Saint Joseph School

OOC here: This is Cody at age 13 back in Texas. He's only vaguely aware of his powers, and his life is well..less than pleasant. This is the day his powers fully manifest. He's in his metal shop class when Doug, the guy who hates anyone smaller than himself(namely poor Cody), decides to push Cody over the edge...

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"Hey Cody." a voice behind Cody yells. "What's with you, huh? Think you're too good for us?"

"No" Cody responds weakly, knowing its the school bully, Doug

"Then why do you always gotta show us up, make your projects so freaking perfect. We never get a decent grade because of you." says Doug, making sure the other kids are taking notice of the scene

"I guess I'm just good with metal. I'm sure there's something you're better at than me."

"Yeah, I'm sure there is. Like kicking your ass!" he says as he picks up Cody by the shirt collar, making a quick glance to sure the teacher was still absent from the room

"Doug..you don't have to do this, I promise I won't make any more A's" Cody says pleadingly

"I know you won't, I'm gonna make sure of that." the bully says, grabbing a stainless steel hammer. "You boys, hold him down" pointing out two his buddies

Cody, unable to defend himself against the bigger guys, is pinned to a workshop table, face down

"Now to make good on what I said, you little asshole" says the head bully as he takes Cody's right arm and puts his full body weight on it, making sure Cody can't move it out of the way. Doug then raises the hammer as high as he can reach.

Cody turns his head and sees the boy's intentions, and starts struggling as he screams out as loud as he can muster under the pressure of three much bigger boys. "Oh god, don't do it. Doug, please! Don't..."

The hammer comes down with all the force Doug's arms have in their power...but rather than hearing bones shatter, the hammer recoils in the his hand and rings out like it had hit something made of metal.

The room is dead quiet, no one quite sure what just happened. Doug drops the hammer, his hand still shaking from the impact.

The other two boys let go of Cody, suddenly very afraid of this boy.

Cody, still trembling, stands himself up..his face now not filled with fear, but anger

"You..you tried to crush my hand!" Cody says, half screaming, half crying

Doug looks up from his hand, straight into Cody's eyes "What are you?" he manages to say

"I'm a human being you bastard! And you just tried to crush my hand with that hammer" he yells out, pointing at the hammer

Suddenly the hammer leaves its place on the floor and flies at Doug, narrowly missing his head

"You're one of those mutants aren't you? One of those freaks like my mom talks about from the news." Doug snarls at Cody, unaware of what just occurred

"I'm not a freak!" Cody shrieks

Small metal objects around Cody suddenly start levitating in midair.

"Oh yeah, then what didn't that hammer break your hand, huh? What else could you be but a freaking mutant?" Doug says, making sure his words are hitting their mark, but failing to notice that the other students have already retreated from the room. "I bet your mom is one of them too, that's why she never comes to the school herself. I bet she's ever more of a freak than you."

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!." Cody wails

The objects that had previously been just hovering suddenly start flying towards Doug with more force..and more accuracy.

Cody blacks out...the last he hears are Doug shrill cries of pain as the school metal shop tools turned projectile weapons barrage his body.

Cody wakes up in a hospital bed..sitting at the foot of his bed is a small clock robot. While most people would be afriad for their lives Cody reached out saying "Crank!" You see, this robot was Cody's only friend in the world. Crank has been Cody's constant companion since before he could remember. He looks around, seeing his mom curled up in a corner chair, she stirs when she hears Cody's voice.

"Cody, you're awake!" his mother says as she rushes over and her only son..her world.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Cody whimpers

"That's not the point, Cody." she says in her motherly tone "You're alright..and the other boy..he's gonna be OK too"

"The other boy...? Doug!? Is he hurt? Is he here? What happened?" Cody says in a panic

"Ssshhh. Ssshhh." his mother gently mutters as she puts a finger over his lips "Cody..sweety ...we have to talk.."

"Cody...you're special...not like most other kids" Cody's mom says as caring as she can

"What do you mean?" Cody replies questioningly

"You've got these powers..like one of of those people you see on TV from Paragon City" she says...almost is a whisper

Cody's eyes start to well up..Doug's words once again echoing in his head.

