Genesis

Chapter 1

So, what's this all about? Savaric asked dryly.  He and Giles had been summoned to the lab by Richard, though he was being incredibly mysterious as to just what his purpose was in summoning them.  After a lengthy discussion with Derek and the others, it was decided that telling everyone all at once about their new ability to alter reality would cause nothing but confusion.  It would also lead to uncontrolled, and highly dangerous experimentation, which was something they wanted to avoid at all costs.  As such, it was decided that they would tell everyone in small groups, so they could each be properly instructed on its use, and experiment with it in a controlled environment.  Since Giles and Savaric were every bit as much family to him as Charles was, he decided that they would be the first three that he'd reveal the secret to.

You know, it's not like you to be this mysterious Richard.  Usually you're far more straight forward than this, Giles observed.

Maybe he's just constipated, and wants us to hold his hand while he makes poopies, Savaric suggested.  Giles looked at him in stunned silence for a moment, and then suddenly he burst out laughing.

My god Sav, I swear...after all these years, you still manage to surprise me, he said breathlessly.

Yes, very amusing, Richard said dryly as he shot Savaric a look that caused Giles to laugh even more.

He does have a point though Richard, Charles said.

"I am not constipated!" Richard said defensively.

I never said you were.  You're sure acting like it though, Charles said with an amused look.

You guys are hilarious, you know that?  Now, can we please stop with all the jocularity, so I can get to what I called you here for?

I was wondering when we were gonna get around to that, Savaric said.  Between your plugged up butthole, and all this secrecy...

"I'll plug your butthole if you don't stop all this nonsense, Richard said irritably.  As the others all burst out laughing, he suddenly realized what he'd just said, and how stupid it sounded.  Ok, that's enough.  Can we please just get started?"

Well, you called the meeting.  We're just waiting on you, Giles said.

All right, fine.  Now...pay attention, because I'm about to tell you something that's not only extremely important, but also incredibly life changing, Richard said.

You found a laxative that works? Charles asked.

Charles!  I'm surprised at you! Richard said far louder and with far more irritation than he'd intended.  Giles and Savaric both burst out laughing once again, and it took quite a bit of effort for them to get themselves back under control.

Sorry, Charles said through his own laughter.  Please...do continue.

Maybe you should doo doo continue instead.  At least then, something would actually come out, Savaric said, eliciting yet another round of giggles from the others.

Ok, fine.  You know what?  Screw you guys!  Yeah, I said it.  Screw you, and you, and you, Richard said, pointing at each of them in turn.

I guess this is where the plugging of the buttholes comes in, Giles whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Gahhh! Richard shouted as strips of tape suddenly appeared over their mouths, silencing them all temporarily.  They each looked around in utter shock for a moment, and then pulled the tape off as they focused their attention back on Richard, who was standing there looking incredibly annoyed.

Uhhh...what just happened? Giles asked as he looked down at the tape, and then back at Richard.

I did that to shut you all up.  Now, if you'll just listen to me seriously for a moment, I've got something extremely important to tell you, Richard said.

But how on earth did you do that Richard, Charles asked.  Richard let out a heavy sigh, and then looked over and stared at him in silence.  Sorry.  Please continue.

You sure?  Anyone else have anything to interrupt me with?

About a million things at the moment, but I suppose you're about to answer those particular questions, Savaric said.

Yes, I am.  That's why I've gathered you all here.  Now, as you know, Jarrod, Derek, Tina, and Sarah have pretty much been the core of everything we are for centuries now.

Yes, they have been, Charles agreed.  We can't forget Patricia though.  It was her nurturing that allowed them to become what they are.

Yes, of course.  I would never dare to diminish her part in it all.  That being said, those four have been responsible for discovering many of the abilities that we've developed over the years, Richard continued.  In fact, we've all come to think of ourselves as literal gods because of the abilities we all share, or to be more accurate, I'd say we've been more like demi-gods up to now.

Demi-gods? Savaric asked.

