A/N- I do not own any of the characters that I will be using in this story. I have created some of my own characters but most are not of any great importance in the long run. This chapter is a bit longer then the last. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Two - England, Romance and Violence

Guardian Elisabet,
You have been summoned to Leeds, England UK, to terminate an anti-human establishment. You will find the group at a university. In the group there are 5 mutants. Their basic information as is follows:
+Alexander Swallow, 19 years old, Telekinesis.
+Mary-Ann Foster, 20 years old, Element: Air.
+Hayleigh Grace King, 19 years old, Element: Fire.
+Karl Joseph Johnson, 18 years old, Superhuman Strength.
+Marko Redden, 23 years old, Healing.
When you reach the UK there will be an informant, telling you which university you will need to go to and all other relevant information. You must leave immediately. We shall inform your headmistress that you must leave for family reasons.
- Guardians of Artemis.

A trip to England wasn't something I really wanted to do right then. I had just established myself at the academy. I had my two friends, education and stability. I didn't know what exactly the Guardians would tell Ororo. Slipping out quietly was my safest bet at that time.

I packed my simple clothing; nothing important was coming with me. In reality I shouldn't have had anything of importance because of the line of work I was in. But I wanted some form of real life. As quietly as I could, I walked down the corridor from my room to the stairs then down to the front door. I slipped out into the sunny winter evening. Half-way down the gravel path to the front gates I heard someone walking up behind me.

"Elizabeth, where are you going?"
"Hey Piotr, I'm going away for a few days."
"Where to?"
"England, family stuff."
"Oh…"

I don't know how long we stood there for but I knew that I was wasting much needed time. I walked up to him and hugged him for a moment that seemed to last longer than it needed to be. I pulled back and looked straight into his eyes.

"I'll be back soon, I promise."
"Skype me?"
"Sure." I smiled.

I took his hand and squeezed it slightly. With that I turned and left. I walked three miles down the road, wondering what would happen to Piotr and me when I'd get back. I was distracted from my thoughts when a small black Honda pulled out of a cluster of trees ahead of me. I recognised it to be one of the Guardian's cars. I climbed into the back seat and a man named Johan drove me to the private airport. During the journey I looked through the detailed profiles of each mutant, telling me what lessons they had, where the lessons were, who their friends were and so on. By the time I reached the airport I'd memorised most of the information.

The flight on the private jet to England only took 7 hours. It landed at Leeds-Bradford Airport. Another black Honda was waiting for me and it took me to a house in a place called Horsforth. Inside a mini headquarters was set up accompanied by 3 other Guardians and the informant who brought me. He began to speak.

"The Guardians of Artemis have summoned you here to give you the mission to disband an anti-human establishment. The group consists of 5 level-two mutants who are planning the execution of 50 humans at the university which is situated 20 minutes away. If you need to, kill the mutants, but try every other way of disbanding them first. Each of you has your own specific assignment. Guardian Nikolai, you are to assume the role of a student and become a part of the target group. You must find out all you can about their operation, plans so that we can form a strategy. Guardian Rebecca, you shall remain at these headquarters and hack into the universities CCTV system so we can map the group's movements. Guardian Mashuu, you will also remain here and develop a strategy and plan that will take down the group with ease and speed. And finally, Guardian Elisabet, you will assume the role of a tutor's assistant. You will help out the students with their essays and so forth whilst getting to know their personalities, traits, beliefs and commitment. This will help you find out who is dedicated to the group and who is part of it through the use of peer pressure. Everything you will need is in this house. It is recommended that you complete the mission in no longer than 14 days. That will be all."

The informant left us to do our duty. I had met Rebecca and Mashuu only once before. I gave them a slight nod of recognition. I walked up to Nikolai. We both joined the Guardians at the same time but in different countries. He joined in Russia. We were both 16 at the time. We had been on many missions together since. I think the Guardians of Artemis knew we worked well together.

