Issue 1 Downtime

Miranda wandered out onto the lawn. She stopped by her room for her coat before heading out, so she was bundled tightly against the cold. She walked aimlessly, kicking at what was left of the grass or the occasional lone leaf that crossed her path.

The voice came after a particularly well-aimed ground kick. "Hey, careful. They get touchy about the landscaping here."

In contrast, Daniel was dressed in a t-shirt and seemed completely comfortable. If she could 'see' him, she'd notice a faint glow and heat shimmer around him. If her sight was elsewhere, she'd notice a slight smell reminiscent of campfires. "'Course, they might just start the complaining at big craters. So you might be safe."

"I'm not planning on creating craters. Already got in trouble for hitting someone with a tray in the cafeteria," she said, looking at him. "My name's Miranda."

"You get in trouble for that now? How many times did you hit him?" He frowned, looking down a little to see that no, he couldn't see the rest of her face, then shrugging. "I'm Daniel."

"With the tray? Just the once. It may have been the punching. How are you staying warm?"

"Biothermic projection," he said. "You cold? Here, just a second..." The air grew noticeably warmer around them, and a bit brighter. "Just hang in until you're too old for detention. Always seemed like X-Men got into fights with each other all the time."

"You're a university student," she said. "Where are you from?"

"Heh, that's... a good question. I guess 'Genosha' would be the best answer."

"An uncertain answer. Where is Genosha?"

"Ah, man, it's been that long? Damn..." He sighed. "It was an island off the coast of Africa. Went from being a mutant slave state to a mutant homeland to charcoal in about a decade or so. How about you? Where are you from?"

"I've... been out of touch. My history knowledge isn't what it should be."

"Out of touch?" He stopped a moment, taking stock of all the possibilities. Let's see... dimensional refugee... time travel... psychic trauma.. "Out of touch how?"

"Held by an evil organization who took my eyes out," she said like it wasn't apparently a big deal. "And apparently that's all there really is to my previous life as I learned today." She stomped on a stray leaf as it passed her.

"Oooh, ouch," he said. "Yeah, that... that'll definitely do it." Damn. "So wait, you don't remember it?"

"I remember the labs. And the pain. Apparently I was some sort of lab experiment for them. The people who are my biological parents didn't even know they were my biological parents until today," she said in a sort of 'all tumbling out manner.'

"Ah. That kind of lab," he said, shuddering a little. "Yeah, that's a lot to take in all a once, trust me, I know."

"It's not that I don't like the people who are my parents..." She sighed. "I just hoped for a past... you know?"

"Well," he said thoughtfully, then paused. "This is where you can tell me to shut up before I start acting like I know things, by the way. I mean, I do, but if you aren't in the mood..."

"Go for it," she said, gesturing for him to continue.

"Pasts are overrated. All the time I see people who let them hold them back, hang on to things they did or he way things were, and it just holds them back."

"I mean... Yeah, I guess having one would be nice, but in five years this'll be your past. What did we miss out on, about a decade we'd barely remember anyway?" He'd obviously put some thought into the subject.

"We?"

Whether she could see it or not, Daniel made a face. This apparently wasn't something he had intended to drop, but he went with it anyway. "Yup. Grown in a lab in a slave camp to be a guinnea pig. Don't know if there was any big purpose behind it... I was the copy that lived the longest before the camp was liberated. That was when I was... hmm, 'thirteen,' I think. Hard to know, really. I'm pretty sure my entire existence makes the Geneva Conventions cry." He shrugged. "Lab babies need to stick together."

"As bad as it sounds, I'm glad I'm not the only one," she said, "I don't know if there were others where I was. Given how they treated me, I hope there weren't any others."

"Doesn't sound bad at all," he said. "It's the sort of mess that even therapists don't know where to start with. And even bet that you were the only one... unless it was in a country that's really, really messed up, it's hard for them to hide lots of homegrown kids from the government. So there's that, at least."

"Well, the lab I was in was pretty isolated, but I think I'd prefer to hope that they didn't make others," she said, managing a smile. "Now, I think I'm supposed to figure out how much I want my 'parents' in my life."

"That one's all you. I haven't even been able to track down what all they did to make me. Are your donors around here?"

She nodded. "They were the ones who told me."

"Oh wow. Awkward. Can't help being nosy now, who is it?"

Miranda chewed her lip for a moment. "Promise you won't tell anyone else?"

He snorted a laugh and grinned. "Like anyone talks to me. Come on, let's hear it."

"The Headmistress and Professor Weaver."

"Wait, and she didn't see this coming?" Sensitive moment or not, Daniel couldn't resist.

Miranda shrugged, "I don't understand it myself, but I trust them not to lie to me."

"Well, you've pretty much got the freedom to do whatever you want. With... well, everything, pretty much," he said. "Just..." He stopped, thinking about it a minute. "When you start really, really thinking about some of this, don't... expect people to really get it much when something's bothering you," he said. "Everything looks different from the outside. You'll know what I mean when it's actually relevant."

She thought about that for a long moment, "I'll keep that in mind. I suppose it's best not to dwell too much on the what of my origins and focus on where I want to go."

"It's the best bet," he agreed. "It can kind of sneak up on you sometimes, though."

"Just try to remember that it doesn't matter why they did whatever they did. I mean, maybe there will turn out to be reasons to find out? But it doesn't matter in a 'who you are' sense. Not unless you make it."

That caused her to look up at the sky thoughtfully and Daniel could probably see hints of the scarring around her eyes peeking out from under the edge of her hood. "That makes a lot of sense."

"Yeah, just don't expect it to be easy to keep in your mind all the time." He thought a minute. "Well, you might be smarter than me, so maybe it will be easy."

"Thanks for the warning," she said, "I imagine that'll be true. And I think you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

He smirked. "Maybe, but keep it between the two of us. I get by pretty well with people thinking I'm just a thug."