It was early next morning that Max left the X-men mansion. He left with a blank stare from Kurt, a longing look from Rogue, a letter for Lance from Kitty and a Foo Fighters CD from Rahne. Who would've thought that they actually listened to good music? Max thought that the day he had spent with the X-men hadn't been so bad. He had met Rogue, talked to her, gotten her to give him her number. He had met Kurt, who was an overly cool dude; Kitty, who was sweet, a little too girly, but also extremely nice; Rahne, a girl whom he could seriously consider having as a best friend, never mind the fact that she had sniffed him for five minutes before deciding to talk to him; Bobby, who was a little geeky but fun otherwise; Jean, who was probably one of the most beautiful people he had ever met. It had taken him just one day to find out that the X-men were not all that bad. He liked them. Most of them weren't his type of people but somehow that didn't matter.
Walking slowly, he headed towards the Brotherhood Boarding house. He opened the door and walked in to find Toad sitting on the couch, snapping at flies, Freddy, eating and Lance flipping through channels.
"Ehh…Max. Where you been dude?" Toad said without distracting himself from catching his dinner.
"With the X-men."
"What?" This time Lance took notice and even Pietro appeared out of nowhere. "What were you doing with them? And what happened to your face?"
"Whitney and his goons ambushed me. Did me up pretty well. X-men saved me. Where were all of you?" There was a lilt in Max's voice. He was taunting.
"Oh yeah, we heard about that." Toad again.
"Shut up Toad." Lance said in a low voice.
"You didn't care where I was?" Max asked.
"We didn't know where to ask or who to."
"So you just gave up? Nice way you look after your team members. Thanks Lance but no thanks. I'm not getting involved in all of this shit. No Brotherhood for me okay?"
"What's happening here?" Wanda came slowly down the stairs. Immediately, Lance and Pietro parted to let her through.
"He's leaving us for the X-men," Lance said to her.
"Oh he is, is he?" Wanda's eyes flashed a little and Lance and Pietro took an involuntary step back.
"No. I'm not joining the X-men. I'm not joining any team. I don't want to get involved in all this crap. You guys handle it. Don't drag me into it."
Wanda just stared at him. Her eyes still flashed but she made no move to hex him. She stared at Max and Max looked back. Suddenly, she brushed one gloved hand in Max's hair. "Cut your hair a bit short, you'll look better. And wash it." She turned and walked out the door. Pietro followed her out saying, "That's all? You're not gonna hex him or anything? What the hell's wrong with you?" Just as he said this, there was a painful yelp and Pietro came running back into the house. "She said to tell you to also not forget to shave."
"Thanks. Here this is for you." Max handed the note from Kitty to Lance and walked down the same way that Wanda had gone.
Max returned to his apartment. The usual Saturday envelope from his parents had arrived and so had the phone and electric bill. The first thing he did was, he went to the mirror and checked his hair. He took a comb and scissors and trimmed it the best as he could, front, sides and back. His front hair came upto his eyes but at his sides, the hair covered his hair. As he looked at his new style, he thought he looked pretty good despite looking simultaneously like a mushroom with black and blue bruises.
The next thing he did was, he went to the bathroom and shaved, leaving only a short stubble at his chin. He had begun to sprout a stupid moustache and beard after two weeks of not shaving. He then got into the shower and took a long hard shower. The hot water stung his bruises but he continued despite the pain.
The rest of the day he spent listening to the new Foo Fighters CD he had just acquired. That was the only Foo Fighters album he didn't have, The Colour and the Shape.
It was around 3 o'clock when he began to prepare.
Sunday came and went without incident. The X-men house progressed normally amid a few pranks, the usual punishments and the Danger Room sessions with Logan. The Brotherhood house was pretty much empty. Lance was out with Kitty. Pietro with some new girl he had met. Fred had gone to see a movie with Tabitha. No one knew what Toad was doing and no one cared. Wanda had disappeared again. Sunday was a big day for Max though. He took care of business.
Monday came and school began again. Kurt, Kitty, Lance, Rogue and Bobby were just sitting and talking, before classes began. Lance complained about the X-men and called them geeks but he did hang out with them a little. He had to. They were Kitty's friends and he wanted to get along with them, no matter how geeky. It was Kurt who first saw them and he let out a very German, "Vat is zat?" All of them turned and muttered their own analogies. It was a sight. Whitney and two of his regular cronies were wearing dark shades to cover the obvious bruises on their faces. Whitney walked with a pronounced limp. He had a neck brace and his face was very much swollen up. Three of his gang was missing and the other two were as bad as Whitney.
