Continued Adventures in Muckraking

[skybright]

The subway ride to Jackson Heights was uneventful -- although the traffic once Daws and Joey ascended to street level was heavier than normal, since cars were being detoured around the now-destroyed Murfeeston Bridge.

Daws led the way to the Patil's apartment building, pausing long enough to introduce Joey to Salman -- who eyed the teenager dubiously and then proclaimed him "Too thin for his own good."

"You come back once you have finished with the Twins," He added jovially, "And my Bangladeshi wife and I will work on fattening you up."

The torrent of unidentifiable epithets from the kitchen of the curry stand was apparently the aforementioned Bangladeshi wife, though Daws would've been hard pressed to say whether she was pleased or displeased with her Pakistani husband. She ushered Joey away from the courtyard and up the stairs to the third floor.

Daws paused in the corridor outside the Patil apartment and turned to the teenager.

"I think I oughtta warn you," She said, pushing her fedora back, "Even for a mutant, Veeru's brother is . . . kinda unusual."

[Jordanna]

Joey shrugged. "I know a guy who sneezes fireballs. Can't be much weirder than that!"

[skybright]

Daws grinned and nodded. "Good point."

She turned and knocked on the door; from within came a muffled "Coming!" and a scraping clatter that sounded like furniture being shoved around. Daws exchanged a bemused glance with Joey.

After a moment the door swung open and Veeru grinned out at them, propped up awkwardly on one of his borrowed crutches.

"Daws! And Joey, too -- I didn't expect to see you two around so soon." The dark-haired man hopped backwards awkwardly to allow them access to the apartment.

"How have you been, Joey?" Veeru asked, closing the door behind them, "Did you make it home safely the other night?"

[Jordanna]

Joey put on a false smile, wishing everyone wouldn't insist on talking about "the other night".

"Yeah, sure I did. I'm here, aren't I?" Then he grinned genuinely and pointed to the cast on Veeru's leg. "What about you? How are you getting along with that?"

[skybright]

Veeru sighed and shook his head. "It's clumsy and it gets in my way, but I'm doing --"

My idiot brother would be doing much better, A tinny voice interrupted, If he would stop insisting on doing more than he is capable of.

Daws chuckled at the exasperated look that crossed Veeru's face. "Hello, Jai. Veeru's acting like himself, I take it?"

Of course he is, Regina. Did you expect differently? There was a slight, expectant pause. Who is your friend?

"Oh, right, sorry." Daws motioned to Joey. "C'mon back, and I'll introduce you to Jai."

[Jordanna]

Looking somewhat bemused, Joey followed Daws off into a darkened room, with Veeru thumping along awkwardly behind them.

"Y'know, if I was walking into a situation like this with any of the gang from the Bunker, I'd be dreading what was gonna happen next," Joey remarked dubiously. "Some of 'em kinda like practical jokes."

[skybright]

Daws chuckled wryly. "No joke involved, kid."

"Does that mean we have to disarm the tripwires?" Veeru feigned disappointment. "And we so rarely have visitors . . . "

He stumped his way over to the bed and hoisted his cast-enclosed leg up onto it, then touched Jai's shoulder.

Daws flipped on the light as Jai opened his eyes and stretched langorously -- and Veeru suddenly winced.

"Forgot to take a painkiller," He muttered a Hindi curse, "Seemed pointless this morning."

Jai sighed. "You see what I mean."

Daws chuckled, and gestured at Joey. "Jai, meet Joey Falco -- my new assistant. Kid, this is Jai Patil, Veeru's brother."

[Jordanna]

In Joey's view, the young man on the bed hardly looked like a twin brother to the physically robust Veeru. He thought about offering a handshake, but he was a little worried he might break the guy's hand--so instead he settled for a grin and a simple, polite "Hi."

[skybright]

Jai smiled politely and inclined his head. "How do you do?"

Then he glanced curiously at Daws. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Did you come by just to check on my idiot brother?"

Veeru mock-scowled. "Watch it, tapori. Don't think this cast will keep me from teaching you a lesson."

"Now, kids," Daws chuckled, "If we haveta seperate you, we'll be here all day. I need some information."

Jai frowned. "Not another job against Tiernan so soon, I hope?"

Daws shook her head. "We're snooping around after a guy named Cole -- he's running for mayor. Trying to find out some things about his background. He suffers from migraine headaches -- saw a specialist in Europe, several years ago." She glanced at Joey. "You got that name, Joey?"

[Jordanna]

"Yeah." Joey nodded and produced the notepad.

