Chapter 4: Andy

“Hey, Andy,” Mitch started. She looked at me sleepily.

“Yeah?” I said. I watched the night sky, making sure to take notice of where I was in relation to Dylan. We were about twenty minutes out. I could just barely see the sun coming out over the horizon.

“Why do you worry so much about Dylan?” She leaned on my arm with a yawn. She hadn’t slept the entire ride. Neither had I. I stifled a yawn.

“Because he’s my little brother. I have to take care of him.”

“Why? Shouldn’t you have left that to your mom?”

“My mom hasn’t cared about us since my dad got sick.”

“Why? She gave birth to you. I find it hard to believe she lost all of her love of you two over the course of five years. I mean, my mom still cries every time she thinks of my little brother, and he’s been dead for seven years.”

“That’s a different thing. She loved him from the start. My mom grew to love me and Dylan.”

“That’s against natural maternal instincts. If she honestly gave birth to you, then she would love you.”

“Well, she didn’t give birth to us, so it doesn’t matter.”

“What?” Mitch sat straight up and stared at me. She didn’t seem to be tired anymore.

“She didn’t.”

“What? I mean, how do you know? Did she tell you that?”

“No. I already knew. Our birth mom left dad right after Dylan was born. I was six. If I couldn’t remember her, there would be a problem. The person I call mom came in only a few months after that. There was never a marriage or anything official. She banked on me not remembering my mom. My dad never had a chance to actually tell me anything.”

“Have you told Dylan?”

“No. My plan was to tell him when we found somewhere to hide out during this mutant hunting craze.”

“You need to tell him when we find him.”

“We’re going to find him in about five minutes.”

“Well, maybe not then, but after we get some sleep, and we can drive on or fly on.” Mitch yawned again. I glanced at the clock on the dash board. It was a quarter past seven in the morning.

“Do you think he’ll be awake right now?”

“I don’t know, but you have to call him to find out where to land.”

“I’m flying a car. Could you call him?” I glanced at her. She laughed.

“Of course I can call him.” She pulled out her phone and dialed his number as we hit the place his GPS track said he was. “Hello?” She said. She waited a second. “All right, well, hang on a sec while I put you on speaker phone.” She held the phone out flat and hit a button. “You’re on speaker. What was your name again?”

“I’m Tyler,” A boy said on the other side of the line. He yawned.

“Why isn’t Dylan answering his phone?” I asked.

“Because the only power plug was by my bed, and his phone was dying. I let him use my charger because I’m literally not allowed to use my phone until I know for sure that the government hasn’t tapped it.” Tyler yawned again.

“Where is Dylan?” Mitch asked.

“Jake is waking him up.”

“Who is Jake?” Mitch looked at the phone like it was the person she was talking to.

“A friend of mine. He owns the airbase, well basically.”

“Look, we’re running low on power in this car. We need a place to land,” I said.

“I’m sorry. Did you just say you need to land a car?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. It’s too earlier for this. Um, it seems like Dylan isn’t going to wake up for a little while. So, uh, I guess you need to land in the air field. If you look on the ground, you’ll see a gas station, and beside it is a big valley that you can’t see anything in because Janie made a force field overnight. Ugh. Okay. So if you get low enough in that valley, you’ll see an air base. Land on the main air strips near the pick-up truck. Then, the boy comes in the barracks on the right to get some sleep while we all go back to sleep.”

“What about me?” Mitch said. I lowered the car in the valley directly under the car.

“You get to stay with Janie in the other barracks.” Tyler yawned again. “When we’re all awake, we’ll get y’all on your way. Or not. That depends on y’all and Jake and Janie. You know what; I’m going to stop talking now. Goodnight. Or good morning. Or good something. I’m going to hang up now.”

“Thanks Tyler. Sleep well,” Mitch said. She ended the call and yawned. I landed right beside the pick-up.

“Goodnight Mitch,” I said. I leaned over and kissed her.

