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Chapter 1

Averis

Waiting in an empty room for the heads to come back I took out my laptop and began hacking the school network to get on the internet and check on Ric. It didn't take me long to guess the password for basic internet connection, it was 'Genetic Abilities'. Logging onto our favorite chat site for when we want to avoid the school's blocks I found he was on and waiting for me.

'You alright, I heard from Greg the cop that you went somewhere to help you with your powers. He also said I had some latent power that will probably activate with the right stimulus or when I get older and hit puberty.'

'Yeah, apparently mine activated somewhat early but not by much, only a year or so at max.'

Hearing the door open I told him I had to go and signed out of the site.

Walking in the woman who called herself Duel-Spectrum said "Its fine that you wanted to get in touch with your friend, these two will be on your new team, John and Miguel."

As she said that two boys came walking in, one a bit small but otherwise average looking besides the bruises up and down his arms. The other looked hardened and somewhat singed on his slightly ragged clothing, his eyes extremely dilated. Realizing something about what Spectrum had said I asked "New team, I'm sorry, I'd rather just learn to get rid of my swords and go back to regular school with my friend."

Walking in behind DS the man who called himself Deadeye said "Your blades are not retractable; they are directly attached to your forearms."

Glaring at them I said "Then cut them off, I don't care, I want them gone."

Sighing Deadeye said "Can you please calm down and just listen for a little while."

Leaning against the chair I had been sitting in I said "Fine, I'm listening."

Speaking again Duel-Spectrum said "Welcome to the Institute for genetically advanced people, we help those that have powers and abilities outside the norm, in total those that have abilities make up around a quarter of the population of the world, most of them are passive, those that need training in their abilities make up only one hundred thousandths of that, we are decently rare but this school is known worldwide for its ability to help those like that."

Getting aggravated with this I said "Fine, then help me learn to deal with this, because if I accidentally move my arm wrong I'll take off someone's arm, leg, maybe even their head on accident!"

*CALM DOWN AVERIS.*

Feeling suddenly calm I said "Thank you DS, I guess this is why you guys have a telepath here to help."

Smiling Deadeye said "She helps, it also helps when you have someone who can stop another person with but a thought."

"Stop, your embarrassing me."

Grinning he said "Don't worry, I'm sure that there is probably some way for you to manipulate your blades, now," he turned and said "Maelstrom, please come in and show them to their rooms."

Opening the door a woman who appeared to be made out of water with hair that seemed to constantly be in a light breeze said "Please follow me to your rooms, you two will be staying together." She said pointing to Miguel and John.

Deadeye

Watching them leave Duel spectrum said "Her mind is a very conflicted place, within she is both one of the darkest and most cheerful individuals I have ever read the mind of. Some of the things she went through would harden most people to the world, but somehow it just made her slow to befriend but completely loyal to whoever she deems a friend, she would sacrifice her life to those she feels a need to protect."

Looking at my wife I said "Was it just me or did she go through a strategy of how to attack us and win if she needed to."

Nodding she said "Yes, she did, her state required intelligence test is very low but that seems to more be part of the defense she has built around herself, her grades are only average but if you take away the homework and presentation grades and just look at the tests she is top of her class."

"The other two, what of their thoughts?"

"Miguel is dangerous because he has been addicted to substances to control his powers, his memories are muddled because of that, but he saw his gang as his friends, but that leader we put away, he saw him as his father. John is interesting, his school work is very good, but he suffers on tests because he has anxiety. He works very hard but has never been interested particularly in school. He plays a lot of first person shooters, in those he prefers heavy weapons but is a very kind person, he will protect innocents over himself."

"They seem to balance out quite a bit, Averis will be able to relate to both of them."

"She has tried drugs before, because of her physiology she was affected by them very little."

"That settles it then, after we decide on 3 other members of their team and get them a leader to help them Averis will be the leader."

After a week of fighting to keep Miguel and Averis under control, Averis constantly trying to find ways to get rid of the blades on her arms and Miguel continually trying to escape, They manage to find 3 more members for the team among students who were just coming to the Institute from their powers waking up elsewhere, or from those who had lived there their whole lives because both their parents were mutants. And they managed to find someone who could keep Averis under control and make her see that her powers were a good thing.

