Chapter Seven
Not much was known about Mimic, even to the Mutes. She had no real name, no birthday, no picture of any kind of her family. All they knew was that Mimic was from a place where she had been sculpted to perfection, trained in a fast, hard environment, trained to kill. They never questioned it. Bobby had once asked her what her name was, but she claimed she couldn't remember.
Lance had only been thirteen when he joined the Mutes. Jim didn't like pipsqueaks. Austin didn't like him, because he was always upset. Elizabeth had nothing wrong with him, neither did Lilian. Mimic, however, sensed a lot more than the other. He tried to be tough, but he was just a kid. She often acted babyish, crying at every little thing and come crawling to him for comfort. It gave him someone to care for.
They didn't even know how old she was. Mimic was a mystery to them.
Yet, they knew there was something else behind those eyes, something else.
"Mimic, how do I make my jet longer?" Bobby chirped, happy to see his friend around again.
Mimic was sitting on the table next to Bobby. For some odd reason, neither of them liked to sit in chairs. Mimic was holding a bowl in her tail, eating out of it with her left hand and resting her right hand on her knee.
"When you inhale and your body mixes the gas vapor in your lungs, inhale as deep as you can and hold it for a few seconds," she replied, still thinking. "When you do that, that gives the air more flammable fuel, so when you exhale, there's more to burn, and there's more length. Hold on."
She swallowed her food and put her spoon in her bowl, motioning Wanda to move out of the way. Wanda jumped to the side, and Mimic inhaled as deep as she could, holding her breath for about ten seconds before forcing the firestream out of her lungs and nearly ten feet long. She closed her mouth and resumed eating.
"And with your pyrokinesis, you could probably make it do stuff. We just have to practice your control over your pyrokinesis."
Bobby looked like he took everything in, then he inhaled sharply and repeated everything that she had done. Mimic had to move Todd out of the way of the flame as the little lizard exhaled it across the room.
"Good. Now, just the pyrokinesis. Jim can help you with that. He's basically got the same thing."
Jim was absent from the meeting room, Austin and Mark too. They took their meals in their rooms. The chairs were full around the table with the Brotherhood trying to settle.
"What did you do," Wanda asked, "to me on the roof? How did you do that?"
"Oh, that. I learned that baby from Elizabeth here."
"Is it shape-shifting?" she asked, curious.
Elizabeth drained her cup and put it down, shaking her head. "It's an illusion. My power is tapping into your worst fear through eye contact. Then I can act it out. That's probably what Mimic did. So what's your power?"
Before Wanda could answer, Mimic replied, "Hexing. Naturally bringing out the black cats for everyone against her."
"How do you know?"
Mimic smiled. "Well, that's my power. I copy other powers and keep them in a genetic database. Because my DNA adapts tiny copies of a person I touch, I momentarily assume their form for a while, which is also what happened in the alley."
"So-you-copy-mutant-powers?" Pietro said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Then-why-do-you-sound-like-her?"
Mimic and Elizabeth looked at each other. "You couldn't understand me otherwise. Lilian can't talk, so Elizabeth is the only female voice I can adapt."
"Can-you-do-any-voice?"
"Well, now-what-do-you-think?" she replied in the exact same voice, tone, and attitude as Pietro Maximoff. Fred and Todd sniggered. Mimic looked at the little frog boy. "I like your power, Todd. That's a pretty unique deal right there."
"Uh...thanks yo."
"What's-your-voice-sound-like?" Pietro piped again.
Mimic tried to say something, but it came out a gnarled hiss with a strange animal squeal. She tried again, but it just came out in a very beastial string of sounds. She stopped and resumed eating, eyeing Pietro carefully. He seemed satisfied.
It was quiet for a few minutes. Elizabeth took the conversation up again.
"So, Lance, how've you been? It's been what four years?"
"Yeah."
"Seems like you've gotten a little scruffy."
He smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Got associated with the wrong people."
She nodded. "That happens."
Mimic suddenly burst out into laughter. "Wanda, you like Austin, don't you?"
Wanda looked shocked, but she shook her head in denial. Mimic just smiled, not seeing how Todd's face fell.
"Nah, he was checking you out too. He was ignoring you on purpose. I have to warn you though, he sleeps with a gun under his pillow, and he's an ex-assassin."
Wanda nodded and returned to her meditation. Bobby crawled into Mimic's lap and went to sleep on her shoulder.
