Telekinetic Battle Royale (Lani)

[Dextra Phillips]

If Hot Topic was not invented, Dextra would be out of luck when it came to shopping. They had everything she ever desired to wear, which meant a lot of black and crazy things. The concert t-shirts were ridiculous, even if some of them didn't belong. The many displays of piercings and candy. There was the hooker-wear that Dex tended to stray away from for now, but it was nice to know if she ever needed lingerie like that, she'd know where to find it. Typically she stuck with the skinny jeans or a poofy black skirt and crazy colored leggings underneath with a concert tee. And their prices weren't as bad as they could be. Honestly it was nothing compared to the bull shit stores like Hollister and Aeropostale. They over-priced everything.

It was a good thing her father had a decent job, otherwise he wouldn't be able to afford the stuff Izzy bought. At least Dex was planning on getting a job to help pay for things. In fact, she planned on applying for a job at the mall working in Hot Topic. That was the only place she ever had any desire to work. None of the other places suited her and she wasn't one to be all perky and bubbly. She was chilled, sarcastic and careless really. The only thing that ever got her to show any sign of excitement was shopping at Hollister and seeing the new stuff they added.

After a good shopping spree, having bought black checkered suspenders, a pair of checkered flats and a Rolling Stones shirt on top of it, she was in a good mood. She even decided on treating herself to an Auntie Anne's pretzel before heading back to school. Dextra bought her pretzel and sat down at an empty table as far away from everyone else as she could manage. The last thing she wanted was for her good mood to be tainted by the dumb bitches that were far too much like her sister.

She sat down and began chewing on her pretzel, nomming at it and keeping her eyes on her own table. She didn't care much what was going on around her. It wasn't until she heard obnoxious, high-pitched giggling that had her sighing and glancing up to find several tan, blonde girls staring at her and laughing. Dex's nostrils flared and she shook her head and looked back down, pulling her hair over her shoulder. Her trainer was always blabbing on about control, self-control was important when she had a dangerous power such as this. He was always telling her about the guy graduating this year who had one similar to hers. She didn't care. She didn't even want to be at this stupid school.

Dextra finished her food and got up to throw it away, only to find that the group of Barbie doll bitches were sitting at the table right beside the nearest trash cans. And she wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of her walking farther than necessary. So she gathered her tray and walked to the trash cans, dumping her tray and placing it on top with the rest of them. Just as she turned to head towards the exit, one of them stuck her foot out and Dex tripped over it.

That had been a bad idea on the other girl's part because it took only that little move to spark Dex's anger that was connected to her power. It didn't help that the girl looked a lot like her sister. Dextra pushed herself up from the floor and as she stood, things around the group's table started shaking. Their drinks flew across the food court or shot up towards the ceiling and the trays too went flying. "That was probably the dumbest thing you could have done," She said in a low threatening tone.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani hadn’t been to the mall since… well since the last time he was here and he got told off by that blond demonness. He really needed to learn to her name. He couldn’t keep calling her that. Now Lani was all for causing trouble so he was playing off the five finger discounts today. Lani himself had always found shoplifting boring and a little too easy. But it had its uses. He didn’t need anything everything else was just for fun. And he was paying for some things. That guy he had pick pocketed had quite the amount of money in it. He had gotten a bag and just happened to keep slipping things into it. A pair of shoes, a pair of shorts. A movie. The only thing he had actually bought were the shoes. He had rid himself of the box and now had a ton of room to sneak things into. He was just finishing up in a sporting goods store with a new water bottle and socks. He had bought another pair of shoes. His ones with the toes were worn out and those he was willing to buy, they were awesome and whoever made them deserved the profits.

Hunger was starting to set in and Lani figured might as well eat here instead of going back to Hammel to eat. Graduating was not making him miss the food at all. Though he’d have to pay the cooks a visit before he skedaddled. He settled himself down with a nice burger and leaned back in his chair to people watch. He munched simply on his fries minding his own business. He caught sight of a couple that seemed to be talking in hushed shouts from the way they were gesturing. There was another couple who seemed to be unable to be separated across the table. Lani noted with a smidge of sorrow that the only reason he and Odion couldn’t do that was because he was too afraid. Sure they went out but not to normal places. They didn’t just come to the mall and sit and talk. But Lani had to say he liked his relationship. They were growing.

