Ready to work its way up!

[cosmicarus]

Tesla leads Kevin into the lab. She moves over to a large machine and begins fiddling with dials and switches. As if she had some way of knowing what Kevin was thinking, "Pretty exciting day for you, huh? Meeting the Atoms and all that?" There's a certain amount of irony in her voice, as if she doesn't really believe what she's saying.

After a few more switches, a machine nearby opens revealing an open space. It's a black interior with green lines crisscrossing it - like something out of Tron. She indicates the interior of the machine, "If you would be so kind..."

[Heridfel]

Kevin takes a big gulp and steps forward. Before he goes inside, he thinks to ask, "What is this machine going to do, anyway? I mean, the general idea. I'm not an idiot, but I probably am compared to all of you guys."

He's standing at the threshold as he asks the question, looking for some way out of this mess.

[Heridfel]

Kevin takes a big gulp and steps forward. Before he goes inside, he thinks to ask, "What is this machine going to do, anyway? I mean, the general idea. I'm not an idiot, but I probably am compared to all of you guys."

He's standing at the threshold as he asks the question, looking for some way out of this mess.

[cosmicarus]

He's standing at the threshold as he asks the question, looking for some way out of this mess.

It's times like these that one might say, 'be careful what you wish for'. At that moment, from a large cabinet to Kevin's right, Tesla Atom falls to the floor. She's bound by some kind of techno device around her wrists, gagged and has an incredible amount of fear in her eyes as she looks up at Kevin. It takes a moment for Kevin to register what's going on, but he looks back up to the woman who had been leading him through the Atom headquaters to see 'her' reverting to it's true form - that of a Grue Metamorph! It speaks in perfect english, "Be all the frightened you want to be now, human, because soon you won't have the chance!" The door to the labshuts completely, a red light above it switches to red. It seems that the only way out of here is through the alien...

[Heridfel]

"Ah, son of a..." Kevin trails off. He quickly reviews what he can remember about the thing standing in front of him.

1) There's some sort of shapeshifting alien race that the Atoms have fought against in their adventures.

2) There is no 2.

Still, it managed to trick Tesla Atom (and maybe her family too!), so it's got to be pretty smart. It might also be a little arrogant, since it doesn't know what Kevin can do. Unfortunately, Kevin doesn't really know what Kevin can do here. It's time to come up with a plan, and letting the real Tesla Atom know about his powers is now a minor concern.

With a glance back at the struggling woman, he enhances Tesla, hoping that she'll come up with some way to get out of the device (or even just bust out of it). Then, he rushes towards the alien. He isn't trying to attack it yet. If it acts like he hopes, it'll grab him to keep him from getting away. That's when he can make his move.

[cosmicarus]

Half of it seems to go Heavy's way. When he attempts to boost Tesla, the ornate looking cuffs holding her begin to glow and whir, and then nothing. The other half of the plan seems to go perfectly, however. Upon attempting to rush past it, the alien reaches out and grabs Kevin, "You're not going anywhere, human!" Once it's secured him, Kevin feels something peeking into his mind...

[Heridfel]

The metamorph gets a sensation of "Now he's fallen into my trap" right before Kevin's eyes flare a viridian green.

Now, it's clear that the alien who had been posing as Tesla Atom is not even close to from this Earth. There was something about Clyst that was clearly Terran, a sort of basic similarity between him and everything else that Kevin had ever looked at. This thing's aura seemed to reverberate, not remaining stable. "Maybe that's related to the way it changed shape," Kevin thinks quickly. Still, it looks alive enough that he can try to use his power against it.

He tries to draw the energy out of it, leaving it tired and unable to fight.

[cosmicarus]

The Grue Metamorph is unprepared for Kevin's assault, the the human can feel the energy wash out of the alien's body. The Grue releases Kevin and stumbles backwards. It's cries sound normal at first, but they warble and change as the Grue does. Before Kevin's eyes the alien changes again, as if in reaction to the threat. This time, the change is a little more worrying...

