I was there a week at the institute, and it was beginning to feel a little more like home everyday. I felt myself changing, but for the better. I was slowly going back to my own self, and I enjoyed it. I started growing closer with the other kids who were only a little younger than myself, especially the ones who were with me on that first day in the Danger Room. John had calmed himself a bit, seeing how I wasn't changing my opinion of guys anytime soon, and stopped being a smart-ass around me; he knew I'd just take it and shoot it right back at him.

On a Sunday, a week since my arrival at the school, Xavier called me into his office. "Have you thought over my proposition?" he asked.

"Which one?"

"Would you like to teach?"

"I dunno," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "It sounds like fun... But... What would I do? Would I need a lesson plan er anything?"

"Only if you wish," he said. "It's not mandatory. I only thought that some of the students needed to find a way to vent their anger. Some of them you wouldn't even think about have problems that they hide away from us. I think writing may be able to help some of them be able to let go and move on."

I nodded in agreement. I had felt that way when I was writing, and now I would have the power as teacher. Hell, it wasn't like I had anything better to do around here.

"Yeah," I said finally. "I'll teach tha kids how ta write."

"Good," he said. "I think we'll offer it only to those who want it."

"Sounds good ta me," I said. "Where should we put tha sign-up sheet?"

He chuckled. "I'll take care of everything later," he said. "Now, I must also ask you about something else."

"Fire away."

"I wish for Jean to run some tests on you," he said.

"Ah, I remember this conversation."

He nodded. "I want to know everything I can about how your body is reacting to all of your abilities. Have you gotten any new ones?"

"Not since comin' here, no," I answered. "Believe me, I'll know when they're comin' on." He nodded. "So, when d'you want those tests ta be run?"

"Today, if at all possible."

"Sure, my schedule's open."

"Follow me, then."

"As always, sir," I said, smirking.

Once again, I was taken down to the bottom portion of the school, and led to where Jean stood waiting in a room that resembled the emergency rooms I had seen time and time again on TV.

"Have a seat," Jean said, motioning towards a metal table. I eyed it warily, already feeling the memories coming back. "Ah," Jean said with realization. "Forget it. You can stand, if you want." I nodded.

"I'll leave you to this, Jean," Xavier said, then exited. I remained standing, my arms behind my back.

"All right, then, Rebecca, let's start off with some x-rays," Jean said, putting on a heavy apron made of lead. "Come over here..."

Jean walked me through the entire processes of x-rays, CAT scans, blood tests, and just about anything else she could think of. I was expecting an ink-blot test next, and when I told her that, she laughed.

"I'm not that kind of a doctor," she said. "Although if you really wanted an ink-blot test..." I shook my head. "That's what I thought." She scribbled down something on her pad of paper, then resumed with my physical.

"All right," she said after ten minutes of more tests. "I think you're ready to go. Your tests should be ready by tonight, so the professor will come and get you when they are, and we can discuss them a bit further."

"Cool," I said, nodding. "Thanks, I guess. See ya tonight."

I turned and walked from the room, going back up to my room.

That afternoon, when I was going down to the kitchen to get a snack, I was pulled aside by Ororo. She seemed a little upset, and I listened to what she had to say.

"There's someone in the mansion," she said in a whisper, not wanting to catch anyone's attention. "They destroyed your test results, and the professor thinks they may still be in the building. He's sending Scott and I on a mission, and while the mansion is being searched, he wants you to come with us as well."

I nodded. "Sure," I said, not wanting to argue. I figured if these people destroyed my test results, then they were after me, and I didn't feel like putting up with that, especially if it put the kids in danger. I found I had started becoming more and more maternal since coming to this school.

"Good," Ororo said, patting my hand. "Come with me, quickly."

She began to lead me towards the elevator leading to the basement/concealment area. "So, what kinda mission is this?" I asked. "Obviously one dealing with the X-jet."

"I'll explain in a moment, Rebecca," she said. "First we have to get you suited up."

"Excuse me?"

"The professor has asked you whether or not you wish to be a part of the X-Men, correct?" She turned to look at me.

"Uh... the what?"

Ororo sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "He said that he would ask you, but it has slipped his mind," she said more to herself. "One of the most intelligent people in the world, and he forgets a simple task..." She shook her head as we boarded the elevator. She pressed a button, and the doors shut.

"We are not normal mutants," she told me.

"Well, I gathered, considerin' tha big jet an' tha secret underground hideaway," I replied.

"We have those things to fight against the other mutants out there," she explained. "Mutants who have worse feelings for man-kind than we."

"Magneto."

