The normal legal-junk, what is Marvel's is Marvel's, all the rest is my work... (and under my copyright) This is a people oriented story, not a plot oriented one. (just warning ya ;]) _______________________________________________________________________ The Last Generation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dodger's Story : What's in a Name? 1/? By Martha McMahon _______________________________________________________________________ "_That's_ the new one?" Pounce asked, as she surveyed the ten year old from her perch on the bunkbed. "I thought there was an age limit." Tracer added, not bothering to look up from his computer terminal. The other three members of team SparrowHawk regarded the newcomer with annoyance and faint disbelief. "That's enough." Snapped the team leader, as she stepped into the room, nudging the kid before her. "I don't need to deal with this." She glared at Pounce, who shrugged, and returned to her studying. "Are we going to get _all_ the newbies?" One of the SparrowHawks asked worriedly. "No Trance," The team leader answered tiredly, "we should be getting transfers from the other teams. Dammit." She snarled as she near-collapsed onto her bed. "Why do _I_ get the new team? Porter could have had this one." "Porter's gonna have _enough_ trouble pulling the Bobcats into shape." Tracer noted, typing away. "Personally I'm glad I was re-assigned. I don't think I could have dealt with Newton." The newcomer had simply stood quietly throughout the conversation, holding his travelbag. He was small, even for his age, which was almost half of everyone else's. He searched the room, looking for a friendly face to tell him what to do. He was rewarded by a sudden glance from Trance. "MOVE!" She yelled and the child, predictably, froze. Then he heard the crunching noise behind him, and turned. The others watched, too far away to save him, as another teen came flying into the door. The door, as expected, was reshaped by the teen's unplanned entrance, and was reduced to a pile of rubble right where the newbie had been standing. "Sorry." The teen mumbled as he worked his way off the rubble pile. He looked at the startled faces of the SparrowHawks in confusion. "Was somebody there?" He asked, a little worriedly. Trance nodded. The teen looked down at the pile of rubble. "Shit." Further violence was interrupted by a voice from under Trance's bunk. "I wanna go HOME!" The child yelled, near tears. Everyone did rather impressive double-takes. "Umm.. sorry kid." The teenage wrecking ball mumbled and quickly disappeared back out what had been a door. The sounds of resumed fighting worked their way down the hall and out of earshot. "Tracer?" The team leader asked, as she stared at the kid. There was a clicking of keys. "Precog teleporter." Tracer answered, scanning the kid's file. "You can't hit him, some kind of survival reflex." "Lucky little bastard." Pounce muttered impressed. "So what's yer name kid?" The child refused to emerge from under the bunk. "My name's Patrick Da-" "No." Pounce snarled, as she cut him off, "I mean your _name_." There was silence. "Does 'e 'ave one?" A quiet voice asked from the back. "Give him one." Suggested the guy next to him. "Alright." The leader responded reluctantly. "How 'bout Dodger?" The small figure beneath the bunk shrugged. "I don't care! I wanna go _home_." "That isn't an option," Trance replied kindly, as she fished the kid out from under the bed, "and you know it. You may as well get used to us, we aren't going away." She smiled. "That's Wind" she pointed at the relaxing leader, "she's our Team Leader." Wind waved. "She can control winds, even when there aren't any to start with." "I'm Trance." She noted, "and I'm a precog like you, only I have a little more warning." She smiled ruefully, "but not much." She gestured to Tracer. "That's Tracer, he's our computer God." Tracer looked up from the screen, and took a quick bow to the collected's applause. "He's just got a knack for computers." "I don't know if I'd called it _just_ a knack." Tracer complained, but Trance had moved her attention to Pounce. "And that's Pounce. You shouldn't have to guess what _she_ is." Pounce smiled, and her green cat's eyes narrowed as her tail twitched lazily. "That's Shadow." Trance noted as she pointed to the quiet teen in the back. "He can turn invisible when ever he wants." "Which is almost always." Wind noted, to no one in particular. Shadow blushed, and vanished. Dodger jumped as the teen disappeared, and Pounce laughed. Trance ignored her and continued. "The one next to him is Flash, he can give off bursts of white light. No demonstration necessary." She noted quickly, as Flash smiled and raised his hands. "You're no fun at _all_." Flash complained. Trance sighed, and then turned to the last member of the newly formed SparrowHawks. "And that's Twin. She's new too." Twin waved at Dodger, who managed to wave faintly back. "She can split herself into to people." Which she promptly did. Dodger looked at the double image for a moment. "But, that one's a guy!" He pointed out, confused. "Yup." Trance grinned. "As Twin likes to say 'We're fraternal, not identical'. So what do you think of our merry band?" "I wanna go home." "At least he's consistent." Tracer remarked. "Your bunk is the one under Twin." Wind pointed out, oblivious to Dodger's complaints. "You can dump your stuff in the locker under it, and you can get a laptop when you go to get your books." She sighed. "Which we probably need to do soon, classes'll start as soon as your settled, i.e. the day after tomorrow." She glanced at him. "And one thing, if you get in trouble _I_ get punished for it, so don't get in trouble. Games start next week, you better be ready." Dodger looked at her for a moment, and then retreated onto his assigned bunk, and buried himself under the covers. ********** He wailed soundlessly His thoughts ran in panicky circles. He remembered her face, her tears, and the flames. She had been right there, watching them. Watching and not stopping them as they locked the collar on. Her and the flames. Dodger cried He buried deep into the covers, hiding in the darkness they provided. He whimpered softly He remembered her shock, her fear, and the headlights streaming out of the fog. He remembered that last second when he had jumped, and left her there alone. He remembered the flames. He cried into the emptiness she had left behind. He would always remember the flames. ********** "Is he going to be okay?" Trance asked quietly. "Does he have a choice?" Wind retorted, and then sighed. "I hope so, but from his file it may be a long shot. Tracer shrugged. "We better keep him away from the Foxes, they just picked his sister up this morning, she should be here in a day or so. He's bad enough already." "What is she?" Trance asked. Tracer glanced at the screen and typed in a quick query, bypassing the basic security that classified the individual files. "She's..." he paused. "What?" Wind asked, impatiently. "She's an oracle." He finally replied. "A what?" Wind replied skeptically. "Don't you mean a precog?" "Nope. An oracle, like the Greeks. She's precog-ing, but it's almost undecipherable, and it doesn't look like she's getting the 'many paths' bit. She sees _one_ future." "So do we win?" Twin asked as she moved into range of the conversation. Tracer shrugged. "It doesn't say, but I doubt they can tell, from what's here, I doubt they'll know what she's talking about until it starts happening." "So what good is she in a team?" Wind asked. "I have no idea." Twin sighed. "'Least Dodger's useful." she remarked. "or until he finds his sister, that is." "Anyone want a drink?" Trance asked, as she stood, and headed towards the door. Twin rose, and followed. "Sure." Trance glanced at Wind and Tracer, then shrugged. "Your loss." The two headed out the door. (to be continued...) _______________________________________________________________________ SparrowHawks (brown & gold) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wind - Female Human Control/create winds Team Leader Trance - Female Human Precog Dodger - Male Human Precog Teleport Pounce - Female Feline-Human Tracer - Male Human Computer affinity Shadow - Male Human Invisibility Flash - Male Human Strobe light Twin - Female/Male Human Separate into two people Bobcats (orange & brown) ~~~~~~~ Porter - Teleport Team Leader Newton - Controls gravity Foxes (red & black) ~~~~~ Oracle - Female Human Oracle