Jon instinctively moved toward his mother, but one of the men cautioned, "Whoa, better stay back. We don't know how your powers might have manifested themselves."
Casting a very wary eye at his transformed son, Jon's father kneeled down to check on his wife.
"But what if Jon can do something?" asked Mikey.
"She'll be fine," said his father, trying to reassure the younger boy. "She was just surprised."
"But it looked like she hit her head," Mikey protested.
Zoe picked that moment to finally make a morning appearance. "What's going on? Whoa, Jon? Is that you?" She then looked at the two strangers, and an expression of delight appeared on her face. "Are you from the Institute for Gifted Youth?"
The two men looked at each other, and then the second one asked Zoe, "How do you know about..."
She shrugged and said, "Dark web. And I know the mutant genes run in families. Oh, man, I'm a year and a half younger than him. Can't wait."
The first man said, "I don't know exactly what you've read, but it doesn't always affect all the children."
Mikey asked, "Can you shut up? Mom fainted when Jon changed, and she's not waking up!"
"Jon, try something," ordered his sister.
"But they told me --" Jon put a clawed hand to his mouth. His voice had come out deeper than he was expecting, and with a definite rumble behind his words.
"Just make Mom better!" Mikey said.
Jon tried to concentrate on what his little brother had said, making his mother better, making everything better.
