Thunderbird || X-Men

Chapter 2 ~ The X-men

It was a long trip in the backseat to wherever Charles and Erik were taking me. Whenever I asked where we were going, Erik would say "North" and only that. I even started to get worried at times. Should I really trust them? Is this a bad idea? I guess what kept me from ixnaying the idea all together was the thought that if they planned to hurt me they would've done it already. We've been in the car together for at least 2 hours.

"Are we almost there?" I finally asked when we turned off the main road.

"Yes, darling. In fact, we're here now." Charles explained, driving his car through the gate of a government building. It was wide and in a field, the sun gleaming on it's many windows. There was a large sphere next to it, and it resembled a golf ball. Charles must've noticed me looking at it.

"That's how we found you. You and all the others." Charles explained, stopping the car so we could look at it closer. "It enhances my mutant ability so that I can see every mutant and human in the world. Once it finds a mutant in a case like this, it prints out the coordinates of each one." He turned his gaze back to me. "Hank calls it Cerebro."

"Who's Hank?"

"You'll see."

I entered the building cautiously. There were planes and jets hung up on wires and small offices in every hallway. We soon encountered a doorway in the center of a hall.

"In there are the others." Erik motioned for me to go inside. I listened and poked my head in the doorway. There were six people inside, sitting and talking on couches. They seemed to be around my age or a bit younger. Erik and Charles nudged for me to go inside and then they followed.

"Hey, Charles!" A woman said, standing up. Both her and Charles came in for a hug. "Is she the last one?" She asked once they parted.

"Yes Raven, she's the last one."
Both Charles and the woman, Raven, looked over at me before they continued talking to each other. I was still standing awkwardly next to Erik.

"Don't get out much, huh?" Erik asked in a whisper. I nodded. "Well, they are all mutants just like you, all with beautiful gifts. And yours is just as breathtaking."

"I wouldn't say so." I admitted.

"Most people wouldn't, but I'm not most people."

Before I could reply, Erik patted me firmly on the shoulder before he and Charles began to leave. Erik hesitated at first turning around back towards me.

"If you need anything you can always come to me or Charles. Remember that we're here to help you." He added before leaving officially. It was just me and a bunch of other mutants in a room together. My anxiety peaked as they all looked at me. Not because I was scared to talk to them, but because I was scared to hurt them.

"You can come to sit down, you know." One of them, a blonde guy, told me. I approached the group and sat down on the couch next to him.

"So what do they call you?" He asked.

"Uh, Kayla." I responded.

"That's cool but what's your code name?"

"Code name?" I wondered aloud. "We have code names?"

"Yea... wasn't my idea. My name's Alex but these guys call me Havok."

"I'm Angel." Said the girl at the end of the couch. She had tattoos that looked like insect wings on her shoulders.

"I'm Sean, but I go by Banshee. I can scream really loud." Said another guy with puffy orange hair.

"I'm Mystique. I can change into anyone." The girl who I knew as Raven said. Her skin, turning blue almost scaley, rippled for a moment as she transformed into me. It was exact, clothes and everything. Her skin rippled again as she transformed back into her usual self.

"I'm Hank." Another guy said, fixing his glasses.

"He's got weird feet." Alex butted in. Hank scooted farther into the couch cushions in embarrassment.

"I go by Darwin." The last guy said. "I adapt to survive. Any situation I'm in I can adapt to instantly."

Then all of them looked at me.

"I don't have a codename, and if I did I don't know what it would possibly be."

"Well, what can you do?" Raven asked me. I almost didn't want to tell them. Not even Charles or Erik have seen what I can do to it's full extent yet, and they haven't asked. Charles must've known it was a touchy subject for me.

"I don't think I want to do it..." I told them. "I don't have control over it yet, I'm afraid I'll hurt someone."

"Oh, c'mon, don't be afraid!" Angel tried to convice me. "Just stand kinda far away or something."

"Uh... okay..." I stood back near the door, kneeling down on the ground and touching the floor with my finger tips.

Suddenly, the power went out. The entire building, including the lights in the courtyard, were out. I heard one of the girls squeak in surprise in the pitch black.

"That's... it." I lied, taking my hand off of the ground and standing up on my feet again. Once I did, the power returned. As soon as the room was well lit, I turned to see Erik barging into the room we were in, almost bumping into me. I moved out of the way in time.

"Are you guys alright?" He asked, his eyes suddenly locking with mine. "Did you cause the power outage?"

I looked down in embarrassment, thinking he was upset with me.

"Yes... they wanted me to show them what I could do. Sorry if I caused anything bad."

Erik, his concern turning into interest, placed a hand on my shoulder.

"No Kayla, you did nothing wrong. I wouldn't have thought it was you at first. The entire block went out."

There was a pause. Alex started cheering loudly, and all of the others joined in. I was surrounded by applause, and while it lasted, I really felt like I fit in, like I was meant to be there.