X-Men: The Element Zero Theory
Fingers danced rapidly over the small keypad by the front door. It was a dark night, no moon in the sky, and all she had to dwell on was her memory. It had been a while and she wondered if they still used the same code. She could have just knocked, but she wanted to make an entrance, to impress him, show him she was worth keeping and being helped. Even if she suspected he would have helped her anyway. Damn it, she just couldn't get rid of him.
For someone of his weight he was moving effortlessly over the grass, making no sound. He was returning from a walk around the school grounds, sort of a midnight inspection, when he saw someone at the door about to get in. The person obviously had clearance to enter, since the door opened from the first try. Still, something didn't smell right to his expert nose, and it was not her perfume, which he didn't recognize. He was positive he had never seen this girl before and that was one of the signals that started the alarm bells inside his head. The other was her body language that screamed 'sneaking in' from a mile.
She refrained from letting out a relieved sigh at the familiar click of the door and walked in. He followed right behind her, unnoticed until his arm slipped around her in an attempt to immobilize her. Dormant reflexes kicked in and, after one fraction of second taken to estimate that her attacker was bigger and stronger and only an element of surprise could turn this to her advantage, she slammed her elbow back into his stomach. He didn't loosen his grip on her but he did lean forward a bit under the impact, which allowed her to throw a fist up and break his nose. This would have incapacitated pretty much any human for at least a few seconds, enough for her to get away from him, but it failed to work this time. He sent her spinning towards the nearest wall which she crashed against, seeing stars. Then she heard a metallic noise and, the next thing she knew, sharp blades, no, claws, were pressed against her chest. Now she remembered why she hated this place so much, she could never win in a fight against the mutants, even the less dangerous ones.
"Hey, look who's here…" they heard a voice and a set of footsteps approaching along the corridor.
"Hey, Storm…" she turned her head to smirk at the silver haired woman.
Logan was fazed, no real fighter would have moved attention away from the opponent and still this girl, woman, he corrected himself, had. Another thing he noticed was that she wasn't scared. Her heart was beating faster and she was flushed from the effort, but there was no real fear in her eyes. She'd lived with mutants for several years, she knew them, they could torture her, even kill her, but they could not scare her and, in a foolish sort of way, she was proud of that. Of course, Logan couldn't know that.
"You're early," Storm commented. "The Professor said you might come in tomorrow."
Should she have been surprised? He'd always been one step ahead of her. "Does he require appointments now?"
It was Storm's turn to smirk. This was how she remembered her from the brief time they had known each other. "Let her go Logan." She paused for a stronger effect. "She's one of us."
It felt strange to hear Storm say that. She had never considered herself one of them; she could work with them if needed, but she wasn't one of them, for obvious reasons.
The larger mutant arched an eyebrow, but the claws did retreat into his fists.
"Come with me, I'll take you to the Professor." Storm gestured for the other woman to follow her.
She pulled away from the wall and followed Storm, after glancing at Logan briefly to store his image in her memory. He was doing the same thing, taking in her features, long dark hair, almond shaped dark brown eyes, full pink lips, almost as tall as Storm though with a body type slightly different than the athletic mutant's body. He watched her leave swaying her hips and favoring her side where she had hit the wall, while the soft locks kept bouncing on her back. Suddenly, he wished he hadn't pushed her so hard.