Disclaimer: The idea of X-Men, along with most of the named characters and places/things in this chapter such as Xavier's school, all belong to Marvel comics, the creators of the X-Men comics, the people that made the movies, and anyone else officially involved with X-Men. The only named characters who belong to me in this chapter are Artemis, Vic, Sara, and Anna; I also created the shelter. I am not making any money from this. (Heck, I'm losing money, if anything, since I'm spending my time writing without getting paid at all.) However, this story-line is mine; please don't use/steal it or main details from it.
Almost two weeks updating…That's not that bad, is it, considering the length? Author's notes in the prologue have been changed; if you have not read them since this chapter was added, please look at them again. As always, please review.
Diane laughed. Since finding this shelter a week ago, after two days of wandering, she had been quite happy. Mornings and evenings she spent socializing, nights she slept in a nice bed, and during the day she helped out at and around the shelter. (The two cuts, one on her head and another on her side, had almost healed, and she didn't expect any problems with them.) As long as she was working, no one minded her staying in the least.
Her life was still far from perfect, but Diane was getting used to it. She still couldn't remember anything about herself before the fight, but Diane didn't see another option. Diane – she had decided shortly after discovering that she had no memory of her past that she needed a name. Diane, for no particular reason, had appealed to her. So now she was Diane.
The girl's thoughts returned to the present in time for her to hear a round of hysterical giggles going through the room five girls, including Diane, slept and lived in. This shelter was a bit odd, really. There didn't seem to be any limit on how long someone could stay. The girl sitting across from Diane, Artemis, had been staying there for over a year.
"So, so, I told him that my limo was one street over, and he actually believed me and ran off to see it!" Anna gasped between laughs. Diane laughed along with the other girls, even though she didn't know what Anna was talking about.
After a while the casual conversation turned into a political debate. Diane joined in the conversation about the president election coming up in a year, and she soon discovered she knew as much about it as the other girls. She didn't understand how this worked, but somehow she could remember everything except personal things.
"Of course, Lindon is anti-mutant," Artemis commented, sending the debate in that direction. For some reason, Diane felt herself arguing for mutants. She couldn't recall any specific reason why, but she sympathized with them. To her further surprise, all four of the other girls seemed to share her view wholeheartedly, which was fairly uncommon. In fact, they seemed far more defensive of mutants than Diane herself was.
An hour later they all rolled into bed as the lights automatically turned off. Diane sighed in contentment. She didn't know how long she could keep this up before she became bored out of her mind, but for now this was fine.
Diane's eyes snapped open. For a moment she wasn't sure what had woken her, but then she heard whispers and noticed faint light. "-just don't know." Diane recognized Sara's quiet voice.
"She sounded like she wouldn't betray us," Anna said slowly, obviously thinking aloud.
"Just pretending that we know for sure we could trust her, the less people who know, the better. What if she slipped? Just once could do us all in." That was Artemis.
"I guess you're right," agreed the last girl, Vic. "Anyway, we shouldn't spend this time arguing over that. This is the only time we get to practice."
A murmur of agreement met Vic's words. "Let's split into pairs, then," Artemis announced. She seemed to be the leader of whatever they were doing, which wasn't surprising; she did have that sort of personality.
Diane shifted her head slightly so she could see the four girls. She couldn't tell which was which, but she could tell that two of them were staring at each other. The other two were doing a very odd exercise. One had a ball of water hovering over her hand. She tossed it to the girl opposite her, zigzagging the ball as the other girl seemed to be causing concentrated bursts of heat, trying to hit the ball. At least, Diane saw the air shimmer, as if it was over a fire or something. When the thermal girl succeeded, the water girl created another ball and tried again.
Diane stared at this scene for quite a long time. Eventually they seemed to tire, the water-and-heat pair growing clumsy and the slumped posture of them all proclaiming exhaustion.
"I'm done," Anna finally gasped, wiping her forehead. Now that they were both talking and visible to Diane, she could tell that Anna was the water girl, Sara the one who created the thermals, and Artemis and Vic the two who had been staring at each other.
