Hey guys. Been a while but I'm back now and I brought T-Shirts for everybody! I was on a really down kick. Like, I suck and there are much better writers out there, why should I bother, I'm so bad… It went on and on and on. But then I was like, get over it. So I did. And now I'm just writing cause I like it. And if you all hate me then I don't care. So there. (little voice 'please don't hate me)
Agent G – the guys at the house had nothing to do with Mattie. They were just random thugs who thought they'd do a spot of breaking and entering. And did Mattie ever pick the wrong time. Man her and her timing!
Matt – Extracting the Michael is the long form of taking the Mick. Taking extracting. Mick Michael. Mattie is taking the piss. ;o)
Vicious Assassin – I know. Poor old Mattie. But what has happened to her friends? I know I know I know… But I'm not going to tell you. Not just yet anyway.
Lulai – I have the same problem. Lucky me I know quite a bit about the X-Men in the comic universe. And I've read loads and loads of X-Men Evo fan fictions and pretty much picked it up from there. Hurry up and write more about Fiona!
GothickStrawberry – I hope the rest of the story fulfils your expectations.
Redangels – Frown all you want. But I know the rest of the story, I know the rest of the story, I know the rest of the story. does a little war dance
I'll tell you eventually, you know I will. But not here. You have to keep on reading.
I don't own the X-Men, just Mattie
Trip Down Memory Lane
Mattie looked around her as Bekki dragged her determinedly through the mall.
She had been staying with the Masters family for just over a week now. And she was no closer to knowing who she was. She was no closer to know if Mattie was even her name. What if it was the name of her boyfriend or something?
They'd had taken her to the hospital for a check up, where they had simply repeated what Mel had already told her. Her memory would most likely return of its own accord and she shouldn't try to force it.
Mel had insisted on buying Mattie some clothes. So far she had been borrowing some of Bekki's things. But Bekki was a full head taller than Mattie. Mattie had mentioned the possibility that she might be from a race of pigmy's. Besides that, Bekki's taste in clothes was obscure to say the least.
Today she was wearing green cut off leggings with an orange shirt over a pink tube top. She looked great. Sadly, Mattie, dressing in blue, yellow and purple couldn't pull it off in the same way.
She let Bekki drag her into the closest store, promising herself that she would repay the Masters just as soon as she had the money to do so. Who knew, maybe she was some totally filthy rich person.
Bekki had already bought her several outfits, and seemed determined to keep on spending. She held various tops up against Mattie to see how they looked, and then became distracted with clothes for herself.
Mattie wandered off on her own, looking at the range of clothing and wondering if she owned any of it already. If she was rich then maybe she never bought of the rack. On the other hand she might be dirt poor and make her own.
"Mattie!" She heard Bekki exclaimed behind her. "That is like the tenth time! Every store we go into you head towards the jeans."
"Don't you start on me too." Mattie sighed.
Bekki grabbed hold of her and whirled her round. "Who else said that to you?" She demanded staring hard at Mattie.
"I…" Mattie clutched at the memory and it floated out of her reach. "Damn it! I had it!"
Bekki sighed and let go of Mattie's shoulders.
"Damn it!" Mattie kicked the wall in frustration. "It was right there. I was so close!"
X
They gave up on the shopping after that. Mattie was in no mood to concentrate on anything.
They met up with Davis in the food court.
Bekki bounced up to her brother and grabbed a handful of his fries. "Mattie had a memory." She told him.
Davis looked up at Mattie. "Really? What of?"
Mattie shrugged as she slipped into a seat. "Nothing much, Bekki was teasing me about my love of jeans and it reminded me of someone saying something similar."
Davis raised an eyebrow. "Cool. So?"
Mattie shrugged again. "So nothing, that's it. It vanished the moment that I realised what it was." She sighed and then looked at Davis. "How'd you get on? You get anything?"
Davis shook his head. "No money. Not if I want to go and see Green Day when they tour here."
Mattie mad a mental note that she knew who Green Day were and liked them.
"I was just doing window shopping for our birthday." Davis continued.
Bekki looked up. "Yeah. That's only a few months off now. Seen anything you like?"
Davis nodded. "Couple of things that I nearly bought. If I had the funds of course."
Mattie looked puzzled. "You buy your own presents."
Bekki grinned at her. "Of course. How else do we make sure we get the right thing? I buy mine. Davis buys his. Then we give them to each other to wrap. Come our birthday we know we're going to be getting at least one present we want."
