"It's too frickin' big." Tara gaped up at the mansion in front of her. There was no other way to describe the place except a mansion. Everything about it was huge except for the black van parked out front along with a not so big blue car, an ugly car.
Daniel nodded. "It's an institute designed for housing millions of......m--people like you,"he finished as he got out, beginning to remove her bags. She didn't move from the car. Her eyes remained focused on the building. It was alot bigger then anything she'd ever been in since the circus. She shuddered at the memory.
"Tara, get out of the car."
Tara roboticly climbed from the car at the same instant as a woman approached from the mansion. Her expression was darkened with worry as she walked to them. Daniel sat her bags down at her side; she looked down at them then returned to watching the woman.
She'd figured Daniel would change his mind half-way through the driveway or even after they got there. Shock of her life: he hadn't.
"Tara Toynbee?" The woman stopped in front of her, shielding her eyes with one hand even though it wasn't bright outside. It was cloudy as if it might rain at anytime.
Oddly fitting for that moment. Her best friend was at military school and she was stuck at a school full of mutant freaks like herself. Mutant freaks? She'd become just like the people at the circus and taken on their view of mutants.
"Yes, this is Tara....will you be one of her instructors?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, I'm....Andrea Lebeau. My um....other staff is preoccupied at the moment. We're glad that the last of our new rec--students are here. I'll escort you inside, Tara."
"Great..."Tara mumbled, picking up her bag and moving away from her foster father. She waited throughout Andrea and Daniel's conversation, staring blankly down at the red trainers on her feet. Andrea's hand touched her shoulder.
"Come on, Tara. The others are already inside...they can't wait to meet you."
Tara nodded again and followed her up the walk, turning back once to watch Daniel pull away and leave her behind. She must have hesitated because she found herself gently pushed toward the door and inside; it shut with a very final sounding THUD.
"What the hell was that shit you pulled with touching me?"an angry voice roared from the closed door of a room in front of them,"My damn face started turning to dust."
"Sorry....it's my mutation. What was your deal with slamming people against the wall and trying to gut them like a fish?"a second, female, voice replied through the same one as Andrea opened the door and stood back.
"Go in, Tara...Logan, stop hollering, Kellie's already explained that..."
Tara walked into the room and only then realized her stuff was no longer in her hands. "Huh?"
"I'll take it upstairs in a moment...Logan, down, boy."
'Logan' growled at her in response. The five kids in the room all looked up at her entrance. Tara's jaw dropped when she spotted one of the people curled on in a chair, staring blankly at a book in an attempt to cover the fact that she was laughing.
"Angel?"
Angel looked and grinned, closing the book around one finger. "What the hell are you doin' here?"
Andrea raised an eyebrow at this. "You two know each other?"
"Hell yeah! She WAS my best friend...I thought this was military school?"
One of the guys sititng at a table looked up. "Military school? I got sent to military school? Son of a bitch, he said it was a boarding school."
"Military school? Boarding school? Who lied to you?"a second one asked, giving up on whatever he'd been searching for throughout the room.
Logan shrugged. "Sit. Rogue and I have some explaining to do..."
Tara stared at her. "Rogue? What happened to Andrea Lebeau?"
"She's not a real person,"Rogue explained, settling into a vacant chair,"I made her up to talk to each of your parents that I needed to. It's time I explained what this is...it's not military school nor Icon, Russ. It is a form of boarding school, Julius, Tara....this is the Xavier's Insitute for Gifted Youngesters or what's left of it and the X-men....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We'll be back in exactly two hours. In that time get to know each other....I expect you to know every single detail of each others name, age, and powers-in a heartbeat. You'll need it." Logan walked out of the room and was followed shortly by Rogue. The door lock clicked into place after a few moments.
Russ waited, then waited some more when no one said anything.
Kellie broke it in an awed whispher,"I knew it. I knew they weren't dead."
He looked at her. "Who weren't dead?"
"The X-Men. They weren't a myth. They're real.."
Julius broke in. "Wrong, girly. 'Rogue' and 'Wolverine' are two old timers obsessed with something that was long before their time...neither of them look old enough to be the age the X-Men would be at this time if they existed...which they don't."
"They're not lying. I can tell....it's the truth and I could feel the pain from Rogue when she spoke of the Fall of the X-men. She's sincere." Angel lifted her gaze from the book.
Russ decided not to comment on how she knew or could feel the pain. "Would anyone else like to comment further about those two?"
The guy standing in the corner said nothing. Neither did Tara.
"Fine. Since we have nothing better to do let's do what they want for the moment. Everyone just say your name, age, and power,"Kellie announced, leaning back in her chair,"It'll give us something to do. Angel, start."
