Author's Note: So sorry that it took me this long to get this chapter up, what with Christmas and all I was a little distracted. But I'm back, and so are the 13 Warriors. And now to answer to some of your reviews…
TheLegendaryManHimself: Thank you! I was really debating what to do about that, and then I just sat down and wrote it, it's cool how sometimes-random stuff that pops in your head can be considered good writing. : )
Waytoevil: Sorry this one took so long to add, won't happen again!
Mark C: Well it wasn't like they were going to school for the first time. A few of them did have some fun, but it was all from Jessica's point of view, which was why I was thinking about the other fic.
Hell Devil: Risty is going to be in this fic, but I wanted to get some other things out of the way before adding her in. If I made my first day at school fic she'd be in there, but if I don't I'll introduce her later in the story.
ldypebsaby: That's an interesting question… Where was Nathan? He has that habit of disappearing and doing something interesting while nobody else is there to miss him. Maybe later we'll find out what he does when he drops off the face of the earth.
Irene: Thank you! I really am flattered that a criticizer would give me that kind of a compliment. I hope you continue to read, and especially continue to review!
Ranndie Mazda: You are indeed right, a mistake purposefully made to see if anyone would catch it! Congratulations! (Okay so it wasn't really, but I promise not to make the mistake again.)
Chapter 10: Girl's Night In
Jean had been walking around the institute for some time now, late Tuesday night, trying to find Scott, or anyone for that matter. In fact since she'd got there she hadn't seen hide or hair of any of the guys, any of them. Finally she came across Mike as she was walking through the halls. "Hey, where is everyone?"
"Oh, the guys all went out for what Will called, a guy's night out, meaning they're probably hitting a few clubs and destroying public property, whatever it is they do when the hang out. The girls are all in the living room watching a movie, except for Rebecca who's with James and Mr. McCoy in the danger room." Mike answered with a smile.
"How come you didn't go with the other guys?" Jean asked curiously.
Mike tapped his forehead with his index finger. "I've never gone with them, don't do well in crowded public places, besides, I have a headache."
"Oh, well that's a shame." Jean said as she shifted her weight to the other hip. "Are you going to join the girls then with their movie?"
"Maybe later, right now I'm going to find Mr. Logan." Mike answered with a nod.
"Why are you looking for Logan?" She asked as she raised a brow.
"Professor says that he's got my book for me, a copy of the one he destroyed the other day." Mike said as he began walking again. "I'll see you later." He said with a nod.
"Yeah… See you around." Jean said almost quietly as Mike left and she started walking again. She made it to the living room, to find Jessica squatting on the arm of the couch with her tail wagging, Grace, Elise, Danielle, and Kitty actually sitting on the couch, and Megan sitting on the floor watching the screen. Rogue was there too, in the back of the room reading a book, and Rayne sat on the floor on the other side of the couch from Megan, also watching the movie. "Hey what's going on?"
"Hey Jean, we're watching a movie!" Jessica answered happily.
"Which one?" She asked as she came over and looked at the screen.
"For some reason, we're watching a chick flick that I can't remember the name of." Grace answered shrugging her shoulders.
"Ah… Mind if I join you?" She asked as she sat down next to the couch.
"Go ahead, we're kind of having a girls night in since the guys are all out partying." Grace responded with a smile.
"Yeah, I hope Will goes easy on Scott, Evan, and Kurt, it's their first time." Elise said with a giggle.
"I wonder where he took them." Megan added.
"Probably to that teen dance club over on Main, you know that one we saw on our way into town?" Danielle joined the conversation for the first time.
"Yeah, that looked really cool. I hope they don't get kicked out too soon, it would ruin our girl's night in." Elise said with a smile.
"Well they're with your boyfriend, so I'd give them a few hours before they get tossed out." Danielle said with a smirk.
Elise laughed. "Will has too much fun for his own good sometimes. And what do you mean my boyfriend? I seem to remember yours was plenty of a partier when he felt like it."
"Yeah, whatever happened to Evan? Did he ever write you back?" Grace asked looking over to Danielle.
"No… Not yet… According to my computer he hasn't opened it yet. He probably just started school yesterday, so I don't know if he's had the chance to check his email yet." Danielle answered.
