Summary: There's nothing special about her. No tragic past. No knock your socks off power. No drop dead gorgeous looks. She's just your average mutant at Xavier's School for Gifted. So how does she get mixed up in this war?
AN: Howdy. This is my first go at fan fiction and seeing as how I'm still learning the ropes, I'd really appreciate criticism, good or bad. This is a hard charpter to get through, but give it a try. It'll get better.
This takes off at the beginning of XMen United and will most likely be a Piotr/OC, though it's still in the air.
I own nothing.
--
At funerals, there are usually chairs set up in the grave yard next to the casket while everyone says their last goodbyes. Those closest to the deceased sit in the chairs and receive condolences, but the Martinez's were a rather large family with far too many people to seat.
Sal Martinez had six brothers, three sisters, and four children. Ergo, everyone stood in a huddled pack and gave each other sympathy for a common loss. Sal's wife, Kelly Martinez, was wrapped in one of her sister in law's embrace, neither able to keep themselves together.
The youngest of Sal's offspring stood a little off to the side clutching his younger cousin's hand in his own. Sasha was worried for Sam as his nails dug into her knuckles. Ever since his father had died, he hadn't spoken a word, not even to her. She was sad too, for it was her Uncle, but it was nothing compared to what Sam was probably going through. Sasha didn't even want to look at their mothers who were usually such strong matriarchs.
"He's not gone."
It was so quiet, Sasha almost thought her mindwas playing tricks on her. "He's not gone," Sam repeated, his voice raspy and dry from disuse. The moment of happiness that bubbled at the fact that Sam had finally spoke was squashed by the content of those words. Sasha tugged on his jacket with her small hand.
"Sammy?"
"He's not gone!" he exclaimed and a hush fell over the crowd. With determined strides, Sam marched over to the casket, never letting go of Sasha's hand. In one movement, Sam unlatched the coffin and threw open the lid. Sand and flowers slid off like water and there were cries of shock throughout the packed mass.
Sam reached in and touched his fathers face.
"Sammy!" Sasha called and was once again ignored. On lookers stared, not quite sure of what to do.
Glassy eyes opened and slowly, Sal climbed out of his coffin. No one spoke or moved, just gaped in disbelief, because Sal wasn't alive.
His skin was stark white, so unlike the golden brown it was before. His stared was strait and unseeing as he moved in a way where he was almost dragging his whole body.
And his eyes. That's what ten year Sasha was focused on. His eyes were completely whited over and dead. It took a second for her brain to process what she was seeing, but when it did, she screamed bloody murder, terrified of the man who only just last month threw her in the air with the strength of ten men.
She screamed and ripped her hand from her cousin's. Stumbling, she turned and flung her self away from the funeral. She didn't notice how Sal, Sam, and everyone in the grave yard were frozen in place, as if time had stopped.
"Come on Sam," Jubilee pleaded, puppy eyes full blast. She held her hands in a begging pose to further convince her less than willing friend to "spice up" the museum fieldtrip.
The said friend carefully avoided eye contact and wisely decided to focus his attention on a scuff staining the white tile floor. He started to rub the toe of his worn sneaker to get the offending black mark out, ignoring his friend and cousin. Both had been at it for five minutes, trying to persuade him into using his powers on the mini cowboys and Indians display.
Sasha, Sam's cousin, stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, waiting for the inevitable. It was only a matter of time before his iron will fell to Jubilee's pleas, not even taking his slight crush he had on the Asian into account. The girl had it in her head since the field trip had been announced that she wanted to live out a favorite movie of hers called A Night in a Museum, or something or other.
"No," Sam repeated for what seemed to be like the hundredth time. "I rather not be taken away by the police for inciting mass chaos, not to mention what the professor would do."
Sasha rolled her eyes. She really didn't think the professor would expel his top academic student for messing with a couple of meaningless display toys. "It's not like we're asking you to bring to life a T-Rex…although-"
Seeing the contemplative look on her face that usually led to mischief and ergo trouble, Sam cut her off, "No. No, no, no."
"You got to give us something!" exclaimed Jubilee dramatically, her arms flapping around and blue static crackling in her hands for such a short moment, Sasha thought she had imagined it.
Sighing, Sam turned back the way they had come, away from the group that took no notice to his absence. Sasha and Jubilee frowned, eyes following the third member of their trio. Surely their begging hadn't bothered him that much for him to just walk away like that.
"Grab a couple and let's go," Sam called over his shoulder and then kept walking, completely ignored by the chaperones (fantastic job they were doing). In fact, he crossed Jean Grey's path directly and the woman paid him no mind.
