Deirdra’s current schedule for the day had been: shower, get dressed in cute exercise clothes, put hair up in ponytail, and then she went for a jog. After she got back from her 2 hour jog, the blond noticed how hungry she was. With a sigh, she dug around for something in the kitchen, deciding on an apple and toast with peanut butter on it, she retired to the dining room.

The room was empty and Deirdra sat down at a random chair in the middle of the table. She glanced down either side of the table and then slouched in her chair. Picking up her apple, she put it to her mouth and took a big bite. When she set it back down, she felt she had forgotten something. A moment of pondering what she was missing and the woman instantly stood up. Talking to no one in particular, the woman announced, “I forgot my coffee.” Turning around, she headed back into the kitchen.

After a few minutes, the scorpion woman walked back into the dining room, sipping happily at a large cup of black coffee. Deirdra was already not a very kind person, but lack of coffee made her want to tear people’s heads off. She needed the caffeine if she was to function. She returned to her seat and plopped back down. Her body was so light, however, that not much noise was made. She munched slowly at what was left of her meal and when she was finished, she sat and stared into her mug.

Reaching into the pocket of her jogging shorts, the blond pulled out her cell phone. She glanced at the screen to check the time. It read 7:21. “It’s not even 8 yet?!” A loud sigh escaped her. “But…I’m already so bored.” Her lower lip jutted out, as if pouting. She slipped the phone back in her pocket and took a big drink of coffee. This was going to be a long day.

Kaitlyn had been a junior member of the secret mutant organization for months, now, and she still didn't even know what it was called.

Months!

Lori told the kid to wait, watch, and listen to find out absolutely anything about the organization. Implicitly, she wasn't supposed to ask questions about it, even if the question was as simple as "What's its name?" No amount of waiting, watching, listening, or even sneaking into people's rooms and going through their stuff had answered this question, and Kaitlyn was just about fed up with not knowing.

This isn't to say that observation was entirely useless. For example, see that blond lady sitting at the table? Her name was Deirdra. Kaitlyn knew that Deirdra was a mutant who could turn into a half-scorpion thing, as well as a fellow member of the group. The kid had gone on a mission with her to make another group called the "X-Men" look stupid.

Kaitlyn was awake and getting a drink from the Sanctuary's public fridge at 7:15AM. The kid was rarely up this early, but today she'd been awakened early by one of her usual nightmares. It was too late in the morning to try to go back to sleep, so there was little for her to do other than get dressed and make her way to the dining hall.

It was in the dining hall that inspiration struck: Deirdra, being a "full" member of the secret organization, would probably know more about it than Kaitlyn did. Furthermore, she might even reveal some of this information while talking with a fellow member about secret-organization-related business. Kaitlyn was a fellow member, and she was interested in hearing some of this information.

Vague plans started bouncing around in the child's mind. Soon, her glass of chocolate milk found itself next to Deirdra's spot on the table. "Morning, Deirdra," she said, taking her seat next to the scorpion lady. As usual, the kid sounded much more cheerful than she felt.

Taking a sip from her milk, she tried to decide on her first question.

As Deirdra sat there, she heard a small voice reach her ears. A girl came and sat right next to the blond. Turning her head to the side, the blond raised an eyebrow and smiled. The small girl had called her by name, and the woman had to think for a moment as to where she had seen her before. It dawned on her and a smirk came onto her face. “You’re the girl that can make explosions, aren’t you? We went on that mission together.”

The blond admired how the girl acted like a grown-up for a moment before taking a drink of coffee. “So, I don’t believe I know your name. May I ask you what it is? I’m sure it must be very pretty.” Deirdra was very tolerant with children for the most part, but it helped that this girl was a mutant. It would make it easier to get less annoyed. Babies bothered her and so did toddlers, but this child was old enough to talk and not cry to communicate everything.

Deirdra had a feeling this girl wasn’t the type to whine, since she seemed to live at the Sanctuary and not have any parents. It had probably toughened her up. The woman knew that what she had been through had made her grow up much faster. It had prevented her from a whining teenage stage. The mutants she had lived with when she was a teen would have just told her to shut up if she had made a fuss. They had been tough and encouraged the blond to be tough as well.

Bringing her mug to her lips, she took a large drink. Placing the cup back down on the table, the woman turned her whole body slightly in her chair so she could look at the mutant girl better. “So, is there something I can help you with or do you just feel like visiting?” Deirdra didn’t talk to her like she was a child, but used a calm, kind tone with her. She remembered how much she had hated people talking to her like she was stupid or something. Being younger didn’t mean people had to talk to you like were an infant.

