was happening outside, he'd lost any direction by now. He suddenly came level with a face, his almost transparent face staring at Antimony's mother.
Rhydian grinned and urged his beast forward. The lumbering hulk of a creature surged forward and slammed a massive fist of wood and iron into the mercury bubble. He had hoped that this thing would be strong enough to pierce it and now he only had to wait and see
The blood mercury gladly rushed into Eliza's nose and mouth, crawling into her ear canal and sliding past her eyes and worming about until it reached her brain. Its reaction to Rhydian's monster was sluggish at best. It made a sizable dent in its side, but did not penetrate. The walls were beginning to form holes where the blood mercury did not replenish itself fast enough from the twins. Casey herself was covered in a thin film of black metal, her eyes moving underneath her eyelids and muttering to herself, in a fitful fever.
The twins held tight and firmly to their control over gravity. But it was clear that they were struggling.
Kale, though his limbs where torn to shreds, he tried to get to Veronica. If he could just manifest enough energy, he might be able to at least get a thin shield around her. But the odds were not to his favor. He screamed in agony as his muscles scraped against the mercury.
Rhydian cursed as his garbage beast barely even made a dent in the blood mercury. There was sweat pouring down his face, he had never used his powers in a combat situation before..although he was happy with the result, it was horribly exhausting
Eliza would have screamed but she had her mouth full of blood mercury. Even though she could feel it rushing around inside her head she kept trying to swallow the stuff; as the mercury met her brain it would realise that everything grew as she swelled. Her ever expanding size that was almost filling the room right now meant that each neuron firing off in her head was little less than a thunderbolt.
jeremy stared at the woman for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and dived forward in a desperate attempt to either possess her or somehow get into her mind and persuade her to stop.
Junior had not yet given up with his energy net. As the energy in the room became amplified by the anzieity, physical exertion and basic insanity of all that was going on he chaneled the energy into his net as if it would do any good.
Waya was nearly ready to give up. Her shadow creatures seemed to be no use at all. The more she freed Eliza the more she was overwhelmede by the mass of blood mecury. She still tried however.
Kale's last attempt was meaningless. His eyes rolled back and he went limp. Who would've thought that it would end this way? Everything happened so fast--.... Kale passed away quickly thereafter in a pool of his own blood.
The blood mercury touched the arcing electricity in Eliza's brain and got a nasty shock, but what should have incapacitated it only filled it with more energy. With this newfound power, it emitted a shriek of triumph, forming a type of shredder and forcing Kale's corpse through it directed towards Waya. She was sprayed forcefully with the blood and flesh and chipped bone of her friend.
Meanwhile, the blood mercury in Eliza's brain displaced the liquids surrounding her brain and fed on the impulses, holding her hostage as an energy source to replenish what Junior took.
The blood mercury facing the twins sent out an electric pulse like a force field, shoving them back forcefully. Spikes of blood mercury shot out at Junior, seeking purchase in his flesh.
(recall the fight with Nimrod---she absorbed some of Nimrod's powers, and can now control electric fields and magnetic pulses, etc.)
When Jeremy possessed Casey, he found a twisted shell of a person. Everything was in the wrong place. It was like a swirling vortex of sickness and insanity, but if he could figure out up from down in her, there was a chance of stopping her. She barely noticed his presence, but her own insanity kept her lashing out at anything that came near.
Jeremy stared in shock; how could a person live like this? He reached out a hand and pulled what looked like a shattered piece of skull out of the air. He stared at it, rolling it over in his hands before pulling out another piece. He began to put this shattered person back together.
Eliza shook as the blood mercury surrounded her brain; she curled up in a tight ball. Now the mercury was linking them together and Casey got a blast of her panic and her begging wish for her parents to come and save them... She'd failed Kale and Veronica, they were probably dead but she couldn't tell right now. She was a failure.
The twins were shot back. They both slammed into on overturned pool table. "Damnit!" Jayden grunted, getting to his feet. They both were enraged at Antimony's mother. Why was she doing this?! Jayden looked up and used his power on heavy gravity. He forced the main chandelier and other light figures onto the sphere.
Jaden hit his head a little harder and got up slowly. His vision was a little wobbly and unclear. After a moment, it started to come back, due to his throbbing adrenalin. "Antimony! What should we do?!" he called out. She had been quiet this whole time.
Antimony was paralyzed with fear and horror. Jaden's cry snapped her out of it. "Get out," she screamed. "Get away from her! Before she kills all of us---I can trap her!"
The blood mercury wailed Eliza's anguish, swallowing the light fixtures and tearing them apart for their electricity.
Rhydian's nose began to bleed as he urged his garbage creature forward again, sending it crashing into the blood mercury bubble yet another time. It dented it last time, but only barely. He hoped another strike when get him closer to breaking through
Unfortunately for Rhydian, Eliza and the light fixtures fed more energy into the Blood Mercury than before. The structure buckled, but recovered and attacked Rhydian's beast with spinning razors, intent on slicing the monster into its original tiny bits.
