Disclaimer: Sinister, DareDevil, and any other Marvel characters who appear in this fic are not my property. This is a non-commercial venture. Disclaimer 2: Any OC's in this fic are the property of WesternBlakeHawke and myself. The two AU's in this universe are the work of myself (AoS 2), Blake (AoS 2), and various admins at http:ageofsinister. (AoS 1). Various aspects of the kids' profiles will be revealled during this fic, which will hopefully keep running...

"Callum! CALLUM!"

The woman sighed in frustration, as nine year old Lauren passed her on the stairs. Ten minutes later, Lauren was back, three year old Callum positively tugging her along. Lauren smiled at the woman, who shook her head. She'd initially thought Callum was autistic, but that had been no-noed by doctors, who said he was as good as gold for them. A little freaked when it came to needles, but what three year old wasn't?

The reason for Callum being called, and the other children too, for that matter, was Sunday Prayer, which Callum hated. He always stood there, mouth clamped shut. In the mock army gear he insisted on wearing, his pose made him look like a toy soldier, stood to attention, eyes front, no salute. As always, he stood between Lauren and her younger sister, six year old Faith. Faith stood in front of eldest sister Mara, aged fifteen.

Around a quarter of the kids here, the woman thought, were totally crazy, but the Gregson sisters were a godsend. For some reason, Callum had bonded with them, and they had bonded with him. Their reason was more obvious; a younger brother, the same age as Callum, killed in the same accident which had left them here in the first place. Callum? Lord only knew what his motives were.

Aija was holding her forehead again. Poor girl. The five year old had perfect eyesight, no strain, the opticians said, and scans had shown nothing untoward. However, the headaches insisted on being persistent, and the girl was now developing an immunity to kiddie aspirin and other suitable medications that had helped thusfar. She was stood beside Tyler, seven years old, who as usual was mouthing the words while his eyes flickered around the room, as if watching flies. Obviously disinterested. Then there was six year old Michael. Looked like an angel, but still had people problems. But then he and Sini, the four year old girl who was the only person Michael would go out of his way to talk to, had valid reasons. Both had been used in sick experiments, although neither, understandably, knew what had been done to them. Or if they did know, they refused to talk about it. They held hands now, like brother and sister, but they were definitely not genetically related. Michael had a lump on his back, but he refused to see any doctors about it. He'd nearly punched out the last doctor who tried to give him a routine check out. anyone in a white coat came near Michael, and you'd know in the next country. Further if your hearing was good.

Perhaps the most crazy of the younger kids was David Lewis. He was a healthy enough child, except for an insistence that he knew what the birds were saying. It would have been ignored, were it not for the fact that he sometimes thought he was a bird, and tried to jump from the third floor bannisters. Usually towards the end of spring, when the fledglings were learning to fly. Only Hazel Davies had stopped him from killing himself by pulling him backwards and telling him he was too young to fly yet, he needed to leave the nest first. Thing was, Hazel wasn't being sarcastic, or just playing along. She sounded like she meant it. Maybe she did. Although at seventeen, it was hard to tell with Hazel. Not so hard with Alyssa though. Like Callum, Alyssa preferred army style clothing. Unlike Hazel, Alyssa was almost always sarcastic, and had a sharp sense of humour. Alyssa was tougher than a girl her age should be, and quick to hit first, ask questions later. Except when it came to Eddie Dean. Alyssa and Eddie got on like a house on fire. Meaning when they really tried, you could count on things going up in flames, people running off screaming... Perhaps because Eddie had been born deaf, while somewhere along the line Alyssa had learnt sign language. Other than being deaf, Eddie gave Alyssa a run for her money. He didn't speak much, but when he did, it was almost always to Alyssa. If not to her, then to ask where she was.

Richard looked like he'd cut himself shaving again. Some would say a twelve year old shouldn't be shaving, but the majority of them had probably never met Richard Ascher. Poor boy couldn't go more than two days without having to shave. His room-mate, Steven Cooper, was a quiet boy, but very good with technology. The alarm system had faulted out the day Steven arrived, and the boy had quietly fixed it. Saved on callout fees, at least.

The twins, as always, were in their own little world. Sawyer and Scott Fallows were four years old, and the kind of children to really creep out even the most child-friendly adult. They never spoke to each other. At least, not when anyone could hear. Nor did they share any secret body language thing that anyone knew of. They just knew what each other wanted, and would do what ever they were able to in order to get it. Closely bonded. Besides them stood four year old Callie Matthews. A real water baby. She adored swimming, bath time... Refused point blank to shower, but at least she was always clean.

Another set of twins stood at the back of the room, with their friendship group. A group of four, consiting of the twins, Zane and Gina Shinoda, aged thirteen, fourteen year old Andrew Hooper, and fifteen year old Caleb Lindsey. The four of them weren't even attempting to look interested in what Father Callahan was saying. They were gathered around Andrew, who was probably showing off his newest magic trick. The boy had a knack for what he called transmutation. Which was part of magic, apparently. He'd probably end up playing Caesar's Palace in Vegas, if he had the choice. Caleb yawned, looking around and grinning at the woman who ran the care home, as if he were totally innocent. Cheeky, but it always worked. the twins saw his look, and shrugged.

There were around a hundred children in the small chapel. Apart from those already noted, she checked for five others. Maya Corcorun, Zachery Harrison, Curtis Moore, Mia Willis, and Taylor Young. Zachery and curtis were having a chat in the corner, probably continuing what ever conversation had started the night before about toy robots or Beast Wars. Maya sat, head bowed, probably praying for someone to adopt her. That's what her Christmas list had asked for. Parents. Maya had been orphaned at birth, but nobody had wanted to take her on. A crying shame, because she was a delightful child, most of the time. Which left Mia and Taylor. The two children, Mia aged ten and Taylor aged eleven, had arrived the same day, and being a total tomboy Mia had instantly hit it off with Taylor. They were both at the back of the chapel, sharing a set of headphones.

Lord help anyone crazy enough to adopt any of this lot, the woman thought, as the bell for sunday lunch rang out.