Chapter 6 of Better to Die than to Crawl.
Mina stared at her mother for a few seconds. Neither woman moved, they just held their ground in silence. It took a minute for Mina to realize that her mother was not alone. There were three other people on their apartment's doorstep. Each one held a gun unlike anything Mina had ever seen before, the barrels of the weapons were long and narrow. They were made of a shiny silver metal, and the reflection from the sun forced her to move out of the glare's path.
Each of the strangers were black clothing that seemed to be made of some sort of latex, except, the only word Mina could think of was, stronger, somehow. Mina stepped back in fear. They were obviously not of the friendly variety. Two of them pointed their guns at her, and the third grabbed her wrist. Mina froze in shock and simply stared at the wrist that was held. The grip was neither extraordinarily firm or lax, and Mina seemed to wake after staring at her hand for a moment.
"Get off!" She hissed, and she pulled her wrist free, with speed that obviously surprised her attacker. The lights that had served to betray her to her teammates came in handy now, brightening so much that the three strangers were blinded for a moment. Minako glared darkly at her mother. "You did this!"
"It's for the best, dear. They'll just take you somewhere safe! Somewhere that you can learn your power, and then come back home!" Mrs. Aino answered, trying to make her daughter see what made so much sense to her. "That's what they do!"
"Mutant Control Agents?" Mina returned, aghast, and she suddenly wished that she'd hit them with something stronger, despite the fact that they were still stumbling about. The one who'd grabbed her recovered first, and pointed his weapon at her.
"Minako Aino, you are under arrest, you are to accompany us to a mutant control facility. If you use a power, we have the right to shoot you." He spoke, still firmly holding onto his weapon.
"What are my rights then, sir." She hissed in return, her attention focused on her.
"You're a mutant," came a voice from behind her, and Mina whipped around to face the source. "You don't have any rights." The original speaker rushed at her, as if to tackle her. In a movement that was pure reaction, Mina moved to jump out of the way, performing a single-handed cartwheel and landing on one knee, but safe.
Her attacker wasn't able to stop, and ran into the other agent, who managed to remain upright, however breathless. Mina held up a hand, a ball of light concentrated above it. She threw the ball at the pair who were closer together, and it exploded in between them. The second officer's clothes caught fire, and he screamed before falling to the floor in attempts to put himself out.
"Concentrated light is heat, you know." Mina informed the other, holding another ball of light. An idea struck her, and she moved as if to throw it, but instead of simply pitching the ball, she stretched it, forming a tail. As it extended towards him, it continued to stretch. "Laser-ific." She grinned before she felt the cold metal barrel of one of the guns at the back of her neck.
She hadn't been paying enough attention, she'd lost track of the third agent. "Hands up and empty, Ms. Aino." Came a cold, feminine voice. "You use your power, you lose your head, you got that?"
Sweat beaded her brow, and her stomach twisted into a sickened knot, but she managed to nod anyway. "You've got it." She answered in a small voice, praying that Pietro would show up can come help her, even though she knew he didn't know where she lived. The second man was still smoldering on her carpet, and Mina was internally glad. He deserved it, but the smell of burnt flesh, hair, and whatever it was that they wore was making her sick. "I'm going to be ill."
The woman behind Mina sneered in disgust at her, but shoved her towards the open bathroom door, as Mina hoped she would. Mina pretended to stumble at what was an honestly the worst thing she'd smelled in her life. She tripped after her stumble, and managed to land next to the man, who'd gone into shock. With a grace she'd never had before, she scooped up the gun and rounded on the woman behind her.
"Drop the gun." The woman said, but Mina decided that wasting words in this case wasn't worth it. She pulled the trigger towards the woman's leg. Mina wanted to get away, but she could never knowingly take a human life, it just wasn't in her. She was shocked when a dart sped from the single barrel of the gun and buried in the woman's knee. A moment later, she toppled over, the leg useless because of whatever was in the dart. "Bitch."
Mina might've had a longer reaction towards the woman, but was too busy rounding on the last man and her mother. Her father hadn't moved an inch during the entire exchange, but suddenly, he was grappling the man to the ground. Mina focused solely on her mother, then, scowling. "You tried to have me registered?"
