Episode 3 - Uncontrolled

Once again, all episodes can be read at pisaygarnet2013@tumblr. I recommend reading it there instead, because the formatting is better preserved. Pero anyway, bahala kayo.

This episode introduces four new characters. Not sure tho. Happy reading~

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P-roes Spin-Off
Pisay Garnet 2013
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Abilities.
Real People. Unreal Adventure.

Episode 3 – Uncontrolled
Written and directed by Bianca Publico
Co-directed by Marianne Cadiz and Benny Almirol

Previously, on PG13…

“It’s another math exam. I’m on the brink of failure.”
‘Good thing people couldn’t fly.’
“The Company was founded by my uncle, David.”
“Send someone ASAP, won’t you? She might be a bit unstable after that shock.”
“Stuff. I can’t remember. But it was AWESOME!”
“You know, I hate it when you flaunt your power.”

Now, PG13 continues.

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“STRIIIIIKE THREE! BATTER OUT!”

Joaqui exhaled in relief as he released his tense pose, and walked back to the bench, removing his glove.

“Good play, Silvestre.”

He looked up at their temporary manager, who was handing him a bottle of water and a towel. He grabbed them gratefully. “Thank you.”

The manager stretched her arms luxuriously as he chugged down the water. “It’s great to get out sometimes. And watch you play.”

“Thanks for taking time out for me, Mika.”

“The fashion business isn’t that demanding,” she said, “And this is cool too, I got to be your manager and stuff. And we’re going to the mall!”

“By the way, I thought you were inviting that friend of yours? The one you designed outfits for, the CEO…?”

“Oh, you mean Rham. He couldn’t come, there’s this big dance he’s organizing. I think it’s an invention launch of some sort.”

“Well then, he’s bound to be busy.”

-xxxxx-

In truth, Rham’s events coordinator was just a little bit busier than him.

Issa wandered down the hallways of the fourth floor, looking for the right room. Rham had asked her to bring up Kirby, the inventor of the dance’s main attraction. He had conveniently forgotten that she was a temporary recruit and didn’t know her way around very well.

She peered into a room with an open door, and found an inventor she recognized. It was the one who had asked her for burn ointment a few days ago. He was sleeping; Issa wondered how he still managed to stay on par with Kirby’s inventing. Issa decided to leave him alone, making a mental note to ask if Rham even knew about this.

Issa found Kirby in the next room over. She pushed the door open quietly, about to call out his name but stopped in her tracks.

He was holding a blowtorch in one hand, and passing the flame over his fingers one by one, very slowly. There was no visible protection on his hand, but no burn marks appeared. The room was also quite warm, but the prodigy inventor wasn’t sweating a drop.

She backed out of the room quickly, processing what she had seen.

Finally coming to a decision, she entered the room and said, mustering as much authority as she could, “Mr. Manuel?”

The blowtorch fell from his hand and clattered down to the floor. Kirby made a show of jumping in pain and nursing his foot as he switched off the blowtorch. It would have all been believable had Issa not seen that unusual event. “Er… The CEO wants to see you in his office right away.”

“No problem,” he said, placing the blowtorch back on his brightly lit table, and brushing eraser dust off some blueprints. He stumbled out of his office sheepishly.

He really is absentminded. He’d forgotten to lock his door and I’m still in here.

Issa picked up the blowtorch, and pulled a Post-It note from the unused cube on Kirby’s desk. She burned the note, confirming the flames that had touched Kirby’s hand.

She hurried back to her office and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi there!”

“Is this Dave? Why are you in Bianca’s office?”

“I’m waiting to get a new recruit. I can mentor someone now!”

“I see. Listen, can I talk to her?”

“Sure.” The phone switched hands. “Hey, Issa.”

“How’d you know?”

“Dave’s future was yelling. Why’d you call, Issa? You don’t usually…”

“There’s a new posthuman,” she whispered discreetly, glad that Rham had given her one of the specially soundproof rooms. “He’s one of the inventors in this company I’m in. You must have heard about it. The one hosting the dance?”

“Ah, yes. Mr. Ybiernas’s dance. It sounds wonderful.” Over at the Company, Bianca was smirking. Issa thought she sounded a little bitter.

“It’s actually Ybiernas Industries’ first invention launch. And the inventor is the posthuman.”

“What can he do? Frankly, I’m surprised he isn’t in our database yet.”

“He doesn’t get burnt. I saw him touch white-hot flames without flinching.”

“Sounds impressive. Do you want backup? Wait, no, stupid question. Disablers rarely need backup.”

Issa smiled, but there was no emotion. “You know, why not keep someone ready. I think my powers have gotten a little rusty.”

“Okay. There’s a new recruit that compliments your inventor’s powers nicely. This new posthuman may be able to do more than you think. Remember, he isn’t in our database. Be careful.”

