A/N: I make no profit from this nor do I own any of the characters.

Flasback/Dreams

'Thoughts'

"Speaking over the phone"

"Speaking"


Chapter 11: Valour

Serenity walked into the living room and saw her mom watching her show. "Mom?"

The older woman looked up. "Yes Serenity?"

"Why is the mother spot on Joey's birth certificate blank?" Serenity asked bluntly.

Her mother looked at her, the glowing outline around her appearing in a yellow-green color. "You are not allowed to go back into the attic, do you understand?"

"Yes mom." Serenity replied and just looking at the aura color with a growing sense of nausea and was about to go back to her room when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." She muttered and went over to the door.

The door opened to reveal a bald man in a wheel chair, a red-haired woman, a blond woman, and a brown-haired man wearing red shaded sunglasses. She noticed the blond woman was standing a bit away from the other three. "Um, yes?" she asked confused.

"Hello miss, we would like to speak with you and your parents." The bald man replied. "May we come in?"

"Who are you though?" Serenity questioned politely and felt he looked familiar.

"All will be explained in just a moment." The bald man replied.

Serenity paused and nodded. "Fine, come in." she said moving out of the way as the three came in, the red-haired woman pushing the bald man in. "Mom, um…" she trailed off and looked over at the four people. "I don't know you're names." She said as they came into the living room.

"My apologies, I am Charles Xavier." The bald man said and the name suddenly struck a cord in Serenity's memory. "My associates, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and…Emma Frost."

Serenity blinked. "You're the X-Men!" she said suddenly. "Um, most of you." She said and gave a slight glance to the blond woman.

"You mean the mutant group?" Her mother questioned as she turned the television off. "What brings you here?"

Serenity was all too aware of the fact that her mother had two main emotional settings. The disinterested and angry disposition she had toward her brother and the polite disposition she had towards everyone else. She knew her mom was a nice enough person; she just didn't like her ex-husband or her 'son' very much.

"Mrs. Wheeler, we are under the impression that your daughter is a mutant." Xavier said calmly.

The brunette woman frowned slightly. "But, how can that be possible? My Serenity can't be a mutant, she would have showed some powers by now if she was, wouldn't she?"

"Actually, he's right." Serenity admitted bashfully. "I do have powers; I can…see the emotions people have…somehow. They appear in colors around the person." She explained. She had read up on the emotional coloring and had deduced that the colors were the emotions the people were seeing.

And seeing the dark purple that symbolised the gloom Joey felt made her feel uncomfortable; especially since the purple glow was always surrounded him, him and Clint, who had perpetual shades of dark red mixed in.

"Oh. I see." Her mother said, her face going blank for a second. "This is…uh…shocking?" It came out more of a confused question than a statement.

Serenity cringed a little. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't know how you'd react, and with, uh…" 'About Joey being a mutant too.'

"You are aware of another mutant's identity?" The blond said in a calm British lit.

Serenity looked at her in surprise. "You can read my mind?" she sounded more mystified than shocked.

"Yes, I am a very powerful telepath." A small amount of pride made its way into Emma's voice.

"As I am." Xavier added. "Please, forgive me for prying, but elaborate who this 'Joey' is."

Serenity watched the lines around her mother's face tighten. "He's a mutant too? How can the both of you be mutants, you're not-" she broke off and looked away.

'Related.' Serenity finished the sentence with some resignation. "Joey's my older brother-" 'Or at least my step-brother apparently'-"and he told me that he found out he was a mutant. He never told me when he got his powers though."

"I see." Xavier said thoughtfully, and the fact he had not detected any mutant activity in the last few or so years was perplexing. Was this boy able to avoid being detected, or was it something else? "Do you by any chance happen to have his address?"

The mother's face tightened. "No, I don't know where he lives." She said in a strained voice, like she was trying to force herself to care. "But Serenity is not joining your institution."

"Mom!" Serenity exclaimed. "I have no idea about how I could control my power or what it could turn into, I need help." She suddenly looked anxious. "But, would it be possible to postpone my move and let me think it over first?" she questioned and looked over at the calendar. "At least until after the 20th?"

Her mother sighed. "I suppose there's no changing your mind about this, very well." She said in a placating tone and looked over at the bald man. "What is this school of yours like?"


