A/N: Yep...even bullies have reasons though.

Volume: 0 Arc: "" Issue: 1/1)

Chapter 3: girl in the background

Laura followed the sound of shouting voices, all she seemed to do in this place. Someone was always angry. There were a bunch of young adults—
the people she'd seen, earlier, in the recreation room—dressed in colorful costumes. She leaned against the wall, watching. Her eyes found the loud
one from earlier—as she'd mentally dubbed him. She wasn't sure why she liked to look at him; she'd seen plenty of developed physical specimens
before. Maybe it was the fact that he had snapped at her earlier—people her age were usually too afraid to say anything at all to her, especially
after hearing what she could do. The way Logan had introduced her had sufficiently listed her capabilities. And still.

"I'm Colossus again…they need bigger X-men." a boy with hard, rocky skin said. He was grinning down at the girl named Cessily. "If he's Colossus,
I don't want to be Kitty!" the girl exclaimed.

"If you guys don't stop yelling at me, I'm turning this thing off!" the dark skinned boy yelled.

"Fine by me! This is creepy!" Cessily.

Laura sank to the ground and peered around the rock tentatively. She didn't want them to see her until she could figure out was going on. She learned
a lot about people by watching.

…

"Dude! That robot is pink!" the rock boy—Santo—yelled. Laura had heard his name repeated several times, and noted him reacting.

"Are you kidding me?!" Julian, the loud one, shouted. He was wearing some strange purple and green outfit now.

"It's a sentinel, Santo. From the future." David—the dark skinned boy—was looking at a computer pad in his hands.

"Yeah, well, if this is what the X-men fight, I wanna be an Avenger," Santo said.

"This thing's no joke," David said. "It killed the guy you're playing."

"How can anyone fight in this thing? Thank god Miss Frost wears pants now," Cessily said. She had a corset and a pair of black underwear on.

Laura stepped further into the simulation, tentatively. She started, looking at her body; she was now wearing a puffy dress. With blood on her front.
She inhaled; it wasn't there. She couldn't smell blood. She looked up, confused.

"The X-men never beat Nimrod," David said.

"Okay, you've got the hots for this thing. We get it. Now change the channel!" the loud boy yelled.

"I would prefer to change as well," a soft voice said, from a niqab. Laura recognized the accent—Sunni. Afghanistan. She'd performed three missions there,
assassinating Al Qaeda groups.

"Since you're afraid of robot Barbie, maybe you'd like to fight me instead?!" Blue haired girl. "Nori, please…just let it go." The wing-boy said. She thought his
name was Jay, but she wasn't sure.

Julian reached over and shot something at Nori—something green. "AHH!" Nori yelled. "Hey!" the gold-skinned boy said.

"Oh, wait…this Shaw guy wasn't telekinetic, was he? Whoops!" Julian grinned.

"I…I don't belong here," another dark skinned boy said. He had hair braided in tight ropes. Laura sniffed. Human.

"You can't get up, dude," Santo said. "You're supposed to be dead."

"This is pointless. I'm leaving." Jay turned.

"Oh, Keller…you are so toast," Nori said, making a sparking fist. Laura took a few more steps in; she wasn't sure why, but she was ready to fight for the boy if
the blue-haired girl attacked. He is telekinetic, she reminded herself. Perfectly capable of self defense.

"Jay!" David yelled. "Come back! We're out-numbered!"

Laura stopped as Jay pointed at her. "She can take my place. That's what you guys want, right? More violence."

"Jay…" the Sunni said. "Let him go." David. "Uh…Laura…you wanna play?" Cessily. Oh, she was addressing…her? Laura blinked.

Julian looked at her. "Okay, you can play, but you don't get to be Wolverine every time." Then he looked at her—really looked at her—up and down, and leered.

Obviously.

"Down, girl." He grinned at her. Laura smelled hormones and heard his response in his heart rate, and stared right back at him. She'd only encountered this reaction
once before—at Megan's school. The boy who had seized her wrist. She did the only thing she could think of—she popped her claws, not even thinking of where
they would stop.

