Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N Hmm.. I'll let the story do the explaining, but first, thank you for giving this a shot, I give you my word it'll be good, please do continue reading, reviews are always welcomed, Second Fan Fic, first in X-Men, and uhm.. This is an Original Character fiction and the pairing off would be done eventually, so okay.. Here we go.
Normal's The Watchword. Or Is It?
It was a chilly afternoon and the lot filled with cars was practically void of any human presence. Almost, except it was not. A lone figure crossed the lot juggling her bag, books, lap top, a cup of coffee and keys as she unlocked her car with a beep from a distance. She wore a spaghetti strapped black top that hugged her body and bared a slight bit of flesh around her flat abdomen coupled up with a pair of low strung boot cut jeans that hung onto her hips and her scuffed up purple sneakers.
She placed her lap top, books and coffee to wrestle open her truck's door when someone grabbed her from behind swirling her around. Pushed up against her car, she smiled against her boyfriend's kiss and looped her arms over his neck, melting against his kiss. His tongue brushed her upper lip to deepen the kiss however, she pulled away.
"Hey," she whispered to the tall sandy blonde male in front of her.
"Hey," the sandy blonde said back before placing his mouth over hers again. This time, like before, before things could get any further, the two figures in their steamy embrace had to pull apart. This time because a car pulled up behind her black truck and honked to make its presence known causing them to be startled, pulling apart, they looked at the two other figures getting off the car rather awkwardly.
"Justin," the tall one called out as he stood behind his door, "And Justin's special lady friend whom I approve of whole-heartedly and without reservation," he quickly added acknowledging the girls presence.
"Alex," she replied, "Wayne," she greeted the other male.
"Boys," her boyfriend responded with his hands still around her waist.
"Come on, lover boy, let's go, that's enough face sucking for now," the one named Alex called out good-humoredly.
Justin sighed and turned back to his girlfriend, "Go ahead, I've got to be getting home anyway, I'll see you later?" she said toying with his scruffy hair on the back of his neck.
His lips found its way to hers again, "My place?" he offered suggestively. She smiled and gave the normal reply for a girlfriend to give, "Yea, sure,"
Normal. That's the watch word. Sounds good doesn't it? It was 3 weeks into Brooke Cooper's sophomore year as a med student at New York University and it was as normal as it could be for this 18 year old girl with blonde hair which had a certain likeness to her pallid pale complexion that almost seemed translucent. The blondeness and pallid complexion was not an uncommon look, except for the purple streak on the right side of her head to go with her piercing violet eyes.
Brooke blew several strands of hair that fell over her eyes, picking her stuff from the top of her car before getting into her black Chevy as her boyfriend and his pals drove off in their shiny yellow pick up. She dumped her messenger bag and lap top on the passenger seat before pinning up the lock of hair that kept falling over her eyes.
She had gotten it trimmed lately, to have them sweep over the front of her face, partially covering her eyes, but the hairdresser had misinterpreted 'one inch shorter' and now it just annoyed her. It was not long enough to do the job and not short enough to stay out of her way. It was easy of course, just to say that she wore contacts whenever people asked, the purple streak in her hair clearly enunciated her fondness of the color, so people didn't find it difficult to believe her.
Brooklyn Cooper never led the charmed life, as a matter of fact, it was the exact opposite; dead parents, uptight grandparents, rogue best friend sent to some smancy boarding school, and a boyfriend who seemed a lot like a friend with benefit - easy on the friend, heavy on the benefit. So things weren't perfect, but she'd settle for as normal as she could get, especially when you're the genius girl with catastrophe and trouble followed you wherever you went.
Pulling on her favorite black cotton hoodie from the backseat as the weather had begun to turn chilly welcoming in winter, Brooke stared ahead at the cloudless sky, thinking of the past few days. No 'accidents', date with her 'boyfriend', hectic college life, things were going good, almost like a typical college student. Unbeknownst to her however, was that the normalcy was just about to change.
Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, she drove home, switching stations whenever there was a hint of news being slotted in, Brooke was just fine living in the small cocoon of the world she was living in, like an ostrich she buried her head in the sand, refusing to face the world, refusing to play any part or pay any notice to the clash between human and mutants which was beginning to rage at a phenomenal rate. Reaching home, she parked her car at the alley behind dingy looking building.
