Winona finished packing her bag for the journey to Charlotte. At this point, she would much rather stay behind at the Underground with Elaine, Renee, and Edward, who all thought that they'd be more useful there than on the mission. Winona felt as though she'd be more useful at the Underground as well, but Marcos thought otherwise.

"I don't need to be there. You've already got three telepaths. You don't need another one," she was saying as the two made their way out of the Underground. "Are you forgetting that you're more than just a telepath?" Marcos asked her. "No, how could I?" She grumbled. "Look, I get that you don't trust them and you don't wanna work with them, hell I don't either but—" She cut him off.

"This isn't about trust. This is about my lack of faith in this plan. It'll probably go south and I don't want any of us to be apart of it when it does. The Frosts can go on their little suicide mission by themselves," she said. Marcos frowned, "Since when are you so negative?"

"When have you known me to not be negative?" She asked back. The two made their way to one of the parked vehicles outside. "Hey," he said, pulling her to a stop. She looked up at him expectantly. "I just want you to know, that whatever you've done in the past, I don't hold it against you. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do," he said. Winona had a smile on her face. "Thanks, Marcos. I'm glad someone doesn't hate me," she said.

"Hate you? Who hates you?" Marcos asked in confusion, the two continuing toward the vehicle. "Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding," Winona replied, rolling her eyes. "John? Hate you? No way," Marcos said, shaking his head. "You didn't see the way he was looking at me. It was like, he was looking at a stranger or something," she responded. Marcos shook his head again. "John, he's all about honesty. You kept something from him but it's not that big a deal. He'll come around," he said.

Winona sighed but nodded, though she wasn't sure that she believed him. "We ready to go?" John asked as he approached them. The others accompanying them on the trip slowly trickled out of the bank. Dominic was talking to Clarice as they walked to the SUVs. "Yeah," Marcos said. He turned back to Winona and patted her shoulder before walking to John.

She sighed, hoisting her backpack higher onto her shoulder before following after him. Winona ignored the looks that the Frost sisters were giving her as she entered one of the vehicles.

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The drive to Charlotte, North Carolina was long and mildly awkward. For Winona at least who made a deal to look anywhere but John who had, for reasons unknown to her, sat next to her. But when they had finally arrived, they were driven to a mansion. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at it.

The vehicle pulled to a stop and she was quick to open the door, practically jumping out of it. The others exited the vehicles as well. "I thought we were coming to a safe house," Marcos said as they all looked up at it. "It is safe," one of the Frosts said. "And it's a house," another added. "Hence the term," the last one said.

"It's just so, bougie," Clarice said, turning her head back slightly to look at the three who were leaned against one of the SUVs. Winona snickered at her words. "Well if it'll make you feel more at home," one began. "We can bring in some mold," another said. "Smash some holes in the floor," the other concluded and Winona rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine," John assured the three. The triplet standing in the center walked forward, her heels clicking against the concrete. "I'll see them inside," she told her sisters. Winona gripped her backpack's straps and followed her inside. "You know, I could get used to this," Dominic joked as he came to walk beside her. "If only we were suited for the lavish life," Winona sighed.

Dominic chuckled quietly. "There's a full security system, and we're set up for a variety of interrogation methods. Although, I should be able to extract any information we need," the blonde was saying. Her eyes glowed their familiar blue when she said that last sentence. "I think we should leave that to me. You know, since you'd probably extract said information in a painfully unnecessary manner," Winona spoke up.

The blonde girl smirked. "Don't act like you haven't done your fair share of torture," she commented. Winona rolled her eyes and scoffed as the attention was now on her. "Isn't the point of stalking someone to find out useful and true information about them? If you were doing your job correctly, you'd know that I've never tortured anyone," she retorted.

"What about that guy you killed? I'm sure your super sonic scream was the worst kind of torture for him," the blonde said. Winona was certain that she was Esme seeing as she lived to piss her off. She took a threatening step closer to the blonde only to be pulled back by Dominic. Clarice decided to change the subject of conversation. "And you have a fully stocked bar because?" She questioned.

"Breaking Campbell could take a while. Why live in squalor?" Esme replied. "The X-Men started your little crew before they vanished. Our founders, they left us with more than a pat on the back and encouraging words," she went on. "You're talking about The Brotherhood," John said. Esme took a few steps toward him as she said, "So he's pretty and clever."

Winona rolled her eyes. "In half an hour, our ticket into the summit will be driving down a road near here. We best get ready," Esme concluded. She looked at everyone in the room before walking in the direction of the stairs. Winona reluctantly followed after her. Esme showed them each to their individual rooms. Winona let her eyes roam around the room that would be hers.

It was big. Bigger than her room at the Underground. And bigger than the room she had shared with Elaine back when they were living with their parents. The thought of her parents sent a wave of memories through her. She pushed them down and walked over to the bed. She set her bag down on it.