Lani’s eyes slid past a girl who looked more on the Goth side than anyone he had met in Vermont so far. He had known people in Boston who loved that kind of thing. But Boston was a big city. One got all sorts of people in a place like that. Thieves, killers, mothers, saints, and the plain confused. Lani shrugged it off. She was an anomaly in this place. This place of sameness. A place of normalcy, which seemed to have been shattered with all of the meta humans running around. And so many thieves in once place. Perhaps he was wrong about Pilot Ridge. Perhaps all of those people still existed in one place, but they were just better at blending in with each other. Lani felt something strange coming off of her and just shook it off.

He turned his eyes along with her to see the girls that were giggling. Lani, clueless as always, wondered what joke they had said to be giggling. He didn’t think about anything being connected. They were pretty, they were on the opposite side of the spectrum. Not to say the other girl wasn’t pretty, she was. Beautiful even. But where she seemed dark they seemed pastel. Though as they said. Evil comes disguised as a sea of angels. And it was proven and Lani sat up straight his own power flaring. He winced for her as she hit the ground. He set his food aside his appetite vanishing. Then he suddenly recognized what he had felt around her. They had the same power. Lani nearly swallowed his tongue as her power blasted forth. He was surprised it didn’t rock everyone else the way it did him.

He rose and ducked a projectile tray. People screamed and Lani looked around seeing the terror on the girl’s faces and the way mothers sheltered children. Damn it all, as much as he wanted to see the bullies flung around the room he was going to have to stop her. For everyone else’s sake. He wondered if this was the girl his trainer had been telling him about. Poor man was going to have two powerful telekinetic to deal with. But it was his own fault for making sure Lani came back to train. Lani let out his power and when she grabbed the table he grabbed it as well and forced it down. The moment their power’s touched he felt her and her anger. She was powerful! But he was stronger. The table shuddered but didn’t leave the ground. He approached his eyes ignited with power a hand outstretched toward the other telekinetic. “You need to calm down.” He called to her his eyes only on the girl. “There are innocent people. You’re going to hurt someone.” Lani heard himself say in that far off voice. He didn’t really care about the girls, in his mind they deserved it. But a telekinetic against a baseline human. That wasn’t a fight, that was a massacre.

[Dextra Phillips]

It didn't take much to spark the anger that she held, least of all when they were girls that had no idea what she was like. They probably had perfect lives, rich and with both of their parents loving them equally. It sickened her to think about how easy they had it. And by the looks on their faces, none of them were metas, which only made it sweeter. Her goal was to scare them off, make them cry and make them remember her so that if they ever passed her again they'd know better. As far as she was concerned, this would keep the other girls from picking on people like her and that was a good thing wasn't it? Granted the way she was going about it was probably wrong, but in order to do the right thing, sometimes she had to do the wrong thing. It just seemed necessary to discipline them for their actions since no one else ever planned to.

Dextra knew the rules, no using your ability outside of the school let alone in a public place. And she knew that she was going to get in trouble for being so destructive, but believe it or not, she was being careful of everyone else. Despite what it may have looked like, she was keeping the trays and drinks from hitting anyone. She just wished everyone would disperse and leave her alone. It was their fault this was happening. Everyone gawking at the girl that didn't belong. Pilot Ridge liked their uniformity and here she was screwing it up. Yes everyone was different, but in a small town like this it mattered just how different you were. Being a meta would give her problems enough, but the fact that she was a gothic meta, well she might as well have been Satan himself with the way people treated her.

The girl that tripped her was drowning in tears, she curled in on herself as if Dextra was so much bigger than her, when in reality, Dex was maybe an inch taller. They were all acting like she was a monster, yet she hadn't touched anyone. It wasn't her fault that her ability was going out of control. She hadn't meant for it to happen, even if she was enjoying the way they reacted to it. The only bit of control she had was placement of where things were thrown. And even that was a thin layer of control that could snap at any moment. She felt her power reach out for a table and start yanking at it. That was also when she felt something...touching her mental hands? It was like it was being slapped away almost and she really didn't like it.

