TITLE: Ribbons

AUTHOR: Me (Winterblight)

RATING: PG-13 just in case it gets too much for some of you *weaker* people (oh no, blood and/or swearing! I must shield myself from reality at all costs...)

SUMMARY: The X-Men want to recruit three new members, and to be quite frank, they aren't your average mutants. Mayhem ensues as Mystique tries to get her hands on them. These new mutants have a few tricks up their sleeves and a couple creepy secrets.

DISCLAIMER: And now for the extremely overused disclaimer...I might as well use quotes... "If I owned the X-Men why would I be writing fanfics?!"

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CHAPTER 1: Episode 4,000 "No More Seats"

BAYVILLE SUBWAY: 9:07 PM SATURDAY

Everything was normal. Yes...normal. Normal, normal, normal on that subway car. It was a little brighter than usual, but nothing to fret over. There were only a few people in that car, most were reading newspapers or drinking coffee.

A short, dark-haired man rubbed his eyes. He was sure he could feel a headache coming on. The pain in his eyes was escalating quickly, so he reached into his coat pocket for an aspirin. Before he could even open the bottle he had dropped to his knees, clutching his eyes.

"MY PUPILS," he screamed, "Oh god! Make it stop! Please!"

And the tall blonde boy smirked behind his three day old edition of "The Bayville Times".

BAYVILLE STREETS: 11:14 AM SUNDAY

"The Professor said he'd be around here somewhere..." Kitty muttered, half to herself, half to Kurt.

"Vell, ve should start looking zen." Kurt said and teleported into an alley across the street.

"Kurt! Someone's, like, going to see!" Kitty hissed when she caught up with him. Kurt was poking cardboard boxes with a stick and looking inside trash cans.

"Nope...nu-uh...no..." He said to himself each time he found nothing.

"We're, like, not going to find anyone in a cardboard box around here." Kitty frowned, crossing her arms.

"Don't be so sure of zat, Kitty." Kurt said, and covered his mouth when he realized he wasn't the only one to say that. They turned in the direction the voice had come from and saw a tall man sitting in a little structure of boxes and old newspapers. He had long, unbrushed black hair and shadowy brown eyes. Dressed in a tattered dark blue trenchcoat, black shirt and jeans, and army boots, he held a knife in his right hand. He looked to be about twenty-one or so years old.

"You...are you Bob Matrix?" Kurt asked. Kitty looked frightened and clutched Kurt's arm.

"Mmmaybe..." The homeless man twirled the blade around his fingers.

"I'll take zat as a yes," Kurt recognized the man from the picture Prof. Xavier had shown him, "Ve are here to help you. Ve're from the Xavier Insti-"

"I know who you are." The man snapped, interrupting Kurt.

"Like, we're here to help you." Kitty said.

"Get the hell away from me."

"If you'd just listen-"

"I warned you..." A faint blue light seemed to radiate from the man and Kurt and Kitty watched with intrigue as he rolled up his sleeve. Bob took the blade and made a long cut across his forearm. Kurt immediately clutched his own.

"OW!" Kurt yelped, from pain and surprise.

"Kurt, like, what's wrong?" Kitty looked alarmed.

"My arm...it feels like I've been cut." Bob made a deeper incision, and Kurt clenched his teeth.

"Like, what are you-" Kitty didn't finish her sentence because Bob had stabbed himself in the arm. She screamed bloody murder and fell down, grabbing at her own arm. Kurt watched with fear and wonder as Bob twisted the blade deeper, until at last it went all the way through. Blood was rushing down his arm at an alarming rate, and Kitty was writhing in agony on top of some old beer cases. It didn't take Kurt much longer to figure out what was happening. He grabbed Kitty and teleported away to safety.

Bob sat back down amidst the now blood-soaked boxes and removed the knife from himself. He watched his flesh heal and rebuild itself quickly. Within minutes, all that remained was blood and the memory of the girl's screams. Bob grinned.

XAVIER INSTITUTE: 11:45 AM SUNDAY

"I...I don't know vat vas wrong vit him, he just went nuts." Kurt looked glumly at the floor.

