X-Men Origins: The Twin

Chapter 5

"Kinross", Tamsin answered the phone call lazily while she watched TV in her flat expecting Moira to ask her to drive her somewhere again. But she was surprised hearing a male voice greeting her. "Hello, Charles here". Tamsin immediately sat herself straight and waited excitedly for him to continue speaking. "I have a favor to ask of you", he said.
"Ask away", she said with no hesitation and heard a small chuckle. "Can you come to the facility and keep watch over our team while we are on a mission?" he asked.
"You want me to babysit your team?" she asked disbelieving; "Why? Aren't you all going together?"
"They are not ready yet... and the last time we let them alone they destroyed their apartment and the statue in front". Tamsin gulped.
"And you think I can stop them from doing so?"
"Your calming presence will be enough. Can I count on you?" he asked. "Sure, I guess. It can't be that hard, right?" she chuckled. "I'll be there in ten minutes", she said and Charles hung up after a small thank you.
Arriving at the facility again Tamsin wondered why she agreed to this so fast. She let herself get pulled into this mutant mess much further as she had originally wanted to. Well, it was 'just' watching over Charles' team - nothing serious. She did not have to confront the bad guys; it was just a babysitter job. But Tamsin was not so sure either why it had to be her to watch them. There were enough people working at the facility who would make sure that their property was unharmed. And she did not believe in her 'calming presence' to be the reason. And what kind of team did they make that they are escalating all the way?
Walking inside the facility she was met with many men suited up, carrying suitcases and walking around importantly.
"Ah, there you are, Tamsin", Charles came towards her with a wide smile plastered on his face. How much time did they spend together? Not even two days but she already felt like an old friend of his. The way he welcomed her made her feel accepted the way she always wanted to be.
"Oh, hello, Charles", she returned the smile and came towards him. He waited for her to catch up with him and then guided her the way to the other mutants. "Erik, MacTaggert and I will be in Russia trying to arrest Shaw. We should be back early tomorrow", he said and Tamsin felt like she actually did start babysitting and Charles was like a worried parent telling her everything twice to make sure his kids would not miss anything.
"Alright, here it is" he had led her to a door. "Charles, we have to go... ah, hello, Tammy" Erik showed up behind him stretching her name mockingly. "For you, it's Tamsin, Erik", Tamsin shot back. She only got a snicker in response.
Charles and Erik left and Tamsin was left alone in front of the door. She heard talking and the sound of an arcade game. After knocking on the sturdy door the sounds were silenced and she dared to peek inside before entering the room.
The first thing she saw was two men playing Ping Pong next to the open kitchen. Then she let her gaze wander around the room. It was big, but rather small for six people. But seeing no beds they were not supposed to sleep here.
Two huge windows gave sight on the inner yard with a broken statue and a huge field on the other side. The other four sat on two couches facing each other, but now staring at her.
"Who are you?" a woman with dark hair and cappuccino skin asked. "Tamsin!" Raven exclaimed and waved greeting her. "Hi"; Tamsin smiled unsure of how to act towards them.
"What are you doing here?" Raven asked signing her to sit down on one the empty seats. "Charles asked me..." she hesitated before continuing: "To keep an eye on you".
"He did what?" Raven huffed crossing her arms in front of her chest; "Typical". Tamsin brought herself to an awkward smile before making herself comfortable again.
"So... you are also a mutant?" the other woman asked eying her up. "How did you...", "There are enough other people out there who could keep an eye on us... but none of them are like us", she concluded and Tamsin nodded. That made sense. Why couldn't Tamsin think of it earlier?
Probably because all this mutant business was still kind of unusual to Tamsin.
Even though she had known of her power for some time already she tended to assume other people to be normal.
"Well, yes. I am like you", with that one sentence she got the whole attention of the room. The two young men in the back turned around to her. They probably waited for her to show her ability but she just shrugged.
"I can... not show you", she muttered and their eyes turned from an excited twinkle to disappointment. "It is a rather selfish ability"; the two men turned around again to continue their playing and the woman who had asked her leaned back again on the couch.
"So, what are your names by the way?" Tamsin asked them to change the topic and not to make the night an awkward clam. Raven sat herself up grinning excitedly. "I am Mystique", she said and Tamsin nodded smiling. "So I ought to call you that now, instead of Raven?" she asked as if it didn't matter to her anymore what she should call her, and why she changed her mind.
She knew it from her former work; her comrades had changed their names to nicknames and alter-egos for the radio transmittance all the time. And Raven seemed to like Tamsin's carefree reaction on that matter which made the others introduce themselves, too.
"I am Angel", the other woman said and just at that moment Tamsin noticed the tattooed wings on her back as she stood up to show her. The tattoo seemed to part with her body and formed real wings - Tamsin could understand why she called herself Angel even though she thought Fairy would be more fitting.
"Hank", the nerdy guy sitting next to Tamsin said. The other boy sitting in one of the armchairs winked at her and said: "I am Sean... or Banshee".
"And the blonde over there is Havoc and next to him Darwin", Mystique finished the introduction and looked at her still with beaming eyes.
"We also got names for Charles and Erik. Professor X and Magneto". Tamsin snickered, "Professor X? Does he know of it?"
Raven nodded, "But he didn't seem that happy about it. You need one, too." "I don't know if one is needed... but I was often called Steelskin, Demon or... just Tammy", Tamsin remembered the first time she returned from a mission in Korea and as her whole unit was somewhere injured or killed and she was the only with none - that gave her the name Steelskin between her comrades. Demon was the name that came after the Korean War where she was miraculously the only one who survived the bombing on their hideout. But Tammy was used the most.
Raven and Angel raised their eyebrows. "Steelskin and Demon? Don't get me wrong but I don't believe they are fitting for you"; Banshee laughed.
She shrugged, she indeed may look to others like a normal woman; someone who never had a fight in her life before or either seen one and she was thankful for that.
"Well, yeah you are right. Just tried to get myself a fancy name", Tamsin lied and Banshee laughed even louder. "Just call me Tamsin. Since I am not part of your division I won't need one", she smiled, got up and walked into the kitchen making tea for everyone.