[Heridfel]

Kevin's first thought as the alien changes shape is "Man, glad he let go of me before doing that. Wouldn't want to get stuck in the middle of that."

Even as it changed into a giant beetle shape, he could still see that whatever it is that he did had an effect on it. It may have changed shape, but it was still feeling tired. While it was still off-balance from having changed forms, Kevin ran up to the thing and tried to deal it a knockout blow. Unfortunately for him, it was just a little faster than he was, managing to avoid the blow entirely. Kevin quickly uprighted himself and prepared for it to go after him again.

[Barnum]

The giant insect clamored forward after the Kevin, but the creature had definitely lost the spring in its step. Giant legs carried it along toward its target, and long sharp mandibles snapped at Kevin's head, but in its present condition, the attack was pretty easy to duck away from.

[Heridfel]

He glances back to the real Tesla Atom. He doesn't have time to play around. Other aliens might be trying to replace the rest of the Atom family, and he doesn't seem strong enough to hit the alien in its armored insect form and also knock it out in one shot. He might be able to finish it off with his powers, though.

He leans back as it swats at him again, then reaches out and grabs one of its legs as it begins to pull it back. He can feel its fatigue, and he tries to intensify it.

[Barnum]

The giant insect staggered backwards and then teetered forward on its front legs before collapsing to the ground in a heap, completely unconscious.

[Heridfel]

Kevin watches it for a moment after it hits the ground to make sure it is really unconscious. When it starts to move, he tenses up, but it is only changing back to what must be its natural form. It looks like an orange skinned humanoid, and is still unconscious. For that matter, it looks more familiar than what he had expected.

"Oh my gosh. I just knocked out Pseudo," he says in disbelief. "But why was Pseudo attacking the Atom family? No time to figure that out. I've got to get you out of here." Tesla's still restrained, but the gag looks a lot easier to remove than the techno-device on her wrists. He runs over to her and ungags her as gently as he can.

"I figure those handcuffs are nullifying your powers. How can I get them off?" he asks her.

"Carry me over to the workbench. Some of the tools there should be able to disrupt them," she says. "That wasn't Pseudo. That was a Grue metamorph."

"Oh, so Pseudo's a Grue," he says. "I guess that makes sense. They can change shape; he can change shape."

Tesla's quiet for a moment as Kevin lifts her up and carries her over to the workbench, taking care to step around the unconscious Grue.

"Most people don't know that," she says. "I think he'd prefer if you kept it a secret. What exactly are you? I saw what you did there."

Kevin's face goes hard, and he doesn't look her in the eye as he speaks, "I'm helping you. Maybe I have secrets of my own. What tools do you need?"

[Heridfel]

Tesla lets the matter drop - possibly saving it for after she's free - and does her best to glance around the lab. The devices on her wrists have paralyzed her from the neck down

"That one there, the hyperplasmic reticulator," she says. She glances back to Kevin's uncomprehending face and sighs. "The one that looks sort of like a wrench with lights." He nods and turns his back to her, getting the tool. As he does so, she mutters, "I'm going to have to go very slowly."

Kevin looks back and asks, "What was that?"

Tesla gives a sickly smile, "I don't know how the Grue got in here. We're supposed to have scanners that can detect them within a 50-mile radius of the building."

He just shrugs. "What do I have to do to get the cuffs off?"

"You want to turn the top dial until the yellow light is lit, then touch the leads to the panel interface on the... on the cuffs, and then press the large button on the reticulator," she says. Despite her fears, Kevin is able to follow the relatively simple directions. The reticulator sparks, and the cuffs fall off Tesla's wrists. She sits up, rubbing her wrists and stretching her legs. Kevin doesn't mean to watch, but Tesla is an attractive young woman. She looks toward him, right after he looks elsewhere in the lab. She watches him for a moment, seeming to sense that he wasn't looking there a second ago.

"I'm going to need your help," she says to Kevin. "Right now, you're the only person in this building that I know for certain is not a Grue."

