BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 8: TROUBLE IN BAYVILLE

-Bayville Sewers-

Under the town and inside of the Bayville sewer system there were areas of the old pipes and drains where a small community of mutants lived. They were the kind that couldn't pass for human, so they fled the surface. In the beginning it was just random people who when they changed and didn't know what they were. Then soon they began to find others and started to group together.

One of the first was Callisto, she had once been a young woman but then one day she had noticed the change. The world had suddenly seemed much more sharp and clear to her, all her senses seemed to be enhanced. She remembered hearing the noises of the outside world giving her headaches all the time from the loud sounds. All the new smells and sensations were also hard. So she took to being alone most of the time, then she had stumbled across a few others that were physically deformed.

They had also been being hassled by a group of punks. So she had stepped in, her reflexes and speed were better then a normal humans and she pretty much defeated them easily. She never liked it when people ganged up on those that were different. And seeing those she had saved she guessed that she too was different in a way. So she decided to take care of them.

Over time they first stayed in an old abandoned building with her bringing them food and supplies. But soon more and more people like them were found. They also had to hide when street gangs started to move into the area and it was a fight over the area. So they had to move where no one would come for them. They moved into the sewers, they found areas that could be lived in and started a community.

When they got enough members they all wanted to have a leader, someone that could help with things. Callisto was the favourite but there had been one other. There was a threat to a civil war as it were with two factions but they decided to end it with a duel. Callisto remembered that day, she and her opponent that was becoming a long forgotten memory.

She had been nineteen then with the other woman and they had fought. Callisto had lost her eye in that battle, a knife grazed it and there were no healers among them at that time. But she used her own knife and plunged it into the heart of her opponent. That was the first time she killed and it took a long time to get over it. That was also the day when the ruler of the Morlocks would be declared through combat, she had defended her leadership many times, usually against new member who thought they were better.

But she never once killed again after that, she had come close but she didn't want to spill anymore blood unless she had to.

Now in her mid twenties, her dark hair now hung down to her shoulders and her body was very trim and built body from years of trying to survive. She was still a good looking woman even with the eye patch covering her ruined eye and held a commanding presence. At the moment she was looking at two people in a training exercise.

One of them was their newest member Evan Daniels better known as Spyke. He had bone plates all over his upper body like some type or armour. He had once been an X-Man but when his powers grew out of control he decided he belonged down here. He was battling against one of their more veteran members Marrow.

She had short purple hair and also had bones coming out of her body. Callisto had taken her in years ago and had seen the young woman as like a little sister since she was about sixteen now. She also noticed as the two were sparring that there was a look between them. She knew that the two were seeing each other but let it go. Spyke may have been a little hot headed and kind of a rogue but he did help out and pull his own weight.

"Face it you can't beat me this time," Spyke grunted as he used a spear of bone to block the other woman's thrust with a knife like jagged bone.

"You can talk big but you still have a lot to learn," She grinned at him and quickly with a leg sweep took his feet out from under him. He hit the stone and motor but rolled with it and was in a sitting guard position. "Ah I see you can learn then."

"Hey what can I say?" He grinned with a shrug, "At least with you I got motivation to learn unlike Wolverine."

Spyke then thrust out a hand throwing many small spikes at her. Marrow side a side flip and threw her bone daggers in mid air at the other mutant. Evan used his bone spear to deflect the two larger bone based weapons. Morrow landed and gripped the bones sticking out of her knees, she grunted with the pain that always would come with this. It always hurt to pull out her bones but over time she got used to it. With the help of Callisto she learned to control her pain, to push it aside.

Then with a mighty yell she yanked out two new bone daggers, the gapping holes in her body quickly filled up with more bone. When Spyke had first scene that it was a shock like for everyone else but over this year he had gotten used to it. In fact he got more then used to it, there had just been something about her that drew him to her.

It had taken six months to get past that tough outer shell of hers but he had and he had found out who she really was underneath it all. As the two continued to go at it Callisto hear someone walking up behind her, she looked to see Caliban. He was a tall willowy pale mutant with no body hair and a neutral expression on his face at all times.

He could find pretty much any mutant in the world and it was with his help they found more mutants like themselves to hide from those that would harm them. "More have fallen sick," He plainly said and she narrowed her one eye.

Normally people tended to get sick now and then, it was one of the prices you paid for living in a sewer system but lately more and more people were getting the same illness. First came headaches, then weakness, then they no longer seemed to be able to use their powers in some cases. Then they started to run a fever, the worst ones so far were bed ridden, pale and coughing. It was like they were being poisoned but so far nothing could explain it.

None of the gas pipes were leaking and they double checked all their sterilization of all their tapped water supplies. They had to be very careful how they handled things down here since they had very little in what way of medical supplies. At first it had just been five mutants, then in two days it was thirteen, by now it was over thirty. She knew something was wrong but she couldn't see what it was.