Waya was still trying to free Eliza, but as Kale's body was turned into zombie mulch right in her face the sheer shock and terror of it all caused her to let go. She'd have been fine if she'd stepped out of her shadow form before dispersing it but once she did the shadows returned, without the mess covering it. She'd done it without really thinking and her shadow ox, which was tethering Junior's net, flickered and disappeared as well. What was left of Kale dropped immediatly down onto Waya adding insult to horror she couldn't move. "I'm... um..." She was breathing heavily and couldn't take her eyes off her hands. She was covered with Kale
Without the net anchored, Junior was pulled forward immediately into the fray. He let go and dispersed the energy net, before he got caught up in the blood mercury. He was forced to stand there and look at his friends, both dead and dieing, and didn't know what to do. Their energy signatures felt so weak.
Rhydian coughed as the garbage monster was sliced to bits before his eyes. His powers were weakening and he coughed up a little blood as the physical strain was beginning to get to him. He really wasn't made for combat situations...
Once again, Antimony was fast enough to port Junior out of the way with a few well-placed portals. She placed another underneath Waya and placed her behind her, where she could defend her best friend.
The blood mercury finally realized what a marvelous source of energy the human brain was, and with the net gone, it doubled in speed. It invaded 8's skulls, sucking out all of the electricity it could. However, it quickly found that individually, Veronica had much less to offer than Eliza, and too much would shut her down too quickly. The first of the 8 died quickly, but it crept into the other 7's bodies and forced them to keep functioning despite the first's death. It focused on one at a time, sucking the life out of each one slowly.
Antimony decided this wasn't working at all. Everyone was too strained to do any real damage to her mother. She opened a portal to Antimony'sroom and pulled Rhydian, the twins, Waya, and Junior back through it.
Eliza shuddered in the grip of the inky black mercury; her oxygen was low and she could feel unconciousness creeping in over her eyes. She needed air and soon otherwise the blood mercury would lose it's biggest battery, whose terror and feelings of undeniable failure were zapping the mercury inside her mind like a pylon cable.
Jeremy was putting the tiny pieces back together as quickly as he could; it was an almost impossible job however. He'd manage to do it some day but in time to save his friends? Probably not...
Waya Stepped from the portal and grabbed a lamp and hurled it at the chandelier hanging above the room. Glass and cut crystal showered to the floor. The lights flickered out but the sunlight from outside was still beaming threw the windows. She needed more shadows to make her distraction stronger. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy.
Jaden and Jayden worked together and immediately stood near Waya. They hurled tables, arcade games and whatever was lying around at Antimony's mother.
Antimony stepped out and hugged the walls, glaring hatefully at her mother. There wasn't anything she could do yet. She could only act to defend her comrades and pray she was fast enough.
The blood mercury finally buckled under Eliza's despair and shorted her, keeping her in its belly for diplomatic reasons. It turned suddenly, seeing the portal open again and recoiled at the large projectiles thrown at it. It moved with incredible agility for its size, sticking to the walls. It lashed out, spitting darts of blood mercury at them.
Jeremy was making very impressive headway with Casey. She started to grumble in her sleep and noticed that he was there. Her consciousness stared at him warily, demanding to know who he was and what he was doing in her head.
Antimony quickly cast deflecting portals in front of her friends that took in the darts and sent them back out to where they came.
Jeremy was working from the head down, and Jeremy flinched back slightly as Casey's eyes swiveled around to gaze at him from the head. "Please stop hurting people" he whispered, still slamming pieces together like a massive puzzle "You're killing people..."
Eliza shivered and squirmed inside the blood mercury, trying desperately to get away from the horrible despair and burning hatred towards this black goop.
Waya began pulling shadows to her as the blood mercury darts converged on her and the twins. Her shadows wouldn't have protected all three of them but Moe's portals quickly took care of them. She summoned as many shadows as she could and began forming her beast. It wasn't often she used it but right now she needed the biggest most random thing she could think of. There nearly weren't enough shadows in the room but a t-rex really didn't need arms. It was a good thing the rec room was the size of a normal house in it's self.
The blood mercury squirmed under Eliza's emotions, but only taxed her more, feeding off of the electricity in her brain and inadvertently breaking the careful chemical balance that keeps a brain functioning properly, even though it would be so easy at this point to suck out her brains.
Casey stared at him hard. "Everybody's killing everybody," she snarled. "What the hell do you think is going on?"
Once he was certain that Waya had grabbed enough shadows to start her portion of the distraction, Rhydian started gathering the inanimate objects with his own powers, hurling them together to create another garbage monster. He'd have to put his all into this one. He focused, making it take on the shape of a massive gorilla, if it wasn't for the lumpiness and the fact it looked like a big heap of garbage also...
Jeremy shivered and kept putting her together "But you're killing my friends; your daughters out there... Please stop..."
Junior really hoped this worked considering his energy net did some good but not nearly enough. He took a running start and on all fours didn't gain enough speed for his planned manuver. He took to the walls, running along them as quickly as he could. When he was comfortable that he was going as fast as mutantly possible he bounded towards the mass of blood mecury and phased. He entered the mass and made to grab Eliza. It took a considerable amount of concentration to grab her while phased and phase her as well while not allowing any of the blood mecury to follow them out of the mass. Luckily he didn't loose any momentum and the two of them landed in a roll on the other side of the room.
