Author's note: I didn't have the money on iTunes to permanently buy the X-Men: First Class movie to refer back to, so specific details about scenes that I just rewrote to include Zoe were written after watching and rewatching clips on YouTube. I couldn't find some scenes that I wanted Zoe in, so for those I had to work off my memory of the film, which, let's be honest, isn't a flawless strategy. Again, I'd like to state that if you have corrections or suggestions, please tell me about them in a review or a PM!
After enlisting me, Erik and Charles recruited Angel Salvadore, a beautiful, tan young woman with dark brown hair and eyes, who was only a couple of inches taller than myself and had a tattoo of dragonfly wings on her back that stretched over her shoulders. Then there was a young black man, Armando Muñoz, slightly taller than Erik, but shorter than Hank. Next was Alex Summers, a young, blue-eyed, blonde man, a little bit shorter than Erik, who had the face and attitude of a playboy, but the attitude seemed like a bluff, hiding a more sensitive nature. Second-to-last, we were joined by a redheaded, hazel-eyed, freckle-faced boy, who couldn't have been more than 18, named Sean Cassidy. Personally, I thought the inclusion of someone so young on a mission so potentially dangerous was completely unnecessary, but it happened anyway.
Finally, I accompanied Erik and Charles to a bar Called Marv's Beer. There we found a brown-eyed, brown-haired, rough, muscular man, smoking a cigar. There was something about him, some sort of primal magnetism, that was compellingly sexy. Charles glanced at me askance as the thought crossed my mind.
"Excuse me, I'm Erik Lehnsherr," Erik said.
"Charles Xavier," Charles introduced himself to the ruffian.
"Go fuck yourself," our would-be recruit replied firmly.
Charles and Erik turned to leave, and I gave the two of them a look, then turned back to our reason for being in the location. "While that is a very compelling suggestion, I'm afraid I'll have to pass," I told the man.
He looked me up and down slowly, checking out my body shamelessly. "You're with these two? Well, that changes things a little bit," he said, smirking.
"I suspected it might. See, we were wondering if you might be interested in a job. May I see that cigar?" He handed it to me, and I snuffed it out in the palm of my hand, letting him closely watch the wound heal. His eyes immediately narrowed.
"What do you want from me?" He asked suspiciously. He had an expression on his face like a cornered badger.
"What do we want? Well, we would like you to help us fight a man who wishes to start a Third World War. What I, however, want, is slightly more than that," I added the last part after letting my eyes roam across his muscles. "But, this absolutely is your choice, one that has no consequences besides never seeing us again."
"I see," he muttered. "And it's a job, so what's the pay?" I paused. I wasn't getting paid, mainly because I already had more money than anyone could know what to do with.
"Well, I can pay you anything you like, in addition to the pleasure of our company," I smiled at him.
"You have yourself a deal," he said, standing, and offered me his hand, which I promptly shook.
"I am glad to hear it. My name is Zoe, by the way. What is yours?"
"Logan," he replied, smiling, or rather, baring his teeth. Erik and Charles looked at me with a new respect as we got into the car and went back to Division X, impressed that the man had agreed to come with us.
That night in the compound, Raven, Hank, Angel, Armando, Alex, Sean, Logan, and I were all in a large, comfortable room together, talking and beginning to get to know one another while Erik, Charles, and Moira were out. The room had two huge windows, one looking out into one of two courtyards in Division X, at the center of which was a square of grass lined with concrete benches, and in the middle of the grass was a life-sized bronze statue of some old dead white guy. The other window looked out at a large field, in which was a huge white sphere called Cerebro. In one corner of the room was a bar, fully stocked with various drinks. In front of the window that looked out at the field was a table and some chairs, and to the right of it was a pinball machine. Against one of the windowless walls was a desk, an arcade game, and a fishtank. In front of the window that looked at the courtyard were two black, leather (or pleather) sofas and armchairs, situated around a small white table, on which were food and drinks. Hank and Raven sat on one sofa, opposite Armando and Angel, while Alex and Sean occupied the armchairs. I stood against the wall, watching with interest. Logan had grabbed a beer from the bar, and was sitting on a stool drinking it.
I had changed out of my dress and taken off my jewelry, and now was wearing a snug, dark green, long-sleeved crop-top, tight, high-waisted golden pleather pants, and big gold hoop earrings. Between the top of the pants and the bottom of the shirt was a half-inch gap of my bare skin that the males in the room glanced at every so often, especially Alex. Angel was dressed to the nines, wearing a tight, short, textured dress, boots that went to just above her knees, and a leather jacket, all of which were black. Armando wore a blue, collared, long-sleeved shirt and khakis, Hank was in a tan plaid shirt, a tie, and a blue sweater, Sean had dressed in a red jacket over a red and white striped t-shirt and brown pants, and Raven had a black, sleeveless dress, a red patterned scarf, black tights, and black boots. Alex wore jeans, a white t-shirt, a blue flannel, and a black leather jacket, and Logan was dressed in jeans and a white tank top that showed his muscles.
"We should all think of code names," Raven said, smiling, "We're government agents now, we should have secret codenames. I want to be called Mystique."
"Damn, I wanted to called Mystique," Sean joked, and everyone chuckled.
"Well, tough, I called it," Raven told him, chuckling, and transformed into him, making everyone clap as Sean nearly jumped out of his chair.
"Whoa!" Armando exclaimed, and Alex echoed him.
"And," Raven said to Sean, in Sean's voice, "I'm way more mysterious than you." She transformed back into the blonde version of herself.
"Whoa," Alex said again.
"Darwin, what about you?" Raven inquired of Armando, the nickname confusing me, as I didn't know what his abilities were.
"Well, 'Darwin' is already a nickname, and, you know, it sort of fits. Adapt to survive, and all," he stood up. "Check this out." He walked over to the fishtank, and dunked his head in it. Gills appeared on either side of his face, and he turned his head to us and smiled. Everyone cheered and clapped. He pulled his head out of the water, the gills disappeared, and he shook the water off of his head.
"That was incredible," Hank announced, clearly impressed.
"Thank you, thank you," Armando replied, then pointed at Sean, and asked him, "What about you?"
"I'm going to be..." Sean assumed a pensive position, leaning forward, with his elbows resting on his thighs, his hands together, and finally said, "Banshee."
"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank asked him.
"You might want to cover your ears," Sean replied, standing up, and everyone followed his suggestion, except for me and Armando, as the two of us couldn't be harmed by loud noises. Sean crouched in front of the small white table, facing the window, took a deep breath, and after hesitating, as if gearing himself up, he let out a shrill, whistling shriek. The window shattered. He stood up slowly, and everyone laughed. "Your turn," Sean told Angel, and she stood up.
"My stage name is Angel," she said, Taking off her black leather jacket, revealing that her dress had an extremely low back, "It kind of fits," she stated as her tattoo wings peeled off of her skin, becoming actual wings.
"You can fly?!" Raven exclaimed in excitement as Angel's wings be an to flutter rapidly, lifting her off the ground.
"Uh huh. And, um," Angel looks out the now-shattered window, and spat at the statue outside. A flaming ball of acid flew from her lips, landed on the statue's head, which smoked for several seconds.
"I'm turned on and disgusted," Armando said, his statement almost completely drowned out by the sound of everyone laughing and cheering for Angel.
"What's your name?" Angel asked Hank, who looked uncomfortable.
"How about Bigfoot?" Alex suggested, teasingly, and took a swig of his drink.
"Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," Raven said, prompting me to chuckle, "And, uh, yours are kind of small." Well, I wouldn't have gone that far, but I stayed quiet against the wall, not wanting to alienate either Hank or Alex. Everyone chuckled.
"Okay, now," Armando interjected in an attempt at peacemaking, "Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?"
"It's not... I just can't do it. I can't do it in here," Alex said uncomfortably, shaking his head.
"Can you do it out there?" Armando asked, gesturing to the courtyard outside the shattered window.
"Why don't you just do it out there?" Raven muttered, rather goadingly.
"Come on!" Angel prompted, and someone else repeated it, I wasn't sure who.
"Alex, Alex, Alex!" Everyone started chanting, and I watched as he grew more and more uncomfortable. I started to move toward the group, going to intervene and tell them to leave him alone, when he finally raised a hand in a gesture of defeat, got up, and walked outside, stepping through the window.
"That't the spirit!" Armando exclaimed.
"Get down when I tell you to," Alex said grimly.
Everyone else got up and peered through the window. I stood in the middle of the opening, knowing that it was nearly impossible that he could harm me, thanks to my mutation. The only danger he stood to me was possibly, maybe ruining my clothes.
"Get back," he ordered. Everyone got behind the wall, then leaned over to peer out the window again. "Get back," he repeated, more emphatically. No one moved.
"Don't worry, I won't let anyone die," I told him.
"Whatever," he grumbled, and clenched his fists as waves of red light began to ripple around him. He sort of moved his body as if the red light was a heavy hula hoop that he was trying to get spinning, and arcs of it slashed away from him, slicing the statue into two pieces, flames breaking out where the light had cut through the metal. Everyone cheered and clapped and they were all very impressed.
"Someone is going to be irritated about that," I noted, chuckling, then announced, "I dub thee, Alex Summers, Havok."
"Havok. I like that," he said, chuckling, "Now, how about you? What will your codename be? And what is your mutation, anyway?"
"Well, I heal," I murmured, and bent down over the shattered window frame, picking up a large piece of glass. I tightened my grip on the glass, slicing open my palm, and the others made shocked noises. I dropped the glass after making a deep enough wound, and lifted up my hand, letting everyone watch the wound heal and fade, not even leaving a scar.
"That's so cool!" Sean exclaimed.
"And, I do not age. At all," I stated, drawing more excitement, "I have actually been alive for about two millennia." Logan's head jerked up, and he stared at me.
"You do know that a millennium is one thousand years, right?" Hank asked me hesitantly, making me chuckle.
"I am fully aware," I replied wryly.
"That...that's incredible," Hank trailed off, clearly amazed.
"I can also alter the physical age of others, and heal them, when touching them, skin-to-skin," I concluded.
"Sweet!" Armando laughed, "So we don't have to worry about getting hurt when we're fighting this Shaw guy!"
"No!" I interjected sharply, then softened my voice, "I apologize for my tone, but no, you definitely have to worry about getting hurt. Minor injuries, I can heal, but I can not resurrect the dead. I am of no use if you are dead before I get the chance to heal you."
"Alright, alright," Darwin conceded.
"Alright, so how about your code name?" Alex inquired.
"I do not know," I said with a shrug, "My name, Zoe, already means 'life' in Greek. Of course, in English, using just the word 'life' seems rather plain. Do you have any ideas?"
"How about...Remedy?" Alex suggested. Remedy. I liked that.
"Remedy is perfect. Now, your turn, Logan," I said to the ruffian.
"Wolverine," he stated simply, and clenched his fists. Long, bony claws unsheathed themselves from between his knuckles, three organic knives on each hand. The others all ooh'ed and ah'ed.
"That is fitting. Wolverine, would you like a drink?" I asked him, smiling.
"I could go for a shot of tequila," he replied.
"Good. I will play bartender," I told him, and we strolled back into the room, where I escorted Logan back to his previous barstool and poured his drink for him.
Angel came over and said to me, "Well, bartender, I'll take a martini," while laughing.
Hank ordered a Manhattan, Raven and Sean both took beers, Alex requested a Bloody Mary, and Armando simply had some wine. I took down a full bottle of vodka and took a long swig from it, prompting Angel, Armando, and Alex to all stare at me. "I have an enhanced metabolism," I explained with a chuckle, "Alcohol has no effect on me."
