Disclamer: The X-Men do not belong to us, they belong to Marvel Comics. We do however own Paige McGrath, Kianna Lee, Brian Hudson and Shane Diego. If you have any questions, please contact either of us at ericpaladin@hotmail.com or nekowingzero@yahoo.com.

The Masked Truth
By David Knight and Wingzero

Part 1
Inheritance

'Dear Miss McGrath,

On November 3, 2003, your late uncle John Oliver passed away, leaving behind a will and testament. We were unable to contact you as we could not locate you until after the reading of the will and testament. In his will, your uncle left into your care his business, 'The Disguise Parlor', a costume shop in North Ridge, New York. We hereby give you the will and deed to this property as well as the keys to the shop in this letter. If you wish to sell or wish to handle its ownership or have any further questions, please contact our offices. Our condolences on your loss.

                                                                                          Signed,

                                                                                          Michael Jeralds
                                                                                          Jakobson and Murphy at Law.'

Paige McGrath took her glasses off and folded the letter back into the envelope she had been given by what was now the only family she had left. Her aunt and uncle. It just seemed that every time she turned around, she was hearing news of death. Ever since her parents died in that car crash when she was eight, people just had a habit of dying on her. Her parents, her grandparents, her cousins... only her mother's sister and her husband were the only family left, and even then, they were hardly ever around, having to work hard day and night to provide for her and their own two kids, the twin terrors Anthony and Anita.

That was also why she wanted to be alone when reading this. She felt best when in the park, so quiet and peaceful, and very open.

It was also where she could cry if she wanted to... which she did.

* * *

Kianna Lee had received a phone call from her best friend. They were planning on meeting in the park to hang out and relax for a while, as they had hectic schedules. Since today was warm, she had decided to wear her baby blue tank top with a denim button down t-shirt and blue shorts. She had placed a couple of blue butterfly clips in her hair to keep her long bangs out of her face. On her shoulder, she had her usual laptop carrying case that she took almost everywhere with her. She didn't expect to see her friend crying. "Paige?"

Paige turned her head up to see her friend and tried to wipe the tears from her face, "Oh, Kianna. I'm sorry I forgot about calling you earlier... must be like a real mess huh?"

"It's okay; things happen," Kianna sympathized. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" She reached into her laptop bag to fish out a tissue from those travel sized packages.

"I feel like I'm a black cat. Every year I lose another relative. This year it's my uncle Oliver. You know all I have left now are my aunt, uncle and their two kids," Paige muttered as she took the offered tissue. "Why do things like this have to happen to me? It's not fair at all. Why do I have to keep on losing members of my family?!"

"I don't know," Kianna said. "Maybe some things were meant to be, but we'll never know. Fate has a cruel way of handling things. Sometimes, they work out for the better." She paused to think. "You know family doesn't always have to be related through blood. I consider you to be my best friend and a sister."

Paige looked up to her best friend, her eyes still tearing up a bit, but she had a smile on her face. "Thanks Kianna. I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome," Kianna said with a smile on her face. "How about we do something to take your mind off it for awhile?"

"Yeah," Paige nodded but as she got up an idea came to her mind. "Well, we could go see this costume shop I now own."

"Costume Shop?" Kianna blinked.

"My uncle left it to me in his will," Paige explained. "I don't know if I'll keep it or sell it, but I definitely would like to take a look at it."

"We could do that," Kianna agreed. "I have my car parked in the parking lot. You do have the directions to get there?"

"Yeah, I do." Paige nodded, "You drive, I'll direct."

* * *

Once the two girls had driven to the costume shop, they were surprised to see how what it looked like. It was located in the back of a mall, where hardly anyone visited. The store was small compared to the others and it appeared that no one had been there for a while. Through the window they could see several realistic looking costumes.

"This is some shop you have here," Kianna commented.

"Yeah I'll say." Paige blinked. "I can't believe I never knew my uncle owned a place like this. I know I didn't see him that often, but I would have thought he would have told me about it."

