Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 00:52:37 +0800
From: Leo Huang <dylan@celticwarrior.com>
Subject: Tales of a Superhero Band Chapter 21

With thanks to Jordi, Aeoros, Rune and Mikey for being the coolest friends
on the net! Thanks for being there guys!

Especially dedicated to Justin, Jeremy and Louis. The three of you have
inspired more new parts of this story. Quidditch and lightsabers forever,
brothers! :D

ALSO NOTE: I've been in National Service (fancy term for "slave of the
government") since Sept 17th, and I've gotten a few ideas down, but updates
will be coming slowly. Bear with me, things will be back to normal
(roughly) around December 15 or so! :)

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Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the
orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character,
celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country
where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously
doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship
with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in
the first place?

Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from
these places will show up:

Star Wars, Copyright LucasFilms, Created by George Lucas
Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon
X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee
Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling
Harry Potter, Copyright JK Rowling (due to James' addition of Harry Potter
to his Dark Knight series, I find myself adding it in too, but the
character may never appear in the story. However, loving Quidditch as much
as I do... :D  )

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Chapter 21 - New Beginnings And Old Friends (The Really, Really Bad
Situation)

	"How're you holding up?" he asked as he leaned his head on my
shoulder. I laughed, shrugging him off carefully.
	"Seriously, I'm fine, Joey," I said. "You don't have to ask me that
every ten minutes, you know."
	Joey shot up. "Every ten minutes? I thought it was every five!"
	The two of us chuckled as we watched the surfers on the beach. I
half wished I could join them, but despite all I'd been through this year,
including Scott's death, I still couldn't muster up the courage to enter
into the ocean and face all the mysterious things floating beyong my
vision. And the idea of sharks in the water didn't help. I had watched a
documentary before that showed swimmers in Florida beaches didn't realise
that there were an average of three sharks in a five yard radius around
them. Not a comforting thought. My high school swimming teammates loved to
surf in their free time, but I preferred to just play in the pool for fun,
so they only went surfing when I wasn't free to complain about it. Joey and
I had been mostly just hanging out on the beach for the past two weeks
since I came back, watching the surfers hit the soup and sometimes making
conversation. Occasionally we'd be invited to join some beach volleyball
games, which I was always up for, and Joey never was, but I forced him
anyway. He was getting a little pudgy.
	The group of surfers had finally began to pack up all their gear as
the sun began to set. One of them, rather tall and lean, turned Joey's and
my direction, then waved. Joey, being Joey, waved back. The group of guys,
five of them, made their way towards us, laughing and chatting all the way,
the light of the sun casting an artistic light on them, making me wish I
had a camera. It would have made a beautiful snapshot.
	"Hey Dyl, I thought it was you," the tallest guy in the group who
had waved at us earlier greeted as the group reached us. He spoke with a
slight British accent that most people wouldn't pick up unless they knew
what to look for. He had short brown hair, and matching brown eyes, and a
large grin. His skin was rather pale for someone who had been surfing the
entire day.
	"Do I know you?" I asked, gazing at him cautiously. He looked
familiar, but I just couldn't figure out his name. In fact, come to think
of it, all the guys looked familiar.
	"I told you he wouldn't recognise us," another guy said. He was
very tanned, and a lot stockier than the first guy. His hair was long and
wavy, and his bright green eyes sparkled with amusement. His face reminded
