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We live in cities you'll never see on-screen
Not very pretty but we sure know how to run free
Living' in ruins of the palace within my dreams
And you know we're on each other's team
- Team, Lorde, Pure Heroine
Chapter Two
Lyndsey sat on the sofa, glass of cola in hand. Whatever nervousness she had previously had vanished, replaced with a sense of warmth and welcoming. The other young mutants seemed as nervous as she had been, but they had quickly bonded. Lyndsey was sat next to Raven, Charles' sister, on the edge of the sofa. Hank, a tall - slightly nervous- looking mutant, dressed in a jumper, shirt, and thick framed glasses sat on the other side of Raven.
On the sofa opposite of the three, sat Darwin and Angel. Darwin was easily the oldest (and tallest) of all the mutants; lanky with dark skin and wide eyes. Angel, a small, coffee coloured skinned mutant with shiny black hair sat next to Darwin. She wore a black halter neck dress, with a leather jacket and knee-high boots that Lyndsey could never pull off. It worked for Angel though.
Next to the sofa were two chairs. On the first, sat Sean. He was pale and freckled, with a mop of red hair. On the second, sat Alex, a blonde, handsome looking man who had an aura of broodiness around him.
It was Raven who Lyndsey had met first. The blond girl had quickly welcomed Lyndsey into the group, offering her a drink and complimenting her appearance. Lyndsey hadn't thought much of her appearance, tending to spend what little money she had on essentials. Because of this, a lot of her clothes were second-hand and threadbare. Her outfit today consisted of a blue graphic shirt, jeans with a large buckle belt, a grey jacket, worn out sneakers and her old stripy scarf her mother had knitted her as a child. Her father's army dog tags hung round her neck, with the name 'Pryde' imprinted on it. Every so often, Lyndsey's hand would unconsciously drift to them, reassuring her that they were there. Never the less, Raven still liked it, calling it 'cute'.
They were all sat in recreational room of the government facility, with a large glass windows on either side of the room, one which overlooked a courtyard outside. There was a small bar area on the far side of the room, where the mini-fridge Raven had gotten the bottle of cola from. A pinball machine was pushed against the far wall, near to it was a jukebox and a dining table stood near to the window. Lyndsey vaguely remembered pinball, having played it years ago, before the incident. The only way in or out of the room was through a set of heavy steel doors. Lyndsey smirked slightly at this. She highly doubted they were there to protect the mutants. If anything, they were there to stop the mutants. She was very much aware of the prejudice against mutants, having experienced it first-hand. As her father used to say, people were afraid of the unknown.
"We should think of codenames," Raven said out of the blue. "We're government agents now, we should have secret codenames."
"Ok, then. What do you want to be called, Raven?" Lyndsey asked, smile on her face. It sound quite cool, having codenames. Like they were part of a secret club.
"I want to be called Mystique," She replied, smiling widely.
"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique!" Sean said sarcastically, causing everyone to laugh.
"Well tough, I called it," Raven smiled. Blue scales covered her and a perfect copy of Sean sat in front of them, down to the last red hair. Everyone gasped in surprise and marvelled at her mutation. "And I am way more mysterious than you." The only difference between the real Sean and Raven-Sean was the voice. After a round of applause, she transformed back with a wave of blue scales and smiled proudly.
"Darwin, what about you?" Raven asked, looking over at him.
"Well, Darwin's already a nickname, you know, so it fits," He said, getting up and walking over to where a fish tank sat. "I adapt to survive, check this out."
He leant over, putting his whole head in the water, scaring the fish in the process. Gills grew on the side of his neck, and he turned to face them. All the mutants laughed and clapped at the performance, until Darwin pulled his head out and sat back down in his seat next to Angel.
"Thank you," He said, turning to face Sean. "What about you?"
"I'm going to be…Banshee," Sean said confidently.
"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank asked looking confused. Sean grinned at this.
"You may want to cover your ears," He said.
Lyndsey, having had a quick look into the future, immediately clamped her hands over her ears, while the others took slightly longer. She smiled knowingly at their confused looks. Sean crouched at the edge of the coffee table, screwing his face up in concentration. After a minute, he let out an ear piercing screech which shattered the glass window opposite. The others laughed nervously, and looked at Sean in astonishment, their hands now off their ears.
"Your turn," He said to Angel. She got up and began to pull off her jacket.
"My, um, stage name is Angel," She said, causing Sean to whistle. She turned round, showing off her tattoos that covered her shoulders. "Kind of fits," She said as they peeled off of her, becoming insect like wings.
"You can fly?" Raven gasped, astonished.
"That's so cool!" Lyndsey exclaimed.
"Yep!" Angel agreed. "And-" She opened her mouth and a ball of acidic fire flew towards the statue in the courtyard. The mutants laughed and applauded at this, as Angel sat back down.
"What's your name?" She asked Hank as she pulled her jacket back on. Hank looked uncomfortable and avoided eye contact with everyone.
