Ellie's wings rustled nervously against her back as she ascended the steps into the anthropology department. She wasn't exactly expecting a large turnout (she was a woman after all), but the more people there were, the higher the risk she was taking by doing this. Charles was furious, more angry than she'd ever seen him before. He hadn't said a word to her on the way to the university, and the only time he'd looked at her, his incredible eyes had been icy and cold. It hurt her heart to see him so angry with her, but didn't he see that it had to be done? He fit in so easily. Raven did not, so neither would she. The world needed to know.

Determined but fearful, she adjusted her shoulder strap and entered the building.

Oh, dear God be with me. She sent a silent prayer to the heavens as the sheer volume of humans rushed out to greet her. She'd never expected this many people to attend her lecture, not in a million years. There must have been at least a hundred of them, possibly many more (she was terrible with numbers). So many people to see her for what she was. So many opportunities for kindness to fail and fear to win them over. Well, there was no going back now. With her heart hammering loudly in her chest, she stepped up to the podium and began to speak.

She smelled their fear the first time she pivoted to pick something up out of her bag. She heard the shocks and gasps that they tried to conceal. She heard them start to get up and she heard them leave. She never faltered, not once, even as she was holding her breath and waiting for the shot that would end her right there on the stage. It never came. People didn't usually bring guns with them to lectures, but she would need to be careful from now on. Now that everyone knew about her mutation, there would be guns in her lecture halls. She had to be prepared.

By the time she had finished, there were only about ten people left in the auditorium. They all sat on the front row, watching her back with eyes bright and wondrous. They probably weren't really listening to her speech anymore, but at least they hadn't left yet. When she stepped down they rushed her, shaking her hands and ooing and ahing and reaching out to touch her feathers. Ellie really didn't think that they were dangerous so she let them until they had all migrated out the door, chatting excitedly amongst themselves.

The door thudded shut and silence fell just as she collapsed into the nearest chair, her pent up tension from the last hour escaping in a rush of trembles and ragged gasps for air. She was alive. Nearly everyone had gotten up and left, but she was alive. Now, to get out of this ridiculous dress, find Charles and have a little fun.

After she'd run home and put on something a bit more comfortable (like her favorite skirt, black boots and a blazer) she still had time to catch the last few minutes of Charles's presentation. Maybe if she did and he saw she was unharmed he wouldn't be so angry anymore. It was a longshot, but she would take it.

The first thing she noticed upon entering the (much larger and more full) auditorium was a woman lurking around just inside the door. She was so far away from the stage that Charles's words were horribly muffled and nearly indiscernible. What exactly was she doing way back here? The woman eyed her warily. It's a good thing she'd already put her wings away, but she still couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable under the woman's oddly suspicious gaze. Hm, nervous little thing. As Ellie swept past she got a whiff of the woman's scent. She smelled of government, old leather and secrets, but there was something else. Ah yes, fear. The woman was rank with fear. The scent grew stronger as she moved in the direction the air conditioning was blowing. It was a wonder that the others around couldn't smell it too.

The auditorium was dim, but even in the dark she could see that it was nearly overflowing. People were sitting or standing in the aisles and she had to push past many of them to get to where Raven was seated. God bless Raven, she'd saved one seat just for her.

"How'd it go?" Raven whispered when she took it, rubbing her hip as the constant ache began to mount in intensity.

"Not very well. Just about everyone got up and left, but I'm still here so it wasn't a total loss." Raven's lovely blue eyes darkened and her lips turned down in a sympathetic frown.

"I'm sorry."

"Ah, like I said, I'm still here," Ellie replied sounding far more chipper than she actually was. That lecture had been a disaster. The entire world would soon know about her and then she, Charles and Raven would be in serious danger. Even so, she was convinced that it had been the right thing to do. "Is he almost finished?" He was really getting into it now. His crystal eyes were lit up like they always did when he got excited about his work. It was almost the same look that small children get on Christmas day, as if he's just found something wonderful like the solution to all man's problems. Who knows? Maybe he had. He was beautiful up there, lit from above by a single golden light, his cream-and-roses English skin as fine as porcelain. He positively glowed with excitement and it only made him all the more alluring to her. She found herself watching the small gestures he made, a flick of the wrist, a tiny step forward, and committing every single one to memory. He enraptured her as surely as he had enraptured his audience. They didn't really come here to listen to a lecture about genetics. They came for Charles.

