Untitled

Written by: Little Suzie Killjoy

Rating: PG (13?)

Summary: Artemis "Missy" Faults, an undiscovered mutant, possesses the ability to teleport—anything, anywhere. When she is egged on to join the bad side, she grows angry with the X-Men for shutting her out and refusing her request to join their ranks. With her power, there is no telling what will happen...or what won't happen.

Author's Note: Hi, guys. I'm Little Suzie Killjoy (LSK) and I will be your pilot for the afternoon! Let me just say that I love X-Men, I love writing, and I am currently into the show X-Men: Evolution, played on Cartoon Network at 9:30. That is what this is based on: EVOLUTION. This is not part for the movie or whatnot...it's for the Evolution series! Therefore, they're all sorta teens, and stuff, and some characters aren't there, and there are new characters...all that good stuff. ;-) Please enjoy reading because I have enjoyed writing.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own X-Men, I do not own mutants, I do not own the X gene, and, most importantly of all, this is just a fanfic. Any relations to people that are made by my self-created characters is purely coincidental. Thank you!

Sunlight filtered its way through the blinds of Missy's room, gaining territory quickly over her coverlet and advancing toward her peacefully sleeping body. The rays pressed against her shut eyelids, and she was up in a snap, her blue eyes wide open and burning with rage. She loosened her body when she realized it was only Mother Nature giving her a wakeup call, and wiped her brow of the cold sweat that had collected during her previous dream.

"Gotta stop doing that," she scolded herself, untangling her legs from her sheets and stepping tenderly out of bed into her slippers. It was the third morning she had awoken suddenly, and the third morning that she realized it was giving her neck pains to sit up so quickly. She rolled her head around in a large circle, a few bones popping. "Ow," she gasped, grabbing at the base of her skull under her sun kissed blonde hair. "Definitely need to work on that, too."

Missy shuffled her way out of her bedroom, yawning slightly and grabbing her robe from the doorknob on the way out.

"Get your butt down here, girl!" her mom screamed from downstairs. Missy rolled her eyes and continued her slug-like pace down the steps. "You're gonna be late for school! Missy? Hello?"

She saw her mother's thin and long face appear from around the first landing of the irregular staircase, her eyes darting up to the second story of the house. She spotted Missy, and her eyes narrowed. "I have your breakfast. Are you dressed?"

Missy shook her head, jogging down the steps. "No," she admitted. "I just woke up."

"Well then get going!" her mom yelled shrilly. Missy covered her ears, shot her mother a death glare, and then turned quickly on her heels and up the stairs again. She made for her room, opened her closet, threw on an outfit, and then went to her bathroom. There she put on eyeshadow and dark lipstick, lining her eyes with black. She flipped off the light switch and trotted back down to the kitchen where her mom was holding a bowl of rapidly cooling oatmeal. "Eat," she ordered, handing her a spoon. Missy wolfed down her breakfast, and then grabbed her backpack and ran out the door.

"See you later, Mom!" she called, and then sprinted to school while checking her watch...she cursed. Her teachers had warned her that if she were late one more time, she'd have to go into a summer school. Cringing, she darted around a deserted corner and into a darkened alleyway. Chest heaving, Missy closed her eyes and imagined the highschool, with it's brick walls. Through closed lids she saw people walking back and forth across the front lawn, and she swore again. With her mind, she focused clearly on the deserted half where the dumpsters for the cafeteria were. Not a soul was walking there as far as her blind eyes could see. She took a deep breath and, within a matter of seconds, was sitting on top of a closed dumpster.

"I need to make a list," she grumbled, jumping down and going around to the front of the building. "A list of what needs help. There's another."

Missy ran as fast as she could, and skidded to a halt as soon as she saw a fellow schoolmate. There she slowed to an I-could-care-less pace, looking cool and collected. She strolled into school with a slight grimace, five minutes until the bell rang.

Making for her locker, she bumped in a few smiling people who said, "Hey!" or "Hi!" or "What's up?" Smirking, she spun the dial on her combination until it clicked and jerked it open so hard it banged into the locker next to her. She shoved her pack in and took out her first classes books, then slammed it shut and spun on her heels to head for science. Missy froze, though, before she could make it through to the class. She watched disgustedly as a boy was pushed to the blue tiled floor and received a boot in the face. The jocks of the school were picking on one of the weirdoes again...she gulped and, for a second, her mind was in turmoil.