me a little like that of a sheep (but in a nice way). Then it struck me.
	"Rudy!" I said, getting up and hugging him, getting sand all over
him, and sea water all over myself. I turned to the tall guy. "Ian? You've
really shot up!"
	"Hey, what about me?" Another guy asked, grinning. His skin was
dark, not tanned, and his face was distinctly Malay. He was short and
rather skinny, but still showed muscles gained from swimming.
	"Malek! Hey there," I laughed as I gave him a quick hug too. He
grinned and hugged me back. The two of us had been rather close in high
school, and had no problems with hugging or even kissing (on the cheeks,
nose or forehead only, just for fun, no fooling around... Seriously!) on
certain occasions. Pushing Malek aside, another old friend shook my hand.
	"Terry?!" I laughed. "You've put on weight!"
	"That's what everyone says," Terry sighed. He wasn't fat, just
getting plump like Joey and Lance were, but he was still fit. His real name
was Lance (and he really did look a lot like the famous Lance Bass except
that his hair was jet black), but we all called him Terry after Terry Fox,
the guy who had cancer in his leg and did the limp-run thing across the
country. Terry had hurt his leg while playing basketball, and for six
months had walked just like Terry Fox, thus earning his nickname. The last
guy shyly approached me. He was around my height and size, though leaner
than I was (two weeks of eating with Joey, and no slaying of vampires at
night meant I was putting on a wee bit of weight too), and had jet black
hair and blue eyes, just like his brother Terry.
	"Ivan," I smiled. Ivan was a year younger than me, and two years
younger than Terry. He and Terry were the first friends I made when I came
to study in the States, and the three of us had a lot of fun together
before Melvin came over as well. Neither of them like Melvin much since
Melvin loved to flaunt his wealth and good looks in high school. Even after
he matured from that self-centered age, the two were always wary of talking
to him.
	"You look good, Ivan," I said, and he smirked at the
compliment. "Been working out?"
	"Yeah, every weekend," he said. "It's only been two months,
though."
	"But still, it shows," I said. Then I turned to Ian again. "Someone
seems to have developed all of a sudden."
	Ian laughed. "I'm a late bloomer in everything! Imagine, a growth
spurt at the age of nineteen."
	"That has to suck," I laughed. "You're still nineteen! December
kids. Where are Dennis and Qhairul?"
	The atmosphere changed drastically. Ian looked especially sombre,
which was a disturbing thing since Ian rarely looked so serious. "Remember
the Chaos Mongers?"
	The Chaos Mongers were a small group of students in my school, all
mutants, who believed in sowing chaos in their wake. Luckily, they were
rather unimaginative, and were nothing more than a thorn in the side of the
Braves, as my group called themselves back then. There were about forty of
us, but only fifteen of us were "gifted" with powers ranging from magical
to mutant (and in my case, kindred). Melvin had yet to discover his own
powers then (and was a relatively minor part of the group), so I guess if
the whole group got back together, we'd have sixteen "gifted ones" (I hated
the name, but the "non-gifted" gave the classifications) in the group
now. You would think that with fifteen "gifteds", we'd have no problems
with the eight Chaos Mongers, we nearly outnumbered them two to one, but
they were a lot stronger than we were, and when there were brawls in the
school (as there often were), it would take four or five of us to take one
Chaos Monger down. But like I said, they were rather unimaginative, and so
were quite predictable.
	I didn't know any of the Chaos Mongers by name, only by the
codenames they went by, save for the leader, Juffrey, who couldn't think of
a cool nickname to use. He was the most dangerous of the lot, being able to
control people's minds psychically. Blockade, a sneering dark guy with
squinting eyes, was able to block other mutants' powers. His best friend
Tremor, a plump kid that shared Blockade's sneer, could cause tremors in
the earth or any solid object. He nearly shattered my bone that way once,
but a nicely aimed spell from Wei, a Chinese Wizard (who I had not been
fully able to trust even until now) saved my arm. Tiger was a punk that
