White Rabbit (Malcom)

[Malcom Black]

Malcom knew all about headaches. He’d suffered from them pretty badly when he’d been in school and he’d been practicing, and even when he hadn’t and the books had all gone skittering across the shelves. It hadn’t been a happy situation. He’d taken a while to get the level of control that he had, and he hadn’t had nearly as much luck as Lani, either. In fact, Malcom hadn’t gotten as good of a grasp or as much power as Lani had until he was nearly going to graduate.

He also had a flight instinct. It had taken him years of military training and learning where his priorities lay for that to change. That was the only reason that he was still here, trying to deal with him and trying to get this man to stay still. He realized, with a wry smile, that the kid had realized how much trouble he’d caused. Malcom knew this too and was reflecting just how much he was going to clean up, and what his superior officer was going to say to him if he ever found out about this. It wouldn’t be pleasant. That was why he intended to win and then teach this little bra—shi—kid to do more useful things with his power.

“Like hell I will,” he said grimly, pinning him to the ground and managing to keep him still there, ignoring the various books that were flying around. They were not the important bit. “Look, just admit that you’ve lost, for the sake of both of us, and then I will teach you the REAL way to use that power of yours instead of just running around breaking things and pushing things over. And you want to learn, right? Look, I can teach you a lot of things if you are patient enough. Do you have any interest in learning them, or shall we move onto the doors and the windows next? You realize they’re gonna hang me and then use your guts for garters if they ever find out about this mess.”

[Lani Hunter]

That was the problem with telekinetics, or at least Lani. So focused on moving objects that most of the time he just plain forgot about the potential for a physical attack. Well played security officer. Lani could toss things around aimlessly all day but he lacked focus and control once he had something off of the ground he tended to just throw it. Now he was losing because of that. That and the fact that living things eluded his power. He supposed it was partly a good thing. He didn’t want to know what he would be capable if with the amount of power he had he was also able to move people. His power was reacting at the moment and there wasn’t a coherent thought attached to the part of his mind that controlled his power, that was dangerous, that was how it was the first time it had blasted out of him.

He squirmed and quickly realized that this guy was stronger than he was. That was the reason most of the time he fled instead of fighting, because he wasn’t terribly strong. He was fast and slippery and could fight when cornered but when it came down to situations like this where he was being wrestled to the ground he was helpless. He flailed but he was stuck. He glared up at his elder and bared his teeth in a feral gesture. He hissed when he was told to admit defeat, his poor ego would take a while to recover from that, but the next part of the deal caught his attention and he felt silent and still. He flushed with resentment when the man pointed out his flaws. He hated it when people did that. Trust had never been something that came easy to Lani and he narrowed his eyes skeptically at the man. “You’d teach me? Why would you want to do that?”

Anger and frustration became a simmering emotion and he pulled his power back under control. His eyes narrowed and became sharp with his glare. He ground his teeth and finally with a woebegone sigh admitted defeat. “Fine. I yield, you win.” The words tasted sour in his mouth. “I don’t want these powers,” Lani hissed the logic in his mind telling him he didn’t have a choice but the emotion pleading for someone to take them away. The gravity of the situation became apparent by the security officers worries. It was a gruesome picture he painted but effective. He looked away unable to bring himself to keep his gaze. He sighed heavily. “A deal is a deal, let me up and I’ll help you clean this up.” Yes, he had considered running as soon as he was free, however a feeling of guilt thinking about leaving clean up to this one man overcame that. He gritted his teeth. He didn’t like this whole ‘taking responsibility for his actions’ thing. He raised a brow at the man. “You would really teach me?” Lani was skeptical, the last person who taught him to use his skills had been his boss and Lani refused to bow down to anyone else.

[Malcom Black]

Malcom knew that not expecting physical attacks was a problem with telekinetics, or more specifically, how they thought. The knowledge wasn’t from sparring with others and, to be frank, he probably would have never known it had he gone into something like, say, computer engineering (not that Malcom would have ever gotten into computer engineering, as his solution to most computer glitches was to whap it until it started to work again). But Malcom had chosen the military as a possible career, and as such had wound up learning a lot of things about himself and about his ability. When he’d finally gotten a drill sergeant who’d been willing to experiment with his powers and find out what he could do, Malcom had found that he got so wound up in focusing on pushing things and moving things that he never expected something to come at him physically. It was a pretty bad weakness as they went, and Malcom had spent months—no, years, even—figuring out how to focus on his power and to remain aware of his surroundings enough to know when to step out of the way or when he had an opportunity to fire. Due to this, Malcom was now really good at using his power. And they said men couldn’t multi-task.

He also knew how to use his strengths to their full advantages. Lani was probably quicker than him—had proved that he was—but Malcom was bigger, stronger, more patient and had a hell of a lot more stamina and training. So as Lani squirmed in his grip, he just held him there, focused on keeping him to the ground no matter what was going on around him. No chance of being shot here. He could afford to do this. So in spite of Lani’s hisses and feral gestures, his own face remained a grim mask of concentration until, at last, he stayed still. But even then Malcom only slightly loosened his grip. He didn’t trust this kid any farther than he could throw him.

“’Cause the thought of you running around untrained like you are scares an old vet like me half to death,” was his frank reply. He wouldn’t go into the whole “because I think you’re ready for training” or any of that Yoda-style nonsense. This kid was too much of a skeptic for that. Better to be blunt. “And ‘cause I bet you don’t meet a lot of people who can help you. I know there’s telekinetic trainers, kid, and I know they’re even pretty good, but you’re a dirty fighter, and I bet you need someone who can teach you the dirty tricks. And I can.”

