**It's never easy, learning you are a mutant. But when your father is a
powerful US Senator pushing hard for the introduction of mutant
registration, it can be downright dangerous. **
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.
A/N: Eek! Never thought this would happen, I've gone and found an X-Man story NOT based totally around Blaze for once! Strange things happen when you've had too much coffee. Anyway this is set straight after L'Ange de Morte, so about four years after X2. There are also quite a lot of references to Darkest Hearts, as a few characters made brief appearances there, but you shouldn't have to read either prequel to understand it. Enjoy.
Scene 01
"You're not my mother, bitch!" The teenager screamed, slapping the older girl across the face and turning in a stormy pirouette to leave the building.
"Sammy, your Dad is gonna go crazy at me if he finds out I let you go out..." The whinging female complained, but Samantha wasn't listening, had already slammed the expensive door shut behind her. Stupid cow! Who did she think she was trying to take her dead Mom's place? And its not as if she'd last long with Sam's Dad anyway, as soon as a newspaper even mentioned anything bad about the little tramp the senator would dump her so fast...
Pausing by a hall mirror in her elaborate and exquisite home, fifteen year old Samantha Hawley, daughter of Senator Michael Hawley, applied her last coat of blood red lip-gloss and deep black mascara with a practised pout. She was a pretty thing, people kept telling her, with long brown hair cut in the most fashionable style and big green eyes just like her Mom's had been. Her face was longer than it was round, her nose straight but classy, just like she'd asked the surgeon for. There was nothing like getting what you wanted from a man. Tugging at her top she rearranged herself revealingly inside it, spun once frowning at her reflection, and left the building. Time to have some fun!
The bike was waiting, her latest boyfriend Jonnie was nineteen and thoroughly disapproved of by her so often absent father. Like he could do a thing about it. She pulled on her helmet and climbed aboard behind Jonnie without so much as a hello. Well used to his girlfriend's grumpy moods Jonnie revved the bike and sped off down the gravelled drive.
The young adults in the bar greeted Sam like she was one of their own. Her girlfriends kissed her cheeks and exclaimed over her outfit, the males amongst them raising glasses in half-drunken greetings. This was where she belonged, so what if the rest of the world thought she was just a kid, most of her friends were drinking underage too. Stupid American laws, if only she lived in Europe... But the other young people were also the children of America's finest, and the bar owner easily swayed by their parent's cash to let them drink as much as they wanted. When she was here, life was good.
Sam took a cab home, leaving Jonnie dumped and unconscious under a table. She'd thought he was more than he was, with his body piercings and motorbike, but it turned out he was just another lightweight. The night only got worse as she recognised her father's chauffeured estate in the driveway. Tipping the taxi driver as little as was polite and trying to wipe off her lip-gloss with the back of her hand, she braced herself to face the music.
Surprisingly enough her father actually looked pleased to see her. Something had gone well at work then, maybe another step towards mutant registration? Everybody knew mutants weren't helping their own cause at the moment, what with the havoc the so-called Four Horsemen had been causing before they suddenly disappeared. And Senator Hawley was not the man to have on your case if you were up to no good, as Sam well knew. She sidled into the room trying to remain confident.
"Ah, Samantha, so nice that you could join us daughter." There was a malicious edge to her father's voice that made Sam shiver. What were those bits of paper he was brandishing? "I thought you might want to look at these before I sign them."
"What are they?" Sam slurred, regretting that last drink.
"Admission papers for Highbridge Boarding School. You start in a week."
Sam dropped the papers, not believing her ears. Her father's girlfriend sneered cruelly at the teenager, so she'd put him up to this. All those final warnings, all those groundings, Samantha had never thought for a second her Dad would actually go through with his threats to send her away. Showed what she knew... Shaking, Samantha left the room fighting her unavoidable anger. Her fingers trembled frantically; she couldn't grip her bedroom door handle. Settling to shove the door open with a push of her palms, something cracked and splintered. Sam screamed with pain, agony shooting up her arms and into her neck. Terrified she pushed again at the door, this time with her shoulder, and finally the door opened. Michael Hawley arrived seconds after Sam had rammed her door lock home and put his fingers to the cracks in the splintered wood...
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"Senator Kelly? Your ten am appointment is here."
"Well, show her in man." Kelly's voice replied jovially, sighing somewhat as the office door was dutifully opened and the appointment ushered in. Only when the office door was closed again and the aide on the other side of it did Kelly's forced smile relax. In a blink of an eye, it was Mystique who sat in Kelly's large leather swivel chair, leaning back in comfort and crossing her long blue legs in front of her. It was Mystique's many voices that spoke next, a menagerie of lost personalities.
