AN: So along with the usual "I don't own this" stuff, I think that this spot really deserves to be given to the people that keep me writing and publishing. So thank you to all of the readers, people that favorite, and of course the reviewers including; ALLREMS, SithKnight-Galen, strayphoenix, Rose Gilmore, IronRaven, Indigo-Night-Wisp, TheBlueFoxTrot A Samba, All Knowing 1, nephreia, SweetestSong23, cool story brahw, moonrabbits and Glowing Green Turtle. Once again thank you for taking the time to read and actually review, it always makes me smile when I read your reviews and know that someone is enjoying the stories that would otherwise remain trapped in my mind.
Salt. There was a sudden increase in the amount of salt in the air. Since Laura was inside perched on her spot by the window, constantly watching for the faceless intruders that always appeared in her brief nightmares, it could only mean that the increase of salt was from inside of the house. There were several plausible situations that would explain for this sudden increase.
Option one; someone was crying. Normally when someone was crying however it would be accompanied by usual amount of; yelling, stomping, raging hormones that sometimes caused the crying, and the desperate pleas for her to agree with one side or the other. She had discovered that leaving the mansion and hiding in the woods for several hours was the best way to avoid the headache that would always come. Since none of that had occurred and she wasn't aware of any recent injuries, breakups or the disbandment of any popular music group; it most likely wasn't crying. That and the salt content was higher than normal for the average crier. Crying was ruled out of the list of possibilities.
Option two; someone, most likely Kitty, was attempting to bake. The average kitchen related mistakes however were usually quickly given away by either a smoke alarm going off, an adult yelling about some mess, or any occupant running away from spotting Kitty in the kitchen. Since none of these things had occurred and she had yet to smell any smoke it appeared that they were all relatively safe from any kitchen mishaps.
Option three; someone new had entered the house. Her window faced the woods and not the main entrance, coupled with the fact that the door was open thanks to the good weather and the young mutants running around it was possible that someone could enter the house without her immediate knowledge, something that she would have to fix. The scent was familiar enough for her not to be too worried, at least immediately.
The need to know about the comings and goings of everyone in the house, and simple curiosity, led her to untangle herself from her sitting position and leave the quiet of her room. She quickly picked up the scent of her fellow housemates and the sound that always came in abundance when they gathered in one area; apparently they had spotted the newcomer.
"Cool, so you surf right? Hey are all of the girls there hot?"
Oh Bobby, she didn't need to hear his voice or smell his scent to know that it was him talking. If someone typed up his words and asked anyone in the house to guess the speaker it was highly likely that everyone would correctly guess the speaker as Bobby.
They were all gathered near the entrance at the base of the staircase and no one bothered to look up and notice her, they were far too busy taking in the newcomer and the source of the salty smell. He was tall and still growing, the tan he had combined with the current spring weather and Bobby's comment confirmed that he wasn't from the area, most likely West Coast or one of the islands. He was blonde, far too blonde and shiny for her liking; it would make him an easy target for others and she did not need another person to protect. At least he was a mutant, she could easily smell that on him, and he appeared to be physically fit although she wasn't sure if she could appreciate how he immediately relaxed in his new surroundings and didn't properly take them in. The resemblance between him and Scott was quite strong in their facial features, which was expected of brothers, their mannerisms however seemed drastically different. He hadn't done anything wrong per say, but if she had wanted to he would easily be dead in under twenty two seconds.
"Yeah I surf and the girls are alright, not bad here either though."
The newcomer smiled at Bobby and Laura was slightly relieved to hear that he was a surfer because on anyone else that accent would be pathetic; she had recently learned this new application of the word pathetic and was trying to use it the new settings she had been taught. She could now properly pin his location down to Hawaii, most likely the main one but she might have to double check. It was quite a beautiful place from what she remembered from her last mission there, there were also plenty of places to hide bodies if needed.
"Will you be staying here?"
Rahne asked and noticing the way her nose twitched Laura decided that the sea scent she had picked up earlier was also affecting Rahne now.
"Just a visit for now. Scott talked me into visiting by telling me it was basically a weeklong free vacation."
Well that was a relief, one less person to have to look out for and train, it was already irritating with the recent departure of Jubilee and she didn't need a clueless replacement right now.
"I'm trying to expose him to more mutants his age; he doesn't know of any other mutants on the island and needs some help with his powers."
Scott was one of the saner inhabitants of their home in Laura's eyes, at least when he wasn't allowing his emotions to control him, then it could get messy.
"Scott, you're supposed to bond with your brother, this isn't about work or recruiting."
Jean reprimanded Scott and with a simple look and crossing of her arms it appeared that she had at least momentarily won. Laura would have to investigate this power further, it appeared to be one that mates sometimes used on each other but could also be used by people in different types of relationships and varying amounts of power.
