Disclaimer: I own the world and everything in it!... /Except/ for anything pretaining to Marvel.

:B Ooo, ooo. I /have/ to do this. Miss Cleo, you hit it on dah heeeeaaaaad! (^_^;; I'm sorry. I really couldn't resist). I'm pretty sure I can all make your wishes come true. No Kurtty, a possible titch of Pyro x Angel, and so forth.

T_T Why did they have to make Warren an adult, ={ when everyone else are kids? Noslashyqualitiesuntilyoumakethemallolder!! *bawls her eyes out*


Part 3

Late that night (or too early the next morning), Brez was reading The Time Machine under a mini-light in his bed. There was just.. something about the story that seemed unique from most other sci-fi thrillers. Especially with the Morlock creatures. They were so different from the delicate people of the surface. It was unfathomable how the humans were like the Eloi and the mutants Morlocks.

It wasn't a very pleasent conclusion, but probably accurate none the less.

Across from him, not a sound. The blonde hardly remembered to check for anything abnormal, let alone remembered his roommate was even in the same room, until the weeping rays of light began to cover the landscape outside. Ah, November. Turkeys, pumpkin pie.. and lots and lots of an adundance of cold. God, I hate the cold.

But, as it turned out, Bobby was perfectly fine. No bubbly faces, no stupid grins, no.. anything. But, Brez shook it off. The prankster's brain probably got tired of the idea of a blue angel in the clouds idea, considering he now had a real life one to contend with. And Brez /knew/ Iceman knew about the new seraph-y addition to the school, considering any talks about dinner, Warren, or anything related to said Angel sent him into a quiet lapse.

Or that's what he gathered from trying to talk to him last night.

Pure coincidence. he surmised. Bobby's an aisumancer mutant, not a precognitive one. And the 'fun' part, he can't avoid Warren forever. Brez put the bookmarked the page he was on and tossed it under his bed, where it thunked against his collection of junk that had stocked up over the last year and a half.

With a content sigh, Brez snuggled into his three comforters and electric blanket, deciding it would be wise to catch a few last hours of sleep before Scott or Wolverine decided that the cold would be perfect training weather. Unless, he mused, it was for Magma or Sunspot, so that they'd use their /very/ nice powers in a way that would keep the whole group all cozy and warm.

Dammit, why couldn't I be a bear?


It was noon when Warren hung up the phone. His parents had been less prepared for this new upstart than he had, but, once they heard about the kind of place he had found, agreed that it was for the best. And after that, it was plans about Thanksgiving next week and general events. His mom asked about John, how he was doing in the Institute, and general health questions. Dad was more concerned about his academics, but Warren convinced him he'd be taking classes in school next week. The real question was how that would be possible and it was answered with a simple "You'll see."

Now, Warren didn't really have anything to do, except find his way around so he didn't have to ask for Rogue's help.. and muse over last night.

Jamie, who explained about the duplicate and his mutation, had pretty much stayed with him until somewhere around 11 pm, talking about the groups in general.

There seemed to be a sort of barrier between the first group of mutant teens and the secondary. Kitty and Kurt seemed to like mingling with the 'new mutants' (who really have outgrown the title), but then again, those two seem to like being kids. Scott and Jean, the college folk, seem to want to grow up as fast they could. And people like Evan and Rogue coasted along as life made them walk its path.

Then, there were the other teens. Rahne ("The girl with the pigtails who sat across from you.") and her lupine lycanthropy was a fine cross between a tease and man hater... or at least she hated the men that fell for said tease.

Amara ("The very 'refined' girl at the end of the table.") was the pyrokinetic /and/ geomancer of the second team, although Jamie explained that she wasn't as powerful as the geomancer of the Brotherhood was. And considering her upbringing as a princess, she didn't seem all that different from normal girls in the U.S.

Brez ("That guy who brings blonde to a whole new level. His real name is Ray Crisp, but he hates it.") and Roberto ("The Brazilian with the awesome accent.") just absorbed and shot electro and solar energy-projectiles respectively. Roberto just had the added feature of gaining superhuman strength and endurance, plus flight. Brez wasn't as lucky; all he got was a hot temper at all the wrong times. But despite that, both were practical, pretty much down to earth, and played big brother to the more wilier team members.

