"Well, here come the newbies," said the redheaded girl at the window as Scott and Jean Summers drove their car through the front gate of Xavier's School for the Gifted. A young man with black hair walked up to look out the window over her shoulder. "Oh come on, Mary. Not more than three months ago, we were the newbies. The only reason why we're not any more, is because these arrived."
"Let her enjoy not being the rookie for a moment, Lucas. After all, the feeling will really last only a moment or two." The third student looking out the window was a young girl of medium height with long black hair. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Sam. At least we'll have some more people in our Danger Room sessions. Come on, let's go meet them." The trio left the upper sitting room and walked down the staircase to the front foyer. As they entered the foyer, the front door opened as Scott and Jean entered with two young people, a girl with long blond hair and what could only be guessed to be a boy. The reason for the confusion was that the young man was completely covered from head to toe with clothes.
Scott saw the trio standing there. "Oh, good. You're all here. Mary, Sam, Lucas, this is Caileen and Steve Smith." The boy walked up and shook each of their hands, while the girl stayed behind. "And Steve, Caileen, this is Mary Parker, Samantha Loriao, and Lucas Maringe. They're also students here. In fact, they will be in your class."
Sam walked up to the girl. "I assume that you're Caileen." She stuck out her hand, which Caileen shook without saying anything. Sam looked confused. "What's the matter? Don't tell me that you're shy." Steve looked from Caileen to Sam. "No, she's not shy. She's mute. We think it has something to do with her mutation. Ever since she was about thirteen, she hasn't said a word. Don't worry though, she can sign and I can interpret." Jean put her hand on Caileen's shoulder and said; "Actually, all of you will be learning sign language so you can understand Caileen. In the mean time though, Sam and Mary, why don't you show Caileen where to put her stuff, and Lucas, you can show Steve where he can put his stuff. Everyone here has roommates. After they get unpacked, we want everyone to meet in the library."
After climbing up to their room, Lucas pointed Steve to his bed and where to put his clothes. Lucas looked at Steve's suit with a quizzical look. "I've got to ask you Steve, why are you all covered up like that? It can't possibly be comfortable."
Steve looked around the room and walked toward the window near his bed. "Actually, it's very comfortable. It's made of cotton, so it's very breathable." He began to pull his left glove off. "But I need this suit because of my mutation." He pulled the glove completely off and put his white hand into the sunlight passing through the window. With his right hand he picked a drinking glass sitting on a nightstand. A slight humming filled the room as the glass in Steve's hand started vibrating. Lucas stared as the glass cracked and shattered. "That's not so bad," he said as Steve replaced his glove and began to pick up the pieces. Steve finished cleaning up the glass shards and put them in the trash. "Trust me, Lucas. If more of me were exposed to light it would worse. It also gets worse the longer I stay in light."
"What happens when you're in light?" Steve started to unpack his suitcase and looked at Lucas. "I'm not sure, but I think that somehow my body turns light into sound or something. And it's not just sunlight; it's any light at all. The little amount of light that gets in through this cloth so that I can see just creates a small hum that you don't even hear most of the time."
Lucas was horrified at the thought of not being able to suntan, which was one his favorite hobbies. "Man, that must just suck! You mean that since your powers activated, you haven't been in any light at all? How long has it been?" Steve finished putting his clothes in his closet and put his suitcase under his bed. "It's only been a few months. Luckily Mr. Summers said they found me pretty quickly. He said that here I could learn to control this at least enough to not be a threat if I don't dress like a mummy. So, what's your gift?"
Lucas looked at Steve without opening his mouth. "Isn't it obvious? I've got one of the oldest and most known powers of all." The words echoed inside Steve's mind for a few seconds before he understood. "You're a telepath! You can read minds and stuff like that! But, doesn't it get confusing to listen to everyone at once. I mean how far of a range do you have? How many minds do you hear at once?"
Lucas decided to go back to speech, even though it was slower. It just made people more comfortable. It used to be I could hear everyone, everywhere, all at once. I got lost in it. I didn't know which thoughts were mine and which belonged to other people. I began to think that I would go insane. It only got worse when my dad found out. He's not very…accepting of people different from himself. When the Professor found me and told me he could help me quiet the other voices in my head, I immediately wanted to come here. My mom agreed so that I wouldn't be in danger from my dad anymore. I don't get too many letters from her. The last one said that she was leaving him and filing for a divorce. She told me not to come home. My dad's decided to join an anti-mutant group. Something called the 'Friends of Humanity' or something."
Steve looked away for a moment. "I'm sorry man. I hope your mom got that divorce."
Lucas began to speak when he and Steve heard a voice in their heads.
"Attention students. Attention students. This is Professor Xavier. Would Lucas, Sam, Mary, Caileen, and Steve please report to the library immediately? Thank you."
