Chapter 11

The New Guy

New York

Dean was in his room packing some things in his duffle bag. He didn't need to bring everything, just enough clothes to last him for a couple of days. He needed to see if his stay would be permanent or not first.

Dean looked at his old Hydra outfit that he still had. Even though it was given to him by them he kept it as a reminder. He put it inside his duffle bag along with his swords and went downstairs.

His mother was waiting for him at the door.

"I'm all set" Dean said.

"Stay out of trouble honey" Agalia hugged him.

When she let go of him Dean looked around, "Where's dad?"

"He's in the garage" Agalia said.

"I'll go find him" Dean said as he went outside.

Indeed Eli was in the garage admiring his now refurbished Harley.

"Look's brand new" Dean said.

Eli sat on the bike and started it up. The engine roared to life.

"Sounds brand new too" Dean said.

Eli turned off the engine and got off, "Yea, it was tough but we finally fixed it"

The last few days he was here Dean helped Eli to fix it.

Eli stared at the keys in his hands with nostalgia, "She was mine once, but I'm too old to ride" he passed Dean the keys, "She's yours now"

Dean caught the keys, "Wow, I…don't know what to say"

"Son, I've done almost everything I could to help you with your life journey" Eli said.

Something about the way he said almost irked Dean but he ignored that feeling.

"It's time for you to go out on your own. Find your own path to follow. I'm just giving you a head start" Eli said.

"Thank you, for everything" Dean said with a smile.

Eli smirked and slowly walked away, "You should get going, destiny's waiting"

"Right" Dean sat on his chopper, put his bag between his legs, and started the engine, "Destiny, here I come" he took off.

At the Institute

Charles was preparing for Dean's arrival. He already enrolled him into Bayville High and had a room ready for him.

The X-men were informed of his arrival today but not everyone was around.

Rogue was working at her new job as well as Scott at his own job.

Jean was studying over at Taryn's house.

Evan was off skateboarding with his friends.

The only ones in the house were Kurt and Kitty.

Rogue was working at the moment. In the best normal outfit she could come up with.

Boots, blue jeans, a long sleeved shirt and a red short sleeve button down over that. Of course she always wore gloves due to her mutation.

The button down came with the job. The name on it said Daisy. Since Rogue didn't like sharing her real name they just gave her one.

The jeans however were from Kitty. But since Kitty was a smaller size it was super tight on her.

And since it was a nice sunny day her long sleeve shirt made her feel the heat that much more.

'I think I'm melting' Rogue thought as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. The only reason she covered as much of her skin as possible was because of her power. She didn't want to put anyone else in another coma, but still this heat was torture.

'I hope nothing happens' Rogue quickly took off her long sleeve while no one was around, 'That's better'

Dean was riding towards the Institute. Judging by the directions he was given he was getting close but he was running low on gas. He spotted a gas station up ahead and drove towards it.

As he got closer Dean saw a girl there and was thunderstruck.

She was about 5,8 and very fit. The jeans she had on was like a second skin highlighting her curvy body along with her tucked in red button down that was open enough to show her cleavage. She had cute rosy cheeks, natural pink lips, and emerald green eyes. Her hair was straight and auburn apart from the white strip of hair in the front.

She locked eyes with Dean and he lost himself in the moment.

He turned too late resulting in him hitting the sidewalk bump.

The bike slipped and sent him skidding across the pavement until he stopped right below the girl.

Rogue was too caught up in the moment to react either.

I don't know whether it was her looks or those eyes of hers but I couldn't look away. I'll never forget that stupid entrance of mine

This boy on the ground in front of her couldn't stop staring at her. He had a handsome face with piercing blue eyes that she could look at all day.

Rogue finally snapped out of her daze, "Are you ok?"

Dean snapped out of it as well, "Umm, yeah" he got up and dusted himself off.

Rogue saw as he stood up he was taller than her, and how broad his shoulders were, "You should be more careful. You could hurt yourself"

Dean brought over his chopper which luckily wasn't damaged, "I know, the sun was in my eyes" he said sheepishly.