Well, yes.  If you think about the actual definitions of the terms, we've been lacking some of the abilities that a true god would possess.  Thanks to Jarrod's latest discovery however, our status as true gods will be cemented for all eternity.  Heh.  That sounded better in my head.  Sounded kinda cheesy when I actually said it out loud, he said with an amused look.

Very cheesy, but what are we talking about exactly? Giles asked.

Jarrod discovered something that we've all been able to do for quite some time now, though we've all been doing it in rather subtle ways.  It seems that we developed this ability after we came up with version three of the serum, only no one's figured it out until now.

And what's this new ability exactly? Savaric asked.

He's discovered that we all have the ability to alter reality, Richard explained.  That's how I made that tape appear over your mouths, though truth be told, that's about as minor of a use for it as you could possibly imagine.  There's almost no limit to what we can do with this ability, which is why we were going to keep it a secret.

A secret?  Why would you do that? Charles asked.  This is just about the greatest advancement in our evolution that we could have possibly imagined!

"We were going to keep it a secret because there's literally almost nothing you can't do with this ability.  To be honest, I'm not even sure it's limited in any way at all other than in simple ways.  For example, to open portals to specific places, we still need to know the frequencies of the dimension we want to go to, and open 'em the normal way.  That's why I said there's almost nothing we can't do with it.  Other than that, what you can do with it is only limited to your own imagination."

So...what? Giles said, leading him to continue.

So...the fact is that having the ability to alter reality means I could literally make any of you vanish from existence, and no one would ever know the difference.  That's why this is so dangerous, and why we were going to keep it all a secret, Richard explained.

And yet now you're sitting here telling us about it.  Why? Savaric asked.

Because of certain circumstances, the others told Jake and Lana about it, and taught them how to do it as well.  That led to the decision to share it with everyone.  It was decided that because we're all family, it wouldn't be right to keep it a secret.  Even if telling you leads to some horrible, unforeseen consequences down the road, we owe it to everyone to tell them about this, and to teach them how to use it responsibly, Richard explained.

We always use our abilities responsibly, Charles said.  In the blink of an eye, Richard appeared behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.  In a state of shock, Charles leapt out of his chair, flew forward, and slammed his ribs into one of the lab tables.  Since his ribs were infused with the same bio-metal as the others, a large chunk of the wood gave way as he hit it, and broke off the edge of the table.

My god Richard!  You practically gave me a heart attack! he said, panting heavily as he held his chest.

So, we can teleport now? Savaric asked.

Yes...among other things, Richard said as he looked over at the broken lab table.  In the blink of an eye, it was returned to its previous, undamaged state.

My god, that's amazing! Charles said as reached out to touch it.  It's like it never happened at all.

We can create things out of thin air as well.  Observe..., Richard said as a solid bronze statue of Savaric wearing a long, flowery dress suddenly appeared a few feet away.

Yes...very funny, Savaric observed dryly.

Extremely funny actually, Giles said with an amused look as he gave Savaric a playful smack on the arm.  I always pictured you in a mini-skirt though.

Easy enough, Richard said.  Suddenly, the dress on the statue changed into a mini-skirt, and the figure reshaped itself so that it was blowing a kiss instead of just standing there.

Oh yes...that's much better.  Shows off those sexy legs of his nicely, Giles said.  Almost immediately, the piece of tape that was sitting in his lap shot back up and stuck over his mouth.

Didn't need to alter reality in order to shut you up.  Did I? Savaric said with a breathy laugh as Giles ripped the tape away once more.

Please...gentlemen..., Richard said.

Where? Giles asked as he looked around with a huge grin on his face.

My god, I swear...you people are regressing right in front of my eyes.  Next thing you know, you'll be flinging your poo, and picking small bugs off of one another, Richard said, rolling his eyes a bit at how ridiculous they were being.

Sorry.  Please...continue, Savaric said as he reached over and returned the smack that Giles had given him.

Right.  Now, as far as creating things out of thin air, apparently we don't even have to know how it works in order to do it.

What do you mean? Charles asked.