“Goodnight Andy,” Mitch said. She got out of the car and walked toward the barracks on the left. I sighed and went to the barracks on the right. Another guy about my age met me at the door with a yawn.

“Hi, I’m Jake. Go find a bed. I have to find a human way to get to the tower,” The guy said. He pushed past me and walked over to the building behind my car and the truck. I guess it was an air plane hangar. I shrugged and did what he said. Then I fell asleep.

Mitch knocked on the door of the barracks. When no one answered, she went in. A split second, later she regretted that decision. She ran directly into another high school girl. The girl stumbled backwards slightly.

“Uh, hi,” Mitch said.

“Howdy,” The girl said. “The name’s Janie and you are?”

“I’m Mitch.”

“Well Mitch, for your reference, when you’re staying in the barracks, don’t knock on the door. The people inside get very angry. Especially if said people don’t have to be up for another few hours.” Janie yawned. “Find a bed. There are plenty. Sleep well.” Janie turned around and shuffled off to a bed in the corner of the building. Mitch collapsed in the closest bed she could find. Her first day as a fugitive was finally over.

“Well, that sucked,” Mitch mumbled. She rolled over and fell asleep.

The Director glared at his computer screen. How was it possible to lose four of the most important mutants in the world? Two of the one that had gotten away with the inventor were from well-known mutant families. Losing them was equivalent to losing an elephant in an elevator. How could his people have been so incompetent? Not to mention the person that had been watching two mutants in California for twelve years managed to lose them before they got to the school for mutant testing. These were mutants that had been known long before the inventor made mutants a public matter. Until recently, they hadn’t been a threat. When they had presented themselves as high standing, government officials is when known mutants became a threat. The inventor had just been the means to an end. That end being the extermination of all mutants before they attacked the humans.

“Director?” The secretary asked.

“What?” The Director glanced up at the poor girl. She was scared out of her wits.

“The California testing branch wanted to report a notable mutant that escaped.”

“Why?”

“She was telekinetic.”

“How did she escape?”

“There was a car waiting down the block to get her out of the state. The police lost them on the back roads, but members of our agency managed to identify that there were two other mutants in the car.”

“Thank you, Reba. You may go.” The director sat back in the chair. The girl nodded and fled the room. Telekinetics couldn’t keep escaping like this. They were important to the government’s plan. The Director would be blamed for the loss. That was not going to end well. The Director decided to locate this telekinetic himself. He would use the full extent of the Mutant Agenda Agency to do it.

Dylan woke up at ten. In a glance around barracks, he saw that he was the last of the four boys to get. He also saw that Andy was here. Dylan smiled at Andy and left, leaving his brother to sleep. Outside, he saw Janie and Jake talking. When they saw him, they stopped. He was the oddball. They didn’t know him. He wasn’t from anywhere near them.

“Morning Dylan!” Janie called.

“Morning Janie,” Dylan said. “Hi Jake.”

"Hi kid,” Jake said. “Could we get you to do something for us?”

“Jake, he just got up. Let him eat breakfast first,” Janie said. She hit his arm. Jake cringed and rubbed it.

“It’s all right. What do you need me to do?” Dylan said.

“Jake wants to know if anyone else can actually get to the tower.”

“I guess I could test that before breakfast.”

“You sure?”

“Yep. I’ll meet you there.” Dylan took off running. He was headed for the tower. The trick was to not over shoot the tower. He skidded to a halt right before he ran into the tower door. He looked back down at where Jake was in the valley and waved. Jake waved back. Janie landed beside him.

“Nice job. You didn’t run in to anything.” Janie smiled. “You want to see inside?”

“I think I’d rather get something to eat, but I’m sure Andy would love to see how you made the force field.”

“Well, if he wants, I’ll show him when he wakes up. Go get breakfast. I have to check the force field and radar blocks.”

“All right.” Dylan smiled and ran back down to Jake.

