Aberrant Pt. 01

Sean just chuckled and followed along. David squeezed back - and Alexa found that his strength was...not quite as good as her, but...quite strong. As they hurried down the corridor, the man was glancing back - he was clearly nervous. Soon they came to the room and found the two new novas had been brought in. Their eruptions had hit them harder and they were both still out cold. Jared was, as they remembered, quite a cutie, but he had become slightly sleeker and more toned. Octavia, though, had had a more dramatic transformation, her skin turning sleet gray, her hair remaining the same dark black. Her breasts seemed more firm and her belly was flatter - but she also was knocked out cold. The doctors worked over the two of them - scanning and examining their bodies, with both of them hooked up to IVs.

Vanessa looked at her girlfriend, then to David, "I'll pay you double whatever you're charging for my voice to bring them both out." She said, grinning her teeth, visibly stopping herself from just focusing on her girlfriend.

David blinked slightly. "W-Well, uh, since it's double of nothing..." he said, nodding slightly, grinning at her. "I can do it, let me just ask the doctors." He stepped to the side. Soon, he was in the room, drawing power into himself as he put his palms to either side of Octavia's head. For a moment, his brow furrowed slightly and the power glowing from his palms seemed to crackle and flare alarmingly.

The doctors cried out - but then at the last moment, it stabilized and then flashed into Octavia. She groaned, sitting up, rubbing her forehead.

"Where...am I?" she asked, looking confused - David looked slightly drained and...extremely shocked.

Alexa moved behind the dragon, steadying him with her newfound strength. "Hang on, I got you..."

Vanessa moved over to Octavia, hugging her tightly, "What's wrong, David?" She said, still holding her lover tightly.

David blinked, leaning against Alexa. "S-Something I rather hoped to avoid-"

"What is going on!?" Octavia asked, her eyes wide. "W-What happened to you, Vanny!?" She held up her hands and squeaked. "Ahh! What happened to ME!?"

"You erupted, Tavi. Calm down. Relax. This is good. You are just as beautiful as before, but this man who healed you is in trouble and I want to make sure we help him if we can so we need to let him talk."

Gillian nodded to Vanessa and Octavia, leaning to David. "Avoid what?" She whispered, wanting to know if David strained something.

Sean just waited and remained calm, waiting for the full information as to what happened. And, to give the two love birds a moment.

Octavia breathed slowly out, nodding slightly. "R-Right..." she said, gulping, while David blushed.

"Not...exactly...in trouble," he said. "For a few moments, while I was focusing on my power, I felt it start to slip. It started to get out of my control. But it was like I got a second shot at it..." He said, nodding slightly. As he spoke, the rest of them felt it too...a strange sense of...good luck. As if everything was going to be okay!

"..huh.. so.. you're okay? Um.. can you help Jared or is that too dangerous?" Vanessa said, hugging her girlfriend tightly, petting her hair as she did so.

David smiled. "I'd like to take a bit of time to recover. I've maxed out my powers twice in one day, it should take me a few hours...maybe half a day to recover enough to ca...er...try again." He flushed, looking chagrined at his almost inaccurate word choice.

Vanessa nodded, "And he'll be okay until then?" She looked to the doctors.

"Well, the node growth was exceptionally rapid," Doctor Marzin said, tugging her mask off as she sighed. "He should be up and about tomorrow, maybe a day later. If he stays in a coma longer, we'll need to call in specialist paraphysicians, but nova comas rarely last longer than a day..." She smiled.

Vanessa nodded, "Okay.." She sighed, then smiled at David, "So.. seriously, set a bill. If it's not high enough I'm paying you more, so you can't get out of it by saying nothing. Give the money to charity or whatever, you're still getting it." She said, hugging Octavia's head to her chest again.

"I can think of a form of payment," Alexa said, leaning against David's side.

David blushed while Octavia blinked. "W-Wait, Vanny, you're speaking! Out loud!" She gasped, jerking away as David flushed. He looked down at Alexa, then coughed and whispered in her ear - faintly audible to the others.