Her eyes snapped up as she heard someone speaking to her and reaching out towards her. It was a boy, not much older than her and the way he approached her was cautious, but not scared. She moved away from him and the table rocked the more her ability fought his. Dextra clenched her hands into fists and looked down at the girl who was scrambling to get up and move away towards where everyone else was seeking shelter. They were all afraid of her, but she still hadn't hurt anyone. She didn't like that her ability was freaking out like this, she didn't want it to happen, but it did and she couldn't reign it in. She wasn't necessarily in a hurry to pull back, but she didn't want to hurt any of the children that were around.

"You want to be that person? Because if not, you might want to get away from me," Another tray flew past them and she ducked away from it. Her ability wouldn't turn on her, but it was still out of her control. She couldn't just calm down like he said. And why was he being an idiot and coming closer anyway? But...what if he was one of them? What if they were here to cut off her power again like they had when she was recruited. The thought freaked her out and her ability went wild again. It felt like it had a mind of its own and the way it reacted to her thoughts was freaky. It was like it didn't want to be smothered like it had before. The feeling made her think of drowning, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Make it stop.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani had her attention and he shifted letting the terrified girls rush past him. People sheltered against the wall and he shifted so he was between them and this girl. His power was getting a work out as he slammed trays to the ground and stopped them in midair diverting them away from people. From the feel of her power she was angry and then there was something else. Fear? Lani felt for her. He had been here. Right where she was, destroying everything and unable to stop it. He wasn’t sure she wanted to stop. But he wasn’t going to let her continue. And the fact that he was trying seemed to goad her on. This was going to get messy. Lani reached his power out to hers his mental hands slapping hers away from things. This wasn’t the right way to go about it but he didn’t have any other solutions. He hadn’t had time to plan for this.

Odion believed he had the ability to control what he did. Well maybe it was time he tried. She needed help and not the kind that came from shutting her down. Lani knew that feeling all too well. When it came back it was always in a rage. Lani did note how when he forced the objects to change course they weren’t resisting very much. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. A strange dizzying feeling took over him as he felt like he was staring into a mirror at himself when he was younger. A year ago standing there hands on his head pleading with it to stop. Telekinesis was hard to control and Lani was far from mastering his own. It was hard when his power acted like a dragon and it seemed hers did as well. He didn’t know how to bottle it up in her and so that wasn’t what was going to happen. But this fighting was not going to help.

Lani shifted a little to evade the flying tray. “I won’t be that person.” Lani told her and took a few more steps closer his hands out in a welcoming gesture. “Listen to me! I’ve been there. Where you are right now. You don’t want to hurt these people.” He stopped another tray that came twisting toward him. He really hoped her power didn’t do what his did. When Lani let his power out fully and lost control was where he got into trouble. He identified an ‘enemy’ and went after them. “I can help you.” Lani called out. “I know you’re angry. You have every right to be. Don’t be like them!” He called to her and stopped yet another tray. How was he going to keep her from destroying everything. His power reached out to her again. Gently, he implored it and this time it brushed mental hands with hers.

He didn’t know what kind of reading she was getting off of him or if her telekinesis even worked like that. He really didn’t know how his was able to recognize people by their power. Lani let out his power and his eyes glowed as he grabbed everything. The world seemed to freeze and Lani was having a hard time controlling so many things at once and dealing with her power. He concentrated it and his power touched hers again. As if to say ‘follow me’ he moved his power around hers and the objects she still had in her grasp but he didn’t force her power away this time. “Let me help you.” Lani called to her feeling her fight against him, he knew how much he hated having his power feel trapped and he could imagine she felt very much the same.

[Dextra Phillips]

He stepped closer to her and her power lashed out, whipping a tray towards him, but her power made sure it wasn't close enough to actually hit him. Dextra didn't like people getting close to her, not even when she was in a good mood. But her power had never lashed out at anyone, it was always tossing things around everywhere, never at one specific pinpoint. It didn't seem to like Lani though with the way it had sort of targeted him. Dex was losing the slim bit of control she had to keep it from actually throwing things at him. It latched onto a chair just as he was speaking and she gritted her teeth, "How do you know what I want?" Her voice seemed distant with the chaos that engulfed them.

