Disclaimer: Evo ain't mine! So call off the lawyers, Marvel!

A/N - I apologize for how long this took. I didn't want to force the content, I also wanted to make sure I was accurate with spelling/grammar.
(Thank you beta readers!)

Chapter 5

Questions, Lies, and News Broadcasts

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The next day I was rudely awakened by a rather loud knock at the door.

"Hey, newbie. Breakfast is ready."

I opened one eye and looked toward the door. The voice sounded familiar but I couldn't pinpoint it. I then looked at the alarm clock that was sitting on the night table.


7:00 AM

These people were expecting me to wake up before 10?

"Three more hours!" At least that's what I meant to say. My face was still stuffed in the pillow so I probably sounded like the teacher from the Charlie Brown cartoons. The human alarm clock must have taken it as 'Come on in and scare the crap out of me!'

He opened the door rather quickly and repeated his statement in a slightly louder tone...

Who am I kidding? He threw open the door and yelled "Get up!" loud enough to wake the dead.

"Jesus! I'm up I'm up!" I said groggily.

I whipped my legs over the edge of my bed and decided to give my wounded ankle a little test push to see if the pain was still there. Yep, still there and still excruciating.

After I realized that walking without the crutches wasn't an option yet, I grabbed them from the wall near the bed I had leaned them on after Rogue and I finished talking the previous night.

She had told me that she could absorb other people's powers and gave me a brief list of the other students and their powers along with little quirks and other descriptors so that I could spot them easily. The strange part was that she went into great length at describing her classmates' powers but was rather conservative when she got to her own. She also told me that she couldn't control her power. Maybe the reason she didn't talk about her powers so much was because of that, because it bummed her that she had to be careful all the time.


I simply shook the worry out of my head along with the cobwebs of waking up and gathered the clothing I had worn the previous night. No one would fault me for not wearing something different since I didn't really have anything else to put on.

I hobbled over to the door and saw that my wake up call was delivered by the same shining example of kindness that was piloting the jet the night I was brought here. I just looked up at the person the others told me was named Logan and probably made a big mistake in my half-awake/all annoyed state.

"Ooga booga," I said as I hobbled past him.

"What did you say, newbie?"

I then heard a very odd sound, like metal sliding against metal. It was very quick but I knew there was something metallic involved.

"I said, Oo-"

I found out what that noise was! It was the sound of the scruffy guy's claws. Three on each hand were coming out of his fists. I dug myself my own grave... now to get out of it.


"-oK! I'll just be heading down for breakfast! Yes sir!"

As I headed down the hallway toward the staircase I could have sworn that I heard Logan chuckle. I reached the stairs and had minor difficulty going down them till I reached halfway down. A blur of pink ran through my chest and down the rest of the stepss like it was a normal occurrence. After realizing I wasn't dead I chalked it up to another thing I'd have to ask about when I had a chance to talk with a few more people.

The blur of pink had gone into a doorway to the side of the main hall. The bustling sound of silverware striking plates and talking teenagers led me to assume that the dining room was through that door. I didn't head in immediately, I simply stopped at the bottom of the stairs and sat on the last step. I didn't know what this curse of mine had just gotten me into. The last time I was this nervous was when I was working my first day at that damned burger joint. The manager had been barking out the rules and what the code of conduct was in the establishment. I threw out a few jokes to relieve the tension, as usual.

The manager didn't find them funny and decided to come down on me like the hammer of God.

Once I thought about it. That Logan guy acts a lot like my old boss. Perpetually pissed off at everyone, expecting all people to bow down at his demands, and looks like a biker.

...Great! Now I wouldn't be able to see Logan again without picturing him in a Burger Barn work shirt and a headset. It was hard enough for me to try and take him seriously before, now I didn't think I could keep a straight face around him.

After a few seconds of chuckling over the mental picture, I pulled myself to my feet with my crutches. I hobbled over to where the blur of pink went and entered the dining room.

The roar of conversation dimmed to a murmur and dozens of faces turned in my direction as I entered the room. The teens at the table came from all walks of life and every single race and background you could picture. I noticed the professor at the head of the table with a smile on his face. I assumed he already told the other kids about me so they wouldn't be surprised at a new face disturbing their breakfast.

Professor Xavier spoke first. "Alan, good morning. I'm pleased that you could join us. Logan told me that you were a heavy sleeper."

Behind the professor sat the burly alarm clock that had pleasantly woken me earlier. He was seated in a chair that was positioned away from the main breakfast table and closer to the counter while he read the newspaper with a mug of coffee in his right hand. He shot me a glare as his name was mentioned before looking back down at his reading material.

"If you don't mind, Alan." Xavier continued. "I would like to speak with you in my office after breakfast to answer any questions you might have and introduce you to the faculty."

"Actually Professor, I'm not that hungry. I do have one question I'd like to ask now though," my eyes scanned over the other teenagers at the table before I continued. "Who the heck ran through me on the stairs?"

