Mutation: it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. This process is slow, normally taking thousands and thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.

First Story- R&R!

Now is one of the most troublesome times for the mutants. The government has introduced and is beginning to support the Mutant Registration Act. States of the United States have already begun their mutant reform, especially in schools. Students are being tested for an active X-gene. If found the child will not be allowed to attend certain schools. The Brotherhood of Mutants, a group of angry mutants who believe that mutants should dominate the humans and believe a war is coming, have been organized by a powerful mutant called Magneto. However, a group of mutants trying to keep peace has been formed, even if the public doesn't know it. Professor Charles Xavier started the X-Men so that he could train young mutants to control their powers and fight for what is right. He takes in students having difficulty with their powers usually and helps them gain control. Magneto has been going around recruiting as many mutants as possible. But unlike Xavier he must go searching and looking. The Professor has Cerebro, a machine that links his telepathic mind to all the others on the planet. He can use that to find certain mutants. Until now he has only used it to find mutants in need of power control. But the Brotherhood has made the first move and attacked a senator's home. He and his family are now missing. This has struck up riots around the world against mutants. Some are now being captured, beaten and put into slavery in certain parts of the world. Xavier is now using his small team of 6, including himself, to recruit all the mutants in need of salvation. He needs a bigger team. He needs X-Men.

Xavier Institute- Cerebro

Professor Xavier rolled down the long platform in the large spherical room named Cerebro. He had just held a meeting with his X-Men, where all agreed he now ought to use Cerebro to find as many mutants as he can save before the public or Magneto does. He reached the desk and placed the helmet on his head. Immediately the doors closed and the walls began to disappear. They were replaced by a glowing white map of the world. The white signified all the people on the Earth. The Professor began to concentrate. "Mutants," he thought. "Show me the mutants." A few red dots began to appear, starting with the most powerful mutants. There were more mutants than anyone, except Charles Xavier, could expect. But the Professor still had his reservations. He would not barge into someone's life if they did not need him. He was proud to see Jean Grey at the top of the list. She was a very powerful mutant that had joined Xavier. Her mutation causes her to have telepathy, be a psychic and have the ability of telekinesis. Her powers however got too powerful for her to control on her own. She began to show a duel personality. The other came to know itself as the "Phoenix". This personality was all about emotion. It lost control often and so the Professor was forced to go into Jean's mind and suppress it. It is now trapped in Jean's subconscious mind. She now has control and is one of the most powerful minds on the planet, if not the most powerful. She was given the codename "Marvel Girl". He also saw his own name, Charles Xavier. He was a high level telepath and is very powerful. He searched the long list for his other X-Men. He soon found Ororo Monroe. Ororo is an African woman that the Professor saved from her tribe in Africa once she lost control of her weather powers. Ororo can control the weather now at will. She is adequately called "Storm". Scott Summers was soon found on the list as well. Scott developed his mutant gene when he was forced to jump out of a falling plane with a parachute with his brother while his parents were left behind to die. This emotion activated the X-gene and gave him the ability to shoot lasers out of his eyes. However, he is still unable to control it himself. He uses special ruby quartz glasses and a visor to keep his lasers at bay. He is given the name Cyclops because of the way he looks with his visor on. Next found was Hank McCoy. Hank's mutant abilities became known as a child but did not completely manifest until adulthood. The mutant X-gene cause Hank's mind to develop a beast inside that would begin controlling him. Hank went to the Professor but was a bit too late. The beast had gained control and started altering his appearance before Xavier could stop it. Hank now has control but has the appearance of a blue beast. Adequately he is called "Beast". Last but not least he found Logan. Logan joined the X-Men only a few months before now. His mutant ability is that of healing. He has unbelievable healing powers. He was also experimented on recently until he escaped but it was too late. They had used his healing ability to graft an indestructible metal to his bones called adamantium. Now he has three adamantium claws that come out in between his fingers on both hands. The experiment however completely ruined his memory and gave him amnesia so he remembers nothing of his life before the procedure. Since he had found his team he looked for mutants that neded their services. After searching the world and sifting through millions of minds he found three mutants that needed his help. Cerebro gave him their name and location but he had to determine their problem using minds around them. He quickly shut down Cerebro and watched the walls come back into view. He then sent a telepathic message to his team. "X-Men, I need you to suit up. We have three recruitment missions taking off in 10 minutes."

Xavier Institute- Lower levels- Transport room

Xavier made his way to the jet. It was large and black and had been built by him and his team for their 'special' needs. He then looked across at the two helicopters on their separate pads. Soon the team began running in. First was Cyclops, as always. Second came Jean and Hank. Storm came not long after and finally Wolverine walked in.

"Must you always be late Wolverine?" Jean asked, giving him a smile.

"Hey I wasn't late. You guys were here early," replied in his gruff low tone.

