A/N: So, firstly, thanks to demonlrd66 for reviewing. Will you believe me when I say it made me so happy I danced around my living room like an idiot? Possibly. This chapter is dedicated to you and all my other reviewers. Thanks for giving me your opinion, I work hard to keep Loki not a Stu and a likeable person. Though after this chapter you might want to smack him. I don't own X-Men: Evolution, so don't sue. Read ahead, my fellow fanfictionites!

So, everything was going wonderfully in my life until I moved. And it wasn't just your normal 'oh gawd my social life is ovur1!!1' type of bad. No. It was, 'puke your blood out, bleed something that rusts things uberfast, be able to (kind of) control really sharp silver winds and get kicked out of your house' bad. It's funny how I thought being made to pack every knick-knack in a house was punishment.

Here? Ten times worse. I might not sleep much, but I like it. These people are dead set against me sleeping. I awoke on Monday morning to the shrill beeping of my alarm clock. You know, the one I hadn't had enough time to set between getting my ass kicked by my own powers and being carted around for field experience? That one. Yeah.

I turned my head a fraction of an inch and gazed at the molten red numbers through bleary eyes. It read 4:30 a.m. "Who on earth set this thing for this early?" I screeched, throwing the offending object across the room. Well, I tried, but my winds sliced it neatly to parts before I could lift a finger.

If I'm this bad at home, how the hell am I going to survive school?

Still muttering curses under my breath, I crawled out from the comfort of my blankets and pulled on a pair of sweats and a tank top. And before you ask, yes I own school clothes and yes I changed my boxers.

Geez, people.

Moving on. I stumbled out of my room, not even walking straight, when Kurt practically slammed into me. That kid has waaayto much energy. I don't even move this much on a normal day! He grinned devilishly and grabbed onto my arm. Once again being subjected to the color-blender had me rolling around on the metal floors of the Danger Room in slight nauseousness.

"Aren't you excited, Loki?" he called, his tail twitching behind him. "It's your first Danger Room exercise! It's going to wake you up and then you'll officially be an X-Man in training!"

I shot him a death glare, but somehow he brushed it off. "Scott wants a word with you," he said as an afterthought as he 'ported off. My guess is to bother Kitty.

A little insight into the move: he was falling for her head over heels. We only bug the ones its entertaining to watch explode when it happens.

I stood up shakily and crossed my arms over my chest, desperate to get warm. I honestly can't stand being cold. Call it a pet peeve. And right now I was pretty peeved. Shades himself strutted up and I gave him a half-wave. "He-ey," I sing-songed nasally. "Sup, dawg?"

"This is a level one training exercise. Your objective is to take out the guns. We'll be watching from up there. Good luck!" And before I could mount any type of protest, Kurt had made the whole group vanish into the control booth. I looked around, still fuzzy from the early morning wake-up call and the 'porting.

"What gu-" My sentence was abruptly cut off as the area off to my immediate left exploded. I let out a shriek (and it definitely didn't sound like a cat being dropped off the Empire State building) and darted away.

I spent the next thirty-eight seconds running away from the blazing death machines. Then my asthma kicked in. I dropped to my knees as I struggled to inhale, groping vainly at my pockets for my puffer. Then, of course, I remembered exactly where it was: under my pillow in my dad's house. Well, shit.

Today's not starting out very well.

I held my arms above my head, trying to recall what my doctor had said to do when it was out of reach. Something about breathing evenly...but how could I do that when, as one, all the guns in the room turned to focus on me? They all let out a concussive blast and I closed my eyes. Everything fled.

Next thing I know, something really cold is being pressed on my forehead and I cracked open my eyes. My whole body ached, but I wasn't dead. That's the important part. I let out a groan, and the Professor puttered in with his little wheelchair and stationed himself right next to me. I was lying down, so we were about even as far as eye contact.

"Well, Loki," he started. "You certainly neglected to mention you suffered from EIA."

"I don't suffer unless I run," I pointed out. "And why didn't you just pick that piece of info from my brain, eh? Could've saved the both of us a load of trouble."

Xavier inclined his head, steepling his fingers. "I don't look through peoples minds unless I have their explicit permission. A mind is a personal thing. I try not to invade unless I am invited."

I rolled my eyes, levering myself up to a sitting position. My skin stung something awful, and a little ruffle of my hair let me know the silver wind had come back.