"It's for your own good, you little bitch!" The older woman nearly screeched before physically assaulting her daughter, knocking the gun away before she could recover. "You're going to hurt people if we don't! This is what you get for being a little freak! You're not even human."
Mina managed to roll over to be on top of her mother, straddling the woman at the waist, digging her knees into her mother's ribs as forcefully as she could. "I may not be human, but whatever the hell I am is damn farther up on the humanity scale than you are." She held her mother's wrists to the floor with her hands. In a split second, she released her mother's wrists and closed her hands together. With her fingers interwoven, it was easy to use her double-fist to knock her mother about the head.
With the elder Aino unconscious, Mina moved to help her father, but the assistance wasn't necessary. Without looking away from the pair of intruders he stood over (the one he'd beaten, and the no-longer-smoldering man in shock) he spoke. "Minako, get your things, get to your friends house. You've got to get the hell out of here. I'm calling the police in two hours. They'll stay out until then, trust me." He flashed her a brief look, wearing a charming smile. "I'll tell the police that you attacked all of us and got away. But you have got to be gone. Don't try to stay around for my sake, you'll just get me into more trouble. Run, Mina."
Mina nodded, and didn't look back as she picked up her two suitcases and her backpack and headed out the door. She ran, her bags hitting her legs as she did, but she didn't pause. Her lungs burned just so slightly by the time she hit the bottom of the six flights of stairs, but she still didn't stop. She was to meet Pietro several blocks away at his own apartment, but if they were going to be out of Juuban by then, they were going to have to leave as soon as she got there.
A block away, she stopped running at her top speed and settled in a comfortable, still swift, jog. She could keep this pace as long as she needed to, so long as she could collapse whenever she got to her destination. Buildings and people flashed by her in slightly blurry forms that she couldn't really make out. She just wanted to get out of there.
And it wasn't as if with Pietro was a bad place to be in the long run…. Mina warded off the train of thought and returned her attention to her running. If she didn't meet him soon, he may just decide she wasn't coming and move out without her. Her mind then moved on, to the suitcases she held, they were still hitting her legs painfully. She knew they'd leave bruises. With a faint thought of the clothes and few items she knew she'd miss, she dumped them as she ran. Everything she had to have was in her pack, including her passport and purse.
She had her own bank account, and enough saved up to buy at least the basics. She had her modeling job that paid well enough while it had lasted. Her mother had been so proud of her, then, following in her footsteps. Mina bitterly wished that she didn't need the money so badly, what she wouldn't give just to throw it in her mother's face.
It was getting darker by the moment, or so it seemed. The stretches in between streetlamps seemed to get longer and longer as she jogged. Soon it all seemed dark. A small sphere of light appeared just above her head and to the right. It lighted an oval area around her, and Mina grinned at the sight of it. This day may have stressed her both mentally and physically, but her powers seemed to be getting more focused by the minute.
The oval surrounded her by a foot at least, and she found she could direct it in front of her and miss none of the potential hazards that lay before, like trashcans and light poles. Without the suitcases, her speed nearly doubled, but a small stitch was forming at her ribs. She hissed between her teeth at a particularly sharp jab. "Ow." She commented, conversationally at the pain.
A new sound slowly approached her from behind. A mechanical whirring, like blades spinning quickly in air, churning it. Big blades. The area of light around her broadened considerably as the helicopter closed in on her. Mina ignored her throbbing side and aching legs. With the sound of blood rushing in her ears, adrenaline charged her, and she ran with everything in her being, reaching surprising speeds.
It didn't matter, though, she was already exhausted, and she wasn't invincible. It was entirely probable that the helicopter above her was full of gas and that a well-rested pilot was on her tail. There was no chance of beating the machine by running. Mina finally stopped, unnoticing of the pain that welled up within her. She turned to face the 'copter, planting her feet firmly on the ground. Unconsciously steadying herself in a defensive position, she cupped her hands around each other, and a small bud of light filled her hands. It slowly began to grow. She was going to get out alive if it killed her, and this would be her only chance to make a clean shot at the flying machine.
