Karme went after them as soon as the shock and disappointment wore off. Ignoring the sideways looks, she fled from the glass encased concrete prison and sent off to find Charles.

Surprisingly, she found him alone in a conference room. She was expecting him to be with Moira - or at least for Erik to be somewhere near. Faltering as he looked up and his eyes focused on her with small annoyance, Karme stuttered, "Um, knock knock," from where she stood in the open doorway, hand still on the doorknob.

Charles's face sprouted a small smile and he nodded to a seat next to him. Karme shuffled over and sat in her designated spot, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious.

"Um-," she began only to be cut off by his calm voice.

"Listen, Karme, I know I said we could talk, but this really isn't the time. Erik and I have a lot of work. Could we discuss things later?"

Karme nodded her head vigorously. "No, that's fine! I just-"

"Not now, Karme. I'm sorry. "Charles gave her a small, sad smile and looked back down at his papers.

Karme was bewildered. She fiddled in her seat for a few seconds before she got up, making her way back out of the room. At the door she glanced back, expecting Charles to be looking at her or about to call her back – it just seemed something he'd do—but there was nothing. With a troubled frown she closed the door behind her, turning just as she bumped into a sturdy figure.

And then she was on the floor and there was deep laughter above her. She looked up to see Erik, hardly phased, looking down at her with his gruff smile. He offered her a hand up and she flashed back to the bar the previous night as she reached out for it. But then she was on her feet and he was staring at her and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I was just trying to see if I could help…but Charles seemed to think I wanted to tell him my life story." Karme figured he was still standing there because he wanted an explanation when she realized she was standing in front of the door. He had probably just been on his way to see Charles. "Um, but that's not important – sorry," she apologized as she tried to move out of his way. Not realizing their hands where still together, she managed to head-butt him in the face. Her mouth flew open and she held her hands out, stuttering an apology.

"Oh- I'm –ah! I'm so sorry!" She squeaked, wishing she was absolutely anywhere but there.

Erik had stumbled back a step, his hand rubbing gingerly at his jaw as he stared at her with those cold eyes. And, was that amusement? Karme watched as he shook his head and let out a small laugh, involuntarily smiling along with him.

She shook her head. "Really, that was not what was supposed to happen. God, I'm such a klutz."

"You really want to know what's going on?" He asked, completely changing the subject on her. She was confused but nodded her head.

"Come on, I'll tell you." He nodded his head forward, and turned away from the door.

"Really? She asked, her eyebrows rising much further than she would have preferred. Erik rolled his eyes and gave another short bark of laughter. Karme was surprised to be admitting that it really suited who he was; even his laughter sounded rough. She kind of liked it.

"Really," he promised, and she followed him as he began to walk, "besides, apparently Charles isn't in the mood for talking. Did you try head-butting him? He might have given in."

Karme groaned as he laughed again, but she found another smile composing its way onto her face. They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, their footsteps in perfect sync.

Finally, Erik began to speak. "Charles and I are leaving tonight." His words were less of an explanation and more of a declaration, but Karme was intrigued and rather surprised.

"What? Why?" She inquired. He glanced at her sideways. Karme internally nodded; of course he had a problem with 'silly, stupid and child-like' questions. He didn't seem to be the kind of man to settle for the simple things in life. Perhaps he felt they were below him…or maybe he was just too complex to understand them.

"We have information on where Shaw might be. Or, at least, we have information on someone who can tell us where Shaw might be." He answered her nonetheless and it felt like a small victory to her. The good feeling didn't last long. Instead, it was replaced with confusion and distrust. Not that she didn't trust them, she thought she did. At least, she felt like she trusted Charles.

"Without us?" There it was: the big question in her mind. She stopped walking and immediately so did Erik. "What's with that?" She exclaimed, immediately cringing and wishing she hadn't. She felt like a child throwing a tantrum. She cleared her throat, smoothed down her hair and tried again.

"I only mean, what's the point of throwing together a super team if you just leave us behind?" By the look on Erik's face, she hadn't done much better the second time around.

"Charle's little team is a joke." Okay, ouch, Karme thought, but didn't dare interrupt him. "I thought – maybe – it could have been something. But then there you were, partying and acting like children." His words stung. They were sharper than a lot of memories Karme could think up, and she realized they were meant to be insulting, too, which made it all the worse. Why did his words always hurt so much?

