Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution okay! Jeez! Stop trying to sue me, Marvel! All I own is Semina and a very chic black acoustic guitar.
A/N: Sorry for the very long time I've taken to update. School is starting in like two weeks so I'm gonna be busy shopping for clothes and supplies. I've been starved for ideas and inspirations so I'll update when I'm able to. Oh and Blissful Spirit your review made me tear up a little. So nice and I love you for that!
() =Telepathic conversations
""=Speaking
''=Thoughts
A Fresh Start
Hours of one on one training with Logan passed before we headed upstairs for breakfast. Students, both new and old, ran around and chatted with each other as everyone filed into the dining room and kitchen. There were so may new students in the mansion now that it was always loud and crowded. We had tons of teenagers, some tweens and even a couple of kids who got their powers early! If I thought the mansion was full before I now stand unhappily corrected. Maneuvering through the sea of kids arguing over a cereal box prize, I grabbed a mug of coffee off the counter and sat down in my usual spot between Kurt and Kitty.
I took a much needed sip of the warm, brown liquid before addressing them. "Good morning."
They each replied in their usual cheery manner and continued on with breakfast. A pair of hands covered my eyes from behind me and asked "Guess who?" The smooth, masculine voice made my stomach do a flip and spread happiness through my body.
"This is always a fun game to play with a telepath," I giggled. "Hmm, I'm gonna guess my super cute mutant boyfriend."
"Right as always," he replied as he bent down to kiss me 'good morning'.
It's been two years. Two long, indescribable years since we saved the world from Apocalypse, since Mayor Kelly was elected, and since I ended things with Pietro. But hey, life went on. Not easily I might add. But I had my boyfriend to help me through the hard times.
"Enough with the PDA," Scott chastised playfully. "Grab a seat for breakfast." He, along with the rest of the X-Men had barely changed over the years. Though Scott has loosened up considerably, thanks to Jean.
Alex chuckled lightly. "Whatever you say, bro." Alex had grown more mature, more muscles and in my opinion more handsome. Not to mention that he's stolen my heart. He's like my knight in a glistening wet suit.
"Vhere vere you zhis morning?" Kurt asked me. Same old considerate and sweet Kurt. Only difference with him is that his blue hair was slightly longer and he was much more muscular than he was in high school. "I vent to vake you up but you vere already gone."
"I was training with Logan."
"All this training with Logan will probably make you as good as Laura," Rogue joked as she walked into the kitchen. Rogue decided to stop cutting her hair and now her auburn and white striped hair fell past her shoulders. She's grown out of wearing layer after layer of that goth makeup too so we could actually see her face and it's really pretty.
"I will never be as good as Laura," I laughed, despite the noticeable envy in my voice.
X-23 had showed up on our doorstep a couple of weeks after Apocalypse's defeat. Without Madame Hydra trying to capture her, she had no where else to go...so she came here. Logan is technically her dad, I mean they do have the same DNA and everything, so I'm actually really jealous of her. For more than that reason too. Not only is she a better trained combatant than me but she's beaten all my records in the Danger Room. Don't think that I hate her because I don't. Everyone is jealous of someone at one point in their lives.
"You had another nightmare, didn't you?" Alex asked, already knowing the answer. He let out a disappointed sigh as he moved his blonde bangs out of his eyes with his index finger. "Why don't you ever come to talk about them with me."
Ducking my head down, I stared into the cup of coffee in my hands at my reflection which was murky and wavy before sighing."They're not worth talking about." The actual reason is that there was only one person I ever described my nightmares to. The guy I'm bonded to for life. Telling them to anyone else would be weird. Like I was betraying that jerk that I once loved so.
You're probably wondering about my nightmare so I think a little explanation is in order. About two months ago, Mayor Kelly managed to pass a Mutant Registration Act on the entire city of Bayville. Every mutant living here was expected to go turn in their information to Mayor Kelly's keepers of peace, the Mutant Response Division or the MRD for short. There was only one facility but that was enough to get the point across to the mutants. If you stepped out of line, you were "taken into custody and detained". Sounds like simple procedure but to us it was more like "captured and caged". The professor has been able to keep all of the X-Men from registering but as for the Brotherhood, I don't know how they keep managing to fly under the MRD radar.
Anyway, the nightmares started around the time I saw a news report about the progress of the registration. Mutants were kept in a tight line that lead way past the doors of the facility and the humans were oblivious to the looks on their faces. The looks of dismay and uneasy feelings that were heavily etched on each face of man, woman and child there. Chills ran up my spine every time those looks crossed my mind. My nightmare has been happening ever since. The same one every...single...night.
