This is my first ever X-Men story. PyroOC - hope you like it!! Set during and after the second movie, during and maybe after the third.

They were very powerful. They were nothing compared to Phoenix, but still very powerful. But together they would bring something that has never been witnessed by this Earth.

Default Chapter

How many men can a girl take down? We don't know. Clearly it depends on the type of girl. It also depends on the type of men. But if an average man takes on an average girl it's almost inevitable that the girl will lose.

But this wasn't your average girl. It wasn't because she had a twin sister. Simply stated, she was a living weapon.

She was a creature of astonishing grace, possessing an agility that was almost catlike. Her senses were slightly heightened. If she willed herself to do something physically or athletically she could do it - almost anything really. She loved the martial arts and dance - those were some of the only things she was good at. Her grades were lackluster. She wasn't Ms. Popular, but she ran in her own crowd. "The Misfit crowd." She didn't have school spirit, nor did she participate in any team sports. Brown hair, brown eyes, petite, and a smart mouth - she could be classified in her own category. Her name was Emerentia O'Neill. Everyone called her Emmy.

Now, her twin sister; that was a different story. She was highly intelligent, valedictorian, a cheerleader, clumsy, telekinetic and telepathic. She loved her jock boyfriend and her "status" in school. But what she loved most was her sister. Petite, black hair, green eyes, and silver tongued, she gives unique a new name. Her name was Mariska O'Neill.

These two were almost inseparable… almost. Sure, they had their disagreements - everyone does. But they always made up. They weren't really close when they were little. That's because they didn't know about each others' gifts. Their first experience with their talents was when they were seven. The day when they discovered they could speak to each other telepathically.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Flashback

"Emerentia, what kind of name is that?" A boy teased, pulling roughly on a lock of long brown hair. Tears slid down Emerentia's face, her brown eyes growing red and puffy.

"My mom thought it was pretty." was the retaliation, but behind the tears there wasn't much effort put into it.

"Yeah, but who cares about your mom? Besides, she doesn't really love you."

"Yes she does!! She says that she loves me every morning!!"

"But does she really mean it?" Emerentia's face wrinkled in anger. She raised her fist to punch the boy.

"Don't do it!!! Do you know what Mom and Dad would do if they found out?'

Emerentia's fist fell. She hesitated, standing there shaking as she tried to suppress her rage. Mariska walked over calmly, her black hair contrasting darkly against her pale skin.

"Leave my sister alone, Eugene!" Mariska spat out the boy's name as if she were referring to the lowest form of vermin. Eugene pulled himself up to his full height, which at seven years old wasn't much.

"What are you two going to do about it?" he said, folding his arms as he puffed out his chest in mock threat.

"THIS!" The next thing the Eugene knew he was on the ground with a stream of blood from his nose soaking the front of his t-shirt. Gazing up in amazement he could see Emerentia cradling her aching fist in her left hand.

"You don't treat MY sister like that!" Emerentia shrieked venomously.

Mariska turned bright green eyes to glare at her. "I thought I told you to not do that!"

"I don't care what you said! He doesn't pick on me and then you!"

"But you didn't SAY anything?!" countered Eugene in amazement, trying to staunch his bloody nose with the short sleeve of his t-shirt. He was tilting his head back. The twins looked at each other in wonder.

"Emerentia O'Neill! Young lady - what did you do? Never mind, into my office. Eugene, you go to the nurse!" yelled the lunch aid.

End Flashback

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

From then on Emerentia and Mariska became inseparable. Through secret trial and error, as well as general mayhem both at home and at school, the girls began to comprehend the strength and scope of their abilities. By the age of eleven they had mastered their talent and continued to keep it a closely guarded secret. The young boy Eugene had eventually apologized (reluctantly) and become one of their best friends. He was the only "outsider" that knew about their telepathy. Unbeknownst to the three of them, the twins' talents were about to grow.

In school they were called the Three Amigos, or so they dubbed themselves. Eugene was known for his wisecracking jokes - also for being a young Casanova among the girls in their class. Emerentia was the athletic artist; always the best in Tae Kwon Do and any kind of dance. Mariska was the class Queen and tops on Honor Roll. Everyone at school knew that the twins had a special, uncanny bond - more than just being twins. They all knew there was something else. The truth was discovered one fateful night.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Flashback

Tracy and Rick O'Neill were going out for a long overdue date night. They were going to be back late. They left a ridiculously long list of Rules: the girls weren't allowed to let anyone in the house; specifically no boys were allowed to visit. And as Tracy read the list and Rick stood by with a stern expression it droned on and on, well on its way to being a whole lecture.

"Puh-lease!" Emerentia sent to her sister, rolling her eyes dramatically. Mariska shot her sister a dirty look then they both pretended to listen attentively. Finally, after what seemed like forever, their parents stopped reading the stupid list. The girls agreed to behave and Tracy & Rick O'Neill floated out the front door and down the front steps, blissfully unaware of what was to come.

The girls were in bed by their designated bed time, 9:00 p.m., thanks to their 80 year-old neighbor, who thought of them as her grandchildren. Sure, the twins loved her. But she was very strict. Once in bed they couldn't sleep and kept talking to each other and experimenting on what they could do in their minds. Eventually they fell asleep.

