The first thing that she could remember was how much it hurt. The second thing she could remember why it hurt.
Then again being crushed under a giant, multi-spectral asteroid had a tendency to hurt.
This didn’t explain how she had gotten to a hospital, or how she had managed to survive the giant rock’s impact.
A cold feeling crept over her. Did her brother’s make it? Did her parents? Her head throbbed as she tried to concentrate.
“Ahh….Ms. Conner, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry there. Well then again most of my patients aren’t green or unconscious when they come in.”
“Green?”
The doctor nodded, “Yes, apparently whatever was in that meteorite that struck discolored your entire body.”
She sat up and looked at her body. The doctor was right; her once pale ivory skin had turned into a pale shade of green. She shuddered and pulled her legs to her chest. She was no longer what she used to be…she was some kind of freak now.
“Now Ms. Conner, please relax. Other than the new pigmentation in your skin we can not find any new changes in your system from that of any other human being.”
She sniffed, “Easy for you to say. You aren’t the one with green skin.”
“Sara…?” A familiar voice broke the cloudy mood. Hector walked forward. Or rather he had used to be Hector. His skin had a pale shade of blue to it, and he looked…more chiseled, like his muscles were trying to break out of his clothes and show themselves off.
“Hector? What happened to us? What happened to Michael? What about William and Wells? Where are Mom and Dad?” Her voice trembled as she spoke.
Hector sighed and hugged her, “The doctors are trying to figure out what happened. Everyone is okay. Mom and Dad aren’t showing any signs of being affected by whatever has changed us.”
Sara sighed and hugged him closer. She felt safer knowing that he was close. She always had felt safer with Hector around. To her he had been a walking safety blanket when she was younger, and the boy had dutifully filled that role. As he grew older he never once complained about it, and continued to fill that position.
The doctor quietly left the room, and approached a man outside of the glass. “He lied to her, probably to make her feel safe.”
“Yes, he did. But then again it was all with good intentions.”
The doctor shook his head, “Sadly the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
“And about everything else.”
It took Sara a few days to get her legs to cooperate with her. The injuries that she had obtained from the incident where healing quickly. Quicker than she could even believe. Most of her cuts were gone within a day, and her bruises had vanished, but the injured muscles in her legs had taken a little more time to heal.
She slowly crept out of bed, her feel telling her that the floor was very cold, and they didn’t appreciate that experience. He dark hair bobbed behind her as she crept to her doorway. After all if her brothers could visit her, why couldn’t she visit them?
She made her way down the hall, her bare feet padding stealthily along the tile floor, each step reminding her how cold the floor was. It took a little wandering, and getting lost more than once to find Hector’s room. The person, who had looked like he only had been waiting to burst out of his clothes with muscles, now looked like he was going to need a custom tailor. The hospital had managed to find him the largest size of sweat clothing, and that had only barely fit. It had been amazing to see how strong he had gotten over the course of just a few days as well.
Sara gently hovered over him, and reached over and grabbed the sleeping giant’s nose while covering his mouth. Covering his mouth really wasn’t necessary as Hector only breathed through his nose while he slept, but Sara didn’t want to take any chances.
Her brother shot up, knocking her aside with one of his, now massive, arms. She skidded across the floor, thankful of the fact she was wearing actual pajamas instead of a hospital gown.
“Sara! Are you alright?”
“Yup. My fault entirely.” She grinned proudly as Hector stared.
“Uh…Sara…? You’re on fire.”
She looked down, and didn’t know if she was supposed to scream in shock, stare in awe, or pass out from mental overload. Her hands were covered in a dancing green flame, and it was evident it had spouted as she had started skidding thanks to the finger sized grooves melted into the floor.
She lifted her hands and studied them. It felt as if the fire was part of her. Like it was connected to her. Then it just disappeared.
“That was either the coolest or freakiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hector’s voice was awe filled as he continued to stare at Sara’s hands.
She shut her eyes, trying to coax the flames back out. If she could create them by accident, why not on purpose? The flame flickered a little, and came back, a thing sheet of dancing green over her hands. It was beautiful, it was dangerous, it was all hers.
“It appears Ms. Conner has developed some, unique abilities as have her brothers,” the doctor said as he studied some notes jotted onto his pad. “In addition to her accelerated healing she seems to be able to generate some kind of green plasma around her hands. We’re still reviewing the tapes to see if we can determine how she is able to do this, along with seeing if we can narrow down what the capabilities of this plasma is. Other than melting floor tile.”
He paused and continued, “Hector, the elder brother seems to have developed an abnormal strength, along with an unusual toughness. We are now unable to collect blood samples due to his skin being too hard to penetrate with a syringe.”
“And what of the other brothers?”