“Thanks for proving me wrong,” Jake said. “Come on. Let’s get you some food.” Jake led Dylan back to the mess hall and fixed him some eggs. Jake sat with Dylan while he was eating.

“Where are Dan and Tyler?” Dylan asked.

“The hangar, checking to see if any of those air planes actually work.”

“When did Andy and Mitch get here?”

“Early this morning, around seven.”

“Why didn’t they call me?”

“They did. Tyler answered the phone, but you wouldn’t wake up. Personally, I don’t blame you. If I had run across the country, I would have been pretty tired out too.”

“Huh, I’m normally a really light sleeper.”

“Normal is a luxury that we don’t have anymore. We may get it back after a few months, but right now it’s just adjusting to a new place and to each other.”

“Did Mitch stay with Janie?”

“Yep. According to Janie, Mitch was still asleep when she got up at nine thirty.”

“All right.” Dylan finished eating and took care of his plate.

“You want something to do while you wait on them?” Jake was leaning against the wall of the mess hall.

“Sure. It’s better than just sitting here.”

“Come on then.” Jake led him out of the mess hall, back to the main air field. “Janie’s in the tower doing some tech checks. Why don’t you see if you can help her?”

“All right. Thanks for the food and bed.”

Jake laughed. “It was all Janie. You should thank her.”

“Isn’t this your base?”

“Yeah, and it’d be empty right now if it wasn’t for her.”

“Right, cause she made the machine, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, but that’s not why it’d be empty.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s the only reason we’re actually able to hide from the government. Go see what you can do to help.”

“All right.” Dylan ran back to the tower. The door was locked, so he knocked as loudly as he could.

“Just a second!” Janie yelled from somewhere inside. A few minutes later she slid the door open. “Howdy, Dylan. How can I help you?”

“I was actually wondering if I could help you with anything,” Dylan said.

“Yes, actually. Thanks. Uh, come on in. Most of the stuff you going to be doing is in the main tower. Don’t worry. I’ll tell you how to do everything.” Janie smiled as she opened an elevator. For the next hour and a half Dylan happily helped Janie get the tower fully functional. When they were done, they reclined in the tower control chairs.

“That was actually pretty fun,” Dylan said.

“Was it?”

“Well, Andy never lets me help with that kind of stuff since he does it with his mind, so this was a new experience for me.”

“It was a new experience for both of us. I have never had to reassemble a control tower from the fifties to work with modern technology.” Janie laughed a little. “I just realized how ridiculous that sounds.”

“That’s okay. Sometimes ridiculous is a good thing.” Dylan said. She nodded, and they both just stared out of the window at the other boys rolling a plane out of the hanger. It looked like a World War II bomber plane. Tyler was doing most of the brunt work, but Jake and Dan were trying to help. Then Dylan noticed the door to boys’ barracks opening. Janie must have noticed it too.

“I think your brother’s up, Dylan,” She said.

“I think you’re right. I’m going to go say hi.”

“All right. Don’t break the elevator.”

“Got it.” Dylan was gone a second later. The elevator was the longest part of the journey down. Once the door opened, Dylan took off running to Andy. He couldn’t stop before he actually ran over Andy. They both rolled in the dirt. “Sorry,” Dylan said. He was up first. He quickly went to help Andy up.

“It’s good, bro,” Andy said. “Where were you?”

“I was in the tower helping Janie set it up so that they can intercept messages about and within the new mutant agency. Of course, she has to decode the messages first.”

“Okay then. Is Mitch up yet?”

“No. Janie said it didn’t seem like she’d be getting up for a while.”

“Right. Why is that boy dragging a plane by himself?” Andy asked. Dylan turned around to see that Dan and Jake were both just staring at Tyler as he pulled to plane to the main runway.

“I would guess that Jake and Dan got tired, and Tyler was annoyed, so he decided to pull it alone.”

