BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 26: TROUBLED WATERS

Jean was talking with Shinobi he was a very intelligent man she was finding out, he knew a lot of things and she was wondering what kind of schooling he must have had. Plus he was friendly and after feeling all that she had been a friendly feeling was a very welcome feeling for her.

Shinobi smiled as he reached up to touch her shoulder, "You know I think you'd look great in green it would match your eyes at the party."

Jean felt her cheeks flush a bit at that, she did admit she did like green, next to red it was her favourite color.

"Hey!"

Jean turned as Shinobi withdrew his hand with Scott coming over to them and there was a look on his face that he didn't approve of what was going on.

Shinobi didn't miss a beat and cut him off smiling at Scott although he would tell Shinobi wasn't too honest with that smile on this face. "Ah yes Scott is it? I was having a wonderful time with Jean here, in fact I've invited her to a social gathering that I was hoping you two would attend."

Scott gave him a glare behind his shades he really didn't like this guy. There was just something really wrong about him and he also didn't like how he kept on touching Jean and he noticed the slight flush on her face. Even with his shades he could notice slight changes like that.

"I don't know…"

"Oh come on Scott it could be fun," Jean stated wondering why he was acting to cold. "He's offered us a chance to meet some new people and some of them are actually mutants too."

"Yes in fact I think you both will find it very stimulating." He looked to Jean staring into her eyes, "And I do hope you will be there I know there are a few that would be interested in meeting you. But I'm afraid I'm late so I'll see you later."

He nodded to her and then looked to Scott, "nice meeting you again."

Scott watched him leave and when he was out of view Jean elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! Jean what was that for?"

"For acting like a jerk Scott," She snapped at him she couldn't believe he acted like that. "Scott we have few friend here as it is and he's the only other mutant in this place we don't know. Do you really think it's a good idea to alienate ourselves from the world?"

"I just don't like the guy Jean he reminds me too much of Duncan Mathews."

She just rolled her eyes at that, "Scott please Duncan is a Neanderthal compared to Shinobi. He's been nothing but kind to me, unlike Emma who I've seen hanging around you."

"Okay that's not my fault she's stalking me it seems. She just shows up now and then it's not like I go out and look for her!"

"Well you don't seem to be pushing her away either," Jean walked past him. She never understood why Scott even kept talking to Emma she was the enemy after all.

"Jean hold up," Scott ran after her walking beside her. "Look I know that Emma isn't exactly on our side I know she and the Hellions are up to no good. But sometimes she says things that make sense I mean it's not like the old days with the Brotherhood. They got their own agenda that's different I'll admit and I don't like it all…"

He sighed remembering a few things they had talked about. "But I don't think she's all bad I think she actually has some reasons for what she does."

Jean shook her head not believing that for a moment. She couldn't see Emma as anything but an enemy. "Still Scott you had no reason to treat Shinobi Shaw like that. He's been very good to me."

"Yeah I can see that," Scott muttered but she heard it anyway. She looked at him sharply and he sighed, "Jean I'm just concerned I really don't have a good feeling about him. I'm just trying to look out for you is all."

"Scott I'm a big girl and I can look after myself," Jean hated it when the guy always thought he had to protect the woman. She remembered back when she had been training Amara and Scott walked in on them thinking he'd go all 'hero' when it wasn't needed. She had forgiven that but she really hated it when it happened.

A woman could do anything that a man could and she wasn't some helpless damsel in distress either. "Scott I can see who I want to see and I want to go to that party. If I go alone or not however will be up to you." With that she walked off angry at him.

Scott sighed and rubbed his forehead he hated it when they argued and he still didn't like that guy. Although he most likely could have handled that better then he had. She just shook his head and decided to give her some space they could talk things out when the both of them had cooled off a bit more.

-Sinister's Lab: Savage Land-

Sinister was walking into his lab in the Savage Land it wasn't his only lab but it was one of his better stocked ones. Magneto wasn't too pleased with how the attack on Spears' trail was but in the end the man was dead shot by a human of all things. The irony of it all wasn't lost on anyone there, plus there was the lost of their newest recruit into the elite forces called The Acolytes.

