The Coolest Kids on the Block (Elke)

"Man... d'you see that kids face? I bet he won't stop cryin' for a week. What a baby."

Tucked away toward the middle of a gang of six, Elke shifted her eyes from the back of Badger's braided cranium, to where Mouse sat at his side. They sure had taken a liking to each other. Gross. The twelve year old wrinkled her nose, obviously disgusted with how much time the leader of their group had been spending with... her.

"Yeah, *snort*, I bet he wet himself too... when you threatened to kick his teeth in. Pssh, and he had the nerve to threaten us. What a loser!"

The young mutant refrained from rolling her eyes, not even bothering to glance at the boy who has just spoken. He was a mutant, like her, but with an annoyingly useless power... and by far, the biggest damn mouth in the group. Inteus, as the kids called him (seeing as they all went by nicknames in the gang)... The boy with no shame. His only power seemed to be that he was weightless. An assortment of weights and heavy objects needed to be worn at all times... or he'd just float away.

Elke was pretty darn sure it was because his head was full of nothing but hot air. "I didn't see you jumping to throw any fists, Shameless... " She threw in, smirking as he pulled his finger from his nose and glared at her. "Shut up, Arrow"

Onawa cleared her throat, ever the voice of reason within the group. "Whatever the case... he didn't stand a chance. His eye twitched twenty three times while we had him cornered, I counted... and he couldn't stand still. He knew we had him outnumbered... I don't think there was any fight in him." The boy next to Onawa nodded, ever the silent brooding time. "See, Mutey agrees."

"Man... it's creepy how you notice crap like that.." Badger muttered, stopping on the sidewalk to stare at the young mutant girl. Her power was just about as useless as Shameless', cept her's had the added downside of keeping her awake... forever. Since Elke had met the girl, she had never seen her sleep. No naps, no shut eye, no passing out or fainting. She was just always.... awake. That's where she had gotten her nickname from. The girl shrugged, wide eyed stare proving to do nothing more than creep Badger out. The group moved on, toward a park that they had loitering in a few times before.

"Arrow?" Elke glanced behind her, to the youngest of the group. "...Yea, Rabbit?"

The kid, who was taller than her by four or five inches and yet younger, avoided her eyes for a moment, before black locked on brown. He looked nervous, as always. "When do you think we can go home...? I'm tired.... and it's cold out here."

The girl sighed, glancing at Badger momentarily. It was up to him to decide when they were done making rounds, and she knew that if she asked he'd noogie her or something equally terrible. "Man up, Rabbit. It's not that cold." She shivered, despite her words, and Shameless cackled at the younger boy. "Yeah, man up!"

Badger stopped upon entering the park, having caught sight of someone else wandering around. Elke bumped straight into his back, face first, and ended up on her rear. A short, whispered conversation between Mouse and their leader popped up, before he stepped forward.

"Hey! Hey you! You should leave, we're hanging out here tonight." As big as Badger was, being the tallest and most visibly threatening, Shameless barked from behind him, "Yeah! Better run off if you know what's good for ya!"

They waited for stuttering, shaking, and eventual running away. Badger was already turning to giggle bellow with manly laughter at his fellows...

...only, the girl didn't budge.

What's more, she shrugged off the immature threats like they were just immature threats! How dare she! A stunned silence fell over the group, which Elke took advantage of.

She was getting little electric signals all up her spines, telling her that something was off here. If she were in the girls shoes, she might have mouthed off or something, but with the odds stacked in her gangs favor, she definitely would have turned tail and run for it.

She'd be stupid to stick around with six to one odds bearing down on her!

But... the girl didn't look stupid. She didn't look... anything, really. That silly little voice in the back of her head told her to casually slip to the back of the gang while Badger was distracted. Out of sight, out of mind... right?

"Um.. Badger?" Owana tugged at his sleeve, dark eyes pinned on the girl in a strange, unblinking manner. "This doesn't feel right... She isn't displaying any sights of fear." Badger shook the tugging hand off, veins bulging in anger upon his brow. If there was a downside to his own particular brand of mutation, it was anger. Once the boy saw red, he couldn't focus on anything else. Mouse recognized the signs of a growing temper tantrum, and reacted appropriately.

Squee! One moment she was there... the next, poof! She was gone. A tiny white mouse circled Badgers feet once, then scrambled off into the darkness. Without paying any attention to the mouse mutant, Badger spun and grabbed one of the weights from around Shameless' waist.

