Toad's Song
Chapter 1: My name is.....
It was a stormy night in Bayville, the streets were like black rivers, while the sidewalks could barely be seen. The only sound besides the roaring thunder and cracking of the lightening was the sound of a single engine. The black 1967 Dodge Charger rolled through the stormy weather without care, until its driver spotted what they had searched for, a motel. The car pulled under the outer awning before the engine was shut off and the driver stepped from the heated cabin, the ankle-length vest the figure wore blew wildly in the wind as the figure stepped through the door into the motel office. "You must have a steel backbone Missy." The man behind the counter said as the figure was revealed to be a woman. The woman quirked her lips in a small smile. "Can I get a room for the night please?" Her voice was lyrical but something about it seemed animalistic as if she was measuring what you were worth. "Of Course my dear, it will be thirty-five dollars and it includes a free breakfast. Sign the register please."
She quirked her lips again and pulled two twenty dollar-bills from her wallet handing them to the man before piking up the pen and signing the book before her. The man took the money and handed her back her change and a key with the number 13 engraved on it. "The room is all the way down on the left side it has an over hang so you can get out of your car without getting too drenched. The man barely made out her last name as she picked the key from his hand. "Have a nice night Ms. Creed." She didn't lift her head up as she spoke. "Oh I plan to Sir, That I do." With that she turned and left the office headed for her car, after getting into the room she took a hot shower. As she stepped from the shower the young mutant looked at the dainty claws that tipped each of her fingers. She looked up into the large mirror on the bathroom wall carefully taking in the thigh-length crimson hair and silver ringed emerald eyes. "I am so glad I have colored contacts, otherwise I would have given myself away to these humans." The last word was nearly snarled out as she flexed the mercury colored talons. She walked into the bedroom and towards her open bag on the bed, she selected a set of spandex shorts and matching sports-bra type shirt. "Time to hunt, I'm starving." She quickly tailed her hair in a high-tail and braided it before tying off the end. She dressed silently before slipping out the door and walked towards the woods that bordered the motel, her bare feet silent on the ground before she disappeared into the woods.
She loped easily through the wet forest her powerful form wouldn't be noticed unless you knew exactly what you were hunting for, though across town she had no-idea the ruckus she was causing. Professor Xavier was sleeping soundly when a mental image slammed into him so hard that it startled him awake. He focused on the image that had startled him so, the edges sharpening and colors becoming brighter. He could see a bounding form moving through the woods, its long body silent in its stride. Though from where he sat it looked a lot like the hopping movement made by Todd Tolansky. But he could feel the difference in the mental signatures this one was ruled by one thought and it rang in his mind. 'Hunt,Food,Hungry.' Xavier knew this was a new mutant as he had never felt the mental signature before, he felt when the mutant had spotted a deer and taken in down by snapping its back and neck. Its death was painless and merciful compared to some. He decided he would approach this mutant in the morning as he felt it was not going to cause any harm to the sleeping people of Bayville. He received one final mental picture from it as the mutant hopped threw the woods back where it had come from, the only structures he knew of on that side of town was a motel and a gas station. The mental picture was of the briefly illuminated outline of its figure as it passed through a small clearing, whatever type of mutant it was it was defiantly female. Charles settled into catching some more sleep but he was careful to imprint that mutants mental signature into his memory.
She returned to her motel room and let herself in heading straight back to the shower to lose the last of the blood,mud and cold from her body. "Tonight was indeed a good one, on the morrow I will venture into town for some supplies." she mumbled to herself as she tossed her bag to the floor at the foot of her bad and crawled into the queen sized bed. She curled up gently and fell into a light but restful sleep. As the storm overhead continued into the break of dawn found one Charles Xavier at Cerebero looking for the mutant he had sensed in the night. He found her on the outskirts of town and from her mental state asleep for the moment, just as he was about to relax the mutant awoke and he heard her plans of going into town for a few things. He decided that he would take Storm and go meet the mutant and see if she was interested in joining the institute and X-men.
He left Cerebro's chamber and headed up stairs asking Storm mentally to meet him in his office. By the time he arrived she was waiting for him, looking out the window and smiling softly at the students below them. "Good morning Ororo."She turned to him and greeted him warmly. "Good Morning Charles, What is troubling you this morning?" He smiled as he rolled into position near her. "I felt a new mutant last night. They are in Bayville and I was wondering if you would accompany to meet her." She nodded before voicing the questions in her mind. "Is she aware that there are other mutants here?" Charles wondered that for a moment before replying. "I am not sure but from what I could learn last night she may display powers similar to young Mr. Tolansky." Ororo nodded and followed the man out of his office down to the car pool, where a special van waited with a lift for the front seat. "Where are we headed?" She asked as she settled into the driver's seat,buckled up and started the van. Charles concentrated for a moment before answering. "The mall,that is where she is heading." Ororo drove down the drive way and turned left heading for the social-hub for most of their students.