>>“So, I don’t believe I know your name. May I ask you what it is? I’m sure it must be very pretty.”

She smiled. "Kaitlyn Faust." It was a pretty name. Especially the 'Faust' part, which was indisputably prettier than 'McCarthy.'

>>“So, is there something I can help you with or do you just feel like visiting?”

"Uh..." Caught off guard by the question, Kaitlyn took another sip to give herself a few seconds. If I just ask her what the group's called, I'll look stupid. Lori doesn't want me to ask questions like that, anyway. So... "Just visiting."

Now the kid needed a good question for Deirdra. Something about being part of the organization that required a relatively long answer, in which the scorpion-lady might reveal some interesting facts about it. Such as its name. It didn't take long to come up with a fairly good one:

"So. How'd you join the team?"

The girl introduced herself as Kaitlyn Faust. The woman thought the last name sounded familiar. She closed her eyes momentarily as she searched her memory. Lori. Lori Faust. She was the leader of the Order. Deirdra’s blue eyes fluttered opened and she looked at Kaitlyn as she took a drink of coffee. “Faust, hm? Are you some relation to Lori of is it just a coincidence?” She smiled and returned the mug to the tabletop.

Kaitlyn told the scorpion woman that she was just visiting and the blond smiled. “That’s just fine with me.” The next thing that came from the child was a question. How had she come to join the team? It was a fair question and Deirdra nodded to herself as she recalled Roland being cornered.

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve met Roland, but he was surrounded by cops after robbing a jewelry store. I heard them call him a mutant and I immediately jumped in. I didn’t even really think about. I just felt like it was my job.” The blond bit her lip, wondering if she should tell the child about what happened next. Of course, that would be treating her like a child, which she had hated. “I attacked the officers and knocked them out. Somehow Roland got his hands on one of the cop’s guns. He shot them all. I had no idea he would do it.”

The woman sat silently for a moment as she remembered the events of that day. She shook her head in an effort to get her attention back to telling the story. “He offered me some of the stuff he had stolen, and I told him I hadn’t done it for things. I had just done it to help. More cops were coming, so he stole one of their cars as I transformed into my human form and put on a pair of pants that Roland had stolen off an officer. I had worked as a receptionist at a dental office and after being seen, I’d never be able to go back. So…Roland offered me a place to live, the Sanctuary, and then went on to interview me for the Order. And now here I am, drinking coffee and talking to an incredible mutant who makes quite a bang.” Deirdra smirked.

"How about you?"

>>“Faust, hm? Are you some relation to Lori of is it just a coincidence?”

Kaitlyn seemed to give this question some thought before answering it. "...We're kinda related." It was a complicated story, and Kaitlyn was more interested in hearing Deirdra's.

Roland... the kid remembered that name, but hadn't seen its owner in a while... oh! This was the guy she accidentally blasted across the dining hall once. He could make stuff go poof from one place to another like some sort of mutant magician, so stealing from jewelery stores seemed like it would be fairly easy for him. The fact that Deirdra was willing to stand up against the police to help out a mutant in need really impressed the child.

If Roland didn't shoot them, they probably woulda shot him... But at the same time, Roland killed people.

It was much easier to just skim over details like that.

Then Roland interviewed her for the Order! That's what it was called! And Deirdra called her "an incredible mutant!" Now they were both smiling a little. Kaitlyn couldn't wait to start calling it 'the Order' in front of Lenna and Lori. Until then, she had a few questions about Deirdra's story...

>>"What about you?"

... and had expended her opportunity to ask them. Now, it was time for her own story.

A few seconds went by before she answered; the girl's smile started fading away.

"I ran away from my old home a while ago, 'cause.. I didn't like it there. Then, I almost got hit by a car, but I accidentally blew everything up before it could get me." The 'everything' in question included cars, street lights, people, and windows. "Lori and Mars saw me do it, then Lori fixed one of the cars I broke with her mutation, and they took me back here to the Sanctuary, and they let me live here just 'cause I'm a mutant. It's nicer here. Oh, and they took Jessica here, too... Have you seen her?" The older girl must have been making herself scarce ever since her arrival, assuming that she was even still staying at the Sanctuary. She might not have even ever been a mutant, for all Kaitlyn knew.

"A few months ago, Lenna saw me blow up our old pool table, so she took me to the training room and started training me so I wouldn't blow stuff up on accident so much. Then, she told me about the Order and asked if I wanted to join, and we talked to Lori, and now I'm a junior member, so now I can blow up stuff that they want me to blow up instead of stuff that they don't." She grinned a tiny grin.

