Summary: A new mutant arrives at the Academy an decides to help Rogue with her isolation from her powers. (Chapter 2)
Disclaimer: Again, I do not own anything! I don't even own this computer! All I own in the world is my character. Yes, his name is Jordan. And you'll find out his codename soon enough. And please, somebody tell me about who the newer characters are in the Second Season of Xmen: Evolution. I don't know enough about them to use them! Please! Thank you! O_0
Note: '...' is thinking and italics is telepathic communications. Yes, this hasn't changed yet! Lol.
Reviews: Thanks to all who reivewed the first chapter. To put it bluntly, I was amazed. I had eight reviews in only one day.
Lyekka: Thanks. Well, here's your next chapter
Star: Thank you. I plan to keep writing, as long as I can think of things to write!
Neva: Yeah, I thought of that name because of Rogue. I've always liked her name and her character, so I had to make a counterpart.
Lucky439: Thank you. I'm continuing now!
Bluefirez: I have an idea similar to what you suggested. Just a bit different.
Tenpi Shojo: Thank you, Jade. You heard the name from the Gundam I created when we were talking with Niko.
SR: Well, what's the odds of you getting your wish. I'd say pretty darn good, seeing as this is a ROMANCE fic.
Becca: I am writing more. Here you go. All ready to be re-reviewed.
First Day in Mutant High
Riiiiiiiiiii- Smack!
Jordan pulled his hand away from the alarm clock, now blissfully silent. It was 5:45 in the morning and he had to get ready for school. He might be living as a mutant with special powers in a place where he was accepted, with a great life, but no one, repeat, no one, could make him like school.
Jordan debated for a few moments whether or not to just roll back over and fake sickness or go to school. It only took those few moments for him to fall asleep, much to his immediate dismay. He leaped out of bed, drenched completely in ice-cold water. No culprit was in sight.
Jordan sighed. According to earlier conversations of his, it was either Bobby or one of his accomplices who gave him his early-morning bath. Deciding it didn't really matter, as they would all suffer in time, he walked out into the hallway and headed to the bathroom to finish his shower. He turned the corner only to find a large mass of mutant students jockying for a position in line, yelling complaints and threats the entire time. Not wanting to bother, he went back to his room and changed, hoping that skipping one shower wouldn't hurt too much.
A few minutes later, he sat down at the breakfast table across from Rogue, who seemed to have beaten the morning rush, and poured himself a bowl of some store-brand cereal.
"Get up early or did ya just give up?" Rogue asked, eating her own brandless cereal.
"Give up," Jordan answered, beginning to eat some cereal. "Na wer uh tubl."
Seeing Rogue's confused and slightly humorous expression, Jordan swallowed his cereal half-chewed and repeated himself. "Not worth the trouble."
"Ah'd have to agree," Rogue replied.
They conversation drifted to the upcoming school day, complete with a description of all the teachers and several opinions about classes. Then the talk changed to the Brotherhood.
"Who exactly is in this group?" Jordan asked, curious to know.
"Well," Rogue began, "There's Pietro, or Quicksilver, Todd, or Toad, Lance, Tabitha, and Fred. The last three are Avalanche, Boom-Boom, and Blob.
"Hmmm... Blob... sounds interesting. Let me guess, big puddle of goo that eats people, right?" Jordan joked.
Rogue smiled and replied," No, he's a real big guy who can take a real beating, but he's dumber than a rock, and about as hard."
"Should I worry about any of them?"
"No, not really. They're mostly just talk at school. But outside of school, ya might want to watch out a bit."
Jordan's reply was unheard as the rest of the mutant students ran down the stairs, all of them getting ready for the day. Kurt continuously teleported around the kitchen, grabbing food at each stop. He finally ended up in the seat next to Jordan, chewing on a Pop-Tart.
"Guten morgen!" Kurt greeted Jordan. "How are you zis morning?"
"Alright," Jordan replied. "And you?"
"Vwell enough, I have a test in biology today. And I didn't study at all!" Kurt replied.
Jordan finished his meal, then got up and left, Kurt having gotten in a fight with Evan over the milk.
He had walked only a short distance when he was greeted by Professor Xavier.
"Good morning, Jordan."
"Yeah," the new student replied. "Hey, this might be a dumb question, but how do we get to school? Does a bus come or something else?"
"Scott drives most of the students to school, but some prefer to walk," Xavier answered. "The school is only a mile or so away from here, toward the south."
"Thanks, Professor," Jordan said. Xavier nodded and continued down the hall, probably heading to his study.
