LLH 2.6 - All Three Together
As Daria left Lawndale High School, it started to rain. She waited for Jane to get out of her last class, and watched the downpour. Figures. Daria and Jane had hoped to watch the construction of Legion Tower at the quarry, but at the rate the rain was falling, they'd need a boat to get there.
Jane showed up, finally. "Damn test."
"But we finally got through the day."
"Without me punching Mr. O'Neill", said Jane, annoyed. "Once he went on about us being 'shining lights to wayward youth' I wanted to crawl under my seat."
"Or Ms. Morris telling me that my not wanting to run was setting a bad example for teens everywhere." Daria remembered acutely Ms. Morris shouting at her, exhorting Daria to complete that dumb one mile run Morris had insanely decided was "setting a new standard" of physical fitness for youth. Daria could only remember Brittany glaring daggers at her the entire run.
"So Quinn is more popular than ever, the teachers are on our backs ten times worst than usual, and the popular people really hate us now," said Jane. "I can't take much more of being a leader of youth."
"Then you're not going to like what I'm going to ask you," said Daria.
(la la LA la la)
Jane sat down on the couch in Daria's living room.
"Actually, that part was easy", said Jane. "I dialed the number Stark gave me. Three different times. The head of the computer whatzits decided it was a prank call. The third time he answered. I suspect he didn't want to be bothered, but he did hook me up with a name last night."
"Who?"
"'TM'. Some sort of hacker. He hacked in to the airline passenger lists and gave me a hard copy, complete with seat assignments." Jane opened her backpack, pulling out a folded over piece of paper. "Get a load of this."
Daria read the list. "Hmm. I think there are some names missing. Yours, mine, and Quinn's."
"You got it. I wondered how come we didn't make Sick Sad World? 'Powered Youth Save Plane'. Or why there was nothing about it on TV."
"Probably our friends in the United States Government. If Stark could call the FBI, they probably removed our names from the passenger list."
"Uh huh," said Jane. "But I think they removed the names of the bad guys, too."
"This isn't going to make much sense without seeing where everyone is. I can't put it together without a picture."
"I could do that," said Jane. "Make a poster. We'll just recreate the plane and figure out who's missing -- if we can. I'll have Hacker Boy work on it. It will give us something to do besides homework."
"Which reminds me," said Daria. "You'll have to spend tomorrow evening alone."
"Boyfriend? Kevin finally complete that pass?"
"You wish. Mom is going to take me out driving."
"Working on that license?"
"Uh huh."
Daria and Jane turned as they heard the front door opening. It was Quinn, bounding in the door. "Hey!"
"Hey," said Daria, languidly.
"So...what's up?"
"Oh, nothing," said Jane, "just trying to figure out...should we join the Fashion Club or the Cheerleaders?"
"Or the student council?" said Daria. "I might even change my wardrobe so I can be cute and popular, too."
"You guys have been spending a lot of time together," said Quinn. "Don't cut me out if this has to do with the Legion."
"Maybe you should just let Daria and me work on this," said Jane. "It's a bit over your head."
"Like everything else in the world. If we have a need to fry some bacon, we'll call you."
"Fine!" Quinn stormed up the stairs.
"Peace and quiet," said Daria. "Thanks for handling that."
"No problem. We're on top of it. I'll work on the diagram, and we'll work on it when Red isn't around. Just don't kill anything when you're driving this weekend."
(la la LA la la)
Sandi struggled with sleep. This night was her worst night yet. Even Linda was starting to worry about her errant daughter.
Linda put another cold compress on Sandi's forehead. "Alexandra, this is it. We're going to the emergency room right now."
"No...don't...wanna...." Sandi muttered to herself, gritting her teeth and trying to hold back the pain.
"We-are-going! Tom, get the car started. I'll get Sandi down the stairs." Tom Griffin, watching from behind the door, disappeared.
"Ggg--gggh--AAAAA!!!!"
Sandi's midriff bulged a good twelve inches, as if her stomach had inflated to bursting point.
"Oh my God!! Call 911!!" shouted Linda. Linda watched in fascination as Sandi's abdomen bulged and popped as if some demonic presense was living inside it trying to escape.
WWWE WANT OUT NOW!!!
"Voice--can't get out---"
Sandi screamed! It was a scream loud enough to shake the windows. Somewhere in the house, Sam and Chris Griffin stirred from their slumbers.
Linda threw the covers off the bed. The outline of a full-grown hand bulged from Sandi's rubbery stomach. The hand inside Sandi's body began to glow, almost lighting up the room. Sandi began to shudder and spasm. Linda futilely screamed for help, not knowing what else to do.
As Sam and Chris showed up to watch, they were stopped cold by the sight they were seeing. A glowing human arm, trapped inside their sister's body. Linda, now in terror, stood back from the bed, not knowing what would happen next but powerless to prevent it.
