The Color of Transformation
Summary: John fell in love with Clarice even before he met her. Pre-Series.
A/N: The story was posted on AO3 a while ago, but I figured, why not x-post it here as well. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Distant rumble of raindrops hitting the roof carried through the open spaces of the bank. It was a constant, unrelenting background for hushed conversations, clanking of pans in the galley, packs being lifted, furniture moved, rhythmic pulsing in someone's earphones, car parking outside and the door being slammed shut, Sage clicking on her keyboard, boots on the stairs, artificial voices on police scanners, beeping, louder conversations, laughter, wooden blocks falling followed by a curse word, someone running – kids maybe, conversations, clanking, thumping, words, beeping, curse, laughter, pulsing, voices…
John sighed and rubbed his temples. He didn't have to listen in on everything that was happening in the headquarters. They had people who were tasked with taking care of basic needs of those who were passing through, they had people to coordinate supplies or errands or security. He had to make sure all those goals wouldn't collide with each other, or that none were forgotten, but he didn't need to worry about every smallest detail.
He needed to rest.
The map in front of him blurred at times, bills wouldn't add up and someone put some odd items into the inventory. Or maybe the letters danced in front of his eyes? Unicorn fodder? What was that about?
"John?" Sage appeared before his desk out of thin air. Or maybe he drifted off after all? "Something strange is happening." She clenched and unclenched her fists. "The scanners are buzzing."
John stood up, thud of blood in his ears rivaling with the hum of the rain for a few seconds. When the wave of dizziness passed, he followed Sage downstairs.
"Be advised," a disembodied voice announced, "mutant fugitive spotted at Grand and Seventeenth."
"All units converge in the area. "
"Thirteen-twelve responding. Two blocks away."
"What the hell happened?" John leaned on Sage's desk and watched her wriggle her hands.
"I'm not sure, but it looks like someone escaped from the Detention Center."
"Someone? On their own? Without help from the outside?" John's first worry was that some other mutants operated in town, without them knowing. Small hair at the back of his neck prickled at the possibility – Brotherhood was gone, just like the X-men, but their sympathisers were rumored to still exist. The Underground had enough to worry about as it was, without the more radical mutant factions sticking their heads from under the mud. That question had to be answered first, then they might try to consider if it was at all possible to escape from Detention Center without aid.
"No. Yes. It looks like she was alone." Sage had the answer already. She shrugged at John's inquiring gaze. "That's what I gathered from their panic, at least. Frankly, the probability of escape from Detention Center is, uh, two percent. Based on our previous attempts and what we surmise about their inside security measures of course, not on actual knowledge of…"
"I know all that." John cut in and squeezed the bridge of his nose in hope that the pressure would release the tension building behind his eyes.
Marcos and Lorna were making love in the room two doors down, that's what this rhythmic thumping was all about, he realized out of the blue.
"How did she escape?" he sighed.
"Earlier, they were saying something like… Whooosh," Sage spread her fingers in a gesture imitating a small explosion, "and she was gone." John squinted at her sideways. She shrugged. "Just repeating what I heard."
Whatever the girl's power was, it looked interesting. And maybe, just maybe, it proved she was not affiliated with anyone outside of Underground Network. Maybe. Nevertheless, they needed to get to her first, get her here, question her. They needed to find her and he was the tracker, of course.
And then, just like that, he saw her.
The petite catlike girl with purple hair and bright green eyes. She raised her hands and something sparkled between her fingers. A ball of purple energy that spread into an average-size wavy pancake and then the vision burst, leaving behind a stabbing ache in his right temple.
"Are you okay?" Sage asked.
John's visions – the ability to see into the near future or past – were usually vague, pale, not as filled with color as this one. And they concerned people that were near, or ones that he specifically focused on. Something random like this? It wasn't completely unheard of, but always left him slightly off kilter.
"We have to find her," he said and marched toward Marcos' and Lorna's quarters.
They just finished their lovemaking, at least. He raised his hand to bang on the door and restrained the urge at the last moment. Knocked lightly but with enough punch that it translated into an angry thud. Had he actually given it his full intent, the door would probably crack into toothpicks.
"Marcos, Lorna, need you in the Ops right away!" At least he could yell without causing any damage.
Before they came, he focused on the fugitive again and found her with surprising ease. Not where she was, exactly, but how she was. Terrified and pissed off at the same time. That thing she did to escape – her mutant ability – required effort. She was obviously not trained, had no discipline in using her gift, only a natural raw urge, borne out of primeval fear and nothing else.
Her determination gave her strength though and John remembered his own early days using his powers. He had been like that too, all over the place. He hadn't found a true understanding – and hadn't reached his true potential – until meeting Professor X and his protégés, until becoming one.
The catlike girl deserved the same. All mutants did, John thought, every single one of them who passed through this building, whom he helped to train, but... But truth be told there was something else about this girl. For some reason his desire to find her and bring her here felt more like a desperate necessity, than thoughts of a responsible leader. John rolled his shoulders, hoping to shake off the eerie feeling the girl gave him.
Marcos came in before Lorna, fastening the last buttons on his shirt. "How could she escape without anyone helping her?" Was his first question, as Sage explained the situation. Same as John's. So many years running this operation together made them think in sync, it shouldn't be surprising at this point.
John had already given it some thought, though.
"If they were helping her," he said, "they wouldn't have left her on her own. They'd have caught up with her by now. Most likely anyway. Whether they are or not, we have to get to her. If it was someone..." he made a significant pause, that said more about whom he suspected than words would, "it's best if we find out about it sooner rather than later. If she did it on her own..."
"...it's an interesting power to have, and we should have her on our side." Lorna finished his thought.
John turned to her, struck by a sudden realization.
Lorna took a step back. "What?"
He could faintly hear a very, very rapid heartbeat coming from inside her. From down low at the bottom of her abdomen.
Oh, no.
"John! What?"
Right. She had no idea yet.
John shook his head. "Be ready to roll out in five."
t.b.c.