“I think I can handle him.”

-xxxxx-

Eight months ago

Jethro went out to his backyard, ready to spend another day relaxing, and his wide backyard was more than enough for just that.

Fully equipped with a ten-foot wide private pool, spa , orchid garden, barbeque station, and several comfortably cushioned lounge chairs, the Malimatas’ backyard was perfect for hosting pool parties.

Which Jethro rarely held. He didn’t like parties. Too many people.

He settled into one of the lounge chairs and adjusted the umbrella so it shaded him from the sun. Jethro sighed in content, completely relaxed.

That is, of course, until the sliding door leading into the main house slipped open, and the pattering of shoes forced him to open his eyes.

An unfamiliar man wearing a casual outfit was seated on the lounge chair beside him. His eyes were obscured by polarized sunglasses, and his already brown hair looked even lighter under the sunlight. Jethro sat up, curious.

“Nice place you have here. I wouldn’t say so much about security, though.” His voice had a slight accent, as though some words were clipped. His sunglasses glinted as he removed them.

“Yeah, I’d think so.”

“I’m Stephen. Nice to meet you.” He extended a friendly hand. Jethro looked at it uncertainly for a few seconds, until Stephen lowered it, and muttered, “That never works.” He raised his voice again. “So, Jethro, I guess you’re wondering what I’m doing here, hm?”

“Of course. How did you know my name?”

“That ties well with what I’m doing here. Actually, I’m from a special Company. We take care of people with abilities, and make sure they remain secret.”

Jethro’s curiosity was instantly spiked. Stephen noticed. “Why would you do that?”

“Firstly, normal people would love to study them, hunt them down. We don’t want that. And secondly, we also aim to restrain abilities, should it become a danger to the posthuman or people around him or her.”

“Posthuman? That’s what we’re called?” The excitement was building up for Jethro. He wanted to learn so much more.

“Yes. What ability do you have? You said ‘we’.”

Jethro smiled. “Er, I’m not really sure what it’s called, but I can show you.”

He stood on the edge of the water as Stephen looked on. He decided to give Jethro the chance to awe him, since he already knew his ability from the database.

“Ready?”

Jethro jumped into the water fully clothed. He kneeled on the pool floor, and started breathing in the water.

He closed his eyes as he focused on inhaling and exhaling, totally mindless of the water, breathing as though he were aboveground. Stephen took his chance to roll his eyes while he wasn’t looking.

The excited water bug floated to the top of the surface, wiping the water off his face. “Did you see it?”

“I was going to tell you that I already knew you were a waterbreather, but yeah, it was amazing.” The last three words were as drenched in sarcasm as Jethro was of water.

“Waterbreathing, huh? Do you know how it works?” He climbed out of the pool and started drying himself with a towel.

“Nope. You can ask the scientists back at headquarters. My only job is to bring you back.”

Jethro’s hands froze on the towel he was holding. “I have to come with you?”

“Not if you don’t want to. But know that we’ll be keeping you in check, and will force you to come when you start flaunting your power in public.”

The waterbreather stayed silent. “I-I don’t think I’m ready to go with you yet.”

Stephen grew slightly annoyed, but managed not to let it show. “You don’t have to come. I can come back some other time.” Bianca, you better send someone else on this guy’s check-ups, he thought scathingly at the back of his mind. Freaking specials, eager one minute and reluctant the next.

“… I’m sorry. I know it’s trouble, but I can’t yet.”

Stephen rose to leave. “That wasn’t totally unexpected, believe me. Most want to keep their lives in order and totally ignore their abilities. However, I warn you again: should you display your power publicly, the Company will have to restrain you.”

-xxxxx-

Present Day

He scuffed both shoes against the ground, psyching himself up. Joaqui got into the position beside the strike zone that he was so familiar with, placing the bat a little above his shoulder. He nodded, and the catcher, pitcher, and umpire all tensed.

The pitcher swung backwards, and suddenly, everything slowed down.

Joaqui saw everything in red. The outline of the pitcher glowed a bright white, and the ball was a separate entity. He saw the outfielders and the short stops in the same white outline.

Just as suddenly, everything sped up.

He saw exactly where the ball was flying, and where the short stops first ran to. All of them were marked by blinding white trails of light, vivid against the red. He blinked, and suddenly everything came back in full color. The ball was halfway to him. Joaqui shut his eyes and opened them again, just as the umpire called “Ball!”

Lucky. Joaqui tried to shake his surprise off. He had to concentrate…

But I just saw where the ball was going before it went there!

He licked his lips nervously, and gave the OK to start again. The pitcher moved his hand, and Joaqui’s eyesight turned red once more. As soon as he saw where the ball was going, he blinked, and just as he anticipated, the world turned full color again. The white trail left by the ball was still clearly visible, burned into his eyes.

