Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-Men characters or the X-Men universe. I only own my original character Anastasia Nereus.
The Tale of Nixie
Chapter 2
"So...you've seen my powers and you've seen his," Anastasia nudged her head at Sean, who was releasing small sonar waves into the water, "what are yours'?"
The two men, Charles and Erik, as far as she could recall, both smirked at each other, and an unknown conversation passed between them, with no sound. Charles turned around and looked at Anastasia and Sean, who was now interested in the conversation again.
"Looks like I was certainly wrong about the extent of your power, miss." Anastasia's eyes widened when she heard Charles' voice loud and clear, but his lips hadn't moved an inch. She glanced at Sean, who was also shocked, and then turned back to the charming British professor.
"You're a telepath." Charles smiled and said, this time not in her head, "Yes."
"And what about you...Mr. Lensherr?" Erik turned his calculating eyes at the woman mutant and gave a small smirk.
"Call me Erik, " he said and Anastasia nodded and repeated her question.
"Then Erik...what are your powers?" Erik lifted his hand and her glasses flew off of her face and into his open palm. Her astonishing eyes sparkled with understanding.
"And you control metal. Impressive." Then, to Erik's surprise, a hand made of water grabbed the glasses gently from Erik's palm and carried them in midair onto Anastasia's face before disappearing.
"Impressive yourself. And I thought that you were just a teleporter that used water." Erik inquired subtly, and Anastasia smiled before closing her eyes. Suddenly, her entire form turned into water that stayed suspended in the shape of her body. The two men and the teen boy's jaws dropped as she grinned and evaporated, only to reform leaning on Sean's shoulder. Charles approached her quickly and started circling her with the excitement only an expert on this subject could have.
"Amazing! So you're completely made of water?" he inquired, and Anastasia slightly shook her head.
"Not exactly. It's more like my life force is connected to every free water molecule, although the closer I am to them, the more control my power has over it," Erik and Sean looked at her with unchanging expressions of dumbfounded-ness while Charles looked as if he only slightly understood.
Anastasia sighed, and explained some more, "Think about it this way. I have complete control over the water vapor in the air surrounding us and the water in the aquarium, but I have no control over the water around, let's say, India, where I am now." Charles' eyes narrowed in understanding.
"So then, using the same concept, if you were next to a lake, you would have complete control over the water in that lake. Now, do you have control over, let's say, the water in an organism's body?" Charles asked. Anastasia first nodded at the correct example, but then shook her head at Charles' next question.
"No. The water inside your body is under constant use, and it bonds to your life force. To control it, I would both have to locate the exact location of the water, and also block the life force that has bonded to the molecules. Much too much work..." Anastasia sighed, and Charles and Erik nodded in understanding. Charles then turned to both Anastasia and Sean and gestured towards the door.
"Shall we?" Anastasia smiled and walked towards the exit. Her smile only extended when Erik opened the door for her.
"Why thank you." She said with a flirtatious gaze at him that he matched with an uncontested stare and small smirk and nod.
Anastasia looked at the doors into the CIA secret base, and Sean, Charles, and Erik walked past her at the doors. She inhaled deeply. She could run away just like always...what was the point of fighting a bunch of powerful mutants for the greater good and a couple of attractive mutants? She could always take care of herself before, so why not now—
"You could turn back if you want to." Anastasia left her mind and looked at the young professor standing just in front of the doors, "I won't stop you...but how far will you run this time..." Anastasia's face went from a expression of surprised calm into barely suppressed fury.
"How dare you! What gave you the right to look through my memories!" Anastasia snarled, but to her disappointment, Charles only looked down in shame.
"I apologize for that. When you experienced shock at my powers of telepathy at the aquarium, your suppression of your memories was released and I unintentionally saw some of them." Charles apologized, and Anastasia couldn't find it in her to stay angry at the adorable telepath.
"The ones here won't do the same as they did, Anastasia." Charles said staring into her eyes that were suddenly filled with pain and fear, "We're all on the same side...besides...isn't it time that you had the right to have a family?" Charles looked at the woman one last time before walking through the doors.
Charles's words echoed through Anastasia's head, and finally, she left go of her inhibitions and walked through the doors.
She caught up with the rest of the group as soon as they were entering a large room with a big glass pane looking to one of the squares in the facility. There she saw a group of individuals, mutants as well, she supposed, each as different from the next.
