Avery walked up to Taylor and Isaac's house. Her feet nearly burning the ground as she went, frustration and betrayal coming off her in waves.
She raised her hand and knocked hard on the front door.
Taylor
Taylor looked up from the book he was reading. He wasn't expecting company...
He put the book down and made for the front door. When he opened it to find Avery, his face twisted in confusion.
"Avie? I wasn't expecting..."
Avery
"Yeah, didn't think so, can I come in?"
Avery's eyes were flashing dangerously.
Taylor
"Well sure, of course," Taylor insisted, stepping aside.
"What's wrong?"
Avery
"Gee, let me think about that."
Avery stepped into the house, her arms folded across her chest.
"How long have you and Christian been on friendly terms?"
Avery
"And telling me he was your clone... that just slipped your mind?"
Avery bit her lip.
Taylor
"Ah..." Taylor began to look a little sheepish.
"I guess it did. I'm sorry. It's not exactly widespread knowledge."
Avery
"Yeah, figured. I only found out because I saw it."
Avery studied his face for a reaction.
"In Christian's mind."
Taylor
Taylor froze, a deeper frown appearing on his face.
"His what?" he demanded.
"Avery, what did you do?!"
Avery
"What did I do?" Avery snapped.
"I figured you'd be more concerned about him than me."
She felt her anger coming off her in waves.
"I did what I was asked to do. I didn't question it. How the FUCK was I meant to know you'd get your panties twisted about it?"
Taylor
"Who asked you to?!" Taylor demanded, ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind.
"And where would you get the idea that I cared more about him than you?! You're my sister, Avery. I stood by you even though you took off to Europe with absolutely no reason and scared the crap out of Mom while doing it. I stood by you! Of course I care for God's sake. But for now, Chris doesn't have the freedoms you do. He can't just run away from his problems like you can, ok?! And if I'm one of the few people that can help him then I'm damn well going to."
Avery
"Dad asked me for Wayne," Avery replied, lowering her voice.
"I don't care about you and Christian and Ike. I don't care. I really don't."
She stared at him for a long moment.
"And just so you know and don't snap and kill me or whatever, I didn't hurt him. I did it painlessly."
And she wasn't even sure she was going to pass on the information.
Taylor
Taylor took a few deep breaths and leant back against the wall.
Damnit Wayne. If it had been anyone else...
Then he frowned as a thought crossed his mind.
"Did Dad know about it?" his voice also lowered as he glared at the wall.
Avery
"I guess."
Avery grit her teeth slightly.
"And no, I'm fine, after being face to face with a person I never wanted to see ever again in my life."
Taylor
Taylor's face instantly softened.
"Sorry," he shook his head.
"Honestly I used to feel the same way about him. And well, I did try to keep you away from him."
Avery
"My hero."
Avery shook her head slightly.
"You're all very lucky I didn't develop a taste for killing and just... run him through. And you, while I was at it."
Taylor
Taylor chuckled.
"I'm more surprised that he didn't when he had the chance," he raised his eyebrows.
Avery
Avery leant back against the wall, still staring at Taylor.
"Kill me? Yeah, I am a bit much to handle, right?"
Taylor
"Kill me, I meant," Taylor amended.
"I know they wouldn't have given him a chance to get near you. He had to be sore about Craig at least."
Avery
"Well he wasn't thrilled."
Avery scratched her cheek.
"So... when were you going to tell me about the engagement?"
Taylor
Taylor looked down at her and smirked.
"Get out of my head," he chuckled.
"And we haven't told anyone yet. No one even knows she's pregnant. Well, besides her parents. And her doctor. And maybe her fish..."
Avery
"I don't want to know anything about her being pregnant."
Avery shuddered.
"Brothers. Fathering. Ew."
Taylor
Taylor grinned.
"You have a problem with a little Taylor running around? I would have thought be over your squeamishness after Tom, B'Elanna, Saku and... Tru..." he trailed off, realising he didn't actually know many other names of his nieces/nephews.
