Aberrant Pt. 02

"Hey Wolf Girl," Alexa said to Alaska, strutting around with the barbell still on her shoulders. "Betcha aren't this strong, are ya?"

Ska frowned as she looked at Jay, cocking her head. "Well, like...all novas kind of get an innate understanding of their abilities..." she said, frowning. "I'm not sure why you're not getting any..." Then, grinning, she said to Alexa. "Stronger, actually!"

As she spoke, Octavia tried singing quietly. The song she was singing shimmered through the air, creating a glowing sphere of light, which formed into a shimmering musical note symbol. It floated through the air, brushed against the wall, and exploded with a roar, shattering the wall outwards with a spray of smoke, causing Octavia to yelp in shock.

"Good job, honey! Now try targeting it on things!" Vanessa said encouragingly to her girlfriend.

After some thought, Jay looks Alaska dead in the eye and says, "Try and hit me."

Gillian and her copies yelped at the blast, struggling to adjust. They even called out to each other when one as starting to get overloaded, quickly adjusting and stabilizing.

Octavia gaped at the hole in the wall - which opened into an empty lot built behind the Rashound Facility, surrounded by a thick fence covered with large warning signs. It seemed holes getting blown in the facility wasn't an uncommon occurence.

Alaska snorted. "Isn't that what you're trying to do to me - also, Jay, one second." She said, holding up her hand to jog over to Octavia and the hole in the wall.

"Looks like a pretty good quantum bolt," she said, cheerily.

"I-I broke your wall!" Tavi stammered, sounding like she was near to tears.

Sean expected those results from Alexa, it was pretty plain to see and his friend tended to not be shy about physical prowess. Obviously. However he was surprised from the display Gillian put on, needing to remind himself that powers didn't need a physical tell to them.

At the knowledge that Alaska was stronger than her, Alexa dropped the weight. It smashed into the floor, cracking the tile neatly and sending up a poof of dust. "Ah, fuck..." Alexa muttered.

"Set the weights down, Alexa!" Ska shouted across the gym.

Vanessa moved over quickly to hug her lover, trying to keep focused on her hologram, "That's what we're here for, love!" She said, hugging her and kissing her cheek. "This is a learning environment, where mistakes are just a way to learn."

"Anybody? Anybody? I've been told I can have a very punchable face." Jay spread his hands.

Sean snickered at that. "You said it, not me." He teased.

"Limit," The Gillian with the blonde streak called out. The other copy and original agreed and carefully lowered the weight back down into it's base before all letting go with groans. The black-streaked Gillian fell onto her bottom and groaned, "Shiiiiit..."

Alexa picked up the barbell and endured a walk of shame back to the weight rack, where she set it back down. A part of her belt mortified at having goofed in front of the wolfy nova. There was something about those teeth...

Tavi blushed, slightly, while Ska pulled out her handheld. She muttered into it, then walked over. "Fine, fine, you want me to try punching you in the face, Jay?" she asked, frowning. "I won't be going full strength..." She tensed, then snapped out a quick punch and missed. She blinked, then swung again - and missed again. It seemed as if she was unable to hit jay...and yet, Jay didn't seem to dodge. He just happened to not be where her fist was going to be.

"So stuff just doesn't hit me unless I want it to. Cool." Jay nodded, casually.

Vanessa smiled, "How about this?" She moved the cube she was maintaining to the wall, shifting it into an archery target, "Try to hit the center, love." She smiled, kissing her cheek.

"This is weirdly frustrating..." Ska muttered, throwing another punch that failed to connect with Jay's head.

Octavia nodded, then sang. This time, she used a smaller amount of voice...and the result made a smaller, faster note that struck the holo and exploded with a loud CRACK, causing the wall to shake.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this," Tavi said, shaking her head slightly.

Vanessa smiled, winking, "I always told you your voice was deadly pretty." She teased. "But don't worry. You can use it defensively, or for demolition or something else like that. Hell, you could just use it as a stepping stone to future powers based around manipulating sound."

"Gonna get really awkward if you're a screamer," Jay points out casually. Then he looks back to Alaska, trying to gauge just how narrow the margin of her misses is.

Tavi shot Jay a scowl. Then, quietly, she whispered to Vanessa. "I shouldn't try and blast him, should I?"

"How weak can you make it?" Vanessa said, frowning, "I don't want you accidentally hurting him. For you or him." She smiled, hugging her.

"Shit, that one almost hit me," Jay mutters, actually leaning away from the blonde's fist. "Are you hitting harder?"