"Vat happened to you three?" Kurt asked innocently.
Whitney turned painfully and looked at Kurt. He looked from Kurt to Kitty to Lance. "Nothing. Car accident." He murmured and walked off.
"Max." Rogue said one word but that was all it took. All of them understood. Max had had his revenge. "It has to be him. They're the ones who always give everyone trouble. Anything to say, Alvers?"
"It was Whitney but not sure about Max. It seems unlike him. Speak of the devil," Lance said as Max showed up to school. "And the devil's had a haircut. Hmm…"
Max was smiling and he had every reason to. As Rogue looked at him, she felt a bout of infatuation strike at her. Max looked awesome. His long hair was still rough and uncombed but it was clean and shorter and looked good for a change. He was still dressed in the same jeans but a new striped T-shirt that suited him. Maybe it was just she, but he suddenly looked much more appealing.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Max seemed to have gone through a complete personality change. He never smiled before and he never said hello. Before, he just seemed to be sad and depressed but now he looked happy. Lance wondered if he was high.
"We just saw Whitney. Nice job," Lance complimented him.
"Nice job? I didn't do anything." A look of surprise came on his face. "Why would I?"
"You didn't…?" Now it was Kitty. Before she could say anything else, he had walked away.
"Yeah. It was him. No doubt about it now." Lance Alvers said as he looked after the retreating figure.
Before the end of the day, the school was rife with rumor. Everyone knew it; they heard it in whispers. No one knew exactly what had happened but the gist of it was that, Max had put a neck brace on Whitney and three of his friends in the hospital. Maybe even the teachers knew it but there was no proof. Max denied it. Whitney and his friends still claimed it was a car accident. No one budged. That day, there was a new respect for Max. Respect and fear.
Rogue was pleased. Finally someone who wasn't a wimp and who fought for his right. She didn't know why he hadn't fought back at first but he had taken care of it. Now whenever Whitney passed Max, he averted his eyes. Rogue liked that.
The rumors reached X-men mansion. The professor probably heard it off Scott who was lamenting about the risk of exposure that Max had put. He didn't like the sound of it. If mutants began to take matters into their own hands, there would be anarchy. That wasn't the way. He sent a message to Max telepathically and Max arrived within 10 minutes.
"Max. I have been hearing some disquieting rumors. Would you say that they are true?" Charles started off as Max took a seat facing him.
Max knew it was useless to lie. The professor would know. It was the pits talking to a telepath. "Yeah. It was me. I had to do something. I couldn't let them get away with it."
"Max, there are certain things you have to learn. You must have used your powers to do what you did. What if Whitney and his friends decide to say that a glowing red Max did that to them? They may not be believed by many but they have powerful fathers. A look into your past and you would be out of Bayville High. It was too much of a risk."
"But the thing is, they won't tell. Trust me, they won't."
Charles Xavier looked at him steadily. Max opened his mind, allowing Charles in, letting him see for himself. Understanding dawned on Charles's face. "Not the method I would've recommended but what's done is done. No more stunts like this."
"Professor, you forget something. I'm not one of your students. I do what I do. But you won't have to worry, it isn't ever going to happen again. And one more thing, how did you find out about my previous school. I thought my parents had taken care of that."
"You can thank me for that, bub." Max hadn't noticed Logan who was standing in one of the far corners, hidden in the shadows, almost invisible. Now he stepped out.
"Logan has a few contacts himself." Xavier smiled at him.
"You want to take a spin around the Danger Room?" Logan said gruffly.
Lance had told him all about the Danger Room and Max wanted no part of it. "Not really. Maybe some other time."
"That wasn't a question, bub." And with that, Max followed Logan to the Danger Room. Logan handed him an X-men uniform but Max refused. "No. I'm not an X-man. I'll do whatever in these clothes."
"Your choice. Don't blame me if those clothes get torn to shreds." Logan himself went into the changing room. He came out in his official orange uniform and led Max into the outer part of the Danger Room where the rest of the New Mutants were gathered. These included Amara, Jubilee, Bobby, Jamie, Alex, Rahne and Ray."Okay. Max will be joining us for this session. You'll be divided into four teams of two. Your objective is to get the flag. First team to do so, wins. This team gets eliminated and the other three have to try again. Last team remaining gets an extra session with me." Logan dispensed the information and pushed them through the pneumatic doors. "Amara and Bobby, you're one team. Jamie and Jubilee, Ray and Alex. Rahne, you and Max."
