Young Mutants in Love

by William D. Dickerson

  "What attack?" Karis exclaimed.

  “I’ll explain that later as well,” Smith mumbled. “For now just get us out of here.”

  "Where are we going?"

  "Just start running," Smith ordered, "and I'll give you directions as we go."

  "That isn't going to work," Diz argued, "first because you won't be able to talk to me fast enough, and second because I don't like being ordered around."

  "Fine, just get us to my office and we'll go from there," Smith suggested with growing agitation.

  Diz grabbed Karis and Smith and started speeding out of the building. After they had gotten a block down the street, the building exploded. Diz stopped to get a better look at the wreckage.

  "Glad you didn't argue anymore," Smith muttered. "Karis probably would have been the only one still standing."

  "Probably not," Karis muttered.

  "Let's get going," Diz suggested avoiding the topic of Karis' power situation.

  "Let me call in to get your meeting moved," Smith replied as he stepped out of sight.

  "What are we going to do if they press the attack?" Karis wondered. "I'm in no shape for a fight."

  "I'm still doing fine," he answered calmly. "If we need to, we'll just run away."

  "But you don't like running away," Karis started to argue.

  "I love running, but not away," Diz agreed, "but I need to watch out for you right now. I’ll do what I have to do to keep you safe."

  "That's sweet of you," Karis acknowledged as she hugged him.

  "Let's go!" Smith demanded coming back into sight. “We don’t have time for this.”

  "You're so pushy," Karis grunted.

  "I'm sorry," Smith apologized, "we're just on a deadline."

  "Fine," Diz sighed, "Let's get going."

  He grabbed them and got ready for the run. It would have been more enjoyable without Smith, but there would be other chances to run with Karis.

  Chapter 33

  Arriving at Smith's office, Karis insisted on a seat even though he didn't have any chairs in the room. Diz rushed down the hall and returned with an adjustable computer chair that he’d snagged from one of the other offices.

  "I'm fine," Karis insisted, "just a little dizzy."

  "It will pass," Diz assured her. "You'll adjust."

  "I don't want to adjust," Karis growled.

  "Someone's," Smith started to say.

  "Don't even say it," Karis threatened.

  "Sorry," Smith muttered. "Let me go see about the meeting."

  "Don't let him get to you," Diz advised. "It's all part of being a woman."

  "A part of being a woman that you never warned me about," Karis said.

  "It didn't seem to be an issue before," Diz explained, "besides, you seemed to be doing pretty well adjusting to life as a woman."

  "Thanks," Karis muttered. "I never thought of this part of being a woman. I'm not very happy about it."

  "Nobody is," Diz replied.

  They sat silently, looking at each other as they reached out and took each other's hand and held it for a while. The moment was broken by Smith running back into his office.

  "What are you two waiting for?" he insisted, "We're late."

  Karis and Diz followed Smith down the hallway. They took several turns and were led into a large room with two large tables and two smaller tables with an assortment of tools on them. A set of doors at the back of the room opened and Xenia and Michaels enter the room.

  "What are you two doing together?" Diz insisted.

  "Michaels has been working for me for a while," Xenia informed. "There are many details that you need to have clarified today."

  "Clarification would be good," Diz said, "but what do you know about all of this?"

  "Michaels, Smith," Xenia said as she pointed at the door she just used to enter, "you may leave us now."

  "So what is all of this about?" Karis asked as she opened her arms to embrace the entire building.

  "It is a long story," Xenia began, "that is going to change the face of your world."

  "This has something to do with Mornigan, doesn't it?" Karis asked.

  "Yes," Xenia affirmed, "he is at the heart of it, at least the recent part of the story. Have you told your partner about your time with Mornigan?"

  "We really haven't had the chance," Karis explained. "There has been so much going on since then."

  "You should tell him about that encounter now," Xenia suggested. "We have a little time."

  Karis took some time to explain about the time she spent as a conscious captive of Mornigan. She talked about his space station the assortment of robots that worked for him. She continued to mention his talk of his people and conquering the world. She emphasized the claim that he was responsible for their powers, and that he might eventually figure out a way to control them.

  "So Mornigan is what, an alien or something?" Diz asked kicking at his helmet that was on the ground.

  "Yes," Xenia confirmed, "he is not of your world."

  "Where does he come from?" Karis pressed, "How do you know anything about him?"

  "I am also not of your world," Xenia replied. "I have come searching to reclaim Mornigan to our people."

  "What is he doing here?" Diz asked.

  "Let me start at the beginning," Xenia insisted.

  "That might be helpful," Karis agreed.

  * * *

  “I come from a world near the end of one of the many spiral arms of the universe, far from your world,” Xenia started, “War and strife gave our people strength. When we were young, as you are now, we almost destroyed our own world many times, but we avoided oblivion more times than we were able to record. Once we reached the level of technology where we could reach for the stars, we became conquerors of all that we met. We gave little care for the lives of the peoples that we encountered before or after our arrival. Many worlds were left dead after our visits.”

