Disc.- I own neither Harry Potter nor Marvel, so...Yeah.
This Story...- Violet Potter was thought dead and left behind when James and Sirius went after Peter and after her sister Marigold safely tucked away. Also- I tried to keep with the years in regards to songs, since Potter was born in 1980, but in regards to the Marvel characters and timeline I disregarded those entirely.
XXXXXXXX
The elderly woman looked at the babe she'd found in the rubble, a small squall long after she'd seen the others leave. Did they abandon the baby here to die? Her arms tightened around the poor thing as searing anger boiled through her. They were blessed with a child, with a little girl, and they would let her simply die? No no, she wouldn't hear of it. If they didn't want to keep the precious bundle, then Ethel would tend to the child herself!
It was a good thing, she reflected, that the job from Roxxon would take her to the United States soon. Then no one would be able to take the little tiny girl from her should they come back around. No, they left her and didn't deserve to find her.
xXx
Briefly going by Beryl, the young child was not destined to stay long with the old widow once they landed across the pond. When she was two, shady men from the Roxxon company came to take her elderly caretaker away and took her as well. Beryl's name was stripped from her and she was called 00927 and held in a small white room with a door that looked like glass but she soon realized was much much stronger than brittle glass. When she was three and barely able to keep sentences, they learned she could talk to snakes when one of the bio-engineered snakes in the enclosures broke loose. The snake, of course, had to be put down but it garnered new interest in the child they'd had to make disappear. Short moral and ethic debate rose and fell amongst the scientists and the businessmen until they agreed to first examine the girl and test her to see if she had any other extraordinary abilities before any other arguments could surround her. Under duress and frightened, they had evoked the girl to change her hair into black, bristled snakes that hissed and swayed protectively around her with their wide yellow eyes or the way she could teleport short distances. She had even turned one of the scientist's hair bright bubblegum pink, and it remained that way for a week before fading away. At one point she produced a luminescent green fire that they could not put out, that only she seemed to be able to control.
This drove them to begin to make designs for bio-engineering. One had to be careful with children and several workers had to be silenced when they quit over it.
The surgeries to 'enhance' her began a few months later when she was four, more delicately than any of their other procedures. That's when they began calling 00927 Euryale. Her blood, different from most of their other subjects, had to be carefully synthesized to ensure they could make infusions properly. When Euryale was four and a half, she met the woman who she would call mother.
xXx
Blondie breathed out, her stretched limbs working to lift and then constrict to crush the heavy beams trapped in her elongated arms. She breathed in and watched the metal bend to her will easily. A voice came to life on the intercom. "Very good, Ms. Sitznski. Let's move onto the aquatic tests.", and the statuesque blonde woman grinned broadly, dropping the beams as her arms went back to normal size. She flexed the muscle, pleased. Before this, before being turned into this advanced being she was now, Blanche Sitznski was a steel worker and before that- a teacher at Taskmaster's old criminal school before its cover was blown. At an intimidating six foot two and two hundred and twenty pounds, Blanche was nothing to mess with before but now...Well, she wasn't just your everyday criminal turned steel worker anymore. She was Anaconda now.
As she moved into the huge room with the underwater obstacle course, her leafy forest green eyes took note of something in the water- something very small and fast.
"Euryale.", came the command from a different voice, an elegant British lilt over the speakers and the small thing stopped. Honestly, Blondie almost tripped over herself when the small face of a young child popped up above the water, eyes a vivid spring green blinking across the way.
"Damn,", she muttered. "Don't tell me they started on kids now?", before raising her voice. "Hey kid!", she hollered, "C'mere!" and she saw the small head tilt to the side before slipping under the water again. From a safe control room, Euryale's main pediatrician went to press the buzzer to forbid the interaction but a gloved hand stopped him.
"Sir?"
"I'd like to see how they interact.", the man smiled pleasantly, folding his hands behind his suit-clad back.