Empath waited impatiently for Catseye and Usagi outside of their classroom. He leaned against a wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest, on leg bent nonchalantly, propping him up. For some reason, though their classes ended simultaneously, he always made it outside of their classroom before they did. Dakota was the first person to leave, her arms protectively wrapped around her drawing book.
Empath, quick as a flash, grabbed the pencil she had tucked behind her ear. He flipped it casually in the air, and by the time it took to reach his hand again, Dakota had both of his wrists in her hands. In less than a second, she flipped him over her shoulder, though he managed to twist and land on his feet. Her pencil was behind her ear again before he landed. Empath ruffled her hair, and Dakota sent him a playful glare.
He'd helped her manage some of her anger issues, and she'd grown to trust him. They played rough, but it was usually in jest. "How'd the test go?" He asked her, grinning.
"I'm not sure, but look at this!" The beginning of her answer was almost sullen, but she lit up with enthusiasm as she opened her sketchbook to reveal her latest masterpiece. It was a couple, both otherworldly in nature (one could tell by the ears), leaning in towards the center of the page, eyes closed. They were obviously embracing one another and about to kiss, though all you could see of them was their heads and part of their necks.
Dakota had the talent to portray emotions with just pencil lead. It was one of the best of hers that Empath had ever seen, and he freely admitted it. Dakota grinned wolfishly in response. "And to think," she mused aloud, still smiling wildly. "That it began as a bear's backside." Empath laughed at that, and she headed out. "I'll catch you later, Ems, I'm gonna go try to catch Hel and Jazz."
"Don't show her that picture, she'll kill ya for it." Empath grinned. Dakota giggled and nodded.
"Probably!" Was her approving response as she headed off.
Figment and Sandra were the next two to step out, arguing as they went, in the way only best friends can. "Sandra's right!" He informed them, though he knew neither topic nor their opinions. Figment rolled her eyes, but knew it was true.
"You always say that!" Catseye purred as she stepped from the classroom.
"Because Sandra's always right." He returned, smiling benignly. "How'd you do?"
"Why do you always ask us that, Ems? We don't get out answers any sooner than you do! If you just want to know if the test was hard, just ask!" Catseye spoke in return, her voice low and sultry, though she didn't do it on purpose. She'd been raised by cats…it was to be expected that she sounded like she was purring. "And yes, the test was hard. Figment flicked erasers at Usagi half of the time. I think at first it was to help--"
"Yes, then it became the game of the hour." Usagi muttered, stepping from the classroom, a slight giggle to her sullen tone. "'If you hit her ear, twenty points'."
Empath smiled innocently, and poked her firmly in the side, causing her to semi-collapse onto him with giggles. "How many points is that?" He questioned, his voice completely innocent. "Or that?" He added, poking her stomach. Within a minute, there was no chance for Usagi to remain standing. She was horrifically ticklish, and Empath knew every spot to get her good. She was rolling around the ground, with him still poking away, questioning repeatedly, "Or that?"
"You, sir, are evil." She gasped in between peals of laughter.
"How many points is evil?" He questioned before, standing and offering Usagi a hand up.
"All of them." She answered dryly. "You've cleaned me out! No more points to be had."
The trio headed off to meet Ami, the newest Hellfire Club member. She was supposed to meet them at her school. She informed them to meet her at the front steps. Unlike at the Club, the public school ended at three in the afternoon. They headed out directly after classes, Usagi linking her elbows between the other two. Before Usagi had befriended Catseye, the lavender-haired girl would've muttered something about a lack of dignity, but she simply laughed and walked along with the other two.
"We're off to see the Wizard!" Usagi giggled as she sang. "And if I only had a brain!"
"The wonderful wizard of Oz!" Empath added, trying to keep a straight face. "For I am the king of the Forrrest!" He rolled his R's firmly as he finished.
"We hear he is a wonderful wiz, if ever a wiz there was!" Catseye purred in addition, completely regal in appearance. "I'd be tender--I'd be gentle, and awful sentimental, if I only had a heart!"
