I do not own Dragonball Z, X-Men Evolution, Justice League, or Teen Titans

Chapter 02: Adjustments

Rogue walked out of the Danger Room in full X-Men uniform, splattered full across her back and upper body with orange paint. Bobby and Karma following with similar paint jobs shortly after. "Ah man, why does this always happen to me when we get a new person to come here?" A rumble from within the Danger Room spat out two more X-Men. "Where is Caliwone?"

"No one has seen him since last night," Xi'an said, her French accent even more pronounced with annoyance. "Salir Saiyan stupide. Ne peut pas compter sur n'importe qui ces jours."

"What you said," Bobby said off handedly with a nod in the young Vietnamese's direction. "Day one and he's already missed dinner and training."

"Where could he be? I thought he was suppose' to be confined to the Institute," Rogue said, attempting to wipe the orange paint off of her but all she managed to do was smear it around. She gave an annoyed sigh and leaned against the wall, waiting for the others to come out or for the training mission to be over.

"No, he pretty much has free passage here," Bobby said, leaning against the opposite wall. "He's kinda like Logan in that respect."

Rogue gave a sigh-grunt, a noise she made a lot. More of an irritated explosion of air than anything. Another rumble shook the hallway and Nightcrawler and Cannonball stumbled out. "How are we supposed to survive that place? That was insane."

"Yeah, it was crazy in there. What was the professor thinking, man?" Kurt asked. His blue furriness splotched with orange. "Probably expecting that Caliwone guy to be here for this. What's his deal?"

"If you ask me, the guy is full of himself, that's what," Rogue snorted out. "Probably thinks he's too good for this kind of thing."

"I bet we could teach him a thing or two once I get my frost up," Bobby said, his trademarked cockiness ever present.

"Do you ever have a humble moment?" Xi'an asked with flick of her finger to resettle one of her long spiky bangs out of her eyes.

"Who has time to be modest when you're as good as I am, Karma?" Bobby said with a sly wink.

Rogue exchanged a knowing look with Xi'an and together they rolled their eyes. Bobby was such a cocky kid. He had always been that way, ever since he had joined the Institute after that whole Magneto "Asteroid M" thing. That was just part of his deal.

The doors opened once more and the rest of the team, Scott, Jean, Berserker, Jamie, and Sunspot, walked out to join them. "Man, how tough was that?"

"It sure would have been nice to have Caliwone here," Jean said, folding her arms across her chest.

As a group, they headed down the hallway toward the locker rooms to change out of their paint splattered clothing. The mission had been fairly straight forward. Rescue the target despite obstacles and protect all innocent bystanders. They had succeeded with only a few casualties. Problem was, any casualties meant failure. A repeat session was already scheduled for later that afternoon. Right before Logan's session...

Rogue shuddered. Just past nine years at the Institute and his training regiment still gave her nightmares. The group split up at the locker rooms and regrouped in the kitchen. As usual in Mutant Manor, the kitchen area was jam packed with students, one or two of which were readying themselves for high school.

Bagels and cheese spread themselves across the large table along with orange and apple juice. Coffee was sadly absent, Scott, Logan, and Rogue herself being the only ones to actually drink the stuff. The T.V. hanging from one corner was reporting the news at a truly unnecessary volume. Rain and lowering temperatures with a fifteen percent chance of it turning to snow. Terrific.

Rogue snagged a bagel and covered it in cheese before exiting the cacophony. Logan was sitting in the next room over with his newspaper; doing his best to enjoy quiet were there was none. Rogue pulled up a chair next to him, her shoulder blade length hair swaying as she sat down.

Logan peered over the top of his paper to look at Rogue. "Somethin' I can do for ya, stripes?" he asked.

She glanced away for a moment. "Just lookin' for quiet," she said and wiggled her gloved fingers, "I don't do well in crowds."

"Hn," Logan grunted, raising the paper again. "If silence is what your lookin' for, then you'll find it here. But is that what's really botherin' ya?"

Rogue glanced at Logan, trying to pick up any clue from his body language. All she could get though was the top stories for the day that was spread all across the front page in big bold letters. "I guess I'm just tired of always bein' the one has to always be avoidin' everyone else."

"Sounds to me like that's a choice of yours," Logan said. He lowered the paper to glance at Rogue again, "Or you talkin' 'bout your powers?"