Him talking to her to distract her was taking the focus off of what her ability was doing so she tried visualizing her mental hands. They were reaching out for everything and she was trying to keep them contained. It was difficult concentrating on all of the hands and she couldn't take it anymore. She just wanted it to stop! He reached out towards her again with his power and she felt it brushing against her mind. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him. Dextra remembered how it felt when her mental hands had been tied and she couldn't feel anything or reach out for comfort, it was one of the most terrifying thing she had dealt with. Aside from seeing her mother in the hospital and watching her struggle to live.

But this feeling was different. It was less like she was being bound against her will and more comforting. She felt something else through the bond and it had her staring at him, her ability wavering slightly as things started dropping from mid-air. "A-are you one of them? Are they going to expel me?" Her chest started heaving and she found herself trying to breath. It wasn't easy holding onto her power while having a minor freak out at the same time. Her head was pounding and she could feel her body weakening like it always did after these fits. They rarely happened because there were only a few things that really made her flip out, but when they did, it took a while to recover.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani didn’t even grab the tray and let it bounce off of his power and go tumbling off into the air. He felt himself having trouble not focusing on her being the enemy. He did take note about how her power seemed to be focusing on him. Well it seemed they did have a bit more in common than he had initially thought. He wondered how she had gotten her power. She was younger than he was and he really hoped that it had manifested like normal and her mind wasn’t blasted out like his had been. “Because I know how it feels,” Lani explained and his let his power take off. It rose before her like a beast and his mental hands let loose. But Lani heard the distance in hers and he knew the distance he was from his own self. His power grabbed the chair the moment he felt her and his mental hands pressed against hers.

He pulled it back so he could focus. The multitasking telekinetic was still something rather elusive but he needed to focus on her now. He struggled to pull his own power back into something he could control. Lani didn’t know what it felt like to be shut down. He always shut himself down. It had happened once that he could recall and he had felt so weak. Lani stopped a distance from her to pause and rearrange his thoughts so he could keep himself in control. Center. Center. Come on, Lani center! he thought to himself and his mind searched down and inward. It was as if his power felt solid ground beneath him and when he let go again his power painted the world. He opened his eyes and may not have even been seeing the real world for all he knew. His power gave him strange disembodied things, clothing for people, and colorless things.

He was so afraid that something would happen like when he was training with Odion. He couldn't bear the thought of that. Even Odion had called him scary. How was it that he just wanted to protect people and seemed to terrifying them. Lani was more determined than every to make this power work for him. It wasn't going away. But not just one something had happened the last time he and Odion had trained together but two somethings. Very strange somethings. He wanted to figure them out because he felt like he had taken two steps forward and a hundred back. Then where the answered back behind him? Maybe he had to go back to go forward. Back to the basics. Well he couldn't really resort to basics right now. But maybe later.

Lani laughed now feeling the emotions but careful not to get overwhelmed by them. “Hardly!” He reached out a mental hand to her his power changing from the raging dragon to one that was looking to see how dangerous she really was. “They won’t expel you. I actually graduating from there. Trust me, if they didn’t expel me they won’t expel you.” He said it with a little smile. He frowned at her suddenly changed. He pulled back on his power and the pressure against her lessened. “You lose control and it hurt so much you don’t know what to do?” Lani asked suddenly curious if her first few times using her power were like this. “Only you can stop this. Take a breath, nice and easy. You are in control of your own mind.” Lani knew it sounded like good advice but it was advice he couldn’t even follow. It just sounded like what he knew he needed to do. “You can do it.” He told her with a smile. He was actually excited to meet someone who might actually be like him, someone who might understand the terrors of having his kind of power.

[Dextra Phillips]

She didn’t like how this was turning out. It was like she was fighting not only her ability, but his also and she couldn’t focus on one thing. Her head pounded harder and she winced against the pain. Just as she was about to throw the chair at him, his ‘hands’ grabbed it and held hers in place to keep her from launching it at him. Dex remembered what it had been like when she first found out about this ability she had. It was the day of her mother’s car accident when she’d been on her way to the school because Dextra had gotten in trouble for hitting a boy in her class for being a jerk to her. The feeling of guilt had triggered it initially, but it had been a smaller burst than this. It was when Izabelle walked in, crying and quivering like a baby with her father giving her all the attention in the world that she lost it. Luckily it hadn’t been in the hospital, she had been forced to leave when they were trying to stabilize her mom. Instead it was at their home in the kitchen with glass everywhere. It didn’t take her long to break just about every plate and cup in the kitchen until she finally broke down into tears.

