Something I want to explain before this starts:
I am well aware that in the old comic series Mammoth and Gizmo were called Baron and Mikron, respectively, and had backgrounds following those. Same for Jinx. To be honest, I don't really care. The cartoon version that I watched never really extended much into any of their backgrounds, and I never read the comic book series that came before that. Call me lazy if you want, but this is not a matter of my not having looked into it. It's just me not caring. If this bothers anyone so much, then they don't have to read this. Problem solved.
Anyway, this is basically a companion piece to Jinxed for Life (go read it!), and is greatly inspired by the work done in Metronome Maven's story Mind Control (go check it out, it's cool stuff!). We take a look at the HIVE's school days, where they're from, what they do, why they do those things, etc. Reviews are incredibly welcome!
Old School Chapter 1
The Family
In every family, there is a mother.
Angelica "Angel" Imbracht, assumed this role day one. She was the oldest, not to mention one of the few girls, so it seemed appropriate. Her teachers were in love with her and her classmates, who had not quite figured out what the full extent of "love" could mean, admired her to no limit. She was sweet and wise and told stories that she usually wrote herself because she abhorred Disney and was obsessed with making herself as beautiful as could be because her mother had taught her that beauty was the strongest weapon a woman could have. The wings on her back and her golden eyes had most people convinced that she truly was an angel from heaven, but when asked she would shrug, smile sadly, and say that no, Los Angeles was probably not anything like heaven at all, sorry.
The HIVE family had no father, but there were uncles. Bailey Frinze-Perez and Montego Lopez, "Private HIVE" and "Mammoth" respectively, were equal in age, strength, will, and heart even for their differences. Bailey got toys for the kids; Montego made sure they put them away. Bailey encouraged the kids to take risks; Montego reminded them to be careful. Bailey was slow and warm and sweet as honey; Montego was gruff and rough and huggable. Bailey threw odd central North American witticisms into his conversation; Montego always had some analogy about his Abuelita at his disposal. They were brothers and rivals and two legs for Angelica to stand firm on.
Their first born child, William "Billy" Numrus-Jones "Numerous" of the grand region of Corporate South West, was trouble, trouble, trouble. He could split off into multiple selves that could mouth off to his teachers, sneak out at night, make fun of his "siblings", and be injured in the medical wing all at the same time, which gave his "mother" a headache. His friend on the outside, Jonathan "Johnny" Sykes "Rancid", gave him a place to stay when he crossed the line. But Billy always came back and owned up to whatever it was he had done…eventually. But he wasn't always bad; he listened to his "mother" and followed his "uncles" about like a puppy, and hung on most everything they said. As he grew, he became ruder, wittier, and, curiously, not much taller. He was obsessed with cars, and drove even though the law of the land said he was blind.
His first brother, Xilo, lived up to his nickname, "X.L. Terrestrial". He could grow and shrink as he pleased, much to his shorter brother's frustration. He came from a planet whose people was an army, and he had been lieutenant, which was apparently supposed to be a good thing. He was supposed to send in reports every month or so on what he'd learned about Earth, and eventually, he was supposed to go home. He filed these reports faithfully, but sometimes forgot to include certain details, such as what a cigarette was, or why humans were always in such a bad mood the morning after having had a good drink. These he kept for himself to enjoy. Earth had a few silly customs, but only as silly as the regime back home.
Next in the family tree came Elliot Knight, otherwise known as "Kyd Wykkyd". Nobody (except for Angelica, of course) was completely sure where he was from, and none of them really wanted to know. He was like a noir film; pale and black-haired and mysterious. When he was angry, his eyes glowed bloody red; at other times, they sparkled a lighter, pinker kind of ruby. Elliot was a house-wrecker; he smashed and stole and tagged and bit and kicked and dropped fragile things from tall heights and buried things that ought not to be buried. Being a teleporter allowed him to create believable alibis to tell his mother, not to mention maximize the amount of damage he could create within an hour. Elliot could speak, but didn't; no one was sure why. But he could laugh and scream and whistle innocently, and he truly listened to about two and a half people, and he usually joined Billy on his numerous trips to the medical wing.