"Yeah," Rogue said, not specifying what she was agreeing to. The truth was she didn't know what she wanted. For most of her time here, Rogue had been an outsider, fitting in only on the fringe of the group. Yes, Scott and the others had tried their best to make her feel comfortable here, but the fact of the matter was, she couldn't get close to anybody. Her powers kept her from even giving anyone a normal skin to skin handshake without putting them in the infirmary for the next day or two.

Logan turned back to his paper, sensing Rogue's hesitation. She would come out with it when she was ready. At least, that's what Charles always use to say.

Scott's voice rang out clearly from the next room. "Hey, Karma, Jamie, you guys need a ride to school?"

"En effet. Attendre en haut pour mon, Scott," came Karma's voice, sounding as though her mouth might be slightly full.

"Hey, wait for me, too," came Jamie's voice. Rogue sighed, giving up all together as, outside the window, Scott, Jamie, and Xi'an jumped into Scott's red Shelby Cobra and peeled out all the way through the mansion gates, leaving smell of burned rubber floating into the mansion as smoke rose from the tire tracks. Sometimes, Rogue thought to herself, it just pays to get away for a while.

Caliwone sat on the roof of the mansion, starring up into space. He had been there all night, having no interest in the room he had been given, much preferring to rough it outside. After all, he had been doing it all his life; it was what he was most comfortable with. It had been a while since he had spent any significant time on Earth, being cooped up in the Watch Tower hanging out in space.

There had been no hint of those phantom energies he had sensed before, despite his attempts to locate them from the mansion grounds. He growled under his breath lightly. These goody two-shoes were quite stentorian. He had watched them the night before during their training exercises from the roof, the better to observe their potential. Even during training they insisted on yapping to each other as if it was some kind of sports game or something.

He had chuckled once as one of the students, focusing too much on his talking, had nearly had his head taken off by a steel razor disk that he was suppose to deflect. Logan, Caliwone remembered, had yelled at the kids for nearly five minutes, after which, the talking had come to a near standstill.

From behind him, the roof access door opened and a blue covered beast walked over to Caliwone. "Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, so hallow'd and so gracious is the time," the blue man said, coming to a stop and taking a long drink from his steaming mug.

Caliwone eyed him only semi hostilely, not entirely sure of what he had just said. "And what was that, fuzz ball?" Caliwone asked, doing his best to be polite. It was a strain.

"That was Shakespeare," Beast said, giving Caliwone a quick smile. "One of the greatest playwright's in history. That was a quote from a performance called Hamlet. You should check into his work. Maybe it will suit you."

Caliwone snorted, his tail swaying slightly to keep him balanced on the balls of his feet as he perched on the tip of one of the raised window edges. "Not really my thing."

"Suit yourself," Beast said, taking another drink. "Never know till you try, though. So tell me, what's on your mind that you missed dinner last night and training this morning?"

Caliwone sent another look in Beasts direction. Beast smiled and looked back patiently, refusing to be detoured. Caliwone returned his attention towards the tree line in the back of the mansion, cursing the human species in its entirety. "It is none of your business, blue boy," Caliwone ground out, refusing to open to these creatures. After all, the last time he did that, the Justice League had tried to kill him.

"You know that speaking your problems not only alleviates tension, but also allows for others to seek solutions with a different perspective. Perhaps, when you're ready, you might find a use for that tool." Beast took another sip from his mug. "The problem with being a loner is that it is so lonely." Beast got to his feet and disappeared down the access way, shutting the door behind him.

Caliwone snorted. Beast didn't know the meaning of the word, lonely.

Charles Xavier focused his mind on the billions of tiny light pinpricks that were spread out before him like a vast sea, each ripple representing a single life form. The gold colored ripples were indicating the presence of a normal human, those lacking the X gene that gave mutations their powers. Most of those with that shade either feared or rejected what are now called mutants, humans that do posses the X gene. Their hatred and fear was partially understandable, human's tended to fear what they could not understand.

Of course, Charles Xavier had dedicated his life to helping mutants learn to control their powers and to learn restraint and build morals. What was needed in the world today was a someone that both the human's and mutant's trusted, that could forge peace through fire. Many in the mutant community had been roaring for him to do it, to lead them to peace. Others had been looking to Magneto, Charles's friend and long time enemy, to lead them in a revolution, to demand the rights owed to them.