Missy Faults was, without a doubt, a mutant. She possessed the X gene that caused her body to receive a power that it wouldn't normally have—in her case, an ability of a sort to go where she wanted with her mind. She had heard it called "teleportation" many times, but refused to name it. None of her friends knew, would ever know, and, hopefully, would ever get inkling. The boy in front of her who was being attacked was, like her, a mutant. He was one of the exposed ones, however, one who resided under the great Xavier that Missy had heard so much about. Occasionally she'd flip on the news and see his organized group, the X-Men, fighting against mutants gone mad in a tremendous deal. Secretly, her mind wished she could be a part of them, but the more dominant half liked her life the way it was. She stared at the boy...his name was Scott, she believed, who was on the ground and receiving a fresh wave of insults and punches.

Angrily, Missy turned away and marched to her class. Too bad. If he was dumb enough, she thought, to show off his stuff, then he deserved what he was getting. She stomped her way into the classroom, snapping at anybody who said hello. Nobody here knew. Nobody at all. She knew of every mutant that was in this school—it was a sort of sixth sense she had. A lot of them didn't want to be recognized, like her, so she didn't say who they were. Regretfully, Missy herself had participated in a few anti-mutant events, like fights between the regulars and the strange kids, rooting for the side that she knew was in the wrong: the regulars. But it didn't matter to her anymore. They, as mutants, were just as mean as the normal kids.

The bell rang and class started. She settled lazily into her desk, preparing for a good nap. Long ago, Missy had discovered that if she concentrated hard enough, she could pretty much get the information into her head without trouble. That was the whole reason she got A's in classes...but it didn't matter now. She closed her eyes as her professor began to drone his "science is good" speech.

A small bundle of notebook paper smacked her in the forehead, and she jumped up, yelling slightly. The professor looked at her sharply, asking, "Miss Faults? Something wrong?"

She settled down, clutching the paper in her fingers and grinning slightly. "Eh...no," she lied. "Nothing wrong, Profess."

"Professor," he corrected her firmly, and then continued with his lecture. Missy uncrumpled the paper, and saw her friend Kelly glance back with a small grin tugging the corners of her lips. She read the scrawled letter, written in pink gel pen, and then snickered slightly.

Mis: Guess what? B-4 u got here 2day, there was a fight 'round the back, John against one of the Queers. Haha. Guess who won? Somebody's got detention for a week (Queers do).

The Queers. She shivered slightly at the name...it was what they called mutants at the school. Then she scribbled back, Great. Can't wait to meet some of them. I got in trouble yesterday for being "late". Do they have it on Thurs.?

Missy casually tossed the note, and Kelly caught it with grace. She read through and widened her eyes, glancing back at her friend. Then she mouthed, "What?" Missy shrugged in reply and then tried to nap again. The note flew back, though, hitting her nose this time. It bounced onto the desk, and she slapped a hand over it.

"Miss Faults?" the Professor said, his eyebrows raised. "What is it now?"

"Uh," she stammered, then smiled innocently, "there was a bug. Isn't that science? I just ended his life." Her smile turned into a sickly sweet smirk. The professor gave her a pointed look and then flipped on the overhead, indicating them to write notes. Missy looked at her paper, then at the words on the screen...she couldn't resist the possibility. In the blink of an eye, the notes were on her notebook. She coughed a little and then opened the note.

Yeah, on Thurs, but why u wanna meet 'em? They're weird. Principal Kelley (ew! He has my name!) may kick 'em out of school, u kno?

She coughed again, this time a small hacking fit. The professor looked up, and then rolled his eyes and returned to his work. Missy shoved the note in her pocket and then sat idly at her desk, tapping her fingers.

Thirty minutes later, the bell rang and Missy was running to Study Hall. She never studied in that class; she would sit in a corner of the library and pretend to read, when really she was watching the known mutants—namely X-Men—talk amongst themselves. Sitting down in her proclaimed spot, she picked up the book King of the Wind and peeked over it occasionally, waiting for the "Queers" to come in and sit with each other. They filtered by slowly; a couple gave her a questioning look and then sat down. The bell called through the hallways menacingly, and Missy settled into forty-five minutes of watching them.

