Leap Year

Earth.

It spins through space at a frenetic pace, a revolution taking only twenty-four hours, an orbit around it's star a mere three hundred and sixty five point two five days.

It is temperate, and beautiful. It holds life within it's atmosphere, which is more than can be said for any of it's fellows in the local solar system. Is it a miracle... or an anomaly? It is the year 2028. For some this is the future. For others, the distant past. It is a future, that much can be said for certain.

Eva Fernandez stood on the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, her hair whipping behind her in the coastal breeze as she looked out on the bay. It was a Tuesday in February, and it was cold, the fog never really burning off of San Francisco and leaving the city shrouded in mist, like a city of ghosts. She crossed her arms in front of her against the wind, pulling her navy blue wool coat in closer though it was already buttoned tightly.

The Mutant Civil War was over - had been for ten years - but the scars could still be seen if you knew where to look. Alcatraz, for instance, burning brightly in the distance, had been brought back into service and was used to lock up the worst mutant offenders from the uprising. Level Sixes, all of them, or at least that was what the government told it's constituents. Eva shifted her feet slightly, leaning against the railing as morning traffic continued across the bridge behind her. Beyond the safety rail was a tall mesh suicide barrier, the sight of which was enough to make would-be jumpers take a second chance at life.

She was eighteen and small for her age, right smack between being a high school kid and a college co-ed. Her mother had wanted her to go to college, but what was the point? The small chip behind her left ear itched when she thought about it. The only way for the 'public' to trust them again had been to implant all known mutants with a passive GPS tracker. It would be turned on and used to find them immediately if their powers were used.

Being a mutant wasn't quite illegal, but it was strongly discouraged. Public displays of extra human powers were illegal, however, and could be met with lethal force from a military-esque police force. And if it was really bad then the Sentinels would be dispatched, the tank-like robots incapable of mercy. Eva shrugged her shoulders inside her coat, making herself smaller than usual as she stared at the island just visible in the fog. It was time to go, her mom would be worrying about her if her walk took too long.

Eva jogged to the end of the bridge, the cool air biting at her lungs, and made her way through the city back home. The townhouse smelled like bacon, and she grinned, hanging up her coat in the entry and walking into the kitchen where her mom was making a late breakfast. "Smells great." She snagged a piece and popped it into her mouth, despite it being fresh from the pan, sliding her arm around the woman at the stove and giving her a sideways hug. "Sorry, I know you don't like it when I go out..."

Jane Meyer smiled tightly at the girl as she fished a piece of bacon from the hot pan. "I may not like it, but I understand, Eva."

She pulled the last bit of pork out of the frying pan and moved the pan to the back of the stove where it could cool down. "Well, it's February 29th today. Leap day. So, I made bacon. And chocolate chip pancakes." Jane laughed a bit. "Have to find some reason to celebrate, right?"

"Yep," said Eva, brown eyes sparkling as she turned to get plates out from the cupboard and helped herself to the food. Jane watched her adopted daughter put too much syrup on her pancakes, but she wasn't really watching her. She was thinking about what the girl had been doing - going out to the bridge and staring at the island where they'd locked up so many mutants. She'd only been six when her birth mother had been arrested, and Jane had found herself thrust into the role of caregiver. Keeping the resistance in Southern California going while trying to protect a child was more difficult than Anna had made it look.

She was forty-seven now, and Jane felt the weight of the last ten years of peace heavy on her shoulders. In the end protecting Eva had been the right choice, though she'd burned the Brotherhood in leaving them so abruptly after the battle in Los Santos, 2017. They were crushed, anyway. The next year was just mopping up by the government, and the Mundanes had finally gotten the Mutants where they wanted them. Tagged, bagged, and in their control. They called it the Mutant Civil War because it was Americans against Americans, but no Mundane really felt that a Mutant was a true American. That they'd rounded up everyone they could find and kept them in camps during the last years of unrest - law abiding mutant citizens who's only crime was an extra gene - was proof enough of that.

Jane sighed, scrubbing a hand through her short greying hair, and turned from her dark thoughts to the table, taking a seat in front of the plate Eva had put there for her. "Any luck finding a job yet?"

Eva grimaced. "Nothing available for someone with my qualifications." She pointed at her adopted mom with her fork to forestall further comments. "I know it's been six months of looking but I'm not giving up yet. I have a tiny lead I'm going to follow up on with a resume and my best, winningest smile."

"I don't think that's a word," Jane smiled. Eva felt bad lying to her. She just wouldn't understand. There was no way she could work for a non-mutant, and mutant business owners were increasingly rare - and it was rare for them to have a job opening. Being a second class citizen - it just wouldn't cut it for her. Maybe for Jane, she seemed to accept the status quo, but Eva had Fernandez blood. It was her nature to rebel, protect the weak, and stand for what was right. Just like her mother, and uncles.