Fingers snapping in front of my face brought me back to breakfast. "Semina? You zoned out again."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said shaking my head as if to clear the thoughts away. "Couldn't help it. What were you guys talking about again?"
"While you were...wherever you were, we were talking about who we think is gonna get promoted to official X-Man," Kitty gushed. Kitty had grown a couple of inches taller and started wearing her hair down instead of in a ponytail, except when we were on missions of course.
"Definitely X-23," Kurt said. "No doubt."
"I think it's gonna be that girl Lorna," Rogue voiced. "Did you see what she did in the Danger Room the first day she got here?"
"I know it's gonna be Alex," I proudly stated. "My baby has skills."
"Is that all?" Alex asked, hints of joking on his face. "What about my personality or looks or athleticism?"
"You're all that and more," I smiled, intertwining his fingers in mine. My smaller hand fitting perfectly in his large hand. "You're a shoo-in for official X-Man."
Jean, who by the way looked just as perfect and gorgeous as she had in high school, added her thoughts into the discussion. "I wonder what team the new X-Man will be placed on."
After the Apocalypse battle, the professor made a decision that shocked everyone. He promoted the entire team of New Mutants up to X-Men. This lead him to split us into sub divisions. There was Team Alpha that consisted of the original X-Men team: Jean, Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, Anthony, Bobby and I led by Scott. Team Beta led by LaToya and had the old New Mutants: Amara, Roberto, Sam, Jamie,Tabby, Ray, even Rahne and Jubilee once their parents let them come back. All the new students we got over the past two years were placed in the new New Mutant team that included Alex, Warren and Laura. Despite the subsequent control over their powers they were still in need of training. The teams weren't split based on power but on how well we worked together as a team.
"As long as I get on the team and off the New Mutants, I'll be stellar," Alex laughed. "Though I hope it's a spot on the team with my big bro and girlfriend." He wrapped his arm around me and kissed my temple.
My cheeks glowed red as Scott smiled with brotherly confidence. It was kinda weird dating Scott's younger brother at first because of the...'issues' I had with Scott in the past but once you get past the whole responsible leader thing, Scott really isn't that bad. Alex and I have been dating for about a year now. Even after we beat Apocalypse, Alex still declined joining us at the institute because he wanted to go professional with his surfing. It was really taking off but then he started to have a couple of problems with his powers so he had no choice but to come and stay with us. Somewhere between overseeing his training and hanging out as friends, we just clicked and got together.
The professor wheeled in with Ororo and Logan closely following. His face was anything but happy on this fine Sunday morning. "Team Alpha. Come with me, there's something urgent that I must discuss with you."
Rather than ask questions now, we hastily deserted our breakfast and followed him into the planning room.
"What's going on, professor?" Scott asked, immediately jumping into leader mode.
"Sometime early this morning, the Morlocks were attacked," Professor X epitomized. "There were several causalities and many of them were captured, Evan included."
No wonder why Ororo didn't look her normal and peaceful self. She looked a little fidgety and was constantly running her fingers through her long white hair. I could've sworn I saw Logan flash her a look of genuine concern but when I blinked it was gone.
"Attacked by who?" Jean inquired.
"From the looks of it, mutants hunters," Logan replied, his voice thick with fury. "These people are ruthless and prey on mutants too weak to defend themselves."
"Where are they then?" I asked, pressing for more information. "You do know exactly where they were taken, right?"
The professor's grimace grew more sorrowful. "Unfortunately no. I tracked Evan as far as I could but then nothing. It's as if something is blocking cerebro from picking up mutant signatures in his location."
"We'll be suited up and ready to leave in five," Scott declared as he rose from his seat. Following suit we sprang up from the table and followed our leader.
We boarded the Blackbird and flew off to the coordinates the professor got just before cerebro was blocked. Cyclops landed the jet in front of a forest that most likely shrouded the base of the mutants hunters. Just thinking out people capturing mutants to torture and experiment on them made my blood boil.
"I'm not getting anything," Jean announced with her fingers to her temples. Jean's telepathy had managed to catch up and pass my own which surprised me to no end. Either I'm getting lazy or I've finally been out classed. "What about you, Tsunami?"
"Nothing. Professor X was right, we are being blocked. Best bet we have is sniffing them out."
