an Untitled story by my friend Catie and I

[Melchi0r]

It has some swearing in it and stuff... hope this doesn't get locked!

Isn't it odd how one day, you're completely fine, and the next day, your whole world is turned upside-down? Now, sure, this may happen to tons of teenagers world-wide, but my story is different. Oh, it's Shamus' story, too, but he doesn't count right now. Right now, I'm telling you this. My version of the story.
It all started one day during school. High School. God, I hate that place. It's not that I'm a freak with no friends. No, I'm actually (if it doesn't sound too much like bragging) quite popular. School wasn't that bad for me. My grades were decent, my friends were awesome, I was popular, I was at the top of my game in Volleyball (always have been)…so what was there to go wrong?
Well, all of a sudden, my body started wigging out on me. And I don't mean puberty. I don't know what happened, exactly, to tell you the truth. It's not that I don't like it. Heck no. I've been dreaming something like this would happen since…well, since I figured out life would have no adventure in it, and would turn into a total bore-fest.
I guess it all started back when we had that little…incident, yesterday…


Hey, Ro, don’t hog the story! That’s Rowina. I’m Shamus Oliver Dougal. And I actually know exactly what Ro is talking about.
See, back in ninth grade, me and her became mortal enemies. And let me remind you, when a loser and a popular person are enemies, the popular person always comes out on top, but when two popular people hate each other, things get quite nasty. I’m not exactly sure how it happened. Somehow, she started a rumor about me, accident or on purpose, so I got my revenge by telling everyone how at one of her parties, her little sister let me read her diary, and how it was filled with talk of Joey Trussel. She was fuming. I thought it was hilarious. I know it was mean, but I still think it’s hilarious! Sorry, Ro, but it was funny how you ran into the girls bathroom sobbing and everything…
Okay, off topic. So, in our freshman year, both our bodies started going all wonky. And again, it was NOT PUBERTY. We didn’t know how we had the same problem, and if we did, we’d probably be afraid of each other.
So, back to our A-plot….

Do not bring up that party, Shamus, or so help me god…I'm STILL fuming at Fran for doing that…
Anywho, I think it all started when the both of us got off the bus that one day. It was pouring down rain, and I had forgotten my house key. Fran gets home an hour or two later than I did, and Mom and Dad weren't home yet. So Shamus invited me to his house to dry off. It was waaaay out of character for him to be so kind, but nonetheless, I took the invitation. It was better than standing in the rain until 3:30, right?
I hoped so.
So he got me a towel, and told me to wait in the living room. His mom's a neat freak, so the place was super clean. Then, something funky happened to the house. The lights started flashing on and off rapidly. By this point, Shamus was back, but that didn't stop what was happening. At first, I only thought it was the storm, but it was more than that. Suddenly, my mind and back was hit with pain so intense, I screamed. I lost all sense of what was going on around me and passed out. I didn't even know what happened to Shamus. I must've woken up a couple minutes later, because by that time, it had stopped raining and Mom was home. So I left.

Sorry Ro! Ha… okay, finally going back on topic.
So when Ro screamed, I got really afraid. Not that I cared if she was dying, but I just didn’t want a dead person in my house in general. So, I rushed over to her fallen body, and as much as it deeply pained me to do, I touched her neck with two fingers. She had a pulse. I drew my hand away and went to wash my hands. I couldn’t have slut germs all over me, now could I? But when I touched the running water, I got shocked. It was like sliding down a slide on a hot day in shorts. I exclaimed “Ow!� and I sucked on my stung fingers.
I went over to the phone to call an ambulance, but I touched the phone and I got shocked again. But it wasn’t static. It felt very intense and painful, like 10,000 watts of electricity. I just held the phone and stood there, grunting loudly. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t open my mouth. I couldn’t move at all. I just went totally rigid. Then, all the knives in the knife holder started rising up. I could see the blades when the electricity ceased. I dropped the phone, which broke on the floor. As you can probably infer, I was extremely confused of why my hair wasn’t singed off, or why I was even alive. I held out an arm to push the knives back in, but before I touched them they all slid into their slots.
Suddenly I felt very drowsy, and I fainted on the spot…. And, well, that’s basically what happened.

I am going to ignore all insults in that, and pretend you never even thought that.
It wasn't until the next day at school that my abnormalities kicked into gear. I was having a crappy day. It was horrible. I had just found out in math that I would most likely fail the quarter, in language, we had to read Call of the Wild by Jack London (I don't not like that book), and I was almost driven insane by all the numbers in my hour long Spanish class. It was horrible.
Finally, at lunch, I got to hang out with my friend, Kim. She's not in any of my classes, so granted, I was thankful to see her.
"Is this day sucky, or is it just me?" I asked, joining her in the lunch line.
"I'm having a great day," she replied, picking up a veggie burger. She's a health freak. I'm not, so I just placed a corn dog on my plate and groaned at her. I was about to say something else, but I got distracted by my bracelet. It had started moving on my wrist.
Thoroughly creeped out at this point, I tried to pull it off, but the force pulling it became so strong, I was dragged over to one of the guys in my grade. Things happened so fast that I didn't see who it was until after my arm was around his shoulder and it looked like I was about to kiss him.
"Well Ro, this is definitely a change of attitude," he said in that cool, laid-back, stupid way he has that just infuriates me. I was aware of all eyes on me and slipped my wrist out of my bracelet to back away.
God, I wished everyone had blindfolds. Please, please, please. I was so speechless I closed my eyes and kept backing away. Soon, after a couple of protests from my peers, I opened my eyes again. To my surprise, everyone had blindfolds on. How strange…and embarrassing. Mortified, I ran out of the cafeteria.
Well, I woke up about an hour after I passed out. My mom and dad were luckily not home yet, and I had no worries about siblings either. But I felt very sick that night, so I just went to my room and read Harry Potter and slept. I couldn’t care less about homework, as if geometry is going to help me…
The next day, it wasn’t half bad. Lucky for me, we had a substitute for geometry and he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. Around lunchtime, My hands started aching and I felt tired. I sat eating my turkey sandwich on wheat bread with baked potato chips (I’m being forced on a diet for soccer).
Then something very odd happened. My iron keychain on my backpack was standing straight up as if an invisible hand was gently pulling on it. Over in the lunch line, Ro started having hand spasms. Then she came closer and closer. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I was terrified! My best friend, Matt, who always joined into my conversations about how stupid Ro is, was staring at me, awed and appalled at the same time. I blurted out “Well, Ro, this is definitely a change of attitude.� Matt laughed.
Ro was absolutely mortified. She buried her hands in her face. My hair over my hears and on the back of my head was twitching… then everything went black. I said “What the-?� stupidly. I groped at my head. I felt cloth. I ripped off a handkerchief, and I stared at it like the answer to who put it on me was written on it, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ro storming out, crying.

I ran, of course, to the bathroom. He couldn't get in there. What had he done to me? I'd be the laughing stock of the grade-no, school. This. Just. Sucked.
The door started to open, and I fell silent. No one had to know I was in there.
"Ro? Are you in here?" it was Kim. Slowly, I exited the stall.
"What happened back there? Are you and Shamus-,"
"NO! WE ARE NOT GOING OUT! DON'T YOU DARE EVER EVEN THINK THAT IN MY PRESENCE, KIM!" I practically screamed. I wanted to go home. Badly. Maybe I'd just go to the nurse, and fake Cramps. That usually worked. Maybe I'd just gag myself and throw up. Oh…wait…no one could pick me up. That wouldn't work. Darn it.
"Well…you might wanna come back out soon, Ro. Your lunch is getting cold," Kim said, examining her lipstick in the mirror. She quickly took out her shade of Mauve Nights and did a touch up. Truthfully, I didn't think she even cared about me. All she wanted to do was get back to the café, to stare at her crush. Yeah. Shamus.
"I don't give a crap about my lunch, Kim," I said, anger bubbling to the surface. "I wanna get the hell out of here. I'm embarrassed beyond my wits; it looks like I just made out with Shamus Freak Fest Dougal, and you don't even care! I hope you break out in acne, Kim. You're a slutty friend, and I don't know why I'm even friends with you."
She gave me a look that said, "I don't care" and turned around again, applying heaps of eyeliner. I began to walk to the door. Maybe I would just go to the nur-
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I heard from the bathroom. Running in, I saw Kim. Her face was completely covered with zits. She looked hideous.
"You!! You did this to me! Bitch! I hope you die, Ro! I hate you!" she cried, clawing her face and running out. I let my lips twitch into a smile and walked back to the lunch room, content with the curse I had seemingly set upon Kim.

Yes, as weird as it is and as much it felt like my insides were being sucked out, I felt sorry for Ro. I mean, last night she passed out. Then today I embarrassed her in front of everyone and- wait, I wasn’t that sorry for her. I was just really afraid of myself. Was I turning into some kind of freak?
I remembered the lightning storm. It had made both Rowena and I pass out… maybe she was gaining powers, too, I thought. The thought of me not being alone soothed me, but the fact that the only other person with the same burden was Rowena deeply put me off. Who could I talk to? “Hey, Dad, I can control metal objects, like, it’s sort of like I’m an electromagnet…. When did this start happening to you in puberty?� Ha ha. I laughed at my own inner joke.
I sat on my bed, curled up, staring at my Harry Potter posters. The fact that I was the only person in the school who wasn’t looked down upon for being a fan of it made me feel special. But, of course, it was only because I never told anyone I like it.
I looked in the mirror to see myself staring back, not looking any different than usual, except for the new cowlick. That would be my third. It is on my right side of my head, in the front. My face is short, and I have large, prominent cheekbones. I have long, 70’s style strawberry-blonde hair, (which isn’t really my natural hair color; my real hair color is black). It comes down to my eyebrows, which are strangely blonde and look nonexistent. I studied my appearance, turning my attention back to me where it usually was. And then I realized I was very hungry. I slipped off the bed and meandered downstairs.
Then another peculiar thing happened. When I walked past the refrigerator, my hair stood up on end. It wasn’t particularly cold; my mother actually keeps the first floor too warm. I paused. I took a step backwards so I was standing right in front of the fridge.
You know the feeling your clothes get as they hang off of you when they’re full of static? Well, for no reason whatsoever, my clothes felt exactly like that. Then my right side started to tingle. My feet felt like they were moving. I looked down and, well, they were. Then I was against the refrigerator. It was as if I was glued to it. I could unpeel myself from my fridge, and that is a sentence I hoped I would never have to say.
So I was stuck there. I made a soft noise. The magnets were moving all over the refrigerator now. When one touched me, it would slide onto my skin. The magnetic poetry words were going up my shirt! I cursed the lightning storm. “Damn.� Because of it, I had to write down to sentences I hoped I’d never say.

Finally. The school day ended. Thank. God. It went on too long. People kept staring at me like I was a freak. And they were giving me blindfolds. Everyone who had been at my lunch handed me their blindfolds back. I was so mortified. Science passed, and then I had study hall. I still didn't see Kim. Good for her, I hoped she would choke. Of course, she'd have to get better, or else she'd died, and then I'd be a murderer.
Anywho, once I got off the bus, I didn't even look at Shamus (his stop is the same as mine because he lives across the street…I know, lucky me). I just took out my key (I had found my own, and thankfully, it wasn't raining), and slipped inside. I'd start my homework later. Like always.
I ran up the stairs to my room to get online. I live on my computer. Instant messenger, forums, chats, blogs…those phony little quizzes telling you who you're going to end up with for the rest of your life…it's all so neat!
So I had just logged onto a load of different sites, and was talking to my e-pal from North Dakota when I saw something on my through my window.
I quickly typed that I'd be right back, opened my window, and hopped through. Luckily, it didn't have a screen. The thing on my roof was a rabbit. A little bunny to be exact. I had no clue how it got up there, and I wondered how it would get down. Apparently, so did it. It's eyes were wide and frightened, and it was shivering.
Well, my heart just broke for it, so without a moment's thought, I went towards it.
Note to self: Don't try and walk down a roof in January after snow. It's slippery. And that's exactly what I did. I slipped, and started to fall. Off the roof. With a scream stuck in my through, I kept falling until I was off the ledge. On the third floor. Oh yeah, my room's in the attic.
I was sure I'd break my legs, or ankle, or arm, or…something else, but suddenly, I stopped. I was floating-in midair! Scratch that, I was flying! To either side of me were wings. Beautiful wings, at least 13 feet across. I had a wingspan! Giddy with joy, I lowered myself to the ground.
Then, a thought hit me. Did anyone see me? I didn't need anyone else thinking I was a freak. I looked to Mrs. Mecready's house, Mr. Donwiler's house, and then to Shamus'. The first two were still at work. But Shamus saw. He was standing at his living room window, the curtains parted. Once he saw me look over, he dashed back inside.
Angry for the umpteenth time today, I stormed over to his house and knock furiously on the door.

Knock knock.
I jumped a little, which ended with the refrigerator holding up an inch off the ground.
Knock knock knock.
So now today, I have exposed my secret power, got stuck to the fridge, sucked all the refrigerator magnets down my ass, and now someone is at the door.
Knockknockknockknock KNOCK!
“WHO IS IT!?� I screamed.
“Rowena, idiot! Let me in right now! It’s flippin’ FREEZING out here!�
Oh great, I thought. Now the person interrupting my already incredibly awkward moment is Rowena goddamn Circe!!
“Go away! Some of us have lives you know! Go find your own!� I holler.
There was a pause. A very loud pause. Suddenly, I heard the doorknob twist and the front door turn open.
“GET OUTTA MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!!! THIS IS BREAKING AND-“ but then Ro was standing in the kitchen doorway. Her expression was unreadable at first, then it grew shocked. She slowly backed away, and she tore out of my house, leaving the front door open.
“Thanks a lot!� I yell.

That was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen. Ever. Had he glued himself to his refrigerator? That dork! I always knew boys were…different, but I didn't think it was possible to be that stupid. So I ran. I obviously could tell him.
I wrenched the door to the front of my house open and ran inside to go look in a mirror. Yes…they were still there! I HAD WINGS! The opened themselves in excitement, and in the process, knocked over a vase, but I didn't care. I had them. I hadn't a care in the world.
But why hadn't Shamus said anything. Hadn't he seen them? How could you NOT see them? THEY WERE EACH 7 AND A HALF FEET LONG! I had to go back. Besides, he might need help getting his sorry butt of his refrigerator door. I attempted to put on a sweater, but I had no clue how to get it on over my wings (it sounds so darn COOL saying that), so I left in my short sleeve shirt. I didn't care about warmth.
I knocked on the door again and walked in to his kitchen without waiting for a reply. I had been here millions of times (My parents and his parents are like…best friends. I know, right!) but when I stepped into the kitchen and saw him struggling to "peel himself off the fridge," I literally fell over, laughing.
"You…IDIOT!" I said between gasps, "Did you…superglue your…butt to the…door?!"
"Ro, just shut up! You're really not helping!" he said through clenched teeth, trying to hold back his anger. I only laughed harder.
"You glued…yourself--," at this point, I could no longer breathe, so I stopped talking.
Shamus' face turned a deep shade of red as he struggled again.
"I DIDN'T GLUE MYSELF TO THE DOOR, RO!" he shouted. And again, I laughed. It was just too funny! It wasn't often that your idiot neighbor decided to experiment with the Gorilla Glue…

What do you do when you’re stuck to the fridge? Well, you pretty much just hang there. Also if you have refrigerator magnets in your shirt and down your pants, it would probably be wise to deal with that. I only managed to get the words “juice� and “chocolate� out of my Nether Region when there was a knock on the door again. I only had to tell by the way the person walked that it was Ro. The quick, self-assured stride. She took a look at me in the doorway and started laughing dangerously hard. I grew red as a strawberry, fuming, hanging on the cold, hard fridge door.
“You…IDIOT!� she gasped. “Did you…superglue your…butt to the…door?�
“Ro, just shut up! You’re really not helping!� I said in a low, muffled voice. It was hard enough that I knew I was becoming a freak.
“You glued…� she continued, giggling madly. I hated her so much at this moment. I felt the anger tingle my feet, pound on my skull-
“I DIDN’T GLUE MYSELF TO THE DOOR, RO!� I exploded. Then I felt hot, but all the hairs on the back of my head and on my arms stood up like it was freezing. Then, I started to slip down. “Oh, man, he’s starting to come off,� Rowena said, “better use more superglue next time, Shamus.� Like the magnetism switch was thrown back to “Off�, I fell face-first. Rowena didn’t even laugh, for when I hit the ground, little Magnetic Poetry words were zipping out of my clothing like flies, landing in random places on the fridge.
“Oooohhh,� Ro exhaled. I pushed myself up. All of the words inched upwards. I let myself fall. They slid down a few centimeters.
Now someone knew, and at the same time, things started getting weirder. Oh joy.

“My god…you're like…a big…MAGNET! IT WAS YOU!" I accused, pointing a steady finger at him.
"You invited me into your house! I KNEW IT WAS WEIRD! Even for you, it was incredibly weird. You brought me in here, and made me a freak, but it backfired on you, and you're a freak too!" I rambled. Ok, so that wasn't likely to happen.
"What else can you do?" I asked, cocking my head to one side.
"How should I know? Besides, you're not a freak! Well, you are, but that's not recent. What's so different about you?" he said angrily. My mouth almost gaped open in surprise. He could see the wings-my wings.
"You mean you can't see them? Are you blind?" I asked, making sure I had enough room to spread my wings and opened them.
"See what? God, you're so wei-Oh my god," he stopped in mid-sentence, looking awestruck.
"WHERE THE HELL DID THEY COME FROM!?! They just…just appeared! First they were there, then they weren't! YOU'VE INTOXICATED ME!" he accused.
"Oh, shut up. But aren't they marvelous!? And I can fly with them! You should'a seen it! I fell off the roof, and I was FLYING! But what do you care?"

“I don’t care at all, thank you very much!� I continued. I pushed myself off the floor. The magnets didn’t move at all this time.
“This is all your fault, you know, that I’m like this!� I said.
“ME!??� she exclaimed. “You’re the one who invited me into your house, you must have had all this planned!�
“If you hadn’t had to faint, then I wouldn’t have had to be struck by that wonky lightning!�
“Oh, that’s rich.� She was exhaling heavily, looking at the kitchen sink. Her lips were pursed shut tightly. “Look, us arguing over whose fault it is isn’t gonna help.�
I snorted loudly. First she accuses me of being at fault, and then she has the nerve to tell me to night argue. She started it, I pout childishly.
“So what will help?� I already knew the answer. Nothing.
“Maybe we should go see a doctor.�
“Yeah, and then we can be sent to Area 51! And the tabloids will finally have something true to print! And everyone will gawk at pictures of Magnet Boy and Bird Girl! Very good, Ro.�
She scoffed at me and looked down. She said nothing for ten seconds.
“Well?�
“Okay, fine, Shamus, we won’t tell anyone.�
“Good,� I replied stubbornly.
"But what else are we going to do? I mean, what if we were given these powers for a reason!" I suggested excitedly.
"Oh yeah," he replied sarcastically. "Is Uncle Ben gonna die, too? What about Aunt Mae? Ooh, and let me guess…we'll die if we come in close contact to kryptonite, right?"
"You have such a small imagination. Now I see why you're such a jerk," I sniffed. "You never know though. How do we know Spiderman isn't real?"
"Grow up," he remarked. I glared at him.
"YOU'RE NOT WORKING WITH ME!! You could at least try and care that you've got magnets attracted to your fat ass." It's not often I use profanity, but if I do, it's usually around Shamus. He just makes me…SO mad sometimes.
"Of course I care, Ro. I'm not exactly accustomed to this! And you're not one to be talking about Fat Asses," he snickered, just like the little child he was. That…CREEP! I couldn't hold off any longer. I stormed closer to him and slapped him across the face.
"Listen to me. You're as screwed as I am right now, but one thing you're going to learn very soon is that you don't want to get me mad. Ever," I said, dangerously soft. "You are not the best person in the world. You never were, and you never will be. You're nothing but…an immature…little…"
There, I stopped. There was no word ever created that could describe him. Sometimes, I just wished…I just wished he'd stop breathing.
"Ro…Ro!" He gasped, as though reading my mind. His mouth was open and he was clutching his throat, as though he was choking.
"Oh!" I said, releasing the pleasing image of his lifeless body from my mind. As nice as it looked in thought, it was scary in real life.
"What the hell are you doing to me?" he asked, standing up.
"Um…I dunno. It's kinda like with the blindfolds…and then today, I made Kim break out in acne…" I explained sheepishly.
"Kim? The hot one?"
"Shut up."

“You’re just jealous.�
Ro fumed. I giggled softly.
Then my leg was hot.
I looked down and my fashionably faded jeans were ablaze.
“RO YOU FREAK PUT IT OUT PUT IT OUT-“
And with a hissing noise, the flame extinguished. I checked my leg. She had burned away at some area of the bottom of my jeans, and my skin was slightly burned.
“Oh, great, you’re so nice Ro.�
Now it was her turn to laugh. ‘Tpthzz!� she hissed.
“Imagine my leg looking not burned. Now. And make it nice and lean, with rippling muscles, and do the other leg too!�
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Okay,� she said. Suddenly my leg sprouted a thicket of wiry black hair.
“Oh my GAWD!� I screamed. “That is so- RO!!!�
“I’m sorry!� she gasped. She was laughing very hard, and she started to wheeze, leaning over, but still cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West.
I glared at her maniacally. A few knives started to rise out of their slots in the wooden knife holder.
“Oh, gosh… OH FINE!� she said when she saw the knives hanging in the air. My leg was back to normal, but not rippling with muscle. I frowned. The knives fell on the floor.
“So back on topic…� I continued.
“I have no idea what we’re supposed to do, so why don’t we just try to cope?�
I laughed in spite of myself.

"Oh, don't worry. Coping will be the FUN part," I said, grinning wickedly. I couldn't wait for school tomorrow. Ok, so maybe if someone (besides Shamus) found out, I'd still be labeled a dork. Basically, all I needed to do was think about what I wanted to have happen, and it would happen. Maybe I should experiment. I looked hard at Shamus' face and thought intently. What did I want to do to him. Deformation? I could make him look like…The hunchback of Notre Dame. He was ugly.
“Ro…what are you doing to me? Don't you even THI-RO!!" he screamed. I grinned. Waves of fat rippled out from his T-shirt, making it look like he gained 900 pounds on the spot, like my Seventh Grade basketball coach. Now THAT was funny. Shamus seemed to disagree.
"When I get…my hands…on you!" he said slowly, as though the fat was clogging his throat. His face turned bright red in anger. I could feel a sudden change in the air. Something sparked next to my ear, causing me to jump. The knives in on the floor became animated again and pointed themselves at my throat.
"Fix it! NOW!" he commanded. I want to laugh, and run back to my house to leave him like that for school, but he most likely would've killed me. I mean, three steak knives, a paring knife, a butcher's knife, a bread knife, and a meat cleaver all pointed at your neck doesn't usually mean you're happy about something.
Silently, the pit of my stomach lurching as one of the cold knives touched my bare skin, I released the illusion. He didn't immediately put the knives down, just examined his body. Something sparked on his face.
"Give me abs, too," he said.
"What? No way!" I protested, "I'm not using my power to benefit you!"
"Do you have much of a choice?"
"Oh, come off it. What, are you going to kill me or something?"
"I could,"
"But you're not going to."
“Watch me." Here, a knife poked into me back hard. Glaring, I thought of the disgusting image…Shamus Dougal with abs.
Feeling the change, he let the knives drop and lifted up his shirt.
"Oh god! Let me get out of the room at least!" I screamed, dashing out.

“Yes!� I punched the air above me. “I’m hot, er, hotter than I was before!
“You sicken me,� she said from the den.
“Fine, I put my shirt down.� I punched myself in the stomach. My fist landed with a thunk. I smiled.
“I can’t believe I helped you become even more egotistical!� she groans.
“Oh, like I haven’t heard that one before. Then I felt like my stomach was being emptied. “You little-“
“Shut up,� Ro replied. “Shamus, when will you learn not to ff… mess with me?� she finished.

"And don't you DARE try and threaten me with knives. I could take you in a head on battle of the newly obtained super powers and beat you…BLINDFOLDED!" I said, sticking out my tongue.
"Yeah, right. You couldn't beat me in volleyball and I detest the sport," he scoffed. I could physically feel my eye twitch at this.
"You are so…" again, I couldn't find the right word to fit him.
“What? Are your insults coming up dry?"
Without warning, I picked up a knife and flung it at his head. He stopped it in midair. Note to self: don't use metal objects…

“You little… slut!!� I yelled. I flexed my mind like I flexed my dearly missed abs. The knife spun forward toward Rowena in a circular motion. She dodged the spinning blade and it fell on the floor.
“You SON of a-“ she snarled, but I cut her off with a whoop. “Why are you celebrating? You missed me… duh!�
“I know, Einstein. I was happy because this is the first time I actually made something move on purpose.
“Oh, snap,� Ro said.
“I know, isn’t this great! I can throw more knives now while doing things like eating cereal!� I whooped and punched the air again.
Ro chided, “Little child, when will you grow up?�


"Look who's talking! You just made me gain 900 pounds out of jealousy!" he said incredulously.
"Yeah, but you deserved it. Besides, I've already done things with my power on purpose," I sniffed, raising my nose in the air and standing up again. Suddenly, a toaster flew into my stomach, knocking me over and driving the wind from my lungs. He sniggered.
"That's the way we're gonna do things?" I asked, more to myself than to the pig. In my mind, I summoned up a sword. Yes, I will admit, I do have a little obsession with swords. They're just so…neat! I mean, who nowadays uses swords? It's so obscure, it's cool!
I looked to Shamus' face to see any sign of fear. He actually hid it pretty well for the coward he was. Except his eyes widened. It was a minute change, but I caught it. Of course, someone was always more intimidating with a sword in hands.
He wasn't going to let this go though. He had been challenged. By me. Flying to his hands was a pipe. He obviously didn't have a sword in his house, or else he would've called that to the kitchen. I guess a pipe was…barely sufficient.
With one last glare, I rushed towards him, swinging wildly. I had never actually been taught to fight, per say. I just picked up sticks and stuff and swung them around. Sometimes, I'd bully Fran into trying to take me on, but I'd always win. So, needless to say, my moves weren't that good.

So, then the 2-legged emaciated cow is running at me with a sword. Oh, crap, I thought. I stood with the pipe, when an idea struck me. I flexed an invisible muscle in my head forward and suddenly Ro was struggling to take each step.
“So, I guess that sword is made of iron, eh? Bad luck,� I say smiling annoyingly.
Ro glared at me, leaning over, pushing herself. Then an expression of evil lightbulb-switching-on washed the glare away. Then her sword became solid gold. Magnets don’t work on gold, I remembered while cursing. Rowena whooped a war cry and brought the sword down on my head. I blocked it with the heavy pipe. “You-“ she slashed and I blocked- “Little-“ she jabbed at my abdomen, and I blocked-“cheater!� I said.
“I’m not cheating, I just have a more useful power!� She whipped the sword around impressively a la Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. Again, I started to stretch a non-existent mental muscle. I let go of the rod, and just as I hoped it floated in mid-air. I pushed it forward. It went straight for her left eye. It almost hit her before she toppled to the ground. “Now who’s cheating!?�
“Ro, that attack was lame and immature even for you.�

That stupid…freak. I was mad-no, I was enraged. With a roar that sounded as though it came from an animal, I kneeled and feigned injury, holding my sword arm. He let his guard down, thinking he had won. He was wrong. Fueled by anger, I thrust my toward his gut.
Instinctively, he tried to block…with his arm. A huge gash appeared on his arm, gushing blood. A bit shocked, I fell backwards an landed on my butt and watched as he grasped his arm. His face was twisted into a grimace of pain, shock, and perhaps a little fear.
So many emotions bounced around my head like the little lottery balls before Jeopardy. I wasn't really trying to kill him…was I? How much trouble was I about to get in? For lack of a better phrase, he wasn't going to tell on my, was he? I mean…he had only tried to do the same to me when he forced me to give him abs…right?

