Chapter 3: Bullies Seem to be Numerous
Her stomach rumbled as she returned to her bedroom. "Hmm..." she went wondering down the halls, waiting for a whiff of food to hit her nose.
"It's in here," said a boy next to her. She turned to look at him, his hair was pretty short, and spiked in the front. She could smell remnants of hair gel being used on it before. His eyes were a greenish-blue color, and he wasn't very tall.
Clara followed him into where there was a tiny kitchen, obviously not used by most of the student body. There were a couple others there though, sitting on stools at a counter in the middle of the room. "Hey," the two others said. The boy was taller than his friend, his hair all stood straight up due to the help of the gel he had lathered all over it, and his eyes were an ice-blue, making his whole head look like it was a slight degree away from freezing over. The girl's brown eyes were brought out by her black hair, and two wide white streaks that framed her face.
"Bobby, Marie, and John, thank you for showing me where the kitchen was," All three of them stared at her, unable to find the words to ask. "What? Would you rather me call you by your nicknames?"
"Um...if you want to, I'm Ice..."
"Yeah, yeah, Iceman, Rogue and Pyro. I know, I hate having to go through introductions though, don't you? Way to much time is taken out of the day." Clara said, searching the refrigerator until she finally decided to just make herself a sandwich.
"There's soda in the cabinet over there," Rogue said nicely.
"Thank you," Clara grabbed the closest bottle, and frowned at how warm it was.
"Want some help with that?" Bobby asked. Clara handed it to him, and he simply blew on the top, making it ice cold.
"Thank you ice boy." Clara said, not able to bring the word man to her lips when she was talking to people so young. "So, now is that Cyclopes always that rude, or was he just being friendly?"
"He's always horrible, but he's just worse now that you came. I never did catch your name though?" Pyro pried.
To anyone else she would have told them it was none of their business, but she found herself growing a likeliness towards the boy. "Clara, my name is Clara."
"Any nicknames for you?" Bobby asked, joking around a bit, but curious.
"Not at the time being," she answered, taking a bite of her food, "Nor do I want one."
"Okay, I like the name Clara anyway," Rogue said, "but Bobby and I need to go meet some people in the lobby, you coming John?"
"No, that's okay, I'm hungry too. I'll catch up with you later." He went searching around the room, and decided to have the same thing as the older woman. "So what is it you can do?"
Clara eyed him as he sat down, curiously. "I turn into animals."
"You mean like, bunnies and fish." He almost laughed, then was silenced by the look she gave him. "Or what?"
"All animals, bunnies and fish included. Among my favorites though, are wolves and tigers. They seem to be the most helpful." She answered, deciding to forget his earlier comment. "What about you, I hear you throw flames?"
"I do, as long as I have a flame around to help me. For some reason I can't get it to just come to me," he sighed as he pulled out his lighter.
"Just throwing flames is enough to be considered dangerous and feared," she added, just as Scott stuck his head in.
"We need you Clara," he called in, and then walked back down the hall, his arm in a sling.
"Did you do that to his arm?" the boy asked.
"Yes I did," Clara said proudly before following after Scott down the hall.
"Alright, so what are we going to do about Stryker?" Scott asked the listeners. "After he and his son escaped that flood, they've been causing a bunch of trouble for our fellow mutants. We have reason to believe that Deathstryke has survived also."
Clara looked at him curiously, "Who's Deathstryke?"
"Someone with the same natural power as me, Stryker experimented on her too, and now she has claws coming out of each of her fingertips." Logan answered for her.
"You remember the experiment?" Clara asked, too stunned to hold back the question.
Logan looked at her curiously, "How did you know I was..."
"It was the way you worded your statement," she lied. "You said 'Stryker experimented on her too,' so I only assumed he had on you too."
"Yeah, I remember bits an pieces. I remember running out because it hurt so bad, and I remember what Stryker looked like. Is there really anything else worth remembering?" He asked.
Clara was offended, but gave herself a second to breath so it wouldn't show, "That sounds like Stryker alright, hurting others until they run out screaming like little kids," she said in a bit of a mocking tone, making Logan almost make a snap retort, but he was interupted by the Proffesor.
"What do you know yourself about Stryker, Clara?" he asked, curious, though careful not to get inside her head.