Once upon a time, Magneto nearly had succeeded in that venture, stopped only by Xavier himself and his students. Of course, the general outcry had been one of hatred toward the Xavier's side, believing in the Malcolm X approach of war than in Xavier's Dr. King method of peace through friendship. Alas, however, humanity had found out about mutants and fear had gripped the country side. That fear was still living free, fueled even more by the ever increasing violet pinpricks that melded with the gold.

To the right of the large projected map, a profile of a young girl covered in feline fur rotated slowly.

Confirmed Mutant Identification

Name: Maria Callasantos

Age: 17

Location: Up State New York

Mutant Type: Partially Developed

Mutant Class: C

Parents: Deceased

Siblings: Deceased

Notes: Child has experienced tragedy in her past, and has responded in situations since with extreme rage and violence.

Charles Xavier removed the cerebral interface from his head, the system that amplified and focused his mental powers to their absolute limit, and set the headset onto its cradle. Turning, Xavier rolled out of the large spherical room and down the corridor and into an elevator. The doors shut and the elevator hummed its soft tune to itself. The doors slid open to the main floor and Xavier rolled himself out.

Charles paused as he passed the kitchen area. "Say, Kurt, could you gather Hank and Rahne and the three of you meet me in the planning room?" Xavier asked Kurt who had his back to the door with his demon like tail swaying behind him.

Kurt turned to look at Xavier, his mouth filled with what looked like two average sized oranges. "Rishj asjay, Probhfc," Kurt said. Charles lifted his eyebrows slightly, taking that jumbled mess as 'Right away, Professor'.

"Thank you, Kurt," Xavier said and wheeled away toward the planning room to gathering his thoughts on this troubled child and how best to approach the situation at hand. He parked himself in the planning room to wait for his team.

It wasn't a long wait. Hank McCoy, Beast, walked into the room carrying a green sports jacket and matching sweats that looked way to small for him with a red colored wolf trotting eagerly on his heels, her emerald green eyes far too intelligent to be a mere wolf. Kurt popped in, his customary sulfuric cloud of reentry gasses burning the hair in Xavier's nose for a moment. Kurt hopped over the couch he had teleported behind to land perched on one of couch cushions. The red haired wolf gave Kurt what could have been mistaken for a very human look of amusement before transforming itself into a young human woman, fully clothed in her skin tight X Men outfit. Taking the jacket and pants from Beast, Rahne slipped them on and focused her emerald green eyes that matched her wolf's counter-part on the Professor.

"Here is the situation," Xavier said, interlocking his fingers and avoiding the preamble. "A new mutant has surfaced in upstate New York with a mutation that does not allow her to blend in with humans very well."

"What's the big deal with that?" Nightcrawler asked, his own appearance, a fuzzy blue elf with a demon tipped tail, fitting that description. Rahne and Beast nodded.

"The problem is, Maria Callasantos has had a very tough life, what with her family murdered and people not willing to help her for the simple fact of the way she looks. The poor child has resorted to violence when dealing with discrimination. Of course, those efforts only encourage hostilities from the locals, much like a vicious circle kind of relationship. What this tortured child needs is a place of safety, devoid discrimination and hatred."

"When you say violent," Beast questioned cautiously, "to what degree are we talking?"

Xavier shook his head slightly. "Very. Several people have already had to be checked into hospitals from her attacks."

"Doesn't sound like a very good idea to me to bring her here, Professor," Rahne said, her heavy Scottish accent giving more of an impression of uneasiness then she probably intended.

"All I hope to accomplish on this mission is to have a chance to talk with her, try to calm her from this rage that seems to possess her," Xavier said. In many people's opinions, his one great downfall was his trust in people. There were times when he, himself, could not believe the choices he was making. Now was one of those times.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to go take a look," Beast said, sounding more than a little reluctant. Perhaps he, too, felt Xavier was pushing his envelope of kindness as well. "I guess you chose us because of our appearance?"

Xavier nodded. "I think that connecting with her in this fashion might alleviate some of her tension, allowing her to become more open to the possibility of joining the institute here. One way or another, she is a danger to herself and others while she is on the streets. I think the best time to meet with her would be later tonight, where she will be less likely to be hostile. She has a tendency to stay hidden during the night to avoid humans."

Beast nodded. "Alright, Professor. We should be able to do this considering how cute the three of us all are."