Kianna whistled. "Come on, let's check it out. Did they send you a key to the shop?"

"Yeah," Paige said, holding it up before she opened the lock and the two walked into the shop. As they walked in, they saw some of the costumes and masks that were on the walls. Some of them were horror monsters like Dracula or the Bride of Frankenstein. Others were of cartoon characters like the Flintstones or the Jetsons.

"Check this out," Kianna said, holding up a costume of Bugs Bunny. "What's up, Doc?"

"Very funny." Paige rolled her eyes at her friend. "You know Halloween is like months away. Don't know what I'd do with a place like this. I mean it has to be open and make money or else someone will take it from me."

"Maybe you could sell other merchandise like practical jokes and gags," Kianna suggested. She neatly folded the costume and placed it back where she found it. "They're always in season and I usually see costume shops selling them year round."

"Yeah, maybe," Paige mused as her eyes went over toward the back of the store, which was marked 'employees only'. "I'm going to head into the back for a moment, okay? Just want to give this place a through look over."

"You want me to help you categorize these costumes and see what else you have in the front?" Kianna offered.

Paige nodded, "Thanks. That would help." She didn't expect to take very long. All she expected was dust and boxes. What she found was dust, boxes, spider webs, and as she went further in, something totally different.

"What the..." she muttered as she turned on the lights and her eyes went wide as she saw what was there.

They were full size human bodysuit costumes. Each of them was made to look like a certain person or character. She saw there was a pair for Bill and Hillary Clinton, for Elvis, for the Statue of Liberty, and many others. _Must be where the rentals are stored,_ she thought.

Her eyes, however, caught sight of a particular costume standing in the left hand corner. It was on a wooden model to show what it would look like if someone was wearing it.

It was of a woman in a yellow body suit with blue sections, blue rectangles on the outer thighs and upper arms, a small patch of blue above the ankle. Blue from the neck all the way down to the top of the thighs, yellow gloves and boots. In the front, Paige could see the chest area had been padded, to give the look of a full figure. At first she couldn't understand why but when she saw the head of the costume she knew. It was an elegant female mask. Around the head, long red hair flowed out, but the most wonderful thing was the beautiful face.

That face was very easily recognized by Paige as her secret all time favorite comic book character. "Jean Grey... Phoenix of the X-Men..." she breathed, not believing how realistic, how detailed looking the costume was, and it was her height, no less. She had loved the X-Men comics, though there were those who criticized them, saying they either helped mutant hysteria or made mutants look like monsters.

That was something that drove her up a wall every time she heard it in school. People were still prejudiced against mutants, even though they looked human, most of them. It was their powers that made people afraid of them. Maybe that's why it was understandable that occasionally they would hear on the news the report of a mutant attack somewhere. She couldn't believe though how people could just take the actions of one individual and hold an entire race by that standard. They looked for the bad instead of the good.

_It is such a stupid thing._ Paige thought in disgust, _If anything, the comic books show what could happen to our world if we allow our arrogance to take over._ She sometimes wished she were an X-Man, specifically her favorite Jean Grey. Trying to make the world a safer place for all.

As she looked at the costume, a smile came to her face, _Well, wait a minute. Who says I can't..._ With that thought in mind, she did something she never thought she'd do unless she was in her own room with the door locked.

Take off her clothes... and put something else on.

* * *

Kianna had been going through the several costumes in the front. She had booted up her laptop to help her with keeping track of the different costumes. In one file, she listed them according to name. She also had the sizes, quantity, and accessories if any. She had finished with one section already.

"Hey, Paige, are you busy back there?" Kianna called out. "I was wondering if this display needs to be changed or anything."

"No, I'm fine. In fact, doing pretty well," Paige's voice came out from the back.

"Well, once you're finished back there, could you come and check out the display?" Kianna requested. She had moved onto the other side of the store with her laptop, before starting to look over the costumes there.

