Road Trip

'So how long will you be gone for?' asked Bobby as he struggled to keep hold of handfuls of books.

'Why Bobby are you going to miss me?' laughed Wanda, she had really loosened up in college and wasn't scarred to joke around with others now.

'Well yeah but mainly I know absolutely nothing about French or Chemistry and those are the subjects the professor has me covering for you' smiled Bobby as he laughed nervously about the impending doom of standing in front of a class and trying to conjugate verbs.

'I'll be back soon Iceman' smiled Wanda as she threw her bag into the back of the bus she was driving around the country in to collect her students.

Wanda strapped her seat belt on and looked out of her side window before putting her sun glasses on, she casts one last look at the mansion as several kids fly past she hears Bobby yelling bonjour in a bad French accent before trying to remember the elements in the periodic table before getting stuck on Morcary. Wanda laughs and flips the radio on as she drives through the electronically opening gates.

'Hey Jullian how's it going?' asked Tag as he approached the leader of their group of friends as the Hellions or at least that's what they called each other.

'Hey it's fine except for Xavier giving me detention' growled Keller as he balled up his fist and seethed with anger.

'What happened?' asked Tag as he pushed his dreadlocks away from his eyes.

'Me and this Quire kid planted a couple of suggestions into other kids heads during his ethics class, he wasn't pleased' laughed Keller before turning back to his anger mode.

'Don't worry Jules I'll get him back big time' said Quire telepathically into the mind of Julian Keller who smiled into thin air.

'What's up Jullian?' asked Tag as he looked quizzically at Julian.

'nothing I'm sure everything will workout fine' smiled Julian as he grabbed hold of the door knob leading into the class he was in next.

'We will we will rock you…' sang Wanda as she gave into her guilty pleasure of Queen as she drove along the highway. She hit a bump and the half melted face of Bobby flipped up in the air and landed on her knee, she screamed and swerved before finally dropping the head on the floor. 'I'm going to kill you Bobby' she screamed as she realized that it was one of his ice sculptures, he did this joke a lot especially since the new students arrived and it got everyone every single time.

'Don't worry teach it spooked me to' laughed Maria as she opened the door of the moving bus and hopped in next to Wanda.

'What are you doing here?' asked Wanda shocked and a little angry at the girl who simply sat smiling at her.

'I figured that there was no better way to improve my powers then to come along with you and of course it will help my bonding with the new students and it will be a valuable learning experience and…' began Maria who was taking Wanda's advice and speaking slowly.

'Look fine enough excuses you can recruit this next kid then were going straight back to the school, you just cant leave unattended' lectured Wanda before she was cut off.

'I'm not unattended I'm with you' smiled Maria smugly to herself 'anyway it's not like I was the only one' said Maria before she slapped her hand over her mouth.

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked Wanda suspiciously.

'Nothing, I just meant that the others are here in spirit too' said Maria unconvincingly as she nodded along with her lie thinking that it would make Wanda believe her.

'Okay Simon get out here' said Wanda as she glanced down at the puddle of the rapidly melting Iceman at her feet. The puddle moved a little before rapidly darting to the back of the van where it began to grow in size before it rapidly shot into the air and took human form.

'Good going Maria' said Simon as he pushed the girl playfully on the shoulder 'remind me to ask about acting class at school for you'.

'I am really disappointed in you, this could be dangerous and you showed total disregard for the rules. Thank god I have at least one good kid in my class you two should really follow Adam's example in future…he's in the bus isn't he' said Wanda as she saw Maria and Simon cast each other a glance.

'Great going now I'm in trouble as well as travel sick' said Adam as he threw the blanket off him and sat up in the row of seats he had been lying in. Adam was right he was travel sick which made the others not feel to well as they could see the half digested food churning around inside his body.

'You three are in so much trouble, I should turn this bus around but that would just cause more hassle for me so just sit tight and once we do get back you three are on restriction for a month.

'Yes ma'am' said the three students in unison.

'So where we going?' asked Simon as he took a seat in the bus.

'New York City were not far away at the minute' said Wanda as she drove 'were going to collect James Masters' said Wanda as she drove 'it shouldn't be that difficult.'

'Would you stop doing that it is really annoying' said Maria as she sat in the back of the bus with the other two students eating a sandwich as Adam took another blast on his inhaler.

'Look I'm sorry but sometimes I have to take this, I nearly drowned as a child and it got fluid on my lungs which lead to an infection which led to mild asthma' said Adam who was being very defensive as he often is or so they would find out.

'How'd you nearly drown?' asked Simon taking an interest as he picked the sesame seed from the top of his huge sandwich, Simon hated sesame seeds he didn't know why but there was something about them that he didn't like he thought that maybe it was the way they got stuck in his teeth but other food did that and he didn't really mind.

'God you are so fussy' said Maria as she looked at the pile of seeds, Maria as with everything else ate really quickly and had polished off her sandwich in about twenty seconds and now eyed Adam's relatively untouched sandwich.

'I am not fussy I just don't like sesame seeds oh and fish and eggs' said Simon defensively as he took a sip from his black current juice 'Anyway don't interrupt Adam was about to speak.'

'No I'm fine really I don't really want to talk about it' said Adam as he nervously bit his sandwich after he saw the speedster opposite him licking her lips.

'You sure?' asked Maria who was broken away from her sandwich fixation by Adam's last comment.

'yeah maybe some other time but I don't really know you well enough to spill my guts' said Adam once again trying to defend himself from the outside world.

'No sweat' said Simon with a tiny twinge of pain in his voice as he found out he missed one of the seeds.

'You see now your upset, don't get me wrong I like you guys I really like you guys but I've had very few people I'm close too before so it takes me a long time to feel comfortable' said Adam with a smile, well what the others were learning was a smile it was difficult to tell when people didn't have lips but the muscles moved in a familiar upwards direction.

Wanda smiled at hearing the kids talking and bonding so well at first after about fifteen minutes she thought she was about to pull her hair out but once she got them to sit in the back away from her so that she could tune out the noise but they just seemed tired even Maria was quite buts that's because she was a sleep with a little help from Wanda who shut off her powers for a while and without the extra adrenaline and energy the girl went out like a light. When Wanda's hex bolt wore off Maria woke up said she'd be back in a minute one minute later the door flew open and Maria stepped in with an armful of sandwiches. 'Where have you been?' asked Adam curiously to the speedster.

'I went to NYC to get sandwiches' said Maria with a smile which made Wanda both laugh and cry in her head, here they were trapped in heavy traffic which would push their arrival time back by three hours and then they actually had to drive round NYC to find the kid they were looking for and Maria had ran there bought sandwiches and ran back in less then a minute and didn't see anything funny about that.

'This looks like the place' said Wanda as she looked at the address in front of her then at the huge tower block that lay before her.

'Can we come' asked Adam as he looked around the area which didn't look that safe.

'I want you to stay with the bus and watch it' said Wanda as she made her way to the door.

'Who is going to watch us?' asked Adam quietly as he watched a large gang of older guys coming towards them.

'I know what's going on here because you have your hood up they think you're a member of a rival gang and they're coming to you get you' teased Maria 'maybe you should take your hood off and show them your not in a gang.'

'yeah and maybe I should wear a big sign I'm a mutant come and stab me look you can already see my heart it's easy to get to' said Adam as he edged back towards the entrance to the bus.

'Hello is this the Master's residence' asked Wanda to the large man in a 'white' vest which food stains from god knows how long, the smell of the room hit her and made her flinch as the man adjusted his crotch.

'Yeah who wants to know?' asked the man.

'I'm Miss Maximoff, I'm here to talk to you and your son about an opportunity to attend Xavier's school for gifted individuals' smiled Wanda as pleasantly as she could.

'I aint got no son' said the man angrily as he eyed the young woman who stood at his door.

'I understood this was the home of James Masters' said Wanda who was now a little bemused that Cerebro got it wrong.

'No I aint got no son' said the man as he closed the door in her face.

'This must be the wrong place' said Wanda as she talked to the kids who were sitting on the steps of the bus.

Maria glanced up at the building when she saw something move, Wanda followed her gaze and could see the man who just answered the door dragging a teenager away from the window.

'or maybe not' said Wanda with a determined look on her face.

James sat on his bed concentrating on shutting it off just for a second he wanted to be alone he couldn't handle it anymore, they were just so strong and he couldn't block them out. Then there they were three more stronger then others one was scared another concerned another interested and a final one was too busy concentrating on something to feel any sort of emotion. They were closer then any others and they were at his window he could sense it.

