Chapter 4

Almost five days passed since their arrival in the past.

And they were five days well spent, in Nami's opinion. From the broken pieces of the time piece, one she deemed unfixable as a time traveling device, Adelina had constructed a well-put together image inducer over the course of the week. The queen, in between her practicing and leaving to snag some food for the two of them, watched Adelina fiddle with the parts in complete concentration, not bothering to figure how it would all work.

On the sixth sunrise after their arrival, Nami woke up to the sounds of the beaches, the seagulls and the sound of her name being called by someone in the corner.

"Nami…wake up!"

She groaned in annoyance. "Adelina…if you need to go, just go. I'm sure no one will be out this early in the morning."

The young queen snuggled down deeper into sleep, curled up into a tight ball to keep out the chill of the morning out. She was just on the cusp of sleep once again when a finger poked her face. Nami sighed so she slowly opened her eyes.

She was really shocked to see someone staring at her that most definitely wasn't Adelina.

The young girl that was in front of her had all of Adelina's looks, including Nightcrawler's rosary, except she was missing the girl's dark purplish skin and her wings and tridactyl feet. Nami had pushed the girl away, acting on pure instinct alone, and kept a fighting stance until it hit her the girl in front of her was Adelina, just a human version. Around her neck, on a string, was a small piece of metal that looked like it was a just a twisted piece of metal.

"Ade…..?"

The human visage of her friend smiled brightly and turned, showing off her tailless form. "In the human flesh!"

Nami relaxed her stance, taking it in with a smile on her face. "Gotta admit, I'm impressed."

"Well, you should be." Adelina said. She held up a five-fingered hand and started to tick off, "I did this in five days, from the comfort of this fabulous cave, with little to no technology-"

"I think it's more like 'no technology'."

"Well, you know what I mean. This is the worst possible scenario if someone wanted to make something like this," she held up the image inducer, "without any of the necessary tools."

Nami smirked. "We grew up without any of the necessary tools."

"You could say that again." Adelina walked over to the mouth of the cave, stretching out fully as the sun finally rose passed the horizon. The mutant in disguise groaned in delight as she knelt and Nami suddenly realized that she was going to need some clothes. That is if she didn't want to get arrested for public indecency.

"Here." Nami said as she stood, rifling through the bag that had some pilfered clothes. She tossed them to Adelina. "Put those on. I'll be out on the surf if you need me."

"Okay."

Nami left to give her friend some semblance of privacy, and walked all the way out into the surf until she was about knee deep in the water. With a sigh, she started to do some exercises, relishing the feeling of her powers. Every move that she did was fluid and robotic at the same time. But it was easy to lose herself in the exercises. The water moved with her in time, a dance that she was flawlessly aware of.

"I'm done!"

Nami turned back, a smile on her face as she took in the how her pilfered clothes fit. They were a little bit too baggy, but so were hers. And she also had the understanding that it was the 'hip new style' at this point in history.

"Good." Nami dropped the water. Her eyes scanned the length of the beach to her left and then to her right. Everything as far as the eye could see was empty and they were alone. Her eyes darted upward, dashing back and forth as she examined the clouds. "Well…wanna explore or something? I don't think there's gonna be anything here."

"OOOOOH! I wanna explore the technology shops that they have!"

Nami made a face. "You want to go…to a tech shop…..?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay…If you want." Nami turned towards the cave. "Let me just go and grab my trident."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's better to have a stick than regret it while fighting for your life'." Nami quoted her mentor with ease as she examined her weapon. After another moment of thought, she placed it in the long bag that she had snatched the first night they had arrived. It would give them some version of illusion to the fact that they were from this time period and were just two normal girls out for a day in the city.

Once the bag was situated over her shoulder, comfortably and in a position that it wouldn't hinder her but would also be where she could access it quickly, Nami walked back out and joined Adelina. From there, the two walked in a comfortable silence along the surf-line, their eyes occasionally darting around to catch a fish or a seagull. This world was very captivating for the two of them, that coming to this world of brightness and color was almost a heart-stopping shift.