"I'm done already," Paige's voice spoke out and Kianna hear her footsteps coming from the back but didn't see her walk out as she was getting her laptop set up on a counter, "Sorry if I was worrying you but I was a little busy with what I was doing back there."

"That's okay," Kianna assured her best friend. When she turned around, she had to hold onto the counter as she saw the spitting image of Jean Grey of the mutant group the X-Men. "Is that you, Paige?"

'Jean's' mouth broke into a broad smile, "You should see the look on your face. It is sooooooooooo priceless!"

"It is you!" Kianna calmed down. "Very funny." _At least she's smiling now. I'm glad to see her happy even if it is at my expense._ "Do you think there are more of those costumes? I wonder if there's a Storm costume. She was my favorite character."

"I'm sure we could find out, come on." Paige smirked as she and Kianna started walking back, but she caught sight of herself in a full-length mirror and stopped to look. She ran her hands over her entire body. In this costume it actually felt like it was hers. She finally ended looking at her chest, "My gosh... I'm just beautiful and busty all over... I just wish I could have some of this for real."

Kianna wandered around the back, rifling through the costumes. She had found some other X-Men costumes, but they weren't the right one. There were a Gambit, a Shadowcat, a Rogue, and a Cyclops costume. She sighed and continued searching for the elusive one she wanted.

"Paige, I can't seem to find the Storm costume," Kianna called out, a little frustrated. "Maybe there isn't one."

"Ahem," Paige spoke from behind her, pushing a model in front of herself to show Kianna. "I assume this is what you are looking for?"

It was of an African American woman in a completely white outfit, which clung to her body like a second skin. Her white gloves stopped short after her wrists. A long white cape hung from her shoulders. On her feet, she wore white boots with high heels. Both of her shoulders had the symbol of the X-Men on them, a red circle with a black 'x' inside it. On the dummy head was the elegant and realistic mask of the woman. There were lightning shaped earrings on her ears, and her long untamed white hair flowed down her back, stopping at her waist.

Paige smiled, flashing her perfectly white teeth in a big grin. "One Storm costume ready to go for my best friend."

"Thanks!" Kianna accepted the Storm costume. "I'm going to try it on. I can't wait to see what I look like." She scrambled to the makeshift-changing booth behind the stacked boxes.

"I'll be waiting outside." Paige smiled as she waited outside the room, deciding to not see her friend till she had made the change into her character. _Wonder how she'll look. Probably pretty good. I'm kind of amazed how realistic this looks. Even if I open this place up, no way am I letting anyone take this costume._ She wrapped her arms around herself, as if declaring it her personal property. _Its mine. No one else can wear this but me._

Minutes later, Kianna emerged from the changing room and headed towards the front. She went straight to the mirror, where she twirled to get a good look at herself. _It's amazing. I never thought it would look this real on me._ She turned to face her best friend. "What do you think?"

Paige let out a gasp when she saw Storm walking out past her and checking herself in the mirror. It was only when Kianna spoke that she knew it was her friend. "I think if I hadn't given you the costume I might have thought you really were Storm," she muttered. "Whoever made these costumes made them look totally realistic."

"You can say that again," Kianna agreed. She slapped her forehead when she remembered something. "I forgot to put her trademark earrings on." She fished through the pockets of the suit to find the earrings. When she had them on, she took another good look at herself. "Much better."

Paige stood right beside her friend as they struck a pose in the mirror. They then broke out in laughter, leaning up against each other. "You know something. If anyone said I'd be dressing up like my favorite heroine, I'd tell them they were crazy."

"Same here," Kianna agreed.

Paige thought to say something else, however she stopped when she saw several papers from the counter starting to float in the air... toward her. "What the..." As she backed away the papers fell to the ground.

"That's strange, very strange," Kianna gasped, not realizing she was levitating a few inches off the ground.