He did ease up a little when the kid said that he’d won and loosened his grip, but still didn’t move off from on top of him. Glad that he’d won, yes, but Malcom did fight dirty and knew very well that someone saying you won wasn’t the same thing as someone giving up. He frowned as the boy said he didn’t want the powers, then shrugged. He couldn’t say that he’d felt the same way. He hadn’t. He’d wanted his powers. “Seems to me you know what to do with them,” he pointed out. “All you need to learn is a bit of control.” He eyed him for a moment longer as he said he’d help, then released him and sat back on his heels. And at Lani’s question, he found himself startled into a laugh. It was part exasperation, part exhaustion, part leftover adrenaline, and part God-knew-what. He bared his teeth in a somewhat feral grin at Lani, then shrugged. “Would you accept my advice? Sure. I’ll give you lessons right now while we’re working on this, because we sure as hell aren’t going to get this done by hand.” He offered his hand. “Name’s Malcom. And you?”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani gritted his teeth and twisted and wriggled. He just couldn’t get free of this guy. It if came to running Lani would probably have him beat but he had never trained his body to do more than be able to lift his own weight and even then it was mostly using momentum. Every time Lani gained ground he lost it before he even realized he had it. The man was patient and Lani was losing his temper, well not that he hadn’t been angry in the first place. It was more frustrating that he couldn’t even get a rise out of him! Though Lani swore and struck the man never wavered from that calm grim exterior. It wasn’t weariness that stopped Lani, rather the acceptance that he was going to get nowhere fighting this man. He might as well suck it up and admit defeat. He narrowed his eyes at the man and jerked slightly wanting a little more freedom than the man’s grip was giving him.

A brow raised and surprise crossed Lani’s face. A vet? This guy was a veteran? What the hell was he doing wrestling angsty teenagers to the ground? At least he was blunt. None of that flowery stuff. He snorted a little in contempt but didn’t comment. He was rather uncontrolled and he was dangerous. At least the man said he was afraid, Lani might have only become more angry if he was told he was dangerous yet again. There was a point in the man’s speech when Lani finally accepted that the man was someone to be respected. He would have crossed his arms if he had access to moving them. “Psh, they’re all the same.” Lani retorted. He considered protesting that he wasn’t a dirty fighter but that was a lie. When it came down to it if it came to him going to prison or not he would scratch and bite and do pretty much anything to get away. “Fine, so you can teach me the dirty tricks,” he said shrugging as best he could, “But how do I know you’re not gonna turn out to be one of those cautious ones. They don’t let me do anything.” He hissed with resentment. They never let him push himself or even try something different all because he was too strong. They were afraid of what would happen. Afraid Lani wouldn’t be afraid of his power any longer and learn how to use it against them, perhaps.

He did know what to do with them, that was for sure. Now if only he could accomplish the how, that would be nice. He let out a bitter laugh. “Well thank you Captain Obvious,” he drawled, “I never would have thought control was what I was missing!” He rolled his eyes determined to at least be a little upset about this. Lani matched his eyes and narrowed them. Not in contempt but rather in wariness. He still didn’t trust him, though there was certainly a large amount of respect growing for him. Partially ‘cause he didn’t put up with Lani’s antics. Lani breathed a sigh of relief as he was released and sat up curling his legs under himself. He hissed a little and rubbed at his temple. He scowled up at the man when he started to laugh. He didn’t think this was very funny. Lani contemplated the man for a moment when that feral smile came around. Perhaps he had misjudged the man at first. He seemed a whole lot more like the kind of people Lani liked than the other security guards.

Lani hesitated then answered in almost a small resigned voice. “Yes Sir, I think I might need some advice.” He didn’t like admitting he was failing at this but then again it wasn’t really a secret. He looked around with a wince, well this was going to be fun. His eyes turned back to Malcom. Lani took his hand. “Lani,” he replied and waited a moment to see if there was any recognition. He had never met this man before but that didn’t mean he didn’t know Lani. Lani was rather a thorn in the side of the security here. He really hoped Malcom had never looked around at his rather… thick file. Lani had a whole slew of missed detentions and skipped classes and training practice. Not to mention the multitude of times he was cited for sneaking out. He looked around again and sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.”

[Malcom Black]

Malcom never understood why people got confused when he said he was a vet. Yeah, he’d been in the army. Yeah, he’d served ten years in it and five of them had been during a pretty violent war. And so what? Why did that mean that he wasn’t going to get a job doing security? He was good at it. He was good at wrestling kids to the ground, he was good at fighting, and he was good with his ability. So yeah, he was going to stick with being a security officer and be good at his job until he could find something else to do. Something that might actually give him a chance to sit back and kick up his heels for a little. But in the meantime, he was just going to have to manage.

“Yeah, sometimes they are all the same,” he said with a shrug. He was still out of breath. “But some of ‘em are useful. You should try listening to them from time to time. Some of them know what they’re doing. They trained me.” He wasn’t sure if this really made much of an impression to the positive, but considering Malcom had beat Lani—not counting that he was significantly younger and less experienced, mind—he thought that it should make some kind of impact at least.

He met Lani’s gaze evenly, didn’t flinch at the comment, and then rolled his eyes. “Is that what’s going on?” he inquired dryly. “Look, if you want to stick with the sarcasm, that’s fine. I don’t care. I happen to like sarcasm. But if you really want to keep using it, you’re going to use it while you work.” The sir made his brows climb, but he shrugged his shoulders and gave up on trying to figure it out.

Which he did, actually, as soon as the kid said his name. He sat back on his heels and stared at him, brows climbing. Malcom did read files. It was a habit. When he’d taken the night shift, he’d wanted to know what he was going to get into and figured this was the best way to do it. So he’d studied up a lot of the files—or at least the biggest ones—and had decided that was a good step. And it made sense. Blonde, telekinetic, clearly afraid—or defiant—of authority…yup. That made sense that it was Lani Hunter.

