Chapter Ten: Meet Alex and Rebecca or when allusions are too noticeable

Meet our last set of teens, a pair of twins with a stunning combo power. The team also has a talk with the Lioness.

Alex sat in his swivel chair, holding a textbook-sized white board. Laying on the carpet below him was his twin sister, Rebecca, who was bored, but trying really hard to focus. She swung her legs back and forth as he explained the problem again. “Alright, so the function is y equals three x squared minus five x plus three. What’s its derivative? What’s its integral?”

             Rebecca grabbed the whiteboard from him and scribbled on it. She showed it to Alex before explaining. “So, the derivative should be six x minus five,” She started, which Alex nodded approvingly at. “The integral should be x to the third power minus five x squared over two plus three x.”

             Alex smiled, relatively proud that she had come this far in a single night of studying. But she was missing something. “Plus?” Alex asked.

             Rebecca’s eyes widened as she looked at her work. Her face transformed into one of joy when she realized what she did wrong. “Plus C,” She answered. “Duh, you don’t know where the integral is until you have a data point.”

             “Good job, you got-”

             “Whoo! Dance party celebration time!” Rebecca interjected, throwing aside the whiteboard and standing up.

             She went to her boombox, turning on some bopping pop song. She pulled Alex out of his chair. Holding both his hands, she forced him to dance by spinning in a circle. Alex relaxed, trying to get into it for Rebecca’s sake. She worked hard to get to this point and deserved to treat herself. Alex shut his eyes and regretted it almost immediately.

             His foot landed on the discarded whiteboard, his sock-covered foot slipping on it. He fell and brought Rebecca down with him.

             …

             They opened their eyes to a new reality. The room was the same, but they were different. They looked down at elongated legs. Hairy just like Alex’s. They realized that they are sitting up, putting their weight on the hands. They got up with all the grace of the overenthusiastic Rebecca. They stumbled to a dresser with a mounted mirror. Examining their appearance, the best they could determine was that they were a giant.

             Brown eyes and curly hair, though they seemed to lack Alex’s scraggly goat beard. They touched their face, of two minds on the situation. “On one hand, we’re super cool,” They said optimistically before changing their tone. “On the other, we’re a monster.”

             They contemplated what to do, taking on Alex’s worried pacing. “How did this happen?” They asked, then answered their own question, “We fell.”

             They kicked the whiteboard under their bed in frustration. “Well, we should finish our homework,” They said to themselves.

             They staggered to their desk as they said. “What? That’s how were going to waste our time?”

             They leaned forward to grab the back of their chair while their feet remained immobile a few feet away. They pulled, trying to move closer, but their feet didn’t move. They seemed to pull themselves apart. Rebecca fell flat on her face as Alex successfully reached his desk.

             Rebecca pushed herself up into a bouncy, standing position. “What was that?” She asked Alex who shrugged.

             Alex turned away, sitting down. “I don’t know.”

             Rebecca stepped closer. “What if that was a superpower?” She pressed, shaking his shoulders. “What if we have superpowers?”                              

             He brushed her off. “I don’t know,” Alex repeated. “If that was a power, then why would we have others?”

             Rebecca thought, quietly rocking on her heels. “Maybe, we need to be in danger to see if we have other powers,” She commented.

             Rolling his eyes, Alex scoffed. Rebecca smirked as she came up with an idea. She jumped on him, shouting. He fell out of his chair with a scream and landed hard on the floor. Where his hand hit the floor, a little creature rose up.

             The little clay humanoid charged at her. It was a half-foot tall and posed no real threat to Rebecca. She held it back with a hand while she laughed triumphantly. “See?”

             Alex recovered, sitting up and reaching forward to grab it. It felt cold in his hands. He looked at its face, which had two indentations for eyes and a slit-like mouth. “It’s a golem,” He said, surprised.

             He set it down, where it stood still. Rebecca leaned over to whisper, “I think you need to give it instructions for it to do something.”

             Alex nodded. “Uh, can you go get the whiteboard?” He asked the golem.

             It turned and disappeared under his bed. It reappeared, dragging the whiteboard behind it. It handed the whiteboard to Alex. “Thank you,” He responded awkwardly. “That’s it, you can go away now.”