Jordan grabbed the bookbag he had packed earlier from his room and headed out the door. He enjoyed walking, especially since he didn't know many of the other students yet. He'd want to meet tham only a few at a time, and not all at once. He had just turned around the corner of the wall surrounding the institute when Rogue's voice came from the mansion.
"Hey, wait!" she called, running to catch up. She stopped next to Jordan and continued walking beside him. "Can Ah ask ya a question?"
"Sure," Jordan responded, reshouldering his bookbag over one shoulder.
"I don't know much about ya, so can ya tell me about yourself?" Rogue asked.
"Well, okay," Jordan answered. "I like to draw, listen to music, read, write stories, and talk. I'm average in most things, except schoolwork, which I'm good at. I like to solve real problems and see if my solutions work."
"That's cool," Rogue responded. "Ummm... can ya talk about your past? You know, before ya came here."
Jordan thought for a moment as they walked, finally deciding he might as well trust them. Even though he had nothing to hide, he wasn't much of a people-person.
"Okay, I lived in Schenectady, New York before Professor Xavier found me. My mutant powers came about when a kid at school threatened me, then tried to beat me into a pulp. He punched me in the face and ended up breaking his hand. My first reaction was to hit back, so I did. He was layed out after one punch. Later on at the doctor's office, we found out that I had a thin layer of titanium under my skin. So, it was no wonder the guy broke his hand and had been knocked out. He was unconscious for several days. My parents had mixed feelings over the mutant issue. The people nearby didn't trust me, though. They had never seen me out with the other children, so they didn't know me well enough. Plus, they had heard about what had happened to that bully. My parents sent me here so I wouldn't be hurt by somebody. Not that they could, seeing as what my power is," Jordan finished, makng a fist with one hand, which became unnaturally stiff before it relaxed. "They said I can make a layer of metal anywhere on me, on the outside or inside. But I like making it on the inside more. People don't expect to hit something so ahrd is they dont see it."
The two walked on in silence for a while before either spoke.
"So, Rogue," Jordan started, "What's your story?"
"Ah was raised in a foster home by a blind woman who knew what mah power would be," Rogue began. "So Ah was told Ah had a skin condition and could never touch anybody because mah foster mother never knew when the power would manifest. So, at a school dance, a boy was pushed into me and Ah absorbed his memories when he tried to help me up. The next few hours Ah ran around confused. Ah wasn't sure if Ah was him or mahself. Then, Ah absorbed Kurt, then Storm before Ah learned to control the powers and memories Ah was receiving. Ah joined the Brotherhood because Ah thought the X-men were out to get me. Later, Ah found out that Mystique had tricked me and then had been lying to me, so Ah joined the X-men."
"Mystique? Who's that?" Jordan asked.
Rogue explained Mystique's powers, her relation to Kurt and Rogue, and her recent disappearance after the confrontation with Magneto, whom she also explained.
When she finished, they had arrived at the high school. They still had about a half-hour before classes started, so Jordan was in no hurry to meet the principal, whom he was told had been Mystique, but was now some enthusiastic person with no life outside of the school.
Rogue and Jordan walked through the halls, Rogue giving Jordan a quick tour of the school. When they walked into the lunchroom, they found Lance, Pietro, Todd, Tabitha, and Fred standing around. Except Fred, who was sitting down at a nearby table, eating enough food for several students. Rogue immediately tried to exit the room, not wanting a confrontation of any sort so early in the day. But a blur of speed intercepted her, forming itself into the mutant called Quicksilver.
"Wheredoyouthinkyouaregoing,Roguey?" the speed demon asked in his normal way. "Afraidwemightdosomethingtoyourhumanfriendhere,areya?"
"Ah am going somewhere else," Rogue replied. "And no, Ah'm not worried about ya idiots harming a human friend of mahne, seeing as Ah don't have any here."
"Oh,soisthisanotherofyourX-geekbuddies?" Pietro replied. Then he turned around to face the rest of his buddies from the Brotherhood. "Heyguys! WehaveanotherX-geekonourhandsoverhere!"
Rogue looked around quickly as the others came over. No non-mutants were around, so they wouldn't have to worry about using their powers, as long as they didn't cause too much damage.
"Come on, Jordan, let's go," Rogue said, walking around Pietro, Jordan following behind.
"Hey! You ain't goin' nowhere!" Fred yelled, grabbing Jordan by the arm and dragging him back. "We ain't through wit' you guys yet!"
