by Sarah Carter
“I can fix that!”
He jumps back. “Don’t touch me.”
“Sorry,” she mutters.
“Why don’t you eat,” Damien suggests. “You could also be very hungry.” She nods and slides into her seat. Xander watches Claire take a bite of food but the look on her face is that of sadness.
“Claire, don’t be so upset,” Xander says. “Stuff happens sometimes that we can’t control.”
“I have never been out of control my whole life,” Claire emphasizes. “I’m so incredibly disciplined. This is so out of character for me.”
“You are a super power like me,” Xander says. “We make mistakes with our abilities. I have hurt multiple people on accident. When I was a kid and would get angry, people got shot through windows.”
Claire grimaces. “Did anyone get seriously injured?”
“Yeah,” Xander sighs. “They were able to heal, but it affected me none the less.”
“But Damien is the love of my life, I can’t hurt him. He is also going to be the leader to our people. I just can’t go around beating him up.”
“We will figure out what happened,” Damien replies. “Just eat.” Claire frowns but takes a bite anyway.
The rest of the meal is silent. Finally, Aurora burps, “Okay, I ate too much.”
“Nonsense,” Ariel snaps softly. “We don’t know when we are going to eat again.”
“You’re not going to have to steal food anymore. We will provide food and housing for you. You will be taken care of,” Damien declares sincerely.
“That’s if we go with you,” Ariel responds.
Damien sits up. “You aren’t coming with us?”
“You’re fighting with each other,” Aurora states. “Not a very comforting offer.”
“No,” Xander interjects. “We will go with them. This is the honest truth. The council isn’t perfect and they care about freaks.”
“I would prefer you not call yourselves freaks,” Damien says.
Claire snorts, “He tells me that all the time. Don’t listen to him. That’s what we are, freaks. So different that we are freaky.”
“I agree,” Aurora states.
“Alright, I will pay the bill and we can leave,” Damien says. “I will be right back.”
“So,” Aurora starts, “No one can beat you?”
“No, I’m a pretty scary person,” Claire replies. “You are safe with me. I can take down multiple people at once.”
“Until tranquilizers knock you out,” Xander mumbles.
A huge smile spreads across Claire’s face. “Well, beyond being a super Neturu, I am also rather indestructible. I will just say those darts would have no effect on me.”
“How do you know?”
She shrugs, “Can’t say on that one, but just trust me. You are safe with me.”
“That makes me feel a little better,” Aurora sighs.
“Yeah, I can also teach you how to fight,” Claire offers. “That way you have some sort of defense.”
“That would be kind of cccoooolllll,” Aurora draws out in excitement. “Can I kick someone in the head?”
Raising her eyebrow, Claire says, “In the future, sure.”
“Sweet.”
“It would be nice to know how to fight,” Xander states. “We were never allowed to do anything of the sort.”
“How did Mason learn how to fight?”
“Movies actually,” Xander laughs. “Lots of movies and he would try it out on the guards. Punch and then vaporize, kick and then vaporize, cause a scene and laugh about it. That is the way of Mason. After a while, The Collector had him trained. I think they hope that they will be able to use him one day. When they finally try whatever plan it’s gearing up for.”
“Plan?”
“Come on, there has to be some sort of plan,” Xander scoffs. “You don’t create super beings of your species for fun. There has to be a reason. If they weren’t hiding something, then why does the council know nothing about them?”
“True,” Claire agrees.
Damien appears. “Let’s go.”
Everyone stands up and walks outside. Damien leads them down a path. Xander starts to feel a lot of energy. He stops. “One last time, why should I trust you?”
“Trust me okay,” Claire says. “Nothing will happen.” Xander just stares at her. Claire reaches out her hand.
“You want me to hold your hand?”
“No, open your hand.”
Hesitantly, Xander reaches out his hand. With a flick of her wrist, Claire suddenly has a blade in her hand. “What the!” Xander shouts, jumping back.
