It had been a few months now, and they were discovering the joys of the city as spring was starting to take bloom. Sudden showers caused accidents, but at least Diz didn’t have to worry about slipping on icy patches anymore.
They did their best to put together some kind of costumes to hide their identities even though Cacy and Gavin didn’t have high profile jobs where anyone would be likely to recognize them.
Diz had worn a simple black t-shirt and black jeans. He added a beat up blue motor cycle helmet he’d found beside a dumpster, and a pair of running shoes.
Cacy and Gavin had argued about a costume for Karis. Gavin wanted to wear jeans and a t-shirt too, but Cacy insisted Karis needed more. In the end they found a green body suit and a purple skirt.
"This isn't like the comic books at all," Karis complained one evening while they were patrolling the city.
"What's the matter?" Diz asked. "We're dressed in silly costumes and fighting crime."
"I just feel like there's something more out there," Karis predicted.
"What like super villains?" Diz asked as he ran beside his partner.
Karis didn't get to answer as there was an explosion several blocks away. They rushed to the scene and discovered that an apartment complex was on fire. Diz and Karis had been working together for a few weeks now and had a rough idea of what would happen next.
Karis had discovered that along with flight she was also invulnerable to everything that they had encountered so far, so she hurried into the building looking for anyone that was trapped in the fire. She had to go back into the building several times because the flames had cornered people throughout the edifice. Karis was glad that she could fly so she didn't have to try to take the victims out through the flames. She could just bust out of a window and take her passengers to the ground. After looking through the entire building, Karis decided that her work was done.
"Have you seen Burgundy?" Karis heard a panicked woman ask one of the fire fighters.
"Is someone missing?" Karis inquired as she floated towards the ground.
"It's my daughter, I thought she was with us, but in all the confusion, I lost track of her,” the woman explained.
"Where do you live?” Karis asked as she looked at the building.
"Apartment 704, please find my little girl," the woman pled.
Karis didn't answer; she flew up to the seventh floor and found the hallway. Once she found the window, she smashed through the glass and glided down the hall looking for room 704. She had to pass through two walls of flame in order to get to the room, but she managed to find it.
The door was open and it looked like the family had evacuated quickly and wasn't worried about locking up their apartments. She rushed through the door and started looking everywhere. Karis remembered hearing about fire fighters finding a small child hiding in their closet during a fire. She started searching behind every door she could find.
After several minutes of searching, Karis located the girl in the broom closet just off the kitchen. The little girl was probably four or five and she had long blond hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in blue jeans and a pink sweater with a little angel pin and curled up in a ball.
"Sweetie," Karis started, "I'm here to help."
"Are you my angel?" the girl asked as she looked at Karis with a wide-eyed expression before she started coughing from the smoke.
Karis was taken aback by the question. Sure Gavin had adapted to living in Cacy's body part of the time, but he didn't have a place where he saw himself as a woman, let alone someone that could be mistaken for an angel.
"No, sweetie," Karis answered glad the smoke and darkness hid the blush that she felt growing on her face. "What's your name?"
"Burgundy," she replied.
"That's a beautiful name. You can call me Karis. Why don't we get out of here?"
Karis didn't wait for an answer. She flew for the nearest window and held Burgundy closely in her arms, as she turned her back to the window and flew through it. Glass scattered everywhere, but Karis hovered and let it fall to the ground ahead of them.
"We're flying!" Burgundy shouted. "You are an angel."
Karis didn't bother to answer and drifted to the ground. Burgundy's mother was there when they landed.
"You saved my little girl," the mother shouted, "how can I ever thank you."
"Just step back and enjoy the show," Karis answered as she pointed to the building.
* * *
Now that all the victims were out of the building and accounted for, Diz knew it was time to show the world why he was called the Diz. Among all the great reasons to love being the Diz, showing off his powers was the biggest thrill. It was just a shame that Karis insisted on going in the building to make the rescues alone.
Diz started racing laps around the building. He ran faster and faster until he was creating a vortex and whipping high-speed winds around the city. Weather patterns would be a mess for the next couple of days, but this show would be worth a little problem like that. As the vortex built up steam, the fires started to subside. The plan was that the vortex would suck all the air from the area and extinguish the flames, and it was working. After a few minutes of running, Diz decided things were probably alright and slowed down the spin. He kept his eyes on the building as he ran to make sure that nothing reignited. Diz noticed Karis landing near the vortex and brought his run to an end. What crowd hadn't been chased away by the winds was cheering for them.
"Quite a show," Karis admitted as she punched him in the arm.
"It would have been better if you would have let me in the building," Diz lamented.
"The flames were everywhere," Karis insisted. "If I hadn't been invulnerable, I wouldn't be here to have this argument again."
"I suppose you're right," Diz admitted with a shrug. "Your body wouldn't look good with burn marks on it."
They were getting ready to flee the scene, but there were several reporters that had rushed up to them.