Sam ("The pea victim.") and Jubilee ("The one with the bright yellow fashion sense.") were the joy riders, getting thrills from speed and danger and making sure to have fun along the way. Most likely, Sam enjoyed the adrenaline rush that his time-to-time bursts of speed gave him.. And Jubes just loved to have fun.

And then, there were the pranksters. Jamie ("That's me!") and Bobby ("The guy on the roller blades who never came back. Eh. Mr. McCoy probably ate him.") were a powerful force to be reckoned with, considering they're the ones that'll put Saran wrap over the toilet seat for revenge and stink bombs under your bed. But, there was such a thing as a Freedom Prank pass, which'll garantee you a prank-less life from either. God knows, however, no one's ever gotten one. And as Jamie proudly stated, nothing can make him change his mind when he's set. Unfortunately, Bobby has one little weakness; Jamie refused to disclose it.

That was pretty much it, for the moment. Professor X granted him permisson to explore the lower levels, but frankly, that thought scared him, especially after Jamie told him about the Danger Room. Oh, the horror stories that circulated around /that/ place.

And Warren was schedueled for one-on-one training with Logan tomorrow in that very room. It wasn't something the blonde was looking foward to.

But, there was still an afternoon full of daylight. As Warren made his way back to his room, he wondered if anyone would mind him stretching his wings outside of the mansion.

The teen quickly grabbed his windbreaker (specially made, if you were really wondering) from the back of his door and slipped it past his wings with practiced ease. Ah, the things money could buy: comfort, special outfits, and the silence of the tailor who designed said outfits. Lucky for Warren and his family, that tailor was one serious believer in God and the Order of Angels.

Everyone seemed to have their own agenda on the weekends, since everyone seemed to be gone. The blonde hardly minded. It was always nice to be alone... Besides, Warren wasn't too keen on others watching him fly. His self-conscious told him it was like flaunting what others wished for.

The second floor balcony doors opened and Warren breathed in the chilled air. Just like home. This was the weather he enjoyed. Not the constant sun in California, but the coldness of New York and the New England states. Of course, John would argue and say, "You can't possibly mean that, mate! Only bloody idiots like the freezing cold!"... But then I'd tease him about kangaroos and dingos drawing Santa's sled and he'd chase me around with an army of flaming kangaroos, telling me to take it back.

The doors closed behind him and Warren jumped up to sit on the stone rail, swinging around to face the large expanse of sky... with grassy hills and salty water somewhere below that horizontal line.

It was all air from there.


"C'mere Ferdez... Kitty kitty kitty."

The orange tabby gave an indignant meow and moved up the branch with no concern for the brunette sharing the same space. But then again, Ferdez knew this boy was just trouble and didn't want to become the next icy centerpiece on Thanksgiving. So, he swung his tail in a vaguely insulting way and leaped up to the next branch and successfully escaped disaster.

Bobby hmphed and waved the cat off. "Yeah yeah. That's what I get for messing with a cat that belongs to Scott. No respect."

But, he thought, leaning back against the tree's body, as long as I'm up here, I might as well chill.

The other students had opted to spend their last weekend before a holiday in town, with the exception of Brez, who was taking lessons to damper his firey temper with Logan, and (according to Jamie) Warren, who was god knows where right now.

Bobby frowned. The younger brunette had caught him that morning before breakfast. Bobby had explained why he didn't come back (making up most of the story as he went along) and Jamie explained why he hadn't gone looking for him.

Okay, so we have America's number one son under our roof. And the populace believes that no one important would ever be a 'freak'. But god, that's some mutation. He sighed ruefully. One I thought was the product of my over-stimulated imagination in a desperate attempt to keep me from going insane. Well, it worked... until said product practically knocked him over in a wild chase of "Give me back that doughnut!" The icemaker laughed quietly. I guess Jamie's taken charge of intergrating him into the group. But... Bobby had never seen something so déja vu-ish in all his life. Blue skin of the sky. Feathers of clouds. Hair like rays of sunshine. And handsome like no other. Maybe Scott-handsome.. with a dash of Kurt charm.. and let's not forget Jean's charisma.