They made their way off the beaches and into the town. It wasn't as bad as New York City proper, but it was far too different then what she was comfortable with. Adelina, on the other hand, was ecstatic to be among other people. She greeted everyone that passed her way with a smile and a hello, though most of her greetings went ignored.

That didn't seem to deter her though.

"So, where's this tech shop again?"

"I have no idea but look at this!" Adelina jogged up to a vendor selling some sort of ice treat. She took some time to read the sign on the cart, her eyes going cartoonishly wide and gasping dramatically. "IIIIIICCCCCEEEEEE CCCCCRRREEEEAAAAMMMM."

They had been told about Ice cream, multiple times by both their mentors who liked to reminisce about their childhood. It was a treat made from ice and cream, and normally eaten during the warmer months of the year. If she recalled correctly, Cyclops's favorite ice cream was strawberry and cream. She couldn't remember what Nightcrawler's was for the life of her though.

She walked up behind her companion, who turned to her with the widest eyes. "Pppplllleeeaasssse, may I have some?"

Nami sighed as she reached into her duffle bag, searching for the cash that she had pinched from a passerby the other day. That was all she took, though. There was very little cash left, but she couldn't deny her friend this one special treat.

"Alright…..what do you want?"

"Blueberry cobbler please!"

The vendor grabbed a waffle cone and scooped at least three huge scoops of blueberry cobbler ice cream into the cone. Nami handed the vendor the money, as Adelina took her cone and started to eat it. She thanked the vendor, not missing the suspicious look on his face as the two turned and continued their journey.

"Next time, please don't draw too much attention to yourself. We need to blend."

Her face was already smeared with ice cream; Adelina smiled the brightest smile Nami had seen on her face since they were little. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Famous last words." Nami muttered as the two continued down the street. She managed to snag a couple of napkins from the vendor and handed them over to her friend when she ate the last bit of her cone and started to lick her fingers. They were outside of the tech shop and even though they didn't have any shoes and smelled horrible, Nami didn't need to have anyone calling the law enforcement.

"I'll be in and out in fifteen minutes!"

"You can't buy anything, Adelina." Nami reminded as she leaned up against the wall.

"I know. I'm just gonna browse. I swear."

Nami just watched the young girl enter the building, before turning her attention to the crowds that passed by. There were some teenagers on skateboards that moved by her quickly, each of them shouting happily to each other, some of them catcalling her. The young girl ignored them, instead she fixed her eyes on the brilliant blue sky that loomed over her. There were clouds that looked so fluffy that Nami figured that she could lie out on them and take a nap. She took a deep breath as she allowed the sun to warm her face as she waited for her friend.

Her peacefulness was shattered by the sound of shouting and alarms going off. Nami turned around, her eyes going wide as Adelina leapt out of the shop, almost on all fours, as the sounds of shouting followed her. The blond girl grabbed a hold of her hand and yanked her down back the way they came.

"What did you do?!" Nami demanded.

"Nothing I swear!" The girl shouted.

"Then why are we being chased?"

She glanced behind her, catching sight of the possible manager of the store shouting after them, calling them vermin and street rats. The last thing she heard was the threats of him saying that he was going to call the police on them before they turned down a corner and he disappeared out of sight. The two of them took shelter in the shadow of an alleyway, so that they could catch their breaths.

"What did you do, Ade?"

"I-egh-nothing! I swear!" she declared, raising her hand up as if being sworn in. "I think my tail tipped over a glass case and then the alarms went off…. ugh. I panicked."

Nami's racing heart settling and the adrenaline fading, but only slightly, her mind was able to calm down enough for her anger to dissipate. And long enough for her anxiety to reach a peak. Her mind went a thousand miles per hour, one of the main thoughts being what would happen to her trident. Without saying a word, Nami turned around and, bending some water from out of the air, she willed the water up against the brick and willed it to freeze. Ice coated the bricks as cracks started to show. But Nami kept going, wiling the ice to get colder and colder until the bricks were ready to break. Sirens in the distance, getting closer and closer, had her heart start up in a panic once again.