The others nodded and rolled into their beds, whispering good-nights. Artemis quickly turned off their flashlight/lantern and hid it under her bed. Someone mumbled something about Sara's turn tomorrow night, and then they all went to sleep.
Diane woke up the next morning a few minutes before the other girls and stared at them for some moments. Last night's secret meeting among them was burned into her brain far too vividly for it to have been a dream. So Sara and Anna were mutants. It would seem that Artemis and Vic must be mutants too, then. Probably. That would certainly explain their views on mutant-related politics.
The girl wondered what, if anything, she should do with this knowledge. Turning them in to the police or some anti-mutant group was not an option, of course. The question was if she should reveal that she knew about them. She guessed that it was her they had been discussing whether or not to tell. They seemed to have decided not to tell her what they were discussing (presumably that they were mutants). After thinking about it for a couple minutes, Diane decided not to say anything. Anyway, some instinct of hers said that just because someone was a mutant didn't automatically mean they were good guys. Diane couldn't give any examples of this, but that instinct was very strong.
But Diane wasn't just going to let this go. As far as Artemis and the others were concerned, she knew nothing, but Diane fully intended to spy on all their little training sessions – that must be what they were doing – and find out everything she could about them. She wasn't quite sure why, but besides natural curiosity, her instincts were firmly saying to learn more.
Instincts. Diane sometimes thought they were only partly true instincts; maybe they were her brain's reactions to her circumstances using her lost memories. But when she tried to think of why she felt a certain way, she couldn't. Diane sighed. It would probably be best if she followed those "instincts", as they apparently knew more about her past life than she herself did.
Artemis and Vic sat up in their beds almost simultaneously, which was normal for them. Diane had never paid any more than a fleeting thought about that, even after seeing it happen every morning, but now she wondered how they did it, if it was more than a coincidence.
Noticing Diane looking at her, Vic smiled. She was a kind, strong-willed girl. She didn't seem to mind letting Artemis lead in most things, though Artemis, about the opposite of shy and quiet Sara, was bossy, stubborn, and could be incredibly unpleasant. But most of the time Artemis acted nicely, if not gently, and she definitely was a good leader. Anna, quite simply, was a bubbly teenage girl. Whatever had made her come to this shelter hadn't damaged her spirits.
Diane smiled back and slowly got out of bed, stretching. Anna and Sara, woken by the three girls chatting, also rose. They ate breakfast and talked like normal. Diane did ask Artemis if she had gotten a good night's rest, and was met with a casual "Fine".
The day passed normally. Diane and Sara helped around the shelter while the others went to their various work. This time, when they all went to bed, Diane remained awake. She guessed that the meetings were fairly early in the night; she probably would have heard an alarm if they used one, so it must be early enough for the girls not to loose too much sleep waiting for the right time.
Sure enough, Diane's watch read eleven o'clock, only an hour after lights went out, when Sara, only a silhouette to Diane, silently rose from her bed. She crept first up to Diane, peering at her carefully. She seemed to believe that Diane was asleep, because she next went to Artemis and shook her awake. Artemis rose equally quietly and woke Anna; Vic rolled out of bed a few seconds after Artemis had.
Diane, who had previously positioned herself so she'd be able to see the middle of the room without moving, watched this all. She saw Artemis pull out the lantern/flashlight and switched it on, faintly illuminating the room.
"We have a problem," she announced in a tense whisper. "Diane. She's been acting a bit odd today. I wouldn't think anything of it, except when I tried probing her mind, just to see what was going on, I found barriers that I couldn't get past."
Vic, looking worried, asked, "Why didn't you tell me? I could have tried."
"You know I'm not strong at all. If she's a stronger telepath like I think she is, she could intercept anything I told you," Artemis snapped back.
Diane bit her lip to keep from gasping. Artemis thought she was a telepath? Artemis herself must be a telepath, then. Vic, too, if she could have "tried". But how could Diane be a telepath? Wouldn't she be able to hear everyone's thoughts? But if she wasn't, where would the mental barriers – assuming Artemis wasn't lying – come from?