“AAARRGGHHH!� I hollered. That little freak, how could she even… my thoughts trailed off in anger. “Imagine my arm uncut NOW, RO!� I was so angry that steam was probably snaking out of my ears and nostrils.
Her face remained emotionless as my arm healed. I stared at her, my face contorted in pure, deep anger. I didn’t even say thank you. I walked behind the kitchen’s island. It was tall with cedar stools. I washed my bloody hands off in the sink.
“Shamus, I’m sorry…� she whispered, but I could tell she forced out her apology.
“You should be.� The water scalded my hands. Twisting the hot water knob while twisting the cold water knob in the opposite direction, I looked up. She was sitting against the wall. I think she sensed my eyes on her emotionless face, because she met my gaze, which I drew away by turning around to get a paper towel.

"You're lucky you can heal that," he said, pressing wiping his hands. I looked at him, puzzled.
"Shamus…I didn't do anything," I said. It was true. I was afraid that I'd think of something worse. He looked up at me, sharing my puzzled look.
"But then…what happened? Oh! I get it! You imagined that I was hurt, but it wasn't real, because you're not strong like that, and it was just an illusion to freak me out. Oh yeah, I thought I was the immature one here," he said.
"You are, but that's not what happened. You were really cut, but you like…healed yourself or something. It wasn't me," I explained.
"That means…WHOA! That's AWESOME!" with this, he picked up one of the knives on the floor and scraped a small piece of skin off his arm. This too, bled, but not for long. In two and a half seconds, it healed without even leaving a scar.
"AHA!" he said, leaping into the air. "I have TWO powers! You only have one! Bwahaha!"
"Hel-lo?! I've got WINGS! I'd call that a bit of a power, wouldn't you?"

“Oh, don’t ruin my fun!� I started to feel like a god. I could barely remember that I was turning into a freak. But then I remembered.
“Ro, seriously,� I began. She scoffed. Rowena obviously couldn’t imagine me talking seriously with her. “What are we going to do about this? You can’t just sprout your wings in the middle of English and I, well, you know…�
She looked at me with a stern look. “Shamus, I thought about it already.�
“And?�
“I don’t know!�
“Well, glad to see you’re on top of things.� Instantly I got an idea. A simple one, probably not foolproof, but if Ro didn’t like it then she could just shut her face for all I cared.
“We could play hooky tomorrow!�
“What will that help?� she asked skeptically.
“How are you helping by criticizing me?�
“I can’t help it, it’s a habit,� she said with a feigned sigh.
But seriously, her attitude was not helping this situation at all. Could she care less about any of this? I drummed on the countertop twice, and mimed hitting a cymbal with a drumstick, making a “TSTSTSH!� sound.

"Could you at least STOP that!" I shouted. Any sort of banging on countertops annoyed the living crap out of me.
"I will if you'll take this seriously!" he replied.
"I am taking it seriously!"
"Oh yeah, right," he mocked.
"Listen, I think out of the two of us, I'm the one who's more concerned their social image, don'tcha think?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. So that's why you constantly embarrass yourself. You know, I always thought that was to get attention. You know, that's a funny way of getting a good social image," Shamus replied, leaning against a counter.
"You. Are. Impossible. I'm leaving. Fran'll be home soon, and Mum wants me there when she gets home," I said, turning to leave.
"I'll tell Joey you said hi," he said. I could hear the smile in his voice. I had to physically stop and count to 3 before I did anything. After debating on what to do, I walked out the door, leaving Shamus inside, his mouth actually closed for once, and bound with ducktape.

As Rowena left the room, I suddenly was overcome with duct tape. Yes, I know how odd that sounds, but in a flash it was wrapped all around my head. Angrily I tore the strip over my eyebrows off. “OUCH!� I screamed. I think I had literally ripped my eyebrows out. As I slowly peeled the tape off, I silently cursed Rowena.
What was the point of that conversation if Ro and I hadn’t settled on anything except for the fact that yes, we still hate each other.
I threw a large glob of duct tape from my face in the trashcan. There still was some on the back of my head. To the people who are reading our story, here’s a bit of caution: Never think it’s funny to force people to rip all of their hair out, because no matter how tough you are you’ll hate it too.
I sat in the living room while I watched the news turned up as loud as possible. I was slowly ripping out the duct tape. My mother had already stopped by, and then she went to go grocery shopping.
“Ow. Ow. Ow.�
I had finally got the last piece of duct tape out of my hair. I crumpled the pieces of hairy duct tape into a ball and tossed it.
On the news, they were switching over to the sports segment now. The theme music for the station’s “Sports Corner� was incredibly loud. Cringing, I hastily pressed the volume down button on the remote. Zzzitch. “AAGH!� I received quite a brutal static shock. I inspected my shocked index finger, in which I could clearly feel my heartbeat. Sparks were dancing from middle to index, and middle to ring fingers. The scientist in me began to formulate a theory.
That storm, I thought, shocked my house with lightning, which went through the phone I was holding. Which shocked me. Only I didn’t die. It must have…I paused, and I suddenly thought I knew what happened, (someone watching me think must have seen my face light up) the lightning charged up all the iron in my body somehow, and they became magnetic. I became magnetic.
But I still didn’t know what to do about it. I couldn’t see a doctor, then I’d probably, like I argued with Ro, be sent to Area 51 or something to be tested on. My autopsy video will be stolen and copied and bought by a bunch of U.F.O. nerds all around the country…
No. I wasn’t going to tell anyone. I was just going to have to cope.

Finally. I had gotten away from Shamus. Of course, I tried not to cause think any ill will towards him. It would probably happen now, and that would definitely be not good.
A couple hours later, Mom and Dad took Fran to basketball practice and I was all alone. I decided to "soak" away my troubles and worries by taking a bath. A nice, long, hot, relaxing bath. It was sooo nice. After about an hour or so of eating the latest Teen Magazine, I got out and applied my cool, green face cream. It was a moisturizer, and I loved it so much. It really did work.
With the green goo on my face, my hair up twisted up in a turban and placed on top of my head, and a fluffy towel wrapped around me, I started off to my room, humming "Phantom of the Opera." I grasped the handle and broke out singing as I walked into my room.
"The PHAAAAAAANTOM of the OPERA is THERE!!! INSIDE MY--," here, I was cut off.
"You sing like a cow, Ro," I heard from the corner behind my door. No. It wasn't…It could have been. Slowly, I turned. I could feel my face growing hot underneath my mask. It was Shamus. And another guy who I'd never seen before in my life. But I was more concerned about Shamus.
THAT LITTLE PUSTULE! Here I was, in my own house, and he broke in!
"How DARE YOU! You creep! YOU PERVERT!! I'M CALLING THE POLICE!!" I screamed. Breathing deeply, I turned to the other guy.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked. The man (he must've been in his late twenties) stood there, looking placid as I went into my scream fest towards Shamus.
"I'm here to help you and your friend with your powers," he said calmly.
"She's not my friend,"
"He's not my friend," we said at the same time.

Confused, right? I know. Let’s take a trip into the backstory of this part.
So, as I was settling in, watching the Simpsons, there was a knock on the door. I groaned and pushed myself out of the recliner. When I opened the door no one was there. Recently there were trailers on TV for this movie called “When a Stranger Calls� so I started getting creeped out. Then when I went back into the living room, a young man in his 20s was sitting on the armchair, looking at me with polite interest. He had wavy dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. From what I could tell he was tall and lanky.
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE FREAK!!� I screamed. I made a beeline for the kitchen to call the police.
“Do not call the police, Shamus,� he said in a calm, low voice.
“STALKER!� I accused. I seriously was about to skip calling 911 and just taking this weirdo out myself. He looked too stupid to beat me up.
“No, I do not stalk. I research,� he said as he gracefully stood up and walked over to me. I backed into the corner.
“Okay, you weirdo psychopath or pedophile or whatever, get outta my goddamn house right now or so help me God-“
“Shamus, now is not that time for arguing. I know what happened to you in the storm. I know of your abilities. And your friend’s.�
“She is NOT my friend!� I said hotly. Whatever this guy said he was a stalker. And I had blown my cover. “Listen, you don’t tell anyone about my- my- abilities or I’ll hunt you down.�
He smiled. “Such flair you have. You’ll be perfect. Now let’s go and meet your friend-“ here I groaned again- “Rowena.�
“So you can molest us both?�
“No,� he said angrily, “So I can help you both.�
“BUT WHO ARE YOU!?� I yelled. I started sliding away from him towards my front door.
“My name is Rip Oswald,� he said serenly, “and I am with the CIA. That is all you need to know right now. Now we must visit Rowena. Come,� he commanded as he strode silently out of my house. I didn’t trust “Rip� but what else could I do? I ran after him.
“Quiet,� he told me without looking back. He slunk into her yard, around her house. When we reached her backyard we could see that he’d already placed a tall ladder under her window. He started climbing so of course I followed suit. He swiftly toppled into Ro’s bedroom, I stupidly falling. Her room was too girly for me to even be able to breathe in there.
“Hide in the closet,� Rip told me.
“Why?�
“Because I told you to,� Rip responded smoothly.
“Huh, I guess CIA agents have to take a course on how to break into people’s houses and hide in odd places, eh?� I asked.
“Maybe,� he said vaguely.
So there we were in Rowena’s closet. Next thing I knew…
"The PHAAAAAAANTOM of the OPERA is THERE!!! INSIDE MY--,"
“You sing like a cow, Ro.�
She exploded, her face grotesquely twisted up in anger and covered in green goop. Then Rip butted in.
"I'm here to help you and your friend with your powers," he said calmly.
"She's not my friend,"
"He's not my friend," we said at the same time.

"Er…what? I um…don't know what you are talking about," I said slowly, glancing to Shamus.
"I already told him, Ro," he said boredly.
"Ooh, way to go! Weren't you the one who didn't want to end up in Roswell?" I asked hotly.
"Well, it wasn't my fault! He forced it out of me!"
"This isn't the point. Firstly, as you two have realized, you now have different…let's call them oddities. Right now, they are out of control, being activated by emotion only," the stranger dude said.
"No way! I can do it on command!" Shamus said indignantly, as though he'd been insulted.
"Yes, but as you may both recall, you magnetized yourself to the fridge, and that was not on command," the dude said.
"Ok, ok, so we can't control our powers, but that doesn't stop that fact that you two just broke into my room while I just stand here, dripping wet, in a towel, no less," I said, "I don't even know who you ARE!"
"Forgive me, I am Rip Oswald."
"That doesn't help me much," I replied, "And I'd really like to get dressed."
Here, Shamus' eyes opened wide.
"YOU MEAN YOU'RE NAKED UNDER THAT?!" he screeched loudly, shielding his eyes. I glared at him and thought of some clothing to wear. It appeared on my body, and I unwrapped my hair.
"Not anymore. It's not my fault you broke into my house, and I still have a right mind as to calling the police for breaking and entering!" I accused.
"Oi, what is it with you people and calling the police," Rip asked himself.
"Ok, right now I'm turning away from Shamus and talking to you. Who the hell are you, and how do you know about our powers?" I asked, glowering at him.
"All this will come in time if you come with me," he said.
"And you're kidnapping us, too?" Shamus asked.

“Not really kidnapping, but yes, sort of,� Rip said vaguely. The way he talked seemed like he tried to be a suave secret agent like James Bond but he went too far and just pulled it off like a weirdo.
Ro said, “Look, guy, you can torture Shamus if you want but I’m not-“ but she stopped speaking because at that moment Rip smoothly glided down the ladder and into the street.
“Come on, Ro,� I sighed, “This guy is just so difficult.�
I awkwardly climbed onto the ladder and slowly began to descend. “Hurry up, will you Shamus?� Ro groaned. “You can come back and enjoy the view… uh, never!�
My right foot touched the ground. “Up yours,� I muttered as I jogged around the house to find Rip standing by a black car that I was sure that it wasn’t there a minute ago. “Get in,� Rip said smoothly and lowered himself into the sleek vehicle.
I hesitated and then proceeded to enter. Inside it was spacious, leathery, shiny and hi-tech. I wondered if there was a TV in there. My door opened and there stood Rowena. “Move.� I sighed and moved over. Miss Big-Butt nearly sat on me as she flung herself into the car.
I didn’t know what kind of model this was. It didn’t even say what company made it. “Hey, er, Rip.� He was backing up now. “What kind of model is this car?�
“It’s a Kyoko F-041. It will be available for the general public in about ten years.� He floored it. Ro and I were pinned against the back of the seat as he veered around corners, leading out onto the highway.
“RIP!� Ro gasped. “Won’t a cop stop you?�
Rip said nothing. This was all so messed up. I was in a crazy CIA agent’s car. I was also stupid enough to get into a crazy CIA agent’s car.

What had we done? This freak was going to go molest us! EW! I HAD TO WATCH SHAMUS BEING MOLESTED!! That was disgusting.
"Hello!! RIP!! WON'T ANYONE STOP YOU?!? You're driving like a maniac!" I screamed. There were actual, physical G forces pressing me into my seat as though I was on a carnival ride.
"They would if they could see me, but they can't," he said, not taking his eyes off the road.
"Er…you mean we're invisible?" Shamus asked, sitting next to me. He too, was pushed back into his seat so under the pressure.
"Yes and no."
Man, don't you just love people who can be specific?
"Where are you taking us? Will we be able to come back?" I asked, straining to just move my jaw.
"I'm taking you to somewhere safe. When you're ready, you'll be able to come back," he replied. His eyes still didn't leave the road. Well, at least that was one good driving skill he'd enforced.
"RIP, THAT DOESN'T HELP US!" Shamus screamed.
"Shut up, you don't have to yell! Your mouth is inches away from my ear, y'know," I reminded, irked.
"Well, if your deaf, then you can't speak, and then I will be in eternal bliss," he replied, glaring at me. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
"Really Rip, do our parents know about this?" I asked. He didn't reply. "Rip? Do they, or don't they know?!"
For the first time, he glanced back. His eyes, I noticed, did not have an iris. It was just a pupil. It was really scary lookin', actually.
"No, they don't know," he said.
"Well, why not?!" Shamus burst out.

“They won’t want to know,� Rip serenely said, still not looking at the road.
“RIP LOOK OUT!� I yelled. He was running through a red light, and two trucks were coming.
Too smoothly, Rip weaved through the gap between cars and trucks.
“We’re gonna be pulled over!� I said. What if we were?
“We won’t be.� Rip turned hard left down the exit onto Route 431 without a turn signal. “I am taking you to a makeshift headquarters that my team and I established today,� he said. “Your situation is too dire for me to take you to Washington.�
Ro and I glanced at each other, but hastily looked out of our windows. But we both knew that we were both thinking of how many other people like Rip there could be.
Still driving the Kyoko F-041 at Mach 5, Rip took one of those cool Razor cell phones out of his pocket and flipped it on. Ro and I heard a beep, and then Rip’s voice carrying back: “Buddha to Lotus, I am now transporting the incense to the Zen garden.� I had to suppress a guffaw at that odd code. What was the other guy called? Kimono?

Interesting code. I remember one day in like…5th grade, my friend, Tiff and I created a code so we could pass notes to each other. Yeah, she moved. But anyway…
As I was looking at the ground passing by with lightning fast speed, I realized something. Rip said he was a CIA agent, but he said he hadn't enough time to take us to Washington. But the main CIA building wasn't in Washington; it was in Langley, Virginia. Well, there was one in the Pentagon, but the CIA building was in Virginia.
"Shamus, I don't like this," I whispered, careful not to let Rip hear me. He rolled his eyes at me.
"No! Listen to me! The CIA building isn't in Washington! It's in Langley!! A CIA agent would've known that, Shamus!" I insisted.
"How do you know that?" he asked, glancing at me incredulously. I shrugged.
"Dunno, it just kinda stayed with me. You know, like the Spice Girl's songs. They were incredibly annoying, yet everyone knew their songs," I explained. Shamus rolled his eyes again and I looked out the window again. We were now in a big city. The normal suburban scenery that accompanied our homes was gone, replaced with the gray, tan, and brown of a city. Of course, I couldn't make enough sense of it to see where we actually were.
After another half hour of silence, Rip stopped the car and told us to get out. With the G forces finally letting up, I was thrust into the sensation that I was floating. My head felt dizzy and I stretched ever part of my body (including my wings, which had severely cramped up behind me) and followed Rip as he led us into one of the Run-down buildings. It looked like we were in the Bronx, actually. Except darker. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, yet there were no stars, either. How strange.
"Hurry, and don't let yourselves be seen," he urged. I walked in first with Shamus directly behind me, and Rip bringing up the rear. The broken down building screamed Evil Villain Lair, but I tried not to let that faze me. As we moved further in, we came to a broken down living room. It reminded me of something out of the Matrix, because a real rag-tag group of people sat on lumpy looking sofas.
"Rowena, Shamus, this is Finnian, Fin for short, Shyam (they're twins), Giggles, Butch, Uma, Iris and Ham," Rip introduced. They each nodded their heads in time to Rip's introduction. I smiled and Shamus just kinda did nothing. I now understood why Rip had to tell us the Fin and Shyam were twins. Shyam was a black boy, about 11 years old, and Fin was obviously albino. He also wore big, chunky glasses. Giggles had a goofy smile plastered onto her little 8 year old face and Butch and Uma, each probably in about 5th grade were playing a card game. The red-haired girl about my and Shamus’s age who was busy reading must have been Iris. Ham was the only one to seem our age. And let me tell you, he was HOT! His dark brown hair fell gracefully into his unique red eyes. He sat alone in a corner, and said nothing. But God, was he ever-so hot…
"Erm…Rip, this is great and all, but…uh…why are we here?" Shamus asked, sharing my puzzled questions. Rip heaved a long sigh.
"As you have obviously figured out, I am not with the CIA. But believe me, you are in no harm in my protection. You are here because you were gifted with two powers, like the rest of us. You need to learn how to control these powers, and we're here to help you," he explained.
"But like, how is that going to help us? You know, like, in the real world, and stuff?" I asked.
"In your real world? It won't. But in our world, it makes a huge difference."
"I don't think I get it," Shamus said.
"At the moment, you are in another dimension. A dimension where nothing is how it seems on Earth. Our numbers are greatly diminishing, and without help, we'll die out," he said, calmly.
"Who'll die out?"
"The Dumaniz."
"That still doesn't help."
Rip gave another sigh and Shamus and I just stood dumbfounded.
"The people who you see in front of you, yourselves included, are all part of the Dumaniz."
"And they are?"
"They are the last force remaining that is holding both our world and your former world up. They are the good force against the evil. And you are part of them.�

While Rip was introducing the group, I kept thinking, “They’re all younger than us, and one’s older than us,� more than “What do these kids have to do with us?� Quite frankly, I wasn’t that surprised when I learned I was in the Dumaniz. For some reason, I knew that fate didn’t just hand out superpowers like those people on TV just randomly hand out humongous $1 million checks. I knew that somehow, I’d have to give the world something back.
But, forgive me, I must talk about Iris too. Her curly pumpkin-orange hair hanging beautifully off of her right shoulder while the left side is more straight and slicks back over her shoulder blade, her magnificent eyes, her absorbed, intensely focused expression as she read her title-less book. It was love, I thought. Only I didn’t think it, I knew it, or at least I thought I knew it. Does that make sense?
Ro then ejaculated, “What do you mean there’s another world?� and I was jolted back to reality. I didn’t get to mumble a “Yeah, what do you mean?� before Rip answered in a very sure of himself manner.
“Your former world and the Dumaniz world are very close together. Only the Dumaniz or those who possess very top-secret government technology can travel between worlds. For us, and regular humans who have the technology, it’s like slipping through a crack in a curtain in a theater.�
“But what do you mean our former world?� I asked.
“Well, now that you are a Dumaniz, you, Shamus, and you, Rowena, are now residents of this world. When you go into the human world, you will be foreigners there.�



"And who are the Dumaniz? The bad guys, or the good guys?" I asked.
"Well, ya see, the weirdo Government thinks we're the bad guy, but that's only cuz they're being ruled by Volmer," Giggles answered for me. She was a real cutie, her golden hair flowing down her back.
"Who?"
"Volmer's the bad guy, sillies!" she replied, running back to play with her dolls again.
"Stop it, Butch. You know that's not fair!" Uma said, interrupting their game.
"Sorry, Uma, you know I haven't honed the power yet," he said, taking her cards and re-dealing.
"Well, if you would practice what I've been telling you, that wouldn't have happened," Iris said, placing down her book and standing up. She really was stunning. She had a figure that would make any girl jealous. Of course, I could almost feel Shamus drooling on my sneaker.
"And really Shamus, I'm flattered that you think that, but please try and keep your thoughts to yourself," she laughed, walking over.
"I'm Iris. Thank you for the lovely intro, Rip. What have they got?" she asked, sticking out her hand for me to shake. I took it warmly. I really hoped we could be friends.
"Ro's got Thought, and Wings, and Shamus has magnetism and endurance," Rip answered.
"Whoa…those are powerful combinations, guys! I'm Telekinesis and mind reading" she said.

“I’m… I’m Shamus,� I muttered.
Iris giggled. I drooled. “Yeah, I know,� she said.
Ro sighed. I glared at her. Iris stood there awkwardly. Well, we all were just standing there awkwardly.
Ro asked, “Rip, what are Shamus and I supposed to do now?�
“Not to worry, we’ve got two comfortable cots set up for you. Shamus, you’ll room with Shyam, Finnian, Butch, and Ham.�
“You mean… we’re living here from now on?�
“Why, yes. I thought I just told you that this world is now your home,� said Rip, looking puzzled. How in the world, I thought, could we puzzle him when he’s telling us that we’re practically superheroes and the government will hate us?
“I’m not staying here,� I said defiantly. I looked at Ro. Expressionless.
“But you must,� stated Rip firmly.
“Rip, you just. Don’t. Get it? Do you?� He continued to stare at me polite interest. Ro was staring at the floor, and it was hard to tell how she was feeling. The other Dumaniz kids were staring at me like I was juggling flaming hamsters. “What are our parents going to think when we have just happened to disappear on them? What will you tell them? Will we ever go back home? What are we gonna do here?� I couldn’t believe Rip could just expect that he could just come in and take us away for good? Without or consent? It would be alright if he gave us a say in it, but he didn’t.
“Ro, back me up,� I said. She looked pensive and didn’t look at anyone…

"But Shamus…why SHOULD we go back? Aren't teenagers supposed to run away from home? And besides, maybe we should stay. I mean, if we have the powers, they aren't likely to go away," I started, "Right, Rip?"
That would just suck.
"No, now that you have them, you'll have them forever," he said. Thank God.
"Anyway, we need to learn to control them so you don't go doing stupid things, like gluing yourself to the fridge."
"What about you? You frickin' blindfolded everyone in school and then tried to cut my hand off," he retorted. I glared at him.
"Well, I wouldn't have if I didn't have to imagine you with FRICKIN' ABS!!" I practically screamed. I was semi-aware that the room had gone silent, but my anger had begun to boil over.
"I don't think I need to learn to control it as much as you do!" Shamus cried. Suddenly, a kind of statue thing came flying at my head. It looked very heavy. In my mind, I threw up a force-field around me and it bounced off. Shamus snarled at me and I saw a knife being expelled from Uma's pocket. It threw off its sheath and came flying towards me. Instead of a force-field this time, an actual shield appeared on my arm. The knife deflected off of it, and before the anvil I could think of dropped on his head (or at least his foot), Ham stood up and was over in a flash.
He caught the falling anvil with one hand and let it drop to the floor, actually breaking a floor board.
“Whoah.�
Really, after all that, the only thing I could say was “whoah.� Butch, Uma, and Giggles gawked at us, their mouths so wide that I could probably stand in it. Shyam and Fin seemed to be suppressing laughter and Iris rolled her eyes and went back to her book. Ham looked angry.
“Temper, temper,� said Rip calmly.
“No, you think!?� exclaimed Ro. Rip chuckled, ignoring the death glares Ro and I were exchanging.
“I think it’s a good time to hit the hay,� said Rip energetically like nothing happened. “Ham, would you show Shamus to his room? Iris, would you, er, help Ro?�
I was still glaring at Ro, wishing her legs and arms would fall off as Shyam and Fin passed me, uttering in unison, “Nice one, man.� Butch hurried past me. Ham strided forth and grabbed my arm. He led me down a hall lit by a couple of lamps hanging from the tall ceiling.
“Okay, listen up,� Ham said. His voice was tough but quiet at the same time. “Soon you will finally appreciate how powerful you are, or have the potential to become. Don’t use your powers for crap like little skirmishes with your gal pal, kapeesh?�
“Gal pal!? What the-“ I gasped.
“Shut up,� Ham interjected. He shoved me into a bedroom that Shyam and Fin were already settling under the covers in. “Sweet dreams.�

Taking a couple of deep, deep, deeeeeep breaths, I watched the guys walk away. Turning back to Iris, I muttered a quick sorry. She gave me a slight smile and led me, Uma, and Giggles down another hallway. Like I said before, this place was real run down, and dark and dismal, as well. It wasn't something I'd choose to live in, but what the hey, right?
Once I was situated (Iris had lent me some clothes to sleep in), I sat down on my cot. There were four in the room, one on each wall, the smallest belonging to 8 year old Giggles.
"You're going to really have to work on that," Iris said, laying down in her bed. We were positioned so that her head and my head were close enough to talk.
"I'm sorry. Shamus just knows EXACTLY how to get on my nerves. Mum always told me to control my anger, but it's just so hard sometimes, and now with these-," I began. Iris cut me off with her hand.
"I wasn't talking about you anger. Anger can be a great ally to have in battle. It's your powers. You need to know exactly what you can do, when you can do it, and how to do it. We'll start on that tomorrow. You're going to be powerful, Ro. You just have to control it," she said, lifting her blanket over her.
"Oh…ok then," I said, lying down. The cot was surprisingly comfortable, and before long, I was asleep.

I stumbled into the room as Ham slammed the door shut. Shyam and Fin lay on their backs, laughing.
“What’s so funny?� I grumbled.
“That was really cool back there in the living room,� Shyam said. (At least I thought it was Shyam; I couldn’t quite remember which one was the albino.)
“Hilarious!� chided Fin.
“Well, I live to entertain!� I said incredulously. I scanned the room. It had a red linoleum floor, off-white walls, and a pink ceiling. This whole warehousey thing that the Dumaniz lived in was incredibly weird. There were two empty cots, one I took to be Ham’s and the other, mine. Next to each cot was a footlocker, even mine. I went to mine and opened it. Inside was a pair of pajamas (pajama pants and an off-white tee shirt), three pairs of slacks, three solid colored ties (blue, green, orange, which were oddly my favorite colors), three long-sleeved dress shirts (pink, white, and black) and three white muscle shirts. Every article of clothing was neatly folded and wrinkle free. Weird.
“So, did Rip go shopping for me, or something?� I asked, showing the two 11 year olds my pair of PJ’s.
“Oh, we have a ton of clothing,� Fin said flatly.
Shyam interjected, “I suggest you go to sleep, newbie,� said Shyam. It was very unsettling for an 11 year old to tell me to sleep and to call me a “newbie.�
I obeyed the little kid nonetheless. I found that my pajamas were warm and were just a little too large, but otherwise comfortable. The cot was lumpy but warm. This was so weird. It was like, if you will, being Harry on his first night in Hogwarts, in a way.
Ham’s little lecture swam around in my mind. I just had to ask about him. Fin had just turned the light when I whispered, “What is Ham like? He seemed kind of… scary tonight.�
Fin answered me. “Ham is alright. He and Rip are pretty close. Supposedly, he was the first Dumaniz that Rip took up. Now hush up. I didn’t turn the lights off so we could tell stories.�

Morning came quickly. Too quickly. One minute, I was asleep. For like…one minute. The next minute,

[kolte]

I got about halfway, really interesting, but I'm gonna take a break lol.

