Young Mutants in Love Page 13

  Chapter 30

  Karis roused herself in a darkened room. She couldn't make out any details from the small amount of light peeking through the door on the other side of the room. Only shadows threatened all around her.

  There was a low hum all around the room that she didn’t recognize. It added to the sense of uncertainty and dread she was already feeling. She wanted to get out of wherever she was.

  She tried to move, but noticed that her body was restrained to the table she felt beneath her. She also sensed a presence in the room with her.

  "Who's there?" she asked.

  "Just an old friend," Karis heard Mornigan's voice proclaim.

  “What am I doing here tied to a table?" Karis insisted as she pulled at her bonds.

  "You need not bother trying to free yourself. You've been taking part in a series of tests," Mornigan chuckled as he snapped his fingers and the lights came on. "You have been a very good subject."

  "What have you done to me?" Karis demanded. "How long have I been here?"

  "Not that it matters, but I have been studying you for a few of your days," Mornigan revealed. "It wasn't as helpful as I was hoping, but I still understand where you have come from and why you have become the way that you are."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" Karis yelled as she continued to struggle with the restraints.

  "Do not waste your strength with those restraints," Mornigan advised. "They are more than adequate for your average strength. I'm surprised that you didn't get a higher level of strength during the conversion."

  "The conversion?" Karis asked as he tried to gain more information.

  "Yes," Mornigan continued, "all of the strange transformations that you have experienced and observed have been a part of my plan to conquer your world."

  "What are you talking about?" Karis pressed.

  "My people would never approve of what I am doing, but I have come to return my people to their heritage," Mornigan mused as he paced around the room, flipping switches and turning dials from time to time.

  "What people are you talking about?" Karis demanded.

  "I don't think we will talk about that right now," Mornigan replied, "however, I can tell you that my genetic enhancer has done a wonderful job with that one exception."

  "Genetic enhancer?" Karis wondered.

  "It is a handy little creation that allows me to connect with one member of every species on your planet and control its genetic coding," Mornigan explained as he turned away to fiddle with a control panel. "You have seen it at work with several examples from your planet."

  "So what happened with Diz and me?" Karis pressed.

  "I'm not sure," Mornigan admitted. "I think that is the reason I cannot control you, something strange about the interaction of your matrices. I will figure it out in time now that I have your genetic scans handy."

  "So what are you going to do with me now?" Karis asked.

  "I still haven't decided," Mornigan replied as he touched an orange button on his black glove. "Perhaps I will just have to keep you here for the time being. Since I can't control you yet, I can't guarantee your loyalties will remain where I want them."

  "So I just get to spend the rest of my life strapped down to this table?" Karis screamed.

  "No, I have prepared a cell for you to enjoy while I continue my work," Mornigan announced. "I will have my robot slaves lead you there."

  Karis waited while several robots came over and unstrapped her from the table. She gave up on counting the straps after thirty. The robots were not gentle, but her invulnerability protected her. After several minutes, the job was done, and Karis was lifted from the table. She saw her opening, and used her power of flight to float the robots into the wall with all the force she could muster. She didn't have super strength, but she was able to use her flight to her advantage.

  "You won't be able to leave," Mornigan warned. "There is no place for you to go. Even if you get outside, there is nothing but the vacuum of space to welcome you."

  "I'll figure out something," Karis declared as she flew out of the room and down a corridor.

  She searched down hallways and through doors, but she couldn't find an exit. There were signs all around her, but they were using symbols that she didn't recognize-an alien language. She found a window and got a surprise when she looked out of that opening.

  Mornigan had been telling the truth. She could see the planet Earth from the window. She was on some kind of ship in orbit, and even if she could find a way back to Earth, she wasn't sure she could survive the experience. Karis decided that the risk was worth taking if she could find a way off the station.

  She continued looking for an escape, and found a room with several small shuttles in it. She opened one of the cockpits, but realized that she couldn't understand the controls. She did find a switch that looked like it would open the door to space. After a few moments of doubt, she took a deep breath and opened the door. The decompression sucked her out into space.

  Karis focused on keeping the air in her lungs as she approached the atmosphere. She felt the temperature rising and realized that reentry might be more than she could handle, but she was running out of air, and had to do something fast.

  She adjusted her flight path so that she was still entering the planet’s atmosphere, but it didn't seem as hot. When she realized that she was at a point where she was in a cloud, she took a chance and inhaled the sweetest air she had ever tasted. Even though she could breathe again, she realized that she was still speeding towards the ground with no control of her descent.

  Several moments later, Karis hit the Pacific Ocean at an angle and skipped off it like a stone thrown by a skilled hand. She skipped over a dozen times before crashing into a coconut tree on an island and collapsed into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 31

  Last night an object was launched from low orbit and impacted somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There are no further details about the object other than it was small and seemed to have an erratic trajectory. Sources were quiet about the origins of the object and its final destination, but there has been a flurry of activity in that area from a number of military units from a variety of countries. This reporter cannot help but wonder when there will be an end to strange occurrences.