“You’ve got a file thicker than my brother’s was,” he remarked. “And that takes some doing, because my brother had superspeed and so could get into a lot of trouble really fast.” He didn’t say it with any heat, though, and instead offered Lani an almost cheerful grin. “Good to meet you. And I guess we’ll start…with the bookshelves.” He didn’t know where else TO start. He doubted they’d get it all fixed up, but he’d cross that line when he came to it. Which was hopefully never as Malcom intended to leave no paper trail indicating they’d come to the library at all. The less they could trace this back to him the happier he’d be. “We’ll start by pushing them up together. That should save us both a headache and teach us a little something about control. And by us, I mean you.” He flashed him a grin again and climbed to his feet. “Speaking of which, how is your head? I’m betting you took some painkillers earlier on, but you need any more, or anything else, before we get started on this?”

[Lani Hunter]

A small smile crept over Lani’s lips as he thought about Malcom being a vet. He could see it. The man didn’t take any crap but at the same time he knew how to fight. Not fight like the fancy shows with rules and etiquette. He fought to survive that was clear. None of the hand waving and dramatic posing but he moved when he needed to and struck often. Lani’s smile came from the idea that he had almost gotten the better of the man. He felt a little better knowing that if he was going to lose to anyone it was going to be someone far his superior. Lani carefully kept himself from being awed by the man. It wasn’t hard, because after all he was the enemy when it came down to cops and robbers. There were quite a few detectives from Boston whom Lani had respected. They had been the ones that got close, still not close enough for Lani to be in any danger but it was thrilling to have a challenge every once in a while.

Lani blinked and looked at Malcom, surprised that he agreed with him. Lani scowled unwilling to believe him. They certainly weren’t pretending to be any different. Sometimes he felt like he could replace faces and it would be the same voice and the same words spouting out of every one of them. Unconvinced Lani just shrugged. On one hand, Malcom had beaten him, but there was more than telekinesis involved. Lani still had a small part of him that believed if he hadn’t been physically attacked that he would have won. Another part of Lani had a stubborn idea that he could do this on his own. “Then they have become cautious with age,” Lani said making a subtle jab at Malcom’s age. The security officer wasn’t very old but it made Lani feel better. He waved his hand. “One mistake and they act like you’re going to bring down the entire school.” Lani was powerful, but not that powerful. The last time he had tried to move a building it had been on accident and he felt like his brain was bleeding out his ears.

The thief tossed a glare in the guard’s direction when his sarcasm was met with little response other than scolding. He leaned back on his hands sulking. Well one thing was for sure Malcom was intent on making sure that Lani kept up his side of the deal. Clean up the mess. Well that was certainly a task easier said than done. He shifted and the flat object against his back reminded him that he needed to keep his mouth shut and do what this man wanted him to do and get out before Malcom realized he wasn’t just a vandal. He started trying to figure out how he could get rid of it without the man realizing it. That would have to wait until later, right now Lani felt the pressure of Malcom’s gaze even as he averted his eyes to look across the room.

Silence followed his name and Lani looked up. He winced inwardly but a sly grin formed on his face. The recognition was there and Lani wasn’t sure how Malcom was going to take it. Lani raised a brow at the comment and a little smirk of pride snuck its way onto his face. Well, everyone had to be good at something. His eyes narrowed at the grin he was given. How strange… If Lani didn’t know better he would say that Malcom was pleased. But why would someone be pleased to meet someone with a thick file. “Pleasure,” Lani said with a cocky smile. It was every thief’s dream to be recognized. Lani was one of the greats in Boston, but then that was only with the underworld. If someone from the police department met him they would have him in cuffs before he could finish saying his name. It was a dream, but all thieves knew it was dangerous. Lani took a lot of risks because he felt he could. He was taking a risk again. The pleasure at being recognized was something he loathed that he had. But on the other hand he was a rather thick file.

Lani nodded and look around at the carnage. This was going to be a long night. He looked at Malcom still at a loss. The bookcases were either lying on one side or leaning precariously against each other. There were spots in the ground where it was clear they went but Lani wasn’t sure he would be able to lift and move all of them. He raised a brow and a little bit of hope grew in him at the word us. He wasn’t really in the learning mood. He was hoping that he could get this cleaned up and they could start anew. But no apparently everything had to be a lesson. Hope slipped away when Malcom gave him a smile and informed him it was his task. Lani groaned and thumped his head on his knees. He looked up at Malcom and gave a little grin. “Like Athena’s gonna jump out.” He joked lightly and dug around in his jacket pocket for a container.

He swallowed three and shook his head a little. “You mean before I get started on this?” Lani challenged. He followed Malcom to his feet and dusted himself off. He lifted a bookcase without waiting to be told and it lurched to its feet swaying a little as it thumped down. Three more of those and he might as well not have bothered with the medication. Lani was still in the hand-waving stage. It made it easier for him to visualize what he was doing. “Control,” he muttered to himself and narrowed his eyes at the bookcases. Now he had to move a bookcase that had flown. He moved it and it wobbled terribly above the ground. It came in too fast and knocked into the bookcase he was trying to put it next too and knocked the other one over again. His teeth gritted and he blurted out a curse and his temper cut short. His powers and his emotions were pretty much the same thing and as his rage boiled over so did his power. It kicked up books and the doors of the library flung open and closed again. He clamped down on his power and practically growled.

[Malcom Black]

Of course everything was going to be a lesson. How else could it be when they had this much work to do? Malcom was very keen on practical lessons. If it wasn’t useful, he didn’t do it. It was the most rational and reasonable way for him to proceed. And by reasonable, he meant in part that he was very much looking forward to using this to exact some peculiar sort of revenge. He knew Lani’s head hurt, and he figured he was going to be doing most of the work, although his head wasn’t in much better shape. But he could do physical labor as well as working on it with his telekinesis, so he was willing to put in the effort. And after this, he really hoped that his shift was going to be over. And if it wasn’t, he’d just beg off on a headache. It would even be true by the end of the evening.

