Chapter Text
Charles and Erik had explained to Maureen that they were going to pick up one more mutant, and that they needed her assistance.
That's why Maureen was standing inside an aquarium at the moment, staring at fish in one of the exhibits. Most of the fish appeared to be clown fish. Sometimes, the young mutant wondered what it would be like to live in the water, as if she was an underwater creature. She always wanted to be a kraken or a siren.
"You seem to be staring at those fish hard."
Maureen flinched when she heard the voice, looking around for the source. She found to her left that there was a teenaged boy by her side. (Where did he come from?) He was taller than her by a good few inches. He had red hair and freckles, but you had to look close enough to see them. He could have been no more but just a few years older than her. She guessed he was around seventeen or eighteen years old.
Maureen swallowed. What could she say to this boy? Was this the mutant that Charles and Erik wanted to find? Her instincts told her to keep talking to the older teen.
Heart thumping, Maureen answered. "I find things underwater fascinating. I love the sea. I like fish."
Immediately Maureen wanted to kick herself. What kind of answer was that? She felt embarrassed.
"Hm. That's crazy," the boy began. "You like fish and I like fish too. Maybe we should get a bite sometime and talk about it," he ended, rolling his head and tilting it down to face her. She was short compared to him, as she was with everyone.
Maureen bit her cheek, trying not to laugh. That was one of the most...pathetic pick up lines she had ever heard. He was cute, though, she'd give him that.
"I'd rather go out with the fish," Maureen told the redhead, trying not to sound amused as she gave him a sincere look. Despite thinking he was cute, she wasn't interested in dating at the moment. Deciding that she had enough of this amusing encounter, she walked away. It was only mere seconds later when she heard a high pitched whistling sound. She had almost missed it, but she caught it just in time. It made her wonder....
"These fish?" the boy asked, and Maureen turned around. She found that the fish they were both observing just seconds ago had disappeared from view. The young girl couldn't help but grin figuring out that yes, this must be the boy Charles and Erik told her about.
"Is that what you like to do? Scare all the fish away with your...ability?" Maureen wondered. She watched the boy's face become pale, just as Charles and Erik came up behind her.
"Thank you, Maureen," said Charles, before he and Erik started to talk to the boy.
On their way to the CIA, Maureen found out that the boy's name was Sean Cassidy and that yes, he liked to scare the fish away. He was seventeen years old and he still lived with his family. Maureen thought he was funny and easy to talk to.
"So, how old are you Maureen?" Sean asked her.
"I'm fifteen," Maureen replied.
"Really?" Sean seemed surprised.
"Really," Maureen repeated.
"Wow," Sean said. "I was hitting on a fifteen-year-old?"
"You weren't doing a very good job at it," Maureen admitted. "Is that how you talk to women? If so, you need to do better."
Maureen could hear Charles chuckle softly and could feel that Erik was a bit annoyed at her and Sean for chattering so much, as time went on.
"What can you do?" Sean asked.
"I can freeze things in place and blow stuff up," Maureen answered simply. She's already seen what he can do (sort of); she thought it was fair enough that she share, too. "I also get visions but not as often as...my other abilities."
"Can you show me?"
"Maybe later," Maureen promised, as they continued to play their game of twenty questions. She found out that Sean was also of Irish descent, was an only child, and somewhat of a class clown. Overall, Sean was nice with a goofy streak. She liked him, despite not knowing him for long.
The mutants arrived at the government facility late that night, so Maureen and Sean wouldn't meet the others until tomorrow. That was okay, Maureen thought. She could wait.
Maureen had a feeling that she and Sean would become good friends, and that she would make new ones. For the first time in her life, she would have friends and they would accept her for who she was. She couldn't wait.
Maureen didn't get much sleep that night.
After Charles showed her where she would be staying, she thanked him and got ready for bed when he left. When Maureen finally laid down at twelve, she just stared up at the bleak ceiling. She thought of her mother and she thought of her brother. Who was going to help her mother and watch Tommy while she was away? Mrs. Roberts from next door? Maureen shuddered at the thought. Tommy would make the old woman go bald.
Maureen probably did fall asleep for about an hour or two, but then she was wide awake once more and got ready for the day. She was anxious, really anxious, about meeting the others. Would they like her? The only other person she knew here besides Charles and Erik was Sean, but who knew? Sean might not want to be her friend anymore after they meet the others. The thought made her sad.
Just as Maureen gathered up her courage to go out there to meet the others, there was a friendly knock at her door.
It's now or never, Maureen thought to herself. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, revealing a pretty blonde haired girl. She was bubbly and Maureen didn't need her empath ability to figure that out.
"Hi! I'm Raven, Charles's sister," the blonde greeted.
