What's a teenager's worst nightmare? Six years ago you might have answered "acne", "flunking", or "getting rejected in front of the entire student body". But today, there's only one answer: becoming a Freak.
For reasons unknown, over the last two years teenagers all across America have started spontaneously developing powers. Sometimes only one will appear, but typically a handful will pop up in the same town at around the same time. These outbreaks have been the subject of a lot of news attention, especially when the powers turn out very destructive - with entire buildings wiped off the map and hundreds dead, special laws have been passed concerning these Freak teenagers.
Now, when potential Freak activity is reported, it doesn't take long before Special Agents from the newly-created Bureau for Special Intervention show up to root out the source of the activity. Freaks will be taken away to special facilities, with only a handful of them ever to be seen again. Though a small minority have decried this as "cruel" or "unconstitutional", most people agree that hormonal teenagers with that kind of power should be locked away in the interest of public safety.
Today, BSI Agents have just shown up at Nemoton High School. After a string of mysterious incidents around town, not everyone is surprised - but everyone is worried.
Yeah ill get milk after practice See u at 7 Love u
Ashley shoved her cell phone in her pocket before she left the bathroom stall, resenting her school's no phone policy for at least the eleventh time this week. Having to sneak around just to text her mom, hiding in the bathroom like some kind of criminal instead of being in English class, felt ridiculous. She washed her hands, frowned at the zit on her chin, and left the bathroom.
Her world fell apart through the big windows facing the main parking lot. Half a dozen black SUVs were pulling up, all bearing the BSI logo. Panicked, Ashley went back into the bathroom, struggling to breathe. They were there for her, she was sure of it. What else could it be? She never should have slammed that door.
A minute later, the loudspeakers crackled to life out in the hall. "Attention Nemoton High School. The BSI is conducting a routine search of the school starting immediately. All students and staff please report to the gymnasium immediately. All students and staff please go to the gym immediately." The sound of footsteps and confused chatter quickly filled the hall, but Ashley stayed in her bathroom stall, cracking the door and pulling her feet up so no one would see that it was still occupied if they glanced in.
I love u no matter what happens. Never forget that
Karen Daniels
Most students in her junior english class looked confused when the announcement came on. Some started cracking jokes, pleased to get out of class early. Except two, who were clearly trying their best to look calm while panicking. Teenagers always think they're so good at hiding their emotions, but Karen has been a teacher much too long to buy it.
"Alright class, we'll finish our discussion on Romeo & Juliet next week. Everyone can go to the gym in an orderly fashion, except Alex and Celine. I need to talk to you two about your latest test scores," She announced, trying her best to make the situation seem normal. "And leave your backpacks here! You know the rules, no taking personal possessions along when they're doing a sweep."
As the class emptied out into the halls, Karen busied herself at her desk, rifling through messy drawers until she found the business card she had been looking for. "Okay you two. You don't have to tell me anything, because we don't have the time anyway. If you don't want to go to the gym for the... routine search you don't have to," She said seriously, careful not to say anything that would spook them. "I'm going to leave my keys on my desk and a business card for a teacher in Tucson, Arizona who is involved in an organization that helps Gifted teenagers. Make good choices, okay?" She reminded them. "I'll cover for you as long as I can. Wait until the halls are clear before you leave this room."
Trying to look calmer than she felt, Karen left Alex and Celine in the room, flipping the lights and door lock behind her, and headed for the gym with sweaty palms. She had hoped to never have to do something like this, but now that the time was here she had no doubts. No jackbooted thugs were going to take her kids if she could help it.
As soon as the footsteps faded away, Ashley ducked out of the bathrom. She wasn't sure where she could go next, but leaving the school on foot and without money didn't seem like a good idea so she decided to head back to her English classroom to grab her backpack and car keys. Luckily the hallway was empty, but when she arrived at the door it was locked. She almost turned around and went back before she remembered her powers. Finally, they're coming in handy!
The door lock shattered with one well-placed punch and she stepped into the darkened room, shocked to find she wasn't alone. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked Alex and Celine, freaking out as she realized they had just seen her use her Gift.
