Okay, here's a chapter of NeXt Gen for everybody, because you all have been waiting so patiently. I PROMISE it has a plot.

Episode 3: Rebel

"Jonah."

"Hmm?"

"Jonah, you have to pay attention."

He turned his head to look at Scott with a dazed look. He had been imagining home, beautiful home in 1885. "What?"

Scott put the car in park and sighed. "Listen. This place is a school. In order for you to lie low, you have to attend school with your fellow students. But you also have to behave like a normal, modern teenager."

"Oh really?" Jonah said, yawning.

"Yes. That means no guns, no bandanas, and no mentioning your place of origin." Scott pulled the red bandana off of his face, causing Jonah to shout in anger. "Now, you can live without it for eight hours, can't you?" Scott pleaded. "Please, Jonah. Eight hours a day."

Jonah growled. "At least let me take it with me. It belonged to my father."

"Of course," Scott smiled, handing it back to him. "But you can't put it on, okay? Promise you won't wear it until AFTER school lets out."

"Alright, alright, I've been to school before, I can handle it," Jonah said, opening the car door. "Will you be picking me up?"

"Yes, just meet me right here," Scott patted the boy's shoulder and watched him get out. "Good luck."

Jonah watched the car leave and was suddenly aware of someone behind him. He reached for his gun instinctively, but saw that it was only Johnny Summers. "Why didn't YOU get a ride to school?" he asked.

"I don't NEED a ride to school," Johnny said proudly. "I can just RUN here."

"Of course," Jonah said, feeling out of place for the fifth time since he arrived at the Xavier Institute. "I… FORGOT about the… MUTANT thing." He had never heard of a mutant before he had gotten to this timeline, and he found himself constantly surprised and awed by the other children in the house.

Johnny suddenly waved. "Twitch! I'm over here!"

Jonah sighed. Twitch frightened him to some extent. But when the strange-looking boy joined them, he looked completely normal. Jonah blinked in surprise at this sudden new ability. "What… how did you…"

"This thing," Twitch said, holding up his wrist and showing off his image inducer. "It makes me look normal."

Jonah suddenly spotted Ben. At this point, Ben was the only one in the school that seemed normal in some sense of the word, and he hadn't once made fun of the fact that he was from the old west. Jonah waved good bye to Twitch and Johnny and ran to meet him.

"Hey," said Ben, looking around as if waiting for someone.

"Hi," Jonah said, suppressing his accent as best he could. "Are you looking for somebody?"

"Yeah, usually Eevee meets me here so we can walk to Bio lab together," Ben said in a distracted voice. "It's the only class we have together, actually. Thank GOD Twitch and I have the same lunch hour."

"This place is… BIGGER than the schools at home," Jonah said, helping Ben to look for Eevee. "It's so crowded."

"Ben!" Eevee suddenly appeared from the crowd and ran to greet them. "Hi guys," she said, and was surprised when Jonah held out his hands. "What?"

"Your books, ma'am," he said. "Let me carry them."

"Oh," she said, giggling a little. "Um, okay."

Ben watched with narrowed eyes as Jonah took the English girl's books, but he reverted to a somewhat happy face when she looked at him again. "By the way, I'm not going to Bio lab today, apparently I have a meeting with the principle. He wants to talk to me, though I can't imagine why it would take a bloody hour to talk."

"Maybe you did something wrong," Ben said, laughing. "I wouldn't be surprised if it took an hour to go over your record in the office."

"Ha ha," she said bitterly. "Jonah, what do you have for first period?"

"Um, apparently study hall in the library," Jonah said, looking miserably at his schedule. "O' course, I've got no IDEA where THAT is."

"I'll take you," Eevee said, smiling. "Bye Ben!"

"Bye," Ben said, frowning.

…………………………….

Twitch ducked into the Alley by the school, breathing heavily. Damn image inducer, he thought. It had turned off twice already. On the fritz, on the fritz all the time and it was starting to get on his nerves.

He breathed a sigh of relief when it started up again. When he turned around, he nearly screamed. There was a girl standing there. "Um," he said, slightly shocked. "Uh, hi." He hoped, hoped to GOD she hadn't seen him before the inducer started working again.

The girl stood there. She didn't say anything, but she tilted her head to the side, and her long straight red hair flowed over her shoulder.

"Hi," he tried again. Then he thought, what the Hell. "Do you know where I can find someone named Dani?"

"Jake?" she said in a soft voice. "You're Jake?"

"You're Dani?" Twitch said nervously.

"Yes," She smiled. "Hi."

The image inducer sparked. Then it shut off completely. Looking from it to her in terror, he suddenly realized she hadn't reacted. "Uh," he said. "Can you not SEE me?"

"No," she said, laughing a little. "I'm blind."