Mattie laughed. "Okay, I know I'm memory loss girl, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it's done."
"It's how it should be done." Bekki told her.
"We're planning to launch the idea in a few years time." Davis told her with a grin.
"Hello gang." A voice interrupted them.
Mattie looked up to see a tall, well built, blonde guy staring at them. His friends stood just behind him.
"Williams." Davis replied frostily.
"Masters." The guy responded. "Bek." He winked at her, she glared back at him. "And you." He grinned at Mattie. "I don't think I know you."
"Lucky her." Davis muttered.
Williams ignored him and held out his hand to Mattie. "I'm Ben Williams."
Mattie shook his hand. "Mattie."
"Cute name for a chick." Ben told her, holding onto her hand, despite Mattie's subtle attempts to claim it back.
"Come on, let's go." Bekki said getting to her feet.
"Beks, leaving so soon." Ben whined. "And I haven't even got to know your friend."
Mattie sized Ben up. Jock, who thought that he ruled the world. Davis clearly had problems with him, and Bekki was keen to make an exit.
"Some other time." She said finally managing to pull her hand out of his.
"Sure." He replied, watching her as she followed Davis and Bekki out of the food court.
"He is such a jerk." Bekki was saying as Mattie caught up with them. "Just because he's popular in school he thinks he's Gods gift."
Davis nodded his agreement. "I can't wait for him to graduate and realise that being good at basket ball means nothing outside of school."
"Unless you go pro." Mattie felt compelled to point out.
Davis and Bekki exchanged glances. "Na!"
They headed to the cinema to waste some time watching a film. Mattie settled back into her chair in the darkness and pretended that she knew exactly who she was.
X
After the film Mattie and the twins decided to walk home. The late afternoon bus service was running one an hour. And they couldn't be bothered to wait that long.
"Besides." Bekki added. "It's not like it's far or anything."
"Nothing is far in this town." Davis grumbled.
"Nothing to do, nothing to see." Bekki moaned.
They rounded the corned and found Ben Williams and his mates loitering there.
"We meet again." Ben cried, springing to his feet and giving a wide grin to both Mattie and Bekki. "Just couldn't bear to be parted from me, hu girls?"
"Right." Mattie groaned rolling her eyes.
"Let's go." Davis said walking past Ben as if he wasn't there.
"Hey now, hang on." Ben grabbed hold of Bekki's arm and pulling her up short. "Don't go."
"Hey!" Bekki tried to pull free from Ben.
Davis turned with a snarl. "Let go of my sister."
"Or you'll do what?" Ben asked, dropping Bekki's arm and squaring up to Davis.
Davis narrowed his eyes angrily.
"Come on Masters, let's see what you got."
"You okay?" Mattie asked Bekki.
Bekki nodded. "We have to stop Davis doing something stupid."
Mattie nodded in agreement.
"Just give me an excuse." Davis growled.
"For what?" Ben taunted. "For me to land you on your arse?"
Davis glared at him.
"Davis." Bekki called to him. "Come on lets go."
Davis ignored her.
"Davis, please." Bekki pleaded.
"Davis." Mattie stood with her hands on her hips, like she was reprimanding a small child. "He's not worth it and I want to go home."
Ben turned to glare at her. "Don't make me change my policy on hitting girls."
Mattie flashed him a brilliant smile.
Davis looked back at Bekki and Mattie, trying not to laugh.
"Please." Bekki bit her lip. She did not want to see her brother getting in some stupid fight.
Davis nodded at the girls and relaxed.
Ben chose that moment to land a heavy fist in his face.
Davis staggered under the unexpected blow.
"Davis!" Bekki ran to her twin's side.
"Never lower you guard." Ben chastised Davis, laughing about his victory. The other boys cheered him on. Ben turned to bow to his cheering friends. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and was met with Mattie's right cross.
"Not fair." She told him, as he cradled his face in his hands.
"You hit me!" Ben spluttered angrily, eyeing her warily.
Mattie blew on her knuckles, as though they were a smoking gun. "Yeah."
Mentally she was evaluating Ben, guessing at his strength, the force he could put behind a blow. What were his weaknesses? Where was his power? What would she have to deal with?
"You wanna go?" Davis asked her, slipping into a boxing crouch.
Mattie treated him to a withering smile, she wasn't sure why, but she felt supremely confident. And what was all this stuff in her head? Like the knowledge that Ben favoured his left side, his right was wide open. If she was to step here, and then strike him there… She knew that she could easily win this.
