Their group arrived in front of a somewhat circular metal door. In the metal door lays a big ‘X’ mark, with a hole in the middle of the X. A blue light came out of the hole and scanned the Professor’s iris. Then, the circular metal door separated into two and slid to the sides.

There lays a room; a massive spherical room. The room was enclosed with metal panels, with only a path leading to the middle of the spherical room.

All of them walked into the room. Jean Grey, Beast, Cyclops and Storm seems unperturbed; clearly showing that this was not their first time seeing this room.

On the other hand, Logan’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. He looks around the circular room. He looks down at the bottom of the room, discovering that it was covered by darkness.

“This is the Cerebro. It can detect all living organism in the planet by transmitting extrasensory data my mind. Cerebro can separate humans from mutants, thus, it is used to locate potentially gifted children. Magneto helped me in creating this room…” The Professor explained to the bewildered Logan, all the while operating his wheelchair to go to the middle.

In the middle of the room, at the end of the bridge-like path, is a control panel. The panel consists of complex circuitry and wirings, all connected to a helmet resting on top.

The Professor silently picked up the helmet and put it on his head. He closed his eyes.

Logan, who’s thinking what sort of bullshit was this, opened his eyes wide. He saw the metal panels enclosing the room started to fall one by one. He crouched down, taking a battle stance.

Jean Grey touched his hand telling him it’s okay. Logan looked at her, and he relaxed his stance. He brushed off Jean’s hands. Jean just smiled wryly at his actions.

Meanwhile, Cyclops glared at Logan, but stayed silent as it might disturb the Professor.

Logan looked around again, now noticing that the metal panels are all gone, replaced by darkness. Then, in the darkness, lights slowly appeared. White lights.

The world was recreated.

It was the projection of the happenings around the world.

The projection displayed a man, jogging in a park. The man was holding a dog leash, connected to a Siberian husky. Then, the projection moved to display a woman watering the plants. Next, to a man shoveling the ground in a construction site.

“The Cerebro displays 3D images, projecting the outside world.” The Professor spoke as the image zoomed out and displayed the spherical Earth.

“These white dots represent every living person on the planet.” He continued as white lights filled the land continents.

“And these… are the mutants” Red dots appeared all of a sudden, scattered around the globe. “You see, Logan? We're not as alone as you think.” The Professor smiled at Logan.

The white dots still exceeded the red dots by a huge margin, but the red dots scattered around is not a small number either.

Meanwhile, Logan is still in a daze, seeing this sight.

“So this is what you used to find me, huh.” He muttered.

“Yes. And this is what we will use to find that child.” The Professor said as the white dots disappeared, leaving the red dots in the Earth’s image. Then, the image started to zoom in and changed into various projections. It showed a Caucasian boy with snake-like eyes, then a Japanese girl wielding a katana with electricity running through her body, then to the next one, onto the next. All of them were mutants.

The Professor started his search for the girl.

A few minutes later, the image moved at a high speed, barely visible to the human eyes. The landscape continued to change.

This left the Professor sweating. Beast, Cyclops, Storm, and even Jean Grey were bewildered. Even Logan was able to tell what was happening, despite witnessing this for the first time.

The Professor can’t find the girl.

The image moved faster even more, and the Professor started to breathe heavily. The others grew concerned.

As Jean was about to stop the Professor, the image stopped suddenly.

Jean and Beast froze, and their eyes widened in disbelief. They stared blankly at the image.

“W-what..? Is-is she… ?” (Beast)

It was a picture of an African boy with a spiked hair. Spikes that can be likened to a porcupine’s. But, there is nothing out of ordinary in the image of this mutant; except that he is the last mutant the Professor has found, but still didn’t manage to locate the girl.

“No… I can feel her… She is still alive… but… She is… hidden…”

The Professor spoke while panting, visibly exhausted. He never thought that he will fail to find the girl, despite searching for all the mutants. But, he can indeed feel a wisp of her presence.

“She is… somewhere… around New York… the last of her trace.” (Professor)

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

I opened my eyes widely.

I stood up from my cross-legged position. Then, I scanned my surroundings, trying to find an abnormality. I squinted my eyes.

Just then, I felt the alarm in the barrier I set up a week ago going off. Someone might’ve tried to get past the barrier—or if it’s not someone, then maybe kind of some ‘force’.

Nevertheless, the one behind it has an amazingly high power. I can’t hope to match it—not until I cultivated enough. Luckily, though, was that the barrier was set up with a strong foundation; else they would’ve been able to break it.