Maureen blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "Charles has a sister?" Then she flushed in embarrassment. Maureen really needed to work on her filter and her mouth. She really hoped that she didn't offend this girl who appeared to be nice and genuine to her. Maureen mentally face palmed her self. God, you're so stupid!
Raven didn't appear to be offended by Maureen's outburst as let out a small laugh. At first, Maureen thought she was laughing at her but she didn't get the feeling her Raven being nasty to her. Despite just meeting her, Raven didn't seem like the type of girls who would pick on others.
"Yes. Technically speaking, I'm his foster sister," Raven explained, her bright smile never fading away. Maureen smiled back at her, her nervousness beginning to ebb away.
"My name is Maureen. Maureen Shepherd," Maureen introduced herself, offering Raven her hand who took it...and dragged Maureen with her down the hall. It wasn't a forceful gesture; Maureen could feel the friendliness coming off of Raven. She was excited. Maureen couldn't help but feel excited, too.
"Charles told me about you. He mentioned how terrified you felt, too. You don't need to be scared, we're all nice," Raven assured the young teenager. "Well, Alex can be a little moody but I think he was in confinement."
"Oh," is what came out of Maureen's mouth, and she wanted to slap her palm against her forehead. Oh? Really, Maureen? Oh?
When Raven took her to the recreation room, there were no occupants. It was Raven and Maureen.
"The others are coming soon, and Charles, Erik, and Moira already left," Raven explained.
Maureen nodded, even though she didn't know who Moira was. As if she sensed this, Raven told her that Moira was an agent who was helping the mutants. Maureen only nodded again as an answer.
"Are you hungry?" Raven asked. "We'll have breakfast once everyone is up and ready but you can eat now if you want."
"No, I'm good," Maureen answered. She couldn't even eat if she tried, she was so anxious. "But thank you though. You're very kind."
Raven smiled at that. "Thank you, Maureen. You're really sweet, yourself."
Maureen looked down, blushing at the compliment. Then, realizing that she didn't know who exactly Raven was, Maureen looked up again at the blonde.
"Raven, are you a—a..." Maureen trailed off, not knowing how to ask.
"Am I a mutant?" Raven guessed Maureen's question, who nodded. "Yes, I am. All of us here are. Well, except for the agents, but they won't bother us. Do you want to sit down?" she asked her new young friend, who nodded. Raven assumed she did that a lot, and it reminded her of Hank.
The two girls sat on one of the sofas and talked. Well, Raven did most of the talking, while Maureen nodded yes or no, or replied in short answers. She did build up courage while they talked, and asked Raven a few questions of her own. Raven didn't mind at all, which Maureen was thankful for. Raven was very kind and sweet.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here, Maureen thought.
It was a little later when more people started to file in. Maureen took note of how everyone was young, though they were older than her.
One by one, Maureen observed each and everyone of them. The one with the glasses that had dark hair must have been Hank, who worked in Division X. Raven talked about him a lot. (Maureen suspected that her new friend had a crush on the young doctor.) Then there was a dark skinned man who looked like he could be the oldest out of everyone in the room. His eyes shone with kindness. There was a blond haired boy with a black leather jacket on, and Maureen assumed it was Alex, the one that was apparently in confinement. There was another woman here among her and Raven. She had wings tattooed on her body and was very pretty. The last mutant one was Sean, who waved at his young friend. Maureen gave a small wave back. She could feel her palms becoming clammy once more as they all took in her appearance.
"Who's this?" Hank asked, checking out Maureen. Maureen could feel her stomach dropping. She opened her mouth to speak, but Raven beat her to it.
"This is Maureen, she came here last night with that one," Raven told the group, pointing towards Sean.
Alex snorted. "She came here with the redhead?"
"Yes," Maureen snapped immediately, scowling. She felt like she was being mocked, and she didn't like that. "Is there a problem with that?"
A few of the mutants in the room laughed. Maureen felt her face burn and she looked away from the group. She felt like an idiot.
"Hey, Maureen, it's alright." a male voice said, and she looked to see that it was the dark skinned man talking to her. She felt like she could trust him.
"Alex can act like that sometimes when he's jealous," he continued, joking, which made Alex snap his head at him. "I'm Darwin, by the way."
"Hi," Maureen answered quietly, not sure if there were tears threatening to come out of her eyes or not. She was just so terrified of the thought of this whole meeting! She took a couple of deep breaths, reassuring herself in her mind that everything was alright. No one would hurt her here. Charles promised her that, and the others showed no signs, either.
"And so she speaks!" cried Sean, which made Maureen smile just a bit.
"I'm Angel," said the girl with the tattoos. If Maureen's mother was here, she wouldn't like that and if her father was still in the picture, she would be terrified of what he would think about her talking to both the girl and Darwin. Her father was just a nasty man....