[Heridfel]

This is it - a chance to work with the Atom Family, one of whom now knows that he has superpowers. Despite doing something that he had thought would never happen, now that it's actually here, he's sort of nervous.

"How can we tell who they are, if your sensors couldn't pick 'em up before?" he asks Tesla. She nods to him as she begins to gather up supplies from the workbench.

"That's a good question... I don't know your name. The answer is that we need to get my grandfather back online. The four of us can communicate with him directly, and he can verify if someone who appears to be one of us really is," she says. Kevin starts to open his mouth as she continues, "And yes, I know that will only work for the four of us and Uncle Jack, but if we can find my little brother, he can recognize the Grue by their thoughts."

"My name's Kevin. And actually, I think I might be able to see them too. I mean, tell what they are by sight," Kevin replies. He hesitates for a second, then opens up his eyes to the living world around them. He can't see the way that they have begun glowing a viridian green, but it's obvious to anyone looking at him. He looks around the building, seeing through the solid floors and walls.

"There's more of the... of the Grue around, and it looks like most of the humans have been gathered together downstairs," he says. Tesla has ceased gathering tools and is looking at Kevin.

"Can you find my siblings, or Jack?" she asks. Kevin frowns slightly and looks harder.

"There's someone who looks sort of like a Grue. I mean..." he breathes out in frustration. "Not looks like, with the eyes. But whatever it is that I see is like them. Definitely human."

Tesla nods, "Probably my sister then, taking some other form. Maybe they haven't caught her. Try to find any single humans as well - they'll probably be Max, Chase, or Jack." Kevin keeps looking, but shakes his head.

"I don't see anyone like that. I'm sorry," he says.

"Don't be. Just keep an eye out for any Grue coming near us, and start heading towards Vickie," Tesla commands him. He glances over to her with a half-smile as they both realize that she's going to be the boss for this. She holds up a hand.

"Wait, before we go, I have to deal with the Grue you knocked out. I just need to get the cuffs functional again," she says. While she works on the cuffs, Kevin remembers the way that they seemed to absorb his attempt to magnify Tesla's powers. It should work now, and he relaxes his vision for a moment to strengthen her. She doesn't seem to notice anything, and he returns to watching for approaching Grue.

[Heridfel]

Tesla finishes her tinkering quickly. She then leans down to shift the Grue into a sitting position. When she begins to lift him, she stumbles for a second as she does so with almost no effort. She glances back towards Kevin.

"Did you do this?" she asks calmly. Before Kevin can even open his mouth, she nods. "I can read it on your face. You're not a good liar."

Kevin's mouth has opened a little, and he tries to blurt out a protest, "But I didn't even say anything!"

"You're right, but nonetheless... hmm. I'm also not usually this good at picking up on non-verbal cues. I'm guessing that what you did has also augmented my mind, as well as my body," she says. As she speaks, she puts the handcuffs on the Grue. Once they lock into place, the Grue begins to shift shape. Kevin steps forward in alarm, but Tesla seems unsurprised. It resolves into the form that it had taken before of Tesla Atom, still unconscious.

"I forced it into my shape so that they might not know I escaped," she explains. "Now, time is of the essence. Let's head to Vickie."

Kevin grits his teeth and nods. He hadn't realized how smart she was. This is almost more disturbing than Chase or Clyst being able to read his mind, because she's just doing it by looking at him. He lets out a deep breath and relaxes. If she can read his body language, he might as well try to think happy thoughts.

Looking around the building again, he spots where Vickie is. She's moving slowly, spread out like a snake, though much longer. He speaks to Tesla, "She's about... three or four floors up. I don't know the building layout, so I don't know how to get there. There aren't any Grue on this floor right now."

"Then we head to the elevator," she says. She steps out in front of Kevin and starts jogging. Kevin has to make an effort to keep up with her, especially since he doesn't know where they're going. He barely manages to avoid colliding with her when she stops. The elevators are right in front of them.

Kevin steps around and is about to press the button when Tesla grabs his wrist.