"Really?" Jordan asked, pulling his arm out of Fred's grip. He turned around and faced the extra large mutant and brought up one arm. The uppercut connected with a loud dong as Jordan enhanced his bones with a layer of steel. Fred staggered and fell back, only to be replaced by Toad, who attempted to swing Jordan around with his tongue after latching on to the same arm that had leveled Fred.
"Ut da?" Toad asked. He couldn't even budge the new recruit. Jordan had added a heavy layer of lead in his legs, cementing himself in place. He swung the long-tongued mutant around his head by the tongue attached to him. He flung Toad into a nearby Tabitha, who had just begun powering up a small ball. It went off, filling the crowded area with smoke. A few moments later, Pietro cleared the smoke, but Rogue and Jordan had disappeared.
Jordan walked out his last period class, holding a relatively full bookbag. The work hadn't been hard, but Jordan's mind had been elsewhere. Specifically, Rogue. She had been amazingly nice to him, given that she didn't like to hang out with anyone that he had seen. Except Risty, who actually hung around Rogue more than Rogue hung around her. And she was a good-looking girl. Jordan couldn't help but feel attracted to her.
He opened his locker and grabbed his books for homework before walking out of the school. His mind drifted back to the gothic girl. He knew he liked her. He had been more afraid of the Brotherhoods somehow hurting her than anything they could do to him. She couldn't defend herself at school without someone noticing her handiwork. That's why he had split when the opportunity presented itself. Even though he had wanted to impress Rogue, he had decided to follow through with Rogue's original idea: leave as quickly as possible.
And there she was. She was waiting for him down next to the road. They had decided to walk back to the Institute together so they could talk some more.
"Hello, how was school?" Jordan asked, continuing sarcastically. "Have the time of your life?"
"Oh, yes, most definitely," Rogue replied, returning the sarcasm. "Ah have wonderful homework in English, Math, and Chemistry. And Ah hate Chemistry."
"Really?" Jordan asked. "I think it's pretty easy."
Rogue gave Jordana withering look. He laughed and the continued on home, Jordan promising to help Rogue with her work after he was done.
They arrived at the Institute as soon as Scott pulled in with the other students, with the result that Jordan was bombarded with a flood of questions about himself. A while later, Jordan finally went to his room. He quickly did his homework, not wanting to really bother with it at all.
He got up from his desk and walked down the hall to Rogue's room. She was sitting on her bed, music playing, a pencil in her hand. She was staring at a piece of paper littered with symbols and signs.
"You really do hate Chemistry, huh?" Jordan asked, sitting down next to her and looking over the paper.
"What do you think?" Rogue replied.
Jordan didn't answer. He helped Rogue with her homework, explaining things she did not understand. After they finished, Jordan left the room to go finish what homework he had saved for later.
"Oh joy, Spanish," He said aloud sarcastically, pulling out a bright red book with Paso a Paso written on the cover. After an hour of conjugations, teners, sers, and parts of speech later, Jordan put aside his homework and pulled out his sketch pad. Skipping the drawing started the day before. Jordan began drawing a new picture. Almost an hour later, the picture was mostly finished, only lacking shading. It was a picture of Rogue. The features of her face looked lonely, especially the eyes. They drooped sadly, a result of her isolation. But the picture had an underlying joy to it, as if a solution was at hand.
Jordan, I'd like to speak to you.
The voice was the Professor's, projected into Jordan's mind as soon as he set down the drawing.
Yes, Professor Jordan replied.
He got up and headed down to Xavier's office, where he found the Professor and a large, blue ape-like animal wearing a lab coat and glasses.
"I'd like to introduce you to Hank McCoy. He works here at the Insitute to train some of the younger students," Xavier explained, guesturing toward the ape-like mutant.
"Hello," Jordan greeted.
"A pleasure to meet you," McCoy reponded. "If it is alright with you, I'd like to take some tests for your powers. I'd like to see just how much you can do."
"Sure."
After about an hour of different tests, Beast was satisfied and Jordan was free to go. But as he left, the Professor asked to talk to him before he left.
"Jordan, have you thought about any way that you might be able to help Rogue?" he asked.
"Actually, yes," Jordan answered. "But I need to talk to you about it and test one thing."
"Alright," Xavier replied. "Let's try this idea out."
After dinner, the students were told they'd have a danger room test. Jordan, Rogue, Scott, Jean, Evan, Kurt, and Kitty would be in one session, the others in a later one.