"Ew...it was like, grodey." Kitty shuddered, running a finger over the part of her arm that had hurt so badly only half an hour before.

"Bob Matrix is obviously dangerous, and it seems he doesn't want to join us." Scott observed.

"Right now we have two other things to worry about." Professor Xavier sighed.

DARK ALLEY: 3:30 PM SUNDAY

"Good for you, Bob."

"That was just so incredibly cool." The blonde boy exclaimed.

"They'll be back." Bob growled.

"Yeah, but you really scared them," the brunette grinned and sipped her Dr. Pepper, "So...what do you suppose we do next?"

"I say you two should go finish your education at Bayville High."

BAYVILLE HIGH: 7:37 AM MONDAY

"We've got MORE new students?! They just keep coming, don't they?"

"Tell me about it. I bet they're mutants. Why can't they just stay with their own kind?" The two girls lowered their voices to whispers when Rogue walked by, but she had already heard every word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm sure you're used to getting new students by now. I'll just let them introduce themselves while I busy myself with this red pen." The teacher sat down and began marking big red F's across the tops of random tests.

"Um...hi. My name is Will McGinnis. I like Morrowind...um, yea." Will was tall, with dark blonde hair and turquoise eyes. He seemed pretty normal, with his green sweatshirt and grey pants.

"I'm Violet. I take quite a liking to German men." Will rolled his eyes. This girl had long brown hair and blue-green eyes. She was dressed somewhat differently. She sported a grey tank top, army dog tags, and snow camouflage pants tucked into knee high black combat boots.

"Um, ok. Sit down." The teacher said, not looking up from the tests. Previous newcomers had already taken most of the empty seats. Will sat down in the front next to a blonde girl, and Violet sat in the seat next to Kurt (which happened to be the only seat left).

"Hi, I'm Kurt Vagner." He said with a smile, always eager to make new friends.

"Hello Kurt. I suppose you already know my name." Violet replied.

"So, vhere are you from?"

"Uh," Violet searched her mind frantically for a place she could pretend to be from, "I'm...I just moved here from Norway."

"Norway?" Kurt asked, intrigued.

"Ja. Sprokk du i sola, Kurt?"

"What does that mean?"

"Er...it means 'how are you doing, Kurt?'." Violet lied.

"I see. Very cool."

"Kurt! New kid! Shut up and pay attention."

"Sorry." Kurt apologized, wearing a nervous grin.

BAYVILLE HIGH OFFICE: 10:27 AM MONDAY

"They have a dentist appointment." Logan said in his usual low, growling voice.

"Are you their parent or legal guardian?" Droned the woman at the desk in the usual school secretary monotone.

"Yea, yea. Just get on with it." He had been talking with her for the past five minutes, trying to get it through her head that he needed to pull Violet and Will McGinnis out of class for an appointment.

"Alright, now just wait here Mr...."

"McGinnis." Logan growled and sat down in one of the chairs. He had been waiting for less than a minute when a tall, black haired man in a blue trenchcoat walked into the office.

"Good morning sir."

"Yea. I'm here to take Violet and Will McGinnis to their optometrist appointment." Logan's head snapped up to look at the man. Was that Bob Matrix?

"Optometrist?" The woman questioned, looking confused.

"Yes, optometrist. You see, they are a kind of doctor that specializes in eye-"

"I know what an optometrist is," she snapped, "But Mr. McGinnis is here to take them to their dentist appointment."

"Mr. McGinnis? Are you kidding me?" Bob scoffed. The real Mr. McGinnis had abandoned Will years ago.

"He's sitting in that chair behind you, if you'd like some confirmation." Bob turned slowly to meet Logan's cold stare.

"Well hello there Mr. McGinnis. Hows about you and me go outside and have a little chat about the kids?"

"Yea, you've got some explaining to do, bub." Logan stood up and followed Bob into the parking lot.

End Chapter One

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* "Sprokk du i sola?" means "did you burst in the sun?" (a reference to the Norwegian fairy tale that trolls explode when exposed to sunlight...)

Since this is my first fanfic in a long time I'd really appreciate some questions/comments/criticism.