Storm was sitting in the lounge, looking over a few of the files of the students who'd just joined the mansion a few days before. She opened one of the files and began to read it.
Inside the file was a photo of a boy around 16 years old, he had short light blond hair and pale grey eyes. It said his name was Sarin Solarna and he was from San Diego, apparently his powers involved being able to turn sunlight into energy, which the professor had dubbed white fire and he could control the temperature of the white fire he created and was also capable of flight, he'd gotten into trouble before for misusing his powers. Storm smiled as she read the last part remembering the trouble her own nephew had gotten into before he'd joined the institute.
The Professor had assigned each of the senior mutants at the academy, herself, Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast and himself a couple of the new students to keep an eye on, to make sure they didn't misuse their powers and get into trouble and each had been given a file containing information about the students they were supposed to keep an eye on. When the institute had been revealed as a academy for mutants it had been a double edged sword, now everyone knew what it was many parents now wanted to send their mutant children there but because more and more mutants were being discovered all over the world the academy, one of the very few places in the world that could train mutants how to control their powers, was finding it hard to cope, the students who'd left when the Institute had been destroyed had returned shortly after the defeat of Apocalypse and that fact that Jean Grey had left a few weeks before to attend university in a nearby city didn't help either. She still visited the institute regularly but she wasn't there often enough to be able to keep an eye on any students which was easy if they needed her to teach a class in her spare time but useless for anything else.
Storm wondered what the Professor would do about this while she was reading through the files of the other two students in her charge.
The second file she read was that of Dana Hush. Storm could relate to this young mutant because like her she'd lived on the streets for most of her life after her parents had died when she was very young and no one had cared enough about her to want to look after her. It said her powers included super speed, advanced reflexes and telepathy and that she knew how to fight, something Storm had had to learn when she'd been living on the streets herself when she was younger.
The final file was that of Zander Kaze. This silicon valley born mutant from California had rich parents and had powers similar to Storms own abilities, he was able to control wind and clouds, giving him similar power to hers, which Storm thought was the reason Xavier had entrusted his well-being to her.
Storm stood up and left the lounge, the first official training session with the new students wasn't for another few days and she hadn't watered the plants in her garden up on the very top floor of the institute that day. She thought she'd be able to handle the three students in her charge but she doubted the others would be so lucky.
Meanwhile upstairs Sarin was just waking up, his roommate wasn't up yet and he opened the curtains on his side of the room, looking out at the rising sun, remembering what had happened the day before when he'd officially enrolled at the Xavier institute for gifted children.
The day before"I'm sure you've all heard of this institute one way or another. This is a place for those with extraordinary gifts, many of you here have experienced hardship and suffering at the hands of others simply for being what you are. This institute is a place where those with special gifts are welcome and a place where you can learn to control them and use them for the benefit of all mankind, both humans and mutants" the Professor said, from the looks on the students face he knew many of them had.
"I know you have a lot of questions and I will be more than happy to answer every single one of them, as will the teachers here at the institute" he added.
"Wait, there's teachers here? Does this mean we don't need to go to school anymore" Sarin asked, hoping that was the case.
"No, I'm afraid you'll still need to attend regular school, you've all been enrolled in Bayville high school and will begin there at the start of the next school year" the Professor told him.
"In the meantime there will be lessons here at the institute, and you've all been assigned a teacher who will help you settle in here and answer any questions you have." as the professor said those words, Wolverine stepped forwards and pointed at the girl with the dark sunglasses and the boy and girl on either side of her.
"O.K, you three are with me, let's go set you up with your roommates" he said, the three new students stood up and followed him inside the mansion.
Beast then appeared and took three other students, the boy who'd been drawing on the sketchpad, another of the girls who'd been sitting under the tree and the boy with red hair inside to show them their rooms and roommates.
Cyclops appeared and took the boy with blue hair, the girl who'd been sitting next to him and another of the boys who'd been sitting under the tree. He also pointed at the figure who'd been sitting under the tree and then Nightcrawler suddenly teleported next to the figure.
"We'll need to set you up with a holowatch first" he said before teleporting both himself and the figure away to get the figure a holowatch, whatever one of those was.
Finally Storm walked over to the three remaining students and took them inside to meet their roommates. She introduced him to his roommate, a boy with blond and orange hair called Beserker. They'd gotten on pretty well and Beserker had told him all about the battle against Apocalypse. They'd stayed up most of the night, telling each other their life stories and had finally decided to go to sleep around midnight.
"Good to see you're a morning person, there isn't a lot those in this place" said a voice form behind him. Sarin turned around, realizing Beserker must have just woken up.
"Come on, we'd better get down to breakfast before there's nothing left" he said.
"Is it normally bad? Sarin asked, changing into a pair of white jeans and a white t-shirt with an orange phoenix design on it.
"You'll see why when we get there" Berserker said, changing into the clothes he normally wore when he wasn't training or on a mission.
Once they reached the kitchen Sarin realised why, it was utter mayhem. Shadowcat was phasing through everyone to get some cereals, one of the new students was using her power to turn into a ghostly silver version of herself and float through everyone to get some more coffee and Nightcrawler was teleporting everywhere and getting in everyone's way. After a few minutes the bedlam died down and Professor Xavier came into the kitchen.
"You'll be having your first danger room training session tomorrow, for today, feel free to explore the institute and it's grounds, or Bayville" he told them all telepathically.
