Shoot! As you may have noticed, I uploaded the wrong chapter yesterday. Oh gee, that was horrible.
Disclaimer: The X-men aren't mine, their Marvels. I simply expanded on their wonderful ideas.
Author's Note: Who doesn't love school?
Yikes, I got a lot more homework than I would have wanted the first week back. But... I still met my self-inflicted deadline. I was going to post a depressing version of this chapter on Sunday, but decided against it. It was really bad and made me depressed to just write it. So I rewrote the ending and introduced Clay Dune in.
Read, enjoy, review.
"Yo, Magneto. Wha'd we do now?" Toad asked as the Brotherhood filed into the boarding house.
Lance flicked on the light switch and tiredly flung his helmet onto the couch. With an exhausted sigh he crumpled next to it.
Magneto frowned as he watched the Brotherhood teens collapse in various positions in the living room. Mystique had not done an adequate job; the Brotherhood had little stamina and were beaten easily.
He sighed, "Get some rest, and don't be surprised to see me here in the morning. Also there might be a contractor here after school." The Brotherhood were visibly happy for permission to sleep; the sun had long since gone down.
Pietro, Blob, Lance, and Todd dragged themselves to their rooms.
"Wanda, a word." Magneto said as she turned to leave.
"Yes?" Wanda asked.
Magneto gestured for her to sit. She sat on the rotting couch delicately and looked expectantly at Magneto.
He removed his helmet and placed it atop the TV. Then he removed his breastplate, which was heavily scarred from battle with Leo. Wanda braced herself for the sight of blood, but was astonished to see an identical breastplate underneath.
"He never even touched you." Wanda gasped.
The Master of Magnetism smiled smugly as he focused his powers on the dented metal and crushed it like a tin can. The new breastplate was hardly scratched; in the worst spot it simply looked like some one had keyed it.
"I am proud to say he did not. Just another way to get to him."
Wand frowned slightly. "The things you said to Leo, were they even true?"
"Ah, yes. But more on that another time. I have questions for you." Magneto stated. "The mutants I had you observe…"
Wanda quickly related what she had observed, and then said: "The one called Clay had a message for you. She said to tell you to stay away from the Haven." Wanda stood and approached her father. "What does that even mean?"
His expression was impossible to read. "Of course… Clay Dune, an especially dangerous shape-shifter. She would give Mystique a run for her money." He smiled smugly. "Do not worry Wanda, get some sleep my daughter."
Rogue woke with a start. The flames in her dreams had broken the calm spell she had been enjoying. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she looked at Kitty, who was passed out on her floor.
The two had come back tired from the fight with the Brotherhood and had started talking in Rogue's room. They never finished their conversation.
Rogue shook her head and laid back down to sleep. The second she closed her eyes she thought she heard something outside in the hallway. Groggily she sat up and glanced at the clock.
3:01 am, it read.
She sighed and walked to her door, carefully stepping over Kitty in the process.
The door opened with a slight squeak, startling the person in the hallway. Rogue poked her head out and looked to her left. A figure wearing a dark gray hoodie and jeans stood there bewildered. It was Leo.
"Leo? What are ya doin' up?" She hissed.
Leo's eyes were wide in fear of being caught. His dark zipper hoodie covered most of a red T-shirt and all of the bandages wrapped around his arm. The hair on his head was not spiked, but hung limply down on his head.
"Uh, goin' for a jog." Leo said. He shook his feet that were in a pair of trainers.
Rogue eyed him suspiciously. He held his backpack in one hand, and had the other hastily shoved in his pocket. Something was wrong.
"A job?" She croaked. "It's like three in the morning."
Leo darted his eyes to the ground and replied. "I like to get an early start." He looked down the hallway, "Um… bye." He said bolting.
Rogue closed the door softly behind her. "Well that was strange." She muttered.
"No kidding." A voice said from in the dark of her room. Kitty sat up and looked at her. "Like, what do you want to do?" She said too perky for three in the morning.
Rogue shrugged. "Ya think we should follow him?"
"Like yeah! He's acting way too suspiciously, you know?" Kitty answered.
"Ah thought ya were asleep." Rogue whispered as she threw on some real clothes. A black fitted T-shirt, purple hoodie, and a pair of jeans was what she selected.
