The rest of the day went slow as I was introduced to everyone else: Jane; the girl who could heal any wound and cook a mean apple pie, Jake; the naïve kid who often got in trouble adventuring and inspired hope as a power, Rufioh; the incredible Peter Pan with his fairy wings, Mituna; the older brother of Sollux and a very powerful telekinetic mutant, Kankri; the talkative older brother of Karkat that is absolutely and completely Insufferable, Latula; the rad older sister of Terezi who caused major headaches, Aranea; the older sister of Vriska who shares the mind controlling powers but is smarter and has better control of her powers, Cronus; the greaser with the hypnotic singing voice, and Meenah; the totally punk rock girl with gills and above average speed, strength, and agility creating a mean lean fighting machine.

I went to bed later that day in my own room after taking my first shower in a really long time. Karkat kept on surfacing in my mind and plaguing my thoughts until I got sick of being a lovesick Romeo and decided to think about something else. I began to count up how many mutants I had meet today and I realized that I had only meet nineteen of the twenty students. That meant that there was one more mutant lurking around.

Maybe he didn't want to show his face. Or maybe he was one much for social interaction. As I tried to come up with a reason for why this twentieth mutant had not shown up that day I drifted off to sleep. The last thing came upon my mind was a vague warning Rose had supplied me with earlier, but suddenly disappeared from my thought as sleep surrounded me and I drifted off into a deep slumber.

The next morning I woke up and got dressed. For once, I got a good sleep. Dreamless sleep is always a good sleep because there are no nightmares to terrorize your night.

Waking up at the Mansion felt strange. I felt safe and secure. I hadn't felt this way in a really long time. On the road I was often found waking up in open and unsafe places. Back home there was always the chance of a surprise morning attack so I always had to be on the top of my game. I was off my guard because of this strange feeling. That feeling lead to the next disaster.

Half-asleep and unaware, I opened my door, strangely ajar, and a bucket of ice cold water fell on my head. The ice and water dripped down my back shocking me awake and giving me an unexpected shower. I must have jumped three feet in the air, but I at least land nimbly on my feet so no further humiliation was done on to me.

As I removed the bucket from my head, I heard a jolly laughter ring through the air, turning into a heavy laugh as if the old prank was really the funniest thing on the earth.

"Ohmygog!" the boy gasped. He was my age, had square glasses, black hair and a jolly buck-toothed smile. He was doubled over, but the strange thing was, that he was floating. Wind circulated around him as he levitated off the ground, rolling around with the wind as his hammock, bending to his will. "I can't believe you actually fell for that! I thought you were supposed to be a Strider!"

I felt anger rush up inside of me. it was really just as a reaction to the embarrassment, but before I knew it time was slowing down. Time would seem to be going normal for everyone else around me, but in reality it was slowing time. I was inside the time stream and everything around me was covered with a red light. I looked around and my sword was lying on the ground next to me.

I had lost my sword too many times to count, but since I put it in the time stream, it would always be there for me to grab at any time. I picked up the sword and time sped up to normal speed. As time became normal, I swung my sword right over John's laughing face, cutting off a few hairs scaring him out of his laughing fit.

"Fuck! Where'd you get the sword!" the boy exclaimed surprised.

"I hid it," I answered. "So who the fuck are you?"

"John Egbert," John introduced himself. "Co-Leader of the team, prankster, and manipulator of the wind."

"You lead the team with Karkat?" I asked confused. Unlike Karkat, John did not have the wind of being a leader one him. He seemed more the like one to get voted 'the class clown' in the school year book than lead a team of super-powered mutants.

"Yeah!" John answered landing on the ground. "I'm more of a friend-leader than a leader-leader like Karkat."

"Makes sense," I agreed.

"So you're new. Who are you?" John asked me.

"Dave Strider, time traveler," I introduced myself.

"Nice to meet you Dave!" John held out his hand. I mistakenly shook it as a sign of good gesture. Instead, all I got was a shock up the spin from the deadly joy buzzer.

"Hahaha!" John laughed as I glared at him. The prankster strikes again. I was already to go full ninja on him when I had the ingenious idea of beating the prankster at his own game.

I slowed time again and threw the sword back with the other one, so I now had two swords on hand. I leaned down and quickly tied John's shoelaces together. He wouldn't know what hit him because to him, I was moving at lightning speeds.

When I brought the speed of time back to normal, John didn't suspect anything.

"Did you just flinch?" John asked me.

"No," I replied. "Hey, we get breakfast here, right?"

"Totally!" John replied.

"Can you show me where the kitchen is?" I asked him innocently.

"Sure!" John agreed. He took one step forward and fell flat on his face. "Hey! How'd you tie my shoelaces together?"

"I control time," I replied. "I don't just travel through it."

"Cheater," John pouted as he untied his shoelaces.

