Esme's Pov
I went to the meeting room and Lorna went to get the mutant kids that they had found. John and Caitlin were already there, John was on the couch and Caitlin was leaning against the table in the center of the room.
John was clearly frustrated about something, he seemed to always be these days, "Why would they bring new people here? There is an outpost where we bring people first. Then we decide, as a group, who to bring to headquarters." He was saying to Caitlin, his voice tense. He clearly wasn't happy that Lorna and Marcos decided to bring them here.
"John it doesn't sound like they had much of a choice. What these kids saw, they were going to have questions." Caitlin rebutted.
I walked over to the table and pulled a chair against the wall and sat down.
Andy and Lauren walked in, they both seemed a little put out. I wanted to ask them if they were okay but I knew that they didn't want me to talk to them. I wish I could apologize for what happened but I don't think that they wouldn't care. They've made it very clear that they don't want me to talk to them and I've tried to respect that.
Lorna and Marcos walked in followed by four kids, two boys, and two girls.
Lorna told them to introduce themselves.
One of the girls who had black hair with pink tips spoke up, "I'm Lizzie," she was a little nervous, but I would be too in that situation so I couldn't blame her.
"I'm Cameron, Lizzie's older brother." Said the tallest boy.
"Mia." The shorter girl said.
"I'm Josh." Said the last kid.
"So, Lorna, what exactly happened. How did you meet these kids?" John said, not even bothering to hide his annoyed tone.
"We found them when we went to go stake out of that warehouse. We got attacked right after we found them. Mia saved my life." Lorna said a little defensively. She had obviously taken a liking to them.
Caitlin spoke up, "Why don't I take the kids outside into the hallway and we can talk about what happened. Ok?"
John nodded. Caitlin took the kids outside and told them to wait by the door, that someone would come out to talk to them soon. She came back into the room with a serious expression on her face.
"So what exactly happened when you went to the warehouse?" She asked, her arms crossed.
Lorna, Marcos, Andy, and Lauren all took turns explaining what happened. When Andy got to the part about Rebecca my heart broke for him a little. I remember how upset he was after her death. I could tell that he and Lauren were leaving something out. They were being very suspicious about how they got her to stop trying to kill them. They weren't telling us exactly what happened, just something about their powers being able to stop hers. Lorna explained how Marcos got knocked out and Max came back to life and tried to kill her and how Mia saved her life by teleporting her out of the way rather than hiding her with her powers. She then explained how Josh had healing abilities and healed Marcos. Caitlin seemed pleased that hopefully if he chose to stay, this kid could help her when injured mutants come in.
"That sounds exciting..." I said when they finished explaining what happened. "My sisters weren't there at all? They normally would love to do stuff like that." Normally they wouldn't miss an opportunity to kill people. It was their favorite thing.
John interrupted me before I could say anything else "The Inner Circle just left? For no reason?" he said.
"No, your sisters weren't there, Esme, I think that that fight would have ended a lot differently if they had been," Andy spit out at me. "And, John, that's what I was saying. It just doesn't feel right."
"I know. They must've wanted to resurrect Max and Rebecca then get out. They easily could have killed us all but they didn't," Marcos said sitting down. Lorna put her hand on his shoulder.
"It doesn't sit right with me either but we should discuss what to do with those kids," Caitlin said.
"We should interview them like we normally would then ask them if they want to stay or leave. Like we normally would except they are already here instead of at an outpost." I said. "I can do it."
"Ok, then that's what we'll do. We'll figure out what to do about the Inner Circle later. Marcos, I want to make sure your head is ok." Caitlin said.
I went outside to go get the kids to interview them as Caitlin and Marcos headed to the medical area. Lizzie scrambled back from the door like she had been listening. Mia and Josh were leaning against the wall arguing with each other and Cameron was clearly put in the middle of two best friends arguing and really didn't want to be.
"So, I'm gonna interview guys to get to know you all and ask you some questions so we could help you better. So if you would follow me," I said awkwardly, sensing the tension between Mia and Josh.
I decided to talk to the two siblings first, hopefully giving the other two kids time to cool off from whatever they were arguing about.
I walked them over to a sitting area with two couches facing each other.
"So, what is your last name?" I asked.
"Stone," Cameron said.
"How old are you?"
"I'm 14 and Cameron's 16," Lizzie said.
"Do you plan on staying here or getting out of the country or maybe going to a different station?" A lot of people want to help with the fight but most of them figure out who Andy and Lauren are and want to get out of here pretty quickly.
"Probably just go to a different station for right now. Maybe get out of the country if things get bad enough." Cameron said.
"Cameron, I kind of want to stay here and help them," Lizzie said.
"No Lizzie," he said.
"But..."
"No," He said sternly. Lizzie rolled her eyes.
"You can decide what you want to do later. What are your powers?" I asked them, curious because no one told me what they could do.
