Jacelynn awoke the next morning with the sun streaming through her window, the digital clock on her nightstand saying that it was just past 9:00. She sat up, wondering if she overslept and was late for school.

Wait, no. It was Saturday. Right.

She sighed, remembering last nights events. She knew in her gut that it was a bad idea. Yet she went through with it anyway. Why?

Because it would have been worse not too, obviously. Higher orders, wasn't that what Pietro had said? She frowned, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, going through her memory. Trying to remember if any person she had seen Mystique talked to would possibly be someone the woman would take orders from. It's not like she hadn't pieced together the fact Mystique was not at the top of the pyramid but the fact that Pietro knew who they were? That was odd. She knew this was going to bug her until she found out but that wasn't going to be anytime soon, Jacelynn knew that much.

After last night? Mystique wouldn't be coming within a twenty-mile radius of the boarding house.

She threw on her normal glamour, plucked a book from her shelf and made her way downstairs. No one else was up yet, or at least no one was downstairs. She put on a pot of coffee for herself before she crossed into the living room, dropped into a chair and started to read.

Jacelynn didn't look up from her book again until she got nudged in the shoulder sometime later and looked up to see Lance holding out a cup of coffee.

"Figured you forgot to actually make a cup after you put it on."

She smiled, gladly taking the cup from him. "Thanks."

"No problem"

He sat down on the coach, as she set her book on the table beside her. " Are the others still asleep?" she questions

" Todd is out back catching breakfast, but I don't know about the other two. I'm assuming Freddy is awake though, we would be able to hear him if wasn't."

She smiled a bit at that. "That's true."

They fall silent for a minute or two before Lance said. " Hey, Jacelynn. You know Mystique
better than anyone right?"

" I know her just about as well as anyone can. She's not exactly the most talkative person. Why do you ask?"

"You think she's coming back? Here, I mean."

Jacelynn went quiet for a minute, thinking. " I think she will. Eventually. Not today or tomorrow or the next day but at some point. She's pissed, definitely, and needs some time to cool off. But she can't flake on her boss like that, especially if they are as powerful as you'd have to be to boss Mystique around."

"Good to know."

"I've got a question for you now."

"Shoot."

"You have any idea who the real boss person is?"

"Me? No. That's probably a question for Pietro honestly."

"It's Pietro."She scoffed." He's just going to think him knowing this information makes him officially better than me and tell me absolutely nothing. No thanks."

"Aren't you guys friends?"

"Yeah, course we are. I'm friends with all of you. We kind of have to be, we all live together. But that's beside the point because even with we are friends Pietro is still going to be Pietro."

"... I mean you have a point."

"Thank you."

"Even if you don't ask though, we are going to find out eventually. We do sort of work for them."

"If we do meet them I hope they don't want us to do anything. I'd like to enjoy my summer in peace."

" I thought you were going to be upset about summer since your only hobby of following useless drama wouldn't be something you could do anymore." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he raised his hands in defence, smiling at her. "I'm not wrong though, am I?"

"Oh, fuck off Lance."

A few hours pass, and after that conversation with Lance, the next time she looks up from her book she's being asked to go grocery shopping with Todd and Lance. She agreed, figuring it was a good excuse to go and stretch her legs. Which was why she was now staring down a rather large selection of tomato sauces.

"I didn't think it came in so many different kinds yo," commented Todd.

Jacelynn shrugged. "Different kinds for different uses I suppose. Did Lance write down a brand or anything?"

Todd shook his head. "Just tomato sauce."

She sighed. "Could it kill him to be specific for once?"

'What? Are our grocery shopping skills not good enough for you?"

"No, more like I expect you guys to be able to do very simple life tasks decently," she commented, grabbing a jar that was decently priced and handed it to her roommate.

"That's on you dawg, we never said we could do that shit."

She laughed at that. "Touche. What's next on our part of the list?"

"Uhh, bread."

She nodded and started walking out of the aisle and over to the bakery section when two things happened. The first being she noticed two guys from the Bayville football team holding pop and chip bags walking the opposite way as them. The second was Todd just about launching himself around the corner of the aisle and onto the floor before scrambling up and out of her sight.

She quickly walked after her him, completely bewildered and slightly concerned. "Todd?" she questioned, looking down at the white tiled floor where he had dove under a table of boxed cookies, red basket just poking out from underneath.

"Not so loud!" he hissed before he eyed the space just beyond the aisle corner. "Are they gone?"

"Who? The football guys?" He nodded. "Coast is clear." Todd sighed in relief and stood up, picking up the basket. "So.. you going to explain what that was about?"

"It's nothing man, I promise."

"Uh, right. Didn't exactly look like nothing. "

"Look, I tried to pickpocket them a while back and that didn't go so well. They have been givin' me some trouble ever since n' said next time they see me they were gonna break every bone in my body, and I don't know 'bout you but I like my bones unbroken thank you very much."

