Obtained: New Headgear [Open]

[Germaine Sharpe]

Not much was known about what happened to the head recruiter Dr. Campbell a couple of weeks previous other than a few rumors that were floating around the student body. Like a bad STD, those few rumors spread between people in only a matter of days. Gerri, the little gossip she was, had absorbed them like a sponge and taken them to the extreme. In her mind, the stories warped from their original, seemingly inconsequential, forms into something from a late night horror show. It was no longer the tale that she heard from a friend, who heard from a friend, who heard from a telepath, that weird glimmers of thought were racing through the doctor’s mind. Said thoughts were, in fact, the traces of alien signals that probed him. Yes, aliens. Because clearly, even when you lived at a school surrounded by super-powered teenagers, if something was amiss with someone’s mind, aliens were to blame. Therefore, the thirteen-year-old had easily come to the conclusion that these aliens were conducting experiments on the meta-humans of Pilot Ridge.

And she needed protection.

Being that her power was of the physical variety and that she was still only thirteen, Gerri was not prepared for anyone to start probing her brain. That was why she was slowly making her way across campus to the school cafeteria’s kitchen on this early July evening. Everyone knew that in order to properly protect oneself from alien mind probing, one needed a tin foil hat, and of course the best place to acquire such a hat was the kitchen.

This mission would call for stealth. Assuming that the kitchen was open this late after the close of dinner dining hours, she’d still have to slip by any lingering staff. If it wasn't open, she'd have to break in (not that she knew how to do such a thing, but if it came to that, she would try). Gerri made sure she was wearing appropriate, or what she thought was appropriate, attire for such a mission. She sported a jungle camouflage tank top, a matching pleated skirt, and khaki leggings. On her head was a camo print newsboy hat, on her feet black high tops.

Her steps hastened to a power walk as she pushed open the cafeteria doors. It quickly became apparent that green and khaki would do nothing to help her blend into the monochromatic colors of the dining hall, so it was time to initiate plan B. She looked suspiciously from side to side, and as soon as she was in close proximity to the first table, she dove under it. Ignoring the stares of any present students, she began to crawl her way to the opposite end of the cafeteria where the kitchen resided. About halfway, she started to hum the Mission Impossible theme song (any good stealth operation needed stealthy music).

Several minutes and a few puddle dodges later, Gerri found herself at the end of the long row of tables. She glanced around quickly to make sure the coast was clear before doing a terribly conducted cartwheel across the space between the tables and the kitchen. Flattening herself against the wall, she inched her way over to the kitchen door. She pushed it open just enough to crack it. It was of the upmost importance to avoid running into any kitchen workers, so Germaine took the time to see if the room was empty. After a quick peak confirmed a lack of human presence, she slipped into the kitchen, and once inside, she did a halfhearted somersault to cross the room. The girl started exploring the various cabinets and drawers in search of the tin foil. It had to be here somewhere.

[Courtney Ross]

The fact that something had happened to Dr. Campbell was so widespread that even Courtney had managed to hear whispers, a casual mutter or two that she had just happened to manage to overhear. They ranged from him passing out from exhaustion to suffering a nervous breakdown to an attempted adult kidnapping, all the way to something about alien probes. Courtney had trouble believing rumors, and going to a school full of "gifted" teenagers made her nearly sure that no aliens had been involved. Still, it worried her. Dr. Campbell was an adult, and a smart one at that, and if adults were having problems, then weren't the teens and children in terrible danger? Some part of her mind knew that of course they weren't actually in danger, but that part was easily drowned out by the sounds of her own worry.

After all, worrying was something Courtney was good at. She worried about getting sick, worried about what rumors were being spread about her back home, worried about getting lost even though she was getting much better at finding her way around, and those weren't even her worries as an abnormal teenager. She worried about losing control of her powers, of scaring people away and even though she barely admitted it to herself, she worried about losing her powers too. Courtney was a grade-B worrier - grade-A implied her hair was falling out or something dramatic - and she knew it all to well, but she was spooked, and who wouldn't be? Except not many other students seemed nearly as concerned as her, but still. This was worth worrying about.

