The Helix Assignment [Part 3]

Lauren Knight, aka Pierce, threw the basketball into the air. It fell through the hoop cleanly without a sound. She glanced around her. The day was fading, it was almost twilight, but she still had on her Ruby Iridium x-Metal Oakleys, her custom made sunglasses that had red tinted lenses on them. She grabbed the ball as it bounced back to her and threw it again without aiming. Another clean shot.

She knew she had a talent for sports.

Well, as long as they weren't what Pierce liked to call girly-girly...okay, let's just put it as not male-dominated sports. She liked baseball and softball--heck, she was on the freakin' varsity team. Besides, that was a good way to get rid of your anger issues. Throw the freaking ball and hope you hit someone with it!

She loved football [what Americans called 'soccer'--so she was British. Sue her!]. Back in Hounslow she was right winger and striker for the team. She even like throwing balls into hoops. [Basketball to you people out there.] To put it short, if there was any sport involving running, kicking a ball or throwing it, Pierce is your sporty girl at a glance.

But put her in a netball or volleyball team, and you'd be dead before you hit the floor.

Literally.

See, Pierce was...different. She wasn't like 99% of the population. In fact, she was probably one of the rare few people in the world who could give you one hell of a migraine mixed with the after effects of a hangover while you try your hardest to hide behind the chest of drawers to avoid being hit by anymore furniture.

Yes, that's right. You heard me. Pierce is a telempath/telekinetic all rolled into one. As much as she'll categorily deny it however, she's not above using her powers for her advantages. Okay, you're probably bored now so back to the story.

Then Pierce stopped short and smiled as a wave of emotion overtook her. Looking across the now darkening street, she watched as the Golden trio from school came past. Joye Chezelle, Elsa Moonstone, and Aqua Ryan Summers. They seemed to be in deep conversation, talking in hushed whispers as they headed back to the house they lived with their Uncle Ben.

Pierce inhaled. Elsa was definitely worried about something. Something about a man who stole some papers. Aqua was peacemaker, as usual, while Joye...well, Pierce smiled. She could use her to her benefits. Joye was already disgruntled about the fact Elsa was the alpha of the pack. A few more pushes of the right buttons, and she'd have them eating out of her hand.

As though sensing her gaze on them, Elsa swung around sharply, eyes pointing straight at Pierce. Nonchalantly, Pierce cocked her head to her left, and gave a nod, a curt sharp one, even bowing a little as she'd been taught to. All in all she felt Elsa probing into her mind. It was no use, however. A telempath like her could fend off a telepath like Elsa with no problem at all.

Just to make it clear, however, that she didn't encourage trespassers, Pierce's eyes turned black under the shield of her sunglasses as she entered Elsa's dreamscape in her mind, imagining her getting a mild electric shock.

The effects were immediate. Elsa gave a little jump as though she'd actually been shocked. Giving one last suspiscious look at Pierce, she walked away.

Pierce gave a soft smile, and disappeared under the cover of the darkness.

The Helix Assignment [Part 2]

Edmund Darcy chuckled as he lowered the binoculars. Consulting the Omega Planet Orange on his right wrist, he smiled in anticipation of what he was about to do next.

Dropping lightly from the window ledge that he was standing on, Edmund put away the binoculars and took out a pair of glasses instead. He had on a business suit, complete with tie and shoes, making him look like a member of the corporate field. Now he confidently entered the art gallery, looking like one of those learned people in the works of da Vinci and Rembrandt, whose paintings were amongst the many others on show at the gallery tonight.

He got past security without any difficulty. Of course, when you have the ability to telekinetically choke someone to death, you hardly need a weapon. Once inside, Edmund made his way into the main office of the gallery, which held what he was really after.

Jovan Petrovich's files.

The twenty-one year old man sneered, and stepped forward to claim his prize when he stopped short, his danger sense going into overdrive. He straightened up, placed his hands into his pocket calmly, and spoke.

'We meet again.'

'We have to stop meeting like this.' Normally this sentence would bring up images of secret rendezvouses, but in this particular case, it brought with it merely a hint of sarcasm and biting annoyance.