Just to make sure, he waved a hand around in her face. Her face fell and she looked angry. "You did NOT just wave your hand around in my face," she said in a hurt and angry voice.

"I was just…" Twitch stepped back, and the image inducer flickered back to life. "Sorry. I just thought…"

"It's okay, I'm sort of used to it," Dani said, pushing her hair off her shoulder. "I just thought you sounded nicer than that on the phone." She tapped her cane on the ground until it nudged his foot. "There you are," she said, smiling.

"Hi," Twitch said, not knowing what else to say to her. She giggled and covered her mouth.

"Um, will you walk me to my class?" she said. "I seem to have lost my way, and…"

"Sure," he said, glad that he didn't have to talk anymore. "Come on."

……………………………….

Eevee was sat down in front of Principle Wyatt's desk, and she immediately began to fidget nervously. Of course she had done something wrong. Why ELSE would she be here? Looking at her shoes instead of at the Principal's face, she sighed. "What did I do THIS time?"

"Absolutely nothing," Principal Wyatt put his hands together and leaned forward, obviously uncomfortable. "Tell me, are you in contact with your sister?"

"Sort of," Eevee thought about it. She hadn't seen her sister since last Christmas, and the last letter was three months ago. "Why?"

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to be the ones to pass on the message," The old man sighed, taking off his glasses to clean them. "I know this will be hard, but it's my responsibility to inform you that your parents are dead."

Eevee sat silent for a few moments, trying to decipher what had been said. "I'm sorry?" she said weakly.

"Your father was found late last night in his apartment," Principal Wyatt continued. "He had overdosed on sleeping pills. Your mother was found two weeks ago and identified last Wednesday. I apologize for your loss."

Eevee felt the tears and struggled to hold them back. "Dad…?"

"Your sister should also know that HER father was also found dead," Principal Wyatt shook his head. "Shame. And a rather odd coincidence if you ask me. Are you alright, miss Taylor?"

Eevee looked out the window and nodded. Picking up her bag, she headed for the door.

"You can go home if you like, I am not going to force you to stay here at school," Principal Wyatt said, looking at her with concern.

"Thank you," Eevee murmured. "See you tomorrow, Principal Wyatt."

…………………………………

Raven sat alone after school on the steps in front of the school, waiting for Eevee or a ride to come along. She didn't have the energy to fly home and she didn't want to ride the bus after last time. Witch, witch, mutie witch. She shuddered. No more people would throw lunch at her.

She was still looking around when she saw Ben and Johnny messing around across the field, and she sighed. "Great. If dey see me, dey'll come over here." She muttered to herself. She tried her best to pull her jacket around her tighter, hoping she could be hidden from sight by black leather.

She spotted Windstrider's car before the boys did, thank the Lord, and she ran towards it frantically. "Hey," Aaron Williams said as she jumped into the passenger seat. "Are we waiting for anyone else or…?"

"Go," Raven said simply.

"Okay," Aaron shrugged. Ben sure had made some weird friends when Mission X grew up and disbanded. "If you hear a noise, don't worry, it's just my piece of crap car trying to die."

Raven looked out the window, trying to ignore the only member of Ben's old team who had made it to the big leagues. Teacher though he was, he was sort of annoying and never shut up.

"How was school?"

"It vas fine," She said. "I am trying to think."

"Okay, sure," Aaron shrugged. The kid wanted quiet, so what?

He rounded a corner and the car came to a dead stop. Nothing had made any noise, and the car was still running, but it wouldn't move forward. He looked out the window to see what was happening and realized that the car was no longer on the road. It hovered a few feet off the ground, wheels still spinning desperately. "What the Hell…?" he asked quietly.

Raven looked at him. "Vhat is going on?" she asked. "I sense a hostile mutant presence."

"Of course you do," Aaron said angrily. "Would you do me a favor and be quiet for a second, I'm trying to…"

The car dropped before he had the chance to listen on his winds, jolting both mutants painfully. The car coughed and died from the stress. "Shit!" Aaron cried.

"Do you think it is Magneto?" Raven asked, suddenly afraid.

"If it was Magneto, we'd be sardines already," Aaron whispered. "Just stay calm, everything's fine, I got it under…"

"Control?" Came a voice from above them. "Oh, dear, I'm afraid that's something you'll never have."

"It's a kid," Aaron rolled his eyes. "A kid I can handle."

Two feet planted themselves on the hood of the car, untied converse sneakers shining with blue rhinestones. As the mutant crouched down to look in on them, Aaron pushed back into his seat. Her blue eyes flashed, her thirteen-year-old form thin and athletic, her long, glimmering silver hair flowing past her waist. Aaron's eyes widened as the windshield shattered outward, not scratching the girl at all. Kaylee Williams was quite safe from glass projectiles.

"Heya, big brother," she said with a grin. "How's KICKS?"

NEXT: Family Matters

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