Gen X fic (possible FO,PTB . . . but not a Mary Sue!)
By Gok
Chapter One: Puzzle Pieces
[thoughts and telepathy]
*actions that would be worded in a comic book are starred*
Emphasis in bold
To not leave those who are interested completely in the proverbial dark, it must be said that the two young women that had clambered up the evergreen were not completely without outside friends. Or accquaintances, at any rate, but there were people in the world who know of them and did not immediately intend harm, but were still careful about how they moved around two of them. And while the red one - nameless, she had been given the signature of Penny, short for Penance - had accepted this, from months if not years of tenuous friendship, the blue girl - whose real name she had kept to herself, but the others had taken to calling Irri even before sending her away - had only come to the Embassy two weeks previous, and she trusted none of them besides the one she was with. They did not trust her much either, though it was more for her powers than anything personal - her code name had been labelled to her because of the 'eerie' unpredicable power aspect as much as the iridescence of her new skin.
Irri liked a few of the younger ones who lived with her at the Embassy - the green boy who dimmed her powers down to a usually managable level (the reason she had been sent there, away from her own country, but she could recall enough of a fuss to believe her wayward abilities had caused a large mess of trouble, which might account for some of the reason she had to leave), and the little pink boy who could not talk either, but he could form pictures to speak, and a pair of girls who looked alike to her eyes but in all other ways were very different. The silent twin, even more than her sister, could channel the same kind of energies that the native man had used on his evil opponent those long months before, the magics that had also caught her and changed her. So she did not trust the little girls, though they had not done her any harm. She liked the boys better - plus they, too, were balder than an egg. A third boy was often with the colored two, but he looked normal, and whatever his powers were, they did not react well with Irri's. They had convinced her several days before to come outside, down to look at the ocean, away from people to keep anything from going wrong (like being caught by the grown-ups). But no matter that the green boy had done his best to keep both of them from causing a disaster, one had happened anyway, and the giant monster-robot had come soon after to investigate, as did many groups of normals and non-normals, and the four had run away as fast as they could from the mess. The monster-robot had terrified the three young boys, and it tried to hurt them, until Irri's self-defenses took over and turned it into powder.
She still had no idea how. She had known it was her that did it, but the boys didn't seem to know how or why and so she kept her thoughts to herself to keep out of more trouble. They had quickly scurried back to the Embassy, and if anyone found out why the monster-robot had been reduced to its component molecules, they did not confront Irri on it. But she stayed inside the Embassy's boundaries after that, regardless of the coaxing by the others.
There were a few others, also non-normals, whom she'd met recently and did not outright hate. One of which was currently close to the pair, searching, but the blue one signalled to the red girl to wait before letting him know where they were. She had not been quite ready to face what might have been anger.
Earlier that day, at the Embassy, they had realised she wasn't about, but they had simply assumed she was hiding down in the cellars or had curled up behind the dense greenery of the garden. Penny often vanished for a day or three at a time, but they knew she could handle herself, and weren't worried about her. But Irri was new and unpredicable, with erratic power levels and an obvious grudge. As the day had worn on, they had started to look a little more earnestly, also trying to locate Penny in case she had seen, or, more likely, was in the company of the shimmering blue woman she'd bonded to. Neither was anywhere to be seen, with eyes or sensors.
Then one of the adults had gotten the unlikely idea to check the scanners left at the school (it still being a token waystation and the landing site of various aliens), had suddenly seen they were registering a whole lot of mutant energy being given off, and the signature seemed to be a complete match for Irri's. They called up a few people and sent out a search team, wondering how it was possible that she could have crossed part of africa and all of the atlantic to get there.
The search teams, arriving at the school late in the afternoon, couldn't find her. BUT there were fresh shred marks over all sorts of surfaces - it was very clear Penny had been there, and there were recent footprints that looked a lot like Irri's mutated feet. The trees that were scratched were still leaking sap, so it had been that day. In the confused radio conversation that followed, both sides admitted that they had no idea how either of them got there, but with Irri's powers being less than a year old, and spiking all over the place, they figured it might have been her doing. They could not find her by mentally scanning, but that was apparently part of her mutation, just like Penny could usually not be found. So they spread out on foot, beginning a visual search, and only hoped that the pair of them wanted to be found or it would all be for nothing.
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Jonothan Starsmore was one of those looking, called in from the X-men because he was one of the few Irri'd met and didn't outright hate. One of that team - he would not name the name even if you asked him - had stepped on the end of one of her tails. Not intentionally, of course, but it had pissed Irri off and she'd almost blasted the offender through the wall. He was currently following what he thought might be the most recent of the shred marks, when he got nailed with something hard on the top of his head. [Ow!], and he rubbed his head where it hit. [Friggin pinecones!] Then he saw an empty basket land from somewhere above and in front of him, and called out. [Yo! Girls! Are you there?]