Callisto threw a look to Spyke and Marrow, "I'm going to check something out, I trust you two not to kill each other while I'm gone."

"No promises," Marrow said with a playful grin on her face.

Spyke just looked back at her with an arrogant smirk on his face, "Oh bring it on girl, cause you know I got the moves to put you down."

Callisto just shook her head, those two were just too alike. She walked down the tunnel with Caliban, "Some thing isn't right I want you to organize the scouts. Trace all the water sources and anything else back to something suspicious. There is something going on and we need answers."

He was silent a moment and she looked at him knowing that he had something on his mind, "We need help."

"We can handle ourselves, we have for years." She told him. "We didn't join that Mutant Underground faction because this is our home."

"That is true, but we still need more medical supplies…some are close to dying and we need a cure for this." He told her. She thought about it, Morlocks prided themselves on being self reliant but even though she wouldn't admit it out loud she didn't want any of her people to die.

"We have no idea if the Underground have the resources for that, besides you know it takes days to contact them."

He nodded his head, "That is true but Caliban was thinking, maybe we could ask another group that does have the resources."

Callisto stopped knowing what he was getting at, "No. I will not ask them for help. They live in luxary while we live here under the ground like rats." There was a slight bitterness to her words but she figured she had a right. She could have lived in the upside world if she wanted to, but she chose to remain here.

"We may not have a choice, if this keeps up…there will BE no more Morlocks." He told her point blank. It was one of the reasons she listened to Caliban, he always got to the point.

Callisto didn't answer him she just walked on in silence deep in thought.

-Xavier Mansion-

It had been a long week and many were looking forward to the first time Friday was over. Many students were now making their breakfast for the day and talking. Piotr and Kai were comparing notes on how different school was in America for them, they both found it different that was for sure but they were growing accustomed to it.

Kurt was sitting with Amanda joking with her making her smile as usual as Blink was talking to the girls about that boy Ryan she met. Rogue walked into the room with a bit of a slightly sunny mood, normally she wasn't a morning person but a few times she looked a bit more upbeat. She sat down across from Kurt and started into her own lunch.

Kurt noticed her smile on her face and groaned, "What?" Rogue asked him narrowing her eyes.

"I know zhat smile," He said shaking his head and Amanda took a closer look. She knew Kurt enough to know what he was hinting at and blushed a bit. "Zhat's ze smile you usually have on now and zhen and I just know how you get it."

Rogue's eyes widened a bit at what he was getting at. "Hey! Ah'm allowed mah own life Kurt."

"I know, I know!" He said quickly raising his hands, "But vould you like it if you knew vhen Amanda and me were…intimate…" He gulped as Amanda blushed a bit.

Rogue looked at the two of them and raised an eyebrow, but from the looks she guessed they still weren't that far in their relationship. She could see his point, but damn it she deserved to be happy now and then. For a few years she had accepted that she would never touch, never have a family or anything. But now that she had that change she took it for all it was worth.

"Okay I get you're meanin' but you know ah can't help it. Ah'm just glad you finally lightened up about it," She shrugged.

Kurt scratched the back of his head, the thought of her in bed with another guy wasn't one he wanted. He at least liked the guy she was seeing at least. "Vell…could be vorse..."

"True she could be seeing someone else like Gambit or worse someone like Pietro," Amanda smiled.

Rogue looked at her in horror, "Don't even joke about that! God that is just more messed up then mah family tree." Even Kurt had to admit their family tree wasn't the healthiest one.

They waited a bit to see Scott come into the room and sit next to Rogue, "Hey guys."

"Hey Scott vhere is Jean?" Kurt asked him, usually the red head was here with him at breakfast.

"She wasn't feeling well," Scott told him, Jean had been complaining about headaches and being a bit tired. He was thinking that since she didn't have a busy day that she might want to skip today and stay in bed. That was just fine with him, he didn't like how that Shinobi guy was around her at times. He didn't say anything since Jean could make her own friends.

But there was just something about him that he didn't like. How he looked at Jean for one, it was like seeing Duncan Mathews only to the tenth power. Rogue nodded her head, "Yeah ah think somethin' is going around. I mean I saw Kitty and Dani not looking so well and even Jamie too."

'Too bad the adult don't use Gale all the time, but then again it over strains her to use her healing powers too much,' Scott thought to himself.

"Hey Scott are we still on for that squash game?" Rogue asked him, they usually had a game every few weeks.

"Uh, sorry I think I want to keep an eye on Jean," He apologized.

Rogue's face fell a bit, but she tried to cover it up. Scott had been her first friend here and they had been kind of close. Okay so she had a crush on him at first too, but she got over that. But ever since he started seeing Jean their friendship had seemed to be put off a bit. She missed those games and other things they kind of did together.

