Saint Joseph School

“Willed Mutation”
By
Edward Trenton


A short time ago I came across a theory known as “Willed Mutation”. As the theory goes almost every mutant has the potential to change their mutation as they see fit. That’s the short explanation, the long one goes like this.

If a person with a mutant gene desires to have something bad enough and holds concentration on that goal for long enough, said mutants DNA has the possibility to alter itself in order to give them what they want. Now I’m not certain if these changes will be permanent or temporary, I am in the process of testing this on myself. The information I have is sketchy at best, but if this theory is correct imagine how many people we can help with a technique like this.

However, while the benefits of something like this are great, there is a major downside.
What if this information was to fall into the hands of a group like the Outcasts, Lost, or even Crey? Power hungry people could use it to gain power beyond imagination. It would be chaos in the streets, so I ask anyone who reads this to keep it to themselves or at least keep it within the school.



Results to come
Eddie


The young man leaned back at his desk and gave a mental sigh. “This is going to work.” he thought to himself. Eddie wandered down the hall to where a large announcement board hung on the wall thumbtack in hand, pinned the report dead center in the board and walked away.

That man on the TV yesterday told me that Jesus wanted me to have a million dollars, but that I had to give to his church, "for whom that giveth, they shall be giveth unto tenfold."

Then the lady during commercial break told me that if I bought into her real estate-flipping system, I would have power and wealth beyond my wildest dreams.

I have to say, this sounds more like an opening gambit for a pyramid scheme or a cult than any sort of scientific theory. Sorry, Eddie. More facts, more data, less touchy-feely, and I'll be prepared to listen more closely.

Bryan stands at the board reading Eddie's post with great interest. After he had finished, he walked down the hallway.

"Willed Mutation? Hmmm..." Bryan spoke aloud to no one in particular. He himself possessed a mutated genetic code, it was the source of his abilities. "I wonder if that mutation was limited to the expansion of previously possessed abilities or whether this could lead to the manifestation of new abilities?"

He continued to make his way through the empty hallway towards his Geometry class. "I have to talk to Eddie about this. I wonder if he needs volunteers?"

I'm going to agree with Nennya... if you could simply change your mutation by wanting to, I would have been normal ages ago.

Samantha left history class on a high note, the test hadn’t been an easy one, and pulling off an A- would set the tone for the rest of the day, or so she thought. As she cruised the main hall to get to Biology, she couldn’t help but notice a few students milling around the message board. Curiosity got the better of her, and slowly she inched around the crowd until she could see what was causing the commotion, her eyebrows raising in surprise reading the note that Eddie had tacked up.

“A sign?” She said to herself, clutching her notebook tighter to her chest, her left thumb pressing through the cover and first few pages. “That’s his idea of keeping this on the down-low? He posts a sign?”

“Only in the school.” A familiar voice sounded in her head. She spun around, but he was no where to be seen. And in the noisy hallway, it was hard enough to hear yourself think, let alone listen for the unique buzz which meant Eddie was around..

“Yeah, and look at the attention it’s generated.” Sam thought back to him, motioning to the crowd. “Jeez, Eddie, have you even talked to your Uncle yet? Maybe there’s a reason the theory wasn’t public.”

“I’m seeing him tonight.” Eddie admitted, “I’ll tell him then.”

“I know you mean well, and I know this works for you- I was there when we were fighting the deadmen, remember? I know you were able to pull something from nothing- will it to happen, but think about it. We’re having a conversation right now without saying a word. You psyche people out- it’s your gene. Maybe that’s what does it- what you conjured up, looks real, but it might not be, you know?”

“It was real, Sam, you saw it.”

“Right. And earlier that night- I asked you about Colorado. And I saw that too with my eyes open, - clear as day, like I was there. The grass, the mountains, I could see it and I could feel the breeze blowin‘, and if I didn‘t know better, my brain would think I‘d been there. It was like I took a four minute trip. But I‘ve never seen Colorado, Eddie- not really. It‘s not real.”

“So what’s the harm? If it doesn’t work, all I’ve wasted was time.” Sam let out a sigh.

