School Daze

[Dusk]

Sam followed Bernard off the bus and out of the station. His eyes gazed around, taking in the sight of the city. Indeed, he didn't have a clue have far 18 blocks was, and gave Bernard a confused look, before casting a glance behind him at Tess and Damien.

"I suppose he means one of you two?"

[Damien E. Dervish]

Damien smiled at Sam's comment. He was English. Thus, he didn't understand the typical American euphamism. Damien looked at him.

"What he means is let's go. And eightteen blocks is a decent distance, several kilometers if I'm not mistaken. As for the euphamism, he meant not to be sexist by referring to us as boys, when there is a woman amongst us."

Reaching into the can of peanuts in his hand, Damien tossed more into the air, catching them in his mouth. Finishing the mouthful, he chases the peanuts with some Coke. Slinging the backpack in front of him, Damien sits down, taking off his sneakers and replacing them with the roller blades. With his small gait, Damien would find it somewhat difficult to keep up with them. So, the roller blades would minimize the work, and would help him keep up. As a matter of fact, roller blades coupled with his energy, high metabolism, and hyperactivity, Damien would most likely be twice as fast as the rest. Strapping them on, Damien stood, taking another chug of his Coke. Finishing the bottle, Damien skates toward a trash can, and swings on the light pole next to it. The momentum carries him above the trash can. With no trouble, he drops the bottle into the trash can, landing the trick perfectly. Smiling, he produces another Coke, popping the metal cap off of the glass bottle with his sharp teeth. Sipping lightly on it, he looks to the group.

"Well, we could walk it. Or take another bus. Or the subway."

[Tess Abrahams]

"Oh c'mon, toughen up, let's hoof it." Tess grinned over her shoulder as she pushed a hand into the pocket of her sweater, fingering the folded map she'd printed out the night before. The girl began heading in their destined direction, an open, wily gait that didn't look natural amongst the head-down, eyes-private walks of the natives.

The air was not crisp and clear like Oregon. There was a tang of gasoline and cement, of perfumes and sewage and chemicals, all laced through with the yeasty scent of various food carts. It was surprisingly pleasant. Tess wrinkled her nose as they passed a hot dog vendor, horrified at the mere thought of actually paying for meat.

"Well, gentlemen, I'd say we picked a pretty good day to play hookie." The girl remarked, twisting a little as a pushy man shoved roughly by.

[Bernard Bass]

She was right. This was a perfect day to play hookie. The city was alive, wondrous and forgiving. Bernard hadn’t been to New York since his “transformation.” In Ohio there were stares and whispers. People in his small hometown would point and laugh at his constantly growing size. His side effect was their amusement. In NYC however Bernard was just another face in the crowd. The people of this city didn’t care about him or anyone for that matter. It was liberating. Bernard walked the streets of New York City with a pride and purpose that he had not felt since before his illness. It was a great day indeed. Bernard looked at his four classmates and proclaimed, “This day couldn’t get better. You guys promise me we will do this again.”

The four unlikely companions walked the city sidewalks at a steady pace. They had made good time because the protesters’ signs and posters were now visible. The crowds’ chants and songs were frantic and passionate. Bernard looked at his ‘friends’ and said smiling, “Alright Tess show us what you got.”

[Dusk]

Sam followed the lead of the others, looking around intently. It was much like how he remembered London, just with more hot dog stands and the weather was better.

"Uhm...hookie...?"

He asked half-heartedly, still gazing sideways.

"I'll come out again, Bernard. No doubt I'll need to learn my way around this place before too long."

His ears soon caught wind of some kind of protest. He figured it must have been the environmental thing Bernard had mentioned earlier.

[Saladin]

At the south end of Washington Square Park there was a crowd of several hundred gathered around a marble dais. On the platform stood a man with a long trenchcoat and a rough mane of golden hair. He was flanked by several individuals who did not seem to belong at an environmental rally. Despite the din of traffic and the clamor of the crowd surrounding him, the man's voice cut sharply through the morning air.

"You won't read about it in the New York Times. You won't see it on CNN, Fox News, or any station that wishes to keep its broadcast rights. Never has the human race been so united in ignorance and fear. They fear what they don't understand, what they can't explain. They fear us.

"Most of the American people believe that the phenomenon of mutation has occurred just in the last two or three generations. That is a carefully crafted lie. In fact mutations have been recorded for the better part of a century. And the U.S. government and others around the world have used that time to construct an elaborate web of deception, manipulation, and coercion to keep 'the mutant threat' under control.

"The mutant registry. Genetic profiling. Covert surveillance. While they bandy about these measures in Congress, they've been doing far worse for decades. Compulsory medical and genetic tests. Genetic samples taken, catalogued, and manipulated without the consent or knowledge of their unwitting donors. Most of you are probably on their files and don't even know it. But there has been far worse - custody without charge or legal recourse, forced relocation, covert medical experiments, even concentration camps on American soil. I have seen the worst of their atrocities myself."

