Warning: contains matter of dark nature.

LEARNING TO LIVE, part 3:

Conversations

After talking with Gate and her mother, Sara leaned back in her favorite chair and sipped at her tea. The soft, soothing tones of jazz drifted around her.

Sara was an observant person. She had to be, her powers being what they were. No shape-shifter could successfully mimic someone else unless they were capable of copying every gesture, nuisance of speech, every bad habit said person had. And being a very successful and highly skilled shape-shifter who specialized in infiltration in the field, she noticed things. Even the slightest change in her environment, including the placement if micro-cameras and listening devices.

She knew they were watching her, now she just had to figure out what to do about it. She couldn't just leave, Jason needed help and something told her she could well be his last chance. He hadn't been able to hide his slight flinch at the Eagle's glare, and Jason didn't strike her as a timid person nor did he strike her a very trusting.

She was so consumed by her musings the she gave a slight start when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Sara? It's Jason. Could I… talk to you?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Um… Well…"

"Tell you what. About four blocks from my house, there's a coffeehouse called Cimino's. (1) It's on the corner of Fifth and Wotson. Meet me there in… half an hour. We can talk there."

"Okay. I'll be there."

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As Jason hung up the phone, he turned to glare at the Chief. "There. Are you happy now?!"

The Chief ignored G-2's angry remark and said, "We'll be monitoring your conversation with her via your com-unit. I want to know every thing we can find out about Miss Darkholm before deciding how to proceed."

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Sara hung up the phone and frowned. Jason hadn't sounded quite right. In fact he had sounded as if he was being prompted. That would mean that his people would be monitoring their conversation.

"How to deal with this… Ah well. Might as well get ready."

Sara stood and headed to the bathroom, stretching as she went. Shape-shifting was all well and good, but it did no good to remove dirt, odor, and dead shin. Turning the hot water on high and stepping in to the shower stall, Sara reflected on her own rocky road to recovery.

Life in the Pens had been rough. The weak were weeded out quickly and the strong were beaten into submission. She had been kept from most of the other experiments, in hopes that isolation would force her empathic abilities to become stronger. If Sinister had known the truth… she had no illusions as to what her fate would have become.

Sinister had been fascinated by the shear chaos that was a shape-shifter's DNA. And the fact that her biological sire had exhibited evidence of latent Psi abilities, that while totally dormant in him, could be engineered into the next generation. But the experiment had failed. She was a Beta scale empath at best, the bulk of her power that of a shape-shifter. Most of the time she could not call that elusive Psi power forth.

Then one day after horrible beatings and near starvation, a savior came to all those in the Pens that still lived. Remy LeBeau, Master thief and Alpha class Mutant. He freed them all, took them to a safe haven. Then the real surprise came. A mysterious benefactor that supplied them with a home in the form of the space-station: Fire Bird 1. The size of Manhattan Island, it had enough space for every one to have an area the size of a three story house to them selves, training facilities, a fully equipped medical bay, a fully functional bio-sphere that supplied all the air and water they needed, and a new start on life.

Sara finished her shower and stepped out of the stall to dry off as she continued her musings. Who would have ever thought that the world would ever see Rachel Summers, the second Phoenix again?

With that final thought, her form blurred and changed. Where once had stood a blue skinned red eyed freak, now stood a pale skinned blond with shimmering eyes full of life. After that, she left her apartment for the short walk to the coffeehouse.

Cimino's was owned and operated by a long-standing friend of the Squad. Her name was Jinx. She came from a war-ravaged realm where an army of demons had slaughtered most of that world's population. Rachel had saved her when that world had collapsed into darkness. All that was known of the mysterious red head was that her mother had been an information broker and her father had been a kendoist.

No body knew why exactly, since it wasn't a mutant power, but Jinx could build ANYTHING. She had many of the same mechanical talents as Forge, but with a better personality. Two years ago she had invented a new type of Cyber Armor that was actually based on the Bird Styles of a different reality. An unlimited wardrobe in one tiny arm band. All of it high-grade armor, plus the equivalent of a built in laptop. There were even up to 100 of what she called 'Battle Configurations'.

All in all it had been a stroke of genius on her part. Every member of the Squad had a suit of the armor, even Sara. It cut wardrobe costs and would protect them from injury at all times. All that and she made the best espresso drinks this side of Europe.

Thirty minutes later found Sara and Jason sitting together in a booth at the coffeehouse. Jinx came over to take their orders.

"I'll have a Snickers special and a slice of Death by Chocolate cheesecake," Sara told the red and white haired girl.

"An I'll have an orange cappachino, please."

Jinx went to prepare their orders. Sara grinned at the teen and said, "They have the best desserts here. The best lunch specials too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Every thing is made from scratch."

Their drinks arrived and the two settled in to talk.

"So how bad is it?"

Jason looked at her oddly. "What do you mean?"

"Things where you work. I got the impression you weren't happy."

After hesitating, Jason let it all out. Vaguely he wondered why he trusted her so much, and wondered if she was the threat the Chief thought she was. For her own part, Sara cautiously 'nudged' Jason with the marginal empathic power she could call. Subtally encouraging him to confide in her.

"So let me get this straight. Chief Anderson brought the five of you together to fight the Spectrans, pits you and the Eagle against each other, Treats the Swan like a slut who sleeps around, the Swallow like he's worthless because he stutters and is small, and the Owl like he's stupid because he's big and kind. That about it?(2)"

"Yes."

"And he tells the Eagle he's always right and lets him think that as the leader he can do no wrong?" At Jason's nod she groaned. "Ye gods! No wonder you're miserable! Even I didn't have it that bad and my father is a friggen homicidal murderer!"

"He is?!"

"Yeah. And my mom is a semi-reformed terrorist, my full brother is a hate monger, my half brother grew up in a circus, and my adopted sister has multiple personalities."

Jason stared in shock. Of all the things he had been expecting… anything from disdain to mockery, this… this had never entered his mind as a possibility.

" I live my own life and even with random people trying to kill me, I haven't had the kind of abuse you've been living with in my life for a long time."

Jason blinked. This strong woman? The victim of abuse? The disbelief must have shown in his face because Sara gave a wary chuckle and said, "I used to wake up five or six times a night from nightmares. It was years before I had even one undisturbed night."

END PART 3

Authors Notes:

(1) Cimino's is a real place. It's found in Grand Island Nebraska, USA. It's a favorite place of mine and they do make the best espresso ever.

(2) Um, Gomen na? I know this is WAY to close to what Ashbrook-sama wrote in her BotP fic, but I couldn't come up with anything else!

(3) Did anybody see this coming in part 1 or 2? If so give you're self a zillion brownie points!