Angel rolled her eyes. "Yessir, master, I'll tell you what you want.. Angel Blade, 17, telekenetic and empath...will that do, master?"
"Fine. Counter clockwise."
"Russ Collins, 19, I can manipulate kinetic energy to control objects and make them do what I want."
"Corey Desmonds, 17, I can create illusions in peoples' minds to see anything I want them to...sometimes I can even alter others appearances."
"Intriguing...Tara Toynbee, 17, my looks pretty much say it all....I can do most things a frog could and spit green goo."
"Kellie Senthesis, 19, when I touch something living I slow the molecules down and it turns to dust..."
"Anything living?"Corey questioned, looking up.
"Plants, grass, people, skin, animals, anything."
Silence for a moment before Julius speaks. "Julius Augustus Kanteon, 19, mass destruction."
Angel coughs. "Medievil much?"
"If you want to live to become an adult you will leave me alone,"he answered before returning to staring out the window he's been staring at.
"Or what? You'll cause....mass destruction?" She put her arms up as if in surrender but smirking. Her expression plainly said she didn't belive he'd do anything to her.
Russ waited, wondering if Julius would do anything to her. If anything serious happened he planned to step in but for the moment he'd let it be. Angel did seem able to take care of herself and her attitude made her an easy target for violence.
He analyzed the others quickly. Corey was a rich little boy on vacation. Kellie was incredibly odd. Tara was willing to do anything anyone said to avoid conflict or being hurt. Angel was about as far from an angel as he'd ever seen anyone. Julius was an asshole, plain and simple. He wasn't about to analyze himself, knowing the verdict wouldn't be much better.
Juilus glared at Angel through the window, reflecting it back at her.
"This isn't the time to start that, Angel,"Tara said from her seat on the couch.
"What's he going to do? I want to see....the others aren't that vague. Kanteon acts like his power's all that and we should bow down and worship. Show us, Kanteon."
The crystal chandelier above her head shook, threateningly. She didn't move, neither did the others. They were all waiting.
"Drop it, Angel." The name sounded like a threat.
"Or what? I won't live to be an adult?"
The chanderlier dropped; seconds before it would fall it froze in midair, inches from hitting her. Tara let out the breathe that she'd been holding, Corey and Kellie stared wide-eyed at the movement, Russ waited, Julius smiled, and Angel brought her hand down, stepping to the side. It shattered as it hit the ground, sending splinters and slivers of glass everywhere.
Angel's expression shifted a little. "Nice job, Kanteon...let's see what the rest of you can do... Kellie?"
"I don't have anything to test it on."
Tara pointed. "There's a plant over there."
"Uh...they might like it."
Julius sneered. "Scared?"
Kellie walked over, tossing the gloves that showed only her knuckles onto a nearby table. She picked off a leaf and held it up so they could see it. The green faded into gray then crumpled into dust; she repeated the gesture several times.
"Satisfied?"
Corey spoke up for the first time since introducing himself. "Can't you all act like something other then children? It's not like our powers matter at all here..."
"Sorry, Richie Rich but nobody pushed your button,"Julius said as he turned away from the window,"What is this to you? Vacation time from the family? A little down time from Mom and Dad's money?"
"You don't know a thing about my parents so don't pretend you know me..."
"You're not difficult to know...the world's full of people like you. Everything you want then your world's screwed by a mutation....heard the sob story..."
"Well what's your sob story, Julius? You act like you're a god...what's your story?"
He turned to face Tara. "I don't believe I asked you, Tara. You'd do well to stay out of conversations above your level."
"Don't threaten Tara...."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue headed for the door but stopped as a row of metal bars came down, blocking her exit from the room. "Open the door, Logan."
"Leave them alone, Rogue. I don't think any of them'll hurt each other..too badly."
"Logan! Did you forget about the chandelier incident only a few moments earlier over a stupid comment about Juilus' name? This has gone too far, Logan...open the damn door." She glowered at him and removed one hand, holding it palm up toward him.
Logan watched, unamused. "Or what, Rogue?"
"Or....damn you! What are the odds that they all live?"she questioned as she returned to her chair and watched the screen. Angel and Julius were again glaring at each other from across the room. Russ stood, trying to seperate them and the others watched with interest except Tara who just looked worried.
He was silent then spoke. "85/15?"
"That helped."
"I know it did. They'll live, Rogue....I don't think any of them would kill a stranger. Now once they get to know one another---"
"Shut up, Logan."
Rogue and Logan both shot up as something crashed in the room below and several pieces of furniture hit the floor along with the soon-to-be members of the alliance. Julius didn't move but none of the others moved from their places on the floor either.
