Hey guys. I'm sorry that this chapter took forever but life etc has been crazy. Plus, I thought I had a chapter up my sleeve but when I tried to upload it, I realised it was the previous one and I was like NOOOOO! Anyways,thanks to all the revs, faves and alerters. You guys rock! I hope y'all like this new chappie. The beginning sequence is my favourite scene in the story thus far.

A to X

Chapter Ten - Academically X-ercised

Flint was regretting his promise to Jubilee as she haphazardly drove around the unsuspecting streets of Manhattan. She had a horrible tendency to let loose excited cheers while simultaneously yelling abuse at drivers who actually adhered to the speed limit and singing along to some goddam awful bubble-gum pop music station that he wished would die a horrific death. It was official, he was scarred for life. The spitfire behind the wheel was scarier than Nick Fury before his first pot of coffee for the day.

"So," shouted Jubes over the electronica that was probably destroying his sound system by its mere existence, "you won't believe what I saw on the TV yesterday." Her words turned from conversational shouting to grumpy shouting. "You know, when you ditched me for your little solo act. So not cool."

"What did you see?" asked Flint loudly over the music.

"The Avengers were holding a press conference," said Jubilee as she swerved unsteadily to the left.

Flint hoped she was too distracted by driving (if it could be called that) to notice his gasp. It was quite ridiculous really, since JARVIS had already forewarned him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently that widow chick and the arrow guy are off on some sort of deep cover assignment. I reckon they've probably eloped or some shit and the others are trying to shield them from the press or something. I would totally go for either of them," mused the mallrat more to herself than to Flint. "Or both. At the same time. I mean, you've totally seen them on the telly before, right?"

Opening and closing his mouth for a few moments, the archer in question eventually managed to say, "Er, yeah. I think pretty much everyone in America's seen them."

"Exactly," noted Jubilee. "I mean, you've seen the curves on that woman, yeah? That and her perky orbs of satisfaction. How anyone could say no to all that, is beyond me."

Flint felt somewhat violated on Tasha's behalf and prayed that the Russian agent would never hear about Jubilee's words or the firecracker would be flayed alive.

Not knowing about her companion's inner turmoil, Jubes continued describing exactly what was drool-worthy about his best friend before moving on to something even more mortifying. "And that Hawkeye? So... fucking... hot! He has the whole broody thing interspersed with actual funnies (unlike Spider-man who's very unfunny) in a very nice package. And whoa, what a package he has indeed. It's not like his uniform really hides all that sexy man meat and look at his muscle definition. Can you say chiselled? His arms are almost as lickable as yours..." she decided as her eyes once again raked over his biceps.

Flint's horror at her choice of conversation was overridden by an even more basic survival instinct. "EYES ON THE FUCKING ROAD!" he yelled as he somewhat involuntarily grabbed onto the dashboard.

Rolling her eyes, Jubilee huffed as she turned her focus back onto the road. "Sheesh, chillax Flinty. I got this."

"Why on Earth have you been thinking so much about the sexiness of the Avengers?" asked the archer masochistically. It was odd that the woman seemed so hung up on them and he wanted to understand why.

The car came to a screeching halt. The mallrat turned in her seat, grabbed his head with both hands and brought it toward herself. She peered intently into his eyes before she said, "You mean you haven't seen it? Oh my fucking God!"

As much as he really didn't want to know, Flint's confusion must have been obvious. "Seen what?"

There was no other way to describe it. Jubilee squealed like a prepubescent girl. "You must be the only adult in the entire world who hasn't watched The Ass-vengers, the Earth's Mightiest Horndogs, Orgy Edition."

Flint had no words. None at all.

Naturally, his companion had no difficulty filling the void. "It's rumoured that the funding and casting choices were made by Tony Stark himself. I have a copy if you'd like to borrow it. Scott tried to confiscate the DVD but when I mentioned that they'd added a scene with his girlfriend and a couple of the other X-ladies since the Avengers are pretty much a complete sausagefest, he quickly gave it back. So, you wanna watch it?"

"Er, not really. No," Flint somehow managed to spit out.

Jubilee shrugged and pulled back into the traffic.

