Victoria Green was always a friendly, kind, and bright spirited person. I would always say hello or ask someone how they were even if it was a complete stranger. Giving them a hug or a hand shake when needed. Never seeing the bad side of someone before the good. While most of the people I would greet were human there were a few who were mutants. This is something important to remember. My mother didn’t always approve of my actions but didn’t act on it. I grew up in a small house on the far side of New York in a small town. There me and my mother lived alone in a cottage. My mom, Niamh Green was strong but kind, making her own way in life. She taught her daughter to also be strong and how to take care of herself, even though she might never need to. It's better to be safe than sorry. Their home was deep in the woods. Keeping them fairly far away from the town but close enough for groceries.
My father ‘died’ before I could make memories with him, no pictures of him were kept around the house though. Niamh never talked bad about her husband, but she didn’t see it fit to keep pictures of him around to mourn over. She wasn’t mad at him and she knew she had to let him go.
They always say that the mutant gene is carried in males, but that was not the case here. I was born with absorption powers. I never showed any of the signs of even being a mutant, seeing as my father wasn’t one, until I was 6. My mother had the power of growing and healing plants. I had turned 6 a week prior when I was out in the garden playing. My mother came out to bring a snack when she saw me growing a flower. She watched as the seed grew and formed a stem, leaves then a blossoming flower all in her daughters small hands. Smalle me got up and ran over to mom. “Looky mommy, I grew a flower like magic!” I said as she held the flower up to her mom.
“Wow baby! I'm so proud of you. You know that I can do that too?” Niamh replied a bit shocked.
“No way!” My eyes widened. “I'm just like you now!” I jumped around excitedly.
I grew up to be quite beautiful (if I do say so myself), I had long dark hair, my natural grey eyes would shift to a different color every time I used a different mutation, and I had fair skin along with my tall slim frame (I’m about 5’9”). My eyebrows were bushy yet tame and I definitely had a cottage core aesthetic, even if that wasn’t really a thing yet. Over the years more powers that I had absorbed from being a friendly child started to show up. It all seemed safe and peaceful at first. Niamh never thought much of it other than being blessed with a very gifted child. I picked up on a pattern though, that my mother did not. Whenever I would greet or comfort someone I would end up with a new power a few days later. While this of course didn’t happen all the time, I took the caution of wearing lace gloves and long sleeves, to cover my skin. I hid the pain that I had from my mother. The pain of constantly gaining uncontrollable powers that I had no idea how to handle. I hid the fact that I no longer had only peaceful powers such as plant growing, communicating with animals, or controlling the light and shadows, but I could now take the air out of someone's lungs or levitate objects without touching them. Most of the time I was outside in the forest where I didn’t have to wear her gloves. I would play with the creatures of the wood and mend broken plants.
When I was 18 two men came to my home. I was out in the garden with a few fox cubs playing. My mother was inside baking when the men knocked on the door. Niamh opened the door and looked at them. “Can I help you?” She asked.
“Oh… Yes we are looking for Victoria Green.” One of the men said. He had blue eyes and was a bit shorter than the other.
“Why are you looking for her?” Niamh asked.
“We need her for world peace.” The taller man with dark brown eyes said before the other could.
“A bit extreme, but if it is so important I will go get her. Come in,” Niamh chuckled a little, she opened the door for the men to enter. After they entered the woman closed the door and went into the kitchen to leave out the back door to the garden. She called for her daughter, and in turn the daughter got up and walked to the house. I could sense other people were in the house and I gave my mom a suspicious look but she just gave a small shake of her head. They walked into the entryway.
“You must be Victoria Green. I am Charles Xavier and this is-” Charles reached out to shake my hand but I ignored it.
“Erik Lehnsherr,” Erik introduced himself. I saw Charles' hand and gasped a little.
“Oh! So sorry where are my manners?” I reached in my dress pocket and pulled out a pair of white gloves with daisies embroidered on them. Once the gloves were properly on I shook Charles’ hand and then Erik’s.
“Why do you wear gloves?” Charles asked.
“Erm… I'm a germaphobe?” I questioned more than stated.
“Interesting.” He replied.
“So why are you two here?” I quickly said before anything got too awkward.
“We need you to help stop a man named Sebastion Shaw.” Erik said.
“Sounds interesting, I'm in.” Charles looked like he was about to say something to convince me but closed his mouth when he realised I didn’t need convincing. “Life here is amazing and all but I need some action.”
“Victoria you can be serious?” Niamh said a bit worried.
“Of course I am. I've already started packing and I know you will be ok without me. Strong mind…”
“Long life” Her mother finished their saying. “How have you already started packing? Were you planning on running away or something spontaneous?”
“Oh no, Of course not I just used my power to start doing it.” I laughed a bit. My mom swatted at my arm but she hugged me and we said goodbye. She walked back to the kitchen to finish her baking. My suitcase floated down the stairs and I smiled at the men. Suddenly a little yip was heard and a tug and Eriks pants caused the three of us to look down. One of the fox cubs I had been playing with earlier was tugging on the bottom of Eriks pants. I chuckled and picked it up. “Darling you can’t do that. I am leaving but I will be back. I don’t know when but you need not worry. Now go run along and tell the others.” I told the cub as I brought it back to the door and put it down. I watched it run off and I turned back to the men. “Ready?”
