The atmosphere was melancholy at the least, everyone slightly tense from the situation with Moira. Evie stayed quiet in her seat, fiddling with her fingers as she slouched. She wanted to cry, badly, but it didn't achieve anything so she held it back. She was practically fired from her job.

Evie hadn't realised that working at the CIA with Moira was her entire life. Losing her job was just as bad as being discharged from the Military. Why couldn't anything in her life stay permanent? Was this some sort of sick joke that the world liked to play on her? At this point, Evie didn't believe in God or good luck anymore, let alone happiness or love.

Raven was the first to speak up, cutting through the silence. "I'm sorry you got your gun taken off you." She said to Evie.

"And your badge." Sean added, a tense smile being sent her way.

"It's okay, it's not anyone's fault." Evie gave them a smile that was supposed to reassure them but it didn't do much to help their moods. "You can't win them all, right? It was fun while it lasted."

The silence was back again but it wasn't there for long. Two men arrived at the window that had been fixed (something that had happened rather quickly) and started heckling the mutants. "Hey, I didn't know the circus was in town." He called with a sick grin on his face. "Let's see the wings. Come on, get the feet out."

"Are you even authorised to be here?" Evie shouted at them, her annoyance rippling off her body like a disturbed lake. Hank stood up and closed the curtain but the damage was already done.

"They're just guys being stupid." Raven told Angel, trying to make her feel better.

"Guys being stupid I can handle, okay? I've handled that my whole life." Angel replied bitterly. "But I'd rather they stare at me with my clothes off then the way these ones stare at me."

Raven grabbed her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. "At us."

A thud was heard outside the window which made everyone share confused looks. Another thud came, then another. The sporadic sound of thumps gave Evie an uneasy feeling in her stomach, making her stand up slowly, her eyes on the curtain. Something was behind it.

"What was that?" Darwin questioned them all, hoping they'd have an answer.

Hank stood up too, his first thought to open the curtain. "I don't know but something doesn't feel right." As the curtain was drawn back, lumps of black were left on the floor, un-moving. Evie stared at them in confusion, the bad feeling in her stomach getting stronger and stronger. It was when Darwin pointed up when Evie finally realised what was happening.

"What is that?" He questioned when he saw two people floating in the sky.

Moments later, a figure came crashing down, moving at such a rapid speed that it was like a blink of an eye. The thump sound was back when his body hit the floor. The roof of the glass shattered as the body got wrapped around it. Raven placed her hand over her mouth, screaming into it in disgust.

Evie suddenly kicked into agent mode. "Back! Everyone back!" She shouted at them all, moving them away from the window where more bodies began to drop and at a quicker rate.

They were going to crowd in the corner of the room when a tornado came coming at the other side of the building. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognised it from the night they first met Erik. This wasn't going to end well. Darwin and Evie's eyes connected and they made a split decision to move their friends.

They slammed into the door and managed to get it open with both of them pulling on the lock. Alex, Hank and Sean shielding Raven and Angel as Darwin and Evie tried to lead the group to safety. However it was no better outside the room then inside it. The guards outside were helplessly firing at a figure moving towards them. The mutants skidded to a stop when one of the guards began to shout at them.

"Get back! Nobody leave that room! We are under attack!" He screamed at them in panic, still shooting at the target.

"Darwin, we have to get out." Evie exclaimed over the gunshots. Anywhere was safer then inside a room where enemies were coming from all angles.

"Get back!" The same guard shouted, his eyes becoming panicked and worrisome.

"We can help!" Darwin urged, trying to get the guard to understand.

In a blink, the guard was sent flying into the wall. The sound of his spine snapping on impacted filled their ears. Another sob racking Raven's chest. Evie stared at the body for a moment, watching the life leave the eyes before she made another decision.

"Alright! Back in the room!" She urged them all, practically shoving them back in. She slammed the door shut behind her, placing the lock on it. Glass shattering made Evie realised what deep shit they were in. Two mutants approached them from both sides, evil smirks on their lips. "Get behind me." She instructed her friends immediately, her eyes on the mutants.

Evie and Darwin placed themselves in front of the group, ready to sacrifice themselves if needs be. Her breathing picked up when she heard the sounds of swords slashing skin and gunshots ringing out. Then, silence.

"You want the mutants?" They heard a guard ask. "They're right through that door. Just let us normal people go." The sound of bones cracking made them all jump.

Like it was nothing, the door was pushed open, the lock being burnt all the way through. A man with a helmet on revealed himself. Evie's jaw clenched when she realised this was Sebastian Shaw. The man they were looking for.

"Where's the telepath?" Shaw questioned the red teleporter.

"Not here." He replied, not taking his eyes off the mutants huddled together.

"Too bad. Well, at least I can take this silly thing off." Shaw exclaimed with a smile, pulling off the helmet and fixing his hair quickly. "Good evening. My name's Sebastian Shaw. And I'm not here to hurt you."

"Freeze!" They heard a guard shot, pointing his gun at Shaw.

