Iron Will

As I stared at my phone reading the new chapter of a web novel I liked, I could hear the fans kick in on my computer. I was installing an update of one of my favorite games which of course had to happen on my only day off this week. It was two AM and I could hear nothing but my computer. Both my dogs and both cats were sound asleep next to the computer tower trying to get some warmth even though it wasn't that cold outside.

"Being able to only sleep 2 or 3 hours a night isn't all bad…" I whispered to myself. I had my knees tucked up my chest and started to spin the computer chair around while I waited. "what do you think Rocko?" I asked my German shepherd.

Hearing his name, he brought his head up and looked at me with a slight whine from being woken up. When I made eye contact, he stood and marched right up to me and sat with his cold wet nose touching my bare toes.

"Asshole!" I yelled at him with a laugh. With that my golden retriever awoke and came running over. "See? Now we woke up Lyla." I said as I pet them both gently behind their ears. "And Nigel and Sheena are both awake to..." I wasn't mad at all but even if they were my pets, I was still putting on a show for some reason. "let's go see what's new today." I half spoke half whispered.

As I stood up, I felt something strange. I want to say it was a Bolt or a zap, but that's not right. My entire body suddenly flowed with something that made me feel as cold as possible and as hot as I've ever felt in my 24 years on this earth at the same time. I didn't know how long it lasted but I was down on the ground in the fetal position when it finally stopped.

As I stretched and started to stand, I noticed all 4 animals were laying on their sides and starting to come out of a stupor as well. I rushed to Sheena because she was the closest and could tell whatever happened to me happened to her as well. As I touched her chest to feel her heartbeat it was racing, but she was also freezing and boiling at the same time. Just as I had the thought to call the vet, I felt her temperature balance out. I went and checked the other three animals and could see that they were through the worst of it.

"But what just happened." I said as I rose to my feet. I could tell something was different with my body but not what. I could also feel something near me that wasn't a part of me. As I reached out towards that feeling I could see the nails in the door frame starting to shake. "AH!?" is the only sound I could make as the nails all came out at once and rushed towards me.

As I pulled my hands free from the guard I made unwittingly, I saw a lump of silvery metal laying at my feet. It wasn't large, but it looked like someone melted down the nails just now and put them at my feet. As I thought this, I heard myself whisper "No way." It couldn't be, but I was sure that it was. I thought about the part of me that wasn't me and the metal lump moved without me having to even think about it. I could move it like a limb.

"Does that mean I've got super powered pets as well?" I half-jokingly said as I looked at my pets that were starting to wake and rise. Rocko looked at me and whined, and I could tell he wanted to be spoiled, just like always. I squatted down and called him over gently. "Come here dumby." I called. As he trotted over, I could see the muscles were more toned in his body and I thought the same of the other two as I slowly took a turn with each of them. Sheena was the only one that didn't have more muscle tone, but when I lifted her into my lap, she weighed more than usual by a few pounds.

"Oh shit!" I yelled. I ran back to my phone and grabbed it to call my sister Kara. "C'mon C'mon C'mon!" I yelled into the phone. The ringing was more annoying than anything I'd ever heard in my life. Finally, I heard a voice.

"Hello, Reika? What's wrong? It's not even 2:30 in the morning." She sounded groggy like someone woke her up.

No duh I thought to myself. It's not normal for anyone but me to sleep so little. "Kara something serious just happened and I want you to pack up some clothes and cooking supplies and get over to my house as soon as possible. I know you don't understand what I'm saying but just do as I say and get over here fast. I'll leave a spare key outside over the door frame so just hurry. As soon as I hang up call Darren and tell him to rent a car right now and drive here. I'm going to pick up Zack and be back as soon as possible. You may realize what's happening on your way over but don't panic and just wait for me." I wasn't sure just how bad this was going to be, but I have read way too many books and played to many games to think good things are coming.

"Reika, what's going on?" there was a shake in Kara's voice. "How bad is it?"