"Supergirl huh?, it's cool, I won't rat you out if you don't rat me out. " smiled Alex. He checked the window, agents were walking around outside gathering students and staff. "It's not clear outside, and going thru the halls could be risky." Alex looked up at the ceiling, "It's our best chance of not being spotted, but we'll hafta be extremely careful where we step or splat." He stood up on a desk, and pushed the ceiling tile up and out of the way, before pulling himself up. "Come on, give me your hand." "Remember, don't put any weight on the ceiling tile itself, keep your hands and feet on the frames." Alex warned. * I don't wanna use my powers in front of them, not until I can trust them*
Those were the thoughts of Freshman Lucas Ross as he stared apathetically out the window of his Algebra classroom. He thought briefly of his foster parents and how disappointed they would be that he’d likely be missing Chili night. He remembered Amaretta painstakingly peeling countless beans from the fresh food market she often dragged him to on Sundays after church. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but her sad face bothered him more than his impending incarceration.
‘That’s obvious. Being locked up is exactly where you belong.’
There were those harsh words echoing in his mind as they always seemed wont to do. He hated how they sounded so much like him. He much preferred the gentle tones of Theo, the kind man who encouraged him to open up and feel. Those reassurances that he was not, in fact, a Freak almost made him believe it. Almost, but not quite.
A series of soft beeps sounding from his wrist brought his eyes down to a dully glowing screen. There, he found an old touch-screen that displayed a swirling blue mist that, to most, would seem a simple animation. He knew better.
“I know, I’ll miss them too.”
Another round of beeps sounded out, this time giving off the distinct impression of an inquiry. Lucas rolled his eyes before glancing back at the window. The suited agents were closing up most points of exit from the grounds.
“Not exactly an option now, is it? I wouldn’t make it half a step out the door.” His voice was heavy with defeat.
‘They’re finally going to get you, robot boy.’
Beeping, this time furious and indignant, drowned out the sinister words feeding his doubts. The diatribe was so fierce that Lucas began to sweat under his collar. He lifted his free hand as if to ward off an advancing predator while simultaneously moving his watch away from him, though he quickly stopped when the beeps became even more erratic. He finally spoke up to try and put an end to the madness.
“Okay, okay, I won’t just give up. That being said...” He eyed the various, very clearly armed, agents with a critical eye, “... I may be open to ideas on how not to do that.”
With deft movements he emptied his bag of all non-essentials - text books, ream of paper, the annoyingly cumbersome student handbook - and set about leaving the, now empty, classroom. The halls were eerily silent save for the soft beeping of his little companion. He wondered briefly if he shouldn’t just find a bolt hole and hide, but he knew that his name in the roster would arouse suspicion due to his absence in the gymnasium. His musings were halted when he heard an odd sound, something like metal being broken by a sharp impact, and he crept close enough to the nearest corner to spy a nearby door just swinging shut.
‘Isn’t that the upper year English classroom?’ He thought back to orientation when the tour guide, a boisterous alumni named Appleby, had waxed poetic about his years wandering these halls.
With clumsy stealth he made his way over to the room in question and pressed an ear to the solid wood, catching just the last few words of a startled question.
Celine had quickly grabbed the card from the desk that the teacher had left before looked up, moving her headphones to around her neck for a moment. She offered her hand to Alex, not wanting to be left behind. "Where are we going?" she asked in a whisper. She was impressed by Ashley's power- it seemed much more useful than hers. As she climbed into the ceiling tiles, she remained quiet and could feel each of the heartbeats of her friends. There was a new one she could hear however and looked down from the hole in the ceiling. She knew that there was something going on but she had never experienced something like this. She gulped as she took a deep breath and offered her hand down to him.
Ashley didn't need to be asked twice. Though she frowned up at the hole in the ceiling, hoping it wasn't going to be full of crickets and spiders and other creepy-crawlies, she was definitely more worried about the agents outside. With Alex's help to boost her up high enough, she easily grabbed the frame and twisted herself up into the ceiling with one hand - his supergirl comment had inspired her to show off a little bit. While he helped Celine up, she turned her phone's flashlight on and shined it around, considering the various directions they could travel in.
To her surprise, when she turned back around Celine was helping another kid in, one she didn't recognize. A freshman, maybe? "There's probably an agent watching the front parking lot where my car is. Does anyone know how to hotwire a car so we can steal one from the staff lot?" She asked with a nervous chuckle. "They might not be watching that one..."
As luck would have it, pressing one’s ear against a door which had lost its locking mechanism was foolish. It was some grace of god which allowed Lucas not to fall flat on the floor. He wouldn’t be admitting to anyone that he may have windmilled his arms a few rotations in his haste to maintain balance. Thankfully no one was around to witness it...