I didn’t imagine that someone will target us this early. I was hoping to buy a week or two, if possible. By that time, I would’ve started cultivating the bones, giving me stronger physical power and defense. But, now that signs have appeared that something ugly might happen later, I need to prepare so that I can cope with any challenge that comes my way. After all, I’m not living alone now.

I shook off my current worries and walked outside of the room.

In the living room, I saw the two girls sitting on the couch, facing each other. They are holding playing cards in their hands.

Rogue is holding a total of three cards in her hands while glaring at Eliza.

Meanwhile, Eliza is holding a total of four cards in her hands, wearing a nonchalant reaction towards Rogue’s glare. “Come on, pick one already”, Eliza urged Rogue.

“I know, I know!” Rogue gritted her teeth, visibly agitated. She extended a trembling hand towards Eliza’s cards. She picked one in the left side and lifted it up. Rogue closed her eyes tightly as she brought the card in front of her, then she opened them wide.

Rogue beamed up, smiling ear to ear like an idiot. She looks like a child that got her favorite toy as a Christmas present. Then, she paired up the card that she got from Eliza with one of hers, decreasing her card-count into two, while Eliza holds three.

She looked at Eliza with a provocative smile—a triumphant face, as most would deem it.

On the other hand, Eliza seemed unperturbed. She unenergetically picked one of Rogue’s cards and paired it with hers, bringing her card-count down to two, while Rogue holds her final one.

Now on the verge of winning, instead of a happy face, Rogue’s expression darkened. Her triumphant face was nowhere to be seen, quickly replaced by a cloudy one. She looked intently at her card, and towards Eliza’s. She alternately looked at the cards. Then, she seemingly gave up as she sighed in dejection. She slowly put her card down.

Just when I thought that she gave up, she closed her eyes lightly and clasps her hands in front of her chest. I was still thinking of what she’s trying to do when she started reciting a prayer. She recited a long ass prayer, coupled with an unknown mantra at the end.

While I was still dumbfounded, her hands blurred and one hand picked up her own card, then, in the next instant, she was holding one of Eliza’s card on her other hand. Her two hands met up, putting the two cards in front of her. Rogue smiled in satisfactory, and slowly opened her eyes.

In the next instant, her smiling face broke, replaced by ultimate disbelief. Her eyes turned into needles, and her eyelashes started to quiver. She slowly lifted her head and looked into Eliza, meeting her eyes. Eliza’s eyes contained not a bit of intention to hide the mockery in them. It gave Rogue a shiver in her spine.

Then, Eliza slowly stretched out her hands towards Rogue’s cards. Rogue’s eyes reflected the slowly closing hands of Eliza.

The next moment, Eliza delivered the final judgment and picked a card from Rogue. She paired it with her card and slammed it down for Rogue to see.

“No… I-I…” (Rogue)

“I won. That’s 12 times out of 12 games.” Eliza slowly stood up and said in a manner-of-fact tone.

Meanwhile, Rogue collapsed down on the floor; she’s on all fours. The figure of a little girl mockingly looking down at an older girl that is kneeling in front of her can’t seem to get out of my mind.

“What are you two doing?” I asked from behind them, causing them to look in my direction.

Eliza quickly fixed her expression and smiled; her mocking expression just a little while ago seemed like a lie. She trotted in front of me.

“Master, Elizabeth won against Sister Rogue 12 times!” She said in a cheerful tone. If she was a dog right now, her tail would definitely be wagging from side to side.

“M-mhm. Good job.” I said as I patted her head, causing her to purr like a cat.

Rogue looked at me like I was a traitor. She slowly got up and sulked on the couch.

I looked at the two opposing expressions of the two girls; one smiling, one frowning. I then released a sigh.

“You two. Hurry up and prepare dinner.” I said sternly, causing the two girls to straighten their backs. They both went towards the kitchen. I was hoping that they get along more while watching their figures cook.

It’s not like they don’t get along at all, but there are times where they quarrel over small things, like that case earlier. Eliza already opened up to Rogue, calling her name with a ‘Sister’ attached to it. While Rogue can already show her true feelings to Eliza, like how she acts when it’s just the two of them in a room.

They cooked a sumptuous dinner that night. I ate my dinner silently as I watched the two bicker about small things they disagree with. It created a light atmosphere in the room.

I didn’t know back then, that this was what they used to call ‘The calm before the storm’.