Note: Jenna is actually one of Amanda's two nameless friends from the Shadowdance episode. She and her other previously nameless buddy, Stacy, will both make appearances in the next few chapters. So I don't own them...I just decided to give them proper names.
Shake Your Foundations
10. Relations and Revelations
Her first class after lunch was computer class with Mr. Parker. The irony that the Joe computer expert currently held the spot of 'favorite teacher' wasn't lost on her, but compared to the lazy math teacher and the Baroness, he was a frikkin' godsend. He also far and away out-taught whichever Tele-Vipers or Techno-Vipers Zartan blackmailed into teaching basic programming classes. It wasn't as much fun as weapons training, but at least it wasn't boring.
In the soft chatter of the computer lab she managed to overhear bits and pieces of a hushed conversation between two of the Xavier kids. She didn't bother to learn their names, but paid close attention to the topic. Telepath. Memory. Brotherhood. It sounded like a bizarre scavenger hunt or a crossword puzzle answer key to anyone else, but to her it meant that Magneto finally found (or hired) a competent telepath and used said telepath against his own people. She wasn't sure what the psycho wanted the Brotherhood to forget, but there was a definite chance that Regan could reverse the process.
The adults needed to hear about this. Sure, she was supposed to be going to the (completely useless) homeroom/study period next class, but since she wasn't officially a student, it shouldn't matter if she skipped it today. She could study better in the library, anyway. But now, she needed to find one of the adults and fill them in on this. Zartan, she knew, supposedly had the next period free, so he should be either in his classroom or the teacher's lounge. If he was in the lab, he was either cleaning up after the latest student mishap or setting up for the next class. No paper grading; he did that at home while listening to the evening news, same as he did with their homework.
As soon as the bell sounded, she gathered her things and weaved around the throng of students. She had to find him. Or maybe Zarana. She was free this period as well, but the gym wasn't really close to the science labs. The odds of running into her before finding the boss were unlikely. The slow as molasses elevator delayed her arrival to the lab by long enough that any students should have cleared out by now.
A quick glance through the rectangular window in the classroom door revealed that he was not alone, but certainly wasn't counseling a student. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. Since when did the boss have a girlfriend? When did he even have time to find one? The man never dated, not even a coffee shop hook-up in the entire time she'd worked for him. Zarana and Zandar said he hadn't bothered with it since Zanya was born. They certainly knew more about his dating habits than she did, so she believed them. It wasn't as if he'd had time to date until now, and even then she wondered how he'd managed it. He had to have met her here, on this job.
So, who was this mystery woman? There was really only one way to find out, and that was to get a closer look. The blonde quietly opened the door, not wanting to let the opportunity to embarrass her normally unflappable employer slip her by. With any luck, she'd at least learn the chick's name. And maybe take a few pictures with her cell phone. This was prime blackmail material, and she refused to let it slip through her fingers. Besides, the woman felt familiar in a way she had yet to place. She didn't look like anyone Andi knew, but that didn't change the feeling.
The two were so focused on each other that neither noticed her slip inside. The woman's form began to change before her eyes, growing taller and more filled out as her skin took on a very distinctive shade of blue…
The door slammed shut behind her; the pair jumped away and stared at her. "What the hell are you two doing?" She hissed, all attempts at disguising her voice forgotten.
"Why are you here?"
"Andrea?" the two spoke in unison before staring at each other.
"You know, I figured you might run into each other around here, but this never crossed my mind." She shook her head. She'd imagined them trying to shoot each other, not make out in an empty classroom.
"How the hell do you know her given name?" Zartan demanded, glaring at the shape-shifter sitting on the desk next to him.
"I gave birth to her; what's your excuse?" Mystique narrowed her eyes at him.
The 'oh, shit' look on his face would have been highly entertaining under different circumstances. "You…" He trailed off, looking from Mom to her. "She's your mother? And you didn't think it was worth mentioning before we came here?"
