BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 25: KILLER REVEALED

Ororo woke up in her bed to the soft sound of music. She had programmed her clock radio to wake her up to an easy listening station she never saw the point in giving yourself a heart attack to wake you up. She opened her eyes and turned off the clock and stretched out on her bed.

She took a long breath taking a moment to have that certain feeling she got from the Earth. She was linked to the planet she could feel it now more then ever since she mastered her powers. It had been a dull sensation when she had been younger now it was a strong bond. She liked to take a moment in the mornings and just feel it out it was a comfort to feel it actually like she was never totally alone.

Ororo got out of her bed and started her morning routine, first a trip to her bathroom to shower and clean up. She made her bed and then got dressed she went for just a long skirt and blouse this day, she fixed herself up a bit more and went out into the halls. She always liked the mornings they were very quiet as she made her way to the kitchen.

She wasn't surprised to hear sounds of people working in there as she found Clarice working on the new stove, Vincent there with her putting in waffles, Logan was there reading his paper in the corner with a dish he made already and his coffee. Rahne was also up making herself some breakfast and Roberto was there as well eating already.

"Morning all," Ororo said as she went to her two 'helpers' it seemed. It was still nice to have those that actually liked to cook to help with this.

"Morning mom," Clarice said smiling she smiled a lot more lately she noticed. It was so nice to see she remembered how shy and scared she had been when she first got here. It was so sad how little love she had been shown in life and then what her parents did. Ororo had talked to Amanda and she confirmed that Clarice had nightmares now and then about it.

She was opening the fridge when two more students came in breathing a bit hard she turned to see both Paige with her long blond hair in a ponytail and sweating with her friend Sarah Logan with her only she preferred to keep her hair free.

"How was your morning run girls?" Ororo asked placing out some orange juice.

"It was productive." X23 stated with a small smile sitting down.

"Yeah but she still is faster then me, how the hell can ya go so fast with metal in you?" Paige asked her sitting next as Ororo placed glasses for them. She eagerly poured herself a drink and the cool drink was welcomed by her mouth and throat.

"That's because she doesn't have too much just the claws," Logan explained from his spot not looking from his paper.

X23 nodded, "Yes I was never given the full 'treatment' like he was. So I'm faster and more agile then he is."

"Hey everyone," Scott said walking in, "We got any waffles left?" He asked seeing Vince there and the dark haired Canadian passed him the package with a few left. "Thanks man."

Scott went to a small TV set up high up on one of the walls and turned to the news he liked to know what the day may turn out. Plus lately with all the people riled up about Spears he wanted to know just how bad things were today about that.

It was hard enough at the school in New York since it was just really hard to tell where people stood. Plus after he was shown being on TV in that battle at the court house things weren't easier. He noticed things like how people talked about him behind his back to strange looks well stranger he thought.

The news was pretty typical and no one really paid any attention that was until the dark haired report Trish Tilby came on. "And this just in, apparently the assassination of Guy Spears has been solved." Everyone but Logan seemed to be suddenly extremely interested all of a sudden.

"A government press release was given this morning. Apparently the killer was in fact a lone gunman, a human at that. The man in question is Frank Castle a man wanted by the FBI and has been doubted The Punisher by certain members of the media."

Scott muted the TV as an image was shown of Frank Castle, "Well looks like Fury came through again."

"You know I'm actually glad we finally know what happened there," Vince said sitting down with his breakfast, "I mean the fact that who killed Spears wasn't a mutant may take the heat off of us."

There were a few nods of agreement with that sentiment, "Yeah although I think he also did us a favour." Roberto said digging into his meal.

"Roberto you can't mean that!" Rahne was shocked by this, she was never one to advocate killing. She had been raised better then that.

"Oh come on you know what Spears did! Hell some of us were close to dying. Like Jean or you Vince you were pretty bad there for a bit." Roberto spoke at the older boy near him. Scott felt a sting remembering Jean's health then and Vince's face was kind of unreadable.

He didn't like Spears at all and it was true he nearly died and with him and Kurt out it had worried Rogue sick. "I don't condone what was done to Spears I've never like killing." He said in an even tone remembering how his own hands were stained as it was.