Suddenly, the woman's driving was the last thing on his mind. Avenger porn? Seriously? The fact that Tony Stark was probably involved was of little surprise. What was somewhat shocking was that the billionaire hadn't been parading the production around the mansion. Perhaps the man really didn't know of the film. It wasn't until the pair were pulling back into his parking spot that something occurred to Flint. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you bisexual then?" he asked as he exited his car.

Raising and eyebrow, Jubes just looked at the archer as if he were completely stupid. "Um, duh!"

"Oh, okay then," shrugged Flint.

A genuine grin broke out on the firecracker's face. "So you're not going to tell me that bisexuality's a myth, then?"

The ex-Avenger snorted. "Of course not. My best friend's bi too. Let me guess, Scott's somehow to blame. Isn't he?"

"Yeah," laughed Jubes as she tossed the keys to their owner. "Jean mentally bitch-slapped him for me when she found out about her boyfriend's lack of tact and knowledge."

"Good," smirked Flint vindictively before he smoothed it from his face. "So we're square now, right?" he asked.

Jubilee tilted her head as she considered the question. "Hmm. Almost." She chuckled at the not-very-well-disguised sigh from the ex-Avenger. "Don't worry, you'll know what to do (when the time comes) to gain my total forgiveness. I'm not particularly subtle."

Flint snorted at this. "That's for sure," he snorted as Jubilee saluted.

"Anywho, I gotta jet. I have my Mandarin class in five," said Jubes.

The ex-Avenger stared at the young woman for a few seconds before he inquired, "Why on Earth would you need to learn Chinese? I'm sure you said you were already fluent in it the other day."

A bubbling laugh peeled around the garage. "I teach the class, Flinty," she noted with a smile. "The Prof-inator asked a few of the older students to take some of the more obscure languages to free up the adults for the more demanding classes. I have Mandarin, Noriko does Japanese and Petey takes the Russian group." She looked at her watch and cursed. "Dude, I really gotta go like right now. Bye Biceps!" she hollered as she quickly left the garage.

Flint pocketed the keys he'd been holding onto and tracked down Charles. After a brief discussion, the bald man suggested that the archer should leave his mental shields for a day or so to give himself a rest. Especially since he had his Danger Room session in the afternoon. Now that was something he was looking forward to. In the end, he agreed with Xavier's idea that he should check out a few of the classes in progress around the school. In particular, the language ones.

The first classroom the ex-Avenger hit up was Jubilee's one. To his surprise, there were only seven mutants of varying ages sitting around a single table. They were working on writing a paragraph in Guānhuà characters. The woman herself was moving from person to person, kindly pointing out errors and conversing in Mandarin but reinforcing in English when necessary. She seemed to have an excellent relationship with her students and all in all, Flint was impressed. He enjoyed the calm atmosphere before silently slipping from the room. As he was closing the door he cheekily returned the teacher's conspiratorial wink.

Flint's second stop turned out to be run by a mutant he'd not yet seen before. Like Hank, this man was also covered in blue fur but had startlingly yellow eyes. The other main difference was the addition of a gently swaying tail. The mutant smiled widely when he spotted the interloper before disappearing from view in a puff of blue smoke. "Guten Tag! (Good afternoon!)" chirped a Germanic voice from directly behind him, as a hand fell on his shoulder. Unfortunately Flint's honed reflexes reasserted themselves and it wasn't until he'd thrown the furry blue man through the air that he realised his mistake.

There was another bamf sound and the mutant reappeared near the classroom roof. He grasped the stationary ceiling fan and swung on it to change his fast trajectory back toward Flint. A bamf later, the ex-Avenger found himself lying on the floor with the odd mutant standing in an exaggerated pose on his chest. "And zat, meine studenten (my students) vas...?" he questioned the class at large. "Remember ze vier (four) terms ve vere just talking about."

"Oooh!" squealed a small girl with pink wings that Flint vaguely recognised. "That was invitation, isn't it?"

The blue man held up a finger. "Correct, Pixie. By tossing me vizout varning, it vas an invitation to fight. Remember, an invitation is a temptation. It must be bold or it vill not be enticing enough to lure a true varrior into a bout. For example," the mutant said with a smirk that instantly put Flint on edge, "a bold move," the fuzzy guy mischievously said as his tail wrapped around Flint's hand. He stepped off his chest and used his tail to throw him into the air.