"Best way to bond is to avoid getting shot at a few times. Time a danger room session right about now."
Logan surprised the people downstairs but Laura had easily been alerted to his incoming, she had been slightly disappointed that Rahne hadn't noticed due to her better than average scent of smell.
"Oh come on Logan, the weather is great; we don't want to be cooped up in the danger room."
Ray argued on behalf of the young mutants. This could be considered brave since he was voicing the opinions of the majority of the group, it was deemed as stupid however since he was speaking to Logan.
"Ok kid, your choice. Danger room or you can all enjoy nature with one of my endurance courses, and then you can all camp out without any supplies and get in tune with your inner hippie while you scavenge for food."
The smarter ones didn't bother to hear all of Logan's second option, they were already racing off to change into their uniforms and escape punishment.
"I love the danger room, it's better than any place in the whole wide world."
Ray quickly retracted his earlier words with his pained declaration of love for the danger room and started to back off under Logan's knowing gaze.
"Feel free to join us kid, the group is going through some changes so we're still letting them get used to it. Right now it's basically like dodgeball, just with guns that pop out of walls and fire whatever I feel like."
Laura guessed that this was Logan's way of included the new and still unnamed mutant. Taking his reaction into account it didn't appear as if he understood Logan's ways which most likely meant that he would prove to be useless to her.
"Why not, it could be fun."
He shrugged and Laura found herself frowning, hopefully it wouldn't be a group exercise today. Hospitably would say that she protect the guest; logic however dictated that she protect her group members.
"You'll be in group two then, Laura will keep an eye out for you."
Logan nodded up at his young clone, finally revealing her presence to the others except for Jean who had been aware the entire time. The newcomer abruptly looked up, clearly surprised that someone else had been there but covered it up with a smile.
"Hey, I'm Alex Masters. I hope you don't mind if I tag along for the session today."
He smiled quite brightly and Laura was pleased to finally be able to put a name along with the other information she had already gathered about him.
"Laura Kinney. I do not have a say in the additions and removals of those that I practice with therefore your presence does not affect me too strongly. Is your power long, medium or short range, I would like to know for optimum performance and possibly lowering the amount of injuries that you will most likely receive."
Laura thought that she was being quite friendly. She had introduced herself, eased him of any worries and was already showing that she would treat him effectively as a team mate. Why then, did his face change so quickly and confusion spring up so quickly?
"Um, I shoot energy beam things from my hands."
His answer took slightly longer than she had wished for and didn't come in the format she had wished for but at least he had responded to her question.
"Good, you should be useful enough. I will see you at the danger room, I must go change now."
With that she left to go to her room, already thinking of effective ways to use him.
"Sorry about Laura, we're working on her social skills."
Scott explained to his younger brother but simply received a look from Logan who in turn was given a look of surprise from Jean.
"Logan, don't think things like that!"
In-between the looks, glares and grunts shared among the older group Alex sighed slightly to himself, wondering just why he had believed his brother when he had used the word 'vacation'.
He had watched the other group go first along with those that would apparently be on his group. Laura hadn't appeared to be affected by anything but took careful note of everything. Bobby was taking great pleasure in laughing at Ray who was in the first group while Amara looked slightly scared and Rahne comforted her.
Watching Jamie and his duplicates run around while Jay was stuck in a cage which Roberto was trying to cut down wasn't lifting Alex's spirits. It could be worse, he might end up like Tabitha whom had been hit right away and was stuck quite high up the wall with some sort of sticky green substance. Glancing at Laura he was also worried about what she would think about his first attempt at the danger room. Sure she freaked him out slightly but she was interesting and different for the usual surfer girl that he met; she was also someone that he felt the need to earn approval from for some reason.
Roberto apparently won the session since he hadn't been hit and unlike Jamie had actually tried to help out his team mates instead of running around like a headless chicken as Logan so eloquently put it with the usual amount of hard looks and grunts mixed in. As the second group was heading down to take their turn Alex found himself fidgeting slightly with his uniform till a look from Laura stopped his movements.
"Magma, you will provide backup for Wolfsbane and the two of you will work together. Iceman, try not to show off and get tagged out. You will focus on the higher targets since your control is better than Magma's at the moment and I have yet to see how much control Alex has. Alex, you will remain by my side and follow my every word with no questions asked. I think that both your brother and yourself, not to mention your family, would prefer if you returned home in as close to the same condition as you left."
The others appeared to listen to her. Amara looked relieved instead of annoyed that her control had been considered less than that of Bobby's. Rhane looked pleased as well and Bobby of course was quite happy with her words, her comment about showing off clearly forgotten.
"It's Havok you know."
