Jayce Stevenson's Story

The hallways were crowded inside of the New York school and it gave Jayce several bad memories. He hated schools with a passion they were a culling ground for anger and resentment. As he walked down the hallway, Jayce say a young boy around the age of 15 being shoved into a locker. Angry he walked over to the bullies and stared them in the eyes.

"You will never bully anyone again." He said calmly while looking each in the eye individually. The bullies expressions turned to excitement as they said, "Whatever you say!" They marched away from him laughing and joking as though the nothing had happened. "Thank you." Said the boy as he climbed out of the locker. He ran quickly away down the halls.

Jayce laughed as he remember how he used to be that boy running down the hall. He found it ironic that he used his ability in the same situation that he had first used it so many years ago. His smile turned to a frown when he remembered that the boys who he had killed.

"Excuse me? Are you Jayce Stevenson?" said a voice somewhere behind him. Jayce turned and responded with a smile, "That's me are you the principle here?" The man Jayce had responded to was a small man barely reaching up to Jayces shoulders. If the man noticed the height difference he didn't show it.

"My name is Adam McCombs I am the principle here at New York City High School 15. I must say I found it incredible that a 19 year old graduate from Harvard requested to fill in for Mr. Lee." Adam said as he led Jayce down the hall.

Jayce nodded as they walked, "How is Mr. Lee has he received any treatment yet?"

"Not yet," Adam replied, "The Lee family does not think his illness is anything unusual."

Jayce nodded. Ordering a family to think one of them is sick was no trouble. The only issue was to make sure that the sickness was believable. Jayce figured that he wouldn't have to visit the family anytime again soon. Soon they arrived at the classroom and Jayce said, "Is this the room?"

"Yes, Biology 101. You will be teaching freshman first hour and third hour." Adam explained with bravado. He was clearly excited for Jayce to be here. "Freshman are my favorite," Jayce said cavalierly sitting down in the chair, "Leave."

Adam smiled widely as he turned to leave. "As you wish." When the man finally left the room Jayce pulled a file from his bag. It was a class roster for his freshman. "Now which one of you is my mutant?" he said quietly.

Kaya was thrilled. Today was a very good day in a string of bad days, making it even better. After a solid month of combing every genetics book she could get her hands on from the library and coming up with nothing but "...the possibilities are endless!" and "...no conclusive research..." she really needed a day like today. Thanks to her dad's job at the University, she had a pass this afternoon to sit in on a genetics lecture given by the Dr. Lloyd Neurus.

Finally someone who actually believed in the possibility of people like herself! It would be a refreshing change from her Bio 101 teacher, Mr. Lee. Man had no imagination. The icing on the cake was that she got to miss her accursed English class and the demon-spawned-bitch-from-hell teacher that came with it.

She stopped at the door to her third hour class, greeted by an unfamiliar sight. The man at the desk was most certainly not Mr. Lee. For one he was much taller than Mr. Lee and obviously younger, and for another, he had his feet up on the desk with his arms folded nonchalantly behind his head. He was the picture of comfort and confidence.

Kaya smirked and made her way to her seat in the back. If anything, this was bound to be an entertaining class. Subs were often fifty-fifty when it came to actual decency, but she could tell this one was different. She had...sensed it when she first came in. There was something different about him. But she couldn't quite tell what yet....

Jayce watched with amusement as his third period class marched in. Freshman were like candy, they came in all different sizes and shapes. There were Goths, nerds, athletes, and things he didn't even know what they were. As they were walking, Jayce noticed that the plants in the window perked up when the class sat down. Jayce smiled as he stood up and address the class. " Does the name project 22 mean anything to any of you? "

The class looked blankly at Jayce. After what seemed like years, he waved his hand and said, "Turn your textbooks to page 131. Today we will be talking about Mendel and how he contributed to genetics. Oh, abd my name is Mr. Stevenson I will be your substitute until Mr. Lee is feeling better."

Jayce taught the class without any more questions about project 22. He knew that the patient was somewhere in the class. The troublesome part was that the student had no idea that they were a project. This would make the search an even bigger pain in the butt than it already was.