"Well this is a pleasant visitation, Destiny. Please, make yourself at home."
The blind woman known as Destiny did as she was ordered, taking her usual seat across the expanse of desk from Mystique. Her white cane she rested delicately across her lap, unseeing eyes hidden behind sunglasses.
"Was I right?" The prophet did not quibble with niceties. That was one of the reasons Mystique liked her so much. None of Magneto's games with words, just straight down to business.
"I'm still waiting for confirmation." Mystique replied. "Though if you are right, this could mean great things for us..." Her words were cut short by the phone on the desk ringing.
"I am right." Destiny cut in, stopping Mystique's motion to pick up the phone. "And that is your confirmation ringing right now."
Mystique smiled at that, a cold, cruel smile showing her teeth. Picking up the phone she resumed Kelly's voice and mannerisms. That man was becoming too much of a part of her, she shuddered. Time to be bringing this enterprise to a close.
"Mystique." The female on the end of the line had no difficulties in hearing the truth behind Kelly's greetings. Well, that was the reason Mystique had hired her. "Your information was right. The child is a mutant, I have seen the truth of it."
"Very good, Verity." Mystique crooned. "You have done well."
"Then you have no further need of me? I can leave this detestable mutant- hater?" The young woman on the end of the line shuddered as she thought of what she'd done for Mystique. No, not for the shape-changer, for mutant liberation and an end to human control...
"Not just yet." Mystique cautioned. "I have one more job for you." She clicked a button on the phone and spoke now to Kelly's aide outside the room, again in Kelly's voice. "Send my nephew in please."
Fractionally later, the door opened again and admitted a blond young man. Pyro flicked the lighter in his hand casually, wondering if Mystique would come down hard on him for tormenting the blind woman.
"You may find some blind people are harder to torment than others." Destiny spoke with a smile, making John snap the lighter shut in slight surprise as Mystique grinned.
"What's up?" The former student of Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters asked casually, taking his own perch on the windowsill a fair way from Destiny.
"Well, 'nephew'..." Mystique began.
"Don't call me that." Pyro snapped. "It was your dumb idea so I could get in here to see you easily. I never agreed to it."
"As I was saying," Mystique continued, ignoring the youth's outburst. "I have a job for you. How would you like to help a mutant girl escape her anti-mutant father?"
"I don't know..." Pyro began sceptically. "What's in it for me?"
"What he means is," Destiny translated with a smile. "Is she pretty?"
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.
A/N: Eek! Never thought this would happen, I've gone and found an X-Man story NOT based totally around Blaze for once! Strange things happen when you've had too much coffee. Anyway this is set straight after L'Ange de Morte, so about four years after X2. There are also quite a lot of references to Darkest Hearts, as a few characters made brief appearances there, but you shouldn't have to read either prequel to understand it. Enjoy.
Scene 01
"You're not my mother, bitch!" The teenager screamed, slapping the older girl across the face and turning in a stormy pirouette to leave the building.
"Sammy, your Dad is gonna go crazy at me if he finds out I let you go out..." The whinging female complained, but Samantha wasn't listening, had already slammed the expensive door shut behind her. Stupid cow! Who did she think she was trying to take her dead Mom's place? And its not as if she'd last long with Sam's Dad anyway, as soon as a newspaper even mentioned anything bad about the little tramp the senator would dump her so fast...
Pausing by a hall mirror in her elaborate and exquisite home, fifteen year old Samantha Hawley, daughter of Senator Michael Hawley, applied her last coat of blood red lip-gloss and deep black mascara with a practised pout. She was a pretty thing, people kept telling her, with long brown hair cut in the most fashionable style and big green eyes just like her Mom's had been. Her face was longer than it was round, her nose straight but classy, just like she'd asked the surgeon for. There was nothing like getting what you wanted from a man. Tugging at her top she rearranged herself revealingly inside it, spun once frowning at her reflection, and left the building. Time to have some fun!
The bike was waiting, her latest boyfriend Jonnie was nineteen and thoroughly disapproved of by her so often absent father. Like he could do a thing about it. She pulled on her helmet and climbed aboard behind Jonnie without so much as a hello. Well used to his girlfriend's grumpy moods Jonnie revved the bike and sped off down the gravelled drive.
The young adults in the bar greeted Sam like she was one of their own. Her girlfriends kissed her cheeks and exclaimed over her outfit, the males amongst them raising glasses in half-drunken greetings. This was where she belonged, so what if the rest of the world thought she was just a kid, most of her friends were drinking underage too. Stupid American laws, if only she lived in Europe... But the other young people were also the children of America's finest, and the bar owner easily swayed by their parent's cash to let them drink as much as they wanted. When she was here, life was good.
