“I swear, are you ever not nervous?” a tiny voice called out, annoyed and particularly unhappy with having to wait before a large oak door like a statue, waiting for her companion to finally give it a knock. The woman had just arrived, having walked down a long drive way to get to the estate of this prestigious Academy, toting behind her a pair of roller bags and a duffle bag at her feet. Assumingly it was her luggage she had brought along with her, but who knew what it could have really been.

“Patience Elizabeth. I’ll do it,” this almost average girl seemed to hold her hand just short of the door, as though prepared to give it a good knock. From the tone in her voice, this short haired blonde girl was either scared out of her wits or perhaps in shock over something, but she was reluctant and very nervous about even attempting to knock on the door at this point, “I just need a moment.”

“Of all the,” beside her feet was a small mannequin doll, no more than two feet tall, appearing as though she were upset by the way she shifted her body to one hip. Lifelike in appearance, the doll with the long black hair in pigtails and an elegant Victorian style dress raised her fist and gave the door a few good knocks. Looking back up the girl, she seemed to smile as though it were an effortless feat to knock on the door, “There, see how easy that was? You come and get me when there’s cake.”

“Elizabeth…” the girl seemed to pout as the small doll began walking in to the door, disappearing in to the door the more she passed through it until she was no longer there. Just as she was finished, the door’s lock began fidgeting, and the blonde girl turn her attention to the door, eyes wide open as though nervous and anxious to see what ever monster might possibly be on the otherside.

Streak was walking down the main hall on his way towards the kitchen when he heard a knock on the mansion door. "I wonder who that is." Streak said to no one in particular. He headed towards the door and noticed that it was actually locked. Now right up to the door he said, "I wonder why this is locked." He fidgeted with the locks and the turned the handle. He slowly opened the door and saw a young girl about his age at the door.

"Hi." Shawn said to her. He looked her up, down and around her. She was clearly nervous about being here so he smiled. "I see your new here. Welcome to Mutant High." He said all the while smiling and making himself as friendly as he could appear, without being creepy that is.

"Come in, come in." He said moving out of the way of the door frame. "I'm Shawn by the way. Here let me get your bags, Miss..." He was a little nervous about doing thing because he wasn't much of a greeter. Streak said this waiting for her to introduce herself.

When the door opens, there was this guy on the other side of the door, moderately cute with his wavy brown hair, yet oddly colored eyes staring back at the blonde haired girl as he opened the door. He seemed almost genuinely surprised to see anyone on the other side, especially her, all dressed up in a simple long floral skirt and white button down blouse. However it wasn’t the cuteness of this guy that had this girl flustered, but rather the sudden appearance of someone. She only caught a glimpse of his face, and turned to look back before her as though scared to be seen talking to him.

A slight shiver passed off her body as the guy parted ways for her to enter mansion. Mutant High he had said, but it wasn’t quite apparent that this was a high school of any kind. It looked more like a decadence to a rich man’s taste in fine living. Slowly, she peered in, as though trying to check out the place before walking in. As she did, the young man introduced himself, and questioned her as though perhaps a suspect in some murder. While it was actually a very trivial question, the girl didn’t quite seem capable of answering it with any reasonable level of skill. As she approached in to the entryway, her eyes continued to gaze over the spectacle that was this mansion, instead of being forward with the question. The next few peeps out of her mouth were very quiet, as though hesitant to actual answer anything. Perhaps nervous or anxious, but definitely scared, “Yes… I’m new… I think.”

Nathan was walking back from the library when he noticed that someone new had arrived to the Mansion. They appeared to be talking to Streak. It was a girl, she was pretty tall for her gender. She also had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She seemed pretty cute. Not wanting to appear unhospitable, Nathan started walking over to the pair. The girl seemed kind of distracted with her new surroundings so Nathan addressed Streak first.

"Hey, Streak. How have you been? And who's your friend? I'm Nathan, by the way." He said the last to the girl who had just arrived.

Shawn looked at her. His smile fading. Did I do something wrong? Did I come on to strong? Cause she seems scared or maybe its just nerves. He thought. Shawn couldn't decide which it was. He watched her very closely as she slowly stepped through the doorway. She looks awestruck. "Don't be nervous. It's fine. Everyone is really friendly around here. I"m sure you'll fit int just fine." He flashed a smile at her.

"So do you want to start a tour?" He walked over and picked up a brochure from the table near the door and held it out for her. The brochure detailed the different things that were available in the mansion. He heard someone coming down the hall and looked around to see Seraph walking towards them to. "This place is big but eventually you'll find everything you need or could want is available here for mutants." Shawn said to the girl who still hadn't giving her name to him.

"Hey, Streak. How have you been? And who's your friend? I'm Nathan, by the way." He turned around to face him.

"Hey Nathan. I've been busy but good. And you? I don't know she seems awestruck by the place and hasn't told me her name yet."

Sam was running down the hall from his room as fast as he could for the kitchen someone replaced his Gatorade with hot sauce. If it weren’t for the fact that Sam was tearing from the pain he would have gotten a good kick out of it. As Sam was running down the hall he saw his pals Nathan, and Streak. Sam would have stopped and talked but his mouth was on fire. Sam continued to charge down the call almost hitting one of the guys. “Sorry” Sam called out as he was making his way to the kitchen, he needed milk.