Wolverine growled at me for putting him on the spot but sniffed the air nonetheless. He must've picked up some type of scent because he started to lead us into the forest. Trying our best to keep the element of surprise by keeping as quiet as possible, we tread lightly but the brittle leaves still crunched below our feet. Wolverine kept leading us further into the woods but I stopped when I felt something crawling on my bare shoulder. I reluctantly looked at it and pinched my lips together. There was a very large and very furry spider perched on my shoulder. Did I forget to mention that I'm terrified of spiders? There were never any spiders in the mansion because it was always so clean so I never freaked out like I was five seconds away from doing.
'Don't freak out. This is a mission.' I silently chanted. The spider began to crawl toward my neck and that's when I went crazy. Against my will, I let out a piercing scream that echoed through the forest in all directions. I swatted my shoulder while running around and shrieking "Get t off! Get it off!"
"Well there goes the element of surprise," Storm groaned. The X-Men nodded their heads in agreement and watched as their teammate ran around hitting her shoulder. A collective sigh was heard mixed with stifled chuckles most likely coming from Stone.
I rapidly whacked my shoulder...long after the spider was forced off my body and was still screaming my head off when my back hit something that repelled me face first into the ground. Getting a mouthful of leaves and dirt made my forget all about the pesky arachnid. Spitting out the disgusting substances to the ground I pulled myself up and turned around. There was nothing there but more trees.
"Thanks for letting everyone know that we're here," Cyclops sarcastically but angrily quipped. "Way to keep it covert."
I mumbled an embarrassed "Sorry" before perking up a bit. "But look what I found. Try walking past me." I swept my arms to the side pointing him in the right direction.
Cyclops skeptically obeyed and was thrown back just as I was. "What was that?"
"If I knew I would tell you."
"It's like some kind of...force field," Jean concurred. "Question is: how do we get in?"
"Let me give it a try," Shadowcat suggested as she began to walk toward it.
"Don't! Nightcrawler's right it would be too dangerous. Watch." I picked up a rock and chucked it toward the force field. Instead of repelling it, the rock passed harmlessly through. "I knew it! This dome must prevent penetration from mutants. The reason why the professor couldn't pick up anyone in this location is because cerebro is powered by telepathy. He couldn't get through even if he tried his hardest."
"How are we supposed to get in now?" Rogue questioned, a frustrated look on her face and hands resting on her hips.
"If there's a force field there's bound to be a generator somewhere," Cyclops voiced. "We have to find it and destroy it."
Storm shook her head in disagreement. "Impossible. The generator is most likely to be located inside the base. How else would it surround the entire facility?"
"Well Nightcrawler certainly can't teleport us in," I added. This force field was becoming a nuisance if anything. How were we supposed to get in if it was surrounding the entire area? "Okay what if we-" THUD! Dust filled the air and after it cleared I saw my brother with a very nonchalant expression pointing down at an underground tunnel that he had just formed. "That could work too."
After walking down into the dark dirt tunnel, Storm made a small ball of electricity to illuminate it. I gulped nervously and let out a shaky breath. Creeped out is an understatement here. Being underwater is fun for me but being underground? Ugh, it makes me cringe for some reason. The dirt here isn't even moist. It's dry and brittle so I couldn't pull any water from it. Maybe that's why I'm so uncomfortable here. Wrapped up in my thoughts, I was unaware that we stopped moving in the single file line we were in until I bumped into Nightcrawler.
"Why did we stop?"
"Metal wall," Wolverine answered.
"Think you can manipulate it?"
"I'll try," Stone replied as he shoved his fists into the wall, side by side, making a resonating clank upon collision. He slowly pulled each fist from the other and the metal wall began to split until there was an opening large enough for all of us to go through. After piling out of our makeshift entrance, I instantly sensed the minds in the building. I guess mutant powers still worked in the force field. Whoever made this force field was pretty stupid to say the least.
"They're that way," Jean and I both proclaimed as we pointed toward a long corridor. Rushing down the hallway we began to close in on the minds and as we found the door with the hostage mutants, I crashed into someone. Well more like the person almost ran me over. We both fell to the floor and that's when everything got complicated.
"Jesus! Watch were you're going!" the person snapped. "Can't you see me running here?"
That very familiar voice made me shut my eyes and say "Please God, let this be some sort of twisted dream." I unwillingly opened one of my eyes and groaned loudly. "Aw come on! Quicksilver, what are you doing here?" The rest of the Brotherhood behind him but Toad was missing from the lineup.
"Could ask you the same thing, Tsunami," he retorted. Pietro looked better than the last time I saw him. His jaw line more defined, he much less scrawny and his voice got deeper. Not that I minded how high pitched his voice was before but now he sounded...ruggedly sexy. His teeth seemed to shine even more through his infamous smirk and his white hair looked like fresh snow. "What are you doing here?"
