New X-men: Elite – 6: All Together Now
Timothy Nguyen hadn't gotten up so early in life before coming to Salem Center. He had to admit though living in a high tech private school was a lot better than being back home in LA where he'd probably still be running with his old gang. Although when he thought about it seemed like he'd traded one gang for another. Being an X-Man seemed to invites as much trouble as slinging on the corner. But then again, he'd never been afraid of trouble. He lied there staring at the ceiling wondering for the thousandth time since he agreed to come to Xavier's had he made the right choice? Although his inner thoughts were constantly being interrupted by the snores of his roommate Ian Sorenson. Ian and Tim couldn't have been more different. Tim was from LA, had a juvenile record, had been in a gang and hacked computers for fun. Ian was from OH, was a former alter boy and had play tennis competitively. Despite all that they'd become best friends in this weird place they called home. Grunting pressing a pillow to his ear, Tim decided if he couldn't go back to sleep then, no way was Ian sleeping in. He hurled his pillow with deadly accuracy upside Ian's head.
"What the f-?" Ian slurred groggily cocking his head to side looking at his snickering roommate.
"Yo, get up! We have to meet up with Kai and Ashton in a little bit."
"That's not like for another hour. I could've slept for another thirty minutes."
"Yeah, well I could have to if I wasn't in the same room with a fucking 747."
"Shut up, punk." Ian laughed throwing Tim's pillow back at him only to have Tim catch it mid-air.
"Whatever, white bread." The boys burst into laughter and started to get ready for the upcoming day.
Across the quad from the dormitories in the main building Emma Frost stood looking out the window basking the light. She wasn't alone in the room. Behind her sat her former student, Monet St. Croix. Emma and Monet had an interesting relationship. Both were more alike than either would ever admit. Both were intelligent, beautiful, and wealthy and in command of formidable mutant gifts and by most accounts arrogant and manipulative. These similarities in the former mentor and student lead to a strange mixture of admiration and contempt. It wasn't quite a friendship and nor a rivalry, it just simply was what it was.
"Monet, I'm glad you've decided to stay on at the Institute instead of returning to Paris. You will make an excellent teacher."
"We'll, to be honest I was getting rather bored there. Most of my original team in the X-Corp has been re-commissioned elsewhere."
"I see. As you know, since Scott and I have assumed leadership of the Institute as well as coordination both the public X-Men teams as well as Alexander's more covert team, I have had little time to maintain other interests.
"And what interests, are those Emma. Shouldn't this be enough?"
"Now, now dear, when is anything enough for women like us, hmm?" Emma said finally turning from the window.
"You're still interested in the affairs of the club, aren't you?" Monet said suspiciously.
"Of course. I'll always be the White Queen. And don't give me that look child. Your father is no stranger to the London Club. Didn't you know?"
"My father is a good man."
"Many a good man has graced the halls of the Hellfire Club. Not everything or everyone is, as it seems. The Club is a neutral power. It can be used for good and for evil. And I intend to make sure the Club uses its influence wisely."
"What does this have to do with me and my being here?"
"You have a past with Kai-Alexander Silver. And his family has long been associated with the Club. There are elements within the Club that make seek to turn him. He is arrogant and stubborn, reared to believe he's above playing by the same rules as the common man. So pure altruistic heroism isn't going to sway him, as it failed to sway you and I. You and he and I are much a like, hues of grey somewhere between light and dark."
"There is something you aren't telling isn't there Emma. Who's after Kai?"
"Selene. We must protect him from Selene."
