Sitting in the passenger seat of his brother's custom El Camino, Ky Thatcher looked out of the rolled-down window with his elbow hanging out of it, letting the sun's rays hit his auburn skin. His brother, who was driving, was tapping his finger on the steering wheel along with the drums, keyboard, and guitar of the classic song playing through the speakers. "Dad used to love this song, remember?" his older brother asked, getting a nod in response.

It was just the two of them living on their own after their parents died when they were younger. Ky's older brother, Ken, took it upon himself at the young age of seventeen to take care of both of them since they only had each other.

Eight years later, Ky was seventeen years old and Ken was twenty-five, both staying out of trouble and living honest lives. Ken had to abandon his hopes of going to college due to having a little brother to take care of, but Ky was looking forward to furthering his studies in the following year. He wanted to study metaphysics.

"The power of love... is a curious thing!" Ken started singing along to the song, smiling and looking over at his younger brother who was rolling his eyes. "C'mon, Ky. Don't act like you don't fuck with this." Ken teased before he continued singing. "Make a one man weep, make another man sing! Change a hawk to a little white dove!" Ken once again teased his brother, pushing him playfully on the shoulder. "C'mon Ky, I know you wanna sing!"

Ky smiled and shook his head, still looking at the window with his elbow hanging out of it as Ken continued to sing. "Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream! Stronger and harder than a bad girl's dream! Make a bad one good, make a wrong one right! Power of love will keep you home at night!" As his brother sang, Ky's smile grew and he could no longer resist holding back from singing.

"C'mon Ky, this is your part!" Ken shouted before the two brothers began to sing together in unison. "You don't need money! Don't take fame! Don't need no credit card to ride this train! It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes! But it might just save your liiiiiife!" the two brothers sang before taking a deep breath and shouting the last two lines. "That's the power of love! That's the power of love!"

The two of them laughed as the song continued to play, thinking of how their father used to play this song all the time when they were little.

Everything was going well for the two brothers...

Until they weren't.

In his rearview mirror, Ken could see a cop tailing him. "Tch." he scoffed, locking eyes with the police officer through the reflection. "There's a cop behind us." Ken told his brother as he turned down his music. Seeing a stop sign, Ken stopped, waited, and turned right. Of course, the cop was turned right, following behind closely.

"And... looks like he's following us. Great." Ken continued to drive normally, following all the traffic rules as he should. Spotting another stop sign, he turned right again and of course, the cop also turned right.

This time, however, the cop finally turned on his siren and lights before barking orders. "Pull over, right now!" the cop spoke as if he were hot shit. They could tell that he was one of 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 cops.

Doing as the cop ordered, Ken pulled over and rolled his window down before keeping both hands on the wheel. Ken already knew what this stop was about, so he knew how he needed to act if he wanted things to go as smoothly as they could.

The cop eventually made it to Ken's window and peeked inside, giving both Ken and Ky a dirty look. "What can I help you with, officer?" Ken asked politely, code-switching in the moment.

"Whose car is this?" the officer asked, looking at Ken with a skeptical glare. Ken's car was nothing more than an upgraded El Camino, an old classic car. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that a young adult could afford one. "Mine..." Ken told the officer. "Would you like me to show you my license and registration?" Ken was still speaking politely as he said this, having no trace of an attitude in his tone.

"I'll tell you what I want from you when I want it. Got it?" the cop snapped back at him. Ky frowned, looking over at the cop as if he were crazy.

"And what's your problem, huh?" the cop asked, looking past Ken and at Ky who still scowled at him.

"Nothing." Ky said before sitting back and looking outside the passenger window.

"Where are you two headed?" the officer asked.

"Home. Just picked him up from school." Ken told him.

"Hm... and who's he? Your son?"

"No... he's my younger brother." Ken was starting to lose his patience, but he kept his cool and spoke politely regardless.

"Where're your parents? Jail?"

"They died in a car accident. Eight years ago. It's just my brother and me. Officer, I don't want to be rude, but why did you stop us?"

"You matched a description." the officer told him, reviewing said description in his notes and comparing it to Ken and Ky.

Ken sighed. "And what description is that?"

"Brown skin. Short hair. Mutant." as the officer said this, both brothers felt a chill go down their spines. They thought they escaped all of this, being hunted down for being mutants. However, it seemed like no matter where they ran, this curse within their blood would follow them.

"Mutants? Do you mean like those guys with powers? I thought they all went into hiding or whatever." Ken was playing it cool, not wanting to give off any sort of suspicion. He was a mutant, along with Ky. Ken's powers weren't anything strong or useful and Ky didn't even have any powers. He was a mutant, but one without any sort of abilities. Or so he thought.