It was mainly a moral loss given there were plenty of mutants that would want a change to serve as Magneto's elite. Sinister however had other plans and those included who he truly served as well as his own plans. When he walked into the lab he had to smile seeing his protégée Morbius hard at work.

The young man was eager for any and all knowledge and held a true genius mind. In fact the young man reminded Sinister of a younger version of himself, he had lived a long time and never truly had anyone he could teach his craft too. Being looked upon as a mentor and teacher was actually a nice feeling and he liked teaching this young man.

He had the young man's respect and admiration and those were things he thought he long since put behind him. Yet there is was still deep in him the need to have his ideas and brilliance acknowledged. Well at least this time Morbius could see his genius and not dismiss it like mostly every other fool on the planet.

Morbius himself was so focused he didn't hear his teacher approach. He was looking at the results of an experiment he was running he was attempting to control the output of the neogenetic recombinator the device they took and what made him the man he was today.

The device itself looked like a large five foot gun from a science fiction movie. It harnessed mass amounts of energy that could literally rewrite DNA into another form. Unfortunately it was still unstable as he was just lucky to have had his DNA mutated, at worse he could have also been reduced to his base elements.

Unfortunately he had gained a sensitivity to light and an unending hunger for plasma he had to kill several people just to stay alive he had no choice but he knew the world wouldn't see it that way. They would kill him for what he was. A living vampire forced to take life to live on, but then Sinister came and saved him.

He helped him to resist light and to control his hunger and there was so much more as well. The things Sinister knew were so beyond what modern science was it was laughable. There were breakthroughs here that he had seen to increase his knowledge by ten fold and there was still so much to learn, to discover.

He had another hunger he knew that was deeper then the need for plasma it was the hunger for knowledge. He craved it so much that he didn't care about the ramifications of it all. This place was amazing and he hardly left the lab there was just so much to do.

Although he had to admit this Savage Land was also a curiosity, he was amazed when he saw the towers that kept this place as it was. He wasn't as social with the other mutants mainly due to the fact they were all morons compared to him. But a few he didn't mind their company and those that knew how to have a good time.

Mainly just those like Pyro, sure he was a mad firebug but he was actually easy to get along with as long as he got to play with just a little fire. The mutant only known as Psi-co was a bit harder to understand given that he once had multiple personalities he guessed that he was still finding himself. Then that would also explain why he and Lucus seemed to have a good friendship too.

There were a few others that Brainchild was actually someone he could hold a conversation with at least. One of the Savage Land mutants with a large head and was extremely intelligent. But Morbius preferred his studies under Sinister then his old life. He had always had to fight his hardest to prove his intelligence and there was no real challenge and no one understood him but Sinister did.

"Well how goes things my bright student?" Sinister grinned making his presence known.

"Oh sir, I didn't notice you. Well I've been going over the data and there are a few promising results." He pulled up something on the computer that was connected to the device he was experimenting with. "So far a wide range use isn't feasible at this moment the more the energy travels and the wider the range the more uncontrollable it becomes."

"So with a few modifications a narrower beam would give us more control. Although there is also another factor, by imputing the DNA data of someone we can great a tailored program on what to do. Unfortunately each program will have to be specific for that individual and that will take a lot of time."

Sinister nodded in thought they would need to be able to use this to alter and not kill their subjects, Morbius had been lucky as had those mutants in the ground that day. Magneto wanted to use it on a wide range of targets but sometimes you had to crawl before you could walk.

"Well it's nice progress at least maybe this will keep Magneto off our backs for a time," Sinister was about to go on when a red light and a small alarm sounded. He set up various alerts for his experiments and he knew which one that belonged too. He rushed over to the large security doors were his more sensitive experiments were kept.

Morbius was right on his heels as they entered the secure area, "What's going on?"

"The clones I made are starting to degrade," He spat out seeing the readouts in front of him on two monitors. One of them was starting to show signs but the other was starting to degrade. "Blast it! Slow down the accelerated growth process while I adjust the nutrient flow!"

Morbius went to work to the large computer next to two filled tanks. The forms within it were about fourteen years old by looks but they were starting to jerk around a bit in fact the male was turning pale as the veins in the body were starting to show up all over it. He quickly turned down the accelerated rate to its lowest setting as his mentor adjusted the flow of chemicals the clones needed for their health.

