Trial X6

Not Beethoven

  "Hey pal, you okay?" Alec asked Sketchy as he was walking past with a thinking expression on his face.

  "The weirdest thing happened to me last night." He paused and glanced at each of us. "Some government suits grabbed me up, took me to their secret headquarters, wanted to know what I saw in the sewer."

  "What'd you tell 'em?" Original Cindy asked.

  "That I saw some dude in a Halloween mask, and they let me go."

  "Good man." Alec pat Sketchy's shoulder.

  "But then I started thinking."

  "Thinking?" Alec shifted on his feet, and I slid my hands into my pants pockets.

  "What do you mean 'thinking'?" The taller two people beside me exchanged glances.

  "Well, if they're that spun about what I may have seen, maybe I actually saw something."

  "Yeah, a guy in a mask." Alec insisted.

  "Yeah, right. Use your head dude, like the government needs to cover up the existence of guys in costumes. I don't think so. They nabbed me because they got something to hide." Sketchy looked at us. "The truth is out there, people, and mutants exist, and I'm gonna prove it." He held up his camera as he walked away.

  "Well, that didn't go as well as I had hoped."

  "No, it did not."

  "'Course, the important question is who gets to tell Max?" Alec grinned at Original Cindy, then looked back at me. "How about you? She adores her little pet."

  "Shut up, dick." I growled.

  "I'm beginning to think that's all you know how to say."

  "No, I can also say that I want to rip your throat out with my teeth right now, but calling you a dick is much nicer and more sanitary." I snarled.

  "Okay, Shadow needs her Alec-free time now." Original Cindy grabbed my shoulders while turning me around. She was pushing me towards the lockers as I grumbled under my breath and felt my ears twitch. "Are you okay, boo?"

  "I'm fine. Why?"

  "You're a little more hostile than usual, and that's saying something." She sat me on one of the benches.

  "Alec just gets on my nerves." I felt my eyebrows furrow.

  "He does that to everyone, boo. Here, let Original Cindy give you some advice." I felt my ears perk as I listened to her. "Just imagine hurting him in your head. I do it all the time." Her eyebrows went up. "Hell, just now, Original Cindy imagined punching him in the face."

  "I've actually punched him....quite satisfying, might I add."

  "Okay, but you can't always do that." She chuckled.

  "I know." Sighing, I rubbed my face while trying to think. "He just somehow pushes all my damn buttons."

  "He does seem to have a knack for that."

~

  Standing by the doorway while scratching behind my ears, I watched Max scratch her leg as Joshua came into the living room.

  "You set it off?"

  "Yeah."

  "Okay, let's do the other two and get out of here before these little buggers eat us alive." Joshua went to the BOMB set up in the kitchen while Max went to the one on the chair she had been standing on, and we were itching all over. "Hold your breath. Ready?" She looked ready to run, and I grabbed the doorknob. "On three. One, two, three!" She took in a deep breath and pushed the button on top of the red and black can. It hissed as a white smoke came out of it, and Max and Joshua ran to the door as I opened it. Getting outside, Joshua slammed the door shut and gasped for air.