It was something he had to live with for the rest of his life and he didn't like it. "But I'm not sorry for it either."

X23 nodded her head, "He was an enemy and he should have been taken out." At least that had been what she was taught in Hydra. To kill your enemy before they killed you, and she took that to heart when she turned against her masters. She burned Hydra to the ground and took out Lady Hydra as well she made sure to cut the head off that organization.

"Look I don't like what Spears did either," Scott spoke up as things were starting to get a bit more heated, "And I won't lose any sleep over this but just killing him like that was wrong no matter what. He should have gotten what the courts said he should have gotten."

"Oh please with the money he was throwing out he might have got off," Roberto muttered as he went back to his breakfast.

"It's not our call we can't just make up our own laws or think we're above it."

Paige was thinking this over it was a very complex issue. Personally she wasn't sure where she stood she was kind of conflicted in how she felt about all of this. "Well then what do we do go after this guy and give him over to tha police?"

"No, we stay out of it Hayseed." Logan stated folding his paper down.

Ororo looked at him for a moment, "Logan you weren't surprised by this at all. Did you know anything about this?"

"Yeah Fury called me last night told me about this," He said to her and then looked at the rest of them. "I was going to mention this when everyone was present but I guess I might as well get this out of the way. Fury wants us out of this no exceptions this is a matter for SHIELD."

"Why doesn't he want our help?" Blink asked him as she was a bit conflicted about Spears killer as well. One the one hand she didn't like the thought of killing while on the other hand she remembered how sick Ororo had been. Nearly losing her had been so hard on her.

"Kid Fury wants us out of this he most likely wants his own team to do this." Logan told her, he guessed the man had his own reasons and besides they did owe Fury not to get in his way this time.

Scott thought about this for a moment, "Maybe it's for the best."

He looked up seeing everyone looking at him never figuring him to let someone else just do al the work. "Guys given what happened at the court house I think it's best we keep things quiet and stay out of the public eye until this blows over. We shouldn't make things any worse then they are and we don't want another disaster like at the Spears building."

Everyone remembered how Sarah and Kai had accidentally got in the way of X-Force and how horrible that all went. Maybe he was right and they should stay out of things after all things could always get worse and sometimes it was best to sit back and let the waters calm down a bit more.

-Hellion House-

In one of the lavish meeting rooms the heads of the house hold were sitting down to their own breakfast as servants came and went. They didn't look at them or even talk to them they were just servants after all and it wasn't the place of those higher up to even talk to people like that unless it was an order.

While the Hellions were busy eating in a separate room the others had their own private one.

Reeva sat there sipping her morning coffee, "So then how are the Inner Circle handling Spears' little unfortunate accident?"

Selene sighed, "Well it was most inappropriate of him to die on us, at least before his usefulness was over. But we still managed to get most of what we needed from him. The cure was given to our students and it and the formula is safely put away along with the toxin itself."

Benedict nodded, "Yes the children had vastly improved. And I assume our people are taking apart that toxin for further study."

"Of course," Shinobi Shaw grinned, "It will take time without Spears since he knew how it was made, but in time we'll improve and alter it to fit our needs, although I am curious on this fellow that assassinated Spears. Our people inside of SHIELD have said that this person was most likely acting on their own."

"Well you can't plan on everything," Emma just finished her tea setting it down, "There is always a wild card in the deck, I had bet odds that the FOH might have tried to assassinate him themselves. They may have tried in fact that is if they hadn't been beaten to the punch."

"Fortunate for them since this man makes it seem they never planned on such a thing," Reeva said.

Selene thought about it for a moment, "Well we could have a few of the news stations we own hint that this was all an FOH ploy? I think they have gotten a bit too powerful now and need to be taken down a notch or two at the moment."

There were agreements to that, it was good to have groups like the FOH around since their chaos helped to mask certain activities and keep people from looking too closely in certain areas. But it wouldn't do to have them too brave since if they got too powerful they could be a threat to their powerbase.

It was time to 'thin the heard' as it were and reduce the FOH for the time being at least.

-NYU Later That Day-

Warren was sitting with Candy while they were between classes things had certainly been different since they had decided to continue a relationship and it was very nice as well. Especially remembering back to that moment in her apartment, how one thing had led to another and he woke up next to her on her bed.

