Stretching, Lorna sat up in Alex's bed and blinked blearily at the sun peeking through the slightly open curtains. She turned her head and looked at the clock; half past seven. A warm hand smoothed down her bare back, and she looked back to smile at Alex. "Good morning."
"Morning," he greeted, voice hoarse.
"Thanks for being a good stress reliever," Lorna joked, sliding off the bed to slip her underwear and bra back on and put the tee shirt Alex was wearing the day before on.
"Anytime. By the way, you look good in my clothes," he remarked, getting out of bed himself and pulling his briefs on. She just smiled at him and gathered up the rest of her clothes and shoes.
"What time can we expect more people to be up?" She questioned.
"Breakfast is at nine, so really anytime. I'd hurry, though, if you want to grab a shower first," he offered.
"Good idea." Lorna walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss. "I think this will be the start of a beautiful friendship," he added.
"Agreed."
Lorna peeked her head around the doorframe after opening the door to make sure that the hallway was clear, and tip-toed to her own room. She reached it in a minute or two and as she was reaching for the doorknob, she heard movement behind her and stiffened. "Walk of shame?" Lorna turned her head and saw Raven standing there, eyes alight with amusement. "And is that the shirt Alex was wearing yesterday?" The amusement brightened. "Was he good?"
"So good," Lorna whispered, pushing the door open as Raven laughed. She shut the door behind her and fell on to her bed. She can't believe this did that. Sure, she enjoyed sleeping with Alex. He was good in bed, attractive and an attentive lover during sex. She felt she was cheating on Marcos, though. They technically hadn't broken up.
Lorna missed Marcos. There was no denying that. She missed his dark, expressive eyes. The shy smile he'd give her when it was just the two of them. She missed the way the aurora borealis would light up around them when they kissed. Was he still hers to miss still?
She suddenly couldn't wait to be finished with all the training. It was part of the deal that she has no contact with the outside world for the four months she'd be away, so there was no way she could contact him, or anyone from the Underground. Her chest ached with want, with need to see her friends again.
With a renewed strength, Lorna gathered up some clothes for the day and made her way to the bathroom down the hall. The bathroom still looked in pristine condition, so she knew she was the first to use it that morning.
She spent most the shower thinking about Marcos and her friends, wondering how they were doing, when there was a knock on the door. "Just a minute!" She shouted, quickly shutting of the water.
"Lorna? Can I come in and take a leak?" Lorna rolled her eyes, hearing Alex, and with a wave of her hand, the door unlocked and swung open. Alex walked in, now clad in a pair of sweats and a plain white tee. He did his business while she dried off, pulling her growing hair into a wet ponytail and slipping on some black leggings, a dark green sports bra, and a black V-neck long sleeved shirt. As she slipped on a pair of dark green converse, Alex questioned, "would you like to go for a run with me before breakfast?" Lorna nodded.
"Sure, meet you outside in five?" He nodded and they exited the bathroom together and were met with an icy stare. Lorna felt a blush creep across her face as Erik stared them both down.
"I'll see you in a minute," Alex said, walking away from the awkward situation. Lorna moved to do the same, but Erik stopped her.
"Is he treating you right?" Lorna threw up her hands in frustration as she whirled around to face him.
"We aren't dating! We're having fun, that's it. What, are you deciding to be a father now after almost twenty-six years?"
"I didn't know, Lorna!" He snapped. "You can't punish me for not being there when Suzanna never told me she was pregnant." He took a step back and ran a hand through his hair. "She was married, and we only slept together once. Even if I did know she was pregnant, I probably would have assumed you were her husbands'. She probably thought the same thing."
"I know you didn't know," Lorna assured with an eye-roll. "But I have twenty plus years of daddy issues to work through. Let me be angry." She stalked off down the hallway and down the stairs to meet Alex at the front doors. He was waiting, still in a pair of sweatpants, but he had a sweatshirt pulled over the tee and some black sneakers on.
"You good?" He questioned. She nodded.
"Yep. Now, are you ready to eat my dust?"
