When Saturday rolled around, Tony warned Anna that a certain member of the X-Men that was coming that day wasn't the nicest. "He isn't mean per say, but Logan can be crude, he speaks whatever he's feeling without regard for other people's feelings."
"It's better to be honest about things than to sugarcoat them I think." Anna responded, shrugging her shoulders. Anna preferred it when people were honest with her. Even if the truth hurt, it was better than being lied to, even if the lie was supposed to make you feel better.
"Logan is coming with another X-Men member, a mutant named Storm. And Professor Xavier himself is coming along, which doesn't happen often. Apparently he learned about you and he wants to come and meet you for himself."
"How did he find out about me?" Anna thought that maybe Tony had told him about her, but found out that wasn't the case.
"Xavier is like, a mind reader or something." Tony said, dismissively waving his hand. "I don't really know the ups and downs of the whole thing, but he wants to talk to you, probably to find out the extent of your powers. He won't hurt you or anything. Well, he's in a wheelchair, so he couldn't physically hurt you even if he wanted to." Tony glanced at the watch that was strapped onto his wrist. "Speaking of, they should be here any second. Feel like greeting them with me?"
"Sure." Anna nodded her head before walking outside with Tony.
As soon as Anna laid eyes on Professor Charles Xavier, she knew that he was a man she could trust. He was older, and had a kind smile on his face. He had this kind of aura that was emanating from him that told a person that anything they told him would remain between them. Standing on the left of Xavier was a large man. He had black hair and broad shoulders. Looking down, Anna could see large metal claws protruding from his knuckles. To the left of Xavier was a dark skinned woman with white hair.
"Professor." Tony strode forward, a big smile on his face as he shook Xavier's hand. "It's been a while, how are you?"
"Splendid, Tony." Xavier's smile only seemed to widen. He turned to look at Anna. "This must be your newest recruit."
"Yeah. Professor, this is Anna. Anna, this is Professor Charles Xavier."
"How do you do?" Anna said as she shook his hand.
"It's lovely to meet you Anna. These are my associates Logan and Storm."
Logan merely nodded at Anna, but Storm gave her a smile. "The Professor has been very excited to meet you."
"So I've heard." Anna said with a small giggle.
"Anna, would you mind showing us exactly what your powers are?" Xavier asked, and Anna nodded her head. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before morphing into an exact replica of Xavier, wheelchair and all. "I can turn into anyone." Anna said as she changed back to herself. "If I've laid eyes on them or if I've seen a picture of them, than I can change into them."
"Amazing." Xavier murmured, and Anna blushed a bit. "It's nothing special, it's not like I have super strength or anything that's really of use."
"Every person's power is important Anna. If you were granted with a power, than you were meant to use it. Whether you use it for good or for evil is entirely up to you. How old were you when you first discovered your powers?"
"Oh...um, I wasn't exactly born with them." Anna bit her lip. "When I was younger I was kidnapped by HYDRA, they ran all sorts of different experiments on me, injected me with God only knows how many serums."
"We had a visit from her old handler the other day." Tony added. "We managed to capture him, but he died before we could question him, swallowed a cyanide pill. How they were able to get past the Base's defenses I have no idea, I've been working on trying to increase them."
"Are you sure that she's safe here Tony?" Xavier queried, and Tony hesitated. No, he didn't know for sure if Anna would continue to be safe here. If HYDRA had been able to break through the defenses once before, than they would probably be able to do it again, it was only a matter of time, and this next time there would probably be more men, and there would be no telling if they would be able to keep Anna from getting captured again.
"She could come to the school." Xavier offered. "It would be safer there, because as far as this HYDRA group is concerned, it doesn't exist."
"Good luck with that." Tony said with a snort. "Bucky won't let her leave his side, he's extremely clingy."
"By all means, your Winter Soldier is welcome to come along." Xavier offered before looking up at Anna. "How about it dear? You would be safe, truly safe. Not to say that you wouldn't be safe here, but HYDRA knows about this place, and also how to get through it's defenses. I don't know how much Tony has told you about my school. I teach mutants, people who were born with their powers, how to use them and control them. Children of all ages, the youngest being seven and the oldest being nineteen."
The school sounded wonderful, Anna would like nothing more than to go there, but…"Would it be alright if I talked to Bucky about it first?"
"Of course. It will take us a while to get the mutants that Tony has managed to capture for me into the jet anyways. Will an hour be long enough?"
Anna nodded. "It should be, thank you." She told him before walking inside, finding Bucky in the gym. "Bucky, can we talk a minute?"
Bucky paused in pummeling the punching bag. "Of course doll, what's up?"
Anna told him everything that Xavier had told her about the school. "He said that you can come too. Bucky...I want to stay here, I love being here, love everyone here, but you have to admit, if HYDRA was able to get in before, the chances are pretty high that they can do it again."
"What makes you so sure that this school would be safer?" Bucky's brow was furrowed, a sign that he was mulling things over.
"Professor Xavier says that no one knows about the place." Anna responded. "He thinks that I could be safe there, and he knows that I would never go anywhere without you, which is why he said that you would be more than welcome to come with. So….what do you think?"
Bucky was silent for a few moments. What was he going to say? Would he agree that it was a good idea, that they should go with Professor Xavier to his school? Or would he insist that they would be safer here with the other Avengers? Whatever his final decision would wind up being, Anna would abide by it.
"I agree that the Base isn't the safest place for you now." Bucky said slowly. "This school might be a good option for you. From what I've been told, it's way out in the country. But Anna...the team needs me, I don't know if I would be able to go with you-"
"Go." Steve was standing in the doorway of the gym, a smile on his face. "You both need this Buck, you've been fighting for years. First with HYDRA, and then against them. It's time for you to finally take a break."
"But won't you guys need me?"
"If we're in desperate need of your services, we'll let you know." Steve walked over to Bucky and put a hand on his shoulder. "Take a break Bucky, spend some time with the girl that you love. We'll be okay."
Bucky nodded, and he smiled at Anna as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What do you say that we give the old Professor the good news?"
Anna wrinkled her nose as she pushed away from him. "We aren't going to be doing a single damn thing until you take a shower, you reek to high heaven."