"I'll explain what I know when you get here. First you must get here and tell that idiot husband of yours to rent a car and come back as soon as possible. Don't forget that niece and nephew of mine either. I have to call Zack to let him know I'm coming to get him. I hope nothing to bad happens, but you know our family's luck. We need to get together quickly and since something is up with all four of my pets, I can't pack them into the truck."

"Okay, I know you don't play pranks so I'm gonna pack some clothes and food and be on the way." She said before hanging up.

As I pulled up to my brothers' apartment, I had already seen signs of trouble. There were people looting and others just playing with the changes that happened. When I called him for the third time he finally picked up and sounded groggy.

"Reirei? Why are you calling at 3 in the morning?" he asked sounding beyond confused.

"Something weird is happening and I'm picking you up to crash at my house for a few days." I didn't know how to explain anything yet, so I kept it vague. I heard some noise in the background and a light voice ask who was on the phone. "If that's your girlfriend she can come with us and if it's a one-night stand, I'll drop her off somewhere along the way."

"Jesus, you haven't changed much have you Rei?" he said with an edge to his tongue. I heard some whispers and then "We've been dating 2 years, her name is Delilah, she says she's coming." He said kind of exasperated.

"Okay, I'm almost there since you wouldn't pick up, so pack at least a week's worth of clothes. If you two aren't living together she can borrow from Kara and I, OK?" I asked to try to soothe his anger a bit.

"Okay should I bring anything else? He asked as I heard him shrugging some clothes on.

"Any food you have but preferably stuff in unopened cans and bottles, just to be safe. Plus, toothbrush and other toiletries obviously." I realized I didn't say that to Kara, but she was a mom, so she probably thought about that stuff when I said it would be a few days. "I'm pulling into your street now so please hurry and get ready."

As I walked up the stairs to the 4th floor I couldn't hear much movement which gave me mixed emotions. I knocked on Zack's door and almost immediately it was opened by a beautiful blonde girl with green eyes.

"Reika?" She said with a look of concern as she looked me up and down.

"Yeah, you must be Delilah. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances." I said as she let me into the apartment. I glanced quickly and couldn't help but notice she'd been living here a while and there was an impressive ring on her finger which meant I was in for a lecture later. "If you've got anything ready, I'll take it to my truck. We need to hurry, looting has already started. And now that we've got a beauty like you with us, I'm worried about the even less savory types of slumlords out right now."

"Your brother said you were interesting, but this isn't what I thought he meant." Delilah said with a wry smile.

"Oooh? Interesting huh? With how damaged I've become I thought he would have used much less kind words." I gave her another look over and saw some bags behind her. "If you could give me a hand, I'd appreciate it."

"OK, not a problem." She replied. As we walked down the stairs, she kept quiet and just watched me move. Finally, before the lobby she said "I know your story, but I don't know you. I don't want us to be enemies and, in all honesty, I'd like to be friends. Before anything I think I should tell you other than your normal quarrels Zack has never once spoken ill of you, so I don't think of you as anything less than someone important to the man I love."

"If we were in a book, you'd be dead for having said something like that." I replied "But in all honesty, I love every member of my family but that doesn't make it easier to look them in the eye. Why do you think Zack had you answer the door? They know what's up because even though we were never close in age we were always very close. But this is all stuff we can worry about later. The less people awake the better for now." I looked at her and could see she was upset. "Anyone my family loves is someone I trust. Otherwise you would not be coming with us." I wanted to put her at ease but could tell she had something to say. "Just say whatever you need to say."

"He almost got every word of what you said exactly right. Have you guys really not spoken in 2 years?" her jaw was a little slack and she looked very cute with that confused look on her face. "I mean I couldn't even guess what was going on in my brothers head and we were just over a year apart. It makes you wonder why families are all so different and yet all the same."

"This is no time to get philosophical." I said tossing the bags into the back of my truck. "We can worry about that when we are in a truly safe spot." With that I grabbed her bags and tossed them in to make sure not to stack anything over the edge to prevent any potential attackers. "Let's head back up." With that I walked back to the 4th floor apartment and finished up the packing.

