Chapter 1: Mutant and Proud
"Mutant and Proud."
"Mutant and Proud?" I heard Raven talking to herself in the most utter state of confusion. I took a quick peek and saw her staring at the mirror, blank. "If only."
She walked out of the bathroom, in her natural blue form, wearing just a robe. "Would you date me?" I figured this question was directed towards Charles and tried to preoccupy myself in the book I was reading.
"Of course. Any young man would be lucky to have you. You are stunning."
It was hard not to tune in to the conversation, and even though it was mainly Charles and Raven-centric, I was sure that Raven wouldn't mind. We had many conversations like this ourselves, which always ended up with me telling Raven how beautiful she was, blue or not, and had to accept who she was.
"Looking like this?"
Honestly, I had always envied her ability to be beautiful as a human and as stunning as a Greek goddess in her true form. However, I felt that all said and done, Charles' opinion would always prevail mine. No two ways about it.
"Blue?" Raven's face dropped down. I nudged Charles in his elbow, indicating his utterly poor selection of words. He quickly nodded before turning to his book again. "You're my oldest friend."
"I'm your only friend." I tried to resist a growing smile on my face.
"Thank you for that." Charles' feigned hurt.
"Well?" She asked impatiently, stomping her foot on the ground.
"I'm incapable of thinking like that. I feel responsible for you. Anything else would just feel wrong." He replied, getting up from the seat next to me and proceeded towards the bookshelf. We were both working hard on completing our thesis, though Charles more than me.
"I don't know what's gotten into you lately. You're too concerned with your looks." Charles told her as he casually slipped a pencil over his ear and sat on the sofa.
"For the record, if my opinions count," I began, gaining the attention of Charles and Raven, "I think you are gorgeous, Raven, and anyone would jump into your bones, even more readily in your natural form."
She flashed me one of her grins and I was glad to have taken her mind of it. Speaking of which, I could feel Charles barging in mine.
A bit too explicit, don't you think?
Fine. I'll PG-13 it a bit.
"What I wanted to say was you have nothing to worry about. You're perfect." I told her before taking a quick glance in Charles' direction. He nodded before diving back into his book.
"Read to me." Raven strode over his side and placed her head on his chest.
"I can't. We have our thesis coming up Raven, we need to study."
"So go ahead. Your thesis will send me right of."
…..
"I refuse to walk two drunkards home." My eyes hovered to the large beaker placed on the table. Raven opened a bottle of rum and poured its contents in, my words falling deaf on her ears.
"Did you not hear what I said?" I leaned against the table; hoping one of them would acknowledge me.
"Oh, we heard you." Charles replied though his eyes were hooked onto the bottle Raven was emptying. "We just chose to ignore you."
Raven shook the bottle vigorously, draining out the very last drops before placing the bottle aside. "Here you go." She handed over the beaker to Charles and he walked over to the center of the bar, with a large crowd beginning to surround him.
"You two are on your own." I snapped at Raven.
"We all know that's never going to happen."
"Why not?"
She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, shaking her head. "Because of your Mother hen instincts."
Mother hen?
"What?"
"In the words of the great Charles Xavier," she cleared her throat, "you have the impeccable ability to ruin others fun with your over-cautiousness."
I was perplexed for a moment. "I'm not over-cautious."
"Of course you are."
"Well," I straightened my blouse jacket, "there is no harm in being a little careful."
"Says the girl who once got so drunk that she jumped in a pond, without her shirt."
I flushed, my cheeks turning a darker shade of red by the minute. Raven shot a cheeky grin in my direction. "What happened to her?"
I stuttered, trying to find the right words for a comeback. "She….. umm….. learnt her lesson."
She learnt her lesson. I mentally slapped myself. Was that the best I got?
"She can also learn to let go." Raven pushed a drink- which I hadn't previously noticed- towards me. "Now, if you excuse me, Charles needs someone to cheer him up." She skipped towards him, her blonde curls bouncing behind her. I took a long look at the brown contents of my glass. Probably one drink wouldn't hurt. I took a sip, letting the burning liquid seep in.
"Drink, Drink"
The crowd was getting hyped and then there were loud roars. Presumably, Charles had done the impossible. I craned my neck a little to the right and saw Charles lift the beaker in the air, as if he had won a trophy, letting out his own victory scream. It was certain now that I would at least be carrying Charles home and I took another swig of my drink.
He strode right past me and walked towards the bar, likely to have another round. But then I saw the blonde from last night-whose name I didn't really bother to remember-eying Charles in a very seductive way. Immediately, I downed my drink in a single gulp. In the highly likely situation that I had to carry them both home, I would rather choose to not remember it the following day.
"Whoa, guess you took my advice after all." Raven sat beside me with a dark colored liquid in her hand that I was hoping was cola.
I nodded and reverted my gaze to the bar. The blonde was standing alone. Then where the hell was Charles?
"Where is Charles?"
Raven turned around, searching all over the place before pointing at a table further from ours. A woman with auburn hair was sat with a man who resembled Charles, though we were observing from back. I closed my eyes, trying to get into their conversation.
