King of the Mutants (18 page)

I skidded into the kitchen, nearly knocking over a glass bowl filled with plastic oranges. Frantic, I rummaged through the cabinets to find a large metal pot and wooden spoon. I banged them together as hard as I could, like a mean drill sergeant, until the duo finally began to stir. Finally, Richie sat up and wiped big gobs of crusty sleep out of his eyes. “What’s all the racket, Ma?”

“I’m not your mother,” I yelled. “But you have to get your butt in gear now. There’s a war going on in the laboratory and we have to stop it.”

“War?” asked Tony worriedly. He wiped a long stream of drool off his tattooed chin.

Richie’s big smile turned into a frown. “The bad ones are attacking the good ones, huh?”

I nodded.

“We’ll take ’em out with a tranquilizer gun from the viewing station,” he said. “Hunters and prey together? Even I’m not that stupid. Man, I told the Doc this was what would happen if we kept ’em together.”

We bolted to the viewing station. Richie pressed a couple of buttons, one of which set off the air raid alarm, and the other rotated the glass windows to an open position. Then, from underneath Greizenheimer’s desk, he pulled out tranquilizer guns, handing us each one.

We took our positions on the front line.

Yesterday’s insanity made today’s look like a picnic in Central Park. And if you don’t think a shark can’t take to land, think again; you’d never met Sharky. I wondered what New Yorkers would say if they saw a boy with a gigantic fin sticking out from his back walking down its streets.

Hawk Boy was in the process of tormenting Glow Girl when Dog Girl barked and pointed, and his attention shifted toward us. He ruffled his mottled brown wings and flew straight at me, claws outstretched. But he wasn’t prepared for the tranquilizer guns. With eagle-eye precision, Tony got a shot in. Hawk spiraled to the ground like a swirling badminton birdie—no pun intended. A poof of downy feathers exploded in the air.

His fall from glory didn’t deter the others though.

Octo stared me down, pulling a Yorgi. He pointed to his eyes and directed his fingers back at me. Then, his skin color turned bright yellow with blue rings. He was going to release his deadly venom in the room, perhaps directly at me! I wasn’t going to take this lying down. With my eye on my attacker, I raised my gun, and click, click, boom!

“Eat that, you evil squid!” I yelled.

The yellow dart hit Octo smack dab in the middle of his gigantic forehead. The sucker fell to the floor, screaming like a banshee. With their leader lying on the ground motionless, the remaining merciless mutant kids—Wolfy, Eel, Sharky, Hawk, Cheetah Girl, Monkey Girl, Grizzly Boy, Cobra, and Fisher—scurried into their pods.

The room went still.

Tony turned off the siren. My throbbing ears were thankful for that. We squished into the small elevator, and headed downstairs to check on the rest of the mutant kids: Dolphin Boy, Spider Boy, Glow Girl, Fly Boy, Chameleon Girl, Pony Boy, Roo, and Gazelle. Even though it appeared safe to make our entrance, we kept the tranquilizer guns on us, just in case a surprise attack headed in our direction.

I held my breath as we entered the room to assess the damage. It wasn’t good. Sharky had bitten a chunk of Dolphin Boy’s flipper off and he was bleeding badly. Cheetah Girl had shredded one of Gazelle’s legs. The list of wounds went on and on. Some snickers emitted from the rest of the bad mutant kids. Even though I was full of nerves, I had to stand my ground. I was Maverick Mercury: King of the Mutants.

“Okay, everybody listen up,” I yelled. “There’s going to be some big changes going on around here.” I pointed at the victims of the massacre. “You eight are going to live upstairs with me, Richie, Tony, Freddie, and Snaggletooth.”

The wounded kids cowered and trembled.

“You can’t live here in this room anymore with the predators. It’s not safe.”

Of all the kids to come up to me, Glow Girl surprised me with her shy approach. She stood up on her tiptoes and grabbed my pinky finger, her bottom lip trembling. Her scalp had crusted over at the spot where Hawk Boy chomped on her scalp.

“You promise you won’t try to eat us?” she whimpered.

I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her close to my chest. “I promise.”

Her butt glowed brightly and sent an electrical volt into my body. I almost dropped her on her head. She kissed me on the nose and fluttered her little wings. Her trust won over the eight good mutant kids, and one by one, with the exception of Dolphin Boy, they stood at my side.