“Is everyone here a mutant?”

“Yep. Jake can breathe fire. Dan’s a shapeshifter. Tyler’s super strong, super loud, and has extremely sensitive hearing. Janie can fly, phase through walls, disappear, and coat herself in any kind of metal that she touches.”

“Sweet. Is Janie still in that tower?”

“Yeah. She’s just keeping an eye on things.”

“Great. What do you know about her? She seems pretty smart.”

“She is. She built the mutant machine and the fly over force field and fixed the tower and probably is going to help fix the planes.”

“Did you say she built the mutant machine?” Mitch said coming up behind the boys. They turned to look at her.

“Yeah. She said it was one of her greatest inventions,” Dylan said.

“Mitch,” Andy started.

“And she’s in that tower?” Mitch said.

“Uh, yeah,” Dylan said. He could hear something off in the way she was talking.”

“Mitch, don’t,” Andy warned. Janie burst out of the tower and flew over the base. She looked like she was smiling. She landed a few feet from the group Dylan was with. Her smile broadened as she walked towards the group.

“Howdy,” She started. Suddenly she was in the air. Janie let out a scream.

“Mitch, what are you doing?” Dylan said. Andy didn’t say anything.

“Put her down!” Jake yelled from the air field. Dylan knew all three boys were running over to Mitch and Janie.

“Why’d you do it?” Mitch said. She was talking to Janie. Janie wasn’t breathing enough to answer. “Why’d you build the machine?”

“She can’t answer you!” Tyler yelled. He was the first of the boys to reach the group. “She has panic attacks. Look at her. She’s freaking out. Bring her down. Now.”

“Do it, Mitch,” Dylan said. Mitch stood her ground.

“She caused this. I don’t care if she turns into a freaking toad. She’s going to answer my question, and then I’m going to kill her,” Mitch said.

“Mitch,” Andy said.

“Shut up, Andy.”

“Michelle, put her down,” Andy said. He was very calm. His tone was flat.

“No, Andrew. I will not. She did this. I wouldn’t even know about this stupid power if it wasn’t for her! You may have lived your life like this, but I haven’t. I wouldn’t have to. Except, she made that damn machine.” Mitch was pissed off and crying. Dan and Jake made it to the group. They were going to try and take down Mitch, but Tyler stopped. He whispered something. The other two looked up wide-eyed at Janie.

“Mitch, you don’t want to do this.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don’t. I know you want to make her pay for the machine, but this is not the way to do it. Killing her won’t fix anything. It’ll just make matters worse. She’s the symbol of mutants everywhere. Most of them aren’t mad at her for making the machine. They’re mad at the government, and, you know what, they’re right. She may have made the machine, but she couldn’t control how the government used it.”

“She still made it.”

“Mitch, she’s a mutant too. How can you think that she wanted to go into hiding for the rest of her life?” Andy looked right in Mitch’s eyes. Dylan could see that Janie was crying.

“Mitch, please put her down,” Dylan said quietly. He had been thinking it, and he couldn’t stop himself from saying it. Mitch glanced at him. Then she looked at Janie. Janie was shaking. Mitch sighed, and Janie started moving towards the ground slowly. When she was on the ground, only Tyler approached her. He talked to her quietly. Jake and Dan looked angry. Mitch looked defeated. Andy was trying to talk with her, but Dylan wasn’t really paying attention. His thoughts were on Janie. Why had she created the machine? The night before she had said she was curious, but that didn’t make much sense. If she was curious, she would’ve run tests or done minor stuff on her family or something. When she had discovered she was a mutant, shouldn’t she have stopped? She knew what would happen if the government found out that mutants were real. At least, she acted like she knew. Maybe she knew something else. What did she know that everyone else didn’t seem to? What if she had seen the future? Those mutants had been around forever. There were myths about them all over the world. Maybe she was one. Dylan found it exciting to just think that. That type of mutation had to be passed down. It couldn’t just present itself. That meant that either her mother or her father had that mutation.

