Rebekah
I dodge through the crowd, loving the enhanced reflexes that allow me to see what people are going to do before they actually do it and react in kind. At the moment, I'm wearing an image inducer over my X-Man uniform. I can't afford to let any skin touch me as I'm still furry under the image of my normal -no, it's not normal anymore -my human form. My normal form is a slender, strong, with cat ears that poke out of my hair. I think I actually look nicer now than I did before. Lots of people have short brown hair, dark brown eye and aren't too short. But I'm pretty unique now. I doubt many people have rich red fur, a long black-tipped tail, sandy-red ears that are longer than your index finger, bitten fingernails turning into long, sharp gleaming keratin which can slide out until they're two inches long.
Right now I'm shopping with Kitty to see what I can get for Kurt's birthday in November. This is the first time I've been out in a public setting after my change a month ago. Everything smells so sharp and strong. I can smell the people and what they've eaten. I can smell who keeps dogs, who keeps cats, who lives with children, who ate what for dinner. Kitty turns to me.
"You OK? Logan said it could be a little overwhelming."
I grin.
"Overwhelming? Kitty, this is great."
"You like it?"
"Kitty, I...I can't explain it. It's like I was deaf and blind my whole life and now I can see and hear. I'm completely new. Right, see the poster in the window over there?"
Kitty squints and then nods.
"Neon green with red writing?"
"Buy one get one free on all chocolate mega boxes."
Kitty charges off and comes back looking amazed, carrying one.
"That's Kurt's present from me sorted. What are you getting?"
"Book. I thought that would make him laugh."
"What book?"
I drag her into a bookstore and as soon as she sees the book she starts giggling.
"Why didn't you say about this? I would so have got this!"
"I wanted to get it!"
We buy 'Nightcrawler- Mutant or Demon?' and leave to get a hot drink. Kitty resorts to hot chocolate and I get a coffee. She stares at me.
"What?"
"You're British."
"Yeah. Your point being?"
"Shouldn't you drink tea?"
"Tea? Kitty, I hate that drink with a passion. The only one I vaguely like is mint tea, when two teaspoons of honey have been added."
She blinks.
"You hate it?"
"OK, I exaggerated. I don't like it."
I don't get to finish this conversation because a boy sits down and just stares at me.
"What?"
"Do you come here often?"
"No. Kit, I've just realised I left the socks I bought in the shop. Would you mind if I shot off..."
She starts to shake her head but the boy grabs my wrist as I stand up.
"Why are you going?"
I pull my hand away, feeling highly thankful I'm wearing the black and purple fingerless gloves. His fingers catch on the side of my watch and I can only watch in horror as he depresses the side button. He recoils and screams.
Instantly people turn and scream as well. I spin round and see Kitty's horrified look and I know the inducer is off. Cries of "Mutie Freak" and "What the..." burn deep.
I've never been the subject to such fear and hatred before. Someone's moving towards me threateningly and I leap away in fear before dropping to all-fours and shooting out through the crowd. They part before me like I'm some sort of monster. And to them, I am.
Isaac
I stopped as I reached the mansion. There was no sign of Rogue anywhere. If it wasn't for Logan's and Victor's heightened senses I would have never the slight rustle to my off to my right. I turned around as Beast made a flying tackle towards me. My training kicked in instinctively and I dodged to the right while bringing my foot into up into Dr. McCoy's face. Why hadn't I smelt him?
The question burned in my mind as he rushed towards me. He smelt of earth. He had probably been crawling through it. Well, that would explain why I hadn't smelt him. I dodged to the right again, narrowly avoiding him.
"I'm not here to fight you Dr. McCoy," I said in what I thought was a reasonable tone.
"You aren't welcome here!" He replied running towards me again. He swung his fist at my face. I phased and his fist passed through me. I sent my own fist into his jaw and then followed up with an elbow. Beast fell to the floor. I wrongly assumed he was finished. As I turned around, he leapt onto my back and raked his claws across my throat. I gave a strangled cry. I phased again and Beast was left holding nothing. Before he could even turn around, I blasted him in the back of the head with Cyclops' laser vision. I made sure he was unconscious before I heaved him onto my shoulder and teleported him a couple of miles away. That would slow him down a bit if he woke up. I returned to the mansion. There was no one in sight. I let my mind reach out and I could immediately detect a mutant presence nearby. I closed my eyes and an unnatural black aura filled my vision. Rogue.
Just as I was about to start off to find her, I felt a powerful aura flash by. I reached out for it and then pulled back sharply. A sharp pain filled my head and I had to shake my head to clear it.
Only Rebekah would be powerful enough to give me a headache. I poked my head out of the bushes. Rebekah was in cat form streaking towards the mansion. Bekah suddenly ground to a halt and spin around. I ducked back behind the bushes quickly. I peered through the trees.