What had seemed like an empty room transformed the minute they entered. It took a while for Max to get his bearings and realise what was happening. The other teams had already started climbing up the hill that appeared. Rahne pulled his arm and dragged him along. She transformed into her wolf form and barked at him to follow. Concentrating with all his might, Max brought all his abilities to life. His body, red now, was pumped and ready for action. Rahne bounded easily up the slopes and he followed. They soon caught up to the rest of the teams. A quarter of the way there, machine guns popped up from the ground and started to open fire lasers at them. Bobby got caught in the leg but Amara disabled it with one quick magma burst. Jubilee took out the ones for her team and Alex did the same for his. Rahne ran along, pulling wires with her teeth and Max punched one out himself. As they climbed up, the red flag could be seen, guarded by a number of hooded ninja-like men. What happened next was an all-out brawl. Max was a good fighter but by the time he dispatched the three ninjas, Alex had already claimed the flag.
Alex and Ray journeyed back while the rest continued to climb upwards. Max didn't exactly comprehend what was happening but his mind was made up not to lose. This time around, Scott and Jean appeared at the top, attacking them. Scott fired blasts from his eyes and dislodged rocks meant to bar the way. Jean literally picked people up with her mind and dropped them away. Max put his body into hyperdrive and motioned to Rahne to follow him. His body was a blur as he ran, almost as fast as Quicksilver. The rocks weren't easy to dodge but he managed. He reached Scott and aimed one well rounded kick into his stomach. With an "oof", Scott collapsed to the ground. As he ran for Jean, she picked him up. He tried to run but with no ground to run on, he was stuck. Suddenly, Rahne struck Jean from the side, bowling her over and breaking her hold. Rahne and Jean struggled and Max tried to maximize the situation but again was outsmarted by Amara, who claimed the flag.
Now, only Jamie and Jubilee and they were left. Rahne barked furiously at him as she bounded up again. He ran for it. Long tentacle like things snaked out the ground and grabbed hold of Jamie. Jubilee hit it with a few of her blasts. Rahne was also caught so he ran off to help. Grabbing hold of it, he easily broke the tentacle apart revealing wires and circuits. Jamie had somehow freed himself and now there were ten Jamie's running for the flag. Determined not to lose, Max sped up. Without warning, Kurt appeared in front of him, grabbed a hold of him and teleported him to the base. Furious, Max took a swing at him but Kurt vanished with a smirk and a "blamf". A second later, Jubilee appeared next to him, brought down the same way. He tried to run for it again but realized it was useless when he saw one Jamie waving the flag and nine others subduing Rahne. He had lost. He changed back to normal, shoulders drooping in defeat.
The scene disappeared and all of them trudged back out the door. Max's body was bruised and sore. He felt tired and crappy. How the hell did these X-men do this every day? These sessions were murder. An unhappy Rahne looked sadly at him. Max smiled and rubbed her shoulder. He liked her.
"Well, well well. Looks like you lost. Let's get back in there, bubs." Logan said gleefully to Max and Rahne.
"Okay Logan, you and me, leave Rahne behind. Another time for her okay?" He tried to get her off the hook.
Logan thought for a moment about it and then scratched his chin. "Okay. Kid, go get washed up with the others. I'll take care of your friend."
Logan and Max went back into the Danger Room but this time the scenario didn't change. "Bub, the deal is, we fight. No fancy tricks, no lights, no flashes. Plain fight but clean, no dirty fighting. One wins when the other cries uncle. Okay? Go." He didn't give Max a chance to respond. He lunged at him. Max sidestepped Logan and took a second to change. He was tired but the change fired him up. Logan lunged again and this time, Max planted a foot into his abdomen. Wolverine rolled back and landed on his feet. Unleashing his claws, he bared his teeth. Now it was Max's turn to attack. Using his speed, he circled Logan and attacked from the side. Wolverine grabbed Max's outstretched leg and flipped him over. Max turned and landed on his feet too. This continued back and forth for some time. Both of them tossing and turning. Wolverine was more experienced and just too good of a fighter. Max had power, razor reflexes and speed and made use of them very effectively. In the end, Wolverine's experience won. Max was beginning to tire and Logan took advantage and had him in a head lock with his adamantium claws inches from his face. "Uncle" Max said weakly and Logan released him.
In the changing room, Max stripped out of his clothes and wrapped a towel around himself. He followed Wolverine as he directed him to the bathroom. The turned on the steaming water and let it soothe his body. Two hardcore beatings within 5 days was more than enough. He wondered how these people did it. Logan was one tough bastard and drove them harder than anything. Max was beginning to find new respect for the X-men.