Elsa glared at Edmund Darcy, flanked by Joye and Aqua. 'Step away from the files, Darcy,' she ordered sharply. 'Don't make me angry.'

Edmund flashed another charming smile. 'Honestly, I feel your pain. But I can't leave without the files.' His voice hardened. 'So give them to me. Or I'll take them myself. Either way, I'll have them.' He flicked a finger, and the files telekinetically flew to his waiting fingers.

'Go to hell,' Aqua muttered. She immediately conjured a jet of water, which she directed at Edmund's head. He held up a hand, and the water dispersed into the air. Aqua's eyes widened in surprise as she was thrown backwards into her friends. All three crashed into the large painting hanging on the wall, setting off the alarm.

Edmund gave them another smile, before jumping out of the window. Elsa scrambled to her feet. 'Damn!' she swore. 'I'll get him yet.' She followed suit, jumping out of the window, feeling the catch of the air as she focused on her powers of flight, hovering. 'I'll see if I can cut him off,' she called to Joye and Aqua. 'You guys control the situation.' Without wairting for an answer, she flew off into the night sky.

'"You guys control the situation,"' Joye mimicked Elsa's tone. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't very happy with the arrangements. 'Why can't we go after Darcy? Why do we always have to pick up the pieces?' Unspoken was, why does Elsa get to the boss around here?

Aqua sighed, hearing the silent question. 'It's because Elsa's the eldest and she's been living with Uncle Ben the longest,' she said gently. Joye snorted. 'So what? Don't you watch Mutant X or X-Men? Don't you ever notice that even though Storm and Brennan Mulwray weren't the first to join the team they were the leaders?'

Aqua was about to reply when they heard the unmistakable sound of hurried footsteps nearing the room. 'Oh, hell.'
________________________

Elsa stopped onto a rooftop as she caught her breath. Edmund Darcy might have been a ---censored--- but he was PDQ. [That's Pretty Damn Quick, if you dunno] She then decided to use her telepathy to lock in on him.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on Darcy's image, allowing her mind to sweep and touch the minds of the many citizens of NY. After fifteen minutes she gave it up. No matter how long she focused, Elsa couldn't get a lock onto him. Besides, it was getting late. Sighing, she took one look at the night sky. 'Oh, hell.'

The Helix Assignment [Part 1]

'All the somatic cells in the human body have 46 chromosomes.' Miss Madelina Caroll, Redfield High's one and only Biology teacher, began. 'All somatic cells have two sets of chromosomes: one set inherited from each parents. One set of chromosomes consists of 23 chromosomes. Hence, our somatic cells have 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs or 2n=46.' She took a glance around the class and frowned. Half the class were day dreaming.

'Hey,' she said sharply. Disapproval was evident in her voice. Everyone snapped to attention. Miss Madelina continued. 'OI! Are you people listening to me or not? You see all the notes I give you? You know with all these notes I can make my own book and sell it and become rich and famous?'

Aqua Ryan Summers muttered softly to the person sitting next to her. 'Who's stopping you?'

Her neighbour, Elsa Moonstone, coughed to muffle the giggle. Miss Madelina's eyes flickered to her sharply, before turning back to the rest of the class. 'Now, pay attention! Females have XX chromosomes. Males have XY chromosomes. Understand?'

Lauren Knight, one of the juniors and star pitcher on varsity softball, looked up with mock interest. 'Really?' she said in a low tone. 'So what, if you have YY chromosomes, you're an alien?' Her comment drew muted laughter from the table.

'Good one, Pierce,' one of the guys, Jeremy, called out, using her nickname that was fabricated after Lauren's steely gaze. Pierce smiled. 'Or would you be a mutant instead?'

More laughter, but Elsa and Aqua weren't laughing. They exchanged looks, and Aqua turned to look at Pierce, who was known for her sport prowess. They didn't know each other that well, but the comment she made about mutants having YY chromosomes...well, it was a bit on the strange side.

