To Choose A Side
Chapter One
Running
There was nowhere to hide, and her gasping breaths began to create sharp pains in her chest. Sarah Coles, a mutant, was being chased by people she didn't know.
At first, she thought they were policemen trying to arrest her for stealing food. If that were the case, she would have let them; at least there was food in prison. When they started to raise large, strange looking guns, she knew something was wrong. She booked it out of the crowded Saturday-market place, throwing herself into a group of people so they couldn't shoot. The twenty-one year old woman kept running, not looking back to see if they were following. When her chest started to hurt, she knew she had to stop at some point.
Taking a break, she leaned against the stone wall of one of the bakeries, and took deep breaths. She glanced over the corner slightly, trying to see if she can find them—she couldn't. Blue-gray eyes darting in every direction, searching for where they could be, she had no idea that there were some coming from the other direction. A shot ran out, and she yelped in pain, grabbing her arm. Without thinking, she ran again, but her concentration was off because of the throbbing.
Accidently, she slams full force into a tall, stalky man. He turned, irritated, but noticed her condition. The man looked strange, wearing red sunglasses, even though it was a cloudy day in New York, New York. Before she could run off again, he gently took the uninjured shoulder.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asks. She couldn't answer, but looks behind her. He follows her gaze, and sees the men in suits. Understanding, he pulled the woman aside so they couldn't see her. "Jean, we have to go!"
A red-headed woman turned her head and saw him hold the girl. Discreetly, they moved away from the crowd; and just as they broke away, Sarah's world faded to black.
Professor Xavier waited knowingly for Scott and Jean to arrive at the mansion. Once they did, they rushed the unconscious woman to the medbay in the subbasement. Jean began to work on her shoulder, where the bullet was embedded.
"What happened?" Professor X asked the other man. Scott Summers, or Cyclops, shook his head.
"I'm not sure…but she was being chased by people. At first I thought they were just mutant protesters, but they wore suits and some had strange guns I haven't seen before." Xavier nodded, deep in thought. Jean Grey continued to work on her, ignoring the conversation as she focused her telekinetic abilities to pull the bullet out as cleanly as possible. Once it was out, she began to stitch her up after she stopped the bleeding.
"This must have something to do with the new bill for mutant registering they are trying to pass…but why would they attack?" Professor X wondered aloud, and Scott couldn't answer him. After confirming the woman would survive, Professor X told Jean to call for him if she awakes, and begins to roll out of the room. Scott follows, and the two silently adjourn to the professor's study.
"I have noticed there has been many attacks around this area—most of them on mutants. Many people, especially children, won't know what to do. I think it is time we become more active in our search for students, so we can keep them safe here. Rogue and I have a meeting to go to, but I want you and a team to split up and go around New York and find those who are at risk. There is a map on your watches that will lead you to some of the people I have marked from Cerebro. Let's get to them before they get there first."
...
"Alright, time to split up. Jean and I will go back to the Saturday market and look around, I'm sure those men won't leave just because they lost one. Iceman you'll go with—where did Wolverine go?" Cyclops turned his head, trying to find where the shorter and gruffer man went.
"I don't know, man. I think he was mumbling something about being on his own." Iceman crossed his arms, an irritated look about him. He wore his street clothes, along with the rest of them, since this was more of an undercover mission. Cyclops sighed.
"Will you be alright by yourself?"
"Hey, just because I'm an x-man in training doesn't mean I need a watchdog! I can take care of myself!" Iceman sassed. He actually likes Cyclops, but Iceman had just failed a test earlier, and was still coming off of the ego-fall. Cyclops shook his head and let the seventeen year old run off.
The test-session still on his mind, Iceman quietly grumbled angrily to himself as he walked around. He looked down at the watch Beast had made for the X-men (he was given one for this mission), and pressed a couple buttons to show a map. A red dot appeared, showing that he was close to one of the marked targets. He looked up and walked in that direction. Once he started to hear yelling, he quickened his pace and peered through some bushes at a girl and guy bickering. Surprising to him, he recognized the man, and was not pleased to see him.
"Just, leave me alone Pyro! I don't want to do this anymore!" a pale skinned girl told the man following her. She had caramel colored hair and pretty bright blue, electric eyes. Wearing a white tank top, over it Iceman could see a short neon red belly-shirt with a picture of a yellow jellybean.
"You can't just leave! Where are you going to go? Back to the dumpsters?" the young man shouted back, his dark blue eyes flashing. Iceman decided now was the time to make a scene, and stepped out of the bushes.
