The Godless Among Them
by Dyce
Disclaimer: Nearly all the characters belong to Marvel, as interpreted by Bryan Singer. Some are originals. Please don't kill me.
There were six of them, of the only seven remaining in the program...three boys, and three girls. Two of the girls, identical, with long pale hair, were clinging nervously to each other. The other, dark-haired, was shifting nervously from one foot to the other, eyes restlessly scanning their surroundings. To her left, a tall blond boy was doing the same thing. To her right, a dark-haired boy who could have been her twin hovered protectively over the twin girls. The third boy, standing a little apart from the others, tugged absently on a small earring in the outer curve of his ear.
"I don't like this," he said quietly. "Something's not right."
He heard the first gunshot without surprise, not turning as he sensed one of the twins crumple silently to the ground. The other screamed, to be silenced a moment later. The boy with the earring closed his eyes, one hand sliding absently over his smooth scalp.
~We're being culled,~ he sent.
~?!~
A bullet tore through his chest, and he crumpled onto the gritty concrete floor. ~You can escape,~ he sent calmly. ~It's time now.~
~!~
~...yes...~ he thought, touching the distant seventh's mind, feeling the sudden rage, the warm blood of her handlers spilling over her hands. ~...revenge would be nice...but then go.~
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She was cold.
Not very cold, because she never did get very cold. Her body heated itself efficiently, the icy chill of her skin a mere annoyance. And anyway, her grey jumpsuit was designed to protect her from extremes of temperature. Still, it was torn and damp, and it wasn't nice, being cold.
"Hey, honey, are you lost?"
She looked around. A man was watching her, his eyes narrowed. He smelled hopeful, but cautious. Reflexively, she let her eyes widen and her voice raise childishly. "I don't know where I am," she said, and that at least was true. "What's your name?"
"My name's Harry," he said in the same kind of pseudo-friendly voice the Doctors always used when they wanted you to like them. She could see him eyeing the institution-grey jumpsuit, the red number emblazoned front and back. "What's yours?"
"Viola," she said, keeping the play going. She didn't know enough, not about the Outside, she'd never been field-rated...this was the only ploy she knew. She had to use it.
"Viola what?" he asked.
"Just Viola." She shrugged, twiddling a blonde curl around her finger. A finger that, for now, showed no signs of heavy dark claws. "I don't know where I am," she repeated vacantly. "Where am I?"
"Well, you're in Grace Street, honey." The man held out his hand to her. "Tell you what, why don't you come home with me? I'll give you dinner, and something warmer to wear."
Viola nodded. "Okay," she said in her soft, childish voice, and took the man's hand. "Can I have ice cream?"
"Sure you can, honey. As much as you want."
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Viola wandered around the apartment, looking at things. This was very interesting. Was this how ordinary adults lived? It was very neat. Well, except for the blood spatters.
She'd have to be neater next time.
"I was just going to hit you on the head," she said absently, running her fingers over the slim spines of the books on his shelves. "You really shouldn't have grabbed me. I can't help being overtrained."
Harry bubbled a little.
"You have a lot of books," she said wistfully. "I've never seen this many books."
Harry gurgled weakly.
"Oh, no, I'm not sorry for you. I saw those magazines you had in your room, and they weren't nice. Not nice at all." Viola wandered back over to him, her yellow eyes contemplative as she looked down at her first real kill, bleeding to death. "Those girls were all younger than I am. And I know I wouldn't like it. So you can just suffer.".
She watched until she was sure he was dead, and then went looking for the bathroom. It had been nearly a week since she'd had a shower, and she'd smelled a bit ripe even before she'd got blood all over her.
It took her all night, and a lot of the next day, to read all the books in the apartment, but she persevered. She needed to learn how these people thought. What the world was like outside the Program.
When she finished, she went over to the wall and looked at the little plus-shaped thing with the man on it. A crucifix. Christianity. Religion. Jesus Christ. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Well, he obviously hadn't believed THAT very hard. She'd found his video collection, too.
Her eyes tracked over to the body. Murder one. Police. Arrest, justice, injustice, truth and the American Way. She should probably leave.
There had been some clothes in her size. Most of them she wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, but a few weren't too bad. A bit cute and little-girly, but that was all to the good. It'd make her look more harmless.
She packed some food and one or two of the better books into a backpack, along with all the money she'd found. There had been little cards in his wallet too, but she didn't know what to do with those yet. Still, she'd learn. She'd learn everything. And then...
And then?