"Could you explain what's going on now Reika?" my sister Kara said as she looked at me. We had spent the last few hours unpacking, and I had a few bombs to drop so I didn't want them to panic so I was trying to get them to relax. "I can feel something happened, but I can't tell what." As she said that everyone but Jenny my 5-year-old niece jumped. That gave me a hint as to something I haven't figured out yet.

"It'd be easier to just show you." I said as I started to feel around for metal. I could already feel it in the circuits in the electronics but that didn't help because I didn't want to destroy them. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a small tin can for makeup from the trash and placed it at my feet. "watch carefully" I spoke demandingly to get the importance across.

"What!?"

"How!?"

"Amazing!"

There was a chorus of responses as I made the can lift from the ground and start to shift its shape. I could feel the metal moving but I could also feel something weakening within my mind, so I put it down.

"I'm not sure how to describe it but I can feel metal around me and control it. But it's not like I tell it what to do but rather like it's a part of me. Something similar happened to Rocko, Lyla, Nigel, and Sheena. I was awake when it happened just after 2 and it felt like my body was on fire and frozen at the same time. It made me pass out for a couple minutes and when I came to all 4 of them were the same as me. When they started to get up and move, they looked more defined except Sheena, but she has an increased density. Her size is identical, but she weighs significantly more. Can any of you feel anything?" I asked to get a circular conversation going.

"I've felt something since I woke up but I'm not sure what." Kara looked a little scared and her son Jason took her hand.

"It's OK mom," he said with a smirk "Aunt Reika got us together right away and you always say family is the strongest when they are together."

Is this that smart-ass little nephew that used to pick fights every time he got the chance? Was all I could think. But what I said was "Jason's right, we're all together so we can help each other figure stuff out."

As I looked around the room Zack was holding his chin in between his thumb and forefinger and nodded. "Everything I've felt since I woke up today was below me. I think my power has something to do with earth or something like that." He wasn't a gamer or fiction reader like me, but he was almost as smart as Kara which was saying something given, she worked as a chemist for some big-name pharmaceutics company.

"Alright let's go check it out then." I said as I stood and clapped my hands once. Kara looked at me with a start and I pulled a wheeled cart with a bunch of different things on it. "everyone else play with these. You might be able to figure something out. And Jenny?" she jumped when she heard her name. "Will you come help Uncle Zack and I figure out what he can do?" I could tell she was worried about something, but I wasn't sure if it was because she knew her ability already or because she didn't have one at all.

"OK, Aunt Reika." She said as she climbed out from between the dogs, she had buried herself in when she got here. She grabbed my hand firmly and then looked me in the eye and smiled. "I'll help however I can, hm." She gave a pull on my hand and made a gruntlike sound through her lips.

"Okay let's give this a shot." Zack said from my enclosed backyard. Jenny was there with a frown of thought on her face trying to figure out how to help.

"Is something wrong Jenny?" I asked as gently as possible. "If you want to talk about something I can listen or maybe even help out." I could tell something was up, but I didn't want to scare her since she was still just 5 years old.

"I can feel stuff like my body but not in it. It feels different now from when we were outside earlier, and I can't figure out why. I thought maybe I just didn't change as much as you guys but that's not true, I guess, I guess I just wasn't awake yet?" She said almost questioningly.

"Well what does it feel like? Is it something you can describe? For me and the metal it feels cool and hard but also like water and fire together." I was trying to give or get some hints to help her, but she made a fist with her right and slammed it into her left and shouted.

"OK!" with that I felt the wind pick up and could tell it was flowing around her. "He he he. This is what I felt." She was giggling at the wind and the few leaves that were picked up by the wind that were tickling her face.

"Careful Jenny." I cautioned with a huge grin stuck on my face. "you can only do so much at a time and I don't know what will happen if you overdo it." She looked at me and nodded and I felt the wind slow to almost a full stop.

"OK Aunt Reika, I think I know what you're talking about." She started walking towards me and before I knew what was happening, she was wrapped around my legs looking up at me. "Did I do good?" she asked me with a cute smile on her face.

"You did amazing Jenny. I think even Uncle Zack is jealous of you." I said as I lifted her onto my hip and pointed at my brother.