A few minutes later Dana Hush was walking from the institute to the town of Bayville, accompanied by over a dozen of her fellow students. After the professor had told everyone they were free to explore Cyclops had offered to take some of them down to Bayville so they could explore the town and Dana and her roommate Katie, another of the new students were part of the group. They arrived in Bayville and the large group had broken up into several smaller ones and they'd agreed to meet back at the music store near the center of the town in a few hours. Dana and Katie both decided to check out the mall along with Shadowcat, Rogue and a few of the new students. As the went to the mall they passed a building and saw a two headed eagle spray painted on the wall of the building along with the letters P.O.H spray painted below it, the X-men dismissed it as just a piece of graffiti but all of them had the feeling something bad was going to happen.
Cyclops and some of the students decided to head to the food court while Kitty and a few of the girls went to check out the gap, and the gothic members of the group went with Rogue to look at the Hot Topic in the mall. One of the new students who'd gone to the food court was Tai Habu, who'd never seen anything like the mall in his homeland of the Philippines.
"You guys should seriously try that pizza place over there, they make the best pizzas in Bayville" Cyclops said, motioning towards a Pizza Hut on the far side of the food court.
"Don't forget that rib place over there, or the burger stand, or the ice cream store" Nightcrawler said, having committed all of the places to memory.
"Does he think of anything else apart from food?" Tai asked Cyclops.
"I doubt it, Kurt thinks with his stomach instead of his head most of the time" Cyclops replied, laughing. Neither of them, nor any of the other students noticed another teenager walking towards them, he had short brown hair and very cold looking brown eyes, as if he held the students in less regard than the garbage strewn on the floor of the food court. As he passed Tai his left hand shot out and grabbed Tais wrist, he then tightened his grip and smashed the holowatch Tai was wearing around his left wrist. Almost immediately Tais human appearance, his short black hair and dark blue eyes flickered then vanished, to be replaced by his true form. When the other students saw it they all realised why Tai had hidden his true form the day before.
Tais true form resembled a horrifying cross of human and serpent. He lacked human legs and his lower body resembled that of an enormous serpent, he had a long tail like a snakes that uncoiled and spread out along the ground a few feet behind him, he did have arms but they were thinner than human arms normally were and the fingers resembled reptilian claws. His head didn't look like a humans either but resemble that of a cobras, he even had a hood like a cobras. His skin was light yellow on the front and dark brown on his back, his eye had reptilian slits for pupils and were dark yellow in color, he had serpentine fangs in his mouth and a forked tongue as well that flickered out every few seconds. His eyes widened with fear when he realised that the holowatch was no longer hiding his true form, at the same time the eyes of the people nearest him filled with rage, fear, hatred and anger.
"Hey, it's a mutant, a filthy freakin mutant" one of the boys nearest Taipan called out, he had the same doubled headed eagle symbol on the back of his football jacket and the letters P.O.H beneath it that had been spray painted outside the mall, although no-one paid any attention to it, yet.
"He's a mutant"
"Get lost freak, we don't want your kind around here"
"Yea, hit the road mutie" other men called out, all with the same insignia on their clothes.
Tai merely stared at them like a deer caught in the headlights, to stunned and scared to even move, let alone speak. Fortunately his fellow students spoke for him.
"Hey back off, he's got just as much a right to be here as you guys" Bryce Naie called out.
"Yea, back off hot shots, if you guys want to beat up mutants try beating up all of us" Sarin said, stepping forward to stand next to Tai. Beserker and Bryce stepped forwards as well, Bryce unwrapped one of the bandages that covered the palm of his hand and Beserker charged up his own electrical energy. One of them stepped forwards and Tai automatically reacted, he opened his mouth, revealing his venomous fangs and sprayed a stream of venom at the boy, hitting him in his face, or more specifically, his eyes. The boy immediately clutched his face and dropped to the floor, howling in agony as the venom attacked his eyes, slowly blinding him.
"You see, mutants are a danger to everyone, think of what would have happened if that had been one of your kids, we need to get rid of them all" a boy screamed fanatically from the back of the food court, it was the same one who'd destroyed Tais holowatch a few seconds earlier, his face was ablaze with hatred and he had a small badge with the letters P.O.H and a double headed eagle insignia on the collar of his football jacket. Everyone in the food began muttering angrily to one another.
"Come on guys, let's get out of here" Cyclops said, ushering the students away from the food court, Rogue and Kittys groups met up with them and they all left the mall and Bayville and headed back to the mansion.
"Man, and I thought my powers were inconvenient" Sarin said to Tai as they walked back to the mansion.
"You don't know the half of it" Tai replied solemnly, hissing like a snake as he spoke, slithering forwards.
"I thought there was a reason I didn't see you yesterday, you were the one who was wearing that hooded coat weren't you? The one that blue guy teleported away with"
"Yess that wass me, the Professsssor gave me that watch, it hidesss my real appearance" Tai said, looking at the broken watch and hoping the Professor would be able to fix it.
"I don't blame you, if I looked like that I'd have used a watch like that one as well" Bryce said, not noticing how miserable Tai looked at the moment. Luckily Sarin did.
"One time, I was walking past a fireworks store and I created some white fire, it set off every firework, I nearly got arrested" he told Tai.
"When I was at my first high school I went on a field trip to a museum, my wind powers blew over all the paintings and sculptures, I got kicked out of school" Zander said, the group had now reached the institute and had stopped.
"I phased right through my bed and I woke up in the basement" Kitty said.
"My powers made everyone think I was a vampire"
"I once electrocuted my boyfriend"
"I blew up my hometown"
"I helped free Apocalypse" Tai smiled as he heard the others tell him about how they'd all messed up with their powers, for once, he felt he might actually fit in, the Institute seemed like a good idea after all.
In chapter 3 – The new students are placed into teams and given their first shot at the danger room, but will they be able to work together and use their powers to make sure they all reach the end of the course in one piece?