[Melchi0r]

You think it's interesting? Lol, thanks

[kolte]

ok, I finished, is there more, if so, post it, don't leave me hanging.

[Peanut Butter]

Dude I just read the whole thing and I Loved it. You have to put the rest on here or write the rest. and fast. I cant wait to read it. Man if you finished that It would be a hit I think.

[Melchi0r]

Dude I just read the whole thing and I Loved it. You have to put the rest on here or write the rest. and fast. I cant wait to read it. Man if you finished that It would be a hit I think.

Thanks a lot!! Here's some more.

Morning came quickly. Too quickly. One minute, I was asleep. For like…one minute. The next minute, Giggles was gently shaking me awake.
"C'mon, Ro! Ham made breakfast! You needa eat food, or else he says you're gonna faint in the middle of trainin'," she said. Groggily, I woke up and glanced at my watch. The letters blinked a dreadful 5:30 up at me. I had never been up this early…
Giggles ran out of the room happily. I glared at her, wondering what possessed her to be so Gosh darned happy. With her out of the room, I got dressed in a purple tee-shirt and a pair of nice fitting jeans. It was as though they had been made for me. Content with what I was wearing, I walked down the hall an obvious kitchen. Sitting at the table was Butch, Iris, Shamus, Giggles, and Uma. The twins weren't there yet, and Ham was bringing a large bowl to the table, filled with some sort of white stuff. I sat next to Iris and an empty chair that was soon occupied by Ham.
"Dig in, guys. It's gonna be a long day," he said, spooning some of the white stuff into his bowl, and then passing it to me. I nodded in thanks and plopped a spoonful into my own bowl. It smelled like glue. Slowly, I dipped my spoon in it and took a taste, spitting it out quickly, gagging on its awful taste. Shamus looked at me, amused. The rest of the table just kinda stared. My face heating up, I looked back at the bowl, expecting it to come alive. I could feel Ham's intense gaze on my face and lifted another spoonful to my mouth. Everyone else seemed to be coping with it just fine.
"Change it, Ro," I heard Ham whisper. Surprised, I looked up at him and met his green eyes. Green?! His eyes were red last night! A little shocked, I nodded again and turned back to the gloop, closing my eyes. Without warning, the taste and smell of my mom's famous beef stew drifted through my mind. If I could be eating anything now, it'd be that. I took a mental sniff again, savoring the memory. Wait…that was real!!
"Whoa!! Can you do mine, too!?" Giggles asked, her eyes wide. I grinned and thought of the same thing for her. A content smile lined Ham's face as I transformed everyone's breakfast into soup. We were eating good that morning.

I had a quite restless sleep last night. Shyam and Fin woke up as if an alarm clock sounded loudly. Without groaning or anything, they pulled on their oddly dressy clothing and filed out of the bedroom, glancing at me as they went. I moaned and pushed myself out of bed. I got dressed into a pair of slacks, a white dress shirt, and socks. I stuffed the green tie in my pocket. I didn’t know how to tie a tie… maybe I’d ask Iris later.
At the breakfast table, everyone else was out of their pajamas and in their day clothes. I was the only person who looked dressed up. Ham was serving what seemed like snot for breakfast. It tasted like snot as well. Out came Ro… it seemed like she didn’t like Ham’s cooking either. I smirked. She shot me the usual death glare.
Then Ham whispered something to her. Ro stared into his eyes. I could see a little bit of drool drip out. I rolled my eyes and tried to swallow some gourmet snot. Then a savory scent wafted through the air, warming up my nostrils. In Ham’s bowl was a bowl of soup! She was flirting with that creep!
“Whoa!! Can you do mine, too?!� Giggles demanded. Everyone murmered agreement. With a triumphant smile, Ro looked thoughtful (an expression that usually doesn’t creep over her face very often) and everyone’s gourmet snot turned into that delicious-smelling soup that Ro made for her little Hammy-Wammy.
“I don’t want this,� I protested, even though it smelled awesome. “Make me three warm buttermilk pancakes and some bacon, with orange juice, hold the pulp!� I said, drooling at the thought of my favorite breakfast meal.
“Why, sure!� said Ro in a falsely cheerily voice. My soup then turned to a swarm of bees, which raged into a small, dense cloud and attacked.

You see, the problem with a swarm of bees is that they don't obey you. At all. I had only intended for them to sting Shamus, but it wasn't like it was a dog or something. It was a swarm of frickin' bees! Screams erupted from the table as we all stood up or fell over, attempting to escape the bees.
And let's not forget that I was included in this pandemonium. As one of the bees stung my arm, I tried to whack it off. Three more landed on various parts of my body, each stinging me painfully.
"Ro, you IDIOT, DO SOMETHING!!" Shamus cried, waving his arms like a maniac in his attempt to get the bees to stop.
"I-I can't! I can only create them, not take them away!!" I shouted.
"Fin, Shyam, you can do something!" Iris called. The twins nodded there heads and simultaneously closed their eyes in deep thought. Suddenly, the bees were surrounded by something purpleish. The good this was, they couldn't get out. Suddenly, it began to fill with water, until it was completely full. A loud cracking noise filled the air and the globe ice over, alerting me that the water had been frozen. Shyam and Fin opened their eyes, and looked content with themselves.
"Um…sorry?" I said.

[Peanut Butter]

I loved it. I know it takes awhile to write but I seriously cant wait until you write more. I think its better than some books. I think that after you finish it you should try to get it published.

[kolte]

its got an amature fell about it, also a british feel, I take it your got allot of your style from harry potter. I noticed allot of the names, and allot of the words like rubbish and groaned etc. I thought it was based in the UK untill you mentioned area 51. Anyway's I really liked it, verymuch so indeed.

[Melchi0r]

its got an amature fell about it, also a british feel, I take it your got allot of your style from harry potter. I noticed allot of the names, and allot of the words like rubbish and groaned etc. I thought it was based in the UK untill you mentioned area 51. Anyway's I really liked it, verymuch so indeed.

Amature? Well, I'm only 14 :lol:

[Retro Tin Canz]

*raises hand* It is I! Catie. Rowina...

Yeah, I'm the other author to the story, and I'm rather flattered that you all think that about it!

Thanks again!

[kolte]

*raises hand* It is I! Catie. Rowina...

Yeah, I'm the other author to the story, and I'm rather flattered that you all think that about it!

Thanks again!

well ello ello, welcome to VT, great story, spot on spot on :P

[Melchi0r]

More!

I was flabbergasted, for lack of a better word. Ro was standing there sheepishly, and my mouth was about wide enough to fly an airplane through. The bubble of force-field, ice, and bees fell onto the table, breaking it. Rip grunted. Iris stared at me, then Ro, then turned and stormed (which seemed like floating, with her beauty) down the hall.
Suddenly, Rip strode forth and took me by the arm into the kitchen.
“What the-?�
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE PLAYING AT?!� Rip roared. A vein filled with blood in his forehead. It was hideous.
“She! Ro! Gah!� I stuttered incredulously.
“Look, guy, I don’t what problems you and that girl�, he thrusted a finger at the door, “have with each other, but here, we have a little something called SELF-DISCIPLINE and RESPECT!�
I had the urge to whisper, “Those are two things,� but I bit my tongue. But I did protest. “Well, she had NO reason to conjure up that swarm of bees.�
“Well, she has problems too, but I think Iris will deal with her. But that doesn’t mean YOU can’t shape up yourself, kid.� Ham was calming down, which also calmed me. The vein became a little less visible. “And if Ro couldn’t conjure up another table for us, you’d wish you were never born,� finished Ham. And he turned on his heel and left the kitchen, leaving me to my guilty thoughts as I absentmindedly pushed a spoon around with the mental muscle.

[kolte]

brava

[Peanut Butter]

Very Lovely,lol and Hello Catie It is ver nice to meet you my lady.

[Retro Tin Canz]

*blushes* Why thank you!

I'm quite pleased you all like the story!! It's a pleasure to write!

[Melchi0r]

I felt horrible. No, worse than that. I felt the lowest of low. The others had left, taking their cues from Rip, Ham, and Iris. I didn't want anyone mad at me! In my mind, I knew I was trying to blame someone, to get the pressure off of myself, but there was no one here to blame. Yes, Shamus had provoked me, but I didn't need to overreact like that. I could've just yelled at him, but noooo.
Signed, I looked at the table beneath the shiny ball of ice. And idea hit me. I'd make a brand new table out of scratch, much better than the rickety, wobbly old card table we'd been using. Something huge so we weren't squished. Made of a beautiful, dark wood. With gold embellishments. Something that looked straight out of the Middle Ages…something fit for a king. But mind you, it had to fit in the dining room.
Taking a calming breath, I set to work immediately. All the elements I had thought of came to form a perfect picture. As soon as I was done with the table, I'd make chairs to go with it, and clean up the fragments of the previous one.
With a deep, deep breath, I pushed the image from my mind, biding it to appear in front of me. The air seemed to shimmer, and I could almost see the outline of my work. But suddenly, it felt like some drove a stake through my skull. Lightning fast, my hands clutched my head and fell to my knees with a moan and a loud thump. The pain intensified, send spasms through my muscles. I don't know if I screamed, but I could hear the kitchen door open and someone walk over, but I couldn't open my eyes to see anything.
The pain was so bad, unlike anything I had ever experienced before. My face was wet with tears, and I was on the floor, but other than that, I could feel nothing, save for whatever possessed my body to be tortured. Truthfully, I was expecting to die soon. Or pass out.
With one final, agonizing burst that seemed to last for hours, the pain receded to a sharp throbs, but my head cleared. Slightly. My bones still burned, but I didn't feel like the Angel of Death was descending on my body any longer.

I spent about a half hour in the dark, musty kitchen (the fact that the kitchen was both dark and musty made me question whether our food was sanitary). I mainly thought about hating Rowena, and how unnecessary it was for her to conjure the bees. I had sustained several stings at breakfast, and I was pretty much just fuming.
Nothing was my fault, I assured myself. Nothing! I said to myself, and two pots I was floating around zipped out of my control, colliding with each other, then each one landing at separate ends of the room. As if on cue, there was a scream from the dining room.
Still not fully recovered from my retraction from the real world, I lazily investigated it; it was Ro.

I opened my eyes, but quickly had to close them again, even the dim light of the dining room causing my brain to malfunction.
"What-was that?" I asked, attempting to sit up. Everyone (except Shamus, of course) was crowded around me.
"Stay down," Ham instructed. Obediently, I followed his instructions and leaned back.
"You attempted something beyond your skill level," Rip said vaguely.
"What do you mean, 'beyond my skill level?' Just before I made that table, or tried to anyone, I had just produced a swarm of bees and soup for everyone. I fought Shamus with my powers before! Heck, I've BLINDFOLDED my whole HIGHSCHOOL before! How could a simple table be too hard for me?" I started to shout. My whole head was seized in a mass of painful fireworks, which didn't help my condition. Realizing how stupid that rant had been, I groaned in pain.
"It was a big thing, and you did it completely from scratch. You've got to build up to that point," Iris explained softly, in her caring way. I smiled grimly and sat up, clutching my head as though it were going to fall off. Everyone urged me to stop, but I disobeyed.
"I guess that means I should start training?" I asked. I looked around for Shamus and saw him lying low, near the door. There was some sort of look of concern on his face, but it wasn't very deep. I was about to call something extremely insulting out to him, but after catching glares from both Ham and Iris, I bite my response back. Yeah, staying quiet would just be easier.

[Peanut Butter]

Its looking great :!:

[Melchi0r]

Okay, I really didn’t want Ro to be hurt. Yeah, really! Well, a little hurt wouldn’t be bad, but a bad injury would be… well, bad. It’s just that I think when you hate someone, it’s going too far for you to want them to die. But I couldn’t let Ro know that I didn’t want her to be hurt! So I just did what I could do: stand there and watch from behind.
While Iris and Ham were helping Ro up, I slipped away to the bedroom that Shyam, Fin and I shared. I plunked down onto the cot, the springs squeaking from the sudden pressure.
That could happen to me one day, I thought. Well, not the fainting while trying to make a table part, but I could try something beyond my power. I wanted to believe that I was already all-powerful, but even my cockiness couldn’t produce that pretext. But just how far could I push myself? That was definitely the hardest question on the matter.
As my mind drifted around, eventually towards sleepiness, a knock on the door pulled me to reality. Reality… I didn’t really know exactly what it was anymore. Well, I silently went to let in the guest. To my shock, it was Iris.

With Iris leaving, Ham led me into the dorm and gently helped me into my bed.
"You really should rest for the remainder of the day," he said.
"What?! No! I'm fine! Really! Please, I really want to train today!" I said, struggling to get up. The pain returned for a fraction of a second, then disappeared, causing me to lose my balance and fall forward. Ham's strong arms caught me effortlessly, helping me back.
"Thanks," I muttered, sitting on the cot. Ham nodded. We were silent for a moment before he spoke up.
"I'm going to allow you to train. I don't want you to over work yourself…we might work on flying with you today," he said. I looked into his silvery eyes. Wait…
"Weren't your eyes red?" I asked, looking into his eyes. He chuckled.
"That's my other power. Strength, obviously, and shape-shifting," he replied.
"You can turn into anything?" I wondered out loud.
"Only things that I've seen."
"That's awesome!"
He just smiled. It looked like he wanted to say more, but refrained from doing so.
"Does that mean you're going to fly with me?" I asked.
"What?"
"Well, I mean, if you can change shape, that means you can give yourself wings. I mean, it'll be hard to fly by myself. I don't have a clue to what I'm doing," I explained.
"Well, I've never seen a person with wings before."
Oh…that was my cue. I closed my eyes and let it be known with my mind that I wanted him to be able to see my wings. A certain warmth flew through my back and I looked at him again. His eyes were wide with surprised, but the rest of his face was still the same placid face I had known.
"Yeah, I'll be coming with you."

“Can I come in?� said Iris coolly. I stood there, star-struck.
“Uh… um… sure! Yeah, come in…� I said. As she confidently strode past, for some reason, I held my breath. She meandered to the window at the far wall of the room. Turning on her heel, she faced me. At that moment, I released all the air. She smiled delicately at me.
“So, uh, do you, uh, I mean, uh, what-“ I stammered.
“Shamus,� she began. The expression in her voice and on her face was unreadable. “Can you please tell me the story behind you and Rowena?� She looked up at me. I held my breath again for a few seconds, star struck. Then I released it stupidly and crossed the room to sit on the bed nearest the window, where she stood illuminated magnificently by the sun.
“Um… okay,� I said quietly. “I think it started in the summer between eighth and ninth grade.� I paused and looked at Iris. She continued to keep her stern but warm gaze fixed on me. I waited for her to sit with me, but she did not. So I continued. “I was at a party at her house. Well, first of all, we were neighbors and we knew each other since kindergarten. Well, Ro told some of my friends about… an incident… that happened when I was five.� Thankfully, Iris didn’t press about the certain incident. “So, I got really mad at her and stormed into the house. Kinda pathetic, really.� I paused once more. She finally sat on the cot opposite me.
“So I thought about it, and I decided to get her back. I went into her room, where I found her sister. She was reading Ro’s diary. I asked if I could see it… she’s usually a brat, but I think that she’d be kind to someone else in order to be a little-“ I almost said the b-word, “jerk to Ro. In the diary, Ro had a whole two pages devoted to one of my friends, Joey. So I mentioned it in front of her friends later…� I stopped. I didn’t see any need to go on. I looked expectedly at Iris, who looked pensively at the floor. It was really awkward. Again I held my breath like an idiot.
“I see,� she said, looking at me. I exhaled, hoping I wasn’t breathing on her beautiful face. “Shamus, I don’t want to lecture you like you’re some naughty little kid or preach or something like that, but you and Rowena need to learn to put aside your differences and get along. I don’t want you and her to be friends, but you guys seriously need to start showing respect for each other.�
Respect? For Ro? I thought it would never happen. But all immature doubts aside, I knew she was right. “Right,� I muttered.
“I’m glad I got that off of my chest,� Iris said. “To be honest, me saying that is a little hypocritical.�
“Why?� I said.
“When Ham and I were recruited into the Dumaniz, we were, well, like you and Ro.�
Iris!? Have faults like a normal human?
“That’s not hypocritical at all,� I said. “You just don’t want to see someone make the same mistake you did.�
“Ham and me,� she said playfully. Her smile was too much for my stupid hormones. I guffawed like an unseasoned cowboy, recovering with a cough.
“Come on,� she said, going to the door. “We’re gonna leave in a half an hour for training.�

[Retro Tin Canz]

I'll post this one, since Potterfile won't be on for a while...

A half an hour later, the Dumaniz spread out around a rather large area and prepared for training. I found my self on the roof of a very, very, very tall building, looking over the edge.
“Can’t I just take off from the ground?� I asked, apprehension creeping into my voice.
“This’ll be more effective,� Ham said, staring over the horizon placidly. Once we had climbed to the top of the building, he had given himself wings. They were a couple feet longer than mine, since he was heavier than I was. His wings were also a darker shade than mine, yet every bit as beautiful.
“If you say so,� I replied, taking a deep breath.
“C’mon, just jump off…you’ve done it before,� he said softly. I turned and saw he was smiling. With no warning, I unfurled my wings and stepped off the side of the building. And trust me, that’s NOT something I say everyday, but now, I wish it was.
I don’t know how many of you have wings, and can fly, but if you can, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then you will never know. The feeling is so indescribable…it can only be described as flying. Being unrestrained…your body as free as your mind. Think about it. Before this, I had always gotten a bit dizzy when it came to heights, but this…this was amazing. And the best part was, I knew what to do. It was as though when the lightning storm gave me this power, it had also implanted knowledge in my head. I knew how to look for updrafts, how to maneuver myself, how to land, to soar, to dive, to bank, to fly!!
Ham soared up next to me, sharing my ecstasy. I was sure nothing could be better than this…but things got a whole lot worse.
“What’s that?� I asked, pointing down. 20 or 30 people, all dressed in a sharp, gray uniform came bursting into the training area outside, and began making their way towards the headquarters. The smile dropped off his face.
“He need to land. Now,� he said, urgency dripping off his voice. His movements were jerkier than mine, and not as smooth as his normal state.
“Why? What’s going on?� It was starting to scare me, especially since the men each had guns. At first, I thought we were safe, up in the air, where no one could see us. But one of the men looked up, pointed and yelled something. Without warning, the rest of their men raised their guns, aiming at�you guessed it�us, and fired with 20 or 30 loud, almost simultaneous bangs.

[Peanut Butter]

dont just leave us hangin lol

[TehBovril]

Wow.I love your story!

[Retro Tin Canz]

dont just leave us hangin lol

LOL, too late.

Um, I guess Potterfile is taking a bunch of mental sick days. I haven't a clue if he's done, if he's started, or if he even remembers about it...

*sigh*

And thanks for the comments!

[Joe]

I dont know what to say :S

[Retro Tin Canz]

I dont know what to say :S

LOL, I hope that's a GOOD astonishment, and not a bad one!!!

:lol:

[Melchi0r]

I dont know what to say :S

LOL, I hope that's a GOOD astonishment, and not a bad one!!!

:lol:

Ditto... and I finally pleased you by writing!

Iris parked the motorcycle in an alleyway in a sunny but filthy and vacant town. “We’ll be working with your basic magnetic skills today,� said Iris as she tossed back her hair. I awkwardly fumbled my way out of the side-car of her Indian motorcycle.
She walked into an open area complete with a dumpster and hobo rags. “Okay, first, I want you to try and push the dumpster a couple of inches.�
I stared dumbly. Wasn’t that a bit too much for a beginner? She seemed to have read my thoughts, because she said kindly, “It’s alright, Shamus, you can do it! Just put all your mind power into it.� I inhaled and bent my thoughts on the greenish, dirty side of the overflowing dumpster. Nothing until it quivered a bit. A milk carton fell out as it jolted forward an inch.
“Okay!� Iris shouted. My brain seemed to twitch, pressing against the inner walls of my skull. “That was really very good!� Iris assured me.
“You think?� I said.
“Well, you’re not fantastic,� she admitted, which made me feel less like I was being complimented to make me feel good. “But just know this: when I started training, I got a headache levitating a toothpick.�
She left me dumbfounded. A toothpick?
Then from Iris’s pocket came a trill of a cell phone ringing. “Sorry,� she mumbled as she removed it and read the screen, which apparently had caller I.D. “It’s Rip, so let me just take this…� she trailed off as she pressed a button and said, “Hello?� From my distance I could hear a lot of that fuzzy noise and shouting… and gunshots. Iris started confused, then gradually became terrified. She hang up, breathing heavily.
“Shamus, Volmer’s found us, we need to-“ but she was cut off by the exploding of the dumpster…

[Retro Tin Canz]

You guys are gonna have to get used to the cliffies from here on in.

At the sight of the oncoming bullets, I banked sharply to the left, Ham to the right. Thinking quickly (and I mean that quite literally) I imagined two guns, filled with ammo.
“Ham, catch!� I said, throwing one to him. He caught it, as I knew he would and without a moment’s hesitation, aimed and fired. As a result, one of the men fell stiffly to the ground. I brought my own gun up, aiming carefully. By this time, the men had reloaded and were ready to shoot again. And they did.
I managed to squeeze one round off before I had to stop. Suddenly, my right wing seared with pain. I flapped hard to gain altitude, but it hurt too much. Another searing pain flew through my left shoulder. I began to fall the fifty or so feet to the ground before I was caught, ten feet before my innards splattered all over the road. Ham had dived down and caught my good arm, trying to get me to safety.
“Hold on, Ro!� he called. Yeah, like I had other plans. I glanced behind me, at the men. They were getting ready to shoot for a third time…not good. I looked back into Ham’s eyes.
“Set me down, Ham, and then get away. You’re more experienced than I am. The Dumaniz would be hurt more if you were captured,� I reasoned. He shook his head.
“No one gets left behind,� he responded. The men shot again, and Ham descended the rest of the way to the ground. He lowered me down so I landed on my feet, my arm and wing hanging limply and dripping with blood, and stood in front of me, getting ready to fight.
I was terrified of what would happen if I used my power of imagination again, but I knew I had to. Would I nearly pass out again? Would the pain return? I was only just getting over my first headache, what if I pushed myself too far? Would it kill me? I put my right hand on my temple as though to enhance my thought, and replaced the soldiers’ guns with fake plastic cap guns. Confused, they dropped the toys and assaulted us mono y mono. Ok, more like 50 y 2, but what the hey, right?
They surrounded us in a tight circle. Without warning, one went for me, and one for Ham. Ham quickly fended his attacker off with a swift kick to the throat. The guy fell over, gasping for air. This resulted in three more coming after Ham.
I stared intently at my guy, smiling inwardly. 2.56 seconds later, a huge boulder fell on him, pinning him to the spot. I kinda felt sorry for him, as a pang of guilt flew into my stomach.
“Don’t stop, Ro! Do to them what you know they’d do to you!� Ham shouted, trying his best to fend off the now five men attacking him. I nodded, swallowing my fear and guilt, and rolled the boulder into more men. I suddenly realized that I could control whatever I had created. I hadn’t really noticed that before, but it sure as heck came in handy now.
In my mind, I created a staff, not wanting to take it too far by creating a metal sword. I took a swing at a guy’s face, and his fell over, blood just gushing from his nose. But me taking two guys out wasn’t going to help us. I started to make a wall, in my mind, made out of thick, heavy stone. I knew they’d get in it, but it would give Ham and me a moment to recollect…to think.
I eventually pushed the image from my mind with force, but had to pull back before it even materialized. A sharp pain flew through my head, and I fell to my knees. Seeing this as an opportunity, the men advanced on me. One of the men had what looked like razor out�like what my dad used to shave with. He held it to my neck and pressed a button. By this time, however, I realized what it was. It was like a phaser, one of those things that the cops use to electrocute people.
And it was being used on my. My back arched as the pain connected throughout my limbs and torso. My mind dazed, I glanced over to Ham. In my dim stupor, I could hear a single gunshot. Ham clutched his stomach and fell to his knees, blood seeping out from under his hands. He fell sideways, his side, shoulder, and then head hitting the ground, where he lay still.
That was the last thing before I passed out.

[Peanut Butter]

you leave it like a suspense every time.

[Retro Tin Canz]

you leave it like a suspense every time.

I know. It's so much FUN! Sorry for those of you who, while reading it, want to rip my throat out for not getting to the point, but when the point comes, I will almost garuntee(sp?) that some jaws will drop.

And I cannot wait. Anywho, it's Potterfile's turn to write, and unless he gets on ASAP, y'all'll have a while to wait.

And no, I'm not Southern. :lol: :lol:

[Retro Tin Canz]

About what I said before...nevermind.

We just all have to wait until Potterfile writes....................

We might grow old waiting.

[Melchi0r]

You can call me Josh, or Josho, Catie!! Lmao. At least you don't say on here what you say on xanga: You need to write, you need to write, you need to write x a billion.

Iris and I were jolted back by an insanely powerful force. I skidded into a wall; a great pain went through my arm like it was being eaten from the inside out.
“Shamus!?� called Iris.
“Yes? My arm’s probably broken!�
“Oh, God.�
Like a group of black storm troopers from Star Wars, armored soldiers emerged from the smokey hole in the wall, turning their machine guns’ safety off. Iris and I scrambled behind trashcans.
“Come out with your hands up!� a large soldier commanded. I flexed the supernatural muscle; the trash can moved so fast it seemed like it magically teleported itself onto the large man’s crushed torso. My head throbbed with the enormous effort I just exerted. The soldiers opened fire. The wall expelled large puffs of dust as the bullets kept coming and coming. I mentally picked up the second, and last, trash can, tossing it around the corner. It turned sharply and knocked out two soldiers with two loud and beautiful thunks.
I leapt behind a wall as the soldiers turned in my direction.
Then Iris acted, taking her two trash cans at the same time and flinging them around. One trash can missed and hit a wall extremely loudly, but the other one found its target in a short soldier’s face. The remaining three soldiers fired in her direction. She ducked behind a wall, but her arm was clipped by a bullet. She stifled a yelp. Her arm began to bleed profusely, but she hid any sign of pain. I was amazed on how strong she was.
But then the soldiers made their way towards her. I guess they were going to get us one at a time. As crept over, I jumped out and said, “Hey!� They turned towards me, but held fire because my arms were raised. At least these apes show some mercy. Trying to concentrate on the soldiers, and not the burning pieces of the overflowing dumpster, I turned my hands slightly in the direction of the flaming dumpster.
“Hey…� they said, but the shards attacked them like eagles. Furiously, the pieces of metal collided with their suits, cutting through them. Every soldier was killed in at the most, four seconds. I stepped over the mangled mess to Iris.
“Are you okay?� I asked helplessly.
“I think so.�
“Wait…� she was losing blood rapidly. “You’re not okay, look how much blood you’re losing!�
“Don’t worry, I have more,� she joked.
“Ha ha, Little Miss Comedian,� I said. Wow, it was really fun to joke around with her, even after vicious soldiers attacked us. “Here,� I said, and I took off my tie and wrapped it around the gunshot wound. It wouldn’t stop the bleeding. “I guess we’ll have to get to the headquarters A.S.A.P. to get some gauze.�
“Why don’t you wrap your shirt around it?� Iris asked. I saw a slight amount of redness fill her cheeks. Oh crap, I thought. I didn’t put on one of those muscle shirts. Under this, I’m topless!
Stupidly, I blurted, “Are you sure you’re bleeding that badly?�
“Come on, Shamus, I’m dying here!� she said, but slightly laughing. She wasn’t asking me to dress her wounds, but daring me to take off my shirt!
“Fine,� I muttered shyly, “if you’re dying.�

[Retro Tin Canz]

This is a not so good part on my part...o.O Not one of my better writings.

