Like Water for Poison

"It's going to be an adjustment, I know," Emma told her pupil. "But I think you'll find this to be a lively if not challenging environment."

The young girl from last night sat in her seat. She was wearing the school uniform of the Hellfire Academy. "Don't worry. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," She grinned. "Come in Evan."

"Man it's weird when you do that," Evan said as he walked in. He was without his spikes and was wearing his school uniform. "I didn't even have to knock."

"Yvonne this is Evan Daniels, otherwise known as Spyke," Emma introduced. "He is the leader of the Hellions and will show you around. Evan…"

"Yes Ms. Frost," Evan nodded respectfully. "Come on. I'll show you around."

Yvonne stood up and went with Evan. "This way's the rec. room for the Hellions," Evan said. "So…You're a telepath?"

"Technically yes," Yvonne said. "However my telepathy has a certain…side effect."

"Yeah I know. Miss Frost told me. She also told me about…Your past," Evan said. "The whole story. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. She only told me because as squad leader I gotta know everything I can about my team. But this stays between you and me. The rest of the team is a bit full of themselves and they can be…Judgmental."

"And what do you think of me?" Yvonne asked, looking him in the eye.

"Hey, I'm not exactly innocent of a lot of things myself," Evan told her. "I don't have the right to judge you."

"You're probably the only one," Yvonne said.

"Well the Hellions may not be the warmest group in the world," Evan said. "But I owe Ms. Frost a lot."

"I owe her everything," Yvonne said softly.

They went into the recreation room where most of the Hellions were relaxing. "Everyone listen up!" Evan called out. "We have a new member of the team. Where's Catseye and Jetstream?"

"Watching TV in the other room," Beef said. "They just don't get the beauty of the Ozbornes!"

"This is Yvonne Frost," Evan told the group. "She's Doug's replacement. Well technically Doug and Empath…"

"Frost?" Beef thought. "I thought the other Frost sister was called Cordelia?"

"She is," Yvonne said. "Ms. Frost is my mother. My adopted mother anyway."

"Wait a minute…" Bevatron said. "I thought Catseye was Frost's adopted daughter."

"That too…" Yvonne grumbled.

"SISTER!" Catseye bounded into the room and embraced Yvonne in a bone-crushing hug. "SISTER!"

"Oh no…" Yvonne grumbled.

"HAPPY DAY! SISTER IS HERE!" Catseye whirled her around.

"Sharon knock it off!" Yvonne shouted. "Somebody make her stop!"

"SISTER! SISTER!"

"Why can't I be an only child?" Yvonne groaned. "PUT ME DOWN!"

"Sorry!" Catseye let her go and jumped up and down. "I'm just happy to have my sister here!"

"Whoopee," Beef whirled his finger. "So what exactly do you do?"

"She's telepathic," Evan began. "Which will give us an edge in battle."

"Like I don't?" Monet bristled.

"No, you don't," Tarot remarked. Monet glared at her.

"So she's a telepath, big deal," Bevatron waved.

"I'm a little more than that," Yvonne said. "I'm a toxic telepath."

"A what?" Beef asked. "What the heck is that?"

"To put it in the simplest terms my telepathy causes a violent chemical reaction within my victim's brain if I enter his or her mind for longer than a minute," Yvonne said. "And even under the time limit it can cause…Complications."

"You mean, your telepathy literally poisons people?" Bevatron gulped. "Oh…Goody."

"Not so smart alecky now are you?" Catseye snickered. "Why you think her codename is Celandine?"

"Cella what?" Beef scratched his head.

"Celandine," Warpath grunted. "It's a poisonous plan you moron."

"Oh," Beef blinked. "Well then why don't you call yourself Poison Ivy or something?"

"Because it's already been done you half wit!" Yvonne glared at him.

"Well I see you are all getting along," Emma walked in. "But I'm afraid I must cut this meeting short."

"What is it?" Yvonne asked.

"The Inner Circle needs your services again Celandine," Emma informed her. "For a mission in Europe."

"Already?" Yvonne sighed. "Very well. I'll go prepare. I know my uniform is in my room."

"Do you need help finding it?" Evan asked. Tarot suddenly glared at him but he didn't notice.

"No, I'm fine," Yvonne told him then left the room. Tarot glared at Evan then walked into the next room.

"Uh, Spyke something tells me you need to have a talk with Tarot," Emma frowned. "Now."

"Huh? Why?" Evan asked.

"Dude, we all saw that look you gave what's her name," Warpath told him. "I may not be a telepath but even I can tell what a girlfriend thinks when she sees you looking at another woman."

"Oh boy…" Evan knew he had to patch things up fast. He went into the next room and found Tarot fuming. "Marie…"

"So you're cozening up to Frost's adopted daughter huh?" Tarot snapped. "It figures."

"It's not what you think," Evan sighed.

"Is it?" Tarot snapped.

"Oh for crying out loud," Evan said. "I'm just trying to be her friend."

"Friend? Friend? That's an interesting way to put it," Tarot glared at him. "The look you gave her was not that of a friend!"

"Okay so she's cute! I noticed it! That doesn't mean I'm gonna go after her! I have a girl I really love now!"

"From what I've heard of your past it's never stopped you before!" Tarot turned away.

"Tarot those days are behind me!" Evan grabbed her arm. "You're the one I want! Just because I'm nice to a pretty girl doesn't mean I'm trying to make time with her. Besides she has enough problems without any romantic triangles going on."

"What do you mean by that? Why? What happened with her?"

"Look, I can't tell you the details but she's had it really rough," Evan said. "Just try to be nice to her, okay?"

"All right, for you," Tarot put her arms around him.

"Come on, we'd better get back," Evan said. "Something tells me Celandine isn't the only one on a mission."

They walked back in to see Emma telling the group. "This time we're going to deal with Cypher once and for all and bring him back to the fold."

"Yeah like we need her to get that loser," Bevatron grunted. "Of course if Spyke here hadn't screwed up in the first place…"

"You didn't exactly do that well either if I recall," Evan glared at him. He looked at Emma. "You know we can't attack the Institute directly. I mean look what happened less than a few weeks ago…"

"Yeah and Magneto's crew only had to deal with half their forces," Warpath agreed.

"Yes, but he can't stay in the mansion forever," Emma said. "The next time he leaves, which my sources tell me will be soon…"

"We'll grab him," Monet said. "If the X-Fools don't put up too much of a fight."

"Yeah right," Evan grunted.

"If that fails we'll try a more indirect route," Emma said. "We'll borrow Switch from the Epsilon team."

"Switch?" Bevatron blinked. "That chick is crazier than I am!"

"Remember what she did at the last dance we had?"Warpath shouted. "I still have nightmares!"

"I dunno," Beef shrugged. "I kind of enjoyed it."

"You would!" Warpath snapped.

"He enjoyed it a little too much for my tastes!" Roulette snapped.

"Don't worry," Emma said. "I've given her specific instructions to only use her power on me and…Well whomever I choose."

"Wait a minute…You're not gonna do what I think you're gonna do…" Evan looked at her.

"I'm hoping it doesn't come down to it," Emma said. "But if all else fails…"

"Hey!" Jetstream ran in. "Guys! You'll never guess what happened! There was some kind of breakout at Stryker's trial!"

Who's Switch? What's her power? What is Emma's plan? What secrets does Yvonne have in her past? And what happened with Stryker? Find out next chapter.