"Hey," I said and I gave him one of my best smiles. Nikolai was a 6ft tall Russian with dusty blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was rather handsome if I do say so myself.
"Betsy, how's it going?"
"Pretty good. I got into an academy in the states. I'm finally going to finish off my education. What about you?"
"Non-stop missions for me. I swear they're training me for something. Or maybe it's because I have nothing going on in my life right now."
"At least it keeps you busy."

XxX

On the first day we all remained at the house. We examined all the equipment, documents and props. There was so much to learn for my role in such a little time. I took one of the attic bedrooms and unpacked my things. I spread all the information about the course I was assisting in on my bed, opened up my Mac and got to work. The course I was prepping for was called Film Studies. All I had to do was help the students with their final assignment essays for the end of the semester.

I looked up out of the attic window and saw that it was snowing. I was sure that England would have a white Christmas. The sound of a call tone averted my attention. My Mac had the Skype screen highlighted and it showed that a call was coming through from Piotr Rasputin. I answered eager to take a break from my work.

"You have no idea how nice it is to see you right now Rasputin."
"Nice to see you to Braddock. What time is it over there?"
"Its 10pm, making it 5pm over there right?"
"Yeah. How's your family?"

For a second I almost forgot what I'd told him. Before I could reply Nikolai entered the room, just wearing sweatpants.

"Betsy, want to come watch a movie? Bek and Mashuu are still stuck deep in their work."
"Sure Niko. I'll finish up here then I'll pop over."

With that he left the room and I turned back to Piotr who was sporting a confused expression. That was when it hit me what he thought he might have seen.

"Piotr… that was my friend Nikolai. His family are friends of mine. They're here to help. He's like a brother to me."
"Ah, ok. If you want to go watch that movie with him now don't let me keep you."
"No, no, I want to talk to you. I miss you… and John of course. How is he? I suppose he isn't pissed off with me for leaving."
"He's fine. I explained to him where you have gone. He said he'll kick your ass when you get home. And I miss you too."
"Oh John. Haha, he's a poor soul. Hang on… you miss me?"
"Yes, I do. More than I think I should."

I could feel myself beginning to blush. Defiantly not good.

"I think I'm gonna go now. I'm getting pretty tired. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Ok Elizabeth. I hope you come back soon."
"Me too."

And with that I closed the Mac. I took a deep breath as I fell back onto my pillows. I knew I was falling in love, something that I was forbidden to do. I had only been a Guardian for 6 years and had not fully learnt how to block out my feelings and emotions. "What you're feeling is wrong Betsy," I said to myself. And following those words I got up and crossed the corridor to Niko's room. He was waiting on his bed, the movie all ready to play. From the look on his face I could tell he heard mine and Piotr's conversation.

"Come here Betsy," he said, pulling me into a tight Russian hug.
"Please don't tell the other Guardians."
"Why would I? I'm your friend. But you must let me know, is it serious between you two?"
"No, Piotr and I are just friends. We're attracted to each other but that's as far as I'm going to let it go."
"Ok. We're part of a rough gig kiddo. I know that when the time comes you'll make the right choices. Just promise me that you'll stay safe."
"I promise."

XxX

Over the next few days we all took our positions and fulfilled our roles. Niko got to know the target group. I gave them guidance on their essays whilst getting to know them. Bek found out all their haunts. Mashuu formulated a basic plan of attack and adapted it into different strategies considering all the potential factors. In some sort of strange way we were like a family. We all had each other's backs, we all contributed to the mission and we all hung out together in our spare time.

On out fifth day everything changed. I walk talking to the tutor that I was assisting when I heard shouts from the floor above us. I instantly rushed off. I found Karl (the leader of the group), Marko and Niko arguing. Before I could do anything Karl punched both Marko and Niko so hard that they crashed through a wall into a classroom where screaming from the students inside filled the corridor. Karl spotted me then began to run away. I gave chase.

He lead me into the cafeteria (which was packed full of students because it was the lunch hour). Everyone stopped eating at the sight of us. Mary-Anne, Hayleigh and Alexander got up from their tables and stood behind Karl who had turned to face me. A moment of fear flooded my body as I thought it was one level-three mutant (me) against 4 level-two mutants (them). But then to my relief Niko, Marko, Bek and Mashuu had my back.