She flips the blade around and hands the handle to him. “Here, for your defense.”
“Seriously?” Xander replies, looking at her skeptically.
“Yes,” Claire responds. “Trust me.”
Xander pushes Claire’s hand away. “I trust you. I’d probably cut a finger off.”
Another flick of her wrist and the blade’s gone. He sees her touch her bra strap. “Alright, let’s go then.”
They walk into an empty field. There are guard members standing all around. Ariel turns around in a circle. “What are we doing?”
“Getting on a ship,” Damien states, the corner of his mouth twitching up.
“What ship and how?”
Damien points to the sky. Everyone looks up. There’s a shimmer and then a ship appears. “Holy cow,” Aurora exhales. “That is so cool.”
“Now I feel like an alien,” Ariel declares. “First time ever.”
“Damien,” Claire whines. “I really don’t want to do this.”
“Do what?” Xander asks.
Claire shivers and says, “They dematerialize you to get you aboard.”
“What?” Aurora squeaks.
“They like…beam…you up. I’ve only done it once and it’s freaky!”
With a chuckle, Damien interjects, “It’s not so bad. Trust me.”
“Isn’t there a ladder?” Ariel asks.
He shakes his head. “Nope, it takes a fraction of a second. You don’t even notice.” Xander and the girls just stare at him. “Do you want me to go first?”
“Yeah,” Xander replies.
“Okay,” Damien laughs. Then in a quick shimmer, he’s gone.
“It’s doesn’t feel like anything,” Claire says. “It’s just weird.”
Xander looks at the girls to gage their reactions. Aurora looks at him. “That is so cool.”
“It is not cool,” Ariel snaps. “We aren’t doing it!”
“Maybe you aren’t.” She looks at Claire. “Tell them to do it.”
Claire presses a spot on her hand and then under her ear. “Aurora’s ready.”
Aurora rubs her hands together and then is gone. Ariel jumps, startled. “Bring her back!”
“Why?” Claire asks.
“To make sure she is alive!”
With a roll of her eyes, Claire presses under her ear. “Send Aurora back, so her sister doesn’t freak.”
In an instant, Aurora is back. She throws her hands in the air. “That is the coolest thing ever! Come on, you need to do it.”
“No,” Ariel growls.
“Go,” Xander instructs. “They can’t have a ship just sitting here forever.”
“Fine.” She crosses her arms. “Send us up.”
“The girls are ready,” Claire says. When they disappear, Claire looks at Xander. “You up for this?”
He lets out a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Okay, beam us up,” Claire giggles. She stops. “I can say beam if I want to.” There is a pause. “Whatever,” she draws out.
The next thing Xander knows is that they are in a large room. There are about fifteen guard members standing around them. Xander falters for a minute. Claire grabs him. “Whoa,” he exhales.
“Weird, right!” Claire exclaims. “Come on, this way.” Xander follows her to a doorway. There is an arch around it. Claire turns around. “This is a scanner.
You literally can’t hide anything from it. Tell us what you have now.”
“A pack of gum,” Xander says. “And a lighter.” He puts his hands out.
Claire takes them. “You smoke.”
“No,” Xander says slowly.
Her jaw drops, “You can move fire!”
“I can move things if they are on fire,” Xander corrects.
“I will have to keep this from you then,” Claire says, sticking it in her pocket. “Okay, walk through.”
Xander steps up and checks out the machinery. “So, this scans my whole body.”
“In a nanosecond,” Claire replies.
He steps through it and there is sudden beeping. The guards all draw their weapons. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don’t have anything!” Xander yells. “Don’t shoot!”
A gentleman walks up on the other side of the doorway. “Is seems as though the machine malfunctioned and shut down.”
“Dr. Galliger!” Claire cheers.
