Chapter Eleven: When a chapter is just one long scene

No joke, I swear this is 99% one scene that is obscenely long... And yes, it's a practice scene where the teens fight and learn.

A man in a dress shirt and lab coat greeted Alicia and Pagel at the foyer of Comet Industries. Comet Industries felt much larger than the Institute, but it was also more structured. The foyer was simply the corner of a square building with a high ceiling so that people on the second floor could look down on it. Alicia admired the grey tile floors and the steel decal. And the doctor in front of her.

             Dr. Stone held out his hand to shake. Alicia and Pagel took turns shaking his hand. Stone ran his hands through his long dreads before tying it back in a ponytail. “So, what’s this about?” He asked in a rich voice that hid his mild irritation well.

             “We are here to collect some DNA samples,” Pagel explained. “We want to see if what happened with Orange Day has spread out of the city.”

             Stone nodded and tilted his head toward the elevator. He led them to it, saying, “I gathered some samples after you called yesterday.”

             He pressed the up button. The elevator door opened and they got in. Stone hit the third button and blocked the door with his body. “So,” He started. “Can you tell me how radiation in town adds up to needing DNA samples?”

             “Well, there’s more to the situation,” Alicia responded before sharing a look with Pagel. “I think we are keeping that information close to our chests at Kattegat Institute, so if you want to know, request a transfer and we would be happy to divulge that.”

             Stone pursed his lips as the doors slid open behind him. He huffed before smiling and stepping out of the elevator. “I’m damn well tempted to,” He commented, holding the doors.

             Alicia and Pagel walked out, heading for Stone’s lab. Stone allowed them to lead the charge. They met up with his handful of assistances in the lab’s main room. Shooing them back to work, Stone took the duo through the mazework of countertops to a large fridge. He opened the freezer and took out a tray of ten test tubes filled with a relatively clear liquid. “I hope you don’t mind if the samples are saliva,” Stone said, handing the tray to Pagel.

             Pagel tucked it away in a cooler as Alicia replied, “They’ll do great, thank you.”

             Stone leaned on the fridge and crossed his arm. His interrogation wasn’t over yet. “What happens if this DNA tells you the same thing that it did with the Kattegat samples?”

             “Then we’d want to tell you,” Pagel answered shortly. “But it looks like that isn’t the case, right?”

             Stone’s bushy eyebrows scrunched together. “What do you mean?”

             Pagel stepped closer to Stone and whispered. “Have you guys had any strange happening here in Coquitlam?”

             “No, I guess not,” Stone responded, looking at the ground. “Not like you guys.”

             “Tell us if anything does happen though,” Alicia said. “Then we’ll tell you everything.”

             “I promise I will,” Stone said with a nod.

             He gestured to the door before adding, “Have a safe drive back to Kattegat.”

             Alicia smiled as Pagel turned to go. “Have a nice day,” She told Stone before following Pagel out.

             When they were out of the lab, Pagel looked at her with an irked expression. They quickly walked to the elevator. “He was pretty nosey,” Pagel grumbled.

             Chuckling, Alicia pressed the button. “We called him up randomly and asked for ten DNA samples,” She replied. “I think that justifies him having questions.”

             “Speaking of these samples,” Pagel said with a sigh. “I think the best we can do with these is karyotypes-”

             “Good,” Alicia interrupted. “It’ll be ‘fast’ results to see if the citizens of Coquitlam have the addition.”

             They boarded the elevator. “True,” Pagel mumbled as the doors shut.

+++++

             Paul had everyone huddle up in the clearing before practice. The circle was pretty large with a dozen people in it. Paul managed to wrangle his two newest recruits beside him, so he could introduce them. “Alright everybody, meet our new friends,” Paul declared cheerfully. “This is Alex and Rebecca.”

