The X-Project

Ev meets Cecilia and Lucky during his morning run. They are remarkably adult despite some awkwardness.


Sometimes, Cecilia was glad Lucky kept her honest. There were days when the only thing that got her outside and running was his plaintive whining. But when she finally tied her running shoes and hit the grounds, she felt great.

Then there were days like today, where the sun and humidity were just too much, and the last thing she wanted to do was spend a minute outside. Cecilia had made a valiant effort at something resembling running, but after a few minutes, it was clear neither her nor her retriever were willing to expend much energy. So it had been a light saunter by the lake, with Lucky mostly roaming free off his leash while she listened to "Lemonade" again and tried not to lose sight of him.

They were both sitting on the docks now. She was stretching out of habit, doing something that approximated yoga but didn't come close to the mental effort. The dog, resting on his stomach next to her, was eyeing the lake with a languid disinterest. There was no reason for them to be sitting there, but neither of them had much inclination to move.

In the couple of months since Ev discretely moved into the mansion, he'd been paying attention to the variety of mutations present. Making a mental catalog, perhaps, but out of curiosity with no nefarious intentions. One he had noticed that particularly interested him, but which he had not yet followed up on, was the personal protective force field. A paranoid man's dream. He had not sought out the mutant themselves, but now, finishing up his daily run, his aura caught scent of the mutant about fifty yards northwest. What better time than now to actually find out who this person? he thought genially as he jogged down the path to the docks.

Lucky lifted his head, something clearly grabbing his interest. Cecilia, unable to sense what was bothering him, reached out and patted his head. She was rubbing his ears when he broke from her grip, turning toward the mansion and beginning to bark. She shifted herself around, shielding her eyes to try and get a sense of who was approaching. The figure was large enough that instinctively, without much prompting, she could feel her shield activate.

Ev slowed his gait when he heard the barking dog. Looks like the mutant had two shields, he thought with some amusement. He ultimately stopped a few yards away, giving her some space now he was able to see the dark-skinned woman about his age who sat there with the tan-furred dog. "'Morning," he greeted, breathing heavily and stretching to prevent his legs from seizing up.

"Morning." Cecilia smiled, but she remained seated and continued to stretch. He was handsome, she couldn't help but notice. And dark — which was a nice break from the usual Xavier's mix. "You're new." Her shield dropped. "I'm Cecilia"

"Ev. Pleased to meet you. Who's this adorable guy?" He quietly approached the dog, kneeling down a couple feet away from him and holding out his hand to sniff.

"That's Lucky." Cecilia looked over at the retriever, who was tentatively sniffing Ev's hand. He let out a small bark, then started sniffing at the man's heels. "He's not the best around strangers." She shrugged before rising to her feet. "We're working on it."

Ev gently ran a hand over Lucky's head and behind his ear, and when the dog did not back away or make any aggressive moves, Ev continued scratching the spot. "My brother has a dog, too. A little French bulldog. He also doesn't like me," Ev said with a chuckle. "He's kind of ambivalent towards Zeke, too. He likes our mother, though."

"Smart dog," Cecilia chuckled back. "This one's pretty friendly, but fiercely protective. At least, I'd assume." She reached for the hair tie around her wrist and started to pull her hair back. "Don't cross me, and we won't have to find out."

"I'll do my best to avoid that." Lucky kept staring at him, as if sizing him up and preparing a plan in defense of his master in case the situation turned. Ev couldn't help but smile at that thought, or the idea that maybe he was projecting a little. "Sorry, I hope I didn't interrupt you from anything."

"No, no." She dropped her hands back down by her sides. "Just a workout attempt that went awry and became lounging by the lake." She gestured to the water surrounding them. "There's a lake here," she added rather unhelpfully, "in case you didn't know." Then Cecilia turned her focus back to him. "How long have you been here that this is the first time we're meeting?"

"I came in February, but I've been keeping mostly to myself," he explained. "I was a student here, a long time ago. So I'm here sort of on sabbatical. Or maybe a midlife crisis. Getting back in touch with my youth. I'll be trading in my car for a red Camaro convertible any day now."

"Ah, another prodigal child returns." Cecilia laughed. "Don't skimp on the heated seats. You think you won't use them, but you'd be surprised."

Ev's amused expression mirrored Cecilia's. He chuckled, too. "If climate change gives us more winters like this past year, then it'll be more a necessity than a luxury. What's your story, then? Are you an Xavier's veteran, too?"

"Yep." Cecilia nodded. "I was here for a hot minute, like, 10 years ago. Didn't stick around for long, though. And now I've been here for, like, two years." She shrugged, a smile on her face. "No midlife crisis yet."

"Hopefully you'll avoid my fate," Ev said reverentially. "What do you do? Are you on one of Xavier's teams? I'm just a bum, before you ask."