"Mr. Stevenson, are you really a Harvard graduate? You look really young." Jayce sighed as he turned from the chalkboard. He knew that the question was going to be asked. He just figured it wouldn't be on the first day.

Creating a fake background was easy these days. However, the trick to it was the ability to stick with the story. So Jayce responded in the way he usually did when he didn't feel like answering. "Don't ask me about it again. I went to Harvard and that's the end of the story. " The whole class nodded and went back to their work.

As the class worked Jayce walked up and down the aisles looking for a give away to one of their mutations. Other than the school and now the flowers he had nothing to go on. The bell rang and the class began filling out. As they left Jayce noticed that the plants had started to wilt again. "It has to be someone in this class." he muttered going back to his chair.

Kaya looked up at the girl who asked the question. Seriously? That's the rumor going around? Oh for the love of--he hasn't even been here half a day! She was about to make a snide comment when he answered the student,

"Don't ask me about it again. I went to Harvard and that's the end of the story."

Kaya suddenly found herself nodding and going back to work. She tried to fight it, she wanted to call him out on it. As she struggled her handwriting got sloppier. What was happening? It was as if there was some force pushing her in a certain direction. She pushed back, fully intending to ask him if he was serious. How could he have gone to Harvard? He was too young! She kept pushing but the unknown force pushed back and she had no idea how to fight it. Fine! I won't ask about Harvard, she finally acquiesced. A pleasant wave washed over her once she'd given in to the command.

She wanted to growl at her inability to speak, but she felt so serene for some reason. She glanced towards Mr. Stevenson as he walked past. What the hell had he done to her? How the hell had he done it to her? She froze for a moment before digging back into her work with fervor. The answer was staring her in the face.

Her substitute teacher was like her. Not exactly like her, obviously he had a different ability than she did. But what were the odds! The bell rang and Kaya gathered her things calmly, careful not to stare at Mr. Stevenson too much. She couldn't believe it. She had run into another mutant.

After she left the classroom, Kaya hurried to get her things from her locker. Her fourth hour was a free period and after that was lunch, but today she was checking out early to go to the lecture. She checked out in the school office and made her way towards the subway station. She had a train to catch.

After Jayce finished grading the papers from his classes, he pulled out the class roster from the third period class. As he glanced over the names he tried to concoct a way to figure out his target. He knew that the ED wanted the kid for a replacement for him. He chuckled as he remembered how important he was to their exploits. He could make people happily tell everything they knew. So the power must be something useful to the ED. Pondering all of it he walked over to the plants that had grown when the class was in the room. Looking at them, Jayce realized that the student must be a form of empath. Someone who can feel the flow of nature and alter it. He shuddered as he realized that with a power like that the student could be one hell of a weapon. That thought reassured Jayce in his mission and how he must succeed.

After Jayce finished his work on the classes and prepared for the next day, he left the school and started heading over to the university where a big named doctor was going to be speaking on genetics. He figured that it would be a good place to start on determining how to discover the students powers. Plus if he had some form of class notes it could help with his background story.

Once he arrived to the university Jayce almost immediately wished he hadn't gone. There were men in suits everywhere, doctor types, lawyers, and of course students. He knew he could talk his way out of anything but that didn't mean that trouble could still happen. He checked his bag for the appropriate fake ID and gave it to the security guard at the entrance. Once he was through Jayce grabbed a seat near the exit and took out a notebook and began writing down all his thoughts. he enjoyed writing things down it helped him process all the things that he learned. Going to the ED as a freshman was overwhelming. They had flown in teachers from all over the world and taught him at all hours of the day and night. On top of training his power and occasionally been used in "interrogations". If he hadn't been able to write things down and let his mind wander Jayce was sure he would be a brain dead vegetable.

You know, sometimes Leila did not appreciate the fact she looked like she was still in her college years. Upon her arrival in to their larger office in New York, the newbie guard told her that her office was off limits to interns. Yes, her lack of sleep made her physically stronger but she still made for a cranky personality. Her older brother (the second youngest one) proceeded to laugh his face off at the scene and ended up getting a smack to the face. It was fortunate the brunette had remembered last minute the presence of her powers or Lucas would've been sent across the building hall. Unfortunately during the trip to the big apple, she hadn't even gotten a wink of sleep. And she knew it was only a matter of time before she messed up badly. Instead she filled the morning with easy knee-jerk work that wouldn't require a lot of thought processing.

