Radiation

Once there was a family. The mom, the dad, and the children. The girls, Tia age four, and Megan age twelve. The boys, Exel age six, and Abraham age fourteen. Tia was small and skinny though strong and almost too smart for her own good. Megan was practically a ninja, even stronger, stealthier and faster than anyone in their school. Exel was pretty on the heavy side, but very light on his feet, fast and stealthy. Abraham the only adopted child in this family, African American and Canadian, a perfect person for running and sneaking, despite his stocky build.
Every day they went to school, even on weekends. They participated in everything. If there was a school activity or event they were there. Field trips, carnivals, sports teams, sporting events, plays, musicals, everything! This family loved to be at all school events and loved to plan them. They were all on the student council of their class, all president. They planned every field trips and school event. They practically ran their school. And yet they all felt useless to the other things that happened other places in the world. They traveled all around the world to try and stop the bad people. All except Abraham. He didn't care about the bad in the world he figured that if they were there, they were there. All he did was stay home when his family traveled. He hated travel. Until he heard about a trip to the national nuclear city. He agreed to go there. He packed like he was never coming back though they were only going to be gone about three days. His family finally helped him by unpacking almost everything. After about a day and a half of preparation, they left.
Abraham was only in it for the nuclear plant and the free tour of it. the y got to the city which was almost pure desert with like thirty buildings. They had to sleep in the actual nuclear building because the city had no hotel -- due to very little visitors. They all had to sleep on the floor except the parents, who slept on the twin sized bed together. The next day was the speech. They woke up at 5:00 A.M. to get ready. By 6:00 A.M. they were on their way to the stage built specially for this speech and event. 6:30 A.M. they were giving the speech. And the event was over by lunch. After lunch they got the tour of the plant.
The plant was huge. Over seventeen stories high, each story was at least seventy five feet tall with a twenty five foot loft. The huge nuclear reactor running up the middle. Then Tia had to do to the bathroom, which was on the ground floor. They were all on the twenty fifth floor. All the kids were sent to the bathroom to try and go just because the parents didn't want to separate their children. But on the way down they took the wrong staircase and ended up in the reactor, or well right next to it. The worst possible room to walk in on... a nuclear leak. They went in feeling fine with just the rotten smell of rotten egg and sulfur. Just after they walked in the alarm went off. All four of them started to panic except Abram.
"If we die we die" he said leaning against the wall.
"We can't die! We're too young, we haven't done everything we could do." Exel started rambling on about.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Saying anything like that to a four and six year old." Megan said while grabbing Abraham's shoulders.
"Its really fine that he said that. I mean, it is the truth. If we die, we die. There is nothing we can do about. But the radiation from the nuclear reactor won't kill us if treated properly within twelve hours of the initial poisoning." Tia said. The others looked at her in amazement. That commin out of a four-year-old's mouth. It was surprising, they all just froze. Then there was a huge explosion like thing of steam and fog. It was the reactor releasing pressure. The kids screamed and ran out the door, and instead of going down the stairs they went up. They just kept going up and didn't even realize they were doing it. After about fifteen minutes they reached the top floor and were on the roof. They decided to head back down the stairs. As they got back inside just as the staircase fell away. The building was collapsing. They had to choose between climbing down the reactor, or jumping down three stories and risking their lives. They decided to climb down the reactor.
The choice was fatal without proper treatment but they did it anyway to possibly save their lives. So they started climbing. There was just enough room between the glass protective shield and the reactor for them to wiggle down. The oldest went first. Abraham who jumped in, followed by Megan who went very carefully, then Exel who was terrified to go in, no thanks to Tia who was crawling in listing the possible ways to die from this and the side effects of radiation poisoning. The climb took about two hours but they lived. They were about ready to pass out but they lived. Each of them barely able to walk, just before they fell their parents swooped in and caught them. They were rushed to the historical, as well as the rest of the crew just to be safe.
They were practically in comas. Perfectly asleep and still. After days they finally woke up. They had been diagnosed with radiation poisoning. The parents were devastated, but took the kids home to their beds and cared for them there. They lived like that for days until they finally woke up. They were tired and kept home from school which made them happy and gave them a little more energy. They mostly just stayed in bed and ate all day every day for about six weeks. Until finally they all died.
