Generation: X-Men

When the jet landed at the CIA facility, Scarlet was taken aback by the scale of it. She jumped down from the folding aircraft steps, ignoring Erik’s outstretched hand.

“So how many do you have at the moment?” she inquired, catching up to Charles.

“A mere handful, compared to what there is in the world” he told her.

Scarlet nodded, curiously looking around her. She walked after Charles towards one of the low lying buildings. She could see in through the floor to ceiling glass window at the group of mutants. He let her in through another door, his hand politely in the middle of her back. Scarlet found herself suddenly confronted by several young adult mutants. Four young men and two young women stood in front of her. The redhead grinned at her, his eyes flicking over her face.

“Miss Moore, this scraggly lot are your new best friends” Charles announced, gently pushing her inside the room.

Scarlet turned briefly and saw the door close. She slowly turned back to face the crowd, her pulse pounding.

“We’re just deciding on our new superhero names, newbie. They’re based on what we can do. What’s your game?” the red haired boy asked her.

Scarlet gave him a very faint smile and moved further into the room.

“Who says I have to show you?” she asked edgily.

The blonde girl stepped to the front of her.

“My brother doesn’t need to know everything” she said firmly. “Just do it.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. That boy can go first though” she retorted, nodding back at the redhead.

He smiled at her and stepped forward.

“You might wanna cover your ears” he suggested.

Scarlet obeyed, along with the others. Then the boy screamed, a line of sound waves slamming into the window and destroying the glass. They straightened up and removed their hands from their ears.

“Wow” Scarlet said simply, walking toward the space where the window used to be.

“So I’m Banshee” the boy proclaimed.

“I’ll say” Scarlet muttered, staring into the nighttime courtyard.

The blonde boy moved up to stand beside her, quietly studying her profile.

“I’m Alex. I’ll go next if you don’t want to. They’ve been hounding me anyway. Just get away from the courtyard” he said calmly.

Scarlet smiled and stepped back, keeping the others behind her. Alex jumped onto the pavement outside and gazed at the giant statue, the yard’s centrepiece. They all ignored his warnings to stay back and he gave up. Scarlet watched his hands as he shifted them rapidly in a series of odd movements, and then red laser beams coursed from him in a calculated form, and the statue’s head was separated from its body.

“Huh” Scarlet said dryly, gazing up at the decapitated figure.

She glanced at Alex and then turned around to face the group of mutants. The blonde stepped forward with a frown on her face.

“Raven” Alex said warningly.

“Alex, you’ll be Havok. Now it’s your turn” Raven said, ignoring him.

Scarlet shrugged and paced to the middle of the courtyard, looking straight up at the sky.

“By the way, my name’s Scarlet” she said quietly. “Don’t watch too closely; you’ll strain your eyes.”

She sensed that nobody except Alex was moving away, the rest of them concentrating on what she was about to do, trying to catch it.

“Fine” she mumbled, then vanished.

She reappeared on the roof of one of the buildings opposite to them. Then she Jumped again, landing just in front of Raven. Scarlet wandered slowly back into the room, carefully avoiding the broken glass on the ground. She sat down on one of the couches and looked at the opposite wall, waiting. Alex came to sit beside her, draping an arm over her shoulders. He glanced round at the other five.

“She might be the best of us. Be nice” he said casually, though Scarlet detected a steel undertone in his voice.

She couldn’t hide a smile. They heard footsteps, and then a small cluster of people appeared, hurrying towards them. Charles, Erik and an unfamiliar woman. Scarlet stood up and Alex followed her back outside to stand a little way away from both groups. Charles met her gaze and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged at him.

“We saw you on top of a roof, kid. Who did that?” Charles demanded, looking up at the giant statue.

“Alex!”

Alex turned round ans glared at them. Scarlet nudged him gently in the ribs.

“He was egged on” she announced, staring straight at the dark haired woman standing near Charles.

The woman shifted uneasily from foot to foot, perfectly aware of the scrutiny she was under. Charles glanced at the others, his expression now stern.

“Okay…we’ll talk about that later. Scarlet, come with us, please” he said, beckoning to her and turning towards another building entrance.

Puzzled, she followed him, irritatingly aware of the woman walking directly behind her. She broke into a longer stride to catch up with Charles, until she was walking beside him.

“What do you need me for?” she asked him, looking ahead down the inside corridors of the building.

“There are some agents who want to witness your Jumping for themselves. They’ve seen the likes of Raven, Hank and Angel, but not anyone who can do what you can” he explained calmly.

Scarlet raised both her eyebrows, feeling suddenly exhausted. She closed her eyes as she walked, somehow knowing that Charles would not let her smack into a wall.

“Is that really necessary?” she asked wearily.

“Perhaps. I know you’re tired, but we are trying to cooperate with the CIA. That’s the whole point, Scar. Just keep afloat in all this and you’ll be fine” Charles murmured, conscious of the other two walking with them.

“She didn’t join to be a lab rat” Erik stated bluntly.

Scarlet’s eyes snapped open, but she didn’t look at him. She let her gaze slide sideways to Charles in time to glimpse him rolling his eyes. She bit back a smile as he spoke.