“I dunno. That’s the problem. I don’t know all the downside. What if you go and change something that’s not supposed to be changed? Mess something’ up? All I’m sayin’ is I know a lot of kids would’ve willed themselves back to “normal” if this held true. "

“Maybe normal is too tall an order.” Eddie’s voice echoed. There was too many people, and he was starting to lose connection. “Maybe it can‘t destroy the gene entirely, but alter it.”

"What if something changes, and it's bad, real bad?” She thought back, but it fell on deaf ears. The hallway was just too crowded, Eddie would be getting overladed with info and it was too hard for him to just focus in on one conversation. Sam knew he had good intentions, and he could likely enlist Nick’s help - Nick had the whole mad scientist thing going for him, so at least the experiments would be science based, but still, if Eddie’s Uncle Daniel had known about this for a while, there had to be a reason he’d keep it quiet, didn't there?

Several days have past since Eddie had made the post about Willed Mutation, nobody had mentioned anything to him except for Sam. Although thoughts from a few random students let Eddie know that the word was out. Eddie had gone to confront his uncle on the matter seeing how the original idea was his. The basement at Portal Corp would provide security from eavesdropping and Eddies head clear from incoming thoughts.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” were the first words from Eddies uncle Daniel who was pacing around the room in a near panic.

“I was just trying to help, there are a lot of people at school that could benefit from something like this.” Replied Eddie staring at the floor. Even his telepathic inner voice sounded like it had been defeated.

“I don’t even know if this theory is correct yet, and besides that what if someone gets hurt because it is and it falls into the wrong hands?! The temperature was beginning to rise slowly, a sure sign that Daniels frustration was causing him to lose control over his power.

“Ok, so you don’t know if it’s correct or not. Why not consider this a wide scale test? Replied Eddie in a slightly more optimistic tone.

“Fine, as long as you’re willing to take the risk go right ahead, its not like I can stop you anyway…” With this Daniel stormed out of the room going back to work. “You remember the way out right?” he shouted back to his nephew.

“Yeah I’ll find it.” “Can’t stop me? What a load of crap!” Eddie thought to himself as he walked out the door to look for the exit.

“It was fully possible for him to stop me from doing this, I guess this is his way of saying that he trusts my judgment.” Eddie thought as he walked out of the exit of the Portal Corp building.

Sam absentmindedly kicked at the deck of the skateboard on the ground beneath her feet.

“Hey Sam” A cheery voice sounded from nowhere. Sam spun around quickly, cursing herself for a bad jump reflex before blushing slightly and smiling. "Scared you again, huh?"

“Get out of my head, Eddie.” She said outloud with a smile.

“It doesn’t take a mind reader.” The voice sounded back as Eddie came into view. Sam shook her head and kicked at the tail of her board, grabbing the front end and setting it down on the grass. She shot him another sheepish smile as she took a seat on the grass at the small park over in Faultline, motioning for him to do the same.

“You talk with your uncle?” She asked, taking a couple of pops from her backpack and offering one to Eddie.

“Yeah.” He silently replied, the image of his voice sounding dejected.

“What happened?”

“He… didn’t take it so well.”

I knew it. Sam thought. That’s why the research isn’t public, why his uncle was keeping it quiet. “What’d… what’d he say?” She asked aloud.

“He said if I wanted to go ahead with the research to go ahead, he couldn’t stop me.” He reluctantly admitted.

“And that was it? Nothing about why it wasn’t public knowledge?”

“He didn’t want to talk about it, but I have this.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a small PDA. Sam tilted her head to the side, she’d seen it before, the night she met Eddie’s Uncle Daniel. That was the night Eddie was acting looped after taking out a bunch of the council with her and Nick, and she brought him over to the hospital in Faultline. The doctors apparently knew Daniel, and recognized Eddie’s name, because Dan was there in a flash. The PDA, he used it like some sort of communication device, she remembered. He’d said he was needed somewhere, after it went off.