She couldn't help it. Her fascination for how they could live with people knowing was tempting. Their little group—Kitty, Bobby, Rogue, others she couldn't name...she shut her eyes and then looked over at a bookrack. That little part in her brain that wanted to be with them was throbbing painfully. She thought angrily about her mom, a surefire anti-mutant woman. Her mother was just as much of a Democrat as she was against the mutant race, which was pretty bad. If she knew her daughter was special with a capital S, she probably would take out a shotgun and try to murder her.

"Hello?"

Missy's head jerked up and she found herself staring straight into the eyes of Kitty. Painfully, Missy pulled a sneer on her lips and tried for a hateful look at the girl. "What do you want?" she snapped, attempting the hateful tone that everybody else used for him.

"Um," Kitty said, trying to keep her cheerful air, "well, we just noticed you watching, and we wanted to know if you wanted to talk or something?"

Missy laughed mockingly, and then said, "You? You want to know if I want to join you? Right. Tell me when pigs fly, freak, and then I may consider it."

"Well, sorry!" Kitty spat angrily. "By the way, you may want to turn your book right-side up, Artemis."

She flipped, her ponytail flying, and walked huffily back to their little round table where the mutants were watching her. Missy was fuming for two reasons: one, she had called her by her full name, Artemis. It was something her mom had wanted because Artemis was a goddess of the wilderness and such...the only part of Artemis that Missy lived up to was the nasty temper. The second reason was because after a quick glance down, she realized that the book was upside down. Blowing stray strands of hair out of her face, she slammed it shut. The whole table wobbled and jumped about three feet in the air, coming to the ground with an ear-splitting crash. Everybody looked up, and Missy was gaping in horror at what she had done.

"Sorry!" she called across the library, her cheeks reddening and her feeling like she wanted to melt into the ground. "Uh, I stood up and it snagged!" Then she ran from the room, passing the teacher and saying that she was heading for the bathroom.

Kitty watched her leave, eyebrows nearly up to her hairline. "What was that all about?" she asked Rogue, who was sitting with her arms crossed next to her. Rogue shrugged, glaring.

"She's a jerk. I'm just gonna stay away from her," she said venomously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "And whatever it was about, she was pro'aly just playin' around or sommat."

Bobby said, "No. That was definitely weird."

Kitty shrugged and picked up her book, looking deftly at the pages. "Well, I agree with Rogue. If she's got the same attitude as everybody else, I couldn't care less."

~

Missy stood in the bathroom, flushing the toilet so that it was clean of the vomit that she had just produced. Stomach still retching horribly, she staggered out to the sinks and washed her face, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyeliner had dripped and her face had paled to a terribly white hue. She splashed more water against her skin, gasping and stumbling for the water fountain where she washed out her mouth. Then she sank down against the wall, clutching her belly and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Uh, are you alright?" somebody asked, and Missy looked up, startled. Then she rolled her head on her neck joint and looked down at the ground again. Another one of those X-Men mutants. She struggled to remember his name—he was called Nightcrawler when he wasn't hiding behind a mask that Xavier had given him. Slightly proud that she knew so much about their team, Missy smirked. Kurt. His name was Kurt.

"Fine," she said, her voice cracking. "I'm fine. Please go away?"

"What's wrong?" he asked, and Missy wrinkled her nose at his accent. "Do you need to get to the nurse?" She thought about what this guy was...as far as she could tell, when he appeared on the news he was a demonic guy who had three fingers and a fuzzy blue coat. What did he do, though? Missy desperately tried to remember, then gasped as she looked up.

"Uh," she stammered, "uh, no. No n-nurse." Teleport. He could do what she did. Sort of. "Kurt, right?"

He nodded, giving her a confused look. "Missy?"

"Yeah. I just threw up, but I'm okay now. Stomachache. Eh...you..." She stopped, thinking how she wanted to put it. Straightforward. "You're with the mutants, right?"

Kurt laughed nervously and then waved his hands defensively in front of his body. "No, of course not. I'm normal."

"No you aren't," Missy accused, "you're a mutant. You're the one on the news."

He looked flabbergasted. "Uh, no, you must be mistaken."

"I'm not," she replied heatedly, temper rising. "You're the fuzzy one."

"Shh!" Kurt said desperately, looking around and then leaning next to her. "Don't tell anybody! I want to keep my...my identity a secret, okay? How did you know this?"

"Uh, well, it's a little obvious," Missy said with a know-it-all tone. "Come on, I mean, you have the freaky accent and stuff."

