Part 3

Tara walked around the room investigating everything. All her senses were heightened. She didn't feel as if anything was wrong but she didn't feel quite herself either. She wished her captor had told her what to expect. Yeah okay probably a mutant now but what kind and now what? No way was she joining his brotherhood but how to get out of here.

Tara turned at the sound of a door opening.

Magneto stood watching Tara, the newest mutant. Her lab work came back that she indeed possessed the chromosome. Now all he needed was to find out what kind of mutant she was.

"How are you feeling, my dear? Are you feeling special yet?"

Tara rolled her eyes, "I'm f-fine. What kind of mutant did you make me?"

"Oh, I have no idea. It's whatever was dormant in you. We'll do some tests."

"What kind of tests?"

"We'll put you in a room with other mutants and certain scenarios. Your new powers will come out don't worry about that. Once we find out what you can do I'll help you to control them."

Tara wasn't sure she liked the sound of that but she did want to know what they did to her. Maybe there was a way to reverse it or something. Once she knew what was going on she could escape and warn Willow. Once the Scoobies and Giles knew what Magneto had done to her they could find a way to help. They were good at researching and fixing things. Giles might even have something in his Magic shop that could return her to her former self. She'd just play along with Magneto until she could escape.

"If you're ready we can begin the tests now." Magneto motioned for Tara to follow him through the door.

~~~~

Xavier slowly took the helmet that attaches to Cerebro off his head. He wearily laid it on the platform and just stared into nothingness. He had found another mutant but with a different signature. Not like the mutants he normally found.

This new information along with the phone conversation with Logan made him suspect Eric's hand in this. Xavier knew Willow of course. He remembered her as a bright young girl standing shyly but hopeful with her parents.

He tried to break the news to the Rosenbergs as easily as possible that his school wasn't for Willow. Seeing the crestfallen look on Willow's face made him want to enter her mind and reassure her that it wasn't her. He couldn't very well tell them what HE meant by gifted. But he had long ago made a promise to himself to NEVER use his gifts to invade the privacy of others.

He knew Willow wasn't a mutant and he had no idea why Eric would target her. Unless he was taking up where he left off and creating mutants unnaturally. But if that were the case why Willow? Senator Kelly had been picked for a reason. He was the most vocal on mutant registration. Eric turning him first made sense. Using the delegates at the Ellis Island ceremony even made sense in a mad way.

He would contact Scott and Jean to tell them about this latest development. They could try to convince Willow to come back with them for protection. Until they knew why Magneto wanted Willow, she wasn't safe.

~~~~

Tara followed Magneto into what looked like a training room. There was an observation window for people to look down into the room. Kind of like a teaching hospital's surgery room.

Standing in the room was a tall broad shouldered man with a mane of blond hair, a blue skinned woman and the odd looking man that had kidnapped her.

"Tara's one of us now." Pointing to each Magneto introduced them to Tara, "This is Sabertooth, Mystique and Toad. They're here to help us find out exactly what your new powers are."

Sabertooth just grunted at her, Toad watched her intently and made her uncomfortable. Mystique smiled and then morphed into Tara.

Tara gasped and jumped back.

Magneto chuckled, "Mystique is a shapeshifter. She can take the form of any one. Male or female, young or old."

Mystique/Tara walked up to Tara, "I-I'm s-so good that Willow doesn't even know you're gone."

"Quit teasing her, Mystique."

She just smiled and then morphed back into her natural shape.

"We're just going to run a few scenarios and watch your reactions. None are life threatening but you can get hurt. Use your new abilities to either defend or get out of the situation."

Magneto motioned for the others to follow him.

Tara began to panic. What was she supposed to do? She wasn't a fighter so she couldn't fight if her new supposed powers didn't kick in. How would she know what to do?

About a million spells went through her mind. She tried to think of everything her mother taught her and everything that she and Willow had practiced.

The room suddenly changed. No longer was it a cold metallic room now it was a darkened warehouse. There was a sound to her left and Tara quickly turned. Standing in the shadows was a young girl. Tara began to relax until she saw the girl raise her hands and there was a small ball of fire floating just above her palms.

Tara reacted out of instinct and dove for cover behind a crate.

Magneto frowned and hit a few more switches picking up the scenario a notch. He would force her to use her new powers. He knew she had them she just had to trust herself to use them.

A man came out from behind the crates that Tara was crouching behind. He sniffed the air, "I smell a mutant around here."

Tara scrambled up and ran. She was looking over her shoulder, as the man got closer.

Sabertooth was chuckling. "Looks like your new mutie is a runner too bad she's not as fast as QuickSilver."

Magneto ignored him. He was just beginning to think that he picked the wrong one to experiment on when Tara ran right through a crate.

Tara wasn't paying attention to where she was going she just knew she had to get away from the man chasing her. Her body suddenly felt very light. She hoped this wasn't the first sign of a heart attack. Though if it were it certainly would solve some of her problems.

Tara suddenly stopped and looked around. She was inside a crate. She couldn't feel the wood of the crate or whatever was inside the crate. It was like she was standing in an empty room. She waved her hand up and down with it appearing and disappearing in the crate.

Magneto chuckled and turned off the scenario but left the warehouse. He leaned down into the microphone, "I believe we've discovered your talent, my dear."