Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 00:52:37 +0800 From: Leo Huang Subject: Tales of a Superhero Band Chapter 21 With thanks to Jordi, Aeoros, Rune and Mikey for being the coolest friends on the net! Thanks for being there guys! Especially dedicated to Justin, Jeremy and Louis. The three of you have inspired more new parts of this story. Quidditch and lightsabers forever, brothers! :D ALSO NOTE: I've been in National Service (fancy term for "slave of the government") since Sept 17th, and I've gotten a few ideas down, but updates will be coming slowly. Bear with me, things will be back to normal (roughly) around December 15 or so! :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place? Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up: Star Wars, Copyright LucasFilms, Created by George Lucas Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling Harry Potter, Copyright JK Rowling (due to James' addition of Harry Potter to his Dark Knight series, I find myself adding it in too, but the character may never appear in the story. However, loving Quidditch as much as I do... :D ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 21 - New Beginnings And Old Friends (The Really, Really Bad Situation) "How're you holding up?" he asked as he leaned his head on my shoulder. I laughed, shrugging him off carefully. "Seriously, I'm fine, Joey," I said. "You don't have to ask me that every ten minutes, you know." Joey shot up. "Every ten minutes? I thought it was every five!" The two of us chuckled as we watched the surfers on the beach. I half wished I could join them, but despite all I'd been through this year, including Scott's death, I still couldn't muster up the courage to enter into the ocean and face all the mysterious things floating beyong my vision. And the idea of sharks in the water didn't help. I had watched a documentary before that showed swimmers in Florida beaches didn't realise that there were an average of three sharks in a five yard radius around them. Not a comforting thought. My high school swimming teammates loved to surf in their free time, but I preferred to just play in the pool for fun, so they only went surfing when I wasn't free to complain about it. Joey and I had been mostly just hanging out on the beach for the past two weeks since I came back, watching the surfers hit the soup and sometimes making conversation. Occasionally we'd be invited to join some beach volleyball games, which I was always up for, and Joey never was, but I forced him anyway. He was getting a little pudgy. The group of surfers had finally began to pack up all their gear as the sun began to set. One of them, rather tall and lean, turned Joey's and my direction, then waved. Joey, being Joey, waved back. The group of guys, five of them, made their way towards us, laughing and chatting all the way, the light of the sun casting an artistic light on them, making me wish I had a camera. It would have made a beautiful snapshot. "Hey Dyl, I thought it was you," the tallest guy in the group who had waved at us earlier greeted as the group reached us. He spoke with a slight British accent that most people wouldn't pick up unless they knew what to look for. He had short brown hair, and matching brown eyes, and a large grin. His skin was rather pale for someone who had been surfing the entire day. "Do I know you?" I asked, gazing at him cautiously. He looked familiar, but I just couldn't figure out his name. In fact, come to think of it, all the guys looked familiar. "I told you he wouldn't recognise us," another guy said. He was very tanned, and a lot stockier than the first guy. His hair was long and wavy, and his bright green eyes sparkled with amusement. His face reminded me a little like that of a sheep (but in a nice way). Then it struck me. "Rudy!" I said, getting up and hugging him, getting sand all over him, and sea water all over myself. I turned to the tall guy. "Ian? You've really shot up!" "Hey, what about me?" Another guy asked, grinning. His skin was dark, not tanned, and his face was distinctly Malay. He was short and rather skinny, but still showed muscles gained from swimming. "Malek! Hey there," I laughed as I gave him a quick hug too. He grinned and hugged me back. The two of us had been rather close in high school, and had no problems with hugging or even kissing (on the cheeks, nose or forehead only, just for fun, no fooling around... Seriously!) on certain occasions. Pushing Malek aside, another old friend shook my hand. "Terry?!" I laughed. "You've put on weight!" "That's what everyone says," Terry sighed. He wasn't fat, just getting plump like Joey and Lance were, but he was still fit. His real name was Lance (and he really did look a lot like the famous Lance Bass except that his hair was jet black), but we all called him Terry after Terry Fox, the guy who had cancer in his leg and did the limp-run thing across the country. Terry had hurt his leg while playing basketball, and for six months had walked just like Terry Fox, thus earning his nickname. The last guy shyly approached me. He was around my height and size, though leaner than I was (two weeks of eating with Joey, and no slaying of vampires at night meant I was putting on a wee bit of weight too), and had jet black hair and blue eyes, just like his brother Terry. "Ivan," I smiled. Ivan was a year younger than me, and two years younger than Terry. He and Terry were the first friends I made when I came to study in the States, and the three of us had a lot of fun together before Melvin came over as