He did notice Lani’s smile as he confirmed his veteran status and puzzled over it. Why did the kid find that such an achievement? Maybe he was just happy he hadn’t been pinned down by some pansy (although Malcom had been called that once or twice in his life, he’d admit). But he did recognize the smile on his face at Malcom’s recognition—that was born from pride, indeed. Pride of a man who considered that his job had been well accomplished and was proud to be recognized for it. Yup, this kid liked his reputation. Well, he wasn’t to be surprised. But he did let himself smile a little at Lani’s joke and watched him take the pills with slightly narrowed eyes, then shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess. Let’s take it slow for now, huh? Slow.” He shifted away from Lani to allow him to make any hand gestures that he might’ve needed and watched, with his hands folded behind his back. One bookshelf was already moving up as he watched, and then another until it began to hit the others. Damn it all. Malcom swore softly under his breath, and then shifted forward ever so slightly, as if bracing himself, and the domino of bookshelves falling stopped in mid-air. Malcom’s teeth were clenched, and his whole body was as tight as a spring, but he held it. He completely ignored Lani as he slowly began pushing them back up into their correct position. It hurt like hell. His own telekinesis, although far-reaching and well controlled, was limited by his own personal strength, and although he kept himself in good shape for this exact reason, this particular feat was at the very edge of what he could do. But he did get them upright with a gasp and just barely managed to steady them as they swayed. Once he was sure that he’d regained his senses, he glanced at Lani.

“Books,” he said. He was still panting, but cleared his throat in an attempt to make it better “You have to start with books. You keep up with this and I’m going to go insane trying to clean up after you. Look, try to start with things that are farther away from each other. Small thing, one at a time, like reaching with a hand. You’re not Magneto for Pete’s sake. You don’t blow thing up. It’s a muscle and a skill like any other. Stop trying so hard to have it apply to everything, will you? Now try on those books over there—” he nodded toward the books on the ground “—and try piling them up in order, then we can try putting them on the shelf. Got it? I’m gonna straighten up the bookshelves. Smaller things’ll improve your focus. Go on.” And he turned to focus on straightening up all the bookshelves, one at a time.

"So where you from, kid?" he asked over his shoulder.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani glanced at Malcom a little scowl on his face. There had to be some other motive in here, of course revenge would be expected. Lani had only helped destroy a significant portion of the library. Honestly Lani didn’t blame himself, he felt guilty but if Malcom hadn’t pressured him and made him want to run none of this would have happened. Strange logic, he knew but he wasn’t about to admit that. His head was throbbing, the medication doing little to help his headaches. There was only a certain amount he could do before the medication stopped helping. He didn’t want to come off like an addict, which he wasn’t. But they did have warnings on the bottle to not take more than ten or something in a twenty four hour period. Well Lani was far past that taking four almost every five hours. And he was fine. He wasn’t dependent, he just needed help controlling his power. Once he had his power controlled he would start weaning himself off of the medication. At least that was the plan.

Slow. He repeated in his head. But Lani never did anything slow. At least not when it came to his power. He simply thought about the bookcase being here rather than there and it tried to make the leap immediately. He looked over at the older telekinetic as he moved away. Lani did need quite a bit of room, he was very much into the handwaving stage. Eventually he would be able to not even give a hint he was doing something. Then the whole thing went downhill… or rather off the side of a cliff. But they didn’t fall. Lani looked at Malcom and winced inwardly. What were Malcom’s limitations? Lani hadn’t found his yet. He didn’t have enough control to push himself to the limit but it seemed like the bookshelves were getting the better of the other telekinetic. Lani did feel a small amount of pride that he was as strong as he was but then he was severely envious of the control his elder had. Lani back off as he was being ignored and he glanced at the door. He was seriously considering making a run for it, but he wasn’t sure Malcom would be so lenient a second time, especially not after he had offered to help. The bookcases swayed and Lani felt as if he swayed with them. He looked down at his feet not willing to look Malcom in the eye after that failure. If only he had control, he could have this room righted in moments. But no, he was new at this. He often wondered if he was even supposed to have this power. It had been so late in its manifestation and had been under great stress that it had come out. Perhaps if he hadn’t been there that night, if he hadn’t almost gotten caught he wouldn’t have ever gotten this power. And he wouldn’t be here right now.

Lani huffed a little and crossed his arms looking back up at Malcom. Start small, sure. He winced at the comment of having to clean up after him. “Sorry,” he muttered sullenly. He took on an expression of annoyance but nevertheless he listened carefully to the advice. He rubbed his palms on his pants and shook his head. “I’m not trying to,” he growled, “I can’t help it. It just tries to grab everything!” He rubbed his temples in frustration. Right a muscle. That was going to be fun. He wasn’t even sure how to work this muscle. Now that he was kicked off of bookcase duty Lani sighed and resigned himself to the easier task. “Right, right, I’m on it,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He lifted his hands and directed his power to grab the books. His power grabbed them with great enthusiasm and the farthest books came whizzing at him.

He pressed them back trying to keep his power from doing what it wanted and not what he wanted. They settled a little but lurched clumsily through the air and dropped on the ground in a pile in front of him. He glanced at Malcom surprised by the question. “I thought you ready my file,” he grinned making a small jab at the man then supplied him with the answer, “Boston.” He glanced over at Malcom curiously. “You’re a veteran, what war?” He asked in return. The books settled into a rhythm as Lani’s thoughts calmed. They bounced in front of him he read the number and set them into a pile in order. He hit a rocky patch and as he reached for the farthest books he yanked on them and he actually had to duck under one that tried to take off his head. He tried to swing it back around but it went wide and… oops. Lani cringed when the book smacked Malcom in the back of the head. “Sorry!” He cried.

[Malcom Black]

((I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry. SO SORRY.>>))


Yes, revenge was part of the plan. But only a small part. Malcom didn’t consider himself petty, but he did tend to consider himself as…judicially allocating punishment. And his main goal was to teach Lani while cleaning up and saving both their asses from a load of paperwork and a load of trouble. That wasn’t so bad of a goal, wasn’t it? He ran his hand through his hair as he watched Lani work.