The Girls Dorm
Angelina Devlin sat on her bed shuffling her tarot cards. They were an old set that she'd been given by her grandmother a few years ago. As she arranged the cards she couldn't believe what she was reading. Something bad was going to happen very soon. She grimaced. That definitely wasn't what she had hoped to see. But as her Nana used to say the cards never lie. Just then the door burst open and her roommate Nigela Sidhu out of breathe. "Angie, what are you doing? We're going to be late. We've got like 20 minutes before we have to get together with the squad. Plus you said you wanted to meet up with Chance before." Angelina sighed at the sound of Chance's name. Chance Montgomery was one of the reasons she'd wanted to come to Xavier's. To be honest, it was the only reason that mattered in her opinion. Not that she told anyone that. The only one who knew was Kai. Kai had been able to convince her father as well as Nigela's parents to let them come here. The way he did it surprised her. She'd thought that he'd use his telepathy to make them agree. Kai said while he was comfortable with idea of prodding people mentally to do things, it wasn't his most power asset. His most powerful asset turned out to be his family's fortune. He simple offered both Mr. Devlin and Mr. Sidhu, successful businessmen their own rights lucrative contracts for projects with his family's corporation. With all that behind her she could now be with her boyfriend Chance Montgomery. Her father didn't approve of Chance because chance was from a different background and wasn't as wealthy as the Devlins. Angelina was furious when she thought about it. Chance wasn't from the ghetto he was middle class. His dad was a professor at Columbia. Her dad just saw skin color and assumed. It still amazed her that he let her hang out with Nigela. But then again Nigela's dad was a member of the city's Chamber of Commerce and it was hard to look down on someone just as rich as he. Angelina put away her tarot cards and tried to put aside the odd feeling she had inside that something bad was soon to happen.
The Teachers Lounge
Monet St. Croix reviewed her roster of students. Kai-Alexander Silver, telepathy, teleportation, psionic energy manipulation; Timothy Nguyen, bio-energy manipulation, Ian Sorenson, ambient energy inversion and detection; Angelina Devlin, enhanced sensory perception and sense control; Nigela Sidhu, animation of nonliving matter; and finally Ashton Kale, spatial and temporal energy warping. Despite her arrogance, mentoring such a powerful group of teens not much younger than her was daunting. Especially, Kai-Alexander who she was certain would seek to undermine and question her at every turn. Putting her notebook aside she looked over her new uniform. Black with grey accents she smiled. At least it was more fashionable than the red and gold she and Generation X had been saddled with and certainly more flattering than that gaudy white and gold that Danielle Moonstar had chosen for the New Mutants.
"Monet, we haven't really had a chance to get to talk. I'm Danielle Moonstar." Monet turned to greet the Cheyenne woman behind her.
"Hello. Nice to meet you, Dani. I've heard a lot about you from Paige, Sam's sister."
"Good things I hope." Dani said with a laugh. "You've got a spirited bunch on your hands. I helped recruit Tim a few months ago. And he and his new friends quickly showed how rebellious they can be." Dani added with a more serious tone. Dani wasn't so sure someone as young as Monet was capable of leading these kids. Although, her own best friend Rahne was but a few months older than Monet was about to become a teacher as well.
"Yes, I've read their profiles and interviews. I'll be working closely with Emma and Scott. But I'm confident my experience in Generation X as well as X-Corporation is a great ample from which to draw. As your find value as your time in the New Mutants, X-Force and SHIELD no doubt. Plus, I'm a diplomat's daughter I picked a few tricks of negotiation here and there." Monet countered in her patented regal style. Dani simply smiled and nodded. Monet whether she knew it or not had become one of Emma's protégés in her time under her care. Undoubtedly, the arrogance is innate in the girl but the touch of Emma Frost was there. In that case, Dani would be watching her very closely.
"Well, I'm excited to announce my squad, the New Mutants. At our last meeting you'd not come up with a name for yours, what have you decided?"
"Well, let's just say it's a surprise."
The Squad Ceremony:
All the squads assembled, dressed in their respective colors. All were chattering amongst themselves. Some knew their codenames and squad names. Others did not. The energy buzzed through the air. Julian Keller stood with is squad mates alternating smugly glaring at the white clad New Mutants and the black clothed mutants surrounding Kai-Alexander.
"Who is the heck is that punk?" Tim asked Kai gesturing Julian's direction.
