RETALIATION

6. Inability

"Alright," Doctor Ivan called the five of in. Each of us were sat in a chair around a triangular table. Weird, eh?

"What's the scoop?" the Asian member of the Immune Squad leaned into the conversation more. "Any word on our sixth member?"

"That's actually what I was going to talk about right now," Ivan seemed surprised. "So five of our international members have been located, and we just located Dan Smith of Bastille today," he announced, causing the four others to stare at me intently.

"A musician, huh?" the one, I believe by the name Aisha Cheng, gave me a peculiar look, as if she didn't believe I was a unique person, which I believed as well. "How did you find him?" she looked at Ivan again.

"He was touring here with the rest of his band, but they fell ill with the illness."

"Where are my friends, exactly?" I asked worriedly. The doctor seemed to be unfazed. He ignored my question. I could see Aisha roll her eyes from the corner of my eyes.

I think she hates me.

"Have any of you located our sixth member?"

"I thought I found them," a girl with an Australian accent began. "Turns out it was a spy from the Lazarus Organization."

"You killed her then, right?" a young black male joined in.

"I had to," she replied and crossed her arms. The stretchy fabric of her uniform followed her muscle movements.

"What about you, Toby?" Aisha quietly asked the youngest one.

"Nothing...so...far." Doctor Ivan interpreted the lad's actions.

I think Ivan noticed my confusion toward everyone. He cleared his throat. The doctor pushed him and his chair into the table, as if he had something relevant to say to everyone. I looked beside me to see the eerily empty seat meant for the North American member of the team. Who is the sixth member? Are they even in the state of California? Are they like me? Did they travel overseas for their personal reasons? The possibilities ran onwards inside me as I attempted to pay attention to Ivan, who sternly glared at everyone, everyone but me.

"I need you five to introduce yourselves to each other, and become decent friends."

Decent friends?

"You sure Smith has to guts to talk to mutants like us?" the Australian one asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Watch your mouth, Aria. You're talking about your team leader."

TEAM LEADER??? ME??? I'm so fucking confused...it can't be me...I'm literally the least experienced out of these people. If anyone were to be the leader, I think it should be-

"Hello Dan," the black male happily greeted.

He seems nice...I think?

"I'm Arminius Botha, umm...I'm South African, like your parents," he laughed lightly before continuing. "I'm twenty-five years old, and I can use magic, but not black magic."

"Tell him that other thing," Aria whispered.

"Oh yeah! I've been to two of your shows in South Africa! And I actually purchased tickets to see your show in Durban," he sheepishly smiled.

"R-really?" I felt an irresistible grin form.

"So have I!" Aria jumped in. "I watched one of your shows in Australia!"

"Lucky," I heard the Asian mutter incoherently. No one else heard her, but she did that on purpose. I could tell by her facial expression. This girl is so mysterious.

"I can turn any of my imaginations into reality, and like Armin, I'm younger than you too."

Damn. I feel old.

"Toby?" the Australian perked her head at him.

He began to madly type on his Acer laptop, seemingly at the speed of light before turning the screen toward my view.

"My name is Toby Lopez, and I'm eighteen years old, and I was born with a rare condition that does not allow me to speak. I can run at the speed of light, and I discovered this when I was eleven or twelve years old. I actually went to one of your shows in Argentina, and I was pretending to scream to Pompeii."

"Ha! That's amazing! You guys all saw Bastille perform live?!" I let a smile run from ear to ear.

Everyone but Aisha nodded eagerly, and I think they seemed to notice that when she shut her eyes and opened them up slowly, with sparks of electricity flowing from her bare hands to the metal table. I gulped and checked my body to make sure that the electricity wouldn't shock me or do damage to my body. Ivan seemed to be slightly unsettled as well, but did nothing to stop her from doing whatever she was trying to do. She suddenly stopped and smiled innocently at me, placing her hand on the table and reabsorbing the electric current back into her body. I looked over at everyone else, all shaken by her strange behaviour towards me, and me only.

"Cheng, Aisha Cheng," her smile faded to a neutral face. Twenty-three years old. I was already born with the ability to do that, so anyone who fucks with me can expect a shock to damage their body. I'm a seventh generation Chinese-American, and as you can see I can produce and absorb electricity. I'm fluent in Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, German, and Polish."

Yikes! I look like a fucking retard compared to her! That's so crazy that she activated her abilities from birth...

"And why don't you introduce yourself, Dan?" Ivan smiled, now unfazed by the chilling introduction that Aisha had just made.

"I-I'm Dan from Bastille..." I could feel nervous sweat run down the back of my neck. "I'm thirty-one, British, and I have South African parents."

"What powers do you have?" Aisha smirked, away from the view of anyone else.

"I can control the four basic elements...based on the colour of my eyes..."

"You mean like that?" Arminius pointed to the rushing water that twisted inside a transparent water bottle.

Holy shit. I thought I was incapable of doing that...I really do have a special ability.