Ivory stayed up most of the night thinking about Charles' offer, in the end the pros of going with them far outweighed the cons. For as much as she loved the orphanage, the nuns and all the children there, she knew that it was more than likely she would die there. In the dusty back room surrounded by her plants no doubt, and yesterday that wouldn't have seemed like such a bad thought. But now that she knew that there were others out there like her, people that would be willing to help her learn to control her gifts, how could she say no.
So she packed up her belongings that night and bright and early the next morning got dressed in a short green paisley patterned dress, with a brown jacket, brown ankle boots, her embroidered floral choker and gold cross necklace the nuns had given her for her sixteenth birthday and while she was preparing breakfast, told Sister Theodosia that she was leaving. The nun suspected as much after the men had left last night.
"I can't stay here, when there are more people like me out there. Not when I have a chance to learn and grow more than I ever could here." Ivory explained.
"I know," Sister Theodosia said surprising her, "Or at least I know I can't stop you. We were truly blessed the day you came to us."
"I was the one that was blessed, with a mother I didn't know that I needed."
Sister Theodosia's eyes watered, "What will we tell the little ones? What if you don't come back?"
"Who will I be if I stay?"
Theodosia took Ivory's hand in hers and wrapped them both around the rosary around her neck, "Be careful Ivory, and know that you will always have a home here, with us." She said before kissing her hand, "We will always be praying for you."
"Thank you." Ivory said before pulling the nun/her pseudo-mother into a hug one that she returned squeezing her tightly.
"Good luck getting pass the horde." Theodosia whispered into her ear and Ivory laughed as they pulled back. The horde was what they referred to as the youngest group of children in the orphanage all of whom had taken quite the shining to Ivory, the older ones liked her well enough but once the novelty of her multicolored eyes wore off they lost interest in her, but she was still a favourite amoung most of the children.
One little girl in particular held onto Ivory's leg long after the other children had departed from their group hug, "Amelia," Ivory sighed kneeling down to her level, "I have to go."
"Why?" Amelia pouted brown eyes shining, "Sister Theodosia said you could stay forever remember?"
"I know," Ivory told her glanced down the pathway to see Charles and Erik waiting leaning back against a sleek black car watching the interactions, "She's not making me leave, there's something I have to go do."
"You're gonna come back right?"
"I'm gonna come back," Ivory promised, "Just for you." She said pulling the little girl into a hug and behind her a bush grew and a branch extended a single carnation flower blossoming and falling into Ivory's waiting hand, when she pulled back she gave Amelia the flower and the little girl's eyes lit up accepting in. Ivory smiled and pressed her finger to her lips and made a shushing noise, Amelia nodded eagerly and Ivory winked before standing straight as the little girl ran back inside, grabbed her bags and headed down the pathway.
"Cute trick." Erik commented as she reached them at the end of the path and he chivalrously took her bags from her loading them into the trunk.
"She's a cute kid." Ivory responded sliding into the backseat after Charles opened the backdoor.
"Get comfortable," Charles said as he and Erik slid into the front seats, evidently Erik would be the one driving, as he shifted to start the car and lay his arm along the window Ivory noticed something peculiar on his arm, but decided not to question it now, "We've got a long drive ahead of us."
For the first hour or so, they all sat in comfortable silence watching the city pass by and fade to green landscapes that seemed to go on forever, so Ivory got bored leaning forward to fold her arms on the seat in front of her resting her head on them so she could speak to the two men.
"Last night, you said you were recruiting me for a battle." She spoke softly breaking the silence, Erik took his eyes of the road for a moment to glance at her then refocused while Charles gave her his full attention, "Against who?"
"A mutant named Sebastian Shaw." Erik answered not taking his eyes off the road though his grip around the wheel did tighten.
"Is he powerful?" Ivory questioned taking note of Erik's actions and reactions.
"Extremely." Charles answered.
"And what do you expect me to do, smoother him with roses?" Ivory teased and both men cracked a smile.
