Disclaimer- X-Men: Evolution is not mine and I lay no claim on it. I do not own anything belonging to Marvel or the respected artists. I will not profit money wise from this story.

I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Feel free to review. Constructive criticisms only please. Feel free to share any ideas as well. S.F

Chapter 2

When the bell rang for lunch Ava thought she was hallucinating. The schools here were confusing but at least she had forgotten her purpose for being here at this time. She followed the flood of kids out of the classes and down the halls. She assumed that they would lead her to the lunchroom.

She felt slightly uncomfortable with all these people that close. She didn't want to cause any harm to these people. She was glad to arrive at the cafeteria and felt even better when she got her lunch.

"Food is great" she hummed to herself.

She looked around for a place to sit and saw someone beckoning her over. As she got closer she saw that it was Fred and Todd.

"Hey guys how are you both?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"Good" Fred answered between mouthfuls.

Ava looked him up and down and mentally sighed. He was a rather big guy so she wasn't surprised that he would get teased a lot. Todd also looked different which probably didn't help much. She assumed that they both got into a lot of trouble for being different.

"Having a good day, yo?" Todd asked as he leaned back easily in his chair.

She nodded as he flicked his tongue out and caught a fly, which had been flying around her head.

"Thanks. It was rather annoying" she laughed.

Her fringe was still getting into her eyes and without thinking she flicked it out of the way and heard Todd gasp.

"Please, don't say anything. I hate it but it won't disappear" she said sighing.

She wasn't feeling all that hungry anymore so she just played with her food until Fred asked if he could eat what was left. She pushed it towards him and looked around the hall. She saw that girl Kitty and she was surprised to see Lance sitting with her, she didn't seem like his type. With that thought she laughed at herself.

"What's so funny?" Fred asked.

"Just thinking. So who is that sitting with Lance?" she asked, just out of interest even though she already knew the girl.

"Oh that's Kitty, yo. She's one of those X-geeks" Todd laughed as he caught another fly.

"X-geeks?" one of her eyebrows raised inquisitively.

"Yeah, they're mutants like us, yo. 'Cept they live at that flash institute with that Xavier dude" he informed her.

Something in her clicked. Those were the people that she was supposed to look out for. She had been told to go to the Brotherhood but try to get into the Institute for Gifted people or something like that. Her new boss had told her that she had to start in the Brotherhood because he needed someone to keep an eye on Mystique.

She didn't want to be in either place, all she wanted to do was go home but until He was satisfied she was trapped here. She looked up at Todd and Fred and said her goodbyes and left the cafeteria. She went out to get some fresh air and sighed when she saw another one of her new 'friends'.

"Can't you just leave me alone? It's as if he doesn't trust me. What does he think I am going to do? Give everybody bad dreams until they can no longer remember if they are a boy or girl?" she vented her frustration then sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap" she apologised.

"Dat's okay, chere" the person replied.

"Look, I'm not going to run off. He has all the power and he has absolute control but when this is done" she threatened.

But Gambit just laughed and disappeared.

She sat down where she was and stared off into space. Lost in thought she didn't hear anyone approach until they were right next to her.

"Hey, remember me?" a perky voice asked.

"Kitty, right?" she said, looking up at her.

"That's me. So, um, Lance told me that you like, live with them at the Brotherhood" she said as she sat down.

"Yep. My new home away from home" Ava grinned.

"So, like, are you a mutant?"

"Ah, the million dollar question. Yes and I am guessing that you must be one as well" Ava replied.

She watched as Kitty nodded. She seemed so happy yet so sad at the same time and Ava knew how it felt. They were both different and in a world that claimed to value differences it was not easy to actually be different.

"I know how you feel but don't worry. It can't always be like this" Ava said but she didn't know if she was trying to comfort Kitty or herself.

"Kitty, there you are. Scott and Jean have been looking all over for you. Guess what? Apparently there is a new mutant at the school and she lives with the Brotherhood" a boy whispered not noticing Ava sitting right there.

She glanced at this boy, intrigued by his accent and the fact that he was talking about her even though she was right there.

"Hi, nice to meet you. Yep I live with the Brotherhood. Even by my own free choice" she laughed, watching Kitty try to discreetly get him to be quiet.