"Davis, you having girls fight your battles now?" Ben called scathingly over the Davis who was holding a hand to his face.
Two steps to the side; position yourself; make sure you weight it on the right foot… Mattie swept Ben's legs out from under him and smiled sweetly down at him as he blinked up at her.
"Honey, this girl is kicking your arse."
The other boys were up now. No longer lounging back and watching.
"Mattie." Bekki called. "Let's go."
Mattie shrugged and nodded. She made her way over to the twins.
"You okay?" She asked Davis. "Hurt?"
He nodded. "Mainly my pride."
Mattie grinned at him. "Best thing to hurt, less obvious bruising."
Someone had told her that once. She reached for the memory and felt it slip though her grasp. Damn it! She was so close.
"Look out!"
She was already reacting before she heard Davis' shout. Ben's punch swung harmlessly past her.
"Didn't I already beat you once?" She asked whirling to face him.
Ben grinned nastily at her. "I am going to have to change my policy on hitting girls."
"I feel honoured." Mattie told him, eyeing up the other boys. It was uncanny how she could tell these things. He was to slow; he might have a decent cross on him; that one was fast… How come she could look at a group of boys as see that? Where had she learnt this?
"You've got a smart mouth, you know that." Ben told her.
Mattie grinned. "That's not all I've got." She raised an eyebrow as Ben made an inarticulate noise and charged at her.
Whirling, spinning, and ducking. She avoided and blocked the blows more than attacking. She let the boys do their own fighting. They were uncoordinated and more likely to strike each other than her. Eventually they figured out her tactic and started to watch out for each other. Mattie traded them blow for blow. It was easy, it was like dancing, she didn't even have to concentrate that much, it was just so easy to block them, to react, to defend herself; they all seemed to be so slow. She kept going until, groaning from various bruises, the boys backed off.
Ben glared at her. "This isn't over."
Mattie blew him a kiss as he headed after his mates.
Act tough. Act tough and they won't see how much you're shaking inside. She crossed her arms over her stomach which was doing barrel rolls. Where did she learn that? How did she learn that? Was she violent all the time? What if she was some kind of criminal?
She looked over to Bekki and Davis who where staring at her.
"Mattie..?" Bekki started.
Davis cut her off. "What the fuck was that?"
"I… I don't know." Mattie threw her hands up in despair. "I can't just have amnesia, oh no! I have to have all Street Fighter moves to go with it!" She paced back and forth angrily. "It's like something out of the Bourne Identity! Which I do remember by the way."
Bekki grinned at Mattie. "It was pretty cool when you pounded on him like that."
Mattie hesitantly looked up at her. They didn't think she was a violent psychopath? Some jumped up homicidal killer?
"Let's get home." Davis said, throwing an arm around Mattie and the other one round Bekki. "And no mentioning this to Mon and Dad."
X
Bekki knocked on Davis' door and walked in.
"Hey!" Davis eyed her angrily. "Knock, then wait, then enter."
Bekki waved his comment away. "Whatever." She sat down on his bed. "So?"
"So what?"
"What do you think? About today?"
"The fight?" Davis asked.
Bekki rolled her eyes at him. "Of course the fight." She looked up and eyed him steadily. "You ever seen anyone fight like that?"
"Outside of the TV?" Davis shook his head. "Never. She was amazing."
Bekki nodded. "Where do you think she picked that up from?"
Davis shrugged. "She was pretty freaked though."
On the way home Mattie had ventured several guesses to where she had learnt her fighting skills. They ranged from prison to terrorists. She was taking a dim view on her abilities. The twins had seen how scared she was, and how she was trying to hide it.
"Should we be?" Bekki asked
Davis met her gaze. "Are you?"
Bekki paused for a moment then shook her head. "I trust her."
Davis nodded. "I wish we could think of a way to help her."
"You really like her, hu?"
"Course."
Bekki grinned at her big brother. "No, I mean really like her."
Davis frowned. "No I don't."
"Yeah you do." Bekki told him. "I can see it you know."
"Wouldn't matter if I did, anyway." Davis said, ignoring his sisters knowing smile. "She's probably got a boyfriend already."
"You don't know that." Bekki told him.
"Come on Beks. She's gorgeous. Of course she's got a boyfriend."
Bekki leapt to her feet. "I knew you liked her! You think she's gorgeous, you wanna date her, hug her and kiss her."
"Out!" Davis pointed at the door.
Bekki grinned at him as she left.