"Heyyyy Lei-lei, guess what I've got!" Lucas, their most charming member of the family (You can see Lei's eyes rolling), stepped into the room without a knock, fearlessly heading in despite this morning's warning. It was noon and she'd just finished her lunch and was looking to take a whack at the records.

"Another stupid idea?" Her brother feigned hurt just before sitting one of the chairs across her desk and placing his feet up on the other half of the pair. The handsome young man looked entirely too pleased with himself and she was always quite wary when he had that face on.

"I'm offended, Lei. But really here, I got a pass to a lecture I think you might like." He handed over a piece of paper, and she took it, curious. She read. Yeah, it was something she was interested it.

"Yeah, Lloyd Neurus. I've read some of his theories." Okay, all of his theories. People who were still held in high regard after dabbling with such a thing as extraordinary powers were a rarity. Neurus was like a unicorn of the academic world. Despite the fact nobody took his favorite research seriously, he was still taken as a weighty opinion. That was why she'd taken such an interest; Leila would like to get to the bottom of her powers. She was looking at everything from the occult to the scientific, and he was a perfect preacher of the latter.,,

"How'd you get the pass though? It's for a college." Lucas simply smiled that cheshire grin she knew all too well. Her brother was incorrigible. The woman glared at him, more than habit than disapproval. She genuinely did appreciate the pass. "I shouldn't have asked. Show the poor girl a good time for me, okay?"

He spun one of her desk pens in his hand. "Of course I will. And by the way, she's a he."

She simply wadded up a scratch paper and threw it at his face. That didn't even deserve a comment.

- - -

Navigating the streets of New York was a difficult thing for a normal tourist, but Leila was no tourist nor was she normal. She made it to college and into the classroom auditorium without a hitch. Unfortunately the room was mostly full so she no longer had the pleasure of being able to choose her seat. Beggars can't be choosers. She chose the nearest seat available, near the exit and next to a rather charismatic looking young man.

"Oh... crap!" She accidentally bumped into the chair of the said person, forgetting her powers and almost knocking him over. Shit. Leila attempted to remedy the situation, and caught his chair with one hand before he completely toppled over. The mutant took care not to let him know that he weight almost nothing thanks to the power. After he was once again in balance she took the seat beside him.

"Sorry about that; guess I was rushing too much." She flashed him a bashful smile, and was about to continue with her apology when someone hesitantly tapped on the mic. The lecture was about to start.

After sufficiently having killed time in Central Park (it had certainly gone down over the years, much to Lloyd's chagrin), he slowly made his way to the college. Key slowly, as a rock had a better sense of direction than he did. Eventually he broke down and hailed a taxi, giving him the address to the college. He didn't doubt one bit that the cabbie overcharged him, but there was little he could do unless he wanted to miss his own lecture. Which was an enticing prospect to be honest, but he had his duties.

Unfortunately, unlike some folks, Lloyd didn't possess any sort of charisma or authority that commanded attention. So when he finally stepped into the auditorium, he was immediately dismissed as another listener. It was only after he'd tapped and cleared his throat into the microphone that it finally occurred to the attendees that the man in front wasn't a technical tester but the man they'd come to listen to. He saw the disapproving glances when they gauged his age and appearance and... his scent to an extent, as he smelled like cigarette smoke. But Lloyd pretended not to notice, or he was liable to walk out on lecture.

"A-alright. What's the first thing you think of when you think of the word mutant?" The lights dimmed down and now the focus went to him. Lloyd then wrote out the word in the tablet in front of him. His handwriting showed in one of the screens behind him, projected by one of the two video projectors at the back of the room. He called the attention of a rather homely looking kid, who gave an answer that wasn't quite what he was looking for. The scientist still wrote it down though, connecting it to the word with a line. "Think of it outside the scientific and medical setting."