             Ruby flashed them a peace sign as John waved. Cat nodded and that was that. Alex looked nervous to be in the spotlight, while his sister was eager to make new friends. “Some other points before we start,” Paul continued, holding his hands together in front of him. “Cat and Cheyenne, I know you guys agreed to help us with the King, but I had a change of heart. I don’t want to put you in danger unless absolutely necessary. And with our new strategy, I don’t think it’ll be necessary anymore.”

             Smiling to reassure him, Cat shrugged. “That’s fine by me.”

             Paul grinned as Cheyenne agreed. “Great, then to pairing…” Paul said, looking around the circle. “We are going to mix it up a little. John and Ruby can practice sparring together. Alicia, I would like you to work with Cheyenne and gauge her speed. Q, you can practice with Cat again. Theo can practice with Tiên. Finally, Tae and I will work with the twins. Sound good?”

             People were already pairing up, so Paul took it as affirmation. Ruby led John to a remote part of the clearing to fight, while Q and Cat settled on some rocks. Theo took a few steps into the forest with Tiên hovering close by. Alicia guided Cheyenne to one of the trail heads.

             Paul faced his small group excitedly. “Now we’ll work on your individual powers first,” Paul explained before meeting Tae’s gaze. “Tae, I think your power works similarly to Alex so you guys can work together. My power is more feeling-based, so I’ll practice with Rebecca. Then we can come back together to see how your joint power works.”

             Alex smiled nervously at Tae as Tae led him away. They walked towards Alicia, keeping a close watch on Ruby and John’s fight. They punched recklessly, like they knew whatever they did wouldn’t hurt the other. They lacked form and discipline. Tae sighed and focused on Alicia.

             Alicia had Cheyenne running through the trail and back while she timed it on her phone. It took Cheyenne about a minute to run the two-mile trip. Alicia questioned her before making her run again. “How do you feel? How do you process things? Are you agile? Are you out of breath? Could you go even faster?”

             Cheyenne’s eyes went wide with the sheer number of questions, but she tried her best to answer. “I feel fine. I’m not out of breath or anything… I guess things move in slow motion when I run like that, so I feel super agile. I definitely could go faster.”

             “Alright, then go faster,” Alicia replied warmly. “Push yourself.”

             Cheyenne nodded before disappearing from sight. Alicia smirked at Tae as she reset her timer. Tae focused on Alex, who rocked uncomfortably on his heels. “What can you do?” Tae asked.

             “I can make golems,” Alex answered, looking down. “You?”

             “Shoot lightning,” Tae responded shortly. “Let’s try out your power. How did it happen the first time?”

             Alex took a knee, placing his palm on the grass. He shut his eyes, saying, “I was startled by my sister, but also I was touching the floor, so…”

             Alex’s brow wrinkled as he concentrated. Getting an idea, Tae casually raised an arm to the sky. His hand flashed and lightning streaked upward, hitting the clouds with a thunderous boom. Alex flinched. Trembling, he opened his eyes to see a meter-tall golem.

             It was made of the same grey clay as before. It stood still, awaiting orders. Alex stood up as Tae clapped, impressed by the feat. “How did you feel?”

             “Like I was going to have a heart attack, geez,” Alex said, rubbing his chest.

             Tae persisted. “How did it feel? Like a flow of energy leaving your body in a burst?”

             Alex shook his head, thinking. “It felt more like ‘energy’ was seeping out of me and into the ground.”

             Tae nodded, intrigued. Motioning, Tae got him to face the golem. “Try it again, focusing on just that energy. Using words tend to help too.”

             Alex chuckled uncomfortably, glancing at the golem. “Words? Like what?”

             “Come out golem, appear golem, just golem,” Tae answered with a shrug. “I don’t know, you’ll feel the right words.”

             Alex faced the golem, muttering, “I release you.”

             The golem melting into the earth, leaving some upturned grass. Alex set a hand on the ground and exhaled slowly. He felt as if he was being drained of energy and whispered, “Galmi.”

             A golem rose from the earth in front of him, this one taller than the last. “Good job!”

