A/N: I know Sky, I know. I should be updating All That Glitters and I promise I will at half term…really I will. It's not this week but the week after and I should have a lessened work load as compared to this week with two essays, one on Romeo and Juliet and the other on Pride and Prejudice. English is so much fun! So basically this fic is an idea I've been nurturing for a while now and I wanted to get it out into the open so that my newest OC isn't bouncing around in my mind.

To all new readers (basically everyone but sky), I'm a bit of an OC freak I can't really write without a new OC in the mix, as it just seems wrong. Plus I have an overactive imagination and time to kill! So I give you this story,

AU obviously where Xavier's Institute for the Gifted never existed and the mutant menace has not been discovered as yet. Those with seemingly strange abilities, teenagers mostly are either ignored or abandoned. However in Scotland, a young woman named Moira McTaggert has created a new institution. This isn't you're cuddly Moira in the original series, she's an iron woman with a will of steel to make sure her charges don't misbehave.

See, the children attending McTaggert's institution for the gifted young offenders is for the mutants that have gone bad or seemingly gone bad and it's up to her to straighten them out and fast. A boarding school in Scotland, in the moors away from civilisation is where our story starts.

"So, anything particularly interesting happening today Miss McTaggert?" The question posed every morning by the teenager shuffling papers and glancing up at her boss with quiet grey eyes.

"Not particularly Katherine, to be perfectly honest it's mostly admin work. You know, the usual making sure the menus for the week are satisfactory, the laundry rota updated, the cleaning staff happy. We have… two new students arriving as well at about Noon" The older woman murmured, her scarlet hair bound back and tied into a severe bun as she looked at two folders on her desk.

The layout of the room wasn't unusual, a desk at the back facing the rest of the room with a window at the back. Four bookcases lined the burgundy walls, the rich wine carpet complimented by a white rug near a crackling fire. This was the headmistress and disciplinarian of the school's solace where only her aide, Katherine Pryde was allowed to enter. Fingerprint and retinal scanner at the door prevented any intruders no matter how criminally gifted they may happen to be. A bit extreme perhaps but it never hurt to be careful especially in such an 'interesting' school.

"So, do you want me to sort them out in the dorms? Genders?" The question posed by Katherine as she sat at her own desk located in a corner with a large wooden walk in closet next to her. For such a closet contained the school's permanent records and was more precious then all the money in the safe behind the painting at Moira's desk. Miss McTaggert glanced at her old student; formerly the best cat burglar in Illinois Katherine or Shadowcat as she was dubbed by the press had made a remarkable turn around, one of Moira's success stories that such an infamous young woman could become so respectable in such a short time.

Katherine's hair was long and loose in artificial curls with her large blue eyes scanning the page that dictated what dormitories were empty or occupied. Here at the Institution there was a policy of only having two to a room to create a bonding. Children tended to repent their behaviour when they had a strong hold on a friend or roommate to accompany them on the trip towards redemption.

"Here" Moira said, her accent calm as she gave the two folders to Katherine who nodded and began to scan the documents. "Interesting" The American girl replied, her accent and colloquial language almost extinct from the years at the Institution that sometimes had a special class in public speaking and diction for those with slang that they didn't want anymore. So had Katherine thrown herself into representing herself as a respectful young woman that could go out into the world and not be labelled instantly as a "valley girl."

"Aren't they just, a shape shifter and a nocturnal manip at the same time. One from our own bonny Scotland and the other from Cambridge, look here she has Russian routes." Moira intoned and Katherine nodded her agreement. "Interesting abilities, so what have they done to earn themselves a place here at our established institute for gifted young offenders?" Katherine asked, eyes afire with curiosity.

"One, the shape shifter was hunted down by her village claiming that she had stolen their chickens and sheep to cook and eat. Of course with her alternate form I doubt she'd cook them before eating but it's good that they've assumed that she is merely stealing them. She also has a charge of possessing magical abilities. That's the problem I'm afraid and she's a foster child so she's been foisted on us. It's these country backwaters that give Scotland a bad name" Moira said, anger entering her pose as Katherine raised a brow. It wasn't often her boss and mentor got angry but when she did fireworks flew.

"What about the other?" She asked, hoping to distract Miss McTaggert from an impending rage. "She's even more interesting, it seems that this young woman induces sleep into the owners of houses and promptly burgles them." Katherine flinched, an impromptu reminder of her old life was all she needed right now. Maybe it would be best to avoid the new child, as not to drag up painful memories. No such luck. "I would like you to be their mentor" Another policy of the Institution that all students in groups of two or three would be looked after by a member of staff that they could talk to if the need arise. However they didn't encourage the mentor to be someone to whine to, the students were here to learn and not to be babysat.

"B-both?" Katherine asked, swallowing. Ordinarily she'd be thrilled that such an opportunity has arisen, she was technically only a glorified secretary and to be given this task meant she was one step closer to becoming a proper teacher, a dream she'd nurtured since becoming Moira's assistant. Miss McTaggert nodded curtly and then glanced at the dormitory chart.

"Put them both in room 14, it's large and slightly isolated from the other girls. A blue room too, an added bonus so they're not under constant surveillance but we have a systematic check." Moira smiled. The institution was a large manor house with several buildings. In the student's residential areas, there was a female and male section with a camera at both entry points to make sure that no "hanky panky" occurred between students. That's all Moira needed, a baby in the Institution. They only accepted students from thirteen and up unless a latent mutant arrived and the child had preteen powers.

Then the rooms were colour coded, black was constant surveillance with a guard on standby, red was constant surveillance and iron bars over the windows. Blue was monitored surveillance, grey was occasional surveillance and white was those whom were ready to leave the institution and had their privacy. Such a system took time and money, but Moira under indirect employment from the UN and EU had both to spare.

"Are you sure you want them isolated?" Katherine asked, curious at this. Usually the policy would be for the newest students to be thrown in at the deep end to show that she needed to become adept at social interaction. "The nocturnal manip can't sleep if there's too many people around as she visits their dreams." Was the calm reply as Katherine nodded.

"Well let's hope they settle in quickly" Was the final thought of both women as twelve o'clock drew steadily closer.

A/N Okay, first chapter out of the way, I hope y'all liked it since I spent quite a bit of time on it. I know it's different and strange but I'm both so…anyway as you'd notice Kitty is there and non valley girl! Who else do you want to be a student at the Institution? I'm taking suggestions, and I really don't mind as long as you give me a suggestion. Remy is an obvious choice since he's already a thief but I was thinking of a different idea for him…who do you think the shape shifter is? Any OC's of your own or maybe even a couple of you want to be placed in the alternate X-universe? Well if you do well in your review –hopefully- say the name you'd go by, age, powers and what you'd done to earn you a place at the institution. Oh and of course, where you're from like America, England, Mars I don't know.

So comments etc are welcome,

Di