"Excuse me," Kurt huffed. Then he turned to walk away. Missy beat herself up inwardly for making him leave.

"Wait!" she yelled, and he looked back over his shoulder. "I mean, um, do you think I could talk to you about something tonight? Could you meet me at the pizza parlor, um, six-thirty?"

He smiled, his good nature taking over. "Sure, I guess. No more insults?"

"None, I promise," Missy said. "On...on my honor as a non-mutant."

Kurt grimaced a little. "How long will it take? I have to meet Amanda at nine."

"Uh," Missy stalled, trying to think, "probably only half an hour to an hour or somewhat."

"Okay. Pizza parlor, six thirty, tonight, about an hour. Got it. I'll be there," he promised, then went around a corner. Missy stood up, feeling a lot better. She had a resolution.

She was going to join the X-Men.

~

"Kurt, can you help me with this?" Kitty asked, pointing to the cake she was baking. Kurt flashed a smile and then looked crestfallen.

"Uh, Kitty, actually I have to meet someone tonight," he said, apologetic.

"You aren't with Amanda anymore?" the girl asked, knocking an egg into a giant bowl. "Wow. I never thought the day would come!"

"No!" Kurt said suddenly. "Somebody wanted to talk to me about something. School-related, I think. I'll be back in about an hour to get ready for my date with Amanda."

"Alright," Kitty said, smiling brightly. "Good luck. By the way, who's it with?"

"Missy Faults. You know, the girl...? I think you have study hall with her," he gladly offered, smiling again. "I'm a little worried, though. She knows...about me."

Kitty had dropped her wire whisk in the bowl and was staring in disbelief at Kurt, jaw down. "You mean Missy Faults, the Missy Faults? And what do you mean, 'she knows'?"

"Yes," Kurt mumbled. "Missy's nice enough, I guess. But she knows that I'm..." He pressed the button on his image inducer, and his appearance was immediately altered. Then he turned it on again and looked shamefully at the ground. "I'm me."

Kitty was, despite her usually happy self, growing angrier. "She's a jerk, Kurt. How can she know? They've never gotten a picture of you, right?"

"I—I don't know, Kitty! Got to go, bye!" he yelled, disappearing and reappearing outside the hall. He left the mansion, and from there he started to head for downtown, towards the Pammy's Pizza.

"Hey," Kurt said, smiling as he saw Missy casually leaning against a lamppost just outside of the parlor. She gave him a small wave and then motioned for him to go inside.

"I wasn't planning on eating or anything," she informed him. "Just chatting."

"What do you want to chat about?" he asked once they had sat down in a booth near the back. Missy eyed the empty booths around them and then leaned across the table so she could whisper and be heard.

"Um, you're with the X-Men, right?" she said softly, and Kurt thought about it for a minute. The hesitation was because maybe—just maybe—what Missy had said was just a guess. "I know you are, so you might as well say yeah."

"Yes, I am," Kurt said, smiling a little. "Very nice over there, I think."

"Yeah, whatever," Missy said quickly. "Well, I want to join you guys."

Kurt's eyes widened and he looked at her, baffled. "What?"

"I want to join you. You heard me. I'm not very good at fighting, but I can hit people on the head and stuff..." She deliberately failed to mention the fact she was a mutant. Less complications that way.

"You—you're a mutant?" Kurt stumbled.

"No," Missy lied. "I'm not. I just really want to join up with you guys."

"Um, that's not possible," Kurt mumbled. "I don't think so, at least. We're all...different, there, and you're...well, you're normal."

Missy's eyes fired up but then she calmed down. "I need to see Professor Xavier, then. I want to talk to him."

"Uh...I don't know if that's such a good idea," Kurt said, leaning back slightly. "You're..."

"You're going back to the mansion after this, right? To get ready for Amanda?" Missy cut in. Kurt nodded dumbly.

"Yes. But—"

"Take me. I promise, I won't cause trouble. I said before that I can't fight? Screw it. I can. Just take me, please?" she begged, standing up and preparing to leave. "If you don't, I'll have to go on my own."

"Okay, okay," Kurt said, caving in. "Fine. But don't cause trouble."

Missy smiled mischievously and said sweetly, "I won't."

~

"Professor?" Kitty asked, not going through the effort of looking around the door and instead just stuck her head through. "Can you come out here for a moment? We've got a visitor."