Still, worried girls had to eat, or they would faint in the middle of the hallway and then have to explain to the school nurse that no they weren't anorexic and that they only forgot to eat because stress makes their priorities get scrambled and yes they understood they were beautiful just the way they were could they go now? Hypothetically, of course, but Courtney really couldn't remember eating that day and that was usually a bad sign. So she was making the exciting - only not really, because that was sarcasm and hallways could only be so thrilling - trip to the cafeteria, one of the many places she could now get to. Knowing her way around was terribly useful.

Once she got to the cafeteria, Courtney couldn't help being distracted by a girl dressed in rather conspicuous camouflage patterned clothing darting around and humming what sounded like the Mission Impossible theme. She found herself slightly unable to move as the girl cartwheeled and then darted into the kitchen, and the itch of curiosity got the best of her. Looking around quickly, Courtney walked over and entered the kitchen herself, hoping she wouldn't get into any trouble.

Once inside, Courtney discovered a new problem. Her plan was not very well thought through, and now she was alone in a kitchen with a strange girl who seemed to be too busy looking for something to notice that Courtney was there. She now had a Now what? moment, trying to figure out what her crippling shyness would allow her to do. Apparently, the answer was nothing, and she had to somehow rely on her own creative and friendly spirit. Oh boy.

"Uhm, hi." Courtney managed to sorta-whisper. Oh, now she sounded completely creepy. Good job Courtney, terrify people with your mere existence, great way to gain friends and self-confidence. "I-I mean, I saw your, uhm, acrobatics and was kinda wondering if maybeyouneedsomehelporsomething?" Okay, so maybe basic conversation was one of her weaker points. Students were allowed to be in here, weren't they? "You seem to be, erm, looking for something. Can I help?" Or run away from my own inability to use base articulation? except she didn't say that part out loud.

[Germaine Sharpe]

In a matter of minutes, Gerri had torn half the kitchen apart. The once tidy room was a disaster area, with cabinet doors left wide-open, their pots, pans, and other various food preparation items spilling out of them, and drawers left in the same pitiful condition, their contents mangled and strewn everywhere. It was a darn good thing she was there at night and alone, because once the head chef had seen what she had done to the kitchen, she was going to be in deep shit. Of course, in all of her rummaging, she failed to notice that she really wasn’t alone and that someone had followed her there. The girl was preoccupied with finding the precious foil that would help protect her mind from being invaded, and was paying about as much attention to her surroundings as she was respect. Then eureka! She found the drawer that held the tin foil (the fact that it was clearly labeled only threatened to prove her efforts a waste of time, so she chose to ignore that bit of information).

The voice is what finally alerted her to Courtney’s presence. It made her jump, but she quickly recovered, slamming the drawer shut and spinning around to face the stranger in one swift motion. Drat! Were the aliens already on to her? She worried that would be a possibility, albeit a slim one considering she didn’t know what possible use she could be to aliens. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she scrutinized the other girl. A likely explanation! She thought, not quite brave enough to say the rude words aloud. I’m sure that’s exactly why you’re here, alien scum. Hopefully, no poor, unsuspecting telepath had wandered by and picked that up. She wasn’t crazy; really, she just had a lot of imagination and a lot of concern for matters not of her own.

As deluded as it seemed, all of this made sense to Gerri. She expected that if the aliens found out about her mission, they would send a spy to thwart her efforts, and she was hoping to provoke the truth out of this invader with her accusing thoughts. When the stranger asked if she could help instead of retaliating against the statement, Gerri was thrown off herself. This one was good. Very good. Or maybe this was just a regular—as regular as any meta could be, anyway—human girl. Germaine chose to simply nod once in response. Perhaps time would reveal the true intentions of this stranger, including whether or not she was under alien control, but until then the teen would risk everything on trusting the other girl.