"Well, maybe if you and Charles had cared enough to actually tell the team what was going on, then we would have taken this a little more seriously!" She yelled, hating the way her voice rose in pitch. The underlying tone in the conversation was obvious, however. The way he said 'you' she knew it wasn't just the general 'you all' but rather it was also a direct hit at her. She didn't see what the problem was, it wasn't like she had directly betrayed him or anything, yet he acted as if she had.

Erik scoffed – a sound that resonated deep within her heart. She made a face at him. Not her proudest moment.

"Look, we just don't need out super-secret child soldiers, okay?" He flung at her, making her whole face scrunch up in anger.

"But you will and you know it." His face twitched, the anger seemingly leaving for a second before it was back stronger than ever.

"At least let me come with," she forced herself to take deep breaths, trying to be the bigger person. She had barely said anything and he had nearly blown a gasket. Not that she was entirely out of the blame either but…she doubted this was as angry as Erik could get and just thinking about it scared her. She got the notion that it was wise not to mess with him.

Somehow her mouth just wasn't getting the memo.

"Moira's going, right? What's one more 'puny girl'?" She questioned. God, please just shut up. What was she doing? That was a question that seemed to be going through her head with frequency.

Erik's jaw was clenched so hard Karme feared his teeth might shatter. In a moment of weakness her anger deflated and she retreated, letting him take the win. Throwing up her hands, she looked at the ground.

"Right, sorry. I'll just go back to the team. Forget I asked."

"Look at you, calling them your team. You barely know them. It's pathetic." She knew his words were a way of gloating his victory but they didn't sting any less. She had to beg herself not to cry. She shuddered imaging the ways Erik would taunt her then. But then, a miracle happened.

"Are you simply incapable of waiting until we get back? Perhaps then we can talk about you tagging along – if you absolutely insist on it."

Karme's head shot up and she looked at him quizzically. It was going to take her a long time to figure this one out. However, her silence must have freaked him out or gave him severe boredom, because he began to turn away.

"I have to go. Important things to do," his words were a forceful tease, "if Charles is ever busy again, you could just tell me that thrilling backstory you must have." Her eyes widened. He smirked at her and then he was walking away and she was left staring after him, more confused than she had ever been in her whole life. There were so many questions running through her head that it made her feel dazed. Or at least, that was her excuse.

As she made her way back to Raven and the rest of the group, she became certain on one thing; Erik was absolutely infuriating.

What right did that dark, handsome man have to build her up until she's floating in the clouds and then rip her down so easily? She was embarrassed; at least she never seemed to run out of that feeling. Replaying it over and over in her head made her want to tear her eyes out. She had been such a baby!

As she entered the room again, everyone turned to look at her. This time, Karme didn't feel so stressed under all the attention. She'd been expecting it.

"Where'd you run off to?" Alex's smug voice directed her attention over to him as she closed the door.

"I was trying to see what they were doing." Karme explained, earning her the approval of the rest of the group in the form of smiles and agreeing murmurs.

"And?" Angel asked, "What did Charles say?"

"Actually, Charle's was a bit distracted," Karme said honestly and everybody seemingly lost hope and began to talk amongst themselves. Karme shook her head in amusement.

"But Erik told me what was going on. Er, sort of." This gained everyone's attention yet again. Hank look quite impressed and Alex smirked at her, making her do a double take. Did she have something on her face?

But what was most intriguing was the way Raven reacted. She marched right up to Karme, insistent look on her face.

"You talked to Erik?" She demanded. Karme nodded. "Well? What did he say?"

"He just sort of told me that Moira, Charles and he had some work to do."

"That it?" Hank asked, though his eyes were trained on Raven. Karme was tempted to coo at how cute he was.

"He said they were going after someone who knew where Shaw was."

"Great! When are we going?" Alex was already standing, rubbing his hands together. "Finally, I've been waiting for some good action."

"Actually," Karme began sheepishly, scratching the back of her head, "He said we're supposed to stay here until they got back."

Outrage. Everybody began complaining at once, though Alex's voice was unsurprisingly the loudest. Raven threw her hands up and was saying something to Angel who was nodding instantly and even Sean had plopped back down in his chair and pouted. Only Hank seemed to be at a loss for words and Karme was surprised to see him hovering over her shoulder.

She turned to him. "He did call us kids. Said this was a stupid idea."

