Author's Notes: 1) I'm sooooooooo unbelievably sorry everyone who has been waiting for this chapter. I got a severe case of Writer's Block, and it just wore off the other day so I finished this chapter right away and I've begun on Chapter 5. So hopefully that'll be up soon.

2) This chapter is dedicated to PsycheX's friend who passed away recently. You're in my prayers and I hope you feel better. I'm so sorry for your loss, but like you said: She's in heaven.

3) Also in this story, other comics (i.e. Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk) don't exist in this story, except as comic book characters.

A New Age. A New Team

Chapter 4: Attitudes Collide to Form a Friendship

A young girl that looked about sixteen, with black hair that was in dreadlocks with green eyes, walked into the large library that had books stacked to the ceiling, carrying a thick history book in her arms as she made her way back towards her usually table. As she came closer to her table, she saw a young man with black hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, and ice blue eyes sitting in her seat, reading. She walked closer to the table and dropped her book on top of the table with a bang. She placed her hands on the table, on either side of the book, and leaned forward.

"You're in my seat." She said as if demanding him to move.

The young man, who looked about eighteen years old, looked at the girl and then looked back down at his books.

No one ignores Tonya Sorenson. The girl, Tonya, thought. She softly chewed on her lip ring in frustration. "Excuse me. Did you hear what I said?" She said being annoyance in her voice.

"Yes." The young man said in a thick southern accent.

"So you know you're in my seat?" She said with attitude.

"I heard you loud and clear." He turned the page of his book and continued with his reading.

"Then you know I want you to move."

"We don't always get what we want." The man's ice blue eyes shifted back and forth, as he read the words in his book.

"I do." She sat up straight and crossed her arms.

"Your point?" The young man asked.

"Move." She said bluntly.

"Why should I?" The young man had yet to look up from his book.

"Do you know who seat's you're sitting in?" Tonya was slightly amused by the breath of fresh air this new young man was bringing to her dull life at the institute, but at the same time she was annoyed by him being so difficult.

"I'm guessing yours."

Tonya opened her mouth to say that the seat was hers but stopped when she realized his answer was correct. "Well… Yeah. But do you know who I am?"

The young man sighed and finally looked up at Tonya with slight boredom on his face. "I have a feeling that if I don't ask you, you'll tell me."

"Well yeah." She said as if that was obvious. "I'm Tonya Sorenson." Tonya said proudly.

"Well nice to meet you Tonya Sorenson. I'm Gabriel Octavian," he held his hand out to her as a proper introduction. "But you can just call me Gabe."

Tonya looked down at Gabe's hand as if it was carrying some disease and then she looked back up at him. "Well Gabriel Octavian, you're in my seat and you need to move."

Gabe brought his hand back to him and raised an eyebrow. That was rude. "I go by Gabe."

"Well I'll call you Gabe if you move." She smirked.

Gabe shrugged his shoulders and moved over to the seat next to Tonya's seat. "There." He slid his book across the table to him and began to read again.

Tonya grabbed her history book and moved around the table to sit in her seat. She sat down and glanced over at Gabe out of the corners of her eyes. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Gabe said in his thick southern accent.

"Well it's nice to have a breath of fresh air… Annoying fresh air, but still fresh." She chuckled. "Everyone around here is the same. They either are dark and mysterious or happy-go-lucky," Tonya chuckled while she shook her head in amusement by her comment. "So it's nice that you're here to stand out from everyone."

"Yeah. I guess." Gabe shrugged with a smile. "Guess that's what I'm here for." He smirked.

"So what's with the accent?"

"What do you mean?" He glanced at Tonya from his book.

"What do you think?" There was no response. "I was pretty much asking you where you're from." She said as if it was obvious what she was asking him.

"You should have said that from the beginning." He smirked. "Rome, Georgia." Tonya raised her left eyebrow, which was pierced, as if deciding if that was a real place or not. "It's a small town."

Tonya chuckled. "Ah." Then there was a long silence between the two of them. Well how do you respond to that? Tonya thought as she opened her history book and tried to concentrate on it but failed. She pulled her Fantastic Four comic book from the back of the book and placed it inside of the history book. She began to read her comic though it looked like she was reading the history book.