Sam took a cab home, leaving Jonnie dumped and unconscious under a table. She'd thought he was more than he was, with his body piercings and motorbike, but it turned out he was just another lightweight. The night only got worse as she recognised her father's chauffeured estate in the driveway. Tipping the taxi driver as little as was polite and trying to wipe off her lip-gloss with the back of her hand, she braced herself to face the music.
Surprisingly enough her father actually looked pleased to see her. Something had gone well at work then, maybe another step towards mutant registration? Everybody knew mutants weren't helping their own cause at the moment, what with the havoc the so-called Four Horsemen had been causing before they suddenly disappeared. And Senator Hawley was not the man to have on your case if you were up to no good, as Sam well knew. She sidled into the room trying to remain confident.
"Ah, Samantha, so nice that you could join us daughter." There was a malicious edge to her father's voice that made Sam shiver. What were those bits of paper he was brandishing? "I thought you might want to look at these before I sign them."
"What are they?" Sam slurred, regretting that last drink.
"Admission papers for Highbridge Boarding School. You start in a week."
Sam dropped the papers, not believing her ears. Her father's girlfriend sneered cruelly at the teenager, so she'd put him up to this. All those final warnings, all those groundings, Samantha had never thought for a second her Dad would actually go through with his threats to send her away. Showed what she knew... Shaking, Samantha left the room fighting her unavoidable anger. Her fingers trembled frantically; she couldn't grip her bedroom door handle. Settling to shove the door open with a push of her palms, something cracked and splintered. Sam screamed with pain, agony shooting up her arms and into her neck. Terrified she pushed again at the door, this time with her shoulder, and finally the door opened. Michael Hawley arrived seconds after Sam had rammed her door lock home and put his fingers to the cracks in the splintered wood...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Senator Kelly? Your ten am appointment is here."
"Well, show her in man." Kelly's voice replied jovially, sighing somewhat as the office door was dutifully opened and the appointment ushered in. Only when the office door was closed again and the aide on the other side of it did Kelly's forced smile relax. In a blink of an eye, it was Mystique who sat in Kelly's large leather swivel chair, leaning back in comfort and crossing her long blue legs in front of her. It was Mystique's many voices that spoke next, a menagerie of lost personalities.
"Well this is a pleasant visitation, Destiny. Please, make yourself at home."
The blind woman known as Destiny did as she was ordered, taking her usual seat across the expanse of desk from Mystique. Her white cane she rested delicately across her lap, unseeing eyes hidden behind sunglasses.
"Was I right?" The prophet did not quibble with niceties. That was one of the reasons Mystique liked her so much. None of Magneto's games with words, just straight down to business.
"I'm still waiting for confirmation." Mystique replied. "Though if you are right, this could mean great things for us..." Her words were cut short by the phone on the desk ringing.
"I am right." Destiny cut in, stopping Mystique's motion to pick up the phone. "And that is your confirmation ringing right now."
Mystique smiled at that, a cold, cruel smile showing her teeth. Picking up the phone she resumed Kelly's voice and mannerisms. That man was becoming too much of a part of her, she shuddered. Time to be bringing this enterprise to a close.
"Mystique." The female on the end of the line had no difficulties in hearing the truth behind Kelly's greetings. Well, that was the reason Mystique had hired her. "Your information was right. The child is a mutant, I have seen the truth of it."
"Very good, Verity." Mystique crooned. "You have done well."
"Then you have no further need of me? I can leave this detestable mutant- hater?" The young woman on the end of the line shuddered as she thought of what she'd done for Mystique. No, not for the shape-changer, for mutant liberation and an end to human control...
"Not just yet." Mystique cautioned. "I have one more job for you." She clicked a button on the phone and spoke now to Kelly's aide outside the room, again in Kelly's voice. "Send my nephew in please."
Fractionally later, the door opened again and admitted a blond young man. Pyro flicked the lighter in his hand casually, wondering if Mystique would come down hard on him for tormenting the blind woman.
"You may find some blind people are harder to torment than others." Destiny spoke with a smile, making John snap the lighter shut in slight surprise as Mystique grinned.
"What's up?" The former student of Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters asked casually, taking his own perch on the windowsill a fair way from Destiny.
"Well, 'nephew'..." Mystique began.
"Don't call me that." Pyro snapped. "It was your dumb idea so I could get in here to see you easily. I never agreed to it."
"As I was saying," Mystique continued, ignoring the youth's outburst. "I have a job for you. How would you like to help a mutant girl escape her anti-mutant father?"
"I don't know..." Pyro began sceptically. "What's in it for me?"
"What he means is," Destiny translated with a smile. "Is she pretty?"