"Tell me about it. I mean pages don't just go flying around on their own. I mean..." she stopped when she looked at her friend. "Um... Kianna..."

"What?"

"You do realize you're floating half a foot in the air, right?" Paige gasped.

Kianna's eyes went wide when she looked down at her feet. They were indeed about half a foot off the ground. Upon the realization, she fell on her rear with a loud thud. "That's going to leave a bruise. I think we have the powers of the X-Men, but how?"

"Don't be silly." Paige shook her head. "It's not possible. They're just comic book characters. They aren't real." When she started to see papers coming toward her again she just stepped back and they fell to the ground. "Okay I'm getting out of this costume right now." She went to pull the mask off by the hair only to feel pain. "What the? That's not supposed to happen."

"What's not supposed to happen?" Kianna asked.

Paige tried again to take the mask off, she tried to pull it off her face but it wasn't working at all. "Oh my God..." she whispered. "I can't get it off... I can't get this mask off me!"

"No way," Kianna gasped. Then she tried to take her own mask off, to no avail. "I'm stuck in mine too. Let's see if we can try to take the costume off. I know mine had a zipper in the back so we can try that."

Paige felt the back of her costume but instead of finding a zipper she found certain spots that seemed to loosen the suit a little when touched. She was able to start taking it off. "Well, I don't have a zipper but I'm taking it off now. Maybe the mask just sealed with the rest of the bodysuit. If that's the case then..." She had finished getting past her top and had reached her waist when she stopped, staring at herself in the mirror. She felt herself getting very, very weak.

"Are you okay?" Kianna asked, very worried as she rushed towards her best friend without tripping on the scattered costume parts. She caught Paige before she swayed too much and crashed to the ground.

"Kianna... pinch me, okay..." she said in a very hushed voice.

Nodding her head, Kianna pinched Paige on her nose. "Maybe we should put these back on you," she thought out loud.

Paige just stared at her reflection and stared hard. She started to laugh, though it was a bitter sound.

"Paige?" Kianna asked, concerned for her friend's sanity. All Paige was wearing now was a simple blue sports bra... but as she looked at the top of the body suit she had been wearing, there wasn't a sign of the padding that had been in the chest area. Her own face started to become pale as Paige spoke once more.

"Ironic isn't it. I was just reminiscing about wanting be like my favorite heroine..." Paige choked as she put her hands through her long red hair, "Now I 'am' her. Body and powers."

"So that means, I've become Storm," Kianna whispered in an eerie voice.

"At least as far as the body and powers are concerned," Paige said softly. "We have no idea how this happened, who is responsible or how to undo it. Most of all, we aren't even teenagers. We're adults and there's no way we can go back home looking like this." She felt like breaking down in tears now; the irony of all of this was not lost on her. Her life ruined by a simple moment of enjoying a fantasy.

"We'll have to find some way to get these off," Kianna said, tugging on her white flowing cape. "But in the meantime, we should concentrate on controlling our powers. I know Storm has some dangerous talents."

"How can you be so calm about this, Kianna?" Paige asked in disbelief as she started to get up, pulling the body suit back over her upper body. She didn't want to be reminded of her new body's attributes at the moment. "We're stuck in a nightmare and there's no way out!"

"Someone has to be rational around here," Kianna said calmly. She then noticed several small objects starting to levitate. "Take deep breaths. Everything is going to be okay as long as we don't panic."

"How can you think that!" Paige snapped, not even noticing the floating objects, "Everything's been going to hell for me for so long and this is just the last straw! I can't take this! I CAN'T!" Without even realizing it, she telekinetically shoved her best friend into the wall, hard. That plus seeing the objects floating around made her stop, and everything fell down. "... Oh my God... KIANNA!!!" she screamed as she rushed to her friend who was slumped against the wall. "Kianna, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so just so confused and scared right now!" she sobbed, the tears coming down her face as she couldn't believe what she had just done, "I just don't know what to do."

