Chapter 2 : Proper Planning Prevent Piss Poor Performance

 

The Thompsons’ home, Forest Hills, Queens, New York, 21th of January 6:00

 

My alarm rings and I wake up with a jerk.

 

I’m immediately assailed by too many sensations at the same time. The colors look crisper, the sounds are sharper and louder, and I kind of have that feeling that every moves are suddenly way slower than they should.

 

I blink, and it is in slow motion.

 

I feel someone hugging my arm, I turn to look.

 

There’s worry etched on my blood-sister’s face. I raise a hand to show her that I understand. It is getting easier.

 

“Hello, give me a second, I’m acclimating.” I tell her on the mind-link.

 

“[Acknowledgement, worry] : Alright.” She answers testily.

 

It takes a few minutes, but, slowly, my overclocked brain manages to coordinate with my body.

 

“That was something.” I finally say over the mind-link.

 

“[Worry, anxiety] : I’m sorry, I didn’t know that it would have some kind of side-effects…” My sister justifies.

 

“It’s alright, I asked for it,” I answer easily, “And it’s already working wonders. Everything is clearer, my mind is sharper.”

 

“[Relief]”

 

A smile blossoms on my face. I’m almost certain of what I must do, but I’ll have to do some research on the internet.

 

“Let’s get ready for school first, can you go back in my body for now, pretty please ?” I nudge her gently over the mind-link.

 

“[Acknowledgement] : On it.”

 

I watch her humanoid-ish form melt and go through my skin, it takes less than a few seconds for her to leave no tracks of her presence.

 

I start to make my way to the bathroom while speaking to her.

 

“Firstly, and no matter what, we are going to need to learn to shield our minds. I do not really fancy myself getting mind-controlled or -wiped by the first telepath crossing our paths.”

 

“[Acknowledgement, hesitation, interrogation] : How should we proceed ?”

 

I enter the bathroom and flick the light on. My reflection in the mirror welcomes me in all its non-glory.

 

I cannot wait to get rid of it but this mug and build still have some work to do.

 

“By learning how to shield each other’s probing of the mind-link, then turn it in every other direction aside from it.” I answer easily.

 

I can feel her mind turning awkward circles around the idea. The perspective of us not being mentally together terrifies her. I have to nip the problem at the bud and quench her concerns immediately.

 

“Don’t worry, we will go at it gradually, and it shouldn’t take us that long. Once it is done, we will never have to do it again.” I sooth her gently.

 

“[Hesitation, trust, acknowledgement] : If blood-sister says so…”

 

A smile tugs my lips at its corner. The girl is so precious.

 

I also see that I have the beginning of a stubble and it irks me to no end. I take my razor, pauses and think better of it.

 

“Say, would you be able to make those irksome body hair vanish, sister ?” I wonder aloud on the mind-link.

 

The link is silent for a second.

 

“[Acknowledgement, confidence] : I can.” She answers.

 

“Great, let me just lock the door first.” I nod excitedly.

 

I’ve barely done so that I feel her slither on my skin from top to bottom. It takes barely a few seconds, and when I face the mirror again, the only things left are my eyebrows and my hair.

 

“You’re just the best sister ever.” I gush over the mind-link.

 

I’m silky smooth everywhere and I’m happy. I’m also fairly confident she enhanced the effect of the pills because I feel kind of bubbly since I woke up and she just chose not to tell me.

 

She did it for me because she saw who I truly am and wanted me to be me.

 

“[Pride] : You’re welcome.”

 

I step into the shower and wait for the water to get hot.

 

“[Interrogation] : What will we do after that ?” She asks as the water falls on me.

 

“Why, the thing we do best together,” I answer genialy, “We hunt.”

 

***

 

Midtown High, Queens, New York, the same day, 12:00

 

Turns out that it took us even less time than I thought to develop a proper psy-shield.

 

My blood-sister got irked at me because I forgot to tell her about the bell ringing at the end of the first period. She nearly jumped out of my skin because she wasn’t prepared. I sure hope nobody saw my shirt and pants ripple in fear because I would have some issues coming with a proper explanation.

 

She got extremely competitive after that out of spite and ended up perfecting the technique she was using to better sulk at me. By mimicking what she did with my new super-brain, it went easily.

 

We now have a two fold psy-shield and I’m a lot more confident about my ideas. But I still have a pissed off symbiote in my brain for my troubles.

 

“I told you I was sorry, it completely went out of my head.” I say, trying my hardest to make amends as I make my way to my locker.

 

“[Annoyance]”

 

“If you want, I can tell you how I plan to go around your vulnerabilities, but you’ll have to forgive me.” I tease her lightly.

 

“[Annoyance, curiosity] : Fine.”

 

I cannot help myself but to chuckle, my sister could make a really convincing rebellious teenager impression right about now.

 

“Two words : touch-telekinesis.” I answer.

 

I wait a few seconds, I can feel her mind churning next to mine, going over what I know and theorizing.

 

“[Wonder, excitation] : I see, this is the reason you asked me yesterday if I could alter my life-code.”

 

I mentally nod at her.

 

“Correct, if you can emulate it, you could protect yourself from the soundwaves that you cannot tolerate and shield yourself from the heat of a fire easily.” I answer back.

 

“[Excitation] : We must have it !”

 

I chuckle out loud, a few students in the vicinity throw me weird looks.

 

I do not care, my sister's reaction was too precious.

 

“And we will, that and more, but it requires us to make some preparations.”

 

“[Excitation, interrogation] : What do we need ?” She asks readily.

 

“Oh, almost nothing, just the power to deal with thirty-ish super-powered teenagers and a few adults at the same time.” I quipp as I make my way to the cafeteria.

 

***

 

Midtown High, Queens, New York, the same day, 12:52

 

I slowly inch away from the computer screen as a smile blossoms on my face.

