"Xavier Institute for Higher Learning." I read the plank, with me crossing my arms. "What happened to just Xavier's Institute?" I asked, looking at Jean.
"The for Higher Learning, was dedicated to you when you passed on." She informed as I followed her into an office, with me seeing Charles in his wheelchair. "Professor, I brought Dakota with me." Jean said, walking over to the side of his desk.
"Hello, Dakota." Charles said, smiling at me. "Welcome home, its been quite some time." He said, with me nodding my head.
"It has, the mansion its self changed, as well as the subbasement from what I saw." I said, with him nodding. "Its a bit overwhelming." I said, looking around the room.
"That's understandable. Perhaps Jean could take you on a tour of the mansion?" He offered, looking at Jean, then at me. "After, I can show you around the Subbasement." He said, with me nodding my head.
"Quick Question." I said, with him nodding. "What has the Brotherhood become?" I asked, with him leaning forward with his hands folded.
"The Brotherhood became an unruly collection of mutants who consider themselves above humanity. They operate outside the law and use their abilities to further their misguided desires. They've labeled themselves homo-superior and believe they will inherit the Earth." He informed, with me nodding, disappointed in my answer.
"Jean, whenever you're ready, Ill wait just outside." I said, with her nodding. Walking out, I left them to their talk, most likely on what happened during the mission. Walking around the small library, I stopped at one of the books, with me seeing that it was labeled with my code name, Incubus.
Pulling it out, I saw that it was pictures of me from my time as a member of the Brotherhood, to the time that I had passed. There were summaries of what I had done, where I had gone and who I had interacted with. It was a book on me, my biography. Flipping over to be front, I saw that there was a checkout list. Pulling it out, I smiled once I saw who the only person was.
"Its her favorite." Jean said, walking over to me and wrapping her arm around my shoulder. "She even wrote it." She pointed out, showing me the authors name. "Of course, it didn't sell much, but she was happy that some people wanted to get to know who you were." She said, with me nodding my head.
"Rogue and I had a lot of problems in the past, its a shame how things turned out." I said, closing the book and putting it back. 'Still, I cant wait to see her again.' I thought, looking at the other books.
"And she cant wait to see you either." She said, with me lowering my head in defeat. "Still easy to read, that's something that hasn't changed."
"Ya... No kidding." I said, giving a small laugh as I followed her into the room that was across from Charles office.
She opened the door, with us walking in. "Classes are held here, Monday through Friday. The students receive a full curriculum in math, history, physics and a wide variety of other topics." She said, with me making my way over to the front of the class and looking at the class.
"Did I ever tell you, that when I was a kid, I dreamed of being a teacher?" I asked, looking at her, but she shook her head. "I would study hard every day so that I could become a teacher, but then my mutant abilities activated, and things went down hill from there. I'm not even sure if I told Rogue that." I said, following her out of the class.
"Well, maybe you will get that chance now that you are back?" She said, with me shrugging.
"Between me getting my Highschool diploma or GED, I hope so." I said, with her smirking at me.
"That's right, you didn't get the chance because of everything that happened." She said, with me nodding.
"Ya, the only one of the few originals who didn't, I bet everyone else did." I said, with her nodding her head.
"Well, this is a school now, so you can get it here, but will have to go through classes like everyone else." She said, making me smirk at her.
"Please, this will be like child's play!" I said, with her rubbing my head and leading me down the hall.
"This is the sitting room. Its a great place to kick back and relax. Needless to say, this room doesn't get a lot of use by the X-Men." She said, with me knowing why. "This way, Ill show you where everyone's rooms are." She said, with me following her into the main hall, with me seeing only one set of stairs, instead of two. "This is the second floor elevator. From here, you can go to the first floor or the subbasement, just like the others." She informed, with me nodding as I remembered.
"I remember waking up in the subbasement for the first time, freaked the hell out of me, even bumped into Kitty in there and then everyone started crowding around me as I tried to make my escape." I said, rubbing my head. "I still feel like a jerk for that day." I said, with me following her.
"Cant be stuck in the past, you have to continue moving forward." She said, with us stopping at one of the room right, with her opening it. "This room is Scotts." She said, with me seeing that he still had the same car poster on the wall, but he had some weights in his room now.
"Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a picture of you?" I asked, pointing over to the picture on the dresser.
"It is, we've been a thing ever since high school." She said, with me hugging her.
"I'm so happy for you!" I said, making her laugh and pushing me away. "When can I expect grand kids?" I asked, making her blush hard. "Sorry, the insanity kicks in when I get over excited, hard to control at times." I said, with her nodding and leading me away after closing the door.
"Well, while our relationship is at that level, we want to wait until later for that kind of relationship." She said, with me nodding my head as I understood why. She led me down to the next room, with her opening the door. "This is my bedroom." She said, with me seeing a bear on her bed, then looking at her. "Scott got it for me, three or four years ago, I named it Koda." She said, picking it up and showing it to me, with me rubbing its head.
"Soft." I said, with her placing it back down.
"Indeed." She said, leading me out and into the next room. "This is your room, Dakota." She said, with me seeing that it was bare. "You can customize it to how you want, when we get the chance to get you some new clothes." She said, with me looking at her.
"I'm thinking about keeping it basic, never was one to have too much stuff in the first place." I said, with her nodding while I pulled out a blue M from my coat and placed it on the desk next to the door.
"Isn't that-"
"Yep, the crown that Magneto gave me, but I'm keeping it here in memory of what had happened, never wanted to wear it, but felt that it would look good on the wall somewhere." I said, with her nodding.
"I'm sure you didn't know this, but Magneto has another daughter." She said, shocking me as I turned to face her. "We call her Polaris, and she has his powers. She not a member of his group, but she isn't a member of ours either. She and her sister are out looking for a place to call their own, to make a home for all mutants." She informed, making me smile.
"So, Wanda is spending time with her sister?" I asked, with her nodding. "That's sweet, she's not that grumpy girl still, is she?" I asked, with her shaking her head.
"No, she isn't, she's actually gotten better with her emotions." She said, making me smile.
"That's good to hear." I said, with me following her out of my room and down the hall into the next. As she opened the door, I stopped her before she could say anything. "I know whos room this is, that chalk board gave it away, its Mr. McCoy's, isn't it?" I asked, with her nodding.
"No one has called him Mr. McCoy in a long time, everyone just calls him Beast now." She informed, with me nodding and following her out. "If we head over to the other side, we can continue there, and the top floor, as I forgot to mention, is for the students." She said, with me looking at the other set of stairs that was next to the main stairs. "They aren't members of the X-Men, well, some of them are, but its more or less training." She informed, with me nodding as we stopped at another room that she entered. "This is Rogues room." She said, with my heart stopping once she said that.
Walking in, I saw a few pictures of us on the wall, with some banners here and there. It hadn't changed much from her old room, but there were some differences here and there. Looking at a picture that was on her nightstand, I walked up to it and picked it up, with me seeing a picture of us from when we went sledding. "I remember this, this was when we first started dating." I said, placing it down and looking at Jean.
"It was, and is still, her favorite memory." Jean said, making me smile. "She's not here at the moment, but if she was, I know that she would want to hold your hand again." She said, making me blush as I remembered that we were the only ones who could touch the other without our powers killing the other. She laughed as she led me out and into the next room. "Ororo Munroe lives here." She said, with me seeing plants in her room before continuing on.
Opening the door, I covered my nose. "Jesus, Bobby, clean your room!" I said, closing the door.
"We've told him multiple times, but he ignores us." Jean said, walking over to the next room and opened it up. "This is Logan's room, cleaner than Bobby's, but still messy." She said, with us seeing a cigar was still lit. "He must be in the bathroom, so well leave." She said closing the door and opening the door behind us. "This is the home of Peter Rasputin. You saved his sister, and he soon joined the X-Men after you had passed on." She informed, with me nodding. "You'd never believe a body of steel could house such a gentle heart." She said, with me laughing at that.
"I kind of already knew that, Magik was the one who was cold." I said, with her looking at me in confusion. "Its what I call his sister, seems appropriate." I said, with her nodding.
