Author's Note: And now I shall do something I haven't done in a while, respond to your reviews. Oh yeah, and I'm sorry this took so long to get up. Going back to school and all I had to readjust my schedule a bit.
Kyer: I'm sorry if it seems that I'm making him out to be an idiot. I'll cut back on that, in fact in up coming chapters he'll show his true leadership colors.
Ldypebsaby: It won't exactly be a foreign exchange program, since I actually don't know how those operate exactly. you'll just have to wait and see, as for the crazy stuff at school... maybe.
Chapter 8: The Gathering
Hours after Rogue and Scott arrived with Joe to the Cyber Hub they were entering their new hotel rooms, which they would stay in for the night. The younger members of the warriors, had all gathered, and were still discussing things amongst themselves. Thomas however, thought they needed some privacy, so he got Scott, Rogue, and the Professor rooms at a hotel building not far away. The rooms were nice, not five star, but not roadside motel either. They were on the third floor; below them was the outdoor pool, now closed for the holidays. Rogue stood out on her balcony, just watching the lights of the city, across the bay you could see the statue of liberty in all her glory. It was dark now; it must've been at least eight o'clock. She wondered if Joe and the rest of the Warriors were going to come to Xavier's. It would be interesting; she'd admit that, more new faces, complications perhaps at school. She wondered what different reactions might be between the current X-Men and the Warriors. Like reactions between Jessica and Kurt, she wondered if Kurt had ever seen someone covered in fur like himself. Her thoughts were briefly intruded when she heard the professor's voice. "Rogue, please come next door, I just received some news."
Rogue was over into the next room quicker than would have been thought possible. Scott let her in with that same stiff look on his face, firm, but kind. "Rogue." The professor started, taking her attention away from Scott and to the old man sitting in his wheelchair by the room's window. "Thomas just called." He said it with a slight smile.
"And?" Rogue asked as she came in and sat on the edge of one of the beds. Looking at the Professor as if waiting for him to continue, and so he did.
"The Warriors have decided to accept our gracious invitation to attend the Xavier Institution." He said with a slight smile to match the one on Rogue's face. "I'll be speaking with Thomas tomorrow to make the arrangements, you and Scott will be meeting with the teenagers to get some background information on them."
Scott already knew all of this information, so Rogue was the only to nod. "Alright. I guess Ah'll see ya'll in the morning then." She said as she stood back up. "What time do we leave for the Hub?"
"We'll all be leaving here at nine, but you and Scott are meeting the others at a place called the Robaldi musical Center. Do you know how to get there?"
"Yeah, Joe took us there this morning, I think we can find it." Scott said as he took a seat on one of the chairs set at a small table in the room. "If we can't, we'll come back to the Hub, and get directions from Thomas."
Xavier nodded. "Good. All right then, good night Rogue. Sleep well."
Rogue smiled. "You too professor..." She paused. "Good night Scott." And she left, headed back to her own room.
Nine-Thirty the Next Morning
Rogue and Scott had been directed by Hans, the servant like dude that seem to run all over the downstairs of this music center, to a large room at the end of the second floor hall. Room 239, it looked like a musical room, with a piano in the one corner. The only person there already was Joe. He greeted them with a smile as he came in. "Glad you found the place." He said with a laugh. "The others are all coming too, they were all told to be here at nine thirty, Hans will direct them up here when they arrive. Please have a seat." He gestured to folding chairs that were set up all over the room, roughly fifteen or so of them.
"Morning Joe." Rogue said as they came in. "When the others get here, what are we supposed to do?"
"I don't exactly know for sure. The way Thomas and the Professor set it up it's kind of a two way questioning. We ask you questions about yourselves and the school, and you ask us questions about ourselves, powers, backgrounds, what have you."
"Sounds good." Scott said as Joe motioned for them to take a seat.
They sat down and waited, talking and chit chatting about various things. Finally the first arrivals came, first came William and Jonathan Howlett. Then came the girls; Grace, Elise, Danielle, and Megan who gave a slight smile to Scott as she took her seat directly across from him. "Then came Mike who sat off to the side. And then James and Jessica covered so you couldn't see her fur. Then came in someone that Scott and Rogue hadn't met before, Christian Van Hart. He had somewhat curly blonde hair that reached his shoulders. Like most of the other guys in the group, he seemed quite muscular, and well toned. He wore a pair of baggy carpenter jeans and a loose t-shirt. Finally in came Nathan, wearing his rings, and then Rebecca, the female 'chaperone' she was nineteen, just like James.
