Silence

Night came and went, and the Dark Angels found themselves fast asleep inside their passenger van. Though one member, the only non-mutant of the team, was still awake, talking on the phone with Waller himself.

"You were attacked by the Russian government?" Waller was shocked to hear about the attack. In fact, he had no idea that Russians were being deployed in nearby territories. Despite this putting a wrench in his plan, it excited Waller. A disgusting grin formed across his face, knowing that if the Russians were being this protective, they must be hiding something big.

"Yeah, the owner must've turned us in. When we were attacked, he was nowhere to be seen. Right now, we're on the road. The kids... the mutants are all asleep right now." Eagel took a look back, seeing the mutants all still slumbering.

"How are the mutants performing? How about Ky? Any updates?" Knowing how mutants were able to progress so quickly, he wanted to know if Ky specifically had any changes worth noting. Everyone else was useful to him, but Ky's untapped potential was something that kept him up at night with excitement.

Eagle paused for a second, thinking about how Ky saved him from getting killed. Eagle nearly had an existential crisis upon thinking about how he technically was killed but brought back to life by Tempo's newly found abilities. He knew what Waller had planned for Ky and the others; it was truly something dreadful.

"They seem to be performing as intended and are remaining compliant." Eagle lied. "I'll keep you updated."

"Please do. Call once you've crossed the border or if anything else unexpected occurs."

"Yes sir." Eagle hung up the phone, before exhaling and leaning back in his seat. 'There, kid. Now we're even.' Eagle didn't want to admit that he was protecting Ky for any other reason outside of repaying him for saving his life.

It wasn't until the sun's rays shined on Ky's auburn skin that he realized he'd fallen asleep with his helmet on his lap and Xiao's head on his shoulder. 'How long was I out for?' Ky scanned the inside of the van to see Bobby and Tom sleeping next to each other on the two seats beside him, leaning on each other.

Ky didn't think much of it, assuming they'd just fallen asleep and ended up like that. He and Eagle were the only ones that didn't pick up on their romance.

In front of him, Quicksilver was also fast asleep, and on the other side of the van, Eagle was wide awake, glaring out of a window while lost in thought. Feeling Ky's body shuffling around, Xiao's eyes opened slowly. Stretching in her seat, Xiao groaned softly and looked up at Ky with eyes of admiration. "Hey." Ky whispered gently to her, placing his hand on top of her head to stroke her hair as she buried her face in his chest.

Xiao let out a dainty yawn before speaking gently to Ky. "Good morning." Hearing their voices compelled Eagle to turn around and look at the two of them. He didn't say anything, just glancing at them briefly before turning back around as if it was just to check on them.

Xiao winced as the voices of everyone's thoughts began to infiltrate her brain. When she slept, she couldn't hear them, but as she awoke, the voices came pouring in. "I know... I'm sorry, Xiao." Ky didn't know how else he could comfort her outside of continuing to hold her. All Xiao could do was hold her own head in agony until she was used to the voices again.

As if things couldn't get any worse, a loud pop sounded from the bottom of the van and it nearly lost control before the driver course-corrected. The noise jolted the vehicle with such force, and the noise was loud, everyone else in the van jolted awake.

"Huh! What!" Quicksilver started looking around frantically, his head being a blur as if he were looking for enemies.

Iceman covered himself in ice upon being startled, which would have resulted in ice burns for Tom if he hadn't jolted in the opposite direction upon being jumpscared by the exploding tire.

"I think we have a blowout." The driver spoke with an unfamiliar accent. He wasn't Norwegian, but he definitely was not American or Russian either. He then pulled over and pressed the parking brake before exiting the van. Everyone watched from the inside as he knelt down to check the tire, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Everyone, out!" The driver instructed. Though there were a few groans in protests, everyone exited the vehicle wearing normal clothes so that way they'd fit in with the Norwegian citizens. "Did we hit something?" Xiao asked the driver, standing next to him as everyone looked at the exploded tire.

"No, it just miraculously exploded. It happens sometimes when the air pressure is too low..." the driver was ignoring the low air pressure, thinking it wasn't low enough for him to worry about it. However, it was obvious at this point that that wasn't the case.

"So what do we do now?" Ky asked, having his arm wrapped around Xiao.

"We wait. I'll call for a spare. Until then, stay put." the driver started dialing a number on his phone, meanwhile, the mutants started looking around for something to do while they wait.

