Ren sat on one of the chairs, listening to the sound of the machine doing the breathing for Grian. Its release and fill were oddly soothing, despite the implications that came with it. Etho was actually asleep in one of the other chairs, having nodded off after the day's excitement.

To save Ren and the others from confusion, Xisuma had kindly left a note explaining what had happened the past few hours. Starting with how Grian was now completely okay, and ending with a new member, Etho.

The note confused even Ren's sharp and perceptive mind, especially the fact that Grian... died? He was clearly very much alive, albeit unconscious until further notice. The heart monitor proved that, one of the hospital sounds that could lull you and dull your senses, or sharpen them, hoping to never hear the long beat.

Sighing, Ren put the note down on a small table and checked up on Etho. His breathing was stabilized, and he was snoring a little. Ren smiled, and checked on Grian, doing the same routine checks Dr. Banner would do. Scar had also left whole essays on non-medically induced comas including previous findings about other patients.

The whole problem with their medical setup was not the fact that it was lacking, in fact, it had some of the best equipment around. The problem lay in the fact that all the medicine was designed for humans. Or at least humans that didn't have mutated genetics.

Scar had learned much about how medicine reacted with their bodies and had gathered as much information as possible on as many subjects all while causing the least harm. If only they could share it with the rest of the world... No, they were stuck in a cold climate that very few people knew about, and all morphs remained hidden.

When he was little, he always wondered why there were no news reports of morphs. It didn't strike Ren's mind again until much later after he had to flee Xavion in fear of his life. The news never reported that. A near murder, a psychopath chasing another human being, even a mutant if you will, never made the news.

He was pretty sure that even a bunch of mysterious deaths wouldn't make the news if the shapeshifters were involved. It was like they were the bane of everyone else, it didn't matter who. There was a saying that only a mother could love an ugly child. In this case, it was only the parents who loved the mutants. That's why they were here, in their own medical room, trying to help each other through difficult times.

Money was never a problem, surprisingly, although supply runs were far and spread out. They were self-sufficient for the most part and had discovered the uses of Redstone. If anything they were more advanced then the rest of society... but they still remained shunned.

Ren chuckled quietly to himself at that thought, flipping another page. So often he saw things about human equality and fairness. Rights to all people. Clearly, though, it was flawed. Humans were flawed, and their attempts were flawed as well. More often than not, humans would trip over themselves and each other before making it to the goal. Ren could live with the learning from your mistakes unless it cost people their lives.

It happened too many times, lives lost this way. This time it was again a whole people group shunned and hidden away, the shapeshifters, or mutants as they were dubbed. It wasn't just in the big countries, or America where they currently reside in. It was across the whole world. Talk about segregation and unfairness.

Now more than ever was a time to speak up, as Xavion grew stronger, and other things came into play.

"What's going to happen if there's a war?" Startled, Ren looked up to see a partially awake Etho, staring blankly at the note Xisuma left.

"Lots of things can happen during a war. What makes you think there is going to be one?" Ren dropped the stapled pages onto the table he found them on and sat across from Etho.

"I mean, I just witnessed a complete stranger die for me and come back to life with a crazy light show. That was just because of one person, but I know that there are more out there. I-... I've seen them. Watching me... Tracing my every move. Like a cat on a mouse."

Ren thought for a moment before continuing. What he said now would make a difference. "Wars, wars are complicated. Wars happen because people have differing opinions, and that can lead to fights that involve lots of people. Both sides think they are right, and that's when the heads butt, but they do so over lives."

"How do we know what we are doing is right?" Etho's eyes were wide, showing the flecks of silver dotted in the deep blue.

"First, there isn't a war yet. Second, I'm pretty sure murder and segregation is something to fight against. War, and life, aren't black and white. We are many shades of grey."

"Like there's always two sides to every argument?"

"That's the idea behind it, yes. It can be confusing what is the clear way. Either way has consequences, both good and bad. In the end, we make our best decision at the time, and learn from our mistakes." Ren locked eyes with Etho, making sure he had his undivided attention. "No matter what, we will get through this, okay?"

"Okay," Etho nodded, a weak smile passing over his face. "What about Grian?"

"Well I have to keep reading these incredibly cryptic and long papers on comas, and I gotta say, when I signed up for this job, the only comas I thought I would be dealing with are the ones that make you pause in a sentence!" Ren reached once more for the papers. Etho, however, had some quick wit with him.

"I hear that commas save lives."

"Oh?"

"In this situation: 'Let's eat Grandma!' Poor Grandma is the main course! But if we add a comma... 'Let's eat, Grandma,' sounds like a fun time."

Ren laughed a little and thought of the clever joke that grammar had produced. "What if- No..."

"What if what?" Etho leaned forward in his seat, curiosity in every tiny twitch his body made.