He stood up without even offering a hand to help me up. I guess all common courtesy toward me has disappeared since I broke up with him. I've even heard through the grapevine, the grapevine being Lance, that he's gone back to being a womanizer. But somehow it's even worse than before. He's treating the girls he dates more cruelly than ever. Like verbally belittling them and even kicking them out of the house half naked. Although he claims he's fine with the break up. Smell that sarcasm coming through the screen?
"I asked you first."
"We came to get Toad."
A curious look crossed my look making my eyebrows furrow into a unibrow. "Toad is here? Why? The Morlocks were captured. Why was he even in the sewers?"
"Beats me," Quicksilver shrugged. "If you'll excuse me..."
He began to walk past me when I said "You're going in the wrong direction. The prisoners are over there." I pointed toward the door on my right and shot a knowing grin at him.
"I don't need you or your help," he spat in animosity before smirking. "I've done plenty without you. Plenty indeed."
A disgusted scoff came from me as I retorted "Tell it to someone who cares. I'm trying to help Toad."
"Since when do you care about Toad?" Quicksilver asked, a look of mock interest on his handsome face.
'Wait, did I just call him handsome?'
(I heard that,) came his smug sounding projection. (Still pining after me, I see.) I growled at him as he shot me an arrogant look. (And still a feisty little firecracker.)
"You two can fight later," Cyclops butted in. "We're in the middle of a mission right now."
"She started it," Quicksilver immaturely mumbled.
I stuck my tongue out at him and Cyclops sighed. "If you're gonna fight, at least do it while trying to get the prisoners."
As Cyclops counted to three on his fingers, he sent an optic blast toward the door and it flew across the room in a charred heap. They must've been expecting us because once we barged inside every gun was pointed at us. It's always nice to be welcomed. The guards were dressed in slick, black jumpsuits and on every arm was a red sleeve that had the letters 'FOH' on them. I mentally asked Wanda to cause a distraction and she promptly agreed.
(As long as you're here might as well give me a hand with something,) I said. (And no isn't an option. When Wanda makes a distraction, disable the guards.)
Quicksilver huffed but otherwise made no argument. I made eye contact with the Scarlet Witch and she gave a curt nod. The metal covered light fixtures above the guards heads glowed blue with hex magic before the light bulbs exploded. Momentary disorientation was all Quicksilver needed to zip around the room and grab every weapon the guards had in under twenty seconds.
"You've gotten faster," I noticed as he returned to my side.
He smirked and said "You sound surprised."
"Only slightly," I replied. "I always knew you had it in you or have you forgotten who was the first person to ever believe in you?" A half smile and tiny chuckle followed my reply. Pietro let the corner of his mouth turn up into a happy smirk.
"Save the chit chat for later," Wolverine growled as he noticed us getting a little too friendly. "Aren't you two forgetting something?"
Nightcrawler teleported Shadowcat and himself across the room to free the prisoners while the rest of us were left to deal with the guards. Even without their weapons, the guards still charged for us hoping to beat us in hand to hand combat. Storm zapped people left and right, Wolverine was pouncing on any guard that came his way, Blob was knocking guards down like bowling pins as he charged toward them, the Scarlet Witch was using things around the room to trap guards, Rogue was defending herself without any powers at her disposal, Cyclops and Jean were fighting back to back and Avalanche was releasing tremors that were causing gaping holes on the floor. I swiftly defeated each guard that came my way, struggling only when they attacked from the left however. As I kicked a guard in the chest, another one crept up behind me but was taken out by Quicksilver.
"Now you owe me," he haughtily stated. While he was bragging to me, a different guard came up from behind him but I sent a psionic blast at him causing him to writhe on the ground in pain. I smirked at Quicksilver and pointed behind him.
"I guess we're even," I chuckled as playfully punched him in the chest and turned to help the others free the prisoners. There were five cells that had some type of green colored energy glowing on the bars. Three of the cells were already opened leaving me to take care of the other two.
"I'm saved!" Toad exclaimed as he pushed his way to the front of the cell. "Out of the way losers. Free Toad walking. Hurry up with the rescue, Tsunami; these jokers stink like sewage."
I rolled my eyes at the Toad's hilarious irony and sent icicle shaped projectiles at what looked like the power source of the energy and they shorted out. The glow stopped so Cybelle was able to melt the bars freeing the other mutants. There was only one cell left that only had one prisoner in it: Spyke.
"Long time, no see, Spyke," I curtly greeted. Two years and I still hated the guy. But it's been years maybe he's changed his crappy attitude. "Couldn't you have gotten captured after breakfast?"