He woke up to her fiddling with his feathers and he was so glad that she hadn't been freaked by what happened to him or everything. It was nice having someone from his past that could handle he still hadn't managed to talk to his parents after coming out to them. The thought of them wanting to have his wings surgically removed was repulsive.

Sure when it happened it freaked him out and he had thought about it but over time he learned that he loved to fly. And apparently Candy was taking to it as well as they had flown a few times. "So Warren will I ever get to meet these friends of yours? What about that mansion you're living at in Bayville?"

"You really want to go there?"

"Sure why not? They are your friends and a part of your life right?" She asked him and Warren smiled at her. He knew she accepted him and it would be nice to bring someone over there he felt a bit out of place with the majority of everyone younger then him.

"Well then I don't see why not."

"Great how about this weekend?" She asked him thinking about her schedule in her head. "That way we don't have to worry about anything…So…what's the rule on overnight guests?" She gave him a cute smile.

Warren returned it, "Well that all depends why do you want to know?"

She waved it off playfully, "Oh you never know I may want to sleep over if it gets late. You never know how things will turn out after all." Warren grinned as she did the same.

Across campus Jean was walking alone it had been hard enough to make new friends it was too bad that Taryn was going to another school across the city. She really wished she had more friends but after the news people tended to ignore her she just wished she could ignore all those thoughts that she accidentally picked up.

She sighed just trying to ignore things, she wasn't sure if Scott could make it for lunch today he was pretty busy on this day of the week with a certain class he had. Sometimes being a telepath sucked, she tried to ignore the looks, the feelings and thoughts but not all the time.

"Hey Jean!" She stopped in her tracks and got a smile seeing two familiar faces. The brown haired Peter Parker the only friend she had made during this time with that red headed girl that she had last seen him with. He also noticed how they were holding hands and she smiled.

"Hey I see you two have had a little change in your friendship," She said looking at their hands.

The two looked down and Peter blushed a bit while the other girl grinned, "Yeah we kind of had a long talk and decided to try things out again. I'm Mary Jane I didn't get to introduce myself that much to you last time we met."

The other red head stretched out her hand and Jean took it in a friendly shake. Peter looked between the two of them, "You know I got to ask, are you two related? I mean what are the odds of two tall, green eyed red heads being in this same school?"

"I doubt it Tiger," MJ smiled at him although she and Jean did share a look there was kind of a resemblance that was for sure although there were differences in their bodies they did have a lot of the same looks.

"Well I'm just glad that someone is talking to me," Jean sighed to herself. "I'm surprised that news report didn't frighten you guys off."

"Oh trust me I don't care what the press say at times, and Peter here knows pretty well that it's always the truth that gets printed." MJ smirked at Peter and he gave her a look. Jean thought she was missing out on some kind of in-joke at Peter but just shrugged it off.

"So what are you two up to at the moment?"

"Well I was going to take MJ out for lunch we need to catch up you know?" Peter said and Jean nodded and she wouldn't ask to join. She knew how hard it was at times for her and Scott to find time just to have a simple dinner date. 'Looks like I'm eating alone today.'

"Well I better get going oh and Peter you might want to not be late too many times. I think the professor is getting a bit angry with you showing up late for classes."

Peter flushed a bit and scratched the back of his head while Mary Jane tried to hide a smile, "Yeah that's Peter all right always late."

"You know I have my reasons," He said to her in mock hurt. Jean smiled and said her good byes and started up on a lonely walk to an open area where in the nice months like today they had food venders. She just got a salad with a drink she wasn't that hungry at the moment all the stress was affecting her appetite.

She was sitting along letting her thoughts drift on a table when she felt someone walk up to her, "Hello Jean may I join you?" She looked up to see Shinobi again and she smiled.

"Sure thing," It was nice to start making new friends and Shinobi seemed to be a nice man he did help out with those people who had tried to harm her on campus not too long ago after all. He sat down next to her with his own lunch giving her a warm smile.

Jean gave a small one back there was so much she didn't know about this man. The only things she knew was that he was tall, dark and a bit mysterious. That he was a mutant like her and kind of charming as well.