Back in the test room, Blondie let out a low whistle as the little girl clambered up on dry land. "Well look at you, squirt.", the huge woman bent down to one knee. The girl had sleek patches of scales in black but with pale pink lining the edge of each scale in a thin outline against pale skin. Unlike Blondie's own slightly tanned skin and her own scales in olive green with darker patterns on her ribs, arms and legs like the snake she was named after. She also noted the gills on the girl's neck, not like her own on her jaw. "What's your name, kid?"
"Euryale.", she answered in a quiet voice, accent making the woman's eyebrows raise up.
"Not from around here are ya?", the woman flicked gently at the girl's forehead where a strange and faded scar was. The girl flinched and blinked in startled surprise at the move. "Well Yoo-rail,"
"Euryale,", the girl corrected but the woman waved it off.
"Yuri, got it.", she shortened dismissively, standing and lifting the child in her arms. "I'm Anaconda."
xXx
Anaconda stretched comfortably, Black Mamba snorting as they made their way back to their Roxxon funded apartments. "What're you so relaxed about?"
"Yuri,", the blonde woman smiled, glancing down at her curvaceous friend. On her other side, Death Adder smiled too. Sidewinder rolled his eyes at her answer.
"Y'know Adder, you should just take their name.", he drawled. "I mean she looks like your kid anyhow.", and yes, Yuri did look remarkably like a product between the two. Anaconda's wild curly hair in Adder's velvety pitch black, eyes greener than the blue-green of his and just slightly different from Anaconda. Her big eyes like his and her skin becoming tan like hers now that she had adopted her almost two and a half years ago and taken her out of the Roxxon labs. Blondie punched his shoulder, pulling it quite a bit so she didn't hurt him. He still winced and rubbed his arm anyhow, mouthing 'ouch' to his girlfriend. Tanya stifled a snigger, locking arms with him. Roland shook his head with an exasperated smile at their antics. The four had just been made into a team recently and had been practicing together for their first upcoming mission. Eventually, the four were separating, Tanya and Seth left them in the elevator with waves thrown over their shoulder and a brief 'say hi to Yuri for me' before they were traveling up the few floors to where they roomed together in the luxurious apartment. The five foot six man and six foot two woman stayed in companionable silence and then they opened the door to the lavish suite they were greeted enthusiastically by a small bundle of a seven year-old.
"Mum, dad!", she grinned up at them, still very British despite spending most of her time around the rough-talking Pennsylvanian woman she called mum. And then she held her hands up. "Charlie got them for me!", and the man in question, a primly dressed young man who'd been her doctor since they'd changed her smiled at them coolly. The London man never really approved of Euryale being adopted and taken from the safe confines of the labs. Coincidentally, he was her babysitter when neither Blondie nor Roland could watch her and often spoiled her rotten. "Atheris Hispida!"
"What-what now?"
"A breed of snake, Ms. Sitznski.", Charles spoke up, voice just a hint condescending. "They are the most closely related to her 'gorgon' snakes that we have found."
"And they're so cute!", Yuri beamed at them happily. Roland patted her head affectionately while Blondie looked at the snakes. They had large eyes and rather cute faces and she watched the snakes writhe in the small hands that held them, their scales bristling interestingly. They did look a lot like when Yuri would go Medusa, though none of them were black. There was one in the dainty rose pink Yuri had at the edges of her own scales, with small white patches here and there, another a fiery orange to red and another still in a muted gold color. She shrugged and supposed it was only fitting that the girl who could talk to snakes have a few. She grinned and ruffled her daughter's hair affectionately.
xXx
A handful of years later saw Roxxon falling apart, many members dead, incarcerated or in hiding. Roland lost an arm (but she was thankful even then because he almost lost his life and how was she supposed to explain that to Yuri?), and the Roxxon Serpent Squad moved elsewhere and joined Serpent Society.
Granted, their hideout was a damp creepy cave for the first two years until they were able to politely buy a small section of warehouses with one of the member's faux businesses made real in Serpent Solutions and remodeled appropriately. They had a separate base for the inner circle of course, called the Serpent Citadel.
In addition to her, Roland, Seth and Tanya, they made two more close friends in Diamondback and Asp. They learned the two other women's names shortly after they were inducted to the upper ranks and introduced to the Citadel and made even a regular girls night.
