P.O.V: Elizabeth Harmon.
The alarm on Renae’s dresser went off at exactly six, but it felt like I’d never fell asleep at all. I was up all night worrying about my brother and father. I wonder if they’re in the same base. How could Brannon live in a base like this for such a long time and I not even bother to ask him what it’s like? Maybe it’s because I just didn’t want to know. Renae had gotten me some clothes the night before, and we all got dressed. Renae walked with me to get breakfast and we both sat down, but neither of us were very hungry. Jacob and Thomas both sat down beside us a few minnutes later. But Donny wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Don?” Renae asks, noticing he didn’t come with the two boys either.
Jacob looked confused. “I actually don’t know.” he said, but looked over at the Training building anyway. Renae looked over there too and sighed, getting up.
“I’ll be back.” she called over her shoulder, heading to the Training center.
I didn’t ask why he would be in there this early- mostly because I didn’t care- and continued my talk with Thomas.
“So, Liz,” Jacob bit into an apple. “Has anyone told you about the jobs?” Jake asks me, already expecting my answer.
“Um, not really.” I admitted, but I already knew some of them from my brother.
“Well, for starters, there are Missionaries, Guards, some teachers, some of the older ones help take care of the younger kids.” he said, and Missionarie caught my eye.
“What’s a Missionary?” I ask, not completely sure
“It’s someone who goes out with a team and does missions.” Jacob explains. “Most of the people here are Missionaries. But Liz, its extremely dangerous.” he added.
I nodded. So that’s what Brannon was, a Missionary. It kinda surprised me that, even though Brannon has been in the Gate Keepers for years now, I never really knew what he did, or really why he did it. Jacob and Thomas began to explain the other jobs, but I already knew which one stood out to me.
“Some people help with-” Thomas started, buy I interrupted him.
“I want to do the missions.” I blurt out without thinking. I wanted to do what my brother did, I wanted to help the people that the Order goes after. I wanted to help, and I felt that doing missions was going to be the only way to do it.
“Sorry?” Thomas asked, surprised. Jacob was studying me, like he would decide based on what he found.
“I can help on missions, I can do what Renae does, I really don’t care.” I didn’t know why, but I felt like I just had to do these missions, like I just had to help them on this. My mother had always been the kind of person who would help anyone and everyone, she once told me that if someone had the means to help someone, then it was their responsibility to do so. I felt that it was now my responsibility to help them. That’s what my brother did, he helped the Gate Keepers, he joined this war when he never had to.
“Liz, you have to understand,” Jacob sighed, like he’s had this conversation before. “Nobody does this job because they want to, they do it because they feel like they have to. We can teach you to fight, Liz, we can teach you to survive, but there’s no promise that you’ll ever come home.” I nodded, I understood what he meant. “Are you sure?” he asks after a minute.
“Yes, I’m sure.” and I was.
Jacob nodded, satisfied with my answer. “Okay, but first, you’ll have to train. And you’re not going to like it.” he added, chuckling.
I laughed with him and Thomas shook his head, smiling. “I hope you know that he’s not joking, it’s a real pain.”
“We can all train you, it’ll be fun. Mostly, it’ll be fun watching you train, and we’ll sit there and laugh at you.” Thomas smirked, but unlike when Donny smirked, his was genuine. When Donny smirked, he just seemed to do it to annoy someone.
“We can start training you after breakfast, in the Training Center.” Jacob told me and glanced at the Training Center in slight concern, expecting Renae and Donny to have already come out.
We all headed over to the Training Center once we were done eating, Thomas playfully mocking me the whole way. Jacob opened the door and we all went in. We immediately saw Donny and Renae leaning up against the wall near a part of the room sectioned off with rope and a small, hand made warning sigh that read ‘warning, mutant training active, stay in front of rope’. Donny looked like he hadn’t slept, or if he had, then not very much. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked half asleep, half awake. Renae looked over at us and smiled, while Donny just gave us a tired, mocking wave.
“Did your dumb ass even sleep?” Jacob asked, looking Donny over.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Donny rolled his eyes and put up his middle finger. “And no, not really.”
Jacob just laughed, unsurprising by his behavior.
“What are you all doing?” Renae asked, looking particularly at me.
“We’re going to start training Liz. I figured we all could, since none of us have any missions anytime soon.” Jacob shrugged.