The blood mercury poured out of Eliza's ears and mouth, dripping down her face and retreating back to the main mass. It turned, distressed at the loss of its power source, and stretched out tangled limbs to retrieve her. (ooc: This would be a good time for Rhydian to do some stuff.)
Casey paused, glaring at him warily. She narrowed her eyes. "I don't have a daughter."
Junior made doubly sure that he and Eliza remained phased. Black pearl couldn't touch them and considering how little energy he exerted using the ability he could keep this up for hours. "Didn't expect that did you!" He shouted at the mass "Daddy didn't raise no fool! Come and get me! What?"
Eliza doubled over; her thinking cleared as the chemical imbalance from having the mercury inside her head was reverted. She coughed hard, trying to rid any she might have in her body, and smiled weakly up at Junior even though tears were rolling from her eyes "Im sorry..."
Jeremy growled at her "Dont pull that on me, no matter how much you surpress it you had a daughter." He snapped a piece of Casey out of the air again and placed it back on "You remember her, Antimony, half alien?"
Junior turned his attenton back to Eliza. "It's ok." He told her, relieved that she seemed to be alright. He had to get her somewhere safe. Phasing threw the floor he traveled threw the school archetecture to the hospital wing where Guardians and the Emergency Medical Hologram Hank McCoy waited to tend to her.
Casey frowned. "No, you idiot, it's not possible," She reiterated. "You need a father to have a daughter. I don't have a father, I can't be a daughter. Can't have a kid without a daughter. I am no-man, I have no-children. Not-that-hard."
"Well you have a white and black stripped, horned little girl out there who says your her mother" Jeremy muttered as he snapped the pieces back against Casey "And then there's the fact you're still KILLING PEOPLE!"
"If they can't defend themselves, they deserve it," Casey told him coldly. "The blood mercury feels hunger and danger. It's an animal. It's us without civilization or social contract to hold us in check."
Jeremy slammed Casey's head against the floor "DAMMIT! I CAN TAKE YOU APPART FROM THE INSIDE OUT IF YOU WANT! STOP KILLING MY FRIENDS BEFORE I REALLY MAKE YOU SUFFER!" His nails grew as he spoke, pressing up against the back of Casey's spine "Just stop killing. You're going to wipe out the last of the x-men if you keep doing this."
"Well, I guess it's now or never..." Rhydian said quietly as he pulled the invisible strings of his monster and set it's gears in motion. The monstrous creature lumbered forward, smashing it's massive club-like fists into the blood mercury
Waya figured the best sort of distraction would be hitting the mass head first. The T-rex closed the distance between them and latched onto the mass with it's jaws. It's massive hind legs tore into the metallic flesh, it's tail kept it anchored and balanced. Despite the size of the shadow, it was quite agile.
Casey stared at him. "Do it," she challenged. "Death is life, jackass, I wasn't made for any other reason. Go ahead. Make me suffer. See what it does."
The mistreatment Casey suffered only served to anger the blood mercury further. It buckled under the attacks of Rhydian and Ways, splashing like waves. Spikes lashed out and punched holes in the monster's trash body, and the blood mercury crept all over the shadow's surface, seeking purchase but finding none. Instead, it began to liquify, slipping out of the T-rex's jaws and sliding out from under its legs.
Jeremy shivered slightly as he angled the long nails in front of Casey's eyes, still sometimes putting her back together. He hadn't meant it, it was a hollow threat... He began to force himself to push his hand forward, trying to make himself touch those nails to the defenceless eyes. They were inches in front of the fragile eye balls before Jeremy slumped over, shivering and crying slightly as he clutched the head tight to his thin chest "I... I cant..." He fell over sideways onto the ground, holding it tight to his chest "Im sorry guys... I cant cause hurt..."
"Oh my g-d, are you crying?" Casey said incredulously. "Man, and I thought this couldn't get any worse. What a wuss," She muttered. She set her jaw uncomfortably, incredibly uncomfortable. "Okay, er, it's fine. It's okay. Go back to doing whatever the hell it was you were doing before."
"COURSE IM CRYING!" Jeremy yelled, trying to punch Casey but his skinny shaking frame could barely make a thud. "You're ripping my friends to pieces..." he cradled the head to his chest; she could feel his ribs clearly, he was still amazingly thin. "I joined a few weeks ago... I've barely gotten used to my powers and already-" he cut himself off as an image flashed threw both their minds at once, it was Jeremy's mother being torn to pieces by the marauding crowd. Her eyes were bloody as she smiled weakly at Jeremy, her cheeks being torn at by the people's fingers.
"Ah," Casey said, pressed uncomfortably against Jeremy's ribs. To her chagrin, the scenario was all-too-familiar to her. "You're one of the few who got away. That's unfortunate." She paused. "Anyway, I can't control the blood mercury the way I am. I'm fairly certain you figured this out already, you seem a bright lad."
Jeremy shivered and nodded, sticking another piece back to Casey. He blushed slightly, he was passing her shoulders and he was wondering if he was going to end up putting together a naked body. There were a few deep scratches on his fingers from catching the broken pieces "I should have died... mum looked normal... Im the one who looked like a freak."
"No one who should die ever does," Casey said. "I'm sure given the circumstance your mother would rather have it this way. No parent should ever outlive their children." The pieces were bigger now, and some had the black goo of blood mercury intertwined.