Malcom had never been the strongest telekinetic. He knew that. Being limited to your own strength meant that he wasn’t going to end up being able to throw around cars like they did in the movies, but that was fine because he never ever wanted to throw around cars in his life. He noticed Lani not looking at him as he managed to get it all back upright and was amazed that the kid hadn’t just run away in the middle of it. That was what he would’ve done, had he been a little smarter when he’d been in school.

“No you’re not,” he informed him wryly, sticking his hands in his pockets in order to try to ignore the fact that he had sweaty palms from trying to mentally push up several damn bookshelves. But he shook his head as Lani spoke. True, his telekinesis did tend to reach for everything—or had when he’d begun, It didn’t these days because Malcom had sat and worked on it for hours and hours all so he could graduate on time, even though he’d manifested his ability extremely late. So to Lani’s statement, he just shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s gonna try and grab everything, kid, but you gotta just focus and pay attention and don’t let it. You’re the boss, remember, not it. You’re the one who has control, genius.” But he said it without any heat. Malcom threw out insults like politicians threw out compliments—with no meaning and with absolutely automatic, because when you had nine siblings, it was definitely true that you either insulted with the rest of the gang or you had to hide and cry. He’d tried the second one. It hadn’t really worked out for him and because he wasn’t much of one for sitting and brooding, he’d promptly given up and had taken to insults with the best of them. “Now c’mon. Try it again. One thing at a time, okay?” He ducked reflexively at the book that came whizzing toward them, and when he got up again, his voice might’ve cracked slightly. “Slowly, okay?”

He made a face at Lani’s back—yup, because he was that mature—when the boy brought up the fact that he had forgotten where the boy was from. “Look, kid, I’ve read dozens of people’s files—why should I remember yours specifically, if I may? I didn’t think I’d have to deal with you until today.” He shifted so he was leaning against something and resumed focusing on putting the books away, glancing over as Lani spoke. “Afghan. Five years. Now that was a fun situation.” The thin line of his mouth indicated that his wry tone wasn’t entirely accurate, but he wasn’t going to worry about it. He doubted the kid would ask more questions. He had just turned to continue returning books when he heard a whizzing, and turned around…only to get clobbered on the head. “Jesus H. Christ!” There were some worse words that he said as he knelt, hands clasped around his head. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he had to force himself to relax. It had just been a book! What kind of vet was he if he had panic attacks about a God-forsaken book? He climbed to his feet, cleared his throat and tugged his shirt straight.

“Right then. Maybe we…uh…maybe we should start with the basics? Kid, what do you know about your telekinesis?”

[Lani Hunter]

((It's ok, stuff happens, don't worry about it. )

Lani had to do this, he might be a thief but he was a man of his word. Well most of the time. Besides this guy was offering him help and a way out of trouble and he was not about to spit on that. But then he was still very foolish. He didn’t notice that he was trusting this guy to keep his word. Looking around the library he winced a little inwardly. Yeah the fact that he would probably get skinned alive for this little stunt was also a deciding factor. What he didn’t trust Malcom to do was not throw him under the bus. After all Lani was indeed this power and had his power really gone haywire like it so often did it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that Lani had been here lost his marbles and left the wreckage. He bit his lip, maybe if Odion could see this he wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about helping him master his power.

Lani was really lucky that he wasn’t limited by his physical strength. He wasn’t strong, he relied on being quick and slippery. He certainly could never had lifted a car or even one of these bookcases on his own. Maybe that was the problem, he was used to how much things felt in his hands and in his power they were hardly a problem so he had a tendency to fling them instead of pick them up. It was like the time you pick up a box expecting bricks and it was full of feathers and one nearly sends the box flying because the force they are using is for the bricks not the feathers. Only his power didn’t have the control to keep it from going flying in a random direction.

He shrugged and gave Malcom a sly smile like ‘you caught me’. Lani liked to think that this was an isolated incident, and had Malcom been a normal person or a cop Lani could have been gone in an instant. As the man shook his head Lani started to grow angry, yeah maybe if he had had years to work on his power as well he would have figured it out as well. He was trying to get to that point, but everyone was standing in his way. Including himself. Mostly because he was afraid of his power and it was using that against him. He would be surprised to hear that he wasn’t the only telekinetic whose power manifest so late, though his explosive power might have had something to do with that. He had never had to use it and then as his terror of prison he had tapped into it and as if it had been chipping at a wall for years and Lani had turned inward and helped open it from the outside and the channel had snapped open and the power coming through was just as painful for the host as it was for the people avoiding flying cars. “Right, focus,” he sighed and sent a glare at Malcom. He wasn’t so sure that he was the one in control all the time. He turned away to work on the books and rolled his eyes. The books came flying by and though Lani had a grip on them the control was hardly something to marvel at, or unless it was it was to marvel at the lack of control. It was probably a very good thing Malcom had good reflexes. He ignored Malcom now doing things his way. Books floats around everywhere at least more slowly than a speeding bullet now and his mind being occupied on the task helped him to focus his power.

A smirk flashed on his face at the comment question. He wondered absently if this man had ever dealt with Taitum before the other security guard had left. He chose not to answer the question but rather the statement. “That’s foolish,” he said with a hidden smile, “You work nights and I work nights, chances are that our paths would have crossed eventually.” Not that Lani had expected or was even mildly happy about having been caught tonight. “And don’t call me ‘kid’,” he added. At least he wasn’t trying to go anywhere tonight, rather he had met his recent quota and had just been bored and his fingers were itching to clutch something that wasn’t his. Now he glanced back at Malcom just a touch of sympathy and respect in his eyes. “Why?” Lani said his brow creasing; he didn’t understand people like that. Yeah he strove to protect people and would be there when they needed him but never in his life had he ever understood why someone would put their life on the line for people they didn’t even know. “I mean why did you join the army?” The question Lani was really itching to ask was why he had left. Lani dropped the book startled more by Malcom’s reaction than the actual attack book. He honestly felt bad now, they had just been talking about war and it only made sense that someone who had been in war for five years would have some sort of traumatic memories.

