Rin~

Danni and I are going to be bunking together at D5; when we reached our room, we found our "super suits" already set out. Mine was a green suit (hunter green) with long durable, rubberery brown boots, and gloves, no cape, no mask, no elastic underwear; it did however, come with 2 brown elastic hair ties. I dressed, and then Danni dressed. We went out, back to where the others were. An old lady (50, I think) took my shoulder, and said, "Well, I will be training you. I'm Stretch; my body has the strechyness and consistency of rubber, so since our powers our similar, I will teach you how to use yours for combat". Someone else took Danni away, and I left with Stretch. "Okay, the first thing you will need to learn, it how to make trip wires and such; since you can manipulate the strands of your hair, I think you should use a spider's web as your base and try to trap me in this room." I let my hair grow out long, then I separated the strands (I had never tried this before) and tied then to different corners of the room; they looked a bit transparent, and I put them around like lasers in a spy movie. "Good," said Stretch, then she broke through the strands and said, "Not good enough." We went back to practice...

Legion

And, of course, Meridan puts me in charge of general physical training. Translation: a bunch of newly inducted superpowered teenagers try to beat up multiple me's. Absolutely wonderful. I wouldn't really have minded mentoring one of the kids, even though mentoring Rin would have been kind of weird because I know absolutely nothing about hair, and Meridan seemed obsessed with Pepper Collins, so I wouldn't have minded Adam, Aidan, Danni, Noliam or Dale. Really, I wouldn't have minded too much. Oh. Well, not Noliam, I guess

But putting me in charge of "general physical training"? Okay, so I have enhanced strength that the suit helps me with. I can fight really well, but I really shouldn't be the one who trains the people who are going to go out into the world and save lives and battle evil. If I train them, their training will be severely lacking.

The Protectorate Tower has been compromised, so we moved to Quarters, where everybody has a room, the food is good and free, and it holds all our central computers. I have a room there, all the members of the Protectorate there, and I share it with Chase Tracer, who went undercover seven months ago and has been ever since. So our room is empty, because the only things I have in there is one change of clothes and a small set of tools that I can use to fix small problems with my suit. I've slept in the bed once.

After a few hours, they all show up, looking exhausted. I'm in full suit, because even though they've only been in training for three hours, they can probably do some serious damage. Besides, seventy metal people with enhanced strength are a lot scarier than seventy scrawny 18 year olds.

"30 laps around," I said, "and no cheating." 3 replicas instantly appear around the gym. I intend for them to help with training and be around for a while, so they name themselves.  Nathan thinks the one standing a few feet away from me. Scott thinks the one standing near the weights. Marconne Kadison Ingriel Potter Eiloni Darab Rashores Kirstif Odair Magdain Bray thinks the one sitting on top of the rock climbing wall.

What the heck? I think. We're calling you Marc.

I'm getting a mohawk.

No, you're not. Don't get a mohawk.

I'm getting a mohawk and I'm dying it many colors. HAH!

I ignore, uh, Marc.

"Get going," I said. They all looked at me like I had replaced their hated gym teachers, which I pretty much had.

With the suit supporting me, I can stand for hours and not have to move. Using the screen on the inside of my suit, I could use verbal commands to direct it that would not be heard outside of the suit. I was searching the Protectorate mainframe for the Z files that Luminesence had mentioned. I could find absolutely nothing. Nothing. But they were done running in fifteen minutes, so I might have to search deeper later.

"So," I said, when they were done and looked even more exhausted then before. "You've just spent three hours with your private instructors, so tell me, what have you learned about combat?"

"Use your powers and you can do anything," Aidan snapped. "Like shift into a wolf and bite your instructors head off."

"Wrong," I said. "Anybody else?"

"Strangle him with your hair," Rin suggested.

"Wrong," I said. I paused. "Who has seen the Hunger Games movie?" Quite a few nods. "You know Cato? From District 2? The one who beat Thresh and nearly won? Remember how Katniss blew up his supplies and then he got really mad? Remember how he snapped the kid from District 3's neck so fast that it was a second before the people in the theater gasped?"

Six replicas appeared behind each of them, so silently that they didn't notice. "What's your point?" Danni asked.

"Turn around." They do. The replicas then disappear, destroyed. "I could have killed all of you in less than a second. Combat is about being prepared, being ready and on guard, so that you don't die. Simple enough?"

They all looked mad. Mad and exhausted. "Class dismissed," I said.

Pepper stayed behind. "So if you'd been more ready, Noliam would still be alive?" she asked, then turned on heel and walked out.