"H-hey--Gah!" The unfortunate mutant flailed as it was ripped from his person. He rose a few inches off the ground, and hovered, flailing like a cartoon character as Badger chucked the weight in the girls direction. Owana covered her eyes... peeking through cracked fingers, and covered Rabbit's eyes for him.

Was that thunder?

No. It was a small explosion. One that sent Rabbit flying back into Elke, as she tried to tip-toe away. Badge tried to brace himself, but the surprise of it all had him stumbling back as well. Owana, barely able to keep herself on her feet, shielded her eyes, and clung to Mutey.

"Gah! Rabbit, Gitoff!" Elke shoved the younger boy off, struggling to get back to her feet. Once she was able to stand, she set her eyes back on the girl... and then on Badger. She'd blown the weight out of the air like it was nothing, she hadn't even moved! Badger looked more pissed than ever though... "Everyone, scatter!"

The words were out of her lips before she could stop them, and even though no one usually listened to her, Owana and Mute grabbed Rabbit and made a run for it in the direction Shameless had flown off. It took her a few moments, before she realized that they had listened to something she had said. When it did, a burst of energy hit her like a ton of bricks, and she couldn't get the smile off her face.

Of course... her elder leader did not agree. In fact, he probably didn't even realize she was behind him still, or that the others had run for safety. "Dude, badger! She's a mutie... Calm down, she's one of us!"

The large boy swung in her direction, and the anger written on his face made her cringe. "She isn't one of us!" One big hand planted swiftly on her chest sent her flying back and rolling like a tumble weed. With her group broken up, off making sure Shameless didn't float off into the sky, she was by herself against an unknown girl and... an angry badger.

Only... unknown girl could make awesome explosions happen! It was a plus, in her mind. While Badger growled and grunted, turning to rip a park bench neatly from it's home, she wiggled her bow from around her shoulders and reached back for an arrow. While badger turned, and hefted the thing in the other girls direction, Elke nocked her arrow, pulled back on the string until she couldn't pull anymore, and let it fly.

Plop!

A second later, the wooden shaft of a toy suction cup arrow waggled comically in the air, sticking pointedly off from the side of Badgers forehead.

Badger wasn't fazed by the show... Elke, however, was. Her eyes widened drastically at the spectacle. This girl was Amazing! She could not stand by and let badger try and pummel her into meat paste... or, on the flip side, let the girl explode Badger. Then Shameless would be leader, and he sucked!

Speaking of shameless, she turned her head and glanced around until she spotted where the rest of the group had gotten off to. She spotted them off in the distance, grouped together, watching as Badger raged. Shame had mute on his back, to make up for the extra weight he had lost, and he looked rather disgruntled because of it.

A roar from Badger had her whipping her head back to the current situation at hand. He was in rage mode, and only two things had ever stopped him before. Being knocked out cold, or having someone forcefully sooth him. Elke started to split, her body dividing on either side. As Badger roared again and looked around for something else to throw. His eyes landed on the street that had been sitting beside the bench. The berserker boy set about tearing it from the layer of cement it was embedded in.
By the time he had it free of its anchor, Elke had split off to complete duplicates of herself. "You!" She pointed at one as she pushed herself to her feet. "Go get rabbit! And you!" She pointed to the other, as she slung her bow around her shoulders. "Help me fight this guy!"

One nodded and sprinted off, heading toward where Shameless and the others waited, while Elke and the twin that was left bolted for Badger's back. The twin jumped and latched onto one of his arms, kicking with dangling legs as the boy straightened up. Elke on the other hand, took a running leap, grabbed ahold of the back of his shirt and used it to haul herself up until she could get a skinny arm around his thick neck.

"Badger! Badger! Calm down!" He ignored her, even when she grabbed his braid, hooked a leg over his shoulder and pulled with all her might. Much like trying to steer a raging bull. The fifteen foot lamp post was lifted and then swung with all of his might in the explosive mutant girl's direction.

Ohgod!

He was swinging the makeshift weapon, and in doing so, Elke clung to keep herself from falling off of him. Hair pulling didn't seem to be working, and the twin hanging from his arm wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. The girl managed to dodge, so effectively that Elke blinked (or squeezed her eyes shut in fright, whatever) and she had managed to avoid the blow. The jolt of the concrete meeting metal sent a shock wave up the pole and through Badger's arms. Elke took the brief pause that came after to re-affix her arms around the boys throat. Her tightened her grip, locking her fingers together, and leaned back as far as she could in an attempt to pull him over backwards with the added weight.