No one was around...?
At that moment a delicate hand shot down from a conspicuous hole above him starling him with its suddenness. Giving a quick look around the empty room, and hearing the distant sounds of movement in the building growing closer, he threw caution to the wind and hopped up on a desk so his shorter body could reach the hand up. Thankfully he wasn’t much of a weighty kid, so he was up and surrounded by a gaggle of upperclassmen in no time. The social hierarchy being what it was he didn’t know any of them, but having been a wall flower at lunch most days he was at least aware of them.
The male he knew was supposed to be very popular. Rumor had it he was also filthy, stinking rich, but those comments had always been spoken by people with tones of jealousy. Of the two young women he was much less familiar. The one shifting around uncomfortably in the dark ventilation shaft was one of the more vocal protestors of the school’s cellphone policy. Seeing the lit phone in her hand made the corner of his lips twitch. When his eyes scanned the girl who’d helped him up he couldn’t help but notice the headphones she wore. His eyes briefly flashed an electric blue before he slapped a hand over them.
‘Well done, little Freak, you’ve never been able to help yourself...’
After a moment to collect himself Lucas glanced at Cellphone-girl with a small frown. Now wasn’t the time for his insecurities. He took a deep breath, glanced around at everyone else, and then put up a reluctant hand,
“If no one else can, I should be able to handle it.”
Alex looked behind him at the two girls, and then some dude was crawling up in the hole, saying something about he can't handle it...Oh gosh, hope he isn't claustrophobic. "Okay guys, I think we all sorta well know why we are up here, and um, I trust you, so freak out a little, don't scream, and try to keep up." Alex said as he shrunk down into a rat. He squeaked at them, then turned ,running along the metal frame as if it was nothing.
He wasn't really paying much attention to them as he was Balancing as his first time as a rat. "I smell something....Mmmmm....cheese." the rat turned down the wrong corridor. He made his way to the kitchen, and stopped at the vent when he heard voices. Alex turned back into human, and brought his finger to his lips "Shhhhh" Listening he could hear at least two voices he didn't recognize, and they were saying something about gases..
He looked at the group, "Get out alive, I'll cover ya." Alex stepped on the time and fell thru the floor landing between the two BSI agents. When He rose up, he stood around twelve foot tall with a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth,and massive bear claws, the Kodiak kind. The hulking bear swatted one of the agents thru a wall, as it roared at the other one inches from his face!
Celine grabbed her ears, the vibrations causing her eardrums to feel like they had ruptured. Her mouth opened to scream before she tucked her head down towards her chin for a moment until the pain passed. Slipping her headphones back on and nodding to the rest of the group. It appeared that Alex could handle the two Agents and she thought they should continue moving. "What do you guys want to do? Which way do we go?" she knew they needed to act fast and her headphones would allow her to keep up with everyone. She couldn't handle any type of noise interfering with her sensitive ears and prayed that they could get out quickly.
On a normal day, a meek-looking freshman casually offering to hotwire a car would get more than a terse nod of acknowledgement. Today was very much not a normal day. Following a rat was definitely weirder, but after breaking down a door Ashley decided not to make any snarky comments about anyone else's powers. Presumably they all had powers, at least - was the other girl some kind of psychic or something? There was no time for her to ask or speculate, as crawling through the vents was taking all of her concentration. Did this guy even know where he was going? Now he was stopped over the cafeteria, which was definitely not where they needed to be.
"What are you-" She didn't get a chance to finish her question before he had dropped down.
"Right, cool, that guy's a moron. Teacher's lot should be this way," she muttered, motioning for the other to follow her as she started crawling back down the vent. The sounds of fighting picked up behind them, growls and screams punctuated by loud thuds and then gunshots that made her flinch and crawl faster.
Leto
Assigned to wait with the team at the vehicles, Leto was one of the first in the doors when the team sent to clear the main building called in for help on the radio. Or, rather, when their radios crackled to life with the sounds of a fight, gunshots, and some kind of large animal. A bear, maybe?
"Positions?" the team leader demanded on radio. "Team Delta, positions?"
