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The man's knuckles rapped rhythmically on the table. The group of people who sat before him, the soldiers, scientists and others, shifted nervously, waiting for him to speak. Finally he did. "Well?" he said quietly, his workers nearly writhing in pain at the icy calmness of his voice. Calm that would soon turn deadly. For a moment no one spoke. Then one hardened soldier peeped up.
"We used our telepaths to track her to Bayville. We convinced that professor in the institute that it would be in his best interest to help us."
The soldier stopped there to catch his breath. Evidently it wasn't what the man had wanted to hear. "I'm talking about the mission to capture her you dolt." He hissed, smacking the table so hard it vibrated. Everyone cowered from his wrath, shivering.
Finally, a woman spoke up. "We tracked her down to a rather disheveled looking house, which we assumed was abandoned, and she was hiding out in it." The man raised an eyebrow.
"Assumed?"
The woman fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, it seems that it is a hide out for some other mutants. Some very strong mutants who were helping her. She escaped as we were trying to disarm the others."
The man leaned back, seemingly content with this answer. Then he narrowed his eyes and stared at the pathetic minions in front of him. "Find her," he said, voice a deadly whisper, as if trying to control a rage, "Find her and bring her back to me."
A blast of cold air awoke Deidra, shivering. She looked over at the clock next to Rogue's bed. 4:15. Deidra smiled to herself and grabbed her sunglasses. Getting up quietly, so as to not wake her room mate, she crept to the bathroom. She cautiously flipped on the light and closed the door. Suddenly the room around her spun, and she was overcome with a wave of nausea. Fighting the urge to puke, Diedra slowly washed her face, stole a bit of Rogue's make-up, then changed to the color of the wall to slip downstairs and get something to eat. As she made her way along the walls and ceiling, Deidra could shake of the nausea, or the feeling that someone knew she was there. Moving a bit more nervously now, she grabbed a bagel and sped out the nearest window, looking behind her all the way. Little did she know who knew she was there. The professor rolled over in bed, determined to have a word with Rogue before she left for school.
Deidra had just finished her bagel, and was halfway to school when another wave of nausea hit. It came so strongly that she had to lean on a tree for support, her camouflage not working. "What the hell?" she gasped to herself. Perhaps this was just a random sickness that she had managed to catch. God only knew what was lurking around the Brotherhood house. Still Deidra was frightened. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Struggling to her feet, she stumbled to school, only to faint in the bushes next to it.
Rogue's alarm went off, jolting her out of bed, cursing. Looking over, she noticed that her visitor from yesterday had left already. She shrugged; not her problem. Rogue stretched and got/fell out of bed. She gave a small smile as she went into the bathroom. Kitty had slept downstairs last night, so Rogue had the whole room and bathroom to herself for the time being. As she turned on her water, she noticed her eye shadow on the counter. Her eyes narrowed and she let out an inaudible growl. It seemed her "guest" had used things with out permission. She washed her toothbrush a few times before squeezing toothpaste on it. After getting dressed, she went downstairs for breakfast. But what she met at the doorway to the kitchen wasn't warm food. It was the professor.
Oh, shit. Rogue thought.
Rogue, I don't appreciate that language. the professor scolded gently.
Rogue slapped her forehead. Duh, he would hear her thoughts. "Ok, what is it. What'd Ah do wrong?"
The professor smiled sadly "You didn't do anything. It concerns your guest that left so quickly this morning."
Rogue stiffened, ready to defend her new, if not odd, friend. "What's wrong with her? She's nice. She just needed a place to sleep last night. She ain't a bad kid." The professor shook his head.
"I wasn't implying that Rogue. I was wondering how much you knew about her. She exhibited a few talents this morning that were, shall we say, mutant."
Rogue blinked. "Oh." She said simply. "Well, Ah'll talk to her today."
The professor smiled. "That is all I am asking. Thank you."
The bell rang, waking Deidra up with a groan. She instinctively reached for her sunglasses. After she made sure they were in place, she sat up, only to come face-to-face with a dragon. As she gave a small shriek and stood up hurriedly, she realized that it was just Toad. "Nice to see you too." He muttered as insults and swear words were spewed at him. "You ok? We got ridda those guys that came over yo, so you can come on back now." Deidra brushed the dirt off of her and gave him a hard stare. "They'll come again." she said simply as she waked into the school.
All through first hour, Deidra was jumpy and nervous. Every time the door opened, she half expected to see one of them come through it, ready to take her away. Finally the bell rang and she bolted out the door, sweaty and shaking. Deidra slipped into the bathroom to splash her face with cold water. She still felt nauseous, and her sinuses felt tight. No one else was in the bathroom, so Deidra took off her sunglasses to get a better look at her face. Aside from her cheekbones looking a little puffy, nothing else looked too bad.
