“Pizza!”  Becca called as she stepped into the common room.  Balanced on the fingertips of her right hand was a stack of four pizza boxes.

“I’m starved!”  Ave came to her feet from the couch and snatched the top box.  She placed it on the counter and lifted the lid. 

“You know pineapple on pizza is a sin, right?” Mikey teased as Ave piled half the pizza on a plate.

“Says the guy with … ugh … veggies on HIS pizza!”

Dusk opened the third box, straight pepperoni, and took a slice, the cheese stringing all the way to his mouth.  Thomas’ little robot friends worked in unison pouring soda into plastic cups, one to unscrew the top, two to pour the bottle and one to hold the cup in place.

“You ought to sell those things, Thomas,” Dusk said.

“They’re so cute,” J cooed.  Thomas blushed and bobbed his head.

“How can anyone eat a plain cheese pizza” Becca asked, watching J make her selection.

“Nothing’s gotta die,” J replied.

“You been hanging out with Alicia too much,” Mikey observed.

One by one they settled on to the various couches and chairs that made up the common room and for a few moments the only sounds to be heard was chewing.

“Ben wants to try another team building thing,” Mikey said.

“Shit,” said Dusk.

“Come on, man, you know we gotta do something, this ain’t working,” Mikey said.

“I dunno, something seems to be working,” Ave said, scanning the room.  “Even Thomas is sticking around.”

“Yeah, but we’re more like room mates,” J added.  “Even Becca comes over to hang out.”

“Now that dad’s working, gets lonely rattling around that big house by myself,” Becca explained.

“You could go hang at the King’s, you’re right there,” Mikey suggested.

Becca pulled a face and shook her head.  “Too much drama.”

“I think that’s how they grew up,” J said.

“Trouble is, that’s all they want to talk about,” Ave injected.  “Their rules, their problems, their way of doing things.”

Mikey pointed a slice at Ave.  “Ya gotta give them a break, they are trying to adjust to a whole new life.”           

Becca let out an exasperated breath.  “And WE aren’t?  I mean which of us didn’t just get yanked out of what WE grew up with?  None of us asked for any of this, but none of us is whining about it all the time.”

“That’s the thing, all the time,” Ave said.  “Don’t they ever stop about plans and dreams and shit?”

“What is wrong with plans and dreams,” Thomas asked.

“Not a thing, you just don’t have to wear a neon sign advertising it!”  Becca told him.

“Why doesn’t everyone try to go over and visit them?”  Dusk asked.

“Home field advantage,” Mikey said.  “They got it, and everyone else feels it, even if you don’t know what it is.”

J nodded, “I can see it, but how do you get around that?  It makes them comfortable.”

“And everyone else, uncomfortable,” Mikey said.  “We need neutral ground.”

“Like here,” Ave offered.

Mikey shook his head, “Honestly, I don’t think so.  Snowy’s too insecure to do anything anywhere but her own territory.”

“So she gets to dictate where we meet?” Ave asked.

Again Mikey shook his head.  “We can’t have the six of us feeling like we’re in someone else’s park all the time.”

Thomas raised a hand.

“You don’t have to raise your hand Thomas,” Mikey said. “Just spit it out.”

“They already go to the gym.”

“I think we need something more … homey,” J said.  “The gym, a classroom, the field, all pretty sterile.”

“They won’t come here,” Ave said.

“Maybe we have to suck it up and go to them,” Dusk suggested.

“I can’t,” Becca said.  “The house is like melodrama central, I can’t do that.”

“What do we do?”  J asked.

Mikey shrugged, “Got no idea.  Short of nailing Snowy and Jack down, one of them will bolt.”

“Snowy,” said Becca.

“You and J bolted too, don’t forget,” Ave observed.

Becca frowned, “That was different.  Someone just claimed to have killed their family and it was all played for the drama of the moment.  The BIG reveal, bullshit.  I don’t do drama.”

Ave grinned, “You are NOW!”

“Just stating a fact,” Becca said.

Mikey looked at J “What about you?  Why’d you run?”

“I have to agree with Becca,” she said.  “But I actually took it as Jack had killed his family, rather than some dumb play to ‘share’ with us.  Killing … I couldn’t do it, not even to save myself.”

