Forsake and Embrace

“Okay, we're going to come in in this clearing to the south.” Telefrag pointed to the map on his phone, then looked up at Magman, “I can take us maybe ten, twenty feet closer than right there if you want a faster approach.”
“No, I think we better keep our distance.” Magman responded in unnaturally deep voice, “If nothing else we don't want to risk setting the whole wood on fire.” He straightened up, in the fluid way that his form necessitated, “For that reason I'll be hanging back on this one. Big Bad, you're on perimeter duty, make sure our backs are watched and this guy doesn't run off. Looking Glass, take point. The owners of the site tell us that in addition to windows there are multiple bedroom and bathroom mirrors, so you should have plenty eyes. Spacer, Entropy, you're our welcome committee.”
Entropy moved his head towards Spacer, both reluctant to bring her into his aura unnecessarily and aware that he was in danger of running his face right into the edge of hers, “Are you sure you're okay with trying our trick in the field?”
Spacer looked at Entropy with a gentle smile, “I'm sure. We have to field-test it at some point. Besides, they requested minimum damage to the property, so I can't go in like a bull in a china shop, you know?”
“Okay, we all ready, folks? Hands and legs inside the car at all times, please, thank you.” Telefrag yelled, then stepped in front of the full-length mirror they kept as part of their camp, so that Looking Glass could take his hand in the mirror realm. It was the only way they'd found of letting her come along with the teleports. Once everyone confirmed they were ready to go, Telefrag counted down from three.

You always heard the start of the explosion and the end of the implosion just as you left and arrived. It was almost nice, after a while, to have those familiar sound effects to hold on to while you re-oriented yourself. Gone the mild forestry of the Welsh country-side, arrived the brisk pines of the Canadian mountains, redwoods still being tussled from the after-effects of the implosion.
“There's the site.” Telefrag nodded towards the lodge a stone's throw from their landing spot.
“Back in a jiffy.” Looking Glass confirmed through the mirror, setting off to the mirror-reflection of the lodge in her lonely, private world.
“I'll be on lookout.” Big Bad said over his shoulder as he prowled into the treeline.

Looking Glass generally felt like she had the easiest job on the team. Maybe even a little boring. She pulled out her lockpicks and set to work on the front door of the lodge, only to find it was in fact unlocked. Far too easy. She didn't even really need to pick the lock. As far as she knew, this mirror version of the building would never be seen by anyone but her in anything but reflections. There was no reason she couldn't just break a window or something. She'd taken up lock-picking as a way to keep herself amused.
Still, this was the fun part. She crouched low, not being overly big to begin with, and looked around. The ground floor was quite open, and the only major reflective surfaces in sight were the windows. Taking care to move past them quickly if she had to at all, she checked each room before taking to the stairs.
Finding a door ajar, she peeked her head in and caught sight of a large mirror in the corner of what seemed to be a bedroom. It wasn't very thoroughly decorated, seeing as the lodge was only a seasonal retreat for the family that owned it, but a few knick-knacks identified it as belonging to a boy, most likely late teens. Pictures, old toys remembered too fondly to toss away, and academic awards. In places, it seemed like the environment was smeared, as if a brush had been dragged through wet paint. Crouching down behind the bed, Looking Glass entered and poked her eyes over the top to gaze into the mirror in order to locate the target in the real world.

Each member of the Forsaken Few carried with them a pocket mirror. Most had a lid for privacy's sake, but Entropy's was kept open in his hand as he waited with Spacer, each hidden in the treeline beside the road to the lodge.
“Marco?” Came Looking Glass' voice from nearby, through the mirror.
“Polo.” Entropy responded, holding the mirror up to his face. After a few moments, Glass found its counterpart in the mirror world, hanging in the air, and positioned herself in front of it.
“Hey. Front door's unlocked. First door on the left up the stairs. Target's caused a little bit of a mess on the way but other than that seems to be just wallowing up there.”
“His powers?”
Looking Glass nodded sadly, “Yep. Looks like he really can't control them, at least not right now.”
“Okay, let's move.” Spacer rose to her feet and gestured for Entropy to follow her.
As they approached the door, Entropy took a deep breath in, then focused on Spacer ahead of him.
“I think it's working.” She said softly as she took careful paces forward to maintain her composure. She reached forward to the doorknob, and found that her fingertips stopped just a matter of inches short. She breathed out through her nose, containing her joy before saying. “Very good. Well done.”
Using the edge of her repulsion field, she twisted the doorknob and stepped in, taking care as she placed her feet not to even come too close to the walls. The foot of the staircase was visible from the front door, and the two moved to it carefully.
“Noah?” She called up the stairs, “We're coming up to talk, okay? Your parents sent us.”
In response, they heard a muffled wail, and proceeded up the stares rapidly after exchanging a glance. Spacer pushed open the bedroom door to find the target, splayed at the foot of his bed, shuddering and crying.
As his parents had tried to explain over the phone, his skin was covered in a patchwork of materials, as if they had been torn from things at random and glued to him. Mostly they could be identified from around the bedroom, the wool of the bed's comforter, the lacquered wood of the floor – and in places you could even see where they had been stripped away – but parts still displayed fragments of bark and rock from when he'd been outside. He looked up at them and scrabbled away from the door. As he did, his fingertips tore away strips from the carpet underneath him, and they trailed off his hand limply.
“Go away!”
“We're here to help.” Entropy said from behind Spacer in the doorway, focusing mostly on maintaining his grasp on weakening Spacer's power.
“You can't help me!” The boy shouted, his voice pitching up, “Just go away!”
Spacer crouched down in place, “Noah, we know what it feels like to... to be different, like you.”
“No you don't!” He screamed, and threw a baseball that had been knocked to the floor at some point at her. It collided with her aura a few inches shy of her shoulder and bounced to the other side of the room, while white leather clung to the inside of his palm. “You look normal! I'm a freak!”
“Hey.” Noah turned his head to a knocking sound behind his shoulder – Looking Glass, in the bedroom's mirror. After a shriek, this shut him up. “We all know what it's like to lose part of yourself to your powers, okay?”
“I can't touch anyone. I can barely even eat food.” Spacer said, nodding.
“I broke my girlfriend's legs and our apartment.” Entropy offered.
“None of us can really live normal lives any more.” Looking Glass put her hand against the mirror, “But we're okay. Really.”
Noah sniffled, “Buh-but I, I-”
“I know it's hard to have a power you can't control.” Entropy said, “But there's help and support. Trust me, I thought my life was over too.”
“Your parents just want you to come home, Noah.” Spacer said, voice soft, “Or failing that, they want you to come with us for a while, so they at least know you'll be safe.”
“The Forsaken Few are always here for their own.” Looking Glass added, making him look over into the mirror again. Seeing his reflection beside her made him rake in another huge sob. His face was the worst part, the patchwork effect of the materials fused to it making it seem deformed and inhuman. He broke down into tears again, and curled up into a ball.
“I'm sorry for running away.” He squeaked.
“It's okay, kiddo.” Entropy gave a weak smile.
“We'll be waiting downstairs when you're ready, okay?” Spacer offered gently, and he nodded without looking up.