"Considering her powers, I would think so." She said, with her closing the door. "Lets head back down to the first floor, the third floor isn't much to look at, and of rooms of people you have yet to know." She said, with me nodding and following her over to the stairs.
Walking down stairs, we made a left and entered a dining room. "I take it that you guys have meals like old times?" I asked, with her nodding. "Who does most of the cooking?" I asked, making her smirk.
"You haven't lived till you've tasted Pete's bar-b-queue or Betsy's Cornish Hen." She said, with me looking at her. "Betsy is someone you would have to meet in person to get to know." She informed, with me nodding and following her through the next room. "This is the day room. There are times I find it hard to believe there's a high tech underground level beneath us." She informed, with me nodding my head.
"You're telling me, this place can fool anyone." I said, walking with her back to the professors office. "One look, they just see a mansion for rich kids." I said, with her nodding her head. We didn't make it all the way there as he was waiting for us under the stairs.
"Are you ready to see the subbasement?" He asked, with me nodding. "Good, now Ill take the rest from here." He said, with Jean walking away and leaving us alone as we entered the elevator.
Later
Exiting the elevator, we made our way over to the door in front of us, with me seeing a holographic Earth in the center of the room. "This is the War Room. From here, we keep a watchful eye on the world for any signs of trouble. This is also where the X-Men meet to formulate combat strategies." Charles informed, with me putting my hand in the Earth.
"This is seriously the coolest thing I've ever seen!" I said, impressed. "Would you mind if I got a look around by my self?" I asked, with him nodding.
"Of course, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me." Charles said, with me nodding and walking out of the room.
Walking all the way to the right, I passed one door and into another, with me seeing that it was a prison cell. Stepping out, I walked into the room I had passed, with me seeing Jean putting on a coat and examining one of the students on a table. She held the kids hand and was feeling around. "It seems you have broken your wrist, next time, you know better than to throw a punch at Peter, even if it wasn't on purpose." She said, with me smiling at her, then stepping out, knowing that it was the medical room.
Making my way over to the left side of the War Room, I entered the first room, with me seeing Beast sitting at a desk, writing. Running over to him, he turned to me. "Ah, Dakota, I figured that you would find your way in here!" He said, with me nodding.
"Of course, you were my favorite teacher in and out of school!" I said, making him laugh.
"Well, now days I'm just working down here, but its good to know that I made quite the impression on someone." He said, turning back around. "I know that you're looking around, please, don't move anything in here, I find things better where I left them." He said, with me nodding as I looked around, seeing some many chalk boards.
"I take it that you run out of chalk a lot now days?" I asked, with him chuckling at that.
"Yes, Forge and I Collab on different things every now and then. We are currently trying to figure out how to make an invisibility cloak for the X-Jet, but so far, we cant get the formula correct." He said, with me walking up to the chalk board and over looking it.
"You're looking at it the wrong way then." I said, with him looking up at me.
"I'm sorry, but what do you mean?" He asked, standing up and walking over to me.
"You shouldn't be finding a way to turn it invisible, but reflect the light off of the X-Jet wising cameras to input the image you want them to see and reflective surfaces to bounce off the light." I said, with him walking over to the board and imputing new formulas here and there.
"Yes, I believe that just might be the most effective matter until we can come up with a permanent form of the matter." He said, looking at me. "Thank you, Ill inform Forge right away." He said, with me nodding.
"No problem, I don't get to geek out on much lately." I said, with him laughing.
"Geek out? I cant remember the last time I've heard that term." He said, with me walking out while he made his call.
Walking down the rest of the way, I remembered that this was the way I had came from the X-Jet, where I turned around and started walking back over to the War room. Walking down the center, I made a right and enter the control room for the Danger Room. Walking over to it, I smiled as I had remembered the training sessions we did.
Walking out, I made my way over to the right and entered the next room, with me seeing that it was Cerebro. Walking up to it, I placed my hand on the helm, with me remembering that this was how I made contact with Apocalypse in the first place. Letting go, I turned around and walked out, not wanting anything to do with it.
