"Yo dingus, where'd you put my videogame?!" Mark shouted from upstairs.
His sibling was watching The Walking Dead on TV. He smiled and scoffed a little.
"Down the garbage shoot!" Ry responded.
"What?!" Mark flipped as the pilot began to laugh.
The sixteen year old zoomed down the steps in anger. His little brother kept watching the show.
"Why the hell would you do that?!" Mark yelled, "bro that's my-"
"Chill Hulkbuster," Ryan stopped him while he pointed to the couch pillow across from him, "I put it under there so Carter couldn't steal it. Remember?"
The older Walker child walked over and removed the soft pillow. The videogame was indeed there. He placed the pillow back where it once laid. Turning around, the male technopath had his head tilted to the side with an eyebrow lifted up, smiling.
"You found the treasure?" Ry joked.
Mark let a smile reach his face as he scoffed and smacked his sibling's shoulder. He sat down beside him.
"Cute." Mark said.
"I know." Ry agreed.
He changed the channel. What popped up was Family Feud. Leaning back, the adopted child let out a sigh and bit his lip. He swallowed a little. His mind didn't care for what was playing. Instead, it just got lost in nowhere land. You know, the land where you think about random thoughts that have nothing to do with what's actually happening. It's one of those places where everyone can agree they've been to.
Mark however was watching it for the most part. He would occasionally check his phone for texts and updates. Go through his apps like Instagram and Snapchat. The basic media use these days.The show itself was entertaining, but what occured during that time wasn't. The teenager gifted with abilities flinched at a sudden shock of...well a shock. It caught both brothers' attention.
"You okay?" Mark asked.
Looking down at his arm, Ryan poked at it. He immediately reacted to the touch with a yelp. Him and his brother glanced at one another. Rolling up his sleeve, the teenage techie saw his veins glowing through. His eyes went wide as he checked the other arm. That was just as vibrant. It started to freak out the older sibling out.
"You have ooze inside of you?!" Mark inquired in a panic, "how...why did you-"
"It's not ooze Mark!" Ryan shouted to shut him up, "I...I don't know what it is."
"Then we're gonna find out what it is," Mark told him, "cause I'm not dealing with what we just went through with nerdo."
He tried to pull his brother up. It didn't work since he let out a whimper. His arm returned to him.
"Don't worry about it," Ryan replied, "I'm not dying or crying. I'm ok."
"Th-That's not ok!" Mark semi-yelled, "you're clearly in pain and last time I checked, blood isn't blue."
"Actually, blood can be-"
"I'm talking about this kind of blue dingus," Mark clarified, "now let's go."
He yet again attempted to get his brother of the couch. Though not pulling this time, he started walking away from the couch. His younger family member didn't cooperate. Seeing that he wasn't following, the former jock stood in front of him and turned off the TV.
"Hey!" Ry complained, "they were just about to play Fast Money."
"I don't know what that is, you don't what that is. Clearly it's not good and looks like ooze except blue. We can go to Mech X to figure it out and yet you just sit there?" Mark questioned incredulously, "why? Do you not want help?"
"Now you're getting it." Ryan retorted.
Mark gave him a weird look.
"Dude I said don't worry about it," his little bro insisted, "am I here? Yes. I'm ok I just...we should just let it do its thing."
How could he be so calm about this? Fact is he wasn't. Time and time again his powers continue to surprise and scare him. He knew he would eventually have to tell his teammates about this. He had to admit, he was bored of keeping this a secret. The reason why he did kept him fromd doing so though. But if he was going to be a good leader, to which he is not stereotypical or goody two shoes about it, honesty played a role. A big role.
"Let it do its thing? You're serious?" Mark quizzed, not grasping why Ryan didn't care about his well being.
Before they could continue, the front door whisped open. It blew the sixteen year old back. Lucky for him, his hands caught his fall. His little brother helped him up as they saw who literally came through the door.
"And that," Mackenzie said as she let go of V's hand and used her mouth to blow hair from her face, "is how you speed passed traffic, people, and sidewalkers."
Veracity fixed her glasses so they were properly on her face.
"Okay for one that was fast and I think I'm going to lose my lunch if we do that again," she went on to reply, "second, this pony has to go."
Removing the hair tie from her head, the female brains of the group let her hair flow down. Mack turned to her cousins.
"It's not just us," she told them, "we got seperated-"
"When somebody wanted a snack and also bought me a pretzel," Spyder continued for her as he was walking in and chomping on his salty treat, "she said she had something to say."
"Well where is she?" Mark asked.
"Eh she dropped me off cause she forgot her wallet at the snack shack," Spyder told him, "that's where she got our pretzels from."
"No, I got you a pretzel there," a voice spoke up to correct him, "I went to Tony's to grab an iced coffee."
The team, minus Harris, watched who came through the door. Her appearance caught the pilot's eye. He had seen her only once, but she didn't look the same as before. Her lips reached the straw as she drank some of her cold beverage. Her right hand fixed her left crooked boot.
"Uh...who's that?" Mark questioned.
"Casey," V reminded him, "one of the two girls we saved when Lincoln was trying to get a cure."
Mark gave the teenager another look. She moved her drink in a circular motion while waving with the other.
"Oh!" Mark remembered, "I didn't recognize you for a second."
"Yeah no kidding," Casey retorted as she walked past Mackenzie, "don't blame you. I wasn't exactly in my best outfit when I was taken."
Her eyes averted to who was beside the mechanic. Spyder shut the door as she came near him. His gaze he had on her never left. Glancing up and down, the teenage girl gave a small smirk.
"Hi." Casey greeted.
Ryan's eyes went to the floor. He tried hard to bite back a smile and was failing big time.
"Thanks again for that save," Casey brought up as she found this amusing, "Macky told me about you."
Looking back at her, the male technopath finally found words to say.
"So you know we're cousins?" Ry inquired.
"Mhm, and yeah at the same time I found out what a Mech X4 was," Casey told him. She went to his ear and whispered, "and I'll tell you something, I thought it was a bus."
Ryan shared a chuckle with her. Taking one last look at him, Casey bit her lower lip lightly and turned around to look at the others. Mackenzie looked between the two in worry.
"Alright, Mackenzie go get short stack. The rest of us will head back to Mech X4," Casey instructed, "there's something you need to know."
The brothers nodded as Kenzie teleported away. The four members of the team ran to the door and headed out. Stopping himself, the pilot turned around and saw that the brunette put her drink down and played her pockets. He gave her a look.
"Um...yeah so if you have something to tell us," Ryan began to ask, "why aren't you in more of a hurry?"
Casey pulled out a watch and attached it to her wrist.
"Because I don't rush." She told him.
Grabbing her drink, she casually walked passed the male technopath and exited the house. The young man watched her as he let out a chuckle. He followed to catch up and closed the door.