They stopped a few centimeters from his crotch. He stared down at her hand, quite alarmed.

Laura colored and turned away. Even as disassociated as she was, she was embarrassed. It was like pointing.

"Ouch," Santo said, having observed the interaction.

"Didn't they clone you a sense of humor?!" Julian blurted. Laura ignored this. She wasn't sure why she was embarrassed…he was just a male…there was nothing
embarrassing about that…right?

"Changing scenarios..." David said. "Mission 240…Inferno."

Laura's costume changed. Green and black. She liked it better than the dress.

"Oh, hell." Nori said.

There were creatures everywhere—Laura wasn't sure what they were, but she understood that she was supposed to fight them. So she did.

"Julian, watch it!" Cessily shouted.

"I've got—"

Laura whipped around and caught the thing about to bite the loud boy's head off with a foot claw, then grabbed it around the head and broke its neck with an audible
snap—reflex.

"HEY!" Julian yelled at her. "Back off, claws. I don't need anyone to rescue me." He'd stopped to glare at her, and another one was closing in on him, baring its fangs.

"Behind you!" Cessily yelled, exasperated.

Laura leapt over his shoulder and tackled the creature as it attacked. Slish, slish, SLASH its head spun to the ground at Julian's feet. The monsters all turned on her, as
everyone else seemed to have stopped fighting. Laura whipped around like a top, all claws out.

"Awwww, she's sweet on you, Keller!" Nori said, pointing at Laura.

Julian turned away. "Funny, Ashida. Are you sure you want to get into this? If you haven't noticed, it's four against two."

"Shut up, Julian!" the golden skinned boy said.

"Make me." Julian challenged.

Laura looked up, alarmed, as she did a hand-stand to stab her foot claws into two jugulars. All her limbs were occupied—and the boy was attracted more opponents? He seemed
to have more attitude than he could account for.

"Hey! Let me go!" the other boy said. Santo had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "Or what? You'll heal me?" Santo asked, grinning. "Some X-man you are, Foley."

"Put him down!" Nori said angrily.

"I'm shutting the system off." David. He looked tired.

"Julian…can we not do this today?" Cessily. Tired as well.

Laura fell to her knees as the opponents disappeared. She pushed her hair out of her eyes. What kind of place was this? She'd understood the opponents weren't real…
but the students. They'd been surrounded by monsters, and been more focused on fighting each other.

"Hey, guys…Dani's leaving," Jay was heading down the tunnel again.

Silence. Everyone stared at him. Julian was silent. Laura glanced at him, wondering if the name meant anything to him. He looked unaffected, though—apparently not.

"The weird girl's looking at us again," Santo said. Looking at her.

"Go! Shoo!" Julian said, making a hand gesture at her.

"Julian, don't be mean," Cessily said.

"Hey, Brian, can you permanently tag her or something? Brian?" Santo looked around.

"Brian left, Julian. I believe he feels you've been ignoring him since he lost his powers." Cessily.

"Damn. Look, what can I do? From what Frost told me, they're not going to let Brian stay. I know it sucks, but he's human now." Julian looked away.

Laura turned her back, wondering where she could go. She wasn't wanted here. She did feel hurt, a little…she understood pain. She was quite experienced with it.

It was the other emotions she didn't understand—happiness, laughter. Smiles.

"And what about Kevin?" Cessily was asking.

"Seriously, did you see smell-girl's wrist? He really mangled it," Santo said.

"That was an accident!" Cessily.

"Relax, Cess. We all know how you feel about him." Julian. "But we also know how dangerous Kevin is…it wouldn't be such a big deal but Kevin almost killed Laurie…so I
need some time to figure out how to deal with him." Apparently, he was in a position of power.

Laura turned, listening. Someone was running down the tunnel.

"Julian, what are you saying?" Cessily asked.

