Author's Note: It's been a while since I've written anything, so forgive me if my style has gotten a bit awkward. I know it's short chapter, but if I didn't stop where I did, I assure you it would have been annoyingly long. This is about the X-Men movie, but I wanted to involve more characters, so Havok, Avalanche, and Blob will be making an appearance. Thanks for reading!

It had been more than a year since Leah had found herself in the bustling center of New York City, but she still couldn't forget any of it, not for a moment, no matter how much she wanted to. She didn't think she ever would, even if she lived to be as old as Mystique. But she hadn't known Mystique then--her opposite in every way, really. She hadn't ever known another mutant before the Brotherhood, which probably increased the effect that the noisy and overcrowded city streets had on her. Yes, Leah remembered all too well those long days with nothing to do but struggle to survive, even in the midst of all that activity that had made her so very nervous. Everything had kept her on the edge in those days--the traffic, the crowds, the raids. Especially the raids, though those mostly happened at night and rarely, thank goodness. Leah knew she was lucky to be blessed with a mutation that could not be discovered easily, if at all, but in those days, she hadn't noticed much of anything beyond her own self-pity and misery. Even after living on the streets for more than three years, she was the same spoiled kid she had always been.

October 25, 2008

Leah shielded her eyes at the afternoon sun as it came into view between two incredibly tall skyscrapers. Hugging the wall of the buildings beside her, she glanced at the people hurriedly pushing past her on the busy city streets. She hated walking the sidewalks during the worst hours of traffic, but she was in desperate need of money. She was constantly cursing her employer for working in an office on one of the busiest intersections of New York, but it was her only way of surviving. Leah could never keep a regular working job for very long. She never really even stayed in one place for very long. She took more than the usual amount of precautions to keep from being discovered as the mutant that she really was, but thankfully, there were always plenty of nooks in crannies in New York to hide a desperate eighteen-year-old.

Leah hadn't been walking the streets long before she spotted a newsstand up ahead. Ducking quickly around a group of important looking men in suits, Leah walked up to catch a glimpse of the front page of the New York Times. Leah always made sure to check the front of the paper before heading to the editor for her payment. He was the type of man who would ruin anyone's reputation for a quick buck, and she wasn't so sure that he wouldn't stoop to revealing her as a mutant once he was tired of the wild and attention-grabbing stories she made for him.

It didn't take long for Leah to discover that her work had, in fact, been a success. Before she even managed to take a look herself, she heard the two women beside her chattering about the cover story--an unidentified flying object being sighted over New York. Leah was proud of herself for cooking this one up because, really, no one would ever be able to prove that it was just an aircraft that strayed off of it's course or one of the military's newest developments. Nobody would ever find the so-called U.F.O., of course, and the truly gigantic thing had been caught on more than a few cameras across the state.

Leah gave a sigh of satisfaction. This illusion had been her best yet, because that's all the thing really was--an illusion. That was Leah's mutation. All she had to do was picture something in her head and the world around her would change almost instantly. She could even create sounds as well, but if Leah tried anything too complex, she found she developed a rather painful headache. It took a lot of concentration sometimes, but none of her illusions were ever really there. If someone had managed to touch her imagined spacecraft last night, their hands would have passed right through it. They would have felt nothing but thin air.

Leah turned from the newsstand abruptly, as if she were afraid someone might accuse her for creating the incriminating evidence on the front page. In her rush to get away from the images of her handiwork, she ran straight into someone headed the other direction. Leah fell straight onto the concrete, her hand getting scraped from sticking it out to break her fall. Pushing her long, brown hair out of her face, Leah peered up at the person she had ran into, who, strangely, didn't seemed to have budged in the least.

Leah just sat there and stared at the woman. She had such a startling look that Leah couldn't help herself. Besides, the woman seemed to be studying her just as intently. In fact, Leah was beginning to feel a bit paranoid. She stood up quickly, dusting herself off as two men walked by, staring at the woman across from her shamelessly. The woman was blonde and had the sort of look you really only see in magazines or on television. For some reason, this added to Leah's unease, and she started to push past her. The woman's hand shot out and clasped around Leah's upper arm, stopping her progress with a strong, firm grip. Leah turned in alarm, trying to pull free slightly, but the woman held fast without being too very obvious about it.

