It was the first time Verwyn had missed a day of school since 2nd grade, back when he had had the chicken pox. That had been the worst few days his life... until recently that is.

Earlier in the morning Verwyn had noticed his 'condition' getting worst. His vision was blurring, despite his glasses, and he couldn't quite make out colors anymore. Still he had been able to see in the mirror that he didn't look exactly human anymore. He knew what was happening to him. Lately it was all they ever talked about on the news. The mutants were back, and he was one of them.

He had been afraid to stay home that morning because he would have had to tell his parents he was sick, in which case they would have inspected him out of concern... and they would have seen what he was becoming. Instead he threw on a big hoodie and started to leave the house as if he was headed to school in a rush; as if this was a day like any other. He fed Poocher, his dog, and then darted passed his parents and his sister who were having breakfast. He waved to them in farewell as he slipped out of the door.

He had spent most of the day roaming the streets of New York, trying to keep to the narrower alleyways were people weren't likely to get a good look at him. In the early afternoon he settled into a small restaurant, thinking to quell his hunger for a moment. Luckily enough the lunch time crowd hadn’t come in yet and the restaurant was more or less empty.

Verwyn could smell the foods cooking in the kitchen as if they were just under his nose. He pulled his hood as low over his face as he could as the attractive waitress came over and asked to take his order.

He only growled at her in a low guttural tone. He hadn’t meant to. He was trying to say “The bacon cheeseburger” but words wouldn’t come out.

The waitress raised an eyebrow at him. “Sir, if you need more time to decide all you had to do was say so.”

Verwyn shook his head and then pointed at the item he wanted on the menu. The hair on the back of his hand had become thick, almost thick enough to qualify as fur. A look of disgust flashed across the waitresses face but she jotted down his order all the same and turned and walked away.

Verwyn clutched his head in his hands. He knew he couldn’t go home anymore. He didn’t want his family to see him like this, he wouldn’t be able to stand the shame. Besides he didn’t want to end up hurting them. He didn’t know what was happening to him or what sort of monster he’d become in the next few days.

A news report came on the TV mounted just behind the counter as the waitress sat his food in front of him and quickly walked away. He couldn’t see the picture on the TV, but he could hear what was being said perfectly. He listened as he scarfed down his burger and fries.

“Another mutant has been detected and exterminated in what has been the fifth mutating attack this week. Scientists say that this could be just the tip of the iceberg and mankind should prepare it’s self for a full blown war against these freaks. If you think you know one of these mutants report them to the local authorities immediately. It may be someone you used to know, someone you trusted, but…”

Verwyn stopped eating suddenly. There was strong pressure on his bones all of the sudden. He felt like the air around him was squeezing him, crushing him. He howled in pain as the bones in his arms and legs started to crack and then snap, and grind together, shortening themselves. The bones of his jaw extend, breaking through his skin and soft tissue, forming a skeletal snout structure.

Verwyn could feel the waitress’s eyes on him as he changed and he thought he could sense… almost smell her fear.

“Hello?” He heard her whisper into her cell phone. “I… I’d like to report a mutant.”

Before long it was over. The pressure let up and Verwyn was in control of his body again. Still hungry, he bent down over his plate eating the scraps that were left, without using his hands. He licked the plate clean using a tongue that was a good deal longer than the one he had a moment ago. He tried to get out of the booth but he fell on the floor and then scrambled onto all fours. He looked at the large window across from him and saw his reflection in the pane of glass. He had become a huge dog. He was expecting something more gruesome in all honesty. He almost looked like a supersized version of his pet Poocher.

Verwyn ran out of the door, shaking out of the clothing that was draped loosely over him.

He spent the rest of day huddled in a alleyway trying to figure out what to do next. He had heard of mutants even worse off than he, but the ones they talked about on the news were the ones who had already been ‘exterminated’. He supposed he was lucky to just be alive.

