Julie always thought she was normal. She lived in a town where normality was a rule, and she had never shown any signs of having a mutant gene in her body; no one in her family did. The town she lived in, Chicago, had outlawed mutants within it's walls, and if the authorities caught one, there was almost always an "accident" that resulted in their death before they could be exiled. Hence it was understandable that mutants generally avoided the area. The governor of the State had decided that mutants were too powerful, to dangerous after Magneto almost killed the president, and refused to acknowledge that mutants were the ones that stopped him, but to think such things in the city was dangerous.
Julie was fifteen, and in theory she had nothing against mutants, as she was not raised to hate or judge a group of people because of trivial things, but to judge individuals on their personalities and minds. However she had never met a mutant, and so it was quite the shock when she discovered she was one.
She was walking home one night, the only light allowing her to see being the flickering lanterns and the only sounds around being the echoes of her footsteps on the gravel and her heavy breathing. It came as a shock, then, when a pained scream split the air.
The teenager froze, trying to discern the direction from where it came. When the same pained cry sounded again, she surged forward, running through dark alleyways and across large streets, until she found the source of the cries. Five men wearing police uniforms surrounded a boy, a teenager like her she thought, though she couldn't see him, laughing as they kicked him and prodded him with their electric batons, making him scream bloody murder. Julie, never one to let an innocent get tortured for amusement, didn't even hesitate before rushing forward.
Thankful for her father's lessons in self-defence, Julie grabbed one of the men by the collar and dragged him away and round kicked another in the face before they even noticed her presence. One of them swung his baton with a cry, but Julie simply dodged and punched him hard. They fought for a while, the young girl having a hard time knocking out all these fully grown and armed men, receiving several blows to the face or ribs that made her clench her teeth in pain whenever she twisted or twirled to do a high kick. Before long though, the five men were on the floor and Julie was leaning against the wall panting and wiping blood from her mouth.
It was then that she took her first glance of the boy she had saved, and he promptly froze. He had yellow eyes, pointy ears and most shocking of all, blue skin. The girl stood there for a moment, mouth agape as she just stared at the shivering mutant in front of her. She quickly shook herself, though, and went to help him up, reaching a hand out to grab him under the arm and pull him to his feet.
As soon as their skin touched, though, a terrible pain coursed through Julie's body. She screamed, eyes closed tight, back arching as she fell to her knees. It felt as though lava was running through her veins and her brain had suddenly exploded as she clutched her head sobbing and screaming on the ground, the blue mutant scuttling away with wide eyes. The pain lasted for several seconds, though it seemed like forever to the poor girl, who was left panting on the floor.
"Who are you?" she gasped. "What did you do to me?"
"Nothing! I swear it, that is not my power! I teleport, I don't know what happened!" he cried with a eastern European accent, shaking his head in denial.
Julie stared at him for a while longer, until she had caught her breath and the pain had receded somewhat.
"Who are you?" she asked again.
"I am Kurt." He responded quietly.
They looked at each other for a long time, Julie trying to gauge his honesty. He must have looked particularly scared and sincere, as she nodded, letting go of her suspicion.
"You can teleport?"
"Yes, but electricity stops me, which is why I could not escape. Thank you. For saving me, it was very kind." Kurt said with a smile, and Julie only shrugged.
"Can you teleport now?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Can you take me with you? I attacked the authorities in defence of a mutant, I'm a criminal now." The girl explained sadly.
Kurt simply nodded and held out his hand, which Julie tentatively touched. They both smiled in relief when no pain was felt, and the next second, they had disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, the same shade as Kurt's skin.
The teleporter had taken Julie to New York, where they shared a home in an abandoned warehouse. Almost a year later, Julie was satisfied with her life. She was homeless, but she was seeing the world with her friends, Kurt and another mutant – Sarah, who could heal herself at will but not others – and she was free of prejudice, meeting new and different people everyday. After the first time Kurt and Julie had touched, the pain had not manifested itself, but she avoided touching other people just in case; they had still not figured out where the pain had come from.
This was when Julie found out she was a mutant. One of the men that had tortured Kurt all those months ago had died of the wounds Julie had given him, and since then, the whole Chicago PD was hunting them, though they did not know it. They were tracked to an alleyway in New York, though Kurt was not present, only the girls were. They had been taken unawares, and unable to defend themselves. Sarah was being held at gunpoint, the weapon aimed at her heart as Julie cried and begged for mercy from yards away, where the soldiers held her.
Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down. Julie saw the man holding the gun squeeze the trigger as if in slow motion, and screamed her friend's name. She wanted so much to be in front of her, to get hit by that bullet instead of Sarah – after all, she was the one that had killed the policeman, not her. A dizziness overcame her and she was instantly where she had wanted – stood right in front of her friend – just as the bullet hit her in the chest, slightly above her heart.