Avery
"Ummm... Dee Dee, Brett, Briar, Annie, Heaven, Brock, Elektra and... Tranno-Zirran," Avery rattled off, going through Zac's mind for a second.
"I should get used to it, probably. But I don't. Pregnancy freaks me out..."
The fact I am also like 3 weeks late isn't really reassuring me either, particularly because well, not only am I 15, but if anyone else found out, JD would go to jail... Avery thought.
Taylor
"Well you wouldn't really have comparison by the others because they're never around, and Dee's a bit young," Taylor figured.
"And how could pregnancy freak you out? You're only third youngest."
Avery
Avery bit her lip, and then shook off any bad feelings and smiled widely.
"I was just kidding. Haha. See a joke. So! How about lunchables?"
Taylor
Taylor rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen.
"You show up on my doorstep in attack mode and then expect lunch. Curse you being my sister."
Avery
"Y'know," Avery said, following him into the kitchen.
"I've often wondered why I'm not Christian's favourite Hanson. Ok, sure, the whole thing with the Eye, but let's face it, he's met all of us. And... well... look at me."
Taylor
"Well as you said, you kind of killed his father," Taylor pointed out.
"I wouldn't even know who his favourite was. It couldn't be me. Maybe Ike. I don't htink he'd much like Zac after the fights they've had. Major personality clashes there."
He looked in the fridge to see what he could offer her.
Avery
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a bad person because I killed him, I get that," Avery said, kicking her legs out in front of her.
"If you don't have food that's cool, I'll just go somewhere else to get fed."
Taylor
"We could always order something," Taylor half groaned as he stood up straight again.
He opened the freezer.
"Or we could have pizza," he suggested, spying the frozen box.
Avery
"Pizza!" Avery brightened.
"Yep, that's the ticket. Let's do that bitch!"
Taylor
Taylor rolled his eyes again as he took it out and prepared to put it in the oven.
"So other than the obvious, how has the station been treating you?" he asked, "is it good to be back with Tanya? Or does it feel like school?"
Avery
"Same old, same old," Aery said shortly.
"People afraid of me. People hating me. People loving me. Same old crap I dealt with before."
Taylor
"I meant the classes themselves," Taylor amended.
"Are they getting easier? Harder?"
Avery
"Um... kinda the same. It's nothing too difficult generally, sometimes it takes me a bit longer to get it, but it's yeah, nothing too challenging. Tanya knows what pace I can go."
Avery shrugged.
"It's a little more full on, really."
Taylor
"I guess it would be," Taylor shrugged, getting some plates out.
"Want a drink?" he offered.
Avery
"Yeah, just water thanks."
Avery scratched her cheek.
"So, what've you been up to?"
Taylor
"Well, umm..." Taylor considered, getting her drink.
"We've pretty much been recording non stop. Thinking about collaboartions and so forth. And I've been spending some time in Georgia."
He set the timer on the oven, then went to sit at the bench.
"Nat has her eyes set on this one particular church she's always wanted to get married in."
Avery
Avery nodded slightly, not really sure how she felt about any of her brothers getting married.
"Cool. Oh um..."
She bit her lip uncertainly.
Taylor
Taylor raised his eyebrows.
"What?" he asked, "you're invited, of course. Whenever it happens."
Avery
"No, um... I sorta did something that I could get into a lot of trouble for if anyone from YIRAAS finds out," Avery told him.
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, then stood from his stool and leant back against the benchtop.
"What?" he asked carefully, searching her eyes.
Avery
"Ok, so I broke through the shield in his mind but... after seeing what was behind there... you guys can get in trouble. You, Ike, Tanya, and I don't want that, so I... so I gave him another shield," Avery rushed out.
"No one will be able to break mine either. No one, but me."
Taylor
"You gave him a shield?" Taylor tried to comprehend.
He hesitated, thinking that over.
"Has Wayne figured it out yet?" he frowned, suddenly worried, "I mean, does he know what you did?"
