5. Breakfast and a Show

Kim was always the first one up in the morning. She showered and changed into a light purple top (with holes in the sides, of course) and a tattered denim skirt. She ruffled her wet hair as she walked down the hall, toward the kitchen. Something smelt like… waffles. Confused, Kim followed the sweet smell.

‘Good morning!’ chimed Nicole, standing by the stove. Behind her, on the island counter, sat a large plate of waffles. Lined up on the marble were syrups, jams, ice-cream and sliced fruit. With oven gloves Kim presumed were new (Maddi always handled the hot pots), Nicole bent down and pulled another four waffles from the oven. There were now 12 – 2 for each person. ‘I wasn’t sure what everyone liked, so I got a bit of everything.’ Nicole swept a petite hand over the assortment of toppings. Kim sat down at the counter, gaping at the set-up. ‘Nicole, this is amazing!’ she smiled, picking up a large strawberry. ‘Wait – did you go down to the shops? We don’t even own oven gloves!’ Kim held up the bright red mittens and laughed, putting them on her second hands. Nicole nodded. ‘Yeah, well, I thought I should make you guys breakfast as a mini thank you. I know it doesn’t even begin to cover what you’ve done for us – but thanks. This is all a really big deal for me and Dani.’

Kim tilted her head, looking up at Nicole. ‘You are most welcome. Believe it or not, I am extremely glad we met last night. It was meant to be!’ Kim finished her sentence dramatically, jumping out of her chair with all four arms spread out. Nicole giggled as Kim danced stupidly around the kitchen. A duplicate went up to the little radio next to the microwave and turned it onto a retro-style station. Kim laughed at the cheesy song that came on, and retracted into her core, who was now sitting at the table across from Nicole. ‘Time to eat!’ she cried, as duplicates brought the food onto the table. Kim grabbed a waffle and smothered it with mangoes, strawberries, syrup and ice-cream. Nicole went crazy with bananas, syrup, sugar and ice-cream. When a duplicate brought her a tall glass of orange juice, she accepted it, shaking her head. The clone retracted into a bemused-looking Kim. ‘What?’ she asked, her mouth full of food. 

‘I just don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,’ she talked into her glass as she took a large sip. Kim’s shoulders shook as she laughed. ‘What – this?’ a clone asked, as it scooted its seat closer to Nicole’s. Another appeared on her left side, grabbing a piece of banana from her plate and popping it into its mouth. Nicole gasped in shock, pushing her chair away from the table. She put her head in her hands and began to chuckle. ‘Yes, that.’ She moved back to her breakfast, flicking Kim’s clone in the shoulder. ‘How rude!’ exclaimed Kim, retracting both the clones. Both girls laughed and continued to eat their breakfast, chatting about random things. 

‘Holy moly. I am liking this!’ Maddi waltzed into the room, wearing grey exercise shorts and a purple ‘Team Damon’ t-shirt on. She sat next to Nicole and began to help herself to the waffles. Kim looked up at Maddi, and noticed what she was wearing. ‘So that’s where my shirt went!’ she yelled, gesturing at Maddi’s top. Maddi looked down at her chest and sighed. ‘But this is my one!’ she whined, haphazardly throwing things onto her waffles. Kim raised an eyebrow and duplicated into the seat next to her. ‘I don’t think so, buddy.’ Kim pointed to the large holes on the sides of the material, almost identical to the ones her second arms were sticking out of now. Maddi sighed in defeat, took it off and placed it in the hand that Kim wasn’t using to eat her breakfast with. She now wore a simple blue singlet instead. ‘Thank you,’ Kim said happily, gripping the shirt protectively. ‘Then where’s mine?’ asked Maddi, pointing at the t-shirt with her fork. Kim rolled her eyes and faced Maddi. ‘I don’t know! You got an orange one, and I got two purple ones. It’s probably under your bed or something,’ she sat back and drank the rest of her orange juice. 

Maddi mumbled something about finding it later, and the three girls were suddenly joined by Tobi, Emma and Dani. When everybody had finished eating, Kim stood up and stopped everybody talking. ‘Ladies and gentleman, if you could please show your appreciation for this morning’s amazing chef… give it up for Nicole!’ The kitchen erupted with cheers and hoots, and Nicole blushed fiercely, but she smiled nonetheless. Kim and Emma cleaned up whilst the others talked amongst themselves.

‘So?’ asked Kim, putting a stack of plates into the cupboard. ‘So what?’ replied Emma, viciously scrubbing the oven trays. ‘How about a show for our guests… downstairs? Yes, no, maybe?’ When Emma remained silent for too long, Kim nudged her expectantly. Emma looked up, smiling. ‘Definitely.’

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened with a ‘ding’. Everybody stepped into the spherical room, creating a circle so that they all faced the middle. ‘Alright, so here’s the deal.’ Kim cleared her throat as if she were about to give a pep talk before some football match. ‘You all have 5 minutes to get changed, choose your weapons, and meet in the arena. Everyone has the option of having a force-field-shield. Okay - go.’