             It melted into the floor, not even leaving a trace of clay behind. Alex rubbed the space it sunk into just to check. Rebecca nudged his shoulder with a fist. “Dude, that’s a cool power,” She said. “I wonder what mine is, if I have one.”

             Alex placed reassuring hand on her shoulder with a soft smile. But, he kept his distance, afraid of fusing again. “Whatever it is, I will help you find out.”

+++++

             Paul received an anonymous tip at his school about one of the worst things his students could do. He doubted it was happening, but he was determined to talk to the students anyways. He called them in and when they arrived, he thought it was all the less likely. They were twins.

             “Alex and Rebecca Riese?” Paul asked to double check.

             Alex nodded, softly shaking his curly auburn hair. “What’s this about?” He asked nervously. “We aren’t the kind to cause trouble.”

             His sister laughed heartily. “Speak for yourself,” She joked. “Seriously, why is robot bro here?”

             Alex rolled his eyes. Paul thought what she said was interesting. “Why do you think you’re here, Rebecca?”

             She blushed, playing with her hands. She smirked and answered, “Well, I tend to be… troublesome, so I thought a teacher recommended me to come here.”

             “What kind of trouble?”

             “I get distracted and then I distracted everyone else,” She clarified to no great effect.

             Paul didn’t understand. He guessed his expression encouraged her to talk more because she continued, “Like today, I was daydreaming about that boy band, do you know Mac and the Princes?”

             Paul nodded and was transported. He could see neon green field with a saturated blue sky. In the field, five teens danced as Rebecca narrated. “So, I zoned out with me and the band dancing in the field.”

             A short-haired girl danced in the center of a circle of boys, who seemed too ecstatic to be believable. They were racially diverse, but all conventionally attractive. Talk about a fantasy. The girl grabbed the lead singer’s hands and pulled him into the circle to dance with her. “Whoa, whoa,” Paul said, waving his hands in front of him.

             It appeared to cast off the illusion. Paul blinked rapidly as he adjusted to the sight of his office. “What was that?” Paul asked before looking at Alex. “Did you see that too?”

             Alex nodded, staring at his sister. “We just saw your daydream, weirdo,” Alex explained, making a face.

             Rebecca slugged him on the arm. He rubbed it fiercely, grumbling about how it hurt. “Do you know what that means?” She asked rhetorically before giving a singsong answer. “I have powers!”

             Paul jumped into the conversation, picking up on a subtle thing. “Powers, plural?”

             Alex and Rebecca looked at him with matching deer in the headlights expression. They had a silent conversation by glancing at each other. An angry look, an eye roll, finally puppy dog eyes, and they came to a conclusion. Alex answered, “Yes, we have a joint power. We can morph or fuse into one giant person.”

             Paul was at a loss. He had never heard of a power like that before. “Huh,” Paul said. “That’s a new one.”

             “New one?” Alex asked, turning the questioning around.

             Paul smiled, equally willing to admit the truth. “Yeah, I’m a connoisseur of super powers, you could say,” He replied before becoming disappointed that the teens looked confused. “I’m Ink, the vigilante. I lead a team of superheroes that stop similarly powered criminals. I have been training some of your fellow students.”

             His boast impressed Rebecca, who had wide eyes of wonder. Alex was less awestruck, leaning back in his chair with arms crossed. Rebecca bounced in her seat as she asked, “Can we train with you?”

             Paul placed a hand on his heart. “Oh, of course,” Paul responded cheerily. “I was about to ask if you would want to train with my team.”

             “Mm, pass.”

             Paul and Rebecca faced Alex with surprise. He flicked his wrist flippantly, explaining, “I’m fine. Why do I need to train?”

             “So, you don’t poop out a golem when you fall,” Rebecca retorted with a snort. “Or we don’t randomly fuse when we touch.”

             Seeing that she had a point, Alex pouted. Paul unsurely looked between the two. “So, you’ll both come?”

             Alex sighed. “Sure.”

             “Great,” Paul said with a smile.

             Rebecca beamed at her brother, subtly coaxing a grin from him. His expression dropped as he remembered something. “Why did you call us here, again?”

             “Oh,” Paul responded, turning red. “Someone made an anonymous claim about something serious, so I had to check it out. But don’t worry about it.”

             Alex stared at Paul with a stern countenance. “It was a ridiculous claim,” Paul continued, waving it away.