Avery
Avery shook her head.
"No, I'm strong enough to leave my mark when I choose to, or to do things anonymously. I can also disguise my mark... I could probably even duplicate the Eye's mark, being that I was inside his mind and saw how it worked," she said.
Taylor
"What are you going to say?" Taylor shrugged awkwardly.
"I mean obviously they asked you to get in for a reason. Are you going to say you just couldn't, or... How will it work?"
Avery
"I'm going to say I got through one, but behind that was another that was too strong for me."
Avery made a face.
"I'm only a trainee at the moment, they don't know how far I've advanced. The only one that knows how strong I am is Tanya and she won't tell."
Taylor
Taylor nodded and took a deep breath.
"Thankyou," he said sincerely.
"It should work, because he did actually have a collaborative shield over Tanya's."
Avery
"Yeah, I broke it in about 5 minutes, but keep that on the downlow," Avery laughed.
"But yeah, it won't be traced back to me. And if it is, I'll just go into hiding."
Taylor
Taylor grinned.
"Isn't it great to be special sometimes?" he chuckled.
"Of course umm... anyone you tell? You might want to block it in their heads too."
Avery
"Yeah, I was about to ask if I could do that. You're the only one who knows. Well and Christian, obviously."
Avery eyed him.
"May I enter? Well, actually you can't keep me out, but I wanted to be polite."
Taylor
Taylor hesitated thoughtfully.
"You know what not to get into," he shrugged, "stay clear of that and you're free to roam, so to speak. But be gentle - Tanya's not quite finished with the whole healing process yet."
Avery
"Aye, aye," Avery saluted.
She concentrated on entering Taylor's mind gently and carefully.
"K... here goes."
Taylor
Taylor couldn't help but smile, simply because he didn't have a headache and he could still hear her in his head.
"It's not really as if we had a choice anyway," he continued.
"It's either this or being found out. Who else are you going to tell?"
Avery
"Tanya, I guess," Avery said, thinking for a minute. "I mean, she'd want to know. And I don't like hiding things from her. And collectively, we could make a shield stronger than anyone could break."
She began to weave together the shield.
Taylor
Taylor nodded his approval.
"Good idea," he said, "you really should catch up with her again soon. Talk to her about it. No doubt she'll want to know all the tiny details."
Avery
"I was heading back to the Station tomorrow anyway, this is a flying visit," Avery told him.
"Then on the weekend I'm going to London to check up on JD and such, and then it's back to the Station."
Taylor
"Sounds good."
The bell on the oven suddenly went off, almost making him jump.
"Pizza's ready," he grinned, going to fetch and serve it.
"So ah... you miss this JD already?"
Avery
Avery smiled out of the corner of her mouth.
"Yeah, he's just a lot of fun."
Taylor
"Any sparks happening?" Taylor teased.
"It's been a while since whatsisname... Millsy."
Avery
"We got together when I last went back," Avery said, taking a bite of pizza.
"Cept we're keeping it on the downlow, seeing as... well it's illegal."
Taylor
"It's not illegal to have a boyfriend," Taylor said as he went to get a drink himself.
He grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper and made his way back to the table.
Avery
"It is when he's 18 and you're 15," Avery pointed out.
"It won't be ok until I'm 16."
Taylor
"That's only if you engage in sexual intercourse," Taylor scoffed, blowing it off.
He dug into his slice of pizza.
"So are you planning to stay until Ike gets home?"
Avery
"When's Ike getting home?"
Best to abort ship. Do not, I repeat, do not let slip to Taylor or indeed any Hanson's what really happened with you and JD.
Avery shrugged.
"I want to get back to the Station ASAP, and plus I have to talk to Dad and let him know what happened. Well, not exactly what happened, but you know. Then I want to see Tanya quickly, if or before Wayne talks to her. I want her to know the whole story from me, before she gets the condensed lie version."
Taylor
"Good idea," Taylor agreed.
"Umm... Ike will probably be home sometime this afternoon. I forgot what he was doing, he's either out with Nikki or working on his power project."