Being near death and unconscious is no fun. Apparently, people think that since your eyes are closed, you’re dead, so they keep trying to wake you up. It would’ve been SO great to just SLEEP right then and there. It was dark enough. Still though, I could hear someone gently waking me up.
“Ro, you can’t sleep now. C’mon, Ro, get up! You’ve lost too much blood, you’ve got to wake up now,� I could hear. Ham? No…not Ham. My cloudy mind struggled to wake itself up, tried to figure out who was talking to me, but the rest of me shooed the unwelcome visitor off and tried to roll over, burying my head in my pillow and blankets.
But I had no pillows and blankets. I didn’t have a bed, only a cold, hard, rock floor beneath me. Where in God’s name was I?
I sat up quickly, trying to remember all that had happened to me. Well, this wasn’t a good idea. As I woke up, awareness sped into my body. And I don’t only mean aware of where I was (which was a small, dark, dark room). I became aware of how much pain I was in. I bit down on my tongue hard as I tried not to scream, or cry in pain.
“Lay back down, you’re ok,� the voice said again. Yeah, ok. Like I’d believe that. I’m pretty sure I’d be the first to know how much pain I was in. I cracked my eyes open, and saw Shyam standing over me.
“Am I dead yet?� I asked, my voice raspy.
“Almost, but you’re here in time. I’ll fix you up in no time, Ro,� he replied.
“How?�
“One of my powers is healing. I just healed Ham, who’s still a little shaky from blood loss and near death, but he’ll live. You too, you just needed to be awake, or else something could go wrong,� Shyam explained.
“You mean something can go wrong?! Well, that’s reassuring,� I muttered, but I let my body go lax. Shyam closed his eyes softly and let his hands float over my body. A slight tingly feeling seeped into my legs, then ran up my torso into my chest and head. It felt SO great. Like…renewal. Yet nearly as soon as it started, it ended. I realized my brain no longer felt like it was about to burst, leaving shards of skull around the place, and the bullet holes in my shoulder and wing disappeared.
“Wow, you should really take that skill public,� I said, sitting up slowly, rubbing the back of my head. I stretched my wing. It didn’t move. I stretched my wing. It still didn’t move. I looked behind me�
--My wings weren’t there. My eyes widened as my brain silently freaked out.
“Shyam, where are my wings?!? They’re not here!!!� I cried. I heard Shyam sigh.
“You…don’t know where we are, do you, Ro?� he asked, not meeting my eyes. I quickly shook my head, “Those men who captured us…they’re Vollmer’s soldiers. He ordered us to be captured, and we’re either going in jail, going to be brainwashed to help him, or executed. And actually, that last choice is the one we’re hoping for.�
That kinda snapped everything into perspective. I glanced around the room. Everyone was here, except for Shamus, Iris, Rip, and Fin. Yeah, I bet it was Shamus who ratted us out. Something told me Vollmer didn’t know where we were just by guessing.
“And then where are my wings?� Another sigh.
“When any member of the Dumaniz is brought here, they stick a chip on your body. It’s impossible to get off without the right stuff, and it zaps your powers. You probably can’t use your power of imagination, either,� he said. I tried, and couldn’t.
“But what about you? You just healed me!�
“But my other power is gone, my force fields. It means that they probably want to keep us alive for something. And that’s not good. Now go rest a little, you need it.�
I nodded, but I knew after that mind blowing shock, I knew that I’d obtain no sleep whatsoever. I sat down and leaned against a wall next to Ham. He sat with his legs crossed and his head held in his hands.
“Ro, I’m sorry they got you too,� he said, knowing I was there without looking.
“Ham, you got shot in the stomach. There wasn’t much you could do,� I replied flatly.
“But Rip’s still out there. He’s got to have Shamus, Iris and Fin with him. He’ll know what to do…� Ham said, trailing off. His hopes were high that someone would rescue us, which was the exact opposite of what Shyam thought. Suddenly, the door opened with a loud creak. Bright light flooded in, and a tall figure walked in, followed by an even taller, more menacing figure.
I didn’t know the second, but the first, was Rip.
I knew then that he was the one who betrayed us to Vollmer. I could sense Ham’s disbelief, but I think even he knew it was true. The one who had help us all would also cause our death.

[Retro Tin Canz]

If anyone is still reading (which, by lack of comments, I'm guessing their not) here's two posts for the price of one. Now, someone get over here and COMMENT!!!

Yes, sorry to keep the readers in suspense, but I had sacrificed my shirt to "save Iris' life." I wasn't sure if she really was going to bleed to death, but the way she asked me to make my shirt into a bandage for her, all flirtatiously and stuff… it seemed perfectly clear that she was coming on to me!!
Wow, very sorry for that.
Anywho, when Iris was back up on her feet, concealing a goofy grin, I asked shyly, "How do we get back to H.Q. from here?"
"Oh, I can just get us back with the motorcycle," she explained.
After a very cold ride (it starts to get absolutely freezing when you're going sixty miles per hour while the air slaps your bare chest) we arrived at the site of our H.Q. to find that it had been obliterated.
The warehouse district in the crack between dimensions had been blown up. It looked like a couple of fighter planes had bombed it from above.



Ham was the first to recover from this cruel sickness of shock. He jumped up and tried to punch Rip, anger fueling his thoughts and motion. Rip easily caught Ham’s wrist and knocked it to the side. Rip’s face was totally calm, but something in his eyes denoted sadness. Immense sadness and loss, but nonetheless, he twisted Ham’s arm behind his back with a mere flick of his wrist, and pushed him forward, so he fell on the floor, face first. Breathing hard, he stood up again, but made no move forward. The rest of us in the room were on our feet. Tears were streaming down Giggles’ face, and Butch and Uma didn’t look up. Shyam was too shocked to speak.
“Come,� the taller man said. Some guards/soldier guys came trooping into the room to make lead us wherever we were going, to make sure we didn’t cause too much trouble. They each grabbed our arms and lead us down a long, gray hallway to a brighter room. But not cheerier. On the wall were 15 sets of shackles, for someone’s arms to hang from. And that’s exactly where we were lead over to. With only a little struggling, the guards managed to get our wrists locked into the shackles, which was not comfortable.
“I have other business to attend to, so I’m just going to get right to the point�Where are the rest of the Dumaniz?� the tall man asked. He was dressed in a white tuxedo, very dressy, but it did not mask the sinister look he had in his cold, cold green-gray eyes. His hair was cropped close to his head, and he sported a graying goatee and moustache. He was the epitome of what a bad guy should look like.
“What, can’t your forces find them, Vollmer?� Shyam asked, shattering the silence. Vollmer’s eyes crank up their power as he glared at Shyam. Shyam almost shrank back against the wall in fear, but he didn’t look away.
“No. My forces cannot find them, Shyam, which is why I’m asking you. I know that none of you will be willing to tell me, but I’m almost certain I can change that, can’t I?� Vollmer asked menacingly. His tone was calm and aloof as he paced in front of us. Even though he emitted no anger, he was deathly scary. He stopped in front of Ham.
“What’s it like to be weak like the rest of us? You’re nothing without your strength, am I correct? You’re useless. That is what all of you are, when you lack your supernatural powers! And Rowina…where were you before all this? You were just a normal girl in High School. Is all this pain you’re putting your teammates through really worth it all?� he asked, stepping over to me. I could not pull my gaze away from his face.
“I…I…� I started, feeling the need to answer.
“I don’t think it is worth it, Rowina. Maybe you should go back,� he said. Something in his voice actually sounded sincere�like he meant it. I looked away and bit my lip, struggling to hold back tears. Was I a nuisance? I did make the swarm of bees, and then I almost died trying to fix a table. Was I like that little seven year old neighborhood kid who always got on everyone’s nerves?
“That’s not true! Ro, don’t think that!� Butch shouted from his spot on the wall. I had almost forgotten he could read minds. Vollmer’s face twitched, revealing extreme displeasure and annoyance, but a fraction of a second later, it retained it’s normal calmness.
“Do you know what I do to people who don’t cooperate with me?� he asked, standing close to me. I shook my head, afraid to answer.
“Vollmer, don’t do it, not to her!� Ham shouted. Vollmer and I both snapped our heads to look at Ham. His eyes were wide and distressed, and he was struggling to break free of the wall. Well, THAT was reassuring. Vollmer smiled, knowing he was getting what he wanted. He put his hand on my forehead and in instants, I almost blacked out from pain. What kinda of torture was this?! How could he be doing that? He was only touching me! Yet still, it was worse than when I was making the table. FAR worse. I was hoping to die, because if I did, then I wouldn’t have to go through this again.
But the pain let up and I knew I wasn’t dying. Part of me was miserable, and yet since I wasn’t dead, another part of me was grateful. I fell limp and would’ve hit the floor if it weren’t for the shackles holding me up. My breathing was deep and my muscles weak. I did not look at anything.
“Stop it. Stop it now, Vollmer! We told you, we don’t know where they are!� Ham said desperately.
“But I know you’re lying to me. And I’m not going to stop until I get the truth. Tell me where they are, or I will torture her until she can no longer breathe on her own,� Vollmer said placidly, yet menacingly at the same time. I wanted to plead with him not to hurt me again. I was afraid I wouldn’t survive, I didn’t want to go through the pain again, but I remained as strong as I could. My body was trembling and if I had been alone, I would’ve been sobbing by now. But I couldn’t let the Dumaniz down, couldn’t let Ham down.
When nobody answered Vollmer’s threat, he put his hand back on my forehead and began again, slowly at first, bringing it on little by little. It started as a tingling pressure in my spine, but increased promptly, twisting my back in a metal vice. As the pain reached its zenith, it vanished.
“Alright! Fine! Just…just please stop!� Ham was shouting. Vollmer smiled.
“Go on.�
“They’ll have gone back to headquarters…check at HQ…� he said, lowering his head in defeat.
“Take them back to their cell. And take away everything this time; all their powers,� Vollmer said to a guard. He nodded, and then the ten or so guards took us off the wall. As soon as my feet hit the ground, my legs buckled beneath me. A guard sighed and rolled his eyes and called over a buddy. Together, they dragged me back to the holding cell.
Things were certainly not looking good from here.


(Sorry, I got a LLLIIITTTLE carried away)

[Melchi0r]

CALM DOWN, Catie, this isn't xanga.
Be warned: I'm about to make Catie EXTREMELY happy.

Searching the wreckage, I found a pink dress shirt. Not caring about my “wearing pink makes you gay� opinion, I put it on and breathed a sigh of relief. Unlike some girls at school who I’d usually flex to, being topless in front of Iris made me feel… I don’t know, vulnerable…
“Did you find anything?� Iris asked flatly.
“A shirt,� I joked weakly. It seemed like Iris was oblivious to humor, no matter how bad it was. She kicked over a small piece of rubble, sighing. I simply walked in a crooked circle, my hands on my head. Then something coughed.
“Huh?� Iris muttered. Then they coughed a word.
“Help.�
“Where are you?� I yelled.
“Under you,� the person croaked.
I was standing upon a mound of pieces of a former brick wall. I slid off of it ungracefully and began to pull the heavy slabs of wall out of the mound. “Iris, help!� Briskly, she came to my aid. “Iris, this stuff isn’t metal, so I can’t move it with my powers, but can’t you?�
“I can try,� she grunted. Holding out her shaking hands dramatically like a wizard casting a powerful spell, two large chunks of wall launched into the air.
“Excellent!� I said, urging her to go on, despite her weakness. “Now try and get the small stuff, and I’ll try and push off the big stuff.�
“I think I can do the small stuff,� said Iris, “but are you sure you can handle the big pieces?�
No, I thought.
“I’ll try,� I stated. With all the power in my upper body, I pushed, pulled, and shoved a chunk of the brick wall that must have weighed five hundred pounds. I grunted, my arms quivering, my brow shiny with perspiration.
“Shamus? Are you alright?� Iris asked concernedly.
“I think-“ With an impulsive yell, the piece slid off and hit the ground with a dramatic boom! Gasping, I fell on the ground.
“Shamus!?�
“Iris,� said the person under the rubble.
“Shamus, it’s Fin!� I could only moan in response. I lay on the ground, my eyes twitching. I needed water and shade fast. I found it amazing how hot it was…
Fin crawled out from the rubble, scathed but alive and, frankly, more alive than I. “How… how can…� I stammered, but Iris shushed me with a finger to her lips. The only other thing I remember before passing out was being splashed in the face with life, or a substance more commonly known as water.

[Retro Tin Canz]

With a plop of my limbs, the guard dropped me into the cell. Within 5 seconds, all of us were back in the room we had started in. The door creaked shut and we were bathed in darkness. There was some light, but my eyes hadn’t adjusted to it yet. Weakly, I tried to stand on my own. My arms feebly shook beneath me, before giving out and causing me to do a face-plant on the stone floor. I felt so useless! I wanted to cry, but I wouldn’t�not in front of everyone. I would stay strong.
Before I could try and get up again, Ham came over and without a word, chivalrously picked me up and carried me to the corner. At first, I realized, oh, ok, super strength…got ya. But then I remembered none of us had our powers. That kinda said something there.
“Thanks,� I said, blushing. Giggles came running over to me and plopped herself in my lap.
“Are you ok, Ro?� she asked, her face wet with tears. It broke my heart to know that the littlest of the Dumaniz like this, knowing what she had just watched.
“Yeah, Giggles, I’m fine,� I said, choking out a smile. She burst into tears and buried her head into my chest. I hugged her tightly before she let go.
“C’mon, Giggles, we have to be strong through all this. Shamus, Iris and Fin are still out there, they’ll get here,� Uma said, sitting next to me. Giggles crawled into her lap next, as Shyam and Butch made their way over.
“I wanna kill Rip. I can’t believe it…� Butch said.
“We trusted him! How could he just sell us out like that?! Does he even have a heart?� Shyam asked. No one answered. I glanced to Ham. He was studying something on the floor with an impassive face, but his hands were tightly clenched into fists, his knuckles white.
“Guys, it’s been a long day. How ‘bout we all hit the hay. Sleep will do us some good, and it is dark enough,� I said. They nodded and curled up on different sides of the room. They were so tired, they were all asleep within 5 minutes. Except Ham and I. Neither of us had moved since he had carried me over and we were close enough to whisper without waking anyone.
“Ham, none of this is your fault. You know that,� I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Ro, if I could do anything, if I could take the pain away, I would,� he said softly. I blushed again, but it was too dark for him to see, “If I had known…I would’ve never let you join. Not knowing you at all is better than seeing you in…in that much pain.�
I knew what he was saying, but I couldn’t comprehend it. I had never been good with that kinda thing. If this had been a movie, and I was watching on TV, I would’ve screamed out, “SAP FEST� like I always do when I watch ‘Family’ Movies. But this…this was real life. I was flattered, to say the least.
“What’s going to happen now?� I asked softly.
“I don’t know. We can’t get out without using our powers, and unless we get these chips off, that’s not going to happen.�
Our only chance was Shamus and Iris. For once, my life rested in the hands of my least favorite person…let’s hope he wouldn’t screw up.

[TehBovril]

I'm still loving yourstory =]

[TeenInNeed]

ONE DAY I WILL READ THIS LOL... Sorry i just dont have the patience at the moment to read so much stuff... im sure its good tho.

[Melchi0r]

“Yo.�
“A-wha?� I muttered feebly.
“Get up,� Fin said. My throat felt like sandpaper and my limbs felt like sticks with skin on them. On the whole, I would’ve rather stayed unconscious.
“What the heck happened?� I said, pushing myself with all .003 grams of energy in my body. We were no longer in the wreckage, but in another warehouse. What’s up with all the warehouses??
Iris was sitting at a table, her hands folded, her lips pursed. Fin stood over me. I found myself in a cot, just like the ones in headquarters.
“Where’d the water come from?� I asked weakly. Fin looked at me like I had just barfed a whole sandwich out, and then ate it.
“Me, Shame,� Fin said. I didn’t like the nickname, but for the record, for the rest of the story he’s going to call me that. “It’s one of my powers.�
“And the other?� I asked. Iris responded from her table.
“Electricity,� she said smartly. “But his powers have a drawback that kinda sucks,� she added. “If he tries to use both powers at the same time, he’ll hurt himself. Learned the hard way, didn’t you, Finnian?�
Fin held up three fingers and muttered, “You know what to do.� Then he said, “Shame, get up, we have to get moving.�
“Already?� I moaned. “Don’t we even know where to go or what to do? I don’t even know if I got my powers back yet.�
“You got them back,� said Iris. “Remember, you have self-healing?�
“Oh right,� I uttered, slightly crestfallen. “But what are we going to do?�
“We go to the Bum,� Fin stated flatly. Over Iris’ face swept a look of concurrence. So they’d go to a homeless guy, most likely a drug addict, to help them? So I voiced my thought, and Fin snorted.
“He’s not a real bum.� Hmm, but some nickname though. That sound like some kind of guy you’d go to for help. “He used to be with Volmer’s lot, but he got kicked out for sparing a Dumaniz’s life. This happened about twenty-five years ago, by the way. So now he still lives around here, and he’s our ally.�
“In exchange for food,� Iris smirked.

The next day (well, I think it was day. I couldn't tell, because the room was still pitch black dark, or almost, at least), the six of us woke up, one by one. Butch sat in one corner, clutching his head in his hands. He'd obviously not slept much. I looked at him concerned.
"You seriously don't know how quiet my own mind is," he whispered dryly, almost smiling. The crawled to him and sat next to him.
"I know what you mean. I've only had my powers for like…a week now, and I know something's missing. It's like…a chunk out of my heart…or soul is gone. I feel so cold, and useless," I replied. To my surprise, Giggles was up too.
"See? That's what Vollmer does to people, Ro! We gotta get out!" she said, her little face set in determination.
"And we will. The first chance that we'll get, we'll get out of here. I'll kill if I have to," Ham told her. Now, granted, I haven't known these people for a long time. But seeing a little girl like this determined to break out of a…a…Torture place, for lack of better words, broke my heart. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. Something told me it would bring moral down even lower, and that couldn't be afforded.
Suddenly, without warning, the door slammed open, bright light filling the room and making me squint. Vollmer was again there with his team of soldiers. He ordered them to grab us, and for us to remain silence. Not thinking there was much we could do, we followed. And in no time flat, we were all led in separate directions.
Suddenly, I was alone. Well, there were like…twenty guards with me, but I was still alone in a different sense of the word. They took me none too carefully down a long, white hallway into a room on the left. The room itself was like a gym, minus the lines and basketball nets. Off to one corner was another small room with a large window looking into the gym. Five or six scientist looking guys sat behind the window.
I was led in front of said window by a whole caravan of guards. I had no clue what I was supposed to do. Suddenly, one of the guard soldier people held his phaser electric thing to my neck. It wasn't that bad this time. In fact, it hardly hurt, but that wasn't what he was aiming to do. A quick flood of emotion ran through my body.
"Your chip is out. The scientists want to see your skills. You will perform your powers for them and nothing else. Otherwise, you will be killed," he said, placing what I figured to be my chip in his pocket.
"If you will, please imagine a vase of flowers," one of the scientists said through a microphone.
"W-what'll…What'll happen if I do?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"If we find you capable of things such as this, then we'll recruit you. Your life will be safe; you will have spacious living quarters, and enough to eat. It would definitely place you in a better position than what you are living in already," another scientist replied, "Now, if you will, the flowers."
I just stood there. There was no way I'd work for Vollmer. I couldn't.
"The flowers. Do not waste our time, girl," the scientists said. I still stalled. He nodded to the guard with the phaser, who stuck it in my back and electrocuted me. I fell to my hands and knees, breathing hard.
"The flowers," they repeated. I shook my head. And got electrocuted again.
By this point, I was shaking with both pain and anger. Something inside me was released in full power. It was scary, but I knew it had to be done. I imagined them dead. Or hurt. Or tortured, or something! And I ran. Once I got to the wall, I imagined the wall not there. And it wasn't. I could still hear people trying to chase after me, but I was too far ahead. Without a moment's hesitation, I leapt out of the 20 story building, unfurled my wings, and soared away.
I was out.

Iris and Fin took me to a storage… well, area, in the warehouse.
Actually, come to think of it… seriously, though, what’s up with all the warehouses? I thought. The government was aware of our existence, so could this mean that they were, like, storing us until we were needed, when they’d come and pile us onto a truck and distribute us, you know, like to different people who might need mutants to protect things or to kill and/or rob enemies?
Wait, no, that made no sense. The government selling people? Well, with ol’ Dubya leading the country… I doubt I need to say more on that.
But what if it wasn’t the government that was keeping, storing us?
Hey, Shamus Oliver Dougal, my conscience/inner-child/guardian angel/mom’s voice said. Maybe we’re just in hiding, from federal knuckleheads such as Vollmer…sometimes if it weren’t for my conscience/inner-child/guardian angel/mom’s voice I’d be in a mental hospital.
..or government knuckleheads like Dubya. I sniggered aloud.
“Wha?� I Iris uttered, severing my connection with my conscience/inner-child/guardian angel/mom’s voice . “We’re here, hop into the cart.� She beckoned to a blue golf cart in which Fin was sitting. I’d always loved golf carts.
“Come on, Shamey, you’re drivin,’� Fin said. He slapped the black padded seat.
A few miles and two nearly gas-less golf carts later, we took our turn into an alleyway decorated with specifically-placed candy wrappers, cardboard boxes, and old strips of junk paper. Actually, someone had made ribbons of a big old poster and hung them in the middle of the alley. Also, there were Christmas lights hung all around the alley. White, but not the icicle kind.
“Hello?� called Fin and Iris. “Bum?� Quite appropriately, a piece of garbage tumbled across the alleyway. Silence.
“It’s Iris!� called Iris.
“Me, Fin, too!� shouted Fin.
A cardboard box started to pulsate. Groans escaped the sliver of an opening. A gray bearded man dressed in sweats, a very old jacket, and an assortment of rags came out. He was wearing a fading plaid, torn beanie. In his hand there was a knife, in his mouth there was a cigarette. I swore there was a homeless bloke who looked exactly like him who hung out by the mall.
“Whaja-?� the Bum stuttered stupidly. “Oh, it’s you lot, eh?� He spoke in a Cockney accent. A British Bum? Cool.
“I thought it was Vollmer’s lot,� he said loudly, slightly mad. “A bloke and a lady were pokin’ around me alley the day after last. But I done hid in the manhole,� he ranted. At the word manhole he gestured insanely at several places at the ground, none of which contained manholes. “Well, anywho, ye interrupted me nap.� Yet beauty sleep would do nothing anyway..
As he finally got his apparently drunk body up, he rubbed his belly and glanced at me, then did a double take. “’Oor ‘you, den?!� he yelled. I jumped and nearly peed. He still hadn’t dropped his knife.
“Uh, I, mm, uh,�
“Shamus,� came Iris to my rescue. Then I almost said, “What?� in reply.
“New guy, eh?� he looked over me, taking particularly long glances at my hands and arms, face, and legs. “Well, well, well!� he laughed with quite a wheeze. “He be a cutey, eh, Iris?� Iris rolled her eyes, but looked like she’d been ready with a combat for a few minutes.
“Shut up, Bummy Boy, or I’m not giving you this ham sandwich, diet coke, cookie, and yogurt.� Iris nonchalantly dangled a paper bag high in the air.
“Ueheuh,� the Bum groaned. “Shut up, ye, don’t make me jump for it, I ain’t a bloody Chihuahua,� he whined, snatching the bag quickly from her hands.
I’ve never seen a cookie eaten so fast. I mean… wow. It looked like it disappeared. No crumbs or nothing on his face… damn!

I flew blindly, not having a clue where I was going. I felt like a traitor, leaving the other's behind. I didn't know where I was, I didn't know when I was. I didn't know how to control my powers. Some mad-man was after me, unafraid to torture and/or kill me/us.
As I flew, I cried. I briefly wondered if anyone would feel the tears falling from my face, but I was too frantic to worry about anything like that. People could go ahead and think that it was only raining on them. I didn't give a care. I wanted to fly home, but I didn't know where home was. I didn't even know what this place was called. I didn't want to use anymore of my powers. I had been fueled by anger when I…killed them back there. Anger is a strong emotion. It gives you more power, adrenaline. Stuff like that. It hadn't been like when I made the table. I'd thought about that. I'd thought about it hard. This was spontaneous. It just…happened, like the fights I'd get in with Shamus.
Hell, I would even like to find Shamus right about now.
Luckily, I got what I'd wished for.
The weird thing about this futuristic, dingy, ugly city was that no one was outside. No one. At all. So when I saw four people in an alleyway, I immediately swooped down to see who it was, mentally preparing myself. If it was Vollmer's guards/soldiers, I would kill them. They deserved, for what they wanted to do to us. Always do to your enemy what they would do to you. Show them no mercy.
I landed in the filthy, littered alley and three familiar faces looked at me like I had-well, just dropped out of the sky. And there was some hobo there, but I didn't care. My cheeks were still wet with tears, and I sobbed even harder when I saw Iris, Fin and Shamus standing there. Well, Iris and Fin, anyway. But continuing, I sank to the ground, just letting the tears flow.
"Ro! What happened?" Iris asked, trying to make sense out of my blubbering mass. I tried to talk, my voice shaking.
"I…I left them. Vollmer's soldiers took me to see what my powers could do. They took away the chip that stopped me from using my powers…and they told me to do something, and I refused. I killed them. I killed the guards and got out, but the others are still there! We have to get there! Vollmer's dangerous…he…tortures-by only touching you! It's…horrible. We have to get them out of there!" I replied, shivering.
"Did he…you know, like…torture you?" a soft voice asked. It was Shamus. Actually acting like a human, and not Pig man, like usual. I slowly looked at him and nodded, dropping my head onto my knees.
"I'm afraid he's going to kill them…because I got out," I whispered.
"Ro, listen. Vollmer's not going to kill them. We're powerful. We're like him, the last of a dying breed. He wants us. So far, he's been able to control this whole place, pushing everyone inside, erasing our past and future. Killing families and loved ones, great, great people. He's brainwashed others, like Rip. Or Rip might've been in on it all along. Truthfully, I don't really blame the guy. He probably had enough to eat every night, didn't have to worry about dying. If it wasn't the epitome of evil, hell, I'd sign up for the draft," Fin explained casually, "But trust me; the others won't be killed, unfortunately for them."
I didn't respond. I wasn't really sure whether that made me feel better or worse. A little of each, actually.
"Well, she is right. We have to get them. Ro's been inside already, she knows some things that she can tell us. Right?" Iris asked. I nodded again. I had stopped crying, but something was missing. Not like when my powers were gone. It wasn't the same as that…it was just…a void, in my chest.
"Bum, can you help us?" Fin asked, turning to the hobo. Bum…nice name. And I thought Rowina was bad…

“Help ‘oo?� said the Bum, like he didn’t know that a winged girl just landed in his alleyway-home. Then Bum say her, and jumped like she was wearing a mask. “’Oly lord!� he cried. Ro’s wings were still unfurled, stretching almost from one side of narrow alley to the next.
I was… actually glad to see Ro. I mean, at least she was alive. If she was dead… then Iris, Fin, and I would have no hope. Now we knew that everyone was still alive. There was a chance left to beat Vollmer’s pale ass.
Ro looked incredulous. “Um…� she muttered. “Is he always like this?�
Iris grinned in spite of the wheezing, brandy-sipping Bum, limping and muttering off to retrieve something from behind a hanging sheet. “Only after a grenade exploded five feet away from him.�
“Oh,� said Ro and I under our breaths. Ro kept looking at me funny. Uh, yeah, I’m here, I exist, what do you want?
The Bum hobbled back with a chest. He dropped the chest, and as it hit the ground with a loud boom, he jumped, wincing, but then seemed to remember it was just the chest. “Now,� he said, clearing his throat. Pointing to both Ro and I, he asked, “What happened the day you too discovered your powers?�
Ro silently and without any “ums� or “uhs� told the story of the lightning storm, until the point she was unconscious. Then I told about how I go shocked by the telephone and everything, down to the point where I, too, was unconscious.
“Finally, I was in my house, somehow,� Ro finished.
“And… that’s all.� Great ending, Shamus, I thought sarcastically. The Bum ‘hmmed’ and nodded. He closed his eyes, taking in our whole story. For a minute I thought he’d actually fallen asleep. Then he said, his eyes still closed, “That wasn’t no lightning storm.�

[Peanut Butter]

I loved it and cant wait for more.