The parents were devastated. They threw the funeral two days after the death. Hundreds of people came. People they talked to and people they were planning on talking to. The entire church was filled with people. People filled all the pews and were still standing in the back, huddled in groups crying. Then one person in the back decided to video the funeral. Toward the end the coffins started to shake. They started to vibrate like the kids were still alive trying to get out. The corners went to open the coffins but they were too late. They exploded with light and were disintegrated. The roof of the church was almost completely destroyed. The kids were never found.
An investigation was started within the hour. The footage was reviewed at slow motion and there four light blobs that flew from the coffins just before the explosion. After that the investigation was closed and announced as a reaction to the radiation.
The place was cleansed, and the funeral continued without the children. The parents were sadder than they have ever been in their whole lives. They planned to have a reception which was canceled due to the children and the state of the church. They all went home and just cyed. For days the parents didn't work, talk, or even leave the house. They felt responsible for what happened -- they left the building not even thinking of their children. They sent people back in to look for them, but the people came out empty handed. They felt it was their faults.
***
The kids were in a warehouse in their home town of Los Angeles. Their clothes tattered, skin cut and gashed. All of their memories lost except those of each other, and their deaths. They woke up and ran to each other's arms, crying and yet so happy. Each of them feeling different, more powerful, like what they thought and di actually made a difference in the world. Then it happened. There was that light again and the world opened up to them. They somehow knew what the were, who they were. The light the power that had seized them, each realizing they were what they had dreamed, what they hoped, what they were.
Abraham the oldest and seemed the most powerful had forcefields, healing power, and telekinesis. Megan was able to morph into anything she wanted to, from animals to dust to plants. Exel didn't however luck out out in the power department, his power was to be able to see ten times farther than any human has ever seen. Tia became a "know it all" literally, she knew everything, and she was able to vaporize anything she could see. There was only one bad thing about it all... Abraham was evil.
He didn't want to use his powers for good he wanted to use them to scare people into doing what he wanted them to do, and if they didn't do it, he would kill them he said. After his siblings tried to talk him out of it he just flew out. The others tried to fly after him but he used a force field to trap them in the building. Weather it was so that they didn't follow him or so that they would starve and die, he did it. After about three hours the force field finally let off. The force field kept them in there not allowing air in or out. Luckily Exel was an elementalist and could make air for them to breath. They went looking for him. They looked for days before they finally gave up, and went home.
They knocked at their own front door, which was answered by their parents telling them to go away.
"We're you kids" Tia finally said her voice unexpectedly loud and recognizable. Almost immediately the door swung open to their parents crying in shock and joy. Their kids still alive, but how, they were dead in your arms. Could they be fakes? It doesn't matter. The kids were home all except one. The kids explained as the mother grew in disbelief then anger.
"Leave you rotten children! Back to your homes and your parents. It is very rude to play a prank on a mother who has lost her children. You should be ashamed of yourselves" she shouted then slammed to door in the kids' faces. They didn't know what to do, so they did what they thought was best and went back to the warehouse. They used the park nearby with a stream for bathing and drinking. During the day Megan spent most of her time as a bird flying around looking for Abraham.
She flew by a T.V. store and stopped to see what had happened. The first story about their funeral. The second was a horror and yet a relief. It was about Abraham, he had taken control of Los Angeles. Threatened the mayor and all of our lives. He now ruled the city and was looking for us. She morphed into an eagle flying faster than she had ever gone to the warehouse.
"So he wants us dead?" Exel asked
"No." Tia responded
"Hey, I never said he wanted us dead." Megan said
"So he wants us alive." Exel exclaimed perking up.
"Well, I never said the either." Megan said slumping against the wall. There was about five minutes of silence.
"We need a plan." Megan blurted out. "He'll come looking here first thinking we didn't hear about him looking for us. We either need to have a plan to fight him or hide from him. What do we Do?"
"There isn't much we could do." Tia said. "You guys are the ones with the main fighting powers. Me and Exel might be able to help but you and him are more of a fair fight."
"I think I could help" Exel said, forming his head into fire, his left arm into water, his right arm into rock, and his waist down into air. All of them twisting at his chest to create a swirl of elements that became the team's logo. At that they became known as the "Manipulators" a name that could be interpreted to be bad but, was meaning good.
They decides the team name, logo, and leader, and still decided to hide from their brother instead of fighting him. Yes he was new with his powers but so were they. He was new but very powerful, and seemed to know his power well. They decided, though they got turned away the last time to try the house of their parents again.
***
"I'm telling you we are your real children. Though we died we are now alive. How, I don't know. Why, I don't know either. But we are your children. I feel it." Megan plead.
