No Angels

Chapter 9

After Sean's flying attempt, Heather made her way to her room, deciding to take a nap, glad that her training session wasn't for a couple of days. But on her way there, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Turning, she was shocked to find an anxious looking Alex behind her. "Alex, what - what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, "Nothing's wrong, I just wanted - to ask if you've heard or seen or - whatever." The boy looked a little flustered, and Heather could sympathize with him. But what shocked her was the deep look of sadness in his eyes when he glanced at her. "Have you... talked to anyone named Darwin while you were here?"

"I'm sorry, Alex," Heather replied in a soft voice, "I've never seen any Darwin." Alex's shoulders sagged, and Heather almost felt bad for saying no, like she had denied him comfort. "Oh, okay," his voice was gentle, sounding almost embarrassed, before he added, "Will you just... be on the look out for him?"

"Of course, it's the least I can do."

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After 30 minutes of holding her hands out and just trying to will something, anything, to react, Heather gave up. "It's impossible, Charles," she told him, trying hard to find his optimism annoying. "It'll just take some time," Charles replied, and now the calmness in his voice sort of made Heather want to punch him. "Look at everyone else. They all believed the same thing as you, but look at them now."

Heather huffed. "That's because those powers exist. I'm starting to believe the powers we're trying to discover don't." Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Erik approaching - a signal that her practice time was done. "We'll try again tomorrow." She said, trying not to discourage the man further. The two said goodbye, before Heather walked away, giving Erik a smile as she passed him. But something caught her gaze...

"Is that a gun?" She hissed in disbelief. Erik glanced down at the weapon in his hand, and shrugged. "It's for my training session." Heather had so many questions, but she just shook her head. "I - I'm not even going to ask. Have fun." Erik let out a laugh as she continued on her way into the house.

She took a seat in the window sill in the living room, barely listening to the news cast that Moira was watching, anxious for the president's speech. Heather tried to read through the book in her hands, but the words seemed to go over her head, her mind focusing on the problems at hand. Her powers, Edie, the US and USSR's tension, Shaw and his band of evil mutants... it seemed like the world had gotten a lot heavier on her shoulders and stress was piling up around her.

Running a hand through her hair, Heather noticed the satellite moving - as if something or someone was controlling it. She let out a sigh, realizing that now she was the only one who hadn't had any success in her training, but nearly had a heart attack when Moira jumped up and opened another window and cried out, "The president is about to make his address!"

Heather stood and went to stand behind the couch, as the rest of the group gathered around the small TV. They all watched with seriousness as the presidential symbol appeared, followed by the familiar but blurry man. "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line that surrounds Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union - "

"That's where we'll find Shaw." Erik commented, and Heather turned to look at him curiously. "How do you know?"

Erik looked at her, but before he could answer, Charles responded, "Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War III. He won't leave anything to chance." The screen went black with a click and Charles set the remote down with a sigh, adding, "So much for diplomacy. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep."

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"Why are we even out here?"

Heather had been in her room for probably three minutes, before Charles came and basically dragged her outside, giving her no explanation on what he or Erik were planning on doing or why they were standing outside when it was almost dark. The air had cooled extremely from earlier in the day and even the softest breeze was chilly - the way it should be in October. Heather crossed her arms, looking back and forth between the two expectedly.

Charles glanced at Erik, who looked at her and smirked. "We're not sending you to Cuba unprepared. So we're going to help you with your power."