“What about to save another?” Dusk asked.  “I’m thinking Josh saving his sister.”

The room was silent for a long minute as J contemplated that situation.  Finally she spoke, “I don’t ever have to make that decision since none of my powers are lethal to anyone but me.”

“What about Josh, how do you feel about what he did?” Mikey asked.

Again J was silent, mulling it over.

“Think of it as a cop in a hostage situation, J,” Dusk suggested.  “Sometimes, they have to shoot.”

“I know,” J agreed.  “I can only say what I would or wouldn’t do.  I can’t take a life.  I guess I ran because of shock … I had to sort it all out.  I knew he hadn’t really killed them, at least, I felt he hadn’t but still, it was a stupid thing to say.”

“I think we all agree with that,” said Ave.

Mikey continued, “I think it is pretty plain that they aren’t normal, at least not a normal that we are used to.  Becca, what was the thing with the book?”

“Snowy mentioned that she was going to study bio chem,” Becca told them. “I said I was planning to go that direction too and mentioned how I hadn’t started any studies yet.”

Thomas’ robots moved around the coffee table refreshing drinks.

“Yeah, I said something along those lines too,” J said.

“She brought that book, written by her dad,” Becca went on.  “I looked through it, or at least the first chapter …it was like looking at hieroglyphs … I hadn’t the foggiest idea of anything it was talking about.  I haven’t even taken 9th grade biology yet and she’s dropping this Tome of All Biochemical Knowledge on me like it was light reading or something.”

“Peace offering?” Ave suggested.

“Peace? From what war?” Becca scowled.  “We aren’t exactly buddies or anything so why do you think it was a peace offering?”

Ave shrugged.  “She’s like totally scare to death of all of us.”

“I don’t think she’s scared of me,” Mikey said.  “I think its Ben’s fault.  He’s always ordering her to do stuff.  He doesn’t just ask her.”

“Come on,” Ave said.  “She has them both wrapped around her finger.”

Dusk interrupted, “You got it wrong, that’s just the way they’ve always treated her.  They’re way over-protective of her and for her, them doing things is just the way it has always been.”

“The way they move around,” said J.  “Like they are Secret Service or something, always right at her elbow.  No wonder she’s scared, THEY are the one’s that got her that way.”

“What about the rape thing, and them almost killing some guy at six?” Becca asked.

“Six year old over-reaction,” Ave suggested.  “Sure, there was a guy trying to do something to Snowy, I can see that easy, but if she knocked the guy out with her ‘headache’ thing, and it was the first time she’d ever done anything like that, I can see them thinking she’d killed the guy.”

“Yeah, but now they know better, right?” Becca said.  “Their parents didn’t let them go on thinking that Snowy HAD killed someone, did they?”

“I dunno,” Ave said.  “Seems like their parents pretty much brainwashed them.”

“Yeah, but there IS an evil organization hunting Metas, right?” Dusk said.  “Nat told us about that group.”

“Point IS,” Mikey interjected.  “How do we get them to start trusting us?”

“Snowy thinks we hate her,” Ave said.

Becca rolled her eyes, “Drama!  Easy to play the victim.”

“Come on, Bec, they’re pretty screwed up,” Ave said.  “We gotta give them a break.”

“I’m willing! But they gotta cut the drama!”

“Now who’s the drama queen?”  Ave laughed.

“When we go on the field, I’m not going to do the round-robin thing,” Mikey said.  “I’m gonna pair us off according to who I think doesn’t play well together.  Thomas, you and J.”

“I get along with Thomas,” J objected.

“I know,” Mikey said.  “But you are the most approachable girl in our group.  You’re patient.”  Mikey watched Thomas the whole time.  “Can you do it, buddy?”

Thomas didn’t react for a long moment then he nodded.  “I’ll try.”

“Good … Becca, you and Ben?”

Becca nodded, “Yeah, I guess, but if he starts in about rules and that shit, I am going to deliver a fast ball right to the …”

“Ave?  You and Jack?”

“I guess …”

“I’ll take Snowy,” Mikey said.  “Dusk, can you play with Paige.”

Dusk laughed.  “If she doesn’t try to pet me!”