Flint acrobatically tumbled and landed agilely on his feet, despite the unconventional lift.

"Ausgezeichnet! (Excellent!)" cheered the blue man somewhat maniacally. "Notice how ze opponent is already in a fighting stance, having unconsciously agreed to ze invitation." Flint actually hadn't until it was pointed out. "Keller. Vhen I flipped him up, vhat role vas I playing?"

A twenty-year old-ish looking guy with black hair snorted. "Like that's hard. You were the attacker and he was the victim." He rolled his eyes as he unconcernedly leant back in his seat.

"Exactly," agreed the blue man as he disappeared and reappeared within a second. The only difference was that when he bamfed back, he was holding two swords and immediately flung one directly at Flint.

Deftly grabbing the sword after diving to the side, Flint rolled to his feet with the weapon poised in a defensive stance. With a war cry, the furry man leapt forward and began an intense attack. It was then that the ex-Avenger realised that the teacher was subtly telegraphing each move so he could easily defend them to make sure nothing seriously dangerous would occur, so he copied the technique and was silently thanked a wide grin.

The pair duelled for several minutes and there were many appreciative hoots and catcalls from the class before the blue man bamfed mid-attack to the back of the room, startling the green guy Flint had met at dinner a couple of days prior.

"And vhat vas zat last tactic, Herr Borkowski?" he asked the still recovering lizard guy.

"Evadance?" he squeaked out hopefully.

"Almost. Ze correct vord is avoidance and is used to describe vhen ze victim dodges an attack completely. Zank you for your help, Herr...?" asked the blue man.

"Robertson. Flint Robertson," said the archer with a smile and a touch of relief. Apparently his improvised participation in the class had come to an end. It was clear that the furry guy was an excellent athlete and was well versed in combat techniques.

"I am Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich Circus, I was known as the Amazing Nightcrawler," the mutant said with a low bow. It was on odd sight since the guy's tail was still wiggling around behind him.

Flint's first instinct was to mention that he had been in a circus too but that would blow his cover. "Sweet," he smiled when the mutant was upright again. "I'd love to stay for the rest of your class but Xavier suggested I try to check out as many lessons as mutantly possible. It was a pleasure to meet you," he said with a wave before he headed out the door."

After Nightcrawler's interesting film studies lesson, the rest that the ex-Avenger later visited were quite boring in comparison. He saw Summers taking an advanced mathematics class that went right over his head. What the hell was a quadratic equation and why would he need to know it? He then enjoyed watching Logan yelling at a worn out group of students on the running track. The last two lessons he saw were both via webcam links projected onto screens at the front of the room. The first was an ethics class with Xavier and a Scottish woman called Moira via the feed and the second was a Spanish lesson from a chocolate coloured woman that the students referred to as Señora Reyes.

Flint had a modest lunch amongst the lessons and when it was almost four, he quickly made his way to the Danger Room after donning a plain black sleeveless shirt and trousers. Finally, some sort of combat training! After almost daily sessions with the likes of Captain America and the Black Widow, he'd felt a little out of sorts after six days of inaction. In fact, the only muscle he'd really exercised was his brain with his psychic shielding tutorials.

The room was empty but for Ororo who was clad in her black combat suit. "Good afternoon, Mr Robertson. How has your day progressed thus far?" she inquired with what appeared to be genuine interest as she handed over a comm-link.

Flashing a winning smile in response while he jammed the electronic device securely into his ear, the ex-Avenger said, "It's been an eye-opener. I sat in on some different classes and was really surprised. It seems like how I'd imagine a regular school would run."

The chocolate coloured woman nodded her head with a smile. "We've discovered that new students respond better to a familiar environment and routine during dramatic life-altering events," she noted before her eyes narrowed in thought. "Strange. According to your file, you spent six years in the public school system before your father passed away. Your previous statement implies that you have never attended traditional schooling in your life."

Flint sent a self-deprecating grin her way. "It's funny you should bring that up because I haven't," he started before taking a deep breath. "First, I want you to know that Xavier and a few others already know this so don't think I'm some sort of infiltrator or something but I'm not who I appear to be."

The woman allowed a little lightning to spark around her fingertips to show the man that she was listening carefully and was more than prepared to take action if necessary. "Please elaborate."