“Yes, well Michael seems to have the ability to shrink. He seems to have a fixation on his hair as well, but Hector assures us that it is completely normal. The twins, William and Wess have been seen with as many as four of them running around. We are not sure how many duplicates they can produce, but they seem content with just one set of duplicates, and themselves to play board games.”
The man nodded, “Good. Good. Keep track of any other developments, along with the status of the parents.”
Sara played with a small bit of the green flame, watching it dance around her palm. The doctors had asked her to stay in her room for the time being, to prevent further accidents. It was boring, but she had found a way to entertain herself for at least a while.
“Ms. Conner, would you please put that out?”
She snuffed it meekly. She hadn’t meant to get caught playing with her abilities again, it was just hard to resist knowing exactly what they could do.
“Thank-you. Now is there some way we can keep you from playing with fire all day? You’re scaring the nursing staff.”
“Could I have a book, or a journal?”
The doctor nodded, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Honestly I don’t know how much longer we can keep them here sir. They’re growing restless, and want to go home. And the girl, Sara, keeps asking about her parents.”
“I understand. Thank-you for your concerns doctor, I’ll deal with them as soon as I can.”
“Thank-you sir.”
Diary,
This is new to me. But seeing as I have nothing better to do, and I’m not allowed to do anything that involves my green flames indoors even though they are the most kick ass thing I’ve ever seen, and the hospital staff won’t let me go outside.
Doesn’t mean I don’t go outside mind you. The roof is my favorite place around this old building. It’s large, flat, and the night sky is gorgeous! Ahhh….I just wish I could show Mom. She loved star gazing.
Actually now that it crosses my mind, I haven’t gotten to see Mom or Dad. I’ve seen the twins twice not counting the duplicates, because that’d make four times, and Michael once once is all I need with his vain personality! Blech! WAY too much time in front of a mirror, and Hector visits often.
Actually, save for Doctor Mitch, who’s creepy as heck, Hector is the only semi-regular person to visit.
Kind of depressing to think of your older brother as a faithful visitor I suppose. But it’s better than nothing. I just wish I could visit Mom and Dad.
Off onto a little tangent! Hector has been acting strange lately. A lot of talking about using our abilities to help people. Sure I could see his abilities, the twins, heck even Michael’s abilities being used for the greater good, but mine…I don’t know. I mean what good is the ability to generate green fire? Well discounting that Smokey the Bear goes on a murderous rampage that is.
I just don’t know how to feel about all this. I don’t feel like a hero. I feel like a freak. Despite the obvious kick-ass flames, and the fact that I am a –lot- sexier looking though I’m still getting used to the green I’m not sure I want all of this. My only passion in life was books.
Yes I admit it. I am a book worm beyond compare. I’ve been asked if there is a support group I should go to because of my chronic reading. I just ignore them. After all, books have everything! Everything you could ever need to learn bound on those pages.
But I don’t know if I can open a bookstore now. I don’t even know if I can finish high school like this. It’s not like I was popular to begin with. Now, I am more likely to be the local oddity, than the next Miss Go.
Though I –would- look damn good in that tiara.
But I digress!
My kingdom for a book!
Sara
Sara sighed as she stood in the cool night air. The night time was the only time she ever considered sneaking out. Bed checks on her were once a night and that wasn’t for another two hours. All she needed was some fresh air. It helped her think.
It wasn’t as if being a superhero was a bad idea to her, it just felt so wrong. Her abilities weren’t that helpful in saving anyone. The only thing she could really be good for was brawn, and she didn’t know how to fight.
She stretched a little, and a small thought crossed her mind. It was kind of silly at first. Sure she was stronger, more fit, and leaner than she had ever been before, but she wasn’t sure she could do it.
The idea kept hovering around her head though, and she sighed. Might as well get the injury of her pride over with. Sara reached down as if to touch her toes then as if she was a whip snapped her upper body up and backwards. The momentum carried her back and her fingers gripped the roofing as her legs followed. But she didn’t stop at one; she kept the momentum going, until she missed her footing and landed on her back.
It was thrilling, it was fun, it was unexplainable.
“How in the hell I’d manage to do it?” Sara was beyond puzzled. She had never been a physically motivated person, and her new figure was a bit of a miracle in itself, but to be able to have the ability to back flip from a standstill several times before she fell down, which was many more than the zero she had predicted, was simply impossible. But she did it. It made her curious, what else could she do now?
Author’s notes: Cutting the first one a little short due to a major subject switch for the plot line in the near future. Reviews make me a happy author! But honestly I’ve proven by now that I keep writing, reviews or not, happy readers or not. Why? Because I’m obsessed with writing these fics!
Small note on names:
Sara – Shego
Hector – Hego
Michael – Mego
William + Wells – Wego