He laid there in the alley until the sunset, listening the whole time for approaching strangers. Sniffing to be sure he hadn’t been tracked. Eventually the city was swallowed by the darkness of night and he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Chris ducked into an alleyway, running at full speed. He wouldn't be able to keep this pace up much longer, not with his shape. He was already starting to feel a bit out of breath. He heard the engines buzzing behind him. He glanced back. The government agents were riding some sort of high tech motorcycls, defnitely nothing available to the public. He tried to climb a wall, but was pulled down by the leg moments later. Dammit, why couldn't I have a had a mutation that was actually, you know, useful. I don't even know what I've mutated into. I didn't even know I WAS a mutant until these goons came knocking at the orphanage. He was led by one of the goons to the motorbikes, and was forced to place his hands on them, as they searched hm for weapons. He glanced over the bike, and whistled admiringly. "No handlebars. Artificial Intelligence I take it?" One of the enforcers, leaning up against the wall smiled, comming over to talk to him.
"Yeah. You like? State of the art." The one behind him finished the search, and reached up to punch his friend's shoulder. "Idiot. No fraternizing with the muties. Come on kid, we've got a van waiting for you at the end of the alleyway, you're the third freak today." Christopher sighed. He knew he wouldn't be able to get away, but at least he got them to leave Sister Carlotta and the others alone.
Hey, kid. You one of those mutants these people have been tracking? Chris blinked. Those were definitely NOT his thoughts. Nevermind, stupid question. I'm BUILT to find you people. It's pretty dull though. I need a change of pace. Wanna get out of here? Jump on. John looked up at the men. "Well, freak? You coming peacefully, or we gotta put you down right here?" The look on his face clearly showed that he would relish the oppurtunity. "Don't bother trying to steal the bikes to get away. AI, like you guessed. Won't even start without the right code." Chris smiled, finally realizing what it was that had happened to him. Maybe he wasn't useless after all. And it did explain a lot about his strange skill with computers, for someone so young. He looked at the man behind him, hands still on the bike. "Alright, well then in that case-" He swung a leg over the bike, and tapped the HUD on the other one, the headlights of both flaring up. "I'll be leaving." He shook his head as he rocketed out of the alleyway, the second bike following him. "Hey boys!" He called back, as he swung around to face them. "Seriusly? Swordfish? You couldn't even throw a number or two in there? Give me a LITTLE challenge! Come on you two, let's head north." As the bikes turned and headed up the street, he remembered the men had mentioned two other mutants. He instructed them to stop a moment, dismounted, and keyed open the electronic locks on the back of the van. Without waiting to see who was even in the van, he jumped back on the bikes. "Good luck out there you two! If you need any help, look for me! I won't be hard to find!" He looked down at the bike under him, and he put on the face concealing helmet, cruising along the street. "So, uh...you're the bike's AI system, eh? Cool. I suppose that means I can talk to machines now." Affirmative Sufficiently advanced ones, at least.. I tracked you as Christoher Marlowe, Technomancer. Level 3 mutant. You have some potential. And you don't need to speak to me out loud, as long as we remain in contact. Chris nodded. Right. So, uh...why exactly did you help me? As I explained before. This was getting monotonous. Besides, I think someone like you would appreciate me a bit more. Those goons were always getting my kind destroyed. Chris smiled. Maybe this mutant thing wasn't so bad after all.

"Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Oh, crap." He repeated the same thing over and over again as his grip tightened on the kitchen knife that glinted malevolently in his hand.
This is such a bad idea. What if it doesn't work this time?
"Daniel?!" His mother's voice outside his bedroom door made him jump, the sudden twitch bringing the knife down in a sharp, stabbing motion.
"Don't come in!"
"Daniel, what are you doing in there? Why is one of the knives missing from the kitchen? You're not trying to hurt yourself again are you?" The doorknob began to rattle as she tried to push open the door. Thankfully, he had placed his computer chair up against the door to hold it shut, he didn't want to be interrupted. Unfortunately, his computer chair was on wheels. The door flung open, sending the chair skittering across the bedroom floor. Daniel Raynes sat on his bed, his pants around his ankles, the blade of the kitchen knife crumpled from the impact with his thigh.

Daniel smiled sheepishly at his mother.
"Huh, I guess I got unbreakable skin this time."

--------------------

Downstairs in the living room, his mother was furious.
"Daniel, we said this was going to stop. It's things like this that made your father leave! He couldn't take it and, you know, I'm finding it harder and harder everyday. I mean, I know you're a... a... thing..."
"I'm a mutant, mom."
"Right, and I know you can't help that, but sweetie, you have to stop rubbing this in people's faces. We've tried so hard to hide this, don't you know what they'll do to you if they find out about this?"
"Mom, my skin is dark green, it's kinda hard for me to go incognito. And why do you talk about this like it's some kind of disease? I'm special."

Mrs. Raynes looked at her son, a look of revulsion in her eyes behind the tears that had begun to form there.
"Special? Daniel, you're a monster."
"What?"
"You're a genetic mistake."
"M-mom... stop it."
"Don't tell me what to do in my own home, you mutie freak!" She was screaming now, the shame and frustration that she had bottled up inside for the past three years was now pouring out, exploding with the force of an atom bomb. She started hitting him, not just slaps, but fists. She couldn't take it anymore, the shame of having this thing as a son. She rained down punches on her son, trying to fix the mistake she had birthed.
"Mom! Mom, stop! Please, you're hurting me! Mommy!" He was curled in a ball on the floor, trying to stop the hurting, when suddenly a pain far worse than the punches flared underneath his skin. "Mom, please, something's... something's happening."

In an instant, it had happened. Long, impossibly sharp barbs burst from Daniel Raynes' skin, 4ft long and formed from some kind of organic steel compound. He screamed in agony, tearing his throat with the sound, blood pooling in his mouth. And then they retracted, the pain began to dull and the torn flesh began to knit itself back together. He heard the thud of something heavy and lifeless hitting the floor, but he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.
"Mom," he whimpered, "mommy, say something."
Silence.
He inched his eyes open. There before him, almost unidentifiable from the multiple stab wounds and lacerations, was Mrs. Gloria Raynes. The spark of life had left her eyes. He began to weep, the sobs racking his body. Apart from that he didn't move.