The woman in the smart-looking white shirt and black jacket and skirt combo approached Anastasia and shook her hand.
"Moria MacTaggert. CIA agent."
"Anastasia Nereus. Professor of marine biology and ecology." Anastasia then went through a series of introductions with the inhabitants of the room. The young Latina woman was Angel, the black guy in his late 20's was named Darwin, the handsome young blond was called Alex, the adorable brunette scientist was called Hank, and the other blonde, who was a girl, introduced herself as Raven. Anastasia then plopped down on one of the couches and poured herself some of the tequila from the table into a glass. She silently waved when Erik, Charles, and Moria left the room and turned towards the mutants that looked extremely like high-schoolers. She sat down drinking down the tequila like it was water, to the amazement of the other mutants.
"We should think of code names! We're secret government agents now, so we should have secret code names," the young blonde girl exclaimed, "I want to be called Mystique."
"Damn!" Sean shouted good-naturedly, "I wanted to be called Mystique!" Everyone slightly laughed.
"Well, tough. I called it." Raven said before transforming into Sean within a second. Anastasia, along with everyone else, jumped back, awestruck.
"And I am way more mysterious than you," 'Sean' said and transformed back into the young blonde. Everyone clapped, and Raven turned to Darwin.
"What about you?"
"Well, Darwin's already a nickname...and you know, it sorta fits...adapt to survive and all. Check this out," Darwin said, stood up, and strutted towards the aquarium tank at the side of the wall. Anastasia peered at him with expectance, and was amazed when he stuck his head into the tank and breathed with gills.
"Thank you, thank you." Darwin did a slight bow as everyone clapped and then he gestured towards Sean, "What about you?"
Sean paused for a moment, "I'm going to be...Banshee!" Anastasia chuckled at the reference, while everyone else gazed at Sean with confusion.
"Why do you want to named after a wailing spirit?" Hank asked in confusion, and Anastasia contributed to making it even more mysterious by saying, "Definitely fits..."
"You might want to cover your ears..." Sean said before crouching down level with the table and staring at the three glasses of Coke on the table. Everyone looked quizzically at Anastasia, who nodded with a smirk as she covered her ears, and then copied her.
Sean inhaled deeply, and cracked his neck before releasing a sharp whistle that missed the glasses on the table and instead hit the glass pane, shattering it. Sean looked at the shattered pane with a gulp, while everyone else laughed and clapped. Angel then looked at Anastasia, and asked,
"Do you two know each other from before?" Anastasia and Sean both chuckled.
"Only briefly." Anastasia smirked.
"She gave quite a fright when she showed me hers..." Sean reminisced. Now everyone else was looking expectantly at Anastasia. She sighed, and with a grin, turned into her water form briefly before evaporating. Everyone jumped back, and looked around for her.
Hank was also looking for her when he felt a loud tap on his shoulder. He turned around, but nothing was there, and now everyone was staring in Hank's direction.
"Boo!" Hank jumped as Anastasia appeared in her water form with her chin on Hank's shoulder. Everyone laughed as Anastasia winked at a spooked Hank before returning to her seat.
"So, what should your code name be, Anastasia?" Raven asked, and Anastasia rubbed her chin in thought.
"What about Nixie?" Everyone turned to Hank who blushed before explaining, "It means "water sprite" or beautiful woman of the sea." Angel and Raven awwed while Anastasia smiled warmly at Hank before reappearing next to him and giving him a hug.
"Thanks Hank," Anastasia murmured before addressing him in a louder voice, "So what should your code name be?"
"How about Big Foot?" Alex jokingly chuckled, and then Anastasia glared at him before solidifying next to him and slapping his head. Alex groaned in pain and Anastasia gave him an amused smirk in return.
"Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet...and...yours are kind of small..." Raven rebuked at Alex and everyone jeered at the insult before Raven addressed Angel.
"So what's your name going to be?" Angel got up, and started taking off her jacket.
"Well, my stage name is Angel..." she said as she took her jacket off, making the guys catcall comically, "...kinda fits..." Wings unfolded themselves from Angel's back and she fluttered off the ground.
Everyone stared at her in shock while Raven exclaimed, "You can FLY?"
Angel smirked as she turned towards the statue directly outside and said, "Uh-huh, and um..." before spitting a fireball that landed on the statue's crown. Everyone gaped at her with shock as Angel sat down, and Darwin turned to Alex.
