I walked down the street, looking up at the dark clouds above Bayville. Life had become tough for a lot of people lately, new laws being passed, curfews and sign-up sheets. The world had gone into a weird sense of order, mutants were made into slaves almost, superheroes were being hunted down like animals, and people were just ignoring it, going along like it was normal. We wore collars on our neck, like dogs or cats, to show we were different, and if you didn't… well the MRD would have your neck instead.
Looking at my wrist, I saw that it was getting late, close to seven. If I didn't find somewhere to hide, the MRD would be hunting down anyone they could find that was a mutant.
Quickly I made my way towards the nearest manhole. As I did, I could already hear the MRD sirens in the distance. Quickly I got the cover off and jumped down, letting it slam over top of me. As I stood there, letting my eyes adjust to the dark, I heard the sirens run straight overhead. "That was too close…" I thought and started my way through the tunnels.
As well as mutants having to wear collars, they were ridiculed, segregated and often put in prison cells if their mutations were to extreme for the public safety. That's were Mutation Levels came in, putting mutants into specific groups. They went from one, being the smallest of mutations, to five, the strongest and rarest of mutations.
I myself was a four, almost a five, a feral. I had large wings on my back along with a tail that ended in a truffle of black fur. There were also the unseen parts of my mutation, my echolocation which came in handy when I was in the dark, and then my ability to control temperature.
Right now, I raised my hand, and allowed my hand to become hotter, causing it to glow and light up the sewer. Around me water dripped down into the channel beside me, and rats ran around, diving away from me.
I had been coming down here since the laws were passed, not wanting to be caged or chained down.
You're probably wondering who I am. I'm known as Mama B down here, the be stands for Bats, down here, but my old friends still call me Psyren, sounds like 'Siren'. I don't know many people from back then, most of them sitting in cells of the MRD prisons.
"Yo, Mama B!" I turned and saw a younger mutant, another feral.
"Hey, Toad, what's up?" I said, turning to greet the hopping mutant. His name didn't differ from his mutation, his skin a pale green, hair like brown moss and green hazel eyes. He was ranked as a three, his mutation not a severe as most.
"Yo, Avalanche has been lookin' for ya. Says he been up on the surface, found some more ferals."
I nodded, "Lead the way, Slimy." I told him, and walked after him as he hopped the same way I was going.
As we walked the sound of people talking became louder. "You gotta be quiet!" someone yelled in a hushed voice, making others quiet for a moment. "Shh! I hear someone coming."
I whistled a small four note tune that we used as a pass code we told one another for safety. "Auntie B!" I heard someone shout from the group, and then small scampering feet.
"Shhh!" someone hushed, but the footsteps got closer. Soon enough, a small child ran towards me, purple hair flowing behind her, bright fluorescent eyes flashing at me.
"Hey sweet pea." I said, crouching down to envelop the kid in my arms. "How you been?" I asked as I stood up, going towards the corner she had run around. There was light there, allowing me to cool my hand to normal temperature.
"It's been rough, papa's mad and Momma been gone a long time." She pouted, looking at the small group. The Brotherhood stood there, none of them looking at all the same. Blob had lost all that weight, looking like a muscle man from Russia. Pietro had grown his hair out, filling into his form like most runners do. Lance, aka Avalanche, had cut his hair off, cleaned up and took charge of the group. They were more peaceful now, helping those in need instead of causing trouble.
Lance was this little girl's dad, and my brother. I placed her down so she could go over to him. "Daddy!" shouted the four year old, and she was hoisted up into his arms.
"Hey, Maria, where'd you run off to?" she pointed at me, and I smiled.
"Hey little bro." I said, walking over to him. He smiled and wrapped me in his empty arm. "I heard you were lookin' for me."
"Yeah…" he pointed to a small group of kids in a small corner of the sewer. "Found 'em near the old place, said they were ferals like you." I nodded and went over to them. There were three of them, one seeming to be older than the other two.
The eldest was a girl, short blonde hair and greenish skin like Toad. The younger two had almost the same traits, both had feathers in their hair, the one on her right had a beak and the left clawed hands. "Hi there." I said, crouching in front of them.
The younger kids looked at me, their eyes both different and opposite to one another, blue and green, the right one's were green on the left and blue on the right, the left one's blue on the left and green on the right. I guessed they were twins. "Hello…" they said in unison. The elder barely moved, glaring at me from under her bangs.
"The guys over there told me you were ferals." I said, keeping my voice calm. The small ones nodded, shifting some. The elder just sat there, glaring. "My names Mama B, or you can calls me Bats. I'm a feral too."
The elder moved then, a growl coming from her. I held my hands up, "I'm not going to hurt ya." I said, sitting down, "Neither are they." I nodded to the group. "We just want to help."
The elder settled down again, her teeth still bared, showing her mouth full of sharp teeth.
"What're your names?" I asked, folding my hands in my lap.
"I'm Mary…" the left child said.
"I'm Mark…" the right child said in the same defeated tone.
"I'm Careen." The elder said, her dark green eyes boring into me. "Why do you want to help us?" she asked, her voice dark because of her growl.
"Well…" I said, sighing, "I don't like seeing kids wandering about without—."
"We're not kids!" Careen interrupted me, hooting forward and grabbing the front of my shirt. Holding still, I let her calm down. It was easy to tell that she wasn't in complete control of her emotions. Her outbursts the evidence of that. It also showed that she was just new to her mutation, probably a hunter of some kind.