Tavi giggled. "I think I'll skip it..." she said, nodding.

"Yup!" Ska said, beaming. "So, your luck might not hold out forever..." She said, rubbing her chin.

###

The rest of the day was spent in a flurry of practicing their powers - learning how to control their new strength, speed, flight, and other abilities. But once it was over, they all felt worn and tired and a bit sweaty - and Ska told them all that they could come back at any time if they wanted more chances to practice...but, without them actually joining Utopia, there wasn't going to be a lot of training...

And without joining Utopia, they'd need to get their own food.

But as they emerged from the Rashound Facility, they found that someone had either told people when they were leaving...or N! and TMZ and other news companies had just decided to park a reporter or two and just wait. And so, the six novas emerged into the lobby of the Rashound Facility to find floating camera drones and dozens of reporters waiting for them outside.

"Do you want to use the roof exit?" The receptionist asked, sounding sympathetic. "Also, Mr. Toulman, your parents are waiting in waiting room A - they took one look at those jackals and decided to wait."

"Place has got a back door, right? Fuck that noise." Jay does not seem thrilled by the concept of cameras.

Vanessa smiled, "Well.. I'm tempted to try running the gauntlet myself.." She said, looking to the others.

"I will literally go through the wall to avoid all this," Alexa deadpanned. "Point me to the roof exit, please."

"Roof or back exit sounds...pretty good. I'll try just...'throwing' myself and see how that works out," Gillian said, staring out at the drones and reporters with a sick expression. Her two copies looked much the same, with blonde tugging her jacket hood up.

"Ah- thanks." Sean said to the receptionist. "I share much of the same sentiment." He confirmed before heading to the waiting room.

Before Sean turned away, the group noticed a blue shape flying down through the gathering red light of the sunset...and realized that David Chedder, the dragon from earlier in the day, was about to land on the sidewalk before the Rashound Facility, likely unable to see the paparatzi out there while flying!

Vanessa headed for a window, leaping out and flying off to intercept the dragon before he was thrown to the press like chum to sharks.

"Ah fuck, he's doomed. Can we get to the roof before he laaa-ooookay."Jay trailed off, staring after Vanessa, dumbfounded.

The paparatzi swung their cameras up to follow Vanessa as she soared up through the air. The dragon backwinged, slowing, then blinked, squinting - he wasn't wearing his glasses - at Vanessa. "Oh! Hello Miss Stacks!" he said, cheerily, as the paparatzi started to call up questions.

"Is that a Terat!?"

"Are you rivals!?"

"Can you do more than just fly?"

"Is it true you were born with Lhars-Mohs Syndrome, and your parents refused to have it treated because of fear of ostracization from the mute community!?"

"What's all that?" David looked confused, looking down past his feet.

"...Wonder if we could just 'bullrush' past them while they're distracted," Gillian voiced aloud after a moment, remaining within the Rashound Facility, her eyes locked on the throning crowd.

Tavi smiled. "Not a bad idea..." She said, quietly.

"Shit, that could work," Her black-streak copy offered.

"Well bugger. Guess we are going to return the favor?" He asked, seeming to have a plan before Vanessa rushed out the window.

Vaneesa shook her head as she floated through the air beside David and sighed, "The press." She turned to them and put her hands on her hips, "Actually he's a Utopian with enough power they're considering him for Team Tomorrow to counteract most people's ideas about morphologically abnormal novas as all being Terats. Not only are we not rivals, he's the one who resculpted my voice box to give me the ability to speak. I can also project holograms that produce light and sound, and my muteness was actually caused by something that would have, at best, taken several hundred thousand dollars in mundane operations to fix and my parents are only middle middle class and while muteness is unpleasant with today's advanced texting technology it is not the handicap it once was."

Shaking his head the whole while, Jay just lets himself out through the now-opened window. Maybe with any luck, they'll be too focused on the dragon, the speech and the door.

"So, I got a plan? Jay, Tavi, do you have a picture of your houses?" Gillian asked after a second, then blinked as she watched Jay grab onto the sill and drag himself out of the narrow window on the front of the Rashound Facility.

Tavi nodded, smiling at Gillian and pulling out her phone. "Why, do you have teleporting ability?" she asked, sounding amused as the press listened intently to Vanessa's speech as she floated over their heads, while remaining entirely unaware of Jay just casually scrambling out the window, landing on the ground, and walking away. He could have whistled and they wouldn't have noticed him.

And down the block he goes, even turning around to wave at his friends through the window after a dozen steps.