"Mostly," she answered, inclining her head. "Although we have never had an all-out war with him, we have been keeping an eye on his forces, which are small, but powerful. We feel that he wants to gain you as an ally as well."

"Yeah, Professor X already told me 'bout that."

"What the professor failed to tell you is that we wish for you to join our team, the X-Men," Ororo said as the elevator door opened again. She walked out, me close on her heels.

"So I'm s'pose ta fight evil with good, huh?" I asked.

She nodded. "More or less, yes."

I pondered this for a moment. "So I get a suit an' everything, eh?" I smiled.

"I guess I'm supposed to take your smile as a yes."

"Sure," I said, shrugging. "What can it hurt? Where do I sign up?"

"Over here."

She took me over to a small circular room where there appeared to be outfits hanging up in small cubby-like spaces in the walls. Ororo scanned around quickly, finally picking one out and taking it from off the small hanger. She handed it to me.

"This is our uniform," she said swiftly. "It is made of leather, and will protect your body from most harm. Of course, with your healing factor, there shouldn't be much you have to worry about. Put it on quickly."

I took it from her, peeling off my shirt and pants and slipping into the suit. I didn't like undressing in front of her, but I knew there wasn't much time.

"Good," she said, taking me by the crook of my arm. "When we're on missions such as these, you are to call us by our code names."

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "Code names?" I asked skeptically.

"I am called, 'Storm,' while Scott is 'Cyclops.'"

"Oh, so I did guess his nick-name correctly!" I said sarcastically, beaming.

"And also, call Professor Xavier, 'the professor.'"

"But Xav- I mean, the professor said he knows Magneto."

"He does, but we still don't want to give away any other information to those who may be listening."

A good point I hadn't thought of. "All right," I said, "code names it is. Call me Felan, if we're usin' 'em. So, about this mission..."

"We're to pick up two mutants," Storm said, letting go of my arm so I could walk freely. "One is named Logan, or Wolverine, but I'm sure the professor has told you about him. He's like you, in a way. The other is an unidentifiable girl. Logan must have picked her up somewhere."

I was suddenly alert and ready to go. This man could prove helpful in my quest to seek revenge. But what if he didn't know anymore than I did? My heart sank with that thought, but I had no time to dwell on it, for we came to the jet and boarded.

"Fasten your seatbelt," Cyclops said, smirking at me.

"You drivin'?" I asked.

"Yup." He smiled.

"Oh. I will, then." I sat down and buckled the belt across my chest quickly as Cyclops chuckled, turning to the controls.

We were beginning to take off, and I watched the buttons and levers he pulled and pushed, memorizing the pattern. Hell, who knew? One day he might not be able to fly, and then where'd we be? The engines kicked on, and I began to shake slightly, though I willed myself not to panic; I'd never liked flying, and now was certainly not the time to remember that little fact about myself. I heard a vibration from over my head, and glanced up, thinking that since we were underground, something was hiding the jet from view.

"The basketball court serves as the target for when we land," Cyclops explained, as if he were a mind-reader, too. "It hides the jet from view so that we look like every other privately owned school."

I scoffed. "I wonder how many a those there are out there," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Just us," Cyclops answered, no longer laughing.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. These suits were murder on the skin, especially when seated. I grunted suddenly, thinking of something. I looked down at my knuckles, and popped my claws. Snickt!

Storm glanced back my way, and she drew back a little when she saw the claws, but kept her face relatively calm. I looked up at her, smiling a bit.

"Sorry," I said, allowing my claws back in. Snickt!

She nodded, turning back to face forward, looking out the front window of the jet. I could tell we were traveling fast, and I wondered where this man was, what he was like. Did he have all these powers that I did, too? I laughed at that idea; Xavier had said that I was the only mutant he'd seen with this disability, and surely he'd have mentioned if Logan had the exact same problem I did. But then again, who knew with these people. This was the same man who'd forgotten to tell me about his underground society of crime-fighters.

We began the landing process again, and I clamped my hands over the arm rests of the seat I was in.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Near Canada," Cyclops said.

"Not too far from where we found you, actually," Storm put in.

Strange, I thought. Well, at least this guy had good taste in country-side. We landed pretty smoothly, considering we were in a heavily wooded area; I could smell the pines through the thick metal of the jet. The gangway opened, and all three of us stepped carefully down and into a good three feet of snow. I watched as Storm and Cyclops struggled to keep from sinking into the snow as I stood on top. I giggled as Cyclops almost fell over, face first, into the snow. Though he'd forgiven me, it would still be a long time until I stopped acting civil towards him and started being nice. He shot a glare at me, and I shut up, whistling as I looked up into the sky.