"What happened to them?" Morbius asked when the clones started to stabilize in their tubes.

Sinister was looking over the readouts for the past twenty-four hours and frowned. "I was afraid of this, cloning isn't easy especially when you try to accelerate the growth. It can cut down the life expectancy of the clone as well as degrade them because their bodies can't keep up with it."

He turned to the cases, "The girl is okay although it will take time for the cellular damage to be repaired plus there could be some brain damage I can't know for certain. The other however…" He sighed looking at the pale form there and looked at its health readings.

"I'm seeing multiple organ failure if it wasn't on life support already it would be dead there is damage to the skin, muscles, brain, heart, lungs. Pretty much a seventy-six percent damage. Some of it can be corrected but he won't be one-hundred percent in his current state."

Morbius looked at the tube again, "Is there anyway to salvage it?"

Sinister thought long and hard, "I'll have to use cybernetics to replace damaged parts. I'll have to design a suit for it to be bonded too and there will be some brain surgery to help it with the brain damage…But I think we won't have to start over again."

Morbius sighed at that glad to hear it, they had little material to work with as it was. "I suppose we'll have to keep them at this current age for awhile and then later on slowly increase the growth rate. This will set us back a long time but it's better then making them useless piles of flesh."

Sinister smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "You're learning my boy sometimes you have to learn patience. And if my tests were right which they usually are, you'll be around for a very long time. Like myself in fact."

Morbius grinned a little at that, his aging was practically non-existent and he would outlive practically everyone he had known. And there was none other then the man beside him who could teach him what it would be like to walk the ages. He looked forward to that and to all the secrets of the universe that he could unlock.

-Xavier Mansion: Gym-

Gale watched alone with Rahne and Pam as Jubilee when through her movements on the balance beam. She was in a yellow gymnastic bodysuit going through a routine. Bobby was also there partly to watch his girlfriend's skill and the fact she was in a skin tight leotard as well.

"She's not bad," Rahne said watching as Jubilee balanced herself and did a small jump twisting in the air and landing facing the other way. "I doubt ye could catch me doing that."

"Oh trust me there is no way in hell you could get me on something like that." Pam grinned she had to admit hanging out with these people was nice. You never knew what to get she just wished she could have dragged Amy here but she had piano lessons at the moment. Although Amy actually liked those she knew the girl was uncomfortable around Gale.

Gale was sitting down doing some light stretches as Jubilee had agreed to teach her some of what she knew. Why on Earth she had thought of this she had no idea but here she was in sweats and a tank top. She looked around the gym and noticed others around, there was Kurt teaching what he knew of fencing to a few.

He had a special suit made for him given his tail, hands, feet and legs weren't normal for fencing gear. He was going slowly as he was with Amanda at the moment also in the white protective gear. With them was Amara standing next to Kai, now that was a surprise not that Amara was standing next to him pretty much everyone but Kai knew of her crush for the Japanese boy. It was more that Kai wanted to learn this he already knew how to use that Katana of his but he wanted to learn the Western style as well.

Over in another area Vincent was teaching a class in Karate that he was taught in pretty much all his life. She noticed Jamie, Danielle, Paige, Tabitha, with Kitty and Rogue. Given that Rogue already had taken some martial arts earlier and trained a bit more then the others she was helping him out.

Gale turned back to seeing Jubilee as she did a hand stand and slowly bent backward one foot touching the ground and then bringing the other down as she came back up. Gale was impressed with her agility that was something she never thought she could do.

She then slide down doing a splits making Bobby wince, "Damn that huts just looking at it, how long did it take you to be able to even do something like that?"

Jubilee smirked, "About three months, four if you count when I first started out and got a bit carried away. Kind of pulled a groin muscle, I was limping for a while after that one."

That made everyone wince at that point at that mention. Jubilee finished up a set and then looked at Gale, "Okay your turn, don't worry we'll go slow first you'll need to work on balance."

Gale gulped a bit nervously she really wish she had thought of something else to do after school then this but it had seemed like a good idea at the time. She nervously got up and didn't like that grin on Jubilee's face.

