Sorry for the late updating. The time just flew by me so fast, so I apologize. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, even if it's shorter.

Chapter 4

"Everybody, get down!" Summers screamed as a set of razor blades screeched towards us at harrowing speeds. Realizing that not all of us would have time to get out of the way, I quickly thrust my arms out in front of me and focusing on the ground directly underneath us, causing the ground to shake violently.

At this, the other X-Men fell to the floor, allowing the blades to soar over the dazed mutants, harmlessly stabbing into the ground behind us.

"Good job, Alvers!" Summers yelled at me, getting up to his feet, aided by Jean's telepathy.

"Yeah, Lance, nice job." Todd said with a nod towards me as he hopped towards our objective, a large safe that supposedly held documents that were important to Xavier.

"I'll clear the way!" Fred yelled, rushing out ahead of the ground and spreading his arms out, bracing himself for the inevitable laser blasts that would come, the aforementioned lasers harmlessly bouncing off of his new uniform, a sleek black jumpsuit that was stretched out effortlessly to contain Fred's gigantic figure.

"Let's get Toad some cover fire!" I yelled, knowing how fragile Todd was, and that a single blast from a laser would probably be enough to take him out for good.

Using the makeshift cover that Fred provided, Summers fired away at the lasers, blowing up one after another. Following his lead, I allowed the familiar migraine to pulse through my head and punched one arm out, splitting a laser in half as I caused a wall to vibrate furiously.

"Got it!" Todd yelled, using his tongue to try and reach out and snag the suitcase that the documents were contained in, aided by Jean, who had given the extra lift that he had needed to reach his target.

However, just as Todd was about to shoot out his insanely long tongue to reach the suitcase, a laser came out of the wall, aiming directly at him.

"Spyke! Todd's going to get hit!" I yelled at Evan, who should have been in a perfect position to take out the laser with one of his spikes. That is, if he hadn't been busy fiddling with a video camera that I hadn't even noticed he had carried into the Danger Room.

Without his intervention, the laser fired away, the bright red beam smashing directly into Todd's shoulder, sending him flying to the ground with a heavy thud, to a shocked silence from everyone present.

As soon as Toad hit the floor, the illusion of the warehouse that we had been fighting through disappeared, replaced by the familiar steel of the Danger Room.

"What the hell, Evan?" I shouted, watching him discreetly try to hide the camera behind his back, furious that he had let Todd get injured.

"Sorry, but I was trying to get footage for my video project." He replied sheepishly, while I clenched my fingers in anger. It took all of my self-control not to straight up punch him in the face right now. There was a limit to how oblivious someone could be to the consequences of their actions, and this was way past the normal limit. How the hell this guy became a part of the Institute was beyond me, although I had a hunch it might have had something to do with the fact that he was related to Storm. I think I was starting to understand why Pietro hated this guy so much.

"All right, calm down there, Rocky." Logan said as he walked into the room, dressed in his normal attire of a leather jacket and a worn out pair of jeans. Over the last few days, I had found that he was eerily consistent with his appearance, and I seriously doubted that he owned anything else in his closet.

"You staring at something there? You know it's not polite." He snarled, his distinctive claws shooting out from his knuckles with a snikt.

I gulped at his display and hung my head, knowing that I wasn't going to be winning any arguments with him, "No." I muttered weakly, as Logan retracted his claws, before turning to Evan with a serious look.

"Look, kid, I don't know much about this whole 'videotaping' thing you have to do, but it gets your teammates hurt, it's got no place in the Danger Room." He chided, although I desperately wanted to jump in with a couple of more…colorful words that I had for Evan.

But he had made his point, at least, and he quickly snatched Evan's camera's out of his hands, "Me and the Professor will make sure that everything you've got on here is appropriate."

Turning to leave, Logan stopped in front of me, "And you, cool it. I'm not going to have you starting any trouble."

"Fine." I answered, knowing that I was in a no-win situation. Even if I did have the balls to say something back to him, he'd probably kick my ass in no time flat.

If there was anything I had learned the last few days, it was that Logan was probably the last person I would want to mess with at the Institute, although Rogue gave him a serious run for his money. Honestly, I had no idea how I survived living in the Brotherhood House with her. At least at the Institute, it was easier to avoid her. Or it would be, if it wasn't for the fact that she always had something that she needed Summers' help with, and was probably in our room more than I was.

I wish I had a girl that was as crazy for me as Rogue was for Summers.

"Don't worry about it, Lance. Mr. Logan's like that to everyone." Jean reassured me the door closed behind Logan, patting me on the back.