Was the cell really necessary? She was already in cuffs. Couldn't the police be a bit more courteous and let her sit in a room. Better that than this dingy, grimy cell anyway. Not that it mattered much either way though, she thought fingering the stone impeded in her ring, she was getting out of here one way or the other.

Then she'd get her revenge on that uppity little brat that couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"…ey, Joey!"

The blond blinked as he rubbed his forehead. "Yeah?"

"What happened? You just sorta spaced out there." Clint replied.

"'M fine." Joey reassured him. "Just…uh, had a 'flash' of something." He frowned in thought. "It was like last time, I felt like I was actually there, in someone else's head, even if it was just for a second."

"I thought you said it only happened the last time because you were thinking about…" Clint frowned as well. "Who were you thinking about?"

The teen bit his lip. "I was thinking about…if you got the Sofen situation taken care of." He confessed. "I don't know since I never went to her 'session' earlier."

"What did you see?" Clint asked and wondered if he should have just handled the situation instead.

"I saw her in jail, but, she was thinking about how she was gonna get revenge on me for not keeping my mouth shut." Joey shuddered.

"She could have been thinking about someone else; after all, it's not like you're the only one who would probably draw attention to this." Clint replied logically. "And how could she know it was you anyway?"

"I…supposed you're right." Joey relented reluctantly and shook his head again. "I…I need to take a walk and clear my head."

"Take that dog with you, I don't want it making a mess on my floor." Clint said as said dog growled at him. "Oh, and that drop this book off at the bank, I want you to put it in my security deposit box." He said taking out his bank card and a key. "And you can shop for some new clothes, go over a hundred and fifty and I'll know." He warned.

For a brief moment, Joey smiled, if only slightly. "Sure, come on boy." He said as he stood, walked over to the closet by the door and put on his coat, the dog yipping as he sprinted over. "I'll be back in a little while." He added as they both left the house, Joey closing the door behind him.

They walked down the street and just walked down to the bank. It was a forty minute walk, but seeing as how he'd walked farther distance, forty minutes was nothing. Cheshire also seemed to be holding up just fine, despite the dog's small stature.

They arrived at the bank, but the security guard stopped him and said that there were no dogs allowed. Joey took Cheshire back out and looked sternly at the dog, hoping it really was intelligent enough o understand him. "Stay." He said warningly. The dog's ear flatted back and whined, but sat down on its haunches. "Good boy, and don't worry, I'll be right out." He said before heading back into the bank and got in line behind a man and saw at the front of the line was an old lady.

Joey's eyes drifted around the building and he thought about the strange fact he'd never stepped foot into a bank before. He just never had any reason to come into one and if there was one thing his old man had safe guarded, it was his money, well, whatever money he had. It was also the reason Joey had kept the money he had made from babysitting at Clint's house to avoid having it taken away.

He was broken out of his thoughts as the line had moved on without him noticing and he was called up by the woman teller behind the counter. "Hello, I'd like to drop something off in a security deposit box please." He said handing the woman the bank card and showed her the key.

The card was scanned and the woman nodded. "Very well, follow me." She said and gestured for him to come behind the counter.

Joey walked over and was lead into the back where all the deposit boxes were and the teller took one out. "Thank you." He said graciously and unlocked it. He took the book out of his coat pocket and opened up the box to put it in, ignoring everything else that was in the box. He closed the box, locked it, and put it back into the slot it was in, when he heard noise out in the main lobby and someone shout, "Everyone down on the ground!" Followed by two blasting sounds, though Joey noted that they didn't sound like gunshots.

Joey cautiously walked over to the end of the deposit room and looked out into the lobby to see a man wearing a rather ridiculous brown and yellow quilt patterned outfit and mask, two gauntlets on his wrists. He saw the two security guards lying on the ground, though they seemed to still be breathing.

Joey saw that the man looked more preoccupied with stealing the money out of the vault than noticing him, so he took the advantage from his spot to take his cell out of his pocket and dialed 911, moving away from the exit.

He noted the static it had and realized that something must be jamming it before concentrating on just making it go through the static and heard the ringing on the other line.