There was shocked silence as the teenager sunk to the ground, grabbing hold of Sarah as she did. The man was about to shoot again, but jumped in surprise when Julie let out a blood curdling scream as she made contact with her friend's skin.
"Julie! Julie!" Sarah cried, holding on tightly until the screams and sobs subsided.
After a few seconds, Julie's chest began to grow warm, and she ripped the cloth away to see her wound shrining, the skin knitting back together.
"H-How?" she stuttered.
"I don't know, I've never healed anyone before!" Sarah said, staring wide eyed at her friend's now unblemished skin.
Julie got a glint in her eye and her eyes opened wide, before shutting tightly, as if in concentration. There was the feeling of dizziness again, and before the soldiers could react, the pair were back in their warehouse.
"How did you do that?" asked Sarah, still in shock.
It seemed crazy, but there was only one explanation, and suddenly everything was clear to Julie as she went to grab some food from the cupboard.
"I'm a mutant!" she breathed.
"What?"
"Think about it! Kurt is the teleporter, and the first time we touched, there was this terrible pain, and all of a sudden I can teleport! And then you can heal yourself, we touch, and all of a sudden I can heal myself!" Julie cried.
It was obvious : she was a mutant who could copy the powers of the mutants she touched, though it caused her great pain.
"Do you have any idea what you can do with this power?" asked Sarah after having assimilated the news.
"Nothing. I'm not doing anything with this power, you saw what it does to me. I won't go round copying people's powers if that's what I feel every time."
There was a sense of finality in her voice, so her friend did not pursue the matter, but they went into an excited conversation about being a mutant and what she could do with the two powers she had already copied.
Five years later :
Julie, now in her early twenties, had just arrived at the gates of an enormous castle, which she pushed open with her gloved hands. She hardly ever took them off anymore, making sure she was always covered as mush as possible to avoid accidentally touching a mutant and copying their power, as had happened a few years previous. The mutant in question was an old friend now, the one she was currently visiting at his school for "gifted children".
As she nervously walked up the path towards the great double doors, said doors opened to let out a few people : a blonde woman with a guarded expression, a tall man wearing glasses, and a man in a wheelchair. This last man was the one she came for, her friend.
"Charles!" she called wit a great grin, opening her arms wide to engulf the telepath. She felt a tingle on the edge of her mind as they touched; it had become a bit of a tradition between them to touch minds since she had accidentally touched him and copied his power.
"Julie." He greeted, matching her smile. "Please meet Mystique, and Hank. Friends, this is Julie, a mutant I met a few years ago."
"He screamed when I collapsed and stared convulsing in the middle of the restaurant." Julie said, earning a snort from Hank and a half smile from Mystique. "It's nice to meet you. Charlie, it's nice to see you again. You said you needed my help for something?"
"Uh... yes. Follow me please."
The three turned and entered the castle, where mutant children were running everywhere. Julie hesitated before following, sticking close to the walls and stiffening whenever anyone came too close. Finally, after many scares, they made it to Charles' office on the first floor, and the young woman sighed in relief as they closed the door. She took the seat offered, a comfortable armchair and declined the offered drink, eager to get on with business so she could get out of the mutant infested place.
"Julie." Charles sighed in that English accent. "We have a problem... a mutant, a very old mutant, has awoken. His powers are much like yours, he can transfer his consciousness into other bodies, meaning not only is he immortal, but he's also accumulated quite a list of powers with the bodies he's taken over."
Julie was beginning to get a feeling of foreboding as he continued.
"He wants to destroy the world as we know it, and rebuild it as he wants. We intend to stop him."
"Okay..." said Julie.
"We need you're help." He said bluntly. She always liked bluntness, but in this case she would have preferred he drag it on until she died of old age.
She swallowed before replying. "Doing what?" she asked.
Charles exchanged a look with Hank. "We have many students here, with many different powers, but most aren't old enough to join the X-Men... we need you to copy the powers of those too young to fight but whose abilities are needed, and join us."
"How many?" she responded after a moment.
"About fifteen."
"No."
"Julie –"
"No Charles!" she shouted, standing up. "How dare you ask this of me? I understand the world is at stake, but for God's sake, man, I thought you understood! I copied your power and you saw what it did to me! No, three powers is way more than I'll ever need or want. I don't even know if my body can survive hosting so many powers!" she cried.
"Julie, please!" he begged. "We are lost without you! I hate to ask this of you, but the world, Julie! We're confident you can handle it, and we have everything we can to make it as comfortable as possible for you."
"Comfortable? Fucking comfortable? Charles my veins feel as if they're filled with lava, how do you plan on making that comfortable?" she fumed.
"I meant for you to rest and get you're energy back."