Across the room Amara was watching Kurt and Amanda fence it was slow but Amanda was learning well. She looked over at Kai as he was focused studying each move. He was very quiet and reserved boy she found out. He moved with grace and there was this quality like he was relaxed but could and would strike out at a moments notice.

Plus she did think he was cute but she still wouldn't make any romantic move towards him. She could tell he still hurt from his losses although it was a bit maddening feeling how she felt and not being able to act on them. It was kind of like being back home when she had to learn how to behave in front of all the nobles. She had always hated that and more so after her life here.

She had a freedom here she never had as a Princess she had friends for instance who weren't trying to use her in some political game just for friendship. She casts a few looks at him, "So way are you learning this? I thought you knew how to use a sword."

"I do but only Japanese sword style," He said his voice had that accent to it since he had learned his English mostly from Western TV and movies. But it was pretty good actually it had taken Amara to learn a few subtleties of it herself growing up and then of course all the slang terms they had in this country.

"You see I wanted to learn this other style of fighting, when you've trained with weapons or fighting like I have you learn to appreciate the different styles. So I was interested to learn it's very different from what I'm used to plus you never know I may learn a few things," He gave her a small smile which she returned. "What about you?"

Amara shrugged, "Normally the royal family is supposed to learn how to defend themselves and I think this style works better with the short swords we use back home. Plus I don't thing that other style is for me the swords are a bit too large for my tastes."

Kai nodded still watching as Kurt moved about he had to admit that the young man had great balance and moved very well. He could easily overtake Amanda but she was showing some improvement as the fencing blades clashed against each other as Kurt called out helpful tips and instructions.

Across the room at those with the martial arts training mates Vince although with a stern teacher's face on was happy inside. He really liked teaching and although it had been strange at first with Jamie's private lessons with all these others he was getting into a routine. He was also thankful for Rogue's help now he saw why Mr. Kensuke only taught small numbers a whole group was hard.

Right now he was watching as everyone was practicing moves against a Jamie. Given his powers Vincent had Jamie and his copies moved around, everyone had one to practice with and then the extras trained with themselves. Rogue stood next to him as he was looking for any flaws in stance or style.

"So how are things goin'?" She asked looking out amongst them she wasn't too sure she just knew how to train mainly. He was better at this kind of thing then she was given he was more experience or at least she thought he was. Rogue had no idea that Vince wasn't sure in his methods given he never showed that.

"Well everyone is coming along great Dani is picking this up really well although she still have issues with her balance. Kitty needs to work on her striking power I may have to train her more in evading and counters. Paige is coming along nicely and she's pretty fast, Jamie is doing the best."

"Jamie?" She asked him surprised at that. Jamie had been the youngest member for the longest time. He was like the kid brother to everyone here even Rogue had to admit having him around was like having a sweat little kid brother. He was easy to get along with but she never pictured him as a fighter.

"Never underestimate someone," He said to her reminding her of one of the first lessons he was taught. "Jamie can learn faster then anyone even me with his clones. They all remember what he learned and when he absorbs it all he learns what they did. It's kind of amazing when you think about it."

"Each clone there is learning a different skill or polishing off the ones they know. When they merge Jamie will gain the training experience of…" He counted off the current number of clones. "Eight different training sessions in one."

Rogue never thought of it like that, she herself when she used her powers took on information and knowledge for a bit. Although it kind of faded away mostly after the effects wore off but there was still an echo of it in her mind. It was confusing at times since sometimes at the most random of moments she would remember something and when she couldn't remember where she got it from she didn't know if she had learned it somewhere or was something she took.

It was kind of hard at times not knowing which her own knowledge was and what she had stolen from others. She tried not to dwell too much just pushing all that kind of stuff aside in her mind when it came up. She had enough in life to deal with then how messed up her brain was.

Vince looked over them all and at Jamie, "You know at this rate I'm going to run out of things to teach him." She gave a small laugh but he was actually serious, "I mean it, he's already at a level it took me a year to reach in just several months. He keeps it up and his skills will just keep getting better and better."

Rogue looked at him again wondering if he was joking but then looked at all the Jamies there. It was hard to imagine how he would be when he was an adult. She decided that maybe they shouldn't just dismiss him because of his age after all sometimes it was those you lease expect to become something more then you'd ever expect them to be.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 27: PERSONAL ISSUES