After a few weeks she and Alex still had sex to blow off steam, but they both agreed that there were no feelings involved, but a deep friendship developed between them. She and Charles meditated to help her find her inner peace more easily and help her clear her head.
Lorna and Raven sparred daily, both enjoying the competition. She had also met one of the other twenty-somethings in the house; Sean Cassidy, or Banshee. She found out about his gift when she was woken up to loud shriek from outside and breaking glass. She also could've sworn that she heard Hank let out a loud growl. Though, it might have been her.
She helped Jean with her telekinesis. Lorna would lift metal objects and would have Jean attempt to push against her hold.
Lorna and Erik were a whole other story all together. She understood where he was coming from. She wasn't stupid. She just hated that her childhood suffered because of him.
They talked after a couple weeks of silence; he admitted to Lorna what his childhood was like as a Jewish citizen in a concentration camp. What Shaw did to him. She talked about what it was like with Danes, what it was like living on the streets after her powers manifested. What she accomplished in the Underground with John Proudstar at her side at first, and then with Marcos joining them. Her abandonment insecurities concerning Marcos and their relationship.
Lorna decided to give him a chance to be her father; he wholeheartedly accepted. Their training got better after that rift between them was broken.
The last week she was with them, Lorna moved the satellite dish. They had a celebratory dinner in her honor that night. "Why don't you stay here?" Ororo questioned. "Do you have to go back?"
"As much as I would like to stay, I have to go back to Georgia. The Mutant Underground needs me, too," she sighed. Lorna did truly want to stay with them. The Westchester County mansion felt like home. Maybe even more than the Underground did, which she didn't even think was possible.
They had become her, dare she say it, family.
"We're going to miss you," Jean said, morosely.
"I'm going to miss you all, too."
Later that night, she and Alex were lying in her bed, her head was pillowed on his grey cotton-clad chest, her dark green hair haloed around her. She hadn't cut it since prison, so her hair was now almost to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Alex traced a lazy pattern lightly into the bare skin of her arm as they cuddled. "Do you think you and Marcos are going to work things out?" He questioned. Lorna shrugged half-heartedly.
"I don't know. I want to say yes, but I've barely thought about him for the past four months. How is that fair to him? I used to think that he was the one. The love of my life. I don't think he is anymore," she mused. She lifted her head slightly to rest her chin against his chest so that she could meet his eyes. "What about you? Did you ever think you found her? Or him?" He rolled his eyes at the comment. "What? I don't judge."
"No, there was never a him. There were a couple of girls; a nurse named Annie. After her, there was a girl named Scarlett; I thought we were it, you know? She was around when my abilities manifested; she talked me into locking myself up. I almost hurt her once. Blew a giant hole in the side of her apartment during an argument." Lorna rubbed her hand soothingly along his side.
"I'm so sorry, Al."
"Don't be. I'm sure she's around somewhere. Just have to find her. Although, I don't know how anyone is going to top you in bed, Lore," he teased, tightening his hold on her playfully.
"I am quite a catch, obviously. Once you find her, you know I'm going to need to meet her, right? She needs the best friend approval."
"Well, duh," he answered and pulled her closer, nuzzling his face into her hair. "No, go to sleep. I'm tired." Lorna smiled and closed her eyes.
Yeah, this was family.
"You can't leave!" Ororo yelled, her arms tight around Lorna's waist. The older woman ruffled the teen's shock of white hair fondly.
"This isn't going to be the last time you see me, Stormy. I promise." Ororo pulled away and Jean took her place.
"Who's going to toss around a metal ball without physically touching it with me?" Lorna's gaze snapped to Erik for a moment and then back to Jean. The redhead's nose scrunched up. "Erik? Absolutely not. He'd probably aim for my head."
"Heard that," Erik piped in, making Lorna snicker in amusement. Charles wheeled himself forward and smiled up at her, his blue eyes shining with warmth.