  Diz had gotten a mental message from Karis, but it hadn't lasted long and had been extremely faint. All the message had conveyed was Come get me! Diz was able to sense where she was again, and although he couldn't get an exact location, he was able to get a better sense the closer he came to where she was. He was currently running over the Pacific Ocean trying to find her position. As he approached an island, he saw several battleships and carriers stationed around the island, and it made him wonder who else was looking for Karis, and why.

  As he approached the island, the signal grew stronger. He was certain that Karis was on this island. This was also where the most ships had congregated. He ran onto the island and found several groups of soldiers from a variety of countries. They turned to look at him, and pointed their guns in his direction as he came to a complete stop.

  "What are you doing here?" the closest soldier demanded. "Take off that helmet so we can see who we are talking to."

  "I am known as the Diz" he replied as he slowly lifted his helmet from his head. "I'm here looking for a friend. I know that she is in trouble, and I’m just here to help."

  "This location is off limits to all personal," the soldier insisted. "How did you even get here?"

  "I ran," Diz bragged as he pointed at his dry feet.

  "That is the Pacific Ocean out there," the soldier grunted taking his hand off his gun long enough to point at the water all around them. "You cannot run on the ocean."

  "Technically, it is possible to stay on top of the water if you are moving fast enough," Diz explained. “I know because I’ve done it before, just about a minute ago to be exact.”

  "Someone take this nut case to the ship and throw him in the brig," the soldier ordered.


  Several of the other groups of soldiers started talking now in languages that Diz didn't understand although he recognized flags from China, Russia, and Japan. They did not seem happy with the previous order and it started some arguments among the leaders of the different groups. Two soldiers ignored the heated discussions and approached Diz in order to take him into custody, but Diz had other plans for his time that did not involve the brig of a ship. When the soldiers reached for his hands, he had no trouble dodging their grasp. This caused some consternation that caught the attention of the other soldiers.

  "What is going on over there?" the English-speaking soldier from before shouted.

  "He keeps fighting us when we try to lock him up," was the the other soldier answered.

  "If he resists," the commander replied with a smile, “shoot him."

  One of the soldiers pulled his gun and pointed it at Diz' head. Diz just smiled.

  "That won't do you any good," Diz insisted.

  A second later, Diz was behind the soldier. The soldier turned to shoot, but then he found his own handcuff on his wrists and his gun on the ground in front of him. Diz repeated the trick with the second soldier, but by then every other soldier had their guns out and pointed at Diz.

  "Stand still," the commander shouted as he held his hand in the air. "I don't have a burning desire to shoot you today."

  "I'd like to see you try it," Diz challenged. "You've seen what I can do. Do you think a few extra guns are going to make a difference?"

  "Open fire," the commander ordered as over a hundred guns from a variety of nations started shooting.

  Diz didn't panic. He just waited for the world to slow down. That was how it seemed when he was moving at his fastest. He'd never moved this fast before, but even the bullets seemed to have stopped moving. Diz was able to casually walk around all of them, disarm the soldiers, and walk away before the world started moving again. Diz looked at one of the bullets he had grabbed from the air and held it in his hand. It was still warm and he knew that without his powers, it would have been lodged in his body someplace.

  He tossed the bullet in the air and caught it before running where the signal from Karis was leading him. She had to be close now.

  * * *

  Karis woke with a headache, and it was bad. That was unusual because when she was Karis, she didn't typically feel any kind of pain, not even a simple headache. She scanned her body and saw that aside from extensive damage to her outfit, she was in good condition, but she was stiff and sore all over. That was better than the alternative, though.

  She got to her feet and stumbled to a tree for support and her head started to spin. Something was wrong, different. She felt like someone had just kicked her in the gut, but she managed to stay upright with the help of the tree.

  She decided to try and fly to someplace familiar but when she tried to take off, nothing happened aside from a not-so-gentle collision with the ground. She was grounded. Karis tried again with a jump, but that didn't make a difference. She tried thinking to Diz, but she didn't sense a response. A few moments later, Diz arrived dragging a cloud of dust behind him.

  "There you are," Diz scolded as he took off his helmet. "I've been so worried about you. I’ve been all over this island and I even had to dodge a storm of bullets."

  "Can you hear my thoughts?" Karis asked ignoring his comments.

  "Not since you called for help," Diz admitted. "I could still sense where you were, but I haven't heard anything."

  "I can't fly," Karis stated.

  "You can't fly?" Diz repeated.

  "I was just trying, and it didn't happen," Karis related as she started to cry.

  "That isn't important right now," Diz asserted as he dropped his helmet to the ground and hugged her. "We need to get you someplace safe where you can tell me what happened to you."

  "What if this is because of Mornigan?" Karis prodded as she continued to hold Diz close.

  "What did he do to you?" Diz asked.

  "I'm not completely sure," Karis admitted. "How long have I been gone?"

  "Four days," Diz related.

  ""Four days?" Karis wondered as she sat down against the damaged tree she had hit on landing on the island. "I've been unconscious almost that entire time."