"Hey, leave the jellybean alone, John." He ordered. The girl jumped and turned to him, not realizing he was there. Pyro's eyes darted to him.
"You?" he snarled.
Of course, the two used to be good friends, and had actually grown up together. That all changed when Pyro's powers came in and his parents disowned him when they were ten. Iceman stuck around until Pyro became convinced all humans were the same, and left. What he didn't know was that Iceman was also a mutant, but his powers didn't come in until four years later. When he had heard, he came back to apologize; but after he mentioned making the humans pay for the way they treated him, Iceman told him he could no longer be friends with him, and he would go on his own way.
Now, here they are, face to face after that happened a year ago.
The feelings they had for each other the last time they met, were coming to surface again.
"Keep out of this, human-lover!" Pyro growled. Iceman ignored him, and turned to the girl.
"You don't have to hang out with this creep, you can come with me and I can show you a place where you're safe." He told her. Thinking about it, she looked between Pyro and Iceman. Her hesitation about the offer seemed to piss Pyro off more.
"What is there to think about? You belong to The Brotherhood! You don't belong with them!"
"And who are you to say where I belong?" she snapped. "I don't agree with you, or Magneto's vision! I'm leaving!"
With that, she stepped to Iceman, who merely smirked at Pyro before leading her back to the pick-up point.
"Traitor!" Pyro yelled after her, and ran off in the opposite direction, back to the brotherhood base.
...
"Tell meh again, professor. Why on Earth would ya take me instead'a Storm?" Rogue asked the professor, as they both approached a nice looking two-story house. She was wearing layers: a tank top under a long-sleeve turtleneck sweater, a pair of skinny jeans, and a pair of black gloves she wore. Anna Marie, or Rogue, was unable to touch others because of her ability. If she were, their very life-force would be taken from them. To prevent this from happening, she wore long clothing that covered her pale skin. Her accent was thickly southern, having grown up in Mississippi.
"The girl we are here to visit is very uncomfortable with the state of her mutation. She has the ability to control nature, and when her mutation activated, her hair and arms have changed as well. Her grandmother tells me she refuses to leave the backyard, feeling rejected since her father kicked her out. I feel as though she would connect with you better than anybody else right now." He explained. She nodded slowly in understanding.
They reached the door and Rogue knocked three times. The grandmother cracked the door open, but after seeing the two opened it all the way.
"Oh, it's just you! Thank you so much for coming to visit! Ever since those people tried taking my Rowena away, I've been very cautious!" the lady moved to the side to allow them to enter. She was a sweet and plump looking woman, with silver-like hair and kind gray eyes.
"People?" Rogue questioned, and the grandmother nodded as she shut the door.
"Oh yes…Rowena and I were at the grocery store, picking up some apples, when all of a sudden these men in suits tried to snatch her up! Luckily we got away, and I was able to get her home where they couldn't find us. Ever since then, though, she hasn't left the backyard!" she leads them to the kitchen, where a sliding glass door led to the yard. They could see a girl sitting in the center, strange green hair flowing to her shoulders. She wore a strapless dress, revealing light green markings of leafs and vines running down her shoulders to her wrists.
"Ms. Madison, why don't you and I talk in the living room while Rogue talks to Rowena. She can relate to what she is going through." Professor X suggested, and the grandmother nodded and the two left the room. Rogue took a deep breath, and slid open the door, closing it behind her.
The girl didn't turn, or move in the slightest, as Rogue walked forward a bit. Feeling nervous, Rogue kept her distance.
"So..uhm..ya like nature?" she asked, trying to strike up conversation. Rowena's head turns slightly to the right, just enough for Rogue to see her cheek.
"Yes. It doesn't discriminate."
"Ah see…that makes some sense…ah know it's hard ta live in a world that don't understand you…" Rogue takes another breath and walks to Rowena, sitting down next to her, but still a short distance away to give her breathing room. She notices that Rowena had the same kind, gray eyes as her grandmother, but they looked distant. Rogue looked off too, trying to think of what to say.
"Ya know, down in Mississippi, when ah got upset wit' my parents or somethin', there weren't a lota places I could go…ah didn't have a lota friends at the time…so, I would hop on down to the river, an' for some reason it'd make me feel better. Ah could never explain it."
"The water calms people because it's in constant motion. We feel as if our troubling thoughts move with the water, and eventually just disappear." Rowena explains. Rogue thinks about this, and nods.