Waves of indignation pulsed through the crowd - some directed toward the speaker, but mostly at the injustices he decried. Across the street, several police cruisers had gathered, and the officers inside monitored the proceedings nervously.

[Void]

As Tess, Bernard and the others approached the crowd, another figure ambled apparently idly along by them. It seemed as if he was just arriving to the rally too. He wore a pair of wrap-around sunglasses and was carrying a tall cup of cola and a hot-dog, that was as fresh as a cart-bought hot-dog could be. He looked sidelong, from behind his glasses, at the group of students and seemed to pick them out as 'his kind of people' – in that they were approaching the rally without pitchforks and torches, and looked to be about his age (or at least born within the same decade).

“What do you make of all this?” he asked, sociably, motioning his cup towards the striking man stood on the dais.

[Bernard Bass]

Bernard was taken aback by the dark stranger’s question. What was all of this indeed? Where was the environmental protest? Who was the madman on the table screaming about the government/mutant conspiracy? Why would this stranger care “what I thought of all of this?” Of all of the people around why would the stranger ask Bernard his opinion? Did he know Bernard was a mutant? Something wasn’t right and Bernard knew it. He just hoped the other members of the impromptu field trip shared his intuition.

Attempting to use his massive size as a defense looked down at the stranger and coldly replayed, ” Man, I could give a ***** about some damn mutants.” Before the stranger had a chance to counter his hostile tone, Bernard quickly turned to his classmates and said franticly,” Something going on here, we gotta get outa here fast or we might have problems.”

[Tess Abrahams]

Oh for... the man was just trying to be friendly and Bernard had gone and cast a net of suspicion over them with his panicked response. Tess smiled apologetically at the newcomer and stared hard at Bernard. "Yeah, there's something going on here, but I don't think we need to be hasty.

"It's interesting." The girl turned to stare at the speaker. Tess was no stranger to protests, and there seemed little out of the ordinary at this one; nervous authorities, a murmering crowd, an exceptionally alluring speaker. Granted, it wasn't the information she'd come to hear but the Blackfoot River Valley was soon forgotten. This hit closer to home.

Tess frowned and leaned over to the stranger, breathing through her mouth so she did not inhale hot-dog air. "Do you think what he's saying is true?"

[Dusk]

Sam's face contorted into a frown, and without hesitation the young man slipped into the growing crowd.

"I'll be back in a few minutes" he called back to the others, as his figure dissapeared into the mass of bodies.

He made his way through the bustle of people towards the front. There were a few murmers about "kids these days", but Sam ignored them and continued forward.

"And just what do you intent to do about it?" his English voice called out to the speaker over the murmering crowd. A few heads turned towards himself, a few suprised looks at the fact he'd spoken back to the mutant preacher.

[Saladin]

The man turned toward Sam, but his voice still carried over the whole crowd. "My young friend, the question is not what I intend to do. I am only one voice, a voice will not be silenced. But I know there are many in this crowd who have felt the oppression of mundanes who prey on them because they are isolated, alone, the freak next door. I mean to show you that you are not alone. We must stand together as a community, as a brotherhood, united by cause and genetics. No, the question is not what I mean to do, but what we mean to do, the frontrunners of the next step in human evolution. We must be united. If one of us bleeds, we all bleed. If one of us is wronged, we must all fight the injustice. Because if they can rob one mutant of his or her rights, they can rob us all and leave us no better off than cattle. But if we stand together, no army of oppression can stand against us. Human history is stained with the blood of silence, just as it is illuminated by those courageous souls who stood against their oppressors and said, 'no more!' We must make the world know that those who seek to crush the mutant strain are fighting the course of nature itself."

[Dusk]

Sam cocked his head slightly. It had been a long time since he'd last debated on this matter. He'd had a fair few arguments back home with fellow mutants, and often they'd ended without being resolved. But he wandered how the preacher knew Sam was indeed a mutant. Perhaps sensing such things was the speakers power. Or maybe he knew that only a mutant would have the guts to speak back.

"Perhaps. But if the mutant society seperates itself from human society, surely only more prejudice can only ensue. If mutants merge themselves into human culture, then maybe that is the way forward. All prejudice that had existed before is now extinguished, with the sufferers now an active part of human society. Do you not think this unison, this brotherhood, will be seen as a threat? We all know how humans react to threats."

His last sentence seemed to varify that Sam was a mutant for many people, and a few members of the crowd seemed to edge away from Sam. He looked around briefly, with a flash of pity in his eyes.

"Look, surely they need to be educated, not aggravated."

[Damien E. Dervish]

Damien, due to his small stature, had to find a better vantage point to see the rally. Scaling a street light, the small, dog-faced, demonic-looking mutant could see the scene unfolding; Tess and Bernard talking to the small man in wraparound sunglasses; Sam and the blonde speaker talking about the mutant agenda and what it should be. This was wrong. This was not an environmental hearing of any kind... or at least, not about any building plans.