             Alex stood up and smiled abashedly. The golem’s unreadable eyes seemed to follow him. “Fetch me a branch please,” Alex commanded.

             The golem lumbered over to the closest tree and hit it. The old tree gave up a few branches that had been long dead. The golem picked up a branch with its fingerless hand and returned to its master. “Thank you,” Alex responded, taking the branch from the golem.

             “Impressive,” Tae commented. “I bet it can fight for you too.”

             Alex pointed at the tree where an indent could be seen at its base. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want it to,” Alex said. “It’d punch a hole through someone.”

             Tae nodded before looking over at Ruby. She was busy being pushed around by John. “I know someone you could test it on,” Tae said, then called to Ruby. “Ruby, could you come here a second?”

             Ruby looked over, eyes widening when she spotted the golem. She jogged closer as John huffed. Tae wrapped his arm around Ruby’s shoulders and brought her even closer. “This is Alex and his golem,” Tae explained briefly. “I want you to fight the golem and test out its strength.”

             Tae patted Ruby’s shoulder before running to John. He tackled John around the waist and gave him a shock. John growled in pain before pulling Tae off of him. John held Tae away by the back of his shirt. Tae managed to swing and kick him in the jaw. John dropped him. Tae scrabbled out of his reach before getting up into fighting position.

             Alex coughed, bringing Ruby’s attention back to him. Ruby glared at the golem that was only slightly shorter than her. “Right, so I’m fighting the weird thing?” Ruby asked while cracking her knuckles.

             Alex nodded before telling the golem, “Attack her.”

             The golem charged forward, punching Ruby’s abdomen. Alex frightenedly called off the golem as Ruby fell over. “I’m fine,” She told him, sitting up. “That felt like a push.”

             Ruby quickly got to her feet and put up her guard. She punched the golem before Alex could say anything. She left a dent in its smooth abdomen. The clay reformed. It retaliated, punching Ruby’s shoulder and causing her to take a step back. She retreated temporarily to adjust her footing. She swung her leg up in a high kick.

             She took the golem’s head off. It stilled as the clay head rolled away before slowly dissolving. Ruby and Alex watched the golem tensely. It was frozen. Ruby looked at Alex. “So, is it going to keep fighting?”

             Alex shrugged, answering. “Maybe I need to fix its head?”

             Alex stepped forward and touched its back. He whispered something and the golem grew a head. “S**t, that’s creepy,” Ruby muttered.

             Paul approached them as the golem started moving again. Ruby punched a hole through its head before it could get too close. “That was impressive,” Paul said while applauding. “Alex, come join me and Rebecca. Ruby, you can go tag out Tae please?”

             Ruby mockingly saluted before stalking over the dueling pair. She tapped Tae’s shoulder as Alex released his golem. He looked over at his sister, who eagerly waved at him. “How’d my sister do?” He whispered.

             Paul smiled, leaning closer to him. “I think she has a lot of natural talent. She intuitively knows her limits and abilities.”

             Alex didn’t get exactly what that meant, but he nodded anyway. Tae walked to them before they all joined Rebecca on the other side of the clearing. Alex stood beside his sister as the adults conferred in front of them. They finished their quiet conversation and Paul turned to the twins. “Alright, you guys are going to fuse,” He said. “How did you do it last time?”

             Rebecca grabbed Alex’s hand and started spinning. “We were dancing!” She replied.

             Rebecca suddenly pulled Alex toward her, knocking him off his feet. They tumbled into each other and fell. Alex squashed his sister as she landed on her butt. She rubbed her forehead and grumbled, “That worked last time.”

             Paul stepped forward and helped the teens up. Having an idea, Tae asked the twins, “What were you guys feeling at the time?”

             “I was happy,” Rebecca answered. “I finally figured out calculus.”

             “I was happy I guess because I knew Rebecca was.”

             Paul hummed in thought. “Try to recreate that, I guess,” He said finally.

             Rebecca giggled. “I’m always happy,” Rebecca commented before looking pointedly at Alex.