Does someone want to explain to me why they stopped working during the exercise and start working in order to hurt me? I am so freakishly confused by my own gifts. I bet Jean never had this much trouble. Or Scott. Or even Kitty!

I waved away the Professor and hobbled my way back up to my room. It was a few minutes after six; a.k.a., when I should have gotten up. Already I could feel the bed practically calling my name, but I resisted. Instead, I struggled into my loosest pair of jeans and my loosest sweatshirt. It was a bit tasteless wearing the team shirt from a different state to your new school, but I didn't care. It was big and wouldn't make my skin hurt any more than it already was.

Once I had dressed, I slowly made my way down to the kitchen where the rest of the gang was chilling. Kitty was desperately trying to finish her math homework while Kurt heckled her. Scott was making goo-goo eyes at Jean, who was reading. I grabbed an apple and was halfway into sleep once more when Kurt bamfed in front of me. I jerked awake, the silver wind lashing out in self-defense.

Kurt, now sporting a lovely gash on one cheek, winced and held a napkin to his face. "Here," he said simply. "Press the red button to turn it on, and again to turn it off. It's a real watch, too."

I nodded my thanks, even though I didn't know what it was I was thanking him for, and strapped it on. It was a watch, turns out, and I pressed the red button, expecting a nuclear explosion. My hopes faded when all I felt was a slight tingle.

"Huh," Kitty said, chewing on the end of her pencil. "When you've got the inducer on, you're not half bad. That you're original face?"

I raised an eyebrow, confused. "What?" I asked. "Explain it slowly, with small words."

"It puts a nice, normal face on instead of your scary mutant face," she said slowly, emphasizing each syllable. I rolled my eyes and walked off, itching my unmentionables. I swear, being fried by those guns gave me super-sunburn. It hurts.

I waited at the end of Xavier's ridiculously long driveway for around half an hour before Kurt and Kitty joined me. Twenty more minutes, and the bus came. I was already willing to go to bed and here it was not even seven. I'm beginning to think this X-Men thing wasn't the best choice ever.

Bus rides always suck. They're bumpy, crowded, and loud. Being in a bumpy, crowded, and loud bus while having minimal control over very obvious silver wind was an unwanted lesson in control. I only cut someone else once; the bus seat took the rest of the abuse.

Everyone exited just in time for the first bell to ring. Jogging off in the way people in pain do, I made it to my locker to find...it was gone. I turned and looked around in confusion. Then I looked up...and up...and found my locker, in the hands of some blob guy's hands. He was holding it over a cowed looking Duncan (who fully deserved to be ground into burger, make no mistake), and I was about ready to cheer him into action when Jean appeared, soothing the savage beast.

Okay, he wasn't a savage beast. Just a dumb one. Jean gave him careful directions to his classes and sent him on his way.

I dozed through the day, careful not to let the wind tear anyone up but me. And, of course, when my hands started bleeding (it was red: thank you image inducer!) people asked questions to which I answered lazily, "Bad paper cut."

No one really believed me, but they didn't bother me anymore. Lunch was fun; an impromptu food fight started by none other than the Blob himself. He splattered his pile o' food on Duncan, who retaliated in kind, and it's really no secret what happened next. I laughed like everyone else and cowered like everyone else when he lifted a table over his head.

I spotted Jean following the kid and snuck up to eavesdrop. Hey, I'm a curious little bastard. Sue me.

"I just wish they would stop laughing. I just get so mad..." Jean shushed him, laying a hand on his arm.

"It's okay. You're special, in you own way. Just don't hurt them, that's all."

"That's not how I learned it, but..." He grimaced, and sighed. "I'll try."

I snickered silently. Curious, vindictive little bastard. "Jean!" I called, striding up. I flung an arm casually across her shoulders, and she shoved me away angrily.

"What, Loki?"

I smirked. "Nothin', just wanted to say hi to my favorite redhead, you know." I turned away, winking. "See ya around."

Jean said nothing to me for the rest of the day. Finally, school let out. Why do they make it so boring? The least they could do when stealing eight hours of my day is make it worth my while. Scott was pacing anxiously around his car and I felt a brief flash of jealousy. I was going to need to learn to drive sometime.

"Have you seen Jean?" he asked. I shook my head. "I bet it's that Fred kid," he muttered.