“Wait, Elizabeth is going to be a Missionary?” Donny chucked, like he thought it was either hilarious, or dumb. “Why do I find that amusing?”
“Maybe it’s because you’re slap- happy?” I offered, rolling my eyes at him.
“You know, that might be true.” he said to himself.
“We train here, but we also use the obstacle course and stuff outside.” Thomas was telling me while the others debated about something I couldn’t hear.
“Alright, Thomas, you train her first. Then the rest of you will take turns. I, on the other hand, have to go see Kaylee.” he said and headed for the door.
“Have fun with that conversation.” I heard Donny mutter under his breath. I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I didn’t really care.
“I’m going to see Mia, tell me when you want me to train her.” Renae sighed and headed for the door too. She waved us goodbye as she opened the door and walked out.
Thomas glanced at Donny. “What? Are you gonna leave too?” Thomas asked, slightly annoyed.
“I can’t really sleep, I’ve got nothing else to do, this is probably going to be funny, so why the hell not?” Donny shrugged and, at the same time, yawned.
Thomas rolled his eyes at the boy, but not like he was annoyed with him, just like he was amused with him.
Thomas taught me how to fit into a crowd, which he told me that they needed a lot, and told me to never draw attention to myself. My mind immediately went to the long scar on Donny’s arm. How does that not attract attention? Or does he just wear a jacket all the time? After several hours, we took a break. Donny reached into a cooler and threw us both a bottle of water.
“I’m surprised you’re still awake.” Thomas shook his head. “You looked like you were gonna fall over from exhaustion.”
“I’m thinkin’ about it, trust me.” he yawned.
“Alright, I think I’m done for today.” Thomas declared and looked at Donny. “I’ll get Renae in a few hours to train her.”
“Wait, I didn’t hear you, Tommy what’d you just say?” Donny asked, looking like he’d just been shaken from a nap. He’d obviously not been listening.
“Alright, see ya at supper.” Thomas calls back to us, heading for the door, smirking devilishly on his way out.
I internally groan at the thought of being alone with Donny, because I know he’ll be annoying. Sure enough, the first thing out of his mouth made me roll my eyes.
“Sure, stick me with training the newbie, you tricky son of a bitch.” he muttered, grinding his teeth together in a frustration I didn’t understand. I mean, did he really not like me so much that he didn’t want to train me? And I thought he was a jerk before now.
“Alright, well,” he sighed, looking slightly nervous, slightly annoyed- though whether it’s at me or Thomas, I don’t know- but mostly, tired. “So, you’re a Teleken, right?” he asked, crossing his hands over his chest, like he was getting ready for something.
“Sorry?” I asked, immediately confused by his question.
He sighed, now looking thoroughly annoyed with me. “A Teleken, a mutant who has Telekinesis. You of all people should know what a Teleken is.” he rolled his eyes.
My temper was rising with the boy, no matter if I tried to help it or not. He was just the kind of kid that didn’t seem to have a filter for that big mouth of his, the kind that usually got his ass kicked when he said the wrong thing to the wrong person.
“Sorry, I haven’t lived with a huge group of mutants all my life, so no, I don’t know different types of mutants by name.” I mutter as he walked over to a large rack holding several different weapons. He studied a long, slick spear, and grabbed it and two small knives and stood about five feet from me. I narrowed my eyes at him, not sure if I wanted to know what he had planned.
“Here,” he shrugged, and tossed the three weapons up in the air suddenly.
I reached out with my mind and focused on the weapons. I could feel the cold metal in my mind, like it was in my hands. I brought them down onto the floor in front of me softly and looked up at Donny. His head was tilted like he was studying me, and I was instantly confused. He already knew what I could do, he already knew what my powers were, so why was he looking at me like he was only now seeing what I could do?
“Huh,” he murmured, slightly surprised, slightly amused.
“What?”
“Most mutants, when they use their powers, their eyes change color. It’s the color of their ‘aura’ or whatever you want to call it. Thomas’s eyes change to green, if you hadn’t noticed.“he added. I suppose I must’ve been too obsessed with his portal to look at his eyes.
“Wait, your wristbands, is that why they’re different colors?” I ask him, remembering all their wristbands.
“Yeah, pretty much. Mine’s red, Renae’s is white, Jacob’s red too. And yours is yellow.” he said it so casually, like it was nothing out of the ordinary, but to him, I suppose it is.