“He gave that to you?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sort of.” Eddie admitted. “But look, it has a ton of research about it stored on here. And according to this, it’s worked before.”

“He gave that to you?” She repeated out loud.

“Sam, look at the data on this! It’s been tested several times, it’s real.”

“So then why is it such a secret?” She shot back silently to him, just in case the walls had ears. “If this is such a great thing, and can help out a ton of people, why wouldn’t this be some sort of funded thing? Why would your uncle have a fit over you saying something about it? He’s not telling you something, Eddie, it doesn’t add up.”

“I thought you hated math.” He kidded back, trying to lighten the mood as Sam kicked her skateboard back onto the sidewalk and stood up.

“Just be careful.” She asked, turning back to him with a hint of concern in her voice. “And talk to Nick, he has that whole mad-scientist thing going for him, maybe he can make heads or tails of it.”

Several days had passed since Eddie had shown Sam the PDA with the Willed Mutation data stored on it. There had been almost no mention of it between the two of them. After a short patrol in Faultline the two decided it was time to call it a night.

“I should get going, got a long day tomorrow.” said Sam, readying her skateboard.

“Sam, wait I need to talk to you about something.” replied Eddie sounding a bit uneasy.

“Sure Eddie, what’s up?” she asked sensing the stress in his mental voice.

“I need you to hang on to this.” said Eddie while searching through his bag for something.

“On to what?” Sam questioned

Eddie finally found what he was searching for. “This.” he said handing Sam the PDA with the data stored on it. “Keep it with you, just in case.”

“In case of what?” She asked out loud with a hint of confusion in her voice.

“Well…I talked to my uncle today, he told me something kinda that took me by surprise. He said that he received a note.” He paused to choose his words carefully. “It that said that if he didn’t retire right now that something was going to happen to me. He says he doesn’t know who sent it or if it has anything to do with the Willed Mutation project but, that I should keep an eye out anyway.”

“What is he going to do? What are you going to do?” asked Sam trying to absorb all the information.

“He told me he was going to retire. I’m not sure if he can do it though, I don’t think he even has a hobby.”

“Eddie, you have to tell someone, tell someone at the school at least, I mean, jeez, someone is making threats against you?”

“It could be a prank for all we know.” He came back with, his voice still being transmitted evenly and calmly. “And besides, people already think I’m crazy for believing in the study. Now this? It’ll look like I’m crying for attention, a drama king. Look around, Sam, all the patrols we run, threats are given all the time.”

“I reckon.” She said with a nod. “But usually it’s more like I’ll get you Blitzen! This is more like… they know your uncle, and are going after his family- you.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing. But just hang onto this until it blows over, okay?”

“All right. And I tell you what- talk to your uncle again, see if he has any more information, anyone he's ticked off recently, maybe? This way we’ll have a better idea on what to look out for. Talk to him, and meet me in the park tomorrow after lunch.” Sam said, placing the device in her backpack.

“Yeah that would be a good idea, be careful getting back.” replied Eddie through the telepathic link between them.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, be careful Eddie.” said Sam as she kicked off and began her trip back to the dorm.

“Night Sam.” said Eddie as Sam made her exit.

Eddie began to hum the familiar low frequency tone that made him sound like a malfunctioning light bulb, he vanished from sight and sat down for a moment. “What am I going to do?”

Several hours would pass, Eddie was lost in thought reviewing the events of the day.

Eddie glanced down at his watch. “1:34 AM, great I’ll never get back into the dorms at this hour, I guess I’d better find a room around here.” he thought to himself, looking around for a hotel. Having remembered a hotel was less than a block away, Eddie began his trip down the block.

Several hours later Eddie awoke to find several people in his room, all of them dressed in blue uniforms resembling that one would expect covert ops teams to wear. Eddie sat up and asked “Who are you? What are you doing in my room?” there was no reply, just a flash of blue light and then blackness.

Eddie awoke some time later to the bitter cold of Overbrook in January, two men in the dark blue spec-ops uniforms dragging him by his feet down into the parking garage of the hotel he was staying in, two more men following behind. He had noticed that the two men that were following had characteristics that were different from the two that were dragging him, one of them had a revolver of some kind holstered on his right leg, and the other was wearing a backpack with some kind of weapon attached to it that had a slight blue glow at the end.