If she was in her old body, Kianna wouldn't have been able to survive, in the worst case scenario. In the best case, she would have been rendered unconscious.

But since she now had the body of Storm, it only knocked her out for a few seconds. Her eyes fluttered open. "It's okay," she said. "I know how it feels to be scared, but we shouldn't let fear control our lives. Whatever we go through, we know we have each other for support and guidance. Stay calm and your powers won't be out of control." She tried to stand up, but she was wobbling so she leaned on the wall.

"I'm so sorry." Paige shook her head. She looked over to the side and saw a chair from the back room. Looking at it and stretching her hand out as she had seen in the comics, she tried to move the chair to them. Gently, as she didn't want it flying towards them. It wasn't a slow process nor was it a fast one. Still, the simple fact that there was the chair moved on its own was enough to make Paige marvel at what she was doing. Once it finally came to her, she helped Kianna sit.

"Thanks," Kianna said as she plopped herself into the chair. "Hm, I think we could use some lights around here." Since the place hadn't been opened for a while, there was no electricity. She pointed her finger at a light and concentrated on forming a low voltage thunderbolt. A spark came from her finger and a yellow light shot from her finger to the light, causing it to turn on. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this."

"Wow..." Paige let her jaw drop open when she saw that. "You just... you just made lightning..."

"Of course," Kianna giggled. "That's one of Storm's many abilities. She has the power to manipulate the weather. I have to learn how to control these powers; otherwise, I could cause a national disaster." She shuddered at the thought. "Remember to stay calm at all times and you should be fine. Trust me on this."

"I hear you. I was freaked out before, I still am, but now..." she stopped and realized something else. "... uh-oh."

"What?"

"I can't believe I forgot about this," Paige groaned as she put her hands over her face, "I'm not only a powerful telekinetic but I also have telepathic powers. I can barely handle telekinesis, how am I going to be able to handle reading people's minds? Hearing their thoughts?"

"I wish Professor Xavier was here," Kianna sighed. She tried standing up and managed it without falling over. "I'll have to call my parents and tell them that I'll be spending the night at your place. You'll have to call your aunt and uncle and tell them you're staying at my place. We'll crash here until we figure something out. It's a temporary solution."

"Yeah, it's temporary. We'll only buy ourselves a day at best before someone figures out something's up," Paige sighed. "Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday. If we had fall registration tomorrow we'd have some definite problems."

"That's for sure," Kianna agreed. "We should see how many costumes there are. Who knows what would happen if these fall into the wrong hands? First thing's first. We need to get a phone."

"I have a cell in my purse," Paige said, "Let's start making some phone calls."

* * *

An hour later, both girls had made their calls to their respective families and were now checking over the back storage area.  There were many different costumes, however they had been able to make a distinction between the superheroes ... and to their dismay, supervillians.

Paige was able to recognize all the superheroes, mainly because they had all at one point or another had been X-men. "Iceman, Shadowcat, Gambit, Rouge, Cyclops, Havoc and Polaris," she said aloud as if to make a count. There had been seven all together. She turned toward the supervillians next. "Pyro, Avalanche, the Black Queen, Mastermind, the Blob, Juggernaught, along with several of Mr. Sinister's groupies, the Nasty Boys." She turned to look at her friend, "Thankfully, I don't see costumes for Sinister himself, Magneto or Apocalypse." She gave a shudder as she thought of any one of those three incredibly powerful beings being in here, and the possibility that someone would put such a thing on and become one of them.

"We should probably put those in a safe place for now," Kianna suggested as she floated over towards Paige. She was trying to get used to her ability to fly, but decided on practicing on hovering for now.

Paige just let her jaw hang when she saw that. "You-you-you..."

"I what?" Kianna inquired, tilting her head.

"You're flying, you silly goose!" Paige finally blurted out, "You think I shouldn't be surprised about something like that?"

"Oh," Kianna laughed nervously. "I was practicing controlling my powers so I decided to start with something small and simple. Hovering is as basic as I can get with Storm's abilities."