“You’re not like me though, you don’t know how much I hate people and how little I care if they get hurt,” She said her eyes darting to where the girls had been. She didn’t know where they went, but figured everyone left as soon as they had a way out. Dextra was lying, she did care if she hurt someone, but some deserved it. Those girls were malicious and evil skanks, why should they be allowed to go unscathed? Dextra dealt with girls like that so often and they never got hurt emotionally or physically. They were always busy tearing other people down because they had no feelings. Oh, but she wanted to make them feel something, like cup launched at their faces.

Dextra’s mental hands slapped away at his and reached for something else, something bigger, but she couldn’t find anything to get him with. The table had been a bust, the chair, what else was there? He was speaking, but she was only half listening. Her mind was drifting with her ability, seeking something. Until she heard him ask about what it was like. Dex gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn’t stop, that’s why she was in this mess. Didn’t he get it? She was out of control and the only way she ever got out of this was when she collapsed. The dizziness she felt was just the beginning, soon it would get worse and she’d pass out or something. “I-I can’t,” She said softly. Her ability was still gripping everything and eventually it started gripping at the floor, the tile started peeling back.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was stronger than she was, but his control was only marginally better. It wouldn’t take too much for Lani to lose control as well. He swore to himself and squeezed his eyes shut. Odion was right. If he didn’t learn to control it he would end up doing things like this girl all the time. His eyes flashed open and he took a risk and let his power out again. It coiled around him like a beast and waited for his call. The emotions battered against him but he felt the ground solidly underneath his feet and his mind. He looked at her and he could almost see her power moving around her in much the same way his was. Angry and confused, terrified tearing at everything. Lani had been here, if only he had had someone to help him. Someone to tell him that it would get easier. That he would be able to control it. If only they had told him he could do it instead of telling him he had to do it. It wasn’t a choice because he could hurt people.

Shaking his head at her, he found himself taking a guess. He didn’t think she really wanted to hurt people, if that were the case then everyone would be hurt. Lani’s reaction time was not that good. If she wanted to hurt people Lani wouldn’t have had time to stop her. So he took another risk. “You’re lying. If you didn’t care then you wouldn’t have been working so hard to avoid hitting them.” He lifted his eyes and turned his head to catch sight of the scattering crowd. Security was doing to good job getting them out of here. Lani was just a distraction, who knew what they would do to him when this was all over. He lowered he gaze back to her and gave her a harsh look. “You do care and you can control it.” He didn’t want to bottle her with his power but he was afraid that might have to happen.

Lani felt her mental hands lash at his and his returned with blows back. He wished it would stop but much like Lani, when struck it struck back. “You can!” Lani called and felt the ground shake and he gritted his teeth. Without thinking about it Lani declared: “Stop!” His arms spread about him and his power flooded the area around them gripping the tiles and the tables and the chairs. He couldn’t lift them all and be in control he could only keep them where he wanted them. No motion necessary. It he started to move things he would lose it too. Not so much as a dust mite moved in Lani’s grip. Lani didn’t even know if his eyes were open or closed but he felt as though he could still see. No he had better than his own eyesight. He knew things that he couldn’t see. Odion had said once his eyes glowed, he wasn’t sure if that was metaphor or truth but he couldn’t feel anything but things. His body might as well have vanished.

He was his power and his hands closed around her power. “Control it,” Lani heard himself say in a detached voice. “Feel it, only you can control it. Gather it, focus! Now.” Lani lessened his hold on her power and then withdrew it leaving his power to stand back like a spotter when someone was lifting weights. There to catch it if it fell but doing nothing to assist in the process. “Focus. Find your calm. You can do this!”

[Dextra Phillips]

Dextra didn’t care about strength, she knew that an out of control power could be far more dangerous than one that was under control because it was unpredictable. She didn’t even know what would happen. She’d pushed herself a few times and eventually snapped because she was upset, but when she was angry, she had yet to find her breaking point. Being upset was different than being angry, she was lashing out because her emotions were scattered when she was upset. When she was angry, her emotions were focused and the power fed from that. It harnessed in on that one emotion and everything around her became weapons. She didn’t care if she destroyed anything, she didn’t care if they punished her because at least then she would be known for something and everyone would be too afraid of her to mess with her. Dex didn’t even care if that repelled any guy out there, she didn’t need anyone.