Jubilee and Sasha beamed at the back of Sam's head and each scooped a small figure out of the open display as conspicuously as possible. Seeing as it wasn't as covert as they had hoped, they strolled causally away from their watchers with the speed of a baby cheetah. "Amazing," Jubilee commented in awe, "It's like we're invisible!"
Snorting, Sasha poked at her friend's hot pink sweater. "Hun, if this isn't a glowing neon sign, I don't know what is." They each mock shoved each other and rushed to catch up with Sam. Sasha figured it was because they weren't some of the most involved mutants at the institute that they were able to ninja by the teachers so easily, but she wasn't about to question a bit of good luck. Then again, as the tour went on, it seemed as if most of the older students had weeded themselves out anyway.
"The food court?" Sasha questioned when they reached their destination. "Are you trying to alert the world that Mutant High has taken a little field trip?"
People were everywhere milling around, filling their stomachs, or simply resting before they dive back into more museum tours. Sunlight poured in through an entire wall made of glass, illuminating the vast room. "I know you're the smart one, Sam, but don't you think this is a little too…open?" Jubilee asked.
"Hide in plain sight," Sam shrugged and walked to a more deserted corner of the food court that was in the shadow of a rather large plant.
Jubilee sent a glance at Sasha, as if looking for assurance. "Why not? Wonderboy knows best," she whispered in response. Sam had never led them wrong before and more often than not, he was overly cautious and steered them in the safer direction. Who were they to question his judgment when much of their undetected pranking success was due to him? So, they trailed after him.
Fifteen minutes later, Sasha was in the awe of human idiocy.
After they set of a mini-arena made of napkin dispensers, shakers, and various condiment filled bottles, Jubilee set down her borrowed 2" tall Indian and Sasha, her cowboy. With a fleeting look comparable to constipation (in Sasha's opinion), Sam touched each with the tips of his fingers and the figures sprung to life.
Well, not life, per say. They had no minds of their own and just followed Sam's instructions. Animation is the term better suited with what Sam could do. So, the figures sprung into animation and threw themselves into a fight to the death.
Though they couldn't yell themselves, being completely plastic and without vocal cords, Jubilee and Sasha were rooting for their respective teams and making plenty of noise for all five of them. Yet, no one noticed their entertainment and if they did, they didn't give it a second glance to a few rowdy teenagers playing with their action figures. It might have something to do with not many people passing by their area, as they were in a corner shaded by the mother of all gigantic plants. Wonderboy was right again and Sasha could hardly believe they were getting away with this.
"Come on! You almost had him!" Jubilee moaned when Sasha's cowboy side stepped the Indian's spear strike.
"There you go, Bob! Shoot his ass!" Sasha cried.
"Bob?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow and a look on his face that said he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
"Everyone needs a name," Sasha smiled and flicked the small Indian with her index finger so it toppled into a salt shaker.
"Hey!" Jubilee cried and proceeded to flick Sasha's cowboy in revenge. "If that's Bob, then this is Pocahontas."
Sam chuckled and Sasha tilted her head in thought. "A girl name for a male Indian?" she said looking down at Pocahontas sadly. "Poor thing."
Jubilee shrugged and stretched her right arm behind her head languidly. "What can I say? Sometimes life deals you a bad hand."
"I hear ya," agreed Sasha, still staring at the Indian with pity. She knew all about unfortunate names. Her whole family had some sort of fetish with naming their children with Sa's. All the good names like Sally, Samantha, Sadie, Sage, and Sandra were already taken by the time she was born. She didn't know how Sam had gotten so lucky.
"You two are ridiculous," he mumbled and shook his head. Sasha grinned at who was her favorite (though that was debatable at times) cousin and opened her mouth to retort.
"Shut it you necrophilia fiend!" Sasha cried childishly. Sam rolled his eyes in response to her over dramatics he was well used to by now.
"Oh yeah," he challenged with a quirk of his lips, "Don't even get me started on you, dear cousin. You wouldn't want-"
Whatever Sam was about to say (surely a witty comeback that only he was capable of) was drowned out by a shout across the food court. Everyone's attention was now turned to man toppling over a table to the ground, his whole arm on fire. People rushed and gathered around like a fight in high school. What the heck?