"Take care of yourself, Lorna. I only spoke with Director Fury for a few moments, but I feel he knows something is coming that he wants to use you to fight," he warned. "Keep your wits about you, and please check in every once in a while. Come back anytime; this is your home now, too." Lorna's pale green eyes misted over and she bent down to give the telepath a tight hug.
Erik was next; he didn't say anything at first, just cupped her face gently in his large palms. "Stay safe," he ordered. "I can't lose another member of my family."
"I'll be fine," she replied softly. "I was trained by the best." He wrapped his arms around her tightly for a couple moments before pulling away and taking a step back. Lorna didn't take it to heart; she learned early on that Erik wasn't big on emotions or public displays of affection.
Scott hugged her for a quick second, Hank and Raven following. Azazel and Janos just gave her respectful nods as a sendoff. She didn't really talk to them much, they mainly stuck together with Angel and Erik, but she and Azazel surprisingly bonded over burnt pancakes at three o'clock in the morning once and she Janos sat quietly in the library one cold night. The fire was roaring as a soothing background noise from the fireplace as they each read their own books quietly.
Angel, however, was a whole other story. The two never seemed to be able to get along. The other woman's nose crinkled slightly in a sneer and turned away down the hall. Lorna rolled her eyes. Stuck up bitch.
Her splash of anger quickly dried up as Alex smiled at her and lifted her in a hug. He put her back down and reached into his pocket for a piece of paper. "Here's my cellphone number. Once you get your phone back, text me to let me know you're alive, please."
"Will do." She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It was fun, handsome."
"You're still my favorite, beautiful." They smiled brightly at each other before a throat cleared. Lorna turned her head to see Phil Coulson standing there in his signature immaculately pressed suit.
"Coulson," she greeted coolly.
"Miss Dane," he replied in kind. "Nice to see you again."
"Likewise."
"Are you ready? There's a jet waiting to take you back to Georgia." She nodded, giving everyone one last tearful goodbye before following him out to what looked like the same unmarked SUV that brought her to Charles' school two months previous.
The drive to the airport was silent. Lorna stared out the window as a red metal amulet Erik had given her once she gave him a change twirling lazily in the air between her fingers. They reached the airstrip quickly and Lorna saw Fury waiting on the tarmac. "Looks like the school did wonders for you," he commented as soon as she walked towards him. Someone took her bags from her and she raised an eyebrow at Fury.
"What's next?"
"What's next is you go back to the Mutant Underground and try not to get arrested again," he ordered as he handed her a new cellphone. "All of the information from your old phone has been programed into this one. Including my number. You see my name flash across that screen, you fucking answer. Do you understand?" The seriousness in his eyes made any smartass retort she had planned freeze on her tongue.
"Understood," she answered, looking down at the phone now in her hands. Newest Starkphone. Nice. "You call, I answer."
"Damn right. Now get the hell out of here." She nodded and boarded the jet. It was a private jet, so there was no one else in there with her except Coulson. He watched Supernanny the whole flight and Lorna sent a quick text of the view out of the jet to Alex to make him jealous.
"We're approaching Atlanta." Lorna looked out the window and her heart jumped from her chest and into her throat.
This was it.
Letting out a sigh of frustration, Marcos Diaz ran a hand through his dark brown hair tiredly. For the past four months, he had been going behind the members of the Underground's backs to help his ex-girlfriend, Carmen Guerra, smuggle drugs across the Mexican border. Again. As well as smuggle mutants across the border before Sentinel Services could get to them. Like Lorna. God, he missed Lorna. Sentinel Services arrested his girlfriend almost five months previous while they were trying to get a fellow mutant, Clarice, out of their sights and to safety. The managed to achieve their goal, but Lorna was the price.
Could he even call her his girlfriend anymore? He had no idea where she was or what she was doing. He, on the other hand, had been sleeping with Carmen for about three months. At first, it was just to get her help in finding a way to break Lorna out of prison, but old feelings emerged from the depths he buried them in, and Marcos fell back in love with the newly appointed drug lord.
"Marcos!" John, or Thunderbird as some would call him, called out loudly. Marcos stood up quickly and took off towards his friend. He rounded a corner and John, Clarice, and Sonya were standing in front of the building doors. Sonya looked over at him, dark brown eyes shining worriedly.
