Second Mutant Meet-Up: Technofreak in Real-Life

[Flux]

Felix rubbed his eyes. He hadn't slept much the night before (he'd been out late with Banner Laverick, the stunning hotness that was his first real blessing in mutantcy) and was beginning to sack out, even though it wasn't even ten o'clock. He'd just read a post on the Mutant Blog by a correspondent called Technofreak.

Felix admired the guy (or girl, could be a girl) for his/her outspokenness on the topic of powers, mutants, humans, and the unwillingness to tiptoe around subjects or walk on eggshells. He (or she, if Felix is lucky) made it quite clear that being a mutant was the best thing in the whole universe. Felix had finally agreed, after meeting Banner and testing his powers for a day. Now, this person with their crazy technology ability had found his email out and sent him a message with a proposed plan for a meet-up. Felix had considered it for half an hour, and finally shot off his reply:

Sure, I'm all for it. It'd be good to meet more people with the mutant gene, get a bigger perspective on it than the blog whiners and the girl I met last night. Just get the time and place pegged down for good and let me know.

After that he'd put the computer in hibernate mode and gone to bed. No sense staying up waiting on a reply; he'd check it at school tomorrow.

[The Brotherhood]

Re: Mutant meet and greet

Hey, Magnet Man.

I'd meet you at the Haven, but the boss lady apparently doesn't like our business anymore. Get to the Galapagos Cafe on 141st and Sycamore at 1 pm Saturday. Look for a Jamaican man reading the newspaper - that'll be Boomer. He'll guide you the rest of the way.

Try to get there before he finishes his cafe au lait. See you.

Tron

[Flux]

The library was one of Felix's favorite places not because of the learning, but because nobody ever went in there. He was free to sit at a computer in a little cubicle and do as he liked without interruption, and right now, he liked his email account.

Technofreak, or rather, Tron, had written back, and Felix spent maybe 2 seconds hammering out the reply "See you Saturday". He spent the next 10 minutes considering the content of the email. The Haven didn't like Tron's business? Did he (yes, "he", Tron in the movie Tron was a he) start a fight there, or what? Felix wouldn't be surprised; at clubs like that it's a wonder the whole place didn't erupt into Smash Bros. every hour or so. He wrote it off as "probably nothing".

The Galapagos Cafe wasn't really something to his liking. Felix didn't enjoy coffee, and didn't really like the kind of people who'd just sit in there and be mock-intellectual, or whatever. But hey, at least it isn't Starbucks. He logged out and checked the date on the computer. Four days to Saturday. The wait's gonna be killer.

[The Brotherhood]

The Galapagos Cafe was not unlike hundreds of other lazy coffee shops throughout New York - small, muted paint tones, indy music playing on the sound system, a definite current of social activism in the posters and flyers on the walls. On the counter was a rack stocked with homemade brochures which had titles like 10 Pillars of Mutant Oppression and THE TRUTH: What Daneil Cohen Isn't Telling Us. A rally flyer for some mutant demonstration already had most of its tabs torn off.

In the front corner, clearly visible from the shopfront window, sat a lanky black man with a goatee and corded hair sipping his coffee and perusing a paper called (r)Evolution Weekly. The seat across from him was empty.

[Flux]

Felix had taken the bus to the nearest stop, two blocks from the Cafe, and then walked the rest of the distance. He wandered in with his hands in the giant front pocket of his hoodie, braced around his aging CD player to keep it from skipping; it'd been fairing poorly since his initial trip to the junkyard.

He couldn't help noticing all the mutantcy-related stuff on the walls and counter; no wonder Tron had picked this place. Once he was done just looking at the place, he went and took the empty chair across from Boomer. He'd seen the man reading as he'd passed the shop window.

"Boomer, I presume?" he asked as he sat, just in case he was wrong.

[The Brotherhood]

The stranger lowered his paper. "And you must be the Magnet Man," he replied with a bright grin. "Welcome, brother."

He gave Felix an energetic handshake, and Felix felt something like a jolt of static electricity when their hands met.

"Ha, sorry about that, man. Sometimes I forget to ground myself. So, you been talking to Tron lately. What've you been talking about?"

[Flux]

"Thanks," Felix answered, rubbing the tingle out of his hand as they withdrew. He was encouraged by Boomer's warm attitude, and eased up a little bit. Felix grinned back and answered the question he'd been posed. "So far it's been a lot of sass about freaking out and being emo over getting powers, and a lot of "hell yeah" moments where we talk about how much it rules to have them." All of this he said quietly, just in case. "Gotta admit I'm pretty paranoid about it all still. I keep thinking someone's gonna figure it out and try to jump me or something."