Though she could be wrong, Sasha didn't think people randomly burst into flames…without a little help that is. Sure enough, standing a few feet away was Mutant High's resident bad boy/hothead, John Allerdyce, laughing his slicked backed hair covered head off. Sasha didn't know much other than he controlled fire, carried a lighter (that drove her crazy in her English class when he was constantly flicking it open and close), and was a smart ass. Well that and he was part of the 'XMen in Training'.
It wasn't and official list or anything like that, but students could sort of tell those who were destined to become part of the team. The kids who had the badass powers, excelled greatly in the danger room sessions, and were particularly nurtured by the staff. Marie, or Rouge as she preferred to be called, was next to John and also was on the unofficial list. She already went on one little save-the-world-adventure a while ago in New York and was well loved by all the teachers.
Also with them was Bobby Drake, one of the most sought after boys in the mansion despite being seriously involved with Rouge. Not that Sasha could blame them. He was one fine specimen of man. Bobby was the only of the three that Sasha had ever really spoken to and she had to admit he was an ok guy.
Bobby iced the boy that was on fire and Sasha could almost feel Sam's apprehension. He quickly "killed" Bob and Pocahontas and stuffed them into his pockets. No evidence. Sasha appreciated Sam's effort, but they were already exposed. Any moment now mutant haters would make themselves known and they would all be chased from the museum. Down side to having these awesome supernatural abilities? Once you're outed for being a freak, you're like Frankenstein and the rest of the world are the angry villagers.
Stupid Dream Team, they probably wouldn't even get a slap on the wrist for it. Kids would be kids, after all.
And then, everyone froze. Not with ice, like Bobby had with the boy, but froze in mid action as if time had stopped.
"Sasha?" Sam whispered, but the girl shook her head.
"Not me, Sammy," Sasha hissed back. This was way out of her league. She could only freeze certain, smaller areas, not entire buildings. Maybe if she was extremely scared, like piss-in-your-pants terrified, she could do something like this, but she wasn't even close.
Besides, when she froze things, it was more instantaneous where as here, the people sort of slid into position.
"No, I did."
Good ol' Professor X, always looking out for the greater good. Gotta love the guy for that.
"The next time you think of showing off," the Professor said harshly, "don't."
Well, they may just get a slap on the wrist after all. What do you know?
--
"Hey guys," called Jubilee, walking up to Sasha and Sam, though with her abnormal amount of, well, jubilation, it was more like bounced.
Since the field trip was cut short, all the teen mutants were left with a free day to hang out and do whatever they pleased. In Sam's case, however, this time was used to get in a little extra reading. So that left Sasha to tag along for the lack of anything else to do.
She laid, eagle spread, on one of the many empty tables of the empty library with her eyes closed to fully enjoy the heat from the sun shining through an open window. Despite her cousin's numerous requests, she hummed along with her ipod and every now and then, she'd start belting out lyrics she particularly liked. Sam had long given up on asking Sasha to stop, because it usually resulted with an increase in volume rather than a decrease.
Oh yes, how Sasha loved to tease her beloved Sammy. Especially when he was trying to read a book with a title she couldn't even pronounce at the table she was laying on.
"What's up?" Sam said, putting his book down on Sasha's stomach, who had yet to notice they had a visitor.
Of course, she chose that moment to start singing again, or perhaps screeching was more appropriate. "SHOOT TO THRILL! PLAY TO KILL! I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at wi-HEY!"
When Jubilee removed Sasha's head phones in order to put an end to the horrible noise, the girl had shot up and glared in her general direction. "Oh hey Jubilee. I didn't hear you come in," Sasha smiled, her expression instantly changing from its previous "if looks could kill" glower.
Sam rolled his eyes (his eyes are going to get stuck like that, one day) and Jubilee laughed, holding the headphones closer to her ear so she could hear and identify the music. Grimacing, she handed them back to their owner after a few seconds of listening. "Really, do you ever listen to anything from this decade?"
"Of course I do," said Sasha, slipping the headphones around her neck instead of her ears. "but don't diss the classic rock."
"Anyways, there's a rave tonight," Jubilee said, plopping down in a chair while Sasha pulled in her legs into an Indian style position and removed Sam's heavy book. She rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust to the light as well as Jubilee's usual neon colored clothing. She had to give it to the girl, she had style. Much more then her own outfit consisting of a t shirt, jeans, and whatever semi-matching shoes were laying around.
Even Sam had a pattern of collared polos and fitted tees going for him. "Like an abandoned warehouse rave were everyone's drinking, dancing, screwing, or doing all three at once?" he asked.
Jubilee nodded enthusiastically, to which Sasha replied with a loud, "Heck yeah!"