Our crimson haired friend was having a blast as she shopped though the Gothic store, her cart held six pairs of pants, eight shirts, three new belts and a new leather trench-coat. She was looking through the chokers on display when she caught the scent of storms and flowers nearby, she looked up right into the eyes of a bald man probably fifteen turns her senior. 'We mean you no harm, Please finish your shopping I would like to invite you to lunch.' She started only slightly as the voice flitted in her head her only thought was. 'A telepathic.' She nodded slightly before returning to her shopping. She wound up selecting four chokers, One that held a sapphire star, one with an emerald crescent moon, the third bore a ruby shaped like a sun and the fourth held a silver wolf with emerald chips for eyes. After paying for her things she carefully walked over to the table where the pair awaited her. "Welcome to Bayville, I am Charles Xavier. This is Ororo Munroe." He pointed to himself before gesturing to the dark skinned female beside him.
Both finally got a good look at the woman as she approached and sat gracefully in the chair opposite them. She stood about 5'11" with long crimson hair that was held in a high-braided tail, her eyes seemed a nearly unnatural gray the outer irises were nearly mercury while the inner part was tinted a gray-blue. Her skin bore a tan from many hours of outside work. She wasn't thin nor was she fat if Ororo had to describe her body type she was curvy but muscled, her legs were encased in black denim, a zipped short vest hid the shirt she was wearing while the ankle-length one obscured her height until she was right next to you. Ororo saw the dainty looking claws that tipped her fingers but couldn't remember why they set off alarms in her head. "I'm Kage its nice to meet you. I had no idea there were others like me here when I came this way." They sat and talked for a while Ororo while alarmed by the girls claws thought the younger woman was well-spoken and intelligent. "How old are you Kage?" She asked nearly half way through lunch. "I'm nearly 17, Why?"Xavier told her about the Institute and asked where her parents were. "My mother was killed by hunters....My father I haven't seen since I was a furling."
He asked her if she would like to live in the manor and finish high school. " I would like to finish school so that I could get a nice job if I see fit." She told them about her car to see if that would break the deal but Ororo told her there was room in the garage for her car and that none of the other students would bother her car without permission. "We could get you settled into the manor while the others are at school and get you enrolled tomorrow if you like?" Kage sat there and thought, she could go back to school and have a roof over her head for practically free all she had to do was help out with the chores and she liked laundry. "Ok, I'll do it but all I ask is that will you help me find my father?" Charles nodded with a smile. "We would be happy to help you find your father, if you are finished shopping we can return to the institute and get you a room. If you wish you can come back to the mall and shop for things for your room." Kage smiled revealing her elongated canines though they looked just a bit longer then normal Charles could see that they were sharp. Kage was following them in her Charger the engine growling loudly as she turned up the driveway following the van until she came the the garage opening.
"Wow." She mumbled then she heard it. ' The spot closest to the house is open if you want it.' Kage grinned before pulling into the indicated spot and shutting off her car. She got out and grabbed her bags out of the trunk. "This place is so cool!" "Ororo will show you the rooms upstairs and when you are done meet me in my office to get the paperwork to enroll you in Bayville high started." Kage nodded and followed Ororo upstairs, they had looked through three rooms as neither woman could agree on the bed-size and window location before they came to the last door on the farthest hall. Kage opened it and grinned, the window was in the western wall so that she would get a good view of the moon it also had a small covered balcony that she could sit outside during the storms on. "This is perfect Ms. Munroe." Ororo couldn't help but smile as the woman tossed her duffel and shopping bags on to the queen sized bed, Kage noticed the pink walls but she was already planning on painting them. "Does the professor mind if I paint the walls? I loath pink.." Ororo laughed and shook her head.
"As long as you don't make it obscene he doesn't mind." Kage and Ororo left her new room but before leaving the hall Ororo marked something on a clipboard mounted on the wall. She saw the question in the younger woman's eyes. "It tells everyone that the room you chose is occupied." Kage grinned as they walked the halls to Xavier's office. The two women stepped into the office before Ororo excused herself to the restroom. Kage looked at Charles before removing her contacts. Charles nearly gasped at her eyes without the contacts, they were like living emeralds set in mercury. The inner part of her irises were emerald while the outer was mercury silver, the outer part seemed to glow slightly as she grinned at him. "I see why you wear the contacts."He had filled in a great deal of the paperwork already but he needed something from her. "Kage what is your full name?"Kage's reply shocked him to the core though it didn't show on the outside. "My full name is Kage Fenailia Creed, My mother gave me my father's last name." He filled it in the right spot and smiled at the young woman. After he retrieved all the information he needed Charles told her she was free to explore the grounds.