Chapter 5 Rebirth IV

"Welcome to Levy's Pizza, where the pizza is as hot as the waitresses!"

Leena grinned pleasantly as she greeted a couple entering a moderately-lit restaurant. The teal-haired maiden was decked out in her work uniform: a blue and red shirt, a green skirt, and a red visor that had the initials 'LV' etched onto it. They couldn't notice the slight wrinkle of annoyance forming in her brow; a result of her having to try out the new slogan her boss had invented the previous night.

Not only was it incredibly chauvinistic and demeaning to women but Leena was not the type of girl to consider herself 'hot'. Therefore, even though she was able to keep her pleasant demeanor, she felt very awkward and flustered.

"Table for two please," the man told her, seemingly unaffected by the slogan. Leena shifted out her left arm, directing them to a table near where she was standing in the seating area. She felt herself sweating slightly under her uniform, she was quite embarrassed.

"I'm going to kill Mr. Levy, I swear to god..." Leena thought, plotting the demise of her employer as she clutched a large metal tray to her chest. When she got a call from one of the other waitresses, she was supposed to go help them bus tables. At the moment, she didn't have much to do so she was acting as the greeter.

"Girl!" a voice suddenly called to her from the front entranceway, where the door was cracked open just enough for someone to yell through. "Come out here, now!"

Leena groaned and set the tray down, walking outside and letting the door close on its own behind her, listening to the chime adorned upon the door jingle beautifully behind her. Her boss, Mr. Levy, was standing out there with his arms crossed. He was clearly in his fifties, as was shown by his balding scalp with minimal gray hair left upon it. He had a stretched-out white shirt on that was covered in splotches of pizza sauce - some that Leena figured were older than her – that covered his rotund gut. He looked basically like the stereotype of a typical angry fat guy from Brooklyn... and talked like one too.

But Leena could tolerate him. In fact, she was probably the only person working there who could tolerate him. Despite the way he acted, he was quite fond of her as well as they had known each other long before they came to Colonia...

"Girl, I called you eight times!" he scolded her. "What were you doing, playing with your hair and chewing bubblegum?!"

Leena stared drolly at him. "You have a strange idea of what it is girls do in their spare time."

"Hahaha, funny girl, hahaha! See me laughing? Do you know why I'm laughing?" he asked in a threatening tone, leaning in to glare at her and try to intimidate her. "This isn't spare time, it's work time!"

"I was working! I was greeting!"

"Did you say the new slogan?"

"Sadly."

"Good! Levy's Pizza isn't above using sex to sell pizza! I wouldn't need to resort to this if that rat bastard Anderson didn't open up his fancy pizza place across the street!" the man uttered angrily, looking scornfully across the street at a much classier-looking pizza restaurant. "Anderson! If I had ten minutes in the ring with that guy, why I'd..."

"Yo, Mr. Levy dude!" Chris shouted, exiting the restaurant dressed in a similarly colored uniform to Leena's, though he also had a green chef's hat on. Her friend Chris from school and Drama class also worked at the same establishment, as he'd mentioned before. "I've been here two hours overtime! Can I go home already?!"

"Chris! I'm talking to the girl! Wait your turn before I punish you!"

"Punish...? For what...?" Chris whined under his breath, bashing his head against the door. Leena clasped her hands together in front of herself, trying to maintain a pleasant demeanor so that Levy would take out his usual frustration on Chris instead of her.

"Girl, you're holding the sign for the rest of the day!" Levy ordered Leena, picking up a large white sign with a rope attached to it and forcing it upon her. Leena's face turned red as she began to get frustrated; holding a sign that narrated the daily special at 6 PM when it was nearly dark was not her idea of fun.

"Why do I have to hold the sign?" Leena groaned loudly. "I hate holding the sign! I can do everything else here and I can do it well! Why not have Jennifer hold the sign, all she can do is waitress!"

"Jennifer?! JENNIFER?!" he exclaimed loudly in rage, startling Leena and Chris as if she had just spoken blasphemy to him. "That girl has bird eggs for brains! She's too stupid to hold a sign, not like you, girl! Bwah hah hah!"

Leena grumbled and pouted as Levy patted her on the head, thinking he had just complimented her. The words had entered her ears but logic did not accompany them. As far as Levy was concerned, that conversation was over and he moved on to talk to Chris. He ran a pretty tough ship around his pizza place, as Leena and Chris were sadly all-too-accustomed to.

