Her brow furrowed with the effort, and the air in front of her began to grow colder by degrees. Jack watched intently, the laser thermometer in his hand reading 43…40…36…31…and dropping. He saw ice crystals quickly beginning to form in the air in front of her, suspended by her will. Within a few minutes, she was obscured from his sight by a four inch thick shield of ice, floating in the air. He nodded approvingly.
“Hold it steady…just another minute, Reena. You’re doing great.” A drop of sweat rolled down her forehead, but she persevered. “And...time! Good job, Reena! You can let it go now.” She sighed with relief and the shield began to dissipate. The air warmed as quickly as it’d cooled, and when the temperature read the 80 degrees it had prior, Jack nodded. “You formed it quicker, and held it longer, even as warm as it is out here. You’ll have this down in no time.”
Reena grinned, squinting up at the cloudless sky over Atlas. “Thanks, Mr. Whitney!” Jack smirked at her, and her cheeks flushed, quickly amending, “Jack, I mean! Sorry!” He waved away her apology, switching off the thermometer.
She regarded him for a moment curiously, “So, uh, Jack? Is that it for today?”
Jack looked up at her, “I think so. Practice your speed and control, obviously, but otherwise I think you’re making great progress. I’m very proud of you, Reena.”
Reena beamed. She felt so jazzed when she could make Jack proud. Her brother swore she had a crush on her teacher, but she denied it vehemently. Still...he was so handsome, though. She sighed inwardly. Too bad he was like over twice her age and had a smoking hot blonde girlfriend. She’d met Jenna once when she dropped by the park to bring Jack some paperwork to check over. Jack was obviously very, very taken.
She suddenly remembered that she’d wanted to ask him…“Hey, Jack…you started out like me, right? You couldn’t control your powers, I mean?”
Jack tilted his head a bit and nodded, “Yes. It’s different for each individual mutant based on their particular gift, but for the most part, the gift’s wild, uncontrollable when it first manifests. Why do you ask?”
Reena asked, “What was it like for you? Did you have someone to help you?”
Jack got a faraway look for a moment, then glanced up at the sky. He had some time before his next student. He motioned to a nearby park bench. “It’s a long story, Reena, but I don’t mind sharing. Have a seat.”
She walked over to the bench with him, sliding in to sit. Jack sat across the bench from her, and began.
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I’ve had occasion to talk to a lot of psionic mutants over the years, and with almost no exception, their stories all start pretty much the same way mine does. It was about three weeks before my sixteenth birthday. Dad and I weren’t planning on much of anything special, just grabbing a burger and watching some football. I didn’t know it at the time, but he’d taken off work so he could spend the day with me.
Anyway, that day, I was volunteering at the university library in Steel. I had to do a bunch of community service hours for this school program I was in. One of the reference librarians had asked me to empty the trash baskets, and take the trash out to the dumpster. I’d just tossed the bags in and closed the dumpster lid, when I ‘heard’ something. So I turned around, thinking someone had followed me out, but there wasn’t anyone there.Then I heard another voice, and another, and another, and so on. I don’t know how else to describe it, but it felt like there was a whole room full of people talking loudly. Inside my head. A couple of the other volunteers found me curled up on the ground after a while. They said I was crying and asking the voices to shut up. I don’t honestly remember, myself. They wanted me to go to the hospital, but – and I have no idea why – I wanted to just go home. I got on the rail and headed back to King’s. It’s a miracle I made it home; I wasn’t thinking clearly at all.
The next few weeks were a blur for me, but I know they were hard on my dad. I know he was thinking about his dad and what happened to him. No, that’s a story for another time, Reena. Anyway. the worst was when I ‘heard’ our neighbor, Mrs. Parkins. She was an older lady who sometime babysat me when I was younger, and Dad had to pull a night shift. She always seemed so kind and always had a smile for the kids in the neighborhood, even the troublemakers. She liked to bake oatmeal cookies for the kids she’d watch. They were pretty good, if a bit heavy on raisins.
What I didn’t know until I ‘heard’ her thinking was that she also liked to pick up homeless guys under the bridges in Skyway. She’d take them home, get them drunk on cheap liquor…and then beat them to death with a claw hammer and bury them in her basement. She’d remove all their teeth with a pair of pliers, and when the police arrested her, she had close to two hundred teeth in jars, hidden in the back of the cabinets in her kitchen. Some of the details she remembered most fondly...well, if I told you, Reena, you’d have more than a few sleepless nights.