[Melchi0r]

I think Catie and I should publish this.

[TehBovril]

Yay, i love this story :) Its really good.

[Melchi0r]

A long moment of suspense. I thought the Bum would tell us, but he just kinda stopped.
"Well, what was it?" Fin asked impatiently.
"Eh? Oh, righ'…well, ya hafta understand…Vollmer be powerful enough to make his own Dumaniz. Ye aren't not the only ones of ye're kind…there be others, not as powerful. But they be created, as you two," he said, motioning to Shamus and me.
"So then what about us?" Iris asked.
"You be born. Ye ain't created, but born with the power. Strong it be, aye, but stronger can these two be." He talked like Yoda.
"Wait, we CAN be stronger?" Shamus asked.
Loooooong pause.
"Aye…ye be built to be strong. Ye be created for a purpose. Ye hold the choice...whether ye want to help with yer powers, or destroy be yer own choice."
Wow…deep.
"But then why did he kidnap the others!?" I asked.
"He takes wot 'e can use, and they'd be available," he replied.
"Yeah, available has a lot to do with it," Fin muttered, "They were kidnapped, you idiot! They didn't CHOOSE to go! I've been there before. You don't choose to go to a place like that."
I nodded in agreement.
"Well, that be what I have ta say, and if you don't be agreeable, ye can leave!" the Bum said, taking another swig of the booze as Fin turned away, glaring. Without another word, he strode off angrily.

Muttering, Iris went and followed Fin. The Bum was pillaging through a pile of rubbish and tattered cloth, also muttering. I cleared my throat awkwardly and shuffled my feet. Well what was I supposed to do?
Iris came back, shaking her head. “Fin’s gone. He took the motorcycle. What a friggin’ baby,� she scoffed angrily and plopped down.
I groaned, sitting next to Iris, who, despite the running around and fighting, still smelled like flowers and honey… Ahem, so I said, “Great, that means we’re stuck here!� Ro sighed, sitting on the other side of Iris.
The Bum had pulled a manila folder filled with documents out of the pile of rubbish, and coughing like a big fly carrying a lit cigarette was stuck in his throat, he pulled out a medical record.
“You might not like wot I’m ‘bout to tell you,� the Bum said. “But you Dumaniz folk were freaks before birth.�
“Wha?� I stammered.
“Says ‘ere,� explained the Bum. He half-sat, half-fell down, and flipped through some records. “Your parents’ doctors were workin’ for Vollmer. Durin’ routine check-ups, they’d say they needed to hold ‘em overnight, and that’s when they’d go in and… well, wonkify the fetus, or should I say, you lot, if you catch me drift.� Wonky was secretly one of my favorite words…
But hold on a minute. I was a freak since I was a baby?
“Wait a minute, if I were mutated since birth, but I only got my powers this week, then-“ I asked, but then there was a screech of tires and some gunshots.
Iris leapt off of the pavement, grabbing me and pulling off the cover of a manhole. Ro followed us, whispering a curse. “Watch yer-“ I said, but Iris had yanked me down into a sewer. I couldn’t help how odd it was how the government had made this rip between dimensions look like a city to the “t�. Down the grubby ladder we shimmeyed. It was your everyday sewer system, muck, filthy water mixed with sewery types of muck, rats, the whole shebang. Iris seemed to be terrified of the rats.
“What happens to the Bum?� Ro whispered.
“I think he has an escape route through another part of the sewers,� Iris whispered frantically, staring at a rat poking his way toward us.
Machine guns rat-a-tat-tatted above us. We couldn’t hear anyone getting shot. Then, voices. Discussing options. A bit frantic. Threats to shove their foot up each other’s-
Hushing noises. Oh no. Iris and Ro sensed it too. We could feel their gaze penetrating through the manhole cover and the pavement, down at us, grasping the grubby ladder, silently shooing rats. Now we had to stay still. The splashing noises we made when trying to kick the rats away might have been heard in open, good-smelling, clean, dry air.
Their voices were picking up louder again. This was pretty confusing. Suddenly Iris lost it. It was trying to climb up her leg. She squealed, and I cussed.
“Hey!� a large, stupid-sounding Vollmer henchman exclaimed. The manhole cover opened and, literally and metaphorically, we saw the light… we was gon’ die!
A bearded, tattooed, and by the looks of it, heavily drugged henchman grinned wickedly and dropped a grenade into the manhole.
“Run!� I warned redundantly. We pelted opposite ways down the sewer tunnel; Iris and Ro pelting to the right, I to the left. So the grenade went BAM and Iris, Ro and I dramatically fell over, and you probably know what happened, I mean, you watch movies, right?
I pushed myself up, my clothes turned green from the disgusting sewage. The henchman jumped in, drawing Katana swords. My first combat! I felt like I could soil myself at the spot. Thinking quick, I knocked the (thankfully iron) manhole cover against the back of one guy’s knees, hard as my mind could make it. The other guy I smacked in the face with. He was down. The first guy was getting up, so I smacked him in the face. The other guy was charging at me, his Katana ready to slice me to fish sticks.
I really didn’t ever think about killing anybody, but before I could stop myself, I pulled the sword out, flipped it around and sent it straight back, at his face, impaling him through his right eye. (Note: While all this was happening, 3 more guys had started chasing Iris.)
My knees started buckling. The green sewage water ran a bit red… I felt like I was going to barf, but I had to see how Iris and Ro were holding up. I seriously almost just fainted when I had to step over the body, but then I was just wading-running through the damp bowels seemingly from Hell.

[Melchi0r]

Where did my readers go??

At the first sound of tires, I froze, my heart pounding, my breath coming in short bursts. Thinking quickly as she always does, Iris pulled us into the sewer. A smart move in the sense that we were hidden, yet a not so smart move, because if they found us, there would be no familiar route to take.
See, for some really strange reason, I was thinking REALLY logically.
So I followed Iris and Shamus down into the rat-infested sewers.
And they found us. One of them dropped a grenade in. I know what you're thinking. I should've like…imagined us somewhere else, or a shield around us, or a huge wall in front of us. But it's not something I can do on the spur of the moment very well, and there wasn't much time.
The mini-bomb exploded, sending us careening in different directions. Iris and I fell in the murky, green water, crashing into each other, knocking the breath out of me, causing me to inhale the vile smelling (and tasting) liquid. But I didn't have time to spit the water out and grimace. The henchmen dudes were on us in an instant. Three went for Shamus, three for Iris, and, yup, you guessed it, three for me.
Joy.
I heard them whispering.
"She's the one who killed the Doctors!"
I could feel glares of fear sent in my direction and the bravest of the three of them stepped forward.
"Listen to me. I'm not going back with you. I'll kill you all, all of you working for Vollmer if you even TRY to take us-," at this point, a sword materialized in my hands. They took a step back, "that's a promise."
My voice was deathly even. Surprisingly enough, they backed off. I had a reputation to use, and I was going to use it to the full of my ability.

Splashing more mucky sewage water on my trousers, I ran/waded through the dark tunnels, following the foreboding sounds of a swordfight. I heard a muffled moan. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. Maybe one of the henchmen that came down were a henchwoman.
Bolting around the corner, I skidded to a halt, rubbing up against some fungus against the wall, my eyes beholding the fight. Iris had kicked one in the chest as he lunged at her with a Katana sword. Ro, whether conjuring it up with her imagination power or stealing it from the henchman who was already down, was wielding a sword herself, slashing madly at a big, beefy, hairy wahoo henchman.
Iris’s opponent threw himself up and nearly hit Iris in the face with his sword. I angrily pulled the sword out of his hand, bringing it into mine. “Hey!� I called. Ro stole a glance at me, rolling her eyes, but I detected a hint of relief.
Then I tried something that can only be accomplished by professionals or in movies. I lopped the sword in one guy’s direction. It landed with a kerplunk two feet short of him. Laughing, he picked it up, walking towards me. I stumbled back, and, quite inappropriately, fell over. “Ro, Iris!� I pleaded. He was nearly right on top of me.
I didn’t totally see what happened next, for I had hid my eyes. All I heard was something crash into the ceiling, and hit the ground. I peeked out from my hands to see Iris on top of the henchman, a sword held to his throat. Ro, for some reason, was standing over a bunch of shattered glass.
“Kill him!� I said.
“Shamus, don’t be stupid.� Ro waded briskly over to me, pulling me up. As she wiped her hands on her clothes, like I was filthy before I entered the sewer, she added, “Don’t you get it? We bribe him with his life into telling us how to get to Vollmer’s H.Q.�

I walked away from Shamus and stood over the henchman. Iris had done a nice of keeping him done. Now, he was on his back, breathing hard. He didn't look scared, or worried. He looked tough, actually. I looked at him.
"You know who I am, right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course I know who you are," he replied, enunciating his words perfectly. He had a slight accent, but I couldn't place it. I was never good with accents.
"Then you'll realize that I'll have no problem kill you." A rock materialized above his head from my brain. A big rock. His eyes widened slightly, but he remained calm.
"I do not believe you will kill me," he said, staring straight at me. His eyes were a milky white, and I was taken aback at the fact that he was blind.
"You are surprised?" he chuckled, "most are. I can see you, do not worry. Not in the way you would think, Rowina, but I can see."
I stared at him for a moment or two, watched him look up at the rock. Straight at the rock. Out of the corner of my eye, I brought a hand revolver to life in front of Shamus. He grabbed it and pointed it at the blind henchman. How weird is that, a blind henchman?
"I do not believe you are going to shoot me," the blind guy said, not looking away, "Yes, I can see all that goes on around me. Like I have stated, I can see, but not like you. My name is Ceil. I have come to help you. I am what they call a traitor. I am with Vollmer, and yet I help you."

“Bull,� I muttered, holding the pistol steady.
“No, I swear,� Ceil continued. “I will show you Vollmer’s headquarters. I want to join the Dumaniz. I came with those henchman today so I could let them be destroyed first, and then I could reveal myself to you. I have been secretly supporting the Dumaniz for two years now, giving Vollmer false information, snooping around the labs… I even helped a Dumaniz escape once!�
“Who?� questioned Iris.
“Rip!� I scoffed.
“Well, thanks,� I said sarcastically. “You freed him so he could then just betray the rest of the Dumaniz?�
Ceil coughed. Iris was probably starting to make him uncomfortable. “Rip is not the man you think he is. He is honest and his intentions are good for the Dumaniz.�
Ro muttered, “The road to Hell…� and Iris smirked.

As crazy as I might sound here, I was kinda leaning in Ceil's direction. I…I almost believed him. I know, right?
"I think we should trust him. I mean, we've got these super powers and everything. If he's not who we think he is, then we'll kill him later," I said.
I could see a look of disbelief cross Shamus' face.
"What, you want us to trust him? I thought you wanted to live long enough to see everyone else out!" he said. I scowled.
"I do, but while I was escaping, I wasn't necessarily worried about where the hell the place was! If he knows where it is, he can take us there. If he doesn't, we'll kill him," I retorted.
"And what if he doesn't take us there? What if he delivers us into a trap, and we die?" Shamus asked angrily.
"Listen, you guys, I have an idea," Iris intervened. We both shut up and turned to her. She still held the sword to Ceil's neck, but she closed her eyes, looking placid. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I had a hunch that she was reading this guy's mind. I'd almost forgotten she could do that.
A couple minutes of absolute silence later, she opened her eyes and nodded.
"We can trust him."
She removed the sword and I threw the rock into the water. Ceil stood up, brushing his clothing off (yeah, like that'd help). Shamus tightened his hold on the revolver and I shot him a disgusted look, making the gun disappear.
"Oh, real safe, Ro! Now, we're defenseless!"
"Aren't you the one who can endure any form of pain? Live with it, wimp," I said, turning to Ceil, "And now let's go. I wanna get there before nightfall."
"I will try my hardest to do that," Ceil said, climbing up the ladder.

I pushed followed Ceil up, swatting his shoe as it dangled in front of my face. I was really uncomfortable with him now that Ro had vanished my revolver. She should have just let me keep it. I might have needed it later. And being the loquacious chap I am, I voiced my opinions to Ro.
“Oh, shut up, you might have shot Ceil,� she said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, maybe it would have been a good idea to let him keep the gun, it might have come in handy,� Iris pointed out. Ha ha, Ro, I thought. I didn’t know if Ro was just being a stupid, stubborn, arrogant jerk to me or if she was just to dumb to think how logically I can. Hey, I’m not trying to brag. I did beat Ro in the seventh grade chess tournament.
“Well, maybe,� said Ro. We all stole a glance at Ceil. He was sitting against a wall, his unseeing, or maybe specially-seeing, eyes darting around with an inhuman speed. “I could just imagine up another revolver for him, later.�
I paused. “It’s later now, gimme a gun.�
Ro shot me a “Fark off and die� look. I replied with a cute, sweet grin.


Under normal circumstances, I would’ve tried to punch him, but as much as we hate each other, I had to work with him. And sure, he beat me in the Seventh Grade Chess Tournament, but whatever. I did kick his sorry arse in grades 4th-6th, and 8th. So…I rule.
But I was not about to give him a gun in front of someone he didn’t trust. No way. I wouldn’t give MYSELF a gun in front of someone I didn’t trust.
“C’mon, let’s get going. We still need to find Fin,� Iris said. Oh. I’d almost forgotten about him. I mean, could you blame me? We’d almost been killed (again), and when something like that happens, other stuff doesn’t seem to be as high on your immediate to-do list.
“I could seriously do with some new clothing,� Shamus muttered. That was something I had to agree with.
“Alright…um, should I take orders? Or just replace what everyone was wearing?� I asked. Shamus looked like he was about to say something, but was interrupted by Ceil.
“You may want to create something that will help us blend,� he suggested.
“Yeah, ok, that’d work. So…rags then?� I asked half sarcastically.
“Basically. A little more than that, though,� Iris said. I nodded and closed my eyes, ready to change our clothing. I brought an imagine into my head�
--and realized I had never see anyone besides the Dumaniz, Vollmer’s lads, and the bum.
“Ok, someone’s gonna need to help me,� I said, looking around, “I need either a picture or a really vivid description.�
“Here, allow me. Just relax, and I will help you,� Ceil said. I nodded slowly and closed my eyes, relaxing as much as I could without falling over. I felt an image form in my mind, felt my arms rise, but I was not thinking or moving. I tried to pull back, but I was pushed back into it. I didn’t like that. A person playing with your mind was not something to look forward to. I fought it, and eventually, a couple minutes later, I opened my eyes. Everyone was dressed in drab, colorless clothing. It looked like something you’d wear in the Middle Ages�no color because of no dye.
“Did I seriously do that?� I asked, breathing heavily for some reason.
“Yes and no. You see, I helped you along the way,� Ceil said. Shamus narrowed his eyes.
“What? How?� I asked.
“You see, one of my powers is sight, because I am blind. But the second lies with the controlling the will of men. If I wanted to, I could force you to make something you did not want to. It is a dark gift, but I wield it with honor,� he explained.
“See that! Do you see? He could make us all commit suicide! Make us jump off cliffs, or hand ourselves to Vollmer!� Shamus exclaimed.
I massaged my temples and waved it off.
“I trust him, and as long as you and I are traveling together, you will to. It’s either that, or we take a stab at it in the dark and guess where Vollmer’s base is. Do you think you can do that?�

…Not to mention that I also totally took Ro out at the spelling bee in fifth and sixth grade. She messed up on “necessary!� How dumb could you have to be…
No, but seriously, it was so weird that I was the only one who cared that we were cajoling around with someone who could control our minds. Not even Iris would back me up. Sometimes I wondered if Iris and Ro talked bad about me behind my back. Not that it would surprise me even if Ro attempted to kill me, ‘cause you know I’d do the same, but Iris seemed nice… but it also seemed like she was hiding something from me. Like something she thought about me, and she wanted to blurt it out but was keeping it a secret.
Now the grey-clothed bunch of us were strolling around, surrounded by identical industrial-ish buildings. I looked at Ro, then at Iris, then at Ceil who seemed to be muttering… Iris was rubbing her temples at the same time. Coincidence? I think not.
“Ceil!� I heroically shoved him in the chest. “Lay off of Iris, her mind doesn’t need to be…� I nearly said ‘raped,’ but I finished my threat with “…intruded!�
Ro rolled her eyes, groaning. Ceil stared at me, which was odd, ‘cause you know, he’s blind, and then he said, “Shamus, if I were intruding on Iris’ mind, I would have instructed her to slice your throat wide open. Is Iris standing over your lifeless corpse with a knife or a sharp piece of metal in her hand?� Damn, this blind weirdo was smooth.
I blushed. “You were… muttering,� I countered lamely. “You could have been… I don’t know, talking into some hidden transmitter to your friends at Vollmer’s place.�
Suddenly Iris cut in. “I think we should camp here for the night.� Ro looked a bit questionable. Hello? Her ugly face seemed to say, taut around her already-wrinkly mouth. We’re in a farking ally!

I was 11, Shamus. I didn’t read the DICTIONARY! Besides…I beat him in the 7th grade four-square tournament. Actually, I’ve beaten him in every sport he’s ever played. How about that?
Anyway…
“Erm…Iris, I hate to break it to you, but we’re in an alley,� I said. What was she, crazy? She sighed. I think the tension might’ve even been getting to her.
“I’m not crazy, and I know we’re in an alley. But if we get out on the streets, chances are we’ll be killed. And we don’t want that,� she said. I winced. I’d forgotten she could read minds.
“Sorry about that. But I mean, Vollmer obviously knows where we are. Maybe we should split up. That way, we won’t all be captured,� I suggested.
“That is the most idiotic idea I have ever heard! How are we going to know if the other group is captured?� Shamus blurted.
“Actually, Ro’s got a point,� Iris said. Ceil nodded in agreement.
“Yes, but who will go with whom?� he asked.
“That’s easy. I’ll go with Iris, and you and Ro can go…somewhere together, so if you need to kill someone, you can kill Ro!� Shamus said.
“Shamus, no. I think you and Iris should go together. That way, maybe you’ll learn to work together through something.�
I blinked. I was a little surprised she didn’t want to go with Shamus (I could tell she had a crush on him, and he was OBSESSED with her), but she was doing this for the good of the Dumaniz. Good for her.
Wait. WHAT THE heck WAS I THINKING?!??? I WAS STUCK WITH SHAMUS ALL DAY!!! I felt like Luke Skywalker…NOOOOOOOO!
This couldn’t be good.

[Xx ANGELL xX]

OMG i really really really love that story, u guys should write more....it does kinda seem like harry potter stories, but that doesnt matetr cuz i love harry potter, lol
keep up the good work..:D

[Retro Tin Canz]

Yeah, okay, Ro. Like I read the dictionary. If this were a movie, I'd be having a close-up showing me rolling my eyes.
Back to our unreal reality…
"Shamus, no. I think you and Ro should go together," I heard Iris say. My heart skipped a beat. And it's not one of those good beat-skips. I couldn't actually believe Iris was suggesting this! She knew that it'd be a catastrophe, so why was she doing it!? I could tell she knew I liked her so much. In my opinion, she should have just let me go with her to make making a move on her easier for me! Girls are such a hassle. But they're amazing. With the exception of Ro... then again she's not quite 100% female!
"Hold on," I said. "I don't think that's such a good idea. We've already got so much at stake here; there's not quite enough time for Ro and I to learn how to, you know, work things out when we've got to free the rest of the Dumaniz." I glanced at Ro. She was doing her classic "Whatever, look at how I ignore you," act.
Iris shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I think we should just split up, Ceil and I, and Shamus and Ro." I still felt sick at the prospect of cooperation with Ro. And I didn't trust that Ceil guy. Who's to say he wouldn't kill her when she slept? Who's to say he wouldn't… ew, Shamus, little kids might read this story.
"Well we should have a rendezvous point somewhere, but seeing as I don't know this area at all…" I argued.
"But I'm familiar with it," our wonderful little saint Ceil said. "I'll navigate Iris, and I'll draw you and Ro a map." Oh, great. It'd probably end us up at a dead end, or in the hands of Vollmer's pals. But after five minutes of work on a little computer, and downloading the map on a really neat, Star Wars-like holographic projector, the two pairs of us were on our merry ways, and I couldn't stifle the feeling of dread welling up inside me. Especially when Ro said "I sleep in the nude, so I don't wanna hear any complaining about that, copy?" No, I was just kidding about the sleeping nude part.

[*Dissident*]

That was absolutaly amazing. I have read a lot of books having to do with strange powers and such, and this was better than most of them. you HAVE to write more!

[Retro Tin Canz]

Shamus, that is so gross. And yes, you did read the dictionary. I caught you that one time in science, when you were hiding it behind your textbook. Dork.
Anywho, so the 2 of us meandered along, trying to blend. Trust me, blending is hard to do when you have these 7 foot wings coming out of your back. Now, I realize no one could see them unless I wanted them to, but still. Not to mention I had SUPER POWERS! Oh, and I was walking around with Shamus. Which was like having a HUGE neon light next to me, pointing to him saying, “LOOK AT THE IDIOT BOY! WATCH HIM DROOL!�
But you know me. I don’t complain like that.
“So, where do we start,� I asked to myself, looking at the map projector. I wasn’t quite sure how to use it yet, so I was basically just making it pop out, because it was pretty cool.
“Well, how am I supposed to know?! You’re the one who’s been there before. If you would’ve remembered the way there, this would be easier!� Shamus replied loudly. Someone came to their window briefly, looking at us. I lowered my head.
“Will you shut up? We’re trying to keep a low profile, and you screaming that I’ve been there is going to attract the henchman like flies to honey,� I said angrily, under my breath.
“Well, let me see the map then! I’ll figure it out,� he said, taking it from my hands and pressing a bunch of buttons.
“What? No! Stop that, you’re going to break it!� I retorted, trying to take it back. He held it away from me, teasingly out of reach. I glared at him as we turned onto a different street; one of the many that wove their way around the city.
“I’m not going to break it! You’re just jealous. I’ll get this to work,� he said.
“Ooh yeah, because you’re so great with computers,� I replied sarcastically. He scowled at me.
“HALT!� A husky voice shouted from behind us.
That was not good. At all.
I looked at Shamus with my eyes wide, and for once in our 15 year old lives, we agreed on something�time to go.
We both ran down a back alley, to another main road, then took two more back alleys to a side road that wasn’t even paved.
We’d lost the guy…
…But we had no clue where we were.
“Great. See, if we would’ve just fought, we’d know where we were!� Shamus complained.
“Yeah. We’d be dead. Besides, we both wanted to run. I’m not killing anymore people I don’t have to,� I snapped back to him. There was an awkward silence.
“Well…here, now the map works,� he said, pushing more buttons.
“Would you like to delete this map?� I heard it say. Shamus didn’t. He pushed another button.
“You have now deleted Map 1,� it said, then fell quiet again.
Another awkward silence.
“YOU BROKE THE MAP!??!� I roared. I felt like strangling him, “YOU BROKE it?! I’d hoped it was idiot-proof, but apparently not! Shamus Dougal, I’m going to kill you!�
I was livid.

[Retro Tin Canz]

That was absolutaly amazing. I have read a lot of books having to do with strange powers and such, and this was better than most of them. you HAVE to write more!

Phillzzy, thank you so much.

You guys seriously don't know how much I love when you comment this story with good things.

I really do LOVE it!

Please, comment more!

Oh! And I myself am writing something independently. It's called the King of Nastimus. My main character has a blog on Blogspot. If you wanna read it, you can find it at www.kingdomofnastimus.blogspot.com

If you don't understand what's going on there, just go along with it. You don't have to be a member to comment, and comments are GREATLY appriciated!

Thank you guys, SO much! It's people like you who keep us going!

[Melchi0r]

Right now, I wanted to slap Ro and spew out every curse word I knew. I actually did swear a bit. But small children might read this story, and that’s not appropriate.
“Shut up, Ro! I am so serious right now, I am not trying to act immature like I usually am, I just really really really need you to shut your big, stupid mouth!!� I was absolutely furious. Just because I am not always so great to Ro doesn’t mean she has to jump down my throat for all my little mistakes. “If you think I’m so stupid, why didn’t she just ask me for the map? Oh, yes, all us STUPID people forget that Ro’s the supreme farking overlord!!� She just kept looking at me, amazed. “Yeah, I am smart enough to actually be able to express myself in more than one sentence, you stupid idiot.�
I kicked the wall. Bad idea. “Fffffffffffffff…� I gasped as I bounced around, clutching my foot. Thankfully, and somewhat amazingly, Ro wasn’t laughing or making a show of suppressing laughter. I sat against the wall, closed my eyes, and rested my head. A nap would be so wonderful right now, I thought.
“What do we do now,� I said in a monotone voice, half-meaning this question to be rhetorical.

Something inside me just sparked then. It was like looking at Shamus in a whole different light. Granted, I still hated the freak for everything he’d done to me, but…well, he was still a person. He could break just as easily as I could, and if something didn’t happen soon, we’d both be as broken as popped balloons. I sat down next to him.
“Listen, we don’t like each other. We never have, and I’m not quite sure why. And I don’t mean the very FIRST time we got on each other’s nerves. I mean, when I met you for the first time, I didn’t like you. At all. And vice versa, apparently. But we have to work together here. For the safety of our lives, and for everyone here. So let’s start over,� I started, clearing my throat and holding out my hand, “Hello, my name is Rowina Circe. I have wings, and the power to imagine anything and bring it to life. How about you?�
He stared at me for a moment, no doubt thinking I was crazy. What else was new. But to my surprise, he took my hand, and shook it, “My name’s Shamus Dougal. Uh, I’m magnetic, and I can like…endure stuff. Right now, I’m trying not to start screaming my head off again, and so far, it seems to be working. For now. But seriously, what are we going to do?�
I chewed on my bottom lip, about to answer. But I didn’t have time. At that moment, something knocked into Shamus’ chest, knocking him backwards. He cried out, and clutched his chest, holding blood in.
He’d been shot.
“Oh, shit,� I said out loud, trying to help him up. With him down, there was nothing I could do. There was no way I could run and leave him behind.
“Go. Just go, I’m fine!� He cried, standing up. I had no clue how he could do it. I mean, I’d been shot before, and it hurt…like…hell. But he was up and running, myself following. The people shooting us were forcing us to go back the way we’d come. Back into the city.
Unfortunately, it also led to a dead end. We had didn’t have time to run out again, or else they’d e right behind us.
“Great…just…effing…great,� Shamus said, frustrated beyond measure.
“Shut up, and wait,� I replied. I raised my arms and brought a picture to mind. I expelled it through my finger tips, and in front of us was a wall. To them, it would just look like we hadn’t gone this way.
I could hear them talk to each other, discussing their options.
“Listen, I don’t think they went this way,� the one said.
“Of course they went this way. I saw them!� the other replied.
“Oh, you saw them with that glass eye?�
“Shut up, you. Maybe the girl flew them out.�
Their voices began receding, and I knew it was safe to take away the wall. Gasping a breath I didn’t know I had been holding in, I turn to Shamus.
“You ok?� I asked, feeling light-headed and dizzy

Bloody hell! In the name of all things sacred, I’ve just been SHOT! “Yeah, sure,� I said. I was lying, of course, but it sounded more sarcastic than I meant. “Of course not!� I blurted.
Ro dramatically started breathing a bit too fast. I clutched my chest, waiting for the “April Fools!�
“Okay, okay,� Ro began, “we can’t stay here. Can you walk?� she asked, starting to help me up.
“Maybe,� I grunted. I took a few steps, staggering, Ro catching me. We continued staggering along, her arm locked in mine. She was blushing, and I felt awkward as H.E. Double Hockey Sticks, but when one has just been shot he just has to grow up a smidge. I think we walked an excruciating mile when I staggered back into an alley.
“I can’t walk anymore,� I muttered, resting on the wall. Paper bags and bottles littered the alley, and sheets were bizarrely strung from wall to wall. Ro pulled at her hair and fell into a sitting position. “We have to do something, like, RIGHT NOW!� she yelled.
“I-“ I began, but shouting really hurt my gun shot wound.
Speaking of guns, the next thing I heard was the cocking of a shotgun.