Tonight though, was special. Diamondback and Asp would be meeting their darling Yuri- only the leader of their snake themed group knew about Blanche's daughter. She'd talked it over with Roland (who'd since quit the criminal thing and had gotten a nice quiet job), and then with Seth and Tanya and while they were wary (they'd met these women in a mercenary for-hire group, so it was really quite reasonable of them) they eventually allowed it.
So now Blondie was leading them to her and Roland's shared home, a rented place squished between two bigger buildings. Seth and Tanya were behind the two girls and were still a bit tense. Yuri was a carefully guarded secret after all, and here Blondie was bringing in two women they've known for maybe two months. But Blondie felt like she could trust them with this, the girls had really gotten close.
When she was within six feet of the home, her sweet darling daughter burst from the door to barrel into her, jubilant and bright. Charlie (who'd briefly had to flee to England but unfortunately came back not too long after) followed at a more wary pace. The man lived in an incredibly lavish suite of his own on the top floor of some fancy hotel (and often brought Yuri there for weekends when Roland and her worked), and had refused to allow the meeting if he weren't present. Without the Roxxon labs and their funding, she'd have hoped he would go away, but he stuck around. But it made Yuri happy to have him so she supposed she could deal with the smug little bastard.
At eleven years old, Yuri was the apple of Blondie's, Roland's and Charlie's eye. Her wide crooked grins with the one dimple, her vivacious personality and her wild black locks a short untamed mess. Of course, to be seen outside she had to wear long sleeves and cover her gills with a turtleneck or thick ribbon (as the girl preferred), and pants or long skirts or thick pantyhose to cover her scales. Yuri took it all in stride though.
"Rachel, Cleo- this is my daughter. Yuri.", she turned, grinning at the two widely in absolute pride as she introduced them. "Yuri, these are some of my co-workers."
"Yes yes, all well and good. Let's get inside shall we? It's positively sweltering out.", Charlie snapped irritably, fanning himself. The tall blond had his sleeves rolled up and his normally perfectly coiffed hair was a bit messy and perhaps damp. He was not a man who took to heat well.
"Yeah yeah, don't get your panties in a twist.", she waved off, pushing everyone inside before Asp or Diamondback had a chance to really much react to the fact that Anaconda had a daughter. Inside, Roland sat waiting and smiled politely to the two girls. They'd met the mute man before and offered hesitant waves in return.
Yuri was quick to pull off the large sweater (one of Roland's probably) and shove off the leggings she wore to reveal her usual attire of spandex shorts and a t-shirt with loud bright designs or colors. She heard both of the women behind her gasp at the sight of the scales and gills.
"She was a Roxxon runt,", Anaconda explained briefly.
"A child?", Rachel murmured, horrified.
"Forget childhood, I'm more worried about what's going to happen when she hits puberty.", Seth groused and Tanya elbowed him in the ribs obligingly. "It's a legitimate concern!", he insisted and Charlie snorted from where he sprawled himself on one of their huge mismatched chairs.
"There shouldn't be any real problems medically speaking.", he waved off. "At worse, she might end up being ovoviviparous."
"We'll worry about all that when we reach that bridge.", Blondie sighed. "So- what do you think?", she turned to her daughter who'd just returned from fetching her snakes. Dotty, Darling and Doozy slithered about their master happily, hissing cheerfully.
"I like her hair.", she answered promptly, "And her dress. It's really pretty."
"She's-"
"His fault.", Blondie pointed to a suddenly pleased Charlie. "All his fault. She's been here since she was a babe and she still sounds like that."
"I think it's a show of taste, whose dialect she takes after."
"Because bollocks, bellend, bloody, bint, bugger, munter, scrubber-", Blondie began with a scowl and the man hissed in annoyance. "Oh, so you can say them but I can't?"
"You know damn well I don't use that kind of language in front of her."
"No but those freaky shows you watch do.", she fired back.
"You leave my programs alone."
"Alright, who wants ice-cream? Yuri, fantastic! Get dressed and we'll go out to eat.", Tanya clapped, bringing their intention back and tilting her head to the two awkwardly standing ladies. "Don't mind Charlie,", she said when the little girl raced back upstairs. "He's usually just an all around dickhead."