Just then, as Ferdez changed his mind about his evasiveness and rubbed up against Bobby's cheek, purring, the latter spotted an airborne.... something winging it over the ocean's burly currents. Much too large to be a bird at that distance. Bobby picked Ferdez up and jumped down to the solid ground. Ferdez slided up and around his shoulders as Bobby stole the cold air vapor and hardened it into an icy disk the size of an old fashioned music record.

It was a silly idea. Pitiful, really, but his hands didn't stop as they turned the plate to catch the sun's light...


It was truly breath-taking, the ability to fly. The sound of flapping wings a steady rhythm unlike any other. The bird's-eye view apposed to seeing from the ground. Just the feeling that you can do anything and go anywhere without human restrictions to limit your need of freedom.

As high as the clouds, as low as the earth, Warren rode the windy currents like surfers rode their waves of water. He could never imagine a life without his wings, now that he's tasted the low elevation of space.

At the speed he had picked up, water was simple to cut across. A hand sliced neatly through the waves and behind him, the sonic boom spreading the bay in a small scale replica of Moses and the Red Sea. And with a tilt, Warren was back in the air, weaving around the sailboats at an altitude fishermen didn't pay attention to.

But not too long after he had jumped from the balcony, Warren sighed and turned back. It was fantastic to fly solo, but more comfortable when there was someone to tease with brief, free-falling instances. The youth smiled lazily.

Back at the Institute grounds, there was a flickering flash close to where the courtyard was.... which made for a great coincidence, since he had been meaning to explore the acreage. All his curiosity did was set the motive. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: identify shiny object and learn the layout of the surrounding territory.

But it wasn't long until the flashing stopped and something, person-shaped, ran off into the tall hedges that, most likely, was a garden maze. Warren landed with a 'taking-my-time' touchdown and gave the ground an observant, sweeping gaze. The only suspicious thing to catch was the large disk on the ground, made of-- "Damn, that's cold!"-- white ice. There was also the tabby cat rubbing up against his leg and batting at the tip of a wing, but that was all. Jamie didn't mention any shapeshifters, he thought, as he knelt to scratch behind the cat's ears, so its probably not the cat. ...But he did mention an aisumancer. Bobby, I think... Or was it Roberto?

He stood up straight and strolled across the grass to the hedge-maze's entrance. It would have been easy to just catch the wind and cheat... but that wasn't fair. And if the person didn't want to be found, then he'd respect that... but curiosity was the bird the cat choked on.

And he would have gone in there, if the Professor hadn't called to him first. "Warren, could you come back to the mansion?"

The hairs on the back of his head stood up; the whole telepathy thing made his skin crawl, but aside from that, his own mind just shouted, Busted! "Um... okay?"

And the pressure in his head disappeared, satisfied. Warren turned, but gave the hedges a last glance over the shoulder before making his way back.


"No, you are not in trouble for taking a flight. You demonstrated being carefree and cautious and so I won't warn you about dangers; I'm sure you exercised those back in California, either way."

That's what Warren got once he stepped into Xavier's office. The hologram was now turned off and his cheeks burned a pinkish-violet. "Thank you... I think."

The Professor motioned towards the chair. "Please sit." Once the blue angel was seated in front of him, Proffesor X handed him a class schedule. "I was able to get you enroled into the high school without much difficulty. You'll get text books tomorrow and I've asked Kitty to help you around." Warren nodded absently as he looked over the classes. There were almost the same ones that he had been taking before, except instead of advanced French, it was a study hall. Oh hallelujah...! "But, sir, what about... math?"

Xavier smiled knowingly. "The reason you may not be able to understand it is because every teacher has their own way of explaining processes and functions and they tried to teach you like an adult." The office door opened again and two pairs swung to gaze at the person who entered. "So maybe what you need.. is a /student/ for a teacher."

In the doorway, Bobby stood, rightfully bewildered. He looked between the blonde and the elderly man nervously. "... ..Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all, Robert," said the Professor, also motioning for the icemaker to take space in the second chair. "I did call you here after all. Now..." Xavier rolled over to a file cabinet and shifted around in them. "Bobby, would you mind tutoring Warren in mathematics after school?"

"Ehhh...." Not the most intelligent answer, but Bobby knew English wasn't his fine point; he liked jibberish much better. "I'm pretty sure I could. There's no harm in trying, right?"


"And you'd /think/ that we could have gotten more mutants to join us, yo, but look! We don't exactly have a rep to do the representing."