Leena suddenly heard her cell phone ring tone begin to blare from her skirt's pocket. She picked up her phone, hearing the music from Breaking Benjamin's song Unknown Soldier as she looked down at the screen to see who was calling her. Her stance tensed up as she read the name displayed to her on the LCD screen.

It was Mia Auria.

ANOMALY; Vol. 1: Rebirth

Chapter VI

Leena held the phone up to her ear, flipping it open. Cars whizzed nosily past her on the street ahead as she set the heavy sign down next to herself, leaning on it with her free left hand. She felt quite nervous, especially after she'd chatted to Hayley earlier on the ride up.

- - - Hayley's arms seemed to tense up as she gripped the steering wheel upon hearing those words exit Leena's mouth. "You met Mia...?"

Leena's point of interest was now guided to the disturbed-sounding Hayley, "Uhm, yes."

"I'd stay away from her if I were you," Hayley told Leena in a very serious tone, "she's not normal. She's really... weird." - - -

"Hello?" Leena asked after a second of holding the phone underneath long strands of her hair that fell down across the right side of her head. There was also a bit of a pause before she got a response, making her even more nervous.

"Yo, Leena. Still got that book I leant you?" Mia asked from the other end of the phone. "My classes are over now for the day."

"Ah, uhm... I'm at work right now."

"Oh? Well that's okay, I have something else I wanted to talk about... you know, about Anomalies."

Leena nearly dropped the phone.

"H-how do you..."

"Leena, aren't you curious as to what you really are now?" Mia asked the shocked girl, sounding almost overjoyed as she was speaking. Leena began to feel quite threatened; Mia WAS dangerous."You can't try to ignore your new gifts; people aren't going to let you."

"People like you?"

"For now anyway, I'm going to see just what kind of a person you are and how you'll deal with other Anomalies. You've learned about that no-good Michael McKenzie, right? How he's been arrested as an Anomaly?"

"I have..." a hesitant Leena answered. "I have nothing to do with him, though. He's a big star and I'm just some girl."

"A big star, hah, don't make me gag. He's a liar, a cheater, a phony, and a jerk. It seems his life is over and he'll never be able to accept what he's become... but I'm going to put it in your hands to give him one last chance."

"Wh... what... are you talking about...? Did you do this to Michael somehow... as revenge?"

"Just keep your eye on the road..."

Leena glanced up as Mia went silent, still holding the phone up to her head as she stared forward with her curious green eyes. She felt like she was going numb, she'd been somehow dragged into a sick game that she had wanted no part of. Was this the curse of being an Anomaly, was she going to lose everything that she considered normal?

She could hear Mr. Levy and Chris arguing in the background behind her as she looked outward, car after car blazing past, wondering what she was supposed to be scanning for. There was the other pizza place across the street... and to the right of it, on the corner... a 7-11. There was an armored vehicle parked outside of it... that displayed an acronym on the side that she recognized.

"APS...?"she thought as she remembered the secret police force Hayley had told her about. "Oh no..."

"You want a day off, A DAY OFF?! If I had days off when I was growing up, I would've been able to go to school and become something more worthwhile than a pizza chef!" Mr. Levy bellowed at Chris in the background.

"Exactly why I want a day off tomorrow, dude! I have engineering homework!"

"I'll engineer you a kick in the ass if you don't get back in that kitchen!"

"Come on, I-" Chris began to plead. However, he didn't have a chance to continue his appeal as suddenly the crackling of thunder shot down across the street with a whipping sound that would leave a permanent impression on all of their eardrums! Every passerby in the area screamed or reacted in complete shock as the APS transport vehicle was pelted by a powerful lightning bolt, blowing the back doors of it off!

"Holy...! What the hell was that!?" Mr. Levy screamed, covering his ears as they all scanned the street to try and pinpoint the source of the noise. Leena stared on as the face familiar to all: Michael McKenzie's, appeared as he staggered out of the back of the vehicle.

"No..." Michael gasped, gazing out from the back of the ruined vehicle, looking at everything tinted due to his trademark star sunglasses. The back door was smoldering on the street in front of him, people were staring, cars stopped in the middle of the street. They'd all seen it.

"Hey, isn't that the guy from Tempest Beach...?"

"What did he just do?! I saw lightning hit that car!"

