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<You're dumb,> Astrid told him, crossing her arms over her chest. Yes, she was the picture of maturity. But, in all fairness, she was a little lost with what he was saying, and she didn't spend a whole lot of time with people her own age anymore. Or a whole lot of time speaking in her own language. Her insults and comebacks had deteriorated over her time in America.

She narrowed her eyes at him as he entered what was now her home. He seemed sneaky, but he also seemed like he owned the place. It was a strange combination of confidence and nervousness. But, he had a key, so she couldn't really stop him.

<You're living here?!?> Astrid repeated his words back to him, but with a different kind of inflection. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Jude, the X-Man was living with her? It was too strange. Wasn't he supposed to be off frolicking in the woods somewhere with his happy little X-Men family?

As she began to process things after the initial shock, mixed feelings set in. On one hand, he was irritating and good and everything that made her want to puke, but on the other... he was French, and he was a cute older boy. She was still working out her feelings on the latter half of that one. Did she even like boys? Who knew! Not her! Feelings were confusing for the young teen. Her frustration manifested itself as an angry huff. 

While all that was going on in her head, Jude had kicked over his box of belongings. Out had rolled a poster of none other than the magnificent Isabel Duskmoor. Astrid grabbed it greedily. <Is this...? Do you...? Is she...?>

A momentary pause was taken for an extremely deep breath.

<Do you know Isabel Duskmoor?>

Once the initial shock of seeing the French boy wore off, Astrid could really process what was happening. All in all, she probably knew about seven people in the city that she was on speaking terms with. Sure, plenty of people had seen her in passing, and a few knew of her work, but there were very few people that she would be surprised to run into in other contexts. Jude was one of those few people. 

They had met many months ago when she'd pretended to read his fortune. It had been an obvious scam, and, looking back on it, Astrid could even realise how stupid it looked. For some reason, though, Jude had sat down and participated. If she was remembering correctly, he had even given her coupons as payment.

The strangest part was not her ploy to try to earn some cash, though. The strangest part had been that he had protected her - let her go free when she could have been arrested and sent to jail. That ordeal with him had been one of the first times that she'd successfully evaded the police, and it was not the last time that she'd had help. She just hadn't been expecting it from him.

Astrid had a strictly negative outlook on most people. That was just how she operated. Jude, though... Jude was difficult to peg. Sure, he had been annoying, but she could also speak in her native language around him, and he had saved her from the cops. Probably at some personal cost. That meant that he fell in some sort of murky grey area that Astrid did not often explore.

She regarded him with a confused glare. There was a little bit of contempt mixed in with her inevitable excitement. She just hoped that he wouldn't notice either one.

<You hesitated,> she pointed out coolly. She knew that she looked different, but she didn't need him to point that out to her. She had more ready access to bathrooms and soap, so she was a lot cleaner than she was nearly a year ago. She had also toned down the all black dress ever so slightly.

<You look different too,> she continued. More grizzled, maybe. He looked like he had been through some things since they'd seen each other last. He was also dressed a little better (not that she could really judge). <What are you doing here?>

>> "If you ever decide you'd rather go to school instead... You can find me at Xavier's."

Astrid balled up her face. A school? She had left the orphanage for a reason. Well, several reasons, really, but that wasn't the point. She had travelled to America for villainy and freedom, not to be locked up in another school. That was the absolute last thing she wanted.

She huffed and sneered at the woman before turning around. She was bored and not interested going to some stupid school. Frankly, she didn't really care where the woman went.

"If you wanting the chaos, talk me," she called back before exiting the room. She doubted that the woman would, but hey, she hadn't wanted to go to the school. 

Astrid grinned at Cait's response. She seemed to almost be lost in touching Astrid's wings, which, was understandable, but still very funny. The girl stifled a snicker and held her hand in front of her face. Sometimes it was interesting to realise that adults weren't as grown up as they seemed.

They were going to play her piece, though! That made her smile even wider. She was so very excited to play that song. It was about something pretty, and it was made for two violins. It was so perfect. So, so perfect. 

She wondered silently if she would be able to convince Cait to make flower crowns with her afterwards... but that was a thought for a different time. That time was for music!

"We shall!" Astrid responded gleefully. It was so nice to be on the same page as someone else. Especially someone that was as happy, if not happier than she was. As much as she loved the rest of the team, it was occasionally a little bit draining to be around so much negativity. And, as much as she was confident that one day, she would be able to make Agnes smile, she and Combatant just didn't click like she and Cait did. 

If someone had told her that one day, she would meet a woman with bright red hair who loved hugs and was never unhappy, she probably wouldn't have believed them. That was before she had met Cait, though. Before all the glitter.

Astrid raised her violin and rested it under her chin, her eyes scanning the sheet music.  After a second, she used her foot to tap out two bars of three/four counting and whispered the counting quietly under her breath. The first note was a quarter rest, so she waited until the second tap of her foot. Once again, she took the lower part, letting Cait take charge with the higher part; the melody. 

Seraph followed Geo’s instructions and flew lower than before, leaving her perch so that she could fly over the crowd. She had been hoping that man would be peaceful (despite what all the reports told her), but that was not the case.

The teen kept herself just a few feet over the crowd, going against gravity to keep herself parallel the ground. It was a bit of a workout to fly low and horizontal, but she didn’t mind; it helped her build up her abdominal muscles.

She stopped as the target shed his coat, though. The reports hadn’t been kidding about the tentacles. There were a lot of them. Most of the crowd backed away to avoid him, but one unlucky girl found herself being lifted into the air by a black tendril. Astrid winced, knowing how scared the girl would be, but she didn’t approach. She wasn’t naïve enough to think that she would be able to take on the man alone.

