Disclaimer: I don't own neither Terra Nova nor X-Men. If I did, there would have been dinosaurs with superpowers on the show... ;)

Warning: minor foul language; mutant-human hate

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Divergence: 1) Difference 2) A shape formed by two lines meeting at a point

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Elisabeth was a patient person. That is, so long as she knew there was some reward at the end of the wait. As a child, she never minded having to wait for holidays or for her dad to finally come home from work. She was good with sickness, because she knew it would pass.

But she was tired of this, the constant worry and wonder. And the anxiety was making her feel claustrophobic in her own damn mind. This wasn't just about her anymore, she had a husband, who she finally just got back, and three children, who would have to live with what people today chose to do.

Be patient, Lis, they said. What happens, happens, they said. 'They' were the new group of friends that had taken Elisabeth and her family under their wing (no pun intended) almost immediately after Josh saved Nina over a month ago. The MHRC, they called themselves. Rather, the Mutant-Human Relations Committee. They organized things like informational lectures about what caused mutation to debates to classes on biology and with it evolution and history lessons, and just about anything that could close the gap between humans and mutants.

Elisabeth and Jim knew what they wanted from them, and she suspected the children knew, too. They wanted allies. A surgeon and a detective would be valuable assets to them, not to mention the genius that Maddy exhibited. And Elisabeth wouldn't mind this, there was no reason to hide her allegiance to the mutant community anymore (even if she was still in the closet, so to speak), but she just didn't understand their determination to be, not patient, but passive.

Elisabeth was a patient person. But she believed in getting things done.

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After outing himself as mutant, Josh isn't sure whether to cover up and bind his wings, or take on the MAP concept-Mutant and Proud. At first he decided to layer up, see if he can't pretend nothing changed and see if people go along with it.

They don't.

He begins to divide people into groups. Group One: people who like his wings. These people include, but are not limited to: Nina the Vampire Girl, who's taken to being his shadow when her parents let her come over to play with Zoe, Skye, Tasha, some of his parent's friends, that Mark guy his sister never shuts up about, and this woman who sells Carno-Kabobs in the market. Yeah, she really likes his wings.

There's Group Two: people who don't give a damn about his wings. These people include but are not limited to: Boylan, Max, Lieutenant Guzman (he thinks. It might just be that Tasha likes his wings, so he puts up with it for his daughter. No idea where the other two leaders stand either.), the guy who sells coffee in the market, and Mira.

And of course Group Three: people who hate him, hate his wings, and possibly wish he would shut up and die. These people include but are definitely not limited to: Hunter, Dr. Mansour, some religious people, some soldiers, human parents who think he'll infect their kids, his math teacher, some other students, and the newly wed couple who live two houses down.

Since people already see him differently and don't care to pretend otherwise, he decided to hell with it and wears a special kind of t-shirt made for people with wings. It zips up in the back and has a giant portion of fabric missing so his wings don't have to be bound.

His parents are nervous, but they let him walk out the door that morning. And the morning after. Four days later and he's still alive-lightning hasn't struck him down, no one has shot him, and he no longer sweats like a pig. He's even getting a tan (more like a sunburn) on his arms and neck. It's nice. Maybe he'll be able to breath here.

He ought to know better. The Shannons never really get any peace, why would they find it now, of all times?

He's walking along the fence with Skye (talking about more secretive matters-like deals with Sixers and whatnot) when they're sort of boxed in. It starts with a big blond jock from school. Josh recognizes him from his English class; Matt or Miles or something like that. Than to the side, a slightly older brunette joins him, all muscle and probably no brain (well, that's what Josh likes to tell himself, that these people have no brain). And then two more from behind, about Josh and Skye's age. Josh wonders if he and Skye can worm through the fence, knows that there's no way he can fit through the small opening with his wings. Maybe she can go through the fence and he can climb...

"Hey, bird boy. Little far from the nest, aren't you?" the oldest said. "You and your girlfriend planning on running away together-or, uh, flying off together?"

Skye turns a light shade of pink, while Josh clenches his jaw in anger. He doesn't care for girlfriend jokes, not when he misses Kara so much.

"Got any wings under that shirt, sweetheart?" Matt/Miles jeers. Josh tries to pull her behind him, but Skye isn't that type of girl. He has a feeling that she'll kick any one of these guys in the nuts before she hides behind somebody else.

"C'mon guys, leave her out of it." Josh said, trying to steer this away from a fight, even though something inside of him is itching to throw a punch.

"Can't. Not when she's a mutant lover." one of them said.

"I don't know what's more disgusting, a mutant or a mutant lover." the eldest sneered. "Unless you're a mutant, too." he said accusingly.

"It doesn't matter what I am. Neither of us want a fight." Skye said.

"You hear that, Jordan? They don't want a fight." the blond snickered.

"Yeah, because we care." another one, probably Jordan, said. The boys laughed, as if some great joke was just told.

"Hey, I heard mutants are contagious. That's not true, right, Angel-cakes? 'Cause my little sister is in the same class as your sis-the illegal one-and if she gets infected, I'm gonna be pissed." a dark haired boy said, puffing out his chest.

"Anyone with a third grade education knows mutants aren't contagious. It's genetic." Josh said.

"So we should go visit, what, your mom? If it's genetic, maybe we really should deal with your sisters." Jordan threatened.

He could feel his temperature rising; this was a familiar situation, one he'd been trapped in before. Last time he had Kara to take care of, now he had Skye. And they were threatening his mom and sisters.

They say that in mutants, especially the ones with animal traits (mostly the feral mutants, but sometimes the avian mutants), protective instincts were heightened. Whether this was part of the mutation or that simple instinct telling them that they and their kind are in danger, no one is really sure, since mutants are almost always in danger. Josh was feeling it now, and he had never had a good temper to begin with (took after his dad that way).