 

I can’t believe my luck, my first plan is almost online.

 

“Well, that has Kilgrave written all over it alright.” I marvel aloud.

 

After having a really quick lunch break, I went to the library to roam the internet. I needed to confirm a few theories I had.

 

Firstly, the fact that Charles Xavier and his institute are a thing here, and it’s the case. I found a nice little article from a month ago talking about it.

 

I just hope that the roster he is currently indoctrinating has Jean Grey and Logan in it because those two are my priorities. They will also be the two most dangerous to incapacitate aside from Xavier himself if I can put my hands on my first target.

 

The first rule of war is to know thyself and your enemy according to Sun Tzu.

 

The second rule should be to not have to fight to win according to my smug face.

 

I found Kevin Thompson’s tracks, better known as the Purple Man, or by his self-given moniker, Kilgrave.

 

It’s kind of ironic that we presently share a surname, but it works just fine for me because it means that I have to deal with the Marvel Series version of him. And the guy is both an isolated target and easy to deal with for me.

 

My sister cannot be infected by his virus, and she can filter the air for me to breathe just fine. She’ll just have to cover me from head to toe and it’s in the bag.

 

I mean, come on, the guy isn’t even discreet. I can trace his moves for two weeks with the wave of incomprehensible self-inflicted injury and bizarre suicides he leaves behind him. The Daily Buggle had at least one weird case each day. He must still be quite young and lashing out around him.

 

That also means that he’s in New York, and I’m going to put him down and steal his powerkit for my genetic heist afterward.

 

I cannot wait.

 

***

 

Midtown High, Queens, New York, the same day, 16:17

 

“Something happened.”

 

I arch an eyebrow at the statement, completely out of the blue.

 

Gwendolyn is giving a look and I kind of know that any attempts to distract her will be useless. Doubly so if you consider that there is nobody aside from us in the classroom we’re using to do our homeworks. Jessie will be with her cheerleader squad until 5 PM, so I cannot count on her either.

 

“What gives ?” I still try to play the dum-dum.

 

It fails.

 

“You’re in an awfully good mood today.” She points out.

 

Ah, she meant that. I thought she was on my case because I wasn’t struggling as much as before with biology.

 

“I am indeed.” I answer simply.

 

She crosses her arms and bends forward on the desk we’re using, her eyes narrowed. One of her bangs escapes from behind her left ear but she doesn’t pay it any attention.

 

I’m the sole subject of her laser-like focus.

 

She seems to ponder for a few seconds.

 

“Did you meet someone ?” She finally asks.

 

Gosh, the girl is way too sharp, that’s almost a superpower.

 

How the fuck am I going to spin this ?

 

“[Amusement]” My sister snarks at my conundrum.

 

“Shush, you.”

 

“[Amusement, smugness] : Payback, finally.”

 

Jeez, talk about vindictive.

 

Gwendolyn and I look into each other's eyes. I see curiosity, rapt attention and a spark of possessivity in her mint green orbs.

 

Is she jealous ? Does she fancy me ?

 

That could get awkward really fast.

 

I cough into my fist, feigning a countenance I do not have.

 

It... Doesn’t really work.

 

“More like I discovered an opportunity.” I end up answering.

 

She hmm at that, not really buying it.

 

“[Annoyance, amusement] : And now I am just an opportunity.” My sister not-really-mock-complains.

 

I didn’t know you could properly express ambivalent emotions, guess we always learn.

 

“No, you’re the most wonderful person I’ve ever met.” I gently soothe her.

 

“[Awkwardness, happiness] : Flatterer.”

 

Her side of the mind-link is doing a little happy gig and I can’t really stop a smile from ghosting through my face.

 

Which Gwendolyn happens to catch to my dismay.

 

“I don’t buy it.” She smuggly declares.

 

“I already told you, I dislike lying with a passion.” I deflect.

 

“But what about lying by omission ?” She asks, head tilted and eyes crinkling, “If you really discovered an opportunity,” the word is said with as much sarcasm as she can get away with, “Someone must have offered it to you, right ?”

 

I have to school my face not to scowl, because she’s right.

 

“Fine,” I concede, “I met someone and they gave me an opportunity.”

 

I’ve already lost the battle due to semantics, I’m letting her have her win.

 

In the back of my mind, ‘someone’ is laughing.

 

“It must be a really good opportunity for you to be this chipper.” She mercilessly continues.

 

“I mean, it could be life-changing,” I start to throw her on a loop, “But I’ll tell you more once I’ve decided. For now, your curiosity is most unbecoming, m’lady.” I tease, smiling.

 

She snorts, shakes her head, and refocuses on her biology.

 

I’ll have to be careful around that one.

 

***

 

The Thompsons’ home, Forest Hills, Queens, New York, the same day, 21:42

 

Today has been a long day, and it is still far from over.

 

After school, I ended up making a detour to a military surplus store. My sister needed a clear picture of what sorts of garbs were needed to masquerade as a random vigilante. It wasn’t even necessary to buy it, she just flew over it discreetly while I was pretending to browse the articles in question, and she had the look pin-pointed.

 

Once I was finally at home, Jessie begged me for some help with her own homework, and I didn’t find it in me to say no. So, I sacrificed half an hour to the munchkin’s benefit. Then, it was time for dinner.

 

I am now laying on my bed, eyes closed, as I review the intelligence I gathered about tonight’s target. My breath is slow and even, like the calm before the storm.

 

“[Nervousness, excitation] : Is it time yet ?” My blood-sister, at her wits end, asks for the upteenth time.

 

I sit myself on the bed and my eyes fly open.

 

“We hunt.”

 

Not even a heartbeat later, she’s already flowing and slithering over me, mentally coiled like cobra, ready to strike.

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