Can you say not good? My body froze and I glanced at Shamus. Slowly, I raised my hands, showing that I meant no harm. If it was absolutely necessary, I'd imagine something to kill the intruder. I'd live if I didn't have to kill him. I can honestly say it was not one of my favorite pastimes.
"Fin?" Shamus asked, recognizing the voice and turning. I was about to yell at him to never look at the face of your attacker, but it was Fin. I leapt up and hugged him, and he hugged me too, not dropping the gun. Kinda worrying, but I don't blame him for being paranoid.
Suddenly, something bit into my neck. Fin released me and pushed me backwards, so I landed on my butt.
"Ow! What's going on? I-," I stopped short, feeling my neck. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what was going on. The empty feeling from before returned, feeling like it was eating my stomach. I looked up at Fin and he met my eyes.
"Ro, Shamus….you have to forgive me. You don't understand. They found me. They're going to kill my brother. They said if I kill you, Ro, they'll let Shyam go. You have to understand. Please forgive me," He said, aiming the gun at me. I felt my heart in my throat, and couldn't get any words of reason out.
"Shamus, run," I said out of the corner of my mouth. Maybe, if he could get away, there'd still be a chance.

[Retro Tin Canz]

My chest seemed to be shrinking, my breath coming every ten seconds in short breaths. I suddenly remembered I could endure stuff. Maybe soon the bullet would fall out. But I only had one chance to save Ro. I hope to God there's iron somewhere in this shotgun, I thought. I threw a mental lasso, and it jerked and fell out of Fin's hand. It clattered on the ground, firing. Ro jumped and avoided a gunshot wound to the shin, and climbed the fire escape.
I tried pulling again, but Fin leapt onto the ground and held onto the butt of the rifle. His hand inched towards the trigger as I tried to pry it out of his grip. "Don't!" I said. "I thought you were just gonna kill Ro!" Fin looked up at me. That moment of hesitation was all I needed. I yanked it really hard and the shotgun was mine. Without really thinking, I then knocked Fin out with the butt.
Ro came climbed down, glancing at Fin. "Thanks," she said with, oh my! A hint of sincerity. I put my hand on my beating heart. Yes, thankfully, my heart was still beating. I was no longer bleeding, which meant my trusty powers were kicking in. But my gray tunic was soaked through with blood.


This was not good. I touched the back of my neck again, trying to pull the chip off, but it held tight. With this on, I couldn’t use any of my powers. It was horrible. I had to resist the urge to sit down and cry.
“Ro, what is that thing?� Shamus asked, clutching his heart through his bloodstained shirt.
“It cancels out my powers. Every one of us that Vollmer is keeping prisoner has one of these on. I can’t do anything,� I said, not meeting his eyes. The emptiness inside my belly made me want to throw up. Then, I realized something worse, something that could potentially mean the death of both of us.
“They know where I am,� I whispered, feeling a wave of sickness wash over me.
“What?� Shamus asked, not hearing me.
“Shamus, you have to get away from me. I think they could have a tracker on this thing, and then we’re both in danger. We have split up,� I replied frantically, standing and beginning to pace.
“But you don’t have any powers, and you can’t fight without them,� he mentioned.
“Yeah, I know. But go anyway. Now.�


"No," I said. Ro grabbed her hair and looked angrily at me.
"Shamus, get your fat butt out of here!" but then I merely sat down. "What are you doing? They're tracking me, and they'll find you too!" Just like Ro to act noble and tragically intelligent when she could just suck it up.
"If we split up, I'll be safe, that's correct, but I'll be powerless as well. So I might as well be captured. At least they'll take us to the rest of the Dumaniz, so technically our journey wouldn't end in failure." I shrewdly smiled, and Ro just made an "Ergh!" sound and sat further away from me. Girls.


“Well then, get up. We can’t stay in one place for long,� I said, standing up.
“If you want me to split up, can you at least imagine like, walkie-talkies or something?� Shamus asked. I glared at him.
“Oh,� he replied, “Well then, I’m still not leaving.�
“Suit yourself. You have no clue what it’s like there,� I said, beginning to walk. He hopped up behind me, and started following me. As I passed Fin’s motionless body, I picked up the gun. This might save my life, even though shooting someone sickened me more than crushing them under a giant rock, as odd as that may sound.


"Er…" I said, a light-bulb blinking on slowly in my head. "We may have got over our differences just a bit, not like that's not good or anything, but we still don't know where the heck we're going." Ro rolled her eyes and nearly swore. "Fin!" I shouted randomly.
"Yeah, what about him?" Ro responded.
"Well they were holding him at Vollmer's H.Q., right? And then they let him go to find you. So he must remember something about where it is, right?"
"Yeah, that's true," Ro said like she really meant 'That's 25% true.' But she shook her head slightly and plowed on, "But what if they dropped him off somewhere and he couldn't figure out where he was going?"
"If they dropped him off, they'd have to drop him off near us, and we couldn't see or hear any helicopters, could we?"
"Maybe they gave him a map."
"Well lets' just try something!" I said firmly. I kneeled down and gently slapped Fin on the cheek. "Fin? Fin?" I slapped him again. "Wake up. Fin? Wake UP, Fin!"
Ro sighed. "Get some sewage water," she said, handing me an empty can. I jumped down the manhole and filled it. I came up gagging, not wanting to know the contents of the water a bit. That stuff would wake up ANYONE. I poured it over his face. Fin gasped and wriggled like a fish. He rubbed the lump on his head and winced. "Whass hapnin'?" he mumbled.


As he woke up, I pointed the gun at him. He looked around, confused as anything, trying to comprehend what was going on.
“Oh,� he said, finally realizing that the tables had turned.
“Yeah, ‘oh’,� Shamus said.
“I’m taking it you guys won’t take a simple sorry?� Fin asked, looking quite desperate. I snorted.
“Listen. This gun is pointed at your head. Move without us telling you, and I’ll shoot you. I’m pretty sure I won’t miss. I’m only 3 feet away,� I said, venom dripping from my voice. He winced.
“You’re going to help us, Fin,� Shamus started. Fin nodded. I could tell he was visibly shaking, but I still aimed the gun at him, “We don’t know where we are, and we’re pretty sure you do. If you’re working for them, you know where they are, and you’re going to take us to them. Understand?�
“And if I don’t?� he asked, his voice almost breaking.
“Take a wild guess,� I muttered sarcastically.
Fin took a deep breath.
“You understand why I did it. It was my only choice. Shyam’s the only family I have left. I wouldn’t be able to take it alone. If he died…I’d kill myself, I really would,� he explained.
“But Vollmer’s not going to kill anyone yet,� Shamus said, narrowing his eyes.
“No. You’re wrong. Tomorrow at Midnight, he’s going to execute them all, in front of everyone. He wants to show people what would happen if they stood up to him,� he whispered. I exchanged a horrific look with Shamus.
“F-Fin, please tell me you can get this chip off. You brought one of those electrocution things with, right?� I asked. Our time was running out too quickly, and I’d be of no help if I could use my powers.
He shook his head solemnly.
“Well, how’d they get it off last time?� Shamus asked. My head perked up a bit as I was struck with an idea.
“Electricity!� I exclaimed, sounding like Ben Franklin, “We need to find some sort of electricity, and then we can shock it off!�
“You’re crazy! It’d never work, and you’d die!� Shamus countered. I resisted the urge to glare at him.
“Well, we have to try something. Now, where to look?�


Fin, Ro, and I searched for metal things to somehow conduct electricity to get the chip off. "This is such a bad idea!" I pressed on. "It'll fry the chip for sure but what if it fries you? Humans do conduct electricity, not just kites with keys on them."
Ro sighed angrily, which sounded like a pit bull at the moment, and said "It's worth a shot, Shamus. Keep searching." We found some tin cans and razors but that was about it.
We put our metal things in a pile. "Now what?" Fin said.
"I don't… know." Ro said. And in the distance, the hum and whir of a chopper was manifested, and got closer.
"Oh… snap," I uttered.
"What do we do?" Fin said his voice raspy and nervous.
Ro pounded her foot on the ground in frustration. "Into the stupid manhole again!"


Just to let y'all know, we're almost all the way to where Josh and I are writing this. Does that make sense?

I actually like you guys being a couple of posts away, though, as evil as that may sound. I hope we still have our fans (*waves to awesome fans*) because they're the ones who keep us going.

WE'VE FINALLY HIT PAGE 60!!!!!! *does her "I've hit page sixty" dance* Yeah, not THAT much, I know, but when you don't have enough time to type something, and when you're writing over 6 other things (or supposed to be, anyway), it's an accomplishment. Anyway, I hope you like how the story's developing so far. //I'm// almost positive the title will be "The Dumaniz." Or something like that.

And if YOU have any suggestions on what you want to happen, go ahead and spew them out at us. I LOVE suggestions from people who read my work.

[*Dissident*]

it seems like this part in the novel is just filler. i want more combat, more cool powers. not manhole diving!

[Retro Tin Canz]

I knew that in a matter of time, they’d be on our tails again. And this time, I couldn’t threaten them with the ol’ “come closer and I’ll crush your head with an anvil.� That could result in complications.
Once underground, we started running away from the manhole cover. Though we weren’t “near� it, I could still hear it crash open as we hid.
“I need to get this off. Either I need it off, or you two need to leave. They can’t find us all,� I whispered as we walked further, “Have we got ANYTHING to conduct electricity?�
“I’m pretty sure I could start something with my magnetism, but I’m not sure how,� he said.
“Well, I don’t know how either, and I’d rather like to keep my life, thanks,� I said, shortly. I wasn’t really trying to be cross with him. I was just upset.
“Then your only other choice is to cut it out, Ro,� Fin intervened, holding up the razor. Another idea clicked in my head.
“One of you cut it off,� I said, moving my hair to reveal the chip.
“What? No! You’ll bleed, and you could be infected, and…crap like that. That’s even worse than the electricity idea!� Shamus countered, taking a step back. I forced the razor into his hands.
“C’mon, you have to do it, or leave,� I replied, urging him to do it.
“I can’t. Have Fin do it,� he insisted. I gave him a look.
“No offense, Fin, but you’ve already tried to kill me once. I don’t think I’m going to trust you for a long time,� I said. He looked a little hurt, but shrugged.
“Shamus, look. When you get it out, I’ll imagine it not cut. And then we’ll all be fine. It won’t kill me,� I coaxed, showing him the back of my neck again. He heaved a sigh and touched the cold metal to the spot right next to the chip.
“Don’t scream. And…if you die…don’t blame me,� he said slowly, beginning to saw away at my skin. I clenched my hands and gritted my teeth. God, it hurt. Alright, so I knew it’d hurt, but not like this. Blood dripped down my neck, and the cut throbbed like a bass drum.
“Wait…I got it,� Shamus said, pulling it out. I gasped in pain, and turned around to look at it. It was covered in blood, and resembled something of a large, circular tick. Grimacing, I took it from him and threw it into the river of sewage water that was running the past us. There was a moment’s silence.
“Oh, my god. That hurt,� I said weakly, patching it up in my mind.


I dropped the razor which was carried away by the sewer water. “Was that easier for you or for me? I can’t tell,� I said nonchalantly.
The helicopter was circling the area above. It had probably lost the signal, so Vollmer’s goons were probably trying to spot Ro from above. “Now where do we go?� Fin said, glancing down the grime-covered tunnel.
Ro grimaced. “Through more sewer, then?�
I sighed. “It’s our best bet. The helicopter hasn’t left yet.�
Fin nervously stared down the sewer tunnel. “But it’s dark…� he complained quietly.
“Fine, here, I’ll make flashlights,� Ro said. “At least I have my powers back.
“But getting dumped out of the fire into the frying pan is still to come, I can sense,� chimed I. Ro shoved my shoulder, a grimy handprint pressed onto my gray shirt type thing. Ro put her hands out, palms up. She closed her eyes… and a glob of runny black goo appeared. Fin couldn’t help but snort, but the smile was scraped off his face when the goo started consuming her hands, crawling up her arms, trying to wrap itself around every inch of Ro’s body.
“Guys? Help me!!� Ro screamed.


Yeah, I don’t think that I would’ve minded it so much, except that it was compressing my arms, and spreading to my shoulders and chest. As it moved, it squeezed tightly. My breathing increased as I gave a panicked look to Fin and Shamus.
“Do something!� I cried. It spread down my stomach to my legs. Somehow, and I don’t know how, it caused my legs to give out, allowing me to land hard on my knees.
“I�I can’t!� Fin shouted. He clamped onto my arm, attempting to strip the stuff from my, but his hands slipped off. Shamus tried, but the same thing happened to him. I could feel it on my chest, trying to collapse my ribcage, to totally crush me. It started creeping up my neck, cutting off my breath. Oh, my god, I couldn’t breathe. Was I going to die here? In a SEWER!?
Yet, in a moment, the black goo receded. I took deep gulping breaths, as it shrank back to my hands and disappeared. Suddenly, two flashlights appeared in front of Shamus and Fin, hovering there for a second or two before falling. They each caught them before they hit the water.
“My God, what fresh hell was that?!� I asked to no one in particular. Fin helped me to my feet, and I nodded him a thanks.
“See! I told you we shouldn’t have cut the chip out!� Shamus exclaimed, turning the flashlight on. Well, at least it was bright.
“Oh? Trust me, that was no where near as bad as what Vollmer can do to you. I’d choose that any day,� I replied morbidly, just to throw things into perspective.


Twenty minutes later we were lost in the sewers. Don’t worry, readers, the rest of the story doesn’t take place in the sewers. “This sucks, you know,� I said, cutting the twenty-minute silence.
“Ha, I didn’t know that,� Ro said sarcastically.
“Just shut up, Ro,� I snapped. “I mean, what is our short-term goal here? What are we trying to do? Where are we trying to go? We haven’t even decided what we’re trying to do here. We’re just wandering aimlessly. If we’re just going to do that we might as well sit on our butts until Iris and Ceil rescue everyone for us. If Ceil hasn’t already killed Iris.�
Ro was about to speak, but then suddenly a voice cut through the dark. “He hasn’t, trust me.�


The voice made me tense, but I relaxed when I realized who it was.
“Iris!� I cried. I was going to give her a hug, but I remembered what happened last time I tried to hug someone. “I’m so glad you’re ok.�
“Yeah, same here. Have you guys met up with any trouble?� she asked.
“Well, I broke the map, we were chased out of town, Fin found us and tried to kill Ro, I got shot, we’re currently being chased by Vollmer’s goons, everyone’s being executed in tomorrow…did I miss anything, Ro?� Shamus said, counting off on his fingers.
“Oh, we cut the chip out of my neck, and now I can imagine things, but I nearly die. I dunno about flying. But something bad is bound to happen,� I replied, nodding.
“Tomorrow? So soon?� Ceil asked, his face distressed.
“Yeah. Shouldn’t you have known about this?� Shamus pointed his finger in Ceil’s chest.
“Vollmer himself had said that he was not going to kill anyone. Put through pain, yes. But never kill. They are too valuable to him,� Ceil said, “I am sorry.�
“I’ll bet you are,� Shamus muttered under his breath.
“Stop now. Don’t take it too far. But we’ve got to do something,� I said, changing the subject.
“But what?� Iris asked.
“It’s simple. All we’ve got to do is stick together from now on. If they find us, we just have to kill them. At this point, it’s either us or them, and it’s gotta be us,� Shamus said. Well, look who was passing around inspiration.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do,� I interrupted. He gave me a bit of a sour look, his face brightening as he got an idea.
“One of us will stay with you at all times. It’s fool proof!�
I bit my lip. Habit wanted me to say that he was completely wrong, and this was a ridiculously stupid idea, yet logic said he was right. I sighed, and nodded.
And hoped none of us would get killed.


"So now all we have to do," I continued, "is locate Vollmer's H.Q. and plan some sort of sneak attack. And we have to do it by… what time is it?"
Ceil pressed a little button on his very cool-looking watch. "It is six P.M. here. I'd estimate, if Vollmer intends to kill the detainee Dumaniz tomorrow, he will be doing it at sunrise, which is precisely…" Ceil pressed another button and a graph popped up in the form of a hologram. Why do the bad guys get all the gadgets?! "…6:46 tomorrow morning." Then the hologram closed, Iris taking and releasing a deep breath of nervousness.
"Well since Shamus deleted our dumb map," Ro said, begging for a dirty look to be thrown at her, "we'll need to use yours, Ceil and Iris." Iris took out the little Game Boy-like device and opened the holographic map. A big orange square indicated Vollmer's H.Q. A bunch of little green ones indicated the warehouses, and the space in between must have been the pathways.
"This doesn't help, we're in the sewers," Iris muttered.
"Press the round button next to the on-off button." The view of the messed-up world we were in flipped around and showed the sewers.
"Okay," I said. "But where are we?" Iris fiddled around a bit and eventually a little blip showed up. "I think this is us!" I said, excited that we were getting somewhere. Then another blip showed up, which looked like two circles inside each other. It was moving to our stationary blip. (I love that word! Blip! Blip! Blip!)
"Okay, what's going on?!" Ro said. We turned at the sound of a gun cocking and were suddenly blinded by six big flashlights.

[Melchi0r]

Seriously though, what is it with all the guns?! I froze for a moment, not sure whether to let them take us, or fight back. I chose fight, as did the others. I guess it was finally implanted on our brains that if we gave up, then we'd lose. Well, duh. OK, that didn't come out the way I expected…never mind.
"You are completely surrounded. Fight back, and we will have no problem hurting you," the man behind the blinding light said. I shielded my eyes, squinting.
"The thing is, we have no problem hurting you, either," I shouted. The others took my cry as a sort of start button, everyone springing into action at the same time. Fin took a huge gush of rank water from the sewer river and slammed it into the body of one of the gunmen. Shamus ripped away some guns while Iris smashed two guards together. I didn't see what Ceil was doing before I got started.
I held my hands out, closing my eyes. I imagined the remaining henchmen to die. I stole the air from their body. It started to work, but again, the black stuff started covering me. It threw off my concentration, and the men realized they were no longer dying.
Panic showing on my face, I tried again, but this only caused the Black goo to speed up. Not good. Like before, I fell to my knees as it compressed around my body. My breathing become labored as the man crept closer, looking afraid as though I might lash out and kill them. If only. Finally, one of them grabbed me. I tried to struggle, but my chest burned, and I knew I had to save my energy.
The black stuff stopped just before covering my face, but it was too late. They had me. I screamed on last, long, loud, help before they gagged me and began taking me down the tunnel.

“Ro!� I helplessly called. I helplessly looked around, and was caught by surprise when Iris rolled her eyes at me, though she was anxious like me.
“Shamus, you are holding two machine guns,� she stated simply. Instinct urged me to snap, “Yeah, what’s your point?� but I actually realized what Iris was implying. But that meant… I’ve have to kill another person. I know, these guys want to kill us, but I have a very “do unto others as you would have-“
Oh, screw it! my shoulder devil screamed in my ear, and I shot the henchman repeatedly on the back. He dropped Ro and fell on her, causing Ro to make some kind of double-yelp noise. “Sorry!� I said as we went to help Ro. Fin tried to roll the big, muscular, and (gulp) dead henchman off of Ro, but was unsuccessful, so Iris threw him off with telekinesis.
“How are you?� asked Iris. Ro’s face flushed with anger.
“Oh, well, I’m covered in,� Ro paused, “sewage, bound by some sticky black goo that comes up whenever I try to do the simplest thing with my imagination powers, I was nearly crushed by a dead henchman guy, we’re LOST, and our friends are all going to be executed tomorrow, so I’d say that things could improve for me.�
Even knowing how bad this was for us, especially Ro, I had no time to be understanding. “Mm-hmm, whatever,� I said apathetically. “So we have to get off this black stuff. Ideas, anyone?� Ceil raised his hand and cleared his throat. “No ideas?� Then Iris stepped on my foot. “Yeah, what, Ceil?�
“I was thinking that someone could fire a gun, Shamus can hold back the bullets with magnetism, and with the heat that’s being trapped, we could use that to maybe make the black stuff to come off.�
“Okay, hold on,� I said. “So someone’s gonna be shooting at me, and I’m going to be holding back the bullets? What if the bullets aren’t iron or nickel or whatever? I could die.�
No one saw it when Fin slipped away right at this moment.

“Alright, let’s do it then. Who’s going to shoot?� I asked from my cocoon of black squeezy death stuff. Nobody replied.
“Iris, I think you should do it,� I said quietly.
“What? Why me?�
Well, I would, but I’m covered in goo. And Ceil probably would, but Shamus isn t going to like that too much.�
“You’ve got that right,� he said nervously. Iris nodded, grabbing the gun. Her hands were shaking like an earthquake, but Iris was a strong person. And I guess Shamus was, too.
She stood about 15 feet away and aimed the gun at him, firing 3 shots. We all held our breath, waiting to see him holding the bullets inches from himself. But that didn’t happen. He gave a small gasping sound and collapsed.
Just then, the black stuff melted. I’m not sure what did it, but I was ever grateful that it was finally off.
Of course, we had another problem on our hands.

Don’t try that at home. Lead isn’t magnetic.
Stupid me! I was so confident of myself, thinking that every idea I had was the right one and would work. Now I was lying on the ground, bleeding heavily from each of my three gun shot wounds. I had no idea when my self-healing powers would kick in, but it was evident they weren’t going to start any time soon.
But did Iris shooting me three times make me like her less? Not one bit. I was glad that it was Iris that shot me, not Ro, and definitely not Ceil. It made me feel a lot less bitter about it. Kind of like when Da Vinci or whoever cut off his ear and sent it to his girlfriend to prove his love for her. Well, not really. And I had nothing cut off. I hoped.
Well straight after I was shot, I fell back and got more muck all over me as I hit my head hard against the sewer tunnel floor. I only heard Iris gasp, and say “Shamus! OH-MY-!� and Ceil’s footsteps as he charged towards me before I went unconscious.
So let’s have Ro tell what happened when I was unconscious with three bullet wounds. ‘Cause I don’t know. ‘Cause I was unconscious with three bullet wounds.

[*Dissident*]

van gouge was the ear guy.

Just to make a suggestion about the overall writing style: Not to critisize, but i think the novel/story would be a lot easier to follow if 2 things happened:
A) ditch the storytelling. Sure, the people (ro and shamus) can narrate, and even take turns. There is actually a book written like that, called Revolution Starter, or something, a new release, you read 8 pages of one persons perspective, then flip the book around, and upside down, and read 8 pages pf the other persons. But all these personal touches, like the spelling Bee, and the details not related to the actual story get confusing and monotonous.
B) Add some more sensory details, whether through more complex nouns and verbs, or through similes and metaphors. It makes for a better, more flowing and less confusing read.

Just suggestions.

[Melchi0r]

I shall talk with Catie about that. My part's kinda long right here:
_____________________________________________________________

Uh, Shamus? Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear. Not da Vinci. Sheesh.
So we were in quite a predicament. I stood and stretched my legs and moved to help Iris and Ceil lift Shamus out of the murky water with God only knows what floating around in it. Blood seeped through his wet shirt from the wounds. Iris was beside herself with worry.
“Why isn’t he healing himself?! C’mon, he’s supposed have regeneration-stuff!� I said to no one in particular.
“Perhaps the cause of the injury must be removed before he may begin,� Ceil suggested.
“Ew, that would mean-oh, gross, I don’t wanna poke his intestines around trying to pull bullets out!� I exclaimed.
“I’ve got it,� Iris said short, quietly. She put her hands on Shamus’ chest and closed her eyes, breathing in a slow rhythm. The bullets pulled themselves out of his skin, and she opened her eyes, pressing her palm to her forehead. Suddenly, Shamus’ unmoving form took a deep shuddering breath and sat bolt upright. The wounds in his chest instantly closed, leaving only the blood oh his filthy shirt as a reminder of what had happened.
“Ok, I vote we don’t use me as target practice any more,� Shamus said. Iris looked on the verge of breaking into tears and laughing at the same time. Truthfully, I was just glad that he was alright. Ok, so we don’t always get along. I don’t want him dead or anything like that.
“Wait, where’s Fin?� he asked, glancing around. I looked behind me.
“I could’ve sworn he was just here. That little, traitorous bastard,� I muttered under my breath. Ceil helped Shamus to his feet, and I noticed the murderous look that Shamus gave him.
Oy, something told me things were going to go downhill from here, if that was possible.