At that moment, Pierce caught Aqua's eye, and as though sensing her thoughts, dropped her a cheeky wink.
________________________________

'She couldn't have known about us, could she?' Elsa whispered to Aqua as they exited the class. 'I mean, I don't know Pierce that long, but if that's her sense of humor, I don't like it.'

'What don't you like?'

Joye Chezelle, the sophomore, bounded up to the two juniors. 'Nothing,' Aqua explained hurriedly. 'It just about a girl in class who made a comment about people with YY chromosomes being mutants.'

Joye's eyes widened. Elsa grimaced. 'Now you see why I'm so worried.'

Aqua, Joye and Elsa were mutants. The reason Elsa was so worked up about the comment Pierce had made was because Pierce was hitting too close to home. She'd probably have no idea that the trio were born with a defective triple helix gene, which allowed them to stay alive and defect-less like everyone else even though they only had YY chromosomes. Thanks to their triple helix gene, the trio were born with special abilities.

While Aqua was hydrokinetic, Elsa had the power of flight and telepathy. Joye, the youngest, had sharp senses and shapeshifting abilities.

'You didn't try to read her mind?' Joye questioned as they left the school compound. Elsa shrugged. 'Yeah. You remember, A, I followed her when she went to the restroom?' Aqua nodded. 'Well, I went in, and I don't know what happened, but the next minute I started chatting with her about Shane Harrison. I even got his number from her.'

Joye's jaw dropped. 'You have the hottie's number?' she said in horrified excitement. 'I want! Gimme!'

Aqua slapped Joye's hands. 'Can you focus?' she hissed. 'Didn't you hear what Elsa said? There's something fishy about Pierce. I can feel it!' she declared vehemently. 'Maybe we should ask Uncle Ben.'

'I agree,' Joye said, serious. 'Who knows?' She grinned. 'Maybe she'll end up being one of us.'

Elsa snorted. 'You can't be serious! Pierce is not sociable! She'll have your head for trying to engage her in a conversation. We should stay away.'

Aqua smiled. 'Sociable or not, if she has got what it takes to get Shane Harrison's number,' she said gently. 'I'm all for it.'
______________________________

Ok ppl first chappie. Very lame beginning I noe but hang on. More's to come. Stay tuned!

Heroes Look Out!

Ok guys so today studied about XY and XX chromosomes in Bio. Then I told a joke that went like this.

'If it's XX, it's a girl. If it's XY, it's a boy.' Pause. 'If it's YY, it's an alien.'

Then Elaine chimed in. 'Hey, why dun we make it like there are ppl born with YY chromosomes and they are actually ppl with powers? But since they're neither XX or XY we'll make it like they had a defect or something.'

So guys, I need help. I need a title for the story [Please, don't give me crap stuff like The Double-Y Mutants or whatever]. I also need a bunch of nice superpowers. Cool ones ok.

So far I got dibs. My charac is Lauren 'Pierce' Knight, telekinetic and telempathic. All the characs are in high school, and they live in an underground cave-like house thing, with a really cool jet that comes out from the water.

So help please.

Murder On Campus [Part 3]

Adel von Gideon was awakened by the loud ringing of the telephone. 'Not again,' she muttered, groaning at the noise. Reaching out her hand, she ran a hand through her hair, noting that she felt so tired despite retiring early to bed last night. It felt like she was up all night! Probably the stress of the whole murder, she thought to herself.

'Hello?' she said blearily, answering the phone.

'Miss von Gideon--'

'Adel, please.' She yawned. 'I'm too tired to respond to formalities. Adel is fine.'

There was a pregnant pause. 'Okay, Adel. This is Detective Mercer.' Another pause. 'We've just found another body.'

'Another one?' Now Adel was awake. She rubbed her eyes. 'So soon? Where? Who was it?' And most importantly, what makes you think it was related to the Carly Davidson case?

Mercer gave a long sigh. 'You better come and see for yourself.'
____________________________

Adel almost threw up at the sight of the crushed body. 'Have-have you figured out who the victim is?' she asked weakly, trying not to regurgitate her quick breakfast (croissant and coffee).

