"Natalie, I don't have a good feeling about this."
"April, you never have a good feeling about anything," Natalie said, rolling her eyes.
April sighed as Nat moved forward, her black hair swaying as she peeked through the window in the door. No matter how many times they did this, April still felt like the wrong puzzle piece in her sister's jagged edged picture. How come you can't be more like Nat? her dad used to ask. Why can't you just do what you're supposed to do?
Because she wasn't like Nat. She never had been. Natalie was ice and fire. Cold, yet burning, indifferent yet full of hatred. She sprung back and forth between these things, while April cleaned up the streams left in her wake.
"Only two guards. Nino and Charlie are on the security in the front. We'll take these guys and then the money will be all ours."
April nodded. There was no use arguing, she was already here so the battle was half lost.
"Let's go, sis."
Natalie winked at her before lashing out at the door, the force of her kick knocking it clear off its hinges.
The two guards blanched as they ran into the room. April looked around at the bare gray walls. There was a shelf of flashlights, a small fridge and a table with three chairs. And then she felt it—the water rushing through pipes in the low ceiling. Just as the guards reached for their guns, she exploded them and Natalie punched the guard closest to her, sending him sprawling into the wall behind him.
Taking her eyes from her sister, April felt the calmness of water being near her as it spurted from the ceiling. She took a deep breath and channeled it beneath the guard who was coming for her, making him slip just as he finally got his gun from the holster.
Natalie was wiping a clawed hand across the other guard's mouth. April shuddered as he did, his legs and arms twitching as his mouth began to foam.
She hated when Natalie used her poison. She could get by with her enhanced strength, but she always went for the toxins anyway. She liked the fear in their eyes.
April groaned as the guard on the ground swept his legs toward her own, crashing into her ankles painfully. Gritting her teeth as she stumbled, she found the water again, molding it into a bubble and forcing it to hover over the man's face.
She watched as he gasped and gulped, realizing what was happening. He clawed at the water, but she just added more and more, feeling parts of her drain away in the process. She looked up to see Natalie grinning at her and quickly dropped her eyes, watching the man's skin turn blue.
When he stopped struggling, she released her hold and the water fell into puddles around the guard's body.
"You didn't kill him," Natalie frowned, poking him with her boot.
"We don't have to kill him."
"Alive people are witnesses," Natalie reminded her, crouching down over the man.
April took a moment to actually look at the details now that she was out of danger. He had a bulky frame under his black uniform. His ring of keys had fallen off in the struggle. His body was limp and soaking under the water, pushing his chestnut hair into ringlets around his face.
She wondered if he had a family. If he had dreams beyond this job, if he wished for anything as strongly as she did.
And then her sister slit his throat.
She turned away before she could see the red start to mix into the water around him.
"Let's hurry. Your bad mood is catching," Nat said, her voice even and clear despite the two bodies she left in her wake.
"Maybe the murder is causing the bad mood," April bit back, glaring at her.
"Oh, there she is," Natalie said, almost purring. "I love when your claws come out."
"Can we just go?" April sighed, walking back through the door.
"Whatever you say, dear sister."
A few weeks after their job, April managed to escape the house for a few moments of peace.
Nino and Natalie were busy arguing, or kissing, or something April didn't want to think about, and Charlie was attempting to make the TV work to watch the season finale of M*A*S*H.
They were somewhere in New York this time. It was the closest April had been to their childhood home in five years, and she couldn't shake the feeling that her dad was going to pop out somewhere and kidnap her.
She shook the thought from her head. She just wanted to have one good day.
She found a diner on the corner not far from where she was, and decided to start there.
Finding a booth near the back, she let the smells of fried food and coffee swirl around her. The waitress gave her the one minute sign and she nodded and opened her menu, her eyes flicking through the items until they caught on waffles.
April Lancaster.
April jumped, looking up. No one seemed to be speaking in her direction. But no—her name hadn't been spoken out loud—it had been in her head.
She was finally losing it.
"No, you're not," an accented voice told her.
April took in the man who appeared next to her—brown hair, bright eyes as he pushed his wheelchair to the side of her table. His face had a kind expression on it, but that didn't mean she trusted him.
"How did you talk in my head?" she whispered, eyes darting around to see if they were attracting attention. Everyone was ignoring them, however, and he only smiled at her.
"I'm Charles Xavier," he said. "I'm a telepath."
April's memories with other mutants flashed in her eyes. Natalie only enlisted the ones with powers that could do the most damage, and therefore make her the most money. Violence stained her thoughts.
"I assure you that we are not all like that."
April realized he had been reading her thoughts and quickly tried to focus all her attention on him.
"So what are you like?"
He smiled now, his face taking on a pensive expression.
"I suppose I'm a teacher now, above all else," he said, tapping on the side of his wheelchair. "I have a school for people like us. It's nearby. When I sensed you, I felt I should reach out."
"A school? I'm twenty years old."
"We need help there, with teaching and watching the children," he explained. "I've seen what you do. I thought you might be interested in an alternative."
Shame coursed through her. She was not proud of the things she'd done, especially recently. The fact that it was laid bare for him to see only made her feel even guiltier.
"You don't want me," she said, quietly. She turned to her eyes to the glass of water on the table and began to trace the rim of the glass, hoping he would go away.
He didn't.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't. I can tell you want to leave. You've always wanted to leave, but you were too scared to be on your own. But you wouldn't be here."
Something flared inside of her so close to hope that she burned with it. But if her sister had taught her anything, it was that nobody was looking to help them without wanting something in return.
"So you're my guardian angel?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry, but I live in the real world. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is."
