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▎ BEAUTIFUL CRIME    ▎
»»————-　act one. a hero's journey
CHAPTER FOUR ━━ cruelties of mankind

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♯ ❝LET ME BE OF SERVICE! ❞ 
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MAGGIE FELT SURPRISINGLY AT EASE INSIDE THE CIA FACILITY DESPITE THE DUBIOUS looks she had gotten over time from many agents that wandered around the halls, snickering with each other like little school girls. The sudden drastic turn of events in her life made the brunette wonder why she tried to hide her true self in the first place. But she blamed it on not knowing there were more people like her.

She was hiding from the world, but she was lying to herself. It left her bitter to think that the opinions of others had mattered so much to her. And the idea that they all dared to look at her as if she was any less than them made her angry. They looked at her like she was the gum on their shoes. But she was also conflicted in her views because over time she had met decent people who respected her. They might not have known what she was truely capable of or that she wasn't normal at all but she often wondered how they would have reacted if she had the guts to spill her secret.

She refrained herself from doing so after one hurtful encounter in the dinner she worked before Charles and Erik found her. She remebered the utter disgust on the face of a young couple as they decided to start up a conversation about a mutant girl they came across.

The way they talked about that girl was just dehumanizing and it was hard for Maggie to control her anger at that moment. So she pulled her lips in a thin line and furiously wipped the counter clean trying to block it out.

Now the brunette's youthful spirit seemed to be awakened again by the mere mention of saving the world, like she always dreamed of. And now that Charles and Erik started to bring in more mutants, Maggie was curious to see what for abilities they possesed. After thinking there were so few of them it was a true revelation for her. There were more mutants around than one would think, hiding in fear of judgement.

Maggie was quick to explore the facility as much as she could. If she was to stay her for a long period of time, she wanted to know the place inside out. Paranoia was a habit she had quickly formed from being on the run for most of her life. It was drilled in her head like a mantra that everything that seemed remotly good never lasted. There were people out there who wanted nothing more than bring her down.

They had taken her ability to trust easily away from her. When she was young she was naive of people's intentions having her heart broken more times than she could count. But whith her abilities going haywire back when she was ten showed that people didn't like different. They hated different. 

Shaking her head, Maggie tried to not let her thoughts wander back those days but rather on the now. She knew she had to put some trust in these people, they were like her.

But all those stains on her heart were unable to be ereased permantly and the brunette knew that. She just had to live with the mess, nothing was perfectly clean.

Maggie took a deep breath before silently stepping outside her room, closing the door carefully behind her before she stepped inside the stark white hallway.

It was so clean, it felt like there was something hiding behind the perfect white walls. Like it was just a cover up for much darker secrets they didn't want to tell a soul about. And hanging in a small corner was a mirror, like it's purpose was to make you gaze in your own soul, to confess your own secrets. To see if you were worthy of the pure white she walked among. Like they wanted to question her right to be here.

Against her pale skin her hair was a lovely shade of brown, the color of fallen leaves browned and sleek with the first rain of autumn. But underneath the lumiscent light it seemed to have a much lighter tint as it fell over her shoulders in a wild manner like she just rolled out of bed.

Her eyes were like rich earth soil with specks of forest green swirling around her pupils. A mixture of thousand untold stories within the depths of her piercing gaze.

She looked like the complete contrast of pure. She was like the dark side of the moon, submerged in shadows that hide who she truely was.

Her eyes lingered a moment on her features before she scoffed. No one was pure. Everyone had a dark side inside them. There was no good or evil.

Just people.

People with certain views.

She skillfully walked across the glossy tiles without a noise following her through the deserted hallway, the outside world had already turned into a deep ink jar, only some specks of light flickers across the sky like fireflies.

Coming upon the small lounge she came across Raven yesterday, Maggie smiled softly as she watched the new mutants sit around the wooden coffee table. They looked so young, but there was this mature aura surrounding them.

They had grown up too soon too. But there was still this flicker spark of hope alive in there eyes and the brunette believed there would be still hope for them. There views weren fully corrupted yet.

She leaned againt the doorframe, her earlier thoughts about exploring the facility locked in the back of her mind as she watched the youngesters converse with each other with a soft smile playing on her lips

She noticed that despite the lack of blue skin, Raven seemed completely at ease with her company and it warmed Maggie's heart. This was what mattered. She didn't care about the outside world at the moment, she just wanted a safe place for these kids to be themselves.

Laughter rang throughout the room and Maggie felt like she should leave the group alone instead of stalking them like a guard dog but before she could turn around, the blonde shapeshifter became aware of her presence.

"Maggie!" The delighted shout brought everyone's attention on the brunette haired woman as she turned back around.

"Yes Raven?" She gave the girl a soft smile walking further in the room, her hands securely placed inside the pockets of her jacket.

"Come sit with us!" Raven excitendly jumped in her seat, her blonde curls bouncing up and down as she patted the empty spot beside.

"I don't know Raven, it seemed like you kids wete having fun, you don't need me busting your enjoyment." Maggie told the girl to which most of the others started to protest.