Chris slowly pushed aside the piece of plywood leaning against the wall, and rolled into the loading bay. He rubbed the HUD of the motorbike, and smiled. "Hey, Alpha, you've got cameras in that thing, what do you think?" The bike hummed, in what Chris identified as appreciation. [colro=red]Most impressive use of space Christopher Marlowe. Well hidden as well. I approve.[/color] Chris smiled, and dismounted, keeping his hand on the bike, to maintain the contact. "I'm going to back off for a few minutes, I've got an idea to work on. Trust me, I think you'll like it." He smiled, and turned around, surveying his hideout. He had used it to conduct his activities the orphanage likely wouldn't aprove of, and now he used it to hide from the peopl who had attacked him. It was a small loading room in an abandoned building in the seedier part of town. It was right up against a junkyard, and a five minute walk from a warehouse where he could usually find black market sales, making it easy to find parts. It was well hidden behind a complicated series of alleyways, making it almost impossible to find unless you knew where it was. It wasn't as if people strolled past it every day. It was rather out of the way. It was the size of a small two car garage, but he had utilized the space well. He had a small cot in one corner, and the adjacent corner held his computer system, hand built and raised on cinderblocks. The rest of the room was just big enough to fit a small writing desk, and the two bikes, while still leaving enough room to walk.
Strolling over to the computer setup, he ran his hands over it as it powered up. I didn't talk to him, of course. It wasn't an artificial intelligence after all. He felt rather stupid for even trying. He grabbed a screwdriver, and unscrewed two small speaker boxes from the side of the monitor. He quickly brought them over to the two bikes, who he had been unable to hear from due to losing contact, and had apparently powered themselves down. He quickly unscrewed the side panels on the bike he called Alpha, and observed the mess of wires. He smiled, seeing how simple it truly was, and split a single wire, running it through the speaker box'es terminals. He smiled, and powered up alpha as he replaced all the panels but the one where the speaker stuck out. He stood back, and smiled. "What do you think, Alpha? Do you like my little improvement?"
"Indeed, Christopher Marlowe. How inventive. I do apreciate the ability to communicate with others. Thank you." He grinned, making a gesture I'm going to make the same modification to Beta, and then I'm going to go see what my, uh...friends in the warehouse nearby have for sale. Then I think I'm going to rummage a bit in the junkyard. Anybody else around here I should be worried about?"
"Indeed. There's a unit with some of my bretheren approximately 0.19 miles N 60 degrees West." Chris chuckled, grinning at the bike. "Approximately? How many decimals do you go to?" He quckly waved a hand. "Nevermind don't answer that." Within the next five minutes, Beta had a speaker as well, and Chris was getting ready to leave the building. He put his homebrew PDA in his pocket, and grabbed his shoulder bag. Just as he was about to secure the camoflage over the entrace, he heard Alpha call out to him that there was at least one unknown mutant in the area.He smiled at his luck, and wondered if he should seek them out. He did have two bikes now after all. He decided against it however. If I run into them, so be it. Otherwise, no real loss. I'm not exactly a hero. He smiled, and started walking down the pathway that would soon lead him to the warehouse one of the city's many black markets was located in.

Natasha Millato sat in the back of the government truck, head buried in her knees with her arms crossed above her head as she tried to make sense of the past few days events and how she got here. The mutant didn't know exactly how, there was another gap in her memory but she knew she was in America, not Australia. After waking up the first time with blood on her hands, so far from home she didn't know what had happened but she guessed who's blood it was. A guy had been bullying her and her friends in class, just before she was electrocuted. Nat reasoned she must have... done something bad to him, not wanting to admit the possibility of killing another creature, and this had set the Australian authorities on her. Luckily, while the energy had screwed with her brain, she still was smart and was near Melbourne docks, stowing aboard a container ship headed for America, a task made easy by the fact her touch told her every nook and cranny she could hide in and every code of access. Once she arrived in America she remembered trying to find an override for an ATM when it zapped her. Mimic, as she liked to be called vaguely remembered being tackled by the agents now driving the vehicle.

As she sat there, the synapses in her head firing wildly, she placed her hand on the metal interior of the vehicle and new what it was for. It was like a cattle car from World War 2, except this time the war was on mutants like herself. Paranoid thoughts raced through her mind and she stood up suddenly racing to the door and banging on it, the irony being she now new the code to unlock the door but was unable to access the controls. Then she heard the truck stop, her sensitive ears told her that another mutant was being captured but now, however, it turned out this man was a technomancer, stealing the bikes. Nat was surprized when he opened to doors but this didn't stop her rage from overtaking her, the steel of the truck being duplicated by her skin with an organic compound before she leapt out and immediately began to beat up the men. Her karate skills and the fact that bullets didn't work so well on steel left them with little chance until a small seizure stopped her, quickly leaping onto the free bike following the rescuing mutant before they could get up and try to stop her. If Chris were to use the bike to check for a file on her he would find this entry:

Name: Natasha Millato, AKA "Mimic" or "Chameleon"
Class: Beta-level mutant
Known phenotypes of mutations: Enhanced senses, touch enabled chemical and physical analysis, biochemical mimicry of objects
Notes: Mentally unstable, prone to psychotic fits
Sentence: Study then execution

Just outside Chris' hideout Nat jumped off the bike and leant against the wall, trying to calm herself but her heart wasn't the only thing racing. What if this is some kind of trick and he's one of them? They could be trying to get me to reveal something... Or maybe he's worse than them... Her thoughts continued in this fashion until the technomancer emerged and she ambushed him, grabbing him by the collar and holding him up against the wall, feet off the ground. Chameleon was stronger than she looked, her arms seemed to turn the same colour as the brick wall she had been touching. "Who are you and what do you want?" She questioned, twitching and finding it hard to focus.

"The better part of the city they call this..." Romeo says with a sigh, drinking a glass of tea as he watches the news from his apartment. "At least I know for sure I'm not alone now though."