Rogue couldn't help but smirk, "You sure you're ok? You slid pretty far"

"Really I'm fine" Dean took off his leather jacket to clean it off.

Rogue noticed his thick defined arms and couldn't help but stare.

Dean saw her shirt had the gas station logo, "You work here?"

Rogue wasn't paying attention, "Huh? Oh, yeah I do"

"Oh, well in that case fill her up please" Dean said.

Rogue proceeded to pump his gas.

Dean couldn't make himself look away, 'What the hell is wrong with me?' He thought. He's never been so fascinated by another human being in his life.

Rogue spotted his gaze upon her again. Those blue eyes, they gave her chills, 'Stop it!' She chastised herself, "Anything else you need?"

"How does a girl like you end up working at a gas station?" Dean couldn't help but ask.

Rogue finished pumping his gas, "What do you mean a girl like me?"

"I don't know, you're pretty. Pretty girls usually have a boyfriend with money or a dad that treats her like a princess" Dean said.

Rogue felt flattered, "Well ah don't have a boyfriend, or parents for that matter"

Dean felt a little weird, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"

"It's ok" Rogue said. For a guy who looked like a jock he was very polite.

"Well uh" Dean looked at the name on her shirt, "Daisy, I'm Dean" he offered his hand.

Rogue shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Dean. And my name ain't Daisy, that's just the shirt" she said with a smirk.

"Are you gonna tell me your real name?" Dean asked.

Rogue shook her head, "Nah" she said playfully.

"Hmmm, do you live around here?" Dean asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know" Rogue said with a smile.

'Playing hard to get huh?' "How bout you go on break and take a ride with me?" Dean asked.

Rogue looked as if she was seriously considering it, "Mhmm, maybe when you learn to drive better"

"That wasn't a no" Dean said with a smile.

Rogue laughed, "Whatever Dean. That'll be 20$"

Dean put his jacket back on and sat on his bike. He pulled a bill out of his pocket and gave it to her, "Keep the change" he rode off.

Rogue looked at the bill, it was 50. She turned around to see if she could spot him but he was already gone.

That was the weirdest encounter she ever had. From the moment she saw him Rogue felt attracted to Dean, strangely so. It's probably just her hormones acting up.

Dean came to a stop by a gate to what should be the Xavier Institute since it was written on a metal plate right by the gate. But there wasn't any kind of description when he looked the place up, probably to protect their image.

Dean spotted a panel on the wall and pressed the button which he assumed was some kind of bell.

"Who is it?" A girl's voice came out of the panel.

"My name is Dean, I was invited by Professor Xavier"

"Oh right, you're the new guy. Put your hand like on the panel" the girl said.

Dean had no idea what for but did so anyways.

The panel glowed where his hand was for a couple of seconds before it made a beep.

The metal gate suddenly opened, "There, you should be able to go in and out of the institute now" the girl said.

'Security is definitely good' Dean rode up the driveway while checking out the scenery.

The mansion seemed to be right next to the ocean and next to the woods. A perfect place for peace and quiet.

Dean came to a stop in front of the Mansion. He picked up his duffle bag with his few belongings and made his way for the front door.

A small brown haired girl opened the door, "Hey there"

Dean stepped inside, "Hi"

Kitty gave him a warm welcome, "Hi! I'm Kitty, Kitty Pryde" she said with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you" Dean said.

'Professor the new recruit is here' Kitty thought loudly.

'I'll be there momentarily' Charles thought.

Dean looked around, "This place is nice"

"Wait until you see the rest of it" Kitty said.

Charles approached them with Logan to his right and Ororo to his left.

"Dean, nice to see you" Charles said.

"Likewise Professor" Dean said before looking at Logan, "Logan"

"Kid" Logan replied.

"I see you've already met Ms. Pryde" Charles said before Ororo stepped forward, "This is Ororo Munroe, she is a part of my staff"

Ororo was a tall dark skinned woman with snow white hair. But strangely she wasn't old, she just naturally had white hair. In fact she was quite beautiful.