“I guess you’re alright,” she said without further explanation. Etiquette and proper introductions were not high on her list of priorities at the moment. “Even if you aren’t, I can fix that.” The thirteen-year-old slid open the drawer with the tin foil in it, gesturing for the girl to come closer with her right hand while pulling out the box with her left. She turned her attention to the foil then, sitting down on the floor and transferring the hat she wore from her head to one bent knee in order to use it as a model for the tin one she planned to make. Hat. Check. Tin foil. Check. All the ingredients were there—it was time to bake the cake. Germaine began to wrap the hat with the foil, talking to the stranger as she worked.

“I s’pose you already know what I’m doing, and no, you can’t stop it. On the off chance you’re safe, I suggest you join me.” She was assuming the worst case scenario was true and that this person was under alien mind control. Still it didn’t hurt to cover all bases. After expending several sheets of tin, she paused to look up at the girl and see if she had obeyed the given instructions. “I’m Germaine Annika Sharpe, by the way, but you can call me Anni if you like.”

[Courtney Ross]

This girl was a miniature force of nature. She was ripping through drawers and cabinets with speed and almost a degree of skill, like she did this all the time, and Courtney felt slightly concerned. This was a big mess, a very messy mess, and she was now - in her own mind, at least - linked to and indirectly responsible for the very messy mess. Now, she wasn't nearly as OCD as some of the students, she wasn't even compulsive, but she didn't like things being terribly out of order, especially not other people's things. Her hands weren't twitching and she wasn't panicking, but she mentally resolved to start putting up some of the pots and Tupperware. Someone would have to do it eventually, and it might as well be her.

Courtney must have startled the girl, because she jumped and turned to face her, looking... angry? Suspicious? Oh no, she had already pissed her off. Courtney was tempted to run, but that could only end in disaster, so she stayed.

The comments threw her off - what exactly was she going to 'fix' about Courtney? - but Courtney came closer, sitting beside her. She was a bit... odd, but Hammel was odd central. If the girl didn't seem to be both paranoid and overly informed, Courtney might have been more worried. Maybe. Yet, as she began to make a hat, Courtney felt oddly soothed. Making tinfoil hats was normally fun, normally normal activity.

"Uhm... I'm assuming I'm safe for the moment?" Courtney tried, hoping that wasn't the wrong thing to say. Maybe this was some kind of game, like zombies versus humans and she had just missed the rules. She could adapt. "I'm Courtney, Courtney Ross, but most people just call me Courtney..." Or Creeper, but she didn't mention that. Instead, she carefully took a piece of foil and began folding it. She had made a boat type hat before, and that would probably be acceptable for the occasion. "Any special reason we're making foil hats Anni?"

Her attention was drawn to one slightly dented looking pot, and with just two more folds, Courtney had a slightly crinkled boat-hat hybrid which she quickly slipped on her head. "Uhm, if you don't mind, I'm just going to put this pot up right quick, okay?" No, it wasn't a normal thing to do, but Team Foil Hat wasn't exactly normal. She grabbed the pot quickly, and pushed it into the open cabinet she had seen Anni drag it out of, then seeing another, and a copper bottomed pan. This was going to be a very mild problem. "Can I... tidy up?

How did she always manage to end up sounding so ridiculous?

[Germaine Sharpe]

Germaine nodded when the girl said she was safe. But wait. Why only “for the moment”? That sounded like tricky alien talk for “I’m not going to hurt you now, but it might come to that later.” Gerri shot the stranger an undeserved glare before going back to covering her hat in foil. It didn’t take much longer for her to finish applying the tin coat, and after she slid it back onto her head, she watched Courtney begin work on her own hat. Interesting. Maybe the girl wasn’t under alien control after all.