There was no reply over the radio, but the sounds of fighting drew them towards the cafeteria. Leto put up a shield around his team as they progressed through the hallway, but by the time they reached the doors to the kitchen it was eerily silent. Not having been issued a gun, he drew his taser as the shield nudged the big double doors open, not at all sure what they were going to discover inside.
Not for nothing, seeing a teenager shapeshifting in front of his eyes was quite the, err, eye opener. He heard the little comment made by Cellphone-girl after the guy had gone full-on kodiak on the agents below. Quite the snarky one. The tittering little beeps issuing quietly from his watch let him know that someone liked their pseudo-leader. Quiet-girl had worried him for a moment when he saw her pained grimace, but seeing it pass set his nerves straight.
Having seen the brief patronizing looks thrown his way when he’d volunteered to get their getaway car running he decided against speaking any further for the time being. These people didn’t know him, nor what he was capable of, and as Theo had taught him early during his habitation with the Jackson’s: actions speak clearer than words. Besides, the likelihood of his continued association with the other teens after their escape was even less likely than their escape plan actually succeeding.
As if to punctuate those thoughts the sounds of battle behind them suddenly grew much too quiet. He hoped the guy had shifted into something to slip away, but he had a bad feeling these agents were prepared for just about anything.
Celine crawled after Ashley, keeping and hearing Lucas was directly behind her. She could hear the rumblings beneath them but was too concerned about the heartbeats around her and maintaining the speed of her own. She knew they all needed to be level-headed in order to get out of here. They continued through the maze of the ceiling, twisting and turning as they followed Alex. She stopped for a brief moment as she heard the sounds of the outside growing louder- cars passing by on the nearby freeway, birds chirping and the hiss of school bus brakes. She held her hand up, palm facing the group as she continued to listen.
Kasumi had to miss her classes today, she called in sick. She had never got ill before, but this day was different.
It began in the night before. Kasumi suddenly felt as if the inside of her stomach was squeezed by an invisible hand and punctured with many blades. To add her misfortune, she was alone in her apartment with no one to attend her. Her parents had to be away for a whole week, leaving Kasumi by herself for several nights. Obviously, as she never had to call for any medical appointments previously, she didn't keep any contacts for clinics. Kasumi spent her whole night to calm herself with her breathing technique, but to no avail. Kasumi didn't sleep well and the abdominal pain inside her was still there as the morning sun rose.
That evening, just around an hour before the pain began, Kasumi discovered another extent of her power. The exercise session ended quite late and Kasumi had to walk alone to get home. An unfortunate encounter with a potential rapist awakened the more advanced stage of Kasumi's energy manipulation. Not only she was able to gather nature energy and channel it to augment her muscular performance, Kasumi found that she could also unleash the raw form of her energy in a directed blast. The assaulter was hit by Kasumi's blast and launched for several yards.
Kasumi worried that someone might had just witnessed her invoking the power. This incident might prompt an investigation by the BSI to the local school. As Kasumi reached her apartment, she was prepared to warn the people she had guessed as the fellow "gifted", after she finished her shower. Unfortunately, the side effect of Kasumi's power struck. The nature energy reservoir inside Kasumi was not ready for the burden of her new power. The debilitating pain paralyzed Kasumi for the whole night.
Celine pointed down the side of the air duct. "There, I can hear the outside. It's gotta be our way out," she directed, surprised at how strong her voice sounded for the amount of fear she was feeling. She began to listen again, her headphones buzzing slightly with the white noise. They had to find a way out- if they didn't- who knew what would happen to them. Glancing towards Lucas and Ashley, she nodded again. "Are you guys with me?"
Lucas glanced from Quiet-girl to the exit she’d indicated. There was a scent of tainted fresh air that normally accompanied the area around the school’s parking lots. He eyed Cellphone-girl and hoped that her strength could force open the vent quietly; the need for subtlety during their escape so far having been flagrantly ignored not instilling him with much confidence.
Not for the first time he wished he had his old tool-kit with him. He’d put the thing away in one of the deepest, darkest corners of his room. It brought back memories that he would rather forget, memories of building things in dark rooms for a man with a mocking smile and cold laugh. With a small jerk Lucas shook the visions from his head. Now wasn’t the time to lose focus. He gave the two young women a silent nod to show his approval of the next step in their plans.