Needless to say, I started to feel like I was losing my grip on sanity.
At that time, our knowledge of mutantkind was pretty limited and inaccurate. Still, my dad asked around, and learned that my condition wasn’t unique. In fact, there were some psionics who were working with the PPD to counsel/aid people like me. If you know your history, you know that they eventually became the Psi-Corps division. But that’s also a story for another time. There was a small group of them who were helping those who’d manifested to control their powers.
I remember my first day with my teacher.
It was hot, and since it’d rained the day before, it was muggy. The air conditioning in my dad’s cruiser was unreliable at best, so we rode to the precinct with the windows down. I was really sweating when we got there, both from the heat and nervousness, I guess. The meds they’d given me weren’t helping very much to keep the ‘voices’ quiet, so I was on edge. I remember climbing out of my dad’s cruiser wondering if I’d be in an insane asylum before the end of the year. Then I saw her.
She had black hair in a ponytail, fair skin, and piercing green eyes. She was beautiful. And one of the most unnerving people I’ve ever met. She descended the steps to meet us, and immediately said, “Thank you for bringing him, George. Jack, walk with me, please.” My father opened his mouth to say something, but I guess he thought better of it and didn’t. I remember thinking how strange that was. She offered her hand, and I took it without thinking about it. She led me to a stone bench by the fountain in front. It’s not there anymore. I think it got hit by a Rikti plasma cannon a few years back, and no one bothered to rebuild it.
We sat down, and she turned to face me. He face looked porcelain-perfect, but I found it more frightening than attractive. She smiled, showing me perfect teeth, and said. “You have nothing to fear from me, young Jack Whitney. I am like you. I possess the gift of telepathy as well.”
I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but fear and my Whitney stubbornness are a bad combination. I sneered, “Gift, huh? Think I can return even it without the receipt?” She frowned. For some reason, that made me mad. I blurted out angrily, “I didn’t ask for this, any of it!”
She just shook her head, disapprovingly. “You don’t understand your gift yet, young Jack. You are like a newly hatched bird cursing his wings. I will help you. Trust in me, I have mastered my gift, and…”
I know now she was trying to reassure me, but at the time, I thought her tone was damned smug and superior. “I don’t want this gift, Tayla! Maybe you do, but I don’t, and if you think you can….” I trailed off at the expression on her face. The stern, slightly smug look on her flawless face was gone. Now she looked stunned. Scratch that. She looked poleaxed.
“You called me ‘Tayla’. No one told you my name, but you knew it anyway.” Her voice was soft, surprised. “The only way you could know it is if you took it from my mind. But my defenses…should’ve kept you out.” She didn’t seem to know whether to be impressed or offended.I shrugged helplessly, “Uh, I don’t know what to tell you.” What the hell did I care about her defenses?
She smiled, but with more warmth. “You will be an interesting student, Jack Whitney. I wonder which of us will learn more?”I bristled, “Hey, I said I didn’t want..”
She cut me off with a wave of her hand, “Yes, I know. But I also know that what you experience now…the voices, the secrets you’ve learned that you didn’t want…that will never stop until you master your gift.”
“But what about the meds?”
She shook her head. “They can only suppress the symptoms, and once you become used to them, they won’t even do that much.” Tayla quirked a brow, smirking, “And do you mean to tell me that George Whitney’s son would rather pop a pill than do a little hard work?”Ok, so that got to me. As she intended, of course. “Pfft, bring it on!” She smirked again. It didn’t bother me so much this time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------She grinned broadly, “What happened after that?”
Jack snorted a laugh, “Nuh uh, young lady. I’m here to teach you, not dictate my autobiography. And on that subject, you’re free to go. We’re finished for today. Same time next week, right?”Reena sighed, and nodded, “Sure, Mr. Wh-….Jack, sorry!”
Jack rolled his eyes, chuckling. “You’re learning. Take care, Reena. Remember, you should be proud of your progress. I am. But that doesn’t mean you get to slack off now.” He waved at her, seeming not to see her blush. With a smile and nod, he walked to the parking lot, to his motorcycle.Reena watched him leave, and whispered, “Bye, Jack.”
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