"She told me not to." Andi hissed, pointing at Mystique.
"No, I told you not to go around shouting it from the rooftops or to anyone who might report back to Magneto." The older woman corrected. "For situations like this, it's best to mention everything you know to avoid embarrassing outcomes like this one."
"What embarrassing outcome?" Yeah, catching them in a make-out session worthy of a pair of hormone-driven teenagers was a bit cringe-worthy, but it wasn't high on the embarrassment scale. Unless… "Please tell me this is as far as you got." The wince that crossed Mom's face was all the answer she needed. "Oh, god, eww!" No way in hell was Kris going to let her live this one down. She could hear the dhampir's laughing in her head right now.
"And if we'd known beforehand, one of us would have at least consulted you first." Zartan glared, unimpressed with the theatrics. "It's a little late now to be bothered by it."
"Bullshit!" she hissed. Times like this she was thankful for the hologram projector; nobody looking through the windows could see she relaxed control of her powers.
"And Zarana will see you about your latest contribution to the swear jar as soon as I speak with her." Zartan added. "Now, did you have a particular reason for barging in here? You were supposed to be in class or the library."
"I did not just 'barge in'! You two were too busy playing tonsil hockey to notice anyone outside the fucking door!"
"Language." He admonished before Mystique could do so. Damn, but he did not look happy about this. "Do it again, and I'll have you give me the explanation in Russian."
She groaned. As much as she liked learning new languages, getting through the awkward first stages of memorization was a pain. She wasn't anywhere near fluent in Russian yet, and kept throwing German words into the mix on accident. Most of the time, he overlooked her spoken errors when they occurred, correcting her after she finished talking; today wouldn't be one of those days and they both knew it. "Fine. I came to find you since you were closer than Zarana or Zandar and I thought you would be here alone." She folded her arms tightly across her chest and glared at the pair.
"And instead of knocking you thought you'd just barge in and slam the door behind you?" He asked.
"I did not just 'barge in'!"
"You still could have knocked and let us know you were there!"
"Oh, like that would have changed anything?"
"Why does that matter anyway?"
"As much as I love hearing you two scream and shout until you lose your voices, I highly doubt this is the place to do so." Mystique spoke up, drawing the pair's attention. "In case you've forgotten, the walls have ears."
The anger came out of nowhere; nothing in the suggestion itself or the tone spoken warranted that emotional response. But it overwhelmed Andi before she had a chance to rein it in. She couldn't stay in this room any longer. "Fine." She pivoted on her left heel and stalked out of the room, once again slamming the door behind her. Though she heard Zartan's shouts for her to come back, she kept walking.
If he'd thought it worth the risk, he would have called out her full first name to get her attention. But with the mission, and potentially their very lives, hinging on how well they played this charade, Zartan stopped calling after the second shout of the girl's alias. What the hell had that been all about?
Mystique looked equally bewildered. "I was expecting more shouting and less running." She knew her daughter well enough to realize that this…discussion was paused, not ended, but she'd never seen Andi storm off from a half-finished fight. Yes, the girl was injured, but injury and illness never stopped her from finishing what she started before.
"Yes. That's what concerns me." He agreed. Andi's behavior had been off since the fight with her father. He frowned; did Mystique know about that? He glanced at her and recognized the look in her eyes. Uh oh…
"Well, lover, since you're so concerned with her well-being, perhaps you can explain how she came by those extensive injuries of hers?" She knew better than to buy the 'dirt bike accident' story, and knew that the need for a story in the first place meant the injuries were 'work' related.
"You'd be better off asking her father about that." He replied. Her entire demeanor changed with that pronouncement, moving from 'irked' to 'homicidal' at alarming speed. He'd only had opportunity to see her daughter this level of pissed-off once, but it had been memorable enough for him to recognize that particular look.
"He did this?" She growled. Oh, once she got a hold of that man… "He broke her arm?"
