Five // Scott Summers

continued

Amber had to admit she wasn't entirely surprised by the idea of an explosion at the X-Mansion. When she first felt the rumble underneath the bathroom tile, she had squinted at it, briefly remembering the jokes between the Professors about living in the house that tended to blow every few years. She didn't panic, simply because she understood clearly how explosions affected her indestructible skin: they didn't.

She continued to bend closer to the bathroom mirror, fixing her off-the-shoulder shirt to lay off her shoulder more. Since running into Scott, she had sprinted back to her room to change into a better looking outfit, in case she ran into him again. Now, she was dressed in dark jeans with the ends rolled up to expose her beat up Nike gym shoes better.

Through her gym shoes, she began to feel the heat break through the tile. She reached for the sides of the sink for some type of sturdiness.

In the end, it hadn't mattered. She was inside the bathroom one second, and the next, she was outside by the lake.

Amber whipped her head from the remains of the mansion to the water behind her, where she heard two splashes, as if bodies entered the lake. She watched two kids resurface and she ushered them from the water.

"Are you guys okay? No broken bones?" asked Amber routinely.

Both the girl and the boy instantly started asking where the Professor was and what had happened to the mansion, speaking over one another, and without taking a breath. The two were in panic mode.

Amber noticed she was the eldest between the three of them. She scratched her head, unsure of how to comfort these kids.

"This happens all the time. I'm sure everyone will be fine, like usual," she said. "But we should move away from the house, guys. I'll go scout for a professor or someone older that is not me, okay? Stay together."

"You can't leave us!" protested the boy.

"Please don't leave us," stressed the girl.

"Uh, I can, and I will, because someone older than me should know what to do. Walk away from the Mansion, and, if you find anyone, tell them I'm searching the remains," ordered Amber.

Amber scurried away through the debris of the X-Mansion. The closer she got to the house, the more fire was present. She gave up on trying to avoid it and began just stepping through the fire, as it reflected from the skin on her body and didn't harm her.

She didn't notice any bodies left behind as she walked through the remains of the house. She found no elder people, nor any students left behind.

What she did notice was a helicopter landing on the scene. Amber started towards them, assuming they were help. She stopped when she saw the evident military alliance between the group of armed men that jumped down from the helicopter. She dropped behind a burning pillar.

"Moira McTaggart, CIA, thank God you're here--" she heard a woman shout.

Another girl, blonde curly hair tied loosely on her back, screamed, "Wait!"

It was too late. Two guns were fired, exerting a rotating wave that caused all of the standing survivors to drop instantly.

A single man, the obvious leader, stepped throughout the fallen people and pointed at the ones he wanted to take, ordering brief, "Her!" and "Him!" as he went.

Amber took in everything about his face. He had brown hair, long on the top and shaved on the sides. His face was hard, his strong bone structure evident in making him look mean. She looked for a name tag, or a rank, but her eyes couldn't far enough to do so.