"Apologize!" The boy now fully clothed and healed lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry." Kai scowled and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, spinning him towards Angie. "To her! Apologize to her!" The boy's head lowered even further this moment of shame seemingly never-ending. "Sorry..." He whimpered. Angie winced at his predicament and waved off his offense. "Hey, guys it really wasn't that-"
"For?" Physis said leaning against the wall. "Sorry for being inappropriate..." Physis folded her arms, her rainbow-colored eyes shining through the tint for the briefest moment. "And?" The boy played with his thumbs. "Go on you weren't shy before! Don't be shy now!" The boy looked up his eyes red and his nose runny. "And for freaking you out..."
Physis practically threw herself on the boy her arms casing him in a warm embrace. "It's okay! You don't have to say anymore!" Physis pulled him closer and ran her fingers through his hair. "You're a good kid!" She sobbed. "And don't let anyone tell you any different!" The boy now flushed, his cheeks rosy looked to Angie his expression the most awkward she'd ever seen. "Say it, Dylan! Say you're a good kid!"
Dylan shrugged and went along with it. The longer Angie stayed within her mind the more she realized just how eccentric Physis was. Are these the kinds of people Kai deals with every day? "I'm a good kid." Physis pulled him closer. "You just like everyone else! You don't have to be anyone you don't want to be! And you certainly don't have to act like him of all people!"
Dylan pulled away from Physis her arms moving to recapture him. "Can you guys stop talking bad about King all the time?!" Dylan's eyes became stars as his gaping mouth widened in a beaming smile. "He's a cool guy! I mean he has King in his real name, you can't get much cooler than that!"
Angie could feel the admiration burning inside Dylan. His thoughts wrapped around the memory of King like a warm blanket and the intensity of the heat only grew the longer he thought about him. She could tell that he really cared about whoever this man was.
"He's always got a cool one-liner! His powers are amazing!" Angie's eyes widened at the mention of powers. Kai seemed to notice her shock as his eyes quickly met hers.
'So King has abilities too? Like these three? I think I'm starting to understand! This must be where all the Heroes come from! But if there are so many with these powers then why is Kai the only one widely known to the public? Or maybe this operation goes deeper than I thought.'
"The detective is a cretin who works for a corrupt government and preys on Hero society for kicks!" Physis stood up and crossed her arms, her mind going into a dark space. Snippets of dialogue filled Angie's head between Physis and an unknown man presumably King. It was hard to distill but Angie could feel Physis's discomfort even in the memory.
"He also has no respect for women. You don't want to be anything like him do you?" Dylan looked to his open palms as if they were a scale to weigh his options. "I mean on one hand I wanna be a super cool action guy..." The make-believe scales tipped to Physis's dismay. "Buuuuuut if that would make you upset..." Physis looked up from her despair Dylan reveling in her lifted spirits.
"I guess I can settle for being a regular action guy." Physis fanned herself with her hands and Angie knew that behind that tinted visor joy flowed down her face. "I'm sorry..." Physis cleared her throat not wanting to be seen crying before the child. "I need a moment. Come on Kai, I need you for this!" Physis practically bolted down the hallway her voice broken from her crying.
"You two stay here." Kai went after Physis his eyes letting Angie know that he'd be a while. It wasn't long after Kai turned the corner that Dylan immediately disobeyed his instructions. "Hey! Kai told us to stay here!" Dylan stopped and turned toward Angie his face disgusted. "What is it?" She questioned. "You're really gonna listen? He asked US to wait here so he's on OUR time now! We'll go where we want!"
Angie folded her arms and pouted. "Well, I want to stay right here!" Energy coursed through Angie's body her head broke in a splitting headache. Her eyes burned as they glowed with power the hallway before her devolving into shades of black and white.
What now? How many skills do I even have at this point?!
The smell of disinfectant, dust floating through the air, the wind blowing through the air ducts it all had a sound now a sound she could discern and focus on. Her body felt light almost weightless as the pain from before subsided and her muscles relaxed more than Angie thought they could.
The sound of leather reached her ears each movement of the fabric making a swishing sound as though it were filled with water. But that didn't make sense, no one was wearing leather!
Wait that's not leather! That's my skin that's what-but wait I'm not even moving. Is that Dylan then?
Angie's eyes darted toward Dylan his right arm steadily rising toward her. She watched as his fingers spread out and the skin slowly peeled from his hand. Muscle tissue swirled beneath his skin like a den of serpents as his arm shed the remainder of his skin allowing his arm's muscle fiber to breakthrough. A hideous deformation of his body the exposed muscle began to swirl in all directions until the mass of flesh was bigger than the boy himself.
Each tendril slithered through the air as though looking for a target as Dylan's expression fell lazy and uninterested. "My Amalgam..." Eyes, hundreds maybe even THOUSANDS of hungry, predatory eyes peered at Angie from within the monstrous flesh. The bloodlust, the anger, the...hunger.