"See." Raven raised her eyebrow. "Now sit down we were talking about getting codenames."

"Codenames?" Maggie laughed before realising the girl was serious. "Really?"

"We're goverment agents now, we should have secret codenames." Raven replied swiftly, the bright smile not leaving her face for a moment as she looked around the group. " I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn! I wanted to be called Mystique." Sean grinned, his orange tinted curls falling in front of his eyes as he looked at Raven.

"Tough luck kid." Maggie grinned. "Our Raven beats you on that aspect."

Just as she Maggie said that, Raven ability came into play as her skin transformed into a perfect copy of Sean.

"Whoa."

Maggie smiled at the young blonde, placing an arm over her shoulder as the two smiled smugly at Sean who blinked a couple times in surprise.

"I'm way more mysterious than you." Raven stated as everyone applauded the shapeshifter.

"Darwin what about you?" Raven questioned turning to look at the dark skinned man.

"Well, 'darwin' is already a nickname and you know, it sorta fits." He started before explain further. "Adapt to survive and all."

Maggie looked up at the man in curiousity as he sat up and walked towards a fishtank on a small cabinet. "Check this out."

Maggie's eyes widened at the sight of gills appearing on his skins the moment his head hit the water.

Hollors exploded from the group as Darwin lifted his head out if the tank, dripping wet and Maggie winked at Raven before standing up.

"Let me be of service." She grinned as the other focused on her. The brunette lifted her hand, focusing all her attention towards the water dripping from Darwin's hair.

Suddenly, the water drifted in the air forming one large bubble that she moved around the group before back into the fishthank.

Applause sounded throughout the room and Maggie gave them all a mock bow before sitting back down next to Raven who smiled excitendly. "You should be called Tidal!" Raven bursted out.

"Tidal it is." Maggie smiled at Raven before turning towards the others. "Who's next."

"I'm going to be banshee." Sean leaned forwad in his seat.

"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank asked confused furrowing his eyebrows together.

"You might want to cover your ears." Sean advised them before jumping up.

Maggie instantly did so as she waited for whatever Sean could do to happen as he crouched down in fron of the table where three glasses of cola stood. She watched him take a deep breath before letting out an earpiercing whistle, shattering not only the glasses, but the large window too.

"You're turn." Sean pointed towards Angel as he sat back down.

Maggie looked at the damage for a moment longer before she turned back to focus on the raven haired girl.

"My stage name is Angel." She shrugged her jacket of." It kinda fits." She turned around swiftly and bug like wings erupted from her back fluttering around.

"You can fly!" Raven shouted in awe.

Angel nodded before turning towards the now broken window. "And."

Maggie watched with wide eyes as a small ball of fire came soaring through the sky, hitting the bronze statue in the courtyard and more laughter rang through the room.

"What's your name?" She asked, putting her jacket back on.

"How about Big Foot?" Alex asked after he swallowed his drink, a smug smirk on display as he looked at Hank.

"Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet." Raven turned towards Alex. "And yours are kinda small."

"Alex what is your gift?" Darwin asked. "What can you do?"

Maggie loved how Darwin called their abilities, gifts, because she never had the chance to experience it that way.

"It's not..." he trailed of. "I just can't do it in here." He finally said.

"Can you do it ou there?" Maggie pointed towards the courtyard with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on Alex!"

"Alex. Alex. Alex."

Finally he caved in as he stood up from his seat and walked over towards the shattered window.

"Get down when I tell you." He warned them.

Everyone followed after him as he stepped outside while they leaned outside the window in anticipation.

"Get back." He instructed firmly.

They all leaned away but after a second, curiosity got the better of them as they returned to their previous spot.

"Get back." He repeated with a harsh glae

Maggie's eyes widned as a red like pulse surrounded Alex, the swirls moving around his body before he shot them towards the bronze statue.

It seemed after that all the tension was cleared out and that there was strust among the group and no one held back anymore.

Laughter hollored around the room, and Maggie was sure the whole facility could hear them. The brunette fell back in her seat with a loud sigh and pulled her legs underneath her. A glass of water in her hands as she watched the group have fun.

It brought a smile to her face to see them so carefree, but that bubble of enjoyment bursted rather soon when Moira, Charles and Erik came barging in through the broken window in disbelieve.

"What are you doing!" Moira'a loud voice boomed throughout the room as everyone felt silent.

"Who destroyed the statue?"

"It was Alex."

"Havok." Raven corrected quickly. "We have to call him Havok. That's his name now."

Maggie silently got up from her spot and placed a hand on Raven shoulder, trying to silently tell her this was not the time.

But Raven shrugged her hand off, approaching the three. "And we were thinking you should be called Professor X." She pointed at Charles before turning to Erik. "And you should be Magneto."

"Expectional." Erik's voice was monotone as he looked at the blonde and her face fell with the lack of excitment from the two.

"I expected better from you." Charles stated looking at Raven before following after Erik and Moira.

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