"…mutation took us..."
I raised my eyes in scorn, "its Charles."
"Who is she?" Raven balanced her head on her hand and stared at them.
"Stop staring, it's obvious." I tapped her on the head, "We'll ask him when he comes."
A couple of minutes later, the two of them stood up and parted with a handshake. He proceeded towards us and we bombarded him with our questions right away.
"Who is she?"
"What happened to Amy?"
We met our answers through a simple sentence.
We're leaving for the States tonight. We're wanted by the CIA.
…
"Thank you gentlemen." Charles curtly finished his presentation and took his seat. I was seated between Raven and Agent MacTaggert, who insisted we call her Moira.
"MacTaggert, do you really think some crackpot scientist is going to make me believe in sparkling dames and vanishing men? You just bought yourself a ticket to the typing pool." The bespectacled CIA agent, who I assumed was the chief, spoke. "This meeting is over."
Moira got up, disappointed before Charles asked her to remain seated. "I'm sorry; I haven't been entirely honest with you, love." He then turned his attention towards the two CIA agents before continuing, "One of the spectacular things my mutation allows me to do is that I can read your mind."
The older of the two men chuckled, as if this was highly amusing, "I have seen this trick before. Are you going to ask me to count from one to ten?"
This amused Charles as well, "Actually Agent Stryker, I would rather ask you about the Jupiter missiles America are currently placing in Turkey."
The whole room was plunged into silence before chaos broke out. "You brought a spy! You brought a god damn spy!"
I glanced at Charles, nervously. Do something!
On cue, Raven got up and morphed into Agent Stryker. The noise died down almost immediately with everyone-except Charles and I-gaping at Raven before she turned back to her blue form.
"How's that for a magic trick?"
"Best one I've ever seen." The man sitting at the back, who I hadn't noticed before, spoke up. He looked intrigued and excited rather than the terror and panic among his peers.
"I want them locked down before we can figure out what to do." The chief cried.
I took a deep breath as the man sitting behind spoke again, "My facility is offsite, I'll take them."
…..
"I always knew there were people like you." The agent exclaimed. "I've been the laughing stock of the agency for years but not anymore."
I smiled at him softly. He seemed like a nice man but I would really wish that he would stop talking. It seemed like there was no end to his questions. I guess Charles and Raven shared my opinion as well.
"And what can you do?" I didn't realize the question was addressed to me until I saw him waiting eagerly for my response. "What are your powers?" I froze on my spot, my legs all of a sudden feeling heavy and rigid. That's when I felt Charles' warm hand gently squeeze mine.
It's alright.
"Umm…. superhuman abilities." My throat felt dry. The words barely left my mouth.
"That means she's stronger, faster…" Raven pitched in.
"Heightened senses." Charles completed.
"Wow."
Thankfully, Moira pulled over her car at the right moment.
"You're going to love my facility…"
"Well that would have to wait," Charles politely cut him off, "agent MacTaggert has got a lead on Shaw." He opened the door and bent over, smiling at Moira. "We just had a lovely conversation."
"Yes, we did." She agreed, turning her gaze at the baffled CIA agent who seemed to be loving the surprises thrown his way.
"That's incredible. But I can't take you anywhere without orders from above."
"Would you like to see another magic trick?" Charles placed two of his fingers at the side of his forehead. I quickly got in the car with Raven following. "Get in the car."
…..
I was horrified by the sight in front of me. I closed my eyes and pinched myself, hoping that this was only a nightmare and that I would wake up. I took a deep breath before opening my eyes, only to find it still there, its grey metal mocking me.
"Charles," I called out, "Are you sure there is no other way?"
"I'm sorry, no." He replied.
"Oh, come on." I whined. "You know how I feel about ships." I may have sounded like a fussy twelve year old at the moment but that didn't matter.
"This is the only way to get to Shaw." He answered, his blue eyes staring into my brown ones. "It's all in your head." He stated, tapping gently on my forehead. "Once you get that, you wouldn't have to worry about your seasickness anymore."
I nervously bit my lower lip. "Probably now is not the right time to experiment."
He sighed and turned around to see if there was anyone behind him. "Kate," he said in a hushed voice, "you already know how the CIA feels about us. I don't want anything happening to you while I'm gone."
My lips pressed in a flat line. "Fine." I scoffed. "Even though I could take them all down if I wanted to."
"I know that, little one." He grinned, placing an arm around my shoulder. "Come on, time to go."
I could feel the bile building up in my stomach as we climbed aboard the ship. I figured I could hang around the deck for quite the trip and that if I did have the need to puke, Mother Ocean would be at the receiving end of it.
True to my word, I hung around the deck while everyone resorted to planning the attack against Shaw in a nearby room. I held onto the railing, moving back and forth on the balls of my feet. A cold wind blew causing my long brown hair to fly in the wind. With much difficulty, I pushed the strands of hair from my face and tucked them inside my jacket. Suddenly, I noticed something moving in the water. If I hadn't known any better, I could have sworn I saw a man swimming to the other side. I rubbed my eyes but he had vanished.