After a fairly long pause Vic spoke. "I can't get past the barriers either," she admitted, causing Diane's eyes to widened further as she realized Vic was probing her now. "And she's asleep now," Vic continued.
Sara opened her mouth, but the sound of glass shattering cut her off. All of their heads jerked up. Someone elsewhere in the shelter shrieked.
"Come on!" yelled Artemis, leaping up. The others also sprang to their feet, but Anna and Sara hesitated, not following the other two to the window.
"Shouldn't we wake Diane?" Sara ventured.
Artemis shook her head. "I don't like leaving her here, but we can't let her tag after us."
Diane, her eyes now closed as she pretended to sleep, heard the window open and four girls crawl/fall out of it on to the grass right outside. As soon as she thought they were far enough away, Diane leapt out of bed and followed them out the window. Spotting four retreating backs barely visible in the darkness, she ran after them.
She had almost caught up when five armed men jumped in front of her roommates. Diane saw them jump back, plainly terrified.
"Don't give us any trouble, muties, and we won't hurt you," growled the man that seemed to be the leader.
Diane could see Artemis' back stiffen further. She must have done something telepath, because the men stumbled back a step as though scared. Sara raised her hands, pointing her palms towards the men. "This can get much hotter," she warned them, her voice sounding serene in her concentration.
The men raised their arms to shield their faces from the intense heat Sara must have been projecting. The leader raised his gun and, aiming it at Sara, pulled the trigger. Diane felt her breath catch in her throat as the machine gun spat bullets at the mutant. Sara dropped to the ground, but Diane thought that she was just trying to avoid the bullets, and wasn't actually hit.
"No!" Vic shrieked, flinging up her arms. The man firing jerked, obviously under Vic's telepathy, sending the bullets harmlessly into the ground instead of hitting Sara. The other men raised their own guns and the mutants began to fight in earnest.
Something snapped inside Diane as she watched Anna desperately trying to blind the men with spurts of water. Though the girls had deserted her, Diane still couldn't help considering them her friends. Diane leapt up and ran toward the fight. She saw a gun, dropped in the chaos, and dove for it. Grabbing it, she carefully kept her fingers away from the trigger, using the firearm as a non-lethal club.
One of the men turned on her and fired, point blank, at her head. Diane dimly heard Sara yell her name as instinct completely took over, even more than it had five seconds before. Before, defending her friends felt right, particularly because they were mutants. She couldn't explain why – it just did. Now, she knew exactly how to go about fighting: the best techniques, little things such as remembering to look behind her, that, if forgotten, could be the last mistaken she made.
At this moment she felt an odd tingling feeling over her entire upper body. It wasn't unpleasant, just definitely…different. And, somehow, the bullets passed right through her head! She didn't even feel them, at least not in a painful way. The tingling just increased slightly where the bullets when through her. But the fact that they did go through her didn't surprise her in the least; in fact, that was what was supposed to happen.
But Kitty – she wasn't thinking about her name now, but if someone had asked her what it was she would have said Shadowcat or Kitty – wasn't just going to stand there, waiting for someone else to try to shoot her. Oh, no. Not at all. Shadowcat became a flurry of motion, hitting the men with the barrel of her gun, phasing through them when it was to her advantage.
Before long five men were lying on the ground. Three of them had bruises forming on their heads, and the other two simply seemed to have gone to sleep, probably from Artemis' or Vic's telepathy.
The four other girls stared at Diane, who had dropped the gun and was cradling her head in both hands, in disbelief. Just then, she had been who she was before, before her memory loss. But now…Diane closed her eyes. All she could remember was what had just happened, not why she had done it or what she had been thinking.
Fighting down panic, Diane reviewed what she remembered. This wasn't the best time to be doing this, she knew, but she had to do it before she forgot whatever might still be there, hiding in her memory someplace Diane could actually access. Her name…she could think of nothing besides Diane. But whoever she was before could go through things, she knew that much. She had just done it probably a dozen times. Trying to do it again, Diane focused on the tingly feeling that seemed to accompany the going-through thing. She reached down to pick up the gun, watching her hand intently. She actually felt tingly now, so maybe…She made to pick up the gun, but concentrated completely on going through it. It worked.