She'd learned a lot from the books. Things about morality, about justice, about right and wrong. They were ideas she'd only ever vaguely encountered in Chase's thoughts. Chase had been smart, and he'd thought a lot about things that he didn't think were fair. It was hard to tell, for her, what was right and what was wrong. She'd have to think a lot about it.
And about changing her name, too. She'd found a volume of Shakespeare, located her own name, and decided that Viola wasn't really her.
One thing she WAS sure about, though, was that killing her brothers and sisters had been wrong. Really, really wrong. And she wanted to know why it'd happened.
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Rogue stuffed her hands in her pockets forlornly. Jean was trying to be nice, and sure, having unlimited funds was great, but...
...shopping for clothes wasn't fun anymore.
She couldn't look for pretty things, for something with a low neckline or no sleeves. Now she could only buy jeans, long skirts, long-sleeved shirts, and gloves. As many pairs of gloves as she wanted. The only things she could still wear that she liked were her scarves.
At least they were eating like normal people. Jean had gone to get a salad sandwich and a cup of coffee, but Rogue was firmly and decisively standing in line at Burger King. It'd been a while. And she might not be a normal teenager anymore, but damn it, at least she could eat like one.
"Hi," someone said beside her. Rogue looked around.
She looked down.
Wide, angelic blue eyes, framed in a tangle of blonde curls, gazed up at her with interest. "Since we're gonna be in this line long enough for the next ice age to arrive," she said cheerfully, "I thought, hey, I'll say hello."
Rogue smiled awkwardly. This kid looked about...twelve? Thirteen? A mere infant, to a near-adult of seventeen. "Uh...hi."
"I love your hair," the girl said brightly. "The streak is so cool." She sighed, blowing a curl out of her eyes. "There's NOTHING you can do with hair like mine, except succumb to cuteness. My only other option is to shave my head, and even then there's still my face to deal with."
Rogue giggled a little, biting her lip. "Your hair's pretty, though," she objected weakly.
"Please. I look like Shirley Temple." The girl sighed. "Ah, well...actually, I have an ulterior motive talking to you, I admit it. You're here with Doctor Jean Grey, right? The Mutant Rights lady?"
Rogue looked around nervously. "Uh...I dunno about that, she's...uh...a teacher at my school, that's all..."
"Lucky," the girl said enviously. "She is the word, you know? I saw her speech on that Mutant Registration thing. I wish I went to that school, that'd be so neat having her for a teacher..."
Rogue gave her a relieved grin. Finally, someone who LIKED mutants. "She's pretty cool, but she gives you way too much homework."
"Ah, the price of glory." The girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Annie, by the way."
Rogue checked her glove automatically, and shook the hand shyly. "I'm Rogue."
"Great...ooh, we're here. Cheeseburger, large fries, and a drink. Surprise me." She flashed a brilliant smile at the counter-guy, who stuttered a bit and went to get the drink. "Ah, always works." She got her food, and smiled at Rogue. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Seeya!" And she was off, threading her way through the crowd, looking for a table.
Rogue smiled a little as she ordered, feeling a little better. A normal interaction, with a normal kid. That'd been...nice.
She and Jean had finished lunch and were discussing what to do next, when something or someone dived under their table, scattering bags right and left. "Help!"
Rogue and Jean looked at each other.
They both leaned sideways to look under the table.
A rather nervous-looking blonde cherub looked back. "Uh...hi."
"Ah... Why are you under our table?" Jean asked, in her best kind-and-understanding voice.
Annie looked guilty. "Let's say, hypothetically, that I'm a mutant."
Jean and Rogue traded another look, this one a lot more worried. "All right," Jean agreed slowly.
"Then let's further our hypothesis to include the possibility that I may have, completely accidentally, converted two and a half shelves full of stuff to a crystalline compound similar in appearance to blue topaz."
Jean's lips twitched, even as her eyes filled with sympathy. "I see."
Rogue eyed the large backpack, and nodded. Aha. "And you can't pay for the stuff, huh?"
"Nope."
"How long you been on your own?"
Annie thought for a second. "Uhm...about three months, give or take. You know, me hiding under here isn't gonna do much good if you're both sittin' there looking at me..."
They both straightened up hastily. By craning her neck, Rogue could see a couple of mall security guys looking around on the other side of the food hall. "Why us?" she hissed to the table.
"Because you're both mutants," the table hissed back. "I could tell. You wouldn't turn in an innocent victim of an accident that could happen to anyone with a certain kind of mutant power, would you?"
"Of course not," the two chorused. Jean grinned at Rogue. "Listen...um..."
"Annie," Rogue supplied.