[The Brotherhood]

"It's their funeral if they do, right?" Boomer replied. And then he laughed. "You can't sweat the mundanes, man. We're Homo superior for a reason."

[Flux]

"Yeah, but damage-proof isn't part of my power set," Felix quipped. "Wish it was. It's hard to find metal thick enough to stop bullets and knives and crap when you're just out and about." He shook his head and laughed again. "Damn, I need to loosen up. So anyway, what're we up to? Going back to your place, or are we meeting Tron somewhere? He just said to meet you here."

[The Brotherhood]

Boomer shook his head reproachfully. "Can't rush the coffee, man. I'll take you in a minute." He sipped his cafe au lait exquisitely. "So what's your name? It isn't Magnet Man, is it?"

[Flux]

Felix barked a laugh.

"No, dude, that's just my nerdy blog handle. The girl I mentioned on there called me that, but I don't think she keeps up with that thing. Probably was coincidence or something." He caught himself rambling, cut off the tirade, and just answered. "Felix. Is Boomer your real name?"

[The Brotherhood]

"It's my real name now, man," Boomer replied. "Ever since I found out what I was. New you, new life, new name. You don't let yourself be defined by nobody."

He tipped back the last of his coffee and set it down with a contented sigh. "So, you ready? Follow me."

Boomer led Felix, not to the front door, but to the back of the cafe. He opened a door to a hallway which cut deeper into the building, then up a concrete stairwell to the third floor.

They emerged in a dingy hallway with paper-thin carpet and peeling paint. Boomer stopped at number 319 and unlocked the door.

"Welcome to home, sweet home."

On the other side of the door was an apartment that was unmistakeably owned by bachelors. It wasn't so much dirty as covered in a patina of unknown origin, and the table was covered in empty take-out boxes, and what little was visible of the bedrooms past the cracked-open doors was mostly a jungle of bedclothes and laundry. The modest common area was furnished with an old, overstuffed sofa and a couple beanbag chairs; the home improvement fund had obviously gone into the big plasmascreen TV and the strangely cobbled-together gaming console in front of it which, paradoxically, had both X-Box and PS3 controllers sitting on top of it.

There were footsteps coming around the bend from the kitchen, and an absolutely immense Polynesian-looking man stepped into view with a plate full of microwaved spring rolls. "Hey, Boomer," he said. "This the kid Tron was talkin' about?"

"Geryon, this is Felix."

Geryon blinked. "'Felix'?"

"For now," Boomer replied.

One of the bedroom doors squeaked open, and a guy much closer to Felix in age and body type came out in a T-shirt and jeans. He had what looked like a wireless card in his left hand.

"Hey there, 'Magnet Man'!" he said, grinning, putting out a hand to shake. "I'm Tron. Good to see you. Come on in, we'll sit down."

[Flux]

When Boomer had gotten up to play guide, Felix had automatically turned toward the exit. This proved to be a mistake, and so Felix wound up spinning a full circle by the table to correct himself. It was a common occurence with his friends, but with new people he found this quirk to be embarrassing, and so followed his new acquaintance into the back in silence.

"Welcome to home, sweet home."

Felix looked up to see a permutation of his brother Frederick's college dormitory, a rampant mishmash of belongings that had settled comfortably wherever they liked. The big exceptions were the entertainment; The TV and game system were nothing like what Freddy's band of roommates could afford. He was about to comment when Geryon made his introduction.

Felix, quite intimidated, just nodded to the big man after he was introduced. The "for now" went unnoticed by the kid as Tron made his entrance shortly after, breaking Felix's quiet awkwardness with his more friendly attitude. Felix shook his hand with a return grin and headed further into the common room.

"Hey Tron, it's good to see you, too. What's up?"

[The Brotherhood]

Tron flopped back into one of the beanbag chairs, Geryon occupied a little more than half the couch (which sagged), and Boomer pulled in a folding chair from the kitchen table and sat on it backwards. All three were oriented toward Felix.

"I wanted to talk to you about some things we couldn't really discuss in the American Girl's blog," Tron replied with a bit of a sneer on the eponym. "About what mutation really is. And why the Homo sapiens are really afraid of us. What is it they tell you kids in school these days? Genetic abnormalities, transcribing errors, that kinda crap. What do you think, Felix? Why do you think we suddenly have so many mutants on this planet?"

