psinex@yahoo.com Strange Attractors 10 of 25 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's, except for Danny and Todd, who're mine. Please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------- Cafe' Locus, Snow Valley, Mass.: Earth 648, 9/10/2003: 18:00 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "Wow," Nate breathed, looking around the newest nightspot in Snow Valley. The Mutants headed inside, Todd sticking close to Frank and Ray, as they looked around the huge converted warehouse. A rectangular bar was visible at the center of the dimly-lit establishment, while a multi-level dance floor beckoned those of fleet feet and light hearts to partake of a bacchanal of boogie. The house band was cranking out a variety of '80's, '90's and modern-day rock hits, with the occasional country, pop or (much to most of the clients' horror) Michael Bolton song thrown in. A multitude of doors along the walls led off to who knew where. "Well, it beats a disco," Ray smirked. The kids gathered around two huge tables, which the waiters pushed together, and ordered drinks. "This week's been a KILLER," "Nicoletta" - as Nicole/Claudette now preferred to be called following Claudette's psyche-entrapment in Nicole's body (SEE SA 7-8 for details) - moaned, stretching. She smiled, letting an image-inducer-disguised Leech rub her back, but just as quickly frowned and pulled his hands off her. "Claudette may engage in such frippery, Leech, but I will NOT permit my body to be ...manhandled," Nicole hissed. "It's bad enough I have my twin's mind trapped in here with me. Having you -" She twitched, coughing, and Claudette looked sheepishly at the others. "Sorry. Sister dear got loose again," she told Leech. "It's OK," Leech smiled. "Leech knows YOU don't mean what she says." Claudette kissed his cheek and smiled, "Thanks. I needed that." She turned to Erik and asked, "Well, O master of arcane sciences, how's the new body coming ?" Erik looked at the floor and muttered, "Er ... I'm still missing an intact sample of your DNA. If you wanted powers like Nicole's, I could just clone her -" "Well, I DON'T," Claudette frowned. "I'm sorry, Erik, but I'm used to my tepe and 'porting ! I want my body back, and I want it NOW NOW NOW !" "HUSH," Ray whispered, glaring. "You want to make a scene ?" "Nicoletta" blinked, then slowly smiled and stood. "If I AM to be forced to take part in this outing, I intend to enjoy myself at least a little," Nicole replied. She stood and headed for the dance floor, ignoring Leech's sputtered pleas. "Better luck next time, pal," Lew shrugged. "Women," Bill snorted, yelling when Tom elbowed his side. "MEN," Gail growled, glaring at Bill. "What'd I do !?" Bill moaned. "You know what you did," Joe growled. "DOWN," Gail ordered her brother. She glared at Bill and added, "You're nothing but a sexist pig, and I'm sick of you badmouthing me behind my back !" "Oh. THAT," Bill sighed. "OK, look. The only thing I said the first day of school was that you were a little chilly, but maybe I could warm you up. Is that so wrong ?" "Not as wrong as the time our powers first manifested," Gail admitted, looking at Joe with a blush. "Oh God - here we go again," Joe groaned, starting to explain. "It was back in July, over the Fourth," Joe continued. "I was swimmin' at the local pool, and Gail was sunning herself on the deck - y'scan, normal stuff. So there we are, when this tree limb over Gail breaks, and I go FLYIN' outta the pool with my TK in a hurry -" "-and his trunks got pulled off by the force of the water against him," Gail giggled. "My TK-shield kept me from getting seriously hurt, but poor Joe landed right in front of the girls' changing room - SNEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE ..." The other kids erupted in laughter, and Nate clapped Joe on the shoulder. "Dude, you've got worse luck than Bill," the younger boy snickered. "NO ONE has worse luck than I do, runt," Bill huffed. He sipped on his pop, cursing when ice fell out of it and onto his lap. "See ? If it ain't ice, I trip," Bill frowned, wiping his pants. "If it ain't a trip, then I get extra homework, or my pencils break when I'm DOIN' that extra homework - and Tom almost never gets hurt or sick OR extra work !" "That's why we roomed together," Tom explained. "Our powers basically cancel each other out when we're in close proximity - well, Bill's still unlucky, but his powers don't affect anyone but him when I'm around." "Lucky us," Lew grinned. "Hey Naomi, 'member when our powers kicked in ?" Naomi smiled and said, "We were plantin' in th' garden this spring - don't need much, with Josh an' Jono's record royalties an' Joelle's fashion design store doin' so well - an' ah c'ld HEAR th' weeds pleadin', 'don't pluck me, don't pluck me' !" She looked nervous and added, "They ... screamed when ah plucked 'em. Evah since, I been real careful 'round plants - it's lahk a l'il buzz at th' back o' mah head ..." "Ah got luckier, ah guess," Lew said, squeezing his sister's hand. "Ah got caught in a motorbike acc'dent - one o' them dumb Hoenchek boys got hisself caught right bad when he hit a tree on our property line, an' th' bike hit Gran'pappy's ol' moonshine still. It went up lahk a possum