That's when she hit it the wall with all her might.

The bricks crumbled, revealing an empty space. She tucked the duffle bag in there, before bending the water back upward, freezing it to become a new wall of ice. Nami grabbed a rough looking blanket that was lying on top of the dumpster and pinned it to the wall.

She glanced around, memorizing everything in the alley. Once she was sure she knew where to come, she nodded, just as two police cars stopped just outside the alleyway. Nami grabbed ahold of Adelina's wrist to keep her from doing anything rash, as four men approached them. They kept their hand on the pistols at their waists but didn't draw them. Nami noted that their gait was pretty much relaxed so she didn't have to worry about defending herself, although she kept herself on guard.

"You girls alright?" One of the cops asked.

Nami nodded silently.

"Are you running from something?"

The two remained silent.

"Why don't we go down to the station so that we can get you two's situation figured huh?"

Adelina glanced at Nami; her big eyes worried. Nami gave her wrist a gentle squeeze before nodding.

"Alright. If you'll follow me please."

Keep the link open but make sure your shields are up.

Okay. There was something in the mental voice of Adelina. I'm scared.

I know. Just stay calm and remember your training.

Did you just quote Star Wars?

Kinda….

There was a tingle that was sent through the mental link, something that was akin to a psychic laugh. The link went silent, but not completely dead, while the cops guided them to the back of the cars. Nami was glad that they didn't separate them, like she suspected. They sat there for a few minutes while the cops called in the fact that they picked up two female juveniles and were requesting child services. The queen didn't know what that was, but she suspected it was protocol.

"Alrighty, let's get going." The cop said, glancing in the rearview mirror as they pulled out of the alleyway. "You two comfortable."

"Yes sir." Adelina whispered.

"Wha-ho! She speaks!" The cop joked.

The two remained silent the rest of the trip, ignoring the cop's forced attempts to conversate with them. Nami kept her face emotionless as they finally arrived at a brick building, where men in the similar garb milled about. Once parked, the cop asked them to get out and follow him up the front steps and going into the lobby. They were asked to sit down at a desk, amid the hive of people that moved around the lobby. With phones ringing, people answering them, and some even bringing in perps to process them.

It was all very much.

Adelina and Nami sat a desk, with the blonde looking around nervously. Nami gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm…I don't know if I can do this." She whispered. Nami's lip went into a tight line.

"I know. Just don't panic. Take a deep breath. If the image inducer failed…well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

The two's conversation was interrupted when a stately looking woman sat down in front of them, her honey-blonde hair pulled up in a tight bun and a silver-grey pantsuit shining in the luminescent lights.

"Hello there." Her smile on her strangely painted face looked a little…. psychotic. "My name is Sandra Browning. I'm a representative of the Child Services and I'll be your case worker for the time being. May I get your names, please?"

Adelina glanced over at Nami, who nodded encouragingly, but added through the mental link, Don't give anything else away.

"My name's Adelina Covington."

Ms. Browning scribbled the name down before glancing at Nami. The Queen bit the inside of her lip before blinking.

"Hakato Asashi." Nami answered. Adelina glanced over at her, her eyes blinking as though she was trying to see if she was doing something on purpose. She discreetly waved the questioning gaze off.

When Ms. Browning had finished scribbling down the names, she made eye-contact with the two girls. "We're gonna run your names through VICAP. After that, we're going to get you situated in a house and enroll you in a school."

"We can't be separated." Nami said before she could stop herself or think her way of phrasing the sentence. Her need to protect Adelina was strong now, almost like a mothering need to protect her child. She was like a little sister to Nami, and one of the last mutants born.

"I'll see what I can do. Wait here alright? I'll be right back."

Nami watched the woman stand and leave them. She exhaled as her shoulders relaxed. Even though the two had been through everything, Nami couldn't help but think how they were going to get through this situation.