I'm sorry that this update took longer than I planned. But like I said, the plot begins. This doesn't mean I'm done with OC's, nor by any means. We still have all the Hellions to be introduced. If you have an OC you wanted to be in the story, feel free to PM it to me. If it fits my story, I'll include it. Just include basic info (appearance, Name, age, power, etc).All mistakes are due to me writing this late at night. I'm also using a different document type to see if it works better than my old one, so I apologize for any formatting problems this may cause. Please enjoy and review!

I do not own X-men Evolution. I own all my OC's. Ava is owned by Ember Ice.

At first look, Ben could say with certainty he was unimpressed. He could hardly believe how fast the last few week of the summer had gone. Sure, things had picked up a bit after Rick and Laura had come to the Institute, but how could it be time for school to start already? Not only that but, while he never was a fan of school, the other X-men had been sure to warn them of the treatment, or rather mistreatment, of mutant here.

"Here we are," Lea announced unnecessarily, getting out of the back of Ava's car. They had all ridden with her, she being the only one of them with a car. It was better than the other options, being driven by Jean, with complementary lecture, or risking their lives by riding with the recently licensed Kitty. Ben was still unsure how the heck she had been able to pull that off. The New Recruits had no choice three, and so had to suffer. Laura was the only one who had not yet arrived; Logan said he was taking her by motorcycle. He claimed it was due to, "a father wanting to insure his daughter getting there safely," but Ben had known Logan long enough to know that for a lie. Rick had even known Logan enough to realize that. More likely, Logan was giving Laura some ground rules, such as, "no maiming teachers or other students." She was certainly able to; she'd proven that in the first danger room session.

As a matter of fact, their "teams" first session together had been more successful that he had anticipated. Laura had been everywhere, slashing and tearing apart any and all obstacles. No one was surprised, she was Logan's clone. Rick had been able to do more than Ben had thought at first. While his powers were useful, there were no plants in the Danger Room. What Ben hadn't known, was how fast he could accelerate the grown of plants. He had brought in a bag of various seeds, and within a few seconds, had a variety of vines, thorny plants, and others surrounding him. "They won't remain unless they had a constant supply of sun, soil, and water," he explained after. "But I can use my powers as a substitute for those." The only other complication they had had were codenames for the two new members. Rick had decided to be Briar. They had to give a long, complicated definition of what a codename was to Laura, and even then she concluded it was "a symbolic designation." They decided that was close enough. Laura had then informed them her former designation was X-23, and she saw no reason to change it. She did agree to let them call her "X" in the field, since it was faster.

Ben was brought out of his musings by Ava's response to Lea's comment. "Yep, welcome one and all to our torture chamber for the next 10 months. Joy."

"Now Ava," Rick responding in a fake admonishing voice, "We must at least try to behave. If we make trouble, Mother will be quite upset with us."

They all broke into laughter. "Mother", was, in reality, Scott. After one particular lecture, something about how it wasn't proper to use one's powers to play pranks, Rick had responded, "We're sorry, Mother. We'll be good." Despite Scott's anger, the rest have had continued to use the name. Logan seemed to find it as funny as they did.

The bell reminded them it was time to face the music. "Look on the bright side," Ben called to the others as they headed for the doors, "It can't be that bad."

Ben ended up being right, it wasn't that bad. It was worse. He had homeroom with both Laura and Rick. In the past few weeks, Ben had become fairly good friends with Rick. He had a good sense of humor, though his constant flirting (that was by no means one sided) with Ava was beginning to grate on half the Institute's nerves. Ben had also tried to get to know Laura, but that had been less successful. While she was intelligent and a fury in battle situations, she had few social skills. It wasn't that she was rude; it was more that she didn't understand some common conventions. This resulted in her being, not really shy, but awkward in many situations.

No sooner had they taken their seats then they were approached by a broad shouldered boy with a Letterman jacket whose appearance screamed jock. He stood above them, and sneered. "You're those new freaks from the Institute?" Without waiting for a response, two of what looked like his friends came up behind him. "Maybe we should show you how we feel about freaks." Ben suddenly found a fist heading straight at him. Before it sound hit him, a hand reached out and caught the jock by the wrist. Ben turned to see Laura glaring at him. Despite her being at least two heads shorter than him, Ben was glad her look wasn't directed at him. The fact that she was dressed in nothing but black, shirt and jeans both slightly worn, and her combat boots didn't help.

Her voice was cold when she spoke. "Class is soon beginning. I would suggest you take your seats. Also," she released his hand negligently, "you should be glad my father thought to talk to me this morning. If not, I would be unaware maiming is poor manners." The three gulped and quickly departed.

"Nice Laura," Rick remarked. "I think they believed your bluff."

Laura gave him a confused look. "What is a bluff?"

Ben felt a shiver go down his spine. It didn't look like the day was off to a good start. He hoped the rest would be better. Of course, he didn't think it would be.

"Get a load of that" Rick whispered to Ben as they walked to their next, and thankfully last, class of the day. The day hadn't been as bad as he had thought. Sure, no one talked to them, but no one tried to assault them either. Ben was sure Laura's demonstration earlier played no small part in that. However, the "that" Rick was referring to was of a completely different, and much more mundane, nature.

Walking down the hallway was Bobby Drake, the youngest member of the official X-men team. What was interesting was he was walking hand-in-hand with a girl that Ben knew did not live in the mansion. The girl was quite pretty, with long white blond hair, dancing green eyes that shone with something a bit different than laughter, and tan skin. She wore a white short sleeve shirt with swirls of green along with skinny blue jeans. The two were laughing a something one of them, likely Bobby, had said.

Ben snorted when he saw the gleam in Ricks eyes. "Oh, like you can say anything with the way you and Ava are carrying on. I'm getting tempted to ask Rogue to put one, or better both, of you out just to get some peace. Frankly, I'm not sure Lea hasn't already made that request."

Rick just grinned at him, undeterred." Oh, so Lea and you..."

"Are just friends," Ben interrupted him. "Just like I told you the other fifteen times you insinuated that we were anything else."

"Fine," Rick allowed. "But what about Laura? She protected you this morning, didn't she? And she is quite attractive."

Ben suddenly felt his face getting hot. Truthfully, he agreed with Rick about Laura. Not only was she pretty..okay, hot, at least in his opinion, but she wasn't a girl who wanted a man to take care of her. She didn't take nonsense from anyone, and could protect herself, thank you very much. Oh. God. Ben though in sudden fright, I do like Laura. I really like her. And she is not only Logan's clone, but his daughter. I he finds out, he'll kill me. And then bring me pack to life so he can kill me again.

As this was running through his head, Rick's smile had been growing bigger and bigger. By the time Ben had managed to conceal his blush, Rick's smile was so big, it was a wonder his face didn't split in two. "Oh, you do!" he exclaimed. "Ava is going to love this!"

"Don't you dare..." Ben began when the bell rang. "Damn, if we don't get to class now, were dead."

As the two bolted for class, Rick whispered, still grinning, to Ben, " My girlfriend finds out everything, so don't bother with the threats. And if I were you, I'd worry more about Logan than my gossip."

Don't I know it, Ben though grimly.

Looking around to be sure everyone else had left, the white- blond haired girl, walked out to the curb. A moment later, w long white limousine pulled up, the back door opening from the inside. The girl slipped in, closing the door behind her.

Placing herself on the leather seats, she turned to meat the eyes of the limo's other passenger. The other was a girl with short black hair who was, at most, two years her junior. "Did you get everything we needed?" The black haired girl questioned the other. The blond nodded. "Good. I knew he was the one to go for. As cor holding your hand, well, no guy can refuse skin contact if he can get it. The fact you were able to maintain it for the time required must have taken skill"

The blond laughed, her green eyes glistening. "You would not believe how many lame jokes I had to endure. And I had to pretend they were funny. But it was worth it. Are the rest of the areas going equally well?"

The black haired girl nodded, "Everything is in place. The first stage will start soon. "

The blond smiled. " Bless Her Majesty."

"Bless Her," the other replied as the limo speed into the distance.