             “Hey,” Alex responded defensively, crossing his arms.

             “Hey,” Rebecca repeated, thinking up something quickly. “Remember that time you socked Godwin in the mouth after he tried to kiss me?”

             Alex burst out laughing, causing Rebecca to laugh. “He-he was so… shocked,” Alex wheezed out.

             Alex bent over from the force of his uncontrollable laughter. He grabbed Rebecca’s shoulder to support himself. Rebecca wrapped an arm around his waist and they fused in a flash of light.

             “Whoa, did you see that?” Q asked Cat, a few meters away from the transformation.

             “Huh?” Cat said, glancing at her doppelgänger before seeing what they were talking about. “Oh, that’s weird.”

             Q nodded as they watched their companion’s expression. It was neutral; maybe she was just one of those people who always looked sad when they weren’t trying to emote. “How are you feeling?” Q inquired.

             Cat’s face instantly changed for the better, a well-worn smile directed at Q. “I’m good, how are you feeling?” Cat replied, knowingly switching topics to avoid talking. “You know, we spend a lot of time together during these practices, but I know nothing about you.”

             “Same… I know nothing about me really,” Q said, looking at their hands. “I lost my memory sometime before I was found by Paul. I know a few things about me now though, like I spent time in Flare, my favorite letter was Q, I like drinking Callithump coffee, I’m genderfluid, … and no one put out a missing person’s report.”

             Cat seemed surprised by this revelation. “You seem very cheerful and put together for someone with amnesia.”

             Q played with their hands. “I’m not always happy,” Q responded quietly. “I can’t remember what happened in my past, but that doesn’t mean I’m not affected by it. Whatever happened then sticks around as bad vibes, even when I’m doing fine.”

             They exhaled slowly, coming up with a metaphor. “Even if you overcome trauma, you are still left with scars… Scars that hurt to look at, hurt to touch. So, I try not to touch them.”

             “I’m sorry,” Cat said mysteriously.

             Q glanced at her and tried to discern her tone. She looked sad or conflicted as she rubbed the creases out of her forehead. “It’s okay, I’ll be okay,” Q reassured before reaching over to pat Cat’s hand. “Now that I’ve bared my soul a little, will you give a real answer?”

             Cat started chuckling. Q was perturbed by the unusual response. Cat rubbed her eyes and sighed. She met Q’s gaze with another unreadable expression. “I don’t know how I feel,” Cat answered sincerely. “I feel bad most times, most days, and I don’t know why… I’ve had a normal life with supportive parents who gave my everything I needed and yet, I want to die.”

             Q shrugged uncomfortably because they didn’t know what to say. To think about it more felt like poking at scars. It made them nauseous. The pair sat in silence until Q thought of something. “Paul or Alicia might have answers to why you feel like that,” Q mentioned.

             Cat scoffed, subtly pointing to Paul. “That goof? I’m surprised he’s certified to be a counselor.”

             Q looked over at Paul, who was fighting off a giant with Tae’s assistance. Tae tried keeping the giant distracted while Paul flew overhead. Tae weaved in and out of the giant’s range, stepping in to deliver a blow before dashing out. The giant seemed clumsy, though it towered over Tae.  Paul shouted at them, “You guys need to work on your coordination!”

             Paul swooped down and pushed them over. He landed on his feet as the ground shook from their fall. “I think we need to change this up,” Paul said before getting Tae’s attention. “Can you go through fighting motions or yoga to test their dexterity and agility?”

             The giant got up slowly as Tae nodded. He went over and quietly talked to them. They got into a fighting position and Tae lead them through some poses. Paul turned away, determined to check on his other team mates. Noticing Q’s gaze, he waved to them, but didn’t head over. It’d be better to look in on those who were practicing first.

             He walked over to Theo and Tiên first. “Hey,” Paul greeted, patting Theo’s back. “How’s it going?”