The abdomen stretched enough for fine veins to be seen at the fingertips of the intruding entity. Whether they were Sandi's veins, or the veins of the glowing fingers were yet to be seen.
Something had to give.
And it did.
An immediate explosion of air being displaced blew a breeze of dead, stale air past the three watching.
When they opened their eyes, looking to see and hoping that Sandi wasn't dead or hadn't transformed into something grotesque, they saw Sandi, moaning, lying peacefully on the bed.
The arm had disappeared.
"Sandi!" said Linda. "Are you all right? We'll get the best doctor here right -- "
A moan could be heard from the blind side of the bed. Pulling herself up from the floor was Sandi Griffin. She stood up, cleared her eyes and scratched at her abdomen.
Sandi 2 took a look at Sandi 1 on the bed. The looks in both their eyes were priceless.
"How...did you come out of me?" asked Sandi 1, weakly.
"Uh...where did I get these clothes?" asked Sandi 2. Sandi 2 was dressed exactly like her counterpart.
"Hold on...it's happening again!" said Sandi 1.
"Don't force it back! Let it happen!" said Sandi 2. Sandi 2 grabbed her counterpart's hand to provide moral support.
Sandi -- or, Sandi 1 -- let the power go. Emerging from her body, a ghostly form materialized into Sandi 3.
"That -- was a lot easier!" said Sandi 3. "Don't -- do -- that -- again! There's not a lot of room in there!"
"Good to see you," said Sandi 2.
"Who are you?" said Sandi 1.
"We're you!" answered Sandi 2 and 3, in concert.
The two helped Sandi 1 to their feet.
The three Sandis looked to the doorway. Sam and Chris had the dumbest look on their face. They were supporting their mother, Linda, now sitting on the floor. Her mother and her brothers shared the same zombified look. Linda only hoped that there weren't any more Sandis in there.
(la la LA la la)
It was another horrible night for Tiffany.
She dreamed that for some reason, she was in a blender. Some kind of vanilla ice cream shake was being made, and it had Tiffany as a part of it. She tried to get out of the blender, but it just wasn't working.
She had had a lot of dreams like that, recently.
Tiffany pulled herself up. It was time to walk to the bathroom and --
--nothing. Tiffany was lying on the living room floor.
Standing up, Tiffany tried in vain to recall what had happened the night before. She hadn't been sleeping particularly well. It was sleep fitfully, get up, apply makeup, sleep fitfully, repeat.
Tiffany knew that she didn't sleepwalk. Of course, no one would have noticed her sleeping on the living room floor. Dad was never home, and her mother would never have cared enough to check on her.
So how did she get here? Walking down the stairs in her sleep would have been hard with no lights on. Tiffany looked up, not realizing that the roof of the living room was also the floor of her bedroom.
(la la LA la la)
Daria and Helen drove down the street in Helen's SUV. It was a tentative go of it. Daria didn't feel as if she could control such a large vehicle. Helen, however, had insisted. Helen felt that if Daria could control a large SUV, then Daria would be able to drive any car she set her mind to drive.
Helen gave running commentary. "All right, Daria, don't start your turn till your front wheels are past the corner. That's it. Now, accelerate as you start to straighten... good...."
Helen saw a dog wander from her side view. It was rushing out to meet the SUV, as if the SUV was a large, friendly dog.
"Watch out for the dog. Watch out, Daria!" shouted Helen.
Daria hit the brakes. Her lead foot brought the large vehicle to a sudden stop, throwing Daria and Helen into their shoulder belts which caught them.
A dog! Crap
>-- GET OUT OF HERE!! ---<
It was a reflexive mental shout. Daria didn't even think about what she was doing.
"Oh my God!" cried Daria. "Oh, my God, did I kill him? I never even saw him! I'm a dog killer!"
Daria watched the dog bounding down the street at full tilt. Apparently, some force had gotten into the dog to flee the area as if it were on fire.
Daria sighed. "God, that was close." She turned over to get Helen's reaction.
There was no reaction. There was a disconnected shoulder belt, and an open passenger door. From her rear view mirror, she saw her mother disappear over the hill, as if being chased by a horde of invading Monguls.
(la la LA la la)
"So how did you explain that one?" said Jane. Jane was in her "legion suit", the red scrubs with the circle-L over the left breast.
"I have no idea," said Daria, in her similar blue suit, now fitted to size. "Mom thought it must have been the stress of work...she said she had an 'uncontrollable urge' to get out of the SUV. She was very apologetic."
"You made it back home?" said Quinn. The make-up man was applying the final touches. Quinn looked pretty in pink.
"Yeah. Stop and go. Stop and go. Stop and go. With no license, and no licensed driver in the vehicle, driving Thunder Tank back home." Daria sighed. "I hate driving. And the dog really caught me by surprise."
"Well, Dah-ria," said Quinn, "I know that you can't see anything at your side!"