"No. I have a better idea," she says. With her other hand, she lets out a glowing green beam of radiation at the elevator door, burning a small hole near where the doors come together. Kevin pulls his wrist out of her hand quickly. There's something about being held by a woman shooting out radiation that can make a guy a little nervous. Then he thinks about that again, and his hand being burnt off becomes less of a concern than being made sterile.

"She'd know if she did that, right?" he thinks to himself fearfully. While he worries, Tesla has pulled open the elevator doors using the release on the other side. The elevator shaft yawns before them.

"Can you fly?" she asks him. When Kevin shakes his head no, she nods. "Then hold on tight." Before he can react, she lifts him up, and the two of them fly up.

[Heridfel]

Kevin is most surprised by the way that Tesla actually seems to know where to hold him to avoid hurting his arms. Most people would lift a guy straight up under his armpits, and that would not work well. When he thinks about it, he realizes it makes sense. She's done this sort of maneuver with her brother and sister before, so they would have told her what works.

He doesn't have much time to reflect on the comfort of the ride. They're moving quickly, and he has to keep his eyes - his glowing green eyes - on Victoria. It turns out that it was four floors up that he saw her, and all he says is "Here," when they reach that floor. Tesla says, "Try to pull open the door if it's clear. They're made to open automatically."

He nods, and Tesla flies him closer to the elevator door. He reaches over and pulls it open. There's nothing waiting for them on this floor, and Tesla takes the opportunity to drop him off and land. The door closes behind the two of them. This floor appears to be more lab space, but the design of the lab makes it look like it's for physics research, not like the electronics lab below. Heavy-duty power cables run along the walls, along with Ethernet bundles thick enough to provide high-speed access to a small university.

Kevin looks to Tesla, "She's about 20 feet that way. There's two Grue about 20 feet beyond her."

Tesla glances down the hall, then back to Kevin. "Can you do to her what you did to me?" she asks.

Kevin frowns, but nods. "I'll try." He focuses on Victoria, and tries to do his thing. As he reaches out to her, his vision of her life-force fades. Tesla can see his eyes turn their normal color again. He tries again, but the same thing happens.

"I can't. I can't concentrate on her without seeing her with my own two eyes," he says.

"Alright. We might have to do this the hard way," Tesla says. "Ready?"

Kevin's eyes flare up viridian once more. All sense of doubt has left his face. "I'm ready," he says. It's time to be a hero.

[Heridfel]

Tesla places her hand on a pad next to the door. A light on the pad beeps green, and the door swings open. The two Grue inside haven't bothered to disguise themselves. It seems like their plan has been succeeding beyond their dreams so far. One of them looks over to Tesla.

"Did your target put up any resistance?" it asks her. Tesla shakes her head with a cruel smile.

"No, she suspected nothing," she answers, playing along with the other Grue infiltrator.

Kevin remains outside the door, listening in. Maybe Tesla can bluff her way through this, at least until Victoria makes her way out. Speaking of Victoria... he panics as he realizes that he doesn't see her. He gasps involuntarily, and on the other side of the portal, one of the Grue looks over.

"What was that?" it says. Though Kevin can't see it, Tesla frowns. "Hard way it is," she mutters. Before either of the other Grue can react, she has trapped them both in a cage made of shimmering radiation. It has no gaps or holes in it - Tesla has learned from experience not to leave shapeshifters any room to wriggle out of traps. Once she's certain that they are held, she steps back out of the door to see why Kevin gasped.

She wasn't expecting what she finds. Kevin is slumped against the floor, and his head is covered by an amorphous green blob. A squashed shape of an atom can be seen on the blob. Kevin's still struggling, but not very hard.

"Vickie, get off him!" Tesla shouts. A tense moment ensues, but the blob moves off Kevin and onto the floor next to him. While Victoria Atom retakes her regular shape, Kevin leans over and vomits onto the floor. He's still conscious, but certainly dazed after Vickie's attack.

"He's human. You could have killed him!" Tesla continues to yell at her sister. Victoria's expression is somewhere between chastised and angry.