'I know you know were here so are you going to let us in were drawing attention out here' said Wanda as she hovered in the air held up by strong winds which twirled around her and the hooded kid Adam, Maria was hovering near by. James slowly approached the window and opened the curtains his father had closed, he grabbed hold of the window as he saw the three of them floating there. The window slid open with a creak as one by one the three entered the room, the wind whipped around the room blowing James's homework and comic books around the room.

'Who are you?' asked James as the wind subsided and another boy seemingly appeared from nowhere 'whoa I guess your mutants too' said James as he came to a conclusion quickly.

'Yes I'm Wanda, this is Adam, Simon and Maria' said Wanda as she motioned towards the other three with her. 'Were from the Xavier school for mutants, have you heard of it?'

'Sure I have, when I saw that news report wit the big robot thing and then Apocalypse that's when I realized that that's what I am, I was sorry am a mutant' he said thinking back to his past 'I was just wishing the other week when I heard about it opening its doors that I could have went.'

'Well were your fairy godmothers and godfathers but not in the mafia way' said Maria which got a blank stare from the others which caused her to blush.

'Anyway where here to offer you a position at the school anytime you would like to come' said Wanda with a smile.

'Yo who's in there with you, you punk' yelled James father as he banged on the door.

'How about now' said James as he quickly made for the window 'come on hows about the flying thing now.'

'What's the problem?' asked Adam as James's father started to bang the door with his shoulder.

'less talky more runny' said James's as he climbed out of the window. The others shrugged as Simon transformed into wind and carried them to the floor where they materialized in front of the bus which was now covered with the gang from earlier.

'Yo Jim what's up' said one of the guys who had a Mohawk.

'Aw crap' sighed James's with a lot of fear in his voice and in his face.

'Who are these guys?' asked Simon as he eyed up the group.

'The one who just talked to me is Surge he's the leader of the M's' said James 'they're a gang of mutants, I ran with them a while back when my dad lost his job. Then they killed a guy I quit right then and they've been hassling me ever since' confessed James.

'Hey this aint story time and just so you know we killed one we wont hesitate to kill again even if it's such pretty things as you' laughed Surge as he looked at the two girls with the group as he began to charge up electricity in his fist but that quickly fizzled out leaving him looking like he was in pain. Surge cast a glance back at one of the other guys who had extremely pale skin which was almost snow white who closed his eyes and placed his hands together.

'Oh no' said James 'that's Booster.'

'What does he do?' asked Adam as he took another blast from his inhaler.

'You're about to find out' said James his voice panicked as a large blue aura surrounded the gang, when it faded power practically crackled round them as they got ready to attack.

'He boosts their powers to maximum levels' said James his voice now showing signs of defeat.

'Stand back' said Wanda as she stepped in front of the gang who were charging their attacks ready for battle. Wanda screams as her blue aura flares from her hands and circles the gang 'blow them away' she yells as Simon takes the hint and throws them from the top of the bus with a gust of wind. 'On the bus quickly…I cant hold them much longer' ordered Wanda as she concentrated on holding back the powered up mutants.

The bus doors slammed shut as Wanda slams down on the accelerator and takes off at high speed just as her Hex bolt releases the gang. 'Get them' screamed Surge as he and his gang jump onto their motorcycles which roar loudly as they take after the bus. Surge fires a blast of energy at the bus which has a direct hit and sends flames up the back of the bus.

'Hang on' screams Wanda as she tries to get control of the bus which screeches as it turns a corner.

'We can't out run them in this' reasons James as he looks through the billowing black smoke at the gang firing at them from their motorcycles.

'Well what do you suggest we do?' asks Adam nervously knowing what answer he is about to get.

'Ill turn myself over to them' said James which wasn't actually the answer James was expecting he was expecting a dramatic 'fight'.

'You can't do that' said Wanda as the bus mounts the curb and takes out a fire hydrant. You accepted my invite so that means you're under my care now and I will not let you sacrifice yourself you're one of us.'

'Well what do you suggest?' asks James.

'Fight' said Simon as his body turns into wind form his bottom half whirls like a tornado while his rough features can be made out in his top half. The wind being seems to just vanish through the closed backdoor of the bus as if Shadowcat had phased through. The teens rush to the back of the bus to look what's happening as the wind being turns back into Simon before large rocks begin to burst from his skin and he grows to around eight feet in size, dirt falls from him as the giant rocky being stands in front of the gang that hurtle towards him.

To be continued…