So they sat quietly for some time, sipping on their cups as two men in suits walked past their window and stopped to look at them through the window. "Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town. Hey, come on, honey! Can you give us a little" the man said and started flapping with his hands imitating her wings. Angel stared into the air trying to ignore them.
"No? Come on, let's see the foot!" the man turned towards Hank who just got up, walked to the window and closed the curtain. "Ah, come one, Big Foot, let's go, hey!" the man complained as he stood in front of the veiled window.
"They are just being stupid", Raven said to Angel who was bothered by the things the man had said. "Guys being stupid I can handle. I handled them my whole life. But I'd rather having a bunch of men stare at me with my clothes being off than these ones staring at me...", she said looking down. "It Is..." Raven started, however was interrupted by a weird sound. "What is it?" Darwin asked, also hearing the repeating 'thud'-sound.

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right", Tamsin opened the curtains again trying to see anything. Havoc and Darwin came to her and they all looked outside just to see... Nothing.
Then, one by one man started falling from the sky on the ground. "What is going on here?" Tamsin muttered under her breath seeing the agents die one by one.
One hit the ground right in front of them; Tamsin recognized him as the agent who drove with her and the others to the port. His eyes were staring emptily into the air and his body was motionless. Raven and Angel screamed in shock and also the men in the room took a step back shocked - all but Tamsin, she had seen too many horrible deaths to be shocked by this.
Another few agents position themselves in front of their window. "Get back!" One of them yelled, trying to get the mutants into safety.
A red skinned man suddenly appeared, as if he teleported himself there. The agents saw him and shoot at him, but he was long gone. He appeared again next to one of the agents shooting, turning him around so he shot his fellow agents and broke the window glass.
"They are here to take us!" Darwin noticed shocked as he saw on the other side a man summon a tornado which broke the second window. Both of them were able to enter the room now.
The young mutants including Tamsin got together in the middle of the room not knowing what to do - neither did they know how to fight nor how strong their opponents were.
The door opened and another man wearing a steel helmet entered the room - looking around. "Where is the telepath?" he asked his fellow men. "Not here", the teleporter stepped forward. "Too bad, now I can take that silly thing off", he removed the helmet. "Good evening, I am Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you" he said offering his raised hands as prove. Shaw - Tamsin knew that this was the guy Charles, Erik and Moira wanted to catch in Russia. It must have been a trap to lure them away.
"Don't move!" an unharmed agent pointed a gun at Shaw slowly coming closer. But before anyone could tell him to run away the red skinned man teleported to him and put his knife through the man's heart.
"My friends, there is a revolution coming!" he handed his helmet towards the tornado-summoning guy. "When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do? Each of us will face a choice being enslaved, or rise up to rule! Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us by definition you are against us. So you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings..." he directed his gaze at Angel: "And Queens!"
He reached out his hand for the woman who was not even hesitating to take it. "Angel?" Raven looked at her shocked. "You kidding me?" Banshee scoffed. "Come on, we don't belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of" Angel said convinced.
"We have to do something!" Raven said pleading to the others as Shaw, Angel and his fellow men were about to leave through the broken window.
Darwin looked at Havoc, whispered something into his ear and took a step forward: "Stop, I am coming with you guys!"
Shaw turned around. "Excellent, now tell me about your mutation."
"I adapt to survive. So I guess I am coming with you" Darwin said shrugging. "I like that", Shaw smiled while Darwin walked up to Angel who gave him a supporting look. Darwin shortly glanced at Havoc before putting himself in front of Angel, hardening his back yelling: "Alex, now!"
"Get out, now!" Alex yelled at his friends before sending uncontrolled laser beams at Shaw and his followers. But as Darwin straightened himself again and Alex looked at what he had done, he saw them to be completely unscathed. Shaw had absorbed his laser beams, "Feels good".
Darwin tried to hit Shaw but was blocked. Shaw used the won energy to form a small glowing ball and making Darwin swallow it.
"Adapt to this!" He spit before going to Angel, and the other two men. They grabbed each other's hands and teleported away. Alex had to watch Darwin's body structure changing trying to cope with huge amount of energy sat free inside of him. He gave Alex an apologetic look one last time before he exploded.
Tamsin instinctively ran to Alex and pulled him away covering his body with hers before the explosion could reach them. She felt the burning heat and the huge pressure on her back which normally would have already torn her apart - but her body withstood.