"It's not going to instantly cure all your problems," Charles conceded, "But it is a start. And despite what your sister would have you believe, I think you're far more suited to helping people rather than hurting them."
April stared at him, her words dying in her mouth. She had a sudden flash of walking out with him, leaving behind Natalie, starting a new life.
It seemed so easy...But then reality crushed in. She didn't even know where she would be leaving to. Nat would be furious, probably drag her home by her hair. She didn't even have a friend—what was she supposed to do in a whole new place with all new people?
This was the only life she knew. And it sucked, but it was hers.
"I can't."
Charles sighed, but gave her a smile anyway.
"Call me if you change your mind."
He put a white business card in front of her and nodded before turning his wheelchair around and heading toward the door.
April looked at the card so much that she had it memorized. She saw the words and numbers on her eyelids when she slept, she dreamed of mutant schools and the man in the wheelchair. She saw her new life, filled with students and classrooms, promise and fresh air.
But those were only dreams.
In reality, she was in a warehouse with Nat, Nino and Charlie, and she was about to die.
"I told you this job was too risky," Charlie growled, glaring at Nino. His cheeks flared with red, making the two scars on his face stand out even more.
"Risk equals reward," Nino shrugged. He didn't seem phased by the fact that they were all stuck in a wire cage, but Nino never quite seemed phased by anything. His eyes always looked lazy, half-lidded and dragging over things languidly. "We had to try."
"Now we're stuck here," Natalie growled, kicking the door again. Her strength was denting it, but they could hear the men coming back for them.
April stayed quiet, fearing the end. She'd always hoped to go out with more of a bang, instead of in a huge metal cage like an animal.
"April, care to do something?" Nat spat at her.
"There's no water around," she said, unable to feel anything more than a trickle within a hundred feet.
"Did you four really think you could pull one over on me?"
The voice caused them all to stop, the man appearing in front of their door with a wicked grin. Mr. Harrid had an awful tracksuit and an even worse mustache, but despite appearances, she knew to be afraid. Not only could he make fire, April knew for sure that he had at least four men backing him on either side.
"You are amateur thieves, and I am the best," he said, crossing his arms. "It's cute, though, how you thought you might win."
April wished he would shut up and do something, even if he was going to kill them. The heaving in her stomach couldn't take much more. She was embarrassed by how weak her legs felt, and she leaned on the piece of metal behind her.
"I suppose you did me a favor. By screwing me over, you made sure I didn't have to give you your share of the money. So now, I'm richer, and I get to exact a little revenge."
He took a moment to let his words hang in the air. None of them spoke back, or tried to deny it. It would only make things worse.
"I'm feeling generous, though," he said, a fireball appearing in his hand. It made his eyes glint with red and orange, and April shuddered. "And for that, I will only kill one of you."
April lost her breath as the door creaked open. She was sure Nat would try to fight her way out, but it seemed that even her reckless sister could tell the fight was lost and just inched back.
"But which one?" Harrid asked, eyes flickering between them like flames themselves.
Nino's eyes narrowed slightly as Charlie moved a step behind him. April stayed where she was, unsure if it was better to make eye contact or stare at the ground. Her heart was pounding so furiously she thought she might explode. The only sounds in the warehouse were the shuffled steps of the men outside and her breath.
"One of the beautiful women?" he asked, passing close to Nat. She knew his eyes would rake against her form, but she kept her gaze down. "Or the muscle, perhaps?"
April chanced a look up to see Charlie tensing, his biceps seeming larger in the shadow of the fire.
"I think I'll go with...the ringleader."
Before any of them had time to react, Harrid arched his arm toward Nino.
The fire leapt across the floor and into his chest.
Charlie dove away from him as Nino's clothes caught fire, engulfing him instantly.
April dully registered Nat's screaming as Nino flailed, making the most terrible noise she'd ever heard. It was more animal than human. The fire burned brightly, darkening his flesh until it started to sag and April turned to throw up. She could smell the burning, could feel his screams echoing in her bones as her stomach emptied onto the concrete.
"Put him out! Put him out!" Nat was shaking her, but it was no use. Harrid had made sure there was no water around for a reason.
Nino was a ball on the floor now, and April couldn't look anymore. His strangled yells had turned into a steady cry, and his body was unrecognizable. April covered her nose and shut her eyes as tightly as she could while Nat wailed.
Soon, his screams were over.
The morning after Nino died, April packed her bag. Since they moved so much, she only had a few outfits, a couple of tapes and two pairs of shoes. She patted her neck to make sure she had her mother's necklace, and took one last look at Natalie's door before walking away.
Clutching the business card in her hand, she walked toward the payphone, dialing the numbers.
She knew them by heart, but double checked anyway.
It rang twice before the accented voice answered, the one she dreamed about.
"Mr. Xavier? It's April Lancaster."
"April. It's nice to hear from you."
Taking that as a good sign, she mustered her courage and forced the next words from her mouth.
"I'd like to take you up on your offer, if it still stands."
For a brief moment, her heart stilled. What if the offer was gone? It had been two months. He might want nothing to do with her anymore. She clutched the phone so hard her knuckles hurt.
"Of course, April. I'm so happy to hear that."
Her heart found a steady rhythm again, her mouth stretching into a smile she didn't remember giving her brain permission for.
"Well, I hope I can start soon, because I'm kind of on my way."
Ta-da! I got this idea for a Quicksilver story after watching Apocalypse and couldn't get it out of my head! This will be based on the X-Men DOFP/Apocalypse version of Peter, and will take place AFTER these movies- so be warned if you haven't seen them!
It's possible no one will read this, but if you do, please let me know your thoughts! Peter will be making an appearance in the next one! :)