"I was," Kitty said, waving her hand absent mindedly, "and then somebody thought it would, like, be totally great to have a conversation."
"So are ya comin'?" Rogue asked aas she zipped the hoodie.
"Yeah, like wait one sec!" Kitty said, phasing through the wall to her room next door. She returned nearly a minute later in shorts, a pink fitted T-shirt, and a light gray hoodie.
"Like, let's go!"
Logan walked down the mansion's main staircase. He wasn't able to sleep much due to the runt being in the infirmary. He would never admit it, but he was worried for the kid. When Leo returned from his first Brotherhood battle, he wasn't there mentally. He'd lost a lot of blood from his fight with Magneto and wouldn't even crack a joke about Ol' Bucket Head. It was like something truly traumatic had happened during the fight. Logan wanted to make sure it didn't cause Leo to lose his head.
As he walked past the kitchen, he was surprised to see the light on. He shoved the door open. Charles was sitting at the small table with a troubled expression.
"Couldn't sleep either, huh Chuck?" Logan asked gruffly.
Xavier looked up suddenly and smiled. "Hello Logan. Now, what Magneto did worries me." He gestured for his friend to sit, Logan complied. "He must have said something to Leo that shattered him. I worry for the boy's sanity."
"Yeah," Logan grunted, "the kid's head wasn't there. I was just going to check on him."
Charles smiled, "That seems like a good idea, I'll accompany you."
Logan turned to the kitchen door. He'd caught Rogue and Kitty's scents from behind it. "You two wanna join us?"
The two girls opened the door sheepishly. They were fully dressed.
"Goin' somewhere Rogue?" Logan asked with a smile.
"Uh, Leo was outside our door a few minutes ago and we were goin' ta follow him." Rogue replied quietly.
"What?" The professor and Logan said in shock.
"Logan, you better find him." Xavier said. "I want you two back in bed." He commanded.
"Like, no way professor!" Kitty argued.
"No, you both have school in the morning."
"Oh, let them come Chuck." Wolverine said impatiently. "They'd probably sneak out anyways."
"Alright, but be careful."
The threesome went to the garage. Unsurprisingly, the Dyson's motorcycle was missing.
"X-Van?" Rogue asked, jerking her thumb toward the black bulky vehicle.
"Nah, more inconspicuous." Wolverine said. "I'm gonna take my bike, Rogue why don't you take your Jeep?"
She nodded. Although Rogue hated that she'd chosen the same car Lance had, she couldn't say she didn't like it. Her Jeep was a newer version than Lance's and was silver. She'd also gotten a real cover for it, because nothing was worse than drving a topless Jeep in the rain.
"Alright, Kit get in." Rogue said as she hopped in the front seat.
Kitty jumped in the shotgun and looked longingly at the keys. "Hey Rogue, like, maybe on the way back you think I could-"
"NO!" Rogue and Logan growled simultaneously.
Logan took a long sniff of the air then revved the engines. "I got his scent."
"We're right behind ya." Rogue said.
Leo crouched low on the motorcycle and turned a corner. He was doing a complicated back and forth pattern to try and overlap his scent. He didn't want Logan to find him; he did not want to be found.
His eyes fell shut, then he snapped them back open and swerved around a trash can some idiot left out. His eyes fell onto a nearby park.
He pulled up the motorcycle in the parking lot and stumbled over to a rusting merry-go-round. The whole park was in disrepair. All the rides were rusting and or broken, and the swings looked to hazardous to even approach.
Exhausted and nervous, Leo placed his backpack down and curled up with his head on it.
"THAT can't be too comfortable." A female voice said from behind the slide. Leo sat up and peered into the shadow.
A girl in a tan cloth mask that covered all of her face walked up. As Leo's eyes adjusted to night vision he saw that she was wearing something that looked like a martial arts costume that was a light tan, with an armored chest. Light from the light pole several yards away glinted off her forearms, which were covered in elegantly patterned bronze wrist guards that went nearly to her elbows.
"You running from someone?" She asked. He blinked his drying eyes. She laughed, "Come on dude, why else would you be trying to sleep on a merry-go-round?"