"I have increased strength and fast reflexes, almost like I can see something coming before it does." Cameron said, "We don't know what Lizzie's powers are yet, but her eyes are naturally purple so we know that she's a mutant."
I nodded. Visible mutants sometimes have their visible mutations from birth but not their powers.
"Any criminal record for either of you," I asked, this is the part where I was supposed to use my powers to see if they would lie or leave anything else. This place was built on trust.
"No," Lizzie said. I checked to make sure that she wasn't lying, I didn't think she was so I laid down the basis for what would happen.
"You'll stay here for a day or two then we'll send you to a different station where you can decide what you want to do from there," I said. "That's all the questions I have for you. If you could send your friends over that'd be great"
They left and went over to where their friends were. Mia and Josh seemed to still be arguing about something seemed my hopes of letting them cool off hadn't been fulfilled. They got up and came over seemingly putting their argument on hold. They sat on the couch in the spots where their friends had just vacated.
"Ok, so Mia, what's your last name?" I asked. I was going to ask these two a few more questions than the others. I had questions about their powers and how powerful they were. Lorna thought that if I could convince them to stay they could really help the underground but I figured that I should start with the basics.
"Lynn." She said.
"And Josh, what's your last name?" I asked him.
"Black," He said.
"How old are you?"
"I'm 15 and am turning 16 soon and Josh just turned 17 last week," Mia said.
"What are your powers, just for clarification. Lorna told me a bit about what you can do." I said.
"I can heal people, like most injuries and some sicknesses. I can't heal someone if they exhaust themselves or their powers though." Josh said, fidgeting a little.
"I can manipulate, create, and travel through shadows. Basically, I can hide really well, make it impossible for people to see unless they can see in the dark, and teleport although teleporting tends to wear me out pretty quickly." Mia said as she made her hand seem to be covered by a shadow. I definitely agreed with Lorna that both of these kids would be really helpful to have around. Caitlin would love someone to help her in the medical area and Mia just seemed like she would fit right in with everybody here. With a little training, I thought that she could be a really great fighter too.
"Ok, so two more questions. Do you have a criminal record?" I asked.
"No," they said in sync with each other.
"So last question, Do you plan on staying here or leaving?" I asked, I really hoped that they would stay.
"Well I want to stay and help but Josh, on the other hand, wants to leave and says that I'm not allowed to stay if he doesn't, and right now he is not convinced that it is safe," Mia said rolling her eyes with her arms crossed.
I turned to Josh, "Why don't you think that it's safe here?" I asked. We were in one of the safest places in the area for mutants right now.
He looked very sheepish. "Well, those two other kids that we met seem kind of dangerous." My heart sank. When people figured out that Sentinel Services was destroyed by Andy and Lauren's powers they always got nervous.
Mia rolled her eyes "You can't judge a book by its cover Josh,"
"Lauren and Andy have been through a lot. And Sentinel Services wasn't their fault. The Inner Circle forced them to. You can't blame them. They're just kids." I said. I had been trying to protect Andy and Lauren as much as I could because of what I did to them.
"We'll talk about it and decide later if we want to stay or not," Josh said with a pointed look to Mia.
I nodded, "Ok just let us know. You can leave at any time to go either to a different station or to get out of the country."
I watched as they got up and walked back to their friends.
Mia's Pov
Josh can be so annoying sometimes. He insisted that we couldn't stay here because Andy and Lauren are dangerous blah, blah, blah. Even after hearing what Esme said he still doesn't want to stay. I was sitting on a couch in one of the rooms after getting a tour from another mutant named Anna. Josh was talking to Cameron about the best places to go to get away from here. Lizzie seemed sad, I think that everything that had happened in the past 12 hours was finally catching up to her.
I was trying to figure out how to convince Josh to let me stay here, with or without him. I kept running over scenarios in my head but I couldn't come up with anything that would convince him.
"Josh, why can't I just stay here by myself and you all can go wherever you want to?" I asked, still trying to convince him to let me stay.
"Because Mia, you are impulsive and irresponsible and someone has to make sure you don't get yourself killed. Since I can heal and I'm your best friend I figured that out of everyone I'm the best one for the job." He said.
"Josh, how about I convince you to stay here," I said, having come up with an idea.
"And how would you do that?" he said skeptically, he was stubborn and not easy to convince of things but I had come up with something that just might work.
"What if you give me 48 hours to convince you that Andy and Lauren, your main reason that you don't want to stay, aren't dangerous," I said.
He looked at me seemingly amused with the idea, "24 hours" he said
"Fine, I have 24 hours to convince you to stay," I said, sticking out my hand to confirm the deal.
"Josh are you sure, she'll probably come up with a way to convince you and you know it," Cameron said.
"I'm stubborn," He said smiling. He doubted my ability to prove him wrong but I would, tomorrow. It was almost midnight and It'd been a long day. I walked over to the couch that Lizzie was sitting on and curled up on one half, leaving her room to curl up on the other end, and fell asleep.