Deirdra listened to the small girl tell her story. The woman couldn’t imagine how scary it would to have a whole bunch of stuff blow up because of her. It had been hard enough when her scorpion mutation showed up and even scarier when she realized she could kill people with the toxins in her tail. When she had gotten used to it, she realized that she was always meant for greater things and her mutation was it. The reason no one had wanted her had to have been because they could sense how superior she was, so they tried to keep her down, tried to hurt her.

It was the only thing that felt right, her scorpion form. Her human legs were better for attracting males, but they didn’t feel natural. They didn’t feel like a part of her. She had always felt that part of her wasn’t right. She wasn’t made to look like a human or act like a normal human. The blond wondered if Kaitlyn felt that way or if it was just her. Maybe she wasn’t like anyone and was meant to always be alone. Part of her hoped not, but a different part of her thought it would be so much easier to be alone.

“Well, I’m glad they’re helping you control that. I’m sure it must be frightening to accidently blow things up without exactly wanting to. I used to not be able to control my scorpion form, so that was a bit of problem.” The blond smiled. “Luckily, I lived with some very nice mutants who taught me how to control my mutation. They were the closest thing I’ve ever had to a real family. My mother and father split up when I was younger when my mom started doing drugs. She was in and out of jail a lot, so they got divorced. Dad remarried this woman that really hated me. No one ever paid attention to me unless I was doing something bad or my step-mom was yelling at me.” The woman took a drink of coffee. “I ran away from home when my mutation manifested at 13.”

Suddenly, Kaitlyn found herself being deluged with Deirdra's life story.

Bad family at home, problems with a mutation, and running away to be raised by a motley of mutants. Kaitlyn nodded and sipped her milk. This wasn't particularly uncommon. The kid could name at least three other mutants with similar stories who had started living in the Sanctuary that year alone, and those were just the ones she knew about.

If there were mutants out there who had normal families, she would be surprised.

Whatever the case, the ten-year-old honestly didn't know what to do or say say after hearing a grown-up spill her guts. She definitely wasn't going to start talking about her own family. That was a given.

Deirdra smirked when she noticed the girl’s lack of words. That was fine with her, she wasn’t really expecting a story. People had to get comfortable with what happened to them. Come to terms, in a way. Kaitlyn was still young and would have time to analyze and feel okay about what had happened to her. Well, maybe not okay, but at peace with it. Hopefully, the young girl would tell her the story one day.

The blond sipped at her cup of coffee and waited to see if the girl wanted to know anything else. She crossed her arms across her chest and then moved one arm to comb her hand through her hair. Deirdra wondered what exactly the young mutant was expecting to get from her. It seemed like she wanted answers and it made her curious as to what she was digging for. She wondered about the Order, so maybe she didn’t really know much about the radical group she was in. That may have been okay, considering her age.

She decided to come out and ask once more. “Would you like to talk about the Order some more or is there something else you’re looking for? I’m not much into secrets, so ask away.” The woman smiled at the girl and adjusted herself in the chair.

Four and two fifths of a second. That's how long it took for Kaitlyn to realize what Deirdra was offering. Then, the floodgates were open.

"Is Lisa in the Order? Is she a mutant?" Whenever she asked the secretary herself about this, the only answer she got was an amused grin. That could mean anything.

"And who else is in it?"

"And why do we sell mutant insurance?"

"And... Oh! Does anyone in the Order know how to fly the helicopter in the vehicle bay?" Other than Kaitlyn herself, of course. She already knew how to fly helicopters. She read how on the internet once, and it didn't sound so hard.

"And..." Wait. She stopped asking questions so Deirdra would have some time to give some answers. The kid was asking about so much so quickly that she hadn't let the adult get a single word in.

Deirdra smirked as she listened to the girl list off questions. Now that she felt comfortable asking them all, the woman knew that she had had them all along. The blond had assumed that her intention was to ask the woman questions, but she wasn’t sure until this point. It was now clear that this is why Kaitlyn had approached her in the first place.

“I don’t know who Lisa is, I’m sorry. As for who else is in it, it could be impossible to know everyone. Though, I do know of a woman named Meld who was in it, stopped, and then joined again.” The woman paused in thought as she tried to think of everyone else she had seen. “Well, I’ve met Lenna here and a girl named Ahorta. I’m not sure if they’re members or not though, and then there’s all the people we had gone on the mission with.”

“I’m not sure why we sell mutant insurance. Maybe to help protect the beings we care about most, mutants.” The woman shrugged and smiled. “It would make sense to me, at least. About the helicopters, I’m sure there must be some people who know how to fly them, otherwise having them would be a bit of a waste. I would love to learn how to fly one myself, actually.” Deirdra laughed and glanced down at the bottom of her empty coffee cup. “Hmm..” She sighed, but didn’t make any movements to suggest she was going to get more.

A senior Order member who would answer her questions. What an opportunity! Surely, somebody in Deirdra's position would know everything there is to know about the Order. Right?

Nope.

When Deirdra was done giving answers, Kaitlyn didn't really feel like asking any more questions. If anything, she should be answering questions, not the other way around. After all, Deirdra didn't even know who Lisa was, a real feat for any Sanctuary resident.

For a few moments, Kaitlyn had trouble masking her disappointment.Then, her eyes lit up, and with a grin, she started talking.

"Lisa's the lady who sits at the front desk. She gives new people tours of the Sanctuary, and she makes sure that the Sanctuary's stuff gets fixed when we break it, and she does a lot of other important stuff with papers and files."

"Do you have any questions about the Order?" The ten-year-old liked the idea of being the more knowledgeable one.

Deirdra instantly saw the look of disappointment on the girl’s face. The woman grinned, but in a slightly sad way. “I haven’t had much to do with the Order yet. I’m really sorry I can’t be of more help. I haven’t talked to many members and I have only been sent out on that one mission that you were also on.” She turned her gaze straight ahead of her and let out a small sigh. She hoped that she could do more soon and someone would explain more to her, but Roland had done a pretty good job and she felt content to wait.

The blond had to laugh when she noticed how fast Kaitlyn rebounded from disappointment. After explaining who Lisa was, she asked Deirdra if she had any questions and the woman smirked. “Not that I can think of off the top of my head, but I’ll let you know if I think of any.” She glanced down at the small girl that sat beside her and wondered how happy she really was. That wasn’t a question she’d ask though. She was a bit curious, but wouldn’t pressure the girl and could honestly live without knowing.

“Hmm, wait. I do have a question for you. I’ve never met our leader, Lori Faust. Is she nice? Interesting? Tell me something about her.” Deirdra leaned her head against an arm she had propped up on the table. “Oh, by the way, I guess I do kind of know Lisa. She gave Roland a key and he had her check for rooms and other things. She definitely seems like she’s got a pretty good run of the place. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a member of the Order.” She smiled at Kaitlyn.

It didn't take long for Deirdra to think of a question, and Kaitlyn was happy to answer.

"Lori's really nice. She lives here with us, but if she wanted to she could live in a really big house because she's super rich. She's the boss of a big company that makes drugs. But not bad drugs!" This was an important distinction to make. "They make the drugs that doctors give you. And Lori uses a lot of her money on the Sanctuary so we can keep living here, and she even hired Ms. Cook to teach me in the library so I don't have to go to school!" That last part was especially good, since most of the other kids at school were mean. "Lori's awesome."

Deirdra thought that Lisa was in the Order, but "If she's in the Order, she has to be a mutant too."

Kaitlyn leaned in and started to whisper to the blond; she could hear the footsteps of other Sanctuary residents as they approached dining area. "Sometimes I think she can make clones of herself so she can be everywhere at once, but I've never been able to catch her doing it. And she only laughs at me when I ask her about it. I think she's hiding something."

Kaitlyn elaborated on the mysterious Lori for Deirdra. The blond smiled as she listened to the small girl go on and on about the leader of the Order. It seemed that she was really fond of the woman, which was good, considering it sounded like Kaitlyn had been taken under her wing. “It’s good you still get an education. That’s really important, even if it doesn’t seem like it now. When I left home, I tried to get out of going to school, but my new family made me.” She laughed as she remembered the man who had acted as a father figure. He had been large, with 4 arms, and covered in dark purple hair. She had never known his real name; they just all called him ‘Boss’. Boss had made it very clear that Deirdra was to attend school. A female mutant who didn’t have a physical mutation had posed as her mother. It had worked out well enough.

Deirdra rested her chin on her hand as she thought about the accusation Kaitlyn made about Lisa. “Well, I guess it could be possible, and if no one actually knows anything about her, there’s a good chance she is hiding something,” she smiled slightly, “speaking from experience and such. I do believe clones would be a great mutation, well, as long as you could make sure they were all staying out of trouble.” The blond smirked at the image of a dozen Meld’s running around, causing mayhem. “She may not have to be a mutant anyway. I guess I just think that if she knows so much, she must have something to do with the Order. It’s obvious she knows a lot about most of what goes on around here.” She shrugged to herself and leaned back in her chair. “What do you think, other than the clone thing? Maybe we can go on a spy mission sometime and see what we can find.” Deirdra winked and smiled.