"Oh?"

"You know, the new guy. Looks like a mountain? He's pretty hard to miss, especially after that lunch debacle."

I shrugged, pulling my pack back onto my shoulder. "I don't know, Scott. Get your panties out of your ass. You'll live, I'm sure."

He scowled darkly at me. "I wanted to tell her I had play practice with Rouge this afternoon and I'd be missing the Danger Room session."

I felt a brief flash of horror. They do those things twice a day? Evil little man, that Xavier. I waved goodbye and boarded the bus once more. Kitty sat next to me, and I tuned her out. She was nice, just...enthusiastic.

We made it home to the Mansion in record time. Kitty ran out into the yard in full X-Men regalia to play with Kurt. I sat down on the grass wrapped in a blanket and watched them, laughing my butt off. Off to my right I saw Logan and Miss Storm talking about something. My eyes began to drift closed, but once again, before I could fall asleep completely, I was being shaken awake.

"Jean's in trouble," Kitty said, glancing back at Kurt. "We're going to the school via Kurt."

I sighed heavily and held out my arm, keeping my eyes closed through the kaleidoscope of color that was his teleportation. We landed and I walked in a circle briskly to rid myself of the dizziness.

"The Professor said Jean's back in a store room with Fred," she said. Behind her, Scott appeared, looking stiff and formal in his visor thing. He explained that Kurt had bamfed in on his practice with Rogue and let him know of the situation, and I snorted.

"She let you go?"

He ignored me. "We'll head in. Loki, act as a distraction. Kitty, grab Jean. Kurt, take her home. I'll keep him busy." We all nodded and snuck around the edge of the warehouse. I could faintly hear voices through the thin metal walls.

Scott nudged me in the arm and I inhaled deeply before strutting in. "Hey, babe," I said cooly. "What's brought you here with him?" I nodded in the Blob's direction. He took great offense and his face purpled.

"She's enjoying a date with me!" he shouted, banging his meaty fists on the table.

"Tied up?" I said skeptically, then flung my hands out. The silver winds sprang and sliced clean through the rope tying her to the table...and might have nicked her a few times, but she was free and that was the point. "Now let her go," I demanded in my best 'hero' voice.

I could see Kitty phasing through the wall and nodded. She grabbed Jean and walked slowly backwards. "She was having fun, then you ruined it!" Fred howled, lifting the table and tossing it at me. "I'll get you!" I ducked the projectile, and stuck out my tongue, blowing him a raspberry.

Then, of course, when things couldn't get worse, Logan showed up, growling and threatening in his usual gruff manner. I barked, "I had it under control!" as we ducked a bunch of boxes.

"Right," Wolverine snapped sarcastically. "Very under control." He unsheathed his claws and attacked, but before he could get in a decent swipe, Fred had picked him clear off the ground and thrown him on top of poor Scott. One, two, three, they're down. Naturally, I was distracted for a moment and that was when the iron bar the Blob wielded connected to the back of my head. I dropped like a sack of rocks, stars spinning around in line of sight.

I felt myself being lifted up by my shirt collar, and a wash of warm breath shot across my face. I winced, my eyes crossing. "Who's the tough guy now, huh?" he whispered menacingly. I let out a weak groan in response.

A blast of heat flashed across my vision and I nearly screamed as my headache tripled in intensity. "Put him down," said a slightly familiar Southern voice.

"What if I don't want to?" The Blob said, waving me around. Loki has not become a rag doll, I wanted to protest, but my voice had deserted me.

"Then I'll do this." And bam, just like that, I was back on the ground. That headache was knocking around the confines of my skull and I stood, crossing my eyes.

"Thanks," I slurred, and a streak of silver darted out and sliced open a line on her thigh. She wiped away the blood casually and turned to leave. Jean came up from behind me, supporting me with her mental gifts.

So I'm not good enough to require physical contact? Jean, you wound me. "Why did you help us?" she asked stiffly. Rouge shrugged, clearly agitated.

"I don't know. Leave me alone!" she shouted, and ran off.

I grinned weakly. "Does this mean you'll give me a kiss and heal me?" Jean humphed and smacked the lump on my head. I cringed.

Okay. So things are weird. But it's life now, I guess. Couldn't get worse, right?

Karma's going to eat me after that little line.