Averis

Running over to hug him I completely forgot about how miserable I had been up until now. Now that he was here, the only person who understood the way my mind worked, I began to think logically and saw that they were right, not only was there practically no way to remove the blades on my arms due to the fact that they were as hard as titanium and had near instant regeneration, but they were a part of me now.

Laughing as I appeared and hugged him, Ric grabbed me and held me away from him. "I can see you missed me." He said with a grin.

Laughing I said "Yeah, I guess I did." And I wriggled out of his grip to introduce him to the others. Pointing to John I said "He's John, he has enhanced strength and increased regeneration." Pointing to Miguel I said "He's 'Smolder', he has control of air and fire, he can only use air as a shield currently." Pointing to another girl with long black hair and black fur over her entire body I said "She's Jenna, 'Midnight', and she can transform in varying stages to a black panther and turn invisible so long as it isn't between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm." Pointing to a boy who was hovering around the ceiling with a mismatched pair of wings, one like that of an angel and one like that of a demon I said "He's Ben, 'Hybrid', He can transform into a full demon form giving him greatly increased durability and ultra high-speed regeneration or into a full angel form giving him the ability to heal virtually all wounds. In his current form he is highly durable and can take the damage meant for one other person and direct it onto himself, he also has a high regeneration rate." Looking back at Ric I said "And with you here we are the Secrets of Asgard."

Nodding he said "Alright, so what's with the nicknames?"

"We pick them based on our abilities and what we like, I haven't decided on one yet and neither has John, so no rush, I don't think so anyway."

Coming down and speaking in a voice that was both menacing and lighthearted at the same time Ben asked "So what's your power?"

"I can communicate with machines and control metal at a touch, working together I can make some things that I'm not exactly sure how they work or even how I made them and have to take them apart to figure it out in the first place."

Speaking up Smolder said "In other words you're useless on the battlefield."

Walking in their advisor, Lady Flame, said "Enough, you will now be put in a simulation to test your powers and ability to work together, I believe that Averis will be the best leader for this team, follow me." And she walked off without waiting to see if we were following or not.

After I realized that she had just said I was in charge I said "Come on guys, let's go!" and charged forward a few feet and looked back to make sure they were following, seeing they were I did my best to keep my speed contained.

Upon reaching a big pair of doors that looked a bit ominous but slid open upon all of us getting there, we walked in.

From the sides of the room Lady Flame's voice came and said "Listen to Averis's instructions and I'm sure you will do fine."

Immediately after Lady Flame stopped talking the room changed, they were no longer standing in an empty hanger when the wall burst open and a Hunter came charging through. These things were dogs that had been genetically altered and then trained to hunt Genetics. Standing 4 and a half feet tall it was intimidating. They hadn't been seen in 4 years but everyone knew what they were, they were very dangerous and tended to leave a mess of things.

Everyone's immediate reaction was "Crap."

Afterwards though I reacted and began giving orders. "The times these things have been taken down the battles were not easy. John, rush forward and do your best to throw it to Ric, at that point he can use his ability to manipulate metal to get rid of that thing's naturally growing metal skin. From there I need Smolder to use air to cage the freed skin because it will try to go back to the Hunter, if you can superheat the skin great. Midnight, change to beastie and attack that thing with as much force as you can muster, I will charge it from the other side, hopefully cutting it in half, Hybrid, I need you to go angelic and heal those that get hurt, this will not be easy. GO!"

Breaking up John began rushing just as she had said and Ric followed somewhat close behind. Midnight transformed into a hulking 5 foot high panther that immediately began circling towards its prey. Hybrid began transforming into Angelic form and lost his demonic wing and his skin turned pure white. And me, I was unsure how exactly my plan would hold up so I was rushing around, constantly reevaluating the situation, making sure that I hadn't made a mistake, because one tiny mistake against a Hunter would kill everyone. Watching as John reached the Hunter and grabbed it by the front legs before it could get in a bite or swipe with its poisonous fangs and claws, he threw it towards Ric. Cringing as I watched the body move towards him quickly, I saw him react perfectly, stepping to the side and reaching his hand out to touch the Hunter he removed the metal skin as the hunter flew by, when it tried to leave contact with him he threw it in the opposite direction where it hit a wall made out of nothing and dropped to the ground. Seeing that Midnight was ready and charging the form that was flying towards her I stepped it into high gear and got directly across and rushed towards them both, being careful how I placed my blades I started a flurry of attacks at high speed and essentially dissected the thing.