“Here is good, stand him up.” demanded the man with the revolver. The two men that had been dragging Eddie gripped his shoulders and yanked upward, standing him upright.

“So you’re Trenton’s nephew, heh, this is going to be a real treat.” as fast as those words were said, the man un-holstered his revolver and had it pointed directly between the boys eyes.

“We can’t kill him!” interrupted the man with the blue ray gun on his back just before the other was ready to fire.

“Why the hell not?” inquired the gunslinger, seconds away from firing.

“Our orders say he is to be left alive.” replied the agent with the bizarre weapon.

“Fine.” and in another lightning quick motion, the gunman shifted the barrel of the gun into the palm of his hand and hit Eddie across the right cheek.

This would continue to what Eddie seemed like hours. Unable to move, whatever it was they had hit him with in his hotel room left him feeling very weak and drained of energy, there was nothing he could do except take the punishment from these strange people.

“We’re done here.” stated the gunslinger to the three other agents, “Hit him with the sapper.” ordered the gunman, already walking away. The man with the strange weapon reaches back and grasps it very carefully, the other two men release Eddie and step to the side. There was another blue flash and a welcomed blackness.

Eddie was in way over his head.

Sam tried her best not to sound like an alarmist, sitting in the park with Stasis. She watched the other girl down a cup of coffee so large you could bathe a kitten in it. It was hard - she couldn’t help the gnawing feeling in her gut that Eddie was out of his league. In what amounted to a couple of breathless vents she confided in the icy tanker most everything that Eddie had told her so far.

It wasn’t a bad thing, she rationalized. After all, Eddie trusted Stasis. It was okay to trust someone Eddie trusted, because that really wasn’t breaking his trust, right? Besides, she could be another pair of eyes to watch out for him if need be. Everyone knew Stasi patrolled for all hours so he could always hit her up on the com for a hand.

Stasi helped put it in perspective. Lots of kids got threatening notes. Sam figured Stasis probably had a pretty good collection of them herself. And the fact that he'd been missing all day? Maybe he just needed some time to himself.

Sam chastised herself for once again making a mountain out of a mole-hill. That was until he actually showed up.

“You ever wake up in a dumpster before?” Sam could have gotten whiplash spinning around to see where the “voice” was coming from. She let out a small gasp when she saw Eddie.

“Well, it’s an overrated experience,” Stasi said with a smile. Eddie looked like he’d been through the ringer. His clothes were torn and filthy, with some pretty decent bruises and a gash on his face.

**What the hell happened?** Sam concentrated on thinking to Eddie. Her silent question went unanswered, meaning likely Eddie was having a hard time focusing still, maybe unable to fine tune his concentration to a single mind.

His voice echoed and was thin sounding to the two girls. It broke up from time to time, almost like a cell phone with bad reception. Whatever had hit him did some number.

He struggled to recant what happened - he’d gotten a room in Faultline for the night. Sam knew he did that sometimes, needing extra space to not pick up the thoughts of the people around him. He didn’t know who jumped him or why, just that they'd hit him with something called a sapper. He said it drained him, everything he had so he couldn’t fight or even try to get away.

Stasi hadn't seemed surprised, nodding her head and had even named them when Eddie described the gun… Malta. That was it. It was the first Sam had heard about them and according to Stasi, they weren’t exactly good news.

The bizarre attack left a bunch of unanswered questions. The goons that jumped him hadn't taken anything, so it wasn’t a robbery. Eddie said he'd specifically heard them say he was to be left alive which not the typical M.O. of the Malta according to Stasi who seemed to know what she was talking about. Sam filed that away for maybe a private talk with the other girl.

The only thing that made any semblance of sense was that it had to do with the note Eddie’s uncle received, but Dan had said he'd retired, so why would they go after Eddie? It was making Sam's head hurt.

The only lead they had to go on was Dan himself. If he’d tell them anything at all, that is.