"Alex, so what is your gift? What can you do?" Alex un-expectantly became reserved and muttered, "Um...it's not exactly...um...I just can't do it. I can't do it here."
"Can you do it out there?" Darwin pressed on. Everyone started pressuring him to go show his power by chanting "Alex! Alex! Alex!" Alex's face turned into resignation as he stood up and walked outside.
"Get down, I tell you," he said solemnly, and everyone except Anastasia went behind the wall, who just sat in the closest seat to the outside.
"Get back." He said again both to the group of mutants peeking from behind the wall and Anastasia. The group went back behind the wall.
Anastasia just smirked and said, "Don't kid yourself kid. You couldn't hurt me if you tried." The group peeked out again.
"Get back!" Alex shouted this time, and sighed in exasperation when no one did anything.
"Fine whatever." Alex muttered and started turning around. As he did, rings of bright red energy circled him like hula-hoops before flying off of him randomly. The group of mutants behind the wall actually went down this time, but stared in shock as one of the rings cut through the metal statue and the other cut off Anastasia's arm. Everyone stared with shock at Anastasia's arm on the floor, while Alex ran towards her, babbling many apologies.
"Alex...Alex...ALEX SHUT UP!" Anastasia finally roared, and Alex stopped. She then sighed and kicked the arm on the floor. The arm quickly dissipated into a puddle of water and everyone else stared in shock as Anastasia's arm reformed into a watery form before turning human.
"I told you that you couldn't do anything to me even if you tried." Anastasia smirked at the gaping mouths of the other mutants.
"...These kids aren't ready for Shaw," Erik muttered before adding, "except Anastasia. At least she's in control of her powers."
"I think they're going to surprise you. They're an exceptional bunch of young people." Charles said in return as the trio walked outside.
"What the hell?" Moria shouted before all three of them approached the now wreaked room where all the mutants stayed. Angel was dancing in the air, while Raven did the same on the couch. Hank hung from the chandelier swinging while Sean and Alex took turns trying to beat down Darwin, who was sporting a strong-looking black armor.
"Harder!"
Smash!
"Ooo! The hippie hippie shake!"
"Harder!"
"WHAT are you doing?" Moria screamed, and the young mutants all stopped, "Who destroyed the statue?"
"It was Alex." Hank said, after which Alex turned at him in indignation.
"No Havoc!" Raven exclaimed, "We have to call him Havoc, that's his name now...and we were thinking that you," she pointed at Charles, "should be Professor X, and you, " she then pointed at Erik, "should be Magneto." The young mutants gazed at them with innocent confidence.
Erik scoffed lightly and sarcastically said, "Exceptional," before he walked off. Moria gave them one last look of indignation before walking off as well.
Charles gave them a disappointed stare as he said, "I expect more from you," before he followed after Moria and Erik. Shortly after joining them, he saw Anastasia walking towards them. Before she could say hello, Charles stalked towards her in indignation.
"You were the responsible one with them! How could you let them spiral out of control? They destroyed the entire room!" he shouted at Anastasia, who only raised one of her dark eyebrows at him.
"Firstly, I'm one of their comrades now, not their mother," Anastasia spat the last word with disdain before continuing, "and secondly, they're a bunch of young kids with raging hormones and mutant powers. What were you expecting them to do, sit down quietly and have a chess game? And thirdly, where the HELL is the bathroom in this place?" Anastasia then addressed Moria and continued, "Honestly I had to go piss in the goddamn bush!" Charles looked shocked, looking as if no one had ever duped over him like that, while Moria looked as if she had calmed down. Erik just became very amused.
Anastasia inhaled once more to calm down, and then addressed the three people, "So, where are you guys going?"
Erik briefly said, "Russia." Both of Anastasia's eyebrows went up briefly before walking to next to Erik. She looked expectantly at Moria and said, "Which way?" Before Moria could respond, Charles turned sharply towards Anastasia.
"No, you are not coming." Anastasia crossed her arms and gave him a look that screamed, "How're you going to stop me?"
"She will be useful Charles," Charles glared at Erik for a couple seconds before sighing and gesturing towards Anastasia.
"Fine." Anastasia grinned and practically skipped the rest of the way to the high-speed jet to Russia.
Got the ideas, but I definitely need some feedback from you guys! Please review!
-iHeartToast2011