"So," I started, looking around. "Where are they? We s'pose ta go find 'em er somethin'?"

"The professor said they'd be passing by the road that's just up here in a few minutes," Cyclops said, commencing his battle with the snow. Storm went after him in the path he created in the small amount of white powder, and I trod after them, keeping my mouth shut.

"Ya know, I could prolly help ya'll out," I said, stepping before Cyclops.

"I was wondering when you'd say something," he said, letting me go before him.

"Just step in my footprints, an' everything should be fine," I instructed them. They did as I told them, and we made it to the road just as I heard a tree snapping. A loud crash sounded, and I ran towards the road, bursting out of it just as a large pick-up truck with a camper attached slammed into a fallen tree. A man came flying out from the pick-up's windshield, landing roughly on the ground; he skidded to a stop about fifty feet in front of the truck. I guessed him to be the one like me.

I looked up, and saw the cause of the crash: a tree had fallen in front of the on-coming truck. I saw a girl in the front seat, and she was staring at the man in shock; it was clear that she hadn't even seen me.

Well, duh, I thought. I'm standing on the edge of the woods. I shook my head, ready to step out to help, when I saw the man beginning to stir. He shook his head, propping himself up with one hand, then the other. He did a sort of push-up like move, then was standing, looking back at the girl in the cab of the truck. She was startled at his movement; I guess she didn't know about his healing factor.

"Hey, kid, you all right?" the man called to her. She didn't respond. "Kid?!"

"I'm stuck!" she cried back to him. He growled under his breath, and the open wound on his forehead was closing as he walked towards her, more annoyed then concerned. I was certain, now, that this was Logan.

Logan and I both froze at the same moment. He popped three metal claws on each hand, meeting an attack from a huge, peculiar figure. It was a man, though he was dressed in skins and furs, like I had always imagined cavemen to be. But this man had the strength of twenty of those cavemen, and he soon had the man with the claws like mine slammed on the hood of the truck. It didn't take a genius to see the man was unconscious.

The larger man stepped closer to the truck, and I heard the footsteps of Cyclops and Storm behind me, finally. But, wanting to protect the man who might hold the information that I needed, I didn't wait for them. I ran out from my cover under the trees and launched myself at the humongous man. He roared when I scraped his back with three claws popped from my hand. He turned his attention towards me, forgetting all about the girl and Logan. I jumped down from his back, all six claws extended now. He looked mildly confused, but then I almost saw the light bulb go off over his head. He smiled, creeping closer to me. I saw his pupils were sort of slit, like you saw in the feline family. I cringed, feeling uneasy.

I sniffed. There was gasoline leaking; and fire. "Get tha girl!" I shouted over my shoulder. "Fire!" It was then the large man decided to attack. He would have chosen his time well if I hadn't had lightening for reflexes.

He let out another roar when I stabbed him, rolling him off my shoulder like I would a sack of potatoes. I threw him back towards the woods, but he stuck fast to a tree, growling at me.

"Ya want me?" I shouted up at him. "Try it!" I let my claws back in, holding my arms out to my sides, offering him a free shot. He watched me for a moment, and I could hear Storm and Cyclops releasing the girl and man. The fire was sparking against the gasoline. I teleported next to the cat-man.

"Too slow," I told him with a smile, throwing a good deal of flames at him. He made a cat-like scream as he was thrown back into the woods. The truck decided to explode then, and I almost lost my grip on the tree branch. I grabbed onto it just as I was swinging under it, looking back to see the truck spring up from the blow, only to settle back on the road comfortably as the fire consumed it.

"Felan!" I heard through the dense woods. I let my body drop to the snow, using my fist to steady myself on the drift I had managed to land on. I went quickly to the sound of the voice calling me.

"You rang?" I asked casually.

"Let's go," Cyclops said.

"Whatever you say."

The girl gave me a frightened look as we set off through the snow again, putting myself in the lead again. Cyclops carried Logan, who was still unconscious, and though I found this odd, I didn't question him; he seemed a bit ticked off at the moment. Storm was leading the girl with a careful hand; the poor thing seemed like she was shaken pretty bad, but she was brave for going with these complete strangers with no explanation whatsoever.

We made it back to the X-jet, and Cyclops put Logan in the back. "You're in charge of him," he said to me, retreating back up to his post in the driver's seat. I nodded to him, turning to look at Logan. He had a harsh line of a nose, flared nostrils, and rough skin. He had hair that was blacker than the leather I was wearing now and was shaped into two points on top of his head; it looked like he had made an attempt to have it look like devil horns...

Or wolverine ears, I thought. I looked to the girl, who seemed confused as to what to do.