Standing there mouth agape he looked at Jenny and shook his head. With a grin he looked at her and said "If I had known I was going to be shown up by my 5-year-old niece I would have prepared myself better mentally. Now I really want to know what this feeling is."

As he said that I could hear Kara and Delilah in the house making a fuss. I looked at Jenny and said "I'm gonna go check on them, would you stay out here and help your Uncle?"

With a smile she replied, "OK but can the puppies come out too?"

"OK," I said, "but make sure they don't leave the fence." I wanted to make some rules but also knew those two wouldn't leave the yard without me. "And help Zach figure this out." I whispered with a grin.

"OK" she said and rushed over to him as soon as I put her down.

"What's all the noise about in here guys?" I asked as I entered the living room. As soon as I looked, I realized though. Over Kara's hand floated a small Flame. It was about the size of a softball and was glowing orange. "Leave it to Queen Kara to make fire." I said jokingly with a snort.

"R-R-Reika, how do I make it stop." I could see anger from the teasing and fear from the flame at the same time. "I don't know what to do."

"Calm down first of all." I could see the fear starting to outweigh the anger, so I wanted her to realize everything was fine. "Next is easy, just don't think about it and it will go out." As I said that I realized I made a poor choice in words.

"Is that ALL!!!" she shouted. "Just don't think about the 6-inch flame floating above my hand that could burn your house down and make everything worse."

"Yeah, that's my bad." I smirked as I replied. "I need you to look at me Kara." I took her right hand in mine and stood opposite the flame, so she was looking 180 degrees away from it. "focus on me and only me. Don't think about anything else." I saw the flame start to go out. "Did you know Jenny can move the sky?" I exaggerated to get her to stop thinking about the flame. "it was probably the cutest thing I ever saw when she was standing in that little cyclone she made. She was laughing and had such a huge smile on her face." With that the flame was out fully.

"She made a cyclone?" she asked with a twinge of fear in her voice.

"It was about 3 feet wide and about 7 feet high. I think there is a range to our abilities and she stretched hers out all the way for now. Mind you the wind wasn't much faster than if she was blowing." I finished to calm her mother down. "Anyone else figure anything out yet?" I looked at Jared and Delilah and they both nodded. Before either could speak, I heard what sounded almost like a landslide outside followed by both Jenny and Zack laughing. "I guess that's everyone for now.

After everyone came back in, we all sat down and tried to figure out our abilities. "OK," I started. "I can manipulate metal, Jenny wind, Kara fire, Zack earth, Delilah gets water, and Jason can do... wood? I wonder if there is more there?" I said almost to myself. With that I stood up and walked into the kitchen. I could feel everyone watching me, but I just kept going. I came back with a small cherry tomato plant in my hand and went to Jason. I saw his body shift when I started to get close. "so, it's not wood but plants, huh Jason?"

"I can definitely do something with it but I'm not sure what. Can I hold it for a second?" he asked.

"Go for it." I said, "they're my favorite, but that means I have a few in there." I wanted him to check his power, but I didn't want him to hold back. "don't worry if anything happens to it." I said as I winked at him.

"Here goes nothing." He said with a sigh. As he held the plant in his hands, I could see the buds of each head growing rapidly. Before long there were green tomatoes growing to the size of a golf ball and then they started to turn red. "Wow, they grew so fast." He was shaking a bit and I could see the excitement in his face.

"Well let's give it a test." Kara said as she reached out and plucked 3 of the cherry tomatoes from the plant. "Here." She gave Jason and I one each and popped the last in her mouth. As she bit into it, she sounded like it was delicious. "mmmm, they are so good." She said as she reached for the plant again.

"Congrats Jason. I said with a grin. You got your mom to eat vegetables. When we were kids, she never would eat them... She said she hated tomatoes in particular." As I popped the tomato I had in my mouth it was definitely on the higher end of the tomatoes I had eaten. "She wasn't kidding they are great." I said as I pulled some off to share with everyone else.

"mmm."

"So good."

"Yummy."

Each person left that ate some were all giving praises and I saw Jason look at the floor as his face and ears turned red. He put the tomato in his mouth and I could hear him moan.