"Sorry to interrupt your life at the cushy mansion," Spyke sarcastically growled.
I chortled at his annoyance. "Calm down, porcupine. Jeez, can't you take a joke?"
"Of course he can't," Quicksilver answered as hie sped up behind me. "He wouldn't know good humor if it hit him in the spiky and disgusting face."
Spyke narrowed his eyes to slits, his pupils burning with loathing and infuriation. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to see your face anymore. You're still dating this guy? I thought you were better than this." Nope, he still has a crappy attitude.
"I'm not actually," I huffed. I shot an ice projectile at the generator and it shorted out. You'd think he'd be a little more grateful to the girl breaking him out of a cell. I sliced through the bars with a quick whip of water and the mangled bars clattered to the floor. "I have a boyfriend."
Quicksilver looked upset like this was news to him but of course he tried to hide it. I made a mental note to double check on this after we boarded the jet. "That's everybody. Let's get going."
After making sure everyone was gathered in a tight group, we hastily barreled out of the room only to be faced with another group of guards.
"Take care of 'em, Blob," Quicksilver commanded. Blob took a running start and charged toward the guards knocking them over like bowling pins before making a hole in the wall to aid our escape. After running through the woodsy forest, we finally boarded the jet. It's a good thing we took the X-Jet instead of the XM-Velocity because we would have never been able to fit this many people on it. And as my streak of fabulous luck would have it, Pietro was the one who sat down next to me. I could already tell this would be a fun ride home.
"Of all the seats on this million dollar jet, you choose the one next to me," I dribbled with an angry pout.
Pietro gave me a half smile and with a hint of laughter in his voice said "You were always so cute when you pouted. Nothing really has changed in the past couple years." Okay, why the sudden change? What happened to the guy who couldn't stand the sight of me not twenty minutes ago?
"Yes they have," I disagreed. "I graduated from Bayville High in the top five of my class, am currently studying family medicine as well as general surgery at the University of Central Bayville and I'm living a very happy life with my boyfriend of one year. So to sum all that up: I grew up and got over you."
Pietro who wasn't so easily riled up retorted "Ah yes. Your 'boyfriend'. Who is he anyway? I've been so busy with my very important social life to even bother to check our link and find out."
"Don't act like you don't know," I dryly said. "I'm dating Alex Summers."
Pietro's eyes went wide then he closed them as hearty laughter poured out of him. "Mini Summers? You're dating Mini Summers? Ha! Talk about a huge step down. What could he possibly have that I don't?"
"Me," I answered with a smug smile. Pietro's laughter abruptly stopped. "Ooh. Did I strike a nerve? Besides, Alex is a very sweet, handsome, smart and caring guy. Unlike you, he doesn't go around humping every female that moves. And speaking of females, how is Rachel? And Tina? And Veronica? And Michelle? And-"
"Okay, I get the point," he said as he held up a hand to make me stop. "They're all fine thank you. What do you care? No wait, don't answer that! I can tell you myself." Pietro put a finger to his temple, no doubt looking through my thoughts. "You check up on me every so often to make sure I'm not getting in serious trouble. You think the women I dating are whores and prostitutes with no self respect or class. And you sometimes regret ending things because you always wonder how your life would be with me. Shall I keep going?"
Rather than glare at him or hit him for reading my innermost thoughts, I simpered lightly. "Clap, clap, bravo! You remembered how to use our telepathic link. You're a real piece of work. Did finding that out make you feel better about yourself? Make your head swell up just a little bit more? I don't care that you know, go ahead and keep combing through my thoughts if you want. But I will say that if I said any of it wasn't true, I'd be a filthy liar."
"If it's true, why not drop Mini Summers and get back with me?" Pietro asked as he wiggled his eyebrows in a way that was supposed to be attractive. "You know you want to."
"No, you want me to because you miss me," I clarified as the jet finally landed in front of the mansion. "No matter how much you try to hide it there is a part of you, deep down past all the arrogance and pride, that wants me back. Try as you may to shake it, you can't because there is a microscopic shred of Pietro Maximoff that is still in love with me. Too bad he screwed up one to many times and is still scared to death of his monster of a father because God forbid if Alex and I ever broke up, I would coming running back to you. Now if you will excuse me, Alex is waiting for me."
For the first time in years, Pietro was stunned to stony silence. He watched as Semina unbuckled herself from the seat, sauntered past him, exited the jet and flew into the arms of Alex. They embraced for a moment before sharing a kiss, locking hands and heading inside.
A/N: Reviews would be nice. So, yeah...go review...NOW! Thanks!