Jordan looked down at the uniform that had been created for him. It was skin-tight, like the rest. It was mostly black, with a gray chestplate and matching shoulder pads, a large, red "X" on them. Army boots were worn over the feet of the suit and a silver belt, also sporting the "X," finished the uniform.
Jordan looked around at the other student's uniforms and noticed that his was remarkably similar to Rogue's, only minus the gloves.
"Hey, Jordan," Scott addressed the new team member. "Did you pick out a code name yet?"
"Yeah, Renegade," Jordan answered. He noticed several of the team mates chuckled, glancing between him and Rogue, who had a hand over her mouth, hiding a smile.
'That's part of the rason I chose it' Jordan thought to himself, smiling on the outside at the others' joke. 'Rogue needs to laugh more, I thought this would work some.'
"Well, anyway, let's get started," Scott announced, quickly slipping into the leader role. "Everyone gets paired with another. Defend them and help them survive the training. Ok, Kurt and Shadowcat, Jean and me, Rogue and Renegade, and Spyke's on his own. But everyone can help him and he can help anyone. Everyone got it?"
A chorus of affirmative answers were his answers.
"Do we know what simulation this is?" Evan asked, picking up his skateboard.
"No, Logan said it's going to be a surprise today," Cyclops answered, exchanging his ruby glasses for his uniform visor.
"Oh yay, zis is going to be murder," Kurt exclaimed, slapping a hand over his forehead.
The others agreed, then the simulation started. The ground quickly shifted to one resembling some distant area, covered with unusual plants and littered with strange animal calls. A space opened up in an open clearing and the trainees walked out. The space closed and the young X-men started running toward the opposite end of the arena. Dormant plants suddenly shifted and began firing red lasers. Kurt quickly vanished from where a sizzling scarlet beam passed, scarcely missing him as another beam traveled through Kitty, who just shook her head and kept running. A vine shot from a nearby bush toward Scott and Jean. The vine was suddenly deflected as it hit Jean's field, and was blasted a second later by Cyclops. Rogue jumped over a similar vine, hopping to the side when she landed to avoid a laser. Jordan created a layer of titanium completely over his skin, just in time to absorb a laser shot at him. Sets of spikes shredded the a pair of plants. But as he was concentrating on that, a vine came from behind a wrapped around him, quickly tossing him to the side. Evan was "out." Kitty looked back only to be caught by a falling net of vines and branches. She was out too. Scott began calling out orders to seperate. The students remaining nodded and spread out, trying to draw fire away from the others. It worked for everyone but Cyclops himself, who, without Jean's shielding, was caught by blast from a cannon. Then the simulation ended. Jean, Rogue, Kurt, and Jordan had all made it through, although Rogue had almost been caught by another falling net. Jordan had pulled her out of the way just in time. The trainees walked back to the ready room and waited for the Professor.
"You should pay attention to what's happening to you, not everyone else!" Scott was lecturing. Kitty looked downcast, almost frightened, while Evan and Kurt were almost angry
"Scott! That's enough!" the professor admonished as he came into the room. "We all do need to learn, but it doesn't call for that attitude."
"Yes, Professor," Cyclops replied.
"And if I remember correctly," the Professor started, smiling slightly. "You yourself where distracted."
The other team members laughed a little before Xavier continued. "You did much better this time, all of you. Half of your number made it to the end. Well, you can go now. We are done training for today. But we will be training again tomorrow."
The students nodded and left.
"Hey, ummm... Rogue..." Jordan began.
"Yeah?" Rogue responded, stopping next to the teen. "What is it?"
"I... uhhh... Well, how do you... Oh, never mind," Jordan stuttered, quickly walking away before Rogue noticed anything unusual about the color of his face.
'How do you tell a person you like them?' Jordan asked himself. 'I can't just walk up and say, 'Hey Rogue, I like you a lot.' She'd probably end up slapping me. Well, more like punching me.'
Jordan walked into his room and took out the pad again. The picture of Rogue sat there, unshaded. He finished the picture then stared at it, imagining how Rogue would respond to the hundred ways he coudl tell her how he felt. Or ask how she felt.
'Dang, this is so confusing. I'm going to bed.'
Jordan fell asleep only a few minutes later, tired from the short, but exhausting, training in the danger room.
So, how'd you like this? Satisfied? Well, no you can't be, the story's not over yet. Could I ask for some help? I need an idea for extending this story. I know how it'll end, but I don't know what should happen in the meantime to make it interesting. Give me some opinions on that, please? And you, Jade, I want to ask a favor in relation to this fic when we talk again. Thank you for reading, and I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible! Possibly in about two or three days.