Disclaimer: Lena, Caleb, Annie, assorted bar patrons and fastfood clerks are the products of my fevered imagination. Everyone else in the story is property of Marvel. Uncredited song lyrics are from the Golden Palominos.
"They say the diamond is the hardest stuff that's known,"
"But I bet the man who said that,"
"He must have lived alone."
"I am only human."
"I can only stand so much."
Lena belted along with the song as she worked on the bolts of the seat. She didn't notice Scott come in to the garage and open up the tool chest.
"Hey Lena, have you seen the metric socket set?"
"Aagh!" The socket wrench fell out of Lena's hand and clattered to the floor as she turned and backed away. "Oh jeeze, Scott. I didn't see you come in." She turned off the music.
"I'm sorry, Lena. I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay. I don't know where the metric set is. I only have the standard out."
"Oh, here it is. Must have gotten pushed back in the cabinet."
"Sorry, that was probably me."
"I doubt it. Half-a-dozen other people use the tools and you and Logan are the only two who put things back where they belong."
"Hey thanks. Nice of you to notice."
"Sure. Being anal works both ways, I guess." He smiled at her. "What are you working on?"
"It's Caleb's present." She held up a black leather bench seat.
"What's it for? Is it his birthday?"
"Yep, he turns seventeen tomorrow."
"So, why a new seat?"
"Well, there's really nothing wrong with the saddle except that you can't take an extra rider."
"And a seventeen-year-old who has recently taken a liking to a certain sixteen-year-old would probably like to be able to give that sixteen-year-old a ride, right?"
"Exactly." She grinned at him.
"Is it hard to find parts for those bikes?"
"Can be. I've been lucky so far. I've only had to go out of country once to get a carburetor from a guy in New Zealand. I found the seat in Albany."
He nodded a moment and tried to think of something else to say. "He's, um He's a pretty good kid, Caleb, I mean. I saw him in the Danger Room yesterday. He's really coming along."
"Yeah, he is. This has been a good place for him."
"So, have Emma and Sean talked to you about him?"
"What? You mean about sending him to the academy?"
"Yeah."
"Yes, they did. I told them it was up to Caleb as long as he can still help me with contracts."
"Do you think he'll go?"
She smiled wryly. "I refer you back to the earlier part of our conversation about a certain sixteen-year-old."
"I see. Are you okay with that?"
She paused a moment before answering. "I guess I'd better be. I mean if I insisted that he stay here, I'd only be doing it for myself. He's got to do what's right for him. I'm not saying it'll be easy to get used to him not being two doors down but I knew this day would come sooner or later."
"Well, the academy is less than an hour away. You'll probably still see a lot of him. At least he won't be off on some dig in the desert."
"Yeah, Jean told me that's what your brother is up to."
"He's older but I still worry. You know how it is; it's just not the same for us. Mutants always have to be careful."
"But you pretty much worry about everyone here, don't you?"
Scott laughed. "I guess I do. It sort of comes with the territory, unfortunately."
"I know. I don't know why I'm ribbing you, I'm not much better."
"Yeah, probably why we butt heads so much."
"Probably. Hey, have you noticed something?"
"What?"
"We're actually having a civil conversation."
"Well what do you know? I think you're right. Jean'll be so proud."
A comfortable silence enveloped the garage as each of the two went back to their respective tasks.
"Hey Lena, if you want to put the music back on, I don't mind. I kind of liked that song."
"Cool, you got it." Lena reached out a hand and flipped the CD player back on.
-----------------------------
A few days later, Scott found Lena knocking on the door to the room he shared with Jean.
"Hi Lena, Jean's not here. She went in to town. Won't be back until tonight."
"That's alright, Scott. I was actually looking for you. Do you have some time?"
"Yeah, what do you need?"
"Is there a place with some privacy?"
"How about the conference room down the hall?"
"Okay." She nodded her head and headed down the hall.
Once they were in the room, Scott prompted her, "Well, Lena, how can I help you?"
"No, this is actually more about how I can help you."
"Sorry?"
"I, um, let's see" Her eyes shot up and to the left as she thought. Then she began again, "my reaction time is very fast because my reflexes have been enhanced. Since the network came out of me, I can heal myself pretty easily as long as I'm conscious and the damage isn't too extensive. As far as the trick of shutting down mutant powers, that's easiest with energy manipulators and generators."
"Lena, why are you telling me all this?"
"Because you're team leader, and you need to know." She half-smiled and cocked her head, hoping that he would understand.
He did and nodded. "I see, well go ahead then."
"I can actually completely detach my consciousness from my body. I can move into a computer or a living host that way. If I'm in a person, I can control their body. It's dangerous for me to do it for very long. There's always a chance that I might have trouble getting back into my own body. I have infra red vision. My night vision is actually superior to my vision in full sun. The Program used my group as guinea pigs in an experimental procedure that didn't quite work out. The kind of work my group did, it didn't matter if we were blind as bats. So our eyes were expendable."
"Can't you fix it now?"
"No, well maybe. It wouldn't be easy because they designed all of the enhancements to be tamper proof. I guess, after all this time, I've pretty much gotten acclimated to the way my vision works. I don't know if I'd gain anything by going back now."
"Okay. Is there anything else to know?"
"I can mimic accents if I can monitor a subject speaking with that accent. I can share sensory inputs and, to some degree, communicate through skin contact. It's kind of like a limited telepathy. You basically communicate by images. The more attuned I am to the subject, the clearer I can communicate."
"Is that why you and Caleb both wear fingerless gloves?"
"Yes, that way we can communicate without being overheard. It's also telepathy-proof as far as I know."
"Good to know. Anything else?"
"Yes, but I swear to you that it's nothing you need to know."
"That's fine, Lena. This is plenty. I I really appreciate you doing this. I know it isn't easy for you to open up like this."
"You're right, it's not easy, but it is important. I just want you to know that I'm trying to do my part."
"You're doing better than that. Believe me, I understand that."
"Thanks, Scott."
"No problem, Lena. And Lena?"
"What?"
"Welcome to the team."
"Aw, hell, Scott." She leaned over and gave him a friendly hug and he returned it.
As she left the room, Scott became aware of a presence in his mind, a decidedly smug presence.
<Guess you got that, huh?>
<Sure did.>
He could feel her smile beaming through their rapport, though it could have been his own.
<Well you know what, smarty-pants? In this case, I don't even mind you being right. So there.>
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