Sam pushed down Sasha's arm that she had pumped into the air with her declaration, a deep rumbling coming from the back of his throat.
"Dude, did you just growl?" Sasha inquired and leaned in to take a closer look at the boy she grew up with. Could she have possibly missed a pair of fangs that he came into when his mutation surfaced?
"Last time we went to one of those, I asked you two to keep an eye on me and y'all let me drink so much I was speaking in tongues by the time we came home," he complained, slumping in his chair and letting his black hair fall into his eyes. He was on the side of the family that was fortunate enough not to inherit the Martinez curly hair, unlike Sasha.
"It's not our fault you can't hold your licker," Jubilee laughed, remembering that rather explosive night. Despite him being sixteen and the girls fifteen at the time, it had been his first party. Being a genius had its downside, after all. It had been a year since then and although he was now a much more experienced party goer, the girls still liked to tease him merciless about the incident.
"And besides," Sasha added, "It's like a right of passage for teenagers to have at least on night where there get so piss drunk they can't see strait." She didn't think to mention that the only reason she didn't take care of him was because she has gotten just as drunk as he did. It's a wonder how they ever got home alive.
Sam looked even less willing and pouted like a child refusing to go to the dentist. "Come on," Sasha pleaded, changing her tactics, "I don't want to go without my Sammy. Please, please, please?"
Sam fought not to look at his cousin. He knew she'd have the saddest look of her face of someone who just had their puppy kicked. "Oh, what the hell," he sighed, raising his head to meet Sasha's eyes, his brown clashing with her muddy green. She knew she had won and moved to tackle him into a hug of gratitude, but Sam's face fell from content resignation to concern.
"But with the attack on the president, I don't see the X Men letting any students roam free tonight." He pointed out, almost triumphantly. They had to sneak out every other time for their excursions, but now there'll surely be a strengthening in the already ridged security and thus drastically reducing their chances of escaping successfully. Sasha tried to think of other possibilities. They might make it on foot of they go through the back and the forest, but she didn't exactly enjoy the idea of trying to fight her way through in the dark with alcohol in her system on the returning journey.
Instead of looking disheartened as expected from Sam's found flaw in the master plan, Jubilee looked even bouncier than before. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it," she grinned, "All the professors are on missions tonight and Wolverine is the only one that's going to be watching."
'Well this certain changes things', Sasha thought, 'We won't even have to be sneaky about it'. Though she had never spoken directly to the mysterious Logan, she had seen him briefly around the mansion after and before the Liberty Island fiasco. To her, he defined "cool": rugged, an enigma, handsome, a strait forward with a no bull shit kind of attitude.
And apparently he was back from whatever sabbatical he was on.
Sam obviously wasn't lost in a daydream about the newest addition to the Xavier faculty like Sasha. "How do you even know these things?" he asked Jubilee in awe. That led Sasha to wonder as well. Jubilee always did seem to know everything before it leaked out to the rest of the mansion, as nothing at Xavier's institute stayed a secret for long.
Jubilee smirked and buffed her nails on her bright yellow jacket. "I have my sources," she said. "This time it was Piotr. He was in the near vicinity when Logan returned and heard everything. I asked if he wanted to come with us." She held out her hand in front of her face, inspecting her nail polish for any scratches or chips.
"And?" Sasha prompted.
Jubilee smirked yet again, but this time it wasn't from knowing something they didn't. This one was out of amusement. "Eagar? He said yes, he'd love to."
"Oh," Sasha said lamely and then thought of her roommate. "Well, um, I'll ask Kitty."
Sam chuckled and Sasha punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could.
Too bad Sam ducked, making Sasha look like an idiot by punching air. "I loath you," she muttered after she regained her balance, inciting more laughter at her expense. It was bad enough they noticed how much she liked spending time with their own Russian tin man, but now she could nothing to stop the blush rising to her cheeks. Though it probably seemed like she was interested more in Piotr for something a little more than friendship, Sasha genuinely liked hanging out with the big guy. Maybe.
"Alright, well meet up in the garage at eight. We're taking my car." Jubilee said, her voice holding a lingering chuckle. After receiving an affirming nod from each cousin, she turned on her heel and sauntered out the library.
"You know," Sasha said thoughtfully ten minutes later, disturbing the peaceful silence that had settled over the two of them, "if we weren't holed up in this shack with a bunch of mutated freaks like ourselves, I'd say we were your everyday average Joe teens about to sneak out for a wild high school party."
Sam's laughter filled the dusty library.
--
AN: The song Sasha sung breifly is Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC.