When Claudia woke up, she found herself in what appeared to be a cell. The walls were dark and gray and rough, there were no windows, and the cot she was laying on was just a dilapidated mattress on the floor. She wondered vaguely if there were bugs in it. It seemed like the kind of place that would have bugs in the beds. She shuddered at the thought. Then, seeing as it was fairly cold, and the pajamas like uniform she was still wearing was not particularly warm, she shuddered at that too.

Last night, when they had landed on what appeared to be a desolate island somewhere in the middle of the ocean, they had been given a brief tour. It was the blue woman who had shown them around. Her name, she had told them, was Mystique. Claudia had been too intimidated to ask what kind of name that was. She had not found the courage to ask why was naked either. She had decided to assume there was a good reason for it. And whatever that reason was, John, as the boy she had talked to had introduced himself as, seemed to be quite happy about it. They had been shown corridor upon corridor of dank concrete, and a good number of empty, cell like rooms. They had been assured that they were not actually cells, but merely rooms for which there had yet to be a use. All facilities seemed to be very basic. It reminded her vaguely of her apartment the first three months she had lived there, before she had any possessions that made it her own. There had been a hangar, too, and a rudimentary kitchen, and a whole section that was apparently Magneto's private quarters.

Mystique had also explained to them who they were. As far as Claudia had grasped, they were a group fighting for mutant rights, and called themselves the Brotherhood (of Mutants). Mystique had seemed almost insulted that she had not heard of them, but Claudia, in her defense, pointed out that she had been locked up for four years. The group consisted, apparently, of Mystique; the large, feral man called Sabretooth; the old, dignified looking man called Magneto, who was the leader of the group, and the pilot she had not seen yet, with the charming name Toad. John had at that point dared ask what she had not; why everyone had such silly names. Mystique had, through clenched teeth, explained that the names given to them as children, often by human parents who had no idea who their mutated children would grow up to be, did not really reflect who they were. Also, she added, code names made a lot more sense to use when they were out on missions. Claudia had then wondered about the implications of letting ones powers define one as a person, instead of aspects like personality, goals or values, but had been interrupted further speeches upon the subject of the goal of the Brotherhood.

Later, after the tour of the island was finished, and Claudia's bare feet hurt like hell from walking around on the concrete floor, they were shown to their rooms. Mystique had assured them that they would be able to make these rooms more comfortable later. There seemed to be no question of whether they could choose to stay or not. It seemed a given, from the Brotherhood's point of view that they would want to stay and fight for the mutant cause. Claudia did not mind this, in particular. She had spent four years locked up, and any ties she had had to friends would be long broken. She assumed someone had declared her missing, presumed dead at some point. Suddenly returning to normal life would be difficult, especially when the government would probably try to get her back.

She had very few feelings regarding the mutant cause, though, which John had found weird when they had talked after the tour. It had been different for him, of course. He had manifested his powers a year or so before he was taken in. He had had a lot more time to get used to the idea of being a mutant out in society. She had been taken mere hours after turning invisible for the first time. Mutant rights and discrimination had never had time to become an issue for her. She could of course sympathize with it; being an albino was not quite up there with being a mutant, but it did mark one as decidedly different. She knew the feeling of weird looks. But she had never followed the politics around mutants particularly closely, something John had seemed to resent her for, somehow. She had not asked about it.

.

She did not know for quite how long she sat on the possibly bugged - in many ways, she supposed- mattress. She considered leaving the room, but that seemed, somehow, a breach of trust. She did not know why she should trust these people, or why they should trust her. Well, there was the fact that she could not get off their island, but apart from that, not much. Despite what Mystique had told them yesterday, she was not quite sure just what it was that was expected of her. To stay with the Brotherhood and fight the humans? She had been a perfectly normal human being up until four years ago. A somewhat different looking human, but a normal human nevertheless. Was she supposed to suddenly regard the humans as an enemy, after having been one for most of her life? That was not true, though, she supposed. Not quite. She had never quite fitted in with other humans, but surely that feeling was common amongst both humans and mutants? She did not understand it. She supposed she would, if she were to try to go back to her normal life. And she supposed she would hear a pep talk about it, at some point. She shrugged to herself.

"Havin' an interestin' conversation with yourself, there?"

The voice startled her. She whipped her head around, and saw a man standing in the doorway. He was not a particularly tall man, something not helped by his slouching. His skin was an ocher green, with occasional patches of brown. The green continued, albeit in a more pure form, in his hair, which was short and spiky. The clothes he wore were were dark, and shades of gray, and he was holding a bundle of dark cloth. He tossed it at her. She reflexively tried to catch it, and succeeded with her face. He snickered.