"If ever, oh ever, a wiz there was the wizard of Oz is one because, because, because, because, because….because of the wonderful things he does!" Usagi finished, and continued humming, happily pulling her friends along to meet Ami. Empath and Catseye shared a look over Usagi's shoulders, both of them grinning madly. If anyone ever was contagious, it was Usagi's insane joy.
She skipped forward, ever enthusiastic, towards the school.
Ami was waiting outside, as she'd promised, a pack slung over her shoulder, but she wasn't alone. Another girl was there. The stranger had mocha-colored skin and darker hair. She seemed to be extremely upset about something, and was yelling at Ami almost viciously. As the trio approached, the situation seemed extremely clear.
"What do you think you're doing?" The dark girl sneered at Ami. "Everyone knows Kurt and I are dating! And you slipped him your number!" Her anger seemed explosive and blown entirely out of proportion. When Ami didn't seem to react, she just got angrier, fueling a probably tiny situation with her imagination.
"You don't own him, you know, Amanda. I'm allowed to have friends, you know." Ami answered in a cool, almost bored tone. "You're not going to let him have girl friends, now?"
"I am his girlfriend." Amanda answered, gritting her teeth. She seemed to be trying to restrain herself from jumping onto Ami.
"You know very well that's not what I meant." Ami answered in the same indifferent tones. "But if you're going to try to control him like that I can see why you'd be suspicious of him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amanda answered darkly.
"It means," the temperature of Ami's words grew colder as her temper heated, "that you don't own Kurt. The more that you act like you own him the more he's going to feel suffocated and try to get away from you!"
"So you admit to trying to steal him! Now you're just trying to feed him these stupid excuses!" Amanda accused. Ami rolled her eyes at this outrageous answer to what she considered actual advice.
"Amanda, if anyone is trying to do anything to Kurt, it's you." Ami answered in icy tones. She looked down and realized that her fists were clenched and had frosted over with a thin layer of ice. It wasn't much, but had she lost her control and hit Amanda, it could've caused some real damage. Ami shook her head as if to clear her mind, and flexed her fingers. "If you're having so many problems, why don't you just go and talk to him?"
Amanda seemed to actually growl before she tackled the blue-haired mutant opposite her.
"Now, now." Empath spoke, intercepting Amanda a hairsbreadth away from Ami, who'd automatically fallen into a defensive position. "Let's not be hitting my girlfriend, that's not nice." Amanda stopped immediately and looked harshly at Ami.
"Is this true?!"
Makoto had finally regained control over herself, and she and Peter split up to look for someone who could help them with their rooms. It had actually been funny. A girl, who'd later introduced herself as Kitty, had come downstairs to the floor below by floating through the floor. Peter had momentarily transformed into his living-metal form and gave the poor girl a heart attack.
After they'd sorted through their panic, and Kitty had enough time to stop her embarrassed giggling, she gave them a slightly more thorough tour than Rogue's. She showed them the dorms and informed them who was sleeping where. She gossiped about the rest of her peers, giving Makoto and Peter enough ammo to blackmail the people they didn't know for the rest of their natural lives.
Makoto found herself liking the brunette, but regretting her opinion of her as she realized that she was always just that happy. It wasn't that Makoto wanted her to be unhappy or anything…but the bubbly attitude became overbearing more quickly that Makoto would like to admit. It ended up that she was rooming with a younger girl named Amara, who was reportedly (by Kitty) shy but nice.
Peter found that he'd be rooming with another new kid, who hadn't arrived. One Darien Shields. (a/n: I didn't want to, but I'm going to. He and Usagi may have some connection, but they aren't going to date, just so I can say that I screwed destiny. The reason I have to bring him in is purely mathematical. You get it. He's American in this and some other stuff.) Darien was apparently from California, and was noted to be arriving the next morning. Kitty, of course, didn't know anything about him.
For some reason, that comforted Peter. He'd be happier forming his own opinions of his new housemates. Part of him was physically attracted to Kitty. She was cute, but she was a little too talkative for him to find her truly interesting. And she though she spoke nigh constantly, she didn't seem to have many interesting things to say. Makoto was a different story. She wasn't monosyllabic, but she was quieter than Kitty, and thus far: just as confused as he was.