"Y...You did say...you were eighteen, yes?"

Vanessa nodded, "David reshaped my vocal chords for they work now. The lesser reason I'm paying him at LEAST half a million dollars." She said, smiling at her lover.

"Mmmmmm, just," Alexa said, wiggling her rump against the dragon's leg. "Plus now I'm super strong. You the kind of guy that gets off on getting picked up?" she teased.

"Uh...well...to be fair, I can be quite strong too," David muttered, then shook his head. "B-But, uh, we just met, so..." He said, a bit shyly, while Octavia chuckled.

"And where are we going to get half a million...r-right, novas..." She said, still sounding stunned.

"Can I ask everyone to leave the examination room so I can give Miss Brunt her examination?" Doctor Marzin asked.

Sean chuckled at David's question, thought about talking about those first words now but decided not to spoil it. It would be a good card to play in a moment of passion between the two later. Fuck- was he turning into a playwrite now? Jebus.

"As you request, Doctor." He replied

Vanessa paused, biting her lip, looking to Octavia, "If she says so.." She growled slightly.

"Sounds good. Happy you're okay Octavia." Gillian said, offering a wave to their friend before slipping out of the examination room.

Octavia chuckled. "I'll be fine being apart from you for a few seconds, honey," she said, sounding amused. Then she laid back as they walked out. The door shut and David coughed.

"Well, uh...I'm going to take a quick break in my room. Do you wish to exchange numbers, Alexa?" He asked, blushing furiously.

Vanessa nodded, "I need your number too. To pay you. Because you are getting paid." She said sternly.

David blushed. "Fine, I'll let you pay me..." he said, sounding slightly put upon. "It just...seems wrong to take money from a teenager..." He grinned, slightly.

"I was thinking we could exchange something else in a private room somewhere," Alexa said, her fingers skittering over the dragon's thigh. Apparently erupting had made her fucking horny. Might as well have some fun with it.

"I'm a nova and you performed a couple miracles. I think we can allow a bit of currency exchange." Vanessa said, smirking. "Also, since my powers mean I can basically make Bollywood quality movies by myself."

Gillian rubbed her cheeks before smiling to David, "Whatever happens, it was nice to meet you regardless David. I'm Gillian, if I didn't mention earlier."

"..I'm Vanessa Stacks. You probably figured that out, but.. yeah. Politeness." Vanessa blushed.

David coughed, blushing slightly as he looked at Alexa, stammering. "W-Well, um...I'm...that is, maybe...we can go on a date?" He asked, his nares flushing a bright gold as he rubbed the back of his neck. "W...We have just met, after all..." He said, shyly.

Sean refused to let his amusement show. The dragon was shy. Oh my.

Vanessa sighed, signing to her friend, "Alexa. He's clearly a nerd and you're scaring him. Pull back a bit."

Alexa faltered, but only for a moment. "A date sounds wonderful," she said. "I'm gonna get this dragon dick between my legs if it kills me," she signed to Vanessa.

Vanessa snickered, "Never said not to. Just trying to advise strategy."

David grinned. "H-How about, uh, the...actually, lets call, and find a place to go. Now, um...I'm going to lay down. I'm tired..." he said, bowing. He turned to go, adjusting his shorts as he left - despite his retreat, he still had a...bit of a bulge.

More than a bit.

But with him gone, the four friends - five, once Jared awoke, six once Octavia was out - had a choice to make. Standing in the Rashound Facility, they could get free training with Utopia...but...Utopia wasn't the only option in town...

Each of them knew it. Novas went into corporate sponsorship. Others were hired by cities to become civic defenders. STill more became Elites- superpowered mercinaries. Others remained independent. Suddenly, all their futures seemed a lot less clear cut than they had this morning.

"So.." She sighed, leaning against the walls. "I can make holograms and fly. ..Seriously, maybe I should just make movies..." She said, cupping her chin. "I wonder what people would pay to go to a movie quality play..."