No answer out loud, but neither girl they were looking for was able to speak anyway, and only Penny had shown any signs of being able to hear his 'talking'. Irri had tried, but was completely opaque to any form of telepathy. He got an answer a moment later anyway, as the branches on an especially large evergreen began to stay - someone was coming down, far too fast for Jono's comfort - where they falling? He started to run over -
*WHUMP!!!*
A huge spray of dirt exploded upwards scant inches in front of his feet, forcing him to skid to an abrupt stop. The dusty cloud settled to show Penny crouched in her own personal impact crater. He paused to brush the soil off of his jacket and pants, then looked over - the branches were still moving, but not as fast - there was another being in the tree, who was descending at a more reasonable pace. [Penny, you daft baby, we've been searching for hours!] He started to go over, but was halted by a handful of razor-sharp fingers blocking him. [Calm down, yur not in trouble, but we're two bloody miles from civilization for crissakes! You just took off suddenly, we just got worried! Well? Is it her or not?] He tried to send an image of Irri, with a question attached, but Penny just gave him the same steady expression, and moved to stop him when he tried to walk around her. She pointed at the base of the tree, then held her hand up again to keep in him place. Squinting, he tried to see if there was a reason. All he could see was a tiny bit of color - it looked like a corner of cloth - and it took him a moment to realize it was probably some clothing. The branches had stopped moving just above the ground, and he could get a glimpse of a glossy, ultra-pale blue person almost completely obscured by tufts of needles.
[Whoops - she's going Lady Godiva.] Jono - who would have blushed if he'd had a heart to pump the blood - turned around to face the other way. He'd already heard from the others how she'd trashed several outfits, from either the occasional fit of rage over her condition, or the less-occasional power burst that turned destructive against her. Either way, she usually got in trouble for it - it took something signifigant to destroy fabric made up of unstable mocules, but she had. Twice. She had probably stripped to preserve it . . . or it was already destroyed past wearing.
He remained turned around, waiting for her to either come to him or take off further into the bush - he didn't feel it polite to watch either way. Even if the mutation had obliterated any outward traces of gender, he knew what it was like to be stared at, and was sure Irri hated as much as he did. He pulled a small pad of paper out of his pocket and found a pen, holding them out behind him. It was unlikely she'd have remembered to bring one of her own: from all appearances, she had no intention of interacting with anyone but Penny, for today and most days in the past he was aware of. He had written "How did you get here?" and "Do you want me to tell other friends looking that you have been found?" on the top sheet.
He could hear the clothing being put back on however, and after a minute of slow shuffing footsteps, she moved up beside him, taking the pad and looking at it. He'd been careful to print clearly and not use too many complex words; there was ample evidence the mutation had taken a chunk out of the language centers of her mind. Not as bad as Penny seemed to be - who had not grasped the concept of written on even simple sign language after years of trying - but still rather severe, and slow to regenerate. Irri might never regain all the language skills she'd lost, the doctors and scientists simply did not know. Penny had stopped her guard duty to pounce on a grasshopper barely a moment after he'd turned.
Irri was wearing enough to cover herself, but there were several remaining garments and a steel bodybrace dumped into the basket at his feet. Penny was jumping around the two of them playfully, grinning and turning cartwheels, apparently glad to see Jono again so soon after his brief visit the week before.
Irri turned the page over, grasped the pen carefully and wrote out a reply. "Accident. We fell. Landed here. Tell if want I not care others angry."
"They're not angry. Worried about bad guys and Sentinels. Want ride back?" He handed back the pad.
She seemed to laugh when she read it, but there was no sound and it was hard to tell with the thick, glittery leather that made up her face. She handed the pad back, not writing a reply, but she picked up the basket and shrugged. Then she suddenly grinned, hard gums showing like a blunt beak under shimmering flesh, and dropped to basket to grab the paper again. "Watch this trick!"
She handed the paper back, to his puzzlement, and waved Penny over closer. Then she stared at her own hands, and a pale blue glow lit up around them, which she kept up as she reached out to Penny. Jono could only stare in astonishment as she placed her hands on the red girl's scalp, and ran her fingers through the tendrils of hair with edges sharp enough the slice adamantium with ease, but the blue speckled hands were not severed, or even scratched. She rubbed the hair about for a moment, with Penny looking very pleased at the contact, then straighted out the wayward spikes before letting go of the blue glow.
Jono looked at her wide-eyed for a long second. Then he started scribbling out a message on the pad. "Was that a forcefield of some kind? We hadn't been able to find even one that she didn't disrupt, when did you figure out how to do that?"
Irri stared at the pad, but didn't seem to understand what he was asking. He tried again, simpler, being careful to form the letters clearly. "How?"
"New power. Good one. Tell others we want ride."
He nodded, and closed his eyes to concentrate. [Hey, everyone! They let me find them. We're up the valley a ways - past the creek spot where I talked w'Penny the first time about half a mile. We'll walk back to the clearing and meet you there. Explanations later - and they do want to ride back.] He was the only telepath of any power to come on the search, since the power was of little use in locating the runaways, so he was not expecting a reply.
