#no 4

Scott had done his best to keep John and Virgil occupied but Virgil was so curious as to what was going on. He kept running to the door and peeking around the corner, even though their Mom was upstairs in the bedroom.

But John…John studiously tried his best to ignore what was happening and focus on the screen, but as the birth got closer and the cries got worse he covered his ears and began to rock. Scott was immediately there, folding John against him, pressing his ear to Scott’s heart so he could concentrate on that sound, holding him in position with one arm and using the other to cover John’s hand and hold it.

Virgil, seeing what was happening, slipped out of the room and darted upstairs to Scott and John’s room, grabbing his noise-cancelling headphones and John’s quilt and rushing them downstairs and passing the headphones to Scott while he wrapped the large quilt around all three of them.

With the headphones on and sandwiched tightly between his two brothers John finally began to relax, and with the fire roaring and the heat from their bodies and the quilt all three nodded off pretty quickly.

Jeff stood leaning on doorframe, a soppy grin on his face. The birth had been a little longer than Scott and John’s but not as long as Virgil’s and he was exhausted. He’d been worried for the boys – they all had been – but here they were, all together asleep.

Grant joined his son and watched the three sleeping children with much the same expression on his face. It was way past their bedtimes. In fact it was way past all their bedtimes. Grant nudged Jeff.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Son.’ ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Pa.’ ‘Are we going to carry them to bed or shall we leave them here?’ ‘I think…let’s leave them be. They look so cosy.’ ‘Yeah, yeah they do. Jeff – go be with Lucy and Gordon. I’ll stay with them.’ ‘Thanks, Pa.’ ‘Congratulations, Son.’

Jeff grinned brightly and briefly squeezed his Dad’s shoulder before heading back upstairs. Grant carefully eased himself onto the couch beside Virgil and relaxed. It didn’t take long for Virgil to shift into his Grandpa, and pretty soon John turned too. But Grant was asleep when Scott woke, covered them all with the quilt and slipped away to meet his new brother.

In his parent’s room his Grandma was asleep in the chair, his Mom asleep propped up in bed and his Dad asleep beside her, wrapped gently around her.

But Scott only had eyes for the small snuffling baby in the cot beside their bed. He peered inside and was met by muddy eyes and a cheeky smile that morphed into a yawn. Scott reached down and held out his little finger. Gordon’s whole hand curled around it tightly and his baby brother drifted off. It may not have been a comfortable position but Scott wouldn’t move until Gordon released his finger.

Gordon may have been a small baby but he was a fast grower. By the time summer came around he was up to the right weight for his age and already showing how happy he was, grinning all the time.

But attention soon shifted to John.

While mutation was usually triggered by puberty, it could, as in Scott’s case, be caused by a trauma. And while having a new baby brother wouldn’t normally be a “trauma”, the way Gordon came into the world could definitively be defined as one.

It was Friday night. John was holed up in the attic with Scott, John with his telescope and Scott with his latest model airplanes, a remote control one.

John had just stepped away when Scott’s plane suddenly activated and he yelled as it moved too fast for being inside such a confined space.

It was like watching a horror movie in slow motion.

The plane headed directly for the telescope. Out of the corner of his eye John could see Scott’s panicked face but all his attention was on his telescope.

The plane hit the stand and the telescope toppled out of the window.

And John stretched out his hand…and the world froze.

Every single piece of metal froze. Scott froze. John froze.

From the doorway Jeff froze. He’d heard John’s cry from his study, which was directly under the attic, and had rushed up to find out what was wrong.

Carefully weaving between the floating metal, Jeff firstly moved the plane before securing the telescope. Turning back to John he was worried to see the sweat beading on his forehead, but with a sudden exhalation John relaxed and promptly collapsed into his Dad’s arms.

Scott was over in a heartbeat, apologising over and over again as Jeff lowered them to the ground.

‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t think it would activate and I wasn’t ready! Dad! I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s ok, Bluejay. I know you didn’t mean to, Scott. I know and John knows, don’t you John?’ ‘Is ok, Scotty. I know.’ ‘Let’s go get some milk and cookies and tell your Mom what’s happened.’