"Annie," Jean said gently. "Do you have any family at all?"
"I got a dad somewhere. I think. Only I'm pretty sure he doesn't know I exist." The table sounded a bit uncertain.
"I see." Jean bit her lip, nodding thoughtfully. Rogue was willing to bet that Jean's rudimentary telepathy was testing the kid's intentions. "Listen...I teach at the school Rogue goes to. It's a boarding school for...special children."
"You mean mutants," the table said flatly.
"Well...yes. If you want, you could come back with us, and have a look around. If you like it, and the Professor agrees, you could stay."
A pair of suspicious blue eyes appeared over the edge of the table. "There better not be any funny stuff," Annie said firmly. "'Cause I'm not THAT desperate."
Jean's lips twitched again, but she shook her head seriously. "No funny stuff, I promise. The school exists to help kids like you."
Annie's eyes swivelled to look at Rogue. "What's this school like, anyway?"
"It's good! I mean, it's okay. Really. Better than being out on your own." Rogue nodded earnestly. "You should give it a try."
There was an audible sniffing sound. "If I can have a shower, then okay. It's been WAY too long."
Rogue and Jean both giggled. "It's a deal," Jean agreed. "As soon as the security men are gone, we can go."
"Sure." Under the table, Experiment A-99, formerly called Viola, grinned. Infiltration? This wasn't infiltration, this was walking in the front door, throwing your coat on the couch, and putting your feet on the table. Still, as she understood it, it was the nature of Good People to be kind and trusting, so she'd give them the benefit of the doubt.
Anyway, she was smelly.
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Logan's head snapped up. He'd caught a scent...just a trace...he smelled danger. A scent with a feral note, like his, and just the faintest trace of something familiar, something he couldn't quite place. Eyes narrowing, he followed it down a corridor, towards the Professor's office. Whatever it was, it was in there. With the Professor. And...he tilted his head...oh, god, Rogue and Jean were in there too!
He kicked the door open, charging in, opening his mouth to snarl--
Something hit the side of his head.
Then the world suddenly went bright and dark and something hit the other side of his head. It was the carpet.
"Hey!" Rogue yelled somewhere above him. "Cut it out!"
"Oh. Is he one of yours?" someone asked in an apologetic voice. A very female, very young apologetic voice. "I just have this ingrained reaction to guys jumping out of doorways at me, sorry..."
Logan sat up, and looked at the newcomer. She was short...maybe five-two, wearing denim overalls and worn sneakers, her curly blonde hair in two bunches above her ears. Big, innocent blue eyes were gazing down at him. "Sorry I kicked you," she said, stuffing her hands in her pockets and looking down at her shoes. "I've...uh...been on my own for a while. Habit."
"Right." Damn, he felt stupid. Okay, so the kid had a bit of an edge to her scent, that was only to be expected from someone who'd been on the streets for long enough for habits to form. "Sorry I scared ya."
A blonde eyebrow spocked upwards. "Scared? Me? Hey, buster, it takes more'n ONE guy jumping around behind me to scare me."
Logan scrambled to his feet, scowling. "Yeah, sure, squirt." Although he had to admit, for such a little-looking kid, she kicked damn hard. She'd even rung HIS bells for a second there. "Who're you?"
"This is Annie, Logan," the Professor said in that mild voice. "She may well be our newest student. Annie, this is Logan. He teaches metalwork and physical education."
The big blue eyes looked him up and down, and she grinned. "I'd never have guessed," she said drolly. Behind her, Rogue snickered. Logan glowered.
"Funny," he said brusquely. "If everything's okay in here, Prof, I'm gonna go...get ready for class." Oh, damn the bald bastard for making him teach...he wasn't any good with kids, and he didn't like teaching. But everyone needed a cover story, here, and the other option was being a student, so...
"Seeya, Mr. Logan," the new kid said brightly.
He stalked out, muttering.
"I like it here already," Annie said happily.
"Yes, well, I hope you won't make a habit of random attacks on the teachers," the Professor said seriously. "It's very important that everyone obeys the rules, here, or there could be anything from fist-fights to a bomb-blast."
"He started it," she pointed out reasonably.
"I know. But still...fighting is not permitted."
"I'll be good," Annie promised impishly.
The Professor gave her a Look.
"I will! Unless they jump out at me or grab me," she said reasonably. "A girl's gotta be able to take care of herself."
"Fair enough," Jean agreed, before the professor could say anything. "Does that mean you'll stay?"