"Uh…" He groaned. Whoever she was, she was pretty observant. "Yeah, I'm runnin'. You got a problem girly?"
The girl came up and stood in front of him. "Girly? That's pathetic."
Leo frowned and let out a low growl. "What do you want? If you don't have anything to say to me, go away."
"I'm here to offer you a place to stay."
"What?"
"It's called the Haven, and it's for mutants like us."
"This Haven isn't anything like the Havens from the Wizard Heir is it? 'Cause I don't want to go then." Leo said smiling.
She rolled her green eyes. "You dork, of course not! It's for mutants, not wizards! But I suppose it is a little similar." She paused "It's a sorta safe haven for mutants, mutants who have done unforgiveable things." Although her mouth wasn't visible there was a smirk in her eye.
Leo shot up and grabbed the mutant by her neck. "What the hell do you know?"
The girl grabbed Leo's hand, as to steady herself. When she answered, she answered without any breathing difficulty. "Relax, I don't care the slightest what you did. I'm not gonna hold it over your head and threaten you with it." She was smiling. "Now, be a dear and set me down so we can talk like normal people."
Leo set her down lightly. "We aren't normal, you know?"
"Huh," she laughed scornfully. "I'd say we're better than normal."
"What's your name?"
"What's yours?"
Leo's eyes widened. "You came all this way and you don't know my name?"
She swung her foot back in a small arch. "Nope! Listen, I just am new to this 'recruiting' we only see where there are mutants, not who they are. As for my name, you can call me by my true name: Clay Dune."
"Leo…Dyson."
"Now as I was saying… what you've done doesn't matter to me. The mutants I live with are killers, thieves, and convicts. If God's forgiven you for what you've done, I'm cool with it." She was playing into his religious beliefs. Clay had done her research well, but was glad she didn't have to lie to this one. "You won't have to hide what you've done with the Haven."
It was almost visible, the gears turning in Leo's head. He had met the X-Men first, and his allegiance was with them, but the Haven was promising. If everything this Clay Dune said was true, he would never have to worry about his past being discovered.
"I-" Leo started. Twin streaks of light cut through the darkness. He turned and saw that a Jeep and Logan's bike was parking beside his motorcycle. He looked back to Clay. There was a peculiar look on her face.
Her eyes flashed. "Look, I don't mean to rush you, but if you don't decide now you're goin' back with them."
"I can't decide now, I-I'm not ready to."
She nodded, then glanced at the trio emerging from their vehicles. "Here," Clay grabbed something from her belt. It was small and spherical, "it's a Haven communicator. If you need anything, or if you're in trouble, press the red button. I'll be there as fast as I can."
Leo held the object, and turned it over in his hands. He chuckled quietly as he noticed it looked like a mini Deathstar. "I'll be sure to use it Clay." He looked back up to her.
Clay's eyes smiled. "See you around Leo." She backed up as the X-Men came closer and melted into the shadows.
Leo grinned like a lunatic. The way she said his name Leo, like it was exotic. He heard the trio's foot steps behind him, and turned.
"Everything okay, runt?" Logan asked.
"Yeah." Leo nodded. "Just needed to clear my head."
"Anything you want to talk about, kid?"
Leo sighed, he would just have to hide his past a while longer. "No."
"Then why'd ya run, we followed ya all the way out here!" Rogue grumbled angrily.
"Sorry to disappoint, Rogue." Leo said harshly, standing to face them. "Maybe I was goin' to run, but something changed my mind."
"The professor's, like, not going to be happy, you know?" Kitty said, "I mean he was seriously worried."
"He'll get over it." Leo said with a wave of his hand. "Let's go home."
The professor wasn't happy with Leo. He was scolded slightly, and then told to come talk to Professor X after school. After Leo lumbered off to bed the professor continued his thoughts.
Magneto had pushed some button on Leo that caused him to try and run. Something was horribly wrong.
Yay! Go super fast writing. Alright it's up, you know what to do. Thanks as always to my epic reviewers. We are offically in the Haven storyline, but you haven't seen all the characters yet, or understand it completely, don't worry. It's all a matter of time.
I think Saturday I'll write Kitsune's intro, an OC submitted by San child of the wolves. Oh yes, that will be fun.