With that, everyone split up into the different rooms. Maddi, Emma, Kim and Tobi all went into their own training area. Nicole and Dani went into the arena to get changed, but went to Tobi’s room when he was ready so that they could choose a weapon. Kim was the first back in the arena. Her hair was tied back, and her second arms were swinging back and forth. Her batons sat in their usual spot on her back, and as they were only allowed one weapon, her daggers weren’t in her boots. As she didn’t have any supernatural defensive powers, a chunky metal wristband sat on her first left wrist. At the press of a button, a metre high and wide force field would be generated from the gadget. It was bullet, fire, water and metal proof. As long as you had the strength to hold it up, nothing could get through it.

‘You got a shield? Seriously?’ asked Maddi as she strutted into the arena. She was also wearing her costume – mask included. ‘Well I would prefer not to be burnt alive today, thank you very much,’ snorted Kim, gesturing at Maddi, who giggled. The door opened again and the girls looked up to see Emma gliding into the middle of the room. Kim gasped, ‘Emma! Look at the mess you’re making!’ She pointed at the muddy trail of footprints that Emma was leaving with each step. ‘Oh, my bad,’ she said, retracing her steps. As she walked over the prints, she held her left hand out, palm down. Each print began to lift itself off the floor and merge into a large mud ball hovering under Emma’s hand. Within seconds, the mud was off the floor and in the air. 

Emma turned to face the girls with a mischievous smile on her face. She brought the mud-ball back like a baseball, and vaulted it at the others. Kim activated her shield and knelt behind it. Maddi wasn’t as fast. ‘Oh crap!’ she cried as she covered her face with her hands. It was no use; she was now splattered with mud. Kim de-activated her muddy shield and stood up, laughing so much her chest hurt. ‘You didn’t get a shield? Seriously Maddi?’ Kim managed between giggles. Emma was still shaking with laughter as she removed the mud from Maddi’s clothes and hair. ‘Muddy Maddi.’ She chuckled and patted Maddi on the back. Kim looked anxiously at Emma, ‘Where are you going to put that?’ she asked, pointed at the re-formed mud ball. Emma shrugged, tossing the mud from hand to hand. ‘I’ll go put it back in my area,’ and with that, Emma raced out of the arena. As Emma left, Tobi entered in his usual gear. His weapon of choice, Kim noticed, was his Death-Charge. Kim made sure he had it turned down to ‘weaken’, not ‘coma’ or ‘death’.

‘What’s taking them so long?’ Kim asked Tobi, gesturing to the large digital clock on the ceiling. 10 minutes had passed, and the others still hadn’t chosen their weapons. ‘I don’t know – I mean, there is a lot of awesome stuff to choose from.’ Tobi smirked. Kim rolled her eyes as she stood up to fetch Nicole and Dani. As she did so, the door of the arena opened and the girls strode in. ‘Woah,’ said Tobi, standing up next to Kim, who was also gaping at the others. Dani was first in. Her hair remained out, but her eyes were almost painted black with a makeshift mask that stretched over her nose. Her yellow shirt hugged her neck and torso with a tight-fitting material that looked like it had been ripped intentionally. It also glimmered with a snake-skin pattern. She wore simple black high-waisted shorts and heavy brown combat boots. Her hands were covered with thin fighting gloves. Over her shoulder she carried a long metal rod that had plenty of ‘surprises’ installed. A few extras included 30 cm spikes coming out of the end, and the edges going deadly sharp. Kim shuddered at a memory…

Dani was beaming as she came into the centre of the room. ‘Sup?’ she asked the group, who didn’t say anything in reply… they were too busy staring at Nicole. The first thing Kim thought when she saw Nicole was ‘dizzy’. The chaotic, swirling red and yellow patterns that covered Nicole’s body were making Kim’s eyes hurt. She wore a bodysuit like Kim, with knee-high red boots. Thin straps held it up, but the long sleeves left her shoulders bare. The material roped around Nicole’s arms like a large slinky. The sleeves covered the tops of her hands, so she didn’t wear any gloves. 

Her hair was in a tight bun that sat on the top of her head. Her red mask was a simple shape. Nicole held no weapons, but her wrist had a shield generator on it, just like Kim.

‘Those… are… epic!’ cried Maddi, still gaping at the girls’ costumes. ‘Yeah, jeez, you too. Where did you get those?’ Dani breathed. Maddi tapped her nose mysteriously and Dani laughed, nodding. ‘Emma? A little help?’ whispered Kim, leaning over so nobody else would hear. Emma nodded and moved Kim a few metres away from the group. A rumbling noise accompanied Kim as she rose into the air, standing on a makeshift rock-stage. ‘So, now that we’re all finally ready,’ said Kim, her voice echoing through the room, ‘it’s time to begin today’s training. Since we have some new members, we’ll need a ‘get-to-know-you’ session. Although we have ideas, we don’t know the real extent of your powers, and you – ours. So … everyone into pairs.’ At that, Nicole and Dani moved closer to each other, so did Maddi and Emma. Kim laughed, jumping off the stage, in front of Tobi. ‘Let’s beat their asses,’ he said, and Kim nodded, low-fiving Tobi.