"Oh and pranking is fair?" I replied.

"Pranking is pranking," John replies standing up. "But don't worry; I have a few tricks up my own sleeve."

"Hey, you pranked me twice, and I pranked you once, I say we're unevenly fair," I replied, not trying to start anything.

"No one pranks the pranker!" John declared triumphantly.

"No one messes with a Strider," I answered. "So are we going to breakfast or what?"

"Sure!" John agreed. "But don't think that I'm going to forget this."

"I'm not betting on it," I replied. I followed John down to the kitchen. The kitchen was unsurprisingly filled with hungry mutants, all whom have had their fill with still plenty more left to eat.

I grabbed a pile of food, as hungry as four neon-colored hungry, hungry, hippos and sat down at an open spot between Rose and Terezi. As I sat down, I was not surprised when my plush rump was stopped from making contact with the butt of the chair by a red whoopee cushion. The farting noise came out, but was drowned by the excited morning talk before everyone departed to school. I pulled whoopee cushion from underneath my ass and threw it behind my head as John giggled from across the table.

"John?" Rose questioned.

"Yep," I answered before digging in.

"I warned you," Rose informed me of the 'I told you so' I deserved.

"I know," I grumbled back.

Breakfast continued on, and before everyone was going to part their ways Xavier came into the kitchen with Storm and a man called Logan following him.

"Students, there seems to be a problem," Xavier began. "A mutant known as the Vanisher has been teleporting into museums undetected and stealing important artifacts before teleporting miles away to a secret hideout."

"Isn't' this the police's business?" I asked, new to this situation.

"It could be," Xavier answered. "But we don't want the news about mutants reaching the press yet. It is better that we deal with rogue mutants like these ourselves before we let the police handle them."

"Do we know where he's going to hit next?" Aranea asked curiously.

"No," Xavier answered. "But I have a feeling he's going to try something bigger since his last heists were successful. We must try to find his hiding spot and stop him before things get out of hand."

"But if we attack his hide-out he'll just teleport away so we won't be able to get him," Aradia pointed out.

"And how would be even find his hideout?" Mituna asked.

"I have that all planned out," Xavier answered. "Just be ready to suit up when you return from school."

The meeting was over and everyone departed. I was left behind with my breakfast as Storm, Xavier, and Logan were also leaving with the crowd. I felt kinda empty now that I was all alone and no one was here to talk to me. If all my days at the Mansion were going to be like this, it was going to be a boring existence. There was always the Danger Room, but that wasn't going to make me happy forever.

I sadly continued on with my breakfast before Xavier paused from exiting the room.

"And Dave?" Xavier started. I looked up as I chewed my food and Xavier continued now that he had my attention. "I have a special mission for you. Come with me."

Xavier left the room and I got up and ran after him. He went into the study where as he entered, one of the walls of the study moved up to reveal a large piece of machinery.

"Dave, this piece of machinery is Cerebro," Xavier began to explain. "It finds new mutants when their powers have just manifested, and amplifies my telepathic ability."

"So this is how you found me?" I guessed.

"No," Xavier answered. "Your powers manifested long before I got wind of your existence. Faking your own death helped you to hide yourself from the public and the mind's eye."

"So how did you find me?" I asked confused.

"Time travel is a fickle thing Dave," Xavier continued. "You yourself know that."

"Time travel seems pretty clear to me," I replied. "It's probably just because I just grew up understanding how time works. Part of my mutant power, or something like that."

"Yes," Xavier agreed. "Well, I found you because you yourself told me where I would find you. That may be confusing-"

"So Future-Dave told Past-Xavier where to find Past-Dave?" I asked using my own time travel terms.

"Exactly," Xavier agreed.

"So I need to go back in time and tell you where you should find myself?" I then asked.

"Yes," Xavier continued. "And at the time when I was approached by Future-Dave, as you said yourself, I was investigating the Vanisher's last break-in."

"So I have the mission to go into the past, tell you where to find me, and try and find where the Vanisher was hanging out without actually taking him on," I guessed.

"Very good Mr. Strider," Xavier replied. He rolled over to the couch where there was a white box. He handed it to me and continued explaining. "You understand your mission. Find the Vanisher's hide-out and tell me where I would find the past Dave."

"What's this? A welcoming gift?" I asked looking at the box.

"Somewhat," Xavier answered. "Open it."

I opened the box and inside was my own super suit, dark blue with a red cog symbol on it.

"That is what you were wearing when I saw you for the first time," Xavier explained. "I would suggest that you put that on before embarking on your mission."

"It's strange how some ideas are never actually thought of, but the time stream just makes them because you either hear or see an idea, then you just translate it to your present time," I tried to explain looking at the super suit.

"Yes, it is strange," Xavier agreed. "And good luck."

I ran to my room, changed my costume, and I was off on my first mission.