“I’m aware that she didn’t, Erik. But we all have to impart our services to get what we want in return, and we need their help just as much as they need ours” he retorted.

Erik snorted.

“Do you wish to “serve” the ordinary humans?” he demanded of Scarlet.

She looked at him then, and Charles saw through her mind what she thought of Erik Lensherr. The extreme vivid mind images made him cringe mentally, but he couldn’t help agreeing with her all the same.

“Sir, I will do what must be done in order to prevent our kind from extermination or becoming ostracised for the rest of our lives. I do not wish to be a lab rat, but if it means we’ll receive some much needed help, I will do it” Scarlet said smartly.

Charles smiled, still looking straight ahead. Suddenly he slowed, and all of them slowed to match him, curiously waiting. The brown haired woman opened her mouth to say something, but he held up a hand, silencing her. Then Scarlet heard it, too. The sounds of men shouting orders and of weapons being fired. She leaned over to touch Charles’ sleeve. He looked down at her.

‘Who’s here?’ she thought at him.

He allowed himself the smallest of smiles before responding, placing his answer gently inside her head.

‘I don’t quite know for sure. I can’t get into their mind; there’s some sort of block in the way.’

Scarlet nodded and resumed her waiting. There was a huge explosion and the floor bucked and rolled beneath their feet. Charles took off running and they followed him, Scarlet pushing her tired limbs harder and faster. Eventually, he stopped outside a door and pressed an ear to the metal.

Inside the room, two men stood, talking. And then a red skinned man materialised in front of them, grabbed one of the men and took him as he dematerialised.

Charles turned round to face Scarlet.

“There is a man who does what you do. He is taking the agents away. He just came back for the second man. Shaw is here, we have to go” he said, speaking urgently and fast.

Scarlet stared at him, eyes wide once again.

“I’ll go” she said softly.

“No, I didn’t mean that!” Charles responded quickly, sounding and looking oddly panicked.

He reached out for her, but she had already gone. He glanced around at the others waiting, his gaze falling on Erik.

“Erik, don’t let Moira die. I’m going to see what’s happening” he said seriously.

Erik rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be daft, Charles. We’re coming with you” he replied.

There was no time to argue and they all knew it, so Charles merely nodded and the three of them set off running back the way they’d come.

Scarlet hit the ground just in front of the dead agent’s body. She peered at him, noting his crushed limbs and dented skull. He had clearly been dropped from the sky. She looked behind her towards the mutant room and held back a gasp. A man wearing a strange metal helmet stood with his back to her, the young black mutant whose name she’d never learnt, standing in front of him. Scarlet strained her ears to hear.

“Adapt to this” the man with the helmet said clearly.

‘He must be Shaw’ she thought to herself.

‘Yes, he is. Don’t you go near him, Scar’ Charles replied from inside her head.

Scarlet grimaced at the intrusion, took one step forward before stopping again. The young man had turned slightly and was now looking directly at her. She read the desperation in his eyes and then a bright light shone from him and he imploded on the spot.

All of a sudden, arms were tightly circling her waist and someone was dragging her over to Shaw. Scarlet glanced over her shoulder and saw it was the red skinned Jumper. He had a tail, whereas she did not. Shaw turned to look at her and smiled.

“Ah. You’re all here. Now I can make my speech. You could be so much more than you are if you came with me now. Humans won’t look at you in contempt, they’ll look at you with fear. Who wants to join us and be powerful?” he asked, his smile ingratiating.

Scarlet rolled her eyes and reached her right hand down to withdraw her knife from its camouflaged sheath. Under Alex’s concerned stare, she drove the gleaming blade deep into the Jumper’s flesh and before he could teleport, yanked it out again. She ran to stand next to Alex and he grabbed her free left hand in his own. Shaw raised his eyebrows in clear appreciation of her quick actions.

“Very well done. So who wants to join me?” he repeated.

Angel stepped forward. Sean gaped at her incredulously.

“Are you kidding me?” he demanded.

“We’d be better off with him” Angel answered, taking hold of Shaw’s hand.

Scarlet glared at them, thinking of the now dead mutant. She squeezed Alex’s hand.

“We will not go with you” she said darkly.

He shrugged and finished the line by joining hands with the wounded Jumper and a lethal looking Asian mutant. They disappeared.

A few short seconds later, Charles, Erik and Moira arrived, their steps gradually slowing as they took in the damage left behind. Raven moved forward and Charles hurried to her, hugging her and kissing the side of her head. His brilliant blue eyes were focused on Scarlet, her hand still in Alex’s.

“Are you okay?” he asked everyone, though he was looking at her.

She nodded and held up her knife which still dripped the Jumper’s hot blood. Charles stared at her.

“You must have been pretty quick to do that” he said, delving inside her mind and watching the memory for himself.

She shrugged, allowing the compliment to pass over her head.

“It had to be done” she said shortly.

Charles sighed.

“I know of a safer place we can all go to. My home” he said quietly.

Raven looked at him, knowing just what he was thinking. Home was safe. There they could be themselves and he could teach them everything that they needed to know about how to control and utilise their unique individual mutation powers.

“Let’s go” she muttered to him.

Scarlet shut her eyes. She just wanted to feel safe again, a feeling that had not existed in ten long years.