  "Mornigan could have done anything to you," Diz realized as he sat down beside her.

  "I had my powers before," Karis explained as she pointed to the sky. "I managed to survive reentry."

  "You were in outer space?" Diz asked. “You must have loved that.”

  "It was more than I ever expected," Karis related. “I’m the first person to ever see the universe like that. The stars were so bright.”

  "You can tell me all about it once we are home," Diz insisted as he stood up and offered her his hand.

  "I'm looking forward to it," Karis said as she took his hand and stood up and brushed herself off. "I'm not feeling well, at all. I just want a hot bath."

  "There is something going on here," Diz grumbled. "I don't like this at all."

  Diz took Karis by the hand. He could hear the sound of soldiers yelling behind them, and he knew they had to leave. He scooped Karis into his arms. The world slowed down, and Diz ran for home.

  Chapter 32

  "Oh my God!" Diz heard Karis shouting from the bathroom.

  "What's going on?" he asked as he ran towards the door at high speed.

  "This shouldn't happen," she continued, "I'm invulnerable, or at least I was."

  "What is wrong?" Diz yelled at the door.

  "Go away!" Karis shouted.

  "What is wrong with my body?" Diz demanded as he shook the door handle.

  "It's not your body right now," Karis insisted.

  "Talk to me.”

  Karis didn't reply. Diz could hear the sound of crying on the other side of the door.

  "Do I need to speed through this door? I’ve never actually gone all the way through something before, but that won’t stop me from trying," Diz threatened.

  "I don't want you to see me like this," Karis sobbed.

  "Talk to me, Gavin.”

  "I'm bleeding," Karis wept.

  "You're bleeding?" Diz asked shaking his head. "When did you get cut?"

  "I didn't," Karis explained. "I sat down to pee, and there was blood."

  "Oh, honey," Diz said trying to suppress a laugh.

  "What?" Karis demanded. “What is going on?”

  "It’s your period," Diz laughed.

  "What's so funny?" Karis shouted. "This is crazy.

  "It's your first time?" Diz wondered.

  "Do you think I would have kept this to myself?" Karis insisted. “How can I even be having a period? It just doesn’t make any sense. Also, why are you laughing at me?”

  "I'm sorry," Diz replied, "but you're going to be in the record books. You’re the first man in the history of history to have a period."

  "This isn't funny," she wept. "What am I supposed to do with myself?"

  "Don't panic," Diz counseled. "We can get through this together. I may be a man at the moment, but I’ve had some experience with this before."

  "What do I do?" Karis asked.

  "Climb in the shower and clean yourself up, and then we can talk about what happens next," Diz advised.

  "Can we switch back?" Karis begged. “Can we change back when I’m done?”

  "Of course we can," Diz replied. "Get your shower first, though."

  * * *

  After a long hot shower, Karis and Diz were sitting on the couch in the living room. Diz held out his hand, and Karis took it, but nothing happened. There was no change.

  "What is going on?" Karis demanded. "Why can't we change? I don’t want this anymore."

  "I don't know," Diz muttered. "We never had trouble changing when I was having my period."

  "You were on your period when we changed?" Karis wondered. "Why didn't you tell me? That would have scared me even more that I can imagine right now."

  "I figured you w
ould know that they happen every month," Diz joked.

  "Why didn't I notice?" she asked.

  "Well, I've been late every month since we started switching bodies," Diz observed. "There were a couple of times that I would have thought I was pregnant except that I haven't had sex for a while."

  "What does that mean?" Karis asked. "Is there something going on with this connection between us?"

  "I don't know," Diz admitted. "It’s just strange that it took you so long for it to start."

  "We need to find someone to do a detailed evaluation of our situation," Karis insisted.

  "Where do we find a doctor to do that? It's not like we can trust just anyone."

  "We could talk to the Mayor," Karis suggested.

  "I don't know. I'm not sure we can trust him with that much of our story. He was very strange the last time I saw him."

  "So what do we do?" Karis pressed. "We need to figure out what we are going through."

  They were interrupted by a loud knock at the door. They sat in silence waiting to see what would happen next. The knock came again harder and determined. They went to the door and Diz looked through the peep hole.

  "It's Smith," Diz announced. "How did he find us?"

  "I don't know," Karis replied. "Let's find out what he wants."

  Karis opened the door and looked at Smith. He was dressed in his standard grey track suit, and looked unhappy to be standing at their door. He turned to look at them as the door opened.

  "We need to go now," Smith ordered.

  "How did you find us?" Karis demanded. "No one is supposed to know where we are. You aren’t connected with the Mayor’s office are you?"

  "We can talk about that later," Smith insisted. "You need to come with me now at super speed."

  "You aren't very good at small talk, are you?" Diz pointed out.

  "What's the rush," Karis snapped. "You need to explain this to us before we go anywhere. I’m having a rough day, and I…"

  "You two might survive the attack," Smith interupted, "but I don't really want to die."