"911 what's your emergency?" The person on the other end of the line asked.

"Yeah, I'm in the middle of a bank robbery by some costumed guy at the First Bank Of New York in the Domino District." Joey relayed.

"Dispatch is en route." The person said.

"Good." Joey said in relief.

"Oh really?" Joey flinched as he was grabbed from behind and the phone was taken from him. The masked man made an annoyed sound. "And here I thought this jamming device was supposed to block all transmissions." He muttered and threw the phone at the wall, the device breaking on impact.

"Was that really necessary?" Joey hissed, thinking about how long it took him to get the cell to work in the first place.

He felt the arm tighten around his neck. "Quiet you." There were faint sirens in the distance and the masked man let out a growl. "Damn it." He hissed and let go of Joey before he picked up the bags of money and headed for the door. He got sent flying back in through the doors and landed on his back. "Not you again!"

There was a light, feminine laugh sounding in the air before a relatively short figure swung into the bank and placed one red leg, blue detailed on the foot like a ballet slipper, on the masked man's chest. "Yup, me again." The clearly female superhero said as she stuck her hand out and grinned. "You didn't learn your lesson from the last time, did you? Or did you just wanna see me again, Shocky." Her grin widened.

"Bite me!" 'Shocky' snapped before raising his gauntlets and fired, sending the woman flying back and landed on the floor.

Joey saw the woman shake her head of messy hair, ending at her shoulder blades, before rising to her feet, her grin long gone and set into a grim line. The rest of her costume was rather showy; one sleeve was blue and one was red, both detailed in black web lines racing down the arms to the thumb, and both sleeves ended on the middle of all her fingers.

Her shoulders were bare, and at the center of her chest was a spider design, spanning from the logo were black web lines and in each spots were blue and red alternating patterns, going horizontally across were three more black web lines. Her mask just covered her eyes and stretched around her head, two blank, large jack o'lantern eyes looking out and the rest of the mask was red, detailed in black spider crack lines. And around her neck was the same red and blue alternation in a diamond pattern.

Joey was not a pervert, nor did he ogle women, mostly because he was pretty sure there was something wrong with him in the 'how to act around girls' department, but he did appreciate women, and his admiration for this masked woman was no different. Only his face felt hot as he looked at her and he wondered briefly if he might be ill or running a fever.

As 'Shocky' was about to blast the woman, Joey concentrated on the gauntlets and willed them to not-work and they sparked as they were fired, going up in smoke. 'Okay, not exactly what I'd wanted, but it'll do.' He thought and the masked spider-themed girl punched 'Shocky' and sent him flying back before she jumped at him and webbed him up with goo that came from…her fingertips? 'The hell?' Joey thought amazed and watched the girl let webbing fly from her fingers and swung off. 'Wow.'


"Are you sure you're okay to go to school today?" Clint questioned as Joey put on his school uniform jacket and then his winter coat.

Joey felt a sense of joy at the concern his pseudo-guardian was giving him, but mostly he felt annoyed. "Yes Clint, I don't like missing school, and I my internship starts today." He said and knelt down to Cheshire's height. "Sorry boy, but you gotta stay here." The dog whined. "Now listen, be good for Clint and don't growl when he feeds you-you can go back to that later when I get back." The dog yipped as if agreeing and unnoticed to Joey, Clint's eye ticked in annoyance.

"Anyone call to claim that dog yet?" he asked with some irritation.

Joey chuckled as he stood back up as the dog growled at Clint. "No, not yet." He replied with a slight smile. He headed toward the door but stopped when Clint called to him. "Yeah?"

"Did you buy the clothes yesterday?" he asked.

Joey paused at this and knew Clint was aware of the extra time Joey had spent out. "Yes, I bought clothing." He said meaningfully. "Have you not noticed my new…maroon shirt?" he asked pointing at his white shirt. "It's underneath." He elaborated and left the house, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

At the moment, Joey broke out of his reverie as he stared at his friend Yugi. "Hey buddy, you okay?"

Yugi frowned and shook his head. "It's…it's just that, my memory of yesterday's gone again." He whispered.