Stepping out, I took another right and found that it was a changing room for the danger room, seeing the Danger Room entrance just to my left. Walking over to the gear, I picked one of them up and started to strip. Once I was striped of my clothes, I put on the shirt, followed by the pants and gold belt. Grabbing my black coat, I put it on and added the gold gloves and boots. Putting the clothes in the locker, I started making my way to the danger room.
Once inside, I made my way over to the center. "Danger Room, access the Freshmen program!" I said, with it starting up with boxes. Extending my claws, I moved around and slashed at them, destroying all of them with ease. Seeing a few more pop up, I watched as targets appeared out of the wall. Grabbing them, I started tossing them at the wall, hitting the targets with ease as I had training with my fire balls.
Seeing three bots coming out of the ground, they had markers on them on where to him. Getting ready, I dodged one of them and hit its kidney three times before it went off line. Moving out of the way of another, I punched its face, then chest twice before shutting down. Grabbing the last one, I flipped it over me and then punched its face three times before shutting it down.
Seeing them come back on, I backed up and saw they all had large red marks on their chest, with me getting what it wanted. Running forward, I shouldered one of them, knocking it back before shutting down. Looking at the next I palmed its chest, knocking it back before it shut down as well. Running at the last one, I jumped up and kicked it, knocking it away and shutting it down as well.
Seeing them coming back on, a fourth one popped out, with me seeing a red mark just under there chin. Running up to the one that had came out, I ducked and then jumped while giving it an upper cut. I repeated this with the others, taking them out. Seeing another one coming out of the ground, the four jumped up and had red marks on their legs. Running over to the one that had just appeared, I tripped it, with it falling and shutting down, with me doing the same with the others. Seeing them coming back online, I watched as another one appeared, with a purple mark appearing on their guts. Rolling my fist, I charged and punched them all in the same spot as fast and hard as I could, with them shutting down complexly before they were sucked into the ground.
Looking around the room, I was expecting more, but I was proven wrong. "Attention, X-Men." I heard Charles on the intercom. "Meet me in the War Room Immediately!" He said, with me taking off for the War Room.
Later
"With the aid of Cerebro, I've learned The Brotherhood is in route to Alaska." Charles said as I walked in, with me seeing that most of the others were already here, with me seeing a stunned Rogue. "It appears their destination is the facility for the Higher Frequency Active Auroral Research Program - also known as HAARP." Charles said, with me walking over to Rogue and standing next to her.
"What would The Brotherhood want at HAARP?" Scott asked, stepping forward. "All that facility does is study the ionosphere." He said, with me looking at Rogue, who looked at me then back at Scott, with me looking back at him as well.
"That, Cyclops, is what you must discover." Charles said, with me nodding as I was curious as well. "The Brotherhood has become extremely active since their attack earlier today - which can only mean something sinister is in the offing, and whatever their plan, we must thwart it before they can set back the cause of human-mutant relations." He said, with me knowing that it was already bad as is.
"The HAARP facility, eh?" Beast said, gaining our attention. "This will be an excellent opportunity to test the new cloaking device I've installed on the X-Jet, all thanks to Dakota of course." He said, with him holding his hand out to me.
"I just told you to look at it a different way, the work was all you." I said, with Charles nodding his head.
"Indeed, and with a few modifications, it should render us completely undetected by radar." Beast said, impressing me.
"Excellent, Beast." Charles said, praising him. "You have your mission X-Men, God speed." Charles said, with me getting hugged by Rogue almost instantly, almost knocking me off balance.
Hugging her back, I smiled one of the largest smiles I had ever smiled. "I've missed you!" I whispered, with her breaking the hug, with me looking her up and down, seeing that she was in a full body blue suit with gold on her hands and feet like the others, as well as a gold belt. "You have no idea how worried I was about you." I said, placing my hand on where she was stabbed.
"I'm fine, and Kitty was keeping me informed on you, so there's that." She said, making me smile.
"I take it that she's still in Japan?" I asked, with her nodding. "That's good, better detective than I was." I said, with her punching me in the gut, making me lean forward, where she kissed me at the same time.
Breaking the kiss, she patted me on the cheek. "That's for everything." She said, walking away from me, with me following after her.
"Ya, love hurts." I muttered with a small laugh as she had gotten stronger than I had remembered.