On the tv there was a report about this van they'd found in an alleyway a couple hours earlier. The back was wide open and there were two bodies lying beside it, not dead, but close to it. It seemed they were a part of the government, a new division set up to track down, study, and then destroy Romeo's own kind. Furthermore, and this part made him laugh, it seemed that this van had contained three mutants inside it, all of which had escaped thanks to somone who'd managed to steal two smart-bikes.

There was a knock at the door and he turned to look. Pizza, finally... he thought as he stood up from his kitchen table and took the ten steps it took to cross the room and reach the door. As he placed his hand on the knob he paused, something wasn't right. Without thinking he sniffed the air, and instead of pizza he smelt, what? Something he hadn't smelled before coming off of whoever was on the other side of this door. The smell was something like strange chemicals, gun power, and, something else. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Shit, ions!" Romeo says under his breath, jerking away from the door as the sounds of a tazer connecting to the door buzz through his room. "Damnit! Who the hell are you!?"

He was angry now, and that wasn't good. Over the last six years he'd begun to control his abilities, but emotions always made them run wild. Before he could think to stop it he felt the bones in his hands shift and move, heard his knuckles crack, and then there was the now familiar pain that occured when they pierced his skin. Looking down he found his own blood dripping down onto the false hardwood floor, dripping off the tips of six long, sharp, bone claws. The feeling made him shudder.

"Romeo Howlett? I am officer Walker, of the NYPD," the man said, trying to sound confidently, but Romeo could hear the fear in it. "I have a warrent to search your home for-"

"Then why the hell didn't you say something before you tried to shock me?" Romeo yelld at the man. "What the hell is wrong with you? Scared that those freaks got lose? You think I'm gonna offer them shelter or something, you sicko?"

"Why, I...no sir, not at all. It's just that-" This guy, walker, he was scared. Too scared to really understand what was going on, so Romeo walks back over to the door and unlocks it, opening it up and letting the stuttering officer in. It's clear that he either isn't a normal cop or that he's seen something that really freaked him out. Either way, this bone claws didn't help anything. "Y-you, you're one of them! I gotta call this in!"

"My father is...Sergant Richard Howlett," Romeo spit the words out. He hated to mention his father, but it sometiomes helped. "Before you call it in call him. The number's on a card on the table. Go ahead, see what he has to say on the matter of weather or not his boys a freak..."

Walker looked from Romeo to the card on the table and put his radio down. He said nothing more, except an apology, as he begn looking the place over, then again as he leaved. Sometime during all this, Romeo has been too angry to notice, his claws had retracted, so that when the officer stepped out the door Romeo was able to wave at his neighbor with normal hands.
-=-=-

After the officer had left Romeo had picked up the card with a smirk. It was just a card for the Navy recruiter who'd stopped by last weak. he slipped this in his pocket then he had headed out into the city, headed for the nearest ATM. after withdrawing a few hundred dollar from his saving account, set up by his father for him, he headed to the dirtier part of the city, where the fights went on.

They were undreground, and near the black martkets. With as much money has he had now he could fight anyone he wanted, or buy just about anything he liked as well.

Chris's eyes bulged as he was shoved against the wall by the girl. His first thought was 'mugging', but he quickly shoved that out of his mind as he saw her hand change colors. He waved his arms in the air. "Whoah, whoah, whaoh! Hold on a second! I'm not the bad guy here! I'm one of you! A mutant!" He peered at her, still held against the wall. "You're one of the mutants from the truck, aren't you? Yeah, I think you are. My name's Christoher. I'm a technomancer. According to the computers on the bikes I stole, I'm a level three mutant. As for what I want, well at the moment, I would like for you to please release me from this wall. I'm just trying to survive around here. The government isn't exactly friendly to mutants, if you haven't noticed. So, uh, if you wouldn't mind?" He indicated the arm still pinning him against the wall. "It might be a bit easier to have a conversation if we're both free to move. I'll even show you what I've done with the place. It's pretty nice, and I've already modded the bikes a bit. I was about to go get some more parts, and maybe 'liberate' a few more of these things, or one of those trucks if I could manage it, but obviously I'm not doing that now, am I?" He smiled weakly. "So, uh...you mind, crazy psycho girl?"

Natasha listened carefully to Chris talk, pressing him harder into the wall when he recognized her and trying to tell if he was lying. His story seemed quite elaborate, even for a government agent and he seemed to believe it though she still narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. Contact with the wall told her many things; how old it was, how often it had been sprayed with graffiti and also that the garage in it, from which this mutant had came, was used frequently by only one person. This back up his story, which she was starting to believe, body wracked suddenly with another spasm that caused her to release her grip momentarily, allowing the technomancer to fall to ground as she gripped her head in pain. Nat fell to the ground and writhed for a few seconds before her mind began to clear, twitching a little less, "C-crazy psycho girl? Tha-at's the nicest thing anyone's s-said to me all day..." Mimic laughed a little to herself, stuttering nervously as she picked herself up off the hard concrete ground, "The electrical energy absorbed m-must have caused my m-men..." She suddenly whacked herself it the head, as if to shake off the stutters, "Mental instability to accelerate... uh, sorry." The mutant girl smiled a little and dusted herself off.

