The shapeshifter

“Yes! They might have taken the life of our comrade Edgar. He was a good man! May he rest in peace! We will always miss him and always remember him! But in war some of us has to make sacrifices. Edgar, He made the biggest one.” Wilfred declared on the screen.
“But! We must not forget that we are winning this war. Edgar’s assassination was an act of pure desperation from the council. Why? It's because we are winning this war. It's because we are the strongest force of nature. We have their strongest shifter. We have their king.” the camera zoomed out and revealed a cross on which a badger was crucified. He had not one but several chokers attached around his neck and legs.
“But we are better people than them. They try to kill us as soon as they got the possibility! The amount of death sentences has quadrupled because they are afraid of us and our power. Innocent shifters who only wanted to see some change are killed by the hands of Chemical! We will not kill their king! We will make him one of us!” a crowd cheered and the clip ended.

With a remote Electrical turned off the television. Magnetic tapped the table restlessly with her index finger. Beside Magnetic another exact copy of Magnetic sat, leaned back in the chair with her arms crossed and with a skeptical expression.
“This video is spread all over the society by now.” Electrical explained. “Wilfred has made his move and now we need to answer. Make him a liar.”
“It’s a pretty dangerous thing you’re asking me to do.” the second Magnetic said. 
“I know.” the first Magnetic answered. “But also important. That's why we are asking you if you’re willing to do it.”
“I think I’ll decline. I like being alive.” the second Magnetic grumbled disapproving.
“We know all about your little get-togethers at Gascoigne’s club.” Electrical said. “You claim to be neutral, but the truth is, you are playing both sides. Not everyone likes that.”
“Is that a threat?” the second Magnetic chuckled.
“No, it’s a fact. I can find someone else to do this, but none with your particular talents. See it as an opportunity to earn some goodwill from the council.”
“Goodwill from the council, huh? I bet you guys are so happy I'm still a loyalist.” the second Magnetic smiled maliciously. “Just imagine what damage I could bring you.” she stared at Electrical. “On a personal level. You know, not even an iris scanner could tell the difference.”
“This would.” Electrical said and placed her gun at the table.
Both Magnetics looked down at the gun, silently wondering if Electrical would seriously order her underlings to shoot her.
“But yes we are happy you still recognize that the society is the best way to keep shifters safe. All shifters.”
“I'm not sure. You guys tend to ignore us. We get no education, no interest from your side, and you're not trying to find out who's psychic and who's not. You help us in no way. Why should we help you?”
“We’re not asking the psychics for help. We're asking you. Stark.” Magnetic clarified.
“You’re asking a psychic nonetheless. I'm not the first one either. You put us to good use. First the ice shifter boy which you sent to kill Dark Matter, then Shirley with her visions of past events and now you want me to play Gravity? I'm surprised you haven't sent Frost to befriend the whole rebel faction yet.”
“Please Stark. Don't be difficult. It's a simple thing, go up on the stage, tell the people Black Hole’s a liar and then you're done.”
“It’s still dangerous. Black Hole will not like the appearance of a second Gravity.”
“When you’re done you can take whatever form you like. We just need you to be Gravity for a short moment.”
“Alright, I have one condition.” Stark proclaimed. ”Let me talk to young Akkaidan. Where have you hidden him away?”
“Delmar?” Magnetic said disbelieving.
“Yes.” the second Magnetic suddenly transformed into a perfect image of Gravity. “I'll make your performance if you'll let me meet Delmar.”
Magnetic and Electrical exchanges glances. Delmar had gone missing since a while back and none of them had any clue of where he had gone.”  
“I’m afraid that's out of barging. He's gone missing. Unless you know where he is we can't guarantee you anything.” Magnetic explained.
“He had several rebel assassins sent out after him. You're sure he's not dead?” Stark asked bothered by their answer.
“We don't know.” Magnetic admitted.
Starks appearance changed to Electrical's and spoke with her authoritative voice.
“Luckily I know. According to my sources the black faction haven't taken him yet. We thought you were hiding him from their assassins. It's too bad you've lost him,” This time her face changed to Delmar's. “I would've loved to exchange a couple of words with him.”
“We can't offer you what we can't provide.” Magnetic said.
“No, and that's a shame. Can you offer me anything else? Safety for my brotherhood? Independence from you? Something else?”
“You get the same safety and independence as everyone else. The society is no threat for psychics, the brotherhood is free to operate as it does.” Electrical stated.
“I’m hearing that you're offering nothing. It's not good enough. My life is worth more than nothing.”
“We can make sure to keep Gascoigne’s a neutral ground.” Magnetic added.
“Please.” The Delmar copy looked disapproving. “You can do better.”
“What do you want?” Magnetic asked.
“The same thing we always wanted. Our own faction and an education system supporting shifters with psychic abilities.”
“That is a question for the council. A separate faction is not something I can or will offer.” Electrical said. “We can however promise not to use the brotherhood's meetings as an opportunity to apprehend the rebels that attend.”
“You are threatening us.” Stark answered and yet again changed back into Electrical’s appearance.
“No I'm offering you a promise, and I will stand by my word. But I won't force you into doing it, I can find another way.”
“And if I don't help you, you'll raid the club. This is blackmail.”
“No this is war. It’s bad for everyone.”
“Please, both of you. This is getting nowhere.” Magnetic said. “Stark. I can't promise you what you're asking for. I'm sorry. If you do this I owe you a big favor. A really big one. Not a new faction, no drastic changes of our systems, nothing that the whole council must agree on. But otherwise I'll let you choose as long as I can provide it.”
“Can you inform me when Delmar Akkaidan is back? Can you arrange a meeting?”
“That I can do.”
“Good.” Stark turned to Electrical and transformed into a perfect copy of Gravity. “You’re accusing me of playing both sides. I hope this is proof enough I'm not.”

