Toka-Ace #1: The Re-Emergence
Chapter 10

Katherine took us back to her place. It was an unimpressive, small one-story house. It would not have stood out to anyone. According to Katherine, this was a good thing for our purposes. I sat on the table in Katherine’s basement.

She instructed me on how to transform back into my normal self. I did so and she treated my injuries. Luckily when I transformed back, the extent of my burn and my cut were lessened.

Andrew was quiet as he watched. We weren’t about to try running again. It had been a hasty and foolish thing to do. “I’m sorry that I freaked out.” I said.

“You cost me a lot of time.” Katherine searched what I supposed was her medical cabinet.

“Sorry.” I said meekly.

“Well at least…” Katherine rubbed a salve onto my back. “You now know that this is real.”

“So, start from the beginning.” I requested. “Who are you? What am I? And why were those robots after me?”

Katherine paused. “I’ll indeed start from the beginning.”

“That’s usually the best place to start.” Andrew chimed in sarcastically.

“There are several races out in the universe. Since I am on a time constraint, the two relevant ones are the Aanbi-Sali and the Vildealos. They’re embroiled in an ongoing war on my home planet, which is…well, let’s just say it’s very far away. It’s an incredibly bloody conflict with neither side willing to negotiate or surrender. It’s just senseless bloodshed and has been for decades. Some time ago, a group of us formed Tovlin in an area far from the conflict. Tovlin originated as a peace movement, a refuge where the Vildealos and Aanbi-Sali could leave in harmony together. The idea was for refugees no matter if they were Aanbi-Sali or Vildealo to come and pursue a peaceful life. We were going to be the shining example of interracial harmony.” Katherine paused looked at the ground and sighed. “Tovlin’s peaceful roots were eventually forgotten as the war raged closer and closer to us. It was decided that we would be the ones to end the war. If we couldn’t do it with our ideals, then we would do it by force. That’s where you come in.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You see, Tovlin would not have survived if we had stayed. We had to come to some place where no one would gain from antagonizing us.” Katherine explained. “Earth was perfect. No Vildealo, no Aanbi-Sali cared about Earth. Humans think this planet is special, but there are many planets with as many resources, closer by. This one is out of the way and somewhat backward technologically. We thought we could come here and just do what we needed to do to accomplish our goals. That involved study. After we learned enough about Earth, we were ready to begin. We took twenty orphaned children…” She gestured at me when she said the word orphaned. “And through our science, we granted them incredible power.”

“You were the ones to do this to me?” I asked.

“Not me personally,” Katherine said. “No the person most responsible for altering you was Mibweet.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Mibweet is the person that you know as Beatrice Weatherbee.” Katherine said looking me in the eyes.

“You mean Mom?” Andrew said disbelievingly.

The wheels were turning in my head. I was not sure to handle this revolution. Aanbi-Sali, Vildealo, Tovlin, and Mom. “So, Mom was…an alien?” I asked slowly. My thoughts were that this was absurd, ridiculous, unbelievable, but I had seen the evidence. “And you’re an alien too?”

“Yes. I began life as a Vildealo just as your mother did before cloning herself a human body.” Katherine answered.

“Let me get this straight,” Andrew cut in. He walked over with his hands open. Then he dropped his hands to his side. “You are a part of an alien peace organization that came to earth and gave orphans super powers, then later became human by cloning a human body. Is that right?”

“Yes, but there’s more that you need to know,” Katherine said. “About twelve years ago, your mother and a handful of us betrayed Tovlin. We sabotaged their operation and liberated all the children who were subjected to those terrible experiments. Using our cloning technology we were able to craft bodies for ourselves. Of course it was a simple matter to hack human computers and craft actual identities for ourselves. We gave you all homes. In your case Troy, Mibweet adopted you herself. While we couldn’t undo what we did, we were able to suppress your powers.”

I took in the story. It was a lot to take in and it weighed on me. Mom an alien? Aliens using Earth as a tool? It sounded like a bad joke. But I couldn’t afford to think of Katherine as crazy anymore.

“So those guys who came after us tonight?” Andrew began.

“Were androids,” Katherine supplied. “I’m not sure how Tovlin survived all this time or why they decided to come after you now. For all this time we have been so careful.”

I snapped out of my thoughts. I needed to be engaged in the present. I could figure out my emotions and ask a million questions later. “How did they replace me?” I asked.

“Your powers actually come from nanites in your blood,” Katherine explained. “The androids must have been scanning for those.”

“What are my powers? And how do they work?” I asked, taking the reins of questioning from Andrew.

“Each of the Tovlin kids is a marvel of quantum physics and bioengineering.” Katherine said. “To understand the ’how’ of it would require you to understand all this….” She waved a hand over her book shelf and chalkboard. “And so much more.”

“Okay. Whatever,” I said. “What can I do?”

“Troy in your transformed state you are about ten times stronger than usual, you have the ability to discharge lightning, you are able to fly, you can emit shockwaves, bind to shadows, and conjure weapons with your mind.” Katherine explained. “Even your clothes serve a purpose. The Keikogi and hakama help you to breathe.”

“What?” I asked.

“Normally a human being has about a two percent capacity to breathe through their skin. When you transform that capacity increases to thirty percent. Your costume acts as a magnet for the toxins that you absorb. You’ll notice that in areas where toxins abound you’ll weaken, so be careful when you use your powers,” Katherine warned.

For a moment, I was giddy though I didn’t show it. No wonder those androids came at me with such force. If I had known that I probably would have beaten all five with no help from Katherine.

“Do you mean to tell me that Troy is the most powerful thing most powerful thing walking the face of the Earth right now?” Andrew questioned.

“I can kick butt on Superman,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Superman would kick butt on you,” Andrew grinned.

“Actually,” Katherine said, completely serious. “Troy is not the strongest. There are several Tovlin kids stronger than he is. You were designed for missions that required stealth and delicacy. One can’t always blow up a control room.”

“To think that there are twenty other kids like Troy out there,” Andrew marveled.

“Actually, each of the Tovlin kids was uniquely designed,” Katherine corrected. She shook her head and sighed. “In the old days I would have been thrilled to see our work up close, but now…”

“So if Mom altered me, does that mean that Andrew was part of the experiments too?” I asked.

“No, Andrew was not part of the experiments. Beatrice formally adopted Andrew shortly after she adopted you.” Katherine explained.

I glanced at Andrew, who looked awe-struck by everything that he was hearing. I wondered why Mom had adopted him.

“Why clone human bodies at all?” Andrew asked. “Why not just leave the kids with normal human families.”

“Beatrice helped the small handful of us to see the error of our ways. The experiments were our ultimate mistake. When you make a mistake that big, there should be no effort that you spare to atone for it. For us it was personal, for Beatrice, I think it was more so.”

I watched Katherine put on her jacket and grab her car keys. “I need the two of you to stay put.”

“Stay put?” I objected. “Where are you going? What if those androids come after me again?”

“I took measures to cloak your presence from Tovlin. As long as you don’t leave this house you’ll be safe. In the meantime you can make yourselves at home. I have food upstairs,” Katherine said.

“I still don’t know how to use my powers,” I pointed out.

“It’s a simple matter of concentration and will.” Katherine said. “You lost because you weren’t aware of what you could have done. Now that you know, I recommend you practice.”

“And you will be where in the meantime?” Andrew asked.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Katherine said. “I need to make sure that Tovlin isn’t moving against the other altered kids.”

With that, she went up the stairs. I could hear the keys jingle and the steps creak. The door opened and then closed.

That left Andrew and I alone again.