"Noliam was..." I called after her.

She turned around. "Who's Noliam?" she asked blankly.

"I... nothing, never mind." Something was very, very wrong here. Pepper left

"Nice display," Meridan said from behind me.

"What did you do to her?" I asked.

Meridan actually had the nerve to look apologetic. "I had to make them forget him, Legion. Otherwise, they'd be way too distracted. You know that."

"Stay out of their heads," I said. "Or I'll get in them."

"You can't do that," she said, but she was lying. She didn't know that I could do that.

"Yes, I can, and yes I will, and once I get in them, you won't be able to even read them." Meridan couldn't read mine. I was just me, but at the same time I was sixteen different people, one of who was named Marconne Kadison Ingriel Potter Eiloni... the psychic link kept Meridan out, and I liked it that way.

"Legion, try and remember that we're on the same side," Meridan said in a sickly sweet voice.

___________________________

Note: Whenever Legion writes stuff about Meridan, like "actually had the nerve to look apologetic", he's seeing her in a very biased way.

Note.2: Sorry that I didn't wait for everyone to write about their trainers, but I've only posted once before, so.

Strangle with hair? Rin would more likely use her hair as a rope, and swing to a safe vantage point, then attack with a single strand, hitting a vital spot. She has alot of self preservation, so she wouldn't leave herself open by using her hair like that.

Rin~

I fell back on the bed, and sighed. I trained and trained with Stretch, then I had to train with Legion. Fun. "I'm hungry" I said to Danni, "Go find something to eat, I don't have anything" she snapped. I left the room, to look for someone, I walked down a long corridor, then I ran into.. a fly? The fly solidified, it was Aidan. He muttered something about the files and then ran off. That was odd, I thought. I walked on, suddenly, a hand stretched out- I blocked it with a wall of hair, and wrapped the hair around to pull the person to me. It was... Stretch, "Just testing you." she said. Then, I asked her about food, and she led me to a kitchen, I got a bag of chips and began to eat. Then I wandered back to the room. 

When I got there, nobody was there, but, a note was sitting on the bedside table,

-meet us in the main room, we have your first mission.

underneath was a set of instructions, which I followed to a large metalic room. Everyone was there. 

- end

Does anyone find it odd that Stretch was snooping aroud, maybe somone can use that and make her evil. Jasper says slpy, I think she wants me to shut the computer and go to (-_-)zzzz

^Adam^

How original.  The suit was blue.  Feeling stereotyped, and rebelious, I leave the spandex clothing in it's drawer.  After several minutes of trying to make water do ballet, Aidan walks in, late from physical training.  To avoid water splashing on the bed, I splash my flushed face with it instead.  I try to talk to him a bit, and he acts hostile.  I'm not particularly interested in making friends with him, so after we go our ways, he turns into a wolf and launches at me.  I deflect him with the remainder of the dancing water, but he turns into a bird and flies out the door.  He's a strange one, that fellow.

Rin

I looked over Leota's shoulder and gasped.

Name: Rin Smiles

Code Name: Miss Strands

Gender: Female

Crimes: None

Family: Harricane (Ryo Smiles)

Powers: Control over hair. This power is because of her ancestor, Demon Comb, who was the spirit of a 100 year old comb in Shimizu, Japan. This power passes from parent to child, unblockable, when we tried to stop Harricane from joining the society, we erased his memory, look at his file for more.

I looked over at Legion, "So this is what they want, files of everyone with powers? Are you telling me that "Super"s are no more than the descendants of ancient monsters, like ghosts, ogres, kitsune, dragons and more?!" Legion looked a bit annoyed. Now everyone else looked over the papers. "And what is the society?" I said. Legion spoke "They are the people  who believe we shouldn't have anything to do with humans"  I really don't know what to think anymore, my father, he seems so silly, but is he really hiding the fact he still has control. And why did Meridan mess with my head to make me forget Noliam? I don't get it.

Legion

Oh man. I am in so much trouble.

Ok, so I saved Leota from the massive falling rock, the only real thing in the simulation. Might I add, it was totally her fault that it fell, so, by extension, it's her fault I crashed her into a restricted section of the Protectorate. So it's her fault that a bunch of teenagers had access to the Z files. Yeah. Like that arguement will stand up in court.

Ok, so I knew Leota was half ghost. But I didn't tell her.

"YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" she screamed in my face.

"Uh, yeah?" I said in a very intelligent and not at all intimidated manner.

Leota waved her file in my face. "I'M HALF GHOST! HOW IS THAT NOT IMPORTANT!"