In the middle of the night there was an eerie Creek, thump, thump. The sound of the door opening woke up the eleven year olds and intuitively they knew those weren't Daddy's footsteps. They had forgotten to lock the door after their neighbor left. Both girls looked at each other.

"What do we do?" They spoke directly to each other without letting the intruder know.

"Mariska, call 911, okay?"

"Okay" As Mariska headed for the phone on the nightstand, Emerentia slowly crept out of bed. She lifted up her blankets and soundlessly put her feet on the floor. Crawling across the room reached her book bag and pulled out her num chucks and messiahs. Sure, they were only plastic. But they would have to do. She stuffed the num chucks in the back of her pajama pockets. She held the three plastic bladed knives in her hands.

"No Emerentia! He could hurt you!"

"Element of surprise."

"Of all the stupid things to do, now she does this."

"Hey - I can hear what you're thinking. Maybe he wouldn't have to hurt me if you just called 911, right?"

With that Mariska picked up the phone and Emmy opened the door to walk down the stairs, her blood pumping. She held the messiahs at the ready. Little did she know that she blended into the shadows like a hunter stalking its prey. Her movements were fluid, quick and silent. She continued to travel down the hall into the foyer. Emmy closed her eyes, feeling the man's presence. The kitchen, he's in the kitchen. She backed herself up against the wall and side stepped her way down the dinning room towards the kitchen. The footsteps came towards her. Emmy's heart pounded.

She grabbed a shelf above her and somersaulted gracefully backwards onto it, without knocking anything off. She balanced herself between the objects on the shelf, concealing herself in the shadows. Soon, a pattering noise began. It was raining. Afterwards lightening & thunder followed. This was just peachy.

The burglar was practically sauntering his way into the dining room, his bag of stolen objects starting to fill. From the clanging it sounded like Emmy's Mom's silver flatware. Nonchalantly he started to look through all of the cabinets.

Something started to pour itself into Emmy's mind. It didn't make her feel uncomfortable; in fact it made her feel powerful. Instantly, Emmy became aware of the van sitting outside with four other men occupying it. They were waiting for their companion to return with the stolen goods. Something also told her to be ready to strike.

Mariska sat on the bed, somewhat in a trance. She didn't call the police. She had called their babysitter, the older neighbor, and told her to do it. Slowly Mariska's eyes began to glaze as if she were far away. Like a drop of ink spreading into a cup of clean water, Mariska faded into Emmy's mind and saw what she saw. She told Emmy there were men in a van. How she knew these things, she didn't know - she just did. Heart pumping, she slowly stood up and made her way to the top of the stairs. She stood there, in the shadows. Emmy should be ready to strike. Now!

A flash of lightening filled the dark room and Emmy pounced on her prey. He let out a yelp as she landed on top of him, causing him to fall onto the dining room table. He was knocked unconscious. Emmy winced. That hurt. She walked along the edge of the table like a cat on a balance beam, watching him. Once she got to the end, which was toward the window, she squatted, her right fingers helping her balance herself and her palm in the air. One messiah rested on the table under her fingers. Her left hand still held her messiah in the ready position. The men started to get out of the van, hearing the sound of the crash. Emmy raised her right eyebrow. She hopped off the table to the ground without making a sound.

"Mariska, I'm going to need your help. You need to be my eyes."

"You don't really think you can take all of them on, do you?"

"I just need to hold them off until the police come."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Emmy slowly entered the foyer. Still in the shadows, she readied herself. The front door opened. A man came in.

"Yo, Mike. You okay?" Bam! Emmy made her presence known. Three other men ran in behind him - rather large men. Emmy twisted, turned and struck her targets. She saw everything happening a split second before it even occurred. The messiahs were knocked out of her hands. On instinct, she pulled the num chucks from the waistband of her pajamas. She struck each and every one of her targets. Next thing she knew, she felt the ground shake and saw the table that was next to the door hurtle itself toward a man that came to attack her.

"At the top o' the stairs, get her! I'll take this one." Emmy felt hands wrap around her and slam her to the ground. She didn't see that one. Anger coursed through her. She felt a little funny. A beast was erupting inside her, and she didn't know what to do with it. She flipped herself over to look at her attacker. Once he saw her face, his eyes widened in shock.

"Mutant!" He yelled.

"Mutant!" came a yell from the top of the stairs. Wait, they weren't mutants. They were eleven year olds. Through the dark windows suddenly there were lights going off along with the sirens. Just then the police entered the house. Emmy stood up, panting. Then the shock over came her. They wanted to kill her and her sister, and would do anything to achieve that goal. But what really made her cry was that she was called a mutant.

She had heard horror stories about them on the evening news. Mom and Dad wouldn't be happy. As she cried, a police officer picked her up and carried her out of the arms of danger. Though the police had no way of knowing the twins WERE the danger.

"I've got one! There's another one upstairs!" yelled the police officer. "I gotcha kiddo, okay. Mommy and Daddy are going to be here."

"Mariska," moaned Emmy.

"Sissy's safe, okay? We are just going to have some people look at you guys."

End Flashback

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

That night they were questioned. Were they okay? What had happened? Did the men touch them in any way they shouldn't have? If the burglars weren't completely incapacitated on stretchers, they had some bandages covering some part of them all injuries caused by Emmy and Mariska. Months turned into a year. A year turned into a couple of years. And that is where their story begins. And it all started with a knock in the front door.