The college crowd quickly picked up on the nuance of the question. "Those superheroes and villains from the comics! People with cool powers?" He nodded in affirmation, writing down the answers as they came. Circling the ones he felt was relevant

"Now, switching to the first slide, we've got what the example of a normal DNA sequence. Now what happens if I do this..." He brought out the stylus and proceeded to scribble on the slide, rearranging the sequence and adding extra lines to the double helix. Silence filled the room as they watched him re-do the pairs, cross out a few of them completely and linked new ones. When he finally finished, he saw that a few of the heads were looking at their copies and had copied down what he'd written on their copies.

"If we translated what I just made, we'd have this --" The screen slowly morphed and got to the next slide, which was a proper representation of what he'd written down earlier. He continued when he saw that everyone had figured that out. "These shouldn't even be theoretically possible, but doing the math and association, they are. What are the effects?"

After that, he launched into detail about his theory on the link of genetics to powers, expanding from DNA to chromosomes, and then corporeal manifestation of what could happen. By this time, he'd shaken off the quiet doctor act, too absorbed in his discussion. He barely even noticed his audience; right now he was more talking to himself than speaking to a listening group. He kept his pace fast but used the simplest terms and the least jargon possible; it was Lloyd's own habit that made him speak that way. Soon though, the discussion came to an end, and he was forcibly brought back to reality as his audience gave a polite applause.

"Open forum for ten minutes, I guess. Ask your questions, but I won't be able to answer them in detail." He wrote the word ten minutes, stressed it with a double underline. The lights came back on as this was announced. "If you have a question you feel like can't be answered in two minutes, I'll be around for private discussion for the next few hours." As usual, academic appearances required some sort of social gathering in the evening. This New York college proved no exception, and he'd rather stay around than leave and risk getting lost again. Lloyd would rather spend his evening answering honest questions from a young mind than making small talk with the professors.

Nodding to the girl who had almost knocked him over in acknowledgement Jayce smiled and said, "Don't worry about it." Before he could continue the speaker came up and began his presentation. Jayce was intrigued by all that the man was teaching about. Surely something this close to the truth must have the ED involved in some way, shape, or form. So when the speaker announced that he would be around for discussion after Jayce knew he had to investigate.

Looking over at his notes he saw a student of his from that morning. She had a shock of green hair and was easily recognizable. Jayce casually got up and moved over to a seat near by her and said. "Now what is a freshman in highschool doing in a college level lecture?"

Kaya froze at the sound of someone talking to her. She turned to find none other than her new teacher from this morning.

"I imagine the same thing you are," she dropped casually as she got up and started collecting her things. "Learning about genetics."

((double post))

Jayce watched as the girl collected her things and got up. There was something oddly suspicious about her. So Jayce followed her as she began to walk away. This girl had suddenly jumped up very high on his list of potential patients.

"Well I am technically still a college student. I do have to go to the occasional lecture. You however, are just a simple highschooler. Who is currently only getting a B+ in Biology 101. If you want to learn about genetics so much there must be a reason right?" Jayce probed quickly. He knew that he could force the girl to tell him what he wanted, but that might cause a bit of a scene if she knew nothing in the middle of a crowd. So he just followed her as he suggested, "Why don't we go talk to the speaker I'm sure he could fill you in on any of your curiosities."

Kaya felt a bit uneasy when he started following her, but decided no to let him get to her. She was suspicious of him and....he seemed suspicious of her. Interesting, she thought, why would he be suspicious of me? She took a deep breath, analyzing his scent, trying to pick out just what it was he was projecting towards her. She was still trying to understand how this worked, but for the most part she had been able to get a decent read on people just out of instinct.

She opened her sense just enough and focused on her new teacher. She could feel the interest he was projecting, but there was also an underlying hint of worry. She wondered what he could be worried about. That she would prove to be violent with her powers and attack him? That was unlikely, seeing as he power wasn't really all that offensive. All she did was make plants happy for pity's sake.

