by Danny and Captain Sammitch
Danny Hearn and Grimm led Phil Smith back to their building through the streets of La Perdita. Streetlight shone the way, and Phil looked around curiously as he went. He seemed to be memorizing the way, in case he ever got lost and had to find his way back.
"Don't worry, this place is a lot nicer in the daytime," Grimm said to Phil.
"Um... right," Phil replied, a little nervously. Like most people unfamiliar with the world of metas, it was taking him a little while to adjust to being around a skull-faced biker.
"The hotel's just up here. See that tall building just there, on the corner?" Danny said, pointing. Phil nodded, and the three headed for the building. Danny slid his key into the front door and pushed it open.
"Home sweet home," Grimm said, leading the way inside.
"You want something to eat? Kitchen's through here," Danny said to Phil.
Phil nodded and managed to stammer, "Y-yes, please, thanks."
The three of them headed to the kitchen, where Phil sat down at the table. Danny started rifling through the cupboards looking for food, while Grimm leaned silently against the bench, watching them.
"Sandwich?" Danny said, reaching into the fridge for a loaf of bread.
"Yeah, cool," Phil replied.
"What do you want on it?"
"Anything..."
"Peanut butter and jam?"
"Huh?"
"Fine. Peanut butter and jelly?"
"Yeah, okay..." Phil said, looking a little confused.
"He's Australian," Grimm said to him, clearing things up. Phil nodded.
"Grimm, little help?" Danny asked. Grimm reached into the cupboards behind him, pulling out a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jam. He threw them across the kitchen to Danny.
"Thanks. So, Phil... you're a meta?" Danny asked, starting work on the sandwich by spreading jam over one slice of bread.
"Um... Yeah, I suppose I am..."
"No need to be nervous. You're among friends here," Danny reassured him. He spread the peanut butter over the other slice of bread.
"Yeah. I've got powers, so that would make me a... a meta," Phil said, apparently unsure of the proper terminology.
"Right. And these are...?" Danny asked.
"Well, I'm not a hundred percent clear, but... sometimes... I can sorta move stuff with my mind, you know?" Phil explained.
"Telekinesis," Grimm said, nodding.
"Right. And sometimes I can even hear what's going on in people's heads... sometimes..."
"Telepathy," Grimm added.
Danny nodded at this and put the two slices of bread together. "That's... interesting," Danny said, considering the possibilities. He put the sandwich down on the bench next to him, but didn't take it over to table where Phil sat. Danny just stood there.
"Is... is that done?" Phil asked.
"Yup," Danny answered.
There was a pause.
"You... gonna take it to him?" Grimm asked.
"Nope."
Phil looked perplexed, then said, "Please?"
"You really want it? You want the sandwich?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
Grimm just watched this silently.
"It's all yours," Danny said, gesturing to where the sandwich sat next to him. It began to tremble slightly, then suddenly flew across the room. The flying sandwich landed with a slight thwack on the table in front of Phil.
"Wow," Grimm said.
Danny just smiled, then said, "Cool."
Phil began to eat, but looked a little confused himself as to what had just happened. Danny got the impression that Phil didn't really have a whole lot of control over his powers.
"So, Phil, you've got nowhere else to stay at the moment?" Danny asked.
"Nope..."
"Well, we've got plenty of rooms here," Grimm said. "You seem trustworthy enough." Grimm shot a sideways look and a grin toward Danny at this last part.
"There's plenty on the seventh floor. I'm the only one using a room up there," Danny added.
If Grimm had possessed eyebrows, he would have raised them at this point. Danny had made a point of living in relative solitude since he had known him. As far as Grimm knew, Danny was uncomfortable sharing the floor with someone. Was, apparently, being the operative word, past tense.
"Thanks a lot, guys. I really appreciate it," Phil said.
Sitting alone in his new room, Phil thought, This is almost too much to take in. Metahumans? And I am one? Oh, well. These metas sure seem to be a nicer bunch than any normal people I've run into, except maybe that walrus guy, but I'm sure he's cool once you get to know him. That Aussie guy, Danny, he's cool. I think I hear him walking down the hall. That Grimm is gonna take some getting used to aesthetically, but he's a nice guy, too.
He began frowning and rested his head on a pillow. I've gotta find some way to pay these guys back. They don't even know who I am, which puts us pretty much on the same page, and they're fixing me up with a place to stay. They might even help me find some answers. I better not screw this up!
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence. As if on cue, all the windows in the room exploded into shards of flying glass as Phil's tenuous hold on his own powers was broken. The scream faded to silence, and Phil slowly sat down on the bed, unsure of what to think. Hearing footsteps in the hall, Phil frantically tried to think of some way to explain the windows.
Suddenly, a miniature whirlwind of glass shards formed around Phil as the pieces flew toward their respective windows and settled back into place. By the time Danny had his foot in the door, there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary.
"What happened, mate?" Danny asked excitedly.
"Did you hear that screaming?" Phil asked.
Danny glanced at Phil, unsure of what to say. "Screaming?"
"There was all this screaming outside!" Phil insisted.
"I only heard glass breaking."
Phil looked down. "That was... that was me. But I, uh, fixed it."
Danny looked at the windows, puzzled. Then it hit him. "That you did, mate. That you did."
Grimm walked in. "What happened?"
"Apparently nothing," Phil replied. "I heard screaming."
"But there wasn't any..." Grimm realized something. "There wasn't any audible screaming."
"Then," Phil asked worriedly, "what was it?"
Danny ran a hand over the glass of Phil's bedroom window, looking for any crack or imperfection, anything that would betray the glass' recently broken state.
"Interesting..." he said softly.
"Sorry I broke the window," Phil said softly, sitting upright on his bed.
"Never mind. Looks like you fixed it. How'd you do that?"
"I don't... I'm not quite sure."
"Like the sandwich," Danny said, nodding.
"Huh?"
"The sandwich. You didn't make a conscious decision to make the sandwich float to you, did you? You just really wanted it, and it happened, instinctively."
"Something like that..."
"Wow."
"You know much about this sort of thing, then?" Phil asked Danny.
"Me? Hell, no. This is as new to me as it is to you. I'm just kind of... picking it up as I go along. Anyway, you should get some rest. I'll see you in the morning. Give you the big tour."
"Night."
Danny and Grimm left Phil's room, closing the door softly behind him.