"Fuck off, cunt."
"Point in case. He's also Yuri's physician. And pseudo-uncle."
"The hell he is,", Blondie muttered under her breath. "So, where are we getting grub? Any suggestions?"
"Yuri liked-", Charlie began casually.
"Not all of us are filthy rich, Taylor.", Blondie quickly intercepted whatever indecipherable French or Moroccan restaurant name he was about to confound them with. "So unless you're footing the bill, forget it."
"Well I suppose for this momentous occasion I might be able to.", he examined his perfectly manicured nails, "It's not everyday Yuri gets to meet other people.", and Blondie eyed him warily. She sure as hell didn't trust that was the reason, and neither did the other three ex-Roxxon workers. "Why don't we ask Yuri?"
"Ask me what?", came the cheerful question as Yuri stumbled down the stairs. Long pale summery skirt, very thin long sleeved shirt, slightly translucent but with a pattern that disguised her scales well.
"Would you like to head to that lovely little restaurant we went to Saturday?"
In response, her little girl absolutely tackled the man, thin arms gripping with inhuman strength. Looking at her like this, it was sometimes hard to remember that she was just as altered as her or Tanya, or Seth or Roland.
xXx
Hearing about Rachel's little love crisis, Anaconda had agreed to protect her date from any on-lookers but was suitably shocked and initially enraged when she learned exactly who Rachel was pining over. Over the course of the next few days, she agonized over whether or not she should tell their leader that one of their own was consorting with one of the only 'heroes' they had beef with. Tanya eventually calmed her down enough and she agreed to help hide Rachel's slow moving but ridiculously sappy relationship, as the woman was very happy with him. She did however, have a very serious talk with her about her career and telling the Captain about it. Maybe not immediately, but if they were pursuing it as a serious relationship she would need to tell him eventually, even if she had to quit Serpent Society.
Rachel had ended up a crying mess and Blondie had to comfort her, and that was what really cemented their friendship. Enough so that when she suggested leaving Serpent Society and forming their own small mercenary group, Anaconda encouraged them and even helped set things up (mostly she used Roland's help for that though, he was a genius with business and legal shit), though she declined being an actual member, saying she'd prefer to help from the shadows so to speak.
The only hitch came when their leader King Cobra somehow found out and Diamondback was put on trial before she could disengage from the group. By that point, Seth and a group of others had already splintered from the main group and Anaconda was soon put up on trial with her for withholding the rather vital information that Diamondback was dating Captain fucking America. Cleo and Tanya were thankfully not put up with them, because then they'd have surely been executed. But since Tanya wasn't on trial and able to contact others, she was able to get Seth (who'd since splintered after briefly being the leader) to come in to save them. Of course, Kind Cobra was killed in the process and Seth was once more crowned leader. (Something the somewhat lazy man grouched about constantly.)
During the entire trial, which lasted an agonizing three weeks, Charlie had taken Yuri to Europe to keep her safe from any potential attacks- Roland could handle himself well but if anything happened to Yuri...
Still, everything turned out just fine.
xXx
Blondie twitched nervously, frowning at her reflection. She hadn't worn a dress in years- but since it was Tanya's wedding, she supposed she could. Still, the pastel green (Rachel had vetoed the black bridesmaid dresses Tanya originally wanted, as they were quite...Revealing and 'not a wedding color') was a bit much. She sighed and sat still as the hairdresser fussed over her bright blonde hair. A giggle from beside her made her lips curl in an automatic smile. At fifteen, she was Tanya and Seth's ring bearer and dressed in grassy green as opposed to the paler colors of the bridesmaids. Her hair (which she'd grown to just beneath her shoulders) was straightened and now reached just below her hips. It was odd, seeing her hair straight she looked like someone entirely different but Tanya decided it was for the better. She would be, for today, Tanya's second cousin from Leeds.
(They were still incredibly cautious about letting other people around her.)