Sam found himself in the kitchen downing a carton of milk. When he realized there was a new girl with them. Sam downed the rest of the milk and turned around and started to run back the direction he came. The three were still there talking. Sam looked round the corner, making sure that none could see him. It had only been close to thirty seconds maybe a minute since he almost ran into them, so he figured he wouldn’t have missed much, Nathan was talking to Streak at the time so, Sam figured it was a perfect time to jump in the conversation.

Sam turned the corner and waved to them, “Hey guys what’s up?” Sam then walked a bit so he wouldn’t have to yell to communicate. Sam looked at the new girl and said, “Hey, I’m Sam.”

A new person had appeared, and then a second person randomly not only ran by, but ran by in a panic as well. When they returned, he too began to crowd about the blonde haired girl, eager not only to introduce himself like the others, but to some how make her acquaintance. They may have not seemed particularly evil or forward, but this wasn’t the type of girl who was really a social butterfly. She was more like a social caterpillar, but not overly eager to blossom quite yet. This meant all the sudden attention she attracted with almost a negative aspect rather than a positive one that most people would have seen this encounter as.

“Ah… um… uh… “ she seemed frightened, placing her arms up toward her chest and slowly backing up as people came to greet her. A nervous reaction if ever there was one to be seen, as this girl seemed to be perplexed on how to react to the sudden popularity she was finding. Soon her backing up was no longer an option as she ran in to a wall. While still in no real harm it would have seemed to a casual passerby, she was particularly scared and hesitant about saying or doing anything.

She finally closer her eyes, recalling what she said and done in past when people crowded around her, and quickly stammered out her name, “…So…Sophi…a…”

Streak heard someone running down the hallway. He turned around just in time to see Sam running through the hallway and towards the kitchen. Well that was weird. Streak thought after Same had left. Same then returned and joined himself and Nathan in the hallway. The blond girl looked definitely looked frightened once Sam showed up and introduced himself to her. Finally the girl introduced herself to the little group that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

Streak looked a little puzzled as she backed away from them all. “Ah… um… uh…So…Sophi…a…” She told the three of them. He turned to Nathan and Sam and said, "Maybe were coming on to strong guys. Let's just giver her a little room and hopefully she'll calm down." Streak moved back and tried to back up Nathan and Sam with him. "Welcome Sophia. Do you have any questions?" He asked hoping to get her to relax and know that she's not in any danger.

Panic and fear had crept down Sophia’s body, slightly afraid of the amount of people around her, but also what they might end up doing to her. Her skill with people were not very good, but with boys and men in particular, she always found it difficult to want to trust them since according to her mother in a casual utterance had said they were all liars and cheats. Obviously it was about someone in particular, perhaps never intended to mean everyone, but she heard it from her mother, so she believed it to be true.

Though before much more could happen, before the question asked could even be processed in her mind, a familiar sudden feeling came over her. Suddenly Sophia could see a lot sharper than previously, her sense of hearing increased as well to being able to hear a familiar commercial on a TV that couldn’t have been heard before, and a faint smell of hot sauce could be smelt that started upstairs and then trailed back downstairs rather quickly and then returned on to one of the boys before her. All this meant that something was beginning to appear, and with a familiar nose shortly afterwards, “ROAR!”

Sophia turned behind her to witness a creature beginning to push its way out of the wall. Its had was massive in appearance, very much like a lion covered in small fish like scales that ran up and down its body. Turning her head to see one of her friends beginning to pop out of the wall, which quickly ran over to it as though to try and push it back in to the wall, faintly crying out to it, “No… Mordred…”

Before Streak had even said anything, Nathan had already decided that he would excuse himself. He didn't want to put unwanted pressure on Sophia, or any girl for that matter. He would not force someone to do something they did not want to do.

He started to turn to leave when he noticed a shadow moving on the wall behind Sophia. But none of them were moving. The shadow materialized into what looked like a lion with scales. The shadow lion let loose a loud roar then and started to remove itself from the wall!

Nathan did not know what to think at first. This was the strangest thing he had ever seen with anyone's powers. It had to be a mutant. There was no other explanation. He knew Streak's and Sam's capabilities, or at least what they had shared with him. So that meant that it was somehing of Sophia's doing, whether intentional or not. It appeared to be that latter.

Normally he would have thought to get the girl as far away from the lion as possible but he didn't. She seemed to know this creature that had started to attack them. She even called it by name. There was more to this than what appeared so Nathan decided to wait and see how it would play out. He was interested in how the girl would handle the situation. But that did not mean that he would be caught unawares if the lion made a move. He could still get Sophia away if there was a need.

"Well, you don't see that everyday."

Streak backed up from Sophia to give her plenty of room. Maybe she's a claustrophobic or has a problem with big crowds. He thought, not taking his eyes off of Sophia. In his peripheral vision he saw Nathan turn around to leave. Maybe he thinks the less people around her the better. I'm not going to leave. Streak thought again, still watching Sophia. Sam was not in his view but he was pretty sure he was there. When Nathan turned back around and stared at a single part of one of the walls, Streak turned also. He stared at the spot where the lion with scales was forming out of seemingly nothingness.