Jeremy was working on the arms and back for now, maybe when she had arms she could work out the... front herself. "No one should die" Jeremy whispered, still with tears running down his cheeks "No innocent... kind person should die..." He shivered and groaned, rubbing his head as a little blood smeared off "Damn... this is taking its toll."
"I don't need to be sane, I just need to be functional," Casey reassured him, telling him he didn't need to put her together head-to-toe. "I'm surprised the mercury poison hasn't gotten to you yet."
"Im already dead" Jeremy said simply, catching another piece and placing it at her forearm "Mercury cant kill a ghost and my bodies down stairs." He stared down at Casey and grinned weakly "Dont tell the others about my parents... they dont know."
"If I'm killing your friends I doubt they'll be interested in talking when I resurface," Casey said grimly. Thin worms of black liquid swam just underneath her skin, dulling her color to a cool grey.
Jeremy flicked the mercury with a long nail "If you're Antimony's mother then they wont kill you right away... maybe." He groaned and rubbed his neck, grabbing a large chunk out of the air and sticking the elbow back on.
Rhydian winced as the Mercury's spikes plunged into his trash beast. He grit his teeth and condensed the monster down a little bit, sealing the holes left by the Blood Mercury. The monstrous creature's fist slammed intot he mass of blood mercury again, grasping a hold of the metallic liquid.
Waya was constantly dodging the blood mecury spikes. She'd taken to levitating to try and evade them better. "Moe, any time your ready!"
"I need a clear shot," Antimony shouted back, "What the hell is Jeremy doing?!" She was doing her best protecting the others, setting up portals for the blood mercury to dissappear into.
The whites of Casey's eyes darkened, matching the grey of her iris. She pulled her torso back together with some effort, wrapping herself with blood mercury to save Jeremy from embarrassment. It was a small matter of limbs by then. "I can take care of the rest," She told Jeremy. "You should leave now."
Waya really wished that she had her father's brand of shadow manipulation right about now. She could simply contain the blood mecury into a simple shadow force field. But no, she had to try to figure out how to fight the blood mecury with animal forms. She disaperated her T-Rex and stood next to Rhydian planning (if need be) on throwing up that nifty shadow shield that had popped up earlier with Black Pearl's arrival. But with her T-Rex gone Moe should be able to get a clear shot.
Waya threw up her hands and began opening shadow relm portals up to divert the blood mecury. She was in no way as skilled as Moe was with her similar ability. She could throw portals like it was nothing. Waya had to apply a much more considerable ammount of effort. But with Waya taking some of the slack off the need for Moe's portals, her friend should be able to concentrate more on whatever manuver she'd planned to rid them of her mother's murderous intent.
Having Waya appear at his side granted Rhydian more strength than he thought it would. He smirked softly and sent his creature diving into the Blood Mercury. He could feel the metallic liquid seep into all the spaces between the bits of trash, but it didn't matter. He still had a firm hold on the creature and all it's parts. The more Blood Mercury that poured itself into his creation, the more he'd be able to move out of the way to give Moe the opening she was looking for.
The twins were pretty useless in this situation. They merely kept working with one another on throwing and hurling projectiles at enemies and mercury.
"We can't wait any longer!" Antimony yelled. "Junior! Do it now!" She readied her portals, determined to trap her forever.
Junior was so not ready to fire the EMP. But he worked well under pressure. He wasn't sure how he channeled it but the words had hardly left Moe's mouth by the time Junior upened his hands and fired them like pistols towards the Black Pearl mass.
Black Pearl was stunned. The blood mercury began to spill onto the floor, losing its shape. Inside, Casey stirred.
Within a few seconds, Antimony managed to port Jeremy out of the blood mercury and completely surround Casey with a trapping portal, blood mercury and all. The area that held Casey shimmered, and if one walked forward into it, one was suddenly turned around. She collapsed to her knees, panting hard, and began to cry.
"Are you alright?" Jaden asked, heading towards Antimony.
"The hell do you think?" Antimony tried to say. She was exhausted, her friends were dead, and she would never see her mother again.
Jeremy was about to answer Casey when he was ripped from her mind; with a yell of pain his spirit floated beside Antimony. Shivering slightly and flickering in and out of visability Jeremy lay a hand on Antimony's shoulder; something silvery and translucent ran from his fingers down her shoulder.
"Um..." Waya approached the twins "Do you guys think you can... scoop the blood mecury into some sort of ball? We need to contain it and you guys are the best equipped." She approached Moe and knelt down beside her. She gave slight shooing motions to the others. "You did the right thing."
Jaden stepped away from Antimony. He obviously didn't know how to react in this sort of situation. He looked to his brother after Waya spoke. They used one another to accumulate all of the mercury into one massive blob and hovered it above the floor.
Antimony threw herself into Waya's arms and just cried. She didn't have the strength or the bravado to wait until later to deal with her emotions, like the others did. Her long fingers clutched at her shirt, sobbing into her chest like a small child.
Jeremy had to explain some how. Reaching down he picked up a large slate of wall from the floor. Trailing his fingers over it he held up the slate to Waya which now read "She was broken but now I fixed her, she's worried you're going to kill her" in ghostly pale blood.