Irri had picked the basket back up and waited for him while he was busy, the skinny tendils that were her tails being used to smack patches of dried grass. The seeds rained like little sprays of mock confetti, then they started on the long walk back.
They 'talked' a little bit on the way, stopping before it was too dark to see the words - Jono simply unwrapped some of his face, and it provided enough light to make out the way back without tripping. Irri and Penny both had proved to have excellent night vision. She wrote out, in her clumsy bold printing, that she would never suffer the bodybrace again. "Never. I decided!" She also told him that they had left when they heard people - in case it was trouble, she wrote out that they did not want to have to hurt anyone.
Jono asked if it was she who was worried about being hurt.
Irri had shook her head at that. Then she'd given him what could have been an evil smirk and formed a 3 inch greenish ball, throwing it at a part of the ground a few dozen feet off. It left an impact crater over a meter across when it landed with a small *BOOM*.
[That one is definately new,] Jono marvelled, and he was glad she hadn't had used it on their last meeting. The simple physical strength Irri now wore had been enough to injure his teammate. She hadn't shown any evident powers that day, even, but Ambassador St. Croix had assured him that she weilded some.
They'd only met that one time. It had not been remarkable in any way, at first. She had asked him a few questions about his mutation - how the rest of his body had not rotted without air or food or water or blood moving. He admitted that he did not know. She hadn't said much after that, and didn't expect him to say anything else either. Some people wanted him to talk the rest of his face off. He had stayed silent and moody for hours, and she hadn't batted an eyelash to try to cheer him out of it, something that had always made his mood worse. Not that she had eyelashes anymore . . . he could relate to having body parts mutate off, too.
They were as quiet this time, except for the shredding noises that resulted whenever Penny came in contact with a tree or rock or other firm surface. He almost laughed at how familiar the image was, Penny tearing into anything and everything with her own brand of innocence. He looked around at the grounds as they hiked, this first visit back since he'd left at the school's closing, remembering and thinking about the changes the Gen X team had been through. Banshee had gone off to Ireland, but had seemed to stop drinking only to disappear into some dark form of work. Frost had joined the X-men with him, but only after being one of less than a dozen surviors of the 16 million mutants who'd lived on Genosha - a third teaching position where she'd had students die, but the first where the entire group of them had perished - with the Hellions, she'd at least had Firestar survive and eventually join the Avengers. Then Everett had died, those months before, and recently the entire population of Genosha High - and the rest of that nation to boot.
Frost was never in a good mood anymore, no matter how rare they had been before. What she did have was a severe attitude problem - Jono was sure it was a front, but he wasn't about to confront anyone on being gloomy. Jubilee had been furious with envy at his promotion to the X, but right about the time she found out Frost was joining too, she had given Angelo the offer of a roadtrip back to LA. Paige was off tree-hugging and trying to make a difference, Monet was living in Luxury back in Algeria but not the Embassy where the youngest kids were, and Everett was buried in a St. Louis graveyard.
That last thought made Jono depressed all over again.
They soon had made it back down to where the others waited with the helicopters and cars. The large group spooked Penny, but even with shooing most of them off, it took some effort to get Penny to climb into - and then hold still inside - the larger helicopter. It would be faster and slightly safer to bring them to the airport by sky than by road; the recent 'unpleasant events' in the news had done little to reduce the anti-mutant feelings of most of the world, they could not risk having a third party run into them.
The problem of getting her on board was finally solved when Jono decided to climb in as well, to accompany them to the airport. He could simply rent a car to get back to Westchester, he explained, once they were at the airport. Penny had been on a plane before - several, actually, and with the Ambassador's assistance, they could get around customs on the other side. Not wanting to return just yet to the Mansion and all the problems that it held (not to mention the swarms of people), Jono accompanied them right to the edge of the private jet, and he made Irri promise to not teleport like that again without warning someone - at either end, since she hadn't done this one on purpose. She reluctantly agreed, and was about to climb up the stairs with Penny when she stopped to write him a final note.
"You tell Penny you miss her," and she handed it to him, waiting for his response.
He only looked at her, eyes narrowed. [Where'd she get that from?] It was true, of course, but he didn't go in for emotional goodbyes. Ever.
"I read your eyes. You miss her. Tell her." Irri seemed very insistant, and he shrugged.
Jono bend down, since Penny wasn't standing up, to get her attention, and sent the thought to her. She didn't give any indication that she'd heard him, but after a moment, she smiled at him and scratched out a rough circle on the tarmac, ripping a smiley face into it. Then she climbed up the steps to the plane, stopped halfway to wave back. Jono returned the wave, and found himself feeling better for it.
He walked away, but he did stop to watch the jet taking off, heading across the ocean to Algeria. Then he went and rented a car to drive home.
He turned the radio on, and listened to it while he drove. It had been an interesting day, that was certain.
(end)
(for now . . . Irri's got more things to do, I think.)
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