"Only about a few of his experiments, and I know about his son too, Jason." she answered, thinking back on how her brother had looked last she saw him. "I haven't seen either of them in years though, I try to keep my distance from those kinds of guys."
"Those kinds of guys? How many other times have you come across people like that?" Scott asked, looking at the girl, and then at Jean, hoping she'd try to get inside her mind.
Jean nodded, but as soon as she tried to focused, Clara blew up at her, "Stay out of my head you bitch!" She yelled, slamming her cup down on the table, making the wood crack a little bit. "Yes, I have come across those people countless times, but none as bad as him."
"Like who?" Scott asked, disappointed that Jean had been told off so easily.
"I don't remember their names," Clara answered, calming down a bit.
"You don't remember their names? You remember everyone else's, plus that much more!" he yelled, starting to lose his cool.
"No, I don't remember. I keep tabs on the one's who could prove handy, or that I have personal revenges that need to be given out," she tried hard not to look at Logan when she said this.
"Liar!" Scott accused her, shooting out of his seat.
"Scott, sit down please?" Xavier asked the boy.
"No need for name calling now, Cyclopes," she snarled back, leaning back in her seat and staring him down. This is where the first problem came in.
Laser's from his eyes shot down at Clara, hitting the table in front of her as her wolven paws jumped out of the way, and then shot off at the man attacking her. Dodging more and more shots at her, she finally made it to him, and just as she was going to bite down on his leg, she was seized by the back of the neck.
Turning around angrily, she bit down instead onto Logan's shoulder. "Ouch," he said, letting her go and rubbing his shoulder as it healed up. "Such sharp teeth you have."
"That is quite enough!" Charles yelled, "We are done for the day. I want someone watching Clara at all times to make sure she does't escape, and I don't want you or Scott to even see each other until further notice, is that understood!"
The girl's sighed, and Scott nodded, relieved he hadn't been bitten again.
Clara's lip pulled back to show her teeth. She didn't like orders from anybody, but merely said, "That shalln't be a problem, I don't want to see him anyways, and he can't even open his one eye without destroying something."
"Who's going to watch her first?" Scott asked, everyone except Clara glanced around the table, all stopping there gaze on Logan.
"Why me?" he moaned.
"You're the only one who can stand her, at least without being killed or wounded." Jean said, Clara turning her head to snarl at her.
"Clara!" Charles warned, and pointed towards the door.
Clara snarled at him again, but jumped down and trotted on her wolf paws down the hall.
"That's a good doggie," Scott teased once she was out of earshot, receiving a look from both Jean and the Professor.
Clara returned to her room and slammed the door. Logan, who was hit in the nose by the slamming piece of wood, stuck one of his claws in between the door and the frame, opening it easily. "Hey, you'd better believe I don't want to be doing this either."
"Then leave, I'm not going anywhere," Clara said, jumping up in the small windowsill and looking out, her back leaning on the window frame.
"Oh, but these are orders, and I need a place to hang my hat, if you catch my drift," he said, pulling out a cigar from his pocket.
"Put it away," Clara warned, not even bothering to look over at him.
Logan sighed and placed it in his pocket. "There is one thing I've been wondering, and you only have to answer this one question..."
"I don't have to do anything I don't want to," she snarled at him.
"Well okay, but I only want an answer to this one question for now. How do you know me?"
"I'm not answering that, I'll give you an answer to one question this afternoon, but it has to be one that I feel I can answer with out giving out too much." She warned.
"Okay, okay, let me think of a good one then," he laid down on one of the couches, putting his feet up on the arm rest, "Goodness, how'd you get a room with enough space to fit a couch in it?"
"I don't share with anyone, and I asked for one. Now that you've asked your one question, I get one..."
"But that wasn't my...oh darn it, come one. That wasn't fair." he whinned, looking at her.
"I told you, one question. Now, let me see..." she thought about what she could ask without giving her personal ideas get in the way, "What's the earliest thing in your life that you can remember?"
"Well, seeing Stryker as I got into that tub I guess, but that's even fuzzy," he said, then quickly remembered his dream from the previous night. "No, that's not it. There was a girl," this got Clara's complete attention. "I don't know who she was, I don't even remember what she looked like, but I remember her."
"How's that for irony?" She thought to herself.