Alex spoke up and surprised her slightly, normally at this point Bobby would say something irritating that would allow the others to forget any nervousness or someone would attempt some form of group cheer.
"If you insist, I would have chosen Salt."
Her words confused him, the others as well but they were used to her manners by now. Only Rahne understood her at the moment and grinned as she twitched her nose knowingly at her team mate.
He wasn't given time to ask her anything because as soon as they entered the room he was abruptly pushed down to avoid a fate similar to Tabitha's. Scrambling up he noticed that Bobby had iced up, Amara had turned into fire and Rahne of course was in her canine form. Even in that situation he felt slight jealously over the fact that everyone else now looked cool, at least Laura still looked normal. His earlier thought was quickly proven wrong when claws appeared from her hands as she protected him from yet another hit.
"Up. Stay close and cover my back."
Her words shook him out of his momentary daze and for some reason he felt proud that she had asked, technically told, him to cover her back; that showed some form of trust and belief, right? The first few moments were awkward with her promptly bringing down everything around them and Alex slightly scared to shoot in case she was hit in the process. His moment finally came when he managed to hit a gun that had appeared while she had been busy with a few robotic arms. After that it appeared that she actually started to give herself more freedom and trusted him enough to not constantly glance back at him.
He found himself enjoying the sudden raise in temperature when Amara saved him from a possible hit and riding on the ice slide that Bobby had made was also surprisingly fun even with the barrage of attacks. When Bobby was hit and promptly trapped however; Laura managed to pop up out what appeared to be nowhere and quickly save Alex from a similar fate. Watching her fight he wasn't surprised at her agility and strength; when she managed to pick him up slightly and toss him safely to the side however he was still surprised, only the fact that she had used the ice slide for help kept his ego from getting too bruised.
"Guys! Bit of help!"
Bobby's call for help distracted Amara enough that Rahne was caught as well and they were suddenly two players down. Bobby was stuck in the sticky substance that normally he would help others escape from and Rahne was trapped in a cage that had shrunk to keep her from changing back. It was always better if Bobby didn't meet up with Amara or Roberto while in his ice form and the metal would conduct heat for too easily for Amara to be of much help.
"Havok, get him out of there."
Alex was caught off guard yet again but instead of questioning or arguing safety he did as he was told, not without some nervousness of course.
Bobby actually cringed slightly at how close Alex was cutting it but when he stopped Bobby found that he had enough mobility to freeze himself out.
"Iceman, the lock of Wolfsbane cage, nothing fancy!"
Bobby, now happy to be free was quick to zip down to the girls where Amara had stuck by Rahne and fought off any other surprises. A quick freeze and the metal became brittle enough to break.
Somehow they all managed to survive the rest of the session and after Logan's talk, where Alex had been surprised enough to earn what he was told was praise, and after Bobby had properly teased his friends on the other team they headed to the change rooms. It was interesting for Alex to be around so many other mutants his age that seemed to be perfectly fine with their powers and working on controlling them. In some ways they were similar to his friends back home; goofing off, playful teasing, casual comments about a girl here and there and of course their thoughts of their favorite television shows. It was surprisingly normal; not what he had expected when he had first heard about a mutant school with mutant ball, a danger room and high tech transportation.
Alex was the first to leave, thinking that his brother would most likely want to know his thoughts and make sure that he was alive and not too bruised up mainly thanks to Laura's helpful pushes. Instead of heading out to look for his brother right away however he stopped when he spotted Laura heading off.
"Hey! Wait up!"
He called after her and she awkwardly stopped, glancing around to make sure that she was the one intended to stop her actions and apparently wait for him to catch up.
"I just wanted to say thanks for saving me back there, and I hope I didn't drag you guys down too much. I actually had fun."
He smiled brightly at her and flipped his hair slightly while she looked at him in a generally blank manner.
"You proved to be more useful than initially thought. You do need to however; work on your control and sense of space among other things. We were not held back by your presence and I do not think that I would mind if you wished to join us again. You will however most likely wish to use an icepack on your bruises."
Her voice was as calm and flat as it had been earlier and for some reason Alex found himself enjoying the straightforward fluidity of her voice.
"Cool, thanks. Oh do you know where Scott is by any chance?"
He stuck the question out either in a desperate attempt to say something or because he thought she could actually help; even he wasn't sure which one was true. Instead of directing him off in some random direction she lifted her head slightly, inhaled and nodded.
"He is currently in the kitchen with Jean. You will most likely wish to knock before you enter however."
With that she nodded and left him to go catch up with his brother. Maybe this place wasn't so weird or as bad as he initially thought, and maybe Scott wasn't the only person in the place that he would like to visit. Now he just had to figure out why she had called him salt.