Greetings! I'm sorry for the late post. In the excitement that was happening around my home, I forgot to post this chapter. My next post will be around New Year's, but due to the fact that it is a holiday, I may be unable to post as early as I meant to.

Enjoy my newest chapter!

Chapter 21: Arguments and Plots

Adea turned a page in her book. She was seething inside. She was angry at Kestrel, and she was angry at Kitty, and she was angry at Rose. Kitty was the obvious one. Rose, well, Adea thought that the girl was too flat, too spineless. There was something about Rose that made Adea want to find a reason to dislike her. What angered her was Kestrel's sudden betrayal.

Kitty, Adea could deal with Kitty. A small prank in revenge would suffice. As for Rose, Adea would just have to try harder to be nicer. There had to be something about Rose which she could grow to like. It might be hard to find, especially since Rose had the bad taste to like the canine, but she had helped Adea, so Adea had to be nicer.

No, what was making Adea seethe was the fact that Kestrel had teamed up with Rose. The betrayal hurt. It was an irrational hurt, but it did hurt.

Adea's life had been turned upside down by her mutation. She hadn't wanted to come to the Institute. She had left all of her friends behind. For a while she thought that she had lost everything. Then Kestrel had come, and familiarity had returned reassuringly.

Adea needed that connection in this strange new world. If Kestrel was hob-nobing with the canine girl's friend then Adea was probably about to lose her. She could not afford to be angry at Kestrel. It would only drag her lifetime away more quickly.

Instead she sat on her bed, reading, and feeling angry and frustrated. Realizing that she had read the sentence before her eyes at least 10 times and still not understood the words, Adea snarled quietly and turned the page back to remind herself what was going on.

Kestrel sat down gingerly on her bed. "Uh…" she started, then stopped. What to say? Adea was obviously fuming. "What's wrong?" There. Not much that could set Adea off in those two words.

"Nothing," Adea turned another page. "I'm fine," she clarified.

"Oh. Okay," Kestrel rose. "Uh… I'll go and see if Rose needs help in the garden."

Adea scowled at her book as Kestrel tiptoed out, gently closing the door behind her. A few moments crept by, lengthening into minutes before Adea slammed her book shut and stalked out of the room, and down the hall.

She heard a growling before she came to the end.

"Stupid Rose. No respect for friendship. I thought she was different. Obviously, she's just trying to be snotty," Talyda grumbled to herself. "She was supposed to be my friend!" she cried, angry. "But no, she has to be 'logical,' and what kind of logic does she go by? Letting the cat go first because it would get her and the water-girl out of the way? Stupid! She should've just left the cat in the floor, to beg mercy from that Kitty, or whatever her name is. Who cares what her deal was, she still should've done it so that I was free, and the cat wasn't."

"And after that argument we had? She should've come after me! That's what friends do; they apologize for being stupid! But no, Rose doesn't even do that. I don't know what I saw in that stupid, idiotic girl. I hate her. I hate everyone here, so why am I still here? That Professor guy can't keep me here if I don't want to be," Talyda vented. She thought as she paced in a small circle. She liked the idea of running away.

As she began to ponder this train of thought, Adea came around the corner, and gave a cough. "I wasn't eavesdropping, just coming around this corner here, yeah. Say, in a hypothetical scenario where I heard everything you said I would tell you that you are being an idiot. You've finally found someone who is willing to help you with all of your many problems, and your reaction is to run? You're acting like a moron. Not that you know how to act like anything else, I suppose. After all, running must be base instinct for you, canine. Can't take a little tough love, huh? Fine, go off with your metaphorical tail between your legs. Means more peace and quiet for the rest of us, away from your incessant yapping and whining. Not that I am going to say all of that, because I didn't hear you just now, and I have no intention of giving you good advice on the off chance that it might be mistaken for me liking you just barely enough not to want to see you get hurt," Adea informed Talyda.

Talyda stared in shock at Adea, then growled, "No one asked you." With that, she turned and ran down the stairs and out the door. The main reason was to avoid a fight, which she had promised Rose she wouldn't do today. But a side benefit was that she could now decide if she really wanted to run away. Which, she decided with an angry glare at the Institute, was what she wanted to do.

With an angry snort at the mansion, Talyda turned, and ran, shape shifting into a cheetah as she went. She was leaving behind a place that she would never fit into, and she would not miss the one person she had thought a friend at all.

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Magneto had listened to Pyro complain about the strange girl who'd attacked him in the plant shop a few days ago, and she happened to be with a girl Pietro had told him about a while back, as well as a few other girls. The girl Pietro had mentioned was with the X-men. That would mean that the other girls were X-men, too.

Apparently, Xavier was gathering up new students. Who were they, and what were their powers? He himself was finding new mutants to add to his army, but how would they match up to the new X-men? He would have to find out, but how?

He could send Pietro into the mansion to steal data, but he would need a distraction. As fast as his son was, the computers, even high-tech ones, were not fast enough to keep up with him. So, he'd have to attack the Institute, and it would have to be carefully planned.

He would have to help, as the X-men out-numbered them. However, he believed that his Acolytes, combined with the Brotherhood, could easily distract them while Pietro got into the Institute.

Of course, he would have to distract Xavier. Despite his telepathy (which, of course, has no effect on Magneto when he had his helmet on), Xavier was a weak man. He could not walk, and his wheelchair was made out of metal. And if anyone tried to protect him, well, that was also easily taken care of. Everyone, naturally, had iron in their bodies. He would simply remind them of this.

It would have to happen when everyone was working, so after school started would be best. It would send all the students running to get changed into their uniforms, and give him time to take care of Xavier. Attacking after school started would also give him time to train the new members of his team.

With an evil sort of smile, Magneto began to plan his attack.