well. Neither of them like Melvin much since Melvin loved to flaunt his wealth and good looks in high school. Even after he matured from that self-centered age, the two were always wary of talking to him. "You look good, Ivan," I said, and he smirked at the compliment. "Been working out?" "Yeah, every weekend," he said. "It's only been two months, though." "But still, it shows," I said. Then I turned to Ian again. "Someone seems to have developed all of a sudden." Ian laughed. "I'm a late bloomer in everything! Imagine, a growth spurt at the age of nineteen." "That has to suck," I laughed. "You're still nineteen! December kids. Where are Dennis and Qhairul?" The atmosphere changed drastically. Ian looked especially sombre, which was a disturbing thing since Ian rarely looked so serious. "Remember the Chaos Mongers?" The Chaos Mongers were a small group of students in my school, all mutants, who believed in sowing chaos in their wake. Luckily, they were rather unimaginative, and were nothing more than a thorn in the side of the Braves, as my group called themselves back then. There were about forty of us, but only fifteen of us were "gifted" with powers ranging from magical to mutant (and in my case, kindred). Melvin had yet to discover his own powers then (and was a relatively minor part of the group), so I guess if the whole group got back together, we'd have sixteen "gifted ones" (I hated the name, but the "non-gifted" gave the classifications) in the group now. You would think that with fifteen "gifteds", we'd have no problems with the eight Chaos Mongers, we nearly outnumbered them two to one, but they were a lot stronger than we were, and when there were brawls in the school (as there often were), it would take four or five of us to take one Chaos Monger down. But like I said, they were rather unimaginative, and so were quite predictable. I didn't know any of the Chaos Mongers by name, only by the codenames they went by, save for the leader, Juffrey, who couldn't think of a cool nickname to use. He was the most dangerous of the lot, being able to control people's minds psychically. Blockade, a sneering dark guy with squinting eyes, was able to block other mutants' powers. His best friend Tremor, a plump kid that shared Blockade's sneer, could cause tremors in the earth or any solid object. He nearly shattered my bone that way once, but a nicely aimed spell from Wei, a Chinese Wizard (who I had not been fully able to trust even until now) saved my arm. Tiger was a punk that enjoyed causing people misery, using his bigger size and strength to shove people out of the way and bully them into doing things. The fact that he could shapeshift into a half-human, half-tiger at will increased people's fear of him, which he used to full advantage. Emulate was Tiger's best friend and partner in bullying. He had the ability to copy the powers of any mutant around him, making him a dangerous enemy. Crawler was probably the most useless in the group, having only the powers of climing on walls, causing a stench wherever he went (though that might just be due to him bathing only once a month) and grinning stupidly at everything. Fury was Crawler's partner, and was equal to him in the uselessness of the group and the stupid, half-retarded grin on his face. The only difference to tell the two of them apart, besides their powers, was their height (Crawler was a short four feet and ten inches, and Fury was six foot eight). Fury had the ability to make anyone feel anything he wanted them to feel, but mostly anger. The last of the Chaos Mongers was Seer, who had the ability to look anytime in the past, present or future, in any location he wanted. He could also read people's thoughts, and used them to his advantage, and to the advantage of the Chaos Mongers. "What about the Chaos Mongers?" I finally asked. Ian shook his head sadly. "They got more organised, smarter, more cunning. They've managed to take mental control of some of our friends, gifted only, they think the non-gifteds are a waste of time." "So Qhairul and Dennis are..." I trailed off, not wanting to state what I was thinking. Ian was clearly upset with the thought. "That's not all," Rudy added. "Shawn, Wei, Khan, Zailani, Jumadi, Sahruddin and Eddie are all controlled as well!" I was stunned. "What?! We've lost nine of our friends? To Juffrey?!" I was furious now. "How could you let this happen?!" "We've already tried," Rudy sighed. "It's hopeless, Blockade managed to block all our powers. The only people he can't block are Wei, Khan and you, but we've lost Wei and Khan. You're the only one left." It sounded like a really bad RPG to me, but it didn't change the fact that nine of my friends were in danger, and I had to save them. Foremost on my mind were Dennis and Qhairul. They were the youngest of us all, and were the only gay couple in the group (I wasn't considered as a couple due to the fact that I had no boyfriends until long after high school), and both were my "brothers". Dennis and I shared the same surname, though if we were related, the link would be probably a few centuries back, and Qhai, being practically married to Dennis since they were both fourteen, was also someone I cared about deeply. I had often been told by Ian that I was too protective of the kid, but I never felt that way. Also, what did Ian know about being too protective when he's the youngest child of two, and I'm the oldest child of seven... or was it eight? I lose count sometimes with the number of siblings that I have. Sylvia had notified me recently that Mom may be pregnant