"Karl, you don't want to fight here."
"Oh but Betsy… I really do want to fight here."
"Did you really think you'd get away with attacking humans? You really are stupid. Now you can come with us quietly, fight us then we take you by force OR we kill you."
"I'll take my chances."

Karl came charging at me, his fist raised for action. I quickly manoeuvred out of the way, not wanting my face to be pummelled. I used my telekinesis to smash a table into him, which he wasn't prepared for. As I was landing punches and ducking out of the way of attacks I noticed that Bek was fighting with Mary-Anne, Mashuu with Alexander and Niko with Hayleigh. Marko was standing on the side-lines, healing the innocent humans who happened to get in the way. The fight overall lasted the best part of forty minutes. We were all growing tired but the anti-human mutants were worse (since they weren't trained in combat).

In the end my fellow Guardians had their mutants in handcuffs. I had Karl on his knees in a headlock, his abilities not working well for him much. He had put up a good fight but it wasn't good enough.

"Just give up."
"Never! Humans need to die. They're worthless!"
"I won't let you hurt anyone."
"Haha you can't stop me!"

He almost threw me off him. During the process of me regaining a hold on him he knocked down a human girl rather hard. She didn't get back up again. Blood was seeping out from under her brunette locks. That one incident caused me to make the choice. With my tight grip around Karl's neck, I snapped it. I watched his body slump to the floor, screams filling the room. I fell onto the closest chair; all my energy gone. I had only killed 3 other people in my 6 years of service. They had all threatened the lives of others. I tell myself most days that if I hadn't killed them then they'd have killed hundreds.

XxX

An armoured van collected the retrained mutants and Karl's body. Higher-ranking Guardians came to us for a de-briefing and to settle the mess that was caused at the university. Marko Redden had shown signs to me that he didn't want to be part of the target group, that he'd been bullied into it because he was a mutant. He transferred universities so that he could study doctoring and medicine. He wanted to use his mutation for a good cause.

I packed my belongings up in the house and hugged Bek and Mashuu good-bye. Nikolai came with me to the airport as he had another mission in New York. On the plane back to the USA we talked about normal life things. We didn't talk about what happened at the university. When we landed in NY we hugged good-bye and he left in the usual black Honda. I waited for my ride but it never came. A Guardian who had flown with us gave me a message that someone from my academy was here to pick me up and that I could find them in the public parking lot.

I picked up my bags and set off walking through the airport building. Out in the parking lot was a dark green sports car. I was once told that it belonged to Scott Summers, a mutant who died last year. I uneasily climbed into the car and happily found Piotr in the driving seat.

"How did you know where I'd be?"
"Ororo got a message asking if you could be picked up. I offered my services."
"Thank-you."

It was an hour's drive back to the academy but it only felt like 20 minutes. Piotr and I talked about what I had missed in the past week and that Kitty was having a party to which I was invited. That was a shock since I thought she didn't like me.

Piotr parked the car in the academy's garage. He carried my things up to my room. He really was a true gentleman. He put my stuff down onto my bed, gave me a quick hug then left. So much had happened in the past week that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to a party. That thought disappeared from my mind when I looked up to see Kitty and Rogue standing in my doorway.

"Hello?"
"Hey, Betsy, I was just wondering if you're coming to my party tonight. I really hope you can come."
"Kitty, please don't take this the wrong way but why have you invited me? I thought that you thought that I was evil."
"John explained to us how you are, what you believe in and generally how cool you are."
"John told you?"
"Yeah, he and Bobby are talking again."
"That's good."
"It is. I think Bobby was missing him, in a manly way of course."
"Aww, how romantic," I joked, not truly believing that what I was saying was just a joke.
"Anyway," said Rogue, "It is stupidly clear that Piotr likes you in more than just a friendship sort of way. Tonight will help you show him how sassy you can be."
"Rogue... did you just say sassy?" I laughed. I then realised what she said.
"No... Piotr and I... we're just friends, really."
"Don't be stupid," said Rogue, "It's not like some higher power is going to keep you two apart."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. They laughed too but not for the same reasons.