The kitchen was full of the smell of apple cookies and it didn’t take much persuasion for Lucy to put milk and cookies out for everyone and once they were all gathered around the table Jeff filled them in on what he’d seen.

Unlike Scott, whose claws had not appeared since that first day, John showed that he could use his power at will by lifting the kettle up and pouring water out of it into the sink. Both Scott and Virgil were delighted and Lucy realised that she needed to talk to her boys about controlling their powers…a talk that she thought she’d not need until they were much older.

While consuming more cookies than Lucy would usually let all her boys – including her husband – she proceeded to give them The Talk.

Don’t use your powers outside of the house or Grandpa’s and Grandma’s. Not even for good reasons. Especially if one of them were in danger.

All three listened intently, nodded in the right places and promised them they would stick to the rules.

And they did.

Gordon grew. He showed an inordinate love for water, but it didn’t seem to manifest as a power. He was a ray of sunshine all the time, always smiling and laughing. Even as a toddler he was showing a strong streak of mischief, although never malicious.

Virgil started school proper and thoroughly enjoyed learning. He was easily as bright as his older brothers but was far more laid back about learning than either of them.

Summer break that year had three surprises.

The year passed rapidly and the family was joined by a couple. Kyrano was introduced to the boys as Jeff’s head of security. After all the discussions about what had happened to them before marriage and then to Scott and John, Jeff had decided that it was time to take action and the new family were given a small cottage in the grounds of the farm.

Jeff had known Kyrano for years, since NASA had sent him on a survival test and literally shipwrecked him in the Malay’s back garden. Kyrano had nursed him back to health after he’d had a rather nasty broken leg that got infected.

The boys were far more interested in the small girl that came too. Introduced as Tanusha, she was very shy at first. The same age as Virgil, the two began to get along well when he shared his art equipment with her and they spent hours together just drawing. And that was when Lucy knew the Kyranos would be right at home with them.

Gordon’s obsession with water only seemed to get stronger as he got older. And that summer his parents introduced the 30-month-old to swimming lessons. Getting him out of the pool was a nightmare.

And the third thing that happened was Jeff and Lucy’s tenth wedding anniversary.

Two months later Lucy found out she was pregnant. Scott was possibly more excited about that than his parents were…

Alan Shepard Tracy was born on a warm but blustery March morning. Much like his oldest brother Gordon seemed to be fascinated with the baby, constantly checking on Alan at odd times as if he thought the baby might disappear.

Scott and John were both advanced an additional year, mostly due their exceptional Math skills, which were considerable and yet very different from each other. Virgil was offered the opportunity too for similar reasons, but he declined, very happy to be where he was.

That year and the next were ordinary, by ordinary standards. Scott’s visits to the clinic went to yearly. Since the incident with his claws his bloodwork had improved immeasurably, his inflammation markers had gone right down to normal. Scott’s blood still puzzled Doctor Ling and she’d sent his blood to several clinics around the world with Lucy and Jeff’s permission and eventually they got back an answer for his last visit.

‘Scott’s bloodwork is virtually normal.’ ‘Virtually?’ ‘I gotta say, Mr and Mrs Tracy, Scott’s blood is unique. No one has seen anything like it.’ ‘Unique how?’ ‘Well, before, Scott’s X-Gene was causing his body to go into an auto-immune overdrive, but since his claws appeared his X-Gene has adapted so that his autoimmune system is now healing him at a remarkable rate.’ ‘What does that mean?’

Doctor Ling looked at Scott before smiling at his parents.

‘I’d like to show you but it’s a little…unethical and I would need your permission and Scott’s. All I can promise is it will only sting for a very little while.’

Jeff and Lucy looked at each other and then down to Scott, who beamed back.

‘Scott, are you happy for the doctor to do whatever it is she has planned?’ ‘Sure!’ ‘Thank you, Scott. You’re a brave boy and I’m only going to cut your hand a little with this knife. Understood?’ ‘Yes. It’s ok.’

Gently Ling held Scott’s hand open and picked up a scalpel, running the blade across his palm and holding it open while his parents watched with first concern and then surprise when within seconds his palm was healed.