"He's like that." Hank said, yet again. "He's a complete asshole." Even though Karme should have agreed, she felt oddly offended by Hank's words and instead shook her head.

"Doesn't he have a point?" She asked, though she had no idea why she was defending the aforementioned asshole. Hank narrowed his eyes at her.

"Does it matter if he does?" He countered and Karme became uncomfortably troubled thinking about it. "He doesn't have a right to act like that. Like he's superior to us. We're all the same – we're all mutants. We should all be celebrating, not ranking ourselves in terms of power." He seemed mad and Karme found herself nodding to his words.

"You're right." She gave him a soft smile and he easily returned it. He was quick to look away, and his smile only grew as he did so. Karme followed his gaze to Raven, who had stepped onto a table in the middle of the room. She shook her head. What a lovesick puppy. But she had to admit, Raven definitely looked like she belonged there: the center of everyone's attention.

"Guys. Guys!" Immediately everyone was quiet and looking at her. Even Alex had given up his crusade of violence and folded his arms as he gazed up in her general direction. "So what, we're not going? Yea, it sucks, whatever. But they will not get rid of us that easily!" A quiet chorus of cheering went up through the group, smug hoots and general agreements. Karme simply watched. "We'll be here when they get back and we'll be here even if they kick us out. They wanted us, so here we are. And we're here to stay." She looked across their small group, a smug smile resting on her lips. "They wanted powerful mutants? Well here we are!" More cheering went up, making Karme raise an eyebrow. Was everybody really buying that into this speech? Karme had to admit that it was good, and that Raven certainly was made to be a leader, but her words were thoughts in Karme's head that she'd already settled on. She wasn't going away and she didn't need someone else to help her make that decision.

"Go back to your rooms, get some sleep, and in the morning: we party!" Raven jumped off of the table with a yell as she finished and everyone followed suit with similar yells of their own as they filed out of the room. Karme had to grab at Hank to get his attention as he smiled lazily and walked after her.

"W-what?" He asked, and Karme narrowed her eyes at him.

"What, have you never seen a girl before?" She snapped, but instantly regretted it as a look of shock crossed his face.

"I'm sorry," she apologized eagerly, hand still gripped onto his arm. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into me today. It's been…it's been a rough couple of days. I'm not myself, I promise."

"Hey, it's okay," Hank shrugged and smiled at her and Karme felt even worse. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me," he offered and she could tell it was genuine. He maybe even wanted her to talk with him about it.

"Thank, Hank," she forced a smile. "Listen, that speech was great and all, but shouldn't we really be focusing on something else than, well, partying? I mean isn't that what got us in trouble in the first place? If we want to show Charles and Erik that we're serious, we should be focusing on Shaw."

Hank escaped her grip. "I don't want to show them anything," he said.

"Hank," Karme took a deep breath. "You have to admit-"

"Yea, you're probably right," he cut her off, looking around them at the empty room. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow okay? We can talk." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and left the room, leaving her by herself.

"Great," she mumbled, thinking over the day in her mind. "I guess it's been a long day..week…life for everyone then." She wasn't really tired, but the thought of staying in the room alone for the whole night was enough motivation for her to retire to her room and deal with tomorrow's events tomorrow.

The morning came slow and painfully to Karme, another night of nightmares and haunting images. She felt comforted by the thought that Charles hadn't been there that night to invade her mind. Granted, he said he wouldn't ever again without her permission, but she still felt oddly secure knowing that it wasn't even an option last night.

She washed her hair and let it hang in loose curls as she put on more CIA sponsored sweats, wrapping her hands more loosely and making her way back to the lounge. She briefly wondered how Erik and Charles were doing, but her mind became otherwise occupied as she entered the room and found it to be full of smiling faces. And Alex's, but you can't please everyone.

"Good morning," Sean bumbled to her and she greeted him back as she sat next to Darwin on one of the couches.

"You know there are other clothes in the closets, right?" Raven laughed lightly, glancing at her attire.

Karme shrugged and let out a lame, "oh." Everyone laughed at her, but she found it easily to force herself to laugh along.

They spent most of the morning and afternoon like that, just talking and enjoying each other's company. They got to know each other a bit more, and Karme was glad to find that there were no harsh feelings over the last night from anyone, especially Hank. She was starting to figure everyone out; Raven was definitely the leader, Darwin would make a good solider or friend, Hank was easily offended but genuinely one of the kindest souls she had ever met, Angel on the other hand wasn't her favorite but she was nice enough, Alex was rude and a gigantic jerk yet Karme liked him just fine, and then there was Sean. Karme blamed her incapableness to read him on the fact that he must be high all the time. It was the only explanation.