"Go in to business with Sean? Sounded like his art was pretty popular," Gillian suggested with a yawn.

"Could you make a hologram of me to deal with my parents?" Sean asked, clearly a bit nervous about the matter that his family was on their way and that he didn't want to have them running around after him. "Wait, no, that's a horrible idea. I know you better than to ask that." He quickly corrected himself. "And- yeah. Every cent I own pretty much comes from online commissions." He stated as a simple fact.

"So.. why don't you want to deal with your parents?" Vanessa said curiously, pulling out her phone and texting her parents. Gillian found a wall to lean against after a moment, fiddling with her jeans while trying to get comfortable. Alexa sat cross-legged on the floor, her arms folded as she listened.

"Because they have both been mother hens hovering about me for years now in the most -annoying- way. And I draw porn, which is going to make things really awkward when they dig up my online pen name." He signed at her, his form being far better as a Nova than when he was a baseline. "Mom is going to fawn over me for like a month, at least."

Vanessa blinked at Sean, signing back, "Oooooh, that.. IS a potential issue.. doesn't make me want to work with you less." She winked. A moment later, a text chimed on Vanessa's handheld: That's amazing! Should we call you, or do you want to wait and call us? You must be so busy!

As if they were predictors of the future, the text arrived just as another Utopian hurried up. He was a rather nice looking middle aged man, with pale white skin and short blond hair and an amazing soup-strainer of a mustache. He beamed, then almost tripped on Alexa, as she was seated on the floor. "Oh,uh, hey!" he laughed. "You're the four novas, the teenage novas, who just erupted, right?" He asked, holding out his hand, shaking every hand he could eagerly. "I came here the instant I heard - fresh from Addias Abba, warps are play hell on your internal clock, huh?" he asked, laughing - looking close, they could all see he looked somewhat sleepy.

Alexa glowered up at him. "Who are you exactly?"

I was gonna say call now, but some dude wants to talk to us, so.. gonna need to wait a bit unfortunately. Vanessa texted back to her parents, pointing to ALexa, "That, but a touch more polite."

Gillian shook the hand when offered and nodded with a smile, "Yeah, we're those teenagers. And wow, Addias? Isn't that in Africa?"

The man with the mustache smiled. "My name is Mike! Mike Hodges, I'm part of Team Tomorrow America's PR team..." he said, then grinned at Gillian. "Yup! Utopia's biggest success, you haven't seen anything until you've seen the arcology there. It's a whole city in one building, really amazing!"

"So, you're the guy who's going to make David bigger than Caestus Pax?" Vanessa said curiously.

"I read a bit about that arcology, even looked at pictures on the net. Really cool work," Gillian said with a bit more enthusiasm. "And with those scales, it would be a pretty easy job Vanessa."

Mike Hodges chuckled. "well, he's taller already, huh?" He asked, then shook his head. "B-But no, um...David Chedder isn't actually on any Team Tomorrows. Not quite strong enough!" He said, nodding.

"I may ask David to model for me once Alexa helps his confidence out some. Not often that I get a living reference for an anthromorph" Sean admitted in sign, being rude to the other conversation before him.

"I'll get him naked for you," Alexa signed to Sean.

Vanessa nodded, "Yeah, fair enough. I mean, a charming, innocent guy who can heal and happens to look nonhuman enough most people would go terat, but despite that he's dedicated himself to Utopia. I can see why you guys aren't promoting him like mad. Don't want to risk people who erupt non-human joining Utopia instead of the Teragen or DeVries, right?"

Hodges blinked slightly. "Um..." he looked a bit taken aback by Vanessa's pinpoint accurate snark. "Uh...that's...an interesting point..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Though, uh, that's actually part of why I came to talk to you, actually..." he said, nodding.

Gillian glanced to Vanessa then back to Hodges before humming to herself. "Talk to us about joining Utopia?"