A few of the teens were holding in chuckles, some were flat out laughing. Near the end of the table, one sole girl was trying to escape unnoticed. I looked toward the blur of pink who was now anything but a blur.

"Ok, did you do anything to me when you did that?" I asked quite bluntly.

"No! No, I didn't. It's harmless!"

"Are you sure? Then why does my watch say it's the 35th of Septober 2240?"

"Well, you weren't hurt!"

I just shrugged, being thankful that she was right and realizing that a digital watch I found in a parking lot isn't too much to get angry over. It wasn't until now that I noticed something in my front pocket. I reached in and pulled out a house key I'd never seen before.

"That's where it went!" the 'blur of pink' chimed. She quickly grabbed the key out of my hand as I just wondered if this was the strangest this school was going to get. So far I had met a man with knives protruding from his hands, a blue German who could teleport, a guy with goggles who could fire eye beams from what Rogue told me. Finally we come to Rogue, almost a vampire in a way. She can't touch without some barrier in the way. It almost makes my curse pale in comparison...

"Alan?" The blur of pink sounded annoyed for some reason.

"Um, yes?"

"I was trying to tell you, my name is Kitty. You, like, spaced out there for a bit."

"Sorry Kitty, I was thinking about something."

The attention of the table had been drawn towards me, they all had curious looks except for the Professor and a red headed girl. They looked as if they knew an inside joke that they weren't sharing.

"Alan, would you please follow me to my office? I'd like to see how you are coping with your arrival." Referring to the meeting Xavier had mentioned earlier.

I simply nodded and followed the Professor into his study. Once inside I saw what I believed to be the faculty of the school. A tall African American woman with long white hair, Hank the blue gorilla doctor, and Logan entered after the professor and me. A sense of dread washed over me as I realized that by his looks I basically got on the gym teacher's bad side. The professor then maneuvered himself behind a large oak desk.


"You've already met Hank McCoy and Logan. This is Ororo Monroe, she is another one of our teachers at the Institute."

The entire situation seemed very strange and very understaffed.

"That's it? Just the four of you are in charge of a school of mutants?"

"Our student base is not large enough to require any more teachers," Ororo explained. "There aren't that many mutants who are willing to come forward to teach at the school in the first place."

I thought for a moment and realized she did make sense. From what I saw of the institute, it didn't seem large enough to hold even a hundred students. Unless the basement had a whole lot of bunks I wasn't aware of.

"I guess you've got a point." I then turned my attention to the professor. "One question I'd like to ask is who was that match-stick girl at the end of the table?"

"Match-stick?" Logan questioned.

"Yea," I replied, obviously Captain Personality didn't catch my meaning. "Red hair, looks like a stick with arms. The girl who had that smirk on her face."

Ms. Monroe covered her mouth but the corners of her eyes showed she was trying to hold in a chuckle while Logan still looked like he was left out of the loop.

"That was Jean Grey," Hank,letting him in on the joke, said. "She is also a telepath like Professor Xavier."

"Oh." It still didn't explain the grinning.

Xavier then calmly asked the others to leave the room to talk with me privately. He offered me a seat and after I accepted he started giving me information that I probably would have rather not known.

"Alan, first of all I don't want you to think of your powers as a 'curse'." He steered himself out from behind the desk to face me in a more relaxed role instead of the 'commanding principal' aura he seemed to radiate.

"Well, it is...wait, why did you say curse?" He called it a curse... I hadn't told him about my views on my power yet.

"I know I told you that I have a strict rule about not reading minds unless permission is given, but people have a tendency to project."

"Project?"

"Telepaths such as myself and Jean can pick up particularly strong thoughts. If someone is under stress or very afraid, for example. Specifically, if someone is thinking of a particular subject. If it is prominent in their mind it is almost like unintentionally listening in on a loud conversation."

The blood drained out of my face as my mind raced to figure out what exactly he 'overheard' in my brain. I then realized a possible solution.

Blank piece of paper, blank piece of paper, blank piece of paper.

"Alan? I can teach you how to hold up mental blocks so you won't have to be worried about your privacy."

I didn't exactly calm down at that, but at least it was a hope at some privacy. I nodded to the professor and accepted his offer of the 'mental blocks'. He named some of the other students that I had seen at the table that morning and told me the basic layout of the areas that weren't Staff Only. One area in particular surprised me...

"Wait, you have a room where instruments of death come out of every nook and cranny, and you're telling me that you put schedules up for students to go in?" Hell, I'd take detention at my old school over that any day of the week and twice on Saturdays.

"Yes, Logan is in charge of the Danger Room. After you finish healing from your wound you have the freedom to use it to test out your powers if you wish. The programs would be turned off, of course, and it would merely be an empty room."

If Logan was in charge he would probably fire up a program called '9th Level of Hell' the minute I stepped in if I didn't start watching my mouth.

"Actually, Alan. 'Logan's Run' is the hardest program we have."