Lance glared at the amphibious mutant half-heartedly as Todd continued to babble, but opted to sigh instead and mentally agree. The little toadie was right; if they were to be the X-Men's prime rival, they needed more members. Unfortunately, finances for the bills and groceries were hard enough for just the five of them. And with Mystique and Magneto out of their picture, they were left alone, newborn children abandoned and exposed to a harsh and deadly snowstorm.

Affording a new member would strain their resources... and you really couldn't deny Fred what he needed. Freddy tried to cut back on consumtion when change was scarce, he really did, but being a behemoth of a mutant had disadvantages that hurt everyone.

Unfortunately, Tabby didn't understand that. Bitch.

"What we need is a spokesperson to support us," said the blonde in question, dragging a finely filed nail across the table cloth. "or a benefactor.. or something! Xavier is loaded with cash and everything a 'protector of human and mutant kind' could ever want. All we need is someone who can back us up with the dough for a bit and we'll be fine."

"You, little Miss Smith," interjected Lance, pointing a finger in her direction, "don't even pull your /weight/ around here. Just because you nabbed Mystique's room doesn't mean you can loaf around. Sheesh, you've been here a year and all you've done is snitch from all of our very hard-earned earnings."

"Whaaat?" Tabitha blinked innocently and snapped her digusting smelly gum. "A girl has to be primped and ready for the world."

Pietro and Todd's heads hit the table with enough force to rattle the empty plastic cups onto their sides. Freddy only blinked, incredulous at the girl's blunt attitude, and Lance growled, causing a tiny tremor along their street; you could hear the car alarms as the rock tumbler screamed, "That's it! It's either earn or burn, Tabby! You get a goddamn job or we're kicking you out of the house!"

"You can't do that!" Tabby looked about the table, pouting. "Who died and made you leader?!"

"Mystique."

Tabitha waved in dismissal and snorted. "Oh yeah, that woman that keeps popping up into the conversation. The one that doesn't /exist/ in my world because she's just a myth. A rumor! If you're so goddamn bent over her like this, then where is she?! Are you sure she's not something you just conjured up??"

The sound of harsh contact between skin was far more audible than the racket outside. Three boys stared with their jaws dropped low as Tabby held the reddening flesh under her hand. And between the two parties, Pietro was the one lowering his hand, glowering. "That's enough, Tabitha. You've outstayed your welcome here. If you can't contribute, then find a place where you won't have to. We've put up with your bullshit for too long and it stops here."

The blonde put up a glare of her own and stood, just below eye-level to the white-haired boy. "Fine, you want me to leave, right? You want the only /powerful/ mutant among you to leave your little /boys/ club? I can understand that. I mean, it's not like /you/ guys can do anything special. Oh sure, speed, earth shaking, hopping, and being /fat/ are fucking /wonderful/ powers. Why didn't /I/ see that?!" But as she screamed, she made her way upstairs and began collecting her stuff from the stolen bedroom, too upset (thankfully) to take anything that didn't belong to her.

As her rambling became muffled, Pietro literally glowed and became his normal, hyper self. "Did you guys /see/ that?! That felt so good! It was great! Refreshing! Totally better than sex!"

Lance's eyes widened in fear. It was bad enough that Tabby tramped into their home; it would be worse if she trampled into his and Pietro's relationship. Especially the sex. "Hey!"

At the same time, Todd's eyes widened too. In utter delight. "Yo, can I hit her too?"

"--and further more, there was no /way/ you could've pulled off that stunt last month without me, so you obvious can't survive without me!" And there she was, glory be. All packed up, bundled up, and ready to ship out. "Have I made myself clear?!"

"Crystal," murmured Lance, grabbing the blonde by the arm and guiding her out. "Don't let the door hit your sagging ass on the way out."

Tabby's epression twisted and flipped Avalanche the bird. "And to think I put up with a bunch of fags for the last year." And, finally, she was out of their lives.

All of a sudden, a choir of mental angels singing Hallelujah filled the minds of the Brotherhood.

...And Lance's head took salvation in the crook of his arms once he sat back down, sighing largely with relief... and unrequited anger. Who ever heard of a prejudice mutant?! My god, she's so backwards.

Pietro pursed his lips together and ignored Todd's 'happy dance', electing to rub Lance's back instead. "Okay, so we're rid of the evil bitch. Now what?"