[Flux]

Felix took the other beanbag, settling himself in it comfortably as Tron spoke his mind. He laced his fingers together and put his hands behind his head, leaning back to look at the ceiling as Tron finished up.

"Man, I still don't know what to think. I don't know if it's evolution's fast-forward button, tinkering from some divine medium, or if it's just plain stupid luck. I don't know why it happened, and honestly, I don't care. I just wanna deal with it in the least immature way possible so I don't have to put up with a ton of crap over it. Yeah, it's special, but I'd so rather we treated it like it was no worse than acne or voice changes. The drama people put up over this junk is so stupid annoying. I'm ashamed I participated in it, even if it was just for a little while."

[The Brotherhood]

"Don't tell me you think this is about getting picked on at school."

It took some effort on Tron's part to keep his tone light enough that it could be passed as a friendly dig rather than a diss.

"People always attack those who are different," he said. "It's all part of the herd instinct. But see, we're not just different. We're better. And that puts it at a whole 'nother level."

"The people who shove you in the hallway or call you nasty names," Boomer interjected, "ahhh, they're just gene-jealous rubes. But there's far worse out there, man. People in high places who want to keep the mutants down. 'Cause they're afraid. They're afraid we're gonna replace them."

[Flux]

Felix rub his eyes and sat up a bit.

"Well, when I said 'drama', I meant both the petty teen wangsting over I have powers/I'm afraid of people with powers, and the big bads out there who want us all in concentration camps or whatever. I think you're right that humans believe we'll replace them, and I think it's fitting that we do. C'mon, that American Girl replaces a dozen jobs in construction just by being able to forcefully move and bend heavy, durable material. Tron, I'm pretty sure, replaces nearly every job in the computer industry." Felix shrugged. "People need to just get over it."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron relaxed and nodded. "I hear ya. It'd all be so much better if the mundanes just left us alone to do our own thing. 'Cause you're right - we are the next step in evolution, and we are gonna replace them. But right now we're an endangered species. Crap like mutant registration. The Jericho Center. Stuff like that threatens the very existence of mutantkind.

"And that's where we come in. We're part of an organization that's dedicated to protecting our kind from those 'big bads' you're talking about. Mutants fighting for mutantkind."

[Flux]

Protecting people from bad guys sure sounded like heroing to Felix, who distinctly remembered a post Tron had made denouncing such a lifestyle. Felix chose not to bring it up, and instead launched into questions.

"So, like, do you guys put on costumes and go run missions against people and do patrols, or what?" He couldn't help grinning a little at the thought of it; these three made the most unlikely team of "heroes" he could think of. "Or am I totally and completely wrong, like I suspect I am?"

[The Brotherhood]

"You should see Geryon in his leotard," Boomer said. "He looks adorable."

Geryon tossed his now-empty paper plate and banked it off Boomer's head into the trash.

Tron ignored the exchange - he was focused on Felix. "Costumes are for people who want to be noticed," he said. "Most of our work is done in the dark. Rescuing prisoners. Finding out secrets. Sometimes we make deliveries for other groups like us. It's dangerous, and it's not glamorous. But we make a difference."

He nodded at his compadres. "Boomer's specialty is demolitions. Geryon's the strongman, you probably could figure that out. I'm technical support - if it's electronic, I can shut it down or make it work for us. We've done well for ourselves so far, but we could use a fourth."

[Flux]

Felix slouched again as he took it all in. The FOXHOUND of mutantcy. Fantastic. It's interesting to know that Boomer does exploding stuff. Felix had guessed that his powers were sonic, or (for some reason) like Guile in Street Fighter. Geryon...yeah, Felix had pretty much guessed that one right off.

"A fourth guy, huh?" he asked as his thoughts got down to that section of the statement. "What could I do?"

[The Brotherhood]

"Depends," Boomer replied. He turned one hand over, and a glowing orb started growing in his palm. "What can you do, Magnet Man?"

[Flux]

Felix has yet to witness anybody with energy powers. So that's what zapped him downstairs. He stares at the energy ball for a moment, transfixed by the light, until he blinked himself out of it and responded.