I just looked at Xavier with a raised eyebrow. I still hadn't gotten used to a telepath as a teacher yet.

"Professor, not to sound rude, but could you knock first or tell me to keep it down when I start thinking loud again?"

Xavier gave an amused smile at my response. I personally didn't find it funny that privacy was absolutely non-existant in this school. First I had students barging into my room and now I had faculty barging into my head. He politely agreed to my request.

"I just wanted to tell you the importance of not thinking of your power as a curse. Everyone's unique talents can be useful in some way, it all depends on how it is applied."

I reluctantly nodded. Sure that was right for some mutants, not me though. I didn't even know how to use mine, period.

"Well, I do have a few other questions I'd like to ask if you don't mind. What was the deal with that big jet and the uniforms when Rogue, Scott, and Kurt picked me up?"

Xavier gave a smile that resembled one a car-nut would reply with after you asked what kind of engine he had. "Those are my X-men, we use our powers for the benefit of the populace. We try to show people that not all mutants are destructive or terrorists," his smile quickly faded, "unfortunately, due to the actions of other mutants who believe we should be the superior race. Not many mutants are held in high regard or even treated as equals."

"People just fear what they don't understand. I've seen the effects of that in my old town," Old town... It felt strange calling my home from 24 hours ago an 'old town' already, "We've got Friends of Humanity groups peppered around the area. I've heard horror stories of what they've done to mutants. I've lost some classmates to those guys."

Xavier nodded grimly. He must have seen some of the FOH's 'work' on the news. Almost every day they did some atrocity against another human being merely because they could do something those rednecks couldn't.

"Unfortunately, some of my students have been harassed by them. Not members of that organization you've spoken of, but simply scared people who have the same ideals. Fortunately, no one has been harmed."

"I see that it hasn't made you bitter. You almost sound like you want to wait out this wave of prejudice and hope they come to their senses. You're talking about people who still have a hard time swallowing that not everyone believes in the same higher power. How do you expect them to handle something as major as the possibility that their next door neighbor might have the power to flip a car?"

"True, but in case you haven't noticed. Those people who judge someone on their ideals or skin tone are looked down upon."

I had to admit, that was the simplest yet best response anyone could give to that question and it was pretty damned convincing too.

"You have a point, but you must admit as well that it took a very long time for people to come to their senses."

"They did come to their senses eventually. That's the key point."

I just nodded, he was right, they did come to their senses. He just seemed to ignore the fact that it took almost a lifetime to get those groups to agree to disagree.

I thanked the professor for his concern of my well being and left his office. I headed toward my room to try and think things over when I overheard something that sounded like a television coming from one of the rooms and entered to see if my suspicions were correct.


"--and in other news, a strange military jet was seen flying very low to the Windy City last night--" A news broadcast seemed to be the only thing worth watching as I entered.

"What was going through that guy's head?" Scott said in a humored tone. I assumed I missed one of those 'when animals attack' reports.

"Ah know!" Rogue added, "The guy doesn't leave the murder weapon, he just drops his wallet!"

"What did I miss? Some nut-job try to rob a 7-11?"

"Nah, some guy killed a homeless man and left his wallet behind. They're not telling who it is because they don't want the guy to try to run south of the border," The goth responded while grinning at the television screen. "What an idiot... ya know? Ah mean, if he left the murder weapon they'd have to work to find him. Prints and stuff, but a wallet?"

"Well, those New York criminals aren't exactly rocket scientists." I interjected, maybe if they watched more of those crime shows they'd know what not to do.

"No," Kitty made herself known from an easy chair at the end of the couch. "Not New York, just more psychopaths giving my town a bad name."

Scott gave a light chuckle, "Well after Michael Jordan left the Bulls, Chicago hasn't exactly been in the news spotlight that much."

I swallowed my fear at the mention of that, "Half the time on those cop shows when a murder like that happens the killer, normally, isn't thinking straight to begin with. It may have been self defense."

Scott shrugged at my quick defense of...myself, "I doubt it, they didn't mention any weapons being found at the scene, just the wallet. They might not be too far in the investigation though."

"Anyway," time to change the subject, Alan. "They also talked about the jet being spotted. You guys ever have anyone track you down?"

The three teens gave a grin that resembled Xavier's after I asked him about the X-men.


"Nope," said Scott, snatching the bragging rights, "The Blackbird, or X-jet, has the latest cloaking technology and best maneuverability for an aircraft that size. We're invisible to radar and uncatchable in the air."

I had to chuckle at how enthusiastically he bragged. "Thanks for the commercial, Scott. How much is the first down payment?"

Keep joking, maybe they won't catch on that I may the same idiot killer they're making fun of.

"Oh, about a quarter of a million," Scott replied.

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A/Ns - What did you think? Remember to Review! Constructive criticizm is always appreciated. I probably won't be making Kitty's "vally girl" speak very prevelant as it sounds annoying even in writing.