I don't own any of the x-men, I do however, own Skyler.

Chapter 3: The X-Men and the Brother Hood

The kid starred at me. I decided to take the bus to South Carolina, of all places. I pulled my coat tighter around my body. Before anyone could notice, I slipped the hood off and replaced it with my ball cap. The mother of the boy glared at him and told him it was impolite to stare. I tighten the coat one more time and closed my eyes. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, everyone was staring at me. The little boy pointed at me. He and the others were at the front of the bus.

"Look mommy! She's a mutant!" The mother pushed the little boy's hand down and tried to move farther away from me. I looked behind me to see whom they were talking about. I wanted to believe it was someone else and not me, but there was no one there. I turned around and grabbed my hat off the floor. As I pulled down my things, no one moved or made a sound. When I walked towards the door, everyone seemed to climb on the other trying not to touch me. I turned around a glared at them.

"Its not like you are going to catch anything!" I yelled at them. They flinched under my steady gaze. I growled and clenched my teeth. A light in the back exploded. It started a chain reaction that ended with the light above me. There was screaming and shouting, as people shielded themselves from the glass. I quickly jumped out of the bus, not even bothering with the steps, and ran. I ran as fast as I could, trying to get away from what just happened. I could feel a new energy course through my body. It felt like someone forcing hot glass into my veins. I gritted my teeth and kept running.

I soon came to the out skirts of a small town. I dropped my stuff behind a clump of bushes and threw my self down. I made sure no one was around and closed my eyes. My ears were perked, listening for any sounds. Maybe I could wake up to my mother calling me for breakfast. I thought helplessly.

"He's suppose to be around here some where." Someone yelled.

"Why don't we try the hotels again?" Another asked. My eyes flew open. The sky was slowly turning from dark blue to pink, orange and light blue. Everything in my eyesight was sharper and more precise.

"Do you really think a runaway would show themselves in public. Even if they where a mutant?" The first one now whispered. I slowly moved and propped myself up onto an elbow. I peeked through the bushes and saw a group of teens around my age. They were all dressed in what looked like black spandex. But hey! Who am I to judge? I'm the one with fox ears and tail. I reached around and started to grab my stuff when something bamphed on me. What ever it was, it left an after smell.

"I don't see him!" The blue creature called to the others. I struggled to get out from under him. I stopped and poked him.

"Hey you!" I squeaked. Man was he heavy! "Do you mind?" The blue thing screamed and jumped. I rolled away from him and jumped to my feet. He looked at my ears and then at my tail.

"Hey guys! I think I found him!" He called to the others.

"Her! I'm a Her!" I yelled. Before the others could reach us, I grabbed my stuff and ran.

"Hey! Wait!" Someone called after me. I didn't look back. I was about a football field's length when an earthquake hit. I fell backwards and lost my grip on my bags. Everything was dumped out of them. As soon as the earthquake stopped, I grabbed everything and stuff it back into my book bag. Once it was full I reached for my suitcase. A gush of air met my empty hand. Someone laughed behind me. I turned around slowly.

"Looking for this?" A white hair boy asked me. I glared at him. He flashed a smiled that made me sick. I quickly threw myself at him, trying to reach for my suitcase. He easily dodged me. 'He's a mutant'. I thought. 'He's too fast to be human'. I jumped at him again, but before he could move, I grabbed his ankle.

"Yes, I believe I was looking for that." I said as I held onto him. I pinned him down and grabbed my suitcase. A slimy green thing wrapped itself around my waist and pulled me backwards.

"Damn your quick." Another boy said. He had on a weird looking outfit. Chrome. That's what most of his outfit was made of, I realized. A red light hit him in the gut. He went sailing in the air and landed about a good 15 feet away. The group of teens I saw earlier ran towards us. I glared at the blue one.

"Let her go!" An older boy yelled. He was the one who shot the red light. He had his hand on some type of thing that went across his eyes.

"Make us, Summers." The white haired boy taunted.

"Fine we will!" The Summers boy yelled. He and the others ran at us. Each using their own 'power'. The green slimy thing let go of my waist. I took advantage of this and made my body change into a fox. I darted from the sceane, only to be stopped by a girl coming out of the ground.

"You can't go yet!" She pleaded. I dropped on my stomach and curled into a ball. She sighed. "Can I pick you up?" She asked. I didn't move. She picked me up anyways. I poked my nose out and listened to the fight.

*~*~*~*

The boys that attacked me escaped in a jeep. I remember someone telling me they were called the Brother Hood. I stayed in my fox form as the group turned to look at me.

"Well, we know what she can do." A boy said. I noticed he had blonde hair and that he was African American. At the moment I was just so pissed that my fur stood on end. I really didn't mean to, but a bolt of silver and white light jumped from me to him. It didn't do much to him, but it did look like he had a bad run in with a light socket.

"Love the hair, Evan." The girl who picked me up said. She giggled at the attempts Evan made to make his hair stay down. Another girl turned to face me. She had green eyes and red hair. Something about her screamed creepy. She smelt odd and I could tell she had a sort of 'preppy' air about her.

"What's your name?" She asked. Did she really think I could talk in this form? I growled at her.

"I like her." A girl with white streaks in her hair said. She smiled at me. I looked at each and every one of them. When I looked at the blue man, I glared at him. He winced. I shifted to my human, well almost human form. They didn't seem to be surprised by my appearance. On the contrary! That damned blue boy was happy.

"Cool, you have a tail too!" He grinned. I looked at my tail. I was ashamed of it, but he acted as though I should be happy about it.

"You guys are scaring her!" The stripped haired girl growled at them. She turned to me. "I'm Rouge. That's Night crawler or Kurt." She pointed at the blue boy. He bowed. "That's Shadow cat or Kitty." She pointed at the girl with the ponytail. "That's Cyclops or Scott, Spyke or Evan and that's Jean." She pointed everyone out. "And your name is?" She smiled at me.

"Skyler Jenkins." I said not meeting her eyes. "What do you want?" I asked now looking up.

"Well, we are here to see if you would like to come with us. We live at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters." Rouge said.

"Basically for mutants." Evan said smiling. Rouge shot him a look.

"What do you want with me?" I asked cautiously.

"To help you with your powers." Jean said mater-of-factly.

"How?" I growled at her.

"Like this!" Kurt said. He pushed a button on his watch. His blue fur vanished and left a thin blue haired teen.

"How did you do that? Could I get one of those?" I asked quickly. Kurt laughed.

"It is a image inducer." He saw the confusion on my face. "It's a hologram."

"Oh." I mumbled. So if I go with you, I could get one of those?" I asked hopefully.

"That's if you come with us. But you don't have to." Scott said and handed me my stuff. "Its your choice." I thought about it for a moment or two. If I went with them, I could go out in public and not have anyone staring at me.

"Where is this place?" I asked. They all seem to smile at my question.

"In New York." Kitty said. She reminded me of those girls on "Clueless'.

"I'll come on one condition." I said. My stomach growled.

"What?" Evan asked.

"She's hungry stupid!" Rouge hit him on the head. I didn't notice it before, but she had on gloves, when no one else did.

So? Please R&R. ^_^