"He's fifteen, isn't he? Why do you let him do that?" Lance asked softly.
Mimic sighed. "He got caught by the mutant watch and taken to the concentration camp." Lance immediately hushed. "It took us a week to get him out. After that, he seemed to have been de-aged. All of us respect what he went trough, and we look after him. Even Jim with his temper. We all look after little Bobby." She stroked his scaled head and straightened his ears. "It's close to seven, guys. I'm going to sleep. Todd, you and Fred can sleep in Bobby's room. He sleeps in a tree, so the two beds are free. Pietro and Lance, you can sleep in one of the extra rooms. Wanda, there's an extra bed in Elizabeth's room."
"Where will you sleep?" Todd asked softly.
Mimic looked up. "I don't sleep down here. I sleep outside."
"Why?"
"Because there's light in all the rooms here. I have to go where there's no light. I'm nocturnal if you haven't figured it out. Elizabeth, show Pietro and Lance their rooms and help Wanda settle in. Fred and Todd, follow me."
She scooped Bobby into her arms and walked down one hallway, while Elizabeth and the others went down the other.
"Are you his mother?" Todd asked shyly.
Mimic looked at him but shook her head. "No, he was abandoned early in his life."
"No, I mean...does he see you as his mother?"
She looked down at the little boy and nodded. "Yeah. I'm the closest thing to a mother that he has. We are his only family."
Todd looked almost hopeful, a happy glisten in his eyes.
"I never had a mother either," she said. "I never had any parents to my knowledge."
"I had a mother," he said. "I loved my mom."
Fred patted his small friend on the back. "My dad was cool. I never really knew my mom. She left."
They turned into another room and pretty much walked into a jungle. The walls were lined with plants and silver trees. One of the trees had something of a nest in it, and the nest was stuffed full with pillows and blankets for the little guy. Mimic levitated him up to his nest and covered him up. She walked over to the beds and turned the blankets down.
"They're clean. Haven't been slept in for a while, and he's the only one that comes in here. Is this okay for you guys?"
Todd was already in the bed, and Fred was making himself comfortable as well.
"Well, good night, then."
"Night, Mimic. Thanks."
"Nnnnt. Tanks."
And with a whisp of white hair, Mimic was gone, not to be seen again until the next night.
Not much was known about Mimic, even to the Mutes. She had no real name, no birthday, no picture of any kind of her family. All they knew was that Mimic was from a place where she had been sculpted to perfection, trained in a fast, hard environment, trained to kill. They never questioned it. Bobby had once asked her what her name was, but she claimed she couldn't remember.
Lance had only been thirteen when he joined the Mutes. Jim didn't like pipsqueaks. Austin didn't like him, because he was always upset. Elizabeth had nothing wrong with him, neither did Lilian. Mimic, however, sensed a lot more than the other. He tried to be tough, but he was just a kid. She often acted babyish, crying at every little thing and come crawling to him for comfort. It gave him someone to care for.
They didn't even know how old she was. Mimic was a mystery to them.
Yet, they knew there was something else behind those eyes, something else.
"Mimic, how do I make my jet longer?" Bobby chirped, happy to see his friend around again.
Mimic was sitting on the table next to Bobby. For some odd reason, neither of them liked to sit in chairs. Mimic was holding a bowl in her tail, eating out of it with her left hand and resting her right hand on her knee.
"When you inhale and your body mixes the gas vapor in your lungs, inhale as deep as you can and hold it for a few seconds," she replied, still thinking. "When you do that, that gives the air more flammable fuel, so when you exhale, there's more to burn, and there's more length. Hold on."
She swallowed her food and put her spoon in her bowl, motioning Wanda to move out of the way. Wanda jumped to the side, and Mimic inhaled as deep as she could, holding her breath for about ten seconds before forcing the firestream out of her lungs and nearly ten feet long. She closed her mouth and resumed eating.
"And with your pyrokinesis, you could probably make it do stuff. We just have to practice your control over your pyrokinesis."
Bobby looked like he took everything in, then he inhaled sharply and repeated everything that she had done. Mimic had to move Todd out of the way of the flame as the little lizard exhaled it across the room.
"Good. Now, just the pyrokinesis. Jim can help you with that. He's basically got the same thing."
Jim was absent from the meeting room, Austin and Mark too. They took their meals in their rooms. The chairs were full around the table with the Brotherhood trying to settle.
"What did you do," Wanda asked, "to me on the roof? How did you do that?"