"Oh, sure," Cecilia grinned. "You have that bum air about you. No, I'm a doctor. Well, a surgeon by training, which I draw on a surprising amount in a place where half the residents are invulnerable. But, you know, those X-people," she waved a hand. "Adventures don't count if you there's no blood, I guess."

"Making you find new ways to hone your craft. Earn those continuing education units. Think of all the papers you could publish, if medical journals were interested in that sort of thing."

"Oh, they are," Cecilia assured him, "but I think the issue is figuring out how to explain it without sounding like a crazy person. Or that I've lost all professional ethics or something like that." She waved a hand dismissively. "Doctors, you know. Always concerned about their higher calling." She crossed her arms, sizing him up again. "Remind me what your story is?"

"Oh, you know, typical story," Ev replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Graduated from here, went to college, spent the last fifteenish years serving my country, finally taking a break. I'm sure everything will fall to pieces with me away but." He Kanye-shrugged. "What can you do?"

"Sit back and watch, I guess," Cecilia smiled. "Serving your country how? Army? Marines?" She made a show of giving him a once-over. "Too big to fit in a fighter jet, that's for sure."

Ev offered her a faux-coy smile in response to her ogling. "SHIELD," he said matter-of-factly. Despite an abundance of experience with that organization, or perhaps because of it, many people did not take kindly to learning his affiliation.

"Aha." Cecilia didn't really react, instead scrutinizing his expression. "I can't tell if you play your cards close to the vest, or if it's just that people usually fawn over you when you say that, so you've gotten use to playing it cool when you mention that."

"If I need to resort to that to garner someone's interest, then I'm clearly doing something wrong. No, it's just that there's a . . . diversity of opinion about SHIELD, I suppose, especially here. Waving it around like I'm Sterling Archer at a bar is going to go a long way for nothing."

"Fair enough. Lot of questions about whether SHIELD really counts as serving your country, too." She shifted her weight. "I'm a shades of gray person, though, so you're cool with me." She offered him a smile.

"One could also argue the merits of serving the country through the military, too," Ev countered amiably. "Hey, if you don't mind my asking, your mutation. Force field?"

"More or less," Cecilia said. Her tone was conversational, but her expression flattened. "A bit more to it than that, I think" Like the part where she could use it to impale a man. "Why?"

He had more or less expected that kind of reaction, so he responded by first releasing his aura. The light around him refracted, like he were a human prism, or maybe a human walking pride parade. He did not synchronize with her just yet, just displayed his ability.

"I can copy the powers of nearby mutants," he said. "I was curious about yours. Sorry, there's no way to say that that's not really creepy," he apologized, spreading his hands humbly.

A translucent shell shimmered around her for a second or two as his aura appeared; if anyone had been watching them, the distortions would have appeared quite bizarre. It faded quickly. "Neat party trick," she offered.

"Disco balls are so passe." The aura faded and everything seemed to get a little darker despite the bright sunlight. "Everything manifests through that aura. Not exactly the most subtle of powers, but there's good variety. Like the trail mix of mutations, kind of."

"Sure," Cecilia nodded. "Just be careful. Sometimes powers get all weird when they interact with themselves. Some mimic tripped into me once, copped my shield, and then we were stuck together for a bit." She went out of her way to avoid Marius after that, since everything about that night was beyond awkward. Now it made her smile. "So you never know."

"I've never had an experience like that before," Ev replied, amused at the thought of such a harmless but irritating interaction. There were certainly worse people to be physically stuck with. "Telepathic headaches and accidental destruction of property. And one time nearly falling out of the sky because I fell out of range with a flyer."

"Careful, Icarus," she teased. (Or flirted? She wasn't sure.) "How'd you get out of that one? Locked on to a rubber ball?"

"Synched to an energy manipulator to cushion my fall so I only broke several bones instead of all of them." He considered sharing war stories and, more importantly, the scars that reminded him of these stories, figuring she would appreciate either as medial professional or a woman. Or perhaps both, if luck were kind. But what was that he'd said earlier about being a creep? "Definitely could've used an actual force field then."

"Falling still hurts like a bitch," Cecilia admitted. "Nothing breaks, but you still feel everything. I was on a friend's motorcycle, and we wiped. No scratches, but I was sore for a week."

That was interesting, that she felt everything through it as if it were a second skin. He mentally filed that away. "Sounds like the best of both worlds. No serious injuries, but you get pain killers and you're infirm enough that you can guilt people into taking care of you and doing what you order them to do," he teased.

"Never thought about it that way before," she made a show of stroking her chin. "Hmm. I could use some rest and relaxation time."

Ev chuckled. "I'm sure there are easier, less painful ways. Save this for a special occasion. Hmm. I'm sure I've taken enough of your time. I should actually finish my run. It was lovely meeting you. And you, too," he offered to Lucky, kneeling down to scratch behind his ears again.

"A pleasure." Lucky barked in a way Cecilia wasn't sure how to interpret. It sounded friendly, to her, but even as Ev scratched his head, the dog looked a bit wary. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."