((Thank you, Stasis for the assist!))

Sam walked Eddie over to the hospital to make sure he was okay- really okay. Eddie was smart enough to know when he should go and get checked out, plus by bringing him there, Sam could rest assured that he would be fine for at least the time being. Feeling more at ease with that, she returned to her favorite haunt in Faultline to let some of what happened register, and try to figure out what if anything they could do about it.

The familiar fedora belonging to Crono showed up at the park entrance, putting a grin on Sam’s face. Cron was always good with advice, even if it sometimes came in ways that would take her a night or two to figure out. He had his vest draped over his shoulder and he was still sporting a collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and tie, looking like he’d just stepped out of the Untouchables movie. A badge was clipped onto his belt, standard apparel for a PPD detective, she figured. She never really thought about it much- him working for the PD now, but she imagined he’d be assigned to some special crime task force dealing with the supernatural or oddities that seemed to run the town some days. She made a mental not to ask him someday. For now? He’d be another pair of eyes that could keep one on Eddie. And he was with the police, that’s who normal people would go to when they had a problem, right?

She asked if he had some time and relayed the entire story, just as she’d done with Stasi, but his response still took her a bit by surprise.

“How much do you think know about the malta, Blitz?” He asked. She smiled slightly, Crono was one of the only people to still hang on to the goofy hero name she’d picked.

“Not a lot.” She shrugged. “They went after Eddie, that’s about it.” He nodded his head gravely, and looked her square in the eyes to show he was serious.

“I tell you somethin', if you want to live, you’d be wise to leave the malta alone, Heck forget the name all together. Don’t go looking for them, and don’t give them any reason to go looking for you. They aren’t your run-of-the-mill thugs or lowlifes. They are highly trained anti-metahuman special forces, I can barely handle two or three myself.” Having seen Crono in action, she found that hard to believe, but nodded just the same.

“Well, I know when to ask for some back-up. That’s why I talked to Stasis, and why I’m talking to you.” She replied. “Don’t worry, I’m not the go off half cocked on a vengeance type, even if I am a little tougher than I look.”

“It doesn’t matter how tough you are, It just takes one bolt from a sapper.” He warned, causing her to shrug again and nod.

“Right, like Coach – the PE teacher and football coach. He dampens your powers like that.”

“I don’t know about Coach, I’m not that kinda super, but one hit from a sapper cannon and all the fire is gone, they drain it all and one shot your on you knee wondering what hit you, and after that? It’s over.”

Sam’s smile faded.

“My advice steer clear. Running ain’t always the answer but if it keeps you alive to fight another day there’s no shame in it. As for Eddie’s uncle, he is going to have to step up and face what he needs to and take care of it. In the meantime, if Eddie wants to live, he’d be wise to sever any ties he has with the guy.” His words were hitting like cinder blocks, Crono wasn’t one to back down from a fight, and Sam couldn’t remember him advocating she do that before, no matter what they’d faced, or how many numbers they came in. “I’m telling you, Blitz. Tell Dan to take care of whatever he need's to take care of, and then you and Eddie walk away. “ She sighed heavily. Easier said than done.

“I’ll talk to Eddie, tell ‘em to let Dan be for a while, and I'll tell Dan the same thing.” She agreed, thinking it’d be easier said than done. Still, she managed to flash a smile towards the Paragon detective. “As always? Thanks, Crono.” Now all that was left to do was hope they listened.


(Thanks for the help, Cronology!)