"If you want I can go over and have a word with then" she replied, putting air quotes around the word.

"Ha. No, I'm okay Jacelynn. I can take care of things myself."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the offer though. I 'ppreciate it."

She shrugged. "Anything for a friend. Now come on, we need to get that bread."

Jacelynn did agree to not exchange any choice words with the two, however she did very discreetly trip one of them while she and Todd were waiting in line at the cash. And she saw Todd smile, so it was definitely worth it.

"All the groceries money can buy," she placed the two bags on the counter. "And a couple extra for good measure."

"Thanks, Jacelynn." Fred pulled out the jar of tomato sauce first and set it aside.

"What's the plan for tonight?"

"I'm making spaghetti." She lit up at that.

"Spaghetti? Oh, man, I used to make it all the time with my parents. Do you need any help?"

"Want to start the boiled water for me?" She nodded and began searching through the cupboards for a pot. "Hey, didn't you mention at one point you're Italian?"

She hummed. " On my dad's side. His parents came over from Italy in the twenties."

"Do you speak it?"

'Italian? I'm conversational-ish. Dad didn't start teaching me until I was about nine. Haven't had to use it in years though so I'm rusty." More like wouldn't use it, not that Fred needed to know that. She hadn't attempted it, not since she and Mason had their falling out. Not like she had met another speaker. Not like she could trust herself to utter a word without breaking the bottle she so carefully kept all those memories and emotions surrounding her past. Surrounding her family.

She needed a conversation change.

"You said you were apart of a travelling show when Mystique found you right? What was that like?"

"It was alright. I liked throwing trucks around and stuff and the people were nice, but being on the road all the time kinda sucked."

"I can barely survive a thirty-minute car trip, I doubt I could handle that sort of lifestyle." Thank god Lance owned a jeep. A nice, roofless, open air and non-claustrophobic jeep.

"It was crowded and busy but it was ok mostly. But after a while I just wanted to find a place and stay there, you know?"

Jacelynn nodded. "I feel that. It was a nice change when Mystique plopped us down in Bayville. Aside from having to enroll in school and all that."

"You two travelled a lot?"

"Yeah, we were all around the country in the span of a couple months. Occasionally out of country a handful of times too. And I did some moving of my own before that."

"You were in a travelling show too?"

She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "No, nothing like that. More like…," she paused, trying to think of a good word. "I was roaming."

"Roaming?"

"Yeah. It's a better word then wandering because it sounds more mysterious I guess. More purposeful."

"I like it. It's a nice word."

"Thank you. I think it is pretty nice too."

The conversation falls for a minute or two before Fred asked. "How come you were roaming?"

"Sorry?"

"Like, did you have a purpose for roaming?"

She tensed up immediately, and took a second to score her face into a neutral expression, all the while racking her brain for an answer she could give out to that. She hated this, how one fucking question about her past made her freeze up like this. It was pathetic.

"I…," she started off, going through every word in her head twice before she said them, " have an uncanny ability to thoroughly piss people off. And occasionally I do it so well no amount of persuasive words can change it. So I had to leave."

"Oh."

She doesn't give him time to come up with any possible follow up questions. "The water is boiling now. We should be all set for spaghetti making step two."

"Uh, right. I'll grab the pasta."

Jacelynn skillfully managed to keep the rest of the conversation far, far away from where it had just been going.

It was much later in the evening, and Jacelynn found herself sitting on the step just outside the door. Looking at the sun setting, but not really watching. Her mind was elsewhere. Though even she wasn't exactly sure where her thoughts were taking her, they alternated between her past, to where Mystique was, to go over exactly where everything went wrong with their first mission for the real boss.

She was so deeply entrenched inside her own head she didn't notice the door open and close. She almost didn't notice Pietro sitting down next to her.

"Hey, you need something?" she questioned.

" Not really, I was just gonna ask if you planned on sitting on a watch for Mystique to come back again."

She scowled at him. " I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh sure you do. Got absolutely no clue, right?." She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the not so distant horizon.

"Just to double check, you aren't actually related to Mystique right?"

Jacelynn blinked in confusion and turned to face him. " No, we aren't related. I-" her voice faltered for a second, trying to keep her words as vague as possible. " already have a legal guardian."

He nodded. "I figured, I'd probably have known but just wanted to make sure. You do have similar powers after all."

She shrugged. "That's fair. Still, just a coincidence. No relation as far as I'm aware." She goes silent for a minute before following that up with " And how would you have known, exactly?"

"My dad and Mystique work pretty closely together."

"Really?" Briefly, she went through every male colleague she'd seen Mystique working with, but came up with nothing. "Don't recall anyone who looked anything like you working with Mystique."

"Less work with and more she works for."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Your dad is Mystiques boss?"