More nerve racking however, was that Rachel was bringing her superhero boyfriend to the affair. With a whole host of mercenaries and villains also in attendance. And since there was a whole host of other mercenaries and villains, the Captain was bringing his bestfriend (who was previously a fucking H.Y.D.R.A drone and just as old as he is), another hero called the Falcon (who was, according to a few whispers, in training to be the next Captain America), and the rest of the Avengers barring the two SHIELD agents and Banner because...Well, Banner and a host of villains. Tanya didn't need to deal with the Hulk smashing up her wedding.
Soon enough Rachel snuck in, beaming at her happily as she dragged her date (Captain America looked hilariously nervous in his tuxedo) in with Cleo right behind her.
"Oh wow, you clean up nice.", Cleo whistled as Blondie was finally allowed to stand. She was the only bridesmaid who didn't have to wear heels because of her height. "Either way- this is Steve Rogers. Steve, this is Blondie. You might know her as-"
"Anaconda, yes.", he said nervously. They'd fought hand to hand before. When Rachel told him about her life as Diamondback, he'd been determined that they could work through it. He'd met Tanya and Cleo already (what, with B.A.D Girls Inc. and all,) but he'd never personally met her, Seth or Roland. Well Roland was understandable and the mute was currently out with the groom, getting ready with the rest of the groomsmen. "It's uh...Nice to meet you.", and he held out his hand. She stared at it for a moment before bringing him into a hug.
"Pfft, if I was almost killed protecting your relationship I at least deserve a hug.", she said as she let go of the slightly stunned man who eventually gave her a shy and nervous smile. "Just don't ever, y'know, hurt her. Cause I'll have to hurt you."
"I've gotten that warning before.", he nodded, rubbing the back of his head before noticing the girl. Her scales were bared from the dress she wore, as were her gills and her tongue (a bit thin and forked, a side effect of puberty) flickered out curiously. H smiled warmly to the girl. "And who might you be?"
Over his shoulder, Rachel's smile got even wider as she silently gushed about how good he was with kids. Blondie struggled not to pull a face, just to make her frown sternly before going back into dreamland.
"I'm Yuri! Hi!", she greeted, bubbly as ever. "I'm the ring bearer."
"Yuri...Nice to meet you.", he held out his hand to her and she giggled as she took it in a firm shake. "Save me a dance.", he winked playfully and she giggled again, nodding.
Twenty minute later saw the actual ceremony happening and it was quite a large one. When Seth saw Tanya beginning to sashay down, Anaconda saw the way his breath caught, the way his smile almost tore his face in two and the way he teared up. She almost started crying herself. Giving her away was an older gentleman, the oldest member of Serpent Society and apparently a distant relation. Tanya's dress was perfect on her- a tight thing, with a high slit up one side and designed to look like black scales (she wasn't one for traditional). When they started reciting their wedding vows, the waterworks really started but Blanche held strong until he lifted her veil to kiss her. Then the tears started and she was glad for the waterproof make-up and setting spray the stylist insisted on. It was absolutely beautiful.
The reception was held in a huge warehouse (as a sort of gag joke for the villains) and all done up with snake related things and actual snakes held in large glass tanks making a few wall dividers here and there. The first dance was held (and of course, Tanya made it into an impromptu strip show, going down to the lacy dress she had chosen for her reception; the bridesmaids had gotten shorter dresses too, with a whole lot of fluff and tulle petticoats- Yuri was in love with hers which had white polka dots on the same satin green as her first dress). Soon there were various people dancing to fun, upbeat songs, swinging around and generally having a good time.
Though at one point Yuri had snuck into the biggest tank and was 'dancing' with the snakes which just meant the long ones would lift themselves up and sway with her. Someone took a video of it, thank god. It was the cutest thing. Watching Captain America closely (as his teammates/friends were doing) when he called her out so they could dance was also pretty nice (and also on video), and quite cute since Rogers insisted she stand on his feet since he pulled her into a waltz. And she was beside herself, laughing and giggling all the way. Tanya took her from him as a new song began, swinging her around in a wild flurry of movement Blondie couldn't really call 'dance'. At least until the Macarena came on and it was the absolute best seeing a huge group of villains and criminals on the dance floor.