"Yeah, that sums up the feeling alright. Bu', eventually, ah had to face mah problems again. It was definitely hard at first, an' so many times ah just wanted ta crawl under a rock an' never be seen again! In the end though, I'm glad ah found where I belonged…"
Rowena looked up at her in wonder. "You're a mutant though, aren't you? How could you belong anywhere?"
Rogue turned to her and smiled.
"Well darn, the X-men are all mutant, and they're also mah family. Ev'ryone at the x-mansion are so kind an' understandin'…probably because we all haveta go through the same things…yet, somehow, it's easier to deal with it all together instead'a bein' alone."
Rowena nodded, understanding, and looked down at her lap. "I wish I had a place like that…my grandmother makes me feel accepted, but if I go anywhere…I just…"
"Feel alone?" Rogue answered, and she nodded. "Well girly, there is a whole population that feels like you, an' is stickin' up for you. If ya want, you can come on up to the mansion wit' us. You can visit your grandma whenever ya like, bu' at least this way you're with people who won't judge ya…and we can even teach ya about those fancy nature skills o' yours!"
Not answering at first, Rogue wondered if she would accept. Finally, Rowena nodded, and told her she wanted to go with. Rogue grinned and the two stood up, going inside to meet up with the professor. While Rowena hugged her grandmother and informed her the decision she made, the professor gave Rogue a congratulatory grin.
About thirty minutes later, the girl was completely packed, and they climbed onto the small jet. As they flew away, Rowena looked one last time at what used to be her home for the past four years. Down below, her grandmother was still waving, a tear in her eye.
Juleanne "Jules" Starr wandered around a small park in New York, kicking pebbles and trying to not think. She had no place to be, and just walked along the grass, not following the path. Many who looked at her would think she was a woman—but the girl's appearance was misleading, for she was only fifteen. With a troubled mind, she looked brooding and cold from a distance.
While walking, she heard a strange, whimpering sound. Thinking it to be an injured animal, she investigates. She finds another girl, perhaps a few years older than her, but not by much. The barely-adult woman muttered curses under her breath, kneeling at the side of a small pond while wiping her tears away. Not wanting to get involved, Jules started to turn away, until a strange movement in the water caught her eye. The water was rippling in strange patterns that obviously weren't natural. She stepped a little closer, and noticed that the woman held her hand out a little, making movements that coincided with the ripples.
Jules knew she wasn't the only mutant, especially having come across one early in life, but she for some reason never expected to come across one. When shifting her weight, she accidently snaps a twig, causing the woman to look up with a startled look. She's about to run, but something made Jules come forward and tell her to stop. Obeying, the woman looked at her with a peculiar expression.
"Aren't you going to turn me in, or somefing?" she asked, having a harsh, Polish accent. Jules shook her head.
"If I did that, I might as well turn myself in too." Jules walked into the small clearing so the woman could see her fully. They examined each other. Jules had black hair, and her eyes were currently a light orange (her eyes change colors frequently). She had a punkish/band member kind of style of clothing; including a leather jacket, cargo pants, fingerless gloves and skinny jeans adorned with a chain belt. The other girl had short, wavy brown hair and big green eyes. Her clothing was attractive and form-fitting, her t-shirt and jeans defining her curvy hips.
"You are a mutant as well?" the woman asked, and Jules nodded. She thought about this, and decided that she could be trusted. "My name is Kaja, what is yours?"
"Jules. So, you can manipulate water, right?" Kaja nodded.
"What do you do?"
"I can manipulate gravity and the cosmos."
"Oh yeah? Show me." Kaja demanded, still unconvinced that she was telling the truth. Jules raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless showed her. She focused on the space around her, and when the gravity was removed, she slowly began to lift into the air. Kaja's jaw drops, but closes after Jules lands on the ground again. "So you are telling fa truf!"
That accent…Jules is by no means racist, and carries a little accent herself since she was born in London, but Kaja's accent couldn't help but make her grin the tiniest bit.
"Some powers you both have there." A voice said from behind a tree. Kaja jumped and turned around; Jules looked just beyond her to see a blue-skinned woman stroll by. Jules became defensive, taking a ready-to-fight stance.
"You…you are a mutant too?" Kaja asked. The woman nodded.
"My name is Mystique. I help a man get back at those who have hurt us—like those homosapians." She hissed the word, making the hair on the younger girls' necks stand on edge.
"What do you mean?" Mystique stood a little distance away from them, standing with her weight on her left leg and hands behind her back; showing them she meant no harm.