enjoyed causing people misery, using his bigger size and strength to shove
people out of the way and bully them into doing things. The fact that he
could shapeshift into a half-human, half-tiger at will increased people's
fear of him, which he used to full advantage. Emulate was Tiger's best
friend and partner in bullying. He had the ability to copy the powers of
any mutant around him, making him a dangerous enemy. Crawler was probably
the most useless in the group, having only the powers of climing on walls,
causing a stench wherever he went (though that might just be due to him
bathing only once a month) and grinning stupidly at everything. Fury was
Crawler's partner, and was equal to him in the uselessness of the group and
the stupid, half-retarded grin on his face. The only difference to tell the
two of them apart, besides their powers, was their height (Crawler was a
short four feet and ten inches, and Fury was six foot eight). Fury had the
ability to make anyone feel anything he wanted them to feel, but mostly
anger. The last of the Chaos Mongers was Seer, who had the ability to look
anytime in the past, present or future, in any location he wanted. He could
also read people's thoughts, and used them to his advantage, and to the
advantage of the Chaos Mongers.
	"What about the Chaos Mongers?" I finally asked. Ian shook his head
sadly. "They got more organised, smarter, more cunning. They've managed to
take mental control of some of our friends, gifted only, they think the
non-gifteds are a waste of time."
	"So Qhairul and Dennis are..." I trailed off, not wanting to state
what I was thinking. Ian was clearly upset with the thought.
	"That's not all," Rudy added. "Shawn, Wei, Khan, Zailani, Jumadi,
Sahruddin and Eddie are all controlled as well!"
	I was stunned. "What?! We've lost nine of our friends? To
Juffrey?!" I was furious now. "How could you let this happen?!"
	"We've already tried," Rudy sighed. "It's hopeless, Blockade
managed to block all our powers. The only people he can't block are Wei,
Khan and you, but we've lost Wei and Khan. You're the only one left."
	It sounded like a really bad RPG to me, but it didn't change the
fact that nine of my friends were in danger, and I had to save
them. Foremost on my mind were Dennis and Qhairul. They were the youngest
of us all, and were the only gay couple in the group (I wasn't considered
as a couple due to the fact that I had no boyfriends until long after high
school), and both were my "brothers". Dennis and I shared the same surname,
though if we were related, the link would be probably a few centuries back,
and Qhai, being practically married to Dennis since they were both
fourteen, was also someone I cared about deeply. I had often been told by
Ian that I was too protective of the kid, but I never felt that way. Also,
what did Ian know about being too protective when he's the youngest child
of two, and I'm the oldest child of seven... or was it eight? I lose count
sometimes with the number of siblings that I have. Sylvia had notified me
recently that Mom may be pregnant again.
	"So it's up to me to save them, and me alone?" I asked rather
sarcastically, unwisely letting my frustration out on my friends. "Some
bleedin' superhero to save everyone again."
	Joey shot me a concerned look that seemed to read "You aren't
completely over Scott yet, despite what you say". And if that's what it
meant, he would probably have been right. My other friends took my comment
in stride, ignoring my angry tone.
	"It's not that we don't want to help," Ivan said finally. "It's
just that whatever help we can give you is limited."
	I scuffed the sand with a kick, shaking my head. "Let me contact
Qhairul and Dennis and see if I can do anything."
	Rudy nodded. "Sounds like good advice. Good luck! I know you'll
solve this." Coming from a mutant with psychic powers didn't make the
statement any more encouraging, but I just nodded and said "Thanks."
	Satisfied that they had done what they planned to do (knowing
Rudy's psychic powers, they had probably planned this at least three days
ago), the group said their farewells, and left Joey and I on the beach. The
sunset was brilliant and beautiful, but I barely noticed it due to the
darkness in my mind, and after another half hour of sitting on the beach, I
finally told Joey I had to get back to business.