“Dylan, you okay?” Andy asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Is Janie okay?” Dylan said.

“Why?”

“Because she looked like she was freaking out.”

“I don’t know. She was moving, but only for a little bit. That Tyler kid took her into the mess hall.”

“Why did Mitch flip out like that?”

“She’s not used to it.”

“To what?”

“Being different. You and I have been preparing for this eventuality since we were born. Mitch was acting okay with it just to keep us from worrying about her. Now, you don’t need to worry about her. She’ll adjust. She’ll learn more control. So will you. Now, come on. We’re leaving.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I said we were.”

“I’m not. I’m going to ask Jake if I can stay.” Dylan walked quickly to Jake. He still looked angry. Mitch and Andy were staring at Dylan.

“Hey kid, what’s up?” Jake said. He sounded calm.

“Andy and Mitch are going to leave,” Dylan said.

“Let me guess. You don’t want to.”

“No. I feel like it’d be easier to learn with more people around. Plus, there is no safer place for mutants right now.”

“You’re probably right.” Jake sighed. “All right, kid. You can stay. Mitch and Andy can stay to. I know for a fact that there is more safety in numbers.” Jake looked right at Mitch.

“Thanks, and, just so you know, I don’t care that Janie made the machine. I actually think it gives her an advantage.” Dylan looked in Jake’s eyes. Jake smiled.

“Definitely.”

“You can’t stay, Dylan,” Andy said. “I won’t let you.”

“You’re not Dad, Andy. I’m old enough to make my own choice. I’m staying and there’s nothing you can do about that.”

“Dylan, I will put you in that car,” Mitch said. “It’s not safe here with her.”

“I’ll just run back when we stop. Oh, and it’s a lot safer here than trying to keep out running the government.”

“Dylan,” Andy started.

“Leave him alone,” Dan said.

“What are you going to do about it? You can’t even keep your form in another person for more than a minute,” Mitch said. Jake snorted, and Dylan saw smoke come out.

“Not again,” Dylan mumbled.

“All of you stop it!” Tyler yelled. Everyone had to cover their ears. When they had recovered, everyone stared at him.

“What was that?” Andy asked.

“We need to work together. We can’t keep fighting each other. If that happens, then the government wins. All of the mutants on the run will end up killing the other mutants. When that happens, those that don’t die are out in the open, and they get captured. If any of us want to actually survive we have to help other mutants. Who we were before this started isn’t really important. We are all going to train together and fight together. Now, stop fighting with each other so that I can get Janie calm enough to go back to the tower. Then, since you’re all so curious, I’ll tell you why she built the machine. Get along.” Tyler went back in the mess hall. Those who were still outside looked at each other.

“He’s right,” Dan said.

“He’s one of the youngest people here, and he’s a hell of a lot smarter than the majority of us,” Jake said.

“Fighting doesn’t solve anything,” Dylan said. Mitch and Andy looked at the three boys.

“I hate admitting this, but I overreacted,” Mitch said. Andy turned his stare to her. “I shouldn’t have done what I did. I knew that. I did it anyways. I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. We’ve all done things in the past day that we aren’t so proud of,” Dan said. Jake nodded. Andy looked appalled.

“Am I the only one questioning the authority of a kid?” Andy said.

“He’s in eighth grade,” Dylan said.

“He’s still a kid.”

“He was right,” Mitch said.

“You never apologize.”

“People change.”

“What is going on here?”

“Nothing,” Jake said.

“Nothing? All most all of you are older than him, and you’re listening to him. This is ridiculous!”

“Young people can be smart too,” Dan said.

“Not like that. He literally diffused the situation with a paragraph. It’s like he knew exactly what to say,” Andy said. He was staring at the mess hall now. Dylan’s mind flew to his earlier thoughts.

“It’s not her. It’s him,” Dylan breathed.