Time Warp: I Knew You Were Trouble (Mitch)

[Dr. Robert Terrell]

1991


Robert Terrell had become rather good at becoming invisible, and not because of any power. Granted, invisibility would probably have come as a blessing to the sixteen year old. Instead he was stuck with cryokinesis, which still made him freeze a lot of what he touched. He made do with wearing gloves most of the time, but even that didn’t help when his power really got out of control.

Like now. Several older, bigger boys had been playing basketball nearby, progressively getting louder and more vulgar with their tossed insults. Try as he might to ignore them, it was getting harder and harder. So much so that he could feel his grip on his book getting colder, and it was no surprise to him that a light layer of frost was growing on the covers.

Really, he should have picked a quieter spot to read, but the library was often rowdy during break, and he liked being outside. It wasn’t even an overly hot day, with grey clouds drifting around above with a gentle threat of rain. It was this kind of weather Rob liked, and being outside in it made him happier than being trapped inside.

Pushing his floppy bangs out of his face, he tried to concentrate on the words printed in his chemistry book, but a particularly loud swear made him jump and look up. The basketball the boys had been playing with was now rolling towards him. Well, that was their problem, not his.

“Little help, geek?” Rob scowled, but he simply turned the page and continued to do his best to ignore them.

“Throw us the ball nerd!”

“What’s wrong? You deaf, buddy, or just dumb?”

Rob had never really done well with bullies of any nature. When he was younger and his sisters had been teased, he’d been the first one to step up to defend them, and usually the first to go down in a fight. It never stopped him from trying though. Peeking above his book, he just gave the group a dirty look. Really, he just didn’t want to freeze the ball, but if they were going to be this way...

He set his book aside after dog earring the page and slid off his gloves. “You want the ball?” He got up from his spot on the grass and stooped to get it. This wasn’t exactly wise, but he’d never really been one to tread the safe path when he was threatened. Feeling the cold rush from his fingers, the ball was a near-solid block of ice. “Here’s your ball.” With that, he lobbed it at the nearest boy as hard as he could, a smug look on his face.

Unfortunately, they didn’t find it so funny. It wasn’t long before Rob was, not for the first time, getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter. Try as he did, the other boys were bigger and stronger, and fighting back did him little good.

He still fought like a little spitfire, though. Futile or not, he wasn’t going down without a fight.

[Mitchell Terrell]

Most breaks Mitchell would have been down with the other lads, playing basketball with them, but for the past few days he had been completely engulfed by his new Game Boy. After months of saving up all his allowance he had finally been able to buy one, and already he was hooked. His friends had teased of course, saying he was becoming one of those weird nerds, but Mitchell had been quick to show that it didn’t matter if he was a nerd, he could still kick their ass at whatever sport they chose.

The weather of the day didn’t exactly suit the fifteen year old, he tended to prefer it a few degrees warmer, and as he sat perched on a wall not far from the basketball hoops he found himself wishing he’d pulled on a sweater over his Red Sox jersey. Still, he was tired of being indoors all the time and the light was better for his game out here. The console didn’t seem to really like the fluorescent bulbs inside.

Mitchell had just finished a particularly awkward bit of Gremlins 2: The New Batch when the sound of raised voices pulled him out of his concentration. Hitting pause, he looked up to see two lads rounding up on that weirdo that always sat right at the front in history class. He recognised one of the boys, Chris, since they were both in the softball club but the other was completely unfamiliar to him. Mitchell watched the exchange curiously, and his jaw dropped when the weird kid hurled the now-frozen ball right at Chris.

Well then! That was a whole lot of impressive and suicidal in one movement.

Despite being in the same club as Chris, Mitchell had never really got along very well with him and he had been raised to absolutely abhor bullies and bullying behaviour. Even though Chris and the other lad were both bigger than he was, Mitchell knew he couldn’t just sit back and watch the lanky lad get battered. His dad had taught him better than that. After quickly putting his Game Boy into his bag, Mitchell threw the bag over his shoulders and jogged over to the scene of the commotion.

Being raised by a father who was in the military had its benefits, and Mitchell knew that incapacitating the older boys would be the best bet. As he approached Chris from behind he concentrated, and after a moment he was able to get Chris’ jacket to come to life. The hood flicked down, blinding the boy, and the arms wrapped tight around him like a straitjacket. Mitchell knew it wouldn’t hold him long, but it did hold and distract him long enough for Mitchell to be able to kick at the back of his knee, sending him sprawling hard face-first to the ground. He gave a glance over at the weird kid before rounding on the stranger, leaving Chris writhing on the floor in a battle with his own jacket.

[Dr. Robert Terrell]

Rob had exactly zero interest in the GameBoys that were sweeping the school. Yes, he was a self appointed ‘weird nerd’ himself, but that was for burying himself in books rather than playing with electronics. Who had time to mess around with them? Okay, so he liked the computers in the library, but that was mostly because they just helped to do research for papers for class. But GameBoys? Nope. Not happening.

While Rob was smart when it came to school, he had a lot left to be desired when it came to both social smarts and street smarts. Antagonizing boys older and stronger than him was a not a good decision. Further antagonizing them by ruining their ball and hurling the ice block at them... also a poor decision, as he learned fairly quickly.

Sadly, this wasn’t exactly foreign to Rob. He was forever putting action before thought and suffering the consequences. Times like this, his book smarts left him with little to work with, so he defaulted to sheer... stupidity. No, throwing the ball was not a good idea, but at least he’d showed that he wasn’t about to be pushed around.