A second later, the girl was no longer being held in the air. Instead, she was being tossed into it. Astrid flew forward, knowing exactly what she had to do.

Luckily for her, the girl was small. Shorter than Astrid, but a little bit stockier. If measured, they would probably be about the same weight. So, she was able to grab her under the arms without too much strain from the weight that she was carrying. The girl flailed a little but allowed herself to be carried away from the scene. Despite the fact that she was screaming at the top of her lungs, it was obvious that she was grateful that she hadn't been left to fall to the ground. 

Seraph carried the still screeching girl over the crowd, away from the running masses of people. She set her down in a little back alleyway, far enough away from the crowd that she could have a moment to catch her breath, but close enough that she could rejoin them and run away when she was ready. It was a little sketchy, but a whole lot less sketchy than where they had just been, where there was a madman running around with tentacles on his back. 

”Are you okay?” Astrid turned to the girl and asked her in a soothing voice, placing a hand on her shoulder. The landing had been gentle, but the petite girl that she had carried over had still fallen to the ground. 

The girl had stopped screaming, but she was crying and breathing heavily. “He picked me up and threw me! A mutant threw me!” She sobbed. She stood up though, brushing off her plum coloured jeans. There didn't seem to be a scratch on her, which was encouraging. Other than being scratched up, she was alright.

”Yes he did,” Astrid nodded and pulled the girl into a hug. She squirmed a little but melted into her a second later. Astrid knew that crying people needed hugs, no matter how many times they told you that they didn’t. That was one of the few truths in life. That and glitter belonged so many more places than it was usually found in.

”I need to go now, and you need to run. Will you be alright?”

The girl nodded, and Astrid took her increasing calmness as a sign that she wasn’t lying. She really needed to get back and make sure that other people were alright. As much as she wanted to stay with the girl and walk her through her experience, there were more people that potentially needed saving. And she couldn't really leave Geo all alone. 

After pulling her into one more hug, Astrid took off and flew back to where Geo and the target were. She didn't land, instead circling above the area. Most people had already fleed, but there were a few people standing around them, filming on their phones.

"Please leave!" Astrid shouted and waved them off before looking at Geo. That last thing that they needed was more casualties.

They were on a mission! A real live mission! Like, a legitimate one. It wasn't one that was created to give her more training, or just a quick one off. As much fun as her mission with Geo was, this one felt larger and more important. They were rescuing real live people and she was helping. Being useful. It was very exciting. 

At the same time, it was also nerve racking. There were lives at stake, and it was Astrid's job to make sure that no one lost theirs. 

Astrid was perched in a tree, her binoculars in hand as she followed the two X-women. She was their eyes in the sky, flying as silently as she could between locations to make sure that things were clear for them.

So far, things had been going smoothly for them. They had acquired a truck by letting a few officers take... an early break. As soon as the truck began to move, Astrid abandoned her perch and flew higher into the air so that she wouldn't be seen as easily. She kept her binoculars raised to her eyes so that she could keep track of them.

"I will be safe, mom, but only if you are also," Seraph said into her communicator. She flew a little lower to see the compound that they were driving toward better. From her height, she could see the entire place, including the outdoor security.

The compound was much larger than she had anticipated. She lapped the building twice in order to get the best possible layout. 

"There is a team about a mile in front of you, so you are going to want to pull off to the side. There is a group of trees just to your left. After that, you should be alright for a while, but I will continue to keep an eye out."

She hovered above the truck, being sure to keep watch. As long as she was above them, Astrid would make sure that nothing would surprise Shivs or Impact. 

The song “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” ran through Astrid’s head, only she had changed the lyrics to “We’re Going on an X-Mission”.

To say that she was excited would be an understatement. Astrid loved going on missions. She especially loved missions where she got to fly and save people. She wasn’t sure where she would have been if not for Rebecca saving her, but she did know that it wouldn’t have been anywhere as great as where she was.

She made a mental note to tell her mom how grateful she was again. For the third time that day.

The breeze moved through her feathers, reminding her that she was up in the air, just the way she liked it. It was going to be such an awesome day. She was dressed in her X-Men uniform, a blue suit with a skirt and shorts underneath (flying in a skirt could be dangerous) that had white accents.

”I will,” Seraph spoke back in her French accent into her communicator. She was up high, just above a building, hovering far above the crowd. She had a pair of binoculars pressed to her face so she could scan the crowd for the mutant they were looking for.

Apparently, the man had tentacles on his back, which meant that he would be wearing clothing to cover them. Astrid knew a thing or two about that. Often, she would wear a large coat to cover her wings in public so she wouldn’t cause a scene. It was annoying and frustrating, so her heart went out to the mutant they were looking for. They were probably just misunderstood, she figured, and taking it out on the world in the wrong way. She kept her hopes up that they would be able to save them and rehabilitate them for a semi-normal life.

Her fingers tapped against the binoculars for a minute, but stopped suddenly. ”I think I see him!” she announced into her communicator, a little louder than she was supposed to talk into the microphone. She was just so excited. ”Ten o’clock, a little forward through the crowd. A brown-haired man wearing a large jacket. He looks dangerous.”

She wiggled excitedly, shifting the binoculars over to get a vision of Geo. She wanted to see how he would act in the situation, since he was one of the X-Men that she greatly admired. Anything that she could learn from him, she would.

Unless he needed her on the ground, she planned on staying up in the air for a while.