She felt very out of place here. She had never been somewhere so fancy and luxurious. She was almost certain that the bedsheets cost more than everything she owned. With a sigh, she took a seat on the bed and looked around the room again. She just hoped that the plan would be successful so that they could get the hell out of there.

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The Martin girl was sat in the backseat of the SUV. Clarice was sitting in the driver's seat with Esme in the passenger seat. Dominic, John, Lorna, and Marcos stood on the side of the road. They were currently waiting for Franklin Bennett, the guy Esme thought would get them into the summit.

Winona sat back in her seat, her eyes on the road as she kept a lookout for the car. "They're on board with this, right?" Esme asked Clarice. The mere sound of her voice made Winona want to stab her in the face. "Yeah. They're in," Clarice answered in annoyance before looking away. "We're looking for a silver sedan. Should be through here shortly," the blonde said.

"You sure?" Clarice asked. "Very. He has an appointment with a certain reclusive billionaire. Unfortunately for him, the billionaire's a mutant, and a friend of ours," Esme answered. "Mm," Clarice muttered with a head tilt. "Still angry I brought up your checkered past?" Esme asked. "She has every right to be if she is," Winona said. Esme glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

"How'd you even know about that? If you're poking around in my mind, I will portal you in front of a moving truck," Clarice said. "Please do," Winona muttered. Esme rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. There was no need for a mind reading. We have quite the network, and everyone talks." Clarice looked away and back out of the window.

"I don't see what you're so wound up about. My point is that we have a lot in common," Esme said. She looked in the rearview mirror again. "All three of us do," she reiterated. Winona only looked away from her, not saying anything. Her eyes traveled to the four outside, her eyes locking with John's. She looked away from him and toward the other side of the road.

She spotted a silver sedan driving toward them. "Is that him?" She asked. Esme and Clarice looked out of the window. "Yup," The blonde answered. Clarice put the car in drive and waited for the right moment to begin driving. When it was, she drove the car forward and into the road. The man in the sedan quickly hit his brakes to avoid colliding with their much larger vehicle.

The man stared at them in confusion, that confusion quickly turning into fear. Lorna used her powers to raise her knives before throwing them at one of his tires. The four outside walked forward. John peered at the man through the driver's side window before grabbing onto the door and ripping it off of the car. "Show off," Winona muttered. John rolled his eyes, having heard her words.

Well, it's showtime.

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They returned to the mansion and the Frosts tied Mr. Bennett up and began getting whatever information they needed out of him. Winona, Lorna, and Clarice were in one of the rooms. The three were getting changed into the suits that had been left for them. She buttoned up the white button down shirt that was oddly enough her size. Those triplet stalkers were really starting to freak her out.

"I don't know what good this outfit does. One look at my eyes..." Clarice shook her head. "Yeah, they get close enough to see your eyes, my hair, Winnie's face, or the fact that three of us are the same person, then it's over already," Lorna said with a smile. Winona looked up at her. "What's wrong with my face?" She asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the fact that millions of people have seen it and you're wanted by the government," Lorna said. "Right, well if worse comes to worse, I'll make them either forget what they saw or see something else. Maybe nothing at all," Winona said. She was somewhat joking but would do it if she needed to. The three became silent and Winona picked up a suit jacket.

"Something piss you off?" Clarice asked suddenly. Winona looked up to see the green eyed girl looking at Lorna. The girl in question cleared her throat. "Was it the Frosts?" Clarice asked her. Lorna's silence spoke volumes. "Yeah. They tried working on me too. Their whole, 'we're not so different' thing," Clarice continued.

Winona almost rolled her eyes as she remembered her conversation with Phoebe. "Yeah, well, uh they might have a point with that," Lorna said. "What are you talking about?" Clarice asked. Winona took a seat on the bed and looked over at Lorna. "They, uh they talked about the guy they think is my birth father. Said he was a part of all this," she said.

"So what if he is? Lorna, they said the same thing about my biological mother. That she was a respected member of this club and some other bullshit. That doesn't make me any less of who I am and that doesn't change who you are," Winona said.

"She's right. Lorna, I know about this. You don't get born looking like me without having major X-Genes in your family tree. You know, for a while, I thought that mattered. I thought that all the bad guys in my family's past made me one, too. Took me too long to realize that a tiny speck of DNA, it doesn't take charge of who you are. I really hope you realize that sooner than I did," Clarice said.

°°°°

Here's chapter thirty one. I've been holding off on updating because I had an alternate ending idea but didn't want to put it in without seeing how the beginning of season 2 will play out. But I decided to scrap that idea and stick with the original one. Hopefully I'll have this book completed before season 2 premieres. There will be a second book for this so don't worry about that. Hope you all enjoyed his chapter. Have a nice day.