Summary: In the first chapter.

poorasdirt: And here is yet another chapter. I almost have twenty reviews! YAY! I'm almost done editing the next chapter but I still have to write the one following it. Ah well, I'll get to it, though it's kind of long. Anyway I want to thank all those that have reviewed, favorited, or alerted this story. My sis really likes the way things are going so it's all good. Again this is perhaps not much of a plot development or anything like that but hey, characters need thier time to shine too.

Disclaimer: I own the OCs and plotline, everything else has a name already attached to it and I'm just borrowing it to fulfill a non-profit creative writing.

ENJOY!!


When Bella woke up again she noticed that it was daylight out. She hissed at the sunlight that was giving her a headache, when suddenly a pair of sunglasses appeared right in front of her. Taking the offered sunglasses she put them on before looking up. Sitting in the chair Amanda had been in the last time Bella was a wake was a young man that was probably around Amanda's age. The man was rather handsome with short honey blonde hair and startling electric blue eyes. He was dressed in a simple blue polo shirt and some khaki cargo pants, but even then Bella couldn't shake that this man reminded her of Madison for some reason. Bella suddenly decided it was the grin the man was wearing on his face as he looked her over.

"Well Andy was right, you're well enough to get out of bed." The man said in a happy drawl.

"Who are you?" Bella asked curiously making the man perk up a bit.

"I'm Conrad, Conrad Leblanc." Conrad said extending his hand for Bella to shake, which she did.

"You're Mad's cousin aren't you?" Bella said getting a nod.

"That'd be me, and you're Bella Swan, Mad's best friend." Conrad said with a teasing grin making her glare at him. She was beginning to see the family resemblance already. "Tell you what, go take a shower and come down stairs. I'm sure there's a lot you want to talk about that Felix and I can answer for the most part. If not the two of us, Andy and Mad can probably fill in the gaps."

"Okay, I'll be down in a few." Bella said before Conrad stood up and made his way out of the room. Bella pushed down the slight annoyance that these people, aside from Mad, were acting as if they owned her house. Brushing off the anger for now she stiffly got out of bed and gathered up some clothes. Settling on a black Led Zeppelin spaghetti strap shirt and a pair of black form fitting pants with an electric blue strip going up the outer seems of her leg, she made her way to the bathroom. She disregarded the mirror and decided the only way to get the stiffness out of her body was probably a hot shower she quickly got the shower running, and it wasn't long before the soothing heat of the shower was easing the last aches in her muscles. Once out of the shower she quickly dried off and got dressed, when she looked up at the mirror she froze. Staring back at her from the mirror was a young woman with wild brown hair that looked like something a wild woman would have, but she also had sharp piercing golden amber eyes. When the light caught those eyes for a second Bella was surprised to see them glow like a dog's eyes or even a cat's eyes. Remembering that Amanda said that some of her mutation was physical Bella calmed down and looked at her eyes more closely, after a minute she decided that she liked them. She knew her eyesight was much better now than it ever had been but she also got cool eyes too, so she was quite pleased.

Soon she was tackling how she would tame the mane of hair she now had. She brushed it and surprisingly despite it's almost tangled appearance it was soft and had very few if any knots in it at all. In fact her hair easily parted for the brush before once again bouncing into it's now natural array of curls, waves, and straight strands. Finally settling for a quick messy bun she turned to her next task, brushing her teeth. Again she was stunned as she opened her mouth to start brushing, slowly her fingers went up to her canines that seemed to have grown and sharpened when she was asleep. Now she got a good look at them, she noticed her straight teeth were much different than what she remembered. The incisors were much smaller; her molars seemed just as sharp as her canines; however, they were slightly smaller than her canines as well. Checking she made sure her tongue was normal, which it was, before she smiled accepting the strange new teeth she had. They actually looked quite cool like a demon might have them or something. Testing their sharpness Bella pressed the pad of her thumb against one of her canines and was surprised to see blood well up. Licking the blood away she was about to grab a band-aid before she saw the small cut heal right before her eyes in a matter of seconds. Deciding that was cool too, and imagining all the injuries she'd no longer have to go to the doctor to fix due to her klutzy nature, she quickly began to brush her teeth.

Once she was set she left the bathroom and went down stairs, still wearing the sunglasses Conrad gave her. The glasses cut down the glare of the light considerably but Bella hoped she would be rid of them soon. She had to go to school still and the teachers wouldn't like it if she wore them in class. She was also a bit nervous about showing off her teeth; they definitely didn't look human and would raise too many questions. Bella doubted she could pass them off as dentures. As she contemplated this she turned the corner into the kitchen where all the life seemed to be coming from. The scene that greeted her made her smile slightly, Madison was rattling off questions about Bella while climbing up Conrad's back, and Amanda was sitting at the table politely answering them, while another man sat across from Amanda with a slight smile on his face. Bella figured the man was Felix, Conrad's friend if she remembered right.

