Chapter 2: Lucky

**Peter Potts POV**

What the hell did I just do? I feel stronger now, and it was definitely my fault that Flash is unconscious, but how? It felt like I absorbed his energy, like a vampire or succubus or whatever. Also, what is up with my perception of Parker? When we made eye contact, I knew, for a fact, that he had powers but how could I possibly know that?

I excuse myself from the classroom after sitting there for a couple of minutes and head to the bathroom, I just need to cool off for a bit. Once I enter the bathroom, I turn on the sink and let the water run for a moment before I splash some water on my face and take several deep breaths. After composing myself for a moment, I begin to inspect myself to see if I seem different in any way. I first look at my short brown hair; no change. Then my eyes focus on their own reflection and I pause, feeling a moment of clarity. I immediately know my own abilities; I can tell what a person's abilities are via eye contact and I can steal their energy or powers with a touch. This definitely seems dangerous and I am for sure skipping school today, I'm not nearly clothed enough for this.

As I approach the main entrance to the school building, I see that I am not the only person planning to play hooky for the day; a blond girl with a bombshell body is also cautiously making her way outside. I think I recognize her as someone in the same grade as I am, "F" something, like "Felicity" or "Felicia", I don't quite remember. Anyway, she notices me as I get closer and immediately comments,

"I didn't peg you as the skipping school type; guess you really can't judge a book by its cover."

and I reply,

"I'm not… usually, today its complicated. How about you? Why are you sneaking out? Just bored, or something more specific?"

"No reason, just felt like it."

"So you were bored"

Our eyes met for a moment and it happened again, I knew her power, she's lucky. What an odd power. In fact, I'm a little jealous right now, she's literally lucky; I kinda wanna copy her power. But… I would feel pretty bad if I just took it, so I'll try trading her something for it. Might as well just ask.

"Hey, ummm Felicia,"

I leaned in closer and lowered my voice a bit.

"do you know that you're a mutant?"

Well shit that didn't come across as delicate at all. Felicia seemed confused for a moment before denying,

"No… I mean what? What the hell are you talking about?"

She starts to turn around to leave but I can't give up just yet, I have to try again.

"No, I'm serious, and I think I can prove it too. Let's get out of here and I can show you."

She hesitated, searching my face to see if I was deceiving her in any way, before slowly nodding and leading the way out of the door. We walked together for a few minutes and took a seat in a nearly empty café. We both order coffees and take a booth near the back corner. Felicia was silent for a few seconds before saying,

"So how can you prove it?"

"Do you have a quarter on you?"

Her eyebrows immediately furrow as she asks

"How is that relevant at all?"

I lean forward a bit, placing an elbow on the table and rest my chin on my hand.

"It would be easier to show you than explain it."

She shrugs and hands me a quarter.

"Okay Felicia, how about a quick wager? I'll flip this quarter ten times, for every head I'll give you $1 and you give me $1 for every tail. Sounds fair right?"

"I'll play along, but if this whole thing was just you trying to cheat me out of some cash then you're going to get slapped."

I start flipping the quarter, one time after another.

*Tails*, *heads*, *heads*, *heads*, *heads*, *heads*, *tails*, *heads*, *heads*, *heads*

"Alright, so how does that prove anything?"

I pass her the quarter and say,

"Try flipping it yourself, ten times, same stakes."

The results slowly come out, nearly the same but this time one head more in Felicia's favor. I hand her the $14 debt I've just racked up and tell her.

"You change the probability of things near you to be in your favor. Your power is that you're lucky and your enemies will be unlucky around you. You may even be able to control it a little, in time… maybe."

Felicia seriously considers my words, brow furrowed, before letting out a sigh.

"I've always known that I'm lucky but I've never though it was one of those mutant abilities. How did you know about this anyway?"

I lower my voice and say,

"Actually, I'm a mutant too. Part of my powers is being able to tell what someone's ability is by making eye contact with them."

"Huh, then what's the other part?"

"When I come into physical contact with someone, I steal their energy and, if they have powers, I can permanently copy a weaker version of their ability. That is partially the reason I wanted to talk to you; I was wondering if you would be willing to let me copy your ability."

She frowns at me and asks,

"Is it safe?"

I sighed at her question.

"Prolonged contact? No. Two seconds was all it took to knock Flash out cold for a couple of minutes, but if it is for less than a second, you'd probably remain conscious and feel drowsy for a while."

"I'm not sure, this is a lot to process right now. Give me some time to think and I'll let you know if I decide anything."

I nod, accepting her decision as the reasonable thing to do and I scribble my number down on a napkin before sliding it over to her. We silently finished our coffees before waving our goodbyes and heading separate ways. I need to go shopping for some gloves and a light hoodie to wear and she has some thinking to do.