"...Allows me to generate whatever my body needs. If I need eyes...I make them. Ears? I make them. A giant mass of living blood that'll maul my opponent?" Dylan gestured toward the growth where his arm should be. "I make it. Now c'mere!" Faster than she could hope to react Angie was seized by the growth of flesh, its grip constricting enough to shatter her ribs if desired.
"Walk with me." Angie struggled against the boy's arm. "Not much choice." Now feet off the ground Angie was taken by Dylan to an office down the hallway where endless amounts of files filled the shelves and littered the floor. It was small and dark with only an old computer providing any light to the mildew-ridden chamber. "Sorry to be so forceful but you need to see this."
Swiping it from the dust-filled desk Dylan held a file to Angie's face. "What the hell is this shit?"
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Name: Price Angela
Age: 22
Sex: XX
Known Acquaintances: The Legendary Hero, XXXXXX, XXVXX, XXXXXX
Familial Connections: XXXXX
Amalgam: Energized Psychokinesis
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A file with all her personal information on it. Creepy on its own when she doesn't know who made it but even scarier when it gives a name to this strange ability of hers.
"I'm so confused. What's Psychokinesis? And why do you all it an Amalgam? Is it the same thing as what you have?" Dylan sighed and dropped Angie the file now left in her hands. "Kai didn't explain ANYTHING to you? Wow, he sucks even more than I thought!"
Dylan ripped his shoulder away from the writhing muscle leaving a stub of an arm where his elbow connected to the monstrosity. "Where do I begin with this? I guess I'll just tell you what an Amalgam is, to begin with." Dylan raised his severed stump to Angie the bone and exposed innards staring back at her. "Basically an Amalgam happens when your physical, mental and natural energy slam together and fuse."
Angie raised a hand stopping the boy's speech. "What do you mean by 'natural energy' exactly? You mean my power is fueled by the trees or something?" Dylan shook his head. "Nada. Natural Energy is the energy your body exudes by well...existing and being a part of nature. It's different from physical energy because the energy becomes a part of nature as soon as it's made instead of powering your body."
Angie smiled at Dylan catching the boy's attention. "You are a sweet kid. And you know a lot about this power stuff too!" Dylan's skin turned bright red as his hand began to play with his nape. "Well I mean when you hang out with Physis all day you learn a thing or two ya know?" Angie couldn't help but giggle. Since getting these powers it felt like Dylan's the only genuine person she's met. Such a kind pure soul with no ulterior motives...it's rarer than she would like to believe.
"Getting back on topic..." Dylan forced the blush from his face. "By focusing on your physical, mental, and natural energy all at once..." His missing arm still poked out Angie watched in awe and horror as the meat and flesh sprouted from the boy's bone, a new arm still dripping in a liquid having formed within moments. "You can draw out your powers and use them however you see fit."
"Im still not getting it." Angie scratched her head the concept of Dylan's explanation eluding her. "How do I focus on physical, mental, and natural energy? What do they feel like? Does the ability just activate when I do that? How do I control it then? Christ Dylan, you left a lot of holes!"
Dylan shrugged as he snatched the yellow folder from Angie's groping hands and returned it to its home on the table. "I mean it's not like you have to worry about it anyway." Angie's eyebrow raised. "Why's that?" Dylan's face remained placid. "Physis is in the lab cooking up something to make your ability go POP." Dylan made a popping noise with his mouth.
Angie stood up and backed away from Dylan her eyes wild and firey like an animal cornered. "What the hell are you talking about!?" "Yeah. It's what Physis does to everyone who gets an amalgam by accident. She makes some sick-smelling potion in the lab, you drink it, and then your powers are gone."
Angie's fists clenched and her stomach burned like fire. Energy ping-ponged inside her blood and the world around her turned into shades of black and red. "She said it separates your mental and natural energy indefinitely." He continued. "That way you can't call on the Amalgam no more." Angie stamped her feet on the floor. "Like hell, she will!!"
Without thinking and consumed by blind rage Angie blasted down the hallway her mind in the worst state she think it's ever been in. Lose her ability? She's never even gotten to use it! Not fully at least. She can't lose it yet she has too much potential! And Kai! Was he not going to tell her!? Did he tell her? He certainly never asked her opinion on it!
"Shit. Shit. Shit! What the hell. Why is it that no one ever asks me what I want to do? Even before I got this power..." Angie reached the end of the hospice the elevator leading out of this trap just before her. "It feels like I've only ever been dragged along...especially by him."
At her approach, the elevator doors parted for Angie's entry her face dark and unknowable.
"It's starting to piss me off..." Dylan sped down the hallway his legs torn apart and reformed into a mass of tendrils that surfed him down the hallway like he was on a tidal wave made of blood.
"Angie!!" Blowing the skin off his bones, Dylan's new arm shot forward its crimson tentacles lost on the closing of the elevator doors.
"Angie! Don't go, you don't know what that ability can do!" Dylan's voice lost its volume as Angie blasted upward her escape at hand.
'No one here's gonna give me answers so I'm just gonna find them myself!'