"You okay, hon?" she asked. The woman smiled at her, showing pearly white teeth. Leah didn't like it. The woman kept her eyes trained on her.

"I'm fine," Leah stated quietly, finally managing to pull away. Then, she quickly turned around and headed up the street as fast as she could without drawing anyone's attention. Leah shuddered slightly as she began to feel a sense of foreboding. Something wasn't right about that woman.

Leah turned around, staring back at the street behind her with a frown on her face.

The woman was watching her.

Leah felt the adrenaline rush through her before she whirled around and raced up the street. Fear always somehow managed to infect her, and now she could feel it inside her, clutching at her with its sharp, little claws. She didn't know why she should fear the woman, but for some reason, the image of her smiling down at her stuck permanently in her mind, and she was sure she should avoid the woman at all costs.

Leah didn't dare look back again, even to see if the woman was still standing there. That's why she didn't see the woman smirk, turn around, and disappear into a side alley. And she definitely didn't see the woman's pale skin shift into a dark blue just before it was hidden by the shadows cast by the building beside her.

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Magneto tore himself from his work when he heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside his door. He shuffled the papers on his desk around, pushing them off to the side before making the metal doors shoot open.

"Come in," he said, not bothering to look up from what he was doing. Without hesitation, the person entered the room, stepping fluidly up to the desk. Seeing the blue tone of Mystique's skin out of the corner of his eye, Magneto glanced up and nodded at her, showing her that he had her full attention.

Mystique looked at him for a while before smiling slowly, her golden eyes glinting.

"It's time," she said, an edge of excitement in her deep voice. Magneto returned her smile, standing up from his desk, ready to put his plan into action. Part one was to recruit the girl who'd been creating illusions all over New York to the Brotherhood. The possibilites for her powers were endless. It seemed that everyday he came up with new ways to put them to use and new questions to ask her. She would be a valuable asset to them.

"And you're sure it's her?" he asked, not wanting to get ahead of himself. Mystique responded with a nod before elaborating.

"Every time she comes up to a stoplight it changes color in her favor, and she has visited the New York Times office every time something strange has appeared in the city."

Magneto nodded. Surely that was her. He had been fairly certain it was her before he set Mystique on her.

"Very well," he said,"I'll send Toad and Sabretooth out tonight. Where will she be?"

Mystique glanced up at the clock on the wall, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"She was on her way to the office when I saw her, and she usually spends more than an hour there. I'd say they'll be able to catch her on her way back, but she's been overly cautious since she got caught in that raid a few days ago. She'll be off the streets before dark. They'll have to make it fast."

"Thank you," Magneto said, looking at the clock as well,"And has she altered her appearance at all? They'll be able to tell who she is, won't they?"

"She's been hiding her face since the raid, but only to cover up her eye and lip. They would grab too much attention if she didn't. Those anti-mutant thugs hit her hard."

Magneto nodded absentmindedly, turning back to his desk so he could stare thoughtfully at one of the papers lying there. Mystique approached the desk, resting her hands on the wood. Magneto glanced up.

"My work's done, correct?" she asked, waiting for his answer, "Didn't you say you had something for me to do once this was over with?"

"Ah, yes," Magneto said quietly, turning back to his work," Bring Toad and Sabretooth here. Once they're on their way, I'll brief you on your next task."

He was silent for a moment before glancing up at the clock once more.

"Yes...all will be under way very soon. And it all starts with that girl."

Disclaimer and/or Author's Note:

FredGeorgeWazlib: End! I had to stop somewhere so I had Magneto say something dramatic. When all else fails, leave it to Magneto. I'm beginning to think he's the only one who gets things done around here.

Magneto: You certainly don't. You haven't written for six months. I don't see how anyone puts up with you. You're so very lazy.

FredGeorgeWazlib: T-T I need to find someone who will say nice things to me.

Magneto: Getting to the point, this...girl...doesn't own any of the members of the X-Men or the Brotherhood. But she does own Leah, who, I must admit, is a rather brilliant addition to the story...for me, anyways. *Reads story description* And apparently for Toad, too.

FredGeorgeWazlib: See? I'm not totally useless.

Magneto: .........We'll see.

FredGeorgeWazlib: T-T I swear Toad will be in the next one. I bet you ALL thought he was the one she ran into, didn't you? Huh? Huh? You did, didn't you?

Magneto: Oh, dear God, make it stop.