"You have a boyfriend?" Kitty asked looking over to Danielle.
"In all honesty? I don't know." Danielle said with a small smile. "He left a little while ago, just after Christmas actually, something happened, but he wouldn't tell me what, he kissed me goodbye, and then dropped off the face of the earth."
"You don't know where he is?" Jean asked confused.
"No… I think he's in Canada. Mike said that he thought they might have some family up there, so that's probably where he's headed." Danielle said with a shrug.
"What's Mike got to do with it?" Rayne asked now interested.
"He's Evan's younger brother." Danielle explained. "They're past is a little confusing but Evan told me some of it, well, thought it to me."
"Okay, that was kind of confusing." Jean said raising a brow.
Danielle laughed. "Evan doesn't talk." She explained. "He's mute, his vocal cords had a cancerous tumor, and in order to get rid of it the doctors had to remove his vocal cords, so he either uses sign language with me, or projects his thoughts into my head. He's a broadcast telepath."
"The opposite of his brother." Elise added with a small smile.
"Oh… That's such a shame." Kitty said with sympathy in her voice.
"Yeah, well it was a bad thing, but some good came out of it, after all, it's how we met." Danielle said with a smile.
"Hey look, the movie's over." Grace said suddenly, snapping most of them back to the reality that they had been watching a movie.
VVVV
"You're going to what?" Rebecca called up to the control room from the danger room floor.
"I'm going to drop it, James, you catch it!" Beast said from over the radio. In the danger room hung a block that weighed roughly five tons, the weight of a car. "You ready?"
James gulped a bit and closed his eyes, standing directly underneath the block. "Yeah, go ahead!" He called out as Beast hit the button and the block dropped. It stopped abruptly into James' opened and outstretched hands. He opened his eyes and looked around a bit. "Huh." He breathed as he set the weight down. "Well I guess my weight lifting career is back after all."
"It's like you're in constant metal form." Beast said as he came through the door. "You're invulnerable, strong, and staminate, just like when you were in metallic form before your heart attack, only this is permanent, and thanks to the new heart, courtesy of Forge, it's not doing your body any real damage that I can tell. It's as if your body evolved in order to handle your mutation."
"Well at least I didn't die." He said looking at his hand and then to Rebecca, and then to Mr. McCoy. "This isn't going to interfere with day to day life will it?"
"Well you might have to learn to control your strength a bit, holding back when you need to, but I think you'll be fine." Beast said with a smile.
"Good. In that case, any chance I could get a doctor's note saying I can take my beautiful girlfriend out for a night on the town?" James asked with a smile as he looked over to Rebecca.
Beast laughed. "Go right ahead." He said with a nod.
James smiled and turned towards Rebecca. "What do you say? Care to go out on the town with me?"
Rebecca smiled as James came up to her. "I'd love to. But you've got to give a girl some warning! Meet me outside in about half an hour, we'll take your car."
James smiled. "Half an hour it is."
Apartment 27D, Lion's Gate Apartments, New York City, New York 8:03 P.M.
"Your absolutely sure it was him now?" A young man, early twenties, wearing expensive clothes, and had his brown hair slicked back, standing in front of another man, in his teens.
"I'm sure. It was him, my boys fired a round at him, he went metallic, and all of them just bounced off. Now unless you know another seven-foot giant that can shift into metal like that boy can then I'm betting you it was him. I stood just as close to him then as I am to you know. I'd know him anywhere." The younger man assured him.
"Dustin, I don't want any mistakes here, if he's back then he's dangerous, we need to take care of him quickly, and cleanly. Here, this is a list of… Specialists, that are in this area. You find them, you take them to wherever it is you saw him, you find him, and you make sure he's dead. Call me if you succeed, if you fail, then I'm sure James will kill you for me." The older man said with a slight smile.
"Alright Johnson, don't worry, I know the risk." Dustin said as he took the sheet of paper.
Elsewhere
"Well? Did you find out what he was doing there?" Magneto calmly asked the man sitting in front of him.
"Indeed I did." The man answered before a long pause.
"Well?" Magneto asked becoming impatient.
"He was there recruiting them. Thirteen of them went to his school over the winter break, including one man that I'm sure you'll be glad to see again."