"Well, the guy didn't say the whole name, but what he did say sounded like 'C-A-B-O'. And we were asking about, what?" He glanced at Daws for confirmation. "Neurological stuff, right? So maybe he's a brain doctor or something. But that's all we know."

[skybright]

Jai nodded slowly. "I have heard of this Cole; he traveled only once, I think, to Europe -- perhaps twice." He smiled faintly. "And was followed by reporters all the way, I would bet. I can cross-reference where he was against doctors with such names."

He frowned slightly. "The only difficulty will lie in accessing the records, if they pre-date the Internet. But I will try. Give me some time -- perhaps an hour. Maybe less."

[Jordanna]

Joey turned to Daws with a shrug. "Well, I guess we've got a while to wait. Now what?"

[skybright]

"You're welcome to wait here," Veeru said, "Salman said he would bring up some lunch, if you'd like to join me."

"What my idiot brother leaves out," Jai interjected, "Is that he nearly killed himself on the stairs yesterday -- so Salman has made him promise not to leave the apartment until he heals. A dead body would frighten away Salman's customers."

"You are a worse gossip than our mother," Veeru snapped playfully, "Go find what Daws is looking for, will you?"

Jai nodded, recrossed his legs, and closed his eyes. Veeru waited until Daws switched off the light, then rose and led Daws and Joey out of the darkened room. "Will you stay?"

Daws shrugged. "It's all right with me -- I've got nothing better to do. What d'ya say, Joey," she glanced at the teen, "Think you can survive Veeru's company and Salman's cooking?"

[Jordanna]

Joey grinned and shrugged. "Can't be much worse than the Mexican stuff Cindi tried to feed me one time. I thought I was gonna sneeze fireballs after that."

As Veeru went off to see about lunch, Joey frowned, trying to find a polite way to express his curiosity. "So, um... what's the story with these guys? I haven't met any twin mutants before. They seem really... different." He meant that they were different from each other, rather than from other mutants, but it amounted to pretty much the same thing anyway.

[skybright]

Daws grinned. "The Twins? It's kinda a long story, actually." She shrugged as the two of them wandered into the living room. "See, they were born in Bombay," she sank onto the couch, "Joined at the hip -- literally.

"A seer or yogi or holy man or whatever-you-call-it told their mother that she shouldn't allow them to be seperated -- said it'd cause a 'great misfortune'."

"Unfortunately our father was a very persuasive man." Veeru interrupted. He hobbled over to an armchair and sank into it. "Lunch should be here soon." He set his crutch aside and continued the narrative where Daws had left off.

"When we were seperated, our mutation manifested itself in response to the trauma." He nodded towards the bedroom, "Jai and I shared a nervous system, once. We still do, only now it's somewhat . . ." He chuckled humorlessly, "Unbalanced.

"I cannot feel pain, as you might have noticed the night before last. Jai, meanwhile," He looked vaguely guilty, "Jai feels the pain for both of us."

[Jordanna]

Joey winced. "Wow. So I guess that's why he's gotta sit in there in the dark, while you're out breaking your leg and not even knowing it."

Another thought occurred to him. "What about when we came in? It sounded like we heard his voice through a speaker or something. Or was that just in my head?" He twitched slightly and turned pale. "He's not, like... telepathic, is he?"

[skybright]

Veeru laughed. "As if he's not bad enough outside my mind?" He shook his head, still chuckling. "No, you did hear him through a speaker." He pointed to several speakers tucked around the living room.

"Jai uses those to speak to -- and hear -- people in this room." Veeru gestured at the webcam atop the television, "He can see a little, too -- but right now he's probably got all of this shut off. He'll be out on the Internet, looking for your 'Doctor Cabo'.

"You see," He glanced back at Joey, "My brother can't live in this world -- but he's sensitive enough that he can actually inhabit the virtual one. An Internet connection is the only connection he has to the rest of the world -- unless we are touching one another."

[Jordanna]

Joey's eyes had grown wide over the course of Veeru's explanation.

"Okay, that's creepy... it's cool, but it's creepy." He glanced at Daws. "Are all of your friends this... interesting?"

[skybright]

"You kidding? These guys are the normal ones." Daws deadpanned.

"I would like to have that in writing, please." Veeru said quickly. "Signed. In triplicate."

A knock at the door cut off Daws' comeback, and she stood quickly. 'No you don't," she told Veeru, "You stay put. Regale the kid with stories of idiot motorcycle exploits or somethin'. I'll get the curry."

[Jordanna]

Joey raised an eyebrow at Veeru. "Motorcycle exploits? You don't go doing Evel Knievel stuff too, do you?"

He frowned. "If I didn't feel pain right, and I knew I could hurt myself without knowing it, I think I'd want to be more careful than most people."