Lani’s cold eyes watched Malcom recover and decided after weighing his options to not comment on the panic attack he had just witnessed. Chances were he was lucky Malcom’s power didn’t also freak out. So he let the man regain his composure as if he hadn’t noticed anything. Lani ducked his head in apology and couldn’t hide that he was ashamed that he power was crazy. He rolled his eyes. “I’ve got a name,” he said sourly before addressing the question at hand. Now he chuckled a little bit and shrugged. “Not much, I know that it’s kind of parasitic though.” He debated it and decided against telling this man that it was so tied in with his emotions he wasn’t sure he could separate them. “And it has this awful habit of touching things when my mind wanders.”

[Malcom Black]

“And you keep tabs on all the security personnel, then?” Malcom didn’t mean to sound tart, but he couldn’t help it. He knew he wasn’t a great security officer. Hell, he wasn’t great at anything that he did. But he tried hard, he read as many files as he could so he knew what he was getting into, and he tried not to give the kids too hard of a time because he knew what it was like to be a teenager who not only had to deal with puberty, but also the fact that your puberty could punch holes in the wall when you weren’t paying attention or even getting stuck in a wall if you got too distracted. No, he preferred to be kind because he got it, and he’d prefer being known as the one who was too nice than the hardass.

Although he had known Taitum. The other security guard had always given him the creeps, but that was life, he supposed. Malcom wasn’t much of one for sneaking about, and it hadn’t helped that Taitum had seemed very manipulative. And Malcom was many things, but he definitely wasn’t that.

“How should I know you worked nights?” he asked. “Don’t you have some kind of curfew? Clearly, I’m not the only security guard who doesn’t do my job well if you get away with it that often.” He didn’t say this aloud, but he made a mental note to put out an alert for this kid. If this was the kind of thing he got away with often…well, it was obviously time to work on getting that fixed. It wasn’t anything personal, it was just that Malcom didn’t trust him farther than he could throw him, and reflected that the kid seemed like somewhat of a shifty character. With a history of thieving. What guy with half a brain wouldn’t make a note for tabs to be kept?

He rolled his eyes. He’d been hearing that a lot lately. Then again, he said it a lot. Perhaps it wasn’t fair to get grumpy about it—after all, he wasn’t the one getting called a pet name all the time. “Sorry, ki—sorry. I call everyone that. Look, it’s that or some ridiculous pet name. That’s what I do to my siblings. I’ve got nine of them. I’ll do my best.”

Lani’s next question, however, made him stop dead, items still suspended as he thought about it. No one had ever asked him why. At the time, they’d just ben grateful to get volunteers and no one had ever questioned why he’d wanted to do it. There were plenty of good reasons, of course: serving your country, defending against foreign foes, helping during emergencies, so on. He supposed that was why no one had ever asked.

“I dunno,” he said, slowly. “I think it was because, at the time, I was kinda lost.” That was frighteningly honest, but he felt like he had to work it out verbally. “And they said the army was a good place to spend your time trying to figure it out. Gave you good skills and such.” But then he had to snort. “Not like I’ve done anything—anyways. Shouldn’t be telling you this. It was a good experience, for a while. Taught me a lot of stuff. But word of advice—don’t go joining any life-threatening organizations unless you’re real sure.” He figured this kid wouldn’t mind a little black humor.

At least he hadn’t tried to comment on that episode. He was grateful for it. He wasn’t sure what he would’ve said if he had mentioned something. Instead, he straightened, tugged his clothes straight, and cleared his throat. “I know. Lani, right? Look, why don’t you try a visual or something? I always pictured myself as the goddess Kali—four arms—and added on whatever I needed later. Start small. Your skill seems to be the strength of the telekinesis, so going everywhere is a normal thing, because it’s trying to do everything. Don’t let it. Practice self-control. I bet you’re good at that.” 

[Lani Hunter]

Lani looked at Malcom with a telling smile. “Why on earth would you think that?” he said instead of giving him the answer. Of course Lani kept tabs on security. How else did this guy think he was able to sneak out so much? Lani was good, but he was good because he knew his enemy. Sad as it was Lani was wary of the older man simply because of his job, and as he would be wary of Lani because of his. It was just the way things went. Cops and robbers didn’t mix and when they did the result was always dangerous. He was glad that this guy wasn’t such a hardass. He probably would have run away if that had happened. But no Malcom had proven to be pleasant enough. Well perhaps not pleasant, but he also wasn’t trying to shove Lani into one of the holding cells. Lani would really have to give a show of power if that happened. Lani might lack control but he made up for it in blunt strength and Lani could move just enough fast enough to overwhelm Malcom. At least if he wanted to hurt the former soldier.

Oh Taitum, Lani had to admit that part of his missed the crazy man but the other stronger part was very relieved. His life was so much easier now. His job was easier to perform and he didn’t need to pull bigger heists because he was tied down. Lani shrugged and answered with a smile. “What’s a curfew?” He asked a sly grin on his face showing that he knew exactly what Malcom was talking about, he just plain didn’t care. “No, sir, I just don’t sleep well, so I’m prone to wanderings.” Lani said innocently. If he wanted to go through all the bureaucracy to get Lani under the radar then so be it. But would have to do very well if he wanted something done before Lani graduated next year. Really it was too bad because Lani knew people who walked free because the system took too long, didn’t have enough money or thought they weren’t worth the effort. He was pretty sure police officers got very miffed when that happened.