“Okay, so how much control do you have over your powers? Or, how much do you think you have?” he asked, stepping back from me even more.
This time it was my turn to shrug, I honestly had no idea the control I had over them. I’ve never really tried to reach my limits- if you don’t count my little water experiment.
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. Great, annoying Donny is back. “Amazing, a mutant who doesn’t even use her powers!” he muttered, low enough that he might’ve not wanted me to hear, but loud enough for me to hear.
“I do use my powers, dumb ass!” I was getting more mad every time he spoke.
“Obviously not all that much, hell, you didn’t even know what you were!” he yelled, but he wasn’t done. “The second day you get here, you’re already wanting to be a Missionary! Though I thought that Brannon being a Missionary would’ve knocked some sense into you, make you scared to do it, but obviously you just have no commen sense!”
The weapons on the floor in front of me started to rattle and shake, and I barely realized that it was because of my anger. How does Donny, of all people, know my brother?
“Shut up Donny!” I hissed through clenched teeth, my fists at my side.
“No, because your dumb ass wants to fight in this war, and you don’t even understand what you’re fighting for!” he yelled at me, and backed up slightly again. “To me, you just seem like a little trigger happy, dumb ass b-”
But I’d had enough. The three weapons on the floor rose at sped at Donny before I could stop them.
There were multiple thuds and I covered my eyes, not wanting to see what I’d done. But, when I looked up, there Donny was, perfectly fine. Between Donny and the weapons that had been thrown at him, was a long thick block of ice that was surrounding him- protecting him. The weapons were stuck to the hilt in the ice, thoroughly stopped, the spear only a few inches from Donny’s stomach. Donny waved his hand and the ice immediately melted. I was shocked and scared at the same time. I may not know as many types of mutant as Donny does, but I do know what a Blood Bender is. My brother told me that only twelve Benders were born into every generation, and each of them were supposed to be not only incredibly powerful, but also extremely dangerous and unpredictable. My mind went to his wristband, and I realized why it was red. Blood. But Jacob’s wristband was red too.
“So not that much control I see.” Donny murmered, picking up the weapons to put them back on
“I didn’t mean to do that, I swear.” and, no matter how much I didn’t like the boy, I would never try to hurt him, not like that, at least.
He nodded. “That was kinda the point,” he laughed and put all three weapons back on the rack. I was confused, he wanted me to try to kill him?
“I wanted to see how far I would have to go until you did something. In other words, I wanted to see how much control you have when you’re mad.” he explained to me, chuckling at my confusion.
“So, you wanted me to try to hurt you?” I ask, totally bewildered at the boy’s obvious stupidity.
“Yeah, I needed to see how you would react. And it worked.” he shrugged, like it didn’t matter.
He handed me a bundle of arrows, and I involuntarily backed away from him. He looked hurt for a moment, but shrugged it off and pushed the arrows into my hand. We worked on my aiming, both with my powers and without, and he showed me different ways to use my powers. I was still refusing to get too close to him, and I think he understood that, because he would always keep a few feet between us as he showed me what to do. It was hours until the front door opened again, and Renae, Thomas, and Jacob walked in. Renae and Jacob both looked surprised, but Thomas looked smug, like he’d just won a bet.
“Well, well, well.” Renae laughed, both amused and surprised at the same time. “I think Donny broke his own promise.” she chuckled, punching his shoulder playfully.
His own promise? I didn’t bother asking at the moment, I was far too worn out. I haven’t used my powers that much since I first got them, and even then, not that hard.
“Come on, supper is a waiting.” Thomas smirked at Donny like he’d just won a contest, and I felt I was missing some kind of inside joke.
As we walked out the door, I saw Donny talking to Thomas, and he didn’t seem as thrilled as he was. After supper, Renae brought me back to the Training Building to train in combat.
“I usually don’t go on the missions themselves, but on occasion, I do. And, believe it or not, hand- to- hand combat has saved my life on more than one occasion.” she told me, backing up. “It comes in hand when you can’t use your powers, like for you, if you ran into another Teleken.” she offered, and before I could say anything, she kicked my leg out from under me. Two mutants who can do the same thing will cancel each other out, so that neither can use their powers against the other. Renae taught me a few small things, nothing big, until it got dark and Renae suggested that we go to bed, saying that I’ll want as much sleep as possible. I fell into the bed beside Renae and barely took my shoes off before my eyes started to droop.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