"Uh...I can attract and repel metal. When my powers first manifested, I attracted stuff to my body, I think, but I haven't been able to do it since. I went to this junkyard to practice my powers and I can simulate some physical stuff if I have metal actually strapped to me. Like, I got some thick metal wire and wrapped it around my calves, and repelled myself while jumping to emulate a super-strong person's jump. I also used it to do make my punches faster, by attracing metal on my wrists to whatever I was hitting. The hard part about this power is it's so situational. I'm completely screwed in a setting with no metal."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron smirked. "No you're not."

He traded glances with the other two.

"You ever hear of a rail gun?" he asked.

[Flux]

"Yeah. I mean, I've heard the kids at school talk about 'em, but I've never had much experience with guns, so I'm a little ignorant. Mind telling me precisely what makes it so special? I mean, I know it's powerful as hell, but that doesn't mean much to me on it's own."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron looked back at Boomer, who'd started bouncing the crackling bomb in his hand. "Do you mind?"

Boomer grinned and wound up his arm like he was going to throw it - Geryon and Tron both flinched.

"Geez, man!" the Samoan said.

Boomer laughed and closed his hand, and the bomb vanished.

Tron gave him a perturbed look and settled himself again in his beanbag chair.

"So, rail guns. Actually, they're not really more powerful than normal guns, not unless you use a long barrel and a big slug. The point is, they're magnetically driven."

[Flux]

Felix had flinched the worst of any of them, falling out of the bean bag chair in his dodge attempt.

"Dude!" he yelled in tandem with Geryon. It took Felix the whole of Boomer's explanation to get himself settled again, but he heard and understood all of it. "Okay, so it's a magnetic gun. I think the reason I heard it was powerful was probablly because the guys were discussing some huge version of it. Anyway, magnetic gun. How does that work, exactly? It just magnetically repels bullets into people?"

[The Brotherhood]

"The bullet is magnetically neutral," Boomer said. "But the barrel has an electromagnetic ring every inch or so. They pass the bullet along, attract-repel, attract-repel, and throw it out the muzzle about a thousand feet per second."

"It'd take building some kinda rig," Tron added. "And syncing it up would be a bear. But that'd be pretty sweet, don't you think?"

[Flux]

Felix's eyes had grown huge during the explanation, and he had a smile that totally read as "This is the coolest thing in the universe". Which is exactly what he said next.

"This is the coolest thing in the universe! I'd love to be able to do that, especially considering I have no fighting skills at all whatsoever." He's so glad he came here. He'd never have thought of that on his own.

[The Brotherhood]

Tron grinned back. "I could probably whip up some simulations for you. But, hey, even without that... pulling down metal doors, sticking enemy weapons together... You've got potential, kid. Just one thing - no going magnetic while I'm in the computers. That's something I don't want to try."

[Flux]

"No problem, man. I've only done that once, and I did it intentionally, I've played with my powers around my home computer without it freaking out, so I think we're good." He shook his head. "You can go into computers? That explains your name. What the hell is that like, dude?"

[The Brotherhood]

"Take Pac-Man, cross it with Portal, Civilization, and Geometry Wars," Tron replied. "Only the guy is you, and everything happens as soon as you think it, and you can change the rules of the game anytime you want. Yeah, it's pretty awesome."

[Flux]

Felix's mouth twitched as he tried and failed to hide a smile.

"So...you just kinda ride a motorcycle around in there and make up your own rules? So, you can make the cake be the truth then?"

[The Brotherhood]

"What the expletive are you talkin' about, man?" Boomer said incredulously.

"Ignore the Philistine," Tron said. "But, actually, if you really wanna know... it's not visual at all. No neon lights and flashing internet signs. It's more like a maze of pathways and connections and protocols and permissions. If there's a network connection, I can slip through it, as long as I keep the path back to my body clear."

[Flux]

"Portal joke," Felix said as an aside to Boomer, even as Tron was telling him to ignore his roommate. Getting back to the topic of Tron in the computer, Felix threw yet another question. "So your body doesn't go into the computer, just your mind?" Felix's mental image was something like what the villainous Hard Drive did to evade T-Bone and Razor in the SWAT Kats cartoon, which he thought would've been cool as hell to see in reality.

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon suddenly cleared his throat - it was a sound that definitely grabbed attention.

"Maybe we shouldn't be talkin' about this right now?" he suggested.

Tron spread his hands. "What? What's the deal?"

"Just sayin', maybe we shouldn't talk about this now." Geryon narrowed his eyes at Felix. "He hasn't said he's joinin' yet, has he?"

Tron laughed. "What, you think he's gonna run to the nearest mutant registration office and sell us out?"