"Who?" Magneto asked cautiously.
"Nathaniel." The man answered with a smile.
Brotherhood Boarding House
"Yeah, that guy was just trying to intimidate you, his power is probably illusions or something, you should get him when he's unprepared." Tabby said with a smirk as her and Lance came into the living room.
"You talking about that Chris guy again?" Fred asked as he watched T.V. "Get off it man, no one blames you for running, that guy was scary."
"I didn't run away!" Lance yelled as he kicked the remote on the floor into Toad.
"Hey! Watch it!" Toad yelled as he hopped out of the way.
"Calm down Lance, we know, you didn't run away, you just decided to wait until Kitty wasn't there." Tabby said with a smile hiding behind her face.
Fred laughed until Lance glared at him, then he shut up for a bit.
"Seriously man, I don't know what you see in that kitty cat, she's an X-geek." Toad said hopping around a bit.
"Yeah, you're just jealous cause you can't even get a girl to like you." Fred said as he returned his attention to the TV.
"I bet I can get any one of those new girls at Xavier's to go out with me, unlike a certain someone I know." Toad said landing on Fred's stomach and bouncing off again.
"You're on!" Fred yelled as he stood up.
"This is pathetic." Lance said looking to Fred and Todd.
"It almost hurts to watch." Tabby added.
Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters
"Where did Nathan go anyway?" Rogue asked coming up to the others on the couch.
"He actually went with Will and them. First time in a long time." Jessica answered.
"How do you know?" Grace asked looking over to Jessica.
"I saw them all leave, Nathan was there trying to convince Mike to go, but Mike said no." She said in her usual cheerful manner.
"Now that's an odd scene to picture." Elise added. "Nathan actually wanting to go somewhere."
"I think he's gotten a little better after he confronted that Pietro guy." Jessica said with a shrug.
"Pietro? From the Brother Hood?" Jean asked a little confused.
"Yup!" Jessica said with a nod. "I was eating lunch with this girl Tabby, and her friends and then Nathan came over and told me to leave, and he was acting all scary and protective so I did, and then he stood there for a little while, and said something to Pietro, I didn't hear what it was, but I don't think it was very nice."
Grace laughed. "Sounds like something he would do."
Megan laughed.
"What's so funny?" Kitty asked looking down at Megan.
"It's funny to picture Nathan telling someone off he's the quiet type, even if he is broody, he wouldn't just unleash at someone that he didn't know." Megan said shaking her head. "Unless he had a really good reason, but I would've paid to see it."
"Maybe he did have a really good reason." Elise offered. "I wonder what it was."
"Same here." Grace said with a nod.
"Should we watch another movie?" Danielle asked looking over to Jean and then to the rest of them.
"Sure." Jean said with a shrug. "What did you have in mind?" She asked as James, all dressed up walked past the door.
"Where's he going?" Jessica asked as she watched him walk past.
"On a date with Rebecca." Mike answered as he came in. "The two of them are going out for a romantic evening for two. At least according to Rebecca."
"You want to watch a movie with us?" Jean asked looking over to Mike.
"Sure… Is there room on the couch?" He asked raising a brow slightly.
"Yup!" Jessica said using her tail to scoot Kitty and Grace over a bit, making room for Mike.
He laughed as he sat down next to Kitty, in between her and Jean, with Elise on the other side of Jean, and Grace on the other side of Kitty, Jessica on the arm, and Rayne and Megan on the floor at either end, they made quite a picture. "Thanks Jess." He said as he winced a bit.
"Headache?" Jean asked carefully.
"A lot of thoughts." Mike said with a small smile.
"Here, this'll help." Jean said kissing him on his forehead, putting up a psychic barrier.
Mike blushed a bit, as they all got comfortable on the couch. "Thanks…" He said a little shyly.
Jean smiled. "No problem." She said as the movie started.
"So what movie are we watching now?" Mike asked as he watched the screen.
"A Walk to Remember." Elise said with a smile.
"Sorry I asked." Mike said with a sigh.
"Hey! That's my favorite movie!" Elise slapped him lightly on the arm.
"I don't mind it, I like the movie, but now I'm going to be drowned in tears instead of thoughts." Mike replied with a smile.