"So what's a beautiful lady like yourself doing all alone? Are you usually with that boy with the glasses?" He asked her.

"Scott and he's in class at the moment," Jean sighed a bit to herself digging into her salad.

"You know it amazes me how a woman of your stature doesn't have more friends." Shinobi said.

"Well…I wasn't always before mutants were exposed I was kind of popular…"

He grinned on the inside thinking he may have found a weakness in her, "You must have been very popular all those people around you. I bet you miss it, always wanted to be apart of the latest major thing going on. Being talked about in the highest quality, all those people wishing they were you and wanting to be you."

Jean didn't say anything for a moment she knew it sounded a bit shallow but a part of her did miss that. Compared with how things were going that had been pretty good life. But then she thought of how she treated her friends and Scott and it soured pretty fast. "It's not always the best thing to live like that. I learned the hard way that those that like you for that will just dump you as fast as they can."

Shinobi thought he had been close but maybe a new twist to it will help, "Sadly trying to figure out who your true friends are is tough. But there is a way to have both you know."

Jean looked at him wondering where he was going with this.

"You see not only am I a mutant but so is my father, in fact have you ever heard of the Hellfire Club?"

She had heard of that in fact there was a large mansion like building in this very city she had seen it once so she nodded her head. "Yes but I don't know much isn't it just a place for rich people to hang out?"

Shinobi smiled, "Well yes and no it's so much more then that. In fact you see many of the members are in fact mutants." He grinned at her surprise to that, "Oh yes and there are humans you see we don't discriminate against human or mutant. It's a place where people can live in harmony I guess you can say we show that humans and mutants can get along."

He knew that little last bit would hit her with what Xavier had been teaching her and it was partially true. They didn't discriminate against gene although only those deemed worthy were allowed in.

"Sounds good but what's this to do with what you were talking about?"

"Simply put I think you would get along fabulously there. You are beautiful, intelligent and I bet people there would be charmed by you as well."

Jean blushed a bit thinking about hanging out in a group of who were most likely the most wealthy and powerful people and some of them mutants. She thought only Xavier was the only high standing mutant but if there were others maybe they could help improve things.

"Tell you what there is a masked gala next month I'll give you an invitation to it and you can see for yourself. In fact bring your boyfriend too I bet he could use the time to get out as well." He also made not to bring Emma there as well. With masks she could be around and either Jean or Scott would notice until they actually talked to her.

Jean thought about it, it was a very tempting offer and she had never been to something like that. She felt a bit like Cinderella being asked to go to the ball. Plus she and Scott needed to get out and this sounded like it could be a very nice evening. "Sure I don't see why not."

Scott had gotten out of his class and was on his way to see if he could find Jean before her next class. He wasn't sure if he could so he tried to use that link of theirs. It was strange how it had strengthened a bit over time and they could now kind of feel where the other was.

Well not totally it was a bit blurred but the closer he got the stronger her presence was to him. It was strange and yet comforting feeling. When he rounded a corner he looked around and saw her familiar long hair. Not many women had long hair like hers and it helped him to find her since he couldn't see color and her red hair would stand out.

Then he froze about a few meters away, as she was getting up there was that guy again that she hanged out with at times. He blanked on the name but he really didn't like him, he got the same feeling off of him like he had with Duncan Mathews and he also didn't like how close he was to her.

Scott saw the other man place a hand on her shoulder as they talked he couldn't hear what was said but Jean was smiling about something. The man's hand was slowly rubbing over her shoulder and as they walked it slowly went to her lower back for a moment.

Scott didn't even know he was gritting his teeth until he felt the pressure threatening to break something. He wasn't sure who the hell this guy thought he was but Scott knew he was trying to put the moves on Jean. He was a guy and guys could see this type of thing.

'To hell with this I stood around doing nothing while Jean was with Duncan and I'm not going to just sit around while some guy tries to try and get at Jean like this.' He thought as he walked towards them. He swore if that guy didn't keep his hands to himself he was going to blast him.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 26: TROUBLED WATERS

AN: Well we're nearing the end people I think I'll try and finish this in the next couple of chapters.