"Take a seat," I said softly, motioning to a chair. "Yer in good hands."

She perked up at my accent. "Yer from tha south?" she asked quietly, sitting down and buckling up.

"Born an' raised, darlin'," I said, smiling slightly. I sat myself next to Logan, strapping him in before I did myself. "What's yer name?"

She thought about that for a minute. "Rogue," she answered. "Yers?"

"Felan." She nodded. "But that's just my code name. My real name's Rebecca."

Again, she thought before she spoke. "Marie."

I smiled. "Well, Marie, yer in good hands here. Believe me, I know. I'm one a tha newest mutants they got at this school, an' they've- well, that is, tha man who runs it, Xavier- has changed me since I've been there."

"He's really helped you that much?" she asked, seeming a little more interested.

"Yeah," I said. "You didn't see me before I got here. I was worse than he is." I nodded towards Logan.

"You know him?"

I shook my head. "I've only heard a him through Xavier." We took off, and Marie seemed rattled, looking around nervously. "S'all right. Cyclops can fly... most a tha time."

"I heard that," he called back to me, not looking up from his job. I snickered.

"Cyclops?" Marie asked in a whisper.

"Scott Summers," I replied. "Tha other one is Storm, or Ororo Munroe. They're nice people. You'll prolly meet Dr. Jean Grey, too. And a course Professor Xavier."

She nodded, calming a little bit at my words. She seemed to trust me for one reason or another, and I felt I could tell her what needed to be said.

"Where're we goin'?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Xavier's school for gifted youngsters," I said in my deepest voice, trying to mimic what Scott had told me on my first ride in the jet. I caught her smiling a little at that, but she quickly hid it. "It's a place where mutants go to get away from society."

"Why'd you go there?" she asked innocently.

I paused for a long while. "I'd forgotten who I was," I answered slowly. "Xavier an' all tha kids there've helped me realize who I truly am again. It's a good feelin' when yer finally accepted somewhere."

"It sounds like a great place," she said. "Sorta like it's almost too good ta be true."

"That's what I thought at first, too," I admitted. "But they haven't asked much of me, an' they've given me everything in return. It's just... like a fairy tale."

She scoffed. "I don't believe in fairy tales anymore," she said, crossing her arms.

"I don't, either," I said. "But this one's real, Marie. You'll see it with yer own eyes in a few minutes."

I looked into Ororo's mind, for I could see she was smiling. We should take her on more of these expeditions, Ororo thought. She calmed the girl down immediately. I felt proud of myself, but I didn't let it show too much.

"So, yer all mutants, right?" Marie asked tenderly.

"Uh-huh," I replied.

"So you've all got different powers?"

"Yep. All of us 'er different. We're not really classified inta groups by our powers 'er anything, but it sets us apart from each other at tha school."

"What're yer powers?" she asked, very interested. "I mean... I saw yer claws. They're like his. Like Logan's. D'you have his healing thing, too? I saw that gnash in his head just heal like that, so, ya know..."

"Actually, I do," I said, keeping calm. I didn't like talking about my claws, but I felt this was an acceptation. "I got claws, an' tha healing factor Logan's got. I've got more powers than most other mutants. How 'bout you?"

She looked down at her hands, rubbing her gloved fingers together. "Let's just say that when I touch people, they get hurt," she whispered so only I could hear.

I leaned closer. "What d'ya mean, Marie?"

She sighed, shifting uncomfortably where she sat. "When I touch someone," she said, still keeping quiet, "I feel 'em inside my head."

"That's interestin'..."

"Not really," she said, leaning back. "It's terrifyin'."

"I can only imagine what it was like to first get that power," I said quietly to her, keeping an eye on Ororo and Scott; it was clear she didn't want them to hear, and I didn't want to lose her trust. "But I know that when I first started gettin' my powers, you can bet I wasn't too far off from how scared ya are right now." I looked at her gently. "But everything'll be fine. I promise. If I can get better, you most definitely can get better."

She smiled, sitting up a little bit. "Thanks," she said. Her eyes fell on Logan. "Why d'you think he hasn't woken up yet?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I guess tha healing factor doesn't extend this far." I reached over and lifted up his eyelid, and saw his black eyes. I was shocked to find eyes darker than my own, but I shook out of my own thoughts. I let his eyelid close again. "Well, his pupil's aren't dilated, so I guess that's good."

She nodded her agreement. "He saved me," she said.

"Then I understand yer concern for 'im," I said. "Don't worry, Jean'll take good care a 'im."

She drew her legs up to her chest, searching for a more comfortable position to sit on the jet ride back to the mansion.