Author's Note**

                        Okay, as with the comma, I'm slightly obsessed with crazy people. Just a mild warning.

            The next morning the youngsters of the Institute made their way through the doors of Bayville High, deeply annoyed that their older counterparts got to skip. Saving the world from evil, blah, blah, blah. It sure sounded like a cheesy ass excuse to them. Bobby Drake was the most irritated out of everyone. Hadn't he proven his worth at the museum with his mad skills? Wasn't he good enough to join the big bad X-team? Apparently not since they had snubbed him, basically telling him to go run off and play with the other kiddies. He'd show them one day. He'd show them all. All of them. ALL OF THEM!

            "Hey Bobby, you okay?"

            Blinking at the sound of a voice, Bobby brought himself back down to earth. Sam was looking at him with a dubious expression plastered across his face.

            "Yeah, I was just thinking about something, Cannon," Bobby answered turning to walk beside his fellow mutant. Sam raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything more about it. If Bobby was pissed off about something, he didn't want to end up in a block of ice because he had asked about it. The two of them entered the cafeteria where they found Roberto and Amara sitting at a table by themselves. All the tables surrounding them were empty as everyone else in the room crowded together, giving the two teens a ten foot radius. Bobby and Sam joined them.

            "Hey, how lousy is it that the others get ta stay at home, while we get fed to the sharks here?" Roberto asked the moment the two sat down. Frowning again, Bobby tossed his bagged lunch up onto the table and folded his arms around it.

            "Tell me about it," he muttered darkly.

            "Yeah, what happen to that whole, 'only by working together can we defeat this evil' bit the Professor was talking about?" Amara stated, poking at her sandwich and trying to ignore the fact that a number of people were staring at them. It had been a couple months now since they had been ousted. She wished people would just get over it.

            Sam snapped open his can of pop and shrugged, partly in response to the itch he had between his shoulder blades. He wasn't fond of all the looks either.

            "I guess he doesn't think we're far enough along to handle something so important."

            The four of them sat in silence, picking at their lunches but not actually in the mood to eat. It wasn't bad enough that practically the entire population of Bayville disliked and distrusted them, but now even their own Professor wasn't casting his vote of confidence in them. Jeepers, it was enough to make a mutant teen want to go on a power rampage through the village, maiming innocent bystanders. All that stood in their way would be crushed. ALL!! ALL!! ALL, I SAY!!

            "Bobby, are you listening?"

            Startled out of his rambling thoughts, Bobby found that the rest of the small group was staring at him strangely. That's when he noticed he had his hands raised as if he were going to start shooting off ice bullets. Embarrassed, he lowered them and cleared his throat.

            "Ah, I'm sorry. What did you say?"

            "I said don't you think it stinks that we have to start Danger Room runs while the others are off chasing bad guys?" Amara repeated.

            The words 'Danger Room' sparked something in Bobby's brain. Excited, he leapt up from his seat and slammed his hands down on the table.

            "Oh my god, I'VE GOT IT!" he proclaimed loudly. The rest of the cafeteria fell eerily quiet and the few people that hadn't been directing their attention to the mutants before, did so now. Embarrassed again by the strength of his outburst, Bobby slowly lowered back down into his seat and waited for the noise level to resume. Roberto, Amara, and Sam all looked at him as if he had grown a third head and it had just started speaking in Mandarin. Mike's makes a hard lemon iced tea? You bet.

            Once some of the heat had been taken off of them, Bobby leaned forward over the table. "Okay listen. The Professor is sending all those other guys out after that Mesmero guy, right? He's going to want them focusing on that. But what if Cerebro locates more mutants? Someone's going to have to go recruit them, right?"

            The other three all exchanged considering looks. "And you think that that someone is going ta be us?" Roberto asked. Bobby bobbed his head enthusiastically.

            "Hell yeah! I mean, think about it. All we'd have to do would be to go find whoever it was, talk to them, and see if they want to join up. Minimum danger but still important. We can handle that."

            There was a collective agreement in the group. Sam patted Bobby on the back and grinned.

            "You're a genius Bobby."

            Soaking it up, Bobby leaned back and nodded his head coolly. "That's why they call me Iceman."

            Silence. Everyone paused and looked at him. He didn't notice.

            "Uh. . . Bobby?"

            "What?" Bobby asked absently, basking in the glory of his genius. He was THE man baby. Oh yeah. The ICEman. Respect it. RESPECT IT MAN!

            "What the hell does the fact that people call you Iceman have to do with you being smart?" Roberto inquired. Rolling his eyes, Bobby sent him a look he borrowed from Kitty's book; the duh look.

            "Spot, I don't expect you to understand something so uniquely complicated."

            Roberto arched an eyebrow. "Bobby, I've got a hundred and five average in advanced placement chemistry. There ain't anything too complicated for me. You, on the other hand, can't even spell complicated," he pointed out. Furrowing his brows together Bobby strained his brain.

            "K-o-m," he began, then paused and thought some more. Then he glared at Roberto. "Jerk."