And then someone spiked the drinks and Yuri got a little tipsy. Well a lot of people got tipsy, but mostly drunk. But Yuri went gorgon and freed all the snakes who overtook the food table. Seeing however, that many of the villains there were serpent related, they weren't all that affected. Except when someone went for something Yuri liked, then they snapped and knocked the platters to the floor. It was a glorious mess.
Everything was glorious. Except when Stark got drunk and started hitting on women- including Blondie.
She frowned and abruptly lugged him up on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes or a steel beam, marching over where the isolated group of heroes stood to plop him with them and invite Falcon to dance. He stuttered for a few moments, shocked (the small group had stuck to one corner of the thing and didn't really join the party- except Rogers who was dragged in by Rachel) before he was shoved at her.
All in all, it was a probably one of the most interesting things she'd ever been in attendance of. Even better- it wasn't crashed, as was a huge and very real concern. When people started filtering out, Blondie stretched pleasantly, gearing herself up.
"Alright Yuri, c'mon!"
From beneath a long black tablecloth, her daughter's head peeked out, along with a dozen other smaller ones. She crawled out and brushed herself off before offering her a bright cheeky grin. Charlie grumbled as he stumbled closer, mumbling about getting samples and checking how alcohol affected her body and Blondie rolled her eyes, shoving the intoxicated man on his rump as she grabbed her daughter under her arm, strolling off with a small army of snakes trailing behind them and following their queen to where the others were.
The bride and groom were still at the door thanking everyone for attending and for the huge pile of gifts they received. Now it was the heroes and them. And by them, she meant Rachel, Cleo, Roland and Charlie to Captain America, Stark, the two mutant kids they took in, Falcon and Barnes. Of course Stark was asleep, sprawled across a few chairs and snoring loudly, the mutant kids were huddled close and Barnes was silent and vigilant. Rogers had Rachel on his arm as they laughed at something Cleo said but they looked over as she got closer, taking note of the girl under her arm and the trail of snakes behind them. Yuri grinned at them brightly, offering a wave before she was set on her feet. Snakes immediately twined up her daughter, the snakes on her head interacting with them playfully.
The mutants were interested enough to come closer (not surprising- while there were quite a few mutants in attendance, the majority of their guests came in full regalia and some were not actually assumed to be mutant considering how many were genetically altered or had their enhancements in their suits). Yuri was one of the few that were blatantly a mutant. Soon after, they were all heading out and parting ways (Rogers and Rachel had a horribly mushy goodnight complete with tender kisses). They waited until the heroes were gone and out of sight before she, Roland and Charlie left with Yuri after many hugs and congratulations to Tanya and Seth. Charlie came with because Roland didn't trust enough to leave him with a taxi service.
Yuri had to say goodbye to her many snake friends as a few of the Serpent Society collected them up to take them back to the Citadel.
xXx
Yuri had begun sneaking out a little later that year. Blondie was immediately worried, as was Roland and Charlie but Cleo and Tanya insisted she could look after herself. But with all of the mutant hype going around, it was incredibly dangerous. Rachel leaked it to her boyfriend, who grudgingly asked Stark to help keep track of the girl. What they found was that Yuri was going around as minor hero's assistant or sidekick, calling herself Gorgon and dressing as a boy. It was through that they learned that she had more or less awakened more powers.
Both Spiderman and Gorgon were collected when doing a round- Spiderman turned out to be a girl Yuri's age named Pearl Parker who'd been bitten by a genetically altered spider. The girls were given a stern talking to by Captain America as Stark laughed his ass off in the background.
After the general panic and scoldings, Blondie was sort of relieved that Yuri had a friend her age, even if she was being a hero more or less. But her daughter sort of straddled the line, so she was sure the girl would dip into both sides at some point or another if not becoming entirely neutral.
Learning Yuri was capable of healing almost anything next to fatal or long lost limbs was certainly a cause for celebration, as could learning she could sort of glide- Charlie had muttered about 'flying' snakes who would toss themselves in the air from trees or buildings or poles and maneuver their bodies to glide. Aside from her inhuman strength, sense of smell, sight and touch- and her extreme sensitivity to motion that acted as an intuition and inhuman reflexes.