"I've been practicing this. He would have just been knocked out," Victoria says. "You have to move fast with the Grue, or they grow new lungs. I'm actually surprised he's still awake." As she speaks, she hears her own words and blushes profusely.

"I'm so sorry, uh... I don't know your name," she says. Kevin stands unsteadily, using the wall for balance. He wipes his mouth against his shoulder and grimaces. Over all the times that he pictured meeting Victoria Atom, he had never thought it would be like this.

"Kevin. It's good to meet you," he says almost automatically. Before they have a chance to think about how good it is, he continues, "Right now, we need to find those other aliens, and your brothers. I think I see two more humans together, surrounded by a lot of aliens... or maybe just one big one. It makes my head hurt."

Tesla interjects, "Somehow, Kevin can see the Grue through the building. He found where you were hiding and brought me here." Victoria looks at Kevin, studying him closely. He resists the urge to cringe - she's most of the reason that he's looking under the weather.

"That's convenient," she says flatly. "But if he's right, that sounds like it could be the Meta-Grue." Tesla nods.

"But he shouldn't have any support from the Unity. There are a lot of drones and metamorphs here for one of his ploys," Tesla says.

"Sorry. Meta-what?" Kevin says. "Wait, isn't he the one who has all of your powers?"

Victoria looks annoyed at the interruption, but Tesla turns him and says, "Yes, Kevin, that's him."

"So... he can read thoughts, just like your brother," he says. The girls look at him, surprised at the salient point he made, then at one another.

"He's right," they say in unison. Tesla continues, "Kevin, point us to him now. He may already know where we are; we just have to hope he doesn't."

Kevin looks at the floor. "Straight down. I can't tell how far, but... I think in the basement."

[Heridfel]

"At least he didn't come through the gate," Tesla says. "The last thing we need is something else coming in from the Terminus."

"What are you going to do about the Grue you trapped?" Kevin asks Tesla.

"If the Meta-Grue is down there, then they're the least of our worries," Victoria says. "And if he has our brothers, I don't want to think about what they could be doing to them."

"Kevin leads us down," Tesla says. "They've already had time to contact him, so we've lost the element of surprise. Now we have to catch them before they find out what he can do."

"Fine," says Victoria. "You fly him down the elevator shaft, and I'll float behind."

Kevin's eyes go back to their usual color for a moment. He looks at Victoria, then Tesla, strengthening them again in preparation for the fight. As he does so, Tesla lifts him up with no apparent effort. Victoria raises an eyebrow.

"Have you been working out, Tess?" she asks. Tesla glances over to Kevin and gives her a sister an impish grin.

"He's lighter than he looks. Open the door for us, Vickie," she says.

Victoria gives her an odd look, then runs down the corridor to the elevators. She presses herself against the door and into it slightly, forcing it open from the inside. Once she's done so, she shifts herself out of the way.

Tesla starts to fly forward and down the shaft. Kevin can't help holding his breath as they fly down twice as fast as they flew up. He sees the elevator car far down the shaft, and is about to say something when Tesla holds him a little tighter with one arm and lifts her other hand. Green radiation shoots out and severs the cable holding the car up. It begins to slide down the shaft, slowing up as it engages the fail-safes. A second bolt of radiation destroys part of the fail-safes, and the car speeds up again. It tumbles down the shaft and impacts at the bottom.

"Where are they?" Tesla asks. Kevin blinks, then clears his mind and looks for them again. His normal vision goes completely green.

"I don't know. It's like we're in the middle of something big and alive," he says. Tesla tenses and flies straight up, running into her sister and lifting her up as well. Her panic serves her well. A large orange shape solidifies below them. It looks something like the other Grue, only much larger and dressed in a skin-tight suit. Scowling at the three humans, it speaks in a deep basso rumble.

"So you brought a friend. It won't do you any good," he says. "I've already captured your brothers. It's just cleaning up now."

Kevin can't see Tesla's reaction, but from the way that she squeezes him, he can tell that the Meta-Grue has made her mad. A puff of air comes out as she forces the air out of his lungs, and he lets out a little "hey".