"How about 'Big Foot'?" Alex smirked as he sipped his cola. Angel, Sean and Darwin giggled slightly, but Raven and Lyndsey did not. Lyndsey shot Alex and annoyed glare while Raven made her irritation more vocal.
"Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," She shot back with raised eyebrows and an annoyed expression. "And your feet are pretty small…"
Lyndsey smirked while Sean laughed. Alex, on the other hand, glowered at Raven and huffed back in his chair.
"Okay then," Darwin said, trying to calm things down before a fight started. "Alex, what is your gift?"
"It's not…I…um…I just can't do it. I can't do it in here…" Alex said, looking down.
"Can you do it out there?"
"Why don't you just do it out there?" Raven asked.
"Come on, you can do it!" Sean encouraged.
"Alex," Angel began to chant. Raven, Darwin and Sean quickly joined in. "Alex, Alex, Alex!"
Lyndsey stayed quiet, however. Alex, very much like Hank, was clearly not confident with his mutation. She concluded that was why he had made fun of Hank, picking on someone who was even less confident than himself.
Reluctantly, Alex got to his feet, placing his drink on the table and walking towards the broken window and into the courtyard. He stepped over the glass, and everyone jumped to their feet to follow.
"Get down when I tell you," Alex said, with a dark expression. Lyndsey, Angel, Raven, Sean and Darwin, who were all peering out of the window, leant back, but looked back again within seconds.
"Get back," Alex said, with more force in his tone this time. However, none of the mutants did. "Whatever…"
He swung his body and three red discs appeared around him, positioned at different angles. The first one swung towards the tree, the second over the roof. The last one, however, sliced through the statue of the man, clearly through his middle, leaving smoke in its wake. Lyndsey, who was standing in the front because of her height, ducked back in to avoid the blasts. When the third blast hit the statue, all the mutants inside, Lyndsey included, applauded loudly, Raven and Angel jumping up and down in excitement.
Flaming hula hoops of death, Lyndsey thought. Pretty cool. In her thoughts, she was reminded of John, and the time he'd… No, I can't think about that. I have to be strong, for Aiden's sake.
Deep in thought, she didn't notice Alex come up to her and place his hand on her shoulder.
"Everything alright?" He asked, dark expression replaced with a more confident one.
"Yes, yes, everything's fine," She smiled back, trying to hide her sad thought.
"So, Lyndsey, what can you do?" Darwin asked as they sat back down. Lyndsey grinned wickedly.
"Well, to show you my mutation, I need a volunteer," She said.
"What, are you a magician?" Sean joked. "You going to saw one of us in half?"
"Congratulations, Sean, you just volunteered yourself," Lyndsey grinned, standing up and walking over the where he was sat. There was a confused, and slightly scared look on his face.
"What?! But- That's not far!" He exclaimed.
"Don't worry," Lyndsey said. "It won't hurt….much," She added.
Still grinning, she held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. Sean looked round the room at the other mutants, pleading for one of them to take his place.
"Come on, Sean, man up!" Alex exclaimed, causing Lyndsey to turn and face him.
"Keep that in mind. You're next," She said before turning back to Sean. "He's right though. Hurry up!"
Warily, Sean pressed his index finger on Lyndsey's palm. As always, she gasped and her eyes snapped shut. The other mutants watched with concerned looks as Lyndsey seemed to mutter something under her breath. After a few seconds, her eyes snapped back open.
"'You like fish, I like fish, let's grab a bite'? That's the best you could come up with? My fourteen year old brother can think of better chat up lines than that!" Lyndsey exclaimed.
Sean sat there, mouth wide in disbelief.
"Shut your mouth, you'll catch flies," Lyndsey said, sitting back down.
"I'm sorry, what's your mutation?" Darwin asked, as he and the other mutants looked between the two.
"She saw my past!" Sean exclaimed, pointing at Lyndsey, who simply smiled.
"Yep," She said.
"So you can see people's pasts?" Hank asked.
"Past, present, future," Lyndsey smiled. "I can see the general future in my head but for people's specific futures, or pasts, I have to touch them. But it can change, depending on their decisions."
"Wow," Raven said softly. All the mutants looked at Lyndsey in awe, causing the girl to blush slightly.
"Can you read my future?" Angel asked eagerly and wide-eyed.
"Sorry, for reading the future, I only get visions every so often. They often happen at random," Lyndsey explained. Angel looked a bit disheartened but quickly recovered with a smile.
"It's fine," She replied.
"Where are you from?" Darwin asked. "We all said where we came from before you got here."
"I'm from Salem, Massachusetts, born and bred," Lyndsey said proudly. Raven frowned slightly.
"But I thought Charles and Erik found you in Michigan?"
Lyndsey shrugged.
"I fancied a change of scenery."
"Witch," Alex said quietly. They all turned to look at him. "You should be called Witch, considering where you're from."
Lyndsey smiled slightly and nodded, with a distant look in her eye.
"Yeah, Witch. I like it."
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