After Kitty realized that she was late to wherever she had originally been headed, Makoto and Peter split up. Makoto in search of the briefly mentioned Amara, and Peter in search of someone who could tell him exactly where he was supposed to go to find his own rooms. Makoto started in the rec. room that Rogue had shown them.
There were about ten kids in the room. Three were on the couch in front of the big screen television. Four more were playing pool on the other side of the room. Rogue and a brunette boy were playing what appeared to Makoto to be a table-top game of soccer, involving metal bars with impaled wooden people on them. Rogue spun one of her handles, causing all three of the wooden-people to spin chaotically. She grinned triumphantly.
"You owe me a soda." She declared.
"Rematch!" The boy answered with a hint of indignation in his voice. Rogue grinned in return and the boy dropped a small white ball in the center of the game table.
Two more (making the count eleven) were playing ping-pong on another table. A boy with long blonde hair and a redheaded girl were on opposite sides of the table. "This is a hoot!" The blonde nearly crowed as he spun, and hit a shot behind his back. "Or should that be howl, Rahne?"
"One more wolf-joke. Just one, and I swear I'm gonna--" The redhead answered with narrowed eyes. Her ears pointed upward, and her teeth gleamed dangerously in a smile that revealed a neat row of extremely sharp teeth. She clenched her hand, and sighed when the paddle in her hand splintered.
"Rahne! You need to control that! It's the third one you've broken in the past week!." The blonde taunted, but there was no maliciousness to his words. The dangerous glint in Rahne's eyes didn't disappear, though.
"Bugger that!" One of the kids on the couch spoke up. "That's the ninth one this month! You're buying them from now on!" The black-haired girl rolled her blue eyes as she stood and began towards Rahne. "And not those damned cheap ones, either!" She advanced quickly on the redhead, who instantly seemed very ashamed of herself.
"Sorry, Colby." She muttered downwards. "I didn't mean to."
"You never do." Came the soft, but obviously upset response. "I think I have one more set in my room, if you want to keep playing."
"Please. I swear, if anything happens to these ones, I'll take care of it." Rahne answered. Colby nodded, and opened her palm. Without so much as a pop, the aforementioned item appeared. She handed it to Rahne, and went back to reclaim her seat with the other students on the couch.
"What did I miss?" She questioned the boys. One shrugged, not moving his eyes from the screen, but the other boy answered her. "BLOODY HELL, RAHN! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Rahne gulped from her side of the room. When the blonde across from her laughed, she shot the ping-pong ball at him with all the strength she could muster. He wasn't expecting that, and fell over at the impact. "Well then, that was an interesting game." The redhead turned and caught sight of Makoto. "Heya, come on in here!"
Makoto headed in towards her, carefully avoiding staring at the stunned boy, who already had a ping-pong ball imprint on his forehead. That was going to bruise, she noted, and rubbed her own forehead at the thought. "So, what's your 'dish?" Rahne asked, sitting on the ping-pong table, and crossing her legs.
"Dish?" Makoto answered, confused. The only definition for the word she could think of was what she cleaned in the kitchen.
"Condition." Colby answered, abandoning her television show. "I missed the important part." She spoke at Rahne's questioning glance, and then returned her gaze to Makoto. "She wants to know what your mutant ability is…we all do. It's all our pathetic gossip can manage with the new kids."
"I have accelerated healing…other than that, we don't know."
"How accelerated?" Rahne asked with interest. "Are you like Wolverine?"
"I'm not sure. All I know is I got struck by lightning, and it should've killed me. I was up in a week and a day. All my nerves were fried, according to my doctor, she says I was char-broiled and well-done. My clothes pretty much were disintegrated. I went into a coma." Makoto answered in a soft voice. "But I woke up in a week and a day. I should be dead."
"Medically speaking or are we just a wee bit depressed?" Colby asked without a trace of a smile.
"Let's go with medically. Makes things easier." Makoto answered.
(a/n: kiddies, that's all for this time. Enjoy. Pixie of Chaos…how'd I do? I have to get our own Ms. G. to read this. She's actually done a pic like that…I actually am going to kill her for it! YAY! giggles maniacally bye, now!)