"Along with a few ribs and the resulting lung damage." He managed to not lean away from her despite the murderous look on her face. Something like that might set her off on him instead of Sabretooth. "She looked worse three weeks ago."
A low growl left her vocal chords. Victor hadn't mentioned anything about running into their daughter after his last mission, let alone getting into a brawl with her. They would be discussing this as soon as she could manage a conversation without anyone overhearing it. "As soon as I can get in touch with my lawyer, his visiting privileges will be revoked."
"I'd hoped you might see it that way."
She somehow wound up in the library. It wasn't her preferred location, but she supposed it would do. Hardly anyone in this school used the library during their free periods, and the regulars kept to themselves, far too wrapped up in their books to bother her. She needed time and space to think to herself (since punching things was frowned upon when you're wearing a cast) to work through this.
Too much happened too fast. The Bayville job, the Chicago Incident, the fight, the awkward office romance—she didn't even know why the last one bothered her as much as it did. She'd always known her mother kept a very active love life, even if she never brought any of her partners home at night. And she and the other kids had discussed trying to get their boss to get out of the house and on a date on more than one occasion—the man's lack of a social life outside work and team management worried them a bit. On paper, this should have been the perfect solution. Mom got a boyfriend Andi actually approved of, and her boss finally had an adult to talk to besides his siblings or the Dreadnoks. But she didn't like it and couldn't for the life of her explain why not. Couldn't rationalize it or tone the emotion the thought conjured down to a manageable level. Couldn't even figure out what the flying fuck that emotion was in the first place.
But as with most every other emotion she felt, it either tackled her to the ground or avoided her altogether; there was no in-between anymore. Not since the day men in lack BDUs and masks took her and Kris away from the others. Something changed that night, though some refused to see it. Like Fred.
She still cared about Fred. Still wanted to see him happy and safe and alive. But she was beginning to realize that that happiness probably wouldn't include her. Too much had changed between them. Or, rather, in her. Freddy remained the same well-meaning but often a bit too violent teddy bear he was when they were young. She couldn't say the same.
Though her demise began when her powers first resurfaced, Andrea M. Bennett died in the labs. Dead, buried under layers of blood, metal, and rock like the collapsed wreck of a base they left behind. Her foster parents even filed a death certificate during the two years between the time she ran away and when the hospital in Montana contacted them. She knew. She'd seen it, the bland sheet of paper that caused in a shit ton of paperwork when Mom later sued the Bennetts for custody.
She couldn't, wouldn't use her old name anymore. She decided that when she ran away. When Mom offered the chance, she put Andrea Bennett in the ground and began a new life as Andi Creed. Though, now that she thought about it, she really should have asked to change her middle name as well. Unless it already had changed? She wasn't sure. She'd asked to change her name to 'what it was on the birth certificate', assuming that only the last name had changed…but it was a stupid assumption. With Mom unconscious and still in critical condition in the days after she was born, her father had picked out the name. She seriously doubted he saddled her with what she spent the last fifteen years responding to.
And her parents…shit, this was getting complicated. Had it always been this fucked up or was she just getting better at noticing it? It certainly hadn't seemed too bad before she joined Cobra. Before she and the team found people who actually gave a damn whether or not they could do the jobs they were paid for. People who bothered to train them properly. Dad never bothered giving her tips, let alone the other kids. Mom tried, but her work schedule at the time restricted how much time she could devote to training.
In all honesty, she wasn't surprised to hear rumors of Mom taking her frustrations out on the Brotherhood. Even in a good mood, the woman had a short temper and a low tolerance for stupidity; dealing with Magneto in any capacity generally left her ready to snap at the slightest provocation. From Andi's own interaction with the Brotherhood, she knew they sometimes took stupidity to new heights even Torch had trouble reaching and had issues with respecting someone in positions of authority. Not a good combination when dealing with someone like Mom…or Magneto.
