Weeks went by and Serenity kept training with Logan.

A month and a half after her arrival, Logan walked up behind her silently and put a hand on her shoulder.

She let out a yelp, but her powers didn't lash out. Logan grinned down at her proudly. "That was good." He said. She beamed at him. "You want to try a training session with the others?" She chewed on her lip. "If all goes well Storm might decide to give you a uniform."

Her eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." If it was possible, her grin got even bigger, and the flower pot next to her shook a couple of times before quieting again. "Now come on. The session's in five minutes."

The pot rattled a couple more times and went still again. "Five minutes?"

"Keep thinking like that and you may make the entire mansion explode." Logan said, clamping a hand down on her shoulder. He steered her inside and down to the danger room. "Now let's get moving."


Serenity played with the zipper on the training outfit she had been given nervously as Logan walked her into the room. Bobby gave her a small smile and a wave, and a redheaded girl with a streak of white at the front, glared at her from across the room. Deciding to ignore her for the moment, she just stood off to the side, away from the others as Logan began to talk.

"As some of you are bound to know by now, this is Serenity." He said. "Some of you have classes with her. The reason she hasn't been training with you is up to her to tell you or not. Don't push her about it, and I could have to cut you into tiny pieces." Several of the older kids chuckled, knowing he was only halfway kidding.

"Okay. Now on to the more serious stuff. Today's mission?" He smirked. "Hostage situation. Humans and mutants both."

"Who's the human and who are the mutants?" One of the kids asked.

"That's for you to figure out." Logan said with a grin as he headed toward the door. "Bobby, you're on point." The doors shut behind him.

"All right. Now since we don't know who is who, we go easy. No lethal force, no wounding. Disarming only." He looked to a dark-hared boy on the other side of the group. "And no stunts." The kid rolled his eyes. "No showing off either." This he directed at a blonde girl to Serenity's right. "We're a team, and we'll work together."

He grinned. "Now let's kick some ass." The group spread out over the room, and Serenity found herself standing next to him. "You okay?" He asked. "Cause I don't think we're going to get any dishes to throw around this time." Serenity felt her face flush, and she shifted, fiddling with her zipper again.

"I'm good." She said confidently.

The simulation began. The scene changed to that of a bank. There was a man with a knife to a woman's throat to Serenity's right, two more men with hostages on the other side of Bobby. The one to the right was the only one with a weapon though. With a look, Serenity sent the knife flying across the room, burying itself in the wall about two feet to the right of the red-and-white-head's head.

That earned her another glare.

"Don't come any closer!" One of the hostage-takers shouted, his free hand erupting in flames. Bobby cursed under his breath. He was too close to the hostage to get a clear shot with his ice. A cold hand touched Serenity's cheek, and she felt all of her limbs freeze.

"Rouge! No!!" She heard Bobby shout faintly as the room began to spin. Fire raced through her entire body, building up until she felt she couldn't contain it anymore. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as her body began to shake with the pressure of keeping her power inside.

The scene faded as the doors hissed open. Serenity's vision was blurring as she tried to keep her power inside her. The hand disappeared from her cheek as Logan shoved the girl aside, dropping in front of Serenity.

"Everyone out! Now!!" He shouted. All of the younger students fled the room at his yell, but several stayed. "If you like being alive, get out!!" Everyone but Bobby and Rouge ran out.

Logan grabbed Serenity's face between his hands, making her look up at him. She was literally trembling with the amount of power flooding through her veins.

"Serenity! You can control this!" Logan shouted. Bobby was picking the unconscious Rouge into his arms. "Ice Man, get her out of here!" Without a word of protest Bobby ran out of the room, the doors hissing shut behind him. "Serenity! You can control this!" Serenity dropped to her knees, clutching herself as she fought for control. The entire mansion began to shake as though in the middle of an earthquake. Things began to rise up as though gravity had no effect on them anymore.

Students began screaming. Out in the hall, Rouge came to, her eyes flying open as she gasped in breath as though she were a fish. When she and Bobby began to rise into the air, she let out a scream and grabbed onto Bobby.

"Serenity!" Logan exclaimed. Her dark hair was floating around her head, her eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm. . . Trying!!" She ground out.

"Serenity!" She fought it as hard as she could.

Suddenly, gravity was restored to normalcy, and everything in the mansion crashed down to the floor.

Serenity was kneeling on the floor, doubled over so far that her head was touching her knees. She was breathing evenly in deep, shaky breaths. Logan sat down heavily on the floor, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I should have warned you about Rogue." He said darkly. "I didn't think she'd do something like that."

Serenity just nodded, not lifting her head. "She takes people's powers right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then you might want to make sure she doesn't get upset for a while." She muttered, flopping down so she was lying on her side. She sighed heavily as Logan got up. "So. . . I'm going to guess the fitting for my uniform will be a bit delayed?" She asked weakly.

"Only a little bit kid." Logan said. "You think you can walk?"

"No." She sounded as though she were half asleep already. He sighed. He really hoped that she never had to contain her powers when he wasn't around, because he didn't know what she'd do after she passed out.

Shaking his head, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the danger room. Bobby and Rogue were still in the hall, and Bobby stared at them.

"What happened?" He asked. Logan shot Rouge an annoyed look.