"This is what it takes, Logan....unlock the door."
"Way ahead of you, kid, way ahead of you......"
Daniel nodded. "It's an institute designed for housing millions of......m--people like you,"he finished as he got out, beginning to remove her bags. She didn't move from the car. Her eyes remained focused on the building. It was alot bigger then anything she'd ever been in since the circus. She shuddered at the memory.
"Tara, get out of the car."
Tara roboticly climbed from the car at the same instant as a woman approached from the mansion. Her expression was darkened with worry as she walked to them. Daniel sat her bags down at her side; she looked down at them then returned to watching the woman.
She'd figured Daniel would change his mind half-way through the driveway or even after they got there. Shock of her life: he hadn't.
"Tara Toynbee?" The woman stopped in front of her, shielding her eyes with one hand even though it wasn't bright outside. It was cloudy as if it might rain at anytime.
Oddly fitting for that moment. Her best friend was at military school and she was stuck at a school full of mutant freaks like herself. Mutant freaks? She'd become just like the people at the circus and taken on their view of mutants.
"Yes, this is Tara....will you be one of her instructors?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, I'm....Andrea Lebeau. My um....other staff is preoccupied at the moment. We're glad that the last of our new rec--students are here. I'll escort you inside, Tara."
"Great..."Tara mumbled, picking up her bag and moving away from her foster father. She waited throughout Andrea and Daniel's conversation, staring blankly down at the red trainers on her feet. Andrea's hand touched her shoulder.
"Come on, Tara. The others are already inside...they can't wait to meet you."
Tara nodded again and followed her up the walk, turning back once to watch Daniel pull away and leave her behind. She must have hesitated because she found herself gently pushed toward the door and inside; it shut with a very final sounding THUD.
"What the hell was that shit you pulled with touching me?"an angry voice roared from the closed door of a room in front of them,"My damn face started turning to dust."
"Sorry....it's my mutation. What was your deal with slamming people against the wall and trying to gut them like a fish?"a second, female, voice replied through the same one as Andrea opened the door and stood back.
"Go in, Tara...Logan, stop hollering, Kellie's already explained that..."
Tara walked into the room and only then realized her stuff was no longer in her hands. "Huh?"
"I'll take it upstairs in a moment...Logan, down, boy."
'Logan' growled at her in response. The five kids in the room all looked up at her entrance. Tara's jaw dropped when she spotted one of the people curled on in a chair, staring blankly at a book in an attempt to cover the fact that she was laughing.
"Angel?"
Angel looked and grinned, closing the book around one finger. "What the hell are you doin' here?"
Andrea raised an eyebrow at this. "You two know each other?"
"Hell yeah! She WAS my best friend...I thought this was military school?"
One of the guys sititng at a table looked up. "Military school? I got sent to military school? Son of a bitch, he said it was a boarding school."
"Military school? Boarding school? Who lied to you?"a second one asked, giving up on whatever he'd been searching for throughout the room.
Logan shrugged. "Sit. Rogue and I have some explaining to do..."
Tara stared at her. "Rogue? What happened to Andrea Lebeau?"
"She's not a real person,"Rogue explained, settling into a vacant chair,"I made her up to talk to each of your parents that I needed to. It's time I explained what this is...it's not military school nor Icon, Russ. It is a form of boarding school, Julius, Tara....this is the Xavier's Insitute for Gifted Youngesters or what's left of it and the X-men....."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We'll be back in exactly two hours. In that time get to know each other....I expect you to know every single detail of each others name, age, and powers-in a heartbeat. You'll need it." Logan walked out of the room and was followed shortly by Rogue. The door lock clicked into place after a few moments.
Russ waited, then waited some more when no one said anything.
Kellie broke it in an awed whispher,"I knew it. I knew they weren't dead."
He looked at her. "Who weren't dead?"
"The X-Men. They weren't a myth. They're real.."
Julius broke in. "Wrong, girly. 'Rogue' and 'Wolverine' are two old timers obsessed with something that was long before their time...neither of them look old enough to be the age the X-Men would be at this time if they existed...which they don't."
"They're not lying. I can tell....it's the truth and I could feel the pain from Rogue when she spoke of the Fall of the X-men. She's sincere." Angel lifted her gaze from the book.
Russ decided not to comment on how she knew or could feel the pain. "Would anyone else like to comment further about those two?"
The guy standing in the corner said nothing. Neither did Tara.
"Fine. Since we have nothing better to do let's do what they want for the moment. Everyone just say your name, age, and power,"Kellie announced, leaning back in her chair,"It'll give us something to do. Angel, start."
Angel rolled her eyes. "Yessir, master, I'll tell you what you want.. Angel Blade, 17, telekenetic and empath...will that do, master?"
