Inversion

Lunch Break

“Jack! Jack! JACK!” an agitated voice says while roughly shaking me awake.

“Wha-? What? What happened?” I ask as I open my eyes and see Sparrow is the one shaking me and the others are standing close behind looking at me worriedly, sans Aria.

“You got your ass kicked is what happened man,” Sparrow said, “Although you got her pretty good once at the end there.”

“Are we... back at the house?” I asked looking around and trying to stand, I'm sore all over and just getting to my feet is quite the struggle.

“Yeah, Coach carried you here after you passed out,” Sparrow replied with a chuckle, “He didn't seem too happy about it though.”

“I feel like shit,” I said, which was the understatement of the century, “Where is Aria anyways?”

“Dunno, she didn't come back with us. She seemed a bit flustered after you knocked her on her ass,” Sparrow said with a shrug, “Either way, it's finally lunch time!”

“Oh good,” I answered, stomach gurgling excitedly, “Where's the cafeteria?" I asked, then added jokingly,  "And can you carry me?”

“We eat here silly, I made us lunch already,” Ceri said with an endearingly humble smile that crinkled the corners of her hazel eyes and gestured towards the nearby dining table, “Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Sorry, it's all I could manage, I'm not a very good cook.”

“Nonsense, this is perfect! You know the way to a man's heart Ceri,” Jared said appreciatively grabbing a plate and sitting down. The rest of us quickly followed suit and the table fell into an easy silence punctuated by the occasional contented grunt as we shoveled food into our gullets.

“So...what...do...you...guys...think...” Devin said in between hearty gulps of soup before pushing his empty bowl away from him and finishing, “that this TBE class we have next is going to be?”

“I don't know, but I bet I'm not going to like it,” I groaned rubbing my chest, it felt like a few of my ribs were broken.

“Eh, it's probably not going to be as hard as all that. Aria is really tough, she only brings out her spikes when you back her into a corner. You definitely surprised her,” Devin said thoughtfully, “You can really take a beating. And, was it just me or did she put her spikes away pretty quick when you slammed her?”

“No, I saw it too. I've never seen her just give up like that before,” Jared chimed in.

“Oh. That. Well, that's my ability,” I said sheepishly, “That's what Dr. Balder wanted to talk about this morning.” Everyone looked at me curiously for a few moments before Sparrow broke the silence,

“What is your ability? You can get pummeled for long periods of time? That's not exactly useful.”

“No, no. I mean, her putting away her spikes. My ability- it's Inversion. Like when I touched Ceri last night and she couldn't hold her cat form,” I tried to explain, “I guess I never knew about it before because I've never met anyone else with powers.”

“Wait, what? I've never heard of an ability like that before. Usually abilities fall into one of four types, except for extremely rare cases,” Jared said, suddenly very interested, “There's 'Transformation', like Ceri and Devin, 'Support', like me, 'Physical', like Sparrow, and 'Telekinetic' like Aria. Even in First Generation Chosen there are only three documented Uniques. On top of that, as far as I know there aren't any Chosen with abilities that specifically affect other Chosen, except you.”

“I don't know. Everything is all so new to me. Dr. Balder said that my ability was unusual, I didn't know it was that unusual,” I said, “By the way, what is your ability Jared? It's the only one out of our group I haven't seen yet. And how are Aria's spikes telekinetic? I would classify them as 'Terrifying'.”

“Oh, right. Well, you wouldn't notice my power probably, it's pretty subtle. Although it's been affecting you the whole time we've been together,” he said with a wink that made me feel a little uncomfortable. It was affecting me the whole time I was here? What the hell did that mean?

“What-” I started to ask, but he held up a hand and said,

“No worries Jack, it's nothing sinister. I have extremely heightened senses and can sense and manipulate other people's emotions.”

“MIND CONTROL? YOU WERE MIND CONTROLLING ME?!” I yelled, in shock and anger. Then I felt a calming wave of energy rush over and through me,

“No, not mind control. I can't change your thoughts. I can just heighten and lessen specific emotions. Like right there, I played up your anger, then overrode it with a sensation of calm. I don't actively use it on my friends though, so don't worry,” he said smiling reassuringly, “I can't completely turn it off however, so my mood tends to still slightly affect those around me.” I thought about it for a little bit, I guess that made sense. I had been unusually at ease today despite all the crazy turns my life had taken. Jared's easy confidence must have been slightly influencing me, and actually it was probably a good thing or I would have almost certainly  freaked out by now.

“Well, ok, I guess. But what about Aria?” I asked.

“Ah, well the spikes are just the only noticeable manifestation of her power. She can see briefly into the future and manipulate small objects with her mind.”

“See the future?! Why doesn't she play the lottery or something? That's so cool...” I said a bit jealously. Jared laughed and started to respond but Sparrow beat him to it,

“Not like a fucking fortune teller or something you jack-ass. How did you not notice while you were fighting her? She can see a second or so into her own future, that's how she was able to counter every move you tried to make.” Now it made sense why she was so confident the whole fight, even to the point of turning her back to me and still blocking every punch I attempted. How I had managed to hit her at all was an even better question.

“You said your power was Inversion, right Jack?” Jared asked politely, pulling me out of this new train of thought.

“Yeah, or at least that's what Dr. Balder called it.”

“Well, you didn't invert her power as far as I could tell. You cancelled it out,” he said.

“I know, I'm not exactly sure how it works my self. I think I can either negate it or invert it, but I haven't ever consciously done it so I can't say for sure,” I replied with a shrug and grabbed another grilled cheese off the almost empty platter. Jared crossed his arms and looked deep in thought.

“I wanna see this for my self,” Devin said standing up and coming to my side of the table. He flexed and his skin began to crack and shift to dark grey, rapidly turning into a statue of his normal self, “What are you waiting for Jack? Hit me with it.”

“You sure...?” I asked hesitantly, suddenly unsure of myself.

“Just do it man, I'm curious. And we have class soon anyways, no time to dick around.” I nodded and placed my palm on his chest, and the process of transformation started in reverse, he clenched his teeth and grunted with exertion clearly trying to counteract what I was doing, but barely managed to slow it down. In seconds he was fully back to his fleshy self, “Well fuck me sideways. That's some crazy shit,” he said sitting back down heavily. Jared's dark eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head,

“No. Fucking. Way. This is insane. Your ability, Jack, it almost seems to rival a First Generation's, and you've never even used it before last night! It's-it's-”

“Calm down there J-Boner, looks like your brain is about to explode out the back of your skull,” Sparrow said lightly, and I tried to stifle a laugh, but I heard Ceri let out a snort and we all started losing it.

“J-Boner,” Devin said, tears of laughter streaming down his face when he had settled down enough to formulate a coherent sentence, “Where the hell do you come up with this shit Sparrow?” who just winked in response and said,

“Practice Thing my boy, practice,” which sent us all reeling back into hysterics.