He swung, and it was perfect.

-xxxxx-

Stephen was sprawled over the lounge chair he had sat in eight months ago, hands behind his head and completely at ease.

The same door slid open, and Jethro dropped the glass of wine he had been holding. He cursed, the wine having been his last glass of high-grade Chateau Latour.

“I saw the effort to upgrade your security after my last entrance, but there was a blind spot over in those bushes,” he gestured lazily to the shrubbery behind him. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and all that.”

“Hello to you too. So Dave told you about my decision?”

“Agent Llorin was rather vague, but yes. Let’s go, my car is out back.”

-xxxxx-

Joaqui’s team won the game, much thanks to his grandslam following his red visions. He sat on the bench long after everyone on his team had gone, still contemplating. His vision was now slightly tinted pink, with faint white trails of where the grass was blowing next.

“That was a really good game!”

He looked up to find a small, curly-haired man wearing a baseball cap. He seemed younger than he looked. Joaqui assumed he was a fan. “Um, thanks.”

“Your ability’s really something, huh?”

Joaqui looked at him in disbelief.

“I know what you can do. You can predict where things will move next, right?”

There was another trail showing the boy sitting down next to him. Sure enough, he did.

“I can see where the air blows the grass next,” Joaqui said uncertainly, referring to the grass.

“No, no,” Dave said. Aside from Javi, Dave was the main science nut in the Company. “The wind is an air. A moving air.”

Joaqui was about to point out the grammatical errors, but decided against it. “What is it? This… this thing I can do?”

“It’s called kinetic precognition. Really rare, too.”

Joaqui decided not to care how he knew. All that mattered was that he get to the bottom of this soon. He started with a basic question. “What’s your name?”

“Lawrence. Nah, just kidding. Call me Dave. I work for a Company, a Company found to help and hide people like you and me. Posthumans.”

“Post…humans?”

“Yeah! You can come with me if you’d like, I’ll show you the headquarters and everything. We’d love to help you, if you need it.”

“Um, okay.” Joaqui was more than a little overwhelmed by his talkativeness, but that was okay, since he hardly knew what to say. “How do we get there?”

“Come with me, I have James waiting in the car. He’s really awesome, you know. He can levitate!”

A few minutes later, Joaqui was sitting beside Dave in a heavily tinted car. “Dave, what’s your ability?”

“Oh, speaking of which…” Dave looked Joaqui in the eye, his eyes swirling blends of blue, purple, and black. Joaqui fell back in his chair, lightly snoring.

James looked back at them as he revved up the engine. “Oh, so that’s why I lost consciousness after getting in the car.”

-xxxxx-

Once again, Issa was walking around on the fourth floor, but now she knew where she was going. She knocked on the open door, and called out Kirby’s name.

Right then, Kirby wasn’t trying to burn himself. He was innocently poring over the designs of his newest invention. He wheeled his chair around, pencil hooked behind his ear and a pen-like eraser between his teeth. He removed the eraser before he said, “Does Mr. Ybiernas need me again?”

“Oh, no, no,” Issa said, adjusting her glasses. “Actually, I’d like to talk to you. Can we go somewhere else?”

Kirby looked uncertain, but he dropped his pencils and came with her.

She led him to a deserted corridor, rarely passed by people. “Kirby, I saw you using the blowtorch.”

He became nervous at once. “Oh, huh. Well, um…”

“Do you know why you don’t get burnt?”

“No,” he replied in a small voice, crossing his arms across his chest.

“I know. You have a power.”

Kirby looked up, the interest obvious in his eyes. “Rea—”

The next moment, Kirby’s hands were ablaze. He looked at them in horror; Issa reacted instinctively as she raised her palms and lowered them, as if pushing the air down. The flames on Kirby’s hand slowly went out, but he could still feel the warmth beneath his skin.

“How did you do that!?”

“Power augmentation. No time explaining. I didn’t know you were a pyrokinetic!”

-xxxxx-

Bianca’s eyes were closed as she listened to the wireless headset, ignoring its whispers about how it once belonged to an animal agent (Who the hell even considers platypode to be agents?) and instead listening to the drama unfolding.

“I didn’t know you were a pyrokinetic!”

She took her feet off the desk and grabbed the pager.

“Pia, take Gene to Ybiernas Industries. It seems Agent Garcia’s inventor is actually a dormant volcano who just exploded. And that wasn’t metaphorical; he’s pyrokinetic.”

“Right away.”

- - - - -

You’re worth losing my self-esteem
Your clever words mean nothing more to me
Than a lot I’ve heard in a movie
You’re worth losing my, losing my, losing my self-esteem
You’re not worth putting myself in these situations
- Whoa Oh (Me Vs. Everyone) by Forever the Sickest Kids

End of Episode 3.