"Would you two answer some questions?" a short female reporter asked shoving one of the dozen microphones that were in their faces.
"We can't stay for long," Diz replied trying to create a window to run.
"Everyone wants to know how you got your powers," a second reporter with a grey suit and matching hair pressed.
"We don't know," Karis answered honestly, "we just woke up one morning and we had them."
"So you're mutants?” the first reporter suggested.
"I'm not sure," Karis started to say.
"The last girl you rescued," a third reporter from the back of the group started
"Burgundy," Karis interrupted.
"I think that was her name," the reporter muttered, "She says you're an angel. Is that true?"
"She was just happy to get out of that building," Karis insisted holding her hand in front of her face to keep from being blinded by the flashes from the cameras around them, "I am not an angel."
"What was that trick you pulled?"
"Simple physics, my dear," Diz gloated with a wave of his hand and a bow. "My running fashioned high-speed winds that created a vortex that I shaped to suck all the air from the building. No air, no fire. It’s as easy as that. It’s all a matter of physics."
"We would love to talk with all of you more," Karis interrupted as she started pulling Diz away from the crowd of reporters, "but we need to talk to the police about the situation that just transpired.”
The heroes rushed away from the confused reporters and towards the officers.
"That was some good thinking," Diz conceded as he followed Karis’ lead.
"I just needed to get away from there," Karis replied.
As they were walking, a man with long dark hair in a grey track suit approached them. He had a pair of aviators on top of his head.
"I need to talk to you two," the man announced.
"We're not interested," Diz declared.
"I don't think this is a request you can afford to ignore," the man i
nsisted as he reached out his hand toward Karis.
"I'm sorry," Karis explained as she pushed his hand away, "but we aren't interested in cereals, toys, or anything like that."
"I don't blame you," the man continued, "but that's not why I'm here. Your country, and the world, needs your help."
"So you work for the government?" Diz pressed.
"We should talk about this someplace a little more secure," the man asserted. "Please come with me."
Diz looked at Karis and shrugged as they followed the stranger.
Chapter 7
Karis and Diz followed the man into a small car that didn't stand out. It wasn’t a model that either of them recognized, and the strange man rushed them into the car so they didn't get a chance to check it out. He shepherded them into the back seat and climbed into the driver's seat.
"Buckle up," he ordered.
They followed the suggestion since they didn't know the man as a driver. The driver drove down the street and took several turns in rapid succession. They drove into a parking garage and down several levels underground before coming to a stop. He directed them to step out of the car and led them to a door.
The door opened to an office space filled with a variety of people in grey track suits, all wearing aviators. They were milling around like they had a purpose, but neither Karis nor Diz could figure out what that purpose was. They were lead to another door, and were directed to enter. It was an office, and yet another man in a grey suit was seated behind a desk.
"Please come in and have a seat," the man said as he pointed to a couple of chairs.
"I think we would prefer to stand," Diz replied.
"Suit yourselves," the man shrugged. "You may call me Michaels."
"Just Michaels?" Karis wondered.
"That will be enough," Michaels stated.
"So what are we doing here?" Diz insisted as he slammed his hands on the back of one of the chairs.
"I'm behind your work to make New York a safer place,” Michaels started as he pointed to a map of the state behind him, “but I would be remiss if I were to allow you to run around on your own. I work for an agency that wants to support your work. There is more going on here than you know yet. We just want to be ready when it happens."
"What does that mean for us?" Karis asked, running her fingers through her hair.
"We would have to work that out," Michaels answered as he tipped back in his chair.
Before Karis or Diz could reply they both felt a wave of nausea. There was a vision they shared. A creature neither of them could identify was crawling outside of a forest that neither of them recognized. Then the vision passed.
"Did you see that?" Karis asked as she tried to stand up straight.
"I did, but I don't know where it was." Diz replied as he sat down in one of the chairs.
"I think I have an idea," Karis replied. "Can you get us out of here?"
"It shouldn't be too hard."
"Wait a moment," Michaels roared, "you can't leave yet. There are details that need to be discussed."
The door burst open before they could discuss the situation any further. An elderly woman in a grey suit was standing there holding a sheet of paper.
"Sir," she panted, "there's a sighting of a creature in the Adirondacks. It's cutting a path of destruction through the area on its way to the city. Right now its path doesn't go through heavily populated areas, but that will change soon."
"What are you two waiting for," Michaels snapped as he grabbed the paper and pointed towards the door, "you've got work to do."
Diz grabbed the paper from his hand and scooped up Karis and raced out the door.
Chapter 8
Diz and Karis were able to make the trip to the Adirondacks in just less than half an hour. Diz was of course faster on the ground than she was in the air. He had dropped her off outside of the parking garage, but Karis wasn’t far behind him, and she had insisted that Diz wait until she was there before doing anything. Diz agreed reluctantly.