...of course, him holding onto a heavy light pole hindered any such attempts, but she wasn't aware of that. The twin set about gnawing resolutely on Badgers arm, while the explosive girl shouted at him.

"Arrow!"

The voice belonged to Rabbit, who was being dragged by the arm over by the last duplicate. The duplicator blinked at them in an upside down manner, having extended herself as far as she could backwards. "Quick, Rabbit! Do it!"

The timid child looked from Elke, to Badger's large, angry form, and back. He knew what to do, but every time Badger got into one of his moods it was... terrifying. He'd seen their leader send people flying through windows before when in such rages. Still... his power did seem to calm him down, and the girl was pretty dangerous.

With a wibble of a bottom lip, he stepped closer while Badger was recovering, and extended his arms out. A warmth started radiating from him, followed swiftly by a light pink hue... and sparkles.... A moment after it started, a blast of the glittering pink color shot out and enveloped Badger whole. Elke and her twin were caught in the blast as well. All three people stiffened up momentarily, struck silent. Then... Badger started to relax. The street lamp slipped from his grasp, clanging to the ground at his feet. His knees wobbled and he dropped to the ground as well. Elke felt the sensation of... calmness wash over her and with a stupid smile slapped onto her face she slipped from around badger's neck and flopped into the pavement.

After a few seconds in the pink shimmery glow, Badger relaxed completely. The anger vanished, though he still looked rather annoyed. The moment it looked as if he was through fighting, Rabbit dropped his hands and the pink glow vanished. The boy looked thoroughly embarrassed (especially because a strange girl had just seen him use his pink power), he shuffled over to help Badger up when the boy lifted out a hand to him.

"Ah... S-sorry Badger.... Elke told me to--"

"I know, Rabbit."

Stupid grin still in place, Elke giggled childishly as Badger pinned a glare on her. If she hadn't been struck with a delirious sense of warmth and happiness, she would have cringed. That glare spelled trouble for her. Trouble when there wasn't an explode-y girl hanging around.

"Come on, let's go home... Arrow, it's best if you get lost for a while." He stomped off with Rabbit trailing along behind him, and Elke watched them leave. The twin flopped over on the ground beside her scratched her head in confusion, while the other twin shuffled over to join them. "I dun get it, boss... Why's he mad?"

Elke sighed, shifting her eyes so she could look at explode-y girl. "Because he's a jerk, that's why..."

The other twin, the one who had been helping Elke, raised her hand guiltily. "...I also bit him..."

Rubbing a sore rump, Elke settled her eyes on the girl, now named Kaitlyn, and her offered hand. After a moments hesitation, considering she had seen first hand what the girl could do, she reached out and took it. Dangerous or not, she was a mutant. They had that in common, at least. A lopsided grin settled on her face and she scratched at the back of her head, before the mention of police neatly wiped the smile from her lips.

Elke cursed... colorfully, and waved for her duplicates to follow her. "Ain't gotta tell me twice." She muttered, and willingly followed Kait away from the scene of the fight. "Hey... Boss?" The girl ignored her clone as the moved, too intent on making a clean get away before she got picked up again and sent back to that damn social worker. "What? Can't this wait until we're not escaping?" The duplicate whined, and wiggled in a strange little dance.

"...No... I gotta use the little girl's room." Elke cursed again. She had a safe place in the area for hiding out from searching eyes, but it lacked a bathroom. "Ey.. Kaitlyn, You got anywhere to go with a bathroom?" The threat of the fuzz, as Kait had put it, made her wary of being too close to the park. "preferably somewhere where cops aint gonna show up?"

Woo, she was winded. Running after a brawl didn't seem to be a good idea, what with adrenaline pumping through her small body. The clones trailing after her, however, were more than just winded. They were huffing and puffing, staggering around while clinging to each other like their scrawny legs would give out any moment.

Elke listened to Kaitlyn's short explanation, as well as her request, and nodded. Apparently they were going somewhere secret-like... Her curiosity tripled in size, and started waging war against her on the inside. Now she wanted to go inside. "Stick a needle in my eye." She responded back, while marking an invisible cross over her heart.

It wasn't Elke that Kait needed to worry about anyway, and the sudden childish giggling that popped up from behind was more than proof. The Native glanced over her shoulder and frowned. She could manage to keep her mouth shut and not step on any ones toes easily... but her duplicates.

"Ey, shut it you two." The twins stifled their giggling, and managed to look somewhat innocent. With another roll of her eyes, Elke straightened and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Don't worry about them... they're gonna melt soon, anyway."