"I only have a B+ because Mr. Lee doesn't appreciate my ideas," she told him a little defensively. Then rounding on him, "So you lied today in class then? Still have to finish up your schooling?" She had wanted to make a smart remark about actually going to Harvard, but again a strong wave had pushed her back and she suddenly found herself saying something else. Fine then. If she couldn't talk to him about Harvard then she'd nag him on everything but. "So is teaching our class a little experiment of yours, or some crap you have to do for your degree? Or are you just here to have fun?"

She was being snippy, and she knew it, but she was still a bit sore on not being able to do what she wanted. Throughout her little speech she had been rather inattentive to her surroundings and suddenly found herself running into what she was certain was a wall. Because as soon as she ran into it she fell back right into Jayce, who thankfully managed to keep them both upright. Looking up at what she had run into she realized that it wasn't a wall, but a beautiful young woman.

"Shoot, sorry," she quickly apologized.

Jayce smiled at the little girl in front of him. She was so determined to counter his questions that she had crashed into a women.

"I got my teaching degree at 18. But, what I really want to get into is genetics. Hence, that is why I am taking this class. You however, are creative but, lack understanding in the true concepts." Jayce said with a smirk. Then he looked at the women Kaya crashed into and realized that she was the woman who almost pushed him over in his chair.

"Man, you really do like taking people out don't you?" He said with a casual smirk.

"I'm so sorry ma'm. That was completely my fault, I wasn't paying attention," Kaya apologized as she grabbed her back and notebook from the floor. She glared at Jayce. She wanted nothing more than to call him out on his ability and how he probably forced someone to give him a teaching degree, but she didn't want to say anything in front of the woman. Granted she probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about, but Kaya wasn't particularly trusting. Of anyone. Heck, she hadn't even told her father about what was happening to her and he was practically her best friend.

In any case, she was still glaring at Jayce and silently seething at his proclamation that she was stupid. She was about to snap at him before she noticed Dr. Neurus. Completely ignoring Jayce and the woman, Kaya ventured off in his direction, hoping to get a chance to speak with him before she had to leave.

When their lecturer called for a ten minute open forum, Leila didn't take the chance to ask her questions. The number of people within the lecture hall made her uncomfortable. The ten minutes passed by fairly quickly, most folks just clarifying bits of jargon he'd used and a few follow-up questions regarding them. She wanted to ask much more in-depth question, such as sporadic appearance of mutant abilities or if it could be developed at some point beyond the womb (by natural and not radioactivity or chemicals). However Lei's questions were much too specific and most would question her motives.

Much like the green-haired girl that her seatmate was now patronizing. Her brown eyes remained focused at the task at hand, neatly folding the slide show copies into a precise rectangle, but she had on ear on the conversation. Ah, being superhuman had its uses. Despite the general noise from the lecture hall, she could still pick out their voices fairly well. Finally though, she finished packing up. She stopped paying attention in the middle of the green-haired teenagers speech, having lost interest. Pushing her chair back, she stood up placing her tablet into her bag when something lightly bumped into her.

Although -- she frowned as she looked towards whoever'd bumped into her -- it was hardly lightly for the girl. Behind her was the man who'd she'd sat beside. However, Leila had a rather less positive opinion of him now that he'd heard him speak.

A small smile decorated her face as Lei responded to his query. "No, I just have both feet firmly planted on the ground." The subtle jab at his overconfident aura and patronizing words probably wouldn't go unnoticed, but she inclined her head to indicate that that particular line of conversation was over. A polite smile still remained pasted on her face though.

"It's fine." The young girl with the green hair had piqued her interest; just why was the charismatic man so interested in her. Leila's eyes followed after the girl, taking into account the general surroundings. She turned back to Jayce, whose smirk was irritating her. "I guess we'd better follow after; I think Mr. Neurus would be a lot more considering of our questions if we approached him as a small group."

Waiting with the rest, she watched as the rather young and awkward-looking scientist talk to the last of the current round of questions. When he finally said goodbye, he turned towards their group. "I hope you don't mind us borrowing your time for a bit, Mr. Neurus. I've got a number of questions and so do these two." She did her best to smile and make him feel at ease because quite frankly, the man looked ready to run. "I'm Leila Tan, by the way." She turned around as she heard a chair scrape against the floor, her eyes briefly meeting a certain black-haired girl at the back. Leila gave a small smile as greeting and inclined her head as a gesture to join if she wanted to, then turned back to her current conversation group.