Waya held Moe close, just letting her cry. It was hard to not let her own tears release knowing how much pain her best friend was in. She waved her hand at Jeremy as if to tell him 'Not now.' "Rhydian." She whispered. "Can you guys get this cleaned up?" She began to stand, taking moe with her. "Come on... you don't need to be in here." She shadowported, taking Moe back to her room. Antimony'sroom
Rhydian looked at Waya and nodded slowly. He was thuroughly exhausted, but he'd do as she asked.
Jayden and Jaden looked to the others for assistance. They really hoped that they to wouldn't leave without them. They still held the deadly mercury in the air in a blob.
"Comeon guys." Junior said. he was bellding from a cut over his eye and couldn't exactly remember how he'd been wounded. "I know where you can put that." He headed to lower level infirmary.
While everyone else filtered out, the exhausted Rhydian gathered a breath and set to work on cleaning up the mess in the room. He cracked his knuckles and brought life to one thing after the next, slowly putting the unbroken things back where they belong and making the broken pieces move to the center of the room. He'd ask Moe or Waya to teleport the junk to the dumpster out back later on.
Jeremy began to help as well, some of the things that Rhydian wouldn't dare touch (or Jeremy while he was in his body for that matter) began to push themselves into the corner. Jeremy honestly didn't want to step up into this mess with green hair that reached the floor, who knows what sort of thing he'd pick up.
Junior appeared in the door way. The rec room had been sufficiently christened. "Alas our administration. HOw are we gonna fix all this?" He asked to no one inparticular. "This was Professor Xavier's ancestrial home."
"You think this place is beyond repair?" Jayden asked, squinting at the wreckage.
Jeremy shook his spectral head; he was half way through thinking Kale could tidy when he remembered that pile of mulch in a corner was Kale. He shivered slightly, his entirely ghostly frame shifting like static, and stared at the floor hard.
Rhydian looked over at Junior. "Xavier's long gone, it's our responsibility now." He looked at Jayden and then back to Junior. "You guys can fix up the walls. Me and Jeremy need to take a rest. It's hard work to move all this stuff after that battle." He didn't know where to look for Jeremy, so he just spoke to the air, hoping he was still in the room. "I bet you could use a haircut right now anyway."
Antimony ported in, bringing Waya with her. "When is SHIELD not giving you hell?" She joked.
Waya was smiling broadly at Moe before the aftermath of the rec room brought back the gruesome circumstances of moments before. She sighed. "Once we get the wreckage out of here I'll see if I can't figure out the finances to fix all this.
"By the way guys, if Shield calls or comes by don't say anything. If this isn't spun right Moe could be in deep shit."
"Hah-The rec room is wrecked..." Jaden attempted.
"No, just...no." Jaden shook is head. They went to the center of the room and used one anothers powers to move the wreckage to a corner.
Jeremy possessed a broom he found snapped in a corner, the the wreckage of a cabinet. It pulled itself together shakily and began to sweep up the wreckage on its own, just drifting along the floor and push the wreckage aside.
Antimony stared at the wrecked room dully, her throat tightening up again. Tears poured down from her four eyes once again, but she didn't make a sound, standing there motionlessly, seeming not to notice anyone else in the room anymore.
"Should we just burn this stuff?" Jayden asked, looking at the smashed pile of wood, tables and chairs. "What's left in the savings bond thing for the school? We could rent some of this place out for cash."
Jaden looked at his brother quizzicaly, "Like who? Who the hell would want to stay in the mutant building? The brotherhood?"
"I'll teleport it into the shadow relm." Waya answered and snatched a notebook from the floor. She produced a pen from her pocket and sat down to write something. "The money should swing around right but if Shield notices our expences fluctuate too much they'll get suspicious and start asking questions. God I can;t wait till we all turn eighteen."
"Where the heck is the- oh! here..." Jayden pulled a fallen telephone from the heep. "Pizza anyone?"
Rhydian turned on the spot and just stared blankly at Jayden. "Are you serious?"
"Well it's been a shit day and I'm hungry." Jayden explained. He hoped it would lighten the mood even a little.
"A little bold, aren't you?" Jaden asked.
"Well at least I'm TRYING to help."
"...Excuse me?!" Jaden huffed, stomping right in front of his brother. "At least I'm focusing on the issue more then you!"
"Hey! I'm trying to lighten the mood a little!"
"OUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD YOU IDIOT!"
One started to shove the other. Within seconds they were on the ground, punching and kicking on another, shouting out cuss words.
Antimony cleared her face with a wipe of her hands and brushed them off on her jeans, moving in to the twins. "Stop it!" She said, grabbing them both by an arm and trying to pull them apart. "Stop fighting! Come on, guys, that's not what any of us need right now!"
Jaden and Jayden were scratched and swollen. "WANT PIZZA?" one asked quickly.
"I don't think we should have outsiders coming to the mansion just yet," Antimony said gently, "But if we make some pizza I think that would be great."
"That does sound like a good job for you guys." Waya said "We'll finish cleaning up here." She was being completely sereious and trying not to sound bossy. She didn;t want to argue with the twins right now. There where more important things to do. "And you guys Are good cooks."