Chris rubbed his chest where she had grabbed him, slowly getting to his feet. It hadn't been the most comfortableexperiance ever. He watched her spasm a bit, then smiled at her encouragingy when she seemed recover. "No worries. Happens to the best of us. Electrical energy, eh? Hmm...hope you haven't developed any kind of fear of it. It's kind of what I'm all about. Come on, I'll show you." He smiled, and held out a hand to the girl, offering to help her up, as he reached back with his other hand, sliding the hunk of wood aside. "Welcome to my humble abode. It isn't much, but hey. It's home. And what's more, it's safe." He looked back, into the wide doorway. "Hey, Alpha, Beta, you awake? We've got a guest! I thought I'd show her around. Go ahead and say hi." A rather monotone voice, followed by a slightly more tinny, and highly more expressive one floated out from the doorway.
"Greetings, Natasha Millato. I am Alpha. Christopher Marlowe has wired speakers to our hard drives, allowing us to communicate."
"Hey, what's up Nat? Chris here calls me Beta. I'm the cooler of the two." Chris smiled apologetically.
"Yeah, AI's, what can you do. He's a bit talkative. Come on in, I promise they won't bite. And at the very least, those government goons won't be able to find us. Then you can go on your way, crash, come with me to meet my...uh, friends...or whatever. I'm not exactly pushy, Crazy Psycho Girl." He glanced back towards the bikes. "Or I suppose it's Natasha. Which is in no way as fun to say. He gestured with his hand, still offering to help her up. "So, coming?" He smiled encouragingly.

"F-fear? Ha! That would require me to have the c-common sense to stay away from it..." Nat smiled ruefully, ignoring his hand as she rose and fiddled with the bottom of her shirt, cautiously following the mutant into his garage. She raised a curious eyebrow as the bikes began to speak to her, nearly jumping out of her skin at first but then smirking, "I suppose I should be used to machines talking to me by now..." She sighed and, without bothering to ask for permission, walked around his hideout and began looking for anything suspicious, he said her name wasn't very fun to say, "Blame my parents, geek boy... You have friends!?" She added in a fake shocked tone and expression to match, Chris asked if she wanted to come with him, "It's better than staying put, then it's easier for them to find you..." Nat shrugged, walking up to him a waiting for him to lead the way. "They call me Mimic, though I don't you'll bother..." She added dryly.

Mackenzie grinned as her plane from San Francisco to NYC landed. Just as it hit the ground she went into a vision. Her neighbor looked confused as Mac zoned out and began to sketch furiously on the pad. She looked pretty much insane. She saw two young mutants walking into a masked warehouse. Her sketch showed her exactly how to find the hideout.

"Chris and Natasha." She whispered to herself as she came out of the vision. The man next to her now was staring. Mac didn't even acknowledge him, however. She knew these two mutants and others would become part of the resistance, even if they didn't know now. 

Mackenzie had already predicted when her bag would show up, what cab she would get, and her fare. This made the rest of her trip to the center of the city fast and easy. She pulled out her sketch and found her way into the building, where the two she had seen were conversing. 

"You should really make better security for this place, Chris. I probably shouldn't have just been able to walk in." Mac said nonchalantly as she examined the building.

"Nice place though." She completely calmly. She hadn't seen their retain to her arrival yet, so she bit her lip as she became a little uncomfortable. 

Natasha had heard this woman walking up the alley long before she was seen, having secretly taken a tire iron from the garage whilst she was searching it and concealing it up the sleeve of her trench coat. Now that she had walked inside the mutant allowed the iron to slide down her arm and into her hand, now in full view as she adopted subtle a defensive stance and raised it slightly. Her sharp, dark eyes narrowed as she watched the girl intently for any sudden movement towards a weapon or anything threatening and sniffed the air slightly. "Fucking, piece of..." The cursing continued in a worsening, creative fashion for sometime under her breath before addressing the intruder, "Who are you? How do you Chris? What do you want? And why in the hell shouldn't I beat the crap out of both of you right now and run for the hill?" Mimic asked in quick succession, the metal in the tire iron now seemed to creep up her skin, covering her completely as she looked at both the mutants suspiciously. She knew Chris' name which could mean she was one of the government's mutant exterminators and read his file before tracking them, she theorized and continued to come up with many hypotheses including one that she may have simply made an amazingly improbable, lucky guess on all cases and was simply here to sell cookies.

He was snapped out of his mourning by the sound of someone banging at the front door.
"Mrs. Raynes? We're here to collect the boy, like you asked."
He stared at the lifeless corpse that was once his mother. She had wanted him gone. If only they'd come sooner. He stood and made his way to the door tears still streaming from his eyes. When he opened it, there were three men stood outside. When they saw him they gasped.
"Jeeez-us! It's the God damned mutie!" They pulled their guns.
"Please, wait. I'll come with you. I won't fight." The lead man looked back at his two partners.
"Think it's a trick?" He said.
"Not sure," said one of the others. "Take 'im inside so we can get the 'cuffs on him." Two of the men continued to point their guns at Daniel as they entered the house. It didn't take long for one of them to catch sight of Daniel's mother.
"God damn it! God damn it! He killed his momma! Shoot him, shoot the bastard!" They fired their guns, but before the bullets hit, Daniel felt an invisible hook wrenching at his gut, displacing him in space as he teleported.