Joey stared down at his friend and so did the other two. "Again? Do you have any idea about what's causing it?" he asked in a concern that was reserved for family-or rather; close family or family-like ties-and friends. His friend shook his head. "Well, just be glad Sofen's gone, that woman gave all the students the creeps."

"Yeah, it really didn't matter that she was hot if she was crazy." Tristan added.

Joey looked at his oldest friend in surprise. "You thought she was good-looking? Are you damaged?" The irony of that statement being uttered by him of all people is not lost on him, though he is honestly surprised that anyone could find that horrible woman attractive.

"What?" Tristan questioned innocently. "Hey, I mean sure she was crazy, but she was still good-looking." He said defensively.

"Well you've only seen her at a distance." Joey retorted. "If you were in the same room with her for a whole hour you'd be changing your tune."

Tristan stared at him. "Geez Joey, when you'd get so…smart all of a sudden?"

Joey froze minutely before grinning dumbly. "I have no idea what you mean, I've never been 'smart' as you say." He said with a thickening accent for emphasis.

"Clearly, Wheeler." A voice said snidely.

Joey tried not to growl and add more fuel to give Kaiba, so he huffed instead. "Whatever Kaiba, why don't you go back to your table and gossip with the other rich idiots with nothing better to do." It was at that moment he realized that Kaiba was to him, what Alexis was to Téa; and that is a pain in the backside.

"It's a miracle; you can do more than bark after all it seems." Kaiba sneered.

Joey had to stop himself from punching the older teen out, but the lights still flickered overhead. "Why don't you shut up?" he hissed.

"Joey, he's not worth it." Téa said reasonably as she tried to calm him down.

"Yes, listen to the rest of the pack, Wheeler." Kaiba retorted.

Joey went eerily still before he gathered up his garbage and the bell rung. He stood up and looked up slightly. "I hate you." He said bluntly. "But as much as I do despise you, you're nothing compared to the other two I hate more than you. I don't know why you despise me so much, but I don't care, because you're only third on my black list, and you've wasted enough of my time as it is." He said in a tranquil voice that barely restrained the rage he was feeling and he walked out of the cafeteria, tossing out the garbage in the process.

Joey paused, feeling oddly cathartic, before he kept walking on to his next class.


"Wow, this place is huge." Joey commented to himself as he stared at the large building in front of him.

"You know, talking to yourself is a sign of mental instability." A feminine voice said lightly.

Joey looked behind him to see a girl walking up the steps, her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail ending at her neck and two locks of hair framing her face. She wore a gray hoodie with black patches at the shoulders and wrists and light blue pants with brown hiking boots. "Oh really? You telling me you wouldn't be able to say something when you saw this building?"

"No, honestly, because I thought it instead." The girl retorted smirking.

Joey huffed as he walked in and held the door open. "You coming in or what?" he asked and the girl walked in as well. "So you a student or something?"

"Or something." The girl replied chuckling. "I'm a science intern, just starting out as a matter of fact." She looked very proud of this.

Joey raised a brow. "Really? Me too, I go to Domino, you?"

"I got to Midtown." The girl replied.

"Hmm, my sister goes to the middle school there." Joey said thoughtfully. "Seeing as we're gonna be working together," he held out his hand, "hi, I'm Joey Wheeler."

The girl shook his hand and looked at him dumbly. "Perenna Parker." She replied and bit her lip. "You said you're last name was Wheeler? Do you happen to know a Serenity Wheeler?"

Joey blinked before tilting his head. "Yeah, she's my sister, how do you know her?"

"She's my friend." Perenna answered shyly. "We met on Shadow Day at my school and hung out last weekend." She looked a little down at that for some reason, but Joey decided not to ask about it and instead focused on another angle.

"My sister went to your school for Shadow huh?" Joey questioned and since his school's Shadow Day was on Monday, he figured his sister probably wasn't gonna go to his school next fall to start high school. "Well…I really have nothing to say to that." He added awkwardly.

Perenna smiled at that. "Your funny." She joked rolling her eyes.

They arrived in the lab to meet a blond man with a missing arm and a redheaded woman by him. "Oh, you must be the interns." The blond man said.

"Are we the only ones our schools recommended?" Joey questioned in some amazement.

"As a matter of fact…eh, yes." The blond man said lamely.