Diane reeled back, pulling her hand from where it was inside the gun. She lost the tingly feeling, but she wasn't thinking about that anymore. The girl – the mutant, as she realized she must be – stared at her hand, then the gun, and back. Her breaths were short and shallow and she felt faint.
"Diane?" It was Artemis, for once sounding unsure. Diane looked up to see the four girls watching her with a mixture of fear, apprehension, and curiosity.
"What?" Diane's voice came out sharper than she had intended.
"I think this attack happened because…because the four of us are mutants. We're leaving now. Would – would you like to come with us?"
Diane stared at Artemis. This was the last thing she had expected. Of course, Artemis probably thought – correctly – that Diane was a mutant, so her offer made sense. A part of Diane wanted to reject it, yell that Artemis would have deserted her before, but she pushed that down, at least for now. Another part wanted to sit down and just try to remember everything. But Diane had just tried that, and she knew she still couldn't remember anything from her past – her only clues were the way she had acted when she had remembered, those few brief moments. They were already a blur from the action, but Diane was now quite sure that what she could remember of them now, she would remember just as well in a few hours.
Most of her wanted to be with fellow mutants, people she could probably count on not to betray her. Even if she couldn't trust them, simply tagging along with world-wise mutants could provide her with invaluable knowledge.
"Diane?" Artemis prompted, watching her uncertainly. Abruptly, Diane realized that she had been staring into nothing for several seconds as she thought.
"I – I'd like that. Yes," Diane said slowly.
Artemis looked slightly relieved, and Diane wondered if the telepath had thought she might attack. Vice smiled welcomely at Diane, Sara seemed to be thinking this new development over, and Anna just seemed unsure.
"Well, let's go, then." Artemis sounded like she was almost suggesting this, still unsure and a bit fearful.
"Oh…Can you remove your telepathic barriers?" she asked suddenly. "Vic and I are – telepaths. Anna and Sara are mutants too." Obviously, Artemis wasn't used to speaking about this sort of thing. "It's easier if we can communicate through thought."
Diane wondered if she could fake surprise that they were mutants, but she rejected the idea. Those telepathic barriers again…How could Diane remove them if she couldn't even feel them?
"I don't know how," she admitted. "I don't even remember how they got there."
"You're not a telepath?" Artemis asked, bewildered.
Diane shook her head. "No. At least, I don't think so." Testing, she tried to read Sara's mind. Nothing happened.
"Don't think so?" repeated Vic, joining in the conversation. She seemed to be the only one who understood and agreed, without any doubts, with what they were doing. "Wouldn't you know?"
"I don't remember," Diane snapped, tried and failing to keep frustration out of her voice. "I don't remember anything about my past."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Vic sounded very sincere. "Is there any way we can help?"
"I don't think so," Diane sighed. "Not if I somehow have telepathic barriers."
"You know, for someone who just discovered you've been rooming with mutants, you don't seem very surprised," Anna commented, frowning slightly.
Diane hesitated. "I didn't just find out," she confessed finally. "I woke up in the middle of last night and heard you all talking. And doing those exercises."
The other girls stared at her. "But you didn't say anything?" Vic asked, then gasped slightly.
Diane's eyes widened. "No, I didn't. Honest. I had no idea this was going to happen." She gestured vaguely around her.
Vic nodded, seeming to believe her. "So why didn't you? Tell, I mean."
Diane blinked. That should have been obvious, but maybe Vic just wanted to hear her confirm it. "I…I think I'm a mutant, too. I mean, I must be. I can go through things!" Her voice rose in pitch at the end.
Vic nodded slowly. "You didn't know you're a mutant?"
Diane shook her head. "I don't remember anything about my past, remember? I woke up about a week and a half ago in the middle of a fight, with no memory about what had happened. I don't remember anything except stuff that doesn't have anything to do with me. But I did! Just then, when we were fighting. Except I don't remember it anymore."
"The fight?" Anna asked, confused.
"No, the – the memories that came back with it. They're gone."
