"Most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs."

After eating an apple alone in her room for breakfast, Maya takes a (quick) shower and rereads the letter.

The Danger Room?

It took quite a bit of wandering on Maya's part, before she actually finds the Danger Room. It was in a silver hallway one floor under the mansion, with many doors on each wall, so she chose the one at the end and hoped she was right. Stepping in the room, she was surprised to see it was completely empty, save for the mirror taking up one wall, and the lights in the ceiling.

She entered as she did every room she's been in at this house, cautiously and hesitantly. Nobody was there and she concluded that she must have been lost and turned to leave; but, just as she did a voice slightly startles her.

"You're not lost, Maya."

She whips her head around, instinctively looking for Feeny in the small area.

"Where are you? Where am I?" Her questions were aggressive, and she was unsure about being here once more.

"This, Maya, is the Danger Room." Feeny answers cryptically. "It's a simulator room, which is used for power assessment and training. With newer students, it's used to display their abilities, so we can 'class' you. This room can handle anything there is to throw at it."

Nodding, Maya surveys the room once more and gives a small snort before muttering to herself, what she thought was mentally. "I'm supposed to 'display' my abilities in a steel box?"

"No, Hart." She recognizes the slightly somewhat voice as Brennan's and relaxes only a fraction of an inch at the slight familiarity. The room then changes from it's grey surroundings, to a quiet street. Jumping, and then sucking her teeth, Maya's left in awe at what just happened. "In a simulator. Please, show us what you can do."

Walking around slowly, Maya reaches a reluctant hand out to touch a parked car, when her hand stops at the metal surface, she jumps again.

It's real.

She spins around on her heels and sees that street continues on in both directions. There aren't any people, but a few buildings here and there.

Deciding that she would take this as seriously as possible, she inhales slowly and begins to lift the objects surrounding her. Holding multiple items at once takes a good portion of her focus to raise them high over her head, and she lets them stay there. Almost proud of herself for exhibiting her powers, she does her best to steadily return them to the ground.

"All abilities, Hart. We know you can do that...but what else aren't you showing us?" Brennan prods from his unknown location.

Shrugging her shoulders, she sticks her hands in the warm pockets of her coat. "I don't know." She replies in her gravelly voice, still not used to her own vocal cords.

"There's more, we both know that." Brennan continues, searching for her answers. "How do we get in there?"

She's not sure if it's question for her, or to himself, or maybe to Feeny, but she knows what she needs to do.

"Are you sure this room can handle anything?" She questions, tentative about truly giving up her well-trained control.

"Anything, Maya." Feeny's voice is like that of a comforting parent, and she begins to trust him.

"Danger. I need danger."

"Are you sure?"

"If you want to see more, I need danger." Making it a point to say 'more' and not everything, Maya rolls her neck. She knew there was one other way, but she refused to go to that place, not yet.

The scene transforms from the quiet street to burning grounds on dark night. The area is in total ruins and flaming objects are falling from the sky. It's almost unbearably hot and the air is thick and heavy. The only light comes from the fires, otherwise, it's totally black.

What appears to be a school desk set on fire comes rushing towards her out of nowhere, and Maya acts on pure instinct. Raising her hands is nothing more than a protective instinct for herself, and she turns her face away, and her subconscious focuses on shielding herself. Hearing a muffled noise and then a crash, but feeling nothing, Maya opens her eyes to inspect the damage. The school desk is now on the ground, in multiple pieces, no longer set ablaze.

Content with her display, she allows herself to relax. Her shoulders slump minutely, and her guard is down. She's slightly tired already, and breathing harder than she should. But, it's not her fault. She's never voluntarily used her powers for protection, it's always been small shock waves of her powers, like little bursts of air. There's never been a reason for more...except for that one time—

Maya whips her head around to the sound of low-pitched whistling. There's a semi-truck coming at her at rapid speed, and she reacts without completely thinking about it.

And she knows what happened.

Something completely different has been awakened inside of her, stronger than her own being. This thing, this animal, is like the person that hides in the shadows cast by the brightest days. This animal is pure instinct, pure emotion, it's the knee-jerk reactions that she will never be able to control.

It's a separate person who's partially her, and partially something completely different. She's been entirely sure about 'it' came about, but it hasn't left since Marnie—

Whatever it is, it's stronger than anything she could to on her own.

So when the semi-truck comes at her, she doesn't even flinch. She barely blinks. The truck stops a few feet away from her, and she tilts her head a bit and watches almost like a second person in her own body, as the truck is torn apart. By the end, it is reduced to the scrap metal it started as on the production line.