"More importantly, why was he in that jail vehicle?!"

"Is he some kind of freak?"

Michael felt rage and fear overcome him, swirling together within to form an incomprehensible feeling. He fell to his knees and gripped his head, screaming as his whole life fell apart around him. Meanwhile, inside the 7-11, Quinton was sipping on a Slurpee as he waited for Sergeant to finish paying for what he was buying. He happened to look out the window to his left, noticing the state of the vehicle.

"Whoa. Yo Sarge... is the back of our transport van supposed to explode and let the prisoner out?"

Sergeant turned immediately, fixating his gaze out the window as he forgot what he was doing. He narrowed his thick eyebrows and it could only be assumed he was glaring from behind those thick sunglasses of his. "What the hell? Quinton, get a move on!"

"Shiiiit. I was enjoying my bubblegum slurpee..."

Sergeant charged out toward the door while Quinton took one long, final sip of his Slurpee as he reached for his stun gun, following after him. Sergeant reached the door first but the second he touched it, he received a brutal shock and went flying backward through the store, crashing through a display and tumbling across the floor! Quinton threw his drink aside, reaching for a real gun and shooting the window out!

"H-hey-!" the store owner screamed from the background. Quinton ignored him though; his partner just got hurt, maybe even killed! He wasn't going to let that punk get away with this! The red-haired APS officer leapt through the gap and onto the sidewalk, aiming his gun right at Michael!

"Lay flat on the ground or you won't make it to your cell!" Quinton screamed at him. "I'm serious, you little cock; don't even move!"

Michael flinched and looked up at Quinton... and that was apparently all it took. Quinton received a massive shock and screamed in agony, shooting the sidewalk below him as he lost control of himself and collapsed forward, stunned. Michael got on his feet as people began to panic and scream... he had to run! He had no idea how he was doing this but this was his only chance to escape from them! Quinton had told him earlier that his life was over already...

Michael dashed away, running across the street and heading around the corner. Leena's eyes followed him as she was left completely at a loss for words after what she'd just witnessed. He really was an Anomaly but he didn't seem to have any self-control...

"So, Leena... what are you going to do?"

"I- I'm not part of this..."

"Aren't you? You're an Anomaly, so that makes you part of this. Michael is clearly frightened, who knows what he'll do in his current state unless someone talks some sense into him."

Leena wasn't quite sure what Mia was really trying to make her do but she did have a point; someone did have to help him. If she was in his situation without anyone around to comfort her, she'd be frightened too. Plus, as much as she hated it sometimes, she was a good person. She didn't know too much about being an Anomaly but she knew that he should know he wasn't all alone in the world...

With that thought, though she was more or less moving on instinct rather than logic, Leena snapped her cell phone shut, dropped the sign, and dashed off in the same direction Michael headed. Chris and Mr. Levy watched her leave suddenly, the latter becoming enraged.

"Girl, where are you going!? GIRL! LEE-NA!"

Chris whistled loudly, startling the older man. "Wow, she's gone."

"Dumb ungrateful girl! She's so fired!"

"No she's not," Chris muttered. "You say you're going to fire her every week, yet you never do, dude. You let her get away with anything, you big softie."

"Hahaha, you're so funny Mr. Funny Man!" Mr. Levy laughed sarcastically, picking up the sign and handing it to him. "Have fun holding this all night and laughing at your own stupid jokes!"

"H-hey! Shouldn't you be more concerned about the scene across the street?!" an exasperated Chris exclaimed as Mr. Levy headed back to the shop. He grinned and looked over his shoulder at his employee.

"I am concerned. This will be great business."

Chris sighed and grumbled to himself as he was left to his new task on the sidewalk. "There's a spot in hell reserved for that dude. Seriously though, where did Leena go... star chasing...?"

At that moment, Leena dashed left around the corner onto the intersecting street after Michael, keeping her eye on his black coat as they were both lost in the confusion of the gathering crowd around the scene. Mia watched them run; leaning against the 7-11 as the two Anomalies ran the opposite direction from her. She crossed her arms over her t-shirt, smirking as her hidden hands sparkled lightly with electricity.

"It's about time for this deception to come to an end. Leena, let's see if you're fit to be one of us..." Mia spoke to herself, pushing her glasses up the rim of her nose with her right index finger as she stared toward the event she'd set up. "Michael... I already know you aren't."

To Be Continued