"The boss of basically every mutant who's not with Xavier roughly, Mystique included."

Now, this was something to snag her attention. "You're kidding?"

"Not at all."

"Aren't their hundreds of mutants out there?"

"Something like that, and most work for him directly or indirectly. He's persuasive when he wants to be, and when he's not it's either help or get out of the way. Course, you could be a minor inconvenience and that'd be enough reason for him to throw you to the curb." Pietro had a dark look in his eye, a scowl on his face. A sort of quiet anger surrounded him. Jacelynn was almost certain it was the stillest she'd ever seen him before.

"Not on good terms with him then?"

"Not at all. Don't think he notices though, or cares. I'm just another pawn in his game, you know? Like we all are." It isn't hard to detect the bitterness in his voice.

"It must be tough, working for him."

"Yeah well, you get used to it. Least he started paying attention when I developed powers."He scoffed and leaned back onto his hands. "Course, that's the way it is for us. Parents are dead or pieces of shit."

She hoped her flinch wasn't noticeable. "You can say that again. Everyone has a sob story, right?"

"What about your parents? Shitty or dead?"

It takes her a long moment to answer, mentally deciding what she should say while simultaneously cursing living with such socially inept people. She is watching the horizon
"Dead. For a few years now."

"Ah. I'm sorry."

She shrugged, not letting herself move her gaze. Keeping herself as stoic as possible. "Thanks. It was all kind of sudden. I try not to linger on it." It felt so weird, talking about something she had fought so hard to keep at bay, even in her own head. Even now, she barely spoke two sentences and she could feel the floodgates opening in her mind. She squeezed the edge of the porch with her hands, her knuckles going white, trying to not lose grip on reality. This was not a rabbit hole she wanted to go down. The silence only pushes her farther in, she wracked her half focus brain for something, anything to switch the topic too.

"Do you want to talk about something else? You don't-"

"Yes. Please. " she got out, keeping back a sigh of relief, she didn't want to seem that pathetic.

"Alright… how about... What's your middle name?"

"I-What?"

"Your middle name. I don't think you've ever mentioned it before." She blinked a few times, confusion evident on her face. "It is not that hard of a question to answer 'Lynn."

She glared at him. "Let's start with the fact my first name is Jacelynn, not 'Lynn. And secondly, I know what you are asking me, I was just caught off guard. I mean, asking about someone's middle name is not in the top 20 icebreakers list, you know?"

" It's a reasonable question to ask 'Lynn." She glared at him again, but he just smirked at her, 'Besides, I think it's an excellent icebreaker because we are having a conversation about it right now, aren't we?"

He, unfortunately, had a point there. She huffed out a very unimpressed "I guess." Subconsciously her death grip on the ledge began to relax, the tension in her muscles evaporating. The thoughts lingered in the back of her head, she had a feeling she'd be seeing more of them when she was trying to get to sleep that night, but at that moment she was able to keep them at bay by focusing on the ridiculous conversation they were having.

"You know, you're getting real defensive over something pretty simple. "

"I am not I-"

"OH." He cut her off, a devilish grin spreading on his face. "I get it. Your middle name is something embarrassing, isn't it? Like Beatrice or something."

She put her hands up in a mock surrender and replies, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You got me. My horrifying secret is my full name is actually Jacelynn Beatrice Dionnis."

"Are you gonna tell me what it actually is or am I just going to go down the list of horrible potential names?"

"Well, I've got a reputation as a very mysterious person to uphold," she tries to keep a straight face but starts to smile, "so I'm afraid that telling you is off the table."

Pietro looks as if he was about to fire off a witty retort when a new voice entered the conversation. "You kids are up a little late, aren't you?"

The two jump up, Jacelynn's instincts immediately pushing her into a stance ready to fight or bolt.

"Mystique?" her voice was quiet, the one word filled with confusion.

The woman herself walked over from where she had been standing in the shadows. "That was sloppy Jacelynn. You should have noticed I was there before I made myself known." The teen's gaze fell to the ground, running a hand through her long hair.

"Right. Sorry."

"Why are you back? We thought you would be gone for awhile," questioned Pietro.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Because we are about to embark on the most important chapter of mutant history." In her dramatic fashion, she swept past the two of them and opened the door before pausing. "I suggest getting some sleep. Starting tomorrow, you'll be working harder than you've ever had to in your life." And with that she went inside, shutting the door behind her.

The teens shared a look.

"Do you have any idea what that was about?" Pietro asked her.

She shook her head. "No, but apparently we will be finding out soon. "

Sorry about the unexpected filler chapter but I felt it was needed before things start getting crazy. Hope you enjoyed anyhow. If you have any suggestions for anything leave a review and I'll try to fit it in! I reply to every review I get and it keeps me motivated. Hopefully I will have the next chapter out before the end of August!