"Turn it off." Maya's voice is shaking, even telepathically. She has to get out of this room. Everything's moving too fast, and she can feel 'it' bubbling up inside her again. Like an unwanted rising in her throat, she tries swallowing it back.

When there's no response, she uses her voice. "Turn it off!" She yells, louder than she has spoken in months.

But, it works. Immediately the simulator is turned off and she pushes herself out of the silver door, forcing the bile that's been rising to her back into her stomach.

She sees Brennan and Feeny waiting for her near the intersection of another hallway. And her walk picks up into a light jog. Maya knows she's holding her emotions too close to the surface but she can't contain it.

"What the hell?" Maya seethes when she's finally in front of them. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Brennan shrugs, and his face twitches with vague confusion and annoyance. "You asked for danger, Hart."

"I didn't ask you to try and kill me! Do you know what you almost did?" Her anger is flaring faintly, but she's internally pacifying her—it?— again.

"What did we almost do?" Brennan prods. The wonder in his voice is not lost on her, and for the first time she turns to look at Feeny who's face is passive, totally void of everything but neutrality.

In that moment she feels more like a science experiment than a student, like a lab rat instead of a real person. "Nothing." Maya pushes past them, red hair rolling in waves behind her. It almost looks as if the fire of her anger has changed her hair color to the deep red in the pit of the flames.

Her eyes have shifted from their normal stormy blue, to the persistent scarlet always hiding just beneath.

It's always hiding just beneath.

She stomps her way upstairs, noting how the hallways are eerily empty, and goes to her room. Shutting her eyes, she leans back against the door, warring with herself. Knowing she can't force it back any longer, she runs into her bathroom and empties the contents of her stomach in the toilet. Cradling the bowl, she coughs up the last bits and rests on her knees. Gathering her strength, she gets back on her feet to wash out her mouth. Not even bothering with her reflection, she's already made a decision.

Ripping her suitcase from under her bed, she prepares to throw her clothes in the suitcase, when she hears a knock at her door.

Thinking it must be Brennan or Feeny, she doesn't answer. But, the rapping is hesitant and gentle, so she opens the door.

On the other side of the threshold stands a smiling brunette, who doesn't look a thing like Brennan nor Feeny. "Hi!"

"Hi..?" Maya's barely got time to ask her who she is, when she's bounding into her room, plopping down on her bed. Looking around, the brunette makes flying assessments of the room, not actually introducing herself to Maya. The lights flicker quickly, and she believes it must be a simple shortage.

Then in walks a curly haired boy in a flannel shirt with a wide grin, followed by a tall brown haired boy with tan skin and sunglasses on. There's a total of three uninvited people in her room, none of whom Maya knows, talking all at once. Her face is wrenched in plain confusion at what's going on until she hears a question directed at her.

"Wait, she didn't introduce herself did she?" The tall boy says, scratching the back of his neck. Maya shakes her head, chewing on her tongue. "The brunette, that's Riley, the one with the flat butt right here," he points to the boy sitting on his right. "That's Zay, and I'm Lucas."

Riley finally stops tittering and speaks to Maya. "I'm sorry, I just get excited with new students, especially girls. I only have these two, and it's not always fun." She extends her hand to Maya, looking expectantly. Maya's palm barely touches hers when she's enveloped in a tight hug. Believing she must be feeling the after-effects of her earlier power usage, she ignores the small, but insistent, pulses she feels. "Sorry, I'm a bit of a hugger. Blame my parents." Releasing Maya, Riley looks straight into her eyes, and sits back down on her bed.

"I know it'll be quite difficult, but please try not to fall in love with me." Zay grins cockily, resting back on his hands. "I've been told my looks can be quite chilling."

"Oh my god, one time, Zay! It doesn't even make any sense, and it was a terrible joke!" Riley rolls her eyes in fake annoyance. The lights flicker again, but nobody seems to see it, except Maya.

Lucas smiles at Maya. "They'll grow on you." He speaks with experience lacing each word and oddly, Maya believes him. She tries to look at his eyes, but can't see past his red sunglasses. Riley and Zay continue a quick back and forth about the joke while Maya and Lucas watch in slight amusement. "Guys! Hello, we're in someone else's room and she has no idea who we are." He turns back to her, eyes dancing with light.

"Oh, yeah! Have you been assessed yet? What level are you?" Riley's rattling off questions faster than Maya can process them.

Maya looks back towards Lucas who nods and chuckles, "You'll get used to it."

"Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves first right?" Zay grins again, and Maya's puzzled look must have been a question in itself. "You know our names, but we're at school for mutants, we haven't met properly yet." Everyone rises from her bed and walks out of her room, and Riley grasps Maya's hand, leading her down the stairs. Dragging Maya behind her, they take her out of side door, through a few bushes and into a clearing.

She recognizes the area as the field a little ways off from the garden beneath her window. It's green and open, with a few thick, leafy trees scattered around.

If she were in remotely any danger, she knows she would have felt something.

They wear their emotions like damn shields. Especially Riley.

Their energy is genuine, and the excitement over her presence was completely authentic in all aspects. She finds herself trusting them already, and she wonders if this part of one of their mutations.

"Who goes first?" Zay asks. But, both Riley and Lucas already know the answer.

Zay always goes first.

"If you insist." Cracking his knuckles, Zay exhales deeply. He opens his hands and in a matter of milliseconds layers of frost are released from his palms into the air, covering a whole patch of grass. Growing more intense, the skin of his hands begins to turn an icy-blue in color. As he continues emissions of ice, the once warm air, takes a breezy chill. The icy-blue travels up his hands and over his forearms, ducking under the sleeves of his shirt. Slowing down, he soon stops completely, leaving an entire patch of formerly green grass, blanketed in ice.

Clapping, Riley and Lucas nod in his direction, as he blows on his palms and then shoves them in his pockets.

"Impressive." Maya finds herself speaking in her head, rather than out loud.

"Okay, my turn!" Riley exclaims, letting Zay shuffle into her previous position next to Lucas. "Watch." She calls over her shoulder, smiling profusely. Raising both hands upwards, fingers out, palms facing down, electricity crackles in the very core of her body. Dancing from the tips of her fingers, sparks of electricity, turn to balls of light shooting from her wrists. Multiple waves and colors play in the sky while Riley laughs. Giving the last few bursts of light, she spins back to face her friends, taking a small bow.

"Lucas." Zay inclines his head towards the 'stage'. "C'mon, now don't be shy."

Tentatively, Lucas steps away from Maya, hands balled into fists. Reaching up to fiddle with the rims of his red-tinted sunglasses, he looks back to Zay, who gives an eager bob.

His hands are visibly trembling and Maya can actually feel his anxiety, and it's making her feel anxious. Walking over to him, she finally speaks. "You don't have to..." She breathes, stopping him in his tracks. "You don't have to show me if you don't want to."

Exhaling slowly, he drops his hands, smiling sheepishly. "One day."

"Alright, Your turn!" Zay's voice rings.

Maya realizes that everyone's eyes are on her, looking expectantly. Pointing to herself, she raises her eyebrows, and they smile and gesture for her to 'show'. Lucas steps back over to Riley, crossing his arms over his chest, a hopeful smile on his face.

Millions of thoughts buzz through her head, many versions of herself arguing about what she should do. Finally, she shakes her head and steps in front of Riley who's wearing a huge grin on her face. Slowly, she refocuses her energy and listens intently

It's not the first time she does it on purpose, and she knows that it will work. Receiving the neural messages like they're her own, she's able to completely hear everything, her memories are like movies. "When you were a little girl, your brother bit the face off of one of your favorite stuffed teddy bears. It's been years since it happened, and you know you should have forgiven him, but you can't bring yourself to do it." There's much more, but she removes herself quickly, knowing she'll go too far.

"Well, I'll be damned. You're telepathic?" Lucas asks in awe. "We don't have a lot of those here."

Riley's still staring at her with an easy joy, and Maya literally feels the fragility hidden behind her warm smile. "We don't have any actually. We have a walk-walker, a flyer or five, super speed or strength, 'shape-shifters' all in different forms, different styles. But, you're the first telepath we've had here." Plopping down on the warm grass, Riley gestures for Maya do the same. And when she does, Lucas and Zay follow in suit. After a few minutes of silence, Riley talks again. "I hope you get leveled with us." Maya's once again perplexed expression when she hears 'leveled' causes Riley to explain. "It's like school, where you have grades, we have 'levels' here."

"What level are you?"

"We're all Alphas." Sighing and falling on her back, she adds, "We're the only Alphas." Looking towards the sky, Riley huffs. "Which is why everyone hates us."

Not even Zay can argue with this fact. Lucas, Zay and Maya all lie back on the grass, watching the clouds pass over in the sky. Riley plays with the electricity crackling at her fingers, while Zay creates snow crystals from the moisture in the air.