The question went unanswered as Gerri stood up and stretched her limbs. She glanced around the room to make sure no one else she hadn’t seen was in there before crouching back down to the other girl’s level. “Well, Courtney,” she whispered, “I s’pose you’ve heard about what happened to that head recruiter guy? The way I figure it, if aliens are trying to take over the world, they would start small then work their way up.” It was sort of sad that this was the most she had thought out anything in her entire life, and it was nothing but a figment of her imagination. “So, since he’s the head of a department, they invaded his mind first. Next is the headmaster. Before you know it, everyone will be under their control!” She shook her head in despair.

Then she jabbed the hat on her head with her pointer finger and smirked. “But not us, ‘cause we’ve got these!” Courtney was at least half right. This was some sort of game to Gerri, she just thought of it as more of a necessary mission of self preservation than a form of play. Unfortunately, that also meant she didn’t care much about anything that got in her way.

The thirteen-year-old stood up again, surveying the mutilated kitchen with a sigh. “You can clean if you want to. But cleaning is so…boring.” The kitchen was a mess, and it was completely Germaine’s fault, but she had no intention of fixing it up. She was one of those troublesome kids you had to drag into the messy bedroom then ground until everything was back in its place. Seeing Courtney putting away the dented pot made her feel guilty, though, so she grabbed a wooden spoon and a pan off the floor. As she brought the spoon back to the drawer it came from, she beat an unidentifiable rhythm on her make shift drum, then gasped as she abandoned the objects on the counter in favor of a handheld cheese grater. No help at all.

“Look at this funny thing!” she exclaimed, twisting the device in all different directions. It was something she vaguely remembered noticing earlier, had ignored since it wasn’t tin foil, and now found much more fascinating. Ever since the age of four, her mother had banned her from the kitchen. The ban was instated for the very things the girl was doing now, but that only kept Gerri ignorant of the many wonders of the kitchen. As a result, even commonly used appliances were a mystery to her.

[Courtney Ross]

Aliens. Of course. Courtney felt much better all of the sudden, now that the threat was something she absolutely didn't believe in. It did nothing to mute the fact that Dr. Campbell had been attacked, or that there probably was a very real and very dangerous danger, but just for the moment she could brush it aside. Aliens.

"If they started small," Courtney tried to reason. "don't you think a few student would have gone crazy first?" But saying that out loud made it seem like maybe a few students had gotten out of control and were now roaming around under alien control, or worse, the staff already knew and were just trying to keep things covered up. "Besides, what would mind controlling alien want to do with a school full of awkward kids?" Now, Courtney had to convince herself that aliens were no threat to the school. She didn't even worry about aliens! "I'm sure they'd want a bunch of more useful people, like the Pentagon or something..." Wasn't the Pentagon nearby? - Answer, absolutely not. - Wouldn't that be a terrible, horrible thing if mind controlling aliens had control of the Pentagon? How did she let herself think up such awful ideas?

"I suppose you're right." Courtney said, suddenly appreciative of her flimsy, half-squashed hat. "Tin foil is basically a surefire way to keep out alien mind-control probes." It sounded dumb when she said it out loud, but Courtney really meant what she said. Most movies agreed that foil was a good plan, along with water and microwaves, and maybe The Sound of Music. She would keep all of that in mind just in case such weapons were needed.

As Courtney grabbed a new looking pan, she quietly hoped that she wasn't seeming too out of sorts. "Heh. For me, cleaning isn't boring, it just something you do when things... Aren't clean." She really didn't mind cleaning, finding it relaxing to know that everything was in the place where it belonged. Besides, the kitchen could use it. She found a few more pans, stacking them on the shelf where they belonged and then hanging up three cast-iron skillets on their wall hooks. There was now maybe a foot wide radius of clean around her feet, which was better, but mildly unsettling.

"Oh, awesome, you found the cheese grater." Courtney said, almost snatching it out of Anni's hands before realizing that the girl was playing with it. Cheese graters were nice toys, almost as fun as sifters, and Courtney didn't want to look like a complete jerk by stealing someone's toy. "So, when you're, uhm, not making protective foil hats, what kinda stuff do you like to do?" Did that sound as bad to Anni as it had to Courtney? Because to Courtney, it sounded bad. Still, she began sorting lids quickly, hoping she didn't seem too awkward.