"For a while, at least," Annie agreed. "It's a nice place. Pretty gardens." She'd already gotten the Edited Tour, and had evidenced the most interest in the gardens and in the library, from which she'd had to be coaxed with promises that she could come back very soon.
"Good," the Professor said, smiling at her. "In that case, Rogue will show you to the room you'll be sharing with a couple of our younger students. Rogue, you do know where Jubilee's room is, don't you?"
Rogue nodded, and the two girls slipped out of the study. "It's this way," she murmured, leading the way up the stairs. "Yana's pretty much the youngest here -- she's nine. Jubilee's fifteen, and you're...how old are you?"
"Thirteen," Annie said, looking around avidly as they walked down a beautifully paneled hallway. "I never went to a school like this before."
Rogue nodded. "Me neither. But it's nice." She smiled tentatively. "When I've showed you your room, I'll show you the refectory and stuff. It's easier to find your way around than you'd think."
"Oh, I never get lost," Annie assured her confidently. "I've got an eidetic memory -- that means I never forget anything. Literally."
"Oh." Rogue blinked. "That sounds more useful than most mutant powers." Like mine, she thought wistfully.
"It's overrated." Annie hitched her bag on her shoulder and shrugged. "Imagine never being able to read anything twice, because you never forget anything after the first time. Good for study, bad for reading for fun."
"I guess it would be. This is your room here." Rogue tapped on the door. "Is anyone there?"
Jubilee pulled the door open with a jerk, earrings swinging. "Hey, Stripe. Whassup?"
Rogue indicated Annie. "This's Annie. She's your new roommate."
Jubilee's eyes narrowed as she inspected the blonde girl. "Why?"
"'Cause Doctor Grey and the Professor said so, I guess." Rogue shrugged. "Annie, this is Jubilee."
Annie was staring with obvious fascination at Jubilee's big hoop earrings. "I like those," she said admiringly. "Wish I could get my ears pierced."
"Why can't you?" Jubilee asked curiously.
"The holes don't heal right," Annie explained. "They always try to close over the earring."
"Oh. Well, that makes sense." Jubilee looked friendlier. "Where're you from?"
Annie shrugged. "Around," she said vaguely. "Started out in Wisconson, moved around a lot in the last little while. Hitch-hiking, mostly."
Jubilee, a street-kid herself before the X-Men had picked her up, nodded. "As ya do," she said simply.
"As you do," Annie agreed. Jubilee stepped back, and Annie slid through the door. "Hey, nice room. Where do I sleep?"
"That bed's free," Jubilee shrugged, pointing. "Just toss your bag there, we'll clear some cupboard space for you later."
"Won't need much. All my stuff's in that bag." Annie dropped the bag on the floor. "Hey, pictures!" There were a handful of delicate pencil sketches pinned up on a cork-board, and Annie gazed admiringly at them. "Whose are they?"
"Yana's brother draws them," Jubilee explained. "He's a student here too."
"Think he could show me how? I'd like to be able to draw." Annie was obviously fascinated by the drawings. "I mean, I can sketch out diagrams and blueprints and stuff, but not pictures like this."
"Piotr's pretty gifted," Jubilee said proudly. "Nobody else at the school can draw that well."
Annie nodded, then she brightened. "Hey, is there a music class?"
"Not really...there's only a coupla kids who're into it, so they get private lessons from a music teacher in Salem Center," Rogue explained. "Why? Do you like music?"
"Yeah..." Annie knelt, digging around in her bag. She pulled out a large instrument-case, that had to have been taking up most of the room in the bag. "I've been trying to learn to play this, but I'm not very good yet."
Rogue blinked. "Is that a saxophone?"
Annie nodded proudly. "It's harder than it looks. But I like music, and I want to be able to play it."
"You're nuts," Jubilee said cheerfully, shaking her head.
"No, I'm stubborn." Annie grinned. "I'll learn to play the damn thing good if it kills me."
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Logan?" Rogue peeped around the door.
"Hey, kid." He was towelling at damp hair, barechested, faded blue jeans belted snugly around his hips. "Ya missed class again."
"I don't like basketball," she said in a small voice. "I'm scared someone'll bump into me and...you know."
"Yeah, I know." He took one more swipe at his hair, then tossed the towel in the general direction of the bathroom. "I talked t'the Professor. He says you can do somethin' else."
Rogue stuffed her hands in her pockets, trying not to stare at him. He was so...sexy. Even if he was way too old. "Like what?"
"A couple of the students go out running every morning. You're gonna go with 'em, instead of doing phys-ed."