"Don't worry…we're a team. I won't let anything happen to him." Julian.

Laura followed the running footsteps out.

…

Laura stood outside, her hands in her pockets. She was looking at—well, she wasn't quite sure what she was looking at. There was a group of students, and a councilor,
and people yelling at each other.

"They fired you?!" the dark skinned boy was shouting. "Dani, were you even going to tell us?"

Laura tilted her head. The person they were yelling at looked like a Native American. She was young, about 2 or 3 years older than the rest of the students. She'd seen her
before, and had performed a data analysis already.

"Look, I don't want it to be this way, either. This is my home. I don't want to leave…but if I'm going to be of any use at all, it's going to be outside these walls," the woman said.

Laura decided she had lost her powers, then.

"But Dani…you're my guardian! What happens to me? What happens to the squad?" the golden-skinned boy shouted, emotional. Laura had not learned their names yet.
No one had bothered to tell her. The only names she knew here were the teachers, such as Scott and Logan…and that one boy, Hellion. She'd been here for a day already.

"You'll be okay, Josh, Shan is still here, and Amara will be back soon. You can trust them. Look, I just…just can't be here. Not right now." The woman was crying. The long-haired
girl ran towards her and embraced her, crying, too.

"Sofia…I'm so sorry," the woman—Dani—said.

"Me, too," the girl named Sofia said, sniffling.

Laura shifted, uncomfortable. She didn't like emotion—she strongly disliked seeing people cry. And it seemed to be all she saw lately. Her aunt…her cousins…the kids on the street…
Kiden and Tatiana and the teacher…and people in pain…her mother…herself…and everyone here, now.

"Agent Pierce is here to pick me up, but I want you guys to remember one thing…" Dani glared at the blond that had emerged from the school. She had a sculpted body—
obviously surgically enhanced, she could smell the silicon—and a white, skin-revealing costume. She looked irritated.

"…trust yourselves. Trust each other…because sometimes that's all you've got."

"Excellent advice." The blond placed her hands on Sofia's and the golden-skinned boy's shoulders. "Now, I know this is hard, children, but we need to let Danielle go."

"Goodbye," Sofia said quietly.

Laura turned, deciding she was going for a walk. She needed to calm her nerves; this was too much. Too upsetting. Why had Logan asked her here? She should just leave, at once…

"And just where do you think you're going?" The blonde's voice cut through her thoughts. Laura whipped around, uncertain.

"Emma, that's enough." Scott Summers. A recognizable face, finally.

"Need I remind you of our conversation regarding Laura?" he asked.

"No." Emma said stiffly.

"Good. Now please go inside," Scott said.

Emma turned and left, obviously annoyed at being overruled.

"Hard to believe she used to be a super-villain, isn't it?" Scott grinned at Laura.

"Well, let's find you a place to sleep." Laura watched him warily. He seemed kind.

He was the first person in this place to smile at her.

…

"How do you like it here, Laura?" Scott asked kindly as they climbed the stairs.

Laura drew her eyebrows together. "It is…emotional," she said, with difficulty.

Scott laughed. "Hah. Good word for it. A lot of hormones floating around the hallways…and you came at a bad time, I'm sorry to say. We're happy to have you—it's just, with M-day,
a lot of people are upset. Everything's changing. Give it a bit, Laura…I think you'll find your place here when it settles down a bit. Wait till you have a squad."

"Squad?" They had reached a hallway. Scott looked thoughtful.

"Yup. You'll have a unit you do practice with, and they'll become like your family, almost. A dysfunctional family, perhaps, but there will be unity. There are lots of spots open, too,
since a lot of people are leaving."

Laura frowned. She didn't count that as a good thing. People leaving.

They approached a room. Scott grinned and opened it for her. "What luck, you can have your own. I mean, it's not good that Lobster lost her powers and disappeared
—but—hey—you take what you can get, right?"

Laura sniffed. The room smelled vaguely of crustacean.

"It will do fine," Laura said.