Disclaimer: don't own anything except some characters and plot. Co-written with ms. marie and my other sister.
The TeamRogue and Kitty were sitting on the leather sofa in the rec room, watching a soap opera. A breaking new report came up, Kitty groaned.
"And just when they finally realized their true feelings for each other! Now I'm gonna miss the sex scene," Kitty groaned. Rogue just laughed at her. The two had become fast friends after Rogue realized Kitty was not out to steal her boyfriend from her.
"Breaking News, I'm Tracey Gove here in New York, and you all remember that mutant cure? Well, turns out it wasn't a permanent cure after all! Now the government is worried about mutant terrorists, like Magneto, coming back. Now here's Boliver Trask with his new Sentinel Program…" Kitty and Rogue looked to each other as they turned off the T.V. and ran to go inform Storm. They rushed into her office and a breathless Kitty explained what they had heard on the news report.
The headmaster tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator to make its descent. She briskly made her way down the hall as soon as the doors opened, her heels clacking as she strode to the end of the hallway, towards the infamous "Danger Room". She placed her palm on the scanner.
"Access granted," the monotonous voice sounded.
"Gee, thanks," the headmaster muttered under her breath. The sight that greeted her upon walking in was not an unfamiliar one. John and Piotr stood seemingly having another one of their arguments while the students, who were used to this sort of behavior from their teachers stood next to them socializing. The headmaster made her presence known by marching right up to them with her clacking heels for added emphasis. Upon taking notice of her presence the two feuding adults smartly shut their mouths.
"What brings you to our neck of the woods Stormy?" The aussie asked her. The students quieted down in an attempt to eavesdrop, especially considering that Storm didn't usually show up at Danger Room training.
"Since you two don't appear to be doing anything, then I suppose you'll have no trouble joining the rest of us in an important meeting," Storm said, replying to John's earlier question.
"You heard the lady! Hit the showers!" John yelled to the students. With a quick nervous glance to each other, John and Piotr quickly followed Storm who was already practically out the door. The three remained silent all the way up to the headmaster's office. John had been curious and tempted to ask Storm what was going on, but refrained from doing so because of the serious look on her face. As the three walked in, they took notice that all the other teachers and staff were already gathered there.
"Why are we always the last to be informed?" John muttered.
"Aww… feeling unloved?" Rogue laughed.
Storm took her place in her headmaster's chair. After the professor died, it was supposed to be Scott that took his place, but with both him and Jean dead, Storm was left the position. Left with the choice of closing the school or becoming the new headmaster, she chose the latter.
To her left sat Hank, the school's resident doctor and a teacher as well. After realizing he no longer desired to be in politics, he came back to assist his longtime friend, Storm, in running the school. Next to him was Rogue, who due to the cure no longer had any powers, but still stayed to help teach. Next to her sat Bobby. Him and Rogue were still dating and going strong. There's a bet going throughout the school on when he'll pop the question, but no one really knows. Next to him sat Warren, who had come to the Institute after the cure disaster and had stayed since then to become a teacher. Next to him sat John, a.k.a. the pyromaniac. Nobody trusted him to teach a class so he stuck to training in the Danger Room. It took a while for everyone to trust him again when he came back, but things have changed and now he his part of the family. In the chair next to him was Piotr, who was a teacher and assisted John in Danger Room training, sitting with Kitty, also a teacher, perched in his lap. The two were recently engaged. As Storm glanced around the room, as usual, she noticed one person was missing. After Jean's death, Logan vanished and no one has heard from him since.
"So what's the crisis Stormy?" John asked irritated.
Storm relayed the news she had heard from Rogue and Kitty to the rest of the staff.
"I think it's time to bring back the X-Men," Storm said solemnly.
"I think it's a great idea, but don't you think we are a little old for the rough and tumble team?" Hank brought up.
"Well we could make a new team. I mean, this is a whole school filled with mutants. We pick some who want to be a part of a team, and we train them to be our X-Men," Kitty suggested. Looking around the room, they all seemed to think this was a good idea.
"Who would you pick?" John asked. Storm left the room and came back with a stack of manilla folders.
"Well we go through these and decide who has the most potential and we seek them out," she handed out the folders. "I'd say a team of about ten would be best."
"How about we each pick a student we like, then we decide on who else. And everyone has to agree," Kitty suggested. The rest nodded their heads agreeing. After going through the folders for a while, they all regrouped to make their decisions.
"Well, I'll like start," Kitty said, bubbling with excitement. "My pick is Sara Thompson. She's 16, with invisibility powers. Those could be very handy, and she seems like a dedicated student, I have her in one of my classes."
"Okay, how about you Hank?" Storm turned to the blue beast.
"Well I've chosen a boy who is a very exceptional student. He's 17, his name is Jake Stanton, his powers are electricity. I think he would be a very beneficial addition to the team." They all nodded and turned to Piotr for his choice.
"I've chosen Morgan Peters. She's 18, with aquakinesis. I think we could easily train her for the team."
"And you Bobby?"
"I've picked Dani Vancouver, age 16, she has super speed. She's got a bit of an attitude, but I think we can deal."
"Well, I've picked Christopher Hitchcock. He's 17 with the ability to speed up molecules. Meaning he can blow stuff up, so he has a good offensive power for the team," Rogue stated.