[Germaine Sharpe]

“Ah!” Gerri exclaimed, pointing her finger up in the air like some kind of mad scientist that just came up with a fabulous new experiment. “But that’s exactly it. The school might be full of a bunch of teenagers, but they aren’t ordinary teens! Aliens can use our powers, you see, to take over the world.” But attacking the Pentagon, now that was an idea. A very likely one at that when you were talking about aliens taking over the world. Germaine nodded at the suggestion. “I bet they’re going to the Pentagon next.”

There was a lot more aliens could do with such a power. Yes, she could picture it now. That was definitely where they would go next after dominating the town of Pilot Ridge, and that wouldn’t be the last stop. “Now that you mention it,” she began to explain, “They definitely will go to the Pentagon. And then probably to Washington, yah know? To get the President!” Gerri clicked her tongue a couple times while pondering the sequence of invasions some more, and as she mentally laid out the plan, a grim smile appeared on her face. It was a good thing they were doing something about this and had made hats.

Gerri nodded solemnly when Courtney agreed with her. She was glad to have some support on this, but still sad that aliens were slowly taking over the school. It wouldn’t be long now before they got to the Headmaster.

It was weird for her to consider cleaning as something you just did, instead of something that was tedious, annoying, and not fun. It was what her mother made her do when she was in trouble. It was work. It was not being outside playing soccer or having a mud fight. She didn’t agree with what the other girl said, but just shrugged in response. It wasn't a subject worth debating, and she really didn’t care. Arguing about cleaning was less important than evading alien mind control.

“Cheese grater, huh?” she muttered before losing interest in the thing and tossing it aside. Some objects held Gerri’s attention better than others, and apparently cheese graters didn’t stay in the fascinating category for very long. The girl began to meander around the kitchen again, stopping to look at random objects every now and then. She was thinking carefully on her answer to the question, even though there wasn’t much to think about.

“Weeellll,” she finally began, ”I play soccer lots, and other sports too. And I go on adventures and stuff. I like talking to people.” A grin spread across her face. “Like you. You’re fun to talk to.” It was mostly because she was going along with the whole alien invasion thing, but still, Gerri liked Courtney. “What about you? I bet you do all kinds of other stuff. I mean, you didn't come here to make a tin foil hat, did you?” It certainly didn't seem that way.

[Courtney Ross]

Anni was making some very solid points for her alien arguments, but as she did, Courtney could hear herself rationalizing the worries away. Actually, she was just saying 'Aliens aren't real, you're a mutant, aliens will never be real, why are we still going over this?' over and over again in her head, but it was certainly working. However, just because she was calming down didn't mean she couldn't continue this lovely fanciful conversation with Anni. She was really into it, and Courtney figured it could be fun.

"Maybe some of the kids have powers that can counter the aliens." Courtney said, warming to the conversation quickly. "It would make sense, anyways. Just think of how many powers there have to be. I'm sure at least a few are alien resistant. There might even be someone with alien blockers already in their head, so they don't even need a hat." Not that she was giving hers up or anything. No sense in taking unnecessary risks. "Though I doubt I'm alien-proof, so I'm keeping my hat on." Better safe that sorry.

"If I were taking over DC, I'd take over people on the subway before I took control of the president." Courtney started, now just saying whatever she thought. "Because there are tons of people on the subway, you know, and since its all underground, not enough people would know until it was way too late and the aliens were in control. Plus, the president's wife is really pretty... and nice." Yes Courtney, because that obviously had everything to do with aliens.

The second Anni put the cheese grater down, Courtney had it in her hands, putting back in its cabinet and following with a few plates. Courtney was quite happy to see that nothing had been broken, and as she stacked metal lunch trays, she figured that she could probably get the entire kitchen put back up. That would be a relief. She stuffed a few knives back into a drawer and then closed gently, not wanting anything to accidentally crash.