Sam went to the skate park in Skyway to get away for a while, her stomach still in knots. It’d been near a week since she convinced Eddie that he should avoid Dan, citing everything Crono had pointed out. He’d reluctantly agreed that it was best for the time being, not just for him, but for his uncle. It still wasn’t easy. Eddie had sort of a hard life with little or no family, then he found out his father had a brother, a big hero with Portal Corps, who was just as shocked to find out he had a nephew. They hit it off, Dan becoming sort of a mentor to Eddie, and now the whole situation was just awful. Making it worse was the fact that Sam tried several times with no avail to contact Dan, phoning him and stopping by his place, but it was almost as if he’d disappeared. She knew Eddie would be at the park in Overbrook waiting for her to return with news , and she was in no big rush to dash his hopes once again. Thinking about everything was throwing her skating off, and after the third bad attempt at a simple casper slide, she threw her board into the grass, dropping down beside it and grabbing a bottle of water from her backpack. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed that she lay there, looking up at the cloud formations when a loud beeping sounded from her backpack. She eyed it warily before digging through the contents, discovering the beeping was coming from the PDA device Eddie had given her to hold onto. She fiddled with a few buttons, none of which had any effect until just as suddenly as it started it stopped.

“Miss Douglas?” She jumped to her feet defensively, as her open back pack fell to the ground, spilling it’s contents on the field. Her heart drummed against her ribs as a surge of adrenaline coursed through her with the start, and seeing who it was only fueled her anxiety further.

“Mr. Trenton.” She replied, shifting her eyes to see if he were alone. Everything about the man was unnerving. He had the look of a government agent, solid build, dark features, dressed in black with sunglasses blocking out his eyes and more of a scowl than anything else. She silently cursed as she started picking up the contents of her backpack before any could scatter. Dan silently helped, holding out a lone skateboard wheel. She hesitated a moment before taking it from him, nodding a thanks while keeping her focus on the backpack. She slung it over her shoulder, then checked her shoelaces. The left one looked a little uneven, so she took the time to untie and retie the loops.

“I believe the PDA belongs to my nephew.” He said in a monotone, matter of fact voice. Sam’s eyes darted across the grass, willing herself to think of a suitable answer.

“The PDA? Oh. Yeah. It’s Eddie’s. I was… I’m … I’m holding it for him. He had some stuff to do after school, and he was sort of afraid it would get broken, so he asked me if I would mind holding onto it for him, and I don’t mind, I’ll just give it back to him, when I see him later tonight.” She finished with her lace, and stood up to face him, letting her eyes settle on the tram in the distance. She swallowed hard, and mentally rehearsed what she was going to add next, redirecting her gaze to the tip of his shoes as she spoke.

“Mr. Trenton? Speaking of Eddie, I really have to talk to you about him if you have a few minutes, but not here, out in the open or anything. I left you a message, but I’m not sure if you got it or not, and we really need to talk, because I think he’s in way over his head, and I sort of think it’s sort of your fault, and he’s okay and all, but he’s a really good friend of mine, and I want to make sure he stays okay, you know? So yeah, I really hope you have a couple of minutes. Please.” She forced herself to look directly into his glasses while gripping the straps of her backpack tightly, hoping to show him that she was serious. More importantly, she hoped he would take what she was about to say seriously as well.

He didn’t move except to slightly clench his jaw. He didn’t speak, he stood there for a full half minute, Sam held her breath with a lump trapped in her throat the entire time. Did he even hear what she’d said? Did he even care? He was putting his nephew in jeopardy, and he couldn’t even spare five minutes to talk about it? She gritted her own teeth this time, determined he would listen, like it or not.

“Mr. Trent...” She started.

“This way.” He interrupted, pointing over her shoulder to a nearby building with underground parking. The wind knocked out of her sails, she followed him into the underground tunnel and watched as he chased off some trolls using a fireball attack, furthering her discomfort. Eddie never said what his uncle was capable of, just that he was a hero. She hadn’t thought to ask. Figures. She muttered to herself. It would have to be fire. “What's this about Eddie?” He questioned.

Sam took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second and gathering whatever courage she could, before nodding her head, and staring him straight in the sunglasses again.