"Someone is approaching the barrier," she conveyed. Marcos nodded, already feeling the warmth spreading to his palms as he prepared himself for a fight. Clarice put her hands close together, curling her fingers as she waited for instructions to blink them out of there.
"Do we know who this is yet?" Marcos questioned. John's head tilted, using his gift to see who it was. His dark eyes widened.
"Oh my God; it's Lorna!" Sonya immediately took off outside, wanting to see her best friend for herself. Marcos, John, and Clarice followed at a more sedated pace. They stepped out of the building and Marcos saw Sonya hugging a slim woman. When they pulled away, his breath caught in his throat.
There she was; Lorna. Her hair was much longer than it was the last time he saw her and curly. The black hair dye that she used to hide in plain sight was gone and her natural dark green locks were cascading down her back. Her eyes were still the same pale green, but maybe a bit less jaded. She was still slim but looked like she had gained a bit of muscle. Her style of clothing didn't change either. She was wearing some dark jeans tucked into her pair of steel toed boots, a tight black tee with a spiked-shouldered leather jacket covering it.
Her eyes met his. "Hey, Marcos." That did it.
"Where the hell have you been?!" He exploded. Clarice flinched away from his side, Sonya and John taking a couple steps back. Lorna didn't even seem phased. "We tried for so long to find out which prison you were at and worrying you were moved, and we didn't know! I thought I'd never see you again," he finished.
"I think we have a lot to talk about," was all she said and then looked around. "All of us."
After three hours, Lorna told them as much as she was allowed. She obviously couldn't let them know about SHIELD or the Avengers Initiative, but she could tell them about the school and about meeting her father. After a brief silence, John was the first to voice that they should all get some rest and regroup in the morning with clearer heads. Everyone agreed and went their separate ways.
It was at that time that Lorna realized a problem; she and Marcos shared her room. "I'll take a couch," Marcos spoke from behind her.
"Are you sure?" She questioned. "You can still share with me." He shook his head.
"Doesn't seem right." He paused for a heartbeat. "You and that Alex guy you mentioned – did you sleep with him?"
"Yes," she answered. She couldn't lie to Marcos. "You and Carmen?" He nodded.
"Yes. We got back together." Lorna understood, but it still hurt to hear. "You and I; we're done, aren't we?" He asked, voice breaking a bit at the end.
"I think so. I'll always love you, Marcos, but-"
"It's never going to be the same again," he finished. She nodded, tearing up. That was it. She and Marcos had finally come to their end after months of both of them agonizing over the thought of cheating. "I figured saying it out loud would feel wrong," he mused. "But it doesn't."
"It feels right," she agreed.
"I love you, Lorna," he whispered, moving forward to snatch one final kiss from his beloved Magnet girl. She kissed back; cheeks wet from tears.
"I love you, Marcos."
For the first time since she and Marcos got together, she went to their, now only her, bedroom to fall asleep alone.
Location: UNKNOWN; Classified SHIELD Base
Clint Barton watched the SHIELD employed nerds running around the room below him as the tesseract they were running tests on started acting funny. Director Fury was walking into the room with Doctor Eric Selvig next to him. Fury called to Clint and he roped down. They spoke for a few moments before Clint voiced an idea.
"What if it's like a doorway? They open from both sides." Selvig mused that it was a possibility as the tesseract glowed for a second and there was a bright light before a lean figure appeared on a metal crate. He had a staff with him that was glowing and when he looked up, Clint recognized his features. It was one of those self-proclaimed Gods that leveled a tiny New Mexico town.
"I am Loki, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." Clint had his bow armed and ready, aiming at Loki when he heard Fury speak.
"We have no quarrel with you," he spoke.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," was Loki's quick response.
"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury questioned incredulously.
The seconds after were a blur in Clint's mind and when he finally stopped to pay attention, it was at the exact moment the tip of Loki's staff hit his chest. A blue haze overtook his mind and Clint knew no more.