Instinctively and almost involuntarily, Streak's silver covered his body from head to foot. The only time he moved was when the lion gave a loud roar. He took a step backwards into a more defensive position, but did not move his hands. After about a few seconds he went to standing back to normal, except for the silver covering his body. After the camps his scars always seemed to stand out more while he's using his powers than when he's not. That was the only time he really feels selfconscious about himself. But this was not the focus at hand. The bigger picture that Streak needed to focus on was the lion that Sophia apparently knew.

"Well, you don't see that everyday." Seraph said.

"That's definitely true. That has got to be one of the coolest powers I've seen in a long time." Streak said looking at the other two for confirmation.

Sam took a step back after Streak motioned for him to move back. Sophia must be afraid of people Sam thought. Sam saw as Nathan was about to walk away but then stopped. Sam was in the worst position to see what was bout to happen. As Sam saw a lion pop out of the wall and let out a large roar. As far as he knew Sam was the only one not to jump from the large roar. There was something that intrigued him about this lion; it looked like it had fish scales. This girl must be able to materialize him.

"Well, you don't see that everyday." Seraph said.

"That's definitely true. That has got to be one of the coolest powers I've seen in a long time." Streak said looking at the other two for confirmation.

Sam crouched down a bit, so it looked like he was about to fall over from leaning too much. Now eye level, Sam looked at it in amazement. “This is incredible” Sam said in awe, looking into the eyes of the lion. “This guy looks so much smarter than the ones in the wild.” He looked to Sophia and said to her with praise, “That is very cool.”

“Mordred… Back in the... wall…” Sophia began pushing the creature’s head in, as though trying push him to the wall. Granted only its head had come out so far, but for the most part its head was as big as fair size bigger than a lion’s. What might have seemed normal to them wasn’t for Sophia, this creature seemed unnerved by what was going on and to be honest it wasn’t any of Sophia’s doing.

Her pushing and thrusting in to the strange lion creature’s body eventually gave way and pulled itself back in to the wall. As it did, Sophia slid forward from the missing head she had once been pushing, nearly running in to the wall and slamming her head in to it. Thankfully she didn’t, but it still seemed like a close call in many ways. Had the creature fully come out, this massive five foot tall creature might have gone wild and tore the place up, which never ended well for Sophia.

This wasn’t looking good for Sophia, she had a vague idea of who might be coming next, but she feared that if she did, it wouldn’t be pretty. Sophia knew she had to be forward and do something, explaining things might not be easy, but she had to try, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s not my fault, I can’t control when they come out, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

It was apparent that they weren’t overly phased by anything going on, as though this were normal or atleast cool. Sophia held her arms in front of her and looked down to the ground once again before speaking up once again, “I’m Sophia. I was sent here to be fixed. I had a bad accident a few years ago, and I haven’t been the same since then. If I can be fixed, then my guardians won’t come out, and I can maybe go back home.”

“This is incredible” Sam said in awe, looking into the eyes of the lion. “This guy looks so much smarter than the ones in the wild.” He looked to Sophia and said to her with praise, “That is very cool.”

Streak watched the lion very carefully. Sam was right There was something different about this lion. He also watched Sophia who was trying to push the lion back into the wall where it came from. She looked like she was trying to keep someone from coming through a door. It was definitely an interesting sight to see but living here taught Streak that there was always something to surprise you. Once Sophia succeeded in getting the lion back into the wall when turned around and informed everyone a little about herself.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s not my fault, I can’t control when they come out, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“I’m Sophia. I was sent here to be fixed. I had a bad accident a few years ago, and I haven’t been the same since then. If I can be fixed, then my guardians won’t come out, and I can maybe go back home.”

"It's okay, it's okay." Streak said to her, consciously putting the silver back where it was when they first met. "Whoa whoa whoa." Streak said shaking his head and waving his arms. "I don't want to put you off or upset you or anything but this place isn't a place to 'Fix' mutants." When Streak said this he said it as calmly and as non threateningly as possible. He didn't intend for any of what he said to be mean but he did realize that it may have come around that way.

"This place is to help you control your powers. You can stay here, don't get me wrong, I'm sure we have room. But here the main focus is to get every mutant to control their powers instead of the other way around." He paused for a second. "Look why don't we sit down and I'll tell you anything you want, need or care to know about this place. The ups, the downs, the good and the bad." He motioned to the empty bench next to the table where he had picked up the pamphlet a little earlier.

“Mutant?” Sophia head tilted slightly, as though confused and curiously interested in what was going on. For being at such a school, it probably wasn’t anything unusual, but Sophia continued to look at Shawn as though he was crazy, or perhaps on some sort of special medication.

She initially pulled back, as it seemed they were trying to lead her in a particular direction, a chair or bench of such, but she wouldn’t have any of it and hugged the wall carefully with her back. Eventually, leaned in a bit, questioning what exactly was going on, “What is a…. mutant?”