The Grizzly ran down the hall chasing a few BSI agents, who were firing off shots at him. The transformation immediately took another form, as the bear crashed thru the doorway of a classroom, and dove out the window as a coyote. The coyote landed on his feet, and ran as fast as his feet would carry him towards the woods. Once he made it safely to the forest edge, he turned and looked back at the school. " I hope the others made it out, I'll check on them after I rest a little." The coyote crawled over to some shady spot under an evergreen tree, and rested. A couple of hours rest should do the trick, and then I'll go look for....them. He thought as he drifted off asleep, not noticing the blood trickling from a gunshot wound.
U won't believe it BSI agents here Wonder who's d freak
Kasumi canceled her whole plan on having an uninterrupted resting for today. She had expected that BSI would investigate Nemoton High to look for the "gifted" ones, but not this quick. She felt the nature energy reservoir inside her body had stabilized. Kasumi's abdominal pain was almost fully soothed, except for the intermittent stings on a little area behind her navel that she was able to ignore. With this, Kasumi believed that she had to help her fellow "gifted" ones to avoid being apprehended by the BSI. If not because of her recent side effect of her upgraded power, Kasumi thought that she was likely ready to face everything that might happen.
Just as she was ready to go, Kasumi did not bother to take any bus from her apartment. she needed to test the extent of her current power. With a controled breathing, Kasumi absorbed an amount of the nature energy. A warm sensation filled her stomach which Kasumi then attempted to focus it, and gradually spread it toward her limbs. The warmth traveled down to Kasumi's hips, her legs, and her feet. A second breathing proceeded similarly, but this time, the warmth traveled to Kasumi's shoulders, arms, and hands. As Kasumi went upward to the roof of her apartment building, she conducted her breathing technique repeatedly.
Then there she was, right on the rooftop of her apartment. Kasumi looked around to find the linear direction toward Nemoton High. Without a doubt, Kasumi took her step and made a jump from roof to roof. As the roof lines ended, this girl took controled descents with swings and rolls, then ran on top of the wall fences when necessary. Kasumi continued to enter the woods just by the school's outskirts, leaped from branch to branch until she finally landed just beside a wounded transforming coyote-boy.
"Where are the others? Are they safe?" Kasumi asked the coyote-boy between her gasps. "Here, some bandages and antiseptics, I believe you can help yourself."
"I'm with you," Ash confirmed, squinting through the ventilation duct. It looked like it opened into the hallway near the door to the teacher's lot, but from here she couldn't be sure if the coast was clear or not. Staying put wasn't an option, and with any luck all the agents were still busy figuring out what had happened in the cafeteria. She raised her fist then paused for a second, giving Celine a slightly guilty look. She seemed like the jumpy type, but there was no other option from this side.
"This is going to be loud," Ash warned the others before punching through the vent cover, knocking it to the floor with one well-placed hit. She stuck her head through to confirm the coast was clear then jumped down, reaching up to help the others. At least super strength was handy for this kind of stuff, even if it was probably her powers that had alerted the BSI in the first place. They were so close to making it out of here, but she felt guilty about leaving the Alex behind. Stupid or not, his distraction meant all the agents were now focused in one place.
Celine understood the signal and instantly covered her ears, even though they were shielded by the headphones. She watched as she disappeared through the opening and followed suit. They had to move quickly- while most of the agents were distracted, Celine was sure that the loud bang would have drawn some of their attention. She glanced around, looking for more agents. Her ears were perked, having already gotten used to the outside noises. Now, she was determined to make sure they stayed one step ahead and got out of there.
As his feet touched the rough carpeted floor beside his companions he tried to deny internally how embarrassing it was to be handled like a toddler by a teen girl.
‘Come now Luke, this isn’t really the time to let your chauvinistic tendencies get the better of you.’
He readjusted his bag over his shoulder and in doing so caught the faint beeping coming from his watch. The little bugger had been getting a bit too snippy so he’d started ignoring it while they traveled the air ducts. He didn’t respond vocally, God knew he didn’t want to come off as some kind of crazy person in the middle of their crisis. Looking around the door, which was primarily used by staff, he took notice of the security panel. It was with a heavy heart that he noted this was a model he had already been... acquainted with.
While the others were keeping their eyes and ears open for trouble, he slipped over to the panel, popped off the cover, and casually ripped two of the half dozen wires that connected the silent alarm to the power source. He popped the cover back in place almost as an after thought,
“That should save us the trouble of alerting the entire building... and any cops they have watching the place too.”