Maureen was terrified yet again, but she reminded herself that her father wasn't here. He abandoned the family years ago when she discovered she was a mutant, as Charles and Raven have said to her before. She liked that word. Mutant.
"I'm Hank McCoy," said the final one, that Maureen already recognized.
"I know who you are," Maureen said to him, her voice louder this time. Her eyes flickered to the various faces in the room. "It's so nice to meet all of you."
After they all had lunch, the six mutants all sat down together. Alex and Sean sat in separate chairs, Darwin, Angel, and Maureen sat on one sofa together while Raven and Hank sat across from them on the other sofa. For the first time in her life, Maureen felt like she belonged somewhere and she could feel that the others felt similar emotions.
"We should think of code names," said Raven. "We're all government agents now, we should all have secret code names. I want to be called Mystique."
"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique!" Sean complained. Some of the mutants in the room chuckled, recognizing his humor behind it.
"Well tough, I called it," Raven retorted. Then suddenly before Maureen's eyes, flashes of blue scales flickered throughout Raven's body and...Sean was there. The Sean that sat near Maureen flinched back in his chair, startled. The others seemed to be in similar states, taking in Raven's ability.
"And I'm way more mysterious than you," said Raven, imitating Sean's voice.
"You can shape shift," Maureen stated her smiling, as everyone in the room clapped. "Raven, that's really cool."
"Thank you," said Raven who changed back into her original form, which made Maureen wonder if she was still shape shifting but she didn't ask. It would have been impolite. "What can you do Maureen?"
"Oh, um..." Maureen scratched the back of her head, suddenly nervous. What could she show? She glanced down at her cup of cola on the table, and smiled. She had an idea.
"Well, I can do this," she started, and tipped her glass. Before its containment could spill, Maureen threw out her left hand and the cup froze. The soda, too.
"You freeze things?" Darwin asked.
"Yup," Maureen answered. She liked Darwin, thinking of him as some sort of big brother figure. She moved the cup back to its base because after a short while, the spell would break and the glass would eventually fall, spilling its containment on the table. She then glanced at Sean who picked up his bottle and started to drink out of it. A mischievous smile stretched on Maureen's face.
"And I can also do this," she added, throwing her right hand out towards Sean and evidently blew his bottle up, his cola splattering on his shirt, and on Maureen just a bit as well. Everyone in the room laughed.
"No fair," Sean pouted. Maureen offered him her glass and he took it, taking a swig from it.
"I can also get visions," Maureen added. "It's not fully developed yet, so I don't know what all I can do with it."
Maureen thought about adding in her empath ability, but she wasn't sure if she should share that quite yet. Maybe at a later date she could tell them.
"That's cool," said Alex. "You're like a little witch."
"Thank you, but I really don't know what to call myself yet. My little brother calls me "Freezer Burn" sometimes while my mother called me "temperamental"," she explained, before looking over towards Darwin. "Darwin, what can you do?"
"Well, Darwin's already a nickname, 'adapt to survive' and all," the former cab driver explained. "Check this out."
The others watched Darwin as he strutted over to the fish tank that was in the room. He looked back at them, then in to the fish tank, before dunking his head in. Maureen thought that was a bit gross, but then she saw that gills grew on the side of his head, and he opened his mouth. He was breathing underwater!
"Whoa!" Raven exclaimed, as everyone clapped for Darwin. Darwin lifted his head out of the tank, smiling at the mutants.
"That's incredible," said Hank.
"Thank you, thank you," Darwin bowed, before pointing towards Sean. "Alright, what can you do?"
"I'm going to be...Banshee."
"Why would you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank wondered but Maureen had a feeling as she sort of knew why her friend picked the name.
"You might want to cover your ears," Sean warned them all first. Maureen immediately obeyed while some hesitated and were confused before covering their ears as well.
Sean got up from his seat and bent down low to the low table. He glanced up at everyone to see if they had covered their ears before he let out a low, high pitched whistle. Sean's intention was to affect the glass cups on the table but instead he broke the window that allowed the young mutants to see the courtyard. By the look on his face, you could tell that it wasn't Sean's intention to break the big glass window.
"So that's what you did at the aquarium!" Maureen exclaimed, looking at Sean who only grinned at her enthusiasm.
"What did he do at the aquarium?" Angel asked.
"He scared all the fish away," Maureen cut her answer short. "Angel, what can you do?"
Angel gave her a grin before standing up. "Well, my stage name is Angel, and it kind of fits."
Angel took off her jacket—which Sean wolf whistled at—and her tattoos peeled off to reveal themselves as wings. Maureen thought it was fascinating. She didn't see something like that every day.
"You can fly?!" Raven was amazed.
