Final Evolution
CHAPTER FIVE
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Evan took a minute to study himself in his closet-installed mirror. His new X-Man uniform was dominantly black, like his cadet uniform had been. The only difference was that his was more customized to his individual preferences. His gloves had been replaced by hard shock-proof ones, each with a row of curved spikes on one side. There was more armor here and there as well.
There was a loud knocking on his dorm door.
"Evan! Are you still in there? Hurry up if you are!"
With a resigned groan, Evan opened the door to Tabitha. She whistled as she took in his new outfit. "Whoa! Looking good, hon!"
"You don't look too bad yourself."
Tabitha's entire suit was black, except the metal bits that appeared here and there. She struck Evan as some female action figure from an old Al Capone movie.
"Come on! Time's a-wasting!" She pumped her fist and charged down the hallway. "Let's go PAAAARTYYYYYYYY!!!!!!"
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Later that evening found Evan in one corner with a can of cola at hand.
An Institute volunteer group, a.k.a. the Sirens, had gone through a lot of trouble to decorate the recreation room. All that effort had been paid in full, as the room radiated cheer and merriment. A laughing Instructor Summers warned him to keep on his toes, as the Siren support group (Sirens' sponsors) was in need of new members. Basically, no one, male or female, was safe.
#BAMF# "Guten tag, mein freund!"
Kurt got up from his crouched position with a big grin on his face. Evan noticed his costume had a large dark red 'V' running from his shoulders to his belt, his tail waving about from his also dark red pants. It's overall appearance made Kurt look like the professional acrobat he was. "Nice suit."
"Danke." Kurt also studied Evan's suit with a look of awe. "Yours looks great too, Evan. Really suits you."
"There you are, you guys!"
Tabitha ran over to where they were. "Are any of you guys interested in joining the Siren support group?"
Kurt quickly looked away and pointed into the crowd. "Hey! I zink I see Roberto over zere!" #BAMF#
"Humph." Tabitha pouted momentarily before turning on Evan. "How about you, hon? You interested? The more, the merrier! The merrier, the better!"
Evan shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, Tabitha. Try someone else."
"That'll make you the sixth person who declined." Tabitha sighed. "Ah well, no one said this would be easy..." Then she took off toward another group of students.
Evan thought he saw a shooting star streak through the night sky. Then he blinked and returned his attention to the dance floor.
Xavier, along with Instructor Summers, was discussing something with a few of the senior X-Men. A petite girl with a brown ponytail (who the heck *is* that?) walked up to Kurt and said something to him. Whatever it was, it excited him so much that his tail started to twitch even faster than usual. The girl proceeded to drag Kurt onto the dancing floor, causing the both of them to momentarily disappear into the crowd. Tabitha was scaring away students in hopeless attempts to recruit Siren support group members.
Evan suddenly noticed Instructor Gray approach him from another corner of the room. "Evan, do you have a minute?"
Evan nodded.
"I'll like you to come down with me to the old fountain at the back of the Institute grounds."
Evan raised an eyebrow. The old fountain was an unofficial second recreation room for the students, a place which enabled them more privacy.
"Shouldn't we leave booking students for violating curfew to the Brotherhood of Disciplinary?"
Instructor Gray shook her head as she laughed softly. "No. Nothing too violent involved. Just come on down there with me. That's my final order."
Final order....why......? "Alright."
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Despite the graduation party still taking place in the Institute, the old fountain still had quite a few stragglers nearby.
"I haven't been here for quite a while."
Instructor Gray led Evan to an empty spot by the fountain. They sat side by side, watching occasional ripples.
".....What time is it?"
Evan studied his watch. "Midnight exactly."
".........." Instructor Gray sighed. "I, Jean Gray, am no longer an Institute Instructor from this point forward."
What the.....was she......?
"-fired, Evan? Yes." The former instructor smiled apologetically for reading his thoughts. "Mesmero told me I lacked many leadership qualities. Too many. Therefore, I'm just an *X-Man* now." She smirked at the contradictory word. "Who knows. Maybe they might send us on missions together." She sighed again. "Perhaps I'm in self-denial, but I just can't understand what I did wrong, where I failed my duty as a teacher. I tried my best, I really did. I didn't.........Are you still with me, Evan?"
"You came to the wrong person." Evan turned his back on the fountain water. "I'm no good with advice."
"It's not advice I asked you here for. I just want someone who can listen."
"Neither am I a good listener. Of all people, you should know best." Evan stood up. "No offense, but you'd fare a lot better by talking to a wall."
"Guess there's one of those many leadership qualities I'm lacking." Jean got up as well. "He's probably right after all."
Suddenly, she froze, her face filled with intense concentration. Then her voice flooded into Evan's mind.
Evan, we have to get to the front gate! Someone needs help!
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The sounds of loud machine whirring, frightened screams and angry barks attracted Evan and Jean to their source.
A large mechanical python was attempting to attack a woman with brown hair. Her wolf-like canine companion was snarling and lunging, making aggressive demands for the machine to back off.
Woman.......dog.......from the infirmary.........
"That's the Institution Security System's new prototype! It's malfunctioning! We have to stop it!"
"Like this?" Evan fired a row of spikes, driving them into the metal body of the python and halfway out the other end. With a loud groan, it fell to the floor with electricity sparking out from the holes.
"That'll do just fine." Jean ran over to the woman and dog. "Are you two alright?"
The canine looked up at Jean before suddenly turning into a small girl with reddish-brown hair. "Thank you for your help." She bowed politely before turning to help the woman up, at the same time retrieving a white cane from the grass.
As Evan and Jean watched, the girl led the woman back into the Institute.
"I guess I'll have to go back to the classroom now. Mesmero wants the workspace ready for the replacement instructor."
When Jean was quite a distance away, Kurt appeared next to Evan with in a #BAMF# of smoke. "Zere you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
"What happened to the girl you were dancing with?"
Kurt shrugged. "She had to talk to ze headmaster." Then he offered a hand. "Now zat ve are X-men, ve've been assigned new dorms. I'm supposed to direct you to yours."
"Alright, then. Lead the way."
"Jawohl."
#BAMF#
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Howling WereWolf:
That's IT, people! The last one before I go dormant!!!
I wish I could continue. I planned to get down the plot for the next chapter in my last day of utter liberty. Unfortunately, Diablos kicked my sorry butt for the fourth time [I just plain suck (P]. Now there will be no continuation until my school 'O's are over, thus allowing me to get back to the game.
Diablos: neener neener neener! *pokes out tongue*
HW: I BLAME YOU!!!
Diablos: Whatever, sucker. May I go back to sleep *now*?
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