"Hello" Ororo offered her hand.

Dean shook her hand, "I don't suppose you're related to Marilyn Munroe"

Ororo laughed, "No"

"Is this everyone?" Dean asked.

"No there are others but most of them are out right now, although Kurt must be around here somewhere" Charles said.

"I'm sure I'll run into him at some point" Dean said.

"Most likely. Now Dean, try not to get too concerned over anything" Charles advised, "Take your time, settle in. No one's judging you, we don't judge people here. Though we do have rules here and we expect you to follow them"

Dean nodded, "Right, rules. You should probably go over them"

Charles looked at Kitty, "Kitty, would you please show Dean his room and show him the ropes"

"Sure thing Professor, follow me" Kitty said going up the staircase.

Dean followed her.

"Well for starters, since what we do here is like supposed to be a secret we try to keep it that way. So that means we can't openly talk about what goes on here or use our powers in public unless it's like an emergency" Kitty said.

"Because the world doesn't know about mutants right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, and bringing people over is kina taboo. Because as soon as an outsider shows up everyone would have to act normal and we want everyone to be comfortable at all times" Kitty said.

Kitty opened the door to a room, "Here you go"

The room was about the same size as his room back home so there was plenty of space.

"Since school starts at eight breakfast is at seven" Kitty said.

Dean placed his duffle bag on the bed, "I'll unpack later, show me around"

"Sure" Kitty said happily as she led the way.

"So what can you do?" Dean asked.

Kitty phased through the wall and then came back out.

"That's pretty cool" Dean admitted.

As Dean was looking around he heard a BAMF! and saw someone appear out of nowhere from the corner of his eye. On reflex Dean sent out a punch that hit Kurt square in the face.

"Ow! What was that for?" Kurt said while rubbing his forehead where a bruise will form but won't really show because of his blue fur.

Dean couldn't help but stare at Kurt's appearance. His skin was blue, he had yellow eyes, and he had a tail wiggling behind him, "I um…I'm not used to people dropping in out of nowhere"

"Remind me not to do that with you ever again" Kurt said rubbing his forehead.

"I'm sure you'll remember for next time Kurt" Kitty said. He dropped in on people all the time.

"I never thought a mutation could be so radical. By the way why do you smell like sulphur?" Dean asked sniffing the air.

"Oh that's just my mutation" Kurt then disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and reappeared a few feet away, "I can teleport and when I do I leave a smell of sulphur behind. The Professor hasn't worked out quite why yet"

Dean nodded, "I'm Dean by the way" he gave him his hand.

"I'm Kurt" he shook his hand.

Dean noticed he only had three fingers, "How do you flip people off with those?" he joked.

Kurt was surprised he wasn't freaked out or scared, most people are from his appearance.

"Whatever Kurt, let's get back to the tour" Kitty said.

"I'll see you later" Kurt said before teleporting.

Kitty showed Dean pretty much everything, they started with everyone's rooms. They didn't actually explore the rooms, more just glanced at the door so they didn't invade anyone's privacy.

"Whose room is this?" Dean asked motioning to open the door.

"Wait!" Kitty stopped him, "That's Logan's room, you shouldn't go in there. He doesn't like people snooping around"

"Ok" Dean said moving on, he made a mental note to remember that specific room.

Then they went on to the kitchen and dining room. Then they went in the lounge and the rest of the ground floor.

After that they went in the lower levels, Kitty told Dean the password to the elevator since he was going to live here now. She showed him the infirmary and the gym.

Dean was impressed with how much gear they had in there.

"And last but definitely not least the Danger room" Kitty said.

At the moment, they were inside the Danger room, getting a better look from the inside.

"Danger room huh? What does it do exactly?" Dean asked.

"We train in here. The Danger room can produce highly advanced defense mechanisms that help us understand and improve our mutations. Also it can create a simulated world for more advanced training" Kitty explained.