"What was I supposed to do? Hey Leota, guess what? You're half ghost! So that means you're also half dead! And what's already dead can't totally die! How the heck am I supposed to fit that into a normal conversation?"

"Friends don't keep secrets like that from other friends!" Leota yelled. That really hurt. I was her friend, truly. I liked her. Leota was a great friend. But I couldn't tell her because... I wasn't supposed to tell her. What the heck? Nobody ever told me that I wasn't supposed to tell Leota. Where had that thought come from? And then I realized what I had said. And then she realized what I had said. "What do you mean what's already dead can't totally die?! What do you mean I'm half dead?!"

"Uh... That's what Meridan said! Go ask her!" Leota glared at me. She read her file a little more, then flounced off.

Rin asked me something about us being descendants. I just looked at her. No, we definitely weren't all descendants of magical happy thingies. She may have been descended from the spirit of an ancient comb (don't ask me how that worked), but not everyone had superpowered parents. Some of us lived normal lives until suddenly there were three us's. Seriously, I was eating a bowl of cereal when I was nine, and then poof, three more me's, all holding spoons. True story.

"And who's the Society?" Rin asked.

The Society. "They're the people who believe we shouldn't have anything to do with humans."

"Is the Society human?"

"No. Total elitist organization. Some special power is a requirement to get in."

Pepper ran out of the room, her eyes full of tears. Yup. Meridan was her aunt.

Sometimes, I really, really hate being the bearer of surprises.

"Where's your file, Legion?" Adam asked suspiciously.

In response, I searched through the cabinet until I found it.

Name: Cassan Bray

Immediately, I ripped the top of the paper off, the part containing my name. I flicked on a little lighter I had installed a few weeks ago on my index finger, and burnt that slip of paper. My name was not Cassan anymore. It was Legion. Cassan was a different life. I didn't want the rest of them to know that I was part of the Bray family. They might not know, but I wasn't taking the chance.

Codename: Legion

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Crimes: Breaking into classified Satellite files.

Family: Gwendolyn Bray nee Concoran, Henry Bray

Yadayadayada, nothing that I didn't already know and that wasn't too hard to find out. Still, I didn't know that the Protectorate knew about me hacking in to the classified Satellite files. It was simple, Satellite wouldn't tell me exactly how my parents died, so I was going to find out. Turned out the reason they weren't telling me was because they didn't know either.

Powers: Creating fully functioning replicas of himself, but as of yet, replicas cannot replicate themselves. Psychic link with all replicas that fades over distance. Enhanced strength. Suspected the Legion might have enhanced intelligence concerning areas of technology and robotics, but unconfirmed G. Bray and H. Bray both confirmed non-superpowered. Grandparents confirmed nonsuperpowered. Great-grandparents, now all dead, mostly confirmed nonsuperpowered.

Origins of powers: Unknown. Most likely in "Superhuman" category, not "Descendant" category.

Other notes: The Society has shown interest in Legion for his replicating powers, believing that if he were to touch someone and replicate, that person would be replicated. We are unsure if this is possible. Legion replicates whatever he is wearing at time of replication, and usually whatever he is touching but we are unsure if this extends to living things.

*

Well. That was news.

"Okay, guys, this is what I think is happening-"

Aidan interrupted me. "If you're going to tell us the truth, then let's see your face." The shapeshifting kid glared at me. He did have a point. If they couldn't even see who I was, how could they know that I was telling the truth?

The silver reflective band that covered my eyes retracted, and then most of my suit that covered my face followed. "This good enough?" I asked Aidan. He nodded.

I continued. "There are two known types of superpowered humans. There's the Descendant category. They're descended from a variety of different creatures, spirits, ghosts, etc. Their powers are almost always predictable, whatever their parents and ancestors had, that's almost always what they'll have. Whatever ancestor they have, the first generation's powers are almost always quite a bit weaker then the original, but it mostly stays pretty strong for every generation onwards, and can sometimes even increase. Leota, Rin, Pepper, Meridan and ---[see below] are all Descendants."

"The other known type of superpowered human are the Superhumans. Superhumans are, as far as we know, randomly appear in the normal human population. Their powers are totally unpredicatable and there doesn't seem to be any noticeable pattern or factor that contributes to what powers they have. I'm a Superhuman, and so are Pilot and ---[see below]. Noliam was a Superhuman."

"The majority of superpowered humans are Descendants. Serpent and Havoc are confirmed Descendants, Luminescene is a confirmed Superhuman. Malice is unknown. The Society is definitely mostly Descendants, because some of them have been raised with the mentality that 'they're better than humans.' But there are a fair amount of Superhumans in there as well."