"Very well done team, I'm glad that you performed so well because it seems that the hunter we had been studying had escaped, early on in the simulation one of the other teachers here switched the two, you just dealt with a real Hunter."

After her speech Midnight shifted back and mouthed "Help," right before collapsing on the floor.

Rushing over I saw that the Hunter had gotten in and bitten her before the impact drove the two apart. "Hybrid, heal her, Please heal her!" Biting back tears I watched as he propelled himself through the air toward her and laid his hands on her wound.

Watching him they heard footsteps and arguing. "...old you it was too dangerous, even your teams have lost members fighting hunters and you have bee..." the door closed as Tempest and Duel-Spectrum came over and knelt beside Midnight.

As Tempest summoned water to clean out the wound Duel-Spectrum stood and faced us.

*Go back to your rooms, Ric, you will go with Averis until we come assign you a room, do not make me regret that decision, go now and do not worry or leave your rooms until called.*

Feeling compelled to do as she said we left the simulation room and went to our respective rooms.

Deadeye

"How could you endanger kids so recklessly Deadeye, that was a stupid thing you did."

"Not so, I did it because even here Averis was having a hard time, the fact that she grew up in an orphanage never exactly helped her ability to assert herself."

"You should have seen her in there, I think that it's more of she refuses to assert herself without someone to back her up and believe in her."

Raising my eyebrow I asked "She actually took lead?"

"Took lead, she came up with a near flawless plan, the only flaw was that she wasn't sure if Hybrid could heal Hunter wounds, but she killed a hunter in record time."

Nodding and thinking things over I walked into the Sim room and closed my so called 'living' eye and let my 'dead' eye see all that had happened from the angle was where I was standing, I heard her orders, I could see her constantly reanalyzing the battle, it seemed she was on par strategically with me and without my power. She saw it from every angle on her own. "You're right, she was brilliant, I think this girl is a better strategist than me, how that happened I'm curious."

Walking up to me Duel-Spectrum said "I sent her and Ric up to her room since we don't have a room for Ric yet."

"He was going to room with Hybrid, but her interactions with him are interesting."

Getting mad, her flames showing proved it, Lady Flame said "You cannot put a boy and a girl together in a dorm unless they are married, it is law, not even relatives can room together in a dorm if they are of opposite genders."

Opening my living eye again so I could see them in color I turned and looked at Lady Flame, "Two things, One, Never contradict me outside my office, Two, Do not presume to know what I'm thinking since you aren't a telepath."

Attempting to defuse the situation Duel said "He was thinking that there is no point in being hasty with breaking them up since he seems to have a calming effect on her when it comes to her constant bad mood that she has been in since she got here, we both believe that the entire team will eventually have a similar effect on her once they become friends with her.

Visible calming down and looking normal again Lady Flame said "Oh, sorry sir, I... I was wrong." And Lady Flame walked out of the room and took a left to the nearest door to the outside.

Looking back at Duel and then over at Midnight I said "I believe she had the best plan, if Hybrid had defended them against the Hunter then there would have been no one to heal."

Grinning she said "That isn't what worries me, what worries me is that you said she is a better strategist than you."

Looking her dead in the eye I said "She very well might be, we'll see how good she is as time progresses."

Miguel AKA Smolder

Walking back to my room I had forgotten that I was containing the Hunter's skin in an air pocket until it I felt my strength at carrying to begin to fail.

"Well this is a problem." I said while stopping in the middle of the hall.

Noticing I had stopped the Emo Lizard girl who happened to be our leader turned and said "What is a..." and she saw the metal skin just drop.

Watching as she was 12 feet in front of me one second and hacking, or attempting to, at the skin next to me the next. What was strange was that instead of running Ric came over and put his hand on her shoulder and touched the metal skin when she stopped attacking it.

Realizing what he was going to do I said "Hey, we don't know if that thing is dangerous still."

With him ignoring me and my air powers temporarily used up from carrying something, all I could do was watch as he reached his hand down and touched the metal.

"It's sentient." He said sounding surprised. "It's talking to me when I touch it, it feels pain that its old bond died."

Crouching down next to him Averis held out her hand to the amorphous blob of metal and smiled when it rolled onto her hand. "Let's keep it, we have a team pet!"

Groaning I just walked on and went to my room, those two are nuts and I need to find some way to either control my powers or get more drugs, I can feel the heat building.