Take care of Skye. Watch out for his family. Beat the shit out of these guys. Consequences later.

And so that's what Josh decided to do. Skye shrieked as his fist flew, connecting with Jordan's jaw. He hopes it's broken, but doesn't have the time to see.

Skye kicks Matt/Miles in the nuts and hesitates at seeing him crumple to the ground in pain, hands clutching at the area between his legs. And then she's moving again, ducking out of the way of Jordan's buddy.

Josh is brought back into his own fight when a fist connects with his forehead, and burst of bright color flash across his vision. He almost loses the advantage of being on top of his opponent, but swings back into balance. He's wrestling with one, trying to keep the hands away from his throat (these guys are serious. They're actually trying to get to his throat to choke him...) when he hears a crunch behind him. By the gasp of pain and surprise, Jordan's buddy has landed a hit on Skye. And just when Josh is deciding to help her, someone launches themselves at his back. They elbow an incredibly sensitive place just under his wing and Josh grunts, trying to use his wings to hit the attacker.

And then he falls off his back. And then the guy under him freezes and then starts convulsing. It last for only a few seconds, but the guys make no move to get up, clutching at their heads like their brain is exploding.

"What-" he muttered. He looks at Skye, and it all snaps into place.

There's blood still oozing down her face from her nose, but she isn't covering it or doing that touching-but-not-touching-because-it'll-hurt-like-hell thing people do. Her hands are tangled in her hair on either side of her head, and she looks almost like she's having a mental meltdown.

But Josh knows that isn't it. While he doesn't have any mental abilities, he's seen what they do to his dad and Maddy. Sometimes when they feel overwhelmed, like angry or scared, their powers just go into overdrive and it actually hurts them to hold it in, but they do so anyways because the results of letting it out could be disastrous.

He doesn't ask her about, not until they're away from their attackers. They're still by the fence, unsure of what to do. Do they report what happened? If so, who would get in trouble, the mutants or the humans (it's nice and odd to think of Skye as another mutant, since he's been thinking of her as human all this time)? And if they did report it, Skye would have a lot of explaining to do, unless Taylor already knew she was a mutant.

He leans against the fence, the ache and tiredness already setting in. The ache will be gone soon, he can already feel his body repairing itself. Skye, on the other hand, looks like the walking dead. She's pale and shaky, and bloody.

"You should go get that, you know, looked at." Josh said.

"How do I say it happened?"

"Could say you walked into a wall or a tree. I mean, there are lots of trees around here." Josh mumbled. Skye shook her head and muttered something unintelligible. "So what was that? Telepathy?"

Hesitantly, Skye shook her head. "No, I can't read people's minds or anything like that."

"Then what is it?"

"I did some research; it's more like a psionic blast."

Psionic...sonic...something to do with energy...

"And that means...?" Josh prompted.

"I pretty much mess with people's minds. Hurt them." she said quietly. "I don't mean to, I just get so..."

"Angry? Upset?" Josh offered. Skye nodded. "I didn't really have to go through that with my wings, but Maddy and my dad did." He'd told her a few weeks ago, as a secret, about his family. "I can ask them if they'll help you control it."

She stared at him, a hopeful look spreading across her features, mixed with pain from her nose. She nodded mutely, for once no comment.

"We should get that checked out now. Unless you heal?" she shook her head. "We should probably go to my mom, we can tell her what really happened. She'll take it from there." Josh said, one-hundred percent confident in his mother.

"What if she's not there?" Skye asked anxiously.

Josh shrugged. "Then we lie."

"By saying what?"

Josh sent her a small little grin, a devilish expression that was at odd with his angelic wings. "Hey, I might not be the God of Mischief and Lies, but I think I'll be able to come up with something..."

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Elisabeth was just returning from a small fifteen minute break. She'd gone for something to eat, having forgotten to bring a snack with her today. What she returned to was Jess Ogawa burning a hole into the back of Dr. Mansour's head. The nurse immediately waved her over, a furious look on her face.

"Your son and Skye are at your house. Josh looked a bit roughed up, but Skye looks like she took the worst of it." Ogawa said.

Elisabeth instinctively looked for the two of them, despite being told where they were. "Well why aren't they here?"

"He turned them away." There was no question who. Malcolm had left yesterday for Outposts 3 and 4 and wouldn't be back until either late tomorrow or early the day after. That meant the person with the highest seniority was in charge, and that was Mansour, who came here even before Malcolm, and would have been chief of science here if Taylor hadn't personally recruited Malcolm for the job.

So her suspicions were correct; Mansour really would refuse medical care to a mutant, and even a human who was friends with a mutant.

Elisabeth closed her eyes and counted. One...two...three...four... All the way to ten. Now wasn't the time to get angry.

After she tended to Josh and her young intern, then was the time to get angry.

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Alright, I know I told metube that I wouldn't be posting until the end of the week but...surprise! I actually had some down time last night and some this afternoon, and, thus, Divergence was born! Well, written. Same difference.

Okay, this is going to be a multi-chapter story, I'm thinking a three shot, but maybe four. I've got most of it planned out, I just need to translate that onto paper. Oh, and a small warning: prepare for POV hopping. This situation seems bigger than just a single character, and I fully intend to delve into multiple people's minds and make their perspective known (including Wash and Taylor, don't worry).

Thanks for the lovely reviews. I know that Terra Nova isn't as popular as it once was, and so I know a lot of people wont be reading Mutants in Terra Nova stories, so (hint, hint) it's really nice when I get even a few reviews.