"Oh!" A tall blonde chirped as she took in the couple in front of her.

Lila's eyes widened and her face heated up. Alex cleared his throat and reluctantly let Lila go to turn to the stranger.

The brown skinned girl stuck her hand out, "I-I'm Lila. Nice to meet you, this is Alex."

Alex also shook the girls hand after Lila.

"Oh that's great! I'm Raven, Charles sister I was just going to ask him about the last two. I'm so happy to meet you!"

Lila's brows were raised, this girl was very chipper.

"Come! We have to introduce you guys to everyone. Hey, everyone look who I caught in the hallway!"

The new pair flushed at the insinuation and trailed behind Raven.

Lila had a hard time keep track of names, there was Hank a tall boy with glasses, Sean a curly red haired boy who was rather lanky with a kind smile.

At the father couch, Angel greeted her. She was a pretty girl with skin only a little lighter than Lila's and a pretty tattoo along her shoulders.

And lastly Darwin, a handsome man with rich brown skin and a mature air about him.

Raven had already thrown her arm around Lila, who sent an awkward glance to Alex as he covered his mocking grin with his hand.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Raven asked while leading her to sit on the couch between her and Hank.

Alex watched the two carefully before sitting down heavily in an arm chair adjacent to Sean.

Lila didn't even get to answer before a coke was handed to her. A grateful smile tugged at her lips while warming up to Raven.

"I love your outfit," Lila complimented. Raven had on a nice scarf and a slim black dress, nice boots reaching her knees.

"Oh thank you," Raven smiled genuinely while sitting down. On the other side of her was Alex who was constantly looking back at Lila as if to make sure she was still there.

Turning to Hank who had his legs crossed besides her she grinned, holding her hand out.

"Pleasure to meet you," Hank pushed up his glasses.

"I think this is all of us," Darwin leaned back in his seat.

"It's crazy there's so many here, I didn't think I'd ever be able to say I have other mutant friends," Angel laughed to herself.

"Not just mutant friends, a mutant superhero team," Raven wiggled her brows excitedly.

"Yeah well we'll be the best of the best," Sean was only half serious as he raised his soda in celebration.

"We should think of code names," Raven toyed with her scarf. "We're government agents now, we should think of code names," she shrugged casually. As if that was a normal sentence.

Before anyone could shoot down her idea, she pitched her own name. "I want to be called Mystique."

Sean was quick to quip, "Damn! I wanted to be called Mystique!"

Alex rest his cheek on his fist while watching everyone, more importantly watching how Lila reacted to everyone.

Everyone chuckled a little before Raven- Mystique- suddenly transformed into a copy of Sean right besides Lila.

"And I'm way more mysterious than you," Raven smirked.

Lila jumped a little but eyed the previously blonde woman in fascination. Sean almost leapt out of his seat and rest his drink down to get a closer look.

"Holy shit," the earth manipulator leaned forward in curiously. "That's amazing Raven." Everyone clapped with smiles.

"Darwin, how about you," Raven transformed back to pass the attention to him.

"Darwin already sort of a nickname... you know it sort of fits. Adapting to survive and all," Darwin stood up with a sly grin. "Check this out."

Lila was having the time of her life compared to her cell, as her eyes widened in delight watching Darwin stick his head in a fish bowl.

She immediately clapped as his head grew gills. They're all so talented, she thought to herself.

Darwin shook his head off and pointed to Sean. The red head immediately put on a thinking face.

"I'm going to be... Banshee," he husked and Hank tilted his head in confusion.

"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?"

"I'll show you. Might wanna cover your ears," Sean smirked as he hopped up. Lila furrowed her brow and looked at Alex while covering her ears. He shrugged and they both glanced at Sean who squatted in front of the table.

Sucking in a deep breath, he released a whistle pitched screech.

Lila gasped as not only the table broke, but the glass wall in front of Sean.

She winced at the sight.

Next was Angel, who smiled while taking off her jacket. Some boys whistled and Lila looked to Alex quickly.

He was already looking back at her with a small laugh.

Lila huffed embarrassedly but was glad he wasn't the one that whistled, when she glanced back to Angel her tattoos had turned to wings that fluttered.

They carried her up, reminding her much of a dragon flys wings.

"Angel kinda fits. And-" she turned her head to where the glass window previously was.

Sucking in a breath and spitting out a large acid ball- bullseyeing the statue out front.

Lila was impressed and also disgusted. But impressed nonetheless.

"What's your name?" Angel nodded to Hank.