"Kind of like a fake world?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, except it can't make anything that can kill us, it's against the programming" Kitty replied.

"That's a good failsafe" 'Now this is a step up for training' Dean thought with a grin.

After the tour was over Kitty went off somewhere while Dean went to unpack.

There were so many things he wanted to bring with him that he barely brought any clothes with him, he figured he would make several trips before he had everything he wanted in his new room.

Dean put away his few clothes and placed his swords by his dresser.

Just then there was a knock on his door.

"Come in" Dean said.

Kurt came in, "Hey dinner should be ready soon"

"Ok" Dean said. He went downstairs where there were some unfamiliar faces.

A guy with red glasses was talking to Jean and a dark skinned boy with bleached hair.

Jean noticed him and smiled, "Hey Dean, how long have you been here"

"A couple of hours" Dean came up to them, "I'm Dean" he introduced himself to the two guys.

"I'm Scott Summers" The one with the red glasses said.

"Evan Daniels" the dark skinned one said.

"Nice to meet you guys, so what can you do?" Dean asked. He grew more curious as he saw the various abilities people could have.

"Evan you mind helping me?" Scott asked.

"Sure" Evan sprouted bone spikes along his arm and shot one into the air.

Scott lowered his glasses and a crimson energy beam came out and blasted the bone spike.

"Interesting" Dean said admiring what he saw. These people had interesting powers, he briefly wondered how well they could use them in a fight, "So it's just five students?"

"No there's six of us" Jean corrected him.

"Well then there's one person I haven't met" Dean said.

Rogue then walked in. She was dressed in her favorite green top with the mesh covering, black skirt, tights and boots, "Hey guys where's—"she paused as she saw Dean standing there.

It took him a second but Dean recognized her. She was wearing a different style of clothing and a lot of makeup to cover her face.

"You" Dean said.

"You're the new guy?" Rogue asked.

"You two know each other?" Scott asked.

"No, we haven't been formally introduced" Dean said staring at her, "What's with the getup? You look like you're going to an emo concert"

Evan snickered.

Rogue crossed her arms, "This is how I normally dress" she said with an attitude.

Dean shrugged, "Ok, anyways. I'm Dean" he gave his hand, "And you are?" he asked staring into her eyes.

Rogue gave her hand, "People call me Rogue" she said noticing his blue eyed gaze.

Dean kissed her gloved hand, "What can I call you?" he asked curious to see her reaction.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. She actually felt a little flattered, "Rogue" she took her hand back laughing lightly, 'He's so barking up the wrong tree'

Jean looked a little jealous, "So Dean, tell me what you think of the Institute so far" she led him away.

And that's when Scott's jealousy kicked in. Unbeknownst to everyone except for maybe Logan and the Professor, Scott has had a thing for Jean for a while. But since she has a boyfriend Scott can't do anything, that doesn't mean he's ok with other people having her attention.

As he left Rogue carefully thought about what Dean did. Why would he do that? Surely he doesn't actually like her? He's probably playing games. He's a bit of a charmer, but those silly tricks won't work on her.

After dinner Dean was supposed to meet the Professor in his study to discuss certain matters.

He took his time roaming the mansion, retracing his steps with Kitty, remembering every room and who it belonged to.

Dean found himself standing in front of Logan's door.

'Why would he be so grumpy about people going in his room?' Dean thought. Maybe he has something that's embarrassing…like pink boxers….or a pink shirt….' he gasped, 'Maybe his room is painted PINK!' He thought. He must be hiding something, and it's now up to Dean to find out.

Dean put his hand on the door handle and slowly turned the knob.

"What are you doing?" Someone said behind him.

Dean froze. He looked back and saw Logan standing there with his arms crossed.

"I was…" Dean tried to think of an excuse, 'Wait a sec, I'm new here. Duh' he thought, "Looking for the bathroom"

"It's that way bub" Logan pointed to his left.

