A Fateful Connection

Chapter 1

Less than a week has passed and Layna was up early training for the past two hours in Shaw's submarine. One of the few rooms was made into a training room for her and the others. Before her were three, large cubes made of different materials. One was brick, one was thick glass, and the last one was a smaller cube of iron. Shaw, who was standing to the side with his hands behind his back, instructed Layna to use her mutation and press her hand through each material. She walked up to the brick and the surface of her hand started to glow white, illuminating the inside of her skin. She pressed her hand to the brick and watched as the rusty red material started to melt. She pushed through it and her hand stuck out from the back. She retracted her hand and walked up to the glass. She repeated the process and melted it. She made sure to watch her feet in case the molten glass dripped onto the floor. Finally, she approached the iron. She made her hand glow brighter, increasing the temperature, and pushed her hand through the metal. Shaw smiled as he walked up to Layna.
"Very good. I'd say your done for the day, my star pupil. Don't forget to wear that dress I like to our dinner coming up" he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and walked out of the empty room. Layna rolled her shoulder from Shaw's touch and sighed. She looked at the melted materials in front of her and walked up to the glass. She stuck her fist through the hole, careful not to touch it. She retracted her hand and looked down at it.
Layna Verity has the mutation to produce positive energy (physics term) and emit it. The brighter the light, the hotter and more powerful the energy is.
She made her way out of the room and walked to her bedroom. She showered, got into some comfortable clothes, and laid on her bed. She brought her arm up into the air and made a circle with her finger, making a large ring of positive energy. She made two smaller ones inside it and flicked her fingers out, causing the smaller rings to go higher. She placed her hand out and turned it to the side, moving the rings to a side view. She looked at the glowing rings, following them from smallest to largest. She stuck her arm through the rings and they moved with her limb as she looked at them. They tightened themselves to her arm, closing the space between her skin and the energy. She traced a finger down her arm as she went over the light. She could feel the heat as her finger ran over each ring. She then waved her hand to her arm, making them disappear. She stood up, tossed the covers open, and crawled into bed.

Charles, Erik, Hank, and Raven were in Cerebro, ready to test it out for the first time.
"Are you sure we can't shave your head?" asked Hank.
"Don't touch my hair" Charles said with the helmet on his head. Hank nodded quickly and went to turn the machine on. He started flipping switches and pressing buttons, the lights were dimming, and the helmet began to glow. Charles braced himself to the nearby railings as he felt every single mind in the world. Human and mutant thoughts with faces to match.
"It's working" Hank said with a smile. Charles breathed out a laugh, amazed that this was actually happening. He could feel so many minds and what was in them. As he kept looking, his expression then relaxed a bit. Raven and Erik looked at him with confusion.
"What is it?" asked Raven.
"Something wrong?" Hank asked as he scurried into Charles' peripheral vision.
"Erik," Charles said.
"Remember about a week ago we met that woman at the bar in London, the photographer?"
"Yes, why?"
"She's a mutant" he said with a slight grin. Erik raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"What woman? Did one of you guys hook up with someone? Charles, have you been keeping secrets from me?" Raven asked teasingly. The two men eyed her.
"No. We were wandering around London and went to relax. We came across this woman and..." Charles paused.
"And what?" 
"I wasn't sure if I heard right because I was a bit tipsy, but I unintentionally read her thoughts and heard her think, to sabotage Shaw."
Erik, Raven, and Hank looked at each other in shock.
"And you didn't think to tell me or even Moira?" said Erik in annoyance.
"Were you not listening? I said I wasn't sure if I heard her think that, but with her being a mutant, it's seems possible and somewhat likely that she did...."
"Then we go for her first, she probably knows more about what he's planning than we do" Erik said.
"Right. Shut it off Hank" Charles said. Hank nodded and walked back to the controls. Charles took the helmet off and looked to Erik.
"Let's find Miss Verity, shall we?"