Victoria slithers by Tesla and below the Meta-Grue, going unseen by everyone. At the same time, the Meta-Grue's eyes turn from their usual white to a glowing purple. He speaks again, and Kevin can sense the power in his voice.

"Drop him," the Meta-Grue says. Tesla's arms loosen and Kevin begins to fall. Instead of hitting the Meta-Grue, he goes through him and he flails even harder as he tries to catch himself on something. Then he bounces slightly, uninjured. Victoria has caught him about 10 feet below the Meta-Grue's feet. She whispers in his ear, "I knew he'd do that. I hope that makes up for trying to choke you."

Above them, Tesla shrieks and the shaft flashes. The Meta-Grue shields them from the light that Tesla has created, but he takes the full brunt of the blast. He's still intangible, but it looks like he can no longer see anything.

Kevin looks up to the Meta-Grue, then back down to Victoria. She nearly had to wrap around him to catch him, and once he realizes that, it feels even more awkward.

"Can you lift me back up to him? There's something else I can try if I can touch him," he says, just as quietly as she was. "You go look for your brothers. They're on the floor beneath us over there." He points over through the shaft towards where he can 'see' them.

Victoria hesitates, but grows to twice her height and deposits Kevin on a ledge by a set of elevator doors. Without saying anything further, she slithers down through the lower set of doors to try to find her brothers.

Kevin watches the Meta-Grue shakes his head and look up, presumably towards Tesla. He grabs his own head and freezes in place for a second. Tesla groans, and Kevin can hear her fall from the sky and into the Meta-Grue's arms. He chuckles sinisterly and floats down the shaft, saying "Only one more to go now." He sounds like his last attack tired him out; he seems to be breathing harder.

When he's about five feet below Kevin, Kevin jumps from the ledge onto the Meta-Grue's back.

"Make that two!" he shouts as he falls. He isn't even thinking about the impact now. Instead, he tries to focus whatever it is that he can do on this Meta-Grue, as strong as he can make it.

They collide and fall further, landing against the remains of the elevator car that Tesla smashed. Tesla spills out from the Meta-Grue's grasp, still unconscious, and the two men force themselves to their feet. The Meta-Grue's moving even more slowly now, but he also looks angry.

"I have plans for those four," he growls, "but nothing's protecting you." He holds up his arms and shoots out a green beam of energy that looks just like Tesla's. It slams into Kevin, knocking him into the rubble. Now Kevin's the one barely hanging onto consciousness. He can barely move, but he still has enough in him for one last act before the Meta-Grue knocks him unconscious (or worse, he thinks to himself darkly). He looks over to where Tesla Atom lays on the ground and heals her. She begins to stand up as the Meta-Grue attacks Kevin again, and he loses consciousness.

[Heridfel]

Kevin opens his eyes groggily. The light seems very bright, and his mouth is dry. As the fog clears from his head, he realizes that's a good thing. Pain means that he's alive. He's pretty sure that your mouth isn't dry in heaven, anyway.

He starts to sit up from the bed he's in, but an I.V. and a breathing mask restrain him. He uses the arm to which the I.V. isn't attached to remove the mask. He can sit up now, and he does so just as Maximus Atom comes into the room.

"Go easy," he says to Kevin. "You nearly died down there. The Meta-Grue has all of our powers, and none of our morals. Actually, I'm amazed you're awake already."

Kevin licks his lips before he speaks. "How long was I out? Is everyone else ok?" he asks. Max nods.

"We've got Granddad running again, and Jack was only being held by a couple of drones. Vickie freed me and Chase, then led us back to where the Meta-Grue was. We saw you get hit, and Chase had Cosmo take you up to the infirmary," Max says. "It's only been a couple of hours. I guess Granddad's new healing beds really do work. Your hair is almost completely regrown."

Victoria and Tesla walk in while Max fills Kevin in on what happened. Kevin looks down at himself more closely and sees that he's been dressed in a hospital gown. He does his best to try to make sure the blanket is covering all of his lower body without being really obvious about it.