"Just sayin' we should be careful until we know where he stands," Geryon rumbled back, not taking his eyes off Felix.

[Flux]

Felix made an aggravated noise.

"Dude, I am not going to sell you guys out, or whatever. If I did, They'd wanna know how I know, which means they'd run an investigation on me and likely find out that I have powers, which means my butt would be in the fryer, too. Besides, What do I gain from that anyway? You guys didn't do anything to me, so it'd be a pretty dick move." He shook his head.

"Look, I'm sorry if all the questions are bugging you, but you guys are the men of experience here. You've clearly been coping with your powers for longer than most, and you're handling it in a fairly mature fashion. Seeing as I haven't met anyone else who has, you guys are more or less the only people I can unload all this on. I just want to understand so I can do what's best for me and the people around me." It sounded melodramatic to Felix, but hell, it was how he felt.

[The Brotherhood]

"Hey, don't worry about it," Tron shrugged. "Geryon's just the suspicious type. He'll warm up to you."

"Coil gun," Geryon said.

Tron blinked. "What?"

"What you guys are talkin' about is a coil gun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun), not a rail gun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun)," Geryon said. "You could make a rail gun. But it'd be heavy. And you'd need some kinda battery for the electrical current."

Boomer laughed. "Hell, by the time we're done with you, kid, we'll be building you a whole suit of robot armor."

"One other thing," Tron said. "You ought to find yourself a name. Tron, Geryon, Boomer - these aren't aliases for us. The disguise is when we have to use our mundane names, the ones we had before we knew were mutants. Our new names are our identities. You don't need to think of something right now. It's a big step. But you oughta be thinking, whether or not you decide to join us. Mutancy is your life now."

[Flux]

Felix laughed, too. A suit of armor, with magnetically driven weapons. He'd never stop himself from shouting "Here's my Sunday's best!" when unloading the big guns. It'd be required.

"A name, huh? Not like a Codename, but like, a name. Well, Magnet Man won't do it." He looked at Geryon. "I know these two picked names based on their powers, but did you?"

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon nodded reluctantly. "Comes from Greek mythology or somethin'. Some giant who had three bodies' worth of body parts."

"Go on, show 'im," Boomer said.

The Samoan looked uncomfortable. "Come on, he don't want to see that," he complained.

"Sure he does," Tron said. "Don't be a baby."

Geryon grumbled something and heaved up out of the couch. "Okay, but, just warnin' you, it's sorta gross if you haven't seen it before."

Geryon was wearing a beater-style tank top that exposed skin under his arms and at his back. Felix was just about to see why. As the Samoan mutant raised his massive arms, something bulged underneath the skin of his armpits until, with a wet crunching noise, a second pair of hands burst out of his skin. Then they clenched and thrust outward again, and suddenly Geryon had another pair of arms underneath his original ones.

Then he leaned forward, bracing himself on his new arms, and a third pair burst out of his back, bending over his shoulders like some sort of macabre demon's wings. Geryon straightened up as much as he could without hitting the apartment's ceiling. His gut and his chest were now substantially tighter - all the body fat was gone, and they seemed to be nothing but rolls of iron-hard muscle.

Geryon held the six-armed pose for a few seconds, and then, with a sucking sound, the four extra arms retracted back into his body, and his
lineman's physique returned.

He turned toward the kitchen. "I'm gonna go heat up some corndogs. You guys want anything?"

"Nah," said Tron.

"I'm good," said Boomer.

[Flux]

Felix had jumped slightly as the arms burst from him suddenly, but he'd quickly gone from "Oh crap!" to "Oh cool!" as Geryon stood, now with four sets of arms, in what had to be the most intimidating (and awesome) display of power yet.

"That totally rocks!" Felix exclaimed. "I don't know what you've got, but I'll split the corndogs with you if you want." He was hungry, and besides, he didn't want Geryon thinking he was disgusted. He turned back to Tron and Boomer. "He's like, what if Goro was awesome. Why would somebody not want to see him get all multi-armed? Gross my sorry butt."

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon shrugged. "Got me in trouble at USC when I grew a new ACL. I'll be right back."

Tron leaned toward Felix confidentially. "If he hadn't been ratted out, he'd be makin' millions at defensive tackle right now. Of course, no muties allowed in sports."

"Didn't stop Barry Sanders," Boomer said.

"What? Barry Sanders isn't a mutant."

"You call that natural talent? Why do you think he retired early?"

