Into The World

#19 - Compos Mentis

"They're okay," the jaded physician says, glancing at the dormant Smith siblings, through the pellucid drapes. He rests his hands on the doorframe, drooping his head to catch his breath. Then where's Eliza? 

The father straightens, eyes scanning the hybrid room. "Eliza?" he calls, entering the capacious ward. Turning to his left, Anthony halts when he faces a blue haze. "It's coming from the alcove," he says, swaying his hands to push away the cloudy veil.

"This is a telepathic procedure," he realizes when he notices numerous blue specks, trapped under the hem of his sweatshirt sleeves. He slowly approaches the shrouded alcove.

"Stop!" 

The physician almost skids when he hears the raucous voice, gaze landing on the radiant, blue streak across the ligneous flooring. "Don't cross the line," the disembodied voice warns.

Anthony lifts his head, staggering when he sees the mystical mirror before him. "She's permitted me to perform the Peak Procedure," Sue says, viewing her distraught grandson through her neon blue eyes. "She?" Anthony darts his gaze to the now clear alcove, eyes widening upon the sight of his unconscious daughter, who emanates an azure aura. No.

"Stop this procedure immediately," the physician demands, glowering gaze on the encased general. "It's been, what, twenty years since you last performed this procedure?"

"Seventeen," Sue replies. "And keep quiet. You're distracting me." She sways her illuminated hands around, eyes riveted on the novice shapeshifter.

Anthony tries to relax his creased forehead as he glances at his daughter. Why did she consent to this?  He muses, watching the green blemishes swirl on her forehead. She just came out of it. The rusty telepath sighs, "I know." She closes her eyes, clasping her hands to form a small, purple ball. "But the Xenos gang awaits for none. They've come to claim what they've lost."

The Xenos gang? Alarms blare in his ears as flashes of the flagrant mob zap across his mind. The physician raises his crinkled brows, when the baby chronokinetic appears before his eyes. Fred's teamed up with them.

"Who called Fred?" Tom demands, eyes on his unconscious brother, who holds Eliza's glowing hand."I-i-it was Macy," Sue answers, the glass encasing her beginning to crack as she clasps her radiant, indigo hands. She darts her perplexed gaze to the shapeshifter who transmutes into Popkin. "I'll take over," he says, rubbing his palms as he assess the purple fog around his family.

Sue rubs the back of her neck, irises restoring to its hazel hue. She steps back, glancing at her pocket-watch, "I wish I could explain everything to her."

The shapeshifter exhales sharply as he crouches to the floor, tracing the gleaming indigo streak with his wizened fingers.

...

"Dad?!" Eliza says, stupefied by the bizarre spectacle in the atrium below. A glowering horde of red-eyed EBs swarm around Anthony, trying to break the glass dome he's in with their twisted pitchforks. His powers are back?

"You both need to get out of here," the memory guide says, retrieving a bisque scroll from her pocket. She glances at her boss who stands, dumbstruck. Why don't I know anything? Eliza muses, staring at the wan physician. Why did he hide so much from me?

"I'm sure you'll not find answers here," Elizabeth says, scrunching up the empty scroll. "That's why you need to get out." She tosses it to the floor. The shapeshifter leans forward, noticing the young girls glitch as they march around the dome. "They're different," she says, turning to face the memory guide, "Who are they?"