Deidra sighed and grimaced at her own reflection. Suddenly, muscles she had never felt before contracted inside her cheeks. She opened her mouth, just in time to let her fangs unhinge, as golden yellow liquid came squirting out of them, a fine stream of it landing neatly in the sink. Deidra stared dumbly as the amber mass slowly ran down the drain. Was it possible? After all these years, after all those tests and experiments, was she actually producing poison? Leaving her fangs unhinged, she tried squeezing the same muscles again, this time without the grimace. Once again, a squirt of yellow liquid came out. Deidra was ecstatic, especially now that her queasiness was gone. Now she really had a weapon against them. Of course she didn't know how poisonous her venom was, but if it made her queasy, it must do something to others. Deidra smiled, put her glasses back on, and skipped off to pottery class.
The moment she walked through the door, Deidra knew something was wrong. Instinctively she looked around for ways to escape. All the students were sitting at their desks, pretending not to notice Jean and Scott, who were in a corner, kneeling over something. Deidra walked over and saw that their pot had been squished. It was on the floor with a footprint in the middle of it. Jean was shaking, tears running down her face. Scott just kept trying to comfort her. Deidra's blood turned hot, and she angrily turned away. Before she really knew what she was doing, she had walked up to the teacher. "Excuse me." she said quietly. "But earlier I had heard Jeremy talking about leaving his footprint on something, something made of clay. I didn't know what to think of it until just now, but I think he was the one who smashed our pot."
The teacher nodded grimly and turned to face the class. "Jeremy" she said monotonously. "I think you had better switch out of this class. You will not pass it if you stay in it." The boy's face was a look of shock; his mouth hanging open as if it had lost a hinge. Then he snapped it shut and glared at the teacher, "Fine, I will." He hissed. Then he turned to Deidra "I'd just watch your back." He said.
Deidra shrugged, walked over, and opened the door in mock kindness. "I'd just get out of here." She replied curtly. Jeremy's face was blank, his mind trying to process the fact that she had just stood to him. Then he glared at her and stormed out.
The rest of the hour went surprisingly smooth. The teacher gave them an A the pot, saying that they didn't have to remake it. Deidra kept expecting the principle to come in through the door, with them following behind, but she wasn't afraid. Venom pulsated through the thin ducts near her sinuses, readying itself in case a battle might happen. Fortunately there was no need for it. The bell rang all too soon, and everyone slowly filed out of class. Deidra lingered after, debating whether or not to talk to Jean and Scott. Just as she was about to, she saw Rogue heading their way. Sighing, she turned away from them, not really ready to face Rogue. She was surprised to hear a "Hey Deidra! Wait!" She was just about to turn around, when a hard blow met her stomach.
Doubling over, Deidra looked up to the face of a very mad Jeremy. "So bitch, you a freak too?" he said mockingly.
"Leave her alone Jeremy." Scott said, helping her up.
"Yea, ya asshole." Rogue hissed. Jeremy smirked, and started to back away. Suddenly he whipped around, his fist catching Deidra's glasses, shattering them to pieces. She staggered backwards, eyes closed, wondering why no one was helping her. All she could hear were sounds of a struggle, and Jeremy's taunting voice. "What? Not gonna fight back?" Deidra stiffened.
It's now or never.
Opening her eyes, she saw Jean, Scott and Rogue being detained by some burly looking guys, no doubt some of Jeremy's friends. They were struggling, but were losing. Deidra narrowed her eyes and the poison within her cheekbones moved slowly to her fangs. "Leave them alone." She said hissed loudly. Everyone turned to her and gaped.
"Chameleon?" whispered Rogue.
The word hit Deidra like a lead pipe. They knew? Were they with Them? Oh how foolish she had been to trust them.
Jeremy recovered from the surprise very quickly. "So. You are one of them. Whacha gonna do?" Deidra gave him a small smirk and a quick uppercut to the jaw. He reeled backward in pain, then lurch forward. Before he could retaliate though, Deidra gave a full, open mouth hiss, with fangs unfolded. He paled, then turned and ran the other way. His buddy's more than a little frightened, took off after him.
The whole hallway was silent, all eyes on Deidra. She gave a small glare to Rogue, then turned and ran. She had just about gotten to the door to the outside, when Scott grabbed her arm. "Wait, Chameleon? Is that your name?"
Deidra started to sweat. She gave him the look of a frightened animal, then seemed to come to a decision. Turning, she continued to run, leaving Scott, staring dumbly, with her right arm, still twitching in his hands. It finally occurred to him what it was. He dropped in disgust. "We need to talk to the professor." He said weakly.
So eventful! Ummm… I'm guessing there's gonna be maybe 2 more chapters to this story. I'm sorry- I'll try to update sooner.