Shaw glared at the human, not flinching at his appearance. "Azazel." The red teleporter disappeared and reappeared behind him, slashing his back open. Raven sobbed once again.

"My friends, there's a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do, each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then by definition, you are against us. So, you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you. Or you can join me, and love like kings and queens." Shaw offered his hand out to Angel who stared at it for a moment.

She took his hand.

"Angel?" Raven questioned in disbelief, her eyes oozing thick tears.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean asked her in betrayal.

"Come on. We don't belong here." Angel encouraged them with a sad smile. "And that's nothing to be ashamed of." When none of them followed her, Shaw exited the room with his two lackeys.

Raven clenched her jaw in anger as they all stared. She voice the one thought on all their minds. "We have to do something." She announced quietly.

"Alex, Darwin." Evie called out quietly making both men look at her. "I've got a plan." Evie whispered her plan to them, Darwin clearly on board with it however Alex wasn't as sure.

"What? No!" He snapped in disbelief. He didn't trust himself to do it properly.

"Alex, you gotta do it man." Darwin slammed his hand on his chest before shouting, "Stop. I'm coming with you!"

Evie watched as Shaw grinned at him, walking half way to meet him. "Good choice, now tell me about your mutation." He told Darwin.

"Well, I adapt to survive. So I guess I'm coming with you." Darwin explained briefly, his anger still leaking through in his voice. Once he stood next to Angel, he grabbed her, calling, "Alex."

"Get out!" Alex screamed, powering up. The rest of the mutants grabbed each other and ducked out of the way of his laser rings, hoping that the plan would work.

"Do it!" Darwin encouraged, turning his body to rock.

The lasers hit the target but they seemed to underestimate Shaw. All of the energy sent out was absorbed by the man, shaking it off casually with his grin still there. "Protecting your fellow mutants, that's a noble gesture. Feels good." He admitted to Alex before walking over to Darwin.

He grabbed Darwin's jaw and formed a red energy ball in his hand. "Adapt to this." Shaw whispered evilly as he placed it in his mouth. Shaw and his friends left immediate after but in the flurry of red energy and light, they lost Darwin.

Evie stared at where their friend once stood. Another name to add to her list of people she unintentionally killed.

ꕥ

The fact that they were left outside to fend for themselves really said it all. The mutant group was sat outside the CIA building for hours, watching the sun rise. No agents came to talk to them, to offer them help or anything. Terror filled the atmosphere, everyone could feel it.

Evie was resting her head on Sean's shoulder, Alex's jacket making a it slightly more comfortable. Sean knew that those two would feel the most guilty because their decision led to Darwin's demise but he didn't blame them. Yet the blamed themselves.

A familiar black car skidded to a halt in front of the facility and the wonder trio as Evie now bitterly named them emerged. Charles ran to his sister first, hugging her tightly. "Raven." He breathed out in relief.

Erik was the first to notice their matching expressions. Depressed, dejected, tired and emotionally exhausted. They were burnt out and they hadn't even done anything. Their gazes looked so far away, it was like they were in another world.

"We've made arrangements to be taken home immediately." Charles informed them which made them all snap their heads to him in shock.

"We're not going home." Sean responded instantly, looking over his sunglasses. "He's not going back to prison. And she doesn't have a home because the CIA took her badge and gun." He motioned to his friends who were sat on either side of him.

"They killed Darwin." Alex added on, his voice dark for a moment.

"All the more reason for you to leave." Charles urges them, his tone very commanding for someone trying to help them. "This is over."

"What? We've exposed ourselves as mutants, given up our normal lives for this secret team and now you're telling us that we have to go back like nothing ever happened?" Evie questioned him, raising her head from Sean's shoulder. There was such a stubborn look in her eyes, it made him falter slightly. "No, I'm not doing that."

"Darwin's dead, Charles." Raven agreed, holding her brother's hand. "And we can't even bury him."

"We can avenge him." Erik spoke up. Everyone looked to him in shock, not expecting him to suggest it. Though, Evie did like the sound of avenge, it sound a lot like revenge to her. She definitely wanted some of that.

Charles cleared just throat and walked towards the man. "Erik, a word please." The two walked a few paces away to discuss something.

Moira scanned over her partner and asked, "They took your badge away?"

"Temporarily." Evie informed her bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because I am on temporary leave. Once again, the great Moira MacTaggert didn't think before she acted." Moira sighed, knowing her partner was right. Again.

"We'll have to train." Charles called out to them, turning around to look. "All of us. Yes?"

There was a brief silence which was interrupted by Alex cheering, "Yeah!"

"Don't sound too enthusiastic." Evie remarked sarcastically. The young man lent across Sean and punched her shoulder. Evie grabbed it and stared at him in shock, a playful smile on her lips. "Hey!"

"We can't stay here." Hank announced, his suit tattered and his glasses broken. "Even if they re-opened the department, it's not safe. We've got no where to go."

Charles smiled as he thought of an idea. "Yes we do."