Andi was honest enough with herself to admit that one of them would probably have wound up covered in bruises within 24 hours of moving in with Shadowatch. They might be creative and tight-knit, but they had no concept of when to stop pushing other people's buttons. Lance, Fred, and Wanda she could count on not do anything dangerously stupid, and Pyro was a mostly-harmless brand of crazy, but Pietro was another matter entirely. He thought people existed solely for his own amusement, something the rest of Shadowatch and she in particular would not tolerate. Todd had issues with respecting personal space and boundaries, but those could have been fixed with relative ease. Compared to some of the current mental health issues plaguing the team, the amphibious mutant's problems hadn't been so bad. Maybe his new caretakers, the Joes (according to their spies inside the Pit), could help him out. He needed molding and shaping, true, but there would have been no need for her to break him in.
Pietro, however, needed to be housebroken. In addition to the aforementioned issues in respecting people, he tried to blame anything and everyone but himself for his current problems. Neither she nor their handlers would allow him to get away with that, no matter what the excuse. So the brat had a shitty father? So did over half the squad and you didn't see them tying up their teachers or attempting to blow up the chem lab (that could go from harmless to deadly before you realized you were dying). So what if he was faster? So was Eventide, but she didn't let it go to her head. Oh, her boundless creativity yielded some interesting results when she got bored, but she rarely stooped to public endangerment or humiliation. Mimic had a similar ego problem when he arrived; they managed to teach him when to shut up in under two months. The Maximoff boy, she realized, would take more time and energy to house-train, two commodities she did not have at her disposal right now. No, if the Brotherhood came as a packaged deal, it was one she and her handlers would need to pass up. They barely had enough handlers now, and would be stretched far too thin to be useful if the Brotherhood signed on as a back-up squad.
"Excuse me." Her good arm hand twitched toward the knife concealed under her jeans at the unexpected voice. She cursed softly; there was no good excuse for allowing someone to sneak up on her like that. Not when Zartan had been drilling her on sensing people with her powers for most of the last week. She turned to see another girl roughly her age with short brown hair and round wire-rimmed glasses over her brown eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you." The stranger flushed and glanced to her right side briefly.
"Nah, 's my fault for not paying attention." She responded. "What were you going to ask?" She knew the 'I have a question but I don't want to disturb you' tone well, being one of Neal's personal favorites.
"I wanted to know if that seat was taken." Glasses-girl nodded to the chair directly across the table from her.
"Free country." Though not if Cobra Commander ever actually succeeded, she thought to herself. Outwardly she offered the stranger a careless shrug. "Sit wherever you want."
The girl hummed softly, moving to the open seat. "I don't think I've seen you around before…"
"Not from around here and don't plan on staying." Compared to Chicago or the swamps, Bayville was boring. She couldn't see herself ever wanting to retire to a town like this one. "I'm just here 'cuz Dad doesn't want me left alone all day while I heal up and Mom couldn't take time off to do it."
"Oh. Is your dad one of the new subs?" The girl asked, studying her intently.
"Yeah, Chemistry teacher." Who was now experiencing a different kind of chemistry with her mother. Ick. "Amy Tanzar." She wasn't sure why she told the girl her name, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
"Jenna Darby." Jenna smiled back. "What did you do to get all of those scratches, fall through a window?"
"Wrecked a dirt bike." Though she could understand why the other girl would think 'windows'. Falling through windows was NOT on her list of experiences to repeat; the glass shards got stuck in between her scales and were some so small that tweezers couldn't pick them out. Then there was the whole 'scramble not to go splat' business on top of that! Crashing a your bike on a gravel road wasn't much better (gravel hurt almost as bad as glass), but there usually wasn't as far to fall. "I don't think I've seen you in any of my classes, but then again my schedule's all kinds of f'd up…"
"Yeah…Bayville's school board doesn't see the necessity of offering Advanced Placement classes." Jenna wrinkled her nose. "Principal Darkholme had to fight hard to get them to update the Remedial Education classes, and she never did get them expanded like she wanted. Principal Kelly doesn't seem to care if he undoes all her hard work."