"Believe me Ivory, in time, you'll be able to do much more than that." Charles smiled with confidence and promise in his voice.
There was easy conversation between them from that point the remainder of the ride to the facility, once there Ivory climbed out and looked around the facility in awe.
"Impressed yet?" Erik's voice came from the side as he came around the car with her bag.
"Curious is the word I would go with." Ivory responded finding during the car ride that the back and forth with Erik was quite entertaining.
"And why is that?" Charles questioned.
"Curious as to why secret agencies like the CIA and this so called Division X insist on building their fortresses in the middle of nowhere. Makes it more of a target if you ask me." Ivory explained as they started walking towards the facility a dark haired woman seemed to be waiting outside to greet them.
"Not to worry Ivory," Erik said with a smirk, "If anyone where to attack us you have me to protect you."
"My hero," Ivory hummed, "If I ever need a can pressed or to reach something on a high shelf I'll be sure to give you a call."
Erik was amused by the young woman who seemed so shy when the first met her, but any response he might have had was cut off when the dark haired woman approached them.
"You're back." She said hiding a smile.
"We are," Charles said nodding gesturing back and forth between Ivory and the woman, "Ivory, this is Moira McTaggart. Moira this is Ivory McCambridge."
Moira extended a hand to her and Ivory accepted the woman shaking her hand enthusiastically, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Ivory responded looking to women over, "Are you a mutant too?"
"Me? No." Moira laughed, "Just mutant-friendly, I'm an agent with the CIA."
"Moira will show you to the others," Charles cut in politely, "Erik and I have some business to attend to."
"You're not coming with me?" Ivory said sounding frightened at the prospect and Charles was quite to calm her.
"You have absolutely nothing to worry about love, your amoung friend's now." She looked at Erik too and he gave an encouraging nod so she sighed and followed Agent McTaggart into the facility and down a few long hallways. Until they reached a set of double doors.
"Look, I don't want you to feel like you have a babysitter," Agent McTaggart said stopping outside the doors, "So whenever you're ready you can head in, but I promise their all good kids. Like Charles said, you're with friends now." She said placing a hand on Ivory's shoulder and nodding to her before turning and heading back down the hallway.
Truth be told Ivory was both relieved and frightened that the Agent had left her, she could understand her not wanting to seem like she needed a person to hold her hand through this. But Ivory didn't have much experience with people her age, talking with Charles and Erik was easy, for one it was only two of them and who knows how many more mutants were behind that door.
There was only one way to find out, Ivory thought to herself before taking a deep breath and pushing the doors open.
There only six people in the room much to Ivory's relief a brown-haired boy with glasses, a pretty blonde girl with long wavy curls, a handsome boy wearing a leather jacket, a redheaded curly-haired boy, another girl with exotic looking features, and finally a dark-skinned man wearing a blue sweater. They all looked to be around her age save for the red headed boy who looked like he was the youngest and the man with the dark skin who looked to be more around Charles and Erik's age.
They were all talking and laughing amongst themselves but it slowly faded out once Ivory entered the room, which didn't help her anxiety at all. She was just about to turn and run all the way back to the orphanage, when the dark-skinned guy threw his hands up.
"New recruit!" He yelled and the others quickly followed suit, throwing their arms up as well and cheering.
The blonde girl got up from the couch with a bright smile and all but bounced over to her, "I'm Raven," she said before pulling her into a hug which Ivory awkwardly returned, "Charles' sister, he told me you were coming." Ivory figured that he told her through his telepathy, "C'mon I'll get you something to drink, we're all just getting to know each other." Raven explained taking her hand and pulling her towards the couches.
She left her standing at the edge of the circle, Ivory wasn't sure where she should sit since she didn't know which seat was Raven's, until the boy with the blonde hair stood up from the end of the couch.
"You can- uh," he cleared his throat, "You can have my spot." He said and Ivory smiled sitting down on the edge of the couch next to the boy with glasses and across from the exotic looking girl and the dark man on the other couch.