Must be my mind playing games with me. Seasickness was really getting to me.
A while later, Charles, Moira and Raven arrived. Apparently they had located Shaw and were sending the fleet after him. A smaller ship came into view, glimmering in its lights and I instantly recognized it as Shaw's. Charles brought two fingers to his temple and closed his eyes. He cringed slightly before opening them again.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I've lost Shaw. I guess there is someone like me on that ship." He saw Moira's confused expression before clarifying himself, "A telepath. This is amazing; I can actually feel her inside my mind." He then looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry I won't be much of your help tonight."
Out of nowhere, gales of wind blew rapidly towards the naval ships, wiping them out of the way.
"We need to leave." Charles grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. Raven was in front of us and we proceeded to the lower deck. We had almost reached when Charles leaned against the wall, wincing in pain.
"There's someone out there." He explained. Realization dawned on me. It was the man I saw earlier. Charles was already on his way up.
Damn you Charles.
"Charles!"
I ran behind him and saw him standing at the edge of the railing. Large metallic anchors were floating in the air, wrapping itself around the boat and crushing it as if it were a paper ball. The man was slowly disappearing out of view, almost as he was drowning.
"You have to let it go! You'll drown!" Charles screamed. We watched on, hoping for him to come up to the surface but after a few minutes it seemed highly unlikely. In the spur of the moment, Charles ran towards the edge and jumped off.
"Charles!"
Raven and Moira quickly came by my side and we looked into the water, desperately searching for Charles.
Charles, where are you?
"We're here!" I heard Charles scream over a distance. I sighed in relief. When he comes aboard, I'm going to kill him.
The two men were carefully hoisted up to the ship. Raven grabbed a couple of towels and ran towards them with me trailing behind. She pounced on Charles, pulling him into a bear hug and handed over the towels.
"Don't you ever do that again." She smacked him on the shoulder.
"I promise." He smiled and looked up to see me coming. I guess he was expecting a similar type of greeting but I had other plans on my mind. I walked right up to him and slapped him. He looked momentarily shocked and I felt satisfied with what I did. How on earth does he expect me to hug him when he nearly killed himself?
"Ouch?" He asked, running his hand over his red cheek. It was pretty red now that I noticed. Maybe I should have gone a little softer.
"You dumb twit. You nearly killed yourself!" Charles looked amused which annoyed me even more.
"Glad to know you still care for me." He replied cockily. I restrained myself from landing another slap on his cheek when I noticed the man standing next to him. He was much taller than Charles and was a bit muscular for his lean frame. His green eyes were staring down, as if he were thinking.
"This is Erik Lensherr," Charles introduced, "and Erik, these are my sisters Raven and Katherine and this is agent MacTaggert."
Erik seemed mysterious. He didn't say a word though I believe he was mentally scanning all of us. He then excused himself and walked off, leaving me quite curious about him.
"Don't worry, he'll come along." Charles answered. "I think we had a long day and it's only fair we get some rest."
…..
I couldn't sleep. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't sleep. I could feel the waters constantly rocking the ship and hear the numerous sounds from the ocean, all which made me feel uncomfortable. We were only docking tomorrow morning and I just needed to get through this night. Staying at the deck was probably my best option. I made for the deck when I saw a tall figure leaning against the railing.
Why, it was our new guest.
I decided a conversation would probably put my mind of sickness and strolled towards him. I stood right next to him and though he didn't acknowledge my presence, I felt that he knew. For a couple minutes none of us said a word. Erik Lensherr seemed much quieter than I expected. I decided that I could probably initiate the conversation. "So, do you have any personal vendetta against Shaw?"
He flinched when I mentioned Shaw and his muscles tensed up. He then turned towards me, giving me a glare which made me feel extremely intimidated.
"You Xavier siblings are extremely inquisitive, aren't you?" I could feel the anger seeping through his words and wondered what I said to annoy him.
"I don't think I understand."
A cold chuckle left his lips. "Your brother read my mind, saw things that weren't meant to be seen and now you come along with a set of your own questions."
I couldn't understand the point he was trying to make. If he didn't want to answer my question, he could have just said so. Why channel all your anger on me?
"I thought there was no harm in asking, especially if we're going to be working as a team…"
Charles did mention about asking Erik to join us and help defeat Shaw.
"I'm not on the team." He barked.
That was the final straw for me.
"Yes, since you were doing so well hunting Shaw on your own that my brother nearly died trying to save your life." I spat. Erik looked a bit taken aback; he wasn't expecting me to lash out like this. I slowly started walking back to my room and I could feel his eyes burning through my back. But I wasn't done yet.
"And you didn't even have the audacity to thank him."
That was the last nail in the coffin.
A/N: Just wanted to say a special thank you to syrac123747, LEXA14, Night-Storms, NightStalkerblade, cwatker222, justsummer, tedmynameisfred, tibreezy and Dark Raven Jester for reading/reviewing/following/favoring.
Thank you for reading,
S.