"Thanks a lot" Dean hurried down that way, 'That was close', he stopped in front of Charles's study and knocked on the door.

Inside Charles instinctively searched with his mind to see who was knocking but he found it difficult to enter this person's mind, "Come in" he said curiously.

In came Dean curious about what the Professor wanted and sat down across from him.

"Dean before we discuss anything I want to tell you something" Charles said.

Dean nodded with suspicion.

"I usually read the person's mind that is outside my door so I can identify who it is, but when I tried to enter yours it seemed very difficult for me to do" Charles said with fascination.

"Jean experienced the same thing. Maybe it's part of my mutation" Dean said optimistically.

"Yes perhaps. But back to why I called you here. First I have successfully enrolled you in Bayville High and your first day is tomorrow at eight o'clock so get some good rest. Secondly we will require you to give a physical so we can understand the nature of your abilities. But not today, we will wait until tomorrow for that"

"Alright then. Is that all?" Dean asked as he got up.

"Yes you may leave" He said and Dean exited the study, 'Hmmm, what to do now? I'll explore and see who's around'

Dean passed by the library and spotted the girl named Rogue, 'Social activity!' he thought to himself.

The library is one of the few places Rogue can get peace. Understandably due to her powers she isn't much of a people person. Now she likes all her friends and is really appreciative that they took her in when they started out as enemies but sometimes she just needs to be on her own.

Rogue was searching through the vast collection of books the Professor had amassed over the years.

"Hey" Dean said as he approached.

"Hey" Rogue said awkwardly, after all she was looking for quiet "Whatcha doin here?"

"I was kinda bored so I started walking around hoping to find someone to talk to and it seems I did" Dean said as he stood next to her.

Rogue liked her reading time. With anybody else she would have tried being rude or straight up told them to leave her alone but since Dean was new here Rogue decided to be nice, "So what do ya wanna talk about?"

"I don't know. How bout your ability? I'm gonna need to know if I'm going to be your teammate eventually" Dean said with enthusiasm.

The mention of her power made her frown, 'Well he does have a point' she thought. And from what he did today is any indicator Rogue should probably tell him the bad news.

"Alright then" Rogue took off her glove "If I were to touch you right now, I would absorb your life force. Absorbing all your skills and your abilities. And if I held on long enough…I would kill you" She said with reluctantly.

Dean noticed the sadness on her face and guessed there's a catch, she probably can't control it. "Wow, that's sounds great and terrible at the same time, but at least you have their powers once you absorb them though"

Rogue put her glove back on, "No I don't get to keep them. They fade away after an hour or so. But a piece of their mind stays behind"

"Hmmmm, I don't think so. If something stays behind then it's a possibility that the power stays behind as well, only there must be a trick to it or something" Dean said guessing.

"Maybe, but it's too dangerous. I keep all the different personalities locked up with mental blocks placed by the Professor, and letting one out might let them all out. It's too risky" Rogue said.

"I understand. But if you're ever curious, you should let the Professor help you with that" Dean said.

"Enough about me, what about you? What can you do?" Rogue asked changing the subject.

"Me? From what I've seen so far you can say I'm an improved human being" Dean said.

"So you're basically like Logan. Except without the metal claws" Rogue assumed.

'Mhmmmmm, interesting. No wonder he's supposed to be good, if he's like me then he should be very good' Dean thought, "Yeah you could say that. Anyways enough about powers. You have a boyfriend?" he asked with a little grin.

"No I don't. I already told you I can't touch anybody. So what would be the point in having a boyfriend when I can't even kiss him?" Rogue said angrily.

The realization suddenly hit Dean like a ton of bricks, "That's right, you can't do…anything. Wow, that's messed up"

"Look I don't need your sympathy, I've learned to live with it" Rogue walked away.

Dean felt bad for that girl, such a beauty, wasted.

Author's note: Well it seems that there's something peculiar going on between Rogue and Dean, but I can't quite put my finger on it. But all together a solid introduction to the mansion. Next week Dean goes to Bayville High!