Kitty laughed when she heard Ava laugh, relieved that she had not taken offence at his words. Ava, not really understanding why such a nice girl would choose to stay with the bad guys surprised her. Although she didn't think that Lance was really that bad.

"Kurt this is Ava, Ava this is Kurt. He lives at the Institute. Which is where I live. It's a place for others like us, you know, mutants and the like" Kitty explained.

"Hi Kurt" Ava nodded in his direction.

"Hello" he replied and held out his hand to shake.

"Sorry to be rude but I can't shake your hand. My power is not always under my control. I don't want to hurt you."

Kitty sighed when she heard that because if she was staying with Mystique and her lackey's she would soon find herself in the predicament where she would be forced to hurt someone.

"Oh. Do you absorb people's memories?" Kurt inquired.

"Oh no. I tend to give people nightmares. Um I make them experience their worst fear. It's not very nice but in this world you get what you are given."

Kitty thought that that was an interesting way of putting it and she was going to say so when she remembered that Scott and Jean had been looking for her.

"What did the others want?"

"Pardon? Oh right they wanted to try and find out about Ava here but it looks like you beat them too it."

"So why are you staying with all them? I mean Lance is okay but the others are....well" Kitty began.

"Just a place to live. I was told that it was a good place to stay if you were a mutant" Ava shrugged.

Kurt went off to tell the others about Kitty's find as Kitty and Ava seemed to be talking about a number of things that really didn't interest him. They didn't seem to notice when he wandered off.

"So you like Lance" Ava said, changing the topic away from her once again.

She laughed as Kitty turned a light shade of red.

"He's really nice, when he wants to be. If you get what I mean."

Ava was about to reply when the bell rang.

"Back to work" she muttered.

Kitty smiled and they walked to class with Kitty leading to show Ava where to go.

The rest of the day passed really quickly and Ava was relieved. She liked school as much as the next person, which was not much. She believed that anyone who enjoyed high school was a highly disturbed individual and not to be trusted. She walked out to the car park and headed towards Lance's jeep only to be stopped before she got there.

"Hey, you're new, right?" someone asked.

"Yeah. I'm the new kid. It's a hard job but someone has to do it" she cracked.

"Was that supposed to be funny" another voice asked in an annoyed tone.

"It was but apparently it wasn't that funny. Please accept my apology" she said as she tried to get past them.

"You're strange. So do you want to go for a walk?"

She looked at the guy who had spoken and she didn't need to be a mind reader to realise that he a rich boy who always got what he wanted.

"No thanks I have to get going. Pietro and Lance are waiting and I can't be late as I have a lot of homework" she answered and finally managed to push her way through the crowd.

With the mention of those names they seemed to back off and Ava didn't know if she should be concerned about that. She choose to take it as a good sign at the present time. She jogged towards the jeep without looking back.

"Hey, guys. Did we learn a lot at school today?"

Pietro ignored her and Lance just grunted. They jumped in and drove off, apparently Fred and Todd had detention.

When they pulled up at the house Ava felt glad to be back. It wasn't her real home but it would have to do.

"So is there anywhere to train or workout here?"

Both of the guys just looked at her as if she were nuts.

"Um did I say something wrong?"

"We don't train or anything. We watch TV and maybe do our homework" Lance answered.

"Okay" Ava said and left it at that.

She needed to keep in shape. She wasn't lucky like a lot of people, if she looked at food she tended to gain weight. She didn't want to be skinny but she didn't want to be overweight either. Anyway she didn't mind exercising as it gave her a buzz. She decided that she would go for a jog and was about to go into the house until Pietro pulled her back.

Lance had gone inside so it was only them out here. Within a few minutes Wanda had also joined them outside.

"Father has a new job for you. He wants you to suggest to Mystique that you should try to get into the Institute and become a spy for us" Pietro told her.

"But I just got here. One day. That's how long I have been here. I would like to stay in one place longer than that."

"He doesn't expect it to happen right away. He knows that you were being friendly with a couple of those X-geeks today. He wants you to ease your way in" Wanda explained although she glared at Pietro a lot.

"Sure, whatever. Why don't I just catch a thousand Tuatara's to go along with that, aye" she said, throwing her hands up in the air?

They both gave her a blank look.

"Don't worry. I'll work on it."