"No matter," the Professor said. "We have more important matters to attend to. For now we must split up and go to our different directions. I will be taking Beast to Germany. There is a mutant there who has been kicked out of school for his somewhat unusual look and now there are riots surrounding his home. Cyclops and Wolverine, you two will be going to New Orleans, Louisiana. "The two young men looked at each other and glared. They still didn't exactly like each other. "And make it quick. Even though the riots haven't started she is having enough trouble as it is," the Professor added. Storm and Marvel Girl, you two will be going to Los Angeles. There is a teenage mutant girl who is being forced to stay at home by police and the city because she has been exposed as a mutant. Be sure to be safe. Everyone is allowed to use their powers if it is an emergency or if they can do it secretly, otherwise be careful. And we do not force anyone to come, understood?"

"Yes, Professor" Storm added to all the nods from the rest of the team. Hank and Xavier went into the jet while the other two teams climbed into the helicopters.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Scott and Logan landed the jet just outside of New Orleans. They had the girls address and were headed there now. They had to try to avoid people because they were in their 'mission clothes' and would probably freak some people out. But you never know in New Orleans. They soon found the girls street and her home. Cyclops had already prepared to do the talking. Hopefully he could just sit down and talk to the family, but things were never that easy. They walked up to the door, Wolverine sniffing all the while.

"I got a bad feelin' from this place." He said in a low grumble.

"Well there's not much we can do about it is there?" Cyclops responded and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He rang again.

A loud "I'M COMIN'!" was heard from inside. It sounded like an older woman to Cyclops. When the door opened, it was not exactly what they had expected. There stood an aged old woman in her seventies with a long light pink skirt, an apron and a light see through veil that still showed her grey hair. When she saw them she looked very surprised and said, "Well, um, can I help y'all?"

Wolverine just looked at her and Cyclops responded, "Well, we were looking for a girl named Marie. Marie Darkholme."

"Well you've come to the right place. My niece is upstairs listenin' to that garbage she calls music. Come on in and I'll call her down. I'm Irene by the way," she said. She led them to a living area and allowed them to sit on the couches. Irene left the room but they could hear her yelling " Marie! Turn that trash down and come down here! You have visitors!"

"I told you to call me Rogue! I hate the name Marie! And tell 'em to go away! I'm busy!" said a very heavy southern accent from upstairs.

"You get down here right now or I won't let you go out for the next month to those goth concerts you love so much! These nice boys want to talk to us and you're gonna listen!" she yelled back. There was no response, just more loud punk/goth music. "All right missy that's it I'm comin' up there!" she said. She then returned to the living room and said, "Just a moment, please," and disappeared again. She was gone for quite a few minutes Cyclops began to worry until she came back down and into the room. He didn't see Marie and when he looked in Irene's face she was white as a ghost.

"What happened?" he asked excitedly.

"Sh- She's… gone!" Irene exclaimed. "I can't believe she actually left! She climbed out her window and down the tree!"

"Crap!" Cyclops exclaimed, going for the door. "I'm sorry Irene but we have to go after her! Your niece is a mutant and if it shows, who knows what might happen!" He saw her scared face and turned back to her. "Don't worry. Everything's going to turn out just fine." He opened the door and sprinted out, Wolverine right behind him.

"Thanks," he said in a low growl when passing the elderly woman.

Irene stood on her porch watching them run down the street. Once they were out of sight she went back to her kitchen. There waiting for her was a tall woman, but her appearance was quite strange. She had blue skin and bright red hair with strong facial features and wore a tight black uniform looking thing that was very low cut. She looked at Irene and Irene showed no surprise in seeing this strange person standing in her kitchen.

"There, they're gone! But so is my precious Marie!" she cried. When looking into the woman's face she saw no emotion, which filled her with anger. "She's your Marie too, Mystique! You could show some concern for your own daughter! And now she's gone with X-Men after her! If she even gets near someone it could be disastrous!"

Los Angeles, California

Storm and Jean flew low over Los Angeles, searching for a place to land near the Pryde house. The famous actress, Melinda Pryde's, daughter had been exposed as a mutant. It wasn't that she looked odd or something like that, it's that she had accidentally shown it and not known she had it. But unfortunately it happened at her school. She had been searching threw her locker for a pen when her long time enemy and school bully pushed her into her locker and shut the door. Kitty Pryde's locker was full enough without herself in it. She started screaming and crying and pounding on the door to no avail. She pounded one last time but instead of hitting the locker she went right through it, into the loud and busy hallway, where everyone saw.

She was stared at for a few seconds before someone yelled, "Oh my gosh! Kitty's a mutant!" and then all the kids started running away as fast as they could. Kitty couldn't believe it. Her? A mutant? It seemed preposterous to her. She had, after all taken and passed the X-gene test. But she had just walked right through that locker door. She ran home as fast as she could. After school that day a mob of students gathered on her large lawn and started screaming and yelling rude mutant comments and telling her to get out of town. The police were called and dispersed the crowd but placed Kitty on "guard" and won't let her leave the house.

