Primus Scholae: Part Six

by Phil Hartman

CEREBRO FILES:

COLLECTIVE CODEFAX: NEW MUTANTS II

FILE 10:

CODEFAX: Thundercell
REAL NAME: Amaquelin-Maximoff, Luna
AGE: 12
DOB: 8/3/88
HEIGHT: 4'10"
WEIGHT: 89 lbs
HAIR: Blonde
EYES: Blue
POWERS: Alpha-class meteorokinesis (weather manipulation)

She felt the air on her skin, slipping beneath the ceremonial robe. The sensors would not have permitted her this far, had she worn anything else.

She shook out her blonde hair - worn long, like her mother, but without the distinctive hairclip the other Princess of the Inhumans preferred - and approached the chamber.

The vapors were already roiling within.

She opened the door, stepping inside -

- and the monsters - razor-wire hair, a screaming tuning fork, cloven hooves, scaly flesh - arose, howling -

- and she screamed -

9/9/00: Mass. Acad. Girls' Dorm: 06:30 hrs EDT:

Becky Guthrie awoke to thunder.

In her dorm room.

#Oh mah GOD !# the Kentucky faunopsi gasped, watching her roommate float in midair, screaming. Lightning radiated from Luna's body, a few inches -

- and she slammed back into the bed below.

"LUNA !" Becky shrieked, leaping to her feet. The stunned, gasping Inhuman/mutant hybrid awoke, shaking uncontrollably, as feet pounded the floorboards outside.

"I - I thought it was over - I LEFT Attilan, what more do they want - Becky ... ?" Luna gasped, breaking into sobs. Becky let her roommate cling to her, mystified, until the door exploded inward under a telekinetic blast.

"Oh crap," Ray breathed, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder. "Oh no ... Lun, are you -"

"If she was all right, Rachel, she wouldn't'a almost created a friggin' HURRICANE in here !" Becky snapped. "Somethin's seriously wrong !"

"Y-yes - Becky, I'm sorry -" Luna whispered, leaving her bed. She hung her head and said, louder, "I need to see Ms. Frost and Mr. Cassidy right away. I ... didn't tell them everything when I came here ..."

***

"YE WHAT !?"

Moira finished her exam of Luna - now clad in a training uniform - and shook her head, her eyes still narrowed.

"I entered the Terrigen Mists to trigger my power," Luna said, hanging her head as Sean and Emma looked at her with disbelief. "I committed the biggest sin any Inhuman can do - I defied the Genetics Council. Worse, I defied the Royal Family ... my family ..."

Tears filled the girl's eyes, but she forced a smile when Moira squeezed her hand. "Lass, ye should've told us before ye came here," the Scots doctor said softly. "But I c'n understand the nightmare. Yuir own family, castin' ye out like that ..."

"Not everyone - Mom and Dad stuck up for me," Luna said, her lip quivering. "Mom was disappointed, but she never made me feel like a ... a criminal. Daddy was proud - he punched out Uncle Gorgon when he started swearing at me, and he gave Uncle Blackagar a rude gesture when he exiled me ..."

"EXILED !?" Sean blurted. "Those unfeelin', heartless -"

"Mr. Cassidy ! They had to do it !" Luna exclaimed, frowning. "I did break the law. And they were merciful - the last person who entered the Mists without getting permission ... usually, the Genetics Council has them killed. The Mists are hard to make, you know, and Attilan can't trade with the outside world because of most Inhumans' weak immune systems ... but ..."

She shuddered and said, "I still miss Attilan. I can survive out here - my dad's mutant genes let me handle disease better than other Inhumans - but ..."

"But ye've been rejected by people who ye thought loved ye," Sean said, trying to comfort Luna.

"Not all of us."

Luna looked up, smiling weakly, when Bill, Tom and Bea forced their way into the room. Bea hugged her cousin and said, "The Royal Family are - mostly -idiots. You could've told us, you know."

"Bea ..." Luna sobbed, getting up from the medbed. Her cousins gathered around her, and they walked out of the medlab together.

~Luna, you're more than welcome to stay,~ Emma sent, ~but from now on we need you to be more open with us.~

~By Agon's bones, I SWEAR I'll never hide anything again, ma'am,~ Luna thought with sincerity. ~Thank you.~

She leaned on Tom's shoulder as they walked to the Danger Room complex, and listened as he said, "What Bea said stands for all of us, Lun. We're family, remember ?"

"I know. Thanks, Tom," Luna said, cracking a real smile. "I just hope Becky doesn't think I'm gonna blow down the girls' dorm."

"Maybe they could come stay with us if you did," Bill grinned hopefully. "OW ! BEA !"

***/p>

"... and that's how I got my powers. I'm sorry if I hurt anyone."

"Oh, Lun ..." Ray said, hugging her friend. The rest of the female New Mutants gathered 'round, and Luna wiped her eyes.

"We'll be here for you, you have to know that," Bea reiterated.

"You bettah believe it, sugah," Becky grinned. "We ain't 'bout t'let some stuck-up bunch o' isolationists tell US who our friends are."

"C'est vrai," Nga said, half-smiling. "You were afraid, not malicious, when you hid your powers' origin. I understand your fears - I hate to admit Leong is my brother, sometimes."

The girls colletively laughed, and started to head for the entrance to the Ready Room. "Just one question, Luna," Gail said. "What happens if you ever DO go back ?"

"I'm not sure. Every other time someone used the Terrigen Mists without permission, they were executed," Luna said with a sigh. "I don't really want to go back ... so I've got to figure out where I DO belong."

She grinned and bolted for the door, adding, "Right now, I belong in the Danger Room, or my grades'll suffer !"

"Very funny," Bea smirked. "If you don't like them, you could just electrocute the computers ..."

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