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“What were you thinking?” Steve asked as he drove her home from school, having gotten expelled from another school. Anne, Steve Roger’s daughter, had been expelled from another school; she had been expelled from 2 different high schools in 2 years. Anne played with her fingers in the passenger seat of the truck, not paying attention to the disappointment reeking from Steve. “Kid” Steve said, looking over at her while they sat at a stoplight.
“What?” Anne asked him, not having spoken since Steve had even gotten to her old school. “Talk to me. You haven’t spoken to me since this morning and frankly, it’s worrying.” Steve said, now driving to their house in the Kansas countryside. “Why should I say something? You’re probably just gonna lecture me about how disappointed you are and how I can’t leave the house for a little while.” Anne said, her eyes drawing back to her hands. “I am disappointed and angry at you! You got expelled from a school for a second time! Now, where are you supposed to go?” Steve said as he pulled into the driveway, gently parking the truck in the driveway before turning to Anne. “What did you even do?” “I don’t know..” Anne said, looking around at the farm they lived on before looking down at her hands again. “Yes, you do know and look at me when I’m talking to you.” Steve demanded.
“What happened?” Steve asked again, gently this time as Anne looked over at him. “I was in my government class and since it was a free period, I chose to get some sleep since I didn’t get any last night.” She explained as Steve listened, “And I had a nightmare that everything in my bedroom was swirling around me like a tornado. When I woke up, a bunch of desks were thrown around the room and the entire class was standing in the hallway.” “That’s why they expelled you..” Steve said, thinking about what this could mean for her. “Yea..” Anne said before getting out of the truck and walking into the house and to her room, leaving Steve behind in the truck.
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“Why are you reading a newspaper this late at night?” Anne asked as she got out of the shower, seeing Steve wearing a pair of flannel sweatpants and a white shirt as he read the day's newspaper. “Because I can.” Steve said to her as he looked up at her, wearing an old sweatshirt of his that he had given her and a pair of shorts. “Whatever..” Anne said as she walked off, starting to go into her bedroom before Steve said, “Kid?” “Yea?” Anne called back to him in the doorway of her bedroom. “I love you, kiddo” Steve said to her, his head laying on the headrest of the couch. “Love you too, dad” She said sweetly before going into her room and shutting the door, leaving Steve in the living room.
Steve went to his bedroom quietly soon after, lost in thought about what he was going to do with her. After all, she had gotten expelled from 2 different schools in 2 years and didn’t have a single after thought. He sighed as he sat on his bed, running one of his hands through his hair gently as he looked to the other side of his bed. He missed his wife, Anne’s mother; She had died a couple months after she was born in a car accident on her way to work one morning. He sighed softly before popping some melatonin gummies into his mouth and reading a book before going to bed, quietly thinking of what he was going to do with Anne.
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It was about 4am the next morning when he woke up, this time startled at the sound of Anne screaming in her room. He scrambled out of bed urgently, making his way to her room. He opened the door, immediately being frightened by the sight. Her room was in a mess, her bedroom furniture in a tornado-like whirlpool as Anne screamed in the middle of it, probably having been scared from a nightmare. “Shit..” Steve mumbled before ducking into the whirlpool to get to her, almost being knocked to the floor by her desk chair. He made it into the middle where Anne was on her knees, covering her ears with her hands. Steve took her hands off of her ears and wrapped them around his body as he held her, almost instantly calming her down. “It’s ok babygirl.. It’s gonna be ok.” Steve mumbled in her ear gently, hoping it would get to her, in which it did. Her bedroom furniture returned to their normal place, like nothing ever happened, which left Steve and Anne in the middle of her bedroom.
Anne was shaking in his arms as he calmed her down, looking up at him only when the shaking had subsided. “Dad?” She mumbled softly, still scared. “Hi babygirl..” He whispered sweetly as he fixed her hair. “What happened?” “I had another nightmare..” She answered, Steve fixed her hazelnut covered hair and whispered teasingly, “A minute ago, your room looked like a nightmare” “Really?” Anne asked softly as she looked up at him, giggling softly as she wiped her nose gently. “Yea.. But darling, that wasn’t normal.” Steve said to her. “What do you mean?” Anne asked as they stood up together and went to sit on her bed. “That tornado whirlpool thing you did, just a second ago” “I didn’t do anything like that just a second ago” Anne said in disbelief, not believing him for a moment. “Yes, you did” Steve said to her, a paper airplane whirling around the room as he said that.