Ellie's fiery green eyes dimmed to a warm ember filled with too many emotions to name them all, but Raven could identify a few. There was awe and fascination and appreciation and one more thing she didn't think even Ellie had noticed yet. Oh boy, this was going to take some serious skill to hide from him. Thankfully, she'd had years of practice and he tried his best to keep out of her head.

As soon as Charles had finished (panting slightly with a light sheen of sweat on his brow) and the audience had concluded its standing ovation (finally), he gathered his things and joined the two of them on the front row, shaking a thousand hands and returning a thousand smiles. After what seemed like hours, the auditorium began to clear out and the three were given a little bit of space.

"You made it," he said, smiling gently at the young woman sitting beside his sister. She was safe, thank God and that took a little bit of the edge off of his earlier anger. It was rash, yes, but it did need to be done sooner or later. She hadn't been completely forgiven, especially for the surprise attack when he'd tried to stop her, but her intentions had been purely selfless and he had to respect that about her.

Relief and happiness flooded through her and his own smile imprinted itself firmly in her memory. "I did," she said, looking quite a bit shocked herself. "Everyone got up and left, but I'm still in one piece." She looked over her body and patted herself a few times for emphasis.

"I see that, and I am glad for it. Now, who wants to have a bit of fun tonight?" He needed to have fun and his girls were just the two people he wanted to spend time with right now. The breath he'd been holding since Ellie had grown her wings that morning escaped in a gratifying rush and he flung his arms over their shoulders and led them out of the auditorium with the last few spectators. Charles was the only one aware of the CIA operative that followed them out, hanging back and hoping that no one saw her. On any other occasion, Charles wouldn't have hesitated to read her thoughts, find out what she was after, but today was different and all he wanted to do was what he wanted to do. "The thesis has been finished and the lecture has been given. Off to the nearest pub!" His sister and his best friend wrapped their arms around him in return and the three of them set off, tension melting out of their shoulders like hot butter.

OxOxO

The Foxhunter was filled nearly to the brim with young people just let out from classes or fresh from Charles's presentation. It was loud, it was raucous and it was packed with Oxford students who had been bursting at the seams for weeks under the pressure of exams and finishing their degrees, but the trio thought it was just what they needed.

Within five minutes, Charles had shed his jacket and acquired a yard of ale from some idiot who dared suggest the stupid game. He took the glass and glanced up at the two girls wearing two very different expressions. Raven seemed to be egging him on with her eyes, beaming from ear to ear while Ellie was eyeing him skeptically, her body language and her thoughts telling him that she didn't think he could do it.

"What?" he asked. "Don't you believe in me?" He would show her. He could be fun. He could handle a little bit of alcohol just as well as she could.

"That's one magical eyebrow you have Charles. How do you get it to levitate like that?" She lounged back against the bar languidly, her muscles stretched taut in a way that screamed quiet strength. She was channeling a serpent today, and she was coiled to spring at whatever dared challenge her. Again, he had to actively stop himself from staring. "I don't think you have it in you." Now that was just insulting. Charles Xavier did not take insults lightly.

"Oh, and I suppose you think you could do it?" He was just asking for trouble now. He knew her animal brain would hear the challenge in his words and have no choice but to accept. Although, that may not actually be a good thing.

"Come on now, Charles, you know you shouldn't be baiting her like that," Raven said. As usual, she was right.

"I know I can. First to the finish then?" Ellie either didn't hear or didn't care. Within moments she had an identical glass in her hand and the other hand perched imperiously on her hip. Defiance and confidence radiated from her psyche and her body language, but he knew that there was much more to her than that. It was a mask used to hide her true personality that was actually quite gentle and insecure. That lecture had really taken a toll on her and her self-esteem had gone down quite a lot, poor girl. From her first day of life she'd had to stand tall and firm as a rock, weathering whatever storm came her way and never letting her guard down for a moment lest she crumble into a million pieces. He'd only seen through that shell a few times and it had been an experience he wouldn't soon forget.

"You're on." And so the race began.

The two of them stood in the middle of a cheering crowd, each perched on a chair as they flipped their absurdly long tube-like glasses up and started to drink out of the too-wide mouth. The cold glass bit into the soft flesh of the corners of their mouths and the amber liquid felt odd as it wetted the skin of their upper lips, trying to escape. Ellie's eyes stayed firmly locked on Charles the entire time, her drink disappearing smoothly into her throat without so much as one spilt drop. Charles did ok for a while and it looked as if he might actually win, but then he started having difficulty keeping the drink from getting past him, not to mention Ellie's unblinking stare that bored into him and made him feel quite self-conscious. The many jumbled thoughts of the many drunken adolescents also meddled with his focus. They were just so loud! And everywhere and inside his mind, pressing in and…

The last drop of ale vanished down Ellie's impressive gullet seconds before Charles's did. Damn, he thought he had her for once. Ah well, he would concede gracefully like the man he was.