"Uh huh," Angel nodded. "And um—"
Angel turned towards the direction for the blown out window caused by Sean and she spat. Her spit was like a small fireball and it scorched the top of the statue that was in the courtyard.
"That's amazing, Angel," Maureen complimented her friend as they all let out a laugh of awe.
"Thank you," Angel smiled at the young teenager, before nodded her heads towards Hank in acknowledgement.
"What's your name?" she asked him as she put her black leather jacket back on, her wings disappearing from view. Hank looked uncomfortable with all eyes on him. Maureen could feel his uneasiness in waves, and she was about to tell him that he didn't have to share but Alex beat her to it.
"How about "Bigfoot"?" he suggested, before taking another swig of his drink.
Maureen shot him a dirty look (but was curious as to why Alex would say that) while Raven retorted, "Well you know what they say about guys with big feet," she glanced down at Alex's own two feet. "And yours are kind of small."
That made everyone chuckle in the room. Maureen didn't miss the glance or spark of emotion that Hank and Raven shared.
"Okay now. Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?" Darwin asked the blond, before anything got out of hand.
That was when Alex got nervous.
"Uh—it's not um...um, I just can't do it. I can't do it in here."
Maureen looked at him. "Can you not control it?" she asked.
"It's complicated," Alex answered.
"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked, gesturing to the courtyard.
That was when everyone started to chant for him to show his mutation. Maureen didn't join in, only staring at him in concern.
Finally, Alex caved in. He put his bottle of Cola down and jumped over the ledge of the broken window.
"Get down when I tell you," he advised, as he walked to his position.
The group of six mutants he left behind leaned out of the window frame to see what Alex would do.
"Get back," Alex warned as he saw the group. They all disappeared behind the wall but leaned back out again a moment later.
"Get back!" Alex tried again, more forcefully, but the mutants just stayed in their position, wondering what their new friend can do.
"Whatever," he muttered to himself, warming up.
Maureen and the others watched as Alex started to rock his body in circles, three red discs appearing around him in different angles. Maureen watched as the discs launched themselves in different directions. One of them sliced through the statue and the other two causing damage in other places. The six mutants had ducked down for safety, but they saw it all.
They all cheered for Alex as he walked back over.
"That was amazing," Maureen told him sincerely, but she received a grim smile in return. Something in her told her that Alex didn't believe that his ability wasn't all too good.
Maureen watched her new friends act wild while she stood behind the bar. She messed with the radio as her friends partied.
After the others decided it was time to have fun, Maureen found herself next to Hank. The young girl had built up the courage to ask what Hank could do, after Alex was so rude to him. Hank, who could tell that they were both kindred spirits and that Maureen wouldn't tease him, kicked off his shoes and proceeded to hang upside down from the lights. He explained what all he could do as he was hanging upside down.
So this is why Alex called him Bigfoot, Maureen thought, as she stared up at her new friend, who was explaining what all his mutation included.
Angel was in the air with her wings fluttering casually; as Raven was on the sofa dancing. Alex and Sean were hitting Darwin with chairs and other items to see how indestructible he really was. From her observation, Maureen concluded that Darwin was very indestructible.
"Maureen!" she heard Raven cry as he ran over and grabbed her wrist. "Come on! Join the fun! Dance with me!"
"Oh, I don't—" Maureen began, but Raven wasn't hearing anything that the young girl was saying. She dragged her out from behind the bar, pulling her up on the sofa and swung their arms together as "The Hippy Hippy Shake" played. After awhile, Maureen found herself enjoying it. Raven liked to have fun, and she was cool about it.
Until Charles and Erik returned.
"What are you doing?!"
Maureen and Raven and everyone else halted in what they were doing, turning to see a woman with auburn brown hair staring at them in disbelief, as Charles and Erik stood behind her.
Raven jumped down from the sofa, immediately sober, as Angel fluttered down. Darwin, Alex, and Sean stopped what they were doing as Hank landed on the ground. The six young mutants all stared at the three adults, who did not look happy.
Maureen felt ashamed, and she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"Who destroyed the statue?" the woman demanded.
"It was Alex," Hank immediately ratted the blond boy out.
"No, Havok! We have to call him Havok," said Raven, as she moved towards Charles, Erik, and the woman Maureen did not recognize.
"And we were thinking you should be Professor X," Raven continued, pointing at Charles, "and you should be Magneto," she declared, pointing at Erik. Maureen found that her eyes were darting between the three adults in the courtyard, seeing how they would react.
"Exceptional," said Erik, who kept his emotions masked but Maureen knew better. He, Charles, and the woman were displeased.
As the woman followed Erik who had just walked away, Charles looked at Raven.
"I expect more from you," he told her sternly. "Much, much more."
They all watched as he walked away, and Maureen didn't enjoy seeing the disheartened look on her friend's face.