"The Society, we speculate, is trying to take over the world. But they just don't have enough power to do that. They need more members. They're also exploring cloning and... replication options."

Meridan along with Leota and Pepper appeared at the gaping hole I had made in the wall. On top of all the trouble I was in, I would probably have to pay for that.

"Good job explaining Legion," she said. "But there's more that you don't know. My boss has really been acting weirdly lately."

"Meridan," I said. "You don't have a boss."

"Legion, what are you talking about?"

"You don't have a boss," I said. What was she playing at? "You're the head of this division of the Protectorate. You don't take orders from anybody, and you definitely don't have a boss."

Meridan facepalmed herself. "Sorry. I forgot. Long ago, my boss gave me the order to make you forget that I had a boss."

Suddenly, I remembered. Of course, Meridan had a boss. She wasn't the head of this division of the Protectorate. She was second in command. What had I been thinking?

"Wait!" I half screamed. "You were in my head! You can't get into my head! I've got the psychic link and it blocks you from getting into my head!"

"Legion," she said gently. "I was under orders to make you forget that, too. Your psychic link can be a tough thing to manuever around, but you're still the same as everyone else."

No. no. no. This can not be happening. I can not have a mindreader in my head.

"Legion, honey, please just calm down." My suit has closed up again and my face is no longer visible. I'm ready to fight her.

Cassan Emeros Bray

"DON'T SAY MY NAME!" I screamed at her. "WE'RE NOT THE SAME ANYMORE!" I can feel the instant army at me back. Forty us. Legion is ready to fight. We will not fail, we will not fall. Legion is always ready. We are always ready.

Legion, please just calm down.

"STAY OUT OF OUR HEADS!" we screamed at her.

Legion get a grip! You're a superhero! You're a legal adult! Grow up and start acting like it!

We're okay. Meridan is okay. We're fine. Meridan isn't a threat to us.

No, I think. Meridan isn't a threat to me. I destroy the forty replicas that I created.

"Good," Meridan said. "We have things that we have to talk about, Legion, and we'll talk about them later. Right now, we have work to do."

I burned my file when no one was looking. Too much personal information on it. Bray this, Bray that.

But then I got to work, just like everybody else.

________________________

I wasn't sure what category Adam, Aidan, Danni, and Dale wanted to be in, so I just put it blank. Just respond to this post with which one you'd like to be, and pretend that Legion said their names when listing either Descendants of Superhumans.

_________________

Whew. That was long. Around 1500. And a lot of songs.

Rin~

I sneak through the silent halls. I should be in my room, I should have gone back. But now I am uncertain. I don't trust the P, not one bit. They had files on me, and attacked my father. I need to go back and see his side of the story. I need to know. Whenever I see a camera, I block it with hair, so it goes all black, whenever I hear people, I attach myself to the ceiling. When I get to the front door, for some odd reason, it is unlocked. I slip out, silently roaming the streets, on route back to my house.

At my house, I take the key under the mat and turn it in the lock, I walk in and lock the door behind me. I walk into the hallway and there, at the table, is my father. "Hi Dad," I say. He looks at me "So was the protectorate to your liking?" "Not really, it seemed they were using me, they even had a file on me, and you." "Ahh, so you found the Z files, the society wants them you know." "Who exactly are the society?" I asked. I wanted to hear what someone from the other side said. "They are... They are a group of people with powers who feel that we don't need to help the humans as Superheroes, you should know that the P. likes to force anyone who doesn't want to join to join them, and uphold their "noble" cause, if you don't want to be with them, they erase your memory and ask you again. I decided that I didn't want to be with them anymore, and they tried to "erase" my memory, you should know, it didn't work." "But why do they want the Z files?" "So they can know who else in the world has powers and make sure that they don't commit crimes against our kind. Do you want to meet them?" "But why do they call themselves villians?" "They do this because they are opposed to the "heroes". That's why they take those stupid codenames, now please take that suit off and go to bed, tomorrow I will be taking you to work with us. Going to school is no longer safe, remember what I said about them coming and making you forget and rejoin."

******

You can have everyone go and get her if you want, or you can leave her for a while. I might make her join the society, I might not. 

-=Aidan=-

There were two of us out that night.

I buzzed through the halls in fly form, careful to appear as unintelligent as an ordinary insect. Where had Meridan put the Z-Files? I had to know. I still had no idea how I got my powers. I only knew that my mother had died at birth, and instinct told me the Protectorate knew something about that.