"Who cares!" Toad bounded over the obstable that was known as the Blob and landed on the table, grinning foolishly. "She's gone! Which means we can scratch ourselves anyin any room of the whole house, belch loudly without excusing ourselves, and walk around in our underwear again. Life is /perfect/!"

Lance chuckled wealky and lifted his head up. "Ah, the man's world. God, I've missed it." It was then that the leader of the small group noticed how silence Fred had become. The mohawked blonde was frowning and gazing out the small, kitchen window. "Hey, Fred, you okay?... You're not missing her or anything, are you?"

"Huh?" The obese teen blinked and looked back at Lance. "Oh. No. God, no. Never. Never gonna miss her."

"Then... what? It's not that 'fat' thing she said, was it? You know girls, they look for the beauty on the outside and could care less for the inside."

Freddy shook his head. "A bit of that, maybe, but no, not that. I was thinking of Mystique."

Well, that caught Todd and Pietro's attention. The Blob may not be the smartest person on the world.. or even the house, but his moments shined at times.

"She may not have been the greatest person we ever had, but she was the backbone, along with Magneto. And.. we've done fine on our own so far, but things are getting worse. We know she's alive, somewhere, but she hasn't come back. ....I know this sounds stupid, but maybe the reason she never came back was because of Tabby... or something."

Todd clacked his tongue. "Nah, man. If Mystique ever found Tabby here, especially using /her/ room, she'd flip, yo."

"Besides," said Pietro, frowning. "She was sorta.... betrayed by Magneto with the whole Asteroid M trials. She might not have come back was because she's rethinking her priorities about him. And since were /are/ what Magneto constructed through him, she may have abandoned us."

That was a hard fact to swallow. Hell, even Lance want Mystique and her all-high-and-mighty attitude back, just so they could have a real purpose.

Todd blinked in realization. "Woah.. Back up. Guys, now that Tabby's gone, that room is open."

That got quiet stares. Yeah, the bedroom fit for a thousand kings was open to claim... but somehow, the thought of taking it with Tabitha's stench still fresh in it was uninviting. Besides... it was probably better to leave it alone, just incase Miss Darkholme ever came back.

Lance shook his head. "Let's leave it alone. It's not fair anyway."

And reluctantly, the others agreed.


The weather was frigid this far north, she thought, thanking that Taxi driver as she paid him, who returned it in kind and drove away, leaving the woman and her luggage on the sidewalk at her wish.

If only I had known sooner... It wasn't fair to them, Raven.

She scooped up the three bags with a gentle care and started on the path to her new life. She stopped though, right before a young girl stormed out of the house with the same numbers on the address in her coat pocket. Fate was smiling, as she had come at the right time.

Once the girl was far enough away, she continued on her way. It wasn't long before she reached the door and rapped on it a few times.

A few moments past before a young man opened the door, a flash of annoyance swiftly becoming puzzled as he eyed the new woman. "If you're selling, we don't want anything."

She smiled with humor and shook her head, brown hair waving as she did so. "No, no. I'm not. I was sent here, actually. To help you."

"Ehh..." The boy blinked, uncertain, until another pair of eyes appeared of his shoulder, where the first teen regained his composition. "Can I ask who you are?"

"My name is Irene Adler... and Raven Darkhome asked for me to look after the Brotherhood in her absence."


@_T**** *burns the words 'fag' with Pyro's flamethrower* I /hate/ that word.

:D I liked Irene, darnit. She was cool and spiffy! What she really needs is another episode to be in... and what they really need to do is make the show an hour long instead of half an hour. ^_^ That's my Christmas wish.

... x.;; It's still an icky chapter, but I have decided! :B I'm most likely not going to keep the story focused /completely/ on Warren. He's a key player, yes, but I want to develop it past just a relationship-building story. ^.@; Only because I've given tedious amounts of thought to the whole story and *dun dun duuuuh* have pushed it past just two boys eventually ending up in each others' pants. XD Now scowl me for giving the damn story a real plot instead of a pseudo one.

.... ={ Can't I just skip the next parts and get to the ones I want to? ;.; Like Christmas break and the br--- o.O shit, no. Noooooo spoiling. :B Of course, you probably know what I'm gonna do.