"Wait, my hair?" Kevin says. One hand goes up to his head and combs through his hair. When he brings it back down, there's a fairly large clump of red hair in his hand. His eyes widen in shock.

"I guess not all of it," Max says in a quieter voice. Tesla speaks up.

"The larger burn was on your chest, and that one looks like it's already healed. The Meta-Grue's second attack hit you in the head. He was using ionizing radiation against you, and that leads to adverse effects beyond those caused by non-ionizing radiation," she begins to explain. It sounds like she's about to go into a discourse on the differences between the two radiations, but Victoria cuts her off.

"You took about 250 Rems," Victoria says. "You already threw up everything you ate, and the blast to the head burned away a lot of your hair. Still, Granddad said you'd probably live."

"It's the 'probably' that's got me all shook up," Kevin says. "Do you have a mirror here?"

"I'll get one," Tesla says. She walks out of the room. Max speaks up again after she's gone.

"You ... ah, Vickie, can you help Tess?" he says. He motions with his head when she wrinkles her eyebrows at him, and she heads out the door as well.

"Kevin, you'll be sterile for the next month or so, but it should heal up after that. Don't listen to Vickie; Granddad also said it would probably take you until tomorrow to wake up, so you're healing up good," he says.

"That's... good, I guess," Kevin says. "Can we take the I.V. out now? I'm not going to get dehyrdrated."

"Sure," Maximus says. "I'll get that for you." He walks over to the sink and rinses off his hands. Kevin grits his teeth, then lets Max pull out the needle.

"The Meta-Grue did this to me, huh?" Kevin says. "Yeah, he did," Max answers. "So Tesla could do that too?" he asks.

Max pauses to look out the door, then bursts out laughing with a big grin on his face. "Now you know why people don't get her angry," he says. "Seriously, though, she could, but she never would."

Vickie returns to the room a step ahead of Tesla, who is carrying a hand mirror. She holds it up to Kevin so that he can see his face. It comes as some relief that it only looks like he has a mild sunburn. His hair is somewhat ragged, especially with the clump he pulled out, but it's not awful.

"Thanks," he says. "I don't know what happened to Clyst. I know he didn't have anything to do with this."

"He probably left during the fight," Vickie says. "Don't worry about it."

There's a short silence, then Kevin swings his legs over to the side of the bed. "Well, I should probably get going. Where did you guys put my pants?"

[Heridfel]

"You're in no condition to head out yet," Tesla says. "Your exposure to the radiation was enough to leave you with a 35% chance of dying within the next month. I will grant that we gave you prompt treatment, and that you have some sort of powers, but you can't expect to be fully healed after sleeping for two hours."

"Like you said, he apparently has some sort of powers. His dad's pretty tough too, Tess. I think he could go," Max says. Kevin narrows his eyes at Max.

"My dad? What about him?" Kevin asks cautiously. Max winces for a second, then shrugs.

"Cat's out of the bag. I recognized you once I got a chance to get a good look at you. I remember you from the inter-Freedom game back in September - you were the center, I think," Max says. Victoria jumps in.

"What sort of powers do you have, anyway? Tess was right - you were pretty light, and you could apparently see the Grue through walls," she says. "As far as the scans read, you're a normal human, not a mutant or alien or anything."

"He wasn't lighter. You were stronger," Tesla says. "It appears that he can enhance people, both physically and mentally, as well as see through solid objects and see the true form of the Grue... and Vickie. He also exhibited the ability to make one of the drones pass out by touching it. Did I miss anything, Kevin?"

Kevin rubs his face. There's a lot going on here, and he's starting to feel the headache that Tesla had mentioned was coming. Or was it Max? Either way, it's getting on his nerves.

"I just want my clothes, unless you guys want to hold me here against my will," he says. Then he realizes something. He had been fighting against shapeshifters. What if they had captured him and taken the form of the Atoms again? Concentrating more than usual, he opens his mind and looks at them. Thankfully, they are who they appear to be. Even so, his action doesn't go without comment.