"Yeah. Sorta figured it out-" Gillian began, looking over her shoulder. She missed Jay's exit, and could only facepalm while her two copies just shrugged. "Right...I can probably teleport you home so Vanessa won't worry."

Alexa raised a finger. "Can you uh, put me down for a teleport as well, please?"

Tavi smiled. "I say we all head home..." she said, shaking her head. "I don't want our parents to have to deal with that..." She said, nodding to the crowd outside.

"That's tempting, but can't leave my parents to the wolves. And their car is out there." Sean admitted before pushing open the front door and walking out himself.

Meanwhile, Vanessa had finished her speech, and the reporters blinked. Then one of them - a platinum blond girl from N!, asked: "Is your style a choice, or is it due to quantum backlash syndrome?"

"It's a harmless morphological alteration based off of my eruption. I suppose it is the Quantum Backlash equivalent of an ultimately benign mole as opposed to the 'cancer' that one normally associates with that condition." Vanessa nodded.

"I agree that we all head home." Gillian said, rubbing her brow. The copy of her with the blonde streak stepped up and offered a hand. "Hold on and I'll be quick. Leave you right at the door step." She focused -- and then vanished with a faint crack, Tavi dragged with her. Sean managed to sneak his parents out through the back. In the end, Vanessa and David were the only novas at the Rashound Facility outside, and the paparazzi didn't even realized they had been swindled, as they were too busy asking Vanessa for her answers. And one thing about erupting...it sometimes made a lot of questions easier to answer. Being several degrees smarter than you used to be had its upsides.

But after a series of tearful reunions and excited hugs - for some of them at least - the novas made their way to the Toulman house. Located near a part of Sunnyvale termed "birdville" due to its bird themed streets, the house was two story affair with an offswinging garage and a large back yard with a burbling creek and two ponds between them to serve as decoration. It also had an out-thrusting addition to the second story that was Sean's room and abode. That was where the teens congregaded as a few stars twinkled over heard in the clear black sky.

Tavi snuggled her girlfriend as they claimed the large bean-bag in the edge of the room, while Sean carefully tidied away his huge array of electronic bits and dongles and wires as well as carefully tucking away his drawing tablet.

"It's a relief to be in private again," Tavi said, rubbing her hand on her face. "It feels like everyone's stairing at me."

"In retrospect, I could've just gone out there and flexed," Alexa said, doing just that from another beanbag in the corner. "That'd draw everyone's eye."

"The problem was not getting their attention, just what to do with it once we had it." Vanessa snickered slightly, nuzzling her girlfriend and kissing her cheek.

"Flex so hard you break the cameras," Jay suggests, lazing about on his own beanbag.

"Fewer people badgering us with questions, the better;" Gillian said. She had arrived rather suddenly with small rush of displaced air before finding a nearest chair she could to relax in.

"I mean, did you all see me lift a ton back there?" Alexa said, kissing her bicep.

Vanessa snickered, "Well, it's a good thing novas rarely draw attention from the press. And much less so when they congregate. Oh, speaking of that Alexa." She leaned over, handing the woman a piece of paper, "That's David's number. He wishes to court you."

Tavi ooooooohed loudly, giggling slightly.

"Court? Dude, who courts anybody anymore? This isn't 1400." Jay is mostly facetious with his jab, reaching into his pocket to check his phone as he speaks.

Alexa snatched it and read the number to herself, feeling her cheeks flush slightly. "I mean...it's cute that he wants to go through the motions and all. I was ready to jump him from the get go, but still....cute."

Jay taps a quick text out on the touch screen, then looks up to shoot Alexa a wolf-whistle. "Tell us how you really feel." Sean mostly kept quiet as he cleaned up the electronic bits and put them in a shelf in his closet, just listening in on the conversation for the moment.

"So says you. I've been courting Tavi for years now." Vanessa said, hugging her girlfriend protectively.

Tavi scoffed. "The motions are what is fun!" She said, hugging Vanessa back. "You get to go on dates and have nice meals and it's...it's good." She said, nodding.

"And go to movies and do terribly inappropriate things in the dark." Vanessa grinned wickedly.

Tavi squeaked. "Vanessaaaaaa!"

"Oh, do tell," Alexa said, eyeing Vanessa and Tavi.

"That part doesn't sound like courtship." He shoots Vanessa a faux-judgmental look.

"If you like I can turn down the lights." Sean teased. "Anyone want a drink? Van? Gillian?"