on coffee goes up a tree, an' ah got caught in th' 'xplosion." "'Like a possum on coffee goes up a tree' ?" Frank asked, arching an eyebrow. Lew blushed and said, "We ... get kinda bored down South sometimes, OK ?" "ANYHOW," Naomi coughed, looking at Lew with a half-smile, "his weather powers kicked in an' saved his life by causin' a giant rainstorm t'put out th' fire. Saved that Hoenchek punk, too." "You guys are a RIOT," Danny giggled. "At least you didn't kill anyone when your powers kicked in ..." "Danny, you didn't mean - (SEE SA 2-3)," Ray pleaded. Danny waved her off and smiled sadly, "Ray, I shredded the guy who was gonna -" She looked at Todd, who was watching her with wide eyes, and continued, "- hurt me. I'm not gonna dance around it too much." "But you're getting better control," Frank said. "I know, but it's not that simple," Danny sighed. "Believe me, we know," Alexa said, sipping a cappuchino. "My teleportation power kicked in when I was 6. Can you IMAGINE the chaos I caused ?" "Yes, we can," Ray grinned. "We were there, remember ? It was Christmas, and Aunt Meg and Uncle Brian had invited us all out to Braddock Manor to celebrate the Professor's return from Chandilar. You were fighting with that wolfhound Jamie Braddock gave Uncle Brian -" "-and the darned mutt tried to take a chunk out of my ear," Alexa muttered, rolling her eyes. "I teleported to the ROOF. Hung onto the chimney for dear life until Dad managed to get me down ..." "And it turned out the wolfhound was really the Vixen, transmuted into a dog," Erik cackled. "Jamie'd gotten tired of her as a fox, so he just morphed her !" "Thanks a lot, fearless boyfriend," Alexa smirked. "So, how's the memory integration going ?" "Not well," Erik admitted. "A lot of the scientific stuff and power tricks I knew as Magneto, I can just call up at will, but the emotional memories and the faces're really fuzzy yet." He looked askance and added, "I'm not sure I wanna remember all that ..." "Give it time, 'Rik," Ray said. "You're not a nutcase, and that's what's important." She smiled at Todd and added, "Time can be weird, but it can be wonderful, too." "Thanks, Mom," the boy smiled back. "I really like it here." He brightened and added, "I got a special power too !" "Your telepathy ?" Frank asked his son. "Uh-uh," Todd said, shaking his head. "I'll show ya when we get back t'school - no powers here, right ?" "Right," Frank winked. "But your mom and I do want to see it when we get back." He smiled at Ray, who sent, ~Probably just TK he's barely manifesting. But if he's excited, we should be too.~ ~He's a great kid, all right,~ Frank agreed. "Aunt Luna," Todd asked, turning to the speedstress, "how'ja get y'r powers ?" "Well, I'm a mutant like you and the other students, kiddo," Luna said, carefully slowing her speech down and smiling. "I was 4 when I wandered out into the street in front of Avengers Mansion. I heard this honk, and Mom and Dad screamed - and I bolted for the curb at hyperspeed." "Oh, I remember," Tom grinned. "You were grounded for a week, but Uncle Piet and Aunt Crys went easy on you because they were so happy you had a power." "Well ? Daddy may be a great teacher about superspeed, but he was a hypocrite, too," Luna frowned. "Griping at Mom about HER lack of genetic resources and having a human daughter ... but he wised up." "Gosh," Todd said. "My power turned on when a Sent'nel shot at me." "What !?" Ray and Frank cried. "Damn, that's right - you're from that screwed-up future where the Sentinels run the place," Bill gulped. "Yeah," Todd said sadly. His still-short-blond-hair-head nodded, and he sighed, "I was still l'il, an' a Sent'nel saw me outside our enclave. The blast came right at me, but I went inta- intang -" "Intangible ?" Frank offered. "Yeah," Todd said, smiling more. "But you - th' big you - tol' me later it wasn't phasin'. My whole body b'came psi-energy." "WOW," Ray said, hugging the first-grader. "We'll have to see that when we get back to school. Speaking of which ..." "Oh cripes, is it 8 already !?" Tom groaned. "Sorry, guys," Stevie shrugged, approaching from a nearby table. "We gotta get back to school - you know curfew is 10, and you all have homework." "And some of us need to get to sleep," Ray told Todd as he yawned. "OK, Mom," Todd sighed, following the teens and Stevie outside. He turned and looked at the dance floor, calling telepathically, ~Aun' Nicky !~ ~Coming, Todd,~ Nicole thought. She finished dancing and strode quickly to the door, looking around the club one last time. #Not a bad little place,# she thought with a faint smile, leaving with the others. She didn't notice the short, grey-skinned man holding the door with a large grin. "Boss," he giggled into a communicator, "they're at the school. A total smorgasborg for ya !" "EXCELLENT," a rasping voice replied over the commlink. "KEEP AN EYE ON THEM ... I'M GETTING HUNGRY ..." -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: Todd's power revealed, too many villains to count, and the unlikeliest new student yet add up to one insane fact - MIDTERMS ARE EVIL ! EEEVVVIIIILLLLL !!!! -------------------------------------------------------- end _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com