Tron shook his head in disbelief. "You're so full of crap, man."

The microwave started whirring in the next room.

"Anyway, it's been pretty quiet lately," Tron said to Felix. "That's why we started looking into recruiting. We're not the only ones doin' this sort of work. We're just the New York City chapter, so to speak."

[Flux]

Felix sat quiet through the sports talk. His brother had played sports on a few teams, just try it all out, and Felix hadn't understood a word of it. The most he knew about football was that Freddy had been "The guy that kicks the crap outta the damn thing". He was glad when they got back to talking about the group.

"Chapter of what?" he asked. "I thought it was just you guys. Is it some kind of organization?" He felt a little apprehension about it. Banner had done herself a nice rant about this place called Cullen's, which apparently was full of total buttholes. He dared to compare. "Is it like that nutty Cullen's thing?"

[The Brotherhood]

There was a sort of collective scoff - even Geryon made a noise from the kitchen.

"Cullen's?" Tron said. "Those self-righteous, arrogant blowhards? Hardly."

"They're just part of the system," Boomer echoed. "Teachin' mutants how to be good little boys and girls, don't ask questions, don't make waves. Some of the teachers, they actually work for the government against people like us."

"Now us, we're more like freedom fighters," Tron said. "Independent, but workin' together. Last year, a team of us went to a top-secret military base and sprung a mutant they were holding there. I know a mutant who broke into the Jericho Center to rescue an eight-year-old girl they were experimenting on. A couple weeks ago, the three of us blew up a shipment of equipment and drugs that are supposed to suppress mutant abilities. Seems like every time we try to do some good, Cullen's cronies are there to try to stop us. They're traitors to their genes."

[Flux]

Well now. That was way more intense than Felix had thought it would be. Still, it sounded right. Prevention of illegal experimentation and incarceration of mutants...yeah, he could get behind that.

"Haha, that's awesome. The stuff you do, and what you said about Cullen's. My friend, that girl, went there a few weeks ago and apparently they don't have off-switches for their retard machines. She hated it to death. Glad to hear some opinions that back that up." Felix got quiet, and his stare started to focus far way as he thought. "Man, to hell with them."

[The Brotherhood]

"It's like what you saw on the blog," Tron said. "You've got the angsty whiners who can't stop complaining about how they don't fit in with everybody else anymore. And then you've got the messiah types who think they can save the planet by being nice. With Cullen's, you get the worst of both worlds. And even worse than that, I've seen kids who were pretty cool to start with go in there and just end up toeing the party line."

Geryon came out of the kitchen with a plate of six steaming corndogs and set it on the table in front of the couch. He passed one to Felix and set to work on the other five.

"Of course," Tron went on, "it can swing the other way, too. I've seen some people just get disgusted with them and leave. In fact, there's a big name in circles like ours - I hear he used to be a teacher there before they kicked him out. You ever hear of a guy by the name of Saladin?"

[Flux]

Felix stripped a piece of the corndog off the stick with his teeth, chewing and swallowing before supplying an answer.

"Nah. The only Saladin I ever heard of was some guy in the Crusades. He captured Jerusalem and had a personal rivalry with Richard the Lionhearted."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron nodded appreciatively. "I see you know your history. But Saladin wasn't just a general. He was a philosopher. He was a patriot. He united people, people who were used to fighting each other, made them into a nation that shook the whole civilized world. Now mutants have our own Saladin. And, trust me, in the next few months, we're gonna be shaking the world, too."

[Flux]

"Gonna capture a major city, are you?" Felix asked, still thinking of the historical Saladin. He stripped the corndog stick bare and tossed it on the plate, away from the ones Geryon hadn't eaten yet. "Or are we doing some smaller shaking?"

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon was finishing corndog number four. He reached for the fifth one and then, circumspectly, offered the plate to Felix.

"We're not up to that point yet," Boomer said. "We mutants still need to be united. The man keeps us isolated. Keeps us from realizing our potential. 'Cause when we're alone, we're manageable. We just get lost in the herd."

"Saladin's working to unite mutantkind," Tron said. "He says we're family. Like a brotherhood. And if you think about it, we all share the gene. So we are family. We've got to look out for each other. And that's what we're tryin' to do here.

"That's only phase one, of course. Phase two... well, I don't want to dump too much on you at once. But you might want to start thinking about the phrase 'Mutant Nation.'"

[Flux]

Felix took the sixth one; watching Geryon eat made him hungry.

