Disclaimer: 'The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers' is copyrighted by Hearst Entertainment, Inc.

This is a work of fanfiction and I make no profit of it.

Goose reserved a table in the cafeteria and waited for his team mates to show up. It had been a busy morning, and it would be good for all of them to relax for some minutes.

Goose started to sip his coffee when Zachary Junior approached him and asked,

"Hi, Goose, would you have a moment?"

"Sure."

"Cool," the boy said and pulled up another chair.

"You know, I need some information for a school project, so, ahm, can you form claws?"

"Pardon?"

"You know, claws, from your hands, maybe out of steel? Sorry if that's a personal question..."

"I can form claws."

"That's cool," Zachary Junior beamed and scribbled something on his note pad.

"And if you extend your claws, do they breach your skin?"

Goose eyed the boy suspiciously.

"What again do you need that information for?"

"It's for a school project. We're analyzing movies from the beginning of the century, and I thought I'd check how realistic they are first."

Incredulous, Goose stared at Zachary Junior.

"You're analyzing 'X-Men'?!?"

"Cool, you know that movie?"

"It's ridiculous!"

By now, Doc had joined them.

"What's ridiculous?"

"The X-Men movie," Goose replied. "That guy Wolverine is supposed to be a super soldier, but he spends most of his time being thrown through the air. His claws look like cutlery, and given how slow he moves, a steak will probably be the only thing he ever cuts with them."

Doc shrugged. "I don't know, I rather liked that scene where Magneto is lifting him up and telling him 'It's not all about you.'"

Niko and Zachary arrived.

"I liked how protective he was of Rogue," Niko added as she took a seat.

Goose looked disgruntled.

Zachary looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The X-Men movie," Niko said. "It's one of the few movies we had on Buenos Aires Space Station. I think I watched it five times."

"Do you think the portrayal of Jean Grey's abilities was realistic?" Zachary Junior interrupted.

Niko nodded. "Absolutely. For a low level telepath, it would be necessary to touch people or at least get physically close to them when she is reading their thoughts, and moving your hands when you want to lift objects telekinetically as though you really were moving them is helpful too. I started learning to use my abilities like that; but when I was about twelve, my abilities started developing faster than I could master them. Ariel had to give me mental blocks for a while to shield me from the part of my powers that I could not yet handle."

Zachary and Goose looked slightly uncomfortable.

Niko hastened to assure them.

"But I have very good control of my powers now, unless I'm distraught or starving."

Niko tried to relax her posture and took a big bite from her blueberry pastry.

"That's not something I needed to know," Zachary commented finally.

"What did you think of the whole Phoenix arc?" Goose interjected.

Niko looked confused. "Phoenix?"

"You know, the third movie, where Jean re-emerges from Lake Alkali and turns evil," Doc explained.

Niko still looked confused. "There is more than one part of X-Men? I need to watch that!"

Goose snorted.

"Spare yourself the effort. It just gets more ridiculous."

"It's really quite sad," Doc said. "First, Jean dies saving the team, then she is reborn as the Phoenix, but the Phoenix is evil and controls Jean, so she kills first Scott and then the Professor, and in the end, Wolverine has to kill her."

Niko looked aghast. "Jean killed Scott?"

"What's a guy who can't control the optical blasts from his eyes and never takes off his sun glasses doing with a girlfriend like Jean anyway?" Goose cut in vehemently.

"So you're a Wolverine/Jean shipper instead?" Doc asked, curious.

"I'm no shipper whatsoever. I just think that a film should be realistic, and Scott doesn't deserve Jean. And that Wolverine couldn't sniff out the difference between the real Jean and Mystique when she was posing as Jean was even worse. That would never happen to me."

"That's definitely something I never wanted to know," Zachary said resolutely.

"X-Men 2 definitely had some good scenes," Doc spoke up. "When the main team goes into the military base at Alkali, they leave the kids behind in the Blackbird, but later Rogue and Iceman decide to look after the main team, and Rogue crash-lands the plane to rescue them – that was just hilarious."

"They had kids on the team?!?" Zachary exclaimed, shocked.

"Dad, when can I start taking flying lessons?" Zachary Junior asked simultaneously.

Zachary looked at everyone sternly. "Never mind. Anything else I need to know about those movies?"

"Hmm. That scene where a mind-controlled Cyclops attacked Jean was really dramatic," Doc continued. "I mean, imagine being fully conscious and yet you can do nothing to stop yourself from attacking a loved one..."

Zachary gripped his coffee mug tightly.

"Anything else that I need to know about the larger plot?"

Doc stirred some more sugar and cream into his coffee, then continued his analysis of X-Men.

"Well, they consistently kept Magneto as the main villain, which is a very limited selection of what the X-Men battled in the comics, and come on, life is more diverse…"

"I thought that at least helped focus the film," Goose retorted.

"Magneto may be evil, but he is so for a reason. He and his Brotherhood would not have turned renegade if humans had not tried to persecute and kill them first."

Goose put down his coffee mug so violently that it nearly broke.

"Which brings us to the interesting question of whether the end justifies the means – and whether Xavier is as noble as he seems, or if he has any ulterior motives," Doc pursued the topic

Niko had been following the discussion with interest, but started to fidget on her chair as time passed. She looked at her watch regretfully.

"I'm sorry guys, as interesting as this is, but I have to go now. I have an appointment with Dr Lee and Dr Behr. It seems my basic psi powers have expanded since I started using my implant, and they want to measure just how far.

You know, why don't we all watch X-Men 2 together in the common room this evening? I'll bring the popcorn."

After Niko had left, the conversation turned to more tranquil matters, such as the duty roaster for the upcoming week and the Super Bowl.

Soon, Goose and Doc had to leave too to resume their duties. Zachary stayed behind to spend some more time with his son.

He dimly remembered watching the X-Men movies as a teenager, but until now, he hadn't realized the similarities between some of the characters and his team were quite so striking. Pure coincidence, of course. He would not waste a further thought on it.

"What type of assignment did you get that you have to analyze X-Men?" he asked his son.

"We're supposed to compare a book or comic and its film adaptation from the beginning of the 21st century, and I picked the 'Dark Phoenix Arc' from the X-Men comics."

"And what are the differences between comic and film?" Zachary inquired, interested.

Zachary Junior dissected the last bits of his cherry muffin, then he explicated,

"First, in the comics, Dark Phoenix was a lot more powerful. She could annihilate entire solar systems in the blink of an eye. Second, she turned evil because Mastermind, a malicious telepath from the Hellfire Club, planted forged images in her head and that drove her crazy."

Zachary took a deep breath. Just a coincidence. No need to worry.

"And what increased her powers in the first place?"

"Oh, that was really cool.

In the comics, the X-Men were trapped in a shuttle without sufficient shields against radiation. She had to use her powers to the limit to safely get the team through the radiation, and a powerful energy being called the Phoenix attached itself to her."

Zachary took a deep swallow from his coffee.

It was just a coincidence. Just a coincidence. Just a coincidence?