Despite being a little weirded out when her eyes clouded over with silvery-white, Flint said, "We've actually fought together once before during that Skrull invasion last year as Strike Team Omega."

The stormy film left the woman's eyes as a contemplative gleam took its place. "There were seven of us. Jean and I plus the Black Widow were the females. Clearly you are not the Thing or Power Man. Despite your black hair, I doubt there would be any sort of event that would require Doctor Strange to hide in plain sight with us. So you are Hawkeye of the Avengers, then?"

"Yeah," confirmed the archer with a small smile, "but if you could keep that to yourself for the time being, it would be most appreciated."

Ororo nodded before her eyes drifted south to the gloves on his hands. "So, can I assume those are the work of Beast and Forge?"

Flint nodded as the hiss of the automated door drew the pair's attention to Jean and Hank. They were casually chatting about one of Pym's recent articles in Scientific American. Despite being blindsided by the news of his identity, the chocolate coloured mutant cordially greeted her colleagues before saying, "As you played a large role in the creation of these gloves, Hank and since you Jean, have an excellent memory for previously encountered teammates' brainwaves, am I correct in guessing you were both aware of this man's true identity?"

"Indeed, Miss Munroe but Charles begged my silence on our newest companion's behalf," stated Hank diplomatically with a somewhat sheepish look.

"Me too," agreed Jean.

"Greetings," came Xavier's voice through the Danger Room speakers, causing the archer to jump in surprise. "As Storm seems apprised of the situation, we can begin training. Remember, only mutant names are to be used in the field, as our identities are to be protected at all times. For the purposes of this session, Hawkeye will do for now. Each mission will be led by a different teammate. The first is an attack scenario. The Fantastic Four have intercepted a genetic re-sequencer from Doctor Doom and are intent on handing the technology over to SHIELD. Storm, your team is to destroy the machine before it can be exchanged."

The empty room shimmered and the four of them stood in what appeared to be Central Park. Flint was once again awed by the holo-technology on display. The trees gently swayed in the breeze and the happy shrieks of playing children filled the air.

"Alright," said Storm as she instantly gained the team's attention. "I will patrol the skies. Phoenix, scan the psychic plane. See if you can track the Fantastic Four with your senses, Beast. Hawkeye, I want your eyes on the surroundings for SHIELD. You know how they operate. Keep coms open and clear unless necessary. Go."

It was almost freeing for the ex-Avenger to be in the field again and the fact that the X-man's orders were precise and sensible reminded him that he was working with highly skilled field veterans. As Maria Hill is a level nine SHIELD operative, her safety is paramount. She would be surrounded by at least six hidden snipers, about four armed guards and perhaps seven nearby civilians would circle the drop zone in case additional support was required. That was his in.

Hawkeye casually walked around the nearby parkland as he searched for the disguised agents. He was extremely surprised when he actually recognised one of three women doing yoga under a shady tree as a first year recruit he'd trained a few years ago. As they were so synchronised, he assumed that all three were agents. His quick eyes picked out a man asleep nearby whose breathing was too shallow to be genuine, a homeless woman wearing SHIELD regulation boots and a younger woman who was pretending to write in a diary. The silly thing was wiggling her pen over the exact same spot without moving her arm. What an imbecile. "I have the drop site," breathed Flint over his comm as he gave the coordinates to his team.

"Copy that," noted Storm.

"I have six plain-clothed agents and I guess there will be a like number of snipers. Hill is yet to show and will have four armed guards with her," added Flint as he casually dropped to the grass and basked in the sun.

"Acknowledged," said Storm. "Hold your position, Hawkeye. Beast, take to the trees and stay out of sight. Phoenix, can you locate the snipers?"

There was a pause over the comm before Jean announced, "I have them. Their weapons are tranqs. How should I proceed?"

"You said there were six plain-clothed agents, correct?" asked Ororo and when Flint affirmed it, she asked him to describe them.

"I have assumed control of the snipers and have each plain-clothed agent in my scopes," acknowledged Phoenix, causing the ex-Avenger to internally shudder. Bloody mind control again.

"The Fantastic Four are rapidly approaching," noted Hank as Flint spotted Maria emerging from a shady grove.

"Hill's here," he whispered.