Hank immediately looked uncomfortable and Lila grew concerned.

Alex took a swig of his drink, "How 'bout bit foot?"

Raven crooked her jaw, "Well you know what they say about guys with big feet. Hm.. and yours look kind of small?" Ravens head tilted with a raised brow.

Lila covered her mouth to stifle her laughs, catching Alex's gaze that gave her the stink eye.

Sparring Hank, Darwin turned the attention onto Alex since he wanted to make jokes.

"What is your gift, what can you do?"

Alex sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "It's not uh- I just- I can't do it."

Lila folded her hands in her lap as she listened, fully aware of what Alex was capable of from what he told her.

"Can you do it out there?"

"Why not just do it out there?"

"C'monn..." Everyone began cheering him on.

Lila and Alex's gazes locked. Lila was sipping her soda, she shrugged at him truly unsure of what to do.

"I think... it would be okay if you showed them," Lila piped up.

"Lila thinks it's okay!" Sean insisted before Alex was standing up reluctantly after waving them off.

As he walked past her, Lila rubbed his forearm with an encouraging smile.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, stressed.

Hopping through the shattered window, he gave orders. "Get down when I tell you."

Lila was very excited and simultaneously worried about peer pressuring Alex. She walked him stalk farther into the courtyard, staring down the statue Angel spat on.

Behind Lila, everyone peaked around her to see.

"Get back."

Alex's voice was stern and everyone obliged.

Not before peaking back out again, Lila held the wall while watching with a grin.

"I said get back! Lila- damn it," no one moved.

"Whatever," he charged up his mutation. Beginning to swivel his body, Lila watched with wide eyes as his body smoked. Large beams of red energy that he'd described formed in large circles.

Alex grunted before sending the energy off and slicing the statue in half completely. Leaving it in flames.

He stumbled before steadying himself turning only to see Lila running to him.

"That was amazing!" She cheered while leaping to hug him.

Alex spared a small smile while holding her with one arm, her legs dangling while looping her arms around his shoulder. In the background their new friends cheered.

Alex carried her back over into the room as her legs swayed.

"That was really great, even better than you described."

Alex scoffed, "I didn't exactly describe it to be great."

"And last but certainly not least... Lila!" Raven did an imaginary drum roll.

Alex set her down carefully and watched the girl flush under the attention, brushing her hair behind her ears.

"Uh- well. When I was younger, I learned the greek goddess Gaia was like... mother earth. The goddess of Earth basically."

She stumbled over her words a little before just decided to show them.

"Don't- Don't fall or anything okay?" She peaked up at the group while pressing her hands down to the ground. While activating her abilities, her veins quickly turned black as well as her eyes.

Gritting her teeth to focus only on this room, she felt the ground begin to shake. Around her everyone gasped as appliances and drinks fell to the ground, broken.

Slowly, it stopped and Lila blinked away the black that clouded her eyes. Alex reached and helped her back up while everyone gasped.

"And I can pick it up," with a casual lift of her hand she ripped out a chunk of the floor besides her. It was some type of pavement and they watched it float in the air. She molded it into a pierced sphere and focused on it, before letting it fall back to its rightful place in the ground.

"Gaia sounds about right to me," Darwin smirked down at her.

Everyone agreed.

"We need to celebrate ourselves and our abilities!" Raven raised her glass, she sauntered over to a radio in the room.

Suddenly the music was blaring and Lila looked up at Alex who was besides her.

"Are... we sure this is a good idea?" she asked him quietly.

Alex shrugged, placing a hand on her shoulder. He felt how cold she was and frowned.

She watched him shrug off his jacket, draping it over her shoulder.

"Hey Alex! Check this shit out!" Sean called over and Lila screeched as he broke a chair over Darwin's back.

Darwin was unaffected and egged them on. "That all you got?" His body morphed into an armor like material.

Alex's eyes lit up as he smirked, grabbing the closest heavy thing.

Lila winced but didn't have the heart to stop Alex. She looked around the destroyed room and tried picking something's up before Raven grabbed her hands.

Hank leapt into the air, hanging from the lamps and Lila helped in surprise. Raven kept dragging her forward and hopped onto the couch.

Lila looked up at her with a hesitant face, still standing on the ground.

Raven giggled at how nervous she was and swung her limp arms around for the time being.

Angel flew besides them and danced along.

Within the next few minutes Lila was actually laughing heartily as Raven spun her around from her taller position.

~

look at him. such a cute demon spawn.