"Thanks." Courtney said, blushing slightly. "Its fun talking to you too... I don't really talk to people that much." However, the mention of adventures perked her ears up. Getting around school was still an adventure for Courtney, and when she was fairly sure there was no one around to hear her thoughts, she liked to imagine that she was at Hogwarts, roaming the corridors and perhaps finding an enchanted portrait or two. Or course, she knew that - much like the aliens - magic didn't really exist, but she could always pretend.

"No, I didn't come here to make a hat." Courtney admitted, adjusting her hat as her stomach made a noise not unlike an intergalactic robot scream. "Actually, I came here to eat something... I should do that." As she strode over to the fridge and began looking through it - students were allowed to do that, weren't they? - Courtney remembered the bulk of Anni's question. "Oh, stuff I like to do... I like, uhm, reading and I'm learning to play chess... Oh, and I like bugs." It went far beyond liking, but Courtney didn't have to mention her creepy power just yet.

Pulling open the bottom drawer, Courtney struck metaphorical gold, pulling out an apple. "Hey, you want anything to eat?" she asked quickly, getting a carton of milk while she was at it. "I think we're allowed to get food out of here."

[Germaine Sharpe]

The opinions Anni held on the aliens, their impending invasion of Earth, and her television way of blocking them out were rational to her. She spent plenty of time mulling it over, thinking up a solution, and formulating a plan to make that solution a reality. She had the ability to shoot acid from her fingertips—why couldn’t there be aliens that probed teenage minds and took control of them? She lived in a world filled with incredible, astonishing things. When she really thought about it, it made rational sense to her (It would be nice if she applied some of this critical thinking to her school work).

Germaine nodded again at Courtney's suggestions. “Yeah, you’re right!” There were hundreds of different abilities out there, quite a few of them involving the mind, and some of them must have the benefit of countering aliens. She tilted her head when Courtney mentioned built in alien blockers. “You mean, like, they can block them with their power, or that they have tin foil plates put in their heads? “ The latter sounded a little off, and a lot painful. Each meaning seemed probable, though. People didn’t take those mental blocking classes for nothing, and injured people got plates put in their head all the time in surgery. “I bet both happen!” She exclaimed with a gasp.

She listened carefully to everything else the other girl had to say. “That’s true. Both the subway thing and the President’s wife thing,” she commented. Anni wasn’t even sure what the President’s wife looked like as she didn’t watch the news, or read the paper, or do any of those political awareness things that kids should really do more of. She wanted to agree, though, if only to be polite.

“Oh? Why not?” she inquired about Courtney not talking to other people, and then rambled on without pausing for breath. “I like to talk to people. Sometimes they have really interesting stuff to say. Sometimes they don’t, but boring stuff’s not as common as the interesting stuff. Yah know?” Gerri stopped talking long enough to pick a corkscrew up off the floor, spin it in her fingers a few times, and throw it down on the counter top. The kitchen may have been a mystery to her, but most of the other parts of campus weren’t. The thirteen-year-old spent more than enough time running around to have most of the place memorized.

The nod she made in response to the confession was cut off as Anni's head snapped back to look in the direction of Courtney’s stomach. “No kiddin’. You sure sound hungry,” she said with a giggle. She wandered over to the fridge and peered over the other girl’s shoulder to see what she had found. “Bugs? You like bugs? That’s kinda weird. I’m terrified of dogs, though, and I guess that’s kinda weird. Everyone else seems to like ‘em just fine, but I sure don’t.”

Instead of answering the question, she stuffed herself into the space next to Courtney and started rummaging around herself. “Sure! I get hungry a lot after exercising. Not because I of my power or anything, I just burn a ton of…uh…those things that people don’t want. Not fat. Starts with a c. Anyway, sure! What’ve they got?” She continued to root around without taking anything, just shifting more jars and boxes of food into places where they shouldn’t be.

“Ah. Never mind,” Gerri finally said, sliding back out of the fridge. “They don’t really have anything to eat.” In reality, there was plenty of good food she could have ate, she was just being a picky eater.