After about a half hour searching for a place to land Storm gave up and said, "Oh screw it I'm going into stealth mode and giving us some cover!" She flipped the 'Stealth Mode' switch that caused the helicopter to turn invisible. She then looked out the widow and out at the sky. Her eyes began to go misty and white until they were glowing white. Then a great big fog rolled in over the sunny neighborhood of Kitty Pryde. Storm then landed the helicopter in the Pryde's huge backyard. Storm opened the door and climbed out wearing her blue X-Men uniform that was skin tight on her. Jean soon emerged in her black uniform. They then proceeded to walk around the house to the front door. Jean went into the guards' minds and made them think they had to go to the restroom so they left their post. Jean felt guilty about entering someone's mind without permission but she did not want to be all over the 6 o'clock news.

They then walked right up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A very tall and well built man opened the door and seemed very surprised to see what he thought were trick-or-treaters in their 20's in the middle of July. He then looked outside and was very surprised to see the heavy fog in the middle of July in California.

"Can I help you ladies?" he asked.

"Yes, actually. We come from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and we would like to talk about Kitty," Jean said in her sweetest most pleading tone. It was best not to mess with the family's minds.

"I'm sorry but Kitty isn't going to be seeing anybody for a while. She's, erm, very… sick," he finally got out.

"But you see that's why we're here. We'd like to talk about enrolling Kitty in our school. It's a school for mutants actually. I'd love to talk about it with you if we could just come inside," Storm replied. "And she's not sick, Mr. Pryde. We are not a disease."

He seemed torn between letting in these strangers in funny outfits or calling the police, but he decided to allow them inside.

"MELINDA! KITTY!" he yelled. "We have some visitors! Want to talk about Kitty!"

Soon a very beautiful woman in a nice dress entered the main hallway and said, "Please, come sit down." She led through their beautiful till they reached the back door. "Please, come sit down with my husband, Kyle, while I go get Kitty."

"You don't have to mom, I'm right here," said a voice behind her. Up walked a high school girl wearing a light purple tank top and some volleyball shorts. "Hi, I'm Kitty."

"Hi, I'm Jean, and this is Ororo. We heard about what happened and we want to help you," Jean said.

"Help me? How?" Kitty asked skeptically.

"We're mutants, Kitty. We have the X-gene flowing through our blood. We have been granted these great powers, yet the world hates us. There are some who use their power for bad. They believe that a war is coming. And believe me, they will approach you any day now. They want someone with your talents. We are against those mutants however. We are trying to create peace between mutants and regular humans. We do not want any fighting done. But we cannot stand back and allow this to happen. We have to stop it. You've been exposed Kitty. Everyone in America knows you're a mutant now. Come with us and we can make that stop. At the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters we can teach you to control your powers, be able to use them when you want and not when you don't," Storm explained.

Kitty slumped into her seat and looked at them right in the eye. "So if every mutant has a power, what do you two do? And what about the others at the Xavier Institute?"

Jean replied first, "I'm a telepath. I can read minds and speak through them. I'm also telekinetic."

Kitty's eyes widened. "Show me," she said.

Jean looked at a glass of water on the table next to her. She raised her hand and the glass began to lift. Jean moved the glass across the room over for Kitty to have. Kitty grabbed it out of mid air with a shocked expression on her face.

"I can do much more than that, Kitty," Jean said into Kitty's brain.

"And I, Kitty, can control the weather. Look outside. I brought the fog," Storm explained. She then concentrated and looked out the window. Her eyes once again glowed white and the fog quickly went away to show a bright and sunny day in Los Angeles.

By now Kitty was impressed. She felt like she could trust these two. Like they wouldn't want her or let her live a life where she is an outcast. She always wanted to make a difference and now there's a place for her to fit in. A place where she isn't attacked or made fun of everyday.

"I can… phase through things."

"Kitty!" her mother exclaimed.

"No mom, it's true. I'm a mutant. I need to be able to control my powers. I found a place that will teach me how to do that and where I will fit in. I feel like this is the right thing to do. I trust them," Kitty said.

Her father went over to her and said, "If this is what you really want and it's what is good for you, then I support you 100%."

"Thanks, Dad!" she said and gave him a big hug.

Kitty's mom however sat there with a disapproving face. 'I don't know Kitty. Are you sure you want to be exposed as a mutant?"

"It's better than being locked away, mom. I want to be able to fit in and not be called a freak every time I go outside," she responded. They sat there for another minute until Mrs. Pryde nodded. She couldn't say anything.

"Very well," said Storm, standing up. "You must go pack all of your belongings. You will have a room at the Xavier Institute. At the moment we have plenty of space. Oh and by the way, there is a helicopter in your backyard. Jean and I shall make it visible again and be waiting for you inside. Your parents must just sign a few forms."

Kitty and her parents stared with jaws dropped when they learned about the helicopter. Kitty then went upstairs and packed. When she returned she found her parents still at the back door, waiting to say goodbye.

After all the goodbyes were said and done she went outside to see that Storm wasn't joking. She climbed aboard the helicopter and started her new life as an X-Man.

READ AND REVIEW

SORRY SO LONG, NEXT ONE NOT AS LONG BUT REALLY GOOD. AFTER THIS NEXT ONE THEY WILL COME OUT BI-WEEKLY!