The Bad Egg

The Rain Whispers Series – Ame – age 12

Part One

“So you can’t use ‘em at all?”

“Nope.”

“That sucks.  They’re your powers.  You should be able to use ‘em whenever you want.”

“My mom, your mom and Uncle Hank all said it’s not safe.  I could hurt somebody since I don’t know how to use them properly.  Once I learn more about them, then I can do what I want.”

David Summers adjusted the school bag on his shoulder.

“So… what does it feel like?”

“What?”

“You know.  Powers.  Do you feel different?”

Ame shrugged.  “Kind of.  Things… look a lot brighter.  Things stand out more.  But Uncle Hank says that’s just my individual power.  Sort of like my mom’s powers, I see natural things more clearly… how they work.”

“And what about when you actually use them?”

“A light buzzing sometimes.  Why are you asking me all this?”

“I… just wanted to know… you know…?”

“Oh.”  Ame said quietly.

Ame had momentarily forgotten.

Being a mutant in a house full of mutants, discussing your powers seemed as natural as breathing.  She and David had gone through most of their life changes together.  She was slightly saddened by the fact that this would be a change he would not make with her.  In the month since Ame’s powers had surfaced, David had been to every Danger Room session, his face pressed up against the glass of the observation booth.  His parents would not permit David to participate fearing that he would be injured in the advanced sessions.  He never complained outwardly, it wasn’t in David’s nature.  But Ame was his closest friend.  She knew he was feeling left out.  She knew he was happy for her but at the same time sad he would never have mutant powers of his own.  The two were walking home from school and David was doing everything he could to try to experience something of what Ame was going through.

“Did you think up a code name yet?”

“Code name!  David, I don’t even know what I can do yet.”

“You know what you can do, you just don’t know what you can’t do.  I’ve been thinking you should call yourself something mystical, you know.  Something unnatural, cause you do unnatural stuff.”

“I think you—”

“--Should come with me.”

The voice from above caused the two to jump.  A large oval shaped ship was descending over them.  A door slid open and two armored figures flew down.  Ame and David backed up as the large figures landed in front of them.  A large clumping sound caused them to turn around and scatter as another figure tried to grab at them from behind.  The children took off running down the street.

“Who the hell are they?”

“Don’t know, don’t care, just want to get the hell out of here.”

One of the large figures dropped down suddenly in front of them again.

They had been running beside a long iron fence that was twisted and broken.  Ame held out her hand.  A portion of that fence creaked and snapped loose suddenly and wrapped itself around the creature.

“Ame???”

“Come on!”  Ame grabbed the stunned David’s hand and continued their run.  They hadn’t gotten five feet when Ame was hit in her back with some form of energy burst.  She fell to the pavement unconscious. 

David didn’t have a chance to check her as he heard heavy metal boots approaching.  He grabbed hold of one of the iron fence posts and somehow managed to pull it loose.  He turned ready to fight and was subsequently knocked down by one of the thugs.  The other one was proceeding to pick up the unconscious girl.  David stood and used his momentum to thrust the iron spike as hard as he could into the figure closest to him.  It stuck the figure in the side.

“Owww!  You stupid little jerk.  I ought’a blast you!”

‘Little jerk?’ David though.  Not the usual ‘bad-guy’ comeback.

He didn’t wait for the person to fulfill his threat.  He jumped on the back of the one who had Ame and began pounding.

The injured creature grabbed David by the back of the jacket and tossed him against what was left of the fence.  He hit his head.

The last thing David saw before everything went black was the two active figures blasting off towards the round white ship.  One carrying their third iron-wrapped comrade, the other with Ame.

*          *          *          *          *

“Am—Am—Ame!  Ame!  Where…!”

“David calm down.”

“M--Mom?”

David looked around.  He was lying on a med lab bed.  His parents, Storm, Wolverine, Hank and the Professor were gathered around him.

“You’ve got a bad bump on your head, but Hank says you’re going to be alright.”

“Mom, where’s Ame?”

“We were hoping you could tell us.”  Scott said.

“You mean you haven’t found her?!” He sat up despite Jean’s protest.

“We don’t even know what happened.  I felt your sense of fear and worry but you weren’t answering me.  We found you laying on an old fence with signs of a struggle.”

“How—how long have I been here?”

“We found you three hours ago.”

“Three hours!  They could have taken her anywhere in that time!”

“Who?” Storm asked in a steady voice.  She was standing at the foot of the bed.

“I-I don’t know.  I’ve never seen them before.  I—I thought they were maybe androids or robots at first, but then I hurt one of them.  It must have just been armor they were wearing.”

“What happened?”

David quickly recanted what he could remember.  The description of the ship sent a shiver down Storm’s spine.  Her eyes widened, but she forced herself to be calm.

“Did you hear any of them say anything, David?  Is there anything else you can remember, no matter how insignificant it may seem?”

David closed his eyes.  He strained to remember.

“…One of them said…. someone would be angry at the one that got wrapped up.”

“Who?  Who would be angry?”

“It sounded like they said… something like… n—na—nanny.  That’s it!  They said Nanny would be mad!”

Storm held her breath and closed her eyes.  Her fists clenched into balls as her whole body stiffened.

“We’ll get her back, darlin’.”

“I am calling everyone to the war room.”  Charles said and closed his eyes for a moment.  Wolverine grabbed Ororo’s hand and led her to the door.

“Hank?” Jean asked, her eyes passing to David.

“He’s fine, Jean.  He can go.”

“I’m fine, mom.” He said sliding off the bed.

“Who’s Nanny?”

 

To Be Continued…

 

This story’s been sitting on my hard drive for a while, so I just decided to put it up.  The next part won’t be for a while though.  I have to write a few more in between stories so that you know what has been going on.  This chapter didn’t reveal much so I put it up just to torture you for a while.  Is it working?

stormgates@hotmail.com

 

On To Part Two

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