She flipped the page of her comic with a small laugh at a strip of Johnny Storm making a wise comment to his sister Susan. Gabe glanced over at her as he finished his book and set it down. He noticed that Tonya wasn't reading her history book but reading a comic book. He stared at the pictures in the comic book that Tonya was reading and automatically recognized it. "So you like the Fantastic Four?" He smirked.

Tonya stopped reading and slightly looked shocked that he had actually noticed that she wasn't reading her history book. "Um…" Damn. Busted. "Yeah." She sighed in defeat. "Childhood favorites." She softly smiled at the comics. "I moved around a lot when I was younger and these comics are something that never changed." She shrugged as she shook her head. "It's kind of silly."

Gabe shook his head, "No. It's perfectly understandable."

Tonya closed the history book on the comic and pushed them away from her. She folded her arms on top of the tabletop and looked at Gabe, "So what's your codename?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"Octavian. Nothing special." He shrugged. "What's yours?"

"Counterstrike." Tonya said proudly and then paused. "But what are your powers if your name is your last name?" She raised her left eyebrow up at Gabe. "I mean, that's not all that special." She looked over at him with slight confusion on her face. "Most people choose names that reflect their powers or…"

"Isn't that kind of private?" Gabe interrupted her.

"Here? Nothing's private." She shrugged. "Besides Cerebro has a database of practically all living and dead mutants ever alive." She smirked. "So if you don't tell me I can just go look it up."

Gabe placed his hand over his heart. "I didn't know you cared so much." He chuckled. "But I can manipulate shadows." He smirked mischievously and then changed the subject away from him. "So if your codename is Counterstrike and, like you said, most people choose a codename that reflects their powers then your powers are…" He pondered. "Something to do with hitting your opponent back?"

"Close." Tonya laughed, "It's a little complicated."

"Can you show me?" Gabe suggested.

"Yeah." Tonya perked up. "Hit me." She smiled.

"Excuse me?" Gabe asked in shock.

"Did I stutter?" Tonya teased. "I said hit me."

"My mom taught me never to hit girls."

"I'm giving you permission… Just do it." Tonya laughed, but Gabe shook his head no. "If you don't hit me I'll hit you." Gabe arched an eyebrow at Tonya, then Tonya shrugged. "Fine." She punched his arm.

"Hey." Gabe gasped in shock that she actually hit him.

"If you don't hit me I'll keep hitting you."

Gabe sighed in defeat. Forgive me mom. He hit Tonya's upper arm lightly, not wanting to hurt her since he didn't even want to hit her in the first place.

The hit didn't even hurt Tonya, but she felt the little energy Gabe put into his hit soak into her body. She felt her body double the energy and she hit Gabe's upper arm. Gabe was slightly knocked back by the punch. He rubbed his arm where she hit him. "I thought you said that if I hit you, you would stop hitting me." That's strange. I wouldn't think someone who looks like Tonya could hit so well.

"I told you my powers complicated." She laughed. "I guess a good way to describe it is when I get hit I can take the energy used to create the hit, double it and then hit someone back with the doubled energy."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say."

"But as you can see, someone has to hit me first." She shrugged as if it didn't bother her. Alright, so he's not as bad as I thought before… He's actually pretty cool. He's sarcastic, fires back at me…

"That got to suck." Gabe laughed.

He's annoying, but not in that bad kind of way. "Thanks captain obvious." She said sarcastically, "I know that." Tonya rolled her eyes. I could see myself become friends with this Gabe Octavian fellow.

"No problem." He smirked and stood up.

Tonya rolled her eyes. Honestly, this guy just thinks he better then everyone! She smirked to herself. Just like me at times… I like him! Someone to sit around with me and make fun of all the people here… Or plot against Hecate, one or the other. Tonya smirked to herself at the thought, as Gabe sat back down.

"What are you smirking about?" Gabe asked as he scooted closer to the table.

Hey, maybe both! Make fun of people and plot against Hecate. "It's nothing." She chuckled and continued with her thoughts. If I'm lucky I can get to do both.

"Well then if it's nothing you can tell me." He smirked.

"I just thought of an inside joke that I had with my friend, Charlotte, who I knew when I lived in England." I did live in Ireland for three years. That's got to count for something, right?

"Maybe someday you can tell me about that joke." He noted that there were some faint hints of scars on her arms but Tonya's black sleeves covered them for the most part. And maybe someday you can tell me about those scars too.

Tonya tugged her sleeves over her arms, though she hadn't noticed that Gabe had noticed them. "Maybe." She smirked.