Eva finished up quickly, putting her dishes in the sink and pecking Jane on the cheek before running upstairs to get ready for another day with her friends. Jane wasn't exactly stupid, and she knew that the prospects for a high school graduate entry level job in their area were dim. The girl talked a good game about hitting the sidewalks and looking for work, but she only put in enough effort to make sure she could keep drawing unemployment from the government. It wasn't much money, but it was better than nothing.

Jane's lip curled at the thought of accepting money from the good will of the government, but thankfully Eva was still upstairs. She dropped her plate into the sink where it broke in half, and left it there. She was going to be late for work. Call centers didn't discriminate against mutants, but it was mind numbing, soul draining work. The former leader of the LA Brotherhood pulled on her jacket, yelled goodbye up the stairs, and headed back to the grind.

Eva stilled her movements in front of the bathroom mirror, listening for her mom to close the front door behind her. After the sound of the deadbolt sliding home the girl relaxed, meeting the eyes of her reflection. She'd already put dark liner around one brown eye, and set to work doing the other, drawing the outer edges slightly thicker and with a dramatic swoop. A dab of mascara and pink lip gloss finished her ministrations, and she grabbed her dark blue bandana from the counter and hurried downstairs. The bandana was stuffed into the pocket of her coat, her wallet was secure in her jeans, and she was out the door and locking it behind her. Running to the bus stop, Eva just managed to catch the 8 o'clock bus, sliding breathlessly into a seat after showing the driver her bus pass.

She took a deep breath, calming herself, and looked toward the back of the vehicle as it began to pick up speed. She met the eyes of one of the other passengers, and had to resist the urge to wink at him. Play it cool - play it safe. For now it was best to keep pretending they'd never met each other. Getting off at the same stop would be a coincidence, not a plan. Eva folded her hands in her lap, closing her eyes and blocking out the other passengers for a few minutes as the bus rumbled down the San Francisco streets.

“No… no, Gunny. It’s alright. Really. I’ll be fine.”

She rolled her eyes, blowing out a purposeful sigh that blew an errant strand of blonde hair out of her face… albeit temporarily, as it settled right back on her face to one side of her nose. The impossibly small phone pinned between her ear and her shoulder, she dug through a needlessly large purse, biting back a frustrated groan and muttering something about having sworn she had ‘put that damned thing in here.’ Throwing in the towel on the dig for the time being, she took the phone gingerly in her hand and tucked the loose hair behind her ear, a momentary frown flickering onto her lower face.

“Didn’t you take a bus at any point when you were a student?” Her frown deepened. “Oh, but of course. I forgot. Your motorcycle baby.”

Her head tipped back to hit the top of the bus seat. A laugh pealed out of her.

“Ha, ‘the horse of the highways’. Yes, you do tell me that every time we have this conversation. And then you tell me that you miss it. And..”

As her brother rattled away on the other end of the line, her blue eyes caught on people boarding the bus. As a ‘certified people watcher’ (she called herself this from time to time, though it seemed to have the odd effect of creeping some people out, strangely…), she couldn’t help but study the accoutrements and physical features of each person that came aboard.

“...Look, it’s a part of culture. And as anthropology is my field, I’m fine doing things this way, okay? I know it’s not terribly convenient. But it’s fine. Yes, I am coming for dinner soon. Promise. Really, really. You have my solemn… Me? Trouble? With this face?”

A half-snorting laugh came after.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’m tougher than I look. Yeah, I love you, too. Give her and the rug-monsters my love too, ‘kay? Bye!”

Pulling the phone away from her ear, she pressed the touchscreen button that ended the call and tossed it in her bag, her eyes raising again to examine the other riders, coming back to the only one that was close to her age with frequency, but trying not to linger there too long, looking away to watch for her stop.

“Looking for something?”

Suddenly her eyes widened, then narrowed and darkened and her head snapped to one side.

“Not funny, E. Not. Funny.” A scowl formed from the previously pensive line of her mouth. “Where is it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She slugged her bus-riding partner in the shoulder.

“Hey! Ow. You’re going to hurt me.”

She elbowed her friend for the look on their face and the tone of their voice.

“If you don’t stop being so suggestive and give me back my datebook, I might actually hurt you.”

Eljan waggled his eyebrows, well, suggestively, dug into ‘his’ coat, procuring the desired object from within, and began to leaf through it, feigning utter ignorance at the incredulous look on Sofie’s face.

"Give it back. Now."

“Datebook, hm?” A cheshire smile curled his lips, and he tilted the small book to rest against his chest. His eyelids fluttered in a damsel-like way as he turned his gaze to the fair maiden next to him. “Are you trying to make me jealous?”

Sofie cursed and ripped the book from his hands, quickly stowing it away in her bag.

“Am I succeeding?”

The humour dropped from Eljan’s face.

“Sofie Amelia Ottesen, aren’t I a little old for you?”

She laughed. “Is anything ever too young for you?”

Eljan scoffed.