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to these powers," Paige said softly as she telekinetically lifted the costumes up and put them back up standing. Once she had done that, her brow had trails of sweat running down it. "Dang... that was tough to do... its like trying to use a muscle I've never had before."

Kianna simply laughed. "You don't understand the concept of using your powers." She floated down to the ground. "You're using more energy than required. I can't explain it to you, but just go with the flow. Allow your body to relax and let the tension go."

Paige just shook her head, "Amazing. Me, the girl who knows just about everything about X-Men, is being upstaged by the girl I introduced to the whole series." Just then she heard a grumbling sound. One that came from her stomach, "Crud. I'm hungry."

"Looks like we need to get some food." Kianna stifled her laughter. "I know we can't go outside looking like this. Maybe you can use your powers to make us look different."

"Forget it. Not only am I nowhere near that good at telepathy, which I haven't even tried yet, I am not going to make people think we are something we aren't." Paige shook her head as she began to strip off her bodysuit. "There's a less complicated way."

"What are you doing?" Kianna asked, but didn't have to wait long to get an answer as she saw Paige putting on her discarded jeans and t-shirt, though both fit a bit more snugly on her new body.

"Get dressed, okay?" Paige said pulling on her denim jacket. "I'd like to go hit the food courts as soon as possible."

"Okay," Kianna agreed. "I'll try to see if my old clothes still fit me." She walked over towards where she left her normal clothes and started to change into them.

Paige tapped her foot, waiting for Kianna to come out of the back. She had already gotten her purse but as she turned back she saw herself once again in the mirror. _If this keeps happening I'll start to think I'm vain about my looks._ But as she looked at herself, in normal clothes, she ended up having a different thought. _Though I have to say, I look soooo hot._

When she had finally changed, Kianna noticed that her clothing was a bit tighter than before, but she still could move around with no problem. She had to use her scrunchie from her purse in order to keep her hair from flying into her face. "Well, at least they fit... barely."

"Maybe we should go buy some bigger clothes while we are out," Paige suggested.

"True, I can see places where I've grown," Kianna giggled.

"Me too," Paige laughed as well. Even if she couldn't change back to her real body, it wasn't a total loss. She did after all have a body that most girls she knew would literally kill for. "What do you think we should hit first? I say food court but if you want to buy some bigger clothes we can do that first."

"I say we hit the food court," Kianna said.

"Great. I've got a craving for two double whoppers from Burger King." Paige smiled but caught Kianna's questioning look. "Hey, moving things with my mind takes a lot of juice."

"Fine. Eat whatever you want," Kianna announced but a smirk formed on her face. "But last one there is a rotten egg!" And with that she took off.

* * *

Paige had gone into Burger King while Kianna headed towards Subway. Even in this body, she wanted to eat right. When they had purchased their food, they met outside at one of the tables.

"I know I shouldn't have two." Paige shook her head, as she put down her tray which held two double whoppers, a king size drink and king size fries. "But I've never been this hungry in my entire life."

"Whatever," Kianna said as she started to unwrap her vegetarian hero sandwich.

Paige also unwrapped her first burger and started to eat it, "Hmm. Has to be the hunger, I don't think I've tasted anything this good before." She looked at her friend seriously, "It is really amazing how this whole day has turned out, isn't it?"

"You said it," Kianna agreed. "Who would have ever thought you'd inherit a shop with magic costumes in it."

Paige noticed several guys at a table looking towards her. _Oh my God! Are they like looking at me? Or Kianna for that matter?_ she decided to wink and saw them react. _Oh my God they are! They are staring at us! They think we're hot!_

Kianna heard something in her mind. She looked up at her best friend with a questioning look. Since her back was turned towards the guys, she didn't notice them staring. "Did you say something?"

Paige just blinked, not even realizing what she had done until Kianna spoke to her. "...Oh boy..." She put her hands over her face.

