A wind was picking up along the road, whisking over the heads of perhaps 20 mutants. Eric stood among them, unquestionably the most powerful. He stood tall and held himself with the utmost of control. There were no telepaths yet linked to the Brotherhood, and for this one mercy, Eric was grateful. He couldn't bear to have anyone pry into his thoughts, he himself refused to face them just now.

No, he had to focus on what was important.

Pyro exercised some caution and remained silent as the group gathered close, though he did move to stand on the other side of Mystique, keeping her wilted form between himself and Eric.

Dark hazel eyes scanned the crowd for Callisto- she was no telepath, but she could sense mutant abilities. He worried that she would sense Mystique's humanity and attack. For all his mastery over flame, he knew that she would be too fast for him to protect Mystique if she decided to attack.

There she is.

The dark, angry woman remained within the crowd, though she was towards the front, awaiting instruction from her adopted master. Pyro wasn't blind, he knew that Callisto's aim was to insinuate herself into the upper links of Eric's Brotherhood. She was a rebel, just as he was, but even a rebel could see the benefit of being favored by their powerful leader.

Eric spoke few words to his mutants- simple directives that they would be alerted when the time came. He obviously wished them to leave; there were other things for him to consider now. The others nodded, understanding that their duty was to recruit more mutants to the cause in the meantime, but that the action was over for today.

Some of them playfully grumbled that Magneto and Pyro had been the only ones to use force against the humans, and none of them bothered asking about the woman huddled between the two. The assumption was that she was one of the newly freed prisoners from the destroyed trailer.

Callisto knew better.

Human!

She could register the soaring heights of Magneto's power, the raw energy he held in command; likewise she could feel the sensual danger of Pyro's ability, his was a power not fully evolved; it had been a source of annoyance to him that he could not create flame, but Callisto knew down to her bones that it would only be a matter of time for him.

The woman between them, however…a human. A human! Why had a human been held in the prison transport? It didn't make any sense. The other mutants had taken their leave, but Callisto remained behind, intent to demand answers from Magneto.

She moved forward, and just as she's taken a step, so had John moved to block her path. "Hey, what are you doing?" she hissed at him. Eric and the woman had already moved off to join Cain and Jamie.

"Leave it, Calli, just leave it alone." He said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I'll say it again- leave it alone. She has nothing to do with you," John said, his hand tensed on the trigger to his lighter strap. He and the mutants in Callisto's gang had butt heads nearly every time they were in the same room. Now was no exception- she still pressed forward, though he did not yield.

Indignation flared in her eyes, "Who is she? Why is she wearing his cape?" she demanded.

Pyro smirked at her, "Oh what, don't tell me you're jealous?" he teased.

"Don't be an idiot. Now you tell me why that human is here!" she screeched.

Mystique felt her insides twist. Though they were far away now, she still heard a woman scream the word. That mutant, she knows what I am…oh, what am I going to do now? Eric stiffened beside her, but he didn't offer a word of comfort or reassurance, he didn't touch her. He turned to Juggernaut and Jamie, his words dictating and direct.

"I have a base near here. Being that you are newly freed, I doubt you have anywhere to go, correct? You will stay on with us, and God help anyone that ever attempts to break in."

Somehow, Mystique was led to the base along with everyone else, though her memory was dull. All of her senses felt dull, as if everything around her was muffled. Eric had not said anything or made any displays of interest in her at all- she didn't know what to think. Was his indifference a front put on for his new mutant recruits or did he honestly not care? Then again, if he didn't care, why would he have given her his cape to cover her body, why would he have allowed her to enter the base?

Why has he let me live?

The sudden thought lanced through her mind, leaving a sweep of angry suspicion across her thoughts. She wanted to die- she had been forced to become what she hated the most; what kind of life was it to live as this, a human, crippled of her power?

Eric was answering a few questions from two of their newest members, and Pyro was busy in a glaring match with the other mutant- the woman who'd declared her to the world as what she had ultimately become: a human.

Mystique was suddenly too humiliated to be anywhere near them. She was naked beneath the warmth of Eric's cape, naked and very much alone. She had already been standing off by herself, no one seemed to notice when she slipped away and off into one of the rooms that ran along the side of a corridor.

Once inside, she stripped off the cape and stood before a mirror in the corner of the dark room. Naked, she gazed at her reflection. In the twilight coming in from the window slat, her skin appeared luminously pale. The face was familiar. The same shape and size, only her coloring was different. She was still herself. Mystiquefelt overcome with desperate hope. The cure can't be permanent.Everything has an antithesis. I will be me again, I am still me now!

Yes, she admitted that she was scared, terrified, but she refused to wallow in self pity for long. She was entitled to a day of mourning for her mutantcy, but a day and no longer. Despite her circumstances, Mystique had ever been an optimist, and that outlook had not been stolen so easily as her powers. There is work to be done. Eric still needs me! Today I am nothing, tomorrow I am everything …