Avery
"Power project?"
Avery took a gulp of water.
Taylor
"It's his latest thing," Taylor shrugged.
"He's researching basically all the powers anyone knows of, and he's planning to make a sort of one-stop resource for them. A book or something. He's been working on it ruthlessly whenever he can spare a moment. Doing interviews, meeting people, writing stories..."
Avery
"Oh wow, that's pretty cool."
Avery finished off the last of her pizza.
"I might stick around to talk to him then."
Isaac
What timing! At that very moment, Isaac had opened the front door and, feeling mischevious, called out "Honey, I'm home!"
Chuckling to himself, he closed the door and made his way inside.
Avery
"I always knew you guys would end up a couple," Avery joked.
She leant back in her chair.
Taylor
Taylor opened his mouth to say something to the effect of 'But I'm already engaged to Nat', but shut it again when he remembered he hadn't told his brother.
"Oh I missed you terribly," was his alternative in a ditzy voice.
Isaac
Isaac chuckled.
"Hey Avie," he greeted. "I didn't know you were coming over today. When did you arrive? Would have come home sooner if I'd known..."
He glanced at Taylor.
"Unless you had particularly wanted to spend time with your favourite brother?"
Avery
"And how do you know that you're not my favourite brother?" Avery teased.
"I got here, hmmm, just before lunch, I think."
Taylor
"She came over with intent to kill, so it was probably a good move to not be here," Taylor's eyebrows rose.
"There's pizza in the oven if you haven't eaten yet."
Isaac
"Nah, I've eaten already, thanks anyway." Isaac replied. "I thought it was Zac you wanted to kill?"
He grinned at Avery.
Avery
"I like to change it up," Avery shrugged.
She scratched her nose.
Isaac
"Okay, so, now it's Taylor you want to kill, instead of Zac. So, should I leave so you can do the deed without witnesses? Or have you changed your mind? Or are you still playing with your prey?" Isaac inquired.
Taylor
"She's changed her mind," Taylor gave him a warning glance.
"And in any case, she was after your throat too. About Chris."
Avery
Avery shrugged a little and gave a smile.
"What can I say?"
Isaac
"Ahh, I see. So you still out to kill me, or has Taylor managed to relieve you of that desire?" Isaac asked.
He was mighty curious to know what Christian had to do with it.
Taylor
"Consider the desire relieved, or you wouldn't be standing there right now," Taylor's eyebrows rose.
Isaac
"Well, that's good to hear," Isaac said, making himself comfortable. "So, what's new?"
He stretched his arms out in front of him.
Avery
"I saw Christian."
Avery watched Ike's face for any trace of emotion, gauging his reaction.
Isaac
"You actually saw him?" Isaac asked, his eyebrows raised in surprised.
Taylor did say something about Christian being the reason why Avery was wanting to kill them.
Taylor
"Wayne organised for her to see him. To try and break through his shield and get information," Taylor's eyes narrowed.
"Apparently we forgot to mention he was our clone and... other stuff."
Avery
"Quite a bit of other stuff, it seems," Avery said.
She watched Ike for a moment.
"But I'm not going to tell them what I found in his head. And I made him a new shield, one that won't be broken because it's mine."
Isaac
"There are advantages to being the only Grandmaster Telepath in the world," Isaac agreed. "Say... I wonder how mutant telepaths rank? I mean there are a few of them around, but they don't seem to participate in Ga'Revali training? I wonder if that's because they don't know it exists, or because it works differently from Dath/Sem telepthy?"
He stopped and looked at the faces of his siblings.
"Uhh, sorry."
Avery
"I assume all telepathy would work basically the same, I mean, it's all the same power."
Avery shrugged.
Taylor
"Well I'm not sure," Taylor considered.
"I mean as far as my development goes, it's mainly with the Adige so far and not so much Dathrians. Mutants haven't even come into the equation yet."