"Warren? Who've you chosen?"
"I think Nathan James would be a good choice. He has shown great leadership qualities in class, and his abilities are amazing. He's 18, and he can fly, he has super strength, and to top it off he's pretty much invulnerable so we wouldn't have to worry about him getting hurt."
"John?"
"Andy Carson. He's 18 and a pyrokinetic. Enough said." Kitty and Rogue rolled their eyes at the blonde.
"Very well. I can't pick just one, two stick out for me. Marissa Moore, 17, and Michele Ericson, 17. Marissa is a telepath, and Michele is telekinetic." Everyone thought of Jean. "I think they both would be very useful." No one disagreed.
"Well that makes nine. I think we should go for one more. Who do you think?" Storm questioned. After much pondering, Hank came up with a student.
"How about Ben Everet? He's 17, and has a great defensive power. He can produce shields."
"I think that's good, then they'd have a good defense as well as a good offense," Storm said grabbing the folders to return them to her filing cabinet. "Lets gather the troops."
"Yeah, lets tell the kiddies!" John said clapping his hands and grinning.
"Would Nathan James, Ben Everet, Morgan Peters, Jake Stanton, Michele Ericson, Andy Carson, Dani Vancouver, Christopher Hitchcock, Sara Thompson, and Marissa Moore please report to the headmaster's office," Storm announced over the new PA system they had recently built.
"You called," Dani stated rushing in a second after she heard her name. The abruptness and suddenness of her arrival caused Storm to jump and gasp.
"Yeah… uh just take a seat while we wait for the others to arrive," Storm said and Dani took a seat wondering what this was all about.
"Shit! Do ya think they know?" Ben asked frantically looking around as he heard his name. He and his friend Evan were in one of the girl's rooms filling a bottle of shampoo with pink hair dye.
"Nah, how could they? It's probably something else," Evan reassured him. "Go, I'll finish up."
"Alright see ya." Ben left the room and made his way to the headmaster's office. He knocked and Storm answered the door.
"You wanted to see me," Ben said sheepishly, still not sure if he had been caught or not.
"Yeah, and don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything," she said noticing how Ben seemed to think he was in trouble. "Just take a seat."
"Ooh, you're in trouble," someone shouted.
"What did ya do now Christopher?" someone else asked and the boy in question just shrugged and stood up.
"Maybe Storm just wants to have a private chat with me," he said and waggled his eyebrows causing his friends to laugh as he left the room and went to the headmaster's office. Without knocking he entered the office and took a seat as instructed by Storm. Jake closed the book he was reading and left the library to go to Storm's office. He knocked and was ushered in and told to take a seat. Nathan put the weight down that he was previously lifting and wiped his sweaty face with a towel. Taking a quick sniff he decided to change before he went to see the headmaster. With a fresh pair of clothes on he knocked and was led into the office. He pulled up a chair next to Jake.
"Hey, any idea what's going on?" Michele asked Marissa as they met on their way to the headmaster's office.
"Not a clue," Marissa answered. Both girls went to the office together and sat with the group of teens already there. Sara Thompson exited her room and made her way to the headmaster's office upon hearing her name on the PA. She was told to take a seat like the others. Morgan told her friends she'd see them later and left the rec room heading towards Storm's office. Storm let her in and told her to take a seat so she pulled up a chair next to Nathan and Michele. She gave them a questioning look wondering what was going on, but they both shrugged not having any idea as to what this was about.
"You owe me 10 bucks," Andy shouted to his friend Jace after sinking the eight ball in the corner pocket and then Andy raced out of the room. He poked his head into the office and came in all the way after Storm said to come in. He looked around and grabbed the only empty seat, which was next to Dani.
"I'm sure you all are wondering why we called you down here," Storm started now that all of the kids were present.
"Kinda yeah," Dani said. She was curious and had been patiently waiting for a long time to find out why she was here. Storm ignored Dani's impatient remark and continued,
"You all have heard of the X-Men before right?" They all nodded not sure where this was headed. "It seems that the cure is not permanent and we fear that Magneto may rise to power again and stir up trouble. So we wanted to create a new team," Storm stated.
"So what does that have to do with us?" Dani asked clearly not getting it, but she wasn't the only one. None of the teens understood what she was implying.
"What I'm trying to say is that we want you to be the new X-Men. You will be properly trained and will learn to work together as a team," Storm explained.
"What?" Jake shouted.
"Cool!" Christopher said, and the others just gawked and sat in silence.
"You can have a minute to think this over and tell us your decision. You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Storm quickly assured them. So they sat there in silence, contemplating what they wanted to do. The silence was broken by Christopher jumping up and saying,
"I'm in."
"Me too," Andy said.
"I'd like to be a part of the team too," Jake stated.
"Heck, why not I have nothing better to do," Dani exclaimed.
"I'll join," Morgan said.
"I will too," Nathan stated.
"Me three, err… seven," Michele answered.
"I'm all for it," Ben announced.
"Yeah me too," Sara jumped in.
"I don't know," Marissa started not sure if she was up to the task of becoming an X-Men. But then making up her mind she said, "I'm in."
And that was the beginning of a new X-Men team.