again. "So it's up to me to save them, and me alone?" I asked rather sarcastically, unwisely letting my frustration out on my friends. "Some bleedin' superhero to save everyone again." Joey shot me a concerned look that seemed to read "You aren't completely over Scott yet, despite what you say". And if that's what it meant, he would probably have been right. My other friends took my comment in stride, ignoring my angry tone. "It's not that we don't want to help," Ivan said finally. "It's just that whatever help we can give you is limited." I scuffed the sand with a kick, shaking my head. "Let me contact Qhairul and Dennis and see if I can do anything." Rudy nodded. "Sounds like good advice. Good luck! I know you'll solve this." Coming from a mutant with psychic powers didn't make the statement any more encouraging, but I just nodded and said "Thanks." Satisfied that they had done what they planned to do (knowing Rudy's psychic powers, they had probably planned this at least three days ago), the group said their farewells, and left Joey and I on the beach. The sunset was brilliant and beautiful, but I barely noticed it due to the darkness in my mind, and after another half hour of sitting on the beach, I finally told Joey I had to get back to business. Contacting Qhairul and planning a meeting was easy. Thinking of what to say as I neared the cafe table where Qhai sat drinking a mug of steaming coffee was the hard part. Like, hey Qhai, I heard you've been controlled by Juffrey. What's up with that, man? That would certainly be a great start. I approached the tanned young man at the table, marvelling at how little he'd changed over the years. He looked a little more mature than before, but still retained his impish looks and smile, and charming grey eyes. His grey-black hair was cut in a crew cut, as always, and he had a lot more muscles than he used to, a result of his fireman training. Our school had basic training in firefighting as an extra-curricular activity, not enough for us to become full-fledged fire-fighters, but enough to make proper training less tedious and more familiar. Out of those of us in the club, only Qhairul and Dennis had actually gone on to become actual fire-fighters. Qhai lifted his head as I reached closer, the wolfishness in his manner easily evident to those who knew where to look. Qhai was a mutant were-wolf, being able to turn into a full wolf, or human/wolf hybrid at will. He could slip between human and wolf senses at will as well, exchanging human sight for wolf sight if he needed night-vision for example, without changing form. He had probably smelled me coming since I was upwind and he knew my scent very well. I smiled, hoping he wouldn't see how forced it was, and slid onto the chair opposite him. The cafe was nicely decorated with round tables and umbrellas, and the chairs were rather comfortable. The whole atmosphere helped me to calm my nerves before I spoke. "Hey Qhai, long time no see! How've you been?" Stupid, stupid, stupid, Dylan, I told myself. You asked him that on the phone just yesterday! "I've been fine, enjoying work," Qhai's deep voice said calmly. He sipped some coffee from his mug, then raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you order something. My treat." "Sure," I said, picking up the menu in a rush, almost knocking the tiny sugar jug over. "But it's okay, I'll pay for my own. I make about two hundred and fifty thousand a month, I'm sure a two dollar coffee is within my price range." I glanced at the menu. "Okay, make that a twelve dollar coffee." "They make them really well at this place," Qhai said, looking around. "I love coming back here. Dennis used to take me here." "Used to?" I asked as I signalled a waitress. Qhai nodded slowly, and sipped his coffee as the waitress took my order. "We broke up a year ago," Qhai said. "On the anniversary of our fourth year together." "I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "How did it happen?" Qhai shook his head, his eyes threatening to tear up. "He changed overnight. Became nasty, always coming home drunk and smelling of sex. Like someone had taken over his mind completely." "Juffrey," I muttered under my breath, but Qhai's sharp hearing picked it up. "What does Juffrey have to do with this?" he hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Nothing, I hope," I said calmly. "I just met some of our old friends the other day and Ian mentioned about how some of us had been..." Qhai stood up suddenly, looking scared and furious, his chair clattering onto the wooden floor of the cafe, drawing everyone's attention. "You spoke to Ian?!" "Calm down, he's really worried about everyone," I said slowly, trying to reassure my agitated friend. "He's got you fooled," Qhairul hissed again. "Ian, Rudy, and the others, they're all under Juffrey's control." I was shocked, but I tried to hide it. "No, they're not, they just told me that..." "Lies!" Qhai shouted, then narrowed his gaze on me. "You're one of them! Juffrey's got you too. You're trying to get me to drop my guard." "No, that's not wha..." "Don't talk to me!" Qhairul was enraged. "I won't let you get me." He slowly began to grow greyish-white fur all over his body, and his eyes became yellow. "I'm sorry Dylan, but I won't let Juffrey get me, not even through you." "I'm not under Juffrey's control," I said, trying to remain calm, but barely succeeding. Qhai wasn't listening to me anymore, slipping completely into his wolf form. Snarling, he advanced slowly, growling. Other patrons were either screaming and running