They had been allowed to order pizzas again, however that worked at a secret CIA base, and had thoroughly enjoyed their meal as Hank told them science-y stories and Alex interrupted in order to get his quota fill of jerk in for the day.

Karme realized that Hank was seriously smart. She had figured out that he had been working for the CIA before Charles and Erik had started recruiting mutants, and he even helped them recruit faster. The fact that he had done all that and at such a young age simply blew her mind but it also made her a bit gloomy. He reminded her so much of her adoptive parents, especially her father, Robert, who had basically the same story. Karme just hoped Hank didn't suffer the same fate.

Soon it began to grow dark out and Karme realized just how fast the time had gone. She had just yelled at Alex – again – for making fun of Hank, who seemed to be his favorite target for some unknown reason. Did he have a thing for Raven, too? She didn't see it. Sure, Raven was ungodly attractive, but Karme couldn't see Raven being Alex's type.

"You," Alex said, pointing at her, "are no fun." His face was serious but his words only poked fun so Karme laughed and gave him a look.

Alex stood up, patting Darwin on the back. "Come on, Adaptor, let's play some pinball. Someone around here's gotta know how to have fun." He looked back at Karme and she feigned offence, causing them both to laugh. Darwin didn't seem to take any offense to the nickname and got up, and the two of them began to play. By the way Darwin lost so easily, Karme figured Alex had a bit more free time in prison than he had mentioned.

She was talking with the rest of the group about nothing really, when two CIA agents came up to their window and started knocking on it.

The one spread his arms and looked to his buddy. "Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town!" He exclaimed and they both laughed. Karme shook her head. Those were grown men, right? This kind of behavior had definitely never been allowed in her home.

The same man turned to Angel, taunting her. "Hey, come on honey, give us a little," he motioned his arms like he was flying, and Karme glanced at the young woman. She looked less than impressed. Hank, however, looked troubled.

"No? Huh, hey how about the foot? Come on, show us the foot," Hank stood up, and for a second Karme thought he was actually going to give those assholes what they wanted. But then he closed the curtains and she let out a small breath of relief.

Raven turned towards Angel. "They're just guys being stupid," she said in an attempt to console her. Angel turned her head to Raven and Karme watched from where she was sandwiched on the other couch between Hank and Sean.

"Guys being stupid I can handle," she said, "ok, I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me."

Raven looked troubled before she added, "At us." Karme shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She hadn't really thought about it much, since the bar. Her whole life used to be dependent on her not going outside, in public for a whole different reason than her being a mutant. But now…was she doomed to stay in hiding forever?

Everyone was just solemnly looking around when there was a weird banging sound. Karme immediately looked back at the pinball machine to see if Alex had kicked it in anger, only to find him and Darwin looking around in confusion as well. There was another noise like it and she made eye contact with Hank. They each shared the same question; what was going on?

A third noise sounded and Darwin took a few steps away from the pinball machine. "What was that?" He patted Alex on the arm, walking away. "Something doesn't feel right." The noises continued as everyone stood up and gathered around the window where Darwin drew the curtains open.

At first they saw nothing, each trying to bend around the other to get a good look at the outside. But then there was a flash of red and Darwin pointed up at the moon where two figures seemed to be floating.

"What is that?"

Then one of the figures disappeared and the body of a CIA agent came crashing towards earth, landing with a sickening crunch right in front of the window. Everybody jumped back, Raven and Angel each giving out screams of terror. Angel grabbed onto Sean as they all backed away, watching as more bodies began to drop for the sky. It was like nothing Karme had ever seen and it chilled her to her bones.

One body crashed into the light fixture right outside and shattered it, causing more screaming, this time Karme was included.

Someone pounded on the glass and screamed at them to get back. They huddled close together as they scurried backwards, their scared gazes trained on whatever was happening just on the other side of that glass.

When a figure teleported behind all the CIA agents all of them screamed and pointed but it didn't seem to do any good. When the shooting began they dove behind the tables and chairs, and Karme was vaguely aware of Alex shoving her behind him. The glass shattered and there was a tornado like thing behind them, causing even more frantic yelling and panicking. Darwin, brave soul that he was, tried to shield them all with his body.