More tests (that Charlie took, keeping her far away from the Avengers and SHIELD who already knew too much when Rachel spilled) revealed an entire host of other things. He wasn't sure if it was because of the bioengineering (even he wasn't privy to all of the things they messed with when engineering her) or if it was her mutations.
His somewhat grim countenance suggested he also thought of something else but he didn't share it.
Up until that point, Yuri had been more or less home-schooled- with normal school topics and things related to being a criminal or even someone with powers- it was a mish-mash. Their tight circle of friends had trained her extensively- she was a mutant and not everyone took too kindly to that, or to snakes even since most of the time their connotation wasn't exactly a good one. They had to make sure she knew how to protect herself physically.
Charles made sure she was fluent in French and Chinese too, saying it was to make sure she was more well-rounded. Blondie knew he was stuffing other languages into her head too though- Yuri had confided that to her.
Her intelligence was astounding, her ability to adapt more so but the best part of her, Blondie felt, was her resilience and upbeat attitude. She could take on the world without a flinch, no matter who her adversaries were, or how much they might outrank or outmatch her. She would go at it with her all. Blondie only feared the day she would be beaten down- but comforted herself with the idea that Yuri would get right back up and keep slugging on.
She was still worried about her social needs though. She mostly kept those up by talking with snakes or with them but the only friend her age was Spiderman-who-wasn't-really-a-man-but-a-teenage-girl-in-drag.
So she started looking at mutant-friendly schools. Parker's school, specifically, was now accepting a few mutants in what was essentially a trial run. So she made her way into her daughter-s room (filled with fun loud colors and posters overlapping eachother, beanbags tie-dye in a corner and the two girls playing a video game of some sort together.
"Oh! Hi Ms. Sitznski.", Pearl greeted shyly. The girl was a timid thing at first but she was opening up gradually around her, which was easier since she knew who the girl was on the side.
"Hello, pearly-Pearl.", she greeted cheerfully, tossing the papers on her daughter who paused her game to gather the scattered papers to examine. And break into a cheerful scream, hopping up and hugging her mom tightly.
xXx
Sitting in the principal's office, her and Roland beaming in pride at their daughter's scores on the tests to put her in school, Blondie was happy to see the principal was a friendly man who didn't hesitate once or give them strange or wary glances. But if Yuri even hinted she was having trouble with anyone in the school, Blondie would be visiting them personally. It was late June now and she was one of the parents who tentatively brought in their mutant children. There was a school devoted to mutant children, but that was a boarding school and not all parents were willing to send their children off and away- let alone their teenage hormonal children.
Instead, some schools were slowly opening up to openly mutant students, adding in a few extra classes or extracurricular classes. One of them was really just a group therapy session for accepting their mutations, and a few new hires were mutants as well. Midtown High was one such school.
Soon they were let out and another student and parents were called in to discuss grades (quite a few of the children had been home-schooled up to this point and had taken the tests before to make sure they were up to snuff) and free to explore the school itself and meet some of the staff. Blondie had been assured they had all been through sensitivity training and any teachers found lacking had been replaced. They called it a 'trial run' but Blondie knew they were being serious about this, that it would stick. Now it was just a question about how the normal students would react. She knew some families were pulling their children out because of the whole 'mutant' thing. The only truly segregated part were some of the clubs and that was because there was a huge petition about it. It was fine, since there were enough mutants joining up that they could form their own sports teams, and she was sure there would be a few normies who would be fine being on a team with mutants- the 'mutant' versions of those clubs weren't mutant exclusive after all.
Midtown High was a public school- and the reason all of the extra clubs and staff were able to join was because of the huge donations and effort of several groups and a few especially good people who wanted to see mutants and non-mutants to merge and blend properly.
Back when Blondie was still a teacher herself at Taskmaster's school, she'd had many mutants under her tutelage- and many bigots she had to beat sense into. It seemed the school was already taking care of that with the staff and some of the families already got rid of some of the ones she would have to worry about (even if she knew logically that some of those kids might not hold the same beliefs as their parents).