Lani if he knew what Malcom was thinking would have said something to prove his innocence. But really he just wanted to be left alone. But then it was times like this and having to ask permission to see his sister that got him riled up and so he extracted revenge in proving that they couldn’t stop him. Lani raised a brow his eyes lighting with humor. He smiled a little as he corrected himself. He made a mock wince. “Eh, if that’s the case… but you know you could always just call me Lani.” He said with a random gesture, “Its only two syllables and really not that hard to remember.” He shrugged; at least he didn’t think so. He really didn’t see why people had a problem with it.

Lani worked on getting the books organized as the conversation lulled. He looked at a few of the titles and marked down interesting ones that he might want to read on a rainy day. He was super conscious of the book resting against his back. It could really help him. He was careful to keep from touching it and he was glad that his jacket hid any hint of it. Unless Malcom knew to look for it he wouldn’t try. After all, Lani was just some punk wasn’t he? Not a thief or anything. Just a regular teenager with a terrible sense of what was right, hatred of authority, and rebellion.

Malcom answered and Lani looked up interested in his answer. It was interesting to hear a different side to the story. Lani had always heard how great the military was and how it helped people figure things out. It was different. He was glad that he wasn’t lied to though, considering he was thinking about it. Now he felt like he should write it off. After all, they would probably use him and his power until he wasted away to nothing. Lani breathed out air in a soft laugh. “You regret it?” He asked. He nodded a little and looked back at the books still scattered all around. Well that was ironic. He had joined a life-threatening organization when he was just about twelve. “Gotcha, well don’t expect me to run off to join the army anytime soon.” He said with a smile, “I rather like to keep myself in one piece.” He paused then looking back up at Malcom said, “Thank you.”

Lani raised a brow and nodded as the man verified his name. He couldn’t help snickering at the image of Malcom as a blue skinned arachnid. He shook his head and forced himself to stop laugh. “Alright, a visual.” Well that wasn’t too hard. His power was just… like a… sort of. Alright he had no clue what to visualize it as. But he certainly wasn’t going to imagine his power as a bloodthirsty Hindu goddess. That would not give his power the right idea. So Lani shifted so he was cross-legged resting his elbow on his knee. He hummed a little at he thought only half listening to him speak. He was right, Lani was strong but he didn’t have focus. He laughed a little unsure if that last part was a joke or not, but he found it funny. Lani didn’t have self-control. At least not when it came to shiny things. But he sighed and closed his eyes. He tried to visualize it as something but all he could really think of was that it was some force. After a few minutes of imagining he had come up with the hydra, randomly the mati but that turned his mind to Odion’s blue eyes so he shook that right off. “Yeah, I got nothing.” He said dropping his hand and looking up at Malcom.

[Malcom Black]

That answer didn’t even deserve a return, so Malcom didn’t give him one, continuing to turn his attention about to the various things in the library that still needed to be straightened up. He’d managed to push up the rest of the bookshelves with quite a lot of effort and was now working on returning the various books to their shelves. Since this couldn’t be done in order unless he actually looked at the books, he had to walk to his targets in order to see what he was doing and make sure that everything was put back in place. To save time, he stacked them up sequentially on the ground and then shunted the whole thing back onto the shelves—something that wouldn’t have been possible without the telekinesis, considering the book stack could nearly be his entire height at times.

“By wandering do you mean breaking into libraries and possibly trying to break out of them?” Malcom asked wryly as he was doing this. He could feel the tension building up in his shoulders and a throbbing beginning right at the center of his forehead, but he did his best to brush it away because now wasn’t the time to show the kid weakness. Actually, that was a very odd thought, wasn’t it? Why would he want to make sure that the kid still thought respectfully of him?

Because one day, once he was trained, Lani was going to be a much better telekinetic than Malcom was. And because he’d gotten the impression that this boy had been on the wrong side of the tracks, he knew that it was a bad time to mess with people who’d dealt with that. Malcom had seen bad stuff too, but there was a difference between seeing bad stuff when you were at war with someone and fighting people who were supposed to be on your side.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Guess it could be worse. Sorry. I’ll work on it.” He gave a wry little salute—perfectly done because old habits definitely died hard—and turned his attention back. He was grateful when Lani didn’t send any more books whizzing at his head and allowed him to just focus on the work. Most of the items were already back on the shelves. They only had a little ways to go, which was wonderful because Malcom thought the end of his shift was happening pretty soon and he wanted to have a shot. Or several shots, preferably of something extremely strong.

Malcom’s lips twitched down into a frown. He knew he shouldn’t be trying to talk anyone out of going into the military, because they needed the men even now, and Lani had the potential for the military to make him a very good man. On the other hand, it was dangerous and if you were just looking for someplace to make you a better person…it was very dangerous. The US seemed war-obsessed these days: there was a chance that Lani would be sent into something he had no desire to get into. So he just shrugged for his question.

“Just don’t tell the army I said so, okay?” He offered him a thin smile. “And don’t dismiss it just yet. It may not’ve been the thing for me, but you never know. You might find you like it. It’s a good place to go if you have a purpose.” Otherwise…perhaps not. But he’d had good memories along with the bad, so he couldn’t say the whole experience had been a nightmare.

It was pretty amusing to watch as the boy tried to focus on making himself into some multi-limbed creature, and Malcom wondered if he looked the same while he was doing this. He hoped not. He’d tried really hard to become unobtrusive with his powers and had mostly succeeded.

“M’kay. Let’s try this again.” He settled on the floor next to Lani in the old-fashioned meditating pose and offered him a smile. “So. What were you picturing? Did you try something simple, even, like just…trying to picture where all of your power is reaching? From what it sounds like, it acts more like a squid than a Hindu goddess of death.”