***

The performance had gone well without any complications. No one had expected Gravity to show up on the middle of the square to tell them everything was fine. Stark had easily, with the face of Gravity, been able to tell the society that Black Hole was a liar. That Gravity was not abducted as the rebels claimed. However the resulting conflicts among the members in the brotherhood was more than she could handle. The atmosphere in the basement hall at Gascoigne’s was heavy. The psychics inside all argued back and forth. Stark had hidden herself in one of the side rooms waiting in peace before the meeting would start. She had asked Frost to calm the others down, with his empathic abilities he was much better at these kind of situations. How was she supposed to keep them together through all this? Through a whole war? Several members of the psychic brotherhood had joined the revolution, others had stayed loyalists. Question was, how was she able to keep putting up the image of a neutral brotherhood if the council kept forcing her, their leader, to prove herself a loyalist in order to keep the rebels at the brotherhood safe during their meetings?

If only Cain had been here. He would've known what to do. Cain had always been her leading star. All of this had been his idea, this was his brotherhood. He had been the one to fight for their own faction and some real education. Now he was gone. He had been gone for centuries. She had kept the brotherhood, his legacy, alive. She knew how to throw a couple of regular meetings, but she didn't know how to handle a war.

She looked down at her hands. Cain's hands. Thinking of him had made her change into his appearance again. His child had finally been dragged out into the daylight only to disappear again right under her nose. He was another reason for conflict inside the brotherhood. Some thought they ought to reach out to him and others wanted not to.  He had assassinated one of the black shifters and he did seem to have a criminal past. Most of the members were hypocrites in that aspect. Many psychics had done something at some point misusing their powers to benefit themselves. Even Cain had been a hopeless criminal in young days.

There was a knock on the door and Manuel Fisk entered. His spikes were disguised as a part of some ridiculous costume, he fitted right in with the clientele of the drug club.
“Manuel!” Stark exclaimed, turning into his exact copy. “I’m so happy you decided to show.”
“I’m not here for the meeting.” Fisk said. “I came to tell you I think you did an incredible stupid thing.”
“You and all the rest of them.” Stark turned away to regard herself in the mirror and met Fisk’s yellow eyes in the reflection. She did know what her own eyes looked like, she did have them in animal form, but it would be nice to look into her own eyes like this occasionally.
“They are out there arguing right now.” she continued. “Half of them wants to tell the world about my powers, and the other half thinks that would be a violation of the oath to keep psychic abilities secret for those who don’t want people to know. Which is pretty much everyone.”
Fisk shook his head. “That's not what I meant. It was dangerous, you could have been attacked, hurt, or even killed.”
“Aw, you do care about me.” Stark transformed into a news anchor she thought was pretty hot and gave Fisk a kiss on the cheek. “You will stay for the meeting?”
“I’m still not a psychic.”
“I’ll walk you home afterwards. Make sure none of the nasty electrical agents get their hands on you.” With her thumb she rubbed some of the heavy skin-colored makeup of his face.