Sean snickered at Vanessa. "You know, I think you got too used to having no decor in your words when you were limited to signing. Our fault for letting you get away with that." He teased. "Relax, not your fault and we don't shoot the messenger. How can we help?" He asked Hodges.

"You want to make me head of Utopia PR? Weird choice, but I'll consider it at least. What kind of pay is it and what are the bennies?" Vanessa said casually. "Quite the opposite, Seanial. I am becoming more and more used to the lovely nuance of the spoken word." She smirked.

Gillian blew out a breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. Hodges chuckled, blushing. 'Not, uh, exactly..." He adjusted his collar. "See, you know how there are five Team Tomorrows? Team Tomorrow America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania?" He nodded. "I'm thinking...that we could use another kind, one that could appeal to the youth!" He beamed. "Something that could keep kids more interested in Utopia, rather than being taken in by Elites or XWF bruisers..."

He paused, then spread his hands - and with the tone of a man delivering an elevator pitch that he had gotten very invested in - he said two words: "Teen. Tomorrow."

"Right.. so.. why did you want to talk to ME then?" Vaness a said curiously. "I can make holograms and fly. Fucking cool for a baseline, but you know.. compared to like.. almost any nova it's kind of not SUPER impressive.."

"Wait," Alexa said, holding up a finger. "Go back to the XWF there, buddy."

Sean smirked at the name, a lot politer than laughing out loud about it.

"Well, I...just heard about all of your eruptions, simultaneously, and...six...teenagers, it's impressive..." Hodges admitted, blushing slightly, then blinked, looking at Alexa. "W-Well, I have nothing against the XWF, but...Superbeast isn't exactly the best rolemodel, you know?"

"Also.. really with regards to the XWF, you guys should actually be pimping it like mad. Superbeast could be a wrestling, an elite, or an anti-human terrorist. Isn't the XWF kind of a million percent the best option for him?" She said, frowning.

Hodges coughed. "T-That's...actually another good point..." he said, biting his lip.

"You all don't even know the basics of wrestling storytelling," Alexa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fantastic."

"Nope, not even a little bit." Sean whispered to Alexa.

"Amazing..." Gillian said, starting to sound tired. "Hodges, I'm sorry, I need to think about this carefully. Not shooting your idea down, I just need some space to figure this out."

Hodges nodded. "Well, uh, of course..." he smiled. "Here!" He held out his card. "Call me once you think." He said, grinning - as they found his card had his number and his smiling face on it, with the Utopian symbol above it.

"Thank you," Gillian took the card with a friendly, if strained, smile. She tucked it into her pocket before turning and starting down the hall back towards the cafeteria.

Vanessa, meanwhile, had been thinking. She started to rub her chin. "I mean, XWF is the safest sexy alternative. I'm all for it, but public service is inherently anti-self aggrandizing. For those kids who want everyone to know how giant his cock is, wrestling is the best and safest option. And since novas can heal themselves and others, it lacks pretty much all the medical issues of old wrestling, so it's basically the safest badass option possible. And if kids want to seem like a real scary motherfucker, they play a heel rather than becoming a terrorist."

Hodges nodded to Vanessa. "Y-You're right..." He beamed. "I'll have to take this up with Cestus Pax!" He said, not even trying to brag that he talked openly with one of the most powerful novas on the planet. The most powerful, if you believed Utopia's press releases. "I'm sure he'll back that play to the hilt, thank you so much, Miss Stacks!" He said, nodding. "Okay, I'll get back there - call me...remember!" He smiled - then turned and started off, moving like he had been given a full jolt of caffeine.

As he left, the four of them looked at the card and reflected...their future might not have been clear - their options were open, and many seemed to be good...and...yet also held their own risks. But before they could get too somber, the PA crackled on an a bored sounding male voice said: "Sean Toulman, to the front desk, Sean Toulman to the front desk. Your parents are here."

And all thoughts of the future vanished as Sean's shoulders drooped and he hung his head forward in obvious defeat.

Nova or not...they were still in high school.

TO BE CONTINUED