"So..Doug was right? I am a freak." Cody says as tears start to build

"You're not a freak. Don't you ever say that again, you hear me." she says, trying to hold back her own tears

"But it's true. I almost killed him..." Cody's whimpers

"You're powers aren't completely under your control...you will learn to control in time" she says reassuringly

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me. You think Superman was able to fly the day he discovered his powers?" she says trying to make him smile

"Well...I don't know. I mean it is Superman" Cody mumbles

"I work with heroes all the time. Off the record, they hardly ever get it right the first time. Even supers have to practice"

Cody looks at his mom, unsure about what's to come, but aware his mom will be there to help him along the way.

"Does dad know?" Cody looks pleadingly

"Yes. He left a few hours ago to check on the house. He's been here every minute I was gone for DATA"

"So...are we moving again?"

"Yes. This time, though, we are getting a house where no one is around us. That way we can get you the help you need. I'm going to home school you from now on too. I'm calling in a friend to help me train you to use your powers too"

"O..k..." is all Cody can say, unable to quite grasp all this at once

Cody's mom pulls him into a heartfelt hug "We're gonna be OK."

Cody breaks the hug..looking around the room "Um..where's the bathroom?"

Pamela points to the far corner, but has an anxious look on her face

He races to the bathroom, switches on the light, and relieves his bloated bladder.

Finished with that, he goes to the mirror to try to fix his hair. Upon looking at the reflection he sees his once golden blond hair is now ghost white. "Oh my god. My hair" he screams

He runs out of the bathroom pulling on his now frighteningly opaque bangs.

"Your hair changed when you're powers manifested too" she says matter-of-factly

"Is it ever gonna go back to normal?" he says still paniced

"We don't know. No one can really say for sure." she says

"Well...I wanna change it back. I couldn't even get a date when my hair was blond" Cody grumbles

Pamela laughs..seeing that her baby boy is gonna be alright after all "Ok. I'll buy a kit on the way home"

Cody walks up to his mom, a serious look on his face "What did I do?"

She looks at her son and sighs, knowing this would come up. "I think that can wait until we get home. Right now let's let the doctors know you're awake and well enough to leave."

Cody nods "Can we get some Burger King on the way home too? I'm starving."

"Sure, honey." she says as she makes the corner to find a doctor

Cody is sitting on his bed, twirling his still white bangs around his finger, waits for his mom. He's been home for a couple of days now, but his mom has been busy making up for over a week of missed meetings.

He knows she'll be home tonight and he wants the truth..even if he might not like it

He hears footsteps and a familiar clanking coming down the hall

Pamela and Crank enter his room, Crank jumps into Cody's lap and start his scan of Cody's vitals. His mother sits at Cody's side, waiting for Crank to finish his scan. "So..you really want to know what happened at the school?"

Cody shifts his eyes off Crank long enough to say "Yeah"

"Cody...are you absolutely sure? I don't want to tell you before you're ready." she says in her concerned, motherly tone

"Yes. I'm sure." he says a little impatiently

"Ok..if you insist. According to the other students, Doug tried to hurt you with a hammer." she says looking at the ground

"I remember that part." Cody responds, trying his best to block the memory

"And when he tried to hit you with the hammer, it almost broke on your hand..like he'd just banged it on one of the anvils"

"Oh.." he says

Crank, finished with his scan, settles into Cody's lap

"When he dropped the hammer, you pointed to it and it went flying across the room. It almost hit his head."

"I..did that?" Cody brings Crank in closer

"Then Doug started calling you names...and even insulting me. You started screaming and all the tools started hurling at him..."

"Oh my god..." Cody tries not to cry again..bits of the event beginning to wash back into his conscious mind

"Then you passed out and the tools fell from the air. Then the school called us..and GIFT."

"GIFT..that's one of those groups in Paragon, right? For mutants?" Cody says looking up

"Yes...but we aren't sending you there. At least not yet. We still want you to get through your schooling too"

"Oh. So now where are we going?" he asks..almost as if out of habit

"We're gonna move into a more rural area..so you can learn to use your powers without having to worry about people seeing you."

"Yeah..hide the kid with the mutant powers. I know" Cody groans

"It's not like that. There are people out there who would want to hurt you..even kill you..and me and your father don't want that. So we are going to get away from them as best we can"

"Sure." Cody murmurs

"It's for the best, sweety. In a couple of days we'll be moving to the new house. You need to sleep so we can start packing tomorrow."

"Ok. I know the drill." Cody mumbles

"Good night. I'll see you in the morning" as she closes the door she frowns..knowing her sons already troubled life just got infinitely more complicated.