“You kids, follow me. Tony, Richie, after I go up, one of you guys secure the viewing station back up. Then carry Dolphin Boy to the pool. If you can, patch up his flipper. And be gentle with him.”

“You got it, boss,” said Richie.

“Thanks, you guys did good today,” I said.

Tony smiled his goofy, crooked smile.

Rat Boy tried to scamper into the elevator as the good mutant kids and I made our way into it. Gazelle Girl kicked him back with a tiny hoofed foot. “Never trust a rodent.”

Rat Boy glared at us as the elevator doors closed.

An hour later, when Freddie made his way downstairs an hour later, he was a little more than surprised to see our guests sitting on the white couches, watching cartoons on one of the ten plasma screens on living room walls. It was nice to watch them giggling like little kids should. Some of them actually ate fruits and vegetables, oohing and ahhing, each time they took a bite. Dog girl barked her hellos and Roo hopped over to Freddie.

“Watch your back!” screamed Freddie. “They’re gonna attack—”

“Freddie, these mutants are fine,” I said, laughing.

“What the—” shrieked Freddie as Roo hugged him and nuzzled her head under his chin.

“I’ll tell you all about my morning,” I laughed. “But right now, I just want to take a dip in the pool with Dolphin Boy.”

“Seriously, Mav, what’s going on here?” asked Freddie. He looked more annoyed than anything.

“Seriously, Freddie. I’ll tell you about it later, I promise. But as you may remember, it’s my birthday and—”

Freddie walked over to me and punched me on the arm. “That’s right. It is. Happy Birthday, Maverick. It’s your day, do what you want…”

That was all it took. I ran out onto the roof deck and dove into the pool headfirst. Dolphin Boy just looked painfully confused as I sat on the bottom of the pool for a good twenty minutes.

Throughout the course of the day, I updated Freddie on the morning’s disturbing events and we came up with a strategy for dealing with our unexpected company. We decided to divide the good mutant kids into two rooms, the girls in one, and the boys in the other. Considering Dolphin Boy would sleep in the heated pool and Fly Boy and Spider Boy wanted to sleep on the ceiling, the numbers worked out. Tony, Richie, Freddie, and I would have our own rooms. Snaggletooth? Well, he could go wherever he wanted to, and he certainly loved all the attention.

Richie and Tony fed the captive animals their meats and grains at one point during the day. They even made Psycho Doc and the quarantined mutant kids bologna and cheese sandwiches. Greizenheimer threw his out of the cage. Much to his chagrin, he wouldn’t be dining on filet mignon and lobster tails anymore.

Out of nowhere, Freddie excused himself, saying he wanted to take a nap. He yawned dramatically, making a real show of it, and jumped up from the table. He avoided my gaze, playing around with the wrappers from his Big Mac.

Something was up.

I watched Freddie walk out of the room, eyeing him with suspicion. But then my attention was diverted. Pony Boy trotted all around the living room on all fours, bucking. I asked him to take a chill pill and told him that there was no running around the house.

On the regular TV, as opposed to the video monitors with its broadcast of Freak TV, a newscast caught my attention because the kids got very rambunctious when their afternoon cartoons were interrupted. And then they went dead silent, everybody holding their breath. Elana Feldman’s face was plastered on the screen. I turned the volume up with the remote.

“Breaking News: This just in. Authorities have reported that the body of Elana Feldman has just been found. She’s been on the missing person’s list for six years, having disappeared during a charity event at the Museum of Modern Art. Police are confused as to the cause of death. An inside source is saying that her skin was hanging off her body like a deflated balloon. They’ve never seen anything like it before.”

The newscast cut to a reporter standing outside a house with a white picket fence.

“This is disturbing, Alex,” said newscaster Bill. “Can you tell us where she was discovered?”

“They’re telling me two large masked men delivered a box to the back door of her parents’ house. The identity of the men is unclear. The only thing known about them at the present time is they wore wrestling masks and outfits. One neighbor saw a cape…”

I looked over at Tony and Richie and raised my eyebrow. “You do realize this will put a stint in your wrestling career. Don’t you? You can never wear those costumes again?”

“We want to do good work with you,” said Richie. He nodded his head as if working with us was the only thing that mattered to him. “You guys are decent.”

Tony hugged Snaggletooth tightly and smiled. “We’re going to be good guys from now on.”