Finally, once everyone was there, Joe stood up. "Alright." He began. "Thomas wanted us to do this so that we could get to know Scott and Rogue better, and so that they could get to know more about all of us." He cleared his throat. "Alright, now yesterday you told us of the codenames that you have on your training team. Well after you left yesterday we thought up of our own codenames. We'll go around the circle, each stand up, give your name, codename, and power with demonstration if you want." They nodded. "I'll start." He looked to Rogue and Scott. "My name is Joseph McKinley. My codename is Clone. And my power is genetic replication."
Will went next. "My name is William Howlett, Codename Warp. My power is altering the space within three millimeters of my skin to create a vacuum-like effect, allowing me to do things like this." He put his hand on the wall, and the next thing Rogue or Scott knew he was crouched on the ceiling, looking down at them. He smirked and dropped down right in front of his char, and took his seat.
His brother was next. Rogue found it odd that the twins had both dyed their hair blue to match their eyes. "My name is Jonathan Howlett, codename Force. My power is this..." He turned towards his chair and pointed his index finger at it. Suddenly it was knocked back against the wall. "To create invisible fields of energy that expand away from me once I create them."
Next to stand was Gracie. "My name is Grace Rutherford, codename Raven. My mutation is stabilized equilibrium, or in other words, supernatural balance." At that she flipped backwards, landing in a one handed handstand on the back of her chair. From there she landed on her feet behind her chair, and sat back down.
Elise stood up with a sigh. "My name is Elise Kain. I am able to feel other people's emotions, and control them for a short time through eye to eye contact." She said quickly and was about to sit back down when she remembered something; she had forgotten the codename she had created. "And my codename is Spyre." She said and took her seat.
Danielle was the next to stand up. "My name is Danielle Porter, my codename is Pitch, and though I am not a mutant, Thomas did give me something when he installed this." She said lifting her chin to reveal her artificial vocal cords. "I can generate highly directional ultrasonic energy fields capable of causing a whole mess of side effects on anyone that I direct it to, such as Nausea, disorientation, discomfort, and other symptoms. Animals also don't like it, and it tends to drive them away." She said and then took her seat again.
Next stood up Megan. She blushed slightly as she began to speak. "I guess it's my turn. My name is Megan Lamont, my codename is Whisperer, and my powers are something along the lines of hypnotic suggestion." She smiled slightly and sat back down.
Mike stood up from his seat on the other room, and spoke loudly so everyone could hear him. "My name is Michael Young, my codename is Psychic, and my power is Telepathy." He said quickly, and sat back down.
James and Jessica stood up at the same time, but James spoke first. "My name is James King, my codename is King, and my powers are a sort of metallic mimetic ability, like I showed you the other day." He said with a nod to Scott and Rogue.
Jessica spoke next. "My name is Jessica King, codename Animal, after my favorite Muppet character. And my powers are enhanced agility and strength, and these talons, and the tail and fur and all." She said with a smile and sat back down.
Then the teenage boy that neither Scott nor Rogue had met yet stood up. "My name is Christian Van Hart. I chose the codename Dragon. And my powers are... Well here, I'll show you." He took off his shirt, revealing an even more muscularly toned chest and abdomen that Rogue thought he had. "This is gonna hurt...." Suddenly he arched his back, and then fell to his knees with a look of pain on his face and an almost scream escaping his lips. Rogue stood up concerned but Joe stopped her as the others all took a step back from Chris. Suddenly two tendril-like things came from his shoulder blades, growing and forming, suddenly the boy had two huge bat-like wings coming out from his back. "I can grow two wings out of my back, and use them to fly." He said standing up again. "We measured it, I've got a wing span of twenty feet tip to tip." He said with a smile, but remained standing, folding his wings, and wrapping them around him like a cloak. "If no one minds though, they're going to stay out for a while, it'll hurt like hell to pull them back in just as much as it hurt to grow them." The others nodded and everyone took their seats again, including Rogue, but Chris remained standing with his wings wrapped around his shoulders and draping to the ground like a cape.
Nathan stood up next. "My name is Nathaniel Albarran, codename Toxin. My mutation is that my skin generates highly venomous and acidic chemical toxins that vaporize organic tissue upon contact." He held a straight face as he said it, and sat back down quickly.