“He’s in over his head, Mr. Trenton. He’s already been jumped by the Malta once. They beat him up pretty good, and we’re in no league to be taking them on ourselves. I think…. I think they did that to send you a message, on account of it was right after that note you got. And I think… I think for the time being, he’s better off if he sort of doesn’t hang around you, because I don’t want anything like that happening to him again. “ She gripped her backpack straps tighter, and shifted her eyes around the parking garage. “And I think whatever it is they want from you that you gotta go and handle it. I don’t know why they’re after you, the only thing I know is all this started right after Eddie posted that thing about Willed Mutation. And I don’t even know if it’s real, if it’s possible, or why if it is no one knows about it. There’s a ton of data stored on that PDA thing, and I don’t know what any of it means… all I know is…” She gathered her courage once again to stare directly at him. “All I know is it’s not fair. You got him into this, and me and him don’t even know what “this” is. If it’s something about the study, you should have told him, you should have warned him, and now he’s in way over his head, and you…. You have to do something about it, because right now? You’re the only one who can.”

Daniel looked down at the girl for a moment before removing his sunglasses. “Then I suppose I’d better clue you in as to what “this” is, sound like a fair start?” He says in a stern voice, giving the young woman a chance to back out.

Gripping her backpack straps even tighter, Sam nodded and managed to say “Yes”.

“Have you ever met a girl by the name of Penny Preston?” Inquired the man.

Sam simply shook her head.

“She is actually where all of this started, she has a very special ability, Penny has the power to unlock the hidden potential of other mutants by sheer thought.” he explained. “Several years ago, she agreed to have a few tests run on her by a doctor named Steven Sheridan. After extensive research, it was discovered that a good percentage of mutants share a similar ability, through intense concentration a mutant can unleash their own potential through a process Dr. Sheridan dubbed “Willed Mutation”.”

“But…but what do the Malta have to do with this?” Sam asked shakily, looking Dan straight in the eye.

“Near its completion, the lab where the study was taking place was raided by a cell of Malta agents. They took everything and destroyed the lab.” he explained further.

“Was anyone hurt?” Sam inquires in a concerned tone.

“No, the lab was vacant the day of the raid. However, the real question is why did they take the information.”

“Why did they take it?” Asked Sam, slightly confused.

“The Malta are an anti-met human organization, for whatever reason they’re afraid that if we get to powerful we’ll take over the planet. For them, if something like this were introduced, it would be a disaster on a global scale. So they took it.”

“What does this have to do with you? Were you involved in the study?” Sam asked, maintaining her gaze into the man’s eyes.

“No, I wasn’t brought in until after the Malta raid. Dr. Sheridan commissioned my partner and myself to get the information back. It took several weeks of searching, but we found where they were keeping the information stored. We stormed the base and retrieved the information about the study, storing it on two PDA’s . When we returned them to Dr. Sheridan he asked us to keep them safe for him.”

Even more confused than before, Sam asked “You…have a partner?”

“No, not anymore…” averting his gaze toward the wall behind Sam’s shoulder “He was captured and killed by the Malta several months ago.” Dan said in a slightly lower tone, shifting again to focus his attention on Sam.

Sam gripped her backpack straps even tighter, but remained silent.

“I’m sorry.” Sam replied after an uncomfortably long silence. She didn’t want to think about what that must be like, losing some one you trusted, someone you came to depend on. Instantly, her mind flashed to Eddie, but she quickly chased the fear away.

“The PDA you’re holding for Eddie was the one that belonged to my partner.” Dan finished, pointing towards Sam’s backpack. Sam swallowed the information, nodding slowly and chewing on her bottom lip.

“I still don’t get it then. They didn’t search him for it, chances are they don’t know he has it. I mean, why did they go after Eddie? Because he posted that note at the school?” She worked up the courage to ask, narrowing her eyes slightly at the Portal Corps agent.

“To get to me.” He replied, clenching his jaw. Sam could feel the temperature in the garage start to rise, as Dan’s eyes grew darker. Sam took a few cautious steps towards the closest exit.

“But you did what they asked, right?” She asked in a quieter tone taking another step back. “They wanted you to retire, and you did, right?”

“I retired.” He said, just as gruffly, the temperature around him rising slightly higher again.

“But they went after him anyway.” Her tone was slightly stand-offish even though she edged further away from Dan.

“I’m going to find out why. Don’t worry.”