"You're obviously not doing it right." Vanessa smirked at Jay. "And I'll give you a hint, one of us is used to speaking only with our hands, the other one is a concert cellist. How skilled do you imagine our fingers are?" She grinned wickedly.

"Sure. Water or soda would be cool," Gillian called up, opening an eye. She has been listening silently to the conversation.

"Soda please!" Vanessa said cheerfully.

Tavi punched her lover in the shoulder. "Vanesssaaaaaaaa!" She giggled, then laughed. "Hey, if we want to drink, we should hit the Amp Room. We can now!" Ah the Amp Room...dreamed root of all bachanalia. The only nova-only bar in the world. The tales that came from there were legenday. Superhuman stamina crossed with life threatening day jobs crossed with everyone being supermodel attractive...

"Drinks like soda, or drinks like drinks?" Jay asks, then looks back to Vanessa. Curious brown eyes look between her and her girlfriend before Jay innocently suggests, "Why not show me?"

"I second Jay's motion," Alexa piped up from the corner, sitting up excitedly.

Vanessa snickered, "You want to see how good my fingers are? Get me some paper and I'll show you. BAM! Paper cranes for days!"

"Sorry, no paper. You've got her on hand, though." Jay points to Tavi, grinning cheekily.

Sean popped open the small mini-fridge hidden at the bottom of his closet and pulled out a pair of cokes, giving one of them a lazy toss to Gillian. "Do you honestly think for an instant I could get away with alcohol with my parents?" Sean asked seriously before cracking open his can. Gillian caught her coke and cracked it open with a happy 'Thanks'.

"Don't you draw porn under the table?" Alexa drawled.

Jay shoots a sympathetic look at his friend. "You need to come to my place more."

"I'm not going to turn my girlfriend into a paper crane. That's just silly!" Vanessa said, sticking out her tongue and pouting, "No pepsi?" She said, looking at the coke curiously.

"Yes I draw porn, but that's not something they can find when I'm not around." Sean countered. "They are also a bit behind the times when it comes to computers, thankfully."

Tavi snickered quietly. "My girl here is a pepsi supremacist," she said, mock seriously.

"Normal liquor won't effect us anymore anyways, right? So no real point about it. Unless, yeah. We hit up the Amp Room."Jay nodded. And then, abruptly, he hops up from where he'd been lounging around. "Your bathroom still in the same place?"

"Speeeeaking of which.. we're all agreed Teragn can go fuck a dump truck full of cheese graters, right?" Vanessa said curiously.

"I've got water, 7up, and Mug rootbeer. Pepsi was too sweet for my tastes." Sean offered to Vanessa.

"And yeah, we don't change the house." He teased back to Jay.

"Dunno man. We changed our brains, what else might happen?" Jay spread his arms casually. "And yeah, no, fuck the crazy super-terrorists," Jay adds in before beating a hasty retreat for the bathroom.

"Utopia I could work with, but they would never want to work with me as me. Teragen can go sit and spin as far as I care." Sean added to the sentiment.

Tavi nodded. "I'm down for telling the Teregen to go...screw off." She said, shaking her head slightly as she did so.

Alexa put up her middle finger. "Fuck Teregen. Utopia's alright, but they're still a bunch of pussies in the big picture, though."

"I mean, we're all clearly godlings, but the idea that means we should separate from baselines and treat them like scum and all that shit is stupid as hell." Vanessa said, grumbling. "So.. any other group we're unilaterally against? We all seem pretty pro-Utopia as long as they're willing to have at least some balls."

Gillian made a rocking motion in front of her lap as she sat up, "Teregen can suck it. I don't know what I'm aiming for, but screw them."

Tavi snorted, quietly. "Why is it that the fairer sex gets their sexes compared to weakness, when pussies both take poundings and stretch like a mother..." She said, shrugging.

"Stretched like a mother." Vanessa giggled, "And I am merely using the common parlance. We can work on fixing it later." She said, smiling. "And I'm...alright with Utopia. Honestly, as long as I can get some spare cash to my family and help them out, then I'm fine. That, and just...help some folks."

"Remove the timpani stick from your ass, Tavi, Jesus," Alexa said, moving over to the fridge and grabbed a root beer out of it.

Sean almost snorted mid drink, though easily suppressed the cough as the issue seemed to correct itself. Needless to say he didn't have the ladies in his room all that often. Vanessa frowned slightly at Alexa, "Tavi is a refined lady. Just as she does not ask you to conform to her attitudes don't mock her for not conforming to yours."