It had been the better part of a year since any one of them had set foot in the Coffee Shop on the outskirts of town, but it was scarcely a day since they had thought about it.

It had been a swanky place, with a warm atmosphere and a wide array of pastries. The coffee wasn't all that great but it just added to the idea that this was a place people came to socialize. At least it had been. Before the group had destroyed it in a show off with the MDO (Metahuman Detainment Office) who everyone had mistakenly thought was against mutants.

(The reality had been they were against the alien that had been trying to overtake the world, Oliver Lancaster)

Now the coffee shop was a hollowed shell of the former establishment. All of the rebuilding efforts had been towards the more residential and commerical areas. No one cried over the delay; least of all the poeple who sat in the empty building.

Sapphire and Xeno had been the first to appear, hand-in-hand. They were an odd pair; even they admitted it. Sapphire had wild blue hair that flowed from under her hoodie, which the group already knew hid the Fox ears that otherwise would have pointed her out as a mutant right away. Her eyes shined with happiness, and her kept her hand tight in Xeno's. Xeno for his part, was taller than her. He was a man of few words, until he got worked up. He looked rather shady in his leather jacket, with dark skin, dark hair, and blank face, but when he met Sapphire's eyes anyone could see the slight upwards pull of his lips.

With powers over Ice and Explosions they made a dangerous combo.

The next to show up was Ivan-- tall, witth onyx hair and emerald eyes-- with Ash, a lovely girl with short dirty blonde hair, and wide eyes that seemed to see more than others. Together they formed a stable-ish alliance as leaders of the team: emotion manipulation and a personality and power switch.

Zara impatiently stood by the counter, checking her watch every few minutes. It hadn't gone off since the whole world had frozen. In the night, the dog walker outside looked eerily menacing.

"Zara," Ivan aknowledged with a nod of his head.

"Ivan." Her voice was level, with a hint of distaste. It seemed that even a year gap couldn't decrease the slight friction between the two of them.

"Is there anyone else out there?" Sapphire asked.

Zara huffed, "I got ahold of of Felix, who was with Jax. But it seems that--"

"Oh! Felix can we keep it?!"

"Keep what, Jax?" Felix's voice echoed into the building, "I'm blind."

There was a gasp and then the sound of yell as Felix tripped into the room with a style that was only found in the half Indian, pink-button-down-wearing, flute player. His expression seemed at a lost, at the sound of the scuffling behind him.

Jax was not a big person. He was mostly the type that kept to himself-- most people were put off by the excentic scar that ran down one side of his face-- but last year he had proven himself as part of the "team" that had saved the world. His control over gravity made him dangerous.

That is why the girl with the amethyst eyes and striking white high tops didn't stand a chance before she was knocked through the glass-less doors and into the middle of the group.

Zara was up straight on her feet in less of a second, "Who are you?" she demanded.

(And all the while from out of sight of the entire group, hidden from the world, another girl with much more stealth hung in the shadows. Her black hair pulled back until the cherry red tips looked like drops of blood.)

The night hummed in cold silence. Time was frozen, but everyone present seemed to get the idea that if they didn't do something soon, this would be the rest of their existence.

***

Start the Main Chain Here! :)