Telepathy

The good thing about Raven having breakfast duty with Hank was that it meant Amelia got to sleep more. The bad thing about Raven having breakfast duty with Hank was that Sean was the one waking her up. And he was annoying. And jumping on her bed.

She kicked at him and he fell. On top of her. She pushed and he landed on the floor.

"Alright, alright. I'm leaving."

Once he was out the door, Amelia was tempted to get back under the covers. She gave a sigh and changed into her sweats and shirt.

All the recruits were there when she went into the kitchen. She took a seat next to Raven and noticed something.

"What happened to your sweater?" She asked Alex. The sleeves had been cut off, exposing his arms.

He shrugged. "I like it like this. Charles said I could do it."

"You look ridiculous."

Sean sniggered.

Erik, Charles, and Moira came in. Amelia lifted her chin at Erik. He cocked his head. She raised an eyebrow. He gave a nod. They weren't going to discuss the other night.

Charles announced the plan for the day. Alex would be working with him in the underground bunkers and Hank had developed something for Sean.

Amelia would be running with Moira because she really didn't want to lift weights again. It wasn't so bad. She wasn't very strong but she was fast. And Moira was pretty cool too –she was one of a very small number of female CIA agents.

Amelia found she had a new level of respect for the CIA agent. Moira had gotten a lot of flack for being a woman in a male dominated profession, but Moira just held her head high and did her job. And sticking up for the mutants hadn't helped her either.

They went back inside to see a very disappointed looking Alex and an optimistic looking Charles come from the underground bunkers.

Charles saw them and smiled. "Ah –we were just finishing up," referring to himself and Alex. "There's something you might want to see though…"

Sean was going to fly. Or at least he was going to jump out of the window with a flying squirrel like contraption.

He was nervous and kept throwing Hank dubious looks.

Sean, Charles, and Hank were getting ready for the jump. Amelia rushed to the neighboring window. And then felt three other people leaning against her to stick their heads out the window too. It was uncomfortable, but watching Sean jump would be worth it.

The anticipation was murder. And having Erik in such close proximity wasn't very helpful. She kept thinking about their conversation.

He wanted her to stop bottling up her power. He wanted it unleashed on anyone who would hurt them. It was tempting. She had spent her whole life containing her power and then using it for juvenile reasons when she was bored. She needed a purpose and Erik was just as persuasive as she was.

Sean jumped out of the window and gave a strangled screech.

He fell into the trees.

Amelia laughed and could both hear and feel the laughter coming from the people leaning on her.

Charles looked worried and Hank looked disappointed and ashamed.

Sean called out. "I'm okay!" The laughing continued. "Hank! You suck!"

Considering Charles was supposed to be their leader, Hank was doing a lot of the work. He was working on a sensor for Alex, a flight thing for Sean, working on a serum, pulling kitchen and laundry duty, and who knew what else. Whenever he wasn't with Charles, Raven was glued to his hip.

After the silent establishment between Erik and Amelia on not discussing their night time conversation, things went back to normal between them. Well normal for them. She still found ways to sass him and he still pretended she didn't annoy him. It was twisted but fun.

And she was learning more about the government from Moira. If it weren't for the fact that there was apparently a lot of discrimination, being a CIA agent would have sounded like a lot of fun.

She and Charles discussed her ability and theorized on it. He gave her a few more lectures on how she was supposed to use it responsibly that made her feel like schoolgirl in trouble. He wanted her to try reading people's minds again –but he wanted to supervise it. He didn't want her to abuse her ability anymore.

And working out wasn't too bad after awhile. Alex and Erik made fun of her in the beginning but decided to take pity on her and help. She wasn't as surprisingly strong as Raven but she could match Sean.

Speaking of Sean… He was going to jump again. From a satellite.

Moira and the recruits watched from outside the mansion with telescopes and binoculars. Hank, Charles, Erik, and Sean made it to the top and were setting up some equipment.

Amelia spoke out loud. "Ten bucks says he chickens out."

Alex laughed. "I'm not stupid enough to take that bet."

