The Mutant

When Carly Hampton woke up one morning to find her name and face all over the papers for saving Cardiff, the events of the previous fortnight are a mere blur to her. The only clue was a photograph under her pillow of herself and a handsome man in a blue military coat, and a phone number on the back. The thing about Carly is she has the ability to control the elements, and now mutants everywhere in the city are hailing her name. But, why did she become famous? Who was that man in the photograph? She had to backtrack her steps...

Notes: I do not own Torchwood or Marvel. Any characters you don't recognise are my creation. Please feel free to leave constructive feedback as it has been a long time since I have written anything on a decent level. There's no real time line due to the crossover, but I'm bringing back some favourite Torchwood folk. Will include spoilers for those who haven't at least seen seasons one and two.

I woke up to find my face being covered in drool. My dog was licking me senseless, and as my eyes fluttered open that was when the headache hit. I groaned, drawing my pillow over my eyes, when something stuck to my face.

"I'll feed you in a minute, Bobo..." I mumbled, tossing the pillow aside as my Maltese cross jumped off my bed and growled a little. "...honestly! I must have had a wild night last night."

I could hear his claws clicking against the tiles in the hallway as I sat up and whatever had stuck to my face fell into my lap. Yawning and stretching, I rubbed my eyes and opened them. The room swam around me for a minute and I took a few minutes more to just breathe deeply before reaching for my glass of water that I always kept by my bedside. I exhaled upon seeing that the water was almost empty and I placed my finger on the side of the glass. I allowed my senses to meld with the atoms in the water, feeling them multiply. As soon as the water reached the lip I pulled my finger away and then picked the glass up taking a sip.

Perhaps I should introduce myself. You see, I'm not like you. I was born with what they call a mutated gene. There are several human beings on this planet with it, each with their own unique abilities. Some can be seemingly gentle and others can be quite destructive. My ability happens to sense the atomic mark up of the elements; earth, wind, fire and water. I'm 33 years old and it took me a life time to control it, for before my emotions were connected to the elements. As a result, I was isolated as a child – there were... some events in my life that I wasn't proud of.

Anywho, back to the present situation. Now that my eyes had adjusted to my bedroom, I picked up what had fallen into my lap. It was a photograph at the bar around the corner. I could recognise myself, wearing a red dress I had just bought the other day. In fact, I saw it thrown on the floor in the middle of the room. But, the man... I didn't recognise him. I drew in my lower lip. We both seemed fairly happy. The strangest thing is how happy my eyes looked. I've never looked so happy with a man before, for I never opened myself up to fall in love. You see, my body type isn't exactly perfect. I have curves, lumps and bumps and with so many other pretty girls in the city my heart was beginning to feel a huge sense of betrayl that this man must have drugged me and taken me back to my room.

I started to feel terrified thinking something had happened to me in my passed out state. But then as I looked at his face a second time, his voice came to mind.

"I do love you, are you sure you want me to do this? Your face will be all over the papers. You won't remember me or anything that happened."

"Perhaps it's best to live the rest of my life not knowing how I saved the city or why. Too many people died. Even you..."

A strange sensation replaced my feeling of fear. It was deep regret, confusion and sadness. My thumb rubbed over his chiseled chin.

What was that last part? My face all over the papers? I dropped the photograph on my bed and untangled myself from the blanket vine. Almost tripping over Bobo in the hallway, I swore out loud and parked myself on my seat in my office. I switched on my computer from sleep mode and noticed several Facebook notifications.

"What the..."

Stunned, I opened the one from my best friend. It was me all right. Again, at the bar around the corner with the strange man in the background. I looked incredibly happy. The caption was from the BBC news website:

Carly Hampton, a dual Australian-Welsh resident, saved the city today and united both mutants and human kind.

I clicked the link as a message popped up from my best friend asking me who the 'gorgeous American was on the news last night.'

I don't know... I replied. I'll call you later.

Oh, come on. Don't leave me hanging! He's GORGEOUS. Never thought you'd end up with a bloke like that!

A bloke like that... I rolled my eyes. It would be great if I could remember him. I could feel Bobo curling up on my feet as I continued to read the story.

Despite the loss of thirty-three local seaside residents, Carly managed to stop the city from being destroyed by a forced tsunami rumoured to have been triggered by an underground explosion.

"It was astounding, it was just like she was Aang, I never seen anything like it. The earth rose from the ground causing a massive wall between us and the water..."

Suddenly, my computer completely switched off. I blinked. I checked underneath in case Bobo chewed on a cable. Nothing. All fine. I tried all over avenues before sighing and deciding that my dog should be fed.

I wandered over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking out a can of food that I assume was from the previous night. It smelt fresh enough. The odd thing was, I still didn't remember opening it. I glanced down at his bowl, and he looked up at me curiously with those dark eyes of his. "Do you remember seeing someone bring me home last night?" I asked, as Bobo just sat down and wagged his tail. Shrugging, I poured the rest of the contents of the food in his bowl, washed it up and figured I needed a shower.

Just as my mobile phone rang.

Shit, I thought. Why didn't I think of checking my phone? Maybe there's some selfies on there that could jog my memory. I never go anywhere without taking selfies.

I picked up the phone and sighed as it was an unknown number. With all the scammers out there, I simply refused to answer them. But, my gut was telling me otherwise. I answered.

"Hello?"

"If you want to know what happened the last two weeks, meet me at the information centre by the docks in two hours. Do not be late."

The voice was female, and a strong Welsh accent. I stared at the phone and set it on the bench.

I must have been given an amnesia pill and whoever was responsible is suddenly regretting it. But why? Who were they?