The doctor smiles and walks up to the machine. He starts pressing things on the screen. Finally, Dr. Galliger turns. “Okay, do it again.” Xander steps through it again. The same thing happens. Dr. Galliger frowns. “That is so peculiar. Claire, step through dear.” She walks through. He gives her a look. “Could you have any more cinas on you?”
“What’s a cina?” Xander asks.
“The blade I handed you,” Claire says.
“You were armed!” Xander yells, completely pissed.
She scoffs at him. “I wear these on a daily basis. I have to guard people you know.” He scowls at her. “Xander, they are built into my pants and bras.”
“How do you have them in your bra?” Aurora asks, dumbfounded.
Claire reaches into her shirt and then opens the palm of her hand. Resting on it, is a tiny silver hilt, not two inches long. Xander reaches out. “Can I touch it?”
“Sure, just what first,” Claire states. She barely flicks her wrist and a five inch, thin blade comes out.
“Can this actually hurt someone?” Xander asks, taking it from her.
“Yeah, it can cut through bone, so be careful.”
“I want to see,” Ariel says, stepping over by him. She carefully looks at the blade. “That is unreal. How do you put it back?” Claire takes the cina and brushes her finger against the hilt. “That is wicked cool,” Ariel breathes out.
“Showing off our secrets,” Damien laughs, walking up to them. “You’re not a very good top secret guard member.”
Claire looks at him. “They need to trust us.”
“I understand, no more weaponry though,” Damien states. “Dr. Galliger, electronics don’t really work with these three. We had a hard time reading them to even materialize them up here.”
“Interesting, I wonder if we can even test them.”
“No tests, not yet,” Damien replies. “They need to trust us first.”
“Speaking of trust, you guys are going to have to strip,” Claire sighs, rubbing her forehead.
“Not in front of everyone!” Ariel screams.
Shaking her head, Claire says, “No, we will take you to the showers. Where’s Alex?”
“Right here,” he says, walking up to them.
“Alex will take Xander and I will take the girls. This way you can get freshened up and in clean clothes.”
“We don’t have clothes for them on this ship,” Damien interrupts.
She eyes him and then turns to Xander. “Fine, give him your extra clothes. I will give the girls mine.”
“Clean clothes and a shower,” Aurora groans happily. “That would be amazing.”
“Wait until you see the showers,” Claire gleefully replies. “You can stay in there until we reach our destination.”
“Which will be a fifteen minutes,” Damien says, looking at a panel on the wall.
Claire rolls her eyes and looks back at the girls. “We will wait for you. Take as long as you want.”
“In that case, we are making a stop,” Damien says with a smile. “Get cleaned up and get ready.”
“For what?” Xander asks.
“You’ll see. Only good things I promise.”
Waving her hand forward, Claire says, “Come on then.” Alex suddenly draws a gun. “Alex, no!”
Xander looks at him and the gun goes flying. Alex puts his hands up. “We have to escort people through the ships by gun point. It was just procedure.”
“Do you not know what I can do?” Xander asks. Alex nods. “So, unless you catch me by surprise, that won’t work.”
“Alex, chill,” Claire instructs. “We are going about this in a different way. We want to build their trust.”
“Alright, I apologize,” Alex says to Xander.
“It’s okay. I understand,” Xander says.
Ariel interrupts. “Can we please go take a shower and put on some clean clothes? I will be in there for an hour.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Claire starts to lead them through the ship.
With his eyes scanning everything, Xander finally says, “This is even cooler than I imagined.”
“What?” Claire quips, turning around.
“The alien stuff,” Xander replies. “It’s better than anything they have in movies.”
“That’s because they have no clue what’s in store for them if they keep advancing. The human race is behind the times imagination wise. They have some of it down though.”
They follow Claire down a long hall and then enter a large area. It has couches, computers and a TV. “What is this?”
“The guest commons area,” Claire replies. “Come this way. I’m going to get you clothes.” She starts to walk down another hallway. They come up to a set of double doors. She places her hand on a pad. The doors open.