A long silence ensued, finally broken by a shriek of, "Don't shoot!" It sounded like one of the adult volunteers. The five mutants looked in the direction of the yell, but their view was blocked by buildings, if they would even have been able to see anything in dim light.
"We need to go," Artemis announced. This time it wasn't a question. She turned to Diane. "If you're coming along, you're going to be part of the group. And you may have noticed that I'm pretty much the leader of this group. So are you okay with that?"
Diane raised her eyebrows slightly mockingly. Now that she had friends and knew that, though she wasn't sure how she could get to them, her memories were only locked away somewhere in her brain, and not completely lost, she felt her mood lighten. Yes, getting her memories back was going to be hard, but maybe a strong enough telepath could get past her mental barriers and help her. Diane's chances of living happily were now much higher, at any rate. And she felt much better because of that.
"In other words, am I okay with you bossing me around?" Diane saw Artemis' back stiffen but she kept talking. "Well, you're still alive and free, so you must know something. I'm more than okay with that." She broke into a broad grin.
Artemis blinked but quickly recovered. "Good. We've already developed an escape plan in case something like this happened. Just follow our lead."
She barely waited for Diane's nod before turning and running off in the direction of the chain-link fence, with the other four chasing after her. The shelter used to be an oddly-designed elementary school, and it was comprised of half-a-dozen two-room buildings. The buildings were separated by quite a bit of grass and a tall fence, the one the mutants were running to, encircled everything.
Artemis suddenly stopped in the shadow of a building a few yards away from the fence. The other four skidded to a halt next to her. "What–" Anna began, but Artemis put up a hand to silence her and pointed. Diane actually felt a sudden change in the overall mood around her. Before it had been tense, but everyone – with the exception of Diane herself, anyway – had known what to do to escape, and they'd been confident it would work. Now, no one knew what to do, or if anything would even work. The all just stared at the men standing along the fence, holding their guns at a ready position.
Vic turned to Diane, a hopeless look on her face. "We were going to just scale the fence," she whispered, barely audible. "We'd made little extra handholds and everything."
"So what do we do now?" Diane whispered back.
Vic surveyed the fence doubtfully. "I don't know. It looks like the men are around the fence."
Diane stared at the other four. "You're kidding. You don't have a backup plan?" Those "instincts" very firmly stated that you should always have a backup plan in case something, or several somethings, went wrong.
Artemis whipped around to glare at Diane. "No, we don't. And I don't think you're really one to talk, considering that you don't have any plan, backup or otherwise." Her voice rose considerably, barely qualifiable as a whisper. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. "We are going to circle the fence and see if any part is unguarded," she finally stated in a tone that left no room for argument. "If there's not, we'll just fight our way out."
The looks the others gave their leader clearly expressed their doubt that this plan would be successful, but they didn't say anything and Diane followed their examples.
"Come on," Artemis ordered. "If anyone sees us, knock them out before they can sound the alarm." She took off, a near-silent figure stealing from shadow to shadow. Again, the others followed her; Diane was surprised to notice that all moved with the same considerable silence and grace as Artemis. She herself, Diane realized, was even better at sneaking than they were. For the hundredth time in just a bit over a week, the girl wondered what her past was. Not many normal families or schools taught stealth. But maybe being a mutant had entitled her to a special education.
Diane pulled herself out of her near-pointless thoughts and back to the much more important matter at hand. As she had expected, guards were still posted at the fence much further down. The whole way, in fact. When the five were back where they started, they held a whispered conference.
"I say we just attack and stick to our original plan as closely as possible," Artemis snapped, though she had calmed down quite a bit, and even seemed to be waiting for the others' opinions.
Vic, Sara, and Anna nodded slowly. Diane, frowning, (like all of them), just shrugged. She didn't know enough about the nooks and crannies of this place to be of any help.
Chewing her lip, Artemis eyed the fence. "This is as good place as any," she murmured under her breath. She suddenly turned on Diane, scowling. Staring at the other mutant's forehead, Artemis seemed to be concentrating intently on something. Diane shifted uneasily under Artemis' stare – no, glare. Her new leader was definitely annoyed about something.