away or watching us fearfully. "I'm sorry it has to come to this, Qhai." I opened my mind to my totems, the animals of the mustelid species. I could shape-shift fully into either one, and I needed one that could take on a wolf. The wolverine aspect came forward, and I felt myself growing fur and claws, falling onto my paws in complete wolverine form, staring down at a furious wolf. Qhai attacked first, leaping straight for my throat. With a furious growl, I jumped out of the way and swiped at his flank. My claws dug deep into his side, and he howled with rage. His jaws clamped on my hind leg and I tugged it out as hard as I could, ignoring the pain of tearing flesh. We continued fighting, furious lunges at each others throats, vicious swipes of claws and teeth and blood streaming everywhere. As a wolf, Qhai was larger and stronger, but as a wolverine, I was much fiercer and more ferocious. Our attacks became less and less damaging as we realised this fight would end as all our previous sparrings had ended: a stalemate. Panting heavily, Qhai abruptly shifted back to human form. I shifted back as well, panting equally heavily. We bore wounds all over our bodies and parts of our clothes (which had transformed with us) were tattered and ripped. "Another day then," Qhai spat blood at me. I wiped sweat from my eyes. "Maybe then you'll see that we're on the same side." "We're not on the same side," Qhairul said before turning and running into the distance. I stared at his disappearing back, pondering his words. "Psst, Druid dude," I heard a voice whisper next to me. Whirling around, I couldn't see anyone, but I detected a tell-tale tinge of magic in the area. I focused on my kindred powers now, which had developed enough for me to "see" the energy signatures of powers being used. Just as I had identified the power as illusionary magic, a familiar face materialised. He was fair and a little taller than me, and a lot stockier. His black plastic-framed glasses were squarish, and the slightly green-tinted glass made his blue eyes appear darker than usual. His short, curly, brown hair was tangled, and he had dark bags under his eyes. A quick glance at his clothing gave him the appearance of someone being chased non-stop for days. "Sahruddin," I mouthed cautiously, unsure if he was friend or foe now. His entire stance conveyed urgency, and without being told, I knew he wanted me to follow him. I turned myself invisible, knowing that I could see invisible people if I was invisible myself. Sahruddin also faded from sight, and carefully made his way through the streets, walking around people, trying not to give himself away. I used my powers to just walk through people. Slowly, Sahruddin made his way to an alley in a more dangerous part of town. Walking by, I could almost hear gunshots being fired at random, a clue to myself that I had watched too many movies recently. Slowly making our way to an old, decrepit building, I noticed several people wearing army outfits and brandishing weapons. On their caps were stitched the letters FOH. Sahruddin observed their patrolling motions for a while to calculate a timing, then squeezed between the paths of two marching guards. Sahruddin's magic was all geared towards illusion, and he could not mask the sound of his toe scuffing the curb. The ever-alert guards pointed their weapons in Sahruddin's direction and he froze. He moved his hands slowly, his eyes unfocused as he formed the illusion of a rat squeezing out through a crack in the pavement. Purposely scuffing his foot near the area again, he moved away quickly as the men lowered their guns. I walked past them with no problem (I had wanted to take the codename of Ghost when I was in the Braves, but since no one else wanted a codename, I had to scrap it). We made our way through the crumbling building until we reached a wall that blocked us from going further. Or so I thought. Sahruddin walked through the illusion with no problems, and I followed suit. On the other side of the fake wall were a few sleeping bags, a computer terminal and several lockers. The area was clean and had proper amenities like a fridge and toilet. I briefly wondered if the entire building looking old was an illusion, but after watching my friend brush off a few cobwebs from his dirty clothes, I decided it was really was as old as it appeared. With us in the area were a few of the non-gifteds that made up the Braves, and three of the other gifteds, Wei, Khan and Jumadi. I felt Jumadi prodding my mind a little, then he smiled his cheeky smile. "He's clean." "Of course he's clean, doofus," Khan laughed, pushing his blonde locks away from his eyes. "If he wasn't, the magical barrier Wei and I made would have stopped him from getting through." "I didn't sense any magical barrier," I said. "Are you sure it's still up?" "It fell as soon as you walked through," Wei frowned, then continued muttering absentmindly to himself about druidic anti-magic auras and wizardry. "So what was the barrier supposed to do anyway?" I asked Khan. "Nothing much," he replied. "Just keep out those of us who are under Juffrey's mind control." His customary smile faded from his face, worrying me. Khan always smiled, always remained cheerful throughout difficulties. He could smile at a funeral, although it was more kindly and sympathetic rather than joyful. When Khan stopped smiling, you knew the situation was really, really bad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be continued... Yeah, I know it was really short, but this was the best time to stop it at for now.