"When I give the word, Phoenix, take the shots and then disable the snipers. Beast, disarm the guards and Hawkeye, distract the Four with Phoenix's eventual support while I cloak the clearing," ordered Storm. When Hill was almost at the centre of the grove and the Fantasticar had just landed, Storm said, "Go," and the six plain-clothed agents all fell as one.

"Taking fire!" yelled Hill and her protectors closed ranks as unconscious snipers started falling from the trees. A fog began to fill the clearing. As soon as she heard the shout, Sue Storm had her hands up and was no doubt projecting one of her invisible force fields around her team.

Before his sight was completely obscured, Hawkeye reported, "Mr Fantastic is in possession of the package."

Remembering the SHIELD files on the Fantastic Four, Hawkeye knew his fire, ice, gas and electricity attacks were useless against the Invisible Woman's force fields. A smokescreen would be unnecessary with Storm's fog and a flash-bang's effect would be negligible. That left him with two options. While acid may eventually work, he was quite certain that while her force fields were strong, they weren't soundproof. He tapped his left ring finger repeatedly until he held an extremely powerful sonic disc in his hand. He flicked it toward where he thought the Four were standing.

A sonic scream pierced the air and a few moments later, a red glow appeared with a loud, "SUE!" Apparently the Human Torch had flamed on. The fog in the area began to thin with the heat dissipating the weather anomaly and Flint soon could see the Invisible Woman lying prone on the grass, with a very pissed of brother of hers hovering above her. When the man spotted the fake-mutant, he let out a war cry and flew to the retreating Hawkeye. "I'm gonna fry you until you're crispier than a Thanksgiving turkey," he yelled.

"I don't think so," Hawkeye called back as he leapt aside to avoid a jet of flames. He dodged a second wave and was about to get a really bad case of third-degree burns but was saved by Phoenix who telekinetically held the flames at bay.

"I've got this," the woman yelled as she held her hands aloft.

"Hawkeye," said Storm, who had allowed the fog to disperse completely and was fighting hand to hand with Hill. "Find a way to destroy the target. Beast, take the Thing out of the equation."

"Assuredly," agreed the furry mutant as he cannonballed through the air at the orange-ish hero. The armed squad he'd defeated laid on the grass in a heap.

Flint was rapidly tapping his right pinkie finger and was about to throw the electrically charged disc at the genetic re-sequencer but what felt like a truck slammed into him and he went flying through the air. "The Invisible Woman is back in play," he said as he used his momentum to roll back to his feet in a low crouch. She looked extremely pissed off and he found himself being pummelled by a barrage of invisible fists. "I could use a hand," he grudgingly choked out.

The punches ceased and the fake-mutant realised that Storm had sent a bolt of lightning the Invisible Woman's way while she was occupied. Unfortunately, her distraction allowed Hill to knock her to the ground. An expanded arm was snaking its way to the SHIELD agent with the genetic sequencer held firmly in its grasp. Just as the exchange was almost made, the limb ran into an invisible force. "Susan? What are you doing?" Reed Richards shouted at his wife, his confusion was apparent. "We need to get this to Agent Hill immediately."

Before anything else could be done, Mr Fantastic's arms and legs lifted from the ground and began to weave themselves into some sort of odd-looking Celtic braid. He was too busy trying to extricate himself from Jean's unconventional prison that he failed to notice that he'd released the package, which Storm obliterated with a single lightning bolt. "Mission accomplished," the chocolate coloured woman said. "Scatter and we'll rendezvous when the coast is clear."

Flint, who had now made it back to his feet, shot immediately into the trees again. He watched as Ororo and Jean took to the skies while Hank sprinted for some nearby bushes. Just as the ex-Avenger was about to clear the area, his sharp eyes noticed something odd. The Fantastic Four were looking smug instead of cowed as they approached Maria Hill.

"Agent Hill," said Sue Storm-Richards with a smile, "I believe you were looking for this." She waved a hand and an object appeared, floating in mid-air. Apparently she had the device invisibly fortified under their very noses which meant the machine Storm had destroyed was a decoy.

Flint readied another electric disc, knowing he'd only get one shot at this. The moment the device touched Hill's fingertips (knowing it could no longer be invisibly shielded for her to grasp it) he accurately flicked the disc from his vantage point which easily destroyed the machine.

Hell yeah!