  “Eventually voices of reason turned us from annihilation. We slowly wandered away from obliteration toward peace. We helped to rebuild worlds and create a coalition of the surviving worlds. For generations since then, our people have lived in peace and spoken a loud no to our warlike past.”

  “This is the world where Mornigan was raised, but he wasn't convinced that our peaceful turn was the correct path for our people. He was obsessed with the past and studied everything he could learn about those days. He fixated over those times and began to learn the secrets of our technologies and our past methods of conquest. I know you are wondering how we could leave him to these researches, but the past is easiest to judge, and the present is still shrouded in the unknown. Mornigan was a history student and none of his teachers thought what he was planning.

  “Mornigan left our world in a ship he had borrowed forever, and sought a corner of the universe far from our people with the hope that he would not be uncovered until it was too late. His ship was loaded with technologies of our conquering past. Mornigan seeks to return to the old ways in an attempt to prove that he was right, that we should rebecome conquerors. Your world is the place that he has sought for subjugation.

  “Fortunately, he doesn't a complete knowledge of the technology he has stolen yet. He is still discovering how to operate it.”

  "So the only advantage we have is that he was stupid enough not to figure out his technology before he left?" Diz demanded.

  "Hope lives for other reasons," Xenia replied.

  "What does Mornigan have to do with our powers?" Karis asked as she brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "He mentioned that something went wrong with some sort of transformation while he was talking to me on his ship."

  "One of our primary weapons was a device that is called, well a word that won't translate into your languages," Xenia started. "It allowed for a control over the genetics of a single creature of every species. You've seen what this device can achieve with some of the enemies that Mornigan has sent over the last months."

  "Why didn't it work on us?" Diz
asked.

  "It has to a certain extent," Xenia explained. "You have powers as a result of that device, but you have avoided the control of the device. It shouldn't have worked on both of you though. It is only designed to manipulate one of the species"

  "Can you tell us what it might feel like when the device affects you?" Karis asked as she lifted Diz' hand.

  "Other sentient beings have reported a buzzing or even an electrical shock," Xenia related.

  "So what we felt in the field," Karis started.

  "Might have been this device," Diz concluded.

  "If you were connected during the transformation," Xenia whispered to herself, "it might have reduced the impact of the on both of you, set you free of the control. That would explain why Mornigan cannot manipulate you. It would also explain the variety and incompleteness of your transformations."

  "Incomplete?" Karis asked.

  "Yes," Xenia explained, "you should have been more powerful-a force that your world could not have withstood."

  "But we split that between us," Diz added.

  "But there are so many other questions that still doesn't answer," Karis pressed.

  "What else is on your mind?" Xenia inquired.

  "Why can't we change back, and what happened to my powers?" Karis asked as she tried to fly with nothing as a result.

  "Change back?" Xenia wondered as she took each of Karis and Diz’ free hands.

  "No one really knows this," Diz answered, "but we have been able to change bodies, and we only have powers when we change."

  "Now you are changed?" Xenia asked.

  "Yes, and I have no powers," Karis replied.

  "And we haven't been able to change bodies since Karis came back from her Mornigan’s space station," Diz added.

  "This is all unexplored," Xenia murmured. "I need to ask if we can do some testing of your bodies and your powers."

  "You still haven't explained about the Greys," Diz pointed out.

  "These are men and women that I have recruited to help me in my quest to stop Mornigan and return him to our world,” Xenia explained as she let go of Diz’ hand and pointed toward the ceiling.

  "Wait," Diz interjected, "you're the only one here to stop Mornigan? Where are the rest of your people?"

  "My people felt that one would be enough to handle the situation until the time was right," Xenia replied.

  "Can you trust these men?" Diz asked.

  "We had an unbreakable, what would you call it? I think that trust is the best word," Xenia replied. "That is all I can say for now."

  "I guess we can let you check our bodies," Karis agreed, "it's all we can do at the moment."

  "Thank you," Xenia responded as she directed them towards the door at the back of the room.

  "Do you think you can give us a place to stay now that our home has blown up?" Diz asked.

  Chapter 34

  An hour later, Karis and Diz found themselves laying, one each, on the smaller tables they had seen in the room earlier. Xenia was walking back and forth between them picking up one of the instruments on the smaller tables and setting it down again after she fiddled with it for a few moments. Instruments were touched to various body parts and waved over them, but neither Karis nor Diz were able to understand what was happening. Finally after several hours, Xenia motioned for the duo to stand.

  "What did you find out, Doc?" Diz asked as he stretched.

  "Your situation is interesting and unprecedented," Xenia responded and she organized the instruments on the tables.

  "You mentioned that already," Diz grumbled, "but that doesn't really tell us anything."

  "Diz," Karis soothed, with her hand on his back, "give her a chance to say something before you get too upset."

  "I'm sorry," Diz said to Xenia, with a shrug,"I'm just worried. There is a lot at stake here, for all of us."

  "I can understand your concern," Xenia said. "This is new territory, and I do not have all of the answers to your questions, but I believe that I can answer a few of them."