"Mystique said y'might like some clothes."

"Thanks," she mumbled, laying the clothes out on the bed. It appeared to be a black t-shirt and dark pants of a nondescript colour. And also socks. She noticed that it looked like someone had scribbled a tiny B in a circle in white paint on both articles of clothing. A tiny grin crossed her face. Real looked to the doorway again. Toad, as she assumed this man was, was still standing there, arms crossed and looking expectantly at her.

"What?"

"Well, get dressed, Magneto wants ta see you newbies. Wants to test you, or somefin'."

She looked pointedly at him, expecting him to leave the room, and possibly also close the door. He looked straight back at her. She narrowed her eyes. He raised his eyebrows, not moving. She sighed, gave up, and let her body slip into invisibility. Toad's face fell slightly, and he muttered something about cheating before wandering out of the room. She heard him a few seconds later speaking to John.

Taking of that accursed uniform was fantastic. She had worn nothing but variations of that for four years, and to have something else, even if it was rather similar, was wonderful. It did smell a bit weird, though. She walked out into the corridor, and saw John coming out of his room. He had been given something similar to her clothes, and the similarities between the Brotherhood and the government, at least in the clothing department briefly crossed her mind. She and John followed Toad through several corridors, all dank and grimy. She noticed something strange about his walk. It was forced, somehow, like he would rather move in a different manner. Maybe it was related to his mutation? Because other than the greenish colour, and his freakishly large and golden eyes, she couldn't see where he got his name from. Maybe he hopped around or something. That would be a fairly unimpressive mutant power, though. It was probably cooler than it sounded.

.

They were brought before Magneto some time after that. The members of the Brotherhood treated him with respect, occasionally seeming to border on fear, she noticed. He must be a great leader indeed. Or possibly just terrifying. She could see where they were coming from. He rather like a somewhat frail old man, but he held himself like a king. He spoke with the quiet authority of someone who knows no one would ever dare question them, much less disobey. But on the bright side, no white lab coat. Hopefully not that many syringes, either. He asked them to introduce themselves, but seemed disappointed when they both gave him seemingly normal and human names. He reasoned aloud that given time they would probably find their true names. To Claudia this sounded a bit silly and pretentious, but out of the goodness of her heart, she let the rather intimidating old man who probably had awesome powers finish. He also asked them what their powers and abilities were, and how long they had been at the government facility, and so on. He seemed rather to be confirming suspicions, than really asking. The last thing he told them was that they were to be tested. They were assured that this was a procedure everyone had to go through in the process of joining the Brotherhood, but Claudia noticed Toad shaking his head behind the old man's back. Her expression migrated from curiosity to vague worry.

They were showed into a large room that looked like the love child of a gym and a battle ground. It was rectangular and spacious, with various training equipment thrown in a pile in one corner of the room. I a different corner lay a piece of metal twisted almost beyond recognition, but it looked like it could have started its life as a basket ball hoop. The walls and floor were dirty, and had several cracks that looked scarily unnatural in what she assumed was solid concrete. There were dried patches of what she hoped was not blood several places, and a shoe lay near the center of the room, cut into pieces. It looked ominous. She looked over at John. He too looked worried.

"This test is an easy one," Magneto intoned, his voice serious. "You simply have to get past two of us and get to the other side of the room, using your powers."

Sabretooth and Toad stepped into the center of the room, both looking somewhat sadistic. John frowned.

"Can I have a lighter?" he asked.

"Whatever for, dear boy?" Magneto's expression emulated genuine sympathy rather well, as did his tone.

"Well, I can't use my powers without an open flame. You can't test my powers if you won't let me use them," he explained. Magneto frowned, a seemingly puzzled expression crossing his face, hinting at the amusement below.

"Surely you must realise that in the field no one will just give you what you ask for or accommodate the lackings of your abilities?"

Realization seemed to strike John, then, followed quickly by worry and a glance at the two mutants he was facing.

"But- but that's not fair," he argued feebly, although he seemed to understand. His eyes narrowed in less than happy determination. Claudia grinned.

"Sucker."

Author's note: I was originally going to put the rest of the last scene in this chapter too, but I think it deserves its own chapter, which is a fancy way of saying I'm having a really hard time writing it in any way that makes sense. But by publishing this chapter I now have no choice but to write it. On a different note, I'm glad to see there are quite a few people who have read this. I would love to know what you think, though, not just that you think. Peace out. But not literally.