The engines of the SR-72 Blackbird hummed sweetly as the group ran through the final preflight checklist. Kurt, in the back of the cabin, looked out of the forward view port, impatient despite the simplicity of the mission. Beast and Rahne finished the checklist with all systems in the green and three were pressed back into their cushioned seats as the Blackbird rocketed out through the underground tunnel and out the hidden entrance into the sky.

The skies were clear of clouds to block the quarter moon and other aircraft as Beast turned the ship upstate. "Alright you two," Beast said, setting the jet to auto pilot and swiveling around in his chair to face the two younger X-Men. A display on the main council glowed and projected a three dimensional image of the mission's objective.

The girl was a shock to see, even for this group. She still had human features but her face was fur covered in brown hair that extended wildly once it reached her natural hairline. Her ears where pointed similar to Kurt's and a cat-like tail that stretched outward from the rest of her fur covered body that finished off her feline features. "Here is the plan. Charles is going to give us support from Cerebro once we land so make sure you both have your headsets with you."

Rahne lifted her hand lazily to show she had hers ready and waiting. Kurt looked at Beast wide eyed. "Who said anything about communication gear?"

Beast clapped a hand over his eyes and shook his head. There was a pop and smell of sulfur from Kurt's direction. By the time Beast looked back a Kurt's seat, there was another pop and Kurt reappeared holding his headset in one three fingered hand and snickering. "Come on, Mr. McCoy," Nightcrawler chided. "How long have you known me?"

"Very nice, Kurt," Beast said, smiling back, "We'll make you into real X-Man yet. But where is your flashlight?"

This time, real realization crossed Kurt's face as he realized he had not remembered to bring one. Beast grinned and turned back to his displays, tossing the extra light he had brought for Kurt over his shoulder to the blue elf.

The three X-Men walked down the ramp of the jet and made their way down to the streets. According to the Professor, Maria should be somewhere within a mile or so, Cerebro not being able to pinpoint her exact location. Rahne huddled deeper inside of her jacket as the cold bit at her cheeks. This was not going to be pleasant.

Snow had begun to fall, leaving maybe an inch or two already stuck to the ground, turning New York City into a premature winter wonderland. The Empire State building glowed like an expensive Christmas card off in the distance, the lighted backdrop and moon suiting it quite nicely. It also made tracking quite difficult.

"Alright, Rahne," Beast said, turning toward her, apparently not noticing her huddling posture. She sighed and removed her jacket. The winter wind sliced through her immediately like steel knives, chilling her to the bone on the spot. She hurriedly removed the wind breaker pants she was wearing over her uniform black pants and fell into her wolf form. Red hair sprouted over her body, her muscles and bones shifting and reshaping within her. It was painless and soundless, although even if it had a sound to it, the skin scrapping sounds of taxi cabs and New York City's famous aggressive drivers would have drowned them out anyway.

It only took her a couple of seconds to finish her transformation, her fresh new coat doing a decent job of filtering out the cold. She lowered her nose to the ground, sniffing for anything she could pick up, the job made more difficult with the lack of a base scent to draw on. Fortunately, her scent was quite distinct. It was a smell of felines mixed with a very human smell of neglected hygiene.

They headed off, confirmation from Professor Xavier telling them they were on the right track. They walked down West 56th street, cutting across Broadway to catch 8th street going north to Columbus Circle. From there, the scent lead them into Central Park, past the giant stone pillars and into the tree line. The trees, mostly leaf less now of course, caught the snowy drift, creating a canopy of heaven and blocking out the headquarters for Time Warner to the west.

They hadn't made it very deep into the trees when a cackling snarl split the air. The group paused, listening. Rahne transformed herself half way back to human, looking more Werewolf than anything, her human form eclipsed by wolfish features.

"Alright, team," Beast said softly. "That sounded like our girl." Kurt nodded, deactivating his image inducer to reveal his fuzzy blue elf-ness. The team split up, keeping in communication via the headsets. Rahne was about a quarter mile away from the rest of the group when she heard a tree branch crack. She looked up and saw the feral looking girl drop down silently toward her, claws raised and teeth bared to attack.

To be continued...

Well, this could be bad for Rahne and how will Maria handle this new situation she has now found herself in?

Will Beast and Nightcrawler make it in time to help?

Thanks for the reviews thus far! I am glad to see you guys are excited to see what Caliwone's future holds.

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