“What kind of man do you think I am? Wait… don’t answer that.”

“Oh, I think…”

“Don’t.”

“...that you are…”

Eljan plugged his ears. “Not listening.”

“...a jerk.”

Someone else pressed the strip that indicated they needed the next stop to the driver, so Eva sat with her hands in her lap until the bus started to slow. She grabbed her bag and hauled herself to her feet, walking pole to pole within the bus until she got to the back door. A couple other people got to their feet also, obviously friends. She knew Eljan pretty well, Sofie not as much, but they were all headed the same place.

She dutifully ignored them, walking briskly in one direction while they meandered in another. Her heart was beating quickly, her excitement rising as she got closer to her destination - a Resistance meeting. Even thinking it made her nervous, but she was good enough not to look around to see if anyone was watching her.

Eva entered the bakery, perused the menu, then headed for the bathrooms. Slipping into the back room she nodded to the baker and walked into the storage area where bins of flour and sugar were stacked and giant mixers sat empty. Others would arrive through a back door via the alley. She was one of the first to arrive, and took a seat on a stack of empty pallets. Space was limited, and they'd soon be sitting on each other's laps practically in order to fit.

In the lighthearted bickering, in Eljan’s voice had come traces of the Polish accent that had been obvious in his voice in coming to America as a teenaged, fresh-faced, neophyte model with barely a handful or two of the English language at his command. It had been twenty-two years since he had graced the catwalks of the fashion world with his steps. It had taken them two years to realize that he still looked the same as he had two years before. That truly, his face had not changed. He shouldn’t have been surprised that they would be prejudiced against mutants, and at that age he had been lucky to have still been modeling - well, in all honesty, there had been other factors at play beyond his particular looks that had made him so successful in that field. He still loved to strut, and look beautiful, regardless.

At their stop, for which Sofie had made the request, Eljan rose and offered Sofie a hand, to which she rolled her eyes and laughed, a thing that he still occasionally found vaguely insulting, and then she took his hand anyway and they exited the bus together. He swore he could feel her nervousness, but it was more in the particular way she continued to grasp his hand, though they were little else besides friends, it was part façade, part comfort in each other. The pair went to the end of the block and rounded the corner, going a little ways further until they came to an alley. It was moments later that they entered the storage area of the bakery.

His face lit up as his eyes went straight for Eva, and his body followed suit a few moments later, leaving Sofie behind, hoping she would just find a seat and make herself comfortable… well, about as comfortable as was possible with the seating available. Not that this whole thing was meant to be comfortable. There were no illusions about that.

“Nightie, it’s so good to see you!” He said with hushed exclamation, giving her a peck on each cheek in greeting. “How are you?”

If the fact that he was actually old enough to be a father to most of the ones who would gather here bothered him, it did not show. It was only true in a chronological sense, after all.

She grinned at Eljan, blushing a bit despite herself as he kissed at her cheeks. "I'm good." Eva settled back on the pallets, and added, "I'm ready." She looked meaningfully over to where the cell leaders were standing, talking quietly to each other while everyone arrived. Everyone went by code names here, if you didn't already know them. If you didn't know someone's real name then Vanguard wouldn't be able to torture it out of you.

Eva squared her shoulders a little. Vesta needed her, and no matter what anyone said she was her number one priority. People were still filing in, one or two at a time, and it was getting pretty crowded. She looked around, trying to find a certain familiar face.

A surplus army boot tapped the back of the pallet between Eva and Eljan. "Hey, Romeo. You watch it with my girl."

Without any more preamble, Zach Jordan stepped between his fellow mutants and plopped down into the newly vacated spot on the rough, wooden planks. It meant rubbing shoulders on both sides, but in Eva's case that wasn't a hardship. He slipped an arm around her narrow shoulders and squeezed her tight. "Of course you're ready, Nightingale. Hell, they should've made you a squad leader tonight."

Between Zach's boyish features and his coyote grin, it was difficult to tell when he was being serious, but he knew Eva's pedigree as much as she did. There weren't many second- or third-generation mutants among the resistance - these days, the mutants who had a chance to pass on their genes were usually the ones who lay low and did what the mundane government told them, keeping their powers muzzled, or, worse, signing up for X-Corps and whoring away the gifts evolution had given them. But Eva had nothing to be ashamed of.

Eva grinned at Zach as his arm went around her, and she let herself lean into him. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm okay with taking a backseat on this one, though." She had a lot riding on this mission, as big and complicated as it was, it was also intensely personal for her. She was approaching it with a singular focus, and a squad leader would need to be able to concentrate on everyone they were responsible for.

Moray, a tall, slim woman with long dark hair and electrical powers, was calling the meeting to order. Along with Domino, she was leading this particular mission as one of the elder statesmen of the cell. "I think everyone is here. I won't be keeping you long - as you know we are the opening thrust into Alcatraz. Another cell is taking care of the distraction in Oakland, and the third will be clearing our retreat from the island."