Isaac
"Now take Professor Xavier for example. Albiet I don't know all that much about his use of telepathy, but I do know that he uses Cerebo to extend his range. For us, range is one of the things that contributes to our level, right? But we know that Xavier is amongst the most powerful - if not the most powerful mutant telepath on the planet. Which brings two possibilites: Either mutant telepaths are not as powerful as our more powerful telepaths. Or there is much more to Xavier's power than meets the eye. And for that matter, he does have telekinesis as well. Does this second power have any effect on the first power? Does it contribute to his power level in telepathy in any way? Is trying to differentiate the level of each power foolish because of how they work?" Isaac said. "I'm thinking when I'm done with Daths/Sems - if I ever am - I may do a study on mutants. I think it'll be interesting."
Avery
"I think maybe because telepathy and telekinesis follow along the same kind of line when you think about it. It's all to do with your mind, and a big portion of your mind too. I think..."
Avery paused for a second.
"I think I'd like to go to New York to study with Professor Xavier, just so I can learn the full capabilities of my power. Because really, Tanya can only teach me so much, and if the Professor were a Dath or a Sem, he'd probably be a Grandmaster, and I think I'd have a lot to tlearn from him."
Taylor
"Don't you think that if it came down to the telekinesis affecting the telepathy somehow, that atom manipulation would too?" Taylor considered.
"We've all grown with a second power so to speak."
Isaac
"Well, there is that," Isaac considered. "But that only fuels the question of whether Dath/Sem telepathy and mutant telepathy work the same way. Because if a second power does have an effect, then the answer is a resounding no. But not all mutants with telepathy have the same second power, although telepathy and telekinesis is a common combination in mutants."
Avery
"Hey Ike?" Avery piped up.
"Can I see your research on telepathy? If you've gotten to that power yet? I want to know all I can about this power before I devote my life entirely to it."
Taylor
"Do you think you have much of a choice?" Taylor asked seriously.
"I mean what if you don't learn everything there is to learn and something goes wrong? What if it gets out of control?"
Isaac
"Well, I have to admit, I haven't done a lot of research into telepathy. The power itself is common, and there is a lot of information about it readily available. Although, I will conceed that most of it revolves around the lower levels..." Isaac replied. "But you can see what I've already got, and when I unearth anything else relevant, you can see that too."
He stopped and gave Taylor a considering look.
"And I think Tay, that everyone is at risk of losing control of their power, no matter how much we may or may not know. Although, the consequences may be different for each one."
He was thinking back to his own loss of control just last year.
Avery
"Well I mean... by totally giving myself up to telepathy, career and all. Right now, I'm still tossing up with the idea of having a normal job, rather than think of working for the YIRAAS."
Avery gave a half smile.
"And plus, if the YIRAAS find out about what I did, then I won't have a job there either."
She sat thoughtfully for a moment.
"I do, however, want to learn and reach my full potential, without - hopefully - losing any control of my power. I can only imagine what would happen if I did that."
Taylor
"That was my point," Taylor looked cautious.
"But I didn't mean you making a career out of it. Just... you know, learn everything you can while you can."
Isaac
"Well, you don't have to work for YIRAAS to use telepathy as a career," Isaac said. "Although, having said that the only other option for a telepathy oriented career that isn't illigal is like, teaching. But maybe that's because that's the only other career that the masters have gone in. Hmm... I wonder what the experts get up too... Okay I'm going to go on a telepathy research kick now."
He chuckled knowingly.
Avery
"I'm not even sure I want to use my telepathy unless I have too."
Avery made a face.
"I mean, it's not like I can turn it off, I guess..."
Taylor
Taylor rolled his eyes at Isaac.
"Well it's up to you what you want to do, you know," he shrugged.
"But for now... just do what you can. Learn everything you can, and whatever."
Isaac
"Knowledge is power," Isaac offered sagely.
He looked around.
"Y'know what? I'm actually starting to get hungry. I think I might just raid that pizza."
Taylor
"Help yourself," Taylor indicated the stove.