I banged my dirty, mucky-haired head against the wall, moaning “Angst! Despair! Sob! Woe is me! I hate myself! Emo tears! All is lost!� Well, not really, but I wanted to.
“That was dumb of me,� I admitted, my eyes nearly welling up in shameful tears. I bowed my head and pretended to wipe grime off my face while I wiped my eyes clean.
“Well… don’t be harsh on yourself,� Iris said supportively. Ro, thank God, had no comment to put in, but I heard Ceil – the wanker- mumble under his breath. I felt pretty awkward up to this point, so I just tried to put it all behind us.
“Who has the map?� I asked, my chest stinging as it regenerated slowly, filling up the bullet wound.
“Me,� responded Ceil. He took it out, popped up the holographic map, inverted it to the underground view, and studied it, switching angles and all that jazz. “Hmm,� he concluded.
“What’s ‘hmm’?� asked Ro.
“We only have about three quarters of a mile.. until we’re right under them,� Ceil informed us.
“Well why are we just standing her socializing?� I muttered irritably, and everyone took that as “Let’s go� and continued down the path. It was really strange, Ro being cocooned in goo, me being shot and healed, and then we just continued on our merry way. On the path down, we were mostly silent, the only noise dripping water and us trudging through the sewage, as well as Ceil telling us where to turn.
About 15 minutes later Ceil ordered us to halt, and he compared maps. “We are under it,� he said solemnly. “It is approximately six-thirty and we it will take a while to infiltrate the H.Q. I say we rest for a couple of hours and then make a plan.�
“Where do we lie down? And I need a shower, bad. I don’t want to fight henchmen and rescue our friends while I smell like… you know.�
“Shamus…,� Ro growled warningly. I knew what she’d wanted to say but wasn’t going to on account of my gun shot wound: “Do you think you’re the ONLY person here who needs a freaking bath?! SHUT UP AND STOP WHINING!�
“There might be a ledge somewhere that’s not totally covered in sewage, where we can lie down,� Iris suggested calmly. “As for a shower-“
“Yeah, it’s not gonna happen,� I sighed.
“Well, there could be a pipe or somewhere that spews out pure, non-crap-filled water,� Iris said.
“No soap or clean clothes,� I countered.
“Ro could-“
“No I couldn’t,� she automatically corrected Iris. “Gooey cocoon?�
“Well, a bar of soap isn’t as big as killing henchmen.� Iris went on patiently.
“I don’t want to take any chances,� Ro urged, with patience.
“Maybe try conjuring up a pebble and see what happens,� Iris mused.
“Like I said before…� Ro said, losing a small touch of patience.
“Whoah, guys!� I butted in. “I don’t want a shower that much if it’s going to start a war.� I skulked, wanting bad to sit down, but my pants were moist enough (Ew, from sewage, not my own pee, you weird readers.)
“Besides, we should spring into action A.S.A.P., seeing as Fin’s already scampered off, probably ratted on us.�
“That he has,� a voice rang out. Everyone inhaled sharply, but I could only say, “OH MY GOD, this is getting totally ridiculous!�
Before any of us could react any further we were all shot in the neck with darts and fell unconscious immediately…
In the morning, well, it might have been morning, we were all woken up by a loud buzzing noise. As soon as I sat up, I noticed where we were: a cell. Apparently after we’d been drugged up we were placed in it. It was padded with nothing but cushiony stuff. Three henchmen entered through a door that I didn’t even notice, as it was cushioned too. I automatically touched my neck… and felt metal. I fell back over again, defeated. They stood over Iris and I, and, get this, removed our chips with strange instruments.
Iris and I pushed ourselves up, ignoring the stinging sensation in the back of our necks. “What’s going on?� we said in accidental unison.
They flattened us down again, the one over me saying, “Hold still.� We couldn’t see what they were doing, but Ro, who was all I could see was curled up in a ball on the floor, her eyes like saucers. The one over Iris explained, “This won’t hurt if you stay calm. We’re going to inject you with a serum. You won’t feel any side effects, so don’t worry.� I felt the needle enter my neck and come back out, and I winced.
Next it was Ceil’s voice I heard. “Matthias! Gennadius! Thank Heaven, you’ve finally switched sides.�
Ro’s mouth fell open as the three grown men shared a group hug. “What’s going on here!?� she exclaimed.
“To put it simply,� said Matthias (the henchman over me), “We used to work with Vollmer. Now we’ve joined the League, where Ceil comes from. There. Now let’s skidaddle.�

[Retro Tin Canz]

Shamus was right. Oh, my god has this gotten ridiculous. Looking back, I was just a 14 year old girl, worrying about my algebra grade and whatnot. Now, I’m a…God, I don’t know WHAT I am anymore. I had my adventure. But now I didn’t want it.
And now this. Back in another cell, with another metal thing on my neck. My mind reeled with thoughts: What were they going to do to us? Had Ceil stopped us there on purpose? Not that I had another one on, would properly taking this one off prevent my black cocoon thing from happening? Would they take it off? Where were the others? Why was this cell padded?
I curled into a ball, just wanting to go back home. This much stress could cause a person to die, but somehow, I figured stress wouldn’t be my cause of death. I didn’t even know what day it was, and frankly, I didn’t care.
Time passed, but I didn’t know how much. Five minutes, an hour, a day, a week? I didn’t know. Within this time frame, however, someone came in around the time the others woke up.
“What’s going on?� Shamus and Iris saying, oddly harmonizing.
“Hold still, This won't hurt if you stay calm. We're going to inject you with a serum. You won't feel any side effects, so don't worry.� The one closest to Iris said, injecting her with some sort of liquid. I squeezed into a tighter ball as someone came over and punctured my own neck with one of the needles. I was scared to death, but the young man who had the serum had a calming aura around him. His dark hair reminded me of Ham’s, but his eyes were an odd green color. He took my hand and pulled me to my feet as the Power interrupter on my neck fell off.
“Matthias! Gennadius! Thank Heaven, you've finally switched sides!� Ceil said enthusiastically. They embraced each other.
“What’s going on here?� I echoed Shamus and Iris, narrowing my eyes.
“To put it simply we used to work with Vollmer. Now we've joined the League, where Ceil comes from. There. Now let's skedaddle,� the other man with white-blonde hair said, collecting all the Power interrupters.
“Wait, I’m not sure I want to go with you if you’re in cahoots with Ceil. Why should we?� Shamus asked. I raised an eyebrow at his…interesting word choice.
“Because if you do not, you will be killed along with your friends who are down the hallway. You have time to save them before Vollmer makes his rounds again. By the way, I am Gennadius,� the Dark haired one near me said.
“Can I ask a question?� I asked softly. The blonde�Matthias�nodded, “Now that my chip has been taken out properly, do I have my complete power back?�
“Yes, that is the way it works. This is why we used the injection instead of the electricity,� Matthias replied, “Are you ready to go?�
I nodded, and the now six of us began down the hallway, one at a time. Ceil, Matthias, and Gennadius went first to make sure the coast was clear, and opened the door.
As soon as I stepped up to see my colleagues, my heart began pounding.
“Oh, God,� I whispered, my hand to my mouth. They were all so…broken. They winced at seeing so much light at once, at seeing someone other than those who had done this to them.
Ham was the first to get over his shock.
“Ro? Oh, my God, Ro, it’s you!� he said, struggling to stand up.
“No, stay down. Please, don’t hurt yourself.� He smiled grimly.
“I wish,� he replied. Shamus and Iris joined us, but our reunion couldn’t last too long, or else we’d be discovered.
“Are you gonna get us out, Ro?� Giggles asked, her eyes shining with spirit. Shyam, Butch, and Uma perked up as well.
“We’re going to try our hardest, sweetie. We have help. They’ll get your chips out, and we’ll get you out of here,� I said encouragingly. I hope, I added in my thoughts.


Oh don't worry, things will pick up VERY soon.

And we'll see our good friend, Rip once more.

Exciting, eh?

[Retro Tin Canz]

"I am feeling so antsy right now," I said, bobbing up and down on my heels. "Gennadius, Matthias? Please hurry and get all their chips out. I have a feeling that we're gonna run into our captors if we don't get moving!" I felt so nervous at that point, though I didn't know why… well, besides that our lives were at risk, for Pete's sake, but besides that, I couldn't describe my emotions.
They un-chipped Shyam and Ham's chips first, and Ro and Iris held the younger kid's hands while they were un-chipped.
"See? It only hurts for a second," Iris comforted the pouting Giggles. Standing next to Iris, Ceil checked his watch. He muttered a curse under his breath and coughed. Like magic everyone turned their gaze to him all at the same time.
"It's 6:30," he stated simply. Gennadius', Matthias', Iris', Ro's, and my hairs all stood up on the back of our necks.
"…so?" said Ham.
"To put it simply," began Matthias, but I cut him off.
"You only have about thirteen minutes to live!!"
"EVERYONE RUN!" screamed Uma. Ro hugged her gently from behind, giving me a sarcastic "Thanks for that" sarcastic look.
"No! We need a plan," snapped Ham, his gaze remaining on me. I bit my fingernails, not ACTUALLY KNOWING that everyone began to look at me. I noticed pretty delayed… and I didn't get it at first.
"Yes?" I asked politely, like a waiter. Little Giggles, smart aleck in the making, tapped her foot at me.
"Would you like some clippers?" she offered sarcastically with cool venom. I was actually impressed and wanted to laugh, though of course I didn't, having enough common sense to know it was inappropriate at the time. I couldn't think fast enough to come up with something like that until I was twelve! Such talent.
My eyes widened. Talent! I didn't even know what most of their talents were!
"I know this isn't the right time, but… can you guys all show me what you can do?"



You know what? For as much time as I had spent with them, I didn’t know all of their powers. I knew Ham’s and Shyam’s, but most of the time I had been with them, I we were here.
Uma shot a glance at Iris who nodded.
“Ok, well…I can run. Really fast. In fact, if I go fast enough, then I’d turn invisible. I haven’t mastered that yet. Or I can get my body moving really fast. That would make me invisible, as well. And…I can go through stuff. Which would be really helpful now, but my chip was still in,� Uma started.
“Yeah, and I’m like Iris. I’m telekinetic. But I don’t know my other power yet. I hope it’s something helpful. I really wanna fight with you guys,� Butch added.
“I can make fire with my mind,� Giggles said sweetly, “Oh, and I can like, make things move. Not like Iris and Butch, but like…only stuff that doesn’t move. And someday, I’ll be able to give them minds of their own.� Ok, a little dark, but still pretty cool.
“Ro, you know that I heal. And of course, force fields,� came from Shyam, “Fin can move water with his mind, and when he touches a book or person, he draws all of the knowledge from them into his brain. He hates it.�
“What about you guys?� Shamus asked, pointing to Ceil’s friends. Gennadius spoke first.
“I have the power to paint something and bring it to life, with or without a canvas. Also, I can travel through shadows,� he explained calmly.
“Shape shifting. And strength,� Ham said tersely.
“Painting? Can you show me that?� Shamus asked. Gennadius gave him an “I really don’t have time for this right now� look, but I don’t think Shamus noticed. Without speaking, he took a paintbrush out of his sleeve and looked into the air. With short, quick strokes, he painted an apple which fell out of the air and into his hand. He tossed it to Shamus, who fumbled with it before catching it.
“I can manipulate electricity and when I touch something with my hands, it turns to stone. It’s why I always wear my gloves,� Matthias said.
“So are we ready to go yet?� Shyam asked impatiently. I cocked my head at him. It was unlike him to be so anxious for something.
“I want to get my brother,� he added. I glanced to Shamus and Iris, my mind sighing.
“We will get out, but I will need everybody’s cooperation. Those who can turn invisible, please do so. Rowina, I would very much like for you to think a disguise for those of us who have none. Ham, you must shape shift to look like a soldier. If we are discovered, we must fight,� Ceil said.
“Wait, who says you give the plan?� Shamus asked indignantly. There was a collective groan in the air from more than just myself.
“Do you know these corridors? Do you yourself have a plan that will help us more? Do you know where you are going?� Ceil asked dangerously, yet calmly.
“Shamus, just go along with it,� I moaned. He crossed his arms and sulked, but obeyed my wish. He wanted out of here just as much as us.
“Gennadius, Matthias and myself will escort three different groups out. We will meet at a predecided spot. I’m not going to tell you, because if I do and you are caught, then Vollmer will make you tell him,� Ceil continued. We were getting out.
Ham and I were to go with Gennadius who would be leading us off the roof. I’ll explain that more later. Uma, Iris, and Giggles went with Matthias, and Shamus, Shyam, and Butch went with Ceil.
And we were off.

[Melchi0r]

That's okay guys. Your comments aren't needed. *weeps*

--------------------------------------------------------------------

As Matthias’ and Gennadius’ groups peeled off down the hallway and down several corridors, Ceil directed Shyam, Butch, and I down the other way of the hall, and began leading us down a maze of corridors. I jogged beside Ceil, beginning to pant. “How do you know that we’re not going to run into henchmen, or Vollmer himself?� I huffed and puffed.
“Hopefully we shall meet neither, but we are all un-chipped and have more at our disposal than those we are escaping. Besides the firearms,� he added unhelpfully at the end. I snorted, becoming more breathless.
“Should I feel okay or freaked out?� I muttered.
“Freaked out!� Butch said frantically. I glanced back, and he was in the clutches of a bearded henchman.
“His katana!� I spat. Butch’s eyes narrowed, furrowing his brow as the henchman dragged his thrashing ten year-old body. The sleek, Japanese sword slipped out of its sheath, its handle sliding nicely into my cupped hand. I hollered some sort of hoarse battle cry and slashed the henchman’s side. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but he automatically released Butch in order to clutch at his gash with both hands.
Butch, pale as milk, darted behind Shyam. Ceil put a hand on his shoulder. The henchman was trying to gain his strength, and composure, on the ground. I raised the sword for the coup de grace when a drop of blood fell on my shoulder from the sword. I hesitated briefly, glancing at the red, glistening blade. Weapons are evil, I began to believe from that point. But still the dude had weapons of his own to kill us so he had to be dealt with. I did a jump-kick, planting it right under his chin. His head snapped to the side and he fell limp. I didn’t know, nor did I want to know, if he was dead. But I was still scaring myself.
After a few seconds, I breathed, “Let’s go.�

[northskater110]

i dont get it............

[Melchi0r]

i dont get it............

Get... what?

[Melchi0r]

Gennadius led Ham and me upwards. We climbed several flights of stairs in silence, and luckily, we didn’t meet up with anyone yet. Gennadius pushed the door open for us and told us how we were going to get down.
“Ro, you already have wings, and Ham, you will shape shift to obtain them,� he told us, leading us to the edge.
“But what about you?� I asked.
“I’ll paint them. May I see yours?
I nodded and told myself that I wanted him see my wings.
“They’re beautiful,� he told me, his eyes widening like most people did when they saw my wings. He took out his paintbrush the started moving it through the air, his eyes misting over.
While he was working, the door we had just come out of burst open. It was as though Gennadius didn’t know he was there, he just kept painting the air. But Ham and I sure saw who it was. To my dismay, it was Rip. Yes, Rip, the one who had sold us out to Vollmer. I felt Ham tense beside me, and I was sure that now that he had his strength back, he’d use it.
“What do you want?� Ham spat at the traitor, venom in his words.
“I am here to help you,� Rip replied, showing no emotion, as usually. I had no clue how these people did it. If there was even one time where he didn’t show emotion, it would be major.
“Like Hell you are! Just like you helped us in there? You know what, Rip? We trusted you! I trusted you! You’re the reason we were in there for so long. You’re the reason we had to go through that!�
“Ham, listen to me. I am not your enemy here. Had I let you out, they would’ve killed me. If I-.� Ham didn’t let him finish.
“So you’re not only a traitor, you’re a coward, as well,� he said angrily. I could see him balling his hands into fists, his knuckles turning white. I inhaled as Rip made his could-be lethal way towards us.
“If you would just listen to me, I can tell you how I can help! You have to remain calm and-,� he started. Ham didn’t listen. Instead, he punched Rip in the stomach. Rip’s breath whooshed out of him and he flew back nearly 15 feet as though we were in a movie. My eyes widened, and at first I thought it was impossible, but then I remembered Ham’s strength.
“He’s not dead, is he?� I asked slowly as Gennadius finished up his wings.
“No, but he deserves to be,� Ham replied grimly.

We were getting into a busier part of the building now. Ceil halted us to a slow stalk. We hid in individual rooms when Ceil “saw� through the walls groups of people approaching. So far, we’d been very lucky not to get caught.
At that moment, Ceil and I hid under a table in a conference room while the younger kids hid in a closet. “How are we getting out?� I whispered.
“Down the stairs, into the basement, through some tunnels. Don’t worry, not sewer tunnels. Then we go to our secret checkpoint and meet the others.�
“Is that as easy as you’re makin’ it sound?� I retorted.
“Probably not. Just stay calm. The… researchers… and one henchman, by the looks of them, have passed.�
“Vamoose!� I whispered-yelled and Butch and Shyam leaped from the coat closet and flattened themselves against the wall. I pushed the obnoxious Mission Impossible theme song from my mind.
“It’s safe,� muttered Ceil, and we launched ourselves across the hall. We’d taken off our shoes earlier and hid them, but left on our socks, to try and keep it quiet as possible as we ran madly around this god-forsaken place. “Turn left, and open the second door on your right,� Ceil ordered. I veered around the corner and exploded through the aforementioned door.
It was stairs, finally. They looked like they went all the way down to the basement. It was bright, but the lights were flickering eerily. I gulped and scurried downward, leading the group. Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming up right towards us! I saw shadows looming under us.
“Shyam, front and center!� I said, a little bit loudly. Then again, the people approaching us probably already knew we were there.
The shadowy marchers appeared, and guess who they were? Yep, henchmen with guns. “Force-“ I barked, but Shyam created one before I could tell him to. From where we stood, it looked like a clear-purple bubble with sparks jumping around it, but I think the henchmen on the other side couldn’t see anything, just a little black kid holding out his arms. To their mistake, they fired, only to have their Kevlar suits penetrated with returning bullets. We plowed forward, stepping carefully over their bodies. Before we continued, I took three vests, putting one on myself and giving the other two to Shyam and Butch.

The tawny colored wings attached to Gennadius’ back and he flexed his shoulder as his eyes un-misted.
“Are you two ready?� he asked, opening his wings. I nodded, swallowing. I wasn’t afraid of flying. Far from it. It was what had just happened that made me a bit queasy. What if Ham had killed Rip? I got the distinct feeling that he was telling the truth. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was still bitter towards the guy. He had our trust, and he’d destroyed it. Peace.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,� Ham spat bitterly.
“No, wait. I told somebody to meet us up here. If they don’t show up soon, we’ll leave,� Gennadius explained. I felt anxiety prickle across my scalp and Ham winced, but didn’t look sorry for what he had done. I pointed to Rip’s fallen figure, and Gennadius shook his head.
“Look, he wants to help. It wasn’t his fault that your hiding place was discovered. Rip would have rather died than do that. See, Vollmer’s two powers are truly sinister. His first, as you must surely know, is the power to inflict as much pain as he wants with a single touch. But the other is the ability to steal another Dumaniz’s power to use for a period of time, depending on how much he takes. At the time, he had just received the power of mind reading, and he used it. Rip was caught off guard,� he explained.
“Another Dumaniz? How many of us are there?� I asked. I had been under the impression that we were the only ones.
“A lot. We’re not sure, but there’s a lot. There are tons right here in the city that stay hidden. Here, it’s either join Vollmer or be hunted. As you know. But right now, we need to get out of here. They’ve probably already discovered that everyone’s missing, but we can’t keep Rip here. He’s not well liked by most of us here.�
“He’s a traitor,� Ham said, looking out over the city.
“He’s here to help us,� Gennadius replied, raising his voice a notch. I too a step back, watching this evolve and getting ready to step into this if it got out of hand.
“Oh, he can help us now that we’re out, but he did nothing to help us while we needed it. He’s a coward.�
“Ham, I know how must feel about this, but I can’t leave him here.�
“Yes we can.�
“Fine. We’ll leave him here to die, and you’ll be condemned as a murderer. When Saint Peter asks you why you left a man to die, you won’t have an explanation.� I blinked at how serious Gennadius was. I didn’t think they had religion in this place. Ham was silent for a moment, but I could see him clenching his jaw.
“I didn’t- I don’t want to kill him. I’m just-“ Ham started, unable to find the right words.
“You’re hurt. I know. And God knows. He will help you with this. You only need faith,� Gennadius said softly, placing his hand on Ham’s shoulder.
Before this touching moment could get too underway, a shout came from the stair well. The three of us looked at each other and then at Rip. Ham and Gennadius grabbed Rip’s arms and the three of us took off into the sky.

I was whizzing down the stairs barely stepping on them for support as we fled. Freedom was so close! I could see the bottom. The dark but oh so promising bottom. “Come on!� I said, picking up speed in front of everyone else. Did I mention that we were being chased? These guys had tasers. And we all knew that in dealing with Vollmer, capture would be way worse than death.
We careened downward and downward, sweating up gallons. The bottom was about eight feet below! I took a chance and swung over the edge. I fell and bruised up my side, but nothing serious. Ceil stood beside me, poised for action, while the younger kids hid near our exit.
“Just take them out with that trash can. Nothing too fancy or we will be captured,� he instructed. I flexed around my magnetism, dumping it over to spill out the garbage. I pulled it into my hands, where I held it close, palms sweating. The henchmen came downward more and more. I could see their shadows. They stood in veiled darkness, getting ready to zap us into submission when I chucked it, shooting it right at their craniums. It got three out of the five, but two were quick-witted enough to duck. I pulled back the trashcan toward me and got them in the back of their heads, their faces exploding with shock as they crumbled on the stairs.
“Go!!� I hollered. The door to the tunnel opened with one of those wheel knobs, like in submarines/the door to SpongeBob’s pineapple. I cranked it with magnetism, as it would be hard to do it by hand as it was clogged with rust.
Ceil, Shyam, and Butch piled through and I went in last to shut the door. I was glad that as I ran I didn’t hear that familiar splashing and feel the water soak through my pants, shoes, and socks. It was dark, with occasional strips of helium lights suspended from the low ceiling. I had to duck to not hit my head on our light sources.
“How… long… goes… on?� I panted to Ceil.
“Not… long,� he choked back. We were really, really out of it and needed to take a break. And a shower would be nice too. I mean, I probably had horrible B.O., but I didn’t check because I didn’t want to smother when I found out I was right.
“There!� Ceil said a couple minutes later. He swiped at a door in the wall with the same crank to open it. With all the mental strength I could muster, I cranked it open while lying against the wall and stumbled in ahead of everyone else to check it out.
It was… like a house. In underground rooms. Like, the ceilings were concrete, and the walls were too, but they were painted or had wallpaper! There were no carpets laid down on the floor, but, lo and behold, a welcome mat lay under our feet and assorted throw rugs lined this living room. The walls were painted blue and there were blue couches, cushions, and chairs, and even video games! Shyam and Butch sighed in delight, approaching the large sofas like zombies, plopping down on them in delight.
I looked in the other rooms. A kitchen, with tile, though ugly tile but tile nonetheless, and a fridge, stove, cupboards, cabinets drawers, oven, sink, and dishwasher. A big bathroom with a Jacuzzi-bath and a shower-bath. And, of course, a toilet and a sink. It had flowery wallpaper. And there were three bedrooms: one with a white paint on the floor and wall, one with a blue paint, and one with a pink paint. And there were also cots in those rooms. I figured the girls would take the pink painted room, the guys take the blue room, and the adults take the white room. Though I knew Ro would call me shallow for assuming, as a girl, she’d want the pink room when she got here.
If she ever gets here, my subconscious whined.
Shut up, you, I thought-scolded. I opened another door to find another bathroom. Same features of the other one. I really wanted a bath at this point, so I investigated the bedrooms to see if there were clothes already here for us. In the blue bedroom there were boys plain long-sleeved shirts and pants. Then the people who set this place up were gender biased, too, I thought. I grabbed a red shirt, brown trousers, long black socks, and went to the bathroom. On the way, I ran into Ceil. He was changing while checking out maps on his little device.
“Taking a bath,� I said. “What is this place?�
He looked up. “It was made as a safe haven long ago. This broken group of us are not the only ones hidden in this whole system of sewers, tunnels, and abandoned city above. Dumaniz on the run stop in here all the time. No one will find us here,� he added, answering my unasked question.
“Is everyone else doing fine?� I asked, noticing he was looking at locations of others, who I assumed to be Gennadius’ and Matthias’ groups.
“Yes. They are going to get here after us. Apparently, they hit bigger snags than we did, though I cannot sense that they have been harmed.� He pulled a t-shirt on, and as it slid over his abdomen, I noticed a scar. Like, a surgical one. I shrugged it off as I went back to my business.
I really liked this bathtub. It practically had seats you could sit in while you soaked. It was kind of like a hot tub. Up to three people could use it at the same time, if they’d wanted. And I also found it dispensed bubble bath solution. I decided to use some if someone barged in, as the doors did not have locks from the inside.
Warm bath water, check. Bubbles, check. Jacuzzi option, on. As I pulled off my clothes, I noticed, MAN, I really did smell! And I settled into the tub, relaxed for the first time in days.

[Melchi0r]

As we took off, I could hear people behind us. But we were out of there. For a fleeting instant, I wondered how we escaped so easily. Vollmer was a smart guy, and it didn’t seem like he’ let his prizes get away so easily. I shook it off though, because I had more important things to worry about right now.
We flew Rip to the ground. Gennadius instructed me to lift up a manhole and for a second, I refused.
“No way. I am not going into the sewers again.�
“Ro, it’s not the sewers. We have to hurry,� he replied. I was getting so paranoid that every noise I heard was the cocking of a gun, or someone sneaking up behind me. I obeyed, and the three of us loaded Rip underground. Ham offered to take Rip from there and through the full-grown man over his shoulder as though he was a rag doll. We ran down the underground hallway into a special room. I looked around the little place, wondering what this was.
Ham laid Rip down on a table type thing and Gennadius shooed us away.
“I’m going to get someone to check for any bugs. In the meanwhile, you two can relax. I’m pretty sure that Ceil got here a bit ago. Take that door and make two lefts and a right and you’ll find where you want to be.�

That was just what I needed. One loooong relaxing bath to myself. No henchmen, Not even any other Dumaniz wrecking my privacy. However, after about twenty minutes, I got bored. I turned off the water, dried off, and got dressed.
I patted my hair down as I entered the “living room�. Shyam and Butch played some kind of video game. It involved driving a car away from police and getting extra points by smashing into other vehicles. Was it training or just mindless?
Creak, creaked the door in the shadows. I grabbed a coaster off the table, poised to smash it on top of someone’s head if they tried doing anything. Shyam and Butch rolled under the coffee table, and they surprisingly fit. Those two were pretty short, I have to say.
It swung open and two figures emerged, one male, one female. Ham and Ro.
“Omigod!� I whooped. Shyam and Butch darted out from the table and leaped into their arms, taking turns hugging each person. I came over, beaming, as Ham released Butch from a brotherly embrace. Wow! He wasn’t actually all macho-ness; he actually had a heart. Ham glanced at me and smirked, and– sort of scaring me- he yanked me into a hug. I don’t know what happened. Ham suddenly became to me an older brother I’ve never had. And I couldn’t help but smirk, knowing Ro would want to be where I was.
“You’re okay,� he sighed, letting my lungs fill with air again.
“You guys too. Where’s Gennadius?� I asked.
“He’s in the tunnel. We snagged Rip while we escaped and, well, he’s unconscious. We don’t know whether he’s even on our side. But Gennadius is checking him for bugs,� Ro said. I didn’t know what to do here. She was alive, thankfully. But hugging her. No. So we settled on high-fives.
“Hey, you don’t smell,� Ro said randomly.
“Um, thanks?� I said.
“What I meant was, there must be a shower or something here. Which means we’re actually somewhere civilized and welcome!�
“Yeah, but I’m still not quite sure if it’s welcome. But there is ice cream in the freezer. Here, let me give you a grand tour,� I said. I started off by motioning that where we were in must have been a living room, then I moved on and showed them the kitchen, dining room, and hall leading to more stuff, where there were the two bathrooms and three bedrooms.
“The pink room is for the girls,� I added.
“Yeah, way to assume that everything pink belongs to a girl!� she accused. I rolled my eyes. I knew she’d go into this.
“Go look in the drawers,� I told her simply. She entered and looked inside each one. “Girl clothes, right?�
“Yes,� she admitted, defeated.
“Well, now that we’re here, what are we going to do?� Ham asked.
“Now that we just got somewhere safe and comfortable, but the whole group isn’t here yet, you can make some food, play a video game, wash up, change. But I think we should just wait for the whole group to decide what we’re doing next.�
Ceil emerged from nowhere, and acknowledged Ro and Ham. “How are you? Where’s Gennadius?�
Ham looked a little confused. I knew he saw Ceil in the cell at Vollmer’s H.Q. but he didn’t get a proper introduction.
“We’re fine. Gennadius is out in the hallway, taking care of Rip,� Ro explained.
“Rip came with you?� Ceil said, confused.
“We ran into him,� was all Ham could elaborate at the moment. “And you are?�
“Oh, I realized we hadn’t properly met,� he explained. “My name is Ceil. I am an Assist to the Dumaniz. Gennadius, Matthias, and I, are all in charge of this specific group. There are many of us, but all of us are former partners of Vollmer who turned from him when he tried to acquire the Dumaniz to make an army. We use Vollmer’s technology to give ourselves powers.�
“Assist? And what do you mean ‘this specific group’?� I butted in.
“An assist is simply someone who tries to help and take care of the Dumaniz. All Dumaniz, at the moment, are under the age of twenty, so they need support from someone who’s older. And yes, there are more of you. Rip is what the Dumaniz call a “Chief�, a Dumaniz leader of a “tribe� of Dumaniz. Before the attack on your H.Q., they were going to officially name their ‘tribe.’ This place we’re in now? It’s a safe house for all Dumaniz in this Quarter. Before you ask,� he went on, obviously trying to get somewhere and wanted to answer all our questions, “a Quarter is sort of like a dimension, but not really. It’s sort of like a different part of time, in the same place as Shamus and Ro’s earth. It’s difficult to explain. You’ll understand later,� he finished sternly.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to pee.�
“Uh,� stated Ham as Ceil scurried into the bathroom.
“Um,� I added on. “So you two do whatever you want while we wait for Iris’ group. Ro went back to the living room, while I followed Ham into the guys’ bedroom. He fell down on a cot, and sighed. I felt like I owed him some sort of apology.
“Ham?� I said.
“Hmm?� he mumbled, not opening his eyes. I sat down a cot next to his.
“Since I first met you I don’t think I’ve given you any reason to like me. You actually scared the crap out of me back there when you treated me like I was your brother or something. Not when we met with the whole group when we first arrived, not during that breakfast incident, and I probably don’t even seem to you like I care about us. But I do. I’ve just not been living up to my responsibility. I’m sorry.�
He let a smile reveal itself across his face. “Kid, responsibility is not what you have to do. That’s your job, your role as a human, as one of the Dumaniz. Responsibility is how you react when you screw up. I’d have to say you’ve shown lots of responsibility. Like it or not,� he opened his eyes and rolled over on his side, facing me, “you’re one of us now. So we all gotta love each other now. Even Ro.� I recalled the moment days ago when he referred to her as my “gal pal.�
“My gal pal?� I joked.
“Everyone knows its Iris you want,� he interjected. I opened and closed my mouth, stunned. “And, dude? You got a chance with her.�
My face flushed brilliantly. “Oh, and there’s also a secret passage in the wall,� he pointed, excited. There was a panel hidden in the wall, covered by a sliding piece of plastic that resembled the wall. I leaped over to it, Ham watching. I flipped the panel open, and there was a thumbprint scanner behind it. I carefully pressed my thumb against it, and it turned green and made a happy beeping noise.
Then a passage in the wall materialized out of no where, and narrow stairs led to two doors. I hurried down the stairs and opened the first door. It was another house-type unit! It didn’t surprise me too much; I figured that if there were so many Dumaniz that this safe house was all there was. The second door led to an even cooler treat: a pool, like the one in the middle school where we had to take swimming classes. They only led to uncomfortable bathing suits and humiliation. But this one had no weird teachers, but it did have two diving boards and was pretty long and got pretty deep.
“Whoah,� Ham gasped. “Butch! Shyam! Ro!� he yelled. Sound carried really well in this whole underground safe house system, seeing as they heard and came running.
“Oh,� Ro said, pleasantly surprised. “Better than Shyam and Butch’s video games.�
“Score!� the boys hollered and slapped high-fives. “Who wants to go in?� they said.
“I dunno,� Ham said. “We have to wait up there for when Matthias, Iris, Giggles, and Uma arrive. Do we even have bathing suits?�
“Yeah, I saw some in our bureau,� Ro said.
“And in our ours,� I said.
“Go ahead,� Ceil spoke up from behind us. I sort of flinched, taken by surprise. “This thing was put in a year ago, so the Dumaniz could have a safe place to work out. Don’t even ask how we get all the things to build this place. It’s too complicated for now. So you lot enjoy yourselves, and I’ll keep watch. They are fine, I checked on them. They are late because their predetermined path was too dangerous and they were forced to take a longer, but safer one.� Ceil finished up his monologue, gesturing us to pass him and do whatever we wanted, which for Shyam, Butch, and me was to change and hit the pool.
This place was so cool, though I knew we would not live there forever. Perhaps we can live here for at least a few days, I wished.