Greene opened a pink purse with his gloved hands. 'Found this on the vic,' he explained. 'Let's see. ID, ID, where are you?' he murmured to himself as his fingers expertly flipped through the purse's many compartments. He stopped and look up. 'Jackpot.'

Pulling on a pair of rubber gloves, Mercer took the plastic card. 'It's a library card. Valerie Munday,' he read. The next sentence forced him to exchange looks with Adel and Greene. 'Harlan Academy.'

'One of ours again?' Adel felt sick to her stomach. 'Who is this--this psycho?' she finally burst out after a while. 'Why is he targeting college students? For money? For revenge?' It was obvious that she was getting hysterical.

Greene waited until she calmed down before he spoke quietly. 'It's possibly it's a serial killer. That's what we're trying to find out,' he said. 'But we need your help. Student records, medical records, stuff like that. Can you get them from the academy?'

Adel nodded. 'Yes, yes of course. Anything else?'

'Yeah,' Mercer eyed her. 'You can start by coming with us to the coroner.' He glimsped the way she paled. 'Look, by seeing the brutality of the murders up close you might be able to get some clue which you can use to make a profile. You know,' he shrugged. 'Like Criminal Minds.'

'Or Mindhunters,' Greene quipped. 'Especially the part where Will Kemp's character was drugged through his need for coffee, where he was decapitated and drained of blood while unconsciously. When everyone woke up, they were like, "AHHHHH!"' He gave a soft chuckle.

It was obvious by the hard slaps on the back of Greene's head that neither Mercer nor Adel appreciated the comment.

No one notice the pair of eyes watching them from the opposite building.
__________________________

It was silent in the fencing studio, silent except for the soft chink of coins as they made contact with each other. The only occupant in the room was a young girl in her late teens to early twenties. Her auburnish hair glowed red in the sunlight, and by her body language, she was tense, looking out of the window.

She was sitting on the windowseat, staring out, her right hand making thumb flips every other second as she pondered on what she'd saw earlier. Flip. Not another sound was heard, only gentle breathing. Flip. Flip.

The door to her dormitory opened, and a man walked in. He was tall, with dark hair and a sharp nose. Softly, as if afraid he might disturb her, he entered, sitting down on the end of the window seat as he glanced briefly at the coins in her hand.

'You heard about Valerie Munday?' he asked gently. Now she turned to face him, her strong square jaw and perfect features bearing an air of puzzlement. 'Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?'

He gave an exasperated sigh. 'Do you have to answer my question with another question?'

Her eyes, cool, impersonal and blue, flashed sharply at him, as though in reprimand. 'Do you?' But the amused look in her eyes showed no hard feelings, and she placed the coins into her pocket as she gave him her full attention. 'Have you heard from him, Arkady?' she spoke in Russian, a language she was totally fluent in.

Arkady Kovic looked at Juliette Keynes. 'Nyet,' he replied. 'No answer yet.' Another sigh. 'Something funny's going on around here. First, Carly Davidson. Now Valerie Munday. They'll figure it out sooner or later. They'll trace it back to us. It's so obvious. So simple.'

Juliette smiled reassuringly at her friend. 'No, they won't.' She raised an eyebrow. 'The thing about people in general, Arkady, is that they tend to over-complicate things. They tend to disregard the obvious. If something is laid out in front of them in a simple manner, no matter how true it is, they will find the most complicating explanation they can think of.'

She stood up, stretching her legs. 'Even the police think that way. The clues are out there. All they have to do is find it.' She scoffed. 'A task they'll probably fail at.' It was evident there was no love lost between her and the law enforcement. For a moment, Arkady detected a hint of her bitter past. He decided to ignore it. 'But they are the police, Jules. They have juristriction. We don't. Even if they've got the shrink with them, it'll take them ages to figure out who did it. By then UNSUB will be out of the country.'

Jules eyed Arkady with a smile. 'Not, if we get UNSUB first.'

Murder On Campus [Part 2]

Adel von Gideon rubbed her temples tiredly. This whole murdering business was taking a toll on her. After she left Mercer and Greene, promising to contact them if anything came up, she'd return to her office in Harlan Academy's first block, hoping for an afternoon of R&R.