It had been a few hours before we reached a large facility. “Wow! This place is pretty big. Though it looks quite dull” I said as we stepped out of the car. Charles chuckles and led me through it. Erik was by his side while I was a bit behind them looking in each room and window. One of the agents who was there took my suitcase to a room where I would be staying. Charles and Erik led me to a different room. When they opened the door there were other people in the room sitting on couches and talking. “This is the rest of the team. I will let you all get acquainted with each other.” Charles said as he and Erik left. I noticed right before though that the woman with blonde hair and Erik looked at each other a bit more before he left. “Hi! I’m Victoria” I said as I walked over to one of the couches. The blonde haired girl moved over. To our left a dark skinned man was sitting on a seat. Next to him was a red haired boy with a lot of freckles. I smiled at him and he blushed a little. Next there was a tan girl who didn’t seem all that friendly. Lastly there was a blonde boy with a leather jacket across from us. They all said their names and where they were from. “We should come up with code names,” Raven said. “We’re government agents now. We should have secret code names.I want to be called Mystique.”
“Damn. I wanted to be called Mystique.” Sean joked.
“Well, tough. I called it.” Raven said as she turned herself into Sean. Everyone was startled. I jumped back a little seeing as I was sitting next to her. Sean gave a quiet squeak. “I’m way more mysterious than you.” Raven turned back into herself. I watched it happen carefully. It was like the scales that changed her were flipping over as they went down her body. “Darwin what about you?” She asked.
“Well, Darwin is already a nickname. It sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all.” He walked over to the fish tank against the wall. “Check this out.” He dunked his head in and on the sides of his face gills appeared. He smiled at us from under the water. Once everyone clapped and woahed and walked back over to his chair. “What about you?” Darwin asked Sean.
“I’m going to be… Banshee.” He said confidently. We all looked at him confused.
“Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?” Hank asked.
“You might want to cover you ears.” We did as we were told. He leaned forward and looked at one of the glasses on the table. He whistled and the cup shattered but so did the entire window behind it. We all laughed and he turned red. “How did I miss that?”
“Wait that was mine!” I chuckled and stole his glass that was still intact. He smiled at me.
“Your turn,” He pointed to Angel.
“My stage name is Angel. And it kinda fits.” She turned around as Sean whistled. Her tattoos suddenly became wings. They glistened in the light. It was so entrapping to look at. “Woah” I said and a few others nodded or hummed in agreement.
“You can fly?” Raven asked.
“Uh-huh. And this.” She shot an acid fire ball from her mouth and it landed on the statue outside. We all applauded and wowed her too. “What’s your name?” Angel asked Hank. He became very embarrassed and stuttered a bit.
“How about Bigfoot?” Alex smirked. Almost like we read each other's mind Raven and I defended Hank.
“Well you know what they say about guys with big feet?” I started.
“And, yours are kind of small.” Raven finished. I stifled back a laugh but Sean didn’t even try. Alex looked challenged, that is the best way I can put it.
“Alex whats your gift? What can you do?” Darwin asked him.
“It's not… Um, I just can’t do it. I can’t do it in here.” He tripped over his own words.
“Can you do it out there?” I asked and pointed outside of the window that Sean had broken. He shook his head. He really didn’t want to do it at all but we all chanted his name. “Alex! Alex! Alex! Alex!”
He got up and walked over to the window and stepped outside. “Get down when I tell you” He demanded. Sean simply mocked him, “GeT DoWN WhEn I TeLl You!” We all laughed but Alex did not seem impressed. We huddled near the wall and Alex lined himself up with the semi melted statue. “Get back” He waved his hand back and we shuffled back before moving forward again. “Back!” He yelled. Once again we moved back and forward again. “Whatever” He mumbled. He swiveled his hips and big red rings formed around his. Once they were big enough he shot them at the statue cutting it in half. We clapped and cheered him on. Once he stepped back inside we all sat down on the couches. “What about you, Queen Victoria?” He asked me, smirking at the nickname.
“Well it's hard to explain but to put it in a simple way I can absorb others' powers.” I gave a small smile. Everyone was silent and looked at me in shock. Sean dropped his gaw. “Close your mouth before you catch flies, Banshee. It's not at all that impressive it's actually quite annoying.” I said.
“Not impressive? That's so cool! Is that why you have the gloves?” Raven spoke up first.
“Yeah. Although they don’t do much good since I was a friendly child I used to touch a lot of people like a handshake or a hug. So those of them who were mutants I acquired their powers. I've never take all of their power, just a portion of it and I amplify it. “ I explained to them. I showed them how I could grow a plant in the center of my palm or how I could move things around with my mind. Raven showed the most interest.
“Could you do that with my power?” She asked me softly.
“You want me to take your power?” I tilted my head.
“Yes I don’t want to be anyone who can change what they look like anymore. I'm tired of not feeling like I have a set look.” She said.
“Oh, um… yea ok.” I took off my left glove and held out my hand for her. She grabbed it and my eyes clouded over. Once I knew it had worked I pulled my hand back seeing as she looked a bit uncomfortable. When I let go she took a shaky breath.
“That felt weird.” She looked at her hand. I smiled and turned myself into her. A few gasps went around. Then I turned myself into her blue, true self. I looked in a mirror. “Oh wow look how beautiful I am now.” I said and saw her smile, the biggest smile I've seen. I turned back into myself and we had a little party. Raven and I danced on the couch while Angel was flying around and Alex and Sean were taking turns hitting Darwin on the back with different objects.