9

Shortly, the flock and I met everyone, and discovered that they were all mutants, too.

As I guessed, Xavier could read and control minds. It kind of freaked me out, but, for some reason, I trusted him with those powers more than Angel.

Scott Summers wore the sunglasses because if he didn't, his eyes would blast these rays, or something. I wasn't really listening after I discovered that the explanation would be more than three sentences.

Jean Grey could also read and control minds, and she could move objects with her mind.

Kurt Wagner, the 'tailed smurf', could transport himself from one place to another.

Logan was the one who freaked me out the most. He had these, lack of a better word, claws that came out of his hands, and were all silvery. Xavier told us they were antimantium claws.

And Gasman was describing this all to Iggy. I had to remember to give him points for this later.

That night, as we were all sitting around the den, talking, a couple of girls came in. One had her hair in a high ponytail. She wore a light purple shirt and blue pants.

The other one was who caught my attention. Her hair was short, and brunette with a couple of white shreaks.

And she wore a cloak!

I saw the others, except Iggy, who was still having a conversation with Kurt, give the cloaked girl a double take, and start staring at her.

"Uh," the first girl said. "I found Rouge in our room,"

"Ah," Xavier said. "You've decided to join us again, Rouge,"

The cloaked girl, who I was guessing to be Rouge, nodded. "Yeah," she said. I was surprised by her southern drawl. It made her voice sound much different than I expected. "Yeah. The... uh, the people I was staying with... I didn't want to bother them anymore,"*

"We saw you sneak in earlier!" Nudge blurted. "I think it was two or three hours ago. She snuck in through a window. I wanted to come over and tell you, but Max said it'll be a bad idea."

Rouge stared at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nudge," she said. "Well, my real name's Monique, but I'd rather be called Nudge. Well, I'd rather have a name like Tiffany-Krystal**, but everyone calls me Nudge. We're all here 'cuz the-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth. "Uh, the Professor invited us here," I finished for her.

She nodded and took my hand off her mouth. "That's what I what I was gonna say."

I couldn't take any chances. No one needed to know about the Erasers, thank you very much. If this was a trap (which I was thinking less and less about the situation), if they knew we knew, bad things could happen. If this was not a trap (which I was thinking more and more), well, they didn't need to know. The information was on a need-to-know basis, and until the Erasers worked up the nerve to come and attack us, Xavier and the others didn't need to know.

Rouge slowly nodded.

"I'm Max," I explained. "Over there's Fang. Iggy's the one talking to Kurt. You already met Nudge. Gasman is on the other side of Iggy. Angel's the one playing with her dog."

"Hey," Total said.

Everyone but the Flock froze.

"Did that dog just talk?" Kurt asked.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, we picked him up at... a place we were. Turns out he talks," Another thing I wasn't going to tell them about was the Institute. Or even the School, for that matter. That was on a need-to-know basis, and they didn't need to know.

Xavier stared at him (Total). "Intriguing..."

-_END OF CHAPTER 9_-

*("Yeah. The... uh, the people I was staying with... I didn't want to bother them anymore,")

In the series, everyone might know that when Rouge leaves, she's going over to Magneto's side. However, I wanted to make it that they didn't know. It'll pay off later in the story.

**("Well, I'd rather have a name like Tiffany-Krystal)

Yeah, another reference to School's Out-Forever.

One thing I think I forgot: Total! He has to be in the story, especially if it's going to take place after they all stayed at Anne's, who I personally hated ever since she said, "I'm putting you in school", and the anger grew for her when she said, "I want to adopt all of you," I was yelling at the book when she got mad and starting threatening the flock when Iggy disappeared (And my mom entered the room and asked, "Who are you yelling at?" and I answered "A book, and it won't listen!") I mean, who does she think she is?! Those kids weren't hers! She should be happy they stayed more than a week!

Then she turned out to be an evil character, like Jeb. Who does he think he is, king of the world?! He sure acts like it. 'Max, go save the world', 'Max, you have to save the world'. If I was Max, [when he first told her she had to save the world], I would've thrown the hot chocolate at his face and deemed him crazy.

...Oh, man I'm starting to rant again. Sorry.