"But they go out at dawn!" Rogue moaned in horror. He looked at her. She blushed and looked down at her hands. "I mean...okay, I guess. It's better than basketball."
"Good." He grinned a little at her. "Didja want something?"
Rogue shuffled a little. "Uhm...I was just wondering if you were okay. I mean, Annie kicked you pretty hard."
Logan grunted, scowling a little. "I'm fine. It just surprised me is all."
"Oh, it surprised me too. I mean, I was looking at her, and I hardly even saw it. She was really, really fast."
Logan blinked, looking up sharply. "How fast?"
"Oh, not mutant-fast. Just...like in a Bruce Lee movie. Her foot just whizzed up, you know?" She smiled lopsidedly. "I always thought that was like, faked or something when I saw it in the movies, but she really did it."
"Huh." Logan grunted, running a hand through his damp hair. "Martial arts, huh? Explains how a kid that young made it so long on her own."
Rogue nodded. "That's what I thought." She traced a pattern on the carpet with her toe. "You think I could learn stuff like that?"
"No reason why not," Logan shrugged. "It takes a lot of work, though."
"I could do that," she said hopefully. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I could."
"Uh-huh." He pulled a t-shirt over his head. "Yeah, well, if you want, I'll talk to the Prof, see if we can work something out."
"That's okay." Rogue tried to look tough and capable. "I mean, I can talk to him."
Logan grinned at her, patting her shoulder fondly. "Good girl. I gotta go have another 'training session,'" he rolled his eyes, "with Storm and One-Eye. Seeya later, okay?"
"Okay..." Rogue stuffed her hands in her pockets, and tried not to be obvious about watching his butt go.
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Bobby smiled his friendliest smile at the new girl, sliding his tray onto the table and sitting down across from her. "Hi. I'm Bobby."
She looked him up and down, a distinctly unimpressed expression on her face. "That's nice for you," she said coolly.
"Annie!" Rogue gave Bobby an embarrassed smile. "Annie, Bobby's a friend of mine."
"Oh." The blonde girl gave him a longer look. "He's brighter than he looks, right?"
Rogue grinned. "A little bit, maybe."
Bobby rolled his eyes at her. "Gee, thanks."
Annie grinned. Bobby couldn't help noticing that, as baby-cute and innocent as her face was, there was something...toothy...about that grin. "All right, all right. I'll be polite." She shrugged. "I'm not usually that rude, but it's been a kinda long day."
"First day usually is, here," Bobby said sympathetically. "I heard your powers went outta control at the mall, is that true?"
"Yeah," John Allerdyce said from the other end of the table. "I heard Doctor Grey rescued you from Security."
Annie snorted. "Her? Rescue? No way. I hid under her table, that's all. I'da gotten away fine without her."
"So what happened?" John asked persistently. "What are your powers?"
"Uhm... Okay, I'm not real good at this yet, but..." Annie held out a hand, frowning a little. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a tiny blue sparkle appeared in her palm. It seemed to flicker at first, then as it got bigger Bobby realized that it was spinning, so fast that it was a blur. Annie frowned harder, and it kept growing, until it was about the size of a quarter.
"Cool," someone said quietly.
Annie jumped, and the blue-glowing thing shot off her palm and clattered onto the table.
It stopped glowing immediately, and Bobby smiled as he picked up the tiny, perfect model of a cat balled up in sleep. It had ears, paws, even tiny whiskers. "Hey, this is really good," he said admiringly. "I can't get this kind of detail yet."
Annie smiled a little shyly, accepting the bit of blue crystal as he dropped it into her hand. "I can only do detail on the really small stuff," she admitted. "Anything bigger than an orange and I kinda lose it."
Rogue held out a hand. "Can I see?" Annie passed it to her, and Rogue held up the tiny...well, it wasn't a carving, but it looked like one. The deep, cool blue was beautiful, and when she tilted it she could see little shimmers catching in lines, simulating fur, almost too small to see. "This is beautiful."
"You can have it," Annie shrugged. "I can make more."
"Thanks." Rogue smiled shyly, tucking the little cat into her pocket. Surreptitiously, she pulled her glove off under the table and slid her hand into the pocket to touch it. The crystal was cool and smooth, round curves snuggling into her palm.
Annie shrugged again, and poked at a pale mass on her plate. "Uh...what exactly is this?"
Bobby grinned, and Rogue chuckled. "Nobody knows," Bobby said confidingly. "John thinks it might be part of our training."
Annie sniffed it, and made a face. "Training as what? Kamikaze food-tasters?"
Rogue and Bobby exchanged looks. "You'll see."
