Several Months Later

Akira squirmed in John's arms. He was so warm and usually she liked it but right now she needed some room to breath a little better. "John." Akira whined. "Do you want me to melt?" She said. John smiled a little and kissed her cheek.

 "I'm never letting you go ever again." John said softly, his forehead pressed up against Akira's.

"Okay but if you don't let me go right now, I'll ice you. I'm too warm." John smiled.

"Just create your little blizzard. I'll be fine." Akira gave him a look but since it looked like John was serious, she sighed and began to make it snow lightly around them. John shivered at the icy chill and Akira made a face at him.

"Let me get my body temperature back to normal John. I'm not going anywhere." He kissed her temple. 

"Yeah well... You worry me." He said, finally letting go of her and taking several steps back. She smiled at him and increased the intensity of her mini blizzard. John watched how easily she was able to conjure it and smiled. Akira's control over her powers had increased exponentially and ever since their fight out in the alley, Black Frost hadn't made a reappearance. There had been instances of concern, like when Akira started to talk to John about her parents and her life but the more she talked about it, the less scary it all seemed for Akira. It still hurt, a lot, and she still felt a heavy amount of guilt but at least it was a little bearable now. That was progress. Akira smiled over at John as her blizzard dissipated. She held her hand out to him and they continued to walk around the perimeter of the building. They were technically on patrol right now, not going on a nice walk. 

"Did you see the news report about you today?" John asked lightly. Akira nodded.

"Half a million dollars to anyone with credible information of my whereabouts." John smiled.

"That's the highest number any of us have ever gotten." Akira laughed.

"Should I be happy that I'm more dangerous than all of you?" John shrugged and Akira shook her head. "All it really does it worry me. I have a really big target on my back John. I don't think it's safe for me to head out with you and the others anymore." John paused and glanced at Akira's back.

"I don't see a target." She punched him in the arm. "Besides. You wear that wig when we go out. Nobody recognizes you. We're hiding in plain sight." 

"That wig itches."

"Is this you just trying to get out of our date next Saturday."

"The wig really itches John." He started to laugh. 

"We can stay in and watch a movie if you want then." Akira kissed his cheek. "But we can't stay cooped up in here forever. It's suffocating."

"We go out." Akira argued.

"Going out and helping people isn't the same thing as going out just for the hell of it." John was right of course. Mostly when Akira and John left the premises now, it was so they could pick up Mutants in need of a hiding place or anybody who had been targeted by Sentinel Services. 

"Well, it's still nice." Akira said. John squeezed her hand.

"Yeah, it is." 

-----

"She broke out of jail? How?" Lorna asked as Diana scanned the police reports. 

"They knew she was a Mutant but they didn't know she was a mutant with teleportation abilities." Diana replied.

"Sweet, let's go find her." Akira said with a smile. "Teleportation would come in handy. We always have to make quick exits." Marcos nodded in agreement. 

"What was her name again?"

"Clarice Fong. She's been in the system for a while. She was an orphan in several different foster homes before she ran away. She pops up every now and then when she gets caught stealing." Diana typed away at her computer. "She was last seen about five miles away from the jail. She apparently appeared out of a purple glowing portal."

"I should be able to track her, if she's not portal jumping all over the city that is." John said.

"Well let's go find her then."

-----

What the friends find is a lot more than just a portal hoping Mutant though but a whole hoard of Sentinel Service Agents. John, Marco, Lorna and Akira managed to track Clarice to an abandoned building just as it started to pour rain outside. "She's this way." John said, pushing his hair back across his face. Clarice had barricaded the door though, preventing John from simply kicking it off it's hinges. 

"We're not trying to scare her anyways." Akira said, shaking her head at her boyfriend. "Lorna is anything blocking the door metal?" Lorna nodded and put her hand out. 

"Several things are." Akira assumed that Lorna was pushing them back with her powers as she went over and put ice all over the hinges of the door. 

"Let's hurry this up please. That barricade Akira put up is strong but... I don't want to stick around longer than necessary." Marcos said. He could already hear people hacking away at the ice covering the doors behind them. John pulled one of the doors off it's hinges, setting it down lightly against the wall. Inside the room, pressed against the back wall was a girl with wild green eyes, and purple streaked hair.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Clarice demanded. They were clearly Mutants, like her. Nobody else would be able to lift a door off it's hinges like that or move metal objects that were inside a different room.

"The Mutant Underground." John said, stepping into the room.

"We're here to help you." Akira stepped in after him.

"So do you think you can teleport us out of here or are we going to have to fight our way out?" Akira asked. "No pressure." Clarice cocked her head at the white haired girl.

"You're Akira Lim. Everyone's looking for you." Akira shrugged.

"You gonna turn me in?" Clarice snorted.

"No. It was badass watching another asian girl kick ass." Clarice paused. "Let's leave. Where are we trying to go?" 

"Depends." Lorna asked as she and Marcos stepped into the room, Lorna re-barricading the door with every metal object in the room. "How does your teleporting work?"

"If you have a picture of the place we're trying to get to, I might be able to get us there." Clarice said. John shrugged, pulled out his phone and quickly looked up a google map view of the abandoned building they had taken up residence in. Clarice took his phone and slowly scanned over it. She nodded slowly. 

"Alright, let's do this." Clarice handed John his phone and then put her hands together, purple sparks began to swirl in between them and she slowly pulled her arms outward, expanding the circle until it was nearly the full length of her body. The four friends stared in wonder at the scene before them. It was the bank, as it looked at night. Clarice had opened up the portal right on the dirt road leading up to the place. "Is this it?" Clarice demanded.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Then go! I can't maintain it for too long." Akira jumped through the portal head first, feeling a weird rush as she did at jumping from one abandoned building to another. She glanced back as John came through after her and then Lorna and Marcos. Clarice jumped through last, coming out the opposite end of the portal that quickly closed behind her just as they heard the Sentinel Service Agents burst through the door. 

"That... Was super cool." Akira said with a grin. Clarice nodded and stumbled a little.

"Yeah, cool but tiring. I've made so many jumps in the past couple of hours that..." Clarice yawned and Akira rushed forward to stop her from falling. "It takes a lot out of me." Clarice said softly. 

"Well, you're safe now. We can take you to the base, make up a bed for you." Clarice yawned again.

"Sounds nice." She said before passing out cold in Akira's arms. Akira grinned.

"I like her." John snickered and came towards the two girls. He gently picked up Clarice and together, the five of them headed inside. 

John and Akira got Clarice settled in a quiet part of the building. Clarice snuggled against her cot, still fast asleep and looking really peaceful. "I hope she'll stay." Akira said to John as they quietly left the room, leaving her to herself. 

"Yeah, I do too. Looks like she needs some help with her powers. She overtaxes herself when she uses them." Akira hit his arm.

"That's not why I want her to stay. She seems cool and she's also asian. Sounds like best friend material to me."

"What? I'm not your best friend?" John asked.

"Nope." John smirked. 

"Well, one things for sure." John said as they emerged out into the large common room where the rest of the Mutant Underground gathers to hangout, eat and talk to one another. "If we get anymore new mutants, we're going to have to find a bigger place to hide." Akira smiled.