She understands why they're all together, why their bonds are so tight.

They're all that they have.

The sun's just beginning to visit the other side of the world when they return to Maya's room and they find her assessment letter placed on her bed, along with a schedule.

Carefully opening the sealed envelope, she hopes for something good, without knowing what she was actually hoping for.

Hello Ms. Hart,

After conversing with Anthony Brennan, and a few other teachers, (some of which you will have), you're level placement is:

Alpha.

I hope you have rethought your decision to leave.

Sincerely yours,

George Feeny

Turning back to their eager faces, Maya only gives a small nod when they break out into face splitting grins.

"I'm so happy you're an Alpha! I'll finally get to have girl talk with someone!" Riley pulls Maya into another tight hug, electric pulses running through her body. "You'll have all your classes with us, so we'll show you where they are. We have our mornings free because the teachers are usually in other sessions, so we'll get to talk."

Skimming through her printed schedule, she notices that she has 'Teletherapy' with Feeny just before breakfast.

Reading over her shoulder, Zay sees it as well. "Teletherapy? What's that?" He scoffs in mock jealousy.

Bravely, she gives it a shot. "It's a telepath thing, you wouldn't understand." Her tone is filled with fake snobbishness and she wants to cringe.

Lucas and Riley stare her open mouthed, and then break down in fits of laughter at Zay's faux scowl.

They resume laughing and talking but Maya continues mulling over 'Teletherapy'.

Teletherapy? Well, duh, it's therapy of the mind, but what would she need teletherapy for? Of course for the obvious, but he couldn't know about that...could he? She's hid it so well, there's no way he could know. He can't know. Nobody knows. She's too strong, her composure never fell, it never fell, it never fell, it never—

It fell.

Right after 'she' bubbled up inside of her, when she was yelling at Brennan and Feeny.

It fell.

He probably thinks she's insane.

In the end, they make plans to meet up for breakfast the next morning, and when she's finally alone, Maya wonders if it was actually real. If she actually talked to people, if she actually made friends. It crossed her mind that the whole thing might have been a mental projection of the friends she might have, if she wasn't so her. But, she chooses to believe that it was real, that people are actually that nice, and interested in her.

Maya knows the sparks she felt when Riley touched her hands, the visions she saw when she voluntarily entered her mind. The chill that took the air when Zay displayed himself to her. And the anxiety that racked Lucas' body when it was time for him to show her his powers, and one other emotion that she couldn't quite seem to place. Whatever it was, it wasn't foreign, it felt familiar, just not in the way she was receiving it.

Falling back on her bed, she thought about how she almost left this morning. It was an abrupt decision, and of course, not entirely thought out at the time. It seemed like the right thing to do, or more, the easy thing to do.

Run, whenever things seemed to get hard.

How was she supposed to get better if she left?

She'd give this a shot, being a semi-normal teenager, who makes breakfast plans with friends and goes telepathic therapy in the mornings.

Absently, she considers why the other students didn't like the Alphas, was it like a 'group-pack-follow the leader' mentality, and they were caught on the wrong side of it?

No, it had to be so much more than that. She felt everyone's mood shift into disappointment, not guilt.

It was so much more than that.

Her alarm goes off as she flips over in her bed, groaning quietly to herself. Sleep hadn't come easily last night, and it was a struggle to release herself into the dream state that she longed for. Maya's mind was moving a hundred miles a minute, and her inability to fully control it worried her.

She shouldn't have used her powers on Riley yesterday.

Rarely had she used her telepathy voluntarily, and when she had, it left her mind greatly unsettled and distressed. Subconsciously, she could hear everyone's thoughts and only through her own concentration could she block them out. But, voluntarily entering and listening to them always left her bothered afterwards. She could never control how far she went into their minds, and almost always, she had gone too far. Forcibly, she had ripped herself out of Riley's mind, but she knew she hadn't exited 'properly', because something still felt off. If she stayed out of Riley's thoughts in the first place, she wouldn't have to worry about the consequences.

Stripping as she crossed into her bathroom, Maya rolls her necks then turns on her shower, allowing the water to heat up. When the mirror begins to fog up a little, she steps inside and allows her body to become accustomed to the temperature before bathing herself.

As quick she's in, she's out of the shower, and brushing her teeth with a towel wrapped around her chest. After spitting and rinsing her mouth, she removes her hair from the ponytail she tied it in before she went to bed. Throwing on a white t-shirt and her jeans, she makes sure to pull her black coat off the back of her chair and tug it on over her clothes. She does her best to mentally prepare herself for the day's events before exiting her room.