“Well, I do worry, Mr. Trenton. Eddie’s my best friend, and he got hurt real bad once, and it wasn’t even his fault. I… I don’t want it to happen again.” Sam couldn’t believe the voice that just came out was hers. It had almost a warning tone to it. He didn’t reply for the longest time, instead just standing there looking in her direction. She began to fidget nervously after a moment, first gripping the straps of her backpack tightly, then shifting her weight and gazing towards the exit. A full minute passed in silence, but Sam could swear it was closer to an hour before the Portal Corps agent nodded his head and spoke again.

“You don’t trust me, do you?” He asked, throwing her off guard.

“I… I dunno.” She answered, puzzled by his question. She shifted her eyes around the garage again. “I mean… should I?”

“I suppose I haven’t given you much reason to.” He replied with a nod, causing her eyebrows to raise slightly suspiciously.

“Not… Not especially.”

“The only thing I can try to assure you of is that I don’t want anything to happen to Eddie either. He’s a good kid. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t.”

“Same here.” She said in a softer tone, fixing her right shoelace. “So, you’re saying he was right? This… is real? This willed mutation thing?” Sam once again checked the parking area to make sure no one was milling around.

“Very. Often times, all it takes is someone like Penny to open the door so to speak, and then the potential is unlimited.” Sam chewed her lip again. Eddie had said something like that to her. That he could act as sort of a “bridge”, helping her tap into that part of her consciousness to “will” the change. .Dan tapped his sunglasses against his leg thoughtfully for a moment before continuing. “Let me show you an example. Eddie mentioned you were classified as an invulnerable?” Sam smiled, both at being called invulnerable, but more so that Eddie had thought enough of her to mention to his uncle.

“Yes, I guess. My molecules sort of fuse up when adrenaline hits, I become all sorts of bullet proof and all.”

“Do you think you can do that now?” He asked. Immediately she could start to feel the adrenaline surge begin to hit.

“Why? Are you gonna shoot me?” She asked in all seriousness.

“No, no, nothing like that.” He replied just as seriously.

“I think I can probably kick up enough adrenaline.” Sam said half sarcastically, stomping her foot to the ground and gripping her hands into fists as she felt her entire body toughen up. Dan waited a few seconds, then copied her actions to a tee.

“Okay.” He nodded. “Now hit me.”

“Hit you?” Again he nodded in response. “Mister, I dunno how to tell you this, but I’m… a little tougher than I look. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. Just hit me.”

“Are you gonna ash me afterwards? Because I don’t deal really well with fire yet.”

“I’m not going to do anything back. Just hit me.” Sam gave him a muttered “if you say so” before winding up with a right hook to the chest. It was like hitting concrete, only unlike concrete, it didn’t give, he didn’t move even an inch. She shook out her hand and took a step back.

“You’re a tank, like me?” Was all she could muster.

“Actually I’m licensed as a blaster class.” He replied with what could possibly be interpreted as a smirk.

“A glass jaw?”

“I’ve copied your genetic code to be bullet-proof as well.” He said, ignoring the comment. Sam looked around nervously, lowering her tone to a whisper.

“Am I?” She whispered with a hint of fear in her voice. “Still bullet-proof I mean?” Daniel Trenton nodded.

“Quite so.”

“Okay.” She responded, feeling the adrenaline subside. “You don’t have to prove it to me or anything. That likely wouldn’t do much for me trusting you.” She couldn’t tell if he coughed or chuckled, but he nodded again in agreement.

“It’s good to know Eddie has friends like you looking out for him.” He stated, covering his eyes once again with his sunglasses, extending a hand for Sam to shake while a slight smile crossed his lips. She stared at it for a second then back up to his sunglasses, before accepting the gesture with a warm smile of her own.

“It’s good to know Eddie has you too.” She replied. Stopping just before they reached outside once again, she tilted her head to the side. “Hey Mr. Trenton?”

“Yes?”

“Eddie thinks the world of you. And for what it’s worth? I do. Trust you, I mean.” She could see the hint of a grin on his face as he remained silent and stepped into the sunlight before disappearing over the nearby buildings.