---------------------

BAMF!
He was thrown to the cold, hard, unfamiliar ground. The bullets, which had followed him through the teleport, ricocheted around the small room.
He looked around. It was a small place, maybe a garage. In the centre of the room were three people, a boy standing near a couple of motorbikes, a girl with short reddish-brown hair and another girl holding a tire iron who seemed to be made from metal.

Daniel jumped to his feet, holding his hands up above his head.
"I come in peace!"

What the hell is all that noise? Romeo wonders as he passes by an alley leading away from where he was headed. From that direction he had heard a long stream of language that would have made a sailor blush with shame, and what's worse, it came from a girls voice. Well, not like I got anything better to do. Might as well go see what's up...

That was true, there wasn't anything to do around here. But it was better than the military option his father kept trying to shove down his throat. It seemed like everyday someone was coming by, from the army, the navy, the air force, trying to recruit him. They all knew his father, the big shot, always working on something secret, something more important than his only family.

Before he realized it, Romeo was losing it. His hands had balled into fists and he could feel the claws moving around, just piercing his flesh. It hurt, but just barely, like a tickle. He'd made himself not get used to it though, made himself learn to realize when they were coming through his flesh so he couldn't cause an accident with them.

"Hey, rich boy, what are you doing out here?" a strangers voice said, getting closer. "That a wad of bills in your pocket there? Or you just happy to see me?"

"Oh, I'm real happy to see you..." Romeo says, growling deeply, looking up at the man as his claws begin to extend.

"Ha ha, real funny. You're one of those mutants ain't ya?" the guy said, taking a handgun out of the way too big hoodie he wore. There was s tupid grin on his face and Romeo could see a gold tooth glimmer in the light. "I bet you ain't bulletproof through fool!"

What happened next happened quick, although for the idiot with the gun it must have seemed like longer. Romeo lunged, claws fully exteneded now, aiming to rip the guys throat out. The guy laughed and pulled the trigger, but his smile faded away quickly when the bullet ripped through his shoulder and the man with the claws only roared. Then Romeo's claws sunk into the guy.

Stepping back Romeo was still growling, now in pain though. There was a hole clean through his shoulder, but already the blood had stopped flowing and it began to itch like crazy as it started to heal. But the guy wasn't dead, Romeo had restrained himself that much at least. He had hit his head when he fell to the ground but all the claws had done was scratch his chest and sink into his left shoulder. "You should live..." he says quietly, taking out a cell phone, dialing 911.

Natasha was already on edge when the green boy appeared suddenly in the middle of the room, even his submissive body language and the fact that he shouted 'I come in peace!' (like a girl, she noted) could dissuade her of the imagined danger. The 17 year old raised the tire iron threateningly, If they can find this garage so easily there's no telling who else can... It isn't safe. She thought, taking several heavy steps backwards to the door with her metal skin weighing her down. She flung the tool away, narrowly missing Chris with a bit of effort as she still realised he had saved her life earlier, before running out of the garage. Unfortunately she remained weighted down with the metal skin that refused to fade, turning her head to look back a moment and then crashing into the mutant in front of her. The sheer momentum due to her new mass and velocity (admitted reduced due to the former) would no doubt have bowled over any normal man. Another stream of profanities escaped her lips as the metal finally faded, head spinning from the impact.

Chris leapt back as the woman entered his room. "Whoah, what the hell? You know my name? Crap. Not good. Natasha, I don't know her, seriously. I didn't know anybody else even knew about this place!" The moment the other mutant appeared, bullets coming with him, Chris realized his hideout was no longer secure. "How the hell did you people find me? And what the hell are you doing here?" He looked at the boy who had just appeared. He was obviously a mutant. The girl, not so much. As Natasha fled, he heard a gunshot. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! This is allhappening way too fast." He looked to the kid. "Hey, I'vegot a free bike, if you want help getting out of here. I think I know somewhere a bit more secure." He leaped onto Alpha, and looked straight at the girl. He couldn't tell if she was human or not. And that was problem. "Alpha, let's get out of here. I can get the parts later, when I'm not being ambushed. Beta, hang back, see if the kid wants a ride. Otherwise, try and pick up Natasha on the way out. Meet me at the Warehouse."
"Affirmative." "You got it Chris!" Alpha's engine buzzed as he rocketed past the woman, leaving the safehouse, likely forever. He whispered an apology to his computer, which he had built with his own two hands from junkyard parts, and continued running full speed. He slowed as he came up on Natasha and yet another person, this time standing with a gun and a dying man. "Dammit, out here too? Natasha, I'm getting out of here, see if my friends can offer some shelter. They won't betray just because I'm a mutant. They aren't exactly friends with the government." He looked warily at the person with the gun. "You can come too if you like? There's room on this bike for you." He mentally told Alpha to keep the engine hot. He wanted to be able to leave fast if the man threatened them.

Daniel had no idea what was going on. The unpredictability of his powers had gotten him into trouble again, this new place was chaotic.
"Hey, I've got a free bike, if you want help getting out of here. I think I know somewhere a bit more secure."
Screw it, it was better than taking his chances on his own. Doubt flared up at the back of his mind, though. Why would someone help me? They can see I'm a mutant. He looked at the boy, disappearing on his bike, then hopped on the one the other one, the one he'd heard the boy call Beta.
"Ummmm... follow him?" The engine roared into life, the tires squealing as the bike tore out into the alley. "Oh, God. I think I'm going to be sick," he cried.