"I should ask you that." He said. Rouge glanced down at the floor, properly admonished. "You never take power from your own team without asking the person first. Particularly this one."

"Why?" Bobby asked. "I mean," He added quickly as Logan shot him a glare, "Why especially not her?"

Logan set his jaw, glancing down at the sleeping teen. "Because she might just be more powerful than Jean was." He met Bobby's eyes. "And she doesn't have to professor the keep her from killing us all."


Serenity woke up with a pounding headache and headed down to the kitchen. Logan and Storm were at the table, drinking coffee.

"Morning kid." Logan muttered as she collapsed into a chair and leaned forward, letting her head hit the table with a dull 'thunk.'

"Morning." She muttered into the table.

"Well, I just thought that you ought to know, Rouge won't be doing that again any time soon." Storm said. Serenity gave a dry, humorless laugh.

"Good to know." She said.

"Serenity." The girl looked up at her, blinking blearily. "You've come a long way since you've been here. A really long way." Serenity blinked a couple of more times, and suddenly looked wide awake. She lifted her hands up and looked at them as they trembled.

"Serenity?" Storm's voice showed her concern as she got to her feet. Serenity's breath was coming faster as she blinked back tears in her eyes.

"Something's happening." She said quietly. "I can feel it."

"What's happening?" Storm asked.

"I don't know." Serenity said, returning to normal. She shivered. "I get these horrible feelings like something's going to happen or is happening." She gave them a grim smile. "I've never been wrong." She shook her head. "Though sometimes I wish I was." She shook her head.

"When was the last time you felt something like that?" Storm asked. Serenity sighed.

"Well, the last time was two weeks before I came here." She shivered. "I was watching this debate between senator Hamilton and someone else, and when I looked at Hamilton, I knew something bad was going to happen to him." She paled a little. "Then his family was killed."

"The daughter is still missing." Storm said. Serenity shook her head.

"She may still be missing, but she's also not alive." She shivered again. "But this time it was stronger. Something's happening right now that's going to effect us all." Logan and Storm glanced at each other and had a silent conversation through looks.

Storm gave Logan a 'do you believe her?' Look.

Logan returned with a 'why are you even asking me?'

Storm rolled her eyes, saying 'I don't know what is wrong with you.'

Logan glared at her with a 'I care about her, okay?'

Storm held up her hands and left the room. Logan sat back down at the table.

"She doesn't believe me, does she?" Storm asked. Logan sighed.

"Well, since the professor's gone, she's the one to make all the big decisions around here." He said. "She's not going to believe it until she has some proof." He suddenly frowned at the TV, and grabbed the remote, turning up the volume.

"This miracle cure for mutants that caused so much controversy a year ago is now being shown to be only temporary." A reporter said. Logan snorted.

"Right. Like Rogue didn't notice that part." He muttered darkly. He remembered a couple of weeks before when Rouge had started screaming because Bobby had passes out after kissing her.

"This has brought back many concerns about how the mutants should be handled. This reporter arranged for a meeting with Ambassador Hank McCoy, to hear his take on the issue." The scene switched to show Hank, looking slightly uncomfortable under the bright lights. "So Mr. McCoy-"

"Please, call me Hank."

"Okay, Hank." The reporter smiled at him. "What do you think about the cure not being permanent?"

"Well, I have to say that I was never altogether convinced that it was even possible, until I saw it for myself. After I knew it worked, I was never convinced of its permanence."

"I don't think you answered the question."

"All I'm saying, is that you need to stop calling it a 'cure'. Mutants aren't sick. We don't have some kind of disease, and if we're properly taught to control our abilities, we pose no threat to the world. I never advocated the use of the serum as a weapon, but I suppose that against some it was necessary."

"Do you mean 'some' as in Magneto?"

"Magneto is a prime example of what I speak out against strongly. People put pressure on us to be normal, to look and act like humans. By definition we aren't, but that doesn't mean we can act like savages."

"Right on Hank." Logan muttered, taking a long drink of coffee.

"Do you think Magneto will become a threat again?" The reporter asked. Hank hesitated.

"Magneto may or may not become a threat. He's. . . Hard to predict." He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's hard to say what he will do, but I personally know a group of people that are dedicated to stopping him."

"Are you referring to the group that call themselves the 'X-men'?"

Hank's smile widened. "Of course. Six of us stood alone against the brotherhood on Alcatraz, because we believe that it is possible for us to coexist with the rest of the world."

The reporter smiled. "Thank you Ambassador." She turned to the camera to continue talking, but Logan switched off the TV.

"Well, now isn't that interesting." He smirked at Serenity. "Doesn't that just make you feel all safe?"

"Completely." She muttered, shaking her head. "That's what my feeling must have been about."

Logan frowned. "Yeah, probably." He raised an eyebrow at her. "You ready for some more training today?" Serenity sighed, letting her head fall back over the back of the chair, so she was looking at the ceiling.

"If I have to." She muttered. She grabbed an apple from a basket on the counter and headed back up to her room.

Since it was Saturday, Logan didn't have anything to do until the training session in the afternoon. Come to think of it, no one else had to be up for hours either.

He switched back on the TV, to find the anchor starting another story. "And in other news, the body of Virginia Hamilton, daughter of California state senator Edward Hamilton was found today, washed up on San Francisco beach."

He turned it off again.