"I know," Xavier said, heading over toward the door. "Thank you for telling me. I'll see her now."

"Sure thing, Professor," Kitty chirped happily, and then sniffed the air. "Is something burning?"

"Weren't you baking a cake earlier?" Xavier asked, and then Kitty widened her eyes.

"Great!" Kitty exclaimed. "I can't cook! This is like horrible! I'll be right back, Professor!" She darted off towards the kitchen. Xavier chuckled and turned his wheelchair towards the front hall, where he saw Missy and greeted her.

"Hello," he said, "welcome. What is your name?"

"Don't you already know it?" Missy asked bluntly. "I mean, you're telepathic, right?"

"Yes, but I do not like to pry into people's thoughts," he admitted.

"Good enough. It's Artemis Faults, but everybody calls me Missy. I'm kind of here to talk about the X-Men," she said, biting her lip.

"What about them?"
"You aren't gonna read my brain?" she asked, taken aback. Xavier chuckled and shook his head. "Okay. Well, I just want to know if I can join."

"That depends. They are all here because they have shown that they can fight for good and not evil, and that they have skills that they use for good. Do you have skills?" he asked kindly, and though Missy didn't know it, he was doing a mild search of her mind to see what powers she had. He found nothing. After about a minute of silence, Missy felt his eyes boring into her and she panicked, immediately teleporting a barrier into the part of her brain where she knew she was different.

"I don't have any powers," she lied. "I just want to join."

Xavier sighed; he had sensed this much, at least. "The X-Men are called that because they possess the X gene which enables them to have an ability that they wouldn't normally have. They are also here, at the mansion, so they do not have to face the shunting of the outside world."

"Basically you're declining me?" Missy asked bluntly. Xavier gave her a kind look.

"I would accept, believe me," he assured her. "I just cannot do so at this point, unless you have a special trait."

She wanted right then and there to scream, "But I do!" Instead, she turned the words into, "But I can fight abnormally well. Seriously."

"Is it an X trait?" Xavier asked, considering taking it to Cerebro on this one.

"I..." she stopped, taking a moment. "I don't know."

Missy started to think...hard. A while back she discovered that she could pretty much insert an ability in her mind—she used it for school often, when she didn't feel like studying and just inputted the material into her brain. It took a bit of effort, but if she focused hard enough, Missy bet that she could stick some fighting qualities into herself. She had that mental block, so she was free from Xavier's command.

"Come with me," he said, turning and heading for where Cerebro resided. Missy followed him cautiously, and Xavier soon found himself in front of the machine. "This allows me to pinpoint mutants."

Missy's heart raced, but then she remembered: she was safe. Xavier turned it on and Missy waited for something—anything—to happen. After a few minutes, he powered down and turned to face Missy, who was wringing her hands.

"I don't mean to disappoint you—" Xavier began, but Missy interrupted with a boiling anger.

"But I'm not a mutant. I know, I know," she spat, then turned around. "You'll be sorry," she warned him. "I respected you guys so much."

"Missy, if you had—"

"I do," she said venomously, then covered her mouth with horror. "I mean, I don't. I mean, I do...but I don't...but I do..." She trailed off. Xavier nodded in understanding.

"You don't want to be different. Everybody's like that."

"No," Missy said with spite, "I do want to be different. That's all I want though. I want people to realize that mutants aren't a problem in the world, okay?"

"That's what we all want," Xavier said kindly. "What can you do?"

Missy bit her bottom lip, then said shakily, "You know Kurt?"

"Yes, I do. He can teleport."

"I can do that...sort of."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Xavier inquired. Missy shrugged.

"I can teleport...but not like him. I mean, I've seen him do it, but...Mine's different," Missy said. "He can go where he sees. I can go where I see, too, but not like that," she stuttered. "I-I can kind of go wherever..."

"I'm listening," he encouraged. "Could you demonstrate?"

"M-maybe," she said uncomfortably. "What should I do?"

"Give me a small taste."

She nodded and then dissipated into the room, reappearing a split second later behind Xavier. He clapped slightly, nodding his head. "Yes, Kurt can do that. You said 'sort of', though?"

"Um, well, that's not the limit of what I can do," she admitted.

"What is?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. May I go home?" she asked sharply, turning around. Xavier smiled.

"Wasn't your goal to join us?"

"Yeah, but I have a family and stuff...even though they hate me. Goodbye, Profess."

With that, she was gone.