... Because that always ended well.

He continued to flail and struggle against them. He had the feeling they’d already split his lip. He could taste the blood. That just made him struggle harder against them. He managed one good kick before he hit the ground. Momentarily dazed, he sat up to watch the boys now redirected to... some kid in a jersey. Rob thought he recognized him from a class, but he couldn’t place which one. Below his hands, the grass frosted over, and he just watched, blue eyes wide, as the newcomer made eye contact with him. Somewhat bewildered, Rob pushed himself to his feet. He wanted to help, but at the same time... he would probably just get in the way. The other boy seemed to know what he was doing.

... And he was kind of good looking.

No, no, no he was not. Rob shook his head, as if that would dislodge the thought. He was not good looking, the same way the boys playing basketball weren’t. No.

“H...hey!” Rob called out to the other boy before he got himself in trouble. Teaching them a lesson was one thing, but to actually damage them was probably not the best of ideas. ... Says the boy that threw an ice ball at one with every intention of breaking his face with it. Cautiously, he pressed his hand to his lip and brought it away with blood on it. Great. Split lip and a whole lot of bruises. Standard fare for him, really. “Stop before someone sees!” Rob didn’t care if he got thrown in detention. It happened often enough. But this kid had nothing to do with it.

[Mitchell Terrell]

Mitchell had always toed that line between being a nerd and a jock. The other kids kept telling him that he couldn’t be both, and he kept telling them that they could just watch him. He played hockey just as much as he played video games, and he collected fossils as well as baseball cards. He had never been particularly good at either, though. He wasn’t accurate enough to be great on the diamond and he wasn’t anywhere near smart enough to really cut it as a nerd. He didn’t really care either way, though. He was comfortable and happy with exactly who he was.

And who he was, was exactly the kind of person who just couldn’t leave things alone. His dad had brought him up to always look after other people, to be the one to help out when no-one else would, and Mitchell believed the truth in that more than anything. He’d met many of his dad’s friends over the years, seen the horrors that conflict could inflict on a person, and he wanted to play his part in helping stop that as much as possible.

And if that meant helping out the weird kid, then that is what he would do.

With Chris temporarily grounded Mitchell could focus his efforts on the other boy, which was a good thing considering he had just lost his element of surprise big time. The other boy had a few inches on him height-wise, but just from watching them playing basketball Mitchell knew that he was the quicker of the two. At the end of the day, he knew that strength was nothing without the speed to back it up.

The other boy swung a large fist at him, but Mitchell was able to draw on the self-defence lessons his dad had given to him and he deflected the blow to the side. It barely scraped his ribs but it opened up the older boys right hand side, and Mitchell landed a solid blow to the other boys gut. The whoosh of air leaving him was a relief to hear, and Mitchell skittered back a step and readied himself for whatever happened next.

A voice to his side caught Mitchell’s attention, and he stole a glance over at the one who’d been having holes put in him. Well. Mitchell certainly hadn’t expected him to look quite so appealing up close, even with a split lip. Mitchell gave a small smirk to himself, his attention flipping right back to the attacking boys. Chris was starting to win the battle against his jacket, Mitchell unable to keep hold of it with his attention being divided everywhere, but the other seemed a little unwilling to lunge again. Probably too cautious of taking another blow to the gut, Mitchell assumed. He knew he probably wouldn’t be so lucky once Chris was actually able to get to his feet again.

Sneaking a look to the side again, he gave a small nod to the bleeding lad. “Sounds good, Iceman. Time to scoot, I think.”

[Dr. Robert Terrell]

Rob was firmly in the nerd camp, and he was okay with that. Despite being a champion when it came to getting himself into scraps, getting out of them was usually trickier. He really had yet to actually win a fight, mostly because he didn’t think before he acted. Maybe one day he’d actually fill out and have a hope in winning, but until then... yeah. He was going to be the skinny nerd with the big mouth that got him into trouble.

Much like Mitchell, Rob was protective, and he just wished he was better at defending than he really was. Even when he was little, protecting his little sisters had been of the utmost importance to him. He might have been a little terror, with more time outs than he could count, but at least his sisters had always been safe from neighbourhood bullies.

Now Rob was on the ground, he was able to better reflect on how lobbing an ice ball at two already ticked off teenagers that were both bigger than him really wasn’t the best of ideas. He was also a little too stunned to really let the fact sink in that the boy in the jersey was really doing a number on the boys. However he was getting the one guy’s jacket to wrestle with him was actually... pretty cool. Much cooler than making everything frosty.

He winced a little when he saw one boy brush jersey-boy’s ribs with his fist, his hand coming up to touch his lip again as if to share in the pain. What he wouldn’t give to be one of those cell regenerators. Or even a biological manipulator. That would be endlessly helpful, especially if he was going to make it into medical school. Instead... he’d be spending his life freezing things. Excellent.

Once he finally got jersey-boy’s attention, Rob scrambled to his feet and shoved his Chemistry textbook back into his back, yanking it up and over his shoulder. He really didn’t want to stick around longer than needed. The nickname made him frown a little, but he chose to ignore it for now. “Here, follow me.” He took off jogging in an awkward way, favoring his right side a little from a lucky hit. Really, he should have been hitting the bathroom for his lip, but getting away was more important at this rate. He looped around behind the gym and flopped to the ground near one of the back doors. Hopefully the idiots hadn’t followed them. “... Thanks. They... shouldn’t come back here. ... I think.” God he hated running. It took forever to catch his breath. The downsides of being a bookworm, he supposed.