Logan downed his shot of whiskey and leaned across the bar towards me. "That's kinda hot, you know," he told me in a low voice.
"Well, thank you," I said, smiling. Raven had made her way over to a record player, and started some upbeat music, turning the volume up.
"After being alive for so long, I bet you have some amazing stories to tell," He told me, looking into my eyes. His eyes really were beautiful, like pools of molten chocolate. I took another gulp of vodka, and rested my elbows on top of the bar, my face inches from his. I could almost feel his breath, and an excited tingling traveled through me, settling in my chest.
"I am sure you do as well," I replied softly. "I do not think you are as young as you look, either." Raven started to move one of the couches, clearing an open space in the center of the room. When the furniture was out of the way, Raven asked me to pour her and the others more drinks, and I did, this time replacing Raven's beer with a screwdriver, and Sean's with a margarita. Raven drank hers quickly, and let out a whoop of joy. She started to move her hips, and began to dance. Hank, Angel, Armando, Alex, and Sean joined her, all smiling.
I moved out from behind the bar, and sat down on a stool next to Logan. "How did Charles and Erik find you?" He asked me. "I mean, I know Charles can sense other mutants when he's using Cerebro, but, I guess I mean, where did they find you?"
"They found me at my mansion," I told him, and his eyebrows raised at the word mansion, "I have been alive for long enough that I have gotten very good at predicting stocks and bonds. I have become absolutely disgustingly rich by making good investments," I explained to him, making him chuckle. "How old are you?" I inquired.
"One hundred and twenty-seven," He replied. "The name I was born with is James Howlett. When I was ten, I saw my family's groundskeeper, Thomas Logan, kill the man I had been raised to believe was my father. I'm still not sure what happened really, but my claws came out, and I killed him. As he was dying, he told me that he was my real father. My mother had cheated on her husband with him. I ran away with the groundskeeper's son, Victor. He turned out to have a healing ability like me, too. We fought in the Civil War, both world wars, and we've been fighting in Vietnam. But Victor's gotten more and more violent. He tried to rape a Vietnamese woman, and he killed a senior officer who tried to stop him. I didn't know what he'd tried to do, I just walked in on the fight, so I defended him. We got sentenced to a firing squad, and we lived, because of our mutations. A Major William Stryker approached us in military custody, and offered us membership in Team X, a group of mutants he was in charge of. We stayed with them for a few years, and I started using the name Logan, but Victor and the others, they had no regard for human life. I had to leave. So here I am." He smiled at me, or rather, bared his teeth.
"I was born in Greece," I murmured to him. "When I was about eight, I tripped and fell headlong off a cliff. I remember being in terrible pain, then in a few seconds, it faded away. I thought I had died, but then I realized that I was still breathing. That was the first time I healed myself. My father saw it happen, and he was convinced that my abilities meant that my mother had been unfaithful to him, that I was not his child, but the child of a god. That evening, he beat my mother within an inch of her life, and I finally stopped him by throwing myself over her. As I touched her, I suddenly felt the strangest thing. I could feel every wound he had inflicted upon her, and as I was touching her, her injuries disappeared. That was the first time I ever healed someone else. Then he grabbed me and threw me into my room, and locked me inside. While I was stuck there, he beat her to death. Before her funeral, he told me that if I ever told anyone what he had done, he would kill me. It apparently had not occurred to him yet that he was not capable of doing so. Throughout her funeral, he kept a death grip on my wrist, and I wished that he would just shrivel up and die. And then, he did. He turned into a shriveled old man in seconds, and then his flesh disintegrated, leaving only his bones, which turned into dust. And that was the first time I altered the age of someone else."