Raven shushed them. "I think he's going to do it!"

Sean was looking out over the satellite and wavered. Then Erik pushed him. Sean screamed. And flew.

Amelia laughed. Trust Erik to endanger someone's life to get the results he wanted.

Moira was relieved but still a little mad. "He could have seriously hurt him."

"He wouldn't have done it if he thought Sean would die." That probably wasn't true but Amelia said it anyway.

Sean and the others came back sometime later. Sean was very smug about the whole thing but didn't want to get anywhere near Erik. It was understandable.

Charles was flushed with success and told Amelia to meet him outside for another telepathy session. She waited and was confused when Charles came out with Erik by his side.

"Why's he here?"

Charles beamed. "He's here to help."

"I don't think pushing me off the roof is going to help me read people's minds."

Erik smirked. "You never know…"

Charles sighed. "Reading my mind is obviously too dangerous for you and when you mentioned the language barriers of telepathy it got me to thinking… Everyone else here can't help but think in English and it's not Erik's first language… He's agreed to volunteer because you won't understand anything."

She pursued her lips and looked at Erik. He didn't want her in his head. He was doing it for Charles. "Thanks."

Erik sighed in frustration. "Let's just get this over with."

Amelia took a deep breath. She reached out, felt what he wanted, and squeezed her way into his mind like she'd done with Charles. It wasn't overwhelming. But it was all very German.

It was like watching different pieces of a foreign film. A horror film. At high speed. She saw what happened in Russia. She saw Erik being saved by Charles. She saw Erik in the CIA base. She caught glimpses of Erik killing people. A lot of people. She didn't understand the thoughts, but she understood the emotions –his wants.

She pulled back and looked at Erik uncertainly. "Your thoughts are very… German."

Erik gave her a look. "Thanks."

Charles inquired. "You didn't have any difficulty accessing his mind?"

"No. Not really… Reading people's minds isn't my first instinct and I have to put a lot more effort into it, but I think I could do it as long they aren't telepaths –and speak the same language."

Charles wasn't done with the session. "Amelia, we know you can use your 'persuasive' ability on people who don't speak English with your voice. I want you to go back inside Erik's mind and give him an order –mentally."

"What do you want me to make him do?"

Charles hesitated and looked at Erik. "What do you feel comfortable doing?"

Erik thought for a moment. "Nothing you'll be tempted to tell the others."

There went her plan of making him give Charles a passionate kiss. She'd think of something. She went back inside his mind. It was easier now that she'd been in there before. She pushed a thought into his head.

Nothing happened.

She furrowed her brow in concentration. She pushed the thought into his head again.

Erik made as if to sit down on a chair. But there wasn't a chair –so he fell on his ass.

Erik looked up at her and glared. She smiled.

Charles was happy too. "Excellent! Erik can you tell us how Amelia's telepathy was different from my own?"

Erik looked at his friend. "She's obvious." (What did that mean?) "The first time she tried to make me sit, it wasn't an order. It was a thought. A one sided conversation in my head." (Oh.)

Charles was unperturbed. "Well, I'm sure once she has some practice that won't be a problem. Thank you, Erik." It was a dismissal.

Erik left and threw Amelia a glare. She shrugged.

She turned back to Charles. "There's something I didn't want to tell you in front of Erik…"

Charles sighed. "Yes –I thought as much. What is it?"

"When I was in his head… It's true I didn't understand the language of his thoughts –but… I felt… I knew what he felt."

"I figured that was a possibility…"

"You didn't tell him did you?"

"Yes, I did. I've already been inside his head. I assured him that while you would see through his mind and emotions, I would block anything he didn't feel comfortable with you seeing."

"Oh… That's good…" He had showed her those things for a reason. He wanted to open her eyes a little bit more without alarming Charles.

"You're right, telepathy isn't your first instinct, but I think you could manage it if you tried. Just remember what I've told you about maintaining control."

"I'm trying Charles."

"I guess that's all any of us can do."

Amelia and Charles went back inside. The rest of the day passed like all the others since they'd moved to the mansion.