	Contacting Qhairul and planning a meeting was easy. Thinking of
what to say as I neared the cafe table where Qhai sat drinking a mug of
steaming coffee was the hard part. Like, hey Qhai, I heard you've been
controlled by Juffrey. What's up with that, man? That would certainly be a
great start. I approached the tanned young man at the table, marvelling at
how little he'd changed over the years. He looked a little more mature than
before, but still retained his impish looks and smile, and charming grey
eyes. His grey-black hair was cut in a crew cut, as always, and he had a
lot more muscles than he used to, a result of his fireman training. Our
school had basic training in firefighting as an extra-curricular activity,
not enough for us to become full-fledged fire-fighters, but enough to make
proper training less tedious and more familiar. Out of those of us in the
club, only Qhairul and Dennis had actually gone on to become actual
fire-fighters.
	Qhai lifted his head as I reached closer, the wolfishness in his
manner easily evident to those who knew where to look. Qhai was a mutant
were-wolf, being able to turn into a full wolf, or human/wolf hybrid at
will. He could slip between human and wolf senses at will as well,
exchanging human sight for wolf sight if he needed night-vision for
example, without changing form. He had probably smelled me coming since I
was upwind and he knew my scent very well.
	I smiled, hoping he wouldn't see how forced it was, and slid onto
the chair opposite him. The cafe was nicely decorated with round tables and
umbrellas, and the chairs were rather comfortable. The whole atmosphere
helped me to calm my nerves before I spoke. "Hey Qhai, long time no see!
How've you been?" Stupid, stupid, stupid, Dylan, I told myself. You asked
him that on the phone just yesterday!
	"I've been fine, enjoying work," Qhai's deep voice said calmly. He
sipped some coffee from his mug, then raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you
order something. My treat."
	"Sure," I said, picking up the menu in a rush, almost knocking the
tiny sugar jug over. "But it's okay, I'll pay for my own. I make about two
hundred and fifty thousand a month, I'm sure a two dollar coffee is within
my price range." I glanced at the menu. "Okay, make that a twelve dollar
coffee."
	"They make them really well at this place," Qhai said, looking
around. "I love coming back here. Dennis used to take me here."
	"Used to?" I asked as I signalled a waitress. Qhai nodded slowly,
and sipped his coffee as the waitress took my order.
	"We broke up a year ago," Qhai said. "On the anniversary of our
fourth year together."
	"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "How did it happen?"
	Qhai shook his head, his eyes threatening to tear up. "He changed
overnight. Became nasty, always coming home drunk and smelling of sex. Like
someone had taken over his mind completely."
	"Juffrey," I muttered under my breath, but Qhai's sharp hearing
picked it up.
	"What does Juffrey have to do with this?" he hissed, narrowing his
eyes.
	"Nothing, I hope," I said calmly. "I just met some of our old
friends the other day and Ian mentioned about how some of us had been..."
	Qhai stood up suddenly, looking scared and furious, his chair
clattering onto the wooden floor of the cafe, drawing everyone's
attention. "You spoke to Ian?!"
	"Calm down, he's really worried about everyone," I said slowly,
trying to reassure my agitated friend.
	"He's got you fooled," Qhairul hissed again. "Ian, Rudy, and the
others, they're all under Juffrey's control."
	I was shocked, but I tried to hide it. "No, they're not, they just
told me that..."
	"Lies!" Qhai shouted, then narrowed his gaze on me. "You're one of
them! Juffrey's got you too. You're trying to get me to drop my guard."
	"No, that's not wha..."
	"Don't talk to me!" Qhairul was enraged. "I won't let you get me."
He slowly began to grow greyish-white fur all over his body, and his eyes
became yellow. "I'm sorry Dylan, but I won't let Juffrey get me, not even
through you."
	"I'm not under Juffrey's control," I said, trying to remain calm,
but barely succeeding. Qhai wasn't listening to me anymore, slipping
completely into his wolf form. Snarling, he advanced slowly,
growling. Other patrons were either screaming and running away or watching
us fearfully. "I'm sorry it has to come to this, Qhai."
	I opened my mind to my totems, the animals of the mustelid
species. I could shape-shift fully into either one, and I needed one that
could take on a wolf. The wolverine aspect came forward, and I felt myself
growing fur and claws, falling onto my paws in complete wolverine form,
staring down at a furious wolf.
	Qhai attacked first, leaping straight for my throat. With a furious
growl, I jumped out of the way and swiped at his flank. My claws dug deep
into his side, and he howled with rage. His jaws clamped on my hind leg and
I tugged it out as hard as I could, ignoring the pain of tearing flesh. We
