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A/N- We tried really hard to begin the plot but we realized we still had a bit more fluff for you guys. Sorry so enjoy the randomness!

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Chapter 7:

"Right under my nose. I can't believe it."  Brennan said passing the nerf football to Tawny as he and the teenage girl walked through one of the main halls.

"Weird isn't it? So you've been looking up information on me for two days straight?" Tawny said returning the pass, "I didn't know I was that interesting."

"Well I just wanted to piece together what happened that day. Go Long. " Brennan replied rearing back for a long throw. Tawny ran forward a little bit and caught the neon colored ball with ease.

"Touchdown!" Tawny yelled doing a little dance. Brennan laughed to himself at the ostentatious young girl.

"What do you remember?" Tawny asked them plopping down into a nearby chair.

"Well…" Brennan started sitting in the chair next to her. " I remember getting hit with the stun guns then, a tall man knocking over agents with a flick of his wrist…"

"That's Lee, he's a Sonic Elemental." She interrupted.

"Who was the blonde guy fighting?"

"Russell, Psionic Illusionist."

"The one who was flying was your sister right?"

"You do do your home work don't you? Yeah she's an Aves Feral. And she wasn't flying, she was gliding. She has a special coat that the sleeves hook to the sides to make wings, and since she only weighs like 50 pounds it's easy for her to use."

"50 pounds?"

"Hollow bones, like all birds."

"What about you how did you pull me into that alley?"

She smiled to herself and chuckled.

"I can teleport form one place to another." Tawny stated looking up at Brennan.

"That's what the rushing feeling was." Brennan said everything suddenly clicking, "Is that how you got out of the fire?"

" Yeah, I had to make two trips cause I'm not really good with it yet. Which you can tell." She held up her bandaged arm. "Coming back in I missed my target by about 2 feet and got burned."

"I've never heard of Teleportation. Is it Molecular?" He asked very intrigued

"I think its Molecular and Psionic." Tawny replied examining her arm in slight boredom.

"How so?" Brennan asked.

"Well, Eve said it was Molecular because I can break my molecules up into pieces, but then I can send them through the air so I guess that's Psionic too."

"I didn't know that a mutation can be in two categories." Brennan said to himself wistfully. Lee entering the room from the side door interrupted their conversation.

"Tawny, Orion M meeting."

Tawny nodded and handed the football to Brennan.

"Talk to you later." She said in parting and followed Lee out of the room.  

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Tawny made sure the door closed behind her before she joined her Russell on the bed in the middle of the left wall. Lee was already present standing along the opposite wall, arms crossed, silently thinking about things only he knew. Sarah broke the silence from her place in a nearby chair.

"Does anyone have any idea what we should be doing?"

Russell sighed. "If you're about to say get organized, I'm gonna gag."

Sarah rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Eve's our leader. Now she's gone. What else to you suppose we do?"

"She's right." Lee remarked simply. "We need someone in charge or else we're no good to New Mutants."

"But what if Eve comes back?" Tawny asked playing with the laces of her shoes.

"And what if she doesn't?" the brooding Japanese man countered.

"I suppose you want the position." Russell shot back defensively. "General Haruko Lee Huang I assume."

"Stop being an ass, Russell." Sarah murmured under her breath.

"What was that?" the blonde's head snapped in her direction.

"I said stop being an ass, Russell. It's not helping." She repeated with a stern voice.

"What are you gonna do if I don't? Peck me into submission."

"If I have to." Sarah's eyes flashed with a large round pupil, reminding and warning Russell of what she could do.

"Can we all please calm down here?" Tawny interrupted, slightly amused that she was being the voice of reason and maturity. "Listen, we all realize that Russell has a problem with change and authority and we all know how low Sarah's bull sh-" Sarah gave her a warning glare. "-crap tolerance is. We don't need a display here. Let's just take a vote. The person we vote for takes over Eve's duties until she comes back, if or when she does. Alright?" The three adults nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll go first. I vote for Sarah."

Lee cleared his throat. "Sarah,"

"Lee" Sarah answered.

Russell was silent, taking in the vote and mentally debating. Finally he looked up. "Sarah would be the best at it."

"Congrats, sis." Tawny smiled. "What's our plan of action?"

Sarah sighed and ran her fingers through her hand pensively. "We should stay here for a while, just until we get our bearings. Eve will probably contact us here, anyway. I also think we should try to absorb some things from Mutant X. They're better at what we do. If we watch and learn, we can only get better, right?"    

There was a silence in the room after she finished speaking. She looked to Lee for a reaction. Catching her eye, he subtly nodded in encouragement. Exhaling in relief she motioned towards the door. "Um…dismissed?"

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 The concoction in the large stew pot steamed as Russell effortlessly pushed it around with his wooden spoon. The smell was intoxicating but something was obviously missing.

"Garlic." Russell murmured to himself. "It needs garlic." He reached up to search through the cabinet above him at the sanctuary kitchen. Not being able to find his needed spice, he set down the spoon and began searching through random cabinets.

"Hey Emma." He yelled on his hands and knees, head halfway into one of the cabinet closer to the floor, " Where's the Garlic?"

"How should I know?" Emma's voice came from above him scaring him half to death; "We hardly ever use the kitchen."

"I've noticed." Russell replied to the practically new condition of the cooking appliances.

"What are you making?" She asked sitting down at the near by table.

"The Russell Evans patented burn-your-mouth-shave-your-cat-strip-down-to-your-shorts-do-a-little-dance-kiss-your-neighbor three alarm chili."

Emma looked at him with a questioning expression.

"I invented the recipe in my freshman year of college."

"Interesting name. I hope it doesn't reflect the ingredients."

"Speaking of ingredients, I still can't find that garlic." Russell said reaching up again to look in a cabinet and, to her surprise, the moment his fingers left the spoon, it still stirred the chili. "Oh I found it!" The cook cried victoriously.

She glanced back up at him for a moment and then back at the spoon, which was now resting on the side of the pot again.

"What did you just do?" She asked.

"Oh, the spoon thing?" He smiled adding the powdered garlic. "I'm just showing-off. It's a habit. I always use my powers in front of pretty girls."

Emma looked down at the floor wand smiled at the complement.

"You know what I don't understand?" Russell continued before Emma could comment.

"What?"

"Mexican Beer." He answered in mock-seriousness as he tapped the spoon against the edge of the metal pot. "I mean we all know what great water they have down there." The sarcasm in his voice made Emma laugh as Tawny appeared at the door.

"Ooo! Can I have some?" The small girl asked noticing familiar smell of her friend's chili.

"Beer? No, you wouldn't like it." Russell quipped not looking up from his cooking.

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A/N- See that wasn't so bad! R/R like always!

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