Code Names

Turns out they had more dirty little secrets than Amelia initially thought.

Angel was a stripper, Alex was a convict, Darwin was a cab driver whose real name was actually Armando Muñoz, and Sean was a community college drop out. Amelia's mother would have died of mortification.

She, Hank, and Raven were the only ones who seemed to have a somewhat normal life. But considering that Raven was a runaway, Hank was a super genius, and Amelia admitted that the Elvis thing on the Ed Sullivan Show a few years back was her fault, that wasn't saying much.

This was fun –getting to know them. Everyone had loosened up and there was now a possibility that they would be able to train and work together. Plus, the conversation was getting to the good stuff –their abilities.

Raven was excited. "We should think of codenames. We're government agents now. We should have secret code names. I want to be called 'Mystique'."

"Damn! I wanted to be called Mystique!" Sean was such a smart ass.

"Well, tough I called it." Raven used her ability for the first time in front of them. But shifting into Sean wouldn't have been Amelia's first choice. "And I'm way more mysterious than you."

Raven shifted back and smiled coyly as everyone applauded in amazement. "Darwin, what about you?"

Everyone wanted to show off their abilities now.

"Well, 'Darwin's' already a nickname... and, you know, it sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all... Check this out." Darwin got up off the couch and walked over the aquarium. He then proceeded to dunk his head into said aquarium. Gills grew on the side off his face and neck. He turned his head to look at them and smiled. There was more applause. Darwin retracted his head. "Thank you!"

As a man of science, Hank was thoroughly impressed. "That was incredible," he said through the clapping.

Darwin thanked them all again. He turned to Sean. "What about you?"

Sean's face turned pensive for probably the first time in his life. "I'm going to be… Banshee!"

Hank was curious. "Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?"

Amelia was going to bring up the fact that Banshees were commonly female wailing spirits but Sean said smugly, "You might want to cover your ears."

Everyone (not including Darwin because he could apparently adapt to anything) raised their hands to their ears. Sean leaned forward and inspected the glass cups on the coffee table. He gave a whistle/ shriek that Amelia didn't even know was possible. Sean had obviously been aiming for the glasses, unfortunately he got the window. And it was a big window. They laughed at his mistake. Sean indicated to Angel, "Your turn."

Angel stood up. "My stage name is Angel." Sean gave a suggestive whistle and Amelia momentarily worried for the other window. Angel took off her jacket, "It kind of fits." The tattoos on her back squirmed and sprang into wings.

Raven was amazed. "You can fly?"

"Uh huh, and…" Angel turned to the broken window and spat. It flew through the air and landed on some statue. Acid spit. The head of the statue disintegrated slightly. Super spit? Well at least she had wings… Angel then asked Hank, "What's your name?"

"How about Bigfoot?" Alex was an ass.

While Amelia hadn't personally seen Hank's feet she had learned about them today. They were the source of his awkward, self-consciousness.

Raven defended her man. "You know what they say about guys with big feet. And yours are kind of small..."

There were chuckles among the group. Raven and Hank awkwardly tried not to look at each other.

Darwin was the peace keeper. "Okay, now." They settled down. "Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?"

Alex started to pull his tough-guy-mysterious-past shield up. "Its not… I just can't do it. I can't do it in here."

Darwin wouldn't give up. "Can you do it out there?" He indicated to the broken window leading out to a courtyard.

"Why don't you just do it out there?" Raven echoed.

Angel and Sean begged. "Come on."

"Alex! Alex! Alex!" Raven, Darwin, Angel, and Sean were chanting his name. Only Amelia and Hank watched the display of peer pressure.

Alex only shook his head stubbornly.

Amelia leaned in toward him. The chanting stopped. "Go outside and show us what you can do."

Alex got up and walked out the broken window. Everyone was looking at her. She realized her mistake. While everyone had displayed their abilities, no one had actually used them on each other. Oops.

The awkwardness was broken and they rushed after him. "Get down when I tell you," Alex told them.

"'Get down when I tell you.'" Sean mimicked.

Alex stood facing the statue and seemed to ready himself. Everyone leaned out the window. "Get back!"

They leaned back in but leaned back out immediately. "Get back!" Alex seemed to realize they weren't going to move. "Whatever…"

He rocked his body like he was swinging a hula-hoop. Red blades of energy began to swirl around him. He launched them and they flew out. One hit the already damaged statue. Slicing the torso in half. It landed with a thunk and there were flames at both statue ends.

Amelia was impressed –even if she did want to make fun of his hula-hoop moves. Alex walked back in. "Havok," she told him. "We are so calling you Havok." There were murmurs of agreement.

"And what are we supposed to call you?" Alex seemed a little sore about the whole using her powers on him thing. "What's a good name for someone who uses their ability to manipulate other people?"

"Don't be so dramatic. It's not manipulation per say… It's about wants. Besides, Hank didn't get a codename –let's come back to it later."

Alex got over it. And everyone else seemed okay with it.

The dynamic of the group had done a complete one eighty. They had gone from formal, stilted conversations to dancing on the couch.

Well, only Raven was dancing on the couch.

Hank was dancing upside down on the ceiling fan. (Amelia had finally gotten a look at his feet. They pretty cool in an quadrumanous sort of way.)

Angel was dancing near Raven, above the couch (hello Angel's wings).

And Sean and Alex were trying to beat the crap out of Darwin. It was okay though, they couldn't actually hurt him and Darwin was laughing his ass off at their attempts.

Amelia sat at the kitchen counter looking at the strangest group of people she had ever met. She had never been this happy. The place was chaos –and she loved it.

She noticed Charles, Erik, and Moira coming their way. They didn't look as happy.

Moira was pissed. "What are doing?" Everyone guiltily stopped what they were doing. "Who destroyed the statue?"

"It was Alex." Hank sounded like terrified school boy –but then again he was the only one who really did work for the government.

Raven wasn't down from her adrenaline rush. "No, Havok. We have to call him 'Havok.' That's his name now. And we were thinking…," she pointed to Charles, "you should be Professor X…," (that name had been all Raven's idea) she pointed to Erik, "And you should be Magneto." (Hank had come up with that one.)

This was bad.

Erik looked like every bad thought he had had about the group was confirmed. "Exceptional."

Charles didn't just look mad –he looked disappointed. That made it a thousand times worse. "I expect more from you," he told Raven.

Raven looked crushed.

That night they all went to bed feeling like crap.

Amelia couldn't say for sure but it felt like everything was going to be downhill from there.