29 [ Jase ] First in Class

  My plans for the next few days were pretty simple.

  The girls had left me in front of a hostel set up to house the people with mutant relatives who had fled to Nova Roma along with them, only to find out that as regular humans they could not themselves enter the mutant Holyland. Instead, they were left behind to camp out in the secret Roman city after leaving everything behind for the sake of their mutant children or partners.

  So after helping myself to a clean set of loaner clothes, a sealed package of underwear, and some toiletries, I went off to take a shower.

  I would like to ask at this point… what is the point of the opening in the front of men’s underwear?

  It’s more hygienic to pee while sitting down, and since becoming a guy I’ve found out that guys can hold things in a lot longer than girls, so it’s not like you regularly have to urgently dig in past the zipper, find the gap in the overlapping cloth, then pull your boy parts out to pee instead of just sitting down without droplets flying off everywhere.

  ...of course, I haven’t had the chance to write my name in the snow. Maybe that would make it worth it.

  Anyways, once I got cleaned up it would just be a matter of finding a good spot for my Gomez suit to get a satellite connection and then I could start ordering some supplies to help me set up a new base of operations.

  I wasn’t sure how to get the stuff to a hidden city in the Brazilian rainforest, but if you have the cash, someone else will figure out a way.

  So in what I figured would be in a week or two I could make my own time machine, go back about six years when all my information from Doom was still up to date, and then have all the people who knew about me, including my relatives, deal with the nineteen year old version of me who had been building up a power base for six years.

  At some point, I would go to high school for the social life in a more democratic nation, maybe somewhere in California, and then get to have my debut as the good looking rich kid who lives with his absentee uncle who left him with access to a fully stocked bar.

  Iara Shark Girl was nice, but with six years to get my powers under control, I would get to meet other girls. I didn’t want to get stuck with a girl who could literally bite my head off just because she was the first one I met who my powers didn’t affect. I wanted to play the field, not wait six years, and then settle down for something long term and monogamous.

  Anyways, that was my plan, which lasted right up until I heard the girls talking outside of the hostel locker room as I was finishing getting dressed. From the sound of it, Marrow was planning on a night out at someplace called Akklo after they dumped me off, while Iara wanted to wait to see how my interview went.

  Looking over at my Guido suit, I gestured at it to reassemble onto me with most of its bulk smoothed out to more of a traditional comic book slim body covering that would leave it less fictional, but more stylish.

  Then I headed out, to find Iara waiting for me in her human form with Marrow standing behind her, both of them wearing stylish contingent masks over the lower halves of their faces. I smiled at the nervous looking shape changer. “Darling, you just couldn’t stay away.”

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  Iara held one of her hands out towards me to stop my slow approach with my arms outstretched for a hug. “No flirting. We’re here on official business Jase. One of the council wants to talk to you.”

  Marrow crossed her arms. “Cheer up playboy, you get to go to the island.”

  I smiled. “A visit to a tropical island in the company of two beautiful women? How can I say no?”

  The external bone growth mutant rolled her eyes at that. “Save it Purple Boy.” She pointed at the yellow and blue X patterned mask she had on. “Pheromone blockers. Whatever you were doing to me before, it won’t be happening anymore. All I see now is a skinny little kid.”

  Ouch.

  My love interest Iara slowly nodded as she looked me in the eyes. “You look… younger.”

  I grimaced and gave her a shrug. “Mixed bag powers, I began to age more slowly as they started to kick in.” I stepped up a bit closer to her, and she didn’t back away. “You may have some of the same thing going on. Remaking your body every time you shapeshift may allow you to fix anything that went wrong with one or the other of your forms. That might even include the effects of aging at some point.”

  Giving her a grin as she turned her head away from me with a troubled look, I reached out to take both of her hands in mine. “Who knows, maybe I’ll end up being the one who ends up looking older than you.” Then I gave her hands a squeeze and stepped back as I let go of them before she could pull away. “Or at least I will still be around to remember when we were both young, long after everyone else is gone.”

  Marrow snorted at me. “Yeah, living on as all her loved ones die off. That’s just what a girl wants to hear. Idiot.”

  I gave the smirking mutant an earnest look. “I promise to pour a libation on your grave every now and then Sarah.” Then I smirked right back at the external bone growth mutant. “Probably milk. You just have to constantly be desperate for calcium.”

  She glared, Iara giggled, and I challenged the Bone Girl by tossing my chin up.

  I thought body horror was going to throw down on me on general principle, but Iara took my arm and began to lead me off, much to my delight.

  What can I say about Krakoa?

  A tropical wonderland? Maybe in a Lewis Carol sense. The building looked to be something from a fevered dream, as did many of the mutant population. The air was damp and heavy with the scent of a myriad of tropical blooms all about. So many flowers in fact, that I felt bad for my all girl escort having to wear pheromone blockers which had to be interfering with their sense of smell.

  My meeting turned out to be with a twenty something looking darker skinned man in an expensive looking suit who rose from his seat at the only table on a large veranda overlooking a harbor before extending his hand towards me and speaking in Portuguese.

  “Good evening. I am Roberto De Costa, and I am here to discuss the next four years of your life.”

  This is where my plans began to turn to crap.

  It seemed that De Costa, also known as the high tier mutant Sunspot, had lately become more concerned with Earth, Mutants, and what was happening in his home corner of the world after spending the last several months focusing on interstellar concerns.

  After offering me a cup of what turned out to be some very fine coffee, he explained. “I don’t like what the Brazilian government is doing with people with powers. I understand their desire to participate in the empowered arms race. But they are abusing and alienating the very people they wish to train as deadly soldiers, even when they are by their powers and their nature not suited for it. It’s stupid, wasteful, and they are kidnapping people like us…” He waved his cup over to where the two girls sat on one side of the table. “And like you.”

  I leaned back in my chair. “So what exactly do you have in mind.”

  De Costa grinned at me. “I will use the greatest power any one person can have, money.”

  He began counting down on his fingers. “I’ve bribed the right people in power, I’ve bought the campus, and I’ve even had the uniform designed.”

  No, no, no, no…

  Sunspot leaned back in his own chair.

  “Now I just need students to attend, and be protected within, the De Costa School for Gifted Students.”