"Hey, there's an arcade across the street." Bobby pointed toward a larger-sized building with Norwegian text and a logo with a joystick on top of it.

"We don't have money, though." Ky told them, however, a sly smile formed on Quicksilver's face upon coming up with an idea.

What looked like some sort of businessman started walking by, talking on the phone while paying everyone else no mind. Quicksilver looked around, making sure no one was looking before he stole the man's wallet in the blink of an eye, going unnoticed.

"We? Speak for yourself. Heheh!" Pietro playfully waved the wallet in front of their faces, compelling Bobby and Tom to laugh, Xiao to smile, and Ky to shake his head in disapproval with a slight grin.

"What? I stole it from some rich non-mutant. Who cares, he won't miss it. Let's go." Quicksilver walked forward, followed by Bobby and Tom who still hadn't left each other's side. Ky was right behind them, however, Ky stopped once he noticed that Xiao wasn't with them, as did Tom.

"What's wrong?" Ky asked her, forgetting for just a moment that going into a crowded place like an arcade was something she couldn't handle. "Oh... right." Ky finally remembered, speaking solemnly before walking over to her. "We can try something else then, or we could just wait here." Turning around, Ky waved off the rest of the group. "You guys go on ahead."

Due to everything that happened the night prior, Tom had forgotten about the headband he made for Xiao, which he finally remembered at that very moment. "Hold it." Tom muttered, removing his backpack before digging inside it and pulling out the headband. "I made this for you, Xiao. Ky, why don't you try putting it on her?"

"A headband?" Ky asked him, taking the black headband from Tom's hand before inspecting it. Once the device was in his hands, Ky knew that this was no ordinary headband. Ky then remembered when he told Tom about her powers, telling him how he wished there was a way for her to be able to exist in the outside world without being overwhelmed by everyone's thoughts.

With a soft smile on his face, Ky showed his gratitude. "Thank you, Tom." he thanked him quietly as he began turning around to approach Xiao. She obviously knew what it was due to the fact that she could hear their thoughts, but the fact that it was untested and the results may not have been the desired ones made the moment nerve-racking for her.

"Hold still." Ky spoke to her gently, placing the headband on the top of her head before sliding the switch on the side of the headband as far as it could go. Tom designed the headband in a way so that Xiao could set how potent her mind-reading capabilities were. Assuming her mind reading worked like a radar, the headband would simply expand or lower the range.

Immediately upon activation, everything inside Xiao's brain went quiet. Her eyes widened, and for the first time in her life, she was able to hear the sounds of the outside world clearly. It was as if she had entered a new realm entirely, focusing only on the sounds that surrounded her.

Birds were chirping far off in the distance, and the sounds of car engines humming were heard near and far. She could hear children laughing and playing somewhere near, perhaps coming from inside the arcade or the nearby park. For the first time, that soft breeze that she could feel on her skin was also heard due to her then tranquil mind.

Tears began to well up in her eyes before falling down her cheeks. She'd experienced a calm mind while living at home, away from society, and also during her time in the Weapon X facility, however, experiencing the sights, sounds, and smells of the outside world while that calmness still existed was something truly beautiful.

All four of the other mutants smiled, nearly tearing up themselves as they watched Xiao truly marvel at the sounds of the outside world for the first time in her life.

Leaning up against the van, Eagle was listening to the whole thing with his arms crossed, head looking down as the visor of his hat covered his face. Despite him putting on that same hard-assed exterior, he found the moment to be at least slightly touching.

"Thank you… Thank you, Tom." Xiao had tears streaming down her face as she hugged him tightly. "This is the best gift anyone's ever given me."

Tom laughed awkwardly, looking over at Ky who stood with his hands in his pockets, smiling softly. "You're welcome. It was all Ky's idea. I'm just the Fixer." Tom, despite doing all the work, gave Ky all the credit. If it wasn't for Ky, he wouldn't have even had the idea to make the device in the first place.

"Let's go inside, then." Tom said softly, gesturing toward the arcade as Xiao released him and wiped her tears. Ky then grabbed her hand and began leading her across the street to the arcade, along with the other mutants who followed behind them as Eagle stayed leaning up against the van.

He sighed, knowing he needed to keep an eye on them before leaning off of the bus to trail behind them with both hands in the pockets of his camouflage pants. As he walked behind him, there was only really one thing on his mind.

'Maybe these kids aren't so bad.'