‘You ok there, Scott?’ ‘Yeah! That was so cool!’ ‘Now for the other news. Scott’s bone claws are still there. I think that he can activate them at will, he just needs the drive – hence their appearance when John was kidnapped. I’ve discussed them with Jackson and we all believe that Scott needs some training on controlling his rage and thus his claws. Do you have someone who can help him?’ ‘As a matter of fact I do.’

Jeff smiled and leaned back. Kyrano would be perfect to train Scott, and if his was honest his other boys could probably do with some training in the areas of self-defence and how to keep control of their tempers – they were Tracys after all – and he knew Kyrano would enjoy teaching the older boys.

‘And I think that we can stop with Scott’s visits. His X-Gene has activated fully and, providing there are no more surprises, I see no more reason to monitor hm.’ ‘Now that is good news.’

They all shook hands and Jeff, Lucy and Scott joined the rest of their family for ice cream to celebrate. Over chocolate and vanilla ice cream Jeff casually mentioned that maybe they should have a real celebration.

‘What did you have in mind?’ ‘Well…our business has just hit its first million and I think we all deserve to celebrate in style. How does a two-week skiing holiday in Vail, Colorado sound?’ ‘That sounds excellent! Haven’t been skiing in…wow, I actually can’t remember.’

They planned the trip to fall between Alan and Scott’s birthdays and as the weeks passed and the time came nearer the excitement grew.

And then the day arrived and the whole family set off in two cars. Grant drove one car with Ruth, Scott, John and Virgil. Lucy drove the second with Jeff, Gordon and Alan. They had thought about flying but the appeal of a road trip with all the kids was too great an opportunity to miss.

So at the ridiculous time of 6 am one car was travelling with a nice quiet hum while the second was full of small children singing “baby shark” at full volume.

Jeff looked to Lucy and she looked back and grinned. Neither would have it any other way, although Lucy grimaced as Jeff joined in, doubling the volume.

In the other car – listening by some walkie-talkies Grant had dug up – John sighed and leaned into Scott, who had Virgil on his other side already asleep on his shoulder.

‘Scotty, I’m so pleased you talked me out of being in Mom’s car.’

Scott laughed and put his arm around John.

They took their time and arrived late, just after 10 pm. Thankfully their chalet was fully prepped and stocked, and they were all in bed and asleep within the hour.

Lucy lay snuggled in Jeff’s arms that next morning, listening to the sounds of Scott getting his brothers up and trying (and failing) to keep them quiet. She leant up and kissed his nose and Jeff responded by tightening his arms.

‘This was a great idea, hun.’

Four days later neither of them thought it was a great idea.

The avalanche had hit so suddenly that it had overwhelmed the sensors, sweeping over them before they could sound the alarm.

Jeff was on the slopes with John and Gordon. Ruth was in the lodge with Alan. Lucy was in the chalet with Scott and Virgil. Grant was returning to the chalet with soup for Virgil as he wasn’t feeling too good.

Snow swept down on them all.

Jeff, a sudden fear sweeping over him, had stopped John and Gordon from going back up in the lift. He’d paused before running across the mountain towards the chalet…only to be brought up short as the mountainside in front of him was moving. He barely had time to get his children back before where he’d been standing moments before was moving, including the lift that they should have been on. They watched in horror as the metal buckled and the left fell, people’s screams filling the air momentarily before everything was eerily quiet.

Ruth was on the balcony, Alan asleep on the bench beside her, sipping her hot chocolate as the snow suddenly cascaded over the roof and onto the ground before the lodge. She grabbed Alan and ran inside, along with the others on the balcony, the reenforced doors slamming shut after them and sealing them inside where all they could see was the snow pouring over the building and wiping out the chalets below.

Grant never knew what hit him and he died instantly.

Lucy, on the couch with Virgil, was knocked unconscious as the snow sent the whole chalet tumbling.

She woke up later. It was dark and someone was sniffling. Lucy felt around her and her hand hit cold metal.

Cold metal that moved. And spoke.

‘Mom?’ ‘Virgil?’ ‘Mom!’

And the sniffling burst into tears. And incoherent talking.

At first she couldn’t move but as Virgil did she realised several things. Virgil had been pinning her down. There was nothing working in the chalet. There was an eerie light that just about gave her enough to see outlines.

She saw that Virgil was somehow made of metal. She saw in one corner her eldest son was ragdolled against the wall. Scott’s neck was clearly broken.