I smiled nervously, hoping there wouldn’t be any other unexpected surprises. I didn’t know if I could handle anything else. This mutant gig drained me. Yawning, I decided to follow Freddie’s lead and get a little shut-eye too. “Guys, I’m going to find a room and try to sleep. Wake me up in an hour or two, ’kay?”

“I’ll hold down the fort,” said Richie with a wink. “You’ve had a rough morning.”

“I’ve had a rough life,” I mumbled and headed up the white marble staircase to my new bedroom.

The second my head hit the pillow, I passed out.

A few hours later, my feet were nearly yanked out of their sockets and my body was pulled out of bed. In silence, and with their hands over my mouth, Richie and Tony dragged me into a dark room. I struggled with their vice-like grip and hoped they hadn’t changed their minds to turn into bad guys again. They set me down on the floor, and not too gently either. In the dark, I couldn’t make anything out. All I could hear were heavy breaths.

“Guys, what’s going on?” I began to stutter, but then the biggest shock of all my thirteen years nearly startled me out of my skin. Bright lights turned on and people screamed
“SURPRISE!”

I nearly fainted.

“Happy Birthday to you,” sang my new family.

Apparently, Freddie had snuck off with Doctor Greizenheimer’s ATM card. And now, the formally sterile dining room exploded in color. Streamers, helium balloons, and confetti were strewn everywhere. All the kids wore crazy party hats and blew horns. In the center of the table, a gigantic chocolate cake with my name on it in pale blue frosting greeted me.

“We all wanted to do something nice for you,” said Freddie.

“Yeah, you saved our lives,” said Richie and Tony.

“Us too,” squealed the kids. “Us too.”

I could barely hold back my tears.

Richie and Tony handed me a poorly wrapped present. “We saved something for you,” said Tony.

I ripped the package open in a frenzy, finding my electric guitar. I thought I’d never see him again. I couldn’t believe it.

“We hid it from the doc,” said Tony.

Tony rushed toward me, picked me up, and spun me around. He hugged me so tightly my entire spine cracked—but not in a bad way. In the corner of the room, Freddie was bent over and grunting like a wild boar. He picked up a large black box, stepped back, and lunged toward me, nearly dropping the thing on my foot. He missed my toe by millimeters. “I wanted to get you something really cool.”

I stooped down to take a closer look.

And I was blown away!

They got me the one thing I would have asked for, if I had asked or wanted for anything. An amplifier for my guitar. My hand went to my heart and I didn’t say a word.

“Don’t you like it? Is it the wrong kind?” asked Freddie. “The guy at the store told me this one was the top of the line.”

Darn it, I didn’t want to cry in front of him, in front of anybody. I gulped, “It’s absolutely awesome.”

Freddie broke out into a smile that covered his entire face.

“Give him ours,” chanted the kids. “Give him the present from us!”

Fly Boy, who we decided to call Buzz, flew over my head, picked up another large package from the other side of the room, and brought it over. It was hard getting it released from his sticky grip. The kids crowded around, giggling, waiting for my reaction.

“No freaking way! I’ve always wanted this,” I squealed. “This totally rocks!”

Although I know Freddie had come up with the idea, I hugged each of the kids and threw a sly wink at Freddie. “I’ve always wanted a PlayStation, and Guitar Hero is the perfect game for me. For all of us.”

The kids jumped up and down, Roo jumping the highest.

Freddie hit me on the back. “Let’s say we get this party started and eat us some cake and ice cream?”

Richie lit the candles one by one. The kids clapped excitedly as he lit up sparklers. I just stared at the cake, so many thoughts reeling in my mind, so many unanswered questions. I didn’t know how I’d win over the maniacal mutant kids. I didn’t know how we could alert all the missing children’s parents to their fate. I didn’t know what we were going to do with Greizenheimer. And when was Ashby going to grace us with his nasty presence again?

“You’ve got one wish. Make it a good one,” Glow Girl whispered sweetly.

Flickers of candlelight danced in my friend’s eyes. In this one moment, everybody around me was truly happy. Me? I now had a family that cared about me and accepted me for what I was. I’d take things one day at a time. I’d figure something out. I always came up with some kind of plan.

I took off my fake teeth and smiled my first real smile.

And everybody smiled back.

I closed my eyes and blew out the candles.

My wish had already come true.