"I'm Alex by the way." A deep voice said from her side and she turned to see that the boy that had given up his seat settling down in a chair he must have grabbed from one of the nearby tables.
"Ivory." She responded before Raven came back handing her a glass of cola and taking a seat between her and the boy with glasses.
Conversation started back up in the group like nothing had changed and in between it all they took turned introducing themselves to Ivory.
"We should think of codenames," Raven said suddenly, "We're government agents now, we should have secret codenames."
It had been a little over an hour since Ivory had joined the group, and suffice to say that Charles and Moira were right, it was easy to make friends with these people. She thought the only thing they would all have in common was the fact that they were mutants, but that wasn't the case at all. What really bonded them was that they were all outcasts in one way or another, and they could see now that, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
She could see herself getting along well with Raven moving forward, and surprisingly Alex as well. Over the hour the group had spent talking she and him were having their own quiet conversation, it was innocuous things like how old you were and where you grew up, but it was nice. It helped that he was quite handsome.
"I wanna be called Mystique,"
"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique." The redheaded boy named Sean teased good-naturedly.
Raven laughed beside Ivory. "Well, tough. I called it." In a flash of blue ripples, her body changed into Sean's perfect doppelganger. Everyone jumped back, startled. "And I am way more mysterious than you." Her voice even sounded exactly like Sean's and everyone started clapping. Raven looked very pleased with herself as she transformed back into her blonde self.
"Darwin, what about you?" she asked.
Darwin, all eyes on him now, shrugged. "Well, uh, Darwin's already a nickname and, uh, you know, it sort of fit, adapt to survive and all." At the confused faces surrounding him he continued, "Check this out," he said, sighing as he stood up off the sofa and walked towards the fish tank by the wall.
He dipped his head into the water, and then gills—fish gills—sprouted from the sides of his head. Bubbles floated up from his nose as he breathed under water. Darwin flashed a smile at their direction as they applauded before pulled back up, shaking his head like a wet dog.
"Thank you, thank you," he said, smiling before pointing at Sean. "What about you?"
"I'm going to be," The redhead clasped his hands in front of him and pursed his lips, thinking. "Banshee."
"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank, the one in the glasses, asked.
Sean got off the couch, saying, "You might want to cover your ears."
Ivory put her hands over her ears and the others did the same as the teen squatted in front of one side of the table, his eyes squinting at the half filled glasses. He took a deep breath and held it in for a second before a shrill sound erupted from his mouth. Instead of the glasses breaking the window on the other side of the room shattered, and everyone stared for a moment before erupting in laughter, clapping.
"Your turn." Sean pointed at Angel, girl with the exotic features, as he took his seat again.
Angel pushed herself off the sofa and slid her jacket off. "Well, my uh stage name is Angel." Sean looked very pleased with the sight, as he whistled, Angel smirked before turning around; showing them all what they all thought was a tattoo on her back. "It kind of fits, but I've always liked the name Firefly." she said, as her tattoo peeled off her back and unfurled like wings, not like a butterfly's, but like a dragonfly's.
"You can fly?" Raven cried.
"Uh-huh." Angel said looking over her shoulder past her wings at the group.
"Why Firefly?" Ivory questioned and Angel smirked again.
"Because uh-" She turned to her right looking out the window and spit. They all watched as the ball of saliva turned into a flaming wad of acid. It hit the statue outside and turned its head into a fiery mess, melting it.
As the room erupted in applause, she turned to Hank. "What's your name?" she asked taking her seat.
Hank didn't seem at all comfortable with the attention shrinking in his seat a little.
"How about Big Foot?" Alex, suggested joking, but there was a harshness underneath it that made Hank shrink into himself a little more.
Raven glared at him "Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," she pointed out, her voice dripping with innocence and sarcasm. "And yours are kind of small." She added making a show of leaning over to glance down at the blonde's feet.
"Alright now," Darwin said trying to keep the peace even though he sounded amused, "Ivory how about you?"
