Sorry, this is more of a filler than anything else. It does set up for later chapter though, so I guess it was necessary. If you feel the need to review, please go right on ahead.

Wednesday went like every other day for Claudine. She got up, had to face Lauren, and of course she found some way to be unbearable.

"I want the other bed," said Claudine, "It is no fair that I have to get this side of the room. It's a bloody mess, and I'm not just saying that because I'm British."

"It was you who tried to wake me up," replied Lauren pointedly, "Plus, it's your blood." Lauren had watched her roommate desperately scrubbing the floor, trying to get the stain out and saying that the Professor was going to kill them.

Claudine threw Lauren's backpack at her. "Ow!" She felt a ghost of a smile twitch on her lips as the bag hit X-23 in the head. It wasn't like she was going to use it anyway.

They came downstairs to the sound of the news blaring in the rec room, "It's the third day of the mysterious disappearances, and it has been speculated that-

The Professor was waiting for them, "Laura, Claudine, I implore you both to be careful today. As you probably know, these kidnappings have been ongoing and Cerebro has detected new mutant signatures from the area."

"So, you're saying that you suspect a mutant as the kidnapper?" asked Claudine incredulously.

"Not just one mutant," sighed the Professor, "just be careful, all of you." Laura mumbled under her breath. Xavier was just being overprotective. She could take care of herself. She took down Weapon X, didn't she? Plus, what would mutants want with ordinary people?

First and second period went as planned, with the usual ballet of dodging other students, mutant haters, and cheerleaders. Everything was going as planned; of course there was the usual tension between the two girls, but nothing like their first day together.

Claudine was rubbing her temples as the history teacher began to call attendance. She had a massive headache. She had been getting them since she began to come to the institute, but this was the worst yet. It felt like her brain was throbbing and would burst if she heard one more word, but she mustn't put her head down, she couldn't bear to tarnish her GPA for a silly headache. If she could get through a session with Logan, she could do anything, but still, it must have looked pretty bad because even Lauren asked her if everything was okay.

"Yeah," I've been thinking too much lately. Yeah, that was it. She had to cut out those late night research sessions. She figured that she could maybe find a cure to her…condition, but so far, nothing.

She had just gotten to the m's when the rest of them began talking. Claudine couldn't believe that the teacher wouldn't reprimand all of the other students for talking so much during class. She could hardly hear herself think. The noise only added to the pain in her already aching head.

Laura noticed her roommate holding her head and moaning halfway through attendance, "Are you sure you're okay?" The other girl moaned something back and covered her ears. Claudine muttered something about telling them to stop, they were too loud. Her image inducer began to flicker and soon the whole classroom was staring.

Claudine gripped her head tighter and tighter and attempted to cover her ears to block out the incessant noise. Even with her hands clasped over her ears, she could still hear the voices, but it was strange because they were different from what she had ever heard before; they were inside her head. It wasn't even a specific presence, but a group of nonstop chatter jumbled together from different brains.

She didn't even notice that she was now writhing in pain on the dirty school floor. The students began to whisper and added to the noise already in her mind. Laura got to the ground when the desks began to rattle, various pencils and pens falling to the floor. An earthquake in New York? The shink of her claws coming out was unmistakable. This was getting weird; all of the objects in the room began to levitate.

"Everyone get down!" she shouted to the others who were staring helplessly.

"Make it stop!" Claudine's voice projected into her head and by the looks of it everyone else's in the vicinity. She let out an unearthly shriek before completely passing out, sending all of the air-born paraphernalia clattering to the floor. "Claudine?" said Lauren, shaking the girl on the ground, "Claudine!" What the hell just happened? She addressed the bewildered history teacher at the front of the room, "Claudine has a headache. I have to bring her to the nurse now."

With that she dragged the body out of the room and out of the school, and back to the haven of the institute. "Professor, I don't know what happened to her!" she yelled frantically, gesturing at Claudine's limp figure on the cot before them. She had already told him exactly what had happened and so far all he had done was take her to the infirmary. Hank checked her heartbeat and took another blood sample, "Miss Renko seems to be fine, but the virus's conversion has been completed. It sounds like this…episode in the classroom can be traced back to a new ability that has manifested as a result. For now there is nothing we can do.