Julie didn't even know what to say. On one hand, fifteen powers in one go would send her mad with pain, on the other, the entire world was in danger. Obviously she would accept, what other choice did she have? She just wanted him to know her anger first.
"Fine." She muttered, sending him a glare. "Fine. Whatever, I don't even care. What do we do?"
Hank gave her a list of names and powers, among which were shapeshifting, invisibility, telekinesis, pyrokinesis and the ability to walk through solid surfaces. He told her to add ones she thought would be necessary; after a bit of thinking, she added super speed and strength.
She left to gather provisions and a bucket, as she'd probably need to refill her calorie count and get a bit nauseous, and returned to hear the end of a conversation.
"I'd trust her with my life, Raven." Charles was saying.
"Don't call me that! And how do you know she's not doing it for the power, eh? She didn't seem to put up too much of a fight!" Mystique whispered loudly.
"That's because she knows what's at stake. She is agreeing to be tortured for the next multiple hours, Mystique, but she accepted because she's the most selfless person my mind has ever touched."
Before the woman could respond, Julie pushed the door open and entered, pouring all the food she had gathered onto her chair. She turned with a fake smile and spoke.
"So who are we starting with?"
"Me. Shapeshifting." Said Mystique, taking a step forward.
Julie raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure you're old enough to fight."
"I am, we just think it would be useful to have more than one person with my abilities." She responded.
Julie just gritted her teeth and nodded, taking a glove off and grasping the other woman's hand without giving herself time to change her mind. The pain immediately appeared, and she fell to the floor groaning and convulsing as tears streamed down her face. As the pain left her, she allowed hr teeth to unclench and drew in a shuddering breath, sobs escaping her. She used Mystique's body to get back shakily onto her feet and stumbled over to grab a carton of orange juice, which she downed in a few gulps, panting once she was done. She wiped the sweat off her brow and looked over to the three other people in the room, noticing their looks of sorrow and horror.
"Next?" she croaked.
Charles' gaze hardened and he nodded once, before putting his fingers to his temple and mentally calling a student to his office. Julie was sat at the desk by the time a young boy, around ten, walked in.
"Hello, Marcus." Greeted Charles, receiving a nod and a smile in response. "We have a favour to ask. This is Julie, a mutant who can copy other mutants' powers. We find ourselves in need of your ability and were wondering if you would share?"
The boy hesitated before nodding, and sitting face to face with the pale woman. Charles placed his fingers on his temple once more and nodded to Julie, who touched the boy's hand, succumbing to the pain once again. Because of Charles' power, the boy was deaf to her cries, thinking she was only staring into his eyes and drawing his power out that way. This continued all day, the group making a few breaks to let the sweaty and shaking young woman rest and replenish her forces. She vomited twice, once in the bucket she had brought, and once out the window, attracting the disgusted looks of the students outside.
By the time the Sun set, Julie had acquired a whole armoury of new abilities and was unable to stand without support. She was carried to her room, in her own wing so as to avoid any more mutants that would weaken her further, and put into bed to rest for a few days, after which the training would begin.
Her skin crawled and itched as she attempted to transform into the woman she saw before her. Julie eyed Mystique critically, noticing every default in her skin, every curve of her body, every shade present. She had been learning to use he new powers for two days, after having three days rest, though during that resting time she often changed appearance or became invisible accidentally, or she would make a vase fly against a wall and set fire to the curtains. The powers had battled for dominance within her for a while, until she had managed to tame them and summon them one by one at will.
She was mastering them one by one, with the help of the mutant whose ability it was originally. At that moment she was trying to alter her appearance to completely look like a specific other person. She let the tingles on her skin subside as Mystique circled her, eyeing her just as critically as she had been eyes a minute earlier.
"The hair's not exactly right, maybe a shade or two too light, but otherwise it's fine." She finally said.
Julie nodded and amended her mistake, earning a nod from the original shapeshifter.
The room was dark as Julie waited for the monster to be released. She was half crouched in a defence position, ready to pounce and attack or dodge a hit aimed at her. Her eyes scanned the room. There was debris on the floor, planks or wood, rocks and metal, it was round and large and had metallic walls in a half circle, the other half made of one way bulletproof glass, behind which watched the X-Men.
Suddenly, there was a sound and one part of the wall sunk in and slid away, smoke escaping from behind it. Julie narrowed her eyes as red glowing orbs shone twelve feet into the air, approaching slowly with a thump, thump, thump. It took a moment to realize that the and orbs were in fact eyes, and her adversary was stomping towards her.
Adrenaline rushed into her veins as her skin crawled, changed shade, became invisible, and the debris around her shook. A few times she disappeared in a billow of navy blue smoke, only to appear at the exact same place as before. The wood caught fire and ice spread across the floor from her feet as she prepared to attack, a smirk on her face.
She was ready, and she had all the tools she needed.