Diane's eyes skipped to the others: Anna, watching Artemis curiously; Sara, also watching the telepath, but keeping an eye on the fence guards; and Vic. Vic, who abruptly moved to Artemis' side. She placed one hand on Artemis' arm and the other on Diane's temple. Meeting Vic's eyes, Diane stayed still, understanding the look on Vic's face which said not to move, just hold still and relax.
After several moments, Vic ordered, "Try to be open. Think of letting us in to your mind." Her voice might have been calm, but a hint of frustration crept into it.
Diane hesitated. She thought she trusted Vic and Artemis, but she wasn't completely sure. Tagging along with them was one thing; actually letting them into her mind was another altogether.
"Not much," Vic added when Diane obviously wasn't doing anything. "We just want to be able to talk with you telepathically, not mess with your memories or anything." In the dim light, Diane thought she saw Vic blush as she realized how tactless she had just been. Well, Diane supposed that she was alright with that, if Vic couldn't "hear" anything Diane didn't think directly towards her.
Mentally repeating the thought "direct communication only", Diane tried to partially open her mind. After several more moments Vic suddenly dropped her hand from Diane's temple. You can hear me, can't you? Vic's voice suddenly sounded in her head. Diane's jaw dropped. It had worked!
Yes, Diane mentally replied. You can only hear me when I want you to, right?
Vic nodded. Both she and Artemis looked considerably more worn-out; obviously, Diane's barrier was very strong, if it took them that much energy just to break that first layer.
Let's go then! Anna's voice exploded in Diane's head, causing her to wince.
Anna, that hurt! Sara complained, sounding annoyed.
Diane was now quite sure her barrier hadn't been broken further than they had wanted. If it had, she must be projecting extreme confusion, but no one was responding.
I thought only you are Artemis are telepathic? Diane asked Vic.
Oh, yes, but we have a psionic rapport with Anna and Sara so we can all communicate easily with each other. And since you're now connected to that rapport, all of us will be able to "hear" you, even if you're trying to contact only one of us, as long as you're trying to "speak" through the rapport, Vic explained.
Anna's right, we need to get going, Artemis ordered. Diane, can you do anything besides go through things?
That's quite a bit! Diane protested. And if I can do anything else, I have no idea. She thought Artemis glared at her again, but since the rapport didn't include emotions, she wasn't sure.
Okay…I don't think we can sneak out, so we'll just go for it. Vic, you knock out the guard right in front of us. Then we all just go out there and get over the fence. Don't make any holes in it; I think it would just give the soldiers an advantage in following us. Once you get past the fence, go to that little forest over there and wait for the others. Diane, you try to distract the guards while the rest of us go through the fence. You'll be able to go through the fence and any bullets, right?
Yes, Diane replied, gratified that Artemis trusted her enough to give her that much responsibility. Of course, Diane wouldn't be in any danger, so she had no problem agreeing. But she thought she would have agreed anyway, even if there was some danger.
They took off. The soldier in front of them dropped as they emerged from the shadows. Diane glanced at Vic, who looked completely drained now. The others were staying low, but Diane didn't bother. Instead, she focused on that tingly feeling again, and this time felt it almost immediately. Someone fired, and the tingly feeling momentarily increased in a small part of her head.
They were at the fence. "Hey, bet you can't hit me!" Diane yelled, feeling idiotic. She heard clanging sounds behind her and to her left as the others climbed the fence. (She didn't want to be directly in front of them, or the bullets passing through her would just hit them instead.) Five men were trying to circle her; now that they realized she wasn't a threat – at least, that's what they thought – they were trying to capture her. Diane was on the verge of attacking them herself when Artemis yelled, Okay, Diane!
She turned and ran through the fence. Ignoring the soldiers' startled yells, she sprinted to the patch of trees the others had almost reached. Bullets showered around her – a few of them even passed through her – but then she was in the trees, panting with the others.
Okay, good, Artemis said. It was odd to "hear" her normal, un-breathless voice, at the same seeing her gasping for air. Everyone okay? This way. And then they were running again.