             Alex’s brow furrowed. He grumbled, “I could guess.”

             Rebecca blinked, utterly oblivious, before pointing finger guns at Paul. Her smile was contagious. Alex seemed to put aside his negative thoughts for the moment. He watched Rebecca as she started talking, “Well, if I’m not in trouble, I’d like to head back to class.”

             “Of course,” Paul said warmly as he gestured to the door. “You guys are free to go. I’ll see you at practice.”

+++++

             Alicia knocked on Bree’s hospital room door. Soman opened it to reveal Bree bouncing their baby as she walked around. Bree grabbed a cloth with one hand and tucked it into a bag, packing while entertaining her baby. “Good morning,” Soman greeted. “Come in.”

             Alicia stepped in, handing him a plastic bag. “Morning! I brought you some supplies,” Alicia said as Soman took it.

             “Thank you!” Bree called. “Come meet Carter.”

             Bree shifted her hold on the baby, so that Carter’s back was resting on her chest. Alicia walked over and held out a hand. Carter wrapped his fingers around it. “Carter is adorable,” Alicia commented. “And seems exceptionally healthy.”

             “Thanks,” Bree responded with a smile. “So, you’re going to take a sample?”

             Alicia nodded, reaching into her bag. She took out a sample bag before deciding she needed her hand back. She carefully extracted her hand from Carter’s grip with Bree’s assistance. Opening the sample bag, she took out a cotton swab on a stick. “Alright, I need some saliva, so I’m going to put this in his mouth for a second and try to make sure he doesn’t eat it.”

             Bree chuckled and watched as Alicia put the cotton in Carter’s mouth. He sucked on it a little. Alicia pulled it out quickly and returned it to the bag, much to Carter’s confusion. He looked back at his mom with a furrowed brow. She smiled and went to a tote bag, grabbing an elephant plushie. Carter happily accepted the toy.

             Bree went back to Alicia, and Soman joined them after he finished packing the rest of their things. He played with Carter by moving the elephant’s head. “So, how will this work?” He asked.

             “I will do two things with the DNA sample,” She answered. “The first thing is a karyotype, which will show me if he has an addition. The other thing is getting the genome sequence of the sample. The karyotype will be faster and can confirm if Carter has the insertion. The sequencing can confirm if the insertion is related to yours or entirely unique.”

             Bree glanced at Soman with wide eyes. His expression matched hers with an added tinge of amusement. “That’s cool,” Bree said. “But that means very little to us.”

             “That’s fair,” Alicia responded. “The gist of it is that I will be able to tell you if Carter will start having abilities from the insertion based on some of the sequence.”

             “Oh, okay.”

             Alicia grimaced, looking at Bree’s hopeful face. “Although, I can’t tell you what his power will be, but I could always guess.”

             Soman chuckled somewhat uncomfortably. “That’s okay,” He responded, wrapping an arm around Bree. “It’ll be a surprise just like him.”

             Alicia smiled as Bree laughed. They lapsed into silence as baby Carter gnawed on his elephant’s ear. “Well, I’m going to head straight to the lab with this,” Alicia declared.

             “Thanks, have a lovely day.”

             “You too,” Alicia replied affably. “I’ll inform you as soon as I get results.”

             “Thank you.”

             Alicia backed to the door and waved, shutting the door behind her. Outside, she contemplated calling Pagel, but she would see him soon enough. The baby appeared normal from his appearance and grip reflex. Maybe whatever affected everyone else didn’t reach him in utero. She would find out soon enough.

+++++

             The team decided to meet up with the Lioness in her home territory. They picked out an abandoned building before they even found her. It was a condemned apartment building a few blocks from the parking lot Ink and Light met her in. They waited in the narrow lobby with peeling paint. Ink stood closest to the door, eager to greet the Lioness when she arrived. He posted Light by Q, and Queen B in front of the back exit. Just because he was excited to talk to the Lioness, didn’t mean that he wasn’t being cautious.

             The door knob jostled as the Lioness opened the door. She took in the scene as Ink held out his hand. She clasped him by the elbow in an odd gesture of camaraderie. He returned it and they let go. The Lioness reached up and removed her mask.