Karme watched helplessly as the red demon thing murdered all the men trying to protect them, clinging desperately to Alex's arm.

"Stay here my ass!" Darwin screamed, waving them up and pointing to an exit to their side. "Let's go!" He led the way as they followed, all running towards a group of CIA agents who immediately tried to stop them, shouting for them to get back.

"We can help! We can help!" Darwin screamed, his voice matched with the others as they tried to be useful. Anything but tiny and scared, Karme pleaded. There was a flash of fire and they all screamed again, Darwin pushing them back to the lounge room that they had just tried to escape.

So there they were, forced to watch in horror as terror rained down on either side of them. The tornado sent a body crashing through the glass behind them and Raven shrieked, causing everybody to huddle up against the back wall and try to watch both sides. It was nearly impossible.

Then the tornado stopped and Karme realized there was a man there, right where it had been. They were mutants! What should have been an exciting thing suddenly terrified her and she let out a cry as the two men started to walk through the broken glass and into the room. Alex made sure he was in front of her, his arms reaching behind him as if that would solve all her problems. But Karme wasn't about to complain.

There was shooting again that jarred them all, and a voice telling someone where the mutants were. Betraying them, giving away their location. It wasn't like it mattered, two others had already found them, but the words still stung.

Suddenly the door opened and a tall man in a suit stepped in, wearing a weird grey helmet. They all stared in silence. Finally, helmet-man decided to speak.

"Where's the telepath?" He asked the red mutant, who looked unsure.

"Not here," he answered in a Russian accent.

"Too bad," the man replied, smiling at them. "Well, at least I can take this silly thing off," he took off his helmet, Karme getting a good look at his long brown hair and overall prideful demeanor.

"Good evening," his blue eyes were piercing. "My name is Sebastian Shaw," Karme gasped, causing Alex to take a glance back at her. This was Sebastian Shaw? Then…were Charles and Erik okay?

"And I am not here to hurt you," he continued as he walked forward. The entire group tensed. One last CIA agent shouted at them but the red mutant, Azazel it turned out, made quick work of him.

"My friends," Shaw greeted with a sickeningly sweet smile, "there's a revolution coming when mankind discovers who we are, what we are, what we can do." He was close now, so close Karme could almost reach out and touch him. It wasn't on her top list of things to do.

"Each of us will face a choice: be enslaved, or rise up to rule." His smile quickly turned into a sneer. "Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then, by definition, you are against us. So, you can stay, fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings." His powerful gaze swept over each of them, taking careful actions to look at everyone thoroughly. Karme had to concentrate hard on not shuddering when their eyes met. She only half succeeded.

She could see the danger in this man, just by being in the same room as him. There was something about him that was just so powerful that it couldn't possibly be good. Being so near to him made Karme want to tuck away and cry. Of course, she couldn't do that. She'd been weak enough as it was these last few days. It was time to suck it up and show no fear. Or, as little fear as possible.

Shaw turned his gaze to Angel. "And queens," he whispered, and Karme looked over to see Angel seriously considering this. She narrowed her eyes and tried to make eye contact, pleading her not to be so stupid. This is the man they had been recruited to stop, not join!

But he offered her a hand and she reached out and took it, letting Shaw lead her away.

"Angel," Raven called after her, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean asked, clearly upset.

"Come on," Angel said, "We don't belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Darwin held out his hand for her to take, but she quickly turned and kept walking with Shaw. The group was stuck in silence. Nobody could believe it.

"We have to do something," Raven decided, and Karme saw Alex nod in front of her. Darwin turned and whispered something to him, and Alex looked skeptical at first but soon he seemed to agree.

"Stop!" He called out, walking out to them. "I'm coming with you." Karme saw Angel smirk and was filled with disgust.

He and Shaw shared a few words before Darwin walked over to Angel and called out Alex's name. The group ran for cover as Darwin shielded Angel and Alex spun off his intense rings of energy.

Karme was so hopeful it was going to work; she almost didn't have any doubts about it. That was, until Shaw seemed to catch the energy in midair and absorb it. He said something that went over Karme's head – she was still stuck on what he just did.

Then Darwin went to punch Shaw but he easily blocked, grabbing Darwin's jaw and forcing his mouth open.

"Adapt to this," he whispered, and proceeded to shove the absorbed energy down his throat.