They watched Yuri wander about, meeting and chatting with other kids, excited and cheerful and Blondie felt overwhelming pride. And happiness- her daughter wouldn't need to hide her physical traits here.
xXx
If there was one thing Blondie was not allowing, it was for Yuri to go to and from school on a school bus. School buses were awful in her day and she was sure they still were- and so, Yuri made an impression as her mother tore down the road on a motorcycle to drop her off. She hugged her mother tightly, offered one of her usual crooked beams and took off into the school proper. In her round fake glasses (Pearl got them for her as a joke but Yuri wore them all the time now) shorts, bright sneakers and Weezer t-shirt (she was in love with the song Buddy Holly, her and Pearl tended to belt it out whenever the girl slept over) she was bound to draw attention with her dark patches of scales and up close she knew the girl's gills were impossible to miss.
xXx
When Blondie returned (along with many other parents) to pick her child up, the girl was already in a group of kids all talking to eachother happily- Pearl and her had their arms hooked and a blonde girl was on Pearl's other arm. When she spotted her mother leaning against the motorcycle, she grinned broadly and she knew her girl had a damn good first day. She waved using her whole arm, pointing to her when her new friends turned to her and she smirked, standing up straight. In her tight jeans and fitted shirt, she was sure she was a pretty cool sight. Muscles rippled in her arm as she waved back at her daughter and she was entirely pleased at the whispers that broke out amongst them before her daughter said her farewells and took off running towards her. At sixteen, she was just barely five foot five- which if asked, she or their friends would say she gets from Roland.
(Most people don't know she's adopted since she shares so many of her looks with either her or Roland and neither of them are inclined to say otherwise).
"Mum! It was the best! I made so many friends and that blonde girl there, her name is Gwen and she's Pearl's other bestfriend, aside from the boy who had to go to some boarding school this year-", she chattered on happily, practically vibrating in her excitement. Her mother only chuckled and ruffled her hair- the girl had cut it short again, curling around her ears and in her forehead, just barely covering the scar on her forehead.
"Alright alright, kiddo. Why don't you save it for when we get home so Rol and Charlie can hear?", and she beamed again as she was handed a helmet. She didn't need it but still. After she got on, she shot one last wave to her new friends before they took off.
Dinner that night was full of her sparkling renditions of her day.
xXx
When Yuri started bringing home The Daily Bugle, Blondie was less than amused at the things they said about Spiderman and Gorgon but Roland thought it was hilarious and framed the pictures and headlines. The pictures taken by, coincidentally, Pearl Parker who sent them in for a bit of cash on the side. Now that was something Blondie could get behind. Now, if they could do something about the way too 'I'm-a-goddamn-stud-who-can-bend-and-twist-like-only-men-in-your-dreams-can' poses...
(There were clubs dedicated to Spiderman and Gorgon and some of the things they obsess over made her, as a mother, feel extremely offended.)
Still, her baby was in the papers, so of course they had a celebratory dinner over it, or at least got her special desserts every time she was slandered by the Bugle. Blondie was torn because that was her baby, but on the other hand she was a villain, and being called foul things by a relatively popular newspaper put a certain pride in her. Tanya was plain proud, Cleo would giggle whenever she noticed a new headline on their wall- Rachel would give Yuri a thumbs up, and Seth would just roll his eyes and complain that she was stealing the limelight from actual villains. The first actual problem (not that Yuri thought it was a problem) came with the announcement that there was going to be a Halloween dance and that students were encouraged to wear costumes to school that day. Pearl and Yuri immediately got to work sewing up two very cute female costume versions of their superhero costumes. But even that wasn't an issue (they took so many pictures of the two, who were all too happy to strike poses). The issue came when 'dates' were brought up.
Because no. Absolutely not.
And no, Blondie did not care that Gwen Stacy or Sharon Smith or whichever girl had dates, or how Pearl even had a date. Because no.
If there happened to be an extra boy when Gwen Stacy, Sharon Smith, Pearl and their dates came to pick her up at six Blondie did her best to look menacing and ignored him for the most part. If he wasn't with them when they dropped her off two hours later, well Blondie's smile was purely from how happy Yuri was from her first dance.
XXXXXXXX
Well there's that. Tell me what you think, if you please!