"Let's not bring up contacts again," said Daria. She knew that both Helen and Quinn had suggested contacts for Daria for completely different reasons; Daria absolutely refused.
"All right, ladies," said the director. "We're going to film the commercial. Are you ready?"
"Ready!" said Quinn.
"And this time, Daria," sighed the director, "try to read your lines with a little more life this time, hm?"
(la la LA la la)
"You can make a difference in your community!" said Jane.
"You can earn up to $15,000 for college!" said Quinn.
"But there are greater rewards than just money," muttered Daria. "Just remember -- "
The three stood together, in their Legion scrubs, hands linked, saying, in unison:
"If you don't choose the future you want, you don't get the future you want!"
The website filled the screen, along with an 800 number.
"I don't even see why you want to be a part of this, Sandi," said Linda. "They'll just use you and work you to death."
"But m-oh-m! Quinn's in the Legion and now she's the most popular girl in school! I've got to get in the Legion if I'm going to keep my popularity!"
"It's a funny world," said Linda, "when I was in school, we considered service organizations, well...'geeky'. Future Farmers of America, and those ugly blue jackets! The Girl Scouts!" Linda shuddered. "Sandi, are you sure it's not you that people aren't liking?"
"Puh-leeze? Quinn over me? You jest!" said Sandi, secretly worrying that Quinn was now so far ahead of her that she'd never catch up.
"I'm sure they'll let you join," sniffed Linda, "at the bottom . Face it, if you don't get camera time like those Morgendorffer girls, you might as well be off the map!" Linda grimaced, thinking of the end of her broadcasting career.
Linda continued. "Now with your powers...you could be something. Entertain on television." Linda was already drawing up plans.
"Mo-ommm!!" It was Sam and Chris shouting from the living room.
Linda stormed in to break it up. Sandi smiled, knowing what was happening.
"Okay, Sandis, back together! Now!" Two separate Sandi Griffins had their younger brothers on the floor. Each Sandi pushed a Griffin boy's face into the carpet while each gave an Indian burn with their free hands.
Both Sandis looked up. Funtime was over. The Sandis released their younger siblings and walked towards their identical counterpart...and walked right into her, as apparitions. The three Sandis had suddenly and inexplicably become one.
The now singleton Sandi smiled a triumphant grin.
The two boys looked to Linda for comfort. Linda gave them a contemptuous look. "How come you two can't do anything useful?"
(la la LA la la)
The doorbell to the Lane household rang.
And rang. And rang. And rang. Forty times, it rang.
Trent answered the door, wearing only his boxer shorts.
"Eap!" It was Quinn.
"Uh...who...."
"Uh...I'm Quinn Morgendorffer!!" Quinn blushed.
"Oh...right...clothes. I really need to get clothes on." Trent knew he needed clothes, and coffee, and a lot of other things. His mind tentatively grasped at the idea of clothes. "Uh...what do you want?"
"Were you asleep?" asked Quinn.
"Uh...." His fogged mind didn't have a snappy comeback. "Yeah. I was."
"Okay, it's like this," said Quinn, storming ahead. "I lost my script to the next Legion commercial! Can I talk to Jane and get a copy?"
"Uh...Janey's out with Daria right now."
"Oh!" Quinn feigned surprise, Trent not telling her anything she didn't know. "Well, can I just, uh...take a brief look around? I won't be long!"
"Sure." It would get rid of the sound of a doorbell ringing over and over and over again out of his head.
(la la LA la la)
Quinn entered Jane's room. It was still the same mess that it was the last time she saw it. Clothes all over the place, unfinished art projects, ugly posters. No wonder Daria and Jane were friends. They thought alike.
Quinn figured she had five minutes to look around. Then again, Trent was so sleepy she might spend the entire day up here.
She saw what she was looking for immediately.
On Jane's canvas, a seating chart for a plane had been painted. The outline was very good and Quinn found her location immediately, seated behind Jane and Daria. The seats were in three colors...white, for empty, blue, for assigned, and red with a question mark for assigned, but name not known.
Quinn grasped the scheme immediately. It appeared that there were only four people on board who were not identified. Everyone else had a name.
Quinn didn't know how much she would have a chance to write down. They might not want my help, but they're going to get it! She hoped Jane had a paper and pencil somewhere, else she would have to write on her tiny note pad from her purse.
Suddenly, Quinn sighted it.
A blue cellphone. Stark's cellphone. And underneath it, a piece of paper.
Unfolding the paper, Quinn saw a list of numbers. It was what Stark had given Jane. And Jane was just letting it lie around her bedroom! It would get lost in the mess! Quinn had half a mind to steal it and teach Jane and Daria a lesson.
Writing down over sixty names on a diagram wouldn't be possible. Writing down a few telephone numbers, on the other hand, would be easy. And if there was anything Quinn enjoyed doing, it was talking on the phone....