"A Brotherhood creating a nation," Felix repeated. "That's awesome. Then there's no need to interact with the unpowered crazies at all if we don't want to." And Felix really, REALLY didn't want to. He took a chunk out of his new corndog. "At least, I'd hope it'd be just mutants. I'm so sick of the way mundanes freak out over it." Wow, he liked that word. "Every damn day at school I gotta hear some blowhard talk about how he's gonna 'beat him some muties' or the resident bimbo patrol panic that there might be an invisible mutant watching them in the shower. All of 'em, like they're the best thing ever. Too bad they're not."

[The Brotherhood]

"You hang with us, brother, you won't have to take that kind of crap for long," Boomer said.

"It's only fair to warn you, though," Tron added. "You join up with us, you might not be able to keep your good citizen badge. Might need to skip school sometimes, get home late for dinner, evade police capture, that sort of thing. Think you can handle that?"

[Flux]

Felix considered it.

"I'm home late enough most of the time that it doesn't matter. My parents work a ton, too, so it's not like they could really stop me from staying out if I really wanted to. Skipping school would be the biggest deal because people would notice. I haven't missed and I don't usually make trouble, so the faculty would wonder where I went. The police thing isn't a big deal, I guess. C'mon, I'm magnetic. I can mess up all their fun metal weapons. So long as I have a mask, I think I'd be ok."

[The Brotherhood]

"Don't worry," Tron said. "We know how to keep our tracks covered."

"And if you do get into trouble, we've got places where you can lay low for a while," Boomer added. "We look out for our own. So, what do you think? Have we got ourselves a recruit?"

[Flux]

Felix finished up the corndog and spun the stick between his fingers. He felt suddenly awkward, confronted with the decision so suddenly.

"Can I think on it? Give me, say, a week or so to make the decision? This is kinda huge; I don't wanna make a snap decision and regret it later. Not that I'd regret doing any of that, or joining your team," he amended hastily, "But I'd hate to ruin some plan just because I'm a month-old noob with my powers, y'know?"

[The Brotherhood]

"Hey, no problem," Tron said. "There's no rush... only, Saladin's getting back from Europe in a month and we're planning on meeting him. Trust me, that's an opportunity you do not want to miss."

"In the meantime," Boomer said, "there is something you could do to show we're all on the same team. With all we've been up to, we're not welcome in certain places anymore."

He leaned forward and arched his eyebrows meaningfully. "You think you could figure out an excuse to go visit Cullen's?"

[Flux]

Felix stood and stretched. "Yeah, probably," he said in response to the question. "Make an excuse that I"m going somewhere else in that area, or whatever. Anyway, I'll come back by in about a week, let you know what I decide." He was interested to meet Saladin, and would likely continue to hang out with these guys even if he declined the offer to join their little band of vigilantes. He shook hands with all three of them. "It's been fun. We gotta meet up again sometime and just hang out, or whatever. I should probably go; it's getting close to dinner and I don't wanna impose on your food supply." An exchange of goodbyes later, and Felix was on his way back to the bus stop, thinking the whole situation over.

Exactly seven days had passed before Felix found himself pounding the door of the Brotherhood with a tightly clenched fist, still mad from the day before. Banner had been shipped to Cullen's, and he was going to do something about it with the help of his friends. Rather, brothers.

"Hey guys, it's Magnet Man. Open up."

[The Brotherhood]

The door rattled open, and Tron stood there to greet him.

"Hey. Come on in."

He led the way to the common room, which was in much the same state as Felix had seen it before. Tron dropped back into his beanbag chair.

"Boomer and Geryon are out scouting," he said. "What's up?"

[Flux]

Felix threw himself on the couch, laying across it and staring at the ceiling.

"Alright. So remember I mentioned a girl before? She's my girlfriend, now. Her mother found out she's a mutant, and shipped her off to Cullen's without allowing her to have any say in the matter. Here's the thing: She's been there once, and hated it. Thinks of them roughly the same way you guys do. And me? Well, I won't have it." He sat up, and looked Tron in the eye.

"She's the perfect excuse. I can go up there to meet her, hang out with her, and while I'm doing that, I can do whatever you were gonna ask me last week. And as far as your membership offer; if I get to mess that place up, I'm so in."

[The Brotherhood]

A smile came over Tron's face, and he nodded. "Sit tight a moment."

He got up and disappeared into his room for a few moments. Then he came back out with an unassuming USB stick, which he tossed Felix's way.