"And make his eyes glow green," Max says. "I'll find where ALEX stuck your stuff." He heads out of the room, leaving his sisters and Kevin.

"Is Alex a guy or a girl?" Kevin asks, hesistantly. Victoria senses why he's asking.

"ALEX is our robot butler. We call him 'he', but he's neither," she says. Kevin relaxes a little. He might be on display now a little, but at least neither of the girls were the ones to put him in the healing bed.

"I can see living things," he says. "All of them. I have to concentrate so that I only see the ones I'm looking for. I can see them through other living things, if I try to, and through non-living things too. I can ... enhance them, like Tesla said, and heal them."

"That explains why I woke up so quickly from being knocked out," Tesla says. "And how you have healed so quickly."

Kevin shakes his head. "I can only heal other people. Dr. Atom's machine must have just worked better than he thought."

Max walks back in with Kevin's clothes, neatly folded. A humanoid robot walks behind him, nattering every step in a British accent.

"Maximus Atom, I just had those pressed. Hand them back to me. I just know that you are going to wrinkle them awfully," ALEX says.

"ALEX, he's right here, and he's going to put them on once we all get out of the room," Max answers. He looks over to his sisters. "You two - scoot."

"Thanks, Maximus," Kevin says. Max chuckles. "ALEX is the only one who calls me that any more. I'm Max, and they are Tess and Vickie." He hands Kevin his clothes. ALEX looks over at Kevin. When he speaks, it's with a Texas twang that could be the twin of Kevin's.

"I had to patch up the burns in the middle of your shirt, but I did a good job, so you shouldn't even notice," he says. Max is trying to push out Tess and Vickie, but Tess has one more thing to say before she goes.

"You still need to come back for checkups. I won't take no for an answer. Be back here next weekend, or sooner if you experience any symptoms that require immediate attention," she says. Then she relents and lets Max push her and her sister out of the room. ALEX remains inside, and Kevin looks back to him.

"Well?" he says to ALEX. Despite not having movable shoulders, ALEX manages to convey an elaborate shrug. He's returned to his British accent.

"I took those clothes off you. You do not have anything that I have not seen," he says. Kevin shudders.

"Ok, that's just creepy," he says. He walks to the door and shuts it, then back at ALEX once more before getting changed back into his clothes. As he tucks in his shirt and does up his belt, a thought strikes him.

"Where's Chase? Everyone else came by," he asks. ALEX looks to him silently for a moment, then bows slightly.

"Given what you did today, you deserve to know. The Meta-Grue was experimenting on Chase in some way. It's not clear what was done, and Chase is still being examined," he says. He's quiet after this admission, and Kevin doesn't know what to say either. He settles for something simple.

"He'll be ok. I mean, you're the Atoms," he says. ALEX smiles slightly.

"That we are. Thank you again, Kevin Malone. I'll see you to the door."

And so Kevin heads out of the Goodman building and home to his dorm, falling asleep almost as soon as he reaches his bed.

---

Victoria and Tesla walk back towards the elevator, having left Maximus to go talk with Dr. Metropolis about repairing the damage that the Meta-Grue did.

"So what did you think of him?" Victoria asks her sister. "He seemed like a regular guy, but then when his eyes started glowing... I thought for sure that he was a mutant." Tess looks over.

"I did as well," she admits. "He didn't seem used to his powers, as he would if he were an alien, and biological manipulation on that fine a scale seems unlikely to result from a post-embryonic genetic reconfiguration. However, all tests showed 100% human DNA - nothing outside what could be found in anyone off the street."

"He was sort of cute too," Victoria says, changing the subject abruptly. Tess keeps looking at her with a half-smile on her face, and Victoria blushes. "What?" she says.

"He liked you. I could tell," Tess says. "I have an idea. You can give him the uniform we're making for him. We can put your initials and his in a little heart over his chest." The half-smile has grown into a full grin, and she gets the reaction that she expected. Victoria shrieks "Shut up!" and stretches around her sister to smack her in the head. Tesla dodges and runs down the hall, laughing all the way.