"Now Betsy, what are you going to wear?"
"No idea. I don't have much."

Rogue walked over to my wardrobe, opened the doors and stood in awe.

"Don'.Much? Are you kidding me? How many clothes and shoes do you have?"
"I've travelled a lot. They're all from different countries."
"Well I think you should wear this."

Rogue was holding up a corseted maroon dress that was floor-length at the back and above-knee-length at the front. It was decorated with black lace roses. I bought it when I was on a mission in Paris when I was 19.

"Are you sure?"
"Totally Bets!"
"With these shoes," said Kitty enthusiastically. She was holding a pair of Iron Fist shoes, black with red roses. I smiled at the girls, took the items off them and went to take a shower. I spent a ridiculously long time in the shower, making sure that I washed away all the bad from my life. I dried myself off and got dressed. I fixed my long black hair in loose curls and applied a think amount of black eyeliner. I never really needed much make-up. When I walked back to my room I found John laid out on my bed, wearing black jeans, a red shirt and all black Converse.

"Smart but casual suits you John."
"It's the way I role Bets."
"I love how we always end up matching."
"Best-friend vibes. Good isn't it? We best set off. We're 20 minutes late."
"Where is said-party?"
"Outside by the pool. Don't worry, they got the heaters on."

John took my hand and we took a slow walk down to the pool. The party was in full swing when we got there. It was clear that Kitty and Rogue had partaken in pre-drinking. Bobby was talking to Logan to Logan, both looking quite sober.

"Would you do me the honour of dancing with me Miss Braddock?"
"I would love to Mr Allerdyce. "

We danced for 3 songs then went to get drinks. John had a rather manly beer as did I. Kitty, Rogue and Bobby came over to talk.

"Piotr's here you know," Rogue giggled.
"Ah, boy talk, come on Bobby, let's leave the girls to it." John and Bobby left in a hurry. Typical boys. I knew the girls were going to throw me into the situation that the Guardians of Artemis would kill me for. I didn't know if it was the beer in me but I decided to entertain the girl's plans.

"Your gorgeous hunk is standing over by the balcony. He's all alone and I'm sure he's waiting for you."
"How many times? We're just friends. But I'll go talk to him."
"YAY!" they both shouted.

I left the pool side and headed towards the balcony. Just like the girls said, Piotr was all alone. He seemed to be looking at the view, even though it was in shadows and darkness. A cold breeze seemed to appear out of no-where.

"Hey there stranger. What are you doing here all alone?"
"Just need to spend some time on my own."
"Oh, sorry, I'll come back later."
"Betsy no, wait. I can be alone with you. You look amazing by the way."
I couldn't help but blush, "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself."

He took off his blazer and put it over my shoulders. It's like he could tell I was freezing cold. He pulled me into an embrace to which I rested my head on his chest.

"I really did miss you Piotr."
"I missed you too. Kind of felt like a part of me was missing you know. Want to talk about your trip?"
"Nah, it's all in the past now. I want to look towards my future. Education seems like a simple way of life compared to what I'm used to."
"I'm not so sure. Some pretty weird things have happened here over the past few years. So I suggested we make the most of the calm we have now."
"Agreed."

Piotr pulled back a little and tilted my face up to look into his eyes. The pull, magnetism, whatever you want to call it was back and it was stronger than ever. I faltered. I reached up towards him and he showed no signs of pulling away. The tension that had been building up over the past several months burst with an incredible passion. It would be stupid to say that we hadn't been longing for this moment.

The passion didn't burn out, it grew. It became almost blinding. Somehow we made it to his room. He picked me up in his strong arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He took me over to his bed, laid me down and ran his hands up over my thighs. His kisses ran over my neck, over my collar bones, then to my chest. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself. It was too late for that. As he undressed me and I him, one thought ran through my mind clear as day, 'Elizabeth Braddock... What are you getting yourself into?'