‘Virgil?’ ‘Scotty’s dead, Mom! He’s dead! And I’m made of metal!’

Lucy sat up carefully, her head aching and when she pulled her fingers away they had blood on them. Still, she manoeuvred around and held Virgil close as he cried, all the while watching the body of her eldest.

Which is why she saw Scott twitch.

‘Virgil, honey. Look! Look at Scott.’ ‘No Mamma! I don’t want to!’ ‘It’s going to be alright. Take a look.’

Reluctantly Virgil turned to see…Scott looking backing at him, a smile on his face.

‘Hey Virgie.’ ‘Sc-Scotty?’ ‘I’m here. I’m good.’

And Virgil wasted no time climbing over the debris to get to him.

‘Gently, Virgil.’ ‘It’s ok. I can’t move but I’m ok. Are you ok? Virgil…you seem to be made of metal.’ ‘I – I know. It just happened.’ ‘You look good. Nice and shiny.’ ‘But I don’t want to look like this forever, Scotty!’

Scott laughed weakly. Lucy could tell he was in pain and she guessed that even his healing factor didn’t make healing from such an extreme injury painless or fast.

Virgil was beginning to freak out. Scott was trying to comfort him but not succeeding. She crawled over to them.

‘Virgil, honey. You won’t stay this way.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Sure I’m sure. It’s not unusual for us with powers to lose them when injured. Why don’t you let me check you over, see if you are injured.’

Lucy found a severe gash across Virgil’s shoulder. It was reasonably deep and she was sure that was what was preventing him changing back.

‘There’s quite a gash across your shoulder that I think is stopping your powers and preventing you turning back. Look at it this way, it’s not that you’ve lost your power to turn back to human, it’s that your metal self is injured and if you turned back now that injury would be very extreme to your human self.’ ‘Ha-have you ever experienced something like this, Mom?’ ‘I have. Don’t be sacred, Virgil, I’ve done this before. A long time ago, before I met your father, I had to save the world.’ ‘You did?!?’ ‘I did! And to do it I had to phase something through the planet. For a long time afterwards I couldn’t concentrate hard enough on being solid and I kept phasing all the time. But I eventually did get back to normal and so will you.’ ‘I will?’ ‘I promise you, Virgil. You will get your powers back and return to normal.’

She kissed his forehead. Then reached across to Scott who still couldn’t move more than to hold her hand.

‘I think that we should get out of here, don’t you?’ ‘Yeah!’ ‘But we need to go somewhere where there are no people. We don’t wasn’t them to see any of us like this so I’m going to phase us through the snow and to the car. Are you alright with that?’

She got nods from them all and so Lucy prepared herself. Phasing such distance and with the load of two people with her wasn’t going to be easy and would probably mean that Virgil wouldn’t be the only one needed to wait for her powers to return.

Carefully she pulled Scott onto her back and held him with one arm, made sure that Virgil gripped onto her belt and didn’t let go no matter what, and with her free hand she pushed outwards…

It was a long walk but eventually they materialised beside the car. She lay Scott across the back seat and sat Virgil in the front before buckling him in and getting into the driving seat. As she expected making herself solid wasn’t happening and she sighed. At least it was dark and no one would see her.

All she had to do now was call Jeff and let him know they were safe. Lucy pressed the ignition and started the car.

‘Call Jeff.’ ’Calling Jeff.’

He answered on the second ring.

‘Lucy!’ ‘We’re good. We’re in the car. I can’t stay human and something similar has happened to Virgil. Scott’s also not quite whole. So we’re going to hole up in a motel until we can appear. Can you let Mom and Dad know we’re fine and stop people looking for us?’ ‘I can and will. You be safe and let me know where you are when you get there.’ ‘I will. Jeff…what’s up with you. Something’s wrong with your voice.’ ‘It’s Pa. He’s…he’s gone, Lucy.’ ‘What? Oh Jeff, I’m so sorry, hun.’ ‘Thanks. You get yourself and the boys to safety and as soon as we can we’ll meet you there. Drive over to the next town and say that the boys had been too tired to travel back.’ ‘Will do. Be safe and hug Mom for me.’ ‘Love you all.’ ‘We love you too.’