"Principal Kelly is an inept and bigoted moron who should not have been put in charge of children." Andi scowled. "How did he get the job?"
"He was the vice when Principal Darkholme resigned under…well, mysterious is the only word for it, circumstances. We never got a full explanation for why she left." Jenna frowned. "I don't want to make her out to be some kind of saint who loved working with children: she wasn't. Don't think she liked teenagers all that much. But the woman took absolutely no crap from students or teachers and knew how to stretch a budget better than the budget committee. She benched half the football team's starting line-up because they flunked midterms and didn't let their parents bully her into putting them back on the field before they passed their next quizzes."
Yep. That sounded exactly like something Mom would do. Andi was able to avoid smiling. "I would take her over Kelly and Gyrich any day." She commented. "Gyrich keeps trying to get me expelled."
"Are you even a student here?" Jenna asked.
"Nope. Just an auditor." She grinned. "Not that he seems to care about technicalities like that."
"Didn't figure he would. He's new, but he's already proven he wants things to run 'just so'." Jenna remarked. "Rumor has it your dad put him in his place this morning."
"Not really. Told off, yes, but put in place? Not yet, but if the man keeps acting up it'll happen soon." She wanted to watch that fight, too. "So, are there any electives worth looking into around here? Home Ec's a waste of my time and they won't let me in Machine Shop with a broken arm." Jenna put a hand over her chin in thought.
"Well, there's always the arts…"
Meanwhile, in the computer room, Zarana and Mainframe were making the most of their time together while one of the computers ran a comparative analysis program featuring information in the Joe database and whatever he could 'borrow' from their allies. They were just getting to the good part when the computer in question beeped.
"Uhg. Waited a whole damn week and now the CPU is out to ruin the mood." Zarana grumbled as her lover positioned himself so that he could see the screen from their spot on a newly-cleared desk. "Is it worth stopping over?"
"Maybe?" He frowned. "We got a match to something in SHIELD's archives."
"Probably that vague 'shapeshifter, female' DNA we got a ping off of a while back." She grumbled. No one had run a match on Andi since then, mostly because other projects took precedence over the Dreadnoks' idle curiosity. "Leave it 'til later."
"I think they've updated their databases since you last checked." He blinked and re-read the information on the screen. Match confirmed, close familial, four hits. "Medical must have processed those hair samples at light speed for us to be getting matches off them this quick. She's got four family members in the system."
"I know she has older half-brothers on her dad's side, but I didn't think any of them were on your radar." She frowned, shifting her position a bit.
"They're not." Jesus, how had they all overlooked this? "I expected to get a ping back from her father; man's got DNA on file with almost every organization in the Americas and a few in Europe, but the other three…Did you know about this?"
"Know about what, exactly?" She asked. She couldn't see the screen very well from her current viewing angle; he had her more or less pinned to the desk right now. "If I knew anything else, would I have asked you to run the tests for me?"
He sighed. "No, I don't suppose you would have." They'd been together long enough for him to understand that. "We got matches for her mother and two maternal half-siblings right here in Bayville."
"Two?" Her brow crinkled as she ran through the list of related mutants in Bayville and cross-referenced that with adult females. The only ones in their databases would have been the Xavier storm-rider and… "Bloody 'ell. It's her?"
"Mmhmm."
"Bollocks." If this information got leaked before they could run damage control not only would the entire job be a waste, but their girl's life could be in danger. She didn't need to ask about the sibling matches; Cobra filched the same legal files as the Joes. Blast and damn it all. "I think we'll have to make it another rain check, luv." Zartan, at least, should be informed ASAP, given who his latest paramour was.
"Maybe tomorrow, then?" He asked.
"Depends on the fallout, but I'll try." She sighed, re-adjusting her blouse so that it didn't look as if someone tried to peel it off her. She hoped she could head this off before it turned into a fight, and barring that, keep the bloodshed to a minimum. It might already be a lost cause, but she needed to try anyway.