This was about plans to rise against the human population. This was bad. Very bad.

Taking flight, Damien stopped, hovering just above Tess and Bernard.

"Guys, we've gotta get outta here! If this gets violent, we could be pitted against others, namely the humans, and potentially, other mutants. That would definetly get news coverage, and that could lead to discovery. And expulsion. I think the terms "mutant rebellion" was covered in the list of things we could get expelled for..."

Damien's wings flapping wildly, he only hoped that they would agree.

[Bernard Bass]

“Tess, I hate to do break up your ‘60 Minutes’ interview here but small fry’s right, we gotta get outta here. Where’s Sam?’ Bernard used his height to scan the crowd and found the last member of their party. All hell had broken loose.

In the commotion, Sam made it his business to confront the ranting mad man. By the looks of it, Sam was quite passionate about the subject of mutant government relations. The heated debate between the two men drew the attention of the crowd. Unfortunately for Sam, the debate had also drawn the interest of the NYPD.

Bernard looked at his two classmates and said gravely, “We got NYPD problems now.”

[Void]

“The way I see it-”

That was all the stranger in sunglasses had managed to say before he was interrupted. Attention had been drawn elsewhere, as Saladin's impassioned words stirred up controversy amongst those listening. When Bernard turned to look back to Tess, the tall stranger who had approached them had vanished – quite literally. He was nowhere to be seen, though on the ground where he had stood was an overturned cup of soda and an untouched hotdog.

[Saladin]

Oddly enough, the man on the podium didn't seem perturbed that someone was debating his rhetoric - instead he regarded Sam with a bemused smile.

"You've obviously been reading the late Dr. Gregory Cullen. But the world isn't ready for his lofty ideals. There may come a time, and I pray that it will be soon, when mutants can live their lives without fear of persecution."

Turning, he saw two of the police cruisers pull away from the curb and execute a U-turn to come alongside the park. A murmur went up from the crowd, like the rumbles a volcano gives before it blows.

"But history teaches us that humankind hates what is different. No, they don't want us to merge. They want us to be submerged, to be exactly like them. And failing that, they want us to disappear. Yes, they must be educated. They must be enlightened. But in the meantime, we must not countenance their oppression, or they will never learn. They will never accept the future."

The two cruisers ground to a halt and waited there, lights flashing. The wail of sirens bounced of the skyscrapers blocks away as two black police vans rushed toward the square. They stopped behind the sedans and vomited a riot squad.

[Damien E. Dervish]

There! Sam was on the stage. Damien looked to Bernard and Tess.

"See the alley behind the podium? We'll meet up and go from there."

Damien, seeing the whole scene unfold in front of him, dove, his little wings working overtime. He had to get to Sam. He twisted and turned, diving, flying, and spinning between peoples' legs, making his way to the podium. As he got close to it, Damien pulled up, zipping upward, out of the crowd, and landing on the stage, right in front of Sam.

"We gotta get outta here! Now! To the alleyway behind you!"

[Dusk]

Sam looked all around, taking in what was happening. It seemed an exit was in order. Just then, Damien appeared in front of him, pointing out where to go. Sam gave him a nod, then looked over to the mutant he'd be debating with. Committing his face to memory, he turned away, facing the alleyway.

"Come on then Damien."

With a pump of his legs, Sam propelled himself upwards and forwards, both directions being about 50 meters. He rushed through the air, the winds blowing around him as he flew towards the side of one of the surrounding buildings. He collided with a thud against a window, pressing his hands against the flat surface and gripping, staying still for a few moments. With another push of his legs, he leapt downwards, towards another bulding, and continued down in a zig-zag until he reached groud, clear away from where the riot van had pulled up.

He landed at the entrance to the alley, turning to see as the others approached.

[Tess Abrahams]

Frustrated and curious as to where the stranger had dissapeared to, Tess nodded shortly at Bernard and wriggled her way through the crowd--now shifting and murmuring in loud unnease--to the alleyway where Sam and Damien were waiting. The girl turned around to look again at the stage. She studied the speakers Roman-esque profile, a million questions buzzing in her head. Almost as if she'd voiced them, the man turned and, for a split second, held her gaze. Tess hesitated.

"Wait a sec," she told the others, running back into the throng and squeezing herself through until she was at the podium. "Hey!" The girl yelled over the buzz of voices. "Do you... do you have like, a website, or something?"

[Bernard Bass]

Three of students had found refuge in the alleyway with Tess brining up the rear. Bernard stood hunched over with his hands on his knees quickly trying to catch his breath. It was turning out to be a strange day. A day that was once filled with pretzels, hot dogs, ball games and environmental rallies had turned into a series of unanswerable question?

Instead of internalizing his questions, Bernard looked to his classmates for answers and exclaimed, “Ok first off, who were those guys? Second, did you see that one guy disappear into thin air? Third, how are we going to get out of here? THERE ARE COPS AND MEDIA EVERYWHERE. And last but not least but not least, where do you think he disappeared to?”