"You kids don't watch the news? There's been a whole bunch of mutants running around lately. Some sort of uprising. The freaks are crying about wanting equal treatment and some are resorting to violence. The government is planning on bringing back the M.R.D. and in the meantime, us cops have to deal with 'em."

Ken and Ky knew about the M.R.D. far too well. They were the Mutant Response Division, tasked with responding to mutants that were out of control. However, they eventually started hunting all mutants, good or bad, and forcing them into hiding or worse.

That's how their parents died. They died trying to protect them from them.

"That's some scary stuff." Ken told the officer.

"Yeah. Those violent fucks don't know how to appreciate what they're given. We forgot all about 'em when they weren't going around killing people. All they're doing is reminding us of what they really are." hearing the cop speaking infuriated both brothers. This man was practically dismissing their existence right in front of them.

Mutants were never treated the same as non-mutants. That's why mutants who didn't have any sort of deformities like blue skin or furry bodies chose to hide themselves among the regular humans. They were afraid of being murdered or being the victim of a witch hunt.

Whenever a crime was committed by a mutant, news outlets made sure to cover it and paint the mutant worse than they really were. A mutant doing a store robbery would get just as much coverage, if not more than a human with a sexual assault or murder case.

"Anyway, if you haven't seen anything, I'll let you two be on your way." the cop saying this gave them a sense of relief, however, he had one thing left to add. "Let me just scan the both of you to make sure you aren't one of them, you know? It's protocol."

'Shit!' Ken thought, looking over at his brother who clearly had a worried expression on his face. "What's gonna happen to the mutants you guys catch?" Ken asked.

"Sent to camps." the officer said as he reached for the scanner on his belt. "Don't they talk about this stuff in the history books?"

Being sent to a camp was the same as being sentenced to death. Ken and Ky knew about the camps far too well. Mutants didn't make it out of the camps unless they escaped, and for the most part, there was no escape.

The history books left out just how terrifying these camps were. Mutants were forced to wear power dampeners before they were beaten, forced on, tortured, and then killed via various means. Usually, mutants were gunned down. If that didn't work, fire or gas was the next step. When all else failed, they'd put them in a hole somewhere and seal it with concrete.

Many believed that if you go to those camps years later, you could still hear their muffled screams.

"Gotcha." Ken said before his eyes flashed white and time around him stopped. Without any hesitation, he pressed the gas and took off.

With any normal car, pressing on the gas while time was stopped would do nothing. However, the modifications of Ken's car weren't just cosmetic, this car was custom-made to adjust to his powers, something a friend of his was able to cook up for him.

He could only stop time for five seconds, however, five seconds was all he needed to already be halfway down the street before time resumed. Once time was no longer stopped, Ky looked over at his brother with fearful eyes. "Are we really doing this?" Ky asked, unsure if running was the right thing to do. It was a dumb question, but he was just a kid. A scared kid.

"We are. We have no other choice. We aren't going to a mutant camp, they'll just torture and kill us." Ken was right, they'd be as good as dead if they were arrested. However, Ky also knew that escaping from the police wouldn't be so easy, even with Ken's time-stopping ability due to its limitations. Ken couldn't just stop time whenever he wanted, it took some time before he was able to do it again.

Ken drove through the residential area, swerving through traffic and around parked vehicles before the sounds of a helicopter flying above them forced him to look up. "Damn it!" Ken muttered before once again stopping time for another five seconds.

Once time continued, the helicopter lost them for a brief moment. To outsiders, it appeared as if he had teleported elsewhere, but of course, that wasn't the reality of the situation.

It wasn't long before the helicopter began tracking them again, and before long, there were multiple cars driving through the residential area trying to cut them off. Every time a cop appeared near them, Ken would stop time and drive past them, making it seem as if he were teleporting.

The whole time, Ky was clearly panicked. He was holding on tightly to the handle above the door, breathing heavily with wide eyes. Since he didn't have any powers, it seemed like he was teleporting whenever his brother stopped time, making it all even more stressful than it already was.

Once again, another police car appeared, nearly hitting Ken's car with a pit maneuver, however, he simply stopped time once again and drove past the officer. Once time started again, he began barking orders to his brother.

"Ky, remember the plan?" Ken and Ky had a whole plan mapped out for if they were ever found, one that was extensive and memorized by both of them. They knew the day would come, but they secretly had hoped that it wouldn't have ever had to come to it.

"I remember. We-" Ky's eyes widened as he looked past his brother and toward the driver's side window. "LOOK OUT!"

Ken looked over, seeing a car coming at him at full speed. It was too soon to use his powers again; the only thing he could do was brace for impact.

However, at this exact moment, Ky's eyes shone white and time began to reverse.