Rebecca stood up next and gave her speech. "I guess I'm last huh? All right then, my name is Rebecca Davison. My codename is Reflex. And my powers are... well... basically enhanced reaction time, and precognition." She said shrugging. "Like this." She pulled out a knife and tossed it closed to James. She went over to the wall and stood about four feet from it, with her back to James. "Wait a little bit, then throw the knife at me." She said. James did as he was told; he waited eleven seconds, and then chucked the opened knife at her. Suddenly she twirled around, and did a matrix like dodging of it, bending back and catching the handle of the knife as it flew where her chest had been mere seconds before. She closed the knife and put it back in her pocket. "Just like that.' She said as she sat back down.
Joe spoke next. "And that's all thirteen of us." Joe said with a slight smile. "Now we already know your names and abilities, and now you know all of ours, we still have a few questions that we didn't get to get answered yesterday. Yesterday you mentioned something called the Brotherhood. Who are they?"
Scott answered. "It's a group of mutants that have a different view than us. They cause trouble, and do as they please, they'd get away with everything if we didn't stop them when we can."
"So they pick fights with you?" Will asked with a brow raised.
"Yeah, sometimes." Scott answered.
"Interesting." James smirked. "You think that if we join you that they might try to hassle us?"
"I hope so." Will interrupted.
"Maybe, but I don't think they'd mess with you too much, it's nothing to be afraid of, they wouldn't hassle you if your with others, and I doubt they'd hassle some of you even then." Scott said sitting back.
"I see." James said with a nod.
Rogue and Scott spent the next few hours explaining about the Brotherhood, the school, the Institute, and even Magneto. Rogue felt strange kind of talking about all of this, but it was cool at the same time. Here was a group of kids, more or less just like them. She knew her roommate Kitty would fawn over most of these guys, and maybe even Jean would too. She was into that jock-like build in guys wasn't she? I mean after all she was into Duncan.
"So what about the town? Are there any arcades?" Will asked with a smile.
"I think there's one. I've never gone into it though." Scott confessed.
"Any bookstores?" Mike asked looking over to the group.
"There are two." Rogue answered him with a smile.
Mike nodded and went back to his reading. "Is it like a city, or a town, or what? Does it have a mall?" Elise asked as she leaned forward a bit.
"Yeah, it does have a mall, some of the girls from the Institute go there every now and then." Rogue answered.
And then the next few hours were all about the town, and the people and the surrounding attractions. The kids were looking like they liked the idea of it more and more. Finally at about one P.M., Joe spoke up.
"Alright, it's lunch time. Should we order Pizza?" He asked to the group. "Or do we want sandwhiches, or what?"
The group agreed on Pizza. And Joe left to order as the group got informal and began to loosen up a bit. It was all going really well they thought. Finally Joe came back, the pizza would be there soon.
"So are there a lot of girls at the mansion?" Chris asked with a laugh.
"There are a few." Scott answered.
"What about the guys? Are the guys there hot Rogue?" Megan asked with another laugh.
"Ah don't know, maybe a few." She answered. In truth, she thought a few of the guys here were hotter than any at the Mansion, but that didn't really matter to her anyway.
Elise laughed. "All right, come on, let's get back to a serious subject."
"Do we have to?" Will asked from the ceiling above Elise. "I mean some subjects can be fun, they don't have to be serious. Right?"
"Yeah, but we're not here to talk about stuff like that. Besides, I don't think Rogue and Scott like answering whether certain people are hot or not." She said with a smile to the boy on the ceiling above her.
He crawled over a bit and dropped down next to Elise, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Alright then. Here's a serious subject. The professor doesn't want us to reveal the fact that mutants exist to the world. Right?" He asked looking to Scott.
"Right." Scott nodded. "He just doesn't feel that the world is quite ready for us just yet."
"Well, are we allowed to help others using our powers, or do we have to do it without them?" Will asked looking to his brother and then back to Scott.
"You're supposed to help others of course, but refrain from using your powers unless absolutely necessary." Scott answered as best he could. "I mean if something is happening, like an emergency, or a fire or something, of course you're supposed to help them, but try not to use your powers."
"All right." Will said with a nod. "There, that serious enough there for ya Ellie?" He asked giving her a kiss on the cheek and turning back towards a few of the others.
Elise blushed slightly, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door of the room. Hans opened it. "You're lunch is at the front desk." He said to them all. "Eight large pizzas. The delivery man, a Mister Parker, apologizes for his lateness."
A few of the guys laughed. "Come on, John, give me some help carrying those." Joe said as he headed towards the door. Jonathan following him."
Coming Soon... Chapter 9
Author's Note: Hey ya'll, I need some help. I'm stuck for an idea, some sort of writers block. Do any of you have any ideas? I want to bring Magneto into the story again as a villain, but I'm not quite sure how to do it. Please give me your ideas in your reviews. And btw, keep reviewing!