"Yo, Lance, it's cool. I'm fine here." Todd said, after being helped up to his feet by Fred.

"But I think that Logan has a point. We can't let our teammates get hurt, even if it is for school. I think we should really try to focus on getting along more with each other." Summers cut in, playing his role as mediator, being the Boy Scout he was.

"Scott has a point." Xavier said as he rolled into the room, "There's no point in having a team if we cannot learn to work together. I think that we could greatly benefit from attending a summer camp run by my good friend out in the local mountains."

I subtly rolled my eyes, although I had no doubt that Xavier probably noticed it, since he made a point to clear his throat and add, "And it will be mandatory for everyone at this Institute."

I inwardly groaned.

"So, Lance, I've been noticing that you and Scott have been getting along much better ever since you two have started rooming together." Jean remarked in between bites of her salad as we sat together at a table in the middle of the cafeteria. Across from me, Kitty had her eyes on her phone, evidently busy texting, while Rogue lazily flipped through a book, only occasionally moving to get a sip from her water bottle.

I cringed at Jean's words. Really? Me and Summers getting along? This was starting to become a bad episode of the Twilight Zone, or something. But actually, I guess that Summers wasn't too bad to talk to, as long as it was about cars. I wouldn't go as far to say that we're friends now, or anything, but I guess that I don't feel like slapping his obnoxious shades off of his face every time I see him now, so that's an improvement.

"Yeah, I guess that things have cooled off between us. So, you know, you don't have to sit here. I'm not going to get in any trouble with him." I said, referencing the odd fact that Jean was sitting here, instead of with her normal group of friends. Did she seriously not trust me enough to leave me alone?

To my surprise, Jean just laughed, and like the awkward guy I am, I joined in, not really understanding what was so funny. Was there some joke that I wasn't getting?

"You know, I'm sitting here, because I want to. Not because I think I have to." Jean finally said after stifling a few giggles, although the grin on her face stayed.

Wait, what?

Miss Popular here actually wanted to sit with me?

Before I had a chance to even fully comprehend what she had just said, Summers slid into the table right next me, pulling out his chair accompanied by the horrible screeching sound that all of the chairs at Bayville made, given that the floors must have been at least ten years overdue for renovation.

"Hey, Alvers, what's got you so happy?" He asked, and I suddenly realized that I had unconsciously been smiling, and I quickly wiped it off of my face, replacing it with my normal smirk.

"It's nothing." I quickly replied, turning my attention back to my turkey sandwich. Although before I did, I snuck another look at Jean to make sure that she was still grinning at me. You know, just in case.

"Okay, so this whole Summers thing has got me really weirded out." I said to Professor Xavier, who raised an eyebrow.

"This whole Scott thing?"

I scratched my neck as I thought of how I should word it, "Well, Summers has been acting nice to me, and it's freaking me out. I mean, one moment, we're at each other's throats, and the next, he's eating lunch with me and trying to talk about cars with me. It's all just a little strange for me."

The professor nodded, "Ah, that. Well, I had a talk with Scott after the Danger Room incident, and I tried to highlight some of the more positive aspects of your personality, and he agreed to give you a second chance."

"Oh, well, that's cool of him, I guess." I replied, marveling at Professor Xavier's skills. I mean, Summers had a stick up his ass about a lot of stuff, but Xavier was a next level kind of guy. But then again, I guess anyone who could handle Logan could definitely handle Summers without any problem.

"It is, and I hope that you take Scott's response as an example. Do try to get along with the others. You'll be much happier with your time here if you do." Xavier said with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I'll try that." I said with a nod.

"And do try to enjoy this outing with everyone. You might find that you have more in common with the others than you think." Xavier added as I left his office.

Who knows, maybe Xavier was right. Maybe being with the X-Men was the right place for me.

Well, if it wasn't clear before, it should be clear now. I plan on having this story revolve around Lance and Jean, with Scott and Rogue as a secondary romance. I don't know why, but the two really appealed to me as I wrote these characters out, just because they feel like they make so much sense to me. Jean is someone who has been used to living a more proper and stable life, which would partially explain why Lance would be drawn to someone like that, while on the other hand, Lance is unpredictable and independent, something that Jean finds more interesting and alluring.

And as for Scott, I really love the dark turn that he's taken in the comics, and that I really should incorporate something along those lines later on.

But let me know what you guys think about that. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I am starting to see the overall story fall into place, so I would really appreciate any feedback on my thoughts.

Please, leave them behind in either a review or a PM.

Thanks for reading!