"Then tell me something only my kids would know." She replied.
"I can't. None of us can. We only remember what happened between now and the time we all died. That's it."
"Fine. Where did you die?"
"In your arms."
"When?"
"June 3rd."
"What happened at your funeral?"
"We were given our powers. They just came. The memory is fuzzy, but I remember waking up in the coffin. Then there was a fright light and a lot of heat. All I wanted to do was get away from the heat. I didn't know I was flying but I was. I just followed Abraham."
"Megan, it really is you." She said grabbing Megan. "Exel, Tia, come here. I'm so sorry about a few days ago. I was just so tired and sad about, you guys." After that there were no more words or even movement. It was all just hugging, all four of us in a hug. No one seemed to mind it was a two hour hug.
After it ended we went inside for dinner. What they hadn't realized is that they hadn't eaten since June 2nd. At first they weren't that hungry but after one bite their mouths were never empty, until they ate every last crumb of food out of the entire house.
***
Abraham sat on the new throne of Los Angeles which was made of his own force fields half transparent, adding a blue tint to the city behind him. He viciously typed on a computer trying to figure out what the warehouse was housing to see what his siblings had available to them to seed how hard the fight would be. Abraham didn't know the others' powers but he thought they would be much like his own. Little did he know is that one on one he was the most powerful but him against all the others, he would loose with ease.
In an effort to be secure about their location he had people search the city everywhere but the warehouse as to not alert them of a coming fight. The people looked everywhere and they found the kids. They immediately stopped all searching and came back to Abraham, who had assumed the name of Radiation, to tell him the morbid good news.
Planning of the attack began on both sides, Megan's and Abraham's. Megan figured that when the guards had seen the kids and left immediately that it was a good enough time as any to prepare for battle, which came before any expected. Three days of practice and preparation is all they had before their parents' house became a battlefield. Half the house was vaporized as Radiation dove in, just missing The Manipulators' room.
They ran out, Megan as a tiger leaping at Radiation. He put up a force field to block it. While he was distracted Exel blasted him with a jet of fire. Radiation's skin singed and them healed, he turned with anger toward Exel. Instantly there was a blue bubble around him. Radiation with his hand held out and open toward Exel, in the bubble. He clenched his fist tight and the force field shrinked then stopped. Radiation looked at the bubble in scared surprisement, then clenched his fist tighter. The force field exploded in a windy, wet, fiery explosion. Exel hovered there in his four part self silently challenging Radiation, who with cockiness accepted by firing a flowry of light spears toward Exel. Exel created a huge wall of floating rock that absorbed every hit. Megan had transformed into a griffin and was attacking Radiation who shot a spear through her stomach. She screeched and fell limp to the ground. Tia vaporized the floor beneath Radiation who fell to the the first floor.
Here he was furious and exploded in light crushing all the walls on the floor. Exel came through the hole in the ceiling, swirling dust and small pits of debris around in his funnel of air. Radiation sneered and sent a force field hurtling at Exel, who stopped it with a flood of water contained by a wall of air. The force field fanished and so did the water but the air didn't. It threw Radiation up against the opposite wall. Exel followed the air with with a barrage of magma stones, which were reflected each with a tiny light spear. Then about three hundred of the light spears formed and fired at once.a small dome of rock was made as a shield to protect Exel. A lot of the light spears missed completely. Then the last one fired. Exel dodged it and a woman screamed. Exel turned to see who had screamed, and it was their mother.
Radiation and Exel gasped. A force field formed around their mother and she was carried to Radiation. Instantly the wound through her heart began to heal but it wasn't enough. Her brain had gone too long without blood. She was dead. Radiation was silent. Exel began to weep. Tia came down through the hole she had made and saw her mother. Instantly she froze. Suspended in the air crying.
There was motion all at once. Radiation flew holding Exel by the belt to the second floor. Megan was still alive, though barely. Her blood splattered the the wall next to her and it pooled under her. Radiation put a hand on her and her breathing became more steady. The moved. He used his powers for good. Abraham was back.
"I'm sorry." he mumbled, just barely loud enough for the others to hear him.
"It's okay." Megan said. "We all make mistakes and bad choices. You just need to promise that you won't do that again."
"I promise" Abraham said. They were reunited as The Manipulators. To save the world from evil and end all the bad things. They would, however, remain in secret for a few years to get to know each other's powers and their own.
The End