Oleander {Being Rewritten, Please Have Patience}

Part 2 - OLD

pt 2 - Two Weeks Later-

I crouched in the shadows behind Nightshade, a supervillain with telekinesis. I quietly took a small box out of a holster on my belt, and grabbed a few small seeds from my drawstring pouch that was also attached to my belt. I opened a slot in the box, revealing a rat skeleton. I tossed the seeds in, and closed the slot. As my power went to work, I watched the villain. 

Honestly, he's kind of a joke in the underground network, but what he was working on was... powerful. Enough so that it would kill hundreds of people. My spies, my skeletons, my plants, they had whispers of a weapon he was designing to enhance his telekinesis, allowing him to crush city blocks.

I felt the flowers bloom inside the box. Oleanders, my trademark. I opened the front of the box, and whispered my instructions to my newly raised ratplant. "Go distract him. I'll send in a sedative-plant next."

It nodded and scampered away, leaves rustling. I took a second box out and put my golden poppy seeds in. Once the ratplant was fully reanimated, I took out a match and a piece of string. I tied the string to it's hind leg, and lit it. "Run around, spread the smoke." I told it.

I slipped my gas mask on and watched Nightshade run around, trying to stomp my first ratplant. That's when the smoke began to draw his attention. "Wait a minute!" he yelled. "This is that Oldandy brat's doing!"

I stepped out of the shadows. "Three things, bud." I told him. "One: my name is Oleander. Two: you picked a plant name for your telekinesis self, which was stupid. And a waste of a great name. Three: this smoke you're inhaling? This is a sedative. Sleep well."

His angry blue eyes burned into me as he stumbled around. "Oh, I forgot to tell you!" I said, tapping my chin. "The heroes are on their way. Good luck, Nightshade!"

I scooped up my ratplants, and patted out the fire on the poppy ratplant. I tossed oleander seeds about, so it would be obvious as to who took down this idiot. Before I left, though, I grabbed the blueprints of the power-enhancer. Never know when it might come in handy. I thought.

When I left, I heard Dad and Daniel arrive at the scene. Oops, I meant Wild Tornado and Whirlwind. That meant Creature (Mom), Nil (Oliver), and Niq (Emil) would either be bloodhounds or birds to track me down. "Time to scram." I whispered to myself.

I clambered up a ladder and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until I hit the black-bricked building on 5th street. I swung myself inside, and went out to the street. I moved the manhole cover and slipped into the sewer.

I traveled to my friend's house. "Jakob, you home?" I call as I wiggle out of the manhole in his living room. (Most people thought it was just a strange decoration. Knowing Jakob, I could understand that. He's a little bit strange.)

"No." came the reply.

"Okay, I'll go take a shower then. Are my clothes still in the bathroom?" I called, replacing the manhole cover.

"Couch." came the reply.

"Thanks, Jakob." I said, grabbing my clothes off of the couch.

I headed to the shower in his basement. I closed the door, then undressed quickly. I stepped under the warm water and sighed. Lovely things, showers.

After I was done, I changed into my normal clothes (Jeans, t-shirt, sweater, high-top sneakers). I scrubbed the grime off of my vigilante suit. 

I ended up changing my mind about the villain thing, and decided to not be bad, but be the grey area in life. I didn't want to be a villain, I was just moody.

Anyways, I cleaned up, and went up to Jakob's 'man-cave,' which took up the entire attic. "Hey, Jakob." I said, tip-toeing through the wires creating a miniature jungle on the floor. "Whatca up to?"

"Playing chess online while hacking through the cameras of my brother's house to prank him." replied Jakob as I came to sit next to him.

He was about five-and-a-half feet in height, not that he got up very much. His long blond hair was back in a messy ponytail, and his glasses were folded up and sitting on his desk. His gaming headphones were on, so I was amazed that he could hear me. "Nice. What prank?" I asked.

Even at age 21, Jakob was still fairly immature. He grinned. "I'm going to make him think that I'm dancing on his lawn with strobe lights at three in the morning." he cackled.

I chuckled. "You do that, Jakob. I have to get home. See you later." I told him

"Okay, see you, Raindrop." he called, using his nickname for me.

"It's Brooke!" I replied as I went downstairs.

I walked home quickly. When I got inside, Dad stood just inside the doorway. "Young lady, where have you been?" he yelled.

That made me... extremely angry. "Since when have you cared?" I said coldly.

He stared at me. "And for your information, I was at a friend's house." I continued.

With that, I slipped past him and went downstairs, angry tears gathering in my eyes. Why did he suddenly care that I left the house for a few hours? I take online classes, so it doesn't impact my schoolwork, and everyone else is already out and about in the city!

Mom and my brothers were in their corner of the basement, going over hero plans or whatnot. I didn't miss the way they moved the papers so I couldn't see, and waited for me to get into my room before resuming their conversation, which was now reduced to whispers.

I put my stuff down in my closet, then went out to my desk. I pulled out my laptop and began working on my history homework. After a while, the whispers grew louder until my family was talking normally. I put my earbuds in and turned on electronic music to distract myself from their voices. I felt Dad come down the stairs and join in the conversation. Eventually, during a quiet part of a song, I heard Dad say, "Let's go to the attic, where Brooke can't hear us."

What's worse is that Mom agreed with him. "Yes, she eavesdrops a lot. She has this silly hero complex, even though she's powerless."

My brothers agreed with them, and my family went upstairs. I put my head down, and started to cry. I didn't deserve that. I didn't need to hear that. They were talking loud enough for me, in my room, though my earbuds and music, to hear them.

A vine crept out of the closet and draped itself across my shoulders comfortingly. "Thanks, Vine." I sniffled.

A tendril reached up and stroked my hair, like Mom used to do before she thought I was 'powerless' and got so wrapped up in hero work. I leaned into my plant happily. Even when my human family failed me, my plant family was there. My morning glories, that I had so painstakingly grew along tresses in the ceiling, bloomed as I became happier. I completed my homework quickly, and spent some time caring for my plants. The vine had retreated to my closet, and I was on a stool on my bed (which isn't the sturdiest thing on the planet), watering my morning glories (which had closed back up), when Oliver came in. "Brooke, it's time for dinner." he said, surprising me.

I fell onto my bed with a yelp, dropping my watering can. Oliver's exasperated sigh could be heard echoing in the basement. I got up, retrieved my watering can, put it on a shelf, and dusted myself off. "Here I come." I told him.

"I don't understand your strange fascination with plants." he grumbled. "I swear, if you weren't powerless, your power would be growing plants well. Which is useless."

I laughed at him, masking my uneasiness. That was closer to the truth than I felt comfortable with. "No, it would probably be flight like Grandmother Harriet!" I teased.

His expression went dark. "Bad side of the family, Brooke." He warned. "Grandmother Harriet's husband's power was necromancy. You wouldn't want to be dealing with evil things like that."

I snorted. "Whatever."

He inspected me closely. "Necromancy is evil, Brooke." he insisted.