Antimony gave her best smile. "Could you put pepperoni and pineapples on my slice?" She asked quietly, as if taking special requests was taboo.
One twin grabbed Antimony and spun her a little, dropping her and hovering her above the ground with his arms. The other cupped her head as to not strain her lovely neck. "Anything for you, beautiful blossom of our hearts." they said in unison. The one holding her head up ran his two fingers through her lovely red hair.
Antimony closed her eyes as he dipped her, letting them have their romantic gesture. "Thanks, love," she murmured, slipping out from their arms, uncomfortable with being swung around at that moment in that room. She held her arms and backed up a step, giving them a reassuring smile.
They flashed their alien fangs in a quick grin and darted off into the kitchen.
The broom holding Jeremy had been silent and still against the wall for a little while; soon the explination came as the fully green and alive boy appeared from the little chute they'd all taken on the way up. At least it was a wrap of bright green hair, nothing much else apart from nearly three foot finger nails could be seen.
Antimony looked at Jeremy, a huge mop of green hair with long spindly fingernails, and her eyes started to water again. She couldn't help it. "B-ahahahahahahahahahaha!" She burst, laughing uncontrollably at how rediculous he looked. The comically big green tangle broke all the tension she felt and she couldn't help but laugh hysterically, tears streaming from her eyes again. "I--" She gasped. "I'm s-ss-sor--sshahahahahahahahahaha!"
"I feel like cousin It" Jeremy said hoarsely; his throat was a little stiff from being dead all that time. He began to walk across the floor, his hair clung to everything that passed; rubble and... substances were pulled along beneath the massive mop. "Can someone cut all this junk out of my hair afterwards?" he waved his hand slightly, his nails were sharp and waved through the air like scythes "Though we might need to get Wolverine back before my nails can be trimmed again."
Rhydian blanched when Jeremy mentioned Wolverine. He looked over at Waya, wondering how she'd take that somewhat light comment of his about her great-grandfather.
Waya stood up having finished her note and tacked it to one of the support beam turned debris. She then opened her shadow as a portal to the shadow relm and directed it over the debris. it covered the pile of rubbel and as it did so swept it into the shadow relm. The note had been to her grandmother and had become a tradition any time Waya left something behind in the shadow relm. She always returned a few weeks later to see if her grandmother had been there. She's promised her father she wouldn;t stop his search for her.
"C'mere," Antimony said, still giggling. She took his long fingernails in her hands and set a portal beside them. She closed it over the fingernails, effectively clipping them. "Can't help you with that hair, though," She giggled.
"Thanks" Jeremy said, checking his nails; they were a bit sharp edged but he could rectifiy that with some clippers. He grabbed the disguarded broom pieces he was using earlier and began to push some more pieces of debris out the way.
"No problem," Antimony chuckled, then as her mirth subsided she realized she stood there with nothing to do. She shuffled awkwardly, entirely unsure of what course of action to take; in the end she just ended up watching Waya and standing nearby.
Rhydian took a deep breath and found an unbroken chair to sit n. He sat down and hung his head back, he was thuroughly exhausted and completely full of grief. He had just lost two of his best friends...
Junior had pretty much remained quiet since the end of it all. But he stopped carrying debris from pile to pile just to occupy himself. He dropped his handfull of broken timbers and said "OK if there's one thing I know the X-Men don't give up when something bad happens." He placed his hands on his hips "I mean look at how many times Jean came back! We might not have the Phoenix to help us but surely there is someone out there who can turn back time or something. Or are we going to just accept that they are dead?"
"Everyone doesn't have to join the X-men do they? I mean not all mutants who came to this school were sucked away right?" Jeremy asked, the only reason you could tell he was looking at Junior was the fact his hair swayed suddenly as his head turned. He paused for a second and glanced down at the floor "Say... Is Eliza still down there with Casey?"
Rhydian picked his head up when Junior spoke of other mutants. "You know, we could check the computer. It's not like we're the only mutants left on the face of the planet..."
"Achem-" The twins coughed as they entered. Each one held a fresh, hot, homemade pizza. Thankfully the kitchen wasn't hurt in the attack. The two set the pizza's down on debris of what used to be a table. They darted to Antimony and kneeled, each holding up a slice of pineapple pizza towards her. The shapes of the pineapples were manipulated into heart shapes.
"You do know we can track down nearly any mutant using the Cerebro files." Waya said "The information recorded on the Shi'ar crystals is only as good as the last time a telepath used it. We might be able to find someone who can turn back time or heal at a Level 5 rate."
"Yeah, and when exactly do you think that was? The crystals only store the last time search done by a telepath. Think of them as like short-term memory, basically." Rhydian pointed out with a drawl voice. "What would the chances be that the last time it was used, they searched for exactly who we need right now?"
Antimony smiled at the gesture. "Thanks, guys," She took the pizza from them, but in this room she didn't have much of an appetite. She held it until she could scrounge up the nerve to eat it, reasoning, "It's much too pretty to eat just now!"
The twins bowed and shifted around her. One started to massaged her neck and scalp carefully. Her bright red hair flowed through his fingers as he worked. The other brought up a plate(from who knows where) and held it out, offering to hold her meal until she anted it.
"Trust me." Waya said "It's not that complicated." It'll take a while but I think I can figure it out."