Bliss. Swimming in something that’s not sewages. You don’t know how good it feels. In my drawers, I found a plain black one-piece bathing suit that fit nicely and grabbed a large, convenient beach towel and made my way up to the pool. There was no way in the world that I’d miss this. I showered off in the bathroom quickly to get the grim off (you won’t understand just how good soap felt until you’ve been through something like me) and strode into the pool area. Ham had transformed into a shark and they were playing an extreme game of Sharks and minnows.
Without even testing the water like I usually do, I just dove right in. The water was surprisingly warm.
Then, I got an idea. Shyam called down to me to the shallow end of the pool, but I held up my finger to denote “in a minute.� I pulled myself out of the water and jumped into the air, pumping my wings hard. Once I was ten feet above the water, I closed my wings, did a flip, and fell back into the water, receiving the most intense adrenaline rush ever. Ok, not ever, but you know what I mean.
Grinning, I pulled myself over to the others with a few strokes.
Before I could say something, a voice interrupted us.
“Excuse me, but I am terribly sorry for interrupting. Shyam, your powers are needed for Rip,� Ceil said, standing at the door leading back into the house-thing. Shyam’s face fell a little, but he nodded, his hair dripping into his eyes. He grabbed a towel, and went with Ceil, leaving the four of us alone.
“Marco Polo?� Butch asked, his ten year old face lighting up. None of us replied for a moment.
“Not it!!� Ham finally said. Shamus and I spat the two deciding words out and frantically swam away from Butch.
“What? Hey, not fair!� he said, “Fine, but no deep end.�
We all agreed. Butch went under water for ten seconds and came up again, eyes squeezed shut.
“Marco!�
“Polo!�
I won’t keep writing that, just to let you know. It went on for quite a bit, Butch trying to tag us. At one point, he was closing in on Shamus, who was about to swim away. Suddenly, something green sprung from Butch’s hand and launched itself at Shamus.
“What in God’s green earth?!� Shamus cried out. Ham and I curiously swam over as Butch’s eyes snapped open.
“Butch, what is this?� I asked. The substance was like a thick and rubbery hose, wrapped around Shamus’ arm.
“It’s a vine,� Ham declared upon examination. For a moment, I was scared. How had a vine appeared in the middle of a swimming pool?
“You guys, I think I know what my other power is,� Butch replied in a small, excited voice, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Well, you’re still it,� I said grudgingly, trying to yank off the vine. It was grimy, rough underneath the grime, but still so totally awesome how it came from nowhere.
“Marco!� Butch hollered, and I dove underneath and swam along the bottom for as long as possible. I came up, spitting out water. Butch was heading for Ro, so I took a “fish-out-of-water� opportunity. Butch was hot on Ro’s tail, Ham had morphed back into human shape but kept gills. I stalked around the pool carefully, waiting to jump back in if Butch seemed to suspect a fish out of water.
I remembered at my house I had an in ground pool. My family had pool parties all the time. My last ten birthday parties were pool parties. Just then I realized… I wasn’t “home.� The Dumaniz, these kids, were becoming like my family. But what about my real parents? Were they worried about me? Or were their memories wiped clean of my total existence? At least they weren’t happy I was gone. Or… were they?
“Fish out of water?� called Butch.
“Ha!� Ham guffawed.
“Oh..� I muttered, coming back to our game. “Okay.�
After I went we sort of grew tired of Marco Polo again. Shyam came back, and Butch just had to demonstrate his new power.
“Wow!� exclaimed Shyam, high-fiving Butch. We were all really excited for him. “Do more!� Butch nodded, and held out his hand, concentrating. Leaves grew from his fingers. How freaking cool!
“Now what do we do?� Ro asked.
“Chicken?� Butch suggested.
“No, someone will have to be left out,� said Ham.
“If Fin were here, he could help us play some really awesome water game,� Shyam piped up. Butch nodded, but Ro, Ham, and I exchanged looks. We were beginning to doubt if Fin was still alive.
I went under to hide my concerned face, and I saw a penny! I’ve always loved finding pennies in random places. Oh, be quiet, I bet you do too. So I went to pick it up and it nudged a few inches away from me. I wasn’t surprised, it could have just been water moving around on the bottom. But I reached for it again, and it floated. And moved up and down. Something told me a little object like that shouldn’t be moving in such a way. Then, the penny lifted out of the water and hovered above my open palm.
“Ooh, penny!� said Butch, unfazed. Ro and Ham caught on though and looked confused.
“Shamus should only be able to control metallic objects that are iron, cobalt, or nickel,� Ham said.
“Pennies are copper, right?� Ro said.
“I think so,� I said, as weirded out as they. Then my face lit up. “Do you know what this means? It means that I can do this magnetism thing with any metal! I’m defying the laws of nature! Alright!�

[JoshDude]

I have read almost the whole story... Simply amazing! For a 14 year old the grammar is exceptional. I am personally very good at English and i love to write stories, reports and things like that. To me, the story was interesting and very deep. Well done. I applaud you.

[*Dissident*]

can he lift zinc? because most pennies are made out of zinc now, with a copper coat.

[Melchi0r]

Shamus can magnetify ANY metal.

“It’s a power-palooza!!� Shyam cried out happily, “wouldn’t it be awesome if we all got new powers?�
“Yeah, that’d be pretty cool,� I agreed. Before anyone could say anything else, a bell chimed from above us followed by the sound of a female voice.
“Attention! Dinner will be served in 15 minutes in the Grand Dinning Hall,� the voice said. The five of us were quiet for a moment, looking at each other.
“Why do they need to announce dinner to us?� Shamus asked.
“Dunno, but I’m starved. Well be on high alert for anything that might go wrong, but Iris’ group will probably be here by now. Let’s go get dressed,� Ham said. Shyam and Butch wrestled their way out of the water, leaving Ham, Shamus, and me behind, walking at a slower pace with our towels wrapped around us.
“What’s Shyam going to do when he learns about Fin?� Shamus asked. I sighed.
“I’m not sure, but he’s going to need to know soon. He’s not going to like that we’re keeping it from him,� I replied.
“We’ll tell him after dinner. Hopefully, Iris can help with telling him,� Ham said. With a nod, we broke off to enter our separate rooms and get changed.
To my surprise, there was already someone else in my room.
“May I help you?� I asked the girl. She spun to face me, her youth surprising me. She was definitely younger than Giggles, maybe five years old. Her black hair framed her pale face as surprised showed in her blue eyes.
“Oh, are you new?� she asked, her voice sounding like a typical little kid.
“Um, yea. I just need to change and get to the ‘Grand Dinning Hall?’� I replied.
“Ah. Well, I’ll show you. Just come outside when you’re done and I’ll lead you there,� she said, leaving. I just stood there for a second before moving again. I slipped into jeans, a green sweater, and a pair of sneakers that were in the closet. Luckily, they fit. I opened the door to find the girl standing there, concentrating on her hands. Hovering a little about them was a fluffy white cloud, just floating there. Her head snapped up and she grinned.
“I can control the weather. Well, sorta. I can really only make clouds, but I made it rain once!� she said, “anyway, come on, I’ll take you to dinner.�
She shooed the cloud away and took my hand, leading me down a maze of hallways, passing various rooms with other kids my age or younger in them.
“Here you go. Megan!� she cried, running off. I looked around, amazed at the sheer size of this room. To think, this was all underground. I joined Ham and Shamus at the end of the table, and sat down.
“How many people are here?� I asked quietly.
The two just shrugged. Someone stepped up to a podium and said dinner was served, and steaming dishes of glorious food appeared before us. How wonderful!

To my dismay, Iris and her group had not arrived yet. I was getting a little nervous about them. Yet here I sat with a whole bunch of other Dumaniz, boys and girls from the age of five to eighteen.
Here’s how Ham and I got to the dining hall. I took some clothes with me to the bathroom and I rinsed off in the shower to get the chlorine smell off. It’s an anal habit of mine. When I came back, Ham was dressed, but he was sitting on a cot with another kid. He looked about sixteen.
“Um… c-can I help you?� I stuttered. He looked up at me. He was obviously Hispanic, and his head was shaven.
“My name’s Nio,� he introduced himself before disappearing into thin air. Ham did a double-take as he noticed the space next to him became empty. My heart skipped a beat. I might have died if I didn’t hear the soft footsteps approaching me. I held out my hand before he ran into me.
“Good trick,� I complimented. Nio appeared standing in front of me, looking defeated.
“Yeah, it is. But before they invented the fiber of the clothes I’m wearing, whenever I disappeared, I could never be fully invisible. So you know what I had to do.� I’d seen enough science-fiction to understand.
“Huh. Interesting,� I replied. Strange guy.
“So are you coming to dinner?�
“You lead the way,� Ham ordered Nio, standing up. Nio lead us down a series of short passage ways and other rooms. We passed plenty of other kids on the way. They all looked normal except for one kid who was covered in scales. Ham looked intrigued by all this.
“What’s up?� I asked.
“I’ve only heard of other Dumaniz. I didn’t think it was really true until today,� he answered. We reached a large room about five times the size of our school cafeteria after a minute more of walking through the labyrinth of rooms. Over fifty kids sat in there. Nio and some friends he met along the way peeled off to sit with some other kids I reckoned were in his Tribe, so Ham and I went to find ours. Shyam and Butch sat a few seats away from another Tribe, and Ham and I took our seats next to them. It looked like most tribes were sitting separate from the other Tribes.
Ro appeared being escorted by a little girl, a little younger than Giggles. She said something to Ro, screamed something in another direction, and ran off. Ro looked slightly confounded by all these kids coming from no where as she (after hesitating and blushing) popped a squat next to Ham.
“How many people are here?� she asked. Ham and I shrugged. Then a person approached the shadowy podium onstage, announcing “Dinner is served.� They wore some sort of dark robe with a hood. Their face was hidden. The person’s voice neither sounded feminine nor masculine. My gaze remained upon the podium and the mysterious person behind it until I smelled the chicken teriyaki underneath my nose. Like at the feasts in Harry Potter the food appeared magically on the table. I spooned some mashed potatoes onto my plate and loaded corn on the cob, a dinner roll, some French fries and chicken teriyaki. It was absolutely delicious. I stuffed my face for about fifteen minutes before someone tapped my shoulder.
“Hmm-mm?� I mumbled, turning around to face Ceil. He looked exceptionally somber and grim.
“Matthias’ group has been captured.�

[Retro Tin Canz]

I have read almost the whole story... Simply amazing! For a 14 year old the grammar is exceptional. I am personally very good at English and i love to write stories, reports and things like that. To me, the story was interesting and very deep. Well done. I applaud you.

AHH! Someone IS reading the story!!!!

*faints*

I thought we'd lost everyone!! Thanks so much!!

[Retro Tin Canz]

I stand corrected....

[Melchi0r]

Ah pewps.

For a second, it was as though the whole world had stopped and was listening to Ceil. Shamus nearly choked on his French fries and I felt my heat sink into my stomach. As hungry as I had been, my appetite was lost for good now.
“They were captured? Are you sure?� Ham asked, his face pale. Ceil nodded sadly. Suddenly, Shamus pushed his food away from him and stood up.
“What are you doing?� I asked.
“We have to go find them, and I’m leaving as soon as possible,� he replied. His voice was even and serious. Ham pulled him back to the table by his arm.
“We don’t even know where they are! It’d be a suicide mission!� Ham said.
“Besides, we’re all wiped from running around everywhere,� I added.
“So you just want to sit here and wait for Vollmer to kill them? I thought we were a team, but apparently, I must be wrong. Let go of me,� Shamus spat at Ham, attempting to rip out of his grip.
“Shamus, listen for a second! You can’t go alone, no matter how much you want to. It hurts me, too, okay? You’re not the only one,� Ham explained.
“I must be the only one that cares.�
“Shut up, okay? Look, we know you’re upset, but just because your mind has been made up with a rash decision doesn’t mean we all have to follow it. I want them here as much as you do, but storming Vollmer’s headquarters won’t do anything!� I retorted angrily, like I usually did before recently.
“I thought you of all people would understand, Ro,� he replied stiffly before running off. Groaning, I stood to follow him, but Ham prevented him me from getting up all the way.
“Let him go cool off. He won’t leave. I don’t think he can.�
“Oh, but he’ll try. I’m going to admit that I feel guilty. Should we go and get them? I mean, Gennadius probably still has friends in there, and we’ve done it before. Should we?� I asked. I could feel a headache coming on which was the last thing I needed now.
“They’ll teach us here, Ro. I think that what we just saw, the food magically appearing on our tables, was your power of imagination. They can make us stronger, and we can take down Vollmer for good this time. Think about it.�
I did. Strengthening my powers sounded great, but was I willing to lose four people, four Dumaniz, to do so?
“Let’s compromise,� Ham started, “We’ll get tabs on what’s going on. There have got to be allies. Perhaps someone more educated than us can go. I want them back too, but the three of us going would be suicide, like you said.�
“I’m just torn. I know we’re not strong enough, but what if…what if Vollmer -“ I trailed off. I didn’t want to say it.
“He won’t. He’s trying to build an army, remember. We don’t even know if they were captured! The thing is, we have to wait.�
“I know, I know. The thing is, will he wait for us to wait?�

I stormed out of there, madder than mad. Neither was going to help. Not even Ro! Ugh, I wanted to just get out of this place.
So that’s what I decided to do.
It was not as difficult as I thought to get back to my room. I sort of remembered the turns and the landmarks along the way. I recognized certain halls, some of which led to other familiar halls. It took about a half hour but I finally got back to our “pad.� I headed straight for my room and tried to look for something to pack supplies in. I found duffel bags in the closet, and I started throwing in some clothes, when…
“Hey!� cried a voice from the doorway. It was not deep enough to be Ham’s, though deeper than Shyam’s, Butch’s. I ignored the person at first. My mind was too set on getting the freak out of there to care.
“Hey, listen!� they shouted again. Glancing on reflex, I caught a look at the dude. He was about fourteen and would have been sneered at in my hometown. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt, with several tears and with the sleeves rolled up, over a white t-shirt. His jeans were torn and mega-worn. He also was wearing flip-flops and a red beanie.
“May I help you?!� I snapped, looking him over again. This chap was exceptionally rag-tag, and we were all rag-tag.
“I was gonna offer the same,� he retorted. He casually meandered over and held out his hand, like he wanted me to grasp it so he could pull me up. I shook my head, firmly closing up the duffel bag. “No, look,� he ordered, and I looked over. The handle shook about five inches away from his fingertips, and he pulled backwards. Lo and behold, the handle jumped off across the room. My mouth hung agape, and no it wasn’t from surprise. I had lost the ability to be surprised a while ago.
I was, though, shocked, and I stood and yelled, “Hey! Who’s gonna fix that?� He had obviously walked me into that.
“Someone will glue it back on later, I presume.� I helped it scuttle back over to the dresser.
“We’ve got the same power,� I said tonelessly. He looked at me, his face saying, “You think?� I looked at his eyes. His irises seemed to be made of metal, like platinum.
Iris.
“Nice to meet you, but I gotta scram,� I said, moving past his left side, but he slid in my way.
“No, I heard your predicament and also I heard your friends sayin’ that they needed training. So I hurried after you ‘cause while you need to rescue your friends, you need to go with their idea first.�
“Like I’m gonna procrastinate their… lives,� I snapped back. God, that sounded dumb.

[Melchi0r]

{Ro}
After dinner, Ham went to his room while I went to the bathroom. It was time for a real shower now. I stripped and stepped into the steaming showing, sighing as the water hit my body. I found it rather strange how that when someone experiences everything I had, a mere shower felt like a luxury. I made it last as long as I could, but decided to get out when I felt like a raisin.
Once I was dressed and towel drying my hair, someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah?� I replied.
“It’s me,� Ham’s voice said from outside the door, “Can I come in?�
“Sure,� I told him, unlocking the door. He came in a just kinda stood there, looking as awkward as all hell. Finally, I spoke.
“You know, you’re allowed to sit down,� I said playfully. He smiled meekly, but continued to stay standing, his hands clenched into nervous fists inside his pockets.
“Sheesh, Ham, are you alright?� I asked, “You’re not hurt, are you?�
“What? No, I’m not hurt. Ro-ever since I met you, I well, I knew you were very talented, and-� he trailed off. The pressing silence was terrible, and nothing could hide my blushing
“-and I like that. I mean-I like you. A lot,� he finished. By this time, we were both blushing furiously, and I had no clue what to say. Did I like him? Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, I hadn’t given it much thought (I didn’t have time!)
“Oh-oh, God,� I said, almost without meaning to. His face fell and he looked crushed for a moment before I spoke up again.
“No, no, no! I do you like, too. But Ham, think of how weird that would be. I would really like to-no, I’d love to, but not while Iris and the others are missing and everything. Maybe after we sort this all out,� I said.
“Yeah. Yeah, ok, I get it,� he replied, turning to leave, still disappointed.
“Wait!�
He turned and I gave him a quick kiss. It was kinda one of those, “Omigod-what-am-I-doing?!� moments, but you know what? It wasn’t that bad. After I pulled away, he looked kind of shocked, but thrilled. Before I knew it, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again, longer this time.
And I didn’t mind in the least.
That is, until Butch came walking in.
“What are you guys doing?� he asked, a bit of horror playing along the edges of his voice. Ham and I pushed each other away as though we had just found out the other had received the plague.
“Nothing!� we said simultaneously.
“You guys were kissing!� Butch accused, ignoring what we had just said, “Ew, that’s gross! I’m gonna go tell Shamus.�
“NO!� I cried. While Shamus and I were not one the level of Hatred anymore, I still didn’t want him to know. The level of awkwardness would be unbearable.
“Listen Butch, we’re gonna keep this a secret,� Ham started. His face was flushed with more than embarrassment. Butch eyed Ham up, silently thinking whether it would be more fun to have a secret with someone older, or spoil it.
“Alright, I guess. Can I have that action figure you have?� Butch asked. That little blackmailing kid!
“Yeah, that’s fine, here I’ll go get it with you,� Ham replied, eager to get out of my room.
Once he was gone, I closed the door and lay down on my bed, a smile gracing my face.

{Shamus}
Note: When we finished writing this and I read Ro’s journal… I couldn’t eat for a week after reading that entry. Poor Ham, eh?
Sorry, just kidding.
“You do what they say, your friends have a slight possibility of dying. But don’t we all?� Other Magnetic Kid began, his voice cool and silvery. “But you run right into Vollmer’s turf, you die and your friends definitely die too.� His eyes bore into my school and must have performed laser surgery on my brain, because I was beginning to deny whether I was doing the right thing.
“What…,� I whispered mindlessly, then regained some consciousness. “What’s your name, first of all?�
“Everyone here calls me Gary,� he remarked with a hint of distaste in his answer. Judging by names like “Giggles�, “Fin�, and “Ham� that one could be stuck with, I didn’t see the point of his annoyance.
“Cool?� I said as conversation filler.
“No, it’s not,� he snapped back. “I am such a slow runner. They call me Gary like Spongebob’s snail,� Gary muttered. He levitated the drawer handle into his hand. “The goal is to keep this in the air. I will drop it at random moments and it’s up to your quick thinking to not let it hit the ground. It hits the ground, you owe me ten push-ups. Kapeesh?�
Er, push-ups? “That’s ridiculous!� I protested.
“My way or the highway,� Gary clichéd me harshly, and the handle floated up towards the ceiling and circulated the room. I watched it, preparing for it to fall.
When it did, I wasn’t quite ready. It happened so suddenly. I stretched the muscle in my mind a little too late before kling, it hit the ground. Gary stared at me sternly. Push-up time. Something in his gaze made me not want to argue, so I did them quick and vaulted on my feet.
“Go,� I said,� and Gary glanced at the handle, making it leap into the air. I could tell the way it was moving Gary had no magnetic hold on it, so I took control and moved it up and down, away from me and towards me, in circles. Then I let it fall. Guess what? Gary wasn’t ready. The look on his face as it hit the ground was like his appendix had just cut a hole out of his body, wearing a hula skirt, and flew away.
“Okay, ten push-ups,� I said.

{Ro}
A little while later, another knock came on my door. Sighing and half hoping it was Ham, I opened it, but to my surprise, no one was there. I closed it again and turned. Standing behind me was a figure in a long, navy blue cloak. The one who had said that dinner was served. She lowered her hood and for a second, I stood there, stunned. This woman was beautiful. I mean, Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty beautiful. The thing was, she didn’t make me feel bad or anything, because as beautiful as she was-I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.
“Rowena Circe,� she began, her voice light and ethereal, “I believe you and I have the same power. I am here to teach you what I know.�
“Oh-ok,� I replied, my tension waning.
“I see that you are staring at my beauty. Be warned, this is not my true form. But beauty, like anger and revenge, can be beneficial to the way one fights. This is something you must learn, Rowena,� she replied, “my name is Kaylan, and I am going to teach you for the next couple of days. There are others here who can help with your flight, and there are those who will help your friends. To start, I would like you to create an image of yourself. A living, breathing image of yourself.�
“Won’t that be too much?� I asked tentatively. She shook her head and motioned for me to continue. I shook my head, not wanting to take it too far, like I had before. It looked like I didn’t have much of a choice. I closed my eyes and began working on it, like a sculptor. When I finished, Kaylan looked displeased.
“Rowena, I asked for an image of yourself. Not how you see yourself,� she said in her light, airy voice. I raised an eyebrow.
“What’s the difference?� I asked.
“You have to see past your true self. You are a teenager, and teenage girls especially pick out and magnify only the imperfections in yourself. To heighten your power, you must first see yourself through undistorted eyes. Try again,� she said. I sighed and erased what I had come up with.

{Shamus}
Okay, get this: Gary made me meditate. He said I was way too tense and I needed some “Zen-ing up�. Pff, whatever.
“Try to take this seriously,� he scolded as we sat down with our legs folded. He drew out a nail, like one for construction, from his pocket before we began. “I’m going to let go, and with your mind, you’re going to keep it steadily up. Relax, though. And close your eyes and remember to breath, in through your nose, out your mouth.� I already locked in on the nail, my mind ready for action. I think Gary sensed my poised-for-action persona taking over, and he scowled, releasing the nail. It hovered, bobbing slightly.
“Relax…� Gary soothed, and I shut my eyes and tried to breathe. I knew the nail was still up because I hadn’t heard it drop yet. In through my nose… out through my mouth… this sucked.
“Relax…� he repeated himself. And I did relax. He was working my mind again. I concentrated on breathing for the next couple of minutes, before he muttered, “Good.� I opened my eyes. The nail had balanced perfectly on its side, and it had stopped bobbing.
“Gary, do you have mind control?� I blurted out.
“No, not mind control. More like… goading people into common sense. If you were me, you’d be surprised how many people lack it,� he mused, a smirk stealing across his lips. “Now let’s talk about what you’re up against,� he resumed, in a very business-like tone. “Vollmer is not keeping your friends at his H.Q., that’s for sure. He has a prison on the outskirts of the city. That’s about…� he rolled his eyes upward, doing some quick mental calculations, “…six miles away.�
“Whoah,� I said.
“Yes, this place is that big. But you know what? You’re practically on another planet now. It’s estimated to be three times the size of earth. And there are only two cities here. This barren waste of a city, and then there’s Sostratex.�

[Ethannnnnn]

youre good you should get published

[Angiel]

[POSSIBLE SPAM] This post contained links and was either posted by a guest, a restricted account, or a member with less than 10 posts. This may be an advertising spam message from a bot or an eager salesman. In short, please disregard this post :)

[Link3737]

i didnt real the entire story (read up til page 5 of the thread) but i wanan know if the stories finished or not cuz i dont wanna bother to keep reading if thers no end (btw, I LOVE THIS STORY)

[Ironic Infidel In England]

Is that all there is? Please keep going, this story ROCKS!

By the way, you should publish it.

[*Dissident*]

Well?? does it keep going??