"What if," Ren decided to chase the idea. The worst that could happen is that it would get shot down. "What if the reason that Grian is in a coma is to save his life? He could be needing a pause to recover from the mind control, and this could very well be it."

"Well then." Looking surprised and content all the same, Etho leaned back into the comfortable position of his chair. "You might be onto something Ren... I think you just might be onto something..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xisuma hated the feeling of teleportation. When Iskall discovered it and used it, he had always said the side effects were minimal. Iskall certainly had a different definition of minimal than Xisuma did. Apparently, Scar didn't take the mode of transportation too well either, as he fell straight onto the grass.

"Next time we discover a revolutionary mode of transportation longed for by humans for centuries, could it maybe twist the insides a little less?" Scar looked up from his position, holding his stomach with the hand not propping himself up.

"I'll see if I can't rewrite the laws of physics." Xisuma helped Scar up, his powerful muscles easily lifting his friend.

"Oh very funny. Though according to my study of physics, this shouldn't be possible."

"Surprises happen. Plus, I thought you got a Doctorate in medicine?"

"Medical Technology, Chemistry, Biology, and a few others to be precise!" Scar looked around at the open area they had teleported to. "Despite that, I took physics in High School. That taught me enough."

"I still don't understand why you would take High School..." Xisuma muttered to himself. Clearing his throat, he spoke directly to Scar. "Speaking of surprises, do you know where we are?"

Scar folded his arms and gave the area around them a quick look around, not failing to notice the house about half a mile away. "I thought you were the physicist."

"Teleportation isn't settled!"

"So you're saying that most of the time you get where you want to be, but the rest of the time you end up somewhere random?"

"It has to do with measuring the distance between constantly moving atoms and hitting them exactly."

All Xisuma got from that statement was an extremely blank look from Scar.

"Well, I'll let you figure that out, I'm going to ask the people in that house where we are." Scar started walking towards the light blue dwelling.

"This will be an interesting conversation, to say the least."

"Well, despite the fact that we just teleported to their yard, I think you should lose the giant bright purple wings."

Surprised, Xisuma glanced at his natural wings. Scar was right, he didn't need to freak these people out more than they would be seeing two grown men knocking on their door asking where they were located. It pained him, but he made himself shift into his human form, instead of the preferred and natural form of the legendary shapeshifters.

"How do you do that... so elegantly?"

Xisuma shrugged, he had no idea what he looked like. "Years of experience?"

"Huh," was the only reply Scar gave. It was a long walk over a slightly hilly terrain covered in cropped grass. The plot the house was perched on was large, and the environment was warmer. "Ten guesses where we are?"

"Well, if I had to guess..." Xisuma looked at the scattered trees and the fields of grass. He closed his eyes temporarily closed his eyes, focusing on the temperature and the humidity of the air around them. He reopened them and stared far off into the distance, noticing cattle roaming around. "I'd say Oklahoma or Texas."

At this point, the conversation had hit a lull, the two of them walking at a sort of brisk pace towards the place of lodging. For all they knew, the owners weren't even home.

"We still have our gloves." Said Scar after a little while, the house very close.

"Pardon?"

"Our gloves, won't they kind of be suspicious?" Scar pulled at his biker gloves absentmindedly.

"Well, Cleo did design them bases off of fashions. As for being suspicious, bikers wear these too. Plus, randomly morphing would be way more suspicious."

The front door to the house was a few feet in front of them now, the perfect white color of it accenting the light blue walls. No paint was peeling, though it looked as though the house had been standing there for a long time. The style of the build matched what was common in the '70s, although it was clear that most of the original materials that made up the house had been replaced.

A simple iron knocker was perched on the door, clearly from a few decades ago. There was a more recent installment on the door, a virtual doorbell.

"How does this thing work again?" Scar scratched his head as he looked at the tiny camera in the doorbell.

"It allows them to see who's knocking, and even talk to them without opening the door."

"Let's hope they at least give us directions to someplace useful." Sighing, Scar pushed the button, listening to the melodic chiming that followed. A sort of tense silence ensued as both of them sucked in tense breaths, half hoping that someone wouldn't answer.

Right when Xisuma was about to call it, certain that no one was home, the door opened slowly. A beautiful woman in her middle age opened the simple but elegant door, her waist-length hair falling in front of her a little. She opened her mouth to say a greeting, when her grey eyes fell upon Scar. Her eyes watered up as her dainty hands flew to her opened mouth. "James?"

Scar's eyes opened further as recognition passed between them. "Mom?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short chapter? Yes. Another one coming soon? Yes. Reason I cut it short was because I have a full page for the plot, and 2000 words in, I have only made it to the first plot point. I also don't want it done in sixteen chapters. I will tell you this, we are starting to make it to the endgame...

Love you all!

-Buurn

~Editor's note(Cloudheart)~ I hope you enjoyed~! <3

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