             In the dim light leaking in from windows, Ink saw a face fitting the form. Amber eyes with cat-like pupils looked at him, surrounded by strong brow and sharp cheek bones. “Olá,” She greeted with a purr-like rumble. “Por que estou aqui?”

             Ink was thrown by the Portuguese, but could guess what it meant from the Spanish he knew. “Olá,” He mimicked warmly. “Conversa en inglés por favor… Para ellos.”

             Her glowing eyes narrowed. She shifted her stance, crossing her arms. Ink noticed that she didn’t seem as feline as when they last met. Her hands were less paw-like and her legs seemed normal. Ink distractedly wondered if she had some werewolf sort of thing going on. “Sim, okay,” She growled, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Why do you want me here?”

             “We wanted to talk,” Paul answered, losing some confidence at her intimidating tone. “I’m Ink.”

             He gestured to the team. “This is the rest of my team,” He continued. “We have Eon, Queen B, Light, and Q.”

             “Nice to meet you,” Q chirped, giving her a tiny wave.

             The Lioness acknowledged them with a nod before focusing on Ink. “You haven’t answered my question.”

             “We just wanted to introduce ourselves and give you this,” Ink said, pulling a card out of his pocket.

             She snatched it out of his hand and examined it. “It’s a phone number,” He explained unsteadily. “If you ever need help with your vigilante work, you can call us.”

             The Lioness laughed, sending chills down Ink’s spine at its coarse, but high-pitched tone. An oddly hyena-like laugh, he noted. She tucked it in her hoodie, muttering, “Okay.”

             She turned as if to go. “Wait,” Ink said suddenly, looking to Eon for support. “We also wanted to say that if you commit any crimes of your own… Just know that we will pursue you as vigorously as you do your prey.”

             Lioness growled at the statement, but didn’t move. She reached out to the door, setting a claw on the painted wood. She carved something onto the door before glaring at Ink. “You’ll need me before I’ll need you.”

             She opened the door and left. Ink stepped closer to the door, realizing that she carved a phone number. He took out his phone and flashed a picture. Nodding while examining the photo, Ink faced the team. He grinned awkwardly. “I think that went well,” He told them.

             Queen B laughed heartily, causing Ink confusion. She waved aside her odd reaction before obscuring the numbers on the door. “Let’s head back to Kris’s apartment,” She suggested.

+++++

             Paul drove everyone to Kris’ in his van. They took off their masks in the car and discussed the Lioness. Tae sat in the front seat, turned to see the second row and Paul. “She seemed cool,” Q spoke up from the backseat. “She had a mysterious aesthetic.”

             Paul smirked, amused. Tae had a different line of thought. “What language was she speaking?” He asked Paul.

             “Portuguese,” Paul answered, briefly glancing at Tae. “Sometimes it’s close to Spanish… Other times I couldn’t begin to guess what the words mean. Also, we tend to pronounce things differently.”

             “Ah,” Tae intoned, nodding.

             They were silent for a moment before Alicia cursed. “I should have asked her for a DNA sample.”

             Theo chuckled, responding, “I doubt she would give one… She was very standoffish.”

             Alicia sucked her teeth, thinking. The team patiently waited for her to voice her thoughts. “Her power is so unique,” She started. “She has physical adaptions, kind of like how Kris’s nails changed and glands formed-”

             “But she didn’t look like that before,” Paul interrupted. “Her hands and legs looked more human than when we last saw her. Like, I don’t know how to describe it, but you know how cats seem to have two bends in their legs? That’s what she seemed to have.”

             Nodding, Alicia quickly explained, “The bones between the ankle and the pad of the foot are longer in cats,” Alicia looked to Theo, adding more detail. “Their metatarsals are longer than ours and they put their weight mostly on where the metatarsals meet the phalanges. Anyways, it’s interesting that you mention that because it means she must metamorphoses. Her body alternates between two forms and the spectrum in between… Man, I really should have gotten a DNA sample.”

             Q looked at the floor of the car wide-eyed, contemplating something. Alicia checked her phone as Theo stared out the window. “Well,” Paul said, breaking the reverie. “Do you think she’ll call?”

             “No,” Theo answered quickly. “Did you see her response?”

             “Just because she’s cocky now, doesn’t mean she won’t ask for help later,” Alicia retorted.