"Yeah... who's looking after Eliza?" Jeremy asked as he stared down at the floor "I mean, Casey's probably not dangerous any more but Eliza might be..."
"The EMH Hank installed is still active. She'll be fine." Waya Said.
"Ja(y)den, please," Antimony said, speaking to both of them, her shoulders rising. She put the pizza back on the plate and eased from under the twin's massaging hand. "I appreciate it, I really do, but I really don't want to be touched right now." She gave them an uneasy smile, clasping her hands together.
"Oh-" the twins faded a little. They were sure that they would make her feel a little better, but it was clear that they had failed. Not to mention that no one else really seemed to into the pizza they had made, the twins walked back and grabbed the full pizza. Whispering a foreign language to one another, they headed back into the kitchen.
The twins headed in. The rec room was always their 'meeting place' of sorts. Neither of them really wanting to discuss the matter, they went to the pool table and decided to play a game.
Their playing was rough and nearly jolted the puck out of the boarders. Letting out their frustrations on the game, they remained at a tie throughout it.
In the far corner one of the tv's where on and someone had moved a chair directly in front of it. It was Junior and he was emerged in one of his many video games. He didn't even acknowledge the twin's presences, he preferred not to discuss anything that had recently happened.
After having released their anger, the twins calmed down more and ended the game with a tie. Jr was so quiet that they hadn't noticed him until just now. "Find Waya yet?" a twin asked.
Junior didn't say anything. he pressed buttons on the controller almost hard enough to break it. He was still pissed about what had happened and blamed the twins.
"Hey man!" a twin said, coming over.
"I take that as a 'no'." said the other.
The twin near Jr. pointed lazily at his score. "That's not too good...want a few tips?"
"I really don't wanna talk to you two right now." Junior growled as his hands gripped the controller even tighter. "Thanks for humiliating me in front of everyone by the way. Now everyone knows I'm deformed. Thank's a lot."
"Hey- we never told anyone about you." a twin rebutted.
"Besides it wasn't US that put that picture into Waya's pretty little head.
"You're supposed to jump ONTO the platform before blowing up the spaceship." he commented about the video game.
"Your the one's who put the idea in her head." Junior hissed, he'd begun using his tail to tap the triggers while Jayden's advice was already old. he knew he had to get on the platform but it was hard with dozens of tinier ships shooting him off.
"At least she is finally noticing you."
"If we never came back, you would still be watching quietly from afar."
"But did I ask you?" Junior said discarding the controller, he whipped around at them "Did I ask you to ruin my life? To ruin our friendship? No, I don't think so! I've stayed on the sidelines for a reason, Rhydian is my best friend, how am I supposed to show my face to him now, huh? You've ruined everything!"
"Ruined?...." Jaden said as if taken back.
"Or made EXTREMELY BETTER?" Jayen inquired.
"AHRRRRHHHHGH!!" Junior roared in frustration. He stormed off, talking to himself "Every time! Every damn time! Even at home!" he of course was talking about one of those deep dark secrets from when he'd been with the Young Avengers.
The two shrugged their shoulders. "Well that was about as entertaining as watching the morpho-plants eat." he said sarcastically.
"Well- now what, brother?" one asked.
"We could try and find the ladies?"
They both nodded and headed out towards the school entrance hall
The twins walked in and layed the pizza boxes out on the pool table. It was really the biggest open space that they could do this on. This room was a lot more cozy then the lunch room. They went to a supply cabinet and brought out some paper plates.
Maribel followed in and immediately went to the food. Taking a plate, she started to serve herself.
Jeremy stalked in after her, looking around carefully; Waya, Eliza and Rhydian appeared to be missing. Rhydian probably would get a few bad looks if he stuck his head in, but the others he wondered why they hadn't turned up.
Junior came in behind Maribel and immediately flopped down in his favorite chair. He used his tail to slip into one of the boxes and take a slice of sausage while, with his hands he flipped on one of the televisions and began flipping threw the video games with his controller.
Phinagin walked in last as he made sure the pizza man had left before following. "That pizza guy looked a lot happier then I expected and hurried off rather quickly." He said as he grabbed himself a slice and sat down in an extravagantly cushy chair that he had bought for himself to go into the room.
The twins went to the fridge in the corner and pulled out a large soda bottle and several cups for the group. Today had been crazy...even for the x-men that were used to it. It was times like these where the boys missed having the adults around.
Maribel sat on the couch with her clothing all torn up and burned. All in all, she was just glad that she was alive right now. Her phone was long gone by this point and she had no clue where she had left it. 'Could I text my Dad with someone's phone?'
"Well there's a main phone, you can use that" Jeremy said, since no one really talked to Maribel apart from him "I think it allows text feature, if not I'm sure someone would do it for you..."
Junior his his snicker from Phinagin and tossed him one of the game controllers while he chose a second slice with his tail. "Jeremy, take her to the platform." He of course meant the video-capable-internet-ready-console-phone in the corner of the room. When there had been more students in the school the device had been the preferred tool with which students could communicate with their parents.
