Meet the gang
Aiysha searches. She can see Charles, walking up the drive, a girl beside him. This hasn't happened yet, but she knows it will.
She sighs with relief, leaning back in her chair. He's going to be okay. Charles is fine.
Raven notices her relief and rushes over, hope kindling in her eyes.
They've been worried sick, Charles dissapering in the night like that. The stupid message he left in Raven's mind didn't help, just made them more worried.
Raven remembers that he flinches every time anyone mentions Seattle. That's where the coordinates for the final recruit were. Even she doesn't know everything about Charles' past. Although she may not be good at keeping secrets, he certainly is.
Aiysha confirms Charles' safety. Erik stops flinging cutlery at the wall and sinks into an armchair. Moira looks relieved just by Erik stopping flexing his powers. She alone can see the danger Erik could pose to them.
Alex goes over to Aiysha and fiddles with her white blond hair, making her smile.
Sean mimes throwing up. They laugh, and it feels like such a long time. Aiysha, when she was searching, first saw danger for Charles. A beach. A gun.
She blocks out the memories. She hasn't told anyone. Not even Alex.
Her mutation hurts sometimes, and it's best she keeps the hurt inside. Because she can heal the hurt.
Charles is in trouble. Not dangerously so, but he's in trouble with Raven. How dare he leave her like that! With only a stupid message implanted in her mind telling her he'd be fine.
Men! She thinks exasperatedly. They never think these things through.
He's been gone for 18 hours, and not a word.
Hank has been monitoring the CCTV of the CIA base feverishly since Charles left. If there is any sight of him, or anyone else for that matter, they will know about it quickly.
Charles left to find the last member of the team, and however much it has worried them, Raven is glad Charles left quickly. She's eager to meet the new mutant, and Charles being away has allowed her to get to know Erik a little more.
He's filled with so much anger, and she can see being around all these people doesn't help. When he returns, she'll speak to Charles about moving them from the CIA base. These people don't trust them, and they work better alone. The only reason she hadn't mentioned it before was that they needed Cerebro to track the mutants.
Moira paces. She knows Charles shouldn't have left like that, but she wouldn't have minded particularly if he'd told them first. She surprised he didn't even tell Raven, just left that stupid message in her mind. She can see Erik is angry about it too, so she's been keeping her distance. Charles had expressed to her the importance that she, as a non mutant, stay out of Erik's way.
Erik resumes throwing cutlery at the wall. He uses all the anger he has, and that is rather a lot, into forcing those metal knifes into the wall. The wall is covered in holes from where they have been shoved in, and then where they have janked themselves out to fly back to Erik. As usual, one hand is playing with a silver coin, which is flipping between his fingers.
Hank yells suddenly, and Sean and Raven rush over to the monitor. Moira stares out the window, squinting for any sight of Charles.
They can see him, on the drive, a small girl behind him. This must be the new recruit. Charles does look incredibly pleased with himself.
As if he can sense their eyes watching him, Charles waves cheerily at the camera hidden up a tree. The girl laughs, and follows him up the drive.
They all walk outside to greet the two travellers.
Raven's anger dissipates when she sees Charles, and she runs to hug him. Erik's doesn't though, and he stares at Charles, glaring, coin still diving between his fingers.
Charles outs his hands in his pockets.
"Right, everyone, I would like you to meet our newest recruit, Eleanor Richards." He gestures to the girl, who smiles.
"I'm Lena." She says.
"She's very dangerous." Says Charles, obviously reading their minds and wondering what mutation this girl could have.
Alex is wondering what such a small girl could do. He's a good six foot, and she's probably only about up to his shoulders, maybe a little smaller.
He blinks. Hey, she wasn't that small before. She's now the same height as Charles, who comes up to Alex's chin. He must have misjudged her height.
Alex blinks again. She is now certainly a few inches taller than Charles. What the hell is going on. He looks at her legs, and sees in shock that her legs are disproportionately long, and he stares at her.
Charles laughs.
"Stop it Lena." Alex looks at him. "She's messing with your head." Charles very briefly explains. The girl is now smiling broadly, back to her original height of about up to Charles' nose.
'So what can you do then?' Asks Raven. Lena smiles again.
