Avengers Academy

Chapter 1

Billy Kaplan woke up with a groan as the alarm went off. His groan was shared by the boy in the bed on the other side of the room, his twin brother Tommy. Tommy had opted to keep the last foster family's surname, Shepherd, saying he liked it. Being orphans, they didn't really know their true surnames, but Billy had picked up 'Kaplan' from a novel he used to read as a kid.

"Get your lazy butts up, boys! It's time for school." A cheery voice said. Billy blinked and shook his head.

"Kat, knock next time! We could've been naked or something."

Katrina simply smirked and giggled slightly. "Nothing I haven't seen before when you were kids. Come on, baby brothers, we really need to go. Maria's cooking breakfast and then it's off to school."

Billy quickly threw on some clothes, an old gray t-shirt, black jeans and a dark red hoodie, something he very rarely took off. Tommy threw on light blue pants and a dark green hoodie over his plain white shirt. The contrast in colors were really the only thing that set them apart appearance-wise. That and their hair. Billy's hair was dark brown and slightly curly while Tommy's was white and straight. Tommy also carried himself better while Billy often slouched. Other than that, though, they were identical. Needless to say, Tommy's odd hair color did get him some strange looks from kids at school, but it was nothing compared to what their older sister Katrina got. She'd been born with a naturally green hair which matched her emerald eyes. As a child, she'd often been teased for her strange looks, but then as modern trends evolved her hair color didn't make her stand out as much. Still, she always felt like an outsider and often kept to herself.

What their foster parents hadn't told anyone was that Katrina and her brothers were mutants. Homo Superior. While mutants were usually publicly accepted, many people still looked at them with mistrust, fear or even downright hatred. Katrina had actually pleaded with her foster parents to be sent to the new Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, but that had fallen on deaf ears.

"All the way in Westchester? Going to be hard for you to come home for dinner, then." Harry Winslow, their current foster father, had said. "I'm sorry. But it's Upstate. You'd be leaving your brothers behind here and they need you. I know it can't be easy for you, pretending to be normal at your age, but it's just..."

"...We signed a form when we adopted you from a certain group. They wanted you to be kept safe and out of the public eye." Maria Winslow finished, sighing as she pulled out a drawer before holding up a letter and handing it to Katrina.

Kat's emerald eyes took in the contents of the letter. "Keep them safe. They deserve a chance their parents unfortunately couldn't bring them. A chance at a normal life, at least until they're old enough to decide for themselves. They're mutants and therefore blending in will be hard, but we hope you can do it." There was no signature from whoever it was from, strangely enough, until Kat spotted the logo. The logo that was now on that ugly tower in the Upper West Side, on cereal boxes and on action figures. An 'A'. Why would the Avengers want to oversee their adoption process?

The school went by as could be expected. The third year of high school and life was just so damn boring. At least, that's what it felt like for Katrina. She was a year older than her brothers and so had told them what to expect from Midtown when they started, which was to say, very little. The people there were mostly okay, but there were some bullies there that everyone knew to steer clear of. Bullies like Flash Thompson. Fortunately, he'd graduated last year so he wouldn't be bothering the siblings anymore.

It was lunchtime and Kat sat by herself at a bench just outside the school when a woman approached her. She had curly reddish-brown hair which was mostly covered by the hood of her scarlet red hoodie. Kat couldn't help feeling she'd seen her before but couldn't quite place her face.

"Is this seat taken?" The woman asked, to which Kat shook her head, so the woman sat down. "Why are you out here by yourself? Shouldn't you be inside the school?" She asked with a smile. Kat shook her head. "I like eating out here. It's peaceful and quiet."

"It is, isn't it? But alone? What about your friends?"

"I...don't really have any friends. They all think I'm a freak." Kat said sourly.

The woman nodded as if she understood. "People used to say I was a freak when I was your age, too. Me and my brother, we were treated horribly. All because we were mutants."

Kat's eyes widened. "How did you know I was..."

The woman laughed softly and gave a warm smile. "Takes one to know one. But yeah, they'd throw rocks at us, tried to throw us out of places. But we persisted and never gave ground. Because you can't ever give up. You're not a freak, Katrina." The woman smiled as she got up and looked at her watch. "Sorry, I have to get going." She said and walked away.

"Wait!" Kat said too late as the woman walked away. "How did she know my name?" Kat thought to herself.