"Uh, I've never really given it much thought." She said honestly, "Maybe you guys could help me?" she finished before reaching out for the plants just outside of the shattered window to grow and vines slithered into the room like snakes crawling up the backs of the couches two in particular growing little flowers which she stuck into Raven and Angel's hair. The vines retreated as the group applauded and Ivory blushed.
"That was awesome."
"Thank you."
"How about Lotus?" Hank suggested from his spot, and Ivory turned to him.
"Hm?"
"It's a symbolic flower meaning strength and spirituality," the scientist explained, "I noticed your necklace." He said vaguely gesturing to her neck where her cross was laid.
"I like it." Ivory said nodding and Hank smiled looking pleased with himself. "Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?" she asked turning to the boy by her side.
"It's not, um," Alex trailed off, rubbing his head. "I just can't do it - Can't do it in here."
"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked pointing to the broken window and the courtyard beyond.
"Why don't you just do it out there?" Angel echoed.
Alex looked like he was about to refuse again but everyone in the room started chanting his name, loudly and he relented standing and heading for the broken window much to the delight of the mutants.
He stepped over the broken shards of glass calling back over his shoulder, "Get down when I tell you."
"Get down when I tell you." Raven mocked as everyone stood up and followed him to the broken window their heads peeking out from behind a sidewall.
Alex positioned himself to the left of the corroded statue and glanced at them. "Get back!"
They all did as he said, staying behind the wall, but after a moment they peeked out again. Alex saw them and looked annoyed. "Get back," he repeated but this time none of them moved. He rolled his eyes, grumbling, "Whatever." He rubbed his hands together, and started twisting his body, resulting in multiple circles of red light pulsing from his body. It orbited around him for a second before flying forward two hitting the buildings on the other side of the yard, but one hit the previously corroded statue.
Now, it was split in half, on fire from where the circle of energy had hit it.
Everyone cheered and clapped at the display and Alex's previously annoyed expression had faded into a pleased one.
Moments after everyone's display of power, the most mutant party to ever exist, started. Angel turned the radio on and found a decent station turning the volume up to the loudest. Raven had taken Ivory by the hand and pulled her up onto the couch with her dancing and jumping up and down. Across the room Alex and Sean were hitting Darwin with any and everything they could find, but the adaptable mutant's skin only shifted to a dark coat of black and everything they hit him with just broke apart on contact.
"Come on! Harder!" He encouraged as Alex hit him with what looked like a chair leg.
Angel was flying around the room showing off her wings while Hank was hanging from the chandelier using just his feet. Everything was brought to an abrupt halt when a shrill voice sounded from outside the broken glass window.
"What are you doing?" Moira demanded, hands placed firmly on her hips Charles and Erik on either side of her, "Who destroyed the statue?" She demanded again, by then the music had stopped hand everyone had stopped whatever they were seeking looking like scolded children, Ivory hopped off the couch as did Raven but the blonde still looked high off energy.
"It was Alex," Hank murmured after he dropped himself from the ceiling.
"No. Havok. We have to call him Havok. That's his name now." Raven said smiling as she moved to the front of the group, 'And we were thinking, you should be Professor X, and you should be Magneto," she pointed to Charles and Erik.
"Exceptional," Erik scoffed sarcastically before he left, Moira following him.
"I expect more from you" Charles directed towards Raven before he too left, leaving the young mutants in awkward silence and Raven looking despondent as she dropped her hand.
Fin-Fish Jun-Tenshi: Lol I know right.
Ivana Bocanegra: I'm so happy that you liked how it turned out and all my little tweaks. The church thing happened kind of accidentally, my Religious upbringing slipping out a little, even though if we're technically speaking organized religion is kind of a cult. I wanted her to be accepted by possibly the last group of people you would ever expect to be willing to accept a mutant. You're reviews always make me so happy, love you right back Miss Bocangera.
As always let me know what you think, and what you'd like to see in the future.