continued fighting, furious lunges at each others throats, vicious swipes
of claws and teeth and blood streaming everywhere. As a wolf, Qhai was
larger and stronger, but as a wolverine, I was much fiercer and more
ferocious. Our attacks became less and less damaging as we realised this
fight would end as all our previous sparrings had ended: a stalemate.
	Panting heavily, Qhai abruptly shifted back to human form. I
shifted back as well, panting equally heavily. We bore wounds all over our
bodies and parts of our clothes (which had transformed with us) were
tattered and ripped.
	"Another day then," Qhai spat blood at me.
	I wiped sweat from my eyes. "Maybe then you'll see that we're on
the same side."
	"We're not on the same side," Qhairul said before turning and
running into the distance. I stared at his disappearing back, pondering his
words.
	"Psst, Druid dude," I heard a voice whisper next to me. Whirling
around, I couldn't see anyone, but I detected a tell-tale tinge of magic in
the area. I focused on my kindred powers now, which had developed enough
for me to "see" the energy signatures of powers being used. Just as I had
identified the power as illusionary magic, a familiar face materialised. He
was fair and a little taller than me, and a lot stockier. His black
plastic-framed glasses were squarish, and the slightly green-tinted glass
made his blue eyes appear darker than usual. His short, curly, brown hair
was tangled, and he had dark bags under his eyes. A quick glance at his
clothing gave him the appearance of someone being chased non-stop for days.
	"Sahruddin," I mouthed cautiously, unsure if he was friend or foe
now. His entire stance conveyed urgency, and without being told, I knew he
wanted me to follow him. I turned myself invisible, knowing that I could
see invisible people if I was invisible myself. Sahruddin also faded from
sight, and carefully made his way through the streets, walking around
people, trying not to give himself away. I used my powers to just walk
through people. Slowly, Sahruddin made his way to an alley in a more
dangerous part of town. Walking by, I could almost hear gunshots being
fired at random, a clue to myself that I had watched too many movies
recently.
	Slowly making our way to an old, decrepit building, I noticed
several people wearing army outfits and brandishing weapons. On their caps
were stitched the letters FOH. Sahruddin observed their patrolling motions
for a while to calculate a timing, then squeezed between the paths of two
marching guards. Sahruddin's magic was all geared towards illusion, and he
could not mask the sound of his toe scuffing the curb. The ever-alert
guards pointed their weapons in Sahruddin's direction and he froze. He
moved his hands slowly, his eyes unfocused as he formed the illusion of a
rat squeezing out through a crack in the pavement. Purposely scuffing his
foot near the area again, he moved away quickly as the men lowered their
guns. I walked past them with no problem (I had wanted to take the codename
of Ghost when I was in the Braves, but since no one else wanted a codename,
I had to scrap it).
	We made our way through the crumbling building until we reached a
wall that blocked us from going further. Or so I thought. Sahruddin walked
through the illusion with no problems, and I followed suit. On the other
side of the fake wall were a few sleeping bags, a computer terminal and
several lockers. The area was clean and had proper amenities like a fridge
and toilet. I briefly wondered if the entire building looking old was an
illusion, but after watching my friend brush off a few cobwebs from his
dirty clothes, I decided it was really was as old as it appeared.
	With us in the area were a few of the non-gifteds that made up the
Braves, and three of the other gifteds, Wei, Khan and Jumadi. I felt Jumadi
prodding my mind a little, then he smiled his cheeky smile. "He's clean."
	"Of course he's clean, doofus," Khan laughed, pushing his blonde
locks away from his eyes. "If he wasn't, the magical barrier Wei and I made
would have stopped him from getting through."
	"I didn't sense any magical barrier," I said. "Are you sure it's
still up?"
	"It fell as soon as you walked through," Wei frowned, then
continued muttering absentmindly to himself about druidic anti-magic auras
and wizardry.
	"So what was the barrier supposed to do anyway?" I asked Khan.
	"Nothing much," he replied. "Just keep out those of us who are
under Juffrey's mind control." His customary smile faded from his face,
worrying me. Khan always smiled, always remained cheerful throughout
difficulties. He could smile at a funeral, although it was more kindly and
sympathetic rather than joyful. When Khan stopped smiling, you knew the
situation was really, really bad.

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To be continued... Yeah, I know it was really short, but this was the best
time to stop it at for now.