27Hello dear readers, another day another chapter. Once again thanks for supporting the story and I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 4: Introductions and Bad News
The seven teens had all climbed the fence, and were waiting for the basement door to be unlocked. The combination had been performed and demonstrated to the new members, and soon the doors burst open to reveal a small staircase. They descended down, and were greeted by ten anxious people.
The basement had clearly been transformed from its original state. As Karen had said, the room had been separated into sections, using various things such as boxes and furniture to serve as the dividers. While it wasn't a palace, the hideout did look well kept and comfortable enough to be a good home. For the five new members, it certainly was a step up from sleeping on rooftops and hiding behind dumpsters.
Karen clapped her hands together and began the long task of introducing everyone, gesturing to each person as she said their name. "Everybody, these are our new members, Rachel, Garfield, Victor, Dick, and Kory."
She then turned to the five and gestured for them to follow her. "I'm gonna give them all the grand tour, carry on with whatever you were doing and I'll introduce you as we go." And with that the ten members disbanded, going off to continue with their night.
Karen began walking throughout the hideout, pointing out various things and explaining in more detail the system with which they ran their home.
"This is the living room slash kitchen. We don't have electricity, but we've found a way to work around it," she nodded towards a boy in the kitchen, who had fire for flesh. A girl standing next to him held a pot in her hands, and held it in front of the boy. His hands generated fire, and he held them under the pot, cooking the contents inside. "Isaiah pretty much does all the cooking for us. You can probably guess why. And the girl with him is Toni."
They walked towards the living room section, where they saw two young boys playing a board game, with several older kids watching. Karen laughed when the young boys started arguing in Spanish, and the spectators of their game tried calming them down.
"The twins there are Mas Y Menos, they have super speed when they're in physical contact with each other. And those people watching them are Joseph, or Joey, Kole, Gnarrk, Roy, Mal, and Garth," she said, pointing to the person when she said their name.
They had reached the section where the bedrooms were, when Karen said, "These are the bedrooms. There's only two, a girls section and a boys section," she pointed to a paper taped on the wall, "we have a chores schedule, to make sure everyone contributes. I'll make a new one with your names on it. The bathroom is over there, next to the boys bedroom section. The water pipes are still here, and there are even some that run throughout the entire city below this hideout. Garth has hydrokinesis, so he can take some of the clean water from the pipes."
"That pretty much covers the tour. I'll let you guys look around some more," she said as she walked away, taking the chore schedule with her.
Dick looked at his friends, who all had unreadable looks.
"Well guys, guess this is our new home."
The wooden doors with faded color and rusted metal opened with a creak. Out from its depths came Wally, out to get the newspaper again. He shut the doors quietly, and walked to the fence. Attached to the fence however, was a small slip of paper. He took it off the fence and read its contents.
Meet me in the alley next to the cafe. -Jinx
Wally had yet to tell anyone about his encounters with the teenage thief. He contemplated on whether or not it was a good idea for him to go, still not sure if this girl hated his guts or was simply annoyed with him. Curiosity won the battle, and Wally began walking towards the cafe.
Once there, he nonchalantly slipped into the alleyway, looking for Jinx. He didn't hear the girl walk up from behind him, a trashcan lid in her hands, and before he knew it the rusty lid had collided with his head, knocking him out.
When Wally awoke he was in an unfamiliar location. He was tied up by ropes, in the middle of a gray room. There was a table and chairs to one side, along with a stove and refrigerator. On the other side of the room there was a worn out couch. In front of him was another table, surrounded by several people, one of which was Jinx.
"We should see what makes him tick!"
"Let's make him work for us!"
"We can force him to steal so we never get caught!"
"We aren't doing any of that! I told you, if we turn him in, they'll pay us. He could be worth a fortune!"
"That's no fun."
"I'm turning him in and that's final! All of you get out!"
The five boys who were surrounding the table left the room, leaving only Jinx and Wally. She sighed and turned around, seeing that he was awake.
"Good, you're alive," she said looking at him. She took out her hexagon shaped device and began pressing the buttons, looking at a sheet of paper a few times.
"What are you doing?" Wally finally asked.
"Turning you in," she said, still focused on what she was doing.
"Wait what? Why?"
Jinx sighed and walked up to him, dangling the sheet of paper in front of his face. It was a newspaper article that read:
Cash rewards will be given to those who turn in metahumans. Please note that the reward amount depends on the metahuman's abilities and how much he/she is worth. To turn in a metahuman, call the number below to schedule an appointment with one of our researchers, to find out payment and have the metahuman tested.
"You don't want to do this. What did I ever do to you?" Wally pleaded.
"You got in my way. Because of you I was almost caught by the cops several times. And my group needs the money."
"How exactly do you expect to turn me in without getting your group caught?" Wally asked, noticing the flaw in her plan.
"Simple. I'll send one of them out to do it. A few of them look normal enough," she said, nodding her head towards the direction of where her group just left.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? No offense, but those guys don't seem too bright."
Wally had to keep from laughing when Jinx's confident demeanor was replace with one of annoyance. Then he continued on, "The researcher will probably have a lot of questions for your friend. How he found me, what my powers are. Probably a bunch of information about himself too. Name, age, residence, but they can handle that, right? It's not like this is some secret lair that no one is supposed to know about," he said and smiled at her, knowing he had won this battle.
Jinx walked behind Wally, who couldn't see what she was doing since he was still tied up and couldn't move. He heard rummaging and clanking of metal, until suddenly he was once again knocked out, by another trashcan lid.
When Wally woke up he was in the alleyway he was told to meet Jinx at earlier that morning. It was now midday, the streets lined with cars and the sidewalks with pedestrians. He got up and stretched his sore muscles, finding a note taped to his shirt in the process.
Tell anyone about my group or our hideout and I will hunt you down. -Jinx
Though he wanted to laugh, a part of him said that she wasn't joking. He folded the note and put it in his pocket. He remembered that he was supposed to be getting the newspaper, and slapped his forehead when he thought of how he would have to explain his taking forever to Karen.
"Where were you?!" Karen yelled at Wally as he entered the base.
"Getting the paper," he answered pathetically.
"Well what took you so long?"
"I was just taking a walk," he said, unfolding the paper and looking for the article Jinx had showed him earlier.
"You might wanna take a look at this," he said, handing her the paper. She quickly read through it, then threw the paper down on the table in anger, catching the attention of everyone else.
"Just great! Now there's a prize for anyone who catches us. We're some kind of game to them! We're their prey!" she said, sitting down and massaging her temples. She looked up at all her confused friends, handing the paper to Roy, who read through it and then explained it to the rest of the group, "Apparently when you turn in a meta you get paid. They weren't getting any submissions so now they have to bribe people."
There were various reactions throughout the room. Some people looked angry, horrified, or simply scared. Wally noticed the reactions and stepped in, saying, "The good news is that they can't kill us. They aren't after our heads. But if we're turned in, who knows what could happen."
Karen finally stood up, dismissing the group by saying, "Just lay low, and we'll be fine."
Who noticed the references to the episode "Lightspeed"? Thanks for reading!