The corridors were just as cold and empty as I remembered. The only irregularities were the blank eyes of the cameras, which I didn't even bother shorting out. They would take no notice of a fly. I hadn't yet passed any humans in the corridors. I listened carefully. Footsteps.

This way. No, that way! A fly is not the best tracker, but I couldn't risk morphing into a bloodhound or something, not right here with all of the cameras. I paused again. Okay, I was on the right track. I buzzed forward---

And stopped short.

Refracted onto the hundreds of tiny screens of my fly vision, I saw a wall. Just a plain wall. A dead end. I listened carefully. Where were the footsteps coming from?

Behind the wall!

Quickly, I buzzed up out of sight of the one camera and changed into a condor. Tearing the camera from its mount wasn't especially difficult. I dropped it on the floor, leaving behind a tangled spaghetti of naked wires. There was no reason to hide the damage; the Protectorate would see the screen go black anyway.

Then I turned to the more difficult job: getting past the wall.

Morphing into the form of a sleek bloodhound, I sniffed at the wall. A thousand scents flooded my nose, but some of them stood out. Yes, there were people there. How to find the entrance? I heard footsteps and looked behind me.

Just then, Meridan turned the corner.

I resisted the urge to bark and changed instantly into a spider, cowering in a corner of the room. Had she seen me? No, or she would have been having a heart attack. I stayed there and watched as she walked up to the wall.

"Meridan," she said calmly.

I watched as a gel thumbprint scanner appeared, as if by magic, in the wall. Touching her right thumb to it, she waited.

The wall fizzled away. It didn't even retract into the ceiling, or floor, or walls. It just disappeared.

Getting over my shock, I barely managed to get in after her before the wall closed. Looking around me, I saw . . . feet. And the bottoms of swivel chairs.

I morphed into a fly and buzzed up towards the ceiling. The fly and the spider, the two prime forms for sneaking around. Now that I had a better vantage point, I could see a half dozen men and women in swivel chairs, tapping nonsense into keyboards. Meridan continued through the room. I followed as nonchalantly as I could.

An electronic keypad, another fingerprint scanner, a third code, and she was past.

The room she entered was small, and incredibly neat. It was in the five-sided shape of a pentagon, and in the center was a stacked array of folders.

The Z-Files. I nearly dropped to the floor in shock. One night and I had already discovered them. I hadn't thought it would be that easy. 

Seeing Meridan exit out the side---through a normal door, thankfully---I checked for cameras, then switched back to my human form and shuffled through the folders as fast as I could, careful to keep them in order. Here---Shift.

I opened it, scared of what I might find.

Inside, I read: 

Name: Aidan Grimstone

Code Name: Shift

Gender: Male

Crimes: None

Family: Morphus (Ashley Grimstone)

Powers: Shapeshifting. This power is gained from his mother, Ashley Grimstone, who is a Superhuman.

I was in shock. My mother had been part of the Protectorate? I was following in her footsteps without realizing it. And that was where my powers had come from? My instincts had been right. They had known something about me. They'd known my mother. I resisted the urge to hurl the file against the wall. Instead, I inserted it neatly into its proper place, careful to make the files look undisturbed.

The doorknob on the normal door turned. Instantly, I morphed into a fly again. Meridan walked into the room, looking troubled. With only the barest glance at the Z-Files, she exited the room. I followed behind her. As we came out the vanishing wall, I raced away as fast as I could, zigzagging through the corridors, heading back to my dormitory. When I reached the door, I morphed back into a human and sagged with relief. As I entered the room, Adam turned to stare at me. "Where were you?"

"Nowhere," I replied, sinking onto my bed. I was suddenly very, very tired. Adam had been playing with a picture of the ocean, but he slipped it into his pocket. We looked at each other for a minute, both knowing the other was hiding something.

"I'd like to go to sleep now," I said.

"Okay," he said, and turned his back to me. 

My head was spinning with what I had just found out. I closed my eyes and pictured the innocent file folder, the one that held all the information in the world about me. I pictured all the words again, those words that held hidden secrets. This power is gained from his mother, Ashley Grimstone, who is a---

I sat up in bed, shocked. Adam didn't turn around. 

Is, not was.

My mother is still alive.

-==-

Mwahahaha.

Random message from Aidan: WHY? WHY? I was not supposed to have a sister, and my mother was actually supposed to be dead!

Well now.

I'm thinking the next morning, Danni realizes Rin is missing and we all go out looking for her.

Spammy says nmof. Nemo the fish? What does Nemo have to do with anything?