"Come on," Lucas said, "I'll show you the way."
On the other side of the mansion on the second floor, Sam and Mary were showing Caileen where to hang her clothes. "And if you like to have a bathroom all to yourself," Mary was saying, "you'll have to get up a little early. After about seven o'clock, everyone is up and fighting for room in there. Just so you know, I wake up at six o'clock."
Caileen simply nodded and continued unpacking. Sam sat down on her bed and looked at Caileen. "So, what's your power? Is it really why you can't talk?" Caileen nodded placing her hand on her throat. Then she pointed to her eyes and then pointed to the other side of the room. Mary watched for a moment, then said, "What, something to do with your eyes? Does your power involve your eyes?" Caileen nodded. Mary continued, "So, do you have x-ray vision or laser eyes or something like that?" Caileen shook her head from side to side. She then picked up a book and held it at arm's length, then pointed again to her eyes. Sam's arm shot up as if she were in class. "Oh, oh, oh! I know! You can see really far, like telescopic vision or something, right?" Caileen shook as if she were laughing and nodded. She then pointed to her ears and nose. Mary caught this one now. "You also have really good hearing and smell. A basic enhanced senses package, right?" Caileen nodded.
"Anything else?" asked Sam. Caileen put her empty suitcase under her bed and stood facing her roommates for a moment. She closed her eyes and looked like she was seriously concentrating. Mary watched for a moment and thought she had waited long enough. "Well," she began, "are you gonna…" She stopped talking as Caileen began to lift up off the floor a few inches. She hovered in mid air a few seconds and then crashed, landing on her butt. "Whoa" said Sam. "That's sooo cool. You're a flyer." Mary walked over and put her arm around Caileen's shoulder. "And with a little training, you'll be flying like a pro. We're all learning how to control our powers here. "
Caileen pointed at Mary and then at Sam with a questioning look on her face. "Oh," Sam said, "You want to know what our powers are? Well, I'm a telekinetic." She stretched her hand towards a book on her desk. The book shook some, and then floated across the room and into her hand. Caileen turned to look at Mary, but she wasn't there anymore. "I'm up here," came Mary's voice from over head. Caileen looked up to see Mary hanging crouched upside down hanging from the ceiling. The look on Caileen's face said how curious she was. Mary dropped from the ceiling, flipping so that she landed on her feet. "My powers are arachnid in nature. You might say they're inherited. My dad's Spiderman."
Caileen thought for a moment when they heard the Professor's call in their heads. "Well," Mary said, "we'd better get going. He doesn't like to be kept waiting."
As Steve walked into the library, he noticed Caileen and the other girls already sitting on a couch. Mr. And Mrs. Summers were standing in front of the fireplace talking to each other. An older bald man was sitting in a wheel chair talking to a short hairy guy with a cigar in his mouth a large, hairy, blue… thing. Mr. Summers turned and saw Steve. "Steve, I want you to meet your other teachers. This midget with a tobacco problem is Logan. He'll be the one who'll get you in physical shape. He'll also be your punishment if you step out of line." Logan grinned. Steve was shocked to see actual fangs in his mouth. "And this guy with the good hair do is Dr. Hank McCoy. He'll be your science and languages teacher." Hank waved and smiled. Again with the fangs, Steve thought. "And the elderly gentlemen sitting here is Professor Charles Xavier. He founded this school and taught the rest of us when we were your age."
The Professor wheeled his chair around to face the group of teens and smiled. "Good evening everyone. I'm glad to see that you've all become more or less acquainted with each other. Since you will all be studying and working together, I think a round of introductions are in order. This beautiful young redhead with green eyes here is Mary Jane Parker, the daughter of Spiderman. She naturally has her father's powers plus a few others. She is a little stronger than her father. She can also spin webs from her wrists and if she were ever to bite anyone, she could inject a variety of poisons through her teeth. Her field name is Arachnia. The brunette with brown eyes is Samantha Loriao. She's a telekinetic. Her field name is TK. The young man with a tan and large assessment of himself is called Lucas Maringe. He's a telepath who can listen to the entire world when he wants. His field name is Psycho. Our newest students are Caileen and Steve Smith. Caileen has enhanced senses and is learning to fly. Steve's skin absorbs energy from light waves and converts it into sound waves. Steve's field name will be Soundbarrier. Caileen, I'm sorry that I haven't thought of a field name for you yet. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
"I'm sorry that we don't have more time for introductions, but Cerebro just found another mutant very near here. I'm asking that Professors Summers and Logan take the five of you and check it out. The mutant is located in the sewers beneath the city." Logan looked confusedly at Xavier. "Chuck, I thought all of the Morlocks were dead." "I thought so too, Logan," replied Xavier, "but Cerebro hasn't failed us yet. However, the signal wasn't very clear. It's possible that there are more down there. Please be careful."