OUR HERO

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Alarms continue to blare throughout the building. Scott and Jean split off from Kurt and Brianna. Scott has to use his laser beams to get through the door, and Jean insisted on staying with him. This left Brianna to go with Kurt.

They look through a window, down at their friends, who were taken from them before. They are all there, Raven, Moira MacTaggert, Peter, and Hank, who is now in his natural blue form.

Peter gapes at the sight of Brianna, dazed with shock. She sees the others lips moving as they speak, but does not hear a word. Kurt points with his blue fingers at the corner of the cell, where the large metal door is.

"Stay away from the door," he says, but the other don't hear him.

"What?" Peter and Raven say, and this time Brianna hears, because she is paying more attention. Kurt looks panicked for a moment. The brunette searches in front of them for something they can use to communicate clearly.

She presses a button firmly in front of Kurt. "Stay away from the door," she says, but her voice must be somewhat distorted. "The door," she repeats herself, drawing a rectangle shape in the air with her free hand.

"The door!"

"Get away from the door!"

They understand her this time, and all four of them snap out of their long stares and move to the other corner of the cell.

"One...two..." Kurt starts counting, and before he gets to three, a heavy force turns the door to pieces, blowing it out of the way to reveal Jean and Scott.

The others begin to leave through the door, following Jean and Scott. Kurt teleports Brianna and himself down to the hallway, meeting Scott in the process.

"Ah! Jesus!" He exclaims, thrown off by the sudden appearance of his other two friends. Brianna begins to run after them, eager to not be left behind.

"Oh, sorry," the blue boy apologizes. They turn a corner, Scott announcing, "this way!"

They go through another heavy metal door, which Brianna half expects to find guards on the other side of, but instead, the room is stocked up with jets and planes.

"Nice," Scott murmurs, admiring the view.

"Hey, Hank, you think you could fly this thing?" Raven questions, all eight of them gazing up at a beautiful dark blue and orange jet.

"Yeah, I can figure it out," Hank replies. Brianna looks over at Scott, who has stemmed off from the group.

"Hey, guys," he says, finding something interesting. The rest of them turn to him. "Flight suits." The glass goes up and indeed there are flight suits. Brianna wants to argue; she doesn't want to wear a ridiculous costume to fight. But she remains quiet and finds one that suits her the most.

"You got your warplane," Raven says, glancing back at Hank. "Let's go to war."

They dress quickly and board the plane, Peter taking the empty seat next to Brianna and strapping himself in tightly. "So, when were you going to tell me that you know Charles Xavier?" He gets right into the conversation. Brianna tightens her grip on the arm rests, hoping not to ruin her friendship with this silver-haired boy.

"Now?" She replies, looking at the floor. "I just didn't want you to think I was some freak. Course, if I'd have known you were also a freak... it might have been a little easier to confess."

Despite the situation, Peter cracks a small smile and glances at her sideways. "You think I'm a freak now?" Crimson spreads to her cheeks. She didn't mean for her words to come out like that.

"As much as I am," she answers.

"Well, that's alright, then," he says, taking her off guard. "Because you aren't a freak." The girl smiles and continues blushing, not knowing how to react.

Did he just... compliment her? She can't entirely tell. She was never very good at reading people, unlike her father.

"So, you know what I can do," Peter continues, explaining further when he sees the confused expression on her face. "I run fast. What do you do?" She looks away for a moment, going tense. She rarely ever confesses her ability to others, even though it is a pretty great one.

"I— I can heal people," she mutters, "like, injuries and stuff." Peter nods and twists his mouth into a half-smile, seemingly interested with what she has to say.

"Cool," he says. The plane roars to life as the rest of the team gets secure in their seats. Then, they are off.

It is mostly silence, along with the roar of the plane's engine. They whiz by the clouds, which Brianna finds very beautiful.

"Were you scared?" Jean asks, turning to Raven, who sits to her right. "That day in D.C., were you scared?"

"No," the blonde replies immediately, like a reflex. Jean turns her gaze forward again, looking a little disappointed, as if she was expecting a different answer.

"But I was scared on my first mission," Raven says, voice softer than before. She is turned towards Jean now. Scott, who sits on Jean's other side, looks her way as well. "I was on a plane like this with my friends. About your age. We called ourselves the X-Men." A look of nostalgia passes over he features.

"Your brother was there," Raven adds, looking past Jean and at Scott. "We used to call him Havok."

Brianna's heart breaks a little at this. She knows this story — Alex told her about the X-Men when she was younger — and she made it a point to call him Havok whenever he did something that impressed her.

"He was a handful," Raven continues, "but when it came down to it, he was very brave." Brianna is looking at the floor now, eyes watering up for the second time today.

"What happened to the rest of the kids who went with you?" Kurt speaks up. "The X-Men?" Raven hesitates.

"Hank and I are the only ones left," she says sadly, "I couldn't save the rest of them. I told you I'm not a hero."

"Well, you're a hero to us," Jean argues, and of course, everyone agrees. "Seeing you that day on TV changed my life."

"Mine, too," Kurt says.

"Mine, too," Peter agrees.

Brianna would say something, if she weren't so absorbed in her own thoughts. Worry consumes her, for her friends, for herself, for her father. She becomes all too aware of the danger they are getting themselves into.

"I mean, I still live in my mom's basement but, you know," Peter adds, scoffing, "well, everything else is pretty much the same." Brianna manages a small smile at hearing Peter's quiet chuckle. "I'm a total loser."

The rest of the team laughs quietly, glad to be finding humor, despite the situation.