"Hang on to that. When you get to Cullen's, find a chance to log on to a computer - doesn't matter where as long as it's connected to the school's network. Then put that drive in. It has a self-extracting Trojan on it. Should be impossible to detect. I know, 'cause I wrote it. It'll give me a clear path through the firewall into the network. And then, trust me, we're gonna mess that place up."

[Flux]

Felix hooked it into his keyring so he wouldn't lose it. "Hell yeah. I'll try to arrange a visit soon." He flopped back down, staring blankly at the Brotherhood's TV. He was itching to get started on this USB thing now, but knowing it'd be a while before it could happen, he was trying not to let his mind go into overthinking the whole thing. He blew a raspberry at nothing and rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out a way to work out the nervous energy without being a spaz about it.

[The Brotherhood]

Tron watched Felix carefully as he sat down again, almost like he was evaluating him for the first time all over again.

"This girlfriend of yours," he said. "She's American Girl, isn't she?"

[Flux]

"Yeah. Didn't think it'd be that hard for you guys to figure out, but I didn't wanna outright say it, for some reason. Maybe because you guys seemed so put-off by her vigilante work, or whatever. She's my first girlfriend, so I'm probably being more careful than I should be in how I treat her and the way I discuss her with my friends." Felix shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

[The Brotherhood]

Tron shrugged back. "Hey, your love life is your own business. And I know she's doin' what she thinks is right. What I want to know is, what are you planning on telling her?"

[Flux]

"Tell her about what?" Felix was clearly confused as to what Tron was getting at. "She's not with them, like, on their side or whatever. I wonder if she'd join up with us, given the chance?"

[The Brotherhood]

Tron vented a deep, reluctant sigh.

"Well... there's the thing. She's made her business fighting criminals. And a lot of the things we do... to the untrained eye, anyway... look a lot like the things criminals do. I don't know how she'd react to that."

[Flux]

"Oh."

Felix crossed his arms and gave it some thought.

"I'm sure she'd understand," he said, trying to make his desires work out well. "I'm sure she's done some stuff that's criminal-looking. I think they say she makes a couple thousand dollars of property damage now and then. I mean..." He sighed aggravatedly. "I don't see how it could be an issue if we're doing good for mutants. I can't imagine she'd have a problem with what we were doing."

[The Brotherhood]

"Hey, you might be right," Tron said. "Just... don't make any assumptions. Even if she's not one of them, she's with them. She might slip something by accident, or... I dunno. Some of the professors have ways of getting truth out of people."

[Flux]

Felix suddenly looked very worried. The idea of Banner slipping up and saying something incriminating seems silly to him (as he willfully ignored the way she'd slipped several times about her secret identity at the mall), which makes the threat of her being forced to talk that much more real. He sat up a little straighter and leaned forward.

"Dude, what the hell does that mean? What do they do?"

[The Brotherhood]

"Think about it," Tron said. "They're mutants. Pretty strong ones, too. Some of them are mind-readers. Not like they're gonna take her into a dark room with a table and a lightbulb. I don't think so, anyway. But all it'd take is a meeting in an office somewhere."

He shook his head. "Listen, if you really think she'd be cool with what we're doing, we'll get her out of there. One way or another. Until then, watch your step. And, hey."

He leaned up out of his seat and extended a hand. "Welcome to the revolution, Brother."

[Flux]

Felix half-smiled, reaching out to shake Tron's hand. "Thanks, Brother," he replied, feeling a little better. He sat back, stretching his feet out in front of him. "The revolution. Wow."

[The Brotherhood]

"That's right, man. You're part of something huge now."

Tron sat down again, his head lolling to one side. "So, you given any more thought to a name for yourself?"

[Flux]

"Only when I'm not thinking of everything else that's important. It's actually a fair amount of the time. I just...can't come up with anything good based around magnets. Everything sounds lame or cheesy." He made an aggravated sigh. "I tried coming up with some stuff that wasn't necessarily magnet-related, and that was even harder. I've been thinking of asking my friends, but...I just don't feel close to any of my old friends anymore. It's just hard to be around 'em."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron nodded. "It'll come to you. One way or another. Mine was my hacker alias, that was easy enough. Saladin actually gave Geryon his. Anyway, you won't need it for this mission."

[Flux]

"What, the USB thing?" Felix asked. "Yeah. They'll all probably call me "Magnet Man" though, since it's my blog handle, plus Banner calls me that every third or fourth time she addresses me. Need something better."