“Too cool,” Aurora exhales.
“This is Damien’s and my room. Let me get you some clothes.” Claire walks over to a dresser. “Here Xander, this is all clean.” She hands him a stack of clothes.
“Thanks,” he replies.
She opens another drawer and takes some stuff out. “One of you gets a sundress, the other gets pants.”
“Sundress!” Aurora exclaims. Claire hands it to her. Aurora clenches it to her chest. “I have always wanted to wear a dress.”
“You were never given dresses?” Claire replies.
“We had very plain uniforms that we wore,” Xander explains. “Wearing these clothes is very foreign to us.”
Claire frowns. “Your life sucked pretty badly.”
“Yeah,” Ariel whispers, shuffling her foot.
“Well, it’s time to start anew,” Claire cheers. “Showers first.”
When they get to the guest bathrooms, Xander watches the girls’ jaws drop. “These are fantastic,” Ariel exhales, walking up to one of the showers.
“Alex, take Xander next door. He can get cleaned up there,” Claire instructs.
Alex nods his head. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, he has to be there for me to take a shower?” Xander stammers.
“Yes,” Claire replies. Xander stares at her in horror. She bursts out laughing. “No, he doesn’t. You just need to strip so we know you have no weapons.”
“I am a weapon,” Xander counters.
She cocks her head to the side. “That’s very true but we need to do it anyway.”
“Whatever,” Xander laughs. “We’re a little bit past the point of being safe. If I wanted to off Damien, I would have by now. We were in a restaurant full of glass and knives. He would have been dead instantly.”
“What a cheery thought,” Damien draws out behind him.
Xander turns to him. “It’s the truth. It’s obvious that I don’t want to harm anyone. That was never my intention.”
“I realize that,” he replies. “We still need to make sure you have no weapons and then we will move on from there.”
“Sounds good.”
Nudging his head, Alex says, “Let’s go.” Xander nods. They walk out of the bathroom and in
to the next one. “Alright, take your clothes off.”
“This is so weird,” Xander mumbles.
“Never been around guys before?” Alex asks.
He shakes his head. “No, we were separated.”
“We will make this quick then,” Alex says. “Take off an item of clothing and hand it to me, one at a time.”
Xander strips off his shirt. Alex takes it and feels all over. “There’s nothing there,” Xander states.
“I know. The rest of your clothes,” Alex urges. Xander sighs and undoes his pants.
Chapter 5
Claire
“Alright, boys out!” Claire exclaims, shooing everyone with her hands. Damien laughs, turns around and leaves. She shuts the door. “Okay, you girls have to strip down.”
She sees Ariel shift nervously. “This is weird. Aurora and I are the only ones who have seen each other naked.”
“Well, I’m going to try and not make this awkward. Which one of you wants to shower first?”
“She can.”
Aurora squeals. She kicks off her shoes and shimmies down her pants. Quickly, she hands them to Claire. Claire searches the pockets and then the legs. Slowly, they go through all her clothes. “Can I shower?” Aurora gasps.
“Go ahead,” Claire laughs. She goes over and starts the shower. Aurora jumps in and then groans. “Feel good?”
Sighing, Aurora says, “You have no idea.”
“Do you want me to search you and then you girls can get ready by yourselves?”
Ariel nods. After Claire searches her, Ariel smiles. “Can we shower by ourselves now?”
“Yeah, I will be right outside the door.” Claire gestures to the door. She then turns and walks out into the hallway. Damien is standing there. “They are super excited about this.”
He crosses his arms. “This is really sad and rather disturbing. I really want to find this institute.”
“I really feel as though we should concentrate on that,” Claire sighs. “It’s something out of a horror movie.”
“I am going to talk to the head of the guard, your grandfather and my father as soon as possible. Maybe they have some knowledge about it that I don’t.”
“If they did, wouldn’t they have swooped in and stopped it by now?”
“That’s very true.”