             “Maybe she hasn’t seen other powered people, so she’s not scared,” Q reasoned.

             Tae watched Paul. Paul felt his cheeks burn at the attention. He waited excitedly for Tae to say something. “More importantly,” Tae said seriously. “Are we going to be calling her? For the King?”

             Paul grimaced, uncertain. He pulled into street parking near Kris’s apartment building. “We can talk about that the inside,” Paul declared, turning off the car.

             They unloaded and walked quietly to the brick building. Walking past the empty manager’s office, they packed into the small elevator. It ascended. Paul looked around at his motley crew with some introspective pride. They always seemed to meet and exceed expectations. “Do you guys want Chinese?” He asked suddenly.

             “Is that all we’ll eat?” Tae replied with a hint of humor.

             “We could get something else,” Paul said, smiling.

             “Mexican?” Q asked.

             They looked at Paul with wide, hopeful eyes. “Sure,” He said, reaching over to rustle Q’s hair. “Is everyone else okay with that?”

             Theo and Alicia nodded. Alicia offered to look up a place that does takeout. The elevator stopped. They got out, following Q to their home. Q unlocked the door and let them in. Paul stood by the television. Q flopped on the carpet in front of him as the rest sat on the couch. They briefly discussed dinner, so Paul could place their order.

             “Now, to the King,” Paul started, clapping his hands. “What to do about him?”

             Tae raised his hand. “Could what we did with Siren work?”

             “What did you do with Siren?” Theo asked.

             “Tae wore earplugs,” Paul answered. “So that when Siren started singing, he didn’t succumb to her voice.”

             “That could work,” Alicia admitted. “Fiction’s voice is certainly his power. Without it, we are just fighting three people, one powered.”

             Q twirled around on their butt to face the couch. “Cool, then we’ll have a strategy the next time we encounter him!”

             Q turned to smile at Paul and was caught off guard. His expression was serious, his posture daresay professional. He pointed to Alicia. “You will take down Moss,” He directed. “Theo will handle the other guard. Tae and I can tackle the King. We need to hit hard and fast to incapacitate them all in one swoop. Q, try to assist… Alicia.”

              Q pursed their lips, but nodded. There was a palpable tension in the room as people contemplated their future confrontation. “I’ll get ear plugs for everyone before our next patrol,” Paul absentmindedly added.

             A knock at the door signaled the end of the conversation. Q went to the door with Paul while the others walked to the table. Paul paid the delivery person. He brought boxes in paper bags to the table and Q grabbed silverware from the kitchen. Passing out the meals, Paul called out their names. “Enchiladas, camarones platter, mole platter, and carnitas burrito.”

             Q set forks on the table beside every person. They accepted their sweet mole platter and side of tortillas happily, sitting beside Tae. They looked around the table, noticing that the negative vibes from the earlier conversation persisted. Coming up with an idea, they smiled at Tae and asked him, “How has your theater troupe been doing?”

             Tae smiled back, relieved to have something lighthearted to discuss. “It’s going great, thank you for asking,” He answered. “We are working on a new play to come out in a few months.”

             “Oh yeah?” Theo jumped in, intrigued. “What’s the play this time?”

             “Well, we are going to do an adaptation of Lysistrata,” Tae started before realizing they wouldn’t know that play. “Which was about women protesting over a Greek war and basically refusing to have sex with their husbands until they stopped fighting.”

             Alicia and Paul laughed while Theo choked on his enchilada, inhaling to laugh at the wrong time. Alicia patted his back as he held up a thumb. “How are you going to adapt that?” Alicia asked.

             “We are trying to find a playwright for our adaptation currently,” Tae admitted. “But we are hoping to change the subject to one of feminism and a fight for rights by refusing to comply with what those in power want people to do. I don’t know quite yet, but I’m trying to make it my directorial debut.”

             Theo leaned forward, still recovering. “You know, I’ve been wondering how your troupe works,” He commented.

             Tae smirked, but furrowed his brow. “We are a charity slash community center. We receive donations and function as a nonprofit. I’m one of several people who works for the troupe and get paid for it. Everyone else is a volunteer or one of the people we are trying to reach as a community center. The money we make from performances go directly into production of the next performance. It’s pretty interesting and I think I’m lucky to work there.”