An enormous cheer went up through the throng of on-lookers. Ellie herself led the charge, raising her hands into the air whooping it up like some sort of Comanche warrior and brandishing her glass like a tomahawk. Charles couldn't help but laugh at the sight (that probably had more to do with the pleasant buzz he was getting than anything else). Raven stood beside them, cheering and clapping them both on the back as she helped them down from their pedestals.

"Well," Charles declared when the din finally lowered to a somewhat more bearable decibel. "I need another drink, and you need another cola." He patted his sister gently and made his way to the bar where a pretty blonde woman was eyeing him. Hmmm….lovely.

Ellie and Raven sat at a recently vacated table to wait for him to get back. He needed space when he got rejected anyway.

Who says that's all I'm after? Ellie jumped when he asked.

I do. I know you, Charles. Don't think we don't see you making a beeline for the pretty woman. Just hurry up with our drinks please. He never even made it that far.

Mere moments before he made contact with the blonde he was intercepted by a woman who smelled oddly familiar. She had auburn hair and a serious face. Wait a moment, old leather and secrets. It was that woman from Charles's presentation. The look she was wearing contained far too much purpose for this to be a chance meeting. She'd been waiting to get him alone. But why? She scented no malice from the woman, just fear. Hmmm…

"Who is that?" Raven asked.

"Don't know yet. I'll try to take a listen," Ellie responded, subtly shifting her weight so that her right ear was pointed in Charles's direction and tucking her hair behind it so it wouldn't obstruct the sound. Perfect. She could hear every word they were saying. "This one's 'mutation' is her auburn hair. Yep, there goes 'groovy' again and…wait-"

"Wait what?" Raven said, shaking her arm urgently. "What are they saying?"

"Ok, ok, calm down," Ellie swatted her hand away and closed her eyes. This was delicate work and she needed to concentrate. Their low voices were difficult enough to make out without the rest of the crazy loud kids in here and Raven shattering her focus. "I'll just relay the conversation…

"That routine may work on the co-eds, but I'm here on business," she said, cupping her hand behind her ear and repeating the woman's words. A dark sense of foreboding began to grow in the pit of her stomach. The woman's voice was deadly serious. "The kind of mutations you talked about, I need to know if they may have already happened."

Ellie broke away for a moment, looking at Raven fearfully with an exclamation of, "Shit." Just as quick, she leaned forward and resumed the position, watching Charles now. His eyes had widened and he had two fingers to his temple, his expression growing steadily more and more astounded as the woman started to look a bit disgusted.

"I'll just come back when you're sober," Ellie repeated, slipping easily back into her almost-trance.

Her voice deepened in an approximation of Charles's accented voice. "I have a feeling you already know the answer to your question. This is very important to me, and if I can help, I will do my utmost."

"Thank you."

Charles, Ellie thought, an unspoken question saturating her mind voice.

Tell you later, he brushed her off, too focused on the gravity of whatever he'd just seen to focus on anything else.

"What the hell is going on?" Raven's eyes were wide with apprehension, one that Ellie shared. Whatever he'd seen had shaken him and it took quite a lot to shake Charles Xavier. This wasn't good.

"I don't know, come on," she said, rising from the table and motioning for Raven to do the same. Charles and the woman were making their way over to them now, both with the same looks if apprehensive contemplation on their faces.

It isn't good, that much I can tell you. His eyes flashed up to meet Ellie's for a brief moment, a dark crease beginning to form between his brows. Whether it was in concentration or fear she didn't know.

"Raven, Ellie, this is Moira MacTaggert, an operative for the CIA," he introduced the stern-looking woman with a vague and distracted gesture in her direction. He was having a difficult time picking out the individual thoughts running around his head, some of which weren't his. There were simply too many to sort and analyze here in this place that was so full of everyone else's babbling minds. "Ms. MacTaggert, this is Raven, my sister and Ellie, a colleague and dear friend." He was also trying to pick out more details from her active mind, but he'd already seen everything she had and just because he had the ability to read top-secret files from her mind didn't mean he would. It was still illegal and he would not be using his abilities to take advantage. "Ladies, we have much to discuss and here is not a safe place for it. We have to get home as quickly as possible."