(I love making up shit as I go)
Maribel sat meekly on the couch, glancing from Junior, back to Jeremy. She was still eating quickly, staved from not having anything in her stomach all day. Maribel wasn't sure about this school anymore. Sure, the people here were great and damn near saved her life several times but- she didn't exactly like living on the edge like this. Asteroids, evil doers, explosions... it was a bit too much for a country girl to handle all at once. Not to mention, she knew nearly nothing about her mutation. All she could do was form little threads out of her finger tips, that's all. Nothing that was as useful as the other students.
"The what?" Jeremy asked, raising an eyebrow at Junior; he'd never actually had the reason to use the platform as his own parents were dead and no one outside these walls even really cared about him. He'd never seen it then, since he had been here for only a short while compared to the others.
"It's kinda like a video phone." Junior explained. "Push the red button, enter the phone number or IP address you want to contact. If the person on the other in has video capabilities she'll be able to talk face to face, if not, it's just like a big fancy phone."
"Does your dad have video capabilities?" Jeremy asked Maribel, still unsure where this thing was. After all, it was hardly useful as a normal telephone since she couldn't talk. Unless he did it for her.
'No.' Maribel signed, shaking her head. 'I just really think he would like to know about all that has happened today.'
"Do... you want me to do it for you?" Jeremy asked maribel, seeing not much of a way around this past him actually just ringing for her.
Maribel smiled and nodded, 'Thank you very much! Don't worry, I just want to tell him that I'm ok.'
Jeremy nodded, then turned to Junior "So... where is this... platform thing? Seriously, we need a map of this place one day. With annotations."
"There." Junior said pointing to the corner of the room. "Geeze Jeremy open your eyes for once."
"They're full of blood, it's hard to see" Jeremy muttered, rubbing his red eyes slowly before nodding to Maribel and heading over to the phone thing. "What's the number?" he asked politely.
'We can wait until we are finished eating. Tomorrow is fine as well. I'm a bit tired at the moment.' Maribel sighed while chewing on a bite of pizza.
Phinagin caught the controller and held it awkwardly in one hand. "The hell is this thing for?" he asked, having not played video games before.
"Thank god" Jeremy muttered softly, picking up some pizza and taking a large bite out of it. He was still skeletal thin, he would probably remain like that, but he needed to eat every now and then or his powers would wear him completely down.
"You've never played a video game?" Junior asked Phinagin "All that fancy money and you never had an X-box when you were a kid?"
"Well yes we did. Seven of them, one for each bathroom." Phinagin explained as he sat down and continued to look over the controller. "I just spent most of my time with tutors and trainers."
Maribel's eating slowed as her stomach grew full. She zoned in and out of the group's conversation, too stuck on the events that had taken place today.
"Ok..." Junior said. "Well this on e is easy." He began flicking buttons to show Phin what to do. "Shoot, duck, roll, move and grenades. When that little circle turns red, shoot. If it's green, don't and don't shoot me."
"But what if the little circle turns red when I go over your character?" Phinagin asked still trying to get the controls down and spending a lot of time looking at the sky.
Maribel couldn't believe how everyone was pretty much over what had happened today. Especially Phinagin. He was new to the school too...how was he just- normal now? Did nothing, not even their near-death experiences, effect him?
Jeremy was nibbling at the pizza slowly, watching Maribel with interest; out of everyone here he felt that she needed someone to watch out for her. The others were busy, so he'd put himself to the position of guardian to her; what he saw he didn't exactly like.
"Then you shoot me." Junior told Phinagin and took the moment to stick his character with a blue glowing grenade before running off for cover.
Phinagin's controller shook as his character was blown to hell. A "You will pay for that" look came over his face as he sat down and focused on the game.
Maribel had little to no interest in the video game, if anything it was just reminding her of the near death events that unfolded today. She wanted to ask Phin how he could possibly play a shooting game like that so soon...but there was no way he could pay attention to her at the moment. Putting her plate down, Maribel thought about leaving the room and maybe just going to bed. But- she really didn't want to be alone right now. In an attempt to find a happy medium, she curled her knees up to her chest on the couch and tucked her face down into herself.
Jeremy got up carefully, then sat down next to the ball of worry and sad eyes he'd taken to know as Maribel. He wrapped one arm around her slowly, pulling her close in as much of a hug as he could manage with one hand still slowly feeding pizza and his pipe-cleaner arms.
Maribel might not yet understand but video games were just the thing Junior used to wind down. He'd beat Mass Effect 7 in only a day or so after that little skirmish with the Skrull last year. And he was hoping that Phinagin might be worth a challenge. Waya was no fun to play with any more now that she could read minds... and there was also that business at dinner a few weeks ago. She, Rhydian and he hadn't been as close lately and Junior was glad to have someone to play with other than Wolfypwnage69 out of Greenland.
Maribel felt a bit uncomfortable. She glanced at Jeremy for a moment, appreciating his gesture. Instead however, Maribel leaned down on the couch and rested her head against one of the arm rests. Bringing her feet up, she curled up on the couch with the boys around her and proceeded to close her eyes. Maribel just wanted to sleep.
Phinagin was good. To say he was much better then he let on would be an understatement as he ruthlessly hunted Junior's character down.
Junior hadn;t expected Phinagin to be as good as he was and before he was ready was forced to wait the customary five seconds for his character to respawn.
Stumble!