Jaya "Jinx" Sandavas and Seymour "See-More" Evans arrived at nearly the same, and couldn't have been any more a case of opposites. Seymour was a New Yorker, loud, opinionated, seen-it-all, and a little too curious for his own good. Jaya was Indian, quiet, introverted, artistic, and soft-spoken…until Billy tugged a strand of her cotton-candy colored hair one time too many. The hexes had flown, and Billy had gone to the medical wing, and Seymour had said, a little self-consciously, that she really wasn't much of a girl, to which Jaya had responded that he wasn't much of a guy, which had seeded the beginning of a strong, inseparable friendship. Jinx and See-More were top students, and perfect little angels as far as their teachers were concerned. This could have had something to do with the fact that they were shameless suck-ups and butt-kissers, but everyone except Billy thought they were so cute that they never said anything about it.
Last and youngest was Vito "Gizmo" Giovanni. Small, smart to say the least, and Italian, he seemed to have about three moods: triumphant, angry, and tired. His English wasn't perfect; at times he would try to speak as fast as his brain was working, and the result was a trainwreck of English, Italian, and gibberish. A brave person might have called him the baby genius of the group; Angelica simply called him the younger brains. Angelica and Jaya were the only people allowed to touch him for more than three seconds; everybody else was better off running for their lives. Sometimes Vito would become very quiet for days on end, which would weird his family out a little, but he always went back to engineering and inventing and telling people why they were wrong about this or that eventually.
It was Vito who one day inquired why their HIVE family had no father.
"Because, dearest," Angelica said sweetly, "The virgin Mary was woman enough to give birth to Christ. What on earth do I need a Joseph for?"
"But you're not Mary," Vito pointed out, "And the Bible is full of crap."
"Watch what y'all say," Billy said conscientiously. He had been forced to go to church several times in the earlier days of his life, and somehow the Holy Word had always stuck with him just a little bit. "Or God'll strike you down right there. With lightning an' stuff."
"Why can't Bailey or Montego be the dad?"
"You're a little young for those things," Bailey said gently, coming to Angelica's rescue.
"What?"
"We'll tell you when you're older," Montego said shortly. He had just finished giving Jaya and Seymour a short-hand version of "the talk" and wasn't ready to go through the process again.
Vito stuck his tongue out at him. He did not consider age an excuse for ignorance. "All this still doesn't answer my question."
The Arithmetic/Debate teacher, Jared Nanson, happened to be passing by. He rapped his cane on the floor for their attention.
Angelica rose to greet him. "Would you like to sit, professor?"
"Sorry, better things to do," Jared indicated towards the group of them with his chin, as if he could see them. "What's all this?"
"Angelica can't be a mother is there's no father," Vito stated.
"Too right she can't. So what's the debate?"
"I am the mother simply by being responsible for you, dearest," Angelica smiled warmly. "So Jared's right. There is no debate."
"Plenty of families don't have fathers," Billy chimed in.
"We can't all take an example from your family," Vito said nastily. Before Billy could retort, Jared said:
"Family? You're no family. I'd have thought you people would have outgrown games like "house" by now."
The students regarded their mentor coolly.
"If we're not a family," Angelica said, "then what, pray, are we?"
"A murder."
Billy snorted. "A murderer? What, we're each a little piece of one big killer or somethin'?"
"A murder," Jared said, using his lecture voice, "Is as a school of fish, a flock of sheep, a gaggle, a herd, a group. You lot are a murder." He chuckled. "In everything meaning of the word, really."
He stalked off, tapping his cane for guidance as he went, and the students looked at each other, puzzled.
"I'm the mother because I say so," Angelica said finally. "And that is simply that."
If anybody has ideas for future chapters, please tell me! For now, the next chapter is: The Faculty! Jared Nanson and more!