Yes, Malcom had always found his visualization ironic too.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani raised a finger pausing the man in his accusations. “I was on my way out when you showed up,” he pointed out, “I would have left quietly and none of this would have happened if you had let me.” He was not going to take the blame for this, though it was rightfully his. There didn’t have to be a wrecked library. Malcom had himself to blame for this, at least Lani thought. Lani was impressed with Malcom’s accomplishments. Lani’s power had already shown that the level of control needed to set things right again was currently beyond him. Lani was jealous. How could such control escape him? If he couldn’t find control then all of the power he had would be for naught.

In Lani’s eyes they were not on the same side. Whether or not Malcom knew that, Lani did. Malcom was one of the good guys, Lani was one of the bad guys. They could never changed, they could never be on the same side. Lani wondered if Malcom had always been this person, if he had grown into him or if this man had always been there. There was so much uncertainty that came with age. Lani didn’t even know if he would live to grow old. If he saw his forties he would consider himself lucky. Because if it wasn’t the power that killed him it would be the people on his side who did. Friendly fire, indeed. Maybe that was why things seemed easier for the people on the other side. People on Lani’s side were always fighting each other, they couldn’t organize because egos were too large and too easily bruised.

Lani made a face at him. It wasn’t the first time his name had been made fun of. Lani wasn’t a typical name, in fact it wasn’t even a considered a strictly male name. He had looked it up once, apparently it mean sky and was Hawaiian, why his mother had chosen that one instead of something else he will never know. A brow rose at the salute he was given, interesting. Couldn’t even get out of that habit. “Thanks,” he said just as flatly. He wasn’t willing to change his name. He happened to like his name and anyone who didn’t could just as easily be ignored. Really they weren’t worth his time. Though that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get them back for their wise cracks.

It was probably for the best. The nation was at war and someone with Lani’s ability would probably be used until he was run into the ground and then probably squeeze some more out of him. In honesty he could see why Malcom would leave. They probably had done the same to him. It wasn’t as if they would do it on purpose but, really given their talents there wasn’t anything else they could do. Well, Lani wasn’t prepared to fight for that. He wanted to fight for the people he loved, defend them. But he wanted to defend them from the real enemies. Those that lived close to home. He smiled at Malcom thankful for his honesty. “No worries, eh, if I go to the Army then there really is no other hope for me.” He nodded. Last resort. Right now it was looking very likely. If he didn’t want to be a thief for the rest of his life then the army was really his only option. After all, what college would want a failure? What business would want a felon? He shook his head and made a face at Malcom. “I don’t think so,” he said, “I don’t do well with authority.” The irony of that statement made Lani grin impishly.

Lani had to admit that he was afraid of being so close to this guy. He could grab him from here easily and that had been how he had been overpowered last time. “I was picturing the hydra,” he admitted shamefully. He shook his head, not simple. Lani laughed a little. “Yeah I’m gonna try to avoid imagining myself as the anything of death. A squid huh?” He smiled and mimicked Malcom’s pose without thinking about it. Lani was a terrible student but he would at least try. He imagined himself as a squid and his power stretched out in a million different directions but none of them very helpful. It felt strange, wrong. “I don’t think a squid is good, it feels floppy.” He said for lack of a better way to describe it. He needed something with a little more control, a little more umph. Maybe the hydra was it. But the hydra was violent. He frowned and closed his eyes. His power rushed out at everything feeling it for a moment and moving on. Then something strange happened. His power spread out like a liquid and Lani could paint an image of the room in his head. “It’s a fluid,” Lani said abruptly his eyes snapping open with shock.

[Malcom Black]

“If I had let you get away with illegally breaking and entering, not to mention breaking curfew,” was Malcom’s retort. He’d had these kind of arguments so often with his siblings that he could do them in his sleep—and almost was, to be frank. He kept yawning. The last time he’d yawned, it had been so wide that his jaw had cracked. Whoops. Oh well. There were worst things, he supposed. In any case, there was no way in all of the eight—seven? Whatever—rings of hell that Malcom was taking responsibility for the mess. He’d tried to give Lani a chance to give in quietly. He probably would’ve sent him off with a warning. But no! Instead the kid had tried to run. And then not only run, but he’d tried to fight him off too! It was exasperating. In any case, he and Lani could agree on one thing: neither expected to live very long. Malcom had been surprised he’d lived this long, to be frank. Military men didn’t last that long—especially from the early years of the Afghan war.

Malcom wasn’t making fun of Lani’s name. Coming from a man whose middle name was Isha, he could hardly comment on anything. He’d just been confirming it because it was the way he remembered. It had also been a joke about changing his name, but he was beginning to recognize that Lani thought he was taking it seriously. “Look, I’m just joking. Don’t take me seriously, all right? No one else does.”

Judging by the nod, Lani really meant that, and Malcom sighed. “They’re pretty good to metas,” he offered. “They were good to me. I told my sergeant about my ability, and he didn’t push me into anything. He only did what I wanted to.” And his powers had been trained to almost perfection there. Well, as perfect as telekinesis could get. It was the focus he’d had to learn—the focus of when everything else was going wrong, noisy and exploding, he could manage to unlock a door if he just had the right focus. Or the fact that he could yank a man out of a hiding spot once he knew he was there. It’d been pretty heady.

Also terrifying as hell, but that had been later, when the military had actually gone to war.

“Anyways. It’s not for anyone. And I couldn’t tell about the authority thing.” Malcom’s voice was dry. “Really. Wouldn’t have guessed at all.” But he was smiling, inviting Lani in on the joke.

Malcom had his eyes open, continuing to move the books around idly, as Lani went through power…uh, manifestations. He was grateful telekinetic strands couldn’t run into each other, or he would’ve been in a lot more trouble. He glanced over at Lani at the statement, and then smiled.

“’Cause a liquid’s less floppy than a squid,” he remarked. “Totally. Anyways, that’s a step. Now, see what you can do with it. You can direct a liquid, so try channeling it or something.’ He’d probably be able to grab more things than Malcom could, too. Oh well. He’d been doing that since they started this mess. “But slowly. Try really, really slowly.”