             Theo grabbed a branch off the ground and burned it in half in his palm. He handed the two halves to Tiên before answering, “It’s going great. We’re testing limits, like how much she can heal at once and what wounds can’t she heal… So far it seems like she has no limits.”

             Tiên smiled at the compliment and gave him back the healed branch. “You should work on your limits too,” Paul commented. “If she isn’t being challenged enough, you can let loose with your laser beams.”

             “Alrighty then,” Theo responded, raising his glowing hands.

             His laser beams pierced through a tree, leaving a burning hole in its wake. Paul gaped and looked in to the hole. It glowed like lit charcoal and through it, he could see a burn on the tree behind it. Paul grinned, shell-shocked, at Tiên, who regarded Theo fearfully. “Looks like you have your work cut out for you,” Paul commented before leaving them.

             He approached Alicia next. She was standing by herself, staring out at the trail. “Where’s Cheyenne?” Paul asked.

             Cheyenne seemed to materialize in a gust of wind. “Here I am,” She said cheerfully before addressing Alicia. “I looped every tree on the trail like you asked.”

             Alicia checked her phone timer and nodded. “You’re improving,” She commented. “That only added a minute to your time.”

             “Wow.”

             Paul gave Cheyenne a thumbs-up. “Alicia, you could always make her an obstacle course,” He said.

             Cheyenne jumped up and down. “Oh, can you?” Cheyenne asked before twirling. “That’d be fun! I can gather supplies!”

             Cheyenne dashed off, disappearing in a blur. Alicia threw Paul a dirty look. “We were doing fine,” She told him without any of the anger her face expressed. “I was going to work up to an obstacle course in a little bit.”

             Paul rubbed the back of his head with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.”

             “It’s okay,” Alicia replied, waving off the apology. “Once Cheyenne has an idea in her head, she doesn’t stop. She gets hyper-focused and I’m just trying to harness that energy.”

             “Okay, keep at it,” Paul said warmly. “Both of you are doing great.”

             Paul walked over to John and Ruby to observe their fight. John was using his height and reach to his advantage, clobbering Ruby while staying out of her reach. Occasionally, Ruby would charge at him and tackle his stomach. That brought him down. Ruby used the opportunity to pummel his face before he would inevitably throw her off.

             Paul nodded approvingly and left them to it without interrupting them. He wandered over to the two Cats. “How are you guys doing?” He asked.

             Observing their body language, he could distinguish which was which. The slouching, original Cat answered, “We’re doing great, just telling each other our life stories.”

             Paul laughed at the sarcasm, causing the perky duplicate to giggle. “It’s true,” They said in a tone unbefitting their appearance. “We’ve had fun over here, by ourselves.”

             Q stood up suddenly before turning to Cat. “Do you mind if I go practice my power?”

             Sitting upright, Cat said, “Not at all, go have fun.”

             Q skipped away towards Theo. Paul sat in their place, watching Cat closely. “I don’t think we’ll have any incidents like last time,” He started.

             Cat nodded. Paul hoped she would say something, but they sat in tense silence. Paul looked out at the practicing pairs while the silence pressured him to say something. Eventually, Cat sighed and commented, “So you’re worried about hurting us all of the sudden?”

             Paul grimaced. “I never should have asked kids to help take down some criminal.”

             “I wouldn’t get hurt, you know,” Cat responded. “Well, at least, not permanently.”

             “It wouldn’t matter,” Paul said, shaking his head. “If the King can’t hurt you, he’ll use you to hurt others… He got the police to shoot at us with a phrase… I’d hate for you to fall under his spell.”

             “I don’t care.”

             “I know you don’t care, but I do,” Paul replied tersely.

             Cat stood and stretched. “Whatever man,” She said, checking her phone. “We’ve been here for a while. Can I go home?”

             Paul got up with a long sigh. He whistled to get everyone’s attention. “Quittin’ time,” He said jokily, though he wasn’t feeling it. “Thank you for coming out and doing your best. I’ll see you guys at the next practice, if not sooner.”