I slowly placed my hands over her where they gripped the front of my stained worn shirt. "Alright…" I said, my voice still calm. "That still doesn't change my feeling about you wandering the streets." I told her.
Her breathe calmed and she looked down at her hands, confused and let me go like I was diseased. "I didn't…" she said, her voice horrified now.
"It's okay…" I went back to my position, and saw her do the same, gathering the kids into her arms. "You're new, aren't you?" I asked.
All three nodded, closing into one another. "Well, that's why I'm here…"
When I was about to tell them more, footsteps in the tunnels made me stop. "Shh!" I said, cocking my head to the side. My hearing was better than the others', and my echolocation allowed me to see them form the sounds they made.
There were three, older than any of us, two females, one male. Their forms were obscured by the echoes off the tunnel walls, making me frustraited. I gave up trying to recognize them and informed the others. "Three people coming from the north, two female one male. I can't get a lock on them. I shot up and went to the lamps, putting my hands over the flames and sucking them away into my body.
Everyone went quite as they began to hear the footsteps as well, and I sat in the middle of the group, my body rigged.
After a few minutes, it seemed like the footsteps were just upon us, and we were ready to fight. I got into a defensive position, on foot in front of the other with my hands in front of my face in relaxed fists.
Then there was the call, one two three four. I relaxed and held my hand up, letting all the flames go back to their places, lighting the small room up. As they did, the three people came in. "Mommy!" shouted Maria, running towards the smaller of the three.
Kitty, Rouge and Logan came into the room. The X men of our small group. "Sorry, guys, we got a little caught up with the MRD." Rouge said, placing down a heavy bag on the floor.
Logan walked across the room to me, pulling me into a hug. "Sorry we're late, Darlin'." He said.
I smiled and wrapped my own arms around his neck. "It's alright, I just got in myself." As we separated, Logan leaned down and placed a small kiss on my lips. "We have new kids." I said, pushing him away before we got caught up. I looked over at the group again, seeing them eyeing Logan with unease. "They're ferals." I told him, making him look at them now.
Careen stood, as did the kids, holding onto her legs. "Who's he?" she growled, fear easily seen in her eyes.
"My mate." I told her, stepping in front of him. "He's not gonna hurt you, I promise."
They looked at me, then back at Logan. Still they seemed on edge. "I think we'll be fine on our own." The girl growl, her eyes trained on Logan.
"Please, he isn't—."
"No!" the girl shouted, making me jump. "We're not staying with anyone!" she grabbed the kids and pulled them towards the exit. "Goodbye!" and then they were gone.
I sighed and shook my head. It was heartbreaking to see kids like them go. Most likely they would get caught if not tonight then tomorrow. As I stood there, looking where they had left, a hand landed on my shoulder. "Sorry." I heard Logan say.
Shaking my head again I raised a hand to rest on his. "It ain't your fault." I told him, "Some just can't accept help." I told him and turned to smile at him.
It usually ended up like this, one of us scaring the kids away, let it be Nightcrawler, Toad when he started eating bugs too often, or even Kitty when she fazed through the walls. I had even scared a kid off when I actually woke up from a nightmare.
All in all, it was never just one of us that had scared kids away, and they weren't the first. "Come on…" I said, going to the bags that were at the entrance.
Opening Logan's, which were usually reserved for me and him, I immediately pulled out a bag of beef jerky. "You guys rob a store?" I asked, looking at the three suspiciously.
"No…" Kitty protested, pulling out a bag of food from her own pack. "We looted a warehouse." She said, handing it to her daughter. Maria took it and bounded off to her family's corner of the sewer.
"Logan!" I shouted, glaring at him. "I thought you said you'd make it small?"
"We tried." Rogue said, passing by me, her hair a lot longer than before. "The MRD found us before we got to a dumpster and chased us off." She sat by Freddy, handing him a pack of jerky.
I groaned and gripped at my hair, the black braid coming somewhat undone. "This is why I usually do the hunting." I said, letting my hands fall and went to the far back of the room. There was a hammock, big enough for two, and some old trash bags we kept for some seats. I sat in the hammock, rolling over to relax some.
This was what we resorted to, a gang of about dozen people, spread out over the sewers of a certain city, scrounging about for out next meal.
As I laid in my hammock, it dipped, jostling me out of my thoughts. "Darlin'…" I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Logan sitting there, his usually scowling face in a look of soft concern. "You alright?" he asked.
I groaned, "No, I'm not fine." I sat up, swinging my legs over so I sat beside my mate. "You could have gotten caught tonight. Worse, you could have gotten killed."
Logan shook his hand and took mine in his. "You know I wouldn't do that to you, Psy." I rolled my eyes at the nickname, and turned away. My other hand trailed to my stomach, the small bulge barely noticeable. I could already hear the small heartbeat growing inside me, waiting to see the world. Logan laid his own hand there, making me look at him. "I'm always gonna be here, for you…" he squeezed both of my hands, "And for the cub."
I nodded, and looked to the ground. With a sigh I leaned over to Wolverine, letting his heat warm me up some. "You can't keep going out there, not with this hanging in the air." I told him. He nodded, resting his head on mine. "Promise me, no more big heists."
"Promise, Psy." Logan then took the hand holding my stomach, and brought it up to my lips up to his. We stayed there, letting the warmth take over each of us.