Now they were in the area where the creature had been spotted, and there was a team of grey track suits all around them. A man who was in the standard grey track suit, but with short black hair, and referred to himself as Smith was giving them information.
"The creature has been moving at a steady pace since it was spotted,” he explained. “It doesn't seem to be in a hurry, but it is determined."
"What is the creature?" Karis inquired.
"It looks like a giant ant, but that doesn't mean anything yet," Smith reported as he shook his head.
"Well, that's something different," Diz mused. "It won't be like dealing with fires or robberies."
"We need a plan," Karis insisted as she looked around at their surroundings.
"What do you have in mind?" Diz wondered.
"Do you remember the sensation when we had that vision?" Karis asked as she turned towards him.
"How could I forget?" Diz shot back.
"What if we could recreate that but on a personal level?" Karis suggested.
"Like a telepathic link?" Diz asked as he tapped his helmet.
"Exactly. We could communicate and coordinate our attack."
"It makes sense. Let's try it. I'm already in your head anyway,” Diz joked.
"Good point," Karis laughed. "Try focusing on my mind and feeling the way you felt when we had that vision."
They both closed their eyes and twisted their faces as they tried to see inside each other's minds. They could both hear Smith tapping his foot, but he didn’t say anything.
"Are you thinking about food?" Karis asked.
"It seems like I'm always thinking about food," Diz joked. "Maybe it's just part of being a guy."
"Let's worry about gender role analysis later," Karis insisted. "For now we need to see if this works. I'm thinking of a color."
"Blue."
"Right on the first try," Karis reported. "Now you try."
"Let's make it a little harder," Diz challenged
"Your number is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, zero, nine," Karis mocked. "Nice try with switching the numbers at the end."
"I guess this works," Diz mused. "I don't know though. It's bad enough having you in my body without having you in my brain too."
"We can worry about that later," Karis said, evading the comment by taking to the air. "We have a bug to crush."
* * *
While Karis may have enjoyed flying Diz to the location of the giant ant, Diz was not enjoying the ride as much as he would have under other circumstances. There were too many things that could go wrong with this plan the way that it stood, but it was the best their two minds could develop in the time that they had. Both of them made a mental note to work on some moves for the future. They may not be able to recreate the moves from the comic books with the powers that they had, but there had to be a few tricks they could work up.
As they approached the scene, they could see the path of destruction behind the ant, and caught a glimpse of its body. It was a regular black ant, except that it currently stood a bit over ten feet tall. The large trees in its path were not a hindrance since ants can lift six times their own body weight, and this ant was quite heavy at this point. Karis set down behind the ant and they prepared their attack.
Before they could act, a light shown down from the sky and they turned to see a figure descend. He was dressed in brown, with a cloak falling from his shoulders and a large metal mask over his head. He was wearing black gloves that went up to his elbows that had glowing buttons up and down both of them.
"Tremble before me, my creations!" he bellowed as he lifted his arms from his side.
"Excuse me?" Diz answered as he twirled his finger beside his head.
"You are my creations, and you must follow me," the man declared as he pointed at them.
"Just because you put on a mask and a cloak doesn't impress us," Karis protested.
"Something is wrong," the man mused. "You should be my servants.
"
"I don't know what gave you that idea," Diz sneered, "but we tend to do our own thinking."
"I am Mornigan, and I am the source of your powers. I have studied your super heroes, and have come to you in a guise you will understand."
"You look more like a villain than a hero," Karis argued. "What's with that get up anyway?"
"That does not matter," Mornigan insisted as he stomped his foot. "All that matters is that your creation, albeit unexpected, is also a failure. As a result, I will have to expunge you from existence."
"How do you plan to do that?" Diz insisted.
"I don't have time to deal with you failures at the moment," Mornigan uttered turning away from them, "but I expect my newest pet will have no problem dealing with you. I doubt that we will meet again, so farewell."
With those words, Mornigan lifted into the air as easily as he had descended. As if it were getting a signal from the departing Mornigan, the ant skittered around and approached the duo.
"It looks like we have a bigger problem than a ten foot ant," Karis expressed.
"Yeah," Diz agreed as he pointed in the direction Mornigan had gone, "what is up with that guy? He seems a little bent out of shape."
"Probably lead poisoning from that horrid helmet," Karis joked. "So we go with the same plan?
"If that Mornigan nut job is gone, then nothing has changed," Diz agreed.
There wasn't anything spectacular with the battle plan. It was simple, but they hoped that it would be effective against the enlarged ant.
Karis took off and punched the ant a few times until it got enraged and started trying to pluck her from the air. She led it back on the path it had travelled so far and back towards the less inhabited portions of the Adirondacks, and something she had noticed from the air on her way here. After a bit of dodging, Karis swooped low to the ground and behind Diz. Then she took a sharp turn into the still-standing forest.
Young Mutants in Love Page 3