Smirking, Kianna informed her, "You've learned how to use your telepathy." Her voice was in a low whisper. "Now, what was that about cute guys?"

* * *

They arrived back at the shop about an hour later, toting with them a few bags of clothing along with their leftover food. The clothing was of course made to fit on their present bodies.

"I never felt so many eyes just staring at me in my life," Paige mused as she took a seat on the floor of her store. "I mean, men and women were looking at both of us. Men because they probably wanted a date with us, women because they wanted to be like us."

"You said it." Kianna flopped onto the chair. "Man, how does Storm ever go around in these high heels? They're killing me." She took off the shoes as soon as she sat down.

"You said it, though I got to admit, it was really cool today." Paige lay down, stretching her arms, her face looking absolutely happy despite the circumstances. "I know we're trapped in these bodies... but it could have been way worse."

"Worse?" Kianna asked.

"Yeah," Paige said with a smirk as she sat up to look at her. "I could have put on that Hillary Clinton outfit they have in the back. I don't know if it's like the Jean suit I have but still..." she shivered in mock horror, "There's a body I would hate to have."

"What about that Barney outfit stashed in the darkest corner?" Kianna shuddered at the thought. "I can't think of a worse outfit than that -- with the Teletubbies coming close."

"Oh, don't even joke about that!"

Kianna just laughed with her. "Come on and let's see what we can find for sleeping arrangements here."

"I hear ya."

* * *

The mall was beginning to wind down now, people were starting to go home while others were trying to finish up their shopping. Two young men in particular now have our focus.

"You have to loosen up, Brian. It's not going to kill you to have some fun," the one with long light brown hair in a pony tail that went to his shoulder blades said as he glanced over at his friend, another young man with sandy blond hair and blue eyes.

"I have fun when I'm training, Shane," Brian replied. "I was going to train all night until you talked me into coming with you to the mall. All I've seen so far is a bunch of airheads only interested in showing off their cleavage. Aren't there any intelligent women left in North Ridge?"

"You'll find them in the book store," Shane teased his friend. "Come on, before they close, I want to check out their sports store for their sale on baseball equipment. I heard a new shipment of bats came in and they're clearing out their old stock."

"Forget it. It's late and my folks have a curfew rule. If there's one thing I'll enjoy about college come September, it's that I won't have to worry about that rule when I'm living away from home."

"Aw, come on," Shane insisted. "I spent four hours helping you train for the martial arts tournament. Couldn't we take twenty minutes just to take a look at the sports store?"

"That was last month, and I gave you Lincoln Park tickets to pay you back." Brian shook his head. "Look, we're already at the door. We're going."

"Hey, look over there!" Shane raced over towards the old costume shop. Every year his parents had brought him here to buy his Halloween costumes until they went out of business. "It doesn't look like they're open, but what the hey?" He pushed the door to find it unlocked.

"Shane!" Brian snapped, but his friend had already gone inside. 'If he didn't have the keys I would have left him here. Why did I let him sucker me into coming here? So I could watch him try to flirt with women who have as many brain cells as Anna Nicole?' He went into the store to look for his friend.

"Too cool!" Shane called out excitedly as he found his way into the back room and held up an X-Men costume. Black pants with long silver form-fitting boots that went up to his knees, appearing to be made out of a flexible metal with a metal kneecap guard. A dark red t-shirt that showed a well-toned six-pack. To top the outfit off, a long brown coat, left unbuttoned for easier movement. There was also a mask, with black headgear that left his brown untamed hair and his face uncovered.

It was Gambit, the mutant who had the ability to charge anything he touched. "I wanna try this on."

"What are you doing? You aren't supposed to be in here," Brian said, startling him. "Put that down and let's get out of here before we get into trouble."

"From who? No one owns this place any more. I say finders keepers," Shane smirked.

"You're impossible." Brian held his hands up. "Just give me the keys then, so I can get home and not get into trouble."