“I wasn’t working hard at anything!” She yelled at him, another tray flying through the air. The more cornered she felt by him, the more she wanted to get past him and the only way that would happen is if she moved him herself. With each flying object came more anger and she was secretly glad he hadn’t been any of those things. She had yet to ever pick up a person or push them a far distance. The most she’d ever moved anyone was when she made her way through a crowd and wanted people to get out of her way. If anything happened to Lani for helping her, or attempting to rather, she’d probably feel sort of bad about it. It wouldn’t be until after the fact, but at least she’d feel something. “Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do! You don’t know me!”

Her ability fought against his trying harder to tear the place apart. The more he tried to keep her contained, the fiercer her drive got. All she thought of was when it had been cut off, when she couldn’t feel anything and it was like that side of her brain had been numbed. That was what she was fighting against, it wasn’t another telekinetic it was a suppressor that was trying to take her from her home, her memories and her mom. She could feel his power clamping down on hers and her whole body trembled with the desire to explode. Dextra screamed, “Stop it! I just want it to stop!” His power lessened its hold and she collapsed on the ground, her ability finally wearing down. She covered her head with her hands and curled up in a ball, as she rocked back and forth. Everything stopped shaking and flying around, it all just dropped with her.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani had been there before. He had been beaten by a telekinetic who was not stronger than him but had more control. When Lani was trying to focus the other man had just quite literally taken his feet out from under him with a physical attack. Lani often forgot about the rest of his body when he really got in depth with his power. If she wanted to repel him she’d have to focus a little harder. Lani might not have much more control that she did, but the little he had gave him that much more of an advantage. Though, if he hadn’t been training with Odion he’d never be able to handle the unexpected but letting his power out seemed to be working rather well. Now let nothing happen to change that. Lani took a deep breath and felt the ground firmly beneath his feet and it translated through to his mind and his mind was grounded.

Without having a chance to answer Lani ignored the tray, it wasn’t going after anyone it was just flying. Lani shook his head. Was he this thick headed when his trainer was trying to work with him? Oh dear, talk about a mirror showing the mistakes of one person from another. “I don’t have to know you. I know your power, I know what it can do!” Lani shouted at her not really sure he himself knew what he was talking about. But he couldn’t walk away. He could help her, he knew it. He had to. Lani’s power wavered as he contemplated why. Was his doing this to prove he could still help and protect people. Something he had been failing at rather successfully. Lani shook his head. If he was just seeking attention he would have left with the crowds. Honestly he was looking to get himself and her out of here before the cops showed up. On the right side or not, Lani still hated cops.

Lani felt his power bend and it roared and as it identified the enemy it coiled to strike. He knew he could strike her down now and that would be that. “No,” he whispered to it this was not how things were going to end. Focus, focus Lani. He told himself and he turned its power away from rage through force and he clamped down more chains on it. She called out and he stopped. Stopped cold. “I can’t stop it, only you can do that.” He said in a daze. It was like he had been sling shot back into his body and he ached from where he had braced every muscle into a crouch. She fell and her power fell with her. Lani plopped back on his rump his head feeling like it were full of razor blades. He groaned and grabbed his head and struggled to open his eyes. Oh that hurt, that hurt a lot. “I told you, you could stop it.” Okay probably not the best line but Lani was really at a loss right now. Never had he met someone so close to his own power level and to his lack of control.

The telekinetic forced himself to his feet and watched the world waver before him. Pills, he needed his pills. His hands fumbled for them and he must have swallowed half the bottle before he felt satisfied that it would relieve the pain. Staggering the last few feet to her he fell to his knees beside her. “Here,” he held out the bottle to her. Lani glanced around. Unless she wanted a police escort back to Hammel she’d better pull it together and make herself scarce. That was Lani’s plan. Hammel knew, of course. Lani didn’t like to think of how they knew about power surges off campus but he had a feeling he was going to hear it when he got back. The both of them would. “Can you stand? We’ve gotta get outta here.”