"Julian Keller, son of a wealthy Los Angelinos, a moderately powerful telekinetic, big man on campus, well now that I'm here, former big man on campus."
"Looks like a lil' bitch."
"Watch you mouth, Mr. Nguyen." Monet said walking past them not bothering to stop. Tim simply laughed her admonition off and leaned toward Kai.
"Yo, you really hit that?" Tim whispered.
"What do you think, mate?" Kai smirked answering noticing Monet's brief pause before continuing her march to the platform to be seated with the other instructors. If she didn't have their respect, then her job was going to be hard. The first thing she would do once this was over was to let them know who in charge. Many of the students talked amongst themselves as Scott Summers droned on about the new beginning of the new built Institute and the reasoning behind the new squad program. He ended with introducing his own squad.
"Without further ado, I'd like to introduce the Corsairs: Wesley McBride, Quill; Callie Lang, Faerie; Celeste Stepford, Trifecta; Melinda Stepford, Triune; Phoebe Stepford, Trinity and Chance Montgomery, Lexicon." Angelina couldn't help herself she waved at Chance and he smiled back in her direction. The student body clapped as the Corsairs marched off stage. Emma took to the lectern and introduced her Hellions:
Julian Keller, Hellion,; Santo Vicarro, Rockslide; Cessily Kincaid, Mercury, Joshua Guthrie, Icarus; Brian Cruz, Tag and Soorya Qadir, Dust. Several of Julian's groupies cheered and Kai's group decided to jeer. Only to be shot a death stare from Monet and Emma. After Dani's turn introducing, the New Mutants, Monet took to the microphone. Smiling proudly as her squad assumed the stage.
"I thankful to have to opportunity to repay the Xavier Institute for training me in my mutant abilities now by helping guide this group of mutants, I give you: Nigela Sidhu, Spirit; Timothy Nguyen, Recoil; Ashton Kale, Schism; Angelina Devlin, Charm; Ian Sorenson, Flux and Kai-Alexander Silver, Avatar. Collectively, this brash group of mutants will soon show you why they live up to the banner of the Elite!"
Later…in the Cafeteria
"The Elite! Ugh! What the hell? The poser and his friends have nothing on us." Julian complained as he sat with his friends, the Hellions.
"Julian, you're just mad because you aren't the richest and hottest guy on campus anymore." Cessily laughed, the overhead light glinting off her metallic skin.
"Whose side are you on, Cess? Besides nobody's cooler than Julian and us." Brian rebutted.
"Julian, your ass must be squeaky clean with all that constant lip service it gets." Josh Foley, the New Mutant known as Elixir quipped as he walked by with the rest of his squad. Brian fumed and Julian grumbled. But everyone in earshot roared with laughter. Julian eyes flared with blue energy. His mental force pushing Josh over. Upending him and his tray of food. But just as quickly as he started to fall, Josh and was righted mid air. His tray off food reassembled itself neatly on its tray and back in his hands. The New Mutants all turned to see who had saved Josh. They found Kai-Alexander with the Elite behind him.
"Attacking a bloke from behind, Julian? Care to show us anymore reasons why you're pathetic?" Julian's face burned with embarrassment.
"Come on, Hellions. Let's get go!" Julian retreated to lick his wounds.
Josh and the New Mutants walked over to the Elite.
"That was real cool of your to help Josh out like that." A young black youth said to Kai. "I'm David by the way. This is Noriko, Sofia, Laurie and this joker here is Josh."
"Honestly, I didn't do it for Josh. That was just a bonus. I did it to get under Julian Keller's skin." Kai said smugly.
"Excuse his gloating, he really is a nice guy... sort of. I'm Ian. This here is Tim, Ashton, Angelina and Nigela." Greetings were exchanged all around, much to the chagrin of the on-looking Emma Frost and Danielle Moonstar. To Emma a rift between the Elite and the Hellions endangered her plans. To Danielle the Elite, especially Kai-Alexander, were dangerous. She couldn't say why but her gut told her they were bad news.