Vince didn't know how to play, and a few of the others didn't either. Those that did couldn't play as well and only Scott gave her a challenge. It wasn't just that, she missed the closeness she used to have with him. Sure she was a bit more open now but Scott was the person to first see the good in her to really care about her.

She missed having him there, she didn't hate Jean for this thought it wasn't her fault. Rogue was just frustrated with Scott seemingly pushing her aside more and more, "Yeah well ah'm done anyway, see you later."

As she left rather harshly Scott's brow furrowed wondering what was wrong with her. But then again Rogue had always been a bit of a mystery and wasn't easy to get past that tough girl exterior at times.

Upstairs Ororo was in her bed just resting. For the past few days she had a headache and it only seemed to be getting worse. At the moment she just felt tired and decided to rest up this morning. Her head was throbbing and she felt a bit warmer then normal. Hank had been in and gave her something for the headaches and it did help but it was still kind of there.

Her room was a very peaceful one, she had a few potted plants that gave it a nice fragrance and also helped her to sleep sometimes. It helped to remind her of her home village back in Africa with a few special flowers from there. She only had her robe around her nightgown not feeling like dressing at the moment.

She had her arm over her eyes when she hear a light knock on the door, "Come in."

Ororo moved her arm and saw Logan looking in, "Hey there, I was just checking in on ya before Wanda and Sarah start their lessons with Hank."

She gave a small smile, "Thank you Logan that was nice of you. I think I just need to rest up, I know Clarice will take care of the plants but see if she needs help now and then okay?"

He smiled and nodded back to her, "You got it 'Ro, I'll check back on ya in a few hours." She nodded once more and he left her. She rolled onto her side trying to get comfortable, although it was kind of hard. But she just tried to relax having the smells carry her thoughts back to Africa and the beauty of nature that was there. She even thought of maybe going back one day to show Clarice since she would appreciate the beauty as well.

That was a thought that brought a smile to her face, them together overlooking the land. It was an image that she kept on seeing in her dream as she started to fall asleep.

-Later at Bayville High-

At school even the Hellions weren't all at top form. Catseye who thanks to her necklace that worked much like the X-Men holowatches allowed her to hide her cat like appearance. Although at the moment she wasn't feeling any better. It was lunch and she wasn't that hungry, sometimes she liked to hunt for food in her animal form but she just wasn't hungry today.

"Hey, you going to eat that?" Beef asked her, she just shook her head and he greedily took it.

"What's wrong?" Tarot asked the younger girl seeing something wasn't right.

Next to her Roulette groaned, "Well whatever it is it must be going around. I've felt like crap all day long."

"Yeah, anyone else feeling a bit strange lately?" Bevatron, usually the most energetic of the team wasn't his usual self. He looked like hell and was slumped down in his seat.

A bald African American teen that was King Bedlam just shrugged, he didn't feel anything. Tarot didn't seem that different. Beef was too busy eating to say much of anything at the moment. Empath wasn't too sure himself at the moment either. "Great…Well I'm just going to go and see if I can catch a nap or something," Bevatron stood up and took a few steps his lunch untouched.

He took only a few steps when the world started to shift. He tried to get his footing but the world kept on shifting. One moment he was trying to keep his balance the next he saw the ground rushing over to his face. The others saw this and ran to their friend as other students started to take notice of this as well.

"Hey man come one you okay?" Beef asked the younger mutant. He was the only guy that liked to fight as much as he did and they were pretty good friends. At the moment he didn't like this at all.

"We should get him back, something is not right here," King Bedlam said as Beef picked up their fellow mutant. Bevatron was groaning as his mind was spinning still and he had trouble focusing.

"Guys!" Tarot called out as they turned to see Sharon also slumped down at the bench. Tarot was there with her shaking her gently and trying to get her to wake up. She had just fallen all of a sudden scaring the older girl. Now at the moment more and more people were coming over to look at the sight. Tarot with the help of Bedlam helped to pick the girl up as Roulette went through her purse.

She pulled out a cell phone and dialed up their mansion. They all moved to the parking lot as they hurried through the students sometimes pushing them out of the way. She heard a few rings before a male voice said in her phone. "Hello?"

"Mr. Kine, Sharon and Bevatron just fell. We need you to send a car for us and get a doctor. Something is serious wrong with them." The French mutant quickly said into her phone. She started to revert back to her native tongue of French until he stopped her.

"Slow down, now I've sent the limo for you now I want you to tell me all their symptoms," He said in a calm and rational voice. She took a breath and told him everything she knew. He took it all down on paper and then told her to keep calm.

He took the paper and then did a speed dial for their own personal doctor that they had. He had no idea but there was no way that two of their students just fall ill like that at the same time. He knew something was going on and when those two were in the best of care he would order full physicals for them all.

He winced a bit feeling a pain in his head as he moved his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, 'No, something isn't right at all, I just know it isn't.' He thought to himself as he then heard the other line pick up.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 9: EPIDEMIC