  "Will Mornigan be able to control us at some point?" Karis started, not bothering to hide her concern.

  "Uncertain," Xenia related as she punched some keys on the device she held in her hand. A three-dimensional image appeared with a form they could not understand. It spun slowly in the air giving them a complete view of it.

  "Your matrices are unique and complicated,” Xenia explained as she pointed at various locations on the image. “You can see here and here where your life force has mingled to create the unique lifestyle that you have engineered. The power to control you could take generations to develop or Mornigan might stumble upon it while we are talking."

  "Not very reassuring, is it?" Diz muttered.

  "I am sorry I couldn't give you a better answer," Xenia lamented as she turned off the display, "but better to be honest about the matter."

  "So why can't we switch bodies?" Karis grumbled in annoyance. "Will I get my powers back?"

  "Well," Xenia answered as she put the instrument down on the small table, "it is because it is your time."

  "But my period never stopped us from changing," Diz insisted as he stood up.

  "That is true," Xenia responded clinically as she turned to Karis, "but am I right in assuming that this is your first time?"

  "Yes," Karis whispered.

  "This is not something to bring shame," Xenia counseled. "It is an important part of life."

  "It shouldn't be a part of my life," Karis insisted, stomping her foot.

  "Every life follows its own, mysterious path," Xenia advised, lifting her arms and turning in a circle. "We must walk the road in front of us and not ask for anything more or less."

  "Also not helpful," Diz complained as he started pacing from one side of the room to the other.

  "Do not worry," Xenia comforted, "once your first time has passed, future incidents should no longer affect your ability to change or your powers. It is just because your matrix as Karis is adjusting itself, and finding its own unique reality."

  "This is going to happen again?" Karis moaned.

  "This is another interesting feature of your transformation," Xenia wondered. "Each of your four forms lives at a different rate. When you are in these bodies, you will age, but the other selves will not age."

  "So we get to live forever?" Diz joked as he sat down next to Karis.

  "Not forever," Xenia explained, "but perhaps double the normal life depending on how you spend it."

  ""What else have you discovered?" Karis asked.

  "The two of you are connected," Xenia announced. "It's more than just your ability to switch bodies. Look at your hands."

  Karis and Diz lifted their hands and found that they were holding hands without even realizing it.

  "This is just a small sign of the connection. You are linked deep down to what you might call the soul."

  "So we're soul mates?" Karis asked as she looked at their hands.

  "That could be an appropriate assessment," Xenia agreed. "Perhaps there is a better way to explain it, but I do not have a complete knowledge of your language, so that will do for now. You have noticed, I am sure, that it doesn't matter which bodies you inhabit. There is still this connection between the two of you."

  "So what?" Diz demanded.

  "We should also discuss the matter of your powers," Xenia continued ignoring Diz, "and you personalities."

  "What did you discover about them?" Karis prodded.

  "There is no physical reason why you have the powers that you have," Xenia explained. "How does Gavin feel about flying?"

  "He is afraid of flying," Karis replied, “or at least he was before things started to happen with us.”

  "What do you think is the connection between Cacy and your speed?" Xenia posed to Diz.

  "Cacy is always running behind-never on time," Diz answered. "Do you think our powers are a response to a lack we have?"

  "I won't know for sure until I have a chance to examine you in your ow
n bodies," Xenia answered. "I assume there is a difference in your personalities depending on which body you inhabit.

  "You've got that right," Diz laughed. "It's not conscious though. I just am who I am no matter if I'm Cacy or the Diz. It’s just that who I am happens to change depending on the body I inhabit."

  "Once I have examined you in your original bodies," Xenia stated, "I will be able to understand more about you and your powers. I may even be able to unlock your complete potential."

  "I think we turned out pretty good just the way that we are," Diz mumbled.

  "I agree," Karis chipped in.

  "I won't disagree with either of you," Xenia answered with something that might have been a laugh, "I will say that you may be able to do more in the future."

  "I suppose that will be alright," Diz said.

  * * *

  I am present at the location of an explosion, but my sources tell me that there is more to this account than a gas leak or some other silly story. You won't be likely to believe me, but I'm not in this business to lie to you, like those other reporters do all the time. I take the news seriously, and I am here to tell you that this explosion was the result of a malicious attack. I'm also here to tell you that there is something nefarious behind today's activities.

  Yesterday, an object that started in space crashed in the Pacific Ocean. None of my sources can determine where this object started. None of them can tell me what it was. Perhaps it has something to do with that mysterious being known as Mornigan. Or it could have something to do with the man who was known as Hypnose.

  The only statement this reporter can make with any amount of certainty is that the Diz was a part of this incident. How can I be so sure? A source from the Mayor's office has confirmed that the building that was destroyed contained the apartment where the Mayor has been keeping Karis and the Diz since they started working for the city. The current whereabouts of the heroic team are not known by my source at the Mayor's office, but this reporter feels that it is almost a certainty that the Diz has perished in the explosion that rocked the city today. Although there is a chance that he survived, this reporter's instincts say that he has left this mortal coil.