"Oh, that. I learned that baby from Elizabeth here."
"Is it shape-shifting?" she asked, curious.
Elizabeth drained her cup and put it down, shaking her head. "It's an illusion. My power is tapping into your worst fear through eye contact. Then I can act it out. That's probably what Mimic did. So what's your power?"
Before Wanda could answer, Mimic replied, "Hexing. Naturally bringing out the black cats for everyone against her."
"How do you know?"
Mimic smiled. "Well, that's my power. I copy other powers and keep them in a genetic database. Because my DNA adapts tiny copies of a person I touch, I momentarily assume their form for a while, which is also what happened in the alley."
"So-you-copy-mutant-powers?" Pietro said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Then-why-do-you-sound-like-her?"
Mimic and Elizabeth looked at each other. "You couldn't understand me otherwise. Lilian can't talk, so Elizabeth is the only female voice I can adapt."
"Can-you-do-any-voice?"
"Well, now-what-do-you-think?" she replied in the exact same voice, tone, and attitude as Pietro Maximoff. Fred and Todd sniggered. Mimic looked at the little frog boy. "I like your power, Todd. That's a pretty unique deal right there."
"Uh...thanks yo."
"What's-your-voice-sound-like?" Pietro piped again.
Mimic tried to say something, but it came out a gnarled hiss with a strange animal squeal. She tried again, but it just came out in a very beastial string of sounds. She stopped and resumed eating, eyeing Pietro carefully. He seemed satisfied.
It was quiet for a few minutes. Elizabeth took the conversation up again.
"So, Lance, how've you been? It's been what four years?"
"Yeah."
"Seems like you've gotten a little scruffy."
He smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Got associated with the wrong people."
She nodded. "That happens."
Mimic suddenly burst out into laughter. "Wanda, you like Austin, don't you?"
Wanda looked shocked, but she shook her head in denial. Mimic just smiled, not seeing how Todd's face fell.
"Nah, he was checking you out too. He was ignoring you on purpose. I have to warn you though, he sleeps with a gun under his pillow, and he's an ex-assassin."
Wanda nodded and returned to her meditation. Bobby crawled into Mimic's lap and went to sleep on her shoulder.
"He's fifteen, isn't he? Why do you let him do that?" Lance asked softly.
Mimic sighed. "He got caught by the mutant watch and taken to the concentration camp." Lance immediately hushed. "It took us a week to get him out. After that, he seemed to have been de-aged. All of us respect what he went trough, and we look after him. Even Jim with his temper. We all look after little Bobby." She stroked his scaled head and straightened his ears. "It's close to seven, guys. I'm going to sleep. Todd, you and Fred can sleep in Bobby's room. He sleeps in a tree, so the two beds are free. Pietro and Lance, you can sleep in one of the extra rooms. Wanda, there's an extra bed in Elizabeth's room."
"Where will you sleep?" Todd asked softly.
Mimic looked up. "I don't sleep down here. I sleep outside."
"Why?"
"Because there's light in all the rooms here. I have to go where there's no light. I'm nocturnal if you haven't figured it out. Elizabeth, show Pietro and Lance their rooms and help Wanda settle in. Fred and Todd, follow me."
She scooped Bobby into her arms and walked down one hallway, while Elizabeth and the others went down the other.
"Are you his mother?" Todd asked shyly.
Mimic looked at him but shook her head. "No, he was abandoned early in his life."
"No, I mean...does he see you as his mother?"
She looked down at the little boy and nodded. "Yeah. I'm the closest thing to a mother that he has. We are his only family."
Todd looked almost hopeful, a happy glisten in his eyes.
"I never had a mother either," she said. "I never had any parents to my knowledge."
"I had a mother," he said. "I loved my mom."
Fred patted his small friend on the back. "My dad was cool. I never really knew my mom. She left."
They turned into another room and pretty much walked into a jungle. The walls were lined with plants and silver trees. One of the trees had something of a nest in it, and the nest was stuffed full with pillows and blankets for the little guy. Mimic levitated him up to his nest and covered him up. She walked over to the beds and turned the blankets down.
"They're clean. Haven't been slept in for a while, and he's the only one that comes in here. Is this okay for you guys?"
Todd was already in the bed, and Fred was making himself comfortable as well.
"Well, good night, then."
"Night, Mimic. Thanks."
"Nnnnt. Tanks."
And with a whisp of white hair, Mimic was gone, not to be seen again until the next night.