Union

fifteen

July 4th

2134 EST

"CJ!" Avi screamed, her mouth dropped open at the boy now sitting in a makeshift ice prison. She looked desperately between the boys, looking for answers as to why CJ had assaulted their intruder.

All Avi could see in CJ's eyes was raw rage and malice. Whatever history the two heroes had was deeply woven and stained with fury. Her eyes then flicked to the bloody boy on the ground.

From her distance away, she could already see his eyes blackening and swelling and blood rapidly falling from his nose. Avi noticed a bandana lying on the floor beside their trespasser.

He lazily pushed himself onto his elbows and look at the rest of the teenagers amongst him with a dull smirk.

The boy smiled naughtily. "Is that really how you greet an old friend?" He taunted, his voice unusually smooth for having been beaten to a pulp.

From behind Avi, CJ growled and tried to attack the boy once again, but found his feet frozen to the ground. He unnervingly glared at Tristan, but just shrugged.

Avi didn't need to scan CJ to detect the intense levels of animosity coming from the speedster. Behind her, Bristol and Tristan stood close to each other. Tristan looked uneasily at Avi, unsure of what her plan was, but Bristol still looked thoroughly shaken by CJ's aggression.

Avi slowly advanced over to the boy spread across the ground. From a closer view, she noticed his snowy hair matted with blood. She stepped in front of him and her body started to buzz as she executed a limited mind scan.

She turned around to face her friends. "His name is Calum Darius. He is nineteen years old and he is a gravitokinetic and a slight telepath." Avi knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. Something was off, but Avi could not interpret what it was.

"What is it, Av?" Tristan asked, his voice filled with concern.

"I feel like I am missing something," she paused. "Something big." She stared helplessly at her friends.

"You're right, A. V. I." Calum piped up. Avi spun her head around to face him, her cropped hair whipping through the air. "Why don't you find out?" He smirked, "I won't hide anything this time." He winked at her.

Planting her feet firmly on the ground and locking eyes with the boy, Avi's body buzzed again, louder this time. The green 1's and 0's shimmered underneath her skin as she performed a stronger scan. The last thing she saw before slipping into Calum's memories were his dark black eyes discernibly taunting her.

Scenes and scenes replayed in her mind as she searched Calum's subconscious. She recognized a young boy with pale blonde hair running around a backyard whom she assumed to be Calum. There was a man sitting on a bench, staring intently at the boy. Every time Avi tried to concentrate on his face, it blurred, making it impossible to recognize the older figure.

"Dad stop!" The boy cried. He fell to the ground, splashing mud around him and dirtying his clothes. Young Calum pressed his hands to his ears, trying to shut out a mute murmur.

"Calum, you need to understand how to use your powers," the man growled at his son. Avi recognized his voice, but it sounded different than she was used to, younger perhaps.

The scene switched to a dark room where an older Calum sat with his father, hidden in the shadows. His hair had grown out, covering his eyes and almost touching his nose. To Avi he looked about thirteen, but she wasn't sure. She could only access the memories Calum allowed her to see, all revolving around his parentage.