"Do you mean-" Raven started, but he already knew what she was going to ask.

"No, we have to go home to Westchester. We'll get the things we truly need and have the rest shipped there later."

"You know, I never really realized just how rich you are until you said that." Charles, what's wrong? Her voice-both physical and mental-were tipped with sulfur fear that she was trying desperately to hide. She sensed that something was very wrong. She really was more observant that he gave her credit for, a direct result of her animal mind.

Not here, not now. He tried to be soothing, tried to press calm into her mind with is words. This was not the place. Swift, he needed to be swift. The United States government had to be warned, they needed to get their things and they needed to get back as soon as possible. "Come on, and be quick," he said, ushering the women out ahead of him and down the street to the house.

What had this woman been doing to have seen the things she'd seen? A woman made entirely of diamond and a devilish looking man who simply appeared in the middle of the room in a plume of fire and brimstone. Mutants, other mutants who weren't exactly using the abilities for the greater good. If they were, they sure had a funny way of showing it. That man they took, Moira had seen him before. She recognized him and from what Charles gathered, he was quite important. Colonel…Colonel something or other. Her thoughts were too erratic for him to isolate his name. Any other day he might have been able to if given the time, but his own mind was such a whirlwind right now that he couldn't even process his own thoughts. Who the hell were these people and what exactly were they planning for the colonel? The whole affair gave him a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He got the sense that this went far beyond a simple question about mutations.

No one said anything as they arrived at the house and gathered a few essentials. Charles put in a call to have the rest of their things delivered back to Westchester and they were off again, this time for the airport. An oppressive silence fell as soon as the last car door was shut, none of the four speaking a word. Ellie kept throwing glances at Moira containing too many emotions to discern. Raven stared ahead with an expression of thoughtful fear. By the time they arrived at the airport, the silence was so thick that it was hard to breathe. Everyone's minds were running frantically in circles, wondering, worrying and figuring. It was beginning to give Charles a bit of a headache. Ellie was nearly chomping at the bit to hammer him for details, but she had enough sense and respect for him to hold her tongue and her thoughts in check. He glanced over at her where she was staring steadfastly out the window with a stubborn crease in her brow. Her chin was resting on the heel of her hand with her fingertips touching her lips lightly. The light from the dying sun sparkled off of the many facets in her emerald eyes and set her hair on fire. The scar on the side of her face was the only sign that a human inhabited that stony body. It was the only signal that this creature was actually mortal, but it did not lessen the aura of strength that she exuded.

They boarded the plane at exactly six o'clock that evening, but it was so full already that they had to separate. Charles and Moira took two open seats near the front of the plane while Raven and Ellie were forced to sit together on the last row. Their meager possessions were small enough to be carry-ons and they stowed easily in the compartments above their seats. They were in the air safely before either of the two women decided to speak.

"What on Earth is going on, Ellie?" Raven asked, her eyes wide with fear.

Ellie sighed. "I don't know, Raven. Charles won't tell me. I take it he didn't tell you either," she said, pointing up to where he was deep in conversation with Moira. "Look at them up there. He was really thinking hard about whatever it is. The things he saw in her mind are really worrying him and that's cause enough for us to worry too." She shook her head in confusion. "He'll tell us as soon as it's safe."

"Do you think it's really something to worry about? I mean, maybe it's nothing," she whispered, eyes darting back and forth and running her fingers through her hair nervously. Fear rolled off her in sour waves and Ellie really wished she'd quit. She was grabbing at straws now, trying to convince herself that nothing was really wrong. Poor girl. She was young and Charles had protected her from everything he could think of. She'd become an optimist and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Raven, don't kid yourself," Ellie said, laying a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Charles is worried, so we should be too. Be brave kiddo."

"Brave? How can I be brave when I'm scared shitless about something I don't even know about yet?"

"I didn't say fearless, Raven," Ellie said, leaning forward to look her directly in the eye. "Bravery isn't the absence of fear, but the acknowledgement that fear is there and doing what's right despite it. And what's right right now is to remain calm and be prepared for whatever comes." Raven nodded once and a steel glint lit up her face. She would be ok.

Satisfied, Ellie leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, allowing sleep to claim her.

OxOxO

Wow! That story is exactly 4,000 words! Anyhow, I'm out of town for a while so my updates may become slightly erratic and delayed. Sorry about that but it has to be done and don't fear, I will update as often as I can!

Thanks to my reviewers and everyone who put this story on alert or favorited it! As always, I implore you to give me your thoughts!

Next time, the story really begins to pick up!