"Fine. Counter clockwise."
"Russ Collins, 19, I can manipulate kinetic energy to control objects and make them do what I want."
"Corey Desmonds, 17, I can create illusions in peoples' minds to see anything I want them to...sometimes I can even alter others appearances."
"Intriguing...Tara Toynbee, 17, my looks pretty much say it all....I can do most things a frog could and spit green goo."
"Kellie Senthesis, 19, when I touch something living I slow the molecules down and it turns to dust..."
"Anything living?"Corey questioned, looking up.
"Plants, grass, people, skin, animals, anything."
Silence for a moment before Julius speaks. "Julius Augustus Kanteon, 19, mass destruction."
Angel coughs. "Medievil much?"
"If you want to live to become an adult you will leave me alone,"he answered before returning to staring out the window he's been staring at.
"Or what? You'll cause....mass destruction?" She put her arms up as if in surrender but smirking. Her expression plainly said she didn't belive he'd do anything to her.
Russ waited, wondering if Julius would do anything to her. If anything serious happened he planned to step in but for the moment he'd let it be. Angel did seem able to take care of herself and her attitude made her an easy target for violence.
He analyzed the others quickly. Corey was a rich little boy on vacation. Kellie was incredibly odd. Tara was willing to do anything anyone said to avoid conflict or being hurt. Angel was about as far from an angel as he'd ever seen anyone. Julius was an asshole, plain and simple. He wasn't about to analyze himself, knowing the verdict wouldn't be much better.
Juilus glared at Angel through the window, reflecting it back at her.
"This isn't the time to start that, Angel,"Tara said from her seat on the couch.
"What's he going to do? I want to see....the others aren't that vague. Kanteon acts like his power's all that and we should bow down and worship. Show us, Kanteon."
The crystal chandelier above her head shook, threateningly. She didn't move, neither did the others. They were all waiting.
"Drop it, Angel." The name sounded like a threat.
"Or what? I won't live to be an adult?"
The chanderlier dropped; seconds before it would fall it froze in midair, inches from hitting her. Tara let out the breathe that she'd been holding, Corey and Kellie stared wide-eyed at the movement, Russ waited, Julius smiled, and Angel brought her hand down, stepping to the side. It shattered as it hit the ground, sending splinters and slivers of glass everywhere.
Angel's expression shifted a little. "Nice job, Kanteon...let's see what the rest of you can do... Kellie?"
"I don't have anything to test it on."
Tara pointed. "There's a plant over there."
"Uh...they might like it."
Julius sneered. "Scared?"
Kellie walked over, tossing the gloves that showed only her knuckles onto a nearby table. She picked off a leaf and held it up so they could see it. The green faded into gray then crumpled into dust; she repeated the gesture several times.
"Satisfied?"
Corey spoke up for the first time since introducing himself. "Can't you all act like something other then children? It's not like our powers matter at all here..."
"Sorry, Richie Rich but nobody pushed your button,"Julius said as he turned away from the window,"What is this to you? Vacation time from the family? A little down time from Mom and Dad's money?"
"You don't know a thing about my parents so don't pretend you know me..."
"You're not difficult to know...the world's full of people like you. Everything you want then your world's screwed by a mutation....heard the sob story..."
"Well what's your sob story, Julius? You act like you're a god...what's your story?"
He turned to face Tara. "I don't believe I asked you, Tara. You'd do well to stay out of conversations above your level."
"Don't threaten Tara...."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue headed for the door but stopped as a row of metal bars came down, blocking her exit from the room. "Open the door, Logan."
"Leave them alone, Rogue. I don't think any of them'll hurt each other..too badly."
"Logan! Did you forget about the chandelier incident only a few moments earlier over a stupid comment about Juilus' name? This has gone too far, Logan...open the damn door." She glowered at him and removed one hand, holding it palm up toward him.
Logan watched, unamused. "Or what, Rogue?"
"Or....damn you! What are the odds that they all live?"she questioned as she returned to her chair and watched the screen. Angel and Julius were again glaring at each other from across the room. Russ stood, trying to seperate them and the others watched with interest except Tara who just looked worried.
He was silent then spoke. "85/15?"
"That helped."
"I know it did. They'll live, Rogue....I don't think any of them would kill a stranger. Now once they get to know one another---"
"Shut up, Logan."
Rogue and Logan both shot up as something crashed in the room below and several pieces of furniture hit the floor along with the soon-to-be members of the alliance. Julius didn't move but none of the others moved from their places on the floor either.
"This is what it takes, Logan....unlock the door."
"Way ahead of you, kid, way ahead of you......"