"And that makes this opportunity all the better then." Joey replied smirking.

"Glad you see it that way." The redhead said smiling.

Joey didn't really know who these people were, and the only information he did have was that one of them was Miss Drew's colleagues. So he decided to ambiguously put the notion out there. "It's nice to meet you; Miss Drew talked about you in my science class."

Perenna took the 'bait' as it were instead. "Yes, it's such an honor to meet you, Dr. Connors." She added and held out her hand to the blond man.

Joey saw this though as an opportunity to finally be able to just be himself. Nobody here knew him, and so they wouldn't be aware of how he acted. This was why when he and Perenna were asked if they knew what 'gene splicing' was, Joey launched right into his explanation.

It had earned him several stares, all astonished. Joey shrugged his shoulders as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I like Science."

"Clearly." Dr. Connors said in a daze of sorts before breaking out it and cleared his throats. "Alright then, here's what I want you two to do today…"


Blair Flannigan opened the door when she heard the doorbell and saw her friend Serenity standing there. "Hi Ren, what's up?"

"Hi Blair, uh, can I talk to you?" The auburn-haired girl asked.

"Um, sure. What is it?" Blair questioned as Serenity walked inside and she shut the door.

"Um, did you ever have to make a choice, which tore between one thing you wanted, and one thing you needed?" Serenity asked as she sat down on the couch.

Blair considered her answer carefully. She could honestly say she didn't need anything-yet. Though, she did want one thing and another, but there was absolutely no way it was ever gonna happen. If everything she'd seen on the news was any indication, but yearly checks she and her mom received still made her hold out hope. "No, I can say that I never had to make that type of decision."

"Oh." Serenity replied quietly. "Metaphorically then, what would you do?"

Blair paused in thought and answered the question she had asked herself once before. "I would do what was best for me." She said bluntly. "I'm not saying this because I'm being selfish, I'm saying this because it's my choice, and what's best for me. Everyone else can say that something else is better for me, but it will always be my decision that matters." She said earnestly. 'And what I chose is a stable environment and a loving mother.' She added silently.

Serenity stared at the dark-haired girl for a moment in silent awe. "It almost sounded like you were speaking from experience."

Blair scratched the back of her head nervously. "Uh, right, but you wanted my metaphorical opinion." She said shrugging.

"Hmm, I suppose so." Serenity replied nodding. "So, uh thank you for your input."

"Mind if I ask what you wanted my opinion on?" Blair questioned curiously.

"Er, it was about my schooling, and since mom won't let me go see Joey, I…decided to take a third option." Serenity replied smiling sheepishly.

Blair nodded slowly. "Hope that works out for you, I really do mean that."


"You are an insufferable know it all."

Joey had to keep the grin from creeping over his lips as the 'I know I am, but what are you' come back seemed too childish, even though it was true. Just drop the insufferable part anyway. Instead he settled for, "I know."

Perenna huffed lightly as they walked down the steps of the university. "Are you like a walking encyclopedia or something?" she questioned. "Since you knew things even I didn't and I'm the smartest kid in my school." She added with a pout.

Joey chuckled and he found it felt nice to finally let loose and be himself around people. Even if those places were home and now the university. "I just wanted to make a good impression, that's all. To show that I earned this spot because of , you know…" he said tugging on a lock of his blond hair for emphasis.

Perenna nodded. "I don't really but into that whole 'blondes are dumb' stereotype, I mean, look at Dr. Connors; he's blond and he's a scientist. And well, then there's you." She said with a smirk at the end.

For a brief moment, Joey felt optimistic. "You know what? I think we're gonna get along just fine."


In the night, a burglar alarm in a jewelry store was triggered and two thieves rushed out of the store, bags of the jewelry inside, but as they tried to start their car, they found it wouldn't start.

"I thought you said this piece of junk could make it!" The passenger yelled at the driver.

"It worked on the last job, it'll work now!" The driver shouted back.

The caught the movement on the roof too late, and an arrow shot through the glass of the back seat window, the arrow landing straight into the seat, and just as the thieves had thought the shooter had missed, knock out gas erupted into the car quicker than they could react, and went down for the count.

The figure on the roof shifted from their spot and waited until the police arrived before ducking out of sight.