The apartment was 7 storeys high, a minute feat, compared to the other concrete phenomenons in Manhattan. Had she entered using the front entrance she would have had to walk up through the stuffy stairway in the building. The elevator wasn't even an option as it was almost always 'under restoration'. The back alley was eerily quiet, almost as if it had been deserted for years. Alleys were a dangerous place in this side of Manhattan, but she could take care of herself. At least here there was some moving air out back, and she didn't have to worry about bumping into any shady characters in the building.
She pulled down the fire escape with ease and began to climb the metal stairs, holding on to the metal railings as it wobbled slightly. She in through the wide set windows and found her mother in front of the television in the living room.
"History will be made today. For the first time, the so-called mutant cure will be made available to the public"
Brooklyn stopped in mid-step, her cup of coffee halfway to her mouth.
"Now reaction was run the gamut with mutants on both sides of the line, some desperate for the cure while the others are offended by the very idea.."
She didn't hear anything past that point as she glanced away from the television and at her mother instead. Caitlyn was a woman in her early forties though with her blonde hair and looks, she barely looked a day over 30, she was tall and slender, just like Brooklyn. She was throwing occasional glances at the television set as she packed fervently, stuffing some clothing into a back pack and zipping it up vigorously. She had her hair tied up and she wore jeans and a tank, she was pulling on a jacket when a charge went up Brooklyn's spine and she realized what was going on. Dropping her paper cup, the contents of the cup splashed out onto the kitchen floor, staining it with a puddle of murky black.
Hearing the commotion, she heard her mother call out for her from the living room, "Brooke?"
She picked up her things she left on the kitchen counter including her keys when her mother entered the kitchen.
"Brooke, we're going to-"
"Mom, no!" she cut her off firmly.
"Brooklyn Jennipher Cooper, you are coming with me and you are taking that cure!" she insisted.
"There's nothing To cure," she fought back, "There is nothing wrong with us!"
"Nothing wrong with us? You think it's normal for a person to be able to control water? You think it's normal for an 18 year old girl to be in their second year in college? You think it's normal that you have purple colored eyes?" she asked hysterically on the verge of screaming.
"Brooke.." she started saying considerably calmer, "This.." Caitlyn gestured to the both of them with her hands, "is not normal. We are not normal," she stated.
"So we're a little different, big deal, and I'm like freakishly smart, so what? There's nothing wrong with that," Brooklyn argued.
"Brooke, don't you want to be normal?" she asked and Brooke's temper flared up once again.
"We are normal!"
"Brooke, we have to do this," her mother pleaded weakly attempting to hold her hands.
"No mom, we don't," she insisted pushing her hand away.
There was a sudden crash that emitted from the television as the camera picked up on a male hurtling out of a twenty-something floor window and plummeting toward the ground before the massive wings spread behind him sprung open and gave a swish, pushing him upward as he flew away.
Caitlyn's head whipped toward the direction of the noise and Brooklyn took this distraction to scurry out the window, ignoring her mother's calls, and scampered down the metal railings and steps. As soon as she got to ground, she scampered to her car, getting into her black Chevy, starting her engine, and drove off.
She was running away. She Brooklyn Cooper was running away. She glanced at her back seat, careful not to look away from the road too long, driving off at breakneck speed. It was only the third week back but she was already practically living in her truck, so there was a pair of sneakers lying carelessly on the floor stuffed with a pair of clean socks along with her pair of black stiletto heeled boots and on her backseat, several tops and hoodies and jackets along with a pair of jeans.
Her free hand not on the wheel dug into her bag and pulled out her wallet. She fiddled with it for a bit, driving single handedly down the road, turning out of the housing area and onto the nearest exit. She pulled the folded envelope out of her wallet and tossed her wallet back to the passenger seat onto her bag.
"No turning back now, Brooklyn," she thought to herself as she referred to the letter's return address, not like she needed to read it, she had it memorized even when he had specified not to write back, but she needed it to convince herself that she had to do it, even if seeing him was the last thing she ever wanted to do, it was the only safe place to go.
A/N Oooooh, where is she going and who is this 'he' she's talking about? Hope I've kept you intrigued to wanna read the next one, criticism are always welcome and I think you've noticed that this one cuts half way through X3 but it'll mostly be post X3, I wanted a place to slit in my character, Let me know if it's good, or bad, like it, don't like it.. Thank you!