Romeo had just gotten through putting in the call to 911, having told them that he found a guy in the street with a gun and what looked like knife wounds, when something heavy knocked him over. The cell phone flew out of his hand and smashed on the ground. He growled a the seemingly metalic girl who had knocked him over and decided to retract his claws. A healing though and through bullet wound would be hard enough to explain, he didn't need the added hassle of his claws thrown in the mix.

"What where you're going kid!" Romeo said, angrily, to the girl, whom he assumed might actually be near his own age, but didn't care. He felt like the people who made him mad were little more than annoying children.

Before he could cover his shoulder a guy cane over on a motorcycle, saying "Dammit, out here too? Natasha, I'm getting out of here, see if my friends can offer some shelter. They won't betray just because I'm a mutant. They aren't exactly friends with the government." So he assumed the metal girl was Natasha, then added, to him, "You can come too if you like? There's room on this bike for you." He could tell the guy didn't want him around if he were to be honest, and in truth Romeo didn't really care to be around him, not that close to him anyway.

"Look, I don't know what the hells is going on...why so many mutants are in one place...but you had all best get out of here. The cops are on their way to pick up this guy," he said, then kicked the man in the side so they could be sure who he meant. Looking up he saw a green guy coming up on another motorcycle. "As far as the bike ride, no thanks loverboy. I was on my way to the markets, but I'm thinking they'll be closed soon...anyway, get your friends out of here, ASAP..."

And with that he turned away and started back the way he'd come, which wasn't the quickest way. This meant the cops wouldn't be down this path either. He waved to the strange group of mutants he'd just met as he walked on, but said nothing else. As far as he was concerned, he had no reason to get involved in this. After all, he might have just killed a man. The official mutant hunters, or whatever they called themselves, didn't look too kindly on those who'd killed normals. And now that he thought back on it, the green guy who'd been coming closer, and the metal girl, he had smelled blood on both of them.

"Hey, wait! Beta? Stop!" The bike came to a halt and Daniel surveyed the situation. One guy on the floor, puncture wounds in his shoulder and a pretty nasty cut across his front. What appeared to be the culprit was stalking away down an alleyway. The wounds on the floored guy reminded Daniel of the ones on his mother. Maybe the guy walking away was like him?
"Hey! Hey, guy!" He shouted after him.

The guy on the first bike was getting further and further away, Daniel was torn between a safe place to hide and what could be some advice as to what he was going through. He struggled with himself for a second, before turning to look at the HUD of the bike. It was just like the ones the mutant hunters used.
"Beta, is there any way for you to scan that guy? I'd like to find him later."
"Affirmative. Target scanned. Gene sequence tracking initiated."
"OK, good. Now let's go find our mutual friend."
The bike tore off again, following the same route as Alpha had.

Mackenzie just sighed as Chris and Natasha panicked and the random mutant appeared on the floor. Before she could explain anything The metal girl was running outside and Chris and the unidentified boy were zooming off on motor bikes. 

As she walked out quickly after the fleeing mutants she saw Natasha run into a man. But before she could try to reason with the girl she inhaled quickly as she went into a vision. She saw where the two on bikes were headed, and drew exactly what the house looked like. When she emerged she was pleased to find she had also written the street address. Mac looked up to the now identified mutant, Romeo, as she tore the address from the pad. 

"Come on, Romeo, we've got to find them." She said, slightly exasperated as she caught up with him.

"You're some kind of psychic, right?" Romeo asked, pausing in his stide to step behind a building, pulling the girl with him by the wrist as the cops came by. "Damn. They must have been near by. Anyway, why do I need to do anything? I don't know any of you."

Even as he said this he felt that it was inevitable that he would be involved with these mutants lives, as well as several others. He let go of the girls wrist and sighed as he looked her over. She didn't smell of blood, that was good, but she did smell of paper and pencil lead. That's when he noticed the notepad in one hand and the sheet of paper she'd torn from it, held in the other.

"What, are you a ghost writer or something?" he asked with a smirk, stepping back out, leading her down the way towards the open, normal streets once more, if she would follow him. He really didn't care. All he wanted was to get away from the cops and the idiot he'd just stabbed. "So, how do we find those guys anyway? Do you even know their names, cause I don't...wait, that's a stupid question I guess. You already know my name."

Looking back over his shoulder, towards the markets, towards the underground fight club, he frowned a little. With the money he had in tow he'd hoped ti place some bets, maybe even fight a little himself and blow off some steam. Now it seemed he'd be stuck babysitting a gang of freaks even stranger than himself. And that was saying something.

Verwyn had been roaming the city all day, trapped in the form of a giant, furry, beast of a dog. He hadn't hated it so much at first; to be honest there was many times over the last few years that he wished he could be an animal like his dog Poocher. No responsibilities, no fears, no school, your biggest worry in the world being finding a way to finally catch your own tail. He had figured life as a dog would be simple, relaxing. Being dumb enough to be happy over something as simple as having your belly scratched, would be bliss, he had thought. But it wasn't so.

He was constantly hungry, so hungry that the many overflowing trash cans in the dirty back alleys started to smell good to him. He couldn't speak to anyone to ask for help, the best he could do was bark and when he did that he scared people off. He constantly had to duck not only mutant hunters but animal control as well; to be honest he wasn't sure which one he hated the most at this point. He didn't want to be stuck this way forever.