As I finished speaking, Logan stood, caught me up in his arms, drew me close to him, and whispered, "You are incredible." He kissed me fiercely, and fireworks exploded in my mind. As I closed my eyes, melting into the kiss, he pulled away, scooped me up, sweeping me off my feet, and carried me to one of the couches that was now against the wall, and sprawled across it, laying me in his lap, and kissed me again. I kissed him deeply in return, tasting the whiskey on his lips. He leaned back, laying down on the couch, and I laid on top of him as our lips were locked together in a passionate, desperate embrace. He cupped my face in one of his large hands, while pulling my body closer to his with the other. My mind was blanked of everything but him, and the pleasure that the touch of his hands, his body, and his lips sent shivering through my bones.
"Come on, harder! Harder!" Armando yelled, I'm not sure about what. I thought perhaps he was demonstrating his abilities, and was having someone hit him so that he could show his lack of being hurt by it. I didn't know, I was distracted by the taste and feel of Logan's lips against mine. Raven cheered excitedly.
"What are you doing?! Who destroyed the statue?!" Moira exclaimed. That got my attention. I raised my head, turning my face away from Logan's and towards Moira's voice, and found myself looking at her, Charles, and Erik.
"It was Alex!" Hank blurted out.
"No, Havok!" Raven corrected him, her speech slurring, "We have to call him Havok. That's his name now. And we were thinking, you," she pointed at Charles, "Should be Professor X, and you," she pointed to Erik, "Should be Magneto."
"Exceptional," Erik declared in a sarcastic tone, and started to walked away. Moira followed him.
"I expect more from you," Charles said to us, "I definitely expected more from you, Zoe, after being alive for two thousand years."
"More? What is that supposed to mean? What exactly more did you expect, Charles?" I demanded, sliding off of Logan and moving onto my feet. Erik and Moira paused and turned back to look at me. "I have been surprising people who 'expect more' from me since before your twenty-times-great-grandparents were born. And yes, Erik, we are exceptional. So are you and Charles. We are exceptional; we are mutants, and you know, we can do what needs to be done and still have some fun, as well. The three of you could use some fun. Lighten up. You are angry about the window? I will pay for a replacement. The statue? Erik, can you not fix that?" Erik nodded begrudgingly, and the half of the statue that had fallen down hovered into the air and melded with the half that was still mounted. "I could have taken care of any injuries if anything got out of hand. I could even have erased the effects of the alcohol if I needed to. So tell me, what did you expect? A group mainly comprised of twenty-year-olds to just sit here quietly while we waited for you? You have the ability to read minds, yet you did not expect us to enjoy ourselves?" Raven let out a cheer at the end of what had turned out to be a bit of a speech, though I hadn't intended to talk for so long. Logan smirked at me, seemingly enjoying my outburst.
"She does sort of have a point," Moira muttered to Charles, who looked chagrined by my rant.
"Exactly. Now come on, let me pour you all some drinks," I told them, "You know you want a little break..."
"No, thank you," Moira said tightly.
"Come on, you guys!" Raven pleaded, and Charles shrugged, reluctantly giving in.
"Well, I suppose, since you can reverse the alcohol's effect, Zoe... we might as well. A pint of bitter, please?" Charles requested.
"That is the spirit!" I exclaimed, laughing, and went over to the bar, where I poured Charles his drink.
"Is there any German beer?" Erik asked after a moment of watching Charles.
I checked the shelves of drinks, then questioned him, "Yes, we have Bitburger, is that good?"
"That's perfect," he told me, and I grabbed him a bottle of it and popped the cap off for him, a moment later realizing that with his power, Erik could have easily removed it himself. I handed him his beer and he clinked it against Charles' glass, and said, "Cheers."
"Cheers!" Charles repeated jovially, smiling widely.
"Are you sure you do not want anything, Moira?" I inquired, and she sighed.
"Water," she replied coolly.
"As you wish," I told her, shrugging, and strolled back over to the couch on which Logan lay, propped up on one arm to watch me. "Now, where were we?" I asked him with a smirk.
"I think we were right about... here," He reached over with one arm and pulled me towards him roughly, sending me sprawling across him, and I laughed delightedly. I wriggled up against him and planted my lips on his, and he ran one hand through my hair and cupped my rear with the other.