Rebekah was sniffing the air curiously. She suddenly changed direction and started towards where I was hiding. I didn't wait for her to get any closer. I teleported, knowing the smell of brimstone would throw her off slightly. I just had to hope that Cerebro was still broken. Otherwise they would be able to track me down easily. Rogue's aura was close now. Her scent was everywhere.
"So you came?" Rogue said from behind me.
"Of course I came. You asked me didn't you?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd come. You took a while."
"I kind of bumped into some trouble along the way."
I turned around. Rogue gasped. I looked down at my t-shirt. The once white material was stained red with blood. I had completely forgotten about the gash Beast had given me. I touched my throat sub-consciously. The cut had healed already.
"What happened?" Rogue asked.
"It doesn't matter. Are you really my cousin?"
"As soon as I saw you I knew it was you. I've only met my cousin in this universe a couple of times but even so, you are definitely the spitting image of him."
"But you look hardly anything like my cousin in my world. She's smaller, with really dark hair. I just can't believe you're my cousin."
"Well, if you want to be technical, we're not really cousins 'cause you're from a different world. But I guess you could say we're alternate universe cousins."
"Maybe that's why I ended up with the powers I did."
"That's possible."
"But why didn't you tell me sooner? Why all the subliminal messages, and the little hints?"
"I just couldn't bring myself to tell you at first. It would have been a little weird for me to just jump up and say 'Hi, you're my cousin.' After that, I just couldn't find the time. Then you joined the Brotherhood. That was a shock for me. I was going to tell you that time at the mansion but Kitty interrupted. I assumed you'd figure it out eventually."
I was about to say something when I froze. Someone was here.
"What's wrong?" Rogue asked.
"I don't know," I replied. I stared all around, allowing my senses to take over. I reached out with my mind. The X-men weren't here yet. I heard the gentle sound of metal rubbing against metal.
"Run!" I shouted. Rogue was already gone.
"Open fire!" A voice rang out. Rocks and trees suddenly came to life and started shooting. I dived out the way as bullets riddled the floor. I looked in the general direction of the shooting and built up the heat in my eyes. The energy flowed out of me like tears, and then shot towards the enemy. The earth exploded. I reached out with my mind. I couldn't detect anything. These people were humans attacking innocent mutants again. Among the humans I could detect the same black aura as before. That must be Rogue. I teleported towards her. She was hiding in the shadow of a tree, her usual dark green clothing blending in with the foliage.
"What's happening?" I asked. Shouts mingled with the groans of injured men as they searched for us.
"I took one guys memories. They intend to attack the mansion. They bumped into us accidentally," Rogue replied.
"Who are these guys? And what do they want? They're definitely professionals. I didn't see, hear or smell them until it was too late."
"Well, you're right about that. They're the elite squad of the Mutant Registration Act. They think Professor Xavier's hiding unregistered mutants."
"But why now? They could have done this years ago," I asked.
"It's just a random raid they've decided to do."
"With real bullets? Doubtful."
"If they plan to do anything else, the soldier's memories don't reveal anything about it."
"Fate must really hate me. I keep getting mixed up with the X-Men's troubles."
"You could just go."
"What about you?"
"Well I guess I could stay here and get shot," Rogue said.
"Well, I don't much of a choice."
I reached out my mind. The X-men were on their way but they wouldn't make it in time. They were probably trying to determine where the explosion had come from.
"Look out!" Rogue shouted. I turned round and looked straight down the barrel of a gun. The sound of a gunshot and a loud 'bamf' merged together. I appeared on the man's back and rapidly teleported several times. When I finally came to a stop, the man was unconscious.
Unfortunately, the gun shot had attracted the attention of every soldier in the area. I turned to Rogue.
"Get out of here. Go fetch the X-men."
"What about you?"
"I'll stay here and keep these guys busy."
"You'll die!"
"No I won't," I said with a smile. "It'll be fun."
"If you say so," Rogue said jumping up. "I'll be back in a tick."
"Cool. I'll see you later."
Rogue jumped up and started running. Bullets followed her every footstep. I quickly jumped out to draw attention to myself. I built up the energy in my eyes and belted it towards them. Again, there was a huge explosion, followed by agonized screams. I turned my eyes to the skies and shot a blast into the air. Hopefully, the X-men would try to follow the beacon. A shot rang out and hit me in the head. I awoke seconds later. My healing factor was working on overdrive. I could feel the men closing in on me. I teleported amongst them. Sabretooth's training may have been horrible at the time but it was paying off. My body worked in perfect coordination with itself.
I felt unstoppable. Full grown adults fell before me like bowling pins. I teleported behind a tree tore it from the earth. I threw the tree as hard as I could towards the soldiers. I could feel the first signs of exhaustion seeping into me. I couldn't keep this up forever. I could only hope the X-men would arrive soon. Then I would have to scamper quickly. I hope they would forgive me over what happened to Dr McCoy. Probably not.