Chapter 9

(Ally)

I looked down at the unconscious form of the new girl. It was odd, earlier she seemed nigh on indestructible, but then she had started acting very strangely. Her whole posture and body language had changed, not to mention her eye colour, and she'd been knocked down by a fairly light chair.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Shouted Jo.

"She's some nut job psychotic! You saw the way she beat me up unprovoked then started acting crazy. She probably would have killed us all and worn our organs as a hat!" Jeff answered, with indignation.

"You are such an idiot! Someone with her sort of powers would let us start hitting some real targets, give me a chance to make some real money. Who cares if she has a few screws loose? Plus, it's handy to have someone who's nuts around to take the fall if things go wrong," Jo said.

I really did wonder sometimes how I fell in with this lot. I knew in the end it came down to a matter of survival, that without them I wouldn't get very far. They were a pretty cut throat bunch though. Jo was all about Jo, what was good for her, what gained her power or leverage. She seemed nice enough but it was only if you had something she needed and she was manipulative as hell. If she thought she could get on better by turning on you, she would without a second thought.

Jeff was almost as bad. He was power hungry, though not anywhere near as clever as he thought, and nowhere near as manipulative as Jo. He also consistently failed to realise she was running things, using him as much as the rest of us. Ed and Dave were OK, a bit dim mostly just infatuated with Jo. I guess they had been lower echelon supers at school and when school ended, or they got kicked out, they found themselves with no-one to follow. They did what they were told by whoever they felt was in charge at the time. Jo used me for my powers pretending to be my friend. I had been out on the streets, in a pretty bad way with nowhere to go, some bad times haunting me. So having a friend who offered me some protection seemed ideal. By the time I had figured out the truth of it, I had nowhere else to go. So long as I was still useful I was kept around. I dreaded the day when she found a better telepath or illusionist and kicked me out.

I knelt down by Violet or whoever she really was, she was out cold. She was extremely lovely even covered in dirt and rumpled from the fight, with a figure to die for. I noticed she seemed to be wearing a school uniform, I wondered how old she was. I brushed aside some of her vivid violet hair finding a small cut where the chair had hit her. I touched her on the forehead, using my tactile telepathy to have a glance in her brain. What I saw was very confusing, like two minds smashed into one. She had been telling the truth when she said she wasn't Violet, she had two distinct personalities in there. They seemed to be similar like they were both cut from the same mould but their changes and time had caused them to diverge. I picked up the threads of what had happened to them from their thoughts learning a little of what they had been through. I felt the more aggressive personality start to stir at my intrusion so I backed off. Behind me the argument was still going.

"Look she's unstable and deadly. If we don't get rid of her now we may not get another chance. I say we kill her and bury her body in the woods," said Jeff.

"But look at her strength, she could rip an armoured car or a bank vault wide open," Answered Jo.

"But she's crazy!" shouted Jeff.

"She's not crazy," I said. "She was telling the truth."

At which point everyone turned and looked at me. I tried to explain it to them "She is two people in one body, twins if you will. Jennifer and Violet, when MORFS changed them, their original personality split into two copies. Jennifer lacks Violets strength and has become more withdrawn, whereas Violet is super strong and tough, with a fairly aggressive personality to match," I turned to Jeff and continued, "By the way I wouldn't want to be you when Violet wakes up."

"So they share a body, what do they do take a vote on who gets to do what? Can we convince this Jennifer chick to take a hike and leave Vi in charge?" asked a puzzled Jo still looking for her angle.