To her dismay, waiting outside in a nervous queue, were a long line of students ready to receive some counselling, and in that half an hour, put forth their theories on who could have possibly killed Carly Davidson. First in line was Marie Saunders, who was still sobbing loudly.

Sighing, Adel entered her office swiftly, deposited her coat on her chair and sat down. Her harried secretary, Hannah, immediately swooped down onto her and pressed a mug of hot coffee into her employer's hands. Adel accepted the cup gratefully.

'We're all in an uproar,' Hannah whispered to Adel. 'They say Carly Davidson was murdered brutally.' She gave a shiver. 'Poor girl. She was such a sweet thing.'

'Evidently, someone out there disagrees,' Adel muttered harshly, burning her mouth in her haste to gulp down the hot coffee. 'Any messages?'

Hannah shook her head, pulling a face. 'No. But Marie Saunders insists on being your first appointment today. I've already told her you have a lunch with Dr. Isaacs, but she--'

'--insisted,' Adel finished. 'Okay.' She inhaled. 'Send her in.'

Obeying, Hannah left the office, went into the lobby and ushered Marie Saunders inside. Adel forced herself to look calm, cool but sympathetic. 'I'm so sorry for your loss, Marie,' she murmured.

Marie glanced at her teacher-counselor. 'Oh, Miss von Gideon,' she cried. 'It was horrible! Utterly devastating!'

As she continued ranting about how she found the body of Carly Davidson, Adel found herself shaking her head. It was going to be a long day.
____________________________

Valerie Munday took another huge gulp of beer. She closed her eyes, pulling a face at the bitterness, but she didn't stop. Didn't want to. All she wanted was to be drunk senseless.

'Come on,' said a voice. 'You're getting behind. Drink up. Forget your sorrows. He doesn't deserve you.' With a sneer.

Valerie copied the sneer. 'Yeah, he doesn't.' Took another gulp of beer to find that it was empty. Groaning, she threw it aside, and opened another can with a pop and a hiss. She downed the contents.

Earlier today she'd arrived a couple of days early from vacation to find her boyfriend, her long-time love, screwing an unknown woman. It was already bad to find out that the love of your life was sleeping with another on your bed, but to add insult to injury, that bitch just had to be her big sister, Sarah.

Valerie laughed bitterly. If someone had told her Xavier was unfaithful, she'd probably laughed at them. He was Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Xavier After-College-And-Uni-We'll-Get-Married-Sweetheart-It'll-Be-Perfect Thomas. Ha! All lies.

She didn't remember how she stumbled out of her room like a drunk, not noticing where she was heading for until she found herself in a bar. She ordered a drink, but before she could wallow in her sorrow, a couple of hunks started hitting on her. Frustrated with the attention--she SO didn't need this tonight--she'd readily accepted the offer from a fellow patron who suggested that a walk would be useful.

Shrugging, Valerie agreed, and the patron led her to the roof of the Montero Building, situated couple of blocks from the bar. There, she spat out the whole incident to the patron, who insisted that she was not to blame.

Valerie held up her beer. 'To the suckiest man in the world!' she hollered into the night sky. The patron followed her toast, and beckoned to Valerie. 'What?' she slurred.

'Wanna see the view from the best seat in the house?' Without waiting for an answer, the patron led Valerie to the edge of the building, climbing over the metal railing. Now both of them were standing on a measly 12-inch ledge, their backs to the railing, hands gripping the metal bar behind them.

'What are we doing here?' Valerie said, turning to the patron as she felt her head swirl. She never got the chance. With a hard shove, Valerie Munday fell off the Montero Building, to drunk to react or scream. There was a sickening crunch as her body collided with the cement floor below. Things broke. Not the cement floor.

The patron climbed over the railing to safety, and gave a slow smile. 'I believe I can fly,' the patron drawled slowly, realizing the full irony of the sentence. The patron grinned. Goodbye, Valerie.

Band Name

I know I'd already chosen Equation F.I.S.H., but what u think about Forgetting Love? Just widening my options. And don't ask why I'm chosing band names.

How about No Strings Attached? All About Nothing?