"Tell me, what kind of lives do you come from? What happened after the humans found out you were a mutant?" she answered with a question. The two young women looked at each other.
"My parents disapproved and disowned me…" Kaja murmured. Knowingly, Mystique nodded, and turned to Jules expectantly.
"I'm not obliged to tell you anything about me," she snapped. Mystique shrugged, not going further. Shifting her weight to her other leg, she stared the girls down.
"These people are scared of us because we are different. They believe we are a threat: so they will do anything to exterminate us. If we band together, they can't harm us."
They stood silently, until finally Kaja nodded and stepped towards Mystique. Jules questioned her, but Kaja shook her head.
"She's choosing survival." Mystique told her. "You are free to join us. But if you don't, you make yourself an enemy."
"Think this through, Jules; what do you think will happen if they do start making us register, like all the other mutants?"
She honestly hadn't thought about that. The mutant registration was far from her mind, but now that there were so many pro-registration groups, it was clear that it was likely to happen. At that point, all mutants would be forced to register, instead of volunteering to. If you didn't—well, they would force you too. With a sigh, Jules nodded, and they walked away, mere minutes before a group of suited men trudged by the pond.
...
The building looked similar to an American DMV. Martin Trujillo, with a depressed appearance, sat at the end of a row of chairs. Few people were in the room, some more obviously mutant than others (like the woman with tentacles for hair). To think he was one of them. Only two years ago his mother would hug him and kiss his forehead before he would leave for school in Harlingen, Texas. However, when they found out about his abilities, she claimed him a demon and tried to kill him. He then found his way to New York, trying to find acceptance. Since then, he has found none. Giving up, he is here, at the mutant registration office.
The noise of the door caused him to look up, and a strangely dressed man walked in. He wore a dorky looking gray helmet with a cape to match. Hearing a scream, Martin looked as the woman behind the counter ran to a back room and locked herself in there. Feeling he should fear this man, Martin stood up and was about to try and sneakily get pass him. The man grabbed his shoulder, and Martin was just about to deck the man when a strange force made his hand stop. He wore a watch on his right wrist, which tugged at his arm, making it impossible to move his forearm. Stunned, he backed away, and the tugging sensation was released.
The man grinned at the boy. "You are going to want to hear what I have to say, young man." Then he turned to the rest of the room.
"Sure you can register like the humans want, and when the time comes for them to exile us or kill us, make it easier for them to find you. Once they have you in their lists, it is not a simple case of changing your name, dying your hair and moving away. No, no, they have a chip implanted in you, so at any time they wish they will take you away. People, they are trying to get rid of us, and you have become too tired or blind to see it. I understand your frustrations and depressions. Doing this only ensures your destruction. Join me, join us and band together, so we can rise and crush them! We are the next chain of evolution!" his voice raises with each sentence, until his words could be heard throughout the entire building.
The few people around them didn't budge, but just stared with vacant eyes. Martin however, stared at him with a look of inspiration. As this strange man took his exit, Martin ran outside and followed him.
"Wait!" he caught up with him and another man who was wearing a black fabric with steel armor-plating outfit and a gray-tinted partially transparent helmet that stopped just below his eyes. They turn to face him. "I want to join you!"
The elder smirked as he looked the boy up and down. "And what can you do?" he asked.
It took Martin a minute to realize he meant power wise. Thinking quickly, he looked down at a nearby fire hydrant, and stretched his hand towards it—palm-up. Without even touching it, the inanimate object sprouted legs and silly looking eyes and ran away. People walking close to them screamed in horror and ran. Before causing more trouble, Martin faced his hand toward the hydrant again, and the legs vanished and the eyes shut and disappeared.
The man was laughing, along with his escort.
"I see, you may join us, little Upriser." The man chuckled. Martin grinned at this new nickname, and almost skipped along with them.
"Hold on, I don't think I caught your name…what was it again?" Martin asked carefully, not really knowing how to speak to this authority-figure.
"Magneto."
A/N: I realize this chapter is late and I deeply apologize, I've been fighting with my computer since Thursday. Finally, we agreed it was time to give you guys this chapter, for you guys deserve it! I have one character slot left for the next chapter, not including those who have already sent in their characters. BUT if you do end up sending in a character and it doesn't make deadline, I can still take them and put them in a later chapter. Next postdate is set for the 16th! After I finish my other stories, this one will then take priority, and the intervals between chapters will become one week instead of two! Thanks for reading!