It was the start of another boring, lonely day at the Connelly household. Morgan had spent the morning cooking a meal for one (some ham and eggs with a glass of orange juice and plenty of coffee) and trying to further understand the limits of her abilities. With Greg off at Xavier's School For Gifted Nerds , she'd hoped to get the chance to hang out with Todd and the gang but each of them seemed busy the last few days, unable to hang out much outside of school-so she had to find some way to fill her time. And horror reruns and video games could only get you so far.

Without her brother around she'd had plenty of room to set up a little target practice in the backyard and had spent the last few hours teleporting, manifesting objects and throwing bolts of darkness around the shadowed expanse of their backyard.

She now knew that eventually she'd have to recharge with the drinking of blood-but that was a problem for another time. For now she had the training, and some time to herself.

She'd just finished one such training session, and had taken some time to change into a casual, punkish outfit of ripped jean pants , her choker and her Jacknife's Bitches shirt and inverted cross, and was at a bit of a loss for what to do now.

"Of course my first Saturday is the day nobody's around to hang out...even Darcy was busy.." she murmured to herself as she combed out her hair.

But soon enough, from in the quiet of the house, she heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

"...What?" Morgan frowned, as she walked downstairs tossing the comb behind her and onto her bed before she made her way to the door.

"...That better be the guys. I'm not in the mood to see Mom right now."

Unfortunately it wasn't the guys or even her mother. Greg's black and yellow sedan parked in the drive and she heard the engine turn off. The door opened, and sure enough, Greg stepped out, pushing his long ponytail over his shoulder and fussing with his jacket as he came toward the door.

"Son of a bitch," she whispered as she turned and headed towards the living room. It was a big house, maybe he'd miss her.

"Morgan?"

Morgan was halfway into the living room when the door creaked open, and she knew she wasn't far enough way to slip out the back door.

She looked over her shoulder

"Hey Greg. Come to get your stuff or did they kick you out?"

"Oh great we skip the hi how are you and just go straight to the bitching?" Greg grumped. His shoulders sank.

Morgan leaned on the doorframe with a half smile.

"I was just teasing you a bit, Greg. Lighten up." She brushed her hair over her pointed ear and nodded. "But uh...hi. How's ..you know...the school treating you?"

His smile recovered a bit but his posture said he was still hurt.

"It's great, honestly," he said, shutting the door behind him. "Miss you, though."

"Yeah." Morgan rubbed her neck. "But I can't imagine it's too tough. You got all those people there, ya know?"

"Well, sure," he admitted. "And they're great. But none of them are my sister."

"There's only one of me, bro.I'm perfectly myself in every way," Morgan murmured. She leaned her head against the doorframe, and looked up at the ceiling. "Look. I'm glad to see you're doing well and all, and it's nice to see you..." Her eyes closed , as she refused to meet his gaze. "but I'm still real mad about how you treated Todd and I yesterday."

He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Look... I know you didn't want to hear it the other day, but I am sorry I yelled."

Morgan kept her eyes closed.

"You should be. You disrespected me, Greg. You were treating me like a kid, when I'm just as capable of making my own decisions as you are." She cracked her eyes open just enough to look at him. "I appreciate the apology, even if it doesn't cover the whole sorry mess...but let me ask you this...would you apologize to Todd?"

He rubbed his arm with the flat of his palm, frowning.

"Yeah, sure, I'll apologize to him if it means that much to you. I guess it wasn't his fault anyway."

"It wasn't his fault at all." Morgan grumbled "...I was the one who bit him. And just because he enjoyed it doesn't mean you should blame and harass him for it."

Greg made a slightly choked sound.

"He enjoyed-" He put his hands up, cutting himself off. "Look, let's just... move on from that. I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but according to Professor Xavier we're going to need to drink blood, apparently, so... I'm not holding it against you."

"Yeah.I kinda figured that one out when I bit into my classmate's neck," she said with a cross of her arms. "...I'll find a way to get the blood I need. I'm sure I can find a doner, if nothing else. But I'm glad you won't hold it against me"

"Morgan..." Greg groaned with a tired edge in his voice. "Look, if you come with me, the professor said he can get blood for us, like, ethically. It won't be a big deal."

"..." Morgan frowned slightly "...of course he can. 'ethically' sourced blood's on tap down at the Murder Mansion, huh?"

"Its not a murder mansion, Morgan. Geez... I know you're mad at me but come on, don't sabotage yourself just for that." Her brother pushed his hair out of his face with frustration.

"I'm not sabotaging myself, Greg. A **saboteur** did that when they set the paramilitary training facility to 'Kill All Teenagers." She was quiet for a moment, her brow furrowed before she walked past her brother to sit on the stairs. "I don't like the vibe the place gave me. The mind reading professor, the secrets... and the feeling that I didn't belong there. It's not the place for me. Even if they have ethical blood."

"Morgan, come on, won't you even give them a chance?" he pleaded, with a growing edge of annoyance that he fought to keep out of his voice. "I swear, the 'vibe' will grow on you."

Morgan shot him an irritated look.

"I gave them a chance. And they nearly killed me. Not to mention that weird old bastard read our minds without even asking first."Her arms crossed "I'm sure the vibe would 'grow on me' yeah, maybe if they gave me a little 'nudge' if you catch my drift."

"Morgan he's not like that," Greg insisted, the edge of annoyance growing flat out to obvious irritation. "I've talked to him! He's trying to help people. People like us!"

"Is that so? he's trying to help people like us huh?" She leaned forward. "Then why's he got training programs based entirely around taking down people like us, huh?"

"Morgan you are deliberately taking shit badly because you don't want to admit you're wrong! but whatever fine! you want to stay here alone go ahead! Because you know what? I did come here to get my stuff. I hoped I was going to bring you too, but I guess not."

He threw his hands down and stomped toward the stairs.

Morgan stood from her spot on the staircase and interposed herself between him and the stairs .

"Don't know when to admit i'm wrong? That's not even out of context! that's literally the case! There's a literal simulation! " She gestured to herself. "I'm not the only one who gets a weird feeling off them, either! Todd thinks the whole thing's sketchy as hell too!"

"Yeah?" he snapped, trying to duck under her arm. "Todd thinks it's sketchy huh? Well I think he's fucking sketchy so we're even!"

Morgan glared at Greg, her eyes narrowing.

"He's not sketchy, he's my friend. Don't be a dick just because you never liked anyone in any circles but your own." She lowered her arm to block him from passing. "I guess you're just gonna have to go back without me ."

"Okay, I will," he grunted, grimacing. "How come I'm supposed to give your friends the benefit of the doubt but not the other way around, huh? Now let me upstairs."

Morgan frowned and she tilted her nose up.

"Your friends seem fine. Piotr seemed cool...and like, they all seemed nice. But it's the school that I have a problem with. And you don't see me slinging insults at them like you do with all my friends." Finally she raised her arm, letting him pass. "Whatever."

He shook his head, and walked past her.

"Whatever, Morgan. Look, I'm sick of trying to tell you what to do. You want to do your own thing? Have at it. You'll know where to find me when you want to."

He stomped up the stairs.

"GOOD!" Morgan shouted up the stairs "because i'm DONE being who everyone else wants me to be! From here on out I AM gonna do my own thing!"

Hissing softly under her breath she watched him until he vanished into his room.

All of a sudden, she was feeling like smashing a few targets all over again. As Greg packed, she stomped her way back into the backyard.