After more wandering, Maya finally finds the room Feeny requested to meet her in. It was moderately lit, and it looked like a stereotypical psychologist's room, including the chaise next to the taupe walls. Feeny sits with his ankle atop his knee, sipping tea out of a dark brown mug.

"Maya. Sit." With a nod to the chaise opposite of him, Feeny continues drinking his tea. The chaise squeaks a bit as Maya takes a seat, pushing back strands of her hair and shifting. "Are you nervous? You look scared..."

"No, I don't like therapists too much." The thighs of her jeans stick to the chair and Maya tries to move them quietly.

"That's understandable, but why?" Maya doesn't respond, simply shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not a therapist, Maya. You can lead this conversation." Still, she doesn't answer and Feeny knows she's starting to shut down.

"Would you prefer we communicate like this?"

Flinching slightly, Maya exhales slowly. "I don't know, I guess."

"Don't worry, I won't venture anywhere you don't want me to."

"Okay."

"So talk to me, Maya." Feeny tries.

"About what?"

"Your family, school, anything's good."

"Well, I don't talk to my family and I'm failing every class in school. I don't have any friends, so there's no social life or boyfriend or anything. I'm not sure what I believe or who in I believe in so, I can't be that religious. I don't have much interest in anything at all so there's nothing I really like doing. That's it." Immediately, shields are being built in Maya's mind, trying to keep Feeny from prying.

"Why don't you talk to your family?"

"There's nothing to say."

"Why are you failing in school?"

She hesitates for a moment, but only for a moment. "I don't do the work."

"Talk to me about your powers."

"What happened to 'you lead the conversation'? Or did that just get boring?"

It's obvious she's attacking him, she's on the defensive, and he recognizes that it's something she's not used to. It's something she's never done before so everything doesn't sound as harsh as it should. "Tell me about your powers, Maya. I would like to know about them."

"I hear people's thoughts." She states distantly. "All the time, I hear everything they think, everything they want to say. If I focus, I can see their—I can see their memories, I can feel their emotions. I can feel everything."

"When did this start happening?"

"I don't want to talk about that." Immediately, Maya shuts down that portion of the conversation, forcing Feeny to steer in another direction.

"And what about the other parts?"

"I can move things with my mind, you know that." She says matter-of-factly.

Pressing a bit, he continues on. "We both know it's a bit more than that, Maya."

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know how the rest of it comes around." She's not lying, she doesn't know where it all comes from. But, she knows that whatever it is, is a part of her and she might not be able to control it. It's not easy for Maya to understand much of anything about her powers.

"Do you know what the X-Gene is, Maya?"

"Were you not listening to the part about school?" She huffs.

"This wouldn't be taught in school. The X-Gene is what we believe to be a gene that carries genetic mutations on it, giving us our powers. But, I also think there may be something else that gives you yours."

"Like what?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet."

"That makes two of us."

Straightening his jacket, Feeny speaks. "That's great, Maya. I'll see you tomorrow, same time."

It takes Maya a second to gather herself again and return to the natural world. When she realizes what he just said confusion pervades her mind. "That's it? No diagnosis of borderline personality disorder? Or a prescription of super anti-depressants like every other doctor I've been sent to?"

"I don't think you need all of that Maya, and like I said same time tomorrow." Feeny nods and gives some what of a kind smile, and drinks his tea.

She rises to her feet, blinking twice at Feeny before exiting the room. Maya walks back to her room in a dream-like state, thoroughly searching through her mind to figure if anything felt different. She then pilfers through bits of her mind she had tightly locked away, making sure those had remained untouched as well. After confirming that Feeny hadn't gone anywhere in her head, she exhales slowly, leaning back against her closed door.

Somewhere in mind, she remembers that she's supposed to meet Riley and the others for breakfast. But, the seemingly extensive use of her powers in the last two days, has her completely unnerved. Throwing herself on her bed, she shuts her eyes and tries to sleep, but something keeps her completely awake.

Or someone?

Yo, yo, yo. Hi! I'm very exhausted, but just from life ofc.

I have a funny feeling this story will be kinda long, I won't give up on this story specifically because I know where I want to take it, but character development doesn't happen in one episode of a TV show does it?

No, it takes like a whole season! (I've been using that analogy a lot for some reason.)

Once again, I am in desperate need of a Beta, like seriously. I suck with grammar y'all.

I'm glad you read this, please tell me what you thought! I'd love to hear from you!

- XOXO, Minnie.