Battlefield: Control (Book Two)

Chapter Three - JD

Everyone sat in what was being called the "War Room" of The Apartment.

Cadence sat by Angela and they talked about shoes while JD sat in a nearby chair and watched squirrels outside the window.

Alan was pacing. Every time JD glanced his way, the man seemed even tenser than the five seconds before. They were all waiting on Orlando who finally decided to grace the group with his presence, fifteen minutes late. In his hands was a sheet of paper.

"I want all of you to listen to me. This is important," he declared, and made a gesture at the sheet of paper. He waited until all of their eyes were on him before continuing. "These are the ten reasons why llamas are awesome, so you can't make fun of me anymore."

JD shook his head. "Dude, give it a break, okay?"

"No, I want it to be known that if I am stuck with the ridiculous pseudonym of The Llama Kid, I am still amazing." He glared at JD and then cleared his throat. "Number ten, llamas are known to spit when—"

Everyone in the room groaned. Alan quickly stopped him from continuing. "We have more pressing matters to attend to. Perhaps later you can tell us as I'm still quite curious about what a llama is. Right now we need to hear about what happened today and why we had to call this meeting."

Orlando rolled his eyes, like he always seemed to do, and reached around the corner to grab a piece of tape. He placed it on his paper and proceeded to stick it to the wall by the door. "I'll leave it here and you can all read it on your own time. When you've done so, initial it so I know who's seen it and who hasn't."

"Are you kidding me?" JD snorted. He shook his head before getting the ball rolling. "Angela started on fire today during school."

Even Orlando's jaw dropped. No one said anything for a long time.

"Angela is Code Green?" Orlando asked, frowning.

"Yes, Angela is the one who got powers today," JD said. He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice. It wasn't like it was her fault that she exhibited powers and he still hadn't. It wasn't fair, but when it came to her, nothing ever was.

"And she started on fire. The smoke alarms at school went off. Thankfully nobody saw her or got hurt," Cadence said.

"Started on fire," Orlando echoed thoughtfully. "Looks like there's hope for you being useful after all Chi-Chi, if genetics say anything."

JD rubbed at his forehead. If Orlando was good for something, it was teaching them all about patience. He thought he had a lot of it from being at home and dealing with his twin siblings who were preschoolers. He found Orlando a lot more annoying.

"Thanks, I think," JD said, deciding to take the comment as a compliment. Controlling fire was a pretty cool superpower, a little cliché, but cool all the same. He'd be more than happy to be able to do something similar.

For the first time since they arrived Angela opened her mouth to speak. "Alan, do you have any techniques or anything to help learn how to control this stuff? It happened so suddenly, and I couldn't make it stop easily." Her voice shook as she spoke.

Alan scratched his chin. "Where I'm from, it's common to be trained in dealing with one's inner ability at a young age. I can see if I can find some basic materials on my ship for you to use, or perhaps download them for you."

She nodded gratefully before putting her attention to her fingernails. "It was scary. At first I thought I was going to die."

"You are safe and well," Alan said.

As usual, he didn't seem to get it. Having powers was a normal thing where he came from, not so much on Earth.

JD put a hand on his sister's shoulder in an effort to be comforting. "I won't let anything happen, okay?"