“See?” Steve said to Anne, the girl's eyes following the paper airplane. “Dad..” She whispered softly under her breath as her eyes started watering, looking back at Steve for some sort of explanation. “It’s ok. I know someone who can help you.” Steve said with a small smile.
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Steve’s truck pulled into a parking lot, roughly a mile away from a big mansion in upstate New York. Anne, having never been to this part of New York, looked around as she followed behind Steve up to the mansion, passing a gate with a sign on one of the pillars that said, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. “Dad, where are we?” Anne asked as she followed him, seeing small groups of kids run around a big lake near the mansion, some of them reading or doing what appeared to be school work, and some people walking in and out of the mansion itself. She saw a big forest nearby, wondering what was out there before she ultimately decided to keep following Steve.
“You’ll see.” Steve said as held the door open for Anne, walking into the mansion as she looked around before ultimately standing shyly behind him. “Steven” Charles Xavier said, almost as if he had been expecting Steve. Anne noticed Charles Xavier’s appearance, a bald old guy sitting in a floating wheelchair before noticing the guy behind him, Logan. She giggled softly at Logan’s appearance as Logan had reminded her of a famous actor she had seen on her television not too long ago. “So, this is who I'm supposed to meet?” Charles asked as he looked at Anne, looking at the way she stood, the way she looked him in the eye, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t a mutant. “I guess?” Anne asked, looking over at Steve before hearing Charles’ voice inside her head for the first time.
“It’s ok, little one.” Charles said inside her head before verbally saying to Steve, “I know what I need to know now. She will stay..” “What? Dad?” Anne said as she looked at Steve, some air ruffling through Logan and Steve’s hair. “It’s ok. Charles can help with your mutation.” Steve said, trying to make this sound less foreign to her than it already was. “Mutation? Dad, I’m not a mutant!’ Anne said as some flowers sitting in a vase nearby had moved because of a small gust of wind. “You are.. And from my understanding, you are already powerful” Charles said to her, looking over the short hazelnut hair that she wore so fittingly. “I’m not!” Anne said as the vase of flowers had been knocked over, catching the attention of some students nearby.
Anne noticed the vase of flowers falling and some of the other kids her age noticed her, already getting freaked out from the attention. “I-I’m not..” She started, a boy wearing all black with frosted tips in his hair and a girl with her hair in a pony tail watching her speak nervously before she started backing away. “It’s ok..” Charles said to her as his wheelchair moved close to her as she backed up. “No..” Anne said fearfully as she ran off, leaving to the woods nearby. “Anne!” Steve called out before Logan stopped him. “What are we gonna do? I don't feel safe with my daughter in those woods!” Steve said to them as the kids who had been watching shrugged and went back to what they were originally doing. “We’ll send someone to get her.” Charles said as Logan asked, “Ororo?” “She’s not here at the moment.. Send Scott. He’ll know what to do with her.” Charles said, Logan going to wherever Scott was at the moment.
“Are you sure this will work?” Steve asked Charles as he looked over at him. “It will.. Now, only for your sake, please come with me” Charles said, leading Steve to Charles’s office to talk to him about the school itself.
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Anne ran through the woods like crazy, hoping no one would chase after her. After about two miles, she stopped and settled by a tree, catching her breath before crying into her hands out of fear for what was going to happen that night. She couldn’t tell, but the leaves around her spun in a tornado-like whirlpool. The only time it had stopped was when she heard a twig break nearby, scaring Anne as the whirlpool dissipated and had caused Anne to stand up onto her feet. “Who’s out there?” She called out, not knowing what was going to happen. “Who’s asking?” A boy called out, the only part of him Anne could make out was the red tinted sunglasses he wore. “I-I’m Anne. Who are you?” She said as she stood there, wiping her eyes gently.
“I’m Scott..” He said as he adjusted the sunglasses he wore. “Nice to meet you..” Anne said softly as she looked at him, taking in the sight of him for the first time. Scott smiled at the gesture, taking in what she looked like. Anne stood up to 5’4 and had brown eyes with short, boyish hazelnut hair, which mind you, looked nothing like Steve Rogers. She smiled at him softly as she wiped her eyes again, some leaves picking up in the air as they spun around her ankles. “You bend air, pretty girl?” Scott asked, noticing the way the forest leaves danced around her ankles. “I guess so..” Anne said to him as she looked down at the leaves, smiling shyly as she saw them. “Come on pretty girl.. Let’s get you to the mansion.” Scott said nicely as Anne hesitantly walked up to him and walked with him back to the mansion.