             Tae faced Q, grateful that they lightened the mood. “What have you been up to, since Kris is gone?”

             “I’ve done a lot,” Q started cheerily. “I’ve started keeping a journal, which feels pretty familiar. I have been doing research, learning stuff… Cause it seems like I didn’t just forget stuff about myself.”

             Q looked around the silent, eating table to see their blank faces. They didn’t get it. “Like I remember how to cook eggs,” They continued. “But I’ve forgotten how to use a computer or forgotten recent history. I remember useless stuff like the American revolution, but not the bus system for Kattegat.”

             “Huh,” Alicia said, her fork hovering near her mouth. “Maybe those things have something to do with you, with your personality… I don’t know why though. Usually retrograde amnesia maintains most procedural memory, how to cook eggs, how to tie shoelaces, how to do things. What you’re describing is unusual.”

             Theo nodded. Q glanced down at their food in thought. “Oh,” They said, perking up. “I’ve also been visiting Molly, since Kris is gone, and she’s been doing good.”       

             “That’s great,” Paul replied.

             Q smiled at him before turning to their next target. “How has life been treating you, Alicia?”

             “Good,” Alicia answered. “Tomorrow, I’m going to go visit the charming Dr. Stone at Comet Industry to see if people outside of Kattegat were affected by Orange Day.”

             Setting down his silverware, Theo grinned. “Charming, eh? What about Nicki?”

             Alicia felt her face get warm though she knew no one would notice. She smiled sheepishly as the rest of the group looked at her. Their curious gaze convinced her to share. “I have been seeing a coworker of mine,” Alicia said. “Her name is Nicki and I really like her… But that doesn’t mean Dr. Stone isn’t cute.”

             Paul clapped his hands together. “I’m sure you guys are adorable together,” He said warmly. “And I hope your relationship is everything you hope it to be.”

             “Thanks for the overly sweet sentiment,” Alicia responded sincerely before turning to Theo. “The rest of us seem to be sharing, so it’s your turn.”

             “Hey, what about me?” Paul interjected jokingly.

             Q was quick with an answer. “We already know what your life has been like. Working at a fancy high school, finding super-powered teens, and driving your sister to soccer- You work a lot, Paul.”

             “So, what I’m hearing is that I deserve a break,” Paul teased.

             Tae placed a hand on Paul’s arm. “You do deserve one.”

             Paul blushed, but tried to maintain a goofy attitude. “But what would I do with a break? Work at home?”

             Q giggled as Paul looked to Theo. “Sorry to dominate the conversation,” Paul said, smile still in place. “What have you been up to Theo?”

             “I have been helping my boss do clinical research,” Theo said lightly. “We are doing human trials trying to treat C3 deficiency.”

             Alicia straightened up, interested. “You already tried the treatment in lab mice?”

             “Dr. Wilson has and it had promising results with few side effects.”

             “That’s amazing,” Alicia commented. “What is the treatment?”

             “I don’t know precisely because I’m on the human side of the trial,” Theo explained. “I administer treatment and do check-ins, aka make sure they don’t have side effects or manage their side effects.”

             “What are the side effects?” Alicia pressed.

             “Fever, stiff joints, runny nose,” He listed.

             Alicia nodded her head, looking at her food. “I’ll have to look into it sometime,” Alicia commented. “Because that sounds fascinating, like an infection.”

             “I think it’s something like that,” Theo replied.

             Alicia hummed in thought. The table fell silent momentarily. Tae finished his meal and jumpstarted discussion again. “How is your grandmother, Theo?” He asked.

             “She’s well,” He answered with a smile. “She asks about you because you are one of my few friends that have visited my house.”

             Q raised their hand quickly. “I can visit your house. I love the elderly.”

             Theo laughed. “Sure, why not? She tends to read a lot, but would love to talk to new people. We could even walk to the park nearby.”

             “I’d love that!”

             Paul grinned as he observed the conversation. His team was bonding. There was joviality to the way they did it as well. This synergy gave him hope. Certainly, they could overcome any challenge when they were like this.

             Tae elbowed him gently, bringing him out of his thoughts. Paul fondly looked at Tae, who asked, “Are you going to finish your food?”

             Paul laughed and nodded, though he put some of his chicken and rice on Tae’s plate. They finished eating in peace.