It wasn't long before a wayward breeze brought a disturbing set of scents to Verwyn's nose. The strongest one was the bio-exaust from smart bikes, that was a smell Verwyn had been searching for, and avioding, all this time. There was also a slight scent of gunpowder and blood. More likely than not the hunters had found a new mutant and had either killed him, or wounded him seriously.

Verwyn knew he should turn and go the other way, but he wasn't sure how long he could run and hide. Besides he wasn't sure if the mutant hunters would even realize what he was. He couldn't imagine how he could already be in their databases. He had only recently found out he was a mutant himself.

Verwyn decided to investigate. At worst the hunters would attack him and he'd have a chance to fight them to the death instead of resorting to eating trash to keep alive.

The smart bikes came into view as Verwyn entered the dodgy end of town. He growled at them preparing for their attack, but they only zoomed by him. One of the riders had a dark skin tone, but being color blind at the moment, Verwyn didn't register anything out of the ordinary. He continued down the alleyway letting the scent of gunpowder and blood lead the way. The scent caused him to cross paths with a girl and a guy speaking with each other. Verwyn had heard the guy say something about the girl being a psychic.

Maybe she can hear my thoughts, Verwyn thought to himself. I have to try... Uh... girl? Can you hear me? I'm not really a dog. I'm a mutant.

He couldn't think of anything else to think to her. She was pretty he thought to himself. The idea to hump her leg flashed through his mind, but he forced it away. He wasn't really a dog, he reminded himself. The girl didn't seem to hear him, but he kept thinking, he kept trying.

Natasha flashed an angry look to the mutant she just ran into, skin turning to it's normal fair complexion when Chris came up on the stolen smart bike known quite creatively as 'Alpha'. She could smell blood from the bleeding, formerly gun-wielding man on him and knew he was the cause of the wounds. She twitched wildly for a moment before moving to climb on the back Chris' bike, still not trusting him but reasoning that she could at least use a ride away from these new, potentially dangerous people until the dog-like creature arrived. It looked, to the untrained eye, like a very large dog or a wolf but Mimic new this wasn't the case: he wasn't shaped quite right and she could smell sweat glands, dogs didn't have sweat glands. "That's no dog..." She muttered to herself, curiosity taking over the mutant came in for a closer inspection and quickly plucked a hair from the creature with an apologetic expression. Quickly Nat climbed onto the smart bike as she began to analyze the hair or fur sample which, like all hair and fur, was dead and therefore her powers could work on it with some effort, at least enough to find out what it came from. The DNA was of a human mutant.

The bike was tearing down the road with Daniel clinging on for dear life. He was terrified. Not just of the bike, but the situation he found himself in. His mom was dead, he'd killed her, the government knew about him, probably tracking him even now and he had just put all his faith in a random kid with a shady, back alley hideout and government issue tech.
This is a mistake, he thought. He was about to turn the bike around, go after the guy he had seen before, the one he had scanned, but before he could issue the command to the bike, something hit him in the neck. Next thing he knew, his body was spasming out of control. He fell from the bike, which continued on its plotted course, oblivious. As he skidded along the road, his skin started to harden becoming incredibly thick, like leather. He skidded to a halt and stood up, relatively unscathed. He reached for the thing in his neck, some kind of dart. Again, suddenly, his body began to spasm. It was obviously some sort of tazer dart. He dropped to the floor again and a voice sounded from somewhere, loud and obnoxious.
"Haha! We got 'im! Call it in, we got ourselves a live one."
Another voice.
"Dispatch, this is Unit 16. We've apprehended a confirmed mutant. Please ready a containment cell."
Daniel tried to stand, causing the tazer dart to flare into life again. This time, however, Daniel's body was ready for it, absorbing the electricity, transforming it and redirecting it. The optic blast began as a searing pain behind his eyes. It felt like a burning pressure building and building until he couldn't control it anymore, twin beams of kinetic force blasted outwards, crushing two of the men against the wall of a building. He span dizzily, the beams continuing for a moment longer, before he collapsed on his ass in the middle of the street.
He looked at the bodies. Two more needless deaths for his conscience to strain under. He stumbled to his feet, looking back over his shoulder at the carnage he had caused, running towards a back alley.
THUD
Something hard hit against his skull and he passed out.

Mackenzie smiled as Romeo recognized her mutation. He was as intuitive as she had imagined.

"Yes, but nothing cool like mind reading. I can just see the future." She held out her hand to shake his as she looked up cheerily. "My name's Mackenzie, but call me Mac. And there's no point in not showing me this address, because I've seen you do it any ways, it's just a matter of time." She spoke very directly, but that was just part of her personality. Maybe it came with the confidence in know almost everything that was going to happen. Mac sighed as she noticed Natasha hadn't taken off, it made her life easier. One less to find. But it also meant the future had changed, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But it would have many different consequences; those consequences didn't necessarily have to be good. She was puzzled as a large dog approached them. Before she could comment on anything that had just happened, she was sucked out of the place for a moment.

When she returned, she stared wide-eyed at the dog for a moment. She tried to comprehend it, but nothing made sense.

“You’re….you’re a human?” She asked, crouching a little to look into its eyes. Then she remembered the other part of her vision and ran towards the alley to find Dan’s unconscious body.

“Oh crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.” She said to her self as she kneeled down next to the unconscious boy.

“Please wake up!” She said in a panicked tone.