"Let's go inside first." Says Charles, and there is a mischievous look in his eyes when he says this. Raven doesn't seen this look often, but it's one of her favourites.
They follow him inside, looking warily at Lena. Who knows what dangerous powers she could have; Charles obviously didn't want any cameras about. Well, I suppose, thought Raven, Shaw could easily hack in and discover Lena and the rest of us.
When Charles turns town towards the secret bunker in the basement of the already spacious CIA base, Moira makes up some excuse about cooking. She doesn't have to be a telepath to know she's not wanted.
Down in the bunker, Lena walks into the middle of the hard wood floor, the others lining up in front of her.
"Instead of telling you, I think I'd rather show you most of it." She gives them a brief run down of her actual mutation and what it allows her to do, as well as the powers she was born with. Needless to say, they are impressed.
Hank flicks a switch and a few dummies come out of the wall. "I know this isn't great," he says, "but just as a warm up?"
Lena nods, and there is a determination in her mind that sends the rest of them into the room next door, watching through the glass window.
All of a sudden, her hands light up, covered in dancing red and orange flames. Aiysha gasps, but Charles just laughs. Something about this tells them this is only a small extent of what this girl can do.
Her arm stretches, far beyond its normal capacity, and sets fire to the furthest dummy. Her hands are no longer on fire, and then she leaps over to he second dummy, karate kicking it, it's head flying clean off.
She shrugs; turns to the glass. Then she dissaperes.
Thirty seconds later, and she appears again, sitting next to Raven in a chair. "That's about as much as I can show you without a real opposition."
This isn't a statement, so much as a challenge. Alex, of course, stands up. "Challenge accepted."
She nods, and the smile is back.
Alex groans as he comes back downstairs. Everything hurts. It's fair to say he was downright squished by the nimble, almost cat like girl Charles brought back with him as the last member of their team.
Charles, Erik and Moira are absent, probably planning their 'grown up stuff'. Alex wonders if she'll join them. She is 25, only a year younger than Charles.
Lena is sitting cross legged in an armchair, talking to Raven about something. Alex sees Angel give her a look, but shrugs it off. Girls.
Sean cheers.
"Here comes the heroic fighter!" Hank sniggers at Sean's comment.
Lena sits up, surveying them all as Alex sinks into one of the squishy sofas.
"So, I've shown you what I can do, what about you?" She does have a point.
Raven, confidence swelling like a balloon, shifts herself into a mirror image of the girl in front of her.
Lena gasps, and it's like looking in a mirror. She's never seen anything like it.
"That's amazing!" She says, and Raven can't help but smile. This girl can stay!
'Well, I'm Alex. Energy."
"Angel. I can fly"
"Sean. I scream"
"Darwin. Adapt to survive."
"Aiysha. I can heal myself quickly and I have future sense."
And finally,
"Hank. Brains and..." He swallows. "Feet." Lena senses his fear at not being normal. She stretches out her arm past average length. Maybe if he sees he's not the only abnormal one...?
"It's lovely to meet you Hank." She's relieved to see Hank relaxes slightly at her words, and he feels more relaxed.
Raven has an idea.
"So, Lena, we all have code names, what is yours going to be?" Lena stares at her. "Well, if you are going to be part of the team..." Raven lifts her hands, shrugging.
Lena leans back, pondering.
"Well, both my parents were super heroes, Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman."
" the fantastic four?"
"The very same."
"Cool!" This is Sean.
"I think I'd like to stick to something that reminds me of them. I'll go with Miss Fantastic."
"Good one." Says Aiysha thoughtfully. "Much better than Euphoria."
"Hey!" Alex pretends to look wounded. "That was one of our better ones!" Aiysha raises her eyebrows. "Well, it's true. You make everyone happy."
Lena senses something there, something painful coming to the surface of Aiysha's conscience. It is shoved down, but Lena knows it is there. She'll speak to her later.
There's a bang outside, and they gasp. Lena turns invisible just before a man wearing a metal helmet enters the room. He hasn't seen her.
Her telepathic message tells the others to shush, and they flinch slightly.
'We need to get the helmet off!' She tells them. 'Its our only hope.'
But she knows they don't have much.