Interlocking pieces of painted metal clicked together, piece by piece. Lorna was playing with a Rubik's Cube, but she wasn't really interested in solving it. Instead, as she levitated the block with her mutant ability, she was enjoying the sensation of manipulating the metal. Metal had always been a friend of hers, even when other people weren't.
She needed the chance to relax. The Sentinel Services were becoming more and more aggressive. Warpath told her that the Mutant Underground would be ready for a fight, but he was wrong. She had spent days training them, and half the crew couldn't handle a playground fight. Marcos, her lover and baby's father, kept on telling her that he would protect her, and she believed him, but if they were wrong...she couldn't let anything happen to the baby. She kill every single agent before she let that happen.
She noticed a spectator.
"I can see you," said Lorna. The spectator drew closer, and Lorna saw it was just Caitlin.
"How do you do it?" asked Caitlin. Caitlin was a nurse, and the human mother of two of the newest additions to the Underground—the Strucker twins. Lorna appreciated the nurse's support of the group, but they often butted heads over Caitlin's children. Caitlin wanted to leave them out of the field due to some maternal instinct. Lorna knew that was leaving those kids untrained was leaving them vulnerable. This was war, whether Caitlin liked it or not.
Of course, Caitlin could never truly understand that. She wasn't a mutant.
"How do I do what?" asked Lorna.
Caitlin sat down on the floor, across from Lorna. Her brown hair looked matted, and her gaze looked tired, but still lively. She pointed at the floating cube. "That."
Lorna opened her mouth to answer, and then stopped. She actually wasn't sure how to respond. No one had ever asked her how she moved metal. She didn't know how to describe it. How do you describe sight to a blind man?
"If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," said Caitlin quickly.
"No, it's fine. It's like asking me how I see. I don't really think about it. I just...do it."
Caitlin nodded at her, considering the response. Lorna stared into her eyes, and could almost see the cogs in the woman's head spinning.
"Then, how does it feel? Is it like moving metal with your arm?" replied Caitlin.
"No," said Lorna, more curt than she intended. Caitlin was trying to understand her. For some reason, that pissed Lorna off. Humans trying to shoot at her, she could handle. But Caitlin's earnest questions made her queasy. "I've never been asked to describe it before. It's like..."
"Take your time," offered Caitlin.
Lorna closed her eyes. She could still feel the metal lamp in the other room, feel the metal door of the vault, taste the metallic salts stirring in the bloodstream of the dog a mile out. She felt each atom of metal that bonded with each chemical reaction in her bloodstream. She could sense the metallic ions in the growing life inside her. She opened her eyes, and looked at Caitlin, who was holding the Rubix Cube.
"Right now, I can smell the metal flowing through your bloodstream. I can practically taste it. It's calling to me, like little switches being pumped in and out your body," said Lorna. She traced a pattern in front of her. "And, if I wanted to, I could tug any one of those switches."
"Like, tug it out of me?" asked Caitlin. Her eye widen.
"I'm not that powerful," lied Lorna. "But I could..."
She calls out to the metal ions in Caitlin's blood. Green energy spilled from her hand, as she focuses on Caitlin's arm. She gives an order, and the ions obey their mistress. Involuntarily, Caitlin's arm jerked, surprisingly the human. Honestly, Lorna barely moved it, but Caitlin's sense of shock made her jerk her arm to the side, throwing the cube across the room.
And then Lorna saw it on Caitlin's face. The same expression every human got when they were reminded of just how powerful mutants could be. It's a split-second of horror. But there was something else as well. Caitlin looked afraid, but also...envy? Or was it curiosity?
"That was weird," said Caitlin. Then she cracked a cute smile. "And kind of cool."
Lorna gestured, bringing the Cube back to its place in front of her. "I can feel every piece of metal everywhere. They're like extensions of myself. Iron and steel and cobalt were my best friends, when no one else was."
Caitlin shook her head. "That sounds beautiful."
"It is. Most of the time."
"I couldn't imagine what it's like."
Lorna smiled sadly. She replied "At least you're willing to listen. Most humans won't."
Caitlin nodded, and she said "I hope people will listen to my kids."
And then Lorna realizes why this conversation is so important to Caitlin.
What Lorna said was "People probably won't. That's why I have to prepare your kids."
What Lorna thought was "And I hope, one day, people will listen to my kid."