Felix was possible the same age as Conrad and Amanda but slightly on the short side. He had short stylish chocolate brown hair and amazing aqua green eyes. He was dressed in a light blue silk dress shirt with some black trousers making him seem very sophisticated compared to the more laid back looking Conrad. Bella was startled slightly when Felix looked straight at her. "Good morning Ms. Swan." Felix said making Madison pause before turning to her friend.

"Bell! You're alive and up!" Madison said jumping off her cousin and ran at Bella. A second later both girl's were on the ground, Madison squeezing the life out of Bella. "You had me so worried!"

"Mad, off, I can't breathe." Bella wheezed out trying to push her friend off. Luckily Madison listened and was off of Bella in a second helping the brunette to her feet.

"How are you feeling?" Madison asked in slight concern.

"I'm fine just a little confused as to what's going on." Bella said with a sigh but was glad to have Madison there.

"Sit down Ms. Swan and we will explain." Felix said motioning to an empty chair. "My name is Felix Tanner by the way."

"Pleased to meet you." Bella said sitting down. "Now you were saying something about me being a mutant."

"Yes, I ran some tests on your blood while you were unconscious and with Amanda's assessment it seems that you are indeed a mutant." Conrad said also sitting down. "Your power has manifested in a sort of retractable armor, enhanced senses, near regenerative healing, and some of the obvious cosmetic changes you probably already know about."

"Retractable armor?" Bella asked confused.

"From what I can sense you have a hard diamond like substance under your skin that reminds me of armor plating, Madison said when you activated your mutation it came out of your skin before sinking back in after you passed out. I'm sure that if you flex your muscles you can push it out." Amanda said making Bella looked at her hand and tried just that. She was amazed as she watched golden silver metal plates come out of her skin and turn into an armor glove over her hand. It reminded her of a sharp claw like armor glove from those medieval suits of armor. She also noticed that the areas where the metal didn't cover the skin seemed to harden and sparkling golden silver reminding her of a vampire's skin. It took a minute before Bella figured out how to will the armor away and her hand was normal again.

"With practice you can probably master activating and deactivating your armor, for now it will probably be very instinctual if you are not truly concentrating on it." Felix said getting a nod from Bella.

"Okay, so now that's out of the way, do you know what I can do to cover my eyes and teeth? I still need to go to school and I doubt I can go looking like this. The hair I can explain away as a new style I wanted but not so much the change of eye color or fangs." Bella said knowing a lot needed to sink in.

"Actually Felix is going to work on that. We have to leave soon, we have to go back to Seattle, but he is going to overnight you a pair of dentures that will fit over your teeth to make them seem normal. He also can get you some contacts that will change your eye color back to its original color. He's really good at costume make-up." Conrad said getting a sigh and smile from Bella.

"Thanks." Bella said knowing she would have to call in sick tomorrow since there was no way she was going to go to school or work looking like she did.

"Don't mention it; you're my favorite cousin's best friend. If there's one thing that can take me away from my research it's her needing my help." Conrad said getting a nod from Bella.

"Research?" She asked curiously.

"Conrad here wants to be the one to find the cure for cancer; he works at a research lab in Seattle on that very cause." Amanda said with a fond smile. "He's gotten quite far in his research but it's still a slow process." The five made small talk for another hour or so before the Conrad, Amanda, and Felix had to leave. Madison showed her cousin and his friends to the door before coming back to see Bella still sitting at the table.

"So, you're taking this well." Madison said sitting down across from Bella.

"Yea, I think part of me is still in shock while the other is just like whatever." Bella said with a slight chuckle. "Besides it's like what you said isn't it, I can't help that I'm a mutant and I'm still human with just a little bit of extra."

"True, how are you really feeling?" Madison asked knowing her friend wouldn't tell complete strangers what she was really feeling.

"A little scared but surprisingly very calm, the calmest I've been since I don't even know how long." Bella said sincerely since her underlying rage seemed to have shrunken until it was barely an ember.

"That's good I suppose, at least you're not going to go out on a killing spree or anything." Madison said with a smile.

"Andy said she was a mutant as well, what's her power?" Bella asked curiously wondering if Madison knew.

"Oh she has a bit of empathy, but her main power is she can diagnose and heal physical ailments with her touch." Madison said surprising Bella. "Anything from the common cold to a fatal gunshot wound, she just has to touch someone skin to skin anywhere on their body and a few seconds later they're as good as new."

"Do you know anymore mutants?" Bella asked curiously and Madison nodded.

"Felix is a mutant as well, he has telepathy, meaning he can read and project thoughts, and he has hydro-kinesis, all that means is he can control any form of water with his mind. I watched him one time turn a puddle into a mist cloud and then into an ice sculpture by just looking at it, it was pretty cool." Madison said getting a chuckle from Bella.

"I'm sure it was." Bella said swearing sometimes Madison acted like a five-year-old.

"I'm also a mutant." Madison said thoughtfully looking out the window rather than at Bella.