The lecture was a success, despite the judging stares he'd received from colleagues, students and professionals alike. It was lucky he'd developed a defense mechanism against public speaking, or Lloyd would never have received any funding for his earlier exploits. The small talk, the subtle smooching and flirting made him sick and tired. He much preferred to be back at home, rendering his next model. Maybe super strength this time around?

His current company consisted of three professors of the college, but they were standards ones which he'd answered many times before. Lloyd let his mind wander. ED had never managed to successfully catch an animal morph mutant, which was baffling considering they were probably the easiest to spot. It would be interesting to study their genes and compare it against both human and the animal they had combined with. Maybe he should ask later again today; ED was always--

"I hope you don't mind us borrowing your time for a bit, Mr. Neurus. I've got a number of questions and so do these two." Oh. His eyes widened fractionally and Lloyd instinctively stepped back, raising an arm in defense. He slightly relaxed as the female who'd spoke smiled at him, but Lloyd felt wary. He hadn't noticed when the three old men had been replaced by these much younger individuals. They were more his age, but honestly? The scientist had never felt comfortable with the youth. He nervously fiddled with the cuff of his dress shirt; by the gods, he could use a smoke about now. Unfortunately there was a strict no smoking policy within the school building.

"Um, of course." His gaze unintentionally wandered to the teenager with a shock of green hair; wasn't she a bit too young to attend? He internally shook his head, unaware he'd done the action physically as well. Lloyd cleared his throat and then turned to the other two individuals. If he were being honest, all of them looked too young for their current status in life. That was including himself.

"Yes?" His eyes jumped between all three sets of eyes. This was uncomfortable; older people were more likely to drown him out as well. But individuals like these? They were sharp. They'd pick up if he was giving a default answer. Before they could ask their questions, he gestured to some of the seats near the front, taking one for himself. "Take a seat, I feel your questions will take a bit of time."

Lloyd himself took the seat in front and dragged it over, wincing at the noise he'd made. "What're your names by the way?" He asked as he took his seat, taking the files from his desk as well so he'd have something to fiddle with in awkward silences, such as now. "And of course, what kind of questions do you have?"

The scraping of the chair made Emilien jump somewhat and her wings spread slightly out to the sides. The sound of anything with a sharp ring or something else like as bad of dog whistles often cause her pain, like the sound of this chair. She turned to see what was going on, being able to hear perfectly from where she was and was only really there was listen, not speak.

She noticed someone down in the front, someone who had noticed her. She looked to her left and then to her right, confused. 'she probably thinks I look still look human. I blow my cover in front of these people, the cops may come shooting.' she thought to herself as she waved back to her in a 'no thank you' manner and sank back down out of sight.

The bat could feel herself getting nervous, listening for the foot steps of the others when they would finish and start walking up. For the moment though, this hall was cooler on her fur and out of the sun. Something that, sleeping in New York parks and carrying a duffle bag large enough that it should be a camping haul with everything to make a mini-apartment outside with the expection of internet access, but even then she has had problems in the past with people. And they did seem nice. The shock of green hair on one of them made her think of someone who she had seen at conventions. Maybe some hair dye that never came out.

She looked around again, making sure that no one wasn't around. She soon crouched on all fours, pushing her duffle bag across the floor and around the corners of rows and trying to be as quiet as possible and as quick as possible. The curve of her wings could be seen over the seats and the flash of her tail could be seen behind her as she moved from row to row.

Kaya held back a wince at the scraping sound the chair made. It was hell on her ears, but she had schooled herself to keep her reactions down. Normal people may dislike the noise, but they weren't typically pained by it. Kaya pulled up her own chair, making considerably less noise and sat herself across from him.

She held out her hand saying, "My name's Kaya. It's very nice to meet you Dr. Neurus, I've read your work, and I'm very interested in the advancing mutations to the human genome."