Darkness.

Silence.

Death.

Mangled bodies in putrid heaps littered the terrain. The nauseating scent of rotting corpses flooding the atmosphere and milky white bones gleaming in the pale moonlight were the only occupants of this barren land. The rich, deep brown soil produced maggots, which slowly infiltrated their victims' bodies. Through nostrils, ears, anuses, and eye sockets, they crawled into the corpses and fed off of the sweet intestines and rot, which they craved.

Mucous covered insects quickly infested the area in search of food. A sickening sight to be held in the memory. Arachnids gnawed on their victims, sinking their sharp mandibles into decaying flesh. Fingers of the victims were soon nibbled away, the bones exposed. Blood dripped from the hard shells of cockroaches, maggots, arachnids, and vermin alike as the corpses were slowly consumed.

One survivor stood amidst the feast and scanned the scene with no sorrow. The slight crunching of bone, flesh, cartilage, and soft tissue was nothing out of the ordinary. No pity, no regret, not even disdain. For what creature deserved her pity? What human being deserved even her loathe? Stepping without a care, the woman traversed the disgusting terrain and mounted her motorcycle. With not so much as a cursory glance, she sped away.

/-/

Morning sunlight poured through the light, pellucid drapes, awakening the students in their room. Bright, refreshed pupils stretched their arms above their heads and yawned. Looking around the room and discovering that everyone was awake, they all smiled and rose from their comfortable beds. Warm greetings of friendship welcomed everyone as they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. But then the real day began...

"Get out of there! You've been in there forever!"

Loud shouts and screams sounded throughout the entire vicinity as each student lined up for the bathroom. Bang! Bang! Bang! One girl pounded on the solid oak door again.

"Come on, Rogue, let someone else have their turn! You can't be that disgusting. You took a shower last week!" Laughs followed the girl's facetious remark and the door finally opened.

"Thank the Lord! I was beginning to think you were dead!" Jubilee patted Rogue on the shoulder as the teenager emerged from the bathroom. D'Ancanto only gave her friend a steely glare and paced toward her room. Turning the knob, Rogue pushed open the door to her dorm and collapsed onto her bed.

She had woken up early to take a leisurely shower, but no matter how much earlier she had woken up, it hardly mattered. Soon, the raging stampede of wild animals would come pounding on the door and her time of bliss would be over. Rogue sighed; it was always the same routine. Nevertheless, she loved living in the mansion, going to the school. She knew that there was nowhere else that she could ever belong.

Truthfully, if there were such a place, Rogue wouldn't think of leaving anyway! She had friends here. Some so close, they felt like family. And then there was Bobby...

Rogue smiled as the thought of Bobby Drake encompassed her mind in a fantasy of pure lust and passion.

'Iceman,' she thought. Then out loud, "What I'd do to warm him up…"

But her mind interrupted her one moment of glee. She was talking about intercourse when her mutation forbade even the simplest touch! Skin-to-skin contact was something that Rogue simply could not do… unless she wanted to kill whomever it was that she was touching.

She sighed again. Life could be so difficult.

/-/

The purring of the motorcycle stopped as the woman, clad in black, disabled the engine. Leaning the motorcycle onto the kickstand, she walked away and entered a regal looking mansion.

The woman's luscious, dark brown hair was tied behind her and plaited tightly. The black combat boots which she wore were caked with mud and tiny blades of grass. Quickly, she disposed of them near the door and shrugged herself out of the leather jacket that had made its home on her lithe frame. Casting aside her dark sunglasses, the woman glanced around her mansion suspiciously and placed her hands at her sides.

She felt cold metal on her fingertips as she slowly reached for her guns at her sides. She could tell that something was out of place here, and someone needed to be eradicated.

Suddenly, the woman whisked her pistols out of the holsters and spun to her right. She aimed them at...

"Surprise?" One disheveled man said warily.

Placing the weapons back in their holsters after a spinning them quickly, the woman sighed and let her shoulders fall in agitation. The man that had spoken walked toward her.

"Lara, it's good to see you home! Although... we were kind of hoping you wouldn't point a gun at us..."

Lara smiled at her tech and rubbed his messy hair, "Bryce, you know you shouldn't do that. You know how I am..."

"I know, I know," the tech cut her off, "but it was fun thinking about it." Lara nodded and embraced her tech shortly. He smiled and gestured toward all of the people behind him, "There's relatives here to wish you a happy birthday. At least, I think they are..." Bryce winked and pushed her toward her guests, "Go on, they won't bite!" Reluctantly, Lara walked toward the crowd of people and began conversation.

"Oh, my," an elder lady began, "you are filthy, dearest. Why don't you go change and we'll wait down here?"

Lara looked down at herself and noticed the mud on her boots, the grass clinging to almost every inch of her leg, and the splotches of blood that adorned her entire outfit. She noticed the horrified look on her relatives' faces and laughed darkly.

"Yes, well, I always think a little blood here and there completes an ensemble." She smirked privately as her aunts and uncles looked at her in confusion. Satisfied, she turned to leave, but something caught her ear.

"...that mutant registration law..."

Croft stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around, now facing some of Bryce's relatives. Lara advanced on the men and women and they all looked toward her.

"Happy Birthday, Lara!" One of them yelled and clapped her on the shoulder.

Lara managed a smile and then began to speak. "Someone here mentioned a 'Mutant Registration Law'? May I pry and ask what that might be?"

Every eye now fixed on her and she felt somewhat embarrassed. Was she supposed to know? Lara simply waited for someone to reply. Finally, someone did.

"Lara... you... you haven't heard about the mutants?" A hesitant question came from an older-looking woman, possibly Bryce's mother or aunt.

"No, I'm sorry. I haven't." Croft replied shortly, wishing someone would just bloody tell her what they were. Someone else began to speak; now it was a younger man that appeared about thirty. His deep voice plunged into her ears as he explained the situation:

"Mutants are said to be caused by some form of genetic mutation. These specific... uh... beings possess powers such as: walking through walls, teleporting, healing, even telekinesis and telepathy. They mostly keep to themselves and don't tell anyone what they are. This 'Mutant Registration Law', or act, will ensure that each and every mutant identifies him or herself so that we know exactly what they are and what they are capable of doing. Really, it is an ingenious act, which is why I strongly support it."

Lara stood dumbfounded for a moment as she absorbed the man's words. She parted her full lips to speak.

"I'm sorry, sir, but even though I do not know anything about this particular issue, I must say that some of your comments were rather offensive." Lara watched the man straighten and cock his head at her slightly. She continued, "Using the term 'what' when speaking of a human being is surely inappropriate and I am positive that if you were one of these 'mutants' you would want to be regarded with the same term as that of any other homo sapiens on this earth. Am I correct in assuming this?"

The small group around her stood in silence, each mouth open and eyes staring blankly at her. The cocky man licked his lips and spoke to her again.

"Miss Croft, with all do respect, I'm sure that you wouldn't want to even spend time with these..." Lara narrowed her eyes as the man found another word to say besides freaks. "...beings," he finished shortly.

Lara sneered at him and folded her arms, "Who let you into my house?"

/-/

*A/N: Thanks for reading!