"You are? Why didn't you tell me?" Bella nearly snapped but kept the bite in her words back. She wasn't angry at Madison, but instead was rather surprised. She figured she needed to work on controlling her anger since it seems to be a reflexive action nowadays. Despite her control she still saw Madison flinch slightly at her tone.

"Well, for one I really didn't know how you would react and well, you really are my best friend. I didn't want you to hate me." Madison said looking down with her shoulders slumped. "It's kind of stupid I know but well, the reason my parents aren't around is because well they wanted a perfect child you know? Not some freak, mom had a lot of trouble just having me and they thought I was their perfect little girl until I turned thirteen. That's when my mutation came and while they didn't publicize it, they didn't stick around me much either. They grew cold and distant and I didn't want that to happen again. I'm already a little screwy and I don't have any friends at school, Phil's okay but he doesn't like mutants so I never told anyone but Conrad." Madison said shifting in her seat uncomfortably. This was a side to the blonde Bella never saw before and mentally the brunette cursed her harsh tone.

"It's alright Mad, I was just a bit surprised." Bella said with a sigh making her friend look up at her curiously. "Seriously, if you had told me that you're really a three headed electric blue puppy that can turn into a human, I wouldn't have cared. You really are one of the only friends I have so I'm not about to push you away because you're an insane genetic anomaly." Bella said with a teasing grin.

"HEY! At least I'm not a zombie of unknown origin." Madison said back with a grin.

"But in all seriousness, what exactly is your mutation?" Bella asked with a grin knowing that nothing was going to change between the two of them. If anything they probably would get closer after this since they were somewhat a like now.

"I can collapse my cell structure into a non-toxic metallic looking liquid and reshape it into any shape I desire." Madison said with a shrug.

"Huh?" Bella asked trying to picture how that would work. Madison giggled before Bella watched in awe as her friend seemed to melt before her eyes. Bella looked under the table to see a puddle of what looked like mercury and then she watched in awe as the puddle seemed to move on its own. "Can you still understand what I'm saying like that?"

"Oh yes, I can pick up sounds and vibrations on the ground, I can also sort of see but it's like having a weird tunnel vision so I can only focus on one thing." The puddle answered rippling a bit like someone dropping a stone into a placid pond.

"Well can you pull yourself together?" Bella asked with an amused grin getting a giggle from Madison who reformed into her normal shape. "Good now, how about something to eat and you can help me with this whole being a new mutant thing. I just put some holes in the table with my, um, I guess you can call them claws." Bella said motioning to the scratch marks on the table she had accidently caused in her shock of seeing her friend melt before her eyes.

"Yea, we probably need you to be able to control that, we don't want you to cause anyone harm by accidently clawing them." Madison said with a grin making Bella roll her eyes. "But first you have to eat something and probably call Sue since it is almost dinner time."

"Now that sounds like a plan." Bella said going towards the fridge as she was suddenly aware of how hungry she was.

After dinner Bella called up Sue to check up on the Quileute woman who was doing a bit better. Once that was done Madison and Bella had a long talk about mutants, mostly Bella wanted to know if the X-gene was hereditary and if so which of her parents gave it to her. Madison didn't know how to solve the "who done it" question but she did know a bit more about the X-gene and how it caused the mutation. In the end as Bella was going to bed she decided that instead of getting angry about the situation she just had to accept it and move on. She also thought back to the conversation Madison and her had about vampires since Madison did see Victoria. In fact Madison had first thought Victoria was a mutant but soon accepted that vampires were real, or they were until Madison could get her hands on some of their venom to send to her cousin. The blonde seemed adamant that the vampires may actually be people inflicted with some kind of mutant strand of disease, and Bella didn't have the will to oppose the blonde on that front.

Fortunately after calling in sick for Monday at both her school and job, she received the package from Felix. The contacts were easy to figure out and after following some instructions she was happy to see that the fake teeth snapped into place easily and hid her new teeth. In fact it just looked like she got her teeth whitened, even if her real teeth seemed to be a pearly white as well. Madison said that during her transformation her old teeth had suddenly fallen out, probably to make room for her new teeth. Suddenly Bella was glad she hadn't been consciously aware of what was going on at the time. Aside from getting her new accessories Monday was spent solely on her new powers. Like Amanda had said by Monday night Bella was more adjusted to her new senses. Things were still a bit loud and smelt funny to her, but at least the light didn't bother her in the least. She figured in a week she could full master her senses since it all seemed instinctual to her now, at least she hoped she did because she didn't want to hear I Love Lucy every night as she was going to bed. She liked her neighbors and all but really, she didn't want to know that much about them.


YAY!! We get to see what powers Bella has, and we learn a thing or two about Madison. I'm rather surprised in her since my original plan was for her to be something of a humorous background character. Apparently she didn't like the role and has gone above and beyond what I originally attended. Anyway, this is all for now so be nice and:

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