"Okay, fine. Guess you don't want to dress up to be 'your' idol, ne?" Shane smirked as he showed Brian another X-Man costume.

It was on a male dummy, a dummy that wore a blue form-fitting suit, which left nothing to the imagination. There were yellow boots and yellow bands around the thighs. A wide yellow belt circled the waist with the X-Men symbol as the buckle, above yellow trunks. Yellow straps looped over the chest, shoulders, and back, with the X-Men symbol in front. Blue covered the lower part of his head, excluding his face, which allowed his short brown hair to be seen. On his face, he wore a yellow metal visor with ruby lenses.

"Cyclops," Brian muttered, seeing his favorite X-man looking so detailed and true to life, not to mention so much in the buff, though his awe disappeared when he saw Shane's smug look. "We try them on, we take them off, and we leave. You got it?"

"Yes sir, Commander Cyclops," Shane said, giving him a salute.

* * *

"Glad I left the uniforms in the office before we left," Paige said. She and Kianna were back to wearing Jean and Storm's X-Men uniforms. She frowned as she looked at the door.

"What is it?" Kianna asked as Paige went to the door.

"We didn't lock the door. Someone came in," she said, her voice serious.

"What?" Kianna asked. "Do you think someone went into..."

"Hey, I can't get this off!!" screamed out a male voice.

"Does that answer your question?" Paige snapped as both she and Kianna rushed toward the back room.

"I told you! I told you this was a mistake!" another voice called out from the back.

"Sue me," the first voice snapped back at the second voice.

When the two girls reached the back room, they saw two guys wearing the Gambit and Cyclops costumes. "Oh great," Kianna groaned as she saw them struggling to remove them.

Paige, however, was irate. "Oh, just great! Just what the hell do you think you're doing in my store?"

"Your store!" the one in the Gambit costume snapped, "This place has been out of business for years!"

"Yeah, well, I own it now, hot shot. So if you don't want to get your ass handed to you telekinetically I suggest you..."

"Paige?" the guy in the Cyclops costume asked, confused when he heard her voice. "Paige McGrath?"

She was just as confused and disbelieving when she heard his voice. The voice of the guy that she could never forget. The guy she had had a crush on since the seventh grade. "Brian...Brian Hudson?"

"Okay..." the one in the Gambit costume said nervously. "So do either of you know how to get these things off?"

"If we did, we wouldn't be in them ourselves, now would we?" Kianna said sarcastically. "Who are you by the way?"

"Shane Diego at your service," the man in the Gambit costume bowed.

"Well, what ever you do, don't go around using your newfound mutant powers," Paige told him. "Same to you, Brian. I don't think we could afford any optic blasts."

"What are you talking about, Paige? What powers?" Brian asked, only to see an empty cardboard box lift up five feet in the air when Paige looked at it.

She didn't speak to him though she did reply, _The powers that you have from the X-Man costume that you're wearing. In my case, telekinesis and telepathy._

"What the..." Brian stepped back as Shane looked at him in surprise. "You didn't just hear her speak?"

"And you call me the psychotic one," Shane laughed. "You must have hit your head one too many times."

_Do be quiet,_ Paige sent to him, also unintentionally sending an empty box flying at him.

Shane reacted on instinct and raised his arms to block the oncoming projectile, but he accidentally used his power on the box.

"Oh shoot!" Paige screamed.

Brian panicked, knowing that it would draw unnecessary attention, not to mention damaging the store. Before he knew it, he instinctively reached up to his yellow visor and fired at the box, causing it to disintegrate into dust.

"That was a close call." Kianna let out the breath she was holding.

Both Brian and Shane were in total disbelief about what had just happened.

"Holy..." Brian started but Shane finished, "Shit."

Brian turned to Paige and asked, "How... how did this happen?"

Paige just sighed, not having any explanation, but offered her cell phone. "Better make calls to your folks if you can. We're going to be here for a while."

To Be Continued...